this n that + Crowning Glory

Hey Everyone! Well, it may be spring but we got more snow today! Yuk! It started out so pretty this morning with just a bit on the trees but now we have way too much out in the yard! I'm ready for warm weather!

Babies are doing great.. I, on the other hand, am getting bigger by the minute. :) 35 Weeks now. I can hardly believe it!

On to more fabulous Design Team Projects! As I had mentioned, this month we're featuring some of my *most* favorite products of ours. We've had this shape for quite some time but we just needed to show it off! Take a peek at the two very different looks created by Julie Ann and Chrys. I absolutely love the bling and glitter!

Julie Ann used a fun group photo and loaded on the glitter. And don't you love that flower?? Perfect accessory for the girly Crown Art shape!

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And Chrys' - love the bling she added to the top! And of course the saying is *so* classic! I just love our Design Team!

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You can find your own Crown Art shape right HERE. The body of the shape is 6x6 inches and the crown above makes it stand about 10 inches high.

Happy Spring Everyone!!

Meet Beatriz :: Nesting Style

Meet Beatriz! If you haven't ventured over to her blog - go visit! Her work is simply stunning! Very detailed and she works with so many papers and colors that I love so much *aka Melissa Frances* Love it! Read on to learn a bit more about our new Design Team member.


*Hi! My name is Beatriz Jennings, I was born in Mexico City , but I grew up In Guadalajara Mexico. I am an interior designer and have been living in California for almost 2 years. Since I was a little girl I remember altering my notebooks, purses and other stuff. I’ve been scrapping/paper crafting/cardmaking for almost 2 years. I had never heard about scrapbooking ‘till I came to USA, I was looking at one scrapbook magazine and was thinking: “I want to do this”!! Right now I’m in love with cardmaking, I am a big fan of silk flowers and ribbon, as you can see in most of my creations and I love big bows and flowers!. Some of my work has been published on ezines like Scrapstreet & Ready, Set, Create, and also in Magazines like Paper Trends, Cards, Scrapbook Trends, Paper Crafts. Thanks to the scrapbooking and the galleries online I have found really talented people that inspired me and I have made lots of "Cyber-friends" too. And of course thank you so much for the opportunity to share my work and a little bit of me.


Take a peek at Beatriz's first Design Team project with our NeST letters using the fabulous Melissa Frances papers! Find your own NeST letters right HERE.


We want to wish you all a wonderful Easter Weekend! Enjoy your time with family and friends and maybe, if it's warm enough where you are, an Easter Egg Hunt with the little ones. Thanks for always visiting and checking in here!

Meet Colleen :: Sassy Scallop Square

Meet Colleen! Another new member to our Design Team. You'll love her projects because she's such a talent! But she also has a very inspiring blog that she's always linking to creative folks, some of which you might not have heard of. Which I just love! I enjoy looking at my "regulars" in the blog world but there are so many amazingly talented people in this little community it's fun to find new links. She'll probably become one of your regular reads! Read on to learn a bit more about Colleen!

Hi, my name is Colleen Schaan…and I am an addict…a craft addict that is.

As a crafting enthusiast (enthusiast sounds so much nicer doesn’t it?) I enjoy drawing, painting, paper crafting, photography, rubber-stamping, and of course…altering anything that isn’t nailed down!

About a year ago, I “retired” from the regular classroom to become a freelance writer and designer and have had the opportunity to work with some fan-tabulous people in the crafting world…(like Deb!) Don’t worry though…that teaching degree isn’t going to waste. I recently began teaching on-line crafting classes where I can combine my love of teaching AND crafting…and it doesn’t get any better than that!

Well actually, it does! Designing for Say It With Letters is an absolute dream. I LOVE the fun lettering styles and funky shapes I get to play with and I get the opportunity to share that love with all of you.

Other things I love?
My dear and wonderful husband, two very lazy cats, and two not-so-lazy dogs. When I’m not in my craft studio, you can probably find me outside somewhere enjoying one of my other hobbies: sailing, reading, curling, camping, or flower gardening.

Now take a peek at her projects! I told you we were working with some of my favorite shapes and letters this month. I find our scalloped square to be SO versatile! I love what Colleen did with hers. Here's a bit more info from her on how she created this look:

I found a photo thatI LOVE...(the sunsets out here are amazing!) I did some photo editingand added some text. I then frosted on a "frame" and piped in a thinline of paste to set it off from the rest of the work. I painted itgold, but it was too brassy so I did a quick color wash with panynesgrey to give it a vintage look. I stamped on the photo with some goldink and added a ribbon to the corners for interest.

