Recycled Box Top Lids

  Since discovering mists and gesso, I have been watching household items, looking for the chance to re-use them. It occurred to me that box top lids are a wonderful shape to incorporate onto a page. I could have misted with them. Instead, I chose to lay them out onto the page, then use gesso.

I spread the gesso over the box tops. The picture above shows two 12x12 sheets of paper with the box tops on them. While the gesso was still wet, I peeled the box tops away.

I then allowed the pages to dry. At this point, I was a bit unsure of how I would use these pages.The box top lids made wonderful "windows" in the gesso. I contemplated putting patterned paper in the open spaces. perhaps I would even cut the cardstock out and layer paper underneath. I finally decided to put the pages aside until I knew what I wanted to do. Fast forward a few weeks. I was listening to the Doodling webinar at Scraphappy.org. Inspiration struck and I began doodling inside the blank spaces left by the box tops.
   It took me a little while to finish the doodling. I drew on the pages off and on while homeschooling my son. Once done, I had 2 blank pages with black and white designs on them. My next stroke of inspiration were a set of photos I had taken of my son at the arcade. I drew my colour palette from the photos. Using markers, chalks and water colour crayons to accent the doodles. From there, the pages took shape. I ended up with a fun piece which was very me and told my story just as I had hoped.

 

Princess of Purr

   She is very happy here. The evidence is the frequent, almost non-stop purring. Sometimes I swear she purrs for hours on end, just happy to play and share some time cuddling. So, I decided to dub her the Princess of Purr.

Inspiration Challenge #41 from Paula Gilarde
Artsylicious Chipboard Alphas
Maya road stick pins
Prima Stamp in Colorbox Ruby Satin ink
Basic Grey Rub ons, black magic glimmer mist
Making memories button
Crochet flower- found in a thrift store, antique button
leftover packaging- photo matte, chipboard border

   At first glance, one might not notice that there is absolutely no pattern paper on this page. I used the package backing from an embossing folder for the matte. I covered the text using some ribbon scraps and the crochet flower. The chipboard alphas were chosen, in part because they cover the price tag. I noticed the alphas had this awesome border on the bottom, so I cut it off and used it here on the page. A very thrifty page that does not look thrifty at all!

Calvinball update:
1st time player- 1 point
late to the party- 1 point
1st time sub- 1point
layouts-3 points
spreading the word-1 point
daily blogging- 1point

total: 8 points

The Making of a Monster Shirt

  I have a very vague memory of making an iron on shirt with my mom as a kid. The memory is so vague that I am not sure if it ever even happened. Saying that makes me feel quite sad. So much so that I hope  my son manages to have more vivid memories of me. At the least, he will have tons of scrapbook pages to reference what some may believe is an over-documented childhood. Isn't it great to be a mamarazzi?!?!

  Anyway, When I saw Amanda's page for the Scrap our Stash Pagerize this challenge, I knew I had to lift it. I loved the dynamic look of the circles on her page. I also liked how the smaller cropped photos acted like embellishments to support the main photo.

SEI papers, Basci Grey Brads,DMC floss, glass beads
artsylicious green brad, Fancy pants star sticker
papr trunk alphas, basic grey woolie
Cosmo cricket chipboard arrow with souffle pen in white
colorbox black ink

   Can you spy my new favourite product? I began using them on my pages within the last few months. They are glass beads. I have some that have been in my stash for awhile now. They are sprinkled onto the word   "monster" and then adhered using glossy accents. The little black beads were salvaged from one of my favourite evening bags( I was pretty sad when it broke!). I am finding that glass beads are an economical way to add a little more umph to my pages without breaking the bank. I have made my own stick pins as well as using them to decorate pages or embellishments. I hope to add more colours to my stash at some point in the future. Meanwhile, I am glad I finally pulled these out to play with.
  If you have something new to share or would like to pagerize Amanda's page, please pop over to Scrap Our Stash and drop us a note.

