Creative Scrappers Sketch 157

Hi Everyone! Its time for another Creative Scrappers Sketch! And what a cute one we have this week:)

Its not very often that I have layout without a title. After I complete the page, I felt like it was already wordy with the phrases and definitions so I left it as it. Had fun playing with some new products on had on my desk...and also used some previously cut-out products that I had laying around. And I'm having fun with yellow these days! Such a fun color to play with!
I used AC mustard Zing to create the butterfly with a Jenni Bowlin stamp. The pink postage stamp and the "beautiful" definition were print and cuts from my silhouette that I had laying around.

The numbers cut out was also from my silhouette that I had already cut out previously, intended for another project. The pink paper that is under the MM rim tag was a from a circle that was cut out years ago from one of my favorite SEI papers. It fit perfectly! When I added the postage stamp border above, I was stuck on which color to use, so I flipped over the AC cherry paper...voila.

So please visit Creative Scrappers and check out all the other sketches that the other designers have created :)

I have a lot of other projects going on as well, hopefully I can blog again this week and share.

Supplies: Cardstock: Hobby Lobby & Recollections; Patterned Papers: Bo Bunny, American Crafts, Doodlebug, SEI; Die Cut Machine: Silhouette; Journaling Tag, Trim, Embossing Powder, Chipboard Cherry: American Crafts; Stamp: Jenni Bowlin; Ink: Versamark; Twine: Martha Stewart; Brad: MME; Yellow (punched) tag: Pink Paislee; Chipboard Index Tab: Bella Blvd; Banner Pin: Girls Paperie; Circle Cutter & Border Punch: Fiskars; Clear Doilee: Maya Road; Button: Creative Imaginations: Staples: Ranger; Rim Tag, Ticket, and Clear Button: Making Memories.

Creative Scrappers~Sketch 155

Hey again, I can't believe its time again for another Creative Scrappers sketch!!! Look how much fun it is!! I love sketches like this because there are so many ways to interpret it!

you could have paper or photos in those little squares..I chose to go with some circles since I cut the 4x6 photo at the bottom into 3 sections.

I used the silhouette to make the circles and circles with the arrows. Then I took some twine to sew up the holes that were on the outside. The journaling is pretty simple since the pics speak for themselves.

I put some super old EK Success tiny letter stickers on all the photos. They all say "boing", lol!! The "good times" stamps at the bottom is from Ali Edwards...so in love with those stamps...perfect for scrapbookers!

Use my silhouette to back a honeycomb background, tore up the edges a bit, and used it for a mask for my mist. I have a ton a "lace" type paper for my silhouette and I plan and using this technique more. The honeycomb shape came to me because it looks like the netting that surronds the trampoline. Its funny because I messed up the first time I used it. I misted the entire background shape, which is in a square, and it looked so silly. I just redid it and tore off some of the ends of the paper in a random fashion.

Used the silhouette again to make the orange banner for the title. And I'm SO into yellow these days...just really makes a lot of brightness to a layout. Now I need some yellow mist!

Well thanks for stopping by and make sure that you check the Creative Scrappers blog for the other takes on this sketch by our DT. and Happy Mother's Day!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: Hobby Lobby, American Crafts; Patterned Paper: Echo Park, Cosmo Cricket; Transperancy: Hambly Studio; Journaling Card: Echo Park; Twine: Martha Stewart; Mist: Tattered Angels; Die Cut Machine: Silhouette; Stamps: Ali Edwards for Technique Tuesday; Ink: Versamar; Embossing Powder: Ranger; Border CS: Bazzill;Stickers: American Crafts, Jenni Bowlin, and EK Success; Brads: Making Memories;

Creative Scrappers 3rd Anniversary!

Good Morning Creative Scrappers!
Welcome to Birthday Blog Hop!
We are celebrating 3 years of Creativity at Creative Scrappers this weekend and glad you could join us. Our Creative Team members each have a Unique Sketch from our Sketch Designers to showcase on their blogs. Visit their blogs for inspiration and please visit our Creative Scrappers blog and add your name to our Mr. Linky list to be entered to win 1 of 4 prizes from Let's Capture Our Memories, Scrap Attack Scrapbooking and Nicole Lombardo as well as My Little Bit of Whimsy.

