Count Me In

So ...once again, there is another new release of some wonderful Sassafrass paper. I can't wait to use some of this for homeschool layouts. The colors are great for fall and late summer. Count me in is one of my new favorites! It's just released at CHA.

Meanwhile...

I am busy trying to use up some stash while I await all the wonderful new papers. Today, I challenged myself to make a 3-d pop up. I have not made a pop up page in years...so it was fun to try again. So lift up the tab that says "our shelter" and one can read about our home and see a pop up house...template courtesy of club ck.

In truth, it was a contest at club CK. I love combining challenges, so I used sketch 208 from Scrapbook Challenges. Thanks to a club ck peep, I figured out that the paper is Cloud 9 design. I used some chipboard and a My Mind's Eye transparency frame to reinforce the cover of the pop up. The title was cut on my cricut with Basic George. The idea behind the page is to document our hurricane preparedness. We may not always live somewhere in which a storm like that will come. It will be nice to see an "everyday" preparation.

And the winner is...

Thank you all for joining us on the Scrap Our Stash Christmas in July Blog hop. Sorry for the delay in posting the winner. Life happens when you have kids.

Without further ado...Mandy Hornbuckle! You are the winner of my blog candy. Please email me your address so I can send out your prize.

New Sassafrass line at CHA

For everyone watching for the winner of my blog candy from the blog hop...stay tuned. it shall be posted shortly.

Head on over to the  Sassafrass' blog to check out their newest CHA release. I love the color and look of this new line. But then again who does not love anything Sassafrass.

Recently, I even used some Sassafrass scraps and leftover packaging to make a journal tag. I had just finished up a package of In Stitch Blossoms.


 I realized it was the perfect size for a tag. I covered the logo with a sticker and fussycut some flowers. I made a flower out of a bottle cap and some ribbon scraps. I filled the center with beads and glossy accents. It was a fun easy way to recycle! This is just one of the great challenges over at Sketches for you.

Tip: use smaller beads to fill the center so there are no gaps. I realized my error after the fact. The ribbon is folded and pleated around the bottle cap base. I used glue dots as I went which makes things a lot easier.

Scrap our Stash Christmas in July Blog hop

It's finally here! I love blog hops, but usually, I am one of the hoppers. This will be my first time as a hostess. Thank you all for joining in. Blog hops are both fun and addicting. I always find new places for inspiration. If you came here first or if you get lost down a rabbit trail, please pop back over to Scrap Our Stash to find your way back onto the hop. There is a secret phrase which you can learn by following the blogs in the correct order. Speaking of where to go, here is a list of all the wonderful blogs you can visit:

                                                       Scrap Our Stash-Start Here

1. Joni

     2. Rachel

   3. Angie

    4. Wendy

         5. Kimmarie

 6. Amy 

                            7. Christy  (you are here)

                          8. Tere -visit here next!

    9. Ren Yi

   10. Monica

11. Kathy

   12. Brittney

     13. Stephanie

14. Laurie

  Scrap Our Stash has been a wonderful find for me. I enjoy their sketch and stash challenges. Using up stash is, after all, of extreme importance. One must make room for all of the wonderful new things that are always coming out in the scrapbook world. And there are so many wonderful ways to use up all of that stuff. While you are here, I hope you browse around a little. I am new to blogging but not to scrapbooking. I have a few projects posted that I hope you will enjoy.

  Since this is a holiday themed hop, I decided to scrap these photos of my two cats snoozing around our tree. I used some stickles in fruit punch and diamond as well as some smooch ink in azure to add some bling to Fancy Pants botanical die cuts.I also added a little fruit punch stickles to a My Mind's Eye acetate frame. No, they are not traditional Christmas embellies. However, they made me think of angels and the warm cozy feelings of nights by a tree. I carried the polka dot theme through in the rounded dots of the MM red cheeky trim and the dots on the red and green papers. I cut the title on my cricut using the CK beantree font and I used SCAL to cut the border. To add a little to the non-traditional colors, I used some pink( I swear it is.The picture just doesn't do it justice) DMC floss to stitch some flourishes. I am starting to think that Scrapping your holiday photos in the summer is a good thing. it really makes you think outside of the box as far as supplies and colors to use.

