Friday, October 31, 2014

11/01/14 - CPC Crossover Challenge

Happy November!
I'm here today sharing the latest challenge over at  "Child's Play Challenges".
Our current challenge is a joint venture w/ the "Pixels and Paper" Challenge Blog".
 
"Pixels and Paper" challenged us to use this photo as inspiration:
 
 
 
And "Child's Play Challenges" threw in a recipe of items to use as well:
 
 
gold
animal
something older than 1 year
3 patterned papers
bling
 
 
 
Sounds fun, right?!
Here's what I came up with (click on image to enlarge):
 
"Cute Christmas Cat"
 
And here is a breakdown of how I used the inspiration photo and  the recipe:
  • Photo Inspiration: the Christmas themed Jack-in-the-Box toy
  • Gold: Washi tape, gold heart brad, large bling swirl 
  • Animal: Photo of our cat
  • Something older than 1 yr: the 2 Christmas Colored PPs (10 years old, which also happened to be scraps) and the black and tan square behind the title tag (3 years old)
  • 3 patterned papers: 3 Used
  • Bling: Heart brad and large gold swirl

I have to story to share about my layout:
First know...I hate gold! The color, the jewelry, and I most definitely would not use it in my scrapbooking!
So when I saw I had to use gold on my layout I panicked!
I didn't have anything gold in my stash as far as I knew.
Just in case though, I did a search. As I suspected, I found nothing. 
Luckily my fellow CPC DT teammate and leader, Devra, sent me some items to use: the washi tape and brad were amongst those items.
When I finished my layout, and right before I uploaded it, I  decided to clean the scrappy mess off of my desk.  As I was putting my stuff away I came across the giant bling swirl.
Two questions popped in my mind:
1. How in the world did I not see this giant thing before?!
2. Why did I have this? 
I know where it came from...in a box of scrappy items I won from a blog contest.
But why had I kept it? I would never use it!
Until now! LOL
 
Yup! Not only did I use it, but in the end it was the perfect piece to finish off my layout!
Funny how that happens!
 
Now it's your turn.
Whether you love gold or hate it...it's time to show us what you can do w/ it!
Don't forget to include the other items of the challenge and upload your layout before the end of November.
 

10/31/14 - Get Messy October Prompt

Hello and Happy Halloween!
Today is an exciting day for my family because my husband just LOVES Halloween and goes all out!
In fact he always takes the day off from work on Halloween to set up all the decorations we use to scare, errrrrr I mean, entertain the trick-or-treaters! 
Cue the scary clowns,  muahahahahahahahaha!
 
Sadly I am at work... le sigh...
So I decided to write my blog post for the latest "Get Messy" prompt.
I am actually a day late w/ this..
 
 
October's prompt is Gratitude.
Here are the specifics:
 
Journaling Challenge: Gratitude. What are you grateful for? What aspects of your life are you thankful for, that you might be overlooking while being busy?

Art Challenge: Use visual examples for at least three things you’re grateful for. Photos/doodles/magazine cut outs/stickers/anything. SHOW us your gratitude!

 
Here is my page:
 
 
"Gratitude"
 
To make this, first I stamped a BG (more on that later in this post).
Then, using my computer,  I typed in bold the thing I am most grateful for in my life: my family. 
Underneath I typed the names of the members of my family.  I included the fur babies because they truly are part of my family, even if they are not human!
And because I love quotes I used another one of my favorites that worked perfectly w/ the theme!
Next I used a stencil to help me draw a heart around the list I made.
I then cut the heart out and outlined it in red and glued it my page.
For the Art Challenge part of the prompt I printed and cut out and glued, collage style, photos of all my family members.
Finally a reference to "Get Messy" and it's October prompt was added to the top.
 
 
Okay back to my background...
I wanted to share how I made my background for my layout.
Ever since I used my roller stamp, I have had an interest in stamping (and you will probably be seeing more once I get back into the Art Journal swing of things)!
As you know I like to work on my Art Journal at work to help pass the time.  On the day I made this page, the only stamp I had on me was the before mentioned roller stamp but since I had just used it for my last "Get Messy" page, I did not want to use it again so... I got creative!
 
I used the bottom of a box of small binder clips as a stamp.
I still had my stamp pad w/ me, so with the box and a scratch piece of paper I did a practice run.
I loved it so much that not only did I not want to stop stamping...it was fun...I decided to use it as the BG design of my page. I then added some red outlines to each of the visible parts of the stamped rectangles to add some color.
I've already explained the rest of the page to you....so I guess that's it!
 
