April Challenge on CKCB!

We had a great sketch challenge for this month on Counterfeit Kit Challenge from Pretty Little Studio (sketch 28) .


I thought it was high time I did a layout of my friend Pam.  We met eons ago through Close to My Heart (I used to be a consultant) and we have been scrappy friends ever since.  (She does, however, keep moving farther away from me...I wonder if she is trying to tell me something?  LOL)

When Pam came for a visit last year, we had a great time decorating cupcakes, doing card challenges, visiting the zoo and eating bacon sundaes (don't knock it till you've tried it).  I have not done the journaling yet...I want it to be perfect!

I so love this little banner.  I had fun layering things on it.  :)

Well, look at me and all of my fun layers!  Once I got going, I just couldn't stop. 

Have fun with the sketch!  And be sure to show me what you make!

It is Counterfeit Kit Time

We have a very fun, fresh kit that we are counterfeiting this month!  It is WAY out of the box for me, but I really think it will be fun!

Head on over to Counterfeit Kit Challenge to see what we are up to and check out the kit!

Now, on to the fun stuff!  Our fabulous Design Team and our incredible Guest Designer have created wonderful kits for this month!  Check them out and give them some love please (go to CKC Blog to see the complete list of the hop).

My kit this month is based off of the Christy Thomlinson Kit featured.  I was struck by the vibrant colors and fun combinations of patterns.

Most of my paper is from various Echo Park Kits.  I tried to stick fairly closely to the overall feel, scale and colors of the papers.

I love using interesting flowers, so I went with a combination of Prima's and some that I made for a previous kit.

I was thrilled to throw in some of the shapes I cut out of my scraps a few months ago.  (The woodgrain butterfly is my favorite!)

I have been facinated with Washi Tape, so I threw some of that in to play with and of course, had to have my buttons!

I loved the die cuts for this kit, but was short on time to recreate them.  I did, however, just purchase some great K&Co die cuts that look like they will fill the gap nicely.

So that's my kit!  I am amazed every monthh at how much fun it is to pull my own kits...and how much I love them when they are all pulled together!

Now head on over to see what Meridy has created!

March Counterfeit Kit Blog Hop

We are rolling along into March with our Counterfeit Kits and Challenges!  The longer we do this, the more fun I am having! 

Our Kit this month is lovingly counterfeited from Birds of a Feather.  At first, I was a bit thrown off by the very limited color palette, but once I started pulling papers, I really love how the different tones and shades play off one another.

I kept my kit a bit smaller this time around.  I am finding it harder and harder to have "me" time to work with my kits, so I didn't want to overwhelm myself.  Besides the blue and yellow, I decided to accent with a woodgrain pattern.

Don't you love these papers?  I pulled from several different kits (including Echo Park and DCWV to find just the right shades of blues and yellows.

My sweet friend Sherri had sent me some lovely handmade embellishments that I am so happy to add to this kit.  They are BEAUTIFUL!  I made the title blocks (Summertime and So Very...).

My new Tim Holts mini Rosettes Die came in handy for this kit.  I love they way they look!  I was also lucky to have just recieved these great Stampin' Up Couderoy Brads and Buttons from my friend Pam. 

Othere than that, I tossed in a few random stickers and some Alpha's to complete my kit.  I have to admit that I am still working on last month's kits, but I love them so much I am not ready to break them back down yet.

If you have not checked out the rest of our Designer's Kits for this month, head on over to Mary to get your Hop Started.  You won't want to miss ANY of them!

Guest Designer: Mary Buttons http://craftycreation.blogspot.com/

Crystal http://crystalscraftycreations.blogspot.com/

Glinda http://razzledscrapper.blogspot.com/

Helen http://craftimperfect.blogspot.com/

Jen http://mypair-a-dice.blogspot.com/

Julie Ann http://julieannshahin2.blogspot.com/

Lisa http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/

Margie http://scrappinmargie.blogspot.com/

Milissa http://millermall.blogspot.com/

Bethany http://inspiredscrapper-bethany.blogspot.com/

Meridy http://www.meridy77.blogspot.com/

**And for those of you who are wondering why my posts are getting few and far between.  I am finding it tricky to juggle posting here AND posting on the CKCB.  I really want to do better with this blog, though.  I promise to try.

A bit of Scrapping

See, it is not that I'm NOT being creative, I am just not FINISHING my projects.  LOL  I have a tray of unfinished ones just staring at me.  Literally.  I put googly eyes on them so they can do just that.  Helps with the whole guilt thing.

