Mix It Up Monday

Subtitle:  Confessions of a Neglectful Blogger

I've missed being in touch.  I've missed creating with paper.  The time away passed so quickly while all the projects at home moved so slowly.  And, they are not finished.  But, I didn't have any fun pictures to post and I didn't want to give you excuses.  Furthermore, as I return, I'm hesitant to say that I'm back.  Like I said there is more to be done here.

But, I am feeling some momentum....

As I perused some of my favorite challenge blogs, I viewed three challenges consecutively that just came together at once.  It started with the CR84FN Color Challenge. 

The current combination makes me think of Jillibean Kraft papers that are made with brown and partnered with red papers. I hadn't done any pages since I started projects again in my scraproom so I was eager to get one in.  That is when I viewed Creative Scrappers and a fun sketch design.

As I looked at the pictures from our carnival day with the boys in red shirts, I went back to surfing the internet.  That is when I saw the adorable balloons on Sketch Support. 

Thus, a quick, easy and fun page was born.  Best yet, I'm able to build my rapport with any of you who chose to pay me a visit ands say a thing or two,...yay!!

Thanks for the visit.  Have a blessed day!!

Colors of Christmas

Who couldn't use a little head start on Christmas cards?  Here is my first for this year using last years Little Yellow Bicycle paper and embellishments.  The wreath is a cardstock sticker.  The houndstooth paper is a "love", for me.  And, The Paper Players gave me the perfect excuse to get a Christmas card up today, with their Christmas color challenge.

I hope that you are having a blessed day!!

Short & Sweet

Hi! Here is a take on a super sketch found on The Sweet Stop. 

I grabbed a recycled paperclip to comply with the sketches' spin.

The base paper is My Mind's Eye, with flowers punched from Kaiser, (I think). 

The heart doilies were picked up in a dollar section somewhere, and were misted for color.

Girly & Gutsy & Moxie!!

Cath said, "Please include a statement as to how and why you were inspired as sometimes it isn't easy to tell. :) "  But, I'm thinking this doesn't need a whole lot of explaining....LOL...it's pretty literal of an interpretation:

But, just in case you don't see it, {Big Smile}, I used the colors and design, almost in the same places!!  Here's a link to the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger that I had to fit in with all it's shabby chic appeal!!

Brothers and Friends

Echo Park paper line with a kit from The Scraproom and a few pieces from My Mind's Eye.

I'm afraid I'm trying to pack up my scrap things, for a brief time.  I just ordered a new floor and plan on, finally, making a decision on some cabinets.  But, the best thing is that I picked my palette for my scraproom. With four boys and me, (dog included :) ) , I don't get much feminine space.  Therefore, my scraproom is going to be all kinds of feminine.  Do you wanna see?....

Unfortunately, (or fortunately), I seem to get all kinds of scrapping ambition when I plan not to do any.  Not sure if I'll be posting again sooner, or later.  Best of everything! Blessings! Thanks for the visit.

Friends

A few years back, or so, I only scrapbooked, (as far as paper crafting goes). Furthermore, I only scrapbooked with Creative Memories products, (in chronological order :-)  ).  Way back then, I participated in dozens of handcrafted border swaps.  My dear friend, Shirley, created a cute border set for a swap about friends.  I altered the pieces to create this card for Paper Players Challenge #55...easy peasy...just added some Prima packaging, blue cardstock, a gray bow and a few gems.  Do you have pieces like this that you hoard too?  Why not use one today?

Happy Sunday!

Savvy Vacationers!

(The title makes me smile)  We really wanted to stay ahead of the crowds for our Disney trip during the busy Easter season; and we were very happy with our success!  Once Upon A ....Sketch has a challenge with their sketch to include "Who is in the photo? Name the person in the photo and at least 1 fact about them. This can be personality, character, talent , achievement etc."  And the sketch rocks! Hope to see your layout too!


Seriously,...I need more mojo...
Hope yours is better than mine.  Be blessed!!

Top Ten for Our 2011 Disney Experiences, Part 1

I have the basic plan all set, and a few first pages complete.  I'm lovin' the process of creating these Top Ten Memory Experiences of our Disney 2011 trip.  Since this is my first mini and I am very aware of each step that I am taking, I thought that I might share some tips.  I apologize, in advance, for this lengthy post.

