Summer is here!

 What can I say...summer temperatures are definitely here. It brings with it trips to the beach, time at the pool, and afternoon thunderstorms with cooling rain. I think it's time to break out the squirt guns and get some great summer photos. It all sounded so wonderful...until I realized I still had last year's summer photos to finish scrapping. Not only that...I still had last year's summer themed papers to use up! Time to pull out those summer albums and finish up the last few pages. 

   The page I am going to share with you today is actually page two of a layout I did last summer. I scrap in an odd pattern sometimes. While my albums are chronologically organized, I scrap the photos that I feel like here and there. Sometimes, I will complete a full  two page spread in one sitting, while other times, I will do one side of the two pages. I save the photos and papers I use right there inside the page protector. It's nicely organized and things don't get lost. The only disadvantage to this method is that, as my style and skill become more defined, there is sometimes a different look to the 2nd half of the page if I wait too long to scrap it.

  Anyhow, here I sat with scraps from page one...papers and embellishments from the Fancy Pants Rusted Sun collection. I had 4 photos all 3 1/2 x 5 in size. I think part of the reason I had not gone back to this page is that I had been struggling with how I wanted to place these photos onto the page. For whatever reason, I wanted something more than a usual grid with 4 photos. I just didn't know what I wanted to do exactly, until I came upon a wonderful sketch from Sassy Lil Sketches. I saw the circular element on the page and instantly knew I wanted to cut one of the photos in a circular shape.

Sassy Lil Sketch 5-21-11

  Once the photo was cut, I realized the page needed a little something more. I wanted to continue with the sun and beach theme, but did not have the lovely yellow paper from the rusted sun collection. I chose to use a Martha Stewart plaid style stamp and some orange ink on yellow paper. It closely resembled the pattern found on the suns in paper I had already chosen to use. I then decided to add some detail with white opaque marker and brown pen. I remember using pens and markers more often in my early days of scrapbooking. I have happily found them once again. They are such an inexpensive and quick way to add just the right something to many a page.

  Since the two sun shapes seemed to be such a large attention grabber, I chose not to add a lot of other design elements to the page. I am rather pleased with the way it brings your focus right to the photo of my son. Now…I must go and try to finish off some of those other albums. It seems I have several that need just a few pages here or there to be called finished

The Beauty All Around

For the counterfeit Kit blog hop, please click here.

  Well, today has been a busy day for posting. Can you tell my internet was out earlier this week?!?! It's amazing just how much one can rely on such a thing. Especially since that somebody remembers a time when there was no internet! Anyhow, after a hectic week and no internet, I finally got a chance today to sit down and play with my stash. I have been wanting to make a page for Scrapping the Music's current challenge. Music Lyrics make the best titles! Initially, I had intended to use the phrase " as big as the Ocean blue"...however, I switched things up and chose to use " the Beauty all around us." It was the perfect fit for these photos of last year's summer flowers.
  The funny thing about scrapping the flowers is that the current challenge at Scrap Our Stash is all about flowers. Earlier this month, I had been struggling with finding photos or a topic to use flowers with. I sure wish these flower photos had been found earlier! Either way, I shall be posting this page over there for show and tell Sunday. BTW, there's just a few days left to post flower projects over there and then a fun new challenge will begin! Now...for my layout...
  Months ago, I received this lovely mask in an RAK from Club CK. Today was the first time I got to play with it! As many of you know, I mostly scrap my son and husband. So I rarely scrap with pink or flowers. These flower photos afforded me the perfect opportunity to do just that. I chose to use Crate Paper's pink plum collection because the pink's mixed perfectly with the browns and oranges for a wonderful summer inspired palette.  I fussy cut the butterflies from some of the paper and added antennae made from curled wires. Adding the wire antennae and 3-d foam to the butterflies added some wonderful dimension to the page.

Pencil lines sketch 238
viva pink glimmer mist
Spun Sugar smooch spray
mask by Crafter's Workshop
Paper, brads, stickers, and chipboard from Crate Paper's pink Plum collection
wire for the antennae
Making Memories noteworthy alphas

The heat of the summer months may be upon us, but as you can see, the beautiful flowers and birds make up for that. So if the heat has you down, don't stop to complain. Instead, stop to search for some of the beauty around you.