Here's my take on the sketch:

Click the links below which will take you to the other blogs.
Amélie Jutras
Ana Castro
Carla Tarabus
Caroline Parent
Christiane Müller
Elizabeth Carney
Jenny Linden
Jody Rogers
Kim Jeffress
Mija Comstad
Natalia Danilina
Nicole Nowosad
Pamella Brown
Sarah Webb
Shannon Morgan
Vicky Alberto
Yukiko Ochi
Yuko Tanaka

(some close ups)

CKC St Louis

I swear I'm better telling stories than typing them, lol. I need a system that will type out my dictation so that you are more entertainted, lol. Anyway, I was at CKC ST Louis 2 weeks ago and had a blast...and a long but very interesting story of events. I went with my friend, Laura, who was teaching CK classes there. She's from California and we've only met in person once, so it was so nice to have the opportunity to see her again. I had asked her ahead of time if she wanted to come to Chicago first to meet my family, then drive out together. She wasn't able to but I was happy anyway just to meet up again.

So on Thursday, I took the four hour drive down from Chicago to St Louis and picked up Laura from the airport on Thursday afternoon. We checked into our hotel in Collinsville, settled in a bit, then headed out to Chilis, then Archivers.

I was excited to go shopping there together. Laura doesn't have any scrapbook stores by her and Archivers is a scrapbooker's dream. She definately took it all in and we left with a bunch of goodies. We had a ironic moment in there at the back of the store. There was a Slice display there with the infomercial playing, and our friend Cindy was talking in the infomercial. Laura, Cindy, and I were Slice participants almost 2 years ago but Cindy was the only one out of the three of us who made the cut. That was too funny seeing here there!

We stayed up late chatting and the next day got up early so that Laura could get to her classes. That girl had back to back classes from like 9-4. She did a great job and had huge classes of like 50 people! I helped out a bit with the classes, since I had nothing else to do. And then did some shopping. I got to meet Kelly Purkey and Jen Jockisch at the Studio Calico booth and I purchased a ton of stuff there! Such beautiful products!

I took 4 classes total, two of them were the Studio Calico ones and came home with a lot of projects. The SC classes give out a ton of prizes: I won one in each class...stamps and some mist ;)

On Saturday evening...this is where the story gets pretty interesting...we left CKC to take Laura back to the St Louis airport, 20 minutes away, for her flight. As soon as we got on the highway we came to a dead stop in traffic. I was starting to get nervous, but was hoping that it was a fluke and that it would clear up. That didn't happen and I had to get off the highway, we were going no-where. I took a few wrong turns, then got on another highway and came to another dead stop traffic jam over the long, long bridge over the Mississipi....why its one lane is way beyond me! I kept saying "I'm so sorry" and all worried. Laura was all calm but quiet but I'm sure she was nervous about missing her plane. We were still over the bridge 30 minutes before her flight was going to leave and then I think it hit us that she could more than likely miss her flight. No one ever wants to have that feeling...I told her just before I dropped her off to please text me either way if she makes her flight. I told her that I would start driving home, but if she missed it (since it was the last flight out for her) that I would come back and stay another night with her. So I get a text 15 minutes later with the words "i missed it". I kinda knew that it was going to happen...I should have just stayed there but I think I was in denial.

Still with me?????

So we talk on the phone and she tells me that she's coming back to Chicago with me. What?? Wow! I was shocked but happy that she found a great solution. She figured that she could drive back with me, stay at my house, and fly out the next morning. I felt bad about the whole thing but we turned it around to a fun road trip with the two of us chatting each other's ears off all the way back. I turned the car around, picked her up, and headed home. I was dying to get our of St Louis and also dying to pee...like real bad. I don't know how I lasted that long, lol. We took a quick stop and then a little bit picked up McD's. I'm not a real fan but I just need some easy food. It was nice having company on the way home...here we were two good friends, who met on the internet and live 2,000 apart, driving through rural Illinois on a Saturday night, lol! We kept joking all the way there that this would make a good blog post and a great story. I know that she has already scrapped the second part of the story, which she is going to post on her blog soon ;)

