Saturday Night Challenge & a bonus Layout...

...or I can just name it " Junk Mail can be inspiring".




As I was sorting through yesterdays mail this morning I came across a flyer for a local furniture store...it was a Tri-fold card! So this afternoon I headed up to my scraproom and whipped out this little baby....









So there it is my entry for this week's Saturday Night Challenge. I think I met all the criteria...it is a tri-fold and is a "Spring" theme (I was real original on that) <lol>.

I started with white Bazzill cardstock that I cut to 4 3/4 x 12". I then found a scrap of Creative Cafe paper and matching pink Bazzill that I cut 4 3/4 x 5". On one end of each piece I cut scallops. I adhered these together letting the pink stick out about 1/8" on the scallop end. I scored these so I had a 2 3/4" flap on front and adhered the back piece to one end of the white cardstock(which I had already scored in half). Inside I stamped "Happy Spring" using a Wordsworth acrylic stamp for "Happy" and MM foam stamps for "Spring". The inks were Cats eye inks by Colorbox...Tangerine & Moss Green. I placed a few Creative Cafe floral rubons around the inside. On the front I placed a chipboard flower from Creative Cafe that I accented with my white signo pen and some Kaiser pearls.



Now for the bonus layout....





I was going for the a soft tranquil feeling to go with the massage theme (my monthly indulgence to myself). To achieve this I used a piece of the Hambly Transparency & Webster's Pages paper (Feather your Nest Collection...Robins Nest) that I picked up recently at the Scrapbook Cafe. The Webster's paper was great since it was doublesided...the lined on one side and a really great floral on the other. This is where I went crazy with my xacto knife and cut out some of the branches w/flowers. (Yes I can be a glutant for punishment :wink:) Anyway once I had this done I decided to pull some Primas out of my stash to give the branches more dimension. The letters were some leftover brown foam Thickers and Scenic Route stickers from other projects. Not my usual colors...I'm usually a little bolder, but it conveys the feeling I was looking for.

Vacation is officially over for me as of today...tomorrow it's back to the 9-5...ugh!

Sorry I've kept you in the dark this week

Even though I've been on vacation from my 9-5 job...I've been busy doing stuff with the kids and household projects. The big accomplishment this week is getting Fritz's room painted. I bought the new bedding, blinds, and paint all before I left for CHA. I figured I better get it done! Just a few pictures/bulletinboard to hang on the walls and it will be complete. If I don't say so myself it turned out pretty nice.

I see that a lot of you have been checking my blog this week looking for my ramblings and creations and I want to say thanks for checking it out....





I made this card with Papers, felt and chipboard pieces from Fancy Pants. The papers are from the "Celebrate line, felt is from the "Splash Collection" and scalloped chipboard is from "Every Element". The letters are Fancy Pants & sm. letter stickers are from Making Memories.

With the exception of the chipboard letters all the Fancy Pants items will be arriving at the Scrapbook Cafe in the near future!


So on Wednesday morning I did go to the Scrapbook Cafe. While there talking with Angela & Pat...guess what the UPS man brought?






Yep....BASIC GREY!!!

WooHoo it was like Christmas Morning...we dove into those boxes
I did refrain myself and only came home with Papers, Olio rubons, and Glazed brads in the Sultry line. I had already aquired my first love from these new releases (Boxer) at CHA.
I must say that this winter release is the first release in along time that I have fallen in LOVE with almost every line.


So most of my household projects are completed, I've sent my Coordinates Collections projects off in an email this morning. ( I managed to get 3 layouts & 2 cards done and still have some fun stuff left to play with out the kit) The big reveal day is April 1st...just around the corner. I've picked my kit for next month (some peeks are up on Jamie's blog with monthly addons). I think I now have some free time on my hands...maybe I'll be a little scrappy?! I have some ideas brewing and tonight is Saturday night...you know what that means-SATURDAY NIGHT CHALLENG on Pat's blog.

BTW...I've changed my comments settings. So some of you that haven't been able to leave comments before may now be able to.

Just in the nick of time....

