Birthday Present & Gift Bag/Reusable Tote!

Happy Afternoon Everyone! Today I would like to share a quick and fun present and bag all in one! One of my friend's birthdays was the other day, and I always like to suprise her with something unique & different. She is one of my dear friends that truly supports my artistic endeavors. I wanted to give her something inspiring and as soon as I saw it, I just had to get it. I am sure that most of you already know Rhonna Farrer of Rhonna Designs. She creates the most amazing, visually interesting digital images I have ever seen! She is the designer behind Pink Paislee's Daily Junque line just to give you an idea of how talented she is. Rhonna recently created a digital image titled, Focus and here it is in all it's wonderful glory. The sentiment underneath reminds us to make time for ourselves every once in awhile! I purchased this wonderful image and decided to print and frame it for my friend. The funky colors and style I knew would be perfect. After framing it, I decided to make a rosette out of fuschia/orange dupioni silk. It ties amazingly well to the flowers in the image. Additionally I added the vintage blue tickets to make it more like a prize ribbon. I love the way it turned out, and she did too. :) For the gift bag, rather than using the typical throwaway ones; I decided to give her one that she could use as a beach bag or tote bag in the future. Since we are all about using totes these days for shopping, etc isn't this perfect? I also have noticed that burlap is becoming a very hot trend. I purchased this burlap bag and added the rosette/ribbon to the front. To make it a permanent fixture to the bag, I adhered it using E600. You can never go wrong with that stuff! As for the materials I used to create the rosette, I used some beautiful new Webster's Pages Ribbon, cream dupioni silk & some vintage pink/white trim I had in my stash. To give it the folded appearance, I simply used a Cosmo Cricket Gluber. My goodness, those things rock! To give the bag a little bit more of a festive flair, I added 3 pennant flag pins from the Girls' Paperie as well as the "joy" pin. Those are easily removable, and she can take them off before carrying the bag. Clever huh? I thought it would be fun to share this idea with you all. Not only was it fun/quick to put together, I think she truly likes it. I know if I was on the receiving end, I would love it. Which reminds me, I am totally going to print/frame Rhonna's "Focus" for my bedroom. It has such a funky flair...so totally me:)

Thanks for stopping by. I have some exciting news to share with you soon so stay tuned! Amy

DIY Wedding Share the Love Challenge by Crate Paper..."Love Birds"

Last week the Crate Paper blog hosted a challenge to create using "wedding" as the overall theme.  When I saw the Portrait Collection in the early Spring I knew it was a must have.  The combination of creams, black, aqua greens & that floral woodgrain just screamed out to me.  Absolutely gorgeous, I knew that I wanted to create with this collection for the challenge.  Since we had severe storms and power outages last week, I was unable to enter the challenge by the deadline.  :(  That's okay.  Because of the challenge, I forced myself to find time to be "artsy" and now have a sweet creation to show for it.  :)

The baroque frame that I used is a vintage one I found about 5 years ago at a garage sale, just waiting for the right moment to shine.  It is a heavy wood that is golden with a white wash distressing over the top.  Isn't it downright lovely?  For the background, I used all the Portrait Papers and with a scalloped ruler I created the "feathered" look.  After placing the glass on top, I then did a mosaic with 2 "love" birds.  The aqua green spotted tile in the center says "love" in a romantic cursive style.  I wanted to give the illusion that the birds were looking at one another.  I created the eyes using the Portrait Brads & Buttons.  The feet are made from copper wire.  Lastly, to add more dimension I wanted the birds to look like they are standing on branches.  Using my Wild Card Cricut Cartridge I cut the branches out of my favorite paper in the collection:  that gorgeous floral woodgrain.  I know this is a rather unusual mixed media piece but I am truly happy the way it turned out.  As for the wedding themed aspect, I thought this wall piece could hang as decor at the wedding to represent the "love birds."  After the wedding it would be hung in the new couple's home as a forever reminder of their most wonderful day ever! 

Thanks for stopping by, and as always thanks for the wonderful comments and words of encouragement! 

Amy

The Joy of Magnetic Paper Dolls...

