Top 5

So this post is influenced a little by some other great scrappy blogs... First up, Lain's new blog where she does some great lists of 5 things - and I love reading them! Oh and if you are crazy enough to join me, I am signing up for Lain's LOAD again in February!!
Secondly, over on Moxie Fab World blog by Paper Crafts magazine listed their top 10 paper lines of 2009 and so I thought I would post my own faves.... so here they are!

MY TOP 5 PAPER LINES OF 2009

5. Earth Love by Cosmo Cricket
All the right colours with that little bit of cutesy thrown in there - loved this one!


4. Indian Summer by Basic Grey
Oh this one got me........a lot! The grunge with the very different colours just called out to me and I couldn't buy enough of it!


3. My Mind's Eye - Whirlybird
Not my usual colour choices but I adored this line! It helped satiate a little bit of my birdie obsession and I loved how it was great for both boy and girl layouts.

2. Flutter Butter by Bo Bunny
Soft yet masculine....isn't it beautiful??!! And the die cut papers are to die for!

And......

are you ready for it?
My fave line of 2009 is.........
Cosmo Cricket's Early Bird........... oh how I loved this line!!!!!! A little bit vintage, a little bit whimsy and a whole lotta BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!! The polka dots just put it over the top for me...

So what were yours?!

BLOG HOP WINNER!

Thanks to everyone for playing along, it was great fun!
Things are winding down a bit here - I hope you all had an amazing holiday season with your loved ones. I tried to pry my kids away from their toys long enough to help me pull a winner out of a hat video but no such luck... so thanks to random.org, we have a winner!!

Congrats Tams! A gift certificate awaits you!!

HAPPY BLOGHOP!!

Welcome to A PILE OF SCRAP'S! first ever bloghop! You are almost at the end of the hop, I hope you have enjoyed all the girls' creations.

Hopefully you have made your way along the path and linked here from Vicki's blog... if not, make sure you go back to Valerie's blog and follow your way through the links! If you have left a comment on everyone's blog and follow the instructions at the end of the post, your name will be entered for a scrappy prize!

First up, the card sketch:
I asked all the girls to stick with this colour combo - but they were welcome to use any shade of the colours... I opted to make my own coloured paper with 4 different shades of Glimmer Mist as none of the cardstock I had on hand matched! And since I was sparkly already, I figured stamping with a little glitter wouldn't hurt! And this was the perfect opportunity to use my new Spellbinder's die that I picked up...
And the second sketch was for a layout - this is a pretty plain sketch for me but I really wanted the girls to show their styles!
And so.......I scrapped!!! Yep, I did! For me!!!!! I haven't had a chance to do that in way too long and it really felt good! And to top it off, my scrap area is now cleaned up so I may get to do a little more over the holidays! Not only did I scrap, but I actually scrapped holiday pictures!!!! It's a Christmas Miracle!!!!! (I honestly tend to avoid all holiday pictures as I feel there is too much pressure...but I am happy with how this turned out). We had a little scrappy swap on the forum and I received my parcel today...so I had to use my new Starfish Glimmer Mist and the pretty red bling from Bazzill - thanks so much Cheryl for my goodies :)

I hope you all enjoyed our very first blog hop! Make sure you head on over to the forum and look for a post called "Blog Hop Finish Line" and leave your final comment there for a chance at the prize!

Wishing you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas!

And the winner is.....

Sorry for the delay folks! Thanks everyone for your kind words about the publication call - you really made my day a lot better :)
My daughter was too happy to help draw the winner - check her out!


So congrats Jenny! Lemme know your wish list...you never know what I might find you!

We are off tonight for Christmas concert #1 - the playschool one. You know... where all the kids start singing a song...in all kinds of keys.... and all kinds of songs... and someone misses singing the song because they are too busy looking for Mom/Dad/Grandma/baby sister (who has decided to sing her own version of "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" ...the kind where families tend to win America's Funniest Videos with... Should be fun!

Check back tomorrow for the video!

Happy Snow Day!

