Two Peas Guest Blogger!

I'm so honored to be the Guest Blogger on 2 Peas today!!! I was asked to create a Halloween layout for the Two Peas in a Bucket SpookCraftular Halloween event.  From my blog post at 2Peas:

From the time they were toddlers, my girls always wanted to dress up as princesses for Halloween. Sure, there were the standard pumpkin and Elmo costumes that I proudly dressed them in when they were babies, but they didn’t have much say in it at the time. Since then it’s been a parade of various princess costumes every Halloween – Cinderella, Ariel, Snow White . . . . well, you know the rest. Last Halloween my girls decided that they were “over” princesses (when did that happen and why didn’t I get the memo??). After talking about all the costume options and changing their minds several times (it is a woman’s prerogative, right?), my girls both decided that they wanted to be High School Musical cheerleaders. I thought they looked adorable in their shiny, sparkly costumes, and it was fun to watch them as they danced around and cheered with their pom-poms. But I have to admit, I still miss the princess phase. Ce La Vie.

Here’s a Halloween layout featuring my little cheerleaders from last year. As the girls’ candy-filled pumpkins got heavier and heavier while trick-or-treating, my husband and I ended up holding their pom-poms for them. Isn’t that the way it always happens . . . they get the candy and the parents get stuck holding the pom-poms.

I used papers from Lily Bee's new Catching Fall line.

I added a Prima Lilliput rose and some fabric rosettes I made:

To make these fabric rosettes, I first cut long strips of white muslin fabric. To get smooth edges without any loose threads, I folded both edges (lengthwise) in towards the center of the strip, and then I adhered the fabric in place with fabric glue (Fabri-tac). Starting at one end of the fabric strip, I rolled the fabric around itself to create a spiral, twisting and turning the fabric strip as I went along. I added a dab of Fabri-Tac every so often to keep the fabric in place. Once the fabric was all rolled up and secured in place, I colored the rosette with Licorice Shimmerz Spritz and Espresso Shimmerz paint.

I also created a sketch to go along with this layout.  Feel free to use it!

Go check out the Two Peas SpookCraftuler Halloween event where you can find some great projects, lessons and challenges. 

Have a great weekend!

Prima Friday

Here are a couple Prima projects I did recently.  Playing with Prima's beautiful papers, flowers and crystals always makes me happy!  This layout is based on the October Build-a-Page:

The papers are from Prima's Paisley Road collection.  To get the pearlescent color and shine on the edge of the pink patterned paper, I added some drops of Ranger's Perfect Pearls and rubbed it around with my fingers.  I love getting my fingers messy when I'm scrapping!  It makes me feel like I'm a real "artiste" . . . LOL! 
 
Here's a card I made last week for World Card Making Day.  I used papers from Prima's So Cute collection to make a little patchwork design.

People have asked me what kind of thread I use when I machine stitch on my projects because the thread  shows up very well.   My "go to" thread for stitching on layouts and cards is Guterman Top Stitch Heavy Duty Thread (I buy it at Joann's).  I love it because it's thicker than regular thread so it stands out better on paper. Of course I also love to hand stitch on my layouts with embroidery floss.

Have a fabulous weekend!!

Lily Bee Layout and Creating Keepsakes Special Issue Winner

First of all, I have a Lily Bee layout to share today.  I finally got to play with the beautiful new Catching Fall line.  It's so perfect for family pages!  

Have I mentioned how much I love the Lily Bee rub-ons?  The Catching Fall rub-ons include many great sentiments, including one of my favorite quotes by Anthony Brandt:  'Other things may change us, but we begin and end with family.'  I wanted the photo and this great quote to be the focal point of the page, so I went with a clean and simple design (well, clean and simple compared to most of my pages, which tend to have a lot of "stuff" on them).   Maya Road was kind enough to send the Lily Bee gals some goodies to play with, so I added a few of these adorable embellishments to this page.

And without further ado . . . WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER . . . it's time to announce the lucky winner of Creating Keepsakes' new special issue:  101+ Creative Ways to Use Your Scrapbook Supplies:

I used a random number generator and it picked comment number 6, which was posted by . . . drumroll please . . . 

Karen G.!  (www.karenika.com)   

Congrats, Karen!  You're going to love this special issue.  I'll email you to get your address.  Thanks everyone for playing along!!

My Creative Scrapbook - two more kit layouts . . .

I have a couple more My Creative Scrapbook kit layouts to share . . . 

