My Sweet Little Bud

We got some annuals to plant for our front yard a few weeks ago and Charlotte just loved smelling all the flowers.  The yellow ones were especially yummy! 

I decided to do the monthly challenge on the Sassafras blog to use a blocking technique on your layout.  I loved the bright primary colors for this page, so I raided my Sass Lass stash and came up with this simple page.  There are a ton of different line on this page, some old, some new!

I just love doing manufacturer blog challenges...it really gets me using up my stash!!

I have been working on a whole bunch of project, most of which are altered items, which I don't so regularly.  But a few of my design team projects just begged to be made into altered items, so that it why I haven't been posting layouts lately!!

Just got the new Fancy Pants "It's the Little Things" that I'm using in my next Everday Layouts class at Scrapp'n Savvy and I LOVE this line!  Can't wait to create with it!

SEI Giveaway WINNER!

I used a random number generator to choose from the posts and it came back with #1!!!  Diana Waite, you just got yourself some SEI goodies!!!!!   CONGRATS!  email me at audreykit at yahoo dot com!!!!!!!

Scrapp'n Savvy GIVEAWAY!!!

This giveaway is for attendees and customers of Scrapp'n Savvy in Spring, Texas.  To win, you must be local!!!

This weekend at Scrapp'n Savvy is the Sampler where you pay only $8 to attend a 2 hour class and make a special project.  While you are working, you will be introduced to each instructor and hear a bit about their classes and their styles.  PLUS you get 15% off any classes you sign up for on that day.  There are only a limited number of spots left, so GO SIGN UP if you haven't!

OK, so now for the giveaway!

I have been working for SEI on their Design Team since October and I just LOVE their new spring releases.  I have to say that my favorite is the Corinne line.  I just love that shade of kelly green and the bright, fun colors!

SO I am giving away some Corrine paper, stickers, die-cuts, and border strips.  PLUS I am throwing in some beautiful papers from the White Elegance collection which are perfect for background and exploring with mists and paint! 

If you would like to be entered into this giveaway, become a follower of my blog to stay updated on my class postings for Scrapp'n Savvy AND leave a comment on this post.

I will draw one random winner from all entries sometime on Tuesday, March 29.  The winner will have to go to the store to pick up their prize!!!!! 

Good luck!

A Tour of my Scrap Room and using my Clip It Up!

I have a special special post today on the Simply Renee Clip It Up blog!!!   I am so excited to share this!

I did a little video of my scraproom BEFORE I had my Clip It Up.  On the video, I walk through how I organized my Clip It Up to fit my space.   I feel so dorky listening to myself!   Please please head over to the Clip It Up blog and watch my video...and you can leave me a comment about how dorky it was...:)

YSS Sketch Challenge

Who doesn't love sketches??  This is a great, SIMPLE contest!  Use any of the sketches from the 2011 Your Scrapbook Stash gallery and created a page and link it HERE by March 31st to win a PRIZE from YSS!!!  Let me tell you that I have won prizes from YSS before I was on the DT, and Erica sends THE BEST stuff!!!!!!!   Go check it out!

STRIVE....

OK, I said I wasn't posting again until Friday, but I forgot that this page was going up on the blog today at SEI!

One of my favorite scrapbookers/artist is Ronda Palazzari.  I love her loose and artsy style.  I love how she meanders ribbons and paints across her pages.  So this layout was a bit of a try at her style.

My word for 2011 is STRIVE.  I am still trying to figure out what it means to me.  Sometimes you don't realize it until it has passed.  Anyways, I wanted to take a photo and do a page with an iage of what strive meant to me.  For me it means to reach for and to TRY. 

When I got the White Elegance papers from SEI, I knew they would be awesome for misting.  This piece of paper was actually just my "test" page, but I ended up loving it so much.  I really wanted to contrast the purple and blue in the page so I added some yellow flowers.

I tried doing some free motion stitching on my page, and I probably should have practiced a little more, but it is what it is, and I like it!

I used some synonyms of the word strive and wrote them all around the outside edge of the page.

I'm glad I posted this today because I need to reflect a bit on my word...I have lost it a little....

Even MORE BIG NEWS and CCG layout...

Oh MY Gosh.

I am so excited to announce that I made the new design team at Sketchy Thursdays for the next term!!!!!!  I totally didn't expect this AT ALL.  I know they must get 100's of application....so I am truly truly honored!  I can't want to work with these ladies!