Anyway, we got to my house at 1:30 AM and were greeted with Maui, my 1 year old hyper lab, who thought we were robbers or something. Maui was all over Laura, giving her tons of love, and wouldn't give her a break. Kendall got up to greet me. Laura got to meet the whole fam. We hung out a bit and she slept on the couch, since we don't have a spare bed. The next day, we left around 8:00 AM for her 10:45 minute flight. I live about 30 minutes away but you can never be too sure about traffic. The roads were empty and we got there quickly. I dropped her off and she made it super early. I got a text later that her plane was delayed 30 minutes...go figure!!! But she made it home OK. So we turned an unfortunate situation into a fun one. I'm so glad that she got to come to my house and meet the fam...even if it was for a short while ;)
You'll have to check out her blog for her layout and her version of the events. Thanks for listening to my super long story :)

Creative Scrappers 153

Today is another great sketch reveil at Creative Scrappers! I'm so happy to be a part of this team! Lots of great takes on this sketch there. Here's the sketch:

And my take on it:

Pics from the day we brought Maui home at the tender age of 6 weeks...she was so cute! I had lots of fun making this...used a ton of new Bella BLVD papers, cut out the flowers and pop dotted them! Added some Studio Calico Mister Huey white opaque mist (love that mist!) and some SC run on butterflies. Used a super old fancy pants chipboard circle that I've been hoarding forever. The journaling was created with my typewriter. I added the brown boarder to the side since the pics are so small, just to balance out the white space. So please check out creative scrappers and lets see what you do with this sketch...I'd love to see yours :)

Happy Easter everyone!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: AC and Bazzill

Patterned Papers: Bella Blvd

Letter Stickers: AC and Making Memories

Mist and Rub Ons: Studio Calico

Border: Little Yellow Bicycle

Clear Sticker: Hambly Studios

Chipboard Circle: Fancy Pants

Corner Chomper: We R Memory Makers

lots of cards

Hey everyone! Just got back from CKC St Louis a week ago with my good friend Laura and I have a lot of stories to tell you! It will take me a while to type that up, but in the mean time you can read about it on Laura's Blog. I'll post mine in a few days. Got into this crazy, crazy card making mood this weekend. The ideas were so overflowing that I had to write them all down, lol. Made this for one of my BFs that I've known forever and we've been slipping out of touch. Keep trying to get together but it never works out. When Hero Arts came out with the typewriter stamp above, I pre-ordered it. And that was in October...this weekend was the first time I used it, lol! Used some heat embossing and that adorable pink paper is from the new Jillibean Soup 6x6 pad. Love it!

My mom is having knee replacement surgery (at the hospital I work at) at the end of the month. I know that it will take time for her to recover so I wanted to make a card ahead of time. I had fun with this color scheme here. The HA fabric stamp was embossed with distressed embossing powder. This stamp is another one that I "had-to-have" but have never used.

Kinda took that color scheme and swapped out the blue for pink. This stamp is embossed in white and then I colored the flowers with some markers. This card isn't for anyone in particular, just wanted to play with the stamp. Stamped the sentiment on vellum, which I'm really back into lately, and just glued it right on the front.

Same fabric stamp but used some purple embossing powder here. I love to emboss and have a ton of colors...really need to use that more! Stamped the sentiment on vellum with my new Studio Calico stamps. I saw that idea at the SC booth at CKC and loved it!

Here I was really going for something super bright and girly! It was so sunny out when I took these that it looks like its glowing, lol! Used an old favorite HA background stamp with some white ink. The pink paper is some flocked Doodlebug...this is one paper that I save all the scraps too. Love it! The buttons and ribbons are AC. I put the yellow trim on first and then layered it with the printed one. It fits perfectly. the sentiment is a sticker from Echo Park, my new favorite company. I trimmed it to fit inside the Making Memories tag.

The card above and the layout below were make at CKC St Louis in the Studio Calico class. This class was taught by the fabulous Jen Jockisch, who is a super sweet chick. I also took a SC class by Kelly Purkey as well. Both ladies did a wonderful job! I really enjoyed myself!

