Get your Summer Shimmer on!

The latest Lucky Girl Crafts kit is out, and I've been hard at work! In August, we're highlighting each designer in their own individualized segments before a big mid-month blog hop, and I'm up first. Take a peek at my first projects:

This layout uses the bold, bright SEI paper from the kit, along with coordinating papers from Echo Park Paper and American Crafts. In addition to the August kit, I used a few small pieces from my stash (the tickets from MME, and the small yellow alpha from My Little Shoebox).

These matching cards were created with the copper-foiled SEI Sunny Day paper in honor of the 2nd anniversary at Practical Scrappers. I also used some of the pink tulle from the May "Spring Soiree" kit and Thickers from our October "Boo Crew" kit.

Be sure to join us over at Practical Scrappers this week for a week-long online layout contest, where you'll be given two "ingredients" to add to your layout each day before the contest culminates on Saturday for a chance to win. We're also doing a huge blog hop on the 5th - so two great things you don't want to miss!

Check out the latest & greatest kit.... Summer Shimmer!


Summer Shimmer is packed full of bright designs, exquisite detailing and TONS of fantabulous embellies, it's a perfect compliment to all of your sassy summer projects!

Find our August kit, along with fabulous deals on paper packs from the last few kits and other great deals in our store now!

LGC Blog Party - Spring Soiree - May 1-7!

Hi friends! Thanks for joining me for the monthly Lucky Girl Crafts Blog Party, which runs from May 1-7! We have tons of amazing projects meant to inspire you and get your creative mojo flowing. With this fun, bright kit, it's easy to do!

SPRING SOIREE is packed full of bright colors, glitz and glam and an eclectic assortment of awesome prints that are perfect for getting rid of those winter doldrums. Check out those embellies - definitely drool-worhty.Be sure to share the great news about our awesome Blog Party special, which runs May 1-7...

Just in time to celebrate Mother's Day & National Scrapbook Month,
new annual subscriptions purchased during the Blog Party will only be
$25/month!

In addition to guaranteeing that you get your hands on the latest & greatest Lucky Girl Crafts kit each month, subscribers also receive a special bonus kit valued at $25 at the end of their one-year term.

What are you waiting for?! www.LuckyGirlCrafts.com
You can choose from the monthly or pre-paid billing options for this great deal - no code needed!
*International orders welcome, but please e-mail jasafras98@yahoo.com

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Now, for my projects:

With three graduations to go to, a congratulations card was at the top of my creative list!

This one was inspired by this week's Sketchy Thursdays challenge. The bright colors and funky prints were fabulous for Sophia's mommy & me birthday pedi pics from last year. I dyed my Color Me Crazy silk flower with Tattered Angels mist, so it's got even more glitz & glam to it!

Some of you may have seen this one for the Sketch Inspiration project prompt last week, but it remains one of my all-time faves. The bright colors from the Pink Paislee papers, paired with the thin silk ribbon and American Crafts brad created perfect harmony for our beach vacation.

Be sure to invite your friends & check out more great kit inspiration by playing along in our blog party hop! Your next stop is EMILY

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Now, who wants a chance at winning our random $7 Lucky Bucks giveaway? Remember, we're only giving away two prizes during the blog party - the GRAND PRIZE on the store blog, and one additional Lucky Bucks giveaway from just ONE of the other Lucky Girl DT members! Be sure to visit them all and comment on their posts for a better chance of winning!

Earn 1 entry for "sharing" our Blog Party post via your blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Earn 1 entry for answering the question of the week: After a long winter, what's the thing you most look forward to about spring?

Earn 10 entries for placing any order in our store between now and May 7.

Good luck!

Hey good looking!

Happy Friday, friends! This morning we woke up to 5” of heavy, wet spring snow… just two days after my son was wearing shorts to school. The snow is expected to melt by this afternoon, with temps forecasted in the upper 50s. Aaaahhh, spring in Colorado. There’s nothing quite like it!

It’s been a busy few weeks, but I found some time to play with my March Lucky Girl kit – Homemade Happiness. I finished up a few little projects I had created with the Echo Park loveliness in the kit, creating this card with a hand-cut & embellished apron plus a little cupcake box – all from the scraps I had left over from my layout projects!

I can’t believe how many projects I was able to get out of one kit. A total of EIGHT fully embellished layouts, four cards and the cupcake box – seriously a steal for just $29.99! I even have a few extra goodies left for other projects, too. Being thrifty always makes me smile! There’s even a few of the kits left in the store – hurry and grab yours today before they’re gone!

