Blue Skies Ahead

I couldn't wait to play with the "Blue Skies" collection after I got my hands on them! Such fun, beautiful colors, and gorgeous embellisments too. I created a layout for this week's school theme challenge at the American Craft's blog. Since I only have 1 girl & 3 boys, this was perfect just for her as she enters 9th Grade! I think I had way too much fun layering these cute butterflies, lol.Then, upon seeing how cheerful these designs were, I knew it was just the right supplies I needed to make a couple of Cards4Kate for the card drive being headed by Jennifer McGuire & Jana Millen, hoping that however little, I hope it will uplift her spirit and her family for the tough time that they're going through right now. I can't even imagine something like that happening to us, so my heart goes out to lil' Kate & truly wishing them all the very best for a better future...I was happy to find ribbons @Michaels that goes great along with this line and adding glitter to the cut-out edges gives it a more finished look.I just couldn't resist making one with the butterflies again & of course, with a flair! :)

Now, here's a tool called the iTOP by Imaginisce that I wondered about since I adore the idea of being able to customize brads to match whatever projects I'm working on and am happy to say (even without viewing the DVD tutorial that it came with, I merely glanced at the written direction) that it was pretty easy to use!

And, voila! These are the 16mm & 22mm sizes that it originally comes with, but are also interchangeable with a much bigger 28mm that I also bought. I tried it with fabric & patterned paper and as my lil' son would say: "easy peasy, lemon squeezy!" LOL Seriously, this can get pretty addicting really quick. I am already thinking up of other possibilities to utilize this tool as much as I can. Also, if you're interested, A Cherry on Top has it on sale right now for much less than at M's. Ok, I am off to scrap tonight!