Show and Tell Sunday- Quick Grid layouts

I think anyone who scrapbooks laments that there is never enough time to get every photo scrapped and in an album. Couple that with how hectic the holidays can become as we rush to bake treats and pull off holiday magic. It can make you get cranky. So this month, I carved out a little time for me and made some quick pages. They are not the heavily embellished, "tons of thought poured into them" type of pages I often do. Yet, they both give me the satisfaction of a page done and they have visual appeal. I always enjoy seeing my pages finished and then getting to show them off to my husband.

This page is actually the right side of the two page layout. I used the Crate Paper North Pole Collection. It was nice to have all the paper and Embellishments right there ready to go. The grid pattern while simplistic, is appealing to the eye. The small chipboard circle says " Oh Christmas tree on it." I thought it was perfect for the photo of the trimmed tree. Note the direction of striped paper going in a on this page. It's placed so the stripes go downward. On left hand page, the stripes flow horizontally.

That coupled with all of the photos of my son facing toward the left draw the eye down and across the page. When completing quick pages, try to keep it simple and don't let yourself get caught up in the paper and embellishment selection. Just go with what you have. Over time, you'll get more relaxed about your selections and will find you have a lot more layouts done.

Have something to share? You can post it at Scrap Our Stash's show and tell Sunday!






















The Best Gift of All

Holidays and birthdays are often about the giving and receiving of gifts. For me, the best gift of all( and the true meaning of each celebration) is the warm, happy feeling I get from giving the gift. My son's birthday is no exception to that.

This is actually the title page for the layout I did recently in the Pagerize challenge. I used the rest of the My Mind's eye complete boy patterned paper sheet here as well as more of the Making Memories Just Chillin' Boys die cuts and trims. I used My Tim Holtz embossing folder, but instead of the whole sheet, I cut a star and a crown from it. They make nice accents at the top. I hand stitched around the star to make it pop out a bit more. I cut the K and Co. border into strips, using 3-d adhesive on sections of it for more dimension. You may be wondering about the little frame on the photo. Well, I just had to highlight my husband sitting there smiling.

You see, he also enjoys giving gifts to our son. You'll have to pardon the photo. One of my New year's resolutions is to learn to be a better photographer and to improve my photo editing. When I originally shot these photos, I was focusing on my son and not what was going on in the background. When I later saw my husband sitting there smiling, I knew this was one of those instances in which the background was really important to the story. I edited the photo as best I could, but as you can see, the lighting still hides my husband a bit. I chose the frame to draw more attention to him.



I hope you'll share your birthday celebration layouts with us at Scrap Our Stash. I know I can certainly use some heartwarming cheer during these cold days of December!

Reverb 10...updating

Well, as usual, life has been full. I can not complain because a lot of good things have been happening. The only bad thing has been to not be able to blog for the reverb10 project. So, rather than daily posts, here is a sort of recap of  the daily prompts I have found the most insightful :

Dec. 3rd: Moment. Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail.
    Hmmm... there are so many. All of them involve my Husband and/or my son. I guess what most stands out are the little moments. Like when I get a hug from Dh or DS. That is the most perfect of moments...the time when everything feels like it will always be ok. Time stops and all that exists is a simple moment of well being.

Dec. 4th: Wonder. How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year?
   That's easy! I add a sense of wonder to my son's life. It's in the stories I weave for him. The magical moments of Santa or the Easter Bunny. It's a sad thing that wonder is rarely experienced by an adult. Kids need every minute of it they can get!

Dec. 6th:Make. What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?
   I made a Scrapbook page!Papers, ribbon, adhesive, embellishments and thread...my mediums. Always at the ready, always waiting for a project for there are always pictures to be archived.

Dec. 7th.: Community. Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011?

Community was easy to find at Club Ck, Sketches 4 All and Scrap Our Stash. It's amazing how open people can be. I'd like to meet some of these people in real life someday.

So...some days, I guess the prompts just are not for me. Perhaps I do not wish to answer them or maybe I am just not ready yet.I guess that in itself is telling. It will be interesting to see how this develops by this time next year.

A Birthday Theme

Since this month's theme at Scrap our Stash is all about birthdays, I decided that now would be a great opportunity to finish off my son's tenth birthday photos. I also used my new birthday present, a sizzix texture boutique, to make an embellishment for the page. While gifts are a great thing about birthday's, the best gift for me, as a parent, is giving them to my son. His joy sparks mine and inspired the journaling for this page.

In my take of the pagerize challenge, I chose to use wallet size photos and to place them into groups. I used the placement of the original page's pictures, omitting one, as my inspiration for placement. Rather than regular birthday theme papers, I chose paper from My Mind's Eye's complete boy collection and embellisments and trim from Making memories Just' Chillin' Boy collection. The bingo card was made on coredinations cardstock with a Tim Holtz folder.Small star brads finally found a way out of my stash and onto the paper to add to the star motif. I hand stitched around a star on the lower right corner to add some color and texture. I actually fussy cut that star from the above patterned paper strip. The bingo card hides the hole perfectly. Another stash saver I utilized here was the method in which I matted the photos. It also saved me time. I simply chose to leave a small border of white photo paper around each photo when I cropped it from the main sheet.

