Woo Hoo!!!!!

The other night I received the following from Admin at the Cricut messageboard.

"Congratulations! You are a Cricut Celebrates 100 - Winter Woodland cartridge giveaway winner for Week #3!"

WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! I'm so excited!!!!! I can't believe I won a free cartridge in this giveaway!!!! Can't wait to get it and see how yummy it is in person.

There are still chances to win. Go here to post for this week's giveaway.

Good luck!!! I hope you win!!!

September Mystery Challenge

I almost forgot to do the Scrapping Turtle Mystery Challenge for this month. I was sitting here Sunday night getting ready to head to bed when I saw the bag. How could I have forgotten the Mystery Challenge????? Then I was away most of the day on Monday, so I had to scramble to finish it and get it posted before the deadline passed. Luckily I finished it with a few hours to spare, photographed it, and got it up and posted in the gallery on the Scrapping Turtle forum.

Lori put together a fabulous kit this month. Love that Bo Bunny Mango Luau. There were so many wonderful parts to hand cut and showcase that I just had to make it into a two page layout. It's been awhile since I did a two pager and boy was this one fun. I used my Quickutz Scallop border dies for the bottom edge and the Relax font for my title. The letters of the title are actually four layers and a tiny bit of doodling. I added the glitter to the green circles on my title block.

The photos were taken of Sara and Samuel playing mini golf for the first time ever while we were at Dutch Wonderland in Pennsylvania. It was so cute watching them try to figure out what to do. Samuel was obsessed with the coloured golf balls and quite happily picked up every one that he found and returned it to its rightful owner (he didn't quite get the idea that the ball is supposed to stay on the ground).

Here is a close up of page 1:

Here is a close up of page 2:

Thanks for another great kit Lori!!!! I hope I can still get a kit for October -- they sell out very fast.

Gaggle of Goodies

A little while back I received a little envelope of goodies from The Scrapping Nook for a fun little challenge called "A Gaggle of Goodies". Inside the envelope I found some buttons, a strip of Making Memories tape, a grungeboard arrow, a mini tag, and a scalloped chipboard square.

To create my layout I took a sheet of Bo Bunny dotted paper and two sheets of Bazzill cardstock. I shaped the brown cardstock using an EK Success punch then shaped the blue cardstock with a Fiskars border punch. I cut a piece of blue cardstock to fit the chipboard square, inked the edges and stamped it with journaling lines. The grungeboard arrow was inked with metallic ink. Using Fiskars squeeze punches, I cut flowers from the Making Memories tape. I added a Zva bling swirl. I layered the flowers and used buttons on the two biggest ones. The third button was used on the mini tag, which I used for Sara's name and the date. After doing the journaling, I added the Creative Imaginations Creative Cafe felt word for a title.

Thanks to my dear friend Kim Munro for this fabulous photo of Sara.

Economic Stimulus Challenge Week 2

My friend Kim posted another great challenge for us on the Scrapping Turtle forum. This week she requested that we use the following items:

Scenic Route patterned paper

Chatterbox patterned paper

rub on word or text

something furry

Stickles

I used the Chatterbox paper as my background. I then handcut pieces from two different Scenic Route papers. I added Stickles to the one piece of SR paper. The title is created using rub on letters and a Cosmo Cricket rub on word. My something furry is in the photos, which were taken at Boyds Bear Country in Gettysburg Pennsylvania.

She offered a bonus again this week if we made a card with the scraps. I used the left over cardtstock from my layout, as well as the Scenic Route papers (one is the reverse side). I added some Stickles and some Copic marker colouring. The rub on is from Pebbles Inc. Here is my card:

Thanks for another great challenge Kim!!! Looking forward to what next week will bring :)

Technique Tuesday Cards

Awhile back my friend Lori taught some Technique Tuesday classes at the Scrapping Turtle. I wasn't able to attend the actual classes, so I ordered the kits. There were several layout classes and one card class. I managed to finish the kits for the layouts fairly soon after the actual class (with the exception of one that needs one more step and one that just needs photos), but I hadn't completed the card kit --- until now. I finished up the cards the other night and really enjoyed putting them together.

For the most part I completed the cards as instructed in the kit. One of the few changes I made was in the colouring of the cards. The instructions said to use coloured pencils. I, however, decided to use my wonderful Copic markers. Since I really hadn't used them for much yet, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to give them a try. And yes, I'm hooked. I had to substitute some off white twill ribbon for the white twill that the instructions called for. I couldn't find any white in the approximate size. This colour worked just fine in my opinion.

The tallest card was designed by Lori herself, using the Technique Tuesday stamps. I really liked using the Technique Tuesday tiles on these cards. I think I might have to try using them on other things since the finished project looks so nice.