Here it is Saturday Night Challenge #4.

Got Eggs

I love digital photography...take as many pics as you want and you never know what you might find and there's no wasted film. Don't you just love how the handle of the basket frames her face? Dug thru my stash of supplies(that Doodlebug & KI paper is OLD) and put together this quick LO.

Patternpaper: Doodlebug & KI Memories; Fancy Pants rubons; Love Elsie chipboard buttons, Foofala clear buttons; Heidi Swapp Flower, Creative Cafe sticker, and Doodlebug letter stickers.

Now just a quick update on previous posts...yeah I realize there's a typo on the "Lucky color" layout(that's why I love journaling strips... easy to fix :wink:. And yes the cheesecake was as good as it looks. (I'm thinking maybe next time putting berries on top)

I'm being scrappy today...

...well in between the loads of laundry and the prep work needed in DS's room in order to paint this week. I've been at these tasks since about 8:30am this morning. Just a note for anyone who's interested...stickers are a pain in the butt to get off walls :wink:! A combination of Goo Be Gone and some elbow grease has taken care of the issue thankfully!

So this first image is a little peak at another "My Fair Lady" project from Coordinates Collections. If you are still contemplating addons for the month...I highly recommend the Kaiser rhinestones (mine are the pale pink) and the white chipboard "Accent" Thickers work great as you can see here :wink:. The pink heart does not come with the kit...I made that myself.

Now on to my DT project for the Scrapbook Cafe in Tuckerton, NJ........

I've been chewing on this one for a few days and when I sat down to work on it this morning...I really didn't have much of a plan in mind, but I wanted to get it done so I could drop it off on Wednesday when I went to the store to meet with Pat. Anyway I had 2 pieces of pattern paper from the "Green Day" collection by Reminisce and a sheet of shamrock stickers. As I said before I'm not a "themey" scrapper and I was really leaning toward a "spring" page. As I was messing with the papers this morning the name of the collection caught my eye...hey that's Fritz's favorite color!...aha I've got an idea!!! (whew) It's hard to see but I also added some green Kaiser rhinestones to some of the letters in "color". With the exception of the stickers used for "Lucky" it's all available now at the cafe.

Speaking of being stuck...this weeks challenge is throwing me too, until about 10 minutes ago when I downloaded pictures from yesterday. There was a picture in there that totally inspired me. I'm off to prep dinner then I hope to get working on that...I've only got a few hours left to get it done :wink:

The bunny came to the beach

The Easter bunny came to the beach today!

I was really not planning on going...OC does a nice job planning events like this, but then thousands of people flock to the island (for my local friends reading aka it becomes a "shoobie" trap) Before I go any further with my story for an early Easter with "ify" weather...the isalnd is hopping (no pun intended). Anyway at soccer this morning another mother and I decided the girls might have fun and that we'd go.

Hey 50,000 candy filled eggs and another 4,000 eggs filled with prizes...sounds tempting doesn't it? So we ventured in (along with a couple of thousand other people). All this was divided into a 3 block stretch of beach, with different areas roped off for differing age groups.

We found our section on the beach and waited...thru a brief sleet & snow mixture. Now this leads me to another issue...Why I ask you do people who come to the shore on vacation insist on wearing flipflops and shorts even when the weather is MISERABLE? Well yes the girls got candy in their eggs, some tickets for the upcoming season at the amusement piers and they each won a prize from a merchant on the boardwalk. B won a small box of Saltwater Taffy and her friend still has to redeem her gift coupon. So all in all we had a good time...despite the weather conditions. On the way home the girls asked if they could do it again next year, but unfortunately her friends father is getting transfered to another church this summer. :(

So there wasn't any scrappiness today from me; however, in between soccer and the egg hunt I did get a little creative in the kitchen. I saw this recipe the other day when I was trying to decided what to bring to the Easter dinner. Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake...it sounded interesting and other than the long baking time associated with most cheesecakes, it didn't appear to be too complicated. Here's what it looks like.....







....now I just have to wait until tomorrow to see if it tastes as good as it looks!



