Graphic 45

I picked up some of the newest Graphic 45 papers and I'm having a ball playing with them! They go perfectly with all the lace I've accumulated over the past year. Yes, I have a lace addiction. I've managed to amass quite a collection of vintage and newer lace -- most of it from estate sales, the local vintage flea market, and Craigslist. I figure that if I stretched out all the lace I have in one long line, it would probably reach across the state. I think I need to have another RAK giveaway soon.

Here's a layout I made with some of that lace and the lovely Graphic 45 papers (this is a picture of me when I was a little girl).


Oh, and one last tidbit for today. I'm going to be teaching a class at Millie Papercrafts in Los Angeles on March 22nd. It will be a vintage-looking layout using the new K&Co Cut 'n Paste line. I'll be posting more details and a sneak peak shortly!

Sparkly, Shimmery News!!

I'm so thrilled to announce that I've been asked to join the Shimmerz Design Team! I'm sharing this honor with some very talented ladies. You can can see the full list of new design team members on the Shimmerz blog.

You all know how much I LOVE bling and shimmery goodness, so I'm very excited that I get to work with the gorgeous Shimmerz paints!! I can't wait to get started!

Happy Valentine's Day!

In honor of Valentine's Day, I am dedicating today's blog post to my sweet husband. Muwwwwaahhhhhh! (That was a kiss). Our plan for Valentine's Day is to have a nice dinner at home with our girls. I think we're going to pick up some sushi from one of our favorite spots. When my husband and I were dating, we used to go out for sushi all the time -- at least once a week. These days . . . not so much. So sushi will be a big treat for us tonight.

Here's a little Valentine's card I made with an adorable vintage image from Fairy Davis Paper Goods for a challenge on A Million Memories (the challenge was sweet and simple: make a Valentine's card).


I think I posted this layout a few months ago, but since it's Valentine's Day I thought I'd post it again:

I hope you have a fantastic Valentine's Day!!!

Scrapperie Guest Designer News!

I can't believe it's February already! Can't you just feel the love in the air? Here's a little Valentine card I made:


And I'm very excited to share the news that I've been asked to be a guest designer at Scrapperie! Come check out the beautiful kits and the great message board. They're having some fun contests during the month of February!

A few things to share . . .

First of all, I have a TOOT! Scrapbooks, Etc. just requested one of my layouts for publication. It will be my first time with them, and I'm very excited!!

Here's a layout I did for a scraplift challenge at A Million Memories. I scraplifted the curtain idea from the very talented Hilde Janbroers. You can see her layout here.

I did a bit of hand-cutting on some beautiful Webster's Pages papers:




Lastly, I received this sweet award from Corien vd Oever: Corien does such STUNNING work, so this was a huge compliment coming from her. Now I'm supposed to nominate other people. I nominate all the talented scrapbookers who read this blog. I really appreciate your sweet comments and I enjoy looking at your blogs in return!!

Back to the old routine . . .

My girls went back to school this week, so that means we are all back to our regular routines. On the positive side, I have more time to take care of the things at work and around the house, and of course I have more time to scrapbook (yay!). On the other hand, I really enjoy hangin' out with my girls everyday, so I was a little sad to see them go back to school. I estimated that during the 3 weeks they were home I: took them to the park 8 times, wiped away 21 tears, heard the question "I'm bored, what should I do?" 8 times, mediated 27 sibling fights, answered 892 questions about everything under the sun, gave 475 kisses (and got just as many in return), and I loved every minute of it!!

Here's a layout I just finished using Melissa Frances' Ambiente papers (one of my favorite lines). Most of the products came from a kit from A Million Memories.


I painted the edges of the photos and paper with white paint. I also coated a piece of corrugated cardboard white, then I embossed the edges with silver embossing powder:


THE FLOWERS: Some of the flowers were white Prima flowers that I sprayed with different colors of Glimmer Mist. THE LEAVES: I used my Cricut to cut the leaves (hurray, I'm finally getting some use out of it!). I then inked the edges of the leaves, dry embossed the veins, highlighted the veins with a silver Sakura Stardust pen, and then folded each leaf for dimension. As a final touch, I coated the leaves with Diamond glaze to give them a little shine and to help maintain the fold.


And my little tip for the day: to keep the ends of my ribbon from fraying, I like to put a little Stickles on the cut edges. Not only does it prevent fraying, but it gives the ribbon some pretty sparkle!


And here's a little card I made for a sketch challenge on Scrapperie:



Thanks for visiting! Enjoy your week!!

Kit 'n Kaboodles Guest DT Spot

I'm so thrilled to share the news that I've been asked to be the Guest DT member this month over at Kit 'n Kaboodles!!! Everybody there has been so warm and welcoming, and the monthly kits are beautful. I've had the privilege of playing with the gorgeous January kit which features Kimberly Poloson papers and a black, white and red theme. Here are a few of the creations I made with the kit:







These great photos were taken by Melissa Walker-Scott.

You can see all of my Guest DT projects along with the BEAUTIFUL creations made by the very talented Design Team over at Kit 'n Kaboodles.

Resolutions

My main New Year's resolution this year was to spend less time on the computer and spend the time doing more important things. So far, I've been failing miserably at it! But change doesn't happen overnight, right? And although it sounds contrary to my resolution to spend less time on the internet, I have also vowed to keep my blog updated on a regular basis. I think I can handle that one!

