Khristen's Craft Room

Finally crafting for me.

2012-02-16T14:03:00.000-05:00

It feels good to get up in my craft room after what feels like ages. Box after box of artistic goodness have arrived at my door, and I sadly piled them up on my craft room desk, just dying to play with them but knowing I didn't have the time. Last week was full of potty chart orders...3 in all this month, one shipped last week and one today.

This one was made for a truck lover:

This one was for a little girl who looooooves Chuggington, pink, and purple. It's my new favorite :)

In between the chaotic craftiness to make these bad boys, I also had to do my normal "real" job writing assignments, and (what was I thinking) started up a craft club at Rileigh's school. Me, 20-30 first through fourth graders, and a quarter of my crafty stash...I figured it was a good way to use up some stuff to clear room in there for more stuff! I was right, these kids just tear through supplies like you wouldn't believe!! It's a lot of fun though, and I'm glad that I have the opportunity to do it. (It also gets me away from the boy child, which is BIG. I need me some Patryk-free time every once in a while!)

I was away over the weekend at a baby shower, it was a lot of fun and we got crafty making onesies. The kids really got into it and came up with some clever little shirts!

Today was my first day in the craft room for something other than an Etsy order. YAY! It was aMAZing. I whipped out two cards and a layout in a matter of moments as I'd had so many ideas swirling in my head while looking at all the new stuff I had gotten to play with. The first thing I was dying to tear into: my Scraptastic Club February Hearts A-Flutter kit. So great. I made this, a layout featuring hubs and I hanging on a clothesline (love those little clothespins, of course included in the kit.) Everything but the twine and mists was included in the kit. I set to work with candy apple red and key lime pie Glimmer Mists and Icicle Glimmer Glaze. I love the effect on black paper. you can barely see the shimmery green-ness, but it's there! I also added some red Smooch too. I felt it needed another color (and because the red Glimmer mist clogged up and I could only splatter it...that was irritating!)

She the sparkle? Love it.

I also glimmered up the heart using the same mists, only adding black Smooch to tie in with the cardstock.

Once the heart dried with a little help from my heat gun, I added some die cuts from the kit and another cute clothespin. That's it, so simple but so nice! I really wanted the picture to stand out, and then afterwards didn't want to hide all of the splatters of shimmery colors.

I made a couple of cards afterwards (and sorry about the pics, but the sun disappeared after shooting the layout grrrrrr), this one using a new Unity stamp set I got last week and a 6X6 Kaisercraft stack I got as a goodie included with my purchase. I also used a Tim Holtz Distress Stain around the edges to bring a bit more orange to the card. My Spectrum Noir markers accented the sentiment nicely, and a strip of lace finished it all off.

The inside left panel...Stickles and Spectrum Noir to color it.

This is a Unity Bitty stamp, I fell in love with it when I saw it! A Chip Chop Shop doily and some Lilybee Memorandum to mat the image, which can I just say again, I LOVE IT!

I had a little fun using my Sew Easy for the first time making these little stitched bursts. It really was sew easy HA. DMC floss and some Distress Stickles in Black Soot.

There you have it! Pot roast is in the crock pot, and I'm headed up to whip out one more quickie project before I head out to play chauffeur to the rugrats. Before I go, you should really get yourself entered to win in the CCCB weekly stamp giveaway. Our prize this week:

Don't forget to check out our Something Sweet challenge. Enter by the end of the month for a great prize, head to the blog to check it out! Stop by the True XOXO Girls blog as well...GET MESSY with us this month for a chance to hang in our exclusive Facebook group and be our Guest Designer!! Did I mention there are only a few days left to enter our challenge at Dream Valley as well? So many great challenges, such a short month! Hurry and enter today!

Have a great day!

xx
Khristen

CCCB Inspiration Monday

2012-02-06T09:45:00.000-05:00

Today is my day to post over at the Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog, and I ended up using this adorable Strawberry Kisses - Together stamp.

Isn't it cute? Check out the blog post over at CCCB for more details of how I made this card and a couple of close-ups, and while you're there, enter our weekly stamp giveaway. This week, we are offering a stamp set from the newest line of CC stamps, Stamp It Australia - Rose Clock.

There are some gorgeous stamps in this line, head over to the store and check them out! I have a busy day ahead of me, so I must say goodbye for now, but be sure to enter to win this great stamp, and while you're at it enter a project into our Something Sweet Challenge. More details at the CCCB. Have a great day!

CCCB February Challenge: Something Sweet

2012-02-02T13:11:00.000-05:00

Good morning (um...afternoon...whatever.) I hope you've all had a productive day. I have been hard at work on potty charts and articles this week. Nothing wrong with working a lot, right? That means more money at the end of the month! I've been so busy, I almost forgot to post that it's time for a new challenge over at the Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog! Before I get to the card I made for this challenge, were you the winner of our last challenge? Go check it out **here** (and meet our GDT for February as well, the lovely and talented Janette Garcia.)

This month, we want to see "something sweet." I took this to a whole new level thanks to my Ultimate Crafter's Companion, boxer board, and envelobox creator and made hubby a sweet-filled card. Of course, this project originated as a tealight holder card featured on the Advanced Construction Techniques DVD, I just filled it with hubby's favorite Pretzel M&M's instead of tealights.

I used the Strawberry Kisses - Yum stamp set for the image, and the sentiment comes from the S.W.A.L.K. Deserve A Treat stamp set. Of course, my Spectrum Noir markers colored him in and to make the berry pieces appear more realistic, I covered them in Glossy Accents.

See that shine on the berry juice? I love how it looks. I also love how the reds of the markers blend so perfectly :)

Prima flower and Twinery twine.

I staggered the twine bows on the inside to create some added interest. Normally I would cover the strands up with a piece of cardstock, but I kind of liked the way the mess of bows looked and stuck with it.

The DVD gives instructions on making an envelobox to contain the card, and it came out perfectly!

I hope you like my project and that you're inspired to enter your own creation into our challenge. All you need is a Crafter's Companion stamp. Head on over and share your something sweet with us for a chance to win the Strawberry Kisses Papercrafting CD-ROM and 3 stamp sets of your choice from the Strawberry Kisses stamp line!!

My iPhone has just alerted me that the customer has accepted the potty chart I made (I always email a photo before mailing it out just in case they want something in a different color.) Here's what I made for a little boy who loves Thomas, let me know what you think of it:

I'm glad she likes it, now it's off to the post office. I'll be posting later, another DT related post that I forgot to set up to auto-post. I really need to get better at that! I hope you all enjoy your day, I have one more potty chart order to fill and a zillion errands to run...although I'm already paring down my to-do list. I need to learn not to make it so full...

Yesterday's Crafty Endeavors

2012-01-25T08:31:00.000-05:00

I have a meeting at the middle school to attend this morning, but I just wanted to get this posted as I'm quite proud of the way it turned out. It is my "warm-up" from yesterday (and if you don't know what I'm talking about, check this post.)

Crafter's Companion has just released the Kanji line, and I took the "Happiness" stamp and made this card:

I started with a piece of white cardstock and covered it in Hay Ride Glimmer Glam. The color was a bit off, so I spritzed it with some Candy Apple Red Glimmer Mist. Hated that even more...so I painted over it in blue acrylic paint. As I painted, I noticed that I was liking the three colors together, and added a bit of water to dilute the acrylic paint a bit. I love how the paint started coming off of the Glimmer Glam/Mist in places. When I was done, I coated the whole thing in Icicle Glimmer Glaze and splattered some black acrylic paint. LOVE this so much, I don't want to part with it! It may go from card to wall art...

You can kind of see the shimmer and glitter all over this baby. Much better in person!

I put a smidge of black acrylic paint around the edges of this little stamp, and when I covered the whole piece in Glimmer Glaze, it seemed to dull the black which I liked. Adhered to the card with foam squares.

I hope you love it as much as I do, and that it encourages you to dig out some messy mediums and play a bit. You don't have to know what you're doing...often, mistakes will lead you to the masterpiece you've always dreamed of creating!

Now it's off to see how my oldest is doing in school...she's had a lot of trouble with her transition to middle school, but I feel we are finally through the worst of it. At least I hope...wish me luck!!

xx
Khristen

I seriously did a 2-pager? giveaway alert

2012-01-20T12:10:00.000-05:00

Boggles the mind. I used to do these things all of the time, but the scrapbooking world made a move towards one-pagers with one photo as the focal point years ago and I broke myself out of the multi-photo/page box to give it a go. Not surprisingly I fell in love. Who doesn't love all the blank space for altering a one-page layout affords you? Recently, I've tried to rekindle this lost art of creating 2-pagers within myself and I think I've finally succeeded.

Birthdays are just one of the many examples of multi-page layout gold. So many pics are taken, sometimes it's hard to choose only a few. Here, I chose my favorite shots and printed almost all of them out in the same size, with one larger photo to showcase. This page features MME Hip Hooray Girl, a steal at Scenic Route one day many months ago. I've been sitting on it for a while, glad to finally cut into that first sheet of patterned paper :)

Page 1: the banner was fussy cut out of a sheet of patterned paper, mounted with foam squares. I did the same to the Let's Go Party sentiment below. Added some Black Soot Distress TH Stickles to make the little dots.

Page 2 (of course I forgot to take a pic of just this one page, and ~~I'm too lazy~~ it's too late to turn back now haha) MME alpha stickers accented with more of the Stickles, kind of resembling stitching here on the computer screen.

More Stickles and die cuts from the kit. I made the banner at the bottom stick out by curling it and adhering just the left and right edges to the page.

See that dimension? I also popped up the journal box, banner on the journal box, and present.

I love how quickly layouts can come together when there's a kit involved. I love mixing them all up, but every once in a while, I will strictly stick with a kit to see what happens. I have another birthday party to document (Rileigh was lucky the year these pics here were taken and treated to two birthday parties, one for friends and one for family) so I'll have to try another 2 pager. Do you find yourself doing more one or two page layouts? Why? If you answer this question by commenting below, I'll be sending out a cute little stamp set prize, of course Crafter's Companion. Which one? Why, this one from our new S.W.A.L.K. Winter stamp line.

Leave a comment and put this picture in your sidebar by 1/29 for a chance to win. I will draw a winner 1/30. Good luck!

Khristen

Catch-up

2012-01-17T16:50:00.000-05:00

Before I jump right into show and tell, I thought I'd pass along a bit of info you may find interesting...the Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog is having a giveaway each week! Pretty awesome, huh? This week, we're giving away a stamp from one of our newest lines, Art Kure - Tewksbury.

Isn't that pretty? I plan to use this one later in the week on a card, just have to finish coloring it. Head over to the CCCB and leave a comment on **this post** to enter to win this gorgeous stamp.

Ok, on with the show! After a sinus infection knocked me on my rear last week, I was happy to get back into the craft room. It was slow going, however, and I ended up using advice I received from Natalie Kalbach's Creative Jump Start Summit I signed up for. It goes all month long, and has really done a great job of teaching me ways to get the creative juices flowing when it seems they've run dry. One of the tips I learned: warm up! The instructor pointed out an athlete wouldn't just jump into the game, he or she would warm up their muscles first. This seemed to make perfect sense to me, so when I sat down to work today, I took out a couple of pieces of scrap paper and went to town misting, inking, painting, and coloring it. Afterwards, I pulled out a new Unity stamp set I got recently and made this card. Not really what I'd consider great, but it was warm-ups after all :) Unity Whimsical Birthday, Spectrum Noir markers, Frosted Lace Stickles, Scenic Route alpha, MME Hip Hooray Girl paper. Simple and sweet.

I pulled out a second card blank and the new April Showers Cricut cart I recently acquired, and chose this birdhouse and bird. The shop selling the cart had Lily Bee Memorandum paper, a 6X6 pad, and I just had to use it for all of the layers. I had ordered Candy Apple Red Glimmer Mist as well (as it was a ridiculous deal) and applied it to the heart/circle of the house and the heart on the bird's tail. Black and Diamond Stickles were added to the die cuts for a little something extra. Love how this one came out! I channeled my inner They Might Be Giants for the sentiment written with my Spectrum Noirs (which also made the sun), lifting them up with adhesive squares, and adhering them above randomly sized strips of washi tape. Again, not one of my favorites, but better than the first one!

I then moved on to this one, and knew I was back in the swing of things. Don't you just love when that happens? MME Lime Twist papers. Spectrum Noir markers. Sentiment stamp: Studio G stamped in Jenni Bowlin Stick Candy ink. Imaginisce Iroc pearls and flower. Random glitter. MME trim.

I attacked this one with gesso to start for its dimensional properties, making mounds of snow that ended up having a crackled effect when it dried. Worked out pretty well! Made this for Stacy's challenge over at Sketches4all where she is asking to see border punches on your projects. I pulled out my EK Success punch and went nuts on this MME Lost & Found paper from the January Scraptastic Button Box kit (which is where just about everything on the layout came from.)

Can you see the October Afternoon Robot Blue Sprinklers? Thought it was a nice touch. Thickers and October Afternoon Mini Market alpha stickers.

Prima Parchment Vintage flowers from the kit...love these!

October Afternoon Farmhouse word stickers and a close up of that Prima loveliness.

The flower clusters were made with die cut elements and buttons included with the kit, adhered to an MME Lost & Found sentiment. Lost & Found label sticker, too.

Close up of the flower, of which I curled the petal edges. Spritzed the background die cut with Sprinklers to help tie it into the layout.

See the crackling effect? LOVE. Also love the blue on white.

The blue paper under the label sticker with the script writing is actually the packaging from the Prima flowers here from the kit. I just spritzed with the OA Sprinklers and stuck it down! Looks great, and I love repurposing :)

So you see, if you are not coming up with ideas, just start playing. It is so true, things come better when you get some practice. Not everything is going to be perfect, but it will be better each time the more you practice and experiment. This week, I am hoping to be brave enough to tackle the new alcohol inks I have acquired *gasp*

Have a great week, hope to post more tomorrow!

xx
Khristen

Dream Valley Challenge #23: Anything Goes!

2012-01-09T09:27:00.000-05:00

Good morning, better late than never with this post, right? Sheesh. I did a MASSIVE housecleaning effort on Saturday and spent Sunday at my parents' house, and almost didn't remember to post this (I think an "I will auto-post every time a project is completed" resolution is in order this year *ahem ahem*)

This is the first Dream Valley Challenge for 2012, and it's simple: anything goes! After all the chaos of the holidays, isn't it nice to have a super simple challenge? Show us ANYTHING you want...scrapbook layout, card, ATC, altered item, even jewelry, for a chance to win our prize..........a gift certificate to One Stop Card Crafts!

