School's Out But Learning is In..

Happy Friday!! Wall-E comes out today and Isabel is so excited. This just might be the very first movie she goes to see at the theater. She made me paint a picture of him and Eve. Mind you, this was a "rough" sketch with her little Crayola Watercolor Paints..



Being that it is pretty much the middle of the year, I thought I would take a moment to reflect on all the new techniques that I am doing or products I am loving right now. I think I have really expanded my scrapbooking horizons in the past few months and I thought I would share some of my key learnings.

Some of my favorite things I have been doing lately are:
1. using my craft knife more
2. Embellishing naked chipboard shapes and alpha's like the butterfly above and either painting them, covering them with paper, coating them with ribbon, etc..
3. I learned the technique of using twirled ribbon on my paper to create a really cool 3-D effect.
4.Using fun punches like the awesome MS butterfly punch used above.
In this layout:
Paper Cutting-I used the paisley paper above in a way that is totally different than as it comes in it's pattern paper form. My craft knife has certainly come in handy for this.
This layout shows several other things:
1. working with color themes more. I find that my eyes love the look of green and blue together. It is so clean and calming. I also love hot pink and orange, hot pink and turquoise, yellow and blue. Summer is about bright, fresh, juicy color!!!
2. Paint-I used paint aound the photo circles and am using paints lately in a more subtle way as an additional layered accent.
3. Layering-in the layout above, I used the October Afternoon pattern papers, with the FP felt. I love the texture that felt gives.

Other techniques that I am dipping my feet into more this Summer are:
1. Hand-stitching
2. Using more Stickles glitter and paints
3. Adding Glossy Accents to painted chipboard
4. Using my Heidi Swapp Edge Distresser
5. Acrylic Stamps
6. Thickers, Thickers, & more Thickers!!!

This has been really fun looking back and I hope I get to do this again at the end of the year to see what is keeping me busy then and reflecting where I've been. Scrapbooking is such a learning journey and I am loving every minute of it!! I can't wait to see where July takes me!!

Have a fabulous weekend!!!

Hello Monday

This weekend was a pretty busy weekend. Saturday was a spa day and I had an aromatherapy massage. Yay! Then we went to eat Sushi for dinner (Isabel's favorite) and just stopped in by the bowling alley which was fairly empty so we got to play a couple of games.

I have also been a scrapping maniac lately working on two of my June kits:

Studio Calico:

And the Bad Girls Kit:

These kits always seem to daunt me when I get them as to what in the world am I going to create with them, but the design team's for each club are just so inspiring and really challenge the scrapper to think "out of the box". I highly recommend a club for anyone who has been scrapping for a while and loves to get newly released, fresh, and challenging products each month. Plus, it makes for a really fun mail day when a big box of new scrap-goodies arrives at your door!!

That's it for now. Have a Wonderful week!!!

Father's Day 2008-ATC Holder

Happy belated Father's Day.

This is the ATC revolving holder from 7 Gypsies that I made for Steven. I wanted to give him something different than another picture frame for his desk.

I also did a layout using the BG Cupcake line of little Izzy.

Happy Monday!!

Happy 5 years Babe!!!

It is my 5th Anniversary today. 5 years ago I was getting dressed to get married on the beach in Bermuda. What a lovely day that was. Blue sunny skies, the beach.... It is so hard to believe that 5 years have gone by. Here's to you my Peanut!! Happy first 5 and here's to the next!!! Cheers!!

Hello Thursday..

It's been a fairly long week with my little one as she is really trying to show her independence these days. Everything is a demand and she thinks when she asks for something that I have to jump immediately. Oh well, I know it's just a phase...

In scrap news, my AMM June Kit came in the mail yesterday. It is filled with lots of fun stuff from Making Memories and Creative Imaginations:

I got busy with the kit last night and already made a couple of layouts.

What a fun kit!

I have also been working with my Bad Girls-May Kit. My brain has been taken over by Flowers and Fairies, I think.....

Peonies in Bloom

I thought I would post twice today as I am going to give my computer a little rest for a couple of days...I just wanted to share the beauty of our greatly anticipated peonies that are in full bloom in our front yard. They look like big puffs of cotton candy and they smell so lovely.

The buds as they looked two weeks ago-

The blooms as they looked 2 days ago-

AMM NSD Grand Prize is here..

Well, It only took the US Post Office Priority Mail 2+ weeks for my prize to show up, but it is finally here!! I can't wait to start using all these lovely goodies!

I have been working on finishing up my April Studio Calico Kit and I think that the mission has been accomplished! I love working with the muted tones of the turquoise, jade green, carnelian, and browns in this kit:

Izzy, got her "big girl" bed finally!! She looks like a little princess in it! Last night was her first night sleeping in it. I think she loves it!