Exciting News to Share!

Good Monday morning to everyone! I hope your weekend was wonderful! I am looking forward to today... my kids have school but my husband is off work so we are going to spend the day playing... a little shopping, a little lunch... who knows?! But I am looking forward to it!  :)

I have a few changes happening in my scrappy life that I wanted to share with all of you. I have stepped down from two of my design teams.... Sketches in Thyme and She's a Sassy Lady. I have truly enjoyed my time on both teams but with everything, there are seasons and for now it is time for me to try something new. I still love both blogs and will support them as much as I can. Both provide a ton of inspiration!

That leads me to my exciting news.... I have joined the staff at Scrapbook News and Review Magazine!!!! I am so excited about this new opportunity and look forward to the direction it is taking me!! I think this new position is going to stretch me creatively and I am looking foward to the challenge!!

 

If you do not know what Scrapbook News and Review is, let me fill you in.... It is an online magazine that offers something for every kind of crafter! You will find scrapbooking tips and ideas, along with sketches and tutorials. There is a section for you card makers and stampers and for those of you who like to do mixed media projects.. there is something for you too! Some of the features on the site everyone can access. The magazine part you need to have a subscription to enjoy. I personally think it is worth every penny!! After all... you will be getting some of my  work in it now!!  lol!!

As part of the application process, we had to make a LO about ourselves. This is something I have never done before... never!!!! I couldn't believe how hard it was for me to put myself at the center of my LO.. and how hard it was to find a photo of just me!! I guess I now know that I need to make sure I have a few more photo ops so the kids will indeed know that I was on some of the vacations and at certain events!! lol!!

This is the LO I finally came up with.....

The picture is blurry but it was the only one I had that I remotely liked!!  Putting the page itself together was a lot of fun! I started with my good buddy, Fern's fabulous sketch!! Thanks Fern! It was perfect for what I was trying to do!! If you have not been to Fern's blog, you need to check it out!! Click HERE! She is starting to create her own sketches and we have used a few of them at Frosted Designs for our Sketch Along Tuesday challenges!!

I have had this peacock feather forever and could never figure out how I wanted to use it... but I really like how it looks on this LO!

I wish I would have taken a better photo but the border around the circle is a row of butterlies that I fussy cut one by one!! Wow!

I totally adore this beautiful butterfly!

Well... that is my big news! Be sure to stop over at SNR and check out the new staff! You can get there by clicking HERE! And while you are there, check out this month's magazine that was just released a few days ago!

Lauren @ 8 and A Magical Vacation

Yay! It's Friday!! And that means we have a new challenge for you at Frosted Designs! This week we are challenging you to do a card, layout or project with NO PATTERNED PAPER!

 I have to be honest with you... this was a real challenge for me because I LOVE patterned paper! So to not be able to use any I was a little concerned I could pull it off! It forced me to look through my scrapbooking supplies to see what I could add to build texture and interest in new ways! And... it was so much fun!! I embossed, misted, distressed, layered... I did it all on this LO!!

Here is a cluster of flowers. I placed the 8 in there because I wanted to include Lauren's age.

 I used a felt border and crepe paper to add texutre.... LOVE them both!

 I thought it would be fun to include Lauren's name without making it the focal point of the LO! So, I placed it on the lace and embossed cardstock!

You need to stop by Frosted Designs to see all the creative ways the design team took on this challenge! You can get there by clicking HERE!

Paper Issues is asking for birds, bees and butterflies so I am entering this there too!

I also had a little free scrapping time this week and created this LO for the Scrappiest Sketch Challenge.

I have so many pictures to still get scrapped from our Disney Vacation. I don't want the entire album to be created with Mickey Ears so I am try to mix in a few other papers. Lauren was having so much fun and these pictures show her pesonality. I just wish the picture of the balloons would have turned out better... all the ballooons had lights in them that were lighting up different colors! It was so pretty!

Here is the sketch I used....

Also... Becky is celebrating her one year anniversary of her blog by offering up this yummy candy...

If you have never been to Becky's blog, you need to go. Not only does she do great tutorials for all of her crafty creations but she has the most amazing recipes!! I am talking seriously delicious!! Yumm! You can get there by clicking HERE!

I hope all of you have a fabulous weekend! Thanks for stopping by and leaving such nice comments for me!

Barb  :)

ATV Adventure

Thursday already?! Where has this week gone?! Well, since it is Thurday, we have a new challenge for you at Sketches in Thyme! Here is the LO I made about our ATV adventure while we were in Cabo!

This is the sketch we were working with this week. It is from Sketchabilities and I loved it! As you can tell, I had to flip it so it worked better with my photos. When I first saw the sketch I thought it looked girly but I had no problems grunging this one up!