To night is Saturday Night so it's challenge time...hop over to Pat's blog at 8pm to check it out.

Good Friday

My first day off and I've been busy.

Let's see first thing this morning I went for my monthly massage. I usually have to get up extra early and get it done before going to work, but today I got to sleep in a bit...then went and got a wonderful massage. Back at home I puttered around a bit while the kids were begging to dye eggs. When I finally relented I discovered I had no vinegar! So since I needed groceries anyway, it was off to do a little shopping at the grocery store. We finally got around to dying eggs after lunch, this has become a tradition of ours. (Dying eggs on Good Friday)






So after cleaning up our eggs I decided to head up to the Scrapbook Cafe to pick up my next project and see what has come in. Well I thought the acrylic album was a challenge...this one tops it. Some St. Patty's Day papers from Reminisce. I am not a "themey" scrapper. I took 2 pieces of pattern paper...as "un-themey" as possible and a package of stickers. I'll be thinkin about this one for a while I'm sure. (Right now I'm kinda leaning toward a "spring theme")

Anywho...ran into Susan she was dropping off a LO she did with some Reminisce papers(great LO it looked much better IRL than on her blog...got to see the Stickles and other accents much better) Picked up some more Stickles speaking of them, a new Hambly transparency, and some papers by Webster's Pages.


Well I think you've all been waiting for this...a little sneak peek of the "My Fair Lady" kit from Coordinates Collections.


So here it is...what do you think?!

Yes, that is corrugated cardboard that has been distressed. I've seen it used so much and have always wanted to give it a try and was kind of forced into it on this LO. You see as I was mentally creating this LO I immediately had reached for my "staple"...kraft cardstock. To my shock and horror...I was out!!!!! The next day at work I was unpacking some mailers and carrying cardboard out to the recycling stack and had a "light-bulb moment". Why not give some cardboard a whirl?


I did and it worked...atleast I think so. lol On April 1st you can see the big reveal at Coordinates Collections and judge for yourself.

Are you up for the Saturday Night Challenge this weekend?Pat has been dropping hints over on her blog. Go check it out and play along...you never you know you may be a WINNER.

grrrrrrrrrr...

just a "little" vent. Yes I'm working with my DT stuff and for me the process usually starts with an idea to go with the project materials, then I search thru picture files...looking to see what works, then I start the LO design process. The designing usually involves me moving the materials around my BG mat(sometimes using scraps of paper to represent pictures) until I'm satisfied with it. During the week when I'm working I might only spend 1/2 hr a night doing this depending on what else is going on. So last night I settled on my design, number of pictures and started putting together the layout. Dan left for a meeting tonight, so I decided to go up and print the pics I wanted. Now the GRRR part....he left with 2 programs running on the computer and a CD in the driver so I can't put mine in to get the pictures I want. Sooooooooooooooo I guess I'll just hang with B while she watches HannahMontana and read my new CK.

No sneak peeks today.

Mondays can be good

when it's 4 day week and you come home to this....






A package from Coordinates Collections! It came a little bit later than usual this month since the kit I'm working with this month has some new goodies from winter CHA in it. Jamie had to wait on product before she could send it out to the DT. Each month you get a choice between 2 different kits...this month my kit is called "My Fair Lady". I can't show you the kit, but you can see a sneak here . Doesn't that look fun?!

What I can show you are some of the other goodies I picked up in the CC store. I must first say that I have a
slight addiction to American Crafts...especially THICKERS! And thanks to the good PR from my friend Lisa "the Queen of Doodlebug" I picked up some letter stickers "Loopy Lou" in some fun spring colors and some mini "Simply Sweet" rubons. Then I picked up a package of chipboard birds from Jenni Bowlin Studios. (I have an idea for something involving at least one of those cute birds brewing in my head)

SOoooooooooooo now I've gotten some new stuff to play with this week!
YAY! And next week I'm on vacation for the week since the kids are out of school so I think there will be a bit more scrappin going on in the coming weeks. I can't let you see my DT stuff but maybe next week I could be convinced to possibly post a little peek or two of what I'm working on:wink:!

