I have a very SWEET treat for you today!!!

In addition to our regular Friday sketch I have the inside scoop on the upcoming BossKut CHA Summer releases!

Cupcakes are all the rage these days! I even hear they are the popular choice at weddings! Our friends at BossKut have created the most adorable cupcake wrappers you can use to decorate your cupcakes for ANY occasion! The first two I'm about to show you were created by BossKut designer Terri Mouw.

This is the Circles Wrapper and it has a nice scallop edge finish.

This is one of the Heart Wrappers. I love how they pop out! I have to tell you, Terri made the cupcake in these pics. Not by baking it but she actually made it using plaster! She used her Copic airbrush system to apply the color onto it after it dried. Doesn't it look real?!

I used the Straight Edge Wrapper along with the BossKut Pirate Flag for this one.

I am SO going to do these for my son's next birthday!

Here is the second Heart Wrapper. This one also has a scallop edge and the hearts are completely cut out. You could leave it open or do like I did and layer the straight edge one behind it. I used double-sided paper and added back in a few of the hearts that had been cut out.



BossKut will be releasing these in WPC, GSD, and AI digital formats on their website, BossKut Designs, soon! They will also be released in die format at the upcoming CHA Summer. Most all of BossKut's dies are also available in digital format so be sure to check out their site! Thanks Terri and BossKuts for sharing your releases with us!

Last week I showed you another sketch from Veronica. Our friend, Gemiel sent us this layout she created based on that sketch.

Gemiel used the Quickutz Scallop Border, Easter Basket and Stardust font. I love the shimmer of the bling cardstock! Thanks for sharing your layout with us Gemiel!

And, here's this week's sketch.

This sketch is one of the new May sketches from Page Maps.

Here's Jenn's take on the sketch...

She used the Quickutz Nesting Labels, Revolution Flower and the 2x2 Bee.

And here's Veronica's...

She used the new Revolution Champagne, the Bouquet alphabet for the "Mr." and "Mrs." and Magnolia for the "&".

Check out what Jenn did with the Revolution Wedding Dresses and the retired 2x2 Dolls.

Isn't that cool? They fit together perfectly! You could use these not only for wedding but also for Prom and dress up pages too!

Wow! That was alot to take in! We're glad you stopped by today! While you're here leave us a comment and let us know what you think of the new Cupcake Wrappers! Have a wonderful weekend and we'll see you back here Monday!

Katie

If school's not out in your area...

it probably will be soon! That means summer will be here sooner that we know it! When I think of summer, I think of ice cream! We have a Blue Bell Creamery close to where we live and last year when my mom was visiting we took the kids on a tour. The Quickutz ice cream dies were just what I needed to create this layout...

For the title, I used the Quickutz Marigold Classic alphabet and placed in on the Quickutz Square Nesting Labels. Then I used the Quickutz Ice Cream Carton and Scoop and the Ice Cream in a bowl. To add the "sprinkles" to the vanilla ice cream I dotted it with different colored Copics. The date block stamp is from Unity's Let's Get Scrappy Set.

Tammy was inspired by the Revolution 4x4 Die Sale. Using the Revolution Crown and Wand die, she created this layout for her little princess.

She also used some stamps from Unity's May Kit of the Month. This layout was inspired by a May sketch from Page Maps. The bling cardstock really make the crown and wand stand out.

Our friend, PJ, sent me this adorable card she made with her Slice.


The tree is from the Fall/Back to School design card and the circle was cut using the Basic Shapes 1 design card. PJ hand cut the grass...didn't she do a great job?! You could easily adjust the tree to match just about any card size. The inside sentiment reads "Congratulations to the new addition to your family tree." Such a cute card, thanks so much for sharing with us PJ.

We sure hope you're having a great week and we thank you for taking the time to stop by. While you're here, take a moment to leave us a comment and let us know what you think or what you'd like to see! We'll be back here with another great sketch Friday. See you then!

Katie

I think just about everyone's life...

is affected in one way or another by a soldier. Either you or your spouse, another family member or a friend is in some way involved I bet. I have 2 cousins on active duty now. One is a Marine stationed in Afghanistan and the other is in the Army and is in Iraq. They both leave behind mothers, fathers, wives and children. Since today is Memorial Day I wanted to take a moment to recognize our service members and their families. Especially those who've made the ultimate sacrifice. Our nation would not be what it is today without you. Thank you for your service and your sacrifice.

