May 4 x 4: Pink Paislee Edition

Hello readers! About a month ago I started thinking about an idea I’ve seen done by other designers and in magazines where a group of scrappers all use the same handful of products and see what different pages they can come up with. How fun would it be to do this with some of the designers I am close to, I thought!

So, I got on the horn (otherwise known as Facebook) and rallied the troops: Meg Aaron, Christina Colón, and Dawn Perkins. They are some seriously talented chicks and I knew they would rock this challenge!

Here are “The Rules”:
- We must use the same four products: two papers and two embellishments.
- We can only use one of each sheet of paper.
- We can use unlimited basics (card stock, ribbon, alphas, mists, etc.) as long as the four main products are the focus.
- We cannot share our finished pages with each other until we are all done so that we do not influence each others’ design choices.

Our four products were a mash-up of Pink Paislee’s Soiree and Daily Junque collections:

supplies

And here is what we came up with. Click on the page photos to visit these ladies’ blogs!

Snip

I chose to use a white background so that I could stretch my patterned paper more. I loved the border of the Daily Junque paper so I fussy cut it and used the reverse gray side in the center.

Snip - detail1

I created a folded half circle element with the tissue paper.

Snip - detail2

And I cut the blue circle paper into strips and sewed them down the middle. I left them slightly popped up for a bit of texture.

Meg used the Soiree note cards in such a clever way! I love the clean grid background and how her black mats really ground and unite everything!
Meg

Christina got funky with the awesome floral print and a misted gray background. And how cute is that hand made tissue “celebrate” accent!?
002

Dawn chose to use the blue paper for her background and made an *adorable* banner from the Soiree cards! How perfect is this photo for these colors!?
P5220001

I was tickled to see how perfect this little experiment turned out. Our layouts are all so different but fabulous in their own ways! We loved doing this so much that we decided to make it a monthly challenge and rotate “hosting”. So stay tuned for the next 4 x 4!

And now it is YOUR turn!

Do you want to win this sweeeeeeet prize?

prize

You get TWO entries into the drawing if you use *two or more* of the same products we used to make a layout.
OR
You get ONE entry if you don’t have the same products but you scraplift one of our pages.

Post a link to your completed layout in the comments section by June 17th for your chance to win! If you scraplift please let us know which layout you chose to lift. This is open to winners in the continental US.

Bloom Shadowbox Tutorial

It’s time for round two of the May Arts design team submissions and this time I created a shadowbox bursting with ribbon flowers! 

Bloom Box - full
Bloom Box - close
Bloom Box - lower corner
Bloom Box - upper corner

Click here to see the full tutorial!

Once more to the Playground!

I have a couple more pages up at Right at Home Scrapbooking using the fab Playground line by Echo Park!

I am partial to this one.  I just love a nice bright white background to set off these fun primary colors!

One Step at a Time

Go check out the details and my other layout at the Right at Home blog

A trip to Echo Park

My first Echo Park page is up at Right at Home Scrapbooking!  I had some fun with the bright colors and playful motifs on Echo Park’s Playground line.  Here’s a sneak peek:

Beautiful Sunshine - Detail

See the whole layout on the Right at Home blog!

And while you’re there don’t forget to whip up a layout using this month’s inspirational sketch:

6a00d8341c779a53ef014e887ec43b970d-450wi

Mother’s Day Kit Winner!

I really loved reading all your comments about Mother’s Day.  Y’all gave me the warm fuzzies!

And now on to the winner!  ::drumroll please::

Sandy said... Today - I'm cropping at ACOT. Now - my darling mother is my partner in crime. We shop together, we travel to doctors visits together, we go out to lunch together and we talk nearly every single day. I love her dearly!

If YOU are Sandy please email me with your address using the link to the right in the “contact me” area and I will mail out your goodies ASAP. 

Thanks for playing along, everyone.  I still have more kits to give away so stay tuned!

A Note of Thanks

Last weekend at the NSD crop at ACOT I issued a Fast Scrap Challenge to create a card with the word “note” on it.  I have to admit that although the challenge fit our fun rock star theme I really wanted to just make a thank you card for Rebecca at Pink Paislee and this seemed like a great way to kill two birds with one stone!

I received an awesome prize pack (hello Soiree and Daily Junque!) from Pink Paislee the other day for answering some trivia a few weeks ago at on online chat.  They were more than generous and it really made my week!

So I just “threw together” a little Soiree card as a note of thanks for such a sweet prize:

Soiree note of thanks

This is definitely my favorite card right now! I used a quilling tool to create the flowers and Pink Paislee’s awesome printed tissue for the bouquet wrapper. 

Soiree note of thanks - detail

I’ll be picking the giveaway winner later tonight so get your comments in!

