I made it to round 3!

I was excited to learn that I advanced to round 3 of the layout challenge at Practical Scrappers.  I made this layout which was inspired by one of three quilt patterns and had to include at least four of the following: banners, tags, ribbon, chipboard, eyelets, or buttons.

I had a great time making this layout, which was inspired by this quilt pattern:

I cut out diamond shapes using my Cricut and some of my favorite papers from My Mind's Eye to cover a 4x12 piece of scrap cardstock. I cut the diamonds from 6x6 double sided paper, making it easy to arrange a random pattern from the papers.  Once I was happy with the "randomness" of the pattern, then I adhered everything down and added twine to hide my seams. 
If you haven't already voted for my layout, please check it out HERE and vote for me before the poll closes on Friday.  I'm already working on my layout for round 4 and hoping that I can advance!

Autographs

This week's sketch at Scrapbook Steals was another fabulous one pager.  I decided it was a good fit for a Disney page.  I'm over 3/4 done with the Disney album and hope to have it finished before this year's Spring Break, which will mark the one year anniversary of our trip.  I love breaking out the Disney pictures and reminiscing about all of our fun.  The boys can't wait to return, but know it will be a few more years before we can do it again.  Here's what I came up with:

And this is the inspiration sketch by the amazingly talented Kristy Lee of Scrapbook Steals:

The weekly sketches at Scrapbook Steals provide amazing inspiration and keep me motivated to scrap on a regular basis.  I've played along every week for over a year and love getting comments from the Scrapbook Steals fans and staff.  At first, I was nervous about putting my work "out there" but after getting tons of compliments and feedback from my scrappy pals, I now look forward to it and can't wait to hear what they think.  The real motivator is the chance to win a scrappy prize.  Every week, they draw a winner using random.org so everyone who plays along has a chance to win.  Each Wednesday, the mid-week mojo sketch is revealed and you have until the end of the day on Monday to post your layout.  The sketches are a great starting point, but there's no requirement that you stick with the sketch. I often add additional photos or turn a 1 page sketch into a 2 page layout.  I change the photo size to accommodate my pictures or I turn the entire sketch around and take it from a completely different angle.  You don't have to use any particular products either, just whatever floats your boat.  I had never worked from a sketch until I started playing along here, and I must admit that it makes life so much simpler.  No longer do I just sit and stare at my craft desk wondering how to get started.  Check out Scrapbook Steals HERE  or "like" them on facebook and watch for great deals on amazing products.  They offer two different "steals" each day, one at 9am MST and one at 9pm MST.

Layout contest round 2

I'm playing along with a layout contest at Practical Scrappers.  I started by submitting a recent layout.  It was chosen as one of 80 to be a finalist.  The top 25 with the most votes advanced to round 2.   I had to create a layout based on a great sketch by Liz Chidester for this round.  I used Geek is Chic papers from Imaginisce to create this layout:

If my layout gets enough votes in this round, I will advance to round 3! I've worked ahead and already created my layout for round 3.  I'd love for it to be featured!  Voting is open until Friday.  If you haven't already voted, please go HERE to check it out and vote for me at the poll found at the end of the blog post.

My Mind's Eye Blog Challenge

There's something about cold snowy weather that makes me want to cozy up in my craft room and create.  I hurried through housework this weekend so that I could play along with the blog challenge at My Mind's Eye.  I started with their sketch and the theme "new" and decided to push myself outside of my comfort zone.  I normally scrap about my boys, but have recently vowed to turn the camera on myself and do more personal pages this year.  Here's what I came up with:

Since it's the start of a new year and the theme was to create something with "new" in the title, I decided to focus on myself.  I've struggled with my weight my whole life and during 2011 I managed to lose 23 lbs. by adding exercise to my already busy life.  This year I need to lose even more and have set a goal of 50 lbs for this year.  I'm nearly 10 lbs. down so far this year, so I'm off to a good start.  Here's to a great year and a healthier new me!

