I'll start by saying I love paper piecing. That said...it is NOT the technique to incorporate into a project you are mass producing! I freehanded this little guitar based on our guitar hero guitar. It's the only frame of reference I had LOL. I did simplify it greatly because #1 I was mass producing it and #2 I was cutting it relatively small. These little guitars are only 1.5 inches wide.
I started with the challenge at Fab n Funky Challenges. Using black and white and just one other color. My other color is red. The background sheet music paper was a digi image I printed out on white cardstock then matted with black cardstock to give it some weight. These are bookmarks for kids afterall! The sentiment is also computer printed from my word processing program. The ribbon is regular red grosgrain ribbon tied through a 3/16th eyelet.
Here is a card I just finished. I have come to the conclusion that I give up on stamping! No matter how many times I try....I fail!!! I however have found the PERFECT compromise.....digi stamps. I may not be able to ink evenly to save my life, but I can hit print on my computer like a pro! LOL. This is a freebee that was posted not long ago at Meljens Designs blog.
The challenge at Crafty Catz weekly is stitching and I faux stitched my butt off so works for me...hahahahaha. The Creative Cottage Challenge this week is BLING IT ON. The detail shot shows that I used Stickles to bling up the wings of the fairy, the swirlies coming off the fairy and the entire sentiment. I love the effect even if it's still not dry 2 hours later. I followed the sketch at Papertake Weekly and the color challenge posted at Off The Wall Craftiness. Here is the inspiration photo posted there:
The past few weeks must have been blog hop season here in scrappy blog land. Not only did my challenge blog, Scrap It With a Song have it's first ever hop, but it seems some of my very favorite challenges have been announcing them one right after the other. I actually won a few goodies that are beyond amazing, and wanted to not only share but give a big ole THANK YOU to the lovely crafters who gave us all a chance to play.
One of the fabulous DT members over at Sketchabilities, Shawn offered up this awesome prize in addition to the main blog hop prize and she picked me to receive the yummies!!! I won't lie....I saw the prize and had such goodie envy! I have never used Thickers and can't wait to try them!!!
One of my new favorite challenges is Scrap that Baby!!! Their recent blog hop was a blast. One of the DT members was offering up some fabby Maya Road goodies and I won!!! I have already used a few of these on my recent mini.
While I'm in full on WHOO HOO mode, I also have to share that I was chosen as the August winner over at Mission to Create. I entered both of their challenges that month and they picked me to receive the most SCRUMPTIOUS kit from Paper Poppy Kit Co. Check it out and drool!
Here is a set of layouts I just finished to showcase all of my favorite pictures of my kiddos with my parents. It's true that there is no love quite like a grandma and grandpa's love. I can't wait until I have grandbabies to dote over. Well, no...scratch that...I can certainly wait considering my oldest is only TEN! LOL. I followed the two page sketch over at Sketchy Thursday's this week. :)
I am so bad about remembering to scrap portraits we have taken. So I decided to sit and scrap my son's 5th grade school pic before it lost in the shuffle. I just picked up all of these papers from Michaels last week and I loved that they were a little grungier and more grown up looking since this is his first year in middle school.
This kid came home with his pics and with a totally bummed look said, "You are sooo going to think these are the stupidest pictures. If you want me to take them back I can, I don't even know WHAT was up with my smile." I pulled them out expecting him to have boogers hanging out or food in his teeth or SOMETHING with that set up. What was he thinking??? These have got to the best school pictures he's ever taken....EVER! Maybe he just wanted reassurance, so that's what he got because he seems totally happy with them after I told him that :)
I am sharing this with Scrap That Poetry that has a school themed poem up this week. The Pink Elephant also had a Back to School theme running. Then we have Practical Scrappers that is asking for school related project inspiration this month. How kind of them to get together and coordinate their themes. LOL!!!!!
I have been working on my older daughter's individual album this week. Here is the two page spread for the year she was four. Nearly every bit of these are made with We R Memory Keepers White Out Collection - Promenade. The flowers, dies, papers, #4, etc are cut from the paper. So sorry for the crummy photography. I've learned the trick is to take the pic outside in natural light, and I'm still laid up with a horrible sinus infection that's morphed into an ear infection and going outside would mean getting out of my fuzzy flannel PJs that have become my best friends! LOL. When Katie turned four she was all about her Grandparents. That was when she finally forged the indepence to want to go and stay with them for longer than a few hours at a time. So I tried to focus on pics of her with each set :)
For this first layout I followed Creative Scrappers Sketch #120. I was a little nervous when I saw the sketch, because it didn't scream girly and those are the kinds of projects I'm working on....but I think I made it my own. :)
This week at Scrap It With a song we are continuing with our children's movie theme songs month. We are scrappin' along with Meet The Robinson's for this song. The song is 'Little Wonders' by Rob Thomas. It is an awesome song and a very awesome movie that I highly recommend. For this week I chose to make a mini album. I thought the song fit so wonderfully for a mini I'd been thinkin' up to share my favorite pics of my kiddos. I have those pics all selected, but not printed yet...so just imagine their smiley faces in each spot LOL. I displayed a lyric line from the chorus on each page in order with the cover showing my favorite line.
