Reveal Day!

Today's the big day...the full reveal of the new Front Porch Kit from The Little Blue House!

As usual, there are tons of creative papers, embellishments and other materials to inspire you. Check out the Little Blue House blog to see all the fabulous goodies that are packed into this kit and leave a comment to win a FREE kit!

Ready to see what I made?

First off, a double layout with lots of photos. I don't do that many double layouts, so they're kind of a challenge for me. But the colors in the kit papers all just really worked together...

I loved the Scrabble tiles and wanted to find a way to incorporate them, so I added our initials inside the slide frames.

There are also some chalkboard embellishments in this kit, including chalk tape, which I used to handwrite part of my title.

The surface in this kit is a fun little clipboard from Pebbles (we're calling him Chip!), and I turned it into a wall hanging to show off one of my favorite photos.

I added a poker chip and some ribbon to the metal part, and I tore a strip of the fabric in the kit to tie around the bottom.

Next up is another layout. Just a silly photo Avery and I took one day in the car when we were waiting for Cecily to arrive.

One of the things I loved about working with this kit is that it really works with any photos you want to use. You don't have to make them all about games! And here you'll see another bit of chalk paper that I doodled some arrows onto. (I'm not much of a doodler, but I can handle arrows!)

There's some really cool foil tape that I punched the flower shapes out of. Fun to play with! And shiny, too!

Finally, here's my bonus project. I wanted to do something fun with the deck of cards in the kit. As I was looking at the box, I thought "Hey, I could make this box into a book cover and use the cards as the pages!" So it became a little bit of a personal challenge to see if I could really do it, but it actually worked pretty well.

Since it was a package of "Bicycle" cards (and also because of the red, white and blue color scheme), I decided to use photos of my kids riding their bikes in the 4th of July Parade. See, I'm tricky like that!

I used scraps of papers from the kit, along with chalk tape to finish it off. It's one of those projects that looks super-complicated, but it's actually pretty easy to whip out.

For more ideas and project photos, be sure to check out the Inspiration Gallery at The Little Blue House website, where you can also order your own Game On kit!

It's all about the details

Well, I did it again. I created a whole slew of classes that are way more complicated than I originally intended for them to be. Conveniently, I had this "epiphany" last night, less than 12 hours before I was set to teach the first class.

I got to the classroom an hour early, determined to somehow make up for my overly ambitious class-creating by making sure everything was perfectly in line. And it was. For the first class...

In the end, everything turned out okay. In fact, it was better than okay. Verging on awesome.

Partly because I had 60 amazing (AMAZING!) students who appreciated all the stupidly complex details I put into the projects and executed them to a tee! And also because I had two freaking amazing (volunteer) assistants who rocked my world, working their butts off to help every single student get every single one of those crazy details into their project. Thank you Barb and Judy!

Today's experience reinforced one central point: I love teaching. I really, really love it. It fills me up with all kinds of happy.

So there will be more teaching, and more projects that are probably more ambitious than they should be. But that's just who I am. I don't do simple.

And hopefully -- fingers crossed -- I will see some familiar faces in future classes. In addition to Stitch Craft Create in Charlotte, I'm working on a few opportunities to teach in the DFW area.

Stay tuned...I will be posting future classes here and on my Facebook page.

In the meantime, now that I'm done making kits for my classes (did I mention they were crazy complicated?), maybe I'll have some time to post some actual work on this blog. We can only hope.

Oopsie

My brain doesn't work the way it used to. I blame it on having kids. Pregnancy and childbirth have been scientifically linked to the loss of brain cells. Really!

Aaaaanyway...

These are the three layouts I created with the Say Cheese kit from The Little Blue House.

I used the plastic rings in the kits as masks and sprayed over them with Maya Mist to create the background.

See the wooden camera piece? I created that patina effect by first misting it green and then pressing it onto a black stamp pad.

Fun and quick layout using the Sn@p collection from Simple Stories and layering my Instagram photos onto the printed frames. 

These Maya Road banner pieces were fun to layer with papers and fabric.

I struggled with this one a bit because the "Say Cheese" title was originally a deep golden yellow and it just wasn't working for me. So I misted over it with blue to get more of a turquoise color. It was a "Make It Work Moment" in my craft room.

