Bind it all and April Kit

Playing with the project kit...

This month when I began working with the project kit I was instantly thinking mini book with the 4 X 6 sheets of paper.

It seems I always get extra prints of most of my favorite pictures and I had plenty of favorites this past summer!

I adhered my pictures back to back and added journaling strips with quotes or memories of that day, making sure I wasn't going to be punching through someone's face when I bound the book.

I centered them in the bind it all and bound my book

Easter Basket Re-do

I am not sure about you but it seems like time has flown and I can't believe that Easter is this coming weekend! I decided to tackle a do-it yourself project courtesy of Disney over at Ruffles and Stuff - she did a guest blog over at V&Co - another of my favorite blogs. She made this.

It is a Pottery Barn inspired Easter Basket. I wasn't intending on doing it - but when I saw the ordinary basket that I was using this year (all other ones are used in her room after easter) I decided to go for it - so here is what it looked like before.

I thought the pink and green were cute - but I KNEW - well hoped my re-do would look 100 times better.

Here is my final photo - what do you think? I added a bow and showed it to Alyson and she loves it! I am so glad because I am pretty sure I can use this as Spring Decor after Easter is over.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Michelle

Trends

(Layout made with the Core Impressions cardstock and the April WIP Kit--simply because I can't post without a picture--ha! Journaling: Witnessing you come into your own has been a fascinating experience for me. When I met you 25 years ago, I couldn't have known the husband or father you would become. Your evolution suits you. Your wit and humor are still understated. The way you love me and our children without hesitation or condition is genuine. Your unassuming manner is a testiment to your spirit. You remain to be the best person I know. And you still make me weak in the knees.)

I've been noticing a few trends lately. Maybe it is just me.
*Purple. This line and this line both have my affection. It used to be the least favorite color to work with by a lot of people. Now it is everywhere!
*Lots of grey and yellow combos. These alphas and this paper line are delish.
*Hand stitching is all over the place.
*Lots of flowers and ornately embellished pages (handmade and store bought alike.)
*Using two or more types of fonts/stickers in a title.
*Handwritten journaling.
*Digital elements and/or hybrid scrapping
*Border punches, border punches, border punches. Everywhere.
*Single-page layouts
*Texture on everything--is anyone else addicted to the embossing templates like I am?

What have you been into lately? Feel free to share your favorite trend right now!!

Enjoy your day!!

Toy Story 3

June 18th, 2010. The countdown has begun...
We're pretty hyped about the big new movie coming out in a couple months. With two boys in our house who love the first Toy Story and its sequel, I can't tell you how excited they are to see this one. This is the official trailer for the upcoming movie.

I'm a little biased. A dear friend from high school works at Pixar out in sunny CA, and he's been taunting me on facebook about it. He promises me that we won't be disappointed. (Remind me to post his email in case it turns out poorly--lol!) Jack, just kidding. Here is another link Jack shared with me, for those of you who also want to know more.

You can check out the official Disney-Pixar Toy Story website here. Lots of cool games and links for the kids. Or the adults.

If you're looking for an awesome deal, be sure to check this out. All over this one.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Easter Dessert

As Easter approaches just a week from tomorrow, we are busy here getting arrangements made for our yearly neighborhood Easter meal. Not only is it wonderful to see our neighbors who have been shut in all winter, but it's time too to break out that very special Easter menu. It's the first time in the year where certain foods make their appearance again. It's just the way we are here.

One of those special dishes includes the yummy Triple Berry Trifle that is the star of our dessert table. Everybody loves this after dinner sweet treat! And it's just so pretty in it's little trifle bowl. I share it here with you today. Maybe it will find it's way on your buffet next Sunday...and the next...and the next...

Triple Berry Trifle
1 prepared pound cake, cubed
1 (10 ounce) package frozen blueberries
1 (10 ounce) package frozen raspberries
1 (10 ounce) package frozen blackberries
1 (5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
1/2 cup milk
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups whipped cream

Place half of cubed cake in bottom of large glass serving bowl. Layer half the berries on top of the cake.
In mixing bowl, combine pudding mix, milk, condensed milk and 1 cup whipped cream. Stir well. Pour half of mixture over frozen berries.
Repeat the above three layers of cake, berries, and custard.
Top custard with remaining cup of whipped cream.
Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour or in refrigerator for 2-3 hours, enough for berries to thaw before serving.

Enjoy!
And Happy Easter.

It's Birthday Time...

Hello everyone! Tomorrow we celebrate my daughter's first birthday! I have been planning her party for a couple months now. I wasn't quite sure what a first birthday party should include...and after some internet searching I found some pretty awesome party inspiration!! I wanted something fun without being too themey. I can't show everything that I've put together for her party just yet...so instead I'd love to show you some of my favorite birthday party inspiration! :)

First, we have Katelyn's party. I love the colors and the food display:

Next is a party by Brooke:

The boys need to be represented...this party for Evan is too cute...