I still have lots of work left to do to it to be happy. Well, maybe not LOTS, but photos would help. LOL. I also need to figure out what I am going to put along the rings. In my last mini I created I used a ton of fiber and ribbon and it was easy to find because the paper had so many colors to choose from. This album was basically all pink, blue and greyish brown. All of the embellishments were made from this Tim Holtz Vintage Shabby paper stack. In fact the only thing I used that's not is the pink velvety ribbon on two pages and the rhinestones. Even the flowers were made from the patterned paper! Oh, and the photo mats are all solid cardstock because I couldn't bare to use this awesome paper for something that was going to be covered up. LOL
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Our lives are made ----- in these small hours
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These little wonders ----- These twists and turns of fate
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Time falls away ----- but these small hours
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still remain.
If you'd like to give this week's song a go you can let it inspire you to create whatever floats your crafty boat. Cards, layouts, minis, altered items, the skies the limit. Head on over to Scrap It With a Song to give it a try.
Hey everyone. Just a reminder that you still have 5+ hours to enter the Scrap It With a Song challenge. Normally the challenge closes at noon, but since we got a late start last Monday you have until Midnight (EST). If you look at the challenge page it shows a countdown for you on the link app. The winner from this week will receive a yummy assortment of primas!! You are free to create a layout, card, or anything else your crafty self is inspired to make.
I actually ended up making two projects. I almost always scrap each even twice. Once for my digi album and once for my paper/scissors album. First is the layout listed under the DT examples, my digi layout showcasing all of my fav photos. In the paper layout I had to make (2) 2pagers to fit them all, so I'm only showing the one that I incorporated the challenge on.
That is the sentiment on the inside of this card. If only I'd had the forthought to actually photograph THAT?!?!?! LOL. I didn't have a stamp so I printed it on my computer and matted it in green and placed it in the middle of the inside. The outside features almost all different brands of supplies. The birdie is cut from a piece of Sassafrass patterned paper, the clouds' brand escapes me. I could tell you exactly which aisle in BFE Kansas' Michael's you can find it if that helps LMBO! The yellow sparkly paper is Core Couture. The ribbon is from Target's dollar spot. I handstitched the border on the sun, which was a big ole pain in the butt. I broke two needles and may have lost a pint of blood. No one can say that cardstock isn't sturdy!!! HAHA!
I followed the sketch posted at over at Lord Have Mercy! I flipped it 90° and chose a cut out embellie over the square shaped image element, but I hope it's obvious I followed the sketch. I promise I started with it. LOL. The challenge at Cute Card Thursday is tweet&flutter. I went with the tweet end and used a birdie. I'm also posting this over at The Secret Crafter since it's my favorite card I've made this week. :) The stitching qualifies it for the challenge at Stampin' Royalty. Thanks for looking....
I have been working on my middle daughter's individual album. I'm creating one for each of my three kiddos that include a 2page layout for each year of heir life. Here is what I just finished. It uses all paper from my new very favorite paper stack. Tim Holtz idea-ology Vintage Shabby. I even distressed the edges of the papers that layered which is sooooo not something I've ever been comfortable doing. But figured #1 the paper says vintage so I should at least try and #2 I have a whole stack if I screw up LMBO.
First up is a two pager I made for when she was two. I love that she was such a smiley baby girl. We totally skipped right over the terrible twos. Of course, we are smack dab into the smart@$$ sixes!! LMBO The second page of the layout follows the Practical Scrappers sketch posted this week and the Off The Wall Craftiness Color Challenge. I only am entering the second page, because on the first page I incorporated a bit of blue. We were to use this photo for inspiration:
I knew there was a reason she was my favorite cousin-in-law! Megan never ceases to crack me up with her musings. A few days ago she posted this OH SO YUMMY bloggity fun and shared it with me. First you have to tell your readers ten things you really REALLY like and then share it with 10 of your favorite bloggin' peeps.
10 things I looooove:
Twix PB - Considering I don't much care for actual peanut butter, it's a little odd that I could eat my weight in Twix PB and Reese's!
My kiddos - Not only do I love them because they are my kiddos, they are hands down the coolest people I know and I love filling my days with time spent with them. They never cease to entertain.
