Finally Five Feet!

Happy Friday friends!! I usually LOVE fall weekends as it means all day Sundays of football watching and scrapbooking!! My calendar is looking a bit too full for this weekend, but fingers crossed I'll get a chance to get crafty.Today I have a layout to share that was part of last weekends scrapbooking session:

Yes, my son is FINALLY FIVE FEET and this momentous occasion of course HAD to be scrapbooked!! I mean, just look at that grin on his face!! I am trying to make use of the new A Muse Studios stamp sets I purchased through a stamp club with Pamela at Attempted Creativity. All of the arrows are stamped on 2 different cardstocks, grouped together, and I put 2 up on pop dots to add a bit of dimension.I also stamped the "Oh Yeah" on a canvas button I found in my stash, and made a "hey there Handsome" label along the side of the photo (from the same stamp set as the "hello Gorgeous" layout I created last week). I also wanted twine to the layout, so I used one of my favorite go-to techniques for twine, I wrapped it around the photo. This is perfect to do when there is a dull portion of the pic that can stand a bit of dressing up! Just adds a touch of color and doesn't take away from the photo at all.

I of course incorporated a few challenges from My Favorite Blogs, you can read more about those below. Wishing you a crafty weekend! =) T

"Finally 5 Feet" linking up to:

-SKETCH The Studio Challenges


-COLOR COMBO from Life In Details


-ANYTHING GOES Paper Issues

Great Day for a Hike

Hello and happy Monday! While my weekend was packed with soccer games, snack shack duty, a 16th birthday party and a baptism, the night owl in me still found a bit of time to get into the scraproom.I was able to create 3 layouts last night while watching the original Footloose FOR THE FIRST TIME- have I been living under a rock? Here's the first I have to share with you:

To create this layout, I started with this fabulous sketch from Paper Secrets:

 

For this challenge, you also had to include items that started with each letter in the word LABOR, here's what i used: L-Label, A- Alphabet Stickers, B- Brown, O-Orange, R- Red. I also incorporated the Fall color challenge at Lasting Memories. Even though this was a summer hike, the woodgrain paper along with the greens and yellows fit the pics well. 

Thanks for stopping by =) T

Hello Gorgeous!

Hello crafty friends! Summer is over, the kiddos are back in school, and that means I have my craft room back again. Last night I was in the mood to scrap, so I made myself a cup of tea, found a good 80's flick on Netflix, and browsed through some of My Favorite Blogs for challenge inspiration. I decided to go with a sketch #168 from Deconstructed Sketches, a color combo from Color Throwdown, the Who's Who challenge from Shopping our Stash, the photo inspiration from {PIN}spirational Challenges, as well as the polka dot challenge at Clear It Out, and punch challenge at Paper Take Weekly. Here's the end result:

 

A few things to note about this layout:  

Obviously the POLKA DOT challenges is in my pattern paper. I have had this in my stash for at least a year, and loved the rosy-pink of the paper went with the tones in the picture. I also inked up the edges of the paper to give it a bit of definition and distressed the corners with a bit of extra ink. For the PUNCH IT OUT challenge, I chose to punch hearts from a scrap of rose cardstock, and used the negative space left rather than the punched pieces itself. I just tucked the strip of punched hearts behind the photo so they're just peeking out. Did you notice my "instagrammed" and "hello Gorgeous" sentiments? Those are stamps from A Muse Studios. Joined a stamp club with Pamela at Attempted Creativity and a very talented group of women, and have been purchasing new stamps up a storm. Excited to start putting them to good use! Finally, not sure if it shows in the photo, but I adhered my pic with pop dots so it is raised off the page a bit. Adds a bit of shadow beneath the photo and helps it to stand out. 

Now it's back to the craft room for me while the inspiration strikes!Thanks for stopping by =) T

Pocket Scrapbooking Adventures: Week 13

Hello blogger friends! My pocketed scrapping adventures continue today,  just put the kiddos on the bus, and with coffee cup in hand I am ready to update my blog and then head to the craft room for the day! 

First off, a confession: I am FOUR WEEKS BEHIND on my "Bits and Pieces" album, but I am really ok with that. I'm using Instagram pics for my album, so all the dates, my little blurbs and comments, and anything else I may need is all safely tucked away on my iPhone, ready for when I get to it! Scrapbooking is a hobby (obsession?) so it needs to be fun and stress-free. The moment it becomes stressful, that's when I know I'm doing something wrong and need to re-evaluate my process. 