Without a Doubt

Without a Doubt...life has been busy. First a hurricane, followed by a move,starting back to homeschooling then a sinus infection coupled with muscle spasms. Despite it all I have had a little time to scrap. So today's post will be short and sweet. I made it for September's Mother LOAD. The prompt was to scrap about an emotion. Going back to the title( which is for the blog post and the page itself)...it's a lyric from Scrappin the Music's current challenge. Without a Doubt, I can always count on my husband to act silly and get my son laughing...so much so, that my son's infectious laughter will get me to laugh. Then, full circle, all of us will be laughing and joining in on the silliness. My husband's since of humour always gets me through everything.
I think this page is a nice way to end the month.

Materials: Echo park For the record
 papers,stickers, borders
Sassafrass flower
Artsylicious brads
Maya Road Sheer Calendar
Basic Grey paper clip
DMC floss
Sketch Support 2 page sketch

Baker, Baker

  When I started scrapbooking a little over a decade ago, I never imagined that I would be using anything other than traditional supplies. Yet here I am today, using things like coffee filters. What a wonderfully versatile and cheap supply! I do admit that I spray mine with archival mist before using them on a page. Since beginning to use coffee filters( just this past week), I have discovered a variety of tutorials and crafting ideas for using them. I anticipate using them often in the future!
 In the Mother Load class at Big Picture Classes, we have been discussing the reasons we choose specific items for a layout. Sometimes we choose things unconsciously or because they are an obvious means of conveying our story. In this page,I chose to use a single coffee filter. The filter itself reminds me of an oversize cupcake liner. The texture of the filter paper also reminds me a bit of a chef's paper hat or of being in the kitchen. So it was an easy fit in the page about my son and our holiday baking.

Sketchy Thursday 8-11-11 sketch
glimmer mist in Meadow and Candy Apple Red
coffee filter,cut in half
Little Yellow Bicycle canvas border
Basic grey paper and border sticker
Colorbox chestnut roan ink
Artsylicious brads and flower
Sassafrass alpha-Burlap with glossy accents

I chose the papers and embellishments for their colour and mood. The red and green symbolize traditional Christmas colours. While the papers patterns and gently aged appearance remind of cosy times in the kitchen with my Mom and Grandma. In my home, baking goes hand in hand with a mess. We try our best, but things always get splattered around a bit. So I felt the splashes of glimmer mist would be a subtle reminder of that.
  Though the reasons behind the items I chose may not be traditional ones or even obvious to everyone, the overall composition of the page delivers the tone I wanted to convey. I invite you to explore some non-traditional supplies in your scrapbooking. Like the coffee filters, they just might help you embellish your story in just the right way.

April's Counterfeit Kit

  I know...I am a bit tardy to the party this month. However, I have a good excuse! AND...I have photos to prove it. Though you may not see the photos until a bit later. We have been traveling. I am glad to say we are safely home. As with any adventure, there is bound to be uncomfortable situations. There was no lack of those due to what a person must endure when one flies nowadays. Where were we flying to and from? Aspen, Colorado. My wonderful husband took us along on his recent business trip. My son and I enjoyed the snow and the mountains. My husband did manage to slip away now and then for some family time. Getting there and back was not fun, but that's another story for the scrapbook.
 Anyway, the only thing bad about traveling is that you can not take your scrapbook supplies with you. AT least not easily. So I missed making up my kit this month. I finally got the chance in the past day or so and now I get to share it. This month's Counterfeit kit challenge threw me for a loop. The vintage colors and some of the designs were hard for me to replicate from my stash...especially given the photos I am hoping to scrap this month. I tried my best to keep with the bird theme. There are some birds in there, but some other forest creatures came along too. It seems now may be a good time to get out some older camping trip photos as well as some of the recent ones that go with these papers. Maybe some fall photos will get scrapped as well.

October Afternoon Campfire 6x6 pad with matching chipboard,embellishments and stickers
Cosmo Cricket's Earth love in relive and repeat
Scrap Within reach carnival ride
Basic Grey Basics( for that ledger paper look)
K and Co. Diecuts with flowers, birds and various insects
Making Memories Passport alphas( canvas stickers)
Basic grey Life of the party micro mono alpha stickers
K and CO. Actopus to zed wood alphas
American Crafts rub on alphas-brown purkey
Maya Road felt badges- birds of a feather
Maya Road Crochet lace- cream
Fancy pants ribbons and ric rac trim
Maya road chipboard birds and alphas
Artsylicious splendid treasures in chocolate( felt leaves, flowers and buttons)
Bazzil chip- garden flowers
Maya Road Postage stamps-sheer
7 Gypsies postcard and insect cards
Making Memories tag

It's sort of an eclectic kit, but I still hope to put it to good use this month. Now I am off to print some recent photos and find my camping pics. Stay tuned for some new layouts....

