Bare Rosavert

New Blog

2009-09-06T20:49:00.002-05:00

I've moved! You can find my new blog, which is shared with my lovely husband Jake, at nerd-nest.blogspot.com. I'll keep this blog here for archive's sake. Hope everyone follows us over! See you soon!

Giveaway!!!

2009-08-23T17:29:00.010-05:00

I'm happy to announce that we're giving away a few of our great Nerd Nest products!

Head over to our new blog, nerd-nest.blogger.com to enter to win!

I'm a night owl...

2009-08-23T11:45:00.002-05:00

...so check back for the Giveaway Post around 5:00 P.M. CST

I"m off to grab a Carmel Vanilla Latte from the coffeehouse across the street (YAY!).

Tweet tweet

2009-08-22T01:31:00.003-05:00

I caved, I'm finally on twitter! Big week, huh? You can follow me at http://twitter.com/thenerdnest!

In addition, here are a few more cool things you can find in the shop.

I love these awesome fabric flower headbands (most of which are made from some of my favorite Amy Butler fabrics).

This one's my favorite. I think it'll be great for Halloween.

My little sister Taylor totally rocks the metallic look!

P.S. I'm super excited that we can swap clothes now. I'm so borrowing that dress.

My favorite thing is these little mini-books made out of vinyl 45s. I mean, what's more nerdy than records?

I'll be doing another update sometime next week with more headbands, minis, and (shhhhh) a few typewriters. You'll have a chance to grab up some of the new stuff Sunday though. We'll be doing our very first giveaway! Be sure to check back then!

Nerd Nest Esty Grand Opening!

2009-08-18T23:41:00.003-05:00

We, Jake and Megan, are celebrating our 4th wedding anniversary today! We're glad that we actually remembered it this time.

We thought that it would only be appropriate to launch our new joint venture together, Nerd Nest, today. Nerd Nest is a place to find fun handmade and vintage items that celebrate our two favorite things, nerdyness and homeyness. We've got some great things in the shop and are working diligently on a beautiful new blog to go with it!

More about that soon. But for now, here are some great items you can find in our shop:

I am in LOVE with this globe. I have a twin one that I'm keeping for our loft.

We've put up a great three page class kit that would showcase any cute little baby girl perfectly!

We've also put up some fun embellishments that would be great for scrapbooking and cardmaking.

Our favorite thing is this upcycled vintage 45 record holder.

We were so excited to learn that it was featured on Apartment Therapy LA. Thanks Beth! This re-purposed record holder/mail sorter has already been sold, but we'll put up some similar items next week.

There are tons of other fun goodies in the shop. I'll blog about them a little later.

Check back soon for a GIVEAWAY!!!

Scrap Pink

2009-08-13T23:38:00.003-05:00

The Race for the Cure last weekend got me in the mood to scrap using pink! I almost never use pink backgrounds, except for baby pages. I guess I got in touch with my inner girl.

Here's my Race for the Cure page:

I also made a page with one of the few photos that I have of Grammy (whose real name is Shelly, if you're wondering about the "s") and Eliza together:

My Mom, cake maker and quilter extraordinare, had a birthday this week. (Happy birthday Mom.)

I made her (what else?) a scrapbook for her birthday. I used the We Are Memory Keepers 4x6 photo sleeves. I'll share photos when I can wrestle it back from her, but in the meantime, here's a page that I made with a poloroid I found while organizing my childhood photos for my mom:

***EDITED: I've been telling you that I have a secret forever. If I've sparked your interest, check back on Tuesday for the big reveal!

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure

2009-08-09T21:12:00.003-05:00

Today I put on my running (walking) shoes with family, friends, and 28,000 other Kansas City dwellers for the 2009 Susan G. Komen Kansas City Race for the Cure.

Jake is missing from the photo, as he was taking the pictures and is reluctant to hand his SLR over to a stranger. We need to invest in a point and shoot.

We were walking in memory of Grammy, my grandma Shelly Kiekel.

It was awesome that there were so many people there and it was beautiful walking through the city. There were even live bands every couple of blocks!

I feel like a wimp because I've been exhausted all day. Maybe this would be excusable if we ran it, but we walked it. In my defense, they picked the route with the most possible uphill climbs. It was a great morning either way and was a wonderful bonding experience for our family. We also saw a bunch of funny shirts, like "Huffin' for Healthy Hooters" and "Hell ya, they're fake. The real ones tried to kill me!" We will definitely be doing it again next year.

Now for some scrap love.

I wanted to do something that reminded me of Grammy before the walk. Nothing says Grammy like homemade chocolate chip cookies. Except for the background page, everything here is from the July Vintage Plum kit. It's kind of mostly scraplifted from a wonderful page by the amazingly talented Dani Johnston.

I also just got around to scrapping some Easter pages. This one is my favorite.

Lastly, I couldn't resist this amazing self-portrait Jake took. He didn't even have a tripod, he put his camera on his bike. Talk about resourceful!

P.S. Check back later this week for a big reveal!

I Love Livin' in the City

2009-08-07T17:11:00.003-05:00

Things I love about living in the city:

1. Cool photo backgrounds

2. Fresh, local food.

3. Coffee!

One of the coffee shops by us, Eljay's, closed it's doors recently for good. A reminder to support your local businesses!

4. The View

5. The Park Across the Street.

Eliza is in heaven. There are tons of puppies.

6. These two love it too!

7. Portable porch. We can just stick our furniture out of our window.

P.S. We love our window, but this dork:

(Charcoal) jumped out of it when Jake left for work yesterday. We put up fliers, visited the pound, and looked for him for hours. We left the window cracked at night, and he just moseyed back in. I found him snuggling Jake when I went in to go to bed. I'm very thankful he came back okay, but we're going to have to keep a closer eye on this naughty kitty.

Hello August.

2009-08-04T22:48:00.005-05:00

X marks the spot.

As I said last post, I got to visit RVA on the way home from the lake.

I was so surprised to see that Elsie was actually working! I was feeling super shy, but she was so sweet! Jake made fun of me because I didn't talk very much, but what do you say when you read a person's blog everyday? Makes me feel like a stalker...

Even though I'm a huge dork (and look horrible after a week on the lake), I'm so glad we went. The shop is adorable, and I am now 100% in love with Jeremy Larson's music. We bought his album Salvation Club and played it the whole way back to KC. The next day, I had to buy his self-titled album on-line as well. You can find them here. Check him out. He's magical. You'll be seeing my other RVA goodies I picked up in posts soon to come.

Now, because I haven't been posting very much this summer due to the most horrible combination of difficult summer courses ever invented, here are all of the July pages I've been holding onto without sharing. Sorry, but they're pretty blurry.

First up, I finally finished our Table Rock Lake album from 2006. This means you should probably be expecting the 2009 album in about 2012. Here are some of my favorite pages.

My favorite part is the hand-drawn woodgrain. I love Crayons.

I am a huge bookworm and am one of the few people alive that actually enjoys Shakespeare. Yes, I am aware that there should be an "e" at the end. Bad spelling is part of who I am, and this trait will make it onto my pages from time to time.
We love to go watch the free Shakespeare in the Park every summer. Nothing like a picnic and a play! Hopefully, this is a good example of how to work with not-so-great photos.

My grandma, Grammy, was a huge part of my life. She is my role model and inspiration. It is hard for me to scrap about her, but it is also therapeutic. It's important to me to make sure that I scrap about my memories of her, so Eliza can know how great she was.

My sister, Taylor, is also one of my best friends. She started playing softball as a Freshman last Spring and spent a great deal of it benched. She rocked that bench though. Nothing like some Lady Gaga shades to jazz up a uniform.

