Cozy Christmas

Hope you all had a great Christmas! Here's a LO using the Cozy Christmas papers from Scrap Cake and Manor House Creations flowers...I love the soft colors and the beautiful poinsettia flower...

Title: Christmas Joy

Materials: Patterned papers, diecuts - Scrap Cake; Flowers & Leaves - Manor House Creations; Fanric embellishments - Prima; Metal Embellishments - Imaginisce; Pearl swirl - Pebbles, Inc; Mist - Tattered Angels; Letter Stickers - Crate Paper and Webster's Pages; 

Merry Christmas!

May Peace be your gift at Christmas

and your blessing all year through! 

~Author Unknown

Merry Christmas from our family to yours...

Manor House Colour Me Flowers

With the ever-growing trend of personalizing embellishments, Manor House Creations brings to you these Colour Me Flowers. These are made of crepe paper and are so easy to color using different media and techniques. For this LO, I painted on some Glimmer Glaze for the aquamarine flower and used a paintbrush to apply Glimmer Mist on the pink flowers.

Materials: Cardstock - American Crafts; Patterned Papers - Webster's Pages; Flowers and Leaves - Manor House Creations; Metal Embellishments - Making Memories; Fabric embellishments - Prima; Mist - Tattered Angels; Sticker - Basic Grey; Mask - Crafter's Workshop; Border Punch - Martha Stewart; Ink - Clearsnap; Tag - American Crafts; Misc - lace

Gingerbread Land

I love Nikki Sivils Gingerbread Land Collection! Very few Christmas collections mix red and pink, so this was perfect for last year's Christmas photos where my girly-girls wore pink dresses...

Title: Celebrate the Season

Materials: Cardstock - American Crafts; Patterned Papers, buttons and stickers - Nikki Sivls; Stamps - Technique Tuesday; Ink - American Crafts; Border Punch - Martha Stewart

Pencil Lines Sketch 262

Here's my LO for Sketch 262 made by the fabulous Leah Farquharson!

I used Nikki Sivils' new Gingerbread Land collection for this Christmas family photo from last year.

Title: December 2010

Materials: Patterned paper, die-cuts, buttons, stickers - Nikki Sivils Scrapbooker; Kraft Cardstock - American Crafts; Ink - Clearsnap; Pen - American Crafts; Punches- Martha Stewart; Die-cut machine - Making Memories Slice

Do check out this week's sketch and join our challenge before everything gets too busy for the coming holidays.

Christmas Countdown House

I've been making a Christmas Countdown craft for the last 3 years and decided to make this my tradition. Here's is my 2011 Christmas Countdown featuring Glue Dots adhesive.

Create your own Christmas countdown calendar!

Supplies

• 1" Glue lines
• Mini Glue Dots
• Micro Glue Dots
• wood model bird house kit
• Christmas countdown patterned paper with numbers (I used Imaginisce Cottage Christmas)
• other Christmas papers
• Acrylic paint (I used light blue)
• Border punch, for trim
• small metal L-shaped screw hook
• Cardboard for backing and flag stick
• Letter stickers

Instructions
Birdhouse:

• Trace the different parts of the birdhouse (walls and roof) onto the backs of desired patterned papers, cut out and adhere with Mini Glue Dots.
• Paint other wooden parts in desired color
• Drill a small hole at the top of one of the roofs and insert metal hook.
• Assemble the birdhouse using the Glue Dots lines to connect the edges.
• Optional: Punch trim from patterned paper and adhere around the roof.

Numbers:

• Take the Christmas Countdown paper and cut out all the numbers. If desired, adhere to cardboard to make them sturdier. 
• You may also ink the edges.
• Punch a small hole at the top of each number.

Flag:

• Cut out a 1/4" wide x 4" long piece of cardboard for the stick.
• Cut out a 2"x3" piece of patterned paper for the flag.
• Adhere letter stickers for title.
• Assemble flag and adhere the roof piece with the hook.