Anyhow - I used scraps from this layout and this layout to create everything here.

My apron was trimmed from the reverse side of the Echo Park - For the Record "Stamp of Approval" paper - that beautiful red pattern was perfect for it! After hand-cutting out my little apron, I embellished it with one of the Echo Park - For the Record "Noteworthy" journal spots that I trimmed down for the front pocket, a little of the black pom pom trim from the kit, and some ricrac and stitched grosgrain from my stash. The apron turned out so cute, I wish it was real so I could have it!

The little box was done with the scraps from the Echo Park - For the Record "Tablecloth" paper I used on my "What I Like Best" layout. I added a little American Crafts ribbon and assorted little flowers. The flag was also from the Echo Park - For the Record "Noteworthy" paper, and was added onto a toothpick with some fun green flowers for a cake topper.

I hope your weekend treats you sweetly!

Cute & Easy Cards - Final day of our LGC Blog Party!

Welcome back! Today's the last day of the Lucky Girl Crafts blog party celebrating our March kit- "Homemade Happiness",

Please be sure to visit the rest of the Lucky Girls and check out their amazing projects. They've all done such an incredible job with this kit - you won't be disappointed! Just click on their names in the post above and you'll be taken right where you need to be!

I still have two more layouts to share with you from this kit, I thought I'd hold off on those for later on in the weekend. Instead, I thought I'd end with some fabby vintage cards I created with my scraps.

You can still get your hands on one of these great kits. Why not take advantage of our awesome deal when you get it?

BUY ANY 2 LUCKY GIRL CRAFTS KITS & SAVE $10!
Just use discount code BUY2SAVE10 at checkout

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Now, who wants to get Lucky?

For a chance to win $7 in Lucky Bucks to our store, play along! A random winner will be drawn from all Blog Party entries on/around March 4th.

Earn 1 entry for referring a friend to the LGC blog party.

*** Don't forget about our Refer-a-Friend contest, where you can also win an awesome {separate} prize pack. Check out this post for more info.***

Earn 1 entry for participating in today's "dare": Do something nice for someone else - perform a random act of kindness & let me know what you did. Pass a little love along!

Did you know? You can also earn 10 entries for the giveaways on all of the Lucky Girl Crafts Blog Party when you place any order between now and March 3! A few of you have already earned more than 10 entries - who else is going to add to their chances with their new LGC order?

Fun & Fanciful - LGC Blog Party FINAL DAY!

Hello! We've almost made it through the week - woohoo! This is also the last day of the February Lucky Girl Crafts blog party, celebrating our latest kit, "Kid at Heart". This kit is awesome, and so jammed pack that today isn't actually the last time you'll see my projects from it this month. I've got so many more to share with you, but for today, I'll give you two projects!

Before we get to my latest projects, though, have you visited the rest of the Lucky Girls? Each of them has a prize to give away, and the new team is rocking our latest kit! Be sure to check them out & give them a warm welcome - their links are in the posting above.

In the spirit of our celebration, here's a little birthday card. I love the little animals from the Prima papers, especially paired with the vintage-funk of the Echo Park patterns and metallic Studio 54 adhesive embellies. Don't they make just sweet little balloons?

And finally, a little tribute to a family stay-cation. We brought my mother-in-law to town for a round of mini golf, and the fun number paper was a perfect mimicking of our score cards - especially since we don't really keep accurate scores.

I did a lot of fussy-cutting here, with the Echo Park flowers. I further embellished them with the Mod Podge Dimensional Glaze and pop dots, which created a natural curled effect. I also added Dimensional Glaze to the centers of the small green flowers, and, though you can't really tell, to the glittered chipboard Thickers. I really love how that turned out!

Today's your last chance to try to get Lucky!

Each of the Lucky Girls on our blog party has some Lucky Bucks to give away, and each day of the party you'll have another chance to enter to win! Just follow these simple steps for a chance to win $7 Lucky Bucks to our store for my stop in the Blog Party!

Earn 1 entry for referring a friend to the LGC blog party

Earn 1 entry for answering today's question:

What 5 products in our store most make you feel like a kid again?!

Earn 10 entries for the giveaways on all of the Lucky Girl Crafts Blog Party when you place any order by the end of the day!!!

The best way to know life is to love many things...

I've been following the 2 Sketches 4 You blog almost as long as I've been blogging myself. Though I don't often get a chance to participate in the challenges, I am always inspired by the fab artwork Laura & Kazan's team put together each week... not to mention drool over the weekly prizes.

