July Layout #20!!!

WooHoo! I can't believe I actually did it! I got 20 scrapbook pages done in July! I really didn't think I could get it done , since I am a sloooow scrapper (as in, I usually work all night on one page-and I only scrap in spurts, whenever inspiration strikes. I must admit that this layout is a complete and utter scraplift of the most recent cover of Scrapbooks, Etc. I had a photo that was very similar to the cover photo (this picture doesn't really do it justice, it looks much better in person). I used the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder to dry emboss the beach ball and the blue strip, and sprayed the beach ball with Pearl Glimmer Mist, and the blue strip with Sapphire Glimmer Mist. The title is made with red chipboard Thicker letters, mounted on a piece of Making Memories Noteworthy paper. I popped the beach ball up with left over sticky foam from Pop Dots (the negative sheet works too, why waste it!). The "orange slice" strip on the bottom is by Sassafrass Lass, the gemstones are from Making Memories, and I cut the photo corners and beach ball with my Cricut and SCAL. Thanks for the challenge to get some scrapping done, Lora!

Lindsay's Stamp Stuff Thursday (and I got more scrapping done!)

For this week's LSS post, I did another layout, since my goal was to complete 20 layouts in July. For the "Magic" LO, I used a photo of one of my twin girls at the carnival this past spring on the Merry-Go-Round. To me, there is nothing more "magical" than a carousel to a child- I still love them! Anyway, I embellished it with the Carousel digistamp from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff that I colored with colored pencils first, and then blended with baby oil and went back over the edges with some Copics for shading and blending. I then heat embossed the edges of the page with gold embossing powder, and inked the edges of the pink photo mat and chipboard letters with a couple of Copics.

For my "Playin in The Rain" pages, I cut the Rain Frog from MyScrapchick.com and the splat with my Cricut and SCAL, and the spotted blue paper is from GCD Studios.

The layout with our wedding photo is also on GCD Studios, and the edges of the photo mat are inked and the the edges are embellished with black vinyl Thickers.

The last layout is a quick one of my big girl, and I used one of the shopping bags digistamps from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff, cut one out, and colored and embellished it with a gel flower from Heidi Swapp, some Twistel type stuff for the handles, and cut out some flip flops with my Cricut which I embellished with beads and flower shaped rhinestones.The beach ball is a rub-on , that I colored also.

Now, head on over to the other designers' blogs to "Find the Freebie"!

Lindsay (owner)

Melissa B.

Melissa C.

Olena

Janet

Leanne

Row

Tracey

Tamara

Katt

Lisa

Kim

Erin Bailey (July Guest DT)

Would you like to win...

Some fabulous Making Memories new Mistletoe line? Of course you would! Click here to find out how!

Girls, Girls, Girls! (July LO#14 for Lora's Challenge)

I've been scrappin' again! And of course, I scrapped some of my favorite subjects, my kiddos! This photo was taken of my little girls and myself on my birthday last year. I used Lora's beautiful cherry blossom svg freebie (Thank you Lora, it's beautiful!). I drew the dots in the center of the flowers with a black pen and accented the flowers with chalks and inks to vary the colors. It was the perfect accent to this paper from GCD Studios, and I also accented it with some Making Memories Vintage Findings (The metal heart and bingo card), and the journaling spot is from Anna Griffin. I have to say thank you to chelemom and Tracy from HappyDaisy, because the GCD Studios paper and the Vintage Findings paper are from their great blog candy packages that I won!

My Girl (July LO#13) *for Triple the Sketch

My LO for today's post is based on this fun sketch from Triple The Sketch, and the challenge at Dare You To Digistamp is to "Make any thing but a card". I used patterned cardstock from Me and My Big Ideas for the background (the flocked stripes are so yummy!), and pearlized White Gold Wasau cardstock under the photos. I used Doodlebug Frills, the Oriental Poppy digistamp from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff that I have been dying to use, and black vinyl Thickers for the lettering and swirl. Don't forget, Lindsay's Stamp Stuff is running a sale through the end of July: buy $5.00 worth of digistamps or card kits, and get a free digistamp of your choice! Now, head over to the other designer's blogs, and see what eye candy they have cooked up for you. One of them has a free digistamp for you!

Lindsay (owner)

Erin Bailey (July Guest DT)

Melissa B.

Melissa C.

