Back home

After several days and nights at the animal hospital, our sweet kitty, Smokey, is back home and he seems to be doing better.  We're so happy to have him home and I can tell that he's happy to be home. We're keeping a very close eye on him.  Fingers crossed that he stays healthy.  I really appreciate the supportive comments to my last blog post and the good wishes.  Thank you!!!

I have a layout to share today.  This was something I created for the "Kitchen-Inspired Scrapbooking" feature in the May/June 2012 issue of Creating Keepsakes.  I used a paper doily as a template for hand-stitching.

As seen in the May/June 2012 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine.  Copyright Creative Crafts Group.  Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Worried

Today I'm worried about this little guy . . .

Our sweet boy, Smokey, had a urinary blockage yesterday (an emergency situation), and he had to have a procedure to have the blockage removed.  He has to stay at the animal hospital for a few days with a catheter and IV in him.  I just went to visit him and he seems to be doing okay.  But I'm very worried about him.  We'll find out tomorrow if he gets to come home or if further treatment will be necessary.  I'm also worried because apparently this problem can reoccur, and it can be life-threatening if not caught and treated immediately.  Do any of you cat people have experience with feline urinary tract problems or obstructions?

Good thoughts and prayers for our beloved Smokey would be much appreciated!

Giveway winners!

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!!  I posted two giveaways on my blog last week: one for Creating Keepsakes' Mixed Media Scrapbooking special issue and the other for Making Memories Modern Millinery products.  I used a random number generator to pick the winners.

The winner of Creating Keepsakes new Mixed Media Scrapbooking special issue is: Valerie. 
Congrats, Valerie!!

The winner of the Modern Millinery products is: Kris Berc.  Congrats Kris!

I'll contact you both to get your mailing addresses.  Thanks for playing along everyone!

I also want to let you know that CK Summer Camp 2012 is happening this week on Club CK and the CK blog! The theme is mixed media, and today the focus is Markers and Pens.   I created a fun page for a coloring challenge today on Club CK:    Markers & Pens: Coloring Challenge plus a free printable coloring page    There's a great prize package being offered!!

Making Memories GIVEAWAY -- Modern Millinery!!

**GIVEAWAY ENDED last Sunday.  Thanks!

I shared one of my "Modern Millinery" projects a couple blog posts ago and I told you how much I absolutely LOVE this entire collection.  Well today Making Memories is allowing me to giveaway some Modern Millinery products to one lucky blog reader!!  Before I tell you how you can win these goodies, I want to share a 6x6 mini layout I made with this gorgeous collection.

And now for the fun giveaway part!  Would you like to win some beautiful Modern Millinery products?

To be entered to win, simply leave a comment on this blog post before Sunday night telling me your favorite Modern Millinery Product. I'll draw a random winner and announce it next week!    Please note that the giveaway ended last Sunday.  Thanks!

Creating Keepsakes Mixed Media Special Issue BLOG HOP and a GIVEAWAY!

Creating Keepsakes' newest special issue is out: Mixed Media Scrapbooking.  This special issue of FULL of wonderful ideas for getting a little messy with paint, sprays, art mediums, fabric, metal . . . you name it!!  Best of all, there are easy to follow instructions for most of the techniques in the issue.

Check out this link for the bonus online content: Mixed Media Scrapbooking

Here is one of the projects I did for this issue.  It's a mixed media canvas using a plethora of mist, paint, gesso, embossing powder, ink, etc.

Published in Creating Keepsakes' special Mixed Media Issue.  Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

One of the fun techniques I did for this canvas project was heat embossing metal.  I used a variety of metal keys, watch parts and a bookplate that were originally a more antique-looking metal.  I wanted to give the project a bright, modern look, so I decided to coat all the metal pieces in shiny silver.  To do that, I simply embossed each metal piece using silver embossing powder.  The Mixed Media special issue shows the step shot tutorial:

Just dip in embossing ink, pour on embossing powder, then heat emboss.  Easy peasy!