I woke up to a whole lotta snow this morning...was feeling a bit grumpy about the whole thing and decided to sneak away from the kids for a bit and check out my morning reads on the computer... and got an email that made my grumpies go away!
I got a publication call from Canadian Scrapbooker!!! Yippee!!!
Sooooooooo.... now the challenge is on to see if anyone can find the "out for publication" call on my blog! (hint... it's ORANGE!)
And to make it worth the search, how about a little prize?

I will give you all until Sunday evening to email me at icecheeks@yahoo.com with your answer AND something you love about snow! Then, leave me a comment here telling me that you have emailed me! (Please don't leave the answer in your comment and make it too easy for everyone else!!) All the answers will go into a draw for a fabulous prize that will include:
Marshmallow Glimmer Mist!
Flowers to play with the glimmer mist!
A distress ink pad!
And............
something from your wish list!!!
Happy Hunting!

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!!

Yep. BUSY. No other excuses, no big story, just busy!

Tonight is my Christmas Party with the gals at the LSS - I am really looking forward to a nice night out, some good laughs and some great food! I left everything to the last minute as far as gifts go but I managed to get them done today so at least I won't go empty-handed! I am off this Saturday and am contemplating decorating....will let you know if I actually get it done! While I was avoiding gift-making last night, I did manage to get a Sketch of the Week done so I will share that with you as well as the gifts that I made for tonight - have a great week everyone!

First up, the SOTW:
And then the gifts... For those of you that don't know, I do a little candle and coaster business (check out my website that I finally updated a bit! ) so I decided to make a little penguin candle (I collect penguins so I thought I would share the love!)

I made a little coaster for the candles to sit on with one of my new stamp sets that I love!

And finally, a Hanukkah candle for my boss - I hope she likes it!

WHO KNEW?

Who knew how hard it was to get eyeliner on a 4 year old? Not me. But let me tell you, it is near impossible!! Painting his nails black however, was much simpler than I thought....

Meet my son. The Rock Star.

And now see him doing his best Rock Star impression after I told him that Rock stars don't say cheese but are grumpy...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE !

I am old...and a SOTW!

Howdy ho scrappy friends!
So I have finally recovered from my fabulous trip to Fredericton... and have discovered that I am discovering that I am old...yep. old. dang it.

5 days. 24 hours of sleep. tired. tired. tired.

But SUPER FUN! Those APOS girls really know how to have a fun time! The canvas class was fabulous and the retreat was fantastic! Thanks so much to Alissa @ APOS - what a treat to join in your fun! And if anyone in Edmonton (and Fort Saskatchewan doesn't count) can tell me where in this city I can find a donair panzerotti like the one I had in Fredericton, I would be grateful FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been super busy since I got back - my baby turned 3, the LSS had a weekend crop, and I had a Glimmer Mist class tonight. So I am hoping to wind down a bit as November is looking just as busy! My son's playschool has an all weekend crop on November 20 and 21st and then I have one at Creative Scrapbooks on November 27 and 28! Send me an email if you want any details!

And finally....the SOTW! Would love to see some play-alongs! Have a great week!

I wish I was singing...

I wish I was singing a couple of different songs....like maybe
Summer Loving had me a bl-ast...because then maybe I wouldn't notice THE SNOW OUTSIDE! (insert grumpy face here).

Or maybe I wish I was singing...
All my bags are packed and I'm ready to go ........

But the little problem with that is... MY BAGS ARE NOT YET PACKED (insert panicky face here)

But the good news is that I can sing the other part of that song !!

I'm leavin' on a jet plane (insert happy face here!).

Because the count down is on and I am getting on an airplane and heading to New Brunswick tonight to hang out with some scrappy peeps this weekend! A PILE OF SCRAP! was oh so generous and is flying me out for the retreat AND I get to teach a couple of classes while I'm there! I am looking forward to seeing some of the gals again and meeting some new ones. It will be a HOOT, I am sure of it!
Until then, my chickies, I'm outta here!!

I'm such a cheater?

