New Sassafrass line at CHA

For everyone watching for the winner of my blog candy from the blog hop...stay tuned. it shall be posted shortly.

Head on over to the  Sassafrass' blog to check out their newest CHA release. I love the color and look of this new line. But then again who does not love anything Sassafrass.

Recently, I even used some Sassafrass scraps and leftover packaging to make a journal tag. I had just finished up a package of In Stitch Blossoms.


 I realized it was the perfect size for a tag. I covered the logo with a sticker and fussycut some flowers. I made a flower out of a bottle cap and some ribbon scraps. I filled the center with beads and glossy accents. It was a fun easy way to recycle! This is just one of the great challenges over at Sketches for you.

Tip: use smaller beads to fill the center so there are no gaps. I realized my error after the fact. The ribbon is folded and pleated around the bottle cap base. I used glue dots as I went which makes things a lot easier.

With All My Heart....finally

Thirteen years ago this Fall, I married the most wonderful man. I have been so in love with my husband from the first day I met him. Yet, I have not scrapped ANY of our wedding until today. I started scrapbooking when my son was a little over a year old. I was first introduced to the hobby at a Creative Memories party. With all of the photos of my son, I never got to go back to my wedding album. So, when a few months ago, I mentioned to a Friend that I was going to scrap some photos of her wedding, she jokingly said I shouldn't until I had finished my own. So, I made it a goal of mine to get to work on my wedding album.

I saw a sketch on Sketches for you  
http://sketchesforyou.ning.com/group/sketchcrazy/forum/topics/sketch-crazy-2-sketch and thought it would be the perfect jumping off point.

I chose to use Basic Grey Porcelain. I spritzed a little meadow glimmer mist on the cardstock, just to give it a little separation from the mat. I fussy cut the mat and then traced Heidi Swap heart mirrors. i wanted a border of hearts, but I felt they should all match the shape of the heart mirrors. A little cat's eye ink around the edges of the hearts added a finished look. I cut the title from a K and company vellum quotes stack. To make it more special, I used diamond and fruit punch stickles. I chose to stitch the fluorish in ecru floss, so I would not draw attention away from the photo.

Stars and Stripes

Today, I finished another one hour challenge over at Club Creating Keepsakes. At first, I wasn't too sure about it, but in the end, I think I really like the results. The other nice thing...it completes several challenges from several different places. For the one hour challenge, I had to make a 12x12 LO with a Handmade fireworks embellishment. So I cut a star on my cricut, folded it to make it dimensional, then added some unfolded paper clips and some EK success fibers. I had in mind the sketch from the Club CK weekly challenge, so I used that. I cut the borders on my cricut using SCAL. I cut the title using CK's beantree font. I had a few photos that would not fit on the page. So I placed them on my cricut mat and cut the title. The ribbon was from my stash...I loved the striped pattern with the stars.

If you are looking for places to submit your patriotic LO's, try:
http://sketchesforyou.ning.com/
http://www.stuckonusketches.blogspot.com/
http://scrapdivas.spruz.com/groups.htm

I hope you enjoyed your holiday. Happy Birthday, America!

Diary of a Tadpole

While I did not make it to round two of the last Scrapper Standing contest at Memorable Seasons, I decided to keep participating for a chance to win a gift certificate. Challenge two asked for us to use a black cardstock base and to make at least two handmade flowers. I immediately thought of water lilies. My son and I had found some tadpole eggs...which we promptly brought home in an empty water bottle. Currently, the little guys have hatched and are growing at a wonderfully steady rate. I have been taking photos along the way with the intent to document their stay in our home. This will be the title page for those layouts. I liked the idea of a black background. The photos seem striking against it.

I made the lily pads by cutting circles of various sizes. I cut out a little wedge, giving them the appearance of pac man. I then used my bone folder to crease them. I felt this gave the appearance of leaf veins. I folded the edges of the circle and inked them with colorbox olive ink. I then used various green chalks to add a little variable color to the leaf and to accent the veins. For the tadpole eggs, I used glossy accents and black pony beads. To make the flowers, I cut them on my cricut. They come in two pieces. I rolled up the edges of the top layer and inked them with colorbox ruby satin and royal silk ink. These were the closest colors to the actual flowers we saws and added more depth to the paper flowers. I rolled crate paper sweet branch trim for the centers.
  The title was cut on my cricut. I used CK's sloppy and beantree fonts. The tadpole egg "o" was made from a chipboard alpha. I flipped it over to the white back, added the button and used glossy accents. I am looking forward to making little tadpoles and frogs for the rest of the pages. Stay tuned for those.

I have also decided to post my first project for Last Scrapper standing round one here. The theme was "An American Child." We were asked to use star and stripes. I cut the stars on my cricut...some of which I creased and glued down to add dimension. To help the star hold it's crease, I glued cotton ball pieces inside. The striped ribbon was purchased from the dollar section of target. I chose to keep this LO very simple. I journaled inside a star on my word processor and added it to the border. I added a few small star brads and  buttons.