Blog Candy Alert!

If you are here for the Counterfeit Kit Blog hop, go here or scroll down to the next post.

  My friend Stacy has some awesome blog candy. For a chance to win, pop on over to her blog to check it out!
It LOADED with TH goodies and well worth trying to win.

Counterfeit Kit Challenge's May blog hop

  Welcome to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge May Blog hop! You should have arrived here from Jennifer C's blog. If you have just found the hop or are lost, head on over to the main page at the Counterfeit Kit Site to get on the right path.
  If you are like me, you love Scrappy supplies and getting packages in the mail. Unfortunately,my budget just does not allow for me to purchase various kit clubs and all of their wonderful add ons. That is where the counterfeit kit comes into play. Each month, a kit is chosen and we are invited to do our very best at copying it with supplies in our stash. I admit that I love shopping my own supplies. Participating in this challenge has really helped me see new paper combinations and various ways of extending older supplies to get a new look. The cool part about this challenge is that I can use my kit to play on other challenge sites as well.
  This month's blog hop challenge was to choose some inspiration from a manufacturer's blog. It sounds simple enough, but let me tell you, it was actually quite a challenge to narrow down what I wanted to use as inspiration. I finally chose to scraplift a layout from Maya Road's Creative Corner. I especially loved the use of Kraft paper along with the unusual banners at the top of the page.

Page by Karen Grunberg made for Maya Road

   One of the first obstacles for me in making my page is that I do not own a scallop edge border punch. I could have opted to cut it on my Cricut, but instead, I chose to trace my own from a piece of shaped chipboard( I keep a few covers from shaped mini albums to use as templates). I used a hole punch and paper piercer to add a little more detail to the hand cut scallops. Paper scraps inked with Colorbox's chestnut roan ink took the place of ribbon. I liked the diagonal flow of the page and chose to add to it with glimmer mist splatters. Buttons and the leftover dots from punching holes in the kraft paper hint at confetti. To make the punched dots a little more interesting, I used a pen to doodle irregular circles around them. 

all items from May counterfeit kit except for:
twine from the twinery
K and Co. alphas and stickers
glimmer mist in candy apple red and electric blue

This was my first time making faux stitches with a paper piercer and pen. I will say that I do like the effect and it's a great technique to use if you are short on time or feeling lazy ( like I was). I did use a few items not in my original counterfeit kit. I chose to add in some twine and some K and CO alphabet stickers. These stickers came with some birthday themed hats, presents and cupcakes. The package is a few years old and the stickers were not sticking well. I used glossy accents on them which served to update their look as well as keeping them on the page.

 Lately I have been pinning a ton of ideas to my pinterest page. Seeing this completed layout is a reminder to me that using the inspiration I find can make for a wonderful page.If you are ever in a slump, a manufacturer's website can be the perfect fix. Now it's time to hop on over to Michelle's blog. Don't forget...don't just save inspirational ideas for later, find the time to actually use them! Happy Scrapping!

Gingerbread Houses in May

  I'm not up to date on all of my latest photos. Then again, what Scrapper is? Part of my problem is more than likely due to my need to take a gazillion photos of every family event that occurs. This is one problem, however, that I refuse to curb. I love all of the wonderful photos of my family. I often wonder if my son will not let me take as many pictures of him when he's a teen as he does now. Either way, here I am in the month of May scrapping Christmas photos.
  Every year we make a gingerbread something or other. Some years, it has been a gingerbread Christmas tree made from star shaped cookies. Other years, we have attempted to make a gingerbread house( despite the fact that I am the only soul in the house who will eat gingerbread!). Despite the wonderful house cookie cutter shapes we have, the house always ends in ruins. It just won't hold together. So this past year, I chose to go a simpler route...the pre-made gingerbread house kit.
   At first, I almost opted to make yet another standard Christmas page. After all, I have a HUGE collection of holiday papers in my stash. Something else came to mind though. I have this Echo Park paper with little house on it. It matched wonderfully with the Pink Paislee striped candy looking paper I had. Kraft paper simulated a gingerbread base while white Acrylic paint played the role of icing. I fussy cut some candy pieces from an unkown paper then topped them with glossy accents. This made them look more like a real piece of candy.

