What's Your Trend?

 I recently realized that I have certain techniques that have become trends. I am not necessarily talking about industry trends. I am talking about the trends you may see in the way that you work. I have tried a lot of new things over the past year. Some of those things have become staples in the making of my scrapbook pages. Misting and paint are one of those. I hardly make a page on which one or both are not present. So much so, that many of my friends now identify a page as truly me when they see the mist and paint. Last year, I really felt the need to hand stitch on quite a lot of the pages I produced. I now find that I am not hand stitching quite so much these days. My latest love is to use pen to outline the letters on my titles. I saw it done during a Masterful Scrapbook Design Seminar. Now I hardly feel a page is complete without it.

Let's Scrap sketch 1-4-12 ribbon-jillibean soup, glimmer mist-fairway,sapphire and tiger lily,SEI ink blue ink, Fancy pants to the moon papers,Amer. Crafts thickers-orange alphas,My little Shoebox tiny type alphas, Sassafrass green alphas, K and co. star chipboard sticker. superhero bands- from our egg dying kit, tags made with toilet paper which was embossed, inked and cut to fit the tag.

Who knows which techniques will become a regular part of your design style or which ones may become your scrapbook trends. The important thing is to observe your process. As you do so, you will learn more about who you are and the things that work for you. This will be a big help in developing your confidence and in making your scrapbook budget go farther. You will know which supplies to buy, because you will know the supplies you use most. So now, take a look at your work and ask yourself what your scrapbook trends are.

Painted Out

  About a year or so ago, I would have never considered painting on a scrapbook page. Paint has become  a staple product in my arsenal of tools. I was glad to have it when I pulled out some Halloween photos from a carnival we had taken my son to. I always struggle with photographing him at carnivals. There are just so many people around. It seems like strangers always get into the shots. When I do come around to scrapping pages from events like these, I often find myself trying to come up with ways to hide the unwanted people in the background. Sometimes I use embellishments. Other times, journaling on strips of paper does the trick. For this page, I chose to use paint.

Frosted Designs Sketch #31
Basic Grey papers
DMC floss, white acrylic paint
Glimmer mist in black magic and tiger lily
K and company border stickers
Prima black ribbon
Cosmor Cricket tiny type alphas
glossy accents
 Marcella K large black alphas

 I just started the photography class at big Picture. So maybe the next time I take my son to a carnival, I will know some tricks to take better photos in crowds. Meanwhile, I have photos of the less than perfect nature from past years. I guess it's a good thing that I like paint!

January's Counterfeit kit

 I started participating in these challenges at the Counterfeit kit challenge about a year ago. While I could not participate in every month, I sure did enjoy partaking in them. I have become more aware of the contents of my stash. I have found new ways to use my supplies. I have also learned a little more about why some patterns go together and how to pair papers from different lines. So if you have never tried counterfeiting a kit, I really encourage you to do so. You may be surprised about the things you learn about yourself and your supplies.
  As usual, when I make my kits, I tend to go a bit overboard. That's the terrific thing though, about using your stash. It's not like when you are in the store and you overspend. There is no real penalty. I chose to lift three of the Cocoa Daisy kits suggested for the January challenge. The first is based on the cocoa and marshmellows kit.

Papers: October Afternoon: ducks in a row-sleep tight( yellow) and
Fly a kite-sprinklers, Sassafrass- Vintage yummy- darling dear
K and co. jeweled brads-wild saffron
October Afternoon- farmhouse flower sack
October Afternoon- 5 and dime found alpha
ribbon- webster's pages fabric

I am still not too sure about using the darling deer paper. I like the pattern, but I am trying to think about what I might use a deer with in my photos. So that's why I chose the OA blue paper pattern as well. it will be a nice alternate if the deer paper does not work.
  The second kit is based on the Sunshine and Snowflakes kit. I plan to use my Martha Stewart snowflake punch if I make any winter related pages. I also added a touch of blue. I am not a huge yellow fan. I am ok with it as an accent colour but am not fond of it in large doses.

Papers: Sassafrass sunshine broadcast-static( grey polka dot)
all other papers are from the Pink Paislee house of three soiree collection
Pink paislee Printed tissue
Pink Paislee soiree wood shapes
American crafts thickers-forest
Ruby Rock-it summer house bitty buttons
misc. ribbon

The last kit I chose to lift is the Amber Snowflake kit.