Shall I share a little background about our trip?  We knew that we were planning our Disney vacation at one of the busiest seasons, Easter.  The weather is perfect and many people take their maiden trips at this time, as well as a few seasoned Disney travelers.  EPCOT is my favorite park, for many reasons.  I wanted to be on property at the EPCOT resorts, and we saved up for this very special experience!  But, we were very conscious of just how busy it would be.  Therefore, we planned strategies, well in advance, to stay ahead of the crowds.  Generally, we were successful in this endeavor; and, I would not hesitate to plan a trip to Disney again during this busy season.  If you want to read our Trip Report, you may find it at Our Wonderful World of Disney Spring 2011 Vacation.  I hope to complete the rest of the report soon. However, I got very frustrated when I lost a very timing consuming update into cyperspace, *POOF* and it was gone.  Now, I just have to recharge my motivation and redo that section, as well as complete the report before I forget all the details.

The album that I am using, here, has four uniquely shaped chipboard pages and three uniquely shaped acrylic pages.  The acrylic pages had a protective film on each of it's sides that I needed to shed.  But, I will enjoy working with those pages with the clear acrylic as a base.  The chipboard, I am covering with patterned paper from the grouping that I put together from my post of June 20, 2011.   I covered them with the same techniques that I use for any naked chipboard covering.   First, I sand any rough edges.

Then, I trace the shape onto patterned paper using the backsides, as to not mistakenly leave any ink showing.

I cut the outlined shape; and, I use a standard hole punch for the holes:

I used my large Xyron sticker maker to put an even and smooth coat of adhesive onto the bottom side of the patterned paper.  However, I would use a liquid Mod Podge or Decoupage sealer if the papers were much more stiff.  I, then, put together the pages with the grand color scheme and acrylic peek through spots, in mind.    My first few pages are included below.  

 Recap of today's favorites:
1. Being Together As A Family!
2. Location, Location, Location
3. Easy Access To Fabulous Dining!

I hope that you have a wonderful and blessed holiday and weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!

Starting My Mini

I'm using the supply grouping that I photographed in the last post.  The 7gypsies and Girl's Paperie papers are very easy to cut, attach and mold to the chipboard.  Therefore, I was able to plan the pages and almost complete the cover, yesterday, before I headed to the pool.

Although next week will provide very little time for me to work on this project, I'm getting eager to move forward.  And, it's been cool to be utilizing one of my Creative Memories Power Sort boxes, in the planning.  I do not use them much anymore.

It's been a crazy, busy week.  The boys seem to need more attention and commitment than ever.  For one, we complete workbooks through the Summer and they seem to need more hands on guidance. Secondly, I'm trying real hard to keep them off the television and computer games.  We are busy with swimming, golf lessons, parks and ponds.  Here are a couple photo's from our adventures this past week:

My vacation starts in September,....actually August 29th, to be exact.  Can you guess what happens on that day?  ;)

Hope you're having a blessed day!!

Color Challenges

What do you think of them?  Usually, they intimidate me.  They intimidate me because I have too much variety of items in any given color to narrow it down.  Being that I am mostly a paper driven creator, it means, for me, that I start by pulling papers.  At this point, I already have too much diversity from which to choose.  Once I start pulling the different color coordinated embellishments, I am completely overwhelmed.  But, I did something different this time.

This time, I started by pulling a few paper lines that might work together before I even considered what I might work on next.   Since I am mostly accustom to working with kits, I'm hoping that this strategy will increase my productivity.

So, here's my grouping:

My next plan is a mini-album to use mostly the 7gypsies line.  With all the Top Ten stickers, I plan to create a Disney Trip Top Ten.  I'm excited to be creating my first mini with a Tinkering Ink chipboard and acrylic 6x12  album that I purchased a long time ago.

Anyway, if you are still reading, it is, probably, because you have some minor interest in my project above.  When I noticed CR84FN's Color Challenge, I thought of some of the colors in my grouping.  But, I wanted to incorporate something with the quote that it provided for inspiration, as well.  You can see the quote in the image at the bottom of this post.  I cannot even tell you how I would remember that I had a chipboard that said "happy".  I cannot even seem to remember, usually, what I ate for my last meal. :)  But, I thought of the chipboard and  wanted it to inspire me in my newly done scrapbooking room, (If I, actually, ever commit to finishing it!!) I know that this project will continue to make me happy when I look at it.

