Tuesday, September 14, 2010

White core cardstock

Sorry this post is late, back to school and being pregnant has zapped all my energy and time! Anyway, last week at Practical Scrappers was to use white or color core cardstock. I don't think I even realized that color core cardstock existed. I need to get me some! Imagine the possibilities with one color on the outside, and a different color on the inside! Anyway, I do have lots of white core cardstock, which is great for any type of distressing. For this layout, I sanded the frame around the picture to allow the white to show and then I ripped and sanded the pieces of paper behind the picture. Thanks for looking!
The quote is by Abraham Lincoln and says "And in the end, it's not the years in your life that counts. It's the life in your years."

Friday, September 3, 2010

white pen

This week at Practical Scrappers, we had to use our white pens. I don't know about you, but I LOVE my white pen. I use the Signo uni-ball gel pen, and they are fantastic! I love using it for fake stitching, doodling, and especially journaling. On my layout I chose to use it for my journaling against the dark brown cardstock. Thanks for looking, and be sure to check out Practical Scrappers for other great and creative uses of your white pen from their talented design team.

I should also add that I'm pretty sure this layout came from a sketch, but I can't remember who! I always like to give credit where credit is due, so if you know, please leave a comment. Thanks!

Saturday, August 28, 2010

1 layout and a card

Hey everyone! I hope you are enjoying what is left of summer. The temps in upstate NY had started to drop, but this week they are back in the mid to upper 80s. Just in time for me to go back to school! Anyway, I have one layout and a card to share with you today.

This week at Practical Scrappers, we were challenged to use lace cardstock. Although I have some in my stash, I had never used it and was a little worried to. I instantly knew I wanted to do a card and wanted to use this bright purple (although it looks light in the picture) against black cardstock. The only problem, I could not find any patterned paper that had both black and purple! I knew I had a piece, and I couldn't find it! I finally found it in my scraps folder after almost scrapping the whole idea and changing my mind. I wanted to keep in plain and simple with the pattern from the lace and the stripes in the patterned paper. I stamped the image on black cardstock and then used some rhinestones to bling it up a little.


My layout was for sketch Friday at Practical Scrappers. It's based on a sketch by the talented Pia. The journaling reads, "Josh had the opportunity to play golf at the resort in Punta Cana. Even with rental clubs and flip flops he still managed to shoot an 84. The paper is from a relatively new company, Echo Park...I LOVE their papers. So bright and fun!

Thanks for looking and have a fantastic weekend!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Stitching

This is a little late since I didn't really have internet access this weekend, but last week at Practical Scrappers, we had to use stitching. I used machine stitching in my layout and a pre-stitched background page. The sketch is from Julie Bonner. Thanks for looking!

Friday, August 13, 2010

Summer Lovin'

This week at Practical Scrappers, we were challenged to use summer themed products. Surprisingly, I had quite a lot in my stash, but none had just the right amount of "summer" in them. I wanted the summer theme to pop out at you, I wanted more than just bright colors. In the end, I decided on using the Sun Kissed collection from Bo Bunny. I LOVE me so Bo Bunny and this collection was perfect for what I wanted. I love the top patterned paper because it definitely screams summer at you. I used my Fiskars border punch, LOTS of buttons (my favorite) and some Stickles to add texture to some of the circles on the bottom patterned paper. The pictures are from Punta Cana. I hope you all like vacation pictures, because you are probably going to be seeing them for a while...hehe. The layout is based on sketch 115 from Creative Scrappers.


Thanks for looking and have a great weekend!

Friday, August 6, 2010

First project for Practical Scrappers

Happy Friday everyone! This morning I have my first project for the Practical Scrappers Design Team to show you. This week they are celebrating their first anniversary so they are doing a special challenge each day and they are also having a great online crop that you can get involved in! The challenge for today was to you "first" in your layout somehow...first birthday, first house, first anniversary, etc... I decided to scrap a picture I have had for about three years of my husband and I with the top layer from our wedding cake. For the layout I used Glimmer Mist (brown, red, and pink colors...can't remember their specific names) and misted it on a piece of white cardstock. I used the Blush collection by Basic Grey for the strips of patterned paper, and then used flowers for the accent corner. I had a really big flower that I wanted to use, but since it was too big, I folded it and half and used buttons and brads to decorate the flowers. I cut out journaling strips on brown cardstock and used my Cricut for the title. It was a pre-designed cut that said "Happy Anniversary" and was fused together. I just cut the Happy off of the top, cut a 1 out and hand-wrote the st. Thanks for looking and have a great weekend!

