We Cropped til we DROPPED!!!

A few weeks ago I went to my favorite weekend of the year...a scrappy retreat with some of my bestest scrappy friends!!!  The Crop Til You Drop retreat is hosted by Sara Zenger and is located in Ogdensburg, NY.  Heather flew in from Texas to spend the weekend with it!  It is the 2nd time in less than a year that we have all been able to get together!

I used some Amy Tan Cut & Paste for this page.  I love the bold colors and all the different embellies that come in this collection!  My design is based off of sketch #254 at Creative Scrappers.

I basically stuck to the sketch design.  The speech bubble was a perfect spot for my title and some arrows directing your eye to the photo.  Behind the speech bubble is a vellum envelope which I stuck a tag in for journaling.  But silly me, I forgot I had put the tag in there and started journaling on the tag on the bottom of the page instead!!!  Oh well!

And see that adorable piece of flair?  It was an exclusive for the retreat participants and is the icon for the retreat!  Love that I got to use it on a page!

I can't believe that November has come to an end!!!  Bring on December!

Stay scrappy my friends!

Whoooo's CUTE??

A few years ago, my sweet friend Heather bought this adorable hat for Charlotte.  But her head is a bit too big for it now, and being blue and brown, someone else has inherited the hand me down, and he just looks as cute as can be in it!

The latest sketch at ScrapFriends had some feathers on it, and I recognized the design of the sketch to be similar to some Glitz papers I had from the new Finnley collection.  Feathers=owls=perfect!

I love how the Glitz papers already look artsy...like I painted them!  But all I did was layer them and splatter a bit of white mist on the background.

There are a bunch of papers layered behind the photo, and some die cuts and stickers layered on top.  The largest feather is from the Finnley What Nots, and the smallest one is a wood veneer one that I borrowed from Jen at the last crop we were at together!  I inked it blac and use a white pen for the spine.  The medium sized feather I simply cut free hand from paper and then used lots of little slits along the edges to create the feathery look.  I used a white pen down the middle of it, too!

I always try to balance my colors and elements on the page, so you will see the emerald green rhinestone in the top left, the same green "adorable" sticker on the photo, and the little green heart on the bottom right.

I added a bit of string behind the photo for some more texture and a little bit of machine stitching here and there.

Loving this collection and these papers (and this little boy).

OWL be back soon!  (comon, you KNEW that was coming.....)



Stay scrappy my friends!

What are you THANKFUL for?

The latest challenge is up at Scrapbook Circle and since it is November, of course the challenge is to document what you are THANKFUL for.

As my scrapbook pages dictate, I am so so thankful for my two witty, sweet, loveable, bright kiddos!!  And I am also thankful that they are so close together...both in age, and relationship.  They of course fight like siblings, but they would be lost without each other.

I used the November Scrapbook Circle kit for this page.  Since the setting was fall like, I stuck with some natural earthy colors for my layout.

On the background, I used a burlap patterned stencil and some dimensional paint by Art Anthology.  Then I splattered some mists around.  That die and cut and the flair are EXCLUSIVES for Scrapbook Circle this month!  SO cool!

Lots of layers beneath my photo, including this stamped "Thankful" which is an exclusive stamp that comes in the Nov. kit!  There is some gold washi and some other bits from Crate Paper, too!

I did some machine stitching along the chevron paper and extended it out on the the background paper, then I hand stitched this #2 that was printed on one of the tags from Amy Tan!  I tied it up with some twine, and stuck it to the page!

Be sure to check the Scrapbook Circle blog for the challenge and ALSO check out the Black Friday deals in the store, too!

Stay scrappy my friends!

Photobooth FUN!

In June we went to a wedding and at the reception, the bride and groom had a photobooth set up with props and hats!  You went into the booth and there was a series of 4 photos.  Two copies of the photos were printed.  One copy went into the bride and grooms' scrapbook, and the other we got to keep!  I thought this was just and AWESOME idea!  There were a LOT of funny (and some inappropriate  :)  ) photos by lots of my family members!  :)

When I saw the latest sketch at Skissedilla, it remind me of these photos, so I pulled them out and made a page!  I used the new Amy Tan line, Cut & Paste, which was perfect!  This page was really really easy and simple!

