Mixer #19

Mixer #19 is up at Mix It Up! For this one we needed to have white space on the page, use atleast one 2 X 3 photo and use a song title as the title of our page.

Remember these pictures of Camryn's dolls. She likes to tuck them in each night, but don't you dare touch them! She likes them right where they are! LOL! I chose the song title, "Rockabye Baby" to scrap these pictures I snapped of her dolls in their precise positions. I used the soft colors of the Noel Mignon Penny Arcade kit to keep with the Nursery Song feel.

None of these pictures are interesting enough to be a large focal point, so I kept them all on the smaller side. For my page, the white space doesn't necessarily mean blank space. You can get a feel for the white space in the upper right corner where the flourish softens the transition edge of the circle of patterned paper to the background cardstock.





I hope you'll come over and play along with us!

Jana

A Few Layouts and a Goodbye Giveaway

I used the Noel Mignon Lovely Day Kit (sold out) plus a sheet of Kraft cardstock and letter stickers from my stash to create this St. Paddy's Day page for the current Mix It Up Challenge. I love the way the green and yellow play off each other against the neutrals!



A mixed title is a really fun way to use up those random letter stickers hanging around in your stash! Give it a try and come play along with us at Mix It Up!



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Well, yesterday officially marked the last day I was a BackPorch Memories designer. I reluctantly decided to step down after a year and a half, but I knew I was ready for a change. I LOVE it there, so it was a hard decision for me! Paula's kits are such a great value and put together so well! They are really fun to work with! I love the monthly stamp club and I have really grown to love all the gals I've become friends with there. But sometimes change is good. Sometimes you just need to do something different for the sake of doing something different.

I left on great terms, and just to show you all how much I love them and want to keep supporting them, I thought that I would have a little giveaway! :D

This is the stamp set for May . . . isn't it adorable?!!! They are flying out the door, but I managed to snag a set (okay, two sets . . . I had to get one for ME!) to giveaway here on my blog. So if you would like your name tossed into a drawing for this adorable stamp set, please leave a comment on this post by Midnight, Monday, May 4th (Mountain Time). I will post a winner on Tuesday. (And YES! all of you lurking friends and family are more than welcome to join in this giveaway! . . . Heck! It might even FORCE you to post and say "hi!" to me for once! ;) LOL!)



I also thought I would post some of the layouts I did for the crop that was just held at BackPorch Memories. I hope you made it over there! It was so much fun!

This one was for an Interior Inspiration Challenge. If you know me, you know I LOVE interior design. My challenge was to use this room (from Country Home Magazine, April 2008) as inspiration for a page. I just love the colors and patterns in this room and thought there were so many directions to take it! -- I also posted a sketch to get people started, but they didn't have to use it if they didn't want to. If you're curious, check out the gallery HERE to see all the different takes on this one! Super fun!






Another challenge I hosted was called the Feeling Edgy Challenge. All I wanted people to do was create a page really concentrating on dressing up their edges, whether it be through inking, distressing, stitching, punching, tearing, etc. You get the idea. Below is my sample using the April BPM Medley kit. HERE is the gallery for that one if you are curious at seeing the takes for this challenge.



Thank you again BackPorch Memories for a wonderful experience on your design team! I'll definitely be stopping in to see how you are all doing! Best wishes and big hugs!!!

Jana

Is it the middle of the week already?

Oh, my! I hadn't realized that almost an entire week has gone by since I last updated! Sorry about that! I think I was sucked into a time warp of sorts with the kids home for Spring Break last week, building a catapult project with my daughter and her friends, Easter weekend, and then catch-up when I got home! LOL!

We had a lovely holiday! The Easter Bunny made a surprise visit to us on Saturday morning before we went out of town. The kids had fun dumping out their Easter baskets and collecting the candy eggs that were strewn all over the Family Room. Here are a few pics from that morning.










That afternoon we drove to Roosevelt, Utah, to spend the weekend with my sister and her family. We went to church with them on Sunday morning, ate a delicious Easter dinner at their home afterwards (THANK YOU, Chris and Leslee!!! You were such gracious and amazing hosts!!!) and then drove back home at noon because Kevin had to be to work Sunday night. It was a whirlwind of a getaway, but sooooo much fun! I'm a little disappointed at myself because I took the camera with me, but didn't take ONE picture! I guess I was too busy just enjoying myself! OOPS!!! LOL!

The last few days I worked on a couple of DT assignments. Here is my latest using the Noel Mignon Lovely Day Kit (only 3 left!).



