scrappinmargie

Making Your Own Patterned Paper: A Tutorial

2012-02-10T21:01:00.000-06:00

Today, I am goingto share my "Counterfeits" of a few of the papers that were included in the Scrapbook Circle kits-just because I loved them so much!

The first (and probably my favorite) was the My Mind's Eye Kraft Funday Streamers:

And this is how I made my "knock-off":

Started with plain ol' kraft cardstock, and some Tim Holtz Tissue tape:

Grabbed a pair of decorative edge scissors- remember these ;-)? Yes, I kept mine!

I cut the bottom edge of the tape with my scissors and attached it to the cardstock, leaving gaps between the strips, and remembering the top edge:

Now, I thought it looked pretty good, but I wanted to soften it and make it blend together a little better:

So I pulled out some chalk ink (don't judge the smudged case, I use my supplies!):

...smudged on a little light brown over the tissue tape:

And the edges:

And violia, awesome patterned paper (if I do say so myself!):

Next up to "Counterfeit", Fancy Pants Love Story "One Heart":

I knew I couldn't do an exact replica, but I could get something similar! So, I gathered my heart stamps and Staz-On Black ink, along with some smooth white cardstock:

Stamped them, making sure to "bleed them" off of the edges (not sure if that's exactly the right term, but we're going with it):

Kept on stamping and staggering the types of stamps used:

And this is the finished product that I came up with:

Last on the list, the Pebbles With Love "Dear Valentine":

Again, I started with kraft cardstock (and some red pens, and quote stickers):

I put the stickers on randomly, but evenly spaced, allowing some to "bleed" off the edges:

Trimmed the overhangs with my trusty Cutterbee scissors:

Outlined the stickers:

Looks good, but a little bare:

So, I rummaged through my stash and found some partially used packs of rub-ons and glitter stickers:

Added them to the empty spaces:

And came up with a finished paper that I like very much:

I also loved the My Mind's Eye Kraft Funday Ziggity paper:

So, I printed a black chevron digi paper on kraft 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock:

Up in a day or two-I promise, I start sharing how I am using my kit!

Forging Into February...

2012-02-06T00:00:00.000-06:00

I was so excited when we got the email about our kits this month (well, I always am, lol!)

This Month's Inspiration Kit...

The February 2012 Inspiration Kit is your choice of two kits released in January and February by Scrapbook Circle. The first choice is their Valentine's Themed Kit called "You and Me", the second choice is their December Kit called "Note to Self". Feel free to counterfeit one or both kits!

Here is the Scrapbook Circle "You and Me" kit:

And my kit, "Me +You" (I usually try to name my kits something a little different from the inspiration kit, but I had that awesome arrow digi that was begging to be printed and used!)

A closer look at my papers (I actually made some of these, see if you can pick out which ones they are!):

A collection of fun handmade borders and banners that I made for this kit:

My fun little digi arrow that I printed and cut out:

Some yummy bling that I can't wait to use:

Hexagon journaling spots from Creativity Prompt: (free printable)

Valentine's ribbons and vintage trim from my Grandma's sewing box:

A Fun collection of Valentine's and Love Stamps:

Since I didn't have the Kraft Glassine Papers, I made my own, with scraps of kraft cardstock that I misted with a homemade marshmallow shimmer mist, crumpled and smoothed out while wet-it gave me this lovely paper with texture and shimmer-the photo doesn't do it justice!:

I put together a Digi Counterfeit Kit, too, which I called "Love Letters":

And I had to "Counterfeit" the "Note to Self" kit, too, since I had a lot of the goodies in that kit!
Scrapbook Circle's "Note To Self":

My kit, "Fifties Style Fun":

I love all of the Echo Park, Jenni Bowlin, and October Afernoon goodies in this kit!

A Closer look at my kit papers:

My handmade felt flowers(I found a tutorial for making them here):

Some AWESOME Jenni Bowlin foam stamps:

Some digital journaling cards that I printed:

A couple of Index tabs that I punched from scrap paper:

Thanks for looking at my kit, now hop along to the other designers to see the gorgeous kits that that they have put together to create with this month:

Guest Designer: Brenda Smithhttp://theimperfectscrapper.blogspot.com/

Crystal http://crystalscraftycreations.blogspot.com/

Glinda http://razzledscrapper.blogspot.com/

Helen http://craftimperfect.blogspot.com/

Jemma http://just-jimjams.blogspot.com/

Jen http://mypair-a-dice.blogspot.com/

Julie Ann http://julieannshahin2.blogspot.com/

Lisa http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/

Margie http://scrappinmargie.blogspot.com/ *YOU ARE HERE*

Milissa http://millermall.blogspot.com/ (Go HERE next)

Rebecca http://howiburb.blogspot.com/

Susanne http://www.snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com/

Bethany http://inspiredscrapper-bethany.blogspot.com/

Meridy http://www.meridy77.blogspot.com/

Just a Quick post to share

2012-02-05T11:43:00.000-06:00

One more of my January layouts:

And a closer look at the embellishment cluster:

All of the supplies for this page came from my January kits and the Little Black Dress kit from Scraptastic Club.

The One with the Wedding Invitations

2012-01-31T12:53:00.001-06:00

As promised, I am back to share the invitations that my soon to be Sister-In-Law and I worked on and put together on Saturday:

And a peek at the inside:

We were inspired by this beautiful invitation on Pinterest:

But I love the way Josh and Amanda's turned out even better! She chose a beautiful champagne shimmer on ivory paisley for the card base, with a shimmer vellum top page, I helped her pick out a beautiful green sheer ribbon, and she picked a gorgeous bronze/ivory shimmer paisley cardstock for the "G" monogram. I cut out the "G"s with my Cricut expression and Tie the Knot cartridge at 2", and set the paper size and Auto fill, and let my machine do its cutting magic! Still love my Cricut! We used my Crop a Dile and Fiskars trimmer to cut and punch several at a time, and they came together pretty quickly! Thanks to Amanda, (who chose the gorgeous materials from our local JoAnn's) we had such a fun afternoon making something beautiful!
My brother and his gorgeous fiancee:

If you would like to see more of the engagement photo shoot I did for them, it's on my Photography blog here.

A Couple Of Pages for Creative Scrappers

2012-01-30T08:04:00.000-06:00

I think I have made pages for all of the sketches this month(except the one that just posted yesterday)! Wow!
Sketch 190:

The layout I made:

A Closer Look at the flowers and bling flourish:

And Sketch 191:

My layout, "Snow Friends",

A closer look at my handmade flowers-I made these with hand cut scraps of the sheer ribbon from my January Counterfeit kits, and snowflake button centers:

And my chipboard snowpeople-I put these together from my ancient stash, and dressed them up with Pebbles glitter dots, buttons, and Glossy Accents:

Thanks for dropping by-come back tomorrow for a peek at the wedding invites I helped my SIL-to be make this past weekend!

Santa's Lap

2012-01-29T13:39:00.001-06:00

This week, we were challenged by the Counterfeit Kit Challenge:

Challenge #3: Confetti Challenge - use confetti on a project!

So, I used sketch#192 from Creative Scrappers:

To make this page:

A closer look at my "confetti", circles,and bits from the chipboard and stickers in my January Kits:

Papers are Basic Grey and Lily Bee, journaling spot from Master Forgers swap, vellum envelope, chipboard Thickers, black Maya Road rub-ons, printed journaling strips,Fancy Pants stickers, a Basic Grey Little Black Dress canvas circle, a tag that I inked, and a red gem Recollections brad.

Christmas Joy ( And Farewell to Another Sketch Site)

2012-01-25T22:33:00.000-06:00

I was saddened to read that another of my favorite sketch blogs would be saying farewell-PencilLines has been a favorite of mine for several years now. But I do understand how life moves on and takes you in different directions. They will be missed, however!

Here is the sketch that I chose, #264:

My Layout:

I have gotten several older Christmas pictures scrapped with that huge Christmas kit I put together, YAY!
Background and die cut papers are from the Lily Bee Christmas Town collection, sheer ribbon, candy cane and presents layered stickers from WM clearance, green ribbon and journaling spot from our Master Forger's swap, Christmas tree and "Joy" rub-ons by Facy Pants, and Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type alphas.

Snow Angels

2012-01-24T12:54:00.000-06:00

When I was little, one of my favorite things to do when it snowed was to make "Snow Angels" (and Snow Cream!yum!) My kiddos aren't too different-they love the same things! I took a card sketch from Simon Says Stamp, and loosely followed it to make this page:

Sketch:

My layout:

Supplies I used were all from my January kits:
Basic Grey Blitzen "Jack Frost", Bazzil Tawny cardstock, the blue and white "medallion" , I fussy cut from the GCD Studios Sofisticated Frost paper, large chipboard snowflake, white paper doily, Tim Holtz tissue tape, Jolee's letter stickers, and some ancient white letter stickers from my stash, and a Scenic Route journaling spot.

Sparkle and Shine

2012-01-23T09:13:00.000-06:00

I love using sparkly scrapbook supplies, it suits my girly side very much!! So, when The Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog gave us this challenge,
Challenge #2: Glitter Challenge: Find some fun ways to add some sparkle to your project. Or just blow some glitter around your room and call it a day.
I had no problem!
I used this sketch from Creative Craft World:

And here is what I came up with:

For the sparkly bits-the flower is edged with Stickles, it has a gem center, and the letter stickers for the title "Beauty" are nice and sparkly in real life. You can see the kits these goodies came from here:
http://www.scrappinmargie.blogspot.com/2012/01/its-time-to-counterfeit-again.html.
Love these pictures of my mom and little sis!

New Releases at The ScrapCake

2012-01-21T06:03:00.002-06:00

I have been watching all of the new releases coming out, and one of the companies that I am watching is doing a giveaway! Check out the gorgeous new collections released by The ScrapCake:

"My Private Happiness" is my favorite, but I love the soft, muted tones of "One Moment In Time", too!

Winter Wonderland

2012-01-18T09:29:00.001-06:00

I made a layout for the current Elle's Studio Sketch:

My Layout:

A close-up of the adorable little Maya Road Velvet Posie, twine, and chipboard bit:

All the supplies I used were from my January kits:
Lily Bee paper, black/gray paisley print, stamped canvas piece from our Master Forger's swap, Fancy Pants Rub-ons, Pink Paislee Mistables trim, Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type, twine, chipboard, Maya Road Velvet Posie, Pebbles Aqua Glitter Candy Dots, and an Elle's Studio jounaling card that I included in my Digi Add-on from this set:

Awesome Blog candy!

2012-01-18T09:11:00.002-06:00

Over at http://keepsakesbymelissa.blogspot.com/. Check it out!!

Sketchy Thursdays *Last one!

2012-01-17T14:35:00.000-06:00

I was saddened last week to see that this is the last Sketchy Thursdays sketch. I have so enjoyed playing along with this fun blog, and being inspired by the terrific sketches! I had to play along with them this week, and say farewell!
Here is the sketch:

My Layout based on this sketch, "Love":

A Close-up Of my Embellishment cluster:

When I saw the sketch, I was immediately reminded of the "Love" paper by MME in my January kit. I chose another photo of my husband and myself from our honeymoon (almost 10 years ago), and I added red cardstock for the photo mat, a heart shaped doily that I inked with Barn Door Distress Ink, and layered with a button tied with twine, a Maya Road Vintage Trinket, and black lace from the Little Black Dress kit from Scraptastic Club.

GIVEAWAY: Enter to WIN a Tim Holtz Prize Package!

2012-01-15T08:46:00.000-06:00

GIVEAWAY: Enter to WIN a Tim Holtz Prize Package!

And be sure to let them know that Margie Visnick sent you!

Serendipitous?!

2012-01-13T09:50:00.000-06:00

That is what I thought this morning when I saw the new challenge on the CKCB blog this morning! You see, they didn't tell us (the DT) that they were going to give this challenge, but I was just getting ready to post a layout for it anyway! They challenged us to use this sketch from Creative Scrappers:

And I created this layout for the sketch:

A Closer look at the detail:

Most supplies I used were from my "Cozy Cabin In The Snow" kit, and a few were pulled from my "Christmas Memories" kit, and I added in a few bits from my scrap paper file. I love the combination of blue and red for a snow layout!I cut the huge snowflake into 2 pieces to make them "bleed" off of the page, and I made the white snow flakes on the blue patterned paper stand out a little extra with extra dots from the white glitter Thickers I used for the title.

Case Closed!

2012-01-12T09:58:00.000-06:00

For today's layout, I played along with a fantasic and fun new color challenge with a twist:
CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration:

It is such an interesting and unique twist on a color combo challenge! I love it!
My layout:

I had the colors in my "Cozy Christmas" kit already, so this was a great way to use them! Evidence I included:bow and lacy (the snowflake under the rosette) element. For the Testimony:I journaled a rhyme on a tag.
Patterned paper is Basic Grey, die cut paper is from Target $1 spot, die cut tag and snowflake using my Cricut and SCAL, red&white twine, green and black ribbon, and my favorite element is the rosette I received in a 2 Peas swap:

Your Special Day

2012-01-11T07:55:00.000-06:00

Today's layout is another from my stack of pages that I completed last week. I started with this month's sketch from Artful Delight:

I also took inspiration from the Paper Variety:

and

Runway Inspired Challenges, challenge #3, This fantastic ensemble by Gareth Pugh:

My Layout:

What could be better for a runway inspired challenge than this yummy Basic Grey Little Black Dress Collection (from Scraptastic Club's Little Black Dress Kit)? For the "kiss of color" this lovely light aqua swirl paper and embellished stick pins from my January "Cozy Cabin kit", and I layered aqua and white flowers with a decorative brad for the center.
If you would like to see more about the "Something Blue Bridal Shower" I threw for my little sis with lots of handmade/paper crafted touches, I blogged about it here:
http://www.scrappinmargie.blogspot.com/search/label/Something%20Blue%20shower

My Forever Love...

