June Paper Pumpkin

I was so very excited when my little red box of happiness arrived this month. I had seen the video on YouTube of what was coming and couldn't wait for it to get here! So much cuteness this month :)

This month we got to make two different card designs (enough supplies to make four of each). The first one was cutsie and girly- and I absolutely loved it! The flowers are just so adorable and the color scheme is bright and cheery. And I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of this bunch of string technique that is so popular right now :)

The second card was much more manly and I could see it making a good guy birthday card. And heaven knows I always need more of those! After seeing this design I now 'may' have to get the petite pennant punch. Oh, and do you see those fun wooden pieces? The kit even came with an extra set, so I'm gonna have leftovers to play with. Yippee!

Flutterby again soon to see some of the other cards I made with this month's kit!

Let's Talk Swap Some More

I've got two more swaps for you today.

The first was made by Dianna Logeais. I love how she used the Flower Patch bundle to stamp on the print DSP and cut the flowers out. It gives a really neat effect I never would have thought of myself. And pairing it with the Kinda Eclectic starburst and sentiment was pretty perfect.

The  bright colors in this second card just make me happy! Thanks for the smile Sandi Eby :) I love the vellum tag too- what a fun idea. And this card uses the Lovely Amazing You stamp set. Make sure you don't miss this gem- it is part of the monthly releases of photopolymer sets, so it isn't in the catalog and is easy to forget!

Flutterby again soon!

Let's Talk Swap Again

Today I've got two earthy, rustic looking cards for you. I'm not the greatest at making this style of cards on my own (it seems I tend towards bright and bold more) so I love receiving samples and ideas of this sort that broaden my spectrum.

This first card is from Tara Jeffries, who is on the same team as I am. She always makes such beautiful art (usually accompanied by lots of hand-drawn doodles like the border on this card). You can find her over at www.SouthernBelleStampin.blogspot.com

The next card features the Butterfly Basics stamp set. This set is fun because it also has a matching framelit that goes with it :) Beth Tetzlaff did a beautiful job making this sample- I love how simple it is to put together and yet is packed with beauty and elegance.

Hope you enjoyed today's swaps. Be sure to Flutterby again soon for more!

Let's Talk Swap

I just realized that way back after the Creative Conections event I promised you some pictures of the swaps I recieved... and then I never got the posts done! This week I'm gonna correct that and show you some of the beautiful samples.

I picked this fun and easy butterfly card for my first share because, well you know me, I love butterflies ;) But also I like the fun technique it demonstrates.

First she placed washi tape across the bottom of the white cardstock and then punched out the butterfly. It really creates a cool effect don't you think?! Now, the butterfly embosslits retired last month- but there are some beautiful tiny butterfly stamps that could be added for the same fluttering effect. My pick would be the little butterflies from the Perpetual Birthday Calendar stamp set. I think they would be adorable fluttering across this card :)

Flutterby again soon!

Creative Inking Blog Hop: Favorite New Stamps

Ready to hop with us today? It's another round of the Creative Inking Blog Hop. Whoop Whoop!

Today we are focusing on our favorite new stamp set. I bet you can't guess what mine is :).... Awe, really it was that easy! Well, you do know how much I love butterflies!

I had to have this Watercolor Wings Bundle as soon as I saw it. I put in an order the very first day the catalog was live just to get it ;) And the matching Fluttering texture folder was another must of course!

For my first card I decided to try it out using the color combo of Pool party with the new InColors Mint Macaron and Tip Top Taupe. I think it turned out just YUMMY!

I love the texture that the addition of the new wooden embellishments brings to the project too. So glad I got some of these in my order too :)

And just in cause you are wondering what it looks like without the wooden word- still fabulous of course :) But check it out for yourself

Thanks for fluttering by today! Hope to see you again soon!

Now hop on over to see what Kristine has in store for us today

Or go backwards to see BJ!

Project Life ScrAPPbooking

You can call it ScrAPPbooking, Phonebooking, Mobile Memory Keeping... whatever your preference. It doesn't have one go-to name yet, but I'm loving it!

