I've Moved!!!

I've decided to "retire" this blog and move! I will keep this one up, but I will now be posting my creations at my new blog - JMDesigns.

I REALLY want to get back to doing what I love, and I'm trying to schedule in some "work" time in my week to allow this. I'm not as busy this summer as I've been for the past year, so I'm going to do my best to get this going again!

So...be sure to join me in my new space!

Resurfacing!

Wow - I can't believe it's been OVER A YEAR since I posted anything here!
I suppose that's mostly because I haven't worked on a lot of stuff, so there hasn't been much to post. Seems my creative bug took a major backseat. It rears it's little head every now and then, but doesn't seem to stay around for long.

I REALLY want to be crafting more. And I really want to be blogging more. I'm going to try...we'll see how it goes.

My dear sweet cousin got married in May and she asked if I could make some stationary sets for her bridesmaids. So I did...and I had fun making them. I did sets of monogrammed cards, beaded pens and magnets. This was my first try at the magnets. They didn't turn out perfect, but I liked them enough that I'll try them again and see if I can do even better.

Here is one of the sets I made:

Her wedding colors were ivory and peridot green, with pink as an accent. I could not figure out a way to work the pink in that made me happy, so I just didn't include it.

I created the monograms in Word and printed them out. I really like the way they turned out.
they each got a set of 8 cards and a matching beaded pen.

I had these great little acrylic boxes they fit perfectly in. Here's a view from the side:

And of course, I couldn't give these to her without having created a set for the bride as well! I had run out of the green paper, so I went more neutral with hers and used brown.

And then I made the magnets using the glass pebbles. Each girl received 4 magnets - 2 with their first initial, and 2 with patterned paper.

I used small round tins to put the magnets in, decorated with the same paper. But I forgot to take a picture of them.

Soo...now that I've posted, I will do my best not to let another year go by before I post something else! LOL!

Birthday Wishes

Often times when I make a card and I like how it turned out, I'll go ahead and make another one (or more!) using the same supplies and just changing it a little bit.
That's what I did with these cards. I actually made three, but the third one came out really fuzzy, and I've already given it away, so I can't take another picture.

I love this Big Blossom stamp from Stampin Up! and the versatility it has. On these cards, I stamped it on the back of my patterned paper and then cut it out. I really like the round gem in the middle better than the heart shaped one, but it was the last one I had in the right color. So I used the heart for the other one.

Simply Sweet

I got this stamp from My Favorite Things. I absolutely loved it. But I wasn't sure what direction to go with it. So, I poked around on SCS and found a really cute card and loved everything about it.
So, I basically did the same thing with my card. I don't think mine turned out quite as cute as the one I copied (which can be seen HERE), but I still like it.

And here is mine:

Dino-riffic!

Here's a card I made using a cute little dinosaur stamp I got from Oriental Trading.
It's just a simple card - that's been my thing lately - keeping it simple!

I stamped the image first on white cardstock, then again on the patterned paper. I cut the body of the dino out of the paper and adhered it to the cardstock image. Then I just colored in the spikes.
The word stamp is Studio G (I think!)

Simple...but cute...at least I think so!

Celebrate 50

I just love the classic black and white for cards, and use it an awful lot. I needed a 50th birthday card, so I went to myself for inspiration! LOL! I liked the 40th birthday card I did here so much that I just basically recreated it with just a couple of changes so it wouldn't be exactly the same.

Very, very simple, but I like it!


Sorry about the fuzzy picture. I had to take this with my phone when my camera wasn't working, so it's not the best.

It's a Dog's Life

My friends who live next door have two beautiful American Bulldogs. These are the sweetest dogs, and they are spoiled just a little bit rotten!

When Mufasa (their "first born") turned one, they did what any parents of a one year old would do - had a birthday party!

And I had the honors of making the cake. I had seen a few pictures of cute cakes online and used them as inspiration to come up with Mufasa's cake.



And I couldn't go to a birthday party without a gift! So I made some doggy treats and then altered this marshmallow creme jar to put them in.



(Sorry the pictures aren't very clear.)

Here is Mufasa with his eye on the cake:


Of course, he didn't get to have any of it. But he and Maya both enjoyed the dog treats!

And here's the whole family:


Denise, Maya, Mufasa, Jorge & Marlon
Aren't they cute?

Let's Try This Again!

Oh My Word!

Has it REALLY been almost a year since I posted something here? I don't know what happened with me! It's been slow - I haven't made tons of stuff, but I still can't believe I haven't posted in so long!

So...I decided to give my blog a little mini-makeover and a fresh start. I found this cute header at The Cutest Blog on the Block and altered it to add my blog name. I don't dislike butterflies, but it probably wouldn't have been my first choice, however, I liked the colors and everything else about it, so it works!

I won't make any promises that I'll be good about blogging regularly. I can't even seem to blog regularly on my main blog anymore! I think one of my problems is I discovered Facebook a while back, and I tend to spend a LOT of time on there!

But I'm at least going to TRY to get back to blogging more!

I'll start by posting a card I made for my daughter for her 4th birthday. One of her favorite shows is "Yo Gabba Gabba" and her favorite character is Foofa. So she wanted a Foofa cake for her birthday.

