Friday, October 21, 2011

XOXO Blog Hop Winner!!

The winner has been posted over at the True XOXO Girls blog, was it you? **Find out here!**

As for the winner of my own personal prize....





You have 48 hours to email your addy to kcraftroom at gmail dot com :) After that point, a new winner will be chosen if I don't hear from you!

Thanks to all who participated! Hope to see you all lift more of our layouts throughout the year!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

2 More Days....

...until the new Humphrey stamp sets are released in the Crafter's Companion store!!

Head over to the CC Info Blog and see my blog post from yesterday featuring a Humphrey set any bride would love to receive, and learn how to make up your own special recipe of glimmer mist, saving you some money! (And, a tip I didn't share in my CC post...if you add acrylic paint to the mix, it becomes a colored glimmer mist!!) :)

Check it out, and if you haven't already, head over to the Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog to play along in our friendship challenge before time runs out! Head **here** for details.

I'm hoping to be able to play in the craft room a bit later...hubby started a new job today, so I've been adjusting to the new first shift schedule (and I must say, I love it!) He'll be home a bit before 5, so I think I might play for a little before he comes home...I feel it's well deserved. Any woman who will take 5 kids to the dentist, two of which aren't hers, and lives to tell about it deserves a crafty break, right? I hope you are enjoying your day thus far, and that you have the chance to get crafty if you so desire :)

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Dream Valley Challenge #18: Halloween

Good morning, it's that time again...a new Dream Valley Challenge! This time around, we want to see your projects based on the theme of Halloween. Show us your cards, layouts, altered items, jewelry...whatever, as long as it screams "Halloween," for a chance to win 5 images from Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps and More!
I created this coffin card using papers and elements from the Scraptastic Club's October kit full of Echo Park and Authentique goodies. After layering the papers on the coffin, I chose the Authentique sentiment I wanted to use and matted it after distressing it with my Heidi Swapp distressing tool.
Don't you love these awesome papers? The jute came from a different kit, this kit had black and I wanted it to stand out so I used this brown.
Three of these awesome glittery spiders were in the kit, too. Love them!
I added some Glossy Accents for that extra "something" to the striped paper. Love the look of this stuff on just about any project! I also decided to add some dots around the card with my white gel pen.
That's it! Head on over to Dream Valley and enter your Halloween creation today for your chance at some great images.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Scraptastic Challenge!

Good Saturday morning, I'm here with a page I made earlier in the week but just didn't have time to post it (or the weather...it's been rainy and grey, making photographing it tough!)

I used the October Witching Hour kit from the Scraptastic Club, which I just LOVE (in the middle of a wall hanging as we speak) to create this layout of my girls back in 2007. I remember that was the year I was on bed rest, pregnant with Patryk (he was born exactly one month later) and I stayed home to pass out candy. This was the first time EVER I wasn't part of the whole trick-or-treat experience, and it was hard. They were super cute though, the little cheerleader and the freaky clown.

The freebie, available only to subscribers who purchased a kit the month prior, is a bottle of Spiced Marmalade Tim Holtz Distress Stain, which at first I didn't know what to do with. It reminds me of a bingo dauber, with the ink being a bit thinner consistency. After practicing on a couple of scraps, I found a technique that was pretty cool. (I will eventually find some tutorials online, I always like to try it out myself prior to seeing what everyone else is doing with a product.) I daubed on the paper and rubbed in a circular motion, creating these circles. With each circle, I squirted it with water in my Mini Mister and immediately blew on it as hard as I could, making these little spatter patterns (my heat gun was too far across the room...it would have dried before I made it over there, not achieving the effect I was going for.) I think it ended up looking awesome. I love the overlapping circles, and I'll have to pick up some additional bottles in varying colors. I see awesome things being created with this stuff! The witch, an Authentique die cut, is surrounded in The Twinery charcoal twine.
As you can tell, I misted the paper with my own homemade glimmer mist, using silver Pearl Ex powder, water, and some glue and squirting it all over. I also used some charcoal SEI chalkbox ink around the edges. More Authentique die cuts, Echo Park papers, Doodlebug number stickers, and some Kaisercraft black adhesive pearls.
Big ol' Authentique die cut, which is partially misted, edges curled up a bit.
LOVE these Kaisercraft flowers, also misted with an MM white brad in the center.
There you have it! This is my entry for challenge #2 over at the Scraptastic Club Blog, get messy and use specific shapes (1 rectangle, the paper strip at the top; 1 circle, the circle ink spots; and 1 square, one of the photos is square.)