I wrote this blog post while participating on the Glue Dots design team.

Burlap & Buttercups Nov 2011 Kit

Here are B&Bs November Main Kit and Add-On Kit ...which arrived in the nick of time...meaning just before the end of November...LOL:)

And here are my LOs! Time constraints aside, this kit was such a pleasure to work with that I was able to create these 4 LOs within a 24-hour period...so much fun and so satisfying to be able to churn out this much in so little time!

You will also notice that I just got myself a new batch of border punches, and one of my favorites, Laurel Leaf is in this 1st LO.

Here's another set of border punches, using French Scroll this time. Photos were taken in Hong Kong Disneyland last summer 2010. Why do kids never tire of Disneyland? My hubby and I have practically memorized the LO of HK Disney having been there 5 times in its 5-year history...

Here is another Disney LO, as the girls posed with Eeyore. This Character Garden is unique to HK Disney, there really is nothing to do here but line up to meet and greet characters. Here I used the Wild Flowers border punches and layered my new Harlequin and Chicken Wire templates from Crafter's Workshop.

This next LO features 2 of my best scrapbooking buddies, Pia and Iris. We started out as DT for a local store and have been friends ever since. Aside from scrapbooking, one of our favorite activities is having our photos taken, so we have more to scrap! Here I used my Damask template from Crafter's Workshop and the Eyelet Lace punches from Martha Stewart. I also enjoyed playing with the Kaiser Craft crochet doilies and turned them into gorgeous crochet blooms!

I hope you enjoyed these LOs as much as I enjoyed making them, Head on over to Burlap and Buttercups to grab hold of the few remaining November kits, better yet, sign up for a subscription to receive the coming kits in advance!

Pencil Lines Sketch 260

Here's my LO for Sketch 260 of Pencil Lines. This was such a fun LO to do...and the Imaginisce papers were perfect for these pics of Nadya's last birthday.

Manor House Spring Flowers

Here's a LO I made using Manor House Creations Spring Flowers. I love the variety of textures and colors, not to mention the dimension that these flowers add to my LO.

Manor House Products used: Cottage Garden – Morning Glory, Grandma’s Garden – warmth, Ballroom – Tango, The Tropics – Islander.

Other Products Used: Patterned Papers - Webster's Pages; Transparency - Hambly; Lace Paper - KI Memories; Paint - Making Memories; Foam Alpha - Pink Paislee; Diecut machine - Making Memories Slice

Manor House Products used: Magestic – Alissa & Tiana white.

Other Products Used: Patterned Papers - Webster's Pages; Stamps - Technique Tuesday; Ink - Clearsnap; Alpha - American Crafts; Misc - lace

Pencil Lines Sketch 258

Here's my LO for Pencil Lines Sketch 258. Can you tell I just got some new punches when I created this LO....teehee...I now have so many border punches that I have to reorganize my scrap room to make room for them...

I found Bianca playing by herself in her room one day. She had set up the kitchen and vanity playsets as the front and side of a bus and the kiddie chairs as the passenger seats, and was pretending to be a bus driver...too cute!

Summer Flowers

Summer is coming up in the land Down Under and we are featuring Manor House Creations Summer Flowers. I love this photo of my kids with their cousins Anna and Katherine taken when we last visited them in Chicago.

Manor House Products used: The Tropics - Getaway, Sunbake and Seaside.

Other Products Used: Cardstock - American Crafts; Patterned Papers - Webster's Pages; Fabric Diecuts - Pink Paislee; Mist - Tattered Angels; Ticket - Jenni Bowlin; Stamp - Tim Holtz; Ink - Clearsnap; Chipboard - Maya Road; Paint - Making Memories

Nikki Sivils October Challenge

The challenge for October was to scrap black and white photos and here's what I came up with. I enjoyed coming up with this paper-pieced house using the "Get Well Soon" collection. I was inspired by the Sew Easy, which I don't have yet, and took out my Making Memories slot puncher, which I haven't used in years, to make the ribbon slots. Coolness!

