Webster’s September Challenge

Hi everyone!  As you all know, today is the first of the month, and that means that a new challenge is out on Webster’s community blog site, inspireME.  I am excited to say that I get to lead this month’s challenge.  It has been awhile since I was put in charge.   I am also excited that I was able to showcase some of my all-time favorite Webster’s Pages products for this~ calendars. Calendars offer a unique way to convey a sense of time and are perfect for marking all those special events in your life such as birthdays, holidays and weddings.   Just to name a few.  They would also be a wonderful choice for project 365 pages, or month-at-a-glance projects.  The possibilities are truly endless, and Webster’s has a ton of different calendar embellishments to get you inspired, from 12×12 pages, to mini journaling cards, to the new Days-of-the-Week cards.  So my challenge to you is to break out those Webster’s calendars, and get scrapping!

Here is the page I made.

Photos are of my peanut, Nik, on her last birthday.  Definitely a place in time that I want to preserve forever.  The large calendar header, along with the clock image, call attention to that particular moment in a concrete, yet subtle fashion.

Besides the 12×12 calendar, I also used the adorable new Days-of-the-Week cards on either side of my photo block.  I used these pieces to note the actual date of Nik’s birthday.

Paper on this page is from one of Webster’s new lines, Postcards from Paris.  The 12×12 calendar is from Magical Wishes.  Also used two trims from the Spring Whimsy Trim Kit.  The title letters are some Making Memories chipboard alphas that I inked brown to match my color scheme.

I hope that I’ve inspired you all to give some of Webster’s great calendar options a whirl.  Check out all the details for this challenge here.  Can’t wait to see what you all come up with!

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Cardalicious 3

Good Tuesday morning, everyone! The new challenge is up over at the Cardalicious blog, and it’s time to share.  This week, you are to make a shaped card. The card can be any shape you want, except for a square or rectangle.  So time to start thinking out of the box at all the possibilities that are out there and have a little fun.  Here is what I did.

A pumpkin!  Of course! I made this cute card using Melissa Francis patterned paper and a chipboard leaf from our September 2007 Paper-Playground kit.  I am not very good at free-handing shaped objects, so I decided to overlap three oval cut-outs to get the basic form of a pumpkin.  I downloaded several oval shapes from the internet and adjusted their size in an editing program to get the approximate dimensions that I wanted.  The fun thing is that you can make this be any size that you would like.  My ovals are about 3″ x2.5″.  I pieced my ovals onto some folded over cardstock so that the left edge of my pumpkin was around 1/4″ from the fold of the cardstock.  That allowed me to cut around the patterned paper, leaving a small section of the fold un-cut so that the card does not fall apart.  I wanted to emphasize the ovals in the design, so ran a simple machine stitch around the edges of each piece.  Then I covered the chipboard leaf with more paper and inked it to give it a touch of green tint.  A torn cardstock stem, some floral wire wrapped around a paintbrush, a piece of ribbon, and a small jeweler’s tag finish off the card.

You will really be amazed at what the other designer’s did for their projects.  And it seems that I am not the only one with pumpkins on the brain.  Hope you will all go check it out and play along!

Have a great day!

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Monday Musings

Hey everyone!  Good Monday morning to you!  Not too much is going on………I did get Nik back to school this morning after missing three days last week.  She is still feeling really nauseated, and we’re not sure where that is coming from.  Possibly a side-effect from some other medication she is on.  Poor little thing!  She’s going to go until lunch, and then I’m bringing her home.  Baby steps is all we can take at the moment.

But in happier news, I did get the chance to do some scrapbooking over the weekend.  Went to my friend Kathie’s house where three of us Paper-Playground gals got together for a little crop.  They were working on some super cute September kit layouts that I will have soon to put up on the Paper-Playground gallery.  I worked on a card using the August kit and some other assignments that I will be able to share soon. Love those kits. And speaking of the kits….I got September’s kits boxed up and ready for mailing yesterday.  They are sitting at my door as I write, waiting for the mailman to whisk them on their way.  I always love seeing the boxes stacked up and ready to go.   Gives me a such a sense of satisfaction.  There are still kits left if anyone wants one, by the way!  And don’t forget to leave me a comment on my blog giveaway day post to enter your name in a random drawing to win some of the Bazzill mini stitching templates we used in August’s kit.  I will do the drawing for that on Friday.  Woo-hoo!

In other scrappy news, I wanted to tell you all about the September challenge going on over at the Webster’s Pages inspireME site.  This month’s challenge is all about heritage photos.  Here is what design team member, Anabelle O’Malley has to say about it.

“Webster’s Pages naturally lend themselves to vintage, shabby pages. And what better photos to scrap this way than heritage ones? My challenge for you is to pull out those old photo albums and create a layout using an older photo. Of course, your page doesn’t need to be shabby, you may want to do something fun and funky!”

What an absolutely perfect theme for Webster’s Pages products!  I do hope you will all play along.  The winner of the challenge will win a collection of the Webster’s Pages line of her/his choice.  What a great incentive!  Time to get scrapping!

