Made with Love

for the love of...

2009-02-27T00:25:00.001-05:00

for the love of
Originally uploaded by soleclaw23.

...crochet!

Well, girls...I haven't scrapped in an eon! Here's my newest project. Sorry the picture sorta stinks. I had to use my phone to take this shot...my camera is still dead and I haven't charged it yet.

So, this is a picture of Joe, being a reluctant model (one of my favorites of him by far!) for my first crochet project. I did this layout for a challenge over at Scrap Mojo, and entries are due by the 28th.

Do you love the colors? I did the journaling to the right of the photo, directly on the paper. Simple and short and to the point! I used products from so many different companies - Tinkering Ink, Love, Elsie, Sass Lass, etc. And also added a little handmade crochet heart.

Hope you like it, girls!

first scarf

2009-01-13T19:12:00.001-05:00

first scarf
Originally uploaded by soleclaw23.

Scrapbooking has taken a back seat to other things lately. Mostly life. But I was inspired by a dear friend to start crocheting. It was difficult at first, because I had a lumpy yarn that wasn't very workable for a beginner. But once I bought this new stuff, it went so quickly. I did this scarf in less than 48 hours!

Joe was such a good sport wearing my scarf. SIKE! Man could he be any more pouty?! Such a baby. After all, I had intended for him to have the scarf...until he informed me he will never be a scarf man. Whatever! So I'm keeping it for now.

My next scarf is an apple green lumpy scarf, made of the lumpy wool I couldn't use before because I sucked. I figured it out now, though, and am looking forward to trying to make someone wear it for the next picture!

The girls

2008-10-28T12:21:00.002-04:00

Alright - my last post for today. I still have more, but am getting tired, so will save more for another day! :) The quest for using up older papers and supplies continues.
The first LO I used Harley Davidson paper and stickers along with scraps of ribbon.

The paper here is Adorn It - I love this paper because you really can just have a throw down and be done with it. I used the Cricut Happily Ever After cart. for the title, Noteworthy paper for the journaling, and stitching rub-ons which didn't work too well, so are now in the bucket! :)

All about the gardens

2008-10-28T11:35:00.003-04:00

I am so behind in my posting. Good thing I have some 'themes' going on here. First was the back to school stuff, and now I am all about the gardens. :)
These 3 lo's are about using up stash. I have so much stuff that is just sitting around (who doesn't), and I've been feeling guilty about buying new stuff...well, here are 3 LO's that I just used what I had on hand!
This first one is a picture of my Dad's fish pond in the backyard. I wish I had used a bigger picture, but too late now! :) All the papers were left overs/scraps from other projects. I did use my trusty Cricut for the lettering, the frog and fish.
The papers on this one are all Cloud 9 Design - Max's backyard Collection "wide grass stripe", "dragonfly Shadows" and "luster Golden leaves" Again, I used the Cricut for the lettering. The chipboard letters were leftovers.
This last one is of C picking corn and peaches from his Great Uncle's garden. I used paper that I bought from the bus tour many moons ago....paper is My Mind's Eye - Bohemia - "my journey stripe" and "sunny days" The letter is KI Memories hip chip and Creative Imaginations felt. I used my Crayola Cutter to cut the flowers out.

Pre School

2008-10-28T11:27:00.003-04:00

Here we are, nearing the end of October...getting ready for Halloween. :) I am just getting around to posting my little man's first day of preschool and his love of the show and tell bag.
This LO, I used just Stemma paper - Pre-K and the matching rub-ons. For the lettering? Um, yeah, they were leftovers from another project, so I can't give props to those.
Again, I used the Stemma, Pre-K paper (the words), the main paper though? I am sorry to say that I neglected to save the paper strip, but I LOVE the paper! Has a little glitter on it, the whole line was so adorable! I wished he was in Kindergarten so I could have used more of the line - oh well, hopefully they will come out with something better for next year! :)

First Day of School & Dance Class layouts!

2008-10-24T10:23:00.004-04:00

Well, can you believe Halloween is a week from today! Woohoo!!!! I know each of us will have a ton to scrap between Halloween bashes and stuff. Looking forward to seeing everyones creations. I wanted to share a few layouts I did over the past few weeks. Well my baby started preschool on October 2nd. The following layouts are of my daughters worksheet and my daughters first day of school.

I am going to copy and paste the discription I used on my Scrapbook.com site gallery!

My dd's worksheet she did at school. I loved this scenic route paper for this because of the ruler and stuff. I used pop dots to pop up the Super and corner chipboard things to look like an arrow. I popped up the circles which are also chipboard. The number 3 I wanted highlighted on the ruler so I used a chipboard number 3 square and popped that up as well. Used Stickles to add a bunch of 3s in multi colors to add more. Used a noteworthy journaling sheet for the journaling and cut it in half. I used stickles to outline some of the dots on the paper as well as the 3s. inked the paper scollop line

The second is of my daughters first day of school. Again is the discription I copy'd from my gallery.

My daughter on her first day of preschool. She is like me and when she is nervous she doesn't want you to talk to her or look at her and forget taking her picture. lol. These two were the only two I could snap before she was going to have a fit! She is 3 and wanted to pick out her clothes for school. The journaling reads - Where does the time go?? My baby is officially a big girl and started her first day of preschool. She was nerous but put on her brave face and headed in. Mom was also nervous and cried in the hallway after kissing her good bye. 10/2/08

I used creative imaginations paper which I cut up. I used two different pps by the same creative imaginations line and used a generic piece of yellow cardstock in the back. I used pop dots to pop up the clouds that I cut from the paper. I also popped up the bird which was also cut from the paper. I used a cool thing I got at the LSS for the sun its a calendar turner by maya road. It has the date on it and says - A day to remember. Used a rub on from Daisy D's for the Milstone cloud. I used Scenic Route chipboard school pieces. for the First day of school and the green brackets and used my white signo pen for the journaling. Used foam squares on the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL and doodled around it! Trees and corner things also popped up with foam squares.

The last layout is my daughter before heading to dance class and at dance class. I will copy and paste the discription from my gallery at Scrapbook.com.

My daughter takes dance every Wednesday. I have her pose before we head to dance class each week. Sometimes I can sneak in a picture while we are there. Those are the pics at the bottom. The pics at the top where before we went to dance class in the yard. I used a lot of scraps I had. The chipboard flowers are layered and are by Junkitz. The brackets also chipboard from Junkitz as are the Be You. I used Rusty Pickle Girly Girl Stickers for the quote which I love and thought went perfect with the layout! I used stickles to outline the ballerina that was on the paper and the flouris that was on the paper. Cut around my daughter on the bottom and the scalloped paper is a scrap I had! The pp is scrappin' sports #444 live love dance.

Hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween!!!!

My Cupcake Loves Cookies

2008-10-08T20:30:00.002-04:00

So, I had another throw down. I used a lot of scraps I had left over from the BOO Letters I did. All papers are Creative Imaginisce Halloween Line 2008. I did some distressing with ink along the edges. I doodled what I thought would look like cross bones (X's) around the pictures. Added some ribbon I thought could pass for Frankenstein's stitches and some bottle caps. To create the title I used Stickles for the word Cookie, Thickers Felt Letters for My and Love and Chipboard word Cupcake. I created this for a doodle challenge on SB.com. Thanks for looking! Until tomorrow. (((HUGS))) Nicole

2008-10-08T11:20:00.002-04:00

Well, how is everyone? I needed to release some stress this past week and decided to get my scrap on. Since finding out I was pregnant a few months ago, I have been extremely tired and haven't had the energy to scrap. I have come to learn through the years that scrapping is therapeutic and really helps relieve stress and relax me. The following are the two pages I did yesterday. The Happy Harvest page was done using a lot of my old stash. The tree paper that I love is last years line, the Basic Grey paper that I used for the circle to look like a harvest moon is from like 2 years ago! lol. I used a chipboard H that I got at the Dream yard sale (one of the first ones ever), the sticker letters for Happy were all scraps! I didn't have a brown Y so I made one out of a L and a line of some sort all left over sticker letters. The bottom Harvest word is BG letters that are left over from two years ago as well. I used the Mellow line from last year by BG for the chipboard shapes and covers. And we are all aware of my STICKLES ADDICTION, the dots around the circle were created with Orange stickles that I have had for some time.

The next layout was made using a few newer things. I just adored this new MM Halloween paper because it is like a die cut and has a boarder as well as cool looking words throughout the paper which is the hot thing these days. I bought the glitter pumpkins at the Dream as well as the glitter cats. The title was created using all old letter stickers in fall colors, perfect for the layout. The Happy Halloween ribbon also purchased at the dream many moons ago, fit well in the blank space to the right of the pictures. The circle is an old scrap of chipboard that I had from Junkitz. The felt pumpkin boarder is from Queen & Co. Gotta love FELT! Hope to scrap more today. Stay Tuned! Nicole

BOO - Altered Wood Decoration for the house

2008-09-15T11:52:00.007-04:00

Finally something other than a word book! lol.

I bought these giant letters that are made of fake wood at the Dream last year for about 19 bucks. Well, this summer I spotted them in my craft closet and knew I wanted to get into the "FALL" mood and alter them. I bought the Halloween papers from the Imaginisce line and used them to cover the wooden letters. I used Making Memories black scrapbook colors paint to outline the letters and get inside the holes. I also used a messy brush stroke to create a black painted goth look. For the middle "o" I used purple making memories scrapbook paint and my daughters thick paintbrush. This morning when I woke up they were dry and I added the embellies. I bought the spiders at the dream which I used SMALL DOTZ to adhere them to the letter. I first used foam dots but I could see them and it didn't sit right with me so I ripped them all off and re stuck them with the glue dots. I bought the Halloween bottle cap at Building 19 1/2 last summer. The Happy Halloween Glitter words are from the dream, as are the Boo, trick or treat and pumpkins. Cloud 9 was used for the cool little bat people, ghosts and the non glitter Boo word. Added some ribbon and called it a day. A really easy project and fun to do. A REAL THROW DOWN! In the first picture you can see the spider that fell off in all the other pictures. After I took the pictures I added another glue dot. Alicia found it hysterical that one spider would not stick. lol. Thanks for looking!

Happy 30th Birthday Kristie Rose

2008-09-15T11:10:00.003-04:00

So, all of you must be scratching your heads saying, ANOTHER WORD BOOK! Good God, I know, I have been doing that myself. You see, it is an easy project for me to throw together for a gift. I made this one for my brothers wife. My sister in law turned 3o this month. While they were in Vegas celebrating, I decided to throw this down for when she got back. I left the last two pages open for her to add pictures from her actual birthday while they were in Vegas. The other pages are full with pictures I had and some I got from her Myspace page of her and her close friends and family! I used the junkitz papers from back in the day that I have had and loved for so long. I never wanted to part with them, but they are prefect for a 3o year old because it says, just be you, be true to yourself. I used a lot of scraps and stickers, letters and numbers I have had. I only had a few hours to get this done because I was heading to Hampton Beach and they were coming home from Vegas the same day. I left her gift on my kitchen table as I knew they would be over cause they were going to be watching my dog. She loved it! Junktz papers, fancy pants rub ons, Making Memories tiny lil aphas, numbers, birthday rub ons and much more. In one of the pictures my husband was being NAUGHTY so I had to black out what he was doing! =) MEN!!!!!!!!

Design Team Project

2008-09-12T11:40:00.007-04:00

I have no idea why this pic is sideways......

Today I had to turn in my DT project at The Dream. Great minds think alike - because no sooner had I arrived than my design pals, L and J were in the door as well. Everyone had come to turn in their latest and greatest.

Every single one of us were chosen for distinct talents. One gal for her Quick cuts and her masterful ability to work with the smallest of details. Another for her clean lines and use of paper in her layouts.

L of course is the layout DIVA - as she proved once again by coordinating yellows with pinks and browns. And when given the challenge of making her page "interactive" she used a chord, traditionally used for shoe laces, to hang three chipboard cupcakes which could be flipped over for journaling. WHO THINKS LIKE THAT? asked Laurie.

Next in the door is J, who brings an incredible acrylic book she's entering into the Zutter DT contest. Along with her mini album - every page simple and clean. The pictures are the clear stand-outs. Hers is the kind of work you look at and then want to scoop up all the product to try it at home. Minimal journaling. It's all about the pictures.

So, there were three of the team-member's projects I got to feast my eyes on today. I had to pick Shay up so I didn't stick around for the love-fest over my project (ha ha). But I included pics for you below. Let me warn you. It's a throw down unlike anything you've seen before. In fact, I don't think the pics convey all the throw-down-ness.

I was given a 6 page acrylic album (12 pages front and back). TWELVE - as opposed to the 2 page layouts a few of my team mates had. What-EV!!!

I was also given a stencil, two galaxy markers - blue/silver and white. Some white jumbo buttons. Two pages with a winter scene and two diff. colors of bling card stock. No WAY could I make 12 pages out of that alone. That was like giving a starving person a cup of chicken broth for dinner.

So I figuratively put on a mask and snorkel gear and went scuba-diving through my goods.
Fished out every monochromatic bit my little fingers could find. Ribbons, acrylic tags and embellishments, bling of course, inks in the whole range of winter blue and white. And of course, my sense of humor.

Where would I be without that?????????

I had to be resourceful when putting this together because I had NOTHING, I repeat NOTHING to print out for a winter album.

Gulp.

No snowmen/women, no sledding, no snowball fights?

Double gulp.

No pristine pics of snow falling even? Not even deer tracks on my back porch or the dog leaving his fresh, yellow imprint in the snow?

Triple gulp.

I went through my catalogue of winter-y pics. Until finally settling on a singular moment. One moment I took pictures of over and over again because it made me laugh. The subject: my husband. Every year, on his birthday, it snows. Some years, worse than others. This particular year, he was plowing the driveway and not making much progress when he notices our neighbors bring in this super jaxxed up snow removal truck. Poor Rick. And so the theme took on a life of it's own.

Initially, you'd look at the cover and think the book will be about all things white and fluffy and sweet about winter. But it's about my poor husband struggling in the snow. On his birthday. While Shayna and Caesar look on from the warm comfort of their home.

Now, I'm trying an experiment. Because Blogger keeps booting me anytime I upload more than 4 pics, I've started a shutterfly web thingy. Click on it and let me know what you think. Yes, I noticed that some pics uploaded sideways. I'm just not savvy enough to correct it at the moment.

Hopefully, this will work. The name of this is titled "Insomniac Studio" because it's my reserved name on Etsy, should/when I open my online store. So, Click on this linky and tell me what you thinky:

http://insomniacstudio.shutterfly.com/

Door Hanger and Word Book

2008-09-12T09:45:00.010-04:00

Here is one of the Christmas Presents that I was working on for this holiday season. Because I will be having a baby around that time, I thought I had best get with the shopping and the making of things now. Needless to say, I am well on my way - all the in-laws out of state are done! This number here is for my Grandmother. She lives in a retirement community and loves to post notes on her door when she heads out so people don't worry or wonder where she is. I thought that this would be a better alternative than the scraps of paper that she writes her love notes on. :)
The door hanger is from Creative Imaginations? I think. I know that's terrible, but in the process of re-doing my scrap space, my information for this number was, well, tossed. AHHH!! Anyway, I covered it with some pretty flowered paper and then used an assortment of ribbons to decorate the top of it.

The first picture is of the back side...I found these little round dry erase magnetic boards for lockers in Target and thought that it would be a great solution for this project! I just went around the sides with stickles to decorate it up a bit. The front says "Welcome Friends" I stamped the letters using CTMH stamps and inks, then I drew around the letters in pink just to make them stand out a little more. I then used CTMH liquid glass to fill in the letters, then cut them out using my trusty Crayola cutter. The flowers are from K&Company.

OK - Now, onto the FINALLY FINISHED word book!!! Just to note that I blacked out the kids that I don't have permission to post on line. I am really happy with the way the book turned out. If you remember, I used the Cricut Design Center to do this book. It's the first one I cute out, and all in all, I am really pleased with the way it turned out. I learned a lot by playing with the software, and am now working on a few more word book ideas. I am, however, waiting for the new blades to come out so I can cut on thicker paper to make this process easier...

oops, that airplane shouldn't be on this page, I will have to correct that, must've gotten stuck when I was turning pages. I wish I could have found better embellishments for this project, but this is what I was dealing with. I am happy I did it and can't wait to try another one. Someday, I hope to make these babies beauties like Miss. Nicole's! LOL

HAPPY Bo Bunny word book for my daughters BFF

2008-09-11T20:44:00.014-04:00

Well, my daughter's best friend Cameron had a birthday in July. They are 10 days apart in age. I made Cam this book so he can look back when they are in college and see how close they were as toddlers. They are together just about everyday for the most part and when they aren't together I hear all day and night about her BFF! =)

You know I love to gift give, you know I love to make things to give to my family and friends. This book was created using the Happy, Bo Bunny Word Album. Another known fact is that I am addicted to the Bo Bunny word albums. They make the best gifts!

