Disneyland Mini Album

We took our son, along with the in-laws, to Disneyland early this month.  It was the first time our 3-year-old had been to the magic kingdom and he had a blast! 

I decided to make a mini-album for my mother-in-law as her Mother's Day gift this year. 

I just finished it today and wanted to share!  :) 

 

This is my favorite page of the album.  I hand-cut Jackson and layered him on top of glittery polka-dot card stock. 

I love this picture of Mike in goggles.  It really captures his personality!

Now to start on my own layouts....

MEGA Re-Opening Sale at ArtFire ~~ My Biggest Sale EVER!!!

As a craft lover turned entrepreneur, I'm all about supporting the small businesses.  I have sold on dozens of websites over the last couple years and am so excited about ArtFire.  I'm delighted to be able to offer you my Bella Stitchery and Gen's Scrapbook Kitchen on ONE ArtFire site for your convenience.

The url is listed as Bella Stitchery (http://www.artfire.com/users/BellaStitchery), and I've spent the last 8 days getting all my patterns up to date, as well as adding all my handmade goodies.

In honor of my new store there, I'm holding my BIGGEST SALE EVER this week:

25% off EVERYTHING in my ArtFire shop!

Patterns, cards, frames ~ you name it!

The prices listed now are retail, so please enter discount code: GRANDREOPENING25

for the sale price.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions.  Thanks so much, and happy shopping!

Cross Crafting

I'm a lover of crafts.  If I can make something with my hands, I'm all over it (except for cooking dinner).  Sometimes I just like to wander the craft store isles and find ideas for new crafts...until I remind myself of all the 1/2 finished projects waiting for me at home!

When two of my artistic passions come together, well, it's just magical.  I've enjoyed merging my love of embroidery with card making.  Sure, each card can take a week to make, but it's

a lot of fun to work on and I love that each piece is truly one-of-a-kind.

Here are some of my recent projects using embroidery in my greeting cards:

Really happy with this one. I used glitter and watercolor pencil on it as well. You can check it out on Etsy for more photos.

This was one of the first big embroidery project cards for me (more pictures on Etsy).  I had this piece next to my couch every night until I had finished the pattern.  This project took me through America's Next Top Model and American Idol several times...

The power button card below has kind of a funny story attached.  I made it one night and showed my hubby when he came home.  I said, "Look!  It's an X-Box card!  Isn't that awesome?!" and he gave me a questioning look.  I said, "See?  It's the button that's on the X-Box!" 

He walked over to the computer and pointed to the screen, then the speakers, then the TV remote.  I hadn't realized that it was the universal POWER button.  LOL! 

Well, to me, it will always mean X-Box (that's why I chose the card stock and colors, too).

Such versatility with skulls now days!  Who knew???  :)  This girly one was also embellished with watercolor pencils and bling.  I like the cupcake card stock and satin bow, too.

That completes my embroidered card tour.  Hope it inspires you to mix and match your favorite crafts!

(Re)Discover the Joy of Stamping

Ever have the supplies that you just have to have, but then never end up using?  Stamps are that never used must have for me.  It wasn't until my 8-year-old niece came over this weekend that I re-discovered how much fun stamping can be (not to mention all the versatility)!

She asked to see my stamps so she could craft with Aunt Gen (that's what we do here at Gen Co.)  I took all my stamp drawers out for her and realized that I have a metric ton of these rubbery embellishments!  

I began organizing my stash and then I felt like playing.  I spent the rest of the weekend making dozens of these cute little summery treats.  My hubby came home Saturday night to find penguins as far as the eye can see!

 

I had so much fun!  Granted, it does take more time than using ready-made embellishments, but there is a real satisfaction that comes with building from scratch.

I went all out on these mini-cards, too.  I was feelin' it ~ from Stickles to watercolor pencils ~ it was crafting madness this weekend!

  

These mini-cards are my new

SALE ITEM OF THE WEEK. 

For those of you not familiar, I will highlight one listing per week and offer it at a discounted price through the next Monday

 (while supplies last).

You can find this set of 3 cards on sale at any of my websites:

ArtFire

Gen's Scrapbook Kitchen

eWillow

Etsy

Hope you all have a warm and sunny week!

Weekend Summer BBQ Giveaway Winner

Congratulations to this weekend's winner ~ Laura in California! 

Thanks so much, Laura, for your order!  Hope you enjoy these refreshing summer goodies!

Also, since I had such a great time this weekend,

ALL who placed a handmade order this weekend will get a prize! 

That's right, every single one of you!

You'll receive 3 BBQ brads, 2 handmade mini cards and 2 sheets of summer Webster's Pages double-sided card stock! 

I appreciate you so much and wish you all the warmest wishes for summer (pun intended). 

Thanks so much!

Inspired

I don't know about any of you, but I spend lots of time online getting ideas for layouts and cards.  I love finding inspiration and there are so many amazing creations out there!

I got the idea for this Easter layout from one of my favorite page kit websites, Scrapbox Studios.

I had purchased this happy Easter paper a few weeks back, but wasn't sure how to build my layout around it.  I know that Scrapbox Studios always offers such detail-rich layouts so I went there to get some ideas. 

Here is the layout that inspired me:

I used the first page of this layout as my inspiration and tweaked it slightly to make it my own.  I had a lot of fun with this page and even cut the bunny heads out of a second sheet to make them pop-up embellishments (I tried to photograph the dimension). 

I also used some white Puffy Velvet fabric markers on the bunny tails.  (If you haven't used this product, you should definitely pick some up ~ it's so much fun to use on so many crafts!  You just wait for it to dry and then use a heat gun on it to make it puff.)

Spring BBQ Giveaway!

♥♥♥ GIVEAWAY THIS WEEKEND ♥♥♥

Each person to purchase cards between now and Monday night will be entered in a drawing for a Summer BBQ goody bag!

Prize includes:

-Handmade 5x7 card (hand painted with Copic markers)
-4 6x6 sheets of summer BBQ cardstock
-6 buttons
-handful of fun BBQ brads (a grill, an apron, chef hat, etc)

You may purchase from any of my websites (Etsy, eWillow, Artfire or Gen's Scrapbook Kitchen)
I'll hold all of this weekend's orders so that I can send the grand prize out with the lucky winner's order.

Good luck and happy shopping!

Blog Candy @ Killam Creative!

Killam Creative is having an AWESOME giveaway right now on her blog at: http://killamcreative.blogspot.com/2010/05/birthday-blog-candy.html

I just entered and have my fingers (and toes) crossed as we speak!

Moms RULE!

Mother's Day is one of my favorite holidays to make cards for.  I love to celebrate the variety of women ~ from hot mommas, to Vintage lovin' ladies.  We mothers make the world go 'round (seriously).

To all the mommies out there: Thank you for all that you do!  Keep up the good work!!

Be sure to check out my Etsy shop for all the lovely Mom-inspired greetings available. 

All orders ship out within 24 hours!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/GSpeegle