There's a great vintage flea market every Sunday close to my house, and I love to hunt for treasures there. After seeing these Crate Paper Restoration papers and die-cuts, I new I wanted to do a layout with pictures from the flea market.  So I made a trip to the flea market for the sole purpose of snapping some photos for my page.  In between snapping photos I just happened to find a few little vintage goodies that I "needed" to buy for my scrap stash . . . . hehehehehe.

I used a CoffeeShop Action in Photoshop to give the photos a vintage look and then I added a Holly McCaig digital border to each of them.

See the little picture of the suitcase on the top right? That suitcase was filled with lovely vintage linens.  I bought a couple of  oversized napkins (small tablecloths?) with a beautiful, detailed hand-crocheted trim around the edge . . . perfect for future scrapbook pages and other crafty projects. 

Here's another layout I did with the fabulous kit.  One thing I love about these Restoration papers is that there are so many pretty flowers and spirals to cut out.

I used the tab from the Prima flower packaging to make a pull-out tab for my journaling  -- a little handwritten love note to my daughter with bits of "motherly advice" from me.  Sometimes I feel more free to write and express my feelings when I know the journaling will be hidden.

It's been wonderful being a guest DT member at My Creative Scrapbook this month!  Pam and her uber-talented  Design Team girls have been so warm and welcoming.  And as you can see, the kit I got to play with is FULL of beautiful products.  Thank you, Pam, for having me as your guest this month!!

'My Creative Scrapbook' - Guest DT Work

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm so happy to be a Guest Design Team member at My Creative Scrapbook  this month!  I got to play with the beautiful October Main Kit, and let me tell you that this is one beautiful kit.  It's filled with Crate Paper's Restoration line, two -- count 'em two -- full packs of Prima flowers (no, I can never get enough of them!), and some other perfectly coordinated goodies.   Here are a couple of the layouts I created.  This first layout features a picture of my mom with her family when she was a teenager.

  I couldn't resist adding a little crocheting around the photo:

 

One thing I love about the Crate Paper Restoration papers is that there are so many pretty flowers and spirals to cut out.  I cut out a lot of the flowers and used them on this layout:

 

Paper curling:

I'll be posting the rest of my kit layouts in the next day or so. 

If you haven't already done so, be sure and leave a comment on the post below for a chance to win a copy of Creating Keepsakes' fantastic new idea book, 101+ Creative Ways to Use Your Scrapbook Supplies:

Have a great day!

101+ Creative Ways to Use Your Scrapbook Supplies + a Giveaway!

Creating Keepsakes has a new special issue out:  101+ Creative Ways to Use Your Scrapbook Supplies.

This special issue is chock full of great ideas. It features inspiring ideas from Creating Keepsakes columnist Jennifer McGuire and a team of talented scrapbookers. They will show you how to go beyond the basics to use your supplies in new ways to create unique page accents, backgrounds and more. With budget-saving tips, easy techniques, ideas for leftovers and more, the useful ideas in this issue will help you stretch your dollars and make the most of your supplies. 

I was honored to be asked to contribute a few projects to this special issue. Here's a peak at one of them:

I've already received my copy of this issue, and I can tell you that it's FANTASTIC!!  You can purchase it here:  101+ Creative Ways to Use Your Scrapbook Supplies.  Use code FS101B to get free shipping on orders of $25 or more, now through December 31, 2010.  You can also find this issue on newstands.

And now for the giveaway!  Creating Keepsakes is allowing me to give away a copy of this special issue to one of my blog readers.  Just leave a comment here from now until the end of the day on Saturday, October 8th and I'll draw the name of the lucky winner. I'll post the winner next week!

Happy Friday!

I'm blogging right now so I can put off doing the inevitable . . . cleaning the huge MESS in my scrap room.  I could swear that I had a scrap table in there somewhere, but there's so much stuff piled up  that I can't even see it!  I've been scrapping non-stop for the last couple of weeks, so things have been piling up . . . and piling . . . and piling.

I'm still trying to play catch up posting layouts I've done during the past few months.   Here's one I made for the Prima booth at CHA.  I cut off part of the 12 x 12 paper because I wanted the circle and photo to hang over the edge . . . as if the girls are running off into the floating ocean.

I used Prima's Jack and Jill line and some of the other new products.

On another note, I'm THRILLED to be a Guest Designer for My Creative Scrapbook this month!   The kits are absolutely gorgeous!  I got to play with the Main Kit this month, and I loved every single thing in it.   Here are some sneak peaks of my layouts.

The October kits will be revealed on My Creative Scrapbook on the 5th, and after that I'll be posting my full layouts here.