2012-01-10T15:31:00.000-06:00

Just sharing a layout that I created this past weekend, using the current sketch at Sketchy Thursdays, and combining it with my current Pinterest Inspired Challenge at Sketches 4 All.
The Sketch:

The Inspiration from the Pinterest Inspired Challenge:

And, last, but not least my layout:

And a close-up look at the little details that make a layout special:

I love this photo taken of my hubby and me on our honeymoon, we looked sooo young! The supplies I used: Background is Crate Paper, Bazzill cardstock, red Recollections pearl brads, Petaloo velvet flower, felt heart accent I received in a 2Peas swap, white paper doilies, Heidi Grace Chipboard stickers, red and white twine, journaling spot from Meridy in our recent Master Forger swap. This layout actually came together pretty quickly, thanks to my January kits!The only thing I had to add was the felt accent!
If you are inspired by my Pinterest Challenge, please come play along at Sketches 4 All!

Sketch Challenge at Sketches 4 All

2012-01-09T10:05:00.000-06:00

Good morning! I hope you all had a great weekend! I did! I had some time to myself to scrap this past weekend, and it was such a treat! I have to say, this month's Counterfeit Kit really seems to suit my style, because I am really enjoying scrapping with it, and the pages just seem to flow so easily! The page I am sharing with you today is one that I did for a sketch challenge over at Sketches 4 All .

The sketch:

(Isn't it gorgeous?)

My Layout:

A Close-up of my embellishment cluster:

Everything I used for this layout came from my January Counterfeit Kits. The background, photo mat and paper strip under the Mistables trim is Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses paper, along with a piece of diecut paper from Target's $1 spot, and I added a piece of light green swirl print paper tilted under the photo mat. The snowflakes were cut from a transparency, using my Cricut E and SCAL (still love what my baby does for me ;-) ), and then I dabbed it with a pearl paint dabber to make it stand out. The title is made up of Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type Stickers and Basic Grey letter stickers, which outlined with a thin black Sharpie pen to make them stand out. For my embellishment cluster, I covered a large white chipboard snowflake with glue, then silver mica flake, used a ZVA crystal swirl, then layered the glittered snowflake with light blue chipboard snowflakes, an embellished button, and a little eskimo girl from the Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses Chip Sticker pack. I added a pink "ticket style" journaling spot, some {crooked} hand-journaling, and I was finished! I have to say, that since I had that moment of self-discovery when I was sharing my favorite layouts from last year, it feels a bit easier to scrap! I don't feel like I am "wandering without a map"-I know my style now, and what I like in a finished layout, so it helps me to make decisions much more easily as I am putting my pages together. I have been inspired to find my style ever since I read about how Melissa found her style-and it was refreshing to find mine!

Now that you've seen my take on the sketch, won't you come and play along for a chance to win a 6x6 Echo Park Happy Days paper pad&Thickers? And while you're there, check out our guest design team call for February?

It's Time to Counterfeit Again!

2012-01-06T00:00:00.000-06:00

Yay! One of my favorite parts of the month!! Yesterday, The Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog shared the new kit for us to be inspired by, and today, the Master Forgers are having a blog hop to share our kits with you!
The kit club that they chose for our inspiration this month was http://www.cocoadaisy.com/, and we had some FANTASTIC kits to be inspired by! Here are the Cocoa Daisy kits:
Amber Snowflake:

Cocoa and Marshmallows:

Frosty Windowpane:

Sunshine and Snowflakes:

Merry And Bright:

I was very inspired, especially by the color palette-I loved the cool blues and the warm yellows and golds, with some black cream and brown thrown in to make it feel more vintage.
Here is my Main kit for January, "Cozy Cabin In The Snow":

Papers :
Basic Grey Blitzen "Jack Frost"
3 Double Sided patterned papers from GCD Studios Sophisticated Frost paper pack
1 sheet yellow/gray borders from DCWV Lemon Flower stack
Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe "Books" (back shown)
My Mind's Eye Lost&Found Market Street "Love" Beautiful
MME Lost&Found Portabello Rd "Buddies" Perfect
MME Lost&Found Portabello Rd "Families" First Class
The Paper Studio Joyous Greetings Snowflakes
MME Lost&Found Union Square "Home Sweet Home" Love
Lily Bee Christmas Town "Night Divine"
Basic Grey Origins "Mud Mask"
Lily Bee Christmas Town "Santa's Workshop" (back)
brown houndstooth pattern paper
Lily Bee This&That Brooch
MME Colorful Christmas "Bright Stripes" (back)
DCWV Lemon Flower yellow lattice and gray/black gloss paisley
Pink Paislee Butterfly Gardens "Dew Drops"
The Paper Studio small polka dot black and gold
Anna Griffin yellow gold geometric print
Tim Holtz Embossed Resist Kraft dictionary page
Lily Bee This&That "Teacup"(back)
Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses "Rooftop" (back)

Embellishments:
Basic Grey letter stickers
Jolee's Bling letter stickers
Pink Paislee Mistables trim
various sizes paper doilies
3 rolls sheer wide ribbon from WM's clearance aisles
MAMBI embellished cardstock letters
May RD Vintage Trinkets
Handmade vintage stick pins I received in our Master Forger's Christmas swap (thanks, Meridy, they're BEAUTIFUL!)
buttons
Handmade rosette
Flower and pinwheel from 2Peas swaps
silver mica flake
Pebbles Glitter Candy Dots
chipboard snowflakes
ZVA Creative bling flourishes
die cut tags
hand dyed "Sunshine Yellow" and "French Vanilla" shabby seam binding
black pipe cleaner

And I have so many christmas supplies, and haven't even started scrapping pictures from Christmas Day yet, (and it's so much fun to make up these kits!) so I went ahead and made myself another Christmas kit .
My kit, "Christmas Memories":

Papers:
Black and Gray paisley
Red and Cream Damask print
Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses "Thin Ice"
3 die cut papers from a Target $1 spot pack
Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses "Peppermint Twist"
Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses "Evergreen"
Lily Bee Christmas Town "Town Tree"
MME Holiday Damask
The Paper Studio "Jolly Holiday"
The Paper Studio "Christmas Gingham"
light green swirl
The Paper Studio "Christmas Tree Polka"
Lily Bee Christmas Town "Christmas Window"
Lily Bee Christmas Town "Sleigh Ride"
Lily Bee Christmas Town "City Sidewalks"
Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses "Finial" (back)
Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses "Reindeer Games"
MME Colorful Christmas "Winter Wonderland" (back)
Light green with berry branches
Dark red vintage christmas collage print

Embellishments:
Lily Bee Christmas Town Die-cut frames
Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses letter stickers
Pink Paislee Father Christmas punch-outs
die-cut envelopes, kraft, and vellum-red,white,and green
4pkgs Holiday Time Christmas Embellies fromWM clearance aisle
Maya Rd black rub-on letters
Partially used sheets-dark red chipboard Thickers, Tiny Type Alpha stickers
6"die-cut shimmer vellum snowflake
Martha Stewart fabric covered brads
Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses Chip Stickers
Fancy Pants Tradition rub ons and stickers
mini banner, pinwheel, and rosettes from 2 Peas swaps
2 sheets Scenic Route journaling spots, Recollections red gem/pearl brads, stamped canvas squares, kraft journaling spots, red,green,and brown baker's twine bundle, pkg of leaves and christmas ribbons, and embellished buttons (all from our Master Forger's Christmas Swap)
Maya Road Velvet Posies
red and tan gingham ribbon
2 cream colored crochet trims
Tim Holtz tissue tapes
2 sets of stamps by Inkadinkado: Folk Christmas and Holiday Expressions

And I pulled a few digi supplies and stamps into a folder to use if needed:

And, since I was lucky enough to win a gift card to Scraptastic Club, I purchased one of last month's kits, Little Black Dress, which I will also be using this month (cheating, I know, but I saw several of the same things in one of the inspiration kits, so you know I have to use it!):

Now, Here is the list of blogs for you to hop to for more great kits and inspiration!! Your next stop is Milissa!

Guest Designer: Van Nguyen http://likethecar.blogspot.com/

Crystal http://crystalscraftycreations.blogspot.com/

Glinda http://razzledscrapper.blogspot.com/

Helen http://craftimperfect.blogspot.com/

Jemma http://just-jimjams.blogspot.com/

Jen http://mypair-a-dice.blogspot.com/

Julie Ann http://julieannshahin2.blogspot.com/

Kim http://lovejoyscrap.blogspot.com/

Lisa http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/

Margie http://scrappinmargie.blogspot.com/ *YOU ARE HERE*

Milissa http://millermall.blogspot.com/

Rebecca http://howiburb.blogspot.com/

Susanne http://www.snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com/

Bethany http://inspiredscrapper-bethany.blogspot.com/

Meridy http://www.meridy77.blogspot.com/

December Daily Post (the one with all of the pages, lol)

2012-01-05T12:44:00.000-06:00

Good morning! I know I promised I would share this, so I am going to just post it all in one big glob of pictures!
Here is my December Daily for 2011:
Cover:

December 1st and 2nd:

3rd and 4th:

5th and 6th:

Christmas Card and the 7th:

8th and 9th:

10th and 11th:

12th and 13th: (still missing one photo, I have to print out my collage of Tim Holtz tags for Day 12)

14th and 15th:

16th and 17th:

18th:

19th and 20th (I still need to add journaling and dates to this):

December 23rd (I skipped the 21st and 22nd, just too busy to take pics):

another from the 23rd, 24th:

24th, continued:

And I haven't done Christmas Day yet, I am still editing those pictures! If you would like to see a list of supplies that I used for my December Daily album, you can see my "Cozy Christmas" Counterfeit Kit here:December Daily kit post.
It's not perfect, it's not complete, but I am excited anyway, because it is the closest I have ever come to completing a December Daily album!! Thanks for looking, leave me a comment to let me know what you think! And come back tomorrow for our Master Forger's Blog Hop/Kit Reveal!

P.S.I would love it if you would follow my photography blog too: Margie V Photography

Top 11 Favorite Layouts for 2011...

2012-01-01T21:25:00.004-06:00

I have seen several people do posts like this on their blogs, so I was inspired to play along! Here are my personal favorite layouts that I made in 2011:

All That Jazz layout:

Beautiful Daughter layout:

1 Cute Kid layout:

Beach Beauty Layout:

{Sweet} layout:

Need A Nap? layout:

Make A Wish layout:

Fabulous layout:

Piano Man layout:

Spring Rain layout:

Red and Black layout:

Wow-I just learned something about myself, and I may have discovered more about my scrapping style! I realized by looking through my layouts that the ones I like the best are patterned cardstock backgrounds, with a complimentary pattern or 2, solid colored cardstock, and embellishment clusters.

12 Tags of Christmas, Day 12 and Wrap Up

2011-12-31T08:23:00.002-06:00

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season with your families! I am dreading taking the decorations down next week, because I love the Christmas season, and I hate it when it is over! Oh well, the stores have moved to the next holiday, and so must I...
But first, today is the last day to link our tags up with Tim's blog, so I had to get my last tag in!It's been made since a few days before Christmas, I just haven't had much free time with all of the kiddos at home. Here is my 12th tag:

And here is a look back at all 12 of my tags:

Thank you to everyone who has followes along this journey with me, It sure was a lot of fun to learn the new (to me) techniques, and look at my crafty supplies in a whole new light. I can't wait to play next year (although I do intend to be more prepared)! Do you have a favorite? My favorite tag personally was probably my snowman tag-it was definantly the most time consuming!

And with that, I will bid 2011 "Adieu", and wish you all a happy, crafty New Years!! I will be back in a day or 2 with a look back at my December Daily album.

I have another blog...

2011-12-27T12:55:00.002-06:00

Hey friends! I started a Photography related blog with a photo shoot I did last week, and I would love to have you follow me there as well!! Here is the link:
http://margievphotography.blogspot.com/
I will continue posting regularly to this blog with anything crafty!
Thanks!

12 Tags of Christmas, Day 11

2011-12-14T11:41:00.000-06:00

Tim's is finished with his tags, but I still have a couple more to share! Here is my tag from Day 11:

And here is Tim's tag:

I did not jump right into this tag-because I had almost nothing that Tim used for his. Then, I decided to go a slightly different route. I took a pearlized cardstock and cut it out for the tag, then inked with Distress Inks and homemade marshmallow mist. I didn't have ANY Santa stamps, so I cut a Santa out of Tim's Seasonal Paper Stash, and inked it with Versamark, and coated it with 2 layers of UTEE. The "Ho ho ho" is a sticker, and added a transparency printed photo corner and some felt and acrylic christmas trees with Glossy Accents. I made the jingle bell bead dangle, tied on some red satin ribbon, added a brad and a scrap of tulle.I still like the way my tag turned out, even though it is rather different than Tim's!

12 Tags of Christmas, Day 10

2011-12-12T15:11:00.000-06:00

Ok, after a weekend of being sick, I am pulling myself up "by the bootstraps" as my dad would say, and getting to work...wow, I have alot to do to finish getting ready for Christmas! Takin' some Dayquil and getting down to business! Tim has shared all 12 of his tags now, and this will be the 10th one I have shared. I have also made an 11th tag, which I will share later, and I hope to finish tag 12 tomorrow.

Here is my tag for day 10:

Tim's tag:

I die cut my tag from kraft cardstock, stamped it with the sheet music stamp from Unity Stamp Co, used a foam stamp and Martha Stewart pigment ink for the holly leaves, which were heat embossed with UTEE. I then distressed the tag with my scissors, inked the edges with frayed burlap and then Walnut Stain Distress Inks, and then misted the tag with my homemade golden shimmer mist. I cut the santas from Tim's Seasonal Paper Stash, and since I didn't have the facets, I coated them with Glossy Accents instead. I hand cut my shabby banner, also from the Seasonal Paper Stash,and the letters I used were some black glitter letter stickers from the halloween section at Target's $1 spot, which I dabbed with a gold paint dabber and coated with Glossy Accents. I attached the ornaments with brads, hot glue, and jute twine, hot glued my banner on, then added a silver tinsel bow with a scrap of white tulle, and some beads.

Nikki Sivils Giveaway!!

2011-12-11T07:34:00.001-06:00

How would you like the opportunity to win a Gingerbread Land kit from Nikki Sivils?

