July Projects

When I have had a couple of minutes to spare this month I have been working on Scrap 'N Chat challenges and projects to be used as samples in my new Paper Arts/Scrapbook classes at Michael's. Here are some examples.

Until next time...

June and July whirled on by

My life has been crazy busy this summer. I started my paper crafting classes at one store and then added another. Hubby, DD and I took a trip to visit family and friends back in Florida. I have hardly had time to keep up with my own scrapping and working with Scrap 'N Chat!! I had planned on participating in a photo a day challenge all summer long and got lost along the way. Where has the time gone?

Now Hubby and I  are venturing into our biggest adventure in our three and a half years of married life so far. We have decided to build a house. So exciting and yet so frightening at the same time!!! But I am going to try to focus on the exciting parts and down play the scary stuff as I go along.

Here is our first photo. This is our lot. In the time we signed the paperwork and left for our week long vacation, the builder leveled the lot and now it just looks, well, RED!!! I need to remember not to chose white carpets for the downstairs areas or I may be seeing this red clay in my sleep after we move in.

This is our street. As you can tell this is a new development. We are at the end of the street on a cul-de-sac. Every one of these lots has been sold. So in the next 6 months, this street is going to get a serious face lift. We are hoping to get into our home by Valentine's Day 2013, but I would be ok with sooner than later.

In the next few weeks we will be heading to the "showroom" to chose cabinets, carpets, wall paint, light fixtures, appliances and such. I can't wait!!! I hit Lowe's tonight to compare cabinet colors to countertop colors and to find out exactly what "shaker style" looks like. This is going to be interesting learning curve for me. I can tell I will have a million and one pins on Pinterest by the time we get settled in. Stay tuned for more exciting updates in the future.

Until next time...

Scrap 'N Chat's July Scraplift

You know it's hot outside when you take a photo of your layout and it's so washed out that you have to adjust the colors of the photo in PS!!!

Here's our inspiration piece for July:

It's by Lisa-Jane over at Inside My Head

And here's mine:


Let's see what you can do now. Head over to Scrap 'N Chat and show me.
Until next time...

Taking a moment to share

A charming woman is a busy woman.

Loretta Young

If Ms. Loretta Young is correct, I must really be charming!! I have had such a busy week so far and it's only TUESDAY! Let me catch you up on my projects before I move onto the next ones.

First off, I finally was able to create a project for my own Ad/Art Challenge at Scrap 'N Chat. I provided our players with 5 samples of travel posters. They were then asked to create a paper project, any paper project that they felt like. Even I went off my regular radar. I usually do a scrapbook layout. I noticed my greeting cards are getting low, so I used the colors in this poster:

and created this card:

I love this stamped image of the lady's face. The lace and buttons were the perfect finds from my stash to complete this card. I wonder who will open their mailbox to find this.

Back in May I participated in a Photo a Day challenge. It was so much fun. I wanted to display my May photos in my scrapbook. We did not have many activities that month, so the photo challenge pictures were "it".  I searched high and low for a layout that would allow for 31 photos.  No luck!! I love to use photo booth strips on my pages. This turned out to be a great idea for this many shots. I printed the photos in contact sheet size. Then I cut them out and lined them up on card stock to mimic photo booth shots. I used the color combo from the Scrap 'N Chat May color challenge to complete this design. I really like the results.

Well, since I was on a color roll, I decided to jump on the June Color Challenge at the Scrap 'N Chat forum as well. The palate was lovely. Luckily I had gone to the scrapbook store recently and purchased this cute paper with Chinese lanterns on it. I found a great sketch, located a cute photo of my sister and I and added a quote I found on Pinterest. 

I have a truck load of Christmas photos just sitting here on my desk printed and waiting to be scrapped. Sami kept looking at me from her photo as I worked on the other layouts. "Is it my turn yet?" I imagined her saying. Well...

Sami is sitting atop a layout provided to me by Janet at our Weekend Blitz challenge over at Scrap 'N Chat. We have a weekend challenge each Friday on top of all our other exciting challenges each month. Sometimes it's a layout, sometimes it's a technique. No matter what the challenge is, I love the extra shot of inspiration to get my weekend mojo going.


And last but not least, I combined the Book Of Me challenge with the Maddawg's Madness Challenge for June to create this layout. It is fun and quirky with my Pink Paisley paper pack I won a few weeks back from Big Picture Classes.

Today I decided to take it easy. I created some fabric flowers, baked a pork roast and watched as workers came to replace our screen doors on our house. I tried to finish my latest book club reading, "The 19th Wife" and watched "Master Chef" on tv. Now I am off to plan my next creative adventures and get some much needed rest.

Until next time...

Vacation! All I Ever Wanted!!

It's Friday the 15th. That means there are new scrapbook challenges over on the forum at Scrap 'N Chat.  Head over to see what the design team has in store for you this month. We have some fabulous paper and digital artists who will inspire you with their work. 