I was so inspired by the color palette at Color Combo's Galore this week!  I just got some of the new American Crafts Peachy Keen line and it went perfectly with these colors. 

You had to use sheer ribbon or fabric on your page, so I made a flower with some sheer ribbon. 

I love the metal elements and tags that come with this line.

Well that's it for a couple of days...my parents are coming into town to visit!  I will have THREE posts on Friday, though!  Til then......

Some BIG news and a Sketchy Thursdays and Cocoa Daisy sketch...

First, my BIG news is that I made the kit design team at Magpie Club!!!!!  I will be working with Tara's wonderful kits and I CAN'T wait!!!!!!    I "met" Tara and was introduced to her kits last February.  I won one of the weekly drawings for doing a sketch at Sketchy Thursdays.  She sent me such a nice note with my prize and I have followed the kit blog ever since.  I am so excited to be a part of this team!

And as always, I loved this weeks sketch at Sketchy Thursdays!!!   I have had these photos printed forever.  I made these dresses for Charlotte last July (and hope she still fits in them this year).  There are such cute fabrics out there, so I got into the sewing mode.  I had these four photos printed and the fit this weeks sketch perfectly!

Um, so can you tell why else i did this page?  It's al Lily Bee products (mostly).  :)  I used a clothing tag label that I had in my sewing stuff as an emebllie, and I used a piece of a sewing pattern which I punched to place below this flower.

I stiched around every piece of paper and the title die cut area, too.  I used more sewing pattern for a ruffle on the bottom left here:

Next up I used a sketch from Cocoa Daisy and used my March Cocoa Daisy kit with it.  I went to a crop last Friday and didn't bring the sketch with me, so had to work from memory.  I used papers to represent the rectangles in the sketch and then added two photos.

My journaling wasn't showing up great on this paper, so I painted an area in white to make it show up better.  I also added a bit of red stitching to complement the other red areas on the page.

I layered some of the elements from the kit, too.  Love these canvas BG tags!

TFL today!  Have a great week!!!!!

Just Because.....

Yup, I did some pages just because I wanted to.  No sketches, no challenge, just wanted to get these photos and memories on pages!

I have been meaning to scrap these photos for a while and was so inspired my y January Cocoa Daisy kit, but I just didn't get around to them.  Finally I did and I LOVE this page!

A few weeks ago, Charlotte started a habit of pulling up a chair to the counter and helping my "cook".  We were making a Grapefruit Tart that looked great in the photo.  The crust was good, the tart....not so good.  Hubby didn't like it at all.  I had a few pieces and threw the rest away.  But we had a great time!

This larger photo was taken with my crappy cell phone, but I loved it so I used it anyway!

My mom made these matching aprons for Charlotte and I for Christmas...aren't they just adorable???

This next page I started about 3 or 4 weeks ago when I went cropping at Archiver's. They had the new Pink Paislee Daily Junque papers that I just HAD to get!  They are so better in person. It was just missing a few things and I couldn't figure it out.  So I sat on it a while and finally added the journaling spot and some hand-stitching.

Lastly, the March Cocoa Daisy kit comes with this coffee ring stamp and when I saw it, I knew I wanted to do a page about my coffee addiction and my Keurig!  I love having the choice of what kind of coffee I want everyday AND we have a K-cup store about 3 miles away....it is awesome!!!!

I love the layers on this layout.  And I just remembered I lied.....I used this for a challenge at Memorable Seasons.  But when I started it, I didn't intend on using it for the challenge, until I thought about using the K-Cup top as an embellie, and using a non-scappy item was part of the challenge, so I went with it!

YAY!  I had such a good time doing these pages and love them!  I have a lot going on this week including another SEI page, my Clip It Up product review (which I am SOOO excited about) and two more pages to share PLUS a giveaway for Scrapp'n Savvy Sampler participants (local giveaway).  Woo Hoo!

I Love those Overalls!! SEI...

I mixed up FIVE different collections from SEI to create this cute page!  I wanted to start with a certain color combo, so I just went through all the different collections to find some colors I wanted.  I then mixed and matched patterns till i was happy with what I had!

I cut the title with my cricut and then inked the edges.

I LOVE these tickets from the old "En Route" collection.  I still have a bunch left!