If you want the recipe for a fast, fun page than pagerizing is a great way to go. The inspiration is right there for you to take and make your own. We'd love to see your version of the challenge...so don't forget to send it in!

The winner of the Birthday Blog Hop is...

Betty Ann! Congrats! I'll be in touch with you to get your gift certificate to you. I look forwward to seeing everyone's work at Sketches 4 All. Thank you everyone for hopping along with us!

Day 2 Reverb 10

First off...if you are looking for the Sketches 4 All blog hop, you can find it here.

Today's prompt is all about writing. Something I do a lot of and yet not not enough of all at the same time. How can that be? It's easy! How much do we write of something and that writing is virtually without depth? I think about this a lot when I am doing my journaling for a scrapbook page. I have taken a class and read many articles about improving what I write, adding more feeling and depth to it. I should take that and use it but often I don't. The biggest thing getting in the way of me writing is myself! I just don't take the time I should. It's easier, faster to just jot down the basic details. The sad thing is, that if I do take the time to really put myself into it, the page as a whole becomes so much more than just photos in an album. So, by this time next year, I would like to say that I made the time to add the depth to what I write...to make my albums more than just photos in a book with random details.

Reverb 10

First...if you are looking for the Sketches 4 All birthday blog hop simply go here. The hop goes on until Dec. 6th and I hope you will join in the fun!

So...now you may be asking what Reverb 10 is. It's a daily prompt designed to help you reflect on the past year as you move forward to the next. A way to get to know yourself a little more and to share the experience with others. As a scrapbooker and family archiver, I think it will be a great way for me to gain a different perspective about the everyday. Sometimes, journaling or telling the story needs a little more meat to the text...and just maybe, I'll find that here.

As far as today's prompt from Reverb 10: How would I encapsulate 2010 within one word? The first word that comes to mind is "trying". This was not the easiest of years for our family. We have seen a lot of illness and changes that are not so easy to fathom. While we are closer as a family, I definately could have done without some of the stress. One year from today I would hope the word I use will be "comfortable".

Sketches 4 All Birthday Blog Hop

Welcome to the Sketches4All blog hop! Before you read on too far, make sure that you have started  the hop at Melissa Pablo's Awesome blog! And you should have arrived here at my blog after being inspired by Jackie's blog.

I am so glad to be a part of Sketches 4 All. It's a great community of people with a lot of challenges and inspiration. There truly is something for everyone there from cards to layouts to altered creations. If you are not already a part of the family there, we sure hope you will join us.

As you can guess from the name...we love sketches! Sketches can be such a fun starting point for your page. I find it so interesting to see how everyone can take 1 sketch and vary it so many creative ways. For the blog hop sketch, I chose to rotate the design.

It fit perfectly with the memorabilia I wanted to keep about my DH's recent business conference. I used a little of the Basic Grey Wander line on the sides. The yellow in the stripes coordinated well with the yellow in my husband's badge. The main photos are actually cut from the tote bag my husband used while at the conference. It's kind of like an iron on transfer. I made sure it would stay put with a little hand stitching.

 I stamped part of the title and made it pop with glossy accents. This also helped it match the key card that became part of the title. A shoe lace and some staples helped to add some dimension. Kaiser craft arrow rub on's continued the arrow design from the key card throughout the layout.

Now it's your turn! We have a little contest for you.If you want to win this contest (and you know you do), then you have 2 things you need to do.

1) Just follow along the hop to the next person and find the hidden letter on each person's blog to solve the mystery word. My hidden letter is Y. Make sure you leave a comment an each blog as you hop along to get credit for your visit.

2) Then use the sketch posted above and make your own project and post it on Sketches4All. Don't forget to put in the hidden word you found from our blogs when you post your project

3.) Join Sketches4All.
4) Make a post in the forum for this contest!!
 It can't get any easier than that!

I'd also like to offer you a little RAK. How does a $10 e-gift certificate to A Cherry on Top sound?
To be eligible for the rak on my blog there are a few things you can do, each one will get you another entry into my rak. I will pick a random name from the entries to win!!
 1. leave a comment below

2. If you want another chance of winning, blog about the bloghop (please link back your blog link  so I can check out your blog. I'll bet it's cool!).

3. You can also earn an extra entry by signing up for my challenges at Skeches4All. Not to mention that completing one or more of my challenges also gets you a chance/chances to earn a RAK in my monthly drawing.
4. Become a blog follower.Don't forget to leave me a comment here to tell you you did so.
There are lots of chances to win on this blog hop! And Sketches for all is just filled with chances to win RAK's from the monthly challenges posted by myself and fellow DT members. So it you like great people, great challenges, awesome inspiration and fun...then hop through our blogs and try out Sketches 4 All! The next stop is Khristen!