June 15, 2012 - Ad/Art Challenge

It seems many of us have been doing some fun summer events lately. Travel is one of my faves this time of year. (well, actually travel is good ANY time of the year, LOL!!) So for this month, let the vacation dreams begin!!! 

  

Use one or more of these vacation posters to inspire a paper project in your life; a layout, a card, an ATC, a mini, a SMASH, a table display. You pick.

Are the color combos just what you like?  Well, go with that.

Do the posters remind you of a trip you took to one of these places? Are those photos just sitting around waiting to be scrapped? Well, there you go.

Do you have embellishments similar to the poster images sitting in your stash just waiting to be used?

Is the lettering of the titles something that inspires your craft? The possibilities are endless.

So grab your paper and get to work. I will be waiting to see what you come up with this month!!

My sample is coming.... I promise!! 

June Scraplift

I am posting this a little late, but things have been crazy around here lately. Hope on over to Scrap 'N Chat and see this and many more challenges to get your scrapping mojo running.

Can you scraplift this?
We Love Each Other, by Amber Boren

My version:
Papa and The Boys

Until next time...

Playing at work

Today my assignment at work was to do a scrapbook demo for 2 hours. I had no other directions. I was told to just make something. Well, I was supposed to get people to sign up for a class also, LOL!

 Since Father's Day is rapidly approaching, I decided to do a layout about Dad. I had made one similar to this one last year. When I saw the monkey paper, I KNEW it had to be a tie!!!

I also found a pack of paper that was Christmas themed that had a great weight to it. You know, the kind that is just thick enough you want to manipulate it and create something grand. I also wanted to find a use for the paper that was not necessarily Christmas themed. We will just call it the button page.

So that's how I spent my morning on this fine June Sunday. What did you do?

Until next time...

The last May Photo of the Day

The theme: something beautiful
The answer: a clean and shiny car!!!

Until next time...

Two More Shots Left

...in this month, that is. Today is Day 30 in the Photo of the Month challenge for May 2012. My assignment, photograph my personality. Well, I can think of a whole bunch of adjectives that fit that bill. This one however is how I am feeling today.

I have not been feeling on top of my game lately. But my hubby is an amazing person who tries so hard to help me up when I am down. Because of him, today I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. 

Until next time...

May Photo of the Day - Catch Up Day

Ok, I have quite a few here. I can't believe I got this far behind. Where has the month gone?

Day 15: Love
AH, coffee...

Day 16: What you're reading
Nook, of course!!

Day 17: Snack
(not just for breakfast anymore!!)

Day 18: Something you made
(Christmas in May)

Day 19: a favorite place
communing with my peeps

Day 20: something you can't live without
a good pair of scissors

Day 21: Where you stand
on my own two feet

Day 22: Pink

Day 23: Technology
can't go a day without my Xbox

Day 24: Something new
my prize pack from Big Picture Classes!! Score!!

Day 25: Unusual
(no adhesive in my ATG!! OH MY!!)

Day 26: 12 o'clock

Day 27: Something Sweet!!

Day 28: the Weather Today

Day 29: a number
(hey schoolhouse rock fans
"three - it's a magic number")

Until next time...

Some of the latest layouts

I have been a crafting fool this month. But I have not taken the time to post. So here you go, in no particular order

Happy Mother's Day Cards for my sweet Moms!!

May Layout Tag!!
featured on Scrap 'N Chat
Yes, that is a wreath of FISH!!!

Scrap 'N Chat Weekend Blitz
Use 30+ of something on your layout

My new Crop Bag to take my scrapping supplies with me.
I loved the colors of this fabric!!
Saved the leftovers to add to a layout in the future.

Happy Birthday to a friend!!

And another!!!
This one matches the Card Challenge at Scrap 'N Chat.

So stop by Scrap 'N Chat to see what other challenges are available!! We just started a  Summer Photo Challenge that looks fun! 99 days of photos to add to my blog!!! LOL!! I need to catch up on postings of  my May Photos of the Month Challenge!! Let me go do some editing today, since I am out of scrapbook adhesive until my next trip to the store!! (I can't believe I have actually RUN OUT!!)

Until next time...

Book Blogger Update

Back on January 8th, I mentioned that I was challenging myself to read some additional books along with my book club books this year. Between the the two challenges, I have set a goal for myself to read 25 books this year. (I am keeping track through the Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge.) I am finally up to 9 books completed and one is from the Book Blogger Challenge. Yay Me!!

I cannot for the life of me understand why I keep picking books that are at least 800 - 1000 pages long!!! I mean I completed the third book in the Outlander series, Voyager, and it was 1007 pages long on my Nook!!! Good thing I am totally engrossed in the characters at this point, LOL!!

Back to my books.......

Until next time...