For Connelle: Swap on the Cricut board

I made a total of four items for the swap but was in a huge hurry and did not get pictures of the other two items (altered bath salts and a personalized tote for her). Maybe she will have pictures. The first item I made was a "banner" with her initials on it for "Let Banners Wave" day. The other items that I have a picture of is for "Key to my heart" day. I hope she likes them.

3 special steps

Very quick layout as an ode to Special Agent OSO on Disney Junior, one of C's favorites.

SoCal Scrapbooks-Lala stamps and American Crafts

Good morning today I am happy to share another creation for SoCal Scrapbooks. The wonderful Sandy sent me a La-La Land Marci with flower stamp (isn't it cute!?!?) and a few other things (you will see those another time). Here is my first try at coloring with bic/sharpies. I am not ready to invest in Copics, I don't color that much. I also used an American Crafts Bits circle to frame my sentiment which I typed and sized on the computer with my amazing hubby's help. It may be hard to read but it says "If friends were flowers, I'd pick you." I figured this was a good general card to have on hand. I hope you like it!

CKCB: Layouts 10-17

Good morning. Today I have 8 layouts to share with you (some doubles and some singles). Tea Time with Friends is from the main July kit and the rest are from my pirate add on kit. I can't believe I got 6 layouts of that kit and have two sheets I did not cut that will go back in my stash. WOW! So far this month that is 17 layouts, 2 cards (pics to come soon), and three altered projects. I would say that is pretty good. Now in August/Sept and half of October I probably won't get that many done if any since we will be moving/packing and relocating twice.

Counterfeit Kit Blog hop-FLOWER POWER!

Happy Hop day! I hope you are enjoying the hop so far. You should have came from our wonderful Guest Designer HELEN. I am sure she had something cool to show you. Today I am here to share my first attempt at making and USING recycled dryer sheet flowers. There is an awesome video link HERE that our great leaders posted. I did not watch it, just sort of winged it. I like them for altered projects but do not think I would include them on my pages.

So this book is a Kraft journal from Michael's, on clearance, are you surprised? LOL! I tore off the cover and altered it to it my needs. I am using this one to explore into the world of art journaling. It is rather fun I must admit.

For the flower I took several (I think five) dryer sheets and randomly hand cut (GASP!) circles from them. Then inked them up, layered them, attached with a fabric brad, more ink and there you go! I like the layers, wish I would have done more but maybe next time.

Now it is time to go and see what MELISSA has for you!!!

Easter Party

Sorry for the glare, it was BRIGHT when I was outside taking these and trying to keep Caitlyn from running into the street! These are from this past Easter (YAY ME!). I used a sketch from Sketches for Scrapbooking. I love how simple and quick they make my pages and I can still put my own spin on it! I did add the letters to my kit, ran out of the other ones!

I can tell the future.

Pretty simple, all from my July Counterfeit Kit. I am so happy that I am using up all the thickers! WOOHOO! I am almost down to no vowels so I will have to come up with a different way to use them. What do you think? I believe this is layout 7, but don't quote me on that!

Gallery Standout-Wendy McKee

I took my inspiration from Wendy McKee from Jillibean Soup HERE. I was intrigued by her use of tags, and bits and baubles. I am trying to get out of my comfort zone and try other styles so that is what I did here. I loved the white space, the butterflies, all the corrugated, the colors, the journal strips, OK I loved it ALL!


So here is my try. I am excited since I just received my big shot and was able to EMBOSS CHIPBOARD!!! WOW! Mine is a bit different than the wonderful one that Wendy did but I wanted it to be Me. So there are LOTS of polka dots (imagine that LOL), I only used three tags, and everything but the corrugated pieces were from my kit. What do you think? I had fun making this one so I can see me doing more of this style for my book of me.

I AM "PUBLISHED"!!!!!!!!!!

I am so EXCITED! I had to make myself NOT write this WHOLE post in CAPS! LOL! OH my gosh! I am so excited. I have known since Saturday that I would be PUBLISHED on the Creating Keepsakes blog this week but I did not know WHEN! WELL IT IS TODAY!!!!!!! It is for the CK & Me portion (where you are inspired by layouts in the actual magazine). I NEVER thought I would be featured or picked, but my awesome and supportive hubby and my good friend Jamie made me submit and I am SO GLAD that they did!!!! Yes it is just the blog but boy that is awesome in my book. YAY!

Here is a link CREATING KEEPSAKES BLOG

Crazy for faux stitching!

