Front Porch Kits Sneaks and Cards

I thoroughly enjoyed this 3-day Memorial Day weekend.  I had re-discovered my some of mojo while working with Front Porch Kits' June kit: One Sunny day.  I have lots of sneak peeks to share.

How about these colors? I personally can't get enough of the denim blues and yellow together :) 

Here are some sneak peeks from my projects this month.  Only three days till the kit reveal!

 I don't know where Tracy and Lolly found these yellow things, but I need MORE MORE MORE!!!

I also spent some time this weekend making cards for the upcoming bridal shower.  So far, I have at least three sets of cards to give away as prizes to the shower attendees.  I played a lot with a new set of stamps and Die-namics from My Favorite Things. I knew I had to have it when it was released earlier this month and it has been a tremendous set with such versatility!  Check these out!  How awesome are they?

Here are three cards I made using this fantastic stamp + die-namics set. I hope these will be fun prizes for guests at the bridal shower.  If nothing else, I had so much fun making these cards! 

I did also complete a couple of layouts this weekend.  Here's to hoping that my mojo is finding its way home and I will have more to share soon :) 

Sweet Six & Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

I haven't been very good with putting published projects up on the blog, and I do have a small back log, so I will just start with this little mini-album that I created using Midnight Rooster's kit sometimes last summer.  This was published in Create: Mini-Albums 2010.

I still haven't scrapped a single layout of her last birthday.  I find these photos just too full of clutter and that's one of the reasons I turned to a mini-album.  I need to do a better job of scrapping celebrations, holidays, etc.

This mini was the first time that I really incorporated using fabric.  I received these adorable two pieces in the Midnight Rooster kit and just used Helmar Quick Dry adhesive and glued it directly onto the Maya Road chipboard album.  Thankfully, it's not like I'm making a piece of clothing. It's amazing how glue and scotch tape can hold fabric together :)

Well, she wraps up another school year in just a few days.  Growing like a weed, there are clothes that I bought for her only months ago that are short on her already.  We'll be clothes shopping for sure after a summer of swimming and playing in the sun!

The long weekend is upon us!  I plan to do some scrapping, but I first must go find my mojo.  Just want to give a shout out to BFF Jessy who is running a half marathon on Sunday.  Godspeed!  Have a great weekend everyone and Happy Memorial Day to you!

Crazy Like a Summer Weekend...

This past weekend, I took First Born to the Science Museum of Minnesota. That museum sits on the bluff overlooking the Mississippi River, the vista was simply stunning!  The trees and grass are newly coated in fresh green colors. Morning thunderstorms washed away dust and dirt. We were at the top of the museum admiring the view: a river runs through it.

Then we headed out to a college graduation party that evening and caught some rain on our way to and back from the party.  The Apocalypse did not completely materialize, but some of the Twin Cities areas were hit hard by tornadoes.  We were fortunate to have been spared.

Sunday I worked on and finished my projects for WIP May kit featuring Echo Park's Summerdays papers. I also made one wedding shower invite. This one is being sent to the bride and the other guests will receive a photograph of the invite, L O L!  I really suck at party planning!  Wish me luck, I really need to get the invites sent out in the next couple of days!

Summer Days Are Coming...

I am not one to rush spring, but I can't help but feel that summer is right around the corner.  Gardening is on at full throttle. Dad jumped in two hours after they landed.  There was no time to lose: plant, plant, plant!  There are increasingly more flowers on the strawberry plants.  Memorial Day is only ten short days away!  School is nearing its end. And I have nothing to wear! Yep, all things point to summer.

How about a summer page then... one that I created with no strings attached :)  I paired a sheet from Crate's neighborhood (pale red with pink dots) with Hometown Summer from Pink Paislee. 

These chipboard swirls are from Fancy Pants a few years ago.  What a perfect opportunity for stash reduction! 

Speaking of stash, what have you purchased recently?  I picked up Basic Grey's Lauderdale.  The colors are absolutely heavenly to me :)  I need to use Hello Luscious yet.  Basically, I've been collecting Basic Grey and not using them! 

