Raising Polliwogs

Last summer, we had a unique experience. We found some tadpole eggs in a local pond and were lucky enough to watch them hatch. We have raised tadpoles before, but they had always been caught just after hatching. This time, we had found the eggs, conveniently sitting on a lilly pad close to the water's edge. I scooped them up in an empty water bottle and we set up a habitat for them in our kitchen. Little did I know, our kitchen was the perfect environment for the polliwogs. Shortly after they came home, my son noticed the eggs wiggling and jiggling. Almost every egg hatched totalling about 30 of the tiny creatures! Of the thirty, most of them survived and were released back into the pond from which they had come.
  Now here is is a year later, and I am just getting to scrap those photos. Technically, I picked out the papers in this kit for my counterfeit kit challenge carnival kit. Yet when I saw this green print paper from echo park, it reminded me so much of frog eggs that I decided to use it right away.

 Echo Park paper with white acrylic paint, Making Memories Chloe's closet leather frame cut into part, Webster' spages green satin pleated trim, K and CO. Transparency frame, DMC floss, KI Memories alpha stamps, Inkadinkadoo circles and dots stamps, Colorbox olive ink, Autumn leaves red ink
Submitted at Frosted Designs for the Fabulous Friday Animal challenge

I stuck with a sort of green theme, mixing and matching some of the textures that seemed to feel right for the page. Since I had many photos of this event, I used many of the same materials over the next few pages.

Sketch Inspiration #232, white acrylic paint, green water color crayon, Meadow green glimmer mist, echo park papers, colorbox ink: olive and chestnut roan, Autumn leaves ink:red, KI memories alpha stamps, inkadinkadoo circles and dots stamps, Fancy pants grid paper,Making Memories leather frame by Chloe's closet, webster's pages ruffles

My favourite part of both pages are the hand made alphas. I followed the tutorial at the counterfeit kit challenge to copy the design behind some Fancy pants alpha stickers. It's such a simple thing to do, however, it's one of those things that I never would have though of on my own. I love how they look and have a good feeling about using up my stash.
  Speaking of stash, the original intent of these kits for August were to scrap some very specific photos. I am glad I was inspired to get these frog photos done, however, I guess I really need to figure out where my honeymoon photos are. Off to look for those and hopefully scrap a bit more...

Flowers for the Fourth? July Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog hop

Welcome to the July Blog Hop for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge!   You should have arrived here from Angela's Blog. If you are lost or arrived here first by mistake, hop on over to The Counterfeit Kit's website to find the right path. I hope you enjoy all of the projects being shared!

If you had come to me last month and asked me which papers from my stash would be used to scrap our family Fourth of July memories, Floral prints would definitely not have been on the list. Yet here they are on this next page! I got the idea from the counterfeit kit club challenge.If you don't know what it is( though most likely you do if you are hopping along)... The idea is to scraplift a kit from a kit club using what you have in your stash. One of the kits I saw had a lot of blue and red  floral papers in them. Since flowers are not always easy to use on a page for boys, I felt this would be a great opportunity to use them. Oh...and would you believe there are travel themed items on the page too!?!? The journal spot and the tab sticker on the corner of the photo are from travel collections.

page maps sketch For Counterfeit Kit's 4th of July sketch challenge
starburst paper- Cosmo Cricket
all other papers Sassafrass
sassafrass border
Prima flowers
foof a la buttons
7 gypsies tab sticker and paper clip
Journal spot unknown( Maybe K and Co.)
Making Memories rub on alphas
hand made denim flowers
Basic grey Border sticker-cut apart

Originally, this was going to be a page about sparklers. However, I kept looking at this photo of my son and a sort of, deeper meaning manifested itself. He doesn't have the "trying too hard,sicky sweet smile" that he has had lately. It's the real him...just sweet and pure. So I journaled about that. The title for this page comes from a song by Bob Marley called "three little birds" which is the current challenge at Scrapping the Music.

  I did manage to make another page about the sparklers. We have not had any at the fourth for several years. So it was a nice treat for my son to have some and to share the fun with friends this year. Once again, the floral paper came through for me. I think it gives it sort of a vintage, yet warm feel to the page.

Sketch Inspiration #229
diamond Stickles
otherwise, everything use are scraps are from the above layout

I printed out my photos in wallet size. They were so nicely done on the photo paper, that I trimmed it down and used it as a collage style block. It was a HUGE time saver. My rub on alphas did not go on perfectly. I used a black marker to fix the letters as best I could. The "f" is still a little wiggly though.

 The next time you are feeling a little blue about not having the right themed papers in your stash, check out a kit club or the counterfeit Kit challenge. It just might give you some ideas to help you rethink how to use products you already own. Now it's time for you to hop on to Emily's Blog.

