What a weekend at CKU!!

This last week has been crazy busy and wonderful all at the same time. Thursday was my first day at Creating Keepsakes University, and all I can say is "WOW!!" Me and two of my friends (and lots of others that I met there) spent the day doing mini-projects and meeting the instructors. Among those teachers were the wonderful Tim Holtz, Elizabeth Kartchner, Teresa Collins, Margie Romney-Aslet, Lance Anderson (Rusty Pickle), Trina Lunsford (Piggy Tales), and representatives from Making Memories, Imiginesce, and Canon! Friday was my album day and we spent all day working on a great album with the Rusty Pickle line. Friday was spent going to four different classes with the instructors. We made an album with Teresa Collins, four mini metal memory charms with Tim Holtz, a lift flap book with Piggy Tales, and a layout with Imaginesce, all great stuff! But my favorite was the Teresa Collins album that was all about me. And WOW did they give away the stuff!! I came back with so much goodies that I don't know where to put it all!! It will take me a week just to go through and sort everything! I can't wait to post pictures for everyone to see the projects and goodies! It was so much fun and I hope that one day I can go back again! Until then, I have the pictures to remind me of my great weekend with all my scrappin' friends!! Happy crafting!

Family-My first digi layout!

Well, I am making good on my New Year's resolution to learn PhotoShop. I wanted to learn so I could make some digi and hybrid layouts, and to make my photos look awesome. Thanks to a wonderfully talented Wambrita, (first met her on the Cricut message board, and now on Fromctoshinginc.com) who helped me figure out how to move my elements without seeing their background. It was easy after she showed me and it was kinda like a "duh" moment! This layout was made from a free monthly kit from
Shabby Princess. They have wonderful digital kits that makes it easy to get started. I enjoyed doing this layout and it will not be my last. I don't know if I will go to entirely digi or not, but think that I could definately be a hybrid scrapper! Thanks for looking! Happy crafting!

Birthday invitations for my son

I waited until the very last minute to start on my son's birthday party invitations. His party is on the 17th, and I just made these last night to send out today! Nothing like waiting until the last minute! This was the first time that I have used the guitar from Indie Art and I love this paper that I cut it out of. It was part of a paper pack from Me and My Big Idea, very boyish, very punk skater. The [party time] stamp is Studio G and the "stains" are from the Coffee Stain set from CTMH. This is one of my favorite stamps!! I have used it so many times! So for something thrown together at the last minute, I was really happy with the results!! Thanks for looking! Happy crafting!

See you at CKU Nashville!!

Yes girls, you read that right!! I am happy, excited, tickled pink, thrilled, and elated to be joining one of my very best friends the last weekend of May at the Creating Keepsakes University here in Nashville!! This will be my first time at CKU and I can not wait to get to all the classess, goodies, and celebs in the scrapbooking world! I have been waiting years to get to do this and I don't know if I will ever make it to another event or not. But I am going to enjoy every minute of it! And will probably photograph every minute of it too!! So if you are going to be there, let me know, maybe we can meet for lunch! Happy crafting!

What's up with the tongue?

What is up with that tongue?!! My little guy played all day at the playground, and EVERY picture I took of him, his tongue was sticking out!! But I didn't realize it until my pictures were developed! Too funny! So I had to scrap them. And this is the first layout in a while that I pulled out the Quickutz instead of the Cricut for the title. But I did use it for the journal circle and the arrow. The paper is all from the White Out collection from We R Memory Keepers. The ribbon is American Crafts. I also used some DCWV stickers, and Paper Studio brads. On the bottom right side, I punched circles from vellum and attached with the brads. I had noticed several layouts in some recent magazines with this on the layout. I like that it's a little something that helps pull the eye around the page without overwhelming the layout. The edges are all inked with StazOn and the journaling block is from my old standby, Autumn Leaves. Hope you like it. Thanks for looking. Happy crafting!!

Two, times two!

Here are layouts number six and seven that I made for my twin's second birthday. (Yes, I know that I am still behind my New Years Resolution total.) Even though they had a Mickey Mouse birthday party, I decided to go with paper that reflected the colors in their photos. This is some of my favorite paper from My Mind's Eye, available at Hobby Lobby. And I also used some ribbon from American Crafts new spring collection. The title is cut from the Cricut Cart, Street Sign, which I have grown to LOVE and want to use it on everything!! The photo corners are from the dollar bins at Michaels, by Colorbok. Overall, I think that there is about $8 invested in both of the layouts. I think that they turned out pretty cute to be so cheap! Thanks for looking! Happy crafting!

Pickle

Well, it seems like maybe I have hit a creative streak! I have been able to finish four layouts this week and it feels great! Mostly because I have been buying so much and redoing my scrap space, but not any scrapping!

This has to be one of my favorites that I have done recently. I don't know if it's just because of the picture and subject, or that I just like how it turned out. The story behind this layout is Pickle is what we call one of our twins. His name is Dylan and we started calling him Dyl. Then it was Dyl pickle. Now we just call him pickle. And boy do we get some strange looks when we call him that in public! When we went to Dollywood last October, we saw this giant pickle there and we had to have a picture of them together! He didn't want to stand there on his own, but Daddy held him so we could get a picture! I am sure that when he gets older, he will have to explain this alot. But just in case we stop calling him that, this is one of those things I don't want to forget about!

The paper is all from SandyLion Design and the title is cut with different Cricut carts to keep it a little playful.. Embellishments were kept at a minimum since the background paper was so busy. Brads were from Bobunny and Paper Studio, and the photo turns were also Paper Studio.

Thanks for looking! Happy crafting!

Happy Birthday Banner!

Well, after a couple of months of being too busy to do anything, I am back! I managed to make a happy birthday banner with the Mickey Font cart, for my twin's second birthday party. They are too young to appreciate it, but I did get alot of comments on it from the adults. The triangles are cut at 8 1/2 inches and I was able to get three from one 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper. The Mickey ears and stars are cut at 3 1/2 inches. Each triangle is attached with brads instead of the ribbon. It made it alot easier to hang. There is about 6 inches of black ribbon on each end of the banner to hang it. All of the printed paper is from Creative Memories. And the cardstock is basic stuff from Michaels and Hobby Lobby. Thanks for looking. Happy crafting!