Thanks to the Scrapping Turtle for offering the classes and for Lori's unique touch with all of the kits. As always Lori -- you rock!!!!!! I'm looking forward to doing some more Technique Tuesday classes with Lori, I'm just hoping that this time I'll be able to attend the actual classes :)

Forgotten Favors

I put these little guys together back in August, then forgot to post them. They are made from the Basic Grey Lemonade Favor kit. Cute little guys aren't they? Now to figure out what I'm going to do with them.

Provo Craft Giveaway Week Three

Provo Craft is now in week three of their great 100 cartridge giveaway. 

You can see the cartridge here.

The thread to post for your chance to win is here.

Good luck!!!!

Two Scrapbook Friends Online Crop

This weekend I participated in an online crop on the Two Scrapbook Friends forum. The challenges were posted on Friday, but I didn't get to them until late Saturday night. I was quite pleased with myself for completing all of them.

In my previous post I revealed the layout I created based on Karan's sketch challenge. It had to use one manufacturer, which for me was K and Company. You can see the layout in this post.

Laura's collage challenge was the perfect opportunity to scrap these photos taken of the children enjoying a carousel ride at the Strong National Museum of Play. You can't tell from the photograph, but certain key photos are pop dotted to give the layout a bit more dimension. I kept it simple with the photos circling the central carousel photo, and the photo of the sign for my title. The carousel horse paper is by Carol Wilson.

Shelby's challenge involved using the word "love", at least one heart, and the layout had to be about someone or something that we love. I used a new paper from Fancy Pants' Dancing Girl line, as well as a scrap from Little Yellow Bicycle, some bling (the word love and two hearts) and some Prima flowers to scrap this photo of Sara taken at Kelsey's on Saturday. I realized after I took this picture that I forgot to add the journaling. It has since been added.

Joanne challenged us with a photo for inspiration. It was a photo of a chair, covered in very large red flowers. I was inspired to pull out these old layering stamps I have and create this card. The white background and red flowers are inspired by the chair.

Corrina's challenge required us to incorporate several different elements: 

1. title must be only one word

2. must be a square on the layout

3. must be a circle on the layout

4. must be at least three different colours used

5. must be journaling somewhere on the layout

I used a die cut My Little Shoebox paper that had a circle on it. There is also a circle for the centre of my flower. My title "Diva" is one word. The square is the photo mat. You can see the colours and the journaling.

Patti provided us with an ad challenge. She posted an ad from West 49 that featured a motorcycle. I immediately thought of this photo Gary took of Jon Bon Jovi's motorcycle at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during our vacation. I found some paper that looked like bricks, added a tire tread (using an old hockey puck), and used the colours from the ad's title in my title.

Carolyn's challenge was "Something old, Something new". The old could be product and the new had to be a technique. I found some old paper for the old part. For the new I used my brand new Around The Page loop punches, stamped on a flower, and coloured with my Copic markers.

Thanks for the challenges ladies!!!!! I had fun completing them!!

Summerfest Week 13 - Final Week

This was the final week for Summerfest at The Scrapping Nook. I believe I have a couple of days to do the one challenge that I missed way back when, and then it is over. Patti and Elia have truly keep us hopping with the fabulous challenges they've posted all summer. I don't know where they come up with them all.

I finished the last of this week's challenges on Friday, but I haven't had a chance to post them until now. So on with the show :)

Our colour challenge was a good one. We were given a picture of the beach with lots of colours to choose from. We had to use at least four of them and couldn't use any colour that wasn't in the picture. I started with the American Crafts striped paper (red and white). I added some Dream Street (blue). Then I hand cut the flower from a Pink Paislee paper (red, black) along with some of the leaves (green). I then used my Technique Tuesday stamp and some black ink to stamp the sentiment. 

We were given the opportunity to find inspiration in the beautiful gallery of Deanna's work for the Doing It Like Deanna challenge. I found a really cute Hi card that she had created using apple paper. I immediately thought it would be a great design to use for trees. I hand cut the trees from an American Crafts paper, then cute the brown cardstock to shadow them. The American Crafts ribbon mimics grass. The owl is handcut from a Kaiser Craft paper. The letters are Thickers (and the same ones that Deanna used on her fabulous card). I love this card!!!!

Single and Loving It was a challenge to use only one manufacturer (aside from cardstock). I chose American Crafts. I hand cut the large flower, then hand cut the butterflies. The butterflies are attached to the card so that their wings are folded up. The letters are Thickers by American Crafts.

The Scrapping to the Oldies challenge required us to use five items from our stash that were at least two years old. I found two papers that are at least that old, some stringed beads that are about ten years old, a chipboard happy face and the word wish that are older than my Sara. It isn't my favourite card (what can I say? I was getting pretty tired by the time I got to this challenge), but it has the distinction of being my 100th card that I've made this year. One hundred cards!!!!! Woo hoo!!!!!! (Not bad, considering I gave myself a goal of one card a month this year LOL).

