Happy Birthday Carla!!! Surprise, we’re early!!

So, another one of our fabulous DT’s is having a birthday soon! It’s actually not Carla's birthday until July 1st, but we thought we’d trip her up and do her birthday blog hop today, because she wouldn’t be expecting it ;) We’re sneaky like that…hehehe ;) So, Happy Birthday Carla!! You’re an amazing lady so filled with talent!! I hope your day is filled with Awesome-ness :) Here’s my card for you: (you’ll have to forgive me, but I have been so busy lately I finally had time to make your card tonight (it’s 1am as I blog this) and it was a super quick one, but it’s made with love!) Oh, and I’ve been staring at this card all night trying to figure out the last little thing to finish it off and I didn’t once notice that I embossed the stinkin thing upside down!! So now, if you notice in the corner, there is a lovely little upside down 13…I’m just going to say it’s a 31, because that’s how old you are Carla…right?!?!?! I totally meant to do that!

I thought I’d try my hand at a shaped card this time too, Counterfeit Kits is challenging us to use a shape on our card or layout…I used the Quickutz gift set (gingerbread) to cut the card out (it’s a mini album cover page, cut out twice and glued together!) I’m also entering this into the challenge at CAS-ual Fridays. They want you to “get edgy” and use a border punch on your card. I used one of my new ek success punches :)

Well, Carla, I hope you have an awesome day on your birthday, and enjoy the hop!! Next stop is the fabulous Janet. Have a great day Girl!!

Counterfeit Kit Blog Hop!!

Good Morning Bloggers!! (I say morning, but only because it’s almost 1 am!! aaah!! it’s almost past my bedtime!! lol Well, this is my first time taking part in the blog hop over at Counterfeit Kits Challenge Blog and I’m pretty stoked to be joining in this month! You should’ve come here from Bethany's Blog, but if you didn’t and you want to hop along, start over at Counterfeit Kits and get hoppin!

Their challenge for us for this hop was to create a layout or mini album with the word “I” in it. So, in other words, we had to scrap about ourselves! That for me is definitely a challenge!! Anyway, this LO came together quite quickly (except for the journaling!) and I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out :) I decided to journal 25 things about me (you can click on the picture to enlarge it and read the journaling if you’d like)

Some Close ups:

Here’s what I learned: Do not mist your layout when you have other pictures close to your paper! I had a different photo chosen for this layout, but I wasn’t thinking and I sprayed my paper, then realized that I sprayed my whole face on the other picture! (This pic of me was from when I was about 17 years old! it’s pretty sad that was the only other photo I had of just me in it!)

Also, paint mixed with water can spray very far when flicked onto your page, so make sure you have nothing near that you don’t want to be painted!

Decorative tape makes a great frame for your pictures and can draw your eye to your picture if you’ve got a lot of stuff going on in your LO. (Plus you don’t have to use adhesive then! I’m always looking for ways to save adhesive…I just hate spending money on it when there are so many other cool scrappy supplies I could be buying instead! lol)

Well, there you have it! I hope you enjoyed my layout! I certainly had fun making it (I just love getting my hands all inky!)

Have a great day, and happy scrapping!!

(Don’t forget to head over to Counterfeit Kits and leave a comment on their blog to win a great prize!!

 

Ooops! A little late! (Sketches in Thyme)

Hello Blog Land!! I thought I had some time for this post, but it turns out it went up a few days ago on the Sketches In Thyme blog! Ooops! Anyway, It's time for their open challenge which means you can do a layout based on any sketch and link it up to win a $20 gift certificate to
The Paper Trail. You have till the end of the month, so hurry up and get those sketches and create something!!

I used this sketch from Page Maps.

and here's what I did with it...This page was made for a friend of mine's baby shower. 2 of my really good friends just recently had babies, and for their presents I made them each a layout that I framed.

Here is Sue's baby Alexander James:

And here are some close ups:

I used the resist paper from (I think) House of Three...and cut out the flourishes and added it as a frame to the photo.

I also made a layout for my best friend Erin.

