Scrappy Dream Come True!

For the last couple of years, I feel like my scrapping talent has improved greatly.  The more I scrap and learn from others, the more confidence I have that my work is good. I think my work is good. My husband thinks my work is good. Friends think my work is good.  All this confidence building helped me to accomplish one of my dreams- applying to and being accepted on a Design Team.

It is such a huge compliment and confidence booster for someone to like your work enough to want you on a team promoting their product.  I am so excited to have been accepted to be on the design team for

I just can't wait to get started and get to know all the other lovely ladies I will be working with.  I know it will be challenging, but I look forward to the challenge and the growing that will happen. Wahoo!

MWM Amethyst #5

Another fabulous sketch by Kristy Lee and some Authentique made for some great Mojo's this week.  I absolutely love getting a new sketch every week and really stretching my imagination. It's also great to file them away in my binder for future inspiration.

 Authentique "Uncommon"

There is hidden journaling on the left-hand side with the pull-out 

that contains a letter for my sweet Eloise.

Authentique "Journey"

Another page for my wedding album gift.

A Week's Worth

I wasn't able to fit another cram session in last week, but I feel I was pretty productive.  I am really liking the "hurry and get caught up" feeling and the productivity it is bringing.

Echo Park "A Walk in the Park"

 Echo Park "A Walk in the Park"

 Echo Park "Holly Jolly Christmas"

 Echo Park "Holly Jolly Christmas"

 American Crafts "Nightfall"

Fancy Pants "Summer's End"

Cram Session

To say that I am behind on my scrapbooking might be an understatement.  A couple of years ago I printed a TON of pictures and took the time to separate them into different events and then filed them into page protectors in the many albums I have. And there they have sat. And sat and sat. The pictures are from 2009- 3 years ago. Since I have printed those pictures, we added 2 more kids to our family, moved, and so much more. That equates to a lot of scrapbooking backup.  Because I want to spend more time trying out new techniques, I decided that I needed to do a scrapbooking cram session.

What is a cram session?    1. Pull out all photos and separate them into events.    2. Pair each photo set with a sketch.     3. Pair each photo sketch/sketch with a paper collection and place them together. 4. Ready, set, scrap!

Last week I got a bunch set up and completed 14 layouts in 2 days. Because I NEED to get things done, I didn't worry too much about adding anything extra and just sticking with what was in the kit.  Occasionally I would remember something I had that would go great with it and just quickly dug it out and slapped it on.  They didn't end up being my favorite layouts, but for the most part I like them and are glad they are completed.

Here are my completed projects:

 Echo Park "Walk in the Park"

 Fancy Pants "Love Birds"

 Doodlebug "Color Coordinates Lovely Lime"

 Echo Park "For the Record" 

 Bella Blvd.

 American Crafts "Nightfall"

 Basic Grey "Olivia"

 Crate Paper

 Creative Imaginations

 Echo Park "Playground"

 MME "Good Day, Sunshine"

 Bo Bunny "Sunkissed"

 Fancy Pants "Dancing Girl"

Echo Park "Little Boy"

Because I got so much done, I decided to do another cram session. I raided my girls scrapbooks and put together 34 picture/sketches/paper packs.  I am excited to get those completed because then I will be pretty much caught up with my older girls books.  (I decided in 2010 to stop scrapping every single moment and just the major ones. Most of my Mid-week Mojo's will in the 2010 and 2011 events.)Here's to getting caught up!

MWM Amethyst #4

I made this page for Jethro's Grandmother using Authentique "Gathering". I took this picture at his Grandad's funeral and did a little photo effects on my iPhone. I loved how it turned out.  I was hoping that she would like this page and was pretty nervous to give it to her. Jethro delivered it and she just cried, a good cry though. Phew.  She especially loved the sentiment "You are my sunshine." It has special meaning to her and Grandad.  I am so glad she liked it.

A Little Winter Fun Box

Who has kids that get bored when they can't play outside? Who hates getting kids all dressed up in their snow clothes 5 times a day so They can play outside for 5 minutes? ME! To alleviate boredom and the need to dress the kids so much, I created this Winter Activity box.

I took a metal box I found in my scraproom and grabbed Echo Parks Everybody Loves Christmas and got to work. After covering the box, I created the little cards to write activities on.  Everyday the kids could draw a different activity. When we go through them all, we can just start over. This winter has been unseasonably warm, but i do plan on using this box next year.

Supplies:
Metal box
Echo Park's Everybody Loves Christmas
Stickles

Authentique March Layout Challenge Take 2

I used the pieces of the Wonder collection for this layout.  I think this was only the second time my girls have sat on Santa's lap and it seems that they have outgrown the fear they had the first time.

