Pens and Needles

CKC Portland!

2012-02-08T16:47:00.000-08:00

I can't believe a month has gone by since I posted! I have started my first Project Life type album. I decided to start with National Park pictures...we have been to 18 parks and I had never scrapped any of them! Thought this was the perfect way to dive in to PL!

Another thing keeping me busy is...I'm teaching at CKC Portland! I am going to be doing a Punky Sprouts mini album on both Friday and Saturday. Our owner, Shelly, is also teaching. Her's will be an altered wall hanging. Here is the info!

Wild About Mixed Media (C123)
Friday from 4-5:30 and Saturday from 1-2:30.

Sponsor: Punky Sprouts

Are you wild about mini albums? Then this is the class for you! Who wouldn't want to go home with a completed mini album? That is just what you'll have from this class. Just add pictures and journaling at home! You'll work with one of Punky Sprouts' newest albums, the Teenie Beanie Sprout with pages of corrugated board, chipboard and canvas. Using mists, twine, canvas embellishments and handmade flowers you'll make a textured work of art to hold your beautiful photographs. This is a versatile mini using shades of coral & green florals, stripes and circle patterns with some wild zebra thrown in! Adorable!

What you’ll make: A mixed media mini album including canvas, chipboard and corrugated board pages
What you should bring: Basic supplies, wet adhesive (like Fabri-Tac or 3 in 1), Crop-o-Dile, border punch
What products you’ll play with: Punky Sprouts Mixed Media Album and Embellishments (Lil' Blossoms, Lil' Stems) Mists, Die-cuts and a fabulous line of patterned papers!
What techniques you’ll try: Handmade flowers, misting
What scrapping skill level is best: Intermediate to Advanced
How long class lasts: 1 ½ hours
Class price: $35.00 PRE-REGISTRATION, $37.00 AT EVENT

Sprout Your Inner Artist! (C123)
Friday from 1-3 and Saturday from 4-6.

Sponsor: Punky Sprouts
Join Punky Sprouts for a fun and energetic class where you will make a beautiful piece of art to frame or hang as-is. You will leave class with a mixed media wall hanging and learn oodles of techniques that you can incorporate into your layouts and mini albums. Step outside your box and expand your skills and techniques to help your memory-keeping come alive!

What you’ll make: 12” x 12” mixed media art piece suitable for framing
What you should bring: Brown ink (such as Chestnut Roan Chalk ink or similar), scissors, liquid glue (preferably Fabri-tac or 3 in 1), heat gun, paper piercer, apron or paint shirt highly recommended.
What products you’ll play with: Punky Sprouts' Punky Playground, Lil' Blossoms (parchment), Lil' Blooms (metal); Lil' Stems (canvas); mist sprays, Acrylic Gel Mediums, paint, patterned papers, die-cuts, chunky glitters, doilies, ribbons, tulle, bling, decoupage
What techniques you’ll try: Building layers & dimension with gel mediums and many different textures, blend custom colors with paints and spray mists for an ethereal look, learn to work with a wide variety of textured embellishments. Learn to make the most trendy flowers used in scrapbooking, card-making and mixed media.
What scrapping skill level is best: Intermediate to Advanced (you should be comfortable with using a heat gun)
How long class lasts: 2 hours
Class price: $40.00 PRE-REGISTRATION, $42.00 AT EVENT

Creative Changes or Changing Creatively

2012-01-06T22:55:00.000-08:00

Not sure if the title reads right but I am changing up some of the creative things in my life...namely scrapbooking! In 2011, I ended my design team stint with Scrapdango in March and I think since then, I have only done about 4 or 5 layouts. And the weird thing is...I don't really miss it. I think I had sort of burnt out on it.

I had resisted Project Life (even though it is from my favorite scrapper!) because I thought it would make me not scrap at all. When I mentioned that to Tadd, he said "So?" At first I thought to myself...but I like scrapping but after a few days of pondering, I decided I would do it. Now, as much as I love Becky and all the product, it seemed a bit ridiculous to buy all the stuff when my scrapbook room is busting at the seams with stuff. So, I went to Craft Warehouse today and bought some variety packs of pocket page protectors and I am going for it! My plan is to still do some layouts but mostly switch over to this format and make little layouts in some of the pockets. I think it is exactly what I need creatively!

I also want to focus a bit on getting better with my photography. I ran across the Take 12 project at Ella Publishing and am going to take that on too! It is simply to take 12 pictures on the 12th of each month. There are even themes...which I love! I am going to try to stay on top of that so that I don't have 144 pictures at the end of the year that I need to do something with! My plan is to do a 8.5 x 11 album with them.

And I will still be doing my Punky Sprouts dt gig! Every album is different and I haven't seemed to get creative blocks when doing those assignments! In fact, as another new thing, I am teaching a mini album class at CKC Portland in March! I'll post here when I know the times!

Top 10 Layouts of 2011

2012-01-04T11:52:00.000-08:00

I did this last year and it is a fun way to see some favorite layouts altogether. I included a couple mini albums since I do so many of those!

You can see all of the Play, Imagine, Pretend album here.

You can see all of the Seattle album here.

Fancy Gift Bag

2011-12-18T14:39:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody! I want to show you an easy way to dress up a plain old brown paper lunch bag and make it into a gift bag! I have made these before but for this one, I added in a Lil' Stem ruffle along with some Lil' Bloom embellishments from Punky Sprouts.

Here is what you need:
*Paper Lunch Bag
*2 Pieces of Patterned Paper
*Glue
*Lil'Stem
*Lil' Blossoms
*Small Square of Velcro

1. Cut the top off your bag so that it is 6" tall. Mine is 5" wide...check yours and adjust the measurements I give here!

2. Cut the pp you want for the front of your bag to 5" (width) x 6".
Cut your other pp to 5" (width) x 8.5". This will be the back and front flap of the bag.
Cut a 5' (width) x 2.5" piece for under the front flap to hide the pleats.

3. Now you are going to fold the bottom flap of the lunch bag down. Like this:

4. Glue the front onto your bag...this goes on the side without the flap. You want to line up the bottom edge with the bottom edge of the bag...you can always trim at the top if you need to.

5. Grab your piece of pp that is the back and score (or fold) it at 6".

6.Take your Lil' Stem and pleat it. I glue mine as I go to hold it all in place. This doesn't have to be perfect (as you can see!).

7. Glue this pleated strip to the underside of the flap...this is the piece that you scored.

8. Now glue the 2.5" piece to sandwich the canvas in between the 2 pieces of paper.

9. Glue the back on. Line up the scored flap with the top of the bag. There WILL be a lip at the bottom...you want that! It will make your bag stand straight when we're done.

9. Add a piece of velcro on the flap to hold it down. Your bag is finished unless you want to add some decorations! I added a few different sizes of Lil' Blooms. I chose to leave all my canvas natural but you could also mist them for some color!

Here are a couple shots of the finished bag:

School Portait Solution

2011-11-26T10:55:00.000-08:00

This is my newest Punky Sprout album using the new Teenie Beanie Sprout. I used the blue and pink Authentique lines to do a book for my kids' school portraits. I never knew what to do with them...as a stay-at-home-mom, it seems they are always with me, so I don't even keep a copy in my wallet! :) We have the current year's picture on the wall but this way we can look back and see them grow! I decided to do it by grade instead of year...so that I could see what each kid looked like at the same age.

I wanted to keep this super simple because I know the kids will want to flip through it a lot and I just felt that I wanted the focus to be the portraits. Since the paper is pretty busy, I kept the embellishments to just the numbers and a little punched strip. The numbers for each grade are from Bella Blvd and are white. I used my Copic Markers to color them. On each one, I used 3 different shades and blended them together. This was my first time using Copics and I have to say that I now know why so many people are addicted! :)

The Lil' Petal banner pieces are some of my favorite Punky embellishments but they were much too large for me to spell out school on the cover of this little album. I learned this little trick from Punky owner Shelly!

Take the bottom tip of the triangle and fold it up to the top.

Cut along each side of the folded up triangle.

Then cut the remaining diamond in half.

You just made one banner piece into 4 mini banners!

Watch it Wiggle...Rainbow!