Have you Ever Had...

One of those projects. You know what I mean. The type which no matter how you play with the elements, you just aren't 100% happy with it. I just had one of those. In the end I am ok with the results...not 100% ok. I am just happy that it's done. I tried out The color room's #11 palette and sketch for an Easter Layout. I never realized what a challenge that orange and pink could present me. I just didn't have the papers in my stash to really rock the design the way I wanted it. I will say though, that there are parts of the Lo I like. I love the Easter egg. I cut an oval out of white Cardstock. Then I used green and pink water color crayons for the base. I decorated it with a Martha Stewart white opaque marker and some diamond stickles. It was a fun easy embellishment. I also liked the cottontails on the rabbits. I found the rabbits as a free dingbat font and used my cricut to cut them out. I thought they needed a little something else...so I used a cotton ball to make little tails for them. I love finding things around the house to make a lay out work.
 I am also pleased to say that I used up some old stash. I had some ek success green fibers that reminded me of Easter grass. they have been in my stash for a few years now. I also used up an old sticker...the title one that says "hopping down the Bunny Trail." The flowers are Sassafrass and the ribbons are Crate paper and MM.
  So while this is not my best ever LO...I will chalk it up to one more completed and will move on. Otherwise I think I'll pull my hair out.

Glitter...In the Rain

  Playing in the rain is a joy that I think all kids should experience. I have fond memories of puddle jumping with my grandparents as a small child. I take every opportunity to let my son enjoy the rain. So, a few days ago, when the cooling rains came, I indulged my son in just that. It has been so hot lately. We are already near 100 degrees and so playing outside is just miserable right now. Playing in the rain really afforded my son the ability to stretch his legs and burn off some energy. As you can see, I snapped some photos of him while he danced in the rain...while sipping a cup of coffee and enjoying the sound of the drops on the roof top.
  Rainy day photos can really capture some great moments, but, despite photo editing, the pictures can still be a bit on the blue side. Color Room palette #10 really offered some great color choices to warm up the pictures. http://thecolorroom.ning.com/forum/topics/palette-reveal-10-his-room-due
The sketch also worked well with the photos I had chosen. I took the practical scrappers challenge to use something from my cabinet on a page...I used a bobby pin as the handle for my homemade umbrella. I cut the umbrella top from an older piece of fabric paper in my stash ( manufacture unknown). Then I slightly bent the bobby pin and adhered it to the back of the Umbrella top.

 I added some Making memories crocheted passport trim. I really am quite pleased with the results. I created the rain drops with waterfall stickles. I doodled a little with the stickles around the word rain in the title to create a puddle.

The title was cut on my cricut with CK's beantree font. The title itself is actually the June 7th quote on the club ck blog.I used my word processor to print part of it for the title.
 http://clubcreatingkeepsakes.com/blogs/quote_of_the_day/archive/2010/06/07/june-7-2010-rain-themed.aspx
I find a lot of inspiration on Club CK.

As usual, I love making two page lay outs. I used the same Sketch from The Color Room for the 2nd page.

I hope that next time it rains, you will let your child dance in it. Maybe you'll even dance a little yourself. Life is too short to miss moments like these.

Cockatiel Hair

Sometimes my son's hair sticks up in the back. Today was one of those days. I only had my phone camera with me, but still wanted to catch DS being silly while DH teased him about it. The camera in my phone is just not that great. So sadly, the photos are very grainy. I converted them to Black and white to help. They looked a tad bit better than in color...not much better, but at least I have the photos.   I used a paper napkin band( on the left side) from Bennigan's since that is where the photos were taken. the ribbons are Cosmo Cricket- jack's World. I used a K and Company citronella journal tag. The alphas are Sassafrass Lass chipboard in juicy. I inked an MM chipboard arrow with colorbox Blue Lagoon ink. I inked the edges of the PP in Colorbox chestnut roan. The PP is Sassafrass Lass- take a chance and golden love. the flower is sassafrass Lass- in a stitch blossoms:blue.

Once again, I used a Sketchy Thursday sketch. This time, it's for the 5-20 sketch challenge:


http://sketchythursdays.blogspot.com/2010/05/520-sketch-challenge.html

I handmade the bird accent. I got the idea from Club CK to make something if I couldn't quite find the right thing in my stash. The bird that inspired me was a DCWV chipboard bird from the green stack collection. You can see it here with my bird:

I sketched the shape by hand and cut...2 times. I used 3-d adhesive foam to make the accent have more dimension.I did the same for the wing. I used a yellow marker to add "stitches" to the edges and a black marker to make the eye. I used my orange pencil to color the beak. The legs are just scrap pieces of orange CS.To make the plumes, I cut thin strips of scrap CS. I then rolled it and let the roll come undone until it looked as I desired it. My zig glue pen came in very handy here. To adhere the plumes to the head and to make the tail, I twisted the paper to make it flat, added glue and stuck it on. I used a dot of glue between each tail plume to keep them from coming apart. You can see how I twisted the paper here:

And finally, the big reveal:

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