Ok, now on to the pages. today I'm sharing Week #13, as well as my End of March/April Calendar page:

A few fun things to note:

• (Week 13) on the "Cousin Selfie" card I used my craft knife to cut along the bottom of the flower printed directly on the card. This allowed me to tuck the pic under the flower and then still have a little space at the bottom of the card for journaling. 
• (End of March) the speech bubble is from a die set from A Muse Studios- I just ordered the coordinating stamp set, can't wait to try it!
• (End of March) The journaling on the speech bubble is word-for-word from the comment I posted with the pic on Instagram. I'm sure my friends that don't scrapbook wonder about all the pics I post there, but it serves as a reference for pics and journaling.
• (End of March) on the "Pictures or it Didn't Happen" card, I simply cut that 3x4 card in half and then spread it out over the page, giving the illusion that it's a 6" card.

And a few tips and tricks for the week:

1. Summer is coming and there will be lots of photo ops around the pool. Everyday Rituals has some great tips on taking water-proof pics on the Hello Summer blog post.
2. Documenting a special birthday in your pocketed album? Great tips and a beautiful page share from LooDeLoop.
3. Backyard BBQ season is here! great FREE printables over at Hostess with the Mostess 
    
   
   
   Thanks so much for stopping by, grab those pics, and lets start filling those pockets! =) T
   
   To see all of my weekly PS Tips and Tricks categorized for handy-dandy reference, click on my Pocket Scrapping page.

Pocket Scrapping Adventures

Hello crafty friends! I am waaaaaaay behind on posting here on the blog- pretty much on track with my own scrapping, but have just neglected posting, blogging, etc. I guess I'm just having too much fun being creative! While it's May out in the real world, it's still March here on my blog! Today I have week's #11 and #12 to share with you. My little fun things to note this week: I don't really have a particular color scheme to follow, or a theme i;m trying to stick with- other than enjoy the process! But I am trying to have a few embellies on each spread that are consistent throughout the entire album, can you find them? 

...In these 2 spreads you can really see them best on my week card. While I don't want to make everything "matchy matchy", I am making sure to include twine, staples, and labels with my Dymo Label Maker throughout the layouts. Other than that, there are NO RULES!! 

Thanks for stopping by =) T

Mother Nature Thinks She's Sooooo Funny

Hello crafty friends, I'm back with another layout! It's the start of a new month, so there are a lot of new challenges posted on my favorite challenge blogs this week, and LOTS of inspiration from the talented Design Teams! One of the challenges I wanted to do was the new Pocket Full of Sunshine challenge going on at Paper Issues. And lucky me, I had a card from We R Memory Keepers that said "pocket full of sunshine", how perfect!! I also wanted to try the "Jokes on You" challenge at Lasting Memories. Since we had a surprise ice storm on the 1st day of Spring, I thought the pics of the kids waiting for the bus out in the ice, with the title "Mother Nature Thinks She's So Funny" would work well. 

Next up I used this sketch from Pretty Little Studio:

 

and this color combo from Color Q:

 

and here's the end result:

Thanks so much for stopping by! =) T

Pocket Full of Sunshine

There's a new issue up at Paper Issues, Pocket Full of Sunshine. I am definitely going to create a new layout  using that exact title, but before I do that, I did some digging through old layouts to see what I had that fit. Here's what I have to share:

first up is my "Little Miss Sunshine" layout, originally blogged about here

 

and second is my "lake Sunshine" layout, originally posted here

Stop by Paper Issues to see all the sunshiney inspiration and link up your own takes on this fun issue! =) T

Almost 12 Year Old boy

Hello crafty friends! have another layout to share with you today, this was one of my favorites I've created lately. Partly because of the subject (just look at that sweet face!), and partly because of all the goodies I added to the layout! As usual, I looked to my favorite challenge blogs to get me started...

First, I started with this sketch from Sketch ~N~ Scrap

 

I also used the itinerary at Desert Island Crafts Challenge (TWINE, DIE CUTS, and CATS) and the BOYS/MEN challenge at Clear it Out, with the added challenge of using STICKERS from my stash- the "boy" pennants have been hanging around for about 2 years now, it was good to put them to use!