Speaking of prizes, I like trying my hand at winning on several of my favorite manufacturer's blogs, including American Crafts Studio blog (hello, Thickers!). The weekly prizes over there are always amazing!

Since I finally was able to find my April Magpie kit, which had a bunch of American Crafts papers and their new Dear Lizzie stickers, plus some fun die cut paper that worked great for the 2S4U sketch, I worked my mojo to create this springy card:

I love that I was able to create such a pretty card with stickers! It's nice to not have to lug all my stamping gear out for one teeny, tiny card, ya know?

Anyhow, this card was created with American Crafts cardstock, glittered paper, and their latest line of Dear Lizzie Remarks Accent Stickers and Dear Lizzie Remarks Phrase Stickers.

In addition to the American Crafts items, I also used some Kaiser Craft & K&Co. pearl bling, Stampin' Up grosgrain ribbon & pop dots, Little Yellow Bicycle die cut & patterned paper and Powder Puffs chalk ink, plus a little ribbon slide from my stash.

Mark It Up

Isn't this card just yummy?! A cute cupcake, lots of bling and my favorite color combo... this might be one of my favorite projects!

Our challenge this week at Practical Scrappers was to use markers for our project. Here, I used Staedletter fine-tip markers to color in my stamped image (direct to stamp) - that way I was able to pinpoint the exact areas for each color without having to do some masking or paper piercing technique. Quick and easy - what's not to love about that?! After I colored everything in, I huffed on the colored rubber stamp (essentially breathed on it to re-moisten the first-colored areas) and stamped it onto white cardstock. I traced around the flowers and touched-up trouble spots, then cut out the cupcake and popped it up on pop dots.

I also used marker to create doodly frames around the blingy pink cardstock and the large pink circle, plus to write the sentiment.

You don't want to miss a visit to Practical Scrappers, too... our amazing design team has been knocking it out of the park lately - their projects really rock!

And speaking of amazing Practical Scrappiness.... did you know that next week we're having a Spring Challenge Blog Hop starting on Monday, April 12th - featuring not just Practical Scrappers, but Cuttlebug Spot, Scrap that Poetry, 365 Cards, Pile it On & Sketchy Thursdays. Be sure to join us for all the fun!!!

Keep on dreamin'

Happy spring, friends! We finally saw our first sunny and somewhat warm day this week, so I've been inspired to work with bright colors, like on the card above.

Our challenge this week at Frosted Designs was to incorporate the word 'Dream' into our project. Since it's getting close to gradation season, I thought the rub-on sentiment would be perfect.

This unique card uses so much randomness from my stash that I can't credit anything by the flower - Prima - and the Kaiser Craft bling. Oh - and the ink that I used to distress everything, which is from Close To My Heart.


Thanks so much for stopping by! Be sure to check out all of the other work from the talented team at Frosted Designs - I for one can't wait to see what they've come up with this week.

Fun & Funky Colors to Welcome Warmer Weather! FD Color Challenge

Frosted Designs has a color challenge this week to get us all in the mood for spring. We challenge you to use BLACK, LIME GREEN & HOT PINK as your primary colors on your project.

Here's what I came up with:

This whimsical card was created with papers from Colorbok, cardstock from Bazzill, die stickers, hot pink cardstock and white flower from Close To My Heart, glitter embossed cardstock from Doodlebug Designs, patterned flwoers from Making Memories, bling from K&Co., brad from Target Dollar Spot and ribbon from Offray.

Be sure to stop by the Frosted Designs site to check out how the DT used this challenge on all of their awesome projects this week!

Clearly, it's (almost) spring in Colorado! Transparency Challenge for Frosted Designs

Here's another delayed challenge post... This time from last week's transparency challenge at Frosted Designs.

First, a close up:

And finally, the whole shebang:

For this card, I {carefully} embossed a Close To My Heart butterfly stamp using Versamark and black embossing powder from Stampin' Up on a heavy-duty 3M transparency film, then I carefully cut the butterfly out and used it as a template for the bottom part of the butterfly. For the bottom part, I used a variety of Twinkling H20s iridescent water color paints to make kind of sunburst of colors. Once this was dry, I cut it out and popped it up to place in the center of the distressed circle. I added double-sided sticky tape from Stampin' Up to the body of the butterfly, then bent the wings outward slightly to make it appear that the butterfly was in flight. I added a few color-coordinated brads from Basic Grey and a big black bow to finish the card off.

