Look what she made!

For Christmas, Charlotte got a little kids sewing machine.  I was trying to figure out something easy for her to make, so we decided on a pillow.  I have tons of fabric scraps, so I let her pick out the patterns she wanted, and then we used her machine!  It just does a chain stitch, so there is not bobbin thread.  If one stitch comes out, the whole thing does!!!  It was a bit of a pain, so I told her that I would just make it "stronger" on my machine so it wouldn't rip!  She stuffed it and now sleeps with it every night!  I'm so proud of her and she was proud of herself!

When I saw the cherry print of the fabric, it reminded me of the Lily Bee Sweet Shoppe collection, so that is what I used!

My page is based on today's sketch at the My Scraps & More Sketch Blog!  The new DT had their first reveal today, so check out the sketch and link up a page!!  Visit it HERE.

My page is pretty simple.  I mounted a piece of white cardstock with the edges cut at a skew onto of the grey herringbone patterned paper, and stitched around the edge with black thread.  Then I splattered the page with blue and red mists.  The triangle "banner" is actually a piece of patterned paper that I cut and then just stiched to a thin piece of paper to keep it from ripping.  I painted some Studio Calico wood stars with black paint and also used some SC star rubons that matched, too.

I used some chipboard banner pieces, flair, stickers and fabric brads from Lily Bee for the cluster as well as the plastic xoxo from Studio Calico and some twine to tie it all together.

Finally, on the chipboard speech bubble (also from Lily Bee), I stamped a subtitle and placed it over my photo.  Then some other little stars, buttons, and bits scattered around the page.

I have been on a total sketch kick lately because I have been feeling a little un-creative!  But I just love sketch results!  Hope to see you play along, too!

Stay scrappy my friends!

Scrappin' my stash...some old Crate Paper

Every Thursday on the My Scraps & More forums is a "Throwback Thursday" challenge where we challenge you to use your stash that is at LEAST a year old.

When I started to think about scrapping these photos of my kiddos with the lollipops that Grandma gave them, I remembered a chipboard lollipop in the Emma's Shoppe collection from a few years ago.   I REALLY loved that collection and decided to use some more of it up!

I started by using some Gelatto's and water, and then going over it with a stencil and modeling paste.

Behind my photos, I added a few frame shapes cut from papers and just a few simple strips.

I layered lots of chipboard pieces, flair, and die cuts.

My title I cut with my Cameo and outlined with a black pen.  And lastly I scattered about some fun small bits like brads, sequins, chipboard, and tiny die cuts!

I really should scrap my stash more often!  It is fun coming back to these old collections and making them NEW again!

Stay scrappy my friends!

Feb. Scrapbook Circle Kit- lunch and selfies

Just a quick post today to share a few pages that I made with the February Scrapbook Circle kit!  just WAIT til you get this kit...papers from releases that haven't even been available for purchase yet (October Afternoon, Chickaniddy Crafts).

I also wanted to share these two pages because they are both based on sketches from Creative Scrappers this month (and of course I wait until the last minute to link up)!

I will share more details about them both during the month of February!  Stay tuned!


Oh, and while you are thinking about it, go check out the February SBC kit HERE NOW!

Baby Buntings...

One of my favorite lullabyes to sing to the kiddos when they were babies was "Bye, Baby Bunting".  They still like to hear it every now and again!  Grandma came for a visit and we played "baby" and wrapped them up in "buntings".  Even though I just recently had a few years of practice doing "buntings", my mother is STILL better at it than I am!  :)

I haven't been using very many single photos on my layouts lately, so when I saw this sketch at Scrapfriends, I decided to give it a go with this photo.

I added a white wash and some "clay" mist splatters on the background, and then added a few splatters of some Heidi Swapp color shine in Coral, too.  I'm trying to use up my embellishments with this Crate Paper Close Knit line because I always run out of papers before embellies!  There are the stitched pieces, buttons, chipboard, and more!

I created a small banner with the chipboard pieces and just added some twine to the top.

I loved the cluster of frames in the sketch, so I used some chipboard ones to frame some fun brads from this collection, too.

Can't believe that it is almost the end of the month already!  But that just means it's closer to summer!  But I do like being "snowed" in so that I can spend more time scrapping!

Stay scrappy (and warm!) my friends!

So many FRIENDS! *Scrapbook Circle*

Charlotte has SOOO many stuffed animals.  And they all have names.  And they all have to sleep on her bed.  One day while I was washing her sheets, she came running down and told me she "made" her bed........

