Under the Open Sky.....oh my

This week's song at Scrap It With a Song is Lucky by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat.  Such a fun song.  Remember you can take the song as a whole to let it inspire you or use a portion of the lyrics to inspire the title or journaling.  I used the lyrics, "under the open sky" to title a page about my kids flying a kite with my father.  As you'll notice this layout is missing one key element....PHOTOGRAPHS!!!  We had a tape mishap during the building of this layout that ruined the photos and with taking off this weekend for a road trip, I didn't get a chance to have a new set printed.  I have gone 10 years without having to reprint photos because I screwed them up and in the past month this is the FOURTH TIME....and I did the exact same thing each time!  Lesson learned??  I hope!  LOL. 

I used this sketch from our current DT member Liz as inspiration.  I replaced the third photo with extra jounaling, but otherwise it's pretty much an exact take on it.  I LOVE the banners, but have used them on so many layouts lately I tried to think of something else swoopy I could stick there and decided to stitch the tail of a kite.  LOVE IT! 

Our sponsor this week is our very own DT alumni, Angela!  Come along and play.......

Love Story mini album

I have been married to the most amazing man in the world for 12 years now.  I was still a teenager when we met and didn't know the first thing about life much less what I wanted out of it, but boy did I get lucky because he is nothing short of amazing.  Three kids and countless memories later we are still very much in loooovvvee!  :) :) :)

I found my very first scrapbook I made 12 years ago while we were dating that I've been wanting to redo.  My intention was to do a scrapbook of our meeting, dating, getting married and starting out.  It was the 'old way' of scrapping and the photos were waaay over cropped and glue-stick-stuck (**SHUDDER**) down on solid cardstock and then litering the page with stickers.  I absolutely hated looking at it.  That and the glue was no longer sticking and the cheap-o cardstock was fading in splotches.  I've refrained from redoing my son's early pages because I know it's good to document your creative growth, but considering we only have ONE photo of us together prior to getting married I really want it to be something I can cherish. 

Here is the cover of our album.  It has each of our Kindergarten photos.  No, we didn't know each other way back then, but they were on the front page of the original album so it had to be incorporated into the new book.  I also opted for a 6x6 mini because I just never ended up with enough memorabilia to make an huge album.  Though I did keep every ticket stub from our weekly movies. 

The letters 'L-O-V-E' are chipboard alphas sprayed with Glimmer Mist in starfish.  The papers are all from the DCWV rustic stack.  Even the diecuts are cut from it.  I'm not sure the maker of the ticket because it came in a kit I received and didn't have the maker on it.  The letter's 'it's a....story' are brown cardstock stickers by The Paper Studio.  The button is just from my stash.  I used the Cuttlekids flower set to cut out the leaves and the flower is a punch is by McGill.  I used the 'frayed burlap' Tim Holtz distress ink on absolutely every edge.  Stay tuned and this week I'll try to finish up the rest of the album to share. 

I'm sharing this with the distressing challenge at Frosted Designs.  I used the distress ink on all of the edging to give it the aged, distressed look.

A caardvark card to share

I actually got a layout AND a card this weekend.  Look at me being all productive ;)  LOL!  The layout will come later, but first up I want to share with you a vintage card I just finished.  Not sure how well I did at following the technique, but I do like the end result.  I have challenged myself this month to try things that I normally find very scary.  I scraplifted the layout of the card as well as most of the color scheme (though I went with a totally different theme and embellie choice) from Kelly as part of this week's Caardvarks scraplift challenge.

My PSA of the day :)

Most people know that we are 'falling back' this weekend in much of the US and saying goodbye to Daylight Savings Time. Because you should change the batteries to your smoke alarm twice a year at a minimum, this is a perfect time to remember to do that. They recommend you check the alarm is sounding monthly, but the batteries should be tossed after 6 months just to be safe.

Did you know that smoke alarms expire? They are only designed to last 7-10 years.  While you have the smoke alarm down, also check the date. When you press the button and it sounds the alarm that only indicates it's getting power not that the sensor is functioning properly. If there is a date printed on the back that is the MADE ON date...replace if it was 10 or more years ago. If there is only a printed serial number and no date, it is pre-1999 and needs replaced.

We replaced ours this morning.  Here in the US, basic units at Home Depot run less than $10.  We went with a carbon monoxide sensor/smoke detector alarm combo and those started at $30.  It's important that you have at least one on each level of your home and if you have a spread out floor plan on the level where your bedrooms are, it is a good idea to have one outside of each section that has a bedroom. 
Stay Safe :)

7 days of 365 cards!!

One of my favorite card challenge blogs is 365cards.  Every day Sun-Sat a new challenge is posted and you have until Sunday night to share.  I absolutely LOVED every challenge posted this week so I wanted to try to knock them all out.  Here is what I came up with:

Sunday is sketch day at 365 cards.  I also used the inspiration over at Stampin Royalty and used some fun ribbon, trim and a bow.  I also followed the color challenge at Crafty Catz, black white and one other color...which was PINK, of course.

