Hello friends! Jen's got a new Digi Kit at Two Peas today called Woodsy. How cute is that? Here's a peek

For my Hybrid layout with this kit I used Jen's Simple Starts digi template as a sketch. Digital templates are great to use for sketches.

Here's my layout with some America Crafts thickers and Dear Lizzy chipboard elements. An October Afternoon sticker and adhesive from Love My Tapes.

Some close ups

You can purchase this kit and many more digital kits from Jen Martakis at Two Peas in a Bucket.
Thanks for stopping by today!

I know I've been a bad blogger but...

I have been SO busy since coming home from Chicago. I had Scott's 13th birthday on Monday after I returned and wanted to spend some time with my kids after being away from Lily for the first time. Then I got a special assignment (don't worry I'll share more info when I can) and another Cricut Demo at Best Buy that is going on every weekend in August and then there's my EK Success class at Joann's. So I apologize for being a bad blogger...

It was so much fun to see friends and make new ones while I was there. Here's a few of my favorite photos from the trip...

One of the most genuine women I know, Angela From Unity Stamp Co. I really {heart} this lady and her amazing spirit. So excited about a special chat we had during the show!

Then there's Heather, Oh how I wish I lived closer to her in San Diego. She is such a beautiful girl inside and out. So happy I was brave and went to Scrapbook Royalty's Royal Slumber Crop. It was there I met Heather and she was so sweet and fun to chat with.

I was lucky enough to get into the city with these amazing ladies. I love hanging out with Lori and Bridget (loved her) from Imaginisce. I had been lucky enough to meet Lori earlier this year in Utah so it was super fab to be able to spend some time together in Chicago. What a cab ride huh Lori! Oh my...LOL. We had a great time at the Grand Lux Cafe on Michigan Ave.

And then there was this night...so much sharing and fun. Loved learning new things about all these sweet and talented ladies. Good Times!

Here's Crystal and I at the Imaginisce booth helping out with the make and take. I loved working with Crystal (aka Pinky...wink) she is such a sweet girl with so many talents! It was really a pleasure meeting her. She was kind enough to also hook me up with a place to rest my head a few nights and it was really fun hanging out with her!

Getting to meet Ashley Cannon Newell at the Super Show was a special treat. She is even more beautiful in person and so sweet!

I was thrilled to finally meet Rae!! I have long admired her beautiful cards that grace every Papercraft's issue! She was the Gallery Idol winner last year!

I was part of this fantastic collage posted at PaperCrafts Connection! Can you find me? Susan Opel, Cath, Maren and all the girls at Papercrafts are the most amazing women. So glad to have the opportunity to see them during my Chicago getaway!

And finally these two...words can not express how much I love these girls. Jimmi and Maren are so much fun to be around. They make me smile and laugh so much. I was such a vagabond all week long going from place to place and these two made me feel right at home. I {heart} you special ladies!!

There's still more pics but it's so late for me and I still have lots of work ahead of me tonight so I'll try to post more often this week!

I really need to dig up and pic of Robyn Schaub and myself...that girl is my new bestie! I loved staying with her my first two nights in Chicago. She hooked us up with a beautiful room at the Hyatt and it was first class all the way. Aside from Kauai, it was the nicest place I have ever stayed and I really had fun getting to know her!
Ok...off to get crafty!

Enhancing ribbon with the i-rock tool from Imaginisce

Hello friends! Today I'm posting a quick card I made using the Imaginisce i-rock tool to enhance your ribbon. What I love about the i-rock from Imaginisce is that you can put your bling where ever you'd like it. The i-rock bonds to paper, clothing, canvas, shoes and just about everything else you can think to bling!

I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch to create this quick card

Supplies: Imaginisce Apple Cider patterned paper, ribbon, chipboard and i-rock tool.

I love using Love My Tapes Adhesive for ribbon. It glides on smoothly and doesn't wrinkle the ribbon.

