Itsy Bitsy Spider

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I haven't blogged in over a week, which is soo not my norm, but I've been busy celebrating my now three (or "free" as she says it) year old's birthday, going to pre-school Halloween parties, helping my oldest daughter dress up every day last week for various activities at school - superhero day, camo day, book character day and more.  We also went through some evaluations for my oldest daughter and found out she has severe ADHD possibly coupled with something else that I'm not ready to blog about yet since we need to do more evaluations but either way, we are so relieved that we are starting to get some answers to things we've all been struggling with! 

Anyway, I was just trying to say that we've been busy but I'm here today to show you a couple of things I made for Halloween. The first is a tribute to Reese's favorite nursery rhyme (last year). It just made sense to dress her as a spider for Halloween last year.

I used the Bella Blvd Too Cute to Spook product line that I won in a Bella Blvd contest a couple of months ago.  It's just too perfect for my cute little spider girl!  Lots of fussy cutting, hand stitching and machine stitching but oh so worth it! I made one of those spiders with my sewing machine!

Love the clouds and those little stars were very tedious to cut and glue.  Some are even popped up.

Thanks Bella for the great line to work with!

The next is a little Halloween project I created for Imaginisce.  If you have kids, you've probably been Boo'd by another neighbor kid but if this is new to you basically, you leave a little "boo" gift and poem by the front door, then ring the doorbell and hide.  If you're good and hide like a ghost, they never know who boo'd them.  Anyway, I created these little "Boo" candy corn door hangers, which contain you guessed it - candy corn.

I made a little cone out of scrap paper to get it the shape I wanted and then I used that pattern to cut the different colors.  I cut the yellow a little bigger on the top and then gave it a pretty trimming with a punch.  I used white for the entire cone and stitched the orange and yellow to the white, adhered it with ultra strong glue.  Then I used a Martha Stewart lace punch to create the pretty lace handle.  I cut out some of the lace on the handle and threaded black ribbon through it for that "extra touch".  I found the mini chalkboard signs at Joann's. I painted the frame orange and wrote "BOO" in chalk. 

Thanks for stopping by today!

She's Growing Up Too Fast!

My oldest daughter turned 8 on October 1 and all I think about when I think of her age is how fast it's gone by.  Seriously, too fast. 

We took the family out for a birthday celebration and let her choose the restaurant.  If you know my daughter, you would understand how WONDERFUL it was that she wanted to get so dressed up, from the headband to the fancy shoes.  Then, she was willing to pose for these photos...AMAZING, trust me!

Supplies from Scrapbook Circle Fresh Picked October 2011 kit: Pebbles Fresh Goods Windows Display paper, Pebbles Fresh Goods Embossed Masking Tape Stickers, Crate Paper Textile 12X12 Random Collection Paper, Fancy Pants School Days No.2 Pencils paper, Studio Calico Scrap Pad, Pink Paislee Sawdust Wood Alphabet, Girls' Paperie Tiny Alphas Tinsel, .05 black pen, Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro, Close to My Heart Red Ink

I created this layout with the Scrapbook Circle Fresh Picked October 2011 kit and this week's Sketchy Thursdays sketch.  This layout was a total breeze to pull together. I mean, I had to put some thought into the photos and sizes and do some fussy cutting and place everything "just so" so it still took me a while but not as long as usual.

The alphas are actually wooden alphas that I inked red and then stamped over in blue, using different stamp designs.  I love how they turned out.

What I don't love is how messy they made my layout, AFTER I ADHERED EVERYTHING TO THE PAGE! You see, after I glued everything down I wrote all my journaling.  When I was done, I looked at my layout and this is what I saw:

[insert GASP! here]  I looked around my page and as suspected, there were red and blue random smudges here and there.  I looked at my arm and yep, my palm and arm were covered in ink. I washed it off again and again and again. 

I debated on adding "artistic" smudges to the rest of the layout but it wasn't going to work and wasn't the look I wanted so I resigned myself to start over. FUN...NOT! Most of it came off the page easily, except the border at the top that ripped and the alphas and hearts that I glued with super ultra bond glue.  Can you hear my sarcasm as you read this?

Yay for me (again, sarcasm)! This is what I get for scrapping under the influence (of seasonal allergies) and being impatient waiting for the ink to dry. Luckily, I was able to salvage it but like I said, I did have to re-work the whole thing. Oh and I looked at my arm again 4 hours later, and I found a distinct backwards "ro" that I missed in my initial scrub-down. And there's still traces of ink on my hand and fingertips too.  [ sigh ]

Thanks for looking today. Tell me I'm not the only one who has had to re-make a layout for one reason or another.

Now head over to Sketch Thursdays and play along with us! You could something great from Let's Capture Our Memories

What do a Pinecone and a Beehive have in common?

