Supermama's Scraps

Faux ribbon and a few cards

2012-01-28T10:04:00.002-06:00

One of my favorite "go to" techniques is this faux ribbon one, which I learned from Kate Vickers on the Inspired To Scrap forum. I used it on this card for my daughter's baby shower (the general design is from the book that came with my Cricut "Graphically Speaking" cartridge. Don't you just love that cute little baby carriage?)

Here's a quick how-to for the faux ribbon:

You will need a hot glue gun; tape runners and wet adhesives tend not to work well with this technique. Plug it in before you start so that it's good and hot when you need it.

First, cut a backing strip of paper in the length that you want your completed ribbon strip; cut the width a little smaller. Then, cut a strip from your patterned paper, two to three times the length that you want for your final ribbon strip.

You can ink the edges if you would like; Ranger Distress Ink works well because it will react and "run" just a bit when you do the next step ..... which is, to spritz the strip with water (or glimmer mist, if you like) and wad it into a ball. You want it to be wet enough to crumple well and so you can manipulate it easily, but not so much that it disintegrates in your hand. It should be somewhat "soggy".

Un-wad your paper carefully. Now, apply a bit of hot glue to your backing strip, adhere the end of your patterned paper strip, and start pleating. I use kind of a box pleat method, but you can also accordian pleat your paper. Adhere with the hot glue as you proceed. Give the paper a little push into the hot glue (careful though! I've burned myself once or twice when I've been in a hurry) to make sure the pleat "catches".

I'm not very exact during this step. I like the effect of "messy" pleats. You can add as many or as few pleats as you like. When you're finished, you can add a little spritz of glimmer mist; I have a clear sparkle one that just adds a bit of shine, and I like to use that.

Here's my completed faux ribbon strip, up close:

When it's all dry, adhere to your project; I do use my tape runner for that part.

Once again -- thank you, Kate, for posting this technique on Inspired To Scrap!

I've been in a card making mode the past week or two, and digging into the remnants of past kits. That fits in nicely with the January "Scrap Your Stash" theme of the Blue Plate Special challenges on Cookin' Up Creations. And then there was the one hour sketch challenge last Saturday on My Sketch World's forum. Five card sketches were unveiled at 9 pm eastern time, and we had one hour to make as many cards as we could using the sketches, then another 20 minutes to post. I completed three (and threw away a fourth because it just didn't work out) Here's what I came up with:

My mom and my oldest daughter had birthdays earlier this week (my daughter missed being born on Mom's birthday by one hour and 25 minutes)I created this one for my daughter, using the same faux ribbon technique:

And for my mom"

This week, we're looking forward to the beginning of The NEXT CROP CHEF competition at Cookin' Up Creations. It's a non-elimination contest with six challenges over three weeks. The person with the most points at the end of the contest will be named CROP CHEF and will win a prize package, plus the opportunity to be "Chef of the Month" and join the challenge team in presenting challenges, layout of the week and question of the day in March. Come on over and sign up!

Thanks for looking -- have a great week!

Are you the NEXT CROP CHEF?

2012-01-23T10:44:00.000-06:00

Do YOU have what it takes .... to be the NEXT CROP CHEF? Come on over to the Cookin' Up Scrapbooking Creations forum in February and find out!

Our second annual CROP CHEF competition begins Thursday, February 2 on the Cookin' Up Creations forum. This is a non-elimination challenge. Entrants earn points through their participation; and the person with the most points at the end of the competition will be named CROP CHEF! If you remember last year, we had a great time and saw some fabulous layouts created. We're hoping for an even bigger turn out this year :grin:

There are a total of six challenges (on Thursdays and Mondays) over three weeks. Forum members will vote on their favorites, and points will be given. There will be other fun ways to earn points. At the close of the competition, the participant with the most total points will be named CROP CHEF!

There will be a prize package and the opportunity to be CHEF OF THE MONTH on the Cookin' Up Creations forum. More information and details are available now on the forum; and sign-ups have already begun. Come on over and join us!

Scrapping on a snowy evening

2012-01-20T21:02:00.000-06:00

After a very warm. mild December and first part of January, we've finally been hit in the last week with some freezing temperatures and a few inches of snow. My scrap room is warm and cozy -- a great place to spend a snowy evening!

After more than 6 years, I'm still working on my Hong Kong trip album! I chose 7Gypsies' Gypsy Market collection three years ago for the album, and even though there are tons of exciting lines out there, I still love the way this collection goes with my photos. My after school program kids and I are enjoying some activities centered upon the upcoming Chinese New Year, so I took my album and photos to work to show the kids. I expected oohs and aahs over the colorful photos from Wan Chai, the flowers and colorful wares from Stanley Market, the Folk Culture Village in Shenzhen, China and the historical pageant we saw there. Instead, what did I hear? "Look, there's a picture of Miss Barb. Wow, you really look different!" Didn't you see the beautiful costumes? "Yeah. Wow Miss Barb, you didn't have gray hair then!" Kids -- gotta love 'em!

Anyway ..... since I still have photos waiting to be scrapped, and the theme of this month's Blue Plate Special challenges at Cookin' Up Creations is to use our stash, I paired a few photos with the 7Gypsies paper for a Scraplift a Member challenge. Here's what I came up with:

This page addressed the friendliness of the people my co-worker and I met during our week in Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

The owner of the local scrapbooking store, Scrap That Moment, asked me to work with Studio Calico's "Classic Calico" line of papers and die cut stickers, along with Mr. Huey's mists and masks. I chose the spray mist in "Cameo" with coordinating Worldwin cardstock for this one:

The photo is from younger daughter' wedding in April 2010. This layout proved to be a real bugger to photograph; no matter what I did, the details just didn't show to their best advantage. Here's a better look at some of the components:

After using the butterfly masks with the Cameo mist for the background, I traced the butterflies onto some of the patterned paper and cut them out, then wrapped May Arts twine around them.

The dress form is a Clear Scraps shape, stamped first with a script stamp and Staz-On ink, then backed with patterned paper. I made the flower by cutting patterned paper and tissue paper with a Sizzix floral die, some of which were sprayed with mist and/or inked. The curls are small strips of paper.

I went with gold colored cardstock for this one, using Sketch 189 from Creative Scrappers:

The birds and cage also are Clear Scraps shapes. I painted the cage with gold acrylic paint, then again with gold glitter paint. The birds were stamped first and then backed with cardstock. I embossed cardstock with a Cuttlebug folder and inked, then placed behind the photo. I made the big flower; the orange ones were white flowers that I stamped and then sprayed with the Cameo mist. The pearls are a strand of trim from Joann's dollar bins. This is older daughter and her husband in 2001.

This was reveal week at My Sketch World, and this is my card created from the January card sketch. Again, I found it very difficult to scan or photograph this one to its best advantage:

Our snow from last weekend was washed away by rain early in the week, only to be replaced with today's snow fall and some bitter cold temperatures. Thinking that a cup of steaming cocoa with marshmallows would be good right about now ....

Have a great weekend!

A few cards ....

2012-01-14T12:48:00.000-06:00

I was in card making mode this week, and working with 6 x 6 pads from Authentique's Journey and Blissful lines. I created ATCs and used them on these two:

For the following two cards, I used a faux ribbon technique with patterned paper strips -- one of my new favorite "go to" techniques:

For this card, I glamorized a chipboard butterfly that's been in my stash for years with paint, stamping, glitter paint and Stickles glitter glue. I also used alcohol ink to recolor a few stick-on gems:

All of the cards were produced for various Blue Plate Special challenges at the Cookin' Up Scrapbooking Creations Forum. The Master Chef Challenge Team members present a different BPS challenge each day on the forum; if you complete at least 15 of the January challenges by February 2, your name is entered into the Dessert Tray prize drawing. This month, the prize is a $20 gift card to the online store of your choice. There's still plenty of time to join in! And watch this week for the 2012 CROP CHEF contest announcement .....

Sketch class at Inspired To Scrap, week 1

2012-01-08T13:29:00.000-06:00

The January sketch class at Inspired to Scrap is up and running! I love Stacey's sketches ... I'll be creating sample layouts for three of the upcoming classes. If you're not in the class, you haven't missed it ... you can still register here for just $15. That includes access to a pdf file of all the sketches and lessons (or one of sketches only, if you prefer) after the class has ended.

Meanwhile, here are two more post-Christmas layouts based on Stacey's sketches:

My older daughter took this adorabl photo of her younger son, Cameron, getting ready to bake cookies for Santa. He was so excited about using her new shiny red Kitchenaid mixer and wearing his new chef's hat and apron! This layout answers the requirements for the New Year's Blog Hop layout at My Scraps & More -- chipboard (hat little star on the tree in the right corner); twine (in the buttons and tag); buttons; a journaling card; and two fonts in the title.

The papers are from WRMK's Peppermint Twist collection. Those hand painted buttons are from the etsy shop Such Sweet Tierney.

I used Crate Paper's Snowy Day collection from last year for this layout featuring my youngest granddaughter on Christmas Eve. She was too engrossed in her presents to look at the camera, so we can't see much of her beautifully expressive face. I added Stickles and rhinestones for some girly bling.

This is going to be a scrappy Sunday afternoon for me; how about you? Have a great week!

Last layout of 2011 ....

2012-01-06T21:28:00.003-06:00

Like many other "life artists", I just couldn't wait to dig into those Christmas season photos; and this year is no exception. My last layout of 2011 (finished on New Year's Eve) features my oldest daughter's two boys visiting with the Santa Claus at their local mall:

Isn't he just about the best Santa EVER? The papers are from WRMK's "Peppermint Twist" collection. The layout design is based on a Liz Chidester sketch.

I'm proud to be continuing for the Winter 2012 term (January-June) as Coordinator of the Master Chef Challenge Team at Cookin' Up Creations. My first layout of 2012 was posted with my Challenge Team introduction for the new term, and includes my only New Year's resolution:

The papers are Basic Grey and My Mind's Eye. The sketch is from Sketch Inspiration.

At Cookin' Up Creations, a team member posts a new "Blue Plate Special" challenge each day except Monday, and anyone who completes at least 15 of the posted challenges for the month gets her name in a prize drawing. The challenges range from techniques to popular products, sketches, inspiration and more; they're a great way to wake up the mojo! With 10 designers on the team, the challenges are varied and fun. And look for our second annual Crop Chef competition in February!

If you love sketches, there's still time to join the sketches class at Inspired To Scrap! The class is just $15 and includes 17 never before seen sketches by Stacey Lokovic, as well as a private class forum, a chance to win prizes and, at the end of the class, a PDF of all the sketches and class notes. I'm on the "Dream Team" of design team alumni who are preparing sample layouts for the class; and I have to say, the sketches are so much fun to work with!

Thanks for looking; and have a happy and healthy 2012!

Merry Day After Christmas!

2011-12-26T09:27:00.001-06:00

What inspires you to scrap? Seeing this sweet photo from my older daughter of my grandsons and their dog inspired me to dig out the Christmas paper. At the same time, I saw a fantastic sketch by Mary Pat Siehl on the Burlap and Buttercups blog. The papers are Fancy Pants Traditions, paired with Crate Paper Snow Day chipboard and some Stickles for a little sparkle

Today is my official Christmas holiday from work; hoping to get a bit of scrapping done. Have a great day!

A "Sassy" board book

2011-12-25T09:20:00.004-06:00

I created this book for Scrap That Moment , a wonderful new scrapbook store here in town. The book is the "Sassy" Mixables Album from Clear Scraps; so much fun to work with! The patterned papers, most of the stickers and embellishments are from the "Off to School" collection from Fancy Pants Designs. The papers are so versatile -- great for so much more than school related projects. The ribbons are from Creative Imaginations and May Arts.

I adhered patterned paper to the back of the first acrylic panel, then added the title and stickers with foam dots to the front of the panel. This little album included three acrylic and three chipboard pages.

The Off to School collection included some fun stickers, and most of them were not limited just to back to school photos.

Those stickers were even more fun when layered! I used Staz-On ink around the edges of the acrylic panels; loved the effect.

The line also has some really fun chipboard banners, stars and other self adhesive shapes. I would swear I'm not really "into" banners, but I loved these!

For the circular collage on the right page, I used my Spellbinders Grand Calibur and Nestabilities dies to cut a circle out of scrap paper to the circle; adhered the photos to the scrap; and then used the circle die again to cut the collage into the round shape. I loved the way it turned out! It's always a thrill when an experiment turns out well, isn't it?

The Fancy Pants papers are two sided, which is fun when you're working with acrylic pages. That sticker on the bottom said "School is Cool" but to make it work for this book, I simply covered it up so it just said "Cool".

In addition to "not being into banners", I also swore "I don't do mini books"; but this year, I've done several and decided that I like doing them. The book is still on display in the store; looking forward to bringing it back home soon!

Our children visited us for the holidays either last weekend or on Christmas Eve, and my mom joined us for both; so today is a quiet Christmas for my husband and me. I'm making sausage gravy and biscuits for breakfast, then I think the day will be spent scrapping, reading and napping -- not necessarily in that order.

Have a wonderful holiday season!

I've been scrapping .... really .....

2011-12-16T19:13:00.001-06:00

I'm not sure where the time has gone, but I can't believe how long it's been since I did a "real" blog post! I've been scrapping .... really .... but just haven't gotten over here to post. That's unusual for me, since I;m usually more than happy to share my recent projects!

Have you seen the "Christmas Emporium" collection by Graphic 45? It's so gorgeous -- the photos online don't begin to do it justice. I love the subtle, yet rich vintage colors and images. Lynette, the owner of Scrap That Moment here in town, asked me to design some layouts for display in the store. I did three:

Here are close ups of the fussy cutting in the lower right and the little "ornaments" I created by die cutting circles from the toy--patterned paper:

I drew my own templates and hand-cut the banners for this layout. The faux ribbon was created by inking and wetting a strip of patterned paper, then hot-gluing it to a scrap piece of cardstock and adhering to the layout. It's a technique from fellow Inspired To Scrap design team member Kate Vickers.

Inspired To Scrap hosted a month-long "Fast, Flat and Fabulous" class, and I created several class examples but couldn't post them (other than on the class forum) until after the class was over. Stacey, the owner of Inspired To Scrap, allowed me to present a lesson on using big, bold graphic prints. I used several examples, but this was the one I created especially for the class using the Corinne collection from s.e.i.

This lesson involved one of Stacey's fabulous sketches, plus tips on "creating" custom buttons using rub ons and die cuts:

This was for a lesson on using limited supplies, plus another of Stacey's sketches:

And this one was a quick layout in response to a current Blue Plate Special challenge on Cookin' Up Creations. There's a new challenge every day (except Monday), with a prize drawing at the end of each month.

2011-12-12T11:03:00.001-06:00

Do you love scrapbooking challenges? Do you enjoy chatting on forums and making new online friends? Then you may have what it takes to be a member of our Master Chef Challenge Team at Cookin' Up Scrapbook Creations!

Cookin' Up Creations focuses on our Blue Plate Special Challenges, and we want YOU to be a part of it! We offer a NEW challenge each day except Mondayon our forum, with a prize drawing at the end of the month. We are looking for five to six team members for a six-month term.

