Refresh

I am having a crazy week, but knowing that I won't be able to scrap for a while (my mom is coming tomorrow!!) I knew I wanted to scrap as soon as I saw Mari's new release:

This kit was originally made when Mari competed in (and won!!) the DSA designer apprentice contest, but it has lots of yummy additions! I love the patterns of the papers, and the colors!

Credits:

Refresh by Mari Koegelenberg

Alpha from Easter Bunnies by Mari Koegelenberg

Font: Pea Pumpkin Peters

I went a bit crazy with the design of this page, but I love how the pattern of that paper shows through the cuts! :)

Let's see how much else I can squeeze in before my mom arrives. No matter how happy I am to have her  here, it will be tough for me not to create for over two weeks!

Surviving Easter

It has been a tiring weekend! First getting the house and food ready for our Easter guest, and then eating all the delicious food DH made. I'm almost glad to be back to work today! (almost) ;) DH got an Easter card for Project 52 Cards, Week 17:

You can see the Week 17 card here.

Happy Easter!

Credits:

Hoppity Hop… Easter's On Its Way by Jenn Barrette

Easter's On Its Way!

I know, I know... I'd said that I wanted to stay away from hybrid this week so that I could focus on getting caught up with my P365 and getting the house ready for my mom's visit... But when I saw the new Easter kit by Jenn Barrette, how could I possibly resist?? :)

It is adorable!! The colors are perfect for Easter, the patterns so soft and delicious, and the bunny and chick are too cute for words! I love this kit! I made a quick but oh-so-cute project with this kit, an Easter centerpiece:

It will turn in handy, too, because we're having a friend over for Easter, and this will look so nice on the dinner table! :) I also made a pretty card, but I will post that here tomorrow. ;)

Do You LOVE Books?

There's a gorgeous new collab in the ScrapMatters store today, from two of the April guest designers, Eva Kipler and Kate Hadfield.

I absolutely adore Kate's doodles, and these will be so perfect for many pages! Bottle + glass of wine: check! Chocolate bar: check! Camera: check! Laptop: check! And so much more! But today I started by doing a page about my love for books. It sounds a bit stupid, but I had this big revelation a few weeks ago, and I wanted to document it. I had never thought about it, but DH is not a book lover. And this was quite a shock to me, since I have been raised up with love and books. :)

Journaling:

It’s funny: I’ve known DH for almost 12 years, but I’ve only just realized that he doesn’t LOVE reading. Sure, he likes it, but he’s not crazy obsessed like me. I have always loved books. It started in kindergarten and grade school (I loved Spot’s books and Roald Dahl’s)and I really never stopped. My mom was just like me, and I never realized before that there are people who aren’t like that. Of course, I know people who never read, like my grandma, or are intermittent, slow readers, like my dad and DH, but I never filled the dots. Anyway, we were out for dinner a couple of weeks ago, when I started telling him once more how he should really read a book that I loved, when I finally got it: he doesn’t love to read. So I asked him if he liked to read as a kid, and he said he hated it! That’s when I finally understood how blessed I am to have this passion. I couldn’t live without books. Every few weeks or so, I feel the physical need to go to the bookstore to pick up a new book or two, and dream on...

Credits:

Me, Myself and I by Eva Kipler and Kate Hadfield

Math's Class Alpha by Kate Hadfield

Font: JH Kari

I also plan to make a little hybrid notebook with this kit to record my reads (I am a bit of a control freak at times ;) ) but it might not be for a while, with all the other stuff I should be doing first. :) This will be a busy weekend. We've invited a friend over for Easter and it's the last weekend before my mom comes to visit (yay!). I am quite pleased with how this week went. Work-wise, I got a paper accepted in a journal, and two other papers accepted at a conference (earning me a trip to the West Coast this summer); scrap-wise, I made some good progress on my P365. Instead of finishing up one week at a time, I've decided to go ahead and get the journaling and photo selection and editing first, while my recollections are more fresh. I've done 4 weeks' worth of pages this way already! I'm still only up to April 10 though, so more intense catching up is needed.

Recipe Book

Do you know that Jenn Barrette has started a very fun blog, full of curious finds and inspiration? Today's post is by yours truly. I am sharing a yummy recipe - my favorite soup - and showing off this pretty recipe book I put together. It's a $1 photo album turned into recipe book. :)

Credits:

Kitschy Kitchen kit and mixed media by Jenn Barrette and Sahlin Studio

 Go check out my post! :)

Easter Bunnies

Mari Koegelenberg has a new kit out today, an Easter kit!

It is totally adorable, full of bunnies and chicks. The papers are absolutely to.die.for!! Since bunnies are probably my favorite scrapping subject, and I had some brand new pictures to scrap, I made this:

Journaling:

I admit to having a moderate obsession with bunnies. While shopping for some essential craft supplies at A.C. Moore, I stumbled upon some adorable bunnies in the clearance section. But then I hurried to grab my supplies, and by the time DH joined me from another store and started telling me to hurry (as usual), I had forgotten all about the bunnies. So the following day I convinced DH that we really had to buy parchment paper (we'd been out for a month already, so it wasn't really that urgent…) using a 50% coupon, and brought him back to the bunnies. He was equally smitten, and, somehow, we decided we could do nothing else but bring all four of them home with us, with a little dog thrown in for good measure. No doubt, we'll be having a HOPPY Easter this year!

