"When our eyes see our hands doing the works of out hearts, the circle of creation is completed inside us, the doors of our soul flies open and love steps forth to heal everything in signt"

-- Michael Bridge

Monday, August 30, 2010

Lawn Fawn's Facebook Mini-Challenge

I also made a few layouts inspired by the Facebook Mini-Challenge Kelly Marie is having this week. You have to create something with letter stickers and her new set of "Bannerific" stamps. Not hard to do, because A. I am in LOVE with this Bannerific set, and 2. becuase I've been dying to incorporate these LOVELY banners into my scrapbook pages, and C. because I use letter stickers on pretty much EVERY SINGLE scrapbook page I do! Needless to say, I was up for the challenge! Now, dont mind me, because I edit my pages in "Paint" and somethimes they come out really wonky!! Like I've said before, I bought Photoshop for my mom & she has yet to share(hmph).

For the 1st page I used Cosmo Cricket's "Delovely" papers & stickers. I couldn't help myself! I just think this line is so bright and fun!! I used bright yellow Thickers as the letter stickers and stamped my daughter's name with Lawn Fawn's Harrold's ABCs. This lovely banner and the sweet birdies are from Lawn Fawn's Bannerific Set. I added some twine - well because I'm coveting twine right now and really love how it all came together.


For the 2nd page I made for the mini-challenge, I used bo Bunny "Sunkissed" papers/combo sticker sheet. I love this paper and the sticker sheet is AMAZING!! Full of cute letter stickers (in 2 colors) and a bunch of great stickers!!! Also, this banner is my absolute faveroite from Lawn Fawn's Bannerific Set!! I think it's just so fun!! So, I had this "master plan", right, so I just got a few of the Luminarte Srpayers (this one in particular is "Sunburst") and really wanted to do a mask with the stamps. I LOVE HOW IT CAME OUT... unfortunately it didn't photograph too well :(. Dissapointing - but in person it's BEAUTIFUL!!! So shiney! I'm so happy I did this!! I also used Harrold's ABCs and a 7Gypsey's journaling stamp on this page. Also, I'm using Versa Magic Ink these days and I'm LOVING the results!!


Thanks for looking. I hope you have a great & blessed week.

Productive naptime anyone?!?

Good Monday to you!! I've been having some VERY productive scrapping time when Alivia naps these days. I just get my son (and my niece - when's she's there as well) into something crafty (like playdough, stamping, glitter glue, etc) and we both go to town! I made several (6 to be exact) pages on Saturday. I'm almost throught Alivia's pile of 1st year pics this point, and SHE. IS. VERY. HAPPY!! She loves looking through all of the scrapbooks. Now instead of saying "baby" when she sees a picture of herself, she says "Lulu" - IT'S SOOOOO CUTE!!!! I just can not tell you! She just LOVES all of our scrapbooks!! What can I say she's a girl after my own heart! So, today I'm just sharing a few of my faves from this past week. I'm trying to get more skilled with the layout of my posting...lets see how this goes:

This one I actually did last Thursday - it was based on last week's Studio Calico Sketch. Unfortunately, my life has been a little hectic since then with the kids and my mom's health issues, that didn't even get to submit it :( booo!!! I used Fancy Pants "My Family" (Red) letter stickers & paper. I've been dying to "dig in"to these papers for a while!! I also must say - my October Afternoon mini market letters, EK Success Scalloped Circle, and Martha Stewart Butterly punches are seriously on my top used items lately - LOVE THEM!!


So, here's one of my Saturday layouts. On Thursday, I got my 2Peas order in - YEAH!!!! So happy to see the mail man walk into my office - I can not tell you! One of the things I ordered was the Cosmo Cricket - "Togetherness" Papercrafting Kit. I also ordered the chipboard stickers - SIGH!! The pictures I used in this layout, are some of my absolute faves of my sweet little Alivia too which made it even sweeter!! I added a little twine with one of the chip pieces - and love how it came out!! I highly reccomend you go scoop up some "Togetherness"!!!