Punky Scraps Challenge 16 Sketch 5-13-11

   I wanted a fun title, so I chose to use a variety of alphabet stickers from Echo Park and Pink Paislee. Embellishments such as the chipboard key from Crate Paper and the Echo park house sticker made interesting substitutions for words in the title. Faux stitching and Making Memories chipboard pieces embellished with stickles completed the page.

Scrap lift for May Flaum's " May with May" BPS class

  I chose to journal as a set of directions versus just telling the story. It added a fun twist and with the page elements I chose, these pages stand out as just a little bit different from the usual holiday pages I create.

Happy Armed Forces Day!

  When I saw the challenge over at Frosted Designs to scrap something Patriotic in honour of the day, I knew at once what photo to use. Just yesterday, I had come across a photo of my husband receiving an award during his service.

Sketch Inspiration #220

I have had some K and CO. patriotic papers and stickers in my stash for years. I had gotten them with the intent of making a series of pages about my husband's time in the Air Force. There was no time like the present to use them.Since I didn't have much of these papers and wanted to replicate the look of the text printed in the white stripes of the flag, I used a tattered angels text stamp on cream paper. I then cut a variety of stars from it and inked them with Colorbox chestnut roan. Since my husband can not recall the exact reason for this award, I chose a quote by Franklin Roosevelt for the page.
  I am very happy about getting part of my Husband's time of service into my scrap album. I am sure my son will appreciate having it there in the years to come. I only wish I had done this much sooner. Now I have to locate the rest of his service photos. I think that, prior to having my son, I was a lot less organized with photos and that his birth has lent far more importance to them. So now I am off in search of more of those photos to scrap and stories to tell.

Not Yet! Then I Should!

  As I was flipping through photos yesterday, I came to realize that I have yet to scrap a page about my Dad. He's sort of not the kind of person that likes to get his photo taken( kind of like me). So the two photos I found of him are quite the rare treasure.

Sassy lil' Sketch 5-14-11

  I had specific reasons for choosing the elements I used for this page.Take the camouflage flap for example. Ever since I was little, my Dad has a camouflage hat on his head every time we go outside. ALWAYS. I think it might be weird if he didn't. He has had one ever since he was in the Marines. The Camou flap reminded me of that. I had just salvaged the flap from my son's canvas backpack( the bottom of which was ripped up beyond repair). I chose the blue plaid paper by Fancy pants because it reminded me of the shirts my Dad liked to wear when I was a kid. Embellishments and trim from the Making memories Just Chillin' line added a nice masculine touch to the page. The journal spot was made on a whim by me. I have always wanted to use my mists and a mask to create one. I just got some new masks by Tattered Angels from their Heidi Swap collection. So I was quite happy to use one here with some sapphire glimmer mist.
  Though a lot of people looking at this page would not know the meaning behind some of the elements chosen, the page in and of itself is a nice tribute to my Dad. I invite you to consider choosing page elements that may have significance to you. Without realizing it, the tone or feeling behind those choices may well translate into the page itself, giving the viewer a deeper feel for the page's subject.

Some Belated Mother's Day Inspiration

  This month, Artastic's challenge involves a Mary Cassat painting in honour of Mother's day. While I am a big fan of Cassat, I found it a little difficult to find just the right photos for this challenge. I scoured everything I have. Mom and baby photos of my son and I have long since been scrapped. I did find some vintage photos which I have been meaning to get into albums, so I chose one of those. It's a photo of my grandparents holding my uncle.

Pagemaps sketch
papers-Cosmo Cricket and October Afternoon
Crate paper rub on and chipboard border
Jenni Bowlin stick pins
vintage buttons
lace unknown
title-fancy pants rub on
K and Co journal tag

I love that I was able to use vintage buttons from my great-grandmother's button box on this page!I feel it's kind of a nice touch and adds a little memorabilia as well.

Get the Ball Rolling

For the Sketches for all blog hop, please click here. Otherwise, please feel free to read the posts below until you get there.

