Working Through My Stash and Tales of De-cluttering….

Good afternoon! In December we decided it was time to turn our office/my craft space into a bedroom for Weston. This was great for him, not so great for us in some ways. We had to find a place outside of our home to office (we’ve officed out of the home for 10 years now!) and I had to give up having a dedicated craft space. In order to do this, I had to really go through and purge a lot of stuff and get back to the basics. That means having 2 closets that contain two Ikea Expedit 16 cube shelving units. I had to be able to close those doors and have everything crafty contained in there. Plus, I had to move my beloved stainless steel top desk out to the garage 😦 So now I work in his room in the corner on a folding table, which I have pretty much ruined with paints and ink already. OK, not ruined in my opinion, but maybe in someone else’s 🙂 This would also explain the fact that I rarely use my Silhouette Cameo I got for Christmas. For some reason it’s in my bedroom on the other side of the house. It wouldn’t fit in the closet.

The reason I tell you all this, is that I need to publicly acknowledge that I may have a hoarding problem. 🙂 I have kits going back almost 2 years full of cute papers, neat-o embellishments, stamps, stickers…you name it. Tons of really cute stuff that I just put in a box fully intending to use, but never got around to it. I did an honest evaluation of my stash and determined first of all that all of those paper stacks (you know…the K&Co, DCWV, etc. stuff you get at Hobby Lobby and Michael’s) needed to go. There was no way I was ever going to get through them all. Plus, I once had hours on end to mix and match and coordinate different products and manufacturers. I have since learned the beauty of buying stuff that is already pre-coordinated for me. It takes the guesswork out of having a really well designed and cohesive page.

So that brings me to the point of this post. I have recently purchased some new goodies like the Maggie Holmes stuff from my last post, but I am seriously working on getting layouts done using those old kits. I have picked through some of them, so I may have to mix in a few new goodies. 🙂

That said, please don’t judge when you see (gasp!) paper lines from 2010, 2011, and early 2012. 🙂 I think that good design can trump the use of older products, or at least that’s what I’m telling myself!!

Here are a few pages I have been working on. I continue to struggle with 2 page layouts, but sometimes they just have to be done.

So go ahead and dig through that stash, who knows what you’ll find!! Have a great week!

Well, well, well….

Guess who finally was inspired to get scrappy? 🙂 After a long drought, I finally found some time and scrapping mojo. I think with the pressure of no design teams I am feeling a lot more inclined to create. That combined with the LifeBook class that I am taking has really got me feeling inspired. For the past 2 weeks I’ve been knocking out some layouts. I can’t believe how fast some of them came together. Although like any other scrapper, I know that I will never really be caught up, I feel like I’m making some good progress. This is going to be kind of a picture heavy post, but this way I can share with you what I’ve been doing and get caught up on my blogging all at once. I have many friends’ blogs to visit and catch up with as well 🙂










The Pumpkin Patch and The Day You Were Born layouts were based on sketches from Creating Keepsakes Fast 4 x 6 pages
I hope you enjoyed the layouts are maybe found a little inspiration here as well 🙂
Take Care!

Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday 10.26

Good morning all! This week our challenge at Frosted Designs is to use Paints, Mists or Inks on a card, layout or off the page project! How fun it that?! I LOVE using spray inks in everything from scrapbooking to mixed media projects.

In honor of this Halloween season, I created these little 8 x 8 canvases featuring these cute little trick or treaters! I used a lot of acrylic paints, spray inks, stencils, masks, and other bits and pieces of Halloween goodness that were lurking in my stash. This was such a fun project to do. I’ve been taking Christy Tomlinson’s Pumpkins and Cider Workshop, which is full of neat fall projects. She is so inspiring to me!!
Here are my canvases:

I call this one my Frankengirl 🙂



And my Pumpkin Spice Girl 🙂



I also created this cute haunted house scene that I featured on my Art Journaling blog, but figured I would share here as well. I think this may be my favorite thing I’ve created so far! I bought this plaster piece at Goodwill and revamped it into a scene for Halloween. I thought it looked kind of looked like a tombstone.



So have fun creating a project using paint and/or spray inks and be sure to link it up at Frosted Designs for the chance to win a super cute Halloween mini album kit from The Paper Trail!

Challenge Me Happy 10.15…and other news

Hi everyone! This week’s assignment for Challenge Me Happy is a photo challenge. This was our inspiration photo:



I got my inspiration from the colors of the photo. Here is my layout:



Be sure to link up your new project using this photo as inspiration at Challenge Me Happy for a chance to win a Nikki Sivils paper pack.