My friend's daughter had her sweet little birthday party today. So what does one get for a 4-year-old child that surely has every princess accessory and Barbie doll under the sun? You make them something handmade, that's what! In addition to a cute little kitty cat purse, I decided to make her some paper dolls! This was lots of fun for me, let me just tell you it brought back great memories of playing with them as a child. Remember when the tabs would get all worn and tear? The clothes would never seem to stay on very long. Well, I came up with a great solution. Magnetic sheeting!

First of all, I must say what inspired me to do the paper dolls was an adorable digital collection by Pretty Little Studio. Have you ever heard of them? They have the most fanstastic vintage imagery of children, clowns, bunnies, etc. If you love vintage like I do, then you will definitely want to check them out at http://www.prettylittlestudio.com/.

The set I chose to work from is the "Mary" Nursery Rhyme Collection. The size of the doll and the cut-outs print out at approximately 4 - 5" each. The perfect size to fit into a tin Maya Road lunchbox! (I had this in my stash of old packaging that used to house Maya Road chipboard.)  These are perfect for sweet little gifts like this as there is even a little clear window on one side to "peek" in. Since the box is made out of tin, the magnets stick to it perfectly. The back of the case is the ideal platform for creating/dressing Mary in all her fancy outfits.

If you are interested in making some of these for a little girl, or even for yourself I will share with you a brief tutorial on how I created this one-of-a-kind gift.

1. Order the digital images at http://www.prettylittlestudio.com/. The set is only $3, that is what I call a deal. Or if you prefer, you can order the actual paper dolls and work from them. As most of you know, I am more of a traditional crafter; but sometimes in a time crunch, digital is definitely a great way to go.
2. Print out all the images on high quality photo paper.

3. Place all the images on magnetic sticky backed sheeting and fussy cut around the doll, each dress and hat. No need to include the tabs since it is magnetic. Where the lines are dashed, you will use an x-acto knife to cut the openings...this is typically where Mary's head slides through for the hats.

4. To add additional texture to each of the dresses, I added vintage lace, silver/red ricrac & pom poms.  For the hats I added a blue gem, a pink feather, red velvet ribbon and gold flowers from Jolee's Boutique.
5. Take the tin lunchbox and clean/take off all stickers. Next cover the back of the box with a gingham red paper. I used some from GCD Studios Artsy Urban Collection.
6. Included in the digital images is a cover page that has the title, and the illustrator details. I used this as part of my packaging. I took some kraft paper and cut a strip that would wrap completely around the box. I then cut angles & glued the title to the kraft strip.

7. For the inside of the box, I added kraft krinkle stuffing at the bottom. I then tied all the dresses and the hats together using baker's twine.
8. To finish it, just stick Mary to the back of the box. I added the "Pretty Little Studio" as a magnet so that it can be removed when the little one is playing with the paper dolls. Next wrap the label around the box and you're done!

I hope that little Lucy will enjoy this gift. I am a mother of 2 boys so I don't get to do too much of this girlie stuff. It is so refreshing to be a little girl again every once in awhile! I hope you enjoy the tutorial, and I wish you all a wonderful evening! Amy

Arrow Perpetual Calendar

As some of you know, I won the entire Pink Paislee's Daily Junque Collection a few months ago. Definitely one of my favorite collections ever, I am really gravitated to the vintage imagery, the whimsical feel and all the numerical graphics. What perfect product to create one of my well know perpetual calendars! This is the first one I have created in the shape of an arrow...I think it is a good match with the Daily Junque line, don't you? In addition to many scrapbooking products, I used lots of vintage ephemera as I do on all my calendars.

Here is a list of the goods...

Paper: Pink Paislee, October Afternoon, Prima, Teresa Collins

Stickers: Echo Park, EK Success, Martha Stewart
Rub-ons: Jenni Bowlin

Journaling Spots: Jillibean Soup
Die-cuts: Pink Paislee
Bingo Marker: Maya Road

Other: arrow shaped metal sheet, aqua computer key, 1" buttons

Vintage other: scrabble tile, ticket, rummikub, boyscout patch, playing card, dominoes, lotto, marquee numbers, typewriter keys, bingo markers/ball, poker chip, dice, wooden ruler, checker, skeleton key

I hope you all are enjoying your Sunday afternoon!