Sunday, August 1, 2010

As promised...

I'm back with a layout. I'll save the card for tomorrow or Tuesday. Again, I apologize for being so MIA. There has been A LOT going on lately, and unfortunately I can't share it all quite yet...but soon. I will also be posting more regularly starting this week because my Design Team term with Practical Scrappers officially starts this week. I'm SOOOOO excited to be on their DT and am looking forward to the whole experience for the next few months. Anyway, here is the layout.

The journaling reads: "So proud of this guy because he is such a handyman, DIY, fix it yourself type of guy. For example, replacing the whole kitchen sink the day after moving in. 10/10"
I am also linking this up to Bella Blvd. I think it's too late to officially enter the contest, but they haven't picked winners yet, so I figure it doesn't hurt to try. I hope everyone had a great weekend and thanks for looking!

Friday, July 30, 2010

Sorry I've been MIA

I know I haven't posted in what seems like FOREVER! Between the vacation, getting back into the swing of things at home, company, and having to do some work for well, work, it's been kinda crazy! I promise I will be back this weekend with at least one layout. Maybe even a layout and a card. Hope everyone has been having a great summer!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Still no projects

I admit it, I've been lazy. Well, not completely, but kinda. I haven't scrapped in a little while, but I promise I'll be back. I have been busy cleaning, packing, a trip down to my parents, and finally, a trip to Punta Cana starting tomorrow. I'll post updates throughout the week with some pictures, but since I'll be out of the country there will definitely be no scrapping until I'm back. Hope everyone is having a great start with their week!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Another quick post

Still too hot to do much besides try to stay cool in my air-conditioned bedroom, but I do have some blog candy to tell you about. Go to The Purple Pumpkin for a chance to win some gorgeous homemade embellishments...you'll be glad you did!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Exciting news!

Hello everyone! I have some very exciting news to share with everyone today. After some prompting from my friend, Sara, I decided to apply for the Practical Scrappers Design Team call. Imagine my shock and surprise when I saw this post this morning. Although I usually check my e-mail first thing when I get on the computer in the morning, I had forgotten to this morning so I was quite excited when I clicked on the name Erin and saw it brought me to my blog. I didn't quite believe it at first...haha! I am super excited to be on this DT because they are all about using up the products you have, which is something that all of us as scrappers need to do more often! I may be back with something scrappy a little bit later, but for right now it's too hot to leave the AC of my bedroom. Hope everyone is having a great day!

Friday, July 2, 2010

Short post

Way too tired to actually type much and it has been a LONG day. This is a layout I did using the Practical Scrappers June sketch and their border punch challenge. I know it's a horrible pic and the journaling is completely blown out, but it will have to do. Thanks for looking!

Friday, June 25, 2010

2 layouts

Hey everyone! The first day of summer vacation proved to be productive as I did two layouts. They are both sketches from Stuck?!Sketches and I was going to apply for their DT call, but I decided against it. Anyway, here are the layouts, and thanks for looking. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

This layout was the sketch that you had to use if you wanted to apply for their Creative Team, but again, I decided not to. My friend also challenged me to use one of the flowers from the flower swap we did together and create one of my own flowers. The one with all the layers and the button in the middle is the one from the flower swap and then I made the other two. For the blue one, I simple stamped a brown polka dot stamp and then used a small flower from the Making Memories Noteworthy Collection flowers. For the green fabric flower I used a tutorial I found online. It's super simple and I'll share later, but I've gotta run for now!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Quick altered project

Hey everyone! I just wanted to write a quick post to share an altered project I just finished. I love decorating my scrap room with cute, handmade, crafty projects and I had a big wooden E for my first name that I decided to play with. I had started it a couple months ago, and finally got around to finishing it. I am SO happy with how it turned out! I kept with the theme of my room, which is hot pink and green with accents of white and black. Thanks for looking and I hope you like it!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Sunday

Like my original title...I just didn't have it in me to try and be creative and you'll see why in a minutes. I have another three in one challenge for you today. I combined the "Exercise Machine" challenge from ScrapFit, Curtain Call Color Challenge #34 from Stampin' With Stacey and the sketch challenge from Sketch Inspiration. Trying to make a layout that combined all of those challenges really zapped me from my creative energy, but it was a great because it forced me to go outside of the comfort zone, especially in regards to what colors I put together.