The weekend is upon us.  We are having friends over for dinner, for those of you who remember, it's Uncle Steve and family.  Then we are headed to an art exhibit where First Born has a piece of artwork on exhibit :)  We are very proud of her :) 

Tomorrow is Science Museum and graduation party, then Sunday I must scrap :) 

Have a great weekend everyone!

Today We Welcome Back ...

free immigrant workers my parents. LOL.  The kids have been counting down the days till they get piles of gifts. I have been dreading to field inquiries on all things around the house.  To my father, there must be a reason behind everything. Worse yet, he must understand that reason to his own satisfaction. Never mind 'because we want to!"  I will have to explain why we moved the knives from this part of the counter to another, why we bought a cast iron wok, why Jay dug up the grape plant, etc etc...  What a headache...  On the bright side, my mother can finally sew the button back onto my cute suit jacket, patch the knees of the kids' jeans, and I won't have to cook fried rice again for six months. L O L. 

Oh it's good to have them back all kidding aside. When Second Child heard my dad's voice after she got home, she literally started to jump up and down in circles cheering.  First Born rushed up in her new qipao, a red one at that, sigh...  good times... good times...

Have you checked out Work in Progress's May kit yet?  Here is a picture of the main kit on its way to my house.  I am anxiously waiting for it!  I will have a lot of uninterrupted time with this beauty now that the babysitters are back in the house, lol.  Be sure to stop by to see the add-on and project kits.  Get them before they sell out!

Here is one last layout I did using WIP's April kit.  I mostly just used the Basic Grey Life's a Party papers included in the kit for a fall layout.  Another apple layout, will the strawberries be offended?

Speaking of strawberries, there are flowers on our plants now.  Just one more month, it'll be the picking season again.  You know what that means... too many photos, lol. 

Trish loves to include tags in her kits, and here's how I used three of them as background for my photos.  There are more tags in the May kit, I look forward to using them!

That's it folks.  It's time to police the bazaar downstairs and prevent further candy and cookie eating... 

Good times...

The Color Room 58

Who knew we'd all be so hard up without blogger for a day?!  Can't post, can't comment, well... glad it is over now.  My experiment with Photobucket has also come to an end.  It's back to 2peas gallery I go :)  Fixing those broken images took a long time on Thursday, only to be wiped out by a Blogger restore!   

This week at the Color Room, we have a very soft palette. I found the most perfect patterned papers to go with this palette: some Nikki Silvis plaid and baby blue, and some Basic Grey Wisteria! 

The design team all received some beautiful chipboards from Imaginarium Designs, and I painted my swirl with the green color in the palette. You can see it in the photo below.  Imaginarium Design's chipboards are so intricate and beautiful, all laser cut, so they look really amazing! You can see their full range of designs here. I got the bicycle one too, sigh... should I hoard it or use it? LOL.

For the soft buttercup yellow, I used these Studio Calico stickers. They are of the most perfect match to the palette!  I simply applied some Basic Grey rubons and stacked them using 3-d foam adhesives.  The adorable butterfly is an embossed WRMK sticker.

That is it for this early Saturday morning, or maybe it's not that early any more.  No matter, have yourself a lovely weekend!

Remember

Current events had never before moved me to scrapbook until this past week. It was a moment to take pause, to reflect, and to remember.  "Whatever it is or will become, this is a moment to take notice. That much is clear." - Candy Crowley, CNN Chief Political Correspondent

I'm not going to say a lot more other than what I wrote in the journaling. I will say that I celebrated National Scrapbook Day by finishing this layout this past Saturday. It's been a while since I created a layout just for me, and that was a lot of fun :)

I used an assortment of patterned papers for this layout: Basic Grey, Jenni Bowlin, WRMK, and retired Scenic Route.  The "remember" are stickers from an October Afternoon element sticker sheet.  The white letters and heart are from Doodlebug. I also painted a Scenic Route chipboard star blue, using acrylic paint, boy it's been a while!  Again going all out, I inked the edges of the blue star!  lol.