 

I've been playing with paint droplets lately. The trick is to dilute the black acrylic with a tiny bit of water to get a nice fat drop. I haven't mastered it yet, but I'm getting better.

I had some ribbon scraps left over, so I stapled them around the paper clip.

I seriously thought I'd posted these, but no. Never happened. Sorry about that. Better late than never, I guess.

Have a great weekend!

Life documented

Sometimes I look at the growing collection of scrapbooks on my shelf (and the growing stack of pages waiting to be put into said scrapbooks), and I think: why do I keep making these things?

Well, (a) it's fun! It's my little creative blast of energy after a long week of delivering the mass emails and corporate-sounding videos that make my work customers happy.

But the more visionary answer is (b) I'm capturing little moments in our lives that are fun to look back on. Because they go WAY too fast!

Case in point: I made this layout for the CHA show back in January, using the For The Record collection from We R Memory Keepers.

I listed out the likes/dislikes of each member of our family.

So my list hasn't changed, but Avery now thinks Webkins are "so yesterday."

And Cecily is done with Gap. Apparently Old Navy is where the cool kids are shopping now. Guess I missed the memo.

Thank goodness I captured these important, yet fleeting, moments of "likes." Three months later and this page is completely out-of-date.


Oh, and in case you're wondering how I made that cool notched punch at the top of each tag, We R Memory Keepers has a punch for that now. It's called the Euro Hook Power Punch and it's shipping now.

Thanks for stopping by!

Little teenager

My girls are big for their age -- as in tall -- which usually makes them seem older than they really are. Sometimes I have to remind myself that they're still just little girls. I don't want them to grow up any faster than they already do. But they want to be Taylor Swift and Bridget Mendler and Selena Gomez. They want to go to fabulous places...wear fabulous clothes...do fabulous things.

So they act all "mature" in their little girl way.

The camera is very good at capturing this. Too good, really. Because I end up with photos of a 6-year-old that make her look like a 16-year-old.

Not at all what I'm going for, but it's kind of fun to see a glimpse of the young lady she will be someday. I decided to just embrace the too-old-looking photo. Just this once.

Patterned paper, stickers, chipboard, fabric buttons: We R Memory Keepers Winter Frost collection; twine: The Twinery; adhesives: Scotch, Zip Dry (Beacon Adhesives).

Brrrrr!

This warm-weather girl has had just about enough of the heavy-coat-and-glove-wearing weather. Too much, actually.

Sure, it was kind of cool seeing big, fluffy snowflakes coming down on Christmas Day...right up to the point I had to chase my escaping dog down the street in my slippers. Then I was ready for the 70-degree temps to come back.

Still waiting...

It's not such a bad thing to be trapped indoors though. At least I did some scrapbooking.

 

 

Cardstock, patterned paper, stickers, crochet doily, fabric buttons, metal snowflake and title tag from We R Memory Keepers (Winter Frost collection). 


Hope you're staying warm and toasty wherever you are!
 

Movin' on

Is it procrastination or just a serious case of denial that's prevented me from packing up my craft room? Every other room in our house is disassembled and packed, yet my scrap space is amazingly intact (except for a few empty shelves here and there).

I can't hold off much longer. We have one week to finish packing and get out of our current house. So tonight it will happen. Big time packing going down. I'll take some photos of the before, during and after.

But I do have a few projects to share. These are from my guest design spot at Ruby Rock-It last month. They sent me the August Moon collection, which has this fun, die-cut glitter paper. I think I used that one sheet in about four different ways.

For the layout, I cut sections of it for the background...
 

...and I cut the title letters from it using my Cameo. 

For the card, I punched a scalloped circle to use behind the butterfly. I also handcut the smaller sun shape that's behind the pink button.

By that time, I was pretty much out of the glitter paper, so I did some other fussy cutting on this layered card.

I love it when I can incorporate a bird somewhere along the way.

Now it's back to the packing. Wish me luck!

Wishy Washi

Okay, yes. I've been dying to use that title for the longest time. In fact, every time I tear off a strip of washi tape, the phrase echoes through my head: wishywashiwishywashiwishywashi

It's my washi theme song.

And it's extra-appropriate right now because my blogging efforts for the past month have been exactly that: wishy washy. With a y, not an i. Busy summer of shuttling kids, selling a house, buying a house, packing and moving to said house, etc, etc. More on that in a later post.