Your responsibilities will include:
-Presenting a “Blue Plate Special” challenge once a week
-Posting regularly on the forum message board and initiating at least four new topics each week
-Posting comments regularly in our members' gallery
-Assisting with and participating in special events, such as crops, blog hops and special challenges
-Promoting Cookin' Up Creations on your personal blog, Facebook and wherever else allowed

We offer you the opportunity to showcase your work and a chance to expand your creativity through participation on our active, dynamic Challenge Team. Challenge Team members are eligible for the prize drawings. All past and present members are encouraged to reapply.

Submissions will be taken through Sunday December the 18th, 2011 at 9:00 pm EST. Challenge Team members will be notified no later than December 23rd, 2011 via email. Your position will begin immediately after your acceptance. Your “official” term will begin on January 1, 2012 and end June 30, 2012.

To apply:
Send the following requirements to tammy@cookinupcreations.com. Please put "Design Team Entry" in the subject line.
-Your name, address, email address and contact information
- A paragraph or two about yourself and your experience in scrapbooking and paper crafting
-Four recently completed layouts and two cards or other paper crafting project
-Links to your personal blog and online gallery
-A paragraph about why you wish to join our team

Each applicant must have at least 25 posts on our forum. We would like to have the opportunity to get to know you before making our decision, and encourage you to share your work with us, and for you to become a part of our online Family here at Cookin' up Creations.

We encourage each applicant/participant to check out our Blue Plate Special Challenge Forum, and familiarize yourself with it, and how it works.
*If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Best of luck to all applicants -- this is a GREAT site and team!

12 Tags of Christmas - Day 1!

2011-12-08T09:27:00.001-06:00

Okay, so I am a little behind in starting; but I love Tim Holtz' 12 Tags of Christmas series and I'm hoping to get to all twelve this year!

Here's Tim's tag:

Now, I didn't have the grungeboard, dies and a few other things that Tim used for his tag -- but as Tim himself says, he provides the inspiration and we can run with what we have. So ... with that said, here's my version:

I used a manilla tag from an office supply store; sprayed it with homemade blue shimmering ink; embossed it with a Cuttlebug Textile folder and rubbed Ranger Distress Ink in Broken China over the embossing, then wiped some off; and around the edges. I ripped music paper from Flair Designs, inked it with Tea Dye and Old Paper Distress Inks, and adhered. The swirl is a Grungeboard Element, inked with various distress inks (not sure what I used; I inked it a long time ago and never used it) The little branches are a Martha Stewart punch. I made a rosette with a border strip of paper by My Mind's Eye; I could have used my Tim Holtz Sizzix rosette die but didn't want to haul out the diecutter. I don't have the pine cone die, so I cut a circle, then spiral cut it; ripped the edge of the spiral and rolled up like those little spiral roses that some of us make. The pine cones were dabbed with Ranger Distress Stickles in Rock Candy and dipped into glitter; I also glittered the top of the rosette. The PEACE is a chipboard word, I think from Maya Road but not sure. The stick pins are Maya Road. I painted it with silver glitter paint from Plaid; got it at Walmart. The pearl strip is from Hobby Lobby, and the ribbon is left over from a used up kit. I didn't buy anything special ... but then, it was 10 pm on a weeknight in small town, so not a lot of shopping options anyway!

I made one HUGE mess on my work table and had loads of fun.

We've moved!

2011-11-18T20:36:00.002-06:00

After spending the past two and a half months planning, purging and packing, we finally moved into our new home about three weeks ago. We still have a few boxes to unpack (mostly framed photos and room decor that will most likely stay in the boxes until after Christmas, so I can put up the tree and the holiday decorations this weekend or next) but it feels and looks like "home". And I'm happy that I have a scrap room of my own here; it's a bit smaller than the old one, but with a couple of bookcases and a nice little walk-in closet, everything "fits".

Here's my new creative space:

My work table, next to an eastward facing window that catches the morning sun:

We had a couple of bookcases that we no longer need elsewhere; love having all of my albums in here

And a little walk in closet that holds scrap stuff, Christmas decorations and a few other miscellaneous things, along with a maple desk that belonged to my mother in law:

For the past couple of weeks, I've been working on layouts for the Fast, Flat and Fabulous" class at Inspired To Scrap. The class is going on now until the end of the month, and we're having a great time!
We also have our usual monthly challenges on the forum. I completed this one for fellow design team member Kate's challenge to mix alphas:

I also used this week's sketch at Sketch Inspiration.

This layout was not one of my lesson samples for the "Fast, Flat and Fabulous" class, but I did create it in response to one of the other lessons. This grid design was great for hiding my less than perfect photos from "Boo at the Zoo" with Wonder Woman, also known as Anna, my youngest granddaughter. I just cropped the photos to 2 3/4 inches square and used the best part of the shots.

I used LilyBee's Memorandum line on both layouts. Anna's costume clashed with traditional Halloween paper, but the Lilybee paper had a nice autumn feel and went perfectly with the colors in my photos.

For the November card sketch at My Sketch World, I created this card for my grandson Ryan's 12th birthday. The papers are from Dream Street Papers and have been in my stash for a while.

Tonight I have a mixed media album from Clear Scraps on my table, along with some Fancy Pants "Off to School" papers. The finished project will go on display at Scrap That Moment, the new scrapbook store uptown. I also still have some Halloween photos of two of my grandsons to scrap. What's on your scrap table this weekend?

And last but not least ... a sonogram of my newest grandson, who is due around the end of March 2012 (he will be our 7th grandchild and he tips the scales in favor of the boys -- there will be four grandsons when this baby arrives):

Have a great weekend!

Another mini album ....

2011-10-29T09:19:00.000-05:00

This month at Inspired To Scrap, the design team has been featuring a free series on mini albums. I shared mine last week, using mini file folders and featuring faux epoxy letters. Inspired by the work of my fellow designers, I also created a little 6x6 chipboard album for my youngest granddaughter. The features fun, bright animal prints from Canvas Corp, along with a little Bella Blvd and Fancy Pants.

Usually I take photos of everything I scrap -- but I was in a hurry to get Halloween cards sent out to the grandkids, so I didn't take photos of the ones I made. We're in Wisconsin today, getting ready to attend Boo at the Zoo with our youngest granddaughter. Looking forward to scrapping some cute Halloween pics next week! We've moved to our new home, things are still in boxes but I will be digging out those scrap supplies ASAP.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great week!

"Fast, Flat and Fabulous" class starts Tuesday!

2011-10-29T09:07:00.000-05:00

November 1-30- “Fast, Flat and Fabulous!” -- This fun new class starts Tuesday at Inspired To Scrap, with a full month of inspiration to help you create quick pages that look great with products you already have. The Design Team will be presenting pages and ideas with embellishments no thicker than a button in this fun class! *Look for a few new sketches sprinkled in along the way! We’ll have sharing, prizes and encouragement along the way.There will be a class PDF sent out after class ends with all of the information presented. To register, go to Inspired To Scrap!

Where does the time go????

2011-10-22T15:05:00.000-05:00

I feel as though I'm meeting myself coming and going lately (to use one of my grandmother's phrases). Between a split work shift and moving, it seems that time for scrapping and relaxing is at a premium.

I created a mini album for a free class that's going on now at Inspired To Scrap. I made a mini file folder album, using a summer kit from Sweet Peach Crop Shop and a template from the book Outstanding Mini Albums. The photos are from an afternoon at the pool with my older daughter, her family and my younger daughter's little girl.

I presented a tutorial on making those faux epoxy letters. I used the same technique for the butterflies on the last pages.

You can see the entire class and all of the Design Team members' albums and tutorials here.

I also finished a layout for a challenge at both Inspired To Scrap and Cookin' Up Creations. This is my oldest granddaughter when she was not quite 2 years old, telling our then-young dog to "Shh, go sleep doggy!" Ironically, that's exactly what poor Pepper was trying to do when this little girl kept bothering him.

I'm still in love with the "Le Cirque" line from Graphic45 and created a card and a set of Artist Trading Cards for Scrap That Moment, our local scrapbooking store. This is the card:

and the ATCs:

Finally, my card for the September card sketch at My Sketch World, using the Blackbird line from last year by My Mind's Eye:

Next week I will post another mini album (this time created for Scrap That Moment and Canvas Corp) and the result of my first-ever designs working with Hambly Screen Prints. Have a great week!

Is it spring already????

2011-10-08T22:16:00.000-05:00

For the past few days, we have had gorgeous weather -- sunshine, blue skies, and temperatures in the high 70's and low 80's. It's hard to remember that it's the beginning of October and not May!!!! We're in full packing mode (hoping to move into our new home next weekend, if all goes well) but I've been able to set aside a little time to scrap. It's kind of my little oasis of calm in the middle of a hectic week.

This layout was based on a layout by Jennifer Larsen, which in turn was based on a sketch by Allison Davis on the Sketch Support blog. I loved the grid design, the white space and the way in which Jennifer's layout used minimal paper and embellishments but still managed to look fabulous. Here's my version, featuring photos of three of our grandchildren during our recent hometown celebration. The papers are s.e.i.'s Corinne collection.

I used a sketch by Lucy Chesna of My Sketch World for this layout of my older son when he was a year old. I've had this photo in a little frame for the past 30 years; I've always loved it because it's just so typical of his sunny disposition at that age. I used the remainder of my June Juicy kit from Sweet Peach Crop Shop kit -- great way to use up some scraps!

I designed this little card for display at the local scrapbooking store, using a card sketch by Lucy Chesna. The acrylic dress form from Clear Scraps was so much fun to work with!

The Worldwin cardstock works wonderfully with my dies and die cutter. Love it! The zebra print is from Canvas Corp; so is the green and white print that I used for my lollipop flowers. I dressed up the clear dress form by first stamping it with a little Studio G stamp and Staz-On ink, then coloring with Ranger alcohol ink. I gathered a bit of lace and added dots of Stickles (in Lagoon, my new favorite Stickles color!) and some little pearl stickers. I covered brads in Versamark ink and then in holographic embossing powder for a little extra bling.

This month at Inspired To Scrap, Stacey and the Design Team are offering a free inspiration class on Mini Albums. Stacey's little travel album is featured this week and is so cute; be sure to check it out! Right now I'm working on my mini; it's coming along nicely so far. Here's a sneak peek:

Thanks for looking; have a great week!

Hooray for the weekend!

2011-10-01T14:44:00.002-05:00

The past week has just seemed so long, and I've had little time to spend scrapping. I've been looking forward all week to a little time by myself in my scrap room, just in time for all the World Card Making Day challenges and events online.

Again this week, I used the Graphic 45 "Le Cirque" collection for some serious fussy cutting. This time, the subject was a family portrait at our youngest daughter's wedding last year. It already had been a long day when we started posing. By that time, we were all getting a little tired of "smiling pretty" for the camera. One grandson didn't want to be in the photo and, in fact, was not in the first two shots. The younger kids were distracted, we were all looking every way except at the camera, and my new son-in-law probably was looking around for the exit door .... A year later, I love this photo more than the more perfectly posed ones, because this one is "us."

The layout was based on a sketch by Heather Landry from the Scraptastic Club blog. Other supplies include the striped paper by Fancy Pants, Peeled Paint Distress Stickles by Ranger (over the title letters), various other Stickles colors, Carolee by Adorn-It alpha stickers, and Worldwin cardstock. I used this layout as the example for my October challenge on Inspired to Scrap: you can check it out here!

I finished this one last night using some scraps from Basic Grey's Hello Luscious line and a ledger paper from My Mind's Eye. The photo is a copy of my parents' wedding photo, taken in 1955. The sketch is from Sketch Inspiration. (Sorry for the rotten photo of the layout; for some reason, it would not photograph well and I finally just gave up.)

Finally, I just created this card for my October challenge at My Sketch World. The challenge is to take inspiration from Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night". Here's the painting:

... and here's my card:

The village is a Tim Holtz Sizzix die; the tree is from the Cricut Lite Bloom cartridge; and the cat and raven are from Spellbinders. I used gesso for the wisps of fog, and acrylic paint and Stickles for the highlights and the moon.

Thanks for looking. Have a fantastic World Card Making Day and a great weekend!

Here's what I've been up to ....

2011-09-24T22:58:00.000-05:00

Have you seen the new "Clementine" line by Cosmo Cricket? It's totally adorable, with cute retro patterns and graphics. Lynette, the owner of Scrap That Moment (the new store here in town) asked me to scrap a few layouts with it. Here's what I came up with:

The Clementine papers were perfect with these black and white pictures from 1962. This month, one of the challenges at Inspired To Scrap is to "put a slant" on your layout. (By the way, there's still time to get in on the fun and get your name into the prize drawing, too!) Love the flower and butterfly stickers too!

My youngest granddaughter, Anna, had her face painted at the fun fair over Homestead Festival weekend but didn't feel like posing; so I caught this "cheeky" shot. I adore that paper pattern with all of those little retro stamp motifs!

And this one ... I loved that green floral paper and "had" to do a layout with it. Kept this one clean and classic; it was tough to refrain from adding more embellishments! I did add a little Stickles to the flowers, just for a bit of bling.

My Sketch World hosted another One Hour Sketch Challenge last Saturday night; this is My Mind's Eye Union Square, with a little bit of Basic Grey thrown in. The printed canvas stars are by Jillibean Soup:

This one just makes me happy; it's the Le Cirque line by Graphic 45, another display layout for Scrap That Moment. There is a ton of fussy cutting and layering; I used foam tape to give the curtain and some of the elements more dimension. And I used a ton of Stickles, especially that beautiful turquoise "Lagoon". The photo is from 2001 when I took my youngest daughter, who was 13, to a weekend clowning event near Columbus, OH. I also used this one for my example on a Blue Plate Special challenge at Cookin' Up Creations. The challenge? Use bold colors and a "loud" print!

Thanks for looking -- have a fantastic weekend!

Two new layouts!

2011-09-09T22:10:00.000-05:00

After working on the board album for the past two or three weeks, it felt great to get back to layout scrapping. The owner of our local scrapbook store gave me some Bella Blvd. "Finally Fall" papers and coordinating Ciao Chip. I created two layouts that are on display in the store now.

My oldest daughter took these pictures of her two sons and a friend at Nickelodeon Universe in Mall of America. The title, arrow and borders were all cut from Finally Fall papers.

I adore the cute tree, owl and cloud chipboard! Here's a close up of the title and chip:

This apple paper was so much fun to work with! Again, the papers are Finally Fall and the chipboard is from the same coordinating Ciao Chip. Loved the look of the banner layered with the cloud and "fall" chipboard pices.

Both layouts were based on sketches by Stacey Lokovic of Inspired To Scrap from her August sketch class. The sketches were so easy to work with, and the best part was that they all called only for 4 x 6 photos. No special sizing or cropping needed!

My Sketch World is hosting a month-long ABC crop. There is a new challenge, based on a letter of the alphabet, each day, and the challenges alternate between a layout and a card. This fun card was created for "D is for Diecut". The cake was cut with the "Summer in Paris" Cricut cartridge. The bling doesn't scan well, but those are pink rhinestone swirls.

The annual local Homestead Festival (named in honor of our historic showpiece, the restored homestead of abolitionist and congressman Rev. Owen Lovejoy) Three of our four children (along with two children in law and three grandkids) are in town for the weekend. Hoping to get a few photos from the Fun Fair, parade and other events.

Have a great weekend!

It's finally done!

2011-09-03T22:39:00.000-05:00

I've spent the past two weeks working on a vintage themed board book, and it's FINALLY done!

