Inspiration is everywhere!!!!

I say it all the time, but I will say it again...inspiration is all around us! And I love that! Last month on the Fancy Pants blog, I did a post about being inspired by the everyday life. I spent a lot of time on the couch then, first sick, and then with my leg. There was one day when I was looking at the ordinary view from the couch and got inspired...I snapped this picture with my phone:

I saw the cool design the light was making above the curtains. I could also see photos instead of the curtains and a basic sketch in my head. So I took the photo with my phone and later made this page based on the inspiration:

I hope you can see the design in my layout. I not only was inspired by the design, but was also inspired to play with light a bit. I just love the photos I used. I just hand cut those pieces that I used above and below the photos. I used a little bit from several of Fancy Pants' collections, including Saint Nick, Summer's End, and Off to School.

Here are some close up's of my layout:

Thanks for stopping in today! I hope you are inspired to actively look around you and see what inspiration you can find! Have a fabulous day!

Cards and a DT CALL :)

Hi everyone!  Thanks for stopping in today!  This week over at The ScrapCake's blog, we are featuring cards.  I have three to share with you today.  :)  All of them use papers from The ScrapCake, and then I combined them with stamps from Skipping Stones Design and chipboard from Imaginarium Designs.

And this last one is my favorite....

And then I just had to pass along some fun information for you.  You know I design for The ScrapCake and I LOVE it!  Their papers are amazing, the people are wonderful and the assignments are fun!  If you like their papers...I got some fun news you may want to hear...

Yep, that's right!  The ScrapCake has a design team call out right now!  You can check out all the details here.

Hope you are having a wonderful day!!!!

Endings Are Sad

First of all...how do you like the new look?  Any problems?  Let me know if there is.  I moved some stuff around too.  :)

Well I am sad to say, but with the end of the year, came the end of my design team term for Fancy Pants Designs.  I had so much fun designing for them and I want to shout a huge THANK YOU out to Jodi and the FP team...it really has been such a pleasure!  I have a layout to share with you today that uses the Love Story collection from Fancy Pants.  

I had a lot of fun making this layout.  I used my cameo for a bunch of it.  Those hearts are poorly "drawn" hearts I did myself and cut out with the cameo.  

Here are some close up's of my layout:

I really am so blessed to have such wonderful children.  I love them all so much!  My heart will forever be full simply because of their presence in my life.  :)  

Well thanks for stopping in today!!!!  Have a wonderful day!

Construction....

I'm playing around trying to change up the blog look.  Sorry if it looks wonky or is harder to read...I'm working on it now.  :)

Skipping Stones

Hi everyone!  Today I wanted to share about another company I am guest designing for this month.  Skipping Stones Design is a fun stamping company that specializes in laughter.  Their mission is to help papercrafters share the gift of laughter one stamp at a time.  Though they have many funny stamp sets, they also have many beautiful sets.

Here is a card I made using the Always Here stamp set:

I cut that card out with my Cameo and was simply amazed!  I added only a few things because it was already beautiful as cut!

So Skipping Stones Design has card sketch challenges every Tuesday.  And I am the guest sketch artist, so I made all the sketches we will use this month.  :)  I had fun making the sketches.  Here is the first one:

And here is the card I made for this sketch:

Again, I used the Always Here stamp set.  Those papers are from the new collection from Fancy Pants called Love Story.

I hope you join us for this challenge!  Post your card here.  I can't wait to see what you do!

Thanks for stopping in!

C'est Magnifique

Hi everyone!   Thanks for stopping in today!  :)  I totally slept in this morning.  That was nice.  :)  So this month I am happy to be the guest designer over at C'est Magnifique Kit Club.   They are a kit club that specializes in using harder to find products.  They are based in the US, but they will often use papers that are made by an international company.  This month the kit included a lot of papers from 7 Dots Studio, a line designed by Finnibair.  When Leslie asked me to guest design, she warned me that it may not be my style, because it is very bold and grungy, but I was happy to take it as a challenge and I had a lot of fun playing with the kit.

Here's what the main kit looks like:

The kit is called My Soul's Canvas.  I also used their add on kit:

And then here are the layouts that I made with the kit...

And the close up's:

Isn't that postage stamp cool!

I really enjoyed playing with those mistable canvas pieces.  

Layout number 2:

And the close up's:

Layout number 3:

And the close up's:

And then I added an envelope to the back that slightly sticks out on the top, and I added some hidden journaling in it.  

Layout number 4:

I loved the background piece of paper and didn't want to cover it up.  But I like my pages more dimensional.  So I took my craft knife and cut parts and then popped those parts up with Zapdots from Helmar.  Then it gave me more of the 3D look I was wanting and I still was able to see all the beautiful paper.  The picture is one of my favorite photos from my Sister In Law's wedding.  I seriously LOVE this photo!  

And the close up's:

And finally, layout number 5:

This one is very simple.  

And the close up's:

Wow, that was a lot to share.  :)  I really did have a lot of fun with this kit.  I highly recommend you check out C'est Magnifique and their kits.  They are unique, and I love that they use harder to find stuff. Last month they used product from The ScrapCake...and I've heard from many of you that it is hard to find their stuff in the US.  

Thanks so much to Leslie from C'est Magnifique for the opportunity to guest design for her wonderful kit club!  

And thanks to YOU for stopping in today!  Stop by tomorrow to see who else I am guest designing for this month.  :)

Have a fantastic day!

Waiting

Christmas was hard for me this year, I still wanted to honor and celebrate my Lord, and spend time with my family, but it seemed like my heart wasn't in it.  Actually all of December was tough...I just felt so distant from everyone.  I think it was because the end of the year was coming and it was a time to reflect on 2011.  And I'll be honest, 2011 was a VERY hard year for me.  All of December I've been kinda throwing a pity party for myself.  I would still talk to God, and I wasn't mad at Him or anything, but my conversations would be more like "I know I am keeping you at a distance Lord, I'm sorry, I'm just having a hard time."  And he'd gently speak to my heart with words like "come to me" and "I can help."  And my response would be "I know Lord, I'm sorry, I think I just need to be alone right now...I'm just having a rough time."  And I felt like he was saying "ok.  I'm here when you need me."  It may sound bad, but it was actually kind of refreshing.  Even though I felt we were distant, I knew He was just waiting for me.  I knew He was still there for me.  And that was refreshing. 

But now is the time. 

I need to give up this "I'm just having a hard time right now."  And change my focus to God and what He wants for me.  I'm ready again.  I had "my time".  I'm over it. 

I need to wait on God.  He does not need to wait on me. 

But thank you Lord for doing just that!