Row

Tamara

Tracey

Olena

Leanne

Katt

Kim

Janet

July LO's 11 and 12

Well, since I took Lora's challenge at the beginning of the month, I have been trying to get as many pages done as possible for the month of July. This is LO #11 and 12 for the month (which is really good for me- I am a SLOOOW, messy scrapper! I have to get every thing out to do one page- I don't know why. But it looks like a tornado hit the living room every time I scrap. I have to run around cleaning up before DH gets home. I based these layouts on some sketches that I missed from 52 Sketches, 52 Weeks. the "Sweet and Sassy" layout is based on Week 1 Sketch, and the Glam Goddess LO is from Week 13's Sketch. Of course, I used my Cricut! On "Sweet and Sassy, the title is from Graphically Speaking, the border is one of Paulo's fab borders, and a scalloped border (not sure where I got it) cut out using SCAL. The rocking horse is from Joys Of the Season, and I attached ric-rac for the mane and added Stickles to give it the look I wanted.

The flowers are a combination of Primas and flowers from The Paper Studio, and are attached with Brads by Making Memories. The Patterned Cardstock is Nana's Nursery Girls Stack.

For the Glam Goddess page, I used the title svg from Tamara's blog, another scalloped svg file I had, paper/cardstock from Glitz Designs (Hot Mama collection), Wasau paper, Glitter Stack by DCWV, and a scrap piece of iridescent vellum to go under the title. I added Primas that I inked with a silver Martha Stewart inkpad, and attached with a Making Memories Glitter brad.

Thank You, Celeste!

I got this award from Celeste the other day, and just now am getting it posted. Thank you for this! I am very flattered to find out that some one enjoys my work. I love to do it- the recognition is just the cherry on top! Now, for this award, I have to tell you seven things about myself.

1. I am a stay at home mom to 4 beautiful kiddos (but you know that, because you have seen my photos!). Caitlin-10, Evan-7, and 5-year old twins, Natalie, and Cecilia

2.I am happily married to the love of my life, Eric. He is wonderful man, but does not understand the crafty side of me at all. He tries to look interested, but his eyes glaze over when I start talking "scrap", LOL!

3. I have been a Christian all my life. I was saved when I was 4 years old. I try to live my life in a way that will be pleasing to God and a blessing to others.

4.I am 29 years old (and plan on staying there!)

5.I am a southern girl with a northern husband. I wonder if the kids will end up with an accent?

6.My dream vacation is a summer in Europe. But right now, I would take a trip anywhere-I LOVE to travel, and with 4 kids (and i started young), that doesn't really happen. Oh well, in a few years, I guess!

7. I have been scrapbooking for over 10 years, and I just really got into cardmaking when i got my Cricut for Mother's Day/my birthday last year.Scrapbooking is my stress relief, my creative outlet, and LOVE it!

Lindsay's Stamp Stuff Thursday

For today's Lindsay's Stamp Stuff Post, we were challenged to use this sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches , since Lindsay is sponsoring it this week and giving away 10 digistamps to the winner!

Since I am trying to get as many layouts done as possible for the month of July, I thought I would adapt the sketch for a scrapbook page instead of a card this week. I loved the Layered Waterlily digistamp, and I thought it would go perfectly with the froggy I paper pieced for this layout. I colored it mostly with Bic Mark-Its, and used my Copic colorless blender over the whole thing. The patterned paper is by Tinkering Ink (Blur Collection-perfect for little boy Layouts.

Now head on over to the other designers blogs to see what they have to show you today (one of them has an awesome free digistamp from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff for you):

Lindsay (owner)

Melissa C

Row
Melissa B

Tamara

Leanne

Olena

Lisa

Katt

Tracey

Kim

Janet

Erin Bailey (July Guest DT)

And don't forget, for the entire month of July, Lindsay has a sale, spend $5, get a free digistamp of your choice. Go check it out!

3 more layouts for July! (And a free Cinnamon roll svg for you!)

Over the weekend, I worked on a few pages for the recipe album that I am making for my little sis. Most of the svg files I used (the rolling pin- Cinnamon roll page), (the mixing spoon and spatula-Easy Peanut Butter Cookies), and (the "Pie" for Pumpkin Pie), I used free svgs from Lora's Blog. For the cinnamon roll, I made my own svg, which you can find HERE

And since these recipes are family favorites, I thought I would also share the recipes for any one who would like them

Caramel/Cinnamon Rolls

2 pkgs dry yeast

1/2 c. warm water

1/2 c. lukewarm milk

1/2 c. sugar

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1/2 c (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened

4 1/2 to 5 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

Filling:

1 to 2 T butter,softened

1 to 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2-3 T brown sugar

powdered sugar to taste

(I usually double the filling)

Caramel (or you can skip this part and add the frosting on top)

1 c. brown sugar

8 T. butter

1/2 c- 1 c cream (if you don't have heavy cream you can use evaporated milk or half and half)

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in milk, sugar, salt, eggs, butter, and 2 1/2 c. of the flour, beating until smooth. Mix in enough of the remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.

Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl and rotate so that greased side is up. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.

