Scrap your stash!!

Friday is here and it is going to be a busy weekend for me!! I have projects to finish up, I am shooting maternity pictures for my dear cousin Isabel Saturday, a baby shower to host Sunday and cookout for my cousins birthday! Fingers are crossed for some nice weather! Well lately I have been building my own "kits" from my stash! I often forgot about a lot of the product that I already own! I start with what pictures I want to use and then pick one 12x12 for my base and then build my page kit around that! Once my page is done and I have all this out I might as well make a couple cards or another layout! Great way to use up my stash! This is what I have recently pulled from my stash and I will share my layout soon!

 

So what I would love for you all to do is build your own kits from your stash and create a layout, altered item or a card!! Use up those papers you have been hoarding and the embellishments that have been collecting dust and share your layout with me on my Facebook HERE!  I will randomly select one person who posts a project to my Facebook page to win a sweet little prize of goodies from me!  Now get to work!

 

 



Let's Scrap Challenge160

Hello Crafty Peeps!!!  Hope everyone is doing well today!  Today I have a layout to share with you that I created for the Let's Scrap Challenge 160.  For this challenge we had to include the following elements in our project

1. A mixture of colored and black and white or sepia photos.
2. Flowers(can be on the paper, embellishments, stickers or the photos themselves)
3. Buttons
4. Hand written journaling.

I knew which photo I wanted to use and what I would be doing with it when I read this challenge!  I was so excited to get busy on it!  Here is the Let's Scrap sketch that I used

Let's Scrap has some great sketches and fun challenges so I hope you all get a chance to head over and check them out!  I of coarse did a one page layout and did the right side of this sketch.  Here is my take on this sketch!

I used Amy Tangerines Sketchbook papers in this layout and the flowers are vellum flowers that I cut out and put brads in the centers.  For my pictures  I started with my original photo and faded in the black and white effect.  I love how it came out!  Handwritten journaling on my layouts is something I do not do much of beside maybe a date or I will hide my journaling on a tag and stick behind my photos so for this layout I went ahead and did my journaling directly on my layout.  Please let me know what you think!  Thanks for stopping today and I hope you get a chance to head over to Let's Scrap!

Embellish Me Happy Challenge

I am so excited to be on the Embellish Me Happy Design Team and when I found out what the first challenge was going to be I could not wait to get started!  I went right to work pulling product from my stash!  This is what I pulled to get started on my project

Embellish Me Happy is a new challenge blog that will host challenges on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month!  You will have 11 days to complete your project and link it up for your chance to win!  This month our sponsor is The Paper Nest !  They offer amazing digi and rubber stamps and we are using some of their digi stamps in our projects!  This month our challenge is to create a Monochromatic layout or project.  We could use different shades of the color of our choice but we could only use one color and include a stamped or digital image.  We used the images from The Paper Nest Dolls  The winner of this months challenge will receive a $25.00 gift certificate to The Paper Nest

 

Here is my Monochromatic layout I created for this challenge

 



 

I used a plain cream colored 12x12  and built my layout around that piece of paper.  I pulled all my embellishments to go with that one piece of paper and I was surprised to pull all the product I did.  I am always creating bright and colorful layouts it was fun to do one a lot more neutral!  I hope you all join me at Embellish Me Happy and have some fun with this challenge! 



Favorite Tools

Happy Monday everyone!!  The sun is shining here and I hope it is here to stay!  Today I want to share with you another one of my favorite tools in my craft room!  The Tim Holtz Vagabond!

I purchased this shortly after they were released and I absolutely love it!  First of all it looks like a vintage suitcase when it is closed up so it stores away nicely or you can leave it out and it looks fabulous!  This machine can cut and emboss different types of materials and thicknesses!  It works with a huge range of dies so you do not just have to use sizzix dies in it which is what I love about it.  Another thing I love about my Vagabond is its electronic and all you have to do is push a button and feed your plates through and it pulls it through on its on to cut or emboss!  If you do not have a die cutting machine and have been interested in getting one I highly recommend the Tim Holtz Vagabond!  What die cutting machine do you use?  Leave me comment and let me know what you love about your machine.  Thanks for stopping and have a Happy Monday! 

