Pictures2Pages

Crop Stop DT Challenge & True XOXO DT Challenge

2012-02-02T06:34:00.000-08:00

Crop Stop Challenge #56 Numbers, plus a Becky Fleck sketch!!
CropStop has the distinction of being one of the on-line web stores selected to premier the new Becky Fleck Pagemap Dies from Spellbinder! This original series of dies co-ordinate perfectly with Becky's monthly release of page and card sketches found at Pagemaps. Use these exclusive dies to recreate many of the design elements you love, including journaling spots, embellishments, and trims. Spend less time planning and more time crafting eye-catching creations!

We have a very exciting challenge this week that will continue through July! Today, and the first week of the next 5 months, we will be posting a challenge plus for you!

Follow the challenge for an opportunity to win a $15 Gift Certificate to the Cropstop Store, and/or create your project following the challenge plus use one of the Becky Fleck Pagemaps posted for an opportunity to win her Spellbinder-Becky Fleck Featured Die! All prizes are randomly drawn.

Now, the challenge...NUMBERS! We want to see numbers somewhere on your creative project. And, THE PLUS...use one of Becky Fleck's Pagemaps as inspiration on your project too!

Spellbinder's Becky Fleck - Office Supplies Die Cut

You can choose the layout or card sketch to create with.

I choose to use the card sketch and created this card, featuring lots of numbers. I started by using the Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Number Collage, added the ruler ribbon from 7Gypsies and the rubon.

Items used from the Crop Stop store is WRMK Sew Easy Stitch Attachment-Scallop, WRMK Sew Easy Stitch Piercer Tool, WRMK Sew Easy Floss, WRMK Sweetheart Inker-White, Cuttlebug Number Collage Embossing Folder.

Don't miss out on this opportunity to win a $15 Gift Certificate to the CropStop Store and/or the featured Spellbinder's Becky Fleck Die! Link your creative entry now at the Crop Stop Blog you only have a week to enter, entries are due by Wednesday Feb 8.

True XOXO challenge #26 -Let's Get Messy!
To have a chance at joining our design team for a month, be inspired by our messy challenge or scraplift any of our layouts. It's totally up to you, just roll up your sleeves, spread the dropcloth down and get messy!

Well I started off with a messy subject, my DD getting a painting lesson. First I lightly painted the Chipboard letters with Cream Acrylic paint then topped the paint with Moonlight Smooch. The chipboard frame started off metallic pink in color, I sanded that and inked it with Tea Dye Distress Ink, the outside edges with Memento Dye ink in Rich Cocoa, the inside edge of the frame with Colorbox ink in Merlot & topped it all off with Quick Quotes ink color Bloody Mary (Which is really a reddish brown). The instruction card was inked an aqua blue color from Colorbox. I couldn't forget the papers I made droplets from Alcohol Inks in Butterscotch & Stream, then inked the papers with the Tea Dye Distress Ink & the Memento Dye Ink in Rich Cocoa.

Closeup- I didn't want to completely cover the letters in paint so with a very dry brush added Cream Acrylic paint then topped the paint with Moonlight Smooch.

Closeup- Some of the droplets of Alcohol Inks.

Closeup- The chipboard frame started off metallic pink in color, I sanded that and inked it with Tea Dye Distress Ink, the outside edges with Memento Dye ink in Rich Cocoa, the inside edge of the frame with Colorbox ink in Merlot & topped it all off with Quick Quotes ink color Bloody Mary (Which is really a reddish brown).

Layouts are due by the end of the month to enter at http://truexoxogirls.blogspot.com/

ScrapFit Workout #61 & a Published Toot

2012-02-01T08:22:00.000-08:00

I have had much good news so far in 2012 and in addition to showcasing my first DT project for Scrapfit I have a Toot to share. I have made it in the Feb issue of Scrap n'Art Magazine,

which is very exciting. I created a love themed card featuring TaDa Creative Studios and its the second project showcased in the article. It was my first time submitting to them, I guess I will need to submit more.

ScrapFit Workout #61
I'm excited to share my first DT project for ScrapFit. Its Workout #61- Blank Canvas Every good layout starts out as a blank canvas! For this workout we want you to start out with a WHITE background paper and build your layout from there! This leaves your opportunity for creativity wide open! Will you leave the white for us to see or will you cover it up!?!? We cant wait to see!

Our Sponsor Is **ShopKStudios - an Etsy store**

ShopKStudios has a wonderful assortment of Scrapbook goodies!

They are offing up this great kit for to the winner of Workout #61

So I really took to the blank canvas theme, and decided to create an all white layout. I have seen others do this and this was the push for me to actually do it. I used a number of border punches, mixed with ribbons, a banner and clear embellishments to create texture and depth on the monochromatic layout.

Closeup- showcasing the smallest touch of color above the photo.

Closeup- The chipboard banner pieces are Jenni Bowlin which I covered with Moonlight Smooch. Its really hard to see in the photo but under the white resin flower is a white rubon that says "Boy".

Closeup- This closeup shows the white rubon above the pearls which says "The sweetest thing".

Be sure to link up your entry for this Workout to the ScrapFit Blog by February 29th for a chance to win the prize!

On another note CropStop has a FABULOUS prize up for grabs.

Starting today, February 1st, 2012, any CropStop Facebook "fan" can play along for a chance to win this personally autographed Vagabond Machine! Yes, it has been autographed by Tim Holtz himself. We will also have 5 runner-ups that will receive an autographed Tim Holtz item too. Stay tuned to our CropStop Facebook page for more details! Become a fan today!!

Valentine's project and an announcement!!!

2012-01-30T08:30:00.000-08:00

I'm so EXCITED to finally be able to share with every the GOOD NEWS that I made the Creative Team over at Crop Stop, you can hop on over to the Crop Stop Blog to see the official announcement. Its a great challenge blog and store that features a new challenge every week. I look forward to working with this great group of ladies and look for my first project to be posted on Feb 2nd.

Also with being on the Crop Stop team I get to offer all my friends and fans a 10% off coupon to the Crop Stop store. Just use code LWCT-02

TaDa Creative Studios Project
Valentine's day is quickly approaching so I created this quick little project featuring TaDa Creative Studios papers for V-day. The tube is from SRM Stickers that I filled with valentine candy hearts, the heart card is from the Pocket Notes from the Festivus collection. Just punch a hole at the top so you can attach the ribbon, or in this case Baker's twine which I wrapped around the tube several times. I also wrapped a strip of paper around the top and bottom of the tube. I made sure I placed the top on the tube and pressed it closed before wrapping the piece around the top.

Closeup of top of tube, I punched a circle to cover the top - paper is from the Festivus collection My Sweet Valentine paper.

Closeup of side showing strip of paper around the top and several passes of Baker's twine.

Next Up a card Sketch

I found a great sketch for a card its Sketch 34 at the Deconstructed Sketch. I just loved all the layers on this sketch. I pulled out this super old tag (the green one) which is from K&Co and that developed the color palette for the whole card. On the brown paper I pulled out the cuttlebug and an embossing folder to add some texture and pattern to the cardstock. Add some patterned paper scraps and the sentiment is a Rubon from Dream Street Papers.

Fun at the all day crop

2012-01-25T14:21:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I went to an all day crop that lasted 12 hours, we had lunch, dinner, tons of snacks and my scrappy friend Tami came and scrapped with me. Oh we had the BEST time, we had sooooo much fun. The hall was pretty quite but we were just having such a great time we didn't pay any attention to anyone else. We were at round tables of 2 so it was perfect for us to chat the whole time, and we did lots of chatting and not that much time scrapping. In 12 hours I managed to get 5 layouts completed (one I can't show yet as its for DT work). That was a little better than Tami who completed 2 layouts and a valentine's banner. Honestly I have no idea how she even completed the 2nd layout, she did it sooooo quick! It was a FAB time and I hope we can get together again soon and do it again!!

These are all the layouts that I completed at the crop. This first one was for the Glitz Design Jan Blog Challenge. The challenge was to be inspired by this photo.

It inspired me to create a banner on the layout under the photo, similar to the way the foliage creates a banner under the mirror. I was also inspired by the foliage above the mirror so I added a doily above the title in the middle. I absolutely LOVE the Title in the middle (its a Glitz Whatnot from the Love Games collection) and was sooooo perfect for these pictures of my son after a visit to the hospital. All the papers are Glitz Design from Vintage Blue and Love Games collections.

Closeup - I used a lovely new border punch from Fiskars to create the double border, its the Kaleidoscope Border Punch. I hand cut the banner, and used another border punch before creating the accordian flower. In case you have trouble reading the title it says "Smile like every thing is going your way even if it isnt.

Memorable Seasons still has the Sketch-a-thon going on and I used sketch #11 which was from Pagemaps.

I created this layout about cooking hot dogs over the campfire (in the backyard). I just loved the woodgrain paper from Authentique, it matched the flames from the fire, the starburst pattern and the blue paper are from My Mind's Eye and the orange triangle border, was cut from a decorative edged sheet from My Mind's Eye. The brown border is a Crate Paper Border Sticker and the Fabulous Campfire embellie is October Afternoon Tin Pin from the Campfire collection. Alphas are Authentique (Cream colored) and Making Memories (Orange). This was my last project of the night.

I loved all the bits and pieces on the January Layout sketch at My Sketch World so I wanted to use it for a layout.

Unfortunately I like my layout a lot less than I like the sketch, but I do love the picture of Jasper sitting on the window ledge. I remember walking through the kitchen with my camera and the cat turned and looked at me and I said oh wait don't move that's a great picture and he listened, LOL!! These papers are from an OLD kit club and feature Basic Grey and October Afternoon. The To do list is Crate Paper. The to do list reads "Get back to looking outside".

These stuffed animals were Easter presents from one of the Grandparents. I guess since it was Easter I wanted to go with a lighter color palette, a bit more Easter feeling so I pulled out My Mind's Eye Quite Contrary collection.

Closeup/detail

Woke up to exciting news!!

2012-01-14T18:34:00.000-08:00

Practical Scrappers is having a layout contest and I was picked for Round 1. To move on to Round 2 I need votes from you wonderful ladies. There will be a new group of layouts posted everyday starting today (Saturday) til Friday. Well mine is up on Day 1. The voting for my group ends TODAY (Saturday) at Midnight.

I'm very excited to be picked and really want to move on to Round 2 which will be difficult because its going from 70 to only 25. I will be very grateful for your help!

Also I created a card for the Create: blog. This weeks challenge Rolled paper. Love the look of rolled paper, its soooo fun. Plus I used the card sketch from Love my Tapes, unfortunately I don't own any of their lovely products but I would love too.

Sketchy Thursdays

2012-01-11T05:17:00.000-08:00

I used the Jan 5th sketch from Sketchy Thursdays for this layout. I loved the simplicity of the sketch. It worked so well with this photo of a plane trip I took in the summer of 2010.

This sketch was also the day 4 sketch for the Sketch-a-thon at Memorable Seasons.

Cardstock: Bazzill
Patterned Paper: Little Yellow Bicycle - Sweet Summertime, Aqua Dot
Jillibean Soup - Pasta Fagioli, Blended Beans
Sticker (Itinerary) Making Memories
(Life is Good) Bella Blvd
Transparent Tag: Meking Memories
Journaling Card: Best Creation Inc - Travel Forever
Rub-on: October Afternoon -Boarding Pass
Chipboard Thickers: American Crafts -Rocketeer

This layout was also based on a sketch from Sketchy Thursdays it was the Dec 29th sketch. Which I had done but forgot to photograph by the deadline. Oh well I'm posting it now anyways, besides the photos are almost 6 years old. On the "Mark" alphas they were plain chipboard letters that I stamped with Grey paint.

Papers: Scrap within Reach, My Mind's Eye
Ticket: My Mind's Eye
Buttons: Graphic 45
Cork: Pink Paislee
Stamp: Gel-a-tins
Alphas: Studio Calico, My Little Shoebox, Maya Road
Ink & Paint

New DT GIG

2012-01-06T16:30:00.000-08:00

New DT GIG!!
I'm so excited to announce that I'm a FITgirl now!!! I made the DT over at Scrap Fit!!!

Its a great group of talented ladies and I'm honored to be part of the team. I'm very excited and can't wait for the new challenge in Feb!!

I also completed this layout at the end of December and not sure why I keep forgetting to post it. Its sketch #61 from sketchabilities. Cameron was soooo excited for this day, because you get to be first in line for lunch.

Closeup

Create: Blog plus a Sketch-a-thon

2012-01-04T19:55:00.000-08:00

Create: Blog

The challenge this week over at the Create: Blog was to create a card with vellum. Yep vellum, you know the stuff you probably haven't used in 2-3 years. I started working on this challenge right away. I decided I would emboss the vellum with a Spellbinders Impressabilities Circles die. The Gray patterned paper was an American Crafts piece of scrap. The flourish and journaling spot was from a company that went out of business at least a year ago, the ribbon was from a christmas present that I saved, Prima flowers (I've had for ages), Stamp is Imaginisce.

Winter Wonder Sketch-a-thon
Memorable Seasons is having a sketch-a-thon for the month of January. There will a total of approximately 20 sketches this month. I know that I won't complete them all but I was able to complete sketch #1. It was a great sketch from Liz Chidester.

I also created this layout for a challenge over at My Sketch World. The challenge is called Intitled, and what I did was use an object (the chipboard Santa) to create part of the title.

When I was creating the layout I cut the large circle and then decided I needed something else around the white circle because it was just toooo white. Well the Peppermint pattern is the backside of the white so I decided to take my circle cutter (the Kreaxions Circle Cutter from Just Imagine Crafts) and created a bordered circle. I LOVE how PERFECTLY I was able to cut these circles.

Here is a picture to better illustrate the great cuts this circle cutter makes, plus the small blue tool IS the circle cutter.

This is the first christmas related layout I have created since last February. I pulled out Crate Paper's Peppermint Collection the chipboard Santa was just the perfect touch to use on this layout. The only thing not from Crate Paper is the beautiful ribbon which is Webster's Pages.

Top 10 List

2012-01-02T17:29:00.000-08:00

Goodbye 2011 and Hello to 2012! With the start of the new year I always tally up what I created in the past year to see how much I created. Well 2011 was the least productive year I have had since keeping track in 2008. My totals are 144 layouts, 57 cards plus 1 Mini Album, an Altered Bottle and an Altered Xmas Tree.

But with the look back I also want to showcase my top 10 layouts I created this past year, in no particular order.
1.

10.

Happy New Year!!

2012-01-01T17:12:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone has a wonderful New Year!! Here is wishing 2012 is a great one!! Now on to the January challenge over at True XOXO Scrapbooking. The Challenge this month was the number 1. Here is my One layout,

I have one Patterned paper, transparency, doily, mist, felt swirl, sticker, metal snowflake, border, ribbon, rubon, paper clip, flag, chipboard snowflake, button, one word title, ticket, pearl, journaling spot, tag, snowflake, baker's twine, and brad.
Closeup -You can see how I added the baker's twine to the snowflake.

Two TaDa Creative Studios Projects

2011-12-27T20:54:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas, spent time with family and friends, the kids loved the stuff they received but there is one holiday story that I just have to share. We open our presents on Christmas Eve we always have well after dinner we started to open presents when there was a knock at the front door and to EVERYONE'S surprise Santa Claus was on our doorsteps. Hubby invited him inside, the kids didn't know what to do they were sooooo surprised they wouldn't move. Finally I got them to go by the door and get a picture with Santa.