Goin' Green - Chipboard Challenge at Practical Scrappers

Hello friends,

I am finally fully back to normal - yeah! - and created a fun project for this week's chipboard challenge at Practical Scrappers - reusing some packaging from one of my favorite scrappy goodies - Prima bling flourishes.

For this square card, I used the Rainy Day Cynthia digi stamp from The Stamping Boutique - one of our wonderful sponsors over at Practical Scrappers - and matted it onto a trimmed piece of the Prima packaging. The diecut flourishes and fresh, organic printed design were too cute to toss, and was a great compliment for the colors I used to add some life to the little fairy girl. (Stampin' Up Watercolor Wonder Crayons, of course!)


Green Tip: A lot of manufacturers incorporate fun packaging and funky designs to help market their products that add a distinctive flair to cards, layouts and other crafts. Some of my faves - Prima & Jenni Bowlin, plus I hoard funky tags from clothing - Mudd jeans usually have some pretty awesome articles. If you're concerned about longevity of the product, spray with an acid-neutralizing spray that can typically be found at local scrap stores or online scrap stops - or, if you're lucky, your local Wal-Mart or Target. (EK Success makes Archival Mist & Krylon has a spray called "Make it Acid-Free")

Here's a close up of the card - I added Liquid Glass to the water and dots on her dress and mushroom, plus a little blue bling for her hair flower. The sentiment was hand-written.

Thanks so much for stopping by & don't forget to check out all of the rest of the fantabulous work from the Practical Scrappers DT!

Some bunny loves to stamp!

This girl loves to stamp, and in fact, I'm a former consultant for Close To My Heart... plus a frequent supporter of my Stampin' Up friend... so I've got more than my fair share of stamps. It seems like lately, though, I haven't had much of a chance to sit and play. This week's challenge at Practical Scrappers was stamping, so it was nice to get back to my "roots."


I stamped my bunny and sentiment, but I also used a little flower stamp in coordinating colors to stamp my taffeta ribbon. The effect was nice and subtle... I love how it tied in so nicely with the beautiful papers without overwhelming it.

This card uses Close To My Heart and Stampin' Up stamps, plus papers and ribbon from Stampin' Up.


Stamping on ribbon is a great way to complete a project's look without spending an arm and a leg on patterned ribbon at the store - you can make it match anything!

Polka Dots & Plaids birthday card (Frosted Designs)

Polka dots and plaids are kind of a funny combination... it reminds me of an old fashioned golf outfit or something. So when this week's challenge was annouced for Frosted Designs, I was a little worried! Until I came across some really fun, not-too-bright polka dot paper from Deja Views and some coordinating papers from Close To My Heart.

I knew immediately that a wild pattern combo could only be paired with one of my favorite "wild" stamps - my party giraffe (also from Close To My Heart). I added some funky Prima flowers and coordinating buttons, and a little sentiment on a die cut piece from Stampin' Up.

Be sure to check out how the rest of the uber-talented design team took on this challenge this week on the Frosted Designs blog!

Thanks for stopping by!

Star Crossed

Hi friends!

Our challenge this week at Frosted Designs was to create a project with stars. Minus Fourth of July layouts, I don't usually do a whole lot with stars, so this was a fun take on such a standard shape. Here's what I came up with:

I used some rock star papers from DCWV, some Making Memories star brads and some rock star from Close To My Heart to create a masculine birthday card. I trimmed one of the silver foiled stars from the patterned paper and popped it up; plus used some silver ink for the saying. The cardstock is all Bazzill and it was distressed to go with the theme.

Thanks for looking & be sure to check the rest of the amazing work from the Frosted Designs DT by clicking here.

Love You Much... Non-traditional Valentine

Happy Friday, all!

This week's challenge at Frosted Designs was to create a Valentine project without using red or pink. I don't know about you, but I sometimes get stuck in my comfy little box, so it's a great chance for a little creative exercise!

Here's what I came up with:

I pleated my blue band and scored my folds so they'd lay relatively flat. I popped my little bracket up on pop dots, and added some fancy ribbon and a coordinating button to tie it all into place.

Thanks so much for stopping by & be sure to check out the rest of the amazingly talented team at Frosted Desings for their take on this fun challenge!

Hugs & Kisses - another 5 minute Valentine card! PS Blog Hop Project #4

Hello again & thanks to all of you who have taken the time to stop by my blog during the Practical Scrappers blog hop this weekend and have left me such kind comments! It's been a truly humbling experience.

I'm closing out my love-themed projects for the weekend with another 5-minute valentine card that was created with scraps and a die-cut piece that I had on hand.

