My Counterfeit Kit -- and a blast from the past!

Hi folks -
There's a pretty new challenge blog called Counterfeit Kit Challenge, and it is perfect for those of us with a love of pretty scrap kits but no real need for even MORE new product than what's already in our ever-growing stash.
See, every month, the folks at the blog will choose a current club kit, and then we can go shopping...in our stash! The goal is to replicate the kit with what we already own! So smart. Then, all month long, there are little challenges to give that newly-counterfeited kit a purposeful existence. Last month, there were some awesome tutorials for making all kinds of embellishments. Anyway, go check it out!

This month's challenge kit is actually a true challenge for me: it's from Scraps of Darkness, and you can see a bunch of photos via the links in this post, but I'll just give you the main kit here:

 Lots of black and red and damask and florals and such. Definitely a love theme, but not a mushy one! If it's any help, the title of the kit is "The Telltale Heart." Of course, that Poe story is about a man who stalks and kills his neighbor and then goes (more) mad almost immediately, but I'll try not to scrap any of that! :)

Well, I shopped my stash and made my own version. Here you go:

My version of the main kit.

My version of the add-ons. I think I'll need to make a few embellishments to round things out, but I'm ready to try whatever challenges come along!

So, while I was going through some older supplies both for the kit and to purge/sell in the upcoming Scrapbook Yard Sale at Scrappy Chic (it's Sunday, 2/20 -- you should totally go!), I found one of my earliest stamping efforts. I believe I was testing out my new white inkpad (I bet it's the Memories white dye ink -- which I still have, thank you very much), and learning how to second-generation stamp. Wanna see it? Ok, for you, I'll embarrass myself a little:

This would be from late 2002 or early 2003 -- near the middle is the custom stamp I had made for our wedding invitations, and many of the other images are from my first couple of stamp purchases. It's a full 8.5x11" sheet of (very cheap) black cardstock. It makes me feel very sentimental, and very glad that I stuck with it! What's your earliest stamping project? I'd love to see it!

Color Cue {11}

I guess I'm just in a challenge mood lately! But how could I not participate in the WPlus9 Color Cue challenge? Looky how pretty the colors are!

So soft and yummy. I chose to use Aqua Mist, Sweet Blush, and white, with kraft as my neutral. On my never-ending quest to create Valentine's cards for friends (because I only have one husband, after all), here's what I did:

Sweet indeed. Some stamping, some piecing and die-cutting, some ruffling of trim, and a couple pearls. Cotton candy for the eyes. My supplies are mostly from Papertrey Ink and My Mind's Eye, just in case you were curious :)

This also marks the first photo I took, edited, watermarked, and uploaded all from the iPhone. I've got that thing pretty tricked out now with some awesome photo apps, and it's sure fun trying them all out! If any of you are iPhone folks I'd be happy to share what apps I use in a future post -- just let me know! 

Anyway, if you'd like to play along, you might have a few hours left -- maybe I'll see you there!

Moxie Sweet!

Hi there!
I squoze (yep, that's a real word in my world) in a little time to make a card for the Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World. It's been awhile since I've played along! Here's the inspiration image:

Yum. Here's what I came up with:

I used a bunch of cupcake papers -- a couple mini, a couple regulation-sized -- and misted them for some shimmer. Staying in the cake-decorating world, I also added a couple doilies -- one "real" one, and one from Martha Stewart. A white-embossed heart stamp from Inkadinkado on some Raspberry Fizz bitty dot paper rounds it out. Technically, there are 8 layers of paper here, which is a TON for a simple girl like me! Here's a side view:

Well, you have until the end of today to play along with the challenge -- go forth and make a Valentine! I'm gonna go forth and grade some essays...not nearly as much fun!

Oh, and happy Superbowl whatever. I guess that's a big deal for some folks ;)

Something old...

So, it looks like Papertrey Ink is kicking off their 4th birthday celebration with a bang (and a huge giveaway!).

As part of that giveaway, I'm reposting my favorite PTI project from this year -- you can read the full original post here, though.