Old friends

This week at Scrapbook Steals, the amazing Kristy Lee gave us another wonderful sketch to inspire us!  I broke out of my usual routine and made a page about girls (gasp!)  I love my boys and they are my favorite thing to scrap about, but it's always fun to break out some soft colors and create a girly page every now and then.  Here's what I came up with:

I wanted to include a lot of journaling so that I could share the story of my oldest gal pals, so I modified the original sketch.  I fussy cut long the edge of a doily to frame my journaling and add a softer touch.  I made small circles and folded them around a 2" square to make the "quilted diamonds" that are featured along the bottom.  Here's what the original sketch looked like:

I'm hoping to get more crafty time in this weekend, since we're buried in snow.  I have lots of projects that need to be completed and contests I want to enter, so my housework *may* fall by the wayside this weekend.  Oh well, thus is the life of a crafter.  Apparently I'm the only person in my house that cares if it is clean anyway, so all is well.  Thanks for stopping by!

Authentique January Challenge

My scrappy friends are always raving about the quality of Authentique products.  With several of my crafty friends on their design team, I was eager to get my hands on some Authentique to see for myself.  With the closing of so many local scrapbook stores, I was unable to find any Authentique near me and couldn't justify paying for shipping on-line.  On a recent trip to visit family 6 hours away, I visited a scrapbook store in southern Indiana and was thrilled that they carried Authentique.  I bought a few pieces and stashed them away.  This month I decided to give the Authentique layout challenge a whirl.  Here's what I created:

I loved working with these products and couldn't believe how fast this came together.  The yellows and grays are just beautiful and were the perfect match to my son's snow gear!  I used their elements tag as my title and added a few extra words with the Petite Type Circle alphabet.  I added some glitter to the word "BOY" and added a few snowflake stickers to complete my wintry theme.  I'm now a huge fan of Authentique and am eager to try out more of their product!  Thanks for looking!

Authetique supplies used:   Euphoria paper, Itinerary paper, Foundations bi-fold solid paper, Blissful Headlines elements, and Petite Type Circle

Christmas layout

This week at Scrapbook Steals, I expanded the one page sketch to include more photos.  Truth be told, I love the simplicity of one page layouts, but I have way too many pictures to get away with that very often.  So I modified and added a second page.  One of my favorite things was including lists for each of the boys that told some of their presents.  It will be a good way to remember what was on their most wanted list when we look back years from now.

Journaling Ideas

Today, over at Practical Scrappers, there are some great ideas for journaling.  I usually have no trouble writing stories or journaling on my layouts, but it's nice to change things up from time to time and allow someone else to do the journaling for you.  I created this layout for Practical Scrappers and featured journaling done by my boys:

Since I wanted them to stay on topic, I created a journaling template and allowed the boys to fill in the blanks.  They each enjoyed "writing their story" and especially loved reading what the other wrote about him. It's a great way to involve little ones, see their personality, get their opinions, and capture a handwriting sample!

Rainforest Cafe

I kept things simple for this week's Scrapbook Steals layout.  These photos are over a year old and were taken on a weekend trip to Chicago.  The boys had a great time eating overpriced food and exploring the restaurant.

I cut down four photos to fit into a grid pattern.  Then I cut thin strips of black cardstock to frame around the pictures and the grid.  I matted the pics on a piece of jungle paper and added some 3-D animal embellishments from my stash.  For my title, I cut around a picture I took of the actual restaurant sign, leaving just the words and the cute little tree frog.  I added some journaling with a white pen and called it good enough.  Another week done.  Thanks for looking!

Oreo Ice Cream Dessert

Oreo ice cream dessert is always a hit.  I know I probably had you at Oreo, but throw in some ice cream and cool whip and you've got a super simple dessert that will be the hit of any party.  Caleb and I made it this weekend to take to a family gathering and we decided to take pictures to show you how it's done.

Here's what you'll need to start:  one package of oreos, a stick of butter, a half gallon of ice cream, one container of Magic Shell ice cream topping, and one tub of whipped topping.

Start by crushing the entire package of oreos in a food processor and melting a stick of butter in the microwave.  If you have a handsome little assistant, put him to work mixing butter and oreo crumbs.

