Some unexpected things fell in my lap well after signing up to do LOAD this month. I'm going to do my best to keep up with both the LO's and blog posts, but it just may not happen.

LOAD2-  Describe your perfect day.  I did a page about my husband.  I didn't describe his perfect day.  I created a a page celebrating an accomplishment that was perfect for him. He was asked to work hard, and that if he did, he would be recognized for his efforts. He did, and he was rewarded in front of his peers and leaders.  He asked me not to post it online, so I have a portion of the page to share.

My idea was to take the same photo and print it 3 ways to show how he was trying to make a difference.

Supplies: 

PP-MME, AC; embellies-AC, word stickers-Theresa Collins; stencils-Crafters Workshop; spray mist-Mister Huey

LOAD3--Focus on an important but overlooked item.  I decided to focus on....ME.  I get so busy and focused on my family, that I don't take care of me. Oh, and yes, I did read The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin...

Again it was one of those days where I didn't get to begin until 7pm, but I was able to get 'er done.  Everything on the page is the Fancy Pants 'Be You' collection.  I purposely bought it to use for pages about me.  It's the only time I ever get to use pink!   I decided to try a new place this month, SWAT and their first challenge was to get out from behind the camera...so I did,

LOAD 1 / Summer Lovin'

Weekends.  Weekends are not for free time for me....so even though I have 2 LO's finished from Friday, this is the first chance I've had to sit down to write about them! One of them anyway...

It's Feb, which means my annual attempt at LOAD.  I got day one finished at 8pm.  The prompt?  a wordless page.  Use products that enhance the photo so words are not necessary. Yeah, you try that.  It was hard.  So I decided to challenge myself to create the mood on the page, but then I added a title and journaling afterwards.

Anyway, I was so happy to be able to use a sketch #99 from Sketches in Thyme. I loved this sketch when I saw it. Of course I had to use my signature 4x6 instead of smaller photos.  It worked out well. I  also put my own spin on Frosted Designs weekly challenge to use at least one heart and the word love  on the page. I'm not one to do pink and girly Valentine pages.  This is for sure different.

This is how it looked when I added it to the LOAD gallery. (like I said, 8pm, so very nad, very dark photo).  Happy photos needed some bright happy products. I think I accomplished this.  Lots of Washi Tape, bright background and fun bold colored polka dot paper.  I thought about creating a sun, but didn't want to fight with the banner, so I just created the twine circle instead.

I added a title and some journaling. I couldn't just leave it alone....

Supplies: CS-The Paper Co 

PP-Pebbles

Washi tape-Recollections, Queen & Co, WRMK, 7 Gypsies

Stickers-AmyTangerine/AC

Twine-Doodlebug

Alphas-Thickers/AC

beads-random

Introducing....

Good Friday Feb 1 to you!  I'm pleased to be part of opening day at  About a  Boy! Our first challenge is a fun one. Introduce us to the boy(s) in your life. 

I did something I've never done before.  I took apart a LO I made last February and used some of the parts on a new LO.  I really never liked the page, had made it in a hurry, just yuck.  Here is the page I took apart. I'm not sure if I meant to add 2 small photos or was going to add it to his baby album. Regardless. Ick!

I had the vellum pieces custom printed a few years ago.  I thought they would be a good way to Introduce my older son on the new LO.

I try not to use his name too much online, but you get to see it here.  I love his name. It really suits him. My sister took this photo, it is a favorite of mine.  I had some scraps from another LO I finished, so I decided to do a grid.  Not a straight grid, a slightly off kilter grid.  I replaced the flower brads on the vellum with plain green ones, added some meaningful word stickers onto the photo, splattered some paint and called it a day.  There is no extra journaling. The name definition is enough. It's a little personal, but I'm happy to share.

Please come join us at About A Boy, and introduce us to the boy(s) in your life.

Suplies:

CS-Bazzill

PP-Fancy Pants

stickers-Cosmo Cricket, Fancy Pants

mist-Tattered Angels

ink-ColorBox

brads-making memories

vellum name-custom

Kindling the Lights

Well, it's taken me 4 weeks into the new year, but I think I am finding my groove again.  I am one of those people that gets more done when there is more to do.  Some of it may get sone at the last second, but it all gets done.  Take this page for example.  I started thinking about it about 2 weeks ago, but didnt sit down to work on it until Sunday.  That's ok. Art, therapy, (whatever you want to call my scrapping) has a process.