2011-11-19T16:48:00.000-08:00

While I thought that everyone knew how to layer jello...I actually got a lot of questions about this so I am going to show you how I did it! It is really easy but is time consuming since everything has to chill!

I used 6 different jellos for mine. You could probably do the small boxes but my store didn't have all the colors I wanted in that size. I ended up pouring a lot of jello down the sink though.

Make your jello according to the quick set directions on the box. This involves putting ice into it to do a quick chill. Pour the first color into your bowl. I used a trifle bowl but you could use whatever...including individual cups. Put the bowl in the refrigerator and chill for about an hour. Then make the next color and repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Until your bowl is filled or you have all the colors you want!

Before serving you probably want to chill over night.

This was a huge favorite at the party!

Rainbow Mobile

2011-11-18T11:40:00.000-08:00

This is without a doubt, my new favorite party decoration! It was easy, cheap and made a big impact! I told Tadd that we may see these for every party we ever have! :) While these are rainbow to go with Erin's rainbow party, you could easily use any color! How about a maroon and gold one for a Harry Potter party (Gryffindor colors)? Or lots of shades of pink for a princess party? Red and green for Christmas? I could go on and on!

Here's just a little tutorial in case you want to make your own! I found these on Pinterest and here is the tutorial I used! :)

First gather your paper. I used cardstock. I cut mine into 1" x 8" strips. I found it easiest to have them laid out in piles when I was putting them together. I used 8 strips of paper for my shortest mobile and 30 for my longest. Just depends on how low you want them to hang.

Now, we sew! As my friends can tell you, my sewing projects don't always go exactly as planned. This, however, was a piece of cake! :) I didn't measure or worry about being perfect at all! I eyeballed the center of the strip and sewed a line down it. Once I hit the end of the strip, I just pushed it through, about to the point my silver plate ended. (like how exact that is?) It really doesn't matter. Then start the next strip. ***DON'T FORGET to leave about 12" of thread at the start for hanging it up!

Here's a close up. You can see that the gaps in between the strips aren't all the same width...but I can tell you, no one but you will notice! :)

All of them hanging up. I really liked all the different lengths. The tutorial I had used said to put a fishing weight on the bottom to keep them from curling up. I did not do this and had no curling. I think this was because I used cardstock and she had used vellum. If you use something thin, you may need to do it!

And my favorite shot...looking up from underneath it!

If you make one...please link it up! I'd love to see it! Tomorrow...a rainbow jello tutorial!

Week 2 of Pictures!

2011-11-17T18:50:00.000-08:00

Here are my week 2 pictures from the Picture a Day challenge I am doing for November. I am having so much fun doing these! I am missing day 14 because, although I know it is supposed to be taken that day, I knew what I wanted to take a picture of and didn't have any here at home. I'll post it with next week's! :)

Rainbowlicious!

2011-11-16T12:16:00.000-08:00

This last weekend was Erin's 5th bday party! She decided on rainbows as her theme this year! I was beyond thrilled! As a girl of the 80's who grew up collecting rainbow stickers, wearing rainbow shoelaces and sleeping under rainbow wallpaper, this was right up my alley! I found tons of ideas on Pinterest! If you don't know what that is...it is just the best site ever invented! :)

Here are some of the pictures from the party. I took pictures and will have tutorials on a couple of the things in the next couple days!

The party table.

Rainbow Cupcakes

Rainbow Jello.

Fruit Rainbow complete with a pot of gold!

Her first Barbie.

A Hermione Wand!

Officially 5!

All the cousins!

Sweet and Spooky

2011-11-14T12:55:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody! I hope you are enjoying your fall season and getting lots of crafting in!

I had planned on using the Phantom paper from Pink Paislee on a non-Halloween layout because it is so versatile! But as I sat down to work on it...I just loved all the embellishments that are definitely Halloween! I hardly ever stamp on my layouts (I think this is due to laziness!) but I stamped with 4 different stamps on this! The set of Halloween stamps from Pink Paislee has some really fun ones!

I used the Punky Sprouts new lil blossoms on this as well. I sprayed them with Glimmer Mist...they are a little waxy and don't take the mist great but since I wanted this to have a grungy feel, it worked perfectly! I sprayed 2 with Peach Delight and 2 with Granite. While they were still wet, I dabbed off the excess mist and layered them, alternating colors. Then I put one of the Pink Paislee brads through the center and scrunched the layers until I was happy with how it looked.

I'm Back!

2011-11-09T09:24:00.000-08:00

I didn't mean to be gone for quite so long! This fall with soccer and cross country, the blog just sort of got pushed to the back burner! We did have one "exciting" event...Isaac (8) fell off his bike and had 6 stitches on his chin as well as a broken jaw! He has been on a liquid only diet for almost 4 weeks now! We go back to the doctor on Friday and hopefully he can start eating!

I started another 30 day picture challenge for November. I tried this back in September but I should have known better! :) This one is going much better! Here is my first week of pictures.

It's World Card Making Day!

2011-10-01T08:40:00.000-07:00

Yep, for those of you who are not crafters, there REALLY is such a thing! I have a soccer game to go to this morning and I am not sure if I'll get to make any cards today so I thought I'd show you some of my favorites that I have made in the past in honor of this "holiday"!

Sprocket Sprout

2011-09-25T16:20:00.000-07:00

I love being on the Punky Sprouts team! This month we are lucky enough to have a product swap going on with Paper Trunk! I had so much fun meeting up with the owner of Paper Trunk to do the actual swap...she is here in Oregon too. We have a game going on at both the Punky Sprouts blog and the Paper Trunk blog...if you haven't seen it, you should check it out...prizes are up for grabs at both spots!

I used the newest member of the Punky Sprouts family...Sprocket Sprout. Such a fun album with all it's different shapes! I used 2 lines of Paper Trunk...Rockabilly and Socialite...because I couldn't pick just one! You can read all about how I made this on the Punky blog!

Speed Scrapbooking!

2011-09-22T08:29:00.000-07:00

I am a super slow scrapbooker! It often takes me 3 or 4 hours to get a layout done. And getting 4 done in a whole day of scrapping is quite an accomplishment for me. I have been busy this week and my science assignment for Scrapdango's School's In challenge, got put on hold. Yesterday I realized that it was due that night! I had a dentist appointment in the morning and then a xc meet that I had to leave for at 2. I started this layout a little after noon and finished with plenty of time to spare to pack up for the meet! Considering that I cut out all those hexagons in that time as well...I was pretty happy!

The assignment was to use hexagons, have at least 30% of our layout be green and to use something botanical.

My friend Leah had done a strip of hexagons on a layout awhile ago and I made a mental note to try it and this was the push I needed!

Back to School!

2011-09-18T23:18:00.000-07:00

It is back to school time for the kids, my teacher husband and me! What it means for me is the Back to School event at Scrapdango! I was so excited for this, this year! Last year, I was their design team coordinator and therefore couldn't play although making up the challenges is fun too! :)

So far, there have been 2 assignments due. The first was the PE class. We had to have an action photo, a circle and show movement. Extra Credit was to use the word team (which I did not do).

The second class was Math. We had to have a visual triangle (my 3 photos), an actual triangle (my banner) and extra credit was to use another shape (circle).

And in case you are wondering...I gave up on the 30 Days of Photos. September is just not the month for me to try something like that...I'm not sure what I was thinking! :) When things calm down a bit...like there isn't soccer or xc every night...I'll probably try again!

30 Day Photo Challenge

2011-09-01T21:04:00.000-07:00

I have decided to do this 30 day photo challenge for the month of September. I realize the graphic says August but I'm doing it now! :) I am trying to make this as fun, quick and easy as possible so the pictures may not be perfect, or even that great but I am determined to take each of these on the correct day! If you'd like to join me, leave a link to your blog so I can see your pictures too!

Day 1: Self Portrait

I {Heart} Baker's Twine

2011-08-19T08:58:00.000-07:00

I rarely post about giveaways unless it is a team I am on but this one is so good it has to be shared! The Twinery is giving away 2 complete sets of their baker's twine! I love this stuff! And their colors are amazing! You can find all the details HERE.

Here is what you can win. Isn't it pretty?

And in case you aren't familiar with Baker's Twine and are wondering what you would do with it...here are a few of my projects where I have used it!

A Month?

