A Kitty Comparison Part One

  Anyone who has pets will tell you that each pet has their very own, unique personality. My two cats are no exception to that rule. Each of my cats prefers to be held and cuddled in different ways. I decided this might be a good thing to document. So for once, the idea for the layout and the journalling to go with it came before the photos.  So last fall, I staged some photo ops with my son and both of our cats.
  I did get around to making one of the the pages last December. In the coming days, you will get to see that page as part of my post for Scrap Our Stash. For now, you'll have to be satisfied with seeing the page about Sweetpea, my female cat.

Sketchy Thursday's 8-4-11 sketch
Basic Grey max and Whiskers collection: Stickers,
papers and trim
Maya Road heart
Twinery twine in cappucino
Fancy Pants alphas
white acrylic paint
Smooch Spritz in spun sugar
DMC floss

  Sweetpea is one of those cats who can't get enough time to cuddle with you. You can hug her, carry her around the house in a basket, throw her over your shoulder...whatever the method, she just wants to be close to you and she is happy. Sometimes though, as in the photo, she can be a bit of a distraction during school work. She has a tendency of climbing onto you and then sort of draping herself over your shoulder like a scarf.
  In the next few days, you will see the post with the layout about Boo. He is a little more aloof than Sweetpea is. He prefers to hang out close by. When he does want to be held, he wants to be held like a baby being rocked. GO Figure! So stay tuned...

My August 2011 Counterfeit Kit

  I must confess that for this month's Counterfeit Kit challenge, I sort of just did a grab and go type of thing. I am in the middle of packing for a move. We are not moving far, but far enough. ;) Anyway, my hopes are to still be able to play with my stash while we await for our moving day. So I am trying to pack my supplies in such a way that I can still use them. Since I have been busy packing, I really did not have a lot of time to dedicate to making kits. I chose to grab some of my pre-packaged kits to which I then went overboard adding embellishments. I think I have enough variety in them to work with plenty of photos in various themes.

  I decided that it might be a good idea to work some more on my wedding album. I started it last year. I hate to admit it, but it's been a little over 13 years since I was married. I really didn't start scrapbooking until my son was born. His birth and the invention of the affordable digital camera really pushed my scrapbooking career( along with my husband's encouragement). Last year, I had gotten Basic Grey's periphery collection pack. Many of it's papers will be perfect for my main kit and for scrapping my special day.

Main Kit contents:
Basic Grey Periphery collection pack
pink paislee  Parisian anthology trims
crochet doily- from a thrift store
unknown ribbons
Pink Paislee Queen bee flip notes
My Mind's Eye clock die cut
American crafts chipboard shapes thickers
Studio Calico Journal card
Prima say it in crystals
beads- from the craft store
K And Co. Elizabeth Brownd metal art frame
maya road chipboard album
sassafrass vintage brooch

And while I am at it, I might as well have a go at my honeymoon photos. I have not yet touched my Treasure Box Club kit from last month. It has the Basic Grey Out of Print line in it. I figure that it's whimsical patterned papers might be a fun way to scrap our trip to New Orleans. I did add a few items to the kit. I can't help but add stuff sometimes. ;)

Limited Edition kit contents:
Basic grey's out of print papers: 2nd edition, daily news, reprint
publication, bits n pieces, special feature, batik and giclee
Amer. crafts mini jewle brads
Fancy pants die cut- damask Floral
7 gypsies metal tags
Amer. crafts pink check ribbon
Amer. crafts thickers- by the yard fabric letters
music fabric
Prima Flowers
7 gypsies Numero tissue paper
K and Co. chipboard frames
Making Memories Sabrina frame-pink
7 gypsies foldover stickers in classic black
7 gypsies train tickets
Studio Calico journal card
Prima say it in pearls
Pink paislee bayberry cottage cork buttons
Twinery twine in carribbean
Making Memories simply stated alphas
Glitz designs metallic rub on- damask
Webster's pages fabric flowers

For the album kit, I decided to just use last month's Fourth of July kit. I loved the kit I had made and I still have a few photos I did not get to scrap with it. I could have made a birthday kit similar to what was shown, but  the Fourth is America's Birthday...right? So to save time and scrap the photos I am motivated to work with, that's what I chose to do.

