Aug 27, 2010

Fatigued Friday

Another week swept by, and here we are at another Friday already! The kids are doing great at school and we are all getting into a routine, but it is still exhausting. At least we are getting a bit of a break from the intense heat. It is just in the upper 90's today ;)
The ScrapTiffany challenge this week was Orange. I actually love the contrast between orange and blue, especially for boy layouts. Conveniently, my little guy loves the color orange and so was wearing all orange for his first pictures taken at preschool.

I used an old Scenic Route grid paper for the background and Echo Park's Sweet Summertime paper and stickers. The left hand border is one of those new extra large EK Success punches. The top scallop is an Echo Park border sticker.
The chipboard stars are also Scenic Route. I misted them with Maya Mist then covered them with Stickles.
The apple is a Hero Arts stamp that I stamp, colored with Copics then covered with Glossy Accents.

Go on over to ScrapTiffany and check out the other designers take on the Orange challenge. They are all fabulous. :) If you take the Orange challenge, be sure to email it to Tiffany.

In other news....I am so excited to be the Guest Designer this month for Scribble Scrabble! I worked with Haley's and Simply Stylish collections and loved them both! Here is a Haley's Collection layout I did mixing several of the fun patterns:
I love the colors in this collection, especially the gray. I had been hoarding those Maya Road laundry chipboard pieces and was so excited to use them here. Of course some bakers twine makes the best clothes line and I love the Scribble Scrabble patterns as dresses.

Of course the circles were cut with my trusty Kreaxions Circle Cutter :). Here is a layout I did with the Simply Stylish Collection.
I fussy cut the little purses--aren't they so cute?

I have several other layouts and a couple of cards on the Scribble Scrabble blog. I would so appreciate if you would stop by and say hi over there!

hmmm, a couple of other layouts that are my current favs. Probably just because they are the most recently completed lol! Truthfully, though this one is a favorite because I had something I was thinking about and really needed to get it out:


I am realizing I need to do more 2 page 8.5x11 layouts because I love long journaling ;)
Not taking things for granted is a big theme for me this week. We had a plumbing incident that left us without water for a day. I can't imagine living somewhere that running water wasn't the norm. I definitely forget during the day to day craziness that we are just so lucky.
And on that note, I am off to NOT take my littles for granted. Hope you all have a happy weekend filled with fun and love.

Aug 20, 2010

Finally Friday!

I keep meaning to post mid week, but this all day kindergarten thing is kicking my butt! At least it is friday and tonight, the little guy's school is having a parent's night out, which both kids can attend. So Scott and I are going out for Thai food...mmmm. We are officially celebraing our 7th anniversary, which came and went last weekend without either of us noticing lol!

Anyways, the latest ScrapTiffany challenge was HYBRID! I guess I could've done a layout with computer journaling and called it a day, but I really wanted to try printing out a Hero Art's digital image and color it. So that is what I did. I also printed the greeting directly on the card. I learned how easy all this is from the amazing Jennifer McGuire. You can see her blog post about using digi images HERE and about printing on a card HERE. It was SO easy, I'll definitely be thinking about designing some card sets for gifts in the future.

Hmmm, what else have I been up to? Some guest design work I can't share yet has been keeping me busy. And I've done a few challenges for ScrapGal, Dixie Pieces and 3 Scrappy Boys...



And speaking of 3 Scrappy Boys...did you know we have an online crop planned for the second weekend in September? There are going to be classes, challenges and of course prizes! So be sure to stop by!!

In other news, it was my turn to blog at the Just Imagine Crafts blog recently. And here is the layout I shared.

The punches I used and more description is at the Just Imagine blog.

Finally, here is one I don't think I've shared yet. More fun times at a zero zepth pool. Sigh, wish it weren't too hot to even go in the pool lol! 
Well, hope you all have a very happy weekend.



Aug 13, 2010

Fried Friday

It has been one long, hot week. My girl started her first week of Kindergarten and I must say, all you parents of school age kids are rock stars. It has been so exhausting getting everyone up and dressed early, dropping her off, dropping the little guy off and then picking everyone up again. She already has homework too. Add to that packing lunches and some sleepless nights (due to worrying) and we are all wiped. But she sure looked cute on that first day.