I started by spray painting an old silver frame:

I used white enamel spray paint.  When it was dry, I painted the inner border by hand with Americana Taffy Cream Acrylic Paint.

Tip 1:  While the acrylic paint was still wet, I smashed in some Lemon colored Flower Soft for texture.

Tip 2:  To create a shape of different dimensions than your templates, simply trace part of the design and move the template to adjust the size.

The rest of the details follow:
PAPER: 7gypsies Avignon Fleur De Lys, 7gypsies Avignon Ecriture, Glitz Laced With Grace Butterflies
CHIPBOARD FROM: My Mind's Eye Abbey Road Lucky Me, GCD or Chatterbox (It's a Melody Ross design), Pink Paislee Vintage Moon, Pink Paislee unknownACCESSORIES: Sew Easy Floss Aqua, Flower Soft Lemon, Americana Taffy Cream Acrylic Paint, Flourish with a Bling Pearls - Pearl and Teal.
TOOLS: Paper trimmer, ScrapGoods Plastic Template, Scissors  and a paper piercer to mold floss.
TECHNIQUES: Layering, writing with Floss, painting and Flower Soft.

TAG: CR84FN32

Thanks, Mona, for the great inspiration.  And, thanks to my readers for letting me share.  Also, I want to thank Yara for suggesting that I use Chrome for browsing.  I, finally, got so frustrated yesterday, that I installed it and was able to leave a few comments. Hopefully, this will continue to work for me.

I hope that you are having a marvelous day and week!  I'm signing off, for now.  I have a mini-album to tackle! Wish me luck! :)

Happy Father's Day!!

PAPER: Jillibean Soup Jibber Jabber,  Jillibean Soup Shell Macaroni, Creative Memories Poppy, White Cardstock, Embossed White Sheet unknown from a Scraptivity kit
ACCESSORIES: Fancy Pants Die Cut, Silk Crinkle Ribbon, My Mind's Eye Brad, White Sun-shaped Chipboard unknown and Jillibean Soup Corrugated White Spot.
TOOLS: Paper trimmer, Sizzix Steel Cloud Die #1 (I know, crazy that I still have these!),  and Bow Easy.
TECHNIQUES: Layering, Using Die Cuts and Bows.

The Deconstructed Sketch No. 6

PAPER: Jillibean Soup Split Pea Pinch of Sugar, Bo Bunny's Back to Backs Harvest Dot, Bazzill Dotted Swiss Night Water or Deep Blue, Creative Memories Poppy Cardstock.

INK: Close To My Heart Cranberry, ColorBox Royal Blue
STAMPS: Papertrey Ink Birthday Bash Sentiments
ACCESSORIES: Sassafras Lass Cherry Sweet Treats Star Sticker, My Mind's Eye Brad and needlework yarn.
TOOLS: Paper trimmer and scissors.
TECHNIQUES: Stamping, inking, and hand cutting.
TAG: The Deconstructed Sketch No. 6

Glitz Fever

I am, almost, completely finished with the Glitz items that I purchased recently.  I pulled several pictures that coordinate well with the colors of their Laced With Grace collection, and decided upon a couple more photographs from my 2010 Dominican Republic trip.  I just love the delightful earthy tones with the stone architecture and natural landscapes.  Credit goes to Iwona Palamountain for the use of her sketch from the Glitz blog's Challenge #3.



I, also, snuck in another card using a sweet Glitz Whatnot:

Hope that you're having a great weekend! We finished up the school year this past week; and, we are beginning our Summer celebration.
Blessings, Janine

Oh! Happy Day!

Using more from the Glitz Laced With Grace collection, I try to bring your attention to today's card.  I love to look at my papers and use their patterns to encourage, in my mind, a cutting pattern.  The plaid gave notice to a zig zag edge. Immediately, I recalled seeing an edge used like this before with some lace.  I was delighted to notice several items already on my working table to compliment the idea. They are all identified below.

I, also, want to apologize that I have not been commenting as much on my friends entries, lately.  I am having trouble with a known issue with blogger.

This is what they say, "We're investigating an issue which is preventing login and comment posting for some users, and hope to have a fix released shortly.

Thanks for your patience in the meantime"
 
This has, already been affecting me for at least two and a half weeks.  I have to log in each time I go to a frame and when I try to leave a comment on someone else's blog, it almost always becomes "anonymous" when I go to send it.  Strangely enough, a few times it has worked for me. Hopefully, it becomes fixed soon so that I may rejoin  my Willow Traders Blog Hops and get back to surfing blogs. 
 
