SC CHAllenges: Pink Cards

From white pages to pink cards! Back this morning to share 2 cards I made for the Studio Calico CHAllenges.

The first is for Dawn's Diecut Washi challenge. I fittingly made a card using some of her Papertrey Ink products, the Signature Series: Cupcakes.

It's a tiny little valentine-esque card that will probably make its way to Japan this year =)

And a second pink card for MT's best friend and his wife. After a long and difficult process, they're going to have a baby! They've just found out that they're having a little girl.

J is such a dude bro, I don't know how's he going to handle it. I couldn't help but create something frilly and girly to send his way.

I used Susan's 4 Punch card challenge to create this pink masterpiece. There are 2 scallop border punches, the jewel border punch, circle punch and heart punch used in this design.

Thanks yall for stopping by! And don't forget to comment on this post for a chance to win a RAK!

cheers & besos,

SC CHAllenges: White Pages

It's CHA time! I can't wait for some of these new products to hit stores! I'm especially in love with Studio Calico's Abroad release. Can't wait to get it in my grubby little mits :)

Know what else I love about CHA? The buzz about the internet! The chats, the challenges, the coming together of scrapbookers to celebrate what it is that we all love to do!

I decided to jump in on some Studio Calico CHAllenges at the last minute yesterday, literally 3 hours before my parents were to arrive in Katy (we were moving my brother out of his apartment). I came up with 2 super simple but none the less graphically awesome (if I do say so myself) designs.

I was really into white backgrounds yesterday. I love the blank canvas, the knowing that I can create magic with some mist, stamps, and photos, no patterned paper necessary.

This first was for Lisa T's use a diecut mask challenge. I drew a pair of scissors onto scrap paper cut it out and misted with Pumpkin Spice Mister Huey.

The details on this page are my favorite. I adore my little paper airplane, the cork paper and the pen and pencil from Papertrey's Happy Trails set. It's where I got the idea to make a paper airplane in the first place.

This second layout idea has been bouncing around in my head for awhile. Just about every Friday, MT and I have a date night. Tina's 2 Stamp challenge had me inspired to use my new Jenni Bowlin Days of the Week stamps and an old "Potty People" stamp from Kelly Panacci, to capture the "anatomy" of our dates. I tried my best to make the stamps the focal point! After the photos themselves of course.
There's very little embellishing on this, just some journaling strips and washi tape. I love that these, which are some of my favorite, instragrams are so prominently on display.

I already have more CHAllenge projects to share, but I'll save a few for later. Off now to check out what 2 Peas in a Bucket has in store for their Winter Social.

Where else are yall headed to for CHA festivities?

cheers & besos,

P.S. Don't forget to enter for a chance to win the RAK!

300 + RAK!

It's here! I made it! I've crossed the 300 blog post threshold and there's no stopping me now =)
It took some time, nearly 2 1/2 years, but I did it! I'm so happy to have stuck it out and kept up with this blog. It makes me happy to look back to see all of my pages, to consider how my design style has evolved and to know that I still really love this hobby.
In honor of my little blog achievement, and as a thanks to all of you who've stuck it out with me, I'm offering up a RAK. One commenter on this post will win a Sketchbook/Sketchpad pdf class of their choice. (Note: These are not live classes.)
I found it fitting since I've talked about them so much, and have shared so many pages using them. I even put together a handy little slideshow of them all, below.

To enter for the chance to win, I'd like to know how you combat scrappers block/lack of mojo. Do you scraplift? Turn to sketches? Walk away from your desk? Surf the web (aside from Pinterest!)?
I feel like we could all use some tips on this and I can't wait to hear what you have to say!
I'm leaving this RAK open until midnight CST 20 February as I'm off traveling for a good part of next month. And who knows, there might be some fun mailed prizes in store for the person who wins ;) I'll be London and Portugal after all!
Once again, thank you so much for you blog love and support! I appreciate you all =)
cheers & besos,

Started with a Chair

Why hello sweet blogging friends!

Come in. Take a seat. Stay awhile :)

Funny I should mention "taking a seat" as today I'm sharing one very special chair.

Last March I had a Sunday to kill while I was in London. On a whim I booked a train ticket to Alton, to visit Chawton Cottage one of Jane Austen's homes. It's now a finally preserved museum, who's primary exhibits are the rooms themselves.

Tucked into one corner of what I would call the dining room is Jane's desk and chair. It's reputed that this is where she wrote little known titles such as Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, Emma.

You know, those sweet little tales :)

With role models such as Lizzy Bennett and Emma Woodhouse, I didn't let some silly little "No photographs please" sign stop me from capturing Mecca for the Jane Austenite.

I quickly uncapped my camera, aimed and prayed the photo would turn out nice. I only had the one shot!