Well you have a chance, and it's EASY! Over at Sketches 4 All , we are giving away a kit in a "Leaving Love" challenge! Each day for a week, the design team will be posting our projects (2 per day), and all you have to do to enter the drawing is leave a comment! You are allowed to leave one comment for each project, and each comment you leave will be an entry into the drawing. HERE IS THE LINK! My project was shared yesterday-be sure to go check out what the other girls are sharing,too, for lots of crafty inspiration! We were asked to make an altered project with the fabulous Gingerbread Land kit, and I chose to alter a composition notebook, to make a holiday menu planner. I thought it would be a great place to make a list (I love lists!) of what I plan to make for Christmas dinner, holiday goodies and sweet treats I plan to give out, and shopping lists for everything I am making.
Here is my notebook:

I covered the notebook in some fun gingerbread paper, inked the edges with Barn Door Distress Ink, attached one of the zigzag borders from the kit, added some cream pom pom trim, took a punch out tag from the kit and matted it on one of the mini papers(red mittens), used the letter stickers for "Holiday treats", set a silver eyelet in the hole, and tied some hand dyed shabby seam binding on. I added a candy cane striped chpboard corner from my stash, along with a felt gingerbread man that I decorated with a pearl puffy paint for frosting.

12 Days Of Christmas Tags, Day 9

2011-12-10T16:28:00.001-06:00

A short and sweet post to share my tag for day 9, based on this fantastic tag by Tim Holtz:

Here is my tag:

I used the rusted enamaling technique that Tim shared on his blog, using a bold flourish stamp from my stash, some dark green Colorbox chalk ink, UTEE, and Barn Door Distress Ink, Die cut the word, "Peace" from black cardstock with my Cricut and Winter Woodland cartridge , and the flourish candle, and greenery using SCAL. I coated the flourish and "Peace" with Glossy Accents, and distressed the candle and added Stickles, rhinestones, and pearl "berries".

12 Tags Of Christmas...Day 8

2011-12-09T15:15:00.001-06:00

Hi, everyone out there in blogger land! I am sorry I am running behind with these tags, life got in the way! I am pretty sick right now, with sinuses and achey all over. I did myself together for a bit to make these tags though, and it was a good distraction! Anyway, here is Tim's Day 8 tag:

And here is my tag:

I must say, at first I paniced a bit when I saw Tim's tag, because it is so far outside of my normal style, and I really didn't have much of the stuff he used. Then I pulled myself together and made some substitutions! I stamped a Martha Stewart Christmas tree stamp (that I loved when I bought it 2 years ago, but hadn't used yet!) with white Imprintz pigment ink and heat embossed with white Zing powder, then used a makeup sponge to blend Barn Door and Tumbled Glass Distress Inks, and Deep Green Colorbox Chalk ink. I then distressed the edge of the tag with my scissors, blended a little Frayed Burlap on to the outer areas of the tag, and edged the tag direct to paper with my Walnut Stain Distress ink. I cut out the roman clock with Grungepaper and an svg file on my Cricut, then I cut the Gears and fancy clock hand out with the Steampunk SVG file set I have had for a while from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff, some from metallic cardstock, and some from Grungepaper, and sanded and distressed with Frayed Burlap ink, glued together with Glossy Accents, and attached in the center with a brad, and made a little green satin bow. I didn't have a pointing finger stamp, so I printed this image from the Graphics Fairy directly onto my ticket (printed on white paper first, so I could see where it was going to print, then taped it to my paper and printed again). The ticket on top is a stamp from Inkadinkado, with a holly stamped in the center from We R Memory Keepers, and I colored some plain white pearls with a red Copic marker for the berries. Instead of the steampunk guys on the bottom, I stamped the "Joy" sentiment onto a scrap of my Grungepaper with Graphite Brilliance ink, and heat embossed it with black embossing powder from Ranger. I adhered the clock with Glossy Accents, then the pointing finger ticket, stapled a piece of film strip ribbon on, glued on my stamped ticket, then hot glued on the "Joy" and the gear wreath. And finished it off with a piece of my hand made shabby seam binding!
Thanks for allowing me to share with you, I will post my day 9 tag in a while!

12 Tags of Christmas...Day 7

2011-12-07T12:32:00.001-06:00

Another day, another fantastic tag!
Here is the tag the Tim shared with us today:

And here is my version :

I am having fun rooting through my stash each day to come up with these tags!! I didn't have the kraft glassine papers today (but I was kicking myself, because I had them in my hand the other day and set them down because I wasn't sure what to do with them), so I had to do my leaves for my tag a little differently. First, I cut the tag itself out of a smooth cream colored cardstock using the free shipping tags SVG file from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff. I pressed Tea Dye and Old Paper Distress Ink pads onto wax paper and dragged my tag through to distress it, then spritzed it with sand Glimmer Mist and homemade marshmallow mist, then dotted on some moonlight white Smooch. I dried a little bit with my heat gun, then I crumpled the tag and lightly touched it to the Old Paper ink pad, then smoothed it out and recrumpled and touched it to the Tea Dye ink pad. Then I smoothed out the whole tag and dried completely with my heat gun.I distressed the edge of my tag with scissors, then took my ink blending tool and Frayed Burlap Distress Ink, and then I "ghost-stamped" a floral flourish from Tim's Flights of Fancy stamp set with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink.
The leaves were all cut out of kraft cardstock, then I inked them with alcohol inks-Stream, Citrus, and Bottle, and then I took a paintbrush and stippled on a bit of gold Perfect Pearls in a random fashion. I then coated with a thick layer of Rock Candy Crackle paint. I dried them mostly with my heat gun, partially air dried. When it was dry, I bent and shaped them with my fingers and sponged on a bit of Peeled Paint Distress Stain, which I dabbed with a napkin to remove the excess. I cut the branches with SCAL and my Cricut out of kraft cardstock. I cut 3 copies of each, and layered to get the 3-d effect. I inked the bottom of the branch to create a shadow, and touched the tops with my Pearl paint dabber, and added Frosted Lace Stickles to the top for a snowy effect.
I made the plaque with kraft cardstock, Graphite Brilliance ink, a fancy frame stamp from Autumn Leaves and a "Joy to The World" sentiment from some Walmart holiday stamps I got a few years ago. I stamped the stamps and heat embossed them individually with black embossing powder from Ranger.I then inked the edges with my ink blending tool and Tea Dye Distress ink.
I made the bow with a bit of cream lace that I pulled with my fingers to give it a tattered look, a bit of silver tinsel wire, and some pearls that I inked with Watermelon and Terra Cotta alcohol ink.
I attached the plaque with double stick foam tape, and attached the leaves, branches, bow, and "berries" with hot glue.
I finished the tag off with hand dyed shabby seam binding, and some little bead and jingle bell dangles that I made.

Here are the challenges that I am linking up with:
The Paper Variety -Christmas Song Inspired -"Joy To The World"
Cricut Cardz- Cricut cuts (the tag, holly leaves, and branches)& Christmas Song Inspired
Simon Says Stamp Challenge- Christmas Photomontage inspired ( I think this tag is very reminiscent of this photo:

)

The Kraft Journal- Christmas Tag & Kraft
Die Cuttin Divas- Tags
Tuesday Throwdown- Celebrate The Season
Terrific Tuesday-Christmas

Awesome giveaway

2011-12-06T17:16:00.001-06:00

Check out the awesome blog candy at Melissa's blog-and sign up to follow her, her creations are AH-MAZING!

12 Tags of Christmas...Day 6

2011-12-06T13:08:00.001-06:00

I can't believe it's half over!! I am having so much fun learning new techniques, watching the videos, and looking at other people's interpretations of the tags!!
Tim's Tag for today:

My tag for today:

My favorite part of the tag I made has to be the little wreath charm that I made!

I followed Tim's techniques pretty closely for the tag itself. I finally got out those paint dabbers that hadn't been used yet, used some yellow, greens and black acrylics in addition. I didn't have the metal foil tape, so I die cut a tag with a free svg from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff, Shipping Tags, out of a silver metallic cardstock from my stash, and embossed it with a Tim Holtz embossing folder (not the exact one he used, but I think this one worked okay, too). I sanded with a fine grit sand paper (after drying the paint, of course), distressed it with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, and coated the tag with UTEE and heat embossed twice.
For my little wreath, I cut and hand painted a tiny wreath on a scrap of the silver metallic cardstock, sanded the edges and top of the wreath a little bit, Inked with Perfect Medium all over (pressed the wreath into the Perfect Medium), lightly inked with Walnut Stain, then coated with a thick layer of UTEE (sprinkled it on there like sugar!), melted, and coated again. I added some rhinestones that I colored red with a Sharpie marker, and then punched a tiny hole for the jump ring in the top holly leaf. Added a piece of hand dyed silvery gray seam binding, some fasteners, and I was finished! What do you think?

12 Tags Of Christmas...Day 5

2011-12-05T16:37:00.001-06:00

Well, Of Course I loved Tim's Tag today...but I didn't have the essentials to make it! I don't have very many alcohol inks, no blending solution, so what's a girl to do? I had to change it up a bit. My tag seemed very simple today compared to the other ones I have made for this challenge, but I got it done! Tim's Tag:

And, my tag:

I printed out some Christmas word art that I downloaded off the 'net on white cardstock, die cut my tag, inked the edges with Barn Door and Walnut Stain Distress Inks. I then die cut an acetate overlay, fastened the 2 together with some old Chatterbox snaps,made a wreath from some holly stuff I got at Hobby Lobby last week half off, a white satin bow and red rhinestones, and tied the top with white tulle.

12 Tags of Christmas, Day 4

2011-12-05T16:00:00.001-06:00

Have you been following Tim's Tags? I have to say, this is my favorite tag so far-but it was definantly the most time consuming one that I have done!

Here is Tim's Tag:

And here is mine:

There were ALOT of steps in this tag :-) I only have 2 Distress Stains, So I used Distress Ink (Tumbled Glass and Faded Jeans) which I rubbed in different spots on wax paper, then homemade marshmallow shimmer mist, Sapphire and Sea Glass Glimmer Mist which I misted onto the wax paper and rubbed the tag through, adding more as needed, then misted the whole tag with my marshmallow mist.I partially dried with my heat gun, then left it alone for a while to finish drying while I worked on the other stuff. After it was dry, I stamped various snowflakes from several different sets in a random fashion with the Tumbled Glass, Faded Jeans, and Chipped Sapphire Distress inks. I stamped a flourish in Moonlight White Momento Ink up in the upper right hand corner, cut a snowflake edge that I designed in Sure Cuts Alot to look similar to Tim's, which I dabbed with a Pearl Adirondack Paint Dabber. I cut the snowflake and snowman out of chipboard with my Cricut, Deep Cut Blade, and Winter Woodlands cartridge. I cut out the "25" from a little piece of Christmas sheet music from Tim Holtz's Seasonal Paper Stash, also using the Winter Woodlands cartridge with the font set on blackout. I coated the snowman and snowflake with my pearl paint dabber first, dried with my heat gun, then coated with Clear Rock Candy Crackle Paint. I had to let this dry on its own. I then coated the "25" with Glossy Accents and let it dry again. I misted the snowflake with Sapphire and Sea Glass Glimmer mist, then wiped it off. I added 3 clear/white/greenish buttons tied with tulle, tied a tulle and shabby seam binding "scarf" around the snowman, added some pearls and rhinestones to his hat, along with a tiny feather. I tied the tag with more tulle and shabby seam binding, adding a "joy" charm and a snowflake button at the top for decoration, and topped the die cut snowflake off with Stickles.
I am linking this tag up with the Simon Says Stamp Challenge of "Anything Goes", and the Sir StampAlot Challenge Bingo :Pearls, Stickles, Ribbon

12 Tags Of Christmas...Day 3

2011-12-03T16:04:00.001-06:00

Just a super quick post to share my day 3 tag:

Sketch LO Challenge with Nikki Sivils and Sketches 4 All

2011-12-02T18:35:00.001-06:00

Over at Sketches 4 All, a new sketch contest started today-sponsored by Nikki Sivils! How would you like to win a Gingerbread Land Collection kit of your very own? You have a good chance! Come play along with our sketch (from Page Maps) here , and you will be entered to win!

Here is the sketch:

Here is my Layout:

Closeup of the gingerbread house:

Thanks Nikki for sponsoring us! (If you want to see more of her collections, you can click the link in my sidebar).

12 Tags of Christmas ...Day 2

2011-12-02T15:15:00.001-06:00

Tim had another gorgeous tag today, of course! Here is Tim's tag:

And here is mine:

Looking at them side by side, I realize that I forgot to distress/ink the bottom border...oh well! I still like the way my tag came out! I started with just a scrap of kraft cardstock (plain old kraft). I stamped the sheet music with a Unity Stamps Music Of My Heart stamp and black Staz-On ink. I then stamped the "Merry Christmas" with a Martha Stewart stamp and Versamark watermark ink, and heat embossed with UTEE. I used a homemade white shimmery water color paint and a foam brush over the whole tag, then allowed it to dry as Tim suggested. I then dripped homemade white shimmer spritz on the tag and dried with my heat gun. I inked the edges of the tag with Martha Stewart Sea Lavendar pigment ink, distressed the edges with my Cutterbee scissors, and then inked the edges of the tag with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink. I used a border punch from Fiskars and a scrap of cardstock for the bottom border, and painted with my gold paint dabber. I added brushed silver brads that I "distressed" with an ice pick along the bottom. For the reindeer, I die cut a reindeer from cardstock with my Cricut and SCAL, and then I glued a scrap of canvas to it, and used it as a template to cut it out by hand with my Cutterbee scissors, then distressed it with my fingernail and Tea Dye and Frayed Burlap Distress Inks. I made the little wreath for his neck with a bit of tinsel and a Making Memories metal star, and added a die cut piece of holly (leftover from yesterday), that I painted with Rock Candy Crackle Paint, brushed the edges with Peeled Paint Distress Stain, and finished off with red rhinestones. The "Memories" plaque is an ancient metal word from DCWV, which I attached with distressed brads.
Now, gotta get to work on my other December projects!

12 tags of Christmas...Day 1

2011-12-01T21:35:00.001-06:00

I said I wasn't going to even attempt it...Lord knows I don't have the time...but when I saw Tim's tag today, I was inspired! So I just had to do one more thing in addition to the other swaps I am in, my December Daily, and of course, three kids in basketball (so we are at the gym every.single.night.).