Let's get down to the real wishywashi, shall we? 12x12 Washi Sheets from We R Memory Keepers. Oh yeah!

Here are a couple of projects I created for the CHA booth:

I used my Silhouette to cut the hexagons from four different colors of 12 x 12 washi sheets to create this cascade across the layout.

The coolest thing is that, like washi tape, the sheets are just a little transparent so you can see the pattern of the paper coming through. And it cuts like a dream on the Cameo!

I couldn't exactly stop there, so I did this one while the Cameo was all warmed up:

This could not have been easier. Type in a 4. Make it big. Send to Silhouette. Cut. Adhere to page. I added a little washi tape to ground the design.
 

The title was also cut on my Silhouette, and I recut the same design on the gray washi paper and layered it over the bottom word to give it a little oomph.

Want to see more of the washi? Check out the video scrapbook.com did during CHA (which happens to show my layout):

There's so much you can do with these sheets, and I've barely scratched the surface. They are shipping now, so keep an eye out for them to arrive at your favorite store!

So tell me...are you wishing for washi?

July Flies!

I've been so busy creating for CHA and chasing my girls around this month that I haven't had time to blog. In fact, as this post goes live, I will be waking up in Chicago and getting ready to walk the floor at CHA Summer -- seeking out all the fabulous new products and lines that will be taking all my money (and probably some of yours, too) over the next few months.

There are so many fun projects I can't wait to share with you, including layouts using the new 12x12 Washi Sheets from We R Memory Keepers. Prediction: These are going to be one of the most talked-about products from CHA. They are so awesome, and I can't wait to show you what I did with them!

But until then, I'll leave you with a few projects I did before the CHA frenzy hit my house. I used the We R Memory Keepers Red, White & Blue collection to scrap photos from our local 4th of July parade.

My favorite thing about this layout is the grommets. They have just a little bit of sparkle and are a perfect complement to the twine. Just loop it through and tie a bow...instant awesome.

See that die-cut circle in the background? That's one of the new Mini 8 punches -- it's the Snowflake. Bet you didn't expect to see snowflakes in July, huh! I figure they look a little like stars and pinwheels, so why not?

I love all the fun embellishments in this collection, and you can't help but feel patriotic when you're working with these colors. So while I had all the papers out, I created another card for Operation Write Home:

Be sure to get your Operation Write Home cards sent off by July 24, 2012, at midnight! That's just one week. For complete details about how to submit your cards, visit:
http://www.weronthenet.com/Operation_Write_Home_Submit

I'll be back in a few days with lots to report from CHA. Stay tuned!

Feelin' Beachy

It's been a fun-filled, busy couple of weeks. Here's what I've been up to:

Celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary with a trip to Hawaii. Wanted to stay forever, but I'm pretty sure living in a cardboard box on the beach would be the only option in our price range.


Shuttling the girls to and from summer camp, piano lessons, gymnastics and wherever else their little hearts desire.

Teaching at the Great American Scrapbook Convention in Chantilly -- lots of fun ladies in my classes!

Cleaning and decluttering our house, which is now listed for sale (we're hoping to move into something a little bigger and a lot closer to the girls' school).

Creating with the Down the Boardwalk collection from We R Memory Keepers. Here's a look at the projects I finished in June:

The edges of the paper were already perfectly distressed (much better than I could've done it on my own)! I added a little WRMK washi tape to secure some of the layers to the page.

 

I pulled out my Maya Mists to color these wooden letters. A combination of yellow, pink and graphite gave them just the right color.

These are a couple of the photos I took on the Hawaii trip. I used my Tatted Doily Lucky 8 punch from We R Memory Keepers to create the shaped paper in the background. If you trim the paper down a bit (I think I did mine at 9" by 10.5"), it gives you a completely different outer edge shape.

The who/what/when/where strips are cut from a page of the 4x6 paper pad. There are tons of fun journaling prompts and notes pages in there, but I liked this one because I could cut up the strips and use them in different ways.

 

After I trimmed off what I needed, I used the extra scraps to add this little banner effect:
 

Operation Write Home is still going on, and you have about three more weeks to get your cards in. I'm stockpiling a few to send, including this one:

I added some washi tape over the seams to give it a little more texture and color and topped it off with the Sail Away Embossed Tag.