A Cosmo Cricket Giveaway!

I've told you all how much I love the new Cosmo Cricket stuff at our store-how'd you like a chance (or two, or three) to win some of their newest lines? I stumbled across this new sketch blog called Get Sketchy which is giving away a couple Mini Decks from Cosmo Cricket. The Mini Decks are the same prints as the 12 X 12 lines, but on a smaller scale, making them perfect for cards. Check out their website to enter.

You're Tweet!

I've been having so much fun with the new Cosmo Cricket lines that we just received at the store. On Monday, I posted an anniversary card that I had made using the Early Bird line. The card I'm sharing this morning is also made from the Early Bird line. I added some felt shapes from American Crafts. The shapes are actually punctuation (*) but I added some hand-stitching and used them as flowers. The little felt tab on the bird tag is just a felt bracket trimmed.

For this card, I used this week's sketch from the Card Patterns blog.

A button layout to share...

I was just browsing around in my Flickr photostream and came across this layout that I did a couple of years ago. It just made me smile-for those of you who have been reading my blog, that is my daughter on the left. You know, the one who just went to the prom?! Wow, how time flies. That is my son on the right-he's going to be starting middle school in the fall. Doesn't he look stylin' in those Blue's Clues sneakers?

Anyway, before I get all teary, here is an idea for using button borders on your layouts as well as your cards. As you can see, this variation doesn't require a ton of buttons. You can add doodling in between (the bee's trail in this case.) Also, mix it up a bit by using mostly one color buttons, but include 3 of a contrasting color. Remember your "rule of three's"? The three white buttons help the layout feel balanced.

I also used some tiny buttons to dress up the frog's spots (frog and bees cut from Basic Grey's Color Me Silly paper.)

Thanks for looking!

Trying to make a dent...

in my stash of buttons. I have been using buttons on every project lately, it seems. I have been collecting buttons for years, and like all of my crafting supplies, I accumulate them much faster than I use them. It's also great for the scrapping budget, since buttons are pretty inexpensive. Save even more by buying them in bulk in the sewing section instead of those pre-packaged for scrapbooking. My favorites are the color-coordinated multi packs. You can get a bag of 100+ buttons for less than $2.00 at Walmart.

One way to use several on one project is to make a border with them. On this mini card (4" square), my border covers the seam between my two patterned papers. To mix it up a little, I used a couple of different threading "techniques." Nothing hard, just something to add visual interest.

Bazzill cardstock, American Crafts striped paper, Bo Bunny Double Dot cardstock, Hero Arts stamps.

I "scraplifted" this card idea from Lucy Abrams in the Hero Arts Flickr group. There are some absolutely beautiful cards there. Anyone can post projects to this group, you just have to use at least one Hero Arts stamp on your project. Go check it out for some great cardmaking and scrapbooking ideas! If you'd like to see the cards that I have over there, click HERE.

For some other great button cards, visit last week's round of Gallery Idol on the Papercrafts site. Lots of different ideas there, too. I just love the button-embellished trees, especially this one from Shanna Vineyard. She actually created her tree with buttons-so clever and cute.

Hope I inspired you today to raid your button stash to create a new project. Thanks for looking!

It's my anniversary today...

so I'm sharing a little card I made for my hubby. Before I tell you about the card, let me tell you about the recipient. My husband Donny is seriously the absolute best husband there is. I honestly don't know where I would be without him, and I definitely wouldn't be as happy as I am. We always tell eachother about little coincidences that happen and make us think about eachother. Then we joke about how we were just made for eachother.

Which brings me to the card. When I saw this line of paper come in at the store on Friday, I knew I would be using it for his anniversary card. This line is called Early Bird, and it is from Cosmo Cricket. The embellishment on the front is simply patterned paper, which I trimmed and adhered to my card with foam squares. I added some stitching, inked the edges and tied a little button on the front for dimension. The button is actually a clear button with a circle punched from patterned paper behind it. I also added a little felt "&" from American Crafts, which I machine-stitched it in between the Salt and Pepper.

Thanks for looking!

Oh, and congratulations to all of the winners from the Anniversary Celebration held Saturday at A Time to Remember! Our grand prize winner was Carma Stevens, and class winners were Barb Welch and Donna Patten. Thanks for another great year!