And here's my end result:

Something fun to note- I punched a bunch of hearts to make a little sprinkling of punches going diagonally from the right to left. After punching them out, I had this great strip of negative space hearts leftover, so I stapled that to the top of the layout over my strips of washi. Thanks for stopping by! =) T

Bargain Shopper

Yesterday was Scrapping Sunday for me- only did 2 layouts the entire afternoon, but i guess that's what happens when you scrap while watching House of Cards! For my first layout, I looked to some of my favorite challenge blogs for inspiration. I started with the "Don't Go Near the Edge" challenge at Twisted Tuesdays. The "twist" is to use old book paper, I pulled a sheet of graph paper from my son's math notebook, hope that counts! =)

I also chose this color combo from Color Q:

 

And combined it with this great sketch from The Studio Challenges:

 

Here's the end result, a pic of my daughter after a successful thrift shopping trip:

This was one of my "20 Minutes or less" layouts- once I had the sketch and color scheme I pulled my supplies, set the timer and started scrapping! A few things to note about this layout...

First off, other than the background grey cardstock, the rest of the layout was made entirely of scraps. I am a super pack-rat, and trying my best to shop less and make use of the supplies of been hoarding, and this sketch was perfect for that. I started by pulling any and all scraps of paper that went with the color challenge, and then just started punching away! To get the stars punched from the centers of the circles, I punched the stars first, and then punched the circle around it. I outlined all of the stars and circles with a black pen just to give each shape a little definition. I also added staples and foam dimensionals to a few of the circles for interest.

Thanks for stopping by! =) T

Pocket Scrapping- Week 12

Hello crafty friends, welcome to WEEK 12 in my Pocket Scrapping adventures! Just realized how behind I am here- I'm all caught up in my Pocket Scrapping album, but a week BEHIND here on the blog. For today I have my week #10 layout to share with you, along with my final page of February, and my Start page of March. Each month I end with a single page, followed by the next month's calendar and then the opening page to the new month. Since February was my birthday month and I turned the big Four-OH! (gulp), I made my final Feb page a little tribute to that. I had a selfie from my bday, a "note to self" sheet from a little dollar store pad of paper, and a super-fun 40 greeting card from Hallmark I just HAD to have- just love all those sequins!! 

And here are 5 tips for the week:

1. I am loving the Currently card from RUKristin, she has a freebie or you can also order in colors from her shop. 
2. Do you want an easy way to print two 3x4 photos on a 4x6 print without using a program like Photoshop Elements? In this video you will learn how to use a free program to easily create 3x4 photos for you to upload to your favorite photo printing service. 
3. Want to print your journaling directly onto your PL cards? Try out this tutorial from My Happy Life
4. I love getting inspired by all the amazing PL scrappers out there, Kelly Purkey is a new favorite of mine! 
5. Do you want to try and mix your PL pages in with your regular scrapbook? Check out Five Ways to Mix Pocket Pages with Standard Scrapbook Pages 

Happy pocketing! =) T

Pocket Scrapping- Week 11

Hello scrappy friends, time for my weekly Pocket Scraping update. For those playing along, we are now beginning WEEK 11!! Time really flies when you do a weekly scrapping layout! Here are week's 8 and 9 from my 6x8 Sn@p Life album:

And my 5 tips and tricks for the week:

1. Are you celebrating St Patricks Day? Check out these free printables from Crystalwilkerson.com
2. Looking for inspiration from a fellow Project Lifer? Stop by and see Seriously Sabrina!
3. I am convinced that by using all of my scraps in combination with the amazing freebies out there, I can make this year of pocketing pretty darn cheap. Melanie Britt is another great designer offering up a TON of freebies!   
4. My 12-year old introduced me to a fun app called Color Splash. It makes your photo black and white, and then you color in any parts of it with any colors you'd like. Great way to highlight something on a not-so-great pic.Here's an example:
   
   
5. Want to try and print a jumbo pic and then cut into segments to fit in your pockets? Check out the tutorial over at Sweet Rose Studio to get this look:
   
    
   Thanks for stopping by, have a great week! =) T

Pocket Scrapping- Week 10

Hello friends! I have been a busy little scrapper the past 2 weeks working my scrapbooking events business Ready Set CROP! But now that our Winter Wonderland Weekend has come and gone, and I don't have another event until May, I can take a bit of a breather and get back to my own personal craftiness.

