Happy Everything!

This is our Christmas card this year.  I wanted to wish all of you Happy Everything!  May the holiday you celebrate be joyous and filled with love.

The back of our Christmas card reads.....  Jesus in the reason for the season!

Hoping you have a safe and happy holiday season!

Susanna's Birthday Party

Today, October 22nd, we are celebrating Susanna's Boyd's birthday with a week-long challenge event that every member on the Planet can participate in!  The Super Novas got together and each made a special birthday gift for Susanna's birthday.  In honor of this momentous occasion, we invite everyone to post a birthday project or card for a chance to win some fabulous prizes! Yes, there are several chances to win some awesome paper crafting goodies just by posting a birthday themed project!  Further details can be found by clicking on The Planet Blog.  Check out where the party is and join us for a week of celebrations!

I created a three-page layout to celebrate Susanna's birthday.  I hope she likes it!

Halloween Bookmark

I made this cute Halloween Bookmark at my friend, Kim's house.  Oh, this would be so cute to have in one of my scary books.  In fact, it would be cute to have in any of my books.  What am I thinking?  I will have to give it to the boys, since I got a Kindle.  Oh, I could put it in the Halloween gift for one of the teachers at Westgate.  Now, I am thinking!

I stamped the image from Festive & Fun stamp set (Holiday Mini) in black Staz On and used ink and a water brush to watercolor it.  Then I ran it through the Big Shot with an Impressions Folder.  To make the raised dots show better, I brushed an ink pad lightly over them.  Oh, so cute!

Beautiful Thank You

I made this beautiful card at my friend, Kim's a couple of weeks ago.  She had everything cut and ready to go for us at her workshop.  I love this technique with the Impressions Folder.

You put ink on the folder and then put your paper into the folder and run it through the Big Shot.  The ink does not go into the impression, so it leaves it the color of the paper while turning the paper the color of the ink you use.  Soft and pretty!

I have to confess that her card had a beautiful bow on it and my bow looked terrible, so I put a flower on mine when I got home.  Hee hee!  I do not tie pretty bows, so I had to improvise.

bird house

Look at this cute little bird house my friend, Kim made me.  Love it!

Simply Sent

I love the Simply Sent sets in the Stampin' Up! catalog starting on page 192.  When you need a card, but don't have the time to make one these are the best.  This one is from the Great Day set.  All I added was a dimensional to the pink flower, the button with white bakers twine and the ribbon.  The stamping was done from me.  These sets even come with envelopes.

You can stamp a sentiment on the front.  I decided to leave mine card blank, so I can use it for any occasion.

Birthday Envelope

Isn't this soooo cool!?  I love this card that sits inside an envelope.  I made this at my friend, Kim's house.  For the envelope, I closed it and punch out the top with a circle punch.  You only use about 2/3 to 1/2 of the circle.  Cute, cute, cute!

Blow Out Your Candles

This is another card I received from my friend, Kim.  I have missed a few of her club meetings, so she gave me some of the projects she has worked on during the summer.  This is so cute, because the spinner actually works.  I love this stamp set, Take a Spin.  Perfect for an occasion!

So Sweet

This is one of the projects we are going to make at the September club meeting/workshop.  I love the treat cups!  I bought some gum balls for our gum ball machine at home, so I thought it would be a good time to make a this card before the boys chewed all the gum.

The stamp set I used for this card is Something Sweet.  There are a lot of ways to use the treat cups with this set.

God Bless You

Due to the hurricane heading up the east coast, I thought this card would be appropriate to post today.  I used the design on page 77 of the current SU Idea Book & Catalog.  I love going through the catty and looking at the cards made with the sets I own.  I mark the ones I want to recreate.  I used a different color scheme.  I like to use the colors I already own.

The stamp set is Crosses of Hope and I used the new Stripes Textured Impressions folder.

May God be with those who need His help right now.

Birthday Hat

Isn't this the cutest birthday hat treat box?  I didn't stamp this one.  My friend, Kim gave me this, when I went to her house last week.  She gave these to her roommates at the SU convention this year.  Oh, so cute!

Oh, I think I am going to have to get the Blossom Bouquet Triple Layer punch.  Love it!

