Triple the FUN- A Card, A Layout, A Giveaway!

I am lucky enough to know some amazing creative women and men in real life and online. One of the women I met last year through Mary Kay recently became a consultant for Silhouette. SOOO excited for her. Her designs are super cute. I don't own a Silhouette just yet but now after getting to play with some of the fun things it can do it's definitely on my short list for Christmas. After speaking with Emilee she was so nice and offered to send me some samples to play with. So excited to get these goodies in the mail. 

Before I share my creations I wanted to let Emilee tell you a little about herself and what drew her to the Silhouette.  

I fell in love with the Silhouette Cameo last Thanksgiving when my mother was online Christmas shopping for my sister. We had both spoken about how much we would like a Cricut for our fun arts and crafts projects and her scrapbooking hobby. After stumbling across a couple blogs that featured the Silhouette Cameo as a customizable die-cutting machine, we knew this was probably the device for which we had been looking. It had software that not only worked on a Mac computer, but we could pick and choose which designs to purchase (versus spending $40 on a single cartridge for only one needed design). We LOVED the idea of having an iTunes-like store to purchase any and all designs needed for our projects!

My favorite feature of the Silhouette Cameo is the sketch tool. I love to draw and doodle, and it's so fun to watch the machine recreate all of my designs quickly and easily. It is an easy way to make all of my projects have the look and feel of being hand-crafted, yet all the work was done for me! I think the beauty of a hand-crafted design is in the details and the Silhouette Cameo does this perfectly.

I am also a neat freak... some call it OCD... I call it being an organizational diva! Either way, I have enjoyed finding new ways to use my Silhouette Cameo to organize my office and my craft room. I think one of my favorite designs I created for the Silhouette Online Store thus far is my "pocket folder" ( http://www.silhouetteonlinestore.com/v2/viewShape.aspx?id=33215 ). Using one 12 x 12 inch piece of paper, you can create a double pocket folder (with a business card slot!!) to fit a half letter size piece of paper. Think of all of the fun organizing you can do with your pretty patterned paper!!

I have loved using my Silhouette Cameo as much as I have LOVED designing for it and the crafters who use them. I have a passion for making things look beautiful, so thank you to all of you have purchased my designs or just took the time to share your inspiration with me. You are helping me make my dreams come true!

Anyone who is interested in checking out more items Emilee has designed you can check them out HERE

Here are some things I created this past weekend with this wonderful designs. They were so much fun to play with. Check out the end of this post to see how you can WIN them!!

I have to admit I had never seen any pieces made from the Silhouette before. I loved this craft card piece. There were doodled dots on it that I poked through to give it more dimension

   Then I used my Pan Pastels to share in different areas of the card followed by the edges. Love how it turned out and was perfect for a card front!

I just love how it turned out!! So quick and easy.

Hard to believe but it's been nearly 4 months since I have sat down and created a full layout. I'm not sure what's been into me. However when I saw these adorable pocket folders I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them. I wanted to show how versatile they really are. I had some thoughts of turning them into a mini journal- because how cute would that be? But then decided on using one on a layout. I couldn't be happier with how perfect the size was for this idea.  I did a layout about my oldest pup Kujo- She's 13 now and doesn't do too much but for 12 years has been a huge part of our family. I wanted to showcase memories from each person in the family without overpowering the layout. 

This is the original newspaper ad I responded to to adopt her. 

Here's the super fun part- the folder. I adhered the pictures and some strips of paper to the front. Then adhered the back of the folder to my layout. 

On the inside I inked up all of the edges and added some fun papers as well as journaling pieces for each family to write their favorite memories. These folders work just stinking wonderfully. I love how I can add more pictures or as much journaling as I like while conserving space on the layout. 

Thanks for looking at my creations and a HUGE thank you to Emilee for donating them to me. She was also generous enough to donate TONS of extras for me to giveaway on the BLOG. 

It's super easy to win. Even easier to up your odds of winning 1 of 2 packages!

1.   Simply head over to Emilee's Facebook page Emilime Designs and "Like" her page. Then leave a comment on her wall letting her know Craft Donkey sent you and which of the items below or items in her shop you'd just love to work with. HERE is the link to her Facebook page. Visit her shop HERE

2. Follow # 1 then for a 2nd entry into the drawing share this blog post on your own blog or on your Facebook page, then leave me a link in the comments section below. If your not on Facebook/or have a blog or already a follower, just let me know in a comment below and you'll be entered! 

Deadline for this grand giveaway is Wednesday, October 17th, 2012! 

Hmmm that's not all folks!! Since it's the month of one of the funnest Holidays of all time. I'll also be throwing in a surprise grab bag of items worth $20!!