Say Cheese

The Drill:Two Layouts in one day!!!

Drill #8 Sketchy Saturday - from the girls over at S.W.A.T:

The Drill:

The Result:

Materials used:  We R Memory Keepers'Storytime

Go Navy! with {Practical Scrappers}

Happy Memorial Day to you and your families.  This is for my niece who has been in the Navy for the past five years - she's planning on making this her career.  I'm very proud of her as are her parents and brothers.  She's been to many different countries and seems to really love what she does.  

My father was also in the Navy while my father-in-law was in the Army during the Korean War.

Be safe everyone!

Here's the sketch that I used which is from S.W.A.T:

Materials used:  Bo Bunny's Block Party which I've had for three years and never once touched it.  I really have been saving it for something special - and I feel that my niece is very special!!

Promotion 2013

Its incredibly hard to believe that 14 years have gone by and my "little" boy is now going into high school.  I say "little" because the boy is 5'9" and is still growing!

To celebrate, the family searched through hundreds of photos looking for some fun, cute, milestone-type photos to help create this collage:

I even cracked open MME's Kraft Fun Day.  I've used two sheets of 12 x 12 paper from it once before, but then put it away for something special.  Here's that something special!

Have a great day!

Happy Retirement

Its always hard to say good bye to someone you have worked with for so many years.  Never sure of what to say or how to say it but, Friday morning, we said  so long to one of our friends - she’s retiring (lucky girl!).  

She started her teaching career as a paraprofessional in my self-contained special education classes almost 15 years ago.  

And now she’s ending her teaching career as a special education teacher - on the same campus as myself.  What an honor!!

This was a fun project to work on - all of the quotes are from the teachers who Mary worked with - and I'm so grateful that I was a part of her celebration.

Materials used:  MME's Miss Caroline:  Fiddlesticks

Doodle Time {PGCB Challenge #31}

Good morning scrappy happy friends!!

The cutie pies over at Paper Girls Challenge Blog have a fun challenge going on - doodle on a project! This is a new technique for me and I really need to branch out a bit and let myself go.  I did manage to complete this cute layout of the my little darlings:

Have a scrapp-happy day!

Teacher Appreciation

On Pinterest somewhere, I found a cool photo of a teacher appreciation gift - well, actually, I found three that I thought would be easy enough to complete with our crazy busy schedule.  I asked my girlie which one she liked the best and then we got to work.

Its very true that the world needs s'more teachers like the ones my kids have.  I have one little darling who is making the leap from middle to high school and the other one is crossing the bridge from elementary to middle school.

The templates I used for the tags are from Kiwi Lane Designs, bags from StampinUp! and twine from ?

Have a scrappy-happy day!

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.

Paper Flowers Blog Hop

Happy Monday Blog Hoppers!!!

Can you believe it?  The Paper Girls Challenge Blog invited me to hop along with them - love those girls!!!

For this hop, you will see a plethora of pretty practical ways to use/create paper flowers on your projects.

I tried something new for this hop:  Coffee Filter Flowers.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day

Love

Would you like a quick tutorial on how to make these cute flowers?  Perfect, because I wanted to share with you anyway!

Materials:  basket coffee filters (those are new)

mists - Mr. Huey's Custard (from my stash about one year ago)

Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Santa Baby (from my stash - at least two years ago!)

Adirondack Color Wash Lettuce (from my stash - at least two years ago!)

brads or twine (brads are from my stash - 6 months ago - twine is new!)
Embellishments:  Most are from Webster's pages (last summer)
Cardstock:  Kraft paper - that's new!

* Mist the coffee filters and let them dry about an hour.

* Fold the filters into quarters.

* Cut the edges - I used a couple of punches, "points", or "petals".

* Separate the trimmed filters.

* Restack filters by staggering the layers.

* Pierce a hole in the center for either a brad or twine.

* Gather the petals - pinch, fold, fluff to your desired effect.

* Affix to a project!

Again, thank you for stopping by!  Here's the hop in order.  Be sure to comment, follow and have fun!  There are prizes to be won!