With some careful cropping and editing, I think I managed to do this quiet little corner of the world some justice.

It's been nearly a year since I've visited Alton and Chawton Cottage and thus the same amount of time to scrapbook this photo. I think I've been waiting all of this time for the right design to come along, something worthy of it's significance.

And finally it did.

In the form of a Jill Sprott layout no less.

Now, dear blogger, you see me write a lot about my adoration for Kelly Purkey's work, but not many of you may know that Jill Sprott is just and dear and very near to my heart.

Her work never ceases to inspire and amaze me. And while I don't often straight scraplift from her work, I none the less admire and adore just about every page she's ever created.

This Fly layout was no exception. Suddenly, I had my inspiration!

I used a plethora of October Afternoon Farmhouse goodies, some Studio Calico and Amy Tangerine Stamps, Maya Road doilies, a gorgeous sheet of Sassafras (may they rest in peace) patterned paper. But, most precious of all, my "Jane Austen This Book Belongs to..." stamp that I picked up from the Cottage gift shop.

{Sigh} Oh Jane. How I simply adore thee.

cheers & besos,

P.S. My next order from Papertrey Ink will absolutely include the Simply Jane stamp, die cut and patterned paper set. Check them out if you'd like to make Jane Austen inspired layouts too!

Blue Thank You Cards

I made some cards! My first since that hefty Christmas undertaking.

Now before you go thinking I'm this card making genius or something, I have to admit this is a complete and total lift from the Hero Arts blog. But it was such a pretty card, I couldn't not lift it!

I used just 1 double sided sheet from a 6x6 paper pad to adhere to the base of the tag and for the punched heart (I made 3 cards btw). And the rest is just odds and ends from my scrapbook table.

I tried using a foam stamp with Versamark ink. It didn't work out so great, since you can see where I laid the ink pad on the stamp. But the design of it is nice.

I also heat embossed with Denim Zing! powder.

...and thank YOU for stopping by!

cheers & besos,

No. 143-Desk

Hello, hello!

Last week I promised to share how my desk is organized with you all.

I snapped a few quick photos to show the general layout of my area.

Thankfully, I didn't have to do much cleaning before hand. I'm trying to keep this area fairly mess free this year.

For the most part, it's working!

So this is my layout right now. Computer and magnetic pad are front and center.

In red bins below are my stamping supplies: ink, pads, distress tool, etc.

To my right is room to spread out if need be, and lets face it you always need that when you're working!

To my left is my trimmer and two organizational bins.

The littler one holds all of my go to supplies: pens, pencils, erasers, corner rounder, tape runner, charcoal chalk ink and Versamark ink pads.

The larger is where my scraps go before I sort them into their color folders. It's also a place where started projects hang out and marinate.

Above them are my pickle jars, which hold buttons and other little odds and ends. My Matryoshka measuring cups hold the tiniest scraps of the best paper, also circles that I punched and didn't use, butterflies of the same.

Above my desk, hangs some of my largest stamp sets. The rest are in binders to the right. My photo printer's right in front of me. As is my heat embosser, which is PLUGGED IN! I can't stress how important this is for me. If it wasn't, I'd never use any embossing powder.

Also a jar of pretties aka ribbons for me to consider when I'm scrapping. These were previously under my desk and never got used. At least now they're visible if I want/need to use them for anything.

Then up and to the left is my latest acquisition, a lovely Cubby Organizer from Pottery Barn. It rather haphazardly holds all of my acrylic paint (seriously, I need to go through and purge these!!), embossing powders, spray mists and washi tape. I love it! I think it's just gorgeous to look at as well.

And that's my space. If you have any questions about anything, please don't hesitate to ask. Or if something's working really well for you flow, please do share!!

cheers & besos,

December Mini Pages

How has it only been less than a month since Christmas?! And here we are, a full 22 days into 2012!

Whether you're having fun or not, time just flies!

Before it got too late into the new year, I wanted to scrap some of my Christmas photos.

This year, MT and I flew out to Ohio to spend the Holiday with his family.

It was my first Christmas with the Tomerlins and also our first flying trip anywhere.

We survived the flight together and once that was over with the rest of the holiday was a breeze.

We ate tons of great food, caught up with his friends and just relaxed in general. It was a great time marred only by the brief altercation between me and their Grinch dog, Teddy (seriously, he looks a little like the dog from the Grinch!).

Yeah, well...he decided to give up his spotless no bite record this Christmas. His chosen victim, me of course! It's nearly a month later and I still have the mark on my hand. But even that couldn't take away from the lovely time we had.

I didn't take many photos (shocking I know!) but I do love the images I managed to capture.

Like this one of Matt and his Grandma Rose next to the Christmas tree.