I used Fancy Pants & October Afternoon papers. I used a ton of rub ons from all different companies. Some die cuts I bought at the Dream's Yard Sale way back before the lady that ruins the the yard sales was a customer lol. I used left over sticker letters, buttons, ribbons, bling, chipboard and flowers.

a mini mini book pour moi

2008-09-09T12:32:00.010-04:00

Hey! I'm finally updating! WOO!

So, a couple months before we moved, like around April or so, I ordered this really cute chipboard bird keychain thing from Two Peas. (All My Memories makes the chipboard bird keychain though.) I thought I might separate the pieces and use them as accents on separate pages, but also kept in mind it might be nice to use as a whole, like a mini photo album to carry with me in my bag. Because my wallet has NO photo insert at all, and I never have any pictures of Eleana when I'm out.

A couple nights ago I caught the bug to scrap, but didn't want to commit to a 12x12 project. I've kept this blank chipboard bird thing hanging around the desk on purpose ever since I bought it because I've been needing/wanting to use it so badly, and finally decided to just work it out.

So, here are mostly the final results. I still need to add one or two photos to the blank birds you see, but other than that it's pretty much done. I used all Sasafrass Lass papers (from the Dearest line), some Hambly, some Basic Gray rubs, and other rub-ons as well.

Finished product, including ribbon, hanging on "my" pegboard (it's only mine as long as I live here, so I'll have to say goodbye to it when I move.)

Recycling with gift wrapping

2008-09-07T12:30:00.004-04:00

We have a birthday party this afternoon. And instead of running out and spending gas and MORE money on gift wrap and cards, I took a cue from Jenn and used some of my scrappy-scraps. Why not? Most people think it's so inventive ;)

And actually, it's quite fun!

Below, I finished up some Happy Birthday wrap I had on hand. I then used some ribbon I'd had in stock (what? did I say in stock? what am I, a warehouse?) and used that to bind the two gifts together. Sure, it doesn't match. But does it really have to? Kids love wild crazy, mis-matched stuff. Especially when you walk into a party with a big ol, big ol thing wrapped all
ca-ra-zzzzzyyyyy. Can I get a woop, woop on that, ladies???

Next, I used a left over Popsicle chipboard from the accucut project (Popsicle banner). I covered it front and back with scrappy paper and then embellished away with stickers and such.

But I didn't stop there. Oh no. I didn't. I couldn't. You know me. I got out my punches and used the flower and the circle (above) and cut into both the birthday paper and the leftover Popsicle paper. I used the circles in the Popsicle paper for the "i" in birthday. See below.

Some may think it's extra work for a gift that's gonna be ripped open. But it's all worth it to put a great, big smile on a child's face. There's nothing better than the anticipation of opening a nicely wrapped gift. Oh, and also it stands out on the gift table. Mismatched or not!!!

Woop, woop! Off to eat some birthday caaaaaaaaaaaaake!!!!!!

Playin' catch up!

2008-09-06T21:37:00.008-04:00

Whoa, Nelly! I can't believe the amazing scrap-a-rama ya'll have posted so far! I've been concentrating on merchandising over the summer. And more on altered gifts. Less on the actual page. However before Shay's birthday party we did a massive overhaul in the house. You know, for all the people that would be walking through and such. Had to make it the showplace...

So with new coats of paint in the kitchen and in the living room. I had nothing on the walls. What was a girl to do??? I got out my scrap frames and went to work! The results are below:

1. (Below) This was a new line that Laurie brought back for me from CHA Chicago. I don't think she's getting this in the store. But the various lines of design made it fantastic for a layout, to cover a TIN (which of course I did), and for cards. This was framed and hung in the kitchen so guests saw it as soon as they came inside. It's still on the wall actually! The only thing I updated it with after this pic was I framed the pic in turquoise loopy ribbon. The lettering was on clearance at Marshalls. They have tons of scrappy stuff on clearance now!

2. The pic below was from a post I wrote on "Brown" called Melon Party. You may recognize this Daisy D paper from the Christmas tree store. I just loved it. The dots echoed the silliness of the pic, as did the chipboard swirls which I chose to leave bare. GASP. That's right. It took A LOT, and I mean A LOT to walk away from that one. The fish stickers we got in Chinatown because Shay wanted a Pokemon/animae party and these were some of the leftover favors. They have nothing to do with Melon. I just thought they added to the absurdity of the picture.

3. I've no idea why the pic below is sideways. I uploaded it twice. This was from a Pokemon photo shoot we did for Shay's party invitations. Here, she's holding Pikachu her favorite character. The paper that backs the photo was from a scrap pile at The Paper Source. I was in a rush and just wanted to get something up on the wall, so I did just a minimal layout. I can hear your jaws dropping. I know. I didn't even have time to rip it up and start over. I love the little red jewel I got last year at one of the stops on the bus tour.

4. BANNER MOMENT - This was a Popsicle banner I made from Laurie's new accucut (spell?) machine. I cut the original pieces on chipboard. Cut the covering pieces with colored card stock so I wouldn't have to trace and cut. The PARTY letters were stickers I found at Michael's. The pics were a series we took on July 4th when Shay was using sparklers for the first time.

I cut holes on each side and tied it with ribbon so after the party, it collapses into a board book! I KNOW, how cool! Thank you, I'm here all week.

On the back, I used party rub-ons from the dollar store and put additional party pics (not shown).

5. Photo cube. These were all the rage over the summer. I used scrap paper from PS and covered all the sides. I loved this little fish, another party bag remnant. The bottom third had different coordinating paper and double ribbon separating it from the top. Felt and other cool textures that Shay would enjoy when I added her birthday pics to them.

One day shortly after the party, I decided I didn't really like it that much and have since ripped it BALD. Go ahead, laugh. Laugh beeyotches. I'll bounce back. You'll see.

6. The layout below would have driven even the mild-mannered Nichole P to the loony bin. This started out as a summer layout, using the sunburst stencil on the black card stock. What's the name of it? The stuff you tear and it has color that shows through? Yeah. Not a big fan. If you do anything other than rip it, the color is everywhere.

Not good...not good at all....

I added grommets and bling and then hated the middle picture. So I cast it aside. Shortly before Shay's party, I exhumed it and used this great candid shot Rick got of Shay, leaning against a checkered table cloth.

I tore the paper - big woop - and used the X-mas tree Daisy D paper behind it. I also cut out flowers and butterflies in the corners to let the paper show through. And yes, that would be the Martha Stewart butterfly punch, thank you very much. I use it often. I love it so.

So up close this looks like something you might heave up after disembarking off the tilt-a-whirl. But it's on the wall in Shay's room and as you're coming down the hallway it's...intriguing and kinda draws you into her room...which, now that it's all Pokemon, is an adventure in itself.

7. Saving the best for last... I was inspired to make this next piece by Etsy artist Pugnotes

Her version:

Mine: I drew the pug freehand in pencil on canvas. Then came the task of accurately fitting paper in the right spaces! I tried to contrast light and dark papers in each shape. I held the canvas up to the sun so I could TRACE the shape I needed onto each individual paper. Why yes, a light board would have worked brilliantly. Had I had one. I used scraps of paper from the workshop in PS.

I wanted to put a red bandanna on the pug since we usually put one on Caesar. I made the leash out of ribbon I got at Michaels. And the tag is his first rabies shot tag. Awwwwww. The butterfly is from some sticker set I got. It's still not completed. Honestly, I'm afraid to make another move. I really don't want to rip this up and start over.

Lo's & altered art I created within the last month

2008-09-04T14:34:00.006-04:00

I am now adding the last few things I have access to update at my moms house. I have another two mini albums at home to post tomorrow. So, let's begin shall we???? lol

I created this layout with scraps from the Friends mini album in my previous post. This was the kids doing the pinata at Alicia's luau birthday party! I love using scraps. I call this Pinata Fun! I cut HAPPY out of a piece of scrap birthday paper I had. I added some leftover rubons and a piece of bling in the middle of the flower rubons. I inked all the sides of the papers. I added a few cool sparkle brads from Bo Bunny that I bought at the dream. The little stickers that I am addicted to these days are Making Memories tiny little alpha stickers. I use them on everything these days.

A time to honor using my close to my heart star stamps. I used Reminisce sticker letters that have stars all over them. Stickles were used to add some sparkle to the word TO, which was also created using Stickles. I cut the strip of stars off of a piece of paper I got at the dream. Can't remember who makes it but I added a sticker strip on each side of the star paper. The bottom was also created using stickers.
The Halloween layout was created for a challenge I participated in on SB.com. It was a to use multiple pictures of anything other than summer things. I loved this Halloween Paper that I bought last year and used it, Like Jenn, I should be using my old stuff but she is better than me because I continue to keep buying spending lots of MULA at the dream, week after week! hehehe. I bought the rubber stickers at the dream for 2.99 for a set of like 5 they are really cool. Had trouble with the stickers they had on it and had to put additional adhesive on it. A friend of mine on Scrapbook.com had sent me a message saying she makes them at her job in NH. How cool is that. The lil' bat and stars are Cloud9 Designs. The papers are Making Memories as are the tiny alpha. Told you I love um!

The last layout posted, "Life is Good" was created using an awesome find at the Christmas Tree store. I bought this lil' kit by Daisy D's for - 1.99! BARGAINS! I love them. It came with like 4-5 pieces of paper and a pack of rubons. Used my tiny lil' alpha stickers by Making Memories, two rubons that are on the side of the Making Memories Die cut paper are 7 gypsies. I bought those at the paper tree when we took the doodle class. THAT WAS A FUN NIGHT! Added some ribbon I bought while vacationing in Nantucket the beginning of the summer and added some buttons to it!
This is a KaiserCrafts Christmas Wall hanging tree I made Using Robin's Nest pebbles to look like Christmas lights strung on the tree. Used pop dots to cut out the Christmas circle papers and popped them up to look like ornaments. All papers were creative imaginisce new Christmas line papers. Imaginisce - Snowy Jo Winter Christmas Collection - 3 Dimensional Stickers - Tinsel Tags, BRAND NEW was used to journal on. An eyelet at the top for the string. Pic of my dd the first and only time on Santa's lap lol. The ribbon was a newer ribbon the dream put out! It is very thick Ric Rac!

Friends Mini Album

2008-09-04T13:29:00.007-04:00

Happy Unofficial Fall. I love that it is getting darker sooner and that all the kids in the neighborhood are back to school. You can smell everyone cooking breakfast around the same time! We got our shipment of firewood for our fireplace. We have been having fires outside cause it is still warm out but gets cool at night! I just love it! Well enough of that let me share a few things I have been working on.

On each tab it says, I LOVE MY FRIENDS... I used a ton of scraps to create this and left over rubons and bling. You know I love ribbon and that is what really makes the book complete.

Things I used to creative this mini album for my niece who's birthday was in August!

Scotch - Adhesive Refill for the Applicator ATG 700 Gun - Three Fourth Inch Gold Tape 36 Yards ,
Scotch ATG 700 - Adhesive Applicator Gun - Uses One Half Inch OR Three Fourth Inch Adhesive (Purchase Separately),
Maya Road - Chipboard Album - 5 Ring - Skinny Round Tab
SEI - Doodley-Doo Girl - Rub Ons ,
SEI - Doodley-Doo Girl - Assortment Pack this is the papers that were used. They worked really well because where my niece is a TWEEN, doodles are her life. Plus the most fantastic part about this paper is I got it at Amandalinz yard sale that Jenn and I went to a lonnnnnnnnng time ago. I saved it waiting for the perfect project to use it for.

Also used were rubons, stickers, bling and ribbons. I was smart and printing off pictures of her and her friends through her myspace page. She was so excited and thrilled that I did my research to get the pics, she had no idea what I was up too. Her girlfriends got a kick of seeing themselves in Jessy's birthday gift!

Playing Catch Up

2008-09-03T19:19:00.004-04:00

I have been scrapping away! Last week, I think I did about 7-10 LO's!!! Granted, they have been quickies, but I've needed to get things done with a baby on the way!
As I stated in my last posting, I am all about using up my older stash right now. I haven't even thought about going into the scrap store to check out the latest goodies...OK, so I am fibbing, I've thought about it, just haven't done it! I am determined to use up a good amount of what I have before I jump all over the new stuff!! And I am well on my way!

Anyway, here are a few of the LO's I've done in the last week...
This first one is from my DS's 3rd b-day a year ago!!! (I am so behind!) We just had a family only type of party and that made for easier scrapping! I kept things simple, just using a handful of photos and this is what I ended up with.

This second LO is of a photo that was taken in December when we had my neice's and C's picture done for my Mom's Christmas present. My little ham was playing around and this photo was snapped.
The paper and embellishments are My Mind's Eye 29th Street Market - Classic "unique" Spotlight/ Uniquely Blue paper
and Classic "unique" Shining star/Molding clay paper.

This last LO is a 2-pg one of a family gathering with my in-laws last November-ish. When we all get together, the kids (anyone under 18 and the Uncles), go wild. There is always lots of laughing and screaming good times!!!!
The materials here are left over cardstock paper, scraps for the mattings, making memories glitter embellishments, Cricut Design center for the lettering.

My 4 year old

2008-08-30T22:21:00.007-04:00

My tiny man just turned 4! I can't beleive how the time just flies on by! I just had his pictures done and scrapped them up tonight.
This first LO is done on Fancy Papers "About a Boy" - Rockin'
I love the paper! So much so that I bought the whole line - now I have to figure out what to do with the rest of it. :) One of the things I am trying to work on is using up all my old papers...ones that I've had laying around for eons, like this one. I've been in love with it since the day I bought it, why have I just let it sit in my collection?
Anyway, because I love the paper so much, I didn't feel the need to embellish too much. I used the title pages for the elements you see on the bottom and the two hearts. Then I found in the stash, stars by Me & My Big Ideas. PERFECT fit!! So happy that I am using things up. Gotta get out with the old before we can bring in the new. Must be my nesting!!! LOL!

ANYWAY, sorry so chatty and giving TMI...
This second LO:
imaginisce - A Shore Thing- Sun-Ripe Stripe and penguin paradise
Flowers:Bazzill collection -Petal Pushers
The title was felt letters from Creative Imaginations and the ribbon was from Target's $1.00 section.

First crack at a word book

2008-08-23T18:44:00.003-04:00

I decided that I would give the Cricut Design Studio a try. I've been contemplating buying it for a number of months now, but wasn't so sure that it would be something that I would use all the time. Boy, was I wrong! I am a little addict now!
Here is the first thing I am working on with the software. I have all these pictures from the amusement park that I didn't know what to do with. I wanted to scrap them, but how many pages does one really need of the experience? Then I thought I could make a word book! Here I am, downloading the Design Studio and thinking "how does this work?" So I Googled it. I happened across this GREAT blog, Invincible Summer. She has taken the time to go through this step-by-step. It was "easy" with the information right there before me to follow, yet it was still very time consuming. I think I finally got it though!
I used scraps for my trial and errors - there were TONS of errors! But, with a little time, I was able to work out the kinks. The first picture was my 'completed' best first try. I then used that sample to tweak the placement of the letters, and work out the 'welding' so that there weren't any stray cuts, as you may notice in the letter 'E'.

In this last picture, you'll see my first almost completed word book. I used papers that I have had laying around forever (decided to use up my stash before buying up all new goodies!). I still need to obviously put pics in it and embellish, but I think I have a great start! It's not perfect, I will admit, but for the first try...not so bad.

I will post the completed project once I wrap that up. We are planning another trip to the park for this week, so I will wait until after then to work on the book. Until then, I have a few other projects that I am thinking about. If you have a Cricut, I suggest downloading the trial version and giving it the old college try!!!! Tons of fun!