Photo Booth

Since I got my MAC, Tanner loves to play on the Photo Booth program.  This application fits his personality to the max.  Susanna has given us a great template at Paper Craft Planet to scrap a lot of photos.  When I saw it, I knew I wanted to use these pics.  This was a fast way to scrap a lot of photos that do not need journaling.  The pictures tell ALL!

I am host tomorrow at Paper Craft Planet's Scrappy Sunday.  I hope you can play along with me next week.

Scrappy Sunday Week 3: Water

This month is all about scrapping those summertime memories. When most people think of Summer, they naturally think of vacations.  Travel pages can be hard because we too many pictures to put into one page, or even double spread.

This week, at Paper Craft Planet we are creating layouts that have something to do with water.  Here are just a few you can create:

• Pools
• Lakes
• Sprinklers
• Ocean

Go through you pictures and find some where you are enjoying the water on a hot summer day.  We hang out at our pool most of the summer to get away from the heat.  My oldest, Tate loves doing tricks off the board and having us rate them from 1 to 10.  I decided to do a layout showing a couple of his tricks.  

Happy Birthday Card

This is the last card we made at club Friday night.  This card can be found on page 66 of the new SU Idea Book and Catalog.  I changed a few things, but most of it looks just like the card in the new catalog.  I can't say it enough...The artwork in the catalogs are a great starting point when creating, especially when you have the same stamp set.

This stamp is from the set Bring on the Cake.  The set is great for all the birthday cards I need to make.  I colored the letters in with the SU markers to match the DSP.  Love it!

Meet My MAC

Some of you have asked me if I got my MAC, and how it is going with my new toy.  

Yes, I did!  AND.....I am having so much fun with it.  I picked it up last night and took a class there called "out of the box".  Since I have never owned a MAC, I wanted them to show me the differences I would have from owning a PC.  Today, I am adding all my files from my external hard drive and all the programs I need to transfer from Windows.  I am still learning how to navigate through the programs and customizing my desktop.

Here is my new baby:

Close up

Isn't my desktop image cool?  Boy, he looks like his dad.  Yes, that is a 27 inch screen.  I am in heaven.

I hope to do some digital scrapbooking this week.  I have one card left to show you from last week too.  Now, back to playing with my toy!

Best Ever!

This card is inspired by the card on page 58 of the new Stampin' Up! 2011-2012 Idea Book and Catalog.  When I am pressed for time (like this week), I always look through the catalog and see if a card captures my eye.  I changed this one a little, because I wanted to use the Vintage Wallpaper and Framed Tulips Embossing Folders.

This is just one of the four awesome stamps in the set Take a Spin.  I used retired rub-ons for the sentiment "You are the very best ever." to match where the spinner landed.

Inspired by Denise

I received this cute thank you card from my friend, Denise, who lives in San Diego and I knew I wanted to use it for a template to make one for our July club.

Here is the one I made for our club meeting this Friday:

I used the new DSP, Paisley Petals and the Short & Sweet stamp set.

Pool Hair

Susanna is hosting this week's Scrappy Challenge at Paper Craft Planet.  This month is all about scrapping those summertime memories.  Susanna create an awesome 4th of July page.  I looked through my pictures and didn't have any unscrapped 4th pictures, but I did find some pictures of our boys and the neighbor at our pool.

Last summer, they started a game called "pool hair styles".  All of them had longer hair for the summer, so they loved to come out of the water with funky hair styles and check their look in the window to the pool house.  Silly!  I took pictures of this game, since they played it so much and would eventually forget they did this.  Yes, blackmail photos!  LOL!  Here is the quick layout based on the template Susanna used for her 4th of July layout here.

One of my favorite parts of digi scrapping is when I have to create a layout for both Tate and Tanner.  All I have to do is change the main photos...viola!  I'm done with two layouts.  Awesome!

I have three cards to share with you this week I made for our July club meeting this Friday.  I just have to take pictures and add my watermark.  Check back later this week for them.

Scrappy Sunday - Work Smarter, Not Harder: Week 4

I am hosting again at Paper Craft Planet's Scrappy Sunday.  This is the last week of a four part series to Work Smarter, Not Harder, when you scrap.  This week I am focusing on quick pages.

I have started a digital club for some of my club members, where they buy $25.00 worth of digital products for their My Digital Studio and they receive a free layout designed by me each month.  All they have to do is drop in their pictures, add journaling and they are done.  If they feel creative, they can change the colors of the papers and embellishments too.