2011-08-13T17:13:00.000-07:00

How has an entire month gone by without me posting anything? I guess that happens when you are the wife of a teacher and are never home in the summer! :)

Things should start to calm down around here and I should be able to get back to my regular schedule! We just got back from Camp Sherman...our 10th one! We took 30 awesome teenagers camping for 5 days. They were all great kids and we had a blast! Here are just a couple of the 400 pictures I took!

Hoping to get some scrapping in this week as Tadd starts back into XC practices. Isaac's 8th (how did that happen?) birthday is next weekend with a couple parties and he starts soccer that weekend as well. Guess maybe I was wrong about things calming down! ;)

Did you see?

2011-07-09T16:16:00.000-07:00

The Punky Sprouts design team got to design with Becky Fleck's Pagemaps for the July Newsletter! I always enjoy doing that! Her sketches are so fun to work with! Here is my page:

I used some of Sassafras's new Sunshine Broadcast line along with Punky Sprouts' lil stems for hte strip and to make the flowers.

Want to win some Punky goodness? You have TWO WAYS TO WIN!
1) Use Punky products and any of the July sketches at PageMaps and post it to the Punky Blog or FB page by July 31st! The dt will pick our favorite!

2) Use the sketch on the PageMaps blog to make a layout and link it up there!

Here is what you can win for both of those:

Playing with Actions

2011-06-14T09:14:00.000-07:00

I love playing with actions in my PhotoShop Elements and had some fun this morning just playing around with some pictures we took this weekend. We went downtown to see the ships on the waterfront but when we got down there, we realized that it was the morning of the Rose Parade! Oops! Luckily, we found some room on a curb on the top of the Burnside bridge! These are some pictures Tadd took at the parade and I took of the ships, kids and Portland sign (which I've always wanted to get a picture of!). Because I was just playing, I used a different action on every photo! Fun! These are all free and I've given you the source. I'd love to know what you think! Tell me which is your favorite action!

SOOC (Straight Out of Camera):

Coffee Shop: Soft Autumn Glow

SOOC:

Pioneer Woman: Colorized

SOOC:

Coffee Shop: Bold Pop

SOOC:

Pioneer Woman: Seventies

SOOC:

Coffee Shop: Velvet Cream

SOOC:

Coffee Shop: Sunny Pop

SOOC:

Coffee Shop: Color Pop 2

SOOC:

Coffee Shop: Butterscotch Vintage

SOOC:

MCP: Mini Fusion

Geology Geek

2011-06-08T08:43:00.001-07:00

I did this layout a couple months ago while at the beach with some friends and just realized that it never made it up on my blog! Thought it was good timing to post it since my Geology Geek is currently on a science field trip with about 80 of his high school students! Thanks for looking!

Using some MLS Scraps!

2011-05-31T13:11:00.000-07:00

After making the 2 cards for Erin's teachers, my scraps form My Little Shoebox have been sitting on my table. Last night I decided I should play with the stamps...I don't do enough stamping! I loved this little flower stamp! I stamped it in a line across the yellow paper and then stamped it on 3 different colors of scraps of MLS I had! A great way to use up the little pieces! I then cut the colored flowers out and applied 3D Crystal Lacquer to them. I have kind of been on a 3D Crystal Lacquer kick lately! Then once they dried, I used some pop dots and placed them over the flowers I had already stamped. The happy stamp is also from MLS. I stamped it and then drew over the letters with the Crystal Lacquer...it is a fun, shiny look! And since my favorite thing in scrapbooking right now is tiny alphabets, I used some of mine from MLS to spell out birthday!

Last Day of Preschool

2011-05-26T11:56:00.000-07:00

Today was Erin's last day of preschool...for this year. She'll be at the same preschool next year but with a different teacher. Her teacher this year was also Isaac's teacher for his 2 years of preschool so I think next year will be a bit strange (for me) at least at first! :) Here is a picture of how happy she is to have the summer start! (ok, not really, she just liked the bouncy house!)

I made a few thank you cards for the teacher and assistant. I used some My Little Shoebox Farmer's Market that I had left from this album! Such great paper and can be used for way more than "farm"!

Dynamic Duo Blog Hop!

2011-05-23T03:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome! Today is day 8 of the Dynamic Duo Blog Hop featuring products from Punky Sprouts and TaDa Studios!

I did my album using the newest album from Punky Sprouts, the Trunk Punky. The Sweetie Sprout is still my favorite but this is a very close second! Loved working with this! (not that they aren't all wonderful!) I received the Jolly Holly Days paper from TaDa to work with. What a great Christmas line! I knew when I saw it that I wanted to make a little recipe book of all the treats we make each year. Here is what I did:

I decided to paint all the chipboard a cream color. I hadn't painted everything like this since my very first Punky album! There are no embellishments on the front because I know this is going in the kitchen with my cookbooks!

Here is the album opened up. So far the flaps are blank...originally this was going to be for my mom and I was going to write something here but now I'm not so sure I'm not keeping it! :)

To add some dimension to the book while still keeping it relatively flat, I decided to cut out some of the designs from the TaDa paper and use Sakura's 3D Crystal Lacquer on them. I love this stuff! It is so easy to use! I also used some Baker's Twine on every page.

This TaDa paper had great designs for fussy cutting...so great that even someone who doesn't much care to fussy cut (ME!) couldn't resist! This ric-rak is cut from the paper.

Loved this Gingerbread man with the bite out of his head! I have been meaning to stitch on the canvas pages of a Punky album since I started designing for them and I finally did it! I used a big needle and used the Baker's Twine. I did it freehand...no marking where to do it so the stitches are all different sizes but I really like how it turned out!

Here's a close up of the stitching.

Loved these stockings and just had to "hang" them!

These great big scallop edges are one of the reasons I love this album! So glad there are 2 of these pages in the book!

Hard to tell in the picture, but here are 2 little acrylic pages that open in the middle.

Some more great shapes for fussy cutting! On these, I put a little bling before I put the 3D lacquer on it! Works great!

And there you have it...all my favorite recipes in once easy place! Can't wait to pull this out at Christmas and have the kids look at it with me!

As with any great blog hop...we have prizes!
Rules for a chance to win FREE products

Each day go to the following 2 blogs:
http://tadacreativestudios.wordpress.com/
http://getpunkysprouts.blogspot.com/
Post comments to show your participation. New inspiration will be posted daily. At the end of the 12 day hop, please go to each manufacture’s blog and post a comment telling them your favorite album style and favorite paper collection used in the samples shown during the hop. Your name will then be entered in a drawing to win both! 3 winners will be picked!

Good luck!

Cocoa Daisy Crop

2011-05-19T23:08:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, one of my favorite online sites, Cocoa Daisy, had their spring crop. With tons (well, 18) of challenges, fun games, great classes, and some great RAKS it was hard to keep up! :) I had some great aspirations of getting a lot of layouts done, especially since they give the week after to get them done. But, life keeps happening even when I want to scrap! :) Pretty happy that I got 3 done though.

Patterns and Colors Challenge: For this one there was a picture of some fabric that we were to use for inspiration. They were very bright and had lots of different patterns and I immediately thought of this MME paper. We also had to use circles or squares, mist and a border punch. I just love how this one turned out!

Standing in a Line Challenge: Pretty obvious from the name...this one we had to use lines of some sort. I had my pictures in a line, used strips of paper in a line and doodled a line for the border. There were so many pictures for this, I kept it super simple...even for me! :)

Night Market Challenge: This challenge was to use black as the background and use pictures of something at night. These were the only night pictures I had and they aren't good but I still wanted to scrap them and this seemed the perfect time! Not my best layout but glad to have the story down!

Memory Lane

2011-05-11T08:33:00.000-07:00

I made this album using a Punky Sprouts album and some Basic Grey paper. These pictures were taken in 1985 by an 11-year-old me! They aren't great...somehow I don't think my cheapo 110 film camera took great pictures!...but I love how this album turned out! Hope you enjoy it too! And please excuse the thumb you see in any of my pictures! :)

Big Year!

2011-05-06T15:37:00.000-07:00

As the school year winds down, I finished up this First Day of School layout. This was a big year for us as far as school goes. Erin started preschool and Isaac started 1st grade so it was his first experience with full day. I just love these pictures of them...even if it was raining! Erin was a tad bit nervous and sort of had the giggles but kept looking at Isaac as if to see what to do!