Papers: Crate paper- farmhouse( ruler) and Restoration-cents( die cut)
sassafrass- life is beautiful- Piccadilly( rose print)
all others- October Afternoon farmhouse( black print) and Thrift store
Misc. white doily, wood banner pieces
Sassafrass alphas-goldenrod
Prima button pieces

I know some people have mentioned to me that they would be frustrated to not be able to match each exact piece. I know that when I first started counterfeiting kits, I felt the same way. I have found though, that it is very satisfying to find a similar pattern that works. I feel like I get more from my stash this way. I hope others try this challenge in 2012. It's very budget friendly! Now...since it's a Saturday, I hope to play with some of these kits!

Cookies For Santa

No...we did not bake them this year. At least not yet. I just finally got around to scrapping about last year's cookies. LOL. Nothing like being a bit behind, right? Months ago, I scrapped the photos of my son baking said cookies. As I was flipping through last December's album, I thought now might be a good time to use the scraps up. I must say, that when I saw that the Sketchy Thursday sketch really helped this page come together quickly.

Sketchy Thursday 12-8-11 sketch
Little Yellow Bicycle canvas border
Basic grey papers
Sassafrass alphas with glossy accents and glass beads
glimmer mist in Candy apple red and meadow
October afternoon stickers
I-rock gems
K and Co. brad
coffee filter

Perhaps soon, I shall get to baking this years cookies. Those photos sure make me hungry for some!

The Twelve Tags of Christmas-Day 2

The tag for day two was simpler than day one. I think it's a good thing as it took me two days to make the first tag! LOL Once again, I did not have many of the materials, so I improvised.

Materials: Tim Holtz metal charm
Colorbox gold ink and Chestnut roan ink,
making memories snaps
Pink Paislee trim, twine, Bazzil cardstock
Holly  from K and Co. paper
diamond stickler

I used a printed kraft paper from the Paper Studio. To get the same effect as having the resist paper, I stamped the word Christmas with rusty pickle alphas and clear embossing powder. After I heat set the powder, I rubbed white acrylic paint across the paper. I quickly wiped it down to reveal the word. The holly was fussy cut from the k and co.paper. I hand cut the border on the bottom from chipboard. Inking it in cold achieved a nice, metal like appearance.
    I really liked how Tim had the indentations in his brads. I chose to use snaps. I did not attach them to the chipboard right away.Instead, I crimped the back of the snaps in my crop-o-dile. to do this, place the snap in the crop-o-dile without any paper. Then punch down. The result is a somewhat flattened back to the snap.

I then flipped the snap over and used the bump in the crop-o-dile to add the dent. Once I had five done, I used glossy accents to adhere them to the page. It's so much easier than trying to set the snap directly into the paper.
  I drew the dear by hand, then carefully cut it out. I inked the edges with the chestnut roan, then carefully edged it with Diamond stickles. My son says he likes it better than the day one tag! No kidding! LOL and this one was so much less work for me! Sometimes, simple really is best I guess!

Sneaking in Some Pink and Yellow

  I think everyone has a colour nemesis. Two of mine are pink and yellow. Yellow...I just don't care for a whole lot. Pink... well, I've talked before about how a male dominated household means scrapping with pink is not a regular occurrence. So I really surprised myself with this next LO for the November challenge at Scrap Our Stash.  I pulled out this plaid paper by Cosmo Cricket. The yellow and pink reminded me so of a cozy morning. It became the basis for the design behind Pancake Morning.
  While there is nothing wrong with pancakes from a box, it's really not hard to just make your own mix. My son loves helping me and so, when the challenge to scrap a family recipe was issued, it was the perfect excuse to make pancakes for breakfast. I should do this more often. I guess I am just more of a " let's have cereal" type of mom. Anyway, to make your own pancakes " not from a box", try this recipe"

Ingredients: 1 1/4 cups flour, 1/4 cup of sugar( yes I know it's a lot of sugar. We like em' sweet. You can reduce the sugar if you want to), 1 Tbsp. baking powder, 1 egg, 1 cup milk, 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

- stir dry ingredients together
- in a separate bowl, mix egg milk and oil. then mix with dry ingredients
- spoon onto a heated pan, allow to bubble, then flip and cook until golden brown

It's such an easy recipe! It makes a lot more than we can eat. So I proportion the leftover pancakes into zip loc bags and freeze. I then have my own toaster pancakes!