Ladybug Hug

Today has been so cold and rainy here in Illinois and I am so ready for Spring!  I do not know how much longer I can take of this weather!  The good thing about rainy days is I get a lot of cleaning done and time at my desk!  I received my club member stamp set from The Stamps of Life the other day and I am so very happy with the quality of these stamps!  This is my first stamp set from them and I am very impressed!  Of coarse I could not wait to use this stamp set so I wanted to share one of the cards I made with you today.  The stamp set is called ladybugs2love and it is super cute.  Here is one of the cards I made

I am loving this ladybug stamp and love how great it looks!  For a clear stamp I think it turned out fabulous especially with all that black!  If you would like to see the full stamp set please visit The Stamps of Life HERE.  I love that the polka dots are a separate stamp and it comes with 3 other fill in stamps!  My sentiment did not come out as clear as I would have liked but my embossing powder has not been my best friend lately!  But I kept it anyway because after all it is a hand made card so perfection is not what I am going for.  I hope you enjoyed my sweet ladybug card and thanks so much for stopping by today!

Busy Busy Busy!

Well track and baseball season have started for my boys so that means busy, busy nights for this family!  Lots of running around, practices, late nights, meal planning and crock pot meals are in store for us!  On top of all this I am very excited to be on the Let's Scrap Design Team!  Today I would like to share with you the layout I sent in for their DT Call.  I used the new Park Bench line from Fancy Pants Designs and I am so in  love all the colors and prints in this line!

And here is the sketch we had to use as inspiration for our layouts.  We could either do a two page layout of just a one page and of coarse I did a one page:)  I have challenged myself to complete a couple two page layouts soon so I will share them with you once they are completed!  But for now here is the Let's Scrap sketch I used when submitting for DT.  Enjoy and I would love for you to come join us over at Let's Scrap !!

Favorite Tools

How is your Monday going? Well mine has been filled with a little coffee, scrapping and grocery shopping! Came home and realized I forgot to publish my post! Yikes! Today I would like to share another one of my favorite must have tools and that is my heat tool!

I use the Stampin Up Heat Tool  and I love it. I started out with the Ranger Heat It tool that my mom passed down to me but it stopped working:( I really did love the Ranger Heat It Craft Tool but I had a Stampin Up Workshop and used my hostess credit to get their heat tool and i love it!  Heats up quickly and has two heat settings! I use it mostly for heat embossing but sometimes when I am impatient with my mists I will use to speed up the dry time! What is your favorite heat tool? I would love to hear! I hope you all have a great rest of the day! Thanks for stopping!

Sunday Scrapping!

Happy Scrappy Sunday everyone!! Today I am working on a fabulous layout and I can not wait to share it with you along with some exciting news!! I have pulled product from my own stash of goodies and this is what I am starting with!

Big reveal on April 23rd so stay tuned!! I will be back tomorrow to share another one of my Favorite Tools!! Thanks for stopping by today!

Let's Scrap!

Wow this has been a very exciting and busy week for me!  I have some great things to share with you and for today I would like to share with you that I will be on the Let's Scrap Design Team starting April 15th!  Let's Scrap is a community that encourages and motivates our love for scrapbooking.  They do this by posting a sketch and sample layouts each week for you to get inspired.  Every week there is a new challenge and each week someone is randomly chosen to win a fabulous prize!  I would love for you all to come check it out and get in on some of the challenges!  Here is the sketch for this week.

Now remember these sketches are meant to inspire you so you can use it as is or turn it, flip it, use it as a one page layout instead of two, or even turn it into a card!  So here is my take on this weeks sketch!  I am not much of a two page layout girl so of coarse I made a one page layout.  I used the right side of this sketch, flipped it upside down and switched up the size of the photo mats and did one photo and one journal spot inside of a die cut Polaroid!  I would normally hide my journaling by writing on a tag and tucking behind a photo or in a pocket but Memory Works Studio April Challenge is Journal A Story.  We can interpret this anyway we want but are encouraged to add more journaling/detail than we normally would.

I used some Fancy Pants Designs, KI Memories (that I so love these days) Jillibean soup, Elle's Studio,Basic Grey, a couple roller stamps and some washi.  Oh and the vellum bag that I embossed!  How fun is that!  Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you all get the time to head over to Let's Scrap and join our scrappy community and get busy on these great sketches!!