Our friends Steven and Michelle. These photos were taken at a Thai restaurant, so I wanted the page to feel Asian-y. You should definitely try Lulu's in the Crossroads district if you live in KC. This is also my first attempt at wet-embossing, which is my new favorite thing.

Last but not least,I said goodbye to The Scrapbook Page in July. Though I'll no longer be working there or teaching classes with them, it's still my #1 LSS. I'm embarking on new journeys in life, and am making room for some wonderful things.
I'll be sharing them soon, but for now, I'll be keeping secrets.

Lake Loves 2

2009-07-28T00:12:00.002-05:00

I forgot the camera cord while at the lake! Ooops. This is the view that I had on my birthday...

The rest of the vacation was spend writing hundreds of pages (literally) of term papers.

Oh, and I got to stop by here on the way home. You'll get to see those photos as soon as I Photoshop the big stress zit off of my forehead...

Lake Love

2009-07-21T22:41:00.003-05:00

Okay, I know I just posted. I just stumbled upon this page and couldn't resist sharing.

This is from our last trip to Table Rock, when Eliza was only 6 months old. She's such a little water baby! I'll be back soon...

Amercian Crafts DT Call

2009-07-21T20:37:00.004-05:00

As I told you yesterday, I recently answered the American Crafts contributing design team call. I thought I'd share my entries. I've been working diligently on them, which is one of the reasons I haven't been sharing many pages lately. I'll have lots more goodies to share next week as well.

American Crafts Supplies: Passing Notes Paper (34643)-Teen, Talent Show Paper (34633)-Teen, Adventurous Paper (34620)- Moda Bella, Dazzling Paper (34604)-Moda Bella, Catwalk Phrases (43310), Catwalk Accents (43308), Details Fashion Max (78010), Thickers Vera Accents Taffy (42935), Thickers Chit Chat White (42902), Remarks Sotheby's Letter Stickers (42454), Blah, Blah, Blah Flair (70015)-Teen

First, here's a page about Jake's lovely cousins, Annie and Melissa. They have such a fun and funky style, so I had to make a page to match.

American Crafts Supplies: Snap Paper (34702)-Backyard, Tweet Paper (34687)-Backyard, Shade Journaling Book (42542)-Backyard, Picnic Flair (70021)-Backyard, Smile Flair (70007)-Everyday, Thickers Chit Chat Grapefruit (42908), Thickers Chit Chat Chestnut (42901), Precision Pen 01 (62301)-Black

This photo was taken about a week ago, but I had to scrap it immediately. How cute is Eliza? She seriously is my sunshine.

American Crafts Supplies: Ruth Buttonham Paper (34725)-Craft Fair, Lola Threadgood Paper (34726)-Craft Fair, Splish Paper (34699)-Backyard, Head Cheerleader Paper (34638)-Teen, Ribbon (93023)-Everyday 1, Tunes Flair (70014)-Teen, Shade Journaling Book (42542)-Backyard, Fine-Tipped Slick Writer (62003)-Red

I also made this cute little card. I couldn't resist the "hi" "hiya" "hello" ribbon.

This photo is a little blurry. It says "I've missed you SEW much! Just wanted to say hello!" I thought it was funny, with the thread and all.

American Crafts Supplies: Debate Team Paper (34642)-Teen, Talent Show Paper (34633)-Teen, Chess Club Paper (34634)-Teen, Drill Team Paper (34637)-Teen, Homeroom Paper (34640)-Teen, Honor Roll Paper (34632)-Teen, Homecoming Queen Paper (34638)-Teen, Head Cheerleader Paper (34628)-Teen, Driver's Ed Paper (34636)-Teen, Ribbon (93027)-Everyday 2, Fash Max Details (78010), Catwalk Phrases (43310), Blah, Blah, Blah Flair (70015)-Teen, Tunes Flair (70015)-Teen, Sweet (70013)-Teen, Thickers Platforms Letter Stickers (42813), Remarks Sotheby's Letter Stickers (42454), Shade Journaling Book (42542)-Backyard, Precision Pen 01 (62301)-Black Other Supplies: Chipboard, Duct Tape

My favorite thing, however, has to be this mini. I've been saving this teen paper for the perfect project. I've saved most of my concert tickets from high school and a lot of the local concert fliers. This mini is the perfect home for all of my concert memories! I made the covers and the spine using scrap chipboard and used colored duct tape (my new favorite thing) to bind it together. I punched holes in the center of scored pages and the spine and bound the pages to the book with ribbon.

I left spaces for journaling. I've always kept a journal, so I have about 20 composition notebooks to look through. I want to add in authentic memories. I also have about half of the pages left so that I can add to it as I go to more concerts!

While I figure the chances of making it onto AC's DT are pretty slim, it was worth entering just to make these projects! I've been planning the music mini for some time, and this was just the push I needed.

I'm off to write a few more final papers for my summer classes. Yuck, I know. Especially considering I'm on vacation right now. In other news, my 22nd birthday is Thursday! I'll be back to post some photos then.

A Little Hello

2009-07-20T22:19:00.002-05:00

...from Table Rock lake!!! I entered the call for the contributing design team over at American Crafts today! I'll share my entries soon. For now, here's the layout that didn't make the cut (though I still love it).

I'm on vacation at Table Rock lake and will be sharing pictures of the beautiful scenery soon!!!

American Crafts All-American Week Challenge

2009-07-08T22:57:00.004-05:00

The challenge over at the American Crafts blog right now is to use a page using mostly red, white, and blue! In honor of this patriotic challenge, here's a page using a picture from the 4th in 2008:

Supplies: Ruth Buttonham paper (34725)-Craft Fair, Alice Stichenson paper (34724)- Craft Fair, Smile Flair (70007)-Everyday, Shade Journaling Book (42542)-Backyard, Chit Chat Puffy Letter Stickers (42902)-White, Smoothie Foam Letter Stickers (42726)-Powder

I love this picture of Eliza! The look on her face captures her awe at fireworks perfectly.

Something Old, Something New

2009-07-03T00:30:00.003-05:00

I've been a little MIA the last few weeks, but it's all due to settling in here:

I love that this is our window. It's like our backdoor or porch. It's definitely nice to be able to hand in groceries through the window (it's even nicer to buy them fresh and local across the street)! I've been meaning to give you a nice visual tour of my new loft & neighborhood...and it's coming, I promise! I had no idea it would take this long to get settled in. Either way, it's past due time to share some eye candy with you! I challenged myself this week to use something old on every page. I've been buying some awesome new goodies, so I know I won't use up my stash if I don't make myself! Also, I've been really inspired by photos of my childhood lately, so there are also old pictures on most of these pages. Here's what I came up with:

Most of this page was created using my June Vintage Plum kit, but I used some of my older Thickers for the title. I'm obsessed with Thickers (I believe I have over thirty varieties now), but these ones always seem a little bigger than what I'm going for. I'm glad I finally used them, they really pop!

I love this picture of me as a little "esimo" as a baby. This page is mostly new Sassafras Lass, but the scrap of paper in the top left corner is from my scrap box.

Another photo from my childhood! This was made mostly from the wonderful Freehand Scraps kit I won thanks to the wonderful folks at the Sassafras Lass blog. My something old is the Thickers scallop at the bottom of the photo (though, to be honest, it's not that old).

A page about my childhood dog, Sami. I've always been more of a cat person, Sami's the only dog that's ever been mine. For this page the background is SUPER old, and I jazzed it up with some older Love, Elsie epoxy stickers.

