Safe as Houses

Any Depeche Mode fans out there? If you are a fan, you may recognize part of a lyric from one of their songs. I felt it worked well as the title here. I am sure some of you may remember me blogging about our cat who we almost lost a few months ago. These photos are part of the time when we knew he'd be ok. Boo was  now well enough to not have to separated from our other cat. One of the first things he did, was to stay close by my son. Where my son went, Boo went. So for many nights in a row, I tucked the cat into bed with my son and our dog. I think Boo wanted to feel safe and being near to his family helped him feel that way.

Pencil Lines sketch 248
Frosted Designs Fab. Fri. challenge for 8-5-11: colour on it
Crate Paper Neighbourhood Collection papers,die cuts, stickers
Dew Drops
Craft Affair heart brad coloured with Bic Mark it in Desert rose
Bic Mark it in woodsy brown
American crafts rub on alphas
Basic Grey Life of the Party alphas

I chose Crate Paper's Neighbourhood collection for this page because the papers reminded me of soft, warm blankets. The colours are sweet and gentle. They perfectly convey the mood of being wrapped up safely at home in your bed.
  While my son cuddled Boo, I snapped a close up of Boo's paws. When Boo is very happy, he flexes and curls his paws. I thought it would be neat to show some signs of a kitty who was happy once again.

Scraphappy.org August sketch
Crate Paper Neighbourhood collection papers, stickers
K and CO. pink frame, cut apart
Foof a la button with Prima e-line Pearl
dew drops
Craft Affair heart brads colourd with Desert Rose Bic Mark it

So while the events of Boo's illness may not have been one of the happiest parts of our life, I am grateful for a happy ending to document.

Top O' the Morning to you!

 Or good afternoon, or evening...or whatever time of day it is as you are reading this. I hope you are having a good one! I just had a minute or two to share a very belated St. Patty's day LO that I just made with items from my counterfeit kit. I know that June's kit is supposed to be all about summer. However, I realized I had some lovely greens in the kit and I am a bit behind in getting some of my photos scrapped ( because I take WAY too many photos). When I printed this photo of my son from St. Patrick's day, I knew the greens from my kit were perfect for it.

Pencil lines sketch 243
DMC floss
Colorbox ink-Olive
Studio G Stamp
Basic Grey brads
Making Memories - rub on alphas
Making Memories flowers and buttons
Making Memories chloe's closet leather frame ( cut)
Sassafrass border
Scenic Route PP

The matte that the photo is on is actually not a matte at all. I took two Making Memories journal spots, trimmed off the notebook edges and then glued them down together. There was a slight seam which I hid with a Sassafrass border and some buttons. I used the basic shape of this to influence the shape of the Patterned paper. The flowers and brads were not in my kit, but they went so well, so I used them anyway.
   This month has been hectic and I am sad that I did not get to play with my supplies as much as I wanted to. Here is wishing all of us who scrap a month of July full of me time and happiness! May we all get many pages done!!!

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.

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

Counterfeiting and Catnip

  Catnip...who knows why a cat loves it so much?!?! I know my cats love it, but I sure hate the mess! We recently discovered the catnip ball. I love it almost as much as my cats do...almost. I captured these photos of my cat. She knew the catnip was in our suitcase for her, and once we gave it to her, she immediately commenced coveting her newest treasure. She rolled around with it, cuddled it, and then proceeded to lick it. It's messy, but not nearly as much as the sprinkle kind. So I foresee more of these in her future.

Scraphappy.org March 2011 Sketch
Submitted for Scrapfit's Workout#39

As far as the pages I created regarding Sweetpea's love of the catnip ball. Well, I used items from my counterfeit kit.I decided to use yellow cardstock. Yellow is my least liked and thus least used paper color. It however, seemed to beckon me as I checked my cardstock stash. It was the perfect base color, adding some bright flair to the earthy, catnip type tones I had chosen.

  You may recall a circle stamp in one of the Studio Calico add on kits. Well, sad to say it...but I don't own said circle stamp. I set out to find something in my collection to come close to it.The best option I came up with was to stamp circles. I don't have circle stamps...but I do have a collection of lids in varying sizes.

Three sizes worked best for the pattern I chose here. I used lids from my Oil of Olay eye cream tube, a water bottle and a hair spray bottle. I recommend keeping an eye out for usable lids in your home. There are some neat shapes out there...like the oval from my deodorant,or the oddly rounded squarish shape from my dog's food container, the flower shaped lid from my son's juice... I admit. I am a lid collector. I do recommend washing your lids thoroughly with soap and water before using them on your page. Or, if you are lazy like me ( I like to think of it as spending time on more creative endeavours), you can stick them in your dishwasher. The lids are great for stamping with paint or ink onto paper. In this case, I chose to paint onto the cardstock and then to use the lids to stamp brown circles onto the page.

Pencil Lines Sketch 228

I rather like the effect of these stamped circles. It adds a fun organic feel to the page and corresponds to the theme of a catnip ball. I wish my photo editing brought out the true yellow tone of the base Cardstock. I enjoyed using fussy cut flowers from the Crate Paper Season collection along with the matching chipboard accents, embellishments and stickers for a whimsical, feminine touch. Christmas red stickles added a little flair on both of the pages.

I really love my first two pages. However, I can't stop here...I have a ton of other items in my counterfeit kit to use up. Off I go...