Just a few hours of the weekend left...

...and I'm still catching up on household chores, but I'm done activities! I got home from the birthday party and went straight to my scraproom for a little "me" time. :wink:

This altered container went together really fast. I've had this container for at least a year. When I used the last match from it I thought it would be a cool container to alter; but since I'm not much of an "alterer" it has just been sitting around collecting dust. Thanks for the push to use it Pat!

I used pattern papers from Imanginisce's "For Peeps Sake" line available at the Scrapbook Cafe . Love these since they are doublesided and have a bit of shimmer to them.

The canister is covered with "Drapin Daisies" using the reverse for the top of the canister. I then cut out the little circles from the "Spring Fling" pattern paper and adhered them to the top.

Stamping a tag with spring like Colorbox inks and adding a Kaiser wood bloom accents the canister. I then added some green & white ribbon from my stash.

The lucky recipient will find a canister filled with jellybeans and a chocolate pop on the outside.

Don't you just love those little chicks at the bottom? Becca thought they'd make a great accent to the picture. We found these at Michael's today and are going to add them to the eggs she'll be giving out at her class party.

Have a great week everybody....

....so glad I found time to do the challenge!

Just checking in...

Yes it's been a busy week! 2 events left for today. I'm doing the birthday party event which slightly overlaps with the Blue & Gold dinner for Cub Scouts; so the boys will be doing that.
On the way to the b-day party I'm stopping at Michael's to pick up some adhesive and to browse a bit...I haven't been in a LONG time.

Not much happening on the creative front...I have started the Saturday Night Challenge that Pat posted last night. I'm hoping after the festivities of the day I can get it posted so stay tuned.


I'll leave you with 2 pictures from one of yesterday's soccer games...

It's Wednesday...

and it's been busy this week. How come everything always happen at once. Let's see this is our week. Monday soccer practice for one child, Tuesday wrestling banquet, Wednesday(today) other childs soccer practice and tumbling class, Thursday dance class, Friday NOTHING! Saturday 2 soccer games, a birthday party, then a get together that night with some friends, Sunday afternoon another birthday party! I had SO many creative ideas spinning in my head last week and had fun creating them...this week there's no time. I'm having withdraw!

So if you're looking for something creative from me this week; I'm afraid you might not get anything. There are still ideas spinning around in my head so if I do find time I might treat you to a little something. Pat's hints for the Saturday night challenge sound interesting I'm hoping I'll be able to get the time to do it.

SaturdayNight challenge...

Every saturday night Pat is posting a challenge on her blog. This is my entry. We were to scrap a 12x12 LO with 1 3 1/2 x 5 picture and just a word or phrase...no journaling.

That cool orange diecut bracket/frame is from PINK PAISLEE. Underneath the pink cardstock there is a chunk missing (from the make&take at CHA) Also from my new fave company are the letter stickers and stamps(which I stamped, painted with watercolors and then cut out). Some of the flowers and the heart are mounted with foam tape for a little extra dimension. The chipboard letters are from Fancy Pants and I painted them with acrylic paints.

And yes she is a Pink girl...if it's pink she MUST own it. I guess like mother, like daughter...I have my own little PINK addiction going on right now :wink:

WOW, wow, wow

and to think this time yesterday I had no idea what to do with this acrylic album! Here are some pictures. They are not the best, poor lighting and an acrylic album...even with the flash off I was getting reflections. IRL I think it is pretty darn good. I'm usually overly critical of a project when I complete it...so I'm a little shocked by how much I love this.





This is just to give you an idea. It will be on display at the Scrapbook Cafe in Tuckerton, NJ. With the exception of the Hambly journaling spot (which I believe some were ordered at CHA) and a cute arrow stamp by Pink Paislee; everything can be picked up at the Cafe. Just some of the fun stuff I used: Reminisce beach papers and diecut stickers; Kaiser rubons & self adhesive pearls; Chipboard pieces, felt brads & flowers from Creative Cafe;and a "Sunshine" stamp from Imaginisce which I stamped as a border around a page.