This page also prominently features the June Vintage Plum kit. My only something old is the strip of striped Basic Gray paper. I'm not so good with stripes, so I'm glad I finally found the perfect use for the paper.

Most of my pages are inspired by the photos, but this one was 100% inspired by those cute Sassafras chipboard bunny stickers. All paper, excepting the background, on this page was scrap paper.

Lastly, a card I made for my little sister's birthday. I can't believe she's 15! She's already a better driver than I am. I centered the card around the Thickers flower and the KI word stickers (which are pretty old). The rest of the card is made from scraps.

I hope this post inspires you to use some of those scraps! It is "scrap"booking after all (as my husband so diligently reminds me everytime I buy something new). Happy scrapping!

For Fathers

2009-06-22T23:53:00.002-05:00

Happy belated Father's Day everyone! I've been creating some pages honoring the fathers in my life.

Here's a card for my step-dad (or PawPaw, as Eliza calls him):

My newest page celebrating Jake's awesome skills as a Daddy. This one is about his very first day as a daddy. I stayed in the hospital for three days after having Eliza and Jake stayed with us the whole time instead of going home. He had to sleep on a little bench by the window.

This is my absolute photo of my dad. He's so pensive. It 100% captures his personality.

Last but not least, a page for my grandpa (Poppy). That's little me in the photo, walking around in his boots. If there's anyone whose footsteps I would like to follow in my life, it's his.

Suddenly Last Summer

2009-06-19T22:30:00.006-05:00

I'm really getting into the summer mood! I wish it wasn't so muggy here in KC, but it's nice that swimming weather is here. Eliza is even going out on the boat with her Papa Timmy tomorrow.

In celebration of summer, I thought I'd share some of my older (but new to you) summer pages.

I made the title by stamping the letter outlines with acrylic stamps, coloring in the centers of the letters with crayons, and adding Diamond Glaze to the top for an epoxy look. I thought it added a youthful feel.

Eliza was about 18 months in this picture. She was totally in love with the baseball. She wouldn't even look up from the game to eat cotton candy. This is surprising, as Jake and I don't watch sports at all. I'm guessing sports love sometimes skips a generation?

The alien is my favorite part. I made him from scratch. Tip: American Crafts Slick Writers work very well for outlining if you are going to use watercolors; they don't run.

In other news, this is what has been happening in my life lately.

This girl:

came to KC two weekends ago and I drove back to Denver to spend the week with her.

We got to eat at Tokyo Joe's, which I highly recommend.

We also got to see these guys:

We also saw these guys, but we were pretty bummed that they were the headliners.

As if all of that isn't awesome enough, Jake and I also got to go to this tonight:

The name was stupid, but the concert was as good as it gets as far as free shows go.

Upcycling + Getting Messy =

2009-06-18T12:48:00.004-05:00

Sometimes you just have to break out the paint and splatter away. This layout was really fun to make; it uses tons of old and recycled products.

June Classes!!!

2009-06-16T13:17:00.002-05:00

Sorry I've been a bad blogger. I put the camera charger in the wrong box during the move and we didn't find it until yesterday (sorry Jake). So now that we have the charger, I should be able to post pictures of our wonderful new life soon! I'll also be able to take pictures of projects to share with you! But, until then, here are some photos of my June classes at The Scrapbook Page.

My Mini-Madness class for this month, DINOmite! is coming up this Thursday, June 18th from 6:30-8:30 PM. Here are some sneaks:

The other class this month is Inspiration Vacation: Under the Sea. This one is Thursday, June 25th from 6:30-8:30 PM.

Call the page at 913-383-1552 for sign-ups! They'll ship kits if you don't live in the Kansas City area.

Surprise!

2009-05-31T01:30:00.004-05:00

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

2009-05-28T02:23:00.003-05:00

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

2009-05-25T14:01:00.002-05:00

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

2009-05-24T00:55:00.003-05:00

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

2009-05-23T01:08:00.002-05:00

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

2009-05-21T13:01:00.003-05:00

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

2009-05-19T12:34:00.002-05:00

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

2009-05-18T02:49:00.002-05:00

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

2009-05-18T02:39:00.002-05:00

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

2009-05-16T15:30:00.002-05:00

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

2009-05-13T23:51:00.002-05:00

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

2009-05-12T22:23:00.002-05:00

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

2009-05-11T20:36:00.003-05:00

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.

2009-05-04T20:33:00.005-05:00

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

2009-05-02T20:43:00.002-05:00

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

2009-05-02T20:33:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-05-02T19:16:00.002-05:00

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!

Got Mojo #33: Peter Pan+Frame

2009-04-30T21:22:00.004-05:00

I love the most recent challenge over at Scrap Mojo! The challenge was to use ANYTHING from Peter Pan that YOU love and use a frame some where some how on your page. I thought it was a great opportunity to get to working on my project described on this post .

A little mermaid love!

I painted the canvas, added some of the mermaids and a page out of a Peter Pan from Elsie's Neverland kit at her etsy, elsiecake. I also drew one of my very own mermaids:

I used acrylic paint for her skin so you couldn't see the words, and then colored the rest with sparkly Crayolas. The other mermaids are colored in with crayons as well. I think my favorite part is the buttons :) I didn't have a frame I liked for the challenge, so I used them to make one.

And, since I'm sharing, here's some other things I've done with the kit:

I'm so excited to finish all of these! They're going to look great hanging together!

P.S. Thank you Jake for taking the pictures of these and for doing the fun spotlight effect on the first photo. Love you honey!

Superhero Deemo!

2009-04-28T16:27:00.003-05:00

I hope she won't get mad at me for letting everyone know her secret identity, but Eliza is really a superhero!

She just came up to us one day, asked us to tie a pillowcase around her neck and started running around going "Superhero Deemo!" She stopped after awhile, asked us to take it off, and told us "I'm tierd of fighting crime". She's such a goose. She pretends to be Superhero Deemo at least once a week :)

The Creative Type #15

2009-04-27T01:20:00.003-05:00

For a fun challenge over at The Creative Type:

The challenge was to journal directly on your photo, which I do all of the time, so I extended the challenge to myself to make a photo just for the journaling! The journaling block is actually a photoshoped picture of the stage. I had every intention of sewing a spot in the page protector for the playbill, but got lazy and attached it with brads instead. Just so you all know, it also took a ton of bravery to put that photo on the page! I think I look pretty darn horrible, but I'll live.

Wonder

2009-04-27T00:56:00.002-05:00

Thought I'd share. I am in love with this page!

I've been scrapping a lot of Eliza's baby pictures lately, as there's a gap of about eight months where there aren't very many at all. That was before I realized that it is not necessary to scrap in chronological order and that you don't have to scrap every single photo. I've been having a lot of fun looking back at the photos and memories from when she was so tiny. I've also found the realization that it is not necessary to stick with baby colors or baby themed products quite freeing. There will be more baby love to come!

Inspired by Amelie #12

2009-04-25T00:57:00.002-05:00

As always, the ladies over at Inspired by Amelie didn't fail to inspire! The current challenge was to scrap about life's simple pleasures. As I've already done a simple likes/dislikes page inspired by the narration in Amelie, I opted to do a page about the most recent simple pleasure we enjoyed as a family... ice cream!

Yum! Posting this has made me hungry... I need to go raid my freezer!

The Art is Found: Green Grass

2009-04-24T01:42:00.002-05:00

How did I spend my Earth Day? Well, I made this page (among other things) for a challenge at The Art is Found. The prompt is green grass.