Just a quick hello on this Monday morning...and then I have to get the ball rolling on some housework. I just wanted to share this page I made for the NSD festivities last week. It was a quick page, however, I absolutely love the fun splash of colour and the whimsical doodles. Proof positive that a page need not take hours for it to be special or fun. This page was made in under 30 minutes.

Made with scraps from my May Counterfeit kit
sassy lil sketch 5-7-11
basic grey alphas from Life of the party
candy apple red glimmer mist
fancy pants PP-stripes, Sassafrass-number

I did take some photos of my husband and son bowling, but I had wanted a few unusual photos of our excursion. So I made it a point of capturing the name of the bowling alley on the ball and on the side of my son's shoe. the next time you go out, I invite you to look for opportunities to take photos that are out of your norm, especially if you are going somewhere or doing something you have done before. You may find it will spice up your pages just a bit.

A Journey into the Past

  If you are Looking for the Sketches For All blog hop, hop to this link...or scroll down, if you are feeling in the mood to read along.

  Almost 20 years ago, a tornado destroyed my Great grandmother's home. She survived and came to live with us. She brought with her a few things she had managed to salvage including some very beaten up photos. As you may have guessed, this was one of them. The photo matte was beaten and bruised with part of the photo missing. I had no idea how, or even if, I should scrap these until a recent NSD challenge at Let's Scrap inspired me to do just that. The challenge asked for us to scrap photos cut on the diagonal. Mother nature had already done the job of cutting the photo. So I scanned it, then set about to scrap the original. I matched the papers to the original scroll work on the matte. It's a wonderful black embossed leaf print over the chipboard style base.

Let's Scrap Sketch NSD#1 from 4-30-10
papers-Jenni Bowlin, Creative Memories, Basic Grey
Acrylic paint-buttermilk
walnut stain, alos used as a spritz
prima flower
making memories tag witj Jillibean Soup twine
DMC floss
7 Gypsies brads
Lace- unkown
Crate Paper banner
Basic Grey Stamp in paint-leaves
submitted to Let's Scrap, Punky Sprouts, and Sketches for All

The wonderful thing about my paper selection today is that each one was a paper I was not sure when I would ever use. The base is a piece called feed store by Jenni Bowlin which I received with a scrap kit. I liked the vintage look and so I chose to use acrylic paint to cover the feed store name, date and location. The red paper has been in my stash for at least 3-4 years. It's by Creative Memories. I liked the way it and the brown tones of the Basic grey paper made the photo pop out.  I am very happy to have made another page for my son to see in our family heritage album. I hope someday, he is able to share it with his kids. I invite you to scrap your old photos, no matter what their shape.
 Now, on a less serious note, I am off to submit this to a banner challenge over at Sketches for All and to Punky Scraps. I absolutely LOVE their cat button!

Sketches for You Spring blog hop

Spring has sprung! To celebrate spring and the Merry Month of May, we are having a blog hop until May 18th. there is also a plethora of challenges over at Sketches for All! If you have arrived here first, please stroll on over to Stacy's blog. She'll get you going on the right path. If you follow along the blog hop trail correctly, you will have the chance to find some secret words and a challenge. Find all of the words and you will be entered into the drawing for a chance to win a $10 Gift certificate from Scrappy Jo's. Find all of the words AND complete the challenge for a chance at first prize! How awesome is that!

FIRST PRIZE!!!!

As for me, I will also be hosting a challenge. You may find it by surprise, like a pair of roguish eyes... over at sketches for you in the group's forum. Hmmm....sounds like I left you a few hints about my "Spring is in the air" challenge. Now to throw you off just a bit...some people celebrate Bicycle week during the month of May. I have a little challenge going which is all about transportation. We've been heading around the world in 8O layouts, but this month we changed things up a bit. Rather than focus on a country for inspiration, we are focusing on how we get there. Speaking of how we get places, and the month of May...did you know  that this Friday( Friday the 13th) is National frog hopping day? Quirky huh? Kind of like this post! Well, in honour of such a hopping good day, I made this page:

page maps sketch
basic Grey paper
prima flowers with e line pearls
acrylic paint
Studio G stamps
Paper trunk stamps
SEI alphas
handmade alphas
hampton arts flock

Last year around this time, my son and I raised tadpoles. He was like a mother hen( or should I say frog?) in caring for the little guys. We released 30 of them! That's a lot of hopping!

