Thursday TAWS Be Inspired #24

Happy Thursday!
 How is your week going?  Things are definitely improving here!  Today was my last day of school  and at 2:40 I will be on SPRING BREAK!  We are not going anywhere but I just need a little break.  School this year has been really tough!  I am lucky because Jack and I have the same spring break so we are going to be doing lots of fun things-lunch with nanny (my mom), a day with nanny, the movie Oz, bowling, magic castle (a fun house/arcade) and lots of time together.  I can't wait!!  Plus I will have lots of time to craft!  What else could a girl ask for?

I found a little time this week to play along with The Alley Way Stamps Be Inspired #24 Challenge.  I must say I had a bit of trouble with this one, but then it clicked and I made this card and I am sending it to my mom for Easter!  You can see all the details by Clicking HERE!  

 

I used the Spring has Sprung stamp set to create this adorable little bunny!  The card came together in minutes.  The thing that took the longest was letting the mist dry!  For the "grass"  I used Bella Blvd. washi tape.  I colored my little bunny with my Spectrum Noir markers and cut him out.  I had some clouds left over from another project and I pop dotted them on!

If you are interested I have a quick little video showing how I put this card together.

Supplies
stamps- TAWS
markers- spectrum noir
washi tape- bella blvd
string- the stringery
mist- studio calico
embossing folders- cuttlebug

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I will be back on Monday.  I sadly have nothing to share with you tomorrow :( !  I am crafting every single day these days but everything is for April and May.  I will also have on Monday some exciting news that I have been so excited to share!! So I will see you on Monday.  Have a very wonderful and crafty weekend!
mp

Wednesday Imaginisce and Xyron Swap + Giveaway!

Happy Wednesday

Imaginisce and Xyron have teamed up together for a week of fun!  The Imaginisce Design Team had the wonderful opportunity to play with some of the AMAZING products from Xyron.  I had the wonderful opportunity to play with the Xyron Create a Sticker.  I have to say I totally fell in love with this little machine because it works so perfectly with the really thin and intricate designs from the Silhouette store.  I love using the these images and titles but I always have the problem of adhering them to my layout.  The Create A Sticker solves this problem .

I have a little video to share of how I used this wonderful machine!

Here is my finished layout. I used the create a sticker on my title -Easter Basket Fun, and on my overlays of Easter eggs.

supplies
paper- Imaginisce- chilhood memories, good dog
washi tape- imaginisce
I Rock- glam rocks
Silhouette

Now head on over to the Imaginisce Blog to see what my teammates have made and there will be links to more fab projects from the Xyron Design Team!

GIVEAWAY

At the end of this BLOG HOP we will be giving away 2 prizes. That's right! 2 fabulous prizes!!

All you have to do is leave a comment (each day) on the Imaginisce blog & the Xryon blog for a chance to win a collection pack of Childhood Memories OR Good Dog.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.   I will be back tomorrow with a new Easter Card.  See you then!  Have a wonderful and crafty day!
mp

Monday SOG Fairy Birthday

Happy Monday

Did you have a nice weekend?  Wow, I sure did.  I really needed the weekend after my bad week last week.  I really enjoyed every minute of it!!  We are in the midst of a snow storm right now as I write this up. Crossing my fingers that we can have a snow day!  We shall see!

Last week I did a coloring video of this pretty Some Odd Girl Shy Fairy and today I want to show you the card.  I used some Basic Grey.  Michael was going to one of his Pre School classmates birthday parties and she loves Princesses and I thought this girl would be perfect for her.

supplies
paper- basic grey
stamp digi- some odd girl
stamp- clear- paper smooches
markers- spectrum noir

You will have to pardon my blog postings this week.  I don't have a lot of projects to share.  I have about 14 projects and 3 videos for April but I don't have anything for this week.  I am up with Imaginisce and the blog swap with Xyron on Wednesday.  I will have a new project for you and a new video to share. Hopefully I will have something else if I have the time this week!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I will be back on Wednesday with the Imaginisce and Xyron Swap!  See you then!  Have a wonderful and crafty day!
mp

Friday Endless Summer Release

Happy Friday!

We finally made it through the week!  It was a rough one for me and i am so glad that it is over!!

