More Scrappy Goodness for my Birthday!

Today I got yet ANOTHER awesome package of scrappy goodness in the mail! My folks (Pat and Elmer) and sister Renee sent me the "rest" of my early birthday present! It's the August "Story of My Life" Scrapbook Kit! It's called Lost Luggage. I had been drooling over this kit - and knew I couldn't afford to buy it. It's absolutely gorgeous! Even more beautiful in real life. It's got many of the papers from the new Passport Collection, plus a super cute tiny suitcase, and all kinds of other travel-related goodies! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to my loving family!!! Here are some pix of the kit:



I can't wait to get started scrapping with this great stuff! I feel so lucky to have a family that appreciates and supports my love of creativity. I am a very grateful girl.

"On with the dance, let the joy be unconfined!" ~ Mark Twain

Project Catwalk Week Four

This week on Project Catwalk, we were to come up with a mini-album. The color scheme had to be red, white and blue. We had a list of words to choose from, and we had to use at least three of those words. The words I chose were strength, glory, determination and brave. Here's what I came up with:
I did my mini about people who inspire me. I used 3x6 pieces of chipboard which I painted and papered, punched holes and added rings. The newsprint letters are handdrawn and cut. I wanted to keep the design simple to focus on the photo and the words.

For each person, I listed their name, a descriptive word and a quote.
Strength: Martin Luther King Jr.
"I have a dream..."
Glory: The 1980 USA Olympic Hockey Team
"Do you believe in miracles?"
Hope: Oprah Winfrey
"Live your best life"
Brave: Rosa Parks
"The only tired I was, was tired of giving in."
Determination: Lance Armstrong
"If you worried about falling off the bike, you'd never get on."

I've been wanting to do a mini like this for awhile now. I'm so glad I finally did it!

Oh hey, the slideshow is up at Scrapping the Music - there are so many beautiful layouts for "Time of My Life!"

Happy Saturday!!!

There's another sneak peek up at Shop Crop Suey - check it out!

It looks like a beautiful day out there, and I'm off to an all day crop. Take care, and have a great Saturday!

An Early Birthday Present, Sneak Peeks and Project Catwalk

Yesterday I got the most exciting surprise in the mail - a box from SiStv came - and I hadn't ordered anything!!!! Turns out it was an early birthday present from my Sister and my folks! They had sent me three (count 'em) THREE SiStv collections...
The Kelli Crowe Collection,
the Autumn Bliss Collection,
and the Kristina Contes Collection! How awesome is that?!!! I'm in heaven with all this scrappy goodness! My family is so good to me - THANKS MOM, ELMER AND RENEE!!! And then - the lovely staff at SiStv added in this cute bunch of ribbon with a little happy birthday tag on it:So nice! What a great birthday surprise!!! Even tho my birthday is not til the 21st!

There are a couple of fun sneak peeks up over at Shop Crop Suey! Check it out! These are going to be some fun, funky and unique kits - stay tuned for the debut kit coming out for September!

Here are my projects for the first three weeks of the Project Catwalk Contest over at SiStv. The first week we were to scrap an 8 1/2 x 11 layout using 2 grocery store items. I chose a coffee filter (the earth), a mophead (the stitching) and I threw in some paper towels for good measure (the quilting behind the earth). Here's what I came up with...
Week two had us making a green card, with matching envelope made out of newspaper;
and for week three, the challenge was to create a 12 x 12 layout about who you are as a scrapper/artist, and it had to be inspired by one of the dresses on Project Runway that week. I think this pretty much sums me up!

You've still got one more day to post a layout for this week's Scrapping The Music Challenge! Head on over and play along with us!

Have a fantabulous weekend everyone! Hugs to you all!

Tuesday Fun!

Well, our Tuesday started out with some excitement for the boys this morning - a morning dove taking an extended bath outside the scraproom window... aren't they cute?! A couple of urban cats totally diggin' on being transplanted to the country!