I have gotten so good at finding inspiration to use up bits and pieces of my kits, that they are lasting me FOREVER!  Usually I break them back down out of boredom and the need to move on.  These next layouts are thanks to my February Counterfeit Kits. 

I was wanting to find a reason to use some scraps from my Valentine themed kit and found a sketch on BG that was perfect for this. 

This next one is thanks to a Scrapbook Generation Sketch.  I have a few of their books and LOVE them to bits!    This sketch was perfect for my pictures of Isabel losing her first teeth.

Yes, you are seeing this right.  It is the tooth fairy.  Caught on film.  Her reaction was precious.  It is fun to let her believe while she can.

Loving this month's Counterfeit Kits!

I think I am just worn down from the holidays.  It has been difficult for me to work up any excitement about anything...even in my scrapbooking.

I'm enjoying showing off our kits in a HOP format this year.  You should have come from Susanne's Blog.  If you want to see a complete list of the hop, please go to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge.
We have picked some fun kits PACKED FULL of scrappy goodness for this month!  One thing you will notice is that they are very paper/journaling heavy and not so much on the dementional embellishments.  We will just have to be creative with our layering and foam squares, won't we?

We picked kits from Scrapbook Circle for our inspiration this month.  There are so many great kits that we had to pick two:  You + Me  and  Note to Self. 

I recklessly picked through my sets of paper (I rarely buy single sheets, but prefere kits) and pulled whatever I thought would work.

I LOVE the typewriter paper, but had a horrible time trying to recreate it, so I gave up and picked some paper airplane paper that I already had.  That led me to make some of the papers in my kit more boy friendly.  I think I came up with a nice mix that will work for both of my kid's pages.

Eventually I had to stop making journaling spots.  This kit is FULL of them!  Now there is no exuse for me not to write more this month.

For my second kit, I decided to wing it!  I glanced at the Scrapbook Circle Kit and then got out what I wanted in my kit.  LOL  So no real inspiration there at all except for the theme.

I have some great K & Co. paper from two years ago (maybe?) that I still LOVE!  The Crossword puzzle paper is from Sassafrass Lass and I have been itching to use it .

Yes, you see that correctly.  Look VERY closely and you will notice several little jars of brads and eyelets.  I think it is about time I started using them again.  Do you see the cute owls I added in, too?  My friend Pam made them for me last year, as cupcake toppers.  Of course throwing them out when we were done was out of the question.  LOL  the kids are lucky they got to be on the cupcakes at all!



Now head on over to Meridy's Blog to see what she put together.  I bet she doesn't have owls, though.

It's a party in here!

I love confetti!  It is so fun and festive.  And messy.  And a pain to clean up.  And you always miss some and are finding it weeks later in the strangest places...I hate confetti.

Depsite that.  I decided to give the confetti challenge a go.

I LOVE all of the desingers for Paper Trey Ink and check out their blog regularly.  (If you haven't checked any of them out, you really should...very inspiring!)

I noticed that Heather has a great tuturial for shaker cards on her blog: Pine is Here and decided to make one.  Mine did not come out nearly as cute as hers, but it is not too bad.

Here is her video, but PLEASE head over to her site.  Really.  You will not be sorry.  I LOVE her projects!

And here is my very loose intrepretation.  (Seriously, I feel the need to buy every one of the products in her video...oh, that my budget would let me...)

Have you tried shaker cards lately?  Did you find them hard or easy?

My scrappy friend Queen Pam joined me in the challenge and I LOVE her card!  I never would have thought of this!

Way to Rock the Challenge, Pam!

What a month!

So much to get done!  Where does the time go?  I feel like I am playing hide and seek with my blog.  LOL  At least I am getting all of my posting done on the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog, right?  That counts for something!

I have MADE some time to scrapbook this month.

This is my cat, Bailey (we had to put her down this past summer).  I was not prepared for how much I miss her!  I used my new Jenni Bowlin ribbon punch and made the red/blue embellishments on the side.  I am going to make a banner with it in the near future...so many uses!  I'm glad I got it.

It was great fun to use up some of my scraps.  I did an overhaul (you will hear more about that later) of my scrap paper and have been using it up so much more!  I can't wait to tell you what I did!

I have a head cold, so this page ended up simple, but done.  LOL  I just could not think about it any more, so there you go.

A friend came over this week and we made some Magnet Boards out of baking sheets.  I made this one to match my room.  Collin has requested one for his lego magnets and Isabel has asked for one to put special cards on.  I'm thinking this one needs some butterfly magnets, don't you?

I'm sorry my pictures are so bad.  I just don't have the energy to bother right now, to be honest.