Wplus9 August Release Sneak Peek: Day 1

Welcome to Wplus9 Design's August Release Sneak Peek: Day 1!  I know that I say it every month, but Dawn has cooked up, for you all, once again, this month, a couple of beautiful, versatile, stamp sets with three, coordinating dies that will have you swooning!  They're FABULOUS!  Today we're showing off Le Cirque and it's Le Cirque and Scallop Oval Frame dies.  Oh!  And to help cheer our very own Cristina Kowalczyk on, in her personal efforts to achieve Gallery Idol status, some of us have created our very own birthday party ensembles.  Here's mine.

How about let's take a peek at each element in the ensemble a little closer, beginning with the invitation?

I started the invitation by trimming the bottom edge of a piece of brown, designer, patterned paper with a punched strip of blue, star, patterned paper and its top edge with a punched strip of Real Red cardstock and that same, blue, star, pattern paper; machine stitched, with blue-threaded, straight stitches, to the brown, designer, patterned paper side of their connections; and adhered it in the center of the distressed, with Tea Dye and Antique Linen inks, Crumb Cake, cardstock, card face.  I then stamped "LE CIRQUE", in White ink, several times, across the card face, just below the lowest, punched edge and flanked each word with a blue gemstone.

The "COME ONE, COME ALL" sentiment was stamped, in White ink, slightly at an angle and left of center, just above an angled, JAN Bingo card, which had been distressed with Tea Dye and Antique Linen inks.

The banner was hand cut from a multi-colored, patterned paper; adhered, with foam tape, draped across the top of the card face; and secured, at its points, with blue, Baker's Twine bows.

Finally, the ticket was stamped, in Pacific Point ink, on Whisper White cardstock; filled in, in Pacific Point ink, with the "NAME" and "DATE" stamp and, in Real Red ink, with the word "friend", from Defining Words, (Keep in mind, this could be handwritten in or printed with any party guest's name.) and the 1.22.12 date, from Postmarked, which just so happens to be my birthday, before being distressed with Tea Dye and Antique Linen inks and tucked behind a stamped, in Real Red and Pacific Point inks, on Whisper White cardstock; hand cut; and distressed with Tea Dye & Antique Linen inks, circus tent...

to complete the look.

The party hat...

was made from that same, blue, star, patterned paper from above.  I then machine stitched, with red-threaded, zig-zag stitches, a pleated, red, polka dot ribbon around its bottom edge...

and glued a handful of red and gingham ribbon lengths, as well as a trio of white pom-poms, to its top.

The frame was stamped, in Real Red ink, on a Whisper White die-cut, which had been distressed with Tea Dye and Antique Linen inks; filled in with a stamped, in Pacific Point ink, on a Baja Breeze die-cut, with the ring master; and adhered it, with foam tape, in the center of the hat, just above a stamped, in White ink, on a Crumb Cake, banner die-cut, which had been filled in with the stamped, in White ink, "CELEBRATE" word and, once again, was adhered with dimensionals.

Now, how about a few, party treats?

A box of animal crackers was dressed up with a bunch of the same ribbons from above, tied in knots, and another ticket, prepared in the same was as above minus all the fill-ins except the word "friend" and laced with a length of blue Baker's Twine.

And finally, I dressed up a bunch of caramel popcorn, tucked into a red, muffin cup, with a banner, patterned paper, fan flower, adhered to a toothpick and dressed up with a stamped, in Real Red ink, on Whisper White cardstock, hand cut, distressed with Tea Dye and Antique Linen inks, and glittered top hat, as well as a red, gingham, ribbon bow.

That's all for today, folks!  Please be sure to take a peek back here tomorrow for a birthday card, which coordinates with this party ensemble and shows a little more from Le Cirque and its coordinating, Le Cirque and Scalloped Oval Frame dies.  Until then, be sure mosey on over to the rest of the Wplus9, girl genius' blogs to see what they have created, just for you all, today.  And thanks so much for stopping by!