And when you lay the ribbon down on your card it looks perfect and there are no wrinkles!

Now we just take a couple of i-rock rhinestones and add them to the polka dot ribbon.

Easy Peasy and super cute! I added some clear rhinestones too!

You will love creating with the i-rock! And speaking of the i-rock tool, today you've got a chance to win a big prize package from Imaginisce on the Imaginisce design blog. Click on over here for all the details!
Thanks for stopping by!

Imaginisce August Sketch Challenge

Hello friends! I'm home from Chicago and in just enough time to scrap up a layout for this month's Imaginisce Sketch challenge!! This month's sketch is brought to us by Design Team Member Sarah de Guzman

So cute huh! And here's my take with a little Birthday Bash and some pics from Lily's 3rd Birthday

Supplies: Birthday Bash Confetti & Wish Big pattern paper, Chipboard Stickers and Springing Stickers.

We hope you'll play along with our sketch this month and if you do be sure to link it up to the sketch post here.
Try out the sketch for yourself and you could win $75.00 worth of product (tools and/or paper). Create a card or layout using 75% IMAGINSCE PRODUCTS and Sarah's July Sketch for inspiration before August 25th.

Would you like to win now? Just HOP ON OVER to the following Design Team blogs to see what they did with the sketch. Remember, leave one comment on as many of the blogs (and ours) as you like and you'll have multiple chances to win a prize package of Imaginisce goodies. We'll announce the winner on August 9th. Enjoy!

Sarah de Guzman

Akiko Karoki

Robyn Schaub

Melinda Spinks

Lori Allred

Tammy Wark

Aida Haron

Renata Moni

Kim Holmes

Cindy Stevens

Tomomi Hiramura

Penny Smith

Samantha Hauzer

Liz Qualman

Heather Carpenter

Pinky Hobbs
Cari Locken
Tracy Gardiner

Thanks for stopping by today! I'll be posting CHA pics later this week!

This Week in our house wrap up {lots of pics}

It's been a busy week here for us here in the Smith house. Last Sunday our beautiful daughter turned 3 and I did my best to make her birthday memorable with a Little Mermaid themed party. She looked so beautiful and so grown up in her Ariel costume from the Disney Store.

Our Little Princess

Yummy homemade cupcakes buy Mommy

I spelled her name on the cupcake toppers

Mommy and the birthday girl

The kids and I had a couple of fun days in between me creating samples for CHA and blinging out my Imaginisce Apron. Here's some pics of what are week was like.



I love mornings with Lily, she loves to curl up in Dad's chair and eat her cereal while watching toons.



We went out to the valley to swim with friends on Monday in their refreshing pool and Lily wanted brother to hold her in the deep part.

Wednesday I took the kids and a friend of Scott's to Toes Beach in Playa Del Rey. The boys wanted to Boogie Board but the waves were pretty intimidating so they ended up building sand castles

Lily loves the beach. She won't sit still and relax. It's dig dig or run run...but we had a nice time.

As I get ready to leave for Chicago I realize how much I will miss my kids while I am gone. They are so much fun to take places and do things together as a family.

I won't have a computer in Chiacago so I'll tell you all about it when I return Saturday. Have a fantastic week! I know I will!

Banner-rif-ic!

Hello friends! I'm wrapping up our Cottage Christmas reveal with a super fun and easy Banner created with Imaginisce packaging and my Cricut Expression.

Most banners are made with chipboard but a good strong cardboard can work too.
I have long been a fan of reuse and recycle and Imaginisce makes it really easy to reuse their packaging because they pint the same patterns of their collection right on the packaging so you can reuse the packaging for other projects! Bet ya didn't know that huh {wink}

So the packaging for these Holly Jolly Sticker Stackers is perfect to create a fun banner in a matter of minutes

So here's how we get started....

Trim the packaging and lay it across your Cricut mat since it will cut in landscape mode. If you have the original Cricut change the cutting direction to portrait. Your cut size will be 4 1/2 and I always set the pressure at high and speed at high.