You can purchase a copy of this fabulous special issue in the CK Store.  As always, Creating Keepsakes is allowing me to give away a copy of this issue to one lucky blog reader. To be eligible to win, simply leave a comment on this post before the end of the day on Sunday, July 22nd.  I will draw a random winner.

And now for the blog hop part!  Go to each of the blogs listed a below and leave a comment on each one for even more chances to win.

Mou Saha                   

Laina Lamb                 

Joey Manwarren    

Ashley Horton            

Iris Uy                         

Paper Crafters Corner 

Maggie Holmes                       

The Scrap Review       

Piradee Talvanna        

Adele Beck                 

Kim Watson        

Kim Jackson       

Patty Cieri                               

Erika Hayes                 

Summer Fullerton 

Good luck!      

Making Memories -- Modern Millinery

Sorry for the lack of blog posts lately!  I decided to cut back on my scrapbooking and blogging this summer so I could enjoy more time with my kiddos.  But a couple weeks ago I got a great offer that I couldn't refuse.  I was asked to design for Making Memories!!  Since the time I started scrapbooking in 2004, Making Memories has always been one of my favorite companies.  I love their papers, I love their embellies, and I love their tools (I cannot scrap without my Making Memories trimmer!).  As most people know, they have been going through a transition (you can read about it here), but now Making Memories is back in the groove and they are releasing more of the awesome and inspiring products they're known for. 

They showcased Modern Millinery and Sarah Jane at Winter CHA, and these will be shipping in August (the release was delayed because of the acquisition, but these lines are definitely worth waiting for!!).  They are releasing a new Christmas line at Summer CHA called Believe.

I fell in love with the Modern Millinery line the first time I saw it.  In fact, it was my Winter CHA "Product Pick" on the Creating Keepsakes blog.  What first caught my eye were the beautiful color combinations and the elegant paper designs (they had me at the rose paper!!). Then when I saw the gorgeous flowers, embellishments, and trims, my heart skipped a beat. I thought it was one of the most stunning scrapbooking collections I had ever seen. I was excited to get my hands on Modern Millinery, and I had an absolute ball playing with it!  Here's a Modern Millinery layout I created for Summer CHA next week:

I used the beautiful Modern Millinery "Net Mini Dot Black" Textile paper as the background for this layout. It's real lace sewn onto cardstock. How cool is that?!? I created two separate photo circles, then I handcut the roses and leaves out of the Statement Floral paper and used them to embellish the circles.

These gorgeous flowers, the pearl/rhinestone button, and the rhinestone trim are all part of this collection too!  You can see the full collection here.  

Be sure and check back later in the week because I'll be doing a  GIVEWAY for some of these beautiful Modern Millinery products!!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July to all my American friends!  I wrote today's blog post on the Creating Keepsakes' blog. They are doing an Independence Day giveaway, so go take a little look-see and leave a comment there for a chance to win the 4th of July prize package!  You can also see some inspirational red, white and blue Pinterest images/links.

Here's the layout I created for my post on the CK blog:

Have a happy and safe 4th everyone!

Photo shoot gone bad . . . VERY, very bad

Summer is here and my kiddos are out of school starting today.  That means sleeping in past 6:00 am (yay!), lazy days, lots of swimming, and whatever other fun activities we can drum up.  That also means juggling my work schedule and trying to complete business calls and emails from home while the girls play quietly (hopefully!) in the other room.  Working from home for a couple hours a day with the girls occupied doing something else usually works out fine.  However, my girls are at the age where they're bickering and fighting over little things.  A lot.  Although most of my layouts are all sunshine and rainbows, I don't pretend that my sweet little angels are perfect all the time.   Here's a layout I created for Creating Keepsakes a while back that captures one of those "non-perfect" moments in photos.  Disclaimer: No children were harmed during the taking of the these photos or the making of this scrapbook layout. :)

As seen in the January/February 2012 issue of Creating Keepsakes Magazine.  Copyright Creative Crafts Group.  Posted with prior permission from the publisher. 

