Finally!!

I finally gave my blog some pretty. Ha! I finally figured out how to do it and I'm soooooo happy that I don't have to try to figure that out anymore. I got this fabulous blog HERE. You should definately go take a look. Their stuff is adorable!

Stationery with an S

This is my first set of cards that I've ever done. I did these a few months back and I just recently did a new set with a different design. I would like to make more sets of cards but they are sort of time consuming. I really enjoy making them though. I think my customers get more bang for their buck if they have a whole set of my cards.

The background images of the set are all stamped with a background stamp. I don't remember who the stamps are by. Sorry. I used an EK Success border punch for the white strip and the yellow and white circles are from my Cricut. The flowers are from Prima.

I tried doing these in another color and they just don't work very well. I'll have to try it again and see how it comes out the second time. The black really makes the yellow pop.

Thanks for looking y'all and these are for sale for $12.00 on my Facebook Page. Click here.

Happy Birthday...again.

I know that I just posted a birthday card last night but one can never make too many birthday cards. They are in high demand. Everyone has a birthday. You can't really avoid it.

I used the newest sketch from Mojo Monday's blog and I LOVE how this card turned out. I was in a bit of a rut last night and I just started cutting away when I saw this sketch to make this card. At first I was a bit intimidated by it because there were so many elements to it. Lots and lots of layers and usually I don't do too well with those.

The striped paper is from the Metropolitan line from American Crafts and the rest of it is just some scrap cardstock I had lying around. I love using scraps because I have so many of them. The cake stamp is from Studio G by Hampton Arts. Its a DOLLAR BIN stamp from Michael's. It was one of those cute little stamps that I just had to have. I couldn't pass it up and I'm glad that I didn't.

Thanks for taking a peek!

This card is for purchase at just darlin' on Facebook. Click here.

Cloudy Day

This balloon stamp from Stampendous goes great with this cloud patterned paper from American Crafts. Clouds and balloons go hand in hand, right? The stamp actually longer and has more detail to it but I cut that part off and added embroidery floss for the balloon strings. I thought that it added a better touch to the card and gave it some texture. They are colored in with EK Success colored pencils. They are really nice pencils if you are on a budget. They color very smooth and have bold color. The scalloped punch above the text is also from EK Success. "happy birthday!!" is CK Scrapbook. I believe I got that font as a freebie. I'm not exactly sure where that came from. I'm a font fanatic so your guess is as good as mine.

This card is available for purchase on my Facebook page (other cards are also available.)

Screws, Nuts & Bolts

...that's what little robots are made of and little robots are the theme of my newest card. I really liked how this card turned out. It just screams little boy and the cute robots just make it really pop. I'm actually really proud of this card because the coloring of the robots turned out better than I thought it would. That's not really one of my strong points but I'm trying to get better at that.

I purchased this stamp set from Michael's and it's from Recollections as well as the green gear paper. The blue cardstock is just some scrap that I had laying around. The blue cardstock is stamped with Encore silver ink. The star stamps are from the robot set. Thanks for looking and comments are appreciated!

New Blinkie

See the new blinkie on the right hand side of your screen for Mojo Monday?? You need to visit their blog! It's awesome. If you are ever in one of those creative blocks they have TONS of card sketches that you can get inspiration from! I've used some of their sketches and each time the cards turned out great.

This is one of the cards that was produced from one of their sketches.

It's the simple things...

I think this phrase applies to a lot of things in life. Some people have nice cars, huge homes and a lot of money but at the end of the day it's the simple things that really make you happy. I know I don't have any of these things but life is about being with your family at the end of the day and waking up knowing that you are healthy and loved.

I think this phrase also applies to scrapbooking as well. I know that a lot of the times I want to pile on a lot of embellishments on layouts, cards, etc. I also wanted to do that to the frame that I just finished a couple of days ago. I kept rearranging flowers and this one little metal sticker that said "love." It really didn't have a spot and I didn't like the way the flowers were being arranged at all. It was then that I decided to take start with a clean slate. Thank goodness nothing was glued down so all I had to do was just take everything off that I had put on to "visualize."

Finally, I gathered some twine, one yellow brad and one of the white flower that I was working with earlier. I tied the twine in a bow, made the flower look like a daisy with the yellow brad....TA DA! It turned out to be such a simple change from what I wanted it to look like before with all the bells and whistles.

It's such a simple frame but I think that sometimes simpler is better.

Products used: Wooden frame purchased from Michael's, Tim Holtz's Fired Brick Crackle Paint, Twine, Recollections White Paper Flower, Brad

Newness

Hey everyone. I am extremely new to this blogging thing so please bear with me. I can't figure out how to make everything "pretty" like all the other experienced bloggers out there and it's frustrating me. I'll stick with this boring layout for the time being I guess. Anyway, just darlin' is a labor of love for me. It's my little handmade gift business. I am always looking for new ideas and hoping that they are loved by my clients (I don't have many. Actually, I don't have any steady ones.) Hopefully, by blogging, I will get my name out there and make a name for myself. Wishful thinking never hurt anyone, right?

Eventually I will adding pictures, projects and a spot so you can purchase my creations. I have to figure out how to do all of that first. I'll keep trying though.

Goodnight!
-Sam