Use It Tuesday Challenge #45

Good morning,

I just love crafting and making unique gifts - this year - I created a set of double sided blocks - You've seen these on earlier blog posts  - and I LOVE Use It Tuesday's Challenges - basically use what you already have!  Cool, right?  Well - its so cool because I was a top 2 pick - How awesome?  VERY!  Click on the "Jingle" image above and you'll go to their website.

Tree Shopping

Christmas Tree Shopping!!!

While we had planned to cut our own tree this year - even have a permit to do so - there was continual snowfall to the tune of 2-3 feet.  Well this is not good!  The forest rangers told us that we could go - but if we were stranded ....

Here’s the tree that the kids wanted:

And we settled on a 7 foot beauty.

Jingle All the Way

Good Morning Scrappy Friends!!

We are knee-deep in the holiday season here at the Johnson house ... concerts, concerts, concerts, cookie baking, sporting events, championships, more cookie baking and more concerts.  Does that mean that mama has no time for scrappy-happiness?  NOPE!  I was able to put in a full day of scrapping last weekend and I wanted to share my creation with you:

I used several pieces of "hoarded" paper - I've had some of this for so long that I don't even know what it is anymore

- I think its from Echo Park - 

wooden buttons are from last Christmas' stocking and are Martha Stewart's collection, 

the twine is from a steal last year on ScrapbookSteals.com, the red "jewels" are from Webster's Pages Warehouse Box that I received over the summer, and finally, 

the glittery swirly thingys are from a swap box with my crafty gal pals about a year and a half ago.

Altered Art "Sneak Peek"

You may have noticed that its either “feast or famine” on my blog.  There are times when I think to myself ... “I really should be getting a few more crafty items posted” and then its 10pm or later ... 

which means sleep is a priority not blog posts.

Here’s a post for you that’s a bit of a “sneak peek” of an altered art project I am working on.  I love making crafts as gifts and this is one gift that I really hope is well received!

(above) Kind of a rough draft ... which changed into this! (below)

 and some detail, of course!

This is going to be a two-sided block set that spells out “FAMILY” on one side and “JINGLE” on the other side.  The “all the way” will go on a long flat block - with the other side having the family’s last name. 

I cannot take credit for coming up with this cute idea.  I got it from a friend’s blog - Misty - she’s an incredible designer!!  click on her name to head on over to her blog to see what else she's busy creating.

Winter ATCs

I belong to a very special online scrappy crafting group which really pushes me to be a more creative and resourceful scrapper.  The gals I know through this group are just the nicest and sweetest I could ever find.

We’ve done several ATCs swaps (Artist Trading Cards) and I’ve coordinated the past two swaps.  For this swap - which I was able to send to all the participants including Canada just this week - I created a clean and simple ATC.

I used washi tape (thanks to a gal pal who sent it to me), StampinUp! card stock and a stamp that I found at my LSS that was only 99 cents - what a bargain!  

I layered several pieces of green and red card stock and then holly/music patterned paper before I put the kraft paper on top.  I stamped an evergreen tree to create a watermark affect and then finally the “Winter Greetings” stamp.  I love washi tape and couldn’t have been happier with how this card looked when finished.  

Getting my Digi-scrappiness On!

Its been a while since I last had time to do any scrappy-happiness and I couldn't wait to share these layouts with you.  I went digital for this set of layouts and while I love how they turned out - I still prefer the cutting, gluing and selecting papers instead of digi-scrapping.

In case you were counting - that's 13 layouts!!!

I submitted these layouts for the Paper Girls Challenge

Challenge #21 - Multi Photo Layouts!

LGS Color Challenge

We've had temperatures in the 40's overnight and 60's during the day which means that its officially FALL here in the desert!  Fall is such a beautiful time of the year, it’s when the leaves start changing colors and I finally have to pull out pantyhose so my legs don't freeze!  Its also a time to reflect on what I'm thankful for.  On my Facebook page, I've been documenting things that I am thankful for each day.  I should create a mini-album of my thoughts and when I saw the Let's Get Sketchy! blog hop this weekend - I decided to get an album started.

Along with the Blog Hop, they are hosting a color challenge using the following colors:  light blue, autumn red, yellow, brown and green.  

I'm looking forward to filling this with all of the things I am thankful for.Take care and I'll see you back here soon!

Altered Art - Retirement

A Recipe book for Retirement - this is an altered art project that I completed for a friend who retired from teaching.  I really enjoyed working on this project knowing that it was a gift for a friend.

Wisteria Arbor

Good afternoon!  Remember me???  Yes - its been quite a while since I posted ANYTHING - but I have a 1,001 reasons why I haven't and I'm not even going to begin to bore you with those details.  Suffice to say ... missed you all and here's a beautiful layout for the girls over at the Paper Girls Challenge Blog.

Challenge #18 is a photo from pinterest and the challenge is to build a layout based upon what you see in the photo.  I loved the colors and the circles.  There is a lovely blue circle in the background so I chose paper with blue which also had flowers.  I also wanted to capture a bit of the grey - but I only had black so there you have it - a totally adorable black embellie.