Hope you have a good Halloween! 

Saturday, October 25, 2014

10/25/14 - "When Life Gives You Lemons..." Scrapbooking Edition

 
Hi all!
Just wanted to stop by and share this layout I made...
and tell you why it makes me think of the quote "When life gives you lemons make lemonade".
 
First the layout..excuse the bad cell phone picture (click on image to enlarge) -
 
 
"Date Night: Jo Koy"
Journaling" "Jo Koy is my favorite comedian! His show at the Ontario Improv
wasn't only the first time we ever saw him live, it was also our first time there!"

Here's the story:



My "marquee" photo came out perfectly when I originally printed it, but then I got clumsy, as I tend to do (A LOT), and got adhesive all over it, UGH!!!! @#*#$ 
Yeah I could not save the photo w/out causing more damage to it, so I threw it away and reprinted it. When I reprinted it part of the photo came out a weird color (there is not supposed to be turquoise in the photo at all)...WTHeck?! So I tried to print it again and this time it came out pretty much ALL turquoise. Again I say...WTHeck?!
So after wasting 3 pieces of photo paper and lots of ink, I finally just embraced the weird imperfecion and made it part of my layout.  Lucky for me the turquoise the photo printer decided to print matched the turquoise top I was wearing, LOL!
As you can see I also used both 'flawed' photos and tried to do a cool layered effect, further making use of the offending items!
Finally I finished my page and then I realized that the photo of Jo Koy that I printed off of the internet has the wrong dates on it!  It doesn't have the date(s) of when we actually went to see him, but the dates of his shows, in the same location, the following weekend...
I had forgotten he did shows 2 weekends in a row and instead of looking for the advertisement w/ the correct dates, I just say that it was the correct location and printed it.
::SMH::

I tried not to beat myself up over it, and just move on, again thinking of that quote.
In the end, despite it's flaws I actually like the layout!
Also when I posted it on SB.com it got a great response and was favorited...
So I guess my lemons wound up making some darn good lemonade! LOL!
Now to figure out what the heck is wrong w/ my printer... :0/

Have you ever experienced something like this?
Please share!



Friday, October 17, 2014

10/17/14 - The Latest...

Hi All!
I hope life is treating you well!
Just wanted to stop by and say "hi" and share a few of my latest art journal pages and a little bit of what's been going on.
My first page was inspired by the fact that "October" is Breast Cancer Awareness Month:
 
 
"Find The Cure"
 
Besides the fact that it is an important cause, my mother is a Breast Cancer survivor.
That's why David, Madi, and I decided to participate in the Stater Brothers Charities Breast Cancer Walk this year.
We did the 5k and it was a lot of fun! Not only did we help raise awareness and money but we spent time together and it we did it while doing something healthy.
Unfortunately Joseph had to work.
 
Here's some photos from the event:
 
Before the walk started...
 
During...
 
Right before we crossed the finish line...
 
After we finished...
 
According to the an article I read on the internet: "this year’s walk brought in $475,000"
Awesome sauce!
 
 
 
The next one was to document the fact that I have gotten into the "Divergent" book series...thanks to my son.
We watched the movie together, and to be honest I didn't understand it all, so he suggested I read the book.
I did so, and I loved it; way better than the movie!
 
"Divergent"
I am currently reading the 2nd book in the series, "Insurgent".
In fact I started reading "Insurgent" on the same evening of the day I finished "Divergent"!
Unfortunately I have not been able to get through it as quickly as the first asI have not had a lot of time for reading lately...
I'll explain why later in this blog post.
 
 
 
This 3rd page was just for fun.
I love all things Peanuts and "I got a rock" is my favorite Charlie Brown quote.
It always makes me smile when I hear it: 
 
"I Got a Rock"

 
I have slowed down on my Art Journaling, not because I am "giving" up or don't enjoy it, but because I have been working on another big project.  A necessary project... a not-so-fun project (also the reason I don't have a lot of time to read):
 