This layout is half from my kit and half from other kits. I went nutty with the faux stitching. I think there may be a half of a Signo pen on this layout! I cut 2X2 pieces of brown and blue paper, inked with white chalk, rounded outer four corners and put it all together. Then my Signo and I became great friends! See those two blue and one clear flowers? I made those! They are resin embellishments! I did ink them a little bit to make them pop. A thicker title, some journal strips and there you go. What do you think?

Journal swap.what I made

So along with having a *slight* addiction to clear stamps my love for all things related to journaling is even greater! My partner in this swap has a little boy so all things girly, pink/etc were out. I actually LIKED doing it that way. We were to make a container with at least 10 prompts, a mini notebook to jot down ideas, and five handmade journal spots/tags. I **almost** did not send the tags as I love them! The blue tag with the twine, unties, opens and has three panels for additional journaling. I used several of my new PTI stamps and LOVE THEM! I am determined to use my stamps on at least every other project for the rest of the time we are in this house! So would you use these if you scrapped a toddler boy?

For the tin I used a gift card holder, just added a few details and covered the inside, put the prompts in them and there you go. The notebook is a mini comp book that I altered. I hope she liked them all.

Silly us, minimalist style

I used my counterfeit kit for this VERY simple layout. I was going for a minimalist look. I accidentally did my journaling upside down but eh it is OK!

Subtitles and stretching your supplies

Here are layouts 4 and 5 from the CKCB July kit. I have a subtitle! WOOHOO me! I am sure using up the two sets of thickers I pulled! I am so excited about that one, makes room for more! Since I only had ONE of the felt loopy borders I had to chop and attach as needed, but I did it, I stretched it for both pages. How many pages have you done this month?

You emboss, I emboss, we all emboss!!!

Good morning. Time to pull out those heat guns, embossing folders, stencils, old school light boxes, whatever will get the mission completed! There are so many ways to emboss and add a bit of texture to your pages/creations. What is your favorite way? What is a way you have always wanted to try but have yet to do so? What are you waiting for??? Now is the perfect time to do some embossing unless you are chicken of course LOL!

Here is what I came up with. I have had this super cool paper from Heidi Swapp for a few months (I snagged a bunch when it was on clearance at Michael s for like .29 or. 19 a sheet). Several of the sheets have been in several of my counterfeit kits but um yeah I have yet to use them...until NOW!

I used my new to me Jenni Bowlin inks in a blue and pink to match the clothes my Mom and daughter are wearing. I love how this one came out! I love polka dots of course and I love blue/pink so this is a great page in my eyes.

Rebus title work

Lately I have been trying to find different ways to make/use/create titles on my pages. I am getting bored. I love the use of rebus so I tried it on this one. What do you think? I love the action shots here. I used my new paper trey ink simple circles stamps to make the border, pop dotting some and not others to add dimension. I am not too happy with the journal spot but it will do for now.

I am paying it forward are you?

Pay it Forward

I found this over at Nancy's blog..

she is doing this pay it forward..

so I thought.. what a great idea.. :)

"Pay It Forward" is the idea of blessing someone with a random act of kindness without expecting anything in return. It’s passing on a kindness, hoping that your recipients will do the same, and forming a never-ending chain of goodwill. But it isn’t only kindness, it is also a means to connect and share instead of just keeping it to ourselves.

"I promise to send an original creation to the 1st 5 people who leave a comment here. They must, in turn, post this, and send something they make to the 1st 5 people who comment on their status."

Here's what you need to do:

1. Leave a comment on this post. I will send a handmade

gift to the first 5 commenters.

2. Create a post on your blog offering the same.

Email me your address AND a link to

your blog where this is reposted.

3. Send a handmade item to your first 5 commenters.

4. It must be sent to your 5 people sometime in 2011.

Please do not sign up unless you are fully committed to making your 5 items!

Thanks Everyone! :)

Improvising.....

Here is layout two for the CKCB this month. This layout drove me bonkers! I knew I wanted to dress up my pretty pink foam thickers with an animal print, so I dove into my massive amounts of stamps and you know what??? I DON'T OWN A SINGLE ANIMAL PRINT STAMP! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE!?!?! So I had to improvise with what I had on hand, isn't that one of the points of the CKCB? Well I hope so since I did! I used a honeycomb tight weave stamp to give the illusion of animal prints on the letters. What do you think? Do you think I pulled it off?