That means it's time to get back to my weekly Pocket Scrapbook update. I cannot believe we are already in week TEN, hello double digits... Now that we are 3 months in, it's safe to say you are either loving or hating your Pocket Scrapbook adventures, and I am LOVING! While I am somehow still keeping up with my weekly pockets, I am a bit behind in sharing. Here are weeks 6 and 7 (don't be fooled by the title cards that say "five" and "six", I noticed my mistake AFTER taking the pic and have since fixed them, oops!):

And my Pocket Scrapping Tips and Tricks for the week:

1. I decided to take part in Ali Edwards' One Little Word project, and chose the word "Brave".Not sure how this project will filter into my pockets, but having fun searching for ideas so far!
2. In searching for "Brave" inspiration I came across this fabulous pocket scrapper. Love the look of this 8 1/2x11 book from Elsie Blaha
3. See the Walking Dead pic in the 3rd pocket on my second layout?My son and I are big WD fans, and were really looking forward to the mid-season premiere, but completely forgot to snap a pic. thank you Google Images- it even has the date and time...perfect!! 
4.  Need some free printables? Very sweet ones over at The Tiny Twig:
   
   
5. Are you ever short on photos for the week? I am doing the Fat Mum Slim Photo A Day Challenge,  great for getting you to take more pics, here's March:
   

     

   Happy Pocketing! =) T

Pocket Scrapping- Week 7

Good morning friends! It's Sunday and that means for you Pocket Scrapbookers....the beginning of WEEK 7!! I know I keep gushing each week about how much i am loving this...but truly I am having so much fun with my little 6x8 pockets of scrappy goodness. And each week I find that I am discovering, learning, growing... My little discovery for this week, somehow I thought that adding this Pocket Scrapbook to my crafty plate would be too much, but it's actually helping me get MORE accomplished?!?! It reminds me of when I was in college and I usually took 6 classes per semester, but 1 semester I decided to give myself a break and only take 5, and I was a total slacker for all 5. Maybe for me, MORE is LESS? At any rate, I am scrapping, painting, and pocketing more than ever. Here are weeks 4 and 5:

And my Pocket Scrapping Tips and Tricks for the week:

1. I am loving the style of Krafty Kat, stop by her blog to see her Project Life...In Pink!
2. Subscriptions to monthly kits are a great way to build your stash with the latest and greatest products. Frosted Designs kits let you choose the option of "clean fun" or "messy fun" depending on your style. I'm a messy fun kind of girl!
3. Looking for some Pocket Scrapping cards to go with this cold weather we've been having? Check out these FREE printables available at Day Dreamer
4. I have seen a few people stamp on their pics, and I decided to give it a try (see my "explore" on week 5). Learn from my mistake: only stamp on photos with Stazon, regular water based ink smudges on the glossy surface!! 
5. Not sure what to journal on your Pocket Pages? Read this quick but inspiring blog post over at Write.Click.Scrapbook

Happy Pocketing! =) T

Here We Come a Caroling

2nd post of the day- my kiddos both have friends over and I've been able to scrap scrap scrap! Here's my next layout:

This was a pic of all our town Girl Scout troops Christmas caroling a few years back- I scrap completely at random, so earlier today I had a pic from last November, and now I'm doing one from December 2011. Just whatever suits my fancy! For this layout, I started with a fun sketch from Sketch N Scrap- since I had 3 pics, this one worked well, but I had to flip it on its side to make it work for my photos.