Before my late mother in law's memory was overtaken by Alzheimer's disease, she put together a binder of old family photos for each of her sons, along with short notations of who was in the photos and when the pictures were taken. I paired a Georgian board album from Kaisercraft with Crate Paper's Portrait Collection, along with a few odds and ends from my stash. I traced and cut the papers to fit the boards, adhered and then sanded the paper. I stained all of the wooden book edges with Ranger Walnut Stain distress ink, then sponged Antique Linen on the along the edges of the papers.

Here's the completed book, from cover to cover:

As I mentioned in my post last week, the top photo shows my mother in law's paternal grandparents on vacation; the bottom photo, her maternal grandparents.

I love the bridesmaids's hats in this photo from my mother in law's parents' wedding in 1916. The bride looked a little less than amused; my guess is that this was still in the day when flash photos required the subjects to remain still, it was after a long day, and she was tired of yet another photo.

The photos show her parents during their courting days in 1915, as a stylish young couple; and at my mother in law's wedding in 1948. They look like the prosperous business owners that they were (he was the third generation to own and operate the family brewery in LaSalle, IL)

The left photo shows my mother in law on her wedding day, along with her sister Jean; and the other photo includes Jean and their brother Jack. My mother in law was one of nine children; Jean and Jack served as the maid of honor and best man.

My husband and I already had decided that my mother in law's surviving sister, Nancy, should be the recipient of this board. Since I thought of it as "Aunt Nancy's book" by the time I reached this point, I included two photos that I found of Aunt Nancy as a young woman.

And this is the final photo. It was taken at a family reunion in perhaps the late 1970's and includes the seven siblings who were still alive at the time. My mother in law is that short lady right in the middle.

I didn't put photos on the back cover, since most likely it will be lying on a table; but I did "sign" it.

My husband was very happy with the way the book turned out (so was I!) It was on display at the local scrapbook store for a few days. The book will be on its way soon to Aunt Nancy in Michigan, along with some copies of photos of my late mother in law. I hope she enjoys looking at the book as much as I enjoyed creating it!

Thanks for stopping by -- have a great Labor Day weekend!

I made the team!!!!!

2011-08-27T14:37:00.000-05:00

I made the team!!!!!

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Stacey Lokovic

Choosing a new Design Team was really hard…there are so many amazingly talented and sweet and wonderful women out there! I hope you will all stick around and join us in being inspired together for the next few months. I can’t wait to get more pages completed with you all.

Announcing our new Design Team:
Barb Prendergast
Julia Short
Kate Vickers

I know you will all love these ladies and their fabulous work! I hope you will join us on the forum and in our classes to be inspired by them. They won’t “officially” start until September 1st, but you can check out their blogs and gallery submissions until then.

**Watch for Guest Design Team Contest details in September!**

If you check out Julia and Kate's blogs, you can see why I'm so honored and thrilled to be chosen along with these talented ladies. My first post on the I2S blog is September 2, and our first challenges go "live" on the forum September 1. We also have lots of other fun things planned for the next four months -- come on over and join in the fun!

The past week, again, has been ultra-crazy. New job, impending move, a health issue with my mom, dealing with realtors and getting ready to sell our house -- not a lot of time left for scrapping! But I do have a work in progress, one that makes me happy. Before her memory failed, my late mother in law gathered some old family photos into an album (in plastic sleeves, thankfully, and not glued to the pages!) along with a brief list of who was in each photo. Her sister celebrated her 80th birthday recently, so I'm making a board book with some copies of those old photos for her. I won the Crate Paper "Portrait" collection, along with a Glue Glider Pro, on the GlueArts Facebook page a while back. And I have a Georgian Board Album by Kaisercraft that is perfect for this little gift book.

This is the cover of the book; the couple is my mother in law's parents back in their "courting days", probably taken in 1915.

I've chosen to keep the pages fairly basic in design, securing each element thoroughly to keep the possibility of detachment to a minimum. I want the pages to be pretty, but those photos should be the stars. These are two of the inside pages. The left side includes my mother in law's grandparents; on the right, her parents' wedding party. Would you believe the couple in the top photo were on vacation at a resort? Apparently, everyone "dressed for dinner" even on vacation.

This page is in progress; both photos show my mother in law's parents at different stages of their lives. After this page, I havethree more photo pages to go. The back of the book is merely covered in paper.

My goal is to finish the book this weekend; we'll see how far I get. Kind of hoping to do a traditional layout or two also, even if I have to lock my craft room door! Thanks for stopping by; have a great day!

Back to School!

2011-08-20T01:11:00.000-05:00

The kids in town are going back to school this coming Monday; and with that, I have a new job! I accepted a position in the before and after school program at a local child enrichment and care center. Since I've been subbing at the center since May, I already know most of the staff, kids and parents. Looking forward to set hours and a "room of my own" -- I'll be in charge of the third through fifth graders.

And it's back to school scrap-wise, too. I combined some Karen Foster papers and rub ons with some Crate Paper Portrait designs for two layouts of my grandsons. I used sketches from the August sketch class at Inspired To Scrap

My grandson Ryan lives in Tennessee. He sent his spring school photo, along with his citizenship certificate and honor roll ribbons, to me so I could see them. I scanned, reduced and printed them on cardstock so I could scrap his achievements and send his awards back to him.

I sent his awards back to him along with this card, using a sketch from My Sketch World

My grandsons in Minnesota attend a year round school; after six weeks of summer vacation, they started back to school on July 27. They most likely are already looking forward to their three week break in October!

Our annual September festival here in town has a patriotic theme this year, so I used another Inspired To Scrap layout with papers from Piggy Tales, Around the Block and Treehouse Memories for a layout celebrating grandson Cameron's almost-July 4 birthday

The stars were cut with a Spellbinders die set from the flap of a corrugated box. Loved the way they turned out!

All three layouts are on display now at Scrap That Moment, our local scrapbooking store. Thanks for stopping by; have a great week!

Sketch layout class at Inspired To Scrap!

2011-08-12T18:08:00.000-05:00

I'm following along with the August sketch class at Inspired To Scrap, or at least trying to (I am behind on my "homework" right now, but hoping to catch up soon!) The best part is that all the sketches are designed for 4 x 6 photos. Love it!

The only scrapping I completed in the past week was a double page layout for sketch #3. I used my July Juicy kit from Sweet Peach Crop Shop -- loaded with papers from Crate Paper, Cosmo Cricket, and October Afternoon. A friend sent me those tickets, which went perfectly with the papers and theme!

I added numbers to my photos that corresponded with lines in my journaling, so I would remember fun details like the kids hurrying in front of my daughter and me, and of Anna dancing to the music from a young lady's fiddle. Here's a close-up:

And here are a couple of quick cards that I made using Echo Park's For the Record newsprint paper with some vellum diecuts, stamps, colored pencils and Stickles, and Divine Twine.

Each one took me about 10 minutes to make.

The last couple of weeks have been super busy and full here; I NEED some scrapping time!!!!!! Thanks for looking and have a great weekend!

A Monday reveal and other projects ....

2011-08-06T08:37:00.000-05:00

The August sketches at My Sketch World went "live" on Monday. I paired the layout sketch with the Crate Paper Portrait Collection and some photos of granddaughter Anna feeding leaves to the giraffes at the zoo:

I used some papers from Scrap Within Reach for my version of the card sketch:

I created this layout for a "Blue Plate Special" challenge that I presented at Cookin' Up Creations. It's a simplified scraplift of my "Take Time to Smell the Flower" layout from last week, which in turn was based on a sketch from Sassy Lil' Sketches. Everything except the rhinestones came from the Burlap & Buttercups June kit.

I signed up for the August sketch class at Inspired 2 Scrap, and it's great fun! Stacey designed all the sketches to include only 4 x 6 photos, so we can use our pictures "as is" or make changes to accommodate our preferences. I used The Sweet Peach Crop Shop's July Juicy kit, including papers by October Afternoon (that's what I used to cut those cute round "embellishments), Crate Paper and Cosmo Cricket. I added the polka dot paper from my stash.

This is another Sassy Lil' Sketches sketch; the papers are Echo Park For the Record. The photo includes my husband's maternal grandparents (on the right) when they were "courting". The photo was taken in about 1914 at a local swimming lake.

I have a double layout in progress for the I2S class that I started at last night's crop at Scrap That Moment, our local scrapbooking store, We have a wedding reception to attend this evening so I'm not sure how much scrap time I'll get, but hey -- there's always tomorrow, right? Thanks for stopping by; have a great weekend!

Sassy Lil' Sketches, indeed!

2011-07-30T16:39:00.001-05:00

My friend Rebecca sent me the link last week to Sassy Lil' Sketches, and it's already become one of my favorite go-to places for layout design ideas. I used the July 28 sketch (with a few modifications) for this layout featuring photos of my daughter's adorable new "teddy bear" puppy.

The yellow background was inspired by Burlap and Buttercups "I've Got Sunshine" challenge; the papers are from Crate Paper's Portrait and Neighborhood, Cosmo Cricket's Odds and Ends, and October Afternoon's 5 & Dime collections and Sassafrass "Foldies". This layout also fits a Blue Plate Special Challenge at Cookin' Up Creations to scrapbook a pet. I guess a "granddog" counts, huh?

Back to the scrap cave! Thanks for stopping by

Sneak peeks!

2011-07-29T20:32:00.004-05:00

Right now, I have two layouts that I created recently but can't share just yet. I love sharing my layouts and other scrap creations on my blog, Facebook page and elsewhere, and waiting is really, really, REALLY hard .... So until I can show you the complete layouts, here are a couple of sneak peeks:

This one is part of a Telephone Scraplift at Cookin' Up Creations:

.... and another for the August sketch reveal at My Sketch World:

Happily, I did complete TWO layout this week that I can show now. This one was for a Layout Tag on Inspired 2 Scrap:.

Aren't those photos a scream? That's my six year old grandson, Cameron, at the pool a couple of weeks ago. During the last rest period, he curled up under his towel and fell asleep. My daughter (who happens to be Cam's mom) took these photos. I used my June "Juicy" kit from Sweet Peach Crop Shop for this one. For the background, I used Challenge #47 from the Scrapfit Challenge Blog to use yellow and a clock on a "summer-time" layout.

I used this week's sketch (#230) Sketch Inspiration:

I presented a Blue Plate Special challenge on Cookin' Up Creations this week to use mist on a layout. (We're doing a television and movie theme this month; my inspiration was the movie "The Mists of Avalon") For the background, I misted with walnut ink spray over a Tim Holtz mask. I also used metallic gold paint on a piece of plastic mesh to add some grid marks to the right hand side -- here's a close up:

I haven't stayed up late to scrapbook in a while, but I think I will tonight. There are still several of the July Blue Plate Special challenges at Cookin' Up Creations that I want to complete. Have you seen the BPS challenges? If you complete at least 15 of the July challenges by the deadline, your name will be entered into a drawing for a wonderful paper collection from S.E.I. (Personally, I have my eye on the Fair Day paper pad ....)

Thanks for looking; have a great weekend!

This one cracks me up ....

2011-07-24T18:34:00.000-05:00

When I go to my youngest daughter's home in Wisconsin, I travel along I-43 from Beloit to the Lake Geneva area. I pass this sight along the way, and it always makes me chuckle. So the last time I was passing by, I pulled over to the side of the road and took a photo. And then there was a challenge to scrap something "silly', so .... here ya go!

The sketch is the July 14 entry from Sassy Lil' Sketches. The papers are Scrap Within Reach and Dreamstreet Papers. The gold foil is from WRMK. I overcame my fear of misting and used it -- lightly, timidly and sparingly but it's there! Had a blast inking and heat embossing the stars. And I distressed and inked some of the papers just for fun!

I love visiting .....

2011-07-21T09:25:00.000-05:00

... but it's also great to be home!

I spent a wonderful four-day weekend with my oldest daughter and her family in Minnesota, accompanied by my youngest granddaughter (who belongs to my youngest daughter and lives in Wisconsin). We visited the Minnesota Zoo , where we saw the penguins and the dolphin show; enjoyed street music and bought fresh local veggies at the farmers market; went swimming; walked to the park and Dairy Queen. We also met Izzy, the new "grand dog" -- an adorable teddy bear (bichon-shitzu mix). I took scrapping supplies but never really got around to scrapping, but I did take quite a few photos that will be showing up on layouts soon.

Since my oldest daughter has two boys, she enjoys the occasional "girly fix" with her niece. They had fun splashing each other in the kiddie pool:

This layout was the example on my Blue Plate Special challenge today on Cookin' Up Creations. I used this week's sketch from Sketch Inspiration for the layout design; and a paper technique by Kate Vickers as shown on the Inspired to Scrap forum. The title came from Christa's challenge to use a "summer song" title on the forum at My Sketch World.

The sketch and the inspiration for this layout came from Master Chef Sandy Liles at Cookin' Up Creations. My youngest two grandkids enjoyed a spirited game of their own design; both of them "won", which is always a good thing! For Scrapfit's Workout #48, I "put a bird on it" -- a sticker on a button -- and a quote that I love -- "Play is the work of children" by Bob Keeshan. For those of you over a certain age, you may remember him as the beloved "Captain Kangaroo".

Scraplift a Member at Cookin' Up Creations
I am so excited to show you this layout -- finally! The Master Chef Challenge Team at Cookin' Up Creations chose a layout by member Rebecca in MI to scraplift. We do this periodically and since it's a surprise to the original artist, we keep our creations under wraps until the big reveal.

You can see Rebecca's original layout, "Laugh", here. We all loved her use of white space, her placement of her elements so they all stood alone but yet were cohesive and worked so perfectly together; and her great photo. Here's my version, featuring LYB's Twig collection and a photo of my youngest grandson, Cameron, that his mom took on their recent vacation to Colorado:

Some of the elements came with the Twig line, but I made several embellishments for this. The clouds were cut with a Spellbinders die (exclusive design for Scrap Mart) and the zig zag, with a Sizzix die. I freehand cut the cirles for the lollipop flower and the triangles for the banner. The tree was cut with the Cricut Lite "Bloom" cartridge, but I cut the leaves freehand. I turned the photo placement and filled up a bit more of my white space, but I tried to keep my elements as "separate yet together" as Rebecca did with hers.

Thanks for the inspiration, Beck!

All aboard!

2011-07-10T17:09:00.000-05:00

That's what my granddaughter was calling in the big photo below. She visited with us during the last weekend in June; we spent Saturday at a small but excellent zoo about an hour from our home. Her favorite part of the zoo is this train that takes you on a ride around the park's perimeter. The four of us -- me, Anna, my husband and my mom -- rode when we first arrived; Anna and I took a second trip before we left.

The sketch is from Sketch Inspiration.

My older daughter and her family vacationed last month in Colorado, and she shared her photos via Facebook. As soon as I saw this photo from their whitewater rafting trip, I knew I wanted to scrap it. Her younger son is the little guy in the middle, waving and looking totally cool and in charge in his sunglasses.

My daughter, her older son and husband are those three people rowing like crazy in the front.

Thanks for looking; have a great Sunday!

Scrap happy!

2011-07-05T10:03:00.003-05:00

I just love productive weekends!

I had an unexpected day off Friday -- I was scheduled to substitute for a vacationing teacher at the local child care center, but there were so many families starting their Fourth of July weekend a day early that the attendance was down and I wasn't needed. I used my time very wisely, I may say .....