Here's my creation, the first card of 2012. I kept it simple (probably because I just finished making all of my Christmas cards right before tackling this one!!) Pulled out a Crafter's Companion Popcorn's Pals stamp set and went to work coloring her with my Spectrum Noir markers. Added some Stickles for accents, and made sure to coat the balloons and her shoes in Glossy Accents. I love shiny things :) MME Lime Twist Happy Go Lucky 6X6 pad for the papers. I have committed to use up my stash from 2011 before I get new stuff...yeah right. I say that every year. Just not gonna happen. These papers are about a year old, so I figured I'd better get crackin! Crate Paper border sticker accented with Stickles.

That's it for now, head over to the Dream Valley Challenge Blog to see what amazing things the rest of our DT created (and there are some GORGEOUS things!) Link up your own creation, we love to see what you all make, and enter to win our fab prize. You have until January 22nd to do so. Hope to see you there! Time to get back to my "real" job. Boooooo...but it pays for my paper addiction, so I'll do it :)

xx
Khristen

breathe

2012-01-04T16:07:00.000-05:00

I am so glad for the holiday chaos to be over. If feels like ever since Halloween, life has spun out of my control. However, it is OVER. Really. I'm soooo thrilled. I was able to get two layouts done JUST. FOR. ME. Amazing, I know.

I started out with this awesome page done using the current Scraptastic January kit, Button Box (well, one of the two kits for this month.) It features this awesomeness known as October Afternoon Farmhouse, and I love the old-fashioned prints of the paper and all of the elements associated with it. Like, really love.

OA Farmhouse patterned papers (Guest Room, Church Social, Phonograph, Button Box, and Clothesline) punched with my CM square punch to create the blocking above and below the photo. I used my EK edge punch for the dotted piece (although in hindsight, I wish I had used a plain piece of cardstock where the punches would stand out a little more. The dots make the pattern of the punch get lost!) Studio Calico chipboard alpha (front), Webster's Pages alpha (2), and My Mind's Eye Fine & Dandy alpha (teeth). I used the OA butterfly sticker in the upper right corner, stitching messily with gold thread, and ending with a spatter of OA Sprinkler in Robot Blue.

I love how the Clothesline paper has these fun banners to use. This is my second layout in a week featuring this fun paper, and I still have a few strips of banner left to fussy-cut! Love the stitching.

I used these fun punched butterflies from the kit and bent their wings up slightly, adhering them with Eco Green Crafts Green Glue (awesomely eco-friendly). Some of those buttons (like the fun, ornate wooden ones) were from the kit, while others were taken from my stash. I have so many, and often forget to use them!

Love these patterns (and that pic!)

Here's another for Rileigh's album. I forced myself to go through my collection of papers and choose something I'd had for a while (which I think I'm going to have to do more often!)

Sassafrass Lass Sweetly Smitten paper and stickers (border underneath photo, journal box, heart.) See the upper right corner, where the word "happy" is? I fussy-cut the patterned paper to make it appear to be a piece of tape holding the photo on. Cool, right? I had taken more close-ups in the fading light, but they came out blurry :( Oh well, you can see them pretty well in this first pic. MM Moroccan Metal Label Holder (love the glitter!). MM Vintage Findings Mini Fall Kit for the shiny flower/leaf up above the photo next to the "happy" sticker in the right corner, accented in Stickles (Tumbled Glass). Balzar Designs stencil for the honeycomb design next to the pic, rubbed with pink ink...there was black ink left behind on the stencil, still wet, and I knew it would make for a great color combo. So great in person. SEI Dill Blossom alpha "total," Glitz Teeny Alpha in aqua for "{cute}ness."

See that awesome metal frame? I adhered a piece of Scenic Route Garland - Howard Road paper behind it to make the "adorable" sticker stand out. More Stickles, and a button with Stickles in the center in the middle of the heart.

There they are :) I got a couple of Valentine's cards in the store, head on over and check them out. I am also *finally* putting the family-themed CD tin album in there as well...took me long enough!! I hope you all had a great day, off to fold more laundry and take the tree down.

xx
Khristen

True XOXO Girls January Challenge: 1

2012-01-01T20:02:00.000-05:00

As January is the first month of the year, isn't it fitting that our challenge at True XOXO Girls this month is "one?" Yes. Just ONE. What does that mean, you are probably asking? Anything you want! One picture...one paper...the number 1 or the word "one" somewhere in your title...a one word title...one flower...as long as you tell us why your layout represents the word "one," you're in for a chance to win a shot at a GDT spot!

I was going to do a one manufacturer layout with one picture, but kind of blew it and decided just to do ONE of certain things.

ONE piece of Crate Paper Farmhouse patterned paper, ONE kraft cardstock, ONE color SC Mister Huey in Clay, ONE color of Stickles (Cotton Candy), ONE alpha in the same color as the Stickles (MM Dilly Dally), ONE CP Farmhouse chipboard element, ONE CP Farmhouse trim, ONE CP Farmhouse border, ONE CP Farmhouse sticker, ONE CP Farmhouse journal box die cut, ONE color Spectrum Noir marker used for journaling, and ONE picture of two cute kids :)

It's hard to see the mist, but it's there behind the title :) I also distressed the edges of the patterned paper with my Heidi Swapp edge distresser.

I gathered the ruffles here for added interest. Love this trim so much, and so sad that it's all gone :(

So there it is! Head on over to the XOXO blog to see how our other team members took the "one" challenge, and link up your own creation today.

xx
Khristen

CCCB January Challenge: Anything Goes!

2012-01-01T11:43:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year, Crafter's Companion friends! I hope you all celebrated safely last night, and spent some quality time with your loved ones. The kids surprised me: Patryk lasted until 11:40, and the others made it to midnight!! We had a great night with neighbors, setting off some fireworks (that went horribly wrong at the end, but we won't talk about that!), playing a little cribbage, and enjoying the most delicious egg nog tinis.

With the hectic holiday coming to an abrupt halt (YAY!!), our first challenge at the Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog for 2012 is anything goes. Pull out your Crafter's Companion stamps and make a little something, whether it be a card, layout, or altered item, for a chance to win the entire Humphrey Christmas collection complete with CD Rom full of the most adorable Humphrey images, a little over 2500 to be exact!

I pulled out the new Love You stamp set from the SWALK Winter collection and went to town coloring it with my Specrtum Noir markers.

MME paper from last year's Christmas cards scraps (I. Save. Everything.) I was so excited to play with these new trims I received in the mail the day before Christmas, Stella & Rose.

A close up at those awesome Spectrum Noir pens (which I still need to practice with when it comes to blending!)

See that gorgeous trim? Love the texture it adds to the card.

The inside. I love the sentiment, and the Echo Park Season's Greetings snowflake is the perfect addition. This was supposed to be for hubby, but he saw it while I was trying to get pictures. Oh well, he'll forget about it next year, I'll just pull it out then :)

I hope you are inspired by one of the DT creations to play along yourself. Head over to the Crafter's Companion Challenge blog for details on linking up.

I have to get my little butt outside and keep an eye on hubby, taking down the Christmas lights. We have great weather for it today, with mild temps. It's quite strange, but I'll take it! Off to the in-laws for dinner, can't wait! I hope you all have a relaxing day and that 2012 brings you everything you want. Remember to watch the Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog all year for tons of inspiration, new ideas, and lots of incredible prizes!

Khristen

Successfully Unsuccessful

2011-12-29T20:37:00.000-05:00

I succeeded in my mission in the craft room today, and scrapped this unsuccessful moment in photo history, the first day we sat down to capture Andraia and her little brother together. It didn't go so well, and I thought I would show the worst of the worst (or, in my opinion, the best of the best.)

Everything you see here came in my Scraptastic Club January kit that I just tore into today...I love happy mail after Christmas :) I knew what it was when I saw it in my mailman's hands, and I think he was a bit afraid of me after I jumped out the door and nearly tackled him to grab the box. I love all of the stuff in this kit, especially the October Afternoon Farmhouse papers. I took one of them (Clothesline) and fussy cut around the banners and adhered it to the top of the page. Feeling it just wasn't enough, I glued some Crate Paper Farmhouse twine on there, and curled up the edges of the bottom banner. The cardstock is misted with some OA Sprinkles in Robot Blue...love this color!

Isn't all of that so very awesome?

There's a lovely Prima Powder Puff spritzed with some of the OA mist.

Alphas used: OA Mini Market in Teal and Black, Bella Blvd., and Studio Calico chipboard. The strip at the bottom is Studio Calico Scraps, like a tissue tape but not adhesive. pretty cool stuff, love how it looks in person! Adhered some Imaginisce pearl i-rocks to the scallops (can you see that one of them fell off mid-photo shoot? Grrrr....)

Another look at that awesome mist.

So...yay! I scrapped something *just for me.* Can't wait to do a bit more tomorrow! My mom took the girls overnight, and they will be going to see a movie tomorrow. Little man and I will spend the day crafting, and I can't WAIT. It's just too cold to do anything else but stay inside and hibernate! Such is winter in New England. I hope you all had a great day, time to hang with hubby :)

Khristen

Happy New Year!

2011-12-29T09:36:00.000-05:00

Good morning! I have great news...I was actually in the craft room!!!! **gasp** I know. Shocking. I made a couple of DT assignments, and it felt FANTASTIC. Beyond fantastic. It's amazing how out of sorts I end up feeling when I am not able to head up into that tiny, cluttered room and create. So today, with nothing on my plate and a houseful of kids still full of Christmas excitement, the wind whipping and making it almost unbearable to be outside for ten seconds, I'm going to SCRAP. I know!! Big dreams!! I'm hoping to get a bit caught up and use up some stash so that I may purchase more with all of the Michael's gift cards I got for Christmas :)

I will be posting pics later of non-DT creations, so stay tuned. I hope you all find some time today to be a little crafty, and if you do, don't forget...play along at the Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog! There's a great prize up for grabs, and still a few days left to enter as long as you use Crafter's Companion stamps somewhere on your project.

Also, the XOXO Challenge Blog is waiting for *you* to play along for your shot at being GDT. Deets over at the XOXO Blog. Head over anyway to meet our newest design team members. Get to know them and their scrapping style as you check out the great projects created each month just for you to be inspired by!

Lastly, don't forget to head over to Dream Valley Challenges to enter something into our Christmas challenge. It is the last one for the year, and is open until the 7th of January. What are you waiting for? Head over and link up for your chance at a fabulous prize.

xoxo
Khristen

Winner Take 3? Seriously?

2011-12-20T18:21:00.000-05:00

I really can't believe it, but out of two winners, no one has yet to contact me for their Crafter's Companion Blog prize. We really want to send this adorable stamp set out to someone, so I'm drawing a **third** winner.

Amber S said...

I like the window you added and the twisted ribbon and pin! Great. I don't have any particularly spectacular Christmas memories. I think every year is special with young kids in the house. It's nice to make them happy and yet still emphasize the real meaning of Christmas!

December 9, 2011 12:23 PM

If this is you, you have 48 hours to contact me at kfossandfour at gmail dot com to claim your prize :) I'm hoping to hear from someone, and then I'm going to have to do this **again** lol

I hope you are all enjoying a relaxing holiday...not me! It's a sea of presents to wrap, goodies to bake, and a sprained foot to rest :( It's been tough to create at all, and I fear that my Christmas cards this year will be received after Christmas. They're half done, but it's been so hard to go up the stairs to my craft room! I brought a giant bag of Christmas-y supplies downstairs earlier today to attempt them here on the couch all this week, we'll see how that goes. I know I'll get it all done and thoroughly enjoy the down time January brings (I can only hope!)

Merry Christmas to all of my followers, and wishes for a healthy, happy, scrappy new year!

xx
Khristen

Winner, Take 2

2011-12-16T16:05:00.000-05:00

Ok...as I have yet to hear back from my winner from the Crafter's Companion Blog Hop after the 48 hour time period, I have chosen a new winner (well, random.org chose the winner, but you get the picture.) Congratulations to:

pupton said...

Love the card! So very cute! My favorite Christmas memory is when my children were small but getting older and questioning, they wanted to sleep on the floor by the fireplace and wait for Santa. I still feel bad that they caught 'Santa' in the act!

You have 48 hours to contact me via email at kfossandfour at gmail dot com to provide your address to ship your adorable Meeting Santa stamp set :)

xx
Khristen

Hectic Holidays and a WINNER!

2011-12-13T10:44:00.000-05:00

Good morning, today finds me madly finishing up Christmas cards and *finally* printing out the pics to place inside them. Here's what friends and family will get this year...

Do you know how long it took to get a decent pic? Patryk is going through this awkward smile phase, and it's quite annoying when you are just trying to take a nice pic!! I'm hoping I can finish up today and get the cards all out in the mail this weekend. Yeah, I know, wishful thinking....but a girl can dream, right?

Anywho, you want to know who won the Crafter's Companion Blog giveaway, don't you? The winner of the stamp set given away by yours truly, the Humphrey Meeting Santa stamp set, is:

‪Priscilla said...

Cute card. The colors are so vivid and blend so well. My favorite memory is the cat attacking the tree and bringing it down and the look on my daughters face as it came down!

Congrats, Priscilla! You have 48 hours to contact me via email, at kcraftroom at gmail dot com. If I do not hear back, I will choose a new winner.

Don't see your name above? Head over to the Crafter's Companion Blog to see if you won another DT member's giveaway, or even the main prize! I'm off to hobble my way upstairs (I sprained my ankle last week and have been laid up on the couch for the most part) to collect addresses and print out some pictures. I've missed my craft room!! I hope you are all having a great start to the week, and don't forget to stay tuned to the Crafter's Companion Blog this week as we are showing off our soon-to-be-released S.W.A.L.K. Winter collection. They are ADORABLE, you won't want to miss it!

Crafter's Companion Blog Hop!!

2011-12-09T08:00:00.002-05:00

Welcome, welcome to the Crafter's Companion Blog Hop!! If you have come here from Denise's blog, you are on the right track. If not, head back to the first stop, the Crafter's Companion Info Blog, to play along and see some fabulous Crafter's Companion creations. If you choose to accept the mission of commenting on every single blog post at each DT member's blogs, not only will you have a shot at winning the grand prize (all 72 of our very own Spectrum Noir markers, not yet released so you will receive the prototypes just like the DT has), you will also be entered to win one of the Humphrey the elephant Christmas stamp sets as well. Each DT member is giving away a set! Amazing, can't beat the odds :)

A little about Spectrum Noir:

Spectrum Noir pens are alcohol ink based which have been designed specifically for crafters, but these affordable markers are also great for beginners, students and hobby artists alike. Each pen is double-ended, with a broad chisel nib for large area fills and a fine bullet tip for detailed work. Spectrum Noir marker pens will soon be available in 168 colour shades including a colourless blender. The colours blend seamlessly and can be mixed or layered over each other. These fast drying, alcohol based markers are acid-free and non-toxic, and the coloured ends of the pen allow for easy colour identification. (Please note: The design of the pen, color names and numbers may be different than the pens that will be released in January.) The image colour has been reproduced as accurately as possible

You want these markers, trust me...just look at my project today, featuring the Humphrey Christmas stamp set Meeting Santa (which, by the way, is the stamp set I have chosen to give away!)