Now I must get back to my regularly scheduled household chores :wink:

The weekends here.........

Oh yeah...it's been a LONG week.

This morning I had the 1st grade concert to go to. Even getting there 20 minutes early, I was still in the back of the room! I don't have the best pics(should have grabbed a differnet lens for the camera) but another mother said she got some shots and will send some to me.

After the party we went back to the classroom for some light refreshments. However, I would hardly call it light. This was at appox 10:30am...by the looks of what these kids ate...I'm sure there was a lot of wasted lunch. By 11am I was free...in my car headed the Scrapbook Cafe . What a pleasure to go without anybody else aka my kids. They're either bored or want to buy stuff while I'm busy shopping/talking. Today I got to do both without any interuptions.

It's going to be a wet, rainy weekend I heard and look at the project I got to work on. I've always wanted to do an acrylic album yet in the same breath I find them to be slightly intimidating. The one I picked is shaped like a lighthouse. I plan on using some pictures from our OBX vacations. So far I have stamped on 1 of the acrylic sheets and have choosen some picture files to work with. So between this project, some other goodies I picked up((...no it wasn't PINK PAISLEE...it has not arrived yet :darn: Now it's sure to arrive since I made the trip looking for it. lol. Zach's Life was there looking just as good as ever...I dropped off my mini album for display. )) I can stay inside and avoid the nasty weather!

TGIT!

It's officially the weekend for me! I took a vacation day tomorrow to go watch the 1st Grade Concert. You wanna know a little secret...it's in the morning so I have the rest of the day to myself:wink:. I think I may head up to the Scrapbook Cafe to pick up my DT stuff and see what new stuff has come in(fingers crossed & some wishful thinking that it starts with Pink and ends with Paislee). After today I'm so glad it's the end of the week....working with the public makes me a firm believer in lunar cycles and tidal pulls. It has been a really strange week...I couldnt even begin to convey these stories or you'd think I was off my rocker too (oh, may it's me not them??? lol)

At home I've been receiving unexpected gifts...last week Dan came home from Staples and had a copy of PSE 6 and this week he gave me another program...Essentials2 for PSE. Hmmm unexpected gifts and they're something I could use. I think he finally gets me. Now I just need to find the time to figure them out.

The weather has been great lately and I'm really thinking about spring. We've finally decided to do some landscaping improvements near our pool and today I had a catalog of pavers trying to decide on the color/style...who knew there were so many different kinds. Once I narrow it down the landscaper will bring by some samples. This is a project I have visualized in my head for quite sometime and I'm excited we can finally do it. Only now looking at all these pictures makes me wish I had enough money to do one of those nice outdoor kitchen setups too. Something else to dream about I guess.

Flattered

Well some of you may know that Coordinates Collections has been running a "Scrapping with the Stars" contest. Each round they pick 2 scrapping stars for the contestants to scrap. This year the twist has been that one of the "stars" has been a DT memeber. Well can I tell you how shocked I was last Monday when I saw my named posted as a "star"???!!! If any of you contestants are reading this....I had nothing to do with it, you can thank Sarah :wink: I'm sure they were all completely dumbfounded and most likely struggled with their LO's. They had to post their entries by sunday night and I'm amazed...truly FLATTERED by what they did. I have know idea who's going to move on yet(I'll find out with everyone else on thursday) These girls each found something of mine, pointed out some consistencies/things I like to do and created some amazing layouts. Some spotted the circles, paper cutting, journaling strips, layering etc...things that I tend to gravitate too. I loved this quote about my work(I think by Krisitine...I apologize if I'm crediting the wrong person) in describing by work she stated I have "a stylish non-style". I'll have to remember this if I ever do a resume. So really this post is a thank you to all of you for creating great layouts and I'm sorry it had to be me...go ambush Sarah! lol

Now I was chatting with my DT friends at the LSS online this morning and we're just dying to get our hands on some of that new CHA stuff. For me it is definetly PINK PAISLEE...I made the card on Sunday from my make-n-take scraps and I want to create more NOW! I've played with Zach's Life so that itch has been scratched. So after the "Pink" I guess it would be October Afternoon...please something arrive at the LSS by this weekend...I want to play and I'm getting impatient.