Cristina Kowalczyk
Dawn Woleslagle
Elise Durenberger
Kerrianne Gwin
Savitri Wilder

{Supplies & Tools}
Stamps: Le Cirque, Postmarked, & Defining Words (Wplus9) Paper: Crumb Cake, Real Red, Baja Breeze, & Whisper White (SU); banner & brown designer (The Girls' Paperie); blue star (Best Creations) Ink: Real Red, Pacific Point, & White (SU); Tea Dye & Antique Linen (Ranger) Other: blue & red thread (Coats & Clark); sewing machine (Janome); Le Cirque & Scalloped Oval Frame dies (Wplus9); Big Shot (Sizzix); red polka dot ribbon & lacy & 3/8" Handheld Circle punches (SU); blue Baker's Twine (AR Designs); foam tape (Scotch); score board (Martha Stewart); blue gemstones (Paper Studio); red & gingham ribbons & white pom-poms (Hobby Lobby); Scalloped Scallop punch (EK Success)

Friday Faves

Good afternoon!  Woohoo!  It's Friday, and I've got to tell you all, that I am relieved!  This much-needed, bathroom remodel has taken its toll on us all.  I feel completely scatterbrained!  This morning, I went to Aldi for groceries and couldn't even remember my pin number.  Ugh!  I didn't have the cash to pay for all of our groceries, and those of you who are regular shoppers at Aldi know that I couldn't pay with credit.  Fortunately, my hubby was in town and able to come bail me out.  How embarrassing!

Then, I put my sister's anniversary card in the mail two days late and without a stamp, no less!  What is going on?!  Even my pup is struggling.  She ate for the first time in two days, at lunch, today.  That's soooo not like her!  Poor thing!  We even took her to the vet, just to make sure everything was okay, and he said that she's in perfect health.

We're all just so ready to have this guy gone for a couple of days, even if it means we're still down a shower/tub, which has brought its own challenges.  Fortunately, my hubby has an apartment above his office that his boss is letting us use the bathroom in.  So, we're all still clean as a whistle, even in the midst of a summer heat wave.  Unfortunately, the process of us all showering over there takes a HUGE chunk out of our evenings.  Oh!  But we do get to watch HGTV while we're there, which is a big plus for me, because I don't have cable at home :)!  LOL!

I'll be sure to show pictures once it's completely done, but I'm too embarrassed of the way it was before to give any before shots.  It was really that bad, not to mention the antiquity of it or the mold.  Oh, the mold!  I swear it has been the cause of my allergies this year.  I've never had allergies before.  Hmmm?  Anyway, welcome to my July Friday Faves!  Hee!  It all begins with the fabulous, Noel Mignon, Mary Ellen kit.  I especially LOVE those primary colors, label stickers, frame stamps, and wooden buttons... swooning over those wooden buttons!

I've also recently discovered and began following Nikki Sivils, and love the sweet playfulness of her lines!  My favorite right now is her School is Cool Collection Kit.  My mind is on fall, and it would be the perfect way to capture my big kiddos' school memories.  Plus, polka dots and argyle!  Need I say more?!

Speaking of fall, I adore this sweet, little Wheat Stalks stamp from DeNami Design.  It puts me in the mood for cooler weather and harvest time, which is my favorite time of the year!

DeNami's Under the Sea stamp set also has me saying ooooh and awwww!  LOVE that darling sailboat, and those bubbles are so versatile!

Finally, and I know that I usually include a couple of non-papercrafty things.  And believe me, I've been looking, especially lately, for unique things to complete our bathroom remodel.  It's just that nothing has been calling my name.  Anyway, I LOVE the unique and whimsical font that Paper Smooches boasts.  So, needless to say, Alphadot...

and Word Up have my full attention!

Thank you so much for peeking in today, and have a truly wonderful weekend!  Oh!  And please be sure to stop on by, late Sunday night, for the first of five days of brand new, sneak peeks for Wplus9 Design's August release!  You don't want to miss this one, ya'll!  Hugs!

PDCC92 - The Scrapbooking Studio

Oh, my gracious!  You all gave me a run for my money, last week, with all those fabulous, Color Splash entries!  So impressed!  Can't wait to see what you've got up your sleeves for this week!  With that said, welcome to The Play Date Cafe's Challenge #92!

Our sponsor for this week is The Scrapbooking Studio.

As soon as I saw that fabulous coral, petal pink, and antique gold color story above, I just knew that I had to pull some pictures, from my baby girl's box, to scrap.  Here's what I came up with.

I started this layout by adhering the coral, damask, patterned paper to the gold, grid, patterned, paper base and machine stitching,with white-threaded, straight stitches, around its inside and outside edges.

I then trimmed the bottom of my row of pictures with a punched strip of pink, patterned paper and adhered it, just above horizontal center, overlapping the coral, damask, patterned paper's edges.  A gold, journaling card, upon which I wrote, in Close To Cocoa ink, You just love hanging out with your Daddy, even if it's just watching TV.  You're such a Daddy's girl.  8.4.10, preps the layout for more stitching.  I stitched, with white-threaded, straight stitches, several, messy circles, including the one around my favorite, center picture and carried the circle theme into a coral tag, which I embellished with a Cricut-cut, from a pink, patterned paper, heart; anchored with a few, white, string hand-stitches; laced with a length of white string; and adhered, in its respective location, with foam tape.

