Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all are enjoying your holiday with friends, family and lots of love.

I've grabbed a few minutes of scrappy time and want to share a Christmas layout with you all.  The pictures are from Christams 2011.  My youngest daughter is missing from the pictures because she was in Texas with her grandparents. 

Santa Claus (my husband) visits our house annually on Christmas morning; this tradition started with my youngest son's first Christmas and has continued since.  On this Christmas morning, my youngest was so excited to see Santa; he was all smiles.  I love the group shot, the kids were acting goofy....which is the norm for my house!!!

The Christmas papers are from really old paper collections that I've had for years.  I distressed the edges of all three papers, added a little stitching, a chipboard Santa, fussy cut holly leaves, a journal block and the chipboard title.  I added X-mas Red stickles to the title and the holly berries in the top right corner.  A quick and simple holiday layout.

My little scrappy break is just about over, I gotta finish the turkey and all the sides, before my kids "die" of starvation!!  Merry Christmas again!

Little Prince

I can't believe so much time has passed since my last post.  In my defense, my oldest daughter had her Senior Prom, Graduation, move in day at the dorm, and my other teens have started a new year at school.  All of this in addition to everyday life!!!!  I haven't had any scrap time in over 4 months, but I finally found a little time today and boy was I inspired!

I don't normally scrap with a lot of negative space, those layouts just don't feel complete to me.  However, I was checking in at Scrapbook.com today and found a new to me Challenge entitled "Negative Space Challenge".  As I was reading the directions and looking at the examples, I began to feel the creative juices start flowing!  I was so excited....I really never thought I'd get my scrappy mojo back, but I did!!  This is what I came up with:

This is a picture of my youngest, he was just a few days old.  I started with the color of his sleeper, that beautiful light teal color.  I double matted the picture in shades of teal.  Then I cut strips of paper in various sizes and staggered them on the background.  The crown above the picture and the stars to the right are Bo Bunny Cambridge rub-ons, and the stars going down the left side of the picture are chipboard stickers from Bo Bunny Cambridge collection.  For the title, I painted the chipboard with a gold acrylic paint.  Then I added the gems to the crown and the "i's" to add just a touch of sparkle. The background paper and the darker mat are Bazzill, and the lighter mat is a glittery cardstock I had in my stash. 

I really liked how this layout turned out.  I love all the negative space and the simplicity of the design.  Let me know what you think and if you happen to give the negative space layout a try, let me know...I'd love to see it.

Fantastic Giveaway

Good morning and Happy Easter!  I hope you all are enjoying time with family and friends, but most importantly I hope you all take a little time to remember what Easter is really all about!

I wanted to share with you all about a fantastic giveaway over at Kristin Wilson Handmmade!  She is giving away a $100.00 gift card to Scrapbook.com;  yes you read that right, $100.00 gift card!  This is a super generous giveaway!  Just click the link above and follow the directions.  Good luck!

Funtoolas giveaway!

Hey all!  Sorry it's been so long since my last post, but I've had a lot going on.  I won't bore you with the details, we'll just say I'm glad the worst is over!

I wanted to tell you all about the giveaway Funtoolas is having; a little Dusty Attic, Prima, flowers, gems, and more spell one fantastic blog giveaway!  Click the link and follow the directions! Good luck!

My Creative Sketches lo

Hello my friends!  Today I'd like to share the lo I created using the My Creative Sketches January challenge sketch.  Here's the sketch:

And here's my take on it:

I'll apologize for the photo; I waited too late in the day to take the picture and now I have shadows!  Anyway...

This lo is of my daughter on the day we had her senior pictures taken.  I took this picture in front of our house and I couldn't wait to get it developed so I could scrap it.  I love how this lo turned out.  The quote perfectly expresses how I feel and what I wish for her as she heads to her adult life.  She's just a few short months away from moving into a dorm and starting college.  While I am so completely proud of her and all she has and will accomplish, there is a part of me that wishes I could go back in time and hold her as a baby!  I'm sure all mothers go through this and I know they make it through it, but right at this moment...well it sure doesn't feel like I will!

For this lo I used Prima, Basic Grey, My Minds Eye and Bazzilll papers.  I also used Prima flowers, butterflies and flower centers, ZVA gems, Kaisercraft wood flourishes, and My Mind's Eye Signature Life & Signature Suite accessories.  I used a Martha Stewart border punch (arches), Tim Holtz Tea dye ink, Studio G peach ink and Craft Smart dye based ink in Fuchsia.  The quote strip is from Quick Quotes.



Thanks for stopping by for a visit.  I hope you enjoyed your time here!

Denay

Giveaway at Let's Get Sketchy!