On Top of Spaghetti

...all covered with cheese...yes, that silly song kept playing through my head as I made these next few pages. Silly as that can be, music can help bring about cool titles for a page. So I went with it. It worked well, as my son was also "on top" of what it takes to cook spaghetti and meatballs. He is becoming quite the cook and had insisted on cooking this for me and my husband.

These pages were made for the " you've been framed" challenge at the
Counterfeit  kit challenge blog using my March kit.

Cooking is a great skill to have. While I love him being just the age he is, I can not help but think that some day, these moments of learning to cook will be useful when he's out on his own.

Waiting for the World Record

  Last summer, we enjoyed the opportunity to witness a Guinness world record.That was something I thought we'd never get to do  and quite honestly, not something I thought to ever seek out. However, when a local resort heralded the opportunity to watch Nick Wallenda break his own world record, we decided it would be a nice family outing. We chose to sit at one of the resort's outdoor cafes. We enjoyed a pizza and some virgin frozen daquiris while we waited for the main event. After about a half an hour, Nick Wallenda made his appearance. He first walked across the tight rope about 260 feet in the air without a safety net. After which, He rode a bicycle across, thereby breaking his own world record.
 To commemorate this event, I chose some of Crate paper's restoration line from my Counterfeit kit  challenge March kit.I liked the bright fun colors and the vintage feel. I went on-line to Vintage Printables and found some wonderful vintage style circus posters.

submitted to Artastic Inspiration challenge blog
note the small bear riding a white horse on the vintage poster
also submitted to the Chopped Challenge for week 2 at Challenge Masters

I drew scallops and then filled them with white paint. The white paint with Bic mark it's Fandango pink and Summer melon reminded me of circus clown make up. I hand made the flowers using cardstock scraps, a prima flower and artsylicious brads. The tutorial for those can be found here at the Making Memories blog. Twinery lemondrop twine was stretched across both pages to symbolize the high wire.

Sassy Lil Sketch 3-7-11

Overall, it was a fun page for me to make. The colours are somewhat feminine and ones that I do not normally get to use. Yet here, with both the circus theme and the resort setting, they serve as a fun accent to the story of watching a world record in the making.

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".

March's Counterfeit kit- Into the Woods

  I will be the first to admit that I went WAY overboard with this kit. I am finding that while shopping my stash, the same "must have" impulsiveness that sometimes hits me while shopping in real life scenarios is very evident here. It's a good thing it IS my stash...or hubby would be broke! Looking at what I chose this month, I know there is NO way I will use it all...but it's going to be fun trying to!
  This month's Counterfeit kit challenge  was inspired by Studio Calico's Into the Woods Kit. For my main kit, I chose to mimic the colour and nature theme as closely as possible. I have a lot of Sassafrass, so this was a wonderful opportunity to use some of that paper up.many of the papers I chose were double sided so I can get more bang for my buck, so to speak.

Papers: Cosmo Cricket- earth Love/Recycle,Artsylicious fine illustrated paper in chocolate
sassafrass-apple jack/translate, life is Beautiful/intertwined, Serendipty/chirp, chirp, brown paper
and cherry delicious
alphas: K and co. actopus to zed( loved the wood grain) and pink paislee in chocolate
tags from scrapbook ID in tangerine
Frames from k and co.
K and co. transparency
K and co. journal spots
My Mind's eye chipboard journal stickers
K and co. green stack chipboard ( for the owls, mushrooms, birds and wood grain pieces)

Since money is no object, I chose to have ALL of the add on kits. Why not?!?! Right? For the Babbling Brook add on, I thought some of my Basic Grey papers would closely match the pattern and colour. I chose Crate Paper's showers since this matched the water theme of the kit. Since I had a lot of the matching embellies, those popped into the kit as well.

