Scrappin' Fun!

I have been on a scrappin' high! I've been busy with online crops and even a real life crop, which I haven't managed to blog about yet, but I will. Fun! Fun! Fun!!

I've decided to create a crop journal for myself. My plan is to create digi pages for each crop that I participate in. Each page will tell a little about the crop - where, when, challenges I completed, etc. - and showcase my creations inspired by the crop. Earlier this week I created two for the crops I participated in last weekend - one at the Scrapping Bug and one at CompuPro Scrapbooking. You can see them in my last post. Here's another digi I made to record the creations that were inspired by the week long scrap I participated in at Scrapbookers Clubhouse this past week.



The crop had already started before I joined the board and I didn't even know it was going on when I joined, but I jumped right in. I'm so glad I did. I had so much fun, and, shock of shocks, I was the lucky person drawn to be the crop winner at the end of the crop! I was happy enough with the fun I was having and the layouts and projects I completed, winning the crop prize was an added bonus!

If you take the time to check out my crop journal pages you will notice that some of the same layouts are featured on different crop journal pages. That's because of my love of combining challenges from different sites into one layout. If you're interested, you can learn more about how I do that in this recent post.

This coming weekend I'm hoping to be able to join in the fun at ScrapShotz "Music Mania" crop and Creative Scrappers "Sketchfest". Both promise to be fun and inspirational. If you're looking for something to do, drop by and check them out. If you do decide to drop by, be sure to holler at me! :)

Here's what I've been doing all day

It shouldn't take all day to do it but I have a terribly slow computer. Oh for a new, fast laptop! Anyway, I've been all day working on a couple of digi layouts to highlight the scrapping I've done in the past week or so. I still have another one to create for another online crop I participated in this past week but I need a break from the computer for a while.

This is one that shows my creations inspired at least in part by the July Last Minute Crop at the Scrapping Bug July 11-12. The ladybug, doodle and buttons are by Digital Scrapbook pages Ketcham.

This two pager of 8 1/2 x 11 layouts showcases my creations inspired at least in part by the Yellow Polka Dot Bikini Crop at CompuPro Scrapbooking July 11 - 20th. It was so much fun! The notebook paper is from Peppermint Creative and the other elements are from 3Scrapateers designers - kls,ljc, emr, and jak.

Canadian in Paper Crafts Gallery Idol Top 15!

Yes, that's right, Carla, AKA Moralia, made it to the Top 15! It says so right on the Paper Crafts Gallery site. I'm not the least bit surprised. This girl makes amazing cards!

I can't wait to see what she comes up with for the next challenge. Be sure to watch for her creation among the creations that will be posted July 21st on Paper Craft's site, and then make sure you vote. You will have until noon MST July 24th to do so.

Wouldn't it be great to see her in the Top Ten!?! I know she has the talent, the question is will we actually get out and vote for her talent. You know what happens in these Idol Contests on TV. It's not necessarily the ones with the talent that get through - it's the ones that get the votes. If it was based on talent alone, I have no doubt that Carla would make it right to the end. Let's help her do that!

Garden Gate Mini Album

Back in June, as part of Lil' Scrappers Second Online Crop, Aimee posted a Garden Gate Mini Album Make 'n' Take. I loved the project and loved what everyone created. I didn't get to work on it until after the crop but I did post about it earlier when I was working on it.

As I said in that post I found these great instructions for this project on the Funky Phresh Blog. They were a little different than the instructions Aimee posted and I actually did mine more like the blog instructions. I really loved the peeled paint technique which she described on her blog. It was so easy to do, and I love the look of it.

I made a slight change to my Mini Album. I added a ribbon to hold it together. Before I put the backings on the chipboard covers, I put an 18' piece of ribbon under it. It holds the back of the album together so it's more like a book than an accordian and it also functions for a closure, by wrapping it around the gate "handle" brad at the opening of the album.

I made this for my sister and she loves it! She has a beautiful garden and she's going to take pictures all season long and put them in at the end of the season. She's instructed me that I have to make her one every year!

Mini Pizza Box Card Set

I've had some people ask me about the instructions for the mini pizza box I made for my card set so I thought I'd post about it here.

The set was inspired by the card set featured on this blog here. I found the blog a while ago and followed the instructions given to make my first mini pizza box. The instructions on that blog make a 4 x 4 box, and it suggests to use it for 3 x 3 cards. I thought the box was a little big for 3 x 3 cards.

