Friday, March 29, 2013

Fun with Digital Kits

I noticed that 2 Peas had some Digi kits on sale so I got a few of them and had some fun. Even though I have Photoshop, I prefer to use Publisher for playing with photos and digital elements. You could also use Word or PowerPoint. Once you are done just save your digital artwork as a picture either .jpg or .png and it will act like any other photo.

I started with this cute photo I snapped of Tia using the camera on my phone (love my new phone!) My son Ben had started clearing out his old room (yippee) and we found Tia's little sleeping hut and her Body Glove shirt. She loves wearing shirts, she shoves her head right through the neck hole and her feet through the armholes. Then she poses. Like this:

She doesn't realize that her sleeping hut has kitties on it, so we won't tell her!

First I edited the photo using PicMonkey.com, adding the text and lady bug while re-sizing and cleaning up the exposure.

Then I opened it in Publisher and started adding digi elements and WordArt. Here's the result:



Digital Kits used:

Thanks for visiting!

blessings,
nancy





Thursday, March 28, 2013

Princess Birthday

My sister has adorable grand-kids. Need proof? Check out this photo:

Gavin and Reece

The family celebrated Reece's 3rd birthday with a party on Sunday. Of course it had a princess theme!

I paper-pieced the sweet castle from Lawn Fawn's Critters Ever After using Echo Park Country Drive papers. Those papers are so sweet and girly, they were perfect!

The inside was decorated as well with Lawn Fawn stamps: Critters Ever After, Year One and Sally's ABC's and some more Country Drive papers.




For the gift bag: I stamped some white tissue paper and die cut a layered flower to add to a clothes pin. 
The "hi princess" is an older Hero Arts sentiment stamp.

I had so much fun designing and making this little gift ensemble. My mojo seems to be making a come-back.

blessings,
nancy

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Baby Shower Card

So in the midst of our plumbing woes I attended a baby shower and my great-niece's birthday party over the weekend. It was so nice to see some of my dear {long-lost} friends at the shower.

For the card I took my inspiration from the cute gift bag I found at Target!


The colors and stamps were chosen based on the fun bag design! 
Stamps: Lawn Fawn-Critters on the Savanna and die, Sharp Backdrops, Critters Down Under (sentiment), Bannerific stamp and die; Hero Arts-Hexagon Background. 
Inks: Hero Arts-Soft Pool, Butter Bar, Soft Granite, Orange Soda, Green Hills, Black Dye ink.

I included this adorable Gift Card on the inside of the card by cutting slits for the corners to slip into.

I'm so glad you dropped in for a visit! I'll have a cute Princess birthday card for you tomorrow.

blessings,
nancy

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

So sorry it's been so long....

....since my last post. To say life intervened would be an understatement but I'm back with some fresh projects to share with you this week!

But first here is what has been happening at Casa Krueger:


That is a man standing in a hole in the middle of my bathroom (the one that didn't flood). Jose and Jose (yep, 2 men named Jose) fixed the major plumbing catastrophe we experienced last Thursday. Our savings took a major hit! We are now forced to move up the remodel of this bathroom 'cause there's a hole in the floor. And because of water damage we need to replace the carpeting in our bedroom and all the woodwork in our master bath. Waiting to learn if our homeowner's policy will cover the water damage (unfortunately insurance doesn't cover plumbing catastrophes).

Here's a tip for all you owner's of older homes out there, you may want to consider replacing your old cast iron pipes with new more durable pipe before it becomes an emergency. We were unaware of any risk when the main pipe that connects to the sewer collapsed while I was in the shower. Since the water had nowhere to go it backed up into the bathroom causing the formation of a  lake in the bathroom which meandered into the bedroom and onto the patio. I don't take long showers, this happened in less than 5 minutes!

Anyway I took a break from insurance claims, city inspectors, the Jose(s) and the rest of the stress to make something to remind me of who is in charge. This little wall hanging is titled {trust} and it makes me happy!






