Finally Scrappin'

G if for... Glitz, Graphic 45, Glitter, and Girly Girl

2012-02-15T09:00:00.010-05:00

Hi everyone! Once again it's time for our A to Z challenge over at Scrapbookers Anonymous!!! This month the letter is G so I dug into my stash of patterned paper and combined Glitz Afternoon Muse, and Graphic 45 Once Upon a Springtime. I then loaded it up with embellishments and ended up with this...

doily flower, Designs By Diana Etsy Shop

banner Glitz, Afternoon Muse Peeka a Boo

heart trincket, Making Memories

yellow flower flair, American Crafts

butterfly, Prima,

alphas, American Crafts thickers but copic-ed different colors

wood frame, Studio Calico copic-ed and stickled

wood doily, found this in an old kit and copic-ed it

stamp, Kitty Kat Marci by La-La Land

I stamped and fussy cut that little girl image. Isn't she cute? The stamp is by La La Land Crafts and and it's the Kitty Kat Marci stamp. The fussy cutting seemed to take FOREVER. Forever actually did equal 2 hours since the kids were still awake and I was plagued with interruptions. But I love how she turned out, actually I love how this entire layout turned out.

Stop out at Scrapbookers Anonymous to see what the rest of the DT did with the G challenge!

Thanks for looking!

Multiple Sources of Inspiration

2012-02-06T13:08:00.001-05:00

Did everyone have a good weekend? I did! It was productive and busy yet still fun. The DH and I actually got out for dinner and a movie without the kids. I got some painting done (wall painting not artsy painting). The kids each had a friend over. I participated in a bowling tournament for work and did not get the lowest score (woohoo!). Took Marin to dance class. Went to a parenting small group at church. Started reorganizing some scrap stash. (BTW, I have a recommendation; if you want to try to show some self restraint when all the new lines from CHA are at your LSS, reorganize your scrap stash. Then you'll see all those once new lines that you had to have that you've barely touched.) And one night this weekend I just lounged on the couch and watched Black Swan, which I've been wanting to see for ages. But I didn't blog one bit so I hope to stop by and see you soon :).

I do however have one layout to share with you. This layout has 3 sources of inspiration. The first one being a scraplifting challenge at Cocoa Daisy last month that used the circles. The challenge of course involved using the Cocoa Daisy kit but I'm in the process of scavenging old kits. If I've already created a few layouts or cards with it and haven't done anything with that kit in awhile I'm making one more creation with the bits of it and separating everything out and putting it in with the rest of my stash. The second and third sources of inspiration are Scrap Fit and Yvonne at Do More with Less. The work out #61 Scrap Fit is to start with a white card stock base. Well this worked out great as I wanted to try Yvonne's tutorial to use molding paste. The Scrap Fit Work Out #61 can be found here and Yvonne's tutorial can be found here.

BTW, using the molding paste was SUPER EASY. I used the light molding paste by Golden that can be found at Michael's. The stencil is one of the Balzer designs at Crafters Workshop. The bits and scraps of paper are scavenged from a couple of kits as I said, as are the bingo pieces and the chip board frame. And the picture is of Gavin sitting at the counter while playing chess with his dad. Gavin is only 6 so he's just learning chess, but he's a thinker hence the DH wanted to teach him. I cannot play chess. I can move the pieces but that's the extent of it. But I choose not to think outside of the office if I can help it. Thinking a minimum of 8 hours a day 5 days a week is enough for me.

Okay enough rambling already! Thanks for looking!!!

Scrapbookers Anonymous February Challenge

2012-02-01T09:00:00.000-05:00

February! The month of cold miserable weather (at least here) and Valentines day (yeah). Instead of going with a horrible weather theme we decided on Valentines Day so for our February challenge at Scrapbookers Anonymous we're asking you to use hearts and stitching. A minimum of 3 hearts to be more specific.

I know pink zebra stripe and a unicorn!... probably not for everyone. But when I saw this paper at the LSS I knew I needed it and was going to use it as a base. I'm a fan of busy bases for some reason. :) The big photo is of Marin playing movie theater. The little pictures which may be hard to see are baby dolls that have been put down for naps, which I find placed around the house at random.

(blue heart pp - Prima, black and white flower pp - Imaginesce, lavendar pp - Die Cuts With a View,little flowers- Prima, unicorn - Reminisce, castle rub-on Maya Road, felt hearts - cut from Sizzix)

Stop by Scrapbookers Anonymous to see what the rest of the DT created!

A whole LOT to post!

2012-01-22T20:07:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! First of all, if you're following along on the the Pass the Page Blog Hop go HERE. And wow, I actually have a lot of projects to post so I'm just going to jump in...

First off, here's a layout I created for Bird is the Word and Let's Capture These Sketches. The word at Bird is the Word is "remember" and it's sketch #116 at Let's Capture These Sketches.

The picture is of Gavin back in 2008. I came across this and thought, how could I have not scrapboooked this immediately?! Well it's because Gavin's baby sister arrived that year and I was into more girly layouts at the time :) Now I'm pretty good about mixing it up between boy and girl layouts. Everything on here is from January's Cocoa Daisy kit.

Next up is a card... yes a card that took me longer to make than the layout above AND I enjoyed every minute of making the dang thing! I think I have to stop saying I'm not a card maker. This card is based on January's card sketch at My Sketch World and it's also for City Crafters Challenge Blog challenge to make it pretty on the inside and the out. Here's the outside...

And here's the inside...

Don't you LOVE the stamped image on the front of the card? I just found this stamp at the LSS, it's by La-La Land Crafts. I actually bought 2 of their stamps and after visiting their web site I think I'm going to need many more.

Okay up next are actually more cards. I said in a previous post that I had a 6 card goal for this year (sounds ridiculous to some of you I know, but I typically don't like making cards but I like having handmade cards on hand) anyway I've already met that goal. Woohoo! For whatever reason I've felt like making cards lately. So here are the 4 Valentines Day cards I made out of Jillibean Soups Hearty Barley line.

Very clean and simple. I think I've finally learned that I enjoy card making much more if I keep them simple and I also seem to like the final product much more as well.

And lastly I made a Valentines Day wreath out of my husbands old white t-shirts! I knew I wanted to use fabric strips around the wreath but I don't have a lot of fabric laying around and didn't want to go buy any so I improvised.

I cut the shirts into strips, misted them, tied them around a foam wreath, wrapped it with twine and different ribbons, hot glued a bunch of little hearts on it (hard to see in the pictures I took) added a $1 frame from Michael's, a beautiful flower from THIS Etsy shop and some black tulle for the bow.

Like I said, lots to share. :)

Don't forget about the challenges going on at Scrapbookers Anonymous this month. We have a masking challenge and a challenge to use items that start with the letter F. You have until 9pm January 31st to submit projects for either challenge.

Happy scrappin'!!!

Pass the Page Blog Hop

2012-01-20T07:00:00.003-05:00

Hi eveyone! Welcome to Julie's Pass the Page Blog Hop. I recently participated in Julie J's Pass the Page. Basically she created a layout, sent it to someone, that someone created a layout based on Julie's page then sent on her own layout and this went on and on and on, get the picture. Each person had one week to create their layout. And now there's a fabulous blog hop at the end. If you go to Julie's page and leave a comment you have a chance to win a fab little gift!

So you should be here from Candace's blog, and she created this great layout...

From this I was inspired especially be the paint and flags and wanted to use multiple photos like Candace did. Here is what I created...

Loads and loads of Pink Paislee's Soriee line here. I basically took the busiest piece in the line, added a wide strip of white paint down the middle which I then proceeded to cover up with pictures, fussy cut flowers, flags, etc. Oh and that's braided twine on there! Cool huh?! The pictures are from Marin's 3rd birthday party where her friend Maddy was doing her hair. Yeah there's a lot to look at here but I love it! Bright and busy and makes me happy! So now hop on over to Lizzie's blog as she is showcasing Helen's creation which was based on my layout. I'm excited to see this myself as no one has seen what any of the layouts that were created after their own... so I need to get hopping myself! You should too!!!

In case you get lost along the way, here is a list of all the stops, or if you want to start from the beginning go to Julie's blog!!!

Julie: jsquaredscrapspot.wordpress.com

Candace: wannabescrapbookaddict.blogspot.com

Lea: finallyscrappin.blogspot.com

Lizzie (who is hosting Helen's page): http://lizziemade.blogspot.com

Sian: http://fromhighinthesky.blogspot.com

Clair: http://obstinatepursuit.blogspot.com

Helen: http://craftimperfect.blogspot.com

Alison: http://alisonslife-in-the-slow-lane.blogspot.com

Ginger: http://gingerslifeofspice.blogspot.com

Jemma: http://www.Just-Jimjams.blogspot.com

Lisa-Jane: http://comeinsidemycrazyhead.blogspot.com

Deb Clark: http://debisjoy.blogspot.com

Alexa: http://simplyalexa.typepad.com

F is for.... and Sketchy Thursdays

2012-01-15T09:00:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone, I have two layouts to post for you today. The first one is for the mid month A to Z challenge at Scrapbookers Anonymous. Our letter for this month is "F" and we're asking you to create something that starts with the letter F. This could be a manufacturer, an embellishment, a technique, we like to leave it wide open for interpretation. Here's what I made...

I used one of my favorite Fancy Pants lines of all time called Sweet Spring. It's an older line but I hold tight to every little scrap of it that I have. The other F's are frame, felt flowers, fibers and fairy princess.

When I read that this weeks sketch was going to be the final for Sketchy Thursdays I had to play along. Sketchy Thursdays if the first challenge blog with which I played and believe they're why I stuck with blogging in the first place. Here's my take...

I stuck to the sketch pretty closely. Lots of Echo Park For the Record on here, but also some Maya and Pink Paislee. It's a picture of my kids showing each other love. Well Marin was trying to hug Gavin and he was pushing her away. I love this picture because it's so ...real :)

Why not stop on over at Scrapbookers Anonymous to play along with our challenges this month then go to Sketchy Thursdays and give them a great send off!!! Thanks for looking!

Hillarious!

2012-01-11T09:43:00.000-05:00

Okay, I'm actually going to post something not scrapbook related at all, which I don't think I've ever done. But I know most of you who are moms are going to love it! My friend just forwarded me the link to this blog called Momastery. I can't believe I haven't stumbled across this before, but I'm so glad I found it now! I read it and laughed until there were tears in my eyes, this is someone I can relate to. Hope you like it!

Resolutions, Challenge Me Happy and White with One

2012-01-08T13:35:00.001-05:00

I have 2 new layouts for 2 challenge sites where I have yet to play. This first one is for Challenge Me Happy and they are having a Scraplift challenge.
Here's what I made...

and click here to see the layout by Trina McClune that we were to scraplift! I just bought the Crate Random collection which is most of what you see here. The flowers are by Websters and Prima.

This next layout is for White With 1 which was more of a challenge for me than I thought it would be. It's hard for me not to incorporate more color. But I used it as an opportunity to dig into my stash. The color to use with white is lime green and they also ask you to use buttons.

It's really scattered looking and I'm not sure how I feel about this one yet. You might see a redo of it in the future.

I've been reading scrapbooking and crafting resolutions this week and thought I'd make some for myself.

60 layouts (easy)
12 cards (not easy)
6 altered items (doable)
start an art journal and try more mixed media techniques

I've been interested in art journaling and mixed media for awhile but just wasn't really sure where to start. But I came across this thing called Creative Jump Start hosted at Nathalie's but I found it at Mandy's blog and knew this was something I needed to check out when I saw what she created with toilet paper of all things. After looking into it, I realized that I don't need to know how to start but just need to start. It's not about finished masterpieces but trying new things and finding what works and what doesn't. So I grabbed an old kids book, put some gesso on it and started. I hesitate to show what I made as it's not pretty... at all... but here it is.

I did some inking based on Dina Wakely's first prompt at Creative Jump Start, which is to warm up. She has some really great tips you should sign up and check it out. Oh and the workshop is FREE! Anyway, I did something with mists and paint and realized that I need some new paint colors, a lot of new paint colors! The painted blobs looked like different things to me so I drew in what they looked like, and I can't draw. I was wondering if this was a complete failure and my DD walked by and asked if she could see what I was doing. I showed her and she said, "Wow, that's just cool!" So I wrote what she said on it and look at it as my first experiment and am looking forward to trying more.

Happy New Year!!!

2012-01-01T11:41:00.000-05:00

Hey Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great holiday season!!! We did, but I'm glad it's over. I basically took December off from blogging but I'm back now and I have a lot to post. January's challenge over at Scrapbookers Anonymous is to use ink, mist, or paint and mask something. Well, I use these 3 items all the time and even mask things fairly often but this layout was just not coming together for me. After tossing 2 failed efforts I kept it simple and came up with this...

I masked a snowflake template by Crafters Workshop with ink, and painted around the pictures. Go over to Scrapbookers Anonymous to see what the rest of the DT created.

This next layout I made a few weeks back but was just too lazy to take a picture of it and get it posted.

I want to say that the base paper is Sassafrass the, scalloped circle is by Little Yellow Bicycle, the circles and the rocket paper is Bella, alphas are my favorite AC Amy Tangerine Thickers, and I have some blue and yellow duck tape on here as well, oh and I stitched the banner with my new Sew Easy!

Well December 30th was my son's 6th birthday and we had about 12 kids over at the house. I realized during this party that 3 girls are louder than 9 boys... it's the squealing! But anyway I knew I wasn't going to do anything really productive after the party so I invited Theresa over to scrapbook. Well if I was in a rut throughout December I definitely got out of it that evening, as I completed 3 layouts!

I pulled out some Fancy Pants and made this one for the 12.29 challenge at Sketchy Thursdays. The doilies are Maya and the little card with the numbers by Sassafrass.

This layout is based on sketch #62 at Sketchabilities and I used my December Cocoa Daisy kit.

And lastly I decided to play along with Scrapjacked for the first time. This layout is based on Bec's layout. I'm too late to post this one over there but you should go check out Scrapjacked, such great DT inspiration. The paper here is Sassafrass with a little Basic Grey out of print mixed in. The alphas are a bunch of different black Thickers.

Well that's it... thanks for looking!!!