I made a whole pile of tags for my family members at Thanksgiving. It was a style stretch for me -- more rustic and layered and busy than usual for me -- but I ended up liking them quite a bit! Luckily for me, I'd miscounted my own family and ended up with one left over to keep :)

Here's the whole pile:

I mixed up a whole bunch of stuff here, from Leaf Prints to a Fall tags set to some ledger lines to a Wreath for all Seasons...plus dies and other fun goodies.

It's kind of nice to revisit stuff. Maybe you will, too! Happy weekend.

so much to say!

Hi there, everyone!

So, my awesome pal Meg has a fun blog post today -- it's one of my layouts! I sent her this:

Now, I can't say I send layouts to people every day, but sometimes it's just the right thing to do. What my sweet Meg doesn't tell you in her blog post is that a few weeks ago, she sent me an amazingly cute sympathy card after we lost our sweet Marty...and then, a couple days later, this book shows up in the mail -- it was the perfect pick-me-up at a time when I really needed it. So, you see, what else could I do but scrap the cutest corgi ever!

I had a lot of fun with the details on this one, but I'll show you just a quick couple:

Addie is, of course, the No. 1 corgi -- and here, I made the No. 1 from some grungeboard, inked up and hit with a dose of glossy accents. I've been meaning to try that technique out -- works like a charm! Instant Thickers-like appeal.

The title started out as some plain white fabric Thickers, but that just wouldn't do -- so I inked 'em up with distress ink...and now they look like corduroy! Ooh, fun. I'll be trying that one again, too.

Seriously, Meg, you're the best -- thanks again for your daily kindness, as well as the extra kindness you passed along when I needed it.

In other news, I got a fun box today! I participated in the Embellish challenge for the first time awhile ago and, well, I guess I picked the right month to try, because I kind of won :) My prize came from Canvas Corp, and man, is it burlap-tastic! There's a lot here -- burlap shapes and canvases, tiny clothespins, some colored pencils, various fibers, and something very intriguing called chalkstock -- a 12x12 cardstock-weight sheet of, well, chalkboard stuff! There's some great design possibilities here. Thanks to Ashley at Embellish for sending it -- it got here really quickly!

There's just so much to be thankful for! Since it's a thankful kind of day, I'd like to offer you this:

This little guy's been making its way around blogland -- I spied it on Emily's blog and thought I'd play along. Here's the deal: The first 5 commenters who let me know they want to participate will each get something handmade from me this year. Who knows what it'll be? Happy mail, maybe some goodies...sky's the limit! Those five folks have the option of reposting and continuing the chain of fun. I'm not one for following rules, though, so I won't tell if you just want to be on the receiving end!

FINALLY (whew!), I've been fortunate to receive a blog award not once, but TWICE in the SAME DAY! What are the chances? So, thanks to both Emily and Sue for sharing it with me!

Like any girl with good Lutheran training, I know German when I see it. Can't read it, necessarily, but I sure can recognize it. Turns out Liebster means, more or less, "lovely." Extra-sweet. Like most blog awards, I'm supposed to pass this one on, but I'm feeling kind of anti-choice right now (plus many of my bloggy friends have already received it!). So this goes out to all of my readers -- the few, the proud :) 

Thanks for hanging with me through a wordy post! You rock. Now go forth and have a lovely evening!

Sort-of sweet

Howdy!
So, in case you've been living under a rock (or you don't live stateside), there's a crazy blizzard sweeping the nation!
By tomorrow, we're supposed to get at least a foot of snow under blizzard conditions. I'm pretty sure I was a smallish child last time we got that much snow all at once. Of course, there's already 6 or 8 inches on the ground, so...it's gonna look pretty awesome around here! It's times like these when I'm grateful that Andrew and I both work in snow-day-friendly jobs!

But that's neither here nor there. How about another layout instead? On Thanksgiving this year, I did a quick photo shoot with my cousins....