Here is my layout for the three challenges:

As I already said, the sketch was courtesy of Sketch Inspiration.

The challenge from ScrapFit was the use machines. I used my Cricut to cut the oval, I used a punch to round the corners, and I used my Sizzix to emboss the oval.

And finally, the color challenge was the use whisper white, basic gray, sahara sand, dusty durango, and rich razzleberry from SU. I know that Sahara Sand and Rich Razzleberry were both in colors together, but they were hard to put together in big pieces, so I tried to scale it back with those two. Then Basic Grey and Sahara Sand were hard to put together because I usually don't like grey and beige because they clash, so I picked a darker grey. After pulling out ALL of the cardstock and patterned paper I had in these colors and arranging and rearranging, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Thanks for looking and I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

To Do

I LOVE lists, especially to do lists! There is just some strange, triumphant feeling that comes over me whenever I get to cross something off of my to do list. And I'm almost ashamed to admit it, but I am guilty of adding something to my list after it's already finished just so I get the pleasure of crossing it off. I also feel that I work best when I'm held accountable, so I thought I would publish my to do list here. :-) That way you can leave a comment asking if I've gotten something done and if you know me in real life you can text or call me if you want to. So now that I have my caffeine by my side and the music blasting I'm ready to get to work!

- get gas for the car

- wash, dry, fold, and put away ALL laundry

- unload and load back up the dishwasher

- make corrections to one IEP and finish another one

- pick up living room

- spend some time in my scrap room (both organizing/cleaning and scrapping)

- update my contact information with the National Bone Marrow Donor Program

- mow the front yard


Saturday, May 15, 2010

Back again with another LO

Just a quick post today, my scrap room is a mess and I have to get it picked up before the night
is over. This is a layout I did today based on sketch #103 from Creative Scrappers. They have some great sketches and some super talented people designing the sketches and as part of the Design Team! I used October Afternoon paper, the County Fair collection. I LOVE this paper. One of the last times I drove to visit my parents, Josh and I stopped at We B Scrappin so I could pick up some "necessities." When there, I saw the label sheets that went with this set, but they were all sold out of the paper. I searched the internet for months and finally found it at 2Peas. I just knew I had to order it then and there. I'm so glad this paper didn't get away from me. I love the colors, the designs, everything!

Anyway, thanks for looking and I hope you are all having a great weekend!


Thursday, May 13, 2010

Is anybody out there?

I was a little disappointed to come back to my blog today and see that nobody had visited it all week, but that's again. Even if people don't visit, at least I still get to talk...hehe.

Anyway, as promised, I am back again this week, this time with three layouts. They may not be new, new, but they are fairly recent. They are just layouts I had forgotten to take pictures of or layouts I hadn't finished. I'm pretty sure all of the layouts I based on sketches from Julie Bonner, but if I'm wrong and you recognize the sketch, please let me know. I always like to give credit where credit is due.

This first one is a picture of Josh and I down in NYC eating out to celebrate our second wedding anniversary. I did a lollipop flower on this layout and I love how it turned out...although I usually do like how anything turns out once I ink and distress it!

This next one is the layout that I made to display in my scrapbook room on one of the display boards that Creative Memories sells. It matches my room, which is hot pink, lime green, black, and white. It's a picture of Josh and I from hiking last year. I didn't really do anything fancy with this one except I dabbed some Alcohol Inks on the bling to make it fit with the rest of my color scheme.

The last one is one of my most recent favorites. It is a picture of my friend Beth and I at my wedding. She was one of my roommates in college, hence the title Roomies. I did some distressing of the papers by ripping...this is such a cool technique and I love how it came out! I used stickers from Close to My Heart that are white, but you ink over them to get the color you ink, but they have white resist polka dots that stay white. I also made my own flowers and then rubbed clear Stickles on them to cause them to glimmer and shine.

Anyway, thanks for looking and have a great Friday!

Monday, May 10, 2010

Bad blogger, bad!