3 is a magic number

2008-08-21T16:26:00.008-04:00

Hello, hello? Oh my gosh, I'm alive! I tell you what, after the Memory Makers challenge entry I created, I was totally wiped from scrapping. That, combined with planning for Eleana's 3rd birthday party and I had no time to scrap for fun. But I have to say, if it weren't for Jen's challenge I never would have scrapped.

Of course it helps that I received a really awesome kit from Sweet Spuds recently! I mean just look at all these goodies!

So as soon as I saw the oranges and pretty shades of brown and touches of pinks, I knew what picture I was using and why. I had taken a couple of pictures of E recently that I normally would have probably deleted straight away, but I thought to myself, "These pictures would be so pretty if I bleached them a bit in photoshop" so that's what I did.

Additionally, the gals at Scrapmojo have just released a new challenge, and I caught it on the first day, lucky me. Of course the first title suggestion they list is what I'm going to use! "3 is a magic number" fit Eleana perfectly because, obviously, she just turned 3 on Sunday!

I sorta spliced the two photos of her together, so the shadow on the right wouldn't be cut off. It looked awful with the shadow cut in half. So I cut a place into the photo on the right and slid the photo on the left into it, so I could overlap the shadow.

I tried to group things in amounts of 3. There are 3 clouds (which I created using Stickles) and 3 august stickers on the left side of the page. I also used 3 staples on either end of the ribbon.

Easter Morning 2008

2008-08-21T10:34:00.004-04:00

This comes from the August sketch from Gettin Sketchy. When I first saw the sketch, I was in love with it. Then I looked at what others created from the sketch, and loved it even more. Thought I would give it the old college try. Yup, now I am not so in love with it. Don't get me wrong, I am glad I tried it, but I think I chose the wrong subject matter and the wrong pictures. I might try it again with another topic - we'll see. I guess it's what I get for being out of the 'game' for so long.
Supplies: Reminisce "bring on spring" and "egg art", Pebblesinc "Easter Time stripe blue", Creative Imaginations, and Cricut Plantin' Schoolbook

As I am getting ready to post this, I am realizing why I am not loving it. I had these pictures printed out as 4X6 and was originally going to do a 2 page LO. I am thinking that next time I would opt to print out different sizes. We'll see.

Summer LO's

2008-08-07T16:02:00.003-04:00

And here are the few LO's I have been able to throw together over the summer. My mojo has been lacking, so I really haven't done all that much...

This first LO is from C's 3rd b-day last summer! He recieved a swing set courtesy of his Grandparents. He "helped" Daddy put it together. Anyway, it's a 2-pg LO I used bazzil, jolee's for the title, scrapes of American crafts paper that I used on another project, and the stamps were from CTMH.

The Zoo LO was from a trip to the Zoo that Nicole and I did way back in May? Anyway, it's again just a 'throw down' LO. I used lettering that I had from eons ago, some scraps from another project, and the bazzil core, and some stamps. I know one is from CTMH, the other is a Target brand one.

OK and for some reason the first page of this last LO doesn't want to post, so you'll have to use your imagination! :) I am working on journaling my pregnancy. Since I don't like having pics of myself taken, I am doing just that - making these pages like a little journal. I am using the Creative Imaginations pregnancy paper and embellishments. I made little file folders for each month so I could put my thoughts/feeling for that particular month there. Because I have so many u/s, I am able to put one on each page and then made a pocket for the originals to go in. However, in this case, the "pocket" is a pink diaper that Terry at the Dream made for me for well wishes on the pregnancy. NO, I don't know what I am having yet! :)

Monkey Face

2008-08-07T15:56:00.003-04:00

Alrighty ladies. Here's my latest LO for the challenge that I put forth. Sorry took so long to post, seems that there were probs with blogger the other day, but all seems better now.
This LO is of my niece. She makes this cute little face that her parents so lovenly call "Monkey Face". I used the Monkey paper from daisy d's, Thickers, prima flowers, quikutz monkey, and chip board letters for "monkey".

So there you have it. Nothing too special or over the top - just a cute little page to get myself back into the scrapping mood. Seems to have worked because I am starting to pull out more work.

Now, where are Nichole and Sharon at? :)

Happy August folks!

2008-08-06T12:12:00.007-04:00

Ok, so here I am again posting more LUAU Birthday Party Pages. Try saying that three times fast!

I am delighted that this time I remembered to add my square as I forgot to the last two posts.

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer. Only a few weeks left before the kids are back at school and the fall air comes racing in. OH, I CAN NOT WAIT! I love fall. No School for lil' Miss Alicia yet. Which I am enjoying because I don't want her to grow up lol. Alright enough about me, let's get onto what people come to this blog for, SCRAPPIN'!

I did the following layouts a few days ago and tried to post but the site was having trouble! Gave it a whirl today and it seems to be working!

This pink number is Alicia open a handful of the gazillion gifts she got! I made the Hawaiian paper doll using a paperkins body with the grass skirt and lay from Karen Foster, totally tropical sticker sheet. I used the Hawaiian Colorbox paper again and added some rubons from GENX. The Flower is Heidi Swapp.

This next two page layout I like to call, Tarp plus sprinkler = Ghetto Slip and Slide. Used lots of fun summer embellies. I used the sparkler Glitter paper to create the sun adding the raise out of the Stickles (yellow and orange) Next I used the Creative Imaginations Beach Letters and added some clear bling to the White letters because they kind of looked lost without a lil' something! I wanted to give the slip and slide feel by having the photos in a straight line in the middle of the pp. I added the ribbon to outline the paper giving it a border. The water stickers are all part of the Creative Imaginations line. I used up some old letter stickers I had laying around to write Slip and Slide and underlined the words with blue stickles. I hand cut the scallops in the paper for the edges of th paper in the middle to give it a cool look. I inked the edges with orange ink. The arrows are also the stickers by Creative Imagations.

I scan my layouts and this is what it looks like all pieced together with both sides. Looking forward to seeing other peoples layouts soon! (((HUGS)))) Scraphappy Nicole

Aloha

2008-07-31T11:48:00.004-04:00

Ok, so now I am on a roll! Thanks Jen, I needed that push. I was so caught up in making presents and thank you cards it took up all my time. It has been so therapeutic to scrap pages for my own book. So, I applaud you for that. The two layouts are from my daughters birthday party luau, as if you can't tell from the pictures. lol.

The Aloha layout is a mix of different papers layered and razored on to the Bazzill to give it a look of one sheet of paper. The Bazzill is color core, The blue paper is Creative Imaginations Beach paper I got at Laurie's store. I loved it the minute I set my eyes on it. The Hawaiian girl is a sticker from Karen Foster, also from the Dream as our the little earthy colored flowers. I added Kaiser Bling to the middle of the flowers and to the frames. I added ribbon I bought at the Dream the Luau Tag (also a sticker by Karen Foster). The small strip of starfish is a sticker from the Beach Creative Imaginations Line as are the big Hawaiian flowers at the top. The frames framing the pics are from the paper Hawaiian pack I got at Walmart along with the green pp. The pictures are a few of my friends and family members. Check out the dude in the coconuts and dress and hat. That is our pal MIKE. In this picture we are Mike's Hula Angels. lol

Onto layout two - Just A Gigolo is a layout of my friend Marc who is a ladies man. The journaling can be read by clicking on the image. I scan my layouts so you can see every detail. There are some bling throughout the layout. Flower bling, not just any bling! I love BLING! The chipboard is a piece Sharon gave me ages ago. I inked it and used it, gave it a nice touch to the layout! The palm tree is from We Are Memory Keepers, Totally Tropical stickers. The journaling sticker and the letters are all made by Creative Imaginations - totally tropical line.

Quick funny story. My best friend Trina called me last night, she was like, "DID YOU KNOW THERE IS A SCRAPBOOK STORE ON NEWBURY STREET?" I started laughing and said yeah, I know someone who works there. With that said, looks like your doing your job Sharon cause my friend goes by it all the time, she works at Fenway and this is the first time she said something!

Well, till the next layout! (((HUGS))) Scraphappy Nicole

Totally Tropical 3rd Birthday cake time

2008-07-30T08:31:00.004-04:00

Well, Happy Summer folks! I had my daughters birthday party and it was a big ol' success!!!! We had about 60 people at my house. Where I haven't done a layout in months, I figured I would try something easy late last night and put this number together. The paper in the back is a paper stack (Hawaiian) by Colorbok. The Bazzill is the color core bazzill. The stickers are all Totally Tropical We are Memory Keepers except the Hula Girl journaling die which is also a sticker but it is made by Creative Imaginations. The pictures tell the story. My niece Jessica was holding Alicia as she blew out the candles. I have a funny cake story but I will save that for another day. This is the start to many layouts I plan to do. Please stay tuned. Hope your all having a FABULOUS Summer. (((((HUGS TO ALL))))))))) ScraphappyNicole!

A new challenge?

2008-07-22T16:41:00.002-04:00

Alright ladies! It's been since MAY that we've posted here!!! That saddens me! Although, I must admit, that I haven't done much since then! I've lost that lovin' feeling, out of the groove. But, I think it's time to get things rolling again. What do you say?

I guess I should challenge us to do something and post it! If you need inspiration, check out http://hmitm.blogspot.com/ or http://gettinsketchy.blogspot.com/2008/07/challenge-13.html
I might take part in the first challenge site, I could use up tons of my stickers and rub ons that are just hangin out and collecting dust!

I am saying 2 weeks; then we all should have posted something - anything really. Doesn't have to be a work of art. Just something to get us moving again! GOOD LUCK!!

Scetti...challeng page

2008-05-21T10:00:00.003-04:00

This is from a sketch on Gettin Sketchy
I really loved the sketch, and it was out in perfect time to partake in for NSD. Nicole and I decided to give it a go. This is what I came up with...
I LOVE the big picture of C and thought it would be a perfect picture to blow up and use as the bigger circle. I used the trusty Cricut to cut out the scalloped edge, then used flowers on each scallop, just to add some texture. The patterned paper was scrap that I had, so am not sure who it was from and the plain papers are all bazzil. The flourish stamps are from Close to My Heart (thanks again Nicole for letting me use them)!

NSD Stuff - Finally!!

2008-05-21T09:33:00.005-04:00

OK, so I have been really behind with posting - heck, I am behind with scrapping!!! This being pregnant thing is really tiring me out! I have no energy to waddle my way down the stairs to my lovely scraproom! I am just now getting around to taking NSD pics off my camera! Sheesh, I have been lazy these days!
This first LO was real quick - I liked the paper - it said it all for a zoo visit. My good pal Nicole had an extra wooden monkey and that really seemed to complete the page. As far as journaling, I'm going to do that on the next zoo pages from that particular day.

This next LO was another quickie. I've been sitting on this picture of my son eating a lime, trying to figure out what to do with it. Then I stumbled upon this summer lemon/lime paper that I've had in my stash forever and thought "how perfect" I wanted the focus to be on the larger picture with the sour face, but I wanted to include this smaller cute face, so I journaled on a "lime" and stuck the picture behind the journaling.

OK, now for my favorite...well my top 2 faves (the next one will come in another post because it was a challenge page). Anyway, we were all showing off the newest doodling templates we all had, and again, my pal Nicole came through with the Princess one! I was so excited because I knew I had this picture of my niece that I thought would be perfect for the template!

publication part 2

2008-05-13T22:18:00.004-04:00

Eeeek!

My June issue of Creating Keepsakes mag came in the mail today! Know what that means? I get to view my words, published in a REAL magazine for the first time EVAH. EVAH!!

And I totally forgot to be excited about it at first. We had a long day of playing and errands, and E and I both crashed at 3 when we got home. I checked the mail, smiled at the magazine (excited to have something new to finger through) but resigned to go to sleep and read the mag later. It didn't even occur to me this was THE ONE. I was tooooo tired to care.

Then, when I grabbed the magazine on my way to the kitchen to fix dinner, it hit me. "OH MY GOD ELEANA! This is IT!" Then, when I found the page I'm on, I realized they not only published an edited version of my story (which was SO long at first) but they also included a blurb from my letter to the editor as a focal point for the article! WOOP WOOP!

Click for big

Yeah, The quotes that say "Nichole, VA" and have clearly had the last name and city whited out are MINE.

I'm so excited, and ever thankful they chose something from me. Next on my to-do list for fame (haha!): publish a LO!

superstar

2008-05-03T09:38:00.006-04:00

**edit: winner isn't announced until the 15th.

and I'm really excited to see what you all ended up accomplishing on NSD!

Hey hey! I managed to squeeze out a tiny little page a couple days ago under motivation of winning a contest (the jury is still out on this one). The rad chicks at Scrapmojo hold monthly contests, and the winners usually get a free kit from any one of the AWESOME kit clubs out there these days. The great thing about Scrapmojo is that their challenges are super unique. Last month they called for Dr. Seuss inspired pages.

This month's challenge was themed around the hit film Juno. We had to use an element from the movie poster in our layouts. And also the title to one of the songs from the soundtrack had to be incorporated somehow. You can view the entire blog entry for the challenge (and all the awesome mojo DT layouts) here.

I chose to use the song titled "superstar" for my inspiration. About a week ago Eleana found some hair bands I got for her and chose to put them all on her wrist a la Madonna (think rubber bracelets). This was too cute to pass up with my camera. I cropped the picture to feature mostly just her hands (the lighting was bad anyway, and she wasn't doing anything particular with her face).

I used the stripes in the movie poster as my inspiration, but didn't really have any striped PP that would work for the background. So I made my own using pink and blue bazzil strips I cut, layered over some navy blue (to bring out the navy blue stripes in her pants).

I think I went stripe crazy. As Barry the bee's BFF in Bee Movie would say, "It's so stingin' stripey!"

I threw in some Love, Elsie notebook PP, and some Tres Jolie stripes as well. The title is Thickers, the peace sign and the birds are Basic Grey, plus some bling under the title, a pair of foam slippers (I think Sharon passed these to me a while ago on a sticker sheet of princess stuff) and some ribbons in the top right corner.

I didn't really journal a lot, there wasn't much to say. I think I managed to squeeze on the white tag: "bracelets until bedtime." Which is pretty much the gist of it. She wouldn't take them off until bedtime. The end. ;) (The whole title is Accessorize like a Superstar).

(winner to be announced today! aaah!)

A little of this and a lil' of that!

2008-05-02T18:03:00.008-04:00

Hi Ladies,

It has been a while and I apologize for not posting sooner. For a a while I was on a roll and then I got side tracked. I am a bit on top of my game now, however I feel so yuckie. I am having a bit of a stomach bug yesterday and today. Feeling nausea, heartburn, ingestion, upset stomach well you know how the rest of the PEPTO ADD GOES goes. I ate so much junk within the last two days that I am feeling like H - E - double hockey sticks! Well enough of my moaning! Lets get on to business as usual! =)

My Cute Scootin' Alicia was fun to make. Bringin' out my FUNKY SIDE a bit! I just love the Die Cuts With A View, Posies glitter paper. This one is named Posie Paisley! Fun paper to go with a fun picture of Alicia. She pooped on the potty two times in one day and so that called for a big ol' prize, a new scooter. She woke up on Sunday and noticed daddy put it together and had to practice in the playroom all day! Too cute! I used the KI Lace paper and Prima Embossed flowers with funky brads in um. Bazzill purple paper and my signo pen! Journaled around the paisley!

I pimped out a Bo Bunny Love word book for my mom for Mother's Day. These books are so addicted and so much fun to make! I used mostly Fancy Pants Spring Line. Of course a ton of Embellies and my Signo pen, they are both a MUST! Some bling, flowers ribbon, rub ons and ink! Feel free to check out my scrapbook.com gallery for all the products used which I listed. Too many to list here.

A Few Mother's Day Cards I made using all scraps, stickles, colored pencils, Stamps from CTMH and some generic stamps. The butterfly stamps are made by Autumn Leaves, The envelope with the flowers is Stamping up/ The papers are Fancy Pants, ink is Close to My heart (WHICH I AM SELLING NOW)!

The layout - YOUR FAVS @ 2

I used Junkitz paper for the circles. I used Heidi Grace pink paper and added bling to it. On the back of the pink paper was the blue paper with the rub on flowers I added and bling to those as well. The frame around Alicia is a rub on. The tag with the Prima flowers pulls out to describe where Alicia was when these pictures were taken. Then on the bottom I used my signo pen to write a few of her favorite things at 2 years old. I listed Paint & Painting ( for a total of two of the same thing) I am not feeling well so that should excuse that lil' mistake!!