I was reading this blog the other day and she mentioned Cards for Heros. This group sends cards to soldiers abroad. They send blank cards that the soldiers can use to send notes to their loved ones as well as cards they can send to the soldiers themselves to thank them for their service. They had a blog hop this past weekend and I was totally inspired. So, I made the following card to send to one of my cousins. I have another in progress for the second and when that's done, I will send some to CFH. I hope you'll join me in this effort. I feel strongly that it is important that our service members know how much we appreciate them and their efforts. CFH also accepts donations to help with postage. Here's the card I made...

I kept this card super simple for a number of reasons. One, I will be mailing it overseas and I didn't want bulky embellishments that could fall off in transit. Two, it is for a male so I didn't want ribbons and stuff. And three, I wasn't sure which cousin this card would be going to when I started on it. That mystery, however, has been solved. This card is your basic A2 or 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 card size. I used my Spellbinders Stars Nestabilities and my Quickutz Diesel Classic alphabet and Shadow. Thats it! Super duper simple card. I had wrote the "God bless the" on top of USA. The inside will read "and God bless you!" Seriously, this card only took a few moments to whip up but I think it will have a huge impact on Jason!

You may have heard that Quickutz has a little contest going on right now to see who can come up with the most innovative creation with the Bride from the Bride and Groom Cookie Cutter Die set. You have to see what Jenn did with her...

She made her into Mary Poppins! To do this, Jenn added the Revolution Umbrella ,which happens to be included in the 4x4 sale going on right now. To get her Mary to hold the umbrella, Jenn cut the arm off and repositioned it upward. The handbag was created by piecing together two different die cuts from the new Flirt Gift Set. Jenn used the new Cookie Cutter Monogram Accent Set for the silver moon and added the Cloud Border to give the illusion her Mary was in the sky. The hat was from the retired Paper Doll Set and the title is the Flirt font. Are your wheels turning now? If you participate in the contest, we'd love to see what you come up with! You can email your projects to me at katie@scrap-mart.com. If you're not planning on participating, leave us a comment and let us know what you think she could be made in to!

Tammy made a beautiful thank you card using her Spellbinders Nestabilities and a stamped image.

She used both her Classic Rectangles Large and her Classic Scallop Rectangles Large. The stamped image is from a Unity Stamps Kit of the Month. Tammy added a touch of ribbon and some tiny alpha stickers for her sentiment. Anyone would be thrilled to receive such a lovely card.

Thanks so much for stoppin' by today. While you're enjoying your day off, take a moment to remember our fallen heros and those who are still fighting today. We'll see you Wednesday!

Katie

In addition to our Friday sketch, I have another great....

die storage idea for you today. This idea comes from our friend Gemiel Matthews. She stores her Quickutz 4x8 alphabets in a small fabric covered CD storage bin that coordinates with her scraproom colors.


The dies are stored in their original packaging in the bin, but she seals the flap on the package and cuts a little strip off the long side of the packaging to make little folders.

Gemiel stores the “folders” in the bin in alphabetical order which makes it easy to find the font she's looking for. Plus having the packaging with the photos of the font handy is a plus. This is an awesome idea! Thanks, Gemiel, for sharing with us!

Gemiel also participated in last week's sketch challenge. Wait until you see what she did with the Quickutz Bead Border!

Don't you love her little baseballs?! How clever! She also used the Scallop Border, Revolution Arrows, and Notebook sheet. Her title is a combination of Moxie Classic and Skinimini fonts. Great layout!

Shar used the new Quickutz Flirt Spring Gift Set in this layout of her adorable granddaughter.

She also used the small and large Scallop Borders, Revolution Flourishes, Revolution Label , and the ribbon from the new Revolution Pears. For her title, Shar used her Yogurt Grand alphabet. Just for fun she added some flocking and hand doodling. A perfect girly layout!

This week we have another great sketch from Veronica...



The DT has been hard at work creating layouts inspired by this sketch. Let's start with Tammy. She used the new Relax Spring Gift Set for her layout.

Everytime I see that font it makes me think of Spongebob!

