Exciting News

Ok, maybe this isn't so exciting for most of you, but for those of us here on Maui, this is AWESOME!!!!! Our gas prices FINALLY dropped below $4.00/gallon this week! It's been a LONG time since we've seen gas this low, so I just had to share!!! (and I heard on the radio this week that Lanai, which is part of Maui County is now below $5.00/gallon!!!). WOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO!!This made it slightly less painful when I paid $4.99/lb for lettuce and $9.98 for a gallon of milk yesterday at the grocery store!!! (we're all HOPING that if the gas prices stay low, our groceries will start to go down a bit too)!!!!

Another set of Sweet Shoppe Challenges

Sorry, I'm trying to play catch up!!!

Here's another FOBTY....The Jack-O-Lantern Quiz...be sure to stop by the Sweet Shoppe Blog!!

What Your Jack-o-Lantern Says

You are a gleeful, exuberant person. You enjoy a good party, and you even enjoy a good brawl. This Halloween, there is no question what you should be... a pirate! The candy you should give out: peanut butter cups

The Jack-o-Lantern Quiz

And here's a cute layout I did capturing the first picture of Dean's early smiles. This was for the Sweet Shoppe's Slogan Challenge, which was to use the title "Being There is Everything". I also combined it with the most recent Color Confectionery challenge, which was to use orange, blue & yellow on your LO. I think it turned out pretty darn cute!!!

Credits: Frame by Nancy Comelab (the Lilypad); Alpha from Cheeky Girl by Zoe Pearn, stitches from Intergalactic by Zoe Pearn, everything else from Cheeky Boy by Zoe Pearn - all available at the Sweet Shoppe.

FOBTY & other sweet challenges

One of my favorite Digital Shops, Sweet Shoppe Designs, has a weekly challenge called From our Blog To Yours - usually some type of quiz. Well, if you participate and post your results on your blog, you can earn sweet rewards (good towards discounts at the Sweet Shoppe!!). I've recently started doing more of the Sweet Shoppe challenges and this one is an easy enough way to earn some rewards points, so you'll probably be seeing more of these FOBTY posts every other week or so. This week's quiz is Which Halloween Candy are you? Here are my results:

Halloween Candy Quiz


You are a Lollypop
Like the Lollypop you are sweet and lickable;)
Find out which Halloween Candy you are at Quizopolis.com

And here are a few hybrid cards I made for a couple of Sweet Shoppe "52 Card Pick-Up" Challenges...

This first card is for 52 Card Pick-Up Challenge #20. The rules were to make a rectangle shaped card using the color lime green, a photo, and it had to be a number birthday card (with the number incorporated into the card somehow. Here's mine (Dean will be 2 in December...yikes!):

Credits: Surf's Up by Zoe Pearn (Sweet Shoppe Designs)

The next card is for the 52 Card Pick-Up Challenge #19. We had to make a 5x5 card, use the color green and "doodles" and it had to be a belated birthday card. A bunch of doodles just wouldn't have looked right, so I chose to "doodle" the belated part of the card!!!

Credits: Tomboy Princess by Libby Weifenbach (Sweet Shoppe Designs)

Digi Posts

I have SEVERAL digital layouts to share with you today. I've been behind on my blogging, so please bear with this super long post!!!

These first 2 layouts feature pictures of my BFF Brandi's adorable little boy, Balin! You'll be seeing lots more Balin LOs in the next few months as I'm making Brandi a photobook for Christmas!

Credits: String photo wrap from Stringy Thingies; Leaves from Dude! mini kit; Circle from Another Sunny Day; Everything Else - Fallin'. All by Juno Designs, available at Elemental Scraps

This LO brings me to an exciting announcement of yet another CT I've joined - Sya's Blueprints. Sya designs AMAZING layered templates that make creating digital pages super quick and easy. Be sure to check out her shop at ScrapMatters!!

Credits: Going in Circles template by Sya's Blueprints (ScrapMatters), Autumn Woods by Scrapkitchen Designs (Sweet Shoppe Designs), Alpha from Richer by Misty Cato (Sweet Shoppe Designs).

This next LO is an RAK for one of my favorite digi friends, Crystal. Her little Stella is just adorable and Crystal "loans" her to me for some of the girly kits I need (and love) to use for my Creative Team projects.

Credits: Everything from the new Crush kit by Krystal Hartley, available at Funky Playground Designs.

This LO features a super cute pic of my son, Dean (the blondie) and his BFF Charlie rockin' out on the piano during a playdate at Charlie's house. These 2 are so cute and I can't wait to see the trouble they get into in the years ahead!!! (and even though Charlie is a year older than Dean, I can already tell Dean's going to be the instigator in the trouble-making!!! I can only imagine the gray hairs these 2 are going to give Ellyn and I as teenagers!).

