Mojo is Back!

After a long break from crafting and blogging, it's good to be back with some new layouts, cards and challenge posts!

These last few months have been busy with homeschool and homeschool co-op with my youngest, plus spending time with my oldest, taking him to his new job and teaching him to drive in the process.  I also signed up as a Stampin' Up consultant, which has been such a fun time! (more on this later)

We just took a ten day Spring Break, in which I took the opportunity to go through my scrap stash and purge many things that hadn't been used for eons, and probably wouldn't ever get used.  I grouped what I planned to keep by collection, so it would be easier to grab a sleeve of product and finish a layout when I only had a few minutes.  Needless to say since reorganizing, scrapping has been more fun, and over the Break, I finished MANY layouts, cards and pocket scrapbooking pages! (Videos coming soon to my YouTube channel!)

For this post, I wanted to share two layouts that I completed yesterday for the Make it Monday sketch challenges over at The Memory Nest blog.  (You can find the challenges on the right margin of Leslie's blog)

The first sketch is this one for Make it Monday # 35.

For this layout, I used the remainder of the 2010 Fancy Pants collection on hand called "My Family". The only additions were Basic Grey chipboard letters, along with a few gems.

The next sketch is for Make it Monday #36:

Again for this layout, I grabbed one of my sleeves with what I had left of the 2010 Little Yellow Bicycle's "Twig"collection.  Once I started to follow the design, I remembered this photo and the page took on a different twist.  The back layers are probably the only original item from the sketch, but I am happy with how this turned out.  

In addition to the collection paper and embellishment sheet, I added the chipboard title phrases from K & Company.

There is still time to take part of these challenges, where you could win a gift certificate from The Memory Nest store.  

I hope this post will inspire you to get out those old collections and use them up!

Card Making Process: Joy of a Challenge

This past week I have been finishing up my Christmas cards to send out, and to keep me going, I completed the latest Make It Monday Challenge over at The Memory Nest for fun!

This challenge really required me to think outside the box, especially since I wanted to twist it and use this opportunity to make another Christmas card.  Here is the challenge:

Since I'm playing for fun, I "cheated" just a little by taking one word as my title.  The second sketch is what I used to make my card:

The paper was from a BoBunny collection from a couple years ago; I just love the bright, happy colors!  As for using an item from my office supplies, I used a coordinating circle paper clip that is hooked on the inside of the card (not seen here).  

Do you have all your Christmas cards mailed yet?  How many do you send each year?

There is still time to link up to Leslie's "Make it Monday" challenge!  Your participation gives you eligibility in the monthly giveaway!

Scrapbook Process: Selfie Challenge

With homeschooling, birthday celebrations, and other Design Team challenges, I haven't had too much time lately to do any other challenges. However, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to participate the latest "Make It Monday" challenge at The Memory Nest.  This time, the challenge had a sketch and the theme of a "selfie."  I had the perfect photo from Halloween!

All items on this layout (paper and embellishments) are from American Crafts.  

The challenge is open through the rest of November, and if you participate, you will have the chance to win a gift certificate from The Memory Nest!  

Scrapbook Process: Bluebonnets and Simplicity

It's time for another summer "Chickadee DT" challenge over at The Memory Nest today!  This is the simplistic layout I created using the sketch and color palette that Leslie chose:

For this layout, I wanted the majority of the attention to go right to the photos, so I chose a light, solid color cardstock for the base, then used two different papers from Pink Paisley "Vintage Vogue" collection (Taffeta and Dress Shop) to bring in the pops of color. (By the way, these papers are on sale now at The Memory Nest store!!) 

These are two of my favorite photos, and actually, it isn't the first time that I have scrapped them.  This was one of the best years for bluebonnets that I can remember since moving to Texas.  My boys were 8 and 2-1/2 and we did an day trip to Johnson City, TX to the Johnson Ranch to get some great photos that spring.

What is a favorite annual event that you love to take photos of every year?

Scrapbook Process: Smiling with Patterned Paper

Yesterday I talked about my latest project of reorganizing my patterned paper by color.  It has produced good results:  I have found paper that I had forgotten about and now able to use.

This is a layout I finished after my paper reorganization that is for The Memory Nest's sketch challenge that starts linking up today:

The layout started with solid colored cardstock, layered with My Mind's Eye "Lost and Found 3" paper, and  stickers which I believe are from the Indie collection. The photo mat is from Basic Grey's "PB&J" line that I purchased from The Memory Nest store.    

What is a collection you have in your stash that you need to bring out and use?

Scrapbook Process: "Let's Play" a Challenge!

This weekend was fairly productive, scrapping-wise.  I got quite a few layouts finished -- most with old photos that I had never gotten around to scrapping.  Now that I am practicing more and more layering with my 12 x 12" layouts, I find that using one photo on a page is easier than ever before. 

This is a layout finished with some paper from Fancy Pants from a couple years ago that was in my stash and other scraps that I had left over from another layout.  The Page Maps sketch I followed is part of the recent challenge over at The Memory Nest blog that ends tomorrow. 

Leslie also has a Design Team call at her blog too!  If you've ever wanted to try out for a Design Team, this one would be a great opportunity.  Details HERE.  Deadline is May 28th.

What did you scrap or make over the weekend??

Card Making Process: Basic Grey Fact or Fiction Challenge!

It's the end of the month, but I finished the Basic Grey February challenge with three cards to submit!  I love the new Fact or Fiction goodies from Basic Grey -- I finally used my Christmas gift card to Joann's to buy a 6"x 6" pad of each, with other embellishments to use for the cards. 

Below are the cards that I submitted.  There were no sketches to follow for this challenge, so I made up my own as I went along.  The heart stamp from card one is from Doodlebug (Hampton Arts), and I used my own flowers and ribbon. 