Scrapbooking - Clearly we aren't here to discuss knitting....this is a scrappy blog after all! LOL
Facebookin' - I should be ashamed by how much time I, a grown woman, spend on FB and FB mobile. Even worse, I can almost always be found spying on my farm making sure all my livestock and crops are behaving. :)
Shopping - It can be the mall, online, Target or an outlet. I don't even need to buy a lot....I just love walking the aisles and checking out all the new stuff around. This excitement is greatly increased when we are talking about a scrappy store.
My family - I have the best family. We laugh, we have a great time and most importantly...we are there for each other. They rock.
The beach - Just blend me something that requires an umbrella in the glass and I could lounge on the beach all day, every day. Not the easiest of tasks when I live in Kansas, but being a Florida girl for so many years, I am always itching to make our vacation a sandy one.
My cell phone - After I had Allie, my sweet sweet hubby bought me the new HTC Touch Pro2. To say this little 'thanks for giving birth to my 10lb baby present' made my day is an understatement. I never have this thing more than a arms reach away because it's my lifeline to those I love.
My friends - I have some of the most awesome friends ever.....EVER!
Organizing - More than the position of BEING organized, I absolutely am in my happiest place when I'm actively organizing something. On a regular basis I rearrange all my furniture or the kitchen cabinets. Mostly because my husband has kindly requested I stop rearranging his socks/underwear/PJs drawers LOL!
Now on to the tough part. Picking 10 of you lovely bloggers to share this blingy bit of awesome. I always try to pick a new list of 10, so this time I'll tag the last 10 blogs I visited:
Megan (obviously, since she's the girly I got this from LOL)
I had so much fun with last week's blog hop! I hope you ladies got to enjoy it too! Did anyone have a chance to see the awards show we were celebrating?!?!?! I missed it, but luckily MTV will play it 25 more time before Christmas, so lots of chances to catch up! LOL. I had a wonderful vacation (albeit too short IMO) followed by a HORRENDOUS commute home, but I'm here and that's what counts right??
On my stop on your scrappy train you were promised a collection of Primas and that's just what you're getting. Well one lucky winner will, that is! That lady who will be swimming in flowery yumminess is:
KELLY MASSMAN!!!
Please email me at chuckandchristina(at)yahoo(dot)com and I will get your goodies all together for you. Congrats!!!
This weekend MTV will be throwing their annual bash to honor the greatest and latest musicians to rock our airwaves and to celebrate that we are having our first ever Scrap It With a Song BLOG HOP!!! Stick with us as we pop in and out of each DTs blog and see what karaoke hour has to offer in their corner of blogdom. We'll be rocking out to some of our favorite musicians of all time. Some of us are even offering goodies to our fabulous readers in addition to the prize available on the main blog. If you found me first, then you need to go to Scrap It With a Song to get started.
First off I want to share my project for this week's challenge. The song is "You'll Be In My Heart" by Phil Collins. You'll need to create a new project (it can be a card, layout or altered project) following the lyric challenge posted HERE to be in the running for the main prize of the bloghop. Here is my layout:
Now onto the bloghop fun!! I have several artists in my list of favorites of all time. The list is almost embarrasing in it's randomness, but that's ME! My top 5 artists/groups are Linkin Park, Paramore, Journey, Michael Jackson, New Kids on the Block (yes...I went there HAHAHAHA) and because I can't stop at 5...The Rolling Stones. I chose Journey for this special project because they are a group I grew up listening to. I have so many great memories tied to their music so letting them inspire a project was easy. Before you check out the project why don't you click play and sing along with me.
In addition to the adorable mini album kit the main blog is giving away, I have a special prize in store for you too! A fun collection of primas. To win these, all you have to do is comment on this post and tell me YOUR favorite artist of all time. The winner will be chosen at random Sunday night.
Your next stop on the blog hop is Liz so click along to her blog and see what musician inspires her!
I absolutely adore the new challenge I found called Scrap That Baby. What a fun concept and perfect considering I just had a baby! The prompt this week is to create a top 10 list. I made a list of 10 wishes for Allie. I followed an AWESOME sketch from Liz Qualman that you just HAVE to check out. I am trying to learn to do the flourish/flower look and this sketch pushed me to try it....and I ended up with my favorite layout I've made in a LOOOOONNNGG time! Her sketch calls for 3 long photos, but I used one tall in it's place....hope that doesn't ruin the look, 'cause I like it! ;)
So while this layout ended up in my top 5 favs of all time, it was also almost the death of me!!! LMBO! I have come to the conclusion that I hate handwritten journaling. I normally print it on the computer, but have been trying to handwrite the more personal journaling for memory creating purposes. I hate my handwriting and after writing that long list out, and rewriting it multiple times when I screwed up, I have a very sore wrist still hours later.
