Chances Are...

only what we make them. Some people look at life and see the negative. Others, find the positive. I think perspective gives us the ability to make our own happiness and luck. I try to see the good and have a positive outlook. I feel very lucky to have my husband and my son. Our life isn't always easy...but we are happy together. My husband often says we live a charmed life. I think that is true
    The song for this week at Scrapping to the music was perfect for this page. The lyrics brought to life some of the journaling I used to talk about the wonderful chance my husband had in his job.

SEI mimosa papers and stickers inked with SEI lime ink
Basic Grey brads
October Afternoon mini market alphas
Making memories greenhouse alphas
glossy accents
Let's Scrap Sketch 3-2-11

The photo is of the hotel in which my husband works. The number was the number of his office at the time of the photo. I chose SEI's mimosa line. It's usually hard for me to work with pink, because I am the only female in the house(other than my cat). I loved how the Mimosa papers matched the tropical feel of the hotel.

Be grateful for everyday and for what you have. Don't forget to make the most of your chances and to share those in your scrapbooks.

Warm Wishes

   If you live in a cold climate, then this page may very well make you laugh. I live in a tropical clime and recently, we had a cold snap with record low temperatures. I took a photo during the afternoon of our patio thermometer. I like to document the weather. I think it's good to remember that, wherever you may live, the weather is sometimes the same, but at other times unexpected. I know that's a given...but I also know many times we have a tendency to overlook such small details. Those small details may prove interesting later on. But I digress...

   So back to the page at hand. We reached a high in the low 60's. It's not really a big deal...except when you factor in that we have no central heat. We live in a place that rarely gets this cold. So this means that the house is only 3-5 degrees warmer than whatever it is outside. So this was taken during the day, and you can well imagine when the temperature dropped 10 plus degrees at night how cold the house was. For us it was freezing! We survived though...bundled up, with lots of hot cocoa to drink and some warm wishes.

Some of you may recognize the cute snowman 4x6 card from the WE R Memory Keepers merry January line. I love the paper. For whatever reason, I thought I'd be satisfied with the 4x6 pad. I don't know why I thought this. Anyhow, since I am currently on a spending freeze, this meant I had to get really creative with my stash. The white polka dots of MY Mind's eye's Andrea Victoria line reminded me of snow. Since the color seemed to fit well, I added the matching black sheet and then inked both with colorbox white ink. For a little added texture, I ran some leftover clear packaging through my texture boutique with a Swiss dot embossing folder.

I sanded it a bit and then layered on making memories chipboard snowflakes and lush brads. Some prima lace and hand stitching finished off the page. If you like the page design, then check out Sketchy Thursday's Jan. 6th post. BTW, there is a wonderful challenge to scrap about winter over at Sketches for all in the challenge forum. Maybe I'll see some of your creations over there. I hope so. Meanwhile, I am off to start page 2...

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...

It Girl

Sometimes, it's hard to use pink when you have a boy. My only baby girl is my little cat, Sweetpea. So when I get the chance, I highlight her as a subject in the photo and go crazy with girly colors and bling!

For It girl, I chose to use a black pearlized card stock for the background and white pearlized cardstock for the mattes. DCWV's All dressed up collection was the perfect patterned paper. I layered it over ripped pink cardstock and inked everything with ruby satin colorbox ink. The left page is a sketch from Sketches for you. I painted some chipboard letters pink and used fruit punch stickles on the top. Painting your stash is a great way to make it work for you. Don't be afraid to be versatile. The word girl are colorbox punch outs which I used Glossy accents over. Glossy accents provide wonderful dimension and can easily update older stickers or die cuts. I used Making memories 5th avenue trim and sewed small pearl beads onto it.

The brads are K and company, Sassafrass and Basic grey(with stickles on them). The crown and Feather are basic grey rub ons to which I added stickles and perfect pearls. The journal spot is a Fancy pants rub on in just that perfect shade of pink. So while my son is in the picture, I can add lots of fun pink and girly accents by focusing on my cat.

Submitted to : Sketches for you
                       Scrapfit

Using a Speech Bubble

  Recently, I came across a a challenge at ScrapWhispers to use a thought bubble. At first, I was a little unsure. However, when I printed the photos of the sea lions, I could just see the little girl sea lion asking my son if he would play. These Sea lions are in quarantine b/c they are new to the place my husband works at. He brought us to see them and they immediately perked up when they saw my son. It was as if they knew he was a little kid just like them. They walked back and forth...following him as he walked in front of their enclosure. When it was time to go, My son started protesting and then the little boy sea lion started barking at me as if to say " no...we aren't done playing yet!". It was all just so cute.

