Authentique Smile

I finally finished up a LO I started at Archivers a few weeks ago. I started with Authentique,  Crate, and Bazzill  papers from a Sweet Peach Crop Shop kit and Sketch #197 from Creative Scrappers. When I finished it, I ended up using none of the embellies from the kit (except a little twine) ; instead, I sued flowers and rhinestones from a Scrapabilities kit my husband got me from Costco 2 Christmases ago and an Avery shipping tag. I colored the tag with distress inks from TH/ranger and I re-colored the white flowers with TA Glimmer Mists. The journaling will go on the tag. Thanks for Looking!

P.S. Spring Break is almost upon us so I will have another week of scarce blog fodder. But, like the Terminator, I'll be back :P

A quick hello and a nice surprise!

My week has been insane- again! I spent 2 days visiting my 90 y.o. grandmother bracketed by 2 days of 12 hour drives to get there and home again. I barely spent any time at my hotel and wireless was nonexistent or pathetically slow everywhere else plus I was trying to work in-between visiting time. Anyway, I have been catching up with my family (my in-laws were here visiting and got deserted) and job. No crafting or even blog reading has occurred :(  Hoped to get to do both this weekend but watching the vids for my online class was about it  (I am taking Tim H's class at onlinecardclasses.com).

But, while I was gone, I got such an awesome surprise from Norma at Lil Honey Bee Studios. She does beautiful layouts and very collagey mixed media pieces. Her art is just beautiful! I'm totally honored that she sent this my way :)  Thank you so much, Norma - you made my day! :)

 "Liebster" is German for "Dearest". The award is a  "Share the love arrangement", given to inspirational bloggers with less than 200 followers. Here is the to do list for any of the  "Liebster" blog award recipients. 

1. Thank your Liebster Blog award presenter on your blog.

2. Link back to the blogger who presented you the award.

3.Copy and paste the award on your blog.

4. Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 bloggers with less than 200 followers.

5. Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment on their blog.

I am happy to now honor some awesome bloggers with this award...

I'd like to pass this award on to these inspiring ladies who may not be necessarily new to blogging but are under 200 followers and always inspire me with their beautiful work:

1. Krista Wells at confessions of a 20 something artist
2. Aubree at Scraps of My Life
3.Katherine Sutton at fruit of my scraps
4. Marelize at my creative footprints
5. Angie Gutshall at my little blessings


These 5 are really the tip of the iceberg. I subscribe to a ton of blogs and there are so, so many incredibly talented scrapbookers/papercrafters out there

More oldies but goodies

 Here are a couple more layouts that never got posted here but I still love. The first is a copy of my mother's bridal sitting photo and was made with an old SPCS kit. Really simple LO again but I think it suits the photo.

Supplies: Bazzill CS; BG bling; Prima flowers and journal card; Imaginisce brads

The second is still one of my all-time fav 2-page spreads. It was made with my hoarded Scenic Route and lots of fussy cutting, crumpling and layering

Supplies: SR PPs; Stickles; twine and buttons from my stash; MME journaling card

Echo Park - Brave Boy

A couple weeks ago, SoapHouseMama posted some of her unblogged layouts and challenged her readers to do the same.  I didn't think I really had much of any that weren't already in albums but found some LO pictures on my computer the other day and decided that, while they were done a while ago and my style has changed a bit, I still like them quite a bit and consider them blog-worthy.

Both of these are super simple but make me happy :)

Supplies #1: Echo Park PP, Bazzill CS, CM letters, MM epoxy words, AC foam photo corners


Supplies #2: EK Success punch, Archivers CS, BG ribbon, AC thickers, CC tiny type, Jenni bowlin labels, Maya Road pins, misc unknown

Sassafras - surprise

I had a milestone birthday a year or so ago and my sweet husband threw a surprise party for me which included a few friends that flew in for the occasion- it was awesome and explains the horrible expression on my face *LOL*

I used an old kit from the now closed Sweet Peach Crop Shop kit club and a sketch from Creative Scrappers

Supplies: Sassafras PP, Stickers; Bazzill CS; paper lace unknown; AC Thickers

Friends - Bo Bunny and Starting Points

I used Shimelle's latest starting point for this LO and I challenged myself to use these BoBunny scraps. Those deicisons up front should have made this pretty quick but my mojo was completely blocked and it took me forever to do this LO. Oh well. Please pardon the fingerprints and glare on the photos- I am leaving town for a few days and have been running around like a mad woman today so forgot to clean up the photos and had to take pics inside :P

