Whoa! They snuck in a VSN!

OK. so I admit I've been a little busy lately... or maybe just forgetful... but I almost missed this weekend's virtual stamp night at Splitcoast! Whoops! I did remember late last night and so was able to put a few together this morning, but I had to stop because I still have some ATC's to get done for PAT 14!!! Wow, I'm on a total papercrafting binge!

The first challenge I participated in was #1, which was to use colors from a country flag that is participating in the Olympics. I chose the Bahamas, mostly because I liked the flag colors the best out of the one's offered, but Ialso because I was having a flash back to the old movie Cool Runnings, which was about a Jamaican bobsled team. I imagine Bahamanians are at similar disadvantages competing in winter games!! So, their flag colors are black, teal, and gold. I used papers from Basic Grey's Off Beat collection:

I acented the card with little gems from Kaiser Craft. The stamp set is from Stampin Up.

My next card was for challenge 5 - to feature the letter 'S', to use pink, no neutrals but white, and to use the kissing technique. Here's what I came up with:

The patterned paper is Cloud 9, and the image is from Serendipity Stamps. I used QuicKutz for the letters - the "S" is Blossom and the other letters are Eliza mini. I used a nestabilities to cut out the main image, which was colors with Copics. The heart under the 's' is where the kissing technique is.... I used a QuicKutz to make my own foam stamp and the kissing was done on a background stamp from Glitz designs.

My final card was sort of fun because I don't usually do a lot of masculine cards. It is for challenge 6, to spotlight a sport, use Olympic colors of blue, red, yellow, black, green and also to use the 'spotlight' technique.

Yes, I'm pretty sure there's no ATV racing in the Olympics but this is about as sporty as I get! I used paper from an old Basic Grey collection and the ATV stamp is from Stampin Up... the distress stamp in the corner is from Glitz designs. The brads are from stash.

It's kind of a ho hum day outside today here... perfect for more scrappin, so I'm off! Have a fabulous end to your weekend!

A couple more quickies...

Just a fast update on two more pages I got done this month... I'm SO excited to have gotten so much scrapbooking done this month. Last year through the whole year I got very few pages done, so I feel like this year I'm starting off the right way:)

I signed up for a few classes at Big Picture Scrapbooking and this first layout is from Design Your Life by Cathy Zielski...

This is my very first "hybrid" page... the journal block was a download for the class. It's great to learn how to do some of this stuff and I hope to keep learning! All the paper and embellishments for this layout were from Bo Bunny's Grease Monkey Line. I love love LOVE these pics, because my little guy is just busy being a little guy. Sometimes with Autism you don't have a lot of normal, everyday moments... with Josh in particular, because he has a lot of sensory needs, he is very often stuck in stimming patterns and has a hard time joining us. So to find him outside just being a boy is a special moment! He even played witha worm... how cool is that??

This next page is a companion to one I made during VSBN... I do favor double page spreads so I usually make a second page to any one I start... I just have a hard time putting two pages that don't match next to each other in an album... a little obsessive, I know:)



All the paper and embellishments on this one were from Cloud 9, and the sketch is from Inspired Blueprints... #20. Gotta run - going bowling tonight with the kiddies and have a bunch of ATC's to finish for PAT 14, which I hope to share with you soon... have a fab weekend!

Imagine... it's almost the end of VSBN!

One more possible upload day for VSBN... I just barely got my next page in on time! The challenge I chose to work on today was K, which was to incorporate the word "Imagine", scrap about someone who brings peace and goodness to your life, use the color pink, and talk about what your peace color is and why. Whew!! First of all, here's my page:



This was my daughter age three... all the world was her oyster and still is! She loved pink, glitz and bling. I had this paper kit from Fancy Pants I'd been dying to use, and I thought the kraft base would be a cool contrasting background for a very blingy girl. The castle was created with my cricut Happily Ever After cartridge , and the title word using the new 'Songbird' font. The flowers are prima and the bling is all from Zva Creative. This page was a case... I usually don't do a lot of casing, but during the G challenge I found several cute pages and this one particularly stuck out to me, so I just wanted to get it done... the original page is Missing You by Jana Eubank and you can see it here.