   Which leads us back to the Blog hop, as it were. It's time to Hop on to Michelle! Happy hopping everyone! I'll see you over at Sketches for All!

P.S> please don't forget to email your words to: scrapmiep2@hotmail.com

Some Most Unusual Flowers

  While I do love flowers( and readily admit to hoarding quite a few Primas in my stash) I will admit that I cringed a little when I heard that Scrap Our Stash's May challenge was all about flowers. I find flowers difficult to use on pages since my home is male dominated. I quickly realized that I had to get very creative with the types of flowers I would use for this challenge. I recently experimented with making my own zipper flower. I think the flowers look cool and they can have a bit of a masculine edge to them. However, the flowers I made were black...which is really not the colour you think of when you think of Spring flowers. Black flowers make me think of Halloween, which is why you are now going to see a Halloween layout in May.

 My son was a Predator( from the movie last year). I wanted a sort of grungy page to go along with his costume. I splattered some Tiger Lily and Black magic glimmer mist to provide a grungy background. I loved the Pink Paislee canvas label. It provided me with a title as well as a direction for the rest of the page. To match it's used look, I embossed some Coredinations cardstock with a Sizzix folder. I then distressed it to reveal parts of the orange colour in the core. The beads are actually part of a necklace my son got for me. We were Trick or Treating in Disney's Boardwalk hotel. They have games for the kids to play and the bead necklaces were one of the prizes. My Son was thrilled that I wanted to use it on a page( he even went back and won me several more necklaces just to be sure I had enough). I think it's a nice touch with the Satin ribbon and the staples. I used Making Memories papers for the other flowers. The smallest ones were made with a simple office style hole punch. I was inspired by a Big Picture Classes blog post to make the medium size flowers. I used a button punch to make mine. I used a Basic grey stmap with white ink along with an office date stamp, to make the badge. I stamped them on black card stock and then used clear embossing powder. So there you have it...a sort of grungy, Gothic floral page in the middle of May. Proof positive that flowers can be used on any page when you think outside the box.

Day 2 of NSD!!!

First off...Happy Mother's Day!!!

It's been nice having so much time to relax and scrap this weekend. I have two more pages to share with you. Also, if you haven't checked it out,Scrapbook Challenges is having an NSD blog hop. You can start the hop here with Brynn's blog. The cool thing is that you too can participate in the hop by completing a Scrapbook Challenges sketch and then linking your blog to the hop. For my sketch, I chose a more current one.

Sketch 252 Scrapbook Challenges

Some items are from my Couterfeit kit for May
Echo park papers
prima flowers
making memories jewels
bread tags-recycled from pantry
recycled note pad cover, cut into circle then stamped with a studoi G stamp
colorbox white and chestnut roan inks
Plum pudding shimmerz spritz
making memories tiny type alphas
K and Co. wood veneer alphas
marth stewart opaque punch on vellum
Orange Bic mark it-faux stitching

I wanted to enter a current challenge while still getting a page completed. I love combining things. I get a lot of challenges done by combing them with others. It can be a challenge in and of itself, but it makes things a bit more fun.Which is why you may see this page at a few spots around the web like BPS, Frosted and Sketches for You. (hint: it will be part of an upcoming challenge over hosted by yours truly at Sketches for You). Since the word roguish means michievous, I wanted fun, playful colours. I paired them with pink and flowers for a feminine tone. My husband snapped this picture of our cat, Sweetpea hiding in the sink. She is always full of mischief but very girly...so I think the page suits her well.
  My second page features our other cat, Boo. He is one of those long slinky cats. I call him the contortionist, because he looks folded up when he sleeps. To capture the theme, I used bright colours and circus style papers. The paint and stars remind me of circus paint and clowns.

Sketchy Thursday 5-5-11
Sassafrass papers and borders
white paint
star punch
yellow stickles
My Mind's Eye chipboard frame centers
Colorbok die cuts-arrow and star

I chose to use some leftovers from some My Mind's eye chipboard frames. I wrapped them with thread and used them to frame the circles for a fun pattern.
  There is still a little more time to get in on the NSD fun. Don't forget about being part of the Scrapbook challenges blog hop. I am off to try to get a few more pages done...