This was the best photo, and I think it is really sweet! These two are 19 and 12, and they couldn't  be more different. It's hard to get them to sit next to each other, much less pose for photos! If you click on the photo, it might be big enough to see the journalling and smaller photo -- I ended up with lots of photos depicting the torment that only a 12-year-old can provide. I should be happy that one turned out well!

I used some BG Wander here, along with a bunch of bits and bobs from my stash. The letters that spell "Sweet" are white, but they didn't stand out enough, so I inked 'em with some chalk ink:

Much more visible! Plus, the white edges look kinda cool irl. I also actually used a couple of eyelets, which doesn't happen too often:

Used 'em to tie on a little tag up in the corner. I think I'll use that little lightbulb of an idea again.

I'll have a few more cousin-themed layouts coming up -- we've had lots of quality family time of late, which equals more family photos to scrap!

Off to prepare for the Groundhog Day blizzard of 2011. How's the weather where you are?

bliss

Hi there -

Oh, I have so many projects to share! I signed up for Scrapbook League at Scrappy Chic, so every other Saturday I spend five straight hours making as many layouts as humanly possible. Well, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I do scrap pretty quickly. Last time, I made seven layouts; yesterday, I made eight. That might be my limit, though -- I don't see myself adding one more every week!

Anyway, that means I have plenty of blogging to do. First, a layout with this month's DT kit (already up on the wall, I think).

Look at those cute people. They got married on New Year's Eve (hi Ruth!), and I snapped a couple photos at the reception. I used American Crafts' lovely Love line to scrap 'em. There's a couple KI die-cuts in there too. My favorite bits are the details, though (as always):

A pretty Twinery twine bow with a resin rose from Stampin' Up.

Lovely glitter Thickers and my absolute favorite: the frame made from some 7gypsies tape.

Now, I'm not just saying this because I'm pretty sure Ruth (the bride) is reading -- this is one of my favorite layouts in quite some time. The products are just pretty.

Well, I should be getting back to laundry and such. Enjoy your Sunday!

A little village

Howdy!
How's life treating you? Besides getting a little tiny bit tired of the snow, life is good here.

I have a card for you!

I'm on a mission to use my stash, so this little ditty involves three products that haven't seen much action: the row of houses (all one stamp -- from Hero Arts), the sentiment (from an SU set), and that little heart punch (also SU). The houses are embossed in white, making them quite shiny irl.

That's it. Not very fancy, but right up my alley!

Enjoy your evening. We're off to dinner with some pals. Take care!

Hooray for Emily!

{Sing that title to the tune of "Hooray for Hollywood." Now it's stuck in your head -- you're welcome!}

Emily is today's Featured Stamper over at Splitcoast Stampers -- that is awesome!

So awesome that I had to make a card, of course (that's the point, after all!). I also added something to my Splitcoast gallery for the first time in, oh, a month and a half! Oops -- time to update!

I CASEd this card (you can see her blog entry here) not only because it's awesome, but because I already had this card saved to my computer with the file name "case Emily NOW!" -- since that was back in October, I figured it was high time! Here's my take:

I added some patterned paper from my stash, flipped the design vertically, did a little inking, and went with a Valentine's Day theme (since it isn't exactly October anymore!).

Used a mix of Papertrey sets -- Tiny Treats: Valentine, plus Just the Ticket. Funny how Em was using Twinery twine way before she joined their DT :)

The only bit I'm not sure about is the button/brad thingie -- it's one of those oddball one-holed buttons, so I stuck a little heart brad and some twine in there...next time, I think I'd go with a non-mutant button and skip the brad.

So...one issue I have with Valentine's cards is that they can easily skew too mushy for anyone but a significant other. I tried to keep this one friend-appropriate. Did I succeed?

Hope your weekend is ending well! Happy almost-Monday.

Play Date Cafe for a birthday

The Play Date Cafe color challenge is fairly new to me...ok, really new: it's the first time I've played along!