Then Santa handed us a cookie jar filled with cookies, wait aren't WE supposed to leave Santa cookies. Oh well it was a terrific surprise, thanks SANTA!! By the way the hat my daughter is wearing is a christmas present she had just opened and she loved it and barely took it off for the next 24 hours.

I pulled out the Bountiful Blooms collection from TaDa Creative Studios to create this card. Papers used Ivy League, Mini Mes and Snippets & Clippets. Stamped a sentiment on the Journaling block added rhinestones to the flowers added stitching and used a Spellbinders Large Classic Inverted Scalloped Square on one of the papers.

This card is for the Create:Blog the challenge was to create a new year card. I used another TaDa Creative Studios collection this time the Abode a la Mode collection. I used the Hoop Dee Doo paper for the base of the card, then created a flag from one of the Tag-a-ma-jigs, the purple strip is also from the Tag-a-ma-jig paper and finally created a shaped piece for the sentiment from the Jumpin' Java paper. Add some stickers and you have an easy New Years card.

Oh Christmas Tree

2011-12-19T13:15:00.000-08:00

OUR REAL TREE
This year we made a totally different Christmas tree than any tree we have had before. Everything on our tree is new this year, except for the actual tree. We got all new Pink/Purple bulbs, homemade bulbs with ribbon, snowflakes, ribbon and beads, even a new star.

Baker's Twine Christmas TreeAfter decorating our house this holiday season and moving our real Christmas tree upstairs I decided we needed a small tree downstairs and instead of going to the store and buying something I chose to make one instead. So I bought a styrofoam tree to decorate. At first I thought about using some ribbon but I chose to use Baker's Twine instead. The Green and Red Baker's Twine is Martha Stewart twine. I started with the green roll of twine at the bottom of the tree and used a pin to Temporarily hold the end in place while TIGHTLY wrapping the tree, after wrapping then I went back and glued the twine to the tree. I stopped when that roll was empty and then switched to the red. However I wanted a border between the twine and decided on the large ball trim in Red and White then the White Sequins on top of the ball trim to add a touch of sparkle to the tree. I topped the tree with a pretty Prima White Poinsettia.

One last tip: I didn't wrap the Baker's Twine all the way to the bottom of the tree because I didn't want it to unwind off the tree so I added another string of sequin which was the perfect finishing touch. Its a very easy project its just a little time consuming because if you don't wrap the twine very tight you will see the styrofoam tree beneath.

Closeup of the ball trim and white sequin's on top.

Closeup of the Prima Poinsettia, isn't it sooo pretty.

A side view of the top of the tree showing how I attached the flower to the tree. Insert a decorative pin to the top of the tree and attach a glue dot to the pin and the flower finishes the tree and doesn't mess up all the hard work of winding the Baker's Twine. I punched a 1" circle to cover the top and added some rhinestones to the top, you only see it from the side but I wanted it to be finished from all sides.

I hope you enjoyed my Baker's Twine Styrofoam Christmas Tree. Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!!
Lisa

How much scrapping??

2011-12-14T10:03:00.000-08:00

How much scrapping was I able to complete last week ummm NONE. That's what happens when you put up the christmas decorations, do some christmas shopping and then get sick for the next 4 days, throw in wrapping presents and all the normal activities and that equals no scrapping time. I got this first layout done the first weekend of Dec and its based on a sketch from Let's Capture These Sketches, mine is a lot different from the sketch but its because my photos were to big, I saw the sketch on Tara's blog and completed it for her challenge #3. The bowling paper is from Moxxie, Alphas are American Crafts, Pink Paislee and My Mind's Eye, the other bits & pieces are from all over, I have Crate Paper, Cosmo Cricket, Webster's Pages (chipboard button), Sassafras, Jenni Bowlin, Jillibean Soup and Hambly.

Detail/Close-up shot of bowling title.

Authentique
I don't think I have ever taken so long to complete a layout before. I found the Authentique Dec sketch and printed it out to work on it, Started on Saturday by picking what photos I wanted to use and deciding on what Authentique papers and then Sunday I completely cleaned EVERYTHING off my scrap table which is in the basement so we could put up the christmas tree and all the other decorations. Monday there was still remnants of christmas stuff on the table so I decided to do some christmas shopping then Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I just felt horrible and barely had energy to pick up the kids from school. Friday I was feeling better but still not 100% so I decided to wrap up christmas presents instead of scrapping. On Saturday I ran to my local CVS to get a couple smaller pics printed came home and discovered the photo machine was NOT working properly and the colors were OFF. Went back on Sunday to reprint the pics for them to say the machine still wasn't working (seems like someone doesn't want me to finish this layout). Finally was able to get the pics printed, yeah!! I was able to get a little bit accomplished but I kept getting interrupted, so finally on Monday when the kids were back in school I was able to carve out some time and finish. So this layout took well over a week from when I started it but actually working on it was a different story.

I used Authentique's Splendid line paper:Renown and Brillance (back), Tabloids (Timepiece journaling spot), Alphas from the Journey line Petite Type Circle and the fussy cut flowers are from Journey line Promenade paper.

I fussy cut the flowers from the Promenade Paper from the Journey collection.

I spritzed the Renown paper with Sprinklers from October Afternoon color Robot Blue, loved it.

TaDa Creative Studios
I took the wonderful, fabulous Frozen Tozen collection and created a zoo layout about one of our family’s favorite zoo animals the Polar Bear. We love going to our local zoo and never miss the Polar Bear exhibit. When you think of Polar Bears you think of snow so the two just seemed to work great together.
I started off untraditionally by choosing the Side Swipe Fringe Benefits Cardstock in Macintosh. I love the Fringe Benefts its a nice heavy duty cardstock and I had so much fun bunching and curling the side and creating this fun edge. The edge will stay how you leave it too. I want to use them all the time. Add of course I used the Snippets & Clippets as well, because I’m not able to create a TaDa layout without them.

After the cardstock I took to punching, lots of punching, circles, scalloped circles, snowflakes to make the border no paper was safe from punching.

Then I layered a couple snowflakes and added some stickles on top to make them sparkle. One of the snowflakes was topped with one of the wonderful vinyl stickers.

A day of Cards

2011-11-30T16:27:00.001-08:00

I created this first card for the December challenge over at True XOXO. This month our inspiration was a photo/layout. I was inspired by the journaling strips that were on top of the photo, however I was inspired to create a card this month and not a layout. So I started by using a Tim Holtz embossing folder, the Bingo card and embossed a gold piece of paper from GCD Studios. To complete the Bingo card I included 5 brads and made a Bingo. The Thankful for you strips were from Bella Blvd's One Fall Day Collection - it was a 12 inch strip that I cut apart and then attached on top of the Bingo card. I felt I needed a touch of white so I added the doily behind the bingo sheet. I'm very happy because I think I FINALLY can tie a good bow, Thanks to the you tube video I watched. The base paper and the bingo paper were both in my scraps pile, which is what I love about making cards.

I created this card for the Crop Stop Challenge #47 Be Thankful. After creating the card above the flowers from this three bugs in a rug paper was calling for me to use them. So I fussy cut the flowers and then added the notebook paper from Pink Paislee. The metal butterfly is from Making Memories, the thanks tag is from a card that I had received from someone else over a year ago and added the turquiose gem in the center of the flower and 3 pearls at the top.

The challenge this week at The Paper Variety is to include an ornament on your project. So I was looking thru my christmas papers and I saw this journaling tag with an ornament on it and decided I was going to use these papers and stickers from Echo Park. I added silver ink to the papers as a final touch.

Another week closer to Christmas

2011-11-29T07:08:00.001-08:00

We had a lovely Thanksgiving with hubby's family and I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving as well. However, Thanksgiving weekend did not equal scrapping time. I'm not sure why but every time I thought I could sit down and scrap 5 minutes later I was interepted for one reason or another so this first layout was sitting on my table for days just waiting for me to get a chance to actually scrap. Memorable Seasons has a great sketch this month from the Nov happy hour sketch, but you have til the end of the month to complete it and be eligible for a prize.
Earlier in the week I was interested in scrapping these photos and I couldn't find where I had put them, luckily when I saw this sketch I knew it would work with these pics. Glad I found them!
I pulled out Best Creations travel collection and then added Making Memories Passport collection papers and Rubons from October Afternoon Boarding Pass and the sticker is from Crate Paper.

I saw this sketch from Creative Scrappers Sketch #183 and it was the perfect starting point. These photos are from Disney's Lion King show in the Animal Kingdom park. I had no idea what papers I wanted to use and ended up choosing a number of old supplies that I have had for ages!!! The base paper is from Stemma and was a halloween paper, the cardstock block I embossed with a cuttlebug folder and the script paper behind that is from Bo Bunny's Cambridge collection. The strip under the photos was in my scrap pile and its from ages ago its DCWV, the black scallops was a scrap from a Pink Paislee die cut piece. The only thing that is not ancient on this layout is the Foam Thickers that matched so perfectly and the buttons are from Graphic 45, and they are the only Graphic 45 items that I own. I also inked and distressed all the papers.

PRIZE TIME
I received another great prize over the Thanksgiving weekend. This prize was from the Scrapping Nook in Sept and Oct they had a Bo Bunny contest and I WON. This prize is soooo fun, look at all these wonderful goodies. I received this adorable apron, the measuring cups and spoons, spatula, the nice reusable bag, the leather purse plus of course actually scrappy products too. The Bo Bunny Sweet Tooth Collection pack and matching chipboard plus a number of other goodies too. I love Bo Bunny products but somehow I don't have any of these goodies so that's a great bonus.

My daughter showing off the Bo Bunny apron, isn't it cute??

This week's projects

2011-11-19T16:24:00.001-08:00

Sketchy Thursdays
For the December GDT Challenge at Sketchy Thursdays I took the very minimalist sketch and added to it to create this layout focusing a wonderful weekend spent creating tons of baked goodies with the kids, myself and grandma and how Thankful I am for this special time.

This layout is a mix and match layout, as I usually stick with one manufacturer not so on this one. I started with a cardstock base which I spritzed with some Glimmer Mist color Sand. I pulled out an old Scrapdango kit which featured the Lily Bee Catching Fall papers and Maya Road tag. Then I added the canvas border which is from Pink Paislee Sweetness line. The Pinwheel flower is Crate Paper, the Farmhouse collection I believe, the title is American Crafts Amy Tangerine line, the ribbon I have had for YEARS and I have stickers from My Mind's Eye, Crate Paper and the Family Traditions sticker is Lily Bee. The last detail for this layout was inking and distressing of all the papers.

A closeup/detail shot of the title.

Sketch Inspiration Sketch #246
This was a fun sketch to play with I pulled out some pics of my son at the Orchard that we visit in the fall. Then I choose the playful Bella Blvd One Fall Day Collection with its great bright colors and patterns. I fussy cut the acorns, the pumpkins, the sign and the leaves at the top. I also completed this layout for the Recipe challenge over at Memorable Seasons. The recipe was
* a scalloped edge
* 2 photos
* at least 3 leaves - they can be any kind
* a banner
* a pinch of sewing/stitching

So after fussy cutting the leaves I strung them on the Baker's twine to create a banner. I added stitching onto the leaves of the acorns.

A closeup/detail shot of the fussy cut pumpkins and sign.

Creative Scrappers
So happy to have finally tackled another wedding layout, I think I'm up to 6 completed wedding layouts now and I've been married over 12 years. When I saw the Creative Scrappers sketch #182 it just screamed to me make a wedding layout with all the flowers, bling, and the big doily in the sketch. So that's what I created. I pulled out my papers that I have saved to create my wedding album which is Basic Grey's retired Bittersweet collection. I added lots of Prima flowers, mixed with a Webster's Pages Pinwheel Florettes and Maya Road Fabric Flower with the large bling center (Ornate Botanical Blooms). The bling is a mix of Zva Creative and KaiserCraft and I topped the "O" in limo with a shimmering heart from Making Memories.

A closeup/detail shot of all the fabulous flowers and bling.

A number of new projects

2011-11-09T14:12:00.000-08:00

GCD Studios WIN!!!!
I recently received my long ago won 2nd prize from GCD Studios but wow this box was stuffed full of goodies. I got the ENTIRE collection of goodies from the Homespun Chic Collection plus 5 dies from the Chipart Tools.

XOXO Challenge
I picked a winner from the XOXO BLOG HOP. Sorry it took so long but the winner of my RAK was Darlene S. Congrats Darlene!!!
Another XOXO Blog Challenge is up. This month's challenge was BLACK and how that inspired the DT to create something. Since its around Halloween when I think of Black it reminds me of Trick or Treating in the dark so I decided to pull out some Halloween papers and Embellies. I decided on Bella Blvd's Too Cute to Spook Collection. I used lots of Black accents including a Black Title, accents and topped it off with Charcoal colored Chalkboard Glimmer Mist.

I created the pumpkin face banner by punching the images out of the Jacks-A-Glow paper with a pinking circle punch from Martha Stewart. I put the punched images on top of another sheet of punched scalloped circles for my handmade banner.

On this layout I decided to play with the October Afternoon Sidewalks Collection for these older pics of my youngest. I just loved the playful images of this collection. I heart banners and love the mix and match banners in the chipboard pieces.

This is a closeup shot of the title and topped with one of the Little Flyers. The flags are such a fun touch and so popular right now.

I enjoyed playing with the October Afternoon Sidewalks Collection in the above layout so I decided to create another layout with this collection. I pulled out some more older pics of the kids enjoying an afternoon watching a Professional Women's Basketball Game. I also added a couple pieces from the 5 & Dime collection. This layout was inspired by the Creative Scrappers Sketch #180. I loved that this sketch combined both a vertical and horizonal photo in the sketch.

A couple closeup/detail shots of the layout.

Two TaDa Creative Studios projects in one post

2011-10-16T16:09:00.000-07:00

If your here for the XOXO blog hop check out the post below.

For this layout I pulled out the TaDa Creative Studios BFF Collection and didn’t know what I was going to do with it when I first sat down to scrap. After pulling out the papers and looking at them I had an idea and I ran with it.

I started with the Oooh La La Layers Petal Pals in Tank Green it was the perfect way to showcase pieces from all of the papers in the collection.

To make it easy to fit the patterned papers in the petals I traced a petal onto vellum and used that as a template. I used the majority of the Petal Pals, but I did cut it a bit so there was some empty space for my photo to rest on. Underneath the photo I cut a strip from the backside of the Pink Paisley paper, used a decorative edge punch and then folded some of it to act a little more like ribbon than paper.

When folding the paper like this it does add some bulk under the picture so I add a piece of cardboard from packaging just slightly smaller than the photo to keep the photo from shifting in any way. I then added the title and a couple Stickies from the BFF collection and done.

Items used from the BFF Collection
-Paisley Palooza (front and back)
-Pink Paisley (front and back)
-Word Play (front and back)
-Flower Friend-zy (front and back)
-Snippets & Clippets
-Oooh La La Layers Petal Pals in Tank Green
-BFF Stickies

Sketches in Thyme is having a DT Call right now. To be considered for the team you need to create a layout based on the sketch.

So I pulled out some American Crafts Amy Tangerine papers, Fabric Stickers & Thickers, Studio Calico Fabrips, mixed with some misc embellies from Sassafras, Maya Road, Authentique, Crate Paper and Kaiser Crafts crocheted flower.