I created this layout for the Supply Savvy article, which featured creative uses for sequins on scrapbook pages.  I used loose sequins and sequin trim to make the large flower centers.  Here's a close-up of the sequin technique and the journaling.

This layout is one of my personal favorites primarily because of the subject matter and the photos.  My girls crack up every time they look at it.  I think it's great to document these "less than perfect" moments on a scrapbook page.  In fact, I decided to make another version of this layout so that both of my girls could have one for their scrapbooks.  I made this one-page version for Prima's CHA booth earlier in the year.

Wish us luck that they we don't have too many of these squabbles this summer!

Colorful Creations Guest DT work + pics of New York

I had the pleasure of being a guest designer for Colorful Creations a few weeks ago.   I was given a beautiful sketch to use.  Here is the layout I created based on the sketch:

On a non-scrapbooking note, I just got back from a very fun filled trip to New York.  My mom, my girls and I went to visit my brother who just moved into his new place in Greenwich Village.  We hit a lot of the New York City tourist spots like Central Park, 5th Avenue, the Natural History Museum, Time Square, China Town, Little Italy, etc., and I took a lot of pictures. 

The first day we decided to take a double decker bus tour around Downtown Manhattan. It was a great way to take in the sights of the city.

All was well and good until it started raining.  Fortunately, our tour guide handed out these stylish little rain ponchos.  We all got quite a laugh out of it.  Here's Danielle and my mom:

They look like little ghosts, don't they?

This is me with my brother.  No, I'm not super short . . . he's just super tall.

We took a stroll through Central Park:

 
Some of the best views we saw of the city were from my brother's deck.

 

The city lights:

I took this picture with my cell phone and accidentally got a lot of camera shake. Cool effect, huh?

It was a great trip!!

Stampin Up! 2012 Catalog

Stampin Up! just released their new 2012-2013 catalog, and they sent me some of their fabulous new goodies to try out!!  I used to think that Stampin Up! was primarily a stamp company, but they offer SO much more for both cardmakers AND scrapbookers.  Check out the new catalog to see all the great stamps, ink, paper, ribbon, embellishments, die-cutting tools and dies, punches, fabric and more! 

Here's a page I made using some of the new Stampin' Up products. 

I love to make paper pinwheels.  I used to just make the accordion folds by eye-balling them but my pinwheels often came out looking a little wonky.  I made these pinwheels with the help of Stampin Up!'s Simply Scored Scoring Tool.  It was so much easier to get perfect folds and flawless pinwheels.  

Here are a couple cards I made.  Stampin Up! has some beautiful new fabrics, which I used to make the ruffles on this first card. 

Everything you see on these cards is Stampin Up!  Well, with the exception of the of the "Happy Birthday" strip which I typed using my vintage typewriter (my fun little new toy that I got for Mother's Day) 

 

 
If you haven't already seen it, be sure and check out the new Stampin Up! catalog:

Just click on the link or photo above to take a look-see at all of the great new products!!

Big Pictures Classes winner and a goodbye

Thank you to everyone who left comments on the Big Picture Classes giveaway post.  It was great to read the responses.  I really wish Blogger would allow me to email people directly in response to their posts (usually I get the "no-reply" return email address when I try to do so).  The Random Number Generator chose:
 


Commenter number 4 is . . . Faygie Fellig!  CONGRATS Faygie!  I'll contact you shortly to let you know the next step.

On another note, it's time to say a goodbye and a thank you.  You can read the lovely announcement here on the Prima blog.  My two years on the team have been an absolute pleasure from day one!  Anyone who knows me or has followed my blog knows how much I love Prima products, so being on their DT was a dream come true.  One of the added bonuses is that I made some wonderful friends along the way.  Working with Sharon Laakkonen (DT coordinator "extraordinaire") and the other talented and supportive ladies on the team has been a fantastic experience.  I'm truly grateful for everything.  Thank you, Prima! 

Best of luck to all the Prima girls who re-applied for another year . . . you all deserve it!  I can't wait to see who's on the new team! 