Or this awesome party for Creed...

And finally, this isn't a birthday party, but a totally fun party for the Oscars!


So...are you inspired? I'd love to hear about your past parties for your kids or yourself! And I will be back sometime next week with the photos from Mirielle's big event. I bet you will recognize some of the ideas that I took straight from these photos! :)

i challenge you......

ok we all know i love a scrappy challenge... the fact that i run 3 challenge blogs
proves that fact. so lets get your creative juices flowing! here is a challenge for you:

i challenge you to do a LAYOUT about someone you share a special bond with,
i want you to include scallops and at least one heart.
need a little extra help? here are a couple sketches to get you jump started!

Doodling

ETA: I just found a great article at GIS by Michelle Houghton here called "Draw Better: Get Your Elbow Off the Table." Great tips--check it out!!

Yesterday I felt the urge to play with my markers...
I grabbed a few cups and started goofing around. I love the Glitz heart paper in the April Project kit, and took some inspiration from the hearts and started to doodle...

Try leaving a white 12x12 sheet of cardstock and a black marker near your phone. Next time you get to chatting, doodle while you're at it. You never know what you'll come up with!!

Have a great day!

Some Core Impressions Eye Candy!

Were you one of the lucky ones who scooped up those Core Impressions paper kits that sold out faster than I could read the blog?!?! I have never worked with the paper before so I decided to do a little research and find what others have been doing with their papers.


Traffic Jam - Sarah Hodgkinson cut hers in a circle and sanded. It really helps here title pop.


Little Bird is by Sarah H too!


How simple and cool is this card?


This really cool page uses some of the Cosmo Cricket Core Impressions.

Now I am read to cut, rip, sand and play! How about you?

Easter crafts

Hi everyone Tina here, thought I'd share an Easter craft I did with my kids. It's one of my favorite things I bring out when decorating for Easter.

I painted a clay pot, added a face and used white foamies and sponged grey paint on them for the ears.

Then using more foamies and skewers to make the carrots.

It was fun, inexpensive and simple to make!

Hello Monday!!

ETA: I was able to get more of the Core Impressions today, so anyone on the wait list should have received a paypal invoice today. Please email Trish at Turay413@gmail.com if you have any questions! For the second time, the kits have sold out, so there are no more available at this time. You will see the Core Impressions in upcoming kits, sold individually however!! Thanks so much for your support!!

Glad to see you! How was your weekend?
I got a moment or two to scrap with the April WIP kit...
...and some of that rockin' Core Impressions Cardstock...

I tried playing around with this 3-D technique this weekend, but the results weren't what I had hoped. I'm not one to give up easily. Stay tuned.

Also going to give this technique with a water bottle (of all things!) a shot.

Am I the only one who gets totally geeked about learning new photography things?

And while I'm on the subject of being geeked...you have GOT to watch Life on Discovery. If you loved Planet Earth as much as I did, you will be hooked on this one for sure. And hello, it is narrated by Oprah. What's not to love?

:) Enjoy your day!

Using Blogger Pages

  Hello there and Happy Sunday!  I hope you have been able to relax and enjoy your weekend.  I just wanted to share with you today some blogging info that I have just figured out for myself!  A few months back I switched my blog from Typepad back to blogger -- I loved Typepad and all the bells and whistles that it offered but I also watched as Blogger upped its hosting and its little applications and I finally moved back! 

  Here is one new gadget that I just love!  It may not be new to you but to me it is!  There is a way to make stand alone pages.  Now you may ask why do I need them?  Well if you may have a scrapbooking resume that you would like to link to your blog but dont want an entire blog decicated to it?  This is it!  It's like a blog post that will not be added to your normal posts.  You can have it on your sidebar and edit it at any time!

  Here is a screen shot of where you can find it

  Go to New Post and on the top where I have circled in red it says edit pages.  You will click on New Page and proceed.  Add what you'd like.  If you ever want to edit it you can go back to the same spot and pick the page and edit! So easy!

 
Other ideas for this page:

*All about me page

*All about your family page

*Links to your favorite places

I mean the list can go on and on......

I hope that this is new to some of you!  I love it and use it all the time!

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend!
Michelle

Core Impressions is AVAILABLE!!!

ETA: The Core Impressions Kits have SOLD OUT. If you would like to be put on a wait list, please email Trish at Turay413@gmail.com and I will see if I can get more on Monday morning. Thanks so much!!

I'm absolutely giddy with delight about this stuff!! It's in my hot little hands, and is ready to ship out!! Here is a close up of the individual sheets that are in addition to the paper packs:

Contents of this kit includes: Full pack of Cosmo Cricket Classics Collection (20 sheets of 4 embossed patterns in 5 colors), full pack of Jillibean Soup Core Impressions (20 sheets of 4 embossed patterns in 5 colors), eight additional Core Impressions (a mix from Cosmo Cricket, Jenni Bowlin and Jillibean Soup). That is a total of 48 sheets of embossed cardstock, for $36 ($.75 per sheet). I have a limited amount of these specialty kits available, but they are ready to ship!! Please email Trish at Turay413@gmail.com if you would like me to send you a paypal invoice. Thanks so much!!