In this case, they are non-traditional shaped cards.  Imaginisce challenged a couple of us designers to create cards that don't fit the typical shape and size that you normally think of for cards.  I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  I REALLY wanted to create a pinecone but I couldn't get the shape right and I didn't seem to have the right Cricut cartridge in my small stash of cartridges. I searched through clip art and even attempted to hand draw one but they just looked like weird blobs. On to Plan B, my next thought was a bee hive and I was lucky to find one immediately on my Sentiments cartridge.  It even had a pretty overlay - SCORE! 

I cut it out and then traced it over white cardstock and cut the shape so that it made a card.  I added the sentiment, a bee and a pretty bow.  I topped it off with some black bling.  It's very cute in person and not so cute in the photo - you can't see the dimension of the overlay, the popped up buzzing bee and most importantly, you can't make out the bling. 

Being the perfectionist that I am, I searched through my cartridges for another idea and low and behold, it's like angels started singing - I spotted a pinecone on the Create a Critter cart. This card came together so quickly.

I cut a base out of brown and then cut 4 more pinecones the same size out of 4 different pattern and cardstock colors.  Starting with the bottom layer, I cut  the first piece and adhered it, leaving the tip unglued so I could fold it up a bit.  I cut the 2nd piece up from the bottom and adhered it over the bottom piece, again leaving the tips unglued.  I did it again on the 3rd piece and the remaining pieces, though I had to add my own scalloping since I was cutting apart the cut-out.  I wantd the scallops to be oddly shaped so did some random cuts.  I topped it off with some ribbon and mesh looking ribbon that I also inserted into the pinecone here and there.  After stepping back to look at it I decided to add the sentiment inside, though a cute little dangling tag would also be cute. 

Supplies: Cricut Create a Critter shadow 5 3/4" cut; cut out of 5 papers - Bazzill Basic Brown T9-943 Mono (background) on Bazzill white cardstock card base. Layers - Bazzill Navel; Imaginisce Happy Harvest Collection - 003339, 003337, 003340; Misc ribbon

Monkeying Around

Things are a little bit sketchy over at the Imaginisce blog today.  Melinda gave a few of us a really great sketch to work with. I saw the sketch and I had an idea of what I was going to do with it but as I was searching through my paper stash and my photos I came across this photo of my hubby helping my daughter swing on the monkey bars. The Animal Crackers collection was a perfect fit.  Here's what I did with it.

One of my goals for the layout was to make it look like ropes a monkey would swing from so I cut the banners and pieced them together. I fussy cut a little monkey and dangled him from one of the banners.  I added bit of bling in different patterns on the two banners. 

My favorite part of the layout is the frame I made.  I adhered my strips of paper and then I laid down some mesh and painted over it with yellow paint.  I removed the mesh and this was the effect I got.  Once dried, I outlined it with black and white pen.

And here's the sketch.  As I mentioned, I didn't use a circle photo.  A sketch is for inspiration but does not have to be followed to the "T". The key is to use it as your starting point and to go from there.

Thanks for stopping by today! -xoxo Heather

Travel Mini Album - Bon Voyage!

Hi there.  I wanted to let you know that I am "hogging the blog" over at Imaginisce today.  I am sharing a fun little suitcase mini album I made using the new Imaginisce Bon Voyage collection and a chipboard album I got from Clear Scraps.  Here's the cover for my mini.  Head over to the Imaginisce blog to see the rest of my mini and while you're there, I'd love it if you'd leave me some LOVE in the comments!
- xoxo Heather

Always My Favorite & a Mini Me!

I just realized that I shared my latest big news on Facebook but haven't shared it with my blog friends.  Scrapbook Circle just announced it's new design team and Lisa has some incredible talent lined up for the next 6 months.  I will be staying on the team - YAY - but will be moving in a social media strategist role, which is sooooo up my alley.  This means I still get to be creative with the kits but I also get to interact more with you on the Scrapbook Circle Facebook page, Twitter and Pinterest!  I am beyond excited.  Make sure to follow Scrapbook Circle on all these networking sites because we will be offering promotions exclusive to each network.

With that fun announcement out of the way, let me show you 2 layouts I did with the gorgeous October kit, Fresh Picked. 

This first layout is all our our dinner tradition. Every night, we gather around the table and say our favorite and not favorite part of the day.  This came about because my daughter would come home from school and we'd ask about her day and she'd say "I don't know." This helps draw it out of her and now it's just part of our dinner routine.  We talk about our not favorite things too because it's important for so many reasons.

