Happy Birthday dearest Susanna!!!

Good Morning Everyone,

Today - October 22nd is a special birthday! It's Susanna Boyd's birthday!!!! woo-hooo!!! As you might know, Susanna is the creator of the website Card of the Week and the founder/creator of Paper Craft Planet - an online community for crafters. Susanna is one of the sweetest people I know - she is AMAZING!!! Seriously - I don't know how she does all the things that she does and not only that - but she does it so beautifully!! She works, she is a mom, she coordinates sooo many different projects and always has such a positive attitude and awesome sense of humor!!! I am so blessed to have gotten to know her and chat with her - she is one sweet cookies!!! (SB, if you are reading this - I ADORE you and want to be you when I grow up!!!)

So to celebrate her birthday, the Super Nova Design Team decided to throw her a party - blogstyle! We are all creating her a special card album (you can view here) and would love for you to create a card for her as well!!! And what is a party without some yummy party favors??!!??? Right?! Well, all you have to do is:
1. create a birthday card (yup, that's it!!)
2. upload it to the photo album gallery at Paper Craft Planet with the tag SB2009.
3. All uploads must be completed by 11:59 PM EST on Sunday, Oct. 25th, from which random numbers will be selected to be eligvile for some awesome prizes: Check out these awesome prize packages that you could win just by making a birthday card and uploading to PCP!!!

7kidscollegefund : a High Hopes stamp and a Memory Box 8 pack of cards and envelopes

Hope Stamps Eternal : a Basic Grey "June Bug" prize package

Gina K Designs : Sweetest Blessings stamp set

Clear & Simple Stamps : $25 gift certificate

i{heart}papers : 3 Chicken Girl Design stamp sets

Kitchen Sink Stamps : a Mystery Prize

How YUMMY is that party favor box!!?! Well, I wanted to make SB something special and that's where Tom Selleck comes in (Jen Tapler if you are reading this, your Tom Sellect Valentine is still coming but you might only get it for 2010's Vday, lol! :). Susanna loves Tom Selleck! and so I wanted to create a little birthday something with Tom in it :) So I created a little scrapbook page for her using this week's Scrappy Sunday sketch challenge by Jen for the layout and used the awesome digital kit from the Sweet Shoppe Designs called: Cinemania by Lauren Grier and MandaBean. I have to say that these digital kits are awesome - there are so many and I just get lost looking at each yummy one!!!

This is my first full digi set and I can't wait to print it out and add some final embellishments (yes, liquid pearls, lol!) Be sure to stop by Paper Craft Planet and check out this discussion in the forum for all the details regarding Susanna's birthday celebration! You could win all of the yummy products by making a bday card - so join in the fun!

Happy Birthday dearest Susanna!!! Hope you have the best day ever!!! You seriously are beyond AWESOME!!!! Sending you big bday hugs!
And big hugs and thanks to all of you for stopping in!
THank you!!!
See you soon :) Sankari :)

Taylored Expressions - Day One of Sneak Peeks!!!

Good Morning Everyone!

I got a makeover! Well, my blog got a makeover :) Thanks to the creative genius of Nancy McKinney!! Nancy is also the designer artiste for the stamps that the Taylored Expressions Design Team will be previewing sneak peeks for today!

Today starts the first of the three days of sneak peeks! Can I tell HOW excited I am to be able to show you Taylor's newest stamp sets that will released this Friday, June 5th at 8am PST and will be available at the Taylored Expressions Store!!! Seriously - all of these June release stamp sets are beautiful and adorable!!!

Okay - so this is going to be a long post - so grab a cup of chai and a cupcake!

The set that we are previewing today is called Beary Special and the Beary Special Accessories stamp sets. These two sets are part of the charitable program called the Taylored Expressions Giving Tree. A portion of the proceeds from each stamp set will be donated to the Hospital for Sick Children (Sick Kids) - which is a health care community dedicated to improving the health of children. You can check out more details on Taylor's blog post today - and also stop by our stamp designer (and blog makeover artiste extraordinaire!!) Nancy McKinny's blog today as well - and read how her family was directly helped by this amazing organization!