This is one of my favorites from the collection. I imagine my own kids running into Santa looking something like this...absolutely adorable! I used my Ultimate Crafter's Companion tool to create the rounded rectangular opening on the card base, colored a piece of white cardstock mounted to the inside for the background using the chisel tip of one of the Spectrum Noir markers, and adhered the elephants after coloring them with foam circles. I love how rich the colors in the set are, and how perfectly they coordinate with one another!

See how wonderful the colors here look?

A twisty Christmas-y ribbon, complete with a star stick pin complementing Santa's suit.

The inside, ready to be signed and delivered to someone on my Christmas card list :)

There it is! If you want a chance to win this stamp set, leave a comment below telling me your favorite Christmas memory. If you want a chance to win the marker set, be sure to comment on each and every blog, heading back to the Crafter's Companion Blog when you have done so. If you skip a blog, you are not included in the drawing!

Get lost along the way? Here's a sort of roadmap:

Crafter’s Companion News Blog - http://crafterscompanion.blogspot.com/

Lisette - http://totallyinkspired.blogspot.com/

Holley - http://holleybarnhartsblog.blogspot.com/

Lynda - http://positive-force.blogspot.com/

Amy - http://yorkieluver2.blogspot.com/

Denise - http://lalasworldblog.blogspot.com/

Khristen - http://khristenscraftroom.blogspot.com/

Stacy - http://scrapwithstacy.blogspot.com/

Ann - http://stampwithme-ann.blogspot.com/

Jinky - http://www.jinkyscrafts.blogspot.com/

Crafter’s Companion News Blog - http://crafterscompanion.blogspot.com/

Your next stop along the way is Stacy. Good luck, and happy hopping! You have until 12/11 to play along :)

Khristen

Humphrey Gift Tin

2011-12-05T09:33:00.004-05:00

A good morning to all of you, Crafter's Companion posting day! It was a crazy week, but Sunday night marked the end of the November birthday insanity as we celebrated Patryk's 4th birthday with family and friends. He got so much great stuff, and has been quiet all morning playing with all of his new toys while watching Cars 2, one of his many gifts.

Here he is on his actual birthday, 11/30, when we went to Toys R Us so that he could pick out anything he wanted. He chose this Cars 2 acrylic painting set with 4 canvases, my little crafty boy :)

This is from last night, blowing out the candles. He is always pretending to be shy when all eyes are on him (here, we are singing Happy Birthday to him.) :)

It is usually around this time I freak out, realizing that Christmas is just around the corner, and here I am just now beginning to shop and prepare. With 3 kids, there's always someone I forget, and it requires a last minute trip to purchase a gift in a hurry (normally on our way to the party the gift must be given at!) I had saved this old liquor tin earlier in the year just for this reason. What better last minute gift than an indulgent bottle of liquor and something to mix it with?

I started by adhering this My Mind's Eye Lime Twist patterned paper to the tin using Crafter's Companion spray adhesive.

I chose this adorable Humprey stamp set, Auld Lang Syne, part of the Humphrey Christmas collection, coloring it in with Crafter's Companion's own Spectrum Noir alcohol ink markers (available for pre-order.) Rounded the corners with a CM punch and matted to another piece of Lime Twist and finished by adhering it to the tin with foam strips.

See those Stickles in the image? I thought it was perfect for the confetti :) Twinery twine and a matted sentiment.

Here's the finished tin. See the awesome stacked flower on top? That's another beauty from The Chip Chop Shop!

Well, I've got a bazillion things to get done, but all so that I can relax for the next few days and craft my little heart out...Christmas card time!! It is also crazy Christmas concert time (both of my daughters are in band, and one is also in chorus.) I hope to have some time to fit some shopping in there...although I've bought a few major things for the kids, I have a looooong way to go to be done, and it's starting to give me panic attacks!! SOOOOO MUCH TO DOOOOO!

Have a great day,

Khristen

XOXO Challenge 24: picture inspiration

2011-12-02T07:44:00.004-05:00

Morning! Baby, it's cold outside, and it has been morning from hell with a bed wetter and meltdown after meltdown, and I'm ready to head back to bed already!! It's a great day to hibernate in the craft room, but the job that pays me consistently comes first (unfortunately.)

Before I try to tune out the world to write some articles, I thought I would share this month'sXOXO challenge. We were asked to use this picture as inspiration:

How fun is that? I decided I would pull out my affirmation journal for my business, a work-in-progress that I haven't picked up in a while (interpretation: my printer ran out of ink and I was at a loss for what to do instead of a traditional layout HA.) Here's what I came up with, inspired by the color scheme and layout of the girl and words in the original image:

Cool, right? I started by painting the page in the Eco Green Crafts 5 1/2" Recycled Chipboard Snap Book (AWESOME by the way) white with some Eco Green Crafts acrylic paint. Love that stuff! When the paint was dry, I pulled out a Balzer Designs stencil and inked over it, creating the hexagons, and finished it off by pouncing some white paint over it all. Shimmerz Spritz made the middle "layer" of the page combined with a great piece of MM Chloe's Closet, and SEI cardstock for the top. All that was left to do was pull it all together with a bit of inking around the edge of the page and adding some fun elements.
The affirmation is a mix of alpha stickers and tickets. BG Two Scoops for "My vision," Bella Blvd. alpha for "is" which I traced around with white gel pen, and "clear and focused" was written on the tickets first with black Bic Mark-It and then white gel pen, making the words stand right out. Blue glitter glue also behind it all :) I used a great piece of Pink Paislee House of Three and raised it up with some pop dots, and finally glued a piece of lace spritzed with Shimmerz to it, stapling the tickets to the lace.

Ok, that's it for me. Off to have a big ol' bowl of turkey soup for breakfast to get me in the mood for a little writing (or a nap...I wish I was able to nap right now!!) Head over to the True XOXO Girls blog to see how the other girls were inspired, and show us how the image inspires you by linking up a creation for your chance to be January guest designer!

CCCB December Challenge: Sparkle

2011-12-01T08:52:00.006-05:00

Good morning! It's time for another challenge over at the Crafter's Companion USA Challenge Blog, and this month we're making it pretty easy to play along...just pull out a Crafter's Companion stamp and something that sparkles and make something, anything, to link up for your chance to win the Humphrey the Elephant Christmas Collection CD and **3 stamp sets of your choice** from the Humphrey Christmas stamp collection!!!!

Amazing prize, especially as the CD contains over 2,500 elements on 2 discs! Enter any project you'd like...altered item, card, layout, tag, ATC, gift bag...as long as it has a Crafter's Companion stamp somewhere on it. Oh, and of course, it has to sparkle :)

I made a Christmas card (as I need to get my little butt in gear making my cards before the season ends!!) and not only used this wonderful glittery MME paper, I used 2 different types of glitter and glitter glue as well. I thought the Humphrey Mistletoe Kisses stamp set was just to adorable, and after inking it up, colored it using the brand spankin' new Spectrum Noir pens exclusive to Crafter's Companion (available right now for pre-order!). I inked the sentiment with the same color pen as I used to color in the tree branch :) Love these markers! The coat has some texture to it as I used a textured cardstock. I think it kind of looks fuzzy, don't you? The doily makes a great mat (and was sadly my last one...I've been using these things on cards/layouts all year! Sad to see them go!)

I used a silver and white glitter for the coat and a white glitter for the snow and snowflakes.

There you have it. Head over and enter your own creation for a shot at the big prize, and I hope you have a wonderful end of the week. Stay tuned for one more post :)

Khristen

Busy, busy, busy...

2011-11-28T07:22:00.005-05:00

...but today I can play in the craft room :)

Good morning, I hope everyone enjoyed the Thanksgiving holiday. It was fantastic here, although quite busy. I hosted the big meal this year, and with a 24 pound bird, it was a day full of cooking. It was DELICIOUS though, and it was wonderful spending time with my family. Not so wonderful: the next day full of dishes and cleaning. The day after: Andraia's 12th birthday!

She had a great day, starting out with a special surprise (although it is a little cruel, but what can I do? My brother had already sent them.) She received a flower bouquet from the one and only Justin Bieber (a.k.a. my brother. Andraia doesn't know this, and actually believes it somewhat!) She was a little confused as to how he was able to get her address, and when asked when she met him, she replied "I don't know!!!!!"

I'm sure you can't read the card...it says, "Andraia, when I met you girl my heart went knock knock, and now the butterflies in my stomach won't stop stop. Love, J. Biebs." Yeah, my brother is pretty hilarious. I took a video of the moment, and it's hard to see it, but she turns 8 shades of red and starts shaking when asked to read the card out loud :) It was adorable!!

The new iPod Nano made her day :) (However, in typical 12 year old fashion, she said "Cool, now all I need is an iPod." I said, "But you got one for your birthday!" Her response: "You can't play games on it." Oh, I guess your DSi isn't good enough...)

Besides this wonderful *gag* JB holiday CD, she received protective skins featuring JB for her DSi, a bottlecap necklace featuring his face, the JB perfume/body wash/lotion set (which she FLIPPED over), and a JB keychain. This girl is keychain obsessed.
To complete the wonderful JB theme, a friend of mine who makes the most WONDERFUL cakes (if you are in southeastern NH or southern ME and want her info, just let me know. You won't regret it.) made this cake just for Andraia. It was the most delicious cake (the last thing I needed after all of the Thanksgiving feasting and sinful pies), a dark chocolate cake with chocolate chips inside!! Yum!

After the festivities, it was yet another morning full of dishes and cleaning. Can I just say that I am not lifting a finger today when it comes to cleaning? I'm doing strictly laundry today. Sorry, honey. After rearranging the living room to make room for the Christmas tree and then actually putting it up yesterday (we didn't finish decorating it until 9:30!!) I am exhausted. A perfect day to play in the lonely craft room! It needs a LOT of cleaning, but I just don't have the energy for that.

I've posted pics of the cute little family-themed CD tin album I made on my Facebook page, but plan to take better pics outside for the shop. It is actually sunny today, AND dry! A winning combination for taking pictures of paper goods :) I have also whipped up more Christmas cards I'll get around to posting later, and must make 2 DT projects or else I'll miss a deadline! With all of the holiday festivities, I did miss one deadline...the newest challenge over at Dream Valley Challenges. Just because I missed the deadline doesn't mean you have to! Head over to check it out and see what my other teamies have made and enter yours for a chance to win a wonderful prize. You have 2 weeks :)

Until later,

Khristen

Repurposed gift box featuring Humphrey

2011-11-21T09:08:00.003-05:00

Good morning, I hope that everyone is doing well today. I am preparing to make a couple of pies for Thanksgiving. This has to be my second favorite holiday...I love turkey and gravy and all of the fixings. I love the leftovers more, and will confess I eat my fair share of turkey and potatoes for breakfast after the big day! I especially love being the one to cook the meal, this year we are having my parents over. Baking the apple pie is my very favorite, and even make the crust from scratch.

Today is my day to post over at the Crafter's Companion blog, and I decided to use the box my iPhone came in and transform it into a cute little Christmas gift box.

I lined the inside of the box with some great Christmas paper from my stash.

I went to work tracing the sides of the box onto the paper and adhered it with my Eco Green Crafts all-purpose Green Glue (love this stuff!)

Once all the paper pieces covered all of the Apple logos and images of the phone (don't want to get anyone's hopes up that an iPhone might be inside), I added this adorable Humphrey 1st Christmas stamp which I colored with Crafter's Companion's new Spectrum Noir markers now available for pre-order. You'll want to head over and check it out, they are fabulous alcohol ink markers that won't break the bank. They glide on so smoothly! I'm playing with them a little more so that I can start combining colors and shading, as I've seen so many other crafters out there doing. I used a fine glitter on Humphrey's hat and a thick glass bead glitter for some snow for Humphrey to sit on. Ribbon, jute, a cute snowflake brad, and the sentiment complete the box.

The bottom of the box:

That's all for right now...I have to go crazy baking pies! I hope you all have a great day, and if I don't have the chance to post again before Thursday (highly likely!), I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving. Don't forget to check in all week over at the Crafter's Companion blog all week to see wonderful projects, and if you get the chance, head over to the challenge blog as well for a shot to win 6 of the newest Humphrey stamps.

what a day...

2011-11-15T16:31:00.005-05:00

Today started out great, and up until it was time to pick up Rileigh at school...then it kind of went downhill. All of my running around is over though, and despite missing the person who was supposed to get one of the boys I bring home after kindergarten by mere minutes, the crisis was averted and I got him home. All of the road construction around the highway in our town delayed my arrival back home to get the twins back to their mom on time, but now they are gone too. Thankfully, a friend brings Rileigh to and from band practice across town, so I can now stay home. *phew*

I wasn't able to play in the craft room today, but I wanted to share these cards I made with a friend this weekend. They will end up being mailed to friends/family on my Christmas card list :)

This first one features Bo Bunny papers, buttons, and Santa brad and MM Fa La La trim. Burgandy ink, Imaginisce iRock green bling and distressed edges thanks to my Heidi Swapp edge distresser.

Last year's leftover Christmas papers worked nicely here, MME glitter papers. The sentiment is an Imaginisce acrylic stamp. Twinery twine. MM ribbon and glass beads that are gorgeous :)

This is my friend's rubber stamp, embossed with red powder, colored with some alcohol ink markers, and MME Christmas papers to finish it off.

That's all for today! Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to make a bit more for the shop (like finish that Family album!) Until then, I must now go give a friend a ride to work (got the call in the middle of this post...I jinxed myself saying I was done for the day!)

Khristen

finally Dream Valley Challenge 20 : Stitching

2011-11-14T15:43:00.004-05:00

Good afternoon! I feel like I haven't blogged in AGES, things have been so crazy around here! Am I alone in wondering where the past couple of months have gone to? I am in shock that there are less than two weeks left until Thanksgiving...

This time around, we want to see stitching somewhere on your project over at Dream Valley Challenges. As always, you can make anything you'd like, as long as there is stitching incorporated somewhere (card, layout, home decor, jewelry...anything goes!)

I used my Scraptastic November Home Sweet Home kit for this pretty page, I am in love with the SC Farmhouse papers and embellishments!