 The background paper is already patterened like that with the yellow and pink and red strips.  I just added the thin blue strip in the yellow part and stitched over it.

I thought that the page needed some sparkly stars and some glitter to go along with a "photoshoot" theme.  I used some of the plain chipboard pieces from the Amy Tan collection and covered them with mod podge and then sprinkled them with loose silver glitter.

Other than that, just a few mist splatters and clusters of embellies here and there!

Lots more to share this week so stick around!

Stay scrappy friends!!!

The First Snowfall!

A about a week or so ago we had our first snowfall!  I was very surprised waking up and seeing how much we actually had on the ground, and some big puffy flakes were coming down.  I ran to wake up the kids and told them to run to the windows to look outside.  They just both stared and said "SNOW!".....and just sat there watching.  It was kinda peaceful...for about 2 minutes!  :)

I used sketch #255 at Creative Scrappers and rotated it.

I have been going through my stash of older stuff and pulling out all my neutral tone on tone papers because I use them the most as backgrounds.  Now I have a little pile of background papers just to pull out and use!  This chevron print one is from Crate Paper Sleigh Ride collection from last year.  I used a few other bits of paper from that line and also some of the new Crate Paper "Bundled Up".

I began by splattering some gold an blue mists on the background and then layering some papers behind my photos according to the sketch.  I used one of my oldest punches, a snowflake punch from The Paper Studio, and punched a few from some patterned paper.  For one of them, I cut out the negative and used it behind the top right corner of the photo.  Oh, and then there is my FAVORITE gold thread that I used on my sewing machine!

I layered some chipboard elements, stickers and tags around the photo, and use part of a chipboard piece for my title.

Finally I embellished some more with small punched snowflakes, sequins,a piece of flair, and some gold threaded twine.

I love that we are having some winter-like events happen already so that I can begin to dig into all my new Christmas/Winter collections!

I have a challenge based on this page up on the My Scraps & More forum today to use some tone on tone paper for your background, an older punch from your stash, and some scraps of paper that you have been hoarding!  Check out the details HERE.

Stay scrappy friends!!!

Apple Picking! Nov. Scrapbook Circle Kit

One of my favorite things about fall is apple picking!!! The tractor rides, the rows and rows of trees, the red juicy apples....and then of course all the goodies...pies, apple butter, muffins....yum! The colors in a few of the papers from Fancy Pants in the November Scrapbook Circle Kit were perfect for an "apple" themed page! And the patterned paper by Crate with the large graphic circle was a great base to add a bid red circle reminiscent of an apple, too!

I simply added a strip of paper behind my photos, and cut some leaves out of another piece and inked the edges green. I stuck a Fancy Pants tag out from the side for journaling, and a few other bits like stickers from Webster's Pages, the Amy Tan photo corners, and even this month's printable.

Be sure to check out the November Scrapbook Circle Kit HERE!  It is perfect for all your fall photos!

Hope you are enjoying all of the wonderful activities that this season has to offer! 

Stay scrappy my friends!

Turning 2...a sketch by ME!

Yes, his birthday is in July.  Yes, I just got to this page a few months ago.  Yes, I'm just posting it now!   I was saving this Crate Paper Party Day line for this specific event...Kyler's 2nd B-day!  I knew it would be full of bright colors and lots of smiles, so the photos and papers go perfectly together!

For a while now, I have been designing sketches for My Scraps & More on the sketch blog every few months or so.  And this page is based off of the sketch below that I created.  Sometimes I do a sketch first, then create the page, as is the case for this layout.  Other times I do a page and like the design that I create a sketch from it.

Did you know I have a lot more sketches under my "sketch" tab above?  Just click HERE.

Anyways, here is some info about my page.  I started by hand stitching the circles with black embroidery thread and splattering some mist on the background.  I layered some stickers under my papers and photo for journaling.

I love the printed vellum that came with this line and used it and some paper to create a fun banner.  I added some stickers and another chipboard piece to make it even more fun!  I love how you can see the stitched circle through the vellum!

The one candle is printed on this tag, so I added another chipboard one to make TWO of them!  And see those blue dots?  Those are some puffy dots I made from fabric paint!  You can see a quick video of how I made them HERE, or just look under my "tutorials" tab above!

Thanks for coming by today!