I absolutely ADORE this stamp set - seriously - I couldn't stop using it in projects... they are beary stinkin' cute!!!! These sets are so versatile - you can use them in every project :) and as you can see - I couldn't resist with just one sneak peek sample :)

1. Baby Shower Teddy Bear Gift bag with card:

This is made for a dear friend of mine who is expecting a wee little boy wonder soon! It was so nice to know that it is a boy (I could actually throw a little blue in the mix and not just the neutral green and yellow :)

Below is a sneak peek of the bag (a regular brown bag from the craft section). I love all these beautiful images of the different teddy bears and stuffed animals that are available as part of this stamp set - they are so cute!!

Here is a closer sneak peek at the card for the baby shower - It shows one of the bears from the set - holding a little sign from the set that says "sweet little one" - I love this jolly little teddy bear guy - so cute!! I used a layout that I saw on the lovely Jodi's blog for this card to make my card - but instead of Jodi's awesome piercings - I went with my addiction with liquid pearls :) lol!

Here is a closer sneak peek at my sneak peek :) I added some crystal effects to his nose and to the sign.

Card Details:

Paper: Martha Stewart

Ink: Stazon Black, Adirondack Expresso

Stamps: Beary Special, Beary Special Accessories (available June 5th)

Accessories: Corner Rounder, Kaiser Rhinestones, Buttons, Star punch, liquid pearls, circle cutters, Prisma Color Pencils, Crystal Effects, Crystal Stickles.

2. In Honor of Harold our Teddy Bear :)

Ever since our son was 2 days old - Harold has been there for him :). Harold is the cutest little bear that was given to us by Caty - one of our dearest family friends. My son adores Harold - he comes with us on all of our travels and has a special place on the bed. Here is a little layout of Harold and my son at 4 months and then at 4 years old. This is a 6x6 layout and fits perfectly into the Calendar stand that you can then display around the house:

I made this page using the March Key Ingredients set - which already comes with papers, buckles, ribbon, cardstock with coordinating design papers. The chipboard is from American Crafts.

I love this little bear and I love that the Beary Accessories Stamp set comes with a scarf!!! How perfect because it totally looks like Harold now with a matching scarf :)

Card Details:

Paper: March Key Ingredients

Ink: Stazon Black, Adirondack Expresso

Stamps: Beary Special, Beary Special Accessories (available June 5th)

Accessories: Corner Rounder, white gel pen, silver marker, everything else comes with March Key Ingredients kit.

3. Birthday Bear Card:

I simply love the versatility of this set. By pairing it with different papers - there are so many different looks that you can create :) Here is a little birthday card for a little boy using the Beary Special and Beary Special Accessories stamp set. I used the TECC69 sketch from Taylor - but kinda got carried away with adorning all the corners instead of one :) - couldn't help it - I had such a ball making this card and adding the glitter and crystal effects to the ballon :)

Everything in this card is paper pieced. The bear, the presents, the bows on the presents. The present is part of the Beary Special Accessories stamp set. All of it was paper pieced :)

4. Keep Truckin :

This week the 3D challenge at Paper Craft Planet was to create a truck - and I couldn't think of anything cuter than a little bear in a truck - (love the bow tie and hat that the Beary Special Accessories stamp set has!). You can check out all the details here about how to create this fun truck. You can attach a little gift card on the back of this truck - so its a little truck bringing a little present :)

5. Believe Bear Card:

Okay - really - how could I not create one more card when there is this sweeeeeet image of wings and wand - I couldn't resist!!! And when I saw that there was a sentiment that read: Believe - I knew that I had to use it with my winged bear - there are so many kinds of cards that you can make with this - something for a child, something for someone who is going through a rough time - something just to lift the spirits:

Card Details:

Paper: Martha Stewart

Ink: Adirondack Expresso, SU! Caramel

Stamps: Beary Special, Beary Special Accessories (available June 5th)

Accessories: Corner Rounder, rhinestones, glitter, crystal effects, liquid pearls, ribbon.