E is for Echo Park

2011-12-15T09:03:00.000-05:00

Ooh, I've been so bad when it comes to blogging but I promise to be back after the new year. It's just such a busy month, I haven't been doing any paper crafting... however I have been shopping quite a bit for paper crafting supplies. What great sales I've found this month. I now own a Clip it Up, swing arm, ribbon organizer, and the under the shelf rod (but now I'm shopping around for some new shelving so I have something to attach my under the shelf rod too, LOL.) I've also purchased a Sew Easy and a bunch of the piercing tools for that and yesterday I bought a Sizzix Big Shot for a steal at my LSS. But again, I have no dies for this thing as of yet so now I'm shopping around for those as well! So in a way it has been a productive month for me :).

I'm just popping on quickly to post my E layout for this months A to Z challenge over at Scrapbookers Anonymous. I used Echo Park. I went into this layout trying to keep in minimal and clean which is a style I love on other peoples layout but I'm no master of it. I like how this turned out but part of me still thinks it needs a litte bit more... I just can't figure out what that little bit more is.

The rest of the Scrapbookers Anonymous DT rocked this challenge. Go here and see what they did!

Tags and Glitter!

2011-12-01T09:00:00.002-05:00

Happy December! The snow is here and as soon as Christmas is over I hope it goes away. We have a new challenge for you at Scrapbookers Anonymous. We'd love to see you dig into your stash and create a holiday themed layout with glitter and tags! Tis' the season ;)

Aww, such sweet pictures of my baby boy back in 2007. Yup, just a bit behind in my holiday scrapbooking. I really unearthed some much forgotten stash items with this one... the Santa embossed cardstock is by Bazill, the little house is cut from a sheet of American Crafts, the striped paper on the tag is by Creative Imaginations and the tree die cuts...um, yeah, no idea, little sticker embellies are by Echo Park, alphas are by Bella Blvd and the doily... well it's a doily.

Stop by Scrapbookers Anonymous and see the DT's fabulous holiday creations!!!

A day of cropping!

2011-11-20T10:43:00.000-05:00

Thanks everyone for all the love received on my previous post with the Hope layout. That was quite the wordy post so I'll keep this one short and sweet. :)

Well did everyone love Breaking Dawn? I enjoyed it myself, just wish we didn't have to wait a year to see the conclusion. Friday I took the day off or work and cropped all day with some great friends. I completed 5 layouts which is huge, especially at a social event like that it's easy to get distracted. Here are 3 of the layouts I created.

This first one is for City Crafter Challenge Blog's four legged friend challenge. The four legged friends were created from Lawn Fawn stamps, as was the little frame.

This next layout is based on Sketchy Thursdays sketch 11.17. I followed the sketch pretty closely. The pictures are of Marin putting star stickers on her belly. When I saw her doing this I immediately thought of the Dr. Seuss book The Sneetches. So this is titled Star Bellied Sneetch!

And I had no challenge in mind for this last layout. I wanted to play around with some Tim Holtz kraft resist paper. I stamped over it with a Crafters Workshop stencil. And then just dug into my stash of old Sassafrass stickers. I'm not sure I utilized the resit paper to it's fullest, but it was a fun layout and does look complete to me.

Thanks for looking!

Hope

2011-11-17T19:58:00.000-05:00

One of the challenges over at Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge is scrapbooking your beliefs. That doesn't necessarily mean religious beliefs it could be something as little as my husband believing that I ask him to swap cars only when my tank is empty... hmm but he may have something there :). But when I read this challenge an idea came to mind immediately. I don't believe in coincidence. I'm not going to get into some deep religious blog post here but to put it simply I believe that God's hand is in everything. I then saw on Missy's blog that the challenge over at Challenge Me Happy is based on a fabulous photo with blue sky, clouds, and the word love. Well I swapped out the word love for the word hope, combined the two challenges and created this...

The base paper is Sassafrass Sunshine Broadcast, the other pp's are some old Fancy Pants. Flowers are Basic Grey Bloomers, clouds and kite are KI Puffies, butterfly rub-on is by Jenni Bowlin, the little bird on the bottom left is by My Minds Eye, and the flare near the bird is American Crafts.

You can read all the journaling below, I know that's a whole lot of journaling but it is a nice story.

"In March 2006 Gavin and I flew to Mobile, Alabama. Tim was stationed at Camp Shelby near Hattiesburg, Mississippi and this was going to be the last opportunity for us to see him before he left for Iraq. I don’t know how many thousands of family members were traveling to Hattiesburg but it was a crazy day for traveling and Mobile was the closest airport to which I could find tickets. All the flights were overbooked and there seemed to be thunderstorms all across the country. Gavin was about 11 weeks old so I was traveling fully loaded with diaper bag, stroller, and car seat. We had at least 2 layovers and when we landed in Houston I discovered the airline lost the stroller and car seat when I checked them at the previous gate. So we were late for our final flight to Mobile and I was running through the airport carrying Gavin. The plane waited for us but by the time I got there I walked in with a screaming baby, I can just imagine what the rest of the passengers were thinking. We were seated near the front of the plane next to a very friendly busy man, all things considering. I was trying to calm Gavin and I heard someone behind me tell the man next to me to switch places with her so she could, “be by that baby.” This lady’s name was Hope. The man sitting next to me was happy to change places with her. Hope talked to me, and assured me not to worry about the crying baby. I got Gavin calmed down and then the turbulence started. It was the bumpiest flight I had ever been on and I could feel myself getting sick. Hope took Gavin and cared for him the rest of the flight so I could either throw up or just sit back and relax, something I hadn’t been able to do all day. We landed in Mobile and I never saw Hope again. I don’t believe in coincidence. God gave me Hope when I needed her the most."

See I told you it's a nice story!

Oh yeah, I've been seeing this all over blogs today but I too am going to watch Breaking Dawn tonight! And then tomorrow I took the day off from work and am cropping at the LSS all day with my BFF. How cool is that!?!

Thanks for looking!!!

D is for... Die Cuts With a View!

2011-11-15T09:00:00.001-05:00

The mid month prompt is up for Scrapbookers Anonymous' A to Z challenge and we're already to the letter D. This one was a bit more challenging for me as I do not have many D manufacturers. But I do have a lot of DCWV! Here's my layout.

I used a kraft line from DCWV and some die cuts by SEI. I've been doing a lot of fussy cutting lately, especially my pictures and I love how my fussy cut little Marin looks in this one. Stop by Scrapbookers Anonymous to see what the rest of the DT created. They really dug deep into their stashes for this one!

And I did something I rarely do... create a layout without a challenge in mind, and I did it twice. Here is Gavin in his Halloween costume. This is from the photo shoot that my friend Theresa recently did of the kids. A lot of what's on this layout is from October's Cocoa Daisy kit, but the base sheet isn't. It's from Crate and I'm so glad I pulled it out to see if it matched. I LOVE how this one turned out. Oh yeah and that tree, all fussy cut from Little Yellow Bicycle paper, then I inked around every piece. Am I crazy or what? Yes, but aren't we all and the final look makes me happy!

The picture of this last layout is of Marin and me a few years back. This was created from November's Cocoa Daisy kit with exception to the orange rumpled fabric, which is a Studio Calico Fabrip. There's lots of Amy Tangerine American Crafts goodness in this kit! And I LOVE Cocoa Daisys custom Dresden Quilt stamp!!!

Thanks for stopping by!!!

This and That...

2011-11-10T09:23:00.000-05:00

Earlier this year I was part of the DT over at Let's Scrap which is a fabulous fun ning community. They recently asked their former DT members if we'd be interested in hosting one of their design team challenges. Well the challenge I came up with was to use found items basically. The found items on the layout below are the ABC kids magnets, the apple is a flash card from a flea market, and the pencil is from an entire pack that I bought in the Michael's dollar bin. The little masked circles are from an old package of those 3-ring paper reinforcing labels.

The patterned paper and paper embellies are from Nikki Sivil's, School is Cool line. And the lined stamps are Lawn Fawn. I also want to note that I painted in the center of the base patterned paper to tone the pattern down a bit. I've been doing this a lot lately and I wanted to give credit for the technique to the fabulous Helen Tilbury. She posted a challenge some time back that did this, I never got around to playing with her challenge but the technique stuck with me so I wanted to thank Helen for the great idea!!!

And I'm so happy that I was able to play along with Bird is the Word again. This time the word is "adore" and I even used their sketch! Everything on here with exception to the twine in the button is from October's Cocoa Daisy kit. The honey comb pattern is from their custom stamp from October. Overall I really like this layout but now when looking at the picture, I may need to add a little something between the card stock and the base patterned paper... hmmm... The picture is of Marin in her Halloween costume. I have the kids pictures taken each year in their costumes and this year I asked my dear friend Theresa to take the pictures as she has a much neglected and very nice camera. Well she jumped at the chance to play with her camera and this is one of the fabulous pictures she took!

And finally, don't forget to play along with this months ribbon challenge over at Scrapbookers Anonymous!

Scrapbookers Anonymous November Challenge

2011-11-02T07:59:00.000-04:00

Yeah... I know you all haven't heard anything from me in awhile. But I hope to be back visiting all of you now that Halloween is over, and what a relief that it is that it is over. Halloween never use to be such a busy holiday...prior to kids.

Well our November challenge has been posted over at Scrapbookers Anonymous. This month we're asking you to use 7 different ribbons on your layout. Below is my layout and you might need a magnifying glass to see my ribbon. I wrapped little bits of it around a Fancy Pants acrylic heart. At first my plan was to cover some chipboard with ribbon, well as I was going through my chipboard I found the acrylic pack so I decided to cover the heart instead and while covering the heart I realized I liked the look of it not being completely covered so I got my 7 different ribbons on there and stopped. I didn't even make a dent in my stash but I used up some little left over pieces!

Now to the layout, all the paper is Fancy Pants Sweetly Smitten. The flowers are Basic Grey Blooomers and the alphas are a little mix different Thickers. This layout was inspired by Debbie's Vintage Photo Challenge over at Yvonne's blog. Debbie creates such beautiful layouts and she has a gift when it comes to vintage photos. And I had the perfect vintage photo to use, as two of the kids in the photo above are my parents. My dad and his brother were visiting some family that lived across the street from my mom's family. The kids in this photo are my dad and his brother and my mom and some of her siblings. The little one on the bottom right is my mom and the little boy next to her is my dad so how cool is this photo?!!

Stop on over at Scrapbookers Anonymous to see what our fabulous DT did with the ribbon challenge. And Debbie's Vintage Photo Challenge is still open so you should go check that out as well!!!

Thanks for looking!!! :)

Creative Scrappers, Get Picky, and Bird is the Word!!!

2011-10-18T20:27:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone, I know I haven't been too active here lately but I was in a kind of scrappy rut. I made a layout that I didn't really like, ripped it all apart and did it over, still don't like it... sigh... and now it's set aside. I think I've figured out what's not working for me so I'll attempt that one again later...much later But this left me in a bit of a rut, but as I was able to create 3 different layouts this weekend I think I'm back on track. This first layout is based on sketch #177 from Creative Scrappers. Most of what's on here is from my September Pixie Dust Paperie kit. The burlap, frame, owl rub-ons and paper are all from the kit. I misted the brown base with some green. Added some paint and stitching to the burlap. The black bling arrow is something I've had in my stash for awhile and the orange bling on the photo I adhered with my i-rock, the remaining embellies are all Making Memories.

This next layout is based on sketch #13 at Get Picky. The pictures are of Gavin playing with my R2-D2. Yes, mine. I have blogged about having a bit of a Star Wars obsession haven't I? Well anyway, the patterned paper is Creative Imaginations, with exception to the green which is actually Bo Bunny. Added some mist and I kept this one pretty simple, but I really like how it turned out!

And lastly this layout is based on the sketch from Bird is the Word as is the challenge to use the word "Together". The paper is an older MME Christmas line. I'm a holiday paper collector and rarely use it, so I'm thrilled that this has finally been broken into. And I know what you're thinking, did she use an extremely corny title in order to use the word together and meet the challenge criteria? Heck yeah I did!!!

The snowman on here are actually some big brads that I've had in my stash for a very, VERY long time. And of course the letters are American Crafts Thickers.

Now to go see if I met the deadline on any of these challenges, yikes, cross your fingers!!! Thanks for looking!

Scrapbookers Anonymous A to Z

2011-10-15T10:29:00.000-04:00

This months A to Z challenge at Scrapbookers Anonymous is to use items in your stash that start with the letter C. As always we leave this wide open to interpretation. You can use manufacturers starting with C or clouds, cats, clowns.... you get the point.

I chose to use Cosmo Cricket, Crate, a Crafters Workshop template that I inked and even the flower is made out of a Cosmo Crickett Gluber.

And yes, it's another picture of Marin with fairy wings, but if we're home she's either in dress up clothes or just underwear, her clothes don't stay on very long. As I'm typing this she just ran by dressed up as a bumble bee, and just 10 minutes ago she was dressed normally I swear! This layout is simple but was a lot of fun an I really like how the fussy cut picture turned out.

Stop on by at Scrapbookers Anonymous and see what the rest of the DT did, then go dig into your stash of C items and play along!!!

Woohoo! Playing along with a challenge!

2011-10-03T22:06:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone, it's been awhile since I had the opportunity to play along with a challenge. And when I get such an opportunity I tend to gravitate towards Sketchy Thursdays. Well I LOVE this weeks sketch (9.29). I rotated it and of course changed it up a bit, here's my take.

Most of what is on here is Crate's Toy Box collection. The bingo card and banner stickers are Jennie Bowlin. The Charle's Dickin's quote is Bella! Paper Boys Paperz. The polka dots on the base are stamped over a Crafter's Workshop template. And woohoo I journaled on a layout again (another thing I'm trying to be better about.) The journaling reads, "Summer 2011 @ the Bay City State Park. You were running by and I asked you to stop so I could take a picture. You sighed and posed for this. You look so old to me in this picture, my 5 year old boy, growing up so fast."
Don't forget the die cut challenge that's going on this month at Scrapbookers Anonymous. And the mini challenges from our birthday month are going on until the 7th. Stop by Scrapbookers Anonymous and play along!

Scrapbookers Anonymous October Challenge

2011-10-01T09:52:00.000-04:00

Thanks to everyone who participated in the birthday celebration last month at Scrapbookers Anonymous! Our Birthday Mini Stash Challenges are still going on until the 7th if you're interested in playing along. But we have another great challenge in store for you for October... die cuts! They can be made the pre-made kind or you can pull out your old cricut, silhouette, slice, or even quickutz (yikes) and make some die cuts. I decided to dust off my cricut...

I used the Create a Critter cartridge for the rainbow, pig and little flag and they're all made of cardstock scraps. The base paper is Cosmo Cricket which I painted, stamped and doodled on. Oh and I also raided my daughter's art bin and used her pink bingo dabber. Around the edge, the crinkled ribbon is from Pixie Dust Paperie and put little blue and white cloud brads around there as well. The picture is of Marin holding her favorite stuffed pig. She has a thing for pigs. The journaling reads...

