Surprise!

We have Internet! I'll share the layouts I was going to share Thursday before I found out that I was not nearly packed enough. Sorry for the blurry pictures, I took them in a hurry:


Have you made a page about how your parent(s) dressed you when you were young? I thought this photo was hilarious, and the Sassafras "Happy Place" line 100% reminds me of my childhood and the horrible sweaters and hair that came with it. Of course, the way my mother dressed me is no where near as bad as how I chose to dress myself:


My mom says that I always looked like I was ready to join the circus. I would wear something like this to the grocery store and someone would ask her, "Are you just coming from dance class?" and my mom would say, "No, it's just a Tuesday." I'm very thankful to have grown up with a mom that encouraged creativity and individuality, even though it was probably embarrassing for her sometimes!

I'm so excited about our new loft! I can't wait to share pictures with you. But for now I'm off to unpack some more boxes...

My Childhood

Thought I'd share the other two Vintage Plum creations I've made thus far:




My printer's out of ink right now, so it's a good thing that I had a few old photos that worked with the kit! I'm moving tommorrow (YAY!), so I'll be without the Web for the weekend. I'll try to post a couple of more times throughout the day to tide you over. Maybe a few pages for challenge blogs??? We'll see...

The Creative Type #17

Hey everyone! I promised I'd share some of my Vintage Plum creations, so here's one more:



This one is for the new prompt over at The Creative Type called "It's a Numbers Game". So often, those numbers are the last thing on a sticker sheet, but this challenge encourages embracing numbers! I chose to focus on the number of photos Jake took last year: 2443!

Plastic Fantastic

As promised, here's the first of my four layouts made so far with the Vintage Plum kit for this month.

I did this page for a challenge at A Little Birdie Told Me. The challenge was "plastic fantastic"...to use plastic on a layout. I didn't have much plastic to choose from because pretty much everything's packed, so I used this awesome monkey from the kit.


The monkey reminded me of the phrase "More fun than a barrel of monkeys", so that's what the journaling at the bottom right is about.

Week 2 Vintage Plum Star Search

Week 2 of the Vintage Plum Star Search is in full swing! This week's challenge was "Medium Madness". The page is supposed to use ink, paint, pens, etc. Here's what I came up with:

I started by painting my own background with Making Memories acrylic paint. I then adhered my photos and painted a boarder around them. I also used the paint to make lines for journaling, which I did by painting the edge of some scrap chipboard and swiping it across the page. I then used a Uni-Ball Signo UM-153 White Ink Gel Pen to doodle a boarder, write my journaling, and freehand my title. I highly recommend this pen. I've tried tons of different white pens and markers, and this one's the only one that works on every background color. You can even write on slick surfaces with it, so it's great for photos! After embroidering the inside of my title, I made my own epoxy chipboard buttons. This is super easy. Cut a design from patterend paper, glue the paper to chipboard and trip into the desired shape. Then poke two small holes in the center of the button for thread. Coat the surface of the button in glaze (I prefer Diamond Glaze) and let dry. Then poke your holes again and the buttons are ready to add to your layout! This is a cheap and easy way to make your own embellishments.


You might remember the photos from this post. The journaling reads: Eliza loves playing with Play-Doh! She thinks that making towers with them is just as fun as the actual PD! Eli vs. Play-Doh tower...Eli wins!


In related news, I received my kit from Vintage Plum yesterday and made four pages and one card last night solely with the kit (I'm surprised there's still some left over)! I was amazed at how fast my layouts went together when I didn't have to look through everything I own first. Now I know what the experts mean when they say too many choices can be paralyzing. I'll wait to post the layouts, but here's a card I made for my Dad's birthday:

See you tomorrow with more eye candy!

Before and After

This one's for yet another challenge over at Vintage Plum. This one's the Guest Design Challenge for June. It was all about chipboard, so I created this chipboarderific page:

I loved using different kinds of chipboard to add all kinds of texture to this layout! I stamped letters on scrap chipboard from a paper pack and cut them out. For texture, I added some corrugated chip circles cut from a coffee cup holder. There's also a journaling spot from packaging (K & Co usable packaging journaling blocks) and a chip flower! I also used yellow crackle paint on a few bare chip shapes. I highly recommend the Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paint. It's one step, has the paint brush in the cap, and dries pretty darn quick. My crackles here are pretty little because I used a thin layer of paint, but the crackles get bigger the thicker you heap it on.

I'm so excited to get to use these photos, I think they're halarious! The journaling on this one is a liitle hard to read, so here it is:

Today I gave birth to beautiful little Eliza! I was "hanging in there" for the shot in the Before picture, but was just blissfully waiting in the After one!

Flying

Here's a page I did for a little challenge over at Vintage Plum. I already bragged on them a little about their kits here, but I don't think I've told you about all of the amazing challenges they have. We all know I'm a challenge junkie, and other than the special Plum Star Search they have going on right now, they also have a weekly challenge, a monthly challenge, and a monthly guest designer spot challenge. The only one you have to use their kits for is the monthly challenge, so go check the other ones out!

Here's the page that I made for last week's weekly challenge to use your scraps:


I used not only scrap paper, left-over rub-ons and packaging, but also scrap fabric left over from my quilt. I was amazed at how much waste there is in quilting. My mom thought I was crazy that I put every little scrap into a bag to take home with me. See Mom? I'll use it!

I cut out the letters in the patterned paper freehand with a craft knife and adhered the fabric to the back of the layout. I then sewed swoopy circles around the letters, careful not to sew at the same spot as the adhesive because it gets the needle stuck or gunky. I drew lightly around the letters to make it look like I sewed around them because I'm not that good with my machine yet. The "F" is done differently, as I cut the letter from the fabric, put it ontop of the die cut paper, and then stitiched around the letter. I did this so the whole word would stand out more.

