BPC giveaway!

My newest Big Picture Classes workshop, Multi-Photo Solutions, is open for registration and class begins on June 13th.  I can't wait!  I love this class, and got some great feedback from students who took it last year.  If you missed out and are in need of some practical and FUN solutions for getting through your stack of photos, register now HERE.

OR, you can also leave a comment on this blog post telling me your greatest multi-photo challenge and I'll pick a random winner to receive a FREE SPOT in this workshop!!!  Comments will remain open until midnight (MDT) on Thursday, May 23.  I'll announce a winner on Friday morning.  Good luck!!

anna griffin blomma card kit

The last new kit that Anna introduced on HSN last month is the Blomma Card Kit.  This little kit is so completely adorable!  I love the shaped cards, die cuts, and layered stickers.  Yum!  Here are a few samples I made with it.

I added a few little extras to some of these--some embossing, hand stitching, my own die cut shapes, etc.  Aren't these darling?

happy news!! come visit me...

...over at the new We R Memory Keepers blog every Tuesday and Thursday for tutorials, videos, and project inspiration.  I'm so excited to be able to share some great stuff with We R fans!!

Here's my first project that posted yesterday--an altered photo frame where I keep photos of my Mother's Day celebrations so I can have those memories out on my desk.  It makes me smile.

CLICK HERE for a supply list and full instructions.  Enjoy!

There's awesome daily content at the We R blog, so check back each day for product features, guest designers, and awesome giveaways too!

anna griffin embossing folders--romantic set

Anna Griffin sold her signature Cuttlebug embossing tool on HSN last month along with all her new embossing folders.  She released a new set of Romantic Embossing Folders for this show, and here are some projects I made with them.

One of my favorite things about these is the continuous embossing feature that allows you to emboss long pieces of paper--perfect for scrapbook pages.  Hope these projects inspire you!

anna griffin eyelet borders

Another brand new kit Anna sold on HSN last month is the 12 inch Eyelet Borders.  These gorgeous self-adhesive borders come in white, ivory, and kraft colors and echo the beautiful eyelet lace trend in clothing fashion right now.  Take a look at my layouts below.

Using several styles of borders and layering them with foam squares creates some nice dimension and a pretty background.

I paired the same style borders in white and kraft to create a contrasting page frame.  I also used another style border to create a frame for my photo.

These lovely eyelet borders look great layered with Anna's gorgeous die cut specialty papers.  I also  used the eyelet borders to create a woven paper background for my photo on this page.

These borders are beautiful and add maximum impact with minimal effort.  They combine perfectly with any of Anna's previous kits, or other manufacturer's products as well.

anna griffin doily stamps + winners!

Last month Anna appeared on the Home Shopping Network with some amazing new kits and some  already seen favorites.  One of the new kits that I absolutely love is the Doily Stamp kit.  The kit includes a circular template and the stamps work with Anna's self stamper, or a stamping block.  I always end up using a stamping block so I can have the most control possible over the placement of the stamps. Here are some layouts I made with them.

For the above layout I used my circle cutter to cut the centers out of the outer doily patterns, scored them, and them accordion folded them.  Adding some foam squares underneath the folds helped to create some fun dimension.

I stamped a quadrant of full doily patterns for the background on the page above.  I then cut the inner and center doily patterns in half to create a banner across the top.  I also stamped several center doily patterns and lined them up to create a border.

Three full doily patterns make up the border across the bottom of the above layout, and then I die cut some inner and center doily patterns into flower shapes for accents.

This last page is my favorite.  I love the combination of the full layered doily patterns, the flocked papers, the soft colors, and the beautiful photo.

Love the look of these stamps, and the beautiful doily patterns they create.  Come back next week, and I'll share some more projects using Anna's new kits.

Now...on to the winners of last week's giveaways!!  Drumroll please...

The winner of the Creating Keepsakes magazines is:

Mary Kay said...

Wow! I'm coveting those idea books, as I'm always hungry for inspiration. Thanks for the giveaways!

May 1, 2013 at 9:11 AM

The winner of the Epiphany Crafts custom epoxy embellishment maker is:

Ann R. said...

Oh, oh, oh - decisions, decisions!! First, congrats on 300 followers. That's so great. My first choice would be the magazines, then the epoxy embellishment maker, then the punches. Thanks SO much for the opportunity to win some cool goodies.