Also this week I had two more layouts featured at Club Creating Keepsakes.

You can view them here.

Sorry for making this so brief, but I am battling a cold right now and not feeling at the top of my game 😦

Challenge Me Happy 10.1.12

Hi everyone! The weather here has turned somewhat fall and I’ve been busy today getting out my fall decor 🙂 I love this time of year, especially since we have such hot summers…the cooler weather is such a welcome change.

At Challenge Me Happy, our challenge was “Anything Goes!”. This is an opportunity to show off your personal best. Here is my DT layout, with my two little munchkins 🙂


Supplies used-Patterned paper: My Mind’s Eye (Follow Your Heart collection), Echo Park, unknown from stash; hexagon mask: Studio Calico; Spray mist: Tattered Angels; Banner: Heidi Swapp; Alphas: American Crafts; Pen: American Crafts

Link up your best work at Challenge Me Happy for a chance to win a box of goodies from My Little Shoebox!

Club CK Happenings

This week has been a busy one for me over at Club Creating Keepsakes. It started off when I was notified that two of my recent layouts were chosen as Gallery Highlights. You can view them here. I really loved those layouts!!

In other CK news, I have to post my Issue Challenge entries for the last 3 challenges. I got a little behind with this! So, this challenge (#2)was to use a camera embellishment on the layout. I had these photos of Macie sitting on my desk and they almost got lost in the mess there. Luckily, I found them and was able to get her first day of school layout completed using Amy Tangerine’s Sketchbook papers.


Supplies used-Patterned paper, die cuts, sticker,alphas, fabric tags: American Crafts; Pen: K&Co; Cardstock: DCWV

Next up is Issue Challenge #3-to use numbers on your layout. As most of you know, I have a huge family. 🙂 Every time we are all together and go eat it’s always “Party of 7?!” We are a big, loud, fun (mostly LOL) family. My oldest daughter always laughs when she comes home from college because it’s “so loud and crazy” at home! I think she’s gotten way too used to the silence of her dorm, so we make sure to give her a good dose of crazy when she comes home :). Anyway, here is my layout that I am putting in MY book, with a little note about our chaos (once again using those Amy Tangerine Sketchbook papers) Journaling reads: “So we have a big family…but you know what? I wouldn’t change a thing! We all get along for the most part. I couldn’t imagine my life without the chaos we endure every day. That is what makes a house a home and our family unique. We will always have each other-I love my big family:)”:


Supplies used-Patterned paper, fabric tag, alphas, sticker: American Crafts; Punch: Creative Memories; Pen: K&Co; stickers: Recollections

Issue Challenge #4 has us using paper airplanes on a layout. The night before this challenge came out I had been working on a project, and it was almost done, but I felt like it needed a little something else. When I saw the challenge I knew it was the exact thing I needed to add. So I did. It’s not a traditional layout. I am using Heidi Swapp’s memory files to document our summer vacation. I plan on doing another separate post on that fabulous-ness when I am done with my project :).


Supplies used-Heidi Swapp Memory File folders, trims, and banner; Washi Tape: K&Co, 7 Gypsies; Sticker: Crate Paper; Punch: Fiskars; Pen: Pitt; Font: MS Courier New; Spray Mist: Smooch; Stencil: Crafters Workshop

And there you have it! Sorry about the long post, but I needed to get caught up 🙂 Stay tuned later this week for my Frosted Designs DT reveal and Challenge Me Happy DT reveal….

Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday 9.14

Hi everyone! Well this Friday marks my return to the DT of Frosted Designs. Yay! After Weston was born things got a little hectic, so I took a little time to get back on track. It’s so nice that the kids are back in school and we are on a routine again. This means a little extra scrappy time for me while Mr. Baby is napping 🙂

This week’s challenge involves using journal cards. I had these mini cards that came in the pack of Amy Tangerine’s Sketchbook die cuts. I used them in the little cluster next to the picture, and actually did my journaling on one of them.

Supplies used-Patterned paper: American Crafts; Die cuts and journal tags: American Crafts; Washi tape: K&Co, Up and Up, Spray Ink: Mister Huey; Stickers: StickO; Pen: American Crafts

If you would like to participate in this week’s challenge at Frosted Designs, simply create a layout or project using journal tags and link it up on their site for a chance to win a prize. I can’t wait to see your creations!