Thanks A Latte!

2011-05-04T15:44:00.000-07:00

Not sure why I have decided that all Teacher Appreciation gifts should be "punny" but it seems I have! :) Here is what we made the teachers for yesterday. I totally took the easy way out and printed it from here! I knew this is what I wanted to do and was going to make a card but when I saw this one, I thought it was perfect!

And the Winner is...

2011-05-03T15:34:00.000-07:00

The winner of the Sweetie Sprout album and Crate Paper goodies is #13...Scrapping Miami! Send me your address at lynn.reaney@comcast.net and I will get that out to you! Congrats!

Teacher Appreciation Week

2011-05-02T15:52:00.000-07:00

Last year I had a blast with our Teacher Appreciation gifts. (day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4, day 5) I haven't done the gifts from us yet but this year at Isaac's school, I have been leading the 5th grade leadership class. I have about 15 fifth graders that I meet with for 20 minutes every other week. For teacher appreciation week, I thought it would be fun if the leadership class had a little something for every teacher, every day. Keep in mind that we therefore had 20 minutes for 1 kids to make 100 little gifts! :) Luckily, they are great kids and we were able to finish all of these! I made it so that they just had to do a bit of work on each one. Here's what we did:

Day 1: I have a couple girls who like to do their "creative" writing so they wrote berry on these.

Day 2: I thought these would be challenging to make but the 3 girls working on them, whipped through them! I used the instructions from here. There are little fortunes inside that say "We are fortunate to have you at West!"

Day 3: This one was for all the artists...they all did different borders.

Day 4: I cut the slits on the printed circles ahead of time and then they used one of my big punches and then slid it on the pencil. This was the last one I decided to do and I think it turned out to be my favorite.

Day 5: The flowers were cut out on my Cricut which made this easier to prepare! The kids wrote "Thanks for helping us bloom" on the flowers.

Fruit of the Spirit Blog Hop

2011-04-29T02:00:00.000-07:00

I am honored to be in this blog hop that Nana and My Paper Treehouse are putting on. I hope you'll take some time to visit the other blogs as well!

Welcome to another Faith Blog Hop presented to you by Paper Tree House Studio! If you have been following the hop then you should be arriving here from Nana’s blog. If you just came across this hop, then go to Paper Tree House to catch the beginning of the hop.

Every month a group of bold women gathers to make the Name of the Lord famous and to share the talents we have been given by Him. We also like to share a little bit of Truth that we have learned from the Bible and/or a bit about how He has impacted our lives. This month the theme is “The Fruit of the Spirit”.

As Christians we are expected to demonstrate the Fruit of the Spirit because the Spirit of God abides in us. In Galatians 5:22-23 we find the following definition: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” There are many misconceptions about this fruit. People look at the list of attributes and they are convinced that God has not given them one of the “fruits”, and so they live with remaining sin and a sense of defeat in certain areas of their lives.
If you look at the passage again you will notice that the word FRUIT is NOT plural. It is only ONE fruit, so if the Spirit of the Lord abides in you, then the attributes that characterize the Spirit live there as well. If you are not experiencing one of the characteristic of His Spirit in your life, pray that the Lord would cleanse you and purify you. He is into the business of completing those He saves. My prayer is that you would draw near to the Lord and that He in turn will draw near to you…

The same way that the Lord blesses those He loves we want to bless you. We have found an amazing line-up of sponsors and we want to share with you what you could win by hopping around with us:

Paper Tree House Studio: Cricut Create
Scrapbook News & Review Magazine: One year subscription to their online magazine.
Zutter: Distrezz-it-All
Scrapbooks & Stuff: Seasonal Cartridge
Papperie: Yummy Goody Bag
Bonita Rose: One spot to her AMAZING class on color.
Shimmerz: Yummy Goody Bag

Now in order to win one of these Grand Prizes you will have like us on Facebook, leave a comment on this post, and become a follower on our blog. Then you have to follow the hop order as you follow and leave messages in the posts of all the amazing and talented women that are part of the lineup. All throughout the hop you will find RAK’s and special giveaways, so make sure that you complete the entire hop!

When I saw that the theme for this month's hop was Fruit of the Spirit, I knew just what I wanted to do! My kids LOVE the Music Machine CD and it plays constantly in our car! I am glad that they know what the Fruits are but I would like my 7 year old to learn some of the verses that address the Fruits. I made this little book so that he (and eventually the 4 year old!) can start to read these verses and memorize them. I used a Punky Sprouts Sweetie Sprout album and some of the new Stella and Rose paper from MME. It was so fun to put together this album!

I am having a RAK in honor of this blog hop. All you have to do is leave a comments on this post. If you let me know you became (or already were) a follower in another comment, you'll be entered twice!
What am I giving away you ask? How about one of the Sweetie Sprouts like you see above? I'll also throw in a 6 x 6 paper pad of Crate Paper's Restoration plus some of their chipboard embellishments!

Now for some more fun! Hop on over to Kristal's blog to be inspired!

Waiting for Summer!

2011-04-27T10:38:00.001-07:00

The weather here in Oregon has been the pits this spring! At one point we had had 3 days 60 degrees or above and the average was 17! It has been cold and rainy! Today the HIGH is supposed to only hit 55 and tomorrow 50! Brrrrrr!
This is what I am dreaming about these days!

The Boy Next Door

2011-04-16T10:02:00.000-07:00

Recently I went to the beach with a couple friends for a little scrapbooking retreat! I think it was my most productive scrapbooking weekend ever! I got 4 layouts completed, 2 done except for some little touches, 3 cards done, 3 ATCs ready to send and an entire Punky album done too! May not sound like much in a whole weekend, but that's pretty good for me!
I took a lot of sketches and challenges in the hopes that they would keep me motivated and without scrapper's block! This sketch from Sassafras was so fun to do! It was the first layout of the weekend that I completed!

Their sketch:

My layout:

Final Scrapdango Reveal

2011-04-15T16:35:00.000-07:00

I am sad to say that this is my final reveal for Scrapdango. I have been the dt coordinator there for about a year and a half and it has been wonderful! But I felt it was time for a change both for me and them! And while it is sad to be stepping down...I can't wait to play along with their challenges! I loved them even before I was on the dt! Here are my April creations with the Sugar kit!

It's been awhile since I did a layout of the dog! This is using the April sketch at CocoaDaisy.

While I had the sewing machine out, I had some fun with different stitches!

A bookmark I made for myself!

A card a bit more on the masculine side even though I used the sugar kit!

Add caption

April Showers

2011-04-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

They say that April showers bring May flowers...I certainly hope that is true as we have had plenty of April (and March, February and January!) showers here! When I saw the My Mind's Eye card sketch challenge's theme this month was, you guessed it, April showers, I just had to play along! Nothing like playing with some bright and cheery MME paper to chase the blues (and grays) away! I used the papers from the Fine and Dandy line and made 2 other cards as well but will save those for another day!

Here's their sketch:

And my card:

I cut out a sun and cloud from another section of the paper and popped it up right where it was on the piece I had on the card. Love this effect. The umbrella is traced and cut out from a MME diecut that was from another collection and didn't match!

I wanted to show my "new toy" that I got at CKC Portland last month. Nothing expensive, in fact, super cheap! I bought a Sakura clear glitter gel pen. I used it here on random dots on the umbrella. So easy to add a special little touch!

Jillibean Soup

2011-04-01T08:41:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, it is no April Fool's Day joke that I didn't make the Jillibean Soup design team. I did however love all the projects that I made in the trying out process! Thought I'd show you the ones that I hadn't already. I look forward to trying again next year!

And, although I've shown this one before...I can't resist reposting it today for April Fool's Day! :)

Fruit of the Spirit

2011-03-29T15:56:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to have "met" Nana Campana through the Punky Sprouts design team. She runs the My Paper Treehouse blog and they do monthly blog hops that I hope to start being a part of. The theme for the next one is Fruit of the Spirit. I am looking forward to doing a layout with this theme. A few years ago, we did a Fruit of the Spirit scrapbooking Bible Study with some friends at church but it's been awhile!

March Scrapdango Reveal!