This is an example of one of the quick pages, my club members downloaded in this month.

If you are interested in joining our My Digital Studio club, please email me at clearlyinspired@gmail.com for details.

Thanks A Million

I wanted to thank all of you who are praying for my brother-in-law, Dwight.  He is having surgery today to remove the cancer.  Hopefully, he will recover soon and stay cancer free.  Please continue to pray for him, my sister, Connie and their children.  Thanks A Million!

Baseball season is coming to an end this season.  Tate and Tanner both have a game tonight depending on the rain.  We wanted to thank the coaches, so we got them gift certificates to Subway and I made them a quick card on My Digital Studio.  I used these colors, because they are their team colors.

This card is for the coaches and for you!

Happy Dad Day!

Happy Father's Day to my Awesome Dad and the Father of my boys!

Love ya both!

Coach Pitch

I am doing a little digi scrapping and having fun playing along with Susanna at Paper Craft Planet.  This week her theme is Work Smarter, Not Harder.  Susanna used a magazine to learn from professional Graphic Designers how page elements best work together.  She even has a free Photoshop template for those of you who work in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.  


Since I use My Digital Studio I recreated her layout in MDS.  In addition, I kept the layout the same; however, I changed mine to a 12 x 12 page.  This template is great if you have a story to tell behind your pictures.  I used this to tell the story behind Tanner's first baseball game.  I am so glad I had a way to share the story behind all the pictures I took.

Click to enlarge

Meet Dusty

We didn't think we would ever want a new kitty in our house after Madison died two years ago, but we were wrong.  My parents always have cats outside and my mom got a new kitty in May.  She sent us a picture and we fell in love.  Since she is the best MOM ever, she said we could have him.  Meet Dusty!  She brought him to us yesterday and we have been playing and loving ever since.

DH says he looks like a panda.  His tail is the same color as his ears.  Such a cutie!

Live with Passion

This is another card we made at club this month.  I wanted to show my club members they don't have to have designer series paper to make a card.  This card is on page 104 of the 2010-2011 catalog using the Inspired by Nature stamp set.  I love to use the catalog to get ideas or inspiration.

Big Bold Ribbon

I just love this big ribbon from Stampin' Up!  I wanted to create with it for one of our June club cards, so I looked through the 2010-2011 catalog and saw the perfect card (on page 106) I could change a little to use this big, bold ribbon.

The first card reads "I love you" inside and the other two read "Thanks so much".  This card is a great way to use any type of ribbon you have in your stash.  The stamp set is called Three Little Words.

Tanner at Bat

I finally got to play with some pictures that I took at Tanner's first game this year.  The boys are out of school for the summer already and in the sprinkler this afternoon.  We are opening our pool this weekend, which isn't soon enough for them.  It is nice to tell them to jump in the pool, if they complain about being hot.

I haven't been stamping much.  I am enjoying our boys and having fun being with them more.  I see too many stories on blogs I visit where someone has lost a child due to illness or an accident.  They grow up so fast and I am really feeling the "mom" bond right now.  I will be back from time to time with digital scrapbooking or cards I have made; however, it is not my priority right now.  I hope you can stick with me this summer.

Here is Tanner's first at bat:

Lens Effect + photo pop

Lens Effect + Psychedelic

Lens Effect + Spicify

To enlarge the picture, just click on it.

I do have my favorite of these three.  I was playing with masks too, so I could brush off the effect on different parts of the picture.  Oh, I am having fun with PSE and Topaz Labs.

Happy Graduate

We are very proud parents of a Happy Graduate, Tanner.  He graduated from Kindergarten today.  He was so excited!  We had cake, balloons and went out to eat to celebrate.  Congratulations, Tanner!

receiving his diploma

proud big brother

Tanner's best friend, TJ

Can you believe I almost forgot to make him a card?  I woke up this morning and realized I didn't make one, so I used My Digital Studio to create.  

Happiness is: you

This is another great picture my MIL took of "my boys".  I used another designer layout in My Digital Studio.  This layout caught my eye, because the clock faces were already on it and the colors are masculine.  My FIL makes and repairs clocks as you can see by all the clocks in the background of the picture.  This layout is perfect for this shot.  I just added the title.