For the A Summer to Remember challenge we had to scrapbook something from our summer and use at least two photos. I used a sketch by Karan Gerber for the online crop at Two Scrapbook Friends. Not only did Karan challenge us to use her sketch, but she also wanted to see layering using papers from a single manufacturer. I chose these fabulous papers from K and Company and some pictures from our wonderful vacation to Pennsylvania. It looks a lot better in real life as the photo doesn't do the layout justice.

Our photo challenge this week was yellow. I couldn't resist posting this picture of Big Bird that I took at the Museum of Play. I was so excited that they had a Sesame Street area!!!!! (Can you guess that I'm a Sesame Street fan?)

So just one more challenge to finish (I think it is from way back in week five) and I will have completed all of the Summerfest challenges. I even managed to win Bingo this week!!!!!! Woo hoo!!!!!

Cricut Celebrates Cartridge #100 - Week 2

It is week two of the 100 cartridge giveaway on the Cricut message board. The 100th cartridge is "Winter Woodland" and it is very nice :) You can check it out here. 

Don't forget to hop on over to the Cricut message board and post in the thread for week two here. You could be one of twenty lucky winners of a cartridge this week :)

Economic Stimulus Challenge Week 1

My dear friend Kim at the Scrapping Turtle has started an Economic Stimulus challenge. The idea is to encourage us to use up some of the wonderful goodies we have been hoarding. She gives us a list of items to use, and for each item we use on that list we will get a ballot for something wonderful. This week she gave us a list of five things, then challenged us to make a card with the scraps.

Our challenge list this week included:

1. Fancy Pants paper

2. Dream Street paper

3. two different kinds of ribbon

4. alphabet stickers (Thickers count)

5. chalk

In searching through my stash I discovered that I had several sheets of the Fancy Pants The Daily Grind Break Time. I used one for my background and handcut flowers from the other one. The hand cut flowers are pop dotted onto the background paper. I also used the reverse side of that paper to mat the small photo, which is also pop dotted. I then found a Dream Street Birdie Bits Square Die Cuts paper so I used one of the squares to mat the bigger photo. I threaded one of my ribbons through the holes along the side of it. All of the paper edges were chalked. I pleated the butterfly ribbon before adding it to my layout. I added some yummy Thickers for my title.

Journaling reads: Sara wanted a butterfly to land on her finger more than anything else. So we were all extremely excited when one did. Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden, Strong National Museum of Play September 10, 2009

I created the card from the scraps that were left over. There was enough of the Fancy Pants paper left to create the background for my card, as well as to cut out some of the pretty flowers for the front of the card. I used another square from the Dream Street paper and cut off the scalloped piece. I then cut the remaining part of the square down to a smaller size to fit the card front. The scalloped piece is pop dotted as well as chalked. I used a piece of the American Crafts ribbon as well as some Thickers to finish off the card.

Thanks for a great week 1 challenge Kim!!!! Looking forward to what you have in store for us next week :)

Summerfest Week 12

Being away for a week on vacation meant that I was behind on the challenges for week 12. Actually, it meant that I hadn't even started the challenges for week 12. I honestly didn't think I would get them done. However, by working furiously I managed to complete all five of the challenges posted for Summerfest at The Scrapping Nook.

The Triple Crown challenge required us to use three groupings of three to create a project. I was inspired by the fabulous sketch that my friend Dee posted on the Scrapping Turtle for her challenge this week. Thanks Dee!!!!! My first grouping was 3 pieces of cardstock. My second grouping was three differents stamps (the background on the red piece, the sentiment, and the border). My third grouping was three flowers - created with Prima petals, Doodlebug brads and American Crafts ribbon). 

For the "S" challenge we had to use at least six things that started with S. I wasn't really sure how I was going to manage this one, since we could ONLY use things that started with S. Then I got looking around at the Turtle on Saturday. I found a piece of Sunshine cardstock (by Bazzill) and two Soup Staple papers from Jillibean (Green Pea Pod and White Macaroni). When I finally got to work on it today I pulled out some StazOn ink, a stamp, stickers (of butterflies) and my Stickles to finish it off.

The Cut It Out challenge was one of my favourites. I love hand cutting things from the patterned papers. I put this one together while watching Stargate on DVD with the family. I used two different shades of green cardstock for the background (one is Coredinations). I stamped the Coredinations piece and distressed the edges. I cut the rose from a Pink Paislee paper and cut the butterflies from a Graphic 45 paper. I'm not sure what I will use it for, but I really like this card.

In the Just Like Jillian challenge we were required to scraplift something created by the current Guest Design Team member at the Nook. I selected her cute Deer Christmas card to scraplift. I used my adorable Quickutz deer die, some American Crafts paper, Making Memories stickers, and some Stickles. Thanks Jillian for the inspiration.