The next part of the challenge was to talk about what color peace is to you. For me, it's pink! I'm in the middle of a divorce... in fact, last September would have been 15 years. There were a lot of good and bad things about the marriage, some things I do miss. But one thing that always got on my nerves was that my ex had a lot of opinions about the way things in the house should be - it was a constant source of arguements. One of the things I'm celebrating is my newfound ability to decorate any way I like.. hee hee hee! Therefore, the first thing I did in my new room was paint it PINK! Not a masculine thing about this room, and I love it:) Here's a peak:



I love the peace and serenity of my new room and the way it expresses me and what I like - it's great to come home every day and feel comfort in the things around me. So here's hoping that everyone finds a little piece of their own peace this weekend... have a great one!

Cuddly and Sweet...

So today is my last final this term - hoozah!! Image production.... not so much fun, but I'm glad afterwards the week will be over! I had two tough ones yesterday and when I got home I decided to take a little nap and woke up at 3:30 this morning! Obviously, I couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided to get another VSBN challenge done... Yes, I will hop on any excuse to get some scrappin done:)

I decided to work on Jan10VSBNE - the challenge was to use three hearts on your layout, each made of different material. Here's my page:



I used Cloud 9's 'Be Mine' collection. There are tiny hearts bordering the background paper, hearts printed on the ribbon, hearts on the second layer of background paper, a jelly heart above the photos, a chipboard heart below the photos, and a cluster of rub-on hearts in the upper right corner. I used a sketch from a new sketch site I found, Inspired Blueprints - very cute sketch, so glad I found the site!

All right, I'm off to study for a few hours... hope everyone has a fabulous Friday night and a great weekend:)

More scrappin pages....

OK, finals are on!! I've actually been studying this week but managed to pull out a few more pages for VSBN at Splitcoast Stampers... :)

The first page I did was for challenge G to case a page... I chose a really cute page from Scrapmom205, Hoe Down... and here's my page Feed the Animals:


I used paper and chipboard embellishments from Imaginisce's Wild Thing collection, sticker letters and journaling block from Scenic Route, and a giraffe sticker from my stash. Part of the challenge was also to create a handmade embellishment - I created the vines on the right side of the page using a QuicKutz vine and some stickles.

I also finished this DPS tonight for challenge H, which was to scrap doggie pics with a doggie quote.... here's both pages together:

And then quick views of each page individually so you can see them a little bigger:

I used paper from Basic Grey's Sultry collection, and some stamps for the quote from Cloud 9. The quote is "Happiness is a warm puppy" from Charles Schultz. Seemed to be true for my dd!! I'm gonna run because I have to go memorize super fun facts like radiology governing agencies and protection acts... yummy! Will slide in another page or two before the weekend if I can... have a great day!

VSBN!!

Hooray hooray, it's time for a VSBN!! I love a good excuse to scrapbook, especially since I have finals this week and so I really SHOULDN'T be scrapbooking... but, after all, how often does a VSBN come along??


I've been able to complete two challenges so far and have ideas for more so this post will be a quickie... the first page completed a lot of requirements... here is I am Autism:



The journaling says: You may think I'm not like you. Sometimes I need to rock or clap or make loud sounds. Things might seem strange when I'm around. But those are just surface things. If you watch me you will see I love to laugh and dance and sing. I learn things in my special way. Most of all I love to play. Open your heart and you will see - underneath it all, you're just like me.

The VSBN challenge was to title the page "My name is _______" and to journal something unusual about a person. As it happened, we are trying to raise money for Autism Speaks (check out our team at www.walknowforautismspeaks.org/palmbeach/teamjoshie2010 ) and our local scrapbook store is supporting our team, so I needed to create a page to advertise it - this challenge kind of prompted to idea for the journaling. Then, I also have been taking an on line class at Big Picture Scrapbooking and haven't had time to complete any of the assignments yet (yikes!), so I encorporated the sketch from my class (called Design Your Life with Cathy Zielske - very cool class!) So, lots of purpose behind this page! I was pretty excited to get the title to print in the picture - my first time playing with pse... the paper is from Creative Imaginations. I chose it because the puzzle piece is sort of the universal symbol for autism support.