PS, I have had several requests for a tutorial on my calendars. I plan on doing a comprehensive one in the future with many pictures. Sound like a plan?

I will be back soon,

Amy

Curio Window

Happy Saturday My Friends! I just came in from working in the yard the past 5 hours. Talk about worn out and covered in dirt! It is 95 degrees out there, but something about working in the yard and the flower beds is very therapeutic for me. How about you?

Today I would like to share with you a custom window that I just completed yesterday. My customer wanted a window for her remodeled kitchen and chose to do incorporate colors that were in her wedding: olive greens, tans, browns & creams. After working together, we came up with this design using the ever so gorgeous Basic Grey's Curio Collection. I think the window turned out wonderfully and it has a fresh botanical feel that is so popular right now. I hope that she truly loves it. Creating a one-of-a-kind piece that she can enjoy for many, many years to come makes my happy. :)

I hope all of you are fantastic; have a fun & restful Saturday night!
Talk to you soon!
Amy

School's Out For Summer!

My little guy, Jack finished his last day of 1st Grade on Friday. When I picked him up from school, his face was all red and tears were streaming down. My sweet little Jack. He is my sensitive little one who definitely takes after his mama. I get all tied up in emotions and tend to cry at the drop of a hat. (Even tears of joy, I can't seem to hold back.) Even though most children are reveling in the fact that school is out for summer, Jack is sad. He has been filled with excitement all week from the year end festivities at school, but knew that at the end of the week it would be time for goodbyes. He adores his teacher and several friends in his class. One of them is even moving away to Oregon permanently. He knows deep down that he most likely said bye to his friend forever, and it is so much for his little mind and heart to grasp. We as adults know how hard it can be, and sometimes it breaks my heart to watch my kids grow and learn that we all have to encounter times of sadness and goodbyes in our life. Wow, I thought this would be a lively post, but I have progressively gone downhill! It doesn't help that I just watched Charlie St. Cloud, what a tear jerker movie!

Today I am sharing with you my final card for http://www.twistedsketches.com/. Yes, my term is up and it was a fun & exciting experience! The card is sketch #061 with "summer" as the twist. I thought this would be the perfect time to create this card for my Jack to signify that "school is out for summer" is a time to celebrate! He will have enough things to worry about as an adult...he should embrace being a child and enjoy every single minute of it. What I wouldn't give to be a child again! How about you?

The products I used are as follows:

KI Memories: lasercut Swirls in teal from the Pop Culture collection

Jenni Bowlin: Play Date Die-Cut Label Paper (I wanted to use it, but the overall image was way too big for a 5X7 card, so I decided to scan and shrink the image. It worked out perfectly. I used one print directly on the card. The other one, I hand cut the sun rays, curled them up and applied some chalk ink for extra dimension.)

ColorBox: Yellow Citrus & Sky Blue chalk inks

The Girls' Paperie: cardstock stickers from the Kitch collection

Cosmo Cricket: cardstock stickers from the Oh Boy! collection

Pink Paislee: Weathered Wood Scarlet chipboard alphas

American Crafts: Thickers Vinyl Poolside alphas

Other: kraft cardstock & white embroidery floss

I hope you all have enjoyed all the cards I have created for the Twisted Sketches Design Team. :)

Amy

Twisted Card #060 JOY

Today, Twisted Sketches has revealed our newest card creations for sketch #060 with "joy" as the twist. When I heard the word joy, I immediately thought of "comfort & joy." A dear loved one in my life has been through some major tough times both mentally & physically so I made this card especially for her.

I used lots of materials to create this card. Here is a comprehensive list of all the supplies and products used...Cricut Storybook Cartridge, Li'l Davis Designs chipboard alphas, Doodlebug Loopy Love sticker alphas, Pink Paislee's Cherry Chipboard ampersand, Jolee's Boutique Parcel gold flowers, K & Company Naked Chipboard Tags, Sassafras Life Is Beautiful paper & Cosmo Cricket Lil' Man: Silly Sam paper. I also used some ColorBox chalk ink around the dotted/embossed edges of the K & Co kraft tag...it really added some nice dimension.