Here are the featured colors:

Lovely! I see Baja Breeze (one of my all-time favorite colors), plus goldy-kraft and silver-grey. Here's what I came up with:

I used some shimmery golden-tan cs for my base, with a stamped strip of baja breeze and some going grey butterflies on this card, which is for my aunt -- her birthday and anniversary are the same day, so I struggle to make a dual-duty card every year. The sentiment strip, full of "celebrate" and related words, is perfect!

I die-cut and embossed the butterflies before giving them a bit of glimmer, which you can see much better here:

A little stitching here and there rounds out this simple (but surprisingly elegant {for me}) card. Oh, and I swear those butterflies are grey -- they look tan on my monitor, though -- hope it's better for you!

Hope you're having a lovely day :)

...back from a little time off...

Hi folks --
I haven't posted too much in the past week -- let's just say it was a week of ups and downs for sure.
First week back to classes.
Got a few bits of good news.
Got some bad -- last Tuesday, our little cat Marty was diagnosed with feline leukemia, and we had to let her go. It was really sad (she was just over 1.5 years old, and the sweetest, most personable cat I've ever met). But luckily, we have lots of great memories to share.

Suddenly, I'm extra-glad that I picked up scrapbooking. We have so many pictures of our Marty Moo, and I've made lots of pages already.  If you'd like to see them, you can click on the "cats" tag in the cloud in the sidebar -- you'll get to see Dexter, too. She's doing ok, but is definitely a little bored. We've been giving her lots of love and playtime, though.

So, in tribute to Miss Marty pants:

We have so many pictures like this. I actually made this page a few weeks ago (it's up at Scrappy Chic already), and it uses lots of warm, homey products from Kaisercraft and Glitz and My Mind's Eye and more.

I love these Thickers, and that envelope from Maya Road makes a nice landing spot for them. A sweet page for a sweet cat. I look forward to scrapping some more happy memories like these!

Back on the bright side, I had my first Scrapbook League meeting at Scrappy Chic on Saturday -- I'm on  a team with my pal Mary (hi Mary!) and a couple other women, and it was lots of fun! Plus, I made seven new pages. Nice!

I'll share those soon -- but first, I'll have some cards for you later this week.

Have a great MLK day (or happy Monday, if you're not in the states). I'll see you soon.

Oh yum.

Yet another layout for you today. Don't worry, though, all you card making types: I have some of those coming up. I think. I'm behind on photographing projects. 

But for now, how about I make you hungry?:

Well, maybe the layout isn't hunger-inducing, but eve sure as heck would be. Feel free to go check out the menu. I'll be here when you get back :)

On occasion, the women in my family will get together for dinner somewhere. Lately it's been in Ann Arbor, since my little (!) cousin is a sophomore at UM. This time around, her roommate came too, which was a nice little addition.

Anyway, the food at eve is really quite yummy (drinks are, too) -- they do that now-typical upscale-restaurant thing of using a lot of locally sourced products and seasonal recipes and whatnot. Oh, and I guess their head chef was on Top Chef or something -- sound right, local people?

So, the layout: I used Webster's Pages -- this is good for me, as it's a line I usually admire and often am clueless about using! I think the flowers are theirs too. I added some stamped tickets (tickets and stamps both from Pink Paislee's House of 3 line), along with some real and drawn stitches.

Those Thickers in the title are so old, but I love them. Who doesn't love puffy stickers, anyway?

Hey, here's my question: The photo was taken in a dark restaurant, so we all got blown out by the flash. My solution was to go b&w with the photo -- but when I got it from the developer, I realized I hadn't totally desaturated the color. Oops. So...does the photo look dorky, or is it ok?

Well, our semester starts up tomorrow, so it's back to work officially for me. Yee-haw. Happy Sunday.

"Running." Right.

First, a confession: I don't really run. Like, ever. I get plenty of aerobic exercise, I hit the gym, I'm in decent shape. But I don't run. Well, I did run once. When I was 15. Anyone who's 15 can run, so I don't think my single season on the track team really counts.

So, the story I'm about to tell you is extra-funny, at least to me.

