Stash-a-Thon #1

Hey fellow scrappers!!!  I'm ALIIIIIIIIVE!!!!!!!  It's been a tough month and a half dealing with a medical issue and then a related abdominal surgery 2 weeks ago.  It knocked me for a loop for sure.  I have been created a little here and there prior to my surgery, but it was all for projects I can't share yet, so I decided I'd better get to a project I *can* share.

Queue Scrap our Stash's Stash-a-Thon and their month of fun, prizes and challenges.  I decided to jump in head first and get to creating.  They are posting a new challenge every other day so I'll have lots to share. First up is a layering challenge.  The details instruct you to use at least 3 layers.  I used more than that if you count embellishments and all.  I have my background paper, 3 layers of patterned paper/vellum in each cluster, plus 3+ layers of embellishments.  The paper is all Crate Paper.

If the layout of this looks familiar, it's because it follows an older sketch created by Laura Whitaker and posted over at Stuck!? Sketches.  I can't find the exact link but I at least took note of where I found it when I printed it.  :)  

Thanks for visiting!

♥

A look back... A surge forward.

Well lookie who is trying to crawl back out from the mayhem, stress, and utter exhaustion that has been my life for the better part of the last year.  As most of you read a few posts back, my youngest daughter fell from a piece of playground equipment at preschool last May and suffered neurological problems that have required ongoing treatment.  Followed by discovering an undiagnosed congenital malformation of the pituitary gland in the brain that requires frequent medical tests, appointments, treatments, and shots (super fun trying to make a 3yr old understand daily shots..lemme tell you). Add to that 6+ hours twice a week spent at our local children's hospital an hour from home for said appointments including lots of physical therapy and I'm spent.  Did I mention I also have a 4th grader and a 7th grader who need just as much attention as before???  Well once I put it all in print, it's a little easier to understand why I went AWOL from every social media that couldn't be managed easily from a waiting room on my phone.

Things still aren't calming down much even though baby girl and I are getting our routine and tolerance of her medical helmet down pat, but something over winter break snapped in me.  No, not splashed all over the 10pm news kinda snapped, just a revelation of sorts.  There are LOTS of moms and dads with special needs children who still manage to have an identity outside of that.  My goal for this new year is to figure out just how to do that.  No better place to start than jumping right in....right?  So I printed off a goal planner and set baby steps.  Things may not be able to get back to the business of challenges, design teams, and my etsy ventures, but I can and WILL find time to document the memories my family is making inspite of the mayhem.

To kick off my mojo, I would like to jump on the bandwagon of sharing my 13 favorite projects from 2013.  Not a hard task since I stopped cold turkey even going INTO my scrappy space last spring, but I did find 13 things I loved from last year that I'd like to share.  Did you share your favorite(s) from last year on your blog?  If so leave a link in my comments because I'd love to come see them if I haven't found them already!  :) :)  

thirteen

twelve

eleven

ten

nine

eight

seven

six

five

four

three

two

one

Thanks for visiting!

♥

Thank you from the bottom of my ♥

I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who emailed, posted to my FB/twitter, etc sending well wishes for our family.  As some of you know my 3yr old had a bad fall on the playground last month at preschool and knocked her noggin for a loop and broke her sweet little nose.  She's been having scary side effects since that would suggest neurological trouble.  A last minute DRs appt Friday ended us up admitted to the local children's hospital for 5 days.  We made it home late last night, but it'll be a long road ahead of outpatient care.  The CT scan, tons of blood work (seriously this kid is covered in 30+ bandaids from IVs and blood draws), 2 sedations, and MRI tests all show that her post concussive syndrome will get better with time, but for the next year or so she has to wear a helmet...unless she's laying/sitting for long periods with hand-to-hand supervision.  She wasn't having it at first, but after learning she could sticker that puppy up to her heart's content...she LOVES it!

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, the tests showed a problem in her sweet little head (the pituitary gland to be specific) that is wreaking havoc on lots of her other systems.  Something we would have struggled to get to the bottom on more and more as she grew up, but now we accidentally happened upon it and can be very proactive to minimize the affect it has on her life.  So I'm definitely counting it as a blessing!  A long road ahead of us, but I'll take manageable and treatable over the alternatives you will see in a children't hospital for sure!!!!