"Right around the time Marin first started talking she made a noise that sounded like a pig. Encouraged by her brother's laughter she continues to make this same noise today. But I must say, the girl's got a great oink!"

Head on over to Scrapbookers Anonymous to see what the rest of the DT did!!!

Just a Friendly Reminder

2011-09-28T06:27:00.001-04:00

Hi everyone, the end of the month is fast approaching as is our birthday celebration over at Scrapbookers Anonymous. But no fear, you have until October 7th to play along with the challenges. Here's a list of all the challenges we've seen so far!

Theresa's Journaling and No Picture Challenge
Lydia's Game Pieces Challenge
Lena's Collage Challenge
Anne Pennington's Tool Time Challenge
Lynnda's Tag Challenge
Deb's Stamping Challenge
My Bling Challenge
Sue's Long Title Challenge

They sound awesome don't they?! Stop by Scrapbookers Anonymous and check them out!

P.S. I turned off the comments section to this post.

Scrapbookers Anonymous Mini Challenge!

2011-09-24T19:37:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone! So have you been have you checked out any of the mini challenges we're having this month at Scrapbookers Anonymous? Our DT has really been rockin' them. For my challenge I want you to dig into your stash of bling! Pretty simple huh? I find that I loved bling and used it on almost every layout... a few years back. Now it's usually neglected in my overflowing bling drawer. I've actually started to let the kids use it. Here are a few examples of how I've used bling in the past...

So come on and bling it!!! ( I know I'm a dork) Go to Scrapbookers Anonymous to link up your submissions. You have until October 7th to do so!!!

Something Pretty!

2011-09-21T18:16:00.000-04:00

First of all I want to remind everyone about the mini challenges that are happening at Scrapbookers Anonymous this month. As it's our anniversary month, the DT has come up with mini challenges in addition to our regular monthly challenges. AND that's not all, we're giving away a different prize for each mini challenge AND each monthly challenge. So we're talking about multiple chances to win all sorts of fun goodies. So stop out at Scrapbookers Anonymous to see what's going on!!!

I have a layout to share which I'm really excited about. Sadly, it is not for any current challenge but it was originally based on sketch 9.8 over at Sketchy Thursdays. I struggled with this one. I thought I had it all figured out twice and then decided to revamp it. The original sketch had the 3 photos lined up vertically and on the right of the page, well I wasn't loving this so I decided to line them all up horizontally. I liked this more but I had the paper strips laid out kind of crooked as was shown in the sketch and I had a good size embellie cluster going. It looked pretty good but I felt that it looked like many of the other layouts I've done recently. I'd like to do less clustering, I have a tendency to put a big a$$ embellie cluster at the bottom right of my photos. I'm also trying to make sure my photos stand out as the focal point more. So by getting rid of my cluster I got rid of a lot of the embellies I had planned on using, thus making the photos stand out more. I straightened out my paper strips, lined up my photos , put a doily behind and popped the center photo, added some fabulous wrinkled ribbon and twine to frame out all the pictures, I incorporated a couple little owl embellies, left the title small and simple, and voila... I love it!!!

What do you think?! Soft, pretty, and simple... Oh and everything here is from the September Kit at Pixie Dust Paperie which is called Tecolote! It's a great kit!!!

Thanks for looking!!!
xxxxx :)
Lea

B is for Board Book!

2011-09-15T09:00:00.003-04:00

So sorry I've been bloggy negligent. Super super busy. I hope to stop by and visit you soon!!! Well I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to do the mid month A to Z challenge for Scrapbookers Anonymous let alone play along with the first challenge over at LESSology, which I was so excited to see. But the letter to use at Scrapbookers Anonymous is B and the challenge over at LESSology is to upcycle a book or make a book out of something that is upcycled. Many of the DT members at LESSology upcycled old board books so merging the 2 challenges seemed meant to be! So for my letter B challenge at Scrapbookers Anonymous I too decided to upcycle an old Board Book.

To stick with the letter B, the only paper I've used on this is by manufacturers that start with B. The lines include Basic Grey (Out of Print), Bella Blvd (One Fall Day and I don't recall the line the yellow cloud paper is from, help Theresa), Bo Bunny (Petal Pushers) and the new double dot journaling line by Bo Bunny. Actually I believe the only thing on here that doesn't start with the letter B are the alphas. Here's the cover of the book:

The hearts are a Bazzil border, and the flower is a Basic Grey Bloomer. My intent with this book is to use it to write down the funny things my kids say. I started writing these things down in my Smash book but I filled up a page in no time so I decided the kids sayings deserve a book of their own. Due to the purpose of the book I've kept the insides pretty plain with lots of room to write. Here are a couple of pages of the inside:

And here is the back:

I absolutely love this and I already have something to write down in it! Head on over to Scrapbookers Anonymous and check out what the rest of the DT did with the B challenge. Now I have to go over to LESSology and link this up so you should go over there as well!

Is it only me?

2011-09-05T19:19:00.002-04:00

Is it only me that feels that time flies from September 1st to Christmas? Life just gets busy once school starts and it doesn't seem to stop until after the holidays. Well before I have no time for craftiness I have manged to do a couple of layouts. On this first one I did something I never do, start a layout and pick out pictures later. And why I started this is that I got this awesome new Crafters Workshop template of chicken wire. I just layed it on some kraft paper and started stamping over it and I love how it looks. I used random embellies that I had laying around again (I really should clean up after myself better :) ) The elephant is Sassafrass, the flair American Crafts, the flowers Prima, the pear October Afternoon, the dragon fly is a bead, and the doily flower is from Diana's Etsy shop. I picked some older pictures of Marin to put on here. I don't scrapbook my pictures in order but I do want to get her first year done soon. Look out those chubby cheeks!

This next layout is based on sketch #171 from Creative Scrappers. Of course I'm too late to submit it over there... These are older pictures of Gavin. I have a SIL who lives in China and she sent this costume to him when he was little. When we first got it, it was a little too big, as these pictures show. By the time it fit him it was out of season so I'm really glad I got this photo shoot in when I did. The base paper used here is Jenni Bowlin, the rest of the pp is Studio Calico, and I used a page from an old Winnie the Pooh book. Embellies are a mix of KI puffies and Sassafras, and I used an old Bazill trim.

Thanks for looking!!!

September Scrapbookers Anonymous Stash Challenge

2011-09-01T09:00:00.002-04:00

So it's September 1st and this is a big deal at Scrapbookers Anonymous! It's our anniversary month! How exciting!!! We have all sorts of festivities planned this month but to start it out it's our monthly stash challenge.

This month's stash challenge is to dig into your chip board! I have so much of this stuff but I seldom gravitate towards using it on a layout. I'm not sure why, I love the dimension it adds and it doesn't take long to alter it so I guess this is a great challenge for me.

But in the end I decided not to make a layout but a wall hanging. Here's what I came up with!

The glass broke out of this picture frame awhile back and of course I couldn't throw out the frame. Most of the chipboard is by Fancy Pants but the little people are Maya Road. I found this great saying online by googleing, "wall sayings" seriously what did we do before google?! All the paper used is from my scrap drawer so there are multiple manufacturers.

I love how this turned out! And my DH even commented that he liked it, that's HUGE!!! He's usually oblivious to what I'm doing in my scrap room.

Head on over to Scrapbookers Anonymous and see what the DT did with this challenge and then come back again and again AND AGAIN to see what we have in store for you the entire month!!!

Frosted Designs, Sketchy Thursdays, and Pixie Dust Paperie!

2011-08-28T08:48:00.000-04:00

I bought August's Pixie Dust Paperie kit. It's my first Pixie kit but when I saw it at I just wanted it so badly. So as it's the end of August now I thought it was about time I dug into it! This layout is based on this weeks sketch over at Sketchy Thursdays and it's also for Frosted Designs. The challenge at Frosted Designs is to use something like a book page on your layout. Well my BFF Theresa was at a flea market a few weeks back and bought me some old kids books, and this is a page from Sleeping Beauty. The alphas in the title are from Making Memories but the rest is from the Pixie kit.

The pictures are of the kids sleeping in the car and the journaling reads, "After leaving the Mall of America, the kids immediately fell asleep in the car clutching to their new possessions." I swear they were out by the time we left the parking structure. We were in MN in June and the Mall of America's indoor theme park is a great way to spend a rainy day with the kids.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look! And don't forget this months journaling block at Scrapbookers Anonymous!!!

Gasp!

2011-08-25T18:35:00.001-04:00

Have you ever been walking through your LSS and suddenly stopped and gasped (almost inappropriately) because you see some love at first site product? Yeah, well that's what I did this past Tuesday. I went to Archivers, which is a rare treat in itself, and saw the American Crafts Amy Tangerine line. And oh yes, I had to buy it up, even some of the Thickers, at full price, yikes! So not like me, but as I said I had a moment. When I got home I immediately dug into it and created this little beauty:

It's made mostly with the American Crafts line with exception to the brads and the scraps of paper I used to mat the pictures. Just a clean simple layout that is based on last weeks sketch over at Sketchy Thursdays, for which I missed the deadline, but at least I squeezed in some scrappy time right? :)

But I'm curious, have any of you had a scrap-gasmic experience... in public?

New Challenge at Scrapbookers Anonymous!!!

2011-08-15T09:00:00.002-04:00

We have a new mid-month challenge over at Scrapbookers Anonymous! Theresa and I were talking about how we have all this wonderful product but forget about it and it doesn't get used. We then decided that we were going to challenge ourselves to do an A to Z challenge. Basically each month we dig into our stash and use something that starts with the letter for the month. And since it's about stash usage we decided to start it up as a mid month challenge over at Scrapbookers Anonymous. So as it's the 15th, we have started our A to Z challenge today with the letter "A" and here's my layout made almost entirely out of American Crafts!!!

I, like many of you, have a substantial collection of AC paper and embellies. All the AC on here is from the Abode collection which I just had to have but hadn't used. However for the challenge over at Scrapbookers Anonymous, we're making it even easier for you to play along. You can interpret the A to Z challenge pretty much however you want! It doesn't have to be about the manufacturer. For example, if you have a whole lotta alligator emellies in you stash, well alligator starts with "A" so it meets our very lax requirements. Hey we're about stash usage and don't like too many restrictions. So go visit Scrapbookers Anonymous and see how our DT interpreted the challenge!!!

Crafty but not Scrappy!

2011-08-06T08:22:00.000-04:00

Well I have a few projects to share but they are not scrapbook layouts. These first two are for my friend's baby's room. Little Maddalyn arrived last month so I figured I better get these finished up.

Cute Little Flower

The saying on here is from Kaisers Magic Happens line. The big butterfly is also Kaiser. The rub-ons are Fancy Pants, the flowers are Recollections. The little dragon flies are beads that I bought at a scrapbooking rummage sale.

Printers Tray

The papers used here were Kaiser Magic Happens and a 6x6 set of Basic Grey Euphoria. Here are a few close ups.

Other Manufactures on here include: KI, Maya Road, My Minds Eye, American Crafts, Making Memories, Glitz, Kaiser, and Lawn Fawn.

I blogged not long ago about a co-worker who gave me all her old dress patterns. Well she has a grandaugher and a grandson so I made her these to thank her. They're 8x8 canvases purchased from Michaels. This was my first time altering canvas and it was fun!!!

Here's the girl canvas:

And the boy canvas:

Both canvases are covered with dress patterns. On the girl one, the crocheted lace is from JoAnn Fabrics, the paper is Crate, the flowers are recollections and of course I had to make a little flower out of the dress patterns, the dress form is a Lawn Fawn stamp, and the little spool is from a piece of Maya Road chip board. The patterned paper on the boy canvas is also by Crate. Instead of the crocheted lace I added ribbon. The little baseball chipboards are from an older Cosmo Cricket line called Lil' Man and the car and plane die cuts ar also from Crate. I'm not sure where the baseball buttons came from. I think I bought them from JoAnn Fabrics.

I gave these to my co-worker and thankfully she loved them. But I've already started thinking what I should have done with them instead... I guess I need to get some more canvas'!!!

I'll have a layout to share next time! And don't forget to check out August's challenge over at Scrapbookers Anonymous! It's time to dig into your journaling blocks!!!

August Scrapbookers Anonymous Challenge!!!

2011-08-01T09:00:00.001-04:00

We have a fun challenge for you this month at Scrapbookers Anonymous! This months challenge is to use journaling blocks, tags, stickers, etc... on your layout! Here's my take on the challenge:

I've had these tags for ages. I don't know where I got them or who makes them, all I know is that they haven't been getting used. I used some different color copics around the edges of them and then just made a giant pinwheel/flower thing. Paper is Basic Grey, the doily is from the local grocery store and misted with Maya Hydrangea blue. The picture is of Gavin with 3 scratches on him. Scratches that were received at daycare from a sweet little girl he was chasing. She got him good! :)

Head on over to Scrapbookers Anonymous and play along with us!!!

Sassy Lil' Layout!

2011-07-23T12:31:00.001-04:00

Just a quick post. I was able to crop with my BFF, Theresa last night at the newly renovated and reopened LSS. Here's a layout I completed based on the sketch over at Sassy Lil' Sketches! It is based on the sketch, really! First of all I rotated it then I did start with 3 pictures like the sketch shows but the pictures I chose just weren't working with the paper. I found this picture, that was taken at daycare, that I've been meaning to scrap for ages and it worked great with the paper! So I'm not sure if the final layout is close enough to the original sketch to submit it but I am anyway :). All paper and embellies (including the twine) are from July's Artful Delight kit!

And don't forget this months challenge over at Scrapbookers Anonymous! Time to dig into your stash of those hard to use colors!!!

Love this Picture!

2011-07-20T19:29:00.001-04:00

My DH has hazel eyes, Gavin and myself have blue eyes, but my Marin has brown eyes and this picture captures them beautifully! This layout is based on the sketch over at Once Upon a Sketch. The journaling criteria is to use a quote. The quote reads, "When I grow up I want to be... Princess!" Yup it's a quote from Marin. I had a different quote picked out that I actually had on the layout. But it was a quote that I googled and kind of corny. When I started typing up this post I decided it needed to be changed.