I wanted some fun paper for this page, so I chose Sassafrass. All of the paper is Sassafrass except for a tiny bit of Fancy pants where I journaled and matted the photos. For the thought bubble, I used a chipboard sticker which I  mounted on chipboard and cut out. The brads(except for the decorative ones) and the buttons are Basic grey. I inked the edges of the buttons and the papers with Autumn leaves red ink and colorbok inks. I love the bright Sassafrass in stitches flowers for this page. I did a little bit of handstitching as a small accent with some orange floss.There is an acrylic arrow just visible under the orange page protector. I wanted to keep it neutral but wanted the eye to go from the title to the journaling.This is sketch 213 from Scrapbook challenges.

jump for Joy: a recipe challenge

Recipe challenge can be...well, a challenge. That is the fun in them though...and they are a great way to use up you stash. Frosted currently has one underway. As I perused the ingredients list, I realized that the page I had just made using Scrapbook challenges sketch #212 fit the bill.

Lets see: bird(check),ribbon(check), felt flowers( that marks of two ingredients),buttons(check), and glitter(in the form of stickles). I believe that covers it! 6 ingredients! YES! There were 10 to choose from. perhaps you should head on over and see the list for yourself.

Meanwhile, I am a firm believer in combining challenges. So going through my challenge notebook, I realize I can also submit this page to:
                                             Big picture Scrapbooking for the "I Live" challenge today
                                             Scrapbook Challenges August color challenge
                                             Club Creating keepsakes Scrap your stacks challenge
                                             Sketches for you: Brenda's Fall colors challenge
                                             Challenge masters:go green inspiration challenge

being organized means being able to track and submit my work for a variety of challenges while still getting lots of pages done. I find I am creating more a lot more. So go get organized  and see just what you can come up with!

Capturing A Hummingbird

  I had never seen a live hummingbird until recent years. Now I am lucky enough to see them quite frequently. The community which we recently moved to seems to support a thriving population. I have long wished to capture them on film. It's a daunting task considering that they won't come too close and fly at incredible speeds. For whatever reason, on this particular day, one hummingbird decided to hang out on our patio. Not to mention, that she was gracious enough to allow me to come within a few feet of her. I saw her flitting about, teasing our cat with her aerial acrobatics, and thought she would fly away as soon as I came out the front door with my camera. She just flew around...watching me. I snapped furiously...and though the photos are not of the greatest composition, I am so happy that I captured her photo.

I chose DCWV Far eastern stack paper for its red flowers...since hummingbirds love them so much. I fussy cut some of the branches and blooms.The background card stock is also DCWV. Since it had an oriental feel to the paper, I rubbed platinum colorbox ink on a red strip of card stock. I added a gold brocade Crate Paper trim. This is Sketchy Thursday's 8-5-10 sketch.

The above is page two of the layout. I completed page one during a Club CK one hour challenge. I used part of a chipboard stack remnant to create a frame. I inked it with Autumn Leaves red ink and colorbox Platinum. The alphabet has been in my stash for some time. I don't even remember who makes it. To update it and add dimension, I used glossy accents over the letters. The brads are K and company.

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

Fun with Flowers

  WOW...today I have posted more than I ever have before. Who would have thought that someone like me would go from no blog to posting almost daily. Part of the reason this has happened is due to all of the great on-line challenges I have found. This current challenge is all about flowers and it's over at Practical scrappers. http://www.practicalscrappers.com/2010/06/this-weeks-challenge-is-flowers.html So I thought I would post a couple of recent flower favorites from my lay outs.

  Flowers are really a tough challenge for me. Having a boy means finding ways to get creative when using flowers. One would think I wouldn't have a lot of flowers in my stash...but well, let's just say those lovely little paper flowers sing a siren song when I am at my LSS. And when my friend offered me some scrap pieces of felt flower strips, how could I say no?Needless to say, it's not all rocket ships and robots in my stash. SO...just what does one do when they have a boy and flowers in their stash? Well, you can look for another subject to scrap about as I did here in Lil' Visitor.

