(S)punky Layouts

Just wanted to share that I found the "Antiquities" paper pad at Michael's - it's by Donna Salazar - and I immediately fell in love. I just loved her combination of shabby, vintage, pretty and girly, as well as grungy and steampunky - it had pretty much everything all wrapped up in one neat package. So of course I had to get it....I mean, how often do we experience love at first sight? So here are two layouts I made with it.

The first is (S)punky Princess, and this is my daughter of course. I altered the colors of the photo to make them warmer and then blurred the edges. I used my Big Shot a lot and my Tim Holtz dies - to make the big flowers, out of the paper and some canvas fabric, and the little dress form, also covered with some fabric. I also used a Scrapmatts bird (the one sitting on top of the dress form) and Scrapmatts hearts. Hope you guys like it!

I also love how masculine this paper can be, so I took advantage of its vintage feel to scrap a photo of my dad as a teenager. Again, I used my Tim Holtz die to cut out the large clock, as well as the card and arrow. I cut the car out of chipboard and out of my thin sheet of wood by Creative Imaginations, which I glued on the cardboard. It looks really cool :)

I made a video about these and the card from yesterday, if you guys want more info:

Copics again!

Hi guys, wanted to share a card with you - I used my Copics to color the stamp. It's the "Marie Antoinette" stamp from Kraftin' Kimmie that I got at Stamp And Create - they have the cutest selection of stamps! I used the Donna Salazar "Antiquities" paper for the background, as well as to paper piece the skirts - I then used Copics directly on the pp to add the shadows and folds. I also added some more eyelashes to make it a little bit cuter :) The flowers and gems are all by Creative Charms. Hope you guys like it! It's my second card I made using Copics, and I'm really enjoying it!

The sweetest little rascal :)

Yep, she's a little rascal :) My daughter is sweet and cute and feisty, and this "Fable de la Fontaine" paper was just perfect to capture all that about her. Look closely - does she not have the exact same expression as that little fox? LOL

A purple sort of birthday :)

My friend's favorite color is purple...as is mine. So I love making things for her becuase I get to indulge in my love of purple. It was her birthday recently and I made her a card. I used the gorgeous purple paper from the "Rococo" line (the black paper is from that line as well. The stamp is from Harmonie's newest release, "Shabby Love". Doesn't the stamp look so gorgeous heat embossed with silver?? The velvet flowers are from Creative Charms.

And here is the inside of the card - you can always cut a pretty image out of a scrap piece of paper to cover up the brads poking through the other side!

Deceptively Sweet

A layout about my dad looking sweet and mischievous as a little boy. He was cute but....spirited, even back then LOL I used the new Harmonie line "La Banquise". Still so in love with that line, especially the tree branch paper!

A Christmas Card

Any of you gearing up for Christmas yet? I made a card for the the Harmonie December Challenge - you can check it out on the Harmonie blog HERE and enter to win a prize if you play along.

Here's my quick and simple card - I used Harmonie pp and stickers and trims, as well as Tim Holtz embossing folder and his mini movers and shapers die to make the holly leaves.

Exciting news!

Wanted to share some happy news - I'm going to be joining a new DT. This is a new branch of a company that's established in Europe and does the embossing for Hallmark cards, and this new US brand is going to be headed by Suzy West. They'll be making embossing powders and stamps, which is perfect for me since I have developed a new obsession with stamps...and I've always loved embossing powders. You can read the announcement on Suzy's Blog HERE.

Here's the DT - so looking forward to working with these mazingly talented girls!

LEADS:
*Tricia Wilson--lead
*Gina Lideros--lead
*Jen Deal--lead
*Angel Bartonico--lead
*Erin Payne--lead

DESIGN MEMBERS:
1.Sesil Cratin, Utah
2. Ilene Tell, Delaware <---- That's me!! :)
3. Lara Scott, Utah
4. Amy Sotolongo, California
5. Diana McGraw, California
6. Jeannie DeGruccio, California
7. Jennifer Matott, New York
8. Anne Brown, Texas
9. Sherrie Suttles, Ohio
10. Linda Abadie, Virginia
11. Jamie Cripps, Michigan
12. Jenifer Cowles, idaho
13. Tanisha Long, New Jersey
14. Jan Hennings, Iowa
15. Patti Hamil, Georgia
16. Gini Williams Cagle, North Carolina
17. Tina McDonald, Canada
18. Donna O'Leary, New Zealand
19. Benedicte Raphalen, France
20. Amy Prior, Australia
21. Irit Shalom, Israel
22. Jennifer Roach, Canada
23. Erika Taylor, Canada
24. Iris Uy, Philippines
25. Katarina Damm-Blomberg, Finland
26. Birgit Koopsen, Netherlands

My Little Shoebox Giftbag set

Hi all, today I have a gift bag and cards set. Either of the cards can go with the gift bag. I used the "Destination" line from My Little Shoebox, and the die that goes with it, from the Cottage Cuts dies - they partnered with My Little Shoebox. I bought the kraft gift bag at Michael's - it came in a pack of 13 for $6 and after using my 50% off coupon, it came out to be less than a quarter per bag. Not a bad deal for a cute gift bag, right? ;)

o create the tree, I used my Cottage Cuts/ My Little Shoebox die from the Playtime line to cut out the tree trunk. Then, I used one of the die-cut 3-D roll up flowers to make the top of the tree. First, ink the edges, then put some low-profile pop dots or foam dots in the center of the die-cut and glue it down, so the edges are flat on the paper, while the center comes up a little.