The white floss I used for stitching came in the kit, as well as a few other colors, but I thought the white would show best on the turquoise background. I used the lid of a coffee can to trace out the circle, and then stitched over it. (Isn't that MLS glitter alpha to die for?)
Studio G brown glitter glue featured around the circles punched out of a piece of patterned paper. Red paper punched with a Fiskars edge punch.
DELICIOUS SC Farmhouse trim! I am in love with it (and too bad this was the last piece! Must. Have. MORE.) Mister Huey in pumpkin spice.
There you have it! Head over to Dream Valley Challenges and link up your creation today for the chance to win

You have two weeks! Have a great day, I hope to be able to create a little this week. We'll see what happens though...my plans all fall through lately, so I try not to commit to anything in my mind. That way, I can't let myself down...

xoxo

Khristen

Snow...

2011-11-09T12:30:00.003-05:00

Not looking forward to it at ALL as I HATE shoveling and any aspect of snow removal, but the snow is due to fall soon. I love winter, for the simple fact I never want to go outside in the bitterly cold temps. That means hibernation time begins, and I hibernate in my craft room :)

Crafter's Companion is due to release a new set of Humphrey winter-themed stamps, and they are just so adorable! I love all of them and am looking forward to playing with all of them when things slow down a bit.

Here's a cute image from the Snow Fun set. This is definitely one of my favorites, and I can see this looking equally fantastic on a child's winter-themed layout as well.

Cosmo Cricket paper, plain jane Art Markers, and Ranger Glossy Accents are all I needed to make this card cute. I love how the Glossy Accents really makes the sentiment stand out a little bit better, and appears to be heat embossed :)

Be sure to head over to the Crafter's Companion Info Blog to see sneaks all week of this adorable range of stamps. I'm off to run a gazillion errands, pick the kids up at school, and get the new phone I ordered in the mail...mine has been acting up lately!

xoxo

Khristen

Snow much fun

2011-11-04T11:12:00.004-04:00

Good morning! I wanted to post this earlier, but strangely, we lost power for a couple of hours. Kind of ironic: the freak Halloween snowstorm knocked power out to over 300,000 people here in my state alone, and after all but 3,000 have it restored, we lose ours on a gorgeous sunny day. Go figure...just my luck I guess. If I didn't have bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all!

Anywhooooo....here's a layout I worked on yesterday *just for me.* No challenges, no design team deadline to meet...just me, some paper, and these adorable pics from winter a few years back. (It's amazing how far behind I am...)

Lots of good stuff here...I love using papers not designed for a certain holiday or season and making them work regardless. Here, I used Kaisercraft Le Chateau - Voliere for the background paper and combined them with MME Round and Round, a travel line of paper. Nothing at all "travel" about the photos, but the colors work well to tie the pics in with the blue of the paper, which doesn't go with the other papers at first glance. (I used Round & Round - Scenery and Let's Go - Racing Stripes for the strips and other papers, except for the blue dotted paper. That's Le Chateau - Lumiere.)
Doodlebug beetle black alpha, Fancypants Delight stamps, Kaisercraft Le Chateau die cut file folder tab with MM Magnetic rubber stamp alpha - Rummage. The background features SC Mister Huey in pumpkin spice.
Random printed masking tape (which I can't seem to put down lately).
That is an incredible stuff2scrap Chipboard element, painted with Eco Green Crafts Zucchini acrylic paint and Black Soot Distress Stickles. LOVE. IT.
That cute little arrow is a MME Round & Round Beep Beep die cut.

That's all for now...after getting power back (and putting down a very special surprise I can't talk about just yet that I received in the mail yesterday...you're going to LOVE it) I must make the little guy lunch and head out to get shoes to fit his big ol' growing feet. Stay tuned for a sneak peek of a new mini for the shop (if you want to see it now, head to my Facebook page!)

Khristen

XOXO November Challenge: Black

2011-11-01T10:56:00.003-04:00

Black.

How does that inspire you? That's what we want to know this month over at the True XOXO Girls Challenge Blog. Head over to check out how the other talented ladies were inspired, but before you go, here's my interpretation, featuring my favorite shot of my Rileigh about 8 years ago at Christmas time with hubby:

I started by misting black cardstock with my own recipe of white acrylic paint mist, followed by a black acrylic paint mist. This chipboard heart from stuff2scrap features the same mists, with the addition of twine from The Twinery and some Glossy Accents around the edge. I love that stuff! I couldn't stop with just the heart...I added some to the title as well, highlighting the MLS alpha "love," covering the Doodlebug alpha "those," and underlining the Bella Blvd. alpha "big eyes."
Misted the Petaloo and Kaisercraft flowers here, adding Kaisercraft black pearls. More twine.
See the Cotton Candy and Diamond Stickles down there? I used papers from the Witching Hour kit from the Scraptastic Club, Echo Park goodness :) Distressed with my cute little Heidi Swapp edge distresser.
The little dots you see are Glossy Accents, and the twine here is stitched across the bottom.
There you have it! Head over to XOXO and check out what the other ladies did with this word prompt, and show us how this prompt inspires you for your chance to be a guest designer!!!!

xoxo

Khristen

Dream Valley Challenge # 19: Anything Goes

2011-11-01T10:46:00.003-04:00

Good morning, I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend and Halloween. It's time for anotherDream Valley Challenge, and this time around, **ANYTHING GOES!**

I decided to use this great digi image from Stitchy Bear Stamps, and thought she went perfectly with the Crafter's Companion "I believe in fairies" rub on sentiment. I misted the card base with some Shimmerz in Treasured Hymn. Kaisercraft pearls, AC black jute, and a piece of Basic Grey paper complete this beauty.

As our monthly sponsor left us high and dry, our fearless leader Melly has offered up a prize of her own. Head over to Dream Valley Challenges to play along for your chance to win a gift certificate to your choice of either Crafty Emma's or Saturated Canary's shops :)

What are you waiting for? Link up your creation today!

CCCB November Challenge: Celebrate a Holiday

2011-11-01T10:39:00.003-04:00

Good morning, I can't believe it's time for Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog's November challenge already! Where did October go?

This month, we are asking to see your holiday creations. Any holiday will do, although I'm sure we'll see a lot of Christmas this month! My project is a Christmas tag created using the Paint Fusion Poinsettia stamp set soon to be released. I just love poinsettias!

The Paint Fusion system makes it pretty easy to paint, even if you've never painted a day in your life (like me!)

Head on over to the CCCB and show us your holiday creation featuring your Crafter's Companion stamps for your chance to win all 6 of the newly released Humphrey the elephant stamp sets...it has rolled over from last month, and I know you want it!

Khristen

Paint Fusion Teaser

2011-11-01T10:33:00.002-04:00

If you've been eyeing the Paint Fusion system from Crafter's Companion but have been holding off, it's almost time to satisfy your urge!! Very soon, the Christmas Paint Fusion sets will be released!!

I decided to combine both the Ivy and Poinsettia sets together to create this wall hanging, for the details as to how I created this, check out **this post from yesterday.**

Stay tuned to the Crafter's Companion Blog for a new post each day featuring these wonderful sets that make it a snap to create your own painted masterpieces, even if you've never painted a day in your life!

OMG is it really November?

2011-11-01T09:57:00.007-04:00

Ok, so this month just slipped through my fingers...and here we are in November! I did so many great layouts last month, and I'll start my MANY MANY blog posts with the non-DT related projects!

This page features some great colors from The Twinery. I'm ecstatic to have won their sampler pack, which includes EVERY SINGLE ONE of the colors they offer :) There are some yummy colors in there! This layout is on a kraft background, and uses three yummy colors of twine. I used white and black acrylic paint mists (of course, my own recipe) to create an interesting journal space. SEI teal alpha, Doodlebug black alpha, Pink Paislee white alpha covered in black stickles, and white foam Thickers. Scenic Route arrow. MME candy dots paper for photo mat. Kaisercraft black pearls. AC black jute.

This was one of my absolute favorite nights, despite driving an hour away from home in a car with no heat on -20 degree night! Patryk was a mere 2 weeks old, and slept through the whole thing, allowing me to really enjoy Rileigh's wonder and excitement. What kid DOESN'T feel this way riding the Polar Express?

Hereis a page featuring the Scraptastic October Kit, Witching Hour. I just had to do a non-Halloween themed layout, and chose these pics of Rileigh getting her face painted up like the dog her father won her at the Rochester Fair in 2007. These are MME papers, MLS and Doodlebug alphas, Stickles from the September Too Cool for School kit, and Kaisercraft flowers. The twine, from The Twinery, and orange MLS alphas were not in this kit and from my stash.

Here's a gorgeous holiday box made using a repurposed clementine box (something I had seen out there in bloggy land, but just can't put a finger on where I'd seen it, although in all honesty I had thought of this idea before seeing it, as evidenced by the number of these boxes I have saved for the past year and a half waiting for the inspiration to hit me! I think hubby was starting to question my "repurposing"...I think he would call it "hoarding"...) I won the Father Christmas paper collection from Bo Bunny last month and felt it would be great for this Christmas gift box.

I started out by painting the box with black acrylic paint, and then set to work adhering paper to it. Petaloo flower. MM Fa La La trim.

There you have it, some of what I've been up to. I have a few more cards but can't share them with you as I've just been trying to stay ahead of the game before turkey day and Christmas! I know how busy I'll be, and am thankful to be all caught up (for now...)

So I'm off to write a few more posts and share some DT goodness with you. Hope your Halloween was fantastic...here's my crew prior to trick or treat (which we had to do in the SNOW! First time in my life I've seen snow on Halloween! We got just over a foot of the wet, heavy white stuff! Typical New England, you never know what to expect!)

XOXO Blog Hop Winner!!

2011-10-21T08:22:00.002-04:00

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....

wustaz!

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!

2 More Days....

2011-10-18T12:48:00.002-04:00

...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 :)

Dream Valley Challenge #18: Halloween

2011-10-16T11:11:00.004-04:00

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.

Scraptastic Challenge!

2011-10-15T06:57:00.003-04:00

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 :)

Sketches4All Fall Contest Sponsored by The Cutting Cafe

2011-10-14T05:51:00.005-04:00

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!

True XOXO Blog Hop!

2011-10-13T05:51:00.005-04:00

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:

Kimmy's blog

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!!

Just to let you know...

2011-10-09T09:06:00.002-04:00

...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 :)

Why scrapbook?

2011-10-05T09:53:00.003-04:00

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?

More Scraptastic kit goodness...

2011-10-04T08:12:00.004-04:00

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!)

Tutorial Alert!!

2011-10-03T09:59:00.003-04:00

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!

A peek at my WCMD creations

2011-10-02T09:48:00.007-04:00

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!

DVCB Challenge #17: Monochrome

2011-10-02T08:20:00.003-04:00

Good morning! I hope everyone enjoyed some crafty time yesterday for World Card Making Day! Stay tuned for a huge post full of cards I entered over at Pink Paislee's forum for their contest. I made a total of 6! Crazy!

It's time for another Dream Valley Challenge, and this time we want to see your monochrome projects. Card, layout, altered item, whatever...it's all good as long as it's monochromatic.

Play along for your chance to win a GC to One Stop Card Crafts!

I chose to go with a brown palette for my card, and pulled out one of the new Crafter's Companion Popcorn the Bear stamps. He wanted to be plain as I wanted to keep with the brown color scheme, and I thought these papers were perfect. The card base is GCD and the paper matting the image is My Mind's Eye. A bit of Bo Bunny Double Dot ribbon was the perfect touch, as was raising them up off of the base with some foam squares :)

That little tab sticker at the top of the image is from Fancy Pants Off to School collection.
Isn't Popcorn just the cutest little guy? :)

There you have it, head over to the DVCB to enter your creation! Can't wait to see what you all create :)

CCCB Oct Challenge: Celebrate Friendship

2011-10-01T22:41:00.003-04:00

Good evening (actually night...it's late....) I am happy to bring you the next challenge over at the Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog. This month, we are celebrating friendship. Show us a card for a friend that uses a Crafter's Companion stamp for a chance to win an awesome prize (to be revealed soon, we like to keep you guessing :) )

I got to work to make this beauty, featuring one of the brand new S.W.A.L.K. stamp sets, Best Pals. Isn't it adorable?

See those awesome Black Soot Distress Stickles? Love it! Raised up the sentiment and love the dimension!
Of course, if I make the sentiment dimensional, I have to do the same with the image :)

There you have it! Off to bed for me....did you all get to enjoy World Card Making Day? I made a bunch of stuff, so I'm exhausted from expending all of that creative energy! Enter up a card for your chance to win our big *mystery prize*, you have until the end of the month :)

Don't forget about our giant S.W.A.L.K. giveaway...check the details *here*. Have a great night!

XOXO Challenge Time!

2011-10-01T11:33:00.003-04:00

Ok, enough procrastination. Time to post! (I really need to get a little better with this auto-post thing.)

It's the big day over at True XOXO Girls, and I'll tell you, I had a lot of fun creating this month's layout. The challenge: Instagram or Hipstamatic inspiration. I don't have a smartphone and my iPod is a teeny weenie little Nano, so I don't have either of these popular photo apps but I do enjoy seeing what others are doing with them. After pouring over all of the online Hipstamatic images (I kind of went this route as more of my friends use this app, and I love all of the different lenses and filters) it hit me...I am sitting on hundreds of old school sepia toned photos dating as far back as the late 1800's!! Since a lot of the images taken using the app appear faded and aged, these pics were perfect. I came across this pic of my great grandmother sitting on her lawn, and fell in love. It's crazy to see this woman who I knew when she was in her 80's until she passed at almost 102 as a young woman. What was her life like then? Who was she posing for? My great grandfather? What did she imagine her future would be like when this photo was taken? I'll never know. Isn't this why we all scrapbook? I know I would love for my kids to see little stories of my life and what it was like and share it with their kids and so on and so forth...because we're all curious about our family history.

I cut up an Earth Love Cosmo Cricket die cut scalloped circle paper and affixed it to the background (more Earth Love) paper...and then proceeded to mist the hell out of it with a bottle of Shimmerz in Treasured Hymn.

The photo was jealous and wanted to be lifted off the page too, so more foam squares were in order. Add on some Pink Paislee Bayberry Cottage pleated ribbon and a cute little Earth Love chipboard piece (which reads "Helen Mills, year unknown" in white gel pen.) Hard to see, but underneath all of that is yellow glitter adhesive lace from We R Memory Keepers. Love it, but need to get better about using it...it was kind of a pain! A jute bow completes it.
Earth Love chippie letters :) Check out that mist...so shimmery in person!
Jillibean canvas flowers covered in mist (they look awesome in person, just couldn't capture this awesomeness on camera!), jute flourishes, a fussy cut cameo, and a random tag sticker from my stash.
In the center of these flowers are some random brads contained in the kit I got some of the elements you see here from We Scrap on Etsy :)
There you have it! Head over and see what the rest of the DT did for this challenge (and the amazingness of each entry will make your jaw drop) and enter your own Instagram/Hipstamatic inspired layout for a chance to become our GDT for next month. Hang out with the Lipstick Chicks on Facebook all month (we are a pretty awesome group, I'll admit!) It's pretty fun :)

AND....*blog hop alert*...be ready for the True XOXO blog hop coming on October!!