I love this layout. I think it's my favourite so far...notice the background paper? recognize the stamp of the month from Creative Accents? I stamped the whole background paper with the Hero Arts background stamp, and embossed it with clear embossing powder to make my own resist paper. Then I inked the paper with Tim Holtz Wethered Wood, and Broken China Distress Inks. I love the way it turned out!

This layout was really special to me because Erin's family is like a second family to us, so I was really glad to make this for her. I must say I had a little tear in my eye as I finished it last night...

Well, I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by!!

Ps: these layouts were made using my Counterfeit Kit

Don't forget you still have time to play with us at Creative Accents Challenges!

Hope you're having a great weekend!!

Happy Father's Day!

Well it’s seems I’ve been turning into a regular old card maker these days! lol I haven’t even minded doing it either! I find that as long as I have a sketch for it, then I’m okay. I seem to wander aimlessly if I don’t have a sketch! So for this card I found a sketch over at Sketch Saturday that I used for this card:



My hubby is quite the motorbike enthusiast, so when I saw the card that Tara used for her dad’s father’s day card, I couldn’t help but use the same image, because it was perfect for him!



When I found this card in a seven gypsies atc pack, I had to buy it, because (I know this is really mushy) my hubby and I always say to each other “I love you” then he’ll say “I love you more” aaaaaaww!! lol I know *barf* hehe what can I say? sometime’s we’re just downright cheesy! The other sentiment and stamp are from CTMH.



Here’s what I learned: If you think that something is too thick to cut with the steel rule cutting dies…they probably are! I tried to cut our some super thick chipboard that I had kickin around and it cut it out, but I ended up spending the next half hour picking out little pieces out of the die, and it was so stuck in there that the clock was ruined when I tried to get it out.

When you have too many supplies, it’s hard to remember what you have! I thought for the longest time that I didn’t have any grey Copics, so I asked my aunt if I could borrow hers, and when she came over with them, I got mine out and realized I had all the same ones she did! lol it pays to check out your stash sometimes!

The Copic Spica red pen makes quite a lovely Candy Apple Red look on the motorcycle. I was quite impressed with how it turned out!

This card is also being entered into the challenge at The Paper Variety. They want you to use two or more text types in your project. I’ve got a few ;)

Well, that’s all for now :) I’m off to make some cards for my kids for “Son’s Day” (our oldest asked me why there is a father’s day, and a mother’s day, but no Son’s Day, so I think we may have started a new tradition in our family! The day after father’s day is now officially “Son’s Day”! So, happy father’s day everyone, and happy Son’s day tomorrow!!

Happy Birthday Chris!!

Hello Blog Land! So, today, 29 years ago, a very special lady was born named Christine! hehe Happy Birthday Girl!!! I made you a card, you should feel freakin special! haha! (but you won’t actually get it until after the postal strike is over…stupid mail anyway!)

So Chris likes tea and the color blue, and that is how this card came about.

I used this sketch from Graphicat Sketches to make my card…Cheri has the best card sketches ;) they ROCK! So anyway, I’m going to enter my card into her sketch challenge this month :)

Here’s my Take:

And some close ups:

Here’s what I learned:

• Kraft Glassine made by the fabulous Tim Holtz is verrrry cool stuff, you can crumple it and add perfect pearls to it, then heat it and it imbeds into the material. However, the thing about the Glassine that isn’t so cool, is that it’s very hard to get it to stick to things and to get things to stick to it. You definitely need to use a liquid glue…I used the Claudine Hellmuth matte medium and it worked, but I tried glue dots and score tape before that, and nothin!

• If you need just one sentiment out of a background stamp, why not just stamp it and cut it out?! I know it sounds kinda like a no brainer, but trust me, sometimes those no brainers get me stumped!! lol

• Goosebumps Clear Texture spray is my new fav thing! It’s this really cool spray that gives shiny texture to whatever you spray it on…very cool!

Well Chris, I really hope you like your card….I actually like it so much that I don’t want to give it to you! LMAO!! But you totally deserve it, because you’re awesome! I hope you have a fabulous day!! and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOOOO YOUUUUU!!!

You can hop over to Carla's Blog to see what she’s got for you (although I think she’s the start of the hop, so you’ve probably already seen it! But if you’re not Chris and you want to see the amazing card that Carla made, please stop by and give her some love!

