Back from a fun weekend at...

Art Inspired Studios. Hi everyone, I hope that your Monday is getting off to a great start. I have some fun pics from a crop that I went to this weekend at Art Inspired Studios in Brentwood. I am so blessed to have so many local friends that I carpooled with.

Here are some fun pics that we took at the crop:


with my friend and neighbor Ashley Ngyuen Newell


with my good friends Suzy west, Sarah de Guzman, and Tricia Wilson:




Here are two layouts that I completed at the crop using the new Amy Tangerine, and Garden Cafe lines from American Crafts:

Hello Friend layout:


Capitol Dreams layout:


Thanks for stopping by! Have an awesome week!

rolled paper wreath

For my project this month I decided to make a wreath for a little girls room, using a fun rolled paper technique.

To start, I found this gold frame at a dollar store



and painted it white


then I selected papers. You will need to cut about 40 papers measuring 5 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches, depending on how many layers of rolled paper that you want on your wreath.

I wanted to keep the focus on a girls theme, so I mainly used papers from the Animal Crackers for girls line, but also pulled in a few papers from the material girls line, Spring in bloom collection by Donna Salazar, and the animal crackers boys line.

Next, you will roll each paper into the shape of a cone and flatten out the bottom. You will need strong glue for this. I used 3-in-1 advanced craft glue from Beacon's, because it is what I had on hand. But, a hot glue glun will work great for this too.


after you get each cone glued together (I let mine dry overnight), you will want to lay them out on a table.


then you will need a strong piece of cardboard as a base (a round cardboard piece from a frozen pizza works great for this). Start gluing each of the rolled cones down, pressing down and flattening the end of the tip as you go. You will want to do this in layers. I made my wreath out of two layers, but you could also add a third.


After your wreath dries, It is time to add the frame.

I backed my frame with cute paper and a cut out from the Animal Crackers for girls collection. And then painted and misted chipboard buttons from the Chip Art collection.

And here is the finished product.

This was really fun, and easy to make and would make a great addition to a kids room, or a new baby's room.

Thanks for stopping by!


my blog

update on life... and winners revealed

the kids went back to school last week, but life hasn't slowed down yet. Here is a recap of our week, so far...

We have been busy....

spending time, with this guy....
My Dad came to visit us from Las Vegas and stayed with us for a few days. Matt got his first ride on Papa's Harley!

having....
Bey Blade tournaments. Matt even got Papa in on the action.

getting ready....
to welcome this sweet new puppy into our lives. Yes, this will be our third fur baby!

driving...
around a bunch of crazy tweens. This is what my carpool looks like every Wednesday :)

watching...
my new favorite show on Lifetime Picker Sisters. Awesome show about two designers that make furniture out of junk.

Designing....
with American Crafts. I love Amy Tangerine's new line!

As you can see I have been busy, plus I have been trying to adjust to having a 7th grader, a 4th grader, their schedules, plus homework and cheer practice every night. Did I mention I am the Team Mom? With everything going on, I neglected to announce my winners of the Back to school Blog hop. So without further Ado...

Winner of Blog hop day 1 is:


Winner of Blog hop day 2 is:


Winner of Blog hop day 3 is:


Winner of Blog hop day 4 is:


Thanks to everyone that stopped by and participated in the blog hop. Winners please email me your address' at myfrogprince.lideros@gmail.com so that I can mail out your prizes.

so exciting....

I just had to share my good news. I have just been asked to be a ......

Design Team Specialist for Authentique.

If you have seen their products in person you already know how amazing they are. I am very excited to get the opportunity to
work with Samantha and the rest of the Authentique crew. I also want to send a big congrats to my dear friends Sarah de Guzman, and Tricia Wilson.
I am so excited to start this creative journey with so many talented ladies. You can view the whole announcement here.

Thanks for stopping by, and I will be announcing the winners from my Back to school blog hop later on tonight :)

Splash

Hi everyone, I hope you are enjoying the warm summer days. For my project this month I decided to use bright, vivid colors.
When I think of August, I think of sunny colors - lots of bright blues, bright orange, and lots of time spent in the water with family and friends. Today is my son Matthew's birthday. He is a summer baby and he practically lives in the pool, so I knew that I wanted to do a layout about swimming for him.

Here is the color combo that I got my inspiration from:


I really loved the circle pattern on the quilt, so I decided to use the chipboard wheels from the Fun House collection to replicate the shape.