Thank you for stopping by and checking out my blog. :) You have until Dec. 6th to finish the hop. Happy Hopping!

Another November Challenge from SOS

Recently, I bought a texture boutique. I have been wanting to have the ability to emboss. I love that I can use almost any brand name embossing folder in it. One of the things I stumbled across in my quest for embossing folders was a cricut kit to make your own embossing folder. Essentially, what you do is to cut a design on the provided sheets and then adhere the design to the plastic folder. This produces a custom design of your own.

What you will need: a cricut machine, the cricut embossing kit, 1 pack of extra sheets to cut( optional, but I highly recommend it if it's your first time. I messed up a few times and ended up using 3 sheets), a design to cut

I HIGHLY recommend thinking out the design you want to use very carefully. Choose something you just can't find in an already made folder. I bought my embossing kit at Joann's for $10 and then another $10 for the spare sheets. So this can be an expensive folder to make. The design needs to be unique for it to be worth the cost. Also, I won't lie...this was a lot of work. At least for me on my first folder. I think my mistake was in choosing such a small design. I had these chipboard people and I had decided to make an embossing plate to match them. I found a dingbat font of a man, woman and boy holding hands...which matched my chipboard people perfectly. It was a small design though! So it took me 3 hours to make the folder!( now that I know what I am doing, it will be a lot less next time- I hope!)


Step 1: choose your design and set your cricut to do a double cut. I used SCAL and a dingbat font. I do not have a deep housing blade. One is not necessary if you use the double cut. I didn't use the double cut the first time...so I had to use another sheet. thank goodness I had some!
Step 2: carefully remove the design from the cutting mat. the negative space will be on one side, so you will remove the backing and adhere, then run it through your embossing machine to make sure it sticks.
Step 3: take the parts that were cut out, remove the backing and stick them to the opposite side of the folder. this is where I had some trouble. Take the image that was cut out and put it back inside the negative space, then remove the backing on the image. Run it through the embossing machine and it will stick...in the right place to the opposite side of the folder.

As you can imagine...with such small images, this took me quite some time. It was especially hard to get all the little heads poked out and then adhered to the folder. I do think it was worth my efforts though! I used one of the November sketches to make a title page for an album.

I embossed 3 sheets of carstock and inked the edges on colorbox black ink. I used naked chipboard from K and company and Maya Road. Basic Grey June bug embellishments were added for a hint of color. Hand stitching softened the hard colors of the red cardstock and making memories 5th avenue ribbons.In place of the photo, I used a sheet of vellum with the title for the album. The word family was a die cut given to me by a friend. To create a visual triangle, I used a silver hat pin slipped inside the stitching. It helped balance the silver on the chipboard people and the silver S( for our last name) on the tag. The silver S was a find at a thrift store. It was inside a tin marked We R memory keepers for $1. A great find as I have a lot of metal letters now. You can see that I shifted some of the sketch elements around to make it work for my page.

As far as the cricut embossing folder kit...I do plan to try it again. Now that I know what I am doing, I think it will take me less time and effort. I am very happy with the results of the folder I made. It's unique to me and to my page. That's what made it all worth it!

If you have a page to share, post it at Scrap Our Stash Show and tell Sunday!

Authentic Cattitude

Yes...she has it! Not usually. Just in this photo I took of her. You see, DS likes to leave boxes in different spots around the house. No one was sure if the cats would fit...but we wondered if they would try. Sure enough...Sweetpea hopped in and fell asleep. I tried my best not to wake her as I took her photo. As you can see by the groggy look of disgust, I failed. LOL

This is a page maps sketch completed for Skethes 4 All's sketch crazy contest. I recently took the "6 layouts,1 kit" class from stash to treasure and so I decided to employ a new technique here. I stamped on the back of the cardstock with some Sassfrass flower stamps. I wish I had a background stamp...it would have turned out better, I think. I then sprayed glimmer mist in silver sugar over it. While it was wet, I tore a circle in the center and rolled the paper.

You can see some of the flowers on the rolls, just a little. All of the papers, borders, and flowers used are from Sassafrass.The blue lace is prima. I hand cut the leaves from scraps. The blue leather frame and blue brads are MM Chloe's closet. I cut the title on my cricut using Ck beantree font and SCAL. the rub on is BG two scoops.I used a Jenni Bowlin pin and some metal pins from the fabric store. ( I heart metal pins now!BTW...they are just such an easy way to add a little something more to a page!)

Overall, I loved the class at Stash to treasure and hope to take more there. I am so glad that I was able to try it out. Sometimes taking classes helps me to push my limits. In this case, I always liked the torn frame...just not usually when I did it on a page. I think I most often don't like a technique when i am just not used to using it. I am going to push myself a little more out of my comfort zone and see what i can come up with...