Hope you have a great weekend...off to do some crafty things for World Cardmaking Day :)

xoxo

More Scraptastic Fun on a Card!

2011-09-30T19:34:00.004-04:00

Here's my entry for the 4th Scraptastic challenge, which is simply to make a card. I figured what better card to create than one for a teacher, when using the September Too Cool for School kit?!

Used my Ultimate Crafter's Companion (of course) to make the card base as it makes it super simple....just find the half gate fold 12X12 line and you're good to go. I decided to round the edges and add the awesome jute and Fancy Pants chipboard banners to the top. Love banners!

Used this dimensional "snow" paint a friend had to write "teacher" on the awesome Fancy Pants blackboard sticker.

That's all for today. Watch tomorrow for new challenges at a couple of blogs...XOXO and the Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog, and don't forget to tune in on Sunday for the new challenge over at Dream Valley Challenges Lots of great prizes in store!

Have a great night!

Fun with the Scraptastic September Kit Too Cool for School

2011-09-30T19:25:00.003-04:00

Good evening! What a productive day I've had...5 DT assignments and 2 challenge entries later, and I feel fantastic! (The secret: hubby put a tv in Patryk's room, so now I use the morning to my advantage. I feel awful, but seriously, I can barely do housework with him up my butt!)

I was finally able to play with the September Scraptastic kit Too Cool for School for the second time, and it feels fantastic! Such a great kit! (Watch for a second post to follow this one, I made 2 challenges at the Scraptastic blog :) Yay me!)

The challenge: a list without any pictures. Here is what I decided to do, and the Fancy Pants Off to School paper featured in the kit had this handy dandy little "random notes" bit with 10 items, blank and ready for me to add to. Perfect? I think so.

All of the paper in the kit is used here...I punched a circle with a CM circle punch out of each sheet of paper, front and back, and arranged them around the list.
See that awesome chandelier? That's a mask from Hampton Arts, which I used in conjunction with my Shimmerz spritz in Treasured Hymn on the cardstock from the kit. So cool!

There she is! Stay tuned for another post, but the other projects will have to wait until tomorrow :)

Giveaway Alert!!!!

2011-09-29T10:20:00.003-04:00

I design for one of the most generous companies out there!

Crafter's Companion, to celebrate the release of the 6 brand new S.W.A.L.K. stamp sets, is giving away ALL 6 STAMP SETS to one lucky commenter on **this post right here.** Head over and post a comment for your chance to win this adorable set.

If you just can't wait to have them, CC is also offering up a special...buy all six and pay 49.99 (with each set costing 9.99, that's like getting one of the sets free!) Head over to the Crafter's Companion store to buy your very own S.W.A.L.K. adorableness today :)

xoxo

Shocking Preparedness

2011-09-25T19:27:00.005-04:00

Yes, I am doing a post showcasing the card I made for my soon-to-be 12 year old daughter. Whatever it is that is prompting this preparedness, I only pray that it continues...it's nice to be ahead. I'm **never ever** ahead...ever.

I saw this challenge over at the Wee Memories blog this morning on Facebook, and felt I just had to play along. I love the DT over at Wee Memories...so inspiring. Jenny always has something cute to show off, whether it's a gorgeous card or a new stamp (can't wait for the new release of her stamps for The Craft's Meow!) but I hadn't had the time to play along in a while.

So here it is, my entry into their "use patterned paper" challenge. I used both sides of a sheet of Cosmo Cricket Earth Love - Remember for the cloud background and her dress. The ground is from a scrap piece of paper I had used to "mop up" a misted background that I thought looked like sand. It's much more shimmery in person! (Shimmerz Spritz in Treasured Hymn.)

She was cut from the Cricut Lite Playtime cart, accented with Stickles in Diamond and Cotton Candy.
Cosmo Cricket Earth Love Ready - Set - Chip! alpha and Bella Blvd. Sophisticates alphas make up the sentiment, the "12th" accented with Patina Stickles. Hand sewing.
That's it, hope she loves it :) Hope you all had a good weekend...I was able to not only make this card, but also a layout for a DT assignment due soon. Can't wait to show it off to you!

xoxoxo

Super Crafty Sunday

2011-09-25T08:12:00.003-04:00

Here it is, Sunday, and as usual I am still feeling as exhausted as ever. I really need to do something about that (like go to bed at a normal hour!) Mabye if I didn't get caught up in television I'd be ok. I've gotten pretty good about closing up the laptop for the night, but now I just turn on the TV and get sucked into some show and before I know it, it's somehow midnight. Tonight: early bedtime for sure! 4:30 comes quickly...

I've been meaning to share this page with all of you, but it's been so CRAZY BUSY around here. This week offers no relief either with 2 doctor appointments. Andraia had her first eye exam last week, and will get glasses in 2 weeks. She's so excited! We decided to go to the optometrist as she's been having problems with headaches now and then for the past 2 years, and the doctor thought it could be one of the possible causes. We've already cut MSG out of her diet (which actually seemed to eradicate them, until she started up middle school where they can choose their own lunches...something tells me she's been sneaking ranch dressing on her plate each day!) We'll see if the glasses help at all, they say she only has a slight problem but to try them out anyway. She's quite excited as she's been wanting glasses forEVer. I mean, this is the girl who bought a bunch of fake glasses at Claire's just to look "cool" (um, nothing like when I went to school and glasses were UNcool...)

Here's a layout of my 6th grader back in 2nd grade. I'm getting closer to being caught up HA...not really. I pulled out the new Scraptastic kit (I love all of their kits!) for this one, Too Cool for School, full of Fancy Pants amazingness. Love these papers (especially the glasses one!) I made it for the sketches4all sketch-a-thon (ending today, so get your entries in!)

I'm in love with the October Afternoon Mini Market alpha stickers they've been sending in these kits...and how cute is that chipboard heart? More Fancy Pants, of course.
The banner was made from the red jute contained in the kit and more chipboard stickers from Fancy Pants. It's hard to tell, but I affixed the pic to the page with my foam squares for some dimension :)
So that's it for now, but I hope to get LOTS done later in the craft room. I have no motivation for anything, and have decided to declare Sunday my true day of rest...although I do have to do laundry. I guess people around here need clean clothes to wear...what's up with that?

Winner!

2011-09-19T13:22:00.004-04:00

FINALLY I can post this. I completely spaced out last night, after madly decorating a tree to play a trick on a neighbor...we covered it in the tackiest Christmas ornaments we could find :) He was probably pretty mad, I wish I could have seen it, but he doesn't get home until at least 2am!

So here is the winner.......

Designing with Debbie said...

Thanks for the chance to win your awesome blog candy. I am a new follower and I am also following you on facebook along with the other two blogs. I have posted your candy to my blog: djchrist71.blogspot.com

August 24, 2011 2:47 PM

Email your address to kcraftroom at gmail dot com so that I can send your goodies to you at the end of the month :) You have 3 days to contact me, and if I do not hear from you, I will be choosing a new winner.

Thanks to everyone for entering, stay tuned as I'm sure there will be another. I must make room for new goodies in my craft room!

Another pictureless creation, and lots of wedding pics!

2011-09-19T11:07:00.005-04:00

The power is restored, as is my sanity :) As I type, I am sitting in the library for Patryk's first storytime, we'll see how this goes. He is at the age where they take the kids away from the parents into another room, and it's the first time he's away from people that he knows, so I'm curious to see what he has to say about it afterwards.

Here are a couple of great shots from the wedding we attended on Saturday. I couldn't resist sharing pictures of the little handsome man with all of you. He was so cute in his little tux!!!

He made his way down the aisle and upon seeing the number of people watching him, he threw himself down on the ground and started to "worm" his way to the alter....literally. It was adorable (although hubby didn't think so!)

He spent most of the time playing with the fake rings he figured out how to detach from the ring bearer pillow :)

My handsome boys...love them!

There was a "candy shoppe" favor center, where the kids and other guests could help themselves to treats such as Pixie Sticks, Tootsie Rolls, lollipops, and these wonderful wax gum lips. Cool idea, and we ended up with sooo many goodies!

There was also a photo booth set up (the wall in the back...those frames are actually holes in the wall set up for people to stick their heads in.) Next to the booth was a bureau full of dress up goodies, here are the girls dressed up fantastically!

Lastly, Rileigh was the hit of the dance floor! She is such a funny little dancer, so animated and crazy. I have a LOT of great dancing shots...of course including dress up gear!

Ok, to the layout! I made this yesterday just because. I ran out of color ink in my printer (although I shouldn't have, I'll never buy another refurbished cartridge again!!!!!) so I turned to the drawer of memorabilia and found drawings from one of Rileigh's many notebooks. I save them all to go through when I'm ready, tearing out the best of the best. I know she'll love looking back at these pictures and stories when she's older :)

I pulled out the September Scraptastic Too Cool for School kit, full of Fancy Pants Off to School goodness. I used Cards and Favorite Teacher patterned papers and some adhesive chipboard. The October Afternoon mini market alpha stickers also came in the kit.

The foam Thickers here are great, love white on any color background.

My favorite way to include items that I know she'll want to pull out and look at: a pocket. I then make a slit in the page protector, letting the stuff hang out so that you can just pull it out and slide it back in when you are done. Easy peasy!
Hope you like it, stay tuned for ONE MORE POST later this afternoon :)

Happy Birthday, Bucka!

2011-09-19T10:26:00.000-04:00

For those who aren’t in the know, Bucka is what my children call my father. **Backstory: Andraia was just barely 1 1/2 years old, and rather than say “Grampa” she interchanged the P and G and it came out “Bucka" and kind of stuck. All the kids call him this, and I love it!** Well, Saturday was Bucka’s birthday. Another year older, another year the coolest dad ever. As we had a wedding to attend that day, I will be making him a birthday dinner at some point this week (he went out for a day on the motorcycles with my mom anyway, so I didn’t feel so bad about not being able to see him.)

Sketch #6 in the sketches4all End of Summer Sketch-a-Thon was just too awesome to NOT complete, and I knew just the paper line: MME Lime Twist! You’ll probably recognize the papers from my recent posts showcasing the items in the Scraptastic kit club August Summer Star kit. I have a LOT of this kit left! I used some scraps from layouts I’ve done to maximize what I have (translated: to leave the full 12X12 sheets I have left untouched HA)

Rounded the corners of my paper strips with my corner punch. Twine came from the kit, as did the stickers.

There you have it! I hope to see him soon to hand him this card

Hoping to have power back soon, but I have another couple of posts I can do in the meantime to keep me occupied (thank you, Windows Live Writer!) As I type, PSNH is out there wandering down the lines looking for the problem, currently right in my backyard, up high on a pole. I’d say their 15 minute response time was pretty stellar! Fingers crossed we get it back soon…I think I’m going insane without the internet and morning news!!!

Soooo beary cute…

2011-09-19T10:05:00.000-04:00

Good morning, time for my post over at the Crafter’s Companion blog, and it’s all about Popcorn the Bear! I recently received some Popcorn stamp sets, part of the new release now available over at the CC shop, and I am in love! The images are so detailed and adorable!

I chose the Birthday Cuddles set, and after stamping my image, colored him with colored pencils. After cutting him out, I mounted him to the doily and added some pretty flowers below him.

Dotted ribbon and the sentiment, so crisply stamped with the help of my Rock-A-Blocks (love how easy it is to transfer images without smudges!), complete the bottom.

Head over to the Crafter’s Companion store to pick up your own Popcorn the Bear stamps, or one of the incredibly adorable Popcorn Pals sets today!

I trust you’ve all had a great weekend. We attended a wedding for my brother-in-law, and it was so much fun. Our little guy was the ring bearer, stay tuned for some cute pics in a separate post. We currently have no power…luckily I already had my coffee poured, but my oldest daughter is getting ready for school by flashlight! I’m hoping they resolve it soon…no internet, so I’m putting Windows Live to good use and writing up these posts to have something to do in the dark…and using the laptop screen as a light. C’mon Mr. Sun!!! It’s been a loooong hour in the dark…

Have a great day, and watch for more posts. I got pretty crafty yesterday

DVCB Challenge #16 : Buttons

2011-09-18T14:33:00.004-04:00

Good afternoon, crafty friends! It's already been two weeks? Yikes! That means it's time for another Dream Valley challenge! This time around, we would like to see how you can use buttons. Card, altered project, layout...anything goes, as long as it uses buttons!

Our awesome sponsor this month is Digi's with Attitude, offering up a $10 gift certificate to their store (Canadian currency.) Their images are so fun and funky, you're sure to find an image to work with any theme.

I chose Movie Star Tween from DWA for my card. These images are perfect for my real-life tween girls. This one will be for my 11 year old who is doing AMAZINGLY well at school this year. We had a lot of struggles the past few years with getting her to do projects and assignments (I had to rush around doing most of the work for her at some points), and this year she's ahead!! I plan to give this to her when she completes a project she was assigned a week ago. It is due October 7th, but she's just about done, and she'll most likely finish up on Monday or Tuesday. It amazes me, the effort she's put forth this year to succeed, and I'm so very proud of her

I used my markers (nothing special, just "art markers." LOL 3 kids = no funds for Copics *yet*) to color her, blonde and blue eyed like my girl, and a simple peach crayon to do her skin. Diamond Stickles helped to make her really shine...earrings, dress, and the outline of the star she's standing on. MAMBI black and white flocked paper. American Crafts Remarks sentiment sticker. I like that it is sparkly and the colors go so well with the way I colored her! Cotton Candy Stickles, and random buttons/bling complete it nicely.

I just love the shine Diamond Stickles add to everything, no matter what color. What shall I do when I run out?!?! (Oh yeah, buy more...LOL)

That's it for my creation, head on over to DVCB and enter your own creation to win! You have 2 weeks.

Until next time!

K-Cards: My New Obsession

2011-09-15T05:53:00.003-04:00

So after learning how easy it was to make k-cards using my Ultimate Crafter's Companion, I'm now *addicted* to them. It's amazing how easy they are and how impressed the recipient is...it appears so hard to make, but it's *super* simple.

I made this one for a neighbor's birthday. This is my favorite male neighbor who has the *cutest* great danes. We often take nightly walks together (because seriously, no matter how strong you are, it's tough to handle two huge pony-sized dogs solo) and I let his dogs out on the weekends when they work late. We share desserts, dinners, *everything*. He's just a great person, and I felt I had to make a super-special card this year.