One Man's Trash is A Scrapper's Treasure

   Lately, I have been experimenting with a more artsy side in my scrapbooking pages. It's not one that works with every page I do, but in some cases, I think it lends a wonderful tone to the story of the page. This is one of those pages.
  I have the misfortune( or perhaps fortune) of having 3 pairs of jeans that have become worse for wear. So much so, that I retired them quite recently. Much to my husband's dismay, this did not mean I threw them out. On the contrary...they have found a new life as a scrapbooking supply. After all, he doesn't want for me to go out and BUY any denim for a page, right? So when I started pulling supplies for this page about my son and husband tossing a football around our patio, the scrap denim was one of the first things I chose.
   The next supply I gathered up was a small piece of bubble wrap. The previous inhabitants of our rented condo were gracious enough to leave me a roll in our top closet. I like to use it every now and again to stamp with paint onto a page. I think it was quite considerate of them to supply me with enough of it to last quite awhile.
   Now that leads me to the next supply. I am sure you are wondering about traditional things, like patterned paper or rub ons. We'll get there...just not yet. One man's trash is another man's treasure, right? Which leads me to my next choice....cardboard. I took a little of the box my recent scrappy goodness arrived in. USPS boxes have this wonderful tiny corrugated pattern inside, once you rip off the outer layers.
  If you are like my husband, you may have a strange look on your face, especially given that, when  asked about what I was doing, my response was that I was scrapbooking some photos featuring images of him and our son tossing a football around the patio.  I can't imagine what he was thinking as I ran around the house cutting up jeans, stamping them with paint and bubble wrap and then with the utmost precision, ripping cardboard. Perhaps, he is wondering why I ever bought traditional scrapbook supplies. LOL I am sure you are quite intrigued about what I created as well. So here it is:

Sketch Inspiration #223
Scrapfit Workout#45-around the house
Paper issues submission-for the guys
Fancy Pants rub ons
Cosmo Cricket football tag inked with colorbox chestnut roan
Colorbok star epoxy sticker
Basic Grey brads
Fancy pants dot border cut from a transparency
Basic Grey mini marks alphas
Homemade mist-walnut ink with silver paint
Candy Apple red glimmer mist
white acrylic paint
denim
cardboard
DMC floss

I splattered some Candy apple red glimmer mist along with some homemade mist onto the page.I used some staples to attach the denim scraps. I had a handy chipboard template for the bracket which I hand cut from the cardboard( after I sprayed it with archival mist). I then began applying the more traditional scrapbook supplies. It's a fun page. The cool part about it...these photos all show my husband facing left. When I make page two, they will be photos of my son will be facing right...just like they are IRL tossing the ball. I am not sure quite when I will get to page two though. My black evening bag broke this weekend. SO I am off to recycle the gazillion black beads and wonderful hardware off of the bag. Wonder what I can make with those things....

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.

Closer to Fine

  I don't normally scrap about the bad things. Scrapbooking, to me, is all about the happy memories. There are some times where the less than happy finds its way into my album. This was one of those occasions. Our family cat, Boo, is still quite young. He just turned two. Last fall, he was diagnosed with kidney crystals. We had noticed him begin to act a little odd. He is normally quite playful. On the night I took this photo, all he wanted was for my husband to hold him.I had no idea how sick he was.

Both pages made with items from my March Counterfeit Kit

Sketch Inspiration #212

The next morning,  he was in quite a bit of discomfort, barely able to walk. When I felt his abdomen, I could feel a large lump as though he had a blockage. I rushed him to the vet. The diagnosis seemed a simple fix...medicine and a surgery to remove the crystals. It should have been quite simple, but neither the vet nor I expected we would be embarking on a 4 month long stint of infections, surgical complications and extended care. At times, we were not sure he would make it. By Christmas, my son's big Christmas wish was for Boo to get better.

Sassy Lil Sketch 3-21-11

Through all of it, Boo remained sweet and loving. He was not always capable of keeping himself clean. He always purred when I sponge bathed him. At times, he had no bladder control. So we kept him in a pet diaper. I never thought in a million years I would be diapering a cat. Finally, mid-January, Boo got back his spark of life. He woke up one day, ate a huge meal and then started to play. It was then that we knew he would be just fine. He's back to his old self and has gained back all of the weight he lost. In fact, I truly believe he is even more affectionate than ever.
  During the months of not being sure, I was afraid to scrap about Boo's condition. It's probably silly, but I felt  that I might scrap he was ok and then we would lose him. He is a large part of our family, even if he is a cat. When I saw the current challenge for Scrapping the Music,I thought the song would be the perfect title. Finally, he fought through each day, each complication bringing himself and our family a little "closer to fine".

Playing with my new glimmer mist and smooch inks

I know it's not new to many people, but it's new to me. I must say that I like the glimmer mist, though I am not completely blown away by it. I still want to try Maya Mist and some of the other new products out there. I specifically bought glimmer mist in blues and greens since those are my 2 favorite colors. I hope to try my hand at making my own...but first, I plan to use up these bottles so I can then reuse them for my concoctions.

  I completed this Lo using sketch 125 from Sketch Inspiration.
http://sketchinspiration.ning.com/

  I made paper waves from leftover scraps from a punch. I sprayed the scraps with Patina and Sapphire glimmer mist. Then I layered them to create the waves. Some of the scraps had a spattered paint look. I added Crate paper Blue hill ribbon over it to continue the turquoise and blue color theme. I have had the title block in my stash for quite some time and don't know who makes it. The star fish had a little cartoonish look to it which I changed by adding Diamond stickles. I used the diamond stickles and waterfall stickles to add some accents to the water droplets. To add a slight shimmer to the words, I used I covered the letters with smooch accent ink in azure and pool. I used scrap CS to make journaling strips. I inked the edges of the journaling strips in Colorbox blue lagoon ink.



To make a 2 page LO, I slightly altered the original sketch for the 2nd page.