And please everyone, don’t forget to hop over to Chris's Blog and wish her a Happy Birthday!!

Ps: Everything I used here (except for the wood grain and happy birthday papers, were part of my Counterfeit Kit!

Enjoy the Journey

 

Good Evening Blog Land! Just a quick post tonight to share another journal that I made a while ago. I have to admit that I’m kinda liking the journal making. It’s a nice change and there will be more to come!

Here’s what I learned:

I love using my Tim Holtz texture hammer to smash brads and make them look all old and antique. It gives a nice shabby effect to a normal brad.

a brown paper bag die cuts nicely and adds to the grungy feel of the journal.

Well, that’s it for now, I thought I’d leave you with a cute pic of Caleb and I that I took the other morning. I just love it :)

I just love this picture!

Well, have a good night and happy scrapping!

Dreaming of summer holidays…

Good Morning bloggers!! After I made my summer add on counterfeit kit, I was totally dreaming of summer holidays and it had me inspired to create this summery layout of Caleb’s first time at the ocean.

Now, I’ve seen a ton of layouts with these awesome flower clusters, and I’ve always wanted to try one, but just never had the perfect layout for it (having 3 boys doesn’t give me the opportunity to use a ton of flowers on too many layouts!) It was rough going when I started it. I have to admit that I hated it (it was too girly! lol) but after I sprayed it with some brown glimmer mist and added some seashell buttons to grunge it up a bit, I am growing quite fond of it!

I also did a hidden journaling “book” by hinging my main pic. I’ve seen this a lot too, but just never tried it. This layout seems to be the layout for new things for me :)

Here’s some close ups:

Here’s what I learned:

My Tim Holtz scissors do a much better job of distressing the edges of cardstock than an edge distresser does.

Hinging paper together is really fussy work…but worth it. Make sure when hinging with brads not to try to make it pretty by putting the brads from the journaling cardstock on the front, because it won’t lie flat at all.

If you run out of the letter “r” on your sticker sheet, most of the time you can cut a piece off of an “n” to make your own.

Glimmer mist has a totally different look to it if you spray water on it after you’ve misted it on your paper.

I entered this layout into the challenge at Scrapbook Challenges.

Well, that’s it for today! Hoping to have some father’s day cards to show you tomorrow! We’ll see how the day goes ;)

 

My Counterfeit Kit

Well I tried it once before and didn’t end up using my kit, but this time I’m determined! I love the idea of creating a kit out of my own stash! So I’m playing along with Counterfeit Kits this month! Now, my kit doesn’t really look anything like their inspiration kit. But the kit (although great) was too girly for what I’ve got planned this month…well let’s face it, with 3 boys, it’s pretty much too girly for any month! But that’s the great thing about Counterfeit Kits, you don’t have to make your kit look exactly like the inspiration kit, you can counterfeit the elements of the kit if not the colors, and that’s what I’ve done with mine!

Here’s the inspiration kit from Burlap and Buttercups Kit club:

And here’s my kit:

Now some of the girls over at Counterfeit Kits have created a summer add on for this kit, and I have too because I’ve been in the mood for some summery layouts lately…but I have to admit that once I got started creating the add on, I couldn’t stop, and I’ve pretty much just made a second kit rather than an add on…it’s quite possible that my add on kit is larger than my original kit! lol Anyway, here it is:

So there are my kits…It looks like I’ve got a bit of scrapping to get done to use up all this yummy goodness! I’m totally inspired now, so stay tuned for what’s to come!

Happy Birthday Julie!! (a birthday blog hop)

(Second Post today---for Sketches In Thyme Sketch reveal scroll down!!!)

Today is one of the owners of Creative Accents, Julie’s birthday!! So the Seriously Creative Design Team have organized a blog hop to celebrate! If you haven’t come here from the beginning of the hop, you can go Here to start hopping!

I made this card for Julie because I know she really likes flowers and I was dying to use my new Hero Arts (Basic Grey) stamp!! I love it :) I think I must’ve been dreaming of summer when I made this card too! It’s quite beachy ;)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIE!!

