Happy Birthday Sara Z! Blog Hop and Giveaway!

Back in October, I was so excited that I got to attend a 3 day scrapbook retreat called "Crop til you Drop" way up North in Ogdensburg, NY, hosted by the lovely Sara Z.  I pretty sure that we hit it off right away!  :) As a matter of fact, I will be seeing her next week for another scrappy get together!  So excited! (Yes I am pretty much wearing pajamas and didn't think that my photo would be taken that day...)

The lovely girl is celebrating her BIRTHDAY today, and what better way than with a blog hop with her bestest scrappy buddies!!!!  This hops starts today and ends at midnight on February 9th.

Here's what Sara has to say:

“ Its my birthday and I want to offer up some gifts to you – my readers! I have asked a special group scrappy friends to join me in celebrating my birthday with a blog hop – you are going to find a ton of inspection among this talented group!

We have a sketch that was created just for this occasion by my bestie Diana Fisher. 

We have 2 gifts up for grabs!

                   1)  A $30 Gift Certificate to Paper Issues – to one lucky winner who links up their layout based on Diana’s Birthday Sketch to the linky below (on Sara's blog) by midnight on February 9^th.  ( You must be a follower of Sara's blog to eligible)

2)      Creative Scrappers / Creating with Sketches – (ebook) – We will be giving away 2 copies of this ebook to two birthday hoppers that leave a comment on each post though out the hop.

Lets get this party started!  Hop along with these amazing girls for even more chances to win some extra goodies! "

Here is the blog list for the hop:

Sara  Zenger– www.sarazenger.blogspot.com

Diana Fisher - http://designbydiana.blogspot.com/

Audrey Yeager - http://audreysreflection.blogspot.com/

Corrie Jones - http://corejones.blogspot.com/

Heather Landry - http://miraclesmommadesigns.blogspot.com/

Missy Whidden - http://littlenuggetcreations.blogspot.com/

Cassie Box - http://www.somethingfromcassie.com/

Ashley Horton - http://www.ashleyhortondesigns.com/

Angie Gutshal - http://mylittleblessings123.blogspot.com/

Aimee Madden - http://aimeesarmoire.typepad.com/

Shannon Morgan - http://designsofapaddymack.typepad.com/

Becky Litz - http://scrapcircus.blogspot.com/

I loved the idea of the large photo on this sketch, so I printed a 4x8(ish) photo of my little guy that I just ook a few weeks ago.  He just turned 18 months on January 19th, and is just totally scaling this whole house...anywhere he can get into!  He is such a boy.  Love him to BITS!

I got my hands on some new My Mind's Eye and just LOVE the bright colors (and have always loved the texture) of their papers.  I rotated the sketch, added a bit of white paint and doodling to the background, and then just a few other bits here and there! Oh and I fussy cut some stars and popped them off the page in some spots, too.

Enjoy the hop and HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARA!!!

Creative Scrappers Sketch #246- Love them cookies!

I seriously don't care anymore if food gets all over the house, because it's gonna even if I try and make sure it doesn't.  So I gave my little guy an Oreo because he wanted a "deet-de" (cookie) and let him go.  I guess this is the way he eats his oreos!

This was based on the latest sketch from Creative Scrappers.  If you didn't hear the news, Creative Scrappers will be taking a little break after sketch #250 (March 3rd).  But all the fabulous sketches will still be posted for a long time!

I used the December Gossamer Blue kit for this page.  Remember when lollipop flowers were all the rage? Just layered circles that were distressed...I used to like those, so I did something similar on my page.  I just took some bright colored circles and stacked them together!

I created a large, rectangular frame with kraft paper behind my photos, and then stitched over it with brown thread.  A few sentiments here and there and that's pretty much it!  I really love using circles on my page, so this sketch was perfect!

Hope you get to play along with some sketches in the final weeks at Creative Scrappers!

Stay scrappy my friends!!!

Hello February! I LOVE Crate Paper! :)

Can you believe it is February 1st?  It's the month of "LOVE", and you know what I LOVE?  CRATE PAPER!  Most definitely my favorite manufacturer!!  The Crate Paper Fourteen collection is very Valentine's based, but I love trying to take collections and use them for layouts other than their theme.

Here is a page I created about my kids love for this little couch (and each other).  Grandma and Grandpa got them this couch for Christmas, and they use it ALL DAY LONG, mostly in "forts" and to use as a stool to climb up on tables!  And Charlotte occasionally tries to fold Kyler up in it...