I am hosting this week's Issue Challenge at Club CK.  The challenge is to create a LO using mobile phone technology and/or social media.  It's funny. I've done this before, but when I have to stop and make myself do something for a purpose, I get stuck.  I even had to go back to the Jan/Feb Issue and re-read it.  So, what to do, what to do. I don't use Instagram (gasp!). I've created LO's using a blog post, and email already.  I do like to use Hipstamatic on my iPhone.  Ok. Done. I decided on this:

My older son took these on the last night of Hanukkah using Hipstamatic. One uses the 70s filter, the other uses an 80s filter.  I printed them at home 4x4. What can I say, I like larger photos. The sketch is inspired by the Sketch It Out Challenge, also at Club CK.  The colors are off because of the filters so I chose kraft and black to keep it fairly neutral.  I didn't want it to be so solid, adding the houndstooth paper accomplished that.  I often like to play on the subject, so I thought it would be fun to use the fire stencil.  I outlined it, then painted it using a few different mists. Playing again, I used the number washi tape, tearing it off at '8'. I painted the letters in "light', but the yellow was too bright. While they were still wet, I sprinkled gold glitter over them.  I tried to mist  the background, to give it some shimmer, but it didn't show up very well.  Lastly, I added the bits of orange. It both complements and contrasts the rest of the colors.

Supplies:

CS-paper by the pound

PP-Belle Blvd

Punch-EK Success

Stencil-Crafters Workshop

Mists-Studio Calico and Tattered Angels

Bling-MAMBI

Tape-Bella Blvd, Recollections, Darice

Pen-EK Success

Alphas-Sticko, Cosmo Cricket, Thickers

Glitter-Martha Stewart

All Aboard

All Aboard the Mama Train....yep, that's me. The Mama. Everyone loves The Mama in my house. Want to see?

This is my entry for this week's Issue Challenge at Club CK.  The challenge was to lift one (or more) of the Moderators.  Totally fun!  I lifted my ideas from Laurie's Gallery.  Laurie uses lots of white space, strips of paper and patterned paper to ground the photos.  I created my LO based on those ideas. Oh, and I borrowed one of her titles too.

The photo was taken by a friend of mine and I love it. He was just giggling as he hugged me while we walked.  

All supplies are Echo Park except the wood cameras are Studio Calico.

Winter Day

I thought since it is so cold on the other side of the country, I would co-miserate and do a winter page.  Just kidding. I will not pretend I like the cold & snow. I don't. 19 years in Chicago and I never liked the cold, or the snow. Especially the snow.  But I will say, my older son sure did! "Did it snow Mom?" "Is there a snow day?", were frequent questions from him.  So, I have plenty of cold snowy pictures to scrap.

When I saw the inspiration for this weeks Child's Play Challenges Craft Challenge: Paper Snowflakes, I knew it was time to pull out the snow photos and get busy.

This page didn't take too long to put together. I gave myself one hour to play and I was finished in 55 minutes, including photographing.  I took the negative space from the snowflake sticker and used it as a stencil for the mist.  I punched a few small snowflakes, glued them onto the twine then stuck on some bling.  My way of the snow 'falling'.  I cut two pieces from the same patterned paper and used both sides as the photo matte. The wave piece is also from that same paper. Since the title letters are the same color as the background paper, I outlined them with black and used pop dot adhesive.  I liked the way the page looked, so I decided to journal around the photo matte.  

Supplies:

Patterned Paper: SEI and TPC Studios

Stickers & Title: TPC Studios

Twine: MME

Bling: Queen & Co

Mist: Heidi Swapp

Pen: EK Success

All About a Boy!

Hey there! I'm excited to share that I will be a part of the new challenge blog About a Boy.
Umm yeah, can you say "right up my alley"? Those that know me, or have seen my scrapbook pages know that I have 2 boys who are my primary inspiration.  They are the center of my world.  This challenge blog will be so much fun!

I'm hoping you will join us for our first challenge at About a Boy on Feb 1st. 

I'm even offering an incentive.  I have a giveaway!  Head over to About a Boy and become a follower. Leave me a comment here that you did so. Oh, and if you aren't following me, please follow me as well.  I will draw a winner next Wed, Jan 30.

Kit Club Layouts

Sick kids and doctor appointments left me with little free time this week.  But I was able to work on and finish some pages from my Scrapbook Generation kit club.  I find them easy to work on while watching TV at night.  I also find them fun when I have no mojo, but feel like doing something creative.