I love this blog as well as my time away from the stress I find in paper crafting myself.  So I don't plan on anything changing here.  I also have enjoyed every bit of my work on my design teams and my own challenge blog.  Although I have been a bit slow in mailing stuff out, commenting and responding to messages, I am still getting there.  I can't imagine ever giving any of this up, especially when I am more thankful than ever for my sweet little peas and this hobby is all about them!

I just wanted to thank you all for the support.  And Ms. Allie wants to thank everyone who came and visited her during our week at the hospital and who called, emailed sweet messages and sent her cards.  I promise you that you all made what was an otherwise traumatic week for her, a lot brighter.

♥ The Skinner family

Thanks for visiting!

♥

SYS: Selfies (and a tutorial)

Hey everyone.  Sorry I'm behind on today's posts...  my littlest fell on the playground at preschool last month and broke her nose and this morning she had a checkup to see how healing is going.  A checkup that I only remembered 30 minutes before it was scheduled...and we live 20minutes away...and we were still in PJs.  Whoops!!!!  So I didn't have time to get all my posts finalized in the race out of door.  On the bright side, however...healing is going BEAUTIFULLY!  ♥

Thanks for the patience.  The layout below is all My Mind's Eye papers and embellies, with the exception of the buttons which were Studio G and the blue letters that are Thickers.  It is my DT project for this week's stamping challenge at Scrap Your Story.  I've done this stamping technique a few times and had comments on how I got it done so below I'll share.  I also followed along with S.W.A.T. Drill #7 by following the top row of the bingo board stamping, doodling and 3 buttons.  My doodling (there are hearts doodled along the top, the right, and the top corner as well as inside of a few hexagons with a white gel pen) goes along with this week's Paper Girls challenge as well.

Now for the promised how-to.  You will notice in several of my recent layouts I had a thick white stamped pattern on the background.  Such as these:

 

Well on my layout this week there is a hexagon stamped with the same technique on some of the patterned paper squares.  How did I do it?  Easy peasy.....  Start with these supplies: 

acrylic paint

foam brush

embossing folder

I like to add glitter in the paint sometimes.  Doesn't show up well in photos, but in person it's a subtle, but awesome touch.  I also like to use paper plates to spread the paint out on if I am adding glitter.  If I'm not, then you can just put a dab directly on the foam brush.  Then you sponge (dab not wipe) the paint onto the embossing folder of your choice.  Just one side.  Keep in mind that whether you choose the embossed or debossed side will decide if you get the outline of the pattern or the solid shape of the pattern.  After dabbing it on, you can turn it over and use it to stamp your pattern on.  If you sponge it on thicker in some places and try to be a little sloppy with your edges it will only add to the distressed look...which I totally dig.  And no worries...if you wash your folder under the faucet in warm dish-soapy water...it comes perfectly clean.  If you leave it for more than half and hour you may need to scrub a little, but if you hop up as soon as you are done..it literally just rinsing right away...even in the little crevices.  :)

If you give it a try, shoot me a link in the comments...I'd love to come see!!!!  :) :) :) 

Thanks for visiting!

♥

New Ways to Follow...

As some of you may have heard, Google has decided to shut down their popular Google Reader application.  Not sure if that will mean an end to the 'blogs I follow' list at the bottom of my dashboard or just the use of the Reader you can choose to view them with on the right side just above that list.  But to be safe, I've imported my massive fav blogs list into a new reader.  Feel free to continue to 'follow' me through Google in case that list doesn't disappear, but you can also follow me via BlogLovin' by clicking below (the button is also in the sidebar).  I also have a 'follow by email' link to the right, but now sure the status on that come July considering it's run by Google Feedburner?  If you have any input at all about this big Google announcement, I'd love to hear about it....comment below!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Thanks for visiting!

♥

Blog Overhaul

Any of you that may have visited my home here in blogdom, may have noticed that it's been having a bit of an identity crisis.  I've flipped, I've flopped.  I've gone sunshiney yellow (my personal fav color), I've gone black and white, hot pink and a whole rainbow of designs in between.  All I knew for sure was I wanted something pretty and colorful, yet soft and not too distracting.  That's quite the combo of ideals, huh?!  Well I think I found a happy middle ground that I am loving more and more each time I hit reload.