For this one I misted, layered and even re-purposed the packaging from the Pink Paislee alphabets (ledger paper below). I misted the alphas with yellow and once dried I doodled around them with a marker.  I painted the hearts red. The title was easy...the favorite part of my day, every day, is being with my family - they are "always my favorite"

Supplies from Scrapbook Circle Fresh Picked kit: Lilybee Memorandum Collection: timeclock, whiteboard, 9 to 5; Crate Paper Random Collection: Textile; Elle's Studio Today's Tags, Red Pennant Embellishment page; Pink Paislee Sawdust Wood Alphas and packaging insert; Shabby Chic Crafts Chevron Tag; Scrapbook Circle Printable; homemade mist; Zig .5mm chocolate marker  

My 2nd layout today was inspired by the "Lifting You" feature we do at Scrapbook Circle.  We love it when Scrapbook Circle subscriber share their projects on the Facebook page.  When you do, you just might get "Lifted".  So here's my take on Brianna's layout (also shown below):

 Supplies from Scrapbook Circle Fresh Picked kit: Pebbles Fresh Goods collection: Simple Joys, Window Display; Crate Paper Farmhouse Collection: Cross Stitch; Jillibean Homemade 6 Bean Soup "Barley Pearls; "Pink Paislee Sawdust Wood Alphas (used as a mask) and packaging insert; Scrapbook Circle Printable; homemade mist; Zig .5mm chocolate marker; not in kit: Imaginisce i-top with medium and large brad daddies; Imaginisce i-rock (various sizes, styles and colors)

And here's the original, from Brianna.  Isn't it gorgeous? Here's what I focused on: 1 photo, tone-on-tone circles, the layered papers and the circle embellie on the upper right corner.  If you look closely, there are a couple more similarities but you get the point, right?  Thanks for the inspiration, Brianna!

Thanks for looking today!

Home Grown Girl & A Birthday Blog Hop

Happy Friday, everyone!  Today we are kicking off a big birthday celebration at Birds of a Feather (BOAF).  Amy, owner of Birds of a Feather kit co. is celebrating her birthday TODAY and it's also the 1st birthday for BOAF so we are celebrating by hosting a blog hop and an online crop this weekend. 

So let's get this blog hop going.  If you just started the hop here at my blog make sure to click HERE to start at the beginning.  If you came to my site from Amy, welcome to my little piece of the scrappy world!

Amy's kits are packed is so much yummy stuff every month but I have to say that October's kit has been my absolute favorite.  I've created 4 layouts with it so far and I still have A LOT left over to play with still.  I've posted some of them on my site HERE and HERE and here is my most recent one:

Hint: This layout might just be part of one of the challenges this weekend.  ;) What do you think it could be about? 

 

Back to the hop...to celebrate this fun 1st birthday,

I am giving away a stash of Basic Grey goodies.

For a chance to win, I'd love it if you would become a follower of my blog if you aren't already AND leave me a comment on this post.  It's THAT easy to win the giveaway I'm doing! 

The grand prize for the overall BOAF blog hop is a package of Bella Blvd products valued at $50!!!

You'll need to add this word (after Amy's word) to help complete your mystery phrase:

Make sure to head over to the forum, introduce yourself and play along with all the challenges we have going on over there.

Prizes will be given away with the GRAND PRIZE being a kit of your choice!

Thanks for stopping by today! Your next stop on the hop is Krissy.

The Journey

I'm excited to about this layout today for 2 reasons...one, this is the first reveal for the new Sketchy Thursdays design team and I am sooooooooo excited to be returning to the team. Make sure to stop over there to see what the new team did with this sketch. I also created this layout for an online crop happening this weekend over at Birds of a Feather.  Lots of challenges and prizes to be giving away starting Friday so stop over and play along.

Can you see all the jewels I added with my i-rock? They are a bit hard to see so I will be posting some close-ups shortly.

The little tag can be pulled off the layout and used as a gift tag or bookmark but I am keeping it for my layout and will be adding journaling after my "tool school" class next week at my LSS.

A Little Bit of Dewberry Farm Life

Have you seen the October Birds of a Feather kit? It is definitely my FAVORITE BOAF kit so far...I just love the rich colors, the hints at fall and most of all, it's all so inspiring that my projects almost come together on their own.


These photos were taken on our annual trip (last year) to our local pumpkin patch, Dewberry Farm. They have turned it into what I like to call an "ag-venture" park, with hay rides, pig races, animals of all sorts, corn maze and sooo much more. I can't wait to go to the farm this year!

The girls just love to climb on the tractors. They each pretend they are driving and plowing the fields.

Supplies from Birds of a Feather October 2011 Kit: Crate Paper Farm House - Cross stitch, apple pie, handpicked and Farmer's Market Papers; Adhesive Backed Chipboard Stickers; Jillibean Soup Rockin' Red Corrugated Alphabets, soup labels - apple cheddar soup; American Crafts Elements pearl brads; My Little Show Box mini alpha stickers in Pearl.

My 2nd layout today just fell into place. The quilt-like paper just needed to dominate the page (after my photo of course). It's a little less than 1/2 the page. I stitched the brown lines between the squares with brown thread and then I fussy cut some of the orange paper and stitched it on the orange spots with orange thread. Lastly, I made some brads out of some scraps using my Imaginisce i-top tool. The rest of it came together using punches, chipboard and paper strips.

Thanks for stopping by.  Head over to Birds of a Feather to see more great projects using this kit.

Here's a sneak of the kit...full of Crate Paper Farmhouse, Fancy Pants Off to School, Jillibean Soup, Maya Road and so much more....