Hooray! I’m finally “with” the season! Yes, I did know that Christmas had past – but I hadn’t had the time or energy to redesign the ol’ blog until this weekend. Though the coding didn’t go as smoothly as I’d hoped, the end result makes me happy!    I used CU items from Kim Broedelet Designs, Brushes from Obsidian Dawn, and Flowers/Swirls from Jodiann’s March Color Challenge freebie – you can find the kit here (and if you download – be sure to leave her some love)!

I know I said there’d be a coupon – here’s the scoop – Entire Stock of Scrapbooking On Sale + Free Shipping, No Minimum Two Days Only at Joann.com but the sale ends on Tuesday, so if you’re interested, don’t wait too long!  Your coupon code for the FREE shipping is ACD89.

We have a busy day today – Mondays are our usual grocery shopping and errand days, but starting this week, we’re adding “advanced” toddler swimming to our schedule.  We’re still in gymnastics on Thursdays, but I figured since Nadya remembered swimming enough to ask me for lessons everyday for three weeks (I’m not kidding), then I’d look into the options.  Fortunately for her, the gym we use offers an “advanced” swimming class for little ones in which I am still in the water with her – which is REALLY important to me – but offers increased swimming skills since she had already mastered those taught in the beginner level and was getting a bit bored or adventurous, depending on how you look at it (attempting to run to the “big” pool instead of doing jumps into the small one where Mommy was – rather nerve-wracking for Mommy!

Before I head out, a couple of news worthy items:

Jodiann has new goods – check ‘em out!And Kristine is having a guest DT call:     

Alright – I’m outta here! Have a great start to your week!

My friend Kristine of Designs by Kristine has released a stunning new kit – Daybreak inspired by an awesome sunrise.  A truly stunning kit and it’s on-sale! Kris let me play with Daybreak and here’s what I came up up with: The layout is a new template set (gasp – yes I’m working on something new) that I’ve been working on – I’ll be sure to let you know when Double Dips Set 9 is in my store.  To create the soft glow on Nadya’s photo, I duplicated her photo, applied a soft posterize filter, then decreased the opacity to 30% – this allowed the soft glow around her face and the background without sacrificing the detail of the original photo.  I used SuperbladePro presets from Meadows Studio to create both frames.  The feathers are from Loucee’s Dilys kit (yes Kris, I loved your suggestion) that I layered with one of the flowers in Daybreak.  I “sprinkled” some digital glitter using a square brush and a glitter style I made in Photoshop and ArtRage.  The scallop strips started out as PS shapes from KCS Designs that I modified and then overlaid with one of the stunning papers in the kit. I didn’t include journaling as I love the surreal and angelic look of the photo and I didn’t want to draw attention away from the photo.  I did use Papyrus font to add her name and the date. Once again, I am quite pleased with the completed LO – I’d love to know what you think too.

Have a great weekend!

Hold on to your hats folks, I actually created a project that doesn’t have any stamping…yes – even I’m surprised!  Before I show you my creation, I’ll show you the only digital product I used…none other than this fabulous paper pack pack by Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff:

Are you curious yet?  Ok – without further ado – I present this week’s creation: I must admit, I’m happy with the result – though not stamping on the card was definitely a challenge for me!   

Using this template by Mel Stampz as a guide, I created the purse box and front pieces in Photoshop by clipping the black houndstooth paper to the template pieces.  For the handle, flap and flowers, I used SCAL to trace a jpeg rendering and cut with my Mom’s baby bug.  I crinkled the patterned flowers in my hand before attaching them with a brad and MS pearl to the black CS flower base. I added some Offray stitched ribbon to the handle as well. I used my white gel pen to add the faux stitching. In hindsight, I should have done as Mel did and cut a 2nd set of purse pieces in solid black CS, but with the white pattern in the houndstooth, I didn’t think the white backing was out of place. For my card, I started with this week’s sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketches (hi Melissa) and a black 5×7 card base.  I embossed the base with my Eyelet Texture Plate (SU) before adhering the 2 layers of grosgrain ribbon.  The embossed flower was super simple – it’s one of the folders in the Cuttlebug Embossing Borders With Love Set.  I offset my houndstooth mat and layered them both onto my card base.  I added the MS pearls to the flower centers for extra dimension and to match the flower center on my purse. It appears, based on this photo, that my handy dandy Fiskars paper trimmer is in need of new blades! I carried the layered houndstooth look inside my card as well and added a frame on my sentiment mat with a Zig Millennium pen and a ruler – yep I went old school! Well, there you have it! My DH said it looked old-fashioned, I was thinking more “classic” – but hey, art is in the eye of the beholder!  I’d love to know what you think too!

That’s all from me – at least for a today.  Nadya and I are being a bit lazy, doing laundry, and perhaps a bit of tidying – plus I need to squeeze in some QC time at DSO/DSV (you’ll love the new goodies that are coming soon)!

If you didn’t arrive here from Lindsay’s blog, be sure to visit! She’s known to have free goodies, fabulous eye-candy, and the links to the rest of the DT blogs. Have a great Thursday!