They had a SC booth at CKC and they took all my money, lol! So nice to see all the goodies in person! I picked up a ton of wooden embellies and other goodies. Come back in a few days to hear about the CKC trip...its quite interesting!

Supplies

Typewriter Card

Card: The Paper Studio (Hobby Lobby)

Cardstock: Stampin Up

PP: Jillibean Soup

Stamps: Hero Arts

Ink: Versamark and Stampin Up

Embossing Powder: Ranger

Pop Dots: the Paper Studio

Corner Punch: We R Memory Makers

Gafer Tape: 7 gypsies

Get Well Soon

Cardstock, Patterned Paper, and Ribbon: Stampin Up

Stamps: Hero Arts

Ink: Papertry Ink and Versamark

Embossing Powder: Ranger

Embossing Plate: Papertry Ink

Embossing Machine: Cuttlebug

Pearls: Michaels

Corner Punch: We R Memory Makers

Thinking of You

Cardstock: American Crafts and Stampin Up

Patterned Paper: Stampin Up

Stamps: Hero Arts

Embossing Powder: Ranger

Stamping Markers: American Crafts

Ribbon: Michaels

Pop Dots: Stampin Up

Vellum

Happy Birthday

Card: The Paper Studio (Hobby Lobby)

Cardstock: American Crafts and Recollections

Stamps: Hero Arts and Studio Calico

Ink: Tsukineko (Versamark and Staz On)

Embossing Powder and Staples: Ranger

Embossing Plate and Twine: Papertry Ink

Ribbon: Paper Source

Button: Autumn Leaves

Flower: Prima

Vellum

Precious Girl

Cardstock:

American Crafts and Stampin Up

Flocked Paper: Doodlebug

Stamp: Hero Arts

Ink: Stampin Up

Sticker: Echo Park

Tag; Making Memories

Foam Tap: 3M

Buttons and Ribbon/Trim: American Crafts

Corner Rounder: We R Memory Keepers

String

Creative Scrappers Sketch 151

Hello again...yesterday, sketch 151 was revealed at Creative Scrappers. And here is my take on it:

I used the Silhouette to make the frames. To ensure that they would be the correct size, I imported my pics into the silhouette and just measured the frames from there...

In the above picture you can see where I layered the frame over the picture. I grabbed the corner and dragged it until it fit where I wanted it.

You could then ungroup the frame, remove the picture, and the inside part cut of the frame to cut your picture out. I tried it and for some reason it didn't quite work. I'll have to try that again in the future.

And just a close up of the layers. So check out everyone else's take on the sketch and even try it yourself :)

Supplies:

Cardstock: Bazzill and Recollections

Patterned Paper: KI Memories (pink and brown) and Stampin Up (green)

Border Punch: Stampin Up

Felt Embellishments: AC

Doily Embellishments Bird, and Envelope: Maya Road

Ink: Papertry Ink

Pins: Fiskars

Ribbon: Michaels

Stamps: Ali Edwards for Technique Tuesday

Letter Stickers: Cosmo Cricket

Clear Letters: Bo bunny

Staples: Making Memories

String

Creative Scrappers Sketch 149

Its time again for my take on a Creative Scrappers sketch. Here is the sketch:

After a year and a half I finally scrapped my Slice informercial trip. This sketch was perfect to fit a collage and a film strip to match. You can't see the jouranling too well here but you can read all about the trip here and see all the pics. It was quite an experience!!!

Thanks for looking and please visit Creative Scrappers to see all the talented team's take on this sketch. And today's guest is Piradee Talvanna!!

Crop Chocolate Travel Layout

Just wanted to make a quick post since I'm pretty busy around here and now sick. I did this layout for Crop Chocolate last month.

Every month we have a theme. February's theme was travel. I'm really more of a homebody instead of a traveler. So to be honest I was stumped on what to do with my layout. I decided to scrap about my lack of travel, pinpointing where I have been. I used a program on facebook where it pins where you have traveled. I took a screen shot of that (just hit the "print screen") and printed it. Since I only had a small picture, I decided to make a 6"x12" page. I used the Echo Park "Little Boy" paper line, which is used on almost everything here.