I created two layouts for Scrap That Moment, the new scrapbooking store here in town, featuring Karen Foster's Wedding Day Collage paper and Together Forever stickers and Worldwin cardstocks. The first one includes some of Worldwin's gorgeous Petalicious shimmery cardstock. The photo is from my older daughter's wedding in 2001. I added some rhinestones to the "Love" letters on the paper; to the sticker and the flourish, which I cut with a Quickutz die.

The second one uses a photo from my younger daughter's wedding last year. The paper is the same, but this time I used teal and emerald papers to reflect her color scheme. I used Stickles on some of the bigger letters in the paper to add sparkle. I also used it to "decorate" the cake sticker, which is adhered with foam tape for extra dimension.

The border on both pages is an EK Success punch -- which, unfortunately, "died" shortly after I finished. It's one of my favorites, so I think it requires a trip to JoAnn's today ....

I also had some time to indulge in a few challenges (which I love!) The Birthday Bash Celebration 2.0 at Cookin' Up Creations comes to an end today, and I'm happy that I finished a total of 16 challenges over the past month. These two layouts were created for that celebration, as well as for Scrapdango's L.O.A.D. (layout a day) Challenge -- which goes on through the end of the month.

I used my decorative scissors on the bottom of photo mat for this one. Then I partially covered it up, but you can still see it in the close up. Using the scissors was an idea from a challenge at Scraptastic Kit Club's blog.

I used a sketch posted at Scrapdango for this one. I love the way it allowed me to use this lovely paper plus some scraps of trim I had been hoarding. I used a color palette posted in a challenge by Angie Gutshall on the Inspired 2 Scrap forum -- the BG paper fit it perfectly:

Both layouts feature patterned papers from Basic Grey's Hello Luscious line and some other goodies from Burlap and Buttercups' June kit, as well as from my stash. The photos are all from youngest granddaughter Anna's recent stay with us.

I have the entire day off today also. Do I have things I should do? Why yes, I do. And I will ... but first, since I'm here in the scrap room surrounded by kits, tools and photos .... well, the dishes and dust bunnies can just wait awhile.

Have a fantastic day!

Happy July 4 weekend!

2011-07-02T17:01:00.001-05:00

In honor of the upcoming Independence Day celebrations, the owner of Scrap That Moment -- our new scrapbooking store here in town -- asked me to design a couple of layouts using the Jordan Collection by Treehouse Memories.

My older daughter sent me this photo of her two boys at a monster truck show last year. It goes great with the red, white and blue papers! I used the new July sketch from My Sketch World:

The stars were cut from chipboard with Spellbinders dies, inked and then painted with silver glitter paint.

And this little firecracker is my youngest granddaughter, Anna. She was thrilled with her flag shirt and star shirt, as well as that little pinwheel (remember those? I loved those too as a kid!) The sketch is from Sketch Inspiration. The beautiful sparkly brads are from Creative Charms.

I'm happy to be continuing on the Master Chef Challenge Team at Cookin' Up Creations! Each team member was asked to create an "I Am ...." layout as part of the new team's introduction. The papers are My Mind's Eye and Jenni Bowlin. Lynette Daniel, owner of Scrap That Moment, took the photo; she said I needed a new avatar photo and I suppose she was right!

After our month-long Birthday Bash Celebration at Cookin' Up Creations, the Blue Plate Special challenges are back! Today's challenge is to use this sketch from Nuts About Sketches, along with photos that involve water and the color blue or green.

I turned the sketch and simplified it for this layout, using papers from Cosmo Cricket, My Mind's Eye and Jillibean Soup:

I used a kit from Sweet Peach Crop Shop; and also used a layout by design team member Angie Gutshall for further inspiration. I loved the way she used those little cloud stickers and chipboard butterflies.

Thanks for looking; have a happy (and safe!) Fourth of July weekend!

Winner winner chicken dinner!

2011-06-20T22:15:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure where that expression came from, but .... I am a winner!!!! Glue Arts and Crate Paper teamed up for a giveaway on Facebook over the weekend. The only requirement was to post a comment about the colors used in your wedding. I was the winning post! The new Crate Paper Portrait Collection will be coming home to me, as well as a Glue Arts Pro and refill. What a way to start off the week!

Today was another reveal day at Cookin' Up Creations. This layout was inspired by a quote challenge on the Burlap and Buttercups blog, posted by design team member Nathalie.

"I will be the gladdest thing under the sun!

I will touch a hundred flowers

And not pick one."

~Edna St. Vincent Millay, "Afternoon on a Hill"~

Some more of the photos from the Quad Cities Botanical Center seemed appropriate; combined them with Basic Grey papers, as well as some trims from one of our sponsors. The Ribbon Jar. The crochet lace brought out the violet in the iris, and the green in the ribbon perfectly accented the foliage in the photos.

It also qualifies for a challenge by Crop Stop design team member Michelle to use some nature themed motifs. Let's see ... butterflies, a bug, greens and flowers ...

The Birthday Bash is still going strong at Cookin' Up Creations! The challenges will continue through June 30 ... still plenty of time to join in. Several of my layouts fit various challenges.

This week's challenge on The Paper Variety called for two different fonts in the title. The layout also fits a challenge on Scraptastic Kit Club's blog to use a summer theme and to alter an embellishment in some way. What says summer more than sunglasses and bikes? And I covered some ugly chipboard buttons in paper to match my layout.

Those two shady characters are my sons back in the summer of 1987. They were seven and two. The lovely young lady is my oldest daughter, who was nine. I love scrapping those old photos -- the photo quality often is lacking, but the memories make them worth preserving along with the stories.

Thank you for looking -- have a great day!

A little experimenting ....

2011-06-17T21:01:00.000-05:00

This week I decided to try something a little different with the latest Sketch Inspiration sketch. I used just a couple small pieces of patterned paper, and a few rub on's to create the design. Not sure I'm entirely happy with the result, but at least I tried something that's just a little "outside the box" for me:

That's my mom in the top photo. When I was taking pictures, she told me "That camera of yours always makes me look so old!" Yeah, right. I want to look as good as she does when I'm 80 years young .... This layout also satisfied one of the challenges for the Birthday Bash 2.0 Celebration at Cookin' Up Creations. There's still plenty of time to join in the fun. We have a new challenge nearly every day, with the whole month to complete them; some fun games; and some great prizes up for grabs ... so what are you waitin' for? Check it out!

I've been playing along with the "My Scrap's Got Talent" challenges at My Scraps and More and loving it! Last week's challenge was to use the great sketch designed and posted by design team member Chelsea. I found a favorite old photo of my boys, taken in July 1986 and paired it with the June "Juicy" kit from Sweet Peach Crop Shop. The papers were perfect! I used a couple of small items from my stash, but most of the things on the layout came from the kit.

I have NO idea what they were diggin' for, but they sure were having a good time!

And finally, I can post this layout. I created it as part of a telephone scraplift at Cookin' Up Creations, but I couldn't show it until all of the participants had finished their lifts. This was so much fun!

Tonight is a scrapping night; I hope you also get to do something fun this weekend!

How "revealing" ....

2011-06-14T21:28:00.001-05:00

... Mondays, that is!

This week for my design team reveal at Cookin' Up Creations, I salvaged a little chalkboard from my scrap closet. I used another digital design from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs for this adorable paper pieced bear:

The paper flower and the paper piecing are hiding some gouges and dings. This board will come in handy in my kitchen for notes.

I'm one of the designers for the new scrapbook store here in town, Scrap That Moment. Lynette, the store owner, wanted a couple of layouts in time for Father's Day using this golf themed paper by Karen Foster. My husband and I went out to the golf course after dinner Saturday night to get these photos.

I love the One Hour Sketch Challenges at My Sketch World! We always get a few hints -- for this one, we knew we needed these photo sizes, a big circle and a border. I had been hoarding this lovely die cut from the LYB Twig line, so the sketch challenge gave me the push I needed to use it:

I substituted all last week at a local child enrichment center and day care -- in the toddler and two year old room. I loved working with the adorable little ones and the regular staff, but at the end of the day, I was tired! Not much scrap happening last week. I have a couple of days off this week, so hoping for a bit of mojo. We are in the middle of the Birthday Bash at Cookin' Up Creations, and I want to tackle some more of those awesome challenges. Plus ... My Scrap's Got Talent at My Scraps and More, the June challenges at Inspired 2 Scrap, and some fun ones on the Burlap and Buttercups blog. And I have TWO new, untouched kits that I need to break into!

Thanks for stopping by!

Just a few projects ....

2011-06-10T18:41:00.000-05:00

I've been subbing this week at the one of the local child enrichment centers (day care and learning activities) for one of the staffers in the toddler/two year olds room. The children are adorable and fun, but they do keep me busy! I've been worn out at night and content to just sit on the couch and watch television. I'm used to scrapping nearly every day, but that hasn't happened this week and I miss it. Hoping for a productive scrap filled weekend!

I do have a couple of things to share.

At Cookin' Up Creations this month, the design team is working with products from Creative Charms, The Ribbon Jar and Little Scraps of Heaven Designs. For Monday's reveal, I made two cards. For the first, I used one of the cute robot designs from Little Scraps of Heaven. The designs are available two ways -- files for SCAL to be cut with your Cricut, or a pdf for paper piecing. Since I don't own SCAL, I cut mine by hand and paper pieced it for this fun birthday card:

For my second card, I paired some vintage brads from Creative Charms with Garden Party papers from DCWV for a sympathy card:

We all know I LOVE challenges .... and I created this layout for two different challenges. Cookin' Up Creations is celebrating the forum's second anniversary with the Birthday Bash Celebration 2.0. There is a new challenge every day! This was for Day #3 -- two photos and two hand cut embellishments. It also fit the "My Scrap's Got Talent" Challenge #1 at My Scraps & More -- to use two photos and to distress or mist on the layout in some way. I used white acrylic paint and a bit of glitter paint to "distress" the white water foam in the photos, to make them stand out more. I used the May Sweet kit from Sweet Peach Crop Shop:

My hand cut embellishments were the stars (I traced wooden ones and cut them by hand) and a couple of fish tails that I fussy cut and adhered with foam dots to "pop" them up:

I created this one for the Scraplift A Member challenge at Cookin' Up Creations. The entire Design Team chose a layout by forum member Patti, and each of us scraplifted it. This one was my version. I also used it for a challenge at Inspired 2 Scrap to use journaling strips on a layout:

Have a great weekend!

Scrappin' is happenin' here!

2011-06-03T06:00:00.001-05:00

As always on the first day of the month, the June sketches were revealed at My Sketch World. This month I did both a layout and a card, created with Webster's Pages "Postcards From Paris" line. I have difficulty using these gorgeous papers because I'm afraid of making the first cut; but I was happy with the way these turned out.

The little girl is my oldest granddaughter, at age 2 1/2, as flower girl in my oldest daughter's wedding back in 2001. I did some punching and fussy cutting here.

I did more fussy cutting with the scraps to make a card for the card sketch:

I love challenges! and are plenty of them going on right now. Inspired 2 Scrap has some awesome monthly challenges up right now; and My Scraps & More is hosting a "My Scrap's Got Talent" contest for the next 8 weeks, beginning TODAY!

And on Cookin' Up Creations, we are celebrating the forum's second anniversary all month long with the Birthday Bash Celebration 2.0. There will be a new challenge every day, but you have until the end of the month to complete them. There will be a few special challenges -- I'm kicking off a menu challenge today -- and some games. And prizes -- did I mention prizes from some generous sponsors? Needless to say, we are in a party mood!

The challenges are great because they inspire me to create. This week I completed several layouts, all as part of a challenge somewhere.

I've been enjoying my April Juicy kit from Sweet Peach Crop Shop; it's nearly gone! I used it to create this layout featuring two of my grandsons ...

... and this one, with my other grandson ruining his socks (and probably his shirt) dancing at my younger daughter's wedding reception last spring:

I made the star embellishment by covering a chipboard star with a piece from an ancient pair of jeans, then layered a punched paper circle with a clear button, a metal button and thread. The little stars were diecut from denim with Cuttlebug dies.

I found this photo today when I was looking for something else in one of my photo boxes, and it brought back memories of the Christmas when Care Bears were hot -- and sold out. I bought kits and made them for my two kids. I was afraid they would be upset because they weren't "real" Care Bears, but they were thrilled. I love these old fashioned papers in Echo Park's For the Record line.

And I needed one more layout for a Blue Plate Special challenge at Cookin' Up Creations (so I could get my name into the drawing for the awesome prize kit this month!) so I created this one. I stamped the flower with dye ink:

The ladies with me are my older daughter Heather and our scrapbooking forum friend, Beth, taken two years ago at a Creating Keepsaks Convention (actually, at Applebee's that evening .... dinner with good company, a couple of perfect margaritas ... a fun night!) It is one of the worst photos of me, but the other two look great,, and it's the only photo I have from that night, so I put vanity aside and scrapped it.

Hoping for a bit of scrapping time this weekend, too --- so many challenges, so little time! Have a great weekend!

A reveal and a sneak peek!

2011-05-30T18:09:00.002-05:00

Today is "reveal day" at Cookin' Up Creations; this will be the last with the Diecuts With a View paper stacks. The whole team has had a great time working with these designs; and I am still loving the "Colorful Life" stack!

I started with inspiration from the DCWV Idea Gallery, but put my own spin on the design. I loved this big bicycle graphic, so I cut it into strips for more interest and mounted on WorldWin cardstock. The bottom strip is from a different pattern; I added a few white circles with bubble wrap and acrylic paint to tie it into the top pattern. The gears are cut with Sizzix and Spellbinders dies and inked, spritzed with Frost Shimmerz spray, and/or edged with Craft-T Metallic Rub-Ons cream. The boys are two of my grandsons; are they not handsome?

The June reveal at My Sketch World is not until Wednesday; but I am so excited about my designs this month that I decided to show a sneak peek of my layout:

I'm on the Card Design Team this term, but for the summer there will be only one layout and one card sketch a month instead of two, and we can volunteer to do both. I love Lucy's sketches, so I signed up for one of each. I have a real phobia about working with Webster's Pages; the designs are so gorgeous that I am always afraid of not doing them justice. A friend once told me to "get over it -- just close your eyes and start cutting!" I did keep my eyes open, but I managed to cut into not one but TWO pieces of WP for this layout. I'll be back later in the week to show my completed layout and card.

Have a great Memorial Day -- and be sure to thank a soldier or a veteran for his/her service to our great nation.

Another scrappy week!

2011-05-26T18:23:00.001-05:00

The Design Team at Cookin' Up Creations is still working with Diecuts With a View paper stacks this month. I used a layout and tutorial o the DCWV website as inspiration for this layout using paper and rub ons from the "Colorful Life" collection:

I cut a 3/8 inch margin off the patterned paper on all four sides, but cutting around the larger elements and leaving them intact. I double matted that onto green and blue cardstock. I matted a photo and cut around some of the design elements so I could slip the photo underneath. The title is a DCWV rub on over a Pressed Petals chipboard tag.

I participated in a one hour layout sketch challenge on Inspired 2 Scrap and ended up with this layout, using a Sweet Peach Crop Shop kit from November. It helped a lot to have a kit with the papers and embellishments already coordinated for me; and that rose net lace lent big impact in a hurry.

