I am still alive...

and so is my beloved MacBook Pro! You see I have been absent for a while because about two days after my last post I managed to knock over a full glass of hard cider...right on top of the keyboard of my  laptop. For some reason my MAC didn't think swimming sounded all that great! The screen went immediately black. I let it sit on top of our warm propane stove to dry out for 5 days and then when I turned it on it gave me the white start up screen with the apple insignia and the little "wait a minute I'm thinking" dial went around and around. Thought I was going to get lucky...hmmm...nope! IT wouldn't charge and just died a few seconds after it gave me a little tease. Fortunately, we have this wonderful little Gadget Geeks store and I dropped my baby off there and about after they cleaned it out and replaced the charging port it is back in my hot little hands and working like a charm. Didn't lose anything it! PHEW! Luck was on my side!

Right after I got it back we headed out of town for a couple of trips so I just haven't had time! Unfortunately, I missed all of the CHA buzz and haven't been able to share any of my projects yet. Over the next few days I hope to do so!

Let's get started! First up is the new Handmade Holiday line from Simple Stories. This line screams Christmas to me, however my goal with this layout was to show how versatile of a line it could be and I made a layout that was a winter theme instead!

The snowflakes are vellum over the top of a striped patterned paper and they were die cuts with Papertrey Ink dies Damask Snowflakes.

Next up is a holiday card. This one was super easy. I used one of the 12x12" cut apart pages for the background and then just hand cut some holly leaves and added the buttons and twine for berries.

Thanks for checking in and I'll be back soon with my CHA projects using Simple Stories Harvest Lane and some  new Clear Scraps Send it Clear cards.

Hope you are all enjoying summer!

Tonya

Clear Scraps + Stampendous =

one fabulous blog hop...all week long!!!

Welcome to the Clear Scraps & Stampendous Blog Hop!

This week, all week long we will be featuring amazing projects from Clear Scraps & Stampendous. 

We have paired up with these amazing stamps to create inspiring projects. 

Today I am sharing a card with you featuring the Send it Clear Belgrave card from Clear Scraps and the Friendly Phrases (SSC1141) Stamp Set from Stampendous.

This is the card when it is closed and what it would look when taken out of the envelope (P.S. Did you know that Clear Scraps provides a CLEAR mailable envelope with each of these cards?! Cool huh?!)

Here is the sentiment and the leaves stamped on the front.

I used a printed transparency (from the Simple Stories Fabulous line) for the front flaps and embellished it with some jewels and a little wooden embellishment from Studio Calico.

Here is card opened, another circle with the leaves stamped on it, I left the rest blank for the sender to add their own sentiment or signature.

Make sure to check out these other blogs today for more fabulous projects and inspiration! (Click on the name to be taken to their blog)

Stampendous Impressions

Cyndi Bundy

Kristine Reynolds

Be sure to check back every single day for your chance to win and a chance to see the full potential of Stampendous Stamps and Clear Scraps acrylics!

Thanks for hopping by and have a great Monday!

Tonya Dirk

Summer Fresh Cards

Hi everyone! Today I have a couple of cards from my blog post on the Simple Stories blog last week. I started off with the new Summer Fresh line. I've mentioned it before, but this line is so fresh and so fun. A touch of vintage, a touch of shabby chic, and a touch of all of the colors that yell 'summer'!

First up is card that was made based around one of the transparency pieces. Adhered it to the card front with my Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher. Scor Tape was used for the perfect lines of glitter around the edges.

This next one uses that adorable clothes line sticker. I've been waiting to use this for a while with that cute sentiment.

This one is based on a "gold medal" ribbon...I just added a new center piece to it to make it match what I wanted my card to say.

This next card I did for the Clear Scraps blog. The base for this one is made from a 12x12" acrylic sheet.

Glad you all stopped by today!

He's growing up...

fortunately not fast enough that he can grow a 'stache this big {YET}!

See I had some BIG hair, like Marie Osmond BIG hair, like your are over 40 and your long BIG is starting to look ridiculous. So I went in and had it cut. Unfortunately I was 1/2" short to donate to Locks of Love. I knew my daughter would be amazed when she saw how much was cut off, so I brought the pony tail home. Little did I know who would have the most fun with it!

The base for this layout is a 12x12" Clear Scraps acrylic sheet and the Clear Scraps arrow was embossed with a Spellbinders Mbossibilities embossing folder.

Everything else on the layout came from Studio Calico's April 2012 kit. 

Hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

Tonya

Ready to dance...

Happy Tuesday everyone! I have a Simple Stories layout to share with you today! This layout features the Fabulous line...my favorite. However, I must confess that I just received my Summer Fresh goodies and it just might take the number one spot on my list once I have a free moment to play with it!

These photos of my daughter were taken on our way out the door to her school sock hop. She has a stuffed leopard that she was attached to at the time and she dressed it up to in a skirt and a tiara so that it too could go to the dance. So cute!

I absolutely love the color combination of this line, so fun and so happy! 

I also have a card to share with you using Simple Stories Year.O.Graphy line.

Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day!

Handsome

Happy spring day! Today I am here to share with you my first layout for Simple Stories. For this layout I used the Documented line.

I took some of my favorite pieces of paper from the line and placed strips of each at a diagonal and then stitched them all together, I'm really happy with the way that it turned out.

For my title work I used some of the alpha stickers from Documented Expression Cardstock Stickers (I LOVE the polka dots!) and then made a little banner for some added dimension.

The stars and the 

'perfect' label came from the Fundamental Cardstock Stickers.

Thanks for stopping by!

My Mind's Eye Challenge

I was so excited to see the new challenge that was posted on the My mind's Eye blog this month. It was all about the hexagon, something many of us have been enjoying using as of late! Their Follow Your Heart collection was the perfect choice for this too!

My base page is actually from their Miss Caroline line, the rest is from the 6x6 Follow Your Heart paper pad.

I misted over a cut out heart with Mr. Huey's to get the faint heart on my background.

Then I put my Cameo to use to cut out the vellum and paper butterflies, and the word 'beauty'.

The word 'true' was done with Papertrey Ink dies.

I love the subtle butterflies, however they kind of faded into the soft colors of the layout, so I inked the edges up a bit and added some glitter to them to help them stand out a bit.

Hand stitched a double line around the layout to help tie it all together.

While I had things scattered around my desk I went ahead and made a few cards with the remains.

This one was for a sketch challenge on 2 Peas last week.

A couple of cards for Mother's Day.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Tonya