Monday's challenge was BUTTONS.  I printed out a digi image of a gumball machine and then included 15 gumball buttons on my card.  I also followed the sketch at Cute Card Thursday. 

Tuesday's challenge is a white space challenge, which I interpreted as a solid space challenge. 

Wednesday focused on one of my favorite images ever...PALM TREES! 

Thursday challenges you to pick three.  Three patterns, three colors and three embellies.  My three patterns are the striped paper, flower paper and dotted ribbon.  The three colors are black, grey and white.  The three embellies are ribbon tab, ribbon tab and flower.  The sketch is from Papertake Weekly.

Friday was a similar challenge....pick five.  Any five items and put them on your card.  My five items are striped cardstock, printed cardstock, image, sentiment and ribbon.

Last, but not least is Saturday.  The challenge was to stamp an envelope to coordinate with a card.  I chose a birthday card to play along with this week's Party Time Tuesday challenge and the sketch is by Lord Have Mercy!  It's hard to see at the angle I photographed it at (i was trying to get all of it in one shot), but I colored the word happy and the polka dots to match the image on the card. 

I MUST SHARE!!!!!

Prepare to have your mind blown with awesomeness!!!!  I have won two contests with Creative Scrappers over the past few months and now that I've got it all finalized and on it's way I just HAVE to share.  I am so stinkin' excited I just woke up my poor hubby with my 'WAHOO!'ing.  First up I got this AH-MAZING kit from Paper Poppy Kits (seriously her kits are the most wonderul pieces of greatness put together...check it out!!!):

The second bit of fabulousity I was blessed with was a gift certificate to Scrap Attack Scrapbooking.  They seriously have everything you'd need and tons of stuff you won't know you need till you see it, and I bet you leave with it anyway ;)  LOL!  I picked up these fabulous lines:

Crate Paper - Cottage Collection

Echo Park - Life is Good

Dream Street Papers - Art Nouveau

Adornit - Vintage Groove



Holy cuteness right?!?!?!?!?!  I am so excited I just can't wait to get to sit down and play.  You all need to seriously skidattle right on over to Creative Scrappers and play along.  They have AWESOME sketches each week and it's always tons of fun to be had.  :) :) :)

Born to be WILD!

If any of my babies are 'born to be wild' it's my middle child.  She is a handful sometimes, but such a sweet beauty many times too.  She definitely would have been more aptly named 'Karma'.  LOL.  This is a photo of her and my father at a the St. Louis City Museum.  She convinced this poor man to trudge through multiple stories of tunnels overlooking the city's skyline....and he hung on like a champ!  This title work came from this week's challenge at Scrap It With a Song.  The song this week is 'Born to Be Wild' by Steppenwolf. Such a fun song...click on over to play along. 

This layout also fits the following challenges:

The Pink Elephant - childhood

Christmas treat set...

The challenge over at Design Dollies is to create a themed set.  I got this cute little stamp that has a snowman and the sentiment says, 'hope your holiday is filled with warmth'.  I thought it would be perfect for sending hot cocoa treats.  So I made this card following the sketch at Stamp, Scrap & Doodle.  The stamped image is hanging as a tag on the card.  The matching treat bag is following the tutorial over at Project Tuesday.  I cut a window in it with a Cuttlebug die of a little house and when you open it up (behind the layer of patterned paper) there is a package of hot cocoa mix and a small candy cane.  I am sharing this with the YUMMY themed challenge over at Fab 'n' Funky Challenges too.  What's yummier than a treat bag filled with cocoa!!

All American Girl

I absolutely ADORE the sketch at Creative Scrappers this week.  You really should go over and play along because it's their 125th sketch!!!  The stars in the sketch inspired me to go with an Americana theme which happens to be the color inspiration over at My Time to Craft.  The pic is of my daughter when my parents took the oldest two kiddos to NYC.  She was standing waaaaay too close to the edge in this mommy's opinion, but really how often do people get to look over all of New York City from that high up in person???  :)  This is for her memory album of the trip. 

Layout catchup...

I am trying to get caught up on a few layouts that have been sitting here.  I wasn't happy with the way they turned out so they were sitting while I 'thought about it'.  I finally am redoing some of them.  So far I feel MUCH better about them :)

First up is the layout of my daughter's school Halloween party.  I followed the sketch at Sketches In Thyme and the photo inspiration at Papercraft Star... and it fits the challenge at Stamp, Scrap & Doodle too. 

Second up is the layout of my daughter's sixth birthday.  I so love her sweet face and how excited she was at every moment of her big day so I wanted to document her smile everytime someone would sing to her or tell her 'happy birthday' or give her a package.  The sketch is from Creative Genealogy. 

The last layout is of baby Allie.  I do love the first layout I came up with but needed a second one for another album and decided to make a brand new one.  The sketch is from Stuck Sketches.  The colors were inspired by the Design Dollies challenge this week and it's also fitting for the Scrap that Baby! challenge: baby parts. 