Then I came home from work to find this happy mail waiting for me! It's a page kit from my friend Kim - isn't it fabulous?!!! There are five of us in a monthly round robin group. We recycle scrap goodies by sharing them with each other. Anyway - we decided this month that we would each make a little kit for the person we are sending to, to go along with our regular box. Kim went above and beyond for me - I am absolutely giddy! There are even three kinds of fabric! Check out those cute little charms and emoticons! And HOW on earth did she find a flashcard with a green beetle car on it!!! THANKS Kim! You are the greatest!


Isn't happy mail the greatest? Penny - I am getting your page kit ready and will be sending it soon!

Okay, so then I got an email from my sister Renee, telling me that my whimsy jar was picked for the weekly catwalk at SiStv! I am so excited! I made this jar for a swap I am in and will be sending it off to my partner Susan very soon. Thank you Rhi for picking me!

Oh, hey, there's a great tutorial over at Shop Crop Suey! It's for making an embellishment organizer out of a thrift store lampshade! What? I know! It sounds crazy but it's fabulous! Check it out here. You have to scroll down to the August 3rd post.

What else? Oh! I learned a new technique! It's called reverse stitch applique. Here's my first attempt:
I made this ATC last night. You can learn how to do this fun stitching technique on the latest SiStv webisode (#78) here.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

"If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint,"
then by all means paint,
and that voice will be silenced." ~Vincent Van Gogh

David Cook at Scrapping The Music!

I am a self-professed American Idol fanatic! Oh my word I love that show. I'm not much for reality shows in general, but this one is different. It's music. It's watching young people pursue their dreams. What could be more inspiring? I am so happy to tell you we are featuring "Time of My Life" by David Cook this week at Scrapping The Music! I love this song! The lyrics are so inspiring! Here's my take on the challenge:
I used the Farmhouse Chic collection from SiStv for this layout, plus some buttons from my stash, a scrap of sheet music that I had painted on for another project, and a white colored pencil. The little pink and orange flowers were punched out of the paper I cut the big flowers from.

These lyrics just spoke to me! Come on over and play with us at Scrapping The Music!

I'm A Crop Chick!!!!! Yeay!!!!

Guess what??? There is a brand new, super fun kit club starting up in September - it's Called "Crop Suey", and I was chosen to be on their design team! I am soooo EXCITED!!!!! Thank you Bree and Camille for choosing me! Check it out here: Shop Crop Suey! I can't wait to work with Bree and Camille and the other "Crop Chicks" on this new venture! More info to come on this....

Happy Saturday ATC

I'm doing a series of monthly ATCs for my round robin group. I decided to do my theme on creativity quotes. Here's my latest one.
I was having trouble fitting the entire quote on the front of the ATC and my friend Christina gave me the idea of having it open to reveal the rest of the quote on the inside - GENIUS! Thanks Christina!

The materials I used include Sassafras Lass cardstock from the Sunshine Lollipop collection, Pink cardstock - acrylic paint for the rainbow and miscellaneous other stuff from my stash.

Okay, I'm off to work on my layout for tomorrow's Scrapping The Music song - have a great Saturday!!!

A Beautiful Surprise in the Mailbox, and Taylor Swift at Scrapping The Music!

Hello and a happy Friday greeting to you all! First, can I just say that there is so much going on lately that my head is spinning - but in a very good way!!! It's too much to put in one post, but I am going to try to post more often from now on, so I can keep up!

First, have you been over to Scrapping The Music yet this week? If not - there's still time to get over there and play along!!! The song is Taylor Swift's "Stay Beautiful" - a really great song by such a young talent. Here's my take:
The journaling reads: "The simplest things in life have become my greatest pleasures. This is a trail that we take our walks on. It's right behind the houses across the street from us. It's beautiful and peaceful and it smells good - like summer. There are these tiny frogs that jump across the path in front of us when we walk down this trail. They are about the size of my pinky fingernail and you have to get right down to the ground to be able to tell they are frogs. I get the biggest kick out of seeing them. These are the little things that make my days bright."