And these die cuts from the Corrine are just so adorable!!

Check out this page on the SEI blog!

Crate Paper PORTRAIT-pages for my Scrappn' Savvy class...

We are using the Crate Paper Portrait line in my next class this Tuesday at Scrappn' Savvy!!!  I am SOOOOO excited about these papers and my layouts!  I just love this line and all the Crate Paper lines this time around!!

You can sign up for my classes HERE: https://www.scrappnsavvy.com/

This first page is a simple design.  I think this line works so well for vintage photos.  These pics are of my mom (and grandparents and uncle) on Easter Sunday, I *think* 1955. 

I made the lace flower just by sprialing it around on a circle and adding a brad to the center.  The journaling is about my mom's memories of getting all dressed up for Easter Sunday.

Next up is a page that was inspired by a color combo challenge at JBS message board or brown, turquoise and ivory.  I never would have put these two patterned papers together normally, but I really like the way this turned out!

Yes, I fussy cut a piece of banner from the paper. Yes it took forever.  Yes my students in my class are gonna kill me.

I cut some of the flowers from patterned paper and then punched some others with a daisy punch to make some of these layered flowers.

Lastly, this page is based on a sketch challenge at the JBS message board.  I wanted to try to use this collection for a non-frilly page, and I think this works!

I love that black and white striped paper with the yellow and red coordinating papers!!!

I used a lot of the border stickers on these pages.  On this one, I cut the yellow scalloped stickers apart to create a flower by layering them on a circle.

 I also created a comapnion page for this layout that will be available for sale during my class.

TFL!  Can't wait to use more of these papers!!!!!!!

Three to share....

I have been getting a lot of scrapping done and I am loving it!!!  Got some new Crate Paper goodness today that I can't wait to dive into! 

I worked with some more MME papers from my LSS.  This is the Good Day Sunshine line, the boy collection.  So of course I had to do a page of hubby.

He is going to kill me.

I took this photo last summer on my camera phone, and I guess you had to be there, but he was being such a goof.  This sign is so funny.

I tried something that I heard/read about, which was using an embossing plate on a whole sheet of 12x12 paper.  I misted the paper a bit with water and then put the edges in the plate where I wanted it and wrapped the whole sheet around the try that you slide into the machine.  I worked pretty good, except there were a few ugly creases, which I had to cover up with paper.

Speaking of paper, I didn't use a paper trimmer at all on this page!  It was for a challenge at the JBS forum to use 4 papers and no trimmer!  So I whipped out some of my old decorative edge scissors and cut.  I tried to pick some paper patterns that would help guide a straight line.

Oh, and when I showed my hubby this page tonight, he laughed, and then gave me the finger and said "Here's YOUR sign"!  :)

This next page I did for the color combo challenge at the Crate Paper blog!  Love the grey, kraft and yellow combo.

I used grey paper from the North Pole collection, a "kraft" color from Lemongrass, and yellows from Restoration and School Spirit. Other items include tags by Maya Road and Elle's Studio, tapes and flowers by Tim Holtz, and a grey felt heart by Jenni Bowlin.

The theme of this page was also based on a challenge at JBS where you had to do a "me" page.  I haven't done one in a while, so I just jotted down 5 things I'm into right now.

Last but not least, I got my Cocoa Daisy march kit yesterday (which is sold out!), and it was just so awesome that I ripped it open and did a page.  When I saw some sneaks of this kit, I knew that i wanted to use it to do a page about this particular topic.

I finished my Master's Degree when I was 22 and got a teaching job right away.  I went so school part time working on classes for my Ph. D. in Science Education.  I have 117 credit hours beyond my Bachelor's degree!  When we moved to Houston, my program took a back seat for a bit because I was starting a new job and we were moving half way across the country.  Now, a wedding, a few jobs, and almost 2 kids later, I haven't done a thing for it.  I am A.B.D...All But Dissertation, which means I JUST have to do that!  otherwise, I'm done!!!  

But life take's its turns, and I just have no motivation to finish anymore. I am so happy where I am at, and this was an extrememly tough decision, but I decided to withdraw from the program.  I feel a little bit of sadness, but I am satisfied with my decision. 

In similar news, my brother Brian just defended his Ph. D. dissertation last Tuesday, and it now officially a Dr.! 

OK, that was a rant, but had to get it out!  I'm off to work with some Crate Paper!!