Climb: an exploration of inspiration

   Paint can be a tricky medium. It looks awesome on a page but yet, it is such a permanent thing to commit to. It takes a little getting used to when you are trying it out on a page. I find that the more I use it, the more comfortable I am becoming with it.

For " Climb" I felt that paint was just the thing to use on the page. It's a page I completed for a combination of challenges at Sketches 4 All. One challenge being a scraplift and another being an ad inspiration challenge. I also added the challenge to use circles on the page and my own posted challenge...to make a hand made embellishment. Here are the 2 inspirational pieces from which I created my own page:

by Stacy R.

ad inspiration challenge photo

The basic design of Climb is a very close scraplift of Stacy 's page. I have been wanting to go back to basics...back to when I frequently used pens or markers on a page as part of the design. I did that a lot when I first started scrapbooking and somewhere along the way, I forgot that pens were for more than journaling. I used my new Bic Marc it's to draw a border around the white paint on the kraft paper. Overall, I placed many of my page's elelments the same way she did.

From the ad, I took the color. I love the bright splash of green and orange on the white. Those colors instantly drew me to the trees in the Jillibean Soup papers. However, the black base was too much, too strong. So I chose a more organic approach with the kraft paper and the browns. It also better matched the outdoor photos. I loved the repetitive circles of the trees. So I fussy cut some more Jillibean paper and made the circle into scallops. I used papertrunks circle pattern from the Batik collection to stamp some white circles onto kraft. Layering this trim over the scallop provided a more finished look to the page. I fingerpainted a circle onto a piece of scrap kraft. Some handstitching and painted rays made a sun. However, the sun was still flat. Stitched swirls similar to the splashes of paint in the ad provided a more complete and interesting  sun. A Handstitched title and date ad to the homespun/natural tone. The bird( from K and company) completes the nature imagery.

I am definately more comfortable with the paint than the times I have used it before. It's easy to combine challenges and inspiration into one page. It can leave you with a wonderful page that you love and enjoy sharing.

Scrap Our Stash November Sketch Challenge

One of my biggest challenges is finishing off albums. It's not always the lack of scrap time. Sometimes, it is getting inspired by newer photos and moving on to new albums before one is finished. The sketches for the November challenge gave me the inspiration to complete some layouts in some albums that have awaited completion for months.
The first sketch sprung to life in my mind as the title page for a spring album.

I used the making Memories Panorama collection and some vellum. Since I live in a tropical locale, this collection of papers was perfect!

I love the palm trees on the paper, but really hated the idea of covering them up. The stitched vellum panels still allows the design to show through while providing an anchor for the title block and embellishments. Since I used a collection of papers and embellishments, this page was made in a snap!


I love using memorabilia on a page and I felt this 2nd sketch was perfect for some that I had from a recent trip to Planet Hollywood. I sort of adapted the sketch and my page is a very loose interpretation of it. I believe strongly that you make a sketch work for you...you don't work for the sketch.

The place mat was used as the base piece for the layout. I again used vellum to allow the design show through. In this case, the vellum also helps tone down the loud design and colors of the place mat while giving me a place to fit in my journaling. The large vellum block and smaller vellum pieces are my interpretation of the hearts from the sketch.

Don't forget to use an archival mist on keepsakes like this place mat. I fit in 2 photos I had taken...one of us and one of the restaurant. I moved them down a little to cover the stock photos on the place mat. I also used a found VIP coupon as the title block.I will say that I love the quick versatility of embellishing with a hat pin. The silver pin through the prima flower gave it a little extra something I felt the title block was missing. I handstitched around the drink glass my son got as a souvenir(since I did not have good photos of it) and then added some glossy accents to make it pop more.


Using a collection of items and sketches provide a fast easy way to get pages done. If you don't buy kits or items from a collection, you may want to try sitting down and making up little kits with items from your stash. You may find that you create some pages you love in a short amount of time.

a Bright and Happy Sketches 4 All DT sketch reveal

WOW...it's been a few weeks since I have posted. I must admit that family illness and travel have left little time for blogging and sadly, scrapbooking. I did manage to find a little time to complete the DT sketch for Sketches 4 All. I am honored and excited to continue to be a part of their Design team. I was also happy that this sketch helped me to complete a page that was several months overdue!

My son has a fascination with most things SCI FI. He gets it from his parents. What can I say...except that it's very awesome to share something in common with him that both my husband and I love. In the past few years, my son has developed an obsession with aliens. When he found out that we had seen an alien statue at Planet Hollywood in Orlando, he requested we take him there for a birthday lunch. We happily complied...however, it's been so long since my DH and I have been there that many things have changed. Including the props showcased there. The alien is no longer on display. We did enjoy a nice lunch and DS got to see many sci fi related props. It was still a great trip. I love that they take your photo as you go in the door. I have a wonderful photo of my DS.