I did this one for the current challenge at Mix It Up, Mixer #15, using the Noel Mignon Lovely Day Kit.




And this last one I did for both the Mix It Up Challenge and a "Go Green!" challenge at Urban Anthology. I had so much fun trying to find as many things as I could to "recycle" on my page . . . mostly junk mail, plastic packaging and a corrugated box.








I hope you are having a great week!
Talk to you again soon!
Jana

Mix It Up #13 & Handmade Journals

Mix It Up #13 is up! I had really fun with this one! Our assignments was to use a cover of a Dr. Seuss book as inspiration and also include a quote by Dr. Seuss on our page.

I chose "The Lorax" because the trees on the cover reminded me of the palm tree in this picture of Owen and his Orangutan Diorama. I also found a Dr. Seuss quote that talked about learning and referred to animals . . . PERFECT!!! I also tried to use a lot of heavy black-lined elements, so it had a cartoon feel. Here's my page! Everything here is from the Noel Mignon Lovely Day Kit.

I made some covered journals for my friends this week. I had fun using up some stash and trying a bunch of different patterned papers. I kept the design the same on every on for simplicity. It's been a long time since I've done these! They were pretty fun! Here they are:

Imaginisce - Twitterpated
Scenic Route - Providence

Imaginisce - Twitterpated
Stampin' Up Paper


Thanks for coming by!
XOXOXOXOX

Weeds & Dirt, Dirt & Weeds!

That's what I have been staring at the last couple of days. I just hate the look of dry, cracked, weed-filled dirt. BLECH!!! And since the weather has been really nice this week, I have been making a dent in the yardwork. A small dent, but a dent none-the-less. :D YAY!!!

BEFORE - blech! blech! blech! Makes me feel like dousing my skin in lotion! LOL!



AFTER


Ahhhhh! I love it! It's like vacuuming! Instant gratification!




Yes, I'm strange. I'm weeding dirt. We don't have any plants or trees in our new yard. That won't happen until we sell the other house. But I have faith that if I keep working on it, it will be ready when it's time to dig those holes! Yeah! :D

I have a few new layouts for you, a crop announcement, and sneak peeks of the new Noel Mignon kit that will be going up for sale on Sunday. Oh, Nelly! You don't want to miss out on this one! TRUST ME!!!! It came to my house this week and I about had a heart attack at it's loveliness!!!!

What?! You want to see the sneaks first? Well, okay! Here they are! :D :D :D Presenting Sneak peeks of the new Noel Mignon Lovely Day kit. Oh, my! These pics DO NOT do this kit justice! :D :D :D








There's a new challenge up at Mix It Up! Here is my layout using pictures of inanimate objects and a 6+ word long phrase for my title. I edited my pictures to kind of have a blown-out dreamlike quality to them. Ever since Noel gave me LightRoom for Christmas, I can't help but edit all my pictures funky ways. Sorry, if you're sick of it. :) I'm sure it is a phase that will dissipate eventually! LOL!



I also created another layout using the beautiful Scrapperie Cherries Jubilee kit. These are pictures of my niece when she was a baby. I'm just working on a few pages for her baby book! :) (Slowly, but surely, Amy, I am getting it done! ;) Thanks for your patience!)




Last, but definitely not least, you will want to mark your calendars for April 17th to 19th. BackPorch Memories is having a Spring Fling Crop and it's going to be full of fun challenges and prizes. :D :D :D Now what scrapper can resist that?!



That's it for today!
Have a great one!
XOXOXOXXO

Mix It Up #9

Mix It Up #9 is up! For this challenge we were to use a recycled item on our page. I love to collect cool tags from my kids' school clothes each year and this red fabric tag has been calling for me to use it! I also used a vintage button card that I picked up at a consignment shop awhile back.




Everything is from the Noel Mignon Nightingale kit except for the gray cardstock, white shipping tag, and recycled items. There are still some of these kits available HERE!

Mother Nature gave us a Spring teaser yesterday. The sunshine felt so great! The little girls and I had a picnic in the forest, played on the swingset and trampoline, and even pulled a few weeds and swept the back patios. Before we know it we'll be outside all the time! I can't wait!

Here's a quick snapshot I took of the girls eating. I'm glad it turned out okay, because the sun was blaring on the viewfinder and I couldn't even tell if I had framed the picture right. LOL!



I'll be back tomorrow with more projects!
See you then!
Jana