Here is my version of the Day 1 tag:

I didn't have the Kraft Core cardstock, so I used a piece of teal Co'ordinations Color Core cardstock, dry and heat embossed with American Crafts Zing Embossing powder with a technique similar to Tim's, then lightly inked the raised snowflakes with Tea Dye Distress Ink to distress instead of sanding. I designed the Noel title in SCAL and cut 3 times from cardstock, which I layered together, and covered with silver Stickles.I don't have the tattered banner die cut, so I hand cut a banner from a piece of music note paper and inked with Tea Dye and Walnut Stain Distress Inks. The holly leaves and greenery were all cut with svgs and SCAL. I brushed the holly leaves with Rock Candy Crackle Paint, and brushed the edges of the holly and greenery with Moonlight Smooch. I made the pinecones using Tim's technique and a 3D Circle Flower svg- of course his were better, but I think I am pretty happy with mine, too! I used some Co'ordinations Graphic 45 cardstock for mine, then brushed the edges with Moonlight Smooch and sprinkled a little bit of Martha Stewart mica flake glitter while the ink was wet for "snow". I wanted to make the pearl dangles, too, but it was getting late, the kids were home from school, and I had to get dinner on the table so that we could go to basketball! (Which, I might add, went really well! My kids' teams all won, and all three of them scored 4 points each for their teams!!Woohoo!! Proud mama!)
Thanks for looking-it was fun to get out my crafty supplies and just play!

Blog Candy Alert!

2011-11-29T16:39:00.001-06:00

Check out this AWESOME giveaway!!

Master Forger's Blog Hop With Scraptastic Kit Club

2011-11-27T00:00:00.000-06:00

Welcome to our blog hop!! This month we are being sponsored by the Scraptastic Club. This month's challenge was:

Blog Hop Challenge: Home Decor Challenge! Make something fantastic for your home...or the home of someone you love!

I really wanted to make something Christmasy, since I am starting to pull out all of the Christmas decorations, but this was kind of tricky for me since my November kit was more of a fall/vintage theme. I did find a few bits that I was able to put together for this Christmas bag:

It would be a cute way to hold a gift, but since it's a wood "bag", I think it makes a cute little home decor item too!
Supplies used: The Paper Company red connect diamonds, aqua paper raffia, Crate Paper doily punchout, white velvet Making Memories word, red button, moonlight white Momento Ink pad.
Here is today's hop list, be sure to leave comments for a chance to win!

Counterfeit Kit Challenge http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/

http://scraptasticclub.blogspot.com/
Heather http://miraclesmommadesigns.blogspot.com/
Juliann Marchant http://scrappylife.blogspot.com/
GDT Melanie Stanczyk http://melaniestanczyk-justbeingcreative.blogspot.com/
Michelle Unruh http://momma-paparazzi.blogspot.com/
Crystal http://crystalscraftycreations.blogspot.com/
Glinda http://razzledscrapper.blogspot.com/
Helen http://craftimperfect.blogspot.com/
Jemma http://just-jimjams.blogspot.com/
Jen http://mypair-a-dice.blogspot.com/
Julie Ann http://julieannshahin2.blogspot.com/
Kim http://lovejoyscrap.blogspot.com/
Lisa http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/
Margie http://scrappinmargie.blogspot.com/ (that's me!)
Milissa http://millermall.blogspot.com/
Rebecca http://howiburb.blogspot.com/
Meridy http://meridy77.blogspot.com/

Thanks for visiting with us today!

December Daily Counterfeit Kit

2011-11-21T00:00:00.000-06:00

I really love the idea of doing a December Daily album, but, with 4 kids and a limited scrapbooking budget, I felt that I would be able to make a great "Counterfeit Kit" from the supplies I already had on hand. There are so many great Christmas kits out there that it was HARD to narrow it down to just one kit to copy-so I picked 2! The kits I chose to draw inspiration from were : The hot kit this season from Studio Calico: http://www.studiocalico.com/kits/add_ons/486, and a fantastic kit from last season, from A Kiss On The Chic: http://www.akissonthechic.com/DecemberKits.aspx. I drew inspiration from both kits to come up with a Christmas kit that I just love!I have plenty of supplies to make my December Daily-plus plenty of other goodies to use on layouts and cards.

Supplies in my kit:
Papers:
Making Memories 12x12 Postage Stripe Noel, We R Memory Keepers White Christmas Snow Flurry, 3 papers from the Jenni Bowlin Red and Black paper stack, the craem swirled paper is from a Christmas paper stack from the Paper Studio, and the green and silver small damask prints are from the DCWV Lemon Flower stacks, the gray chevron paper is a free digi paper that I got on a Jessica Sprague blog hop, and printed on watercolor paper, Making Memories 12x12 Green Snowflake Noel, Music Note Brown Noel, The Girls Paperie Tinsel&Twig 12x12 Snowfall, Holly Berry Floral, and Christmas Carol Stripe, and a Candy Cane Stripe paper from a Martha Stewart Christas paper stack I got on clearance at Wal Mart a couple of years ago.

Album:
I am using a green Smash book from K&Co, that I won as a blog candy a few months ago.

Embellishments:
chicken wire die cut from silver cardstock, assortment of christmas paper scraps, printable journaling spots and vintage graphics, which I mostly printed on watercolor paper for a luxurious feel, Making Memories red Shimmer Stickers alphas, Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type green letters, Making Memories Scrapbook Basics shimmer alpha stickers, a couple of Making Memories Noel embellishments, Paper Studio crochet flowers in white (I may mist these or use as is...we'll see as the inspiration strikes), Petaloo Holiday Dazzlers snowmen (I won these from a Petaloo blog hop-they are so cute!), Elle's Studio Crazy Numbers 0-9, The Girl's Paperie Paper Girl Chipboard alphabet, red and green baker's twine, a couple of Maya Rd vintage pins, JHB wood buttons (one of the few things I purchased for this kit, got them at Hancock Fabrics), a few Jenni Bowlin Vintage Christmas chipboard buttons,a couple of tiny die cut envelopes, 2 kraft medallions that I cut with my Cricut and Mother's Day Bouquet at the same size as the ones in the Studio Calico kit- 1 3/4 inches, a few handmade flowers, some Christmas tags from We R Memory Keepers, and some random felt, acrylic, and chipboard bits from my Christmas stash.

Stamps:
Hampton Arts Postscript Calendar, Hampton Art Joyous Holiday, We R Memory Keepers White Christmas Holly Jolly, Studio G i.cling Doily Stamp

Some of my favorite elements in my kit are the chevron paper ,there is a link for a free chevron pattern here, the "chicken wire" die cut (which I cut with silver Wasua cardstock, my Cricut and SCAL), and my tiny die cut envelopes (cut from Echo Park For The Record digipaper with my Cricut and SCAL), and the awesome free printables from Creativity Prompt, Just Something I Made, Pink Paislee here, here and here , the Graphics Fairy, ormolu. I needed an album to stuff this all into-what better than that new green Smash book I haven't used yet?! I will also be using a mix of photography prompts from http://captureyour365.com/2010/12/25-december-daily-photo-ideas/ , and http://rebeccacooper.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-photo-traditions.html.

I have some awesome December Daily albums, kits, and ideas pinned to my December Daily Christmas Album Inspiration Board, if my kit didn't suit you, have a peek and make one the way you like it!!

Sketchy Thursdays Guest Design Team Entry

2011-11-16T10:34:00.001-06:00

When Sketchy Thursdays posted this fun sketch with the theme of "gratitude", I thought it would be fun to play along! I am so grateful to my sweet kiddos for their patience as I try to learn and enhance my photography skills. This was one of those photo shoots!

The sketch:

My layout:

A closer look at my handmade rosette and die cut leaves:

Supplies I used were all from my November kit: SEI Dill Blossom Licorice, Tim Holtz Kraft Resist cardstock which I misted with Turquoise Glimmer Mist and dripped with Moonlight Smooch, Basic Grey cardstock letter stickers, Making Memories journaling spot,leaves that I die cut using one of the gem shapes from Once Upon A Princess cartridge using my Cricut from Wasua crinkle textured cardstock, and my rosette that I made from scraps. Thank you for stopping by today!

Tag, You're It!

2011-11-15T13:25:00.001-06:00

The Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog gave us this challenge for using our November kits:

Challenge #1: Tag, you're it! Create a project using tags!

Here is my Entry:

I based it on this sketch from Elle's Studio blog:

Supplies used:

Basic Grey Marrakech "Sencha", charcoal colored cs, Blush Blossom cs, paper doily that I spray painted with chalkboard paint, printed cardstock journaling spot from Creativity Prompt that I printed and punched to make a tag, and added peachy colored shabby seam binding, Making Memories white velvet word, border sticker from Crate Paper, Petaloo flowers, and a ZVA bling flourish.

Another cool blog candy...

2011-11-14T08:46:00.001-06:00

Blog candy is popping up everywhere... check out this giveaway at the Ribbon Girl Blog!

Check out this blog candy!

2011-11-14T08:32:00.001-06:00

Over at the Craft Barn!

How exciting!

2011-11-13T08:25:00.001-06:00

Our cards for the Sketches 4 All blog Hop were featured on the Nikki Sivils blog this morning! What a nice start to my day!

A Layout to share...

2011-11-12T18:10:00.001-06:00

Just a quick post to share a layout that I made for My Pinterest Inspired Challenge (hurry and play for a chance to win an RAK from me, it ends Monday). I based my layout on a sketch from Stuck Sketches.
The Sketch:

My Pinterest inspiration:

My Layout:

I used supplies from my November Counterfeit kit: Basic Grey Wisteria paper, a few bits from my scrap bin: gray cardstock, shimmer cardstock, a piece of patterned vellum, and some embellies from my November kit as well: light blue embroidery floss (that I wrapped around the strand of pearls from a previous kit), darker blue and white Petaloo Flora Doodles flowers, a soft gray velvet bloom from Petaloo, white Velvet Word from Making Memories. Thanks for looking- do come by play along with my challenge! We have a new one starting on Tuesday!

St. Jude's Children's Blog Hop With Nikki Sivils

2011-11-12T00:00:00.000-06:00

Welcome to the Sketches 4 All St. Jude Childrens Christmas Card Blog Hop with Sponsor Nikki Sivils!
Nikki Sivils sponsored the products: The Gingerbread Land Collection for the DT to create the cards we will be donating to the: St. Jude Childrens Cancer Research Hospital!
These children are receiving treatment for various cancers!!
We are excited to add some Christmas joy and smiles to the St. Jude Children Research Hospital!
To learn more about SJCCH here is the link! http://www.stjude.org
Please come and enjoy the DT inspirations of the cards we will be donating to SJCCH!!
Please leave a comment on each DT blogs and your name will be entered in the drawing for the Nikki Sivils You're A Hoot 12 x12 paper kit!!

If you came from Cheryl's blog, you are on the right track! If you are just finding out about the hop via my blog, you can start the hop at Fia's blog!

We were challenged to make a card for a girl and a boy to be sent to St.Jude's, which was a lot of fun to do! It's a lot of fun to make cards for kids and think about what they would like to see! Here are my contributions:

Boy card:

This card was inspired by a card I saw on Kristina Werner's Holiday Card series this year. The supplies I used were papers all from Nikki Sivils Gingerbread land collection (there were sheets of 4 6x6 papers in the pack that are perfect for cards!), a punchout from the Nikki Sivils Gingerbread Land collection (the tree), that I wrapped with denim twine from the Twinery, and embellished with red rhinestones and a yellow flower rhinestone for the "star", and stamped the sentiment from a set of Martha Stewart Christmas stamps I bought a few years ago.

Girl card:

Supplies used: more of the awesome mini papers from the Gingerbread Land Nikki Sivils collection, punch out gingerbread people and Merry Christmas from the same collection, Pollycraft pearl puffy paint, Diamond Stickles, tiny green brads from Making Memories, Glossy Accents on the gingerpeople's buttons, and some forest green twine I got from ebay.

If you make a card for the children at St Jude's, and let us know over at Sketches 4 All, you will be entered in Fia's separate Nikki Sivils RAK. The address to send them to is:

St. Jude Children Research Hospital

595 N. Parkway Memphis TN. 38105
Attn: Vilma Carnahan

Thanks for stopping by my blog today-be sure to leave a comment for your chance to win this awesome collection:

Now, hop along to Kathleen's blog for more inspiration and chances to win!! *link fixed!

November Counterfeit Kit

2011-11-05T23:00:00.000-05:00

Wow, can you believe it's already November? This fall is just flying by for me! This month, the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog is being sponsored by the awesome Scraptastic Kit Club, and we have chosen their beautiful kits as our inspiration for this month!

You can see their kits HERE.

Here is my November Main Kit, "Colors of Autumn":

Cardstock: Stampin Up Blush Blossom (2), The Paper Company red connect diamonds, SEI Dill Blossom "Licorice"-reverse side, aqua polka dot Coordinations/Cosmo Cricket cardstock

Patterned paper:Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe "Quilts"(2-both sides shown), Basic Grey Mellow "Cultured", Basic Grey Marrakech "Sencha", SEI Dill Blossom "Saffron" reverse side shown, SEI Dill Blossom "Nigella", Basic Grey Marrakech "Vanilla Chai", Coordinations Embossed Vintage Collection Graphic 45 Cardstock, Basic Grey Mellow "Juicy", and Tim Holtz Kraft Resist cardstock

Embellishments:

Printed journaling labels from Creativity Prompt, Ormolu,Love The Day/ Catch My Party , journaling stickers from Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe Collection, brown glitter Thickers, RW Laser Cuts mini fram, Studio Calico stamp, Studio G Autumn stamps,3 journaling spots from Making Memories booklets, embroidery floss, bakers twine, handmade rosette , hot pink Twistel, assortment of textured leaves (most of these, I die cut with my Cricut from Wasua Crinkle Textured paper, to look like the Amy Tangerine leaves I am seeing all over the blogosphere), Heidi Grace metal words, chipboard bookplate

My First Add-on, "Autumn Sunshine":

Cardstock: Sunflower Bazzill Swiss Dots,SEI Dill Blossom "Pesto" and "Nigella", deep aqua cs
Patterned Paper: Basic Grey Mellow "Equinox" and "Ebb", circles and stars DCWV All About The Boys cardstock, Graphic 45 Botanicabella "Botanicabella", "Garden Suite", "Ode To A Butterfly", Basic Grey Wisteria "Pond"

Embellishments: black foam Thickers, Making Memories Tiny Alpha Stickers, scrabble letter stickers, 2 paper doilies from Wiltons, one misted with Sea Glass Glimmer Mist from Tattered Angels, the other sprayed with black chalkboard spray paint, various chipboard pieces, stamped and cut out leaves, miscellaneous button assortment, orange Twistel, yellow and light blue embroidery floss, soft fuzzy brown fiber, peach hand dyed shabby seam binding, punch out doily from Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe.

