Chopping today

I am working on the Ch{all}enge Masters Chopped project today. Click on the link and join us in the fun.

I started off using a piece of white fabric which I attached sizing to the back of and then stitched a snowflake quilting pattern in white on white for the background. Then I sewed it to a piece of scrapbook paper for structure. Next I cut up a cardboard box into a frame. I punched holes for the stitched laces, embossed the face stamp on the small cardboard rectangle and made flowers out of white speckled paper and cardboard circles. I added the laces, numbers, the cardboard backed photo and the metal embellies.

 Until next time...

Cloudy with a chance of meatballs?

This is a fairly accurate title for today. It is a cold and cloudy here in Fort Mill, SC. We woke up to 34 degree weather which is amazing after our temperatures around 70 last week. It's damp and dreary and the perfect day to lounge around, watch old movies, or set up shop to scrap. I chose to do the later with a movie or two thrown in for good measure. Listed below are my projects for the day. Click on the links if you want more information on the inspirations for these projects. And who knows, maybe there will be meatballs for dinner tonight too.

Hambo Stamps: More Please!!

Ch{all}enge Masters: March Card Challenge: Mini Cards

The Moments: March Ad Challenge

 

 Ch{all}enge Masters: Hybrid Challenge

 

Ch{all}enge Masters: Ad/Art Challenge

Until next time....

The Yellow Ticket

Today's entry took me longer to complete than any I have done before.

First off, I was working on the Chopped Challenge, Week 2 for Ch{all}enge Masters. 

 Our goal:

keep yourself from being CHOPPED from the competition. 

Our parameters:

yellow, scallops and dimensional flowers. 

My attitude:

"REALLY!! YELLOW!! I HATE YELLOW!"

So after much contemplation to make a layout that I was convinced I was not really going to like in the end, I decided to add to my challenge. I took a project challenge from another website,  Scrapping The Moments. This is a fairly new site filled with lots of cool ideas and many MANY talented ladies. The Surprise Challenge this month was to create a tone-on-tone dimensional title. 

I decided to do a monochromatic layout.Well, I had a single sheet of yellow paper, with little flowers on it. So off to the store I went. I looked for yellow papers and anything with texture. I brought home 4 sheets of yellow, a piece of yellow felt, and some yellow paint. In my stash I found a strip of yellow leather and some little yellow bees. I scoured my photos for something that would go with a yellow layout.  All in all, this was the longest process I have ever had for a single layout. Four days of decisions and searching. I hope you enjoy the product.

Until next time...

I Didn't "Forget"

Personally I have been struggling with an illness of sorts these past few weeks. I have been having severe headaches daily and visited the doctor today. In the near future I will be having a CAT scan and some other tests to try and solve the puzzles that are incapacitating my life as of late. Yes, drama, I know...........but that's how I feel today.

Due to the aches in my head, I only have managed to do one scrappy project this week. And of course, the project had to be for the Hambo Stamps Hoedown. As long as I participate in the weekly challenge, the fine owners of Hambo Stamps will continue to send me a free digi image each week to use in my card and layout projects. Stop by the website to see all the wonderful projects the ladies have made to inspire you. It's never too late to join us. Grab yourself an image and get to creating!!!

This week's stamp is this cute little party animal elephant who it ready to head on over to your next birthday bash. Heck, if you are one of my relatives, you may be getting this actual card, LOL!! Our parameters this week were to use this little guy and glam it up with "sparkles". I chose to use some glitter I have had sitting around on the shelf for a while to frame the pachyderm. Then I attached some blue bling to each corner to hold down the distressed printed paper. And Presto, Sparkles!! I also cut out a second copy of the elephant's head and used dimensionals to make it pop off the page as well as the frame he is printed upon. (Note the second shot here) We are ready to party now.

Also using this card for:

The Crafty Pad Stamp Designs: Challenge 113

Card Makin' Mamas: Animals

Now if only my head would cooperate. Needing to get back to my ice pack and Excedrin. Have a good evening. Until next time....

Chopped and High Hopes

I was working on a layout today that completed two separate challenges on the web. Challenge Masters is having a contest called "Chopped" for the next four weeks that is based on the Food Network show by the same name. The premise of the show is that the contestants, all chefs, are given a basket of food ingredients and they have a certain amount of time to complete a dish with those items. I had never heard of the show before, but did go on the web to catch a couple of episodes before the challenge for the scrappers started. I am totally hooked on the show now.

We were given a list of ingredients and a week to complete our challenge. Some of us will advance to the next week. Some of us will be eliminated. Our ingredients this week are; the color lime green, circles and paint. While we are allowed to use other "ingredients" to complete our layouts, these items must be the predominant eye catchers on the layout. To find out more about this challenge, click onto  Challenge Masters and follow the links to "Chopped".

I also decided to use this layout to complete a Scraplift challenge on Scrapping the Moments. The ladies working on that site do a dandy job and have some lovely sketches and scraplift ideas to enhance even the best "scrappers" layouts. New projects become available on the 1st and 15th of every month with some Friday night specials and  other impromptu challenges along the way. Check them out at the link above.

And without further adieu, here is my latest layout....

The Seabird Sanctuary, St. Petersburg, FL 2007

Until next time...