paper- Cosmo Cricket
ribbon- unknown
BG paper clip
Sassafrass flowers
glass beads
 K and Co. chipboard- Let's eat
Pink Paislee pink foam alphas
Rusty pickle brown alphas
 glossy accents
Webster's pages sparkler button
knife and Fork- unknown
tiger lily glimmer mist
Plum pudding smooch spritz
maya road sheer journal spot- recipe card

  To make the page more quickly, I left the white edges from the photo paper.The smaller photos are all one sheet of wallet size photos, three to a row. Some of them printed in groups with the photos in those rows aligning the same direction. I kept one group of three and simply cropped away the excess white. I cut the two photos which were horizontal and left the vertical photos in groups of two. This allowed me to save time( and supplies) by having photos that were already matted and easy to place on the page.

  I don't have a lot of cooking themed embellishments in my stash. I had a Eureka moment when I discovered food themed embellishments in my travel supplies. Prior to this page, I might never have thought to look in my travel stash for such a thing. I noticed many of the travel themed collections had papers or items about places you had eaten. So next time I have a cooking themed page, I will also look to the travel themed papers.

 I am very happy with the title. Glossy accents is one of my go to adhesives. It allowed me to add dimension to the flat brown letters. Now they look more like epoxy letters and I was able to add some glass beads to add more texture.

  This year, my goal was to learn how to take better photos of my pages. I am best at photographing one page LO's. Two pagers are very difficult given that they often have a warped or bent look to them. With this two pager, I think I finally found a trick to reduce the warped look and get a more flat, even photo. I placed the LO on a travel trunk which reached to my knees. I was then able to bend over the photo and I found that if I cocked my wrist as I photographed the page, the page came out more flat as I cropped in afterwards. So try finding something to lay your page on that is about the height of your knees and experiment with moving the angle of your wrist. 

  Overall, I really enjoyed making this page...from staging a photo shoot with a pancake breakfast, to adding the finishing touches on the page. Yes, it's true...I staged the photos. So now it's your turn. Find a recipe you like and stage your own photos to make a wonderful LO. Don't forget to submit it to Scrap Our Stash.

Scrap Our Stash On the Grid Challenge

When most people think of a grid design in scrapbooking, they tend to think of photos and papers evenly aligned. Yet here I was, painting wayward lines in a grid pattern on a piece of cardstock. The lines came first, and then came the photo. I began placing page elements around it...some floating free, other held fast with a bit of hand stitching. The placement is sort of haphazard with a plan. Fussycut items are anchored to the grid while the eye flows across it. The page reminds me of how my cat was rolling across the rug...and I hope it gives a sense of motion as you view it. I myself can see him now, wiggling and moving, pausing just long enough to shoot me that imploring look.

We R Memory Keepers papers- grandma's kitchen
K and company yellow frames- cut apart
acrylic paint
dmc floss
Kiasercraft tiny type alphas
Pink Paislee alphas
Colorbox chestnut roan ink

  In the making of this page, I have come to realize two things. 1. I almost  never use a frame as a frame. I almost always cut it apart. Sometime earlier this year, I came to the realization that I am allowed to alter and use the items in my stash as I want to. So if there is something in your stash, like a frame, and you want to cut it apart or change the colour of it, go for it! 2. One of my favourite tools is my hole punch. Yep, just a cheap school supply style hole punch! It works wonders on many pages. In this case, I punched out tiny stars from the patterned paper and sprinkled them on my page.

There is still plenty of time for you to try out the grid challenge at Scrap Our Stash. We would love to see tour work!

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...

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.

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.

Echo Park's Fresh Face Campaign

   Recently, I realized that I have a big love of Echo Park's paper lines. Each kit is so easy to use and most of them are very unisex. I love that a quick change of embellishments can make the paper have a masculine or feminine feel. Papers from one kit easily interchange and mix with other kits. Of all the paper kits I have, I find theirs to be the most versatile.Since I have such a big crush on everything Echo park, I figured I would give their new fresh face campaign a shot. How awesome would it be to be featured on their blog?!?! So wish me luck, sit back and enjoy some layouts I have created using some fabulous Echo Park papers!
   This first layout is one of my new favourites. I love the bold, bright feel and overall tone of the page. Every time I see " Swing Like a Demolition Ball", I immediately smile. I love how the rich colour and layered details  highlight these wonderful photos of my husband as he pushes my son and his friends on a tire swing. I hand cut all of the elements on this page.Inking the patterned papers and using the Bic Mark It's added subtle detail to the page. Lately, I have really been favouring my pens and stamp inks as an inexpensive way to add a more finished look. I used an EK Success punch along the notebook style paper. I wanted it to look as though it was really torn from a notebook, so I bent and ripped the tabs a little to provide that effect. Rolling the paper at the edges also gave it a more worn feel, adding another subtle detail.