Flowers and Letters Add-On:

I dug out these letter stickers from several Basic Grey Collection packs, added Petaloo flowers that I just won in the Petaloo/Coordinations blog hop, and made/printed a sheet of stickers from various digital elements and papers.

Extra Embellishments Add On Kit:

Basic Grey Lemonade paper, Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe punch outs and border stickers, a chipboard embellished butterfly, and 2 partially used packs of Making Memories Velvet Sayings.

Better Late than Never...

2011-11-05T22:13:00.000-05:00

I know, I promised more layouts and exciting news! Well...this momma has been so busy w/ Halloween and school this week that it totally slipped my mind! So sorry! First a couple of layouts that I made up from leftovers of my October Counterfeit Kits:

Brown and Pink layout:

I just loved this photo of my daughter and her aunt, and really wanted to highlight it! I will write journaling in the pink box by the butterfly (a digistamp from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff that I changed the color of and printed on cardstock). I used: Background paper is by SEI, paper scraps, frames and border stickers from Echo Park, pink ric rack ribbon, pink scalloped felt ribbon, brown crochet ribbon, Girls Paperie Vintage Buttons, pink primas, pink rhinestone bling by Jolee's

"I Want Candy" Layout:

For this layout, I used the "Candy Inspiration Challenge from the CKCB blog, and I finally got some EIGHT year old photos scrapped!! For both of these layouts, I scrapped smaller photos, which is rather unusual for me!
Supplies used for this page: Background paper is Basic Grey Eerie, KI Memories black glitter skulls border, Basic Grey Eerie Pops owl sticker, and candy /lollipop stickers from K&Co. puffy epoxy stickers, black glitter Thickers, and Echo Park letter stickers.

Now, for my Exciting News! I was recently asked to join the design team over at Sketches 4 All! This is an awesome group of girls, and I hope you will come over and check out our challenges! We have lots of creative challenges to inspire you!

I am running my own challenge group, Margie's Creative Challenges- I hope you will come over and check it out! Right now, I am running a Pinterest Inspired Challenge (November 1-15), inspired by this pin:

My challenge is to make any creative project (card, layout, sewn, home decor), inspired by this pin, and post it to my group thread HERE , for a chance to win a small RAK from me!I hope you will play!

But, that's not all...

Sketches 4 All is having a Saint Jude's Children's Christmas Cards Blog Hop sponsored by Nikki Sivvils!!I just got this in the mail to play with (Thanks, FIA, Michelle, and Nikki!):

I will be making cards to share on the blog hop (November 12th-15th), and you have a chance to win this:

All you will have to do is comment on all of the blogs in the blog hop for a chance to win!So, mark your calendars!!

That's all for now, I will be posting my Counterfeit Kit for November in a bit!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T14:59:00.000-05:00

Since it's Halloween, I thought that it would be fitting to share one more Halloween page made with my kit for this month! I started with a couple of challenges, one on Sketches 4 All using this great sketch by Jana Eubanks:

And a challenge from The Paper Variety blog to make a Halloween project.Here is my page:

A close up look at my embellies:

Thanks for stopping by today-before you go, leave me a not and let me know what you do for Halloween! Do you trick or treat? Pass out candy or dress up? If so what was your best/most creative costume? I will be taking the kids trick or treating tonight, myself. Be sure to come by tomorrow-I have another layout and some exciting news to share!

"Paddleboat Fun"

2011-10-28T10:43:00.000-05:00

I saw this awesome color challenge over at The Color Room, and since I had these colors in my October kit, I decided to play along (albeit a little late).

The challenge:

My take on the challenge:

Again, with a crooked photo...gaggghhh!!! Oh well, you can get the idea-I just have to get used to shooting my pages w/o tons of sunlight (it has been very fallish, gray, and rainy here lately). Any way, on to my layout:

I finally scrapped a few photos from my honeymoon! Supplies I used: Pink Paislee Vintage Moon Harvest Moon paper, scraps of Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe Dresses paper for the photo mats, Echo Park Life is Good Element and Alpha stickers, several Girls Paperie vintage buttons, ZVA bling flourish that I colored to match my layout with a Copic marker, black glitter chipboard Thickers.

Oh, and if you don't read the Dear Lizzy blog...she had the AWESOMEST recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies on her blog this morning- 16 oz can pumpkin, 1 box spice mix, and chocolate chips. It sounded so yummy, and I had some of the stuff, so I tweaked it to what I had-1 cup of pumpkin pie mix, 1 butter recipe yellow cake mix, 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla, and just added in some spices-ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and a cup of chocolate chips, dropped them on a greased cookie sheet and baked at 350 for about 15 minutes. They were SOOOO yummy with a glass of ice cold milk-and I think they still would have been awesome with out the chocolate chips. Try them out and let me know what you think!

Pagemaps Sketch Challenge

2011-10-28T10:00:00.004-05:00

I told you I had more to share before the month was over! Here is a layout I did for the current sketch challenge over at Pagemaps blog:

My Layout:

I used up some scraps for this one: Cosmo Cricket for the yellow background with the circles, and the flowered paper, yellow gingham print from The Girls Paperie from my October kit, an ancient "The Pumpkin Patch" sticker from my kit, brown crochet ribbon leftover from my September kit, a Graphic 45 tag and Basic Grey Eerie brad from this month's kit, and some inked fall felt embellies that I bought in a bucket from Wal Mart ages ago!

Get Picky Birthday Blog Hop

2011-10-28T08:14:00.000-05:00

I saw that Get Picky was having a birthday blog hop, and I had to play along!

Here is the sketch:

Here is my layout:

Do you believe I actually scrapped a page about myself? I don't always dress up for Halloween, but that year, one of the kids put a tattoo on me, so I had to scrap it!

Supplies used:
SEI Eerie Alley Arachnaphobia (been hording this paper forever!), Making Memories Spook Alley die cut 6x6 paper, gray Cosmo Cricket embossed cardstock that I inked, and a few scraps from Little Yellow Bicycle's Frightful Collection Large Stripes and Making Memories Spook Alley. I used part of a KI Memries border, and a couple of 7Gypsies stickers. The title letters were chipboard sticker letters from the Target $1 spot, and I dabbed them with my silver paint dabber.

It's A Blog Hop...AND a Pretty Paper Party!

2011-10-26T22:19:00.001-05:00

It's time for the Master Forger's Blog Hop-and here is the challenge we were given this month:

BLOG HOP CHALLENGE: Alter some stickers and use them in an unexpected way on your project. Let's see if we can even recognize them as stickers any more!

I have several pages to share, some using stickers and some not, since I won an entrance to Shimelle's Pretty Paper Party, I have been combining as many challenges as possible, using up lots of pretty papers from my paper scraps and Counterfeit kit, and more importantly, getting lots of scrapping done!!

The first day's prompt was to mix and match strips of patterned paper (which is easy if you just happen ;-) to have a piece of border strips paper in your kit). I also used one of Shimelle's sketches for Day 1.

My Layout,"Just Breathe":

My "Sticker in Disguise":

I mounted it on a chipboard flower and added some bling to the center-love making it dimensional!

Supplies I used for this layout:
A piece of GCD Studios pink cardstock from a previous CKCB kit, Echo Park Life Is Good Border Strips, a salmon pink handmade ribbon flower, Echo Park Life Is Good Element and Alpha stickers, a pink rhinestone from my kit, and a journaling spot from my stash.

The prompt for Day 2 was to use a patterned background-again, I followed a sketch from Shimelle:

I am not so sure I love the way this page turned out, but I ripped it apart twice and changed it around, so I finally decided I was done, and it was time to move on to the next page. It kind of feels off balance, so I may add a little something to the right side, but for now, I am walking away! The way I disguised the stickers here: I layered them on cardstock and with other stickers.
Supplies Used:
Making Memories Spellbound "Glitter Crow", American Crafts Halloween Stickers, Basic Grey Eerie Pops Stickers, Making Memories Spook Alley rub-on house, a stamp from my Halloween kit, and some orange bling from my stash

I skipped Day 3's Prompt, since it was all about making a kit up from your stash, and I kind of already do that ;-)

Day 4's prompt was to use dots and/or stripes-and possibly mix in another pattern such as a floral.

Here's my page:

I used a sketch loosely for this one.Supplies used:
American Crafts Play "Paper Dolls", The Girls Paperie Paper Girl "Die Cut Wallpaper", a piece of pink scalloped felt ribbon, pink Primas and bling, a handmade pink flower from my stash, and Echo Park Element and Alpha stickers, and an American Crafts Remarks journaling spot.

One of the prompts from Day 5 was to make it messy or distressed, and I used Shimelle's sketch for the day.

My Layout:

And a closer look at my "disguised stickers" here:

On the star sticker, I just added bling to the center, and for the Thickers-I "disguised" a P, and turned it into an R with a little creative cutting.
Supplies I used for this page:
patterned papers from the DCWV All About Boys stack, pieces of red and light blue cardstock from my scrap stash, American Crafts Thickers (from 3 different sets-the black glitter chipboard letters were in my Halloween kit this month, the other 2 were in past kits), Sapphire Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels that I dripped/flicked on the page, red rhinestones from my stash, and the red stars are from Jenni Bowlin.
Thanks for hopping by, be sure to visit our sponsor for this month, Momenta , and be sure to "like" them on FB for a chance to win an AWESOME prize pack!
Here is the blog hop order:

Stop by tomorrow-I still have more pages to share before I do a wrap up for October!

A Page For a Challenge...

2011-10-26T08:08:00.000-05:00

There was a great sketch over at Burlap And Buttercups Blog this month, so I just had to play along!

Here is the sketch:

There was a twist: you have to use at least 2 different manufacturers on it. Kits make that easy, though, because you already have coordinating products at your fingertips.

Here is my layout:

Supplies used:
background paper is the flip side of the SEI Chocolat "Framboise"-you can't really tell from the photo, but there are debossed butterflies, which looks so pretty up close-I love texture on my pages and cards! I also used a scrap piece of the SEI Chocolat "Chocolat", a piece of Echo Park Life is Good "Grandma's Quilt" to pick up the faint blue stripe from the background paper (which, again, you really can't tell from this photo-but I like pink and blue together anyways), a leftover piece of the back of the SEI Chocolat, and a scrap piece to show the back side of the Echo Park paper (which also carries out my pink and blue theme). I inked the edges of all of the papers and cardstock with a cocoa colored chalk ink to help them all blend a little better.
Embellishments I used were: Echo Park Life Is Good Element and Alpha stickers, The Girls Paperie Flower and Vintage buttons, and a label sticker from Creative Imaginations.
Be sure to drop by tomorrow, we are having our Counterfeit Kit Challenge Master Forgers blog hop-and I have a lot more scrapbooking to share!

Autumn Colors

2011-10-25T09:11:00.001-05:00

The page I am sharing with you today is based on this month's sketch from The Scrap Room Blog:

My Layout:

Supplies I used were from my October main kit:
2 papers from DCWV Lemon Flower Stack, green houndstooth borders from Heidi Swapp "Groovin", and punched with a Fiskars border punch, and the pumpkins were a Scrappy Kat stamp from my Halloween kit, which I stamped on white cardstock, colored with my Copic markers, and attached with pop dots. The title was a stamp also, from Creative Cafe for Hampton Arts, stamped with black Momento ink. The journaling strip was a Studio Calico stamp (from the same set I used in my last post).
Thanks for sharing your time with me, come back tomorrow for more layouts!

Halloween and Fall fun...

2011-10-24T10:00:00.000-05:00

A couple of layouts to share with you today as promised:

For the first one, I used a sketch from Sketch Inspiration:

My Layout, "2 Ninjas Costume Party":

Supplies used for this page:(from my October Main Counterfeit Kit and Halloween kit)
Silver glitter Polka Dot paper from DCWV's Lemon Flower Stack, orange K&Co Halloween Whimsy paper, which I fussy cut the orange spider web from, black glitter chipboard "2" AC Thickers, "Ninjas" chipboard letters from Target $1 spot pack, "Costume party" from Target $1 spot sticker word pack, Skeleton 3-d Sticker from Basic Grey Eerie pack, spider rub-on from a Target $1 spot halloween rub-on pack (rockin' the dollar spot, huh ;-)? ). And 2 Studio Calico label stamps for the journaling that I won in a blog hop giveaway from Jennie McGarvey!

The second layout I am sharing today was based on a sketch from Pretty Little Studios:

And here is my layout, "Hey Pumpkin":

Sorry about the crooked photo,I couldn't get it straight no matter how I tried!

Supplies I used were all from my Counterfeit Kit Halloween kit: Basic Grey Eerie "Screech", Little Yellow Bicycle Frightful "Large Stripes", We R Memory Keepers Black Out flocked web lace (I added some of my black rhinestones), black "wrought iron" gate die cut with rhinestone, Cosmo Cricket "Hey Pumpkin" label sticker, and 2 Basic Grey Eerie brads. I edged around the striped paper and the whole page with my silver paint dabber.

A Few Challenges and some Scrapbooking to Share

2011-10-23T19:21:00.000-05:00

Sorry, I have been a bit of a bad blogger lately. I have spent some time creating, but not nearly enough time sharing. So, I thought it would be a good time to share some of the pages I have made with you.

First up is a page that I did for the CKCB blog's layering challenge. I used sketch #177 from Creative Scrappers. I also took the prompt to make a fall/Halloween page from Sketches 4 All, and this is what I came up with.