I dug into last month's Scraptastic Summer Star kit (I have the September kit but haven't been able to play *at all* with it...waiting on photo paper which I hope to pick up today) which is full of MME Lime Twist Fly a Kite goodness. I adore the patterns on these papers! After making the base of the card using two sheets of cardstock contained in the kit and cutting in the appropriate place with my handy dandy craft knife, all that was left was embellishing the hell out of that star and adding some alpha stickers (*love* these white foam Thickers so much!) The chipboard, twine, and punched stars were all contained in the kit. Love the Scraptastic Club, they just include so many goodies!

So there she is...my recent creation. I'm headed to a friend's house later this afternoon to play with some paper, a much needed little escape, but first I have to finish up my "real" work. Can't buy next month's kit without money! I wonder...will I get stuff done, or will we talk and drink too much mead together? Probably the latter, but I'm okay with that. Hope you all have a great day!

A nice day for a white wedding...

2011-09-11T09:33:00.004-04:00

Good morning! I am preparing to head to a wedding....**CHILDLESS**...which is amazing! Don't get me wrong, I love kids at weddings. Watching them dance...hearing their laughter...watching them try to sneak sips out of the champagne toast glasses... There's just something about attending a wedding sans children. It adds so much to the experience for the parents of said children. It becomes more of a relaxing day, kicking back and watching two of the cutest people become husband and wife is your only focus.

That's precisely what I plan to do today. They are our neighbors, just the cutest couple ever, and I cannot wait to see them become Mr. & Mrs. I made this card for them using my Ultimate Crafter's Companion. It allowed me to not only score the card just right to be folded to this K-card perfection, but also cut out the shapes that make up the swing-out center of the card. I chose a pearly paper base with matching white pearl paper for the center. Awesome silver rub-ons I'd been sitting on for a looooong time, just waiting for the perfect project (and yes, the silver studs came with the rub ons), a strand of pearls, and a K & Co. rub-on sentiment made this a simple but elegant card. I really love how it turned out, and need to find a bazillion more of this rub-on so that I can make some of these for my Etsy shop! I just adore this card! The envelobox was also made using the Ultimate tool, *love* this addition to my crafting. Pearls, Imaginisce flowers, a Pink Paislee brad, and MM glitter alpha add just the right thing to the front.

In other news (which I should have shared yesterday, but I have a horrible cold and spent the day canning pickles, salsa, and pears so I was quite busy), the End of Summer Sketch-a-Thon has begun over at sketches4all. Yesterday was challenge #3, my day to post a challenge. Head on over to see the sketch that was the inspiration for this card, consisting of items from a WeScrap kit (Crate Paper papers & border sticker, Victorian Violet Distress Stickles, random twine, and Pink Paislee letters and trim.) Play along for some great prizes! Hope you all enjoy the day, off to shower and get ready for the wedding!

New Etsy Listings

2011-09-09T09:54:00.003-04:00

Just thought I would share these quickly as I have a good crafty friend on her way here. Maybe we can get a few things done, or maybe we'll just chat all day...I don't really care, all I know is I'll be happy for the girlie time!

I'm really into this whole folded paper thing right now...probably because I have the Ultimate Crafter's Companion, which makes these babies a breeze to make. No need to worry that your folds won't come out just right, use the boxer board and BOOM accordion folds. Find these flowers and medallions in the Handmade Embellishment section of my shop.

It's fall, which means Halloween is creeping up on us! Grab one of these, I have 2 listed. This looks so cute all lit up!
Hope you all have a great day, off to clean up for my friend's arrival! Don't forget to head to the XOXO blog and scraplift one of our lovely layouts inspired by our blogs. The Crafter's Companion fall challenge is also going on, and guess what...there's a big event over at sketches4all, our huge End of Summer Sketchathon! Challenges start TODAY, so head over and participate in one or all of our challenges. DT members are offering RAK's, and each creation gets you closer to the main prize. Head to s4a for more details, and I hope to see you play along!

Picture-less Layout on a Rainy Day

2011-09-08T08:27:00.004-04:00

I realized yesterday, as I listened to the sounds of three 3-year-olds running rampant through the house, that I didn't have any pictures to scrap. I could have gone downstairs and printed out some pics, but instead I turned to the "memorabilia drawer." This is the place I toss the kids' artwork, schoolwork, and anything else worth saving for future scrapping. I have an old 6 drawer dresser, and each drawer contains a different year for each of the kids.

I found the cutest thing contained in Rileigh's drawer, and just had to scrap it! Rileigh, now 9 and in 4th grade, has been constantly writing and drawing in notebooks since she could form letters and shapes. When she was 4 (and I actually remember this day) she did a series of pages which I'll call the "Dear so-and-so Series." You'll see that the writing featured on this page starts "Dear Dad." Each entry in the series starts with "Dear" and addresses each member of the family. Example: mine reads "Dear Mommy: The most things my mommy likes to do is scrapbook." HA. She was one smart 4 year old, always spelling properly. Here's dear ol' dad's version in the Dear so-and-so Series, and apparently the "most things" my husband likes to do is play video games...not from what I've seen, but whatever. He enjoys playing them when he gets the chance, although he doesn't often have the time.

I started with a blank piece of white paper and used some Shimmerz Spritz in Treasured Hymn to create the background. I love the shimmer, and in finally knowing that my homemade mist is just as good as the mists out there on the market! (This is my first time using a manufactured mist...it came in a kit.) I used a Hampton Arts crown mask as well, fitting my title perfectly. BG Lime Rickey papers, only 2 different sheets, which I fussy cut around the interesting lines on the paper. Love this paper! (Too bad these are my last two sheets, but glad to clear out my stash a bit.) Stuff2Scrap chipboard elements (cloud and bottom border). The cloud is covered in Diamond Stickles, the border piece in Studio G glitter glue of 3 colors. Scenic Route alphas for title, October Afternoon alpha for name/age. Random die cut for journal spot.

That's all for now, off to print out some pictures and complete some DT assignments and make some stuff for my shop. Heads up crafters: medallions, rosettes, flowers, tags, and more coming to my shop to make your pages come together faster but still have the handmade embellies that you love but don't have time to make (or maybe I have a paper line that you just love but can't get, check them out and let me know what you want to see in the "Supplies" section of my shop, opening later today...you can even request supplies made from a specific paper line. I'll happily oblige if I can.)

Have a great Thursday!

Happy Labor Day

2011-09-05T09:51:00.003-04:00

Hope you've all enjoyed this holiday weekend. It's been soooo hot and humid here in the Northeast, and today I think we're due to get some rain. That's ok, I'll take it! We enjoyed a wonderful cookout with my in-laws yesterday, I just love big ol' juicy burgers smothered in cheese and bacon :)

I just have to share this before I head to pick up some bread and milk for lunch. I made it a few days ago, a layout of my oldest years ago at Halloween. She was having trouble deciding what she was going to dress as, and after getting ideas in Target, begged me for this wig. I obliged, and after hubby had his way with the face paint, she was a clown! She's a goofball for sure, and this wig appears every now and again "just because." :)

Scenic Route Garden Grove background paper, arrow, "clowning" alpha stickers, and journal boxes. Thickers alpha "just." Doodlebug alpha "around." Cosmo Cricket Blackboard chipboard shapes. Hard to tell in the pics, but background is sprayed with Glimmer Mist (surprisingly not homemade as I received a bottle in a kit recently. I must say, my recipe is pretty darn close!)

Look at those crazy eyes...I just love this shot of her. Hubby, on the other hand, not so much. He is not a big fan of clowns.
That's all folks, off to get the essentials for lunch and write some articles. Maybe I can craft later...we'll see. It is dreary, so the stars may align just right for that to occur. The girls are off at my parents' house, so I think I'll take advantage of the (almost) silence! Hope you are having a great holiday!

Don't forget to check out the current challenge over at the Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog, Dream Valley Challenge #15, and the XOXO scraplift challenge!

Dream Valley Challenge #15: Picture Inspiration

2011-09-05T08:24:00.003-04:00

This picture relaxes me. Something about the gorgeous flowers on the table, the greens and yellows of light poking through trees, and the white tablecloth and place settings...wouldn't I just love to eat my lunch at this very table today!

How does this picture inspire you? Show us over at Dream Valley Challenges for your chance at winning:

and, from our second monthly sponsor, Sassy Studio Designs, 4 images of your choice.

The DT was given Sassy Studio Designs images to play with, and I chose Bubble Bath. If there's anything besides this picture that relaxes me, it is a bubble bath. I used colored pencils to color her in, and mounted her to a sheet of green cardstock.

I've also added some doodling around the mat, I just can't seem to make anything these days without doodling on it in some way. I felt it tied everything together, especially with the black sentiment.

With the image complete and in place, all that was left was adding a bunch of Prima lovelies and a ribbon, accented with Stickles of course! The sentiment and the jewels in the center of the flowers are from the Crafter's Companion Fairyopolis card making kit which I just LOVE, so much good stuff for any type of project. (And more doodling, but crooked! I hate that, but it adds character, right?) :/

So there you have it! Play along for your chance to win our incredible prizes, can't wait to see what you create!

XOXO Challenge #21: Blog Inspiration

2011-09-02T09:12:00.004-04:00

Last post of the morning, I promise ;)

True XOXO Girls is back and better than ever! Have you seen our blog redesign? It's pretty fabby, and so is our next challenge.

The DT was asked to use our own personal blogs as inspiration, and let me tell you, even with all of the scrappy supplies I own, I had the hardest time finding the shade of blue that matched my blog as I decided to use the colors as inspiration. I ended up turning to Bo Bunny Calypso I've had for about a year now, using up the very last scraps. *Sigh* I'll miss that paper. (And I apologize again for the quality of these pics...overcast day and power outage...) This is a pic of my Rileigh, who went from youngest to middle the day her brother was born.

These puffy vinyl Thickers had polka dots which fits right in with the polka dots on my blog, so I just had to use them. Colorbok provided the "from" and "to," ridiculously thick dimensional letters from eons ago...we're talking probably 7 or 8 years ago. Scenic route for "middle."

Bakers twine affixes these ADORABLE pieces from My Little Bit of Whimsy. I received these items with a We Scrap kit, and LOVE them. Added to my favorite supply shop list fo' sho'!

Last but not least, I must mention this stamp next to the photo stamped in SEI charcoal...I don't know how many of you follow the discount sites, but I am hooked on them. This particular stamp set came from Peachy Cheap, and was part of a huge Fancy Pants stamp set (Delight, I believe) and it only cost me......

****$5.99!***** Amazing, this is the stamp set I got for a ridiculous deal (I paid less than scrapbook.com's clearance price!!!!) :

So head on over to XOXO and see the eye candy our designers have posted, along with meeting our two guest designers for this month. You will be inspired, I'm sure of it! Enter your scraplift for a chance at becoming November's guest designer. "Wait," I'm sure you're saying, "what happened to October?" Well, check out this post for details on becoming GDT for October!

Scraplifts are due by 9/30, winners announced 10/5. Enter for your chance to hang in our super-secret Facebook group all month and see what it's like behind the scenes. If you do link up a project, be sure to post which layout inspired you and why. We are curious :) Hope to see your creations!

xoxo

CCCB September Challenge: Fall

2011-09-01T18:54:00.003-04:00

Fall is certainly in the air here in NH. The mornings are cool and crisp, with the kids immediately saying "I'm cold" when they walk downstairs. We've even started shutting the majority of the windows at night...I'm not a fan of being cold EVER, but do love the fall. Is it the apple picking? Is it the start of my baking season (who seriously bakes in the summer?) Is it the start of school? Nope...it's all of it :)

With fall's impending arrival, Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog is asking to see your fall colored/themed projects for a chance to win the Clevercut 5-in-1 Paper Trimmer. This tool ROCKS, there is so much it can do!

Yup, you guessed it: not enough entries in last month's challenge, so it carries over (as well as the entries!)

This isn't the best picture of this card...I took it the day before the hurricane was due to visit our area on an overcast day, just to be sure I submitted it in time in the event of a power outage (which happened *of course*.) Fairyopolis card making kit supplied not only the card base, but the image as well. I love this fairy, she's perfect for fall! The pearls under the sentiment also came from this kit, the only other addition is some gathered lace from my stash and the Pink Paislee letter stickers :) Yes, I'm *still* pulling items from this kit (and *ahem ahem* have a ton left to use up!)

Be sure to submit your project to the Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog for a chance to win this incredible paper trimmer! You must use a CC stamp, and if you don't have one, check out their online store for the ADORABLE offerings. So many cute stamp sets to choose from, I bet you can't buy just one! Hope to see your project over at the CCCB. Have a great day!

...aaaaaaaand....we're back :)

2011-08-30T09:22:00.005-04:00

Power is restored after almost 2 days without it and I am so thankful. It is quite hard to keep kids entertained indoors these days without allowing them access to their rooms (for fear of the tree out front coming down on their second story bedroom), video games, or television. Lets just say there were lots of board games (which usually ended in pieces being flung at one another when they weren't getting along and lots of tempers flaring) and books.

A big tree fell down in the back yard by the power lines that run to the mill down the street, killing power to our little neighborhood, and ruining my morning cup of coffee. I must say thanks to the little country store on the corner, however, who provided me coffee thanks to their generator :) Couldn't have weathered the storm without them! When the tree company finally removed the culprit, they showed us what they found at the base of the tree...

...a beaver had chewed apart the base, making it easy for Irene to topple the tree like a measly domino. Dam beavers!!!!! (Hahahaha...my storm humor...I know, I know...I'll stop now.)

That last one is a pic of half of the trees and limbs affected by the storm. There are still more to be taken down, but hubby's chainsaw chain BROKE while attacking the stand of them that seemed to be the hardest hit.

This project was featured over on the Crafter's Companion Blog on Monday, and I thought I'd share it here for those of you who may not be a follower or missed it. (I know I did, hard to sign on to Blogger when there's no power or internet!)

For this beauty, I used a card base and rub on from the Fairyopolis cardmaking kit and the Birthday Girl Humphrey stamp set. Isn't she so cute? I decided to paper piece her rather than color her, and used Distress Stickles to accent her dress. A nice KI ribbon completes the simply sweet card.