Distress ink

Hello crafty friends!  I hope you are all having a great Friday and are ready for the weekend!  Today I would like to share a little tutorial on how to get a watercolor background using Tim Holtz Distress inks, a non-stick craft sheet, a mini mister and some watercolor paper

Take your inks and wipe them across your non stick craft sheet one at a time trying you best not to mix the colors.

 Now you will want to take your mini mister filled with water and spray your craft sheet until the ink starts to bead up. 

Once you have something that looks similar to the picture above you can take your water color paper and place it down on the ink and lightly press down on the back of the paper.  Now you will have a lot of ink left over so make sure you have some extra paper or tags so you can use that ink up and not let it go to waste.  You can always use these extra pieces to die cut, punch or use as layering pieces on your layouts.

Once you have patted the paper down into the ink, slowly lift it up and turn it over.  Pretty cool effect dont you think.  I went ahead and placed it back down and picked up a little more of the green ink to try and blend it a little more.  You will notice the paper curled up and that's no big deal at all!  A little shot with your heat tool will flatten it back out and if you do not have a heat tool just let it air dry!

And here is my final piece!  What do you think?  I will cut it down and have two backgrounds for cards!  I love playing around with my distress inks and since they are reactive with water you can achieve so many different looks. 

Now what to do with all this left over ink...Grab those scraps or tags and soak it up!

I am going to use these scraps to die cut some hearts and add to a layout I am working on and I will share that with you all later.

So for now here is the card I created using my water color background!  Thanks so much for stopping today and please let me know what you think!

The Paper Bakery Sketch Challenge

Hello all my creative friends!  I am very excited to be sharing a layout that I created for The Paper Bakery sketch challenge.  This is their first sketch challenge and I really love the sketch they have provided! 

Their sketch challenges will be twice a month so you can either do one of the sketches for a chance to win the monthly prize or do both sketches to double your chances at winning!  Fun!  The Paper Bakery is a kit club that offers scrapbooking kits, project kits and mixed media kits at an affordable price each month.  On top of all that they have amazing flair for sale in their shop you will definitely want to check out!  For my layout I used some super cute papers from KI Memories I just picked up this past weekend.  I love all the fun icons that are in this line and the colors are so fun and cheerful!  I also used some vellum paper from Dear Lizzy's 5th & Frolic, a template from The Crafters Workshop, some Splash Spray from Amuse Studio in Grapefruit, some stitching with my sewing machine, a few staples and some washi tape and boom here it is

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you enjoyed my layout!  I hope you will all join me and play along with this sketch at The Paper Bakery!

I have a WINNER!!!!

Yvonne Morentin you are my winner for my Spring Bling Giveaway!  Thanks so much for hopping along and for commenting and becoming a follower!!  Please message me your shipping info and I will get your prize to you very soon!!  Thanks to everyone who hopped along with us and who left comments along the way and to all my new followers!!

Spring Bling-A-Ling

I hope you are all having a fun time hopping today!  You should have hopped over from JULIE if not you will want to start at the begining so you do not miss anything.  Everyone has put together some amazing projects for this Spring-Bling-A-Ling Blog Hop!  Do not forget to leave your comments along the way for a chance to win this amazing prize sponsored by Zannie Berry Scrapbooking

I had a lot of fun putting together this layout of my baby girl Alyssa coloring Easter eggs!  I used a 12x12 from Jillibean Soup's Southern Chicken Dumpling soup, a few pieces from the 6x6 paper pad, and some Amy Tangerine Sketchbook as layering pieces.  I used some beautiful bling from Prima (that I tend to hoard) shown here under this white flower.

I also added some droplets of Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Teal to my layout.  It just added a little more sparkle to my layout and went well with the teal glitter foam Thickers and the glimmer tape I cut into banner shapes! Here are a couple more pictures of my Spring Bling Project!

Please remember to leave your comments on all the projects to day for you chance to win!  I am also having my own little giveaway for everyone that becomes a follower or is a current follower and also leaves a comment.  Here is the blog candy I will be giving away

Thank you all for stopping by today!  Your next stop is ROBIN She has an amazing project to share with you today so make sure you show her some love!  Have a fabulous rest of the day!