This last layout I almost didn't make. I really wanted to do it, but wasn't all too inspired at the time. Plus I have a semi-nude - but totally cute (!!) pic of my two sweeties below the main pic - notice the "Pull" tab. Anywho... I was flipping through this month's Scrapbooks Etc. mag - looking for inspiration - and decided I needed to give a technique a try!! I love how this looks. I took plain ol' kraft cardstock, and I used some letter stickers (I really like them, but they just don't stick too well - dont you HATE that?!?!?) I used Glimmer Mist and then peeled the letter stickers off (and then saved them - because I can definately re-use them!!) I also used Cosmo Cricket's "Snorkel" paper and chippies. I've had this set so long & have been dying to use it - glad I finally got to! P.S. DO YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN ABOUT THOSE OA MINI MARKET STICKERS?!? I'm totally addicted!!

Monday, August 23, 2010

My weekend's scrappiness






Well Happy Monday! Now onto my scrappiness post ;). I got several pages done this weekend. I'm up to February/March 2009 in Alivia's Scrapbook - whew! Nice to be getting somewhere. This weekend I did several November/December layouts. I put my faves to the top, as I usually do. Psst. I also made 5 cards this weekend, using my beautious Lawn Fawn stamps, but I cannot share them with you, as I'd LOVE to have them published (fingers crossed!!) Enjoy & have a great day!!

First day of School






Well today is the 1st day of school here in sunny South Florida! And it is a HOT one!! Just walking out to the car the sweating started! So, my Alivia (2) started pre-school today. handled it like a PRO!! Was so excited to finally wear her new backpack and use her lunch box (she picked "Olivia"). She was so cute!! Walking sideways and everything!!!! Love it!! No crying or anything - although I kind of snuck out there in the end...just in case!

It was also my son, Christian's (5), 1st day of Kindergarten!! What an exciting time for him! Although his biggest excitement was the headphones on his supply list. Boys! He was very brave and ready to go. His teacher seems nice and he there are 2 Christians in his class - so he will be Christian I ;). He was kinda like "Peace out, mom" and started coloring the picture his teacher had layed out immediately.

My niece, Paige (9) is headed to 4th grade. She was happy that several friends from her 2nd and 3rd grade classes were also in her 4th. She was so sweet (as always) and helpful with the other two kids. Very reassuring (probably why Christian wasn't nervous). And she and Christian are VERY excited to be in the same school finally. When we got to there, she had ro one way, and we had to go another, I told her to have a great day, and asked if she wanted a kiss (you know how they get about THAT) and she said "Heck yea, I want a kiss!!". Made. My. Day!! Always a sweet girl!! Anyway - no tears were shead - not even by me. Very proud of myself for that! have a great day - be back later with my scrapbooking weekend post! Woo!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Before and After


Last night I did this page titled "The Before and the After". I used Bo Bunny's "Sophie Collection" and it's about my daughter's ear piercing. I've made quite a few projects with this collection. I think it's so fun and girly!! I love these pictures of my daughter!! I couldn't wait to get to them. They just make me smile. I guess because of the obvious distinction between the two pictures, and I really just cherish the fun we had that day! It's a great memory for me, taking my very own daughter to get her ears pierced. She really only cried for all of 1 minute, I swear ;). I also made a 2 page layout on the rest of our trip that year to Universal Studios, but I'm not so happy with how it turned out...so no showcasing it here.