Creative Scrappers
This week over at Creative Scrappers they featured sketch #177. Its a great sketch and worked well with this photo of my DD and DH which I recently had printed. We were at a Cowboy themed party and were supposed to dress up. I remembered about this great TaDa Creative Studios Collection - Goody Two Shoes. The plaid paper reminded me of the cowboy shirts and a couple of the papers which I cut to use more as an embellishment featured cowboy boots and hats, how perfect!! I distressed all the papers and added a touch of twine to the photo and title block to add the final down on the farm cowboy touch.

Close up of the fussy cut circles featuring the Cowboy boots and hat.

Sassy Lil' Sketches
While watching the baseball game, and our team LOSING badly I decided to scrap and created this card based on a Sassy Lil' Sketches card sketch #8. I'm very sad that October is the last month that Sassy Lil' Sketches will be open. I used a SRM Sticker and an older Bo Bunny Collection -Sophie which I LOVE and only have tiny scraps left of (I'm very sad).

XOXO Blog hop, Authentique and RAK available

2011-10-12T17:24:00.000-07:00

XOXO BLOG HOP starts Oct 13 and ends Oct 20
If you just stumbled upon this blog hop and want to start at the beginning go to True XoXo blog

If you want a chance to be a guest design team member (with all its glorious perks) you need to
1) visit and comment on every single blog in the hop. One blog will bring you to the next, but the master list is available here, in case you get lost.
2) post back on the true xoxo blog when you're done visiting all the other blogs to let us know you're done.

That's it! One random winner will be announced in the end of October.

Completing challenges is optional. Some team members will be giving away their own prizes.

Ya know? I'll tell ya what. For every layout or project that you do based on one of the challenges or inspired by one of the projects of a team member, comment back on the XOXO blog and I'll throw ANOTHER name of yours into the hat for the gdt drawing. You could have as many as 15 entries in the drawing!

Ready? Set! GO!

I was challenged by Lindsey to use Sushi as inspiration, what a beautiful inspiration photo.

Well I don't eat Sushi so I wasn't sure how I was going to have Sushi inspire me, but when I think about Sushi I think of how they are rolled up, so I chose to roll some of my papers. They almost look like scrolls. In the inspiration photo some of the Sushi is made to look like flowers inside, so I also included some fussy cut flowers too. I used Authentique's Blissful Collection for this layout.

I challenged Michelle, she's the last blog so your almost done.

I also will be giving away a RAK, not quite sure what it will be right now, but everyone who comments on this post will be entered into the RAK. Want another entry into the RAK scraplift my layout (any way you choose) and make sure you come back here and leave me another comment with a link to your project. Want a third entry into the RAK then become a follower and leave me another comment letting me know your a follower. If your already a follower leave a second comment telling me that too.

Sassy Lil' SketchesI'm sad to report that Sassy Lil' Sketches is closing. Oct is the last month and they are doing a blow out with lots of layout and card sketches throughout the month. The deadline for participating is Oct 23. So the last sketch I got to play with over there is Sketch #5.

For each sketch we will be giving away one prize of the Sassy Lil' Sketches Ebook.

Did you know Authentique has a Sketch Challenge?
Well they do and I used the Authentique Sketch Challenge to create the Helping Dad layout. I used the Authentique Journey Collection and the products used from that collection are Jaunt (back), Itinerary, Voyage, Itinerary (back), Stroll (back), Explore, Ticket from Icons and Petite Type Circle.

I used Creative Scrappers sketch #175 for this layout. My layout turned out a bit different than the sketch but that's ok. I used Bo Bunny's Cambridge Collection. I'm happy that I finally cut into and used these papers I have had them for quite a while. These papers just called out to me to add lots of distressing. The small Prima flowers were a little more beige and were fading into the background a little too much so I added some Glimmer Glaze in Mellow Yellow and it was the perfect addition to add just a touch of color to the flowers.

Closeup shot of flowers and shield/pocket that is holding them.

Another Closeup- I loved the banner and wings it was the perfect place for me to add the tiny alphabet letters.

Apparently when creating this layout I really wanted to use some stick pins, considering I used one when creating part of the title and two more as accents on the picture. I used the Sept 29 sketch over at Sketchy Thursdays for this layout, I liked the clean design of the sketch, I also made it for the Paper Variety blog challenge which was to use a Nautical theme. The papers are from Bella Blvd's All Inclusive line the papers worked nicely for this photo from Puerto Rico, when creating a part of the title I took a Jenni Bowlin banner added some small round alphas from Authentique used some foam tape and attached it to a stick pin.

I added a closeup of the jounaling in case you were interested in reading it.

The Oct Challenge over at XOXO was posted. So this month's challenge is Instagr.am! Some of our girls prefer Hipstamatic, and that's fine, too!! Point is, the "app for that" generation is easily putting photo editing into the hands of ... well ... everyone! My Instagram layout is the ROAST layout in the post below.

Altered Bottle plus a Ta Da Creative Studios Project

2011-09-27T08:34:00.000-07:00

When I was perusing one of the message boards I frequent for inspiration Majo had posted a link to a GORGEOUS bottle that Ingvild Bolme had created. I couldn't get her bottle out of my mind, I wanted to create one of my own and I knew just where I would display it. I have a ledge above my cabinets that is perfect so I also knew the colors that I would use. Know I just needed a bottle. We have a local antique store that I KNEW I would be able to find a bottle. So I made a shopping trip to the store and found a lovely old half gallon bottle that only cost a couple of dollars. The Paper Variety is also having a challenge this week sponsored by home, which was to use the word home or a house or make a home decor item. Obviously I chose to make a home decor item.

Now its time to decorate, I started with the INSIDE of the bottle and I drizzled several colors of Alcohol Inks. The colors I used were Cool Perl (which was very light and didn't show up well), Stream and Butterscotch. I wanted to add a touch of white to it and I had a Stazon Opaque Inker in Cotton White. Then while the Inks were still wet I sprinkled in some Glitter from Pink Paislee Pixie Stix colors (Licorice & Silver Berry).

Now that the inside is colored I turn to the outside of the bottle. I love using doily's and I love adding colors to them. So I misted the doily with Smooch Spritz in a turquoise color, and topped the doily with a Ticket from Webster's Pages. Now the Prima Say it in Crystals are the perfect touch of bling. I love the little lock from My Minds Eye and added it to the bling. The gold trinket on the top of the ticket is also from My Minds Eye and I topped it with this large pearl which I have had sitting in my collection for YEARS. I never use clothespins with my scrapping but I thought it was a great touch on this bottle. The finishing touch was putting the blue beads around the neck of the bottle. The beads were from a kit from Scrapdango over a year ago.

The Full finished bottle.

Tada Creative StudiosI saw the Week 1 Switch it Up Sketch over at Sassy Lil' Sketches

and just knew it would work for this photo. The photo is the Restaurant sign of Roast in Downtown Detroit taken on my cellphone when the sun was starting to set, but I really like the look of the photo. The restaurant is from Iron Chef Michael Symon. My mom and I love watching all the food shows on tv and when we discovered this restaurant was so close we knew we had to go check it out. So for my birthday this year my mom and I went. It was yummy and we even tried the Brussel Sprouts, which Chef Symon had made on an episode of Iron Chef, soooo cool!!!

I felt the downtown edgeness of the photo went sooo well with Ta Da's Just Chillin' line. The distressing was the perfect gritty feel that I wanted for this layout. I had so much fun distressing everything. I used just about all the papers in the Just Chillin' collection plus one of the stickers and the oh la la layers above the title.

Close up detail shot of distressing.

Closeup of the Journaling block and more distressing.

For the title I pulled out some Thickers that had a very similar font to the restuarant but they were brown and I didn't like that, since they were a chipboard font I ripped off the top layer and added some Ranger Liquid Pearls in Pewter, while still wet I flipped them upside down which removed the excess and added a fantastic texture to the title.

Sassy Lil' Sketches

2011-09-21T08:51:00.000-07:00

Sassy Lil' Sketches Week 3 Layout Sketch

Dressed Up for St. Patty's Day. The background paper is Moxxie, and the other strips are pieces from my Scraps. I fussy cut the banners from October Afternoon Seaside paper. The journaling reads " All in green including holiday beads & Shamrock headband to celebrate the Irish holiday of St. Patty's Day 2011".

September Sponsor:

Layouts must be uploaded to Sassy Lil' Sketches by October 5th, 11:59 P.M. EST to be eligible for the September random prize drawing*.
Specific rules for both Sassy Lil' Sketches site can be found on our Sassy Lil' Sketches "Rules" page.

Get Picky Blog
The Get Picky Sept 12 Challenge is sponsored by Best Creations. So I created the Picking the Perfect Pumpkin layout using Best Creations Hello Fall line. These photos are my little guy from last year, which I recently found when looking for some other photos. I also used it for the Home Ec Challenge at Scrapdango which was to use stitching (orange stitches by the top photo), use fabric (burlap ribbon behind top photo), use diecut (spellbinders die behind the chipboard title), and extra credit: use food in photo and embellishment.

I'm enjoying the kids being in school

2011-09-19T07:53:00.000-07:00

because I'm able to get some stuff accomplished. I used the Week 2 card sketch from Sassy Lil' Sketches to create this Bo Bunny card. One of my all time favorite collections from Bo Bunny was the Sophie Collection. I was trying to use up an old kit from Scrapdango. I created this card plus the Smile card and the budding photog layout and still have plenty more scraps to create more. Crop Stop is also having a challenge to use buttons, so I added them to the card. Also, Paper Variety's challenge was to use stickers, so I used a clear sticker from SRM Stickers.

I used sketch #39 from Cardabilities, it was a perfect sketch to use up more of the Bo Bunny Sophie scraps that I had lying on my table.

On this layout I used more of the Bo Bunny Sophie Collection and created this for a challenge at Scrapdango. Besides the Bo Bunny papers, I used the Tim Holtz photo strip ribbon, which I purchased because I knew I had this pick of my DD that I wanted to scrap. The challenge was to use a visual triangle (which is the 3 photo strips), use an actual triangle (the triangle border stickers) and use another shape (the title block).

On this layout I used sketch #173 from Creative Scrappers and I also used it for the Science challenge at Scrapdango. It was to use hexagons or octagons, use green as a main color, and use a botanical item - mine is the wood title letters. I created the "Bubbles" on the layout by watering down white paint and then adding a layer of Glimmer Glaze on top to add a touch of shimmer. Since it was a science challenge I thought the Atomic Soup papers from Jillibean Soup was the perfect collection for this challenge, plus it gave me an excuse to ACTUALLY use it.

I was looking through my pics when I saw this picture of me at dinner while on vacation and a title popped into my head and I knew I had to scrap it right away. I thought the Creative Scrappers sketch #172 fit this picture and I decided to pull out Webster's Pages Ladies & Gents collection and then added extra Webster's goodies like the Bloomers, the blingy ribbon, the pom pom flower, and other extra goodies.

I added a closeup of the journaling.

A Ta Da Creative Studios project Friendship is a gift, so let’s make your friend’s day and make a great card to celebrate your friendship! That’s what this card is all about. I used the wonderful colorful Sizzlin’ Summer line from Ta Da Creative Studios to create this friendship card. Wouldn’t you love to receive a card like this in the mail?

I used the Mini Mes paper, this one is PERFECT when making cards because the pattern is smaller than the full size paper. I also used the Snippets & Clippets paper (which I LOVE) and fussy cut the Pink flower and used the journaling block for the sentiment of the card. The butterfly punch was an easy and quick embellishment for this card. Add a sentiment, a touch of ribbon/trim and you have a card your friend will treasure.Have a great scrappy week!!

A number of new projects

2011-09-12T05:09:00.001-07:00

I found this great sketch over at Sketches in Thyme #55. When searching for what photos to use with it I found these cute pics of my son making a pizza. So when deciding what papers to use I wanted some type of food collection and I thought why not look thru my Jillibean Soup stash and I found this older but still soooo cute collection. When I saw the pig paper my decision was made. Everything on this layout is from Jillibean Soup except the twine and the Happy Ticket at the top.

I also created this layout for a challenge at Scrapdango for the Computer class challenge. The challenge was to use a digital image (the Happy Ticket) and use numbers or type on the page other than the title.

It also worked for the Paper Variety's blogaversary which was to use stamps or digital stamps, Thanks Happy Ticket.

A close-up, I just love the little pig!!

I made this cute card based on the Sept Week 1 Sassy lil' Card Sketch. I used Sassafras papers and stickers, the sentiment is SRM Stickers. I created this card for the Create: Blog challenge which was to use Toothpick flags. I actually didn't have any so I created my own with toothpicks in my cupboard and Sassafras banners. It was sooo easy and quick.

I also used a Cheery Lynn Designs die on the card, Its the oh so yummy Carnivale border. They are having an anything goes challenge right now it ends on Sept 15. So if you have any Cheery Lynn Designs dies create a project with it and add it and you could win.

I saw the 9.8 sketch challenge over at Sketchy Thursdays and just loved it, and knew I wanted to create with it. I'm not completely thrilled with it but its done. I also created it for Paper Variety's blogaversary which was to use your favorite manufacturer. There are soooo many favorite's. I picked Fancy Pants and one of my favorite collections from them is the Beach Bum collection. I just love it!!

This layout is based on the sketch over at The Scrappiest #135. I pulled out scraps for this one. It is always soooo gratifying to use up some scraps. I HAD to take a pic on this day because both Tiffany and Tyler lost a tooth on the SAME day. When does that happen.

The colors are definitely not quite right on this one. SORRY! I used Creative Scrappers sketch #171 for this one and I created it for a Scrapdango PE Challenge. Its was to use an action photo, use a circle, and convey motion. So I put the title letters at all different heights to convey motion.

Looks like I have been really scrappy lately

2011-08-25T19:39:00.000-07:00

I loved getting several challenges out of one layout. I started by doing the open challenge at Sketches in Thyme. The challenge was to pick a sketch from anywhere and upload it. When looking thru what the DT picked I just loved all the white space in the sketch that Tiffany used from Once upon a Sketch.
I ended up filling up a lot of the white space compared to the sketch but there is still plenty of white space. I also was able to complete this layout for a challenge at Scrapdango which was to use the colors blue and white and NOT scrap winter photos. Plus I used it for Cindy's challenge at My Sketch World which was to use a photo at least 5 years old, so I picked this photo of my DH at age 4 over 30 years ago.

I used a combination of Bella Blvd papers and embellishments for this layout. I just love how the different collections all coordinate together.

Creative Scrappers #169

This photo was taken AT the dentist office. They take photos of all the kids who have NO cavities. They let me have it at his last appointment when they took a new picture of him when he still had no cavities.

I just loved the smiley robots in this My Mind's Eye Paper Collection, plus the maroon color matched his shirt.

The Scrappiest #131

I think I need to take a closeup of this photo because you can't see the funny expression on his little face, and all his hair sticking up. That's why I created the title because it was definitely more than just a trip down the slide.

I used Little Yellow Bicycle's Twig line for the papers and embellies on this one.

OK, I just had to take a closeup of the pic. At least now you can see his eyes and his hair sticking up, LOL!

Memorable Seasons

I loved the mix of buttons and flags on this sketch so I got to work on this right away.

I also completed this layout for the challenge at Paper Variety which was create a travel or transportation project. This layout was from a Spring Weekend Getaway, this resort in Ohio features a HUGE indoor water park.

I used an older kit from Scrapdango it featured papers from Lily Bee and We R Memory Keepers. I picked the orangy/yellow Thickers for the title because they match the color in the photo on the hotel.