I splattered a little paint to break up the top PP (and I flipped the multi-color vs tone on tones from Shimelle's SP) and added a Pebbles paper for the photo mat and journaling base. I like the final result- just wish it hadn't taken so long to get there *LOL*

Supplies: Bo Bunny PP; Pebbles PP; Bazzill CS; AC Thickers; Sassafras PP; MME labels and journaling cards; OA sprinklers

Sketch Challenge - 3rd Cousins

I did this layout for the weekly challenge- sketch this time- at 2 Peas. I pulled out some truly ancient stash for this. This is Cloud 9 Designs- the paper was Cinnamon Stick, the die-cuts, stickers and chipboard flowers were Cocoa Mint. This is one of those layouts that was so much better in my head but I do still like it. I dressed up a few of the flowers with liquid pearls. It's pretty simple really but I guess that's good with busy paper :)

Anyway, I love this pic of my nieces and my second cousins' sons  and that we are close enough with our second cousins that the thirds will know each other pretty well too :D

Supplies: Ranger Liquid Pearls; AC thickers; CC Tiny Type; Bazzill CS; Cloud 9 Designs everything else

Basic Grey - Ready for their CloseUp

My not-quite 8 year old wanted a "real" camera for Christmas. I kind of had in mind a "cheapie" but my mother and sister picked out a canon that is technically nicer than my pocket digital *LOL* To his credit, he has been super careful with it so far. But, it is hilarious to me that the self-portraits have already started - along with pics of his so-willing-to-mug brother. Anyway, I printed these out thinking I might try PL this year (Ha!) and decided to scrap them instead of my 2 y.o photos for once :P

I used a sketch by Ashley Rock and pulled out my untouched (aka hoarded) collection of BG Boxer. I added a little misting with a mask, a little paint splatter for texture, and a few brads and a journaling card to the BG stickers, PP, and fussy-cut elements. I was thinking that this line would probably mix great with LYB Saturdays- now I wish I hadn't put myself on restriction for Lent *LOL*

Thanks for stopping by. I so appreciate all the nice comments on my posts. How do you all "reply" to comments? Do you reply in the comments (I figure people rarely come back to check for replies) ? Do you reply on their blog? Not reply at all unless there is a specific question?

Supplies: Basic Grey PP, die-cut stickers, alpha stickers; OA sprinkler; TA glimmer mist; Crafters workshop stencil; MME journaling card; CM pen; Brads unknown

MME - Playful

I was dying to play with the "Follow Your Heart" collection from MME some more so I pulled it all out and was a cutting fool :P

I ordered the LifeCrafts (formerly QK) hexagon nesting dies before I even got this paper in my hands! Love them!

I used my Glitz Designs star rolling stamp and 2 Jenni Bowlin inks to create a border beneath the photo and to create a fall of stars above the hexagon cutouts. I then went back with my orange Sakura Tiara pen and colored in several of he stars

Supplies: MME PPs, Chipboard, brads; Archivers CS; Twinery twines; Portofina buttons; Amy Tangerine washi tape; WRMK inker; CM pen; homemade resin stars (molds form Mold Muse on Etsy); Ranger/Jenni Bowlin inks; Glitz roller stamp; Sakura of Japan Tiara glitter pen; LifeCrafts Hexagon dies

Dear Lizzy - Scraptastic Friends

I have made a lot of friends trough this hobby of ours.... a couple of meetup groups have come and gone but some of the people I met thru those groups are my souvenirs :P We try to go on retreats a couple times a year and these pics are from one fo those weekends. There were 4 of us besides those pictured; but, apparently, we didn't bother with cameras a whole lot *LOL*

Anyway, I enjoyed making a "girly" page for once

Supplies: AC DL PP, alpha stickers, image stickers; MM buttons and PP; Sassafras buttons; MME ribbon; Marcella by K paper clips; zig marker; OA sprinklers

MME - I Absolutely Adore You

 I did this LO using a starting point from Shimelle Laine . I absolutely adore this Rhonna Farrer collection from MME and have been dying to use it so I made myself find a photo and actually cut into its yumminess :P


Supplies: Bazzill CS; Archivers CS; WRMK ink; MME PP, pins, brad; Avery tag; TA glimmered mists; Sakura stardust pens; BG and Maya Road ribbons; Hambly washi tape; MS doily; OA Sprinkler; Melody Ross transparent die-cut; sharpies; CM hexagon punch

MME- Fernbank

This layout was also for Shimelle's class at 2 Peas but this "Starting Point"  is really one I have used a lot- a base of 2 8x12 or so of PP across a 2 page LO (The color is way off on the starting point pic- sorry)

The pics are from a natural history museum here in the ATL. My mom and I took the boys when I had several weeks off between jobs.