Want some blog candy? Who doesn't? I know I always love blog candy. If you would like a chance to win some from me,become a Follower and tell me if you have ever scrapped a holiday with nontraditional colors or items.Don't forget to let me know you became a follower in your post You'll be in the drawing for some holiday theme stamps.

Thank you for stopping by and enjoy the rest of the hop. Remember, the next stop is Tere's wonderful blog.

P.S. The secret word from my stop is " and."

Christmas in july Blog Hop

Who doesn't love Christmas? But once Thanksgiving comes - so does all the hectic preparations for Christmas. Who has time for Scrapbooking in December?


Scrap Our Stash will be sponsoring a Christmas in July Blog Hop! It will be from July 22nd - July 25th. Many of the Design Team and Guest Design Team members are preparing a special "Christmas" type post for you to visit on their personal blogs, and many of the blogs will also be offering blog candy for comments and/or following. There will also be a prize awarded for the Scrap Our Stash Christmas in July Blog Hop Contest.

This will be a fun filled weekend you won't want to miss. Mark your calendars now - and watch Scrap Our Stash for further information. http://scrapourstash.blogspot.com/

Wired

I can hardly believe it. I am in round 3 of the MS. Scraptastic 2010 competition. It's been fun and challenging. If you want to check out some other entries, go here.So, for round 3, we had to complete a page about something we were passionate about or a hobby when we are not scrapping. I had the perfect topic and the funny thing is that I have had the photos waiting to be scrapped for a few months now.

Video games have been a huge part of our family. Dh and I grew up on them. When we first dated, we didn't have a lot of money to go out. So, we played video games together. While I miss those days, video games have come a long way. Dh and I now share that hobby with our DS. So, to scrap about it, I felt it needed the perfect elements.

I thought about using some of DH's spare parts. However, many are sharp in sections and I am not sure they are very acid free. So,I set out to make an embellishment based off a computer circuit board. I ended up pulling out one of DH's spare parts. I wanted to really do my best to capture the look of one. I chose to cut and ink a sheet of  clear scraps acrylic. I used green ink since many boards are green. I used a cotton ball to dab the ink on for better coverage.

Once the board was inked, I examined the elements on the board. There were several sku tags. To mimic the look, I cut the SKU bar codes from some PP. Next, I wanted to add the dimension of the black elements the circuit board had. I used some blackboard pieces. Brads became substitutes for screws, as well as some silver eyelets. I used some white opal liquid pearls to replicate the sodder points on the board. Gel pens in silver and gold completed the look. I am very pleased with the overall look of my board.

I had more photos than would fit onto the page. So I used scraps of the blackboard to build a pocket. I measured the tag the extra photos and journaling would go on, then cut two pieces: One in a blocky u shape for the pocket and one square shape to be the pocket cover. I added some Basic Grey origins paper b/c I felt the grid look matched the computer theme.

tip: if you have a lot of items for your pocket, layer the "u" shape until you gain enough height.

Each tag inside the pocket has journaling about some of the extra items we have acquired in our family hobby as well as some of the crazy things we do...like watch E3 on tv every year. E3 is a huge video game conference that tells about the newest releases. I tied a little metallic silver ribbon on the tags to show they can be pulled from the pockets.

 I  hand wrote the word "wired" for the title, then I used a paper piercer and dmc floss in silver/grey to stitch it. I used eyelets and satin cord to create the effect of wires across the page.

Initially, the photo placement was  a little off balance. So I used some grid paper to make wrap around journaling on the upper right page.                                                                                                              

Camp is over and now...

it's back to work. I had a great time participating in the Club Creating keepsakes summer camp activities. I used up more stash, which is always a good thing and means more pages are complete. As always, I try to combine challenges, both to save time and to push my limits. For my last Club CK project ( journaling), I chose to complete the July 1st Scraplift over at Sketches for You and Frosted's Border punch challenge. I also chose to make the sample for my July Start it Simple Color challenge posted at Sketches for you. My color palette was fun but challenging. It's called Hello calli: http://www.colourlovers.com/palette/1214904/Hello_Cali . 