2011-03-15T13:25:00.000-07:00

I got to work with the Sugar Kit this month and it is gorgeous! This Twig line by Little Yellow Bicycle has great patterns! You can see the kits here!

Speaking of Jillibean Soup...

2011-03-12T14:29:00.000-08:00

they are having a design team call and I am throwing my hat in the ring! This is the first manufacturer call that I have really gone all out...making new projects for it! Usually I see it at the last minute and just use what I have. But since Jillibean is a favorite and I follow their blog and on Facebook, I caught the call early! I wanted to show some of the older Jillibean Soup layouts and projects I have done as well! I'll show my new layouts when the call is over!

Another Punky Sprouts album. You can see the whole thing on the Punky blog!

A card I made for the design team call...it was one of 3 I made and they only wanted 2...this one got cut! Although I still like it! :)

My first layout about a TV show! This was right after Lost ended and we had done a little party and I made a bunch of "Dharma Initiative" food as decorations!

A double page spread. This is one of my favorite layouts for the story of it! This is Isaac with Patty, our Camp Sherman cook! He's a pretty smart kid but she has had him convinced...for the last 2 years!!!...that the seads he is mixing with water and putting by the fire really do cook into bread! The resulting bread looks an awful lot like leftover hot dog buns, muffins and bagels! :)

A Christmas card made with not Christmas paper! I love doing that! And it also has Glimmer Mist...one of my favorite things to do!

A super simple layout of some not great photos of Erin who had to get up on the table to clean because she couldn't reach the middle! I know it's not a perfect layout or pictures but the story is precious!

One of my favorite things to make with scraps...mini cards! I love tucking them into gifts or Isaac's lunchbox!

Punky Sprouts and Jillibean Soup!

2011-03-12T13:57:00.000-08:00

I am so happy with how this Rebel Sprout album turned out. It is one of my favorite albums I've done. I took these pictures of the kids last fall when I was passing some of Isaac's costumes to a little cousin. He was starting to out grow them physically and just wasn't as interested any more. But, luckily, I realized before handing them off, that I didn't have many pictures of him in them! So, we took the dress up box out on the deck and had ourselves a super fun photo shoot! Some of Erin's photos are a bit dark...she doesn't like the sun in her eyes...but I think they turned out cute anyway! I did a fun "action" on the photos in Photoshop to give it a comic bookish feel! Would love to know what you think!

More Good News!

2011-03-09T22:51:00.000-08:00

I am feeling so blessed this last week and a half...especially on the scrapbooking front! :) Today I had 2 happy emails! One was from Scrapbook News and Review requesting one of my layouts. And the other was requesting a mini album for the publication Create: Mini Albums. I have been on cloud 9 all day!

Since my last post was text only I am adding in a layout that I haven't shown before! This was the challenge Audra and I hosted for the Crowned challenge at Scrapdango. We had Swimsuit week so the layout had to have Yellow, Polka Dots and reveal something about you.

My mom loved it! :)

Old Good News and New Good News!

2011-03-04T19:51:00.000-08:00

First the New good news...one of my cards was picked up for a special issue of Paper Crafts Magazine! It is the Go-To Sketches issue that will be out in August! I love sketches! This was my very first time submitting to them and I got 2 done in time and they liked one of them! I was thrilled to be watching them announce on Facebook that the emails were going out and then actually get one! :) There were 2,750 submissions and only 288 cards were chosen. 134 designers are in the book and only 38 of us are "newbies"!

Now for the Old good news! I had forgotten to post this earlier! I had a card in the January Issue of Cards. It was my 2nd time being in that magazine. Since the month is well over, I can share that one!

Easy Valentine Gift Bag and Flower Tutorial

2011-02-11T07:55:00.000-08:00

I did this tutorial for the February Scrapdango Newsletter and thought I'd share here too! Let me know if anything doesn't make sense and if you make one I'd love to see it...link it up! I'm linking to 30 Days' Pity Party for the first time today!

Supplies:
*Paper lunch bag
*Patterned paper (1 or 2)
*12" ribbon
*Pages from a book
*Scalloped circle punch (mine is about 2")
*Velcro
*Mist

1. Cut the top off your bag so that it is 6" tall. Mine is 5" wide...check yours and adjust the measurements I give here!

2. Cut the pp you want for the front of your bag to 5" (width) x 6".
Cut your other pp to 5" (width) x 8.5". This will be the back and front flap of the bag.

3. Now you are going to fold the bottom flap of the lunch bag down. Like this:

4. Glue the front onto your bag...this goes on the side without the flap. You want to line up the bottom edge with the bottom edge of the bag...you can always trim at the top if you need to.

5. Grab your piece of pp that is the back and score (or fold) it at 6". Then punch 2 little holes on that score line.

6. Feed your ribbon through these holes, tying knots on the inside to keep them in place.

7. If you have a border punch, now is the time to punch the top flap.

8. Glue the back on. Line up the scored flap with the top of the bag. There WILL be a lip at the bottom...you want that! It will make your bag stand straight when we're done. You can tuck the ribbon under the pp if you want.

9. Add a piece of velcro on the flap to hold it down. Your bag is finished unless you want to add some decorations!

Let's make a flower to embellish the bag!
1. Punch out 6 scalloped circles...non-scalloped work too. So do hand-cut circles that aren't perfect! My circles are about 2" across.

2. Spray all of the circles with the mist...you want them pretty covered and wet! I have found that Glimmer Mist works better than the Smooch for this. The Smooch dries a little to fast but it will work. If it dries too fast, you can just mist with some water! The Smooch does give a richer color too! I used Smooch here. (from the Spice kit!)

3. Now, stack them all up (yes, they're wet and yes, you're going to get messy!) and attach with a brad. I usually just poke it through without punching a hole.

4. Scrunch up each circle, one by one, like this:

Until it looks like this:

5. Now just sort of fluff out the circles until you are happy with how it looks.

6. Cut some leaves (I used a coffee sleeve) and mist if desired.

7. Attach your leaves and flower to the bag flap! And there you have a wonderful treat bag...perfect for Valentine's Day treats!

Who will be Crowned?

2011-01-26T10:57:00.001-08:00

It can't be you unless you come join us and play along! :)

Scrapdango January Reveal and a Blog Revamp!

2011-01-18T20:13:00.000-08:00

I was a little tired of the blog header and design I had had for quite awhile. So yesterday, I spent sometime playing around and this is what I came up with! Let me know what you think!

Here are my layouts and projects from the January Spice Kit! Loved this kit!

And a bookmark just to remind you that you have until Sunday the 23rd to get your layouts in for the Library Challenge at Scrapdango!

Don't Forget...

2011-01-14T08:08:00.000-08:00

The Scrapdango Goes to the Library challenge starts today! Challenges will be posted throughout this weekend and games will go all week. Layouts aren't due until midnight est on January 23rd so you have plenty of time to get them in!

Here's the layout I did for my Reference Books challenge. Be sure to check it out!

Come Join Us!

2011-01-12T21:08:00.001-08:00

Layouts and Photos and Cards, oh my!

2011-01-01T10:52:00.000-08:00

Thought since I haven't posted in a month an a half, that I should get on it! :) I wanted to document some of the creative stuff I've done this past year so I am picking my favorite 10 layouts, cards and photos of 2010. Here we go!

LAYOUTS:

CARDS

PHOTOS (I know there's 11...I couldn't narrow it down!)

Grandpa and Erin

Isaac and Erin being silly in their Easter outfits.

Tadd in Seattle for our 12th anniversary.

Erin on a CA beach.

The Redwoods

A Southern Oregon sunset.

Isaac and friends.

Isaac learning the ropes.

First day of school.

Isaac's soccer team.

Christmas card picture.

The Basics

2010-11-19T18:10:00.000-08:00

I just did a post over at Scrapdango using Basic Grey's Basics line! Be sure to check it out! Here's a little sneak peek. This is a card I created using 2 Sketches 4 You. I hadn't done any of their weekly sketches in over a year and it was fun to play again!

Scrapdango Blog Hop Crop

2010-11-11T21:02:00.000-08:00

If you are here for the Scrapdango Crop...Welcome! If not...please join in! For all the information, here!