Here’s what I learned:

When you stamp this with embossing ink, and use Distress embossing powder, it has a pretty good resemblance to sand.

I shouldn’t second guess my paper/fabric/embellishment choices because this was the first project I’ve made in a long time that I didn’t start out with 5 different choices of paper to use and then had to decide which ones to use . I swear because of that, it only took me like half an hour to make this card! Including picking my paper!

sometimes it’s okay to not stamp your image perfectly. In this case it made it look kinda shabby and distressed, and I really like the look of it :)

scrap fabric makes good flower leaves, so don’t throw those scraps away!

I hope you enjoyed your blog hop Julie!! Enjoy your day off! Now you can hop on over to Tanya's Blog to see what fabulous things she has in store for you!

Tara http://creativeaccents.blogspot.com/
Janet http://hilltopcreations.blogspot.com/
Sarah http://scrapsbysarah.blogspot.com/ you are here!
... Tanya http://obsessed-crazymomma.blogspot.com/
Eulanda http://eulandasilvey.blogspot.com/
Carla http://scrappinrpnprn.blogspot.com/
Cheri http://graphicatcreations.blogspot.com/

Well that’s it for me! Don’t forget to go to the Creative Accents facebook page and wish Julie a happy birthday!!

Sketches in Thyme Thursday Takes #49

Hello Blog Land! We’re having some beautiful weather in Williams Lake, and I hope you all can say the same! I’m definitely enjoying the start of summer!

Well, it’s Thursday, so you know what that means! It’s time for another fab sketch from Sketches in Thyme!

Here’s the sketch:

Awesome isn’t it? I love those circles!

Here’s what I did with it:

Here’s what I learned:

If you spray Glimmer Mist on a screen, you can then flip it and smush it on your paper for to get the outside of the design too…

saving and taking advantage of those little scraps of paper can save you time on your layouts…just remember to use them!

The inside of the Tim Holtz clock die has quite a nice tattered circle (that I used for my “journaling” circle)

the I Rock by imaginesce ROCKS! It was sooo easy to use and adds fun bling to your layouts! It’s my new best friend! I’d been humming and hawing about it, but after visiting Debby's Dares and seeing the amazing things she’s done with it, I had decided it was something I NEEDED to have! lol like I need more scrap supplies! hehe

And some close ups:

Our sponsor for June is The Paper Trail. One lucky winner, drawn at random from all June entries, will receive a $20 Gift Certificate!!

I can’t wait to see what you create with this sketch! It was so much fun playing with this one!

Have a creative day!

Sweet Peach Sketch

Hello Blogland! Just a quick post to show you my layout that I created using this sketch from the Sweet Peach Crop Shop Blog.

Isn't it great?!
Anyhoo...this is what I came up with for this sketch:



and some close ups:





The photos are from a couple weeks ago in our back yard. My oldest son Ethan was climbing the tree in our yard, and Caleb (our 2 year old) wanted to go up too...so I put him in the tree, just a little above the ground, and was trying to get some pics of him smiling...it didn't work ;)
The journaling reads:

Mommy:"Smile Caleb!"
Caleb:"I want down!"
Mommy:"Caleb smile for mommy, then I'll get you down!"
Caleb:"I want DOWN!"
Mommy:"smile!" (mommy makes some funny faces in a last ditch attempt at getting Caleb to smile)
Caleb:"Mommy! Want DOWN!"
Realizing defeat, mommy throws in the towel, and finally takes Caleb down from the tree.
Caleb remains undefeated.

I had to chuckle, because Caleb is even more stubborn than I am...I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree! When that kid doesn't want to do something, there is absolutely no way he is going to do it! It makes for some very fun, but also very frustrating days!

supplies used: papers: We R Memory Keepers, BoBunny, Tim Holtz-Coredinations, Crate Paper, and Bazzil. Inks and Paints: Distress Ink-Ranger, Crackle Paint. Brads: Basic Grey. Baker's Twine: the Twinery. Embossing Folder-Tim Holtz (sizzix), Die: Tim Holtz (sizzix), alphabets: (wood) Pink Paislee, Tim Holtz alphaparts.

