Thursday, February 28, 2013

"Just Because" the Birds Of A Feather March kit is awesome!

I am so excited to be revealing my first kit projects for Birds Of A Feather! And I couldn't think of a better kit to start with than this beautiful assembly of patterned papers, cardstock and embellishments. Chock full of papers from Little Yellow Bicycle's Just Because collection and Teresa Collins' Stationery Noted collection, along with a set of Thickers and embellishments from Prima, Petaloo, Kaisercraft, Maya Road and more, this kit is not one to pass up. You can snag one here if you haven't already! And, I highly suggest checking out the kit extras too; I ended up getting all of them! One of the best things about this kit is its versatility. You can scrap almost any subject, any season, any person with this kit because of it's combination of cool and warm colors, masculine and feminine patterns and variety of embellishments. But one solid theme does run through the kit and that is "relationships."

So I decided to go with this theme and start off with a layout honoring my mom. Many Christmas' ago, when I was still in college, my mother gave me a beautiful piece of art. It is a clay etching of mother and daughter and it says "Always my daughter, now my friend." With this quote in mind, I created this layout. I loved the Little Yellow Bicycle chipboard Polaroid frame that came in the Extra Embellishments Pack and knew I wanted to use it to focus in on my Mom and I in the photo since there is so much negative space around us. Then, to tie into that chipboard frame, I cut out one of the polaroid prints from the Teresa Collins Polaroids paper (which is part of the Extra Patterned Paper Pack) to use as my title block. I wanted to keep the embellishing feminine and whimsical so I included one of the beautiful Prima flowers and a couple of the elegant Petaloo brads and then added a few of the cute Little Yellow Bicycle chipboard birds and hearts as well as the fabric banner (which is also a part of the Extra Embellishments pack).
(Supplies: Bazzill cardstock; Little Yellow Bicycle and Teresa Collins papers; American Crafts Thicker alphas and lace trim; Little Yellow Bicycle fabric and chipboard embellishments; Prima flower; Petaloo brads; DMC floss; Zig Writer pen, StazOn ink. All items are from the BOAF March kit and kit extras except the floss, pen and ink.)
And here are a couple close-ups...

After I finished my layout, I used up some of my scraps to create this card. I almost always create a card from my scraps after doing a layout. Anyways, I kept the embellishing minimal because there are so many patterns going on in this small space; I knew I didn't need much. I used one of the fabric flags as my sentiment - doing double duty! Love that!
(Supplies: Bazzill cardstock; Little Yellow Bicycle and Teresa Collins papers; Little Yellow Bicycle fabric sentiment flag; American Crafts glitter tape; Petaloo jeweled brad. All items are from the BOAF March kit and kit extras.)

Thanks for taking a look at my projects today! I hope they inspire you to snatch up a March kit and start creating!

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Birds Of A Feather Crop Layouts!

So, my first crop at Birds Of A Feather has come to an end and I really had a blast! So of the nine challenges issued this past weekend, I completed six of them. And I am pretty happy with that! So, without further adieu, here are those six layouts...


(Supplies: Bazzill cardstock; Basic Grey papers, alphas, stickers, felt embellie and clip; EK Success leather tag; Studio Calico wood veneer; Dymo labeler; My Minds Eye washi tape; Sakura pen; StazOn ink; Inspired to Scrap sketch.)

(Supplies: Bazzill cardstock, Basic Grey papers, journaling spot, 3D embellies, fabric brads and rub-on sentiment; Prima flowers and chalk ink; Bella Blvd alpha stickers; Kaiser Craft rhinestones; Crafters Workshop template; Zig Photo Signature pen; StazOn ink.) 
* I also created the above layout for the third Last Scrapper Standing Challenge at Memorable Seasons. * 

(Supplies: Bazzill cardstock; My Minds Eye and Pebbles papers; American Crafts alpha stickers; DCWV Pressed Petals jelly alphas; Prima rubons; Jillibean Soup twine; Making Memories mini-brads; Zig Writer pen; StazOn ink; Inspired to Scrap sketch.)

(Supplies: Bazzill cardstock; Little Yellow Bicycle & Jenni Bowlin papers; American Crafts Thickers; Pink Paislee tiny alphas; The Paper Co vellum; Doodlebug pearls; DMC floss; Sakura pen; Inspired To Scrap sketch.)

(Supplies: Bazzill cardstock; Basic Grey papers, stickers, alpha stickers, clip; American Crafts Thickers; Darice sequins; Signo and Sakura pens; Inspired To Scrap sketch.)
(Supplies: Bazzill cardstock; Fancy Pants papers; Pink Paislee alpha stickers; Queen and Co washi tape; miscellaneous sequins; StazOn and Colorbox ink; Sakura pen; Cricut Expressions die-cutting machine.)