Jenn's layout showcases the new Revolution Champagne die.

She also used the Nesting Labels and the Dots Border. Jenn used the font from the Flirt Spring Gift Set for her title. I love how she stretched her layout to include three photos!

I can't get enough of the new Heart Border, which I included on my layout!

I love how it's open and not a solid border! The "puppy" in the title is from the Rainbow font and the "love" was cut with my Slice using the Animal Crackers design card. In addition to the Heart Border, I added a Scallop Border too. Using my Slice Tag Maker design card I cut a large oval tag then stamped "best friends" on it with a stamp from Unity's Let's Get Scrappy set. Then, using my Making Memories Tag Maker I put the tag inside the metal tag and adhered it to my page using dimensional adhesive. The little "button embellishment" on the bottom of the page is my favorite page element. I had seen this on a card on someone else's blog. I cannot remember who but I will track it back down and give her proper credit! To make it, I cut a circle tag with my Slice from my Basic Shapes 1 design card then embossed it with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder. I then folded a piece of ribbon over it and tied off the center to look like a bow. The clear button was backed with coordinating patterned paper, adhered to the heart, which is from the Heart Border, then adehered it to the top of the bow. All the patterned paper and the arrow are from Scenic Route's Laurel Collection.

And last but definatley not least, Veronica's layout inspired by her own sketch.

The "turning" was cut from the retired Jolly Holiday Gift Set font and the "5" was cut with the Slice Basic Shapes 3 design card. And of course, Veronica couldn't resist adding in some Scallop Border either!

Well, that ought to kick start your creative juices! It sure did mine. While you're here, take a moment to leave us a comment and tell us what you think about this week's sketch! If you have time, play along with us. You can email your completed project to me at Katie@scrap-mart.com. Thanks to all of our readers! We know you're out there and we appreciate you! We'll see you back here Monday! Have a wonderful, and safe Memorial Day Weekend!

Katie

It's Wednesday and you now what that means!!!

We have two guests this week for With us Wednesday. Their projects were sent to Veronica for her NSD Bingo Challenge. We'll start with these two cards from Jannie.

On this card, Jannie used the Quickutz Shortkutz Birthday set for the "make a" and her Diesel font for "wish". To turn the 'i' into a candle, she added the flame from the Revolution Candles. She added a touch of Scallop Border and some buttons with "paper ribbon". Here's Jannie's second card...

This time Jannie used some scallop topped tags and "birthday" from the Shortkutz Birthday set, more Scallop Border and a touch of the Dots Border. These cards are soooooo versatile and could easily be adapted for anyone!

Our next guest project comes from Marika in Sweden. Her beautiful layout is a tribute to her Aunt.

Marika used a combination of Quickutz 4x8 Moonlight and retired Spicy Chicken alphabets. She also used a scroll label and the Boss Kut Large Daisy. I really like how she added the white flower to the white background! Thank you ladies for participating in our challenges! We appreciate you!

Yesterday was another great Quickutz release! There were a few general dies in this release that were not actual "wedding" shapes. The heart border, for one, could be used on just about any project. And the cakes, remember I showed you how easy it is to make it a birthday cake? My point is, don't mark them off your list just yet as you may soon decide you actually DO need one! Here's a card from Jenn showcasing the Revolution Pears.

She also used the Quickutz Cookie Cutter Label from the Back to Basics release and "congrats" from the Quickutz Best Wishes Revolution Shortkutz. These pears would be perfect for not only wedding but also for anniversary and/or engagement cards too!

Tammy's layout documents her own wedding day!

She used the new Revolution Love Birds and the Banana Split font for her title. What a beautiful picture!

Here's a quick card I made using the Back to Basics Nesting Label and the new 2x2 Wedding Dress.

I used some Making Memories Acetate paper for my background and Making Memories Metallic paper for my label border. I didn't have an elegant button that matched my project so I used some American Crafts Zing Emobssing Powder and heat embossed a clear button to coordinate with my card. I just love the black and white combo mixed with red!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! We hope you're having a great week! We'll be back Friday to share some great reader takes on Veronica's sketch and we'll have a new sketch for you for next week along with interpretations from the Design Team. We'll see you right back here then!