Wow - that was one long post!! Hope you enjoyed these peeks of this awesome stamp set! Because the purchase of this stamp set goes to help this awesome Organization - in order to save costs on manufacturing and to be able to donate even more to this foundation, these sets will have to be trimmed from the sheet of rubber.

Don't forget to check out the rest of the Beary Awesome ;) creations from my fellow Design Team members:


Donna Baker
Jodi Collins
Jen del Muro
Dawn Easton
Laura Fredrickson
Karen Giron
Charmaine Ikach
Denise Marzec
Karen Motz
Laurie Schmidlin
Ana Wohlfahrt

and of course: Taylor VanBruggen

Don't forget to stop in tomorrow for some more sneak peeks!! And tomorrow's are extra sweeeeeeeeeet!

Thanks so much for stopping by!!
Hugs!
Sankari :)

Taylored Expressions -Day 2 of Sneak Peeks

Good Monday Morning everyone!!!

Are you masculine card challenged?

Because I know I am- lol! - no matter how much I try to make a masculine card - it always ends up being swirly girly whirly.... so I am psyched that Taylor is coming out with a set called Boys Will Be Boys -through her Whimsical Wishes line designed by the uber talednted: Nancy McKinny. This set and the awesome Father's Day Key Ingredients Kit will make it sooo much easier to whip out a "boy" looking card (that still looks "pretty"...ummm... errr... handsome, umm -- err.. masculine... :)

This set features images and sentiments that are not only perfect for Father's Day - but also just regular sentiments for the boyz in your family. One of my favorite image is of the grill with the flame! Couldn't wait to stamp it! As soon as I saw it - I thought of my FIL who is the grill master of the house - and so I made this card for him : "All hail to the Grill Master" - love that sentiment!!! LOL!!!

I cut out the grill with my x-acto knife and then cut out a flame colored by prismas and then stamped the skewers and colored and cut them out and then adhered them after placing them on dimensionals. I used the latest sketch #65 from Taylor's Cupcake Challenges.

I love and hoarde all the Key Ingredients Kits from Taylor (the key Ingredients are kits with coordinating DP and cardstok, ribbon and embellishments. Taylor will also be offering a Father's Day Bundle which will include the metal sheets and a set of assorted charms (like the flipper) - I love the idea of some masculine lookin charms!!!

I LOVE this charm with a little flipper - I attached it to a circle of orange cardstock adhered to one of the buttons from the kit. I cut three strips of metal and attached it on top. I can't wait to give this to my FIL :) There are sooo many cute by boy image in this set - and I Can't wait to try them all!!!

----------------------------

I also couldn't wait to make a special boy page for my DH as part of his Father's Day Present. I made a little 6x6 layout using elements from the Father's Day Kit and using the awesome sketch by Jen T. for her Scrappy Sunday sketch challenges :) For this sketch - I got out two of my fave fave photos of my DH with our son and daughter while we were in Florida. I love the shot of him holding our daughter's hand and walking by the shoreline as the waves are coming in and then the silhouetted picture of him and our sun running on the beach. I had sooo much fun making this page and it was so easy to put together - I was so surprised that I was suddenly done!

I love that about these awesome Key Ingredients - they coordinate and make it easy to get done quick! The journaling reads: "... from the very beginning you have been my best friend and now to see you with our little munchkins always makes me so grateful for your presence.. you are the best dad: always nourishing, fun, patient, sweet and full of quiet wisdome - we love you!" ---- this is fun of my fave layouts that I have done and I can't wait to give it to him - which will be today - since I can't wait till Father's Day!!!

I love the #1 dad sentiment! The star that holds that sentiment is also layered onto a metallic sheet. Love how the metal sheet makes the whole layout bright, shiny and fun :)

I also wanted to display it in the house - so I used the awesome calendar stand that has 6x6 page protectors and 2 hanging binders. I love this stand and it makes displaying your craft work so much fun and easily changeable - just insert a new page - and instantly - a new look!

