Lollipop girls

These pictures were while we were bowling for the second time I think. The girls needed a lollipop break! I had to pull the background pattern paper from my stash but besides that i made most of the embellishments to include the fruit journal spot. I think this is layout 12.

Homemade Smash book-using March and May CKCB

Happy Memorial Day! I hope you had a fantastic and safe weekend. Today I want to share with you my homemade all stash SMASH BOOK. Have you heard of these little gems yet? If not they are made by K&Co and you can a video about them here. I love the idea but I did not like that they were hardbound; I thought they would have little to no wiggle room. AND I have plenty in my stash so I got to it. First thing I did was cut some chipboard to 8.5 by 6 inches (two pieces) to make the front and back covers. To cover the front and back pieces I used THIS paper that I made for a counterfeit kit back in March! Using a corner chomper I made everything look like a ticket. All the thickers are from my stash, using up all those alphas! I also used some of my homemade washi tape (tutorial HERE) on the bottom, and lots of staples.

I then decided that I wanted six categories and had my amazing hubby punch me out lots of chipboard tabs with my McGill punch. My sections are Colors/design; Ideas; Create/copy; love; everyday life; and Out of the mouth of Caitlyn. The possibilities are endless so don't confine yourself to six if you need more.

Then the super fun part, picking out papers from my stash, printing off ones online and then cutting lots of plain printer paper and card stock to size. Most of my papers are the same size as the covers but some are not and not everything is lined up perfect; I liked the sort of messy look to it, since life for me is not clean and linear. Let's see I have some cork paper, canvas paper, corrugated cardboard, chalk stock, lots of various patterned paper, computer paper, card stock, Kraft OF COURSE!, and watercolor paper. You can put anything you wish. I also have lots of ledgers and lined since I love them too.

Then I just organized it like I wanted it and used my BIA (bind it all) to bind it all together. I like it and have already "smashed" some things in there. I hope you make one too and if you do please link me up!

Hello Friend

This is layout 11 I do believe for Counterfeit Kit this month. I made this prior to losing my mojo and I really like this one. I used my cuttlebug which has been neglected as of late. I also used a sketch from Allison Davis (but since I took all my books apart and put them by number of photos I can't tell you what volume sorry!). These pictures are from last June (see a pattern here?) when we visited the National Museum of Natural History for the first time. C loved these little statues and thought they were real! She was really talking to them, and hugging them! So cute!

You are the KING of my heart

Happy Sunday. I hope this post finds you well and enjoying this great holiday weekend. Don't forget to pay tribute to all those we have lost along the way. Today I am here to share with you a layout using Father's Day cricut cartridge (on sale for 23.99 at Scrapbookpal.com and there is FREE shipping over 25.00! YAY).

You should know by now that I love to try to use the carts in different ways. I had several ideas for this cart to include a page about Caitlyn playing basketball but I have not printed those pictures out just yet so this is what I came up with for you today. Somehow it came out a bit patriotic but that is OK since it was Fourth of July time (well OK end of June!) last year.

You will need the following to complete this layout:
Fathers Day Cricut Cartridge
Signo White Gel Pen
Tim Holtz Paper Distesser
Tim Holtz sanding block
Chestnut Roan ink
ATG
Zig glue pen
Zig journaling pen
Foam tape/pop dots

1. Using Father's Day Cricut cartridge and Expression cut the poker chips/cards at 2.5 inches. I cut mine from white card stock and colored it in with my Bic markers. Cut the chips with black coordentions paper at 2.5 inches. Embellish and layer cuts; adhere with Zig Glue pen.

2. Crumple up red paper, distress edges using Tim Holtz paper distresser. Ink with Chestnut Roan Ink.

3. Adhere background and distressed strip using ATG and Tiny Attacher.

4. Mount die cut with foam tape/dots.

5. Distress and ink edges of photo; adhere.

6. Journal; ink edges and adhere.

Counterfeit Blog Hop-Who is your favorite? and BLOG CANDY!

Photo Credit Shanna Vineyard as posted on the My Minds Eye blog

Happy Friday! Do you have big plans for this weekend? I sure do, NOTHING! We have been so busy with doctors, dentists, helping friends and just everyday life I need a LONG break of doing NOTHING! I hope to craft, maybe enjoy some yummy grilled food and sunshine right here at home. Ahhh perfecto in my opinion!