I sprayed some of the napkins with archival mist and found they worked great with the page. Kraft paper toned down the rich purple photo frame. I pulled the red and yellow from the napkins. I used borders punched from a swap I was in and added a purple recollections Halloween border. The I-rock allowed me to easily add some bling to the prima flowers and border. The tickets were from a Rak I had just received. I am a sucker for these little tickets and was so glad to use them here...along with the silver hat pins I have had in my stash for months. Now I am hat pin crazy! LOL You may be seeing them on other pages. Stay tuned for page 2 of this layout....

P.S>since I love the bright colors of this page and since it just makes me happy, I am submitting it over at Scrap Whispers!
P.P.S.Don't be surprised if you see this at frosted designs 11-5-10 challenge. ;)

Scrap our Stash Frugal Friday tip: stamping with found items

Stamping is something I would like to do more of. However, being on a limited budget means I can only add to my stamp collection slowly. I also like recycling, so I am always on the lookout for items that I can re-use. I buy glue sticks for my son in bulk. After he used up the last one, I realized that part of the packaging would be perfect for a background stamp. It had a black stand to which all of the sticks were attached.

I used a little red paint, and stamped directly onto the paper. I love the effect it produced. Ink could also easily have been used with it. I splattered some red paint on the page as well. I also was able to use some leftovers on this page. I had some chipboard circles left over from a minibook project and some thin strips of papers from my DCWV green stack and Stampin up paper pack. For added effect, I used pens on these for a simple accent, though it's a little hard to see in the photo. The simple pen borders give new life to old scraps.

The colors I chose were based on the Tortuga rum cake sign. These are sold here in Nassau. I was recently in a challenge about scrapping local foods. I had never thought about that before. I realized it could be very important. Places change, even if we don't move around a lot. My Dad still lives in the town where I grew up, but a lot of the favorite places we ate are out of business. On the flip side, it could just be nice to record a restaurant and see it recorded in our albums as a family tradition years later.Especially if it's a place you and your family frequents. Anyhow, I am on a mission to scrapbook local treats and foods that we eat while living here. I just need to get DH on board so we can go eat some conch down at the fish fry. Local foods and family recipes have become one of my many projects to complete. They may take a little time, but I do also hope to scrap some of my grandmother's recipes.

I hope you'll take the frugal Friday challenge or get "that" project scrapped. You can submit them to Scrap Our Stash.                                                                                                                                        

Scrap Our Stash October challenge- That Project!

We all have them...projects that need to be finished. I personally have a list of them. I think that is because I take WAY too many photos. I just love photos though...so I refuse to stop. I love looking back on my son and my husband...enjoying all of the moments. Especially since, sometimes, little details slip my mind. So, here I sat, with all of my projects, trying to decide which was the one I was going to work on today. There is my wedding album, honeymoon album, the 2008 photos, current pictures(because, I try to keep up), and childhood photos( both from DH and I). I finally settled upon some photos from our trip to Vail in 2008.

  Dh was lucky enough to have to go to a conference there. This meant my son and I could tag along b/c hotel, rental car and DH's expenses were covered. We were so excited! I had seen snow, but never this much and this was my son's first time. We were told how lucky we were...it usually doesn't snow that much during the time of year we went. And here was this beautiful winter wonderland. My son was ecstatic! I captured these photos our first evening out. I had bought a ton of different winter theme papers to scrap them, but in the end, I chose to let the beauty of the photos accent the papers. To keep it simple, I stitched across some Ms. Elizabeth's stickers by hand. I did accent the photos with silver colorbox ink.

I love the simple and elegant effect. I was inspired by a friend of mine ( Erika H) and her "nature" layout over at Club CK. I am also happy to finally be using up the stash I bought to scrap these pages over 2 years ago! So, now I'm off to work on some more pages... Don't forget to work on projects you need to complete and post them at Scrap Our Stash!

Halloween Bonanza

  If you don't know by now, I love Halloween. I love the costumes, the trick or treating, carving pumpkins...well everything! Sadly, I am WAY behind in documenting the photos that go along with this holiday. So, with many recent challenges focusing on this spooky holiday, I took the opportunity to use some of my new BG Eerie paper to get those photos onto paper.

Let's Scrap sketch 10-13-10

Pumpkin carving is a favorite family pastime, so I wanted a fun, pumpkin theme page. Add to that the fun of incorporating your senses into the page...for carving pumpkins is a very touch based experience. Orange Cardstock set the mood and I loved the textured feel of the embossed felt pumpkin trim from Recollections Autumn collection. To add to the sense of touch, I used Chatterbox corduroy brads to hold twine and handmade felt banners. I found the poem on-line,printed and stamped a tree onto the background, then used colorbox inks in chestnut roan, olive and creamy brown to mimic the tones in the BG paper. I did the same with the title. Hand stitching added a warm cozy feel while i-rock jewels and orange peel stickles added a little glitz to the pumpkin stamp.