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You can find your own scallop square right HERE. Thanks for checking in today!

Nesting :: Design Team Style

Today and tomorrow I'll be introducing our two new design team members Carrie and Colleen. They're a perfect addition to our DT family. Carrie is such a talent and inspiration and she's just plain nice! Always positive and has fun and creative posts on her blog.

Meet Carrie!

Hi everyone! My name is Carrie Ostreko, I am a Midwestern gal. Born and raised an hour outside of Chicago. I am a mom of two smart, beautiful children. Haley and TJ. I have been happily married to my High school sweetie, Travis, for 17 years!

I found a creative outlet in scrapping over 10 years ago. Always an artsy type, I quickly fell in love with scrapbooking. Over the years my craft has grown into altered art, and photography. I have found a true love and creative outlet in combining my passions through my altered art.

I love finding inspiration in such an amazing community of talented women.

This is the perfect niche for me. I am thrilled to be a part of Deb and Steve's design team. I look forward to seeing where their craft takes them and where this industry continues to take me.

Now take a peek at her first (and fabulous) project! I just love the flourishes and colors she went with and our arrow (if you can't read it, says, 'welcome to our') so dang cute!

And the 'T' is my favorite.. look at that sweet bird and those flowers. Love it!

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I just have to say this mixed lettering style of the NeST letters are my fave!! You can get yours right HERE!

Guest Designer, the fabulous Carol Wingert

I have been such a fan of Carol's work for some years now. She has this wonderfully timeless shabby chic style (that I love so much!) And she's just plain wonderful to work with. She designed one of my *favorite* product of ours, the scalloped square. She wanted it in an extra large 24x24 inch size. Read on to learn a bit more about Carol and for instructions on how she created her wall hanging.

From the time she was a child, Carol Wingert has wanted to teach, create and write. In the world of memory arts, she has found all three passions.

Carol loves to think outside the box and to challenge others to do the same. She's a passionate paper collector (from early childhood) and that continues to be her favorite supply to work with. Add to that inks, paints, colored pencils and crayons, plus some rubber stamps and she can happily create for hours!

Whether it's teaching locally at Scrapbooks, Etc. in Mesa, AZ, traveling through the US or internationally, doing projects for books such as Lifelines and Artful Memories (North Light Books), doing magazine articles for Memory Makers Magazines, or creating and packing kits for her online project kit business, creatologie from carol wingert studio, Carol is excited about waking up every morning and calling these activities her job!

Carol lives in Gilbert, Arizona, with her husband, Vern, daughter, Ashley, and their menagerie of animals. Her favorite pastimes include gardening, reading, cooking and traveling.

To read more about Carol's day to day life, check out her blog at www.carolwingert.typepad.com.

Here's what I used by way of materials:
Large Scallop and BABY letters-say it with letters!; glitter-say it with letters!; wood paint-Delta; flourish paint-Distress by Ranger; flourish and bird die cuts-Creative Imaginations; buttons-personal collection; ribbon-Maya Road and May Arts; paper and pre-printed embellies-My Mind's Eye; flowers-Bazzill and Imaginesce; bling brad-K&Company

I painted both the letters and the large scallop with light ivory craft paint. I then added cup hooks to the bottom of the scallop and eye hooks to the tops of the letters. I traced the wooden letters onto patterned paper, cut them out and glued onto the face of the letters only. I then added various embellies, including pre-printed title blocks and a transparent flourish.

For the scallop, I cut the patterned paper into 8 1/2" squares and glued down 4 of them to resemble a window. I then painted the flourishes and glittered the birds and lastly, added shell buttons.

I didn't have a single bit of wall space in my house available for hanging so I took it outside and hung it on a weathered sign board.

I just love those flourishes, bird and of course the scallops! Thank you Carol for your inspiration. And go visit her blog for so many other wonderful designs!

The oversized scallop square can be found in our shop HERE. Keep checking this week for the Design Team projects featuring some of our favorite products this month!

Creating Keepsakes Feature

I'm back! All is well here. Who knew growing two babies would be such hard work? I know many of you did. They're getting so big and moving all the time. That's probably the best part - I love feeling them jumping around.. even when it's 2am and I can't sleep.