Punch down dough, turn out onto lightly floured surface, and roll into an 11x17 inch rectangle. Cover w/ filling ingredients by spreading w/ butter and sprinkling w/ cinnamon, powdered sugar, and brown sugar. Roll up like a jelly roll, beginning at long side, and cut into slices 2 inches wide.

Prepare caramel by dividing between 2 9 inch cake pans and spreading over the bottoms. Cut butter into pats and distribute over top of sugar in both pans, then pour cream over that. Place rolls in pans, leaving space for rising. Cover, let rise until doubled in size, and bake in pre-heated 375 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.

You can skip the caramel and make this awesome "Cinnabon" Frosting:

1/2 lb. butter

1/2 lb. cream cheese

1 lb. powdered sugar

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Allow butter and cream cheese to reach room temp. Beat together until fluffy, slowly add sugar, beat 12 minutes then add extract.

Eat them warm....Yummy!

Easy Peanut Butter Cookies

1 c. creamy peanut butter

1c. sugar

1 egg, beaten

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix peanut butter and sugar together, blending well. Stir in egg and vanilla. Shape into 1 inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Press w/ fork to flatten slightly. Bake in 350 degree oven for 12 minutes (they won't LOOK done, but take them out, they will harden as they cool).

Try to wait until they cool, then eat them with a tall, frosty glass of milk.

Pumpkin Pie

1 deep dish pie crust

1 egg white

1 T. ice water

2 eggs

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

pinch of salt

16 oz. can of 100% Pure Pumpkin

1 c. heavy cream

Line pie crust w/ foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove foil. Bake 1 minute more. Beat egg white, and 1 T. ice water. Brush on bottoms and sides.

Filling: in large bowl, beat eggs with brown sugar, cream, cinnamon, pie spice, and salt. Stir in canned pumpkin, and pour into pie shell. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Filling should jiggle slightly. Serve warm with whipped cream.

Win $1,000 at TheCuttlebugSpot.com!

I just discovered that The Cuttlebug Spot is having a contest called "the journey to 1,000" They are trying to reach 1,000 followers by the end of July and need your help! To enter, all you have to do is go to their site at www.theCuttlebugSpot.com, sign up as a follower and follow a few easy steps to be entered to win a $1,000 gift certificate to www.CustomCrops.com!

Layout for the new PageMaps Contest

I am loving cherries right now (especially this great 2 Cherries digistamp from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff for only $1.00!). I decided to use these for this birthday layout that I did for the newest sketch challenge at the Page Maps blog. I mixed the cherries with some more stuff that I love right now- Jenni Bowlin chipboard buttons, gingham paper and ribbons, flowers and Stickles! Oh, and of course I had to use my Cricut a little bit! The green flourish behind the cherries is from the Accent Essentials cartridge. And it's another page for July, for Lora's scrapbooking challenge.

A Sweet, Happy Birthday

Today's post is a card that I did for Mojo Monday and the Digital Tuesday Challenge. The sketch I used was this week's fabulous Mojo Monday sketch, and the challenge at Digital Tuesday was to make a "Sweet Birthday" project. So I used this Cake digistamp from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff for the perfect birthday "sweet treat"-for only $1.00! And when you spend $5.00 in July, You get a free digistamp! I colored it with my Bic Mark-Its,and a few Copics for blending, and Stickles for sprinkles and the cherry. I cut the scalloped circle and mat out with my Cricut, and stamped the sentiment from a Studio G Stamp, and inked the edges.

Now head on over to the other designer's blogs (one of them does have free digistamp for you!):

Lindsay (owner)

Melissa C

Melissa B

Janet

Lisa

Tamara

Katt

Leanne

Row

Kim

Tracey

Olena

Play (July LO#5)

Woohoo! I am rockin and rollin! I rarely get so many pages done in one week! This LO combined The challenges over at 52 Sketches, 52 Weeks, One Little Word (JOY), and How Much Is Too Much (Paint the Town Red). There is nothing that says "Joy" to me more than a child blowing bubbles on a spring day. For "Paint the Town Red", We were to have red in the photo (the bricks), the paper (patterned paper and red mulberry paper), and the embellies(the journaling tags and letter stickers). The patterned paper is from a Me And My Big Ideas stack-it is flocked and yummy! I cut the circles (bubbles) from my Cricut and Plantain Schoolbook cart, 2 out of light blue vellum, and one out of iridescent vellum. The Title is Making Memories Puffy Alphas, and the journaling spots are stickers from MM's 5th Avenue Collection. Oh, and since I got another page done, that's another entry in Lora's Challenge too!