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

March Memorable Seasons Sneak Peek!

Hi everyone! I just wanted to give you a sneak peek at what I've been working on for my Memorable Seasons March reveal...
Be sure to check back here on Friday, March 1st to see the full reveal! Happy Tuesday everyone!

Friday, February 22, 2013

I'm a ScrapChick at Birds Of A Feather!

I am so excited to share this news with you all! This is the news I got via email last Sunday night that I had to blur out in my Week 7 Project Life spread because it was top secret...until now...

I am a ScrapChick at Birds Of A Feather Kit Company beginning March 1st!
I am pretty new to the boards over there and must thank my friend Nicole Wise for introducing me to Birds Of A Feather and all the lovely chicks in the "Hen-House." And I must also thank Amy, Birds Of A Feather's owner, for this amazing opportunity.

If you are not familiar with Birds Of A Feather, I highly suggest you check it out! There is the wonderful forum (aka "The Hen-House") full of great chit chat and awesome challenges, the beautiful gallery, and the gorgeous kits that Amy puts together each month. Seriously, you have to check out these kits. And each month, there are always coordinating pretty extras you can add onto your kit. Oh, and did I mention there is the second annual Lovebirds Crop happening this weekend? Come join us for the fun; I've got my first Birds Of A Feather challenge posted as part of the crop!

Finally, in honor of the new Birds Of A Feather ScrapChicks, I am giving away an awesome RAK! My RAK box is chock full of goodies from some of my personal favorites and I plan to fill a priority box for one lucky scrapper. So here's how you get up to three chances for the RAK...
  1. Just leave a comment on this post! Easy peasy!
  2. Be (or become) a follower of my blog and leave me a comment on this post letting me know you follow.
  3. Be (or become) a member of Birds Of A Feather! If you join, be sure to introduce yourself in the "Welcome to the Hen-House" forum.
I will draw a winner on Thursday, February 28th!

    Thursday, February 21, 2013

    Hello Handsome.

    Needless to say, we didn't have our camera with us when Liam was born. So we had to rely on the iPhones to capture the moment. One of the nurses did take a photo of him in the OR (which I have on another layout) but it's not great either. Oh well, it's about preserving the memory, not having the perfect photos. I created this layout for Memorable Seasons' Last Scrapper Standing Contest Challenge #2 which was to emboss your layout. I used both dry embossing on my pennants and heat embossing to create my circle accents. I also used a sheet of embossed cardstock as the base. Additionally, I used a sketch from the most recent Inspired To Scrap Weekend Warrior class.
    (Supplies: Bazzill, Core’dinations and The Paper Company cardstock; Autumn Leaves and American Crafts papers; American Crafts alphas and ribbon; Cherry Arte chipboard sentiment; SEI tab sentiment; Gel-A-Tins circle stamp set; Inkadinkado embossing powder; Cuttlebug and Sizzix embossing templates; StazOn ink; date stamp.)

    Liam's birth story is rather long and sort of personal, so I decided to tuck it behind the strip of photos...just pull on the "thankful for you" tab and it comes out from behind the photos. If you'd like to read the birth story, I just copied and pasted it directly from this post on my family blog.
    Thanks for looking. This layout is obviously very special to me. :)

    Wednesday, February 20, 2013

    Lovebird Crop at Birds of a Feather this weekend!

    Looking for something to do this weekend? Then come join us over at Birds Of A Feather for the second annual Lovebirds Crop! For three days, February 22nd through the 24th, there will be loved-themed challenges, chit-chat, hottie avatars and a heated game of Bingo at 5:30pm EST. But, you have until Wednesday the 27th to finish the challenges! So you can still participate even if you already have a busy weekend planned. So come register in the "Hen House" (forum) so you are all set to go. I hope we will see you there!

    Tuesday, February 19, 2013

    Project Life: Week 7

    Welcome to Project Life Week 7! Still going strong but I kept this week fairly simple because I have a lot of other items on the scrappy "to do" list to check off. But, I am determined to keep up with this Project and not fall behind. A lot of the joy I get in this project is scrapping in the moment which is a nice trade-off from my traditional layouts where I am still trying to scrap 2008. Anyways, enough rambling...onto week 7...

    And then I also took a photo of this spread in the binder along with a musical Valentine's card Liam got from Grandma Beth. The card was an odd size and really thick for my small inserts and I didn't want to waste a whole envelope page on it, so I just put two holes in it with my Crop-a-Dile. It's so thick so I don't think it will tear (at least for awhile) and it didn't affect the look or musicality of the card...