SoCal Scrapbooks-American Crafts

Now this was a new thing for me. Well two new things really. I hardly EVER use "scene" paper like this one from Echo Park Springtime. However I thought it was pretty appropriate for the pictures of C riding her big girl bike. Secondly, do you see that sun up there, the one with the bike center? Well that is an American Crafts bits metal rimmed accent. I have never used one before but Sandy's from SoCal Scrapbooks' Mom wanted to see how I would use them so here you go hon! LOL! I did alter the tag, I colored over the bike in a brighter yellow, added some glitter/glaze dots around the outside and adhered some yellow baker's twine to hang it. I like how it came out. So show me the scene paper you have used! I think I like it now!

Your SMILE rocks! CKCB Layout 1

Here is the first layout I am sharing for the Counterfeit Kit July. I am really into faux stitching and ticket shapes right now, as you can see. I also made all the embellishments on this page. I am excited since I am USING my stamps! Yep all those thousands that I have. OK I admit it I have a problem with buying clear/cling stamps! I LOVE THEM and have decided that I need to USE them! So here you go! Everything came from my main kit. It was over 80 degrees out this day and since C was going through a strange phase of not liking things flying around her head she HAD to have this toboggan on! But her smile is amazing, but then again I am biased!

Stealing again! Graphics, clouds, Pirates OH MY!

Can you believe we are in JULY!? Already!? Seven months of counterfeiting, WOW that is amazing! So today I am here to share with you the JULY Counterfeit Kit. We copied the main kit (and add ons if desired) from PolkaDot Whimsy HERE.

Kit we are counterfeiting (above)

For this kit I went in a different direction than normal for me (are you really surprised?). When I looked at the kit I saw GRAPHICS. I saw polka dots, stripes, chevrons, hexagons etc. Since I knew that the big bold prints of the planes etc would not work for me I went with something that would. I pulled pictures first, I find this REALLY helps me get the most from the kit. Then I decided on color scheme of pink, blue, white with splashes of yellow. Very springy in my eyes.

Next was the paper selection, I tried to keep it to a minimum but even colors. I have some polka dots (my favorite!), hexagons, stripes, subtle plaid, a few distressed, and clouds for good measure. I love clouds right now. I was blessed with a Paper Trey Ink gift card for my birthday and ordered my first ever stamps from there so OF COURSE they had to go in the kit. I love them! Some chipboard that is already embossed, felties, badges, tickets, tiny letters, sparkly bling, twine, ribbon, chipboard pieces, cloud and polka dot stamp and it was good. Since I am on the DT I got a heads up and well half of my kit is already GONE! WOOHOO! I can't wait to finish it up!

My main kit: Wild for Graphics

A closer look at the embellishments

Swashbuckling good time kit (add on)

Now for my add on I did NOT copy either of the add on kits we were provided. While going through my photos I noticed that I had several pages to do about our Pirate cruise, playing pirates and other pirate-y things as C is really into them lately. So I dug out my DCWV All about boy stacks, some sports paper for a few basketball pages, a few polka dot papers to round it out and some letter stickers. I have more embellishments but did not add them since I could not find them right at that moment! I hope to get at least five pages done with this add on.

Number Roundup!

It is that time again, the end of June Counterfeit Kit challenge, and time to see what we did. Here is a picture of the paper I had left and some of the trims. I did not cut into quite a few pieces but those that I did I used almost all of them. Since I did not do the mini that I thought I was going to do, I did get the following accomplished using this kit.

• 6 layouts (4 of them 12X12 and 2 of them 8X8)
• 4 altered projects (tag, notebook, sign, and letter)
• 1 quick card I forgot to take pictures of

Not too shabby for a kit that did not inspire me so much, huh? How did you? What are your numbers? Check back on the 6th as I share the JULY kit!!!!!

Planting Memories

For this layout I finally cut into my awesome Berrylicious imaginisce papers! Lots of stamping here too. I think I did this one for a challenge but forgot which one OOPS! I love it! I love the big journaling block and that I have a subtitle! YAY me! LOL!

We love you Mommy-gift for a friend

Happy July 1st! WOW! I cannot believe that we are in JULY and that I turned 30 yesterday! Where has the year, the time gone? WOW! OK enough waxing about that, time to get to what I made for my BFF here. She is being induced tomorrow with her third little girl, however her birthday was this past Sunday. DH and I watched the two girls while her and her hubby went and had a date night the Saturday before. I (being the great but sneaky friend I am) tackled getting the girls hand prints that night, with LOTS of help from DH! Here is what I made her. I framed it up nice in a black 12X12 frame and I hope she loved it. The little heart on top between the twine is to represent CG the third little one that is coming tomorrow!!!!