These papers were hard for me to work with. I imagine Nov and Dec are a hard time of year for kits.  Most of the lines out are Christmas oriented. New lines aren't being released until February.  I made the nest of it.  I printed a bunch of photos from my Grandparents 65th Anniversary party.  I thought the papers lent themselves to a celebration.  I also changes the sketches up a bit to accommodate more photos, added more embellishments to add 'my' touch, and help tell the story.  The only thing I haven't done is journal.  My Grandfather has since passed away and I can't decide how and what to write.

This one is also from the kit. Color wise, the photos don't go with the papers, but the sentiment was right on! Again, I added my touch with the twine and the scallop punch to soften the lines a bit.

Looking forward to this week. I should have some time to hang out in my scrap room! Ideas have been swirling around in my head. Time to get them on the page!

New Challenge blog!

Hey, so cool!  A new challenge blog ALL ABOUT BOYS!  Woo Hoo!  Go check out About a Boy Scrapbooking Challenge Blog!

So if you know me, you know this is right up my alley!!! Brown, blue, dirt, sports, bring it on.  You all know my saying..."there is no pink in my house:...

Oh Yeah!

Well, the good thing about having kids is there are always photos available to scrap.   I often have a hard time deciding how many I need to print to tell a story.  I usually wind up printing too many, then having a hard time deciding on a design.  Case in point, photos of my younger son trying to get some graham crackers off the table. He was trying so hard and had so many great looks on his face!  I narrowed it down to four and managed to get them onto one page, thanks to Sketches in Thyme Sketch #98.

I stayed true to the look of the design, but used my standard 4x6 photos, cropping them a little where necessary.  Though I did move the journaling to the top row.  Using larger photos means less room for extra papers and embellishments.  Thank goodness for washi tape.  Always an easy way to add pattern, and embellish at the same time. A few wood button and some twine were the only other things I added, and that was enough.  A fun sketch.  I might revisit it in the future, using fewer photos and more PP instead.

Star Wars Style

I celebrated Winter Break being over by giving myself the day off.  What did I do you ask?  I spent an entire day scrapping. I started by looking through my stack of photos, then browsing a few challenge blogs for ideas and inspiration.  ScrapFIt and Frosted Designs stood out to me.  I haven't played there is a while.  Then I sat down to play.  Pretty pleased with myself.  I finished a 2 page LO and 2 single page LOs before my kids got home from school!

These two here are of my older son's 7th Birthday.  He was all about Star Wars. I guess I started it by suggesting we watch the original Star Wars movies...I made the invitations, and even remembered to save one which I placed on this first LO.  This is my entry for ScrapFit Workout #83, Stars. The title alone made me think of ScrapFit, but there are stars elsewhere as well.

I started with this Creative Imaginations StarWars kit I purchased. How could I not use it? After i made the invitations, I saved the  rest of package of StarWars "confetti". I knew I wanted to use it when I finally made these pages.  Those are the Yodas on the banner as well as the small circular ones I pop dotted onto the Papyrus Washi Tape. THe banner is made of the embellishments from the kit as well as the cluster on the bottom left.  All the little stars are Studio Calico wood veneer.  They are from the galaxy, far, far away.....The focus is still on the photos, which are some of my favorites, but there is definitely a theme here!

This is the last one from the party. It is also my entry for the Frosted Designs Recipe Challenge.  These photos of my husband make me laugh.  I think he was having as much fun at the party as the kids were!

The Recipe Ingredients I used are brads, stamps, mask/mist and stickers.  The rest of the StarWars papers were too busy, so I just used some of the embellishments (stickers). The silver stripes at the top and bottom are created from a Creative Workshop stencil and Heidi Swapp spray mist. I used a paint brush to paint over the stencil, adding some striped washi tape for definition. I also splattered some Mister Huey and Tattered Angels mist. The brads are in the clusters at the top right and bottom left, and also around the title sticker.  The stamps are the journal lines and the "confidential".  This page make me smile. I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

Thank you ScrapFit and Frosted Designs for inspiring me.

XoXo

Happy New Year Everyone!  Feeling great today!  We had a wonderful 2 weeks off and now it is time for life to get back to normal. The kids are in school, husband is back at work, which means I get back to my routine!

Today I am sharing a fun new LO.  It is my turn to share on Child's Play Challenges.  It is also my week to host the Issue Challenge over at Club CK.