Credits: Intergalactic kit and Down N Dirty Sketchy alpha by Zoe Pearn; frame from Traffic Jam kit by Julie Billingsley; font is Messy Amanda by Darcy Baldwin - all avail at Sweet Shoppe Designs.

The next 3 LOs are for one of my newest Creative Teams - Amy Teets Designs! Amy has some pretty amazing kits and has stores at both A Cherry On Top and OScraps. All of the products used in these LOs can be purchsed at either store.

Credits: Vix paper Pack and Vix Element Pack by Amy Teets

Credits: Grafica kit and Essentials Horizontal Aged Frames by Amy Teets.

Credits: Charade by Amy Teets; Wordart by Natali Designs (Scrapbook Graphics)

And finally, here's another LO using one of Sya's fun templates and a kit by one of my all-time fave designers, Zoe Pearn (this girl's CT is my dream team - one of these days I'll get up the nerve to e-mail her begging for a spot on her team). Zoe's kits are soooo yummy!

Credits: Going in Cirles template by Sya's Blueprints; All Worn Out Overlays by Penny's Miscellany (Sweet Shoppe Designs); Beaded string from Cheeky Boy by Zoe Pearn; Everything Else from Surf's Up by Zoe Pearn; (available at Sweet Shoppe Designs).

In other Digi News.... Mari K. has an AWESOME sale going on over at the Digichick this week only - now's your chance to pick up Sweet Halloween for 50% off!! Here's a preview of the kit:
And here's a hybrid project I made a few weeks ago with Sweet Halloween:And today is One Dollar Wednesday over at the Sugarplum Shop!!! That means Nicole has a few Sugarplum Goodies marked down to only $1.00!!!! Here's what you can pick up for one dollar. Remember, this price is good TODAY ONLY (Wednesday):OK, well, if you made it this far in this post, I'm impressed!!!! Thanks for your patience with this long post - I promise to try to be more consistent with my blogging in the future!!! Happy Wednesday!

SFYTT

I got lots of projects done this weekend, so I'll be sharing some of those with you as the week progresses. First, I wanted to show you this little card...my card for this week's Sketch For You To Try over on Jen del Muro's blog.

I used a chocolate chip CS base with Riding Hood Red and Very Vanilla CS. The printed paper is some of the new SU Kiwi Kiss DP, which I LOVE!! I used my favorite Verve stamp set, Floral Whimsy and paper pieced the vase out of Riding Hood Red DP. The Alpine ribbon is from the new SU Holiday Mini Catalog - so YUMMY!!! Finally, the flowers are colored with Copics (which I suck at by the way, and it doesn't seem to matter how much I practice...these markers HATE me).

So that's it for now. I have a few more cards and some digital projects to share this week, so check back!!

Check it out...

...I'm the hostess this week for a new feature on the Sugarplum Paperie Blog - Tutorial Tuesday! I've posted a tutorial on how to make those great iron-ons, like these:

And, it's One Dollar Wednesday, which means Nicole has several items on sale for only $1.00!!! (she's also announced some great permanent price cuts on some older kits too!!). Be sure to stop by the Sugarplum Blog to check it out!! And if you decide to try out the iron-ons, link us up to your project - I'd LOVE to see what you create!!!

Simply Sentiments

Don'tcha just LOVE a good sentiment? I LOVE using sentiment stamps as my main image on a card with some yummy DP! And who has the best sentiments out there? Verve! Julee has a way of pairing the sweetest sayings with the perfect fonts. Here are 3 simple cards showing how easy it is to use sentiments as your main image panel on a card...All three cards use SEI DP paper from my stash (I'm not sure of the collection - I've been hoarding it for awhile...)

This first one uses Julee's MoJo Monday Sketch #56. I LOVE this sketch!! Be sure to participate this week - it's a contest week, so Verve stamps are up for grabs!! For my card, I paired my SEI paper with some Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla CS. I busted out my sewing machine again (man, I REALLY need to do this more often so I can get some practice - I soooo need it!!), adding a zigzag stitch around the perimeter. The sentiment is from Verve's Asian Flair set, stamped in Chocolate Chip ink. I added some SEI ribbon and a button for embellishment and it was done! This card uses a Kraft CS base, some SEI DP, and a stamp from Verve's Filagree Fantasy stamped in Chocolate Chip ink on Wild Wasabi CS. I added an imaginisce (I think??) crocheted flower with a half pearl for the center and some SEI ribbon.
This last card was loosely inspired by this card by Becky Carafa (browse through her blog - it's pretty inspiring!!). I again used a Kraft CS base and SEI DP accented with Basic Black CS. The blue is also from my SEI stash (sorry I don't know the color name). This sentiment is from Verve's Floral Whimsy, stamped in Basic Black ink. I added some SU Flower Fusion felt flowers with a black brad.
OK, that's it - 3 simple cards with sentiment stamps only! Hope you like them!!