I created this layout for another challenge at Inspired To Scrap, using a Sweet Peach Crop Shop kit from April. I converted the center photo to black and white to fit in with the 1950's wallpaper vibe of this paper from Echo Park's Off the Record collection.The sketch is by Liz Qualman for Sweet Peach.

My Scraps & More held a sketch challenge crop, and I managed to finish a couple of projects for that. This one uses a sketch by design team member Chelsea and is based on a color palette given in the challenge. The papers are Cosmo Cricket's Salt Air line. Don't you just love those bright, juicy colors? Everything came from the Sweet Peach May Sweet kit except the green flowers and rick rack. I had fun using some border punches and Spellbinders dies. The gingham print flower was made by punching, folding and adhering a few circles. Loved how it turned out!

And the challenges continued ....

This one was created for a menu challenge on My Scraps & More and for the May 21 Blue Plate Special on Cookin' Up Creations. The sketch design was by digital team member Penny Noel.

And this one was for the cellebration challenge on My Scraps & More; the sketch design is by Rascelle of the My Scraps & More design team.

Is anyone having trouble accessing Blogger from a laptop computer, or have your followers list, follow this blog button and list of blogs you follow disappeared? That is all happening to me today. (It happened before I changed my background, so I know that's not it!) I can log in from the desktop dinosaur, so that's what I will have to do for now. My followers appear, disappear and then reappear .... hoping that this time they will stay!

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Birthday Bash 2.0 at Cookin' Up Creations!

2011-05-25T19:39:00.000-05:00

Please join us during the month of June as we celebrate our 2nd Birthday at Cookin' up Creations!

The fun starts June 1 and will last all month long with daily challenges, games and some special surprises. And there will be prizes from sponsors including Nikki Silvis, Reminisce and more. Come on over now to register and sign up for Bingo. And when you come over, tell 'em I sent ya!

My Scrap's Got Talent!

2011-05-25T16:48:00.000-05:00

Tammi and the design team at My Scraps & More are hosting 8 fun weeks of challenges and games, looking for the first "My Scraps" talent star! The first challenge will be issued June 3rd and the last one will be issued on July 29th. (we will take a week break from July 22nd-28th) A new challenge will be issued each week, This is a non-elimination contest and everyone is welcome.

Sounds like my kind of fun! go on over and check it out; and please tell 'em on the sign in thread that I sent you!

A "challenging" weekend is ahead ....

2011-05-20T10:12:00.000-05:00

I love scrapping challenges!!!! And lucky me, this weekend there are two great crops going on.

Inspired 2 Scrap has a great crop going on now until Sunday, with lots of fun challenges, games and prizes. You will also find a great design team and friendly people! Go here for the "Walking on Sunshine" Crop.

I already created three layouts for this one, two with photos that I took last week at the adoption hearing. (Some of them also fit challenges on Cookin' Up Creations and My Sketch World; love it when that happens!)

This one was for a "seven layer" recipe challenge: cardstock, patterned paper, photo(s), title, journaling, flower(s) and ribbon or twine. I used the May kit from the Scrapping Spot, featuring Bella Blvd Family Dynamix line:

The other was a challenge to use NO cardstock and to use the posted sketch. OK, no cardstock? This was truly a challenge. I used the May Sweet Peach kit featuring Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe, along with a Basic Grey distressed patterned sheet and a little Echo Park. I have to tell you, this is my new favorite page:

What are mambo shoes? They are shiny, shiny shoes that make a great tapping noise when you run around singing mambo, mambo, MAM-BO!" while you stomp and "shake, shake, shake". Everyone needs a pair!

I used photos taken by my oldest daughter for this one. The challenge was to frame a page. I used the March kit from The Scrapping Spot featuring MYLB's Twig line. Don't you just love those colors?

This is one of the rare layouts that I created just for me, not for any challenge, no design team reveal, etc. I used a sketch from the latest Creating Keepsakes magazine and a Sweet Peach kit from last fall. At first I was trying to make an ornate, "fancy" layout and it just wasn't working. I pared down the papers and embellishments -- much better! Now the photos are the stars and not my fancy scrapwork.

There were TWO design team reveals last week. The first was Monday on Cookin' Up Creations. I have been working this month with DCWV's "Colorful Life" paper and used one of the designs with big, bold graphics for this layout:

I used a craft knife to cut around the pink butterfly so I could slip the photo underneath. Otherwise, I trimmed and distressed the edges, mounted on black cardstock,; added gesso with a dry brush to my photo edges, matted and added a quote; sanded the chipboard letters and called it done. This paper has some great touches of glitter that I don't know if you can see here.

Note: We offer a different Blue Plate Special challenge each day at Cookin' Up Creations; and if you complete 12 of the monthly challenges by the end of the month, we will enter your name into a drawing for the prize. This month we are giving away the May kit from Scraptacular. Check it out on the CUC forum!

I'm on the card design team at My Sketch World; my part of the team reveals on the 15th of each month. Here's my card using this sketch:

I was so excited because one of my cards from last week was chosen as one of two projects of the week at My Sketch World. The forum is loaded -- and I mean LOADED -- with fantastic scrappers, so this it was a true honor to be singled out for this card:

I'm looking forward to maybe a trip to an area Botanical Garden with my mom this weekend, and of course scrapping. How about you? Hope you do something fun -- have a great weekend!

Looking for some scrapping fun this weekend?

2011-05-19T08:29:00.001-05:00

Check out the Sketch Crop at My Scraps and More!

Here's the invitation from Tammi, the owner and administrator: My Scraps & More is having a Grand Opening Sketch Crop! All of the challenges will be a sketch with a twist! There will also be games and chances to win some great prizes!! Our crop will start on May 20th but look for pre-crop challenges to start soon! You will have until May 25th to get all of your challenges completed and posted into the proper thread. This is going to be a ton of fun and really hope that you will join in!!
(all pages need to be newly created for this crop and can not be combined with any other challenges posted)

Go here to read more!

An official "big event" for our family!

2011-05-14T00:03:00.001-05:00

How was your Mother's Day?

Mine was great! My mom was here for dinner on Sunday, and I heard via phone from three of my four kids. Our youngest daughter, son in law and granddaughter came from Wisconsin. But the best thing was the day after: My son in law's petition to adopt my granddaughter was granted! We knew it would be, but it was so nice to actually hear those magic words. My husband, my son in law's parents and Il were there for the hearing, and I took a few photos afterward. My son in law isn't big on having his picture taken, but Monday the man just couldn't stop smiling! He so wanted this to happen, and he truly deserves to be her "forever daddy".

Anna stood up in the court room right before the hearing began and belted out, "Hey everybody! the game's about to start!" Afterward, as her parents tried to explain to her what had just happened, she said "You belong to me now, Daddy!" She was more excited about her new dress and her "mambo shoes" than she was about the court date. (If you have never had mambo shoes ... they are shoes that make lovely tap tap tap noises when you dance. And oh yeah, they have to be shiny patent leather, too!)

Are they not a beautiful family?

In spite of Mother's Day and the excitement of Adoption Day, I did get a bit of scrapping in! I used the May kit from The Scrapping Spot for two layouts. The subject of the first is my youngest daughter (Anna's mommy).

This is the Bella Blvd Family Dynamics line; so cute! I cut the sun and clouds with my Cricut and the journaling spot with my Grand Calibur and Spellbinders dies. The sketch is from Nuts About Sketches.

And this one is Anna, playing "kickety kick ball" in the yard on Mother's Day. The sketch is from Sketch Inspiration.

There were three birthdays in our family in the first half of the month, so I've been in card making mode. These balloons were cut from a scanned and printed copy of an old puzzle postcard that I picked up in a local antique mall. The gears were cut with a Sizzix die. This was for my son in Tennessee:

And I love using the "Sewing Room" Tim Holtz die from Sizzix on cards. This one went to my daughter (a very big week for her -- Mother's Day, adoption day and birthday!)

At Cookin' Up Creations this month, the design team is working with products from DieCuts With a View. I used bold images from "The Colorful Life" collection on two cards for Monday's reveal:

Have a a great weekend and a fabulous week!

Blog Hop WINNER!

2011-05-09T20:25:00.000-05:00

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Cookin' Up Creations "Put Some SPRING In Your SCRAP" blog hop last weekend.

I used random.org to find the winner of the RAK that I offered -- these Martha Stewart doily lace butterfly stamps:

And the winning number: Post #3:

Katie said...

GREAT page! I am now following your bloggy too!

May 4, 2011 8:48 PM

Congrats,. Katie! Please go to the forum and send me a PM with your address, and I will get those stamps sent off to you ASAP.

Happy NSD weekend -- and Mother's Day too!

2011-05-06T19:26:00.006-05:00

There are some great crops, contests and sales going on this weekend in honor of National Scrapbooking Day. What are you doing to celebrate?

We're hosting a weekend-long crop at Cookin' Up Creations. You will find all the info here. We have at least four new challenges and two games planned for each of the three days; and the deadline for completing and uploading your challenge creations isn't until midnight Monday night, May 9. (We also hosted a blog hop earlier in the week; you can still hop for a chance in our prize drawing; just scroll down to the post below for more info)

My Sketch World is kicking off its week-long crop today with card and layout challenges -- and a week to complete them! And if that isn't enough to keep me busy, I will be checking out challenges at some of my other favorite sites, too.

And then there's Mother's Day on Sunday. My mom, my youngest daughter and her family will all be at our house for Sunday dinner. Not sure what I'll serve for the main course, but I already know dessert will be Strawberry SHORTCUT Cake from the Neeleys of the Food Network. It's one of my favorite dessert recipes. You can find the recipe here.

Last week was another crafty, scrappy week, starting off with the Cookin' Up Creations design team's weekly reveal on Monday. This month, our sponsor is Diecuts With A View, who provided each of us on the design team with a different collection. I hit the jackpot with "Colorful Life" -- it is full of big, bold graphics, eye popping colors and a hint of glitter. Fellow design team member Jenny Rickard offered a challenge in April to do a collage, and I was hooked. So for my reveal, I chose big graphics from two "Colorful Life" patterned papers. I had the messiest, happiest time building a background on my canvas with torn papers, stamped music, acrylic paint slapped on with a foam brush and glittered paint sponged through a piece of mesh. The result was "Song Bird":

This is a close up of the bird image:

Collaging is just too much fun -- I highly recommend it!

I've also done some more traditional layouts and cards, too. All have been created as examples for challenges I've offered, and/or answers to challenges by others.

This was created for the Cookin' Up Creations blog hop earlier in the week. The button tree idea came from a layout in the June Scrapbooks ETC:

A little close up of the tree:

This one is based on a Nuts About Sketches design and was created for a Cookin' Up Creations challenge to use cupcakes as an inspiration in some way. Look what Cam and his mom made!

Another Nuts About Sketches sketch design; this one was for a challenge to stamp or ink on a background. I sponged paint through a piece of mesh.

And the challenge for this one was to do a layout about rain in some way. These water features reminded me of a rain downpour.

The new Tim Holtz "Sewing Room" die that I ordered a while back came in -- and I love it! Here is one of my cards using it (the scanner didn't like the lumpiness and blurred it a bit) I stamped on the dress form and colored it with pencils and ink. The die includes the dress form, spool and button

And this one was created just last night for my challenge that I posted tonight for the crop at Cookin' Up Creations. The challenge is to use a handmade flower; I did an easy but cute posey out of three circles:

Thanks for stopping by; Happy Mother's Day!

Welcome to the Spring Blog Hop!

2011-05-04T20:00:00.009-05:00

Welcome to the “Put Some SPRING In Your SCRAP!” Blog Hop, hosted by the Cookin' Up Creations Design Team. If you have been following the hop route, then you should have come from Tamara's blog. If not, and you would like to follow along the complete blog hop itinerary, start at the Cookin' Up Creations Blog.

One of the sure signs of spring is seeing children playing outside. On Easter Sunday, our youngest daughter and her family visited in the afternoon. We gave 3 year old Anna a set of soap bubbles and funny googly sunglasses. Since it was a beautiful spring day, we went outside and watched her enjoy the bubbles. She even let us play a little bit.

Of course, I took photos. And of course, I created a layout with them:

This is the left side:

and the right:

The button tree idea came from the June issue of Scrapbooks ETC. I cut the trunk with the Bloom Cricut cartridge and added little circles, flowers and buttons.

It was a fun and quick way to make an adorable accent for my layout. The papers are Crate Paper and Studio Calico. I used punches for my circles; the little flowers are Cosmo Cricket from a pack of Butterflies and Doilies. Those big lollipop flowers are Jillibean Bean Blossoms. Ribbon is Crate Paper. Cardstock is Stampin' Up and Bazzill Basics. Buttons are various from my stash.. I used the Spellbinders Labels One Grand Nestabilities die for the brackets and journaling spot. The design is a sketch from My Sketch World; it's featured in designer Lucy Chesna's e-book.

Here's YOUR chance to win!

Please visit all six blogs on our Put Some SPRING In Your SCRAP! Blog Hop itinerary, and be sure to leave a comment on each one – as well as the Cookin' Up Creations blog – to be entered into our random drawing for the blog hop prize. The blog hop continues through midnight Eastern time Friday, May 6.

AND .... if you become a follower and leave a comment, I'll put your name into a drawing for my own little RAK. Wouldn't you LOVE to own this cute Martha Stewart Doily Lace Butterflies stamp set?

And don't miss our “Put Some SPRING In Your SCRAP” Cyber-Crop starting Friday, May 6 on the Cookin' Up Creations Forum and continuing through Sunday evening, May 8. You will find some awesome challenges and fun games; and maybe a prize or two. So put it on your calendar and celebrate SPRING and National Scrapbooking Day with us.

And now for your blog hop ….. please proceed to Nicole's blog. She is the Cookin' Up Creations CROP CHEF winner and our guest designer this month and is immensely talented.

Thank you for participating, and have fun!

Reveal and project updates

2011-04-29T20:18:00.002-05:00

The blog hop starts at 9 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, May 4 on the Cookin' Up Creations blog and goes through May 6. The crop starts Friday evening on the forum and continues through Sunday night, with challenges, games and maybe a prize or two. Come on over and join us!

And now for some reveals and general showing off ...

I've missed posting the last two reveals at Cookin' Up Creations. We worked with paper collections from Best Creation. Each design team member was fortunate enough to receive a different collection; and I was thrilled because I worked with the Bunny Love collection. My project in the week before Easter included cards for my grandchildren. This was one of them:

The little felt duck and chick are by Sassafras; the papers and stickers were all from the Bunny Love kit. The design was the April 1 card sketch at My Sketch World.

My last project was a a layout with photos of my youngest granddaughter.

I cut around the bunny's ears and the top of one egg in the border on my background paper so I could put the big circle behind it. I added stickers to the tops of the bows on the eggs and the daffodils for more dimension and added a chick sticker to the little parade on the border. The design was based on a sketch from the Sweet Peach Crop Shop's anniversary party on the kit club's blog.

I've been participating in as many of the challenges as possible for Sweet Peach's first anniversary; this layout answered a challenge to scrap a baby photo. The lovely girls are my two daughters, who are 10 years apart. My older daughter had been so afraid of getting another brother (she already had two); so she was thrilled that the newest baby was a girl. The sketch is from SundayLDesigns.