Sketch I Used:

The page I made:

Supplies I used were all from my October Counterfeit Kit:
Swirly gray background paper was the backside of the Heidi Swapp, "The Lounge", and the green stripes were the backside of the Heidi Swapp "Groovin". I used a black glitter pumpkin border from the KI Memories Wicked border stickers, We R Memory Keepers Blackout felt border, a green ZVA bling flourish, an assortment of Primas from my kit, along with some of the Basic Grey Eerie brads, and a black and a few brass brads the chipboard letter stickers are American Crafts Thickers.
I am also sharing a page that I made with another sketch from Creative Scrappers.
The sketch I used, #175:

The page I made :

I still need to do some journaling, but I love the way it turned out so far!The supplies were all from my October Main kit: the back of the Echo Park Life Is Good "Bold Stripes", the polka dot and flowered paper is Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe "Dresses" (both sides), and used some border stickers and letter stickers from the Echo Park Life is Good Element and Alpha Stickers, pink satin homemade flower, some of my digital elements that I printed out on sticker paper for my kit: a Cosmo Cricker "Gluber" flower, and a yellow journaling spot from Echo Park's Digital collections, and pink Thickers that I used my pearl colored paint dabber on.

If you'll check back, I'll be sure to share the rest of my October pages through the next week, I promise ;-). Thanks for stopping by today!

Harry Potter Birthday Party

2011-10-12T09:58:00.000-05:00

My son turned 10 this year, and the last Harry Potter movie came out, so what better way to celebrate than with a Harry Potter birthday party? I got tons of ideas from Pinterest, then I decided what I could make work in my house.

The first thing that I made was the sign for "Platform 9 3/4", which I placed by the door (I picked up the file that I printed here-she has TONS of other great printables for a Harry Potter party). The frame was a simple oak frame that I repurposed with black chalkboard spray paint and hi-gloss spray (or you could just use a gloss finish spray paint) but I used what I already had.

My Sign:

The next thing on my list...wands for the Wizards! I found an AWESOME and easy tutorial for making them from cardstock, hot glue, and spray paint-and I love how they turned out!

Ollivander's Wand Shop:

As you can see, I also made "Hogwarts Completion Certificates, but I will show those later ( I gave them out at the end of the party).

As any Harry Potter fan knows, the wizards doesn't choose the wand, the wand chooses the wizard. So, we blindfolded the kids and the let the wands do the rest of the work ;-).

(birthday boy had to put a spell on his sis!)

Now there are lots of ideas for Harry Potter party activities if you google it, but the kids opted to ride four wheelers and play Harry Potter video games.

We had a Sorting Hat Pita Bread with Felix Felicis Spinach dip:

We had a Honeyduke's Sweet Shop:

A closer look at the spooky sweets:

We had lots of yummy treats: Acid Pops (sour pop rocks), Drooble's Best Blowing Gum (eyeball bubble gum from the Halloween section-also a nod to Moody Mad Eye), Chocolate Frogs, Slytherin Snakes (sour gummy snakes), Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans (I couldn't find these, so I just used gourmet jelly beans), Cockroach Clusters (chow mein noodles covered in chocolate), Golden Snitch Cake Pops, and Edible Wands (chocolate licorice), and Nimbus 2000 Broomstick treats.

I made the sign with some googled clip art and cardstock:

There were lots of fun treats there, like Nimbus 2000 Broomstick Treats:

Instructions to make these HERE.

Golden Snitch Cake pops (I got the idea for these here):

I used vanilla almond bark, and mixed golden yellow and lemon yellow food coloring in for the candy coating.I made the wings from a shimmer cardstock, and cut them out with my Cricut.
For the cake, we had a "Hagrid Cake," like the one that Hagrid brought Harry in the first movie, messy pink and green frosting, misspellings, and all.

Here is the cake from the movie:

And, Evan's cake:

(this was the easiest and most fun birthday cake I have ever made-it was so freeing to make it messy on purpose!)

There were Chocolate Frogs:

Which I made with a candy mold from Hobby Lobby, and printed out the labels for.

I also made a banner:

I printed out the Gryffindor house crest for the ends, along with some Harry Potter artwork that I altered in PSE, I cut the letters in red and gold (Gryffindor colors) for the banner from the Parry Hotter font using my Cricut and SCAL, then tied it all together with pieces of black tulle.

Here's another look at the banner and table:

There were "Magical Color Changing Drinks" for "Potions":

(these were easy-I put food coloring in the cups, then the ice cubes, so that when we poured the sprite in, it changed colors)
And, of course you can't have a Harry Potter party without Butterbeer!:

I used this recipe for Magically Easy Butterbeer- I did have an "oops" moment here-I overbeat the whipped topping and turned it into butter-luckily, I had bought a back up of Cool Whip, so a crisis was averted! It was really good (kind of like a cream soda float)-I'm sure that it would have been even better with the topping it was supposed to have ;-)

Of course, there was singing and candle blowing:

Cards :

(What 10 year old boy doesn't love a whoopie cushion?)

and Presents:

He got lots of Nerf stuff, a video camera, a Super Soaker, money, books...

When it was all over, all of the kids got "Hogwarts Completion Certificates":

This is what they looked like:

I printed them out on vellum, one at a time, and immediately sprinkled them with UTEE and heat embossed-then I rolled them all up like diplomas and tied them with golden yellow grosgrain ribbon.

It was a fun party, and hopefully it made my little man feel special! Everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves!

I am linking up to:

The ABC's of me...

2011-10-08T11:49:00.000-05:00

I have seen this on several blog's, and I thought I would play along, so you could learn a little more about me ;-).
A. Age: 31
B. Bed size: Queen-but I so wish we had room for King!
C. Chore that you hate: Laundry (especially putting it away!)
D. Dogs: I have mixed feelings on this one-they are so cute, but I don't want to have clean up after anyone/anything else! If I didn't have kids... I would.
E. Essential start to your day: Cherry Coke Zero-it's my coffee!
F. Favourite colour: oh I love all of them-but probably blue in all shades
G: Gold or silver: I like both-but probably gold
H: Height: 5'3 1/2"(gotta add that 1/2, lol!)
I: Instruments you play: None-can't read music, but I like to sing!
J: Job title: Stay AT Home Mom
K: Kids: 4-Caitlin (12), Evan (10), and the twins, Natalie and Cecilia (7)
L: Live: West Tennessee
M: Mother's name: Debbie
N: Nick Name: I have had lots of nicknames-my real name is Margerie, but everyone has always called me Margie. Hubby has been calling my Pooh bear lately (not sure if I like it or not)
O: Overnight hospital stays: 3-every time I had my kids
P: Pet peeves: blocked phone numbers
Q: Quote from a movie: I love this quote from the Notebook:

I am nothing special; just a common man with common thoughts, and I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten. But in one respect I have succeeded as gloriously as anyone who's ever lived: I've loved another with all my heart and soul; and to me, this has always been enough.

It gives me chills!R: Right or left handed: Right
S: Siblings: Josh, Elisabeth, and Bethany
T: Tea or coffee: Coffee-preferably from Starbucks if I have to drink it!
U: Underwear: Um, yeah
V: Vegetables you hate: I can't think of any-I love veggies if they are cooked right!
W: What makes you run late: kids
X: X Rays: Dental
Y: Yummy food that you make: everyone loves my chili-and I love to bake-cookies, cupcakes
Z: Zoo Animal: I love to see the big cats-lions, cheetahs, panthers, tigers...they are just so magnificent and powerful!

October Counterfeit Kit

2011-10-06T07:47:00.000-05:00

Can you believe that it's October already? I can't! But I am so happy for fall-I truly love the change of seasons! And fall means cooler weather, sweaters, colorful leaves, back to school for the kiddos, and Halloween. With 4 kids, how can I not love all of that? Anyhow, back to the kit!

This month, Beth and Meridy chose these kits from Little Red Scrapbook for our inspiration:
Main Kit:

and a Halloween themed kit:

And since I have as much (if not more) fun making up the kits each month out of my stash, I made up two kits, too!

My Main Kit, "Beautiful Autumn":

For my kit, I tried to stay with similar colors and patterns. Here is the breakdown of the goodies I included in my kit:
Papers:
Heidi Swapp "Groovin" (the green houndstooth-2sheets)
Coordinations Graphic 45 gray embossed dots cardstock
2 sheets from DCWV Lemon Flower Stack (yellow, green and silver glittered floral and the yellow paisley)
Echo Park Life Is Good "Grandma's Quilt"
SEI Chocolat "Framboise"
SEI Chocolat "Papillion"
Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe "Dresses"
Echo Park Life Is Good Border Strips
The Girl's Paperie Paper Girl "12x12 Cabbage Rose"
American Crafts Play "Paper Dolls"
Heidi Swapp "The Lounge"
Echo Park Life Is Good "Bold Stripes"
American Crafts The Goods "Carriage"
The Girl's Paperie Paper Girl "Die Cut Wallpaper"
SEI Chocolat "Chocolat"

Embellishments:
ribbons: K&Co. scalloped pink felt ribbon, American Crafts light blue velvet scalloped ribbon
Lots of handmade flowers-lollipop flowers,satin burnt edge flowers, and ruffled ribbon flowers, along with a leftover Prima backing card from another pack of flowers that I plan to repurpose
a gorgeous butterfly mini banner that I received from a 2 Peas swap (those girls are SO talented!!)
Graphic 45 Botanicabella punch out butterfly tags
A sheet of sticker paper that I printed out lots of fun digi elements on-some from Echo Park,some from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff, the Graphics Fairy, and Cosmo Cricket, to name a few.
American Crafts Thickers Darling Lipgloss chipboard letter stickers
Jolee's All That Bling large pink gems

My Embellishment Add On:

Echo Park Life Is Good Element and Alpha Stickers
American Crafts Thickers Sprinkles Cucumber glitter chipboard letter stickers
The Girls Paperie Paper Girl Flower Market Paper Route and Vintage Buttons
Shimmerz Bed Of Roses shimmer mist
homemade shimmer mist
assortment of paper and ribbon flowers

My Halloween Kit, "Creepy Creatures":

Papers:
Making Memories Spellbound "Glitter Crow"
American Crafts Moda Bella "Tailored"
Little Yellow Bicycle Frightful Collection "Large Stripe"
Purple spiderwebs from Target $1 Spot paper pack
Cloud 9 Design Halloween Fun "Multi Spiders"
Basic Grey Eerie "Screech"(back side shown)
Basic Grey Eerie "Reaper"
Basic Grey Scarlet's Letter "Pious"
Pink Paislee Vintage Moon "Harvest Moon"
DCWV Lemon Flower gray/silver glitter dot cardstock
K&Co Halloween Whimsy 12x12 Web Flat Paper
Halloween stripes from Target $1 Spot paper pack
SEI Eerie Alley Arachnophobia (back side shown)
Heidi Swapp "Star and Shield"

Embellishments:
American Crafts Thickers Sprinkles black glitter chipboard letters
Target $1 Spot Spooky Collection Chipboard Alpha Stickers
Jenni Bowlin Halloween Bingo Cards
Basic Grey Wholy Cow Rub-ons
Basic Grey Eerie Pops layered stickers, Glazed Brads
Making Memories Spook Alley glitter rub-ons
Target $1 Spot Halloween Rub-ons and Glitter Word Stickers
Marcella by K Halloween Candy Pillow Stickers
American Crafts Remarks Trick Or Treat Phrase Stickers Book
Making Memories Spellbound brads
We R Memories Black Out Halloween flocked lace
awesome halloween mini banners (from the same swap mentioned above)
Adirondack Metallics Paint daubers
assorted halloween Primas
black, purple, and silver glitter
assortment of fall/halloween stamps by: Creative Cafe for Hampton Arts, Scrappy Cat, See-d's for Inque Boutique, and Studio G
leftover black gems and pearls
die cut "wrought-iron" gate (I made it and put it in a kit a couple of months ago, but haven't used it yet)
KI Memories Wicked Glitter Sticker borders
DCWV fall word stickers
EK Success clear Halloween title stickers
Cosmo Cricket Tricks&Treats cardstock stickers
Marcella by K Halloween Glitter Embossed Stickers
7Gypsies 97% Complete Halloween Stickers

Closer look at my Halloween stamps and stickers:

Happy World Cardmaking Day!

2011-10-01T19:48:00.000-05:00

How are you celebrating World Cardmaking Day? I have thoroughly enjoyed it!! I spent the morning blog hopping and being inspired! Then I stumbled across this challenge on the Pink Paislee blog, so I decided to pull out some of my Pink Paislee stash and play along!

Here are some of my entries for the challenges:
Challenge #5 was a color challenge, based on this photo from Pinterest:

And here is my card for this challenge:

For this card, I used paper from Pink Paislee's Vintage Moon line, " Night Owl", and a journaling tag from the "Father Christmas" punch outs, a little bit of olive colored chalk ink on the edges, and a few leftover rub-on stitched leaves, paper leaves, flowers, and brads. I used my scallop punch on a scrap of Bazzill Swiss Dots cardstock(which I also edged with my olive chalk ink) , and a "Give Thanks" sticker.

Challenge #6:
Stamping Challenge: Layer stamps (I may have cheated on this one a little, because I chose stamps that were meant to be used together/layered).

Here is my card:

For this card, I used paper from Pink Paislee's Vintage Moon line, "Moon Glade", and a stamped frame and sentiment-I stamped the florally frame first with silver paint from a paint dauber, then after that dried, I stamped "Happy Birthday" with Tim Holtz Tumbled Glass Distress ink, fussy cut and inked the edges with the Tumbled Glass ink, tied some hand dyed gray shabby seam binding, attached the stamped sentiment with pop dots, and added some homemade vintage stick pins, then inked the edges of the whole card with the Tumbled Glass Distress Ink.

For my last card (today, anyway), I followed Challenge # 7: Use more than one type of medium.

Here is my card:

For this card, I started with paper from Pink Paislee's Butterfly Gardens line, "Dew Drops". I took some AWESOME Mistable scalloped trim in 2 different widths, and on the one I stamped with a script stamp and some homemade violet colored shimmer mist, and on the wider trim, I did some random messy paint stamping with a polka dot stamp and a silver paint dauber. On top of the muslin Mistables scallops, I tied some lilac colored hand dyed shabby seam binding, and added a flower that I made by layering flowers from Prima and Petaloo which I inked lightly with Tim Holtz Dusty Concord Distress Ink, and leaves from Precocious Paper, and inked all of the edges with Dusty Concord and attached it to a white cardstock card base.

