Our July WIP Guest Designer

Please join me in welcoming Nancy Damiano as the WIP Guest Designer for July 2010!!

You might recognize Nancy's work if you're over at the 2Peas gallery. She is the infamous I*heart*Nico--and you can check out her amazing gallery here. Be prepared to stay a while...she's talented!!
Check out her gallery for us this month...

Heart, be still. A two pager! Here are some of the beautiful details:

Nancy, we love ya!!

Here is a bit more info...

Name & Location: Nancy Damiano, Central New Jersey

How long have you been scrapping? 13 years (give or take a few breaks).

How did you get started? My husband introduced me to scrapbooking. He went into Michael's to buy a gift card and spotted a scrapbooking kit. He thought it looked like something I would like, so he brought it home. Little did he know, just how much I would like it.

How would you describe your scrap style? I like a good story, clean lines and bold palettes. I think that would peg me as a traditional, storytelling, linear, colorful scrapper.

If you could only scrap with 5 products the rest of your life, what would they be? Bazzill cardstock, Thickers, My Mind's Eye pattern paper, Basic Grey Chip Sticker Alphabets and ribbon. I think I could survive on that, but I wouldn't want to!

Anything you're dying to get your hands on? Little Yellow Bicycle's Boardwalk and Pack Your Bags.

Five fav manufacturers: My favorites change with each new release. My current ones are: Little Yellow Bicycle, Echo Park, October Afternoon, Basic Grey and We'R Memory Keepers.

Anything you drink/eat/listen to while scrapping? I usually listen to a very eclectic mix of music ranging from Kings of Leon to Jay-Z to Van Morrison. No snacks or drinks though - I'm way too messy of a scrapper for that.

If you could spend $10,000 in one store, what store would it be? I can't think of a single retail store that I would want to drop that kind of cash in. I'm more into experiences than material things. Would expedia.com count? I would book a trip to Bali in a heartbeat!

Be sure to stop over to Nancy's blog and say hello--she's got even more cute ideas there!!

Thank you, Nancy. We hope to see you around here real soon...

A Summer Banner

Hello there! Just popping to share a Summer banner I made with the July WIP kit - sold out! I used a Nikki Sivils chipboard book. It was a house but I cut off the chimney and used just the base. I was inspired by the summer beach huts that are always so colorful and well, cute. So here is my banner.

I used both sides of the Echo Park paper. I curled the edges to make it look like fabric being pulled back.

For the letterrs I used my Slice.

I used burlap to tie in betweeen the huts - I think it added to the beachy feel.

It looks really cute hanging above my door. I hope this inspired you to make a banner! Thanks for stopping in.

Travel Tips

Since this is one of the most traveled weeks in the year, I thought I'd post a few tips and links for those of you who are looking to hit the road...
* Pass the camera to someone else and have them take photos. You never know what you're going to get--but sometimes you end up with a shot you normally may not have taken yourself.

* Collect random objects along your adventure, and display them in a special place when you get home. This year we did objects we found on the beach in this star shaped dish from PB. Last year we saved all our receipts and put them in a shadowbox with photos--it turned out really cool!

* Meet Amy, our GPS. Now, if you don't own one--do yourself a favor and either borrow one or grab one before heading out. This gismo has completely changed the way our family travels, and we all swear by her. The best part is that you can detatch it from the car, put it in your backpack and still not get lost. We took her on our trip to NYC and she got us everywhere we needed to go. No arguments about wrong turns or which way we think we're headed--she's got it all. We love Amy!!

For fun family car games, check this and this out. We particularly love the license plate game and Slugbug, of course.

Be sure to pack lots of snacks that won't melt (especially if you're headed somewhere hot). We loaded up on fruit snacks, Cheez-Its, crackers and chips. We also took our water bottles and a cooler, which came in handy for our frequent trips to the beach.

If you live near a Costco, we invested in these and this this year. We tried them and would highly recommend both purchases!!

Here is a great article on packing for a trip.

Feel free to share any of your favorite tips, too!! Happy Trails!!

Playing with the July WIP Kits...