As for my card, here are my listings:
PAPER: Glitz Laced With Grace, Creative Memories Cardstock
ACCESSORIES: Glitz Laced With Grace Whatnot, My Mind's Eye Label Sticker and Decorative Trim, a few rhinestones and ribbon.
INK: Copic YR18
TOOLS: Paper trimmer and scissors.
TECHNIQUES: inking with copics, and hand cutting.

Thanks for coming by.  Have a blessed rest of the day!!!

They Almost Didn't Believe It

My children, that is. :) I, really, was young once.  Really! :)

Jason didn't even recognize me at first.  Really. Hurmph.  Other than a few scars, a few wrinkles, some looser skin, and a touch of hair color, I thought that I looked the same. :)  I guess that I look more different than I thought.  Oh well.  At least I have some proof.  But, I'm not sure which grade it is.  If you happen to be one of my New Albany School Facebook friends; and, you saved your yearbooks, I would be greatly obligied if you would look it up for me.  :)

If any of my scrapping friends want the details in the layout, please continue reading. :)  The dark base is Paper Trunk Batik Exquisite, and the next layer is a generic kraft paper. However, all the other paper and ephemera are from the Glitz Laced With Grace collection.

The little fancy border was stamped, (Memento, Rich Cocoa), onto the back of the plaid paper and cut with a die.  The stamp and die are from Our Daily Bread Designs June 2011 release.  (I cannot wait to use the crocheted background on a card!) For the writing around the border of the inner canvas, I have used my tried and true Creative Memories dark brown fine tip pen.  For all of the rest of the inking, I have used Copic pens W7 & YR18.  I LOVE using them this way because it is easy to get the ink into crevices: and, the ink dries instantly.  Therefore, I don't end up with inky fingers.

My working desk was spotless not so long ago.  I just cannot seem to get myself serious enough about redoing my scraproom.  I'll save some of those boring deets for another post.  Here's a picture mid-stream of completing my page and my immediately surrounding work area:

I hope that your having a marvelous day!  Thank you, so much, for stopping by!  Be blessed.

...And They Lived Happily Ever After!!

All the new ephemera products that are available have me excited to look for fun and innovative ways to use them.  Even though I had a layout already begun that I thought might work well with the circle piece from the Glitz Laced With Grace Collection used above, I took a break from my work desk and started poking around on the internet when I noticed Mojo Monday's new sketch challenge.  How fun!

I decided to use the "Whatnot"  for this card instead.

PAPER: Bazzill Cardstock
OTHER: Glitz Laced With Grace Whatnots, My Mind's Eye Brad, a few flowers and Basic Grey ribbon.
TOOLS: Spellbinders Grand Calliber and Grand Scalloped Circles Nestabilities, Creative Memories Circle Cutting System, scissors.
TECHNIQUES: inking with copics, die cutting on a fold, hand cutting.

Have a lovely day!

Altos de Chavon, Dominican Republic Laced With Grace



Using three different clustered items which were put together to create this page,  (flowers, photographs and journaling), I have a terrific memory to reflect upon with some of my choice scrapbooking pieces.

Laced With Grace just might be my favorite Spring 2011 release. As much as I am trying to use my wonderful remaining collection of scrapbbooking supplies that I cannot bear to prune, I could not resist to pick up a few pieces of this line, (amongest a few other favorites). Since the Glitz blog is running a challenge to cluster on a project, I thought I would create a page with my new items!

The flowers are obviously clustered; but, I thought that it might be fun to cluster a couple other page items.  I layered the pictures a little and kept them "clustered" together, and overlapped my "clustered" journal strips, as well:

I hope that you enjoy this page!  Have a marvelous and blessed day!!

 

Today's Card

...was made mostly with Jillibean products. The flowers made from Jillibean sprouts last December were rubbed with red ink and sprayed with mist.

STAMPS: Bo Bunny Olivia (leaves)
INK: CTMH Cranberry, Memento Bamboo Leaves
PAPER: Jillibean Soup: Fresh Cherries(2008) and Romano Cheese
OTHER: Jillibean Soup Journaling Sprouts and twine, My Mind's Eye brads, Copics YG93, YG95 & YG97, AC red vinyl thickers, Tattered Angels Bronze Glimmer Mist, white cardstock
TECHNIQUES: stamping, copics coloring, misting, fancy cutting, manipulating twine and flower-making.

