Virtual Scrap Night Begins!

"Take the Leap" into scrapbooking with an all-weekend virtual crop! I had fun hosting the first challenge over at SplitCoast Stampers. The challenge was to take a sketch and add one more element to your layout. I  used this sketch:

And added one more vertical stripe on the left hand side:

This page documents a little of the hospital hubs stayed in following his work accident in 2010. Miami Valley Hospital, or "the Valley", took great care of him!

Viv's 6th Birthday: A Layout

I have slowly but surely been heading up to my craft room lately. This double layout was inspired by a challenge at SplitCoastStampers- go check it out!

I used the above sketch from Scrapbooks Etc. as a jumping-off point.

Supplies:

Paper- misc (love using up scraps!)

Glimmer Mist

Stamps- Unity

Ink- SU! Whisper White

Punch- Bling Bling by Fiskars

Enjoy the Little Things...A Father's Day Card

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!

This is the card I made for my own dad and father-in-law.

Thought it was such a nice sentiment, and perfect, subtle colors.

 

Papers- From the June Scrap-tastic kit

Stamp- Unity

Lace- Prima

Ink- Palette Burnt Umber

CM corner rounder

Adhesive- Helmar adhesive runner, 450 Quick Dry, and ZapDots

And a little help from a SplitCoast Stampers sketch!

Sanded Letters Tutorial

If you're anything like me, you have a ton of leftover chipboard and sticker letters. What to do? Here is a technique that you can use, no matter what color your leftovers are!

Start by adhering your shape to your work surface or scrap of cardstock. Temporary adhesive is fine. You can use either chipboard or thick stickers, but it must have a smooth surface- no glitter!

Next, lay a piece of paper over your shape. Thin, white-cored paper works best. Use a nail file to gently sand along the edges of your shape that is underneath your paper.

The result will look like this:

And here is a card I made using the above sanded number:

Card Supplies:

Patterned Paper: Bella Blvd.

Stamp: Bella Blvd.

Misc. green and aqua paper

Ink: Cool Caribbean

Adhesive: Helmar Adhesive Runner and ZapDots

Sketch from SplitCoast Stampers:

 

Happy Mother's Day!

Today I am happy to be celebrating with my family at a cookout.

Here are the variety of cards I made for all the moms in my life!

Sketch from SplitCoast Stampers, which I rotated to fit my needs:

Hope you are enjoying your day! Check back tomorrow for my 

Project 365 post!

Celebrate 60- A Card

Today is my Dad's 60th birthday. We had a surprise party for him last week, and this is the card I made:

Supplies:

Paper- Colorbok "Friendly Forest"

CS- Creative Memories

Glimmer Mist- Electric Blue and Coffee Shop

Ink: Chocolate Chip (SU!)

Stamps- "All About U" (SU!)

AC Thickers

Creative Memories circle punch

Adhesives: Helmar 450 Quick Dry and Liquid Scrap Dots

I also used this sketch from SplitCoastStampers:

Some Birthday Layouts

Here are a couple of scrapbook pages I finished up this week...

 Vivian- almost two years ago!

A family friend, from just last month. 

Hope you had a scrappy week too!

Stylish Halloween- A Layout

My last Halloween layout, I promise!

Didn't all the girls look stylish?

 Papers by Pink Paislee and My Mind's Eye

 Sweet Clover Glimmer Mist, Pink Paislee rub-on, and Kaiser rhinestones make up the title

 Edging the photos in Whisper White craft ink from SU adds definition

I used Black Soot Distress Ink to tone down the look of the green patterned paper. Small alphas by Making Memories.

This sketch (#262)from Splitcoast Stampers was my inspiration! And my supplies came from Scrap-Tastic, of course!

My Favorite Craft Challenge Sites

Next week, as part of my "Becoming a Life Artist" series, I will talk a bit about getting over a creative block. I love challenge blogs for this! The ones I list today will focus on scrapbooking and other paper crafts. In the future I will do a list of writing prompt sites and photography challenges. If you would like for me to compile a list of other kinds of challenge sites, just let me know!
In no particular order:

SplitcoastStampers- I love this place because it is a community. You really get to know other scrapbookers and cardmakers. Every day they have different challenges based on sketches, color combinations, an inspiration piece, a technique- whatever. It is definitely a one-stop shop. If you create a free account here, look me up! My user name is rdoak03.