Okay.....so for those of you that don't know how crazy (aka dumb) I am, I signed up for LOAD with Lain. This means I need to do a layout a day and post it before midnight.... Right. This also means that my scrap area needs to be clean enough every day for me to sit down and do said layout. Right..... I was doing well with it......but then I had to get my class projects up at the LSS and well...that kinda blew the whole clean scrap area right outta the water....... so

I got a brilliant idea.... since I already do a sketch of the week using Photoshop, why not do a few digi-layouts?!

And so this is where I feel like a cheater.... but isn't cheating supposed to make things easier?! Because let me tell you, this didn't make things any easier for me! Sure, I can continue avoiding cleaning up the scrap area but man oh man does it make the process HARD! H...A...R...D!

I will blame this on two things:
1. I really like the texture of real-life scrapbooking. I like adding the layers and the ribbons and the buttons and the whatever else I can find. If I had time to download all the digi stuff, I know I could add a boatload but for right now, I have a few files and somehow they just aren't floating my boat as much as I would like.
2. I like techniques...a lot. I like grunging it up with ink... or spraying it with glimmer mist....or adding dimensional pearls...or (are you getting the idea yet?).

But, I shall persevere. The great thing about LOAD is it is getting me to scrap pictures that I have been meaning to get to and haven't. When I scrap in real life, there is always some sort of rush to get pictures developed and now I am going through old files and finding the ones that I loved but just never got around to developing. And the 0ther great thing? The inspiration! Not only from all the other scrapper's works, but their words AND Lain (and I think Tami too??) send out a great email every day to get me thinking and ready to create. I love it!

I love it so much, I may even be brave enough to do it again! (although feel free to ask me this at the end of the month!)

And without further chitty-chatty, here are the three digi layouts I have done so far - honest opinions welcome!

SEPTEMBER DT REVEAL @ APOS!

Yikes September sure got away on me! We were given a beautiful package from A PILE OF SCRAP! this month with Bo Bunny's Calypso line, Heidi Swapp masks and invisible paper, and a Prima stamp. However, this month there was a twist as we were all informed that we could do anything other than altering items or 12 x 12 layouts! I really thought that the paper just screamed mini-album to me but I just ran out of time...but do hope to do one up soon!

The first layout I did was a 11.5 x 8 layout which seem to be all the rage lately. I have to admit that they are not my favourite but I think that may be due to the fact that we always do them for my kids' playschool albums at the end of the year and we always have to keep them fairly simple as we have a budget....however, when you have freedom to do whatever, it actually is fun!
MOMENT - I used the Bo Bunny paper on the right and the Heidi Swapp mask on the left and again on the corner of the photo. And I have to say just how much I love this particular Thickers font - isn't it beautiful? I think I need more!!!

And because I am a last minute kind of girl, I did these next two items today.... I had seen a layout in an old scrap mag that was hanging out in my bathroom last night and when I sat down to do one this morning, I had an email from the LOAD team telling me to go scraplift something...so I did! Really this layout doesn't much resemble the original but the one thing that stuck in my head was the ribbon through the photograph so that was what got lifted! The original layout is by Shelley Laming in Creating Keepsakes July 06 edition. I tried to find her blog but no luck so far? If anyone knows of it, please send it to me so I can give her a link.
NERD BIRD - a few scraps, some beautiful ribbon by Jilliebean Soup and some Smooch added to some dollar store foam letters. Simple yet I like the overall look!

And last but oh so not the least....

I finally got over my chicken-itis and did a canvas! I had it all thought out in my head....but trying to find chicken wire this morning was impossible so my idea changed a little bit.......but I am thrilled with the outcome!

This canvas has so much Glimmer Mist, paint and ink on it that I think it may have gained a few pounds! I added some masks and brushes to the photos in Photoshop, the black mesh is from a screen door replacement kit (because apparently people only buy chicken wire in 25 foot rolls!), the silver piece was in Michael's as I was wandering the aisles trying to find something to appease my chicken wire dream (it was in the jewelry making section-this is the back side of it as the front was way too shiny), the heart is Riff Raff (did I mention how much I LOVE Riff Raff??), a couple of eyelets and twine and believe it or not, that paper is from the Calypso line (it is amazing how grungy you can make things!) and was almost a florescent green when I first started! It is now hanging on my wall and I think canvases could become my new obsession!

