A girl and her shoes . . .

You might have seen the paper shoes that I posted on my blog a little while back.  I made some of these shoes for the Lily Bee booth at CHA . . . one pair for each new paper collection:  This and That, Happily Lost, and Picket Fence.  After all, a girl can never have too many pairs of shoes, right?

This & That:

Picket Fence:

I used the fabulous new Shimmerz Coloringz and Shimmeringz to color the red lace and the blue flowers on this one. 

And last but not least, Happily Lost:

Now if only these were my size . . .

Have a great day!!

Catchin' Up . . .

Ahhhhhhh . . . sweet Friday.

Here's a Prima layout I did a while back.   The picture of my girls was taken at Claire's boutique.  For those of you who don't have a Claire's in your city, it's a chain of stores that sells thrinkets geared towards young girls -- costume jewelry, headbands, lip gloss, nail polish, hair clips, little stuffed animals, etc.  My girls LOVE Claire's and whenever we go to the mall they beg to go there.  When my parents are with us, they always give the girls a little spending money and let them pick out a thing or two.  Because Claire's is a big favorite of their's, I really wanted to take pictures of my girls shopping and do a layout.  But I quickly found out that Claires does NOT allow photography in their store, even if I'm only taking pictures of my children and not close-ups of their products.  I've actually been busted twice!  Shame on me.  I guess they are afraid that people might try and copy their products.  I did manage to get a couple pictures of my girls before I was told "no photos please," and I scrapped this page of them.  Hey, I figure it's good advertising for the store, right? 

I altered the Prima felt strip by first painting it with acrylic paint, then I coated it with Doodlebug's Lily White glitter (my "go to" glitter these days).

Have a fabulous weekend!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hello everyone!  I decided to lighten and brighten up my blog a bit and go with a subtle background. Even though I loved my previous turquoise damask patterned background, I think a plain background is less distracting and it's easier on the eyes. What do you think? I also widened the margins and added another column so that everything isn't so cluttered. Simple is sometimes better when it comes to blog design, right?  I think it's also about time I update my blog header, so I'll be playing around with that soon. 

For Valentine's Day, I made a little project for the Lily Bee blog.  I used papers from Lily Bee's new This & That line to alter a Valentine candy box.

I made the paper ruffle and painted the edges with Fire Engine Red Shimmerz.  I sprinkled red glitter over the Shimmerz paint for good measure.  I added black Stickles to the beautiful damask pattern on the black and white Lily Bee paper.

Hungry? How about a little peak inside . . .

They look good enough to eat, don't they?  Not so fast!   I made these scrumptious looking chocolates out of Fimo polymer clay (the beads are the giveaway).

But here's the BEST part.  My jester husband saw the finished project and decided to play a little joke.  When I was in the other room, he snuck into my scrap room and found my Fimo clay.  He made his own little piece of "chocolate", complete with a "bite" taken out of it (he used the handle of a fork to make the teeth marks).  Then he replaced one of the the chocolates in my candy box with the one he made.  So imagine my surprise when I opened up the box to photograph it and saw a half eaten chocolate!! 

Funny man, that hubby of mine!   I think I'll keep it this way.

I hope you have a wonderful, chocolate-filled Valentine's Day!!

Mess, Mess, Mess . . . plus the CK Special Issue winner

Mess, mess, mess . . . the last couple of days have been all about cleaning up messes:

1.  My daughter, Danielle, got a frozen chocolate custard cup at school yesterday.  She didn't have time to eat it at lunchtime, so she decided to put it in her backpack and save it for later.  Say whaaaaaat??  I don't think she thought that one through.  You can only imagine the mess it made when the top came off and the chocolate custard spilled all over the inside of her backpack.   And since she had a playdate after school, I didn't find her little mess until the evening, by which time the chocolate had solidified in every nook and cranny.   Eesh.

2.  Our sweet cat had an upset tummy yesterday.  (Hairballs??  I'm not sure.  I'm new to this whole cat thing, so I'd appreciate any words of wisdom from any of you experienced cat mommies).  I'll spare you the gory details, but one of the spots was on my very cluttered desk.  He likes to sleep on top of the printer while I'm working on the computer, and it's right near a stack of papers, stapler, remote control, etc.  Not fun cleaning all that up, noooooooooo.

3  A container of Italian dressing jumped out of the refrigerator and spilled all over the floor.   Salad, anyone?

I'm hoping today is a mess-free day.  And I'm hoping that my sweet cat who's sitting here next to me on top of the computer isn't planning on leaving me any more "presents".

Sorry for the delay in announcing the WINNER of the Creating Keepsake's new special issue,  Scrapbooking Tips &; Tricks, Texture.  Without further ado, the random number generator site chose number 10, which is . . . .drumroll  . . . .

