Summer is almost gone...

It has gone by so quickly.  I can't believe the little monsters head back to school in a little over a week.  I had so many plans and projects that I wanted to get done over the summer....ummm....and what I managed to complete - nothing, nada, zip, zilch.  Oh well.

I did finally manage to finish a layout I started over 3 weeks ago while the kiddos were away.  This is the layout that went on and on and on and on.  I couldn't seem to get it to come together.  Finally, last night, it did and in a way that I am reasonably happy about.

Materials used:  Bazzill embossed cardstock, Webster's Pages patterned paper, BoBunny pattern paper, Fancy Pants pattern paper, Prism cardstock, Prima Say It with Pearls, Prima flowers, DMC embroidery floss, Making Memories pearl clusters, Dollar Store cupcake holders, AC thickers, India ink, Ranger Distress ink, Webster Pages ribbon, unknown gathered ribbon, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist and Glam, and pop dots. 

Now that this one is finally done, I can move on to something else.  I get stuck in a loop until the project that I am working on is completed.  Even though I will come up with ideas for other layouts or cards, I can't move on to new project until the previous one is completed.

On to a new project....wonder if that Graphic45 has come in yet?

Extremely Quiet Saturday

I had forgotten how quiet this house is without the kiddos.  This is the first time since the kids were born that my husband and I have had the house to ourselves on a Saturday.  No children climbing into bed waking us up early looking for food, no ji-jitsu or ballet, no arguing, bickering or "But Mom..." all day long.  I am not sure that I like it.  It feels wrong somehow.

I spent most of the day working on my next entry for the Great Impressions Rubber stamp company's monthly contest.  I will share later on in the month but here is a little teaser:

I have the itch to work on a couple of layouts but I am not sure what layouts -- summer or winter, kids or myself, event or every day life.  I think I will just go through my photos until something pops out at me.

I do have a few other cards to share.  I did these last November as demos for the ScrapBox and had forgotten to take pics of them.  Both of these are using Great Impressions stamps as well:

Materials used:  Copic Markers, Prism Simply Smooth cardstock, Memento ink, Spica Markers, Ranger Stickles, VersaColour, Bazzill Dotted Swiss cardstock, Making Memories Holly Leaf Foil Mistletoe pattern paper, Spellbinder dies, Prism cardstock, pop dots, BoBunny ribbon, Great Impression stamp.

Materials used:  Prism Simply Smooth cardstock, Copic markers, Memento ink, Spiga makers, Angel Wing Shimmerz paint, Zig 2-way glue, Flower Soft, VersaColour ink, Bazzill Dotted Swiss cardstock, Making Memories Holly Leaf Foil Mistletoe pattern paper, Spellbinder dies, pop dots, Great Impressions stamp.

I think that I am going to head out to Timmie's, grab myself a nice large double-double, in preparation of a creative night.  One good thing about the kids being gone, I can leave my scrap supplies all over the dining room table.  My husband can just eat his breakfast in the living room tomorrow.

Happy Saturday :-)

My Contest Card Entry

Well, my card entry for the Great Impressions Rubber Stamps' monthly contest was not the winner but I must admit, I really like what I did for it.

The stamps for July were a beach theme.  Instead of going the typical route of doing a beach diorama, I decided to do something a bit different.  Spellbinder octogon dies were perfect for making a port hole style of frame.  Then add in some Spellbinder doodle parts to give the port hole a more waterish feel.  Of course, we can't forget the stamps since the whole purpose of the contest was to showcase the stamps.  I chose to use the monthly stamp of the water swirls and the whale.  The whale seemed to be the best choice for the port hole style of card I had swirling around in my head.

Well...this is what it ended up looking like:

Materials used:  Great Impressions H200 Water Swirl border stamp, Great Impressions G373 Smiling Whale stamp, Bazzill cardstock, Bazzill swiss dot cardstock, Memento Ink, Copic Markers, atyou Spica glitter maker, Ranger white embossing powder, Martha Stewart layered arch corner punch, Spellbinder's Large Octagon dies & Doodle Parts dies, Pop Dots, Kaisercraft rhinestones, Queen & Co pearls, and Krylon silver leaf pen.

