Guest Designer at Creative Scrappers

I was so excited when Kristine asked me be a guest designers on the Creative Scrappers Blog! I just love their fun sketches and the designers create the most awesome layouts. My son, Aydan, just turned 5 and the night before I took a little photo shoot out in the backyard. I do this with Kendall as well. I have a lot of "almost" layouts. I probably should have put some more journaling about his favs right now. But really this layout is just to feature Aydan's pretty little face. So please head to Creative Scrappers here and see the other takes on this amazing sketch!

Used a lot of new Jillibean soup here and made the banners with my slice. After I cut them out I put a letter sticker on each flag, rubbed the paper with some ranger ink and removed the sticker. I love this technique, such a fun way to change up things.

See the embossed cardstock? That's from Core-dinations made for Cosmo Cricket. They sell it at Hobby Lobby now...just love that embossed look! Thanks for looking!


Supplies Used:

Cardstock: Core'dinations


Patterned Paper: Jillibean Soup, Basic Grey


Journaling Spots, Corrugated Alphas: Jillibean Soup


Rub Ons: My Minds Eye


Brads: Recollections


Punch: Stampin Up


Die Cut Machine and Design Card (Vintage Findings): Making Memories Slice


Red Distress Ink and White Pen: Ranger


Paper Distressor: Heidi Swapp & Making Memories


Cream Ink: Papertry Ink


Other: cork, string, and twine

Happy Birthday Chrissy

I have to give a Happy Birthday shout-out to my younger sister Chrissy, who's birthday is Thursday. I'm a little behind in sending out my cards so I wanted her to see it.
I had fun making this card...she is a very colorful and fun person so I made this card to reflects her personality. Used some Cosmo Delovely line here for the chipboard flower and patterned paper. The scalloped border was made from the new embossed Bazzill...oh my word, I'm in love with that new line. I got it at Archivers but I saw the 8.5x11 version at Michaels.

Also did a LO of my sister and her two boys, whom she's crazy about. This LO was based on the Creative Scrappers Sketch Number 103. Love their sketches.

I took this picture of my sister and her boys on Mother's Day. The layout didn't really turn out the way I had planned. I changed my mind about the journaling spots but I couldn't take them off. And I'm crazy about yellow lately and I'm lovin the AC yellow thickers :) I used my Slice Basic Elements card here to make the hexagons...such a fun shape. I also just wanted to share a few of my favorite things lately...

My Making Memories Slice Hands Free Magnetic Mat...use this everytime I scrap, seriously.

Anything Cosmo and 6x6 paper pads. I love having the whole line in my hands, especially when I love every single patterned paper in it.

Hobby Lobby card pack. They have white, black, and kraft...and I have all 3, lol. Comes with 50 cards and envelopes for $7 and they go on sale for 40-50% all the time. You can't beat that. Even though I have tons of cardstock, I still got them because they are so convenient and a time saver. The cardstock is pretty good quality as well.

And last, a pic of my pooch Maui, who is 7 months old. This girl's nickname lately has been Mau-Mau. Cute :) Come back tomorrow, I have a nice surprise post.

Supplies:
Happy BDay card:
Card Base: Hobby Lobby
Patterned Paper and Chipboard: Cosmo Cricket
Acrylic Letters: Recollections
Journaling Spot and Edge Distressor: Heidi Swapp
Border Punch: EK Success

Family Layout:
Cardstock, Ribbon, Journaling Pen, and Thickers: American Crafts
Patterned Paper and Border Die Cut: Sassafrass Lass
Clear Stickers: Hambly Studios
Journaling Stickers: October Afternoon
Border Punch: Martha Stewart
Acrylic Butterflies: Making Memories
Tiny Attacher and Staples: Ranger
Pop Dots and Brads

Chunkers

Just a quick LO for you. My son Aydan had these huge legs with rolls in them and I've been dying to scrap about them forever! Those chunky legs are just irresistable! Used a ton of October Afternoon paper. Love this stuff! Also used my Studio Essentials Slice card for the photo corners and the tags. TFL! Supplies:
Patterned Paper: Making Memories (circle background) and October Afternoon
Date Stickers: October Afternoon
Die Cut Machine (Slice), Animal Crackers and Studio Essential Slice Cards, Staples, Epoxy Stickers: Making Memories
Ribbon: Bazzill
Rub Ons: Making Memories and 7 Gypsies
Marker and Pop Dots: Stampin Up
Distresser: Heidi Swapp
Flexible Ruler and String

Creative Scrappers Sketch

This layout is for the Creative Scrappers contest celebrating their 2 year birthday! You can see the sketch HERE! I love sketches and I'm finding myself having more fun scrapping if someone else does the hard work for me by making the arrangement for me. LOL!