Renee!!  Congrats!  Renee, please email your address.

Turning to scrappy stuff, here are the results of a fun little page swap the Prima Design Team members did a little while back (but I never got around to posting it).  We swapped pictures of ourselves and scrapped each other.  I scrapped pictures of the very talented Julie Fei-Fan Balzer.  Julie has a beautiful and colorful artsy style, so I created this page of her "Julie style":

Here is the fabulous layout that Julie created with pictures of me:

I love it, Julie!   It was so much fun participating in this little swap.  Give it a try with one of your scrappy friends!

Back From CHA

I'm back from CHA and I had a blast!   It was fun to connect with so many wonderful friends and to make some new ones too.  I tell ya, the scrapbooking community is such a warm and wonderful group of people.  I'm thrilled to be part of it!  And of course there were LOTS of fabulous new scrapbooking products to see.  Trends I noticed:  circus themed papers and embellishments (I'm using some of them right now!), mustaches (huh??), more flowers and vintage-themed papers (love it all!), trinkets galore, banners (yep, they're still very in apparently), and lots of altered dress forms.  I saw many "must haves" that I can't wait to get my hands on.  Though I don't think I can see myself adding mustaches to my scrapbook pages.  Unless I can get my hubby to grow a mustache.  Hmmmmmmm.  

Here is one of the layouts I made for the Prima booth.  This is from the new Celebrate line.  I crocheted around the edge and added some Prima lace, then I created a little patchwork background.

As I mentioned above, altered dress forms were very popular at CHA.  I spotted them in several different booths.  Prima had several life-sized dress forms adorned with all the beautiful new papers and flowers.  GORGEOUS!!  I didn't know that altered dress forms were going to be so popular when I made this one for the Prima booth:

I used the new Prima laces to make the skirt.  I ADORE the new Prima flowers, lace and trinkets:

I have a lot more to share in the coming weeks!

It's giveaway time again . . .

Creating Keepsake's newest special issue is out, and it's a definite "must have" . . . Scrapbooking Tips & Tricks, Texture:

This special issue is full of ideas for adding texture to your pages to make them really stand out.   Ideas include faux stitching, layering, things to do with trims, and adding texture to your titles.   Here's a little peak at a layout I did for the magazine.  I made a 3D-shadow box pages using layers of paper popped up with dimensional adhesive:

You can purchase a copy of the issue HERE.  Use coupon code TEXTDT and you can get free shipping on orders of $25 or more (expires on March 31, 2011).

And once again the wonderful people at Creating Keepsakes are allowing me to giveaway a copy of this issue to one blog reader.  If you'd like to throw your hat into the ring, just leave a comment here before Sunday at Midnight, and I'll draw a random name next week.

CHA starts today!

CHA starts today, and I'm so happy it's right here in LA this time.   I'm going with the wonderful ladies from Creating Keepsakes magazine and some of my fellow CK Dream Members.  I can't wait!

Here's one of the projects I made for the Prima booth.  I used Prima's new Madeline line, which is one of my all time favorite collections.

I used some of Prima's beautiful new flowers and leaves, and I made the little starfish and shell out of polymer clay.

Tootles for now!

Creating Keepsakes Style Swap

I'm a lean, mean, blogging machine this week!  That's another old TV show reference -- from the Gong Show.  Remember that one?  I must have old TV shows on my brain this week.    Anyhow, I've been blogging a lot because I'm trying to catch up on posting my older projects so that I can post some of the new stuff I've been creating for CHA.  I have a whole bunch of Prima projects to share.  The new Prima products are gorg-e-o-us!!!  There are too many sneaks to post here, but you can see some of the new flowers and other goodies on the Prima blog.  Make sure you scroll down to see all the sneaks that have been posted over the past couple of weeks.

Creating Keepsakes has a fun challenge in this month's issue.  A bunch of the Dream Team members were asked to swap styles with another Dream Team member.  My style is described as "Shabby Chic."  This layout is more typical of my normal shabby chic style, with lots of layers, flowers, lace, stitching or crocheting, etc.:

As seen in the October 2010 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher. 

I was asked to switch styles with CK Dream Team member Linda Barber, who is the queen of "Clean and Simple" pages.  All of her pages are eye-catching, well-designed and include heartfelt journaling.  I find "Clean and Simple" a lot more challenging than doing detailed pages, and they take me just as long.  That's because to achieve a really good "minimalistic" page, all of the basic elements -- design, photos and journaling -- really need to stand out.   Here was my attempt at a Clean and Simple page:

As seen in the January 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher. 

