Fun Fun at Cocoa Daisy!

Cocoa Daisy is one of my favorite places to hang out.  They have the most inspiration design team!   There was an online crop that started this past Friday with all kinds of challenges and classes (which go til the 21st so you can still participate!).  So far I have done three of the challenges, PLUS the one hour layout challenge (which is C R A Z Y), so I thought I'd share!  The whole theme of the crop was "home" and every challenge has to do with a room in your house.

The first challenge was to use this photo for inspiration:

I picked up on the white frame on the wall, the patter of the wall paper, and the colors.
I used a lot of supplies for an old Cocoa Daisy kit.

Next up was "The Attic".  You had to use a piece of trim, some memorabilia, and handwriting.

I have been meaning to do this page forever.  You see, this little purple bow was in my daughter's hair the day after she was born.  The nurses had cleaned her up, swaddeled her up so tight, and put this bow in with a lttle dab of gel.  When the brought her to me like that, it was at that moment that I felt the connection....an image and feeling that will last forever.

So that bow is on this page, along with our bracelets from the hospital.

In the "Music Room" was a challenge where there were a selection of CD covers and we had to use one for inspiration.  So I choose this one by Nine Inch Nails (and one of my fav CD's, too!)

It reminded me of a mess and dirt, and I just had to use a photo of Charlotte all dirty.  She LOVES the dirt and sticks and rocks.....

I started with a beige cardstock and then added some gesso in "globs" for some layers.  I inked with a little bit of straw ink, misted, painted a bit more, and then sanded.  I also added some twine that I had misted too.

There is a show on "Sprout" called "Dirt Girl" (it is kinda strange), but the concept is good.  Anyways, they always say It's a Dirt Girl World, so hence the title....

Lastly was the one hour challenge on Sunday.  These things stress me out SO bad!  We had to use 2 photo, 5 buttons, something recycled, a tag from something, and book or music paper. 

So I have this pile of "tidbits" on my desk, which are things that I have made that didn't make it onto a page yet.  The pile is getting bigger and bigger.  So I dumped it on my floor to see what I could use.

The orange circles thing was a mailer from Gymboree.  I filled the circles with patterned paper and journaled in them.  The tag is on the left and says "Seriously cute", and was from some clothes form Old Navy.  The dictionary paper is in a circle, behind the title, and at the top.  And of course my 5 buttons are on there, too!

Whoop-De-Do! Halupki!

My mother's side of the family is polish (and I'm blonde, which isn't a great combo!  :)  ).   Anyways, I grew up listening to polka's like Hupi Shupi (sp?) and eating pierogies and halupki.  My mom came to visist about a month ago, and I asked her to show me how to make them, since I never learned.  I have a lot of memories of going to visit my grandma and grandpa and the smell of cabbage simmering in their house.

This month at my LSS, I chose the AdornIt Caroloee's Creation lines to work with.  So I checked out their blog, and aren't they having a LO contest about a recipe????  So that is how this LO came to be! 

The swirls on the patterned paper reminded me of steam rising from the halupki when they come out of the oven.

Part of the challenge was to used striped ribbon, a monogram, and a stamped image.  I used some self adhesive ribbon from GCD studios and some baker's twine.  The monogram I printed from a font on my computer and then colored it in.

 For the stamped image, I used some American Crafts stamps from the Abode line.  I added a bit more detail to the oven with pen.

Finally, I used some AC thickers for my title and outlined them with a thin black pen.

I love doing layouts about my childhood memories, so I am glad I got to kill a lot of birds with this one.....that doesn't sound right....anyways, we will be making this page in my class on Nov. 28 at The Lonestar Scrapbook Company.

I am so lucky...(Scrapbook Circle)

I am so lucky to be on the Scrapbook Circle Design Team.  I absolutely just LOVE the kits every single month.  Here is the beautiful anf bountiful November kit:

So I started first with the Crate Paper School Spirit papers, whose colors are perfect for fall!  I arrange the photo on the "rays" page so that the center of the rays emulated from the center of my sweet little girl!

I cut out a frame, and rolled back the inside edges to expose the back side of the paper.

I cut some circles from another sheet of patterned paper to make the banner and the scalloped edge.  Stitching completes the ensemble.



The second page I did was using the gorgeous Catching Fall papers by Lily Bee.  I just love the patterns and the colors in these.  When I saw them, I thought "farmhouse" , and so that thought inspired me on this LO.