We are having National Scrapbook Day at my house tomorrow. I wish you were here with us Nichole. (((((HUGS)))))) I don't even have a web cam or we could of did it through the web with you! Just know you are here with us in our hearts and I will take a ton of pics so you feel as if you were here. We should have this page popping with creative crafty altered art, layouts and cards tomorrow. Happy Scrapping to all my scrappy pals! Love, Nicole

water baby

2008-04-28T11:52:00.005-04:00

Hey! Look! I made a page!

I feel like I haven't scrapped in FOREVER, and it's only been about a week. I made this beauty at the crop last weekend. I used the fairy tale mermaid paper Sharon sent me, along with a piece of teal cardstock (also courtesy of Sharon). As soon as I saw the mermaid paper I knew what I wanted to do with it.

To save face (or butt?) I used a cosmo cricket rub-on to cover E's precious cheeks. Gotta keep things G rated, right? Especially when it comes to my baby and her online safety. The censored rub-on as well as the "baby" rub-on are from the valentine's cosmo cricket set. Very "coot."

The water is pink already, didn't change that. Everyone kept asking if I did. Nope. We use crayola bath tablets here in the house of P. It's a must for any bath.

Okay, I also used a navy blue cats eye ink, fuzzy Thickers, bubble diecuts by Jolee's, and the polka dot rubon is Heidi Swapp (and for the record, Heidi, I love your stuff, but your rub-ons suck. They either stick too quickly or not quick enough. Very hard to deal with). Oh and a Making Memories memo pad paper thingy, and my Zig writer for the journaling. I think that's it.

Also note I messed up the journaling, so I quick fixed it by putting a heart rub right next to E's name. I accidentally went into auto pilot when writing and wrote "Eleana's" when it was only supposed to read "Eleana." WOOPS!

Lyric Challenge

2008-04-21T22:57:00.003-04:00

Miss Sharon put forth the challenge of journaling a song lyric...not the whole song, not just "happy Birthday" and slapping down a picture of your kids with cake on the face...nope, needed to be a song with meaning be it humor or otherwise. I chose my wedding song "Amazed" by Lonestar.
Supplies: Creative Imaginations Polka Dot, bazzil, and my trusty Cricut for the flourishes.

Hosed

2008-04-21T22:05:00.004-04:00

Last summer my BIL and SIL hosted a backyard family BBQ. We all had a great time, the kids had even a better time! I have a million pictures of the kids enjoying themselves climbing and running and chasing and...and.... Well, this is the best moment of the evening...when Uncle Tony took out the garden hose...The kids went nuts with the water fun! I am just getting around to scrapping this great time! I had a really hard time narrowing down my favorite pictures, but I finally did it.

The Supplies: Paper by Scenic Route (Hampton and Metropolis). Title is chipboard from Lil Davis Designs, I used Tim Holz distress crackle paint (broken china) on the brackets - just because I was DYING to try the paint! (it's really fun!), Gelly Roll White pen, CTMH inks and of course my cat's eye can't do a LO without inking it up!

Baby Shower Gifts

2008-04-20T22:46:00.006-04:00

OK, so I have been working on this number for a long time!! Finally finished it the night before the baby shower!! Which was last weekend and I am now getting around to posting it. Give a girl a break - sheesh, you know what my ovaries have been through this week! LOL
Anyway, I wanted to do a BABY word book, but didn't get enough paper. *slaps forehead* So Miss. Nicole was so kind as to swap the word book for the Bo Bunny mini album.
I was so not into doing this album. Not in love with the papers. I had asked the mommy-to-be what she was having, but I didn't hear back from her, so was left to pick out random papers from my stash. In the end, I think it worked out just fine, I just had a hard time really pulling it together.

Now, a little note about the page with all the arrows. A certain person, who shall remain nameless, was making fun of me for putting all these arrows on one page, leaving room for a tiny little picture. Well, I thought it was cute/funny because they are all going to be pointing at the cute little baby. The Mommy liked it too...we have a similar sense of humor, so I knew it would work for her. So, there! LOL

Now, onto the can. I thought I would throw this one in totally last miniute. I only decided this because the girls decided to take a late night run to "The Dream". I decided to pick up some of this awesome paper and a can to make a "New Mommy Survival Kit" Sorry, I don't recall the paper line - I am sure that Miss. Nichole knows though because she's in love with it!! Anyway, here it is in all it's glory....

Pirate Princess

2008-04-17T11:33:00.007-04:00

Here's the new Pirate Princess line from Rusty Pickle! I'm proudly designing for THE PAPER TREE. Can I get a woop, woop???

Sorry there's no product run-down. I'm rushing to pack for a trip, so this is all I can show for now. I think I provided enough photos so you can see what's going on. Email me directly if you have questions.

It was a royal throw-down. Nicole - are you proud of me?????

The entire collection:

Winter Wonderland layouts!

2008-04-13T22:52:00.004-04:00

My DD helping me build a snowman for the second time that day! I used all different kinds of snowflakes on the paper because no two snowflakes are alike in real life lol. I used the MM Diecut paper which I adore.

I made my own bottle caps with pictures of the snowman's head and my daughter. These are so much fun to make and are easy to make. Using bottle caps, cut the picture you want to use to the size of the bottle cap, add gloo to the bottom of the bottle cap, just a lil. Next place the picture on top and then add gloo to the top of the entire picture and set it to dry for a while. It gives it the liquid glass effect and looks really cool.

I then used Stickles PEARLS, White Opal to create a snowflake. This type of stickles is great because of the look it gives. Really looks like a snowflake. Love it! I used snowflake confetti across the bottom of the picture. I used hinges to hide the journaling and two additional pictures underneath. I used snowflake brads, snowflake stickers, snowflake metal accents all to add some different flavor! lol

Different views

Inside the hinges

The Winter Wonderland layout was quick and easy, used the vellum title on top of paper that looks like wind. Added a snowflake sticker to the corner, above the sticker added another homemade bottle cap of the first snowman we made this day before daddy took it out with the snow blower! Then added three different size buttons to the opposite side to make it look like a snowman. Used my Liquid Glass to outline the snowman and his buttons, nose, eyes and mouth. Also outlined a few snowflakes. The paper is Creative Imaginations. There you have it folks! (((((((((((((((HUGGGGGGGGGGGSSSSSSSSSSSS)))))))))))))))))))))))

Cards and Gift Boxes and such

2008-04-10T22:55:00.004-04:00

Brought to you by....moi

Tonight, my friend Crysia came over and we got down to business. We needed to make cards for display in her store. Both the best store AND the best job in town. And since I'll soon be responsible for merchandising and design in her store, I had to really and I mean REALLY pimp this out.

But you know me...I hated everything I did. I've seen layered flowers dozens of times. Thinking, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can do that." Turns out, I couldn't. I had to layer this sucker FOUR TIMES before it seemed appealing to me. What would I do differently next time - Ink lighter. Go light to dark, in fact. These were the only colors that came with the kit, and the ric rac is my own embellishment. I layered colors on the card and took the pic from a magazine. The "Adore" stamp in the lower left corner is from Making Memories, courtesy my old pal Shannon! (Thanks again! Those are fabulous stamps!!!)

Next up, a self-made birthday box for my daughter's teacher! A cute little bear is inside. I didn't have wrapping paper or a gift bag. What's a scrapper to do? Cute paper by Shannon to the rescue. I made the box, the ribbon, and card all with coordinating paper. It was great fun. Shay addressed the card. We can't wait to give it to the teacher tomorrow!

missing my man

2008-04-09T01:35:00.008-04:00

Okay ladies. I banged out yet another layout tonight. I love music with awesome lyrics (I even used to title my blog entries in college using song lyrics) and have had a couple of ideas using song lyrics floating in my head. (Scroll down to read a portion of the lyrics I used for this layout)

I drew my inspiration from a new song I cannot stop playing on my iPod. The song is "Crushed Beneath the Wait" by One Star Story. If you girls are a fan of Elsie (of Love, Elise fame) you probably are familiar with the vocalist of the band. Her name is Vanessa and she has white hot hair. She's a friend of Elsie's, and has been photographed by Elsie several times. Her band has finally released an EP on iTunes, which I found out about through Elsie. The music is simply amazing. I think I downloaded the whole EP.

Josiah has been gone now for a while, and doesn't anticipate being home for just as long as he's been gone. So we're frustrated and lonely, missing our daddy and husband around here. I've wanted to chronicle my feelings for some time regarding our constant separation. The song "Crushed Beneath the Wait" was such a boost for me. It says it all, and so I used the lyrics as the title and really the journaling of the page.

I'm embarrassed to say I don't have any pictures of Josiah and I together upon his arrival home, or I would have used one. I have plenty of him and Eleana though (look for a page about that lata!). So I decided to use an image of the boat he is currently stationed on, soon after it had pulled into the pier.

The song lyrics grab at my heart so strongly. I didn't include this in the page (ran out of room) but there's a point in the song where the lyrics go "you'll find me, you'll find me soon" and it just kills me. When Josiah and I first met in high school, before we were dating (but totally crushing on each other) we lost each other at an event, and when we found each other again we literally collided and we both said at the same time, "I was looking every where for you!" Josiah's always telling me he'll find me, no matter what the situation. It's comforting in a way to hear that, and it's all I can think of when he's away.

I used a piece from Basic Gray's Obscure line which featured a silhouette of a woman sitting in a chair to convey the idea of waiting. The colors were very sailory too, reds and blues. That worked considering I was totally planning on using the Whale of a Tale rub-ons I got from Sassafrass Lass (see pirate owl, whale, anchor, and waves). I threw in some thickers, a dash of Love, Elsie, and Making Memories papers. Gosh, I really just went crazy. I used Stickles to punctuate the edge of the paper, and to better define the silhouette of the woman. I ran out of room to spell "wait" in the page, so I used a "w" and 8. LOL

Crushed Beneath the Wait by One Star Story

The room, it starts to spin
and I begin
to realize that you may not find the way

walls begin to push me in
it's hard to see where this could end
the shadows start to fill this room
i'm hoping you will be here soon

(chorus)
don't be late
i'm crushed beneath the wait
crushed beneath the wait
of this empty room

room frusrtating, hopes are fading
as i'm waiting here for the call (not sure if it's call or calm?)
to come and let me know (know or go?)

walls now push me in
it's impossible to see the end
the shadows now fill this room
i'm hoping you will be here soon

don't be late
i'm crushed beneath the wait
crushed beneath the wait
so please come soon

don't hesitate
i'm crushed beneath the wait
crushed beneath the wait
of this empty room

Yet another gift! I am so big on homemade gifts! Wish I got more of them. lol

2008-04-08T22:29:00.006-04:00

Made this lil' number for one of my daughters friends that use to be in her Playgroup - MIDDLESEX MAMAs. I have since left the group but keep in touch with a handful of awesome ladies and their kids. His birthday party is next Friday and I am looking forward to seeing a lot of the ladies that I never see anyone and the kids! Really fun scrapping with boy colors and embellies!!!

Wooden stars I inked and then added zots on them to stick them. My mom got me the wooden stars at a YARD SALE! Can I get a WOOT WOOT!?!?

All the papers used are My minds Eye Star Bright collection. I cut out the patterns on the papers to add to the paper on the can. Attached them with pop foam squares to really make them stand out and look 3d! I also added stickles, buttons, and wooden stars. I used letter stickers for his name. The ribbon used was all from the Target dollar section. I only used like 4 ribbons that weren't from that section. The chipboard I used to decorate the arrows with is from the Brenda Walton K&CO packs you can get at Michael's. I also used brads and buttons.

The arrow with Happy 3rd Birthday (which is a rub on) is the front cover of the Arrow Album.

The arrow with the quote is the last page of the mini arrow album. Doodled with my SIGNO pen. Also added made with love and my name and date. You can see the book fits well inside the can I made. The mini can, great gift!

Another gift - DONE!

for my mama

2008-04-08T21:56:00.006-04:00

Here is a page I finished today. I have been wanting to scrap this photo since it was taken (about 3 days before Eleana was born in 2005!) and finnnaaallly have the paper and items to do it justice I think. Funny how I spent so much time on this, and then we had an argument on the phone tonight. No worries though, we are always quick to forgive and apologize.

My mom is so many things for me, and this one little page doesn't begin to sum it all up. I'm thinking about making a page to go with this one with just journaling, to tell our story once and for all.

The journaling reads: "Thank you for choosing me, for saving me from a bleak future." The year, 1986, isn't the date of our adoption. Mom actually adopted me in 1989, but I started living with her off and on in 1986. I was only 4 at that time. She was my number one caregiver from that point in time, so that's the date I go with. We are coming up on our 20th adoption anniversary in October of next year. We celebrate the court date - October 5, 1989, though truly we've been mother and daughter for 22 years.

Okay, products!: the paper is from K and Co's Urban Rhapsody line (I have another piece of this...love the owl!), the flash card ("love you") is 7gypsies, The word "mother" came from a piece of mother themed paper by Karen Foster Design (love this one too!), the "mom" brad is also from KFD, the paperclip is making memories, the 2 felt flowers are junkitz, the exclamation and plus sign are sandylion stickers, the arrow chipboard sticker is also K and Co's UR line, the house was given to me at a crop, so I'm not sure where it came from. Also used green stickles, rubber stamps ("since"), funky chipboard swirl (colorbok), smiley sticker, green ribbon, and the words "tres jolie" I cut from the bottom of a piece of Tres Jolie paper I have. I love French, and it means "very pretty" so I thought that was fitting for ma mere. oh, and the 1986 is rubons from My Mind's Eye Magnolia line.

PARTY!

2008-04-08T21:05:00.006-04:00

Ok, well you all saw the last two presents I made for my SIL's 30th b'day party. This was the last gift I made her. She is a new scrapper and loves the new word books. The last time she was over she was looking at my friend album and said, "God, I love these books." Knowing I was already finished with her gifts I still had to make her one. This is the PARTY chipboard word book from BO BUNNY! I am a really gigantic fan of these albums as you are all aware. I used all Junkitz Salsa Celebrations papers. What I loved about these papers are the colors are so much fun and they are double sided. One side has a cool design while the other has a lighter design in a solid color which is what I used on every other page. Two additional papers were used, Pink Bazzill and Creative Imaginisce bodacious flowers pp. Also used were loads of ribbon, lots of rub ons, Junkitz Birthday Quotes from the Salsa Celebration Line, Flowers with bling from Target dollar bin. Bling from Prima, Bling from cell phone bling (Walmart), Queen & Co Felt Flowers, Karen Foster Brads, prima flowers, heart brad, love side kick thing I punched out years ago, ribbon slide on the back cover, Junkitz chipboard flowers, Jolees 30th birthday 3d stickers, stickles, fancy pants flower chipboard, photo corner by basic grey, pebbles my mom got me at a yard sale with sayings on them, cloud 9 quotes, signo pen and there you have it! xoxoxoxo Nicole ENJOY! My sister in law LOVED IT! I was thrilled, always makes me so happy seeing my creations opened as gifts. Makes all the work so worth it!

Where the magic happens

2008-04-04T23:34:00.003-04:00

It's me again! Thought I would post pictures of my scrapping space.
This is the view when I walk into the room. Computer desks are on the left and scrappy happiness on the right.

My Challenge

2008-04-04T23:12:00.004-04:00

I can officially say that I am DONE with this challenge! I presented the challenge of finishing any left over LO or projects that have been lingering in the back of a drawer or being passed from one pile of junk to the next. I suggested this challenge mainly because I wanted to make myself finish up my son's baby book...needless to say, I still haven't finished it! Why? Well, let me tell you...to put it plainly, it sucks! It was the second project I ever worked on, back when I started scrapping with CM. I just can't find it in me to finish it when I hate it to begin with. Will I redo it? Nope. I think it's fun to look back on earlier work to see how far I've come. What I have decided to do is to make a DVD slide show of all the pictures from when he was a baby and will include that in the album. There. All done. LOL I may still do some pages from cute pictures that I have and love...but I may not too.
Anywho, this two page LO is one that we did in a class last year with Adri-. It's where I met the infamous Sharon and Nichole, BTW. This little gem has been sitting in my pile 'o crap for a year now! It was a nice thought, but a PITA to cut out all the puzzle pieces. Plus being that I am not a huge fan of the paper, it really was hard to wrap this one up.
This is a Christmas page of my son and Niece's. The paper is from a stack pack. I was trying out the Diamond glaze, didn't like how it looked so put it in the drawer. I decided that it was just a trial and must be put into an album if nothing else than to show what not to do.
This last LO is one that I started forever ago too. I was at a crop, it was nearing the end of the night - you know, the point when you really should be wrapping things up - not starting another page? Well here I was stuck with this page. I had all the pictures tacked down already, couldn't back away. Taking it out of the drawer, I just added a title and some journaling. Calling it a day on this one too.