The Paper Girls Challenge Blog

Charity Hotrum

Erica Bass

Deborah Johnson

Heather Gray

Jessica Arrant

Kristina McKeen

What do you have to do to participate? 

 Would you like a chance to win? Get one entry for commenting on each of the blog posts, "Like" the Paper Girls Challenge on Facebook, and being a follower on our blog (all are required for an entry). It you get to see some fabulous projects and you know you want to!

You have until Sunday, May 5, 2013 at 11:59pm MST to comment.  We will announce the winner on Monday, May 13, 2013 at 9:00 am MST!  International readers are welcome to play along but currently we are only shipping prize packs to the US and Canada due to shipping costs.

The PRIZE

PS ... want an win an extra goodie?  One lucky hopper will be randomly selected to win a fun prize from me.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

To Love The Journey: Scenic Route

I'm back at Paper Girls Challenge blog with my second installment as April Guest Designer.  This challenge involves "Travel".  

Immediately, I knew which photos I had wanted to scrap for this layout!  Last year, we drove to Jersey Jim's Fire Lookout Tower and spent two nights up in the tower.  Its five stories up and the latrine is five stories down.  A bit of planning must go into your ascent and descent!

While we were at Jersey Jim's, we did a bit of hiking, hiking and more hiking!  It was a truly memorable time with the kids and I look forward to more camping trips with them as the summer approaches.

I used a sketch from Scrapbook.Steals.com - Amber 4

I do hope that you are inspired by the Bev Code's sketch, my interpretation of it and the fun challenge from Paper Girls Challenge blog.

Materials used:  Webster's Pages, StampinUp punch, We R Memory Keepers stamps, Love My Tapes washi, and a map of Colorado

Kids Grow Up So Fast

I've had this photo of my son on my desk for almost a year and I'm drawn to it often.  I've wanted to create a layout for this photo for quite some time - but just couldn't find the "right" materials.

Kids DO Grow Up So Fast - as I linger over the photo of this boy with a bubble wand I cannot believe that he will be moving on to high school in a few weeks - less than two months!  He's such a treasure!

The title velum and the secondary "Love" velum are from my stash and have to be from four years ago.  My friends over at Use It Tuesday have a challenge to use stickers.  I used the velum and made them into stickers - clever, huh?

Amber #8 sketch from Scrapbook.Steals.com

Materials used:  Websters' Pages, StampinUp! punches, ribbon and flower brad

Velum from probably four years ago!!

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

Think Spring!

Happy Scrappy Day to you!

I love making cards - there are times when I just get into a groove and I'm in it right now!  I've been making Easter cards, Birthday cards, Thank You cards and then I saw that Use It Tuesday's challenge is to create something with Spring in mind!  Yahoo!!!!

I used a bunch of markers that I've had for yeaarrrrs and the stickles glittery type stuff has been around since, well - I really don't remember - and the card stock has been in the stash for at least four years.

Enjoy my take on Think Spring!

Good Friday Crafting

Tomorrow is Good Friday and I'm usually in a somber mood given that Good Friday is the day that our Lord and Savior died on the cross for us, so today I am busy crafting and cooking.  I'm trying my hand at a lamb cake for the very first time!

While waiting for the cake to cook, I was working on a collection of cards that I created for our neighbors.  The cards will be delivered today by my little ones along with a beautiful mum plant.

Happy crafting and The Johnson family wishes you a very blessed Easter.  He is RISEN!

Easter Wishes

While playing around with some cards, I created these Easter cards - I really love them!  Hope that you enjoy them as well:

Materials used: Authentique's Hope and Prima Marketing flowers

Drill #3- Four Focus Fun! {SWAT}

Drill #3- Four Focus Fun!

Just as a four leaf clover brings good fortune, so does this challenge from my friends at Scrap Warriors Advanced Training.

Here's the deal - simply create a single page layout using four photos.  I went one step further - this is from Four Corners, AZ.  You know, that very famous place where you can be in four states at one time, AZ, CO, UT and NM.

Have a scrappin-fun day!