OK, so once again a week (well, a little more than a week) has passed and I didn't blog once. :-( I don't even really think I have an excuse. Last week was busy, but in a good way because it made the week fly by. This week I anticipate being less busy, which in a way, makes me sad because I'm worried it won't go by as fast.

I hope everyone had a great weekend, mine definitely was! On Friday I went to a baby shower scrapbook night for one of the regulars of our scrappy group and on Saturday we had a scrapbook day at my friend's house. It made for a weekend full of scrappy goodness. :-) Unfortunately on Saturday I started to feel very congested and by this morning it had moved into my chest leaving me with a lovely sounding cough. I went home from work early and have spent much of the day on the couch or chair.

OK, since I made you sit through all of that, I should at least reward you with two layouts that I did this weekend.
Sketch is by PageMaps:

This layout I did for the NSD All Week Challenge at Scrapbook.com. The challenge was to create a layout that wasn't based on a person or pet. I used pictures of my espresso machine, coffee cup, and espresso and syrup flavors. The journaling reads"
Student: "Mrs. McLear, you should drink coffee every morning."
Me: "Why is that?"
Student: "Because you were in a really good mood today!"

It was at that moment, I knew I was a... caffeine addict.

Sketch is by Creative Scrappers:

I am in love with this layout. I have never used Webster pages before, but I think I am starting to fall in love with them. I used a picture that was of me and my grandfather at my wedding almost 4 years ago. This is the last picture that I have of just me and my grandfather before he passed away. I originally planned on doing a lot of journaling about what he meant to me, etc... but I think the title that I made stand out in the corner of Celebrate Life is perfect. I'll use another picture of my grandfather to document all of my thoughts now that he is gone. I love this layout because I still managed to incorporate bold, bright colors with a very vintage paper.

That's all for now, and I promise I will post again this week!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Quilting is infuriating...

Or...
I hate my sewing machine
I need to a door to my crafting room
My crafting room is not conducive to quilting

My blog post today could really have many titles. I went to my first ever quilting class yesterday. And let me just say, it's a good thing I teach special ed. and have developed patience otherwise my sewing machine and the fabric I bought would be out in the trash tonight. But with a good teacher and some good friends who have encouraged me to stick with it, I'll give it a little longer. I'm not sure if the sewing machine is the problem, or if it's human error, but the teacher had to come fix my machine about 5 or 6 times yesterday. Apparently it has tension issues....hmm, like sewer, like machine?

Anyway, even though yesterday was National Scrapbook Day and I did participate in lots of challenges at Scrapbook.com. (And even won one...YAHOO!) I don't have anything scrappy to show you. I did submit a layout to them, but it's not quite posting quality yet, so you'll just have to wait! I do have part of the quilt that I'm working on to show you.


You do have to use your imagination a little bit, but the two white points in the center will eventually form a star. Once I have two more blocks done similar to these, I will put them on the bottom to finish the star. That will form 1 unit. Once I have the 1 unit done, I just need to make 29 more...HAHAHA. It's going in my living room so it doesn't have to be perfect, but I do want it to look somewhat decent. Oh well, maybe this quilt will be done by next winter.

I promise I'll try to be better this week about posting throughout the week, but it's a crazy week at school, so no promises. Have a great Monday!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

A few cards

I'm finally back after a week with a few cards to show you. With vacation ending last Monday I think my creative enjoy got sucked away. I attempted the challenge from 365 Cards from Day 50 (Monday) and every time I looked at it, I walked away. Eventually I knew I had to finish it so I could move on. I still hate the card and nothing worked right with it, but it's finished and I can put it at the bottom of my pile...hehe. Anyway, here are Days 50, 51, 53, 54, and 56. I didn't do all 7 days like last week, but 5 out of 7 isn't bad since I re-entered the real world. Hope everyone had a great weekend and you are prepared for Monday.

Day 50: Digging Deep...the card I HATE! Must use:
1) An item that is more than a year old (the white embroidery thread)
2) Something that you were given that you have never used - this could be from a swap or a gift, but it has to have come from someone else. (the patterned paper)
3) Something you forgot you had.(the cardstock...got it from my scraps folder)

Day 51: Use red, stamp, and alpha stickers. Again, not my favorite by any means, but my mojo was lacking at the beginning of the week!