Taylor is going to be offering a special on the Boys will be Boys set from the stamps, to the metal sheets, to the charms etc. - here's the scoop on the bundle - also don't forget to check out my amazing fellow DT members from Taylor's Baker's Dozen:

Ana Wohlfahrt
Donna Baker
Jodi Collins
Jen del Muro
Dawn Easton
Laura Fredrickson
Karen Giron
Charmaine Ikach
Denise Marzec
Karen Motz


and of course! Taylor VanBruggen

Thank you so much for checking out my little corner :)

Ciao for now,

Sankari :)

PS - Don't forget to check back tomorrow for Day 3 of sneak peeks! AND both of these sets and Key Ingredients kit and Father's Day bundle will be available for purchase on Tuesday, May 5th at 8am PST !!!!!

Scrappy Sunday - Challenge #3

Hi Everyone, 

Can I just tell you that I am LOVING doing these scrapbook sketch challenges that my dear friend Jen Tapler is creating over at Paper Craft Planet's Scrappy Sunday group! I used to scrap all the time, but haven't really done any scrapbooking in sooo very long - so its so nice to use these awesome sketches and get some scrappy mojo going. I seriously, love Jen's style - it is just perfect and fun and bright and cheery - and not only is Jen uber talented, she is also just the sweetest too! She always brings a smile to my face - and her love for Tom Selleck is just epic ;) 

Well, I was hooked from the very first sketch challenge that I did (you can check it out here) and I couldn't wait for this week's challenge. This week Jen has used a digital template from Kelleigh Ratzlaff as the basis for the sketch (you can check out Kelleigh's store Digichicks and also purchase the template if you want to get digi with it :). 

The greatest thing about this challenge is that it is helping me create a scrapbook for my daughter and so each week, I am using the sketches that Jen provides to create a little book for my wee one. I also absolutely love love love the colors and patterns from the Easter Key Ingredients that Taylor has and so I decided to use this key ingredients set in my each of my layouts for the scrapbook challenges - so that I can create a book where each page is coordinating with the next one. 

Taylor has these awesome calendar stands in her store - and I lOVE this product - each week after I do my sketch, I just simply slide it into the plastic protector for this stand and voila! instant home decor! And its so great to display it around the house and my daughter just loves it -- she actually loves anything with her picture on it :)

For this week's sketch, I wanted to try something a little different. In photoshop, I played with the colors so that the whole picture is black and white, except for her pink hat, mittens and boots... it was kind of nice to highlight her little pink accessories and also added some mist effect to the snow that she is holding in her hand - so that it looks all sparkley and glittery :)

I simply love this picture... she was sooo curious and in wonder about snow -- she kept wanting to hold it, lick it, eat it, roll in it, look at it, slide in it, jump in it -- anything to do with it - she was all about it!

I totally dislike my handwriting in my scrapbook pages - because I feel like it detracts from the page itself - but, I had to succumb to the fact that my handwriting is not perfect and just do it anyway ... I wrote: "..i loved watching you discover snow - it was magical to see the world through your eyes." It really is such a wonder to see the world through your children's eyes and see the wonder and beauty of the world around us - which I so easily forget in the hustle and bustle of trying to get the kids to school or go off to work... its so wonderful to be around children and just be able to enjoy the simple innocence of snow, or mud or digging for buried treasure and swinging high in the air trying to touch the sky :)

Layout Details:

Sketch: Scrappy Sunday #3 - Kelleigh Ratzlaff digi template

Paper: All of the Paper here is from Taylored Expressions: Easter Ingredients Kit - I absolutely adore this kit with all the papers, cardstock, DP, choice white cardstock, brads, flowers and ribbon - it is just yummy!

Ink: Martha brown - to brown the edges

Accessories: Martha snowflake punch, silver pen, corner rounder, magenta pen from Creative Memories and edging scissors, ribbon is from the Easter Key Ingredients kit, Calendar stand and Plastic Protectors

 I was always intimidated by the 12 x12 pages, so these pages for the challenge are all going to be 6x6. Well, I hope you can check it out and play along. This week, Jen is doing the first Scrappy giveaway (deadline for the project ends this Saturday at midnight) and Don't be afraid to get scrappy with it! You can check out all the details of the giveaway here and also check out all the amazing entries to the Paper Craft Planet Scrappy Sunday Album here. 