Credits:

Easter Bunnies by Mari Koegelenberg

Font: JH Kari

I had so much fun recoloring the bunny to match my bunnies. I think they turned out so cute! ;)

Monday

Less than one week to Easter, less than two weeks to my mom's visit... and I have so many things I'd like to get done before then!! First of all get the guest room tidied up (=move all my craft supplies out of the way...), then catch up on some of my P365... Luckily, I have at least 4 or 5 weeks' worth of P52 Cards done already, so if I can force myself not to do any hybrid for the next few days, I should have quite some time on my hands to get the other stuff done. :) I gave DH one of the monkey cards yesterday. ;)

You can see the Week 16 card here.

I am waiting to hear about three important things today, 2 work related and 1 scrap related. I hope to hear some good news soon! Hearing bad news on a Monday is a sure killer. :) Have a great week!

Choose To Be Happy

Jenn Barrette has a fabulous new collab out today with Lauren Reid (and it's 20% off!):

All the word art pieces in this kit are so cool! I am loving all the pages with this kit in the galleries! I used it for an inspirational ATC, and, boy, did I need it on Wednesday evening when I made it: I'd had a pretty rough day at work and really needed to think positive.

As you can see, it's already sitting in my artist printer's tray along with this ATC, and when I've filled in the remaining 10 spots I'll get it hung on the wall. :)

Monkey Business

I finished these cards on Monday and only just realized I haven't blogged them yet. I am SO happy with how they turned out! But it's no surprise, since I used this gorgeous collab by Jennifer Labre and Kate Hadfield:

Those monkey are adorable! (And I'm not even particularly fond of monkeys! ;) But these are just irresistible! ;) )

Credits:

Monkeying Around by Jenn Labre and Kate Hadfield

New Growth alpha by Kate Hadfield

Font: Firefly castle

This card is so much more fun in person: I didn't adhere the monkeys' bodies to the card, so they swing around when you move the card. Too cute!

Credits:

Monkeying Around by Jenn Labre and Kate Hadfield

Background paper from Growing Something Good by Jenn Barrette

Font: Firefly castle

I told you I was in love with that wood paper. ;)

Sweet Collab!

Juliana Kneipp has teamed up with Valorie Wibbens to create a super sweet kit new today at The LilyPad (and 20% off!!).

I had just the perfect memory to scrap with it:

Journaling:

We were so disappointed that the hotel only had availability for one night, but we decided to go anyway because with my crazy schedule we have to grab any opportunity we get. It turned out to be a fabulous weekend: even though it was short, we did so many things and had a fantastic time.

Credits:

Everyday Love by Valorie Wibbens and Ju Kneipp Designs

Fonts: JH Kari and CK Ali's Hand

I'll be back later to post a couple cards I forgot to post earlier this week. ;)

Still Behind...

My mom is coming to visit in just a little over 2 weeks, and I just realized I'd really like to be all caught up with my P365 by the time she arrives. She will be here for 2 weeks and I won't be scrapping while she's here, so I don't want to find myself with too many P365 weeks to catch up with when she leaves. I finished another spread last night, but I always seem to be 4.5 weeks behind... ;) But I am committed to catching up now!

Credits:

Chasing Rainbows by Dani Mogstad and Jenn Barrette

Fonts: CK Noah, Pea MeeMee

We'll see how that goes! ;)

Easter Banner

I can finally share the project I did for the April ScrapMatters newsletter: an Easter banner!

Credits:

Shaped Cards: Spring, Egg Templates and Accordion Flowers by Krisi's Kreations, The Carrot Patch by Chelle's Creations

I had so much fun cutting out all the pieces with my Silhouette, and the banner looks great now! :) It's not against the wall as in the picture above, it's hanging freely over DH's armchair! Here are some of the details:

I will have a hard time taking this down once Easter is over! :)

Colors and Patterns

Juliana Kneipp has a new kit at CatScrap today!

I looove the patterns and colors of this kit! Here's a card I made:

Credits:

Wish You Were Here… by Juliana Kneipp Designs

I am in love with this card!

Week 15

Last week I gave DH a card with matching bookmark for my Project 52 Cards:

You can see the Week 15 card here. Wow, week 15 already?!? Time sure flies when you're having fun making cards! ;)

Weekend Recap

I've had a quite busy weekend craft-wise:

Cards and hybrid projects completed: 4
Hybrid cards printed and cut out, ready to be assembled: 3.5
P365 LOs done: 0

I really need to set my priorities straight. The problem is that hybrid is so much fun it's hard to stop! But this week I really need to catch up on my P365. In the meantime, here's two of the things I got done this weekend. First off, the inspirational piece that has been printed for a while, but yesterday I finally bought push pins for my new cork board so now it is in place:

Credits:

Life Is Beautiful papers, elements and alpha by Ju Kneipp

(Of course, the cork board isn't yet hanging on the wall, but one day or the other I will coerce DH into putting it up. :) ) I actually ended up buying a cork board just because I wanted to hang this piece up, and square frames are hard to come by. Plus, the wallpaper in this room wouldn't have gone well with the fun colors and patterns I plan to put up, so a cork board was the best solution.