Over at the Imaginisce blog this week we are celebrating the release of Endless Summer.  This collection is so perfect for all your summer projects.  I am up on the Imaginisce blog today with 2 projects that I made using  this wonderful collection.  I have a layout to share with you today.  Starting in the Spring the ice cream truck comes around our neighborhood.  The boys get so excited when they hear the music.  We give them each a dollar and they get to pick out a treat.  One on of the days I took some photos of boys picking and eating their favorite treat!

supplies
paper- die cuts- imaginisce
cardstock- neenah solar white
stamps- hero arts
ink- jenni bowlin
tools- I Rock- glam rocks
twine- the stringery

If you would like to see my card and some other fun projects from more Design Team members and enter for a chance to win the ENTIRE collection head on over to the Imaginisce Blog and leave a little love there.  You can go HERE!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I will be back tomorrow with a new project.  See you then!  Have a wonderful and crafty day!
mp

Wednesday SS Easter Challenge

Happy Wednesday,

I can't believe that Easter is right around the corner.  Time is certainly flying by! 

Over at The Stamping Shack the new challenge is make an Easter project.  I made this card using the adorable image from the Stamping Shack.  I colored this cutie with my Spectrum Noir markers.  I then made the card base with some Homespun Easter from Moxxie.   I added some yummy light green chevron ribbon from The Stringery.  Finally I stamped my sentiment using some Alley Way Stamps.

supplies
paper- moxxie
ribbon- the stringery
stamp- digi- the stamping shack
stamp- clear- the alley way
markers- spectrum noir

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I will be back tomorrow with a new project.  See you then.  Have a wonderful and crafty day!
mp

Please Follow Me on Bloglovin!

Did you know that Google Reader is coming to an end?  I just found out and I just signed up at Bloglovin!  This is a great place where you see a list of all your blogs that you follow and you get an email update every morning.  It is just perfect!  I would love it if you signed up to follow me HERE
Thanks
mp

My Core' dinations Creative Frenzy 2013

Hi Everyone,
Welcome to my 2013 Core'dinations Creative Frenzy Design Team application post. Have you all tried Core'dinations cardstock?  It is the best cardstock around because you can sand it, emboss it, and distress it. There is no white core.  It is so awesome because there are so many fun techniques that you can use on it.  Plus it cuts like butta in the Silhouette!

For the call I made three projects that all demonstrate a technique using the awesome cardstock!

Technique- Sanding
Irish Eyes

For my first layout I used the Core' Impressions Jillibean Soup collection.  I used my Sand It Gadget and lightly sanded the entire piece of cardstock.  When this is done the texture and the pattern are now visible.  In some places I sanded it a bit more to really give it worn textured look.

Technique- Scoring and Sanding
Catching Snowflakes

For this layout I used the Tim Holtz Adirondak Collection.  I first took my Espresso cardstock and placed it on my score board.  I then scored the cardstock creating a square.  I then scored another square a 1/4 of an inch smaller.  I then took my Sand It Gadget and lightly sanded the scoring lines so that the lines were more visible.  This created a perfect border for my layout.  Next I took two strips of Red Pepper cardstock and punched it out.  The cardstock punches beautifully- Very Clean and Easy!  I then took the strips back to the score board and scored the strips 3 times.  I then once again used my Sand It Gadget and lightly sanded the scored lines.  This brings out the textured lines. I also used the cardstock to cut out my title using my Silhouette and lightly sanded the edges.

Technique- Embossing, Paper Crimping and Sanding
B is for Birthday

For this card I used the Core Amour collection for the card base and lightly sanded it to expose the swirl design.  Next I used some more Tim Holtz Adirondak paper and used my Silhouette and some punches to create the butterflies.  Next I ran them through the paper crimper and embossing folders.  I then lightly sanded them to give them the distressed look.  I them paired them up with some Jillibean Soup paper.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I love Core'dinations Cardstock!  The uses for this awesome cardstock is limitless and it would be an honor to be apart of your amazing company!

mp

Tuesday Coloring with Spectrum Noir and Some Odd Girl

Happy Tuesday!

Oh I don't know about you but boy oh boy do I need spring!  I am so tired of the rain, cold temperatures and the grey skies!  I need a little bit of sunshine!

