Putting down the glossy accents....

to concentrate on some fabric love. My husband says I have too many hobbies. Bah!

This will either be too loud or super chic- I'll withhold judgement until I start laying the blocks down. Feels good to get this cutting done, though!

Pink for boys?!

I broke out Candy Shoppe (which I haven't even touched yet) and started cutting without a plan. I basically had the whole thing laid out before I even knew what photos to use- but I think these bright colors really work against such a dark photo. And get this- when my husband saw the page, he didn't mention the fact that it was pink. Phew.

 Please excuse the big dark spot on the right- I scanned it rather than fuss with my camera. =)

And, in case you're wondering- you can use a border punch on sticky-back canvas. But, expect your punch to stick each.and.every.time. And be prepared to use any tools you might have laying about (a ball point pen, scissors, tweezers, a paint brush) to attempt getting it unstuck. Totally worth it.
I used SC Piglet to give it some color and wouldn't you know, its *almost* like Pink Paislee's mistable trim.

I keep getting little ideas for pages right before I fall asleep at night. I saw on the SC message boards a thread about this; some people jump out of bed to jot down these ideas. I wish I did, but man, once I'm in bed, I'M IN BED. I wouldn't get out if the house was on fire. Okay, maybe I would. My alternative is to think about it endlessly until I finally fall asleep and then hope I remember what it was the next day.
I had one such idea last night and immediately started working on it (so I wouldn't forget)- when a second idea hit me. So I left my first project on my table and started with the second on the floor. Then, I ended up on my second desk, and among the mess on the floor I got a NEW idea for a card. I know, I must have gotten a visit from the scrap fairy. In the midst of all this creative madness, I had run some errands- so imagine my surprise when I came back into my room to find this:

Yeah, I guess it's easy to get carried away in here! Better get to cleaning this in the morning!

Busy Busy!

I've been spending all week getting paperwork together for school... only a few more weeks until it starts and I can't wait. That being said, I'm still taking classes at my original school, taking finals, doing homework, attending class, etc. and it's just taking up more time than I'd like. I finally got a chance to hang out in my scrap room today and made this quick page:

I LOVE those two papers together. I wanted to add in a third paper but nothing was really jiving with it. I'm glad I didn't- I love this color harmony. And I think this is one of my favorite pictures of Luke- he's just so stinkin' happy!

Other than school, we've been in a rut. It's been rainy all the time and I can't seem to get used to it. So, instead of planning fun things to do, we sit here and pretend it's going to be sunny one day. It probably won't, so we should brave the rain and go outside. Until then, we find other ways to pass the time, like ride Luke's toys:

Walk around in diapers:

And eat lots of food:

In all, it's not too bad a way to spend our time!
Well, I better get off the computer before I get sucked in and don't get any more scrapping done!!

Lots of Cards, and a Challenge Winner!

I've been crafting my little fingers to the bone recently (and have been working hard to get my homework done early so I have the time) and I've managed to break a personal record- 5 cards in two days. Yesss. I think I'm mostly working on cards right now because I don't have any pictures that are begging to be scrapbooked just yet- we've been stuck in a rut around here and haven't gone out much or done anything exciting. 
All these cards are quick and easy so you can reproduce them without worrying too much about techniques or supplies. So first up, I inked up these circle stamps from Papertrey Ink for the first time. I opted for a custom background on this one:

 And then I tried just a strip. Both of these are SUPER simple, and great for boy cards. I think it would look great in a more pastel color scheme as well.

And, here's a secret: I don't know any boys turning 12. I was just in a groove so I went with it. =)

More Peachy Keen?! I know, I know. I'm telling you- it's an addiction. My love for Peachy Keen will never leave me. I started with the bicycle stamped background and flipped through the Remarks stickers until I found a few stickers I thought went well together. Added the strips, the flower and some ribbon and voila! Super easy.

I like that bicycle so much I stamped another background. I knew I wanted to use that bicycle sticker too, but wasn't sure just where to put it. I actually was "auditioning" it when it stuck down before I was ready- so I had to build the rest of the card around it where it was. I peeled up the wheels to add the strip, then added the 'hi'. The clouds and twine came later- it was too out of balance without it.

I have been browsing various websites to see if any of my recent pages fit any pub calls and I came across the Papercrafts blog where they have color combo challenges. I had some time, so I decided to play along with this one:

 

 And here's what I came up with:

As soon as I saw those colors I instantly thought sherbet!  I hand cut the dish and the ice cream scoops after roughly sketching them out first. Makes you wish summer wasn't coming to an end soon, right?