Please be sure to check out the absolutely fabulous cards the rest of the girls on the design team created. They all had different takes on the word joy in fun and unique ways. While you are there, you can see the card sketch too! :) http://www.twistedsketches.com/

Have a fun & relaxing Saturday evening. Tonight is the season finale' of Saturday Night Live with Justin Timberlake as the guest. I know what I will be watching later tonight!

Cavallini Bird PEACE Window

Hello! I just wanted to drop by and share another one of my recently created windows. For the background I used some of the luscious Cavallini decorative paper "Flora & Fauna Birds & Music." Don't you love the patchwork/collage feel to the paper? I think it is absolutely dreamy. On the top of the glass, I added my signature mosaic swirls, the word "peace" and added a vintage copper trivet to the center. The diameters of the window are appx 3' tall X 2.75 ' wide.

I hope you like it, and as always thank you so dearly for your supportive comments and your sweet friendships! :)

I think I am going to go get some shut eye...I am feeling rather exhausted after a long day...sweet dreams! Amy

CURLY Girl!

Happy Saturday to all my fabulous friends! Today I would love to share with you the most amazing gift I received for my birthday (aside from the aqua typewriter ;)...

I love making handmade gifts and love receiving them just as much. My cousin Nancy presented me with this masterpiece. Talk about tons of detail with all the painting, misting, stamping, rubbings, etc...I look at it over and over again and every time find something new to admire. The title says, "No matter how straight you get your hair, you will always be a "curly" girl inside." Isn't that the sweetest? Nancy and I are first cousins and we have always shared the trials of having super curly hair all our lives. With the invention of straight irons, I have started straightening my hair more and more. This is just a sweet reminder of how close her and I truly are.

Please be sure to stop by her blog and let her know how truly inspiring her creative talent is at
http://justaboutthedetails.com/?p=3298

Thanks for stopping by, and thank you dearly Nancy for this gift I will cherish forever. I love you!

"HOOT" Owl Window

This window is one of my newest creations. It is definitely one of the smaller windows I have worked with, but it was fun to work with as I was able to see my finished product much quicker! :)

The background paper is specialty wrap designed by Carolyn Gavin. Have you heard of her? Her designs are so fun and whimsical, I stalk her blog regularly...I think she dreams up these cute creations in her sleep...she is always coming up with something new and different. She had a complete collection with K & Company a few years ago called Greenhouse. (Of course I have the whole collection, they sold it at Michael's.) All of her creations are now produced via Ecojot...with lots of fun journals, stationery, etc...you will love it once you lay your eyes on it. Her blog is http://www.designerjots.blogspot.com/.

Back to the window: the background is covered in funny, kooky owls...all different and unique. I decided to create a large scale version with my own twist. The body, wings, etc are all created with vintage plates, tile and grout. I created the feet with thick copper wiring. Since I try to continually evolve with my mosaics...I find myself trying to incorporate other things...making it more of a mixed media piece if you will. The left eye is a vinyl flower from Bella Blvd. The eye on the right, I created using an American Crafts Mini-Mark Rub-on (the white circle scallop) and a vintage bingo marker. The last piece that I found to be very essential to the piece is the light aqua crepe paper ruffle...it almost looks like a tutu or a short apron on the owl. It gives it lots of fun texture. I truly love the way it turned out. Wouldn't it be cute in a little girl's room? As always, thanks for stopping by! Happy Tuesday!

Twisted Card #058 LAUGH & Happy Mother's Day!

It's time for Twisted Card Sketch #058 with "laugh" as the twist. I have always loved the inspirational phrase, "To Live, Love, Laugh & Dream." Mother's Day is upon us as well, so I decided to incorporate the twist into the card I created for my dear mom.

I used lots of different products to create this card. Here is a comprehensive list of all the goods...The Girls' Paperie: Jubilee Striped Paper & Sticker Market Alphas, Kitch Flower Market Crepe Papers; Making Memories: Hudson Aquamarine Rub-ons; American Crafts: Mini Marks Wedding Rub-ons; Prima Red Polka Dot Transparency; Echo Park: Everybody Loves Christmas scalloped sticker; Jenni Bowlin: Reverse Red Alpha Stickers; Lil Davis Designs: Love Bottle Caps; ColorBox Ice Blue Chalk Ink; In Stitchz Edgy Borders; CTMH: Over the Rainbow Stamp Set & Breeze Ink, as well as kraft cardstock, white embroidery floss and pinking shears. Whew, what a long list!