Since I was planning to do that, I had to make a Foofa card as well! I found an image online and used it as a pattern to make the card as well as the image on the cake.

Here's the card:



And of course, the cake! Ruthi wanted a cookie cake, so this is what I did:

And you know, I didn't notice until just now, as I posted this, that I forgot to add the eyelashes on the cake! I was in such a hurry that day, finishing the cake just before the party. I can't believe I didn't even notice it! I don't think it looked that odd until I looked at the card and cake pictures at the same time! Oh well...Ruthi certainly didn't care!

Do You Like a Challenge? How About a Prize?

Wow, I can't believe I haven't posted here in over a week! I was on a roll, but then got a bit busy and time flew by!

I'm not posting a card or project right now, I want to tell you about something else. I want to give you a little information first, but then I'll be telling you about a challenge with a PRIZE!

I am a member of a great little scrapbooking (and stamping, and cardmaking and other paper crafts) message board. I've been chatting with some of these ladies for years now. It's a much smaller board than most of the "well known" ones out there, but that's exactly why I like it. I have to say, that the big boards intimidate me. And while I like to browse them for inspiration, I never have felt comfortable chatting in the forums.

And I know there are others like me out there who would love a board to get some inspiration and to talk about scrapbooking, stamping and other things, but aren't crazy about the bigger boards. If you are one of those like me, then Paper Petal Memories may be right up your alley!

I have truly made friends on this board and have even had the opportunity to meet 4 of them in person! And yet another, I talk to on the phone every chance I get. These ladies are great. If you're looking for some fellow scrapbookers to chat with, then come check out the board! However, we talk about much more than scrapbooking!

Now for the challenge.....

Things have been a little slower on the board lately so we are trying to come up with some challenges to get the scrapping flowing again! Our wonderful site hostess, Kelly has put out a great challenge that includes a prize. I love this challenge, and am just a little partial to it since a while back when we did this before, I actually won! Go me! LOL!

Here is the challenge:

This challenge is for designer/patterned paper challenge, although you can create your own OSW (one sheet wonder). PLEASE READ ALL OF THE DIRECTIONS. I wouldn't want anyone to be disqualified from being a finalist for not following the guidelines.

You must use only one sheet of designer paper - you must use it all to create anywhere from 4-12 projects. At least 2 items must be non-card projects and at least 2 items must be cards (any size). Think you are up for it, I do!

You must use the following in your projects:
Stamp sets - any
Designer paper - 1 sheet - use it all
Cardstock - any
Ink - any
Embellishments - any

Important uploading guidelines: You must photograph the group together. These group photos will be the ones that are judged. You must list your items used, especially your patterned paper. Please forward your entry to me via email at paperpetalmemories(at)gmail(dot)com. This is going to be exciting to see what all of you can create with one sheet of paper!.

Judging:

You will have until Monday, June 24th at 8:00 PM CST to email your entry. I am giving you a month to put your minds to work for some fabulous creations! At around 12:00AM CST, I will post a new thread with a poll of all the finalists. You will vote on the grand prize winner! I will leave the polls open for 3 days.

Are you ready to know what the prize will be?? Are you?? Well, since the site has been dragging a bit recently, I decided to toss a good prize out there to see if that would get your creative juices flowing. I am going to send out a $25 gift card to either Hobby Lobby or Michael's your choice!

So does this sound like a fun challenge? Anyone can play along...so feel free to pass this information on or share on your blog. Who couldn't use an extra $25 to spend on this wonderful habit hobby we have?

Be sure to check out our other challenges as well. We have a layout sketch challenge and a card challenge (almost) every week. Be sure to check out the gallery as well!

Mother's Day Cards

My neighbor ordered two Mother's Day cards from me. She didn't give me any specifications, just as long as they were Mother's Day-ish!

So I made four cards and let her pick which two she wanted. I saved the other two for my Mom and MIL.

These are the two my neighbor chose:



After making the pink one, I liked the way it turned out, so I decided to recreate it in the blue. I was happy with the way they came out.
My neighbor liked them, and more importantly, so did the Mom's who received them!

A Couple of Layouts

I still have more auction things to post, but I thought I'd break away and post a couple of recent layouts.

Both of these were inspired by sketches at PageMaps.com. I love the sketches there!

This was the first sketch I used (this one is from May sketches):


And here is my layout - "Sweet & Sour"

Sorry about the shadow - I guess I was between the light and the layout!

Here's a close up of the journaling:


Here is the second sketch (From February sketches)


I flipped the sketch for my layout. I also added a pull-out tag behind the picture for the journaling.

The plain cardstock behind the title looks almost white, but it is actually grey.
I didn't take a pic of the journaling. But it basically explains the title. I call my hubby, "My Love". When I was trying to come up with a title for this page, it was he who suggested, "My {little} Love" since CJ is a "mini-Chip". And he is my little love, so it's perfect. Though, he's not so little anymore - he's only 1/2 inch shorter than me!!! This picture was actually taken in December 2005.