I think my favorite part of this layout is the color scheme once I decided to start with WRMK - Old Glory. I feel We R Memory Keepers is just one of these manufacturers who crank out amazing collections one after another, never flashy in its marketing, but always completely solid in its products!  I've been a fan and collector for several years now :)  

I always thought the JBS' Be Our Guest would be an amazing collection for USA related projects and I was right. I can't wait to use this color and patterned paper combination again for other Americana layouts in the future.

Bison for the Color Room

I seriously horked up this week's Color Room palette.  I relied on a printed color output of the palette and went all olive green on my project when there is no green in the palette, grrr....  Even my brown is off!! How I have failed this palette!! 

I think I did okay with the sketch though. I do love sketches, especially Lydell's, they are quite unique with their hand drawn charm!

I dug out some October Afternoon clear stamps from the Roadmap collection to create the stamped border. I like this look, and I often create it with SRM stickers.  I'm glad that the stamped images are pretty crisp and clear. That's always one of my worries. The red circles are cut with a new Cricut cartridge Elegant Edges.  I added some Studio Calico stars and buttons for embellishment.

How adorable is that red car from October Afternoon?  Sometimes it's so difficult to part with precious stash, lol. I have convinced myself to let this one go with "well, if I really need another one, I will rip it off this page."  Oh the rationalization!!!

The weekend is upon us and it's National Scrapbook Day tomorrow and then Mother's Day! We have no plans :)  I want to wish you a very happy weekend and Happy Mother's Day to all the moms!! We rule ;)  

Hometown Summer Continues...

Maybe if I continuously post projects using Hometown Summer, the weather will catch my drift and actually warm up? Normally, our tulips would have flowered and withered by this point, but the weather is acting as if we skipped spring entirely and went straight into autumn!

In less than two weeks, my parents will be back in our basement.  The kids are pretty excited since they usually get a ton of new books and other things upon their return (candy, ugh!).  First Born specifically asked for a Qipao, a traditional Chinese dress. My dad's first reaction on the phone was... "I'm not sure they have these for kids." Seriously?  Is it kinda like there's no cowboy hats for kids in Texas?

Here are a couple more projects using Work in Progress kit featuring Hometown Summer. Second Child really enjoyed the water slide on the cruise ship.  She played on that thing for hours at a time.  On the first day, she still wasn't sure about the water, the slide, but by the second day, she was fish in water.  Her sister was too busy going up and down on the big slide, but this little one was just perfect for her :)

The title is cut from the "Graphically Speaking" cartridge.  The water park on the cruise ship was actually named "Water Works." Perfect!  I also cut out some waves and stacked them on top of each other.  I used the same paper as the background so it fades into it, a little bit subtle, perhaps too subtle. I should have inked its edges :)

Here is a fun card using SRM Stickers sentiment. Just to be clear, dear weather, this card is not for you!  You haven't been great whatsoever!  But seriously, how cute is that little dude on the skate board?  Check out his specs, lol, so adorable!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope your week is going well.  I will be back with a Color Room layout next!  It's been a while!

I'm Excited about My Mini

It's been so.. so... so... very long since I made a mini-album. I can't tell you how much I miss doing it.  It is always an intense activity: intensely time consuming, intensely enjoyable, intensely challenging.  Finally, I put the WIP April kit to a new Maya Road album and made this. 

This Hometown Summer line by Collage Press Studio for Pink Paislee sent my heart into all kinds of irregular arrhythmia when I first saw a sneak peak.  For a period of two weeks, I stopped by Archiver's every day to check if they received their stock.  I was beyond thrill that Trish put it in the WIP April kit.  (I also ordered a lot of extra from 2peas, hee hee.)  Seriously, this line is cuteness redefined, I adore adore adore it!!! 

I decided to make this mini using photos from our cruise.  It felt so good to put this new mini up on my mantle, like I said, it's been a long time...  Gosh, I had so much fun making this.  I went all out, sanded all the pages and inked the edges, what?!  lol...  My younger one says "aww... cute..." every time she sees it, lol.  That's right, baby, just look, no touch, coz that's the only way it'll continue to stay cute! LOL.   My gosh, this was fun to make, have I mentioned how much I love making mini's yet? lol. 

Happy May Day everyone!