Sunday, October 28, 2012

Amazing!

Here in Texas our kids have state-wide testing each year called the TAKS.  This layout celebrates the award my daughter received for scoring in the 95% percentile in 4th grade in all three categories - math, reading, and writing!  So awesome!  (and equally amazing that I finally got around to scrapping the moment considering she's now in 7th grade!)






Challenges:
  • ScrapFit #77 - use flags:  I used two flags at the bottom made from Jenni Bowlin banner chipboard covered in paper with Cosmo Cricket Tiny Words stickers on each.  The flag pole is actually coffee stirrers!
  • Scrap Friendzy # 19 - use old photos
  • Sketch N Scrap #19 - sketch



Recipe:
  • Papers = Pebbles - Let Freedom Ring; My Minds Eye - Miss Caroline; Jillibean Soup Christmas Chestnut Soup
  • Stamps = Close to my Heart - You Are..., Artiste Collection Kudos, and Frame It Up
  • Die Cuts = Cricut Artiste and Art Philosophy
  • Flags = Jenni Bowlin Chipboard Elements (banners) 

Verve October Week 5

This is my entry to this week's Viva la Verve challenge based on their sketch.  I used Dylusions sprays on glossy cardstock to create the multi-color background.  I then used the same sprays (plus a grape color) to adorn the Close to my Heart Color Ready wooden shapes.  The stamp is, of course, Verve!





Friday, October 26, 2012

Jillibean Soup Gone Wild!

I am a big fan of Paper Secrets and this month, they are spotlighting Jillibean Soup.  Perfect for me as I have a number of their paper collections and goodies and grabbed a few bits from multiple sets:
  • Paper sets used:  Monster Stew, Minestrone, Cream of Mushroom
  • Sticker sets used:  Monster Stew, Atomic Soup
  • Journaling Sprouts
  • Corrugated Alphas



Challenges I am entering this into include:

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Can you ever over-accesorize?

I love this photo of my daughter from back in '01.  We had just moved to the states from the UK and my daughter's nieces came to visit.  They were so ecstatic to have a little playtoy!  They spent more than an hour dressing her up, doing her hair and makeup...  Glad they had a good time because I am not so sure my DD knew what to make of the whole thing


Inspiration came from:

Family Time

A few years ago we took a camping trip to Caprock Canyon in the northern part of Texas.  It is such a pretty area!  We took this family photo at the bottom of one part of the canyon.  It was quite the challenge to set up the camera and timer and then quickly run over the river and rocks to get in place before the timer went off!

Speaking of challenges - apologies for the glare in the photo.  I am trying new ways of getting better photos of my work since I do nearly all of my crafting at night.  This way didn't work :-)



This was created for a few challenges:
  • Sketches4All - Use teal, rust, and brown.  Rosey is such a sweetheart and I am honored to be part of the S4All community!
  • Little Scrap Pieces - Use Blue (check out the site - Karen's creations are always awesome!)
  • SrapFriendzy - use 5 fonts (the title, the brad to the upper left of the photo, the canvas ribbon words, the "Discover" tag and two more for the subtitle and date)
  • ScrapFit - Workout # 78 Sketch

Monday, October 8, 2012

Photos from the Past



I have been sorting through many old photo boxes and albums and one by one, scanning them to create digital copies.  This one is when my daughter was just 21 days old.  It worked perfectly for the Grand Diva's Sketch challenge, though I did flip the sketch, more out of necessity since the photo had a date on it in the lower right corner that I wanted to cover with the flowers.   


I'm also using this layout for Scrap Friendzy's October challenge #2 where I had to pick 5 things to include.  My choices were:
  1. No pattern papers - instead, I added color and pattern with cardstock, subtle misting, and two beautiful stamps from Close to My Heart (Baroque Borders) inked in Pumice Stone and Aged Mahogany
  2. Ribbon - rather than have the horizontal banner under the photo in the sketch, I used two pieces of ivory silk and organza ribbon
  3. Twine - to add to the ribbon pieces, I added two strands of burgundy twine (floss, actually) between the two pieces of ribbon
  4. Bling - I added tiny pearls to the flourishes and the stamped corner images
  5. Misting - I misted the corners as well as the frame, flourish, title, and one of the Petaloo flowers.