Sassy Lil' Sketches Aug Reveal

2011-08-23T08:40:00.000-07:00

Check out the Awesome sketch I got to design with this month.

I'm so proud of Tiffany and her friends because they participated in Girls on the Run and Ran a 5k on this day! Great job Girls!!! This photo was taken moments before the start of the race.

I used Bella Blvd papers for this layout, a Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, and Thickers.

Paper Sponsor this month

Layouts must be uploaded on Sassy Lil' Sketches by September 5th, 11:59 P.M. EST to be eligible for the August random prize drawing*.

Specific rules for both Sassy Lil' Sketches site can be found on our Sassy Lil' Sketches "Rules" page.

Crate Paper - Toy box Collection
I decided when I was playing with these papers that I just HAD to pull out the stapler. I'm not sure what about this collection made me want to use the stapler but I like what it added to the layout. I did add a closeup shot of some of the staples so you could see the detail better.

TaDa Creative Studios New line plus a couple other challenges also

2011-08-17T14:14:00.000-07:00

TaDa Creative Studios New line
I so LOVE the NEW Just Chillin’ line. It is sooooo perfect for the boys, teens, men in our lives. I used these photo’s of my son dressed up in Dad’s sweater, cap and major oversized shoes to work with the Just Chillin’ papers.

Lately, I don’t think a layout is complete without some fussy cutting and there is plenty of that on this layout. I first fussy cut the borders that are going down the green paper and across the orange paper from the backside of the Snippets & Clippets.
Then I took the Geared Up La La Layers

and used the middle gear as a template which I cut out of the Mini Mes Plaid paper. I finally cut a smaller gear out of the So Stoked paper.

Wow I’m tired just thinking about all the cutting I did, LOL! Holy smokes, I actually used a couple of eyelets on this layout, but they just seemed to work. I haven’t used eyelets in ages.

I actually used all 6 papers in the collection for this layout, plus the Geared Up La La Layers and even included the BRAND New Stickies too. Did I say that I LOVED this collection, yep I did but that’s ok! I think this collection is a MUST for anyone who has boys in their life.

My Scraps and More had a sketch challenge on their blog this week. So I thought I would give it a try. I liked that the sketch featured 3 photos. I started using Lily Bee Designs paper, but I did add other embellishments to it. The title is a little hard to read online its "Balloon Doggy".

My Sketch World has a challenge this month to create a get well card and after looking thru my stash of cards I discovered that I didn't have any. So I decided that I needed to create two cards. I also used the Paper Variety challenge blog which had a color challenge going on which was to use the colors Green, Orange, and Yellow. The sentiments are stickers from SRM Stickers.

Scrappiest Blog Sketch #132

For this layout I used the Scrappiest sketch and an inspiration challenge going on at Memorable Seasons including the quote which reads "Be kind & Be truthful, and your life will be fruitful" plus I used a stamping challenge at Back Porch Memories. The tree is a chipboard piece I have had for several years from Riff Raff designs, very sad that they are no longer in business.

GDT Reveal for Back Porch Memories

2011-08-10T10:40:00.000-07:00

RAK up for grabs
In honor of being a GDT this month I had to create a challenge at BPM and my challenge was to Use Your Scraps. I was sort of inspired by cards for this one. I made a number of cards recently and I LOVE digging into my scraps when I create cards and decided to do that when creating this layout. So I went searching thru my scraps and this is what I came up with. I used the scraps without cutting them, which was an extra bonus.

Plus its my month to post a card challenge over at My Sketch World this month, my challenge is to use your tools. Pull out your cricut, cuttlebug, sizzix whatever it is and use it on a card. If you complete BOTH of these challenges and post on this thread a link to your projects I will enter you into a RAK from me.

For this sample I used a spellbinders die (two different sizes) in my cuttlebug, to create this baby shower card.

Guest Designer Reveal
I was so excited to be the Guest Designer over at Back Porch Memories this month. I received the August Solo kit which featured October Afternoon's 5 & Dime Collection. My favorite part of the kit is definitely the Kaisercraft doilie's which I have picked up to purchase and then put back on the shelf several times.

I also purchased the Solo Embellishment Add on.

These are the projects I completed with this kit.
The kids just LOVE when I make this soup. They really can't get enough of it.

Close up shot of Cream of Broccoli layout. The kit included 2 mini envelopes so I included the recipe inside the envelope.

This is one of my cousin's daughter. We were enjoying a stroll and taking photos and we put the baby on the bench and I just love this photo of the baby with her little leg up in the air. I took the white ribbon in the kit and created a flower with it, wrapping it around a circle and then embellishing it with a punched piece on top.

On this card I used the negative space from the diecut that I used on the Cream of Broccoli layout. I created the base of the card to be slightly larger than the diecut. I then took the polka dot paper and added some gesso to it to tone it down a bit so I could stamp a sentiment on it. The stamp is NOT included in the kit.

This is the sketch from the August Newsletter and the layout I created with the sketch is below.

MSW August Card Reveal

Here is the Aug card sketch and the last baby shower card that I needed this summer.

I used a SRM sticker as the sentiment on this card, it was tooo perfect!

Several challenges in one

2011-07-30T18:28:00.000-07:00

I was able to tackle a sketch plus two other challenges in this layout. The sketch is from Creative Scrappers #166

I also tackled a challenge from The Crop Stop - Use lace. So I included a lace doiley that is just peeking out from under the paper. I also was able to squeeze in a challenge from the Paper Variety blog, their's was a tic tac toe challenge. I choose the bottom row use pink - there are pink in the papers and a button, use a banner - I *heart* banners so this one was easy for me and 1 photo.

I used this adorable photo of my DH and DS out on the boat, so using the Simple Stories 100 days of summer line was a perfect choice. I'm so happy to have finally opened up this pack of paper. I'm really happy with how this one turned out.

This one was a sketch from the Scrappiest blog #129 when I saw all these circles I was intrigued. I decided to play with some Sass Paper Crush papers on this one. The title on this one was super easy as this is what my little guy calls Winnie the Pooh.

New DT plus a GDT spot

2011-07-28T14:58:00.000-07:00

DT TOOT!!!
I'm soooo excited to announce that I'm now on the DT at Sassy Lil Sketches WOOHOO!!
Cherie and Katie have some great sketches over there, I hope you stop by and check them out! My first sketch will be in Aug. I can't wait to post it!

I recently needed to make a card for a baby shower so I checked out the Sassy Lil Card Sketches and found this AWESOME card sketch from July 7.
When I saw it I knew I wanted to create a card with this sketch, however I didn't make the baby card that I needed to make. Oh Well, it still made for a pretty card! Plus added bonus these papers are really old (at least 3 years old) and I'm thrilled to use them.

GDT TOOT!!
I'm also very excited to announce that I will be the August GDT over at Back Porch Memories! Its a wonderful kit club, I have been a member of the site for quite some time and I'm excited to be GDT for them again.

I've been on a little bit of a card making kick lately, which is always a great way to use up some stash. Its also very helpful when I needed to make 3 baby shower cards this month. Another great thing about making so many cards is I'm actually using my cuttlebug since I have been using all the wonderful spellbinders dies that I have acquired. I created this card for the July card skecth over at My Sketch World.
You can never have to many birthday cards right? I used one of the spellbinders dies and an embossing folder to create the circular title section of the card.

So I mentioned already that I needed 3 baby shower cards this month. Well one of them I created about 20 minutes before I left to go to the shower so of course I forgot to photograph that one. Another I can't reveal until next month and the last is below. What do you do when you need to make a baby shower card and don't know the sex of the baby, turn to the trusted pale yellow and green of course. I used another Spellbinders die on this card. I can't get enough of them.

CHA makes for one busy week

2011-07-15T07:11:00.000-07:00

WOW, I have been busy creating all week. I had 3 days to create some new projects for TaDa Creative Studios showcasing their 3 brand new wonderful lines and then ship them back so they could have them for CHA. TaDa did come up with some fun new products this time around, they include "Stickies" and "Fringe Benefits". Wanting a little sneek peak, you can see the new items in action on the TaDa Creative Stuidos blog. http://tadacreativestudios.wordpress.com/2011/07/15/our-new-collection-add-ons-up-close-and-personal/

Well since I can't share any of the CHA projects with you yet, I can share a Christmas in July layout I created with TaDa's adorable Jolly Holly Days collection. For the banner of stockings I fussy cut that out of the Hung with Care paper.

XOXO July challenge is UP. If you haven't checked it out there are LOTS of creations from the DT chose one or two or more that inspire you and then scraplift it.

Let's Scrap and My Scraps and more challenges.
I combined these two challenges and created this layout. I used a sketch from Let's Scrap, I took this two page sketch but only used the left hand side of the layout.

Then for the My scraps and more challenge week #6 the challenge was to recycle. I used two recycled items on my layout.One is from Jillibean Soup Journaling Spots - which I cut with a spellbinders die and put my title on. The other is the shaped green and blue polka dot paper. I used a Jenni Bowlin Studio packaging (it had chipboard banners) and covered it with the polka dot paper. The layout was created with Fancy Pants Beach Bum papers and Embellies.

Bev at My Sketch World posted a B&W challenge for July. This sounded like a great twist on a color challenge. So I decided to try this challenge, I even used a B&W photo. For the base of the layout I ended up using a Prima Flocked Transparency which I have had for ages, so I'm sooooo happy to have finally used it. Actually almost the entire layout is using older stash item. The paper is an older Heidi Swapp paper, I loved this line when it came out (and its still great). The flowers are a glittered plastic flowers from Making Memories which I have had forever. I LOVE the ribbon and this was the last bit of it left, very sad. The bling flourish has been in my drawer for a long time waiting to be used. The only NEW items used on this layout are the brads and bling used for the flower centers.

Yet another Crop Stop Challenge

2011-06-30T18:53:00.001-07:00

Since the blog hop closes in about 3 hours this is the last challenge I will get done. But I'm excited that I was able to get 5 of the 10 challenges completed! For the Crop Stop Blog Hop Challenge this one was to use a sun. I completed it after working on the Pink Paislee layout.

Another Crop Stop Challenge & My Scraps & More

2011-06-30T18:42:00.000-07:00

Circle of Girls layout I completed for the week #4 challenge at My Scraps and More which was to use only one manufacturer. I chose to use Pink Paislee and mixed Hometown Summer and Starlight with a few other misc Pink Paislee pieces too. I also completed this for the Crop Stop Celebrate Summer Blog Hop, the challenge was to use a banner or flag. So I created the banner at the top.

Crop Stop Challenge

2011-06-24T13:56:00.000-07:00

Enjoy Today, these pictures are of my cousins and I when I was visiting them in Georgia. We stopped to take these pics by this Rocky Waterfall area when we were in the Downtown area of Augusta. So I thought these Brooke Papers from Crate Paper were great to use.

I created this for Crop Stop's Summer Blog Challenge, Challenge to reflect the outdoors. So I started with outdoor photos, added butterflies and flowers to the page too.

Jump Right In. I did this layout for a paint challenge over at Back Porch Memories, so I splattered paint onto the background paper. Its hard to see but there is a large acrylic bracket on the right side of the layout.

Scrappiest Blog, Creative Scrappers, Crop Stop

2011-06-24T13:04:00.001-07:00

I used another sketch from The Scrappiest Blog #124. I ended up turning it into a 2pager. Not sure why I was inspired to scrap christmas pics but I was. I used an older Pink Paislee christmas line along with Webster's Pages paper. This layout is about how many pictures does it take to take ONE nice picture of three kids, the answer on this day 12.

Creative Scrappers

I saw sketch #161 over at Creative Scrappers and just loved all the blocks on the sketch. I used this sketch for a challenge over at Memorable Seasons as well as a color challenge for the Crop Stop also. The papers I used are from Jillibean Soup.

Crop Stop is having a Blog challenge thru the end of the month and I also made this Berry card for the - Use LOTS of pink challenge

Exciting News from TaDa

2011-06-22T07:44:00.000-07:00

First off, tomorrow TaDa will be participating in a special event on the Creating Keepsakes Facebook page. They will be giving away lots of product, including some TaDa goodies, to celebrate reaching over 40,000 fans on Facebook! To participate you need to go to their Facebook page for details (http://www.facebook.com/CreatingKeepsakes), and then become a fan of TaDa’s on our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/TaDa-Creative-Studios/314011578631?ref=mf)

Secondly, CHA is fast approaching, which means…NEW RELEASES ARE ON THE WAY!!!! We have lots of fun new stuff to share over the next few weeks, so be sure to stop back often to see sneak peeks of what’s in store. We will be starting on July 1st!

On another note Webster's Pages has a great new release that's coming out before CHA, Its soooo cute and you always have birthdays you need to scrap. To see the whole collection click the link.

Sassy Lil Sketches, Scrapdango Challenges

2011-06-18T19:22:00.001-07:00

Webster's Pages Warehouse Box
YEP, I broke down and ordered the Warehouse Box. I liked the fact that they said it was filled with embellies. Well I received my box of goodies on Friday and I very excitedly opened it!!
Look at all the FAB goodies I received!! Most was embellies which was very exciting. Love the two packages of bloomers, the sparklers, some of the flowers. Great stuff, There was also 2 papers (12x12) from at least 6 different collections plus 2 6x6 pads also. One of the things I didn't really care for was one of the bouqet flowers which had a peacock feather in it, and not sure if I will use one of the packs of ribbons which was from the hollywood vogue line but I LOVE all the rest!! So much sooo that I created one of the layouts below with the Yacht Club line.

Close Up Details

June 7th Sketch for Sassy Lil Sketches.

I really liked the blocks going up the side on this one. I used the original Echo Park collection for this one.

Scrapdango

One of the June challenges happening over at Scrapdango is a Recipe challenge.
The Recipe is to ONLY use
-1 piece of cardstock
-1 piece of patterned paper
-1 border strip (if you don't have one that matches you may use a 1" x 12" or smaller piece of a different patterned paper - border punch if you like)
-1 type of embellishment (i.e. Buttons, Flowers, Bling, etc.)
-2 alphas

So with this challenge combined with some Webster's Pages goodies that I just received and really wanted to work with out came this layout, which has a photo that has been printed and waiting to be scrapped for about a year. It feels sooo great to have finely scrapped that photo.

Another Dango challenge is the Blues Brother Challenge, which is to scrap a photo of siblings and use the color Blue.

I pulled out this OLD Crate Paper Collection, it was one of the first real collections I ever purchased, after all those horrible Paper pads from Michael's or Joanns. I also used Maya Road Doillie and ribbon flower, I just love that flower.

I also met a wonderful new friend this week too. Tami and I met at Archiver's walked around the store, and talked and talked and talked then we grabbed some lunch and talked some more, LOL!!! What a fun afternoon!

My Sketch World June Sketch plus several other challenges

2011-06-07T07:00:00.000-07:00

XOXO starting back up!!
The xoxo blog had a rough couple months but with the start of this month we are BACK!! On the 7th a new DT is being unveiled along with the DT projects for you to scraplift. I'm very pleased and excited to announce that I'm remaining on the DT and still a lipstick chick (which I'm very excited about)! Hope to see you over at XOXO and can't wait to see what you decide to lift.

My Sketch World June Card Sketch
Lucy from My Sketch World created a terrific card sketch this month, as usual!! Isn't it Great!!

Here is my take on the sketch using the adorable TaDa Creative Studios - Sizzlin' Summer Collection. I cut the rainbow from the Sizzlin' Summer Mini Mes paper, made the background from the Hello Sunshine paper and created a Butterfly with a Martha Stewart Butterfly punch from the plaid side of the Hello Sunshine paper. The squares and flower were also from the Mini Mes paper.