FYI: Bella Blvd. giveaway

There is a HUGE scrappy giveaway over at Bella Blvd.'s blog. Check it out here for a chance to win!!!

Happy NSD!

  This will be my second year participating in National scrapbook day. I have a few pages done and more I'd like to finish. However, I thought I would stop for a moment to share what I have done so far.
My first layout was inspired by a photo over at Scrapbook Challenges. I was able to use the colour scheme of black, yellow and blue. I chose to use some of the fun Sassafrass papers from my Counterfeit kit.I felt the blue reminded me of a retro bowling sign and the yellow crosswords and black bingo numbers symbolized playing games. All perfect for a page about bowling. Not getting the fish eye effect in photos of two page layouts sis still a work in progress though. My page really is a little more flat and centered IRL.

Page two is a fun take on a 15 minute page from Creating Keepsakes September 2010 issue. I like trying out these 15 minute pages because they help me decisively choose components for my pages. I can work quickly but still never quite manage to make the page in 15 minutes. It's more like a 30 minute page for me.Nevertheless, I do often like the outcome.

Scenic Route PP
white gel pen
Studio G stamp with Colorbox white ink
Alphas-Making Memories tiny type and Karen Foster Funky white
Tim Holtz tickets

I chose to use purple for this page because of the hat colour. I like how it makes for a fun, yet not feminine page. Purple can be hard to work with when you have a boy. The title was taken from lyrics for Scrapping the music's challenge Challenge #171- Falling Slowly. I love how rich a title can be when you use song lyrics.

   Now I am off to scrap some more. I wonder how many more NSD challenges I can finish before the deadline...

Only You Can

This was going to be another simple page about my son and his boyish habit of playing with sticks. However, I decided to switch out the title. Something that simple can lead your journaling down a different path. in this case, that path led me to describe some of my son's best traits. I also, inadvertently, was able to place a little message in the text. I misspelled strength which led me to use acrylic paint to cover the error. It looked a bit unbalanced. This led to adding paint in other areas of the circle, including over some of the other words. I chose to use the words " capture, your and strength." Which leads to the little message for my son...Only you can capture your strength.

Pencil Lines  Sketch 236
Contents from my May Counterfeit kit including:
Sassafrass borders
Buttermilk colour acrylic paint
Recycled chipboard stars embossed with Swiss dots
Papers-My Mind's Eye, Fancy Pants, Sassafrass
Alphas- basic grey mini Marks
Sassafrass

Frugal Friday Tip- Salvaging What You Can

  I buy and use cheap luggage. I learned the hard way, that regardless of cost and claimed durability, luggage takes an extreme beating when you fly as frequently as we do.Often, given the beating it gets, expensive luggage has about the same life span as a cheap Walmart suitcase. To top it off, if the airline breaks it, they will either give you the cost of a cheap bag or cheap bag itself as a replacement. It's just not worth spending big money on luggage. Thanks to the airlines, a duffel bag style suitcase I have broke recently( the wheels came off and it was beyond repair). I realized I could do a little recycling. Armed with a sturdy pair of scissors, I cut the bag apart.

Not pictured is the one wheel I saved.I think it would be cool to use it with paint or ink. I'll roll it all over a paper for a grungy effect. I cut out several zippers which I can pull apart to use as trim or make into flowers. There were some cool metal tags and zipper pulls with the word "embark" on them which I can use in the future for travel layouts. I also cut off part of the handle figuring that these can also be used as an interesting trim. If you don't have a broken suitcase, consider going through old clothes in search of items to salvage. I have a pair of jeans that are not worth patching. I plan to use some of the pockets, the zipper, the label and the material itself to make my own embellishments.
  Lately, I have been coveting Maya Road's zipper trim. I have seen some neat flowers made from it and have wanted to make my own. Zipper trims just aren't readily available where I live and quite honestly, I'd like to avoid having to buy them since my scrappy budget is very limited. I considered buying regular zippers from the fabric store. I can get them for around $2 or less. It's a good option if you want a specific colour or don't have any salvageable items. However, I decided to use my salvaged zippers to experiment with before I bought any.