The "hanging with my DAD" sentiment was created from coral alphas, which were secured with white-threaded, messy, straight stitches, tied off to either end; gold, rubon alphas; plaid, chip letters; & gold, hardcover Thickers, the last of which was laced with a white, string bow.

A gold, mini, label sticker, personalized, in Close to Cocoa ink, with the "love" subtitle, completes the look.

Now, it's your turn!  You have until the close of the day EST, on Tuesday, August 2, 2011, to link up your entries over at the challenge link above.  Please also be sure to use that link to see what the rest of the Design Team has created, with this color story, just for you all.  And thank you so much for peeking in!

{Supplies & Tools}
Paper: pink (Making Memories); coral damask (Basic Grey); gold grid (lily bee design) Ink: Close to Cocoa (SU) Other: white thread (Coats & Clark); sewing machine (Janome); gold journaling card (Jenni Bowlin); coral plaid tag (American Crafts); white string (Hobby Lobby); Scalloped Scallop punch (EK Success); coral alphas (BoBunny); gold rubons & plaid chip letters (heidi grace); gold hardcover Thickers (American Crafts); gold mini label sticker (7 Gypsies); foam tape (Scotch); George & Basic Shapes Cricut cartridge & Cricut (Provo Craft)

TCR #68

Good afternoon!  We've been out enjoying the warm sunshine in the cool of our local, swimming pool.  Ezekiel is in the midst of his final week of swim class, and they have a toddler, pool, play time on Tuesdays and Thursdays, while he's in class, for only $2.  Adina loves it, and they're both becoming quite the swimmers and getting gorgeous, bronzed skin.

Love that last one of Adina trying not to look at the camera.  She's becoming really good at this.  LOL!  Anyway, I have a sweet, little layout, for you all, today.  These pictures were taken when my baby girl was just a month old.  Sigh.

I started this layout by trimming either side of a piece of pink, floral, patterned paper with punched strips of textured, Crumb Cake cardstock; adhering it in the center of the textured, brown, cardstock, base page; and machine stitching, with hot-pink-threaded, straight stitches down its vertical edges.  That "time" card came in my Jenni Bowlin kit, awhile back, along with a handful of others similar to it, and I had no idea what I was going to do with them.  Then, I came across a layout, somewhere in blogland, where the creator cut it in half and used it as I have.  I thought it was pure genius and knew instantly that I had to scrap lift her idea.  Sooooo hate that I didn't save the link to that idea for you all!  What's so strange is that I didn't even save the picture in my inspiration file.  So, maybe I'm just imagining this whole story, and it all came to me in a dream.  LOL!  Anyway, after adhering pictures, I tucked the left half under the punched, cardstock strip and turned it into my "2 TURN back time" title with the help of some brown, hardcover Thickers and kraft, fabric alphas, the latter of which were anchored with hot-pink-threaded, messy stitches, tied off at either end.  A little, What I wouldn't give, Close to Cocoa ink journaling and a pink, number sticker, complete the left side of the card.

All I did to the right side of the card was add a little glitter to those clock wings.

A white, lacy die-cut; pink, "perfect" sticker; kraft, crochet doily; and brown, mini, label sticker, filled in with the Dec. 4, 2008 date, prep the page for flowers.

My white flowers were inspired by a blog friend, Lynn Miller, here.  Lynn used this tutorial to create her gorgeous blossom, and I just had to give it a go, too.  It's super similar to this flower that I created way back last fall, during my first release with Wplus9, but it's always so great to be reminded of beautiful techniques.  I'm thinking that I just need to start writing some of my favorites down for reference.  Anyway, I created them all from white, tissue paper; gave them a few more layers than I would on a card, simply because they will be smashed a bit in an album; secured them, in their centers, with vintage brads; crinkled them up a bit; and just skipped the ink distressing part altogether.  I loved the crispness of them on that dark brown surface!

I, then, stamped the rose images, in Jet Black ink, on Whisper White cardstock; colored them in with Regal Rose, Rose Red, Wild Wasabi, and Garden Green inks and a blender pen; hand cut them out; and adhered them, with foam tape, in their respective locations, to complete the look.

My inspiration for this layout came from The Color Room's Palette #68: {Her Room}.

Don't forget that you have until the close of the day EST to link up your entries over at The Play Date Cafe for Challenge #91.  Then, we'll all be back, tomorrow, with a brand, new, soft and elegant color story, for you all, to have your hand at.  Okay, I'm off to clean out our bathroom.  The remodel begins bright and early tomorrow morning.  Woohoo!  Thank you so much for peeking in, for leaving me comments and encouragement and love, for making this big world of ours a much smaller place, and for sharing, not only the wonderful world of papercrafting with me, but also your beautiful lives.  Much love!