Blog Hop Line Up:

1 Suzanne http://www.zannieberry.blogspot.com
2 Lucy http://love2createitall.com
3 Sarah www.craftingwithsarah.blogspot.com
4 Nadja http://nadjarobbins.blogspot.com/
5 Janet http://ladyluvbug.blogspot.com/
6 Tiffany http://angel4ever-thecraftyteacher.blogspot.com/
7 Julie www.thecricutchirp.com
8 Erica http://ericarosecreates.blogspot.com
9 Robin http://create-a-latte.blogspot.com/

Spring Bling-A-Ling

Join me and 9 other talented ladies on Sunday April 7th for the Spring Bling-A-Ling Blog Hop!  Show your love along the way and comment on all the fabulous projects for your chance to win an amazing prize sponsored by Zannie Berry Scrapbooking

I will also be giving away some blog candy to everyone that comments and follows my blog.  So mark your calendars and I hope you all get a chance to hop with us this weekend!!

Happy Birthday

Spring break is over and my kids went back to school today!  It is always nice to have them home but it is always nice when its time for them to get back into their schedule!  I have been busy today cleaning my craft space and taking things out of their packages and out for me to see and use!  I find that if its put in a drawer or packed away in a storage box that is not see through I will forgot all about it and not use it!  Do any of you have this same problem?  I would love to hear your storage ideas!  Now enough of my rambling I would like to share with you another card I made for the Simon Says Stamp Challenge "Anything Goes" with this months SSS Card kit!  I used this sketch from Let's Scrap as my inspiration.

I used this 2 page scrapbook layout and created a Happy Birthday card with my SSS kit.  This is what I came up with!

I used a 1" circle punch from Stampin Up and punched out 8 circles from different papers in the kit, stitched down the center of them and then masked off one of the stamps in the kit so that I would only use the word Birthday and used the stamp set Say It in Style from Close to My Heart and stamped the word HAPPY on a banner and popped that up with some dimensionals.  Everything but the Happy Sentiment came from the Simon Says Stamp April Kit Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you all have a fabulous day!

Anything Goes

I have been receiving a Simon Says Stamp Card Kit for awhile now and I have loved each and every one of them!  I have not subscribed to any other card kit before but I have seen others and in my opinion SSS Card Kit is the best!  This week over at Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog  their challenge is Anything Goes so I thought I would give it a shot!  I am sharing one of my cards I made with the SSS April Card Kit.  I love the colors in this months kit and the stamp set includes 14 different stamps!  Fantastic!  I made a card base with a piece of white card stock that came in my kit and cut down one of the 6x6 papers just a tab bit smaller than my card base and then added some black stitching around that with my sewing machine.  The black tag came in the kit and I stamped the sentiment in White Daisy pigment ink from Close to My Heart and then rubbed some of the ink around the edges with a paper towel to make it look like a dusty chalkboard.  I then colored some Stampin Up vanilla seam binding with Heidi Swapp color shine in mustard!  That stuff is absolutely amazing!  Here is a look at my card!

Thanks for stopping by today and If you get a chance head on over to Simon Says Stamp  to give this challenge a shot and to check out their card kits!  They sell out quickly so a subscription is the way to go so you will not miss out on a kit!

My Favorite Cutting Tools

I hope everyone had a great weekend and a very Happy Easter! We had a very relaxing weekend with some decent weather. The boys were able to get outside and play catch and practice on some batting, and even baby Eli enjoyed the sunshine for a bit. Today I wanted to share my favorite cutting tools with you! First is my Fiskars Premium Cut Line Paper Trimmer

This trimmer is light weight, accurate and can cut multiple sheets at one time!  A must have for all paper crafters!  Another one of my favorite cutting tools is my Tim Holtz Tonic Craft Scissors

They are  non stick, comfortable,  have a micro serrated edge and are from TIM HOLTZ!  Who does not love Tim Holtz!  Both of these items can be found at your local Michaels or at Simon Says Stamp  Have a wonderful day and I would love to hear what your favorite cutting tools are!