Scrap-Friendzy is Having a Birthday!!

You're invited to come join the fun starting Thursday, October 1st!!

For each of the ten days during Scrap-Friendzy's fabulous blog hop, post a comment on that days blog and recieve 10 Friendz Points and have your name entered into a prize drawing!!  If you leave a comment on all 10 blogs you will have your name entered into the drawing 10 times!  Plus, if you complete the 10 different blog challenges, you will earn extra Friendz Points for the month of October. Check in at

 http://www.scrap-friendzy.com/ starting on October 1st to see where the blog hop will begin and each day thereafter until October 10th.  Have fun!!

Urban Anthology's Got Talent Challenge

There is this great kit club that is having a design team contest.  They're called Urban Anthology and I love them! This design team application is unlike any I've seen thus far and it's quite unique!  There are two ways to play.  Option 1...try your luck.  Each week they will have a challenge that needs to be uplaoded the following Thursday in order to be voted on at Urban Anthology's blog.   The other option, to earn a place on their design team, is to do all of the weekly challenges in your own sweet time and have them turned in by October 22nd.  I am going to try my luck!  The first of five challenges was to scrapbook a layout about yourself describing your scrapping style and who you are as a scrapbooker.  It was a tricky challenge and dare I say...intimidating, even though this was about me!  So if you think I've got the right stuff, please show some love and vote for me this Saturday!! Thanks for looking and don't forget to vote for me!!
 http://urban-anthology.com/blog/?cat=81

The journaling reads:

I am a scrapbooker, a “LIFE ARTIST.” On a perfect day, when not lost in my thoughts, you can find me working in my slice of HEAVEN ON EARTH….my scrap space! You may hear music the likes of John Mayer, Norah Jones, & Jack Johnson, streaming from my room. Relaxation And Creative Retreat is the name of the game here! If I’m lucky, it’s raining outside and I feel the wonderfully cool and crisp air flowing through the open window, drifting over a yummy scented candle and bringing its flavor to accompany the nearby bowl of chocolate and glass of wine. I wish I could tell you that I have a neat and organized space. I wish I could tell you that, but mine is more of an oRGANIZED cHAOS, as I tend to work with no care in mind to the MESS I’m creating for myself. I wish I could tell you that I will deal with it soon, but I procrastinate taking care of it in lieu of adding to my collection of creations. I imagine that in the fury of my work I look rather like the Chef From The Muppet Show; bits of paper flying all over the place as I cook up my next accomplishment!! Scrapbooking totally CONSUMES ME, it is on my mind constantly, a TRUE PASSION! I’m endlessly DAY DREAMING about layout sketches, color combinations and textures. I take inspiration from all around me, inspiration that sometimes seems to bombard me as i aM eASILY dISTRACTED bY bRIGHT, sHINY, aND cOLORFUL oBJECTS!! I don’t exactly believe a label could be placed on my scrapping style since I believe it is ALWAYS CHANGING AND EVOLVING, just as I grow as a person; getting older and wiser. I do tend to lean towards a wHIMSICAL look with a touch of SHABBY CHIC, lots of COLOR CONTRAST, bold TEXTURE, and heavy EMBELLISHING. When it comes to scrapbooking, I get such a release to let go and nOT bE aFRAID tO mAKE mISTAKES. I have too many fears to weigh me down in real life for that, so I like to TAKE RISKS WITH MY CREATIVITY and try new things! I don’t like to be fussy with my layouts, so if something is a little crooked, that’s okay with me, lIFE iS nOT aLWAYS oN tHE sTRAIGHT aND nARROW. Honestly though, I can say this isn’t so much a hobby for me as it is a way of remembering and LIVING LIFE CREATIVELY. Scrapbooking is one DAY DREAM that can and will always come true!!!

Scrap-Friendzy is Having a Birthday!!