Here is a sneak peek


and the finished layout

I loved the colors and the patterns in my inspiration pic so much that I decided to use a bold Chevron print from the Fun House collection. I really love how it stands out against the dark blue, and shades of orange.

Here is a list of the Fun House supplies that I used to complete this layout:



You can purchase the Fun House collection
Here

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope that you enjoy lots of August summery days with your family!

Back to school Blog hop day 4

Hi friends,
Thanks for stopping by again today for our fourth and final day of our back to school blog hop.


If you came from April's blog you are in the right place. If you would like to start at the beginning of the hop please go to Rebekah she is the wonderful host of our hop at http://colorkraft.blogspot.com/

Today I have a fun back to school layout that I made using the Elementary, My Dear collection by GCD Studios.



Here is a close up shot of the banner that I made. I added some fun chipboard stars from Melody Ross's Chip art collection.
I painted the chipboard stars with white paint, then used the Chip art tool (to deboss them), then inked the edges with brown ink.



I also painted the corrugated cardboard letters (Jillibean), and added an apple that I fussy cut from a 12x12 sheet of flocked paper and added a fun Epiphany button.

TFS!


Thanks for stopping by today. I have enjoyed sharing my back to school themed projects with you, and I hope that you have enjoyed them too. Be sure to come by again tomorrow and I will announce the winners of days 1-4. Leave me a comment today, and I will enter you in a drawing for a Prima Border stamp and 1 gem strip sheet.




Be sure to check out these crafty girls next for more inspiration and a chance to win more prizes.

okay, go......

Blog Hop line up:

~ you are here ~ Gina
next ~ Rebekah
~ Doreen
~ Nicolette
~ Amanda
~ Melissa
~ April

Next stop on the hop is Rebekah, so stop by her blog to see what wonderful project she has to share with you.

credits:
Jillibean soup: corrugated alphas
twine from Divine Twine
ink: chestnut roan (Colorbox)
foam squares (Scrapbook Adhesives)
notebook punch (Fiskars)
GCD studios Elementary, My Dear collection by Heather Tozzi

Back to school blog hop day 3

Hi friends,
Thanks for stopping by again today for our third day of our back to school blog hop.


If you came from April's blog you are in the right place. If you would like to start at the beginning of the hop please go to Rebekah she is the wonderful host of our hop at http://colorkraft.blogspot.com/

Today I have a fun abc card that I made using the new apple cheddar soup line by Jillibean Soup. I really love the colors in this line combined with the cute floral, apples and plaid designs. These colors just scream Fall to me, so they are perfect for back to school themed projects.

ABC card:


I had so much fun making the banner out of Maya road chipboard banner pieces, wooden spools, and twine.

Here is a close up shot:


Did you notice the bubble cap letters? I created them with my round 14 shape studio tool from Epiphany Crafts.

Thanks for stopping by today. Be sure to come by again tomorrow for more fun school themed projects and prizes. Leave me a comment today, and I will enter you in a drawing for 3 packages of Petaloo flowers.



Be sure to check out these crafty girls next for more inspiration and a chance to win more prizes.

okay, go......

Blog Hop line up:

~ you are here ~ Gina
next ~ Rebekah
~ Doreen
~ Nicolette
~ Amanda
~ Melissa
~ April

Next stop on the hop is Rebekah, so stop by her blog to see what wonderful project she has to share with you.

credits:
Jillibean soup: papers from Apple cheddar soup collection
twine from Divine Twine
ink: chestnut roan (Colorbox)
foam squares (Scrapbook Adhesives)
postage stamp border punch (Fiskars)
ribbon: Hero arts
chipboard banner pieces: Maya Road
round 14 shape studio maker, round 14 bubblecaps (epiphany crafts)
wooden spools: Joann's
Slice studio essential font: Making Memories

back to school blog hop day 2

Hi friends,
Thanks for stopping by again today for our second day of our back to school blog hop.


If you came from April's blog you are in the right place. If you would like to start at the beginning of the hop please go to Rebekah she is the wonderful host of our hop at http://colorkraft.blogspot.com/

Today I have some quick and easy teacher's gifts to share with you. I love giving homemade gifts to teachers and being able to show my appreciation for all they do. After all what would school be like without them?

I decided to make 3 small gifts out of the new Sweet & sour soup line by Jillibean Soup.

First up is a canvas that can be used as a picture frame.