Katie

So did anyone guess....

what this month's release was with my hint in Monday's post? I said this release would leave you hearing bells. Or it may have you singing "Here comes the Bride." You got it, it's a wedding release! Now, before you say you don't "need" any wedding stuff, take a look at the dies and the projects from the design team...you just may change your mind.

We'll start with a few quarter size references...

In this photo you see the Revolution Wedding Dresses, Revolution Champagne, Revolution Pears, 2x2 Bouquet, and the 2x2 Lips Club Die. Here's a closeup view of the dresses so you can see how great they look cut from glitter cardstock.

Jenn put some Kaiser rhinestone flowers on the top of the bouquet which gave it a great 3-D effect! What's great about these dresses is they would also look great on prom and/or formal layouts too!

Here is one of the evolution Wedding Cakes...


I really like this cake because I think it can be very versatile! The one on the left I embossed with my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder. The cake on the right was decorated like a birthday cake. I used the Revolution Candles die to get the circles for my cake and the candles are from the retired Icing Rub-Ons Die.

Tammy created this layout with one of the other Revolution Wedding Dresses.

She used the Banana Split aphabet for her title and the Unity Stamps journal block for her journaling.

For this card, I used the 2x2 Love Birds and the new Nesting Labels.

I added a strip of the Heart Border under my label and used my Fiskars Effervescence punch to create the border on the bottom. The sentiment is from the Unity Our Life, Our Stories set. I really like this Heart Border!

Jenn has been working with the Place Card. Here, she made a monogramed place card using the new Bouquet 4x8 alphabet.

Her youngest son is graduating from Kindergarten so she's going to really play up the process for him and create a formal table setting by creating one of these monogrammed place cards for the entire family. Here's one she dressed up using the blinged up bouquet you saw earlier.

As you can see, the Bouquet is a perfect fit for the top of the Place Card.

Well, there you have it! We hope you've enjoyed today's projects. You can visit the store to view the entire release. We'll be back tomorrow for "With us Wednesday" and more wedding release projects!

Katie

Good Monday Morning!

We're here to kick start your week with some great projects so grab your coffee and get comfy! To start off today, take a look at this beautiful card Veronica created for her Aunt's 50th birthday! I really love all the layers!

After staming the image, she colored it with her Copic markers then cut it out leaving a touch of white space and her shadowing. Veronica stamped the Unity Floral Swoop on her background before adding any other elements. The '50' was cut with the Studio Classic font and she added a touch of Scallop Border.

Our next project for today is this adorable layout from Jenn. Her son got some new Crocs and Scrap-Mart's exclusive Boss Kut Chomp the Alligator was just perfect for this layout.

Jenn used her Silhouette to cut her title using the Mandingo font. She created the mat for her title with the shadow feature which she loves because it keeps titles from getting lost on patterned paper backgrounds. Jenn used Sassafras Lass Bungle Jungle papers and American Crafts cardstock. Isn't Chomp the cutest?!

Take a look at this pretty card from Tammy...

She used her Unity Love Ewe stamps and shaded the image with her Copics. Tammy cut the image out with her Spellbinders Classic Large Squares and mounted it on her Spellbinders Classic Large Scallop Squares. I really like the layered squares and rectangles she used on the card base.

The final project for today is an altered canvas I made my hubby to hang in his office.

I covered the white canvas with my Quick Quotes Powder Puff Inks then added some papers from the Pink Paislee Fetching collection. I cut a large label from my Nestabilities Labels 1 and added the title using my Quickutz Rockstar alphabet. I embossed a strip of cardstock using the Quickutz Dots Embossing Border and added a tab which was cut from the tab in the Quickutz Recipe Card Cookie Cutter set. I'm really enjoying the embossing border folders! There's so many possibilities with them!

We're so glad you stopped by today! Join us here on the blog tomorrow for this month's Quickutz release! The design team has been working on some great samples and as always, we'll have some quarter size references for you. This release will leave you hearing bells! See you then!

Katie

Earlier this week, I showed you....

a great die storage idea from Jenn and asked you to share any storage ideas you may have. Our friend, Karin Brown, has some great ideas to share with you! First, let's look at how she stores her nesting and border dies...