What a fun day I had creating-I hope you got to play a little, too!!

Challenge Submission

2011-09-30T09:47:00.001-05:00

Last weekend was the big Birthday Bash celebration at Artful Delight. Artful Delight celebrated Leeanne's birthday, hosted a great blog hop, introduced the new design team and also offered three great challenges that give you the chance to win AWESOME prizes! The Grand Prize is a 6 month subscription to Artful Delight monthly kits!!

The first challenge was this sketch:

My layout for the sketch:

A Closer look at my Coffee Filter Flower:

The Second Challenge Was This Tic Tac Toe Board:

I used light pink, made a layout, and used a border punch for this page:

(this page needs something, I am just not sure what... I am open to any suggestions!)

and the third challenge:
Use kraft, light pink, and white on a project.

And here is my card:

Fun challenge!

Awesome Dusty Attic Giveaway

2011-09-28T13:48:00.000-05:00

Do you like chipboard? (I love what it adds to my pages!) Have you seen this awesome chipboard by Dusty Attic? It's so scrolly and intricate, just gorgeous! Simply Paper is giving some away at her blog, and she sells it in her shop too, check out this awesome chipboard now!

Master Forger's Blog Hop

2011-09-26T21:04:00.002-05:00

This month is all about stamping over at the CKCB Challenge Blog, since we are being sponsored by the fantastic Ippity Chick (and a fellow DT member) Sherri . So Beth and Meridy gave us this challenge for the blog hop:

Blog Hop Challenge: Use a stamping technique to create a project. Make sure you make a link to that technique so we can give it a try, too! (Or, if you feel adventurous...make your own tutorial for your favorite stamping technique!)

This is a good challenge for me, since I have tons of stamps that sit around collecting dust most of the time. The technique that I decided to try was Heat Embossed Resist with mists.
Here are some tutorials on how to do it:
http://ideasforscrapbookers.blogspot.com/2011/05/heat-embossing-with-mists.html

http://plkomara.blogspot.com/2010/09/annoucement-and-some-tattered-tags.html

I used this week's fantastic sketch from Sketchy Thursdays:

Here is my layout:

And a closer look at the embossed resist embellie:

I did have stray little bits of embossing powder which I could have brushed off with a paintbrush, but I kind of liked the droplet effect that it gave it, so I left them and heated it with my heat gun as it was.

Supplies used:
Red cardstock with a distressed pattern from GCD Studios, cherry patterned paper from Jenni Bowlin Studios, scraps of leftover papers that I punched into border strips-Basic Grey, Teresa Collins, navy Bazzill, a paper doily that I misted for my September kit, a file folder cut from kraft cardstock with my Cricut and one of the fabulous Penny Duncan's svg files, Making Memories hinges, Tim Holtz tissue tape, a scrap of red Bazzill Swiss Dots cardstock that I cut into a scalloped shape with an svg file from Susan Blue Robot, and DCWV rub-on Stitching. I used 2 different stamps for my circle embellishment, a grungy dotted circle from a christmas stamp set by Danielle Johnson for Art Warehouse, and the "baby shower" with the umbrella are from a Doodlebug stamp set. I decided to put the other photos in the file folder, because I have put off scrapping them forever-they are all pastelly (what was I thinking, wearing red to a girly baby shower?), so they clashed with my photo- so I hid them ;-p .

Thank you for hopping by my blog! Here is the line-up, be sure to check out the other designers for tons of crafty, stamping inspiration!

Guest Designer: Lisa H.

Margie (you are here)

Susanne (go here next)

Lisa

Gabrielle

Meridy

Sketchy Fun

2011-09-22T13:29:00.000-05:00

As you may or may not have noticed, I love sketches!! It takes alot of the "work" and thinking out of scrapping for me, and just allows me to focus on the pictures, the memories,and having fun! Here are a few more layouts that I made this week using sketches:

Sketch 173 for Creative Scrappers:

My Layout, "Take Time To Smell The Daisies":

Supplies Used (mostly from September Counterfeit Kit):
DCWV yellow grid print from Lemon Flower Stack, scrap of kraft cardstock, Fancy Pants Its The Little Things Border Strips, Sassafrass Lass star sticker,American Crafts Thickers, Cosmo Cricker Tiny Type Letter Stickers

Sketch from Stuck Sketches:

My Layout, "Treasures Of The Heart":

Close Up Of My Embellishment Cluster:

Supplies Used:
Fores green cardstock, hand punched peach paper lace, Colorbok rose print paper, brown crochet lace ribon, peachy pink Prima flowers, Bazzill button blooms, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, die cut kraft swirl, K&Co rub on

Journaling reads:
"It's hard to believe it's been two years that she's been gone now- and I still miss just calling her with a question, or seeing the way her face lit up when she saw her "Precious", Evan. Photos-September 2010, journaled September 2011."

Sketch from Sassy Lil' Sketches:

My Layout, "Signs Of Spring"

Close Up of the flower cluster:

Supplies Used:
Pink Paislee Vintage Moon patterned cardstock, yellow polka dot leftover scrap from DCWV Lemon Flower Stack, scrap of Teresa Collins black damask, Lily Bee stickers and banner, "Registered" label from Counterfeit Digi Kit (Echo Park For The Record), American Crafts Thickers, Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type, yellow Primas

A Sketch And Inspiration from Stuck On You Sketches (use die cut flowers-the 2 bigger flowers were die cut, the smaller ones were Primas that I layered):

My Layout, "Blue Eyed Beauty"

Die Cut Flowers:

Primas:

Supplies Used:
Teresa Collins black and cream damask print, Lily Bee This & That "Milk Bottle"-reverse side, cream shimmer cardstock, American Crafts Thickers, cream Primas, Making Memories rhinestone brad, Echo Park little letter stickers, patterned paper flower, black felt and tulle glittered flower, a tag for journaling tucked away behind the photo, tied with black and white baker's twine, and fastened with a Making Memories vintage brad.

If you made it this far, I commend you!! Thanks for visiting me today!

Remember This...

2011-09-19T12:01:00.000-05:00

One of the layouts that I made the other day is based on this FANTASTIC sketch by Becky Fleck, for this month's Express The Moments Contest:

My Layout:

A Close Up Peek at The Embellies:

Supplies I used:
Cream DCWV cardstock, Basic Grey Origins Patterned papers, kraft cardstock, my coffee filter flower (faux "Bella Bloom"), a decorated fall doily that I recieved in a swap, part of a Colorbok bling circle, American Crafts clear/brown journaling sticker attached to cream cardstock, black AC Thickers, Cosmo Cricket cream and black Tiny Type alpha stickers, tiny green Making Memories painted brads. I cut the title block and mat out with my Cricut and Once Upon A Princess cartridge.

The journaling reads:
"Moments like these are what makes life special! Thank you for this precious memory of my two handsome men! I love to see the love and trust as Evan holds Eric's hand. St Louis 7/21/2007"

Petal Pick-Up Layout

2011-09-18T09:58:00.000-05:00

I was inspired by this awesome sketch from Artful Delight:

Here is my layout:

A Close up Of My Embellishment Cluster:

Supplies I used:

Black And Yellow floral print from DCWV's Lemon Flower Stack (this paper is so gorgeous in person, it has the loveliest glossy/debossed texture), yellow polka dot print from the DCWV Lemon Flower Stack also, black sequined sheer ribbon, Making Memories cream with tiny black polka dot vinyl, Making Memories tiny alphas, silver American Crafts Thickers, yellow Primas, black and white twine-most supplies are taken from my September "Gran's Kitchen" kit that I put together (you can see it here).

The journaling reads:

"Two of the prettiest flower girls around-picking up the petals from a dropped basket. 8/7/2010"

Thanks for dropping by today-come back tomorrow for another crafty share!

Scrappy Saturday

2011-09-17T19:21:00.001-05:00

I had a scrappy kind of day today-I got to make about 5 layouts while my hubby watched college football (I kind of don't mind being a football widow, lol!). I'll share the layouts over the next few days (it will give me something to post everyday, yay!). Today's layout was based on a fun sketch from Pretty Little Studios (they have some awesome vintage style goodies, you should definantly check them out!)I have been watching their sketches for a few weeks, I am stoked that I finally got a chance to play along!

My Layout, "Little Gray Elephant"

A close up peek of my embellishment cluster:

Supplies Used:
Background paper is GCD Studios, the red cardstock is part of the Colorbok sheet, Echo Park letter and Journaling Ticket Stickers from last month's Birthday Kit, and I used a leftover piece of kraft cardstock, heart shaped chipboard button tied with twine, Sassafrass Lass flower sticker, Making Memories Upholstery brad, orange Jenni Bowlin button, black and white baker's twine, and rub-on stitching from this month's kit. For those cool strips on the side of the page, I used THIS TUTORIAL to make my own "Washi Tape" with Echo Park "For The Record" Borderlines digipaper.

The Journaling Reads:
October 31, 2000
"Wow, how funny it is to look back at Caitlin and her favorite stuffed animal from so long ago!"
journaled 9/2011

Bubble Beauty

2011-09-15T05:35:00.000-05:00

Just a Quick share of the page I made for this week's Sketch Inspiration sketch.

The sketch:

Here is my layout:

I will probably add some journaling in the near future, but for now, it is what it is...

All supplies used were from my September Counterfeit Kit ,with the exception of the black Thickers, which came from my August Counterfeit Kit.

Supplies used: patterned cardstock is The Girls Paperie Paper Girl "Green Brocade", I diecut the label shape with my Cricut and SCAL from the cream Co'oredinations Woodgrain Embossed Cardstock, and inked it with a petal shaped Martha Stewart leaf colored ink pad, then added the American Crafts Thickers (I had to get a little creative with the green fabric ones, since I didn't have an "L"-could you tell?), I also used peach and green hand-dyed shabby seam binding, a peach handmade flower ( I made it with the Cricut Mother's Day Bouquet cart), and a green ZVA pearl flourish.

My favorite part about this layout is definantly the photos, since I am really working on improving my photography skills, and I feel like these are some of my more successful attempts.

Giveaway at Going Buggy

2011-09-14T04:38:00.003-05:00

The awesome (hilarious!) Enfys at Going Buggy is giving away a set of Promarkers! Check it Out!

Family...

2011-09-13T11:23:00.003-05:00

I love my family more than anything else!And I rarely get to scrap photos that I am in, so it was so much fun to scrap this one of my brother,sisters, and me. I was inspired by a couple of challenges for this page: A sketch (#172) from Creative Scrappers, and the challenge from The Paper Variety to "make a monochromatic creation using your favorite color"- my favorite color is blue of all shades (aqua, navy, sea blue, periwinkle (my wedding colors were periwinkle and white), teal, sky....I could go on and on...

This is the way I do monochromatic-a few different shades of the color I am using, mixed in and tempered with a good bit of neutrals (kraft, cream, and black in this case):

Supplies used for this layout:

Lily Bee Designs This&That "Milk Bottle" patterned cardstock,Lily Bee This&That banner stickers, ZVA cream pearl flourish, handmade blue houndstooth (made with Lindsay's Stamp Stuff Uptown Houndstooth digi paper) flower, a sky blue glittered cardstock punchout border from Colorbok's Flea Market Punchout pad, American Crafts puffy black Thickers, scraps of cream shimmer and kraft cardstock, pale aqua pearls from the wedding section at Hobby Lobby, and an ANCIENT quote from one of those DCWV vellum quote stacks (this was one of my earlier scrapbooking obsessions-I loved those stacks-not that I used them much ;-p ). I mounted the quote on another scrap of the cream shimmer cardstock and inked the edges with Tim Holtz Sapphire Distress Ink, and attached it with pop dots to make it stand out.

Handmade Flower Mini Tutorial:

Here is a closer look at my handmade flower:

For this flower, I first printed out this paper from my Counterfeit digi kit:

I printed it out on 8 1/2 by 11 white cardstock first, then I cut out the 6 pt flower on the Mother's Day Bouquet Cricut Cartridge (last flower on the right, third row down) in several different sizes, starting at 2 3/4, and then stepping down a quarter inch at a time, with the exception of the last one, which is 1/2 to 3/4 smaller than the previous layer. I misted each layer of petals with Sea Glass and Turquoise Glimmer Mist, and then dried with my heat embossing tool. I scrunched and shaped the petals with my fingers (another idea would be to use an icepick or pencil), then glued them on top of one another, offsetting the petals, with my trusty hot glue gun. I put Crystal Stickles on a paintbrush and dabbed it on the edges of the petals and left the flowers alone to dry over night. I really do have to say, this is such a fun way to use those digi papers that you are hoarding!! Try it out-you can even flip the paper over and print on the other side for your own double sided paper!

More Challenges!

2011-09-11T17:20:00.002-05:00

While I'm at it, I'll post a couple more layouts I made for The Paper Variety in the past couple of days.

The first layout is for the challenge: "Use your favorite embellishment (mine is flowers)":

Supplies I used:
DCWV pink cardstock, Making Memories Love Notes "Lace Love Notes",punchout title, word, jornaling spot, and border from Colorbok's Flea market Punch out pad, wooden dowel rod, star shaped Grungeboard that I painted with Picket Fence Crackle Paint, flowers,stick-on pearl, and sheer pink ribbon.

The journaling reads: "Natalie, you made the prettiest Barbie Fairy Princess around!With a sparkling crown that I made just for you, and a wand that lit up, you were all set to grant wishes!"

The second layout is one I did just for me, with some of my favorite photos from my honeymoon:

Close-Ups:

Supplies I used:
Light green cardstock, Teresa Collins Noel "Sheet Music", Basic Grey Porcelain "Arabella", Making Memories border sticker and small journaling spot, American Crafts Thickers (letters, swirl, scalloped circle) and a Vinyl Music note from AC also, ruched green ribbon, journaling spot from the Colorbok punchout pad, a white paper doily, and a die cut piano from th Stamping Station that I have been saving forever (like 8+ years).