Groovy Birdy

This card didn't turn out quite like I thought it would. I kept messing with it and I think I should have used the other bird stamp so the bird would be facing the other way, but too late!! Oh well, next time!

I'm having lots of fun playing with mixing printed digital papers with my stash of cardstock! For this card I used Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, More Mustard and Real Red CS along with printed digital paper from the Indian Summer kit by Eva Kipler and Scrapkitchen Designs. The adorable little paper pieced birdy is from the Verve stamp set Anniversary Birds. I paired it with a sentiment from Feeling Groovy, stamped in Chocolate Chip ink.

So what do you think? Do you like these hybrid projects or would rather just see straight digital and "traditional" paper crafting separately? Personally I love mixing the two. Most of my scrapbooking has gone digital, so I have TONS of digital supplies and I know that a lot of people are moving in this direction. But I still feel this drive or need to physically CREATE something with my hands. Hybrid projects allow me to do both! I love it!! Plus, I think this allows me to reach out to two completely different groups of paper crafters and show them how easy it is to "get along" (if you will) - not to mention the fact that it really expands the possibilities!!! I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.


Hope you all had a great weekend! We had a fun hike Upcountry this morning - we were feeling nostalgic for fall, so when we start feeling that way, we try to go Upcountry where the air is cooler and it really does smell like fall!!! - it was beautiful and Dean did great. This was his longest solo (meaning NOT in the kid carrier backpack thing) hike and he made it about 1.5 miles before getting grumpy!!! I was so proud! Here are a few pics....

Krystal Hartley

Ok, I've had a MAJOR creative crush on Krystal Hartley since I started digital scrapbooking and I cannot BEGIN to tell you how excited I am to have joined her Creative Team!! Check out this post on her blog!!! (there I am...did you see me!?!?!). She has some of the yummiest kits!! So I thought I'd share a few recent projects with you....

The first 6 pages are actually 2-page spreads and are supposed to line up next to each other, but I can't get blogger to cooperate with the formatting, so you'll just have to use your imagination!!

Sorry for the gruesome details on this first page (it's my son's abbreviated birth story)...I didn't think anyone would actually be able to read that tiny print on here, but looks like you can. Oh well.

Credits:
Frame & Staple from East Coast Girls by Krystal Hartley & Libby Weifenbach. Covergirl Alpha by Krystal Hartley. Everything else from Northern Girls by Krystal Hartley & Libby Weifenbach.

This set of pages is pretty self-explanatory if you read the journaling...

Credits: Staple from East Coast Girls by Krystal Hartley & Libby Weifenbach. White scalloped thing from Sunkissed by Krystal Hartley & Misty Cato. Everything else from Midwest Farmer’s Daughter by Krystal Hartley & Libby Weifenbach.

OK, now no making fun of my pregnant bikini belly in this one!!! (and BTW - I gave birth THE DAY that last pic was taken - thank goodness because I couldn't have taken any more belly!!!)

Credits: Most of the layout was made with the new Dream a Little Dream collab by Krystal Hartley, Amy Sumrall, Ellie Lash, Kreative Karma, Meredith Cardall, & Sugarplum Paperie. Tree Trunk & Stitching from Southern Girls by Krystal Hartley & Libby Weifenbach.Cover Girl Alpha by Krystal Hartley."Amazing" word art by Ali Edwards from Designer Digitals. Frame by Nancy Comelab, from the Lilypad.

This page, an RAK for my friend Rebekah - uses pics of her ADORABLE daughter, Hannah!! It was fun to finally get to do a girly page!!!

Credits: Frame by Nancy Comelab, from the Lilypad. Everything else from Midwest Farmer's Daughter collab by Krystal Hartley and Libby Weifenbach at Funky Playground.

And finally, here's a paper bag album I made with These Days Are Golden kit by Krystal Hartley - it's to journal about the things I'm thankful fore this Thanksgiving.
So there you have it....lots of Krystal Hartley goodness!!! I'm sure you'll be seeing lots more in the coming months, because I just can't get enough of her designs!!!

Mojo Monday #53 and a Swap

I've been having MoJo Monday withdrawals!!! I've missed several of them recently, but I've been printing off the sketches and have them all in my "to do pile". I finally had the chance to tackle one of them today and I love how it turned out. Here's my take on Julee's MoJo Monday #53...

I decided to change it a bit and make it a 5 1/4-inch square card (I'm really into the square cards lately for some reason). I used a Chocolate Chip base along with the new Bella Rose DP from Stampin' Up. The top panel is actually stamped from the Verve Artful Elegance set with Chocolate Chip ink on Pink Pirouette CS. The sentiment is from Verve's Floral Whimsy, one of my faves (in case you haven't figured that out!!). I added some Riding Hood Red ribbon and some Flower Fusion felt flowers with silver brads. The rectangular panel, the sentiment and the flowers are popped up on varying depths of dimensionals.