In the name of a good make-over I updated my headshot, reworked my bio (just click 'about me' in the link bar above) and added links just over there -----> where you can see where else I hang out in online.  I have 5000+ pins all neatly placed between dozens of OCD friendly boards that you can eyeball by clicking on the banner with the 'P' on it.  My online gallery is now hosted at 2Peas, but can still be found by clicking the flicker banner (someone needs to get on making a set of social media icons that includes a 2Peas button...just sayin'!) And for those that would like to play nice and make friends with a fellow paper-crafter, click the banner with a 'T' on it to be transported to my spot in Twitterverse.  As an added bonus, I gave my Twitter profile a matching facelift!

There is not much I enjoy more than sitting at a desk filled with beautiful patterned papers, rich tones of cardstock and awesome textured embellishments and being able to translate memories into keepsakes for the people that have given me all of my most prized memories.

So, with that said... I would LOVE your feedback on the new blog design I've put together.  How are the fonts and text colors to read?  Are the colors eye-catching enough?  Too overwhelming?  Images the right proportion?  And also, how does it display on other devices/broswers?  I have Chrome and it looked fine on my laptop and hubby's netbook that also runs Chrome, but would be curious if it looks a-ok across the board. The elements are all created from freebies found on Cutest Blog on the Block and credited to VNdigital art.

Thanks for visiting!

♥

Cut It Up

Hey all, boy do I have some exciting news to share today!  You all know that I'm a sucker for a good challenge blog.  It helps keep me on my toes and learn new techniques and find inspiration in just about every project I set out to create.  One of my new favorites is Cut It Up Challenge blog because I am a Cricut newbie and it's helping me remember to bust it out (and my Cricut for that matter that was lost in the land of embossing folders for too long) when working on my cards and layouts.  Well boy was I excited when I was selected to be on their design team this term.  Like super-duper, embarrassing dance around my living room excited.  LOL  Click on over here to see the rest of the big announcement...



Thanks for visiting!

♥

Scrap Your Story Challenges!!!

Hi all!  Hope everyone is doing great.  I've been spending the past few days making new sketches, so no scrappy stuff to share today, but I do have some exciting news....A NEW SCRAPPY CHALLENGE BLOG!!!

There are tons out there that cater to card makers, but the layout challenges are beginning to dwindle sadly.  So it's awesome to have a new one joining the ranks to play along with.  I hope you'll all agree and pop over and take a look around, click follow even, and while you are there we are doing a give-a-away to help spread the word and a DT call!!!

Each week we will alternate between challenge types and once a month you will find one of my sketches as the starting point for inspiration!!  There will be a weekly top 3, a monthly prize to win, and lots of designers to inspire.  Tons of fun...don't miss out!!!



Thanks for visiting!

♥

Pssssst.....

I don't want to toot my own horn or anything, but....okay, I can't take it anymore....TOOT TOOT TOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!!!!!!  Please clicky on over to the ScrapFIT challenge blog today to see my feature.  It was such an honor to have my Ms. Money Bags layout picked as a fav over there, and it was even more awesome when they told me I'd get to have a whole feature posted over there.  I did THE most embarrassing whoohoo-dance, in the middle of my car dealer's service department no less.  Hee hee.  So please click over and take a look:

ScrapFIT

Thanks for visiting!

♥

2012 A Year in Review

I really can't believe another year has come to an end.  Amazing how it seems to start off so slow, but then Halloween to New Years is such a blur!  I wanted to take a moment to look back on some of my favorite projects that I've created over the past 12 months.  You can click the picture to go to the original post. :)

Favorite Card

Favorite Mini

I'm sharing this one with ABAC's year in reviewdesign team project!  Click the pic to go to theoriginal post to see the full series of inside pictures!

Favorite Layout

Favorite Off the Page Paper Creation

Favorite Non Scrappy Project

Favorite Gift

Thanks for visiting!

♥Christy

Elf-Capades 2012

I had several people email me and ask if I was going to share the fun that Buddy, our Elf on the Shelf had with us this year.  For those that follow me on Twitter (the link is in the about me tab above), there were daily updates.  I still wanted to post them all in a single place.  :)  Our elf got into a little mischief, had a lot of fun, and even left us several sweet gifts.  The kids miss him, but hopefully he'll be back next year....as long as they still believe!!!  :)

Day 1: Buddy created a hot wheels traffic jam!