 

Next I used the color combo over at Color Throwdown:

And finally I incorporated the MUSIC INSPIRATION challenge over at Use Your Stuff through my title, "here we come a caroling". Other than the background paper, all the rest of the elements are from the stash- the strips of paper behind my photo are all from the scrap bin, and the corrugated letters are from a package I purchased several years ago and have apparently been hoarding (I didn't even know I had them!!). Thanks for the visit, =) T

You're My Type

Saturday morning and I'm getting into my scrappy challenge groove for the day! First up is this fun little layout I made in under 20 minutes (LOVE when that happens!):

I started this one with a fun COLOR and SKETCH challenge over at Color me Scrappy:

 

 

Once I had my colors and layout figured out, it was time to embellish! I used my cloud templates to draw a few clouds for the SKY challenge at Twisted Tuesday. I used 2 adorable digital freebies from Paper Smooches- the owl and "you're a hoot". The Owl works for the SOMETHING THAT FLIES twist at Twisted Tuesdays as well as the ANYTHING GOES challenge at Paper Smooches. So much fun all wrapped into one quick and easy LO, now back to scrapping! Thanks for stopping by, =) T

Bunny S'mores

It's a snow day here in New England, it has been snowing since 6am, not sure how much we have so far, but there doesn't seem to be an end in sight! I'm not much of a snow person, but I do love a chance to spend the day all cozy and warm in the craft room. I got all caught up on my Pocket Scrapping (just finished week 5!) and also made this layout:

To get started, I first used this sketch from Sketchabilities:

 

And combined it with the yummy pastel color combo at The Studio Challenges:

 

That's what so great about challenges, getting you to work outside your comfort zone. I don't usually go for pastels, but they are so pretty for this Easter layout, I'm so glad I did!  Hope you're nice and warm, =) T

Pocket Scrapping- week 6

Hello friends. For those of you doing any Pocket Scrapbooking, we are now in WEEK 6 of this adventure for 2014. I am doing a good job of staying on track so far, but I must admit it's taking much more time than I had expected. Here are my weeks 2 and 3:

I also have a few tips to share with you Project Lifers this week:

1. Love putting my Instagram pics to good use, and adding graphics and text to the pics before printing is a bonus. Just purchased a fabulous app from Rhonna Designs and it is so fun to play with! I'll have some pics to share in next week's entry showing off what I've been creating!
   
   
2. Want to get inspired with a fabulous 12x12 PL layout? Check out the latest from Scrapping Mom of One Inspiring Boy
3. Need some fabulous printables? Check out these beauties from Elle's Studio.
4. Ready to print those printables? Save your printer ink for school projects and have yours done at Staples, much more cost effective!! 
5. Looking for ideas on pics to take? I've decided to take the #fmsphotoaday challenge from Fat Mum Slim, she has great prompts to help you capture the everyday, here's her Feb list:
   
    
   Happy pocketing! =) T

Let The Fun Begin

Hello everyone, back again with another scrapping layout to share. This is a fun time to get scrappy, it's the beginning of the month and there are SOOOOO many challenges to choose from! I decided to scrap some pics from last Easter, and had 5 photos to use. Because I love to start with a sketch, I decided to use this 2-pager from Stick It Down:

and here's my take:

Sorry the color is not all that fabulous, I'm actually using the Baked Brown Sugar, Regal Rose, and Soft Sky color combo from Color Throwdown. My dotted background paper is brown with white dots, but I'm not sure if that even shows in this photo. To embellish my layout, I used RIBBON for the challenge at Pile It On, as well as RIC RAC, a HEART, and GLITTER from the challenge at Anything But a Card. And since I have Easter pics here, I'm also entering it in the SPRING challenge at Lasting Memories. Thanks for stopping by! =) T

Cowboys

Watching the Grammy Awards the other night, I was inspired by the Highwaymen performance (Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Merle Haggard, and Blake Shelton). Now, I'm not much of a country girl myself, but I do love seeing living legends of any genre performing! When they sang the song "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grown Up to be Cowboys" my mind went right to a pic of my kiddos back in 2005 that has yet to be scrapped. This was a perfect time to finally get this photo in the scrapbook!

Aren't they so stinking cute? This was from a vacation to Texas back in 2005, they were very happy with their new cowboy hats! To do this layout I had the help of a few great challenges, starting with this great sketch from Creative Scrappers:

 

The triangles were a lot of fun to play with, not something I had done before, and a great way to use all those scraps in my stash!! Because I LOVE to combine challenges, I also used the Navy, Teal, Pink and White color scheme from Practical Scrappers, of course this goes perfectly with the COWBOY challenge at Simon Says Stamp, my photo is out in the gorgeous desert for the OUTDOORS theme at Shopping Our Stash, and I used typewriter stamps for my title for the JUST MY TYPE challenge at Paper Issues. 

Thanks for stopping by! =) T