This layout is made up of a lot of stuff that was just laying on my desk. I'm not always great about putting everything away after I finish a project. I inevitably leave out something or if I only have a few of an item left in a package, I tell myself that if I leave it out I'll use it up. Well I am happy to say that I emptied out 5 packages of embellishments on this layout! Woohoo!!! I also had some dress patterns laying around, I rumpled them up a bit, put them under the photo and added some blue ink. I really like how it turned out. A coworker of mine was spring cleaning and told me how she was getting rid of her old dress patterns. Well I offered to take them off her hands and this is what I received...

Jackpot! I was so excited and offered to pay her for them but she looked at me like I was crazy. So anyway to thank her I'm working on a little altered project using some of them. You'll see it here one day. It's started but I'm lacking any real inspiration so it's temporarily on hold. I know, this post is getting long... but I bring up the dress patterns because I'm willing to part with a few. If you're interested in some packages, say so when you leave a comment and in say a week, I'll pick someone at random and mail them to you, even internationally! How cool is that!?

And don't forget this months challenge over at Scrapbookers Anonymous!!! You can win some fun Nikki Sivils goodness! Go check it out!

Hey Mommy!

2011-07-17T07:09:00.000-04:00

As soon as I saw this weeks sketch at Sketchy Thursdays the wheels started turning. I knew I wanted to use a sun instead of the butterfly in the sketch so I could enter it over at City Crafters Challenge Blog. And when I was looking through pictures trying to decide which fun sunny picture I would use of the kids I stumbled across this picture of me. It was actually taken by my 3 year old, yes I let her take pictures with my camera. The camera has seen better days and might as well start them off young right?! Oh and I'm also wearing her necklace as requested, just in case the multicolored beads jump out at you :)

Whenever I do layouts of me I gravitate towards my favorite paper... Sassafras. Well I bought the line Ellie's Tale sometime ago and hadn't even opened it. I used mostly Ellie's Tale on this but there are some bits of Applejack and Count Me In lines as well.

And guess what! It's past the 15th of the month and on the 15th we're supposed to share any cards we made for the Scrapbookers Anonymous challenge. Well I did the card but as one of the founders of the challenge blog I always think oh I have plenty of time to take a picture of my project and get it posted to the blog. Not the case this time... oops. So here is my card made with my hard to use color...purple.

Head on over to Scrapbookers Anonymous and check out this months great challenge!!! I'm heading over there right now too... to post my card :)

Simply Scraplifted

2011-07-12T20:21:00.000-04:00

The guest blogger on Yvonne's blog, Do More With Less is the fabulous Lynnda! Lynnda's challenging everyone to keep it minimal, less is more. Well, I've been meaning to play along with Yvonne's guests for some time and Lynnda's layout for the challenge was so stinkin' cute so I thought I'd keep it simple and scraplift it. Go HERE to see Lynnda's layout. And this is my layout:

I picked out a fun base paper, misted it, added the title, and then I scraplifted the brilliant idea to use old number stickers behind the photo. The journaling reads, "Gavin was so excited to get 2 tubes of his favorite toothpaste from the dentist. Such simple pleasures." Oh and I fussy cut around Gavin. He was standing in the kitchen and the dog walked by, so I thought it best to cut out the dog's behind. I then outlined around the picture with my black copic to make it pop which is hard to see in this picture.
There you have it, a minimal, quick and fun layout! Thanks Yvonne and Lynnda for the great challenge!!!

Thanks and Lots of Layouts!

2011-07-10T08:53:00.001-04:00

First of all thank you to everyone who played along with Theresa's Birthday Blog Hop! She was really touched. Since all plans we tried to make for the event fell through we ended up cropping at my house, just Theresa and myself. But we had fun and were very productive!!! Here are my layouts:

This first one is for Sketchy Thursdays. When I saw this weeks sketch I saw a barn for whatever reason so these are pictures of Gavin in spring of 2010 at a farm with his preschool class. Manufacturers include Reminisce, October Afternoon, and BoBunny.

Well once started with the farm pictures I thought I'd finish them off. This is based on the sketch at Sketches in Thyme. Manufacturers include KI Memories, October Afternoon, Studio Calico, BoBunny and American Crafts.

The picture in this next layout is one that I came across and couldn't believe I hadn't scrapboooked it yet. I love Gavin's big eyes in it. The sketch is from Design Dollies June sketch but as it's July I can't submit it there. But the title is based on this weeks challenge at Scrapping the Music. The line actually reads Blue skies smilin at me, but I switched skies with eyes. Manufacturers include Pink Paislee, Basic Grey and Glitz. And the map flowers are from Diana's Etsy Shop.

Okay the last layout is for Once Upon a Sketch. Journaling requirements were to name the person in the photo and tell something about them. This is my DD Marin and her love of stickers, any stickers. We were at a parade and every sticker she was handed she put on herself, whether from politicians of the Girl Scouts. Manufacturers include Sassafras, SEI, My Minds Eye, Maya Road, Petaloo, Fancy Pants and Recollections. And I want to give a big thanks to Yvonne who recently posted this great idea to make a banner from scraps of ribbon. Love how this turned out!!!

Don't forget about this months challenge at Scrapbookers Anonymous to use your hard to use color. Go see what the fabuous DT did!!!

Happy Birthday Theresa!!!

2011-07-08T11:00:00.001-04:00

My BFF just had a birthday and in celebration we're having this little blog hop starting over at Scrapbookers Anonymous just to wish her a happy day!

Happy Birthday Theresa!!! You're a great friend who I will cherish always. Thanks to you my love of this favorite hobby of ours has expanded to blogging, challenges, and lots and lots (and lots) of spending. But more than actual scrapbooking I love spending the time with you! Thanks for being such a wonderful friend and I hope you have a great day!!! Love ya!!!

And now keep hopping by heading on over to Lena's blog!

Happy Independence Day!!!

2011-07-04T09:32:00.000-04:00

Happy Independence Day everyone! Any big plans? Sounds like we're going to a barbecue pool party, can't wait because its's still early and really hot already! I have a couple new layouts to post. This first layout is inspired by a Sketchy Thursdays sketch from oh probably 3 weeks back. I started the layout then but just didn't have the time to finish it.

The paper is Websters Pages, the flowers are Petaloo and from Diana's Etsy Shop, the boy with the wagon image is October Afternoon and the orange felt frame is by Ruby Rock-It.

This next layout is based on a fabulous sketch by Anne Pennington, who is also on the DT at Scrapbookers Anonymous. The sketch is for Little Shop of Sketches.

The entire title is difficult to read but it says, "Mom, It's too bright" I love these pictures of the kids. Recently they were all dressed up and I wanted to snap a few pictures, well I made them go outside and all they did was complain about how bright it was, even when we moved so the sun wasn't in their eyes. They just were not in the mood for a photo shoot and the pictures show it. I also love the sweet (looking) little Marin has a water gun in each hand :). The patterernd paper is My Minds Eye, Ooh La La. Embellishments are Sassafrass, Basic Grey and a ki puffie. The little banner is made from a Lawn Fawn stamp.

Don't forget there's a new challenge up at Scrapbookers Anonymous! It's time to dig into your stash and create with your hard to use color! Come play along!!!

July Scrapbookers Anonymous Challenge

2011-07-02T14:14:00.000-04:00

Oops, I'm a day late with this post! And busy busy so have to keep it short and sweet. There's a new fabulous challenge over at Scrapbookers Anonymous this month! This month's challenge is to dig into your stash scrap with your hard to use color or the color that is building up in your stash. The idea is to make the layout somewhat monochromatic. Well this challenge was much more difficult for me than I thought it would be, I chose gray and purple, but in the end I had to add a few touches of green. Here's my layout:

The pp is mostly BoBunny and the embellies are Making Memories, american Craftys, 7 Gypsies, Recollections and Tiffany's flowers. Head on over to Scrapbookers Anonymous, check out what the rest of the DT did, and come play along with us this month!!!

I'm Back!!!

2011-06-26T15:43:00.000-04:00

I know I haven't been blogging lately but we just got back from a week vacation to Minnesota. Last summer we also spent a week in MN and not that I don't like going there but I've told the DH that next year we're going somewhere else! The reason we've gone to MN the past 2 years is that my husband use to live there so we visit friends and family. And sadly my husband's Grandpa passed away during our visit. It didn't come as a surprise, he was a great man who had a great life and I'm glad we were all there to go to his memorial service. On a happy note we stayed with friends who are expecting their first child any day so I was enlisted to make a few things for the baby's room. Sara, the mother, told me she wanted my inspiration to come from Kaiser's Magic Happens Collection. Well I knew I wanted to make here something with butterflies but totally lacked any great ideas but then the lovely Lydia posted this wonderful project and inspiration hit. Here's what I did.

I took 3 canvases, painted them with some different shades of purple and punched out a whole lotta butterflies and kind of made a flowing path across the canvases. Sara is going to add some words to them but hadn't figured out exactly what she wants it to say so I wasn't able to complete these 100% before I left. Another project I did for the new baby is her name.

The LSS cut the letters out of chipboard and white card stock and then I just decorated them up. Here's a close up of the first two.

So I didn't get any scrapbooking done but it was fun to get some crafting in!

A Card

2011-06-15T09:00:00.002-04:00

Great title for a post huh?! Well since we started making cards with the scraps of our layouts over at Scrapbookers Anonymous I've been getting quite a few cards made and I think I'm getting better at it... at least I'm enjoying it more. Here's the card I made with the scraps of June's layout! June's challenge is to use at least 3 sheets of a mini paper stack. Head on over to Scrapbookers Anonymous and play along with us!!!

A Fun Layout!!!

2011-06-10T20:23:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile since I've had fun with a layout. But when I saw that the challenge over at From Screen 2 Scrap was the poster for the movie Up, I got excited. How can a layout based on such a bright colorful poster not be enjoyable?! In order to get all the points for FS2S you had to use clouds, balloons or hot air balloons, and a 3D embellishment, all of which I have done.

I kept it very simple in that I didn't do any stamping, painting, or stitching, etc... it's just paper and a whole lotta embellishments. I just kept adding more and more embellies and it was so much fun! The base paper is Bella Blvd and most of the embellies are from Echo Parks summer lines from last year and this year. The flowers, and the little turtle are from a kit. The pictures are of 2 of my best friends and myself. We've known each other since Kindergarten and went to school together through the 12th grade. We've started a tradition of meeting in Mackinaw City each fall for a weekend without kids or husbands, and last fall we decided to take a ferry over to Mackinac Island. As none of us had done this before we thought it would be a great idea to sit on the upper level of the ferry, and these pictures were taken when we were first leaving and still liked that idea. But it was cold, and windy and WET! We didn't last long up there, down below we went!

Don't forget to go check out this months challenge at Scrapbookers Anonymous!!! It is to use mini paper stacks, a another really fun challenge!!!

Inappropriate Anniversary Card

2011-06-04T17:48:00.001-04:00

I've been meaning to play along with City Crafter Challenge Blog for quite some time and I finally have! And it's actually a card! As part of the challenge you had to use paint and cardboard. Here's what I created! I painted the clouds in the background and the cardboard is quite obvious. My anniversary is coming up so this is a card for the DH. One of my husband's favorite movies is Quiet Man with John Wayne. Have you ever seen this movie? It'a really good, it's actually a romantic comedy, yes with John Wayne! Anyway, the front of the card says, "Sir Sir," and the inside says, "Here's a good stick to beat the lovely lady." I know this sounds horrible, especially out of context but there's an insided joke here that my husband will get a kick out of. And this saying will actually go with the gift I bought him... in a manner. :)

Oh and I also wanted to say that I too am having trouble leaving comments on some blogs. It seems to only be blogs in which the comments are embedded at the bottom, not the ones with the pop up comment boxes. Hopefully blogger gets this figured out soon.

WooHoo June!!!

2011-06-01T09:00:00.002-04:00

Well it's June and we have a really fun challenge at Scrapbookers Anonymous this month. As always we try to make you dig into some neglected corner of your stash and this time it's mini decks! Oh, aren't they cute, I just have to buy them when I see them on sale, telling myself they're just perfect for cards and then they sit and sit and don't get used but they're just so stinkin' cute! Well this months challenge is to use at least 3 sheets from one of you much neglected mini decks. You can do whatever you want with these sheets, personally I shredded mine and weaved it. the vertical sheet in the background is from one sheet but the seam is hidden behind the picture.

This layout took me a long time! Not just the weaving but all the sea creatures are made from Lawn Fawns Critters in the sea stamp set! Oh, and I went kind of crazy with the twine again!!! Head on over to Scrapbookers Anonymous to check out what our amazing DT did and come play along this month!!!

I don't typically post a second layout when it's time for a new SA challenge but as I don't want to have two posts in one day so it has to be done. I was able to play along with Sketchy Thursdays this week (woohoo) and here is what I created.

The picture is of Marin watching cartoons and on a Saturday morning. I didn't grow up with cable so I remember when Saturday morning was the only time to be able to watch cartoons... hard to imagine that now. Anyway, the base paper is by the Girl's Paperie, and the rest of the pp is Reminsce, Imaginisce, Bo Bunny and some bits of Craft. The flowers made from the dictionary paper are from Diana's Etsy Shop. I was a winner at Fave Things a few weeks ago and was lucky enough to be able pick out some goodies from Diana's shop. How cool is that!

One last thing to mention, last week my scrap room was actually clean (somewhat) so I took a couple of pictures to post. I'm always trying to figure out different ways to reorganize it (maybe I should just stop buying but I don't think that is going to happen.) But anyway here are two pics of my scrappy haven. This room was supposed to be a formal dining room but I felt the space could be better utilized :)

Spring has arrived!

2011-05-24T22:02:00.001-04:00

Spring has finally arrived here in Michigan! It's been kind of a gloomy spring overall so it's so nice to see the sunshine a few days in a row! It's also been a busy spring, I've been spending very little time in front of the computer. I was starting to stress over not keeping up with my blogging but this is supposed to be fun right!? I'm not going to stress about it! I'm sure I'll be back to blogging like crazy in no time.

I haven't been doing a lot of scrapbooking either. I think the weekend long NSD crop I went to burned me out. But I do have a couple of layouts to post. This first layout is one that I started at the NSD crop and just couldn't finish. I ended up adding a few more embellies, some waves at the bottom and a whole bunch of twine. The pp and most of the chip board pieces are Cosmo Cricket. The frame and fish flash card are MME. And I have no idea who makes the clears. I got them in an old kit.