I challenged myself to use only scrap paper, which made my husband Jake super happy, because he's always telling me that it's called SCRAPbooking for a reason. This is because I have a spending problem. Don't we all? Anyway, using scraps is a great way to use your stash. I try to check my scrap box before I cut into a new sheet of paper, but creating with nothing but scraps was challenging. I kept having to repeat to myself that it doesn't matter that the greens don't match perfectly...

Use Those Class Pages!

2009-04-23T16:29:00.005-05:00

I know that a lot of the girls that take classes at The Scrapbook Page just let their class pages build up without adding those last steps of photos and journaling. I'm going to assume that's a universal problem among those of you that take classes or workshops that don't include the add-the-photo steps. But I'm here to tell you that with a little luck and a lot of Un-du, you can get those pages into your albums in no time! I've used some of the pages from classes I've taught in the past to give you some tips and tricks on using those class pages!

One of the biggest problems with classes is that the pages don't always seem to fit with the shapes and sizes of your photos. There are a few ways to tackle this easily.

1. Crop the photo.

Here, I had a vertical 4.5x6.5 photo mat, but my photo was horizontal. I cut my photo down to 4x4 and used the top of the photo mat for my title. You could also put journaling or an extra embellishment in the space left for the photo mat. Can't make it work? Grab that Un-du and flip or trim the photo mat instead. You'll also notice that I made this generic page into a themed page. Class pages are great to turn into themed pages, becuase you're most likely to run out of inspiration on things that you scrap all of the time, like birthdays.

2. Ignore the photo mats.

I liked these patterend photo mats too much to cover them up. I also wanted my photo to take center stage, so I didn't want to tilt it with the other elements. So I just treated the photo mats like part of the background and added journaling stickers to them (the sticker is actually cut in half). You'll also notice some extra elements, like the flower stickers and the journaling sickers, that weren't part of the class. Don't be afraid to add to class pages to jazz them up and make them your own.

3. Put the photo on the mat even if it's going in the wrong direction.

On this page, instead of trying to crop the photo (which would not have really worked with this head shot) or flip the mat (which looked pretty silly), I just put the vertical photo on the horizontal mat without worrying about it. I used the extra space on the mat for an extra small photo. Notice I also added rub-ons to this page that weren't originally there. I love embellishments, and putting more of them on class pages makes the pages stand out from the other pages in my albums less.

Another common problem with class pages is that there just isn't enough space on them for all of the photos you want to use. While I usually recommend just picking the best photos to let your story shine, sometimes you just need more. Here are a few tips on squeezing extra photos into your class pages.

1. Let a photo mat do double duty.

In this (unfinished) page above, I used some of the tricks for wonky photo mats to squeeze two photos onto one mat. I cropped the first one to fit inside the vertical mad and I didn't worry that the second one was completely within the confines of the allotted space. I can't wait to make a train image on my Silhouette so I can finish up the title on this page!

2. Shrink your pictures.

There was no way I was fitting five full-sized photos on this page, so shrinking them down was the way to go. Because the photos were dark and didn't contrast enough with the black mats, I added another off-white mat.

3. Stretch the layout into a double pager.

The left side of this double page layout was the original class page, and I just stretched the original design. It's also easy to mirror the original design. It's best to know that you want to turn the page into a double pager during the class, when the supplies are more likely to be available.

4. Turn photo mats into journaling blocks.

I'm sure it's rare, but sometimes you have too many photo mats and not enough photos. The solution here is simple. Use the space for journaling! You can also use the mat to add a title or extra embellishments.

P.S. Another class tip? Scraplift your class pages! I based this page on the page above. No one will ever know that two pages in your album are based on the same design! I scraplift myself all of the time.

If you have any scrapbooking questions or problems, leave me a comment or e-mail me! Maybe my next post will answer it!

Disney Mini for Mo

2009-04-22T03:05:00.005-05:00

I recently created a little Classic Disney mini-book for my friend Mo at The Scrapbook Page. She's currently taking her recently retired dad on a trip to Disney, and needed a reason to make him take pictures with the characters. Hopefully, this mini will give her dad some instant gratification as well while she is working on scrapping the trip.

I kept it super simple (which we all know is rare for me). It made for a nice change.

I made the cover on my QuicKutz Silhouette using vinyl. I made the Mickey head myself using the welding function on the Silhouette. It's super easy to just weld together a couple of circles, I'm hoping to graduate toward making my own more complicated shapes soon. If you have any questions about anything QuicKutz or die-cutting related or are just curious, head over to Mo's blog.

If you like this mini, you might also like my upcoming Princess Autograph Book class at The Page. I'll be posting more pics of this class soon.

I'm Back + Category Stories

2009-04-21T16:17:00.003-05:00

I'm back! I didn't ruin the lovely fabric (yay)! The quilt went a lot faster than expected, so I spent most of the weekend writing. Here is is (without backing or a boarder because I have yet to buy the fabric for the rest of it):

It's busy and oh so very us.

To get back into the swing of things, here is a page for a challenge over at Category Stories. The challenge was to scrap about going to the movies, but since I've scrapped plenty about that, I decided to write about Eliza's life in movies:

This layout was inspired by Ali Edwards. You'll notice I broke out the sewing machine. I think that I'll have trouble putting it away after last weekend!

I'm off like a heard of turtles.

2009-04-15T23:30:00.003-05:00

Or at least that's what my Grandma would say. I'm going to Warsaw tomorrow with my mom on a quilting weekend. I'll be making my very first quilt. I'm going to try my darnedest not to ruin this gorgeous fabric from Urban Arts and Crafts:

A little Anna Maria Horner and a lot of Amy Butler! I'm looking forward to a fun weekend with some batty old ladies, so I won't see you again until Sunday night! Here's some fun layouts using some old childhood photos I dug up. This should tide you over, right?

I'll miss you! Wish me luck!

April Classes at the Scrapbook Page!

2009-04-15T03:00:00.004-05:00

They're coming up soon, so I thought I'd share my upcoming classes at The Scrapbook Page with you!

Here's a peak of my April 23rd Mini Madness - Spring Forward class.

I love how bright and fun this mini is! It's perfect for spring.

While I'm at it, here's a sneak peak of my April 30th Inspiration Vacation - Architecture class. You can catch a full page example, as well as a class description, at the provided link.

You can sign up by calling the Page at 913-383-1552. I've also recently found out that they will ship kits, so if you don't live around KC you can still have these fabulous projects for your very own!

Category Stories: Bedtime Rituals

2009-04-14T00:28:00.002-05:00

A page for the April 1 prompt at Category Stories. The challenge was to scrap about a bedtime ritual. I was going to do a page about my bedtime ritual of reading before bed, but Jake captured this amazing moment of Eliza and i had to scrap it!

The page is a little blurry, so here's the journaling:

Eliza, we always read a book to you before bed. Lately, you've developed a habit of begging us to keep the light on for a little while when we're done so you can "read" (look at the pictures)by yourself. No doubt, this is a mommy mimicking habit, because I HAVE to read before I sleep. However, the side effects are that we find you like this...

Scrapping Across the Universe #12

2009-04-14T00:06:00.004-05:00

This is a page for the challenge blog Scrapping Across the Universe. The prompt was to scrap secrets from your past! I chose to write about past and present secrets that were all at least slightly funny.

In case you can't read my horrible handwriting, here's the journaling:

I sing loud in the car.
I'm a sucker for poetry, even if it's bad.
I loved Twilight and read the whole series in a weekend, even though I said I wasn't going to read them.
I am in pajamas 90% of the time.
I was late to my own wedding.
I once had blue hair.
I like to prove people wrong.