Scraplift of Little Stingray by Amy Peterman for Club CK Scraplift challenge
Card stock: white- Colorbok,
 blue-Coredinations sanded slightly to show the core
Patterned papers: notebook paper-Basic Grey
all other papers from Echo Parks' Summer Days,Sweet Summer time and Playground collections
Ek Success notebook border punch
Alpah stickers- Echo park - green alphas from Echo Park's Playground collection
all other alphas from the Echo Park's Summer days collection
Arrow and yellow photo corner from Echo park's Summer days collection
Bic mark it's: Rambunctious red,Sunset orange,tuxedo black and Blue Skies Blue
SEI ink blue ink on patterned papers
Studio G orange ink on the sun's papers
DMC floss-white

  If you are wondering about the title...it came from some song lyrics. I love using song titles or lyrics on my pages. They provide some very interesting titles that jump from the page and capture your attention. This particular set of lyrics comes from " Write a Song" by the Dave Matthews Band. It's part of challenge#173 over at Scrappin' the Music.
  When you think of the colour pink, you don't immediately think of boys or fish. So this next page may surprise you a little. I chose pink as the base card stock, not because of it's feminine quality, but rather for how it reminds me of the Caribbean. It ended up being a nice compliment to these photos of my son feeding stingrays at the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island, Bahamas. The bright shade of pink with this fun combination of  Echo Park Papers screams out "summer fun". Papers cut into round shapes give the hint of bubbles floating on the page. I used a black pen to add a bit more detail and to refine the idea of a bubble. Hand cut fish also lend to the theme.

Scrapbook Challenges Sketch #240
White Acrylic paint
Card stock-DCWV
Bic Mark it-tuxedo black
papers,border sticker and Alphas from Echo Park's Sweet Summertime collection

   Since the title of this page is feeding frenzy, I chose fun alphas over a layer of white acrylic paint. The messy paint and splatters of glimmer mist add to the feeling of chaos amidst a feeding frenzy. If you are now wondering whether or not to ever participate in a stingray feeding, have no worries. The stingrays are really quite gentle and are more like excited puppies wanting a treat when they see you holding that metal bucket full of fish.
   The last page I will share with you tonight is one you may remember is you have been following my blog. It features the only other female in my household, my cat Sweetpea. This page is the perfect example of how a few embellishments can make a page more feminine. For " A Pair of Roguish Eyes", I wanted a fun,yet girly page. I chose pink and yellow papers paired with prima flowers to achieve that effect. the use of an orange pen adds to the fun feel of the page and provides the added detail it needs without adding bulk.

Scrapbook challenges sketch#252
plum pudding spritz
martha stewart border punch on vellum
prima flowers
making memories jewels
chipboard stamped with a studio g stamp in colorbox white ink
K and co, wood alphas
making memories tiny type alphas
bread tags
Echo Park Sweet Summertime Papers
Bic Mark it in Sunset Orange

My husband captured this photo of Sweetpea peering out of the bathroom sink. It's one of her favourite places. She loves to lay init when she's warm. She also loves playing with the water out of the faucet. She is quite the little imp, hence the title of the page.
   I hope you have enjoyed these pages featuring some of Echo Park's paper collections. Now it's time for me to cross my fingers and hope that just maybe you will get to see some of my pages featured on Echo Park's blog.

June's Counterfeit Kit

   It's that time again! Like a little kid, i have been eagerly awaiting the reveal of this month's Counterfeit Kit Challenge. While a part of me know's the things I will be using are already a part of my stash, another part of me is excited. Putting these kits together is almost as exciting as receiving a kit club in the mail! Those of you who have followed along with my other kits will not be surprised to see that, as usual, I went overboard as I shopped my stash. My only justification for that is that A. I did not spend any money in the making of this kit and B. I always intend on getting the most that I can out of it. Last month, I was able to make seven pages from my kit's supplies. This month, since I have no plans to travel and DH has a few paid holiday to burn, I hope to get even more pages done. Let's see if I can top seven pages.
   As for the kit itself, It may be a bit of a challenge with so many floral accents. Since the kit is styled after Burlap and Buttercups June 2011 kit, which has a slight summer tone, I am hoping I can utilize these summer florals in some masculine pages by playing up the colour palette. I got as close to the kit as I could in paper pattern and colour. I chose not to use any butterfly accents. Should I make any pages where I wish to use a butterfly, I shall cut one out of the Patterned paper from the kit.