The photo site I store and order my photos from, Winkflash, is closing at the end of this year.
Not really a big deal because I also store/order my photos from other online processing websites.
What is a big deal is back when I started ordering from them, I didn't have an external hard drive.
As a matter of fact I didn't know a whole lot about digital photos or digital storage.
So I just used the online site(s) as my storage areas.
It's great because it's free!
It's not-so-great when they close down like this.
I learned about digital storing and hard drives, and all that "stuff" a few years ago, and for the most part have been really good about backing up my photos, but w/ the closure of Winkflash, I decided to compare what was online to what I have stored. 
Because Winkflash was one of the first sites I used,  I do not have a lot of those photos on my hard drive.
So, for the past few months I have been using any downtime, which isn't a lot, to compare and download and save my photos...ultimately deleting them from the website.
W/ technology the way it is, you'd think, awwww...that's not so bad.
But here's my problem.
My e-mail address was incorrect in the Winkflash system, so I never received an e-mail on how to do it. I e-mailed them and called them but have received no response.  In fact it appears their phone number is no longer in service.  So what I have been doing is downloading and transferring each photo individually.
This is taking a lot of time since I have literally thousands of photos to save!
I don't know if Winklflash had a better system that they shared w/ their customers, of which I missed because of my incorrect e-mail address, but if they did, I sure wish I knew about it! The way I am doing it now is so tedious!
I have until the end of the year and I am happy to say that although I still have quite a few more to go through... I am almost finished.
 
After that is done, I REALLY need to go into my hard drive and organize ALL my photos into a better system.
I had thought of doing that anyway and had started when I found out about the Winkflash closure.
Luckily the organizing of my photos does not have a deadline...
But the sooner the better because I REALLY hate being unorganized!
 

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

10/15/14 - CPC: "Alice In Wonderland"

 
Last time I was here sharing my DT project for "Childs Play Challenges" I forgot to mention that the challenge schedule has changed.
We will now be posting challenges on the 1st and 15th of every month.
The deadline to submit is still the same though; you have until the last day of the month.
(But it would be better if you could get it in a few days earlier since we need time to vote and if you upload at the last minute we may not have time to consider you)
 
Today is the 15th of October which means it's time to announce the second challenge of the month.
 
Today's "Childs Play Challenges" inspiration is the childhood movie: "Alice in Wonderland":
 
 
 
 
 (Click on images to enlarge)
 
"The White Rabbit"
Journaling: "1 Rabbit 2 Visits...
Disneyland Feb/April 07"
 
I think it's pretty obvious the direction I went w/ this one, LOL!  
But what you don't know is that the "Alice In Wonderland" BG paper I used is paper I bought when I first started scrapping...15 years ago!!
Yup, I've had that paper in my stash for approximately 15 years!
Which just goes to show that it's not such a bad thing to hoard paper, because some day it REALLY may be THE perfect paper for a project!

Monday, October 6, 2014

10/06/14 - "Cutest Cat EVER"

 
 
Hi!
Just wanted to stop by and share this layout I made this weekend simply because it puts a big smile on my face and thought it might do the same for you!
Since it is Monday (UGH!) I figured  a little bit more to smile about would be a good thing! :0)
(Click on image to enlarge)...
 
"Cutest Cat EVER"
 
A super adorable photo of our cat Panini. I just love her expression in this photo!
 
The PP is from the Bo Bunny "Happy Tails" collection.
The 3x4 cards are from the Simple Stories "Snap - Cat" collection.
The title letters are from the $1 spot at Target.
 
 
Hope you have a good Monday!

For the following challenges at SB.com: October "Scrap Your Pet " challenge - including twist of mixed fonts
and the October "Scrap Lift Your Favorites" challenge - I scrap lifted "Love" by Jody Wenke.


Wednesday, October 1, 2014

10/01/14 - CPC: Jack-in-the-Box

 
 
Hip-hip-Hooray!
It's the first day of October!
I love October!
It symbolizes fall and it's my birthday month!
And it also means it's time for the first challenge of the month over at "Child's Play Challenges" !
 
Remember you have until the end of the month to submit your entry for this challenge and the challenge we will be posting on the 15th.
 
Okay let's get this party started!
The inspiration this time around is the childhood toy: Jack-in-the-Box.
Here is the inspiration photo:
 
 
 
This challenge is right up my alley!
Since my husband is a huge (evil) clown fan, we have had clown props, decorations, and costumes in our household for Halloween for years!
As I was searching for the photos I wanted to scrap I came across these ones from 2009 that I never created a layout for! Good thing because they are absolutely perfect for the challenge!
 
 
"Halloween Party 2009" 
Journaling: "Ready to go to Nancy and Ryan's annual Halloween party"
 
If you're wondering, yes, the black strips are washi tape. Aren't they fun?! I bought them last year, a few days after Halloween, on clearance at Target. This is the first time I have used them and I love the way they look!

03/27/23 Planning with Urban Journal Season Ink

My printer was having issues and I fixed it but during the interim I was not scrapping and lost my mojo ::le sigh:: But I've still been ...