The journaling on this layout says:  My sweet Rebecca, there’s something you should know.  I will always be there for you.  As you get older and experience life’s ups and downs, you can come to me for encouragement and support.  I hope more than anything that your life is full of happiness, love, and success in whatever you do.  But in times when you falter or you’re feeling down, I will be there to lift you up. 

I had a lot of fun stepping outside of my box on this one.   Can you believe, there's not a single Prima flower in sight on this page??  That was the hardest part for me about going Clean and Simple.  So I challenge you to try stepping out of your box and scrapping in a style that's different for you.  Give it a try!!

I'm off to the LA Convention Center to drop off my projects for CHA.  I'll be there when the show opens in a couple days, so if you're going, I hope to see you!

Lily Bee CHA Sneak Peaks

Wait until you see the new Lily Bee collections!  The papers are fresh off the press just in time for CHA this weekend.   Here are the sneak peaks of the fabulous new lines:

I just received all the new papers, and let me tell you, they are gorgeous!  I started working on a couple things for the Lily Bee booth at CHA, but I can't show them just yet.   In the meantime, I'll share a couple projects I made with past Lily Bee lines.  

This is a layout that I made quite a while ago.  It was just published in the "Make It Yours" column of the February 2011 issue of Scrapbooks, Etc. (it was supposed to appear in an issue last year, but it got bumped a couple times).

  
Here's a little card I made with papers from the last release:

Thanks for stopping by!

Snaggletooth

The tooth fairy has been very busy at our house recently.  There's been a mass exodus of teeth from Danielle's mouth during the last couple of weeks.   I . . . ahem . . . I mean the tooth fairy . . . can barely keep up!  Every time Danielle looses a tooth, she gets a handwritten and decorated note from the tooth fairy, some fairy dust sprinkled around her pillow, and of course, some money.  The poor tooth fairy is going to go broke!   Danielle still has one more loose tooth in the center of her mouth.  I affectionately call her "Snaggletooth."  Ugh . . . there I go again dating myself with old cartoon references.  Here's a picture of my sweet little Snaggletooth:

And let me tell you what my sweet Danielle wanted to do with all her money.  One day at school they showed the kids a video about the devastation in Haiti and the stagnate relief efforts.  Seeing all the homeless children really struck a cord with Danielle.  So the other night she came to me with all the money she had been saving in her piggy bank (around $40+), and she said she wanted to give it to the children in Haiti because they need it more than she does.  I was so proud of her!!  I praised her for her generosity and caring heart.  I could see that while she was happy to be helping out those in need, she was also a little sad about giving up her entire savings.  So I suggested that rather than donate all her money, she could give a small amount and Daddy and I would kick in some money to supplement the donation.  That made her happy.  I'm a proud mama!

Here's another little project I made for the Prima booth at CHA last summer.   I bought this little evening bag for $1.00 at my local flea market.  It was missing a couple rhinestones on the front, but otherwise it was in excellent condition.

Here it is after I embellished it with lovely Prima flowers, leaves, rhinestones and pearls:

Soon I'll be posting some of the projects I made for Winter CHA coming up this weekend.

Last but not least, it's time to announce the winner of the most recent blog giveaway.  The winner of Creating Keepsakes new special issue:  The Organized & Inspired Scrapper, is MELISSA!   Congrats Melissa!  I'll contact you to get your address, or feel free to email me with it.  Thanks for playing along, everyone!  

Prima - Wearable Art

I've been busy working on Prima projects for CHA next weekend.  Wait until you see all the gorgeous new goodies they're coming out with!  Prima never ceases to disappoint.   Before I start posting my newly made projects, I want to post some Prima projects I made for the last CHA that I never got around to posting here.  Wait, let me go into Mr. Peabody's Wayback Machine.  Okay, I realize that I'm totally dating myself.  Does anybody else remember that cartoon?   All I really remember is the Wayback machine.  But I digress.

Prima makes so many wonderful embellishments that you can use not just on your scrapbook pages, but also on clothing and other items.  Here are some "wearable art" projects I made.

A bracelet using Prima's pebbles:

A tank top adorned with Prima flowers and leaves:

Have a wonderful weekend!!

New Shimmerz and yet another Creating Keepsakes Giveaway

Shimmerz is releasing two brand new products, and they're gorgeous! Coloringz is a brand new product line in the Shimmerz family. They are super opague with highly saturated colors without any shimmer.