I also made another Across the Universe inspired page while watching the movie working on the above layout:

Journaling: A quick way to melt my heart is to make Jim Sturgess faces at me! Love you!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T04:47:00.002-05:00

Happy Easter to all of you who celebrate! I'm feeling a little under the weather and accidentally took some daytime medication, so I'm experiencing a bit of insomnia. I felt that sharing this fun page was a better use of my time than tossing and turning.

I love the photo on this page because Eliza's face is so darn cute and Jake is in it taking the picture, as usual. The journaling describes Eliza's obsession with the Easter Bunny last year. She is much more enamored by him than by Santa Claus and couldn't understand why he couldn't come back when she ran out of jellybeans.

Sneak Peak

2009-04-11T01:01:00.003-05:00

A little canvas using some of the fabulous goodies + inspiration from Elsie at her Etsy. I loved this Neverland Kit, and have been saving it for something wonderful.

This mixed media painting is only one in a series... we are currently redecorating our bedroom and I am using this wonderful grouping from Rachel as inspiration:

I may be sharing more, but hopefully I'll be able to hold out until you can see the finished product!

The Creative Type #14

2009-04-10T02:22:00.002-05:00

Last post today I swear! I've been saving them up waiting to take pictures. You're going to get slammed with some eye candy this weekend now that they're all taken.

The current challenge up at The Creative Type is all about the @ symbol. Thanks to their prompt, I had the Beck song Where It's At stuck in my head the whole time I made this:

I spent forever on my computer trying to pick a font that I liked for both Eliza's name and the at symbol to no avail. I ended up drawing my own letters with a Sharpie and cutting them out by hand. I know, crazy for someone with a Silhouette, but I think this was the right feel. I carried the Sharpie outlining on throughout the layout.

P.S. It was really fun quizzing Eliza on her favorites! I bet if I asked her tomorrow, she'd say something totally different...

Got Mojo? 32

2009-04-10T02:14:00.003-05:00

Here's my stab at the current challenge up at Got Mojo?:

The challenge is to a) make a page about your imaginary friend (or ideal one, if you don't have one) and b)use an animal crackers box for inspiration.

I didn't have an imaginary friend, so I decided to make a page about why I didn't have one... I had books instead! I love to read, and characters in books have always been sort of like imaginary friends to me. The photo corner in the top left of the page and the half circles at the bottom are thanks to the animal crackers box.

Just in case you're wondering and can't read my handwriting... the dinosaur at the bottom of the page is because I read pretty much nothing but dinosaur books when I was little. I read every single book in my elementary school's library and my mom always made me get one non-dino book for every two dino books at the library. As can be seen in previous posts, I've passed the dinosaur love onto little Eliza...

Dare 134: If I Won the Lottery

2009-04-10T02:08:00.002-05:00

My take on this week's challenge at The Dares:

Instead of writing about what I would do if I won, I asked Jake to write down what he would do. I like his doodles. I also used an actual lottery ticket someone gave us last Christmas, which Jake now informs me would have won us a few dollars. Oh well, most of the embellishments I use cost that much, so I'm not too disappointed!

I fibbed...

2009-04-06T01:00:00.003-05:00

So, I meant to reveal some surprises this weekend, but didn't get around to taking pictures of them! I PROMISE is will share within the next few days.

Meanwhile, how about enjoying a nice green layout?

This is a page documenting Eliza's favorite song: "Handlebars" by the Flobots.You can't see it very well, but I thought the Basic Gray paper with bicycles was appropriate! I also loved using crayons for the boarder. It gives the layout a youthful feel. It's always fun to just start coloring!

Never Stop Exploring

2009-04-03T00:24:00.001-05:00

Thought I'd share this very simple layout with you. It's super easy to re-create, so scraplift away! I'll be sharing some of my top secret projects this weekend...so stick around!

Dinosaur Crazy

2009-03-30T01:05:00.004-05:00

It's not secret that we're dino crazy around here. Eliza begs for a chance to go to T-Rex cafe. She saves all of her stickers to "buy" new dinosaurs at Build-a-Dino. This is Pat, the apatosaurus (aka brontosaurus), of course! We also have a pink one named Patti. I'm working on a little mini book currently chronicling all of her very loved dinos, but I couldn't resist scrapping these photos on their own!

I also had a little fun with shaped journaling. It's a little hard to read, but that's a small sacrifice, right?

The Art Is Found: Watercolors

2009-03-25T02:55:00.003-05:00

Ahhh! Tickle Monsters!

A little fun with watercolors, thanks to the prompt at The Art is Found and some of my favorite Disney/Pixar friends!

Circa 1969

2009-03-22T22:24:00.004-05:00

I love my grandparent's wedding photo! I tried really hard to make this elegant, but as we all know elegant is not my forte. I tried.

3.21.04

2009-03-22T04:08:00.001-05:00

Today is our 5 year anniversary! Ok, technically it was yesterday, but I haven't gone to bed yet, so I think it still counts.

I missed you!!!

2009-03-20T00:00:00.002-05:00

Sorry for being about the worst blogger ever! It's been a long time, but I'll be back to posting a few times a week now. Most of the things I've been working on are still a secret... (I hope I have you intrigued).

Until then, I have a little bit of eye candy for you.

There's nothing better than adding a bit of found items to your pages. Or using a found item as your entire page... I love that records fit perfectly into a 12x12 page protector! I might do a whole album in them one day... Watch out for more record lovelies from me in the future...

Eliza got obsessed with this guy the last time we were on her Papa Timmy's boat. Scrapping this made me hope that warm weather will be coming soon!

Lastly, a page showing off my Monet's photography. Jake made me sit by this fountain for about an hour while he tried to get the perfect shot in the dark, but I think the outcome is maybe worth it?

Got Mojo? 30

2009-02-28T00:35:00.003-06:00

Challenge # 30 from Scrap Mojo is up and awesome (as always)! This one was super hard for me, because I'm out of lovey-dovey ideas thanks to all of the Valentines Day related prompts I've been doing. So I began thinking of non-people related loves. I figured I have enough coffee related pages, so here's one for my love of KC!

The photograph's not the greatest, but limited time + shiny paper = me dealing with it.
P.S. The hearts on the page are hiding. There's the pink one by the "My Home Sweet Home" sub-title, but there's some in the patterned paper strips, if you look close.

Category Stories Parts 1 and 2

2009-02-27T20:33:00.003-06:00

I'm excited that Category Stories is putting up two challenges a month now! Part 1 for February was to use "What I Love About ________". Here's what I came up with:

Title: What I love about you...

Sub-title: You are so silly

The journaling reads: are a sock thief, like to tinker with everything, pretty much only eat 5-year-old food, take funny self-portraits, are childlike with wonder, really know how to dance :), prefer to drink out of vases, jars, etc., make funny faces, order hot chocolate at coffeehouses, can play music on everything (including your head), move furniture randomly, draw cartoons & make a cute pouty face.

The prompt really inspired me to write down all of the funny, quirky things I love about Jake. When I stumbled upon these goofy photos, the match was perfect.

The category for Part 2 was “DATE NIGHT”. This inspired me to write about our first date, which I have no photos from.

Like how the journaling is framed in by a window because the movie was "Secret Window"? Eh, eh? I'm not going to reproduce the journaling because it is super long. You can mostly get the jist from the picture, right? You're probably sick of all of the Jake pages, but what can I say? February makes me lovey-dovey, I suppose!