And yet another challenge -- this one was to use the posted sketch:

and yet another challenge -- to create a scene on the layout:

This one also satisfied a challenge on Cookin' Up Creations to layer a photo over a larger copy of the same image. I loved the effect of doing that on the photo of Anna on the slide

The owner of the local scrapbook store, Scrap That Moment, asked me to work with Prima's Moulin Rouge papers for "prom season" display layouts. Here's what I came up with:

I used a sketch from Sketch Inspiration. The prom goers are my oldest daughter and her (now) husband at her senior prom back in 1996. This one also answered a challenge on CUC to use the color purple.

This one was based on a sketch by fellow Cookin' Up Creations design team member Cassy Suszek. These gorgeous women are my youngest daughter and her bridesmaids:

I just finished this one today for anniversary sketch challenge #2 on Sweet Peach Crop Shop blog:

and the fun starts next week on My Sketch World:

Ten layout and card sketches will be revealed Saturday, May 7, with a whole week to complete them. And did I mention games and prizes?

Thanks for looking; have a great weekend!

My first projects for Scrap That Moment!

2011-04-25T14:31:00.000-05:00

I am a happy camper; the new scrapbooking store in town, Scrap That Moment, is officially open. Lynette has some wonderful papers, a whole wall of cardstock and other great things in store for you. She has beautifully restored one of the old buildings on our historic Main Street. Now you can see the original tin ceiling in all its glory, as well as her newly built photography loft. And the hand painted zebra print ceiling in the crop area is worth the trip all by itself!

I'm on the design team for the store, and my first two layouts are on display there now. I worked with the Class Act line by TPC Studios:

This page uses "Phrases" and "Next Step" from the Class Act line. These papers are double sided, which I love. I used WorldWin cardstock for the background, the mats, and to die cut the border, flowers and title. The lovely woman in the photo is my oldest daughter picking up her college diploma.

I used the flip sides of "Phrases" and "Next Step" for this layout. I fussy cut some of the mortarboard and diploma motifs from the "Next Step" paper and added them to the design; also cut and matted a couple of the phrases. Again, this is WorldWin cardstock (a dream to work with!) The stars and title are cut with Cricut cartridges and edged with Craft-T Metallic Rub Ons. This is a cream that adds just the right bit of shine. This is my third child, Jeff's, favorite pose from his senior portrait shoot.

I've also been working with the fabulous "Moulin Rouge" line from Prima Marketing; those will be ready for display later this week.

Have a great day!

It's a very blustery day

2011-04-15T12:03:00.001-05:00

here in central Illinois! Reminds me of that beloved Winnie the Pooh book of the same name. I think this is one excellent day to stay inside and scrap.

It was so much fun to have my layouts up on the Sweet Peach Crop Shop blog last Sunday; thank you so much for the kind comments there. I created this layout using the April "Sweet" kit especially for last Sunday:

I totally love the Emma's Shoppe papers from Crate Paper! Those crocheted flowers and the felt cupcake were handmade and sent by friends; aren't they adorable? Here's a close up:

I used the "Juicy" kit for a layout of youngest granddaughter enjoying the swing at the park. This kit has the greatest mix of papers from various manufacturers -- I used My Mind's Eye Stella and Rose and Pink Paislee Daily Junque.

In response to a Sweet Peach challenge to use product packaging, I used the backing from those yellow Studio Calico Notions tissue rosettes as a photo mat. If you look closely, you can see some of the cute vine logo below the photo. I added the buttons, adage ticket and tiny alpha. The ribbon and trim were from the April Embellishments kit.

I used the same Juicy kit for a quick and easy layout using this tutorial by Nathalie.

I added my own alphas and chipboard stars (which I covered with Stella and Rose paper). The other papers and the star charm are from the kit; papers are Jenni Bowlin, Bella Blvd and Basic Grey. See, I told you there are a lot of lines in that one kit!

And Monday was reveal day at Cookin' Up Creations. This month we're working with papers and stickers from Best Creation and tags from The Living Room Floor. I used photos from oldest daughter's boys two years ago for an Eggs-tra Easter page:

A new scrapbooking store just opened in town, and I am a happy camper! Not only is it great to have a store in town again, but I'm on the design team. So happy for an opportunity to display my work locally! I have my first assignment in front of me ....

Thank you for looking! Have a great weekend

I'm the featured subscriber ...

2011-04-10T07:32:00.000-05:00

... on the Sweet Peach Crop Shop blog today!

The kit club is featuring the work of a different kit subscriber each Sunday in April as part of Sweet Peach's first anniversary. I was so excited, flattered and thrilled when Corrie invited me to share my some of my projects using her awesome kits.

You can find the post here!

A big, huge THANK YOU to Corrie and the Sweet Peach team!

Happy Saturday!

2011-04-09T00:39:00.000-05:00

The past week was a productive one for me, scrap-wise. The design team at Cookin' Up Creations is fortunate this month to be working with paper kits from Best Creations, as well as tags from Etsy artist The Living Room Floor. This paper is adorable with a sprinkling of glitter and fabulous pastels. I used photos of grandson Cameron from two years ago combined with a sketch from My Sketch World to create my April 4 reveal project:

The CROP CHEF challenge is going great, and we're now on the third challenge. I presented the second challenge Monday. The "ingredients" and techniques lists for all the CROP CHEF challenge were chosen by random.org, which has made for some interesting combinations My ingreidents included a border, lace, a clock or clock face, and old book pages. My technique was inking the edges of at least two papers and I added a bonus to dangle something for a bonus point.

A fellow design team member, Cassy, sent me this kit of Pink Paislee Queen Bee as a gift. It is so perfectly elegant and I couldn't wait to get this layout done:

My clock was created with a Stampin' Up stamp and Staz-On ink, stamped onto a transparency and then cut with a Spellbinders circle die. I made the flowers from old dictionary pages and tissue paper spritzed with homemade yellow spray and glitzed up with a bit of Stickles. Here are a couple of close ups:

And I couldn't wait to play with the new Sweet and Juicy embellishment kits from Sweet Peach Crop Shop. I am a subber to the Juicy kits, but this month I couldn't resist the Sweet and the embellishment kits. Soooo pretty!

My first two layouts using these kits will be featured this Sunday, April 10, on the Sweet Peach Crop Shop blog. Corrie asked me to be a part of the kit club's first anniversary celebration as the subject for the week's Subscriber Sunday. I was thilled, flattered and excited to be included. Would love for you to check it out Sunday!

Thanks for stopping by; have a great weekend!

Scrappy Giveaway!

2011-04-07T08:02:00.000-05:00

Nicole is offering a chance to win a cute kit on her Scrap Me This blog. Go on over and check it out! The deadline for entering is April 30.

Go here to enter!

Nicole also has posted her entries for the CROP CHEF competition on her thread. She does beautiful work!

March sketch challenge at Sweet Peach!

2011-04-04T20:26:00.000-05:00

I am one lucky girl .... I have not one, but TWO April kits from Sweet Peach Crop Shop, PLUS the embellishment add-on!

I used the Juicy kit today to finish the March sketch challenge on the Sweet Peach blog. The sketch by Liz Chidester was so much fun to work with and was perfect for photos of my grandson Cameron. The papers are from Basic Grey, Cosmo Cricket, Jenni Bowlin, My Mind's Eye and Bella Blvd. All of the papers are double sided, which is a nice bonus. TheBasic Grey "Little Details" star clip are part of the kit. The big ticket is from last month's Juicy kit, cut from Echo Park paper. I added some random things from my stash to reflect Cameron's playful personality, including a metal clock face and photo turns used as "hands"; metal photo corners; a wooden 5; a chipboard star, which I covered in paper; a freehand-cut heart that I ran through a crimper; and gears and sprockets due with Sizxix and Spellbinders dies. I also used a dot pattern stamp to add a little interest. A few of the clocks in the Jenni Bowlin paper were punched out and popped up to add some texture.

Oh, to be five years old -- playing with your food is still acceptable!

What a wild weekend!

2011-04-01T16:55:00.000-05:00

So much is happening scrap-wise, this weekend! The CROP CHEF competition is up and running at Cookin' Up Creations! The first challenge is up and it's a good one ..... the deadline for that challenge is Monday at midnight EST, so you still have plenty of time to enter. The remaining challenges will be issued on Mondays and Thursdays through April 18 -- a total of six in all. There are lots of ways to earn points -- and at the end of the contest, the person with the most points will be CROP CHEF?

The prize? A guest design team spot for May. So .... what are you waiting for????

This is also the birthday bash weekend at Paper Secrets. There are games and challenges going on through Sunday evening .... I'm hosting a Steal the Gift challenge Friday evening, Saturday morning and Saturday night, and Sunday afternoon. Those women are WILD, I tell ya!

And ... the grand opening for the new LSS here in town is tomorrow from 10 until 2. I am fortunate enough to be on the design team for the store. So excited! Until it opens tomorrow, the closest LSS is an hour away. Can't wait to have one uptown -- within walking distance!

I did get some scrapping done earlier in the week. This one is the example for my Wednesday challenge at Cookin' Up Creations to use a doily or lace. The papers are Echo Park's For the Record, from the Sweet Peach Crop Shop March Juicy kit. The Diva is my oldest granddaughter and the photo was taken 3 years ago. It's still my favorite photo of her -- so posh!

The new April Blue Plate Special challenges are starting now, with a new one every day. Always so much fun! And there is a prize drawing at the end of the month (because we all love prizes and winning!)

And I made this quick little card in response to Lisa's card challenge at My Sketch World to use spring colors and a banner. I punched out tiny shapes and threaded them onto some embroidery floss to make my banner. The papers are October Afternoon. The March challenges are done, but the new April ones are just starting to go up on the forum, as well as the NEW April layout and card challenges.

And these cards were my design team reveal on Monday at Cookin' Up Creations.

The papers are Basic Grey. The flowers and leaves on the left side are made with Japanese washi tape from Cu-te' Ta-pe' and centered with tiny Primas. The sentiment tag is a Text Me tag from P.S. It's in the Details. I ran it through my printer to add the verse and then used Scenic Route rub on for the title. On the right, the button trimmed tree tag and owl are also Details tags.

I do plan to scrap this weekend -- hopefully very productively! I'm the featured subscriber on Sweet Peach Crop Shop's blog on Sunday, April 10 as part of their one year anniversary celebration - very excited about that! And I will be offering the CROP CHEF challenge this Monday on Cookin' Up Creations; need to get my example done. And there are always challenges everywhere -- love 'em!

Have a great weekend!

Do you have what it takes .....

2011-03-25T14:58:00.000-05:00

.... to be CROP CHEF? Come on over to Cookin' Up Creations and find out!

Our first ever CROP CHEF competition starts Thursday, March 31 and will continue through April 18, with a new "recipe: challenge issued each Thursday and Monday. This is a non-elimination challenge. Competitors earn points for participation; and forum members also will be able to vote for their favorite each week. The participant with the most points at the end earns the title of CROP CHEF! The prize? A guest design team spot for May, including design team reveals, hosting challenges and participating in our blog hop and crop.

Check it out here ... and may the best "chef" win!

This week I hosted the Sunday inspiration challenge at Cookin' Up Creations. The challenge was to use a song title on your layout. I chose the old song "Just Dance" for these photos from 1985, when my oldest two children took dance and tumbling lessons. They're now grown up with children of their own -- who are going to LOVE these photos of their parents, don't you think?

The papers are Echo Park's For the Record . The sketch is from Scrapbook Challenges.

And for this week's reveal at Cookin' Up Creations, I paired October Afternoon papers with a page from an old piano book and some products from out sponsors to cover a wooden easel frame:

I used What's Your Note stamps from Gel-A-Tins and pale blue ink to add some details to my die cut label and the sheet music. The flocked and sticked leaves are from P.S. It's all in the Details. I pleated some green washi tape from Cu-te' Ta-pe' t underneath my crocheted lace to add some color.

I finished a couple other projects also for future reveals. Spending the next few days with the Ghostbuster from the first layout and her family in Minnesota, so hoping for a little scrapping time while I'm here.

Have a great weekend!

2011-03-22T08:38:00.002-05:00

The latest reveals ...

2011-03-20T00:24:00.000-05:00

This month the Cookin' Up Creations Design Team is working with some fun products from Gel-A-Tins Stamps, Cu-te' Ta-pe' and P.S. It's all in the Details. I created a layout featuring my youngest granddaughter and her beloved Pink Puppy, who has been her constant companion since she was five months old.

Note Puppy's progression from that soft pink to the dirty nose to the well-loved dinginess. I was reminded of the quote from The Velveeteen Rabbit: "When a child loves you for a long, long time, then you become real". The cute birdie tag is from P.S. It's All in the Details. I made the green striped flower with Japanese washi tape (great stuff!) from Cu-te' Ta-pe'. And I used stamps from the Gel-A-Tins "What's Your Note" kit to stamp along the bottom border, since they went so perfectly with the "Love Notes" print. The papers are My Mind's Eye, Fancy Pants, Pink Paislee and October Afternoon. The sketch is from Pencil Lines.

We're still "Mad About Sketches" at Cookin' Up Creations! Every day this month (except Mondays, our recap and catch-up days) we are featuring a different challenge based on a sketch. There's still time to join in the fun!

For my first reveal as a member of the Card Design Team at My Sketch World,, I used s.e.i.'s Moonrise papers to create a Mother's Day card. I love the beautiful foil accents in these papers! The green border is adhered to the inside edge of the card. The labels were cut with the Labels One dies from Spellbinders on my Grand Calibur -- love it!

I used the sketch from the March 1 reveal at My Sketch World for this card:

This month at Cookin' Up Creations, the Design Team launched a new challenge --Scraplift A Member. We chose a layout by forum member and design team alumna Amy Bunner - see her layout here. We had a great time lifting Amy's layout; here's mine:

That's my grandson Ethan at Great Wolf Lodge, humoring his younger brother by hanging out with him in the kids' area. The papers are Making Memories, Advantus, Little Yellow Bicycle and Basic Grey. The die cut edge is from another sheet by Advantus; I cut out the middle design and used just the edge. I made the acrylic frame by printing, stamping and painting on a piece of acrylic that came in a package of acrylic stamps. I also used this layout for last week's THaW (Three a Week) banner challenge at Willow Traders. I cut mine from a sheet of Advantus patterned paper and backed it with red cardstock, then cut it with pinking scissors.

Also for a THaW challenge, and as the example for my Technique Tuesday "Let's Paint!" challenge at Cookin' Up Creations, I used a Nuts About Sketches design (the right side of Week 152's sketch) for this layout:

The papers are Little Yellow Bicycle and Basic Grey. The compass was cut with the Cricut Graphically Speaking cartridge. I used blue glitter paint to add some sparkle to the waves. Again, I printed, stamped and painted on a transparency to create a frame. It adds a bit of definition to the edges of that water photo, without taking too much attention away from the shot. That's Ethan again at the water park. He doesn't always like to have his photo taken, so I was happy to have two layouts featuring just Ethan.

Up late tonight working on a layout for tomorrow's Inspirational Sunday challenge. We had a bit of an issue with our kitchen sink tonight -- picture water spewing from the pipes underneath -- so I fell a bit behind in my plans for the evening. The layout's nearly done, and then it's time to call it a day.

Have a great Sunday!