Day 2: Played a game of Scrabble using all wintery words.

Day 3: He left us seeds that when planted in sugar became cookie pops.*

Day 4: Yes, he really took EVERY pillow in the house to create his mountain.

Day 5: Teepeeing the entire living room, not cool Buddy!

Day 6: Katie was at a sleepover so Buddy made himself at home in her bed.

Day 7: Recreated the North Pole Village with Little People.

Day 8: Catching up on his fav winter sports with ESPN.com and SportsCenter.

Day 9: How thoughtful, a new ornament frame...with a self portrait.  HEE HEE

Day 10: Taking very good care of Baby Doll Anabelle.

Day 11: He made some additions to Mommy's grocery list...sugar anyone???

Day 12: He left the kids their "Official Elf Reports". *

Day 13: We woke up to a donut delivery, complete with a Buddy sized one! *

Day 14: Crepe paper across all of their bedroom doors.  

Day 15: Having a little too much fun with the copier.

Day 16: Guarding the presents.

Day 17: Playing in the girl's BLING.

Day 18: Scaling the cabinets to his hidden stash of candy.

Day 19: Counting down to Christmas...TEN DAYS!!!

Day 20: Jammin' to Daddy's tunes.

Day 21: We found Buddy in the car with Christmas tunes on BLAST.

Day 22: He brought the kids some of their favorite candy canes.

Day 23: A note to say "Hi".

Day 24: He must have been worried about missing his ride home.

Day 25: Trying to get out to play in our first snow.

Day 26: Fine tuning his Super Mario Bros skills.

Day 27: Tower of cookies!

Day 28: He left us a new movie to watch on Christmas Eve and a goodbye letter.*

*On Day 2 there was a wrapped baggy of seeds (mini M&Ms) left next to his Scrabble game.  We planted them in sugar and woke up the next morning to cookie pops.  Learn from my trial and BIG OL' ERROR....put the sticks in before you bake.  :)  

*Here is the 'Official Elf Report' Buddy left on Day 12.  I downloaded and then made some changes in my paint program to change the year (though I found after she'd posted a 2012 version as well) and to make the checked items things that were important to us and I changed to columns to say Naughty, Nice and Close Call.  Also I didn't want them to think this was it for them, so at the bottom they say Nice List PENDING rather than deciding between naughty or nice.  CLICK HERE to see the original which is a free download and make the changes that work for you or you can right click and save my version if you wish.  

*The Buddy sized donut is simply a cheerio that is frosted with a powdered sugar/water paste and sprinkles!

*I thought the goodbye letter was very important.  One of my kiddos asked how come they would get on the naughty list for making a mess like that, but when Buddy does it we laugh.  So I made sure to explain his mischief in the letter.  I know the original idea for Elf on the Shelf was simply to provide Santa's eyes and ears in each house to help kiddos remember to behave, but our elf has fun each night when he is 'alive'.  To me, getting to see my kids faces each morning race through the house searching for Buddy and lighting up when they see what he's done now is a way to extend the magic of Christmas all month long.  For the letter I just opened Microsoft Word (I'm sure many programs have this capability too, but this came free on my computer) and added a watermark picture of Buddy really faded out.  Here is the text from our letter from Buddy:

Dear ________________, 

I have really enjoyed being your elf the past two years and I am so glad that you adopted me so that I can come back each year to see how much you have grown.  I know I am supposed to just sit on a shelf somewhere and watch quietly so that I can report back to Santa if you have been naughty or nice, but when I see how much fun you all have playing with each other, it makes me wish I could play with you too!  So sometimes when I get a little bored at night, I play with your things and pretend I am playing with you.

You guys were so good this year, but if you could try just a little harder next year that would be great.  I don't like seeing Santa get cross when I have to tell him that you have been fighting or not doing what your parents ask sometimes and there were a few times I was really worried Santa was going to move you to the Naughty List.

I know you have a quiet Christmas Eve planned and I wanted to help you make it a special evening.  So when you are making cookies for Santa (make sure you leave an extra one for me to munch on during my trip back north), brew some hot cocoa and watch this movie together as a family.

Love you all, 

Buddy

Thanks for visiting!

♥