A Hello kitty layout

Its the weekend!! I could not be happier. It has appeared to snow some more over night, geez Louise its starting to get a little crazy round these parts.

Today we are gonna do a little bit of shopping and then I have some projects to do, but there will be a nice fire in the fireplace and a nice home cooked meal to push me along the way.

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!

I am a Hello kitty a-holic, ok maybe I am not as crazy as some of the people I know and see but I just love her. I do have a few things that I have collected over the years and some things given to me from Will and my friend Danielle:) So last year when I turned thirty, eeek, I had to have a Hello Kitty cake topper to celebrate the fact that I am thirty but I am still a big kid. When I turn forty I will have a whole cake that looks like Hello Kitty!

Ok off to get ready!

Tutorial time

I just finished posting an exclusive content tutorial over at Scrapbooking from the inside out, however I was unable to add all of my images to the post over in the exclusive content forum. I decided I would share here on my personal blog as well.

Here it is!

As a great inexpensive way to make your very own backgrounds, I highly suggest playing around with water color. One day I was sitting at work painting with water colors with the little girl I watch and it hit me, wouldn't it be neat if I transferred all of the fun of water colors over to my scrap booking? It has been a learning process because you can end up with a lot of bubbling and warping, so choose your cardstock wisely. A good heavy cardstock with a nice texture works the best, I usually buy Bazzil. You can also use kraft cardstock which also works well, since it is tan it can turn your colors a bit of a darker shade. Just play around and see which works best for you! Have fun.


You will need some paper towels(one for just blotting if needed and one for under your cardstock to catch the drips), a glass of water for dipping, some paint brushes, a decent water color set (I bought mine at a local craft store for about 6 bucks and its full of colors), and your cardstock.



This water color set happens to be my favorite, so many colors to choose from and it will last you a while. The possibilities are endless compared to many sets I have seen, I recommend finding a set that suits your needs.




Place your paper towel under your layout for drips, this can get messy and even though water color is easy to clean up this will save you some time.


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Really load up on water and dip your paint brush into the color you will be using. You want to add enough water to create good splatter but not to much for it to make the color to watered down. The amount of water you adds helps your splatter technique better as well as how the splatters come out.




Now its time to splatter. You can use your finger and tap on the paint brush where ever you would like the effect. You can focus more on the middle by holding the brush closer to the paper or for a wide spread splatter hold it further from the paper.




You can leave your paper with just the splatter effect which looks great and artistic or you can go on and create some drips and pooling. This is simple to do just by watering up your paint brush and dipping it in your color and really creating a puddle on the page. When you do this you want more water then usual so it drips and pools. Now the fun part, hold the layout up right and allow gravity to pull the paint down, or you can turn and and have it drip sideways. This is another step you can experiment with and use a straw and even blow some of the pain around.






To get a neat effect add another color to the mix and just follow step 7. You will see the colors sort of mix in together so you want to stick with colors that work well with each other and not create a strange color.




And there you have it. From here allow it to dry for a few minutes. I usually build on from there with papers and embellishments, it becomes your one of a kind background. One little word of caution, this is not for those who have issues with paper buckling because you will have that and some pictures may not lay flat.

Well I hope you enjoyed my tutorial, remember to have fun and see what you can come up with.

the point where I turn into an eskimo.

I just went and looked out my window for quite some time really amazed by the snow that is currently coming down. I remember in the fall my dad and my brother in law's friend talking about how they heard that this winter is going to be mild, good ole Farmer almanac was so wrong. We are not even finished with January yet and this is like our 3rd major storm. Do not get me wrong I am so far from complaining, I actually enjoy this weather yes I am rather strange. It really helps me to get things accomplished inside the house such as organizing, cleaning, and well scrap booking finally.

Which leads me into this post, I have a layout to share with you!

Well I bet that my favorite fountain over in Central Park is looking more like a glacier these days, but on a Spring day it happens to be my favorite spot to just sit and people watch. It always blow my mind when I start to think about how amazing it is that such a gorgeous park resides right in the middle of NYC, its incredible! If you have yet to get to Central Park, do it. No matter the season it really is a must see.

Blog hopping.

Now for some fun. January is almost over and we started the new year with a great kit over on Scrapbooking from the inside out. This kit was packed full of great paper, embellishments, and other fun odds and ends to get you scrapping your new year. The Reflections kit is still available to purchase, it is one you will not want to miss. Now just follow along the blog hop trail and leave a comment at each design teammate's blog you visit, the more comments you leave along the hop the more chances you have of winning 6 paper packs from Bo Bunny and Adornit:












You have until Friday January 28th, 7pm eastern time to make your rounds and get entered to win. The winner will be announced on Saturday.