Still working in the green

Here's a couple more green cards and the links to their challenges:

 

Scrapping the Moments: March Card Challenge

Challenge Masters: Green with Envy Tag Challenge

Let's Ink It Up: Embossing

Until next time...

Lotsa Luck

May the road rise to meet you.May the wind be always at your back.May the sun shine warm upon your face,And the rains fall soft upon your fields.And until we meet againMay God hold you in the palm of his hand. 

Hambo Hoedown: There's Gold in the Hills

 

Challenge Masters: One Little Word Challenge: Luck

Scrapping The Moments: Handing It To You Challenge

And in honor of my favorite "Irish" Man:

Scrapping the Moments: March Sketch Challenge 2011

Challenge Masters: Book Of Me: Loved Ones

May the luck of the Irish bless you today and always!

Until next time....

"Pieces of eight! pieces of eight! pieces of eight!"

This is the cry of  Long John Silver's parrot, Cap'n Flint in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. Today I was creating my own treasure box of sorts to house the little stuff that I keep saving to scrap into my layouts. My pieces of eight might include ticket stubs, pins, travel brochures, postcards, or any "treasure" that I come across. The possiblities are endless!!

This started off as a red and white checkerboard recipe box with an orange chicken sitting in a brown basket on the top. I painted it with a sponge so I could texture it as I painted. Then I cut down and attached the lovely papers that I had been storing in my paper stash to use for "something special". (I seem to be gravitating toward this colors lately). I added some letters and embellishments. Finally I laquered the letters to make them POP! I am very happy with the results. 


This box can be used to complete two separate challenges this week. See the caption below the photos for more details on them. 

 

Scrapping the Moments: March Mini Album Challenge

Challenge Masters: March Altered Challenge

Until next time...

Busy Working Girl Today

I am far from "Hardly Working" today. I just returned from the grocery store with the final two ingredients I needed for my Mardi Gras spread for dinner on Tuesday night. I have to work that evening,( poo!!), but will still be fixing traditional sausage red beans and rice with corn bread and King Cake for dessert. YUMMY!! So my job today is to get that King Cake done.

I spent part of yesterday cruising through the Operation Write Home March Bunny Hop looking at wonderful cards and projects made with spring and the overseas troops in mind. I found many inspirational ideas that I bookmarked and hope to incorporate into my creations this month. The ladies of the hop did a great job and their effort was appreciated here in my home.

I managed to complete a card and a layout this weekend in between not feeling so well. The layout was for Scrapping The Moments for a layout tag which will be published at the end of the month. Once it is published I will include it here. I felt it came out great since the primary photo was actually ME, a subject I seldom scrap.

The card I completed was this weeks challenge at Hambo Stamps. Their Hoedown has been great. With each card I complete to their standards, I receive a free digi image to use on my projects. As long as I participate, I get a new image. This weeks image was this cute little lion with two phrases. We were to use him, one phrase and stripes for a manly card. This was my first attempt at using hemp string and staples on a card. I had seen them used on a layout and just fell in love with these embellishments. I am hoping to use them again on more layouts based on my hubby and other male family members. I think it really adds some dimension to the project.

Hambo Stamps: In Like a Lion

Well, gotta go check that rising yeast.

Until next time...

Christmas Bustle

This is the challenge from The Moments tonight. We received directions to make this our own. We had two hours to make a layout, photograph our work and post it on the site.

These are my results:

 

What you are missing out on is the posting story. Normally I would have just posted this into the challenge link on their site. However, with 7 minutes to go the program told me my file was too large. Unfortunately I am still new at this "posting" stuff and did not know HOW to make my file smaller without taking away the integrity of the photo. So I decided to just leave a note on the link stating I would post it in the gallery.  Well, don't you know I typed the wrong password a couple of times trying to do that, so it locked me out. The only choice I had with less than a minute left to go was to post it here and link it back.

After the deadline I was able to finally list it in their gallery and someone else linked it to the challenge for me. I decided to name the gallery image "Friday Night Panic, oops I mean, FUN". I can't believe how flustered I get when trying to do these things!! LOL!!

Until next time...

Let's do that one more time....

I was feeling bad for that bird card on the last post. The colors just weren't where I wanted them to be and the lighting in the shot was not great. So I woke up the morning and did him again. Much more playful colors and I left his "hair" feathers on this time.

Hambo Hoedown: You're my Hero

Okay, now I feel better.

Until next time.......

The end of the month is here already

The past couple of days I have been working hard to find time to finish up some challenges and layouts across the web. This is the first opportunity I have had to post a few to share. There were many more challenges that I wanted to take advantage of, but I ran out of time. I am anxious for the first day of the month tomorrow and to begin working on some new things. Enjoy....

 Scrap That Tune (Vogue, by Madonna): Challenge Masters

 Scrap The Scraps: Scrapping the Moments

 Hybrid Challenge: Challenge Masters

 Digital Scrapbook Elements: Digital Scrapbook Experts

 Stamping Challenge: Challenge Masters 
Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge: Embossing 
Critter Sketch Challenge: Sentiment 

Delightful Challenges: Use your scraps
Do You Stack Up: anything goes challenge 

 

Blademaster Challenge: Challenge Masters 

February Scraplift Challenge: Scrapping The Moments 

I Need A Hero: Hambo Stamps Hoedown

 Until next time...