True Love {KLD}

Hey Friends!!

I recently won a cute package of fun from Kiwi Lane Designs which contained We R Memory Keepers' True Love.  Well - talk about true love - beautiful papers, twine and bottle caps - woo - hoo - BOTTLE CAPS.

Here's what I created for a friend who was married today!

Of course I used a couple of the KLD templates and had a little fun with this layout.  I left off any titles, journals, and photos as it was a gift.  I told the bride that I would be happy to finish it when she was ready.

Thank you KLD - Its a fun set to work with!

Photo Inspiration #28 {PGCG}

Good morning Crafty Friends!  My gal pals over at Paper Girls Challenge have issued a new challenge:  #28 Photo Inspiration.  Here's the photo:

What inspires you? 

 For me, I loved the colors that I saw and the shape of the tag made me think of lots of squares.  The flower that jumps out from the tag is what inspired the oval and it its outline.

After reading the blog post and seeing what the other designers did/said, other designers said that they had not tried water colors and for me; I decided that it was time to try something new - gesso.  

I really love how this layout came together and I tried something new.  Have a scrappin-happy day!

Gesso How-To

Good morning to all of my scrappy-happy friends!

I am very excited to share a Gesso How-To with you - this stuff ROCKS!  I came across gesso while reading a scrapbook magazine and I just fell in love with the look.  I’m a clean-and-simple style of scrapper and this rocked with my inner-scrappiness.

Gesso is an acrylic base that is used by canvas artists.  They use it to prime the canvas in order to prep their work surface.  In order to find it, you will need to look in the fine arts section of your local hobby stores.  I snapped up a pint of the white gesso ran home as fast as my little legs could carry me and opened up the jar immediately for some crafty fun.

The supplies pictured above are:

12” x 12” kraft card stock

paintbrush

gesso

2” x 4” green card stock

The really cool thing about gesso is that you can spread it on with a brush or with a card (I’ve seen blogs where gals use a plastic card - you know those endless gift cards that you have at the bottom of your purse - they work great, too!).  I used both.

When I was prepping the 12” x 12” kraft card stock, I brushed on the gesso and I used my green card stock to spread it on.  Then I also dabbed with my brush to finish off the area I wanted to cover with the gesso.

You do need to give it a few minutes to dry and then continue working on your layout.  I really like the way that ink and mists look on the gesso as well as some doodling.

Here’s another layout that I did with gesso - this was my first trial run at it.

One other thing that I’ve leaned about gesso is that you can put it on very lightly almost like a whitewash or you can glob it on and then create designs in this medium.  So I tried my hand at it on an 8.5” x 11.5” piece of kraft card stock.  I globbed on some gesso and then took a paperclip and dragged it through the gesso creating random patterns.

Once the gesso was dried (about an hour), I created this layout of my husband when we were camping last year in Iddlywild, CA.  This is how I feel about my husband after all these years ... captivated by him.

So, scrappy happy gal pals - I do hope that this is a technique/medium that you are going to try.  Have a wonderful scrappy day!!

Spring ATCs {Artist Trading Cards}

Happy Spring!  A fun, cute, EASY ATC for your viewing pleasure today.

I wanted to work on these for so long and was really stuck on what to do, but after cutting all of the 2.5" x 3.5" Kraft paper and rummaging through some of the more spring-like paper that I have, I decided on this very soft print.  Then I dug out all of my StampinUp! stamps and instantly knew that I had to put a butterfly on this ATC.  Spring is a time of renewal and the best symbol for this is the butterfly.  The "Easter Wishes" stamp is also from StampinUp! and I used Old Olive ink.  There is a hink of purple on the flowers - those are my lovely Stickles.

Have a great day!

Also, I had wanted to submit this for Use It Tuesday's Challenge #50 "Uninked Stamp" - ah, well - next time!!

{Love My Tapes} Blog Hop Winner!

Good morning Blog Hoppers!

This weekend was certainly fun - the Scrapbook Steals blog hop designers created such fantastic projects - I'm certain that you cannot wait to get scrapping yourself!  Inspiration galore!

And now the moment you've been waiting for ... my own blog winner randomly chosen from this weekend's hop is:

Sandy T.

Sandy T., please send me an email at scrappin {at} q {dot} com with your address and I'll send you a little slice of scrappy goodness.

Have a great day everyone!

{Love My Tapes} March Blog Hop

Welcome to the Scrapbook Steals March Blog Hop!  I really enjoy working with Scrapbook Steals because their blog is just chock full of inspiration, tutorials,customer service, wonderfully supportive online community and of course their STEALS!!

This blog hop is going to blow you away with amazing projects created using ... are you ready ... Love My Tapes washi tape.  Seriously, if you have not tried their washi, then what are you waiting for?  Hop on over to Scrapbook Steals and grab some for yourself.

For this hop, I created the following projects using Love My Tapes washi tape.  I really hope that you find the projects easy, fun and something that you can create easily.

First, I created a "things to do!" clipboard.  In order to make this, I covered a clipboard with kraft paper and then went to work on adhering the black and white chevron washi tape.  To top it off, raspberry colored Thickers to add a bit of color.

I love journals - they are incredibly easy to decorate and make great gifts for most anyone.  This journal is a composition notebook that was covered with some pretty patterned paper from Prima Marketing.  I removed the black binding tape and added the green washi, wrapped the cover with bakery twin and then added two flowers from Webster's Pages.  The letters are also from Webster's Pages.  I also wanted to keep track of some of my favorite journal pages so I made these adorable paper clip tabs.  Simply cut a length of washi and close it around the end of the paperclip.  To get the banner look on the end, I used a 1 1/4" square punch from StampinUp!  Why have I not thought of this before???  The punch creates the perfect "v" shape at the end of the washi.