This layout is about a super small but well known popcorn and candy store in my husband's hometown. Its a really nice old fashion place with cute shops and lots of tradition. The store was built in the alley between two shops. Its probably 6 feet across. Seriously! They have a ton of the old candy that we had as kids...we love visiting there. Almost everything here is AC! I love their stuff because its so bright and colorful and even when you mix the lines it still matches! Used some of the Dear Lizzy stamps as well. Thanks for looking! The supplies are listed at the end of this entry.

And someone got herself a new toy...got the new magnetic mat for the Slice. Such a nice tool. I can plop my Slice down and do other scrapping while its cutting. I use my Slice a lot and thought it was worth it! I also like it because the cuts are straight and you don't have to worry about it moving. Supplies:
Patterned Paper, Blue/Green Cardstock, Vinyl Thickers, Letter Stickers, Journaling Pen, Stickers, Stamps, Ribbon: American Crafts
White Cardstock: Archivers
Ink: Versamark, Staz On
Embossing Powder: Ranger
White Pen: Inkssentials
Punches: Stampin Up and Fiskars
Circle Cutter: Making Memories

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year my friends!! I'm back to work now but I had a wonderful time off with my family...pretty much we did nothing! That's the BEST!! Even left the house a mess, which I'm regreting now...so much to do around here so I spent today getting caught up. LOL.
Had a ton of fun scrapping and crafting. I have a growing list of layouts that I want to complete but I think my list was growing faster than I could keep up with. I don't scrap in order, just scrap what I feel like doing. I think that's the most effective way to work on your layouts. I also believe in lifting and using sketches. Honestly I get so frustrated trying to figure out how to make a page that I lose the fun and joy of putting it together. One other thing I just realized lately is to find a manufactuer line that you really like, or even a paper pack and just leave it on your scraptable for an extended time. I purchased the Cosmo Cricket "Girl Friday" crafting pack a few weeks back and I wanted to use it so I kept it on my scrap table for two weeks and just kept using it. It felt so nice to use some pretty paper and not to hoard it. Also saved me time from thumbing through all my papers. I think for 2010 I am going to try and restrain myself from buying too much paper, especially open stock sheets. I'd rather save that for paper packs that are really gorgeous. Anyway, enough of me typing out all of my random thoughts.

My third layout of Maui...I decided to used all 8.5"x11" pages on her. She's 12 weeks old now and I swear she looks bigger every morning. She already grew out her puppy collar. LOL. It took me a couple of days to get this picture of her because she likes to chase my camera strap...plus she never sits still when she's awake.

We just love it when she sits on one hip like that with her legs stretched out forward. Why I got the title "tripod". Used my Girl Friday line here and some Glimmer Mist in Pearl sprayed on some of the embellies.
I made the little green flowers by punching flower shapes, cutting a slit in them, and gluing the ends together. That's what makes them more 3D-like. Add some Hobby Lobby Pearl brads for the centers. And the sketch was from the "Got Sketch Blog" but I modified it for this sized LO.
And finally had to make a layout about myself. The kids are getting older now and I need to add some more layouts about me and my husband. I used the Cosmo Cricket paper again and added an old Heidi Swapp frame and added random journaling stickers on it.

I used another 3D flower that I made and put it on top of a handmade bow...I got the instructions on how to make the bow from Scrap A Little. Its a really cute site. You can find the instructions here. And there's a ton of other great paper crafting tutorials there and there are also some great sketches...and they're in color! The cut-out leaves and the fancy photo corner were made with the Slice Vintage Findings card.

And a LO about Aydan growing. The picture on the left was taken on 10/08 and the other one on 11/09. He's literally a head taller! I used Cosmo Cricket "Boyfriend" line of PP here. I did make a mistake though, and I was so ticked. The yellow cassette paper is the backside of the blue/green paper in the middle. I cut the blue paper without looking at the back and then realized that the cassettes were now going up and instead of across. So now whenever I have double sided paper, I will be more aware of looking at the other side before I cut. LOL! I used the slice to make the star and then I embossed it in my Cuttlebug and rubbed it with Champagne Versamark ink. And the vinyl AC letters for the title? Those are my very favorite letters to use ever!! I was at Hobby Lobby and they were half off so I figured that I'd stock up. Well, when I got home I forgot that I had stocked up last time so now I have 6 packages of those letters so if you see them on my pages over and over again, you'll know why.