Hoping to attack challenge #1 a bit later, but we'll have to see what happens...I am in the middle of 2 projects, and the sun is out, which means I can take pics of the projects I created yesterday. One I cannot share, but one I can :) Tomorrow is our anniversary, and my parents are taking all 3 kids (*yay*) so that we can enjoy a night out tonight. Can't wait, this never happens! Hope you are all able to enjoy the day :)

Friday, October 14, 2011

Sketches4All Fall Contest Sponsored by The Cutting Cafe

Good morning! I've been meaning to post these for a few days now, but you know how life gets in the way...you know, the "real" job gets in the way of the fun job? All deadlines have been met, so now I can focus on the crafty deadlines I have (and there are a few, but no worries...I love this "job!")

Over at sketches4all this week, until 10/17, you have a chance to enter a card and layout into a little contest we are having. It is sponsored by a wonderful shop, The Cutting Cafe, where you can purchase adorable digital files to use in your scrapping. Use them on a digi page, or print them out and cut it up! The lovely Regina, owner of The Cutting Cafe, has given the DT a bunch of fun images to work with (and I can't wait to play with more!) Play along with us for your chance to win some Cutting Cafe awesomeness!

I started out making a card with this adorable image of a bushel of apples from The Cutting Cafe. The basket is colored with colored pencils, the apples red marker and Ranger Glossy Accents to give them that apple-like shine. I sprayed the card base with my treasured hymn Shimmerz, giving it that earthy color that is just perfect for fall. This Basic Grey patterned paper already had that shape you see goin' on, all I had to do was cut along the white line! October Afternoon alpha and some orange swirly things and stitch doodles finish it off.
See that awesome Glossy Accents shine? I have to have a constant supply of the stuff! It is a great addition to any project where you need that extra bit of shine.
Moving right along, I decided my kitchen needed something on the wall. I started with a piece of cardboard (hubby hates that I keep all pieces of thick cardboard...this includes Capri Sun boxes, which the kids drink *a lot* of when school is in session...the pile of the stuff is overwhelming! I just need to make more wall hangings I guess!) and covered it with a sheet of Scenic Route striped paper. I used some leftover window screen from hubby's contractor days and painted over it like a mask with yellow acrylic paint. I love the look of the bumpy paint! There is also some brown paint around the edges for a sort of frame, with Baby Blue Stickles. More treasured hymn Shimmerz.
That adorable bingo card is from The Cutting Cafe, and I sprayed it with more Shimmerz and added some Studio G glitter glue in orange and green to the pumpkins in the center. There are so many different bingo cards to choose from, all with different fall words. You're sure to find one to suit your crafting needs! That awesome yellow doily was purchased at some point last year, and on the package, it's called a "harvest doily." How fitting for fall?!! I sprayed with a light cover of Shimmerz and curled the edges up a bit like a flower. Using some foam squares, I affixed the strip of Scenic Route paper like a pocket for the bingo card, and then added a random "fall" sticker with more foam squares. SEI Claire dotted ribbon hangs this baby on my wall.


There you have it, head on over to sketches4all to play along for your chance to win some great prizes! Hope you all have an amazing day!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

True XOXO Blog Hop!


Good morning! It's finally here, the True XOXO Girls blog hop! If you are following along in the hop, you should have come from Jaclyn's blog. If not, just head back to the True XOXO blog to start up from the beginning and join in on the fun! Up for grabs, if you comment on each blog and head back to the XOXO blog and let us know you commented: a shot at being our fabulous guest designer :) We're pretty fun to hang out with on Facebook, I'll tell you what.

Some team members are even giving out prizes, including *moi*...I'm going to make sure you've commented on all blogs to be put into the hat. If you scraplift us, any of us or all of us, you'll have extra entries into the GDT drawing. If you scraplift ME, I will give you **2** extra entries into my own personal prize drawing :) That's up to 3 chances to win my prize drawing, and up to a whopping 15 chances to win the GDT spot! Cool? Yes! Of course I don't have a picture of my prize, but I will be ordering something just for you :) You have until October 20th, so get a move on!

Ok...without further ado, here is my layout. I was challenged by Jaclyn to take inspiration from this picture:


Of course, how could I ignore all of those shapes? The triangles, in particular, really jumped out at me, and this is what I came up with:

I must say, I love this layout! Those who follow my blog know that I love doing picture-less layouts, and I also scrap my children chronologically. This alphabet is something my now 9 year old did when she was 5. She was constantly writing as a child, from the moment she could write her name. I came across this in the "memorabilia drawer" (yes, I actually have a bureau devoted to memorabilia for each member of our family, it's the only way to keep it all so I can scrap it eventually) and knew it would be great for this layout. I dug out my Scraptastic September kit for this one, featuring the fun Fancypants Off to School collection.
The title features fun foam Thickers, which I accented with Baby Blue Stickles.
The fun chevron-like pattern was simple to create. I just punched squares out of the different patterned papers in the collection and cut them in half, arranging them in this way. Simple, and definitely a cool effect!
The journaling: "Most kids your age turn to TV, toys, or art projects when they are bored at home. Not you! Instead, you pull out paper and practice your writing. I love how academics and reading are your favorites! {Kindergarten}" More Stickles accenting the journal spot.