And finally, a card.  If you've been following me for a while you know that I love designing cards.

As you can see, washi tape is a very versatile product and one that should be in your arsenal of scrapping goodies.

Be sure to leave a comment on my blog, all of the designers blogs and over at the blog on Scrapbook Steals' blog in order to be entered into a drawing for a $20.00 gift card to Scrapbook Steals.  You will have until Sunday at Midnight Mountain Time to comment.  Good Luck!

Now, if you are interested in winning more scrappy goodness, then be sure to become a follower and leave a comment stating new follower/current follower and which project you could envision yourself creating.  Again, you will have until Sunday Midnight Mountain Time to comment.  Good Luck!

ScrapbookSteals starting point
Creating with Paper and More - Kelly Holifield
The Ramblings of a Crafty Working Mom - Julie Cordero
Scrappin The Little Things - hey - that's me!! <-------------- you are here
Li'l Buck's Creations - Misty Buck <--------- next on the hop
Becci's Handmade Collection - Becci Manies
It's About the Paper - Michele Duffy
Errant Scraps - Jessica Arrant
ScrapbookSteals ending point

Tall Trees {amber #2}

Amber #2 from Scrapbook Steals.com  

These photos were taken at Locket Meadow in Flagstaff.  We went up there a few months ago so that I could see the changing colors of the Aspen trees.

True Love

Good morning!  I've been working on this layout for a couple of weeks - yes - a couple of weeks -its been rather hectic around here with sick kids, activities, sick kids again and just a plain ol' worn out mom.

The good news is that I did find a few minutes here and there and finally was able to put together this layout.  The inspiration came from Scrapbook Steals.com and is part of the Jade series.  I really missed out on the entire series but I really wanted to get a layout with stitching completed.  Here's Jade 9:  True Love.

Materials for this layout are almost all StampinUp! - I think the embellishments are MME.

That's it for me today, enjoy and keep scrappin!

How Kind of You @ Practical Scrappers

Sadly, I am not in the running any longer over at Practical Scrappers' 2013 Card Challenge.  This has been the hardest card to create as there were multiple requirements for the card:  black and white with a splash of color which can be no more than 25% of the design space, a Thank You card or similar sentiment and stitching either hand or machine.

I labored over this card's design for a long time and I'm really happy with how it turned out. 

Materials used:

A whole bunch of stuff from my stash I don't even know how old any of it is!

To see the rest of the cards and vote click here.

Happy Birthday!

February and March were busy months growing up.  February had three birthdays and March had two. These are the cards that I created and sent to our February babies!

For my brother, February 6th.

For my dad, February 22nd.

For my mom, February 23rd.

Round 3 @ Practical Scrappers

I'm still in!!!  This is the card that I created for Round 3 of Practical Scrappers' Card Contest 2013

Please vote for me - I am so totally thrilled that I'm still in.

Top 16 VOTE

For the Boys @ Practical Scrappers

Another card and another round of the Practical Scrappers' 2013 Card Contest.  This time around, we were challenged to use the photo below as inspiration for a card for a boy or man.  October Afternoon seemed to be the best choice for this card!  I just love it!!

Keep voting and wish me luck!

Happy {Heart} Day

Good morning,

Its Valentine's day and for the Johnson family this means flowers, candy and home made cards.  Even the kids enjoy creating their own Valentines for class parties.  This is the last year for Victoria's parties at school and William wanted to give a few friends a treat.  They each came up with the idea and then enlisted help from Mom and Dad to create these amazing Valentines.  Enjoy!!!  And Happy {Heart} Day from the Johnson family:

Victoria's "Mice to know you!"

William's "Happy Valentine's Day"

Mom made {heart} shaped sandwiches for lunch and wonderfully delicious blueberry scones for breakfast.

Using Twine - sure!!!

Using twine on a card - are ya kiddin' me!  You bet - I LOVE using twine.  This week's challenge over at the Paper Girls Challenge Blog is all about using twine.

Materials used:  We R Memory Keepers Bakery Twine

October Afternoon - Rocket Age

Kraft cardstock

Happy Birthday @ Practical Scrappers

Keep voting!!!  I'm in the top 20 round 
and I really would like to be able to stay in the running.  
Click on the link below and vote, please.

Top 20 VOTE

I have just a few days to create my next card

and I love the "prompt" for the next round ...

 several ideas are rolling around in my head!

For Mary Jo

Last week, a dear friend of mine lost her niece.  Alex was 19 years old.  Mary Jo has lived with Alex and her family for a very long time - taken care of the kids, prayed for the kids, done crafty projects with the kids, made lunches for the kids, cried with the kids, and loved on those kids.  She still loves on Alex - but now its from afar.  I am at such a loss and I feel such a deep sense of sympathy for Mary Jo and the rest of the family.

Happy Birthday {quilt}

Good evening!  After chatting with my sister this morning, I've been thinking all day of creating a few cards.  Luckily, I was able to create ONE!!!  I think that this looks like a quilt and I added a cute little flower - I'm really getting into making these myself - saw a tutorial on how to make them "just right".

This is from a Page Maps card sketch.

{Love} is Top 25 @ Practical Scrappers

I entered a Valentine card for the 

2013 Practical Scrappers Card Challenge 

and now I'm in the top 25!!

Vote for my card, PLEASE!!  Click on the photo to be taken directly to the voting.