The little guy actually had his first day of preschool a couple of weeks ago, so that I could deal with one transition at a time. Here is a photo of him in front of his cubbie:


We did have one last hurrah before everyone started school. We got up early and went over to the splash pad at the mall before anyone else arrived.


Anyway, Friday is the reveal for the ScrapTiffany challenge and this week was a fun one: Bare Chipboard. The great thing about Tiffany's challenges is that she leaves them up to the designers' interpretation. To some that meant covering bare chipboard, to others it meant using it bare on a layout. A friend I met at 3 Scrappy Boys-- Kim, is a genius with bare chipboard. Me? Not so much. But after much debating and trial and error, I came up with a happy medium. I spritzed my chipboard and my Kraft background with just a bit of Maya Mist. Then I sewed on the chipboard. You can still see some of the original color of the chipboard and I think I will be doing this again soon.
 
Go on over to ScrapTiffany to see the many different takes on the bare chipboard challenge.

I had a little time to play last night while the rest of the family was out running some errands. Since I was dog tired and just wanted to be on auto pilot I wanted to use a sketch. So I used a Pagemaps sketch and came up with this layout:


Funny how the Studio Calico and Echo Park actually works together so well!
And I realized there are a few layouts I haven't shared here yet...
Some American Crafts, Coredinations and Ek Success border punches:

A sketch from Studio Calico and lots of Sassafras (couple of Elle's Studio goodies too).


Bo Bunny summer fun:


And a few of the Moxxie layouts that were at CHA in Chicago:

Moxxie is working on getting all the CHA projects up on their blog and when they do I'll be showing more here and doing a little Moxxie giveaway, so stay tuned!
And, I will be blogging over at Just Imagine Crafts tomorrow, so come on over and say HI!
Have a GREAT weekend!


Aug 6, 2010

Fabulous Friday

Now that my ScrapTiffany reveals are on Friday, I can come up with alliteration for Fridays instead of Mondays. And that means words like Fun, Fantastic and Fabulous. I just have an easier time on Friday than I do on Monday ;)

Speaking of ScrapTiffany, the challenge this week was a sketch challenge and the sketch was created by yours truly! Here is my sketch...
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Sometimes when I make a sketch, I actually make the layout first and then make a sketch from the completed layout. This time I actually made the sketch first so my layout is a bit different even though I'm the one that made the sketch! Here is my layout:


Go on over to ScrapTiffany and take a look at the designers fabulous and unique takes on the sketch. If you want to make a project based on this sketch be sure to email it to Tiffany.
I have a few other layouts that I haven't shared yet. One for an American Crafts challenge to use buttons:

One for Method Playground to do a white on white layout. I've never done one before so I had to give it a try:
Hmmm, all of those feature Little Miss, so I had to add one with my Little Man. This one is made with a bunch of Bella Blvd stuff and I sewed through the chipboard scalloped border. This is the first time I sewed through chipboard and I was a bit nervous about it, but it went fine. The only thing is that the chipboard is self adhesive so I had to clean the needle off with a little UnDu the next time I went to sew.

I've been trying to take more pictures lately too. During the summer when we start getting cabin fever, stuck inside for the millionth 112 degree day in a row, I sort of forget about taking pictures. But I got this great one the other day and ran a CoffeeShop Blog Action on it.

I've been doing some reading lately too. Usually I dont like books or movies that everyone recommends. Mainly because I let them get built up in my head and then I am invariably disappointed. But, a bunch of the ladies over at 3 Scrappy Boys recommended The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and I have to say it totally met my expectations. Well written, interesting characters, engaging plot and a good mystery. I already requested the second book in the series from my library.


I also read The Bright Side of Disaster:


It was light and entertaining. Nothing deep, but a fun summer read. Well, that is it for today. I think we are going to try and have a mellow weekend because GULP Little Miss starts kindergarten on MONDAY!!!!!!! I will be back to share some pictures of that and finally share a bunch of Moxxie projects that made it to Chicago while I sat enviously here in the middle of the desert ;) Have a great weekend!