Be sure to check out Cheryl's beautiful round wedding layout, Valerie's stunning mini album made from the Heidi Swapp invisible paper, Jen's gorgeous star album, Candace's funky and inspiring canvas, and Vicki's inspiring 8.5 x 11 layouts - great job ladies! Hope you enjoyed the reveal - have a great week!!

DEAR LAIN

This is an open letter to my dear friend Lain - CEO of Ella Publishing/creative marvel/phenom writer/inspiration giver over at LOAD

Dear Lain
I hope this day finds you well. I wonder if you are able to find this email in amongst the massive emails you have been receiving lately.... I am writing to apologize for my part in that.

You see Lain, when you moved to the other side of the country, you dashed my hopes of inviting you up to my frozen part of the country. Gone were my crazy ideas of maybe meeting up with you at a crop one day..... and so I decided to settle with reading your blog (daily...in hopes of an update) and admiring your works of art. I thought about signing up for your last LOAD but I was scared that I would sign up and be the only one that didn't complete the daily part and I hate disappointing people.... I was thrilled when you announced you had a kit coming out - and decided to break my "I'll never buy a kit" motto, thrilled with the goodies that arrived in the box! Your Snippets book sits by my bedside table and I read it often when I have a deadline looming and need to remember the fun side of scrapbooking. I spoke often with my friend Alissa who owns A PILE OF SCRAP! telling her how jealous I was that you now lived closer to her. I actually panicked at the thought that you may one day decide to go for a little drive and wander into her store and she would get to meet you first. Panicked. And then...

They invited me back for a crop in New Brunswick. I was so excited to go back and meet the ladies again and then it hit me. Lain. She would be thisclose. THISCLOSE. Sooooooooooo why not invite her? So I calmly sent you an invitation...and then checked with Alissa to make sure it was okay... good thing it was because when you sent back a request for more information, it was all I could do to contain my excitement!!!!!!! And then, after contemplating LOAD, I was actually lucky enough to win a spot from Tami.....surely it was a sign??!!

And so here comes the apology part....... I got really excited..... SUPER DOOPER EXCITED.... so I kinda let it slip on our scrappy forum.... and kinda encouraged the gals to tell you how wonderful the store is and how much fun the retreat would be.....and I think you know what happened from there. Can you feel the excitement?!

But the good news out of all of this is....... I am vowing here and now to behave myself. I won't hide under your scrap table and jump out with my camera to take pictures. I won't follow you around the entire weekend so that you may wonder where exactly the lake is to push me in. You won't even know I'm there (okay...once we get past the meeting part. Could you give me half an hour to get over it?!).

I realize you have a lot on your plate. Family makes it hard for us to get away sometimes so I do understand that. If you need any help persuading anyone else in your family, let me know and I'm sure we could [strike] send emails their way [/strike] find some sort of exclusive Canadian goodies to send home with you to help make up for it - have your kids ever had Smarties? Or an Aero bar??

I hope this letter will help you to forgive me and my craziness (ok, slightly stalking-ish). I must run as I need to get a layout done for LOAD before I head into work this evening...would hate to be the only one who didn't get day 2 done! Oh, and this is just to help you have a great day:

SCRAP PINK!!!!!!

It is going to be a fun-filled day today! I am heading out to a Scrap Pink crop - what could be better than a whole day of scrapping AND raising money for breast cancer?
We have a lot of fun games and yummy food planned and it should be a great time.
I am scrapping today in honor of my brother-in-law's Mom (Gunna) who passed away from breast cancer and an old friend (Kym) from Victoria who is currently battling breast cancer as well. These two people show just how breast cancer can affect anyone - Gunna was a grandmother and Kym is younger than I am. When I read on Kym's facebook status that she was gearing up for chemotherapy, I was shocked. We typically think of cancer affecting older people...but unfortunately, cancer has no discriminations. So hopefully our crazy group of scrappers can raise some big money and make a difference today!