Day 53: Decorate the front, inside, and back of the card. I thought this would best be done by making a gate fold card. I didn't take a picture of the inside, but you can see the paper and there is a stamped sentiment.

Day 54: Joy-fold Card. I LOVE this card. It looks so complicated, but it's so easy and the result is so pretty. I will definitely be making this card more often!


Day 55: Sketch Sunday. I think this card came out pretty cute and it seriously only took me like 10 minutes from start to finish, which is pretty quick for me.

Thanks for looking!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

365Cards-Day49

Just a quick post today...hubby is giving me the side eye from across the room as it's supposed to be movie time and I'm typing away on the computer. It's been a BUSY weekend, but I still had time to make the card based off of Sketch Sunday. I think it's pretty cute, and I love the strip of paper that says "I am blessed..." It makes it a great multi occasion card because I could put almost anything inside such as "...to have a husband/friend/sister/parent like you." Hope everyone had a great weekend!



Saturday, April 17, 2010

365Cards-Day48

Today is the last day of white space challenges. Yay! But at the same time, I usually rely on sketches, so I just have to get my creative energy ready for the challenge of having to come up with the sketch on my own again. I took the liberty of changing the sketch a little bit because I didn't want to put arrows on my card. So I used my scallop square punch from SU! and of course stamps from The {Stamps} of Life. I once again forced myself to go through my old paper instead of using something new. It's fun to look through old paper because you fall in love with stuff all over again. I even pulled out some and set it aside to use soon on a layout or two! At first I was thinking it would be a good card to send to a man because of the masculine colors, but then I just had to use the flower stamps, so I'm not sure who to send it to. I'll just add it to my ever growing pile and pull it out someday.


I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend so far. Mine has been good, but busy! I washed, dried, folded, and put away 5 loads of laundry, changed the sheets on the bed, went through the hubby's dresser drawers to sort, organize, refold, and toss some stuff, then went through all of my new and old shoes and organized them. I'm hoping the productivity continues and I'll have motivation to keep working in my craft room. Well, I'm off. I'll be back tomorrow with another card!

Friday, April 16, 2010

365Cards-Day47

The card I made for today's white space challenge may be considered cheating because I used a very pretty, but very patterned paper. Because of the colors it is toned down a little bit, but I just couldn't force myself to use a plain piece of paper as the background. Especially since I was challenging myself to use older paper that I have instead of my new stuff. I think it came out very pretty, I'm loving the colors! All of the stamps that I used are from The {Stamps} of Life. If you didn't visit when I put the link in the post the order day, there is also a blinkie in my side bar that will take you to her website. Warning: You will be hooked! Her stamp sets are so pretty, so versatile, affordable, and great quality!



OK, I'm off. Hubby is finishing putting up the new projector screen so that we can actually watch a movie on our projector for the first time since we moved into the new house! I hope everyone had a great Friday. I met a friend for lunch and some shopping at the mall and then went an got a massage. It was a great day out, but unfortunately I got nothing accomplished in my craft room except this card. I have a feeling it's going to be a busy weekend! Have a great weekend everyone!

Edit: I'm also linking this card up to the Sisterhood of Scrap Blog Hop: Marker Challenge. I used my SU! markers on all the stamps. The one in the center of the middle circle was just one stamp so I colored it using Chocolate Chip and Tempting Turquoise.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Stampin' Up Color Renovation


Although some of you may already have seen or heard, beginning this summer Stampin' Up! is introducing a Color Renovation. What's that you ask? Well, I'll tell ya!

For the past one and a half years, the talented people at SU have been busy researching color and developing a new color palette. And while I'm a little bummed since I just became a demonstrator in October and have spent a lot of money on markers, inks, and cardstock in the old color palette, I'm impressed and excited with the new color choices. So without further ado, let me introduce the changes to you.

Currently, SU! has 5 In Color colors a year, as well as their 7 Neutrals, 12 Bold Brights, 12 Earth Elements, 12 Rich Regals, and 12 Soft Subtles. With the changes, there will be 10 colors each in the following collections: Brights, Neutrals, Regals, and Subtles. If you are doing the math in your head, you may be saying, "But Erin, that means that not all the colors are being carried over." Yes, you are correct. Only 25 of the original colors will be carried over, 10 former In Colors will be returning, and there are 5 brand new colors! There will still be In Colors, however. The new In Colors will now have a lifespan of 2 years instead of just one, and they are still introducing 5 new ones a year.

