My Paper Crafting #122--Love Your Pet Day!

Hi everyone! It's hump day once again and it's time for a new Crafting with Cutters challenge at My Paper Crafting!

This week's challenge is:

Here is my creation:

I used Create a Critter to make the "Purrfect" title, Create a Critter 2 to make the black cat, and Accent Essentials to make the circles. I also added some bling with the paw prints and then added two green rhinestones to my black cat for his eyes. Just like my baby, Nightfury. :) 

Thanks for taking a look and make sure to go to My Paper Crafting to check out the other DT member's creations and to see all the rules to play along.

Have a great Hump Day!

My Top 12 of 2012 + Top 5 Most Viewed Posts

Hi everyone!! Happy New Year's Eve! So much has happened in 2012 that I can't wait to see what 2013 brings. I have been on a few DT's this past year, done some guest designing, become a sketch designer, am now a co-administrator at an amazing scrappy site, my blog traffic has increased--I started out with 9 followers in the beginning of the year and am now at 129 followers thanks to all of you!!...it has just been an amazing year and I think this next year I am going to have to put all the good things that happen next year in a jar so I can read and remember them this time next year. 

So here are my favorite layouts created for 2012 in no order. It was very hard to narrow down!!

I'm still not sure if I made the right choices!! ha!!

This was my first layout in 2012 and I just love this fun layout and the papers I used! I'm seriously getting home-sick for Disney World again!!

This was my first layout I tried where I created a flap to open and see more hidden photos!

Here it is with the flap open. The colors and many photos on this layout are just awesome too!!

Loved this layout for it's use of using up scraps to make this ruffly,  layout using border strips and it went with my dress too!!

Loved this layout b/c it was for a challenge that I tried a different scrappy style and I chose Grunge! I need to do more of this style as it was super fun to do!!

This layout is just cute. Loved the picture challenge it was for and the squirrel in the tree with my cat looking up at it was just how it was in real life. lol!

First time using hexagons and I loved this layout of my God daughter!!

Using upcycled materials to embellish the layout! A hershey wrapper to create the map, a gift bag handle for the whip, cereal boxes for the stepping stones, ginger ale box for the snake, and a piece of foam packaging for the shelf for the holy grail!!

This was a challenge I made where you used a newspaper clipping and mine is a printer copy of the newspaper(acid free this way) and I just love how delicate this layout is and the way they described in detail my mom's dress in the article.

Bear-y Cute--need I say more?? ;)

Loved the patterned papers and bright colors and this was my first apple from a student this year. :)

Another challenge by me: Using black and white photos and a black background, and you had to use a color scheme of your choice on the black background. Very striking color-wise!!

Loved learning how to create your own polaroid picture mats!! I will defnitely be doing more of these!!

There's my top 12 of 2012!! 

I thought it would also be fun to share the top 5 posts according to traffic as well! Here they are starting with most viewed!!

DIY Clip It Up Sticker Organize

Dandelion blowing in the wind T-shirts

INSM#12-A Layout for my Mother

Pinterest Monster Bookmarks

The Wild Wild West

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you all have a Happy New Year and of course stay safe! I will be back tomorrow with my New Year's Resolutions inspiration board. 

My Handmade Christmas Gifts for 2012

Hi all!! I hope you had a Merry Christmas and are looking to bring on the New Year!! I just wanted to share the handmade gifts that I created for everyone this year. I was definitely busy and creating some of these last minute!!

I have been teaching myself to crochet and my first project I decided to tackle was to make infinity scarves just using the single crochet stitch. These were made for all my hubby's siblings and his two cousins(all in elementary). The four on the left are his siblings'...they all had different colors they like. The black and yellow was for my hubby's cousin and she likes the Steelers. The navy blue and orange scarf is for the other cousin and her favorite team is the Bears. The kids liked them a lot and wore them the entire time they opened gifts.

 I packaged them in these super cute felt bags that I got at Hobby Lobby which were half off at the time!!

 My parents got a gift card to Olive Garden and this is the handmade gift card holder made using the Artiste cartridge and the spaghetti image is from the Fast Food cartridge.