This Lo  by Stacy R. was a wonderful page to scraplift:

It's a  fun and appealing page. I had a great time lifting it.

I chose PP from Cosmo Cricket's Boyfriend collection since I felt it best went with an LO about my DH at work. I also used some grid PP by Fancy pants. On some of the strips, I used an EK success notebook punch to match the work theme. Sometimes, color from a palette can be subtly used, especially when it's one you don't care for or don't have a lot of in your stash. In my LO, I used brown in the form of Catseye colorbox ink to ink the edges of the paper. The yellow/orange was used sparingly as an accent in the form of foofala buttons and the title. I chose the CK newsprint font as I felt it fit the theme of the page well. I also liked the "business" feel of the Basic Grey periphery ribbon. The 7 Gypsies journal tag also fit the theme well.

Here is my take from Stacy's page:

There is still time to play. So check out these sites and submit a creation of your own.
Sketches for you: http://sketchesforyou.ning.com/
Frosted:
http://frosteddesigns.blogspot.com/2010/07/lets-see-those-border-punches.html

Bloom

 It's been a long time since I have used my embossing powders.Years, in fact. So when Club CK had an embossing challenge for its summer camp, I pulled out my old heat gun. I ended up using a free paper piecing pattern from Club CK. I stamped the bird with colorbox blue lagoon and then heat embossed some blue powder over the top. Instead of using the branches that came with the pattern, I fussy cut some branches from a DCWV green stack paper. The nest is also from the green stack. I wanted the nest to "pop" so I tried another recommendation from Club CK. I used my crop-o-dile to emboss the dots on the paper. I don't have a cuttlebug yet, so this was a nice easy alternative.You can see a sample of the nest partially embossed here:

 A little tip...if it's a thick glossy paper, don't press too hard or you'll "crack" the finish. I decided to use a Maya road acrylic paisley which I had inked with Stream alcohol ink. I decorated with some diamond stickles, a staple in my supplies...and voila! A lovely bird in nest. I now have the Club Ck nature badge. I'll have to go back to earn the heat embossing badge...but it does help me use up some stash.
   The background paper is DCWV greenstack. I loved the rest of the stack, but until today had no idea what I would use this particular sheet for. The edges are inked in prussian colorbox ink, while the yellow CS is inked in apple green. The inked edges just help define things a little more...at least in my eyes. the title was cut with the AMORE att font on my cricut. This was completed using the sketchy Thursday 7-8 sketch challenge. http://sketchythursdays.blogspot.com/2010/07/78-sketch-challenge.html

For anyone completeing the club CK heat embossing challenge, don't forget to submit your Lo to Practical Scrappers. They are having an embossing challenge this week: http://www.practicalscrappers.com/2010/07/this-weeks-challenge-is-embossing.html

I honestly do not know what the name of the berry is in the photos. Guess I need to do some research...

Love all Serve All

That's the slogan for the Hard Rock cafe. Since one of my photos already had a hard rock sign on it, I felt it would be redundant to use that as a title. The slogan seemed like a great fit. I also had these great stir sticks with hard rock guitars. Alone, though, they seemed to lack dimension. So I added a little more with some fancy pants felt shapes. I also made some shakers boxes by cutting some musical notes on my cricut. I used some leftover packaging, added some star sequins and a little diamond stickles...and there you have it. It earned me the First Aid badge over on CLUB CK.

This is the 3-24-10 sketch from Let's Scrap. It was completed for Let's Scrap Challenge 58 and for frosted designs felt challenge.

With All My Heart....finally

Thirteen years ago this Fall, I married the most wonderful man. I have been so in love with my husband from the first day I met him. Yet, I have not scrapped ANY of our wedding until today. I started scrapbooking when my son was a little over a year old. I was first introduced to the hobby at a Creative Memories party. With all of the photos of my son, I never got to go back to my wedding album. So, when a few months ago, I mentioned to a Friend that I was going to scrap some photos of her wedding, she jokingly said I shouldn't until I had finished my own. So, I made it a goal of mine to get to work on my wedding album.