How about some inspiration?? At each blog we will be showcasing another design team members layout made using the Reflection kit. Follow along to find out a little tid bit behind the layout whether it be a tip, trick, or thought.
Have fun and be sure to check in on the 1st to see the reveal of Scrapbooking from the inside outs February kit, believe me, you will not want to miss it. I will say, its packed full of color:)



Design team member Diana Kennedy



What Diana had to say about her lovely layout:

"I used a lot of fussy cutting on this layout as the birds, eggs and butterflies were so much fun to use, I had to use them on all this layout!"

Diana has done a fussy cutting tutorial over on the SFTIO blog, go over and check it out and see how she was able to cut all of the birds in this layout from the paper that comes in the Reflections kit. It is a kit full of some beautiful botanical papers that are just crying out for some intricate cutting.

Next stop Diana's blog!

A quick note.

I had a list of things that I wanted to accomplish tonight after I got home from work, but after a long day of working and delays on the trains I just sat down with some dinner and that was it. I did scrap book and I do have layouts to share, but it will have to wait. This week is so very busy, trying to catch my breath.

We do have a lot going on over at Scrapbooking from the inside out. Tomorrow we have a sneak peek at our February kit and, Wednesday is our blog hop with some great prizes and on Thursday will be my first tutorial on the site. Aside from all of that fun stuff, it is almost a new month so a new kit comes out and along with that some new layouts from all of us at SFTIO. Sound good? Be sure to visit the site and my blog all through the week to see what is going on.

And do not forget, Wednesday at 12 midnight(Eastern time) starts our blog hop. See ya then!

8 things about me

This one is for Danielle who tagged me over on her blog. I had fun reading your 8 things D:)

So 8 things about me that some of you may not know, digging deep into my brain for this one!

1. I have this thing while on the train(I commute to and from work 3-4 days a week) that I have to read my horoscope right before we pull into my station. Like it has to be read and done before the doors open. OCD much?? I do believe so!

2. I collect lots of mini designer toys, I currently only have room for a whole shelf full. The rest are in storage until the day I can put them in my very own glass cabinet!

3. Horror movies, thrillers give me some severe anxiety. Back in the day I really enjoyed watching them and now forget about it, it kinda makes me feel like I drank to much coffee.

4. I am a cheese-a-holic, something I need to cut back on soon. I always think of the part in Uncle Buck when he says he has been eating a lot of cheese lately and feels like a giant mouse, that would be me. Giant mouse Patty.

5. I am addicted to Zuma and Bejeweled Blitz, I can probably play it for hours. I must refrain from doing that though and work on other things, hehe.

6. I am obsessed with the show Rosanne, I can watch it all day long. I absolutely love that show and I am on my way to owning all of the seasons.

7. I rather live in a cold place then a hot place. I cannot stand the heat and the humidity. I rather live in the country and be buried in snow. Although I do love the activities that go on during the summer minus the lack of clothes. I rather live in cardigans, scarves, and boots.

8. The best concert I ever went to was Death Cab for Cutie, I bring this up because me and my friend are desperately wanting them to tour again so we can go see them. It really was an amazing show!

Well I did enough mind digging for now. OFF to be productive. Be back later!
Oh I tag Cynthia, Sandy, Amy Lapi, Beth Perry, and any of the girls over at Scrapbooking from the Inside out:)

A giveaway and a hello.

Hello much neglected blog. I have not found the words to say to you, I have been lacking any motivation and I am kind of in a slump. Because of this, you are sitting here all alone, not a single new post to grace your pages. Here is hoping to a new week, this one has me exhausted. I am gonna give you more attention very soon, I apologize.

So there is my apology:) Now for a giveaway.

Scrapbooking from the inside out is doing a giveaway over on Cathy Zielske's blog for today, January 14Th and today only. We are giving away one of our January Reflection kits and man it is a fabulous prize to win. Jam packed full of great papers, embellishments and even some Smooch Spritz. Lots of fun goodies to your New Year layouts down. Head on over to her blog to find out how you can win this kit.

Be back soon, miss you dear blog!

Happy New Year!!!

It is now 2011 and here is to hoping for a bigger and better new year. So much has happened in 2010 and so much is yet to happen in 2011.

This past week I took some time and reflected while scrapbooking with the Scrapbooking from the inside out's January kit entitled "reflect"

The papers were just so rich and beautiful and I had a lot of fun experimenting with my style and with items I have never used before such as velvet ribbon, smooch spritz and stick pin embellishments not to mention all the pretty nature-esque papers in this kit.

Be sure to stop on by Scrapbooking from the inside out and check out their wonderful community that is open over there, lots of ideas and inspiration and of course wonderful talented ladies everywhere.


Here are the layouts I did with this kit:

I had a nice time scrapbooking about things on my mind, things that matter the most. Take some time and reflect next time when you are scrapbooking!