This next layout is for Once Upon a Sketch and Fave Things. This is the 3rd time I've combined these 2 challenges. It's just so convenient to do so since they both go live on the same days each month. The journaling requirement at Once Upon a Sketch is to type your journaling. Well this is my least favorite way to journal but I really like how it looks here. For Fave Things you had to scrapbook your favorite picture. This is an old picture of my grandparents. I would guess that this was taken in the late 30's or early 40's. I love my Grandma's hat and boa and her hair looks just fabulous.

I've been trying to mix manufacturers lately and I exceeded my own expectations here. The base paper is by Memory Box, the next layer is from an 8x8 pack of Graphic 45, the striped paper is by American Crafts, the bullseye looking piece is Glitz, the tickets are October Afternoon, the big alphas are by K and Company, the mini alphas by Cosmo Cricket and I believe the crocheted flowers are by Stamping Up! Yikes!!!

To Be Pagerized!!!

2011-05-18T06:45:00.000-04:00

Hey there! I'm excited to report that I was picked by Karen for the Pagerize This challenge over at Scrap Our Stash! So here is the layout I picked for the pagerization! You've seen it here before, I created it in March but it's still one of my faves!

Overall this is a pretty simple layout! Lots of stamping, some scraps of paper strips and all sorts of fun ribbon! Oh and the super cute picture of Marin with chocolate on her face, that's my girl! So head on over to Scrap our Stash and pagerize me!!!!

Last of the NSD layouts and a CARD!

2011-05-15T16:38:00.000-04:00

The weather has been horrible here in MI but it's still managed to be a busy weekend. Just jumping on quick to post this before we take the kids to see Rio!

This layout has a picture of Marin who just wanted me to take her picture. She's actually in my scrap room trying to get my attention since my attention was elsewhere. All the papers are Fancy Pants, It's the Little Things, and the flowers are Restorations and Making Memories. This is also for PageMaps A Cherry On Top Sketch Challenge.

This next layout is for From Screen 2 Scrap. I've always wanted to play along there and it just worked out this month. The movie poster your layout is to be based on is Love Actually, which is one of my favorite movies. And my DH actually likes this movie, if we're at our own home for Christmas, we watch it on Christmas Eve while we're waiting for the kids to fall asleep. Anyway these are pictures of the kids at a paint your own pottery place making Mother's Day gifts for my mom. This was a fun quick layout! Lots of Crate and some Glitz. For the challenge you had to include a red bow (check), the names of the people you love (check) and a journaling note (check). As I said, this one was fun, I plan on playing along there again!

And one of the new things we're doing over at Scrapbookers Anonymous in order to use even more stash is to make a card with the scraps from our Scrapbookers Anonymous layouts. Well here is my card. Very simple and I actually enjoyed making this, that's new for me when it comes to cards! Head on over to Scrapbookers Anonymous and see this months stamp challenge and the DT creations!!!

Sweet Faces!

2011-05-11T17:50:00.000-04:00

Okay, a few more NSD layouts. My favorite thing about these first 2 layouts are the sweet faces in the pictures.
This first one is based on sketch #118 from The Scrappiest and it's also for the Only You challenge over at Scrap Fit.

The journaling reads, "Gavin, Only you could still find a place to hang your lightsabers while running around in your underwear." I love this picture of him, his face looks so sweet and innocent. Gavin does not like wearing a lot of clothes, he's better about it now than in the past, but for awhile there he'd strip down into his underwear as soon as he stepped through the door. All the patterned paper here is Creative Imaginations Star Wars paper. I used some silver plated metallic Maya Mist on the base black card stock. Kind of a quick and easy layout but I didn't want to fuss it up too much.

This layout is based on one of the Nuts About Sketches Birthday sketch #1.

This picture is just from 2 weekends ago. It was Marin's 3rd birthday party and this is a picture of her looking at her cake and presents before her friends started to arrive! It's one of those pictures that you love capturing. The layout is titled Patiently Waiting. This layout was a lot of fun. The pp, frame, die cut sheet, and gray fabric border are all Little Yellow Bicycle, the doillie is from Theresa who found it at a grocery store. The flowers are Making Memories, Recollections, and the crocheted flower is from Theresa for my birthday and I believe it was an Etsy find. Oh and the butterfly ribbon is also Making Memories.

Lastly here is a 2 pager based on Nut's About Sketch #159, but I'm too late to post this there. I tried to make these flow together as a 2-pager but still look good as one pagers.

Lot's of different manufacturers used on this, Pink Paislee, October Afternoon, Echo Park, Maya... You can't really see this on the picture but I cut fringe for grass on the 2 bottom green layers and then rolled it down. I think these two layouts are okay but I think they still need a little somethin' somethin' ... any suggestions?

Don't forget to play along with Scrapbookers Anonymous May Challenge to pull out those stamps you've been collecting. That's it for now! Thanks for looking!!!

1 Layout, 2 Challenges

2011-05-10T07:16:00.001-04:00

Hi, just thought I'd hop on and do a quick post. Here is another layout from last weekend! This layout is for Fave Things and the sketch is from Once Upon a Sketch.

Paper is some yummy new Glitz and Echo Park. At Once Upon a Sketch the journaling requirement was to use a pre made journaling block. Fave Things challenge was to scrap your favorite thing about spring. Well this is about the Children's Zoo opening this spring and the kids riding the carousel there. The journaling reads, "We love when the Children's Zoo opens each spring. The kids would spend the entire time on the carousel if we let them."

Don't forget to play along with Scrapbookers Anonymous May Challenge to pull out those stamps you've been collecting. And sorry, I'm a little bit behind in visting all your wonderful blogs. I'll get there soon!!!

Okay so I'm adding a little bit to this post! I've been informed by Lea L. (who is on DT's at both Glitz and Lawn Fawn!!!) that this layout qualifies for a challenge over at the Glitz blog so it's being entered there as well! Woo hoo!!!!

What a Weekend!!!

2011-05-08T10:22:00.000-04:00

Happy Mother's Day everyone!!! Hope you're having a great weekend! I am! First of all, yesterday was National Scrapbooking Day. Woohoo!!! I scrapbooked at the LSS with friends all day Friday and Saturday! I completed 10 layouts, one card, and have a 11th layout near completed. So it was a very productive good time. And today is Mother's Day so I get to spend all day doing fun things with my kids and husband! What a great weekend!!!

Well, I want to share a couple of the layouts I made over the weekend. I was all about getting in some good challenges. This layout is for Twisted Sketches, and it's my first time playing along there. The twist was Straight!

Here are the kids making funny faces, so I titled the layout Straight Laced! Everything on here is yummy Bo Bunny Ad Lib! And the camera is made with the Ad Lib paper but from a Lawn Fawn stamp!!!
And of course if I'm going to be at a crop I have to play along with one of my fave sketch sites, Sketchy Thursdays.

Pictures are of Marin and her friend Ella, sitting on a table in the living room having tea. Ella had just raided the dress up clothes. Everything on here is from the new Little Yellow Bicycle Tiny Princess line with exception of the Thickers of course. I don't buy every princess line that comes out but the little dragons in this line did me in. I had to have it.

Don't forget to play along with Scrapbookers Anonymous May Challenge to pull out those stamps you've been collecting. I'll post more of what I did this at the NSD crop soon! Hope you all had a wonderful NSD and are enjoying your Mother's Day!!!

Scrapbookers Anonymous May Challenge

2011-05-01T09:45:00.000-04:00

It's a new month so there is a new challenge over at Scrapbookers Anonymous! This months challenge is to use some stamps! I love stamps! I mean I love collecting them but I don't use them often. We came up with this challenge to force ourselves to use our wonderful stash of stamps. For the challenge, you need to stamp one piece of paper and make at least 3 stamped embellies! Her is my layout!

The pictures are of Marin cutting ribbon and the journaling reads, "Theresa is over often to scrapbook. Apparently Marin associates all things scrapbooking with her. I gave Marin some of my ribbon and here she is cutting, as she calls it, Theresa Ribbon." The first time I heard her calling ribbon Theresa ribbon I started laughing and called Theresa immediately. It's not mommy ribbon, it's Theresa ribbon, Theresa loves it! Anyway, back to the layout, the base is from WR Memory Keepers. The clouds are some scrap Bella Blvd. The flower stamps is an older one from Imaginesce. The banner, bird, frame, and butterfly stamp are all from Lawn Fawn! And the pieces of ribbon are actually the some of the pieces that Marin was cutting.

There are also some changes at Scrapbookers Anonymous. Well first of all we've expanded our DT so head on over there to see all the fabulous layouts. Next, we've decided to challenge everyone to make a card with the scraps from their Scrapbookers Anonymous layout! And then if you submit your card, you get 2 chances to win! How cool is that! I'm by no means a great card maker but it was so easy to make a cutie little card with these scraps and it took no time. The DT cards will be posted on the 15th over at Scrapbookers Anonymous!

Sad News and Super Exciting News!

2011-04-27T21:39:00.001-04:00

Well my sad news is that this is my last sketch as a DT member for Let's Scrap. It's been fun and I'm looking forward to playing along with their weekly challenges! The sketches over at Let's Scrap are always 2 page layouts but you have the option to do one side or there other, and they seriously have the best 2 page layouts. If you need to do a 2 pager in the future head on over there and check out there current sketch or their many past sketches.

This was a fun layout. Lot's of Sassafrass goodness! The kids were so intent on their play doh creations, I love these pictures. And I love that Marin is clothed with necklaces instead of a shirt! She does know how to accessorize!

My super exciting news is that we have added to the Design Team over at Scrapbookers Anonymous! Six more very talented scrapbookers! Head on over to Scrapbookers Anonymous and see the announcement! We're also changing the SA blog up a bit in the next 6 months so stay tuned! Oh and don't forget, you have a few more days to play along with this months eyelet challenge!

Poker Face

2011-04-24T12:32:00.000-04:00

Well I made some time this weekend to play along with Sketchy Thursdays.

As always, I strayed from the sketch a bit but the overall design is there! Much of what is on here is from the March Scrapbook Circle kit but I added some BG twin, BoBunny and Petaloo flowers, Maya kraft doilies and some fabulous new Glitz. The title is a Glitz sticker but is just perfect with this picture. The picture of of Gavin 4 years ago. I walked in the kitchen and h e was holding a spoon and had a scarf on him. Look at the sweet little Poker Face!

Kinda cute card!

2011-04-20T17:03:00.001-04:00

Well once again it's time for a card sketch over at Let's Scrap. Here is my take on the sketch. I really have a difficult time making cards but I'm determined to keep doing it. People really seem to appreciate recieving a hand made card... I know I do.

The paper is Heidi Grace, I love the windows. Head on over to Let's Scrap and check out what the rest of the DT did!!!

And don't forget, the DT call over at Scrapbookers Anonymous has been extended until the 25th! To check out all the details go HERE! And don't forget this months eyelet challenge at Scrapbookers Anonymous! Remember you don't have to use them in the traditional way, think outside of the box.

Fave Things & Once Upon a Sketch

2011-04-17T13:16:00.002-04:00

Here is another layout I completed this weekend. It's for the latest challenge at Fave Things and the sketch is from Once Upon a... Sketch. The bulk of the stuff on here is from Scrapbook Circles April kit. This folder was included in the kit and at first I had know idea what I was going to do with it but it worked perfectly with this sketch! Over at Fave Things they have a list of their past challenges and you get to pick which challenge you want to do. Well I did a fave feature layout for my daughter Marin when the original challange was posted and had wanted to do one for Gavin as well.

The title reads "I love your lashes" And the journaling reads, "You are my rough and tough boy, but there are times I stop short and admire your beauty." Mom's are allowed to think their boys are beautiful right?!

The DT call over at Scrapbookers Anonymous has been extended until the 25th! To check out all the details go HERE! And don't forget this months eyelet challenge at Scrapbookers Anonymous! Remember you don't have to use them in the traditional way, think outside of the box. Also we were recently made aware that Creating Keepsakes is looking for eyelet layouts, look HERE!

No Defined Style

2011-04-16T10:43:00.000-04:00

I have difficulty defining my scrapbook style and I think these 2 layouts are pretty good evidence why. I did them both last night and they are both very different. This first layout is based on Sketchy Thursdays GDT sketch and it has a whole lotta stuff on it. The base paper is Basic Grey Curio, the pink pp is some old Black Market Paper Society, the overlays are Fancy Pants Dancing Girl. I misted, used a Glitz rub-on, added some Making Memories Glitter Clings and butterflies, the pink butterfly and flowers are Recollections, the dress form and little banner stamps are by Lawn Fawn. Oh and that fabulous crocheted lace I bought at Jo Ann Fabrics. The banner reads Favorite Skirt.

This next layout is for Scrap Your Stash, the Pagerize this Challenge #9. This is another layout of Marin, it's not a fantastic picture or an elaborate layout but it has such a cute story behind it. The journaling reads, "Marin was playing in the living room. She ran to me and told me she needed to show me her Snowman. I followed her and she had 3 couch cushions piled on top of each other. This was her Snowman. She then posed for this picture with her Snowman." The couch and lamps are cut from Nikki Sivils and actually the snowman is punched out from some of that paper as well. The alphas are some old Making Memories, the base paper is WeR so I didn't even stitch it myself, and I have no idea where the fuzzy ball trim came from.

And here is Karen's LO that I pagerized.

Belly Dance

2011-04-13T08:00:00.000-04:00

Well, I took off a bit from this week’s sketch over at Let’s Scrap. But that’s what I love about sketches; they’re a great starting point. This layout took a long time, I really like it but I’m not sure that all the little things I did to it were worth it. First of all, the redish color paper around the top and sides. Well it’s a piece of redish cardstock that I took watercolors to in order grunge it up a bit. I sewed the layers of grassy landscape… and then covered up most of it with the pictures J. Maybe I should have just glued it down and added some faux stitching at the edges… oh well, it’s done and I do like it. The pp is Prima, I’ve been hording these sheets, but you can only hord things for so long. I did some subtle blue misting on the background. The rainbow rub-on is Fancy Pants, the tree and little owl embellie are Basic Grey. The flowers are Michaels Recollections brand, and the wooden butterfly is by Kaiser.

And the cutie little pictures are of my little Marin shaking her bootie wearing my belly dance belt. Wait, you’re asking yourself… did she just say her belly dance belt. Well yes… I take a weekly belly dance exercise class. It’s for women of all shapes, sizes, and ages. Many of the women advance and end up performing locally but that will never be me… it’s just an enjoyable way to get out and get some exercise, if you can even call it that... it's too much fun. And it really gives you a good gut work out :).

So head on over to Let's Scrap to see what the rest of the DT did with the sketch. And don't forget about this April's Eyelet Challenge at Scrapbookers Anonymous and the DT call over there as well!