Materials: Cardstock - American Crafts; Patterned papers, buttons - Nikki Sivils; Mist - Tattered Angels; Fabric die-cut - Pink Paislee; Transparency - Hambly; Ribbon border - Crate Paper; Letter Stickers - American Crafts; Twine - The Twinery; Fabric Border (blue) - Little Yellow Bicycle; Lace - misc

Burlap & Buttercups Oct Weekly Challenge

It's my turn again to host this week's challenge at Burlap & Buttercups, and my challenge is to "scrap at an angle".  I love how putting your page elements at a slant gives it a sense of movement and makes an otherwise ordinary LO, much more exciting!

So if you get a chance to do some scrapping this Halloween week-end, why not head on over to Burlap & Buttercups and join our challenge???

Boo Banner

Here's an easy Halloween project using Glue Dots and Nikki Sivils "Boo-tiful" collection.

Supplies:

• 3 pieces Ghost 6x6 Chipboard Album ( used Nikki Sivils Scrapbooker)
• 3 pcs black 6x6 patterned papers (used Nikki Sivils Scrapbooker Boo-tiful)
• chipboard letters - B, O, O (used Heidi Swapp)
• acrylic paint
• embossing ink and distress embossing powder (used Ranger)
• optional: googly eyes
• Mini Glue Dots

Instructions:

1. Cover chipboard with ghost cut-out made by tracing it onto the back of the patterned papers.
2. Paint the chipboard letters orange. Optional: ink edges with embossing ink and add distress embossing powder for added texture.
3. Attach letters to the ghost figures. Punch holes in hands and string together.
4. Embellish with googly eyes.

I wrote this blog post while participating on the Glue Dots design team.

Try this out for size....

Manor House Creations has these unique 7x12 papers, perfect for card-making or just to help you do something out of the box, for a change.
Here I used it to create my annual birthday LO --- I just turned 42 a few days ago. I will be the 1st to admit that I am soooooo old...but as long as I don't feel and look my age, then age is just a number to me :)

I hope you can try out this size and see where it takes you!

Pencil Lines Sketch 256

Here's my LO for Pencil Lines Sketch 256. I enjoyed creating this and playing with the Prima Mistables and Masks I recently got from Lasting Impression, and so happy to have been able to use some old papers and scraps from my stash!

Title: The Little Ones

Materials: Cardstock - American Crafts; Patterned Papers - Webster's Pages; Canvas - Prima; Masks - Prima; Stamp - Technique Tuesday; Mist - Tattered Angels; Ink - American Crafts; Chipboard - Pink Paislee;

Little Monsters from Manor House Creations

Here's a LO I made using Scrap Cake's Little Monsters collection from Manor House Creations. This is a great collection not only for LOs of kids but also for other happy occasions like birthdays and theme park visits.

I used a photo from our recent visit to Hong Kong Disneyland and I bet Pluto here thought that my kids were little monsters with one child pulling his ear, another tickling him and a third pulling out his tongue!

Materials: Cardstock: Wassau; Patterned papers, die-cuts and Flowers : Manor House Creations; Chipboard gears: Scrapworx; Twine: The Twinery; Stamp: Technique Tuesday; Paint: Making Memories; Ink - American Crafts;

Burlap & Buttercups Oct Kit

Here are my LOs for Burlap & Buttercups' awesome Oct main kit...

and the add-on kit...

I loved working with burlap on this LO of my god-daughter Ysabella on her school field trip...isn't she adorable???

This next LO uses the sketch included in the kit and I am so happy to have finally been able to scrap these pics.  This was the last proper Thanksgiving we've had in our home as last year, as well as this year, DH was and will be out of town on Thanksgiving.

My 3rd LO features Nadya in her Alice in Wonderland costume. We went Trick or Treating in my mom's neighborhood and they had a wishing well in the park which was a perfect backdrop for her outfit!

I so want to tell you to rush to get the Oct kit now, but I just learned that we have actually sold out of the October kits so maybe you'll want to take a subscription so you're sure to get the Nov kit???