Then spread the buttery crumb mixture evenly into a 9x13 cake pan, pressing down with the back of a spoon to form the "crust".

The next layer is ice cream.  If you planned ahead and set your ice cream out to soften, this step is much easier.  If you forgot that step, do as I did and open up the carton to expose your brick of icy creamy goodness.  Use a sharp knife to slice the ice cream into slices.  We used cookies n' cream ice cream, because you really can't have too many oreos in this dessert.  But feel free to substitute any other ice cream flavor that tickles your fancy.  I've had it with mint chocolate chip, regular chocolate chip, and plain old vanilla ice cream.  Chocolate or coffee flavored ice cream might also be considered as a substitute.

Arrange your slices of ice cream to cover the oreo crust layer.  Again, this is much easier if the ice cream is softened first, making it easily scoopable and spreadable.  But then again, cutting frozen ice cream slabs does burn a few more calories, so maybe it's a good thing I did it the hard way.

For the next layer, spread a layer of magic shell ice cream topping.  We used the whole container of topping. My kids happen to love the crunch of magic shell, but this layer can be substituted with hershey syrup, caramel ice cream topping,  fudge ice cream topping, or any topping of your choosing.

Then spread a tub of whipped topping over the whole thing.  You'll note I used the light version of cool whip, but at this point I don't really think that helped much.  It's just what I had on hand. 

We finished it off by adding some chocolate sprinkles and chocolate shavings.  Other ways to purdy it up include using rainbow sprinkles, oreo crumbs, or mini chocolate chips.  But if you're a boring party pooper, just leave it plain and skip this delightful step. 

This dessert can be made ahead and stored in the freezer.  Just make sure to set it out 10-15 minutes before trying to serve so it's easier to cut.  It's super simple and can be adjusted to suit your taste.  My mom has made this dessert using the golden oreos, strawberry ice cream, banana slices, and french vanilla cool whip.  If you're a mint lover, go with the mint oreos and mint chocolate chip ice cream.  Anything goes!  Excuse me while I head to the treadmill......

Layout Contest at Practical Scrappers!

Practical Scrappers is having an amazing contest with a prize package valued at over $100.  Check out the details HERE.  I'd love for all of my crafty friends to play along.  The best part about the first round of this contest is that you don't even have to do any extra work.  For your first layout submission, just email a photo of a layout you've completed in the last two months.  Easy peasy!  The layouts will be judged and the ones who make it on to the next round will be given more directions for what to submit for the next round.  It's really fun and a great way to get loads of inspiration (not to mention a chance at a nifty prize package!)  Visit Practical Scrappers and tell them I sent ya!

A scrappy start to 2012

I've been lucky enough to spend the last few months as a fresh face designer for Practical Scrappers.  We were challenged this week with the task of creating a layout to showcase a hot trend from 2011.  Far from a trendy person, I wasn't sure this was a task for me.  I decided to try to incorporate a few different techniques that I used over the course of the past year.  Here's what I came up with for my first layout of the new year:

My sewing machine had been out of commission for several months, and I recently had it repaired, so I started the layout by machine stitching a border.  My favorite thing about machine stitching is how quickly it adds a special touch to a project.  I did this step first (just in case), as I didn't want to risk ruining the whole layout if I didn't like how it came out.  Once I was satisfied with my stitching, I started making pinwheels out of some of my favorite papers.  I used pieces of the Lime Twist collection from My Mind's Eye.  I love the way the patterns and colors all compliment one another.  The pinwheels were super simple and are an easy way to make a quick embellishment.  The final trend I decided to showcase was baker's twine.  I broke out some coordinating colors of twine and started meandering, using micro glue dots every couple of inches to keep the twine in place.  For the swirly twine circles, I cut out a circle of cardstock and covered the circle with adhesive.  Starting in the center, I just started winding the twine around to fill the shape.  Overall, I was thrilled with this layout and was proud to see it featured on today's Practical Scrappers blog.  My term as a designer is about to come to an end, but I love the challenges and am thrilled to have been able to showcase my scrappy creations.