Free Spirit

My husband has the most free spirited personality. And, I love it! He also takes the best photos! Such a photogenic guy he is. Here's my layout using Cosmo Cricut Boyfriend. The rub-ons are some VERY OLD (I think 5 years old) ones from fancy pants. American Crafts Thickers that I am not very happy with at all. You can see the letters are lifting and this is a brand new layout. I don't think I will be buying the vinly letters again. Anyway, Enjoy -- and happy Friday!

I loved you before I met you...

Another layout using my Counterfeit Kit! =] I also put my own spin on last week's from start to finish video with Nicole @ 2 peas. I post the links to both of those sites later on! Please excuse the actual photos of myself that I used for this layout - they arn't my favorite, but I have to remind myself that I preserve the memories for my daughter. =] I thought I took the date off the bottom of the picture but apparently not.

Happy Easter! =]

This is my beautiful daughter at four weeks old. Of course this was last year's Easter. But, I have been waiting for the right paper. So when I get my Echo Park Springtime collection pack yesterday I decided I had found the perfect paper for the job! =] I'm still learning this whole layout picture taking thing, and therefore there are shadows on my thickers. Enjoy.

Your Love Notes

Hiiiiiii! I'm back! =] It's been a couple days since I've posted. But, tonight I worked on the first mini challenge over at Counterfeit Kit Blog. The challenge is to create a layout without photos. And here's what I came up with.

Everything in this layout came from my counterfeit kit. All I added was the glossy letter stickers, and the MM frame. BUT, the important thing is that I am using my stash and not buying anything! =]


Here is a closer look at the super old MM frame. I placed pop dots under the letter stickers, and the star embellishment.


Here are more prima flowers (my favorite for the minute) and I used the beads again.


I didnt want to display my journaling out in the open so I hid it inside a pocket. I wrote soe things on the back of the tag, but didn't want to share that =].

To be honest, I REALLY did not want to do this challenge. I did not know where I was going to begin but I dove in head first and this was the result. I think it's pretty, and I like it. Hope this inspires you guys to create as well!

Collection Pack Organization

2 posts in 1 day!! =]

I wanted to start displaying my ideas for organization and maybe somebody can benefit from my storage solutions. Tonight I want to show you how I organize my collection packs. I consider a collection pack a set of papers, and any coordinating embellishments, rub-ons, stickers etc. I ONLY include the patterned paper, any embellishments from the same line, and cardstock. These are not kits. These holders only carry the things from the line that is labeled on the paper holder. I first start with a Cropper Hopper paper holder.



I take the small holders out of the large holder and place all of my contents from the collection pack inside.



I like a label on the outside of my holders. So I took the element sheet (from the Echo Park little girl line) and cut the Echo Park emblem, and the "Little Girl" title out.






Then, I adhere the stickers to the side of the holder.



And here are the rest of my Echo Park lines! =] Until the 3 newest one I just bought come in the mail! =]

Copy-Cat Maya Road Journal Spots

Hello Ladies! It's been a few days... But, I'm back, and I have a fun and easy tutorial for you guys. I'm going to show you guys how to make some homemade Maya Road journal spots. The best part about making these little guys is that you probably already have all of the stuff, if not, most of it.



Everything I already had except the Spellbinders Nestabilities. I bought them today @ Michaels with my 50% off coupon. This is my first set of Nestabilities. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them, but after thinking about it today I thought they'd make GREAT journall spots. So, I gathered some paper scraps (keeping the colors of my counterfeit kit in mind so that I can use these with it). I also pulled the ink from my add-on color kit.

Step 1 - run Nestability die through my cuttlebug.
Step 2 - cut a proportionate circle from kraft cardstock.
Step 3 - adhere circle to Nestability die.
Step 4 - Decorate kraft circle to whatever fit your project. I used some journal stamps on a few, other I drew my own lines on with a pen.

And here's what you end up with! =]



The Spellbinders Nestabilities dies that I bought today come with 6 different dies. They also emboss (which I did not do). If I would have embossed the scalopped circle I could have created a dimensional look with my journal piece (great idea! May have to try that tomorrow). These dies are so neat, and a lot easier to store than other large bulky die plates. I think I might have to go back with another 50% off coupon and get the squares!

Another alternative if you do not have any Nestabilities is to use your cricut. I know a few fonts have scalloped circle shadows, and of course plain circles.

My challenge for you is to create a journal spot using one, two, or any of your diecuts! The possiblities are endless when it comes to creating! =]

i do.

I finished my first double-page layout with my February Counterfeit Kit!






I'm still learning thinks here so please forgive the 2 separate pages. Seriously hate when I'm putting the finishing touches on my pages, and I make a mistake. Like the ugly pink spot on the left page. Firstly, I used that bright pink doodlebug frill between the 2 sheets of patterned paper, but I spritzed some hoemade glimmer mist to soften the color (I guess you probably cant tell with this picture). Remember those bright white felt letter stickers I had in my kit?? Well I used a paint pen to color them a deeper red/pink color to better coordinate with the pages. I then took a paint brush and "painted" on my glimmer mist. I did not like how the red flowers that I added to my kit looked with this page so I dug into my stash to bring out some dark pink ones that matched better. Also spritzed those with glimmer mist. I am so burnt out on the using buttons for the center of my prima flowers and decided to step out of the box. I found these brand new beads that I bought way back when and added them to the center of the primas. I also dug out these letter stickers that I was about to purge. I didn't think I would use them because they were from a super old kit from five years ago. But, I'm glad that I didn't since some of the colors actually matched with my scheme.