To scrap the trick or treat fun, I used Eerie papers over a DCWV purple Cardstock base. This is a hybrid page. I used a printed title from CLUB CK which I fussy cut and distressed with colorbox inks. I also distressed a prima flower with black ink, then added an Eerie brad for the center. This was the first page I had made with my new I-rock. I love how easy it is to put on jewels. The trim is from my local fabric store. I have been finding some great deals on trims and lace there.

completed for Sketches for All Sketch-a-thon

I love how the many challenges out there get me in the mood to scrap. There's a ton of Halloween challenges right now from the Halloween party at Sketches for All, Workout #30 at Scrap fit, to the Halloween/Fall challenge at Frosted.  Also, don't forget to submit to Scrap and Stamp Saturday if you use a stamp on your page. So go on out there...find challenges, make pages!

DT Sketch reveal at Sketches for All

  It's another wonderful month full of sketches and challenges at Sketches for all! There is a Halloween sketch party, The Sweetest day challenge. Not to mention all of the great challenges my fellow Design Team members are hosting. I am really enjoying being part of the Design Team. We had another great sketch to complete for the big reveal today! You can see my fellow DT's sketch at the main site.

Here is the sketch we were given:

I chose to scrap my son's birthday cake since we are focusing on sweet things this month. I even incorporated the whole  birthday song on the page! I used CK's happiness font which was a perfect fit.

The papers I used have been in my stash for so long that I don't even know who makes them. I am glad to use them up for such a fun page. I used some of the papers to roll into candles which I bundled with some fun fiber. To make the rolls look more candle like, I used some EK success Floss which I inked with black colorbox ink(to look like scorch marks). The ribbon is from a swap and I used a new Martha Stewart punch on some musical paper( which I felt went great with the song lyrics). I doodled for an easy added pop to the page and added some jewels with my i-rock to a sassafrass stamp. It was a fun happy page! I love that I have pink accents but they don't feel girly at all on this layout.

I ended up making a wonderful two page layout. I used some K and Company Stickers on both pages.

The ribbon helps both pages connect and flow together. I was also able to get the correct number of candles for my son's age by using them on 2 pages. I hope you like my page...but I also hope you'll check out all of the great examples at Sketches for All! Don't forget to share your own take with us there!

Cards...pros and cons

  I have never been much of a person to sit and write(unless you count notes for friends in high school,LOL). Life is just always a thing of motion for me...full and complete, sometimes hectic. Sitting down to write or send a card has always felt so sluggish to me. Couple that, with the way some people regard cards. There are those who cherish a card for always while others say thank you and promptly deposit them in the trash. So card making is, for me, a difficult undertaking. I value my stash and I hate to see it put into the waste bin. I think it is for that reason, that my cards often lack something. When I am making a scrapbook page, it is always tied to an emotion. So it comes easy for me. It is easy to use things I love from my stash. For the cards, it becomes a more..."should I really use that here?" type of thing. Only a few cards have come easily for me...though with practice I am getting better.

   Yes, I am practicing card making. I should say, it might be a bit embarrassing, but it was the allure of the RAKs available that lured me in. As many of us know...scrappy mail and RAK's have an addictive sort of quality. And also, there seems to be a little more purpose behind the cards, which means making them is easier. DH asked for some to use as thank you's at work. He also asked me to make a baby gift card for a co-worker. It seems as if his request has opened the flood gates of creativity. So I guess I'll share a few of my endeavors with you.

This was made using a Sassy Lil' Sketch from the October card Crazy event. It was for the baby gift. I of course had to use my new cute little duckling stamp!

The following were created using sketches from the Sketch-a-thon at Sketches for all. There are monthly and weekly card activities as well as Scrapbook page sketches there...along with lots of chances for the beloved RAK's.

I used Stampin up's paper for these. The papers were so easily matched and easily used. To make the tree trunks, I used a Halloween stamp...but only inked the bottom of the tree. I then fussy cut the trunks and added the tops.

A cup of Co: A Scrap our Stash Pagerize this challenge

When I saw Joni's layout, the first thing I noticed was all of the wonderful paint. I love the look of it on a page.

 I loved her bold color and the way your eyes were drawn to the photo in the center. I chose also to use paint...though I was not as bold as she was. This is a page about a cup of cocoa. As silly as it is, my DS has always referred to hot cocoa as " a cup of Co". I realized I had never documented this cute saying of his when he asked me for a cup on a recent rainy day. He's 10 now, so there probably are not too many more years with cups of "co" in my future.

I used the white paint around the edges of the brown card stock because it reminded me of the frothy cocoa. I chose this October Afternoon paper because the browns reminded me of the cocoa while the blues were like the color of the rainy day in the photo. To get more out of my double sided patterned paper, I cut a window out of the center and glued a scrap piece of brown cardstock to the back.

I then was then able to use some scraps with the polka dot pattern to create faux ribbon. I have some of the paper left over to use on the 2nd page when I come back to it later. The felt flowers are Fancy pants and the buttons are Foof-a-la.

Don't foregt to stop by Scrap Our Stash for the current pagerize this challenge along with many others!