Last, I made this page in order to get out of my comfort zone a little and try a shabby/vintage/distressed page. I'm not smitten with it but I liked the process so I may try it again. And, actually I just realized that my biggest bowtie flower is missing from the page... hmmm... must have fallen off en-route to be photographed. Bummer.

Oh yeah, and I have some lucky winners to announce, don't I? Thanks to the trusty random number generator, Jenny A. and Jen (plasticlight) you are my winners! I'll PM you via SC with your $10 promo codes. Thanks for playing!

CHA Challenge #1

Hi everyone! In preparation for all the amazing CHA goodies we've seen so far, I've decided to come up with a good way to clear some room for it all.
Introducting:

 The rules of this challenge are pretty simple- choose a collection or individual pieces from your stash that came out LAST summer CHA. Don't remember which ones came out? Here's a helpful link: CHA 2010 List.  Don't have anything left from last year? Good for you! In that case, just pick some of the oldest product you have.
ETA: In going through my stash to create my layout to share, I'm realizing that this might be a bit hard as there weren't as many great lines last year. Soooo, I'm not limiting this to specifically CHA last year- just choose anything you've had sitting on your shelf for a while that needs used! I'm also extending the deadline until Wednesday, just in case you have a full weekend!
Then, link up your projects here for a chance to win something reeeal good! What is you ask?? I'm selecting TWO participants who will each receive a $10 Studio Calico gift certificate. Awesome, right?
You have until Sunday Wednesday at midnight eastern time.
Don't forget to subscribe to my blog on the left side there so you don't miss when I announce the winners.
Here's what I came up with for the challenge:

I got the chance to hot air balloon in Cappadocia, Turkey this year and never got around to scrapbooking the pictures- probably because the balloons were such an off-color combo for me. I used up a lot of things that have been sitting around unused in my stash for a while- some MME papers, Pink Paislee 365 degrees (which I NEVER touched), that Jenni Bowlin button (I have two packages somehow and never used a single one) and, among other things, a roll of washi tape that just doesn't seem to be getting any smaller. And, while I'm a little sad to say this, that Studio Calico hot air balloon stamped got inked up for the first time today- he's been gathering dust for a long while!
This was a good opportunity for me to go through and see all the things I'm not using- I may keep going and see what else I can use up today!

Geralyn Sy agreed to help me out on the challenge, too- she created an awesome layout that you can find on her blog here: In a Creative Bubble. Her skill with patterned paper never ceases to amaze me.

Hoping some more people join us for the challenge!

Blog Love.

My blog needed a facelift. And no, not the do it yourself botox type. I've been playing around with Photoshop all night and I'm liking where this is going! I'll have a few more changes in the next couple days- let me know what you think!

And BIG HUGE thanks for the font inspiration from PuglyPixel. I could explore her blog for hours.

Peachy Keen, I love you.

So I might be obsessed. Should I change my blog to American Crafts Intervention?? I'm not sure I've used a single collection as extensively as I have this one... and I still have lots of product left and a lot of ideas!

And, after seeing a few layouts in the SC gallery with circles I decided I needed to try it out for myself. I stepped out of my comfort zone a bit with the misting but I love the color combination.

At least I'm not hoarding it, right?

In other news, I got Illustrator CS5 and haven't really used it much before so I'm looking at a lot of online tutorials. This blog header was one of them- I like it. I'll be adding to it periodically- once I get a little more comfortable with the software.

My Scrap Room... Finally

It's a rainy day here in Germany (what's new?) so a good one for cleaning. I've had a mess on my desk for a week now, but it's an okay side-effect for a scrapping frenzy that doesn't come around very much. Anyway, I cleaned my room so now I can share it with you! (You can click the photos to enlarge them.)



The best part about this room is my desk. That big, beautiful, custom-made monstrosity there in the center. It has shelving on both sides and drawers on the other sides. It's almost like having two regular sized desks put together. Somehow, though, I still manage to fill the entire thing up as I'm working on a project. So glad to have it. Oh and you can just BARELY see it, but to the left of this photo is another window. I'm very proud of the curtains I made for it using my favorite fabric ever- Joel Dewberry's Herringbone print. If I could make a shirt out of it I would. And I'd wear it everyday.