Happy Tuesday, everyone! 

A Mother’s Day Giveaway!

In honor of Mother’s Day I am offering up My Old Stuff Kit #6 as a giveaway.  It has pretty florals in Spring shades and although the contents are not new,  they are completely unused and ready for you to create with!

Kit4

For one entry: just comment on this post… something related to Mother’s Day!  What you’re doing, how much you love you mom, etc.

For a second entry: become a follower of my blog!  If you are already a follower you automatically get a second entry.  Smile

Entries from the continental US only, please!

Have a Happy Mother’s Day everyone!!

An ACOT Triple Threat

In the world of Hollywood the “triple threat” is someone who can act, dance, AND sing.  So today we have the triple threat from A Cherry On Top: monthly challenges, my latest reveal, and an NSD crop!

First up is the May Challenges!  If your mojo has taken a vacation and you need something to jump start your creativity this month head on over to ACOT and see what the Creative Team cooked up. 

While you are there I would love to share my latest article on the nautical stylings of Webster’s Pages new line “Yacht Club”.  My Maine mini album brought me back to childhood and I loved thinking outside of the box with this line too. 

Maine Memories - Detail

Doily XO

Finally, we can’t forget about the big National Scrapbooking Day crop over at ACOT this weekend!  This is the “crop around the clock” so we’re going to be hosting 24 hours a day from Friday afternoon till Sunday evening.  We’re going to be handing out points and prizes all over the place and our theme really ROCKS so you don’t want to miss out on this amazing weekend!

cropimage4192

For more information, the schedule, and how it all works check out our FAQ page. See you there!

Sharing–A Memorable Date

Tam over at Sew Dang Cute (you DO know about this amazing craft blog, right?!) is doing a little getting to know you series.  Today she blogged about one of her most memorable dates.  Everyone has one… or a dozen.  I know I do!  But there is one date that gets brought up in our house regularly. 

My husband and I were just friends for over a year before I “came to my senses” (his words) and figured out there was more between us.  But that doesn’t mean he didn’t TRY earlier than that! We would regularly grab lunch together and at one point he weaseled his way into a “real” date with me.  I put real in quotes only because it didn’t start out as an official date… somehow it went from grabbing dinner together (instead of lunch) to him picking me up… and a movie… and dropping me off at my door.  Hmmm. Sounds suspiciously like a date!

So we go out to dinner.  For anyone familiar with Boston you’ll know about the iconic John Harvard’s Brew House and restaurant in Cambridge. 

john harvards
Image credit: travellingmedinas.com

I don’t really remember what we had but I would bet an arm that Ryan ordered a burger and I am pretty sure I had a yummy salad.  The vibe was weird.  I knew he was viewing this as a date and I was not.  The food was good, though! 

Then we went to the historic Brattle Theatre and saw Frida. 

frida_ver3_xlg
Image credit: impawards.com

To this day we can’t see Frida on tv and not discuss this “date”!  It was a great movie but you could pretty much cut the tension between us with a knife.  I kept wondering if he was going to make a move!

And if that wasn’t enough to make it a date then how about getting coffee/hot chocolate after??  I was too polite to say no (after all, we WERE friends!) but it was obvious that the poor guy just wanted to make the night last longer! 

So then comes that uncomfortable moment when he walks me to my door.  Uh oh.  I knew it was coming.  Women know when a guy is about to move in for the kiss!  However, much to my future husband’s chagrin, I quickly pulled out my keys and commented on how late it was!  Ohhhh…. bummer, dude! 

Once we finally started dating (and our first kiss was the best of my life… I knew in that very moment I would marry him) I never lived that date night down.  I can’t tell you how often I had to listen to him “complain” about how I dissed him on my stoop. 

However, he got the last laugh.  A few years later he brought me back to that old apartment and proposed to me in the very spot I once rejected him.  And the rest, as they say, is history. 

ProfPics 052

Date stories just make me smile so I would love to hear some of yours!!

It’s Finally Spring

I really wasn’t sure it would get here this year after the record snow fall.  This weekend left me with no doubt! I know it is Spring when the tree outside our bedroom balcony blooms.

spring flowers

I hope you all are seeing the signs of Spring in you neck of the woods too!

May PageMaps

This month is all about the A Cherry On Top girls over at PageMaps!  Some of us got the chance to create example layouts for the May sketches… this is always an honor and the lovely Becky creates such fun sketches to work with.  Here’s mine:

Watching You Grow

Watching You Grow

And while you’re there don’t forget to check out the PageMaps blog for this month’s sketch contest.  You could win a $35 gift certificate to A Cherry On Top for your interpretation of this sketch by May 15th!

may1112x12a