There it is! Hope to see you scraplift some of us, and be sure to hop your way through all of our blogs and comment for your chance to win the GDT spot!

Your next stop on the hop:


Don't forget, if you scraplift my layout, be sure to come back and let me know for 2 extra chances in my prize drawing! Now get scrappin!!

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Just to let you know...

...to join us at sketches4all starting tomorrow, when we are having a fun contest sponsored by The Cutting Cafe! The DT were given some of their images to tease you all with, and let me tell you they are so fun and easy to work with, and cute too! Come on over and play along for your chance at some great prizes! Hope to see you there :)

Time to go enjoy this gorgeous day: record high today for NH, it's supposed to hit 80! Unheard of, but I'm not complaining! Hope you all had a great weekend, watch tomorrow for a post of something cute :)

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Why scrapbook?

There are those out there who may be able to look at boxes upon boxes of photos each day, letting them sit there untouched, deteriorating with each passing year. Others are good at placing them in a photo album, even creating new albums for each theme, and here of course I'm speaking of the plastic sleeve-filled albums that only hold pictures, nothing more.

I choose the route of the scrapbooker, or as I also call it, family historian. It's genetic, trust me. How do I know this? Well, the answer lies in the envelopes, boxes, and albums piled up in my craft room. Everything contained within is destined to be in an album one day.

I'm speaking of the family photos and memorabilia from my great-grandmother, which I obtained when my grandmother passed away 6 years ago. I recall being told to go to her house and have whatever my mother didn't already take, and gasped when I found the treasure trove of images, bits, and pieces from the lives of the people I missed greatly. From time to time I will turn to this pile of history (usually when I run out of printer ink and can't print pics of the kids for their albums) and choose one to preserve in the ongoing Mills family album. In finding a picture to use a week or so ago, I came across this:

See? It is genetic! Not only do they have a ridiculous amount of photos from the early 1900's and a few from the late 1800's, they saved magazines and newspaper clippings from important events throughout their time in our nation's history. This scrapbook you see right here is full of clippings from WWII. I love flipping through it and reading the articles, seeing the images, and imagining what life must have been like. It's interesting to read the writing style of this time period, and the perspective of the people actually living through it all rather than a history book. Here are some further images (the album is FULL of them.)



I have numerous albums like this one, full of postcards from trips to Europe, napkins from cruise ships, and even handwritten travel journals from my great grandmother herself. It's so incredibly amazing to have this all here to document, but even more amazing that the documenting is pretty much done for me. I just have to salvage it all from these acid-laden pages!

I've been documenting my own life (with the help of my grandmother, of course, who bought me my first scrapbook) since second grade. She would sit with me and show me what to do, gathering the programs from the school plays or the clippings from the newspaper when I happened to be mentioned or my photo was featured, and we would scotch tape them into the yellow paged album. When that one was full, there was another right behind it.

Flash forward to my first pregnancy, and for the first time, I wanted to do something different. I discovered the scrapbook aisle at Michael's (which at the time was only one aisle!) and was amazed at all of the things you could now do to preserve your memories. Flash even further forward, and look where we are today! It is wonderful today to look back on those first albums. Yes, they are pretty horrible, but as I flip through each chronologically, I can watch my evolution as a scrapbook artist.

I hear others talk about "redoing" albums, but I never will. Why? It's a history thing for me. Not only is it telling me all about my children and what they were up to at certain ages, it also tells me where I was in my scrapbooking career. It shows me how much I've grown. Let me tell you, on one of those days you have no mojo or are feeling incompetent artistically, go through an old album. You might not be inspired to create at all, but you will be able to put a smile on your face and tell yourself "Ok, I am pretty awesome." It will also reintroduce you to old techniques you can breathe new life into.

I scrapbook to tell the story of my family for my family when I am gone and unable to answer questions about our daily lives. I'm hoping to incorporate more stories of the "little things" that you wouldn't typically find in an album before I am gone and the stories die with me, and hope to inspire future generations within my family to follow in my footsteps as I followed in those of my great grandmother and grandmother.

Why do you scrapbook?

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

More Scraptastic kit goodness...

I decided to play along with one more challenge over at the Scraptastic Club's blog, a sketch challenge. I changed it up a little bit, using a tall photo rather than a wide one, but otherwise stuck pretty close to the original sketch. Of course, I used the Too Cool for School kit from September, which I **love**.

Here's the sketch:

...and what I did with it:


The only elements not from the kit: the inks, stamps, and title stickers.





