Monday, April 30, 2012

Blackie

Old layout with some old photos of the little black squirrel who scampered around our neighborhood several years ago. No words on it yet but I've gotten this far. Created on Club Scrap's English Garden kit. Title cut with Quickutz Blossom alphabet. Squirrels cut on Silhouette. No particular sketch this time.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Snap Happy

Layout created for the Monthly Sketch Relay challenge at Club Scrap. It's from the Welcome kit. The sketch is from the Orient Express kit. The flower and Snap Happy embellishments were cut on my Silhouette and then colored with Broken China Distress Ink as I don't have any of the rubber or embellies that came with the kit. Layout features old photos of my niece and nephew which I believe were taken in 2003 or 2004. I'll have to research that info. They were provided my brother and I don't have the background on them. Thanks for looking.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Tie Dye Challenge

Hetty at Club Scrap challenged us to make a Tie Dye Card.  I couldn't face the plastic baggie technique she suggested so I turned to an old friend. My Spin Art machine. Love playing with that thing and don't know why I don't do it more often. Such cool backgrounds are created. Of course, I made many more which I'm sure you will see in the future. Thanks to Hetty for challenging us to stretch ourselves, out of our comfort zone sometimes.

All materials are Club Scrap. Refresh card base. Watercolor panels colored with Distress reinkers in my Spin Art machine. Transparencies from, oh, gosh, I don't remember right now. Blue circles from Stratosphere. Stamp from Refresh. Thanks for looking.


Thursday, April 26, 2012

Counterfeit Kit - April

Bliss is the name of Nancy's kit for me this month and I am blissful that I finally got SOMETHING made with it. This has not been a crafty month for me and I am crunched for time at the end of the month so these offerings may be all I accomplish. First is a card using bits and pieces of the patterned paper, mostly from Pink Paislee. The rubber stamp is a loaner from Miss Nancy. I did use a base of coral Cruisin' cardstock from Club Scrap to make the card as I wasn't ready to cut into one of my 12x12's. Created based upon a sketch from My Favorite Things suggested by Counterfeit Kit Challenge. Here's a link.
I worked backwards this time and made the layout with the scraps. HA HA HA

Dug through a shoebox of old photos to find some random ones with appropriate colors. As it turned out, once I finished the layout, I discovered the photos on each side of the layout were from totally different years. For those of you who know me well, THAT is not how I scrapbook. But I can live with it this time. So random photos and random dates. These pics were taken on various occasions when I "fend the night" with Mallory when she was a youngster. We had fun snuggling together. And playing with our dogs. 
This style layout is so far out of my comfort zone. Combined with the randomness of the photos, I feel free as a bird. Not saying I will continue to scrap in this way but it's another layout completed for the books and that makes me happy. The sketch was suggested by the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog here.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Talk Derby to Me




This week's Squirrely Challenge is another one from Technique Junkies. It's called Cascading Images. If you don't already get this great stamping newsletter, here's a link for info.

Banner shape cut on Silhouette. Old patterned papers from my ancient stash. I couldn't begin to identify. The card base is from Club Scrap's Apothecary. The rubber stamp is another oldie, purchased in Lexington, Kentucky in 2000. Called Racing Star and made by True West Designs. All edges inked with Distress Ink. Thanks for looking. Now go over to Nancy's blog to look at the other submissions for this challenge or check the Squirrel Girls listing on the right of my page.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Week 16 – Weekly Chronicles

Week 16 8x8

The Weekly Chronicles prompt over at Club Scrap is to post a layout telling what Earth Day means to me. Although my Weekly Chronicles cover the week from Sunday to Saturday so the whole Earth Day thing doesn't really apply to mine, I treated this week as Earth Week and made an effort to take a daily photo of  "earth-y" things around me. Most photos were taken on the American River Parkway during my bike rides this week. One photo includes a little lizard (I think he's a California Alligator Lizard). And one photo of flowers is mis-identified. I have been absolutely unable to locate the name of the flower, so if one of you outdoorsy gals can help me, I would appreciate it. It's up to you to discover which one is mis-labeled. Still having fun with this challenge although EVERY Sunday night I swear I will do a bit of this Photoshopping earlier in the week. Do I? Well, I will let you guess that......
I used Club Scrap’s Come Sail Away digi papers (altered a bit to lighten the color) and the same Becky Higgins Project Life tempates from Jessica Sprague. Thanks for looking.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Counterfeit Kit Challenge – April

As Nancy explained on her blog, we knew we were going to see each other this month so we waited to exchange our kits in person. What fun! Nancy called her kit Bliss and it’s blissfully full of delicious colors and textures. The colors are fabulous. She even included some purple for me. And I love the lace paper. Don’t have any other that in my stash. The papers are so Spring-y and I love the extra bicycle embellishments. Great fibers and birdie die cuts. There are even some Distress Ink re-inkers. Now all I have to do is get busy creating some layouts and cards. Photos from our recent hike on Table Mountain should work quite well. Thanks so much, Nancy, I am so happy you suggested we play this little game each month. Hopefully, we’ll get back on track creating with them. We were sidetracked a little by PSL.