Back to School Organizer

Here's my 1st project as a Glue Dottess.....a Back-to-School Organizer using toilet paper tubes. This was simple and a lot of fun to do...I knew I was eventually going to use those empty tubes I haven't thrown away...LOL!

Supplies:

• 4 toilet paper roll tubes
• thick cardboard such as bristol or illustration board - cut to 4" x 9"
• acrylic paint - blue, red, yellow green
• Glue Dots Mini and Glue Dots lines
• dries-clear liquid adhesive
• embellishments: ribbon, letters, white pen, sticker, pencil

Instructions:

1. Paint each toilet paper roll in a different color.
2. Use the Glue Dots Lines to attach the painted toilet paper rolls in a row.
3. Tie ribbon around the 4 rolls, keep ribbon in place with Mini Glue Dots
4. Attach the group of 4 rolls to bristol board and add embellishments.

It's not too late to do this, even if school has started a while back, you can use this to organize other things too! Hope you can try it out!

I wrote this blog post while participating on the Glue Dots design team.

Introducing Manor House Creations...

Here's my 1st ever LO for Manor House Creations.  I like to think I'm a versatile scrapper and can work with almost anything that is given to me, which is why I tried out for this DT.  I don't normally work with flowers but when they're given to me, I always have a blast playing with them. Check out my DT Intro here.

At Manor House Creations, we are also having our first sketch competition using a sketch created by the very talented Monika Martinson!  Do check it out here and I hope you join us for a chance to win some of our newest flowers! You have the whole month of October to join this contest.

Burlap & Buttercups September Kit Challenge

It's my turn to issue this week's challenge at Burlap & Buttercups and my challenge is "A Stitch in Time"...to use any kind of stitching anywhere on your LO or project.

You're playing for a $15 GC to the Burlap & Buttercups store!  You can take on just one challenge per month, or you can participate every week to increase your chances of winning our giveaway.  (And remember: You have the entire month to participate in any of the challenges introduced within that calendar month!)  Any supplies can be used, but those who use a kit purchased from Burlap & Buttercups will have their names entered twice.  In other words, use a B&B kit each and every week during a month that has four Fridays, and your name will be entered into our drawing eight times.  To participate, simply enter a comment on our Challenge post, including a link to your newly created project.  Now let's see what you can come up with!

Nikki Sivils September Challenge

This month's challenge at Nikki Sivils is to create a LO in a size that you don't normally work with....and everyone knows I am strictly a 12x12 girl so this one was a nice change for me. I started out with an 8x10 canvas and somehow found myself going out of the box...so to speak...but at least, it's not quite 12x12 so it still fits the challenge :)

Title: Laughter
Materials: Cardstock - Wassau; Patterned Papers, Letter and Journaling Stickers, Diecuts - Nikki Sivils; Pen - American Crafts; Ink - Clearsnap


So, we want YOU to play along!!  Just make a layout following the guidelines for "Scrap a Size You Do Not Normally Scrap" and use at least 75% Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker products.  It does not matter if it is an older or newer collection, we just want to see them!

Leave a link to your blog post or gallery here with a picture of your completed challenge entry by October 29th.  We will pick one winner and announce them on October 30th, when we announce the next challenge. The winner will get to pick one of the new collections kits of their choosing!

Color Combos Galore 210

Here's my LO for Color Combos Galore 210.  I was initially hesitant to work on this combo as browns are not really my thing, but I love how this LO turned out. I also love that I was able to use a lot of stuff from my stash that has been there for a while.

Title: Hug
Materials: Cardstock - American Crafts; Patterned papers - American Crafts, Sassafras Lass; Chipboard - Dusty Attic (frame); Maya Road (key), Heidi Swapp (clock); Dimensional stickers - Making Memories; Journal Card - Tim Holts; Stamp - Fiskars; Mask - Heidi Swapp; Mist - Tattered Angels; Ink - American Crafts; Felt Alpha -American Crafts; Acrylic Paint - Fol Arts; Embossing Powder - Rainger; Pen - American Crafts; misc lace; Border Punch - Martha Stewart

Here's the color combo for this week...