Stay tuned for 2 more posts this morning, lots of DT stuff that I wasn't able to post about or am late posting about...school has started, so it's been a matter of getting back in the swing of the schedule. Hubby's hours were recently cut down to an amount I don't even want to share, so preschool is out of the question for now. Good thing I used to teach in a preschool pre-Patryk, he's loving being homeschooled (thus far...it's only day 3.) Hope you all are having a great day thus far! More posts, and some crafty time for this lady :)

Altered Mirror and FINALLY The Candy Picture :)

2011-08-17T19:02:00.008-04:00

Well, I bet that got your attention! At the end of this post will be a photo of the candy I'm offering (although it's hard to see it all, but surprises are the best, right?) Lots of pics in this post, but it's worth it to get through until the end :)

So I got this mirror at a yard sale at the beginning of the summer for *free* (awesome score) and knew I wanted to alter it. I liked the gingham and flowers, but it just wasn't really my style. I finally had the chance to dive in, and decided this was a project made for my daughter Andraia, 11 years old and beginning her years in middle school. I wanted her to have something special to make her feel good, and this did the trick :)

I started by taking my MME Lime Twist 6X6 paper pad and selecting the papers I intended to use. I used Helmar 450 to adhere the paper (and every other element of the mirror) to the frame.

A little closer to completion...
....and almost done. I put some Imaginisce flowers with MM pewter square deco brads in the center on the corners of the mirror (and Andraia says that's her favorite part of the mirror.) :)
A close up of a flower....I love the pink colors of these :)
I felt it needed more, so I added some strips of pink dotted ribbon and her name framed by some bling (of course! What middle school girl doesn't like bling?)

Hope you like it! I had fun making it, and she absolutely LOVES it. I don't even think "love" describes how she feels. Love my girl!

So here's what you've been waiting for, right? Screw the mirror, show me the giveaway! Here it is, inside the Scrapbook Circle pizza box (I love reusing, and these boxes are great for 12X12 paper!) You can't see the pack of 12X12s from my stash, or the 4X6 photo mat papers (lots of great designs!) You can see the stack of 6X6 (Nikki Sivils Tree Love on the top!), ribbon, buttons, rubons, alpha stickers, and border stickers. There are also some cute punched butterflies :)

Find the post **here** to get the info on how to enter (and how to maximize your chances to win!)

Hope you all have a great night...hubby is about to leave for work, and I'm ready for BED. I leave you with a horrible quality cell phone photo of my son in his tuxedo...he's the ring bearer in a September wedding, and went for a fitting today. Hubby shot this pic of him for me :) He's growing up so fast...I can't believe he'll be 4 in a few short months!

Stuff 2 Scrap August Challenge & A Card

2011-08-14T23:08:00.008-04:00

Quick post before I collapse in bed....it was such a lazy day, which allowed me time to make this layout. Can't wait to have more days such as this! (**so lazy I started this post after midnight last night and gave up, adding pics this morning! Man was I tired!**)

I decided to play along at Stuff 2 Scrap, my favorite source for innovative chipboard, and this month they want to see what you can make using the color scheme they provide.

SUGAR RUSH PINK
TROPICAL WATER BLUE
SPAGHETTI WESTERN RED
PANDA EYES BLACK
SOFT SERVE WHITE

I am finally to point in Andraia's album that Patryk is born! Yay! (Took me long enough...) here's my take on the color palette, a photo of Andraia holding Patryk the day after he was born :) :

I used papers from a kit I just received from We Scrap, a great kit company on Etsy. I used the yummy Crate Paper Pink Plum papers and a journal sticker along with the Pink Paislee Ambrose alpha in coconut contained in the kit (which I can't wait to play with later today!) I added piece of MME Lime Twist for a pop of turquoise, and love how well it goes with the other papers!

On the Crate Paper journal sticker, I used October Afternoon Mini Market alpha stickers, a white bracket sticker from the PP alpha, a pretty shaped black and white journal spot from the We Scrap Kit, and finished it off with a chipboard heart from Stuff 2 Scrap which I painted over (Eco Green Crafts white acrylic paint), doodled on with black pen, and finally decided to adhere the red twine around it using my Helmar 450. That little square/circle embellie is just the patterned papers punched and layered.

Look at that chipboard element, the cluster of squares, also from Stuff 2 Scrap, which I also painted white and adhered with Helmar 450. I love how invisible the glue is when it dries! I penstitched the alpha stickers because they just looked too plain, and framed the left side of the photo with black and white decorative masking tape.

I am sure you all know by now I make my own mist sprays, this one is made with EcoGreen Crafts acrylic paint in raspberry, water, and Micropearl Pearl Ex powder.

Here's the card I promised to show off as well, made for my future sister-in-law, presented at her bridal shower on Saturday. There was scrapbooking going on at the shower, so of course I was in heaven :)

I used my Ultimate Crafter's Companion to make the envelope out of tan cardstock, using pearls, some Prima flowers, and a random journal spot on the front with my Basic Grey alpha stickers for her name.

Webster's Pages papers, random lace and trim accented with Diamond Stickles, Tim Holtz "destiny" charm, blue twine, DCWV Marriage vellum quote stack, Cricut Heritage flourish accented with Diamond Stickles (love how the black paper made the Stickles appear gold!)

That's all for now...I did pull all the stuff for my giveaway out to photograph, so stay tuned for those to be posted a bit later. I have to take Rileigh to the doctor as her finger is infected...she bites her nails, and bit one so bad it got infected :( I haven't seen her biting her nails since we discovered the infection on Friday, so I think she's learned her lesson :) We've been trying to soak it and my ER nurse mother has come by to poke at it with a needle to help drain it, but it isn't getting any better...time for antibiotics!

xoxo

A Fairyopolis weekend

2011-08-13T11:00:00.000-04:00

My mom recently had a birthday (the 10th to be exact), and I made this card for her (and thankfully can share it as I was finally able to present it to her yesterday...I made her a delicious birthday lasagna followed by chocolate truffle cake. YUM.) The Fairyopolis Complete Cardmaking Kit makes it all possible, and in a matter of minutes, too!

I started by decoupaging the lovely fairy, and the kit makes it super easy to achieve this layered beauty...that and the Collal decoupage glue. Perfect for making dimension and keeping everything where it is intended to be! While she was drying, I selected one of the card bases contained in the kit and chose some border stickers, one of which I covered in Stickles. I felt it was missing something still, so I cut the circle from another card base. Perfect! (All except for my cutting skills...that's ok, Stickles to the rescue, hiding my mistakes.) Some rub ons seemed like a good addition, and a pretty Stickle heart.

I used the stylus contained in my Ultimate Tool to curl the banner the fairy is "holding", attaching it with more Collal glue...and adding more stickles! The sentiment is a rub on from the kit. See, it really is the COMPLETE cardmaking kit! Of coures, I had to add some sparkle to those fairy wings, too!

That's about it for today...unfortunately, I can't craft at ALL. Between a bridal shower and a housewarming party, I'm being pulled in too many directions for crafting. Watch for a post tomorrow, though, showing off not only the card I made for the new bride, but a picture of my CANDY! Yay!!! It will be a mystery no more :)

Have you entered the current challenge over at the Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog? You should! Always great prizes to play for each month :)

Hope you all have a great day!

100 Followers Extravaganza!

2011-08-11T11:04:00.003-04:00

Good morning!

I had promised this in another post of mine, and here it is...CANDY TIME!

Picture to come later, I just wanted to be sure I had it up and ready. Rileigh is having a sleepover tonight, so I have quite a bit to do to prepare.

With the Crafter's Companion Envelobox Creator giveaway I recently had, I noticed my followers have exceeded 100!!!! Wowzers! I am so thankful that you all decided to follow along, I'm offering up a BIG prize pack. What's inside? Well, until you can see a picture, you'll just have to drool over my description. It is so big, I am putting it inside a Scrapbook Circle kit box (and if you have never received a kit from Scrapbook Circle, I'll tell you...it's a little adorable pizza box, just perfect for 12X12 paper!) This should save me a bit on shipping it in a big Priority box, allowing me to stuff it full of goodies!

There will be a ton of 12X12 taken from my stash, a couple of clear acrylic stamps, a hodge podge of die cuts and random bits, ribbons, stickers....it's going to be great. It's all been set aside from my last big overhaul of my craft room, and there has been more added since then! If by some small chance my followers exceed 200 by the time this contest ends (you all know people who would want to sign up, so of course I'm sure this is a possibility!) I will add a **2nd prize pack**!!!!!!!!!!!

What do you have to do to win? Obviously, be a follower. You should have that part under control already ;) Blog about my candy, thereby increasing my followers :) Let your friends know on Facebook if you don't have a blog. You must share this giveaway with others! Then, comment on THIS POST with the LINK to your blog post or Facebook post, showing me you have followed the rules.

For an additional entry, follow me on Facebook. Leave a separate comment telling me you have done this.

For yet another entry, become a follower of the Crafter's Companion Info blog, and the Crafter's Companion Challenge blog. Leave a separate comment for BOTH and that's now 2 additional entries!

Want another chance to win? Well, become a follower of the XOXO Challenge blog, too! Yet again, another separate comment.

I will be using each comment in random.org, so you MUST leave separate comments (random.org assigns numbers to each comment. I will NOT separate them out myself, so it's up to you to comment properly.) Obviously, you do not need to do all of these things if you don't want to, just if you want your name in the hat multiple times :)

That's all for now, hope you all have an awesome day. You may enter until midnight, September 16th, I will draw a winner on the 17th (my dad's birthday!) Good luck!

xoxo

help me....

2011-08-08T18:52:00.002-04:00

WIN SOME HELMAR ZAPDOTS!

They are having a contest, and if anyone out there wants to help a sista out, head over to the Helmar Facebook page. Like them. then say, "Khristen Foss loves Helmar and sent me over to say hi." That's it! (And you'll love "liking" them too...they have an amazing DT with great inspiration!)

Thank you in advance for clicking the link and helping me win some Zapdots :) *muah* xxx

Playing along with Helmar

2011-08-08T16:32:00.005-04:00

I got it! My package arrived today, and inside the box: the one and only Helmar 450. My first time playing with it, and it really was awesome!

I pulled out the current Helmar sketch and set out to work with the my new obsession, the Summer Star kit from Scraptastic Club.

The sketch:

My interpretation:

I started with this great blue cardstock which I sprayed with my homemade mist made with Pearl Ex Micropearl powder, glue, and water. You can't see it well in this pic, but some of the close ups showcase the shimmer :) (That's why the paper is curled...I just couldn't wait to take pics and show it off here on the blog, I had no time to let it rest in an album to straighten it out!)

All of the stuff except the adhesive and white gel pen came in the kit. I took the 450 and glued the green twine around each paper rectangle. It was amazing how fast it dried, and how clear it was when it was dry! I need to play with it a little more to get used to what comes out when you squeeze it...it was still super easy to get the twine to stay in place without waiting a half hour while you hold it until it dries. This stuff really is amazing as they say it is...even around the corners, it held strong.

I doodled the white circles, adding some red pen "stitches." Doodled a red star inside the chipboard star.

I just love the way the journaling is here! It really makes the layout in my opinion.

I added more twine around the big chipboard star, completing it with a punched star from the kit with a twine bow in the center.

With the kit and the 450, this page came together in no time flat (40 minutes to be exact.) You just HAVE to go play with this sketch at the Helmar blog!

Dinner time, hope to post another later as I just want to continue playing :) Hope you are all having a great evening xx

We have a winner of the Envelobox!

2011-08-08T08:03:00.003-04:00

Good Monday morning, I love starting the day off by posting good news and winners :)

I would like to thank everyone who joined in on the fun and started following the Crafter's Companion blogs, I hope to see all of you entering your gorgeous creations in our challenge now, no excuses ;)

Ok, ok...on to the winner. The winner, chosen by the random.org thingy in my sidebar, is none other than:

Pinky said...

What a fun and totally useful tool! Thanks for the chance! How generous of Crafters Companion!
I followed! :)

August 1, 2011 12:46 PM

Congrats, Pinky! Email me at kfossandfour@gmail.com so your board can make its way to you :)

For those of you who did not win, I have a surprise (this is where that "good news" part comes into play...) After this giveaway, I realized I've made it to 100 followers (and actually surpassed 100! Yay!) So later today I'll be posting a special prize pack I've put together just for my lovely followers. Watch for my blog candy post a bit later, I haven't yet had enough coffee to function properly.

Hope to see you all later, have a great day!

A quick post before bed

2011-08-07T23:21:00.004-04:00

I got into the craft room earlier today to play with the August kit from Scraptastic Club, the Summer Star kit. I loved the bright, fun patterns of the wonderful MME Lime Twist line, and all of the fun stars and pretty twine. (The white foam Thickers were a nice touch, too!) I just love how tearing into a new kit is one of those sweet little moments, a highly inspirational moment, for sure!

I started with CLP's Challenge #39, a great sketch that just screamed out to me, telling me it was perfect for my photo and papers.

Here's the sketch:

I decided to turn the sketch to the right, and got to work using this pic of Rileigh waaay back in kindergarten. It was so quick and easy, just a little cutting and layering of patterned papers on top of the kraft background (in the kit, baby!) Boom. Layout.

Then to work on embellishments and the title...look at those Thickers. I thought of altering them, but thought the clean, white title was more impressive than anything I could have done. Sometimes less is more, right? Sometimes. Not often...HAHA That cluster of stars are chipboard stars (in the kit) inked up with my SEI chalkbox ink pad, on top of which I placed some of the buttons(also in the kit.) It's hard to tell from these pics, but after gluing one of the stars onto a Lime Twish journal box die cut, I raised up the second to rest on the first, and then used a double layer of foam squares (Crafter's Companion, of course!) on the third star. It looks really neat up close :) I wrote on one of the paper strips with white gel pen, and then doodled some stars underneath. Can't live without that white gel pen!

I used the red twine included in the kit on the pic :) Love twine (I know, I know, who *doesn't* love twine right now?!)

Finished it off with these three stars.

Love this kit, and there is SOOO much stuff to play with! It made it so easy to complete this layout in the small amount of time I had to work with, which is a big plus in my book. Glad I joined the club as a subscriber, can't wait for next month's kit!!

Until tomorrow, have a great night! Maybe I can get some sleep...

Dream Valley Challenge #13: Distressing

2011-08-07T10:42:00.003-04:00

Good morning! It's that time again, Dream Valley Challenge time! This time around, we want you to distress your project. There are numerous ways to accomplish this, whether with distress ink or a pair of scissors, sandpaper or water. Show us how you prefer to distress for a chance to win:

AND $10.00 to spend at

Here's my layout, a great shot of my husband forcing me to show off my big ol' preggy belly. I wish I had more belly shots, but I guess with the third child, time just slips away and before you know it, your belly is back to normal! At least I have this great shot. Do you notice anything about the picture? It's more of a blue-black-and-white...can you guess why? Well, I ran out of color ink while printing it. Rather than toss it, I decided to choose papers that would showcase its unusual coloring. (And now I wait for new ink to arrive in the mail...it can't come quickly enough!)

