Sweet 16 for a Special Girl

 It is hard to believe that this cute, little cherub has grown into this beautiful young lady.  Her mother and I have been friends for 16+ years so I have enjoyed watching her grow and being a small part of her world.   She celebrated her Sweet 16 this past weekend and while I could not be there, my husband could.  He delivered a very special present and this card.  Of course I had to make a glittery, blinged out card for her special day.  

I loved this image, not too young. She is Let Us Eat Cake from Tiddly Inks.  I colored it with Prismcolor pencils and added gold Stickles to her crown and Diamond Dust Stickles to her dress.  I used a lot of rhinestones...more bling the better...so I kept the overall design simple.  

I hope she enjoyed her card, gifts and party.  

Next year I will be there to celebrate with her!

~Marie

Reading Challenge: Update

Little slow on the reading this week...but I did manage to finish a book.  
This week I read, Murder in Real Time, another Patience Price mystery and sadly, the last.  I have enjoyed them.  This one I used as my "murder mystery".  

Now, what to read for this week....I am thinking I will read a "YA bestseller", but we will see.  I am going to go scour my bookshelves, real and virtual, for unread books and see what fits one of the challenges.

What have you been reading?

~Marie

I'm Feeling Blue

Quick Share....I made this card for a swap.  The theme was monotone cards, so I started digging through my scrap basket.  This card was made completely with scraps!  Love when I can use up those pretty leftovers.  The rhinestone swirl was crystal, so I just colored it with my Spectum Noir pens in the right shade of blue and it fit right in. 

How do you use your pretty leftovers?

~Marie

Trying Something New: Napkin Fold Card

Quick share today...

I have been trying to challenge myself a bit and do new things.  this card, for a swap, did that.  This is the napkin fold card.  Honestly, I am not sure about it....although it seems to be growing on me.  the first two I made i just threw in the trash...awful!  The folds didn't match up, the card stock was too thick and cracked on the folds, etc.  So, this one, that made the cut, I used a medium weight card stock and really took my time with the folds.  I like it...I may even try another one!  

Do you challenge yourself when creating?  How?

~Marie

Reading Challenge: Moving Along!

So, I took last week off from blogging as it was an insanely busy week with meetings...PTSA, ANGP, etc.  However, I did manage to finish another book and start a new one!

I crossed off  "book with a blue cover" this week.  I so enjoyed the Patience Price book I read the week before that I decided to read the next one, Murder Comes Ashore.  

I am really enjoying this series.  The stories are entertaining, I like the characters, and the books are light.  Sometimes a light read is good....especially when you have a lot of other thing going on. Anyhow, this was definitely a good read an I even enjoyed the light romance.  

What are you reading?  

~Marie

Valentine's Day

Quick share...this is a card I made for a swap.  We had to use a sketch and make a Valentine's or Anniversary card.  I found the felt hearts at Michael's and designed my card around them. The paper is from my scrap basket.  I printed the sentiment on my computer.  I inked all the edges with Chestnut Roan chalk ink and added three red sequins. I don't usually make Valentine's cards, but I like how this one came out.  

Have you started on your Valentine's cards?  

~Marie

Reading Challenge: 5 Down!

Into the second month of this challenge and I have already read 5 books!  This past week I read 2 books, both lighter reads and on the shorter side.  

The first book I read was "a book you haven't read since high school", The Great Gatsby.  I have to say I definitely had a different take on the book this time.  Originally when I read it in high school I was looking for the happy ending to the love story between Gatsby and Daisy.  However, this time I realized the shallowness of both characters and had no sympathy for their situations.  Still a wonderful read, a true classic.

Next I read a book "that takes place on an island",  Murder by The Seaside.  I happened to find this book on bookbub , it is by an author I am not familiar with, but it takes place on Chincoteague Island in Virginia so it caught my eye.  I enjoyed the book, a light mystery with a dash of romantic comedy.  It was a nice light, entertaining read that went quickly.  I enjoyed it so much that I did a bit of research and found there are two more books in the series have begun the second one for "book with a blue cover".

 What are you reading?

Marie

My Type of Scrap-booking with 3D Embellishments

 So, last week I shared my new way of scrap booking...a hybrid of digital collages and traditional scrapbook elements. There was a concern about the flatness of the layouts.  These are two layouts that I think will show that it is really what you make of it.  The top one contains one collage and one traditional picture.  I made a pocket out of the collage to hold some items that go with the  traditional picture.  I used a Cricut cut chef to accent the cook out collage.  The black card stock will be the mat for my journaling.  

The "Lucky" layout is actually a traditional layout I made when I used to work at Stop'n'Crop.  The original layout held 3 - 4x6 plaid photo mats.  I removed the two on the right side and replaced with a collage.  I added the shamrock stickers for dimension.  The title and clover were cut on my Cricut.  The picture to the left is actually a screen shot from Jarek's instagram...I love using these as they require no journaling and are a memento in themselves.  

Do you have any tips for getting caught up on your scrapbooks?  I would love to hear them.

Marie

BRRRR....

Thought I would share this one in honor of our recent blizzard.  We were very fortunate and never lost power or Internet....thank goodness.  The kids were out of school for a total of 11 days including the weekends.   Now, I like snow as much as the next person, but this is just too much.  My poor dogs, who love snow, couldn't  even go play in it.  Oh, well, what are you going to do?  Catch up on craft projects!  

I had this little penguin in my stash already colored up.  He is from on of my favorite sets.  I just added some glittery papers, a stamped sentiment, and a few snowflake stickers.  Cute!  

If you were snowed in, how did you spend your time?

~Marie