Today's Child's Play Challenge is based on...JACKS!

Ok, this was tough for me.  We have no jacks. We have no photos of anyone playing jacks, including any of myself as a child.  Hmmm, color? I just did that for our last challenge.  Photos of my kids playing with anyone named Jack?  Nope.  Come on, think outside the box!  Well, I could do the shapes....so I did! Yes, I came up with x's and circles, and also, the color red.  A bit of a stretch?  Maybe.  (Let's just hope Tic-Tac-Toe doesn't come up for me next!) While I was looking for PP for another project I was working on, I came across this very old Scenic Route paper.  I knew I would build my page around it.  I chose this photo out of my stack. The colors were great.  I even used a Scrapbook Generation sketch.  All the little details play back to the x&o theme. The stitching, the buttons, the title.

Oh, so how does this work for the Club CK Issue Challenge too?  Ha!  Polka dots!!!!    I purposely chose to use polka dot washi tape for two reasons.  One, it was red like the ball, and two, I liked that it added a nice visual element.  It really made me look right to the photo when I laid it down. Besides, dots & stripes, what could go wrong there?

The red background paper is actually the Doodlebug double dot paper. It was a subtle way to add texture to the colors.

I hope you will come join me over at Child's Play Challenges and also over at Club CK!

New for Me

Finally getting a few minutes to myself. Ok, still multi-tasking.  Typing at the table while the little man eats lunch...Anyway, I'm starting early on my 2013 'resolutions', if you will. There are so many online scrappy places to play. I have many bookmarked, but haven't joined in.  I decided that I'm going to try one new challenge/sketch blog a month. I figure that puts no pressure on myself.  It might be more one month.  Who knows.  It can be overwhelming if I try to choose ahead of time, so I'm going to peruse the sites and play along when something strikes me.

That leads me to today.  I've been browsing at Sketches in Thyme for a while now, but have never joined in over there.  Well, now I can say I have, with not one, but two sketches!

The first is sketch #96.  This is a favorite photo of mine.  I've been struggling coming up with the right idea and this sketch was a great one!  A simple Bazzil CS matte, punched withe a Fiskars border punch and tied with random twine.  I used Queen & Co, Target, and some other washi tape on white CS then used an EK success punch to create the chevron-like strips.   I used some of the leftover punched out pieces to create the corner clusters, splattered a few different colors of Mister Huey and Tattered Angels mist.  A few yellow buttons to round out the yellow Doodlebug letters and I had the LO I was imagining!

For this one I used sketch #97, but I converted it into a one page sketch.  I'm kinda washi tape crazy, so it's kind of appearing on a lot of my pages right now. Busy photos mean a simpler design for me.  But simple doesnt mean I cant use patterned paper!  I stuck to the 3 primary colors that stood out to me, red, yellow and blue and repeated them throughout the page.  I wanted to imitate the imagery of the balls going around and around, so I used circles where I could with the brads, 7 Gypsies tape, the blue tape and Stampology journal stamp.

Thanks Sketches in Thyme for inspiring me with some great sketches!

Child's Play Challenge: What's Under the Christmas Tree Blog Hop

Hi, and welcome to the Child's Play Challenge: What's Under the Christmas Tree Blog Hop.  If you did not get here from Ashley's Blog, please go back to Child's Play Challenges and begin from there.

One lucky winner will win:

Here's what you need to do to enter:

1-check out each blog along the hop and leave a comment

2-post about the hop on your blog

3-link your post on our special "Blog Hop" linky in the sidebar by December 31st

4-BONUS!! Create a layout based on any of the DTs inspiration items and post that link for a second entry!!

I'm glad you stopped by. I'm excited to show you the toy I chose, why I chose it and the LO to showcase it. Here is the toy:

Gears mean a lot in this home. They are a favorite of my younger son and have been for over a year now.  They go where he goes, even to bed with him.  Here is the page I created:

This Boy & This Toy

(I apologize for the poor photo.  It's been rather dark and dreary here in the Pacific Northwest. I will try again later today)  

It is an extremely busy page, mostly due the photo itself. It was taken in the dark on a phone, and well, there is a lot going on in that blanket of his...On this particular night though, it was completely necessary to take this photo.  He had been particularly attached to the gears this week. They went to and from school with him.  Well, this day they did not make it home from school and it was a Friday.  We was cranky, out of sorts and would not stop looking for them. I called his teacher, and she offered to drop them by on her way home.  I was out with my friends and received this text message with photo.