Here are some of the changes I am most excited
- brand new colors: Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight, Cajun Craze, Cherry Cobbler, and Early Espresso
- return of Pink Pirouette, Pacific Point, and Baja Breeze
- staying of Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry, and Soft Suede
- Kraft is now called Crumb Cake and will be available in ink, as well as paper

For more information, I have included a nice visual which lists all of the colors. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me!

Also, here is a visual of the colors that are being retired. If any of your must have colors are on this list, contact me soon to place an order and stock up before they are no longer available!
*I know that both images are small. With the first image, you can click on it to enlarge the image. Unfortunately, I can seem to make the second image do the same.*

365Cards-Day46

Yep, you guessed it, another white space challenge. When I saw the big arrow on the card, I instantly thought, hmm, I'll just take one of my big chipboard arrows, cover it with paper, and call it a day. And then I got thinking...the point of doing these challenges isn't necessarily to make it quick and easy, but more to do a whole think outside the box approach. I must admit, this totally wasn't my idea. Vicky, one of the FABULOUS DT members for 365 cards came up with the card, and I "borrowed" many of her ideas. Overall I like how the card came out. I used the fun, vibrant Lime Rickey collection by Basic Grey, the SU! pinking hearts border punch, and a stamp set from The Stamps of Life that I just got in the mail today. I am totally in love with the stamp sets from Stephanie, go check them out!

I'll hopefully be back tonight with some fun and exciting news from Stampin' Up! and maybe some before and after pictures of my craft room. Thanks for looking and have a great Thursday!

I am also linking this card to the Sisterhood of Scrap Blog Hop. The challenge from April 14 was to use a punch, any type of punch. On this card I used my border punch, my tiny circle punch to create the buttons, and my 1 3/8 circle punch, all from SU!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

365Cards-Day 45

On today's agenda...more white space challenges. This one was a struggle because apparently I am triangle impaired. I kept telling myself it was really just like half squares to put together, but I am not a spacial person so I guess I couldn't visualize the squares behind the triangles. Anyway, it's done, and I think it is pretty cute. I figured that since I did a Father's Day card the other day I should make a Mother's Day card today. I did play around with my new SU! toy and emboss the cardstock with one of the texture plates. I'm excited to get my polka dot texture folder so then I can play with that, but until it gets shipped from being on backorder I'm content to play around with the other ones I have.


I hope everyone enjoyed their day today. I was supposed to do some hard-core work in my craft room including cataloging all of my SU! stamp sets, organizing paper, finding storage for my new quilting fabrics, etc, etc. but the weather was so nice that I sat out on the deck for a couple hours reading The Pact by Jodi Picoult. After lunch a friend called me and I went to chat with her for about an hour at a local park. After that relaxing afternoon in the sun I met Josh in Potsdam to look for a new chandelier/light for the dining room. The one that is up now is some hideous, old fashioned ceiling fan. This was the first time in a long time that Josh and I didn't fully agree on something related to decor, so we both had to make some compromises, but all in all I like what we got. Since we had a coupon and a gift card, we also decided to buy three new lamps for the living room. We both really liked what we have, but the cats put a dent in one and we wanted a third lamp anyway now that we have 3 end tables. It was also a good trip because I got First Crush for dinner. I do miss that restaurant now that I don't like in Potsdam anymore.

OK, I'm going to attempt to get to bed at a somewhat normal time to slowly transition myself for when vacation is over next week. Have a great Thursday everyone!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

365Cards-Day 44

This whole at 365 Cards they are doing white space challenges. I have really enjoyed participating in the challenges recently because it forces me to go outside of my comfort zone. Today's sketch white space challenge was easier than yesterday's, but I still kept wanting to add more "stuff!"

I can't even tell you how many times I stamped the two images and it just didn't work. Either the swirl was too dark, the sentiment was too light, or it was crooked! I originally tried to swirl in Melon Mambo and the sentiment in Soft Suede, but I decided I needed to switch it. Then I used a stamp off technique. Meaning I stamped the swirl twice on a scrap piece of paper, and then a third time on the actual piece used so it would be a nice toned down color.