Here is the title... appropriately named  since it was an adventure! A lot of dust, a few cows, and a few stories go along with this adventure! I used Tim Holtz grungeboard letters that I sprayed with Glimmer Mist to match my LO. The other letters are from Making Memories. I put some white paint under the rub ons so that they would show up better!

I had fun with this tag... it is canvas so I took my Tim Holtz distresser on the edges. I inked it, added brads, a little lace and flowers and couldn't help but adding a little bling too! The butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch.

A little detail from the top of the LO! I added a little lace so it would be a little feminine! After all, I was on one of thos ATVs!!  ;)

I am really trying hard to use my scraps when I am done with LOs to make a card. I figure even if I only do this 50% of the time, I am still ahead in the card department when I need one fast!! (Isn't it amazing what lighting can do when taken photos?! The LO photos were taken inside and the card outside... they don't even look like they were made with the same papers!!)

Thanks for stopping by today and be sure to stop by Sketches in Thyme to see what the other Mavens have done with this sketch! All of the LOs are pretty amazing! Enjoy your day!

Barb  :)

Some Fast Scrapping!

Hello everyone! I had a great scrapping day yesterday and got a lot accomplished! I can't share everything with you right now, but I can show you 2 layouts that I challenged myself to do. I found 2 sketches online that I thought would be fun to work with. Then I challenged myself to complete the LOs in less than an hour each. (Of course the time started once the papers were picked... that alone takes me forever!! lol!! )

The first LO is of me and my momma shopping in Cabo.....

We have so much fun walking around and buying jewelry from the local people who are selling it. My mom is a master at this! She gets them talking and laughing and before you know it, they will sell her anything she wants at the price she picks! It's amazing!

The sketch is from Scraptacular

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For this LO I used papers from Me and My Big Ideas. I knew I would be able to get it done faster if I used papers all from the same stack... no need to go searching that way! I also knew I would not have time to make my own embellishments. Since I didn't already have flowers that I liked, I decided to go with one of the papers from the stack. I fussy cut the flowers out, inked the edges and pop dotted the layers to create the embellishments for the page....

I thought they added a nice bright embellishment that perfectly coordinated with the paper!!

I also completed this LO of my sweet little girl when she was in kindergarten!

I also used the pleating technique that Ruth taught us at Frosted Designs this week! You can find the tutorial HERE!

The sketch is from the lovely ladies at Stuck On U Sketches! I haven't had a chance to play along for a few weeks so I was happy to get one done for their challenge this week!

Once again, I used a lot of premade embellies. The flowers are Prima and Flora Doodle (I love that these already have the gems in the centers for me! Saves me even more time!) The butterfly is a Martha Stewart Punch and the brads are from Sassafras! I also did the writing myself instead of printing and cutting things from the computer or using rub ons.... saved more time!

The banner was quick and easy. The stickers are from Echo Park and the triangles only took a minute to cut from a scrap piece of paper!

I just couldn't resist including this close up of my little darling! I am not sure what I like better, her big baby blues or the freckles!! Boy do they grow up quickly!

Thanks for stopping by to visit today! Hopefully I have inspired you to try a few quick LOs! Personally, I like the way they turned out and it was really nice for me to just glue something down and commit to it instead of rearranging over and over!! Have a great week and I will be back Thursday with a new LO and challenge!

Barb  :)

Our Love Story

Happy Friday! I am excited because it finally looks like we might get some warmer weather here in Texas this weekend! All I can say is it's about time!! I think all my friends are blaming me for bringing the Indiana winter here!

We have a new challenge for you this week at Frosted Designs!! With Valentine's around the corner, we thought it would be a good idea to share the love... so the challenge this week is to use the word LOVE on your card, layout or project!

As many of you know, I just returned from a long weekend in Cabo and while we were there, we took a sunset cruise (me and hubby with mom and dad!) Of course, this was just the perfect opportunity to take photos and this photo is from that cruise...

I titled it Our Love Story because both us had a lot happen in our lives before we ever even met and those events finally brought us together. (This is a long story... maybe someday I will share all the details!) Sometime you know it's a "God thing" when it all works out! We are an example of that!

I thought I would share a few close ups... I really am trying to add journaling to my LOs... not an easy task for me!

I loved the way I was able to use different fonts and colors for the title! (In real life the word love looks more red and less orange!)

I also entered this into the Sisterhood of Crafters Valentine Challenge!

Thanks for stopping by today! Be sure to stop by Frosted Designs to see what the rest of the team did with this challenge! And don't forget, we are currently having a Design Team call at Frosted Designs... I hope you will consider applying!

barb  :)

A Valentine's Bouquet!

