A Walk in the Echo Park

What up amigos?! Happy Monday! Wow what a gorgeous day! Its so good to be home after a busy day at work, hangin with the fam, dinner's in the oven, does life get any better than this? I dont think so babe. I wanted to show & tell a few of my projects created with Echo Park Paper. They have so many awesome collections! It's so fun to sit down with a whole line and just look through all of the different coordinating patterns, but it's hard to decide which to put where because theyre all fabulous! Ill start with the most recent collection Ive purchased, Victoria Gardens. I love love this collection, I must say its one of my faves. It's so shabby chic! I made a card with it;

Pink & green is one of the best color combos, yes? This card started out pretty simple buuuut you know how that goes, once you start layering, its all downhill from there... Some of the other ingredients I used that are not Echo Park include;

frame by Kaisercraft, crackle paint by Tim Holtz for Ranger, pink seam binding and bakers twine from Etsy, pink eyelet ribbon, doily, clothes pin,and beaded trim from craft supply, flower and leaf pins by Maya Road, and white corrugated cardboard from Canvas Home Basics.

Here's another card I made using the Country Drive collection, very simple with some classic 3d butterflies.

I know, more pink & green ;) so girly!  You cant really tell but I have Stardust Stickles on the letters to make them stand out more. Also I threw in some pink trim from My Minds Eye, and eyelet trim and pink rhinestones from Hobby Lobby.

The butterfly die is from Stampin Up! for the Sizzix Big Shot.

Okay one more fun project, this one is a page of my son Brandon & I at a party. I love my boys so much, I never get tired of doing "love" pages. Love isnt just for Valentines right? Love is so daily!

Sooo lets see.....the other products I used are the black flower from Maya Road, and some black ink from Quick Quotes. Just a fun page, punched some hearts which is always cute ;) Im sure I could find some places to bling it up a bit too.

So there ya have it my creative little peeps. I hope you like my goodies! Have a beautiful evening,  Im off to the porch swing to enjoy my view of tall sweet corn and lightning bugs. Good night!

xoxo Rah

Christmas in July

2 Posts today woohooo! Okay, so I was talking about Teresa Collins' new Christmas line and how gorgeous it was? Wellll I made a few Christmas cards with it just to play, so here they are I hope you like them!

Here's "Merry," which is my fave I think, it just looks festive to me;

Here's "December 25th" which I think turned out very chic;

If you by any chance were wondering if I can actually make a card without a chandelier drop or a charm of some sort, the answer is not very often, which leads me to my next specimen;

"Deck the Halls"

You couldnt possobly have a chandelier card without the drops right? I mean that'd just be crazy;

So there ya have it, I dont know what was going on with me, but I sat down to make something and I just was so inspired! As I was making one card the next one was already in my head it was weird! It was just flowing out of me, does that ever happen to you? I havent felt like that in long time it was awesome! I have like 10 more cards in my head right now just swimmin around so I better get to it before I forget them! Have a wonderful day and get busy on those Christmas cards you know you wanna! ;}

xoxo Rah

New Friends

Hey peeps Happy Saturday! Wow what a beautiful day! I wanted to share something fun with you if I may. Thursday night I had the pleasure of taking a Christmas Album class from Teresa Collins at Creative Cuts and Crafts in Elmhurst Il.  It was a blast, I had so much fun! Teresa's new Christmas line is sooo gorgeous! She is an amazing person and so sweet! I love having this hobby because you meet so many new people and some that can become close friends. It helps when we meet people with the same addiction, yes? So here's some pix from the evening, enjoy! Here's me n Teresa, (obviously I didnt have time to fix my hairs so Im sorry I look terrible lol)

Here is Claudia one of the store owners, can I just say how amazing these ladies are and how well they take care of their customers? So awesome.

And I swear its not because they provided this;

Amy Coon from The Paperlife was there as well;

Im telling you it was one heck of a party ;) Here's my dearest new friend Cheryl who is sooo talented and creative it's just disgusting really lol just playin girlfriend;

I just love her! I feel like Ive known her forever but we just met its crazy..