You will need thread( I recommend using a colour that matches the zipper) and felt. As shown above in the photo, I used only one side of the zipper. I simply separated it, cut it apart and saved the pull to use an embellishment on another project. I cut the felt into a small circle. It doesn't have to be a perfect circle and if there is any excess, you can trim it away when you are finished. I started by sewing one end of the zipper to the center of the felt circle.

Then I just slowly wound it around, stitching it in place as I went. It resulted in a small rose style flower. As mentioned before, I trimmed away any excess felt from the circle that showed at the edges.

 I like having the felt as a base for the flower. I think it makes it easier to adhere it to your page later on. Maya Road also has some zipper flower tutorials on their blog. They will give you ideas on how you can change the look of your flower.

 Happy Salvaging everyone!

Quickly goes the page...

which one is inspired to make. I know I made a lot of great choices in my counterfeit kit because it was easy to choose photos, supplies and a sketch. The next thing I knew, this page had been made.

Sassy Lil Sketch 4-28-11
stars are recycled notepad cover, embossed with swiss dots
paper-My minds eye,sassafrass, fancy pants
I rock jewels
Sassafrass borders

My son is playing with sticks. Even my husband loves to play with sticks every now and again. Fun lives in simplicity sometimes. I chose the quote because I felt it was pretty apt. It reads: " A treasure to a little boy does not consist of money, gems or jewelry. He will find far greater pleasure in the wonder of a rock, pebble,stick or beetle." Author Unkown.

May's Counterfeit Kit

  Here we are in May...already! Boy this year is flying past. This will be my 3rd counterfeit kit. I am very happy to be participating in this challenge. I am definitely enjoying shopping my stash, trying new ways to make my own embellishments and just making pages with my monthly kit. May's Counterfeit  kit was an easy one for me to make up. I think it's going to be easy for me to use a lot more from it as well. This month, the kit is a fun, summer kit with a  playful childlike tone from Work in Progress. So without further ado, here is my version:

papers: Fancy pants- It's your day(stripe)
Cosmo Cricket-Chaplain ( large black page with number)
My Mind's Eye- red polka dot
Basic Grey- life of the party-confetti cake polka dot
Basic grey- life of the party- how you' ve grown-rulers
basic grey- life of the party- noise makers-green with plaid dots
Sassafrass-anthem
Sassafrass anthem-translate

Alphas;  Basic Grey life of the party
Cosmo Cricket- flour sack

MISC: Basic Grey life of the party brads
Sassafrass paper whimsies cards
Fancy pants yellow ric rac
Lil' davis designs castaway rub ons
Maya road chipboard stars
Sassafrass cardstock stickers

Of course, as many of you know, I simply can not resist a good add on. Really, there is no excuse not to since I am shopping my stash. So I jumped in with both feet when it came to making up a boy inspired kit. For whatever reason this month, the number theme seems to really be a big thing for me. I used a lot of papers and embellishments with numbers of various shapes and sizes. It will be interesting to see how these gets used on pages throughout the month.

Paper: Crate Paper-Toy Box-playdate
Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe- playhouse
Crate paper Toyr box-build
Echo Park Sweet Summertime- raspberry delight
Echo Park Sweet Summertime sunny spots
All other papers-Sassafrass

Alphas- K and Co. Brenda Walton chip box
Sassafrass pocket full of rosies
Sassafrass Woodland Whimsy

Misc: Crate Paper toy box borders
Crate paper toy Box chipboard
Studio Calico numbers card
Sassafrass Paper whimsies-flowers
ribbon and trims-unknown
Maya road wood bongo numbers
Fancy pants it's your day buttons
Sassafrass in stitch blossoms-deep blue
Sassafrass brads-vintage gems
Crate Papers restoration collection brads
Sassafrass felties-June bug
Basic Grey woolies-wonder
K and. Co ticket border remnant
K and Co. frame

You might recognize a few things from previous kits. I decided to challenge myself yo use things I put into past kits but never used. So let's see how I do. I am off to play...