    And the details of the left side. I loved using the Persnickety Prints camera journaling card for housing the QR code which leads to a video of Liam walking for the first time. I also had that bling heart from the Target $1 Spot in my stash for years (literally) so I am glad to finally put it to use.

    And on to the right side. Love this subway art from Bonjour Four. There are so many out there on Pinterest you can print for free. This one is actually from a couple years ago but I really liked it! Let me explain the "ouch" square a little more. Basically, Liam walks for the first time on Thursday. And he gets his first boo-boo from walking on Friday. The "Congratulations" email is blurred out because I can't share the top secret news yet. You'll just have to come back on Friday to find out!

    Here's a run-down of supplies used this week...

    Saturday, February 16, 2013

    Project Life: Week 6

    Another week of Project Life. And I have already gone back and looked at my prior week's spread a couple times. And Liam loves to look at all the photos of himself. And my husband enjoys looking at these spreads more than my regular layouts. I truly think Becky Higgins struck gold with this concept. Anyways, onward to sharing this week...

    And the details of the left side. I thought it would be fun to keep a grocery receipt and decided to snap a photo of all the groceries on the checkout belt to go with it. We had so much fun at the park on Sunday that I couldn't decide on just photo to include so I made a collage of three! Chickens are a fairly common site in Portland and I walk by one house with chickens on our walk - this day they were in the middle of the road, holding up traffic. The QR code leads to a video of Liam finally figuring out how to use his mail cart.

    And on to the right side. So the photo in the upper right as taken at the Super Diamond concert. They are a Neil Diamond cover band. Hence, the diamond embellishing. And the other item on this side tat I should explain in a little more detail is the yellowing tag. So this is one of many tags that was stapled to the bottom of our dining room chairs. These chairs are hand-me-downs from my parents and apparently, they never knew about these tags and that sat on the underside of the chairs for 25 years. Until Liam discovered them and started pulling them off!

    Here's a run-down of supplies used this week...

    Tuesday, February 12, 2013

    Weekend Warrior Sketch Class!

    Anyone have plans this upcoming weekend? Well, if not, why not scrap the weekend away with the Weekend Warrior sketch class at Inspired to Scrap. Seven exclusive sketches, scrapbooking tips, friendly chit-chat - all weekend long for only $5! And, if you're worried that you won't be able to complete all seven sketches by Sunday night, don't worry because you have a the whole week following to finish the sketches! Sign up now! Hope to see you there!

    Friday, February 8, 2013

    The biggest contest of the year has started!

    Yep! It's the "Last Scrapper Standing" contest at Memorable Seasons! Jean has posted the first challenge today and you have until Wednesday, February 13th at midnight to complete it. You'll have to visit the forum to read about the challenge, but here's just one of the amazing samples Jean posted for it.
    I really hope you'll come join us for this awesome contest! It just seems to get bigger and better each year! Feel free to read more about the contest and check out the rules here.

    Wednesday, February 6, 2013

    Project Life: Week 5

    Hello February! Can you believe January has come and gone? I sure can't. Anyways, it's time to reflect on Week 5 of Project Life. This turned into another photo-heavy spread. It's not that we had a lot going on, but I had a lot of random photos from this week that I wanted to include. And I am happy I had the Design C page protector on the left because I love all three of the 6x4 photos on the side and am glad that they could all be prominent on the spread. I broke out a Design B page protector for the right side to give me a few vertical spaces.

    And here's a closer look at the left-hand side. I put my weekly word art directly on my weekly summary journaling block this week to save space. I definitely went a little wood veneer happy this week using three different kinds - camera, car and stars. And I decided to change the family shot to black and white because it was taken with the front viewfinder on my iPhone and therefore was pretty grainy.

    And now on to the right-hand side. Of course, I had to journal about my newest obsession - Downton Abbey. Again, super photo heavy other than the Some E-card I found in my news feed on FaceBook. Since I am one of the few and proud that can actually fold a fitted sheet, I felt it was appropriate to include.

    Here's a run-down of supplies used this week...

    Tuesday, February 5, 2013

    Memorable Seasons Member of the Month Scraplift!

    Each month at Memorable Seasons, the Design Team honors one of the community members as our Member of the Month. And one way we honor them is to lift a favorite layout of theirs and then challenge the rest of the board members to do the same.