Stay Scrappy my Friends!

Kits for Sale and WINNER of the Frosted Designs giveaway!

Before I share the winner of the giveaway, I wanted to share some scrapbook page/project kits that I have for sale!  I created these kits for a scrapbooking retreat that I attended a few weeks ago where I taught a class.  The class was SOO awesome and I had 17 participants!!!

Both kits include written instructions and photographs for the projects shown as well as a few other project ideas.  You will also have PLENTY of paper left over to create additional projects!

The first kit contains papers from Crate Paper and embellishments from Crate Paper and Studio Calico:

There are 12 sheets of patterned paper, 3 vellum envelopes, a package of buttons, 1 yard each of jute and grey twine, a sheet of kraft heart stickers, a pack of thickers, and the instructions.

This kit is $20 plus $5 for shipping = $25 total.  I have 5 of these kits left!

Here are the projects that you will make with this kit:

And ideas for 2 cards:

Next up is a super large Christmas kit!

This kit contains 18 patterned papers (all different patterns for a total of 36 prints!), a package of thickers, a pack or glitter accents, one pack of die-cut elements, 9 vellum mini-envelopes, 2 packs of holiday sentiment rub-ons, one yard of red twine, and three 3x3 mini canvases for an altered project (plus instructions for all)!

Here are the projects that come with the kit and you will have a TON left over!

a few cards:

And this little set of altered canvases:

The Christmas kit is ONLY $25 plus $5 shipping.  You seriously get a TON in this kit!  I only have 3 left!

If you are interested in either of these kits, please email me at audreykit at yahoo dot com.  At this time, I can only accept payment by PayPal.  However, if you want to send a money order via snail mail, I will ship it to you once I receive it.  E-mail me so we can talk!

***********************GIVEAWAY WINNER***********************************

OK, so FINALLY, the winner of the Frosted Designs kit giveaway!  Thank you for all the lovely comments!  And the winner is (by random number):


#8- BEATRICE LAWSON



Please send me your shipping info at the email above so I can get it out to you!

Thanks and stay scrappy my friends!

Frosted Designs Guest Designer...seeing deeper into a kit...

Hello!  Here again for another guest post for Frosted Designs!  I am doing a giveaway of the November kit going on until Nov. 11th which you can read all about HERE.

Whenever I get a kit, I try to challenge myself to make my projects look completely different from the first impression you get by looking at the kit.  At first glance of the November kit, it looks very girly...flowers, doilies, pinks...so of course I thought to myself: "Let's make a boy page out of this!"  And so it began...

To try to make a more boy page, I pulled some papers that had the obvious blues and aquas in them.  The Pink Paislee color wash paper with the stars die cut out was where I started, and then I pulled in the navy paper from the American Crafts Dear Lizzy line.  How perfect is it that the text on the navy paper says "I Love you to the stars and back" and the Pink Paislee paper has stars on it?!  Awesome!

I backed the stars with the yellowish green paper from Glitz Designs. I used a large color wash tag that says "Love This" and toned it down a bit with a wash of a cream colored mist.  Then I used some bright orange and red gelattos and just painted them on a piece of white scrap paper and put it behind the "Love This" to give some nice, bright color to the page.

I layered a few of the other bits from the Crate Paper die cuts and the Pink Paislee sentiment stickers and voila!

So after I finished that page, I was looking at the pile of things I had left on my table, and I noticed there was a lot of green/blues tones.  Green happens to be my favorite color, and I thought to myself, can I DO a monochromatic layout?  I don't do them that often.  I thought about this fall photo I had and how bright and yellow the tree was and I thought that having a monochromatic page would really make the colors in the photo stand out.

I began my mixing some green mist with gesso and dabbing it through a stencil.  Then I took a grey mist and made circles with the wand.  I punched a few leaves from the piece of patterned paper that looks like a paint chip from the Crate Paper Maggie Holmes line, and I layered them from darkest on the bottom to lightest on the top of the page.

I layered some greenish papers and added some black and white neutral bits here and there with a few touches of gold. For my title, I really love the look of hand script, whether it be die cut, or hand drawn like I did with a sharpie.

I want to thank you again for having me as a guest designer!  I really enjoyed working with this kit and really stretched myself creatively!

Stay Scrappy my friends!