...and wanted to share a few of the ten I've completed so far. Fun kit...
I chose black cardstock to make the bright colors pop in this one. Also elected to do a bit of hybrid scrapping here, too. The words "Our Sunday Morning" are printed on the photo. The others are stickers I added to enhance the design.

The bright colors lent themselves to fun summer pages, and once I pulled the kit out, the ideas just flowed this month. I could easily do another 4-6 pages...and I just might!! Don't you just love Echo Park's quality? They're going to be a favorite of mine, I can feel it already...

On this one, I used the border paper with clouds to enhance the background paper on this layout by hand-cutting the clouds and bumping them up with pop-dots. I also used my punches to go through the corrugated teal chipboard--it worked without any problems!! Stay tuned for more of that cool textured stuff in upcoming kits...

I can't wait to show you what the DT has created with this kit. It just may be the best reveal of the year, I do believe!!

Enjoy your weekend...

Photofunia

I recently discovered this little fun site: Photofunia.

What do you think? I look good on a building in Taipei, no? I think I fit right in, hee hee.

Hmm... how did he get the blue from that orange pastel? LOL

Go check it out, so many fun choices!!! Go nuts!!

wow.

The July Main Kit. Sold out already. Again. Can you believe it?!? Trish always puts together amazing kits but the past two months have been above and beyond amazing. I've heard little rumors about next month...if they are true...I predict another sellout. Don't wait to order that kit - or better yet, learn how to subscribe right here.

I can't wait to share my projects from this month's kit. I had so much fun creating with the new Echo Park papers. The bright cheery colors go so well with summer photos. I have made four pages and still have tons left to make more. You are going to want to use every last scrap of the delicious patterned papers.

Here is a little help to get you started. I have a Bazzill swatch book and found cardstock colors that match the Echo Park Sweet Summertime papers. I used the actual cardstock samples to choose, they may look different on your screen, so follow the color name and number.

Graduation time

This past weekend we celebrated my nephew's graduation and I thought I'd share some of the fun things my sister and I made/did for the party.

She had it decorated so nice with all his awards and pictures.

The graduation caps I made in the past. This year I made some changes, instead of using chocolate covered graham crackers I used hershey bars to make squares for the tops and I used Air Head Extremes for the tassel.

And I just loved how the favors came out! Deb came over and we made our first sample one by trying a few things and then Deb got everything cut and ready for us to make once we made the chocolate covered popcorn closer to the date of the party.

The photo cards I ordered at Moo cards with his graduation photo on them and included his name, class of 2010 and the quote " The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams" on the back of the card.

Reflecting on our vacation...

Spent a week in South Carolina and Georgia with the family, with tons of uninterrupted family time. There will be lots of layouts to come, I promise. But for now, these two photos...
This would be our son, Griffin, on the car ride home. Eleven hours is a long time to hang in there, especially with two older siblings who were so eager to show you the awesome possibilities of washable markers. For fear that their father would yell, the older two handed him open markers and told him where to draw an hour before we made it home. Nice, eh? No, he doesn't have a bloody nose. That would be red marker that fit into his nostrils perfectly. We had to laugh. They could not stop giggling--and I know they will remember it forever. Yes, it wiped right off with a washcloth. Yes, he asked to do it again today. Mean Mama told him to save it for a special occasion...

And I swear, I want to own a red VW bug more than anything...
I'm real behind on emails, but I'm going to do my very best to get them all addressed by the end of the day today. Have a good one!!

Showing some Etsy love...

It has been a while, so I thought I'd share a few Etsy finds. I know you crafty people out there are resourceful, so someone, for the love of all things holy...PLEASE tell me who makes this adorable must-have punch...

Anyone? I'd seriously love you forever.

Moving on...

I'm so lifting this idea for the next girl's craft day...

I'm coveting this necklace in a crazy-bad way...

These calendar tags are simply delish...
And these Coffee or Tea bags are too cute...
Have a splendid Monday!!

Summer Cards

Thinking of you and Thank you cards for summer...

Fresh from my garden. Just right click on the image, save it to your computer as a picture, and print (or upload it somewhere to have it printed). Cut them up up and add them to white cardstock for a simple summer card. Enjoy!