A Monstrous Halloween Event

   Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. It is also a favorite of my son. Every year we make these little monsters and aliens out of these mix and match molds. My son loves mixing the jello and picking the monster parts. The hardest part is always waiting for the Jello to solidify. It's a very special occasion, and it was one of those time's when I saw some challenges and immediately knew that the photo was a fit.  Scrap Fit's Monster Mash workout gave me the perfect idea for the title.  I could easily visualize the photo of my son in the sketch over at Sketches for All's Halloween party.

   This page fell together quickly because I was so inspired. I chose to cut rectangular windows from the orange cardstock. I adhered Making Memories paper behind them. Then I added MM paint in green meadow around the edges of the rectangle and the photo. I doodled a whimsical border around the photo to help it stand out. I cut the title from my cricut as well as the Monster and the bat. The title font is Oh (photo) Shoot. I added google eyes to the monster and bat, while I used paint and stickles on the title. 3-d adhesive made them pop from the page, while sequins added some fun to the title.

 If you love Halloween as much as I do, check out the Halloween party going on over at Sketches for All. You won't regret it...it's a great group with a lot of great challenges.

Hidden Messages

  Do you ever leave hidden messages on your pages? I really have not thought to until recently. Earlier this year, I chose to use a pocket for journal tags when I ran out of space on my page. On a more recent LO, I chose to use a hidden tag because I hope someday it will be a nice message for my son. One he'll understand as he grows up. I probably would not have done this had it not been for the recent Project Scrapbook challenge at Challenge Masters. I had to do a page about me...which is not my favorite topic. I would far rather scrap my wonderful son, handsome hubby or quirky cats. However, Given the challenge, I chose to make a page for my son ( and hopefully soon, one about his Dad) which tells him a little about me, my hopes for him and some facts about the time when he was born.

   I have wanted to include more of my son's art work in my pages, so I used this drawing he made of he and I if we were mice. I sewed it into a pocket on the page. I loved the warm cozy feel of the My Mind's Eye Be Loved papers. They reminded me of a quilt, so I used this Sassy Lil' Sketch:

I fussy cut some of the paisleys from the blocks of paper and used 3-d foam to make them pop. From the title block, I cut the word "mom" and then wrote variations of mom on the paper. I covered it with vellum, and once it was stitched on, added the word mom back with 3-d foam. The flowers were hand made from a wonderful tutorial found here. I made mine smaller using some scraps left over from making the blocks. Just remember to keep all of your paper strips the same length and to vary them in width by 1/4 inch. I finished the project with prima trim and K and company border stickers from the poppyseed collection.

If you do make the flowers, pop on over to Sketches for You. DT Member Brenda was the one who offered the tutorial and she has a monthly challenge with a RAK for you.

I'm on FIRE!

    Well, I am not literally on fire! Technically, I sort of got into a slump. Not because of creativity. More because life threw me a curvebal in the form of sick kid, sick dog, and then me, well, getting sick. See the theme here. It's not a pretty one. That being said, everyone feels better and it's a rainy lazy day here. I am having a hard time falling back into the homeschool routine today with the sound of the rain beating on the roof. I feel so cozy! So what better thing to do than scrap...and what better topic to scrap than a campfire! So I took Scrap Whispers challenge 78 and literally scrapped a campfire.

I have had this pad of Paper Pizzazz Vacation papers for what must be at least 4 years now. We all have paper like that! I think I bought it on a whim. There are some great vacation papers in it...many are just specific to certain locales. For Example, there is an ENTIRE page of labels for trips around the world to cities like Paris, Washington D.C, San Francisco...well, I could go on. I must have really been hoping that buying the paper would make tickets to these destinations materialize. LOL Anyway, I finally made use of some of the camp themed papers here on this page. There was even a tag to fussycut. I used scraps of the paper to create faux ribbons. All of the papers were inked with colorbox Chestnut roan.

If you like the handmade flowers, you can find a tutorial here. They are really easy and fun to make. You just need to monitor your microwave so you don't have a campfire in your home. Seriously. While I did not start a fire this time...let's just say, there have been many accidental campfires in my kitchen. This is why we own a fire extinguisher.  And that's all I have to say about that...

Go Green Challenge

Recycling is always a good thing. With acid free mist, there is a whole new world of possible embellishments or items that can be incorporated into a scrapbook page. When my son recently had a birthday, I had decided to make him some cinnamon rolls as a special breakfast. I decided to save the packaging and use it in the layout.

As I mentioned before, You will need an archival or acid free mist spray. You can follow the directions on the can to preserve the label or item for your page. I highly recommend NOT using anything that has been touched by food. As you can well imagine, it just might not be good for your photos. Labels though, can be a great way, not only to preserve the moment, but to also give a little look back at the way things were. Think back to how many times advertising and labels change with the trend. It just might take you back on a little trip down memory lane.

The other cool thing about this page is that I used scraps left over from creating the left side of the page. The polka dot paper is My Mind's EYE while everything else is Cosmo Cricket's Early bird line. Even the coffee mug sticker border was a scrap. I had cut it apart to use on the previous page.