Scrappiest blog #122

I pulled out an older paper line on this one but its such a great line, Pebbles Inc Lil Buddy line. I probably only have enough scraps to squeeze out one more layout from these papers and I will be sad when I no longer have any of these papers left, they are sooo terrific. The robot is sooo cute I couldn't resist adding it to the layout!

Detail -closeup

Creative Scrappers Sketch #158
When I first looked at this sketch I must admit I was a little confused, but then I scrolled down a little more and checked out what the DT did with it and I was DEFINITELY inspired!!!!!

So when I started to pley with this sketch I decided to combine it with a color challenge over at My Scraps and More.

I started with the cloud paper & mixed and matched papers from My Mind's Eye. I also used lots of inking, distressing, and sanding on this layout. I love the tag from the breaking free collection. I also added misc brads, cork pieces, other embellies, the mini letters, and I just adore the texture from the fabrips from Studio Calico.

Detail of tag with mix of embellies.

Another detail shot Watching the Kiteboarders.

Just Imagine Crafts/Kreaxions Punches June Challenge
The June challenge is to use this sketch plus 2 punches on your layout.

I decided to use October Afternoon's Schoolhouse Collection to go with this pic of my DS on the first day of 1st grade. Thanks for such a great sketch Bev. I'm super happy with how this layout turned out. I used a border punch on the ledger paper under the picture, a notebook punch on the red paper and a corner rounder on a couple other papers.

Busy Month

2011-05-31T19:26:00.000-07:00

What a busy month May was, especially with Cameron breaking his elbow, taking him to the ER, a couple days later another doctor to find out he needs surgery, and just today a followup appointment. At least we found out its healing properly but he was put into a cast for the next 2 weeks, he did get to pick the color of his cast - he choose green.

Well with all that craziness plus 2 sets of houseguests and a Memorial Day BBQ with Friends I didn't get a lot of scrapping done in May. Actually I only completed 6 layouts along with 2 or 3 cards for the WHOLE month. Hopefully I will get more time to scrap in June.

Now to some scrapping
One of the layouts I actually did get done was based on sketch 118 from The Scrappiest Blog.

A few days ago I actually got another layout completed too. I ended up doing lots of distressing on this one. I loved the Toy Box collection from Crate Paper the cowboy boots, horses and other embellies was just a perfect fit for this photo of my youngest.

Blog Hop Day 12 and the last day!

2011-05-27T06:30:00.000-07:00

A chance to win FREE products!
Each day go to the following 2 blogs:
http://tadacreativestudios.wordpress.com/
http://getpunkysprouts.blogspot.com/
Post comments to show your participation. New inspiration will be posted daily. At the end of the 12 day hop, please go to each manufacture’s blog and post a comment telling them your favorite album style and favorite paper collection used in the samples shown during the hop. Your name will then be entered in a drawing to win both! 3 winners will be picked!

I got to play with the Punky Sprouts - Spunky Sprout Album and combined it with the TaDa Creative Studios - Big Top Collection.
For the cover I cut the two big top tents from the "Step Right Up" Paper, the Ticket and the word Circus is from the "Snippets and Clippets" Paper. Add some Glimmer Mist and the cover is almost complete.

Page 1 & 2 are dedicated to the clowns. The clown journaling tag is from the "Snippets and Clippets". The hat I punched out of the "Clowning Around" and then rounded the corners. On the accompanying page the paper is "Side Show" with the Clown piece which I popped up from the "Balancing Act".

Page 3 is a canvas page in the punky sprouts album. I embellished with several circles to mimic the hula hoops in the photo. The strip of stars, journaling circle and the amazing tag are all from the "Snippets and Clippets". I just love the Snippets and Clippets and used almost the entire sheet in this album.

Page 4 are two chipboard tags which I kept very simple and just covered the entire tag with the "Big Top Mini Mes" for the top tag and used some leftovers of one of the Oooh La La Layers and a piece from the "Balancing Act" paper.

Page 5 is the other side of the tags. Now I didn't have any other photos that were working on these tags so I decided to just decorate with paper. On both of these tags I decorated with the "Side Show" Paper and the Circus ticket is from the "Balancing Act" paper. On the bottom tag the Popcorn is from the "Snippets & Clippets" then I took a sunburst punch to the "Clowning Around" paper for the candy apple and snowcone icons.

Page 6 I covered with the back of the "Side Show" paper and added the Canon from "Balancing Act". For the title block I used the "Mini Mes".

Page 7 is a cardboard piece in the Punky Sprouts album and I used many strips from "Clowning Around" and "Step Right Up" and the Juggling Pins is from the "Balancing Act" paper.

Page 8 is another canvas page which I used both sides of the "Step Right Up" paper - the red base and the scalloped circle, and the oh so cute I had to use Trapeze Monkey from the "Balancing Act".

Page 9 & 10 are Elephants!!!! Everyone Loves Elephant's right?? I cut the banner's out of the "Side Show" paper, the Elephant block and the small touch of peanuts was from "Balancing Act". On the acrylic page the super cute Elephant parade is from the "Clowning Around" paper.

Page 11 When designing with the acrylic pages you have to be mindful of the "other" side. So the Red background is actually the back side from the Elephant page. Then I took my square punch and punched blocks from "Step Right Up", the back side of the "Snippets & Clippets" the front and back side of "Side Show" and one of the "Mini Mes".

Back Cover of the Spunky Sprout Album. I used the train cars from the "Clowning Around" paper and another Circus tent this one from one of the Oooh La La Papers it was the Big Top Trio in Macintosh.

Hope you enjoyed the TaDa and Punky Sprouts Blog Hop!!!

First DT Project for TaDa plus Sassafras Sketch

2011-05-19T16:20:00.000-07:00

Not sure what happened to my original post on blogger so I'm posting again, this is my first DT post for TaDa and I’m very excited that it’s finally my turn to share. I received a fabulous box of goodies from TaDa and it was hard to decide which papers I wanted to play with first, they are all soooo fantastic. Well I decided to play with the Whirly Gig Collection, since I loved how my DS shirt matched the colors in this collection.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with me I love patterned paper, and most of the time I can create an entire layout without a stitch of cardstock anywhere. So I used the Whirly Gig -Moscow paper for the base of my layout. I love the circles on this paper and since I didn’t want to waste the center of the paper that would be mostly covered by the photos I cut out the center of the paper and now I can use the inside for a different layout. BTW, I use a great circle cutter for large circles like this – I trace my dishes its a wonderful trick and you don’t have to buy a large circle cutter.

I created one of those medallion or fan flowers!! I love making these flowers and they are pretty easy to make too. The Medallion flower was made from Whirly Gig – Honolulu and before glueing the flower together I cut the edge with a pair of Pinking Scissors.

I did need to use some cardstock on this layout and choose a TaDa laser cut from the R & R collection – Stake Out. The Tag-a-ma-jigs from the Whirly Gig Collection was a paper I used a number of pieces from including the paisley which reminded me of water drops, and I also used Whirly Gig -Casablanca and Whirly Gig -Pocket Notes too.

Don't forget to enter the TaDa and Punky Sprouts Blog Hop everyday til May 27th. You can visit the TaDa Blog to get started.

Sassafras Sketch Challenge
Below is this month's sketch challenge over at the Sassafras Blog.

I used the Apple Jack Papers with a mix of Sassafras flowers, stickers, brads and alpha stickers (the yellow ones) for this layout.

Closeup of embellie cluster.

I originally picked out these papers and this pic to work on when I went to the 12 hr crop at the end of April. Didn't get a chance to start on it then, and I can't believe it took 3 weeks for me to get a chance to work on it. WOW May was a busy month. I used this great grungy boy collection from Scrap within Reach - The District, Love this collection!

Dynamic Duo Blog Hop -STARTS TODAY

2011-05-16T08:49:00.000-07:00

Don’t miss out on this awe inspiring blog hop! TaDa Creative Studios’ and Punky Sprouts’ design teams have paired up to bring you this Mini-book Bonanza. Stop back at our blog, and the Punky Sprouts blog, each day for new inspiration. The hop will run from May 16th thru the 27th.

Rules for a chance to win FREE products
Each day go to the following 2 blogs:
http://tadacreativestudios.wordpress.com/
http://getpunkysprouts.blogspot.com/
Post comments to show your participation. Punky Sprout mini books, created with TaDa product, will be posted daily. Additional links to DT member blogs will contain tutorials of the projects. At the end of the 12 day hop, please go to each manufacture’s blog and post a comment telling them your favorite album style and favorite paper collection used in the samples shown during the hop. Your name will then be entered in a drawing to win both! 3 winners will be picked!

Good luck!

TaDa Creative Studios & Punky Sprouts

Crop last saturday & many sketches

2011-05-05T19:51:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I went to a LSS and spent 12 hours at an all day crop. I ended up getting 6 layouts completed and I was happy with that amount.

One of the layouts I completed at the crop was based on a sketch from Sketch Inspiration and I absolutely LOVE how it turned out. I used Sassafras Paper Crush line and a cute photo of my kids.

Another layout was based on sketch 117 from the Scrappiest Blog. I pulled out the last release from Scenic Route. I have been hoarding Scenic Route for ages now.

I finally completed the April 1st sketch from My Sketch World, and used a pack of Studio Calico paper. I have had the Elementary line for quite a while and I'm super happy to have finally used it. Plus it turned out so great!

So Sassafras now has started a sketch challenge this was for April I think I completed it after the deadline. I used a mixture of Sass collections to create this one.

For this sketch from Sassy Lil Sketches I completed this layout of my DS last Easter making Eggs. I created this one using Jillibean Soup Pasta Figoli and the Canvas banner is from Canvas Corp.

Scrappiest Blog

2011-04-27T05:31:00.000-07:00

This week I haven't had a lot of creative time with my aunt visiting, a trip to the zoo, then Easter and all the cooking. But I did take LOTS of pics this past weekend. We went to the zoo on friday since the kids didn't have school, unfortunately it ended up being super cold and started to rain so we didn't stay very long but I still took a bunch of pics. I also got pics of the kids dying eggs, Easter basket goodies, an Easter egg hunt, visiting family for Easter, playing with Giant bubbles, and flying kites which the kids got for Easter. Wow I haven't taken so many pictures since Christmas. Ok, I just went and double checked and in all of Jan, Feb and March I took a little over 200 pics. I'm shocked I took that many to be honest I didn't feel like I took any pics those months. So far in April I took over 700 pics!!! Wow that's lots of new layouts to be created!!!

I'm excited that my first reveal for Ta Da is coming up real soon May 1st actually, I can't wait!!! I have my project completed and can't wait to share it with you all.

Besides all the picture taking I did manage to create a layout based on Sketch 115 from the Scrappiest Blog.

I have known I wanted to use this title since I printed out the picture probably back in January. What's better than Birthday money when your a kid, not much!!!
I used the Bo Bunny Ad Lib collection. This collection is soooo fun!!! Plus I love the colors in this collection!

I did create a couple of cards too but nothing I can share right now. I recently created a layout based on the April sketch from Scrapdango. I don't love the resulting layout but I am happy that I finally got the photo scrapped as its from last summer at the zoo and I do LOVE the photo. Trust me I know we are our own worst critics but that doesn't make me like the layout any more. The layout just didn't come together like I imagined it would so its just one of those ok ones.

Some scrapping plus DD's room

2011-04-20T08:59:00.000-07:00

Now that Spring Break is over and the kids went back to school and all the crazy drama is finally over I actually got some scrapping done!! YEAH!!!!!

I actually got to sit down and play with my Ta Da goodies too :). You'll have to wait til I can reveal the layout I made but I CAN post the card I created. When I was looking thru all the Ta Da goodies I saw this little worm on a fishing hook (from A little R & R collection from the Tag-a-ma-jigs) and the title just popped in my head. I also used a Sizzlin’ Summer Flower Power Mini Me laser cut (the inside of the laser cut) and the background is from the Whirly Gig Collection - Casablanca. The tag that the title is on is also from the A little R & R collection from the Tag-a-ma-jigs. I just love when you can mix and match pieces from different collections, don't you.

The Scrappiest blog sketch 116

I'm loving the sketches that Liz is creating over at the scrappiest blog. I ended up using one of the yummy new collections from Jillibean Soup, its the Dutch Mustard collection. I just LOVE the heart paper in this collection. I created the medallion flower and actually pulled out one of the OLD deco scissors I still had laying around - wow I haven't used them in forever. Well I used the scallop scissors to add a nice little finishing edge to the flower and then added the heart on top.

Another layout I did recently was using Crate Paper's School Spirit Collection. DS waiting at the bus stop on the first day of school. This photo only shows about half the kids at our bus stop, the others must have been late for the first day of school.

Tiffany's redone room
Sorry the pics look fuzzy I was out of batteries on my camera and used DH's camera to take the pics. The green is actually much brighter than it looks in the pics. The Swatch that we picked up at Lowe's from Valspar is called Sonic Lime #6007-8A but DD's room is kind of dark, it doesn't have a window and its really small.

This is what the swatch looks like.

Ok so you might think I'm crazy because in the first pic you see a glass block window, however on the other side of the window is not the outside it is my mom's bedroom and the little bit of light she gets is from my mom's window across from the glass block window. We had the bed which we bought her about 2 years ago so we knew we wanted white accents to go with the bed. I found this cute hanging picture frame thing at Pier One, DD picked the pics which I have since cut to fit the size better.

She wanted to WRITE her name on the wall,YIKES!!!! Well I wasn't going to spend all that time painting for her to write on the wall so we compromised and got these letters from Joann's. She wanted a cursive letter, we might add flowers or buttons or something to spice up the letters but for now I'm done with it.

We also purchased a new bedspread and sheets and the green fussy pillow for the bed. Tiffany liked this one and I approved it so this one was the winner. We also needed a new rug and I'm soooo happy the horrible old dark dirty tv stand is gone. I couldn't find a white tv stand, unless I wanted to spend $200-300 ummmm no thanks not in a pre-teens bedroom. So I found this nice light wood colored tv stand at Target and it was on sale. YEAH!!! That big stuffed flower by the tv was something she got last summer for her birthday, we didn't even realize it went in the room til we were looking around the house for stuff.

Finally, the dresser that DH made Tiffany when she was a baby. It was lilac and a dark purple before, now after painting it (for a second time) we decided to bring in the aqua color from the bedspread and added it to the dresser. The cute beaded lamp she got last year for her birthday but we added the touch of pink ribbon to it to dress it up a bit. She also has a bookcase in her room but at the time I took the pics it had nothing on it.

WOW Life definitely got crazy on me!!

2011-04-13T13:17:00.000-07:00

The past 10-12 days have been unbelievably crazy, and I'm really really hoping that all the craziness is OVER and hopefully I can get a little bit of scrappy time. That would be soooo wonderful. Considering I have only created ONE layout the entire of month April so far, COMPLETELY unnormal for me.

The kids had spring break, we took them on a mini vacation one of them were complaining, arguing, or crying the whole time. Not a fun vacation. Took the laptop with us - the cord broke, UGH!!! Replacing the cord cost $60, that seems pretty expensive just for a cord.

