Hey readers! Good Morning!!! So my DH set the alarm wrong and instead of getting up at 6 like I usually do I was up at 5. I didn't realize the time til I sat down at the computer to read mail after showering. Boy am I gonna need a nap later because my daughter woke at 12:45 and kept me up til 2 am. What was that about? We put her in bed with us hoping to get her to sleep but she just wiggled and put her feet in my back. Then she did laps around her crib while I was in and out of sleep. At one point I was hit in the head with her glow Seahorse and Monkey. Ahh the joys of parenthood...

So folks ( I love that word) here's your UNITY DEETS for this week!

Be sure to check out Angela's Rewind specials for Hip Hop over here. Unity has new stamps and awesome new packaging!!! Don't have Unity Rubbah yet? GET SOME!!!!

So here's a few things I made with Unity this week!

this challenge was to make a Valentine card with a non Valentine stamp

this week's sketch challenge at Splitcoast why is this image so small??? I am too tired to fix it grrrr

A card I made for my CTMH Cafe Mom group with the All My Love set

And a sneak peek of a Unity altered project I am working on with Basic Grey and Prima flowers. I have two more cards but I had no lighting to photograph them well so I'll be posting more later today.

Have a great weekend!

Scrapping Out Loud Challenge Tuesday!

It's time for another challenge and the winner of January's Rak is revealed! Hop on over to read all the deets here and see the amazing artwork created by our talented team! This week's challenge is to scrap your stash! Make way for the new products coming out after CHA by using stuff from your stash that's at least 6 months old. Here's my layout for this week's challenge,

On another note I am pleased to post that I had a few birthday cards and an altered project featured in the Jan?Feb issue of Ready, Set Create! It's an online scrapbooking magazine ran by the sweet and lovely Jennifer Blackwell. You can purchase a copy here

I also scrapped a two page layout for my monthly kit club Paper Posies. I am not a fan of two page layouts and they are a challenge for me but I needed two pages to tell this story. I had seen an article about scrapping the year in review in one of my scappy mags and wanted to give it a try. I used paper by Basic Grey and Paper Crate as well as American Crafts letters and Prima flowers and bling.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day!

Hip Hop hangover and some more CHA pics

Here's my Hip Hop bright and bold challenge card from yesterday's Hip Hop dedicated to ALL my Hip Hop friends! I {heart} all of you amazing and sweet women who make my Thursday's the best day of the week!!! As always it was fun chatting it up with the ladies. Angela and Eryn were definitely missed! Check out Unity Stamp's blog for the new releases here and don't forget Angela is giving 10% off all orders til Feb 1st!

I altered this clipboard into a calendar with my Paper Posies January kit. I signed up for this kit 3 months ago and have been loving it! The goodies are awesome and it's totally affordable! Check past kits out here

I also wanted to share with you some awesome altered chipboard albums from Maya Road I totally loved!! I really think they have the best selection of chipboard.

Gorgeous, oh how I looooove butterflies

This bird with the added leaves that sparkled was amazing to touch

these little albums make great gifts

So that's it for today. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. We are visiting family tomorrow in La Crescenta and Sunday is Super Bowl. Something tells me that the baby and I will have the house to ourselves and I'll be scrapping.

Tim Holtz, Splitcoast challenges and Hip Hop!

My favorite booth at CHA was Tim's of course! He had some amazing things to look at and projects that really rocked! Of course his new grunge boards weren't bad either...LOL Here's some photos for you to OOOOOOhhhgle over

Flippen LOVED this!!!!!

Isn't it all amazing???? And then I met Tim...he was showing us some new products and the technique of masking. He was totally sweet and funny. He had a really nice personality! I could have stood there and watched him the entire day!

I was card making into the wee hours last night working on some Splitcoast challenges. I've really been trying to do at least one or two and of course the Unity Addicts Challenge. Here's what I came up with

Unity Addicts Challenge, Check out the gallery here

Splitcoast color challenge, view the gallery here

Splitcoast sketch challenge, view the gallery here

It's Thursday and you know what that means...HIP HOP BABY!!!! Check out some great pics on the Unity Blog here and don't forget there's new releases today and new packaging. Stop by the Splitcoast forum here and make a new friend! I did at CHA. Her name is Patty and she is so purdy and sweet! We hung out together all day on Sunday and I had SO much fun! She is just the sweetest ever!

So have fun whatever you do today, now I have to go see if I won the Slice on Making Memories and HIP HOP with my Unity Crew

New Challenge up at Scrapping Out Loud!

It's Tuesday and the Design Team rocked another challenge! It's reveal day at Scrapping Out Loud and if you come play along you'll get another chance to win this month's awesome RAK by Kraft Girl Kits!

So this week's challenge:

"5" Challenge! - use 5 pics, 5 patterned papers, 5 embellies, 5 buttons, and 5 ribbons on your page.

My layout is titled Her love of reading and the journaling reads: At 18 mos, Lily loves to read her books nestled in her toy box.