One thing I've been learning while working on Alivia's 1st scrapbook, is that I cannot scrap every picture!! I can, but I'll never get to do anything else!! It's perfectly respectable to have beautiful scrapbooks full of eventful or beautiful pictures that you love and also a box of the ones that were not "great" pics., or you just didn't "feel" like scrapping. But I believe that scrapbooks are so important. To tell the story. To remember the moment with information, not just a photograph to look at years later. Ihat's all I have to look back on my childhood - boxes or bins of pics. I'm sure that's what MOST people have, but I #1 love the hobby and #2 I wholeheartedly believe that my children, their spouses, and their children will thank me later. Trust me, I always say I have scrappers ADD, I WANT to scrap all my pics and fill the page with embellishments!! I've really reigned myself in in the past year or two!! But I also want to make cards, mini books, and just play with my stash and different techniques... So, for right now, I'm scrapping a majority of my pics, but not all. Maybe when my kiddos (now 5 and 2) are older and wont let me take pictures of them, well, then maybe I'll get to these other pics that I'm stashing right now. Have a Blessed Day!! Heather

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The word "Scrapbooking Fiend" comes to mind!!




Yes, I've been a very busy scrapper (hee hee) lately! I'm at least half way through the stack of pictures I have for my daughter's 1st Scrapbook - and I feel like I can breathe again!! Ok, so, besides the 3 inch stack I've got to do for Alivia, I DO still have an entire photobox FULL (I really mean FULL) of "family" photos to scrap, NOT TO MENTION the 300 or so I haven't even printed yet, but I'm not overwhelmed any longer (probably becuase I'm concentrating on ONLY looking at the smaller Alivia stack right now - Baby Steps, Heather!).

But anyway, here are 3 more layouts that I completed last night. For the 1st - "Sweet Flutterby Girls" I used my new Lawn Fawn Stamps (Bannerific) again. I went into this layout only knowing that I HAD to use these stamps!! I used Basic Grey's "Olivia" paper and embellishments, my adored Martha Stewart butterfly punches and paper pieced the banner. I'm finding that I LOVE paper piecing!!

For the 2nd - "We love you OVERALL" I used Fancy Pants "Rusted Sun" line. Sigh...I'm addicted to these punched/folded flowers right now. Also, I heat embossed some chipboard letters with a dark blue embossing powder and made it kinda altered/messy. Fun fact - these pics all look warm and beachy, but they were taken in December. Plus side of Florida - it's almost warm (a little too warm right now, thank you).

For the 3rd layout - "Tag you're it" I used Fancy Pants again (unfortunately, I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the line). I got the idea from this month's Scrapbooks ETC. and just made it my own. I just always loved these pics of Alivia chewing on this toy's tag :D and when I saw the tag layout I knew I had to go THERE! I used Glimmer Mist (tuscan sun) on the tags and then paper pieced (I LOVE THESE OWL STAMPS!!) with coordinating papers from the set. I also LOVE LOVE LOVE these American Crafts thickers(green). I think they're my fave yet!! And it seems I can't survive a scrap session these days without my October Afternoon mini market letter stickers! I though the heart punch (fiscars) popped up with foamies and the tabs at the top (EK Success) added a little something extra as well. The buttons are Papertrey ink. Whew! Are you done hearing me chatter on yet?!? Have a great day!!

Everything But the Kitchen Sink Challenge #21



After seeing Kelly Marie's (Lawn Fawn Blog) sketch, I had to try this EBTKS Challenge. It's taken from her washing machine - too funny!! I had to make a Birthday Card for my son's friend Tommy anyway, so I figured I'd jump off from there. The little boy I made it for is turning 5 and his dad drives trains, so I think this'll be perfect for him! I used the Basic Grey "Oliver" paper and element stickers along with my new Lawn Fawn Stamps (woo-hoo!!!) The banner is from one of their newest stamp sets -Bannerific, and the Happy Birthday sentiment is from Lawn Fawn's Bake Me a Cake set. I just love these stamps and if you haven't gotten any yet, you're REALLY missing out!! They're so fun, and Kelly Marie is so great about blogging (and facebooking) inspiration for them!! So that's my take on the sketch! Enjoy & have a great day!

Monday, August 16, 2010

And a THIRD post today...wow!