This little bird flew into our utility room. I am sure he doesn't mind that I scrapped him with the purple and green of the The Color room's palette. Purple is also a color challenge for me as it's not always a boy's color.

For club CK's Challenge 16, I chose a flower as an accent for my favorite May moments. It worked well with scrapbook challenges sketch 202 and fit the theme of "May'.

When in doubt, add girls to the photo. "Seriously!" as my son likes to say. Two of DS' best friends are girls. So when they appear in the photos, I try to sneak in some girly color or flowers. Our female cat, Sweetpea, is also the subject of many an LO and the perfect excuse to use pink.

I hope you can find creative ways to use up the supplies that challenge you the most, be it a color or a type of item, like flowers.                                                                                                                         

Pinch me...cuz I might be dreaming

It's been a few days since I found out...but I still can't quite believe it. I was asked to be a guest designer for July over on Scrap Our Stash Challenge. http://scrapourstash.blogspot.com/
WOW...I am so excited!!! this is my first guest design spot ever!!! Here is the LO that started it all...

It's my son's hand on mine. I completed it for the "get out of your box" challenge over at Scap Our Stash and for the Color room's Palette#7 challenge. My box...well, I tend to only use color photos. so I decided to experiment with black and white. Fussy cutting is something I never did before, b/c it looked like so much work and time was involved. Boy was I wrong! Now I really love fussycutting. In this case, I fussycut some Sassafrass PP and then used 3-d foam at intervals to add dimension to the page. the fussycutting was just what the page needed.

So...now I am off to work on some more challenges. I'd love to get that sketch challenge and June stitch challenge done. I have had some ideas floating around in my head. And i just need to get them down on paper...

If you need some ideas, stop by Scrap Our Stash  http://scrapourstash.blogspot.com/
or one of my other favorite challenge sites:
The Color Room: http://thecolorroom.ning.com/
Let's Scrap: http://letsscrap.ning.com/rapbook
Scrapbook Challenges: http://scrapbookchallenges.ning.com/
Just to name a few.

Another sketchy Thursday challenge-determined for Victory

  So here I am again...I love these sketches. I can see the sketch and can visualize the photos and the pp. Suddenly, I'm off and the Lo comes together. Seems easy...though there are often hitches along the way. I saw the sketch for this week and visualized using my  Black orchid pad...that lovely set with all of those great paper patterns...which has been sitting unused for months waiting for the right photos. In 5 minutes flat, I had cut the PP and laid it out on the cardstock. Excited that it was going so fast, I then hit the first bump in the road. I had these great brads with letters from my stash. It would seem though that I lacked enough e's. I really wanted to title the Lo " Determined for Success" but after playing around with the thesaurus and the available letters( because I was determined to use them) I settled on "Determined for Victory." *It's a little hard to read them because the camera won't pick them up.

  So I am off and running again now. I decided to use this Lo as part of a journaling assignment for the Textuality class I am taking at Big Picture Scrapbooking. Here comes hitch 2... I played for an hour with the word processor trying to make the journaling "just so." In the end, I called it quits...deciding I liked what I had. So as usual, a fast Lo quickly turns into several hours of tweaking.

Ahh, the Lo...I made this about my son being determined to blow up a balloon and tie it. My husband had done one, so he figured he could. DS literally tried for hours! This from the Sketchy Thursday 5-6 Challenge. BTW, the font used is CK boutique and as mentioned above, the pp is SEI Black orchid, the letter brads are unknown.
And so, without further ado, the grand reveal:

And as usual, I made a 2 page lo:

NSD Challenges

I've done a lot of scrapbook challenges over the weekend for National Scrapbook Day. Here is  my last one:

I made it for a challenge on The Scrapbook Challenges page :http://scrapbookchallenges.ning.com/

I really like the sketches they have for their challenges. They are very easy to use and translate to some

great LO's. I first learned about the group on Pamela's blog:

  http://www.pamelasworldofscrap.blogspot.com/

I really enjoyed participating in the NSD blog hop and found a lot more talented Ladies to follow.

And lastly, here is the sketch I used from Pamela's Blog:

I hope everyone else had a fun and productive NSD. For a little more fun HOP ON Scrapbook Challenges here: http://scrapbookchallenges.ning.com/forum/topics/nsd-hop-on