I'm loving her Christmas sweater and of course the lovely lady herself! She's the sweetest little woman and she adores her grandson.

And this one with the whole (as in only 5!!!) Tomerlin clan in front of the tree.

I love photos like this, when you can see how all of them resemble each other.

And how happy Matt looks because he's with his family.

And then just fun shots from Christmas morning, taken with instagram.

Of siblings being silly together...

and of the tree, laden with gifts.

Can't it be Christmas time again already?!

cheers & besos,

Persnickety Prints Review

"Where am I going to get my photos printed now?!"

Scrapbookers have bounced this question around the internet this year, on messages boards, twitter, just pick your social networking site.

And the reason is this.

Their favorite, and my favorite photo printing site closed down.

I'm sad to see Scrapbook Pictures go under and wish all of their people the best of luck.

But that's the world we live in now. It's so sad but undeniably true.

And thus I've begun my quest for a new online printer.

Mind you, I only order enlarged prints and 4x4 in instagrams from these kinds of sites. Anything 4x6 and smaller I can easily just print at home.

Sunday I edited some photos and then sent them off to Persnickety Prints. I've ordered from them before, a few months ago when they were having a sale on their square prints. The quality was good and the turn around fairly quick, from what I could remember.

This was the timeline for my order:

Sunday-Uploaded

Tuesday-Shipping Notification

Friday-Arrived at No. 143

I was pleasantly surprised that my prints arrived on Friday. That's one day quicker than the turnaround at SP. It seems I have a pattern of ordering prints on Sunday in the hopes of them arriving in time for the weekend so I can scrap. These pretties actually did.

I ordered a 12x12 print, so they sent everything in a 12x12 in hard cardboard box.

Everything was taped down to avoid slipping and corner bending.

And then they were taped to each other.

Every size of print came wrapped in its own cellophane envelope.

The default paper is a lightweight Matte. But you can also order metallic prints at an additional cost.

They don't have as many sizes as Scrapbook Pictures did, but they still have plenty to choose from, and specifically small square.

I'm happy with how my order turned out, and how quickly they were able to turn it around.

The price was also pretty good. But that may have something to do with the larger prints being on sale.

Persnickety Prints, if you're reading this, keep the lowered price!

I will definitely order from them again. But would also like to do some shopping around. Does anyone know of another good printer?

And if you have any specific questions, I'm happy to answer them.

cheers & besos,

Flora & Fauna

Morning yall! Just thought I jump on and share one of my latest Hawaii pages.

It's not my typical design, but I like it just the same.

I used paper from the American Crafts Margarita line and flower embellishments from Basic Grey's Lauderdale line.

It came out really festive!

These photos are for my Nana.

When I told her I was going to Hawaii, she made me promise to take pictures of the flowers. She said she knew she'd never go see them herself, so she had to see them through my photos. The scenery, the foliage, the flowers were some of the most beautiful I'd ever seen.

The photos just don't do them justice. But she'll love them just the same.

cheers & besos,

Kraft & KP

Oh sweet work holidays :) so thankful today for a 3 day weekend.

It's just the extra day I needed to get back on track with some stuff.

Like specifically, my blogging!

I've been scrapbooking, (some of my projects I can share, and some of which I have to wait to share until next month :) super excited about that!) just not blogging.

Today, I wanted to show off a few of the recent Sketchpad layouts I completed. Slowly but surely I've been making my way through these sketches and have used 7 of the 12 so far.

KP is famous for her use of circles, and when I saw the sketch this layout is based on, I knew I wanted to use them for these photos from the Haggia Sophia.

Jesus and Mary both have haloes depicted around their heads, which I thought went well with the circular design of the layout.

These mosaics were utter masterpieces. Their luminescence was absolutely breathtaking!

And don't you just love colors? The golds and blues with the dark red thrown in, it all felt very regal.

I wish I'd tended toward a "less is more" approach to this page, but I like how it turned out none the less. It was a fun layout to make. I just wish the Kraft had photographed better!

Speaking of Kraft, it seems I've been using it a lot lately. Here's another Sketchpad layout with a Kraft background.

The misting was meant to be the shining focal point, but I used too thin paper as a mask and it kind of bled through. Not to worry, I like the effect. It makes it feel more rustic, "manly" if you will ;)

It's very simple and straight forward, and features some instagram shots. Man do I love my instagram app! (And if only it was easier to get these bad boys printed!! But that's another story...)

The embellishment clusters came together really easy with some of the scraps I had on my desk, and also a few things from my pickle jars. Speaking of, I should probably share some of my desk organization this blog. That'll be a post for later this week.

We're getting really close to the magic 300th blog post. If you're interested in these Sketch classes of KP's you might want to keep checking back for it ;) :)

xxbesos