I played with the measurements for the Mini Pizza Box I made this weekend. I made my box so that it was 4.5 x 4.5 finished and I made my cards 4 x 4. I started with a sheet of cardstock 12 x 6.5 and scored it at 1, 5.5, 6.5, and 11 on the long side, and turned it and scored it at 1 and 5.5 on the short side. Other than that I followed the instructions on the blog mentioned. It is really, really easy to make.

Paper Craft Gallery Idol

It seems there was a mix up in the voting system in the Paper Craft Gallery Idol last week, so they issued a new challenge to the top 20 and the voting is now opened again, this time with the problems fixed. You can check out all the cards of the Top 20 here. I'm fairly confident that once you check them all out you will want to vote for the one Canadian that is in the group - Carla, AKA Moralia. Her card is stunnning! Here is a link directly to Carla's card. Clicking on the "Love it" button in the top right hand corner of that page will tell Carla that you visited and that you loved her card, but it won't count as a vote for her. To vote you have to scroll down a bit and find the "Click here for your favorite" link. This will bring up a page with a list of top 20 and the titles of the cards they created. Be sure to check the cards out and to vote for your favorite.

Productive weekend!

Boy did I have fun this weekend! Spurred on by two online crops, I decided to check out recent challenges on a number of online boards I am on and I tried my hand at creating projects that filled a number of challenges at once. I love doing that!

I started off easy with just a simple card that only filled the requirements for one challenge. This one was a challenge to scraplift a bug on the Scrapping Bug. I decided to scraplift Ally's card "Nuts About You" and here's what I created:


I managed to combine two challenges into the next creation. The challenge on the Scrapping Bug was to make a card using the bug colors - red, black, green, yellow, white. At Lil' Scrappers Michy had posted a picture of a girl, wearing red shoes, a black jacket, a green dress, and yellow belt, standing on a rock in a garden and our challenge was to take inspiration from that picture to create a card or layout. Made for an easy combination. Here's what I did:



The three card set I created was inspired by three different challenges. One of the Scrapping Bug's challenges was do pick a DT challenge from the last three months to do. I chose Ally's June card challenge to create 3 cards, each with a different theme, and a container for the cards. At Scrapbooking Fanatics Nicole had posted a challenge to make a set of cards. At Lil' Scrappers Carla had posted a card sketch challenge and I decided to use Carla's sketch as inspiration for the cards for the set. Here's what I made:



The next creation was made for a Fast Scrap at CompuPro Scrapbooking. What a fun challenge! They posted a sketch and we had one hour to create a layout inspired by the sketch. I didn't have time to try to combine other challenges into this one because I was half an hour late discovering the challenge so I actually only had half an hour to do it. Here's what I did:



My one digi layout this weekend was inspired by another quick challenge at CompuPro Scrapbooking. It was a race to see who would be the first to create and post a layout of someone in a bathing suit, preferably a bikini. I didn't win the race but I did get a layout created. The background paper is by April Staker of Digi Ape Designs and the sunglasses are from ScrapGirls. The rest is mine. Here's how it turned out:



I managed to combine four challenges in the next creation. At the Scrapping Bug there was a challenge to do a layout with no humans in the photos used on it. At Lil' Scrappers Aimee's July challenge was to do a layout about a favorite thing of summer. Based on these two challenges I decided to do a layout about my parent's summer cabin and boat. I found the perfect picture for it. I decided to use Kristine Davidson's sketch posted in the 72hr sketch challenge at CompuPro Scrapbooking for design inspiration for the layout. At ScrapShotz Neisey's July challenge was to choose one inspirational element and repeat it three times. I decided to use one of the patterned papers three different ways in the layout. I used one of the patterned papers that I used in the layout to make the letters for the title and also to make a flower. In her Blurfing Friday post, Deanne had posted a link to a Little Plaid Flower Tutorial and that inspired me to make the flower. I didn't have the punch used in the tutorial so instead I traced around a chipboard flower onto the patterned paper and cut it out. I used the trick in the tutorial to give the flower some shape. I used a smaller prima flower as the center, and then a brad. Here's the end result:



My next creation is really different. At CompuPro Scrapbooking I was given a challenge to create a layout about a moment without a picture. If you're a regular reader of this blog you know that I have ben cameraless for over a year now. There have been many moments during the past year that I wished I had a camera to get a picture. This challenge inspired me to pick some of those moments from the past couple of months and journal about them and turn the journaling into a layout. Sounded crazy at first but I really like the idea now and I may do it some more. I managed to combine three other challenges into the layout. I decided to use Sheri's sketch in the Bug Sketch challenge at the Scrapping Bug as inspiration for the design of the layout. One of the moment's I was journaling about was Canada Day so I decided to use Martina's Scrapbooking Fanatics July DT challenge to use red and white and/or a maple leaf on a layout as inspiration for the colors of the layout. I even used a maple stamp on the journaling circle for the Canada Day moment. Nonie's July DT challenge at ScrapShotz was to use something that isn't a typical scrapbooking supply on a layout or card. A certain kind of icecream that we buy has a scalloped circle cardboard inset in the cover and I had been eyeing it for a while thinking it would make a great addition to a layout. It fit perfect with the sketch so I covered one with patterned paper and used it as one of the journaling circles. The end result of all of that is the following layout called Missed Photo Ops:



The last layout I completed today and it was inspired by four different challenges. At the Scrapping Bug there was a challenge to make a title from letters provided. I really struggled with this one but I finally came up with one. I decided to use Kristin's Davidson's sketch in the "Just 'Cause" contest at Creative Scrappers as inspiration for the design of the layout. Inspired by the CompuPro Scrapbooking challenge to make your own polka dot background paper I used my versamark ink pad and a sheet of paper hole reinforcement circles to make my own background paper for the layout. Carla's June 25th Layout challenge at Lil' Scrappers was to use four rules to make a layout - no paper layering, one color scheme, bling, and at least one sticker. The sketch didn't involve paper layering so I thought I could incorporate this challenge into the design too. Here's how it ended up:



There were six challenges posted for The Scrapping Bug's "Last Minute Crop" this weekend and I managed to do them all! There were a nine numbered challenges posted for CompuPro Scrapbooking's "Yellow Polka Dot Bikini Crop, but there were a number of other challenges thrown in too, including 4 fast scrap challenges. I managed to do a number of them, but we have until June 20th to do them all so I'll probably get more done yet.

I managed to get pictures of my creations to upload for this post because I borrowed a camera. I also took pictures of other creations that I've made but haven't posted yet so I'll probably post them in the following days. It feels so good to be able to do that!

Hope you enjoyed checking out my creations and finding out how I combine challenges. It's fun to do.

Check out this layout!

Kim, of Kim's Kreative Korner, created this awesome layout that you just must check out! She created it for a challenge in Lil' Scrappers Big Summer Win contest. The challenge was a great challenge - to scrap about a time when you were struggling with personal growth and include a creative self portrait and hand journaling. I'm telling you, you need to check out this layout! It's gorgeous to look at, the self portrait is so creative, and the meaning behind it is something I think most all of us can learn from. Quick, go check it out this layout and tell me if I'm wrong. No, wait! Tell me if I'm right, because I know I'm not wrong so I'll never hear from any of you if you have to tell me if I'm wrong. :)

Canadian in Paper Crafts Idol Top 20!...and Scrappin' Events online this weekend

Did you know that we have a Canadian in the Paper Crafts Card Idol Top 20!?! Carla is the one that got me hooked on scrappin' cards. She's a great card maker! Right now voting is going on for the Top 15. Everyone had to do a Patriotic Card. Her's is the only Canadian card there. Wanna help her get to the next round? It's easy. Just vote for her card here.


If you're in the mood for scrappin' this weekend, check out these two fun online crops:

CompuPro Scrapbooking, a new forum I just discovered, is having their first ever online crop - a Yellow PolkaDot Bikini Crop. You can read the announcement they made a while back about it on their blog here. Here is a link to their Yellow Polkadot Bikini Crop board of their forum, where the fun has already started, they already have 9 challenges posted! The crop is not supposed to officially start until Friday the 11th, so there's still lots more fun to come, and you have until July 20th to post most of the challenges, though some have different requirements so it is important to read the challenges carefully.

Scrapping Bug is having a "July Last Minute Crop". You can read about it, and find a link to the forum, on their blog here. Challenges will be posted Friday July 11th or early Saturday. You will have until Monday July 14th at 11:59pm PST (2:59pm EST) to upload your creations.

SOS Text Thursday Challenge - 5 Random Photos

Sisterhood of Scrap's Text Thursday challenge today is to post 5 random facts about yourself or post five random photos, or combine both. I've decided to post five recent pictures of little one that I have been wanting to scrap, but couldn't because I didn't have the ink to print the pictures. I now have the ink and hopefully will get them printed and scrapped soon! Isn't she a cutie pie!?!