Jellyfish Love

2009-02-20T14:45:00.005-06:00

February Inspiration Vacation:CD Art

2009-02-19T18:35:00.002-06:00

My monthly Inspiration Vacation class at The Scrapbook Page is coming up next week! This round the pages are inspired by CD album art! You'll not only get to create three fabulous pages, but you'll also learn how to get those creative juices flowing! You can see a full page sample from the class here. I think the Beatles inspired one is my favorite.

Here's a sneak peek of the other two pages:

The class is Thursday, February 26 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. I've also recently learned that The Page will ship class packs, so if you don't live in the KC area, you can still get in on the action! Call 913-383-1552 for sign-ups.

P.S. I think there are still one or two class packs left from my February Mini-Madness Class and my January Inspiration Vacation Class.

Inspired by Amelie #10

2009-02-18T21:55:00.002-06:00

This page is for the inspired by Amelie challenge to use some Gnomes. So, I introduce to you Fontelroy. I bought him in high school out of love for the traveling gnome in Amelie. He was also a prompt for my speech in French 5 over the le Front pour la Libération des Nains de Jardin (FLNJ). When we got married, Jake was not a fan. I got to pick a select number of my quirky things (scary things in his opinion) for our new apartment, but Fontelroy accidentently broke. Accidentally. Yeah right. I haven't been able to find another gnome I like though... Sorry you can't read the journaling from the photo, but the jist of it is in the paragraph above.

The Creative Type Prompt #11/ Valentine's Day Bonus

2009-02-18T21:32:00.004-06:00

The are for the current challenges up at The Creative Type.

This first one is for Prompt #11 "Framed In". I framed the photo of my brother-in-law Nick with journaling. The title is "One the Road", after Nick's favorite book. He wants to travel the U.S. (to all of the national parks) and write a book about it. I think that's pretty awesome.

This one is for the Valentine's Day Bonus Prompt. The theme of the prompt is "Love Letters". I did the string of "Love" words in Photoshop, which was super fun and easy. The envelope contains a poem Jake wrote me in May 2004 after the first night we said "I love you". The title is "Last Night I Almost Kissed You". That's also the title of the poem.

This is what victory looks like

2009-02-17T02:38:00.003-06:00

Eliza vs. the Playdough Tower

Eliza Wins!

Happy Love Day!

2009-02-14T22:46:00.006-06:00

My sweet little cupcake's V-Day pages from last year:

She is so super cute in these photos! P.S. I love Target. And, if you're in for a real life love story, here's a page about how Jake and I met:

Hope you experienced lots of love in your life today!

Congradulations Taylor Cool!

2009-02-12T23:52:00.002-06:00

You've won a spot in the February Inspiration Vacation Class at the Scrapbook Page on Thursday February 26, 2009! Here's her extra page from the January class inspired by Project Runway:

Inspired by this dress by Uli Herzner:

I love how the tie-dye splashes on the fabric inspired Taylor to make pinweel-like photo mats!

Reminder!

2009-02-11T18:26:00.002-06:00

The inspiration vacation extra pages for January are due today! To help you with that extra push to get it done, here's the pages for the class along with their fab inspiration pieces. And hey, if you didn't do the January Inspiration Vacation class, then maybe this will inspire you to check out February's CD Album Art Inspiration Vacation class here.

I think it's pretty obvious how this Jack Mackenroth dress inspired the page, right?

The inspiration from this Korto Momolu dress is a little less in-your-face. Yes, the prominent color in the page is green. That's a no brainier. But look closely and you can see how the beads on the dress turn into the circles on the page. The asymitry was also a big influence.

This one is from my favorite Project Runway designer so far, Jeffrey Sebelia. The translation is pretty straight forward here, also.

This one is Jeffrey Sebelia inspired too. I did this page a long time ago, but I though it'd help to see one with pictures! You can link your pics up here or bring them to the store. I'll announce the winner tomorrow night!

Seeing Stars

2009-02-10T12:46:00.005-06:00

Yes, Eliza has a little star in her bellybutton. How cute is that? An example of not loving the page, but loving the story. That's what's really important in scrapbooking (at least most of the time) in my grad opinion. I need to just accept that I can't work with large amounts of cardstock and move on. Anyways... I DO like the stars. They're KI Memories lace, and I painted them with a few mixed colors of acrylic. I also cut the pink stars out of the middle of circle Love, Elsie acrylic stickers. Acrylic stickers become much more fun once your willing to cut them up! I'll show a cut scalloped boarder using them in a few days.

Scraplift Love

2009-02-10T00:00:00.003-06:00

I got the idea for this page about Eliza's favorite stuffed animal, Strawberry the Bunny, from this page by Elizabeth Kartchner:

I think she's so inspiring! You can find here at her blog,"just us".

Logo Inspiration

2009-02-05T23:14:00.003-06:00

To be quite honest with you, I'm not all about this scrapbook page. It's scraplifted from one of Becky Higgin's CK sketches (Jan 09 I think). When I scraplift her stuff the result always seems a little bare to me. Lots of cardstock is just not my forte, I guess. That aside, I LOVE the title on this page! Eliza was helping me make coffee when Jake took these photos, so I thought that the logo for the Coffee-Mate brand of coffee creamer would make a cute addition. To make the title, I transfered the image of the logo onto the cardstock using transfer paper. Logos are a great place to look when you're stuck on titles!

A Little Inspiration For You

2009-01-31T18:46:00.004-06:00

LOVED this video! It makes me feel so light and airy. Thought I'd share. For more on the Music Artist click here.

1st Fridays layout

2009-01-31T18:26:00.005-06:00

In anticipation of next week's First Friday, here's a layout from last summer:

The title is on folded chipboard, so it opens up to reveal the journaling and another picture:

I hope next week will be warm and beautiful like it was today!

P.S. If you live in the KC area and are interested in going to a First Friday (where all of the wonderful little art galleries in the Crossroads district are open for free inspiration and you can see crazy entertainment while eating fabulous food) click here.

2009-01-28T12:08:00.006-06:00

Thought I'd share my "hey this is my style" board from work at the The Page.

Sorry the picture is so bad. The glare from the sun was awful, and I was in a hurry. It's on mat board and took about a bottle and a half of Making Memories acrylic paint to cover. Probably should have primed it first. Oh well...

Have I ever told you that my mom is amazing?

2009-01-28T00:10:00.002-06:00

Well she is. Here's one of the many reasons:

Oh yes. That is a cake of Plex. We LOVE Yo Gabba Gabba!

Eliza loved it.

Samples, As Promised

2009-01-26T21:41:00.003-06:00

I met a very nice scrapbooker at The Page Sunday. She was loving some samples I made...

..and bought a lot of the goodies to re-create it. But, being as I'm the least technology oriented 21-year-old on the planet, I couldn't get her camera phone to work. Sigh. So, I promised her I'd put them up here!

My favorite is this "You Light Up My Life" page:

And these cards are super cute!

And a cupcake card with the Pink Paislee Paper:

Dear Diary

2009-01-25T01:04:00.001-06:00

Feeling lovey-dovey. Isn't he pretty?

Word Up #43

2009-01-22T21:57:00.002-06:00

"Embrace Your Imagination"

This for the current challenge at One Little Word. The word is "Embrace". Here's the journaling: Eliza, embrace each day with open arms. Imagine a better world, then create it. Love, Mommy

The Creative Type #9

2009-01-22T02:30:00.004-06:00

This is for the current challenge at The Creative Type. The challenge was to scrap your New Year's Resolution and, of course, use a creative fonts!

As always, my resolution stemmed from my "To Do Before I Die List". Usually I just make it a goal to complete as many as possible, but this year I decided to pick a few specific ones that seemed doable for 2009. Wish me luck!

