The Adventure Begins

I was going a little stir crazy because I hadn't made anything in several days so I decided to join in with CSI and their case file no. 9 and get me something made! They've always got great colors and ideas to inspire and here's what I came up with:

Wanna know something funny? I've never, ever scrapped any of our wedding photos! I swear that's not a reflection on our marriage :) I just kinda jumped into scrapping when the kids started coming and if you don't already know, they can kinda take over (in a good way-most of the time!!) ;)

Anywho, I really loved the picture they had on CSI and went with it!

I made everything up from scratch for this one. The balloon's stripes are made from painted and stamped masking tape (I should write an ode to that stuff!) and some super old definition stickers (remember those?). I hand cut the 'ruffles' for the balloon and basket from various scraps I had around and the rest were fun bits of trim I've also had for a looong time. The basket is cardboard that I painted with crackle paint. Here's some close ups:

I had fun with this one and it felt good:)  Thanks so much for your visit and comments!!

Exciting News to Share!

OK, I am so EXCITED!! I've been wearing this cheesy grin on my face since last night and I have some awesome news to share!! I made it on the 2012 Basically Bare team....YAHOOO!!

And can I tell you how honored and humbled I am? This is a seriously talented group of people I get to work with...seriously! I'm got butterfly flutters in my stomach from the thought but that's alright :) !!

Here's the group:

Design team coordinator: Elizabeth (Beth) Gaddis

The Art Assembly:

Christina Colon
DeeDee Catron
Erin Bassett
Jennifer Mattot
Rebecca Price
Sandra Wilson

The Book Bunch:

Becky Launder

Daniela Costa

Emily Lanham

Linda Brun

Moe Mahoski

Tanisha Long

Veronica Johnson

The Scrap Stars:

Angela Holt

Frank Garcia

Katrina Hunt

Kristin Tweedale

Miae Rowe (that's me!!)

Sarah Bargo

Can't wait to get started! Thank you for all your support!

Basically Bare!

Hi everyone! The weekend flew by and it's Monday again....where does it all go?? Well today's post isn't about a page I've already made but rather about some really cute, cool products that I'd like to make some future pages with. Have you guys heard of Basically Bare? They make these wonderful mini albums and awesome, fun shapes that are....you guessed it..bare!! Guess what that means? We get to alter the heck out of them (or not) and make them suit so many projects! I'm trying out for their design team and am so excited to have made it to their 'Final Exam'!

There were so many products to choose from but for my "final" I'm going to share with you, 3 of my favorites:) ...but wait, there's more! Leave a comment on my blog by March 15 for a chance to win an awesome prize: Basically Bare's whole winter CHA pack of embellies and albums! Now that's a lot of goodies!

Shall we get started:

Celestial Shapes:


OK, how cute are these? Love the sun and moon and I'm a huge fan of clouds and stars! So I've got some photos of my baby's feet that I've been meaning to scrap and I can just imagine using those stars and maybe even the moon, dolling them up with stamps and glitter (I want to make them shine!) and calling it Twinkle Toes!

Climbing Ivy Set:


And this! Who doesn't think brick backgrounds are pretty cool?  I've been wanting to make a page with bricks and this pack would be perfect! I can imagine distressing those bricks, tearing them a bit to expose the corrugation for texture, applying crackle paint, using molding paste between them for the "mortar" ...ooohh the possibilities!

Hearts Set 2:



Canvas hearts! First of all I love hearts, second of all I love canvas! I think it's so cool to spray/ mist canvas and see all the texture come through the beautiful colors! I could definitely use them in so many of my page layouts but I think I might be tempted to use these on a canvas piece too. Something to put up on the walls of my girls' rooms? Hmmm the wheels are turning.....!

What could you see yourself making?

So one more time, be sure to leave a comment on my blog by March 15 because Basically Bare is going to pick one lucky person from all of the finalists' commenters to give their prize to!

Thanks for your visit and comments!

Interested in Pinterest? TrueXOXO Challenge...

Challenge #27 is up over at True XOXO Scrapbooking so come on by and play!

This month's subject is Pinterest!...I'll be the first to admit that just writing this blog puts me in a bit of a conundrum: I really love all the wonderful, amazing, inspiring images I find at Pinterest but I'm also aware now of some of the controversies with the User's Terms (click here for discussion). But legalese is not what I want this blog post to be about so in the spirit of being inspired and inspiring others (without any copyright infringement intended...oops, just a bit of legalese) here's my page:

My inspiration came from the quote by Georgia O'Keeffe which reads "I found I could say things with colour and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for". Beautiful quote that really spoke to me!

I applied gesso to kraft paper and then I colored with neo color crayons along the top, sprayed with water and let the colors drip down. I got to use one of my border punches (I so rarely use punches though I aspire to!) to create the loops.

Turn in your inspired pages for a chance to be a guest DT! Thank you for your visit and comments!

Some Pages Take Longer Than Others..

When I saw challenge #40 from Punky Scraps I was inspired by the rainbow and the contrasting black graphics so an idea took shape right away...however, the translation...execution of that idea onto paper took F O R E V E R... In the end I'm happy with the results but it's different from how I imagined it (isn't that many times the case...the page takes a life of it's own as it's made).  I'm also joining workout #61 over at Scrap Fit which requires that we start with a blank canvas and create our own background!

Here's the original inspiration:

Cool huh? Here's the page I made:

To make the clouds I free handed the shapes onto book paper, cut them out, added a layer of tissue paper,misted some blue, then added another tissue layer. I wanted them to look translucent but with some texture. I used watercolor to paint the top, did lots of stamping and added embossed and painted butterflies. Most everything else is doodling. Here are some close ups:

You visit and comments are very appreciated!!

Challenges Really Do Help..

*sigh*

It's been 12 days since I posted anything and I felt a little bit like going nuts..I hadn't made ANYTHING in those days and it was driving me crazy but I also couldn't seem to get it together to do so! This return to work thing is really taking some adjusting! I'm so tired on my days off that I just want to veg..I know, I know, hand the girl the worlds smallest violin but it's the truth!!

Anyway, I managed to pull together a page together for two challenges...one of them is about to end in a few hours so I'd better hurry this up!  I'm turning this LO in to CSI for their case #5 and Punky Scraps Sketchy Sketch challenge. I don't normally use sketches but this one just called to me and helped me out of my rut! So thank you Punky Scraps!!  Here's the sketch and color combo:

My oldest daughter just lost her first tooth and so of course I had to do a page:)  The smiles were tough to get because she kept grimacing, trying to show me the gap...hee-hee...so sometimes all you can do is go with what you can get.

Thank you so much for the visit and comment!!

Getting Messy at True XOXO!

I'm so excited, it's time for the new challenge and DT reveal over at True XOXO Girls!  And this month it's all about getting MESSY!! Them's be my kinda words :)

For my page, besides the word 'messy' I was inspired from a series of books that my DD like to read...The Magic School Bus books..great stuff! Anyway, there's this fabulous teacher in each story named 'The Frizz' and she has this quote that I hope my girls live by and that's what I decided to emphasize........

I started with a blank sheet of canvas and used UTEE to heat emboss the stamped title. After that I covered the canvas in mists, paints, and ink until I was satisfied with the coverage and colors. To frame the photo I did some doodling, stamping and "rub-on-ing". Then the fun part..I took some baby wipes and cleaned all the color off of the letters to expose the original white canvas color underneath and doodled to get the bolder outlines. Here's some close ups:

OK, now it's your turn so come on over and get messy!!