The flowers used on both pages are Prima. For other ideas regarding  recycled items for projects, check out Scrap Fit's Workout#28.

Inspired by Children's Books

  I have always had a love of reading. I share that with my son. Even at the age of ten, he still enjoys our nightly reading...from novels to him now being the one to read to me. So, when Challenge Masters issued the week 4 challenge to scrap with a Favorite kid's book as your inspiration, it was a snap for me. The most difficult thing actually proved to be deciding which book to use, as I had several ideas.  I finally settled upon using " The Story of Ferdinand" by Munro Leaf.

The colors fit some of the ones in a set of photos about my son using a wheelchair. We had been at a science center, and he got to experience an obstacle course that a disabled person might have to navigate through on a daily basis. He learned a little empathy that day. When I think of the character of Ferdinand, I think of him as stoic, strong in himself, yet gentle and full of compassion. So the book seemed like a good fit.

I chose to use the colors from the cover and to add floral designs to the page. I used SEI's black orchid paper along with Pink Paislee 365 degrees on a Bazzill cardstock background. I chose to ink the photos and the papers in Colorbox black ink to help them stand out. I used basic grey stamps in White Frost ink to mimic the look of the white flowers on the cover. A few sequins added a fun tough to the page. To make the title match, I selected some CM stickers on which I used a Martha Stewart opaque chalk pen to add a white design. I then used some glossy accents on the stickers to add dimension.

The end result, IMO, makes the photos pop and have more meaning. I have a few other kid's books I think I may use in the near future. It was certainly a fun challenge that brought more meaning into the page than might have otherwise been there.

***Update: this project was highlighted as a top 3 pick at Frosted designs!

I have Tree Love!

   No, I am not out hugging any trees or anything like that.  I have a wonderful kit from the new Nikki Sivils collection, Tree Love. I can not tell you how very excited I was/ am for the opportunity to play with these gorgeous papers. I was also excited to hear, that Nikki herself was going to have a contest as part of the Sketch-a-thon at Sketches for All. It's always a lot of fun to see how different people will interpret the same sketch. It's even more interesting when several people have the same kit. Who knows what each person will come up with!?!? It's like a little paper adventure.

So now, I sat with ATG and scissors in hand, armed and ready with Nikki's sketch and her example.
                                     

Sketch Nikki Made for the Sketch-a-thon. Now how cool is that!

Nikki's example. ( I wish I had a dog like this one! Isn't he just awesome!)

 I had a wonderful selection of the 12x12 papers from Tree love, the matching 6x6 stack and some interesting embellies to choose from. I just had one problem...on one particular piece of 12x12 paper, I was in love with both sides but only had 1 piece! Now what's a girl to do? Get creative, that what!

So, I cut the tree border from one side. I then flipped the paper over.

I gathered my paper piercer, a pencil, and my plastic canvas square(which I use as a template). I then carefully marked and pierced holes to stitch the two pieces back together. * You want to be very careful not to pierce to close to the edge, as the paper will rip. Flimsy paper is also not easy to work with. You need a nice, heavy weight paper, like Nikki Sivils' so that the paper does not crumple as you work.

I next took some DMC floss and began stitching a zig zag pattern. So that the paper would stay better aligned, I stopped part way and then went to the other side of the paper. This anchored the two sheets together, which also made stitching the rest much easier.

* Just make sure, that if you choose to stitch a pattern as I did, that the  pattern will properly meet up in the center. Also, don't pull hard on the thread. You want it taut, but if you pull too hard, you will warp the paper and make it uneven.

The stitching reinforces the paper and holds it together. You could also just choose to adhere a strip of cardstock as reinforcement, rather than taking the time to stitch. if you don't want the slit to show, then substitute a paper border for the stitching.

Little tricks like these allow me to make the most of coordinating pattern papers. I will also say, that I LOVE 6x6 pads of paper. Though small, they pack a lot of bang for your buck. I used 1 sheet of the Tree Bark paper on the LO above. I simply cut blocks from it, inked the edges with Colorbox dark brown ink and adhered in the mosaic pattern shown. To make the leaf embellies, I punched the leaves from a 6x6 sheet of Be green paper and used my black marker to draw the lines. I drew 2-3 sets of lines to mimic the black lines on the trees of the border design. As you can see, Tree Love was the perfect paper to bring out the rich color of the caramel and that warm,cozy feeling of Fall. Everything on my page is from Nikki Sivils collection except for, the DMC floss, the ribbon(found in my scraps) and the title( which is an October Afternoon rub-on).

I also made a card utilizing Nikki's sketch. It's very easy to use card or LO sketches for any paper craft. Just remember this simple rule: You don't work for the sketch, the sketch works for you.

So be creative with what is around you. To see how my fellow DT girls interpreted Nikki Sivils' sketch, come on over to Sketches for All. I hope you'll also share your interpretation with us. If you do...you might even win a prize!