For You Flower

Another card we are making this week that goes with the cute & simple theme.  This is taken from the 2010-2011 catalog too.  It is on page 19.  So much of my inspiration comes from the SU catalogs.  When the catalogs retire, don't throw them away.  They are a great source for projects.

I think the theme for my life this spring and summer, will be "Keep it Simple".  The boys are busy with baseball games, baseball practice and tennis lessons start again soon.  My DH and I are both taking tennis lessons too, so we have something going about every day except for Sundays.  Our day of rest!

We are so excited, because school is out May 20th!  Can't wait to have our boys home for the summer.  We have sooooo much fun together.

HB Buttons

Everyone seems so busy lately (including me) that I wanted to focus on cute & simple cards this month for our club meeting.  This is one of the cards we will be making this week.  It is from the 2010-2011 SU catalog on page 16.  I used different buttons, paper and stamp set; otherwise, the design is the same.  I love SU catalogs for ideas!

Hybrid Grad

I hope everyone had a Happy Mother's Day!  The weather was so beautiful that we spent most of our time outside.

This is a hybrid card from My Digital Studio.  When I received the graduation invitation from Lauren (my friend, Norma Jean's daughter), I knew I wanted to use the Go Graduate Plus digital stamp brush set.  I love those feet!

The bottom half of the card except for the red grosgrain ribbon was made on My Digital Studio.  Once I printed that on my home printer, I added the grad stamp, brads and ribbon.  The grad stamp is from the retired set, Great Grad.

Shay Day

click to enlarge

I am so glad I belong to the My Digital Studio ning group here.  I stumbled across Rebecca Filipek's MDS scrapbook sketches.  She has done a great job at designing sketches that inspire me to keep scrapping, especially on My Digital Studio.  This Shay Day layout was inspired by one of her sketches.  You don't have to own My Digital Studio to join.  This site is inspires me in all my paper crafting.

Happy Mom Day

You know I love the sketch challenges on Paper Craft Planet.  Lori is our hostess this week and she has a good one for us.  I used it to make this Mother's Day card.

I used the new paper and stamp set that was offered in April's promotion.  The stamp set is Four Frames and the paper is Paisley Petals.  You should put these on your wish list.  They will be available in the 2011-2012 catalog.

I had a question about what stamp sets were used in the SU corporate birthday card I posted yesterday.  That card is awesome and was all created in My Digital Studio.  Here is the card with the stamp sets used from My Digital Studio.  After they printed it, they added a little bling.

Here are the items numbers for the stamp sets in My Digital Studio:

118828 - Party Hearty (This set comes with the My Digital Studio software.  You can order it for Photoshop too).

119098 - A Little Birthday Cheer

124015 - Bring on the Cake

All of these sets are available in the big catalog except for Bring on the Cake.  It was in the occasions mini.

Long Time.......

Wow!  It has been a long time, since I have blogged.  I am keeping very busy like the rest of you with family, sports for the boys, etc.  I am ready to get back to creating!

I am finished with my research on which computer I am going to get.  I decided to go with the iMac and iPad combo; however, I don't need to buy it yet.  I thought my hard drive crashed, because I was told it failed the hard drive test from a repair shop.  I took it to computer guy, Bill and he tested it.  It works just fine.  I don't get it.  I don't know why it wouldn't turn on for me.  Maybe the repair shop jiggled enough "things" in it that is fixed itself.  I don't care.  I am glad I have a longer time to save for what I want.  Now, I have the research done and am ready to buy, when I save the money.

I wanted to show you the cards I have been receiving from some of my wonderful and talented friends.  I am going to start making Mother's Day cards and club cards tomorrow.  BTW, it is my birthday today (May 2nd).  I am so happy to be blessed with another birthday that I have a special offer for you below.  Each year gets better and better.

Stampin Up! Corporate

Denise Macias

Denise Macias

Lynn Mercurio

Maria Rudolph

 Terese Hammond

Since it is my birthday month and Mother's Day is this weekend, I am having a May Sale on my Basic Brayer Online Class.  Instead of the class being $15.00, it is on sale for $10.00 for a limited time.  This class is held at Paper Craft Planet and ends Monday, May 9th.  If you have any questions, please contact me.


Basic Brayer Online Class $10.00