I loved the graph circle on the background, and since pie chart seem to be all the rage, I cut some of the pieces from the circle graph and added some papers behind.  Then I machine stitched along some of the lines with a zig zag stitch and added some washi tape arrows.

I created lots of layers with some doilies, a bag from Whisker Graphics and tag, and some chipboard!  I am also on a mission to use something on every page that is from my stash.  The little bird brad below, and the circle element and brad above are from my stash (bird= Pebbles, circle/flower brad=MME).

This collection can most definitely be used for non-Valentine's Day projects!  Check it out in the My Scraps & More store, HERE!

Stay scrappy my friends!

A new home and faces I love.

In late December, we moved into our new house.  One week before Christmas.  It was CRAZY trying to unpack and decorate and keep the 2 kiddos from getting into everything.  Although we did have some fun times with building cities of boxes!

Anyway, I snapped this photo of our house the day before we closed, and it just so exciting (we have been waiting for over 6 months to move into a new home).  So here it is!  The Dear Lizzy 5th and Frolic collection had a lot of great "homey" sentiments and papers that went great with this theme.

In the background, you can see some faint stamping with a hexagon stamp, some layered papers and chipboard.  I added some wood chevrons pointing to the title.

I have been love love LOVING gold accent lately, so I used a sticker and some gold thread here.

To add some more gold sparkle, I painted a Basically Bare 'Jailer Key' with some gold Sorbet gel paint from Art Anthology.  Isn't the 'Welcome Home' chipboard piece perfect?  :)

And next I wanted to share a layout I did based on last weeks sketch at My Scraps & More sketch blog.
My brother took these photos of Charlotte on his phone.  She was trying to look at the handle of her cup, because there was something on it, and she had no idea of the funny crossed-eyed faces she was making.  We kept asking her to look again, and were laughing so hard.  :)

I recently reorganized in my new scrap room and started keeping embellies and certain papers/kits close by in bins to use at will.  This page I used items from 7 different manufacturers, which is not my norm (I tend to stick with a collection and use a few other bits here and there).  Here is a die cut from a scrapbook circle kit, and an old brad from MME.  I also dug into my rub-on stash, which I forgot how much I loved, and had fun with cutting them up here and there.

Some chipboard from Basic Grey and doilies from some Lily Bee paper.

I have been scrapping like a maniac lately.  And believe it or not, a lot of it has been for ME!  Hope you are staying scrappy, too!

New Glitz Releases!!! Little Driver and All Hands on Deck!

Seriously, the latest Glitz Design releases are the best YET!!  Some fun new things, like the roller stamps, and awesome designs on the classic Glitz stuff like the Peek-A-Boos (transparencies) and What-Nots (die-cuts).  I have two page to share with you today.

For some reason, I didn't scrap these photos of a ship tour that we took last summer. They have just been sitting in my "to do" pile for a while.  Well, it was a good thing I waited, because the Uncharted Waters line is an absolute perfect match!

The design of my page revolved a lot around this anchor die cut, which I misted with a Navy blue to make it stand out a bit more on the page.  I even looked up some rope knots and used one to tie on my string to the top of the anchor!  :)

LOVE this yellow anchor washi!!!!

This Giant Rhinestone was a perfect match for the strips on the patterned paper.

I layered a few Peek-A-Boos behind, and on top of the photos to add some more color on the page.

Next I wanted to do a page with the bright, colorful papers of the "Color Me Happy" collection.  It went well with these bright, colorful photos of my little guy driving his car.  He is just so happy!

I wanted to show some movement on this page, so I took the rainbow chevron washi and cut it up into pieces and taped them down.  Then I machine stitched over the washi to create a circle.  Behind the photos I layered some What-Nots and Journal Stickers.

I fussy cut some elements from other papers, and also used a cloud stamp in the top left corner of the page.

Have you gotten your hands on any new Glitz yet?  Can't wait to see!

Supplies:

"All Hands On Deck"
Papers:
Uncharted Waters "Waves"
Uncharted Waters "Scallop"
Uncharted Waters "Stripe"

Uncharted Waters Giant Rhinestones
Uncharted Waters Peek A Boos
Uncharted Waters Whatnots
Uncharted Waters tape Anchors
Uncharted Waters Teeny Alphas Aqua Stripe

"Hello Little Driver"
Papers:
Color Me Happy "Stripe"
Color Me Happy "Hearts"
Color Me Happy "Bits & Pieces"

Color Me Happy Journaling Stickers
Color Me Happy Washi Rainbow Chevron

Hello Friend Stamps
Yours Truly What Nots

Thanks for stopping by today!
-Audrey

Word Inspiration...NOW and WARM..