Have a great day everyone!

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Mummy Wrap

Once again, I feel very lucky this morning.  Hanna has come and gone through our area without our hardly knowing she was even here.  We had a little bit of wind and a little bit of rain, but by noon yesterday, the skies were clearing and turning into a beautiful day.  And this morning, too, promises to bring us another glorious day.  How nice for our last day of break before returning to school.  Ugh…….I had to say it.  Yes, tomorrow we head back to school to start our second session of this year.  The kiddos are not very happy campers about it, either.  And I will admit I’m not looking forward to having to get up at 6 am again…

But what a nice three week break we have had.  We got to take that trip up to Williamsburg to the Great Wolf Lodge, and the kids spent a week at the beach, as well.  And now we have Glammie visiting!  It has been wonderful having her here.  I’ve been so busy hanging out with her that I haven’t spent much time doing anything else.  But I did make a page last night that I can share with you now using my favorite September kit from Paper-Playground.  I just cannot get enough of that kit!  I’m loving how well the colors match so many of my photos and how easy this kit is to use.

You all may recognize these photos, as I’ve posted them before.  These were taken at Nik’s school fall festival that was held the last day of school before break.  I went and volunteered, so was able to capture a few of the highlights in pictures.  These photos of Nik doing the mummy wrap race were my favorite of the day.  And this activity was, by far, the favorite of the kids that day, too.

This page combines three of the patterned papers from Basic Grey with two colors of the Bazzill cardstock. I hand cut some more of those cute birdies for embellishment and also cut some wavy cardstock strips to mimic the mummy wrapping in the photos.  The title combines the Basic Grey mini monogram stickers from the kit with some Making Memories black alpha rub-ons from my stash.  And then for detail under the title, I layered all sorts of goodies from the kit, including a chipboard circle tag, some brads, another bird, both trims and the felt flowers from American Crafts.

Don’t know how many more projects I can still eek out of this much-loved kit, but I’m going to find out! !

Have a great day everyone!

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Sketch This 65

It’s such a happy morning in our household.  The sun is shining and we are still enjoying our last few days of track-out break before heading back to school on Monday.  And the best part of all is that my mom arrived last night for a month long visit.  I’ve got my mommy!  Yeah!  Life is good!

And now it’s time to share my card for this week’s sketch over at the Sketch This blog.  Sketch #65.

Made this for my girlfriend’s birthday using the September kit from Paper-Playground.  Told you I was going to use up every single scrap of this kit!  I just added a rub-on birthday greeting from My Sentiment’s Exactly to personalize this for Amy.  The inside of the card reads: When You Never Look Any Older.  Perfect sentiment for her, as I don’t think she looks a day older than when I met her years ago.  Lucky girl!

Here is the sketch.

Lots of room for small details on this sketch, such as the layered area at the focal point and on each corner of the background block. I cut out tiny squares of cardstock and dressed them up with a single French knot for my corner embellishments.  For my focal point, I layered patterned paper and that funky mesh trim under a chipboard circle tag that is topped with leaf cut-outs, silk organdy ribbon and one of the gorgeous metal filigree brads from Little Yellow Bicycle.  Love the combo of papers from Basic Grey and Little Yellow Bicycle in this month’s kit!

Well, I’m off now to enjoy this beautiful day with the kiddos and Glammie!  Hope you all have a wonderful day, too.

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Here it is!!

At last!  It is September 1st, and I can officially show you all the long-awaited full release of September’s kit from Paper-Playground!  After enduring all the peeks over this last week, I hope I’ve gotten at least a few of you as excited as I am.  Here it is.

The patterned papers this month are a combination of Little Yellow Bicycle Vita Bella, Basic Grey Eva and Basic Grey Offbeat.  There is also 6 sheets of coordinating Bazzill cardstock: 2 each of 3 different colors.  We have metallic rub-ons from Little Yellow Bicycle and alphabet stickers from Basic Grey Offbeat Sweets Mini Monos.  The ribbon and mesh trim are from May Arts, and you will receive one yard of each.  Lastly, there is an embellishment bag containing Offbeat buttons, Offbeat brads, American Crafts felt flowers, Vita Bella Metal Filigree brads, Colorbok chipboard tags & tabs, a white hydrangea floral pick, and Making Memories (Jack) Animal Crackers felt shapes.

Now that’s a whole lot of gorgeous, isn’t it?  And, it’s available now.  Just pop on over to the Paper-Playground website and get one for yourself.

Hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day holiday today!  My kids are back home from the beach and we are going to enjoy this beautiful summer day together.  We don’t have big plans……maybe a trip up to the pool.  Just blissful, nothing-to-do relaxation!  Sounds so good to me.  But tomorrow……..now that’s another story.  Tomorrow is Pete’s 13th birthday.  No wonder I’ve been so sentimental lately, huh?  If we keep busy enough, I won’t have to think about the fact that I now have an official teenager.  Uuuggghhhh!