We promised our daughter who is almost 12 that we would redo her room during spring break, so on to repainting her room including the ceiling, all the trim, 3 doors, two coats of primer and then FINALLY the actual color. After DH and I actually spent 7-8 hours painting her room we discovered that there was a leak in our basement. Not good considering its right by all my scrappy stuff. Of course DH didn't WANT to fix it but had too. The next two days I spent shopping all over town to get new stuff for DD's room. New Comforter, rug, accessories, plus taking the kids to the dentist and grocey shopping too.

Thankfully DD's room is almost all complete now, oh but wait NOW we are having more pipe trouble. There is a problem with the sewer pipes, not again we had this problem last year. We called someone to come out waited several hours, he tried fixing it said the pipe was probably broken and would come back tomorrow. DH didn't believe him and he went out and rented a snake to do the job himself, which he was trying not to do because he has a bad back. That is finely done and the next day we still need to repaint DD's dresser. Hopefully everything is done breaking, PLEASE!!!

Now on to some scrappy business!
I'm a little late posting this month's XOXO challenge but considering I have barely been on the computer thru this whole time I hope you understand. So if you like Scraplift challenges, and I know you do then stop by the XOXO blog and pick one of the DT layouts to lift, you have til the end of the month to get your layout completed. This is my layout for this month over there.

So the one and only thing I have created in April is this birthday layout. I FINALLY used some of the Imaginesce Birthday line that I have wanted to play with for AGES. The problem was I only had 2 sheets of paper from the line. Its not easy to create a layout with only 2 papers. What do you think, did I do a good job?

I know I never announced the winner of the Rak I had. I hope you ladies forgive me, especially with all the amazing comments I received and everything that was going on I didn't forget just didn't have time to determine the winner.

So the names where FINALLY tallied and the winner of the RAK is
Kimberly said...
Congrats and love your layouts!

March 27, 2011 7:48 PM

Congrats Kimberly!!!! Please contact me with your mailing address so I can send you a RAK!

Something to actually get excited about I received a box of goodies STUFFED with Ta Da products!!! Woohoo I have opened the box and checked out all the goodies several times now, even showed everything to DH. I can't wait to actually create something with all that loveliness!! Bye for now.

MSW Apr DT Reveal & Lily Bee Sketch

2011-04-01T04:49:00.000-07:00

I've created a few cards lately so I thought this would be a good post to showcase them. Its April 1st so that means its time for the MSW reveals for this month. Here is the wonderful card sketch that Lucy created this month, she also creates a layout sketch that is posted on the 1st as well.

I had lots of fun creating this card. I have been in love with using doillies lately but I rarely leave them alone. I just love adding some Glimmer Mist to them. I added some great flowers which are really brads from American Crafts. A Sassafras border, don't you just love the borders on those Sass papers, a piece of scrap from Crate Paper and of course a Rubon sentiment.

Monthly Challenge
Its my month to post a card challenge over at MSW so my challenge this month is to use Rubons. I know lots of people like using stamps for cards but I LOVE using rubons for cards. Its one of the few times I actually use the BIG stash of rubons that I have. So let's see what you can create with a rubon and post it over at MSW.

Here is my card for my challenge. The papers used on this card are like 3-4 years old, wait everything on this card except for the Basic Grey label I have had for at least 2 or 3 years, it does feel good to use up REALLY OLD stash. After putting the card together I decided to add a birthday embellie to it, wasn't sure what I was going to use. I can't believe how perfectly the present embellie works with the papers. I never even looked at the birthday stuff til everything else was done - how crazy is that.

Reminisce is having a party on their blog. You have to create something using 2 Reminisce products. I only have bits and pieces of Reminisce supplies so I created this Game Day party invitation.

Supplies: Reminisce Green Day Paper, Green Day Stickers, Reminisce Signature Series Football Stickers, Sassafras Sticker, Bo Bunny Bling, Doodlebug alphas, Kraft Cardstock, Fiskars Punch

OOPS, I forgot to post last months card from MSW. I love using up scraps to create cards don't you. I usually go through my cropper hopper when I start to make cards and pull out tons of stuff til something comes together.

I ended up turning the sketch, it worked with my paper scraps better, LOL!!

Lily Bee Sketch
I know its not a card but Lily Bee posted a sketch on their blog and I jumped right on the challenge. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Hello Sunshine line and when Lily Bee had their warehouse sale I bought a box and got more of this fantastic line of course the box was filled with lots of goodies but this line is my FAV!!!

Besides the Lily Bee I added a light spray of Glimmer Mist to the cardstock, distressed the edges of the papers and created a couple embellie clusters.

Here are a couple of closeup/detail shots also.

There is still time to enter to win the RAK. I will pick a winner on Saturday. Interested in entering see the post below. Thanks soooooo much to all the wonderful ladies who have commented already!!

HUGE TOOT!!! A RAK & some sketches

2011-03-18T08:00:00.001-07:00

Oh Ladies I am sooooooooo excited!!!!!! I made the DT for TA DA Creative Studios.

I'm so excited to get to work with them, this is my first manufacturer team so its REALLY exciting! You can see the announcement on their blog.

So to CELEBRATE my news I decided to give away a RAK. I haven't decided what its going to be yet but if your interested in winning post a comment on this thread. It will stay open til Friday April 1. I'll pick a winner on Saturday.

Interested in getting a second drawing for the RAK become a follower on my blog. Make sure you post in the comments that you became a follower, if your already a follower let me know that too and you will also get a second drawing. GOOD LUCK!!

Scrappiest Blog

I created the layout below based on this sketch from the Scrappiest Blogsketch 109

I pulled out some older Basic Grey papers to complete the Spa day layout. I also used some BG journaling stickers, the beautiful tag and a brad.

Sketch 112

I had lots of fun playing with this sketch. I pulled out some October Afternoon and started playing. I actually stamped on my layout too, shocking I know since I rarely pull out my stamps. I got this wonderful bubble wrap stamp a while ago and I'm thrilled I actually got it "dirty" and stamped with it.

I love when my DS gets a haircut, I always tell him he is sooooo handsome after he gets a new haircut.

xoxo March Challenge & Sassy Lil Sketches

2011-03-14T10:30:00.000-07:00

The March Challenge over at xoxo was posted a few days late this month so you have til April 5th to get to scraplifting one of the designer layouts and get it posted over there.

The layout I made for this month features Crate Paper's Restoration line. I just love this line its so versatile.

Here are a couple of closeup detail shots of the layout too!
I've had this newspaper flower for ages!!! I sprayed it with some apricot chalkboard glimmer mist to add a bit of color to the flower. I also included a touch of denim. I liked the touch of stitching on the denim so I just roughly cut a piece from one of DD's old jeans.

Sassy Lil Sketches

I played with the March 7th sketch and used an older Making Memories line called Flutter, its a great spring line that worked with the photo of my Daughter and her creation for a girl themed skateboard. So took some of my scrapbooking flowers and traced them to create her design and then colored them all in with some of my pens/markers.

Back Porch Memories
Had another great sketch this month. I remember the day I took this photo sitting on the couch with my DS, just trying to take a pic while holding the camera myself. I was just trying to get us in the picture, but I have always liked how this picture came out.

I used Sassafras Indie Girl line for this one, love the banner stickers that Sass has now!!

Scrappiest Blog, Spring Cleaning Challenge

2011-03-09T16:10:00.000-08:00

The Scrappiest blog has a FAB new sketch up Sketch 110.

I created a layout with it the other day. This layout features my DD eating Ice Cream so I went with an older collection from Bo Bunny Popsicle. How perfect is that, LOL!

Scrapdango is having a Spring Cleaning Event this month. When you use up old stash - at least 6 months old you get points and at the end of the month someone will win a prize. So far I have been a good job of pulling out some old kits from Scrapdango to create some page. The first challenge was to create a layout about a spring celebration and we got an extra 50 points. You get lots of points for flowers in the picture, flowers on the layout, brads on the layout and flowers in the title. SO I went a little crazy on this layout and racked up lots and lots of points. Plus I scrapped some photos that I have been wanting and wondering how I was going to scrap them.

Little Yellow Bicycle
I got some of the New Twig papers and I was happy when I saw Little Yellow Bicycle doing a sketch contest with Twig. So I used these photos of my DS riding a two wheeler for the first time!!

Crowned, The Paper Variety and MSW

2011-02-24T08:16:00.000-08:00

Crowned Week 2
For week 2 of the Crowned competition going on at Scrapdango we had to reveal something about ourselves. So I decided to reveal what my favorite shoes are. You also had to include yellow and polka dots on the layout. I used Bella Blvd's Lovey Dovey line for this layout.

Crowned Week 3
For week 3 we had to be inspired from a list of songs. I chose "What a wonderful world." We also had to include hidden journaling and use 2 fonts.
I picked the title because I knew I had all these random pictures of animals from trips to the zoo. I used Bo Bunny's Sunkissed line.

Paper Variety Blog
The challenge this week is to add stitching to your project whether it be real or faux stitching. So I took my sew easy tool and purposefully made a not so straight line and then took a pen and added the stitched lines. I'm really happy how the "Stitching" turned out. I used Echo Park's Little Boy line.

MSW Sketch a thon
The sketch a thon is still going on til March 3. I completed this card for day 6 using scraps, YEAH!!! I used a spellbinders die to create the circle for the card it was so quick and easy, always a plus!!!

Day 14
I used more of the Bella Blvd Lovey Dovey line to make this layout of my DD.

For Day 18
I created this layout using Best Creations Let's Party line. My Youngest enjoying his birthday cupcake for his 4th birthday.

xoxo Feb Reveal & Crowned Week 1

2011-02-09T12:37:00.001-08:00

Announcement: Lucy from My Sketch World announced the new DT and I'm excited to announce that I'm staying on the team but I moved to the card team this time around. I'm excited about the change and this way I will HAVE to make at least 6 cards this year!! LOL!

XOXO Blog
This month's Feb Reveal for the XOXO blog. Hope you ladies hop on over to the blog check out all the projects the DT created and get to scraplifting so you have a chance to win a wonderful prize sponsored by Candy Shoppe Designs

Crowned Competition Week 1 over at Scrapdango
We had to use a photo of a lady I choose this photo of DH and I about 15 years ago.
Colors Black white and cream
and add bling

I used some My Mind's Eye Lost and Found Papers, a doilly which I spritzed with Tan mist and LOTS of pearls. I also add an all stickles heart above the title. I also created the lace flower myself.

This month over at My Sketch World we are doing the MONTH long sketch-a-thon with a new layout or card sketch posted EVERY day.
Unfortunately I have only completed the first sketch there was an extra challenge posted with the sketch to do a birthday themed layout.

Here is the super fun sketch Lucy made for day 1

and my fun birthday layout using Creative Imaginations papers and stickers. I just loved the balloon stickers. My boys birthdays are 5 days apart so we just did one cake for both of them.

Scrappiest blog challenge & Crowned Competiton

2011-01-31T17:34:00.001-08:00

The Scrappiest blog is celebrating their 100 sketch by posting sketches every day this week. Sketch 101 was a great sketch to play with I moved my layout to the left side to highlight the background paper more. Here is what I created with the sketch.

These photos are very old and showcase my grandparents celebrating their 50th Anniversary dinner at Chef Mickey's in Florida. I used a mix of Fancy Pants, and Bo Bunny papers.

This layout is also based on a sketch at the Scrappiest blog its sketch 103. I used an older line from Lily Bee their Audrey line. This photo is from the scrapping weekend I had last summer in Houston. This was on our sightseeing tour.

Brand NEW Imaginisce Papers I loved the Animal Crackers line they just showed on their blog recently imagine my surprise when I went to the LSS and it was there. So of course I HAD to buy it. Its such a fun fun line.

So I created this fun layout featuring these adorable papers, borders and canvas stickers.

Don't forget the New Competition starting in Feb with CROWNED at Scrapdango.

Pagemaps Sketch Challenge and Little Yellow Bicycle sketch challenge

2011-01-22T14:04:00.001-08:00

The January challenge at Pagemaps is sponsored by Heather over at Scrapdango this month and is due by Jan 31. She is giving away a wonderful kit and I know her kits are wonderful because I was on her DT for a year.
Here is the great sketch!

In my layout I used this squirrel photo. My son and mom had thrown some bread out for the animals on the front lawn and about a half hour later we saw this squirrel enjoying the bread. He didn't even care that I was outside taking pics of him. I was pretty close too and he never moved to run away.

The papers I used were Bella Blvd's One Fall Day and Imaginisce's Apple Cider line since the Imaginisce line had these cute squirrel icons in them. The chipboard tree and leaves were from an old Scrapdango kit, oh the irony!!!

Little Yellow Bicycle Sketch Challenge
Little Yellow Bicycle is having another sketch challenge the sketch is from Liz Qualman. If you use Cupcake Love to make a LO you'll be entered to win a prize and everyone who uses past lines will be entered to win a prize. Well I don't have any of the Cupcake Love collection so I used the Boardwalk Collection and some photos from this past summer. I also used some Glimmer Mist under the title to simulate the "SPLASH". I also misted the title sticker just to add a little more color to it.

Scrap Attack Scrapbooking Contest

2011-01-14T10:42:00.000-08:00

This month Scrap Attack Scrapbooking is having a manufacturer challenge to use 75% of one manufacturers supplies. This month the featured manufacturer is Fancy Pants. I was thrilled to see this as I have tons of their stuff and haven't created a layout with their stuff in a very long time. So the first layout I created was What a BOY! so typical that a boy lines up all his cars, LOL! I used their Rough & Tough line with the title and the car embellie from the Kraft Kuts line. Everything on this layout is Fancy Pants except for the pen for the journaling. WOOHOO!!

For the Second layout I used the wonderful Rusted Sun collection. I'm glad I FINALLY broke down and purchased this wonderful collection recently. Soakin up the Sun I started with this terrific transparency and then added some things on top of the transparency and some things under the transparency. When I thought of adding the pom pom trim is what really made this layout a current favorite of mine.

I even have a couple detail photos too! I added buttons, brads, rubons, pom pom trim and cardstock stickers to this layout.

Now I need to get back to my scrap table and finish a layout I have been working on for 2 days, EKKK!!!

New DT gig & a fun sketch

2011-01-08T18:05:00.000-08:00

I am SOOOOO Excited to announce I made the DT at XOXO and I am now a lipstick chick!! WOOHOO!!! This is a fun challenge blog where YOU scraplift one or more of the Design Teams layout. Hope you ladies check it out and get to some scraplifting!! The new challenge for January was just posted and you have til the end of the month to scraplift one of the 27 layouts including one from me. By the way if you do choose to scraplift one of the designs you are entered into the prize drawing for a wonderful January Juicy Themed kit "Second Semester" from Sweet Peach Crop Shop!!

Here is my January layout.

Hope to see some of your scraplifts soon!!

Creative Scrappers #137

I just loved this sketch from Creative Scrappers this week. I loved all the scattered circles. I had fun playing with this Crate Paper Collection Snow Day. I just picked it up at the LSS recently even though its been out for a while. This layout came together really quickly for me and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Thanks for a FAB sketch!!

End of 2010

2011-01-03T14:21:00.001-08:00

I can't believe 2010 is over already. Lots happened in 2010 and I was DEFINITELY way more productive in the beginning of the year than at the end. I still created a lot including 168 layouts 49 cards an altered Frame a mini album about 4th of July and a nametag. WOOHOO!!!

Its soooooo hard picking favorites but my top 10 layouts that I created this past year are

Penguin hats - I LOVE using pattern paper so this layout is a major change for me, no pattern paper at all. But I love the simplicity of it!