The journaling reads: "A Real Piano Man: Every time I hear the song, "Piano Man", I am reminded of this night on our honeymoon, and ending up here, at Silky O'Sullivans. We sat and listened to music, I drank my first hurricane,and we even had a brush with celebrity, seeing John Mcnamara, and a woman named Suzanne who was in charge of ESPN for the area. One of my favorite honeymoon memories!"

Time for some Scrappy Fun!

2011-09-11T16:17:00.000-05:00

I finally got to play with some more of those awesome goodies from August's kit, and I participated in some of the fun challenges I have seen out and aound on the web! Here is the layout that I made, using this week's sketch from My Creative Sketches (a fantastic new sketch blog!). I was also inspired by The Paper Variety's Favorite Things Challenge, "Use Your Favorite Photo" (I love, love, love this photo of my son, it captures his personality so perfectly!).
The Sketch:

My layout, "Special Son":

A Close Up of One of my Embellishent Clusters:

Suplies I used for this page:
Pink Paislee Butterfly Gardens "Dew Drops", a white paper Doily (Wiltons), punch out borders, journaling card, letters (brown), and word "Special" from the Colorbok Flea Market punch out pad, a Prima flower, a Spare Parts Antique Flower brad, a brown button and Bazzill brown corduroy button Flower from my September kit, and the remainder of a brown ZVA crystal flourish.

The journaling reads:
"Evan- I just love this photo that Nicole took of you the day before Mother's Day. You eyes are windows to your sweet spirit. Love you! May 2011"

Thank you for visiting!

It's That Time Again!

2011-09-05T21:44:00.000-05:00

Time for a new Counterfeit Kit!! And this month, Meridy and Beth have chosen a "Peach" of a kit for us to be inspired by! They chose the kit from September 2010 from the Sweet Peach Crop Shop. I counterfeited all of the September 2010 kits, and was most inspired by the "Juicy" themed kit. Here are my takes on the kits.

Sweet Peach Crop Shop's September Main Kit:

And here is my "counterfeit", "Moonlight Garden" :

And here is a peek at the flowers that I handmade for my kit, using scraps of peach cardstock, and the blue chevron and houndstooth papers from my Counterfeit Digi Kit (below):

Papers In My Kit:
Forest green Bazzill cardstock
Cream shimmer Wasau Cardstock (2 sheets)
Spring green textured DCWV cardstock
Midnight blue smooth cardstock
Neptune blue textured DCWV cardstock
4 patterned sheets from the Colorbok Rosewood Stack
Basic Grey Lime Rickey "Blue Moon"
Scenic Route "Brighton Snowdrift"
Lily Bee Designs This&That "Milk Bottle"
The Girl's Paperie Paper Girl "Vintage Patchwork" (B side)
Daisy D's "Gypsy Paisley-Indigo"
The Girl's Paperie Paper Girl "Green Brocade"
Sassafrass Lass "Headphones On"
Sassafrass Lass Cherry Delicious "Winsome"
Pink Paislee Vintage Moon "Moon Glade"

Embellishments:
American Crafts Thickers Poolside glitter foam letters
DCWV Rub-On Stitching Curly Q
hand punched peach paper lace
peach and spring green hand dyed shabby seam binding
handmade flowers
Making Memories metal ribbon sliders
Offray Rhinestone ribbon slides
white slider box
Spare Parts gemstone flower brad
My Mind's Eye Mabel "So Sweet" buttons
Making Memories copper upholstery brads
"happy" die cut word
Tim Holtz Symphony Tissue Tape

The Sweet Peach "Juicy" Themed kit:

Here is my Counterfeit Kit, "Gran's Kitchen",

A closer look at my handmade flowers and mini banners, mostly received in swap on 2 Peas:

Papers:
Kraft Cardstock (2 sheets)
Cream textured DCWV cardstock (2 sheets)
Echo Park Life Is Good "Set The Table"
Yellow crisscross print from DCWV Lemon Flower Stack
Fancy Pants It's The Little Thing "ILT Strips"
We R Memory Keepers Boho Chic Fancy Free
Light green damask print from DCWV Lemon Flower Stack
Frances Meyer black with tan stripe
Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety "Sweet Pea"
Creative Imaginations green chevron print
Jenni Bowlin Studios Clothesline
Making Memories Cream with black dots vinyl
Co'oredinations woodgrain embossed cardstock
Little Yellow Bicycle Autumn Bliss "Sweater"
Black, gray, and yellow glazed floral print from DCWV Lemon Flower Stack

Embellishments:
Lily Bee This& That Stickers
Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type letters in cream/black
Making Memories Tiny Alphas black on white
handmade mini banners, doilies, and flowers from 2 Peas Swaps
die cut letters from Kraft cardstock that I "corrugated" myself
2 ZVA cream pearl flourishes
Offray cream ribbon flowers
red and black baker's twine
vintage ephemera cards
bird buttons from Incomparable Buttons
yellow Fiskars Zingz (look like rain drops)
jute yarn/twine
ruffled red/white gingham ribbon
sheer black sequined ribbon
cream crochet doily
assorted buttons, chipboard and regular
chipboard frame and photo corners (Basic Grey)
leftover bottlecaps
brown Bazzil Buttons and Blossoms

Here Is The Sweet Peach's September 2010 Paper Add-On Kit:

And Here Is Mine:

And The Sweet Peach's Embellishment Add-On Kit:

Mine:

I grabbed some scraps and partially used letter stickers for this one, and made my own "Bella Blooms" (with coffee filters, yellow homemade shimmer mist, a heart punch, and a pearl brad). I also misted some plain white doilies, and die cut some flourishes with kraft paper and my Cricut.

And last but not least, I wanted to switch it up a bit this month, so I put together a "Counterfeit Digi Kit", mostly based on the colors from my Juicy themed kit.

My September Counterfeit Digi Kit:
Papers:

Elements:

I can't wait to get started playing with all of these yummy goodies, and sharing with you all!

Counterfeit Kit Challenge Design Team Blog Hop Is Here!!

2011-08-26T23:00:00.000-05:00

When we were given this awesome sketch from Allison Davis of Sketch Support, I knew just the photos that I wanted to scrap with it! I used a bunch of bits from my "Birthday Bonanza" kit in making this layout:

Supplies that I used:
2 sheets of medium light blue textured cardstock from DCWV, strips from GCD Studios Carnival Ride "Party Candles" and "Cupcakes", a leftover piece of Crate Paper's Portrait Collection "Something Blue", pale green ruched ribbon from American Crafts, sticker letters and "Birthday Bash" sentiment from the birthday sticker tablets, a couple of the stamps in the "Birthday Bonanza" kit (the funky diamond border and journal stamp), an actual leftover Chuck E. Cheese ticket from the party, and handmade felt bits from a 2 Peas Swap: the balloons, mini banner, stars, white lollipop flower, and the birthday candle rectangle that I used for the center of the flower.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog today, be sure to visit all of the other awesome members of the design team to see what they did with the sketch and their Counterfeit Kits!!

Julie Ann
Crystal
Melissa
Sherri
Kim
Jemma
Margie (*you are here!)
Susanne (go here next)
Lisa
Gabrielle
Meridy

Twin Sisters

2011-08-25T08:00:00.001-05:00

When I was a little girl, I dreamed of being a twin, or having twins when I grew up. I read and reread The Sweet Valley Twins and Sweet Valley High series, and wanted so much to be like Elizabeth and Jessica, two blue-eyed blonde girls with opposite personalities. So, it is a little amusing to me that I "grew up" to have blue-eyed blonde twins myself. It's not all fun and games, but I love my little girls more than life itself! So, this page is to honor that special relationship that they have, but aren't quite aware of how lucky they are yet to have it.

Here is the sketch I used, from Sassy Lil' Sketches:

I also took inspiration from another of My Scrapbook Nook's challenges:

Shakespeare once wrote, “What a deformed thief this fashion is”. Here is your challenge: Steal inspiration from Elizabethian fashion, frocks made for men or for women. Think corsets, ruffled collars, doublets, leather belts, braided fabric, and more.

Inspiration photo:

And here is my layout:

I was inspired by the pattern on the top middle photo's collar-this background paper was reminiscent of it, and also added the brown bling, and the ruffled flowers remind me of the ruffles on the collars.

Close up of the embellishments:

The supplies I used (all from my August CKCB kits):

SEI Chocolat "Nougat" paper (reverse side), Pink Paislee Butterfly Gardens "Botanical Gardens", 2 pink Prima fabric flowers, 2 Brenda Walton for K&CO layered butterfly stickers, bits I trimmed from a brown/amber ZVA Flourish for the butterfly trails, brown letter stickers from the Echo Park Walk In The Park collection, pink Making Memories Chipboard letter stickers, pink rick rack border and "Laughter" punch out die cuts from the Colorbok Flea Market pad.

Thanks for visiting with me this morning, be sure to drop back in on the 27th (Saturday) for my Counterfeit Kit Design Team Blog Hop post!

4 in a row?

2011-08-24T08:55:00.000-05:00

Wow, I am on a roll, if I do say so myself, lol! I have another layout to share with you from my scrappy weekend! I enjoyed the "Turn It On Its Ear Challenge" from CKCB so much that I just could not stop, and I made another page for it!

Here Is the sketch I used from our fabulous sponsor at Sketch Support:

And here is my layout, "My Adorable Natalie":

A Close Up of my Embellishment Squares:

The journaling reads: "Natalie, you have always been my little poser-when you see a camera, you tilt your head and flash that smile! Love it!"

Supplies I used (all from my August CKCB kit, except for the teal and yellow cardstock scraps): Background paper is Crate Paper Portrait Collection, the word "Adorable" and the journaling spot are from the Colorbok Flea Market Punch out pad,Green letter stickers are from Echo Park's Walk In The Park collection, the smaller ribbon flowers and the tiny tan ribbon with white dots are from Offray, the larger flower is Prima, I used my small Martha Stewart Scalloped Circle punch, and I inked the edges of everything with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass and Martha Stewart Pigment ink in Stem Green.

Thanks for looking, let me know what you think, and drop back in tomorrow for another page from this past weekend's scrappy fun!

CKCB Challenge

2011-08-23T07:21:00.000-05:00

A few days ago, the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog gave us this challenge:

Challenge # 3: Turn it on it's ear: Pick any of the sketches from Sketch Support and rotate it before you use it for a card or layout. You will get a fresh new look this way, but still have the ease of the sketch giving you the blueprints of what to do. So awesome!

I took this sketch from Sketch Support:

And turned it sideways to come up with this page:

I also used a challenge from My Scrapbook Nook's Virtual Crop this past weekend, "#2-This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath-pick 7 different flowers for your layout", and here is a close up of the flowers:

The journaling reads, "It is always so hard to get the four of you together and smiling for a photo.Out of lots of shots, this one was the best Nicole was able to get. Crazy kids!"

Products I used:

The background paper was Pink Paislee Vintage Moon, and the back side of one of the Echo Park Walk In The Park papers, sheer aqua ribbon, the brown border was from the Colorbok Flea Market Punch Out Pad, the title was one of the K&Co rub-ons from the booklet I included in my August kits, The flowers are Primas, Making Memories, and The Paper Studio. All supplies used are from my August Counterfeit Kits (which you can see HERE).

My Beautiful Daughter

2011-08-22T09:01:00.000-05:00

The Sketch I Used (from Stuck On U Sketches):

My Layout:

Close Up of my flowers and embellishments:

This layout also qualifies for the Stuck On U Sketches Challenge to Use Die-cuts : the frame behind the photo, the journaling card, the word, "beautiful" , and the borders (all premade die cuts from the Colorbok Flea Market Punch-out pad).

I also used: Pink Paislee Butterfly Gardens, "Butterfly Wings", a paper lace doily, a brown crystal ZVA flourish, a K&Co. "Rose" sticker, Basic Grey painted brads, pink Primas and tiny pink roses that I made with a punch and scraps for my August Kit, American Crafts Thickers chipboard letters, and a partial sheet of the Pink Paislee Botanical Gardens (the pale pink), which I distressed on the edges with my scissors.

The journaling says: " Almost 12 in this photo, you are growing up so fast, and becoming a beautiful young lady. I have noticed quite a change this year in the way you act, and an increased self-consciousness. Stay confident, you are beautiful!" I just wrote a note from my heart as a little reminder for my 12 year old, who is growing and changing so much before my eyes. Let your kids know how much you love them, they need to hear it!

Hope You Are Having a Wonderful, Scrappy Weekend Like Me!

2011-08-21T14:47:00.000-05:00

I should have several layouts to share with you this week! Yay! I got a little time to myself this weekend, a faster internet connection, and that equals more sharing!!I decided to follow along with The Scrapbook Nook's Virtual Crop this weekend, A Midsummer's Night Dream, and used a lot of their challenges for inspiration. This layout is based on the challenge #8, To Thine Own Self Be True-Create a layout about yourself, with a photo and at least one fact about yourself.
The Sketch I Used (from The Scrappiest, #131):

My Layout, "Fear":

Close Ups of my Embellishment Clusters(I love flowers, and use them on almost everything)-so this qualifies for Shimelle's Signature Accent Challenge

The journaling says:

"Although you can't really tell by the smile-if you look at how tightly I am gripping the pole...I was terrified to be so high in the air! Taken on the air tram over Mud Island on honeymoon."

Heights are probably my greatest fear-but I do try to face my fears!

The patterned background paper is My Mind's Eye Lost&Found, and I also used both side of the SEI Lady's Boudoir "Juliette", a paper doily, a ZVA crystal flourish that I cut apart, and punch out frame, border, circle accent, scalloped square accent, journaling spot,and letters (All from the Colorbok Flea Market Punch Out Pad), and one flower was a Prima flower, and the fabric flower was from a kit that I won from Artful Delight (handmade, I think)- All from my kit that I made myself for August!!

The Twinery: Anniversary Celebration Day 5 - Baker's Twine Give...

2011-08-19T08:35:00.000-05:00

The Twinery: Anniversary Celebration Day 5 - Baker's Twine Give...: Happy Friday Everyone! We hope that everyone has had a fun week following along as we celebrated the first anniversary of The Twinery! We ...