Pretty much everyone (else) in my family runs -- all my aunts and uncles do or have run regularly for at least 20 years. My cousins (12 and 19) are not necessarily runners...but they're 12 and 19, so whatever. They can run. My dad used to run. My mom and grandma are not runners, but my mom walks faster than most humans should be allowed to, and my grandma gets around just fine, thank you very much. She's 80.

Andrew and I don't run. See above. So what the heck are we doing in a race? Ah, family togetherness:

In August, most of the fam was up North (Benzonia, to be exact), and some bright bulb thought it would be awesome if everyone did a 5K together. We wore matching t-shirts (see above) and got up bright and early to do a 5K in the tiny, tiny town of Copemish. Andrew and I signed up to run, figuring we might jog a bit once or twice, which is exactly what we did. Jogged once or twice, then walked the rest of the 3.1 miles. My entire family, save my grandma and dad (they walked together) beat us. Even my mom, who walked the entire time, beat us by many, many minutes. So what's so funny?

I got a trophy. In fact, I won my age group - as in, you know, FIRST. Andrew and I were absolutely the last two "runners" over the finish line, and I won my age group. The race was so dang tiny that I was literally the only female in the 25-35 age group. I was the best they could do! I think that's the look on my face in that photo: "Seriously? This is the best you could do?" In fact, out of the eleven family members in the photo above, NINE of us got trophies! I think next year the trophies should have a family reunion of their own.

This, my friends, is hilarious. And now my trophy sits on top of my craft storage thingie, looking at me like it knows I didn't really earn it. So I ask you: what fun crafty thing can I do with a goofy little trophy? Your feedback, as always, is appreciated.

Have a lovely day.

PS: this layout uses Little Yellow Bicycle's Savor Line (the B-sides are non-kitcheny), a stamp from Memory Box, and Prima alphas. You can find it at Scrappy Chic.

Village People

Yeah, we're village people. Greenfield Village, that is! Any local readers know what I'm talking about, and the rest of you should totally come and visit. Why? Take a look:

Sheep, windmills, and...a water tank? Ok, so the photos might not be super-compelling on their own, but if you went yourself, you could also take a ride on a real Model T, hang out in Thomas Edison's workshop, dip your own candles, have tea in the garden of a centuries-old Cotswold cottage, or...just hang out with the sheep, which we do pretty often.

Or...you could just enjoy the layout instead (the village doesn't reopen until April anyway). It's a nice and bright and sunny layout for this chilly winter morning. I used My Mind's Eye's Fine and Dandy line in blue, along with a couple other goodies here and there. It also has 5 whole photos, which I can't pull off too often :) You can, of course, see it in person at Scrappy Chic. 

Today, I plan on cleaning the house and hitting the gym. Verrrry exciting, I know. Tomorrow it's back to meetings for a new semester. Verrrry exciting as well. What are you up to today? Hope it's fun!

2 snowy pages in one!

That's right, folks, I actually made a 2-page spread! My very first. Aw.
Here it is all together:

Sweet snow boy. Love these pictures. Left page:

Snow days bring out joy in everyone :)  Used my rockin' vintage typewriter for the journaling.
Right page:

The design is really, really simple, but I did add a lot of little layer-y details around the photos. The mix of alphas was not initially on purpose...those glitter thickers are some of my favorites...so I have two packs...but no "e" remains in either one, so I went ransom-style instead :)

Close-up:

The gold doily thingie is a rub-on from Hambly. Their stuff is really high-quality, but I had a heck of a time getting these dudes to rub on! Also here: Tim Holtz tissue tape, some stamping with pearl acrylic paint, and flocked lace and papers from We R Memory Keepers' Merry January line (cute title!).

I actually made this layout a couple months ago...but now it's Merry January, right? You can catch it in person at Scrappy Chic. When I get it home again, I'm planning on adding some stitching with gold thread. Didn't have any when I made it, but I do now.

Well, have a happy evening. Andrew goes back to school tomorrow, so we're gonna mourn celebrate with some Mexican take-out. Yum.