Afternoon all!  Just wanted to stop by and tell you all about an awesome giveaway at Let's Get Sketchy.  They are giving one lucky blog reader the new collection from Echo Park called A Boy's Life.  I love this paper collection.  Shades of blue, green, orange and yellow dominate this collection and the prints are perfect for the boys in your life.
To enter, click the link above and follow the directions.  Good luck!

Hope you all are having a fabulous day!
Hugs and Kisses;
Denay

Lets Get Sketchy! Design Team call

Hi everyone!  How are you?  I hope you all are doing well tonight.
Tonight, I want to share with you a lo I am submitting for the Lets Get Sketchy! design team call.  I love using sketches; especially when I get stuck or lose my "mojo"!  To apply, I had to create a lo based on this sketch:

Here's my interpretation:

(FYI: The brass plaque says Little One, so the whole title is "Little One is Stylin' & Profilin'".)  I love this picture of my little one! 

For this lo, I stayed pretty true to the sketch.  I used the Lacy Labels Cricut cartridge for the shaped background, the Billionaire cartridge for the word stylin, and the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge for the stars.  The plaid paper is DCWV and the green paper is from a spring stack that I've had for years.  The ribbon is from my stash.  I added bronze star brads to the plaque and adhered to the page.  I inked the edges of the plaid paper with a tan ink from Studio G, and I inked the green paper with Martha Stewart ink.  I love the clean and simple lines on this lo.

If you're interested in trying out for the design team click the link above.  Hope to see you there!

Denay

Craftwell's Blog Hop & Giveaway!

Hop over to the Offical Craftwell Blog for your chance to take part in their CHA week Blog Hop.  Make sure you visit all the blogs and leave comments on each one.  There are prizes to win along the way, with the best of the best on the Craftwell blog...a brand new, just released eBosser.  Check it out:

The blog hop starts here: Kreations by Kimberly Rae and ends at the Official Craftwell blog.

Good luck!

Denay

New Challenge Blog opening soon!

Hey all!  I don't know about you, but I love scrapbook challenges.  They get the creative juices flowing, spark ideas, and force me out of my comfort zone.  It's why I'm so excited to tell you about a new challenge blog that is starting up.  It's called Krafty Girls.  The first challenge will be launched on February 14, 2012.  Go bookmark their site.  Hope to see you there!

Denay

I'm a Kish!

As promised, here is my lo using the paper pieced fish.  I titled it "I'm a Kish" because this is how my little one says 'fish'!  I kept the lo very clean and simple, so that the focus went to the pictures and the paper pieced fish.  Hope you like it!!

Hope you all are having a beautiful day!

Denay

A Trio of Cards

Hello all!  Hope this post finds you warm and healthy!  The sniffles have been running through my family and I fear I'm getting it again! 

I know in my last post I said that I would post my paper piecing lo, but I haven't finished it yet!  I've gotten on a card kick in the last day or so and I want to share what I've made. 

I'm taking part in a card challenge at scrapbook.com.  In this challenge there are 8 categories; Color, Theme, Product, Technique, Sketch, Bonus, Lift, and Photo Inspiration.  You can do a separate card for each category, do them all in one, or mix them as you please! 

I completed 3 cards: 1- for the Technique, 1- for Technique and Product, and 1- for Lift and Color.

The criteria for the Technique was to use the faux leather technique.  I started with white card stock and covered it with masking tape.  After trimming the excess tape, I took 3 different colors of ink; tea dye, light tan, and burgundy, and blended them together.  I trimmed the paper and adhered it to a mat.  I then adhered the mat to the card.  For the dress form, I blended gold and bronze ink and then spritzed gold glimmer mist for shimmer.  I decorated the waist with three gems.  For the flowers I used a tutorial I found on YouTube a while back.  Here's the card:

For the Technique and Product card I used the left over piece of the faux leather I had and cut out a dress form.  I added dark blue, purple and teal inks, blending as I went.  For the mat, I had a piece of scrap paper that looked as if it was splattered with mauve paint.  I misted in Sailboat Blue, Plum and Purple Twilight color wash.  I then stamped the word "Dreamer", added the flower and then used Stardust Stickles on the dress form and the title.  I adhered the finished mat to the dark blue cardstock.  (The colors are so much prettier in real life!)



For the final card; I chose the Lift and Color categories.  I wasn't sure how to complete the Lift until one of the ladies in the challenge posted the measurements.  She said to use 2- 1.5 inch squares, 2- 1 x 2 inch squares, and 4- 1 inch squares.  They worked great!!!

I inked the edges of the pieces and around the card.  I added a little bit of bling and stamped the sentiment.

These cards were so much fun to make; and with all the birthdays and other occasions that are coming up, these cards will be put to excellent use!