Well I just wanted to get two additional layout on here. These are two of my faves. The "Swing" layout I got from the Good Grief blog. I loved, not only the layout of the page, but mainly that tree!!! I love that tree and I'm sure I'll be making more in the future for SOMETHING!! I usd Cosmo Cricket's "Nutmeg" line for everything except the black (bazzil) cardstock and the (Fancy Pants) grid paper. I love how it came out! i love that page so much! The second page has some of my faveroite pics of Alivia!!! Her chewing on those sweet baby toes was priceless!! I also used one of my fave companies...OCTOBER AFTERNOON's "Ducks in a Row" papers. I have gone back to my LSS a FEW times to restock on this line (and made several gifts/projects with it!) I'd been wanting for a while to try out these flowers. made by punching 4 scalloped circles and then folding them into fourths and using gluedots to secure them. I'm also (obviously) addicted to my Martha Stewart butterfly punches and October Afternoon's mini letters (LOVE LOVE LOVE)!!

Second post today! Woo!!






I thought I'd share a few more layouts I've made within the past two weeks. I do have two children, Christian is 5 and Alivia is 2, but my daughter's scrapbook kind of fell off the radar for a while. I guess I was mentally blocked?!? That is really the only explination I have. When my son was a baby (which is when I got hard-core about scrapbooking) I was only doing scrapbook pages. Before that, I did a scrapbook for my niece, Paige who is now 9 (It's a 3 ring binder with notebook paper, stickers, markers, etc...). I knew nothing about Creating Keepsakes (or any other if the awesome publications out there), blogs, or anything else scrapbooking related, for that matter. I just did what I liked. Now there is so much inspiration out there - that my daughters scrapbook is vastly different from my sons...definately different from my nieces...anyway... So, over the past year, I started stamping (I THINK I'VE GONE TO THE BAD PLACE WITH STAMPING), making cards, making a ton of mini books, and gifting all kinds of craft goodies. This had kept me really busy (and it didnt help that I felt completely OVERWHELMED by the amount of pictures I have printed now that I have 2 kids - and a niece who is with me most of the time). So technically, I was mentally blocked from scrapbook pages! I've started to tackle the stack I've set aside for just my daughter. With my son I had two (really thick) books just for him (of his 1st two years) and then I staretd the "family" scrapbook. It includes EVERYONE and EVERYTHING. With Alivia I "plan" to do a book or 2 of her 1st year only... we'll see how that goes. Anywho! So THAT is why mostly what I'm posting centers around my daughter right now (although several have my son in them).

Thanks God for naptime ;)




So, yesterday, while Alivia napped and Christian colored I hit the LARGE (very large) stack of pictures from Alivia's 1st year - that until recently (I dont know why) I'd been avoiding like the plague!! I have to appologize becuase my photo editing sucks - I KNOW! I'm using paint and it really blows! I bought "my mom" the new Photoshop for Christmas, but she hasn't showed me how to use it and I'm just too scared to figure it out on my own... so until then, sucky pictures! Sorry.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

More scrappiness for ya!



This is another page I've recently done (last weekend). It's not my absolute faveroite as I did this one after about 5 layouts and I was kinda tired and unmotivated by that time, but I'd really been wanting to make the flower Dear Lizzie gave a tutorial on her blog http://elizabethkartchner.blogspot.com/. I like the flower better than the page. it's all I can post becuase I sent the rest to CK in hopes of publication (fingers crossed). I love these Dear Lizzie papers from American Crafts - especially the fabric paper. LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Been feeling Scrappy ;)



Well I have certainly been scrapping alot. I've sent quite a few to CK for hopeful publication (fingers crossed), so I cant share those, but last night I did make this one whch I wanted to share. I used the Basic Grey "Max & Whiskers" line - papers, buttons, chipboard stickers, and element cutouts - I really like this line alot. I used it to create my son's cousins album - which he loves - and I figured it'd be perfect for Alivia's BFF JJ (our mini wiener dog).