FINALLY! Some creative time...

I know my family is probably looking for some Thanksgiving pictures...BUT I'm happy that I got a chance to do some creating this weekend, so I'm putting up a crafty post today!

I had a chance to pull out my American Crafts AMY TAN products...such FUN! Love the colors and the textures...here's what I created...

I've seen these butterfly boxes before, and the 'science' geek in me is drawn to how they resemble specimen displays...I used my Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers Butterfly dies and adhered the beauties to a punched grey circle before mounting on the cardstock with the printed quote...LOVE this project!

AMAZINGLY...I created a couple of cards...

Those that follow my blog know that I publicly complain about my card making abilities...perhaps I've turned a corner?

Lastly, but not leastly, I created this photo-less layout documenting our family's road to our Iowa HOME!

All these FAB Amy Tan (and the Tim Holtz die) products are available at The Scrapbooking Studio in Moline (or Bloominton)...check 'em out!

ps. if you're in a holiday mood, check out my handmade ornaments on the Reminisce blog!

Upcoming FFF class!

I pleased to announce the 2011 Fall installment of the Fun, Fast and Fabulous layout class at the Scrapbooking Studio-Moline location! 5 pages, $24. Call 309.736.7242 to reserve your spot. ...Saturday, November 19th 1-2:30 pm!

Join me to create 5 pages in 2.5 hours! Get 2 sets of alphabet stickers and learn how to stretch your foam alphabets further with several of my favorite techniques. Create some fun textured leaf accents that you'll want to add to your pages EVERY year! Layouts feature the uber trendy American Crafts Nightfall collection! Hope to see you there!

My American Crafts DT entry....

So, every year I submit to the American Crafts DT call...this year the requirements included submitting 2 layouts, 1 card and 1 other project. I never have problems picking out my fave AC card or creating an 'other' project, but this year when I went to pick two layouts, it was TOUGH! Apparently I've created a GIGANTIC pile of layouts with American Crafts papers this year.

Here are some of my AC layouts from the last year...which would you pick to submit?

'li'l miss' featuring Dear Lizzy, as published in the April 2011 edition of Scrapbooks Etc...(there's ANOTHER AC layout coming up (featuring Campy Trails) in the October 2011 edition, but I can't share it here yet!)

'sibling CHEMISTRY' featuring Margarita:

'a brand new smile' featuring Confetti and based on an Allison Davis sketch:

'the colors of INDIA' featuring Hello Sunshine:

'mommy, talk to me' featuring Peachy Keen:

'summer fun' featuring Heat Wave:

'sun-kissed' featuring Margarita:

'i heart u2' featuring Heat Wave:

and that's just a sampling of the ones I created this year featuring American Crafts...so whadda ya think? Any standouts?

 

Some layouts (FINALLY!)

I finally got some crafty time in last night...since we've been busy with buying/selling homes, crafty time has been a bit of a luxury lately...but I got out to the Scrapbooking Studio last night...and finished a couple of layouts!

Here's the first one, about my niece Marika, who just turned one...she's a DOLL! love her to pieces and she's such a happy baby! the best!

I used the American Crafts Margarita line...love the bright fun colors! I pieced the sun accent together using punched banner shapes and some punched circles, all layered and highlighted with white pen!

The second layout makes good use of the pictures that Sarah Sunstrom took of the kids at our spring photo shoot (and of course, some more AMERICAN CRAFTS Margarita!)

I bought a bunch of hexagon punches at a scrapbook garage sale this spring and was DETERMINED to use them...they worked well here and inspired the title of the layout too!! With two chemists as parents, my kids will never escape the 'nerdier' side of my sense of humor! poor things!

We were home (Canada) for the recent long weekend--celebrated a cousin's wedding and my parent's 40th anniversary...once I edit the pics (I started shooting in RAW format, so no sharing without editing...bummer) I'll share a few favorites here!

Thanks for checking in! Toodles!

Sketch Support projects...

This month, I'm the guest designer over at Sketch Support! LOVE this sketch site...Allison has fabulous sketches and an AWESOME and INSPIRING design team with plenty of creative ideas...I'd LOVE to be a permanent part of the team over there and SINCE THEY ARE HAVING A CALL...I get a (second) chance!!

Here's my take on three of the sketches she has up for the applicants to create with...I did mini-canvases with all the sketches....super fun (and fast and fabulous ;))

This one is for my craft area and is based on this card SKETCH #4...I splattered some alcohol inks onto the canvas...then hot glued the crayons onto the canvas....I die cut some Canvas Corp. white corrugated cardboard, sprayed it with Tattered Angels glimmer mist and then added the American Crafts alphabet letters and the scalloped accent...

This canvas is based on this one page SKETCH #2 and is for the door to my daughters room...I used various widths of Provo Crafts Terrifically Tacky Tape and some Doodlebug glitter to create the stripes. I covered the edge with the scalloped accent and then covered the Maya Road chipboard shape with some BoBunny cardstock and added the American Craft alphabet letters!