Reflecting on Life - Webster's Pages makes beautiful paper but I was never able to actually cut into their papers and actually use them before this layout. I have learned though that when I work with Webster's pages I have to do LOTS of fussy cutting and distressing!

Beauty is Everywhere - I LOVED this photo as soon as I snapped it at Disney's Animal Kingdom. I love that the colors all go with the photo so wonderfully.

Time for Hugs - I love love love this line from Bella Blvd and had fun embellishing this layout.

Cherished family - I created this layout at my first crop which happened to be in Houston with the MSW ladies. What a great weekend that was!! The picture is from my cousin's wedding, its me, my mom, aunt and her daughters.

One last pic - Talking about the ladies from MSW, this was the last photo that was taken that weekend while we were waiting for the car to pick us up for the airport, Very SAD. Plus I had soooooooo wanted to play with this Sassafras line.

Everything Grows - This layout got so whimsical and fun definitely opposite of what I generally do but it turned out sooooo super cute!!!

Sisters - This was a spontaneous picture of my mom and aunt together and I just wanted to showcase it. Its also so much fun using Glimmer Mist!!

Everyday Road Signs - I was so thrilled how this layout turned out especially since I had wanted to work with these pictures before and couldn't figure out what to do with them.

My Sweet Baby Girl - Dad took this adorable photo of my oldest, and I just had fun creating this girly layout, it was also one of the last things I created this year.

The one thing I notice when looking at all these layouts is how they are all soo soooo different and I love that, plus I love using Glimmer Mist!! It was soooo hard narrowing down the list to only 10 I could have EASILY picked 10 more with ease!!

Sassy Lil Sketches

2011-01-02T08:09:00.000-08:00

Sassy lil Sketches December 21st challenge

This sketch worked with these fun pics I had of the boys playing/driving their cousins monster truck. As soon as I picked the pictures I thought oh yeah I get to break out this About a boy paper from Echo Park and play. This was such a FAB sketch to play with.

I actually felt like scrapping some christmas layouts

2010-12-22T17:47:00.000-08:00

Once Dec hit I actually WANTED to scrap some of those christmas and winter photos from past years. Unfortunately I haven't had lots of time to scrap this month but I have gotten a few done.

The last layout I completed was based on a sketch from Creative Scrappers #134 I used papers from Echo Park's Everybody loves christmas line.

Here is another Echo Park layout. My DS received a flashlight for xmas and it was his favorite gift, go figure right. I did this layout based on a challenge at My Sketch World - to do a christmas layout with non traditional colors so I knew that these papers would work great!

Last year we didn't throw away any of the christmas paper til after I took a couple photos of all the craziness. Here is the layout.

Apparently this month I felt like scrapping photos of DS#1 because all these layouts are him at different ages, LOL! This layout was based on a recipe challenge at Scrapdango to use 9 buttons and 2 different fonts.

Sassy Lil Sketches Nov 7 Sketch

2010-11-24T14:26:00.001-08:00

Here is the Nov 7 sketch from Sassy Lil Sketches.

I really liked the blocking they had in this sketch and thought it would go really well with these photos I took at the orchard this fall. I used these FAB Apple Cider papers from Imaginisce.

Some other projects I have completed lately.
Finally got another layout completed from this summer's scrapping get together with the wonderful My Sketch World ladies (hence the title) LOL!!

I just loved the film strip paper in the Jillibean Soup papers, that is what started this layout.

Don't you just love when you FINALLY scrap photos that you have wanted to scrap for awhile and could never figure out what to do with them and then a challenge or sketch or just your mojo works and your able to scrap them? I love when that happens and I have actually done several layouts like that recently and it makes me sooo happy. These photos were from April of this year.

I'm also super happy to have finally used some of this Cosmo Cricket Garden papers. I bought them when they first came out and then never used them.

Another GD spot & Oct DT reveal

2010-11-09T08:37:00.000-08:00

On Sunday I was featured on Liz Qualman's blog. I was one of the GD for her sketches, this was my third and last time this year. I had a great time being a GD being able to create from her FAB sketches!! I loved the clean lines of this sketch that I got to play with. When I went to create the layout I had just received a goodie box from Jill at Memorable Seasons and it had these adorable Jillibean Soup papers. Love these Monster Stew Monsters. So I knew I had some pics of DS with his little monster shirt on which worked so well with these papers.

Here is the great sketch that Liz created.

DT REVEAL

I'm so sad that this is my final DT reveal for Scrapdango. I had such an awesome time on the DT. But I'm not going anywhere as I was a member of Scrapdango long before being on the DT and I'm not leaving now. I had so much fun creating with the first combo kit Heather had at Scrapdango featuring Lily Bee's Catching Fall line and We R Memory Keepers Maple Grove.

This first layout is my Aunt (who I visited on my trip to Georgia) and my mom (the brunette). Can you see the family resemblance, LOL!!
I created my own flowers with a scalloped punch, which I then distressed a little and then Glimmer misted. I just love the flower trim that Heather included in this kit.

This one is based on the Oct sketch.

These photos are from last here, because when I created the layout our leaves had not fallen yet!! I used Glimmer mist on the background on this layout also just to add a little bit of texture.

Then I created a couple cards and still have plenty left over.

Sassy Lil Sketches 10/21 sketch & Scrap Attack Contest

2010-10-31T09:00:00.000-07:00

I loved the big star in the sketch. So I decided to play with this sketch. I wasn't able to create such a big star as they had in the sketch. But using my little cricut I cut a star from one of those older KI Memories Sheers. Then I backed it with some coordinating paper. These photos were from a trip to Disney at the Mexico Pavilion in Epcot. I'm so glad to have finally scrapped these photos.

Scrap Attack Contest

They were having a great contest using Scrap within Reach. Use 75% of their products and if you use 3 different collections you'll receive a bonus draw into the contest. Well I recently received some of their new papers (The District). This was the first collection of theirs that I purchased - I could never find anyone who sold them. Thanks so much for the contest and MAKING me use these FAB papers instead of just hoarding them. Well I did actually use 3 collections in this layout because all the papers are from the district but the alphas are from Cambridge and Urban Garden. The swirl at the bottom of the layout I actually cut with my cricut. Not sure what is going on that I actually used my cricut TWICE this past week. That might just be a record for me, LOL!!!

My DS grabbed his little wii guitar and started rocking along with daddy. It was too cute not to scrap.

My Mind's Eye Challenge & Echo Park Layout

2010-10-21T17:07:00.000-07:00

My Mind's Eye Challenge 16 was to use Black and this sketch.

I used the FABULOUS Lost and Found Collection and a touch of the Lush papers for this layout. I just love that the colors matched my photo PERFECTLY. This photo was taken at a museum and I just loved all the "life" that was in this piece.

I inked the cardboard alpha letters.

Echo Park
I took this photo in Georgia right after the baby got out of the tub. After taking the photo I KNEW that I wanted to use some Echo Park papers to scrap this photo. Those little ducks in the Walk in the Park line were calling for this adorable photo.

Imaginesce sketch & Scrapdango DT Reveal

2010-10-19T09:07:00.001-07:00

Here is the terrific sketch that was posted over at the Imaginesce blog this month.

I used some adorable Apple Cider papers and goodies I received from Imaginesce's WCD giveaway they had on Facebook. Thanks so much for the goodies Imaginesce. I adored the goodies so much I had to play with them right away, plus it worked out perfectly we just went to the pumpkin patch the weekend before!!!

Sept DT project for Scrapdango
The September kit featured Sassafras Indie Girl line.

This photo was taken at about 7am after a weekend of scrapping with these LOVELY ladies from My Sketch World. We were the last to leave and we were waiting for our ride to the airport.

This is of DD and one of her best friends at the band concert. Luckily they stopped and I was able to get this one pic of them. :)

Look at all these wonderful circles!!

This is based on the Sept sketch. I absolutely loved it when I relized I had these pics of DD still to scrap. The circles from the sketch just worked so wonderfully!!

A couple of cards and I still have tons of pieces left to create more.

My Trip to Georgia

2010-10-01T09:29:00.000-07:00

I had such a fantastic time visiting with my cousin's and getting to meet my 2 baby cousins.

A couple days before going to Georiga one of my cousin's called and asked if I would help her make a scrapbook of her 2month old baby Olivia. Oh YEAH!!!! So I brought my crop bag filled with goodies to make baby pages.

So we decided that I would create a page and my cousin watched and I explained what I was doing and more importantly why and tried to give her little tidbits of info. By the way I also took this photo of baby Olivia.

So then it was my Cousin's turn. This is her very first layout she every created. Didn't she do an AWESOME job!!! I helped her a little bit giving her small suggestions but all the BIG ideas were hers. The title says Daddy's Girl.

Next I was showing her the wonderful world of online sketches. She saw the sketch over at Sketch Inspiration and she loved it. So we decided to change gears (since she already had another pic she was planning to scrap) and I talked her into making her next layout based on the sketch. Here was the sketch

It turned out soooooooooo Good!!! I fussy cut the flowers for her while she was putting the layout together.

After she did such a good job with that sketch she decided to do another sketch this one was also at sketch inspiration and this one is based on this sketch.

The title on the badge says Best Mom! Such a cute pic of you both!

Since I had some time on one of the days when she was going to a couple of doctor appointments I created these two additional layouts for her. This first layout was a photo I took the day before when we went to the downtown area and took photos in front of this fountain and a few other spots as well.

The title is a little hard to read but its a Moment to Remember.

On this one I showed her the great fun and look of distressing. Title Baby's Best Friend!

MSW sketch & Dixie Pieces challenge & Scrapdango's Card Crop

2010-09-15T14:02:00.001-07:00

MSW Sept 15 Sketch

I used Pink Paislee's Starlight Collection. Its hard to read the journaling but it says - Sparklers Your ticket to an evening of fun.

Dixie Pieces is having a fun music theme crop that goes thru Oct. so there is still time to join. So go on over and check out the challenges. You can still do past challenges to try to win the prize at the end of the crop.

This layout was based on the week 2 challenge - Alternative challenge. Alternative makes me think of crazy mismatched clothes, ripped panty hose, dark makeup and piercings. So I used lots and lots of layers, added black Glimmer Mist to a couple papers, distressed some papers, inked, crumbled papers,added a metal heart, brads for piercings and added some black trim.

To Celebrate World Card Making Day in October we are making cards all month long over at Scrapdango.So come make some cards and maybe you can get a jump start on your christmas cards. You have all month long to complete your cards and be eligible for the prize.

Scrapdango DT projects & next months BIG event

2010-08-31T18:23:00.000-07:00

Aug DT projects for Scrapdango

This month I got to work with the AWESOME Sugar kit featuring Echo Park's Walk in the Park Collection. I TRULY think this is the BEST kit Heather has put together so far. It was AMAZING.

This one is based on the Aug Sketch.

Starting tomorrow Sept 1st we are having another month long event at Scrapdango. Come check it out do some challenges and maybe win a prize.

One last thing before I go. I found out that I won the AUG sketch challenge over at Crate Paper's Blog!!!! WOOHOOOO I'm sooooo excited! Can't wait to get my prize. What's the prize you ask I got to pick a collection that I want so I asked for the FAB Restoration line. Want to see my layout scroll down a couple posts.

Webster's Pages & Crate Paper Challenges

2010-08-23T17:41:00.000-07:00

Webster's Pages

There Aug Challenge is to scraplift one of the DT's creations I choose to scrap Lucy's Moderate layout. This is Lucy's layout.

Here is my lift. I had fun distressing all the papers, ripping them,sanding them using my Heidi Swapp distressor.

here is a detail shot also.

Crate Paper

Crate Paper is having a sketch challenge on thier blog for Aug. What a fun sketch they posted. You must use at least 50% Crate Paper.

I used the Orbit collection which I have had forever. So glad to have FINALLY used this fun collection which I have been hording for way to long. My layout is all Crate except for a couple of the alphas. I even created a coordinating brad thanks to my I-top tool.

Christmas Card in Summer

2010-08-19T13:05:00.000-07:00

It was actually a lot of fun to get some xmas stuff out and play around with this card. I made a Halloween layout earlier this week too.

I created the card for the Paper Variety blog challenge. I used this adorable collection from My Mind's Eye. I was also able to tackle letter G in the ABC crop over at MSW use girly green.

Imaginisce Sketch

2010-08-16T10:02:00.000-07:00

Imaginisce had another great sketch this month.

I used the Scooters Vacation line for this layout because I wanted to use the camera icons since these photos where taken by my DH doing a photo shoot of his niece. She's sooooo adorable!!

Aug kit sneak peek

2010-08-13T19:43:00.001-07:00

The reveal is only a couple days away over at Scrapdango with the Augst kits but I got a couple of peeks for you ladies. All I can say is I ABSOLUTELY LOVE this kit (the sugar kit featuring Echo Park's Walk in the Park line). Its amazing and you sooooooooooooooo need to get the add on too. I have used every single paper in the add on and about 3/4 of the sticker sheet. Maybe I should have gotten 2 add ons, LOL!!!

I still have more that I haven't even photographed yet. I think this is Heather's best kit so far. You ROCK Heather!!! Plus Heather just announced on the forum that future kits are going to be packed with more yummy scrap goodies for the same price. WHATTTTTTT!!!! I don't know how she does it!

I used one of the sketches from Your Scrapbook Stash to create the layout below. Its from Liz and features a large heart on the sketch.

July DT reveal

2010-08-05T10:27:00.000-07:00

The Scrapdango kit I got to play with in July was We R Memory Keepers 72 & Sunny line. What a fun line, that I haven't found anywhere else.

When I opened the box and saw the chipboard mini album I didn't know what I was going to do. But I took a bunch of really cute pics from 4th of July that I wanted to scrap and really liked the fun shape of the mini album. So I got busy creating only my second mini album ever. I really love how it came out.

MINI ALBUM

Layouts
I loved this already sewn cardstock, its perfect for me (the non-sewer). After I decided I was DEFINITELY going to use this cardstock then I had to pick what pictures I was going to scrap. I noticed the cute little frog in one of the papers and I knew I had some frog pics somewhere and then I found these great pics of DD and these super tiny frogs.

Next I LOVED the diecut paper included in the kit. I used one of the pages from the mini album as a place to hold my title. I used Glimmer mist around the title (not included in the kit).

Sketch
Every month we create a sketch that the whole DT creates a layout with the monthly kit. This month the sketch was created by Carly.

I even created a card with this kit and still have tons left to create more.

Houston Crop

2010-07-30T17:31:00.000-07:00

I've never actually cropped outside of my house before, so I was worried that I wouldn't actually get anything done. So I made a bunch of kits to take to Houston with me, that worked really well. It was SOOOOOO much fun to meet and scrap with all you wonderful ladies from My Sketch World. What an unbelieveable Great time we had. We went to Archiver's all day on Saturday and scrapped the day away. I was very happy when the weekend was over and I discovered that I created 6 layout and 2 cards. WOOHOO!!!! I can NEVER get that much completed at home!

So here are the projects I completed while in Houston.

I'm really happy with how this one turned out!

I guess I was in the mood to scrap DD since I completed 3 layouts just of her.

This is such a FUN layout, love playing with these Echo Park papers!!

Oh, how I STRUGGLED with this layout. It just was not working. I finally bought several of the items for this layout at the store otherwise I think I might STILL be working on it. LOL!!

Still need to add the journaling but really like how quick and easy this one was to put together.

I definitely had to complete this layout when I got home because I knew I had these clover embellies it was VERY plain without them, LOL.

This card was fun and easy to create.