 It pops up when you open up the gift card.

 Here are all the gift cards I made. All pop up. The presents ones are generic gift cards and then the two book gift cards are for Barnes and Noble gift cards and the book is made from Sugar and Spice cartridge.

 My hubby's family has many generations of scouters and this was at the 100th celebration of scouting at the Capitol. You can see the original post HERE. I wanted this to be a gift for my FIL and this was quite the work not only for the scrapbook layout but the framing of it. It is not in the frame as I wanted them to be able to open it on the wall to view the photos underneath. The hubby helped me with the framing part. He measured the flaps when they are closed and cut a slit down the front of the page protectors and when he slides the page in he opens the flap straight up and it goes down the strip and this way the inside photos are protected. Then we cut another page protector in half to slip over the flap that opens and to make it secure and snug, my hubby ironed the top of the protector to melt it shut and then when it cools slipped it over the flap. Then I added the navy blue paper to fill in the spaces above and below the layout and it looks like the Cub Scout uniforms my hubby's triplet brothers are wearing in the photos.

Then before putting the layout on frame, I glued page protectors over the navy blue parts to protect them as well and then glued on the layout on top.

 My FIL loved it and is going to put it in his office. This is what it looks like when you open it. The hubby's Grandpa and Uncle are also both scouters and loved it also.

 Then for all the tea drinker ladies in the hubby's family I made these tea dispenser boxes(all paper and a chipboard base) from this tutorial HERE. I cut the Tea canister from Love You a Latte cartridge and instead of cutting the letters for it out, just stamped "tea time" on the canister.

 They are packaged with Celestial Seasonings(my favorite tea brand) Holiday Teas: Nutcracker Sweet, Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride, Gingerbread Spice, Sugar Plum Spice, and Candy Cane Lane. Because I gave them two of each flavor and was going to mix them(they are not individually packaged), I also made my own tea envelopes from the Artiste cartridge and made labels for them using Return Address labels. I made 50 of these envelopes!!! They turned out super cute and need to make one for myself now!

Phew!! And there is my handmade gifts for 2012 Christmas. Now I'll need to be on the lookout to find new ideas for next year. Thanks for visiting all!!

Let's Scrap Sketch 11-28-12

Hi everyone!

New sketch this week at Let's Scrap and it's our last sketch with this term's Design Team. Ladies, I have enjoyed getting to know you and working with you and for those of you who did not reapply, I know we will still see you around Let's Scrap. 

Here is our final sketch this term:

I saw this sketch and knew it was perfect for our trip to Mt. Rushmore. 

 Some close-ups:

 The president embellies I got in the park and they were these huge, thick foam embellies. I cut the foam off as I did not want to have to worry about my page bubbling up and not fitting in the book properly.

I also got these president quotes in the park and trimmed off the matting so you just saw the scroll-like paper for the quotes.

Thanks for taking a looksie and hope you were able to play along with us this week at Let's Scrap!

Fall, the Season of Fun

Hi everyone!

It's time for my last sketch as November guest designer on Sketch 'n' Scrap. I have so enjoyed being a guest  designer and working with their fabulous sketches. 

Here is their sketch:

And here is what I created from this sketch:

 So many fun photos from our Fall photos that I just had to make another one and am categorizing by scene/poses.

 The fun papers are from DCWV's Halloween and Fall stack.

And the sparkly flowers from a Fall package of Flora Doodles flowers by Petaloo.

Thanks so much for stopping by today and go and check out the rest of the DT's takes on this wonderful sketch HERE.

Smile, tomorrow is Friday...

Just Shellin' Layout

Hi everyone!

Happy hump day. Just sitting here tonight at Barnes and Noble having a java chip frappucinno. I really feel like a real blogger now. ;) The hubby and I carpooled today and he works both jobs today. It's quite the happening place here--lots of college kids doing their homework. 

Any who, it's a new sketch today at Let's Scrap. This is one of our winners for our sketch contest we held last month and it's by Judy Rakes. Such a fun sketch and I knew exactly going to do with it. 