It's time for the Scrapdango Blog Hop Crop to begin. We have a wonderful new Design Team at Scrapdango, and we want to help you get to know them and to get some great challenges along the way and have a chance to win a wonderful prize of one of Scrapdango's awesome kits.

Here's your challenge:
*Use at least 5 of my favorite Scrappy items on a layout. Show us here.
OR
*Use at least 2 of my fun facts...interpreted anyway you want...on a layout. Show us here.
OR
*Do both of the above and get 2 draws!

My Favorite Scrappy Items: (I used them all!)
Journal Spots
Thickers
Kraft Paper
Glimmer Mist
Buttons
Border Punch
Handmade Flowers
Tiny Alpha Stickers
Polka Dots
Baker's Twine

Fun Facts about Me:
My husband and I have visited 18 National Parks in 12 years of marriage.
I enjoy being lost and finding new ways to get from point A to point B.
I used to be a 6th grade teacher. (I used lined paper on my layout)
I am a huge Portland TrailBlazer fan. (I used their colors, black and red, on my layout)
I actually like Oregon's rainy days (at least until about April!).

Here's how you should hop!
Scrapdango Blog
Audra
Celeste
Heather
Laura
Lynn- You Are Here
Sandi <<<<<<-------------You Go Here Next

Blog Hop Crop Coming Soon!

2010-11-11T12:22:00.001-08:00

ABC's of Cards

2010-10-29T08:36:00.000-07:00

For the whole month of October we have been doing an abc card challenge at Scrapdango. Thought I'd show you what I made for my challenges! I had the letters A, G, M, S, X, and Y.

A: apples, adjective/adverb, alphabets

G: green, girly, glitter

M: metal, misting, merry

S: silly, stamping, stripes

X: x-stitching, xoxoxo

Y: yellow, you

We also have a new design team! Congratulations to Laura, Celeste, Sandi and Audra! Fun things are being planned now...stay tuned!

Tour of Portland

2010-10-20T13:42:00.000-07:00

I combined my newest Scrapdango Kit and the Rebel Punky Sprouts album and made this fun little book! In May of 2009, I took a Big Picture Class that was a walking tour of your neighborhood. My friend Sta'Cee and I took the kids into downtown Portland and went through the Scavenger Hunt list that they had. I loved all the photos I got and they've been laying around just waiting for me to get to them! I loved this Jillibean Soup line with the negatives and cameras! Perfect for this project!

Come Play!

2010-10-06T20:52:00.000-07:00

Hey all! I am teaching a class in Eugene, Oregon on November 20th. Would love to see some friendly faces there! I will be using a super fun album from Punky Sprouts, Crate Paper's Restoration and lots of Glimmer Mist! :) You can find all the information here!

A Punky Field Day!

2010-10-05T11:54:00.000-07:00

I used the Alfalfa Sprout album from Punky Sprouts to make this album of Isaac's first Field Day! I chose Bo Bunny's Sun-Kissed line for the wonderful colors! I also had some fun with 3D Crystal Lacquer. I used some Bazzill chipboard stars, glimmer misted them in different colors and then used the lacquer over the top. On some I even put the word stickers on first and the lacquer worked great! I had no problems with bubbles like I have with other similar products! Loved it!

I will be teaching a class using the Sweetie Sprout in Eugene on November 20th for those of you who are local! More information is coming soon or you can contact me at lynn.reaney@comcast.net!

Are you ready?

2010-09-26T23:05:00.001-07:00

Blockheads

2010-09-17T08:22:00.000-07:00

I saw these in my Family Fun magazine a couple months ago and wanted to make them with the kids. My dad gave us a container of "junk" to use and we saved some lids and things that normally would have gone in the recycling bin.

We had a blast making these! Tadd cut us 4" blocks off an old 2x4 and we were ready! I wiped each block off with a towel but we didn't sand them or anything although I suppose it wouldn't hurt! :) We painted one day and then put all the junk on the next.

The Family Fun site recommends a pretty strong glue but I was afraid it would be too strong for the kids to use so I bought Aleen's Tacky glue...something I knew was safe enough for them to use! It held everything great! I put some on a paper plate and gave the kids q-tips to apply it! Worked like a charm!

Here are our Blockheads!
Isaac's "Graduating Darth Vader": :)

Erin's "Monster with a Top Hat":

Isaac's "Luke Skywalker": (see the light saber?)

Erin's "Pink Princess":

I couldn't resist playing along too! They just looked like they were having so much fun! So I made a freckled, buck-toothed elephant listening to music! :)

Getting Back into the Swing of Things!

2010-08-31T15:41:00.000-07:00

Now that Tadd is back to work and the kids start school in a week, I am officially starting to get back into our normal routine! I just realized that I have some layouts and cards that haven't been posted so I wanted to get a few up here! And look for the fun Scrapdango Contest at the bottom of this post! I'm so excited!

The first one I did just for fun and the rest use the August Scrapdango Kit.

Hope you can join us for School's In! Last year I participated and it was a blast! You can sign in here!

Home for the Summer!

2010-08-19T16:01:00.000-07:00

After being gone for about 25 days over the course of 2 months...we are finally home for good! Not that we didn't have a ton of fun in the Redwoods, at the beach, camping, in Sunriver, and at Camp Sherman, but it feels good to be home!
I was able to get out and do some scrapping with some friends last night and it just may have been my most productive scrap day ever! I got 4 layouts completed and loved all of them! Here are two...the other two have to wait a little bit! :)

This one is for the sketch challenge over at My Mind's Eye. I love when I get a chance to do these! The hardest thing each month, is picking which MME papers to use! :) This time I literally had 3 different lines of paper in front of me before deciding on this one! This is Katie and Erin at Camp Sherman last week after Lexa braided their hair! I've been wanting to do a layout of Katie and Erin since Erin talks about how much she loves Katie all the time! These were the perfect pictures! And I tried a new way to make flowers and know I will be making lots more! These are made from little doilies that I glimmer misted! They are adorable!

This is for the sketch challenge at CocoaDaisy this month. Loved this sketch and since it was Ronda's sketch, I knew I wanted to use GlimmerMist as she is the one who first got me hooked! :) These pictures are from our recent camping trip to Ft. Stevens.

A new layout and a sneak peek!

2010-08-04T16:58:00.000-07:00

With the hubby being home during the summer, being on vacation and all the nice weather we've been having, I haven't done a ton of scrapbooking this summer but managed to get this layout done for the American Crafts dt call!

And since Camp Sherman is quickly coming...I actually can't procrastinate with my Scrapdango kit this month! I usually pull it out a million times, feeling all the paper and embellishments before I get to it! Here are a few sneaks from the few things I've done so far!

Scraplifting!

2010-07-30T22:58:00.001-07:00

Every once in awhile I actually get the chance to scrap...just because and not for an assignment! :) This is one of those layouts! I used the July sketch for the scraplift contest at CocoaDaisy! And I am loving how it turned out! Have been meaning to try the AC flock on these corrugated Jillibean letters for months and finally did it! And I pulled out some pretty old papers too! And seems like no layout is complete lately without a little glimmer...glimmer mist that is! :)

Scrapdango July Kit

2010-07-29T12:05:00.000-07:00

I just loved these WRMK papers when I saw them! Here's what I did with them!

This last one is for the design team page at Scrapdango! :)

Working on a few more things and drooling over all the new releases at CHA! I'll be back soon with more!

Cousins by the Dozens!

2010-07-20T14:31:00.000-07:00

Here is my newest Punky Sprouts album in it's entirety! You can see more amazing design team creations over at the Punky Blog!

These pictures were all taken at a family reunion. They are the 9 kids of the 4 cousins who all grew up together! So fun to see them all together!

A Punky Sneak!

2010-07-17T14:50:00.000-07:00

With all the sneak peeks I am seeing out there for the upcoming CHA, I thought I should add this one! Here is one of the new releases for Punky Sprouts! This album is called Junk in My Punk! Super fun to work with! I used American Craft's Heat Wave line for most of it.

I can only give you a little peek but the whole book along with some from the other designers too, should be up on the Punky blog tonight!

Lots of Scrapping Going On!