OK, it was a long day that started too early after not enough sleep, so it's bedtime for this girl!

Monday, April 12, 2010

365 Cards-Day 43

Today's challenge over at 365 was another sketch challenge. Except this time there was lots of white space. I realized that maybe I'm a little bit white space challenged. And this was after just telling someone on Saturday not to be afraid of white space...haha. I picked out very masculine colors for the card so I thought I would be perfect for a Father's Day card.



I promise the ribbon is not as crooked as it appears in the picture. It may be a little crooked, but not nearly as much as it looks in the picture. I'm also thinking of distressing the tag. Maybe taking it off and sanding the edges and crumpling it up...what do you think?

Attention Scrapbook Fans

I just have a quick announcement that I want to share with all of you. If you are on Facebook, go become a fan of Clip It Up by Simply Renee. They are having a promotion right now that if they hit 1000 fans by this Friday, April 15 they will have a 50% off sale for all of their products! I love the Clip It Up and currently have the main model as well as the smaller extension model for up top. I'm especially excited about the prospect of their 50% off sale because I need more clips. Clips is one of those scrapbooking products like adhesive and albums that you need to buy, but you would so much rather spend money "fun" products. So a half off sale is a great opportunity to buy something that is needed, but save some money.

And because no post is complete without at least one picture, here is a picture of my Clip It Up. I will try to be back tonight with my card for the 365 Card Challenges, but today has been a day of unpacking my stuff from the crop so I haven't done any crafting.




So go, now, become a fan of the Clip It Up on Facebook!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Triple Scraptasking

Some of you are probably looking at my title and thinking, "What in the world is scraptasking?!" Well, I will tell you. :-) It's my new word for multitasking while scrapping. I had three card challenges that I found and I wanted to complete all three, but unfortunately a girl can't spend all her time scrapping, especially with in laws coming to dinner and spending time away from the hubby scrapbooking all day yesterday. So, I made one card that satisfied all the requirements for the three challenges. That's what I call productivity!

All show you the card first and then I'll link it up to all the challenges.


Challenge One: Day 42 at 365 Cards. Today is Sketch Sunday and this was the sketch they gave us to work with.

Challenge Two: This was a Curtain Call Color Challenge. You had to use the colors Green Galore, Pixie Pink, Whisper White, Only Orange, and Yo-Yo Yellow. It primarily has pink, yellow, and green in it, but there is a little bit of white and orange in the butterfly.

Challenge Three: Sisterhood of Scrap is hosting a Blog Hop and Crop. Today Cindy gave us the challenge to use at least three supplies that were older than a year. The Urban Prairie by Basic Grey about a year and a half old, the chipboard butterfly that I covered with paper is something I've definitely had over a year, and the yellow string has been in my collection for who knows how long.

Thanks for looking and have a great Monday tomorrow!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

365 Cards- Day 41

Today I went to an all day crop at my friend Sara's house. I always have SO much fun when I'm there. Some days I may not even get much scrapping done, but it's just a great time to sit and talk with all my scrappy friends. I am so thankful I found this amazing group of women shortly after Josh and I moved to this area. Sara is an amazingly talented scrapper and such a great person that it's always a good time to have the opportunity to hang out with her and and learn from her "awesomeness" as I like to call it. :-)

Although I did do a lot of talking today, I still managed to get two cards and two layouts done. I'll show you one card today, and I'll save the rest for a little later. The card that I'm going to show you fulfills the requirements for Day 41 on 365 Cards:
Add glitter to the tips or to the entire blossom to create your own fancy embellishments.


And here is my card. I had this Prima flower that I bought a while ago, but just never used it. I sprayed some clear Glimmer Mist on it to make it glittery. For those of you who have never tried Glimmer Mist, I strongly recommend it. I felt that the plain pink background was too plain, so I took a stamp from my Itty Bitty Backgrounds from Stampin'! Up! and made the background on the pink paper.

Thanks for looking!