Mojo Monday- A weekly card sketch is posted every Monday. Once a month there is a contest where you can win some stamps! Hosted by Julee Tillman, the creator and owner of Verve Stamps. Here's a recent project from me.

Scrappin Silhouettes- A new scrapbook sketch blog, updated every Thursday. Of course I put this on here because I am on the design team!  What is great about this blog is that a) Jennipher, the sketch designer, is truly a wonderful person b) it is not affiliated with any company or brand c) each week features a different number of photos on the sketch d) the design team is comprised of artists with different styles, and e) I'm on the design team!!! Here is my latest project using a Scrappin' Silhouette.

 Sketchy Thursdays- Another weekly scrapbook sketch. Lots of cool designers from all over the world.

Etsy Inspired- This is a really cool challenge site. Every week you are directed to a different Etsy shop for inspiration. You create any kind of project you want from there! My blog buddy and friend IRL Emily is on this design team.

Pencil Lines- Yet another great scrapbook sketch blog. Here's one of my favorite layouts I made using their sketch.
I really could go on and on with this list; the sites for inspiration probably number in the tens of thousands. Do you have a favorite crafting challenge website?  Let us know!

Steampunk Birthday Card

It's time for another project with Lindsay's Stamp Stuff. I made this birthday card using her Steampunk Stamps.  I also used SplitcoastStampers sketch 288 for inspiration. My nesties, glimmer mist and scrap pile came together on this quick card.

Be sure to check out Lindsay's blog for links to the other design team members and today's freebie. Visit her mygrafico store for tons of digi stamps, papers and SVG files!

Happy Father's Day with LSS!

Father's Day is this coming Sunday...have you made your cards yet?? I have, with a little help from Linday's Stamp Stuff! I thought the sentiment was perfect for those great dads out there who serve as role models for their children.

Supplies:

Uptown Houndstooth paper from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff

tree stamp- Unity

Glimmer Mist

ink- SU Chocolate Chip and Wild Wasabi

blender pen

CM Custom Cutting System

Challenges:

Splitcoast Stampers sketch 284

Northridge Media Card Blog- Father's Day

Crafty Cardmakers- Cards for Men

A Crafty Little Place- One for the Boys

Creative Craft Challenges- For the Man in Your Life

Drunken Stampers- Father's Day

Paper Cutz- Father's Day

Pear Tree Designs- Father's Day

(notice a theme here?)

Please visit Lindsay's blog for a freebie and links to all the other DT members.

Also check out her mygrafico store- you will find images perfect for the man in your life, and you can download them instantly!

Literacy Night Layout

In the spring Morgan's school hosts a Literacy Night. This year they had crafts based on popular children's books, and each class had published a book that we could all look at and buy. We all had a great time!

I used School Papers and School Rules

digi stamps from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff.

Other supplies:

DP- Creative Memories

Unity alpha stamps

Tim Holtz distress inks

colored pencils

Glimmer Mist- Sweet Clover and Sunshine

Challenges:

SplitcoastStampers sketch challenge 239

Daisy Doodles Creative Challenges- Anything Goes (with a digi)

Ooh La La Creations- Bright and Cheerful

I love how versatile digi stamps are! This week I made a scrapbook layout,

 and I used the same stamp sets last week to make a teacher's gift.

Be sure to stop by Lindsay's blog to check out the other DT member's projects,

and I bet she has a freebie, too!

Skate Stars

This January my daughters went skating for the first time. Man, that brought back memories! Thursdays were my school's day at Skateway...I remember waiting in the gym for the bus to take us over there...Thriller playing on an old pull-down movie screen...the song "Elvira"...doing the Hokey Pokey in the middle of the rink...

Anyway, the girls had a great time. They surprised me, though. Morgan is usually more timid and less coordinated than Viv, but the opposite held true at the rink. Morgan kinda got the hang of it, but Viv could not stay on her feet to save her life! Of course, pics went on to a scrapbook page. All papers are from the March Scrap-Tastic kit. (Love these kits).

Just a little punching, inking and layering. The large star was hand cut from chipboard and wrapped with paper. This page was completed for a challenge at SplitcoastStampers, which was to base a page on a cake from Charm City Cakes (the TV show Ace of Cakes). This was my inspiration piece. See any resemblance?! I really liked the off-set scallops and how one layer of scallops had cut out shapes. 

Hope you are having a great weekend. Thanks for looking!