I find using pre-printed paper difficult, but wanted to use it here.  I took some of his gears and used them as a mask, spraying brown, blue and yellow mist.  I cut around one of the gears in the paper, then tucked the photo under it.  The top felt empty, so I cut out some gears from some Cosmo Cricket paper and made a small banner.

 It is not the first, or second page that I have created about these infamous gears.  I thought I would share the others as well.

Thank you for stopping by.  I hope you will come back again. If you aren't a follower, please join me on my creative journey.  Your next stop is Karen W's blog.  Hope to see you soon back here and over at Child's Play Challenges

Me @ Six

Well, Hanukkah is over. The good thing about Hanukkah being so early is it forces me to shop early.  As hectic as that can be, it means I have more time later in the month to relax and...scrap?

So yes, my guests have gone, the remaining gifts are wrapped and I went into my room to play!

This is what I whipped up.  I have to say I was very inspired by this months color scheme of black, red and silver over at Black with 2 challenge. These are colors I can work with!

I am also hosting this week's Weekly Challenge at Club CK. I chose a LO challenge of combining something old and something new, in conjunction with the end of this year and the beginning of a new one.

Knowing what colors I was using made it easy to grab supplies.  Black card stock.  When I first read the two colors, I knew I wanted to use my new Heidi Swapp mist and a new Crafter's Workshop stencil!  The color is called Tinsel and it's a super cool, opaque, shiny, SILVER!  I decided to use old photos.  All that was left was the color red.  I gathered paper scraps, old buttons and some bling and went to town...

I went a bit wild with the mist, but I wanted the silver to be visible. I like the way I created a diagonal line with it. It's a contrast to all the circles. It felt good to be scrapping! I'm happy with how this turned out!

Party Like a 1st Grader

Yep. 2 posts in 2 days.  I'm trying, I'm trying! It's all about Child's Play Challenges today.  A new challenge is up.  Inspiration was drawn from this photo

Toy trains under the Christmas Tree.  Ok, this one had me stumped.  My boys were not and still are not train boys.  I do not celebrate Christmas.  So I went with color inspiration on this one.  I didn't choose the photos until after I began which I never do.  I thought it was fitting that they were holiday oriented.  After that, the creativity began to flow.

I started with the colors: brown and green.  There was so much red in the photos, I decided to stitch a red "railroad".  While I was looking for embellishments, I came across these gold brad/gem stickers. Woo Hoo, a perfect addition!  They are shiny like the lights on the tree!  Well, if there is gold gems, there needs to be some glitter too. I glittered up some DIY Thickers then used a gold pen for journaling.  I love how this turned out.  Once again, completely enjoying the inspirations that comes from Child's Play Challenges. Come join in!

Supplies:

PP-Making Memories

CS-Bazzill

brads-MAMBI

Alphas-Thickers and Cosmo Cricket

Glitter-Martha Stewart

Punch-Fiskars

Pen-Sakura

Floss-DMC

A Tradition Continues

Ok, so I'm not blogging as regularly as I'd like, but at least I'm getting a post in here and there.  I'm finding this year it's hard to keep up with this.  I'm scrapping, just not posting.  I'll get caught up...eventually.  In the meantime, I do have a new page to share.

This LO started as a page kit from a class I took at CKC Seattle.  The papers were too busy for my taste, so I decided to use the reverse sides of the paper, then added a bunch of stuff of my own.  As I was working on it, I had an 'ah ha' moment.  Instead of the die cuts that came with the kit, I could make my own using a paper bag!!! Ok, well, I's been trying to come up with a way to create a LO for the Club CK Issue Challenge using brown paper bags.  I grabbed some mist and some stencils and placed them randomly over the writing and design on a grocery bag. I took those die cuts and traced them onto the bag, cut them out and used them to create the banner under the photo. I'm really happy with the result.

The papers and small banner are SEI.  The twine is doodlebug. I used both Mister huey and Glimmer mist, a Studio Calico and Crafters Workshop stencil.  October Afternoon and Thickers alphas, random buttons and brads.

Angry Birds Meet the Space Needle

Yes, you read that correctly. Only in Seattle would you find an Angry Bird being shot off the Space Needle to promote the release of Angry Birds Space.  No, I am not living in the past, but I did just do a page documenting this!