Hope you guys have been having a great week! Are you as excited for Friday as I am!?!!!!

Thank you for visiting my little corner :)

Ciao for now!

Sankari :)

Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge # 9 - The Sound of Music

It's time for another Cinema Saturday Challenge!! This week our movie pick is the musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein: The Sound of Music! This musical was translated into the silver screen in 1965, six years after it opened on Broadway. This movie musical has won 5 Oscars, including best picture! It is such a classic and has since then become one of the most famous movie musicals world wide. You can read more about this movie here on Wikipedia.

For me personally, this movie brings back so many childhood memories. I remember my cousin singing the song "Edelweiss" to me - I was seven years old - she was 6 and had the sweetest voice ever! I have loved that song ever since - and every time I hear it - I can also hear my cousins voice singing it... I have watched this musical I don't know how many times growing up... more than 25 times easily :) I had dialogs memorized and the songs totally memorized as well - although my singing ability was far from great :) And then when I was in highschool - I was on Stage Crew and in the Drama club - so I was psyched when our senior year we got to do The Sound of Music. I was the Art Director and got to design the sets (my favorite set that I designed and created was the Abbey for the Reverand Mother - I did this Stained glass window with colored tissue paper and lighting that was pretty cool --- and I got to have a very minor minor role ... I was Herr Zeller's wife (guess what my line was.... okay ready? My line was: " Shhhh...." when I shush him when he gets out of line (and then I exited with him stage right :) I loved getting into the theater wardrobe to try on our party gowns for that ballroom scene -- that was so much fun to pick out dresses and jewelry... ahhh good times :).

There are so many great songs and great inspirations in this movie - I almost didn't know where to start. When I was watching this again for this challenge - I got up to dance and sing along for one of the songs and my son (now almost 4) just looked at me in questioningly - and my littlest wee daughter joined along in the dancing... it was so much fun :)

I couldn't decide which direction to go - but finally landed on creating a little birthday gift for my husband from the song: "My Favorite Things". I loved this song growing up and it was fun to watch this with my son and see his enjoyment of this and all the other songs. Since this was inspired by the song of favorite things.. I gathered some favorite memories to put together for my husband. This wooden box was given to me by my father-in-law years ago when we first go married. It has since then held our spare keys, change and little kinck knacks.... I thought that it would be nice to have this box , house our favorite memories. I covered the box in shades of the blue and green that are inspired by the Sound of Music - love the shades of the blue and green of the hills alive with music :) - this paper is from K & Co.

The top half of the box has pictures of our children punched out in 1/4" circle and then popped up on dimensionals. The picture of our son holding his sister after we brought her home, has her little bangle adorning the picture - I can't believe that she wore that. There is a bell that I adhered with metal glue on the top panel also - I got this beautiful bell when I was visiting the Forbidden City in Beiging. The ringing of the bell is supposed to bring good wishes to your surroundings... and the kinda cool part is that every time the box is opened - it rings the bell.


The bottom half of the box contains a mini scrapbook that I made for my dear husband of just some precious moments. It also contains little forgoteen pictures of our children, my son's artwork,, including his hand print and pics of both our families, as well as little love notes to him and a little page from our little guy called: "why Daddy is awesome!". There is also a rock that we got when we were engaged in India, as well as a beaded necklace that he had dipped in the Ganges. Also a quarter from the year we were married and the 2004 charm from his graduation hat from the year he got his PhD.

I love how this project turned out and love that my son helped me create the mini scrapbook for his dad. My husband has a little drawer at work that is full of little pics, our son's artwork and so I thought this was something that could sit on his desk that he could open anytime he needed a little sunshine :)

Don't forget to check out Brooke's beautiful Cinema inspired work and also our Guest Designer Amy's beautiful card at our Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge Blog.

Come on over and play along -- its totally fun!
Thanks for coming over for a visit!
Best wishes,
Sankari :)