Card for the Crop Stop Challenge

2011-03-16T22:43:00.004-05:00

Just under the wire!

The challenge at the Crop Stop blog this week was to create a card with flowers and butterflies. This one was so much fun! The papers are October Afternoon Farm Fresh. The butterly was punched from Creative Imaginations paper with a Martha Stewart punch. I used Shimmerz Sparkle mist to add some subtle glimmer to my vintage Easter image from Cora at Clearly Vintage blog. Please excuse the funky lighting; it's nearly 11 pm here!

Favorite Things contest!

2011-03-13T13:38:00.000-05:00

Today is the last day to enter the "Favorite Feature: contest at These Are A Few of My Favorite Things. I thought I would jump in there with this layout, featuring my youngest granddaughter's big brown eyes and thick lashes:

The paper is Fine and Dandy by My Mind's Eye. The border is a canvas strip from Little Yellow Bicycle. Rub ons, Heid Swapp; flowers and swirl, Prima;alpha, American Crafts (pink) and Adorn-It; dies, Spellbinders (shapes), Quickutz (bird) and Cuttlebug (brown alpha); stamps, Imaginisce and Autumn Leaves.

Happy Saturday!

2011-03-12T17:53:00.000-06:00

Today has been really laid back here. The wind has been pretty fierce, so it was a good day to stay inside. I finished my layout for Monday's reveal at Cookin' Up Creations and took a photo of my card for the Tuesday reveal at My Sketch World. Next on my list are a few challenges, both at those websites and elsewhere.

I can't show you the reveals yet for next week, but here are a couple of other recent projects. This layout was part of a challenge on Cookin' Up Ctreations to scrap a relationship between two persons other than myself AND to change out the center of a flower. My layout concerns my sister in law Marcia and her special relationship with Anna, my youngest grandchild. Aunt Marcia and Uncle Rich brought Anna a toy tea set at Thanksgiving .... who do you think is having the most fun here?

I used a little pink doodad off an old barette as the center of my flower in the lower right corner. The papers are Sassafras Indie Girl. The flowers are Sassafras and Prima. The alpha is American Crafts; ticket by Tim Holtz for Advantus. I used a tiny heart punch to punch out a few hearts from blue cardstock; they fit perfectly over the hearts on my paper anbd are secured with mini pop dots. I used a small flower punch to cut centers out of some of the stamp motif paper and did the same thing. I love the added dimension the punch outs give to the page.

These two cards were part of last week's reveal at Cookin' Up Creations. Oure sponsors this week are gel*a*tings stamps and two Etsy stores -- cu-te' ta-pe' and P.S. it's all in the details.

I used a decorated tag from P.S. it's all in the details for this card of encouragement, and printed my quote using my computer and printer. It coordinated perfectly with the Glitz Design papers and my big Prima flower, which I jazzed up with some microbeads. I pleated some green striped tape from cu-te' ta-pe' and topped it with a line of rhinestones for the border.

This was a quick little card using Echo Park papers and a cute little chick sticker. The notes are stamped with the "What's Your Note" set from gel-a-tins.

Both of the card sketches are from My Sketch World.

Thanks for stopping by -- have a great week!

I love Sweet Peach kits!

2011-03-05T11:31:00.004-06:00

I finally took some time this morning to break into my February "Juicy" kit from Sweet Peach Crop Shop! The Sweet Peach kits always have such a great assortment of patterned papers and "just enough but not too many" embellishments.

I had this photo in a clip on my desk, and had been wanting to scrap it; and this was the perfect kit for it. The photo of Mike and I was taken at our youngest daughter's wedding last April. Just goes to show ... we still "got it"!

PapPrima newsprint rose and bling swirl, a Tim Holtz button, a piece of lace, and mini alpha stickers from Cosmo Cricket. Everything else came from the kit, including the fantastic sketch from Liz Chidester.

Gotta run; we're heading to Wisconsin in about an hour to spend the weekend with our daughter and her family. Have a great weekend!

We're mad ....

2011-03-01T07:00:00.002-06:00

... about sketches, that is!

Join us all month long at Cookin' Up Creations for some mad, mad challenges -- all based upon sketches. We hope you'll be Made About Sketches too!

Not so fast ....

Last week, I noted that my term on the layout design team at My Sketch World had come to an end. Well, that much was true; but sketch artist and site owner Lucy Chesna has asked me to continue, this time on the card sketch design team. I'm a big fan of Lucy's fabulous sketches, and I love making cards, so of course ... I said yes. I'm pleased and honored to be a part of the continuing MSW team.

And speaking of My Sketch World .... here's more creations from the 5th Anniversary Sketch-A-Thon, which ends at midnight (PST) on March 3.

There are 20 layout and card sketches in all; and you can still get in on the fun. Every sketch that you complete and post by the deadline will get you one entry into the drawing for several great prize packs. Check it out!

It's Monday and that means ...

2011-02-28T09:00:00.001-06:00

... reveal day! I love posting my completed work, so I always look forward to Reveal Mondays.

At Cookin' Up Creations, the design team has been working all month with products from Scrappin' Sports & More, as well as Etsy crafters Shintashop and The Crafty Pearl. This week I was inspired to create a layout and two cards.

I used the sunny yellow May calendar paper from Scrappin' Sports & More as the background for some photos from a long-ago family vacation. I added a sunflower tag from Shintashop that seemed to be made just for this paper and these photos! I added patterned paper by Little Yellow Bicycle, American Crafts and October Afternoon alphas, and some assorted buttons (which I also added to the sunflower tag for added fun). The Fresh Air embellishment is from the Cricut Graphically Speaking cartridge. The sketch is from Sketch Inspiration.

I loved this tag from Shintashop so much that I used it as the inspiration for a birthday card for my grandson. He's going to be 10, and hopefully he will appreciate the corny pun. The papers are October Afternoon and the sketch is by Lucy Chesna at My Sketch World:

I used one of the cute little felt button embellishments by The Crafty Pearl on this little card, along with papers from Tim Holtz Alterations. I haven't included a sentiment, but I think the card would be appropriate for a Valentine, a feminine birthday or "thinking of you" card, or a welcome for a new baby girl.

Next up is my layout for Nuts About Sketches' sketch #150. I remember the old fashioned windmills that powered wells on farms, and still dotted our local rural landscape when I was a child. Today, we have windmills of a different type -- there are several wind farms in our area, harnessing the wind to provide electricity. I've wanted to photograph them but never seemed to have a camera with me when I've driven past. Last month I was on the road early on a Sunday morning, heading to Wisconsin to meet up with my daughters and their children for a weekend at the Dells. The sun was coming up on this farm near Rochelle, IL, and my camera happened to be in the seat beside me. So, I pulled over to the side of the interstate, rolled down my window, leaned out and took a few shots. This is a bit different from my usual scrapping style, but I'm pleased with the result:

The papers are Little Yellow Bicycle's Fresh Print Traveler line; I fussy cut two of the flowers to use as accents.

Thank you, Nuts About Sketches and Shawn!
The page above is my last design team layout for Nuts About Sketches. I'm a big fan of Shawn's sketches, and it's been a pleasure and an honor to serve on her team. NAS will continue to be one of my go-to inspiration sites.

Sketch A Thon and Challenges!

2011-02-26T10:20:00.001-06:00

There has been no lack of inspiration or motivation this week, between the Sketch A Thon at My Sketch World and the ongoing Blue Plate Specials at Cookin' Up Creations. The Cookin' Up Creations Design Team has done an outstanding job this month, presenting some interesting and fun challenges. Taking inspiration from an article in the current issue of Paper Crafts magazine about the popularity of hot air balloon motifs, I created these cards for a "What's New Wednesday" challenge:

For this one, I used a map from the back of an old dictionary (picked it up for $1 at Goodwill) and combined it with Jillibean Soup patterned papers and hot air balloons cut from Webster's Pages.

The balloon on this one is from the Cricut "Summer in Paris" Solutions cartridge. The papers are Scrap Within Reach's "Industrial Park" collection.

Meanwhile at My Sketch World, all the sketches for the Sketch A Thon have been posted (20 of them in total!). The fun continues, though -- the deadline for uploading your creations is midnight (PST) Thursday, March 3. There's still time to get in on the fun and the prize drawings! Since I need several birthday cards in the next couple of months, I concentrated this week on the card sketches.

For this one, I used the frame and dictionary flower that I created last week (and showed in an earlier post) along with DCWV's Garden Party and Creative Imaginations papers, for a birthday card. My oldest granddaughter will be 13(!) in a couple of weeks, and I thought that deserved a grown-up card.

I colored the bling with alcohol ink; tea dyed the tulle; and sprayed the tulle and babies' breath with a little homemade gold shimmer spray.

I used another card sketch to make some mini cards that went into RAK packages. These were made with some of the last scraps of MME's "Bloom and Grow" line.

Unfortunately, I needed to send a sympathy card to a friend on the passing of her mother. I used another sketch for this one, created with Colorbok papers. The die is by Spellbinders, and the flowers are a Pink Paislee rub on:

And because I love the Webster's Pages hot air balloon motifs, I used them on another birthday card, again with a piece of a map. The papers this time are Fancy Pants' "About a Boy". The clouds are a Spellbinders die, exclusive to The Scrap Mart, my favorite place to buy dies online:

Today I'm working on a layout for Monday's reveal at Cookin' Up Creations. I spent way too much time pushing papers and photos around well into the night yesterday, so today it's time to just "get 'er done". Then I can get back to the fun sketches and challenges. What's on your scrapping agenda for this weekend?

Thank you, My Sketch World and Lucy!
My term as a "Layout Designer Diva" at My Sketch World officially has come to an end. Thank you to Lucy Chesna for 1) creating her fabulous sketches and sharing them with the rest of us and 2) for choosing me to be a part of her team for the past six months. It has been a truly great experience. I'll miss being a part of the design team, but the fun doesn't end there! I'll still be jumping into the challenges, games and chatter. :)

Have a great weekend, and thank you for stopping by!

Monday reveals!

2011-02-21T14:05:00.000-06:00

Happy Monday!

We're waiting for a predicted snow fall today -- nothing like the beginning of the month, though (thank God!). We should be getting somewhere between 1 and 3 inches of snow. And actually, I won't be upset if it happens to miss us .... Is it spring yet?

We're having a great time at Cookin' Up Creations as we continue working with the papers and stickers from Scrappin' Sports & More. As soon as I saw this adorable fishing patterned paper with the big red and white bobbers, I knew I wanted to scrap it. The problem? No fishing photos ... none, nada, zilch. My older daughter came to the rescue, sending me a link for her 2007 vacation photos. An hour later, I was picking up my order at my local Walmart with photos of her and her family fishing in South Dakota. I used a sketch from the latest issue of Creating Keepsakes Magazine and treated the bobber graphics almost as photos. And I kept my embellishments to a minimum, to let the graphics and the photos take center stage.

This week's Nuts About Sketches design is this fabulous two page sketch.

I had some photos of my granddaughter "making someting PWETTY!" in my scrap room for her Mommy and Daddy, but I only had a few photos, so I used just the right side of the sketch. And since I am soooo ready for spring to be here, I pulled out my Echo Park Sweet Summertime kit:

I signed up a while back for an embellishment swap at Cookin' Up Creations, in which each of us provides six sets of handcrafted embellies that could be used together on a project. I couldn't decide between two themes, so I did three of each. My first is a vintage theme. The frame is made from the back of a used up notebook, then painted and crackled. The fluffy flowers are cut with a Sizzix die from old dictionary pages. The rosette is pleated paper; the technique was in this month's Scrapbooks ETC. The butterfly is cut with a Spellbinders die. And the birdcage is from Cricut Lite's Bloom cartridge.

My second set featured a cute owl family from the Cricut Lite Hoot N Holler cartridge. (You can tell by an earlier post that I LOVE this cartridge!) The label, circles for the flowers and the clouds all were cut with Spellbinders dies. (The clouds are exclusive to Scrap Mart.)

I was in a mood to experiment over the weekend, so I played with the "chipboard" frame idea and dictionary flowers some more. Here are some of the variations in the flowers, adding more or less spray ink and Stickles:

I combined a frame with a flower, a bling flourish (dyed with alcohol inks because I didn't like the clear rhinestones with the crackled frame), some tea-dyed tulle and glimmer spray babies breath:

Just a couple of reminders -- there is a new "Blue Plate Special" challenge every day (except Monday, when we recap all of the challenges from the previous week) at Cookin' Up Creations. Our design team tries to offer a little something for everybody -- and you could win the monthly Dessert Tray prize package! Be sure to check it out here.

And the Sketch A Thon continues at My Sketch World. All 20 of the sketches are posted for February 1-20, and you have until midnight (PST) March 3 to complete and post them to the gallery. There are some fabulous prizes up for grabs! and the sketches are awesome.

Have a great week!

I've been published!

2011-02-18T02:15:00.002-06:00

Anyone on ANY of the forums that I frequent or on Facebook probably already knows by now that my layout "Time Out" is in the April issue of Scrapbooks ETC. I'm just a tiny bit excited about this!!! It all came about last May when I created the layout in response to a challenge on the Paper Posies forum, based on a challenge by SBE contributing editor Leah Fung to "use punches creatively". I combined that with Sketch #122 on Sketch Inspirations. Then, just because I like to show off my layouts, I uploaded it to the SBE gallery. And forgot about it ....

..... until I received an email message September 1 from Leah Fung, asking if I would be interested in having my layout published. Oh, let's see .... YES????? and now, nearly six months later, it's published! See page 12 of the April Scrapbooks ETC, and there it is, with my little tips and all! Here is the layout:

Recent Reveals

At Cookin' Up Creations this month, we are fortunate to be working with products from Scrappin' Sports & More. I used baseball-themed paper and added some feminine touches to highlight a photo from the summer my husband coached our youngest daughter's softball team:

For the February 14 reveal (Sketch #148) at Nuts About Sketches, I created this layout using the Scraptacular February kit:

And speaking of Scraptacular, I do have a post up on their blog with all the layouts I created with the fun February kit, featuring patterned papers by My Mind's Eye (Fine and Dandy) and Fancy Pants (Love Birds). I've already posted the layouts here, except for this one:

So far I've created seven pages and a couple of cards, with materials left for at least a couple more. Having a great time as guest designer this month!

Sketch A Thon continues

And the Sketch-A-Thon at My Sketch World is in full swing! There is a new card or layout sketch posted each day, Feb 1-20; and you have until March 3 to upload your creations for a chance at some fabulous prizes! Check it out here. So far I've completed several of the sketches, including this layout using a Sweet Peach Crop Shop kit from November:

I also made some Valentines and birthday cards using the sketches. :

The little owls are from the Cricut Lite "Hoot N Holler" cartridge available at Walmart. They are just too much fun!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great weekend!

My Blog Hop winner is ....

2011-02-09T10:56:00.000-06:00

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in last week's "Stirrin' Up A Li'l Love at Cookin' Up Creations" Blog Hop and Crop! Tammy, the other Design Team members and I were very happy with the turnout and the level of enthusiasm that everyone brought along.

And now for the winner of my blog RAK:

I asked Random.org to choose for me:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

Timestamp: 2011-02-09 16:38:12 UTC

And

Jan said...

Cute wreath, Barb.....and that layout is just beautiful! TFS.

FEBRUARY 4, 2011 5:22 PM

Congrats, Jan -- you are the winner!