Previously I loved the idea of it- using apps on the phone to scrapbook with. It is always with me, and I could pick away at my projects during those little bits of downtime instead of trying to sneak away to my computer to do it (which is not ever usually feasible with two littles at home). When the Project Life app came out I thought I was set... but it still was missing things I liked to do in person. Like adding text to a photo, or cutting up a couple photos smaller to cluster on one of the cards. It just wasn't quite satisfying for me yet, so I still didn't do it.

Then last week I watched a video that made my day. It introduced me to the app LetterGlow and now I am flying through my mobile photos getting all those little moments in a Project Life album! So what is so great about this app? It allows you to IMPORT embellishments from your camera roll or dropbox. Now, when they made it I'm sure the idea was to allow you to use .png file overlays on the picture you are working with (since they have their own overlays in the program in the spot you access this import feature). However, thinking outside the box I realized that it would allow me to use photos as an 'embellishment'. So now I can grab a PL card as the background 'photo', add my photo on top along with some cute journaling (which is what the app is really for) and I've got my cute card all ready to slide into the PL app. Done!

Here's the first page I created. Didn't it just turn out fun!

You can see that most of the work was done right in the PL app, except the bottom right hand card. For this card I used LetterGlow to add the picture to the pocket card along with the journaling. And that fun little arrow was right in the LetterGlow app to. So much fun!

I haven't had a change to print these out yet... but I'm very optimistic that they will turn out splended. Both the PL app and the LetterGlow app export a high resolution photo- so these shouldn't turn out pixelated. I'll keep you updated once I try a test print!

So will you join me in ScrAPPbooking? Would love to hear your take in the comments!

Flutterby again soon!

Catalog Open House

I had so much fun on Saturday hosting my first New Catalog Open House. Can you believe it? I've been a demo for 5 years and I've never done this before. I hope to do it more often from now on cause it was so much fun :)

I had a couple of my stamping gals show up (and one even brought a new friend- Yay!) with their darling daughters. Elli had a BLAST playing with her friends :) and then we all made the Make & Take for the day. I had planned some adorable little pinwheel projects with the kid friendly factor in mind:

I had two styles planned out. The first was to make them like a 'party favor' with a twizzler as the stick. I think these would be so fun to give out at a summer BBQ someday! The other option was to use a paper straw for the base... all the girls chose option #2 (so that they could eat their licorice right away LOL!).

If you've never made a pinwheel they are super easy! Just take a square of DSP and fold it in half diagonally, open it, and fold it diagonally again the other direction. While it is folded use a hole punch to add a small hole right in the center where the creases meet. Then open it up and cut in about 3/4 of the way to the middle on each fold.

Next you are going to punch a hole in every other point (so one of the points from each corner- always on the same location). Push a brad through the center and then fold each of the punched points down to it. Open the brad and then cover the middle with a punched decoration to hide the brad legs. and you're done!

Flutterby again soon!

Super Elmo Party Activities

The best part about a Superhero Party is that the kiddos can pretend to be superheroes themselves, so the activities we planned pretty much centered on this idea.

When the everyone had arrived, each kid received a red super cape. If you look on Pinterest there are all sorts of ideas how to do this. Some of which are VERY ELABORATE. But we chose to stay simple- rectangle of red shiny cloth cut, sticky velcro dots added to the top corners, and done. The kids loved it as much as they would have loved a fancy schmancy cape even ;)

Next, they got to make their way through the superhero training course.

Now although the decorations in the foreground of that picture are fun, I actually posted it for you to look at the background ;) My hubby set up the course for the kids through our back yard by weaving a hose for them to follow through some obstacles. There were gates, a tunnel, balls, baskets, pinwheels... the kiddos had a blast. They ran it over and over again giggling up a storm.

And here is the Birthday Boy with the pinwheel he stole from the course ;)

After supper the little ones also got to decorate some superhero masks. What kid doesn't like stickers after all- and big foam stickers that sparkle are even better. Superheroes to the Rescue! (Love their pose).

I also resurrected the big Sesame Street wall mural from when my DD turned two (they both liked Elmo at two). Perfect location for some family photographs.

And I couldn't send anyone home empty handed. Goodie bags for the kiddos and POPcorn for the adults. There's my punny humor again :)

Hope you enjoyed the Superhero party inspiration.

Flutterby again soon!