Pop-up Card

I made this pop-up card yesterday with my new Club SEI kit. The papers were just beautiful-nice heavy quality, double sided and glittered! I love that the kit also included the coordinating embellishments. Lots of transparencies, ribbon, silk flowers and adhesive pearls, which I love. This line is called Kalia. I think it's a Club SEI exclusive. You can check out their site HERE.

This card lays flat so that it will fit in a regular envelope. But the great part is that when you slide it open, the sleeve folds into a box shape which allows the card to stand alone. What a great way to showcase your handmade card. Everyone I know saves their handmade cards-wouldn't you love to know they keep them on display, too? You could even make this a photo card by replacing the sentiment die-cut with a small photo. Perfect for grandparents!

Thanks for looking! Remember, if you're in our area on Saturday, please stop in to A Time to Remember! It's our 2nd Anniversary Celebration tomorrow from 10-4. We have some great new stuff that just arrived, and will have some great make-and-takes and prizes. Have a great weekend!

Just cardstock...

and a little bit of ribbon on this card, but I think it's one of my favorites. I started with 2 Cricut shapes (the scalloped square from the Celebrations cartridge) and adhered the tops together to form a card. The back shape is scored after the first scallop so that the front of the card stays flat. Then I layered on square die cuts (also from the Celebrations cartridge), one of which was embossed and sanded. The sanding revealed the ivory core (this was Core'dinations cardstock.) The Queen Anne's Lace is from the Home Accents cartridge, and the butterflies were punched using a Martha Stewart punch. I folded one of the butterflies in half to give it a bit of dimension. A bit of ribbon and voila!

Cardstock is one of my favorite papercrafting supplies because it is so cheap and it comes in just about any color imaginable. So if you're looking for a budget-friendly handmade card, look to your cardstock. Even some scraps can turn into an elegant card with a few little details. This is a pretty generic card, too, so it could be personalized with just about any sentiment. I think it would actually be perfect for a sympathy card or a "thinking of you" card.

Thanks for looking!

Cricut Die-Cut Cards

I had a few requests to share a sneak peek of the cards we will be making in tomorrow night's class at A Time to Remember. The purpose of this class is to take your flat die-cuts to the next level. We will be making our own cards from die cuts, and embellishing them by layering, embossing, distressing and adding 3D accents. I love that I can share a peek of the projects. However, I've been having some computer "issues" this week, so I am trying to post from my son's old laptop.

There are still a couple of openings for this class, which will be tomorrow night (the 21st) from 6:30-8:30. Cost is $17. Please bring basic supplies: 12" paper trimmer, scissors and adhesive. I also want to stress that YOU DO NOT NEED A CRICUT TO TAKE THIS CLASS. Everything will be pre-cut for you. If you do have a Cricut, you will be able to replicate these at home. I cut these designs using the Celebrations, Walk in my Garden, Accent Essentials, Home Decor and Going Places cartridges. I will also have extra kits available for purchase the night of class.

To register, simply email us at atimetoremember@rocketmail.com or call 474-2380. The store is closed on Mondays, but you can leave a message and we'll get back to you. Please make sure we have your full name and telephone number.

Enjoy!

"Yummy" prizes from Hero Arts!

Some great giveaways happening over at Hero Arts this week! They are totally revamping their website and are sharing their excitement by doubling their already great prizes. Not only are they giving away twice the number of prizes this week, but the prizes themselves are doubled! How cool would it be to win $100 worth of free stamps from Hero Arts! The best part is that there are so many possibilities with this week's challenge-you just have to be inspired by any one of the hundreds of projects on their website. HERE is the link to today's blog post detailing this week's challenge.
This is just a little scalloped circle card I made using some Hero Arts stamps. I just can't get enough of these-they are so cute and fun to make. One of my favorite ways to embellish them is with stamped images that I have cut out and layered.
Thanks for looking-off to enjoy another sunny day here. :)

Happy Everything Spinner Card

Whenever I work with sketches, I always rotate them and reverse them in my head before I actually start my project. That's the beauty of using sketches-you can "tweak" them however you'd like!
For this sketch from Card Positioning Systems, I rotated the sketch 180 degrees. I immediately thought the sketch looked like a spinner card, so I pulled out my buzzing bee stamp and funky flowers from Gel-a-Tins.
Quite happy with the fun little card that resulted!
Thanks for looking!

Birdie Birthday

(Sorry...this item has been removed for publication. It'll be back soon!)