And here's my card front for the Great Swap Girls 2 Holiday Mini Swap....
Once again, I went with a square card and used a Chocolate Chip textured CS base. I added some Ski Slope DP stripes to the left side and stamped the main image (from Scandinavian Season) in Old Olive on Whisper White CS. I also stamped the image in Riding Hood Red and cut out the flower portion, layered it over the main image with dimensionals (after adding a silver brad). The main image panel is matted on Baja Breeze. The sentiment, from All Holidays, is stamped in Versamark ink on Riding Hood Red CS and heat embossed with white powder. A couple more silver brads and some paper piercing around the right side of the image panel (which you can't really see in the photo) finished it up.

Sugarplum Blog Challenge

Hey there! So I'm the challenge hostess this week over on the Sugarplum Blog, so be sure to stop by and check it out. I thought I'd share my little project with all of you too. So, when I started thinking about what I wanted this challenge to be, I kept asking myself “why do I scrap?” Well, the main reason I started scrapbooking was to preserve my family’s special memories and to journal about the big events in our lives. However, I find that I often forget about the small, but important, everyday events. I wanted to create a project that captured some of those everyday memories of my son’s life as a toddler. ..Of course, because I’m on the Sugarplum Hybrid team, I went with hybrid. Here’s what I came up with…

It’s a little mini album titled “A Day in the life of Dean” (at 21 months). For my project, I ripped apart one of my son’s board books that he doesn’t read anymore and glued my printed pages down onto the board book pages with Mod Podge. I re-bound the book using my bind-it-all and added some ribbons for embellishment. I kept the design relatively simple, letting the photos and journaling take center stage. I used papers from Whimsy Doodle and Autumn Blooms along with the Clear White Alpha and a frame from Grapefruit Twist, and that’s it!!
Here are a few peeks at the rest of the inside pages…

So what do you think?? If you'd like to participate, head on over to this post on the Sugarplum Blog. You Have until October 9 to complete your project and link it up to this post for a chance to win a gift certificate to the Sugarplum Shop!!!

Digital Pages

Here are a few Digital Scrapbook Pages I've been working on...several RAKs for some good friends and one of my little guy...

This first one is of my friend Season's daughter, Sophie, and uses the new Berry Crush collab by Mari Koegelenberg and Erica Zane, available at the Digichick.

This layout is for my BFF, Brandi - pics of her son Balin riding his first trike, which was waiting for him when he got home yesterday evening... The page mostly uses the Rock-a-Motion kit by Cinnamon Designs. I also used the new Embossed Acrylic Alpha by Mira Designs. Both are available at the Digichick. The red frame is from Boys in the Sun by Dreamscape Designs, available at Digital Candy. The journal strip is from Autumn Falls by Bren Boone Designs.

This page uses more beautiful Revert Imaging photography of my friend Alanna's little boy, Micah. I used the Henny Penny kit by Mikkel Paige, available at the Digichick.
Finally, this last one (my personal and *unbiased* favoriate) uses the new Dude! Mini kit by Juno Designs, part of the October Mini Grab Bag available at Elemental Scraps (I'll be back later to add a link)...

Altered Composition Book

Here's a quick little project I finished up yesterday afternoon (busy day, my day off!!)...Dean got ahold of my Creative Team notebook, tore out several pages and either crinkled up or colored all over the remaining pages. Being the extremely anal, OCD, Type A person that I am, this required that I make a new one!!!! I used the ADORABLE Midwest Farmer's Daghter kit by Krystal Hartley and Libby Weifenbach, available at Funky Playground Designs. Be sure to check out the other kits in their fun California Girls collection (East Coast Girls, Northern Girls, & Southern Girls) - they're all super cute!! I also used an old Folded Corners template by Karah Fredricks. I printed the finished digital project on matte photo paper and put on a thin coat of mod podge to protect it. Once dry, I cut it out and used Mod Podge to glue it to the cover of the composition boon and it's done! Oh wait, I typed up the names of my various Creative Teams on some of the coordnating digital paper, printed it out and punched them with my Stampin' up tab punch to make the divideres. And now it's done for real!!

Calico Verve Card

Just wanted to quickly share this pretty card I whipped up last night using some digital papers and one of my favorite Verve sentiments...

Stamps: Verve's Floral Whimsy; Paper: Close to Cocoa CS, printed digital paper from Calico Harvest by Sugarplum Paperie; Ink: Close to Cocoa; Other: Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon, circle nesties, stampin' dimensionals, sponge for inking edges.