Not sure why this picture is showing up upside down, but here are the things I used that I didn't already have in my kit. But, that's ok with me because all these things ALSO came from my stash! And the more options I have in my kit the better!

Hope you all have a great night and happy scrapping! =]

Counterfeit Kit -- February

I'm excited to get started with my kit for the month. I sort of stepped out of the norm and chose papers I don't normally like to work with, but creating a counterfeit kit is using supplies from your stash and thats exactly what I did! =]





My choice of patterned paper came from some old K&Co paper stacks. I have 2 of each papers.




My complementary cardstock colors. Also, 2 of each (sorry for the flash).



Embellies! =] Some of you may recognize the journal spots, and a few of the other embellishments from a 2peas swap last summer. The buttons are all from a homemade polymer clay button swap I hosted! =] So excited to finally be able to use those. Some of the other things in my kit arn't quite the look or color for the kit, but I have some plans to get them to the look I'm wanting. The little blue tube of beads has never been used. I think I have all the colors Michael's has ever carried, and I've never used any of them.



Here's my "color kit" -- not quite sure what the purpose of that is yet... But, basically I just chose so "liquid" type materials that I might like to incorporate into the layouts or projects I make with this kit. My first homemade gold glimmer mist LOVE IT! And, I also love the copy cat stickles @ Mike's in the $spot.

Glimmer Mist

And, we're back!!! I'm halfway through my goals for the day! I printed 100 prints at walmart today, and gathered all my supplies for glimmer mist.


Here's my take on homemade glimmer mist...
These are the supplies I used:
- spray box
- 1oz spray bottle -- I chose this small size so that (depending on the size of my project) I will not have to save any, and none will have to be wasted. I also wont have to mix such a large amount like I would in a bigger spray bottle.
- water
- Folk Art metallic paint
- scraps to test the color on



First, I filled the spray bottle 1/2 of the way full. I added a few drops of the Folk Art paint (more or less depending on how much color you like with your mist). Then shake!

Here is the final result... Although it is kind of hard to capure the glitter on the camera. However, there is A LOT of glitter, glam, and shine on my paper! =]


I left part of white paper on the photo to show how much paint I actually used. I like to the glimmer mist to have more color as well as shimmer so I added a little more paint then other probably would! =] It's one of those techniques that can vary widely. So you may have to play around with the paint and water to achieve the color or desired look. Have fun creating your glimmer mists!!

Other things you can spray glimmer mist on...

• Silk/Prima flowers
• Borders - I LOVED doing this!! =] I took some already created borders from Bazzill with decorative edges and sprayed my glimmer mist on them! So cute!
• Ribbon
• Frames
• Chipboard
• Thickers

Last but not least...
While at Walmart I saw that FolkArt also had some "Extreme Glitter" acrylic paints. And I thought I'd get some to give em a try.



There actually is I complete difference in these paints. You can either use these all by themselves (mixed with water of course) or add the same color acrylic paint. If you want a look of purely sprinkled glitter all over the page then use these paints alone. However, if you do want to add color to your project I would recommend adding a few drops of both. Either way... I have ended up with 3 completely different looks of mist.

Final cost (for all 3 desired looks):
- 1 $.97 1oz mister (Walmart)
- 1 $2.47 FolkArt Extreme Glitter bottle of paint (walmart)
- 1 $1.47 FolkArt Metallic Paint bottle of paint (walmart)
- 1 $.33 Craft bottle of Acrylic paint (Michael's)
Grand Total..... $5.24 --- for 3 completely different glimmer/glitter mists! =] Sounds like such a better deal than the popular one that only provide you with 1 look for $8!!

Good Morning! =]

Today I will be working on uploading some layouts I have created. I think there is about 4 - I have posted them to FB already, but I'm new to this whole blogging thing and I want to give it a try. I'm also planning on heading to walmart later today with my little USB picture thingy to print a mass amount of pictures.

While at walmart I will be searching for the little spray bottle to make glimmer mists! =] This is a youtube video that I found about how to make your own glimmer mists. But, I think I will add some of my own PearlEx to the bottle (just to make it even more shinier! =] I love glimmer mist, but some of the more popular brands are too expensive (IMO). I've purchased a bunch of the Prima flowers that have been on clearance @ Michael's over the weekend, and I want to change around some of them so that I few more options (since I have soooooo many flowers now =]). So, check back later to see how the glimmer mist turned out!
Finally, after Brooklyn is in bed tonight I want to get started on my Counterfeit Kit for the month! =] I have some ideas, and have been really excited to get started but haven't been able to get around to it. Well, this blogging thing has been fun. Can't wait to get back, and add some pictures! =]

First post!!!

I've been working on my blog all morning, and I'm posting to see if this works the way I want it to. =]