This was the last thing I created in Houston and the piece in the corner was from a journaling pad that I won while cropping. Thanks!!

Had such a wonderful time!!

Sneak Peeks

2010-07-28T14:04:00.000-07:00

I was checking out some of the new sneak peeks from CHA. Ta Da Creative Studios have 3 fun new lines. The big top line is bright and fun but I also love what the DT did with the Bountiful Blooms collection.

You can check them out here at tadacreativestudios

Sassafras has some great new embellies also including lots of fun flowers!! Can't go wrong with flowers right! These will make a great addition to your pages.
Sass Embellies

My Mind's Eye Challenge 12

2010-06-24T17:46:00.000-07:00

This layout is based on My Mind's Eye challenge which includes the sketch below. I only saw the challenge yesterday luckily I was able to get something done before the deadline, which is tonight. I used some of the So Sophie papers and embellies. Love these papers!!

DT Reveals, a Toot and Imaginisce sketch

2010-06-20T15:50:00.000-07:00

June Imaginisce Sketch

I used Imaginisce Lucy Bird for this layout. The title on the photo is cut from one of their papers as well as the super cute adorable bird and the butterflies too. I might take another pic because you can't read the sticker on the left side (it says you make me smile).

TOOT!!!!
I have some exciting news to share also. I will be the July Guest Designer over at Back Porch Memories. I got to create a super fun layout based on a Pagemaps sketch and I'm so excited to see what kit I will get to play with. Hope to see you over there.

Here is the fun layout I created for them. I just love the little monkey on the side.

Now on to the DT Reveals

First up is the June 15 sketch from My Sketch World I'm not thrilled with how it came out, it just seems a little bare to me. But its ok.

Now the June kits from Scrapdango

This is the June Sugar kit which features Lily Bee's Hello Sunshine line.

This is the kit I got to play with and I was super excited. I wanted these papers from the first time I saw them.

Here are a couple cards I created, unfortunately I had zero card mojo so I went over to Pagemaps and checked out some of the June card sketches.

This is based on the June sketch that was created by Carly over at the dango.

Sneak Peeks for the July Kit at Scrapdango

2010-06-11T10:17:00.000-07:00

Heather said to give you guys some sneak peeks for the July kit. I got to play with the Lily Bee Hello Sunshine line. YEAH!!!! I've been wanting to play with these papers and it took a LOT of willpower not to buy them when I first saw them.

Hope you like the peeks and the FULL reveal will be at Scrapdango on the 15th. Love the yellow felt border Heather sent me!!

Scrapdango DT projects

2010-06-08T19:15:00.000-07:00

I've been soooo bad about blogging lately. I never even uploaded some of my DT work, so I will be added April & May's layouts and cards.

I got to work with the FAB Crate Paper Brooke line for Scrapdango's April Spice kit. I just loved this collection and this Awesome kit. As you can see I absolutely adored working with this kit and created 4 layouts (including a 2pager) & 3 cards and I still have more paper and supplies to play with. Did I say how much I liked playing with this kit! LOL!!

This layout was based on the April sketch which was created by Nikki. I loved that this sketch gave me a great bases to showcase this Rhino photo that I have wanted to get scrapped for awhile.

Are you ready for May
Now in May I worked with another Fantastic kit. This kit was Scrapdango's Sugar kit and Featured Bo Bunny's Sophie line. I know I sound like a broken record but I totally loved this kit too.

As soon as I opened up my kit I saw the sticker sheet and I immediately knew I wanted to scrap this photo of DD & her friend. New supplies are great for the mojo.

I'm sure when Bo Bunny created this line they didn't think it would suit Disney photos but I was sooooo inspired that I created 3 Disney layouts.

This layout is based on May's sketch which was created by Kerryn. The sketch was great and I could create soooo many different layouts with this sketch.

I wanted an accent on this card and after deciding nothing was working I got out Imaginesce's I top tool and created a coordinating brad for the flower. I love how it was the perfect finishing touch and coordinates perfectly. I will definitely be using this tool again.

Have you checked out Scrapdango this month and seen all the fun and fabulous projects everyone has been creating. Come on over and check it out.

Guest Design Toot & LOAD Contest

2010-05-30T09:50:00.000-07:00

I'm excited to FINALLY get to share that I'm a guest designer this week over at Liz Qualman's blog She creates Sketches and then has 3 guest designers show off how they used them. This was my first week. I will be featured 2 additional times this year also. What an AWESOME sketch Liz created this week. I just LOVE that she combined vertical & horizontal photos on the same sketch!!!

Hope you ladies check it out. It was the first thing I created after coming back from vacation so I didn't stray from the sketch. Didn't really have the mojo flowing yet, LOL!!!

LOAD Contest
Scrapdango is having another BIG month long contest going on in June. Hope you come on over to the dango and check it out. There will be LOTS of inspiration from the DT.

New Beginnings Crop at Scrapdango Starts

2010-04-13T07:48:00.000-07:00

We are going to have lots of fun this week at Scrapdango to celebrate Heather's new Ownership at Scrapdango. I just posted my challenge over there so gooo check it out.

March DT reveal

Our march reveal was delayed and I forgot to post it here on my blog,OOPS! I worked with the Sugar kit which was FAB. It featured Pink Pasilee's Bayberry Cottage papers.

Sibling Love
I rolled the paper edges by first wetting the edges just a little and when it dried it stayed rolled. Did LOTS of fussy cutting on this one??

Blowing out the Candles
This is based on the March sketch on the Scrapdango Blog.

Cowboy party
I used some Prima Packaging and sprayed some Blue maya mist around it to create the masked effect for the title.

Rub a Dub Dub

Also got a card completed also.

Scrapdango's Feb DT Reveal

2010-03-10T17:49:00.001-08:00

I got to play with the Feb Spice kit which featured papers from My Mind's Eye - Quite Contrary line. So far I completed a 2 pager and 3 single page layouts and I have lots of paper still left.

Heather, is the new owner over at Scrapdango and she is giving EVERYONE who signs up for a six or twelve month subscription a FREE bottle of Glimmer Mist. I just LOVE Glimmer Mist, its awesome stuff. If you have been wanting to get some but didn't want to pay for Glimmer Mist this is a terrific way to get a free bottle and you get the wonderful Scrapdango kits along with it.

On to the reveal!
Being Loved - by a kid isn't always an easy job Signed - the cat

Baby Birds There were actually 3 or 4 babies in the nest.

Enjoy Lazy Days Since I was already creating My Mind's Eye LOs with this kit I used their challenge #9 for this LO. Its based on the sketch for their challenge. The papers are from the Quite Contrary line, the die cut at the bottom is from Wild Ride and the Flowers I cut from Bloom & Grow papers.

Merry-Go-Round This was at the Tiger Baseball game.

Bo Bunny's #14 Challenge

2010-02-14T14:56:00.000-08:00

Can't believe I just happened to be checking out Bo Bunny's blog earlier today and saw that they had a challenge that was due today!! SO I put my little guy down for a nap and get started on this challenge. I originally thought I was going to use the Flutter Butter papers but then I found these pics and decided they would work with the Grease Monkey line. YEAH, since I have had it for a while and hadn't used any of it yet, so sad!! Lucky I have a GOOD supply of Bo Bunny supplies to play with.

The challenge was to use the number 14.
Absolutely everything on this is from Bo Bunny except the white pen.
I used Grease Monkey Papers & Rubons. Title letters are from the Popsicle line, Mango Luau line, & Abbey Road line. The numbers and photo corner are Buttercup double dot chipboard. White Chipboard circle - Gettin in shape chipboard. Plus I used a Chunky charm Arrow (which was pink) that I covered in Bo Bunny's Orange dot cardstock.

Imaginisce sketch

2010-02-13T18:17:00.000-08:00

Imaginisce posted a fun sketch on the 1st of Feb. I decided to play along and created a LO using Imaginisce's Summer Cool Collection. I originally purchased these papers for these ice cream photos so it worked out well. Glad I finally got them scrapped - Thanks Imaginisce.

I wanted to add scallops around the circle and I really didn't have any other Imaginisce paper that would work - so what did I do you ask?? I recycled!! I used the teal/blue cardboard packaging from the summer cool sticker package. I punched it with a small circle punch and then took the edge of my scissors and distressed the edges of the scallops to add a little white.

I also added a cardboard base under the circle to lift it off of the base paper a little bit. A couple of the flowers are from the stickers and a couple are from one of the papers that I did some fussy cutting on.

The Joys of Summer

So you Think you can scrap contest

Week 4 of the So you think you can scrap contest this weeks theme was EDGY. So I decided to use LOTS and LOTS of different edges to my papers, embellies and even ribbons. I'm sooo excited that I made it thru another round YEAH!!! - now on to week 5 and its down to 20 people.

Feb GDT & A fun contest

2010-01-28T07:51:00.000-08:00

Soooo Excited I was picked as the FIRST GDT for this great new sketch blog called Sassy Lil Sketches!! Its the 7th and my Layouts are up on their blog. Since I'm the GDT I'm at the bottom but you can see BOTH of the LOs I completed. I had so much fun with the sketch I completed 2 LOs for them.

I have also been playing at Let's Capture our Memories - So you think you can Scrap contest. Week 1 challenge was Clean & Simple and you couldn't use pattern paper for your base. Here is what I came up with SHOCKINGLY I didn't use ANY pp.

Week 2 challenge was a monochromatic challenge. So I choose to do this pic of my cousin and myself. Glad I was finally able to get this photo scrapped from 2007.

Week 3 Challenge - I'm still in the contest, WOOHOOOOO!!!
This weeks challenge was Playful so I thought this pic of DH was perfect for playful. I used this great Fancy Pants line for this one.

January Challenges

2010-01-16T17:05:00.001-08:00

I'm very excited to announce that I will be staying on the Layout DT over at My Sketch World for another six months. Thanks so much Lucy!!! I have another announcement that I have to wait a couple days to announce.

I found a fun new blog, Mission to Createthe other day with a great challenge on it. So for Mission #8 I used 4 of the 5 concepts, Colors - Red, Turquoise and White, Paint - I painted white paint around the edges of my two smaller photos, Curved Title, and Rubons - faux waves under small photos and the word summer - lower corner.

This month the challenges at My Sketch World are all based on getting your christmas photos scrapped, whether they are from 2009 or from years past.

I have been able to get a number of challenges completed so far.

The stocking goodies LO I completed with Scrapdango's Dec kit.

Scrapdango kit featuring Bella Blvd

2010-01-08T20:24:00.001-08:00

I just LOVED playing with the Super Stud papers from Bella Blvd. These fun robots are soooo cute. What an awesome kit this was to play with.

Dec DT projects with Scrapdango kit

2010-01-06T18:24:00.000-08:00

I got the Dec Spice kit from Scrapdango this month. It features Pink Paislee's Mistletoe Collection. I love these papers and have been doing a number of christmas layouts (which is a VERY good thing) and I was able to complete 5 layouts - including a 2 pager and a card and I still have plenty left for more.

This collection is great because it isn't toooo Christmasy and it is perfect to use for non-christmas LOs too, including the layout I completed below.

The december layout I completed based on Lucy's sketch over at My Sketch World is another christmas layout.

Blog Hop Day 3

2009-11-15T02:30:00.000-08:00

Final day of the Blog Hop!! You have until Monday Nov 16th at midnight to get your projects posted at Scrapdango though. We have a wonderful new Design Team at Scrapdango, and we want to help you get to know them and to get some great challenges along the way and have a chance to win a wonderful prize of one of Scrapdango's awesome kits.

Now how this is going to work is that you need to follow the order of the blogs of each DT member given below. At each blog you will find one part of a recipe that you will need to use on a project. There will actually be 3 progressive recipe challenges. On Friday, we will be doing a DANGOS card recipe challenge, Saturday will feature a layout recipe challenge with our DT member's favorite items, and Sunday will feature an altered item recipe challenge. You will need to visit each of the DT blogs all 3 days to get the new list of items for the recipe for that day.

So for today, we have an Altered project. Each DT member has picked one item or color, and you will need to include all 6 of those items on your project (there can be additional items as well). You need to visit each DT member's blog to find out what those items are. Once you have completed the challenge, you can provide a link to your project by posting a comment here and/or posting it in the Scrapdango forum .

The Altered ITEM
When trying to decide what item to Alter I was looking for some of my flowers which I had recently moved when reorganizing my space. Well after spending at least 10 minutes going crazy because I could not remember where they were I decided what my altered project would be, a container to hold my flowers!

So for the Altered item I chose the color Blue. Here is my Before pic of my altered project. I started with an empty cotton candy container.

My original idea was to cover the whole thing with pattern paper, well with the slight cone shape and it was more than 12" around my plan QUICKLY changed. So I painted the plastic with a dark dark brown paint and then added the cardstock and pattern paper on top of the paint. That worked sooooooo much easier. Then I embellished the paper with a title and extras, I also added ribbon along the edge to give the lid a decorative finish. I then traced the lid onto the pattern paper, cut it, distressed it and attached it to the lid. Now I won't be able to lose my flowers again. I had to take several pics to see everything.

For each of the 3 challenges that you complete this weekend, you will earn 1 draw toward the prize of a Scrapdango kit. You can also earn extra draws by doing the following:

1. Posting comments on all 6 DT blogs.
2. Inviting a friend that actively participates in the hop (they should leave a comment saying who invited them)
3. Posting on the Scrapdango forum something you learned about each DT member from their blog."

Scrapdango Blog
Heather
Lynn
Nikki
Carly
Lisa - You are Here
Kerryn <<<-------------You Go Here Next

Blog Hop Day 2

2009-11-14T02:00:00.000-08:00

Day 2 of the Blog Hop!! It's time for the Scrapdango Progressive Blog Hop to begin. We have a wonderful new Design Team at Scrapdango, and we want to help you get to know them and to get some great challenges along the way and have a chance to win a wonderful prize of one of Scrapdango's awesome kits.

Now how this is going to work is that you need to follow the order of the blogs of each DT member given below. At each blog you will find one part of a recipe that you will need to use on a project. There will actually be 3 progressive recipe challenges. On Friday, we will be doing a DANGOS card recipe challenge, Saturday will feature a layout recipe challenge with our DT member's favorite items, and Sunday will feature an altered item recipe challenge. You will need to visit each of the DT blogs all 3 days to get the new list of items for the recipe for that day.

So for today, we have a layout recipe challenge. Each DT member has picked one of their favorite items, and you will need to include all 6 of those items on your layout (there can be additional items as well). You need to visit each DT member's blog to find out what those items are. Once you have completed the challenge, you can provide a link to your project by posting a comment here and/or posting it in the Scrapdango forum . Then come back tomorrow and visit all the blogs to get the recipe items for the next project.

So for the layout challenge I chose shaped paper. I love all the fun shapes that they have now, whether it be scallops, artisan, circle w/scallops, brackets, even the KI Memories Lace Paper etc.

Here is my inspiration layout.

Here is a closeup of the pleated ribbon.

For each of the 3 challenges that you complete this weekend, you will earn 1 draw toward the prize of a Scrapdango kit. You can also earn extra draws by doing the following:

1. Posting comments on all 6 DT blogs.
2. Inviting a friend that actively participates in the hop (they should leave a comment saying who invited them)
3. Posting on the Scrapdango forum something you learned about each DT member from their blog."

Scrapdango Blog
Heather
Lynn
Nikki
Carly
Lisa - You are Here
Kerryn <<<-------------You Go Here Next