I used the awesome background page I got in this month's Paper Posie's kit. Pop on by their site and check February's kit. I am already in love and can't wait to get my hands on it! If you decide to join make sure you tell them I sent you. I also used Prima flowers, leaves and packaging for my cardstock. I used a sheet of the Basic Grey paper that also came in my kit behind the larger photo.

Here's a little detail in the leaves I cut from Prima packaging to blend on top of the green leaves.

And the flower I layered and used a strip of cardboard packaging from Prima Say It In Crystals for the center and rolled it with glue dots and painted the center with Making Memories red paint. I used the backs of the white swirls to add a little extra to the flower.

I'll be posting some more pics from CHA tmr of Tm Holtz's booth and some shots I got of him in action! Of course I was totally classy and asked him if it was ok that I photograph him.

Have a great day and scrap something!

Wow, what a day at CHA!!!!

I am SO tired right now but I want to post a few pics before I head to bed so I think I will start with Unity. You see me post about their stamps every Thurs. Angela is the most amazing, sweet and generous woman I have ever met. Her passion for her business but mostly her customers makes me appreciate her product even more. This business is her heart and soul and it's clear how much of herself she pours into it. I really enjoyed talking to her and spending time with the Unity crew. The booth was simply Amazing and the new packaging is just so cutting edge and consumer pleasing! Enjoy these photos and I'll be posting more soon!

Me and Angela, isn't she gorgeous!

Our fab Unity Crew!

The girls

The new packaging for Unity sets

My layout with the artwork board

I got a GOLDEN TICKET!!!

I can hardly believe it! I went to meet Angela and the super COOL Unity Crew and Eryn totally suprised me with this!

Sorry for the bad pics but it's 12:45 am and I've got to get to bed. I now have an exciting and early day ahead of me!!! I'm taking my camera and will be back with all the deets later!!! I {heart} YOU ANGELA!!!!

Fun with PearlEx Powder

I figured out how to make my own shimmering mist which gives the same effect as Glimmer Mist. I went to Michaels to pick up some PearlEx powder needed for this project last night. So today I am going to show you how to use this fantastic technique on my blog so enjoy!!

Supplies:
U need a bottle of non-aerosol hairspray, a pump spray bottle you can get at any beauty supply or the travel section at Target and some PearlEx powder. I only found this multi color set below but look at all the colors!!! I apologize for the pictures, I did this project in my bathroom so the lighting was terrible.

Fill the spray bottle 1/2 way with the hairspray and then 3 1/4 tsp scoops of the powder in any color you choose and shake.

Make sure you layout newspaper around the area you are working. Place your template or chipboard pieces where you want to make your image. Chipboard and plastic templates work best because when you spray the mist on the item it becomes heavily saturated. You can see what I mean by the next picture. See how the newspaper is very wet.

Carefully pick up the chipboard and move it around your card stock and create as many designs as you choose.

I used my heating tool for embossing to dry the mist quicker. Your card stock will have some buckling and warping but you can smooth it out once it dries.

After you are done, the chipboard is heaving coated and can be dryed as well with the heating tool and used as a coordinating embellie on your project.

Here is my finished card stock. I decided to spray the mist over the areas that were covered by the chipboard lightly.

You can also mist your paper flowers to give them a beautiful shine. Simply spray the amount you want on the flower and then pick the corner up with tweezers and use your heat tool to dry.

See how the flower is saturated in the liquid. now just dry it with the heat tool.

Here are various embellies coated with the Pearl Ex

And here is my finished layout. I had to wait til this morning to take my pics and once again my printer fails me by misprinting my photos. One of the not so good aspects of late night scrapping. I am hoping I can replace them today when I pick up some more ink.

A close up of the misted flower and chipboard. You can see it really adds an amazing texture to your project.

I hope you enjoyed my experiment. Feel free to email me if you have any questions. Have a great Saturday!

Clouds in my Coffee

Happy Birthday Savannah!!! Today is my best friend's daughter's 1st birthday! They moved to Utah a few months back because her husband got a great job offer and I really miss her. I didn't get to meet Savannah before they left but I am sure we'll get together when she come back to CA to visit her parents in Newport Beach.

Now Suz if you see this post send me a new pic of my girl! These are all I had. I can hardly believe that Hunter will be 4 in a few days too!

Perseverance:

Steady persistence in adhering to a course of action, a belief, or a purpose; steadfastness.

I'll be back later to post some artwork I did with my Unity yesterday for the Hip Hop Challenges but for now I'll share this quote that's helping me today.

" Failure is only a temporary change in direction to set you straight for your next success." -- Denis Waitley

I am inspired, can you tell???

I really want to win this contest and I got so many ideas I just ran with them all! The next recycled item I created for the Frugal Scrapper contest was a wall hanging photo frame using the packaging from Prima's Cabana Petals I got these in my Bad Girls Kit back in October. I cut an oval in the center and used Tim Holtz's distressing ink and sponge to give it a leathery look. Then I used Stickles to accent the outside of he oval. Finally I added bling, some fab Prima flowers, petals and a tad of purple tulle I had laying in my ribbon stash. Did I mention my favorite color is purple??? I love this picture of Lily. It's my hope that someday she will treasure these creations I make for her to have when she is older.