Your prize will be going out to you soon.

Meanwhile, February's Blue Plate Specials challenges are underway at Cookin' Up Creations. There's a new challenge each day (except Monday, which is a Make Up day when we review the past week's challenges). You always have the entire month to complete and post your creations and get your name into the drawing for the monthly "Dessert Tray" prize. This month's prize is "Smaller than a Bread Box: kit generously donated by Apron Strings Designs:

Come on over and join in the fun!

Monday morning reveal

2011-02-07T11:10:00.001-06:00

It's been a great week and a fun weekend, with the ongoing Sketch-A-Thon at My Sketch World and the weekend crop at Cookin' Up Creations.

The Sketch-Thon is featuring a new layout or card sketch every day through February 20'; and the deadline for uploading all creations to the gallery is March 3. We have some fun games going, too. Lucy's sketches are fabulous to work with; and there are some great prizes up for grabs! Be sure to check it out here. I used the sketches for a layout and a card, as shown in an earlier post; and I'm planning to dig into them big-time this week!

The Stirrin' Up a Li'l Love at Cookin's Up Creations crop continues until 6 pm Eastern time tonight. Several games are still ongoing, and we have a total of 10 layout and card challenges to inspire you. And if that isn't enough, check out our February Blue Plate Special challenges -- a new challenge every day! Come on over here to play!

I have just one Design Team reveal to show you today. Our February sponsors at Cookin' Up Creations are Scrappin' Sports N' More and two Etsy shops, Shintashop and The Crafty Pearl. I am one lucky girl to be working with all of their products.

My reveal for today used the "N' More" side of Scrappin' Sports N' More. My packet included some really fun papers meant for creating a calendar, and I used parts of those for two cards. On this one, I used the July paper with these fun fireworks. To add some dimension, I used a Martha Stewart cosmos flower punch to punch little "starbursts", inked the edges and pop dotted them over the fireworks graphics. I added Stickles and rhinestones for pizzazz (well, it is fireworks paper, after all!) The other papers are from Marks Paper and Basic Grey. That fabulous homespun heart is from Shintashop; she makes the most fun tags!

And on this card, I cut one of the big heart graphics from the February paper, matted it with red cardstock and adhered it to a doily. The red hearts were cut with various punches. I added Stickles, ribbon, a punched border and Thickers letters. I also used that adorable little felt flower and heart embellishment from The Crafty Pearl. I love her felt designs!

This week, I plan to continue playing with Scraptacular's February kit. So many pretty papers in there -- perfect for Valentine's Day, yes; but also for lots of other occasions, or "just because".

Thanks for stopping by; have a wonderful week!

We're "Stirrin' Up a Lil Love" at Cookin' Up Creations!

2011-02-04T14:54:00.001-06:00

The "Stirrin' Up a Li'l Love at Cookin' Up Creations" crop starts at 7 p.m. (eastern) tonight, Friday, with games, challenges and more. It will continue through Sunday evening, with new challenges and games each day. Please come over and join us!

If you are here for the Cookin' Up Creations Blog Hop, please see the post below.

SCRAPTACULAR GUEST DESIGNER!

I have the honor of being guest designer this month at Scraptacular Kit Club, featuring papers from My Mind's Eye "Fine and Dandy" and "Love Birds" by Fancy Pants. I'm having so much fun working with the fabulous February kit:

I previously posted two layouts; here's another one, which shows that this kit is so versatile and can be used for more than Valentine's Day:

The layout design is based on a sketch by Becky Fleck, as shown in the Scrapbook & Cards Today calendar. Here's a close up of the left side:

and the right:

I added my own rick rack; the circle border and flowers were cut from one of the sheets of "Love Birds" paper; I used my own cardstock and border punch, and cut the little fish from felt with a Cuttlebug die.

We were hit earlier this week with 12 inches of snow; my husband was out of town for a business meeting, and there was a two foot drift in front of my garage door; so I stayed inside and scrapped. I finished this layout during the "snow day":

I added my own buttons, flower and cardstock. I cut the journaling tag with Spellbinders dies and the bird with a Quickutz die. A little Stickles outlined the doily beautifully! The sketch is from My Sketch World and is part of the Sketch-A-Thon going on there now. Come over and check it out!

I used the kit for a couple of cards, too. The first one also is a My Sketch World Sketch-A-Thon sketch. The adorable owl and balloons are from the Cricut Lite "Hoot and Holler" cartridge

For this one, I let the little heart punchies and rhinestones fall from my hand, then adhered them right where the fell. I added the glitter with Stickles.

I still have quite a bit of the papers from that kit left, so you can bet on seeing more creations using it! Thanks for looking -- have a great weekend!

We're "Stirrin' Up a Lil Love"!

2011-02-02T20:00:00.012-06:00

Welcome to your sixth stop on the "Stirrin' Up A Li'l Love at Cookin' Up Creations" blog hop! If you are following the links from the beginning of the hop, then you should have come from Tammy's blog. If not, then please start at the Cookin' Up Creations blog to make sure you don't miss any of the stops -- and the fantastic projects -- along the whole route!

Today, I'm excited to show you my heart-y Valentine grapevine wreath, made especially for this blog hop. The wreath has been around for a while, and previously was a spring floral decoration (I think). I bought a bag of wooden hearts in the craft aisle, then used distress ink and a piece of sponge to stain the edges.

Next, I used Mod Podge to adhere the hearts to the backsides of patterned paper scraps. After the glue dried, I cut around the hearts and sanded the edges smooth, then covered with a thin coat of Mod Podge mixed with a few drops of water. After that dried, I used my Crop a Dile to punch a hole in each. I tried to tie the hearts to the wreath, but in the end I used hot glue to adhere them in place. I finished with a few scattered little flowers.

And here's the finished product:

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of working with the February kit from Scraptacular, a wonderful no-commitment kit club. This layout features a photo taken of my granddaughter and my new son-in-law, taken about an hour before my daughter and son-in-law's wedding last April. Such a sweet and tender moment!

Don't you just love background papers that do most of the work for you? The papers are from the adorable "Love Birds" line by Fancy Pants. The Scraptacular kit also includes papers from My Mind's Eye "Fine and Dandy" collection.

This is the last blog on your blog hop. I hope you have enjoyed the projects that our Cookin' Up Creations Design Team members have stirred up for you! Please be sure to leave a comment here, and on each blog along the hop itinerary. Then, go to the Cookin' Up Creations forum and post to let us know that you have completed the hop. Your name will be entered into a drawing for our blog hop prize!

We also invite you to attend our "Stirrin' Up a Li'l Love at Cookin' Up Creations" crop this weekend on the Cookin' Up Creations Forum!

The crop begins at 7 p.m. Eastern time Friday, February 4 and continues through Sunday evening, February 6. Our Design Team will be hosting some fun games, posting some great challenges ... and did we mention prizes? Be sure to come and join us!

Want to win a little RAK from me?

Be sure to become a follower and post a comment below; I'll enter your name into a drawing for "a little something" from me!

Thanks for attending the Cookin' Up Creations blog hop!

Just one more hour ....

2011-02-02T19:05:00.002-06:00

.... till the fun starts!

Toot! I am guest designer this month ....

2011-02-01T22:22:00.000-06:00

I am sooo excited to be the guest design team member this month for the Scraptacular Kit Club! Last weekend I was privileged to work with the fabulous February kit, feating My Mind's Eye "Fine and Dandy" and Fancy Pants' "Love Birds". It's perfect for Valentine's Day or anytime.

Here's one of the layouts I created:

The kit is available now at Scraptacular's store; and the design team gallery will be up soon with the February designs, including mine!

Monday, as always, was reveal day at Nuts About Sketches. My layout this week features photos from a recent trip to Great Wolf Lodge in Wisconsin Dells with my two daughters and their children. The papers are Crate Paper's "Snow Day" -- which, coincidentally, were part of Scraptacular's December kit. The two younger children enjoyed the story time in the lodge's great room. Cameron at age 5, was delighted to meet and greet Wiley Wolf; three year old Anna, not so much.

COOKIN' UP CREATIONS BLOG HOP STARTS WEDNESDAY, FEB 2!

Be sure to visit the "Stirrin' Up a Li'l Love at Cookin' Up Creations" beginning at 9 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, Feb. 2! The blog hop begins at the Cookin' Up Creations blog, and proceeds through the personal blogs of all design team members. We'll be featuring Valentine's Day and love-related projects for your viewing and inspiration. See you there!

My Sketch World is turning five .. and we are celebrating!!!!!

2011-02-01T06:11:00.000-06:00

My Sketch World is celebrating its fifth anniversary with a Sketch-A-Thon! In addition to a new sketch by Lucy Chesna each day, there will be games and fabulous prizes.

Be sure to join us on the My Sketch World forum! More information and links also are available on the MSW blog. You'll want to catch all the excitement!

2011-01-30T20:02:00.003-06:00

Come and join the design team for a Blog Hop starting at 9 pm (eastern time) Wednesday, February 2. Each of the team members will be cookin' up a special project to show you on their individual blogs. We'll be celebrating LOVE!! Please come and be inspired.

And we invite you to join in the fun at our “Stirrin' Up a Lil' Love at Cookin' Up Creations” Weekend Crop, starting at 7 pm. (Eastern time) Friday, February 4 and continuing through Sunday evening, February 6. We'll be offering some challenges to inspire you, and some games just for fun, with a few fun prizes too!

The blog hop will begin on the Cookin' Up Creations blog, will move through the design team members' individual blogs, and then back to the Cookin' Up Creations forum -- just in time for the weekend crop.

Don't miss the fun when we're “Stirrin' Up a Lil' Love” all this month at Cookin' Up Creations. Our Blue Plate Specials this month will be all about love – romantic, parent-child, favorites ….. a brand new challenge every day!

January reveals ....

2011-01-28T17:49:00.001-06:00

Wow, I've gotten a little behind in posting .... first there were the holidays, then some family things, and then the 'creeping crud' -- some kind of cold/sinus yuk that's been going around. I substitute teach, which means that I come into contact with kids who are coming down with or just getting over colds, coughs .... so glad I got a flu shot last fall!

Anyway .... Shawn has been treating us to some wonderful designs on Nuts About Sketches. This was my design for week #143, with photos from Christmas weekend in Chicago with our younger son:

For week #144, I used some of my favorite photos from younger daughter and son in law's engagement photo shoot back in October 2009. I literally let a handful of buttons drop onto the layout and adhered them where they fell:

Sketch #145 last week was a wonderful two page sketch, with room for tons of photos. But I already had some photos that I wanted to scrap, of my youngest granddaughter's offbeat fashion sense; so I used just one side of the sketch:

This month at Cookin' Up Creations, our theme has been "Out With the Old, In With the New" as the design team scraps our stash.last week, Last week, I couldn't resist scrapping a photo of granddaughter Anna in her snowflake sunglasses. I used Glitz Design papers, Glitz and Prima embellishments. I also included a wonderful littlefelt owl from Lucismiles, an Etsy store crafter who has been kind enough to sponsor our design team this month. May I present Baby GaGa:

I also used a felt heart embellishment from Lucismiles on a birthday card (which I gave to my mom last week):

Both My Sketch World and Cookin' Up Creations have several challenges going this month (with prizes involved!) Here are a couple of my favorite creations for those.

My grandson Cameron loves taking karate lessons! I did this layout as part of My Sketch World's One Hour Photo Challenge. I am a slow scrapper by nature, so I'm really pleased that I was able to come up with this in just one hour:

And a few cards ...

Have a great weekend!

And the "Best of the Rest"!

2011-01-10T06:30:00.001-06:00

I posted my 10 favorite layouts of 2010 last week; but I was busy with other, non-layout projects too. Here are 10 of my favorites from the "other stuff":

1. One of the happiest and biggest events for our family in 2010 was our younger daughter's wedding. I kept myself busy during the months leading up to The Big Day by creating a series of displays to fit into 5 x 7 acrylic easels for the reception tables. This is my favorite:

The biggest challenge in creating those displays was keeping them flat so they would slip into those easel frames -- no easy task for a "lumpy bumpy" scrapper like me!

2. Last year, my older daughter created an adorable Advent calendar using a mini muffin tin. I used the idea for a Halloween treat container:

3. I always loved Halloween when my kids were young, and I still like creating fun decorations and cards. The papers and embellishments are so much fun to work with! This year, the Cookin Up Creations design team were given acrylic albums to work with by Midnight Oil Scrapbook Design, our October sponsor. This is what I did with mine:

4. I used the mini muffin tin idea for my own Advent calendar this year:

5. I found some long forgotten vintage collage papers in my stash, just in time for a vintage card challenge at My Sketch World. I love this one so much I haven't been able to bring myself to give it to anyone!

6. The Halloween in Wonderland papers from Graphic 45 were great for cards, including this one for one of my granddaughters:

7. Did I mention I love making Halloween cards?

8. My husband's aunt celebrated her 80th birthday, so I used a photo of her and a friend in their younger days to create a card for her. Crate Paper Restoration is one of my favorite lines of 2010;

9. I picked up the cutest Quickutz tree die and used it to make Christmas cards for friends. This was my favorite of the bunch:

10. This one was really simple, but I liked the effect of the big flower and the embossed stamping:

Thanks for looking! Have a great day!

Top 10 Favorites of 2010!

2011-01-04T21:36:00.000-06:00

Pick my favorites of the year? That was a lot harder than I thought it would be -- honestly, I love most of the pages I produced this year. Lots of memories here -- a wedding, trips to the zoo and the pool with grandkids, holidays, birthdays, little moments and big ones. My list of favorites will change every time you ask me!

With all that said, here are my Top 10 Favorite Layouts of 2010 ... right now:

My oldest daughter and her son on Mother's Day; Ethan's face is priceless!

(photos by Dustin Twing)

Our cat, Ed -- after three years of never leaving the house, he discovered the great outdoors last summer

Ethan couldn't resist imitating the turkeys at a wildlife park

(Photos by Heather Twing, Kaycee Eklund and myself)

My youngest granddaughter makes a friend at the beach on Lake Michigan

This is my favorite! Anna and I played in the rain after a summer storm -- she wanted to "see the rain" and pretty soon we were wading and squishing our toes in the mud. Haven't had that much fun in the rain for ages!

(Sketch by My Sketch World)

Left side of the layout ...

... and the right

My husband dancing with our daughter at her wedding reception -- the song choice may have been a bit offbeat but was perfect for the two of them, as the journaling explains

(Photo by Tiffany Doubek Photography; Sketch by Sketch Inspiration)

More phptos from the wildlife park with three of my grandkids and my daughter

(Photos could have been taken by myself, my daughter, my grandson or granddaughter; not sure anymore who took which one, just that I love 'em)

(Sketch by Nuts About Sketches)

My youngest daughter and her new husband chose "The Way I Am" by Ingrid Michaelson for their first dance at their wedding reception. Do you think they remembered there was anyone else in the room?

(Photo by Tiffany Doubek Photography)

This Santa has been present at the mall in Rochester since my grandsons were babies. He is, quite simply, the best Santa ever! My daughter sent me the link for this photo and I knew right away that it would be perfect with this sheet of paper.

(Sketch by My Sketch World)

This layout was the answer to a challenge to compare photos of the same person from one year to the next. The lovely young lady is my middle granddaughter, Shelbie.

Thanks for looking! Have a great day