And the Winner Is...

Patti (scrapclose2theheart) !  Congratulations, Patti! Email me your choice of 2 Itty Bitty's and your mailing info, and I will be happy to pass them along. My email address is margie_visnick@yahoo.com.

Growing In Unity Day 4: A Birthday Card and Fixing My Mistake

So, did anyone catch my mistake on my layout yesterday? "My 2 Little Tukeys"? I was rereading my post last night when I caught the mistake-my hubby and I had a little chuckle over it! So, I peeled off the letter stickers, realized I had thrown the leftovers from the green Thickers away, and grabbed a pink pack of foam Thickers to fix the problem. This is what the layout looks like now:

 

I also made a card to share with you today, because "My 2 little turkeys" have their 10th birthday party today! We are doing a party with a few of their friends at a local spa, and I am very excited for it! So, I made them each a little card that looks like this:

 

I started with pink card bases from Making Memories, stamped with Webster's Pages Itty Bitty Doily Decor along the edge, inked the edges of everything with Raspberry Versamark ink, added a strip of Crate Paper Acorn Avenue patterned paper, stamped a Chevron tag from the Webster's Itty Bitty Chevron and Doily tags set, added a birthday Sentiment from Paper Smooches, and a bit of pink sparkle to finish it off!

The Unity Stamps I used today:

Doily Decor (the set on the right):

 Doily and Chevron tags:

Thanks for visiting me today, be sure to leave me a comment on any of my Growing in Unity posts for this week for your chance to win 2 Itty Bitty's of your choice!

Growing in Unity Day 3: Scrapbooking With Stamps

So sorry to be running late today, guys! The guy that's buying our house called and wanted to go over some things with the realtor unexpectedly this morning, therefore I was out of the house without access to my internet. But, don't worry, I'll leave the comments open-you have through Sunday to comment for your chance to win 2 Itty Bitty's of your choice. Anyway, onto the page I made to share with you all today!

Once again, I was inspired by this month's Unity Challenge:

 I used a stamp from Webster's Pages Itty Bitty line, Doily and Chevron Tag Set:

 

I stamped the doily circle tag, then punched it out with a circle punch and used as a large scalloped border:

 

Don't forget to leave me a comment for your chance to win!

Growing in Unity Day 2/Making my own embellishments

The project that I am sharing today is a simple one, but one of my favorite ways to use stamps. I used the Music Of My Heart Stamps once again:

I used black Staz-On to stamp the "sheet music" several times onto a larger scrap of cream shimmer cardstock-it's a little harder to see the shimmer online, but for me it's just the right touch! I didn't worry too much about perfect stamping on these (my larger stamping block is packed up for the upcoming move, so I just grabbed one of my Cuttlebug plates and stuck the stamp to it. It actually worked pretty well.)-I knew that I would be cutting it up anyway. I put the stamped cardstock into my Cricut, and cut out various small star shapes using my Plantain Schoolbook cartridge, in sizes ranging from 3 inches down to a 1/2 inch. I tried it at a 1/4 inch, but that was just too small.

I am kind of addicted to stars in my scrapbooking right now, so I think they will be perfect for embellishing my Journal Your Christmas album! However, seeing them scattered on the navy cardstock, I have a sudden urge to make a layout with a navy background and scattered cream shimmer stamped stars...Be still my heart!

Thanks for stopping by today, don't forget to leave a comment on all of my Growing in Unity posts this week to have a chance to win 2 Itty Bitty's of your choice!

Growing in Unity Wednesday

Hi, everyone! I am taking on a different focus on my blog this week! I was invited to be a part of the Growing in Unity feature for Unity Stamp Company's blog this week, so I am up today, and for the rest of the week, with Unity Stamp projects. What does that mean for you? I will be sharing Unity Stamp projects all week, and I will be drawing one lucky winner from all of the comments on my Growing In Unity Posts this week to choose 2 Itty Bitty's of their choice.

The card that I am sharing today is made with one of my favorite Unity Stamp sets, "Music Of My Heart" :

Layered and colorful on the outside:

Clean and simple on the inside:

As I was browsing the web looking for inspiration to give me a jumpstart, I took a peek at the Unity Stamp Co Challenge for this month:

 

When I saw the color challenge, I immediately thought of Crate Paper's Acorn Avenue collection, so I took that and  ran with it. I stamped the bird on manila cardstock, fussy cut it, and misted it with peach Color Shine, then stamped the sentiment on the inside of the card. 