And now the cards:

My Light

Today I wanted to share a layout I made using my new Pink Pailsee mistables mask - I love that it's 12" long - perfect for a layout! This is my son and I - he really loves hugs and kisses and is soooo sweet (when he's not being a total daredevil and driving me insane, that is). It's called my light and I used the cutest little light bulbs as the bodies on the butterflies and on the lantern. The butterflies and heart I cut out of chipboard using my Tim Holtz mini movers and shapers dies.

Me...Copics??

I'm finally using my Copics!! Yay for me :) They were awesome enough to sponsor the Punky Sprouts DT and I got a set of the pinks I used here. I also used paper from the Girl's Paperie who also sponsored our DT. The stamp is by Penny Black (too cute, right??). And as the background/mat for the stamp, I used a layer of the new Punky Sprouts filter flowers. It makes for such a perfect stamp background - it's already textured and shabby looking - it came ready to use, I didn't have to do a thing to it!

The Lovely December Kit!

Here are my two layouts for the Paper Lovelies December Kit....unfortunately, it's already sold out. As usual for the Paper Lovelies kits, it sold out in the first couple of days...so if you're interested, make sure you check out the Paper Lovelies blog of add them as a friend on Facebook so you know when the new kits come out. As always, they're a mind-blowing $15. It's crazy how packed they are for that amount! This month's kit was all about Prima "North Country" - it had two of each sheet, a pack of the flowers, a pack of the glass accents, the tiles, and a whole bunch of other stuff. I LOVED it!

And here's my 2nd LO:

Printer's Tray!

Hi guys, today I'm sharing a Printer's Tray I made for my grandmother for her 86th Birthday. You can see more about it in my YouTube video. I used the gorgeous Kaisercraft "Bonjour" collection again - it goes so well with black and white photos! And I love the elegant and sophisticated colors for gift-making. I also used lots of Scrapmatts laser-cut chipboard - a scroll border, the large butterfly, and the "happy birthday" sentiment.

And the winner is....

Thank you for all your comments!! Make sure to check back regularly in the next month, as I'm planning on doing a big giveaway for the Holidays :)

And of course I want to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving. I, for one, am very very grateful to have the support that all of you give me in this artsy venture. I know for sure that I wouldn't be where I am without it, so thank you!

But for now, the winner of the Cricut Cartridge and mini alphas is....

....

Kathy R! Kathy, please email me your addy at ileneemail@yahoo.com, and I will get your prize out ASAP. Thanks for commenting!

Also, I had a LO I wanted to share, using the new Pink Paislee Mistables collection. This is DD at the Pumpkin Patch on a hayride last month.

My Little Shoebox Winter Card Blog Hop!!

Hi guys, welcome to my stop on the hop. Let me start off by saying that I LOVE this winter line. I just love the gorgeous colors, the beautiful snowflakes, and the super cute houses. My favorite, though, are the little girl ice skating and the little boy sledding - I feel like this pp was designed for me (LOL!) - the girl looks just like my DD (and she even took ice skating lessons a couple years ago), and the boy looks like my DS! Thanks Helen :)

Ok, so I made a little holiday card that's very neutral and perfect either for Christmas or New Year's. I used the Unity/MLS stamp set for the sentiment. The snowman is from the sticker set, and I first adhered it to black cardstock, and then cut out. Thanks for visiting!!

I also made a Christmas Ornament using a little bit of the gorgeous paper and a sticker tree from the collection. The chipboard "ornament" and reindeer are by Scrapmatts.

OK, this is a blog hop, so some prizes are in order, right?? There will be two Winter Wonderland collections given away to a random commenter on one of the participating blogs. Prize winners will be announced on the My Little Shoebox blog on Tuesday, November 22.

Also, just for my blog followers (and if you're not a followers yet, just click to follow!), I am giving away a Cricut limited edition Holiday Cartridge and throwing in the mini alphas from this collection - they're the "Peppermint" color. All you have to do is be a follower and leave a comment. The Cricut cartridge was given to me by Carrie, the owner of Paper Lovelies Kit club - she has the most amazing kits every single month for only....$15! If you guys haven't checked it out yet, you really should! I will announce the winner of my blog giveaway on Thursday morning :) Here's a look at my giveaway:

Thanks for joining us today for our Winter Wonderland inspirational card hop. Now hop on over to the sweet and talented Erin.

Hoo-Ray!

A little card I made using the gorgeous Harmonie paper, flowers, and stamps, as well as Copic markers....yes, that's right, I'm finally using them! And guess what - they're a ton of fun and I'm in love! LOL Isn't that owl stamp adorable? It's part of the stamp set that goes with the "Fable de la Fontaine" collection.