Over on the Some Odd Girl forum there was a challenge last week to color one of their images in all pastels.  I usually color in bright colors but I wanted to give this one a try!  I had Jack be my camera man while I colored this adorable Shy Fairy image using my Spectrum Noir markers.  I want to put a disclaimer that I am in NO way a color expert, but I am someone who loves to color.  So here is how I colored this adorable image.
Once again my camera person is my 7 year old- it is a bit shaky but he did an awesome job.  My tripod is on order so things will be getting better!

If you don't want to watch the video here is how my Shy Fairy turned out!

I was very pleased with how it turned out.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I will be back tomorrow with a new project.  See you then!  Have a wonderful and crafty day!
mp

Monday Horsin' Around with Moxxie

Happy Monday,
Did you have a great weekend?  We were so busy but I loved EVERY minute.  Saturday I had the hardest tennis lesson ever but it was also the best.  I really worked on a lot of areas and I made some improvement.  We were also busy with birthday parties, play dates, etc.  Sunday was just a crazy day.  I had my tennis match and then Jack had a baseball game AND he started baseball practice.  No mind you it was 38 degrees for the practice.  I thought it was a bit much to ask 7 year olds to practice for an hour and half in that cold and misty conditions.  I was a bit upset!  So I am actually glad today is a work week to kind of relax from our crazy weekend.  I have a count down till spring break--11 more days!!!

One of the newer collections from Moxxie is Western Round Up.  This collection is so great!  For this layout I scrapped my Goddaughter.  She went to a horse farm and they snapped these photos of her.  She loves horses and always takes a summer camp.

For the layout I added some fun flair and some ribbon and twine from The Stringery.  Plus I had to add some fun misting-- Can I make a layout that doesn't have some misting involved?  HEHEHE!

supplies
paper, stickers. die cuts- Moxxie
flair- a flair for buttons
mist- studio calico
ribbon- twine- the stringery
Silhouette
Sewing machine

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I will be back Tuesday with a new project.  See you then!  Have a wonderful and crafty day!
mp

Friday St. Patrick's Day Card/Mini

Happy Friday and Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

I am so glad that today is the weekend!  Even though we are sooo busy I am still glad that I don't have to go to work!  LOL!!  Do you have any plans?  We are sports sports and more sports.  Saturday both hubby and I are running the kids all over and then on Sunday it is all sports for Jack.  Both basketball and baseball for him in one day!  He is going to be one tired puppy!  No scrapping for me this weekend!  LOL!!

This weekend is St. Patrick's day.  If you didn't know already my maiden name is O'Brien.  So with a name like Mary Pat O'Brien you can bet we celebrate St. Patty's day!  For the holiday I made a card/mini album for my mom.  To make this I used a tag image from the Silhouette gallery and copied it to make two.  I then welded them together and cut it out.  I then folded the card in half.  You could make as many as you wanted to make a little mini album.

I used the St. Patrick's day collection from Moxxie.  When you open the card I have a photo of hubby and the boys and then I used the awesome rub ons to decorate the inside.  I love how it turned out!  I used the chevron ribbon from The Stringery for the little tag.

 Front of Card

Inside

supplies
paper-rubons- moxxie
ribbon- moxxie
button- paper trey ink
Silhouette

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I will be back on Monday with a new project.  See you then!  Have a wonderful and crafty day.
mp

Wednesday SOG March Challenge

Happy Thursday

Are you having a good week.  So far so good here but I do have to admit that I am ready for the weekend!

I am playing along with the Some Odd Girl monthly challenge today.  You can go HERE to check out all the details.

Here is the sketch for the challenge:

I once again pulled out my scrap bag of one of my favorite summer collection EVER.  It is from echo park!

supplies
paper- echo park
stamps digi- some odd girl
stamps clear- paper smooches
markers- spectrum noir
silhouette

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I will be back tomorrow with a St. Patrick's day project.  See you then!  Have a wonderful and crafty day!
mp

Wednesday TAWS Be Inspired #23

Happy Wednesday!