All in all I am glad I suggested this challenge as I did get everything out of the drawer 'o crap...not all pleased with the results, then again, when am I ever? LOL

Sharing other challenge I did

2008-04-03T16:13:00.004-04:00

Description: BFF, attached at the hip challenge Kristie is hosting on sb.com! It has the twists BLING, FELT & Flowers. You get an extra vote if you use the twists!

Good Times - This picture is of us in Hawaii heading to the Marine Corp Ball. It was December 2, 1999. Kim and I met when we were babies at the age of 18. Both of us married to Marines. Both of us stationed in Hawaii and lived on the same street on Kaneohe Bay. It was destined that we found each other! We built a friendship like no other. I am the godmother to her godson. I was in the room with her when he was born, he will be 10 this October. It will be 10 years this year that we have known each other. It amazes me how close we are. She now lives in her home state of PA and I live in MA. We see each other 2-3X a year and talk on the phone about 10x a day. Our daughters are only 9 days apart.

The clear button above the picture is a hidden tag by fancy pants and it reads... "If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together, There is something you must always remember, you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think. But the most important this is, even if we're apart, I'll ALWAYS be with you." -Winnie the Pooh

On the back of the quote I wrote some journaling... Kim & I going to the Marine Corp Ball. December 2, 1999. We have been friends for so many years now. I can't picture my life without her in it! We have since moved back to our hometown, but that doesn't stop us from seeing each other 2-3X a year and talking on the phone 10X a day!

I used my signo pen to write Winter in Hawaii. December 2, 1999 The Butterfly on the blue paper is by Bohemia (bought this on Clarence on the Bus Tour last year), the rub on letters are like doodling, I love them and threw out the wrapping so I have no idea who makes them. The pps are all from Fancy Pants the Sweet Spring line. One of the papers is from K&I Green Heredity, The tag is also from Fancy Pants sweet spring line. The Bazzill is cranberry, The felt is by no other than Q&CO. The bling I got at Walmart in the craft section, it's made for cell phones but I love it cause already has adhesive on it and looks dynamite on scrappy layouts. The top scalloped strip is from the Fancy pants titles and tags also sweet spring. The Last F in BFF is made by Chip Chatter Gellies by pressed Petals. The insides of the snowman bellies on every other snowman are leftover chipboard circles from Fancy pants big flourishes that I inked with a color box cats eye. Brad, ribbon and flowers unknown! Also I entered it for the April rub on challenge on SB.com.

Who's next for a Challenge, can you tell I am ADDICTED TO CHALLENGES! :0)

Love you gals! Nicole - Scraphappynicole that is!

rosy cheeks

2008-04-03T01:05:00.000-04:00

So finally I finished something for this challenge of Jenn's. I have about 4 other things I'd like to finish, but the time just isn't available at the moment. This is mostly because it takes me about 2 hours to complete a page, start to finish. Maybe longer depending on my mood. I just get so darn picky about everything.

This page has been sorta waiting around for me to finish since about January. It's been staring at me from the page protector on my shelf since then, begging me to finish it.

My apologies for the poor photo. Lighting sucks at 12:30am. I love these pictures of Eleana so very much. The colors are so nontypical for a snow/winter page in my opinion, so that gave me a lot of options as far as product to use. I could definitely think outside the box for this one.

you can read that, right?

I used alllll sorts of things for this. The floral blue PP is Tres Jolie, the diecut paper is Making Memories, and the shimmery stripe is KI Memories. I used American Crafts thickers and plastic arrows/photo corners as well (remember those Sha?). The transparency is meant to frame a photo, but I really like it the way I used it here. It's from the Magnolia line, like Bohemia. And then the gel stickers are Love, Elsie (the Zoe line) as is the chipboard frame (the Jack and Abby line) and I also used a teeny tiny scrap of Love, Elsie paper (to the left of the larger photo) to write Eleana's name and the date of the photos. The paper tab is Heidi Swapp, and the round journaling paper is CK memories or whatever, some line from them, there are like 1,000,000. add some sweet words, pink staples, and Stickles around the diecut paper and voila!

Challenges

2008-04-01T22:42:00.001-04:00

Jenn, Thank you for putting such a useful challenge at hand. I did a few things for this challenge. I finally altered a wine holder that I bought over a year ago at Michael's, which would of sat in my scrap room for another year had we not had the challenge. Works out perfect too because my SIL is a big Wine gal and she will FLIP for this. It's her 30th Birthday. The Second thing I did was scrapped my daughters nicknames she had as a baby. I wanted to do this for so long before I forgot some of them. Last I used the transparency you told me to buy for a lo of my sister and that is just what I did and at the same time I entered it into two additional challenges on SB.com. So, you have had me working my tail off and I thank you for that!

The Strength LO is a transparency. I added some stickers to the top of it and journaled underneath it on the circle with my fav pen. I added a tag which has additional journaling when you lift up the transparency you can see the journaling. I attached the tag to the back of the transparency. I used pewter star brads to hold the transparency to the paper. This was my first time using transparency paper. I like it. It was a bit hard trying to journal in the circle because I had to keep laying the paper over it to see if the picture would cover the journaling. As you can tell from the pic, I made a lil' boo boo and had to cut the picture a little to reveal some of the journaling!

The journaling reads...

October 4, 2006 the world changed. My brother-in-law, Edward M. Garvin was killed in action in Anbar Provice, Iraq. At the age of 19. At 20 years old my sister Melissa lost her best friend, her soul mate, her husband. My sister & brother-in-law were life long friends, meeting in the 2nd grade and attached at the hip. My sister has such strength that amazes me and makes me so very (PROUD)! My brother-in-law made the ultimate sacrifice for our country, for our children, for our freedom. The families of these fallen Hero's know all too well that FREEDOM ISN'T FREE!

Most would think my sister sits home crying and that is so far from the truth! Since my brother-in-laws passing my sister has raised over 18,000 in which she auctioned off her wedding dress to raise money for the BOY SCOUTS, an organization Eddy was very involved in to send underprivileged boys to boy scout camp for the summer. We have marched in parades and Melissa has recently joined the Soldiers Angels to help families of fallen soldiers. I am so PROUD of her! Quote under the circle reads "And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm Free. and I won't forget the men who died and gave that right to me" Lee Greenwood. (the d is hidden behind the sticker because of the transparency. It was hard to journal because The circle and the quote were on the bazzill and I had to match up where the transparency had words or the stickers I put on it.

Behind the tag with the stars on it, it reads - Parris Island, SC

Pictured - my sister & brother-in-law at his Marine Corp boot camp graduation.

Used for the layout - Creative Imaginations Strength transparency, Reminisce stickers (Hero & Proud stickers) & arrow. Reminisce Star Journaling Tag, Pewter star brads

This lil' number is my dd as a baby. In each petal I stamped 2 nicknames. I used my Walmart alpha stamps and my CTMH ink (which I love) I cut out her face and placed it in the middle of the flower. I outlined the petals and stem using Platinum stickles. I also used the stickles to outline the edge of the picture to the side. Stamped her name above the picture and added Queen & Co Felt flowers

As for this number, I used my fav papers from DCWV to match the album I made my sister in law which is also a gift for her 30th. PP is Pocket full of daisy line. I used Queen & Co felt flowers and added bling to all the places I felt needed bling! =) I used CTMH ribbon and the letters on the inside are BG. Signed the bottom and called it a day!
So, I feel like I got a lot done. Thanks again Jenn!

Wanted! Lunatics (who create all the time)

2008-03-31T00:35:00.000-04:00

Posted by the Scrap-tastic ME!

This challenge was put forth by scrap diva Jenn. Simply put - complete any unfinished project. For me, that would mean every other thing in my studio.

This little number wasn't too old. The pics were taken a few weekends ago at Nicole's. My apologies to Jenn, not pictured. She was too busy laughing.

I wanted to get this up the day after the crop as a surprise, but couldn't figure out what direction to go in. I used this cool paper I found ("Documentation"). I was trying to recreate an arrest warrant, but since I've never actually seen one, I had nothing to model it after.

Disappointed, I tossed it aside. However no matter where I put it, the unfinished layout kept resurfacing. I'd tuck it under a pile of this. Or shove it into a bundle of that. And it just kept popping up. Taunting me, with a New England accent "Loooosah". So after being at Nicole's once again last night I KNEW what had to be done.

...After pouring through the many layouts my diva friend had produced, I realized it was time to throw caution to the wind. I had to have a royal throw-down. Rub-ons, pens - the works - and just let the chips fall where they may. There was to be nothing pre-meditated about it.

I was just too calculated in my prior efforts. Take last night's project for example, where I spent a good quarter of the evening on a COVER. A cover, folks. Then after a returning from a break, hated it and dismantled the entire thing. Giving all my hand-me-downs to Jenn, who was seated next to me. She took each item without blinking, stuck it on whatever page she was working on, and just kept going, god bless her.

Now, the project pictured below is not what I was working on last night. I'll feature that another time. Below is a one page layout based on a crop a few weeks ago. You'll notice it's not at all typical of me. And I'm okay with that. I don't mind veering from my style if it gets me outside the box. For me, the layout expresses the feeling of lunacy we have when we're together. It almost has a "high school yearbook" feel to it. A bunch of adults that regress when they are together. Wanna sign my yearbook?

you are ANGELIC {sometimes}

2008-03-29T15:17:00.000-04:00

This is my baby girl Easter afternoon. She was so tiered and we were at our second stop of the day at my in-laws house. I loved these pictures because I could see "the baby" in her face. It really is hitting a soft spot that she is getting big and is going to be three. I felt these pictures captured her beauty and baby side. My husband said, why out of all the pictures did you use these two and I told him. Men don't get scrapping, at least mine doesn't lol. When I explained to him why and with the title he got it! lol. I used my fav DCWV pocket full of daisy line which I have used on many products. I just went to the dream to buy more. I always have to have it in my stash! lol. I also used a strip of Heidi Grace pp that I have had forever. The flower rub ons on the bottom and the Easter rub on on the top are both Karen Foster rub ons. The Angel and the quote are Rusty Pickle rub ons. I used a whole assortment of brads from all different companies and sizes. The buttons are from CTMH. Pink bazzill is the cs used. I inked the sides with my Blue colorbox cats eye. One of the strips is I want to say part of the noteworthy collection I had left over from the doodle challenge. I love using my scraps! The little stickers at the bottom and the bunny circle and the sunshine sticker that is semi cut off are all doodlebug cs stickers. I doodled around them. I also doodled flowers around the buttons. The buttons on the picture were to hide my mother in laws arm. I just wanted to focus on Alicia in the pics and wanted every other element out. The giant flower was a BUILDING 19 1/2 lil davis flower which on every petal says, adorable, precious, cute. That I got for a buck and some change. Can I get an AMEN SISTAH FRIEND? lol. So this is one of many Easter layouts you will see from me. Happy Scrappin'. Nicole

EGGSTRA FUN

2008-03-27T22:11:00.001-04:00

Eggstra, Eggstra Read all about it......

This was Miss Alicia Ava's second time coloring eggs. She loved it so much she just had to do it a second round. I used my new CS from CTMH. There CS is great for paper tearing and inks well. I used my old deco scissors to add the milk carton look to the matted pics. I bought those flowers in the dollar bin at TARGET! Can I get a HECK YEAH? LOL I doodled with the stencil I got at Michelle's store that I love with my new CTMH markers which I love. I am so excited to start selling the goods in MAY! WOOOOOOHOOOOO! The cute lil felt chicks are from the card decorating section at Michaels I bought years and years ago. They are so adorable and with Felt being the new "IN" scrappy thing these days it worked well. Used my new CTMH inks and inked the CS and there you have it, a cute lil Easter page. I started it late last night and so was feeling it, took it out this morning and gave it another go. xoxooxo

March Gettin' Sketchy

2008-03-26T23:04:00.000-04:00

Alright. I finally have some scrapping juice back in my blood. I've been feeling a little sluggish the last few weeks. The only inspiration I have had it to buy stuff, not scrap stuff. I am back in action though! I've been wanting to work on the March Gettin' Sketchy sketch but just haven't had the motivation to get it going. Tonight that all changed... Because I am so addicted to doodling, I couldn't leave the page alone until I added a few doodles...

Altered BABY BOY paint can!

2008-03-22T12:03:00.000-04:00

So Ladies, Happy Easter!!! Well, I am about 40 minutes late, so I guess I should be saying, "Happy Belated Easter!" Hope you had a fabulous one. I sure had a nice one. It is great that Alicia is at the age that she really gets into and enjoys the holidays. She gets it! I love it!

Well, below are pics of the Altered Paint Can I did for my cousin and his wife. They are expecting in May and the shower is this coming Sunday. Just so happens to be the Yard Sale at Michelle's too. I am so bummed I will be missing it! If it is extended then I will be heading there on Monday! OK, so back to my project here lol... I used the Bouncing Baby Boy pp by Cloud 9 Designs. I have had them forever because I loved the frogs so much, but I haven't had anything I could use them for till now. The other pp used is the Sparkle Baby Boy Dragonflies by Cloud 9 Designs. I am a big fan of Cloud 9 in case you have yet to see that! lol I went to the dream and got a bunch of different blue ribbons. It was so fun to step outside the box and scrap with blue's and greens. I am so into girlie colors as you can see from my bright pink walls of my scraproom that I forget that there are so many other colors out there! This was loads of fun to make. The letters are by creative Imaginations. They are chipboard and they are super cool! LOVE THEM. I will post the baby book I altered tomorrow. NIGHT NIGHT! Thanks for looking! xoxo Scraphappynicole signing off!

Made with Love...for real...a gift made with love!

2008-03-17T18:35:00.001-04:00

Just what's in this gift? Read on to see the crafty goodness...

I'm proud to announce that my cousin Alicia is getting married this summer! Alicia was a bridesmaid in my wedding over a decade ago. She headed up the loveliest bunch of bridesmaids a wedding ever did see.

For a wedding gift, Alicia and her family gave me hand-made pottery (hand-made? Is there any other kind?) from Liz Vagoda - why, yes, related to actor Abe Vagoda of Godfather fame. My cousin has always been a mega-mover and shaker. She networks fearlessly across all genres. And this came in handy when buying pottery for her pottery-loving cousin's wedding! Also, it meant a lot to her, buying from her favorite artist. (foreshadow alert!)

So! Last weekend, my radio-producer-cousin (insert additional brags here) was in town for a conference. I had just repainted (read: funk-t-fied) my kitchen in shades of vintage grape. This just CALLED for the pottery Alicia had bought me! And I swore to her up and down I didn't have it on display just to kiss her radio-producer a*s. And for the record, I'm not at ALL jealous that she became a producer before me. I'm perfectly content to ride her coat tails as soon as she's syndicated.

Anyhow, this IS a craft blog. And by now, three paragraphs deep, you're wondering where the talk of craft comes in? Trust in me, young Jedi scrap warriors. It will all come together in due time.

Looking for the perfect and most meaningful engagement gift a cousin could find - I dug deep into my treasure trove of kits and came up with a splendid number from Angela Moen from The Button Farm. I met Ms. Moen when she was in town holding classes. I was awe-struck by the detail in the kits. And here's how it all ties in, folks:

For my cousin's wedding, I wanted to give a gift from a designer I admired. Just as she had done for me a decade ago.

Please...hold your applause...I'll be available for autographs after the post (hat tip to Lisa Botti for that one)

The one caveat however, was I had to put the kit together. On my own.

Super-size-gulp. Me scared. I want my Mommy.

The week prior to her visit, I was up until the wee-wee-wee hours of the morning trying desperately trying to finish it. A quarter of the way through, I admit, I had to give up on inking. My finger-tips took on the look of "suspicious brown stains". I was tired of explaining it to my "non-scrapbooking" friends. I mean really, there has to be a better way to ink.

But I navigated best as I could. The final pages had no instructions. As in - you're on your own, pal! It was scary at first, free-falling, but it was so late that I let my silliness get the best of me. Like with pages entitled 'Oy Vey' and 'You Call This Fun?' Knowing that, I'm positive I've ruined all chances of designing for Angela some day.