You see, after we went to the Space Needle to see the Bird, I of course bought some themed paper.  This paper came complete with the Space Needle and the word "Seattle" on it.  Uh Huh, I hate it when I do that.  I have no idea how to use pre embellished paper so why did I buy it????  Thankfully for me, the latest *thought* at Thinking*Through*Design is using pre-embellished papers.  

I used a technique I learned about pre-embellished paper. Cut out some of the elements, add some pop-dot adhesive, and place them in the same place they were cut from.  It adds dimension and interest to an otherwise flat page.

I hesitated using these photos and paper together at all.  The sky in my photos is the same color as the paper.  I matted them on white card stock to make them stand out. I didn't want to take away from the photos or paper, so there really wasnt much else to do but add a title and journaling.   I found the logo and font on the internet, printed it and cut it out.  I decided to journal around the edge of the paper to frame the page.  I used a green pen to highlight the logo title.

So It wasn't as complicated as I made it out in my head.  I need to look at pre-embellished paper as less decision making, and therefore faster pages for me!

I hope you will join us over at Thinking*Through*Design!

20 minute Layout (more new things)

If you know me, you know I'm usually up for a creative challenge.  I find they spark my creativity anyway.  So, when I was recently presented with the 20 minute challenge- create a LO in 20 minutes or less, how could I resist?

I made this one first.  I was able to do it quickly because part of it was a kit I had prepared to take to a crop.  I love BoBunny's summer lines. I bought the chipboard too, but always forget to use it. Not today! I added a little banner and some washi tape clusters and that was it. done.

This one I did today for Club CK Issue Challenge, using vellum.  The card stock and PP were already together. (I had put them together for another project, then changed my mind).  I quickly decided on photo placement, then added the red doodlebug twine, Target and Queen & Co Trendy Tape, some random buttons & brads.   I used Lawn Fawn alpha stamps, then heat embossed the title. It took a little time, but I still made it in 20 minutes!

Thanks for the idea. I'll have to try that again!

New things!

I've been busy again....but scrapping this time!  I have quite a few Layouts to post, but for now I'll start with this one.  I will add more later.  I won't keep you, so here goes.


This next one is for both ScrapFit and Frosted Designs.  I used the sketch from ScrapFit, and the misting with stencils from Frosted Designs.

I'm thrilled with how it came out! I was stuck on how to do this photo. He CRASHED in the hotel room after being outside at the poo ALL DAY! I just didn't know which direction I wanted to take with the design and papers. Enter challenge blogs! The sketch was great. It was simple enough, but with lots of leeway to play and make it my own.   Well, mist  was a great way to make it my own!  Besides, mist seems to make an appearance on many of my pages lately. I love the variety of ways mist can change a page.   I used some bitty things as well as a banner. Sweet?  Maybe. He may be a boy, but there is nothing sweeter than a child sleeping.  

Papers are all MyMinds Eye. Banner chipboard is Basic Grey. Twine is also MME. Tattered Angels mist. Crafters Workshop stencil. AC buttons and paper flower, Doodlebug alpha stickers, Studio Calico stars. Beads are from Fred Meyer market!

Creating Keepsakes Nov/Dec Issue!

Well, today the new issue of Creating Keepsakes Magazine hit the news stands today!

Why is this important?  I contributed to this issue! Way back in January, I submitted an idea for an article. Much to my surprise, not only was my idea accepted, so was one of my layouts.

The article Thankful for You is the result, and my layout is on page 44.

(As seen in the Nov/Dec 2012 Issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher)

If you are interested in purchasing a copy, you can find a print issue here, and the digital copy here 

There is special online content and downloads available as well. You can find them here

Peek!

I'm so excited to share this LO today! It's time for the art supply challenge at Child's Play Challenges.

Googly Eyes!!!!

And I knew exactly what I wanted to do! (and NO, it isn't a Halloween page)  My younger son made up this game of looking under the door when he was about 3 years old.  All I could think of is PEEKing under the door or PEEK-a-boo, I see you!  (You know, eyes, see, PEEK). Oh, and he still plays this game today!

It's a simple page because it isn't a great photo.  I used Making Memories paint, to do the background colors. I chose green and blue to pick up the colors in both boys pajamas.  I matted the photo on some very old Basic Grey paper.  I only had one set of BoBunny chipboard eyes, so I used some random white buttons and threaded them with black floss to get the same look. A little doodlebug green twine wrapped around the journaling picks up the green again.  I inked the edges and hand drew the stitching to bring the focus in a little.