For the inside, I decided to create my sentiment using my "new" vintage typewriter! It is one of my wonderful birthday presents. Isn't the color absolutely fabulous! I could just sit and stare at it for hours. It took me awhile as it is a totally manual typewriter from the early 1950's. Man, talk about spoiled! We really take for granted how easy it is to type using a computer keyboard. I kept looking for a return key...but there isn't one! You have to pull the silver lever on the left to get to the next line! I don't know about all of you, but I learned to type on an electric typewriter as a child. My goodness how things have changed!

Please be sure to stop by http://www.twistedsketches.com/ to see the actual sketch and all the other beautiful cards the other Twisted Sisters created.

Well, I need to start getting ready for our Mother's Day festivities. I wish all of you fabulous women out there a fabulous Mother's Day. :) Be sure to share the love with your babies, old or young and take it easy...you deserve it!

Love, Amy

Perpetual Calendar made of Cork!

This is a new take on the perpetual calendars I make. Rather than doing it on metal, this time I decided to create one on cork. Same concept, but rather than using magnets...all the numbers are pushpins!

To create my calendar let me first talk about all the fabulous images around the edges. It may look store bought because the images are so crisp, but no! Those are in fact stamped images I put on the cork...amazing, huh! About a month ago I hit up a garage sale that had thousands of amazing stamps...all brand new with intense details...full of fabulous vintage imagery. I bought about 20 stamps that day and am kicking myself now that I didn't buy more. For $1 & $2 a piece, what the heck was I thinking! 90% of the stamps used on this calendar are of those garage sale beauties...the rest are a few from Pink Paislee & the Girls Paperie. I created a mask so that the center of the cork would be untouched for the calendar grid. I placed a bracket shape piece of paper on top of the cork and started stamping away. Since there is so much texture with cork and there is so much detail in the stamps, I had my reservations at first. Let me just tell you, the key is to use Staz-On. That stuff is the bomb...I use it on practically everything! Next, I drew my grid with a Sharpie and stamped the days of the week using one of my Fancy Pants stamp sets. To create all the numbers, I went through tons of my paper & sticker stash pulling anything with numbers on it. I also used some pages from catalogs, magazines, etc. I used my handy dandy button making machine, as I have told many of you before...this is a fun, must have gadget for all you crafters out there. :)

I hope you enjoy it! Tell me which you like better. The magnetic or the corkboard, I really am curious about your thoughts. Just want some input as to whether I should make more of this kind or continue to focus my efforts on the magnetic. As always, thanks so much for your support and your sweet comments.

I turn the big "40" today. I can't believe it, where has the time gone! I plan to spend it with my sweet little Sam (3) by my side as well as many close family and friends for lunch & dinner. It is supposed to be in the 70's today & sunny...my absolute favorite kind of weather. :)

The Paper Crown's SPRING GLITTER MARKET!

The big day is almost here! I will be one of many unique artist's at the upcoming Glitter Market going on this Saturday, April 30th from 10 AM- 5 PM. If you live anywhere around the Oklahoma City Metro area, it would be worth your while to come and peruse the gorgeous work that will be available for purchase. The best part, there will be tons of pretty things just in time for Mother's Day and upcoming graduations. To read the full list of artists participating, please check out The Paper Crown's blog at http://papercrownokc.blogspot.com/. Cindy Winter, the owner of Paper Crown is enticing her viewers daily with a countdown to the upcoming show. Be sure to check out her countdown posts revealing some of the gorgeous goods that will be available. I hope to see some of you this Saturday!