IT'S HARD WORK BEING A

DIRTBALL!!!!!!!!!!!

So we are in the middle of a very odd heatwave here...and the kids were just overheated today. We played in the backyard and funny enough, my delicate little flower of a daughter was the dirtiest munchkin of them all! She is so her mother's daughter! My mom loves to tell stories of me covered in some sort of grime/mud/dirt. I'm thinking this one will make a great layout!

I couldn't resist this one! I snuck up behind her when she wasn't looking!
And her traditional pose, head tilted to the side....she will make a great supermodel one day (she already has the attitude for it!)
I had to crop this one in order to get the full effect...there is a reason they call toes piggies don't ya think?!
See? I told you it was hard work getting this dirty! Now to wake her up and try to get some supper in her and soak her in the tub! I would post a pic of the tub afterwords but I think that may make even me feel a little nauseous!
Hope you are having a great week!

SOTW Sept 21-27 and a little update!

Okay okay....so I kind of fell off of the scrapping/blogging wagon....

Life just seemed to interfere with my social life......oh wait, I don't have one of those! I meant scrapping/blogging life!
School is finally getting us back into the routine of things, the online store is up and running, the job at the LSS is definitely keeping me busy and ........life goes on!
I had a techniques/card class at the LSS tonight - a lot of fun and a good group of ladies! I really do enjoy teaching as it gets me out there trying new things. I really forgot how much I missed of the adult conversation part of a job! I love having a dayhome but it is nice to be able to talk to other adults without children interrupting me 540 times a minute!! My next class will be on October 27th and it will be on Glimmer Mist - if you are interested, please send me an email or leave me a message here and I can give you more details.
And now for the long lost sketch! The paper this week is Basic Grey's new Indian Summer line. I am head over heels for this paper - the colours and the patterns are simply gorgeous!!! Enjoy the sketch and have a fabulous week!!

READY? SET?? ...... SHOP!!!!!!!!!!!!

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We have finally got A PILE OF SCRAP!'s online store ready to open!!!!!! Come check it out at www.apileofscrap.ca/zencart and welcome to a scrapbooker's oasis!!!

The grand opening will be Saturday, September 5th so get ready to shop! There are over 1000 items in the store and a great deal on shipping!!

As an added bonus, there is a coupon for the grand opening which will give you 10% off your total bill!!! Simply enter GRAND_OPENING in the coupon area and you are good to go!!!

And....if you post this on your blog and leave me a little comment, your name will be entered in a draw for a $10 gift certificate to the store!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Shopping Everyone!!!

APOS DESIGN TEAM REVEAL FOR AUGUST

What a crazy month this has been! This month, we were all given various Crate Papers from A PILE OF SCRAP! - some cute lines with really great rub-ons and die cuts that really add to your creations. I was in a bit of a time crunch and only got started 2 days before the deadline but did manage to complete 4 projects (with one more almost done!).
Some of the goodies given to me included:

We had a little staff meeting/going away party/staff crop at work on Friday night so I quickly printed off some Canada Day pictures to work with. The only problem was that as I was holding this beautiful little 7 month old, he managed to grab a hold of my wine glass and spill it....getting a little bit on each picture....but it worked out okay as I managed to create some embellishment clusters to cover it up!
The first layout I did is my new fave....can you tell where the wine got on the picture?!

The squirrel is part of the glitter die cuts, how cute is he?!
And the next layout also had some wine spillage...any guesses where?

The owl, the journaling tag, and the "hoo's the little cutie" are also from the die cuts....I don't think I have ever bought die cuts before but they sure can add to a page! The chipboard heart was coloured with my new obsession (Smooch ink) and then stamped, and the Prima flower was inked and glimmer misted....after I took out the middle of it because I wasn't crazy about it.