Today I have my card for TAWS #23 Be Inspired challenge.  Oh this one was a totally fun one!  At first I was stumped because in this challenge you had to use ribbon.  You know me and I do not really use ribbon at all.  LOL!!  So I started with my ribbon selection.  I used my chevron ribbon in some fun Easter colors from The Stringery.  I then looked at my Easter stamps and just loved the little jellybeans.  I colored them with my Spectrum Noir marders and then added some bling in matching colors.  Once I got over the ribbon it was a snap!

To find out more on the challenge please go HERE!

Sorry for the darker color but it has been soooo rainy and cloudy that I have not been able to get a good photo. 

supplies
stamps- TAWS
markers- spectrum noir
bling- doodlebug
cardstock- bazzill, neenah solar white
ribbon- the stringery

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I will be back tomorrow with a new project.  See you then!  Have a wonderful and crafty day!
mp

Tuesday Scrap Room Part 3

Happy Tuesday!

Have you been feeling crafty lately?  I have to say I really have not.  I finished up a bunch of DT projects for April and I am kind of in a mojoless state right now.  This happens to me a lot when I work really hard and finish some big projects.  I am kind of just hanging out.  I have a couple of small projects that I would like to do this week and weekend.  I really need to make a layout envelope for Michael's Pre-school work.  It is almost spring break with the year almost 3/4 gone and I need to get that done.  I just have to find some fun  paper to make it!  Maybe I will have that to share next week! LOL!

Today is my final part of my scrap room video series.  I hope you enjoy my last part.  Jack and I had a fun time making the videos!  I have another video planned for your coming up in the next week or so with Imaginisce.  So enjoy part 3.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I will be back tomorrow with a new project.  See you then!  Have a wonderful and crafty day!
mp

Monday St. Patrick's Day with Imaginisce

Happy Monday!

Did you have a nice weekend.  We were super busy but it was awesome.  Sunday the temperatures were in the 60's and we were outside ALL day.  It was awesome.  This small little taste of spring has me wanting more and more.

Speaking of spring.....  Over on the Imaginisce blog the theme for the entire week is St. Patrick's day.  The challenge was to create something for St. Patty's day.  I decided on a home decor piece with a wreath.  I cut out shamrocks using my Silhouette in all different shades of the green pattern paper from the Childhood Memories and Good Dog collections.  I even had one sheet of green from the Christmas Cheer collection.  I bought a wire wreath and used my I Bond to glue my shamrocks on the wreath.  For the bottom I made a pot of gold.

For the "gold" I used some yellow and orange bling from the I Rock collection.

I really love how it turned out and it is on our front door (on the inside of course).

supplies
wire wreath- Michael s
paper- Imaginisce
tools- I Bond, I Rock
Silhouette

Over on the Imaginisce blog today I have step by step instructions on how to make this fun wreath!  I would love it if you had time today to stop on by and leave a little LOVE!  You can go HERE!  Thanks!!

Thanks for stopping by and I will be back tomorrow with my final video of my scraproom.  See you then!  have a wonderful and crafty day!
mp

Saturday Sparks 3/9 challenge

Hey there,
I am just popping in to share my take on the challenge over at Sparks- Paper Smooches challenge site.  I haven't been able to play in awhile and I thought I would give it a try.  Here is the photo- you can see all the details of the challenge HERE!

I searched my Paper Smooches'  stamps and I found this cute little little puppy that had a smile on and made this birthday card.

This little guy certainly has a smile on his face!

supplies
cardstock- neenah solar white
washi tape- bella blvd.
stamps- paper smooches
markers- spectrum noir
pearls- hobby lobby

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I will be back on Monday with a fun project from Imaginisce!  See you then!
mp

Friday SS Challenge

Happy Friday!
Who is glad it is the weekend? Boy, I am! Hubby and I have a date night planned so I am excited about that! I have all my DT work done and I can have fun just playing with things!

Over at The Stamping Shack they are having their challenge to make a card for Mom. I broke out my Jillibean Soup for this one! I used my spectrum noir markers to color Daisy with Flowers. I thought she is just too cute.  So come on everyone and and make a card for mom and enter the fun challenge.  To see all the details you can go HERE!

supplies
paper, die cut- jillibean soup
pearls- hobby lobby
markers- spectrum noir

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I will be back on Monday with a home decor piece using some Imaginisce!  See you then!  Have a wonderful and crafty weekend!
mp

Thursday SOG Tag

Happy Thursday!