I saw a sketch on Sketches for you  
http://sketchesforyou.ning.com/group/sketchcrazy/forum/topics/sketch-crazy-2-sketch and thought it would be the perfect jumping off point.

I chose to use Basic Grey Porcelain. I spritzed a little meadow glimmer mist on the cardstock, just to give it a little separation from the mat. I fussy cut the mat and then traced Heidi Swap heart mirrors. i wanted a border of hearts, but I felt they should all match the shape of the heart mirrors. A little cat's eye ink around the edges of the hearts added a finished look. I cut the title from a K and company vellum quotes stack. To make it more special, I used diamond and fruit punch stickles. I chose to stitch the fluorish in ecru floss, so I would not draw attention away from the photo.

Stars and Stripes

Today, I finished another one hour challenge over at Club Creating Keepsakes. At first, I wasn't too sure about it, but in the end, I think I really like the results. The other nice thing...it completes several challenges from several different places. For the one hour challenge, I had to make a 12x12 LO with a Handmade fireworks embellishment. So I cut a star on my cricut, folded it to make it dimensional, then added some unfolded paper clips and some EK success fibers. I had in mind the sketch from the Club CK weekly challenge, so I used that. I cut the borders on my cricut using SCAL. I cut the title using CK's beantree font. I had a few photos that would not fit on the page. So I placed them on my cricut mat and cut the title. The ribbon was from my stash...I loved the striped pattern with the stars.

If you are looking for places to submit your patriotic LO's, try:
http://sketchesforyou.ning.com/
http://www.stuckonusketches.blogspot.com/
http://scrapdivas.spruz.com/groups.htm

I hope you enjoyed your holiday. Happy Birthday, America!

My Mad Martian Maker

I made this layout for the Brads and eyelets challenge at Scrap Our Stash Blog spot. You can check out their challenge here:
http://scrapourstash.blogspot.com/2010/07/july-challenge_03.html

This is one of those pages that I just love. It came together so easily and came out in such a way that I just love it. The bright colors and the photos pop on the black background.

I chose the Sassafrass patterned paper because it reminded me of stars. it also had a retro feel that reminded me of the "my favorite Martian" show. I chose green ribbon from Cosmo Cricket's Jack's world collection as a border. I wanted a space theme, So I used chipboard stickers from K and Company. I made the stars myself. Flat stars would have worked fine, but I really wanted to add dimension. I had just viewed a tutorial about making folded stars on the Scrapbook and cards Today blog. I added brads to one of the stars as an accent.

TIP:
when doing this, make sure your the tabs on your brads are not pointed at a crease...they will poke through if you aren't careful. To adhere the stars to my page in such a way that they would not get crushed, I glued pieces of cotton balls inside of them. I cut the title on my cricut using CK's Jolly Elf font. I love using brads on a LO. They are such an easy way to add a little dimension and interest to your layouts

Owls and BellBottoms

I was recently challenged to scrap a graduation day photo( a challenge over at Sketches for You). I don't have any of my own. My Dad has those. I have a few of DH and none of DS( who is too young for high school). I do have this one of my mom...which caught my eye and got me to thinking. I was thinking, not of her graduation day ( I obviously was not there), but of growing up in the 70's. Seeing her photo brought back memories of Brown and orange furniture, the Macrame Owl she made for the living room, and the outfit she made me wear. It was all white with Blue and orange owls all over it. AN owl T-shirt and white bell bottoms(literally plastered with owls). So, inspired by these thoughts, I created an LO all about her day. I'll have to call my Dad for the specific details(my mom is no longer with us), but I must say, I really feel like I captured the feelings of the era quite well.

I used mostly Sassafrass PP. I fussycut the owl, stitched on his belly and added real buttons for eyes( he had printed ones). I used more yellow DMC floss around the mat.The brown PP is Recollections. I loved how the blue diffused the brown and yellow tone of the older photo. The flowers are also Sassafrass. The title was cut on my cricut using CK Far Out font.

 This was a Scraplift project on Scrapbook Challenges. I am proud to say it was one of today's featured photos.