Super Elmo Party Food

Every Superhero party has to have SUPER food right? Here's what we served up for our guests:

• Body Builder Burgers
• Hero Hotdogs
• Flying Flakes (Chips)
• Power Pieces (Watermelon sticks)
• Saber Swords (Carrot Sticks)
• Caper Cookies
• Costumed Confections (Cupcakes)

We were blessed with a beautiful day to sit outside and enjoy our new patio too. Perfect for the summer grilling menu!

I made name markers for all the festive food to match the theme from the invites. Here is a view of a couple of them.

Didn't those cupcakes just turn out cute too! I'm so glad I learned how to pipe frosting onto them- SO much EASIER than trying to spread it with a knife and it turns out way more impressive. If you've never tried it you have to for your next set of cupcakes.

And what party would be complete without water bottles- which have to have a spot to write down your name. If you follow me at all you know this is always on my to-do list for party creations ;)

Last, but not least, I made some cute embellishments to dress up the napkins and silverware. I attached them to a strip of 1" DSP that I wrapped around the bundle. In retrospect this was a silly thing for me to even have (recheck the menu- it's all Finger Food- what was I thinking even buying silverware) but they turned out so cute I just had to share anyway.

Superhero party games and activities yet to come. Flutterby again soon!

Two the Rescue Invites

I've been planning for months to do a superhero party for Declan's 2nd birthday- 'Two the Rescue!'... you know I love a good pun :)

Of course then he had to go and fall in love with Elmo (aka Ah-mama in our house) and I knew that Sesame Street would be a theme he would enjoy more. So I smooshed the two together and got a Super Elmo. I figure that works right ;)

Once I had a theme the party planning started much as it always does- with an invite. You've got to get them printed right away and sent out after all! I love what I came up with using the Calling All Heros set. Just check out all it's awesomeness:

Sweet, no? The Super Grover flying across the background was all thanks to my hubby too. He told me I couldn't do superhero Sesame Street without including him. So in he went :)

And since it is Sesame Street there just had to be a theme letter and number of the day. Of course the choices were easy considering it was for Declan's 2nd Birthday.

Hope this inspires your own Superhero party creations.

Flutterby again soon!

It's HERE!!!

Can you feel the excitement in the air?! Wonder what it is from? The new catalog is HERE!! Woot Woot!

I think this may be one of my favorite catalogs yet. There are so many great things in here on my wish list... I'm going to have to pace myself :) But let me show you some of my favorites that I'm getting right away!

The Watercolor Wings Bundle tops my list! And what is there to not love?! Beautiful butterflies (I can't resist) and two more butterfly framelits. I can't WAIT to play with these!

Tin of Card Project kit- isn't this fun! It makes 16 cards (4 of each of the 4 designs) and the cute tin to keep cards in it, with dividers to separate the different themes. Love it! And the matching stamps set of course will be needed :)

Sprinkles of Life stamp set. This is the Ronald McDonald House stamp set for this year- so for every set purchased a portion of the profits go towards the RMHC. Isn't that great! And what a cute set this year. I love it- and you can't forget the matching punch which makes it even sweeter :)

I'm sure there are other favorites yet to come, but these top the list. What are your favorites in the new catalog (Hint: click the catalog cover at the top to browse it). I would love to here your top picks in the comments!

Flutterby again soon!

Elmo Birthday

Whew! It was a busy week last week! First vacation at the lake for Memorial Day weekend, and then a whirlwind of cleaning and preparing for Declan's "Two the Rescue" party on Saturday. All in all I'm tickled pink with how it turned out (don't worry- I'll share the results and pics :) ).

But while I work on my posts about the party, I wanted to share with you this tidbit from the weekend. It is the card my mom made for the Elmo loving birthday boy. Isn't it just adorable!

When it flips open there is a balloon on the reverse side of the 'eye'. So much fun!

This card is made using Circle flip card thinlit- it is an easy way to get the floating, flipping circle on the card :) And then the balloon on the inside is stamped and cut using the Celebrate Today bundle from the spring mini catalog. If you love balloons this is a must have set! So many cute balloon ideas with it and the framelit to cut it out- so no fussycutting. Woot Woot! The rest of Elmo is punch art of various sizes... and I think she just freehand cut for the mouth section.

Declan looks at it and says "Ah-mama". Hehe- that is his way of pronouncing Elmo... so not quite there yet, but anything Elmo sure does get him excited!

Flutterby again soon!