I did a watercolor technique with Distress inks (Peacock Feathers and Mowed Lawn) and Hero Arts stamps (Luscious Patterned Flowers) on Bristol board. Then I over-stamped with my favorite Hero Arts "Old Letter Writing" stamp and some Soft Granite ink. I blended on some Tumbled Glass and Broken China Distress inks. Finally a favorite verse, from Stampendous, was stamped with Hero Arts black ink. This panel was trimmed, matted with black cardstock and foam mounted to a patterned paper (Echo Park Country Drive) covered panel of thick chipboard. Just a simple project that took almost no time at all to finish.

Thanks so much for visiting!

blessings,
nancy

Monday, March 18, 2013

A Quick CAS Birthday Card

I saw the stamps sitting by my desk, they were just asking to be inked up. I didn't have a lot of time but I wanted to make a card. Out came some pretty inks, a punch or two, a bit of ink spray and a couple minutes later, here's what happened:


It took longer to photograph the card than it did to make it! And I'm really happy with the CAS look of it too. I love that it's just stamping, nothing fancy. I layered the stamped panel on a Hero Hues Pool card base. The butterflies were punched out of stamped cs then spritzed with Mister Huey's.

And here's what I used:


Thanks for stopping by!

blessings,
nancy

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Stamp Fever Party

I had so much fun yesterday! It was a festive atmosphere at Stamp Fever for the Lawn Fawn birthday celebration. The store was decorated with banners, there were Pink Lemonade Cupcakes and shelves fully stocked with Lawn Fawn goodies! Kelly's make 'n take table was the place to be.

I started the day by teaching a class (using all the new Lawn Fawn sets and papers, of course).

A big smile from Lauren!

This group takes their card-making seriously

This was a wonderful group of women, I had a great time!

I had to bring my little Tia with me as her big buddy was at the groomer and she doesn't like to be left home alone. Luckily she didn't lack for friends to cuddle with her.
Tia didn't know Jane but seemed very happy to hang out with her!

Tia knows and loves my sweet friend Sue, she even helped Sue do a bit of shopping.


Finally at the end of the day, I posed for a photo with my sweet buddy Kelly.


Make sure to visit the Stamp Fever blog for more party photos and the announcement of the Blog Hop Winners!!

I'll be back tomorrow with a new card!! I finally had time for some creative fun!

Also since the announcement of the imminent end of Google Reader I checked out a couple alternatives. I really like Feedly. I moved my current blog reading list with just one click. It's going to be an adjustment since I had a routine with Reader but I really like the way Feedly looks and the features. I hope you'll add my blog to whatever new reader you choose.

blessings,
nancy

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Wishing Lawn Fawn a Happy Birthday with Stamp Fever

Shortly after I started teaching classes at Stamp Fever I got an email from Kelly Marie Alvarez asking if she could show us her new stamp line. Kelly brought her stamps, it was love at first sight and I've been a fan of Lawn Fawn ever since. Stamp Fever has carried Lawn Fawn since the very beginning!

This month Lawn Fawn celebrates three years of bringing cute-ness, whimsy and quality to the crafting community! It seems only right that Stamp Fever should throw a party to celebrate!!

We've put together this mini hop to get the word out about the birthday celebration. If you are in the Orange County, Calif. area please join us at Stamp Fever! We'll have cake (Pink Lemonade Cupcakes!!) and Kelly will have a fun Make 'n Take to share.


There will be prize drawings at the party but we don’t want to exclude our blog readers. 

We will randomly choose one winner from those who comment at The Stamp Fever blog and one more random winner from comments on the Hop Participant blogs. 

To increase your chances of winning: Follow the Stamp Fever blog in a reader or by email subscription; sign up for our Newsletter; follow Stamp Fever on Facebook and leave us a comment there. 

Each winner will receive a Lawn Fawn Stamp set and the coordinating Lawn Cuts Die set.

Happy Third Birthday, Lawn Fawn!
Stamps: Year Three, Fanciful Frames, Bake Me a Cake; Pink Lemonade Papers.


Drawing is open until 10:00 pm PDT on Friday March 15. The random drawing will take place at the party with the winners being announced Sunday, March 17 on the Stamp Fever blog.

Please visit these blogs and wish Lawn Fawn a Happy Birthday!
Stamp Fever Birthday Hop for Lawn Fawn list of Participants:

Nicole- Unify Handmade
Chari- MossyMade
Lynnette- Netter's Notables
Virginia- Yes, Virginia
Melissa- Love My Scraps


blessings, 
nancy