I used part of the packaging from the Jillibean Soup corrugated shapes for my title area.  I used a bunch of twine from my stash, and the dark brown burlap included with the kit.

Now these lovely little fringe flowers I learned from a tutorial HERE.  This wonderful woman has SOOO many fantastic flower tutorials...go check them out!

Next, I wanted to use some of the Bella Blvd. papers and make a more "fall" type of layout.  I stamped my background with some different stamps and some light colored inks and distressed the edges of my cardstock.  I fussy cut out all the little pieces from the papers.

For the scarecrow I used a popsicle stick (which I inked) behind him to stick him into the hay bale.  To make the hay bale, I glued a piece of burlap to a rectanlge shaped piece of chipboard, and then frayed another piece and took a whole bunch of the strands to make it look like hay!  I glued it all down with fabric glue.

Lastly, this is my favorite page, I think!  (Although I said that about each one above as I was making it.)

When I have been working with kits the past few months, I have been tending to use the papers all from one manufacturer on a page and not mixing it up as much, which I miss.  I mean, it is a lot easier to use everything from the same line because it coordinates, but I wanted to challenge myself to use a lot of the different lines together on a page and this is what I came up with!

 

My inspiration started with the Jillibean Soup "Nerd" journaling spot, and, well, I thought of my husband.  I had these photos of us from the Renaissance Fest a few weeks ago.  He hates when I try to take a photo of us while I am holding the camera, and he kept saying, OK, I'll smile, or I'm Ready, and I would go to click and he would purposfully look away.  Jerk.  I did get one good one in at the end.

Another fun fact about this layout.  I never used a paper trimmer or a ruler for anything on this page.  I cut all the strips by hand, and I know they are a little wonky, but that is the way I wanted it!

OK, so I have been SOOOO busy lately, as you can tell this week!!  I hope to work on a few things next week to post, but we'll see! 

4 Pages to share for Crop Addict....

Before I share the Crop Addict kit, here are a few snapshots of my little bumble bee!  I made the costume myself.  I didn't use a pattern, I just "winged" it!  (Get it?)   Charlotte liked her costume, but she didn't like the act of actually putting it on....it was a bit tight over the head.  but once it was on, she totally worked it!

It is coming up on Nov. 1 so very quickly!   That means lots of kit club reveals for me this week!!

I'll start with the very fun Crop Addict November kit.  I also got the add on kit for this month, too, and it is used on most of my page.

I just love these little pink sneaks....they are so cute.  They aren't the sturdiest, but they are great for just playin around outside a bit.

I used a new rubber stamp (new to me anyways) that I got at Archivers that looks like scribbles.  I stamped in a few places and misted my cardstock with some black chalkboard mist.

I used a navy blue mist on the chipboard swirls and some rub ons around the photo. 

I just love these canvas text print flowers!!  I cut one in half and put it on the top corner.  There is also a tiny alpha stamp set which is so cute!  I incorporated it into my journaling.


I have had these photos of Charlotte eating blueberries in my "to scrap" pile since March.  When I saw the colors on this polka dot paper, it just seemed to match perfect!  I used sketch #32 from Sketchabilities for this page.  

I added some white paint behind where my title was going and I even painted it on with my fingers! 

I used a quote from some of the patterned paper over my photo and then I journaled around the outside edge of the page about Charlotte's little "pincher" fingers.  :)  Of course that was months ago, already...I can't believe how much she has changed.

OK, so there were some papers in this kit that were very busy, but had some nice fall colors.  So my trick when using busy papers is to cut them into small squares and make a grid!  Some of the squares I stamped on to add a backround, and others I painted with a thin line of yellow-ish paint.

These little journaling stickers in the kit are super cute, and instead of writing something for journaling, I just filled in all the little stickers!  OK, now for something weird: A few posts ago I did a page for the Crate Paper blog challenge to use a sketch that they had.  I SWEAR that I did this page before that sketch was posted.  Isn't that crazy?  If you saw the sketch, you know what I mean!


OK, last but not least, this is another photo I have had around for a while that I have been wanting to scrap.  Keith and I at my friend Amy's wedding 2 years ago. (Keith has lost 45 pounds since this photo!  WTG honey!)

I wanted to keep the design simple on the page because I was using the cut-out trees, which were a bit busy in patterns, but I just LOVE them!   I love the little bit of pink in these Bella Blvd. papers.