Album kit content:
Sassafrass papers and cardstock stickers from the cherry delicious line,
also from anthem and Life is Beautiful
October afternoon paper- from modern homemaker and road map
Cosmo cricket garden variety paper-sunshine
Basic Grey sticker trims-basics
Webster's pages flowers
Jenni Bowlin bingo card
prima flowers
K and Co. transparencies
Unknown ribbons
twist ties-recycled from my husband's dry cleaning
My Mind's Eye lost and found die cut
Simple Stories die cuts

Since life right now is going to involve a new home and also because I still have Easter photos to scrap, I chose Crate paper's neighborhood collection for my Creative kit. I felt it gave me a nice variety of papers for various topics. Finding embellishments to match it also came quite readily for me.

Creative kit contents:
Crate Paper's Neighbourhood collection pack
unknown die cut
Making memories Paperie greenhouse felt clips
Webster's pages princess petals
Craft Affair brads
Webster's Pages Designer threads
Making memories Chloe's closet frames
Making memories Spring pebble clips-butterflies
Maya Road felt badges-birds of a feather

When I saw the Theme park/fair add on kit, I knew exactly the one to use...my new echo park Summer days kit! I have some photos I have been wanting to scrap about us at a small fun park. I can't wait to see what the challenge will be for this kit!

Theme park kit contents:
echo park Summer days kit pack, chipboard and rub ons
doily- from Ikea curtain section
making memories Chloe's closet stick pins
sassafrass felties
Sassafrass in stiches clossoms in: kelly green, orange and kraft

Last month, I managed to make 7 layouts with my kits.I had so many ideas for more pages, but life had other ideas for me. I have managed to add past kits and past kit items to my August selection of supplies. I hope I can use up some partial packages and add to my page count for this month.

Quite the Trip!

    I will start off with a confession. I have an addiction to travel themed papers. This means that I have several travel theme paper collections, in their entirety, waiting to be used in my stash. I think I have more travel paper than I have trips to take. So either I need to take more trips or I need to find a way to use this paper up.( The same can be said for Halloween themed papers and pet papers, but that's a whole other post or two) So, now that I have that out of the way, I am happy to say that I have two travel themed pages to show you today. Two is a start in using stash up, right?
  I am very lucky, in that, when my husband travels he takes us along with us whenever he can. Earlier this year, he had a business conference in Aspen, Colorado. My son and I were very excited at the opportunity to see snow. Living in a warm climate means that snow is a wonderful, rare thing and not the hassle those who live with it know it to be. So I booked the tickets, knowing full well that travelling from where we lived to Colorado would take four connecting flights and an entire day of travel.

map by Little Yellow Bicycle
Arrows and patterened paper by Best Creation
7 gypsies brads
DMC floss
black alphas- Americna Crafts thickers
Making memories rub ons and rub on alphas
Prima e-line pearls
We R Memory keepers chipboard tag

I have had this wonderful map paper by little yellow bicycle for awhile now. I had the great idea of using brads and hand stitching to document our flights. This is one of those pages I just made. By that, I mean that there was not a big plan. I had a sort of idea and then just began putting stuff onto the page. It may not be perfect, but it's a page done. The process of doing a page like this is also very freeing. I find that when I am stuck and can not get myself inspired to scrap, making a page in this manner sort of opens the creative flood gates.
  Now that the creative flood gates were open, page two was completed in a snap. I saw this Sassy lil Sketch and the elements I wanted to use came together quickly and easily from my July Counterfeit Kit.

Sassy lil Sketch 7-14-11
Scrapfit workout #49-put a banner on it
We R Memory keepers papers and stickers
Making memories rub on planes

I wanted to document how light we chose to travel. So the suitcase paper worked well. I cut the subtitle from the name of the paper. I always check out the paper edges for small sections of pattern paper or words that can be used on pages.  This was one of those rare pages in which the only card stock used was to matte one of the photos. As a time saver, I cut the two wallet photos directly from the printed sheet leaving white edges from the photo paper for the matte.
  Traveling light had been an essential part of this trip. With four connecting flights between two airlines, our suitcases would have never made it safely to our destination. Our return trip was not much easier. We had three connecting flights with a ten hour layover in one airport and an overnight red eye. It was important for me to document how good a travel companion my son can be despite hard circumstances like that. He actually was a lot less cranky than I was. I had initially wanted to take photos of him at each airport. However, in some instances we were so busy scrambling to grab a meal or get to the next flight that this was not feasible. So I simply made sure to journal about our experience. Photos are not always necessary to tell the story.
  The next time you are feeling stuck or overwhelmed by the prospect of scrapping, relax and just begin putting stuff down on the page. You may end up loving what you create. You may learn a little more about the process you use when you scrap.Most of all, you will find your creative streak again.