Today is my day to do a tutorial on She's a Sassy Lady.

I decided to show you a project me and my darling daughter created for her teacher this year for Valentine's Day! A flower sucker bouquet! This project cost me a total of $4 to make + supplies I already had. (Red pail $1, Suckers $2.99) The best part about this project is that me and my daughter (8 years old) could make it together! I really wish I could show it to all of you in real life because it is so much cuter than the photo shows!

Now for the directions.....

You will need a metal pail, cardstock both plain and printed, ribbon, suckers, styrofoam, and adhesives.

I used my Gypsy with my Bloom cartridge and cut the flowers anywhere from 2.5 in. to 4.0 inches.

I had more flowers than what I needed for this project but my daughter is using the ones we didn't use on this on her class Valentines!

We picked out 3 - 4 different sizes and colors for each flower. Using a skewer, we were able to roll the leaves back.

Once the leaves are curled back, layer them one on top of another from smallest to largest. We just used plain old glue to hold the layers together. This is also a good time to tie ribbon around the sucker.

We used a glue dot to hold the flower onto the back of the sucker.

I dug through my stash of supplies and found this block of styrofoam to place in the bottom of the pail to hold the "flowers" in place.

We added a punched border to the inside of the pail to help hold in the "grass" (shredded paper). We also added some extra trim I had laying around to dress up the pail. (Sorry for the blurry picture here!)

Here are what the flowers looked like before we added them to the pail.

And this is what the bouquet looked like when it was finished! I thought my daughter did a fairly good job of layering the flowers by height... not an easy task with the styrofoam!

We finished it off with a tag that she can write a personal little note to her teacher on!

And there you have it.... an inexpensive gift that my daughter feels good about giving because she had an active role in creating it! If you have not checked out She's a Sassy Lady yet you really need to. Sassy has a different designer each day sharing a new tutorial. I have learned so many new tricks and gotten so many ideas from her team! What are you waiting for? Go check it out!

Barb  :)

WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!!

I am overwhelmed with the fabulous response to the Robert's Arts and Craft's Imaginsce Give Away! I would like to welcome everyone who is new to my blog! I love seeing all the new faces and I will be around to visit each of you over the next few weeks on your own blogs! It is Monday and as I promised, I am ready to announce the winner of this amazing prize package...

The winner is.....

Savannah O'Gwynn!!

Congrats Savannah! I know you are going to love all these yummy goodies that will be sent to you!

Thank you Roberts for such a generous give away!

Barb  :)

Another Day in Paradise!

If you are here for the Robert's Imaginisce Giveaway... click HERE!

I hope everyone is staying in and warm from this nasty winter storm that has hit many states! We even got nailed with it here in Dallas! It has been an icy mess! So.... my husband and I decided to get out and go somewhere warm! I will be gone for the weekend but I will be back Monday to announce the winner of the Robert's give away... be sure to come back to see if you are the winner!!

Before I get to my LO, I have to do a Happy Birthday shout out to my daughter Courtney!! She is 21 years old today!!

Today is Thursday which means that we have a new challenge for you at Sketches in Thyme! I pulled out some pictures from our vacation in Maui a few years ago to make this LO...

I really liked the photos and since the papers are already so busy, I decided to keep the embellishments to a minimum! Here is the sketch we are working with this week. It is from Sketchabilities. I liked the clean lines of this sketch so this time I didn't wander too far from it! Jump on over to the Sketches in Thyme blog to see all the amazing projects my dt sisters created!

I have been lucky enough to receive a few awards that I thought I would share with you!
My Cheer Camp LO was selected at Club CK to be highlighted this week!

So now I get this cute little blinkie!!

I also have received two blog awards. The first one is from Janice at Cricutology. She as passed on the Stylish Blogger award to me!

 If you have not been to Cricutology, you need to check it out! She does the best tutorial videos! I have learned a lot of nice tips from her!

Apparently I also have Attitude because my good friend, Sandy passed this award on to me!

Sandy has a blog called Details by Sandy and the title of her blog could not be more perfect! She is the queen of details and embellishments! She has this amazing ability to layer embellishments and her LOs are absolutely stunning!! You need to stop by Sandy's blog and check out her work!! Thank you Sandy for passing this Attitude award on to me!

Since I have received both of these awards before, I am going to make up my own rules!! heehee!! I am passing this award on to all my wonderful followers who have not received them yet! Feel free to pick them up and take them home!!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I will be back Monday to catch up on all the blogs and announce the winner of my big giveaway!!
Barb  :)