Practical Scrappers Blog Hop

Welcome to the Practical Scrappers/Paper Secrets Blog Hop!!

We are so excited to have you here today!  For this blog hop we are featuring the Ten Things Team from Practical Scrappers and members from the Design Team at Paper Secrets. Our topic for this hop is a fun, trendy one that will definitely catch your attention: wood! 

Blog Hop List

Practical Scrappers

Charity Hotrum

Lisa Moen

Jessica Arrant

Kristi Biesel 

Stephanie U

Patty Selah 

Karen Sessions

Kelly Holfield

Wendy Coffman

Deborah Johnson

Krissy Clark

Rochelle Spears

Kerri Yarus  

Lee-Anne Thornton

Leslii Wagner

Kelli Fortier

Kim Ryden 

Lucy Kelleher

Sue Kithcart 

Brenda Ragsdale

Charissa Miller

Christine Meyer

Sarah Clark

Kelly Jean Guzlas

Paper Secrets

Here's what you can win from Paper Secrets!

We have a collection of wood goodies from Paper Secrets to give away and you can get all the details on that below, but first here's my project!

How about a ray of sunshine, too?

Materials used:  Stampin' Up! papers, Studio Calico tiny veneer stars and Across the Miles stamp set from Sweet Stamp Shop

You can do any or all of the following to get entered:

1) Be a follower here at Practical Scrappers

2) Be a follower at the Paper Secrets Blog

3) Like our Practical Scrappers Facebook Page

4) Like the Paper Secrets Facebook Page

5) Leave us a comment here telling us which of those you did :)

You have until 11:59 PM CST on Sunday, August 25th to enter.  A winner will be announced early next week!

Next up on the blog hop is 

Krissy Clark  <<<< - hop on over there.

It's A Boy Thing!

At Practical Scrappers, we are celebrating Independence Day with a smattering of Red, White & Blue projects.  When I think of summer, I think of baseball,  grilling, and birthdays!  We have several boys who have summer birthdays and I cannot think of a boy who doesn't like baseball.  This card is the perfect one to celebrate both summer and a boy's birthday.

To create the background, I used a bubble mask from Studio Calico and inked it with Mr. Huey's Mist. the sentiment is from Bo Bunny's Block Party and makes this card just pop with color.  And, Of course, I had to put some Twine into the project (i love twine)

I hope that you find inspiration with this card and get outside to grill up some hotdogs or hamburgers.  But before you head outside, why not create a couple of cards or projects?

Have a Scrappy Happy Day!

Seeing Stars with Practical Scrappers

July 4th is almost here and today the Ten Things Team is Seeing Stars!  Yes, we've created several different projects using stars.  

My project uses Studio Calico's Tiny Wood Veneer Stars.  I created an everyday occasion card with Simple Stories' 24/Seven paper that incorporates stars for a banner.  If you look closely, there are tiny cameras also that are "flashing" stars.  It was a fun card to create and I cannot wait to see what you come up with!

Have a scrappy-happy day!

Materials: Studio Calico - Wood Veneer Tiny Stars

Simple Stories 24/Seven

Anytime Cards

A couple of "Anytime" cards that I whipped up this morning:

Materials used:  card stock, ribbon and patterned paper from Stampin Up!

wood veneer hearts from Studio Calico

National Scrapbook Day Challenges

Looking for the Paper Girls Challenge Blog?  Click here.

For National Scrapbook Day, I really wanted to at least complete one challenge - I did more than that!! woo-hoo!

This is for Kiwi Lane Designs' #1 Challenge:  Motherly Love Layout Challenge.  The photo was provided by a friend who was able to deliver her very first foal.  Such a touching photo - I asked her if I could scrap it for her.  The journaling area is blank so that she can add her personal thoughts.

This is also for S.W.A.T's Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge - I don't think that the stitching along the edge showed up - but I have three buttons, stitching and three different manufacturers:  Studio Calico, MME, StampinUp!, Little Yellow Bicycle and Authentique.

And finally, this is based on the Scrapbook Steals.com Amber #10 sketch.

April Showers ... May Flowers

Good morning my dear scrappy-happy friends!  I am over-the-moon thrilled to be a guest designer for the Paper Girls Challenge Blog.  Being part of an online scrapping community has really pushed me to continue developing my skills and it also provides me with a sounding board for when I'm not that excited about a layout or card.  Some of my best friends are the gals that I have met through scrapping.  

(An updated photo - thanks to my boy, William)

I do hope that you enjoy the layout I've created for the April Showers Challenge:

I've been just crazy about Kraft paper lately and I really love how it provided a background for the colors and flowers I used in this layout.  I used Studio Calico paper, Kiwi Lane Designs templates, a few stickers from Authentique, an embellishment or two from Webster's Pages and punches from StampinUp!

So, you want to know more about the crafty tricks behind this layout??

In order to create the raincloud and raindrops, I used mists and transparency sheets.  Just scatter several large droplets of misting ink onto the transparency sheet and then cover with another sheet - you get a two for one here - press them together and then pull apart the sheets.  Leave the sheets to dry and then cut to your {heart's} content.  Super easy!

I have a couple of different types of flowers on this layout.  I created the small rosette flowers by using a 1" punch from StampinUp! and then cutting a spiral into the punch.  Carefully rolling the paper on itself, you will achieve a tight rosette.  Glue that baby and you are set - I add a little touch to mine by pressing down on the edges of the flower to get a petal look - a friend of mine sprays the flower first and then presses - either way - its not difficult at all.  Another flower that I made is with a scalloped 1-3/8" punch again from StampinUp!  I cut into the scallops and then curl the petals.  Ta-dah!

Thank you Kristy Lee!

And there you have it, a layout that will hopefully inspire you to create something wonderful.

Materials used:  Kiwi Lane Designs templates:  Wildflower 1T, 6T, Chestnut Drive 2B, 3A, 3B
Studio Calico Memoir Collection Flower Bed and embellishments
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Vintage Photo
Webster's Pages embellishments
Authentique words
Basic Grey "april" letters