2010-07-14T14:25:00.000-07:00

This week I have my assignments for Scrapdango to do, 2 Punky Sprouts albums for CHA, and I am also goign to give the American Crafts and BoBunny dt calls a shot! I've been up until about 1:30 the last 2 nights and I see that happening the next 2 as well! I haven't completed anything yet so nothing to show of what I've been doing but I had this that I did before vacation that I never posted!

Where have I been?

2010-07-12T22:43:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since I posted anything! A lot has gone on...some good and some not. The day after my last post, we lost one of Tadd's runners. He was on a hike and slipped and fell and passed away. It was (and still is) devastating. Victor was an incredible young man and was loved by so many including our family. He is missed.

After Victor's memorial, we hit the road for a 10 day trip down to the Redwoods. It was a wonderful family trip and a great way to start the healing of losing Victor. We hit Lassen Nat'l Park, Redwoods Nat'l Park and then headed up 101 through Oregon. We ended the driving part at our beach house in Manzanita where my parents met us for 3 days including the Fourth of July! Just wonderful!

After being home for 2 days (just long enough to get some laundry done) we headed back down to the coast to Fort Stevens State Park for camping with some friends. This was our 9th time camping with them in the the last 12 years! The three years we missed were for a broken leg and a pregnancy! :) Great time had by all, as is every year!

I am ready to be home at least for a little while...until we head out on our next adventure! Hoping to get some scrapbooking in but having some creativity issues tonight! I hope the juices start flowing tomorrow! Hope you all are enjoying your summer!

Bloom

2010-06-20T11:58:00.000-07:00

Here's another layout using the June Sugar kit! This one uses a sketch by Carly. You can find it here and play along!

Speaking of playing along...
Kimmy was kind enough to include me in her scrappy PAY IT FORWARD. She's sending me some scrappy stuff, in return I'll send out some scrappy goodies to the first 5 people to respond to this post...those 5 people have to post something similar on their blog and send scrappy goodies to 5 more people.

June Reveal!

2010-06-19T11:31:00.000-07:00

I am a few days late with this but here are my layouts and cards with the Sugar Kit from Scrapdango!

Fabric Cards

2010-06-10T08:16:00.000-07:00

We are still going strong in our L.O.A.D. Challenge at Scrapdango. I had posts on the 5-10. Just thought I'd show a few of the cards I made last night. This was for my fabric post.

I am thinking about adding some of these canvas lollipop flowers to my etsy store. What do you think?

L.O.A.D. in June!

2010-06-01T13:03:00.000-07:00

That would be Layout a Day! Over at Scrapdango we are having a LOAD contest! You get a draw for every layout, every 2 cards, and every altered item you do! And the best part...you can use things you have done for other challenges! Hope you can come play!

Road Trip!

2010-05-28T21:13:00.000-07:00

Well, a road trip from last year! I finally completed the Prim n' Punky album from Punky Sprouts! This one was a bit of a challenge for me (in a good, fun way!) with it's gated cover and pages that open different ways! I had to plan it out a little more than I usually do! But I think that is most likely a good thing! :) I love the combination of chipboard, canvas and acrylic pages in these albums! So fun to go from one to the other! I did this album with some really fun travel papers, journal spots, borders and alphabets from My Little Shoebox! I am not usually a doodler, but I thought these papers called for it! Took me back to all the doodling I used to do on my high school notebooks!

Easter Layouts

2010-05-23T13:24:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more I did with the May kit! The first one I used our 2009 Easter pictures and I loved the colors for Easter so much that I did 2010 too! :) The second one was with a sketch by Kerryn. If you like the sketch...give it a whirl and enter our drawing for a great prize!

Working on some Punky Sprouts today and hope to have it up on the blog in a few days!

Scrapdango May Reveal!

2010-05-15T20:45:00.000-07:00

Today is reveal day over at Scrapdango! I got to work with the Sugar kit this month. It was fun to work with the girly papers! Here's what I have done so far...and I still have lots of kit left to play with! :)

Teacher Appreciation Week...Day 5

2010-05-07T07:48:00.000-07:00

A little later than I have been with this post but here is Day 5's treat! Filled with all the makings of some good old fashioned S'mores!

Here's the rest, in case you missed them!
Day 1: You're "Tea"riffic!
Day 2: You're Out of this World!
Day 3: You're O"fish"ally a Super Teacher!
Day 4: Thanks for Making Me a Smartie!

Teacher Appreciation Week...Day 4

2010-05-05T23:42:00.001-07:00

Isaac insisted on being in the picture this time! Not sure what this smile/laugh/facial expression is that he's got going on but I think he's cute anyway! :)

Cosmo Cricket Sketch Challenge

2010-05-05T18:54:00.000-07:00

I've never done one of Cosmo Cricket's blog challenges before. Not that I don't like them or have enough CC papers to do it...just never found the time...Until now! I loved Gudrun's sketch and wanted to give it a shot! I had just taken this picture of Erin last week and wanted to scrap it! Love that this layout has 3 different CC lines...Girl Friday, Boyfriend and Material Girl!
Here's the sketch:

And my layout:

Teacher Appreciation Week...Day 3

2010-05-04T20:31:00.000-07:00

Here's our Wednesday treat for his teachers! (those are gummy fish!) And he even talked me into using my Sassafras feltie fish!

Teacher Appreciation Week...Day 2

2010-05-03T20:48:00.000-07:00

We're having fun with this, this year! Isaac loves doing it all himself! And I think he especially loves that he gets to use my scrapbooking paper and supplies! We taped the rockets on the back of the candy bars. (he has 2 teachers.)

Teacher Appreciation Week...Day 1

2010-05-02T20:29:00.000-07:00

I don't know how this sneaks up on me every year but it does! I needed a quick and easy token to send tomorrow. Found this list of ideas. We went with "You're Tea-rrific" I let Isaac (Kindergarten) do all of it himself. In fact, I had a tag out for him to make and it was his idea to spell it out with the tea!

I'll show you what we make each day this week! But even if you don't have the time, don't forget to thank a teacher!

Be Inspired Challenges!

2010-05-01T23:54:00.000-07:00

Happy National Scrapbooking Day! Well...for the next 10 minutes anyway! I have been so busy today, I didn't get on here earlier! :) We are having our Be Inspired Crop over at Scrapdango. Even if you didn't join us today...you still have time. Challenges will be posted through tomorrow and you have until Friday May 7th to get them done! One person will win a Scrapdango kit! I just posted my challenge. Here are my creations but you have to head on over to Scrapdango to read the challenge!

National Scrapbooking Day

2010-04-26T09:27:00.000-07:00

It's almost here! Hope you'll join us and Be Inspired!

Filled the Etsy Store!

2010-04-22T17:06:00.000-07:00

I restocked my etsy store today! Reloaded some stuff that had been in there before and added some new cards as well! Here are some of the things you can see:
Cards:

Vintage Button Rings:

Happy Shopping! :)

Rainbows in the Springtime

2010-04-17T18:06:00.000-07:00

The weather today made me feel a bit springy! My blog was feeling a bit drab so I thought I'd make it a little more colorful. What do you think? Goes great with the New Beginnings Crop at Scrapdango doesn't it?

In case you haven't seen, Punky Sprouts has announced their design team! I am thrilled to be working with all these ladies! Here's the team:

1. Candy Rosenbug

2. Pamela Young

3. Noel Culbertson

4. Carrie Ferrier

5. Charity Hassel

6. Candice McLean

7. Nathalie Kalbach

8. Lynn Reaney

9. Crystalyn Thorsen

10. Suzy West (our fearless leader!)

New Beginnings Challenge

2010-04-15T23:03:00.000-07:00

The New Beginnings Crop is well under way at Scrapdango! But you have plenty of time to join in! My challenge is up now. Here it is:
I had so much fun with this challenge and came up with a layout way out of my comfort zone that I love! I hope you have the same results! :D

Your challenge is to make at least 2 spring embellishments to go on your layout! There are 2 conditions:
1) Only 1 of them can be a flower. (but you don't have to do a flower!)
2) I want you to go out of your comfort zone and try something NEW to you! I had never made something out of felt for a layout before! Who knows...it may become your NEW favorite thing! ;)

While I was doing this I also picked out colors that would work for the new Color Room site! Loved this color palette and plan on playing again!

Here are the embellishments I made and then my layout.