There will be ten colors in this release for Coloringz:
Mama Sings The Blues – a bright turquoise
Mandrin My Tie – an orange/yellow
My Bleeding Heart – deep, bright red
Anchors Away – deep navy blue
Valentino – a beautiful salmon/pink
Ivy League – an olive green
Lime In Da Coconut – a bright lime green
Mon-Shari – a vibrant blue/purple
No Yolking – a super bright yellow
Pink Stiletto – a hot, hot pink
Tropical Tan Line – a vintage tan

Shimmerzingz is another brand new product line in the Shimmerz family. They are super shimmery sprays with only shimmer and no color! There will be five Shimmeringz debuting in this line:
Heavy Metal - a combo of 3 different metallics
Goldie Lox - gold shimmer
Concrete - silver shimmer
Baby's Breath - white shimmer
Bronze Bomshell - bronze shimmer

You'll be able to see some beautiful samples tomorrow on the Shimmerz blog.  These new products will be on sale in the Shimmerz store tomorrow. If you place an order, type my name in the comment section and tell them I sent you! 

Winner, winner chicken dinner. My girls helped me draw a number for the winner of CK's new special issue: The Best of Digital Scrapbooking, and the winner is . . .Jocelyn!! Congrats, Jocelyn!  I'll contact you to get your address.

And how about another CK giveaway?? Creating Keepsakes has another fabulous new special issue out: The Organized & Inspired Scrapper.

This book is filled with great ideas and tools for organizing your scrap space. You'll find storage solutions that fit your own personal needs, and you'll be inspired by all the gorgeous workspaces! You can order a copy of this book in the CK Store (enter coupon code DS25DT for free shipping on orders of $25 or more, expires 2/11/11). For a chance to win a copy of this special issue, just leave a comment here by Sunday at Midnight. You can also find great organizational tips on the CK blog this week!

I've been busy working on projects for CHA.   I'll have a lot to share in the coming weeks (including some past projects that I never got around to posting).   

Monkey See, Monkey Do . . . Lily Bee

Hello everyone! I have a Lily Bee layout to share today . . .

The papers are from Lily Bee's Christmas Town and Domestic Bliss lines.  I used Pop Art Pink Vibez and Caribbean Sunset and Mango Madness Spritz on white Prima flowers.  I used Coal Shimmerz on a vintage crocheted doily.

These pictures are near and dear to my heart.  They are photos of my stepfather with my daughter when she was two-years old (she's now 8).  They liked to play "Monkey See, Monkey Do."  My stepfather would walk with his arms folded and then my daughter would copy him and walk with her arms folded.  He'd move his hands behind his back and she'd move her arms behind her back, and so on and so on (you get the picture).  My daughter always kept a straight face, but the rest of us would crack up every time she copied his actions.

My mom and stepfather loved these two pictures, so they framed them and proudly hung them on their living room wall where they've been displayed for the past 6+ years.

Sadly, my stepfather passed away a couple months ago.  We all miss him terribly.  As a gift to my mom, I made this layout for her and put it in a shadow box frame to go on the wall.

Another Creating Keepsakes Special Issue Giveaway!

If you’ve been wanting to give digital scrapbooking a try, you should check out Creating Keepsake's newest special issue, The Best of Digital Scrapbooking. 

You’ll find easy-to-follow tips, easy template tricks, brush basics, photo-enhancing secrets, and more!    I personally loved some of the great Photoshop tips and tutorials included in this issue.  The wonderful folks at CK are letting me give away a copy of this special issue to one lucky blog reader.  If you'd like to win a copy, please leave a comment here on this post before the end of the day on Sunday, January 16th.  Also, here's a free shipping code to use on your next order in the CK store: DS25DT (free shipping on orders of $25 or more).   

And while we're on the topic of Creating Keepsakes, let me share a  layout that appears in the January issue  of CK.    I got to play with the beautiful papers from Making Memories' Reverie line:

As seen in the January 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher. 

This is a picture of my mom and dad sitting in front of the fireplace with my grandparents (my mom's parents) in 1962, the year after my parents got married.   Yep . . . hanging out with the in-laws.    I wonder what they were talking about that day . . . 

I used Shimmerz' Gold Glimmer Blingz on the chipboard alphas:

I'm honored that this layout was chosen as the featured Project of the Day at 2peas today:

Thank you, 2Peas!

Don't forget to leave a comment for your chance to win a copy of CK's new special digital issue!

Favorite Projects of 2010

I've enjoyed blog hopping around the internet and seeing other scrappers' personal "Favorite Layouts of 2010", so I thought I'd follow suit.   I had a fun and productive year last year, and I'm so very grateful for all the wonderful scrapbooking opportunities that came my way.    Here are some of my favorite projects from 2010 (in no particular order):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for indulging me!  And thank you so much for visiting my blog last year and for all your lovely comments.  I really appreciate it!  I hope you will stop by frequently again this year.  I promise to start blogging more often again!