Add to that the fact that I spent almost an HOUR freehanding that stinkin' butterfly! That's why I ended up with only one when I'd planned to do a small and a big. I have a butterfly die but it's the Cuttlebug 2step butterfly and it's just a little too bubbly looking for the type I was going for. I wanted a more realistic look.....of course I cut it out of pink glitter paper so I shot that all to heck! LOL...Maybe I should say I wanted a realistic SHAPED butterfly. I wanted one that ended up about 1.5 inches. Anyone have any ideas on who makes a die similar to the one I freehanded???
Well, without further ado.....here is my wish for Allie in a layout:
I am still in full on crafty mode. I've gotten 25 layouts and 10 cards done since Friday night! WOOT....GO ME! :) Here are two cards I just finished for a few challenges.
First up is the challenge at Raise the Bar. I had to use my blog colors in a project. I used pink, teal, black and white. The pink photographed way darker than it is, but it's pink. :) I followed this sketch at Practical Scrappers. It's also all blinged out for the jewel challenge at My Time to Craft.
Alright my crafty peeps...I'm off to create some more. I think I'm gravitating towards a layout state of mind as we speak! :) Stay tuned later....I may have some more to share, and tomorrow I will DEFINITELY have an awesome post to share!!! :)
After a looooooong holiday weekend I am feeling the joy of back to school all over again. Okay, so they were only home for 3 days, but the older two are bickering like crazy. Tonight I ended up locking myself in my scrappy room for an hour eating a yummy cherry chip cake (well a piece of it anyway) and then decided to make work on a few back to school projects to envision the light at the end of the Labor Day tunnel. LOL.
First up is a layout I made from the photo of my older two the morning of the first day of school. Allsorts challenge this week is 'new beginnings' and I thought starting a new school year was definitely a beginning! :) I also used the Stuck sketch posted on the 1st. I used a piece of my daughters actual lined handwriting paper for the top part of the title and the long strip. The 'ABC' strip is twill that's printed on...how cool is that?? :) The photo actually opens up like a little book to show pics of them individually. The embellies of the left are actually 3D little pieces. The notebook even has a real itty bitty spiral ....CUTE!!!!
After finishing the second project, I decided to unlock the door and try to make sure my hubby wasn't sitting eating his piece of cake while the kids were duct taped to the wall. He had them all bathed, snuggled up and ready for bed. GO HUBBY! :)
I have been busy scrapping away the day and totally blanked on announcing the winner of week 20 at Scrap It With a Song. I'll get that up tonight after the kiddies go to bed. Make sure you stay tuned to Wednesday when we have a very special post planned.
In the meantime....here is a little bit of scrappy fun to eyeball while you wait. My take on Creative Scrappers: Sketch 119. The title says, 'It's all about the SHOES" and the journaling says, "Noni bought me my 1st pair of Converse, and in PINK! Now to get Pappy (I screwed up the journaling I just noticed and need to fix that!!! LOL) to buy the matching pink socks." Then under the pic of Allie talking to her Grandpa it says, "Pappy Puh-leeze!"
It also totally fits the challenge at The Pink Elephant this week. To scrap with your favorite color and embellishment. Well pink and yellow are my favorite colors, but as much as I love yellow I almost never use it beyond coloring in my daughter's coloring book LOL. So this layout is all pink. My fav embellishment these days is ribbon. I don't often get the opportunity to use ribbon in a layout....so YAY :)
A friend of mine is running this fantastic challenge blog called Party Time Tuesdays. Each week there is a new challenge, but the catch is it has to be a birthday card! How fun, right?? I am slipping in for their last challenge before break...they are taking the rest of September off. This week's challenge was to use brads. You are also supposed to include some sort of sentiment that makes it obvious that it's a birthday card. I think we've all learned the lesson that I am a rotten stamper, so I used birthday paper that says, "Happy Birthday" all over it. Hope that counts.
The paper is all scraps from my stash as are the brads. The yummy cuppy-cake was freehanded. I just cut out a.......hmm maybe I should have been paying attention to geometry in HS and not the boys ;)......shape?? and ran it through my Fiskars crimper. Then I freehanded a muffin top shape and inked the edges to make it look toasty and added it to the top. It's all popped up with dimmentionals. I cut a little cherry out of red sugardust paper and the stem is a piece of green wire taped on the back. I actually made three of these. One for a swap and two to keep should I need a birthday card :) The sketch I followed is this week's OCC Sketch :)
After finishing the second project, I decided to unlock the door and try to make sure my hubby wasn't sitting eating his piece of cake while the kids were duct taped to the wall. He had them all bathed, snuggled up and ready for bed. GO HUBBY! :)