This last one is my favorite...it's based on this add-on SKETCH #3...I started by 'painting' the canvas with some Tattered Angels Glimmer mist (marigold)...when dry, I used some Doodlebug and BoBunny alphabet stickers to create a word art mask. I spritzed the masked canvas with some Maya Road mist (turquoise) and removed the letter stickers. The cupcake base is created from Core-dinations cardstock that was sanded and scored. The cupcake top was formed out of buttons on pop dots and the cherry is a pointed circle punch coated with Doodlebug glitter...this one's going in my kitchen!

 

Thanks for stopping by!!

American Crafts Peachy Keen layout...

Here's the layout I've been working on...the papers (even though these ones aren't PEACH!) are from the NEW American Crafts line "Peachy Keen"! Loving the gray as the neutral. Spiced it up a bit with the pink and turquoise in the line (instead of the obvious PEACH!)....the journalling is about a new phrase my daughter has come up with and says ALL.THE.TIME now! I've told the story to everyone I know and figured I'd better get it 'in the scrapbook' too!

Love the tags with the collection and love me some puffy heart trim and some pearls too!

 

The alphabet letters are also American Crafts and the punch is a Martha Stewart double punch. Everything is held together with my Xyron adhesive (via the Creatopia)...thanks for looking!

don't forget...

about my classes on Saturday at The Scrapbooking Studio...this is the AM class....10:00-12:30

This is the PM class...2:00-4:00

Call the store at (309) 736-7242 to sign up...space is limited...

Working on a layout...hope to share soon!!

 

So much going on...

I've been crafting up a storm around here lately...here's (some of) the output...

A layout using a TON of Jillibean soup...Blossom Soup, Dutch Mustard Soup, Christmas Chestnut soup (alphas) and Summer Squash Soup (alphas), some canvas stars and OF COURSE, corrugated alphas!! Love the mix and match appeal...

And THEN, I scraplifted MYSELF to create this page with the NEW American Crafts Hello Sunshine papers...

ps. I'm blogging ALL WEEK at the SEI Lifestyle blog...and Reminisce is hosting their VERY FIRST BLOG HOP starting Wednesday, March 9th at 8 AM....hope to see you at BOTH places this week!

Some quick creative sharing...

I cropped a few weeks ago, on a Saturday and got ALOT of things accomplished, which, if you've cropped with me before, IS HIGHLY UNUSUAL! Usually I spend most of my time chatting, eating, spending $$ and staring at beautiful pieces of paper trying to decide what to do...well, NOT THIS TIME...well, I still ate, spend and stared, but I DID do alot less chatting and ALOT more working...some examples...

A layout of my DD in India, using Pebbles new Happy Go Lucky and Ever After:

I finished up my samples for my March Fast, Fun and Fabulous Class at the Scrapbooking Studio...here's a peek of one of the two pagers, using a sketch in Allison Davis' Sketches for Scrapbooking, vol. 3. and some American Crafts City Park papers!

 

I did ANOTHER American Crafts layout...using their BRAND NEW Campy Trails papers...this one was picked up for publication in October 2011 Scrapbooks etc. magazine, so I can't share it (quite yet)...

I finished my SEI lifestyle projects, as I'm guest blogging over there next week...super excited about this one, here's a sneaky peeky of my 1st project...

Phew, I'm beat, just redescribing the crop...but it sure was FUN...gotta do it again soon!!

Upcoming classes...

Hi scrappy friends!! I have two classes coming up on March 26th at the Scrapbooking Studio in Moline, IL...call the store at (309) 736-7242 to register...here's the DEETS (details)...

Saturday, March 26th, 10 AM-12:30 - Fast, Fun and Fabulous Layouts, Spring 2011 edition...

Join ME for the Spring Edition of the Fun, Fast and Fabulous Layout class...this time it's all about rain showers, clouds, flowers and spring break!! Learn how to make some handmade paper flowers, textured clouds and an umbrella accent from punched shapes. Each class participant will receive all the precut papers to assemble the pages and a full sheet of letter stickers to customize their page titles...this class is 2.5 hours, $24 and you will leave with 5 pages!! (1 single page layout, 2 double page layouts). Bring your standard kit to class (wet/dry adhesive, trimmer, scissors, journalling pen). Cost is $24

The 2 page layouts in this class are based on Allison Davis and Doris Sander's book, Sketches  for Scrapbooking, vol. 3

 

Saturday, March 26th, 2-4 PM, Fast, Fun and Fabulous PHOTO EDITING

You spend hours on you pages to make them perfect, why not learn how to improve you photos in under 5 minutes? This is an introductory photo editing class where participants will learn how to organize their photos, straighten images, crop images, selectively highlight images, convert to black or white/sepia and fix minor exposure issues. Participants are encouraged to bring thier laptops to class with the latest edition of Adobe Photoshop Elements (30 day free trial is fine) downloaded. The store has a limited number of laptops available as loaners, but please call ahead and reserve them if you need to. Images to practice editing techniques will be provided. Cost is $20.