Sunday, October 7, 2012

Window Pane Christening Layout

This is a very old photo that has sat idle for many years (OK - about 22 years.  Don't laugh at the mega-shoulder pads and I printed it as black and white - it's not THAT old!).  It is of my niece on the day she was christened with my mom, sister, and me - the Godmother.  Since a christening is effectively welcoming a child into the church, I thought the one-word title of "Welcome" was effective for Scrappin' Happy's October challenge.  The window pane was made using my Cricut and the black and white was inspired by a challenge at Scrap Friendzy but I added a touch of pink.  The extra touches are for Rochelle Spears challenge:
  • Something with wings = butterfly paper
  • Edge Punch = EK Success punch above the photo
  • Shape Punch =  Martha Stewart butterfly punch
  • Something transparent = Liquid Glass on the butterfly and vellum for the journaling. 
I have a few more cards and layouts I am going to try to finish tonight so back to work  :-)




Boo!

I know what you're thinking - Lisa, get your holidays in order!  I am bouncing from Thanksgiving last week to Christmas this afternoon and now Halloween this evening.  This was a great opportunity to use up a lot of scraps - especially several scraps of black and orange cardstock and a small scrap of purple I used or the "boo".

The papers are from Jillibean Soup Monster Stew; pom-pom ribbon is from Hobby Lobby; the punch is an EK Success edge puncher; the spiders are a fabulous cutting file from Bird's Cards; and the buttons are Walmart.

There's lots of Halloween challenges going on with great inspirations from their DT teams:


Saturday, October 6, 2012

Bring on the Christmas Cards!

I am taking advantage of a very cold day here in Dallas and knocking out a few projects - we went from low 80's yesterday to only 53 today and very grey.  So I warmed myself up with Christmas cards.  And yes, I even made hot chocolate.  I admit - 53 is not cold to most people.  But a 30 degree drop in a single day just left me a bit unprepared!

The first card is for this week's Mojo Monday as well as the banner challenges at Pink Elephant and Use Your Stuff.  The papers are Little Yellow Bicycle; ornament is from Circut Art Philosophy; the scroll stamp, scroll die, and banner dies are from Verve, and the sentiment is from Cutting Cafe;s All About Christmas set which is packed with great images and sentiments.








Onto the next card - horrible photo but cute card!  This one also uses a digital file from Cutting Cafe - the stocking-shaped word art image from the Christmas Sentiments set.  It comes with a cutting file, too, so it was easy to add the shadow layer!  The sketch is based on a layout sketch from Let's Get Sketchy - Scrap Friendzy had a challenge to convert a layout sketch to a card and I thought this one would work well.  The three pattern papers are from Bazzil Believe collection and the "merry christmas" stamp is from Hero Arts.






Remember the Days of the Old Schoolyard

My daughter started middle school last year - perfect photo opp, right?  NO!!!!  She did everything in her power to prevent any photos.  Stubborn Mom persevered and got what little I could (and then sat on the photos for a year....)



The papers are from Close to My Heart (Elementals, Stella, and Dotty for You) and MME Stella (the mat for the photos).  The buttons are courtesy of MME Stella Rose and Lost and Found and fit in perfectly with Scrap Fit's Warm Up #52 Buttons or Bows (I'm quite the fan of their blog).  I may reposition them to be above the word "Science" as I am not sure about their placement once I say it in the photo... amazing how frequently I second guess myself when I write my blog posts....

Behind the photos is a word art die cut paper with school subjects that I picked up at a scrapping convention last year.  Unfortunately, it was black and just wasn't working with the papers and photos.  So I pulled out my acrylic paints and mixed up a shade of grey that matched the paper.  I then trimmed selected words from the paper and painted those as well, in shades of blue, green, and rust that matched subtle colors in the background paper.


And I can't forget to mention the tiny text in the bottom left.  These little letters are from Lily Bee Design and was a labor of love to work with the tweezers to get each of those little letters on there!  All for Scrap Friendzy's October Challenge # 3 to use lyrics from a song!  To be honest, I had the title planned long before I saw the challenge - it's one of my favorite songs and keeps me company as part of my Spotify playlist I play as I scrap.

Friday, October 5, 2012

Happy Birthday!

OK - it's not really anyone's birthday other than the 5th "birthday of Scrap Friendzy.  There challenges alwasy make me think.  This month, they have a total of 20 challenges.  I chose #8 to start the month.  The challenge was to scraplift a fabulous card by Wendy McKee.  Oh, to have a fraction of her talent and eye but I kept it very basic as I have a lot to do this weekeend so trying not to get as hung up over things as I usually do.   So now I have another birthdy card for my stash which was very needed as I was done to just one birthday card!

I began with using the same nine circles as the inspiration card but folded up the edges to add dimension, adding small flower brads to the center of each.  All paper for the circles are from Echo Park (Paradise Beach and Hello Summer) and the ribbon is from Creative Charms.

Enjoy!  Fingrs crossed I'll have a few more creations to post this weekend