Basic Grey papers: offbeat's nonchalant and casual
Crate paper: Season collection winter and showers, die cut paper- cloudy
Making Memories Passport alphas ( as a substitute for the handwritten paper)
Kaiser craft mini alphas in chocolate and white
American crafts mini marks rub on alphas in purkey
ribbon-unkown
K and co. brads
Artsylicious fabulous brads in chocolate
7 Gypsies foldover sticker book in Bureau ( as a substitute for the office pockets)
Marcella K adhesive chipboard in Sabrina
Crate Paper Season title stickers and borders

  I don't have anything quite like the circle stamp in the kit.I think I might be able to use my cricut to cut a mask or perhaps some recycled bottle lids to make my own stamp. I shall have to experiment with it.

   Now, for the Mossy Knoll kit... sounds a bit ominous. Or maybe mysterious. If I were buying this kit in real life, this would have been the point at which my budget would have been lost amongst the proverbial tall grasses. I actually made this add on kit before I made the others. I was searching to find a page with the blue stripes similar to the actual Studio calico kit. This is when  had my Eureka moment. The crate paper season kit was a perfect set to incorporate with  the sassafrass papers and nature theme.It had the right colours and a fun whimsical tone which went well with the Sassafrass papers.

Crate paper:  restoration ruffles( as a substitute for the calendar die cut)
Crate Paper die cut- restoration-Cents
Crate paper: seasons- Fall and Love papers
Sassafrass; Life is Beautiful-golden love and apple Jack
Crate Paper Season chipboard accents, plus restoration bicycle
Crate Paper Seasons art brads
Making Memories Chloe's Closet green leather frame
Making Memories Chloe's Closet clips-2
Prima lace
Webster's pages lace
ribbon unknown
Crate Paper Prudence Glitter borders
Crate paper prudence Alpha twist
K and co. Borders
Making Memories Paperie Greenhouse felt clips

I added some of the crate paper restoration papers to add the vintage feel of the original kit. I don't have any circus theme pages planned. If I change my mind, I might go out on the world wide web to find some vintage images to print off. One of my favourite sites for free vintage printables is found here.

  The sunny Clearing... The name connotes warmth. So I set out to duplicate the warm feeling of the original kit as best as I could. I noticed that Studio Calico used some Cosmo cricket paper. I don't have the fish tales paper, but I  do have Snorkel. I chose a sun and a bicycle from that collection. There is less paper here, b/c the gingham papers I have do not coordinate well with the other papers I have chosen. So I compensated with extra embellies.

Crate Paper: Season- friendly paper
Crate paper; restoration- fringe( has a wonderful orange pattern on the back)
Sassafrass: Life is Beautiful- rose thicket( a wonderful warm rose pattern on the back)
Pink Paislee Old school glitter alpha
Crate Paper restoration border stickers
Cosmo Cricket: snorkel collection- bicycle/lazy days and sunshine
Crate Paper chipboard flower border
Artsylicious deluxe brads
red crochet flower- from Ikea, it's a curtain decoration
Fancy Pants write now rub on's
Making Memories Chloe's closet square gem stickers
Fancy pants ric racs-red, yellow and cream
homemade red flower
crochet lace- unkown
Sassafrass in stitch blossoms-orange
Jillibean Soup clear stamps- top ten
Making Memories Chloe's Closet tags- 3
Making Memories Chloe's closet paper clips and clips

And now for the final kit.... wild flower. Since I have a boy, the original was too floral for me. I toned it down a bit with the more masculine colours and whimsical flowers of the crate paper Season collection.

Sassafrass paper- yellow hearts
Crate paper : Seasons- Spring and Summer
Crate paper; prudence-discretion paper
Crate paper Season journal stickers
Crate Paper Seasons rub ons
Maya Road Fresh chipboard-motifs
Artsylicious Splendid treasures in chocolate
Making Memories ribbons and trims
Cosmo Cricket lil. man ribbon

I had more trim than I originally intended. I just could not decide which one to pick...so I picked them all!
Now it's time to see what I can create with this kit. I already have a few pages in mind and with my husband having a three day weekend, I have plenty of time.