And so it begins...

The Use Your Stash Challenge has officially begun at the House of Paper! I think I really need this, because I have acquired so much product and have scrapped so little with it. Here is my page for Chiara's Challenge #1, which was to create a birthday layout using Glimmer Mist or Stickles. On this one, I used everything Sassafras, but because I didn't want the paper to look too girly for pictures of a teenage boy, I used some Glimmer Mist to grunge it up a little. Shiny, yes, but it had the desired effect. I used Stickles on the chipboard "B" to make it stand out a little more.

I also have a sketch to share :)

I used this sketch for some great pictures from the Pacific Science Center's Tropical Butterfly House. For the layout, I used papers from BoBunny as well as some die cut butterfly paper (not sure of the manufacturer) that I cut apart, layered, and stickled to create some great dimensional butterflies. I also used some butterfly stickers from Studio 112 and metal embellishments from Making Memories. The titles were cut with my Cricut.

Since this is my last blog post for 2010, I wish all of you

Need a little push?

I know I certainly do! I feel so un-accomplished in the scrapbooking department as of late, so the House of Paper January Use your Stash Challenge is coming at the perfect time for me!

I can't wait! I certainly have enough stash to play with at the moment... today is a play with paper & reorganize day. I may also be posting some layouts and /or sketches.

Wow...

I haven't purposely neglected this blog, just busy. Being a photographer, this is our busiest season, so I have spent my days off just recuperating from my work. I have also had very little time to craft anything for me, as I am working on some presents for Christmas, which I may post after they have been given to their recipients.

I will try to post something this weekend, as I am out of work with pneumonia at the current moment and have the time (though maybe not the energy) to work on some of my personal projects.

Happy Crafting!

Been AWOL & In Denial Lately

First off, I am sooo in denial that Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK?!! (And my birthday is Friday, but that's another thing completely). I still have all my Halloween decorations up, and today is too much of a stormy, dreary day to even think about taking anything down at the moment. This is also why I have been a little AWOL lately- no friggin' time! I am making time today, though!

I have a couple new sketches to share as well as some layouts I have been working on. Also, in my blogging absence, I did see that Graphic 45 is doing sneak previews of their new spring line and I have to say- "IWANTIT IWANTIT" (think like a two-year old tantrum). Hop over to their blog & see for yourself!

Okay! On to todays sketches:

This one, I do have an example for... I used papers from K & Co. as well as banner stickers from Sassafras and some stickles (for the title). The shell tag is one I bought at a dollar store years ago and never had occasion to use. These scallops didn;t want to stay stuck to the paper long enough for my glue to take hold, so if you like the idea, I suggest sewing them on (I used my machine). This one makes me miss summer... *sigh*

This is one of those spare, top-of-the head sketches that I really have nothing to scrap for at the moment, but love how quirky it came out! I would love to see some takes on this, so please, post your versions in my comments so I can see!

I had to share this layout... probably my favorite as of late... I used papers from K& Co., a journal ticker & cloud sticker from Sassafras, a sticker from Bella Blvd. and flowers & bling from JoAnn (I think they are all from the dollar spot).

This last one I wanted to share is a attempt at hybrid scrapping, which I don't usually do, but should probably do more often... I printed out Pinocchio. Papers and alphas are from Echo Park, journal spot from K & Co., Stickers & additional papers from Sassafras.

Hopefully, I will be able to share more soon!

Happy Scrapping!

Happy Halloween!

A scrappy day?

Well, I had every intention of getting lots of pages done today... this kitten has different ideas...

She is sitting on my shoulders or curled up on my arm so I can't do anything... or she has been attacking my letters that I have been cutting on my Cricut and losing them, or sitting on my laptop & making it open random windows. I think she's just happy that someone's at home besides the dog. Anyhow, no sketch this week, so I'm sharing a layout I did for this week's sketch on Pencil Lines instead.

I used papers from K & Co. and DCWV, stickers & banners from Sassafras and a ghost shape from Fancy Pants.

I'll post more layouts later if I'm allowed to scrap more...

Time Flies

When you have computer problems... My laptop has been suffering some issues and all my layouts and & sketches have been held hostage by it. Luckily, it's fixed! Yay! I have a great sketch to share today, as well as a couple more layouts that I love...

Here's the sketch:

And my version of it:

For this layout, I used everything Sassafras Indie Girl, with the exception of a border from Cherry Delicious and alphas from We R Memory Keepers.

And now for the other one I wanted to share... I am in love with Crate's new Restoration line and found it the perfect complement to this layout:

I also used papers from Basic Grey & We R Memory Keepers, chipboard from Colorbok, tin frames & photo corners from Making memories and flower from Heidi Swapp.

I as gonna share a couple other layouts, but apparently Blogger has other ideas, so I guess I will have to share them later...

Oh yeah, check out my Flickr for some great Urban Exploration pictures that I have been taking.

More fun flowers!