Twisted Card #056 "YELLOW"

Today Anam, creator of http://www.twistedsketches.com/ has revealed her latest card sketch with "yellow" being the twist...any how any way. Let me just tell you, my Twisted Sisters did a fabulous job. Their cards are all so cheery, bright & beautiful! Be sure to stop by and check them out, you will be glad you did! :)

For me, I wouldn't say that yellow has ever been one of my top favorite colors; so I struggled with this for awhile. Digging through my mountains of paper yet to be touched, I found some fabulous papers in one of my K&Company pads. The line is called "Handmade" and it is filled with beautiful papers in yummy yellows, hot pinks, purples & greens. In addition, I used Cosmo Cricket Ready-Set-Chip Red Line Alphas, yellow glitter alpha stickers from my stash, a sweet yellow Jenni Bowlin butterfly, yellow seem binding, foam dots, & Colorbox Lipstick Red Chalk Ink. I decided to do some hand stitching with hot pink floss and created the pattern using my handy In-Stitchz Edgy Border template. Lastly, the bright pink cabochon in the center of the bow is made out of Sculpey Clay. I created the fab texture on it using bisque stamps I purchased from Charity Elise on Etsy. These are lots of fun to work with...if interested, you can check out her shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop/chARiTyelise?ref=pr_shop.

Thanks for stopping by, and as always thanks for all the sweet supportive comments you leave me!
HAPPY EASTER to you and yours!

I am a Guest Designer @ For Your Inspiration!

Hello Dear Friends!  A fellow Twisted Sister and friend of mine, Stephanie Castro asked me awhile back to be a Guest Designer for her new Challenge Blog, "For Your Inspiration."  Every 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month, Stephanie presents a fabulous photo for inspiration.  We invite you to come play along and see what all the talented design team members are creating!  To see the inspirtation photo and other gorgeous interpretations, please visit http://foryourinspirationchallenges.blogspot.com/2011/04/fyi-challenge-4.html.  They are definitely "out of this world!"  :)

Onto the details of my card...

When I initially saw the photo, I thought about a show I used to watch as a child..."Big Blue Marble In Space."  Do any of you remember that show?  It was like a science show for kids and I loved it...yeah, I am showing my age.  :)  Anyway, I opted to create a card for my niece that turns 13 next week.  She will be an official teenager...I can't believe how time flies.  Creating this card for her was perfect once I decided what the sentiment would be..."you R outta this world."  Of course, something any teenage girl loves to hear...basically that she is truly "fabulous" and she truly is.  She loves bling also, so it was the perfect fit!

The blue, graduated dot overlay is from Prima.  I decided to put black paper behind it to sort of mimic that it was bluer at the bottom like the earth and darker up in space.  The black/white baker's twine sort of represents the horizon...the divider between earth and space.  I used Bazzill self-adhesive jewels randomly to mimic stars.  I created the sentiment/title out of several different fonts to make it more playful...Making Memories Shimmer Jigsaw Alphas, Doodlebug Design Loopy Love Swimming Pool Stickers & American Crafts Sarah Script Letter Stickers.  To represent the earth, I tilted the "O" and put some fun argyle map paper behind it...the Danny O line from K & Company.  To give it a little more pop I also put a round die-cut from Cosmo Cricket's Tank Mix.  The bracket behind the title is LUXE 's Sprinkles  Bell Bottoms paper.  To achieve lots of dimension, I used lots of pop dots.  I am thinking Miss Jordyn will like it.  Don't you think this is a card a teenage girl would appreciate?  Yeah, yeah I am sure she would rather some cute, designer clothes instead.  Look out world, here she comes!  Happy Birthday Jordyn, I love you!

Easter ATC Swap & Moxie Fab World Challenge!

Hello Everyone! With Easter quickly approaching, we all have that feeling that Spring is in the air or hopefully arriving soon. (Sadly for some of you, I have been reading that you still have snow!) Well, today I would like to share with you my set of Artist Trading Cards I created for an Easter Swap sponsored by the Paper Crown in Oklahoma City. Not the average scrapbooking store, it is filled with luscious displays that make you drool with excitement every time you walk in the door. Seriously, it is ultra-fabulous and for me it is every bit worth the almost hour drive up there. Fortunately for those of you who live far away, they are currently in the works of an online store. In the meantime, you should check out their blog for lots of fun inspiration and over-the-top mixed media classes they offer. Check it out at http://papercrownokc.blogspot.com/