For this banner I used my Celebrations cartridge but you can use any other cartridge that has a triangle banner. I would suggest cutting scrap paper first to make sure the size is the same.

When you place the packaging on the Cricut mat be sure and line it up with the 2nd notch show, I know this pic I had it further down and it did not cut perfect as you will see in the left side of the picture below.

You'll get two banners out of one packaging strip if you pick up the paper and re position the other side and cut like this.

Now all you do is embellish! If you'd like to make those pinwheels with paper like I did you'll find tutorials on YouTube. I learn so much from that site and really appreciate the ladies that do the video tutorials.
I am getting packed and finishing projects for CHA today. I leave Monday at 7a.m. which means I have to be there at 5a.m. YIKES! I am really excited to see friends and meet new ones and hang out with the Imaginisce crew! I've also got my press pass arranged so it will be fun to check out the press kits with all the new products.
Have a fantastic weekend!

More Christmas in July

Hey friends! It's Christmas in July and Imaginisce is posting fresh projects all week long with their newest collection...

And to win some samples from this adorable collection all you have to do is leave a comment on the Imaginisce blog here! Don't forget to check back to see if you've won!

I scrapped this layout with a few different patterned papers and embellishments from the new collection.

I love the Imaginisce rub-ons, so easy to use and the results are always beautiful. I added a little bling with the Imaginisce I-rock tool to the rub-on. Supah easy! You've really got to get this little tool. You'll be blingin up anything and everything.

I can't believe I leave for Chicago Monday! So excited to meet some of the girls on the Imaginisce Design Team and work in the booth at the show! I'll be teaching the Make & Take on Thursday morning and the rest of the show you can find me in the Love My Tapes Booth! Please come by and say hi if you are going to be there! I'd love to meet you!

I'm wrapping up my Cottage Christmas projects tomorrow with a little something special I've created recycling our Imaginisce pacaging. Be sure and come back to check it out!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Christmas in July

I love Christmas, I love the music, the cooking and especially the shopping! I love making things for people and especially seeing their reaction when they open my gifts. One thing I would love to be better at is my holiday cards. I can never get them out on time. I spend weeks, days and hours creating them and then I run out of time to mail them out in time. I know it's silly huh. So today I've turned a new leaf and decided that I'll start celebrating Christmas in July by kicking off my card making well ahead of Christmas.

And what better time to start since this week at Imaginisce we are celebrating the release of Cottage Christmas! Here's my first Christmas card of 2010!

Supplies: Gingerbread Village, Holiday Wishes chipboard Stickers, I-rock tool and crystals and misc twine.


Aren't those Santa's adorable! He looks like a little knome. I love that Imaginisce made him into a Snag Em stamp. Is this image adorable or what!



Stay tuned for more Cottage Christmas artwork to come! I hope you'll celebrate Christmas in July too and be encouraged to start your holiday cards early! Be sure and link them up so I can stop by and see them!
Thanks for stopping by today!

Introducing Cottage Christmas!

Hello friends! It looks like it's Christmas in July!! Today we are excited to introduce you to Imaginisce's newest collection, Cottage Christmas! The collection features plenty of fabulous Cottage Christmas variety like 6 new double sided pattern papers in this collection, stickers, chipboard, ribbon and stamps! Here's a peek...

Christmas Countdown 12x12 patterned paper

Snowflake Crystals (my absolute favorite embellie)

And a new addition to the collection, 6x6 paper pads for card makers!!

Be sure and stop by the Imaginisce blog for your chance to win some of this fabulous collection! They are so generous that they are giving away samples of the new collection all week!!

Be sure and stop by my blog all week as I'll be featuring some designs with this fun collection starting tomorrow!

Thanks for all your sweet comments about my daughter's birthday! It was a really fun day for our family. I'll be posting pics later this week!