Please remember to leave a comment on every Growing In Unity post this week ( I plan to post every day, today through Saturday), to put your name in the prize drawing for 2 Itty Bitty's!

The "C" Word...Getting a Jump on It

"Christmas"...I know, I know...it's not even Thanksgiving yet-but, here in blog land, the Christmas season is already in full swing! I am trying to get an early start, myself, as I have a very busy couple of months ahead. So, I am diving in with my Journal Your Christmas album preparations. So far I have a kit, and I have made my album covers, so I am way ahead of last year!

My album covers:

I made them 9 inches x 9 inches (I plan to make my pages 8x8, and I wanted the covers bigger), cut from chipboard sheets leftover from product packaging, and rounded the corners. The paper that I covered the chipboard with is from the Heidi Swapp Believe collection, and I added droplets of gold spray paint and Color Shine mist. The embellishment clusters are made up from a doily, sequins from my stash, pearls and gems from my stash and some grungeboard letters and numbers that I spray painted gold. All kit and album items are from my stash, either won or purchased before I decided to freeze my spending.

Here is the kit I gathered up, "Twinkle Lights":

Filled with beautiful colors, and yummy hints of golden sparkle and silvery shimmer, my stash kit is made up of lovely warm reds and icy spearmint greens, cream based papers with a bit of the chalkboard trend for a fun twist.  I am completely happy with this kit, and I don't think I will mind not having a purchased kit at all! I am a washi girl for sure, and my kit could also be called a "Washi Wonderland", because I have included bunches of it!

Here is a closer look at my pretty papers, since we all know that is my favorite part:

I have included selections from an older October Afternoon line, Very Merry, an older Martha Stewart line, Glitz's Finley collection, red embossed snowflakes from an older We R Memory Keepers line, a red chevron paper from Bella Blvd's Christmas Countdown, and several from Heidi Swapp's Believe line.

I have plans and ideas for handmade numbers, diecuts, and other embellishments, which I will share as I finish them. For now, I am happy with the head start that I have gotten on my Journal Your Christmas project!

Scrapping instead of shopping...

I have stuck with the "Frozen Peas" since October 18th-even when I got a 25% off total purchase coupon for Joann's! And, I may be staying frozen a little longer than I had originally planned (my plan was to stay frozen until Christmas or the first of the year). We got an offer on our house ( a good one) and accepted, so now it looks like we will be moving right before Christmas (YIKES!). So I don't want to buy anything until I am settled-I already have far too much to pack as it is! So, instead of shopping, I scrap. It is a great stress reliever for me! I made myself a bunch of starting points from my kits:

All of these are made up from kits that I had floating around in my stash (all shared on my blog at some earlier time periods, some as long ago as February of this year). Here are a few individual starting points, and then, the finished pages:

Starting Point:

 The Finished, Embellished page:

Looking at it now, I almost think it needs a little more on the finished page, like a doily under the black envelope to soften the look a little bit? What do you think?

Starting Point:

Finished Layout:

Starting Point:

 Finished Layout:

Most of the supplies for these 3 pages came from my February kits, feel free to click the link for a look-see! I have several more pages finished from these starting points now, but I don't want to overwhelm, so I will break up the sharing across several posts. And I am getting started on a Journal Your Christmas album, also made up entirely from my stash! Wish me luck-and fortitude! If you want an early sneak preview or two, and some updates throughout, feel free to follow me on Instagram.

It's a Giveaway!

I stumbled across this fantastic giveaway while scrolling through blogland:

Head over to Scrapfriends for the details!

My Counterfeit Kit for October

Yes, yes, I know that October is nearly over, but not quite! The challenge for this month was just so pretty I had to play along, though! I have been holding off and trying to use up some of my previously made-up kits, and have had quite the stash busting session, making up a bunch of Shimelle style starting points. So, I feel I can make up and use another kit, or 2, no sweat! Which brings me to the kit that the girls at the CKC blog chose for us to be inspired by, Cocoa Daisy's September kit, "5th and Main":

I happened to have a lot of similar goodies in my stash, so this is my kit:

 The Carta Bella Hello Again papers are 8 1/2x 11, printed from my digital "stash" onto water color cardstock, so it still is great quality and texture, and many of the papers are from the multitudes of paper pads that I have lucked upon from various discount stores, such as Tuesday Morning and Marshall's; My Girl and Dear Lizzy Polka Dot Party from American Crafts, and a cut apart sheet from Studio Calico (the Snippets line, I believe). I added in some gorgeous sparkly silver Thickers, a partially used Studio Calico letter sticker sheet, and other various bits and pieces for embellishment-I will tell you that every bit of this kit was either bought on sale, clearance, with a coupon, or at a discount store.  I can't resist a great bargain...but...I have so much stuff! I have, therefore,  put my self back on a scrappy spending freeze, until after Christmas. I am allowing myself adhesive as needed, page protectors, and possibly a mini album (empty) for my Christmas JYC album. I will be making my Christmas Daily kit from my stash, though. The Counterfeit kit Challenge blog is great inspiration for using your own stash to make lovely kits, though!
Since my October kit is a little light on embellishments, I went ahead and did an add-on kit, inspired by Cocoa Daisy's add-on, "Sidewalk Cafe":

Again, I had several items with a similar happy look, so I made up an add-on:

Almost all of this kit is very new, but I really want to practice the principal of "Use it while you still love it" much more in my scrappy endeavors, while adding in some older stash at the same time. Which the Counterfeit Kit Challenge is perfect for, of course!

I will leave you with a layout that I made a while ago, from my September kit and other scraps, but never got around to sharing, of my little girl and her stuffed animal.

Layouts to share

I have been very inspired over the last week, between winning the wonderful kits from Artful Delight, and the great Glitter Girl class, I have gotten quite a lot of scrapping done! I will share a few of the pages that I have made tonight, with a follow up post of the rest of my pages (from the AD October scrapbook kit).
Even though the kit was a beautiful fall themed kit, it was easily adapted for other subjects:
(Like Chocolate)

And my summer vacation:

And my son:

 

(this was taken in the fall last year, so it worked)

And a couple of all out fall colors/Thanksgiving style pages :

(I hand cut the hearts out of the burlap ribbon in the kit)

There were so many fun goodies in this kit, it made putting these layouts together a breeze!

It's a Glitter Party!

Do you take scrapbooking classes? I do! After scrapbooking for nearly 15 years, you would think that I "know it all" when it comes to scrapbooking. And maybe I do (but probably not). And sometimes, that is the problem! When everything starts to feel the same, I have found that a class is often just what I need to jumpstart my creativity and help me see my lovely stash in a new light. Two Peas In a Bucket has some of the best scrapbooking classes out there-and a lot of them are free! My favorite free classes are the Scrap Your Stash series and of course, Glitter Girl! When I saw that there was going to be a Glitter Girl workshop, I was in-one of the first ones to sign up!

It is so worth the money, I have to say! It is self paced, and each chapter is just jammed with inspiration! I was lucky enough to be one of the early birds who earned a bonus video-but I think that it is worth it, even if you have been holding out and have missed the bonus.  (P.S. I am not paid or reimbursed for my opinion in any way-just really enjoy Shimelle/aka Glitter Girl's classes). Anyway, I thought I would throw a mini glitter party on my blog to let you know about the class in case you haven't already heard, and show you a few layouts that I have made that were inspired by the class.

For this first layout, Glitter girl nudged me, and reminded me that I shouldn't be saving those “special photos”, but, rather, using special paper to emphasize them! The photos fall into the “hard to scrap” genre for me, pretty, but no real story to them, other than the story of why I photograph such things! So, I told that story, and used some of my favorite papers, a beautiful orange ombre from Amy Tan's Yes, Please line, a Sassafrass Lass paper that looks like a bunch of layered borders, and even some of my favorite special embellies-camera veneer, askterisks(sp?) from leftover Thickers, and enamel dots. 

My layout:

 See It On 2Peas

For this spread, Glitter Girl actually inspired me to do a 2 pager!Very unusual for me, but I am happy about it and like the way it turned out very much! I was also inspired to use some favorite supplies-paper from the Pier Collection, Doilies, and Heidi Swapp's Peach Color Shine.

My layout:

See It On 2Peas 

 

Left side:

 Right side:

Obviously, I didn't go with the matching background papers (another Shimelle inspiration), I just took a couple from the same collection, and I feel that they went together very well. I did carry and repeat certain embellishments and papers across the spread to maintain the continuous look-light blue dot paper, yellow patterned paper, white doilies, woodgrain paper, and a couple of mint enamel dots are all repeated on both sides of the layout.

I have so many more notes and ideas from this class, and I am excited to keep creating layouts that are inspired by it!

What's next for me? Well, I was a very lucky girl this past weekend! I won these fabulous kits from Artful Delight, they showed up on my doorstep today (sooo fast!!)  and I have already started creating with the October kit! I have to add some finishing touches to my first page and photograph it to share with you. In the meantime, I will leave you with a couple of photos of the yumminess that has made its way to my desk right now!