P.S. Some of my accomplishments for 2008:

#8) Get a tattoo.
#9) Go to a peace rally.
#36) Register to vote.
#37) Actually vote (This tells you how young I am...)
#215) Take a picture with a fat Elvis.
#282) Help Eliza become bi-lingual.
#294) Volunteer time for a campaign for a politician I believe in.
#304) Get an internship.

Seven isn't bad, I don't think. Some of the things on my ever-growing list are serious, some are more fun. I think it's a good way to keep track of my goals, and also lets you see how much I've changed and grown. I've kept this list since 1999 and it's interesting to compare the kinds of things I write now with the things I wrote then. It also helps me feel accomplished!

What would you write on your list?

Wishing I Could Be Somewhere Else...

2009-01-21T00:35:00.004-06:00

I love to travel! Feels like I haven't been out of KC in a million years.

I really wish I could go to Denver to see this girl right about now:

And everyone knows I LOVE the Bay:

January cabin fever, I suppose!

(P.S. both pages use really cool transparencies I found at The Page!)

Mini Madness Classes!

2009-01-19T13:17:00.004-06:00

I told you about my monthly Inspiration Vacation Classes at The Page, but now I need to introduce my Mini Madness classes!

Here's a preview of my Mini Madness: 4x6 Photo Workshop class on Thursday, February 12 from 6:60 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.:

Bring 29 horizontal or vertical 4x6 photos to class and have them all scrapped in one night!
You can find more info on the class here.

I'll also give you a taste of the Mini Madness: Photo Journal class on Monday, March 9th from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.:

This mini is a quirky home for up to 38 photos with plenty of room for journaling. You will also learn how to do your own mini-book binding!

Find more info here.

Call 913-383-1552 for sign ups!

I'm feeling inspired today...

2009-01-19T02:01:00.005-06:00

Does your family do anything to celebrate MLK day? If so, leave me a comment to tell me what you do!

Inspiration Vacation: Project Runway Class!

2009-01-16T22:41:00.003-06:00

I now have monthly classes at The Scrapbook Page! I will be teaching "Inspiration Vacation" classes that each include three pages inspired by something fun.

January's class is inspired by Project Runway! You'll not only get to create three fabulous pages, but you'll also learn how to get those creative juices flowing! You can see a full page sample from the class here. The class is Thursday, January 29 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Call 913-383-1552 for sign-ups.

Here's a sneak peek of the other two pages:

BONUS

If you take the class and make an additional layout inspired by fashion after the class, bring it by the store or upload the image to this blog by February 12 and you'll be entered into a drawing to take the February Inspiration Vacation Class Free!

Just for Fun

2009-01-12T22:08:00.001-06:00

Eliza's Birthday!

2009-01-08T12:37:00.002-06:00

Eliza's Turning Three Today!!! The first thing she said this morning was "Now I won't be scared of Bob anymore!" Bob is the Halloween dummy at Abba and Grandpa Timmy's house. What a little weirdo I have. We're going to T-Rex Cafe for dinner. Great ambiance, not so great food. Oh well. Hooray for dinosaurs!

Potty Time!

2009-01-07T13:24:00.002-06:00

A little bit of hybrid scrapbooking. The Title and Journaling Blocks for this page were done with free two peas kits and printed on photo paper.

I made this layout back in July when the potty training started working... I think we're just about to the finish line. Who knew it'd take this long?

The Three R's

2009-01-05T12:09:00.003-06:00

A good New Years Resolution for all of us scrappers is to scrap a little more green! Fast ways?

1. Keep a paper recycling box or bin in your scrap space. You'd be surprised how fast those little bits and pieces of paper add up.

2. Buy Green! Lots of companies, such as K & Company and Piggy Tales, have lines of products that are recycled.

3. Go digital! Dabbling in the world of digital scrapbooking will not only help out the environment, but will save you money also! Check out Two Peas in a Bucket for tons of free digital kits from awesome designers like Rhonna Farrar. A very pretty way to reduce.

4. Participate in The Scrapbook Page Garage Sale on Saterday, February 7th. You can sell your old supplies for store credit or you can stop by to get cool stuff on the cheap! Either way, it's reusing!

5. Challenge yourself to make a few pages using only cardstock and your scraps. Sometimes I forget what great stuff ends up in my scrap box until I do this!

6. My personal favorite is to use unexpected objects that you would normally throw away. This one covers all three R's. See the layout below.

"Serial Cereal"

A close-up look at these accents shows them for what they really are: Punched-out pieces from the game board of Eliza's Hi Ho! Cherry-O game. I just added some jewels to spruce them up a bit.

Fun Technique

2009-01-02T23:09:00.002-06:00

A common complaint for those of us that read scrapbooking magazines is the high ratio of ads to articles. Here's at least one reason to feel better about all of those ads...

Love You A Latte

Basic Gray often has super interesting ads, and those cute coffee cuts were cut from one of their ads for their "Infuse" line. Just a little careful cutting. I mounted the red cup on chipboard and popped it up. Inking the edges helps cover up all of the little imperfections. I'm sure you can find something fun to add to a layout! If you're worried about it being archivally safe, you have a few options. You can use archival mist, you can laminate the non-archival parts, or you can scan and print the images on archival paper.

Red Velvet Kit Club Challenge

2009-01-01T01:05:00.003-06:00

This is for a Red Velvet Kit Club challenge to paint on something unexpected. I re-furbished this hardly used bulletin board, covered the frame in Love, Elsie self-adhesive fabric paper and painted some funny little trees on the cork board. An addition of a few Hambly stickers helped too.

P.S. Happy New Year! I'm the worst blogger ever during school season, but it's my resolution to post some sort of eye candy at least weekly. I'll try REALLY hard. I promise.

Soon to come, previews of my Jan-March classes at The Scrapbook Page!

Got Mojo? 27

2009-01-01T00:00:00.001-06:00

Can We Trade?

2008-11-13T01:33:00.005-06:00

I know it's mid-November, but I had to share our cute Halloween photos:

In my ongoing attempt to make everyone dress up together and like it, we were Frankenstein's monster, Bride of Frankenstein, and Frankenstein (as in the mad scientist). I'm a little bummed that we didn't get any great pictures of my hair, this really doesn't do it justice. Oh well. After gluing bolts to Jake's neck this year, I had to promise to make costume plans that do not include him next year. He'd rather be behind the scenes running the scariest house in the neighborhood. His Dad's house comes complete with spooky music, strobe lights, a pop-up dummy and a air-softner that goes off when it pops up. Eliza was too freaked out to even stay in the house! We had to name the dummy Bob and tell her that Bob is her friend. She kept saying, "I don't like Bob's scary music, can we turn it off now?"

She was pretty darn funny trick-or-treating. We drove to see a lot of family members before going door-to-door in Abba and Papa Timmy's neighboorhood, so she was under the impression that she was supposed to trade her already ridiculous stock of candy with the neighbors. She kept trying to hand her candy to the people that answered the door. Maybe she thought trick-or-treating was for more variety? We thought it was pretty funny. It also makes us feel like good parents to know that she's that willing to share.

Jake's Birthday was right before Halloween, so we surprised him Halloween cupcakes (which Eliza proudly decorated).

We've also been doing a lot of Thanksgiving related projects. I don't want Christmas to come to the Anderson house until after Thanksgiving, so we've been making all sorts of Thanksgiving crafts... Eliza's having the time of her life (and is very proud that she learned how to use scissors).