Okay, onto the cards. Since the theme was Easter and I love anything vintage, I started searching through my vintage card stash/inspiration and came across this super sweet card of a fluffy bird nestled in the basket of an egg-shaped, hot-air balloon. Being that the standard ATC is only 2.5" X 3.5", I copied/reduced the image down to fit the card. After printing on photo paper, I pierced all the ropes of the balloon and hand stitched a light brown embroidery floss on each one. To keep the stitching securely in place and to not reveal on the other side of the ATC, I then ran it through my Xyron machine and adhered it to the playing card. To accentuate the clouds, I drew/cut out clouds from some Making Memories Slice glitter dot paper. Isn't that sweet robin egg blue color so dreamy? I pop dotted several of the clouds to add more dimension. Then I rubbed some light blue chalk ink around the edges.  Lastly, I created the whimsical banner by printing "Happy Easter" directly onto kraft paper, cutting out my ribbon banner shape and topped it off with some silver Stickles around the edges. I curled the banner in the center and edges, and that's about it! I covered the entire back with the same glitter dots paper and put my personal/website information on it. This is my first time to create Artist Trading Cards and it was super fun. How cool is it to share a little slice of your art/creativity with someone else and receive some of theirs in return!

These ATC cards not only were to share with others, but they are playing double duty! :) Moxie Fab World is hosting a challenge/contest through tomorrow titled, "In My Beautiful Balloon Challenge in the Moxie Fab World." Have you heard of Moxie Fab World? If you haven't, what are you waiting for? They host tons of fun contests, challenges and inspiration...be sure to check out this challenge and many others at http://www.moxiefabworld.com/2011/03/next-moxie-fab-world-challenge-in-my.htmliefabworld.com/2011/03/next-moxie-fab-world-challenge-in-my.html. If you have any fun, hot-air balloon creations, make sure to hurry and enter as this challenge closes at midnight, EST Monday, April 18.

Here are the lovelies I received from the other ladies in the swap...aren't they so fun! I just love all the sweet colors of Spring incorporated in each one...all handmade with love. They are all so beautiful...check out the "Faberge" black/hot pink egg card that actually opens up to reveal a vintage photo inside...talk about an amazing amount of detail...and the one with the 3-dimensional robin blue egg...that has to be the most adorable thing ever!

Twisted Card #054 "BRIGHT" & The Girls' Paperie

Hello Everyone! How are you? I hope all is well! Today I would like to share with you my most recent card creation for Twisted Card Sketch #054. This week's twist is "bright." I am sure you can tell right away I decided to use a "shining" star to signify my take on the twist. As for my scrapping yummies, I decided to go totally Girls' Paperie. I don't know if you have heard yet, but Margie (the creator of the Girl's Paperie) has decided to close the Girls' Paperie Company and move on to other adventures. I was devastated to find this out, as the Girls' Paperie is so fun and fresh, definitely one of my favorite companies in the scrapping industry. After hearing the news last week, I went to my LSS and bought every possible GP product they had available!

Onto the details...I started with a bright pink 5X7 cardstock card by American Crafts. I covered the front with Making Memories Slice specialty paper, Shimmer Aqua Dot. Next I used my Cindy Loo Cricut Cartridge to create my diecut flourish out of the Girls' Paperie Jubilee Paper. One side is floral, and the other side is pink with text. Both sides of the paper are so fabulous, I decided I would incorporate both! After cutting the diecut, I adhered the floral negative space onto the card. I then flipped the flourish onto the pink text side and adhered it with foam squares to give extra dimension and also expose some more of the yummy aqua dot paper underneath. Next, I used Webster's Aqua Trim to give the color some extra pop. I glued the crepe paper star in the center, also by GP. I then took some satin robin egg blue ribbon from Michael's and created the word "shining' on top of it using Cheeky Shimmer Stickers from Making Memories. Lastly, I added the text stickers at the top left...from GP's Vintage Whimsy Sticker Market. I am very happy with the way it turned out. I think I will give it to my niece Allison for her upcoming 10th birthday. It would look very cute in her room on a bulletin board or something.

I hope I have inspired you to create today! As for the actual card sketch and other fantastically "bright" cards, please be sure to stop over at http://www.twistedsketches.com/!

PS, be sure to go buy some Girls' Paperie before it is all gone! :)