The next page was for a challenge to create a page resembling an album cover called Busted Stuff... here's the page:


The placement of the main photo and the cut out photo are cased from the album cover, as well as the torn effect... I also used "Busted" as my title since I have PLENTY of photos of my son getting totally busted! I used paper from Bo Bunny's Grease Monkey line because it comes already looking paint spattered and distress - perfect for this page! OK, off to scrap now - hope to have more to post for tomorrow!!

ATC Technique Swap II

Happy New Year everyone! I don't know about where you are, but it's COLD here! Which is strange, considering I live in Florida - it's actually in the 20's tonight! So I'm getting ready to snuggle in, but thought I'd share some technique cards I mailed out today for an ATC swap... I would like to say that I learned all the techniques I used from Pat Huntoon's Technique Junkie Newsletter - I got a subscription this year and I've really been enjoying it! You can contact her at phuntoon@optonline.net if you're interested in a subscription...

The first set I made used the mono masking technique - I have previously shared a tutorial on this technique but this was my first opportunity to swap with it. Here's my new mono masking example:

I enjoyed making this one because I've always loved the blue and white color combo and it was fun to be able to make a card using it. I used a SU set, Infinite Goodness with Night of Navy ink and cardstock along with Whisper White cardstock. The eyelets were from my stash.

The next technique is called Herringbone - it basically involves a specific placement of little strips of paper. Here is my example, using patterned paper from Basic Grey's Eva collection:


I made several of these using the paper in different areas and this turned out to be my favorite. When you don't get the colors and patterns right it just kind of looks like a mess, but I thought this one turned out pretty cute. I didn't want to add a lot to the card because ATC's are so small that a lot of embellishing would have covered the technique, so I just added a small flower and a gem.


I thought this next one was a cool idea and something I had never thought to do - emphasizing a stamped object by coloring around it instead of inside it. The technique is called Coloring Outside the Lines. It took me a while to decide on an image to use, but I finally picked this coffee cup from Flourishes...



I found some patterned paper that went pretty good with my copic colors in a 6x6 Basic Grey Marrakesh pack and decided to pop the image by matting in black; I added the black button which I think kind of makes it look like a little door or something... Anyway, it seemed like a good idea at the time:)

The next set I made used the Brick Wall technique - this technique I learned from Splitcoast Stampers. I had already made one ATC using it for the Pat 13 swap and it turned out really cute - this one not so much but it's OK I guess. I think I needed a more defined image on the bricks.

I stamped the background mat with a Glitz background stamp to give it some texture. For the second layer I tried some collage stamping; this is something I'm usually not particularly good at because my nature is very symmetrical and thus everything I stamp tends to look symmetrical rather than having the random effect neccessary for collage stamping; this one wasn't too bad considering past attempts. The sheet music stamp was also from Glitz; the other stamps were all from a cute little Crafty Secrets set that I won from them last World Card Making Day... I love their stuff!! After I stamped all the images I used the Faux burnt paper technique around the edges. The image on the brick wall is actually a face but it doesn't come out very clearly... I added a little flower and lock from my embellishment stash. Overall a lot of work went into this one so I was a little disappointed that I didn't like it very much when it was done, but I learned from it so that's a good thing.

The last technique I tried is called Jenny's Coat... it's a variation of Joseph's Coat using patterned paper instead of a stamped background.

I ended up not being very happy with this one either. I tried really hard to get the ink to cover the patterned paper but it still shows, so the cool effect is kind of lost. Maybe if I had chosen a lighter color of pattern paper it would have worked better; if you cross your eyes you can kind of see it as it was intended, so maybe everyone who receives one will do that! I again used paper from my Basic Grey Marrakesh pack for this card - I love the colors and thought it would be cute, and it probably would have been if the ink would have covered a little better. The cat stamp is from Will n' Way stamps... I bought it at a lss several years ago and have never used it, so I was glad to finally try it out.

Thanks for checking out my ATC's.... hope it's warmer where you are than it is here!!