For this one, I used some chipboard letters from Cloud 9. I inked the tops with black. They were originally a beige color. I only inked the tops though, I left the edges the natural color. You can't really tell in the pic, but it makes them have even more of a dimensional look. For the brackets, I actually used a chipboard piece as the stencil, traced it and colored it in. I stamped the word 'little' on red cardstock. I can't remember the name of the stamp set, but each letter is a different font. The 'e' is a negative image, but is a little hard to see in the photo. You can click it to make it larger if you want to see it better. The heart if by Heidi Swapp, I believe. And the little circle with the date on it is a chipboard circle. I covered it with the red cardstock and punched a hole with my Crop-a-dile.

More Auction Pieces

I will eventually get through all these...I promise! Not too many more to go. (Hey...at least it's giving me something to post!)

There was a camping themed basket. Not a very easy one to come up with a paper crafting idea for. I was browsing Split Coast Stampers and got inspired.

First, I came across this. It is Jiffy Pop popcorn. I thought that would be cute. Then I saw somewhere on there something about S'mores Trail Mix. So I googled it to see what was in it. I found out it was Honey Graham's cereal, chocolate chips and marshmallows. But I thought I remembered someone using Teddy Graham's instead of the cereal, so that's what I did.

So this is what I came up with:


Just like the school paper in my last post, I've had this paper forever too. Probably from the same pack! I just covered the popcorn with it and made a tag using a scallop punch.

The trail mix is in an old peanut butter jar I had been saving. (I have lots of jars saved and stashed everywhere!) It was big enough that it held enough of the trail mix for a whole family to share.

I just used some of the paper to make a band and finished it off with a scalloped label. I decided the red lid worked just fine, so I just wrapped a green ribbon around it.
For a little more fun on the top, I did this:


And as a side note - that trail mix? Oh my word, is it so yummy! But I'll NEVER tell how much of it I ate!

Oh, and I used the mini chocolate chips instead of the regular ones. I think they were perfect.


Also, there was a "kitty" basket. And by kitty, I mean there was to be a real live kitten in that basket to be auctioned! I thought the kitty would need some treats, so I made this:

That's a Starbucks Frappuccino bottle. I made the label on my computer and attached it to the black card stock band. A paw print on the top and some cute paw print ribbon. Pretty cute, I think!

Oh - and if you live close to me and happen to be reading this....AND you happen to drink Frappuccino's - could you do me a huge favor and save me your bottles? I'll even come get them from you! And you don't even have to wash them out. Just toss them (gently) in a box or bag and I'll wash them myself! Thanks to anyone who's willing to help!
I have lots of projects I need these for, and if I drink that many of them, I'll never get the weight off that I'm trying to!

Back to School

I did this for the 'School Supply' basket, again, for the silent auction.

I have had this paper forever - it's from an old Slab stack of paper from Michael's, I think. Anyway, it was perfect for this project.

I used Mod Podge to adhere it to the clipboard. I used my Fiskars shape cutter to make the lettering in red. I adhered it to a piece of yellow, and then just cut around it. I then used the Mod Podge to adhere it and the red strip in the middle to the clipboard. I used red line tape to adhere the ribbon in the middle.

Then I attached some cork board and a stack of post it notes. I picked up the push pins at the Dollar Tree. They had a different color design on them. I removed it and added red cardstock. Then I coated it with Aleene's Paper Glaze to make the resemble the original glassy look they had.

I used the same paper to cover the notebook and to make the beaded pen. I attached the pen with some red ribbon and then tied a couple of red and yellow ribbons to the top of the clipboard.
And you can't really see it, but if you look super close, you might notice a binder clip in the top right corner, that is covered with the same paper as well.

Garden Inspired

This was another contribution to the silent auction baskets. There was a garden themed basket. I couldn't come up with much, but this is what I did.

I picked up this little notebook at the Dollar Tree. I took it apart and covered it then reassembled it.


Then I made a set of 3x3 note cards. Very simple, but I think they came out pretty cute.


I picked up a set of garden gloves (that happened to match the pinkish cards perfectly) at the Dollar Tree as well, I placed them in a small flower pot with a ribbon tied around it. I tied the cards with some ribbon and placed them in the center of the gloves. I didn't think to get a picture of it all ready to go. Too bad, because I think it looked quite cute all packaged together!

Inspirational Set

Our Homeschool group purchased a house a few years ago for holding co-op classes. They are now busting at the seams and raising funds to build a new facility. This weekend, they are holding a dinner theater and a silent auction.

For the auction, they have quite a few themed baskets. I decided to contribute by making some things for a few of the baskets.

I made this set for the Inspirational basket. I wanted to incorporate a verse and image on all the pieces. I chose the verse Philippians 4:13: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I found the image in MSWord and typed the verse right over the top of it.

First is a set of 5 note cards:


And a candle:


I picked up this little wood frame at Michaels. I painted the edges and back the same color as the main color in the paper. Then mod podged the paper on. Then I printed the image/verse on cardstock and slipped it in.


A quick and easy bookmark:


And a set of coasters:


And here is almost everything together. I forgot to put the coasters in before I took the picture.