Back in February, a friend won a trip at CHA for a scrapbook get away in South Carolina. She got to bring many friends, and I was lucky enough to be one of them! We drove up on a Thursday night and left Monday morning. It was a 9 hour drive!! But it was worth it because we all had a blast! When we got to the store where we could set up to crop, there was a baggie with several different paper crafting items. The challenge was to use everything in the baggie to create a project. We were allowed to make any type of project (layout, card etc...) but we had to use EVERYTHING in the baggie. We were also allowed to add items from our own stash. Soooo....I found this adorable bare frame at the store on clearance for like $1.29 and that is what I chose to use as the base of my project. I added the vintage image, the script paper, love stamp, and gold crown to the items already included in the baggie. I could still put a photo into the frame if I want, because I placed the vintage image beneath the acetate. The store keepers were the judges, and hooray! I was chosen as the winner! We had such a great time, and I'm so glad we got to go.
Miles of Smiles,
This week's Bitten By The Bug2 Challenge was to use a phrase from the Mother's Day cartridge, or any phrase associated with Mother's Day. I used the phrase from the Wild Card cartridge. I cut the card base from Straight From the Nest from black cardstock and a blue dot cardstock for the layer. I embossed the blue layer with a paisley embossing folder, inking the edges in brown. I added the journal tag, the shopping lady, a felt bird, flowers and the sentiment cut from pink cardstock. I created a rose from pink chain-knitted (?) yarn, added a Prima rhinestone flower center and layered it over a black flower. I added rhinestones to the black flowers, and the lady's crown and waist, with pearls on her blouse. Finally I dotted silver Stickles to each scallop of the card and to a small edge of the journal tag. Go see all fabulous creations from the other designin' gals at BBTB2! 
Miles of Smiles,
Check out the cute chick cards on BBTB2 for this week's challenge. So stinkin' adorable! My design for this challenge starts with a pink base card, & birdcage background paper (both Heidi Grace). I cut the chicks from Straight from the Nest, leaving a border around the larger chick. I rolled a strip of crepe paper for the chicks to perch on, and folding the legs of the smaller chick. I added silver curling ribbon stapled together for their tuft of hair. I created rolled crepe paper roses, glittered the tops, backed with fabric leaves. Finally I added metal love heart, buttons on the chicks, and some glitter spots.
This paper mache' heart was covered with torn pieces of patterned cardstock from the Club Ruby kit for February. The papers work so well together it was easy to create this piece. All I added was a velvet flower and a sheer flower to the layered flower sticker. The brads were in the kit too. Happy Valentine's Day!
This adorable tussie-mussie was created using paper, flower stickers, ribbon and glitter glue from the Club Ruby kit for February. I added the elastic ribbon, key and vintage image. I traced the pattern for the cone from a K&Company ornament kit. This is now an addition to my Valentine's Day decorations and will be hung up happily each year!
I am quite good at repurposing things around the house. In this instance, a candle jar is transformed into a gift/candy jar for Valentine's Day. I LOVE candles and burn them a lot. When the candle can't burn anymore, I remove the left over wax and use the jar for something else, usually storage in my craft office. I have many candle jars that now hold paper flowers. I love the ones with flat lids the best, because they fit on my shelves better. This was a cinch to make and took mere minutes to complete. I used the papers from the Club Ruby kit for February. I added the metal hearts, ribbons, and stickers. So quick and so easy!
I love the sentiment of this card, "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." I've only known it as lyrics in the song "Closing Time," but apparently it is Seneca Indian wisdom. It's just so true and poignant. The card was made with papers from the Club Ruby kit for January. I added the sentiment, paper flowers and leaves, chipboard butterflies and rhinestone flower. There are also teenie-beanie letter stickers from the kit on the chipboard butterflies.