I hope you enjoy your weekend and welcome to the Counterfeit Kit Blog Hop for May. You should have arrived here from our wonderful Guest Designer Jennifer. This month the challenge was to choose your favorite (or one of your favorite) manufacturers and scrap lift from their blog. I choose My Minds Eye this time around as I love the new Lime Twist, however I did not pull that for my kit this month so I used all Echo Park and Nikki Sivils in this bright layout.


I loved how Shanna had just one focal photo and adored the circles she used. I am not sure you can tell but in my layout I also punched several circles from the white patterned paper and pop dotted them on top of themselves to give it some more dimension. This photo was taken in June of last year on our trip to Florida for Father's Day. I did a pull out tag on the top for the journaling. I made the title "Good times" using new stamps and pattern paper. I am really liking making my own embellishments right now.

Blog candy? Did someone say blog candy? Yes I did, but my camera died before I could get a picture of it, so it is a mini album kit, everything you need to make a mini album. All you have to do is become a follower of the Counterfeit Kit blog (if you are not already) and leave me a comment here. I would love you to follow but only if you like my work. I will draw a winner using random.org and check to make sure you are following and left a comment sometime on Monday. So make sure to check back then!

You are now off to the next stop JESSICA! Enjoy!

Bowling Time!

Good Thursday morning. I apologize for being MIA this week on here and on my commenting. Everyday life of doctors, dentists, helping friends, house hunting (again), and just life was hectic, but it always is so that is no excuse. In the midst of all this I seem to have TOTALLY lost my mojo :(. I sure hope it comes back

These layouts are done with my bowling kit and some scraps. I am so happy I am using the bowling embellishments! YAY!

Embellishment Challenge

Are you up for a unique challenge? Can you handle it? I think you can so jump on over to Counterfeit Kit and read up on the embellishment challenge. Basically you choose an embellishment (or in my case since I don't follow directions apparently) a few that you made and focus your project(s) on those items. Here are the embellishments that I made and the two layouts that will sit next to one another in my albums that use the homemade embellishments.


These pictures are from June of last year (yep I skip around a lot when scrapping). C got to feed a giraffe and she was thrilled and still talks about it. She fed the giraffe cookies and alfalfa(?). I made the Summer ABCs using word and word clip art. The clouds are double stamped and pop dotted to give some dimension. The banner with the faux sun I used to journal and as an accent piece and the giraffe alphabet card was a direct copy from the kit that we counterfeited this month. I actually had a great time making my own embellishments since I do not do it often. What about you? Do you make most, some or none of your own embellishments?

Stuck in a rut?

I hosted a "stuck in a rut jar" swap on the CMB. I love having ideas to draw from and so I was hoping others would like it, they did. Here is what I made for my partner Dansgg. She says she loved it I sure hope so. I did TWO others before this one and trashed them both, I think I need my stuck in a rut jar for making this one LOL! Dansgg loves pink and gray so I pulled some Echo Park Be mine paper, and went to town. What do you think?

The can and the mini comp book I did for her.

The top, I did not like this part.

SoCal Scrapbooks-with Echo Park

Good morning! It is a soggy dreary one here today but that is just fine with me, I need a break. Before I run off to start my day and keep little miss occupied I wanted to share with you the new creation I made for SoCalScrapbooks. SoCal sent me the SUMMER DAYS Echo Park collection (including brads and rubons woohoo) to work with. The following layout is a bit different (read brighter and more patterns) than my normal style but I think I like it. Do you see those flowers? Yep those are rolled cheesecloth and sprayed with various glimmer mists. I really like them! Don't you just LOVE the papers in this line? So why are you still here, why aren't you clicking SoCal Scrapbooks and shopping already? LOL! Enjoy your day!

Aunt Nikki (Counterfeit Layout 8)

Ok I will confess, only about 1/2 of this layout is from my original kit. The paper and flowers were not in my kit but they were the ones from my stash. I have had those flowers since I started seriously scrapping in 2007. WOOOHOOO! So excited! These pictures are from last June when Aunt Nikki came to visit. You know that friend that you can always pick up JUST where you left off even if it is years since you last saw one another? The one that you can tell all your secrets too and that has seen you at your worst and still likes you? Well that is Nikki for me. We went to high school together and barely knew one another; then we ended up roomies in college due to our original roomies deciding to live together. Caitlyn loves her and goes RIGHT to her. She is part of our family. I tucked some more journaling behind the paper on the upper right, and used the other part of the ticket to allow someone to pull out and read if they so desire.