On the left there is one of my Expedits. I used standard paper trays on top for my 8.5" x 11" paper (mostly Papertrey Ink solids) and then 12x12 trays with solid cardstock are in the shelves. My albums sit here, those with pages, those with stamps, and my color inspiration and ink pad swatches. The basket on the top row has my 8x8 and 6x6 pads and the cubby next to it is full of my full collections that I like to keep together. Next to that are a couple bins with sewing notions and books. The basket on the far right cubby on the second row has brads. Yep. And it's almost full. (I may be crazy). The other bins have containers for Copics, foam stamps, mini albums, etc.


Next to this expedit is where I keep my SC kits- in Iris scrapbook containers. I have 7 of them, so once they are all full I start picking kits to break down and put into the rest of my stash. Fancy wiring I've got there, eh? If you need the name of my electrician, I'd be happy to pass his info along.


I took this one from the back of the room looking in so you can see this side of my desk. It's full of fabric, batting, plastic bags with scraps (attractive, I know), and pillow forms. This has been a challenge- it's hard to keep the fabric lined up pretty when you have to rifle through it.

This message board was one of my first ever sewing projects. I heart it so. Anyway, I recently went through and purged a lot of paper so I could utilize my cropper hoppers a lot better. The first holds newish paper that I don't want to forget I bought. If I need to do a project, I'll check here first to help me remember what I've got. The second holds dividers with holiday themed papers that can't really be used for other things- this will help me out a lot when I go to mass produce cards. The next few are my regular patterned paper organized by manufacturer. The next is my scrap paper used to protect my desk in case me and Mr. Huey get a little crazy... And the last is all the scraps from the side of my paper trimmer- I go through this occasionally to size it down to only what I really love.
The left side is more paper trays but these hold my Thickers. That's a LOT of thickers... They're organized by color so I can find what I need quickly.

The drawers underneath this hold buttons, thread, washi, chipboard shapes, envelopes, and some more sewing notions.

This is the other side of the desk. Again, there are some not so pretty things in here (my house has no closets and we don't have a garage so pretty much every room has to have some ugly stored items in it!) but it's so nice to be able to have quick access to things I use regularly. The closest basket has my versamark ink, stazon, and more Stampin' Up! ink that didn't fit into the boxes up top. I have my paints organized in here, camera supplies, small tools, and various other things in the other baskets.


Now this might be my next favorite part about my room. Yeah, the containers don't all match each other and things sort of look messy in them but I know exactly where everything is and I love to be able to see it. If I feel like rifling for some inspiration, I can just pop the basket off the shelf and have at it. From left to right (top row) I have my rubber stamps, my scoring board and basket with stickers and labels, the next basket (red one) is all my rubons, the last on the top holds all my "non-flat" embellishments. Seriously, that's how I remember it- "non flat". haha
Second row has flowers (fabric, chipboard, brads, etc), next one is ribbon (I have too much ribbon and it's overflowing a bit), then cheap $1 acrylic stamps that I may or may not ever use, and the last basket has some of my acrylic stamps (those that never made it into binders). After all the work of the binder method, I've found I use these in the basket more- they're just easier to get to and find.

Here's a better view of the top. The left basket has all my Big Shot dies. I can rummage around in there too- love that. The purple container has the border dies. The middle basket is most of my SC stamps. Yep, they get their own special place. If I could temperature control these babies I would. You can see that my embossing powder and mist baskets are pretty full- I'm not sure what I'm going to do once my new ones get here... I might need to make a trip to Ikea to get a few more.


The other side of the room is my husband's. The shelves have his finished and unfinished Lego sets he builds and collects. Neat hobby, right? He has some work to do there still; maybe he'll finish it one day.
We both sit at the desk, me on the right side at the Mac and him on the other side with his laptop. I like when he actually decides to come up here- we each get to do our hobbies but still hang out.


Anyway, there's my space. Thanks for checking it out!

Aha!

After sitting here for an hour playing with my camera settings, I think I've figured out what it "likes" when taking pictures of my layouts. Yessss. I can make a great page every now and again, but if I can't take a good photo of it, it just looks blah still, right?
Well, take that NIKON.

Much better, don't you think?
And, while I'm at it, here's a card I made with Peachy Keen since it was already out on my desk.

I heart it so. I'll be making a few more while it's out; I've got some ideas churning...

Catching my eye, CHA style...

