Spring Flowers, Caterpillars, and Canning Jar Gifts

So much fun to go the Scrapbook Store and pick out pretty papers.  So much more fun to pair them with favorite photos and create a visual memory on a scrapbook page.  I love the flowers and soft colors of this line from American Crafts.  Who couldn't resist these pretties with sweet names like "My Darling," "Thing of Beauty," and "Neato"?  Check out the rest of the "Peachy Keen" line at their site.  I thought I was all clever when I used the barcode strips (so cannot even think about letting them go to waste!) but I visited the American Crafts blog today and found out they're having "Barcode Strips Week!"  So much for thinking outside the box :)  On this layout, I also punched the title from little letters on the paper sheet called "neato" and made my own cute yarn flowers.  I hand-drew and cut out the flower shape (you could cut a shape from your Cricut, too) and then ran it through the xyron to made it sticky.  It was just laying down the yarn and sewing on a button after that.  Easy Peasy!  Oh, that's another one of the paper names from this line!

 

After making the layout, I used more pieces to create some mini cards.  For each little card, I also cut a shape from my Cricut (Storybook cartridge) for the center.  I made envelopes to match and put them in a canning jar as a gift.

I also made more cute cards using kraft cardstock and leftovers from a layout using a couple of sheets of Jillibean Soup kraft patterned paper.  This layout and line of papers was really what gave me the idea to put cards into a canning jar in the first place!  My layout and cards use Chilled Strawberry Soup - "Fresh Lime Juices" and "Light Corn Syrup".  I also used a bunch of the house, tree, and other corrugated cardboard shapes, which I inked to give them more definition.  The green trim is cardstock punched with a Fiskars edge punch.  The cute little worm is from Create a Critter cartridge, the font is from Jubilee, and the jar is a cut from Kate's ABCs.  The other die cuts are from one of the coordinating paper die cut sheets from Jillibean Soup.  It's called "Pea Pod Parts" and has a lot of canning references, thus the gift idea of putting itty bitty notecards into a canning jar.  I used wide-mouthed jars so the cards are easy to get in and out.  I made a set of 6 using the Jillibean and a set of 8 using the American Crafts.  I would love to open my pantry and find cute canned cards instead of beans and pickled pears, wouldn't you?

A Little Love, Anyone?

Stopped at Scrapdoodles and picked up some pretty papers the other day.  I think they must have been hidden, because these papers from sei are Gorgeous! and there was a stack on the shelf.  I picked out 3 double-sided papers from their line called "With All My Heart".  They have a shimmery/pearly foil that is so pretty!  I had a project in mind, but ended up making a ton of goodies with these 3 sheets and one coordinating package of glittery die cuts.  Here's a pic of everything together:

 I still have a few odds and ends left over for more cards - just ran out of time!  I used my Cricut to cut out the squares for the wooden frame and used them for a border on the layout.  The "sweet" title is from the Calligraphy Collection cartridge.

There's a current blog challenge with sei papers with Abby #2 at Scrapbookaholic By Abby and I thought this would be a great entry with these sei papers.  It was a quick project and I love how it turned out.  I painted the wood frame (found on clearance) a light pink and used Mod Podge to adhere the squares.  Then I just started adding and layering some die cuts.  I used some tiny beads and wire to create the antenna for the butterfly (2 heart die cuts).  Here's a close up of that area:

So, see what you can do with just 3 sheets of pretty paper?  I love when my supplies are stretched and the results are so awesome and pretty!  It makes me happy :)