See what I mean? Isn't that just the best picture? The mat is distressed with a little something I picked up ages ago (we're talkin' 10 years or so ago), my Heidi Swapp edge distresser. It's a cute little pink circle with a razor blade inside, saving your fingers from being trashed by your scissors :)

A dainty strand of pearls always completes a page perfectly :)

The giant flowers are Petaloo and the smaller one is Prima with another Prima flower in the center. Journaling reads: 9 months pregnant. Forced into exposing my enormous belly. Not cool. November 2007.

Scenic Route alpha traced with gel pen. The whole layout was inked around the edges as well. The papers themselves, Fancypants of course, had a distressed look to them so I thought they would be perfect.

That's it for me, I have a lot to do today. Had over to Dream Valley Challenges to see what the rest of our fabulous team has created, most using adorable Digi Doodle Shop images, and enter your distressed project for a chance to win one of our great prizes! You have 2 weeks, so get distressing!

Lucky me, more scrapping time!

2011-08-04T14:28:00.002-04:00

Good afternoon! I had another chance to sneak into the craft room today…little man doesn’t feel well. He is complaining of an upset tummy, and although he hasn’t gotten sick or anything like that, he just isn’t himself so I know something is up.

Rather than sit around and do nothing (and of course after playing around with Pintrest and refreshing my blog’s look…do you like?) I got up into the craft room and worked on Rileigh’s album a little more. I’m only 4 years behind *gasp* haha

I saved this post card that Rileigh received from her preschool teacher during the summer before kindergarten started up, and I recall the look of delight on her face when I told her she had mail. She could read very well before even entering preschool, so she was abe to read the note from her teacher. It’s exciting to get mail!

I began by misting the background page with my homemade glimmer mist, a combo of Eco Crafts raspberry acrylic paint, Pearl Ex powder, and water. I layered some BG Euphoria paper and added the postcard over it. I thought the colors of this paper line matched the post card quite nicely, don’t you think? (I blurred out the address even though we don’t live there anymore, you just never know…)

A strip of BG with some MME Laundry Line crocheted flowers/Prima flower and BG glazed brads = great place to put the title! “teacher” is MM Flutter Glitter Bling Alphas in green. At the last minute I ended up sticking this gorgeous black washi tape, and love it.

Letters in the journaling are from the Girls Paperie jubilee sticker pack (which is just awesome.)

I love doodling :)

Random lace ribbon with washi tape on top. More Girls Paperie sticker words and doodling!

There you have it! Who says only photos should be featured in an album?!

Soooooo late, but time to Get Picky.

2011-08-03T23:22:00.003-04:00

**If you are looking for my Crafter's Companion Envelobox Creator Board giveaway, click here.**

Late late for me to be posting. I'm normally snuggled up in bed, but tonight I'm just not tired. It's funny, with each child I've done the same thing...enjoyed the sleep while they are young and struggle to sleep when they get older.

I had a chance to play with the Get Picky Inspiration Challenge #10, using this image:

The moment I saw it, I thought of the American Crafts City Park that I had gotten a while back on clearance. The colors of the paper line screamed out at me, begging to be used. I decided to go without a sketch, and came up with the following layout:
The black letters in the title are Scenic Route. AC "&". Jillibean flower/button corrugated shapes painted with EcoCrafts acrylic paint. Random trim. All papers American Crafts, except for the journal square which is K&Co.

The deadline for this challenge is the 13th, so if the above image inspires you at all, go link up your creation at the Get Picky blog :) Good night! Maybe now I can sleep!

Bo Bunny Food Layout Challenge

2011-08-03T16:43:00.003-04:00

I wasn't sure I'd get to this layout in time, but lo and behold, my mother decided to take Rileigh for two nights at her house. That means my three kids are down to only one (Andraia is at her father's house for two weeks) so Patryk napped and I scrapped!!

Bo Bunny challenged us to scrap a layout of our family's favorite food, and I decided these pics were perfect! These were taken when we were in the midst of baking sugar cookies for the girls' school Valentine's Day parties. I always turn to these cookies that my family and friends love so very much, complete with homemade icing and sprinkles. Sometimes we frost them and go all out, like for Halloween when we decorate witch and pumpkin shaped cookies using different colors of the icing. This time, I decided to let the girls sprinkle some red sugar crystals on top. It was, after all, Valentine's Day. These cookies and the icing are all made from scratch, and I have cookie cutters for just about any occasion (except St Patrick's day...I tried to make them last year and realized I had no shamrocks or leprechauns!)

I had these leftover scraps of Calypso and decided they would be perfect color-wise. Add some double dot ribbon and a paper fan and it equals one cute page! The only non-Bo Bunny items on here are the red buttons (random), Thickers, and the hand dyed twine tied around the fan sent to me from The Chip Chop Shop.

Head over to the Bo Bunny blog to enter your own food layout, you have another day to enter! Stay tuned for one more layout I was able to do today. :)

Studio Calico giveaway alert!

2011-08-03T11:35:00.001-04:00

Kim Watson is giving away Studio Calico's August kit, Boardwalk! Hurry over to Kim's blog for the details, trust me, you want this kit!

Playing with Sketch 131 at The Scrappiest

2011-08-02T21:21:00.004-04:00

I was glad to play this evening and make a quick page. I had recently gotten the 5th Anniversary kit from The Scrapbook Circle (okay, more like at the beginning of July, I've just been so very busy I haven't had the chance to play!) and knew it would be great for this sketch. All of the elements in the kit made it easy to whip this baby up in less than an hour.

I looked around and found the current sketch, #131, at The Scrappiest. I have always loved Liz's sketches!

Here's the sketch:

And here's what I did with it. I just love the Pink Paislee and October Afternoon papers in this kit! They all go so well together.

The quote that is hard to read here came from the Girls Paperie jubilee sticker market pack, as did the title letters and two border stickers used at the bottom in the layers of papers. The quote reads: "The most wasted of all days is one without laughter. -e.e. cummings" I lifted the "today" and "don't forget" with adhesive squres from Crafter's Companion.

Random chipboard scalloped frame embellished with Queen & Co. rhinestones and doodles in blue pen, and random doily I found on clearance somewhere.

The journal circle and date are more Girls Paperie stickers.

...as did the letters that make up the word "sisters."

I must say I love this kit! The only things not inside the kit were the rhinestones, doily, and scalloped frame. Everything is wonderful! Head over to The Scrappiest to play along, and as of right now, the Scrapbook Circle still has some of these gorgeous kits left...grab one up! You won't be sorry! (and you'll get one of their cool pizza boxes they send the paper in...ingenious, as the 12X12 paper fits perfectly and safely!)

Have a great night, I'm not tired, so don't be surprised if there is another post later!

Affirmation Journal

2011-08-02T15:47:00.005-04:00

What feels like ages ago but was probably only a mere month, I came across a challenge that I could not WAIT to participate in (and then look what happened...I waited...as is the life of any mom.) Tracy of Tracy Weinzapfel Studios, amazingly talented, and President of the one and only Helmar USA, amazing adhesive, challenged her followers to create an affirmation journal. She provided a link that was the key to making a journal tailored to my specific desires. I was looking to push my crafting business into high gear. I needed to remind myself that it was okay to pursue these interests more aggressively, that cleaning the house could wait. I haven't really been very good about getting in the craft room to add items to my Etsy shop or catch up in the kids' albums. I let the fact that my husband works his butt off and I stay at home to raise the kids affect what I do each day. I tend to clean a lot, not being able to say "It's okay if that's messy, I can clean it later," thinking about how hard hubby works so that I can be here to clean. If I worked, it wouldn't be as difficult. I'd be working, how can I possibly get it all done? I need to be able to call crafting my "work" to be able to succeed. I need to justify all of these hours on the computer, posting items and tweaking my shop or blog design, not to mention finding unique ways to advertise.

I started off at the site Tracy recommends, bmindful. It has a variety of categories for affirmations, making it easy to choose affirmations that will work for you. I chose a few nice career-related affirmations, words that would really get through to my brain that I need that craft room time to push this business to a new level.

I sat down and got to work, and here is what I came up with:

The cover, a mix of acrylic paint and stickers. the flower is stamped and painted over:

The inside of the cover features a stamp I love so very much. If you can't make out the words, it reads "creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. art is knowing which ones to keep." I stamped it randomly all over the inside cover after painting it green and adding little bits and pieces from my stash, making only one of the quotes visible. Love how it turned out!

Here is the first page, and how I created the wonderfully textured paint effect. I started by affixing a scrap of window screen from contractor hubby :) (thanks dear!) and painting over it with acrylic paint.

See that wonderful texture? I love dimension!

And here's the finished page. I rolled the paper edges at the bottom and finally used this great wing stamp :) I've had it for over a year now and was glad to finally use it! I also brought out the texture of the paint by running a charcoal ink pad over it lightly.

A close up of the rolled edges :)

I love how it is coming together, and plan to share another page or two this week at some point. After all, I have to remember that this is very important to me...time for this busy mom of 3 to do something just for ME. Hey, that's catchy...

If you decide to make an affirmation journal in your life for any reason whatsoever, head over and drop Tracy a line...she'd really love to see what you've done!

More Candy!

2011-08-02T14:27:00.002-04:00

Here's another great giveaway...I must enter any giveaway that involves a Cricut cart! Head over and enter today over at This Misfit Crafter!

A good giveaway!

2011-08-02T10:20:00.003-04:00

If you are looking for my Crafter's Companion Envelobox board giveaway, click *HERE*.

Head on over to Nathalie's Studio, the blog of Nathalie Kalbach. Don't know her stuff? You should! She's an amazing designer! One of the companies she designs and teaches for: Tattered Angels. There's TONS of goodies in this prize pack, head *HERE* to check it out!

CCCB August Challenge: Thank You

2011-08-01T16:37:00.004-04:00

Good afternoon!

Normally this would post in the morning, but I have been scrambling around like a crazy woman trying to clean this house after our big family camping trip. It is a disaster, and almost clean (finally) so I feel I can take this much deserved break to post my Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog August challenge :)

This month, we want you to show your thanks to someone by making a thank you card or project. Show us how you are thankful using your favorite Crafter's Companion stamp and linking it up on our blog :)

What, you may ask, is the prize this month? Well before I can get to all of that, I thought I'd mention that the rules have changed just a little. We are requiring at least 10 projects be linked up before we go handing out prizes. If we come a bit short, the prize rolls over into the next month.

Anywho, here's what is up for grabs this month: the CleverCut 5-in-one Paper Trimmer!

Here's my project, a purse card for a special friend. I am thankful for her kindness, knowing that hubby and I weren't going to be able to afford a hotel room for our recent hiking trip...she got us a hotel room :) Yes, hubby did her vehicle's brakes, and I guess this is a way to pay me back, but it was a little over and above what someone will normally do for another. We were thankful to enjoy a nice sleep the night before our big hike in a huge and comfortable king sized bed rather than a tent :) Thanks, Kathy!

I used some leftover bits from the Fairyopolis Cardmaking Kit...the pearls and the pretty pink flower.

I thought the Humphrey Birthday Girl stamp set was perfect here, she looks like she's shyly thanking someone, don't you think?

The Ultimate Tool and the Advanced Construction Techniques DVD made it a snap to put together this purse card! I couldn't believe how quick and easy it came together!

A close up of that adorable elephant :)

Grab your Crafter's Companion stamps and enter our Thank You challenge today! Don't forget to check the post from earlier, I'm giving something away...and if you love Crafter's Companion, you'll love what's up for grabs!!!!

That's all for now. I have a screaming caffeine headache at the moment, let's hope hubby remembers to pick up coffee while he is at the grocery store! We were out this morning :( The craft room just isn't happening right now. So sad, as I'm all alone in a clean house. Whatever shall I do now?????

Khristen's Craft Room

**Finally** crafting for me.

CCCB Inspiration Monday

CCCB February Challenge: Something Sweet

Yesterday's Crafty Endeavors

I seriously did a 2-pager? **giveaway alert**

Catch-up

Dream Valley Challenge #23: Anything Goes!

*breathe*

True XOXO Girls January Challenge: 1

CCCB January Challenge: Anything Goes!

Successfully Unsuccessful

Happy New Year!

Winner Take 3? Seriously?

Winner, Take 2

Hectic Holidays and a WINNER!

Crafter's Companion Blog Hop!!

Humphrey Gift Tin

XOXO Challenge 24: picture inspiration

CCCB December Challenge: Sparkle

Busy, busy, busy...

Repurposed gift box featuring Humphrey

what a day...

*finally* Dream Valley Challenge 20 : Stitching

Snow...

Snow much fun

XOXO November Challenge: Black

Dream Valley Challenge # 19: Anything Goes

CCCB November Challenge: Celebrate a Holiday

Paint Fusion Teaser

OMG is it really November?

XOXO Blog Hop Winner!!

2 More Days....

Dream Valley Challenge #18: Halloween

Scraptastic Challenge!

Sketches4All Fall Contest Sponsored by The Cutting Cafe

True XOXO Blog Hop!

Just to let you know...

Why scrapbook?

More Scraptastic kit goodness...

Tutorial Alert!!

A peek at my WCMD creations

DVCB Challenge #17: Monochrome

CCCB Oct Challenge: Celebrate Friendship

XOXO Challenge Time!

More Scraptastic Fun on a Card!

Fun with the Scraptastic September Kit Too Cool for School

Giveaway Alert!!!!

Shocking Preparedness

Super Crafty Sunday

Winner!

Another pictureless creation, and lots of wedding pics!

Happy Birthday, Bucka!

Soooo beary cute…

DVCB Challenge #16 : Buttons

K-Cards: My New Obsession

A nice day for a white wedding...

New Etsy Listings

Picture-less Layout on a Rainy Day

Happy Labor Day

Dream Valley Challenge #15: Picture Inspiration

XOXO Challenge #21: Blog Inspiration

CCCB September Challenge: Fall

...aaaaaaaand....we're back :)

Altered Mirror and *FINALLY* The Candy Picture :)

Stuff 2 Scrap August Challenge & A Card

A Fairyopolis weekend

100 Followers Extravaganza!

help me....

Playing along with Helmar

We have a winner of the Envelobox!

A quick post before bed

Dream Valley Challenge #13: Distressing

Lucky me, more scrapping time!

Soooooo late, but time to Get Picky.

Bo Bunny Food Layout Challenge

Studio Calico giveaway alert!

Playing with Sketch 131 at The Scrappiest

Affirmation Journal

More Candy!

Finally crafting for me.

I seriously did a 2-pager? giveaway alert

breathe

finally Dream Valley Challenge 20 : Stitching

Altered Mirror and FINALLY The Candy Picture :)