Echo Park Class LOs

Here are the LOs I made for the Echo Park Summer Days and Country Drive class I taught with April Lim last Sept. 17.
Thanks to everyone who attended the class...hope you learned a thing or two from me...

Pencil Lines 252

Here's my LO for Pencil Lines Sketch 252...used Nikki Sivils' new "Get Well Soon" line....love how versatile it is even for "ouchless" LOs!

Title: Captured Joy

Materials: Cardstock - American Crafts; Patterned papers - Nikki Sivils; Rub-Ons - Lily Bee; Mist - Tattered Angels; Mask - Prima; Stamps - Glitz, Tim Holtz; Punch - Martha Stewart; Pen - American Crafts; Fiber - misc

Check out the sketch here.

Manor House Creations Giveaway!!!

Check out Manor House Creations flowers here...


All you have to do is get your store to make an order, email us telling us which store you requested our flowers at sales@manorhousecreations.com  & we will send 6 extra packs for you to collect next time you order from, or visit, that store.

This offer is open to anyone in Australia and our international customers as well.

(please note: this offer is open to stores that make their first order from 13/09/11, not to existing customers).

I'm a Dottess!!!

Geez what a big surprise this is...I sent in my application on a whim and am so happy that I was chosen to be part of the Glue Dots DT!

I am so looking forward to this new "job"and I am so happy to be joining this awesome team:

Julia Stainton

Natalie Alexander

Dianna Davis

Sarah Forhan

Monica Benavidez

Joy Dickson

Samantha Peyton

Kenner Road

Jenny Suchin

Danielle Hunter

Laurel Seabrook

Michelle Philippi

Cindy Stevens

Samantha Taylor

Lara Scott

Amy Detrick

Erin Bullock

Elisa Kammerdiener

Jessica Larson

Spam Love!

The August challenge for Nikki Sivils had us doing a LO on a subject that we don't normally scrap about, using the School is Cool collection.  For my LO, I decided to scrap about my family's favorite food for breakfast (or anytime, for that matter)...Spam...yes, the one in the can:)

I know this is weird for most Americans but in places where the US Forces were stationed, particularly during World War II, Spam has become a staple food as they were part of the rations -- like in Japan, Hawaii, Guam, and the Philippines.

My husband, who grew up in Minnesota where Spam is made (and yes, ate Spam because he is Filipino) tells me that his American best friend asked him once incredulously "How can you eat that???".  Even my American sister-in-law who has been married to my husband's brother for 20 years, had never eaten Spam and asked me "What is it, anyway?"  Too funny, especially when I've seen people (myself included) buy it by the case when it goes on sale here! 

Well, here in my house, we get our Spam fix at least once a month....maybe even more, and so finally, it has gotten the attention it deserves....a LO of its own...

Title: We Love Spam

Materials: Cardstock - Wassau, DCWV; Patterned papers, diecuts, stickers - Nikki Sivils; Vinyl Alpha - American Crafts; Pen - American Crafts

Journaling: Spam is, hands-down, our family's favorite breakfast food, be it sugared, sticks or plain pan-fried...it goes so well with garlic rice!!!

Burlap & Buttercups Sept Kit

Oh you will love this month's kit from Burlap & Buttercups....as usual, so much stuff to play with.

Here's the main kit...

 and the add-on kit...

Here are the 3 LOs I've created so far...

The 1st LO uses pictures of Nadya from her Recognition Day...she got 3 certificates...yipee!

...and some details shots...

 

This next LO features Bianca wearing Luis' out-grown race car driver costume....so adorable!

And this 3rd LO features both my girls playing around before their ballet class starts.

I loved the effect of the rub-ons here...
 

Hope you can check out the kit and join us for our weekly blog challenges!!!