Papers: turquoise- from the Best of K and CO.
Basic Grey basic-ledger
Crate paper restoration-Slip Cover
Crate Paper restoration-doilies
Sassafrass- Indie Girl-Pocahontas
Pink Paislee 365 degrees 6x6 pad
frame- Making Memories Chloe's Closet
Maya Road chipboard album-classic scroll frame
Maya Road Signature ribbon/trim in blue
Twinery Baker's Twine in Pea Pod and Caribbean
Sassafrass In stitch blossoms in kelly green,kraft, and vintage rose
Jenni Bowlin die cut journaling cards
Scenic route Garden grove laebls
Little Yellow Bicycle stick pins
Fancy Pants Write Now Rub ons
K and Co. fabric brads
Making Memories poolside brads
American Crafts thickers-Forest
Pink Paislee 365 degrees rub on
Pink Paislee 365 degrees borderlines

   You may be wondering about the chipboard album. I am not one to make mini albums, though I do greatly admire them. What I prefer to do, is to take the album apart and use the wonderful shapes on my pages. I thought the scroll pattern of this mini would make a wonderful substitute for the chipboard frames in the original kit. I can also opt to cut my own chipboard frames if need be.
  I also opted to make the add on summer kit. I chose a variety of papers from the scenic route grab bag I had received recently. They are the types of papers I might not reach for right away. I felt they complimented the papers from the main kit and that with the addition of the turquoise paper, the colours had a very summery feel to them. I do realize that there was only one bottle of mist in the original add on kit. However, lets face it, I LOVE to mist. So we all know it's highly likely for a variety of these mist colours to end up on a page.

papers: Sassafrass Indie Girl- free spirit
Sassafrass Indie Girlaffection
October Afternoon- patio umbrella
Scenic Route - Providence:Green st,Franklin St. and Scrap Strip
Scenic Route Sonoma- Plive Ave.
Making Memories Paperie greenhouse spiral journal book
Pink Paislee 365 degrees flip notes
Sassafrass paper whimsies- beatnik buds
K and Co. chipboard frames
Creative Memories black alphas
Making Memories simply stated rub on alphas
glimmer mists: patina, sapphire,tiger lily,viva pink,meadow green and candy apple red

  For both the main kit and the addition, I tried to choose papers I might not normally reach for. When I make these kits, I can often perceive new options for the papers and patterns that I might not have seen before. I also made it a point this time to choose some embellishments from pre-opened packages. I am challenging myself to try to finish those packages off. Stay tuned for further posts showcasing pages made with my June Counterfeit kit...

Counterfeit Kit Challenge's May blog hop

  Welcome to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge May Blog hop! You should have arrived here from Jennifer C's blog. If you have just found the hop or are lost, head on over to the main page at the Counterfeit Kit Site to get on the right path.
  If you are like me, you love Scrappy supplies and getting packages in the mail. Unfortunately,my budget just does not allow for me to purchase various kit clubs and all of their wonderful add ons. That is where the counterfeit kit comes into play. Each month, a kit is chosen and we are invited to do our very best at copying it with supplies in our stash. I admit that I love shopping my own supplies. Participating in this challenge has really helped me see new paper combinations and various ways of extending older supplies to get a new look. The cool part about this challenge is that I can use my kit to play on other challenge sites as well.
  This month's blog hop challenge was to choose some inspiration from a manufacturer's blog. It sounds simple enough, but let me tell you, it was actually quite a challenge to narrow down what I wanted to use as inspiration. I finally chose to scraplift a layout from Maya Road's Creative Corner. I especially loved the use of Kraft paper along with the unusual banners at the top of the page.