Never Give Up Hope

Things don't always turn out the way that you want them to; but, they will turn out for the best. If you can trust in the eternal purposes, you can find the joy that surpasses understanding.
Romans 8:28
Proverbs 3:5
and inside this card:

STAMPS: Papertrey Ink Everyday Blessings, Our Daily Bread Scripture Collection 3
INK: My Mind's Eye Laundry Line Natural Ink Pad (I *heart* this and use it all the time!!)
PAPER: Stella and Rose Gertie, Off-white Cardstock
OTHER: My Mind's Eye "Hope" Wild Asparagus die cut, Prima Butterflies Papillon, Crate Restoration chipboard
TECHNIQUE: Tattered Angels Honey Dew misting, stamping, layering

I started this card with My Mind's Eye Card Challenge #23. However, I strayed quite a bit and I'm not sure if it is quite 80% MME Product, so I'm not going to link it. However, since it was inspired by their sketch, I thought that I ought to cite the appropriate credit.

I have another card planned for tomorrow. I hope that you come back. Blessings to you!

Journaling

I never want to journal during the creative process. Usually, the story is told much later, on 8&1/2x11 paper attached to the back of my layouts. However, this has been part of my overwhelming project to catch up. I have 4 heaping piles of layouts to journal and put into my albums.

So, when I saw a fabulous sketch from Once Upon A .....Sketch, I hesitated. Their focus is on the journaling. As I pondered how I could complete this sketch with their requirements on the journaling, I considered my word strips from My Mind's Eye's Stella & Rose Gertie collection. The beginning of this page started forming in my mind.

I'm so glad the ideas kept flowing. This page was a delight to complete. I hope that you like it too!

Have a marvelous rest of the Sunday. I am hoping to finish up a few cards to post tomorrow afternoon. Blessings!!

Friends For Like Forever

I am so very grateful for my friend, Sandy. She grew up two doors down from me. I moved away my Freshman year in High School and went through some very different experiences than her; but, we managed to stay connected at various stages and times in our lives. We've shared fun, adventures, brokeness, and lots of mending and forgiving. I am so grateful to have a forever friend! We even got to share motherhood dramas together as our youngest are two months apart.

I am connecting this to My Mind's Eye blog as I used Layout Challenge #23 to complete the layout with some items from their Stella and Rose, Gertie line. The ribbon pennant/badge is from Making Memories and is called a Bravissimo.

This was a fairly basic layout, not much technique-y stuff. I did cut the "friends forever" die cut in half and added a couple words in between with a decorative brad with die cut. The words were hand drawn to mimic the style on the letters of "Friends Forever".

I used Stella and Rose trim around a picture for some more visual interest, (and to help distract your eye from the bad flash reflection on the picture....did it help at all?)

Thanks for popping by! Have a great weekend!

Celebrating 11 Years of Marriage

Thought I'd commememorate the occasion with a card using Jillibean Soup's Atomic Soup. I found the beaker icon from a google image search. I embellished it with Flower Soft, (Meadow).

Stamp and Sew Technique

Hello friends! The layout above uses a simple technique of stamping an image and sewing the outline of the image. I used a contrasting color. But, a tone-on-tone would also work fabulously. Here is a close-up of the stars:

The page design was made by utilizing one of Liz Chidester's sketches, (Sketch 118), found on her blog, The Scrappiest. The papers are mostly Jillibean. My journaling usually goes on the back. My Disney journey began in 1974, when my father took my brother and I to Disney World. This photograph is one of the few mementos that I have from the occasion.

I have included a link tool. If you are inspired to create anything using this layout, including the stamp and sew technique, and you leave a link, I will be sure to visit your creation and leave lovely comments. Please be sure to leave a thumbnail of your project.
I'm sorry that I've been gone so long. I have missed you as I have been on somewhat of a scrapbooking hiatus. All of the things distracting me are numorous and will probably be of little interest to most of my readers as they have more to do with mundane responsibilities, than anything fun and exciting. Other than my Disney trip that is. If you enjoy trip reports and/or you would like to know more about our vacation, I am writing a full report at Our Wonderful World of Disney Spring 2011 Vacation blogspot. It will be a long work in progress. Please feel free to check back at your liesure as I update the sight over time.