Below is the completed project (not all pages are included, I have a life you know).

33 by 34 - More "to do"

2008-03-16T00:02:00.001-04:00

Nichole had posted a challenge a while ago about making goals before your next b-day. I did the challenge based on my turning 33 in a few weeks. Now that I am approaching my 33rd birthday, I've been thinking more of what I would like to do in the "long term".
Supplies: Li'l Davis Designs: Endless Summer Rte 66, Sand Dollar and Sand & Surf. CM Scalloped corner punch, Gelly Roll White Pen for the outlines on the title and around the Sizzix "swirl" decorative accent. Jasmine Cricut Cart for the title and the buttons are from Creative Cafe.

When I saw this paper last week, I immediately fell in love with it, but per usual had zero clue as to what I was going to do with it. I took it out of my shopping bag and stared at it as if it were going to tell me what to do! And it did! I suddenly decided that I could cut the big flowers out of the papers and put them onto one page and use the petals as a 'to do branch'. Then I was thinking about how corny it is that I am doing a page about the things I would like to accomplish in the next year, on paper that has flowers - like I am blooming! LOL
Anyway, my goals are as follows (in no particular order)
1. Take Curtis to play mini-golf (we didn't play at all last summer!)
2. See fireworks this year - missed them last summer!
3. Bring Curtis to see a football or baseball game
4. Friends - get together more than just once or twice
5. Write more - blog
6. Photos- make a DVD slideshoe
7. Home movies - edit onto DVD
8. Classes - Scrapping of course! LEARN more!!!
9. No procrastinating!
10. Continue with my WL program - goal - another 75 pounds GONE!
11. Workouts: stick with the treadmill and be able to do couch to 5k
12. Live! Enjoy every single day!
13. Date nights with Rich
14. Perfection: doesn't exist - learn it, know it!
15. No excuses!
16. Play!
17. Have confidence
18. Install a new back door
19. Install new kitchen floor
20. Clean/organize the attic
21. Get a dog
22. Camp at least once this summer
23. Go leaf peeping in VT
24. Crop for a whole weekend with the gals *hint, hint*
25. NYC - EXPLORE
26. See a play
27. Try (again) for baby #2
28. Go to Canada
29. Remember to see things through Curtis' eyes.
30. Plan and have a romantic get-away!
31. -33. I don't remember, but I assure you they are all there!

I didn't tack the flowers all the way down to the page. I left the petals loose so that I could look under for the 'hidden' goals that are on the bottom petals.
Oh, and the brown square is where my picture will go when I take it on my 33rd b-day!

Super Star

2008-03-15T23:37:00.001-04:00

Thanks to Miss. Nichole, I decided to take on a little mosaic LO. I worked on this page for what seems like forever. Mainly because there were so many pictures to chose from! Here's the story.

The supplies: Basic Grey
The patterned paper is generic paper off the clearance rack :), Library Card is from 7 Gypsies (Love it!), Alphalicious Cricut Cart. CM Star punch, CM pens, cardstock, Making Memories shiny paper, Generic Stars, and from the Crafters Workshop "regal flourish" doodling template.

I am just addicted to doodling and want to do more and more with the templates I bought! Can't wait to try more out!!!

gettin' sketchy CT call

2008-03-15T16:40:00.000-04:00

I don't know how many of you girls are trying for this, but as soon as I read Jenn's email I knew I had to give it the ol' college try. Gettin' Sketchy, a scrapbook challenge blog, is putting the call out for new Creative Team members. Yay! I've been popping in to see what's going on there every month, but only participated in one challenge so far. I love the concept of the challenges - a new original sketch every month is posted, and readers are prompted to give their best interpretation of it. Someone usually wins a prize, which is a sweet bonus. I love that, just like our blog here, Gettin' Sketchy is providing us with a jumping point, something to reference before diving in to our hoards of supplies.

Here is my take on their current sketch. Sharon might recognize these goodies, which I bought while with her at The Dream. Only just now getting around to using these papers and rub-ons by Imaginisce.

I rubbed the rub-ons onto a piece of brown paper then cut out the various flowers using my swivel knife, then adhered them to the page. All the talk about a doodling class made me want to doodle, so I used my white pen to add some flourishes around the rub-on accents.

I also used my white pen to add some dots around the main photo to make it pop better (brown on brown = blah), and also scribbled around my title.

Eleana is constantly climbing up on top of Daddy while he sleeps on the couch. He probably takes a nap once a day - his schedule is so wacky. I know why she loves cuddling him - for the same reason I do - he's a heat rock. Cuddling up to Joe is better than an electric blanket.

Doodle Class was SMOKIN'

2008-03-12T15:21:00.000-04:00

First off thank you Jenn for finding the class and bringing it to our attention. Nichole P. You were missed very much. We did bring your name up a million times wishing you were with us. This was my first time at Michelle's place and my god, I was in HEAVEN. That is so my type of scrappy stuff!!! I loved the class the store had, the jars with the ribbons pre-cut were DIVINE. The martini glasses with the buttons and stickels in it were so ELEGANT! Michelle was so down to earth, so sweet, so outgoing, so fun! Thanks Michelle for having us. We had a blast. Kuddo's to the very talented teacher too. Please forgive me as I forgot her name, BUT I LOVED HER to pieces too. She was so fun, our group meshed well with them. The cube class looks like our next journey to The Paper Tree and I am so looking forward to it!

After leaving the store with our awesome doodling designs, we went to WENDYS! Can I get a HELL YEAH!?!? Man, there is nothing like scrapping with my scrappiest scrapbook Sistah's and then eating a SPICY CHICKEN SANDWICH WITH A EXTRA LARGE FOUNTAIN TONIC and fries. YUMMY! I think the only time I shut up last night was when I was stuffing my face full of delish food! hehehe

My Layout - This was oh so much fun. We doodled with a template and then colored the doodle in with the best markers I have ever used. The Stampin' Up markers. I am going to get my paws on a set of those if it is the last thing I do. I fell in LOVE! Then we inked the off white cs with a beautiful BG flourish stamp. We used Tim Holtz ink. Too make it have a soft look we stamped it on scrap paper first then we added it to our card stock. What a great technique. To make the adorable flowers we used two sets of punches and layered them and then added a ROBINS NEST pebble. I finished putting this all together this morning and added some bling to the hearts I layered as well as to the tips of the flourishes. After seeing the papers we I knew I was a TWO SCOOPS BG gal. I knew just which picture of Alicia I would use for this. I took this picture of Alicia. This was her FIRST DAY of dancing school she was 13 months old. I love this picture. Everyone in the family had to have a copy!

Sharon taught me to look at layouts through the art of photo. Taking pics from different angles shows the detail in the pages. Thanks SHAZAM for the inspiration! I am hooked on doing just this now! You can see I used a lot of pop dots and pop squares to raise the entire layout! Even the off white paper is raised.

Slits were cut in the doodled flourishes to give it a 3d feel and slide the picture in. I love how this came out. The two doodled flourishes in the corner were cut out after I traced them and placed on the corners. These were suppose to be for another project but I decided I wanted them on this layout! I will cut more out with my template we got as part of the class. I love it. Well there you have it. Looking forward to many more outings with my scrappy pals for cool classes and fun! xoxoxoxo Love to all, Scrap Happy Nicole. PS - see you gals Sunday for the Close to my Heart party! We are making a card as a make & take.

Doodling class - project completed

2008-03-12T14:44:00.000-04:00

Let me start by saying to Nichole - we wish you were here!!! You were thought about when we were working on this project!!!
We headed up to NH for a doodling class. The three of us gals packed into the car armed with our ATG's and laughter. We arrived to the class just barely on time - but we made it nonetheless. We made three projects; a frame card, journaling card and a 12X12 LO. Loved all three! I haven't yet finished the frame card, still deciding on the picture I would like to use, but my 12X12 LO is completed.
The paper we had to choose from was "girly". I was excited because I usually scrap with blues and greens because I have a little boy. I immediately thought that I could scrap my gorgeous niece and dove right in to the pinks! When I got home though, I tried looking for a perfect picture of her that was vertical, but only had horizontal pics. I then found this one of Curtis holding Tessa and thought how sweet he is to her. He just loves being a big cousin and looks forward to her visits. So now I had to "boy it up". I happened to buy these chipboard letters last night (by Cosmo Cricket) and thought that they would be perfect to use for my title! Added just enough blue...
Sorry - I tried also uploading a pic of the journaling card, but the system is having issues! :(

Easter Cards...

2008-03-08T16:10:00.000-05:00

Easter time is here. Can I get an AMEN?? lol
I started making a few Easter cards last night! The weather is so BLAH and figured I should do something useful. My housework was done, my daughter was bathed so I did some cards.

The purple card I am not crazy about. I wish I stamped the bunny on White CS instead of YELLOW EWWWW.... But anyway, I used an Anita's stamp to stamp the springtime bunny. I used Reminisce carrot pp. I used Purple Bazzill, Yellow generic cs, Easter tag is from Doodlebugdesigns. I used two brads. I used stickles to add some glitter to the stamp. I also used my MARVY MARKERS to stamp with. On the inside I tore the cs to cover up a boo boo I made and used my Signo pen to write.
The Easter Egg card was oodles of fun to make. I got the idea from a lady on scrapbook.com. Her Egg was really awesome. I will add the link soon. Mine was very different from hers. I have the doodlecharms cricut cart. and that is what I used for the egg and the inside egg as well. I used a glitter brad to attach the egg after I cut it to look cracked. I also mounted it on a different color cs and cut it to give it more color. I inked the sides as well. I hand cut the tiny rabbit blocks, circles and lines from IMAGINISCE For PEPS SAKE pp. I love the paper!!! I added some The Robin's Nest pebbles. I used my trusty Signo pen to write and a Rub-on for Thinking of you! The last card I used a stamped bunny with an egg that was part of a swap. I attached it to lilac bazzill and added the cute spring ribbon I got at the yard sale at the dream. I hope to make a few more tonight! Thanks for looking.

publication!

2008-03-08T00:41:00.000-05:00

Hello ladies of the paper and glue! It's me. You all got my email with my awesome news, but for those of us not on my mailing list who read this bloggy (which probably isn't a lot of people)

I'm being published in a scrapbook magazine! Creating Keepsakes to be exact. Ironically, as my mother pointed out to me on the phone tonight, I'm having a piece of writing published - not a scrapbook layout. Nevertheless, scrapbooking is about preserving memories. The call for writing was about a fond memory from your summer as a child, something you would use for journaling in a layout but haven't necessarily scrapped yet.

My fondest memories of my childhood usually involve one of two different groups of people: my grandparents or my babysitter's children. I chose to write about my grandpa for the submission to CK. He was and still is such a huge influence in my life. He was my biggest fan. I've written about him in my private blog many times, one entry specifically is this one. My grandpa was my first real father figure in my life. Before my mom adopted me I lived with her for several years. I took my time calling my new mom "Mom", the transition was a slow one. But, immediately upon meeting my new mom's father, my grandpa, I called him "Dad." Perhaps this was confusion on the part of my 4-year-old mind. Perhaps a shortened version of "grand-dad." Either way, I called him "Dad" before I called my mom "Mom." I think that meant as much to him as it did to me.

I have numerous memories of my grandpa and our times together. We did many things together that I can't wait to do with Eleana. But one story in particular has always stood out in my mind as a magical moment. And this story is why I have a strong affinity for fawns and fawn imagery.

Of course I wrote a pretty long piece for the entry. I didn't want to leave out any details. And I knew the piece was subject to being edited for space. That's fine with me. They edited it nicely, and I totally approve of the revision.

I thought it only fair to everyone, including myself, to place the entire story here, unedited, as I wrote it. Enjoy!

"Every summer during my childhood was spent on Grandma and Grandpa’s farm. Back then the farm was their livelihood. They planted acres of corn every year and a large garden, kept livestock and mowed hay. Every morning Grandpa would wake with the sun, have his coffee and head out on the land to tend to his daily duties. Usually my days were spent indoors with Grandma. We would bake or do laundry. If it was canning season we’d prepare the fruits and vegetables.

Occasionally Grandpa would take me out with him to do chores. Sometimes I husked corn, sometimes I fed the pigs. On the summer day I’ll never forget, Grandpa had me survey the corn field with him. He’d walk through it several times to see how much of the crop had been eaten by wild animals, and to see if it was growing to be healthy.

The field was huge and probably seemed bigger to this seven-year-old than it really was. I remember the stalks were taller than Grandpa, and somehow we ended up getting lost. After wandering aimlessly together through the crop he eventually propped me up on his shoulders so I could see which direction the house was in.

We made our way to the closest edge of the crop so we could walk around the edges on our way back home. I remember there were probably only 6 feet of grass between the edge of the corn and the woods. We were walking close to the trees, and could hear the sound of the tinkling creek below, and feel the coolness of the trees’ shade.

Suddenly Grandpa quietly motioned for me to stop and look at something. I quietly crept closer to where he was, and we bent over together to peer into the trees and shrubs. There, lying quiet and afraid, less than 2 feet from us was a baby deer, a fawn. I had never seen one this close before, and never again would. Grandpa explained that it was hiding there, waiting for it’s mommy to come home. We couldn’t touch it or frighten it, because if it ran away its mommy might not find it.

We moved on through the edge of the field, away from the fawn’s hiding place. The joy from that day has stayed with me in my memories all these years. My grandpa was among many things a great teacher and inspiration to me during our time together. I’ll never forget that he was the first person to share with me the wonders of nature, the trees and animals, the waters and the stars."

Lucky to have Papa LO & Sisters altered art!

2008-03-05T15:32:00.000-05:00

Here is the REVISED. Luckily I had a spare piece of bazzil the same exact color and the ATG tape is semi re positionable. So I took everything up and did the whole thing over. The X tape I used is also re positionable thank god. Where I traced it in white I had to redo it because other wise you would of saw it! Car stock cover was a good idea but would of taken away from the clover. Thanks for the support sistahs! lol

So while my sister was in boot camp over the summer, I made her this. I just added the pictures and finished it. Talk about starting something and not finishing it! That is me. I have many projects like this that I start and have no time to finish. I got this cool lil wood thing at the dream, many, many months ago! I used this cool paper, It has been so long I forget the line. Prima flowers and Brads, nice pretty purple ribbons compliments of Walmart! Thank you very much. The plastic flowers are Queen & CO and the brads in the middle are cloud9. Bling in the middle flower is from the Dream on the other two flowers I picked them up at Walmart. They are actually marketed for Cell Phones, but work just the same on scrappy things such as this. The arrows I got at Michaels, forget who makes them. The flower bling on the top is from a Prima Flower/bling/Ribbon pack I got at the dream when they first started selling prima. Rub ons are used on the two outside flowers and stamped love on the middle flower. The first flower the pic was taken on a booze cruise, the next flower was at my baby sisters graduation, and the other was taken on my birthday last year. Always is letter beads from Walmart. I love working with them as you can see in many of my lo's.

This papa Lo is great. Only one MAJOR problem. I mixed up the letters to Lucky by mistake and outlined them so how the heck am I going to fix that?????? I love how it came out. I used my pencil and free hand drew a clover. Then I painted it with glitter glaze. I always wanted to use this stuff. I have had it forever and just used it for maybe the second time ever. Gives it such a textured glitter look. I used my Signo pen to outline the letters in Green and the letters in white I outlined with my green Marvy marker. I doodled along the wave you can't tell from the scan but I left about 1/4 of an inch of the green paper and journaled on the opposite side of the wave. Journaling reads.... You love when Papa comes over to play. You like to cook, read, and do puzzles. You just love your papa!

Friends mini album (bo bunny)

2008-03-05T14:38:00.000-05:00

Hi Sistah's! This is my friends album that I started working on when the girls were over. I am so use to scanning everything, when I take a picture of it I feel like it isn't the same. These books are so much fun to make. I have one that says BELIEVE that I made for my mother in law for Christmas. I have the Love, Party and another Friends one also. They are just so addicting and so much fun! I figured I would do my birthday party pics from when me and my friends went out to Karaoke. You will see some pictures I used on the sketch challenge inside this book also.

I used the Fusion BG papers. I love the colors, very fall like even though my birthday is in December I just adore rust, red, burgundy and brown. I used a lot of scrap ribbons, rub-ons and vellum quotes and words.

Can you tell that's my dad in the blue! My uncle and aunt, sister and hubby too...