Supplies:
Wonder Tabloids, Icons, and Headlines
American Crafts Ribbon

Authentique March Challenge Take 1

I loved using Gathering on this adorable picture of my oldest climbing a tree last summer.  This little girl has so much confidence in herself and doesn't believe that she can't do things. She believes that she can do whatever she wants and I am grateful for that.  I believe one of the hardest things as a mom is teaching kids to have confidence in themselves.  With the world being such a rough place, it is so important for kids to learn that can can be anything and do whatever they want and the only one that can stop them is themselves. I want all four of my kids to grow up confident in themselves and help instill confidence in others.


Supplies:
Authentique Gathering
Studio Calico Wood Pendants
American Crafts Thickers
We R Sew Easy floss

Catching Up

To say I'm a little behind on my scrapbooks might be an understatement. I am still trying to finish up 3 books from 2009, so I'm a little behind.  The last two nights I had a burst of creative energy and was able to get quite a bit done.  Here are some of the layouts I completed.

 Teresa Collins Haunted Hallows and American Crafts Thickers

 Echo Park Life is Good

MME Fine and Dandy True Blue

Authentique March Challenge- Card #1

I used Authentique's new collection, Celebrate, to make this birthday card for my Mother-in-law.  I absolutely love Celebrate because it is a fabulous grown-up birthday collection. The colors are stunning and the designs and elements are just perfect for the grown-up feel I was going for. Authentique hit it right on the head with another fabulous collection.

MWM Amethyst 3a & b

Melissa Dehne was the fabulous guest sketcher over at Scrapbooksteals this week.  I had the privilege of meeting Melissa at the Scrapbooksteals retreat last October and she is not only a total sweetheart, but an amazing scrapbooker. Her sketches were absolutely fabulous and I really enjoyed working with them.

I made both of these pages using Authentique's Journey collection that I bought off of scrapbooksteals.com last week.  Both of these pages are for a wedding gift for my Dad and MIL in a couple of months.

Favorite Layouts

American Crafts Nightfall

My Mind's Eye Lush- Navy with Pebbles embellishments

 

Authentique Gathering

Fancy Pants Baby Mine

Welcome Scrapbooksteals Friends!

Thanks for joining me on this fine Saturday morning! I was so excited when Kristy, from my favorite scrapbooking supplier- Scrapbooksteals.com,  asked if I wanted to be part of their fabulous blog hop.  How could I resist! Then she said it was going to be Brads and Buttons from Basic Grey.  I seriously love buttons and love having brads to add that little something extra to a layout so I was more than a willing volunteer!

It is kind of intimidating being part of a blog hop because I knew that the other fabulous ladies will have some amazing projects.  I knew that I was going to have to think out of the box to be on par with these ladies.

The idea for my first project, and my favorite, came in the shower. (Isn't that when most of the ideas come?) My daughters love it when I make projects for them so this one was perfect.

I headed to my local Walmart to find some cheap canvas shoes (The kids shoes were $5). Luckily, I snagged the last pair in any of my kids sizes and headed home to work.  With the help of my Cropidile (which punches canvas beautifully), felt, hot glue and some thread, I transforned a very plain pair of canvas shoes into a pair my daughter loves to wear. (For a step by step instructions, you can check out my tutorial HERE.)

Because I just can't stop at one project, I decided to make a mobile for my little baby. Everything she has is pretty much handed down so I thought it would be fun for her to have something that is just for her.

Supplies:

Fancy Pants transparencies

2 children's hangers

Sew Easy floss

Hot glue gun

Bella Blvd Cotton flowers

Yarn

Basic Grey Brads and Buttons


And last but not least, a pretty simple yet fun project.  Hair flowers are all the rage these days and with 3 girls I could use all the hair flowers I can get.  The Basic Grey Brads and Buttons make  fantastic centers for the flowers.

To start I gathered a bunch of supplies that I had hanging around:

Supplies:

Hair clips (Got a big box from Sally Beauty Supply)

Fabric or felt flowers (whatever you have on hand)

Assorted ribbon

Shelf liner (Works great when attached to the clip to make them non-slip)

Hot glue

Basic Grey Brads and Buttons


With some mad hot glue skills I turned my supply pile into these beauties:

A view of the back:

The different sizes of buttons are so great because depending on the size of your flowers, you could have so many different looks.  The brads worked great in adding a cute smooth center.

See, the possibilities with these brads and buttons is endless! Be sure to pick up yours today and think out of the box!

You wanna see more amazingly awesome projects, hop on over and visit my friends:

1. ScrapbookSteals


2. Kristy Mackeen


3. Staci Jones YOU ARE HERE! :)


4. Amber Sheaves Go Here Next


5. Cristine Redmond


6. Venetia Holbrook


7. Charity Becker


8. Van Nguyen

Be sure to leave a comment on each blog (including Scrapbooksteals.com's) and you could win a $20 gift certificate to use at Scrapbooksteals.com!