The new stamps for August have been posted and I have several ideas swimming around for my August entry.  I just need to get my hands on the stamps. ;-)  I love contests they force me to stretch those creative muscles and often help jump start my mojo when it decides to take a vacation.

On a more personal note, I am going a bit stir crazy in such a quiet house.  My kiddos are staying with my in-laws for the next two weeks.  Two whole weeks....I still can't believe I agreed to it.  After all this quiet, I will be ready for some sibling bickering.  Remind me that I said that when I am pulling my hair out 3 weeks from now.

Hot, hot, hot....

It has been a hot, humid week but thankfully, the heatwave seems to have broken.  The air is cooler and smells fresh after all the rain that we had yesterday.  I know my garden was happy to see the rain and now that the humidity is broken, I guess I don't have an excuse to avoid the weeding any longer.

On the crafting side of things, I have been participating in the 28 days of Summer Fun Challenge over at LCOM the past week or so.  Every day there has been a new challenge to jump start the creative process.  I have been enjoying the kick in the pants since lately, it seems like I have needed it.  I have done more layouts in the last two weeks than I have probably done in the first 6 months of this year.

The most recent challenge was to create a layout about friends.  I have been wanting to scrap this photo for a while.  It is from the retreat last fall when I got to meet up with Michelle and to finally meet Lori from ScrapCentral.  It was perfect for this challenge and in this day and age, it is interesting that you don't need to live close to each other to meet and develop close friendships.

Materials used: Basic Grey Basics pp, Core-indinations Jenni Bowlin embossed cardstock, BoBunny pattern paper, Prima flowers and felt, Tim Holtz stamps, Stamp'n Up ink, American Craft Thickers, Robin's Nest Dew Drops, My Mind's Eye Journalling Spot, Tattered Angels Chalk and Glimmer mist, Tim Holtz grungeboard, unknown brads, & Twinkling H2O Radiant Rain.

 I am so looking forward to the retreat in the fall again this year.

Today's assignment is to try and figure out a card design.  Great Impressions Rubber Stamps has started a monthly challenge where you can win the next month's stamps.  Basically you need to use two stamps from the current month's Stamp of the Month to produce either a card or layout by the 20th of the month.  They will chose a winner each month.  Details can be found HERE.  Jenn convinced me that I should try out for this one.  I have used a number of their stamps for the demo cards that I have done for her in the past.

Well, I better get the troops moving.  It seems like they are sleeping in and wasting this beautiful Saturday.

Holiday Weekend Hangover

Mondays after long weekends are the hardest.  It is so hard to get moving again, to get motivated, to get back into the routine.  It always seems like you have a holiday weekend hangover.  You are tired, sluggish and feeling just a little depressed to have to walk back into work and start on those piles of papers that you hide away before you left.  The only thing that seems to brighten the day is knowing that you are one more day closer to the weekend when this one is done.

Our holiday weekend turned out to be pretty quiet.  Canada Day was a bit of a bust.  We usually head out to a local park that has a midway, bouncy castles, a big beach and food vendors.  Well, this year was a bit too cold to go swimming.  The midway wasn't there and there were huge line ups for the bouncy castles.  We basically had lunch and head back home.  Since my kiddos are not big on fireworks (they hate the noise), we hung around home and played Lego Harry Potter instead.


But before we left for the Canada Day celebrations, I did manage to get pics of my kids is being silly in the red and white.

Materials used: Bazzill cardstock, Tattered Angels glimmer mist (Candy Apple), Fabric leaves from Walmart, Luxe pattern paper, Bazzill cardstock edge, Glitz Designs 12" rubon, Versamark ink, American Crafts thickers, and Queen & Company pearls and felt.

Gotta love kids in silly hats.

Canada Day basically set the trend for the rest of the weekend.  We stuck close to home and just spent time with each other -- enjoying the fact that there were no routines to follow and no commitments to be fulfilled.


Happy Monday...only 4 more days till the weekend.