P.S.-I also would like to take a moment to congratulate my oldest daughter, Ashley. Today she is receiving her Aggie Ring (from Texas A&M). She will be graduating this spring with a major in Animal Science. I am so proud of her!! Be on the lookout for a layout about this momentous occasion soon 🙂 Have a great weekend!

Challenge Layout Catch Up!

How do y’all like my new blog design? I’ve been hard at work giving the page a little makeover!

I know I am not the only mom out there who is excited that school has resumed, right? 🙂 With all of the kids (but one) back in school I have been on a scrappy roll lately! I just wanted to do a quick post to show a few layouts that were done for a couple of Issue Challenges over at Club CK. I’ve been busy keeping up with those, as well as getting ahead on my DT work for Frosted Designs and Challenge Me Happy. I am looking forward to beginning my new terms with these great challenge blogs. Here is some of my latest work that I can show right now:

Issue Challenge–to use mini envelopes:

Supplies used-Patterned paper: Little Yellow Bicycle, Punch: Recollections, Pen: American Crafts


Issue Challenge-use outlining at least twice in your layout. This layout is a scraplift of a layout by Dina Wakley called “Glimpse” from Somerset Memories. It’s not an exact scraplift, but I like to give credit where it’s due! I love her work!


Supplies used-Cardstock: DCWV, Paint: Ranger, Stencil: Unknown & Studio Calico, Spray Mist: ARTC, Dylusions, Punch: EK Success, Recollections, Pen: American Crafts, Washi Tape: SEI, Stamps: Studio G


Supplies used-Patterned paper-Studio Calico, Crate Paper, Brads-The Paper Studio, Letters: American Crafts, Punch: Fiskars, Creative Memories, Frame: Heidi Swapp, Pen: American Crafts

And finally September’s Sketch It Out Challenge entry. I love Ashley’s sketches. Check out her blog and look at her adorable layouts. Here is my layout for her sketch:

Supplies used-Patterned paper and flags: Heidi Swapp, Pen: American Crafts, Punch: Fiskars, Letters: American Crafts, Cardstock: DCWV

Stay tuned next week for my Frosted Designs Team 1 reveal for the new term!
Thanks for stopping by 🙂

Quick Post with Challenge Layouts for this week

Just stopping in quickly to share my layout this week. My first layout is doing double duty. It is for the Issue Challenge at Club CK (use a clock) as well as Let’s Get Sketchy. I loved their sketch this week! This layout was also kind of a personal challenge to myself to use up old stuff in my stash. I’m really making an effort to do this more often. I have an obscene amount of paper LOL

Supplies used: Patterned paper-unknown from stash, maybe Basic Grey? and Paper Studio from Hobby Lobby; Stickers: unknown from stash, K& Co.; Alphas: American Crafts; Washi Tape-Queen and Company; Punch: Recollections

The second layout I want to share is for Scrapfit’s Workout #74, a sketch from Diana. This was a pretty simple sketch and wanted to keep my layout that way as well.

Supplies used: Patterned paper-American Crafts; Washi Tape-K&Co; Pen-American Crafts; Punch: EK Success; Mist: Dylusions; Alphas: American Crafts

Enjoy your weekend! I will be back soon with some exciting news….. 🙂

I AM IN LOVE….

….with Heidi Swapp’s Memory File system and all of the fun goodies that go along with it!! Can I just way WOW?! I saw it online a while back when she started releasing it, but until we went on vacation and I raided the Archivers in Appleton, WI, I hadn’t seen it in person. One look and I was in love. I bought almost everything they had! This is the perfect solution for me, to have a fun way to keep track of MY memories. I’m always just scrapping for the kids, but I would like to start doing some more memory keeping for myself since I plan to give them all of their books someday. On that note, I stumbled onto this new (to me) challenge blog, Challenge Me Happy, and was excited to participate. I used Heidi’s No Limits Memory File as the base for this project. I really wanted to do something different and outside of the box from what everyone else is doing. Plus I love to try new things!! Challenge #37 is a recipe challenge. We had to use:
one or more stamps
two photos
ribbon or twine or both
two or more paper clips
no cardstock
three patterened papers or more

Here is my project:

Supplies:File folder-Heidi Swapp; paper clips-Studio Calico; Rub ons-Glitz,Heidi Swapp; Patterned Paper-Studio Calico, Basic Grey; Trim-Glitz; Washi tape: Up and Up; Punch: Fiskars; Border Frame-Heidi Swapp; Spray Mist: Mister Huey; Stamps: Studio G; Twine: Hobby Lobby; Stickers-Studio Calico, Heidi Swapp

Thanks for stopping by!