The sketch challenge this week was another wonderful one from PageMaps. I had purchased some new Kaiser Craft papers from the Turtle on Saturday, so I chose one of those to be the background for this adorable photo of Sara and Samuel trying out the checkers game outside the Cracker Barrel in Ohio on our vacation last week. They looked so cute in those little rocking chairs. I actually turned the paper sideways so that the design in the corner worked with the sketch. I then took the other Kaiser Craft paper and cut a strip for matting the photo. I added a piece of American Crafts paper at the top and two pieces of American Crafts ribbon. The title uses my newest (and possibly most favourite) Thickers from American Crafts --- love them!!!!! I then handcut a couple of the flowery designs from the leftover piece of Kaiser paper and added them to the design. I finished it off with a few swirly lines and dotted lines above and below the photo mat, along with my journaling.

So amazingly I finished all five challenges just in time. This coming week will be the final week for Summerfest. I wonder what challenges they will have in store for us now.

Cricut Giveaway

Provo Craft is celebrating the 100th cartridge for the Cricut machine with a giveaway. Each week they will post a thread on the message board at Cricut.com. If you post on that thread you are entered for a chance to win one of 100 cartridges (20 per week for five weeks) that they are giving away. 

As well, if you post about the contest on your blog you will receive another chance to win. 

What is the 100th cartridge? It is the brand new and fabulous "Winter Wonderland" cartridge. You can find out more details about the cartridge here. This is definitely one I hope to add to my collection very soon.

The thread for week one of the giveaways can be found here. Good luck to all those who enter :)

Summerfest Week 11

I finished up all  of the challenges for week eleven of Summerfest at The Scrapping Nook last night.

Flower Power required us to use five different flowers. I used a metal one, a felt one, a Quickutz one, a chipboard one, and a puffy fabric one, as well as lots of American Crafts ribbon.

The Stash Stew challenge required us to use textured cardstock, die cut patterned paper, bling, dimensional alphas, 7 brads, 2 different ribbon, something metal, and something at least five years old. The ribbon slide is actually something I bought ten or so years ago to make a dream catcher -- I think it is called a conch, but I could be wrong. Oh, and something had to be pop dotted, so I pop dotted the Autumn ribbon. I love these new American Crafts Thickers --- I think they are my favourite ones to date.

An Ode-i to Jodi was a scraplift challenge. I lifted Jodi's very pretty "Thinking of You" card and used my Technique Tuesday stamp. I used up some old paper from my stash that I really didn't like, but I like how it looks on this card. I think this is one of my most favourite cards. Recognize the Treading Water Fiskars punch on this one? I used it to make the mat for the butterfly as well as the base of the card. Thanks for the inspiration Jodi!!!!

The photo challenge this week was "Love". Here's a photo of Gary and Sara :)

Enjoy the rest of your week!!!

Top 10 Challenge

As part of Summerfest at The Scrapping Nook I was challenged to create a project using my top 10 manufacturers. That was a tough one --- I have so many manufacturers that I love (which is part of my problem LOL). I managed to narrow it down to ten and created a card.

The manufacturers?

Bazzill - cardstock

Quickutz - butterflies

Provo Craft - Cuttlebug embossing folder

Ranger - Stickles

Doodlebug - brads

Colorbox - ink

Heidi Swapp - edge distressor

Prima - flowers

Fancy Pants - paper

Coredinations - cardstock

Feel The Difference

I've been very busy recently getting some projects ready that I am unable to reveal at this time, but since those are now done I have been able to tackle the Summerfest challenges for week 11 at The Scrapping Nook. The first one I have completed is for the "Feel The Difference" challenge. We were shown an advertisement and required to use at least three of the colours and take whatever other inspiration we wanted from it. The ad was in a variety of colours and showed some buildings splashed with colour.

I immediately thought of the Dream Street Urban Ink Reflections paper and a suggestion that my friend Lori made while we were looking at the paper at the Scrapping Turtle. She thought it would be a good paper to use the Quickutz Skyline border dies with. I'm not sure this is what she pictured, but here is my creation.

I cut the City Skyline Quickutz border in eight colours (all taken from the ad), then layered them across the bottom of the paper. I actually cut the border in half so that I could change the order of the skyline buildings. I then cut the Suburban Skyline Quickutz border in the same eight colours. I used the black as the base and cut houses out in the other seven colours. The photo was taken at my friend Mellissa's house at her grandchildren's birthday party. Since it had several colours in it I felt it fit my theme perfectly. The alphabet stickers for the top part of the title are unknown stickers from my stash. The coloured stickers are from Piggy Tales.

The journaling reads: Whatever you do, wherever you go, I hope you will always live your life to the fullest and enjoy every moment.

Thanks for the idea Lori -- I hope you like it. Marissa, now you know what I was planning to do with all those skylines I cut out on Monday :)