This is just a card I wanted to share. It's so fun and cheery-love the whimsical paper from Sassafras Lass. I picked up a Wee Bundle of this paper at CKC Manchester and have been having fun with it.

This card is based on two online challenges. First, it is my take on this week's sketch challenge over at Card Patterns. It is also my entry for the SP Color Combos challenge this week. Samantha's challenge was to make a card using Stampin' Up!'s Bermuda Blue, Soft Suede, and Melon Mambo colors. Since these colors just came out, I don't have them yet, but I had these papers and inks in my stash that worked perfectly.

Thanks for looking!

Have I mentioned that I love owls?

It's my latest obsession-owl anything. I even ordered checks that have owls on them. They are just the cutest things-makes bill paying more fun, ya know?

Here's my latest project-owl and all. This actually satisfies a couple of challenges and submissions in addition to being just plain cute. First, it is my take on the Be Inpsired #39 challenge over at Cuttlebug Challenge. Yes, it is a real twig-and yes, I might be crazy-but it went so well with the theme.

It is also part of my submission for the design team over at My Sketch World. My first time trying out for a design team-keep your fingers crossed for me. I really love sketches, so this would be perfect for me.

Finally, I decided to submit it to Papercrafts magazine. I loved it that much! And three's a charm, right? Somedays you just come up with something that you just can't stop looking at. This is one of those. I'll keep you posted...

New from Pebbles Inc.

Pebbles, Inc. has been one of my favorite companies for many years. We carry several of their lines at A Time to Remember. This is a layout that I made using one of Pebbles Inc.'s brand new lines, Lil' Miss. I was fortunate enough to receive this entire line as a gift from Pebbles after winning it on their blog.

These pictures are of Jordan on our trip to Walt Disney World. I just loved these ones of her getting stage makeup at MGM Studios. She chose a butterfly design-so pretty. It was amazing to watch these makeup artists from start to finish-so talented.

This layout was made using a sketch from http://www.mysketchworld.blogspot.com/. I rotated the sketch to better suit my photos, and I substituted three photos for the two shown in the original sketch.

Thanks for checking it out! I'll be back later with a sneak peek of my next card class at A Time to Remember, called "Cricut Die-Cut Cards." We will be making six shaped cards, which are some of my favorite kinds of cards-so personalized. Off now to enjoy the weather-NO RAIN! :)

Stamping on Patterned Paper-CPS Sketch #122

Here is another card entry that I am submitting this week, this time for CPS Sketch Challenge #122. The sketch gave plenty of room for embellishment, so the possibilities were endless. I love paper piecing with stamped images, and this card uses that technique. These Japanese Dolls from Hero Arts are one of my favorite stamp sets, too-perfect for paper piecing.

Thanks for looking! Comments are especially welcome-I need a little sunshine during this rainy weather. :)

Happy Independence Day!

Hope you're all enjoying your holiday weekend-kind of rainy here today, so we skipped the parade. We're hoping for better weather tonight for the fireworks.

This afternoon we are headed to my husband's aunt and uncle's house for their annual Fourth of July BBQ. Good food and the chance to see some family members that we haven't seen for a while.

I am sharing this card which satisfies two online challenges: 2S4Y and the Cuttlebug Challenge. This card is for Sketch #29 on 2S4Y. The Cuttlebug Challenge this week was to use red, white and blue, plus buttons. The bonus challenge was to use the Swiss Dots embossing folder (one of my favorites.)

This is also a great budget card since it is made almost entirely of scraps! The stars were punched from various blue cardstock scraps and embellished with mismatched buttons. I like the different shades of blue-gives the card a little oomph, don't you think?

Thanks for looking!

Card Patterns Sketch #21

I love sketches, both for cards and layouts. I've been scouting out sketches online, and I was surprised to find so many incredible sites out there that not only offer free sketches but also weekly contests and prizes! One of the first sketch challenges I tried is from the Card Patterns blog.

This is the card I made for this week's sketch, Sketch #21. The stamps are by Technique Tuesday, cardstock by Bazzill and Prism, and the patterned paper I bought at the Yardgoods Center in Waterville. I'm not sure of the manufacturer, but the pack was called Garden Variety. Lots of pretty prints and colors, perfect for cardmaking. I also used my scalloped circle punch to create the ticket-style corners on my stamped image.

Thanks for looking, and don't forget to check out the Card Patterns blog for some great sketches!