I used the Scrapbook Circle January kit and was inspired by the current challenge on the Scrapbook Circle Blog to use a Date Stamp or the Crate Paper date stamp paper in the kit.  I did both!  :)

I wanted to used the date stamp in a different way, so I stamped it several times across the top and bottom of the page to create a border.  I added some gesso and some inks and mists, too, through the exclusive Scrapbook Circle heart stencil.  Then there is lots of layering of papers and some stitching to add texture.

This page is also based off a sketch at the My Scraps & More Sketch Blog, that you can see HERE.  AND there is a DT call going on until Jan. 26th, so check it out!

Stay scrappy my friends!

HUGE NEWS and a Blog Hop *WINNER*!!!!

Do you have a huge scrappy dream?  I do.  And it just came true!

I am the new owner of the online retail store "My Scraps & More"!  I have been on the Design Team for a few years and the previous owner, Tammi, told us she was going to retire and close the store at the end of the month.  I hate to see a great store close!!!  I sent her a few messages, and 2 weeks later, here I am sorting through the inventory in my basement!  I should be ready to start shipping things out next week!

Here are SOME of the boxes that she shipped to my house:

And the sorting and organizing has begun:

I have been placing orders with everyone's favorite scrapping Manufacturers!  Wait until you see what is coming to the store!  Check out the list HERE.

I am so excited about this new chapter in my life!

OK, so now you see why I have been so busy and haven't updated my blog....eek....

SO the winner of the My Scraps & More Sketch Blog Hop is:

Congrats!  Send me your information at audreykit at yahoo dot com and I will get your gift certificate for $10 to the My Scraps & More store!

Stay scrappy my friends!

Top Ten of 2013

Wow....this year FLEW by!  I think I say that every year!

Scrappy wise, I had a pretty low key year.  I started the year with almost 8 DT committments (at once) and backed off significantly, and am MUCH happier about that!  I spent most of the 2nd half of the year scrapping for ME and I loved it!  I also got back onto the Scrapbook Circle DT, and I just love being a part of that team and getting a new fun kit to play with every month!

I have been on the My Scraps & More team for almost 2 years (with the same members), and I feel like we are a little family over there!

I had a few publications, (I think almost 10), but haven't submitted as much lately with both Scrapbook Trends AND Creating Keepsakes both going digital.

I completed about 185 layouts this year, a few minis, and a few cards.  Of the layouts I did, a whopping THREE were double pagers!  Ha!  I have been using smaller photos: 3x4, 4x4, and love making pages with those sizes.

So here are my top 10 pages.  It is so hard to choose every year!  I went through my file and first chose the ones I like THE BEST and narrowed the 185 down to 48!  Some of them I chose because of design, others I chose because of the meaning behind the page.  But I love them ALL!

Just realized the images are a bit fuzzy because I already deleted my higher quality photos for last year (I keep a high quality and a low one all year long until the end of the year.  Then I deleted the high ones to save disk space and put all the low res ones into a folder for that year).

And I hope you weren't counting, because there are actually 13 there!  :)  I just couldn't decide!

Thanks for stopping by and looking at my top 10 (uh, i mean 13).  Stay Scrappy in 2014 My Friends!

My Scraps & More Sketch Blog *BLOG HOP*

Welcome to the My Scraps and More Ring In the New Year Blog Hop!! There is something about the New Year that gets everyone motivated to get things done. We want to help you get your scrappy mojo going in the New Year. This is our first ever Blog Hop for the My Scraps and More Sketch Blog. Here is our special blog hop sketch.

For the sketch, I used the beautiful fall colors of the Urban Autumn line by Lily Bee!  I wanted to play up the really bright leaves in my photos.  These are the beautiful Sassafras trees at my parents house.  Every year they are the first to change color and they have the most intense colors or any kind of tree I have ever seen! There are some great hiding spots and places for "forts" in there, too!

I used my NEW Silhouette Cameo to cut the leaves on the background and then backed it with patterned paper.  Then I splattered some white and grey paint on the page.

 I layered some wood veneers from Lily Bee, too, and added some LB stickers and a die cut for my title.

I used the sketch to place my papers, and decided to keep the four squares of the sketch all the same pattern. A chipboard embellie from American Crafts, and a brad from Crate Paper!