Also, be sure to check out this week's sketch at Creative Scrappers and come back next Sunday for my second reveal with them :)

My First Assignment with Creative Scrappers

Today's the big day, my first assignment with Creative Scrappers :)

Had such a great time putting this page together. My daughter Kendall and my nephew Nathan are only 6 weeks apart and this super close bond, even though they don't see each other a lot. I loved the colors of these JBS papers, they just seemed to fit the theme. The circle diecut under the left picture was made with my Silhouette and the flowers were made with my Tim Holtz rossette diecut. I have a million of those badges that I've been hoarding, so I thought they'd look cute in the flower centers. This was the awesome sketch that I was given to work with :) I just love sketches, they are my favorite tool! They save me a lot of time from trying to figure out how the layout of my page will be. I'm really looking forward to the other designer's take on this sketch, so please visit Creative Scrappers HERE and check it out! They also have drawings for prizes when you submit your take on the sketch. Would love to see your take on it too! Have a great weekend!

layout and a card

Wow, I guess its been a while since I've blogged. I have taken on 3 huge new endevors...a new position at my work, a new eating plan (we don't use the D word around here), and I started working out. So far, I've lost 5 pounds in the first week. There's been ups and downs but overall I'm doing OK. I work at a large university hospital supporting our computer radiology imaging systems and we are opening a huge offsite clinic tomorrow. Big Day!

And I also am working on my first project for my DT spot at Creative Scrappers. Make sure you come and visit next Sunday for my take on the sketch!

The layout below is a lift from Robyn Werlich, who's work makes my heart skip a beat, lol. Seriously. When I am not feeling very creative, I like to lift...makes me feels good :)

Wanted to do a layout of Aydan and I. I'm not sure if I've done a layout of us before. He seriously melts my heart and also knows how to push my buttons. Lately we've been battling with him and sometimes I feel like I'm going to lose my mind...but sigh, he pulls at my heart strings!!

And I made this card for a good friend of mine who is going through a hard time. I feel bad because I was so busy that I couldn't find the time to finish it. I know that she loves Hero Arts so I made sure to use a cute new stamp from their collection. I made the vellum frame with my Silhouette.

Supplies:

(You melt my heart) Patterned Paper: October Afternoon. Cardstock: Bazzill and Stampin Up. Diecut Machine: Silhouette. Ink: Ranger, Floss, Buttons, Typewriter.

(Thinking of You): Cardstock&Green and Blue Ink: Stampin Up. White Ink: Papertry Ink. Stamps: Hero Arts. Diecut Machine: Silhouette. Embossing Plate: Sizzix for Stampin Up. Corner Chomper: We R Memory Keepers.

Creative Scrappers Creative Team

Woo Hoo!! I have wonderful news...just found out that I was chosen to be on Creative Scrappers Sketches creative team. You can see the announcement HERE. I think this was my 4th try at it...goes to show that you have to keep trying and trying over and over...and don't give up!

I can't wait for my first assignment:) So check out their blog HERE and drool over their awesome creative and sketch designers!!!!Sarah Webb - CanadaJody Rogers - CanadaVicky Alberto - CanadaCaroline Parent - CanadaAmelie Jutras - CanadaNicole Nowosad - Canada
Mette Kallander - SwedenMija Comstad - Sweden
Jenny Linden - SwedenPamella Brown - USAShannon Morgan - USAElizabeth Carney - USACarla Tarabus - USA Ana Castro - BrazilRenata Watanabe - BrazilChristiane Muller - GermanyNatalia Danilina - RussiaYukiko Ochi - JapanYuko Tanaka - JapanKim Jeffress - Australia

A Year in Review and a Blizzard

So early last year I made this photo collage to frame and hang on the wall to show my favorite pics from 2009. You can see that blog post here. Now that 2010 is over, it was time to make a new one. I took the 2009 collage out of the frame and made a scrapbook page out of it...this is now a yearly tradition. So nice to see the kids growing up each year.