 

Wowza! Aren't they great?

Found One More!

I had one more page that I made from the May JBS kit, that I overlooked with my Kill the Kit the other day. Without further ado;

Just a page scrapping some our summer adventures at the World Of Coca Cola this year-I may add some Coke stickers over the banners/under the edge of the journaling spot, but right now they are packed away, so I will the page finished (for now).

Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog Hop

As most of you know, I was a member of the Counterfeit Kit Challenge design team until earlier this year, and I loved being a part of this team. What a great concept it is, forcing me to look at the supplies I have on hand, and find ways to turn older stash into something that feels fresh, something that I am eager to use! My life got crazy hectic and a wee bit haywire earlier this year, so I felt that I should step down from the team, since I was not able to spend as much time preparing kits, visiting participants blogs, and promoting the challenge as the design team should. And, even though there were a few months that went by without me making a kit, or even scrapbooking at all, I have continued to follow along with the challenge and be inspired by them. So, I was very happy to have the time and opportunity to jump back in and play along with this month's Counterfeit Kit Challenge, and to be a part of the blog hop today! Here is a list of the participants:

CKCB         http://www.counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/ 

Jemma        http://just-jimjams.blogspot.co.uk

Lesley         http://ohblogitifyoucantbeatthem.blogspot.co.uk

Sherrie        http://sherriesmuddlepuddle.blogspot.ca

Lynette       http://sassyscrapper2010.blogspot.com

Julie            http://jsquaredscrapspot.wordpress.com

Margie        http://scrappinmargie.blogspot.com

Leslie S      http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com

Kate Blue   http://kateblue.blogspot.com

Lisa H         http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com

I will share my contribution to the hop in two parts...First, my kit for the month (since I made it up and never shared it, I figured that now would be the appropriate time to share my kit for September). The Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog urged us to take our cues from Citrus Twist's July kits. I took the travel theme to heart, and came up with my own kit, " Summertime Adventures":

A closer look at the papers:

You might notice that is this is mostly newer stash...but I am just so excited to use it! After stalking Tuesday Mornings, Marshall's, and TJ Maxx for The Pier collection, I finally found it at Hobby Lobby on half off paper week, so I grabbed it up right away! I actually haven't worked on this kit yet, because I have been working on the blog hop challenge. But I will, I promise!

Here is the challenge that we were given for this blog hop:

Project Completion Challenge:  Pick a project that is either not finished or something that you always intended to start and FINISH IT!

I definitely felt that I needed to take this challenge to heart, since I had so many projects "floating around" unfinished, in the form of kits, pages, and many other projects. Which leads me to the second part of my post today, Finishing Things Up!

I mentioned unfinished kits... I have many kits in my craft bag (think 7+), so I have decided that I must use them up or put them back into my stash. The first kit to go under scrutiny was a kit from Gossamer Blue, last October's kit:

I was lucky enough to win it last year, and I was so excited, but it's just been hanging out in my stash, not being used, but too pretty to take apart and file away. So, I put it under the microscope. Why wasn't this kit working for me? Why wasn't I using it? The answers I came up with were...not quite enough embellishments for me, and I like to have a larger font letter stickers in my kits for titles(i.e. Thickers). So, I knew how to fix this "problem", and how to turn this kit into something that I am excited/inspired to use. This is my revamp, Which I am calling "Colors of Fall":

What I added? The Thickers, a couple of larger scale patterned papers, and several yummy embellishment packages-flowers from Prima and Sassafrass Lass, die cuts from American Crafts, K&Co fabric brads, gold feather rub-ons from Jenni Bowlin, tortoise shell buttons, brown velvet ribbon, and Sassafrass Lass stickers.

Now, this is a kit that I can not wait to use!

 

Another "UFO" hanging out in my stash was a more recent kit that I won, JBS Mercantile's May 2013 kit:

This kit was definitely a good one for me, I just needed to kick my butt into gear and get some pages made with it! These are the pages that I made with it:

 I added in a few small bits from my stash here and there, but I would say the pages are at least 90% from the kit. I feel happy that sufficiently "killed this kit", so, I will be moving onwards and upwards. I do have to say that I really loved the colors and feel of this kit for summer time!
 

That's all I have to share for today, thank you for visiting with me! Leave me a comment to let me know what you think, then don't forget to hop on over to Leslie's blog to continue on the inspiration train with us. You are sure to gather lots of great ideas for using up those kits, whether they are premade or from your stash!