So I hope you will come check out this week's inspiration over at Child's Play Challenges!

I scraplifted this LO from the Sept/Oct Issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine.

Number of Photos Blog Hop

Just wanted to post the winner of my giveaway!  

Congrats Becky!  Goodies are coming your way!

Hi there and welcome to the Number of Photos Blog Hop.  We need to get a little business out of the way first:  You should have arrived here from Colleen's blog.  If not, please go to Amanda's blog and begin there.

I procrastinated deciding on an idea for this blog hop.  I chose to work with 4 photos.  Part of me thought I should have chosen a different amount of photos to work with.  I like to use multiple photos on my pages, so regardless of number, it should have been easy for me and it wasn't.  Luckily, a topic and photo opportunity fell in my lap over the weekend.  The design and products fell into place rather quickly after that.

Here is my LO.

The photos are not really the story being told. They are the visual documentation of the story. They are actually the least important part of this page. They are bold, busy and out of focus, but I needed to use them. I knew I wanted to use the "day 1", etc with each photo. Journaling beyond that, I wasn't sure. I did have difficulty with a title, and am happy with what I chose, and where I placed it.  My favorite part are the balloons.  I added flock over them, then added Stickles to shine them up a bit.  I broke my cardinal rule of "leave well enough alone" by adding a bit of journaling at the last minute

There is more journaling, in fact there is a whole story. If you are interested in reading it, you can find it  on my other blog, Beach Girl At Heart. 

Thanks for stopping by.  I have a small giveaway.  Please leave a comment to be entered.  If this is your first time visiting, remember to become a follower as well.  Your next stop is Carolyn's blog.

Supplies:

PP-Sandylion

CS-random

Bazzill In stich'z template

DMC floss

Ink-Colorbox

Sassafrass and AC alphas

Souffle pen

Doodlebug flock

Stickles

MS glitter

Gutless!

Wow, I have been in desperate need of some MoJo! I haven't had consistent time to scrap lately and it's really taken it's toll on my creative flow.  I try to browse scrappy sites and blogs daily, so I don't lose touch, but I guess it hasn't been enough.  However, while browsing, I found a challenge site called Black with Two.  Normally, I don't do well with color challenges, but this months combination of black, with lime green and orange was something I could work with!  I also have to say thanks to my friend csescrap13 who is hosting the weekly challenge over at Club CK. She posted a wonderfully  inspriring sketch by Scrapbook Generation that was my starting point!

There is nothing better for halloween photos than black, orange and green!  I think I did a good job with the colors and of limiting use of white.  I keep my Halloween stuff separated so it was easy to find what I needed.

I pulled out some SEI and Echo Park  PP. The Jacks were an SEI border that I cut and separated. Fiskars and EK Success scallop punches I think feel like the round ridges in the pumpkins. Some WRMK, Queen & Co, and Target washi tape flags on some Doodlebug twine ties it all together.  AC Thickers and Doodlebug letter stickers made the title.  Lately, I can't leave a page alone with out mist of some sort. Today I tried some Fireworks.  Not sure how I feel about it yet.  It is supposed to dry opaque, we'll see.  One of my favorite things?  Soufflé pens for the journaling.  They are so awesome for writing on dark paper and I don't use them that often.

Stars Shine Down

Hey there! I have a new LO to share today, courtesy of thinking*through*design.  Today's thought is all about adding dimension to your pages.  Sometimes when I'm working on a page, it seems flat to me, like it needs some oomph. When this happens, I look for ways to jazz it up, ways to give it dimension.  Often, I've added pop dots under stickers and journal spots to give them some lift, Glossy Accents to stickers, to give them some shine.  Today I tried something different.

I had this piece of Fancy Pants paper that on it's own is bold and busy.  I could have added a photo and been done with it.  But it looked blah.  I had a few ideas to fix it up, give it dimension.  The first was to cut around some of the rays and raise them up with pop dots.  The next was to sew around the remaining rays.  The last was to cut out some of the stars so I could see the light blue cardstock I placed underneath.  I added Stickles to both the above and below stars.  In other areas, I added Studio Calico wood veneer stars covered in glitter. Now the page had some lift, and as I looked around the page, my eye saw the rays move.  The last few details to bring it all together were matting the photo on similar light blue paper, and using glitter Thickers for the title.