I made this photo collage below and then just replaced it in the frame. I did change the title with some new letters, using my Silhouette. I'll post that finished product soon.
And Woo-Wee...we got pelted with snow this week in Chicago! Tuesday night into Wednesday we got 20" of snow and then another 5" last night. Businesses and schools were closed. Crazy! But then again, it makes for great pics, which means a great scrapbooking page! If you live in a place that gets a lot of snow, then you always hear stories about the "great snowstorm of '69", etc and things like that from your parents. This was the 3rd largest recorded snowstorm here and I wanted to document that!

Used a lot of Echo Park Wintertime paper that I purchased from CROP CHOCOLATE. I love me some Echo Park :) I printed out 16 pics one on 8x10 sheet of photo paper, cut into strips and just scattered them across the page...filled in the empty spots with some embellies! Thanks for looking!

More Calendar Layouts

Whew, it seems like my crafting to-do list is getting huge! Been spending a lot of time in my scraproom but it seems like I'm doing other things...but good things.

I purchased Erin Cobb's Clean Color photoshop tutorial for improving the look of your pics. I am taking my time watching it so I can absorb it all in :). I also had a coupon for 100 free prints from Shutterfly...that was a coupon that Archivers gave me for spending so much money...ha! I took that offer and ordered 245 prints from Shutterfly and with shipping and the coupon it was $37, not so bad. With the digital age, we forget about the standard things that kids should have, like a baby photo album. I started that project for both kids last year when I had some free photos. So now that project is done. Each kid has hundreds of photos printed for their first year. I want to keep that going but will now have family albums and I'm not going to order as many pics.

Anyway, I made these adorable little faux chipboard houses with my Silhouette. I got the idea from Nichol Magourik to create faux chipboard by layering several pieces of die cutted kraft paper.

It took 2 full 8x10 sheets to make these...the measurements are 1"x2". All you have to do is layer several houses on top of each other with a dry adhesive, put through your corrugator, then top that on top of another house. They are so cute, I can't to use them :)

Been continuing with my calendar layouts from last year using my silhouette. Can you tell I'm hooked? lol!

The butterflies and bugs are a cut and print...doesn't it look like stamping?For May I used some of my new photoshop techniques that I learned from Erin, even added a vignette to the pics, what a difference! I love the pinwheels here, they are pretty dimensional.

Oh yeah, one more thing...I started a new position in my department and I LOVE it! I feel so blessed.

Anyone else following the winter CHA???? Lots of cute stuff!

Calendar Layouts!

Hi everyone!! I've been working on some monthly layouts the last couple of weeks. I saw these KI calendar papers and thought it would be perfect to have a year in review. So far, I have January through March done and April is on my desk in progress.

I really had a whole lotta fun using my Silhouette on each of these...so much fun! The photos and the PP squares are 2.5" in size...just punched a hole in the middle and added some fun diecuts. For the January layout above I used a circle punch. I couldn't reach the middle so they are a bit off. After that I had an idea to create that cut in my silhouette, which I did for the rest! Love that its a perfect cut!

January Supplies:

Cardstock: Stampin Up

PP: Echo Park and KI Memories

Specialty Paper: Archivers

Stickers: KI Memories

Diecuts: Silhouette

Other: Silhouette SD and I-top

For the February page, I cut these cute circle frames and sized them to 2.5" each...fit exactly inside the circle :) Had a lotta fun pulling out my SEI Twitterpated papers...one of my favorite lines ever!

And I'm in love with the Silhouette cuts for the months :) Cute!

February Supplies:

Cardstock: Hobby Lobby and Bazzill

PP: KI Memories, SEI, and Echo Park

Stickers: KI Memories

Diecuts: Silhouette and PTI (clouds)

Other: Silhouette SD

I think my favorite one was the March layout. I love bright colors and these are right up my alley!

The butterflies were cut and embossed with the cuttlebug.

These layouts actually took me a while to make but I just had a blast making all these diecuts! i {heart} my Silhouette :)

March Supplies:

Cardstock: Bo Bunny and Bazzill

PP: KI Memories and Making Memories

Vellum: unknown

Diecuts: Silhouette and Cuttlebug (butterflies)

Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug

Embellishments: My Minds Eye

Stamp: Scenic Route

Ink: Stampin Up

Paper Lace Border: Little Yellow Bicycle

Large Gem: Prima

Other: Gems