Regretfully, I didn't get at least any 12"x 12" paper pad for layouts -- when I did another trip to my local Joann's, they were already gone!  Look like it's a favorite with many others too!

What collection do you like of Basic Grey?

Scrapbook Process: Gratitude Journal

After posting several recipes, I thought it should be time for a paper crafting project!  This weekend I am finishing up a Gratitude Journal that was devised from combining two different online ideas. This will be my own personal gratitude journal; I have been working on it for a couple weeks.

 The idea of using a type of tag book was from this Scrapbook Showgram by Sandy Genovese.  (FYI - watch now if interested in this tutorial; her episodes are only accessible for a short time unless you are a Gold member)  In this episode, Sandy demonstrates how to create a Thanksgiving Tag Book by making your own oversized tags with a simple template and a cute box/cover in which to store it.  For my tag book, I included more pages so that I had one for each day of November.  I haven't decided if I will make the box for it or not.

Instead of filling my tag book with just journaling, I found this great 30 Day Photo Gratitude Challenge on Pinterest.  This idea is originally from PositivelyPresent.com and is a complilation of 30 items, one assigned daily to photograph.  I didn't follow this list exactly, but it was a fantastic starting point for me to take photos of things of which I am grateful and may not have made the effort to photograph otherwise. From my second photo of the tag book, you can see that I embellished the inside cover, but kept the pages simple and uncluttered, ready to put a cropped photo and journaling on each page. There are 15 pages; once you go through the first 15 days, you flip the book for the second 15 days. The paper was from a "grab bag special" from Close to My Heart a couple years ago and it was the perfect subtle fall theme for this book.  Printing photos and journaling is on tap for this weekend!

I hope this gives you an idea of how to make a simple Gratitude journal for yourself, or to make one for each family member or guest to write in their gratitude on this Thanksgiving Day!

Card Making Process: Basic Grey Card Challenge

I subscribe to Pamela Young's blog and I am always amazed at her creativity on layouts and cards!  There is always some new idea that I come away with after visiting.  Pamela posted her card creation that was highlighted on the 7/2/2012 Basic Card Sketch on the Basic Grey blog and I just loved it!  Since I hadn't posted in an online challenge for awhile, I thought I'd dig out some Basic Grey and get to work!

I used papers from the 6"x6" "Pyrus" paper pad.  I love the color combos of this pad, and since I had to make a birthday card for my father-in-law, I thought the paper worked out great:

And once I got started with the paper, I did two additional cards:

(The medallion was from the stash I did earlier and also from Basic Grey paper!)  

Basic Grey is one of my favorite paper companies, and it was good for the mojo to get out their product and work with this challenge sketch!

Card Making Process: School is in Session!

It's time for me to put the scrappy stuff away for the week, as I have other obligations that I must accomplish -- but I was able to finish two more cards today!

This one is for the Design Dollies color challenge -- and it was a doozy!  Red, Blue, Orange and Green -- that combination can be tricky, but I like how this turned out.  

I thought the sticker borders I found worked well with the paper, and I added an extra green stripe to meet the requirements of the Dollies.  This will be a nice teacher card, or a student congrats card, don't you think?

Card Making Process: OWH Challenge Card

Here is another card that I did for an Operation Write Home challenge that was posted today.  I followed their Sketch #33, which was another great way to use up scraps.  The artwork is from SJ's Little Musings.  I just love her artwork -- especially her character digis!   I've gotten a couple digi  freebies from her too.  Be sure to check out her blog to see her stuff -- I think you'll fall for them too!  Her characters are sweet, new and different.  I have a couple others that I plan to use in the near future so look for it here! 

I also got this card finished for an order -- they wanted yellow, but I came up with this.  They loved it and I hope that the person who receives it loves it too!

Card Making Process: Back to School

It's Friday, the laundry is "cooking", and it's a glorious rainy day -- perfect for scrapping!  I also love that it's going to be a three day weekend, which will give me more time to sit and work on more cards for challenges that will eventually go toward my October shipment Operation Write Home.  I was going through all my stash of Back to School stuff the past couple days, and I have way too much that I'll never use for layouts now . . . especially since I got a complete kit of the new "School Spirit" collection from Crate Paper!  (I'll have to tell you more on how I got that nifty little kit for free another time!)  Since I did have a lot of cute diecuts and stickers that I just can't throw away, I decided to use them for cards.

So with all this stash, I completed a card for this week's challenge at The Sweet Shop.  Most card challenge blogs I like require you to use stamps (or their stamps).  The Sweet Shop lets you use your own, which I did for the sentiment of the card, stamped in the inside of the apple diecut:

I thought this card could card could be used for a teacher or student.  What do you think?

Scrapbook Process: Three in One - In the Sun

This is a first -- I completed the "trifecta" at Design Dollies today!  The trifecta is one entry combining all three of this week's challenges:  color, element and sketch.  

The colors were royal blue, aqua and orange.  I was to incorporate watery waves and then follow the sketch on yesterday's post.  WOW.

So here is the final product --

Once again, I dove in my paper stash to use something that was sitting there for awhile (blue dotted paper).  The orange polka dot paper is from a Chloe's Closet paper stack.  And of course, Thickers!

Card Making Process: Where Flowers Bloom

This card looks like Fall, doesn't it?  It wasn't originally my intention, but it is what came together with this sweet flower digi stamp from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, (only 99 cents!) and this quote I created it in Microsoft Word.

Today's Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge, was to "create a card of apology or one reaching out to someone and encouraging them to put the past behind them and move forward."   I thought this card would be a very nice encouragement for a friend.  What do you think?