Page by Karen Grunberg made for Maya Road

   One of the first obstacles for me in making my page is that I do not own a scallop edge border punch. I could have opted to cut it on my Cricut, but instead, I chose to trace my own from a piece of shaped chipboard( I keep a few covers from shaped mini albums to use as templates). I used a hole punch and paper piercer to add a little more detail to the hand cut scallops. Paper scraps inked with Colorbox's chestnut roan ink took the place of ribbon. I liked the diagonal flow of the page and chose to add to it with glimmer mist splatters. Buttons and the leftover dots from punching holes in the kraft paper hint at confetti. To make the punched dots a little more interesting, I used a pen to doodle irregular circles around them. 

all items from May counterfeit kit except for:
twine from the twinery
K and Co. alphas and stickers
glimmer mist in candy apple red and electric blue

This was my first time making faux stitches with a paper piercer and pen. I will say that I do like the effect and it's a great technique to use if you are short on time or feeling lazy ( like I was). I did use a few items not in my original counterfeit kit. I chose to add in some twine and some K and CO alphabet stickers. These stickers came with some birthday themed hats, presents and cupcakes. The package is a few years old and the stickers were not sticking well. I used glossy accents on them which served to update their look as well as keeping them on the page.

 Lately I have been pinning a ton of ideas to my pinterest page. Seeing this completed layout is a reminder to me that using the inspiration I find can make for a wonderful page.If you are ever in a slump, a manufacturer's website can be the perfect fix. Now it's time to hop on over to Michelle's blog. Don't forget...don't just save inspirational ideas for later, find the time to actually use them! Happy Scrapping!

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.

Some Belated Mother's Day Inspiration

  This month, Artastic's challenge involves a Mary Cassat painting in honour of Mother's day. While I am a big fan of Cassat, I found it a little difficult to find just the right photos for this challenge. I scoured everything I have. Mom and baby photos of my son and I have long since been scrapped. I did find some vintage photos which I have been meaning to get into albums, so I chose one of those. It's a photo of my grandparents holding my uncle.

Pagemaps sketch
papers-Cosmo Cricket and October Afternoon
Crate paper rub on and chipboard border
Jenni Bowlin stick pins
vintage buttons
lace unknown
title-fancy pants rub on
K and Co journal tag

I love that I was able to use vintage buttons from my great-grandmother's button box on this page!I feel it's kind of a nice touch and adds a little memorabilia as well.

Day 2 of NSD!!!

First off...Happy Mother's Day!!!

It's been nice having so much time to relax and scrap this weekend. I have two more pages to share with you. Also, if you haven't checked it out,Scrapbook Challenges is having an NSD blog hop. You can start the hop here with Brynn's blog. The cool thing is that you too can participate in the hop by completing a Scrapbook Challenges sketch and then linking your blog to the hop. For my sketch, I chose a more current one.

Sketch 252 Scrapbook Challenges

Some items are from my Couterfeit kit for May
Echo park papers
prima flowers
making memories jewels
bread tags-recycled from pantry
recycled note pad cover, cut into circle then stamped with a studoi G stamp
colorbox white and chestnut roan inks
Plum pudding shimmerz spritz
making memories tiny type alphas
K and Co. wood veneer alphas
marth stewart opaque punch on vellum
Orange Bic mark it-faux stitching

I wanted to enter a current challenge while still getting a page completed. I love combining things. I get a lot of challenges done by combing them with others. It can be a challenge in and of itself, but it makes things a bit more fun.Which is why you may see this page at a few spots around the web like BPS, Frosted and Sketches for You. (hint: it will be part of an upcoming challenge over hosted by yours truly at Sketches for You). Since the word roguish means michievous, I wanted fun, playful colours. I paired them with pink and flowers for a feminine tone. My husband snapped this picture of our cat, Sweetpea hiding in the sink. She is always full of mischief but very girly...so I think the page suits her well.
  My second page features our other cat, Boo. He is one of those long slinky cats. I call him the contortionist, because he looks folded up when he sleeps. To capture the theme, I used bright colours and circus style papers. The paint and stars remind me of circus paint and clowns.

Sketchy Thursday 5-5-11
Sassafrass papers and borders
white paint
star punch
yellow stickles
My Mind's Eye chipboard frame centers
Colorbok die cuts-arrow and star

I chose to use some leftovers from some My Mind's eye chipboard frames. I wrapped them with thread and used them to frame the circles for a fun pattern.
  There is still a little more time to get in on the NSD fun. Don't forget about being part of the Scrapbook challenges blog hop. I am off to try to get a few more pages done...