So, did you see us?? We just picked up the April issue of CK and we're in it. We've been calling around to the local stores since the beginning of the month. hee hee. So exciting!

Our 'bloom' letters were used for the 5 Products challenge. Kory Dordea, the designer could only use 5 products and I think she did a fabulous job. She cut the patterned paper into little squares and created a quilt pattern - just love it! If you're a new visitor to us, come visit our shop HERE. You can get your own 'bloom' letters HERE. We also have letters available in several styles, some fun and unique shapes like our Girly Girl Closet and beautifully coordinating kits (like our Fancy 5th Avenue Cardmaking Kit below.)



Our newest kit is this fabulous and Fancy 5th Avenue Cardmaking Kit. I'm just crazy about the colors and there's lots of unique little embellishments like the skeleton key, watch faces and little journling tags. Love them. Come take a peek right HERE.

Be sure to come visit next week when we'll be posting our fabulous Design Team projects, including our guest designer the talented Carol Wingert. Thanks for visiting!

this kit we love!

Remember how I told you I've been working on putting some kits together? Well the first one is ready and listed in our Etsy shop! I just love the colors in this kit and the notebook is simply fabulous! Fun buttons, ribbon, flowers - just love it! Now available HERE.

baby clothing overload!

I need some input... just how many baby clothes do I really need?? I've been generously given some absolutely adorable baby clothes but I think I probably have enough for about 6 babies! A friend who just had a boy told me that they change about 14 diapers a day. Holy cow that's a lot of diapers times 2! I'm afraid to get rid of things in case I may need them. But I'm thinking I probably won't need 100 onesies. I'm exaggerating of course but not by a lot! :)

I'm working on some fun things today. I'm working on letters for the nursery. I don't have my papers yet because I ordered them online and haven't received them yet but I'm painting the letters. I also got some AWESOME papers and embellishments yesterday to list in the shop. I just love putting little kits together - I sometimes enjoy picking out the papers, ribbons and colors more than doing an actual project. HA! Look for some fun things in our shop soon!

OK, back to baby clothes. I need to take a picture of some of these because MAN are they cute! One of each is just too much fun. It's the best of both worlds!

mosaic love

I've always been so fascinated by mosaics! I've never tried it but have always wanted to. One of these days I will. Our shapes are the perfect medium for mosaicing. Any of our shapes can be cut as solid pieces with no cutouts so it's even better for you mosaic creators. Check out what Kathleen at Artsy Phartsy created.

The strawberry has always been one of my favorite shapes. If I were having two girls I think I might have gone with a strawberry theme in the nursery. They're just so sweet! :)

The nursery is really coming along! Steven and his sister's got tons of work done over the weekend. They put down new flooring and put up pretty trim and my mom came to visit and bought us a crib! I can't wait to set it up because it'll actually feel like a nursery then! And this week I plan on working on some wall art too. I'll try to post pictures of my finished designs. Boy, I can't believe how close we're getting now.

chit chat + Blog Challenge Fun (with prizes!) :)

Well, it snowed here today - again!! Our last snowstorm was a mere 10 inches. Fun stuff. Luckily, it's the weekend and there's nothing we need to do. I had a couple people e-mail me since they hadn't seen an update on the blog - thank you! :) My Dad was visiting from Virginia, which was so much fun. We didn't do much but it was nice having him around. He painted the nursery for us (well re-painted since we already painted it a color that I didn't like.) hee hee. And Steven's putting down new flooring in the nursery today. I guess I need to get working on wall decor. We're getting there! I have a doctor's appointment next week and I think she'll be scheduling the c-section. They'll be here before we know it!

On to other exciting news. My friend Jolene contacted me a while back about sponsoring a blog challenge over at the (Some) Assembly Required blog. Each month they have challenges, which is just fun by itself. But... you also have a chance to win prizes! And who doesn't love prizes?! All you have to do is alter a letter or shape (and we have a great place you can get them!) :) Below are some of the inspiring projects the SAR designers created with our products. Don't you love 'em? House design by Patti West. Spring Butterfly design by Jolene Johnston! Altered Letter on Canvas by Jan Tatomir.












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Visit the (Some) Assembly Required blog for inspirng photos and more details on the challenge! Happy Creating!! And here's a peek at the fun goodies you'll win!!