Here is my take on it:

This was at the Reptile Gardens in SD and it was my first time touching and being this close to a giant tortoise. When I saw these shapes, I thought it would work well for this giant tortoise layout. It was really hot this day and they had the right idea and were on the "fast" track to finding some shade to chill in. 

 So I thought this title was appropriate...hehe...

 Added some journaling with my silver gel pen.

I had to add this sweet little turtle from the Create a Critter cartridge. 

Come on over and try out our sketch this week and thanks for taking a look. Have a great night!!

True Love Sketch 'N' Scrap DT Call

Hi everyone!! 

Tonight's creation is for the DT call over at Sketch 'n' Scrap. I am currently their November guest designer and have been having a lot of fun with their sketches.  

This is the sketch they are using for their DT call. This was such a fun sketch to work with and I really like how it turned out. These pics were taken this Fall and I had so many photos I liked from the shoot that I just decided to categorize them by scene/pose and do several layouts with them. 

The papers are from the Recollections stack called "Habitat". Lots of fun and gorgeous botanical papers in this stack. Absolutely love this stack.

I added some fun purple and green buttons and cut these arrows from the Cricut cartridge, "Accent Essentials".  

 The letters were drawn first on the green paper with my brown pen for the cricut and then I backed it up and put my blade back it to cut them out using "Plantin Schoolbook" cartridge. It just gives it a little bit of an outline to help it pop out more. The two stacked glitter flowers are from Petaloo's flora doodles. 

There it is. I just love how it turned out! Thanks Sketch 'n' Scrap for this great opportunity and for the wonderful sketch they provided. 

Thank you for stopping by and taking a look!!

Scenic Route Layout

Happy Tuesday everyone!! 

It's nice and sunny out today and a little bit of our snow is melting. 

Today's creation is for our DT member Kristine's challenge at Let's Scrap which is to make a layout using polaroids. She shows you how you can mat your photos so that they look like polaroids. I have been wanting to do this for a while and I finally have done it thanks to her challenge. You can view her challenge HERE.

Here is the Let's Scrap sketch I used for this challenge:

And here is my take on this challenge:

 This was on our SD trip that we took to go camping and visit Mt. Rushmore. On our way into SD, we decided to take the Peter Norbeck National Scenic Byway route to our campsite. I'm glad we did this right away b/c it was quite long but it was a gorgeous route and there was so much to see. I loved the one lane, narrow tunnels that you would have to honk your horn before you went through and when you came through on the other side, you saw Mt. Rushmore in the distance, framed by beautiful greenery. I got some great photos of this. 

 Lots of fun traveling stickers that I added to make my title...

 ...and besides journaling on each picture, I also added some more stickers as embellishments. 

 Also added some pretty butterflies to my pretty, botanical papers and some arrows that have maps on them. They blended in a little bit with the papers, so I also inked them with Tim Holtz's Tea Dye distress ink. Love how this layout turned out and I will definitely be making more polaroid layouts in the future. 

You have until Thursday, 11:59 p.m. to play along with her challenge. 

Thanks so much for visiting!

Purr! DCWV November Stackaholic Challenge

Hi everyone!

Happy Sunday! Hope you all have been enjoying your weekend. We've been having a winter storm happening here and it's not so much fun. They say the storm has been lifted but it's still snowing quite a bit here, so much that our footprints are buried again already.

I've definitely been getting some scrapping done this weekend and one of my layouts(even though the pictures are from last year) is just perfect for this wintry weekend here in ND. 

This is for DCWV's November stachaholic challenge and this is the sketch they provided:

And here is my take on the challenge:

 This was our cat, Nightfury, and his first experience with snow. He walked out on the balcony and it didn't seem to bother him too much. However, he didn't want to stay out in the cold very long either. 

 All the papers are from DCWV's Christmas and Winter stack. Love this stack!! Such gorgeous papers(as usual). 

Thanks for stopping by today and taking a peek. Stay warm to those of you who are in colder climates!!