Going to upload the other goods on a new page... Don't want people to be bored lol. =)

32 by 33 in 5

2008-03-05T11:05:00.001-05:00

OK ladies, the moment you've all been waiting for....
What was I going to do for my challenge page which was presented by Miss Nichole? The challenge is to create goals to have accomplished before your next birthday...the inspiration comes from Love Elsie Love Elsie http://abeautifulmess.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/08/challenge.html
This was more of a challenge for me because my b-day is just 5 weeks away. My original thought that I would do a page for my 34th b-day in 2009, but I ultimately decided to not wimp out and come up with goals for pretty much to the month of March.

This LO happened accidentally. I had one thing in mind - I wanted to use a small scalloped strip of the paisley paper, but for some reason my cutter only cut the middle of the paper. So I went with it. I fell in love with this paper many moons ago, but hadn't known what to do with it. It's especially hard for me to use pinks in my LO because I have a little boy and he's my main scrapping subject. I had to have this paper anyway though. I finally found a use for it.
Supplies: Bazzill- (of course), Making Memories Maddi Narr Stripe and Maddi Paisley, Pop Culture "flower child white", flowers, Robins Nest, chalks and of course inks.

When I was attaching the flowers from Pop Culture (on the right most side of the page), they were just plain old white. I wanted a little more color, but didn't want to paint or ink the paper...I wanted subtle. My little guy was sitting next to me "scrapping" and was using my old chalks that I passed to him because I never use them...poor kid had to give me back my chalks for 10 mins so I could color flowers. The result was just what I was hoping for.

My Goals:
1. Don't panic about only having 5 weeks to complete my "to do" list
2. Start my "33 things to do before turning 34"
3. Don't worry about mistakes
4. Visit with Gram at least twice this month
5. Go for a walk at least 1X per week (not happening this week - too much rain - So I went for a walk on the treadmill)
6. Scrapbook 2-3 nights a week
7. Drink no less than 8 glasses of water everyday
8. Finish organizing my scrap room
9. Watch our Netflix movies we've had out since November (I just noticed that I miss-spelled Netflix on the page - not worrying about it!)
10. Finish reading the second Stephanie Plum book
11.Take a scrap class
12. Call Lynn
13. Call Laura
14. Organize a get together with Val, Laura and George
15. Lose 10 pounds
16. Do WATP 3-4X a week
17. Organize front closet
18. Finish painting downstairs bathroom
19. Have fun!
20. Start WL album
21. Eat 5+ veggies a day
22. Get on the treadmill everyday
23. Finish taxes
24. Deposit coins
25. Call Jess
26. Limit D. Pepsi to 2 a day
27. Have a Date Night
28. Hang pictures
29. Go to bed no later than 11
30. stop forgetting to take vitamins
31. Make appt with ear Dr
32. Finish everything on this list!!

our little artist

2008-03-05T09:07:00.001-05:00

Hey ladies!

So, how bizarre is it that Nicole and I both created layouts about our daughters' creative efforts? Perhaps because we share a name we're super in synch?

I made this LO two nights ago, and then added some finishing touches yesterday. I used a square punch to punch out some pieces of my favorite papers, and also papers that have an artistic quality to them.

There are 4 pieces punched from Eleana's actual artwork, too. Some of her more early pieces, if you will. The photo of her is from when she was about 16 months old. She's coloring a picture at Polcari's at dinner with her grandpa.

Too many papers to list them all, but I can say I used some American Crafts thickers (which I'm obsessed with), a Colorbok chipboard frame, and a Martha Stewart word balloon sticker (her stuff is so expensive, and I've only ever bought this sheet of stickers and a jar of black glitter). Also I used some Heidi Swapp plastic alphabets (green "little"), and the plasticy looking stickers are DCWV, from last year's spring sticker stack.

As Sharon can testify, I love me some white space. I think it adds drama and draws attention to the area of the page you want to focus on. I also wanted to summon artistic thoughts by using the mosaic technique with the photo of Eleana. I should have pointed out in my journaling that I love the fact that she colors with both hands. Drat.

Journaling reads: Coloring was Eleana's earliest passion. As an infant, her closest friends were age 3 and up. Naturally she wanted to play with their art supplies. She creates art at least once a day, which brings us such joy.

Yeah, kinda ran out of room. This journaling sucks. It's basically sentences thrown together pasta salad style. I mean, come on. My college English Language professor would be very disappointed. But it works yo.

MASTERPIECE

2008-03-05T07:59:00.000-05:00

My DD doing what she does every single day - Painting! I love this way this came out. It was a sketch made by Classygirl on Scrapbook.com and I just think it is fantastic. http://www.scrapbook.com/forums/showtopic.php?tid/1454069/

The tag under the green mat pulls out and reads.... Alicia, You are my little Picasso. You just want to paint and draw, color and create. I love it! A girl after my own heart! We have a wall in daddy's "MAN TOWN", with all your beautiful creations displayed. In the pictures you are painting lighthouses for daddy! Always open your heart to art! You color my world! Love, MOM

This is for Classygirl's March 2008 Sketch Challenge on Scrapbook.com. I never used sketches much and now I am just loving them so much! I think they are awesome because you can follow them to a T. , or give it some of your own FLAVOR FLAV lol.

The second picture is to show the tag that is hidden with the journaling on it! I may put a picture of the wall in daddy's "Man Town" that is dedicated to Alicia's artwork on the back. I just used cardstock on this layout and Karen Foster Overlay Rub-ons. I love the rub ons because they make the page pop. They were at Building 19 and I picked it up for a buck 50. I had a blast shopping with Jenn. I think we need to make it a once a month shopping spree day! Next time I will have more time. I will have my mom watch Alicia. Daddy ticked me off this past time. lol. The flower is Prima and the buttons are none other than YARD SALE SPECIALS mama dukes picked up for me. lol

I will be posting my friends album later today as well as a Sister's altered art thing I just finished 2 weeks ago and haven't posted yet. I had started it over the summer when my sister was in basic but just finished it with the pictures and will post soon!

(((HUGS TO ALL))))
ScraphappyNicole

Legos, Herbie and Pirates

2008-03-04T23:13:00.001-05:00

Alright, so I was able to get some scrapping in last night and tonight. I am posting my Disney stuff first, then will create a new post about my fabulous challenge page! Your gonna love it! LOL
Anyway, here's 3 more Disney LO that I've finished up on.
Nicole and Sharon have seen this first one.
I had this thought in my head about making the paper like building blocks, but it didn't turn out the way I was thinking. Oh well. The title paper is the coolest part about this LO, it actually has bumps on it like the Lego blocks do. Fell in love with the paper the second I saw it! Didn't know what to do with it though until now. Nicole and I went shopping up in NH and I found some really cool Lego paper, wish I had seen before I did this LO. Don't you worry though, you'll see that paper in an upcoming LO I will do for my In-laws Disney book. :) OK, Now I am babbling. The other thing I found in NH was Quickutz Blocks - I scored that goodness and tossed a few on the page.
OK, About the big arrow...it's pointing to the slide that's in the background and I chose to journal right on the arrow. Told the story of how C wouldn't go down the slide.
Materials: Quickutz, Disney paper from Disney paper packs bought in the park, Disney paper clip, I don't remember what line the arrow came from, ribbon and the Fastenator with Mickey. Oh and the circle with Mickey in it is from a box of "classic" tags that I bought while in the park.

Now onto the tag. Yup, pull it out and there is a picture of my BIL standing in front of an Asian Lego City. On the back side is this cool picture of a dog made out of -yup, you guessed it -Legos!!! Oh, and I also journaled some more there too.

Here is the start of the Pirate stuff...sorry guys, still have WAY more to do on this subject! This was just a simple - throw it down - get it done sort of LO for me. I worked on it over Miss. Nicole's and was really tired an unable to really get down to business for some reason.
Materials: Bazzil, Pirates Sticker that was bought in the park and I can't remember the other lines...

Now onto "The Love Bug". Here I just used Bazzill and My Disney Cricut Cart. Inside the "53" circle there is another picture and then I am going to journal.

38x39

2008-03-04T01:08:00.001-05:00

It's night and it's snowing. I'm treading carefully back and forth from house to car on a thin sheet of black ice in my driveway. Packing my trunk with everything, I repeat EVERYTHING I own. It's my first scrap-venture over at Nicole's house with sista-scrapper Jenn (MY Jenny, yo). I have a few projects in mind but I want to come prepared. I'm playin' with the big boyz now. I gotta look like I've got it goin' ON.

I'm welcomed into a delightful scrapping area-playroom combo. I keep staring at the shade of pink on the walls. I'm envious I didn't find it first for my daughter's room. Before she could talk and demand her room be painted GREEN at 18 months of age, that is.

I'm seated opposite scrap champion Jen who's mid-steam a Disney L.O. And I'm ridiculously envious of her Mickey clamps. Clips? Clamps. Whatever they were they ROCKED. And I don't even DO Disney L.O.s

Nicole's got the supreme set-up from Ikea. My eyes follow the silhouette of the desk's outline, much like a man would appreciate a woman's shapely figure. Many drawers and clear jars I'd like to dive into with a mask and snorkel. But I was distracted by hot, melted chocolate and pretzels. Colorful licorice. Cheese balls. The smells and sights made me shove my D&D muffin down, down, down to the ocean floor of my purse.

I pull out my supplies and begin an artful arrangement on the table. I've had 1 trillion pictures from fall printed for a "dynamic" multi-page layout. Brought most everything fall-themed I own. However I can't seem to get settled, thinking I've not got enough room. I begin questioning why my Jenny has hogged the corner for her supplies. She looks at me and then, ever so slowly raises the bag up and over to the floor. The light shines on the corner - now bare. Then, I follow her gaze up and over to my LEFT - where I've thrown the remainder of my belongings - taking up 200% of the real estate - making her one bag look like a spec of sand in the dessert. Ah, good-natured Jenn. Only she could share a table with the likes of me and still force a smile.

In the middle of all the artful arranging, we begin to swap out excess paper. And I come across a treasure trove - including page, tags and coordinating stickers that actually stop me, mid-pretzel, and throw me into a tailspin. I've got to work on my challenge page with these newly acquired gems!

I do for a few moments, regret sending poor husband out in the snow with me to pack the car when after all that effort I end up using one single page from Nicole. Ain't that a riot?

Pictured below is the result of our challenge. Pardon me for not posting back to the inspiration. Nichole has it in a prior post.

In no particular order, I would like to do more of the following between now and my next birthday:

1. Love
2. Feast on the beauty of life
3. Be more: laid back
4. ...Spontaneous
5. ...Forgiving
6. ...Thoughtful
7. Seize the Day
8. Listen to my heart
9. Celebrate
10. Have a story to tell
11. Live for Today (not to be confused with Seize the day?)
12. Capture the Joy
13. *Be Decisive
14. Have FUN
15. Glow
16. Smile (more)
17. Going out (more)
18. Party (more)
19. Dance
20. Be Creative (more, more, more)
21. Eat better
22. Live, love, laugh
23. Explore
24. Dream
25. Travel
26. Play
27. Never Compromise
28. (Realize my) underlying beauty
29. Rediscover: what makes me laugh
30. ...what makes me happy
31. ...fashion (my love for)
32. Laugh
33. Kiss (more)
34. Shine
35. Relax
36. Music (discover more)
37. Be creative
38. Be Happy to be Me!

Girls, feast your greedy little eyeballs from two different sides, below.

The paper was fabulous. Loved the colors. Thanks to Nicole. I have no idea what paper pad that came from. The stickers really inspired me. The flowers came from the same pad, and on my way out, I happened to flip it over and see how they were used. Thus the flowers. I used circle pop dots from ye ol dollar store to give them such dimension. I found these lovely shades of buttons for embellishments. You can tell I've been looking through design/card making books. Finally, the trusty signo white pen to make the swirls pop.

The picture was taken over the summer from a visit to Maine. A self portrait of course. I was in the car while hubby was at the ATM. I was mesmerized by the ocean and I wanted to see what my face looked like in a relaxed state, without posing.

The overlay on the picture came from M creations.

Thanks for stopping by!

a challenge of goals

2008-03-03T17:32:00.000-05:00

It was my turn to choose a challenge this time around, and I had one in mind for a few months that I thought would be perfect for our little group.

When I first stumbled upon Elsie's blog, I didn't know she was the creator of Love, Elsie designs. But I quickly figured it out. Some time ago she participated in a challenge involving goals. A number of goals, in fact. To see her original post, click here.

The challenge was to create some goals you'd like to accomplish in a short period of time, that is, by your next birthday. So, for me, this would be 25 goals to meet before I turn 26 (on May 18). Not much time left, I know. But these goals are possible to accomplish, and those I don't get done by my birthday will hopefully be finished by 2009.

I used up some of the supplies I got in my August 07 Scrapologie kit for this one (and, didn't realize until just now that I used mostly Love, Elsie papers!).

I have a whole box of glitter chipboard I haven't even cracked the surface of yet, so I used some numbers from that box. The word "things" is Making Memories. The blue, circle, and green arrow papers are all Love, Elsie. i can't recall who makes the brown floral. I rubber stamped "to do before I turn twenty-six" and hand wrote all my goals around the page. Some are numbered, some aren't. I could only count 24, but I went back through the list I have on paper and recounted. There's 25, just don't know how I missed one on the page!

Here's my list of goals. I'll put a star by what I've already accomplished.

1. lose 20 pounds
2. pay off some debt *
3. open a savings account *
4. go to Colonial Williamsburg
5. spend a weekend thrifting
6. see Brandie at least twice
7. go to Tamarack
8. go to the living museum
9. try a new haircut
10. get a pedicure *
11. make my own throw pillows
12. have a mother/daughter photo shoot with E
13. make homemade lasagne
14. scrapbook regularly *
15. start yoga *
16. visit Massachusetts
17. create a plushie for E
18. submit a layout for publication
19. teach a class
20. read 10 books (wow, not happening)
21. try a new food * (sushimi! yum!)
22. go to a state fair
23. draw more often *
24. practice tarot more
25. relax!

Our newest challenge

2008-03-02T08:02:00.000-05:00

Our dearest Nichole (with an H) has set fourth a new challenge for us ladies. Challenges are just so addicting! She decided she wanted us to set a number of goals to accomplish before our next birthday. Because I am 28, I had to have 28 goals to accomplish before I turn 29. This was inspired by a challenge from the creator of the Love Elsie Line. You can view the challenge that inspired this challenge here....http://abeautifulmess.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/08/challenge.html.

I raised the picture that is in the middle with about three foam dots on top of one another. So it is really above the papers. I love this picture that Rick (Sharon's Hubby) took of me and decided I would use it. Sharon, have no fear, I did save your head and I am going to use it for something in an upcoming layout soon! I bought the pp's at the Dream and I just love the KAISER CRAFT paper imported from Australia. It is from the Pretty In Pink line, Grace. I am a really big fan of brown and pink together so this paper was so me! The scalloped paper is Making Memories Audry collection. The numbers I got a long time ago and I forget who makes them. The beads are from Walmart. The buttons are from yard sales. My mom is a professional Yard Saler and picks me up the best stuff! I used stickels fruit punch to add some glitz to the scallops. I used my favorite Signo pen to outline the MM paper and the buttons. I also doodled some hearts to match the paper along the outside of the circle.

My Goals are.....

1 - Get Alicia off the binkie

2 - Get Alicia potty trained (AGAIN) She was potty trained before I left for Vegas and when I cam back wanted nothing to do with it.

3- Loose 15-20 pounds
4- Give up tonic (I drink a case of coke a day)

5- Drink Water (I HATE WATER)

6- Get more active

7- Challenge myself more

8- Learn to accept things I can not change

9- Paint my downstairs bathroom ( I had the paint since we bought the house lol)

10- Worry less

11- Start going to mass again (church)

12- Clean my house more

13- Use more of my old supplies

14- Embrace my flaws

15- Go to a concert

16- Stop eating out so often

17- Take a new class/club

18- Learn photoshop better

19- Get published

20- buy clothes (hate buying clothes for myself because it is depressing)

21- Try less to analyze everything

22- Try to sew on a scrapbook page

23- Don't interrupt people in the middle of a story

24- Spend more one on one time with the hubby (Date night perhaps)

25- Take a vacation with friends (no hubby, no daughter)

26- Get pregnant before December (At least try)

27 - Stop making other people's problems my own

28- Stop being so hard on myself!