 Enjoy!!

Mingus Mtn - Go Big

Its been a couple of weeks since I last posted anything ... I have a very good reason for this - Fall-ish ATC swap!  Yes - I am coordinating the swap with 15 of my online gal pals, which is keeping me rather busy - along with the rest of life!!!

Anyway - back to scrapbooking and challenges I go!

My friends over at the Paper Girls Challenge Blog have another awesome challenge - to "Go Big".  

Here's what I created ... 

The idea was to use a photograph that was bigger than 4 x 6 - I used a 5 x 7 for this layout.

Materials used:  ribbon - Webster's Pages

letters - MME - Lush

chipboard - Scrapbook Circle

paper - WRMK - I Love to Craft

punch - WRMK Super 8

"Son"flowers

The latest challenge over at the Paper Girls Challenge Blog is:  Messy!

Sounds great!  This is a family that enjoys getting messy and let's face life.is.messy!

My son has been working very hard all summer long to nurture a small garden outside of his window - the perfect subject for getting messy - even his hair is a bit messy!

Fluffy Ribbon Fall ATC

I'm just loving this ATC that I created for a swap I am coordinating with a bunch of gal pals.  I wanted to create something that was "out of the box" for me and forced me to USE up some of the ribbon I have.

Well - wouldn't you just know it but the gals over at Use It Tuesday issued their latest challenge to use ribbon - SWEET!  I've had this green ribbon for two years.  My daughter and I bought it to make those cute flip flops that are fuzzy and stuff - guess what they were cute but once the ribbon was wet - they were ruined.  Also, I used burlap ribbon that I recently purchased at my LSS - I LOVE IT!

I is for Ice Cream

Back to SCHOOL!!!  Each year on the first day of school, we ALL take pictures.  I go back to school, too, ya know!

This year was no different - after the car was loaded down with our gear for school - saxophone, backpacks, lunches, water, mom's school supplies, and yet another backpack - we were ready for a few photos.  I am amazed at how these two precious people have grown.  Eight grade and sixth grade - sheesh - time is flying!!!  

At the end of our first day of school, we ALWAYS meet Dad for some ice cream.  It's the best way to talk about the day, find out who they ate lunch with, and share some laughs.  This year was no different!  I really love how this layout turned out and cannot wait to see how these two continue to grow.

As you may have suspected - this is a sketch from ScrapbookSteals.com and was the guide I used to create the layout.  (You may have noticed that I deviated from the layout just a bit... )

Supplies used:  Kraft paper

Ribbon from StampinUp!

Curiosity from Authentique

Back to School

I love the fact that both of my kids really love school - and I love that they have great friends who are compassionate and willing to give to others.  I love that my boy surrounds himself with kids who share his love for Christ and are not afraid to walk the walk and talk the talk.  (That's a lotta love!)

Two weeks ago, the kids went back to school to spend time with their friends and to take on new challenges.  Going back to school is not just about getting a new backpack or lunchbox (neither of those were new at our house this year), but rather its about making connections with friends, growing up and trying new things.  I'm very proud of how my kids strive to learn without letting their socializing get in the way - they are adorable.

Anyway - I think that this is a fun challenge from Use It Tuesday - to create from your stash for a back to school layout or other project.  I used some Basic Gray that I've had for some time along with a bunch of odds/ends that I no longer even remember what they are from.  I enjoy the challenges that I've been able to complete with Use It Tuesday - they are such clever girls!

Happy 80th Birthday

The most recently challenge from the Paper Girls Challenge Blog is to create something to celebrate a birthday.  I created these altered art pieces for my FIL's 80th birthday.  I tried to collect all kinds of memorabilia from 1932 which is his birth year.  He loved it and that's the best gift of all!

Quotes and Thoughts

Well we meet again!!!  I've been trying to "clean" up the crafting room (or as the kids call it my crapping room - cuz there's so much crap all over the floor!) - and in the process I completed two layouts and I am almost done with my Fall-ish ATCs.

Pearl 4A:  Quotes and Thoughts

The kids are running up to the Jersey Jim and then we went on a family hike.  I tried so hard to remember every word - even used a journal to capture the memories!!!

The sketch!

Pearl 4B:  Up and Down - Jeff took this amazing photo and it really does justice to the height of the tower.

TOP 5!!!! How cool is THAT?

LUNCHTIME UPDATE:

I AM IN THE TOP 5 (two of the other gals are part of my scrappin gal pals group!!!)  Please vote for me!!!!

Here's the card:

Here's the link:

We R Memory Keepers

Thank you so very much!!!

Good morning - its Friday and wow - what a crazy day yesterday was - I happened to be chatting with a few of my scrappin gal pals and found out that a card that I had created for Operation Write Home with We R Memory Keepers was in the Top 10 as voted on by Facebook fans.  


Imagine my surprise!!!  Seriously - there are three of us from our FB group who have cards in the top 10.  I am absolutely honored!  Voting continues until there is a Top 5 and then a GRAND PRIZE Winner!!!


Here's my card - 

And here's the link to the voting - 


We R Memory Keepers - Facebook