Prima - "Simple to Stupendous" Feature

Prima started a great new monthly feature called "Simple to Stupendous" where one of the DT members shows a dual approach to creating a layout: one version that's somewhat simple and the other with more product and techniques.  I had the honor of the doing the DT feature this month.  You can see the post here on the Prima blog.  Here are the Cliff Notes . . .

Personally, I don’t have a single set-in-stone scrapbooking style. To keep things interesting for myself, I like to play around with different styles. Some of my pages are very simple with minimal embellishments, and others are filled with techniques and lots of products.  For my post on the Prima blog, I created one-page variations of the two-page layout I did for my class a couple months ago. 
 
Here is the first version.

Pretty simple, huh? I created a quick and easy base for the photo by punching squares from the Songbird Collection papers.  I kept the rest of the page pretty simple by using a minimal amount of flowers (just enough to “pretty up” the page a bit).  Then I added my title and handwrote my journaling on a doily. This is a page that could easily be completed in half an hour and with minimal supplies.

Here is the second version.

As you can see, I added more embellishments and details. For example, I beefed up my cluster of flowers and embellishments. I added some details, like machine stitching around the page and I added tiny drops of Liquid Pearls around the center section.

Instead of a simple punched square design, I added a more eye-catching patchwork design adorned with pearls.

I first learned how to do this cool paper quilting technique here: Davinie’s quilting tutorial

To add a bit of sparkle and pizzazz to my embellishment clusters, I coated some of the flowers and the butterfly with translucent white glitter.

In case you missed it, here's my 2-page version.

Oh, before I forget, the winners of Maggie's Photography Workshops are posted on her blog here!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Big Picture Classes -- "Living the Dream" online workshop giveaway!

I have some exciting news to share today!  I had the opportunity to participate in the creation of an online scrapbooking class for Big Picture Classes.  The Creating Keepsakes Dream Team members have teamed with Big Picture Class ("BPC") to create the Living the Dream online workshop.

 

 

Each DT member has focused on a different topic within the theme of "Living the Dream" and we have each created our own separate layouts, instructions and inspirational materials.  So it's like getting 10 different classes from 10 different instructors for the price of 1!  Here's a little bit of info about the class:

We're willing to bet that much of the life you're living to day began as something that you only dreamt of yesterday. Big Picture Classes and the Creating Keepsakes Dream Team, have joined up to help you acknowledge the dreams that you've had in the past, while discovering and documenting the way that your dreams have been fulfilled (…not always in the way you thought they'd be fulfilled!). In this new workshop, the Creating Keepsakes Dream Team will inspire you with 10 days of emails with a photo and journaling prompt. This will be followed by 10 days where you will receive a handout from each Dream Team teacher that will give you instructions and inspiration to complete a layout that documents the different ways that you're living your dream.

The class will go live on June 28th, but registration is open now.  Please check here for registration information:  Living the Dream.

Good news . . . I get to give away a spot in this class to one of my lucky blog readers!  To be entered to win, simply leave a comment here before the end of the day on Sunday, June 3rd and I will draw a random winner.  Optional (just for fun):  Share a dream of yours that has been fulfilled in the recent years OR a dream that you have for the future. 

For more chances to win, go visit and leave a comment on the blogs of these talented ladies (please be aware that if a single person wins more than one spot in the class, another name will be drawn).

• Autumn Baldwin
• Suzy Plantamura

Back to our regularly scheduled programming . . .

After a couple recent blog hops and giveaways, I'm back to my regularly scheduled programming here on my blog.  My DT term with Prima is almost over, but I still have many Prima layouts and other projects that I haven't shared here yet.   I better hop to it!  Here's a layout I did using April's PPP (Prima's Product Pick):

I used Prima's oh-so-lovely Meadow Lark collection.  I couldn't resist using my new favorite page accent: doilies!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Washi Workshop Winner

Washi Workshop Winner

{Try saying THAT ten times fast!}

According to the Random Number Generator, the winner 

of a spot in the Washi Workshop is . . . Christa! 

Congrats Christa!  I'll contact you to get your full info.