Thursdays with Lindsay's Stamp Stuff: Mother's Day Card

I am beginning to work on Mother's Day cards- it's just around the corner! So I grabbed an image from my fave LSS set, Doodle Flowers.  I colored it wth various Tim Hotlz Distress Inks, cut it out, and used it as an element in Card Sketch 276 at SplitcoastStampers.  Here is the original sketch:

And here it what I did with it!

Supplies:

Doodle Flowers from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff

Fired Brick distress ink

Tattered Rose distress ink

Worn Lipstick distress ink

Peeled Paint distress ink

patterned paper: DCWV

misc. eyelets

foam adhesive

Hop on over to Lindsay's blog for a link to all the other Design Team members, and be sure to look for a goodie while you're there!

Her complete line of digi stamps can be found at mygrafico.

Morgan...at age 7

Here is the layout I did for my own challenge at SplitcoastStampers.

Just using up random papers from My Mind's Eye, some chipboard, a circle punch, and glitter! The flower is just a circle that I cut into a spiral, inked, then glittered. Easy!

Don't forget there is BLOG CANDY if you complete this challenge and share it here!

Virtual Scrapbooking Night: "It's Reality"

Scroll down for my latest post....

Time for Virtual Scrapbooking Night - "It's Reality" edition. Starting this Friday, April 23, we are going to be adding a dose of real life to reality shows. Can you survive our challenges? Do you know what not to scrap? Find a super nanny to watch your 19 kids and counting, and don't go Trading Spaces because it's an amazing race to the finish of that photo box, and we're here to inspire you! If fear is not a factor for you and you've got talent, then we think you can dance on over to the VSBN thread. We promise, you will not be fired!

Are you a scrappy chic like me?  Then sign up at SplitcoastStampers (an all-inclusive stamping, cardmaking, scrapping, papercrafting site) and join us for VSBN this weekend! We have awesome challenges based on reality TV shows for you Friday, Saturday and Sunday. If you can't scrap "live" with us, no worries! You will have until the following Saturday to upload your pages.

I am hosting a challenge Sunday at 5:30pm EST. Here's a "taste" of what I will be offering:

 Be sure to check back here on Sunday, I am offering up some BLOG CANDY for those who participate in my challenge and post a link here!  This offer will be open until Sunday, May 2 at 10:00pm EST!

Thursdays with Lindsay's Stamp Stuff and 30% Off!

I had fun playing with the Warm Winter digital stamp set from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff.

Supplies:

Stamps- Lindsay's Stamp Stuff Warm Winter

sketch- SBSC218 from SplitcoastStampers

cs- The Paper Co., OTC, chipboard

ink- Tea Dye & Vintage Photo (Tim Holtz Distress Ink)

copper, gold and crystal Stickles

CM custom cutting system

ribbon- Michael's $1 bin

EVERYTHING is 30% off until midnight tonight,

so hop on over and check out the stamps.

Lindsay also has a freebie on her blog, as well as links to all the other DT members!

Happy Birthday to my Hubs!

Yep, today is Justin's birthday. Here is the card I made for him:

I used SC270  from SplitCoastStampers for the layout. I chose a monochromatic scheme from my scraps pile, mainly because I have trouble picking out colors for guy cards! After edging each panel in white I lighly sponged Soft Sky on the image panel. The main image and sentiment, both from Unity, are stamped in Staz On Black. I rounded one corner of the card base and image panel for interest. A little black ribbon to tie it all together, and done! This came together nice and quickly.

Be sure to stop by on Thursday for a new scrapbook page using images from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff!

Loved This Day

I am not a fan of snow, but my girls are. Watching their pure joy as they play outside in all the white stuff makes any cold day worthwhile for me!

Supply List:

sketch (SBSC221 from SplitcoastStampers)

bg paper (CM)

blue cs (Bazzill)

snowflake stamp (SU- All Through the Year)

sentiment stamp (Unity- Another Sweet Day, May 09 KOM)

silver pen

alpha stickers (CM)

cardstock stickers (CM)

hexagon punch (CM)

VersaMark

silver embossing powder

It's Always Valentine's Day

I am finally getting aroud to posting the card I made for hubs for Valentine's Day. I used SC267 from Splitcoast Stampers for the layout. I kept it very simple and used non-traditional Valentine colors.

Supplies:

cs- misc scraps

stamps- "Always" by SU!

ink- Faded Jeans and Fired Brick (Tim Holtz distress inks)

CM circle punch

ribbon- Offray

foam adhesive

Embossing folder- "Floral Fantasy" by ProvoCraft