May's Counterfeit Kit

  Here we are in May...already! Boy this year is flying past. This will be my 3rd counterfeit kit. I am very happy to be participating in this challenge. I am definitely enjoying shopping my stash, trying new ways to make my own embellishments and just making pages with my monthly kit. May's Counterfeit  kit was an easy one for me to make up. I think it's going to be easy for me to use a lot more from it as well. This month, the kit is a fun, summer kit with a  playful childlike tone from Work in Progress. So without further ado, here is my version:

papers: Fancy pants- It's your day(stripe)
Cosmo Cricket-Chaplain ( large black page with number)
My Mind's Eye- red polka dot
Basic Grey- life of the party-confetti cake polka dot
Basic grey- life of the party- how you' ve grown-rulers
basic grey- life of the party- noise makers-green with plaid dots
Sassafrass-anthem
Sassafrass anthem-translate

Alphas;  Basic Grey life of the party
Cosmo Cricket- flour sack

MISC: Basic Grey life of the party brads
Sassafrass paper whimsies cards
Fancy pants yellow ric rac
Lil' davis designs castaway rub ons
Maya road chipboard stars
Sassafrass cardstock stickers

Of course, as many of you know, I simply can not resist a good add on. Really, there is no excuse not to since I am shopping my stash. So I jumped in with both feet when it came to making up a boy inspired kit. For whatever reason this month, the number theme seems to really be a big thing for me. I used a lot of papers and embellishments with numbers of various shapes and sizes. It will be interesting to see how these gets used on pages throughout the month.

Paper: Crate Paper-Toy Box-playdate
Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe- playhouse
Crate paper Toyr box-build
Echo Park Sweet Summertime- raspberry delight
Echo Park Sweet Summertime sunny spots
All other papers-Sassafrass

Alphas- K and Co. Brenda Walton chip box
Sassafrass pocket full of rosies
Sassafrass Woodland Whimsy

Misc: Crate Paper toy box borders
Crate paper toy Box chipboard
Studio Calico numbers card
Sassafrass Paper whimsies-flowers
ribbon and trims-unknown
Maya road wood bongo numbers
Fancy pants it's your day buttons
Sassafrass in stitch blossoms-deep blue
Sassafrass brads-vintage gems
Crate Papers restoration collection brads
Sassafrass felties-June bug
Basic Grey woolies-wonder
K and. Co ticket border remnant
K and Co. frame

You might recognize a few things from previous kits. I decided to challenge myself yo use things I put into past kits but never used. So let's see how I do. I am off to play...

Bliss- A Scrap Our Stash Pagerize this Challenge

  When I first saw Karen's page, I was drawn to the bright colour and the use of diagonal lines. It's a little like an X. She has made such a fun and eye catching  page. One which immediately draws your eye to the main photo.

Scrap Our Stash's Pagerize This #9

  As I went through my photos, I realized I did not quite have smaller photos in my current "to scrap" stack that matched her strip down the side. So Instead, I chose to use a larger 4x6 photo and some blocks of patterned paper in their place.

K and Co. poppyseed papers
Title cut from a K and Co. Border
Basic Grey Brads
Crate Paper ribbon
Sei InkBlue ink
Bic Mark it in Playful Purple

I used circles, the title and the journaling to help keep the X shape in place. Though my main photo is in a different place then hers, the main deisgn of the page still draws you eyes right to the main photo. To keep the page fun, I added some splashes of violet glimmer mist and doodled some faux stitching with a purple marker.

Mad Libs...the Scrapbook version

 Mad libs are so much fun! I used them to help teach my son the parts of speech. What child wouldn't want to do school work when it's mad libs? So, when the chance came to play a scrappy version of the game I just could not resist trying it out. To play the scrappy version, you send in a list of paper colours, embellishments and a one word title. The hostess mixes up everyone's items and then sends a list back to you. I received the colours green, blue and purple. My embellishments were ribbon and brads. The title word was "happy". At first, I was very stumped. The colours seemed to me to be too strong if I used them as Jewel tones or too feminine if I used them in lighter tones. I began to flip through my papers searching for the right ones. I finally settled on K and Co.'s Poppyseed line. The colours were perfect and the hint of charcoal in them gave me the idea to use a Black and white photo.

K and Co. poppyseed papers
title and birds cut from K and CO. borders
Crate paper ribbon
all papers inked with SEI ink blue ink
Playful purple Bic Mark it
Basic Grey Brads
Scrapbook Challenges Sketch 250

  I love the results of the colour combo, so much that I made a second page. Stay tuned to see it later on.The base card stock is actually a little more white, but shows as a light purple in my photo. I love it when a hard challenge comes together in a good way. I often find I love the page because it's so different from what I usually make.

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....