Now hop along to each of the design teams blogs to see how they are Ringing in the New year with this fabulous sketch. Make sure to leave a comment on each Design Teams blog and then see what you can create with the sketch. Link it back to the My Scraps & More sketch blog by Thursday, January 9 at midnight EST to be eligible for this fabulous prize: The Fancy Pants "Collecting Moments" collection!

Completing this sketch will also enter you into the monthly blog drawing, too, so that is TWO chances to win! (And there will be other sketches the rest of the month that you can complete to enter, too!) 

*BONUS PRIZE*- I am giving away a $10 gift card to the My Scraps & More store, too!  To be eligible, make sure you are a blog follower and please leave a comment!  I will choose a random commentor to win the prize on Thursday night and post next Friday.

Here is the order of the hop in case you get lost along the way.

My Scraps & More SKETCH blog- http://www.myscrapsandmoresketches.blogspot.com/

Audrey - audreysreflection.blogspot.com/
Lisa - lisasscrappyhideaway.blogspot.com/
Missy - www.littlenuggetcreations.blogspot.com/
Wendi - scrappydayinparadise.blogspot.com/
Tracy - ascrapatatime.blogspot.com/
Tammi - www.tjsmemoriesblog.blogspot.com/

Stay scrappy my friends!

Now hop on over to Lisa's Blog! lisasscrappyhideaway.blogspot.com/

December Daily 2013

Well, I am no where near done with it, but I am so proud of myself because my goal was to JOURNAL everyday for 25 days and I did it!!!  Now the fun part of just adding in the photos and decorating is all I have to do!  I am sharing some photos of my album that I took around day 6 of December (yes, that long ago and I am just posting).

My favorite part about this process is creating my journaling pages.  On my album I created last year (WHICH YOU CAN SEE HERE), I first started by creating journaling pages and I was able to stick to it.  The photos speak for themselves...they are memories captured in that instant.  But those thoughts and words that go with those specific moments are sometimes fleeting, and the details can get lost over time.  That is why I feel it is so important to focus on the journaling.  I want to remember those conversations and little bits of the day that really make this holiday.

OK, so to my pages:

I started by simply creating a Microsoft Word document with 2 columns and adding in some lines for journaling.  I fiddled with the margins so they would be equal once I cut down the middle.  I printed 13 pages, cut them each in half, which gave me 26 journaling pages.  On each page, I used a decorative border punch on the top edge.  I splattered some Citron (Heidi Swapp), Santa Claus Red (Ranger), and Tannenbaum (Studio Calico) mists on each page.

On the bottom edge of each journaling page, I used some Mod Podge and a dry brush and made streaks of glue with the brush and sprinkled some gold glitter on it and let it all dry.

Finally, I chose 5 colors/patterns of washi tape and added them to the right edge of the journaling pages. Then I used some vellum and paper die cuts from Pink Paislee and stitched them over the washi with some gold thread (and I left the edges of the gold thread hanging, and I love the interest it adds).  Finally, I punched three holes in each page to fit into my album.

For the album:

I used this Pink Paislee "Portfolio" album, which I actually purchased about 3 or 4 years ago because Ali Edwards used it for her DD album (or maybe it was for her Week In the Life, I can't remember).  But it has been sitting in my closet and I thought it was time to use it.  It has some really cool shapes and types of insert pages in it.

I started by covering the outside (which is canvas) with gesso.  I didn't completely cover it because I like some of the raw canvas peeking through.

Then I used a small christmas tree patterned stencil and some Citron mist and sprayed it on the bottom half of the album.  Then I splattered with the Tannenbaum mist, and stamped "Dec 2013" with a date stamp here and there.

It is hard to see, but I took some irridescent punchinella and cut circles out of it. I glued the circles to random parts on the album front using mod podge.

I created a small banner cluster on the top left with some lime green washi tape.

I covered some Studio Calico wood veneer stars with some glue and loose gold glitter and glued them to the album cover.  I also used some of the gold rub on stars of the same shape, but are a lot smaller, and scattered them around, too.

Finally, I added some red sequins, rhinestones from Glitz Designs, and the word "holiday" from a Basic Grey wood pack.  The gold "season" alphas are Studio Calico.


PHEW!  That was a lot of info!  :)

Here is a peek at the inside, not embellished or decorated yet, but you can get the idea of where I am going with this....

I hope you stop back and see my finished project...which should be sometime around NEXT Christmas!    HAHAHAHA!

Stay scrappy my friends!