And speaking of Hobby Lobby, they now sell online! And on their site, they stated that shipping is free over $25! How cool is that? They have the best kraft cardstock ever (used on every LO here)! Better than Bazzill or Stampin Up. They sell it in 12x12 and 8.5x11 and they sell cards in envelope sets in the same kraft paper. You must try it if you haven't.

My Infomercial Experience

So where do I start? OK, I’ll get right to the point…and hopefully I won’t bore you with all the details. I participated in an infomercial for the Making Memories Slice. Word is out that its being played in certain areas on TV. The whole experience was amazing and I cannot believe I was asked to participate in it. This kinda stuff doesn’t happen to me. Now I have to tell you upfront that I was asked to participate (key word here) but I didn't make the final infomercial. I was left on the cutting room floor. LOL.
It started out with an email from Making Memories asking me if I’d like to submit my Slice work and possibly be on an infomercial. At first, I was on the fence about it…ok, that’s an understatement. I developed serious anxiety and then realized that I should just go for it. When I got the call from the producer to interview me on the phone, it seemed like more of a reality…like this could really happen...it became more real. Carrie was really nice on the phone and we chatted for about 30 minutes or so. Problem was I had laryngitis and I was afraid that it would hurt my chances.
Sometime later (was it weeks or more than a month? I have no idea) I got an email followed by a phone call asking me to come to California. I was shaking in my shoes, literally. What the heck did I get myself in to? Can I do this? So I was told that I would be flying out to Orange County, California in just a couple of weeks and I would be staying for 3 days. So while this whole trying out thing was going on, I was consulting with my good friend Laura Vegas…then I found out after my phone interview that Laura might be possibly be going too. That would be way, way cool! I’ve known her for 2 years and we’ve become really good friends but we had never met IRL. So the moment I got the email that I was accepted I told Laura and she was chosen too. I think we were both had a mix of overwhelming excitement. It was also a double win since we were finally going to meet.
OK, this is getting long, sorry. Are you with me?
Fast forward 2 weeks later…yes, only 2 weeks to get ready. LOL. I’m up at 4 in the morning to travel 2,000 miles to California. 11 hours later I arrive in Orange County California. When I got off the plane Cindy Liebel was there to greet me. She was also chosen to be in the infomercial too. I introduced myself via email a couple of days before and she was so funny and nice and now we’ve become friends.

We got to the hotel and rested for a few hours. Laura was due to come in the early evening. Later, Cindy and I waited in the courtyard of the hotel for her…and when she did I pretty much knocked her down with a hug. It was nice to finally meet my good friend! Cindy took pics of us and we headed out with Lori, another participate, for dinner. It seems like we sat at dinner forever chatting away. I was a bit tired with the time change but I held on because I was having so much fun. We got back to the hotel and I think Laura and I stayed up until 2:00 chatting away forever…I actually stayed up 24 hours, I NEVER can do that. LOL. It was so nice to actually have a real life conversation with her.
The next morning I was up at 6:00, surprisingly rested for some reason. Laura, Cindy, and I hung out and then got ready for the shuttle us to pick us up around 11:30. On the way there we bugged begged the driver to please stop at Starbucks for our much needed coffee.

We were taken to this gorgeous mansion here where the infomercial was being filmed. Right away we were taken in for a make up and hair touch up. We waited in this room with some other ladies to be called into the room to be filmed. In between shots, we were taking pictures of the house and of each other. I was so nervous when I was called. I was in this dark room and all these people are looking, no staring, at me...no pressure or anything. There was no air conditioner and I could feel my face just sweating away, LOL. Carrie just asked me a bunch of questions about the Slice and I just answered. I think I was there about 20 minutes or so. Laura went a bit after me and after that we started snooping around the house. When it was time for Cindy, they filmed outside on this gorgeous patio.

(one of the make-up artists touching up the girls before filming)

(that's Cindy in the chair for her spotlight)
Laura and I got to watch Cindy…and I was trying to take some pics. Her scene took quite a while…Laura and I snooped around the patio and then snatched Cindy’s camera (since she has an awesome lens) and took some profile pics of each other. Laura was giving me some quick photography advise and setting up the camera for me since I'm clueless in that department. I took this one of her, with her advise and settings of course. She took some of me as well...which is my profile pic in the sidebar.