I wasn't originally thinking of using this paper for this photo,  but by making changes to the paper itself and adding all these elements, I made it work for a tribute to my Aunt.  She passed away a few weeks after this photo was taken.

Feet

Well, Good morning!  It's Board Game week at Child's Play Challenges.  This week's challenge is a good ole' everybody's favorite:

Here is my LO.  We were visiting my dad last summer.  One was bored, the other reading.  It turned into a foot fight. One was laughing, the other annoyed.  Isn't that a little brother's purpose? 

I chose to use the colors on the Twister wheel to highlight the photos.  (How much better could photos of feet go with this challenge?)   I added in some circle elements thru masks/mists and some journal spots.  I loved the Basig Grey PB&J papers, so I bought the whole kit!  The colors and patterns were great for this page.  The journal spots are also from the same collection. Mask by Creative Workshop, Tattered Angels mists, Bella Blvd alpha stickers and I was pretty much finished.  Sketch by Sketch Savvy.

I Dream of This

I'm beginning to feel like I have a scrappy process again and I'm getting in my groove.   I find when I've not been able to scrap on a regular basis, I need something to help get me started again.  It really helps right now to have some daily prompts coming from the BPC Big Idea Festival. The prompts give me something specific to focus on, which takes the stress out of "where do I start?"

Fortunately for me personally, the Day 3 idea, share a dream, coincided with this week's CK Issue Challenge, use cameras.   I have lots of dreams.  Some I can crete action plans for, others really are just dreams.  I wanted to create a page that shares an attainable dream. I want a Canon DSLR Camera and I want to know how to use it.  I told myself I need to learn to use my own camera first, but gave myself an end date of my birthday of next year.  Hopefully I can come close.

Camera overkill? Maybe.  There are lots of camera elements on the page.  That was part of the instructions from the day's idea.  Embellish your page with things that go with your dream.    I started with only Echo Park papers and stickers. I added one PP form Basic Grey, My Minds Eye Washi tape.  Little did I know how handy these little Studio Calico wood veneer cameras would be.  I was a bit skeptical when I got them.  A little journaling with the Souffle pen and some Colorbox ink around the edges and I was finished.

All Star

Having some fun now and stepping outside of my box. Well really, I don't think I have a box anymore. But that's for another day.  I've had this photo sitting in various places in my scrap spaces since 2007!  I had it printed in 8x8 because I saw that Costco was printing new sizes. I wasn't sure what I would do with it, but I wanted to see what it looked like.  It's a favorite photo that my Dad took of my son at his All Star Sunday game.  Once a season, the farm league teams got to play on the big field with announcers. They make a big deal of it and the kids have a blast!

Well, today I made this page for BPC Big Idea Festival Day 7, use a large photo.  The photo is sitting in my scrap room no more!

I kept this one fairly simple.  A little white Mr. Huey mist on some red Bazzill CS. PP and embellies from EP Baseball mini collection.  I covered Jenni Bowlin chipboard banner pieces with washi tape by Target, Bella Blvd, and Queen & Co and hung it on MME twine.  Simple, but effectively leaving the photo as the focus.

bff

I am so happy that school has started.  No, it isn't because my boys were driving me nuts.  We actually had a wonderful summer together.  It's because I haven't had much time to scrap and even less time to keep up on my blogs.  I'm ready to get back to creating and sharing my work.  I might even begin to participate in some challenges again.

I began this LO yesterday, finishing it today. I was inspired by the BPC Big Idea Festival, Day 5.  May Flaum says to just be happy creating.  So I did just that.  The idea for the mists and masks came from ScrapFit.  I was browsing scrappy sites over the weekend and saw that was one of the challenges.  Mists and masks are one of my favorite things to do right now.  I can be free and jsut a little messy, but still be in control.  If I don't like it, I can cover it up or rotate the page. The idea of the 'rays' comes from Club CK Sept/Oct Issue Challenge #1.

I fussy cut the Fancy pants sun/star flipped it over and misted over it in several places using Mister Huey and Glimmer Mists. I let it all dry, then outlined 2 of the misted areas.  I fussy cut 2 more sections of PP adding them to the corners over some Bella Blvd tape.  The Aunthentique friendship sayings and individual words were a perfect addition to the page.  The blue added some contrast to the orange and yellow.  The title is an alpha stamp set by Lawn Fawn.  I filled it in with Twinkling H20's, the blue again as contrast.

I really had fun with this page.  One thing led to another, and it all flowed together.