A BIG TOOT TOOT for me!!! ************************
WHOOOOPIE!!!!!! I won the Fresh Face contest at Hero Arts for the Pocket card contest this week!!!!! I am SO excited. I really have been trying to win because I don't have very many stamps by them!!! Check out the post here

Unity Hip Hop is today so stop by Unity's blog to see the new releases! Then come over to the Splitcoast forum to chat it up! Have a great day!

Another scrappy project and an honor!

I ordered these cute Prima birds from So Cal Scraps when I placed an order to play along with the Friday night Happy hour that Robin was hosting. As soon as I opened my order and saw the box they came in I knew I had to do something with it. Then came a contest to alter a Prima packaging product to win the title of the Frugal Scrapper and 300.00 in Prima product. Well I don't know about you but that's a whole lotta inspiration so I lay in bed and went over ideas for this cute little box and it hit me...

The outside view

The inside and outside view

So tell me what you think :)

I belong to Flickr because I also love to frequent the Hero Arts blog for their great challenges and freebies. Did I mention they have LOTS of freebies when you play along and make cards using their stamps. I showed you a pocket card I made over the weekend and I submitted it for last weeks contest into the Hero Arts Flickr Pool and I got some great comments and then a comment congratulating me on the Explore. I felt kinda dumb reading their congratulations because I had no idea what they were talking about. Then I found the Explore tab at the top of my page DUH. Apparently they choose photos they find interesting and showcase them daily and they picked my card! Wow, I am SO not a good photographer but I have been improving in photographing my work better. So here's the page it's on with all the other amazing photos on this site. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/

Scrapping Out Loud word of the week project

I'm sorry for the second post but I couldn't finish my word of the week project last night for Scrapping Out Loud, the glitter and glue needed to dry. I decided to make a wall hanging for my studio because inspiration comes in all forms and we all have that scrapper's block once in awhile. I think it's important to be reminded that we are human and our craft is not something we are born with. It's a work in progress.
So here's my word of the week project. The quote says "Start from nothing, and learn as you go"

Now for some fun! I just came across Creative Cafe's CHA Blog party!!! Check it out here!

It's Tuesday!!! You know what that means...

A new challenge is posted at Scrapping Out Loud! This week our amazing Design Team is scrapping out layers! So your challenge this week is Lots of Paper Layers! - use lots of different layers on your pg...but you cannot use patterned paper bought from the scrapbook store.....you have to make your own patterned paper to layer. Here's my take on the challenge with stamped images by Unity Stamp Co. This is my son being a total good with the heart slinky favors at his sister's 1st birthday party at Douglas Park in Santa Monica. It's titled What a goof.

Have I mentioned that I also love that circle stamp by Unity from the Oh Happy Day set????? I used some bare chipboard and cuttle bugged it with my embossing folders and then inked it. yep Beate, lots of ink going on her on this layout just for you girlfriend! I used some rub ons and pop dots behind the stamped circles to add dimension and the white card stock behind the picture stamped with the dots is actually a recycled back cardboard piece of a 12X12 paper pack. I traced a scalloped piece of card stock and cut it out then stamped on the shiny side.

The new sketch is up this week so if you want an extra entry in the RAK create a layout based on that sketch and add the word of the week "Start"

So head on over to the blog today and check out all the fantastic artwork we've got posted for you and get started on that layout. You got 2 more chances to get in the RAK drawing for this month!

Weekend Scrapping

I've been busy this weekend making some birthday cards for my friends kids. her sweet little girl Savannah is turning 1 and I can hardly believe that Hunter is 4 already! I made this birthday card for him with the Happy Birthday from Unity Stamp Co. I used the numbers embossing folder by Cuttlebug and then used my glue pen to accent the 4 with yellow sugar coating by Doodlebug Designs. I cut a circle with my Spellbinders embossing dies to highlight the 4 and used a button and hemp to tie the stars I punched.

***OOPS This project is out for publication***

Here is the card I made for Savannah, for hers I used stamps from Close To My Heart. The card stock is from the Sweet stack by DCWC. it's embossed and glittery and Oh so girly. I also use a flower glittered chipboard piece behind the 1st stamp.

OOPS This project is out for publication***

Next up is my entry for this week's Hero Arts blog challenge. This week's challenge was to create a card with a pocket. I made my pocket out of the scalloped circle and slid my tag inside. I used 2 stamp sets by Hero Arts called Cardart Love Birds and Long Stem Blossom.

And here's a pic of the tag on the inside

And finally here's a layout I scrapped of my Lily and her first time at the Indoor playroom. I used my Sasafrasslass line. Isn't it cute!!!

Hope you are having a scrappy weekend too! Link a project you made on this post so I can go and leave you some blog love :)