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Cards from the September Kit

We are down to one day until kit release, and as promised, I have a couple of cards I can show you today that I made using September’s kit from Paper-Playground. Both projects feature one of my favorite patterned papers from this month’s sampling. Love these playful birds. Here is the first.

I was greatly inspired by a cute layout I saw by tiabennett on the 2Peas gallery this week using this birdie paper. She, also, had outlined one of the birds with a black marker, drawing immediate attention to it as a focal point. Knew right away I wanted to use that idea as well. So a quick outline and a doodled music note along with song lyrics coming from another bird were the perfect details for this birthday themed card. Also gave my songbird some further embellishment with a little brad for the eye. For the greeting, I combined the kit alpha stickers with a sentiment printed from my computer.

Here is another card I made using the same birdie paper.

This time, a simple pair of lovebirds cut from the sheet of patterned paper is all this card needs to convey it’s message of love. Cutting images out of paper is one of my favorite techniques. It’s inexpensive, usually fairly easy to do, and perfectly coordinated to boot.

I have really enjoyed bringing all these kit project peeks to you these last few days. It’s exciting to be able to finally reveal the full kit tomorrow, when it becomes available on the website. Come on back to see the kit photos then, or head directly over to the Paper-Playground website.

And in other scrappy news….don’t forget that midnight tonight, EST, is the deadline for linking your Random Chaos challenge project entry. The winner of this challenge will be asked to be a guest Designer for the blog, AND you will also get to choose the next challenge assignment. How fun is that? check out the blog for all the details. Good luck!

I hope that you all have a wonderful Labor Day holiday!

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Ready For More?

So how about it? Are you all ready to see another project I made using the September kit from Paper-Playground? I am going to get you guys hooked yet. I can honestly tell you that I am in love with this kit. It keeps drawing me back into my scrap room. Pretty soon there is going to be nothing left of it. I’m starting to get down to scraps, but I can tell I’m going to eek out every little tidbit I can. Love it too much to let anything go to waste. Here is today’s page.

LOOK at my little guy! Wasn’t he just the cutest thing? Where does the time go? That’s all I can think of when I look at this photo……..where on earth has the time gone? How can more than a decade have slipped away since this picture was taken? So long ago….sigh.

Think I’m going to move on to some recent photos because these last two pages have made me quite sentimental. Love this, though. This kit was just perfect for this photo that I’ve been hanging onto for a very, very long time. Perfect colors! Perfect!

I’ve still got more projects up my sleeve. Tomorrow I will share a couple of cards that I have made with the kit. But for now……..I hear my scrap room calling.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

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Another September Kit Project

Well, just as I promised yesterday, I have another cute kit project to share with you all today using the September kit from Paper-Playground. Just three more days now until it is available on the P-P website. I know I say how much I love all the kits, but this one is really ringing my happy bell! More so than I even thought it could. I have fallen deeply in love with the rich colors and patterns to these papers and the metallic embellishments. I knew I was going to love the ribbon and trim, but working with them have exceeded my expectations. Once again I must say that this kit is pure visual eye-candy. Here is my page for today.

This layout was inspired by an old Pencil Lines sketch that I came across when I was flipping through my sketch book.  Sketch #67 by Sasha Farina.  She does gorgeous work.  I am always amazed by the Pencil Lines site.  If you guys like sketches and haven’t checked this site out, it is a MUST see!

I get kind of sentimental looking at this.  These photos are from one of our California trips, the books of which I will probably be working on for the rest of my life!  Although these photos are only five years old, this seems so long ago to me.  My kiddos look so little.  This is just proof of how fast they really grow.  So much change in such a short time.  I remember that day so clearly, though.  We were at the San Francisco Zoo. That place holds tons of memories for me.  Peter wanted to be “in charge” of the map and lead us to wherever we decided to go.  That’s him crouching in the left photo with the rolled up map in his hand.  I remember how seriously he took that responsibility.  Nik was just joyous, as usual.  Always such a happy girl.  Good times.

So glad I used this beautiful kit for these special photos.  I love how this turned out.

So are you getting worked into a frenzy over September’s kit yet?  No???  How can that be?  Come back tomorrow, then, and I’ll tempt you with another project.

Have a great day everyone!

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Bring On September

I can’t stand it! I’m just too excited about the September kit from Paper-Playground to hold back any longer. I think it’s time to start sharing my projects and getting you all in on the excitement, too. We are just four days away from the kit release now. I’m still not going to show you the whole kit……..no, no….don’t beg. But I will show you this cute page I made with it.

What do you think? Aren’t these colors yummy? Love the combo of teal and turquoise, olive and lime with accents of copper. Look at that gorgeous ribbon and the funky mesh trim. This kit is a visual feast.  From the silky ribbon to the metallic detailing to the metal embellishments to the fun trim, you can almost feel the texture jumping out at you.

So, are you hankering after this kit yet? Not sure? Well, come back tomorrow, and I’ll share another kit project with you then. Can’t wait!

Have a great day everyone!

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