Supplies: Bazzill CS, MME patterned papers and twine, Sassafras buttons, Making Memories paper and magnetic stamps, OA sprinklers, Jenni Bowlin ink, WRMK ink

Echo Park - Bat Boy

I had these cute pics off a friend's camera phone of my youngest being goofy and generally showing off for my friends :P

I used a Starting Point from Shimelle Laine's Hitchhiker's Guide class at 2 Peas. I picked out papers and stickers from Echo Park's Sweet Summertime which I still adore. I added in washi tapes and thickers from AC, washi from Pink Paislee and I used my  MS bat border punch

WOYWW

 I've seen a lot of posts for the "What's on your workspace Wednesday" I have no idea who started these but thought it would be fun to participate once. So, this is the hot mess that is my desk. It is actually pretty organized but I have a lot of stuff crowded on my desk in an effort to have a lot of stuff close to hand- both for ease and to help me remember to use it :P

My MM carousel has lots of pens, scissors, adhesives, and corner chompers. My MM desk thingy holds lots of labels and smaller alpha stickers and the wine crate has separators and holds a ton of journaling  books/blocks. There are some bozes of embellies in the hutch as well as photos and some miscellaneous tools. That pile in front of the wine crate is actually a binder ring of all my page map sketch cards (in the hopes that I will use them once in a while)

The LO in this pic is now completed- will post it soon :)

Anyway, here is a pic of all the women who attended Teresa Collins' class on Saturday. I grabbed the pic off TC's blog since I didn't get one on my camera :)

Just a quick note

Just popping in - I don't have any new projects at the moment and have to unload photos off my camera but popping in here to say I haven't fallen off the planet yet :P

We had crazy storms here Friday night - spent the night in the basement with the kids "camped" out in my craft room. Saturday, I drove an hour away to take 2 classes with Teresa Collins who is just as sweet and genuine as can be. I love her new Fabrications and Everyday Moments collections- they are my favs of anything she has ever done in fact- so was thrilled to take these 2 classes with her. The books are not done- just the base pages- as I like to embellish after photos are in but they are 10x10 and 8x8 "minis" which I think are great sizes. I need to figure out what I want to put in them so I can finish them up :)


So, after all that, Saturday night and Sunday were devoted to family time and laundry *LOL*

My google reader list is 100+ posts long- need to catch up after work tonight  :)

Hopefully, I'll make it back into the scraptastic craft cave soon

MME - I *heart* u

I made this LO Tues night but had to commute to work for the last 2 days (I normally work from home) and never had a chance to take a pic in decent light. Of course, today is overcast and getting ready to rain so this is only a slight improvement :P The stamped hearts are less orangey in person and the stickles on the heart details read as blue- not orange- in person.

I love this MME Valentine's line - and I love that I can use it for anything love. My youngest went thru a phase where he "didn't need naps" but would go like the energizer bunny until he would just suddenly fall asleep in the oddest places or positions :P No temper tantrums or fussing- he would just drop. The left pic is him sitting in a kid's folding chair but he just leaned his head over onto the ottoman and went to sleep like that *LOL*

Anyway, I had fun playing with stash and techniques I am often too lazy to use or that is home when I usually scrap at crops. Lots of stamping, liquid pearls and stickles on top of my normal border punching and misting. The bottom XO strip is actually the result of using it as a stencil to color the vanilla cardstock for the love border directly above. I ended up liking my stencil enough to use it too :) The heart in the title is actually 2 negatives of die-cuts from the MME collection pack. I cut them out, layered them and then traced around them with my pen.

Supplies: Bazzill CS; MME papers and die-cuts; AC knock out punches and thickers; TA glimmer mist; SC Mr Huey mist; Ranger Liquid Pearls, Distress Ink, and Stickles; Fancy Pants stamps; Smash date stamp; CM corner rounder and pen; MS for Avery office label; Cloud 9 Design stickers