    Well, for February, our Member of the Month is Bev! She has a gallery just exploding with inspiration and it was so hard picking just one to lift. I ultimately chose this one for the fun angle, the cute embellishing and the torn paper.
    And here is my lift using my February Design Team Kit featuring Fancy Pants Love Note...
    (Supplies: Fancy Pants Love Note papers and die-cut pennants; Bazzill cardstock; Studio Calico wood veneer hearts; unknown chipboard alphas, metal heart frame, ribbon, twine, rhinestones and doily heart; vintage notebook paper and game piece; StazOn and Colorbox inks; Ranger alcohol inks; Studio Calico Mr Huey’s mist.)

    Saturday, February 2, 2013

    Bust Out Those Stencils & Templates!

    It's my day to issue a challenge at Memorable Seasons! And I was assigned the "tool challenge" for this month.

    We all have them - stencils, templates, masks - all these great designs to help us add a little flair to our layouts. So my challenge to you is to dust off one of these tools - preferably one you haven't used in awhile (or ever) - and put it to good use. 

    I pulled out a chevron Crafter's Workshop template that I've had for months and had yet to use. I also pulled out my super old Chatterbox Doodle Genies that I haven't used in years...
     ... and decided to use them both on my layout. I used the chevron template and some silver Mr. Huey's mist on my background cardstock and then used the Chatterbox doodling templates and black journaling pens to create some fun whimsical swirls and hearts! Note I also used my February Design Team kit featuring Fancy Pants Love Note collection, available in the Memorable Seasons store!
    "XOXO" 
    (Supplies: Fancy Pants Love Note papers and die-cut banner; Bazzill cardstock; unknown chipboard alphas and epoxy heart sticker; Pink Paislee resist heart chipboard; Making Memories flocking kit; Kaiser Craft rhinestones; Studio Calico Mr Huey’s mists; Crafter’s Workshop and Chatterbox templates; Sakura and Zig Writer pens; EK Success heart punch.)
    So, here is my challenge to you...create a layout using at least one template, stencil or mask. Brownie points if you use two of them in two different ways like I did! To be eligible for the prize drawing, your layout must be new and must be posted in the Memorable Seasons gallery and linked to the appropriate challenge thread on the forum by February 28th. Have fun! 

    Friday, February 1, 2013

    Memorable Seasons February Kit Reveal: Fancy Pants Love Note

    I was so excited when I found out I'd be working with Fancy Pants' Love Note collection for my Memorable Seasons February reveal! I LOVE Fancy Pants and can honestly say they are in my top five list of favorite manufacturers. Now, I will also honestly say that I am also not a huge fan of Valentine's Day collections. I have never been big on the holiday personally, so never really had photos to scrap featuring Valentine's Day. So, if I do end up purchasing a Valentine's Day collection, it better be able to be used for other topics too! And Love Note definitely can be used for so many other things. I love that many of the patterns are basics like chevron and houndstooth. I also love that the back sides are simple solid colors that can be used for anything. And I am very grateful for the grays and pops of black in the collection that help subdue all that red and pink. Fancy Pants really knocked it out of the park with this one!


    And here is the kit I received...Besides the fabulous Fancy Pants papers, die-cut banners and notecards, my kit also came stocked with vintage notebook paper, a set of black chipboard alphas, two different kinds of ribbon, black and white baker's twine, heart doilies, Pink Paislee resist chipboard hearts, a metal heart frame, vintage circle chipboard game pieces and some red rhinestones! (And I did pull some simple things from my stash too just to supplement.)
    And the backsides of the papers...

    And here are my projects featuring this awesome collection...
    "You Are The King Of My Heart"
    (Supplies: Fancy Pants Love Note papers and die-cut banner; Bazzill cardstock; Pink Paislee resist chipboard hearts; Doodlebug mini alpha rubons; unknown black chipboard alphas and chipboard circle; old playing card; DMC floss; Studio Calico Mr Huey’s mist; StazOn ink.)

    "Just A Note card"
    (Supplies: Fancy Pants Love Note papers; vintage notebook paper; unknown twine and heart sequins; EK Success heart punch and corner rounder; Technique Tuesday sentiment stamp; Close To My Heart ink.)

    "Baby Love"
    (Supplies: Fancy Pants Love Note papers and die-cut banner; Bazzill cardstock; unknown chipboard alphas, sentiment tag and ribbon; vintage notebook paper; Doodlebug mini number rubons; EK Success heart punch; Sakura and Signo pens; DMC floss.)

    "Love card"
    (Supplies: Fancy Pants Love Note papers and die-cut banner; unknown ribbon and heart sequins; EK Success heart punch and corner rounder; Close To My Heart sentiment stamp and ink; Inkadinkado embossing powder.)


    Thanks for taking the time to check out my reveal today. Be sure to stop by the Memorable Seasons Design Team Kit Inspiration forum to see the other designers' amazing work with Valentine's themed collections!