I have been playing around with my ribbon flowers lately and came up with these wonderful roses that I used on this layout:

The ribbon is from Michael's (you know, their dollar ribbon sales). Also on this layout, I used Bazzill Card Stock and papers from K & Co.and Sassafras. I hand-cut the felt rik-rak. The lace is from Walmart, and I think the pearl brads are as well. I think you will be seeing a lot of these little alphabet stamps- I got them at JoAnn in the dollar bins, and I absolutely love them!

Anyhow, on to how to make these roses (they're super-easy!)
Step 1: Cut about 12" of ribbon (mine were about 1" wide)

Step 2: Insert a brad into the end of your ribbon and attach to your paper where you want the center of your flower to be.

Step 3: Using quick-dry or craft glue (I used Helmar Craft Glue), draw a circle around the brad, approximating how big you think your flower will be and fill it in. Let your glue set for a minute or two.

Step 4: Twist the ribbon and pull it around the brad, laying it in the craft glue as you twist. You may need to add extra glue if you didn't put enough. Once you reach the end of the ribbon, tuck it under the roll it is next to.

And voila! You have a great ribbon rose!

Happy Scrapping!

What do you find when you clean?

I took my last day off to really clean and organize my scrap space. I used to have it in a corner of our unused dining room, but we decided to move the desktop computer in there because we were tired of trying to relax with the kids using it in our bedroom, so the office corner of my bedroom is now my scrappy space. I love that the desk is huge (we bought it cheap at a 2nd hand store & Joe really didn't want to try and move it because it's HEAVY), but the area needed to be organized for my convenience. It's also not quite as bright, but I have plenty of artificial light, now. So, here's my newly-organized scrappy space.

While I cleaned out my scrappy space, I decided that I needed to go through my scraps. I found so many I will never use, so I recycled them. I decided to do a sketch and layout with some of the others, to use them up. So, today's a Sunday Scrap Sketch :)

I used a bunch of papers I forgot I even had on this one... some so old, I can't remember who made them. I also mixed in some Sassafras and Echo Park products on here...

Show me how you are using your scraps!

Some More Disney, a Sketch & a Tutorial

First off, I would love to thank everyone who is following me and (hopefully) enjoying my ramblings. Please let your friends know about my site and please comment when you can, so I don't feel like the homeless lady in the park that talks to herself :) I will be announcing a contest soon... when I can get everything together for it :)

And now, to the fun part!

I wanted to share my favorite layouts I have done this week.
Remember that ad I posted a couple weeks ago? Well, I finally got my layout done using that ad.
On this layout, I used papers from K&Co. and Sandylion. The flowers are all from Prima, the bling is from Darcie, the bling brads are Making Memories, and the pearl swirls are ones I made (but bought the strands from JoAnn). The other swirls are ones that I cut with my cricut from DCWV Glitter Cardstock.

To make the pearl swirls, you will need to find a store that sells sewing notions (like JoAnn's) and look in their trims department. These ones I found were only $2.50 for 3 yards of them, and they had several colors. To get the pattern, I used the leftover pieces of cardstock from my other swirls as a stencil and then traced where I wanted the swirls with Helmar Craft Glue. After letting the glue settle for a couple minutes, I measured my pearls by holding them over where I wanted each piece and approximated how long I would need for each small strand. Then I layed each cut piece in the craft glue and let it dry. So easy and so much more economical than buying pre-made pearl swirls! As a pattern, you could also use a swirl stamp in a light color- I've done that before as well.

My 2nd favorite layout as of late is this one:

You can tell I stocked up on the Sandylion Disney papers... The brackets are from Echo Park, the "Smile" is from Cosmo Cricket's "The Boyfriend" line, The border stickers and alphas are from Sassafras, and the Pluto is a Jolee's sticker.

And lastly, the sketch. I don't have an example of this one this week, because it is one of my "backup" sketches... I would love to see your takes on it, though!

Post a link to your layouts in my "Comments" section :)

Reliving the fun!

I am still working on our vacation album (if you hadn't already guessed- ha!) One of the best things about it is that I get to relive the experience with every photo I look at and every page I put together. On the other hand, I really am needing some inspiration for some of these pages! I am still stumped on some of them.
Today' sketch comes from one of the harder pages I've had.

 

This is a fairly bare-bones sketch because I was trying to figure out the placement of the 3 photos I had. For the layout, I used papers from K&Co and stickers & felt from Sassafras.

Happy Scrapping!

Help... I can't decide!

Becky Fleck is having an awesome sketch/ card contest that I would lovvvvvveeeee to win! Here's the prize pack & the sketch:

Anyhow, I have 2 different layouts I have done using this sketch as inspiration, but I don't know if I want to use either of them to enter, or if I should try a different one entirely.

Here they are:

Please let me know what you think:

Buzz Lightyear

Hunny Bear

or Try Again

in my comments...

Thanks!

I have another blog

Please check it out! It' a blog for tasty, timely recipes :) Tasty & Timely

No Sketch This Week...

Because Life has been so hectic. I am still washing machine-less, so all my spare time has been taken up by doing laundry elsewhere. Ugh!