Good Tuesday morning everyone.  I've had quite a busy morning so far celebrating Scrap-Friendzy's upcoming birthday on October 1st.  As part of the application process for their design team call, it was asked that a "Birthday Challenge" be created.  I'm ashamed to say that I neglected to read this part of the application requirements until 5am this morning!  Needless to say I had to put some hustle in my bustle, but it was a good lesson is meeting a deadline!  I also discovered that I work quite well under pressure! I started my project around 6am and had it almost finished by the time my three year old woke up at 8am!  I was quite pleased with myself for being so productive so early.  Of course it helps when you're motivated by something you love to do. Anyhow, my "Birthday Challenge" that I submitted to Scrap-Friendzy was to create a birthday themed gift box or favor box.  As an added bonus, make your project work as a centerpiece as well.  This is what I came up with.  Let me know what you think!  Thanks for looking!!

52 Sketches 52 Weeks DT Call

The next stop on my quest for scrapbooking fame and fortune is a wonderful place called 52 Sketches 52 Weeks.  This is a great site for jumpstarting those creative juices and if you get a chance to check them out head on over to www.52sketches52weeks.com  I love their site and was tickled to get a chance to apply for their current design team call.  I had to follow one of their sketches for the application and I chose sketch #35.  It was a lot of fun to work with and I love how sketches can pull you out of scrappers block!!  So here you go, I hope you all like my latest creation and if I'm lucky I'll get to join their fabulous team!!  If not though, I'll still be visiting their site regularly and waiting for the next opportunity!

Fast & Easy with a Fun Embellishment Technique

Here is a fast and fabulous layout that I did recently for a page call. I swear it was one of the quickest layouts I’ve done in a long time and it was so refreshing to keep it simple and do something quick, unlike my usual heavily embellished and detailed layouts. I started with this sketch that I had already drawn up on a scrap of paper that had been waiting for me to pay some attention to.

Next, after I had chosen my photos and cropped them, I simply punched out my circles using a 1 ½” punch and adhered in a staggered layer. I went with a rainbow theme because it matched my photos, but you could go with any theme that works for you.

To make your own epoxy embellishments is really simple with a product like Stampin' Up’s Crystal Effects (I know there are other similar products out there, but this is what I used). I first took a little birdie stamp and stamped it on my white circle. I applied Stickles in crystal, and let dry.  Then I covered the entire surface with the Crystal Effects, make sure you do this on some scrap paper.  It goes on a little cloudy and thick, but don’t worry, it will dry clear and you are left with what looks like a homemade epoxy sticker.  This is a great way to add dimension to many things, and much less expensive than some embellishments out there!

In the picture of my final layout you’ll notice that instead of a flower that was in my sketch I used a cloud shape that I simply and quickly tore out of a scrap of white cardstock and covered in Stickles. The final step to my layout was adding some hand drawn doodles that mimicked a telephone cord and some chipboard letters for the title and voila, a fast and fabulous layout in about ten steps or so, but who’s really counting when this was just plain fun!

Here is another example of how I used my “make your own epoxy sticker” technique. I cut the little monsters out of patterned paper and turned them into wanna-be puffy stickers.

When does inspiration strike for you?

It seems like lately inspiration keeps striking me at the most inconvenient times (thanks Murphy)! Like when I'm trying to sleep, driving, or like this morning while I was on my elliptical. I started getting a flood of ideas and found myself pedaling faster and faster to get finished so that I could jump off and write my ideas down before they disappeared forever! It has happened to me so many times in the past where I have an idea and think "oh I'll remember that easily since it's such a great idea" then of course I forget and my idea gets lost in the deep abyss of my mind! How do you keep your ideas organized? I'm now convinced that I need to start walking around with a notebook attached to my side at all times! Hmmmm, there's another idea right there (but I'm not sharing yet, it's too good you might just steal it...teehee). I use to never draw out my own sketches, but now I'm finding it so nice to have my own personal stash of ideas to go to instead of relying on somebody else's ideas as much as I love them!! So watch for me to post some of my own sketches with added layout examples and techniques in the near future. Here's a few of my most recent layouts to tide you over till then though. I do have a three year old, so it may take me a few days or more to get some fresh new TootsieAnn (my hubby's pet name for me) fodder uploaded. Oh and P.S., I want to give a huge top of my lungs shout out to my ever supportive, doting, and loving husband!!! He is my rock and one of my greatest sources of inspiration!! Luv ya to pieces JayBabe!!! Have a great rest of the week everyone!