I've been keeping up with most of the new CHA releases and here are a few things I know I'm bound to end up with.
Rather than listing each item from Studio Calico's new release, I'm going to just say it- I'm getting ALL of it. To include the Hero Arts collaboration stamps. Seriously. If you want to see them all, go here: www.studiocalico.com.
Amy Tan's new line for American Crafts is to die for. The color combos are very fashion forward, I can't wait to play with all the new goodies!!

Pebble's release, Fresh Goods is another must-have. The colors are great- loving that we don't have to move straight to fall lines yet.


Another plus? They've done a traditional color combo for their Christmas line- none of this weird purple/pink/navy stuff I've been seeing.

On the Christmas note, I about died when I saw these thickers. Seriously. If you didn't know, I have probably 987239874 sets of thickers that are piling up and this will definitely get added to it.
BoBunny isn't normally a go-to company for me but this Et Cetera line is cute. I won't get the full line but there are some staple items here for sure.
And more Pebbles. I'm in love with these teensy tiny little buttons. They're so cute and usable on just about everything.
I was a little on the fence about American Craft's Garden Cafe until I saw these:
Not to mention all the super cute cards you can make with this line of paper. I love the colors together and the patterns are true to AC form- easy enough to use on just about anything.

Another shocker for me is some of the new Prima. I am usually majorly turned off by their flowers and papers- they just aren't my style. However, the color combo on this line is one of my favorites right now.

And this layout, the colors, the cushy fabric flowers all remind me of an Anthro ad...

Whoever created these marketing layouts for them (the frames, the labels, etc.) is my hero. Gorgeous.
These boxes from Graphic 45 are pretty neat, too. Not exactly sure what I'd do with them, but might make a good gift box? Hmm, the wheels are turning...
Anyway, thanks to The Scrap Review for having all these images laid out in one place!

What are YOU looking forward to from CHA?

Following my dreams...

This has been a whirlwind month for me. I've been going back and forth about whether or not I should ditch my business degree plans to go to school for graphic design (which has been a big dream of mine for a long time now). I kept thinking of excuses: it's too expensive, what if I'm not as good as I need to be, etc. But finally I took the plunge anyway. Life is too short to miss out on the things we want to do. We'll make it work somehow and I'm so glad I decided to just go for it. I can't wait until school starts officially in September- for now, I have to finish up the classes I started for the business degree.
I got a new iMac yesterday (as a requirement for school) and man, this is a beautiful machine. I have to constantly remind myself that there are other things that need done other than messing with my computer! I have CS5 on the way too- I'll be glued to my computer chair eventually. =)
Anyway, here's a page I got finished today. I heart it so- it may end up in a frame to put up in my scrap room. That Luke, he'll be a chick magnet soon enough.


I used mostly American Craft's Peachy Keen- I am madly in love with the remarks stickers. The photo was printed on just regular cardstock- gives it a nice soft feel. The colors are a little off- I had to edit in my printer software since I don't have PS on this yet.
And, maybe since my house is squeaky clean from all the hard work we put in this morning, maybe I'll take some pictures and share my scrap room tomorrow.
Happy Sunday!

My 4th of July Weekend

The base put on a 4th of July event on Saturday so we spent some time enjoying all the activities, eating, and hearing some good music.
First, we put Luke on the toddler roller coaster. I was nervous he'd try to climb out while it was moving but he rode like a champ and enjoyed it a lot!

Then we decided to grab some cotton candy. Turns out, Luke wasn't too keen on it. Go figure. His face is hilarious:I think he just didn't like how it stuck to his fingers. Then, we rode the Ferris wheel.

He really didn't care about it. He mostly just wanted to walk around inside it.
Then, it was time for some food that is TERRIBLE for you- chili cheese fries and hot dogs. Mmmm.

Luke watched the bumper cars with interest so we thought, hey, why not?


Well, this is why not:

Scared the hell out of the poor guy. =( Lesson learned.

So, we cheered him up with some ice cream. He went to town! Ate the whole thing, too!

Then we laid out our blanket and waited for the fireworks! He oooh'd and aaah'd and pointed at them, said, "AWESOME!" and had a giant smile on his face. All in all, it was a good day!

I also got some scrappin' time in this weekend with my first 8.5" x 11" page. I recently bought these buttons from Ormolu (you can find them here: 2-Day Hooray buttons) and created the page around them. I love how it turned out! I'll definitely be buying another set of these guys.

There's also some American Crafts, October Afternoon, Pebbles, and Studio Calico in there.
Thanks for looking!