In case you are interested in our inspiration kit from Counterfeit Kit Challenge, here’s the link. It’s a kit club from Spain so we were doubly challenged by not being able to read much of the accompanying text.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Spritz and Flick - Squirrely Challenge

I'm late. I'm late. For a very important date. I missed the cut off for Nancy's Squirrely Challenge. Mr. Linky is even closed out. Boo hoo

But I am posting anyway because, darn it, I made the card. This is one of the Tim Holtz Techniques taught in his recent class Creative Chemistry. He calls it Spritz and Flick using Distress Inks. I used the technique on the butterflies and their mats. My color choice was Seedless Preserves for the butterflies and Shabby Shutters for the mats. The spritzing was done with my homemade recipe of Perfect Pearls spray. All shapes cut on Cuttlebug using Spellbinders dies. The card base is from Club Scrap's Lotus Pond. The card panel is from Stampin' Up's First Edition Specialty Designer Series Paper. All edges inked with Tea Dye Distress Ink. Thanks for looking. Please excuse my tardiness.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Week 15 – Weekly Chronicles

For this week's Project 366 Weekly Chronicle challenge at Club Scrap, we were asked to take a photo depicting the celebration of DEAR - Drop Everything and Read. I snapped a sneaky photo of Roy while reading his Nook and unbelievable as it sounds, he agreed to take a photo of me reading in bed on Friday night. The digi papers used are from Club Scrap's recent Sprinkles kit. As always, the templates are from Becky Higgins' Project Life through Jessica Sprague. Thanks for looking.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Sunshine Plantation

The layout is about our visit to the Sunshine Plantation in Queensland in 1989. Most supplies are from Club Scrap. Layout base is Castaway. Green and gold are from the Paradise remix (Refresh and Avant Garde). I created the border on left side by masking with an 11x11 piece of Bristol Smooth and then spraying with Memories Mist (Orange Juice and Vivid Yellow). I then used that piece to cut the other pieces used for the stencil, etc. All edges inked with DI Tea Dye. Stencil image is from Polynesian inked with Distress Inks. Letter stickers from my aging stash. Computer generated journaling. The sketch is another one from the Big Picture Double Take class. Still determined to make two layouts from every sketch. 

Always the multi-tasker, I have posted this in the Tropical Paradise challenge at Club Scrap and a challenge involving sprays at Paperartistsonline.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Week 14 - Weekly Chronicles

For this week's Project 366 Weekly Chronicle, I used digi paper from the latest Club Scrap kit Come Sail Away. I recolored the "papers" a bit to suit the photos being used. The journal card was a freebie from The Splendidly Imperfect Miss M. As always, the templates are from Becky Higgins' Project Life through Jessica Sprague. Thanks for looking.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Weekly Chronicles - the Lost Weeks - 11 and 12

Oooops, just discovered I failed to upload my Weekly Chronicles for Weeks 11 and 12. Layout templates are from Becky Higgins Project Life digi templates from Jessica Sprague and placed on digi papers from Club Scrap. Journaling cards are both snagged from freebie sites on the internet. Thanks to those generous scrappers. Thanks to you for looking.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Week 13 - Weekly Chronicles

Whew! Another week under our belts. We didn't really do any spring cleaning per se but since January 1, we have had a Wednesday ritual of working on purging our overstuffed four drawer file cabinet. We review paperwork for about an hour and then DH spends another bit of time SHREDDING it all. So that photo is depicted on my page. Also, though it is hardly a Yearly ritual, on Saturday this week, DH decided I should learn to check my own fluid levels so that is the POTD for that day. Layout created with Becky Higgins Project Life digi templates from Jessica Sprague and placed on digi papers from Club Scrap Sprinkles kit. Thanks for looking.

Happy Birthday to my April Fool

A version of a stairstep card created for my birthday girl for her 24th birthday. Card base is on Club Scrap's Blackberry from Written Word. Panels are blue from Solstice. Main image is a cut and print from Echo Park through Silhouette. Other stamped images include a balloon from the Dollar bin at Michaels and images from Club Scrap's kits Time & Space and Weather. Sentiments computer generated. The focal point was printed five times and glued together to make a pop up feature. Happy Birthday, Sweetie!