I WISH it was WARM right NOW!

We are smack dab in the middle of the One Little Word crop at My Scraps & More.  My challenges involve the words WARM and NOW.

My first page I made with my February kit from My Scraps & More. Charlotte loves to put her leg warmers on, and most of the time, she doesn't like to wear pants.  These photos captured her dancing around in the living room, and all I could think about was Flashdance (especially since she was pantless).  I was going to have my title be something about WARM, but instead, I decided to interpret WARM differently....I used WARM colors: red, yellow, orange, and pink.

I honestly was listening to "She's a Maniac" on my computer while I made this page!  I cut the yellow chevron paper and placed the arrows up and down to show some movement.

The polka dot paper with the bright colors really reminds me of the 80's!  :)  I added some more pink circles on the page, too.  The title is cut from patterned paper, and I used a MME die cut to mount the title.

My next page is about the word NOW.  I think it is so important to document what is happening "NOW" in our lives.  So i snapped these photos of the kids and what they are into right NOW.  Right now, I just finished unpacking the dining room, and they found some drink shakers (which I can honestly say I don't think we have ever used!) and have been playing with them.  They are fighting like crazy, but playing with each other all the time.

(for some reason I forgot to take close ups, so this is it for this page!)

I used some new Studio Calico Darling Dear.  I love the navy and the shade of green in this line.  The background I painted a bit with some Art Anthology Gel Paint (Sorbet).  And I LOVE LOVE LOVE these vellum arrows!!!

The letters are from Bella Blvd, and I misted them in navy to match the papers.

You still have plenty of time to participate in the crop. Stop over to the message board and check it out!

Creative Scrappers Sketch #244

Since I had kids, there is one special girl who doesn't get scrapped nearly enough anymore.  We have had a lot of snow since we've moved back to NY and I can tell that she really really missed it!  I think she would rather have below freezing temps and big snowbanks to stick her head in over those 100 degree days and the pool anyday!!!!

Here is my take on today's Creative Scrappers sketch #244.

And the sketch by my friend Heather Leopard:

I used some papers from different kits and some that I had in my stash, plus I raided my stash for a few other things, as well.  I have been pretty good, lately, about digging into things that I haven't used in a while.

On the background I splattered some white paint and machine stitched with silver thread.  I am really into metallics lately!

The journaling spot is an old transparency that I painted on the back with white paint to make the writing stand out more.  A few snowflake punches, and that's it!

I KNEW I had t he chipboard words" My Girl" somewhere in my stash, so I spent about 30 minutes looking for it and finally found it in the old Crate Paper Line Emma's Shoppe.

Hope you are staying warm!  It is supposed to get pretty chilly here this week.  As a matter of fact, we aren't supposed to have a day that goes over 19 degress until Feb. 11.  Joy.

What a Zoo! A mini for Basically Bare

OK, confession....I used to not like making mini albums that much.  But lately I have been LOVING them!  It helps I have an awesome stash of some Basically Bare ones to use!!!!

I used the Casually Covered album for this little mini about a trip we took to the local zoo on a very warm day in November.

Let's talk about the cover.  I just had to use the On Trend collection from Crate Paper.  It's perfect, with all the animal prints it has! First, I painted the spine black, then added my paper.  I covered the zebra paper with a light wash of gesso, and then used a stencil and some "Splashed" Sorbet from Art Anthology. I love the texture and sheen that this paint gives!!!  It is so awesome to work with!

 See those fibers on the page?  They are actually the strings from the canvas page inside the album....I took some off to make some fringe on the page, and had this little pile sitting on my desk, so I just added them on the cover.

I splattered some paint, stitched with some teal thread, and added the appropriate animal embellies and some twine.

And I always decorate the back cover a bit, too:

OK, the inside pages.  Basically, I painted the edges of each black (except the acrylic page) and then added paper to each page. I stuck with a somewhat neutral palette for the papers.

I added some splatters of mists and those were my foundations.  On each page, I added a few OLD leaf rub ons, the photos, and a few flowers, banners, twine and other bits.  In between some of the pages, I added some tags for my journaling (which I have added in at this point!).

On the acrylic page, I used a animal print stencil and some "Sand Dune" and "Tiger Eye" Sorbets (Art Anthology).

YAY!  I love this little mini!  Thanks for stopping by today!!!!