(some of the participants)

After Laura and I were done, we found a room with a ton of supplies and finished projects. A lot of Laura's project from the summer CHA were in there! It was so cool to see her work in person, you can't even imagine how gorgeous they all were...twice as nice IRL. Seriously!

After that it was time for Laura to head to the airport. She got picked up in this gorgeous car…first class service! It was sad to see her go. Of course I was glad to spend some time with her but it just ended too soon.
Still with me?? After we got dropped off to our hotel, Cindy and I treated ourselves to a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant. We sat on a patio with an ocean view. We chatted forever until it got late. (the hotel)
The next morning Cindy, Tammy, and I headed to the beach to get some pics before we headed to the airport. The 3 of us and Heather went to the airport together and went to each of our terminals together until the plane was ready. Of course, I was the last to go.

(landing back in Chicago)

I gotta say that the infomercial was quite an experience and I was so lucky to have been chosen, to meet Laura, and to make some new friends. A few weeks later Making Memories sent us a Slice design card of our choice and last week they sent me a pink Slice with a ton of goodies. So, here’s how the story ends. I just got to see the DVD the other day and I didn’t make the infomercial as well as a few other people. That was sad I have to say. But I don’t regret it at all, it was quite an experience! I made new friends and had a blast! Lastly, I have to thank Laura, Cindy, Heather, Tammy, and Lori for all their help with pics and emails...we shared pics and that helped so much.

Check out Laura and Cindy's blogs on the links below...

Laura's blog and her entry HERE

and Cindy's blog and her entry HERE

More Halloween Project

I have had SO much fun the last couple of weeks making some Halloween decorations. I'm not really into that holiday but the stuff out there is so cute and fun! I made this coaster, after seeing Laura's adorable one here. I didn't have the same background paper so I found this oldy but goody PP from 7 gypsies. I hoard this paper because its a classic!

I purchased a little easel for the coaster to put by the front door. This would be a fun project to do for all the holidays and seasons...hmmm.

The die cuts and paper are from the Recollections (Michael's brand) Halloween line. Used the Slice to cut out the word "Halloween" and also the green index label holder. I added some extra owl die cuts with pop dots and added some googly eyes. I also added a sakura glitter pen to the die cut word.

This 8x8 layout used products from the Making Memories "Autumn Splendor" line. Love the colors in it. Just wanted to do a quick layout of my girl at the pumpkin farm. She's 8 months old, then 2 years and 8 months old. I think we skipped a year. LOL.

And lastly, I'm making these treat bags for Kendall's first grade classroom. Used the Recollections line again here. I used my SU Big Notz Die cut and folded it in half. I added the border using the Martha Stewart drippy goo punch, stamped the sentiment, and added some bat confetti. The treat bags I purchased are a little big so I cut them down but I think they are too wide, I'm not about to go out and purchase more.

I have about 23 more to make so I'll be busy!

Supplies Used

Coaster: Bazzill Coaster, 7 Gypsies and Recollections PP, Recollections Die Cuts, Slice Machine and Design Cards (Calendar and Studio Essentials), Sakura Glitter Pen, Heidi Swapp Distressor, Memories Ink, W R Memory Makers Corner Chomper, and Ranger Inking Tool.

Lil Pumpkin: Making Memories PP, mini letter stickers, and leaves, Hobby Lobby Kraft CS, SEI Ribbon, Basic Grey mini chipboard letters, EK Sucess Circle Cutter, Fiskar's Border Punch, and Jute

Treat Bags: Recollections PP, Martha Stewart Drippy Goo Punch, Stampendous Stamp, Memories Ink, Hobby Lobby bat confetti, Michaels treat bag

Making Life a Bit Easier

OK, so I love my Slice...love it! I have 6 cards now and 2 on the way to my mailbox. The cards come with a little folded guide book that shows all the designs. There are so many designs on them that it gets a little time consuming looking through all of those pamphlets. Well, I solved my problem tonight by printing all of the designs on 1 sheet of paper...printed on both sides, 4 on each side. Here is my final result. First I found the images on the internet and saved them to one folder...I even saved ones that are on my wish list. I used the collage feature in Picasa (a free picture editing site by Google), selected the "contact" feature, and added a shadow frame behind it. Its so easy to use. Unfortunately I can't enlarge the pics in the collage so they are a bit small but I can still see the images. I printed both sheets on a nice white Stampin Up 8.5x11 cardstock.
Here are the images I made...


Now I can put this is a page protector and keep it next to my design cards.