Friday, April 9, 2010

Day 40: Friday 5

Yep, that's right. I'm back again with another blog post. I think this must be a new record for me. Or maybe it's all the free time I have now because today was the first day of Spring Break. And although I should be cleaning upstairs because the in-laws are coming for dinner Sunday and I will be gone scrapping all day tomorrow, I was in the mood to scrap, so scrap I did. :-)

Anyway, here is my card for today. It's for the challenge Friday Five over at 365 Cards. I have been following this blog for the longest time, but I just started participating in the challenges yesterday. And although Pam can come up with some wacky things, you gotta give her credit for being able to come up with all different ideas every single day!

Here was today's challenge:
There must be 5 of 5 things on your card:
5 different colors
5 buttons
5 patterned papers
5 stamps
5 blossoms

And here is my card:


It may not look like it meets the requirements, but trust me, it does:
5 different colors: In the buttons I made out of patterned paper, there are white, pink, teal, yellowish-orange, and tannish-brown.
5 buttons: I made 4 out of patterned paper and have a read one on the flower punch.
5 patterned papers: 4 are used for the paper buttons and the 5th one is from the flower.
5 stamps: I used stamps primarily to make the background paper. I have three different flower stamps that I used as well as a leafy stamp. Then the sentiment is my 5th stamp.
5 blossoms: 1 punch, and then I technically have 9 blossom stamps on the pink paper.

Have a great weekend!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

As promised

Here is the update I promised in my last post. And I know how busy I have been is no excuse for not posting in over a year, but oh well! So here is a month by month recap of what's been going on in my life (or almost month by month)

February-May: So last time I posted I was in my last semester of working on my second Masters degree, this one in special education. I officially finished classes for the degree in early May and graduated with a 4.0. Go me!!! A week after graduation I had to have a second knee surgery on my knee to remove the cartilage that had been sewn back together in my first surgery. You would have thought I would have had plenty of time to rest and blog, but I was either doped up on pain meds or in too much pain to really sit in my scrapbook room to actually scrap.

June: This was a very exciting month for me. I applied at a local school district for a special education position, and within a week or two of sending out the application I was hired! I am working as a 12: 1: 1 teacher with seventh and eighth grade students of varying abilities/disabilities. It's a challenge and there have been days that I thought "What the heck am I doing?", but after almost a year in I can safely say I love it, I love the district, and it's absolutely what I am supposed to be teaching.

July: I had to do student teaching through a summer program for my Master's degree. I can safely say that was the longest, shortest month EVER if that makes sense. I didn't think it would ever end, but I had so much work to keep me busy that it flew by!

August: Busy preparing my classroom and attending lots of days of workshops.

September and October: Those two months are a blur and I don't remember much. Besides getting settled in a new district I wasn't familiar with, and being on my own in a special ed. classroom, Josh and I decided to look for our first house! After both turning 28 in October we closed on a house the last week in October and moved in Halloween weekend. October was also an exciting month because I became a Stampin' Up! independent demonstrator. I have always loved Stampin' Up and decided to make the plunge to become a demonstrator. So be on the lookout for updates from SU and my SU creations!

November-present: As I'm sure all of you homeowners out there can relate with, there is ALWAYS a project to do around the house. We built a scrapbook room for my down in the basement and putting up boards for walls, drywall, sub floor, flooring, painting, decorating, moving in furniture, and unpacking all my scrapbook stuff took quite a while! We are also almost completely redoing the other parts of the basement including the bathroom, building Josh an office, and creating his "man cave." In fact, as I'm typing this in my gorgeous new scrapbook room, Josh is busy putting up walls for the utility closet area.

OK, this post is getting a little long and it's time for me to go relax. I promise I will try to be better at posting on a more regular basis. Bye for now!

Hello again blog land!

OK, so I know it has been over a year since my last post. I've been busy...I promise I'll update a follow up post to let you all know what I have been up to.

But first, something scrappy to show you. :-) I created this card using the Offbeat collection by Basic Grey, including the rub-ons. I made this card for the "Totally Transfered" challenge over at 365 Cards. This was my first time completing a challenge for them, but I was in a scrappy mood, most of my stuff is packed for a crop I'm going to on Saturday, and pulling out all the rub-ons I forgot I had sounded like fun. So, without further ado, here is my card.


I just got the Sizzix Big Shot yesterday, so I had to play with one of the dies I got with it. It's a very simple card, but I'm still pretty pleased with how it came out. Nice, springy, and certain to make someone smile when they receive it. :-) Thanks for reading and have a great night!