{Supplies & Tools}
Stamps: Hope Seed Co. (Wplus9) Paper: Whisper White & Crumb Cake (SU); brown (Core'dinations); pink floral (Pink Paislee) Ink: Close to Cocoa, Regal Rose, Rose Red, Wild Wasabi, & Garden Green (SU) Other: hot pink thread (Coats & Clark); sewing machine (Janome); Scalloped Scallop punch (EK Success); white lace die-cut (Crate Paper); brown mini label sticker (Jenni Bowlin); pink "perfect" & number strip stickers & brown hardcover Thickers (American Crafts); vintage brads & Dazzling Diamonds (SU); crochet doily (Kaisercraft); tissue paper (craft supply store); "time" card (Pink Paislee); kraft fabric alphas (Prima); Big Scalloped Circles LG (Spellbinders); Big Shot (Sizzix)

CASE Study #49

Good afternoon!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  We spent much of ours working.  Thankfully the Lord gave us a slight reprieve from the heat, on Sunday, with a fabulous, cloud cover.  Would you believe that our temperature gauge read only 78 degrees, when I woke up this morning?!  Woohoo!  I'll take that any day over the triple digit temps we've been having.  Anyway, I snuck in a little creative time this weekend and wanted to share the first of several creations I made today.

I started this card by distressing the edges of the Crumb Cake, cardstock, card face and stamping it, in White ink, with the text.  I then trimmed a piece of cross-stitch, patterned paper, across its top edge, with a punched strip of Not Quite Navy cardstock; adhered it, horizontally, to the stamped and distressed, card face; dressed up its bottom edge with a length of green lace...

and machine stitched, with white-threaded, zig-zag stitches, between the patterned paper and the lace and, with white-threaded, straight stitches, to either side of the connection between the patterned paper and punched, cardstock strip.

A length of white, seam binding ribbon was then wrapped around the horizontal center of the card face and tied, in a dressy bow, near the left edge.

The "Thinking of you" sentiment was stamped, in Not Quite Navy ink, in the center of a distressed, with Tea Dye and Antique Linen inks, Whisper White die-cut, which also had been stamped, in Pretty in Pink ink, with the frame and glittered.  It was adhered, with foam tape, in the center of a Pink Pirouette, cardstock die-cut, which was, in turn, adhered, with foam tape, just to the right of the dressy bow.

Finally, I created a trio of quilled, Rose Red, cardstock flowers; glittered them; flanked them with stamped, in Wild Wasabi ink, on Whisper White cardstock, and hand-cut leaves; and adhered them in the bottom right corner of the sentiment piece, to complete the look.

Inspiration for this card came from this card, made by CASE Study's July Muse, Dawn Woleslagle, for Challenge #49.

Before I run, some of you may remember this post; where I shared that we were looking for a new home for one of our pups, because she had recently started biting my youngest.  Well, we found a new home with a couple who's children have grown and moved away from home and who have another dog that needed a playmate.  What an answer to prayer, but what a tough thing to have to carry through with!  It was one thing to start looking for a suitable family, but it was a whole different story to actually have to give her to them; not because I didn't think she'd be cared for or loved, but because she's our dog and has been for five years.  We love her!

We're doing okay this morning, and I bet we'll miss her more than she'll ever miss us.  It's just been a tough couple of weeks, especially with our good family friends no longer living just a phone call away and now losing our dog.  I let Ezekiel bring our other dog's bed into his room last night.  I think they needed each other.  Sniff.  Sniff.  Okay, enough of all this!  I need to toughen up!  I'm such a girl!  So, thanks so much for stopping by, and I promise to try to be a little more uplifting around here ;).  Hugs!

{Supplies & Tools}
Stamps: Mehndi Medallions, Funky Foliage, & Brothers & Sisters (Wplus9) Paper: Crumb Cake, Rose Red, Whisper White, Not Quite Navy, & Pink Pirouette (SU); cross-stitch (Sassafras) Ink: Pretty in Pink, Not Quite Navy, Wild Wasabi, & White (SU); Tea Dye & Antique Linen (Ranger) Other: white thread (Coats & Clark); sewing machine (Janome); All Occasion Label & Label Layers 1 dies (Wplus9); Big Shot (Sizzix); Dazzling Diamonds & lace punch (SU); white seam binding ribbon (Zipper Stop); green lace (American Crafts); foam tape (Scotch)