There you have it folks, my list! Thanks Nichole, for hosting a fun, useful challenge. Let's see how many I really stick too! xoxo

sketch sketch

2008-02-27T17:00:00.000-05:00

Wow, kudos to scrappy Nicole for coming up with an awesome challenge! I loved the sketch options she gave us, but particularly loved sketch option 2 by Nicole's friend.
(See the sketch I chose here.)

So, I still have tons of product left over from my days as a Scrapologie kit subscriber. Particularly, the Nov. 07 kit. (Unfortunately, Scrapologie doesn't create monthly kits anymore, but they're still around and create special edition kits for holidays.) I made one LO using those colors and that was it. December came and I moved on to Christmas layouts. The colors in the November kit were so pretty and sweet, I knew I had to use them, but didn't have the right photo.

Then, a couple days ago, Eleana dressed up as a fairy princess and spent her afternoon dancing, singing, and "flying" around the living room. I took several photos, but I particularly enjoyed this one of her mid-jump.

I placed the papers on a slant, leaving only the title and photo properly aligned with the 12x12 background. I wanted to emphasize Eleana's energy as much as possible. I chose these colors mostly because of the tutu. Tutus evoke memories of my days as a dancer, and black and pink are popular apparel colors for ballerinas.

Nearly everything I used in this page was from the November kit, except for a small piece of ric-rac ribbon (and the rub-ons I used for "tiny" and the crown on the "e"). Even the damask acrylic stamp was included in the kit. The small card below that reads "Paris" was in the kit as well, and is from Tres Jolie. LOVE Tres Jolie, by the way. I stamped the princess definition myself however, using a Rusty Pickle set of acrylic stamps.

The photo itself was heavily edited using Photoshop Elements. I rendered the background in black and white (so the toys and items strewn around the background wouldn't distract the eye) and also blurred it a bit. Then, using some "Ali-isms" from the Fresh Fonts CD, I created brushes and used them like stamps all along the side of the photo. I used the color burn effect, which I love. It sort of mimics an acid burn on the color, revealing the brightest possible tone of the image. That's why the words gradually fade from pink to white (top to bottom)...because the pink words are on top of my red couch, and the white word ("darling") is on top of my tan carpet. Did I explain that well at all?

I've been informed by the husband that my journaling is corny. It reads: Tutus, wands, wings and crowns are at the top of Eleana's list of dress-up necessities. She twirls while giggling and making a "woo woo" sound, and jumps up and down. On the day this photo was taken she even tapped Daddy and I on the head with her wand, granting us our secret wishes. I wished for an abundance of moments like these.

I had so much fun working on this page today, and I'm sorry it took me so long to finish it! I was at the local scrap store for 2 hours yesterday talking business (my card class got the green light!) and then we had friends over for dinner. Crazy day yesterday.

Sketch Challenge

2008-02-27T12:09:00.000-05:00

I was excited to host this weeks challenge to my Blog Sista's. I decided everyone should pick one of the three sketches made by the talented Liz Quaiman. Liz is a scrapbook.com friend of mine and she is brilliant! Be sure to check out her gallery which is home to ton of her beautiful sketches. The three sketches I chose were the one I used below which she titled her sketch 11. You can view it here... http://scrapbook.com/galleries/150887/view/925165/-1/20/1.html

The other two sketches we could choose are... http://scrapbook.com/galleries/150887/view/1258993/0/0/1.html

http://scrapbook.com/galleries/150887/view/1258993/0/0/1.html

By clicking on any of her sketches it will take you to her gallery! Thank you Liz for the inspiration!

So, here is the one I picked, Sketch #11. I just loved this sketch because it showcases more than one picture and allows you to have hidden journaling or add another pic or two to the tag!

The papers I used were from the Hannah Scrap Pad to Go by Kology (K&CO). I used this paper because it matched the brown in my shirt and the rug in the pics. The pics were taken at my fav dive, Sun Kong in Malden. I just adore Karaoke and this is my favorite spot to entertain lol. It is an older crowd so there aren't tiny boppers there with this tight little half shirts on and heels. Ya know what I am saying! lol. hehehe The guy pictured with me is my friend Marc. We have know each other for over 20 years. He is hysterical. Lights up a room with his personality and he doesn't drink or do drugs but yet the energy he gives off is amazing! All he needs is COKE, COKE A COLA that is!!!

We sang about 4 songs together this night! We were celebrating my 28th Birthday. The flourishes are all from Fancy Pants Chipboard which I adore! I inked it with some generic ink I own that works awesome. Just as good as the expensive ink lol. I got a bunch of inks from QVC about 6 years ago and they are all still in good working use and I use them all the time. They work awesome for painting the chipboard. Notice the bottom Flourish, I used a pale Pink/brown. I have since changed it to match the others after seeing it scanned. So it now matches the other ink. I used bling from Junkitz for the yellow blig above and below the picture. I used Prima flowers and Star brads. I Used two small buttons and one big button on the sides of the strips. The big flower is from none other than the Dream. I am heading there today when my neice comes so I can check out some of the new goods. I will be sure to report back to you guys on the goodies! The tag is from Basic Grey I believe. I picked that up at the yard sale at the Dream. Superstar is Me and my Big Ideas. And woo la there you have it! My take on the sketch!

Just the beginning of DISNEY

2008-02-26T22:21:00.000-05:00

Alright ladies. Here it is, what you have been waiting for, the start of my Disney pages! Yeah, OK, so you probably haven't been waiting for them, and you are going to be sick of looking at them but too bad! LOL

The Cover Page:

I fell in love with this Disney transparency and scooped it up the second I saw it. What to do with it though, that was my problem. I finally decided that it would make a good title page...it has all the words to describe a Disney vacation and sets the mood to what you are about to look at in the album. Like I said, nothing exciting...

Buzz Lightyear:

Supplies: Bazzil Bling, Jolee's stickers, Cricut- Disney Cartridge, inks and shape punch.

"Swim" / The CHALLENGE page:

I needed to also get to work on the challenge page that Miss. Nicole set forth. I decided that I would stick to my Disney theme and try it out. This was actually the perfect page for it because there wasn't many pictures, but there was a story to tell. I am going to change the picture, but the rest is pretty much the way it's going to stay. Supplies: Green cardstock was from a paper pack that I bought in Disney, EK Success Disney papers, stickers by Jolee's, and Cricut Disney Cartridge.

Here is the link to the sketch I used for this page. The designer is Liz Qualman and I must say that I love her designs and may just try out a few more!

http://www.scrapbook.com/galleries/150887/view/1061487/0/0/1.html

mini book! (and ali edwards)

2008-02-26T00:27:00.001-05:00

Yo girls! I miss you! All this talk of the bus tour makes me wish I didn't live so dang far away. Y'all have to promise me ONE thing. If I can't go, will one of you snag me something awesome? Thanks.

Okay, so all day today I planned on starting the sketch challenge but got totally hung up on this mini board book I wanted to make. I know you all must know Ali Edwards, right? She has a blog, which I love, and also a Flickr account. She also has this life art newsletter she publishes every so often online with little challenges and articles. I've been reading her stuff lately and I love it. She's such a fabulous photographer, and we all know how wonderful her scrapbooking skills are. I have the Life Artist book, which I haven't finished reading. Just looking through it is enough to make me feel inspired. I've started working with paint more often, getting in touch with my roots so to speak.

ANYWAY, if you read her blog, her weekend entry features a mini book she created. She created the cover by layering items and then painting the whole thing one color. I loved this, and she challenged the internets to do something similar over the weekend. So I thought about it all weekend and finally did mine today.

I love green (even my iPod is green) and I've been running around painting things green lately. I'll have to post a picture of it but I even painted a jewelry box I got for Christmas GREEN. It looks great...much better than it did as a plain cherry stained box.

So I chose green for my cover.

This is actually not a photo of the FINISHED cover...I added aqua stickles all around the edges (sparingly) and around the white "baby" and the star. So it was simple. I didn't add a whole bunch of dimension to this smally book, just the star. But it gives the effect I wanted. Simple and subdued.

The theme is obviously baby memories. There are TONS of milestones/moments/memories I haven't scrapbooked yet. Eleana is growing SO fast that I barely have enough time to keep up with her. I've had these wallet sized pictures lying around the office forever, waiting to be put somewhere, in something. I finally just created this general book of favorites using those pictures, and I wish I had room to add more.

Making this book also gave me the chance to use up some of the baby themed items I have, that I NEVER used. Like the "sleep tight" sign. It's actually metal, and surprisingly thin for a metal embelleshment. And all these pinky stickers (like the one that says "naptime" above) are finally diminishing, though I still have half of a sheet left.

The journaling above reads: As an infant, any place in the apartment was suitable for a nap. Eleana felt most comfy on her Boppy (if she wasn't in our arms.) Naps were eratic and short, but seemed so blissful to our sweet girl.

Page 2 (above) is a little more personal, documenting (briefly) our time nursing. The journaling reads: Breastfeeding Eleana was one of the best things I've done for her as her mother, though challenging at times. We lasted 8 months, until Eleana decided she'd rather feed herself.

The picture of us together above is one of my all-time favorites of us. She looks so happy-go-lucky, which is exactly who she is, even today. The green strip between the two pictures of her eating says "nurture" but it didn't photograph well.

Okay, the last page in the book is all about Daddy. The bottom photo on the left is censored per Daddy's request. It's a picture of our 2-month-old girly laying on his bare chest. He hates when his chest is hairy, and in the picture it's super hairy, so he didn't want everyone to see it. Insert giggling here. There's no journaling on this page. No room. I love the picture on the right so much that I had to make it big. The color is off here too. The "bundle of joy" tag should be pink.

The back cover isn't fabulous...just plain and pretty.

Tomorrow I'm doing the sketch. I already know what picture I'm using and everything!
XOXOXO

Signo to the rescue!

2008-02-25T17:00:00.000-05:00

Me again. Heh heh. So! I'm reviewing my work and I'm tortured by the fact that something just ain't right in scrapsville. Something was missing from ye ol layout. It was the journaling. And also the balance was off. So remembering these rub-ons I borrowed from NP last year, I decided to mimic them and journal around the floral swirls on the left in my trusty white SIGNO pen. Then added flourish on the right for proper balance. Then of course, I had to do the same with the tag. I'm getting braver with the doodling since our last project! See the difference below:

"Fall"-ing in love with this sketch! (challenge)

2008-02-25T15:21:00.000-05:00

First, let me say kudos to Nicole for picking out a cool sketch : http://www.scrapbook.com/gallery/source/150887/Sketch230.jpg

Do you ever look at a sketch and know right away what pictures you'll use? Often, I do. But not this time. At first, I couldn't figure out what photos I had to match the colors in the sketch. Then the lighbulb went off that it was up for our interpretation! I have tons of pictures from fall that I wanted to crop, so I headed in that direction. The results are below!

I chose to shape my paper a little differently than the sketch. I thought the elements were close enough. I must be watching too much HGTV. I realize I have to go back and do something to the left side. It's too bare. And it's going to be journaling. I'll follow the swirls. Nichole P. had rub-ons once like that! ( I wonder if she knows which ones I'm talkin' about?) Next, the sketch asks for a tag. I LOVE tags! Tags are great for the not-quite-card-maker like myself. And speaking of cards, did you see Nichole P's cards in the prior layout? Wow-za!
I used all kinds of goodies here like stickers from the almighty dollar store, ribbon from the almighty dollar section in Michaels. You'll notice accents like the bottle caps from Building 19. I inked yellow on the corners to bring in the color from the flower on the main page, which was originally hideous and so I used my cat eye inks with Sienna, Brown, etc. God bless the inks!

Viola! Here's the entire representation! I like this so much, I think I'm going to use this sketch for another layout! Thanks for viewing!

fun announcement

2008-02-24T21:43:00.001-05:00

Hello hello, ladies! I have some great news to share with everyone! I got a job teaching at the local scrapbook store! I'm on staff for one month as a trial, and if all goes well I'll be on indefinitely.

The owner wants our first class to be a greeting card class. I was told to have my samples by the end of this week, and her guidelines were these:

1. create 6 cards
2. have a spring theme
3. have all 6 cards coordinate with each other so they package nicely if to be presented by the maker as a gift to someone else
4. use one product in all 6 cards, utilizing the product uniquely in each card so as to teach how versatile that product can be.

So, I made 6 cards, each pink, white and yellow. I used brads and eyelets as my versatile product of choice. The cards are simple, mostly because this is expected to be a 2 hour course - not a lot of time for 6 cards per person!

I'm taking the cards to the store tomorrow as it's closed today. I'm so nervous the owner won't like them!

See the bottom right card above? The one with the little sign post? Yeah, the paper the yellow brads is attached to is actually a pale yellow. These didn't scan well at all!

The top card here, above the "hello!" card is solid white, with a torn patterned panel. Again you can barely see the white card because of the scanner. I guess I should've put a piece of paper behind the cards as I scanned. Woops. Lesson learned.

I'd love to know what you ladies think of these cards!

Mom Survival Kit in a can... (baby shower present to go with the baby album)

2008-02-24T19:50:00.000-05:00

I decorated a naked paint can with the matching papers I used on the baby album and card I made. Inside the can I put Chocolate bars of all sorts and brands, clear eyes for those sleepless weeks lol, Tylenol for headaches and a diaper wheel with mom, dad, nana and papas name on it so she's always not the one changing diapers. This was so much fun!

Jenn, I too scrapped even though we couldn't scrap together tonight!

2008-02-22T23:43:00.000-05:00

Well, we were suppose to get together tonight but with the snow and all we couldn't make it. =( From the looks of things that didn't stop Jenn and I from Scrappin' anyway! I have a baby shower for a distant cousin of mine coming up on Sunday so I made this accordion book for the mom to be. I am also making her a New Mother Survival Pail. I will post that tomorrow when I finish it.

So, for this project I used the Creative Imaginations BE Naked Accordion Album and dressed it up with some fabulous Brenda Walton papers. A long time ago I bought the Brenda Walton Scrap Pad to go. The Dollhouse collection. It is so pretty and comes with great stickers and they sell chipboard letters that match it as well as chipboard dies and all kinds of other goodies. I used all the scraps I had left from it to make this book. The few that aren't Brenda Walton on here are so blah, The pink paper with the colored circles with the baby die at the top is not one of my fav. papers but what am I going to do I already glued the bad boy on there. It is three bugs in a rug. The princess crown paper is also three bugs in a rug. The front side came out way better than the back side.

If you click on the picture, which you may already know it will make the picture bigger so you can get a better view. I had to leave room for a wallet size picture so I was limited decorating the area because most would be covered with a pic or two. This was fun cause I got to use a lot of my old stash for this. Like all the dies I had and added a little Martha Stewart bling to it. Jolee's & Sandylion Essentials 3d stickers are always fun for gift projects too! The duck is from a sticker pack I got at Target many, many moons ago. I forget who makes it. I think it is Generic. But they are 3d and are raised with foam dots. They come like that! WOOT WOOT! Bath time is part of the accordion book.

The accordion books come with it's own storage case. I decorated that with the matching papers and added ribbon to the rim that reads Sweet Baby Girl.

The back of the album is the polka dot paper. The front of the album is the cool paisley paper. I also added the same Sweet Baby Girl pink ribbon to the front of the rim of the box. I took my cricut and added SWEET BABY GIRL as the title of the box and inked it with white. I added a lil bling to the "I" in girl. I added foam squares to the back of the baby die cut and called it a day!

Woola, this is how I kept busy during the snow storm! It was fun, but would of been much better if you gals could of joined me! Till tomorrow. Signing off for now. Nicole ((((HUGS))))))

Valentine's Sugar

2008-02-22T19:46:00.000-05:00

Here is my one and ONLY Valentine's Day LO. It's actually from a monthly sketch from http://gettinsketchy.blogspot.com/. LOVED the sketch, but wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do the challenge this month. Am bogged down thinking about doing my Disney stuff. Anyway, As most of you know, I really could care less about Valentine's day. Maybe it's because everyday is like Valentine's with my husband (really, not kidding!), or maybe it's because growing up we celebrated my Dad's b-day and then my Grandfather's b-day on V-day? Who knows. There's a cute little story to go along with these pictures - you can view that on my blog http://schelinski.blogspot.com/2008/02/its-not-junk-its-sugar.html

The materials: Bazzil, Creative Imaginations, Robins Nest glitter hearts, glitter letters, buttons and ribbon. Oh and I can't forget the cute little Quickutz penguin.