Blog Hop Challenges - Blue, Birds & Frames

2011-04-09T09:17:00.000-04:00

Scrapbookers Anonymous is participating in the If It's Groovy No Housework Day Blog Hop and I've been hopping along so I thought I'd stop and play along with some of the challenges along the way. This layout is based on the sketch over at Once Upon a Sketch. Not part of the hop and I can't submit the layout there because I didn't meet their journaling requirements but it's a great sketch so I thought I should at least mention where the inspiration came from. But the challenges this layout does meets along the blog hop are Fave Things, Fave color challenge, my fave color is blue. Scrapping the Guys, use a bird, well I've used 4 very cute little owls. And then of course Scrapbookers Anonymous blog hop challenge is to use a frame... hence blue frame! The bulk of the items in this layout are from March's Artful Delights kit. Love these kits... can't wait until April's kit gets here!!!

The picture in the layout is of the DH and the kids at his last birthday. He turned 39 in 2010 so you know what that means for 2011!
Don't forget... the DT call over at Scrapbookers Anonymous! Click here for the details!!! And for April's eyelet challenge at Scrapbookers Anonymous click here!!!

Happy National No Housework Day!

2011-04-07T05:18:00.000-04:00

Scrapbookers Anonymous is participating in the National No Housework Day blog hop! Who knew there was such a day, but of course I'm all for it!!!

There are about 42 challenge blogs participating! Isn't that amazing?! So, stop by Scrapbookers Anonymous and see what our mini challenge is(we are offering a prize) and visit the other blogs that are participating. To start at the beginning of the HOP, click the image below. It will take you to the If It's Groovy blog.

Also, while at Scrapbookers Anonymous don't forget to scroll down and check out our DT Call. We are looking for a few more scrapbookers to help us grow. I hope you consider applying. And don't forget about April's eyelet challenge!!!

Awesome!

2011-04-06T06:06:00.000-04:00

My son Gavin, always uses the word, "awesome." And since great titles often escape me and I think that he is totally awesome! I thought I'd keep the title as simple as that.

The bulk of this is from February's Scrapbook Circle kit but I just had to dig into my embellie stash as well. This was a really fun layout to do and I think it's one of my all time favorites! Oh and it's based on this weeks sketch at Let's Scrap! Go check it out! This week if you play along you could win some fabulous travel papers and alpha stickers! I seriously love them, wish I could win them!!!

Oh and head on over to Scrapbookers Anonymous! We have a DT call going on and don't forget about this months eyelet challenge! Come on... I know you have some eyelets somewhere, don't you think it's time to put them to good use!!!

Trying New Things

2011-04-04T21:00:00.001-04:00

So I'm trying out a new blog look. What do you think? My dear friend Theresa did it all! Doesn't it look amazing!? I love it! Thanks Theresa!!! Another new thing I've tried is, I challenged myself to make a layout in 15 minutes... well almost, it may have been closer to 20 but really that was it. I left work early and was going to pick up the kids but decided to go home and have about 20 minutes to myself in my own house. Being home by myself is such a rare occurence so I made the most of it by pulling out March's Scrapbook Circle Kit, a picture of me and the kids and did this layout.

The butterfly and the brads are the only things that weren't in the kit. Doing a quickie layout was actually alot of fun! I may have to do it more often, and a good kit makes it so easy! The picture of me in the layout above brings me to my next new thing... This Saturday I cut myself bangs!!! I haven't had bangs since early high school so probably 20 years. I'm not attaching a picture of my new banged look but picture me above with bangs and there you have it. I wasn't sure about them at first but today at work, 2 people told me I looked younger and 2 different people asked me if I've lost weight! Yes, it's all in the bangs!!! I love them!

And the last new thing to report is a DT call over at Scrapbookers Anonymous! We have some fun changes coming up in the next 6 months and we want a bigger design team. Right now we have six fabulous ladies who have all agreed to stay on but we'd love it if you would go ahead and try out for it!!! Go here and check out the requirements.

Oh and don't forget April's Challenge over ast Scrapbookers Anonymous! Pull out those eyelets and use them in some manner!!! The DT did a lot of amazing things with those old eyelets!

Scrapbookers Anonymous April Challenge

2011-04-01T09:43:00.001-04:00

Happy April!!! This months challenge at Scrapbookers Anonymous is to use eyelets! I know what you're thinking, why did they pick eyelets, who is going to want to participate and set a bunch of eyelets? Personally I don't buy these things at all anymore because I don't exactly enjoy the whole eyelet setting process. But I have a whole lotta them from my early scrappin' years and we wanted to challenge ourselves to actually use them. The challenge is to use 23 eyelets on your layout. Here's mine...

I set some eyelets in the upper right corner but down at the bottom left I strung them together on some scrappers floss. I really like how it turned out! I don't know how many eyelets I used but I'd guess it's near100. The paper on this layout is Cosmo Cricket and some Bella Blvd. I added some paint chips, and above the picture I have a tab for hidden journaling. This is a picture of my old Walkman that I bought in 1987 at age 11! It was awesome! Why was it awesome? First of all as you can see, it's yellow, it has a little graphic equalizer on the side (this made very little difference to sound quality but I thought it was so cool) and best of all it has both a rewind and fast forward button. So I didn't have to flip over my Debbie Gibson tape, fast forward it, and flip it back if I wanted to hear a song again! I know you know what I'm talking about!!! Anyway, I recently came across this in a drawer and now it's sitting on a shelf in my scrap room, so of course I had to take a picture of it!

Now head on over to Scrapbookers Anonymous and check out what the rest of the DT did! Oh and play along! I want to see what you come up with to use those eyelets!!!

Love Me some Max and Molly... and Marin!

2011-03-30T08:00:00.006-04:00

I'm so excited to finally be able to post this layout! I did this in February at my birthday crop but as it is for a Let's Scrap sketch I haven't been able to post it until today. Carol, the owner of the LSS Scrapbooks Galore & More knew I wanted the Max and Molly line so she gave it to me for my birthday! All she asked is that she gets to display the layout in the store. Well that's a no-brainer, but I figured I better come up with something good!

The picture is of me and my daughter Marin almost 2 years ago. This is only the left side of the fabulous 2 page sketch that is posted today at Let's Scrap. Head on over there and see what the rest of the DT came up with.

Oh and there is still a little bit of time left to play along with this months challenge at Scrapbookers Anonymous!!! It's all about using up those old flowers, so easy! Head on over there and check it out!!!

The Fisherman, The Fish and some Ice Cream!!!

2011-03-23T17:53:00.000-04:00

Well my dear friend Theresa came over last weekend to scrap and we were both rather productive. It seems like I start alot of blog posts that way, but she comes over often and I love it. Anyway, I did this 2-pager for Get Picky.

I've recently felt a renewed love for 2-page layouts. I still don't enjoy them as much as single pagers but with a good sketch they can be a lot of fun and sometimes the pictures just require it. The pp is Little Yellow Bicycle from my March Artful Delights Kit. Actually everything is from the kit except for the wood grain stickers around the edge. These are also from the Little Yellow Bicycle Twig line but I bought them at the LSS. Pictures are of Gavin from Halloween 2008. He wanted to be a fisherman and wasn't he cute!

And now for the grumpy little fish. Sketch is from Sketchy Thursdays.

This was Marin's first Halloween again in 2008. She was in such a bad mood for pictures and look how bald she was! She's almost 3 now and her hair is still baby fine. Okay, back to the fish, the pp is Cosmo Cricket and I'm too lazy to get up and look at what line, but it's an older one I've been hoarding. The flowers are Making Memories and American Crafts and the frame and rub-ons are MME.

There is a new sketch reveal today over at Let's Scrap and again some yummy goodies that you can win. Here is my take on the sketch.

These pictures are of Gavin from 2007. I really can't believe I haven't scrapped them prior to this because they're so dang cute. I think the pictures were just waiting for the right paper and this Nikki Sivils line is just perfect!!!

And lastly don't forget this months challenge over at Scrapbookers Anonymous! You need to use at least 7 store bought flowers, not home made ones, something from your stash!!!

Thanks for looking everyone!!!

Another Card

2011-03-16T06:30:00.007-04:00

It's time once again for a card sketch over at Let's Scrap. So here is the card I made. We get the sketches quite a bit in advance so I actually gave this to the DH for Valentines Day. Upon receiving it he said, "Oh, thank you... you STABBED it with a pin?" Interesting outlook, who would have thought that others would look at all those pins we use in scrapbooking as some sort of weird VooDoo.

Head on over to Let's Scrap and check out the sketch and the goodies that you can win!!!
Also, don't forget this months challenge over at Scrapbookers Anonymous, use 7 flowers on your layout. Ones out of your stash, not home made ones. Super easy challenge!!!

Just Some Stuff!

2011-03-09T12:46:00.000-05:00

Hi all. Well I'm still recovering from the scrapbooking retreat. I completed 15 layouts total but it was exhausting. Like I said earlier, those things aren't about sleep! Today I'm home with a sick little boy. Poor guy, he's just laying around and not talking much. The not talking is a huge indication that he's not feeling well because Gavin is a chatter box. Well it's Wednesday which means there's a new sketch posted over at Let's Scrap. Let's Scrap seriously had the best 2 page layouts out there. I actually made a 2 pager with this sketch but I have a picture on the right half of Gavin's swim trunks hanging kind of low and the top of his little bum is showing. It's a great picture but thought it best not to post it.

Go to Let's Scrap to check out this weeks sketch and see the lovely Etsy winnings!!!

And here's another layout I did at the retreat. I used the new BoBunny Gabriel line. The layout is for the LSS so I did my best not to use items that may not be found there. And I didn't have access to any of the extras that came with the line so it was a bit of a struggle. I distressed it and ripped it so that it didn't seem too simple. And of course I didn't want to cover up the beautiful butterflies!!!

I still have more to post from last weekend but all in due time :).

The lovely Tiffany gave me the Liebster Blog Award.

As a recipient of this award there are a few "rules" I have to follow; I have to share the love and pay it forward by:

1.Creating a post where I blog about the Liebster award and reveal my 3-5 blog picks
2.Let them know they've been chosen
3.Copy and paste the blog award on my blog
4.Have faith that my followers will rally and show their crafty love back out to those I awarded
5.Have fun!

So many blogs to choose from but I chose 3 of my faves.

1. Theresa, my BFF and the one who got me into blogging (after much persistence)
2. Deb, one of the first people who started giving me some blog love. I so appreciate her comments and her awesome creations!!!
3. Nadia, I'm a new follower to her blog but her work is mind boggling GORGEOUS!!! So much talent. She doesn't have many followers yet so please go check out her work and give her some love!!!

Actually, please go check out all the blogs above and see their awesome creations. Tell them that I say hi!

Lastly, I just wanted to remind all of you of this months challenge over at Scrapbookers Anonymous. Use at least 7 pre-made flowers from your stash... you know the ones... you just had to have them at one time, never used them, and now they're being overlooked by those lovely newer flowers. Link up your layout by the end of the month and you could win some awesome goodies!!!

Are you readdy????!!!!!!!

2011-03-05T16:55:00.001-05:00

Okay we're still at our scrapbook retreat but I wanted to get online and upload some challenge layouts. I've noted my two favorite LO's and they're one of each kid. I'm not going to give any wordy descriptions of any of these because it will just get to long so here we go...

The Scrappiest Sketch 109

Sketchy Thursdays Sketch 3.03

These are a Few of my Favorite Things - Fave Features and Sassy Lil' Sketches

Sketchabillities

Inspired Blueprints Sketch #67

Scrap Fit #39 Glitter & Glam and last weeks sketch from Let's Capture these Sketches (one of the faves)

March Pagemaps (sketch is rotated)

No challenges but a couple old Sketchability sketches. (First one is my other fave)

That's it for now. Now I need to go link all these up (yikes) and get back to work :) Thanks for looking!!!
... oops, I just linked everything up and noticed the typo in the title! So now if I change it ,all the links will be wrong... so I'm not going to... pls don't judge :)... retreat weekends aren't about sleep you know... :)

So Excited!!!

2011-03-02T06:44:00.000-05:00

Do you ever get to the point where you just don't want to be in front to a computer. Well, that's how I've felt lately. So I'm a little behind in dishing out some blog love but I know you all forgive me. But I have something really exciting to share. This weekend, some friend and I are going on a scrapbooking retreat!!!! Thursday evening through Sunday, I'm so excited. Jealous? I know you are!!! I spent most of my waking hours last weekend printing photos and figuring out which pp to bring, and I'm nowhere near done. But enough of that, I do have some layouts to post. This first one was a labor of love. It was sitting on my craft table for days and I was struggling to get it right. The paper and butterflies are from February's Artful Delights kit! The picture is of Marin, wearing toy binoculars and carrying a magnifying glass and calling herself, "Marin the Great Looker". This LO was for last weeks DT Challenge at Let's Scrap. There is another DT Challenge posted this week, the challenge is to use transparencies so go check it out right here!!!

This next layout is for today's sketch reveal over at Let's Scrap. This time I opted to only do the left side of the sketch. Go check out the entire sketch, what the DT did, and the yummy goodies you can win right here!!! For this LO I wanted to try to combine Echo Parks Be Mine line with Graphic 45's Alice in Wonderland Halloween line. I can't remember what the green paper with the black scalloped border is, I know it's from a Halloween line. So Theresa when you comment will you remind me what it is? But I love how this turned out and it's my kind of color combo!

Now for the last LO, it's a new month so there's a new challenge posted at Scrapbookers Anonymous. This month the challenge is to use at least 7 flowers. Not homemade flowers, but flowers that you've had in your stash for awhile and just haven't used. On my layout I used a bunch of silk flowers that I once loved but now I want them to be gone so I can make room for better things. This is a very simple LO, just a super bright piece of green card stock, some doodling and the flowers. But I felt with these colors it was best to keep it kinda simple. Oh and the prize is ever so wonderful, I really want it for myself. The picture of the goodies on the SA blog doesn't quite do it justice. But trust me, it's wonderful!!!

Have a good weekend everyone, mine starts in about 9 hours!!!