Last week over on the Some Odd Girl Forum there was a challenge to make a tag using one of the SOG stamps.  I decided to make a birthday tag.  I colored my image using my Spectrum Noir markers and cut him out on my Silhouette.  I then made my tag using some scraps from and Echo Park boy's collection.  I think it is over 2 years old but I have saved every little bit of it.  I then made a banner using my Silhouette.  Finally I added some yummy twine from The Stringery!  This was so fun and it came together rather quickly!

supplies
paper, stickers- echo park
stamp- SOG
twine- the stringery
Silhouette

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I will be back tomorrow with a new project.  See you then!  Have a wonderful and crafty day!
mp

Wednesday Moxxie to Dye for

Happy Wednesday!

How is your week going?  Things are moving on here.  I haven't had much time to scrap so far this week.  Hopefully today I can squeak some in.  I need to get busy because I am running out of projects to share with you!  LOL!!  I have been working hard on DT work but it is for late March and April.  I will come up with something! 

Moxxie has THE cutest Easter collection this year.  I just love the soft colors and the look of cross stitching.  I made this layout about my boys coloring their Easter eggs.  I love how they are so proud of their work. 

supplies
paper, die cuts- moxxie
mist- studio calico
washi tape- bella blvd
flair- a flair for buttons
buttons- ??

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I will be back tomorrow with a new project.  See you then!  Have a wonderful and crafty day!
mp

Tuesday Scrap Room Video Part 2

Happy Tuesday,

So today I have part 2 of my video on my Scraproom.  I want to thank all of you for your wonderful comments on part one.  Jack is just loving helping me out and he helped me out again for this video.   I think he has some talent in this area.  At school each 1st grader has an I Pad to use in class and they are making videos so he is really loving this.  He is actually teaching me how to do some of this. 

Any hoo today I have part 2.  I thought I could get it all in today but I decided to break it up and make a part 3.  I will share this with you next Tuesday. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I will be back tomorrow with a new project.  See you then!  Have a wonderful and crafty day!
mp

Monday Guest at Page Maps

Hi Everyone,
Did you have a great weekend?  We were soooo busy but it was nice to be home and with the boys.  I managed to get some crafty time in and that was awesome!

This month the Imaginisce Design Team were Guests over at Becky's Page Maps.  I was so honored to work with Becky.  She makes awesome sketches and it was a HUGE thrill!  Here is the sketch that I worked with.

And here is my take.

I used the Childhood Memories collection for this layout.  It was so much fun!
Please stop by the Page Maps website  and check out all the other awesome sketches and work from the other fab ladies from Imaginisce.  You can go HERE!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I will be back tomorrow with a new project.  See you then.  Have a wonderful and crafty day!
mp

Friday Moxxie Blog Hop

Welcome to Moxxie's March Muse-A-Palooza Blog Hop! This month we are featuring and you could win the entire "Homespun Easter" collection, which is wonderfully fresh and packed with cross stitched charm! It evokes a comforting palette in shades of cream, yellow, green and blue. This collection is absolutely perfect for your Easter and Spring themed projects.

For my project I have a card for you!

I just love that little bunny!
supplies
paper, die cut- moxxie
stamps- hero arts
bling- doodlebug
ribbon- the stringery

To have a chance to win, you need to: 

• Follow the hop through all eleven participating blogs, check out the beautiful work of the Moxxie Muses, and leave a comment for each of them. 
• Comments will close at midnight CST on Tuesday, March 5th. 
• Winner will be announced the next day on the Moxxie blog. 
• International fans are welcomed to play along if they agree to pay shipping in the event of their win!

Ready to hop?!!  Here is your hop sequence...  on your mark, get set --- GO!

*******

Got Moxxie

Susie Bentz

Patti Hamil

Cathy Harper

Michelle James

Rebecca Price Misty Rushlow

Mary Pat Siehl

Dana Tatar

Rhonda Van Ginkel

Ange Weisbeck

*******

Thanks so much for stopping on over today!  I will be back tomorrow with my work with Imaginisce and Page Maps!!! See you then!  Have a wonderful and crafty weekend!

mp