She mounted 12x24 magnetic sheets to her wall! She can easily see exactly what she has to work with and it doesn't clutter up her workspace. Here's how she stores her 4x4 Revolution dies and her 4x8 alphabets...

Can you guess what it is? It's a CD storage binder!!! The pockets are the perfect size to hold the 4x4 Revolution dies! And you can see how she has her 4x8 alphas arranged. This binder holds 122 dies!! Yeah, I said 122!!! And the best part is she paid less than $20 for it! You could combine Jenn's idea for your cookie cutters AND Karin's idea using the CD binder and have one amazing storage setup! Thanks Karin for sharing your die storage innovations with us!

Veronica has been sketching away and since it's Friday and we're back to our regular schedule I've picked out one to share with you this week. Take a look...



Here's Veronica's take on her own sketch...

She used some Sassafras Lass Bungle Jungle papers and cardstock stickers. That great border is a download Veronica cut with her Silhouette.

Jenn started her layout off with the Quicktuz Confetti Border.

Then she added a Quickutz Scallop border and a stamp from Unity's Let's Get Scrappy set for her date. Jenn used the Quickutz Storybook alphabet for her title.

Tammy chose Scenic Route papers for her layout.

She also used the ampersand from the QK 4x8 Sticky Note alphabet and the QK Revolution Notebook Sheet for her journaling. You know what I love about that Notebook Sheet die? I love how it cuts the lines into the paper for you! It makes it sooooo easy to ensure your journaling is straight and it allows you to create any color notebook paper you desire!

I also used the Notebook Sheet for my journling.

And, like Veronica I used some Sassafras Lass Bungle Jungle papers along with a stamp from my Unity Our Life, Our Stories kit. I cut the "fun" using my Making Memories Slice and the font from the FaLaLa Design Card.

We're so glad you stopped by today! If you'd like to participate in this week's sketch challenge simply email your finished project to me at Katie@scrap-mart.com along with your supply list. We hope you have a great weekend and we'll see you back here Monday!

Katie

Today, I'd like to say "Thank you"!

Thank you to all of you who participated in our NSD challenges and thank you to our sponsors who so graciously donated prizes! Today's spotlight companies are Unity Stamps and Making Memories! Thank you for your dedication to our success!

Bonnie Rose was one of our Unity Stamp challenge winners. Here are a few of Bonnie's projects she submitted.

This is a set of mini cards Bonnie made for a color challenge. I love mini cards! They're great to whip up in multiples to have around for those last minute needs! Here are Bonnie's other entries..

Here she created two 5x7 cards and a coordinating mini album. The mini album was made using a business card portfolio she found at Target. That is such a great idea! It would make a great gift for grandparents!

Debi was our second Unity Stamps Challenge winner! She created a card for the parents of a graduate.

Debi dry embossed the card with the Cuttlebug Houndstooth embossing folder before adding her stamped image.

During NSD Kick Off week our friend, PJ, issued a Making Memories Slice challenge. Heather McFarland was our Slice challenge winner. Here's the layout she created...

Heather used her Slice and the Basic Shapes 1 Design Card to cut the flowers which she added button centers to. She also added a bracket and the word love which were also cut with the her Slice. Isn't her little boy adorable?!

I have one last project to show you today. If you've visited Scrap-Mart.com lately, you've probably noticed a few new Boss Kut dies on the front page. Peanut the Elephant, Bessie the Bovine, Chomp the Alligator, Leo the Lion and Squirt the Octopus are all new exclusive dies! And let me tell you, they are soooooo cute! Here's a card I made last night with Peanut the Elephant.

In addition to Peanut I also used the Spellbinders Petite Scallop Circle and Petite Circles, Quickutz Nesting Balloons, Quickutz Chick-a-Dee 4x8 alphabet and the new Quickutz Scallop Embossing Border. The patterned paper and cardstock are American Crafts. After layering the balloons, I added wire for the strings and tucked them under Peanut's trunk. I LOVE Peanut and already have another card planned! If you've purchased the Scrap-Mart exclusive dies we'd love to see your projects that include them. Email them to me at katie@scrap-mart.com.

Thanks so much for stoppin' by today! Our job would mean nothing without all of you! We'll be back here Friday with another great sketch and the design team's interpretation of the sketch. Enjoy the rest of your week and we'll see you then!

Katie