Little Duckie (July LO #4)

This Lo covered more than one challenge for me. My first challenge was to do as many layouts as possible in July for the challenge on Lora (the scrapbooklady's blog) This should also qualify for a bonus entry in her contest, because I used the duckie border from her bathtime cut file collection. This layout is also my entry for the June/July cutter file challenge over at Chris Durnan's blog, because I used the circle mat from the collection. And the challenge at 2peas for "BasicGrey Addicts of the World,Unite" was to use something from the the Dawson, Lilykate, or Porcelain Collections. The papers are all from the Porcelain line.

More Blog Candy!

My friend and fellow DT member Melissa is giving a Cuttlebug away!Wow! Check out her blog for details on how to enter!

Blog Candy link

There is some awesome blog candy available here . Check it out! Happy Blogaversary!

Cowboy Cutie!

Isn't he the CUTEST Cowboy you've ever seen? I made this page for week 26 of 52 Sketches, 52 Weeks. This is one of my favorite pictures that I have ever taken of my son-he usually has that big cheeseball grin (my fault, I know, I am paparazzi Mommy!). Anyway, I love how this photo from last Halloween came out. I used a white textured cardstock background, inked the edges with black Graphite Brillance ink pad, then I attached the 2 pieces of red bandana print paper. I cut the barbed wire with my Cricut and an svg file from Dan's blog (SVG Masks). I matted the photo on black cardstock, and attached some round adhesive backed studs that I got from Walmart a loooong time ago. For the pocket, I printed the Denim Pocket digistamp from Lindsay's StampStuff onto denim print paper. The stitching didn't show up enought for me, so I traced the stitch marks with a red marker. The tag is blank Grungeboard by Tim Holtz, which I used a template to trace and hand cut. I then used red "Ladybug" Momento ink to color the tag, and a Graphite Brilliance ink pad to ink the edges. I wrote my journaling by hand with a black pen, then braided raphia for the tie. I cut a little green cactus with my Cricut, stuck the edge under the bottom piece of patterned paper, then used Making Memories black polka dot Puffy Alpha letter stickers for the title. Thank you for looking!

Laugh and Play Layout-and another free SVG

My second page for this month's challenge from Lora (thescrapbooklady) to GET Some Pages DONE! This page is made using a butterfly paper lace pattern that I found on the sure cuts alot forum at Craft Edge, and a full page bracket SVG that can be downloaded for free HERE. The butterfly was cut from my Storybook cartridge, and I sprayed the flowers and butterfly using Glimmer Mist. The butterfly wasn't sparkly enough for me, so I added glitter and Stickles.Thanks for looking!

For Triple the Sketch and Pink Persimmon (and an SVG for you)

I did this page for the sketch challenge from Pink Persimmon and Triple the sketch this week. I used an Autumn Leaves flourish stamp under the snowman, stamped it in white, used clear embossing powder, then stamped it to my Glue Pad, and added Martha Stewart Glitter. It didn't show up like I wanted it to, so I added pearl puffy fabric paint and traced around it then I added some flowers, adhesive pearls, and snowflake brads that I sprayed with Elmer's Spray adhesive and dipped in glitter. I cut the snowman from Doodlecharms, first out of a scrap piece of chipboard (that came in a cheap pack of 8 1/2 x 11 paper), then a piece of scrap brown paper, then did the shift cut out of white glitter paper by DCWV, then an orange scrap. I glued it all together, added black mini brads for "coal", and drew the mouth on with a black pen. For the title "white stuff" I cut it from Graphically Speaking out of more white glitter cardstock from DCWV. You can pick up the free svg BRACKET that I made!

I also accepted the challenge from Lora, thescrapbooklady, to make some pages this month... I set myself a goal of 20.This is #1!

Be sure to scroll down, I have an adorable digistamp from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff available for free download for one week only!

Lindsay's Stamp Stuff...And a Freebie For You!

Shop Til' You Drop! That's what I love to do! And so do my sisters...wouldn't they LOVE this little set made using Lindsay's Shopping Bag digistamp? And guess what, you can make it too... Lindsay is giving the digistamp away for free for this week only HERE. And the SCUT file for the little purse is available for free HERE, for you to cut with your Cricut if you have SCAL. Cut the purse out of your favorite paper (I used silver glitter paper from the DCWV Glitter stack), and you can make a paper handle, or use up some of your ribbon stash like I did. For the closure, I used a black and white polka dot jumbo brad, and stuck on a rhinestone in the center. Make a card, color the digistamp, add some ribbon (or whatever embellies you like!) Tuck a gift card into the purse, and you're good to go! Go grab that freebie!

The new special at Lindsay's Stamp Stuff for the month of July is: spend $5.00, get a free digistamp of your choice! Check out all of the stamps and card kits, she adds new ones all the time! She added 2 super cute ones today, cherries and ice cream...yum! You can get alot for $5.00! AND you get a free digistamp for EVERY $5.00 you spend, so spend $10.00, get 2 free digistamps...and so on!