I figured that this was a great week to start adding other sorts of challenges to my blog, so I am starting this week with an Ad Challenge. Pretty much, I Googled "Ads" and looked at what images popped up to see what caught my eye. This particular ad I guess had been banned for some eyelash controversy, but I love the circles behind her, the way the title was done, everything! Even the color scheme is cool! So, my challenge is to use this ad as a "Sketch" of sorts and see what you can come up with. I will post my own take on it as soon as I get a chance to get it done.

Rickafrackin Power outage... And a question.

So, the one night where I had time to post some new layouts and sketches, the power goes out. That was Wednesday night. I haven't had time to do anything since then because I've been working late, so cross your fingers that I can get some done tonight.

I also have an idea to those of you that read my blog: Would you enjoy it if I put some other challenges up as well as my sketches? I am thinking of ad sketches, how much is too much, journaling, colors, etc. Let me know in the comments for this post so I can let you in on some of my other creative boosters.

Wonderland Adventures

Here's some bonus layouts for today:
On both of these, I used more of the G45 Halloween in Wonderland...

I also used flowers & a pebble from Prima on this one, as well as a random dimensional sticker that I think came from Target.

And on this one, I go these cards in an RAK and thought they would be perfect for this! The tags are 7Gypsies. I also used alphas from the dollar store and a rub-on from Basic Grey.

Major Mojo, reporting for duty!

I have been ultra-inspired this week! I like to chalk it up to a blast of creativity, but I think I am also going to credit all my new stuff!I don't have a ton of it, but just a few new papers & I am going through my old stash like mad, now, so I can use it with my new stuff! I also have a (sort of) tutorial for you today as well as some really fun layouts and a sketch!
First off, the tutorial. Unfortunately, it's a written tutorial, because I didn't think to take pictures while I was making this particular item.I am talking about the ribbon flower on this layout:

You will definitely be seeing these on my layouts more in the future because it was so simple to make, and it gives me a use for all those adorable spools of ribbon that I buy because I love them and then don't end up using them.

To make these flowers:

1.  Cut a piece of ribbon about 6" long from your spool
2. Fold the ribbon like you would a fan
3. Staple in the center of the bundle you have made
4. Unfold & fan out the edges.

That's it! I adhered it to my page and fixed the button on it with Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots. I am definitely going to be doing a lot of these... I am also thinking some wide lace would look nice. And can you imagine how gorgeous they would be with a little glimmer mist? I also used papers from October Afternoon and Echo Park, a tag from My Little Shoebox and stickers from Echo Park & Sassafras on this page.

And now, for the sketches!

In the page I did for this, I used papers from Die Cuts With a View (Cardstock) and K & Co. The die-cut journal area is from Lily Bee. The flowers are Prima & Studio 8. The Rub-on is from Basic Grey and the alphas are from Miss Elizabeth's.

 

Mad for Graphic 45

I completed my first layout using the Graphic 45 Halloween in Wonderland line... And I even used one of my sketches!

Here's the sketch:

And here's the layout. I used mostly the G45 papers, but the stripes are from DCWV.

I can't stress how much I love these papers. I've already restocked, though I am disappointed because the one craft store I found that carries them in the area was out of the die cuts:( Guess I'll have to keep checking back, or order online. 

I also have another layout to share. This is a double-pager. I used BoBunny's Jazmyne Terrace on this one, along with strips from DCWV & Rusty Pickle and a journal card from WeRMemory Keeepers and brads from Around the Block. This is also my first foray into using the Core'dinations Cardstock I bought. I think this may be the beginning of another beautiful friendship.

Happy Scrapping!

Don't you just love...

When you have the actual tine to do something and nothing associated with that task cooperates? I wanted to post some sketches yesterday, but none of my art programs would run correctly, so, until I get them working, I can't post any sketches :( - unfortunately, I sketch as I go, so no large notebook full of unused sketches at the moment... maybe I should start?

Two great tastes that are great together!

Although Peanut Butter Cups are my favorite candy, I'm not talking about them :)
What I am talking about is Sassafras & Disney pictures! I have been having so much fun playing with my vacation photos and pairing them with mostly my Apple Jack & Nerdy Bird stuff, that I thought I would share.

I also used some Felties and stickers from Bella Blvd., Echo Park & Making Memories on this one.

This is a 2-pager... the whole reason I bought the Nerdy Bird line was because of these Tea Cups and our vacation that I knew would include some large and colorful tea cups!

Unfortunately, no sketch today because I am needing to relinquish my laptop to the hubby for some research of a different kind... I'll try to post one on Sunday... and maybe even a bonus!

Happy Scrapping!

I MUST have these, too!

Check out the Sassafras blog for today's sneaky peeky!
Besides some awesome new chipboard, they have also unveiled these yummy flowers!

Counting me in now, too...

And another Sassafras CHA preview... This would be soooooo perfect for pics of my nieces!

The only thing I wish they had with this collection is a new batch of Felties!

Check it out on the Sass blog!