April Scrapdango Reveal

2010-04-15T00:08:00.000-07:00

Here are a few of the layouts I did with the April Spice kit. The papers are Bo Bunny's Mama Razzi line! They are super fun! I loved the little film strip transparency in the kit too. And the tin of Crate Paper chipboard letters is awesome and the tin will soon be altered I'm sure! :)

After my father-in-law sent me this picture he took of me at Easter, I had to steal the name of the paper line for the title of my layout!

And a fun double-pager of our hike on Tadd's birthday this year. First time the kids made it to the top! (well, Erin got a ride in the backpack!) It was also Blazer vs Laker game day which is why they are wearing their matching Blazer sweatshirts!

Don't Forget!

2010-04-10T13:10:00.000-07:00

The New Beginnings Crop at Scrapdango starts this Monday! There are wonderful challenges and fun games posted by the dt daily! There are some problems with some features on the site right now...but we are going forward with it! The message board is working just fine, so if you have any questions, you can ask them there!

Steeple!

2010-04-06T14:05:00.000-07:00

We just went to the meet where Tadd's runners get to run the Steeple Chase. Most hs meets don't offer it but this is run at the Community College and it already has the water pit so they do. This year it was pouring down rain and very windy! I was freezing and I had on my puffy coat! :) I didn't even take my camera this year!

Here is a layout with pictures of last year's Steeple....look at the blue skies! (although I'm pretty sure it was still cold if I remember right!) I made this using a Pagemap's Sketch found here!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T14:22:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Easter yesterday so that everyone could come for the whole day! Then this morning we were able to do our egg hunt and go to church without feeling rushed. Today we're just relaxing and later will watch The Princess and the Frog that the Easter Bunny got Erin! Here are some pictures of our Easter!
The cupcakes I made:

And all packed up in my new cupcake carrier!

Some very giggly cousins on Grandma's bed!

And here are the munchkins after church! I love Erin's little pose! :)

Noticed at CK!

2010-04-03T22:31:00.000-07:00

I added a few layouts over at the new Club CK just to see if I liked it and if it was easy. I added the Brown E layout and it got noticed! They put it on their blog! Kind of fun! And my friend Joscie's card is on there too!
You can see it here!

Hope you all have a great Easter! I made some fun bunny and chick cupcakes and I 'll post pictures tomorrow!

Happy April Fool's Day!

2010-04-01T08:24:00.000-07:00

I don't have any plans on foolin' anyone today but thought I'd share a layout of last year's April Fool's Day! This Brown E was from Isaac's preschool teacher!

Cocoa Daisy Sketch

2010-03-28T20:28:00.000-07:00

I hadn't done one of these before...not sure why since I love using sketches and I love Cocoa Daisy...but I found the time this month! It is one of my favorite layouts I have done in a long time! I love how the Basic Grey papers worked and the flowers I learned how to make at CKC just make the layout for me!
Here's Christine's sketch:

And my layout:

New Beginnings @ Scrapdango!

2010-03-25T10:25:00.000-07:00

Hope you can come join us! Scrapdango.com!

Scrapdango March Reveal!

2010-03-23T10:39:00.000-07:00

Here are some layouts and cards I made with this amazing kit! Love the yummy Jillibean! I have a lot left and am hoping to get a few more done this week!

A layout of my son and his cousin. They are just 6 weeks apart. This is an old photo...they were not quite 3 and they are 6 1/2 now!

I loved the numbered patterned paper and knew I wanted to use it to do a sequenced layout. This is my son last summer. The lady we were camping with completely convince him that he was making bread by crushing these seeds, adding water and making an oven with tinfoil in the fire! Then she would add a piece of muffin and he would have bread!

Last night, after scrapping most of the day, I made these really simple cards! I love these birdhouses!

January and a Turtle

2010-03-14T15:56:00.000-07:00

I did a few more layouts with my February Scrapdango Kit this week. The first is from a Becky Fleck pagemap that was for Scrapbook and Cards Today's Project 12. I was a little bit late to get it in the drawing but at least I got it done!
Here is my January Project 12 layout.

This is a layout about a turtle. That's right, a turtle! Last spring break one of Tadd's co-teachers was going out of town and asked if we wanted Razmo for a week. The kids had a ton of fun with the turtle! Go figure...we have a dog! :) I've had these pictures sitting on my desk for a long time and never had the right stuff. I loved this month's papers with the turtle!

Punky Sprouts Design Team Call!

2010-03-12T13:15:00.001-08:00

The call is up! Punky Sprouts is looking to add to their design team! Here are the details!

Punky Sprouts is searching for talented designers to create with our mixed medium albums!

We are looking for responsible designers with different styles to create an album every other month (and on occasion, monthly for trade shows).

The Punky Sprouts Requirements:
1. Designers will need to complete one mixed medium album every other month.
2. Designers will be required to post their work on their own site/blog and other sites to help promote our products. They will be featured on our website and blog.
3. Designers will need to create one to two mixed medium albums for tradeshows that may or may not be returned. (You will be provided with a reasonable deadline.)
4. Designers may be required to create “How To” instructions for our blog.
5. Designers must be residents of the United States or Canada.
6. Designers must agree to a one-year commitment with Punky Sprouts from May 1, 2010 to May 1, 2011.
7. Designers can be on other manufacturers’ design teams, as long as they are not in competition with Punky Sprouts’ products.

The Punky Perks:
As a Punky Sprout design team member, you will receive:
1. A Punky Sprouts mixed medium album for every assignment.
2. For assignments which are not returned, you will be provided a second mini album for your own use.
3. You will occasionally receive various products from different manufacturers to create your albums.
4. You will be able to purchase products at a discount for you to teach at your local scrapbook stores.
5. Your work will be featured on our website and blog for national exposure.

To apply, please send an email to designteam@punkysprouts.com with the following information:

1. Name, address, phone number, email address.
2. One layouts and two projects showing us your best work with your own personal style (JPG files must not be larger than 500kb).
3. Tell us about any design teams that you are participating in right now.
4. Tell us if you have been published.
5. Tell us where you post your work and add a link.
6. Please describe your style to us and how it will work with our albums.
7. Add any other information that you feel that we should know.

Submission deadline is April 15, 2010. Calls will go out on April 30, 2010. For any DT questions, please contact designteam@punkysprouts.com.

Punky Sprouts Album

2010-03-10T23:37:00.000-08:00

Here are all the pages of my Punky Sprouts debut! :) This is Savvy Sprout. Noel did a review of Punky Sprouts that you can read here! And Suzy is going to be announcing a dt call soon! In the meantime, visit her blog and introduce yourself!

Punky Sprouts Sneak!

2010-03-09T16:25:00.000-08:00

I turned in my first assignment for Punky Sprouts today. What a fun little album to work with! It was so fun to be working on chipboard and then canvas and then throw in a little acrylic! The album I was given to design with was the Savvy Sprout. I decided to do a collection of random photos of Erin from 2009. I just adore how it turned out! Here is a little sneak! I'll share the rest later this week!

Scrapdango Kit Reveal!

2010-03-07T16:05:00.000-08:00

I got to work with the Spice kit this month and WOW did I love it! This color combo has got to be one of my all time favorites! I loved all the patterns in the paper and couldn't stop playing with them! I'll have more up later this week too!

In other Scrapdango news: We have a new owner at Scrapdango. She's not new to Scrapdango though, she was my co-leader of the design team there.

Something New #7....2/19-2/16

2010-02-26T17:51:00.000-08:00

Cards

I don't know what happened this week...not a lot of new things going on! Erin has been sick and Isaac stayed home from school today with a cough. Guess that is my excuse! :) Here are some NEW cards with some NEW paper I got at CKC. The paper is GCD as is that gorgeous flower and sparkly rhinestones! I especially like the dot paper...huge polka dots in primary colors: what's not to love?

Something New #6....2/12-2/18

2010-02-19T13:59:00.000-08:00

Scrap "Vintage" Pictures

I've been scrapping for years but this is something I had never done...scrapped pictures of me as a child! I hate to calle them vintage but I guess that is better than "antique!" This was for my challenge at Scrapdango for the Interview Challenge in Crowned. Contestants had to scrap a childhood memory, use a certain color palette, and handwrite their journaling of at least 100 words!

I love how this turned out...I may need to scan and print some more old photos!