Head over to the Scraptastic Club blog, tomorrow's the last day to play along. More posts on the way, but bear with me...I am working my 3rd job today, taking care of twin three year olds (who are actually being perfect angels today thus far...it's my own three year old causing all of the trouble!)

Monday, October 3, 2011

Tutorial Alert!!


Head over to the Crafter's Companion blog to see my tutorial on creating the background you see behind this lovely new S.W.A.L.K. stamp using those stamp pad reinker bottles...it's so much fun!

And don't forget to enter CC's current giveaway over at the Challenge Blog...we're giving away ALL SIX STAMP SETS IN THE NEWLY RELEASED COLLECTION! (While you're over there, enter our current challenge posted yesterday!) Also, snag the stamp set for yourself while it's on sale...all 6 sets are only 49.99! That's just like buying 5 sets and getting one free :)

Have a great day, I have another post later but it's going to have to wait. Library story time for little man awaits!

xx

Sunday, October 2, 2011

A peek at my WCMD creations

I was quite busy yesterday for World Cardmaking Day, playing along with Pink Paislee and knocking 6 of 7 challenges out somehow...having the hubs home to occupy the boy child helps a LOT, and with Rileigh at a friend's house and Andraia on house arrest reorganizing her room for a bad progress report, it was super quiet. EERILY quiet. That doesn't bother me, though...more time for crafting!

One of the challenges was to stitch on your card, so I pulled out my Bayberry Cottage and stitched X's and that line above them, adding K&Co O alpha stickers. Random stretch lace from my stash.
A closer look at my X's and O's :)
Bayberry Cottage alpha, and a little freehand heart/flourishes which I stitched. This baby is ready to give to hubby on our anniversary this month! :)
I made this one for a friend with a birthday this week :) She'll love it! The challenge here was to make a shaped card so *of course* I pulled out my Ultimate Crafter's Companion and made this purse card. I used a sheet of House of Three, Bayberry Cottage pleated trim, and a Bayberry brad. A pearl strand seemed like a good fit for a handle.
Used some adhesive pearls from my Fairyopolis cardmaking kit for some extra flap detail (I don't think I'm ever going to run out of stuff from that kit! Seriously!)
Here's the inside :) (Yes, I know there's a stamping goof...) Studio G sentiment and Autumn Leaves flower stamps. Crafter's Companion pearlescent paper.
No real reason for this, it will probably end up in my shop. The challenge: a neutral base with colorful papers. I misted the base lightly with Shimmerz. House of Three and Bayberry Cottage papers. Black Soot Distress Stickles.
That cute flower die cut from House of Three collection. Sentiment stamp by Stuido G.

This one was created for a challenge requiring an upcycled item, which in this case is the "film strip" piece...I took the leftover packaging from the pleated trim I used on the purse card (so sad to part with such gorgeousness, but it had to be done) and punched out squares. After adhering it to the Crafter's Companion pearlescent cardstock, I punched squares out of different pieces of Bayberry Cottage and placed them inside the holes. Twine and Bayberry Cottage alpha complete it! I love this card, and it will make a great addition to my shop!

This one was a bit out of the ordinary, but I must say I love the finished product. About halfway through I found myself asking "what have I done?" but am pleased with the finished product. The challenge here was to use more than one stamp in layers. More Bayberry Cottage alpha/papers. Not sure if this will go in the shop or not...I think I have a recipient in mind!
This is a Fancy Pants stamp, from the Delight stamp set. I had to use the gold embossing powder! I couldn't get it to photograph well, but I used bubble wrap and a bit of black ink (very faint) to stamp some random circles all over the top. I then embossed with more gold embossing powder, and because it was a scant amount of ink, some of it is gold and some is black. Looks really neat up close!
All of the stamps here are from the delight set. when I stamped the turquoise SEI chalkbox ink flowers, I decided the whole thing wanted to be inked, and that was the moment it all came together :) I love how the layered stamps look. A bit out of the norm for me, but I'm trying to expand my crafty horizons. I'll be trying out cards like this more often I think !
See the bubble wrap imprints?
The final challenge I was able to complete was to create a mixed media card. I pulled out the Shimmerz and a mask from Hampton Arts and made the background. It is soooo shimmery in person!! I inked up the bubble wrap with some black dye ink yet again for the circles. TIP: You can create this look by using a piece of bubble wrap with dried paint on it. It gives it that "crackle" look. House of Three for the turquoise pieces, Bayberry Cottage made the medallion. More Distress Stickles :)
Love bubble wrap stamping!


That's how I spent my World Card Making Day, in between loads of laundry. Hope you were able to create something nice. My little man has the sniffles today, so we're hunkered down at home. Maybe I'll craft more, who knows? I know there's more laundry...that never ends here. (Good thing it's my secret-favorite chore!) The rain outside the window *again* is assuring I'm stuck inside I'm afraid :(

Have a great day!