Monday,Monday....

The beginning of the work week...anyway I mentioned Zach's Life by Little Yellow Bicycle in yesterday's post. Here's a little peek at what I've got going on...sorry they're not the best pictures. Okay after Pink Paislee this was my other top pick(well actually all 3 lines by LYB) I think both these companies should either pay or atleast let me design for them since they're all I talk about lately.(lol) Anyway LYB designed this line with the "teen" boy in mind and this chipboard album kit is phenomenal. With the kit you get all the precut papers for the pages, chipboard letter tiles, some epoxy tiles, twill tape, and some chipboard embellies. In my album I've also used some other embellishments from the Zach's Life line. Now when I saw the papers...yes teen came to mind but I also thouht it could be used otherwise. So to prove my point...I went with little boy! I dug thru stacks of pictures(pre digi-era for me) of my son in his preschool years. I think in the pics I used he ranges from 2-6 yrs old. Let me just say it totally works. Other options for these papers...extreme sports for young adults, beach pages and just sports pages. Just some of the ideas floating thru my mind. Okay if anyone from LYB has found my blog and you're reading you can send me some compensation for this promo :wink:

You'll be finding these products soon at the Scrapbook Cafe...I've heard they have shipped. Also this album maybe coming your way in the form of a kit too:wink: So keep a check on Pat's blog for that.

Oh if you are near the Cafe...I have a LO using Zach's Life already on display there.

Welcome Spring! (well not quite)

Well here it is my card for the 1st Scrapbook Cafe challenge hosted on Pat's blog. Iplayed on the "Spring" theme in creating the card and with my choice of papers. For those of you who don't recognize the papers they are from the all new "Spring Fling" collection by Pink Paislee!!! This is a brand new company that debuted at CHA. Talkin about some hot fun papers, stickers, diecuts and stamps. The papers stickers and diecuts will be showing up at the Scrapbook Cafe real soon. Besides doing the make and takes both days at their booth, this is the first time I've played with their product...can't wait to get me some more!

Speaking of new stuff...I've got a little project from the Zach's Life line by Little Yellow Bicycle lying on my desk. It's almost done...so you'll be seeing it real soon. Zach's Life is geared toward the Teen Boy; but these papers can go so many different ways. Stay tuned for more on that.

The heater did get fixed yesterday...apparently just some air in the line. I didn't have to wait around all day(which most of the time you have too on stuff like that), he was only there about 1/2 hour and $105 later we've got heat running regularly when it's suppose too.

Fritz and Dan went to a "boxing" birthday party...we'll have to see how Fritz liked that one. He's not much of a fighter if you ask me...but what do I know about boxing??? Becca's watching the Disney Channel. I've got a roast in the crockpot and some laundry in the washer; maybe I can go play in my scraproom a bit.

My First Post

Okay so here it is....my first post! I've finally succumed to th blogging world. Ever since attendind CHA last month (I can't believe it was that long ago) I've given this some serious thought. I've had so much fun lately reading peoples blogs...especially http://southernbreezes.typepad.com/southernbreezes/. She posted all the fun stuff from CHA. So now here I am ...officially a blogger.


I've posted all my fun stuff for the month over athttp://www.coordinatescollections.com/. I had the priviledge of working with Scenic Route...this months monthly sponsor. I had some stuff from the Lynden Collection & the new Providence Collection.



Even though I only had a week (away for CHA & some family stuff) I was pleased with what I got done.

So now I'm sitting around waiting for a service call for our heater(when our heater tries to come back on after being turned down overnight...it won't until you manually hit the reset button 2x's) so we're not without heat, but just an inconvience.) Who knows when they'll call. So here I am blogging when I should be either doing household chores(not much fun) or tackling the mess I've created in my scraproom. Oh I hear that there is a little challenge going on tonight on http://southernbreezes.typepad.com/southernbreezes/ at 8pm EST...I'll have to remember to check that one out.