I'll do my best to finish the paper piecing lo and get it posted asap.  Until then, I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Denay

Paper Piecing

Happy Sunday everyone!  It's super cold and yucky here (we had snow last night), so it's a perfect day to stay inside and work on some scrappy projects!

I've had an idea for a layout for a while now, but I've had a hard time with some of the elelments!  You see, for this past Halloween, my little one was Nemo the Fish.  I really needed a clown fish die cut, but I haven't been able to find one, and none of my Cricut cartridges had one either; sniff sniff!  So I put my thinking cap on and this is what I did:

I scoured the internet for a clown fish coloring page, and I found one at Squidoo, it was exactly what I had in mind.  I printed it off and marked my colors. 

I made a copy of the page, 1-for cutting and 1-to use as a guide.

I then cut out the whole shape.

Then I cut everything apart.

These are the pieces I used as my pattern.  I traced these onto white and orange cardstock and cut them out.

I inked my edges and adhered to a scrap piece of paper.  At this point, I noticed my edges weren't matching perfectly.  I used my Zig Writer in black to go over the joints where the pieces met and added the details; eyes, fins, body shape lines.  Then I cut out the whole shape and this is what I ended up with.

My little fish turned out better than I'd hoped!  This project was so easy and simple to do, and it cost me nothing.  I already had the cardstock, printer paper, adhesive and ink on hand! 

I'll post my layout once I get it finished.

Hugs to my friends,

Denay

Two new projects

Hello all!  I hope this Sunday afternoon finds you all well.  I have two projects to share with you today. 

The first is a new lo featuring my family.  The picture was taken at Thanksgiving 2011.  As some of you know, I have a large blended family.  My husband had 3 children and I had 2 children when we met.  We completed our family in 2009 when we had our youngest son.  But, family for us, doesn't mean "blood".  We include our children's friends too!  The quote/title speaks to both:  "A family isn't about whose blood you have, it's about who you care about".

I used my Cricut and the Lacy Labels cartridge to cut out the shaped background ; I really love that shape!  I painted a Fancy Pants chipboard Scroll with red acrylic paint and then sprayed it with ART-C glimmer mist in red.  

Once I got the bg papers and the photo adhered, I set my eyelets and then wove my ribbon in and out.  I added the chipboard piece and some bling as a finishing touch.  For the title/quote:  I used a mixture of punch out letters (A), Heidi Swapp chipboard words (family) and my computer/printer for the rest of the quote.  

I really like how this lo turned out.

For my second project, I altered a composition notebook.



 In the last month or so, I have begun branching out into other scrappy projects.  I have completed several cards, a picture frame, and a small gift box.  So, when I was invited by the lovely Martica to take part in a journal swap at scrapbook.com, I couldn't resist.  {Thanks Martica!}  Since I had never done one of these before, I scoured the net and found this wonderful tutorial: http://amybayliss.com/2011/08/new-professionally-done-altered-composition-notebooks-journal-scrapbooks-book-cover/ .  The notebook was so easy to alter and I had so much fun. 

I used a trio of My Mind's Eye papers from the Penny Lane collection for the covers, binding, and inside (not pictured).  I embellished my notebook with ribbon, 2 handmade beaded stick pins, a flower, ZVA gems, and a chipboard hinge.  I used my computer/printer for the "My Reflections" and I used one of the Penny Lane papers to cover the chipboard shape.  

I have requests from all 3 of my daughter's to make each one of them their own.  Now I just have to find the perfect papers! 

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope your week is a good one.

Denay

Sentimental Sunday's "Anything Goes" Challenge #83

Happy New Year's to all my wonderful friends!  I hope you all stayed safe last night are are starting your year off with friends, family & love. 

Today, I'm going to share a card I made for the Sentimental Sundays "Anything Goes" challenge.  I'm new to card making, but I am having so much fun!  Here's my card:

I printed the digi stamp and colored her in with colored pencils; 1) because I don't have Copics, and 2) because I wanted the colors to stay soft to match the colors in the bg paper.  I used my Cricut and the Lacy Labels cartridge to cut the sentiment tag.  The sentiment stamp is from the Inkadinkado Nostaligia collection.  I used Stickles, in Lavender, Cotton Candy, & Xmas Red, and Liquid Pearls in Lavender Lace and Rouge to punch up her dress, hair bow, shoes, jewelery and to add decoration to the tag.  I added some gems and adhered to a double-layer mat.  I used pop dots to give dimension to the tag.

My lines aren't as straight as I'd like them to be, but I'm learning!  Also, just a quick plea/mea culpa...I don't remember what site I got the digi stamp from, so if anyone recognizes her, please leave me a message so I can leave proper credit.

Thanks for looking!
Denay