Been Busy Scrappin'

2011-02-23T05:50:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone! Well I’ve been doing a lot of scrappin’ lately. Unfortunately I’m just not able to post all that I’ve done… sigh. Last Friday some friends and I took the day off of work and scrapped at the LSS from opening to close. Actually my friend Theresa and I arrived there before opening waiting in the parking lot… we don’t mess around! I completed 4 layouts and started a 5th in 13 hours. Not as productive as I usually am but it was a lot of fun!
Now for something that I can post… another 2-pager for Let’s Scrap! This weeks sketch is up so go check it out here! And this week if you win you get some fabulous beaded jewelry from Lovein2Bead!!! Now back to the layout, these photos are a few years old at Gavin’s 3rd birthday party. And look at bald little Marin in her little red dress, and her bald round head! I used the Echo Park Little Boy line, some twine, and some mist… that’s about it, oh and I do have some AC flair, and a little Sass card as well. Echo Park is one of those lines that I just can’t buy by the sheet. I need the whole pack because of all the wonderful stickers they have in their packs!!! I love the little train on this layout!

Also I just wanted to mention that there are still a few days to submit a layout for this month’s Scrapbookers Anonymous challenge. This month’s challenge is to use up those leftover X’s! We’ve had some great submissions… go ahead submit a LO, you know you want to…. :)

Let's Scrap Card Sketch

2011-02-16T05:54:00.002-05:00

Did you know that Let's Scrap does a card sketches once a month? Well neither did I until I became a DT member and then I realized I HAVE to do a card each month! Well I don't exactly love making cards but I'm finding that I'm quite capable and fortunately Let's Scrap has awesome card sketches!!! The card below was made with some scrap Fancy Pants paper. I added a cute little yellow ribbon, some gold bling that's been in my stash forever, some stitching and some stamped butterflies. I popped the one butterfly and colored it with my copics. Up until now, I've only inked around things with my copics so this was my first coloring attempt. It turned out fine but I definitely need mor practice... and more copics!!! Nothing earth shattering here with my card but head on over to Let's Scrap and see the awesome DT did with the sketch! And go to check out the super cool prize!!!

Thanks Theresa!

2011-02-13T10:37:00.000-05:00

I was talking to my BFF Theresa last week about the GDT challenge over at Sketchy Thursdays and saying that I'd like to try it but wasn't feeling too inspired. For March they're asking that you use:
1. Pink & Green or Red & Turquoise
2. Hearts
3. A list about something/someone you love
and of course their sketch.

Well Theresa suggested that I use the Jenni Bowlin paper she gave me with the list of 10 and then she came over Friday night to crop and gave me the awesome rainbow looking paper which has both red and turquoise in it. The wheels were turning and I was feeling the inspiration. The rainbow paper is by Crate but it was specifically designed for Studio Calico, of which Theresa is a member. I love this paper so much that I punched out my heart banner with it. I inked around the hearts with my black copic and popped them. I was originally going to stitch them together but I thought I'd see how stapling looked and it looks awesome! Super easy way to make a banner and it still allows you to rotate the individual pieces to place them how you want. I added a Bo Bunny flower, some Sassafrass stickers, a Jenni Bowlin ticket and red and turquoise heart pins.

The photo is of my son Gavin. He's such a character you can see my list of loves if you click on the photo. But to explain no. 9, over a year a go I picked him up from daycare and he asked if I had discovered anything new today. I told him, "Gavin, I discover something new every day." Well don't ever say that to an inquisitive kid. Now he asks what I discovered each time I pick him up. It's hard to come up with a new discovery that's interesting to a 5 year old so now I go to Snapple Real Facts to try to come up with an interesting discovery for him. But I just love that he asks!!!

Who the heck made this?!

2011-02-12T17:03:00.000-05:00

Well this is one of those layouts that went in a totally different direction than I thought it would. The picture is of Marin last fall at the Saginaw Children's Zoo. She was lagging behind and when I stopped to look back she had actually stopped to smell the flowers. How cute is that! So of course I very quickly picked up my camera and started snapping pictures.

I LOVE this layout but it's not a very "me" layout. Lot's of distressing and rolling edges, things I love when looking at other layouts! The flowers are Prima except for the big one is from UmWow Studio's Etsy Shop (Isn't it fabulous?!) And I'm also thrilled to say that I finally have some paper doilies!!! Oh and I even stamped the banner on this, and I never stamp (I'm more of a stamp collector not a user). The only thing I don't like about this layout is that it's not based on a sketch or any other challenge...sigh, maybe next time.

Let's Scrap

2011-02-09T08:45:00.001-05:00

It's Wednesday which means it's time for another sketch reveal over at Let's Scrap and you HAVE to go check out this weeks sketch! I find it's difficult to come across great 2 page sketches and this one is fabulous!!! I've been wanting to post this layout as soon as it was finished. These are pictures of Gavin and Marin helping me make cookies. They were in a goofy mood especially Marin.

I used kraft paper for the base and then all the patterned paper is by Sassafrass. I used some Jenni Bowlin accesorories, some thickers for the title, and it's hard to see in the photo but all the paper was sprayed down with Studio Calico's Mr. Huey white opaqe mist to make it look like it was all doused with flour. This was a fun layout to do until my sewing maching broke after having only finished sewing the left side, so thank you Theresa for coming to the rescue and letting me borrow your machine! This weeks winner at Let's Scrap will receive a pre-made layout kit and card kit by Premier Scrapbook Designs. Go check out the sketch and the wonderful prize HERE!!!

New Month, New Challenges!!!

2011-02-02T14:36:00.001-05:00

Is anyone else out there snowed in? This is the first time in the 12 years that I've lived here that I have not been able to get to work because of weather. I can't really say that I mind having a day off mid-week but the company that supplies our telephone, cable and internet has been having technical difficulties. I didn't mind being without a house phone or cable but no internet has been harder than I would have thought. Well it's back now, hopefully permanently, so I better get this post out while I can. Well it’s the beginning of the month which means it’s time for the new challenge reveal over at Scrapbookers Anonymous! February’s challenge is to dig out your old alpha stickers, rub-ons, whatever and use those leftover X’s. I LOVE this challenge! Here’s my take on it.

Gavin loves his Legos but he rarely wants to make what the kit was intended for. His Legos are now all mixed together and he uses his imagination and makes all sorts of fun things. Things that are way better than what Lego can come up with!
There’s also a new sketch up over at Let’s Scrap. The ladies over there made it easy on us new DT members and made our first DT sketch the same sketch that we had to use for our DT application. So this layout has been posted previously but here it is again.

If you go to Let’s Scrap you’ll see that it is a 2-page sketch but you can choose to do only one of the sides. Head on over there and check out what the rest of the new DT did with it!!!

Holy Shnikes!!! It's a layout of me and some great news!!!

2011-01-26T20:19:00.000-05:00

Well the current challenge at These Are A Few of My Favorite Things is your Fave Quote. Well the first thing that popped in my head was the movie Tommy Boy starring the late great Chris Farley. Holy Shnikes, there are so many great lines in this movie!!! So I decided to actually scrap these fave quotes with a photo of me from last October.

The paper is Fancy Pants with some scraps of Sassafrass, the little monster cards are also Sassafrass. Embellies are Sassafrass and American Crafts. The little bling dots are Jolees. I also have a few other challenges in here. Scrap Fit's challenge #36 Lets Strip (great title) is to use paper strips and a strip of bling. And the sketch is Sketchabilities sketch #39.

The GREAT news is that I'm now on the Let's Scrap Design Team!!! I'm so excited! It's a free Ning community so you should check it out. They have some fantastic sketches.

Sketchy Thursdays 1.20

2011-01-22T21:47:00.000-05:00

Well I think my holiday scrapbooking slump is officially over. I've been blogging regularily and I'm happy to say my scrap room is as mess again because it's getting used. Here is a layout that I finished today for Sketchy Thursday's challenge. I really love how it turned out!!!

There are many different manufacturer's in here. The base paper is Fancy Pants, from one of their Christmas lines (there are Xmas trees on the back of the layout). The patterned paper in Reminisce, the cloud paper in the window is Bella Blvd, there's a little bit of Sassafrass Lass trim, the big flower is made from Crate paper, and there are Prima flowers. The window chipboard is Maya Road. The bling frame is Making Memories. The wood grain rub-on is Studio Calico. The word Dream is a piece of K and Co wood art that I took my copics to. I used a Marth Steward border punch. And lastly I broke out my new I-rock and added some bling which is by Imaginesce. Wow that's even more manufacturer's than I realized... no wonder my room is such a disaster!

My Mom's Layout

2011-01-21T08:13:00.001-05:00

Happy Friday!!! I just wanted to remind everyone that there is still time to submit a layout for this month’s Scrapbookers Anonymous challenge. This month’s challenge is to use 17 buttons which is easy peasy lemon squeazy as my son would say. And how easy would it be to do this challenge in combination with another. We have many challenge blogs listed on the side bar over at the Scrapbookers Anonymous blog. Go check them out!

Here is a layout that my mom did for our 17 button challenge. She’s quite the humble scrapbooker and told me that she wasn’t going to post the layout but she wanted to show support and participate in our little challenge. Well she e-mailed me a picture of the super cute layout so I’m posting it!!! The photo is of my daughter Marin at her brother’s birthday party last month.

Just a Quick Post

2011-01-19T21:47:00.000-05:00

Just getting on the computer really quick to upload this weeks Sketchy Thursday's layout! I just finished this layout, the stickles on it are still wet. These photos are from Gavin's 5th birthday party. I never end up with great birthday party pictures because I'm always busy doing something other than taking the pictures. But I did manage to find a few that were scrap worthy. Instead of giving the kids each gift bags, I made them all capes which were a huge hit. This also made it easy to spot the kids at the party since we held it at the Mid Michigan Children's Museum. And the capes went perfectly with this super cute Reminisce paper!!!

Scrappy Resolutions

2011-01-03T17:30:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!!! Anyone have any Scrappy Resolutions out there? I have one… not spending as much on scrapbooking supplies! I’m sure a lot of you can relate :). Aside from running out of adhesive or my inks going dry I’m confident that I have enough supplies to scrap for the next 5 years… at least. Not that I would ever attempt to do that. I just want to have some self control and not buy EVERY new item that I love. One of the ways I’m going to do this is I’m not allowing myself to buy any patterned paper until after the scrapbooking retreat I’m going on in early March. Another is that I’ve joined Scrapbook Circle Kit Club. How you may ask is paying for a kit each month saving on buying scrapbooking stuff. Well, I typically spend more each month than what a kit costs. And this way each month I get a wonderful box of paper and embellies that all coordinate and hopefully this is enough of a fix of goodies that I won’t feel the need to buy too much more. You see, I’m just trying to be realistic!

Have you seen January’s challenge over at Scrapbookers Anonymous yet? This month’s challenge is to use at least 17 buttons from your stash on one layout. It’s actually pretty easy, 17 buttons isn’t really that many. Here is my layout. I never did a final count on the number of buttons but it’s more than 17. The thing I like about this challenge is that I don’t think I would have otherwise considered framing the photo with buttons. And I LOVE how it turned out!!! So dig into those buttons and come join us over at Scrapbookers Anonymous!!! The paper in this layout is BoBunny Petal Pushers. Sooooo LOVE this line!!!

This next layout is for Sketchy Thursdays Facebook sketch challenge. This is actually a picture I took last month after I came home from a late night of cropping. Both kids were still fully clothed and in our bed. But they looked so cute that I had to take a picture before I moved them to their own beds. This was a fun layout. The owl is from Amanda’s Etsy Shop. She was kind enough last year to let me pick out one of her felt creations for free just for commenting on her blog! It was so hard to pick but I loved the colors in this owl! Go check it out right HERE! You know… maybe I’ll allow myself to buy from one Etsy shop bi-monthly (or maybe monthly :)) for my scrappy resolution as well. There are so many unique embellishments in the Etsy Shops!!! Okay back to the layout, the patterned paper is Sassafrass Lass, the brads are Making Memories, and the alphas are Sassafrass Lass and American Crafts.

Okay one last thing to post. Let’s Scrap is having a DT call so I thought I’d give it a try. Here is what I created with their sketch. It’s kind of a hodge podge of stuff with colors that don’t exactly match but I like the look of them together. Overall I love how this layout turned out!!! The paper is SEI and October Afternoon, the frame is Making Memories,the alpha’s are Cosmo Cricket and American Crafts, the doily flowerers are Maya Road.

Misc. Stuff

2010-12-30T12:20:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted in awhile so I have a bunch of miscelaneous stuff. First of all I want to say as of today I'm the mother of a 5 year old!!! My Gavin is 5 which is hard to believe, what happened to my little baby?! Well I was able to get a little bit of scrapping in this month. Here is a layout I did at the LSS a few weeks ago. I don't enjoy 2 page layouts as much as single pagers so when I see a great 2 page sketch I just have to do it. This is a sketch from Nuts About Sketches from last month I beleive. The paper is Basic Grey Oliver. Gavin was one in these photos... sigh.

Next I wanted to post another art journaling page that I did. I took Marit's Mixed Emotions Art Journaling class. I haven't completed all the lessons yet but I fully intend to. Here is my Fear project. It's made almost entirely with paper scraps!

Next I wanted to show off this beautiful card that I received from Deb!!! All her cards are so amazing! Look at all the detail in this! Thanks Deb, you made my day when I recieved this!

And lastly I just wanted to say that you have until 9:00 pm EST tonight to submit a layout for Scrapbookers Anonymous December's Challenge.

Another Sketchy Thursdays Layout Done!!!

2010-12-08T19:39:00.000-05:00

So is everyone enjoying this crazy holiday season? I'm feeling better about it since I now have most of my wrapping done. I buy presents throughout the year but I never wrap them until December. Next year I plan on wrapping them immediately ( yeah we'll see how that goes.)
Anyway my dear friend Theresa came over to scrap last Friday and I manged to get this layout done for Sketchy Thursdays. The paper is Jillibean Soup Monster Stew, which is such a fun line!!! But my favorite part of the layout are the googly eyes on the little monsters!!!

December

2010-12-01T07:30:00.024-05:00

I know I've been absent from the scrappy blogging world that I love, but sadly it looks like that's just the way it's going to be for this month. Hopefully I'll be on here sporadically.
But YEAH it is time for a new challenge over at Scrapbookers Anonymous!!! Decembers Challenge is to dig out those rub-ons you just had to buy but just haven't used. The challenge is also not to use patterned paper. Here's my take on the challenge.

I used almost an entire package of rub-ons from Stamping Up. The flowers consist of rub-ons that I popped, old Imaginesce chip board flowers, Creative Charms, and ones I made from paper bags after the wonderful Deb told me how to do it after I saw them on her blog. I added a few embellies I found in my stash. The clear plastic frame from Making Memories was in my things to sell pile. So excited I actually used it!!! I seldom use a single rub-on on a layout. When I use them, I use them with a vengeance! Here are some past layouts I've done with rub-ons that also have no patterned paper.