Here's a layout I made with almost all Prima products (my fav!):


The quote says: "Hand in hand we will grow into the promise of tomorrow, taking with us the enchantment of this day."

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays everyone!

Here's my scrapbook layout for the day:




I hope you and yours have a wonderful Hanukkah, Christmas or whatever you celebrate! Warm wishes!!!

Another acrylic album

Here's an acrylic album I just made. I started with a sheet of Prima Paintables paper and painted the flowers and leaves with Glimmer Mist. I added several coats of Glimmer mist (letting each coat dry before adding the next) to get a really rich and deep color. After I hand-cut out all the flowers and leaves, added a coat of Diamond Glaze on top, then added the cut-out flowers and leaves to my acrylic pages (along with lots of othere goodies!). Most of the other colorful flowers you see here were white Primas that I sprayed with more Glimmer Mist.
Thanks for visiting, and have a great week!

Happy Sunday!

It's been a nice relaxing day. We brought some new toys to the local fire station for their annual holiday toy drive. My husband and I do this with our girls every year, and (hopefully) it teaches our girls the spirit of helping out those less fortunate. This time we got an extra little surprise. The very nice firemen gave us a grand tour of the fire station, and they even let my daughters hop on and "drive" the firetruck. The firemen took the time to explain how things work and answered all of our (many) questions. I think my husband and I enjoyed it as much as our girls did!

And here's my little share for the day . . . a layout I made with the newest Pink Paislee papers. I just love these happy colors! I cut small circles of felt to make the embellishments, and I machine stitched around a large square of felt to make the main photo mat. I just love the soft texture of felt on my pages.

The journaling reads:
Yep, I’m cute and I know it. And let me tell you, I milk it for all it’s worth. Being adorable definitely has its benefits. All I have to do is open my beautiful eyes wide and flash my semi-toothless smile, and my mommy and daddy become putty in my hands. And if that doesn’t do the trick, I just utter a sweet little “mama” or “dada” and my wish is their command. If I keep this up, I’ll have my own pony by the time I’m two! Life is good.

Yes . . . life IS good. :)

Acrylic Album

It rained for several days earlier this week and now it's freezing cold outside. Well, I should clarify that it's been around 55 degrees during the day and it drops into the 40's at night. That's FREEZING by Los Angeles' standards. I even had ice on my car this morning . . . Egads! I know, I know . . . I shouldn't complain considering people are dealing with snow and much colder temperatures elsewhere.

In contrast the cold winter weather, here's an album I made with pictures taken of my girls at the beach on a warm sunny day. The pictures were taken by Melissa Walker-Scott, a wonderful photographer in our area.

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies

Being a girly girl myself, it's so fun having two little daughters who love girly stuff as much as I do. My daughters love to play dress up and dance around the room like little fairy princesses. I just turn on a little music and off they go! I finally got around to scrapping these pictures from a few years ago.

Blog Award

My sweet friend Lisa Spiegel nominated my blog for this award:


Thank you Lisa!!! Lisa and I worked on the Kits2Remember Design Team together last term and I just love her style. In addition to being a talented scrapper, she's also a lovely person inside and out!

Here are the rules:
1. The winner may put the logo on their blog.
2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award.
3. Nominate 5 blogs.
4. Provide links to their blogs.
5. Leave a message for your nominees.

In no particular order...

1. Jules: Jules and I worked together on the Creative Team for the now-defunct Gypsy Rose Paperie, and she does the most AMAZING altered art! You have to check out her blog!
2. Kristi: One of the fearless leaders/owners of SoCalScrap, one of my very favorite scrapbooking hangouts. Kristi does such beautiful things with Prima flowers and bling!
3. Robin: The other fearless leader/owner of SoCalScrap. Thank you for giving us Southern California gals a place to call home. Check out the adorable name tags she made for everyone attending the upcoming SoCalScrap crop! How sweet is that?!?
4. Rochelle: Another SoCalScrap gal! I just love Rochelle's style . . . her layouts are beautiful!!
5. Liz Hicks: My favorite Prima Donna! I've learned some great tips from Liz, and thanks to her I'm even more addicted to Prima and Glimmer Mist than I was before! Her blog is filled with inspiration, personal insights and fun giveways.

And to all the wonderful ladies I've just nominated -- please don't feel obligated to pass this along. I know that it's a busy time for everyone, so no pressure! I just wanted to give you all a "shout out" and to let other people know about your great blogs!! Thanks for all the inspiration, ladies!

Spring Has Sprung

Now that the weather is beginning to get cold and the days are getting shorter, I find myself thinking ahead to Spring. I can't wait to plant colorful flowers in my garden and watch the leaves grow back on the trees.
Here's a scrapbook page I recently made for the November monthly layout challenge on SoCalScrap. The challenge was to use corrugated cardboard on your layout. I first painted the corrugated cardboard with a couple different colors of acrylic paint, then I sprayed several colors of Glimmer Mist (love that stuff!) on top of it. I also used Glimmer Mist to color some of the Prima flowers which started off as plain white. Those white Prima flowers are my favorite embellishment because I can make them any color I want. I love working with all these bright, happy colors!!!

ETA: Rochelle reminded me to mention that I won the challenge contest! :)