I used my "Oh Happy Day" Collection (designed by my sister Renee!) for this layout. Materials used from the collection include: Red patterned paper, white cardstock, 70's rainbow from a paper napkin, the bird and sun (children's book illustrations). Also used SiStv houndstooth gaffer tape, doodling pen, hole punches of varying sizes, colored pencil around the clouds for shading.

The sunflower is a photo also taken along the trail. I just enlarged it and cut around the detail of the flower.

Okay, I also have to tell you about this beautiful and touching surprise that came in the mail yesterday from my friend Kim Maxey:
The story behind it is - she had sent me that gorgeous teal felt rope, which was leftover from her SiStv Beach Bum Collection. She didn't think she would use all of it, and I had said how I loved mine. Nice thing for her to do, huh? Then, we both found out that this very same teal felt rope was the bonus product needed for the "Project Catwalk" Challenge we are both in (I will post about the challenge in the near future), so I sent it back to her. Well, so, she uses the rope to create the BEAUTIFUL card you see in the photo (the fuzzy pompom flower centers are the rope). And then, to my delight and surprise, she sends the rest back to me, WITH the card and envelope she made for the challenge! It's a thank you card for sending the rope to her - isn't that sweet!!!??? I mean - it was her rope to begin with - of course I would send it back to her! But that is the kind and thoughtful sort of person Kim is! I feel so honored and touched that she sent ME that beautiful card! And also, this wonderful woman put in a raven stamp, cuz she knows I love ravens. That was so nice! Thank you so much Kim!

Okay, I guess that's enough for one post - I don't want to get toooo long winded here! But I will be back soon. Have a super duper wonderful weekend everyone! And don't forget to head over to Scrapping The Music!

Oh Oh It's Magic!

Hey everyone - how was your week? Mine's been great but super busy! Sorry for getting to this post so late! This week's song at Scrapping The Music is "Magic" by The Cars. Remember them? When I think of The Cars I think of the Hideaway Bar - my first stomping grounds back in the late 70's. There was this band that would play there regularly called Raggs, and they did the best Cars covers. My favorites were "Just What I Needed" and "My Best Friend's Girl." It was so much fun discovering the thrill of live music at a club. Ahhh yes - nostalgia. Anyway, by the time "Magic" came out in the 1980's I was already on to the Grateful Dead scene and not really listening to the Cars anymore. But hey - that's another story - it's still a great song and a super fun one to do a layout to. The lyrics made me think of my sweeeet hubby Michael right away! Here's what I came up with:

I feel really lucky to have a set of Lucianne Folch's Revolution line of papers, which I used to make this layout. The rainbow paper is from the line. Here's a pic of the rest of the papers - aren't they awesome?
You have til Saturday nite to get your layouts in at Scrapping The Music - hope to see you over there! Have a super groovy weekend!

It's the Little Things That Make My Day...

What is cuter than a cat sleeping peacefully in amongst all his toys? This is my Johnny who makes me smile every day. Happy Fourth of July everyone!

Incubus at Scrapping The Music Plus a Fab Thrift Store Find!

Hey everybody - the new song at Scrapping The Music this week is "Drive" by Incubus, and its one of my favorites ever! In fact I picked this one, so I hope you all will head over to the site and play along! I find the lyrics so inspirational, and I've been wanting to scrap this forever - here's what I did:
The background paper is from the "I heart Candytown" line available over at the SiStv boutique. I painted the sun on a separate piece of cardstock and slipped it into a slit I made in the paper. I had so much fun playing with the different trims on the bottom. Who doesn't love a little pom pom fringe? If I had my druthers I would put pom pom fringe on EVERYTHING! LOL not really, but I do love it. I also had fun playing with the fabric strip that I got in a vintage swap. Decided I really want to add more fabric to my layouts. Then lo and behold, what did I find when I went to the thrift store today? Check it out - a huge bag of fabric strips for only 99 cents! Can't wait to use them - what a treasure!!! Gotta love it when synchronicity hits like that! Have a great week and I hope to see you over at Scrapping The Music!