Well, there you go! I hope you enjoy! I really appreciate you all taking the time to check out my work, it means a lot to me :)

ps: Thanks to Aunty Laura, and Marianne for the two extra brads!! (the package that I had only had one of those funky cool brown and white brads, so I had to go on a scavanger hunt for the other two...because I NEEDED to have 3 on my layout! lol and my Aunty Laura, and friend Marianne were gracious enough to part with theirs for my cause! lol I know, I need help...what can I say?!

Creative Accents June Challenge

Hello Blogland! Can you believe it’s already June?!?! This year is going by sooooo fast it’s utter insanity! lol Well, I’m sure all you challenge junkies know what the beginning of the month means though….It’s time for our new challenge!! And this month it’s another fabulous sketch from our very own Cheri!! So all you have to do is create a card or layout based on this sketch, oh and since Father’s Day is coming up, your take on the sketch should be kinda masculine! So you have until the end of the month to create something with this awesome sketch, and link it up here and one random winner will be chosen :)

So, seeing as how I have 3 boys, a male dog, and a husband that I live with, doing a masculine layout was not hard for me at all! lol I think there’s a daily overdose of testosterone at my house! The only thing I had a hard time with was deciding which of my boys I wanted to scrap about. Now I usually scrap about my little boys, but I found this pic of my hubby, and I knew that was the one for this sketch!

The title is from a song by Chantal Kreviazuk. It was the song we walked down the isle to when we got married almost 7 years ago! aaaawwww!! how sappy am I?! lol

here’s some close ups: and I just have to mention one thing…holy blue eyes! Aren’t they beautiful?! That’s definitely where my boys get their amazing eyes from!

Aren’t these buttons great?! I got em at a garage sale last weekend…a couple jars of antique buttons…there are some pretty great finds in those jars and I couldn’t wait to use some on my next layout!

I’m also going to enter this into the challenge at Scrapbooker's Anonymous. This month they want you to use your 6x6 paper packs. Another great challenge for me because just like last month’s use your stamps challenge, I love to buy those paper packs, but hardly use them! I think I’m starting to see a trend…I just love to buy all those purdy scrap supplies! I’m a little bit of an addict…but come on…aren’t we all?!

anyway, here’s the deets of my layout: Patterned Paper: cosmo cricket, my mind’s eye, Fancy Pants, and Crate Paper. Stickers: Basic Grey, Die Cutting Machine: Vagabond and Silhouette. Die: Quickutz (Diesel Font), Inks: Distress Ink (Frayed Burlap), Chipboard alphabet (unknown), Glimmer Mist, Paint: Claudine Hellmuth Studio, Buttons: cool antique garage sale buttons hehe

Well, thanks for stopping by my blog! I can’t wait to see what you all come up with for this sketch! Don’t forget to link it up at Creative Accents Challenges by the end of the month for your chance to win some goodies!!

Have a good day!

Creative Accent’s Stamp of the Month

Good Morning Blogland! I’m a little late on posting this, but better late than never I always say! lol

So this was my month to create a couple cards for the SOTM board at Creative Accents, and I couldn’t have been more excited to create something with this fabulous stamp from Hero Arts!

The first card I made I stamped the whole kraft background with the stamp. then I die cut circles with a Lifestyle Crafts die and stamped the circles with them too (because two of the wordy circles on this stamp set POP OUT! How cool is that?!) Then I pop dotted them onto the paper and added some Glossy Accents to them to make em all shiny ;) All the papers are from Fancy Pants-It’s the Little Things collection (LOVE THIS). The frame was cut with my Silhouette and I used Memento black ink for the stamps.

The second card I made I stamped that fabulous stamp as the background, then I made a cute little envelope and cut out some hearts with my Tim Holtz heart die and stuffed the envelope full of hearts! I used some baker’s twine and a teeny flower topped off with a bronze brad on the envelope, and the sentiment I typed with my typewriter…that’s right, I’m old school like that! lol

Well, that’s it for my cards! I hope you enjoyed them! Thank you so much for taking the time to look at my blog and for your comments, I cherish every one of them!

I’m off to make a few more cards now *Gasp* I know!! You’ll have to wait to see these ones though! lol