Next up were two birthday cards for a little birthday party (for my dayhome kiddies) we went to yesterday. The kids had a great time and it was actually quite a relaxing birthday party! The cards were made from the rubons and snippets of paper and even a bit of the packaging from the rubons - can you tell where I used that?!

And that is my reveal - hope you enjoyed it! Make sure you check out Candace's unique "Beach Days" layout, Cheryl's super-cute "Monsters Under the Bed" layout, Vicki's adorable "1 Cute Shirt" layout, Valerie's beautiful flower box, and Jen's "Just Ducky" layout!!

Can't wait to see what this month brings us.... will be back later tonight with the Sketch of the Week!

WHERE AM I?

No seriously...what day is it? Who am I again?

Me...chicken with my head cut off....

Whoever said summer was calmer? Because lately it definitely has not been for me.

I wanted to let you know why I have been MIA lately........because it's for a reallllly good reason....

I have been super busy making felt pieces that 2 stores will soon be carrying...and also..... all you shopaholics out there - get ready!

I AM IN THE PROCESS OF SETTING UP AN ONLINE SCRAP STORE!!!

A PILE OF SCRAP! has decided to bite the bullet and open up an online site! I have to admit that this is all new to me and I am learning a lot (and ripping my hair out a lot too!). I have been up most nights (mornings) till 1 am trying to get it all done and it is looking great!

It has some super cute stuff at some even cuter prices!! And shipping won't cost you an arm and a leg either!

So my apologies if you haven't seen much of me lately...but now you know it is for a great reason! I have 3 deadlines quickly approaching so look for me here and there until I can get caught up. And don't panic that I haven't shared the store link with you - it's coming soon!!!

SKETCH OF THE WEEK AUG 17-23

Why is it that I seem to forget to post this darn thing on Monday? I seriously need to do that thing where you set it up to post on the right day.... Anyhow, how is your week going? We are finally in for a touch of nice weather so we are hoping to take advantage of it in the next couple of days.
I find that I have been doing a lot of layouts lately with one or two photos so thought I would change it up this week and see if I could fit 4 on there! The paper this week is courtesy of Bo Bunny's new Delilah line - great pinks and browns....can't wait to get my hands on it!!!
Have a fabulous week (or what is left of it!!)

SKETCH OF THE WEEK AUG 10-16

Thanks everyone for the congrats! I have been a busy beaver lately.....trying to get everything caught up before the kids go back to school and I feel like I am nowhere near there yet!

This week's sketch features the beautiful new Cosmo Cricket line called "Earth Love" - my friend Alissa is completely addicted to this line so I made this one just for her! I would link you to her blog but she hasn't ventured there yet! I signed up for a Jessica Sprague free online course about editing pictures but haven't had time to go through them yet, but did find time to download the free goodies that came with it, including a beautiful brush set from Heidi Swapp's House of 3....so that is where the "Celebrate" came from on the photo. If you aren't a picture editor, a rub-on right over your photo would work great! I did that on one of my last layouts so I will have to take a pic :)
Hope you are all having a great week!

A Little Yippee!!!

I had to go change this post - and just wanted to share!!

SOTW Aug 3 -9

Sorry it is a day late, it was a holiday here yesterday and that always throws me off! We had a fairly uneventful weekend - spent some time at the big mall yesterday and decided to buy our first pet! Thought the kids could use it as a test pet in preparation for the big pet that will one day come (I promised my son we could get a dog when he turns 9!!).... While standing in line to pay for said fish, my 4 year old announces that he would like to name it Kitty - while everyone else laughed, my mind immediately flashed to a super-cute layout called "Hello Kitty!" but by the time we got home, he had changed it to Kit...so Kit it is.....until in the tub he tells me that really it is Kitten or Kitty but everyone laughed......so I am now convincing him that Kitty is a fabulous name!