Here is our mess and some other random shots;

Isn't Teresa adorable? She always looks gorgeous. She brought some beautiful show & tell for us;

I just want to thank you Teresa for always teaching when you come to Chicago, you are amazing and we truly love you! And also thank you to the Creative Cuts & Crafts team for being so hospitable and having a rockin store. You guys are animals! Have a beautiful day everyone!

xoxo Rah

Evening in Elmhurst

Wow have I really not posted in 10 days?! Holy moly time has gotten away from me! Summer is such a busy fun time isnt it? I dont know what all these people are talking about with "lazy summer days" and all that cuz sister, lemme tell ya something. Aint nothin lazy about summer days with full time workin mommas can I get a witness?  So you know CHA is going on, which is pure torture to me because I live really close to Rosemont annnd Im not attending sooooo thats frustrating. Maybe next year? But. There is this fabulous little scrapbook store in Elmhurst called Creative Cuts and Crafts. They have an amazing selection of products and they have classes going all the time, and around CHA they have classes taught by some of the companies there.  Last night happened to be a class by Authentique.  It was AMAZING! We made 5 pages that were 12x12, and ended up taking home all kinds of goodies! It was a blast. Their products are gorgeous! Right when I got there I met a gal named Cheryl, and we hit it off right away. You know how sometimes you just click with someone? Well when we found each other squealing (literally) over the new Christmas paper by Authentique, that was it! We sat next to each other and laughed the whole time! It was so fun. Our teachers were Melodee and Dave with Authentique, and they were wonderful! Very sweet and funny, defenitely made the class a memorable one. Cheryl and I werent following directions so Melodee kept walking by whispering "cheaters!" She's hysterical! I couldnt even take a good picture with them because, well, here;

Yep. Thats me in the middle. Great photo right? :} I couldnt stop giggling!

So Thursday night is a class with Teresa Collins, cant wait! Another fun night! If you get a chance sometime defenitely stop by Creative Cuts and Crafts in Elmhurst IL. Youll love it!

Well Im falling asleep, so have a great night and Ill try to be more faithful with my postings :} Love you all!

xoxo Rah

Bakers Twine & Flower Power

Hey there peeps! Did you have a good weekend? I did! Besides it being beautiful, I golfed a round not only Friday but Saturday night too! Wow that doesnt happen too often. ;) I am sooo hooked on golf now I cant even tell you. Its so fun! So over at the Create Blog they have a challenge to make a card using bakers twine. I love this stuff! Its so versatile and fun to use, it works on any kind of project youre doing. Here's what I came up with;

I love to dangle things from twine, like this little chandelier drop and chipboard key.

Fun stuff I tell ya! You should go on over there! Also, The Shabby Tea Room has a new challenge going on & it's called "Flower Power." I'm going to put this card up over there too what the hay.  ;} There I gave you 2 things to do now dont tell me you're bored, kids. Sound familiar? Have a good night yall and talk atcha latah, love you guys!

xoxo Rah

God Bless America

Happy Independence Day!! Wow what an awesome day it is here in the U.S. of A! This is one of my favorite holidays, I am a bit of a patriot. Growing up I always loved learning about U.S. history. My dad was in Vietnam and I can remember sitting around the campfire, listening and being in awe of all his old stories about "Nam." Its amazing what so many people have sacrificed to keep this nation going strong, so many freedoms we have. I like the part of the Zac Brown Band song "Chicken Fried" that says;

I thank God for my life
And for the stars and stripes
May freedom forever fly
Let it ring

Salute the ones who died
The ones that give their lives
So we dont have to sacrifice
All the things we love

I love belting that part out when Im driving! ;) Have an amazing holiday and dont forget why we celebrate it! Im gonna go watch The Patriot with Mel Gibson. ;) If you havent seen it- get it!  Love you all!

xoxo Rah

The Shabby Tea Room Challenge

Seriously? June is gone? Already?! How did this happen?! This year is flyyyin by! I cant believe it's the 4th of July already. I reallly love this holiday though, it's one of my faves. Fireworks are on my list of favorite things thats for sure! Speaking of favorite things, over at The Shabby Tea Room their challenge for the week is "Favorite Things." Being that I could never choose a favorite scrap supply, I chose my most recent purchase which is absolutely GORGEOUS. Have you seen the Authentique products yet? Wowza! Sooo pretty. So here's my card that I came up with;

I know it's rather busy, but I love cutting apart paper and layering! Okay, layering alot.

Aside from the Authentique paper, I added the "queen for a day" doodad from Making Memories, a shabby crown from Melissa Frances, a chandelier drop from Maya Road, some pearls from Recollections, and some Diamond Stickles to accent some of the gorgeous flowers. I loved how it turned out, very girly! So go on over there and get your scrap on! Have a beautiful evening!

xoxo Rah