I just fussy cut some shapes from the collection and used a postage edge border punch, then inked the edges.

Next, I made 2 mini clipboards.

These were also so fun and easy to make. I trimmed a stack of graph paper and slipped it into the clipboard, so that it can be used for journaling notes. I also embellished with some more shapes that I handcut from the collection, and then finished by tying on some twine.

Here is a shot of all 3:


Thanks for stopping by today. Be sure to come by again tomorrow for more fun school themed projects and prizes. Leave me a comment today, and I will enter you in a drawing for a set of paper whimsies from Sassafras lass:


The annual classics collection. There are 24 pieces in this set.

....and

a set of 2 lemon yellow vintage broochs (also from Sassafrass)



Be sure to check out these crafty girls next for more inspiration and a chance to win more prizes.

okay, go......

Blog Hop line up:

~ you are here ~ Gina
next ~ Rebekah
~ Doreen
~ Nicolette
~ Amanda
~ Melissa
~ April

Next stop on the hop is Rebekah, so stop by her blog to see what wonderful project she has to share with you.

credits:
Jillibean soup: sour salt paper, shredded cabbage paper, crushed tomatoes paper from Sweet & Sour soup collection; Fresh apple slices paper from Apple cheddar soup collection
twine from Divine Twine
ink: chestnut roan (Colorbox)
foam squares (Scrapbook Adhesives)
postage stamp border punch (Fiskars)
other: graph paper

Back to school blog hop

Hi friends,
Thanks for joining us for our back to school blog hop today.


If you came from April's blog you are in the right place. If you would like to start at the beginning of the hop please go to Rebekah she is the wonderful host of our hop at http://colorkraft.blogspot.com/

I would also like to thank Rebekah for hosting this wonderful hop.


Have your kids gone back to school yet? Mine will go back to school on Monday, so we have spent the last few days getting well care visits, dropping off shot records at the school office, picking up new school supplies and shopping for new clothes, backpacks and shoes. It has been a little exhausting and I will feel better after the kids go back to school and we get back into a routine again.

I wanted to share with you my first project that I made for our back to school hop. A couple of weeks ago we stopped by the Old Sacramento school house and I was able to get some fun pics of my kids sitting in an old fashioned classroom. They got to sit at the desks, write on the chalkboards, and learn about what it was like to go to school in the 1800's. So, I was so excited to get the chance to document our trip on a layout, and this is what I made:

Old Fashioned School house layout


Here is a detail shot up close:

*Tip- a quick and easy way to add interest to your page is by layering custom buttons to premade flowers. I used my button studio maker from Epiphany Crafts to make these fun buttons. Then popped them up with foam tape on top of the premade flowers.

Thanks for stopping by today. Be sure to come by again tomorrow for more fun school themed projects and prizes. Leave me a comment today, and I will enter you in a drawing for a sheet of 4 Prima mini stamps with rhinestone jewels.



Be sure to check out these crafty girls next for more inspiration and a chance to win more prizes.

okay, go......

Blog Hop line up:

~ you are here ~ Gina
next ~ Rebekah
~ Doreen
~ Nicolette
~ Amanda
~ Melissa
~ April

Next stop on the hop is Rebekah, so stop by her blog to see what wonderful project she has to share with you.


Old Fashioned school house credits:
pattern paper: table cloth paper, borders paper, fabric store paper - For the Record collection (Echo Park);
play fair paper, How you've grown paper - Life of the party collection (Basic Grey);
recipe box paper - Cherry Hill collection (October Afternoon); sweet score paper - Ellie's tale (Sassafrass Lass)

stickers: thickers (American Crafts), teeny alpha (Glitz), entwined blooms (Sassafrass lass)
pen: brown (American Crafts)
tools: round 20 button studio maker, round 14 button studio maker, round 20 acrylic buttons,
round 14 acrylic button (Epiphany Crafts); postage stamp edger scissors (Fiskars)
fibers: licorice twine (Divine Twine)
adhesive: glue glider pro (Glue Arts), foam squares (Scrapbook Adhesives)

Blog hop on Thursday, August 11th

Back to school Blog hop



Hi friends, I just wanted to give you all a heads up that starting this Thursday, August 11th I am going to be participating in a FOUR DAY BACK TO SCHOOL BLOG HOP! With a new back to school themed project every day! You will see amazing projects from 6 skilled crafters as well as have the opportunity to win some prizes! Looking forward to seeing you!!!!

Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!