Tonight I am being a real grown up and going to a real grown up movie at the theatre with 2 dear friends - one of which I haven't seen in a VERY long time! I honestly cannot remember the last time I went to the theatre and didn't see a kids movie! Very exciting life I lead huh?! The other friend (Karina) that I am going with is heading to Salt Lake City tomorrow for a Stampin Up convention and has generously offered to lend me her Big Shot dies while she is gone - Karina is the one that first got me into stamping and I just love seeing her creations! If you ever have the chance to take one of her classes, JUMP ON IT!!!
And without further adieu....the SOTW featuring Belle Blvd. paper!

Scrapping with the SOTW

I finally got the chance to play last night...although it really was a toss up between crawling into bed or scrapping but I am glad the scrapping won out!
Busy day yesterday as my ds had his birthday party - to the movies to watch Up (who knew it would be so sad/scary?) which I really enjoyed, then supper at Denny's (oooh...aaaahhhh..) and home for some cake and Wii.....ahhh the life of a 6 year old!
It was super hot yesterday and when we came out of the theatre, the skies were so dark and you could just tell something was in the air. We had to drive about half an hour to get to Denny's and you could feel the wind picking up and then the torrential rainstorms started......it got a bit scary but when we got home and turned on the news, it was much worse than I was expecting - the local country festival in Camrose was hit hard by the storm, causing a death and a lot of hurt and scared people - thoughts and prayers to all of those affected. Summer storms always seem so cool to me...until such things like this and tornadoes hit :(
So after getting all the munchkins wound down and into bed, I turned on all the fans and scrapped.......quite muggy but I did manage to get one layout done using the Sketch of the Week:
All this done using only scraps from my scrap box......I am working hard on not being so matchy-matchy and like how it came out! And did you notice more of my new felties? More on that to come soon.........
Oh and I wanted to thank Sarah for playing along - go check out her blog and see what she did with the sketch!

JULY DT REVEAL!

Oh how good it felt to create again! This is our first reveal with our brand new DT over at A PILE OF SCRAP! and what a job everyone did!!! Alissa gave half the team "Wisteria" by Basic Grey and the other half got "Early Bird" by Cosmo Cricket - I LOVE Cosmo Cricket so I was very excited to see it peeking out at me when I got my package. Each month, we are asked to create 4 pieces with our package but I ended up with 3 layouts, a mini project and 2 cards - the scraps are amazing for card-making! Here are my creations:

PLAYTIME - A little bit of everything on this layout! Even a little doodling...still hard to get my pen to do that! I liked the look of the naked Riff Raff dino so I let him be. Still lovin those Jenny Bowlin cards :)

BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED - A very simple yet fun layout. I got a new scalloped oval punch and thought it would make a nice flower...and then the layout just kind of grew from there! The inking is all done with Tea Dye distress ink (my fave!).

BE HAPPY - 7 different patterns on this one! Cosmo Cricket makes it so easy to mix up the patterns. I found that the Bazzill Swiss dot paper went so nicely with this line. I used a little bit of glossy accents on the Be Happy strip just to make it stand out a little more.

What is this you may ask? Well it was my Mom's birthday so I made a cd holder for her and then burned a cd with pictures of the kids. This is the front of the cover - I used my ScorePal to do a little embossing on the front cover (for a frame) and my ever handy pokey tool!

This is the inside of the case.

And the inside with the cd in it. I went to Cosmo Cricket's website to get a picture of the paper so that I could make the label on the cd with the matching paper. I didn't tell my mom what was on the cd so when they got home, it was a nice surprise for her :)

And to fullfill my birdie obsession, I made this cute little card with my new Slice cartridge "Big Kids". I think you may be seeing quite a bit of this birdie! The cream strip (that looks white) was embossed using the new Cuttlebug embossing strips, some ink and my brayer!

And last but not least,

A birthday card for my son who is turning 6 today! The lizard is courtesy of the Big Kids cartridge again - love him!
Hope you enjoyed my creations, make sure you head on over to Vicki and Jerusha's blogs to see what they also did with this line. Then check out Cheryl, Candace, Valerie and Jen's blogs to see they beautiful projects made using the Wisteria line.

Have a great week!!!!!!!!