OK, so that is it for Crop Addict for this month!   I have been SOOOO busy lately!  I have a HUGE Christmas class coming up at my LSS that I am teaching on Friday, so I am trying to finish getting that together.  But, the good news is that were are going away for a few days this week to western TX to see and area that is supposed to have nice fall foliage....we will see! 

Stay tuned for my Scrapbook Circle reveal on Monday or Tuesday.....

Halloween in Wonderland...

A few years ago, when we first moved to Houston and right after we were married, we had a Halloween party at our house.  Somehow, I conviced my hubby to go along with my plan of being Alice and the Mad Hatter.  (I alsmost had him dress as the white rabbit, but he wasn't havin' it....).

I can't believe that I have never scrapped these photos before!  It must be becuase I was waiting for the perfect papers to come along, and of course Graphic 45 came out with Halloween in Wonderland!!  AND it was part of the Scrapbook Circle Spooky Hallowen Kit this past month!

I cut out all the images from the paper to use on my LO (the cheshire cat, the rabbit, the green, and the tweedles...).  I also used some of the cards around the border of my LO and as a title.  Some scraps for a moon and a little ink distressing around the edges of the paper, a few bats and stars, and voila!

Hope you have a very happy and safe Halloween!  I can't wait to share some photos of Charlotte in her costume I made!

Loving Crate Paper...

So I have been in love with the Restoration collection, and have been frequenting the Crate Paper blog lately.  They have a sketch challenge going on (ending today), so I decided to whip out some of my other CP lines and went to work on the sketch!

I used: Brook, Mia, Lemon Grass, Restoration, and School Spirit!!!  I really love the colors I ended up using on this page. 

This photo is of my mom and my uncle, and my grandma and grandpa, when she was about 4 or 5 during Thanksgiving dinner.  I have been working a lot with some older photos lately and I love it!

Going to a friends house to crop tomorrow night and can't wait cause I am workin with my Novemeber Scrapbook Circle kit which you can preview HERE.

I missed you Sketchy Thursdays...

I'm bad.    I haven't used a Sketchy Thursday sketch in a long time, and I LOVE them.   So I'm gonna start again!!   I loved this weeks sketch.  This LO came together so fast!

I used more of the Dear Lizzy Enchanted papers. I love the hint of navy in some of these papers, so I picked up on that with my border and my title.   My background cardstock was embossed and I went over it ever so lightly with some pink ink.  I stitched a circle with white thread just so it was barely visible.

I am submitting this one for Girl's Week, too, and the AC Studio blog.

The letter stickers are LYB and the flowers are ( I think?) Prima.  Brads are from the new MME Lost & Found collection.

I also did the sketch challenge this week for My Mind's Eye blog.  The LSS where I work just got the entire Lost & Found line in and of course I bought all the papers!!   The challenge on the blog was to use the sketch and to use black on your page. 

I backed a lot of the papers and the photo with a thin line of black cardstock around the edges.  Believe it or not, there are only two sheets of patterned paper on this LO!  The damask print is actually a piece of kraft cardstock that I embossed with my new Tim Holtx embossing plates from Sizzix.  I then inked the embossed area.  These plates are SO awesome because they give a very deep embossed pattern.

Do you think Charlotte will be mad at me when she grows up for showing her baby boobies on a scrapbook page???  I almost covered them up with some of the circles, but I thought that would be too obvious!  I think she kinda looks like a boy in this photo, too.  But she is still charming, adorable, and ever so sweet!

In other news, I sent in my first projects for S.E.I. yesterday and I am so excited for them to post next month!!!   I hope I did the products justice!!

More coming tomorrow...... 

Creative titles....

...are not something I am good at!   :)   Here is one that I thought long and hard about and decided on "cousins".....

But despite the title, I still love this page!  I have been dieing to do a girly-girl layout using the American Crafts Dear Lizzy Enchanted papers and I have had these photos sitting around for a while....they are a perfect match!  The colors are just spot on....

I punched and pleated some paper strips of the aqua paper and fussy cut out the flowers from another piece of patterned paper.  

I also used some old AC rubons in black for a bit of detail.

My FAVORITE thing about the Enchanted line are the "notes" cards that have tickets and journaling spots of all sizes!!  Wasn't it perfect that there was on that said "3...Something Magical"???

Oh and AC, I forgive you for not choosing me for your design team this year....how can I not.....I still love all your stuff.....maybe next year!!!

Check out the "Girl's Week" challenge at the AC Studio blog! and a chnce to win a prize this week during "Boy's Week" by leaving a comment.