P.S. I'll also share some of my seven Halloween layouts. I went a little overboard on the Halloween scrapbooking, but what can I say? I'm a slave to the ridiculously cute Halloween lines at the Page this year.

Fall Love

2008-10-25T21:19:00.003-05:00

Feeling in love with Fall right now. I wish we were having more beautiful jacket-weather days. I've finally started decorating for Halloween (will share later) and am going CRAZY trying to find the right costumes. I think I'll have to resort to buying on-line and express shipping...

For Friends

2008-10-19T00:53:00.003-05:00

I spend most of my scrapping time with pictures and stories having to do with my immediate family (Eliza and Jake especially). Sometimes I get the urge to scrap about our extended family (mostly when Jake takes an incredible portrait). But lately I've realized that our friends are largely missing from my scrapbooks. So, to fill the gap with people important to us that make huge impacts on our lives...here are some pages dedicated to close friends:

Jessica (a.k.a. Goprin)

This page ended up 100% messy, but I like it anyway. The ribbon framing was scraplifted from somewhere...I don't really remember which magazine. Next time I use a framing technique like this, I won't use a photo that cuts off the subject's head! I don't care, this picture totally captures her personality!

Harvey the Angerball

Speaking of personality, the "angry scrunched nose" look couldn't be anymore Harvey. I love this layout because it's so versatile. You could easily substitute more photos for the patterned paper rectangles. This would also stretch to a double pager easily.

Steve

Jake took this portrait of our friend Steve at a lake, so I tried to keep the page natural. I slipped the journaling into the library card.

Sami

Hooray for hybrid! I used digital elements and printed out the picture and digital elements onto 8.5 x 11 photo paper (that's as big as my printer goes). I then mounted it on traditional patterned paper, painted around the edge of the 12 x 12 and the 8.5 x 11. I then added a few traditional accents (flowers, chipboard stickers, etc.).

Hope this encourages you to scrap those missing in your record of your life!

Happy Autumn!

2008-10-17T01:49:00.006-05:00

It went from hot to freezing really quick in KC, so this post is my attempt to reclaim my favorite season. Maybe it will also get me in the mood for Halloween decorating! Here are some layouts from Halloween/fall from the past:

2007

"Be Witching"

Little miss Eliza as a witch last year. I thought the title was cleaver, but probably it's not really. The buttons are glued on with orange acrylic paint. Using small things like buttons (traditional and chipboard), brads, eyelets, snaps, or paper scraps to frame a photo block is a great way to pull all of your photos together. It also has the added bonus of helping you to clear out your stash (I have more of those little star brads than I could ever use). I also glued some Queen & Co beads onto the letter stickers because the neon orange was way to bright for the layout.

"Pumpkin Patch"

We went to the Red Barn Farm in Weston in '07. Eliza was very excited to pick out her own pumpkin and insisted on carrying it around the entire time we were there. Learn how to color one part of a black and white photo using Photoshop, like I did with the photo on the far left, here.
Another fun technique used on this layout was taken from CK October 2007. I put the second part of the title on top of a close-up photo. This took a little planning-ahead, since we normally don't take a lot of artistic close-ups. I covered the chipboard letters in patterned paper by first gluing the letters face down to the paper. Then I cut around them with a craft knife and inked the edges. I always ink when I cut with a craft knife since it hides all of the little mistakes in my cutting. Because the letters were so big, I put my journaling right on them.
The last thing you can take from this layout is a secret weapon I use to make double page layouts work for me. I'm usually a single page gal, but I often go to double pages for holidays or events in order to incorperate more photos. However, I think with a single-page mindset when I'm buying paper. I almost never buy two of the same paper. This makes it hard for me to make a double pager that feels cohesive. My solution for this layot was to find two coordinating peices of patterned paper and cutting them so, when adhered toegether, they made a full 12x24 page. I cut both peices 4x12 and 8x12, but you can play with the demensions. To hold it all together, I adhered the patterened paper to cardstock that I knew I'd never use.

2006

"Eli's First Pumpkin"

My Uncle Frank has a garden and was nice enough to let Eliza come pick out a pumpkin from him. We took Jake's little brother Corbin along too. It was nice to have first pick becuase that was seriously the perfect pumpkin. Even though these photos are from '06, I just did this l/o yesterday. If you haven't noticed, I don't worry about doing things in order.
I had the double page challenge with this l/o again. I wanted to frame both photo blocks in patterened paper, but didn't have enough of anything I liked. The solution? I just cut strips from paper I liked and used them instead! I colored the space between the photos and the strips black with a marker becuase I didn't like the green from the cardstock and the green from the grass next to each other.

"Walk the Plank"

Jake and Corbin as Captin Hook and Mr. Smee. We did this group theme for Halloween in '06. I was Peter Pan, Jake was Captin Hook, Corbin was Mr. Smee, my sister Tayor was Wendy and Eliza was Tinker Bell. We've tried to keep up this and make it a tradition. I'm sure Eliza will be mortified when she grows up, but it's cute now.

"Belle Tink"

My Mom made the costume. How awesome is that? I wish I could sew...

2005

"Glow"

I also did this one yesterday. I'm trying to scrap picture's I've already printed off to avoid buying new ink for my printer. Not to mention the photo matched the lovely Basic Gray I've been stock pileing. Even though the picutre is from when I was pregnant with Eliza, the journaling focuses on us trying for Baby Anderson #2 now. Sometimes it helps when journaling less recent photos to tie them back into the present.

2004

"Escape"

Now I'm certainly inspired to go decorate, I hope I gave you some autumn inspiration as well!

Denver!!!

2008-10-15T15:09:00.008-05:00

As promised, some of my (finally finished) Denver mini. Jake and I went to go visit my best friend Jessica, who lives there, with our other best friend, Harvey.

The mini is by K & Co and uses mostly the K & Co Urban Rhapsody line (also featured prominently in my Nov. 4th class here)!

P.S. I did most of the mini in the car on the way to Denver, so I just had to add pictures, journaling and a few accents when I got back. I unraveled the spirals and painted the covers and the edges of the pages before the trip and put it back together after it dried.

Mojo 23

2008-10-13T01:26:00.002-05:00

It has been a while since I have done any on-line challenges... but this one was too fun to resist! The Got Mojo? challenge this time around was to a) scrap your fav Halloween costume and b) make your own accent. Head on over to play along, but this one is due Oct 15.

Here's my take:

I loved this costume as a kid because the Power Ranger gloves made sounds when I made a fist. WHOOSH! SWOOSH! The Power Ranger is a coloring book page I found on-line. I just printed it out on white cardstock, painted it pink with watercolors and carefully cut it out. The title I drew from a pic (also found online) and colored with crayons. I tend to break out the school-type craft mediums when scrapping my childhood because it helps me remember. I also made the paper design. Just lightly swipe paintbrush over cardstock with watercolors and flick watercolor drops. This warps the paper a little, so if you try this, put it under something heavy for a while after it dries.

Vegas! + Mini Love photo heavy

2008-09-29T17:05:00.005-05:00

Part of my super quick and easy Las Vegas mini:

The Heidi Swapp cards were perfect pages for this book! I've been going kind of mini crazy as of late. I finally found a perfect use for this cute mini people icon album by Maya Road:

It's now showing off sappy pictures of Jake and I along with one of my favorite poems he's written for me. The girls have notebook/writing paper (Scenic Route and 7 gypsies) and the boys have computer reminiscent paper (Cosmo Cricket). Awwww...

Now I'm off to work more on the book for our Denver trip from July:

P.S. (Yes I have a scrapbooking room and am still making a huge mess on the kitchen table...)