May 1, 2013 at 4:24 PM

The winner of the Creative Memories Shape Maker tool is:

sandie said...

I would have to pick the CM punch since I don't have any of theirs. Really just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the challenges actually did 8 and posted 6 had to work Sunday so I ran out of time. hope to make time for some classes soon

May 6, 2013 at 4:22 PM

Congratulations ladies!  Send me an email (link's on the sidebar) with your full name and address telling me which prize you won, and I'll ship those out ASAP.  Enjoy!

mother's day gift idea--photo notecards

If you're looking for a quick, easy, but classy Mother's Day gift idea you're in the right place.  I whipped up this set of blank photo notecards in about 30 minutes total time last week.

I chose some pretty photos I had taken recently (flowers, streams, a basket of homegrown strawberries, some beautiful churches, a lovely sunset) and fancied them up with some of my favorite photoshop actions.  If you don't have a photo editing program that has actions you can use picmonkey.com to add some cool effects for free online.

Once I had my photos looking how I wanted them I printed them on 4x6 semi gloss paper with a white border around them.  Next I created some 4 1/4 x 6 1/4 inch cards (trimmed 8 1/2 x 4 1/4 inch pieces folded in half) from kraft paper and adhered the photos to the front.  I included some invitation envelopes that fit perfectly, and...voila!

If you don't have any photos that would work to create these notecards, you can try searching for creative commons images on Google images and setting the size selector to large so the resolution is good for printing.  Just be sure to only use the images for personal use.  =)

anna griffin cards

On HSN last month Anna featured a new card kit that coordinates with her new Blend division Gabbie collection.  I love the fun colors and type in this collection.  Here are some cards I made with it:

I thought some fun barn stars would be cute with this collection.  For a great tutorial on how to make these CLICK HERE.

Some fun pinwheels on this one--this card kit is great for celebratory themes.

I love the wood grain paper!

This card's got some fun accordion folding and lots of foam squares.

I hope these cards inspire you!  Happy crafting!

300th blog reader giveaways + NSD!!

Wow!  I know 300 readers are not a lot compared to other blogs, and I'm not writing this blog to attract followers per se (though I love and appreciate you all).  I'm writing it to share what I love doing and to hopefully inspire others.  However...I'm kind of excited to have reached the 300 blog-follower milestone, and I want to express my thanks to you wonderful readers for taking a bit of time out of your day to visit with me.  So...

To celebrate I'm giving away 6 recent regular issues or idea books from Creating Keepsakes (a $63.94 cover price value).

AND an Epiphany Crafts Shape Studio Round 14 tool with bubble caps so you can make your own custom epoxy embellishments (a $29.98 value).

But wait...that's not all.  I'm feeling really generous so I'm also giving away the new Creative Memories Shape Maker punch tool as well (a $55 value).

This includes the punch tool, plus two shape cartridges (2" square, 2" circle) so you can make more than one shape.  Cool, huh?

If you'd like to be considered for these giveaways please leave a comment below telling me which prize(s) you'd like to receive and why.  Comments will remain open until Tuesday, May 7th at midnight (MDT).  I'll select two random winners and announce them on Wednesday, May 8th in the morning.  U.S. or Canada addresses only please.  Good luck!!

P.S. This Saturday, May 4th, is National Scrapbook Day!  Come celebrate with me and nine other teachers at Big Picture Classes for our annual Free Creative Crop!

designer kit projects

Last month Anna Griffin sold her newest designer kits on HSN, and I thought I'd share some new projects I created using those kits.  I really loved her new kits this go around, especially the Blend division ones--totally new style and feel for Anna, but it all fits right in.

The above card features the Gabbie collection.  I cut apart the circular die cut paper to create the background.

I created this card using the lovely Blomma collection.  Again, I cut the corner off the die cut paper to create the background.  So pretty--I love those butterflies!

Here are some projects using Anna's own new Eleanor collection.  Love the soft pinks, blues, and yellows with the dramatic black.

I cut out the flocked design on the black specialty paper for the background of this card.

This card features some of the adorable die cuts.

I created a folded paper ribbon embellishment for this card, and embellished the trellis die cut paper for the layout below.

Enjoy, and happy crafting!