A Little Birdie Told Me #1

The first challenge is up at this great new challenge blog, A Little Birdie Told Me! The first challenge was to make a super colorful page. Here's my take:

You'd think the title refers to Jake, but this page is actually about the little butterfly flutters from Eliza's kicks when I was pregnant. The pictures aren't that great because I don't have many from when I was pregnant with Eliza, but I'm glad to finally have a page about my favorite part of pregnancy!

Scrapping Across the Universe #15

The Scrapping Across the Universe challenge this time around was to scrap about a great time you had "just hanging" with friends. I did a page about the last time that my best friend Jessica came to visit from Denver. This is everyone hanging out walking around the Plaza:

Indian Elephant

Here's a quick post amidst all of the packing.

My lovely aunt, Beth, has decorated her bathroom in a sort of Indian teal theme, and is having a little bit of trouble finding decorations. I thought of this little Basic Gray elephant rub-on, and thought that she could benefit from my wood mixed media painting kick. I was surprised how well the rub-ons stayed on!



I'm glad this worked, now I can save my favorite rub-ons for wall art!

Vintage Plum

Hey everyone! You should check out this month's kit over at Vintage Plum, it's amazing! I love their kits and have been admiring them from afar for awhile, so I'm super glad to be finally getting my hands on one!



Isn't it amazing?

In related news, I'm participating in their Plum Star Search. Here's my submission for the first challenge, "Fussy Cuts". If you like what you see, you can vote for me here.



Just so you know, I drew the branch, the book, and the worm freehand and then cut them out. For the computer and the robot, I applied a rub-on and then cut around the rub-on. The robot's rub on is hot pink and is on the back of the patterned paper. This is a good technique to try if you like the shape but not the color of a rub-on.

OWL #51: Two

Congrats to One Little Word! They are celebrating their second birthday, so their challenge word is "Two".



I decided to use the challenge to celebrate my two favorite teenagers with a special mini:



My little sister, Taylor, and Jake's little sister, Savannah, happen to be the same age. The result is a lot of loud giggly slumber parties at our apartment.


This is Savannah:


And this is Taylor:

The book still has tons of pages to document the hilarious moments that I'm sure are just around the corner:

To make this mini, I just bought one of Making Memories 8x8 packs of paper (I used this) and glued each piece to the other matching piece because the paper was single sided. I used paper scraps and the packaging for the paper that had shapes cut out of it. I alternated these sheets with transparencies. To bind, I simply lined the papers up, clipped them with binder clips so they wouldn't slip, and punched three holes. I used spare fabric strips to hold it all together and sewed buttons on the end instead of tying knots:


I've been saving this paper for the girls, so thanks to One Little Word for getting me to finally get this project started!

Scrapping Across the Universe # 14

Finals week is finally over! I can get back to playing now!

For the current challenge at Scrapping Across the Universe. The challenge was to use the "Help From My Friends" song as inspiration. My first thought was to make a page about our possible new place of residence, Volker Place in the River Market District downtown KC:



Because, after all, we will be needing lots of help from friends to move all of our furniture and such. However, we still don't know if we got the loft and our move-in date is after the challenge deadline... so I went with idea #2:


I used lyrics from the song as a title. You can't really read the journaling when the page is this small, but it's mostly about how I was super independent and didn't think I needed anybody before I met Jake, but now I realize that I can be independent AND need someone to love!

Dare 136: Decor to paper.

The current challenge over at The Dares is to use decor as inspiration for a page.

I've had this, from Better Homes and Gardens hanging off of a clothes pen in my scrap room for awhile now, because I want to use it as inspiration for Eliza's room when we move (minus the shabby chic elements).



I don't know why I never thought to turn it into a scrapbook page! Here's my translation:

I had fun stamping with paint. It looks a little messier, but it makes a bigger impact, I think.

The Art is Found: Petals

Okay, post #3 as promised! I loved the prompt over at The Art is Found: petals. I think it's perfectly springy. It gave me a chance to use some of my flower stash, which I use rarely.

Category Stories: Unexpected

The category over at Category Stories for the beginning of this month is "unexpected". Though babies are something of a theme for this challenge, my miss Eliza was the first thing I thing I thought of. I went with that instead of working uber hard to be original.


I'm glad for this challenge because I've wanted to make a page like this for sometime but couldn't seem to find the right words. It important for me that Eliza knows that, though she was a surprise, we've wanted her from the moment we found out she was coming. I figure it's better to be open and honest, because I don't want her to do the math someday and worry that she was a "mistake".

May Classes at The Page!

Happy National Scrapbooking Day! Just for you, and in celebration of today, I'm going to be making three whole blog posts! For the first, I'm sharing my May classes at The Scrapbook Page.

My monthly Mini Madness class this time around is a Disney Princess Autograph Book!









The class is Thursday, May 21 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. You can get more class info here. Call The Page at 913-383-1552 for sign-ups. Remember, if you're out of town, they will ship kits!

My second class this month has got to be my favorite class for the whole quarter. As I was thinking about what inspiration theme to use for Inspiration Vacation in May, I started singing "April showers bring May flowers", so I decided that flowers would be prefect. Here's one of the full layouts and sneak peaks of the other two:









The class is Tuesday, May 26 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. You can get more class info here. Call The Page at 913-383-1552 for sign-ups. The great thing about these Inspiration Vacation classes is the bonus: if you make an additional layout inspired by this class, leave the link to the image on this blog within two weeks following the class, then you'll be entered into a drawing to take the June Inspiration Vacation Class Free!

Again, call 913-383-1552 for sign-ups and they will ship kits!