Then I made this card:

Credits:

Life Is Beautiful papers and elements by Ju Kneipp

Font: Pea Stacy's Doodle Script

The colors and textures in Juliana Kneipp's kits are absolutely stunning! I got a GSO on the ScrapMatters GSO blog for this one. ;)

A Week Late...

I'm a week late in showing you this amazing kit by Jenn Barrette:

It is such a stunning kit, and as soon as I saw it I knew I had to get those pretty papers printed. Putting together this card took some time, but I love how it turned out:

Credits:

Growing Something Good by Jenn Barrette

Font: Pea Stacy's Doodle Script

I might use it as this year's anniversary card, unless I get inspired to do something else. I also used this kit for a P365 spread:

Credits:

Growing Something Good by Jenn Barrette

Font: CK Noah

Yes, I am positively in love with that wood paper! :)
ETA: I got a GSO on the ScrapMatters GSO blog!

Flowers and Bunnies

I have been quite busy lately and I'm struggling to find time to create - but don't I say that all the time? :) I think I am working on at least 3-4 projects at the same time, instead of focusing on one and seeing it to the end, so that doesn't help either... ;) But I expect quite a few will come together before the weekend is over. In the meantime, last night, since DH was late from choir practice (they stayed an extra half hour, until 9:30 PM, and I was starving... the best way to get distracted was to finish up a couple things), I put together these two little things. I used a gorgeous kit by one of April's guest designers at ScrapMatters, Laurie Ann:

Isn't it pretty? All those springy colors! Here's a card I made:

And I also made a bookmark for DH because 1) I couldn't resist that bunny and 2) despite having made several bookmarks at his request months ago, he claims he doesn't have enough (and in fact he cannot locate a few of the old ones... sigh).

I haven't given it to him yet though, I certainly did not want to endorse his being late home last night. :) I think I'll give him both the card and bookmark together for my Project 52 Cards this week.

Week 14

Here's last week's card for my P52 Cards:

You can see the Week 14 card here. :) 

Ready for Spring

We've been having some nice sunny days here lately, but the temperature has been pretty low, in the 40s or low 50s. We went running Saturday AND Sunday and it was great. I'd take the cool weather over the heat any time, for anything, actually, but especially for running. :) Anyway, despite the still chilly temperatures (the highs are in the low 40s this week...), spring really is in the air. The first crocuses have popped up this past weekend in our garden, along with many tulip leaves. So it's the perfect time to use one of my favorite kits ever by Sahlin Studio, Sunshine and Daffodils. I made this card last week:

Credits:
Sunshine and Daffodils papers, Sunshine and Daffodils elements and Snipettes: Easter by Sahlin Studio

This is the featured kit for April, so this means that if you use it for a project or a LO and post it to the Sahlin Studio gallery, you get a chance to win a GC!

Sunny with Blue Skies

Sahlin Studio is the featured designer for April at DigiShopTalk, and she made a gorgeous kit called Sunny with Blue Skies for DST Gold Members.

I love the soft colors and gorgeous patterns in this kit! I used it to scrap this page:

Credits:

Sunny with Blue Skies by Sahlin Studio - DST Gold Member kit for April '11

Fonts: CK Ali's Hand and Century Gothic

Have a nice day!

Jewelry Anyone?

My mom's birthday was this past week. Since we've been living far away for the past few years, I haven't been able to give her a birthday present on her birthday. But this year, I found a way to send her a little something: I made her a hybrid pendant! It all started when I saw this gorgeous kit by Jenn Barrette and fell in love with the gorgeous patterns of the papers:

Bring in Tim Holtz's facets, and you get a very light pendant that can be mailed easily:

Credits:

Free as a Bird by Jenn Barrette

Facets - Tim Holtz idea-ology

I will be making more of these for sure!

ETA: I got a hybrid gallery standout at MeSoScrappy with this project. ;)

Spring Album

The new BYOC products by Sahlin Studio are soooo inspiring! Check them out:

As soon as I saw these gorgeous designs, I knew I had to print them out and make something pretty with them! So I made a Spring mini album.

I did lots of layering and used pretty lil' things:

It's just a darling little album and I love how it turned out! The inside pages are empty because I am planning to fill in the album with pictures and journaling about my mom's visit next month, but I already printed and cut out the embellishments too (they aren't adhered yet) so the album is ready to be assembled.

Credits:

A Spring Day papers, A Spring Day elements and Sponge Painted Alpha by Sahlin Studio

Butterfly shape from Sunshine and Daffodils elements by Sahlin Studio

The BYOC products are 20% off as usual, and The LilyPad is having the quarterly 30% off sale, so make sure you stock up on the other Sahlin Studio goodies while they're on sale!

ETA: I got a GSO on the ScrapMatters gallery standouts blog for this project. ;)