Looking Forward...

...to trying my hand at these this weekend (thanks, Doris!)

...to catching up on this blog...I'm hopelessly addicted (thanks, Amy!)

...to teaching a class tonight at a friend's house (thanks Deb & Tina!)

...to planting my wheat grass and watching it grow.

...to a wonderful weekend with some old friends.

Hope you all enjoy yours, too...

Spring Thank yous

I've been creating Spring Thank you notes (you might remember these), and wanted to share these with you all. Simply right click on the photo above, and save the picture in your pictures file on your computer. Then, upload it to your favorite photo processing center, or print it out on your home computer. It is sized for 4x6 photos, and should print out exactly as it looks above, but you do always want to check the crop lines or "print preview" before clicking that button.

Enjoy!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Hope you're wearing green today!! You know I'm making corned beef for dinner, right?

In other news...

Check out this article I wrote for Scrapscene. It includes a free template for the dress pattern garland shown above. I had fun playing with the March Project kit papers--the kit that keeps on giving! For more banner and garland fun, there is still time to register for my online class over at Get it Scrapped!!

Have you seen Laina's two new digi kits here? Delish. And she had another freebie last Friday for those of you who read her blog and are celebrating today. Too cute.

I got a bunch of emails inquiring about the bunny punch from the altered frame last week. I got it at JoAnn Fabrics and it is made by Fiskars. I hope you all are able to get them--I know they're hard to find.

Enjoy your day!!

spring...

is in the air.
can you feel it?
the sun is up longer.
and how wonderful is that?
up here in cold country spring takes its sweet and precious time to wake up.
so...
we celebrate every moment that spring peeks its pretty little head out.
like watching the first robin make her appearance by the bird feeder...
or notice how the sun is now trying to melt the ice off the back patio...
or simply getting outside every sunny, warm moment there is.

so...
to celebrate these early signs that spring still is a God-given season...
i scrap a layout that makes me think spring.

and for our family that includes a celebration of new life...

so i challenge you today...
go make spring on paper.
layer up the flowers...
and don't ever forget the butterflies.
throw a stamp or two on there too!
and use up the rest of that lovely march wip kit while you are at it too.

and celebrate the season of growth and beauty that is just beginning to appear.

April WIP Kits

Here they are...in all their glory...

April Main Kit--$30

Contents of this kit include: 10 patterned papers (1 Bella Blvd., 2 Jillibean Soup, 1 Crate Paper and 6 Cosmo Cricket JoyRide),
full set of Jillibean Soup green corrugated cardboard letters, 1 Imaginesce Clear Stamp--boom box, Cosmo Cricket JoyRide cardstock stickers, Crate Paper Brook cardstock stickers, Cosmo Cricket chipboard alphas--School House, 1/2 yard orange gingham ribbon, 3 fabric flowers (etsy), 6 Jenni Bowlin buttons--green, Tim Holtz distressing ink pad--wild honey, full pack of Martha Stewart vellum flowers,
die cuts (tree & banner).

*****************************************************************
April Project Kit--$22
Contents of this kit includes: 8 Papers (1 American Crafts, 2 Bazzill, 2 Glitz Design, 2 Collage Press, 1 Creative Imaginations), Collage Press
Red Alphas, Jenni Bowlin Tiny Type alphas--brown, Jenni Bowlin Alpha Bingo Cards in Red, 2 yards purple grosgrain ribbon, 6 chipboard pennants, 6 cardstock pennants, 6 4x6 banner pennants, 6 purple labels, 6 green chipboard pieces, 1 purple file folder, 40" purple festooning, 5 labels, 20 punched rabbits, 12 mini cotton balls, 5 crocheted doilies (etsy).

**Projects this month will include: Bunny Collage, 2 banners (Spring and Easter), and a File Folder Mini Book.

*************************************************************************************

April Add-On Kit--$25

Contents of this kit include: 6 Cardstock (2 white, 2 black, 2 kraft), 1 Cosmo Cricket Joy Ride Strip Sheet, 1 Cosmo Cricket Joy Ride Tags, 1 navy blue die cut cardstock, Cosmo Cricket Flour Sack alphas, Crate Paper Brook Cardstock Labels, Jenni Bowlin orange buttons (6), Martha Stewart vellum flower--full pack, Making Memories Vintage Findings--mini tags (2), Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type alphas in Green, Jenni Bowlin Bingo alphas in Vintage, three Clear Stamps--1 bird & 2 butterflies, and Tim Holtz Distressing Ink Pad--Tumbled Glass.

Kits go on sale to the public at noon, EST!! If you would like one reserved, please email Trish at Turay413@gmail.com.