Papers are My Mind's Eye, the stickers are K&Co. letters & DCWV (heart). Since the heart was a vellum sticker, I put it on a scrap of white cardstock and cut it out, then popped it up with pop dots for some dimension. The ribbon and the white rectangle diecut is from Stampin' Up - so no need to break out any diecutting machine for it!

Thanks again for visiting and don't forget to leave a comment! I'll be drawing a winner around 10 pm MST tonight for my Valentine's blog candy giveaway!

5-Minute Valentine Card / Practical Scrappers Blog Hop Challenge #1!

Here's my first Valentine project for this weekend's Practical Scrappers blog hop! I'll debut another project each day through Monday, when I announce the winner of my blog candy!

This card took all of five minutes from start to finish. Most of the products came from this kit from JuJu Bee's Scrapbook Corner, featuring patterned paper from Glitz Designs - both of which are Practical Scrappers sponsors. I ordered this adorable kit last Wednesday and got it in the mail on Tuesday - I was so pleased with the quick turnaround and great price! Be sure to check both of these companies out!

I cut the heart out of double-sided patterened cardstock from Glitz Designs, and the scallop border was cut from the opposite side of the same sheet. I cut out a black square slightly larger than the heart and distressed everything with my Powder Puffs Midnight Confessions ink. The cardstock is Double Dot cardstock from Bo Bunny - which may now officially be my hands down favorite cardstock. One side has coordinating dots and the other side is a solid color and the texture is amazing. I added rub-on letters from Making Memories for my sentiment and a fun black dashed ribbon to top it all off, and it was all set to go!

Let me know what you think and become a follower on my blog for a chance to win some amazing Valentine's Day Blog Candy - and don't forget to particpate in the rest of the Practical Scrappers Blog Hop throughout the weekend for more great projects and more chances to win!!!

Get Inked!

And no, I'm not talking about tattoos! ; )

Our challenge this week at Frosted Designs was to use ink on our project or layout. I used this sketch from the Get Sketchy challenge blog to help with my card layout:

For my FD challenge, I stamped the bird & saying, colored the bird in using a blending pen and the direct-to-pad technique, and ink distressed all of my paper pieces.

This card was created using a $1 stamp from Michael's, Stampin' Up buttons, Powder Puff Mocha Mama ink; and Close To My Heart papers and inks for the rest of the card, plus a little scrap of Bazzill cardstock and a chipboard circle from my stash.

A scallopy scallop kind of day... (Frosted Designs Challenge)

It's no secret that scallops often find their way onto my projects - so this week's challenge at Frosted Designs was right up my alley!

I just got my new Threading Water Fiskars border punch this week, so it was a perfect opportunity to put it to good use. I combined that with these new holiday papers that I picked up right before Thanksgiving... and Sophia snagged from my stash to create some impressive art work... what a bummer when she gets to my fancy new paper first! I managed to salvage a few pieces to create this card. After piecing everything together, trimming out a few trees, I put the largest tree on pop dots and added festive sparkly stars to all the tree tops.

I don't know where the patterned papers came from, but the card base is Bazzill, the ribbon and sentiment rub-on are all Stampin Up; the ink is Tim Holtz Distress Ink, and the sparkly stars are from ColorBok.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out the rest of the great artists over at Frosted Designs!

Hooray for Christmas... Cards!

I am notorious for making tons of cards but not sending out a single one. I've been a demonstrator for one company or another for nearly 6 years, now, so I've got a lot of extras. I have so many that I usually donate a bunch every year to our brave troops so they can keep in touch with their families. I have grand intentions of sending them, but somehow, I never get around to it. Sad, right? =p But that's what happens when you have a gigundo family!

Anyhow, I really like making Christmas cards, even if they never actually go further than my card box. I like this card so much, though that it might actually get sent to someone special... now who's the lucky recipient?

The papers are Bo Bunny, cardstock is Bazzill, stamp is Imaginesce, ribbon & Water Color Wonder crayons are Stampin' Up, and the Stickles are from Ranger. Oh - and that little metal embellie is from Making Memories.

Be sure to check out Practical Scrappers this month - they're offering a whole smattering of special Christmas projects EVERY SINGLE DAY from November 29-December 19th! There's tons of awesome gift ideas, home decor and cards to be found - you definitely don't want to miss it!
This also fits the Sketchy Thursdays bonus sketch that's due 12/2 - the winning design gets a set of Copics - awesome - totally worth a shot!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you have a great week!!