TriShutter card

Hi all.  I just finished my first tri-shutter card.  It went decidedly MUCH smoother than my swing card.  I followed this tutorial I found on youtube and was able to follow along with the scoring, cutting and folding in seconds.  Then all you have to do is decorate it as you'd like.  It was so super de duper easy!!!  And because of my pissin' and moanin' about the swing card, you can trust me to tell you the truth if it wasn't as easy as they make it look.  LOL!

The sketch for the front of the card is from Our Creative Corner.  I saw it and thought it'd fit perfectly for a tri-shutter card that I'd been dying to try out.  The theme at Party Time Tuesdays this week is fall birthday card.  Which is perfect for my aunt who's birthday falls right around Thanksgiving every year.  The color scheme started from Off the Wall Craftiness.  I had to use a different color for the card base because I didn't want it blending in with any of the patterned papers I chose, but when you see that it accounts for only 1/8th of an inch of trim around the edges, hopefully it still counts.  Here is the photo inspiration:

 

So without further chattiness on my part...here is my tri-shutter card! 

Scrapping Artwork

My son is the resident artist of the house. He loves playing music, drawing, writing. If it's creative, he can be found doing it. Because it's something he loves so much, I thought it was important to document it in the family scrapbook. Who knows if he'll outgrow this passion, and I don't want to forget how happy it made him. So I gave him 2 4x6 pieces of white cardstock and told him he could draw whatever he wanted.  He found my DCWV Nana's Kids stack and found me a few patterned papers he liked.  The journaling in the upper left corner is lyrics from the song, 'Vogue' by Madonna.  Which is your challenge this week over at Scrap It With a Song.  We'd love to have you so click on over and play.

I have the silliest kids....EVER!

One day while visiting their grandparents, we decided we needed to investigate the quiet.  The assumption (and usually correct assumption at that!) was that quiet means up to no good.  What were they doing?  Meditating....LOL!  Katie informed me that we were disrupting her 'yogurt' which I was guessing was 4 year old speak for yoga.  LOL!  I used sketch 124 at Creative Scrappers and also followed the challenge posted at The Pink Elephant's scrapbooking challenge to use aqua, patterned paper and an embellie of our choice. 

My second layout is of my daughter, Chef Katie, who was showing off the fancy chef-gear she got for her birthday.  I used Liz Qualman's sketch posted on the 3rd.  LOVED the sketch so I printed it out to use again soon!  My horrendous handwriting is on display on the left corner for all to see which takes care of the challenge at Frosted Designs...HAHAHA.  I really hate doing it, but it's important to do every once in a while...so I oblige.  :)  Lastly, the challenge at All Sorts Challenge blog was to incorporate a song title.  Which I do ALL the time, so this was a breeze.  I used the song by Hank Williams....clicky below if you wanna have a listen to the fun song yourself!  :)

Yes, a cereal box...REALLY!

The challenge this week over at One Stop Craft Challenge is to alter something.  Never one to let good junk go to waste if I can help it, I saved 2 Honey Combs cereal boxes from certain death in the trash can and covered them, blinged them, glued them, cut them...you name it, I did it.  I just bought my new 2011 calendar last night and found it such a pain to try to go through the old calendar searching for dates like birthdays and such that had to be transferred over while weeding through the countless don't forget notes calendars fill up with when you have three kids.  So my 'dates to remember' calendar was born.  I decorated each page for the month and included a generic calendar that I can jot down dates on without it being a Mon, Tues, etc organized type.  For the front page I printed the words 'Dates to Remember' out on vellum and layered it over 1" squares I cut from each of the calendar pages.  Thanks for looking....

(click each pic to see a close up)

It's time to THINK PINK!

Hey all, I'm taking a break here and there to share with you what's going on today at my scrappy table.  I made this pink card in honor of breast cancer awareness month.  I'm actually making several for a fundraiser craft fair.  This isn't even almost all I have to share with you...so stay tuned...YAY for being productive.

I used several challenge to inspire this card coming to be.  I started with the sketch at Unscripted Sketches.    Day 218 of 365 Cards was to use 3 papers from the same line with no plain solids.  These papers are all from the Tim Holtz idea-ology Vintage Shabby paper stack.  The challenge at Raise the Bar is to create a pink card with a cancer awareness or female image.  Secret Crafter's Saturday Challenge is distressing.  This paper line just screams distress me.  So I knew it'd be perfect.  The edges are all distressed and inked with distressing ink as well. 

Whoo hoo for Strawberry Shortcake

This is my first attempt at a swing card.  All of the tutorials I found for this idea spouted about it's super-de-duper easiness.  Dirty rotten fibbers!  LOL.  3 and a half hours and 4 tries later....done!  Pfft!  So enjoy my first and last attempt at these little buggers.  I do so love this digi image though.  I needed a little girls congrats card for my daughter.  Since our favorite thing to read together are her Strawberry Shortcake books...I thought it was PERFECT!

Inspired by the following challenges:

The Play Date Cafe - melon, green white

The Pink Elephant - childhood

Favorite Things - fav fictional character

365 Cards - day 222 fun folds

Fab 'n' Funky Challenges - digi images