Just in time

2010-11-17T21:28:00.000-05:00

Okay so I don't have time to say much but I've been trying to get this layout done for this weeks Sketchy Thursdays challenge. Only have 40 minutes left to get it submitted and I could get interrupted anytime. So here it is.

The paper is Black Bird by My Minds Eye, by far my favorite Halloween line that came out this year. I added some magenta stickles and glitter paper to pull in the colors in Marin's costume.

I also wanted to mention that there is still plenty of time to play along with this months challenge over at Scrapbookers Anonymous!!! Seriously great prize this month! Go check it out!!!

Minnie Meltdown

2010-11-14T15:01:00.000-05:00

Well here is the Minnie Mouse layout. I posted this photo a couple of weeks ago. I took it to the LSS last weekend to scrap it but nothing I brought with or found in the store was exactly what I wanted. I wanted, a pink, purple, and black fall look... how hard is that really? :) Within my own stash at home I found some white cardstock embossed with leaves, splattered some mist on it and then I used some leaf punches with some scrap paper. I painted around the photo, added the button and bling all brilliant final touches suggested by Theresa. The title idea actual came from my mom.

The story behind the photo is that Marin was just having a hard evening. I picked her and her brother up from daycare and I had about 15 minutes to get them dressed in costumes to get them to the park for the photo shoot. Well Marin was originally going to be Dora but at the house she had a small fit and didn't want to wear the Dora stuff. Luckily, I have a chest full of costumes. Theresa had bought her the Minnie Mouse costume for her birthday and the ears came from Disneyland last year. She wasn't overly thrilled about this costume either but it was pink and I told her if she wore it, we'd go to Baskin Robbins after the pictures (yup that's the kind of mom I am). Also when I was putting her socks on her she insisted on one pink sock and one purple sock. So that's why I wanted to add some purple in the layout. We did end up with some happy photos too. The one below will go in her Halloween frame. The one in the layout above will probably turn up at her H.S. graduation party, her wedding reception... who knows... :)

Three Sketch Challenges & Some Art Journaling

2010-11-07T10:41:00.000-05:00

Well I went cropping at the LSS last night and completed 3 sketch challenges!!

This first one is for Sketchy Thursdays 11.4. I used Nikki Sivils Tree Love which I love love love!!! I cut out and popped the line of trees and grass across the center of the page. What a pain! While I was doing it I wished the idea had never occurred to me. But I love how it turned out.

Here is one more layout with Nikki Sivils Tree Love but the sketch is from Nuts About Sketches. My BFF Theresa is a design team member there and I had yet to do one of their sketches. What kind of friend am I? But this weeks sketch is a super cute single pager. Lots of cutting and popping on this layout as well but not nearly as intricate.

This layout is for Sketch Challenge #34 over at Sketchabilities. I used Sassafrass Lass Nerdy Bird. The pictures are of Marin pretending to go to school. She picked out her clothes herself (pajama bottoms) and she filled her backpack with toy bracelets, keys, perfume and a ring.

Lastly, here are some projects I finished for Marit's Mixed Emotions Art Journaling Class.

These were for the Loneliness prompt and the Joy prompt. It's kind of sad that for the loneliness prompt I do a page about our dog Stain. Stain has kind of taken a back seat since we've had kids. But wherever the kids are, that's where you'll usually find him. The joy project looks a lot like a scrapbook layout. All it needs is a photo. But I used some of my favorite paper and I love how the paper weeve turned out.

Happy Halloween?

2010-11-03T10:22:00.000-04:00

This isn’t actually a picture of Marin on Halloween. I always have the kid’s pictures taken in their Halloween costumes early in October and a friend took this one. I just got the picture and had to post it, I love it! I’m cropping at the LSS this weekend (so excited) and I know I’m going to crop this picture. So are there any good title ideas out there?

Scrap Slacker

2010-11-01T19:06:00.000-04:00

I've been such a scrappy slacker. At least it feels that way. Work has been crazy busy. I'm also relieved that Halloween is over. I love the holiday but it's such a busy week with the kids. Now Marin is feeling under the weather so she kept us up most of last night. The DH took her to the Dr. today so hopefully she has a better night tonight. Woe is me! Enough whining already!!! As far as crafting, I'm working on a Christmas gift of which I can't post any pictures and I'm also taking Marit's Mixed Emotions class. Which I'm loving but I admit it's been a bit of a struggle. I'm totally new to art journaling. Below is my first project for the class and I'm about a week behind on on the second project. I've been working on it but gel medium is not my friend.... yet!

Oh, no... why is Marin wiping yogurt off of the dog. I'm going to ignore it or I may never get back to this blog post. I absolutely had to get online to post my layout for this months challenge over at Scrapbookers Anonymous. I'm really excited about this challenge, it's to use holiday paper for a non-holiday layout. Here's my layout.

I used some fun Fancy Pants Halloween paper and a bunch of bat embellies. Head on over to Scrapbookers Anonymous and check out what the design team created!!

Sketchy Thursdays November GDT

2010-10-20T21:22:00.001-04:00

Well once again I'm submitting a layout for Sketchy Thursdays Guest Design Team. The requirements for the November challenge are to use the sketch (of course), use the color orange, and include at least one punched item in your layout. I love the sketch, I love orange, and I just got some new Fiskars cloud punches that I've been wanting to use.

The main paper is Heidi Grace and then I used some scraps of Cosmo Cricket, Fancy Pants, and Crate. I had a lot of fun with the ribbon and the doodling I did on the clouds. I love how the doodling turned out!

Oh and don't forget to get over to Scrapbookers Annonymous to submit for this months challenge!!! Seriously, you'll have a great chance at winning some fantastic goodies

Finally a new post

2010-10-13T21:46:00.000-04:00

Hello blogging buddies!! Been sooooo busy but have squeezed in some crafting so I thought I'd share. I've been working on little projects that I've been meaning to do but just haven't gotten around to. This is a little treasure box that I decorated for Gavin.

It's by Making Memories and was bought at Crop Chocolate for a steal. I didn't do anything fancy with it because it's for a 4-year old to use. I misted it and added some Fancy Pants Rough and Tough paper. Gavin loves it. He puts all his treasures in there... bottle caps, mighty beans, polished rocks, marbles.

This next project is a magnet board that I bought awhile ago and never really loved. I altered it with alot of flowers now I love it!!!

That's about it. My BFF Thersa is coming over this weekend to scrap so I'm looking forward to actually work on a couple of layouts!!!

A 2-Pager!!!

2010-10-02T16:42:00.000-04:00

It's only Saturday afternoon and I've finished a 2-pager. I don't like doing 2-pagers as much as single page layouts but I loved this sketch from Let's Scrap. The pictures are of Gavin from last summer. He and I went to visit my mom in the Upper Penininsula. If you're ever in Michigan and driving along US-2 in the U.P. on a beautiful summer day, you have to stop along the beach of Lake Michigan. Gavin had a blast, it was so much fun to watch him!

Well after I decided what I wanted to scrap I went over to Scrapping the Music and was thrilled when I saw that the song this week was called Flying without Wings. I think it's the perfect title with the picture of Gavin with his arms out.

This is not my typical layout. Many different manufacturers in this one and I put together some papers that I never would have thought would go together but I'm really happy with the final product!

Scrapbookers Anonymous October Challenge

2010-10-01T07:20:00.000-04:00

It's October!!! My favorite month. The beginning of the month is so beautiful here in Michigan with all the leaves changing colors and it ends with Halloween candy!!! Can it get much better? Well since it's a new month it means we've posted a new challenge over at Scrapbookers Anonymous. As always the challenges are meant to get you to use stuff you've had for awhile. This month you need to use at least 3 types of patterned paper by 3 different manufacturers. Here's my LO. I used a fun sketch from Design Dollies for this one.

The pictures are of Gavin and his forced smile... sigh... he has such a nice natural smile, it's just so hard to capture. But I thought I should scrap about his forced smiles, maybe one day the LO will make him smile =)

Finally!!

2010-09-26T20:38:00.000-04:00

Finally a LO I can post. Okay so I made a post on Scrapbookers Anonymous about all the amazing challenge sites out there and stated that I'm going to challenge myself only to scrap challenges. So below I have sketch 9.23 from Sketchy Thursdays and this weeks challenge from Scrapping the Music in one LO!! And the LO is actually done on time to be submitted!!!

The song this week at Scrapping to the Music is Hand in my Pocket by Alanis Morissette. Great song! I chose the line, "I haven't got it all figured out just yet." I thought it fit with these pictures of Marin attempting to diaper Gavin's Woody doll. This weeks sketch at Sketchy Thursdays is a 2-pager but I modified it a bit. This fabulous paper was given to me by my scrappy friend Jill who DOES NOT HAVE A BLOG! Gasp! I believe the paper is by Heidi Grace. (Theresa please correct me if I'm wrong.) Embellishments are from Making Memories, SEI, Kaiser, Cosmo, Colorbok, Queen and Co. and I can't really remember. The funky metal flower clips came in a package in the dollar section at Michaels. Gotta love a deal!

I also wanted to mention that there is still time to submit a LO for this months challenge over at Scrapbookers Anonymous. Theresa and I have a little goody pack of Sassafrass Lass that is ready to go to the winner. Go HERE and click on templates to the left of the screen and link up to Mr. Linky!!!

Oh, and don't forget the Scrapbookers Anonymous Design Team call!

DT Needed at Scrapbookers Anonymous

2010-09-23T07:57:00.001-04:00

As many of you know, my friend Theresa and I started the challenge blog, Scrapbookers Anonymous. Well we're having a design team call. It's not very demanding as far as design teams go, and Theresa is going to make a cool blinkie that you can put on your blog. So go HERE and check it out!!!

Sketchy Thursdays October GDT

2010-09-15T22:52:00.002-04:00

Well it's time once again to submit a LO for Sketchy Thursdays GDT. This was an interesting sketch and it turned out to be a lot of fun to do. Although I don't know that I want to use rubons again in the near future, it took awhile. When I use rubons... I really use rubons. This is another picture from our recent vacation. It's been a struggle for a while to get a picture of Gavin where he's not making a goofy face. He's recently come to realize that I'll get the camera out of his face if he cooperates and smiles. But look at that smile, it should be captured. This is a very me LO. I really like how it turned out.

The rubons are Basic Grey. The blue felt flowers and the little worm are Sassafrass Lass, the almost always present Maya Mist and thank you to Theresa for giving me the bakers twine!!!

Sketchy Thursdays 9.09

2010-09-12T16:20:00.000-04:00

Here is my take on this weeks Sketchy Thursdays LO. I just bought the new My Minds Eye princess and crown sheet of paper, which is part of the new Lost & Found line, and was thrilled when I got it home and found that it went well with My Minds Eye Laundtry Line paper that I still have. So all the paper on this LO is My Minds Eye, there are also Prima flowers, Making Memories clears, and a Jenni Bowlin journaling card.

Sketchy 9.02 and Blog Award

2010-09-08T21:08:00.000-04:00

Well I'm home from vacation and am getting my LO for Sketchy Thursdays uploaded just in time. I rotated the sketch and used pictures from our vacation. We took the SS Badger car ferry acrosse Lake Michigan. The kids loved it because there is so much to do on the ferry. There's a movie room, a play room, an arcade, food to buy and Gavin even played bingo. But the best thing about taking the ferry is that the kids fall asleep in car right away afterwards!!!

The paper in this LO is Joy Ride by Cosmo Cricket. LOVE this line!!!

And look, the lovely Deb gave me a blog award!!!

Thanks Deb, I'm happy to be considered your friendly blogger friend!!!

On Vacation

2010-09-01T08:00:00.004-04:00

Well we're still on vacation so nothing scrappy to post, but taking some great pictures!!! However I wanted to get online to mention that my friend Theresa and I have started our own little challenge blog. Mostly to force ourselves to use our lost and forgotten items. You see, we're collectors (like many of you are I'm sure:) We just have to get the cutest latest things then don't get a chance to use them and new cute things come out that we MUST have! So this challenge blog is meant to help us dig into the depths of our stashes and use those forgotten or hard to use goodies. The blog is called Scrapbookers Anonymous and can be found HERE!!! Go check out the first challenge!!!

I'm on vacation!!!

2010-08-29T17:04:00.001-04:00

My family and I are on vacation in Minnesota!!! Right now the kids and I are relaxing in the hotel room while the DH is out picking up a few things. So I thought it was a great oppurtunity to get online. We're in the Minneapolis/St Paul area and of course we had to take the kids to the Mall of America. Here is a picture of the kids and myself from just this morning.

Julie T-W has a picture taken monthly of herself with her kids an I want to get in the habit of doing the same... even if I don't like how I look in the picture :). So consider this our first monthly picture!!!

Cherry On Top Award

2010-08-26T20:40:00.000-04:00

The fabulous Midwest Girl Sue was kind enough to give me a blog award. I've never received one of these so lets see if I get it right. So here's what I need to do to accept the award.

1. You must thank the person who passed it on to you

THANK YOU SUE!!!

2. copy award to your blog

3. list three things you love about yourself:

1. I'm blessed with a wonderful husband and 2 great kids.

2. I'm living in my dream house.

3. I have the most wonderful mother in the world!!!

(no wonder I turned out so great ;)

4. post a picture that you love on your blog

This is a picture of my Grandparents. My Grandpa passes away years before I was born and my Grandma when I was about 8. I need to to do a LO of this one don't I?!

5. Pass award on to five (5) others.

This is the hard one:

1. Jennifer's Jumbles

2. A World of Imagination

3. Crafts and Coffee

4. Little Nugget Creations

5. My Memories, My Journal

Okay, I think that's it. Hopefully I did it right. Visit the 5 blogs above!!! They're lots of fun!!

Love this LO!!!

2010-08-22T15:39:00.000-04:00

I LOVE this first LO!! Yesterday we took the kids to the fair. Marin and I were waiting for Tim and Gavin who were on the ferris wheel. I was of course trying to snap some pictures of them while they were going around. I glanced down at Marin and snapped the picture in this LO. Pure gold!!! This LO is based on sketch #22 from Sketchabilities. Paper is from Echo Park, letters are Sassafrass Lass, and of course some Maya Mist.

This next LO is a bit different for me. Using this American Crafts line was challenging but overall I like the final product. I realized while working on this LO that I own no black buttons!! I'm surprised I never noticed this sooner but I made due with what I have. But I will be buying some black buttons soon!!!