Practical Scrappers Stamping Challenge

For all intent and purposes, this will be my last Design Team project for Practical Scrappers.  I've enjoyed two terms working with a fabulous group of Designers there, but big changes are in the air.  For both myself and Practical Scrappers it is time to move forward. Beginning in October, they will change over to a free magazine-style format that for them will be a fresh approach to the blog. More information is available at the blog right here. For myself, I will be spending more time focusing on the challenge blog Papercraft Star, as well as making time to seek publication of more of my cards and layouts.

So... for the last time as a member of the Practical Scrappers Design Team, I created this card for the stamping challenge. I hope you'll join us for this last challenge before the format changes in October!

I've had this Cornish Heritage Farms, Domestic Love stamp set for quite some time and although I used a number of the stamps in that collection, I had yet to use the old-time vacuum along with the sentiment.   Wanting a more dimensional look for the vacuum, I stamped it twice and cut out parts of it to layer with pop dots for the subtle 3-D effect. I also stamped the polka-dot background onto Kraft cardstock to create my patterned paper for this card. All of the products that I did not already mention are Papertrey Ink except for the Webster's Pages sparkler that adorns the bow.  Although the sentiment reads, "There are times when love sucks" on the inside of the card I wrote, "...this is not one of them." Then I popped it into my honey's lunchbox for him to find at work. 

I wish the best of luck to all the Designers who are leaving Practical Scrappers along with me and I encourage everyone to get in on the new happenings at Practical Scrappers beginning in October!

Better Living Through Scrapbooking Blog Hop

It's the super awesome, first ever Better Living Through Scrapbooking Blog Hop and you won't believe the fabulous prizes and blog candy you can win during this event!  If you arrived here from Angela's blog then you are on the right track... but if not, go right here to the Better Scraps blog to begin so you don't miss a single post.  You must comment on all the blog stops along the way to be eligible to enter the grand prize and you have from now until Saturday, October 2 to comment!

For this event, the Designers at Better Scraps were given the opportunity to create whatever our crafty hearts desired, so I'm betting that you'll see a wide variety of projects sure to inspire you all along the way! 

Left to my own devices, I decided to create this Ashley Newell inspired card with the new Fine Linen cardstock and ribbon that was released by Papertrey Ink this month. The richly colored cardstock coordinated perfectly with the sweet Old World Cabbage Soup by Jillibean Soup.  I used my Gypsy with the Gypsy Wanderings cartridge to create the leaves and flower center for the accordion flower. I bent the small petals for dimension and ran the leaves through my Cuttlebug and an embossing folder to add texture.

Better Living Through Scrapbooking has a fabulous prize pack up for grabs during this hop, thanks to Plaid! We will be giving away a Mod Podge starter pack, plus a selection of FolkArt paints, stencils and some Extreme Glitter as well! This prize pack is worth $50 retail, and we'll award this fabulous prize to one randomly selected blog hop participant that comments on ALL of the blog posts during the hop.

 
Okay, so here's the deal, make sure you comment on this blog post before you leave, become a follower here too if you would and then make your way to the next stop on the hop by visiting Brenda's blog right here. Don't forget, you have until Saturday October 2 to comment on all the blogs along the hop! (In case you get lost along the way, here is a list of all the blog stops.)

BetterScrap
Angela
Beth (you are here!)
Brenda
Candy
Chelsea
Kas
Kim
Katie
Michelle

Have fun on the hop and do enjoy the rest of your weekend!

(P.S. I also entered this in the Tuesday Morning Sketches challenge this week for handmade flowers and http://crazy4challenges.blogspot.com/ for some bling, and the Anything Goes Challenge at  http://onestitchatatimechallenge.blogspot.com/ and http://www.charismacardz.blogspot.com/, the Flower Power challenge at  http://scrappyfrogschallenge.blogspot.com/, the Dimension Challenge at http://sentimentalsundays.blogspot.com/, the Embossing challenge at http://stampinsanity.com/blog/ The Color Throw Down challenge (although I opted to use only two of the colors.)

Supplies Used:
Cardstock: Fine Linen, Ripe Avocado (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned Paper: OldWorld Cabbage Soup (Jillibean Soup)
Fibers: Rustic Cream Button Twine, Fine Linen Twill Ribbon (Papertrey Ink)
Stamps: Mega Mixed Messages (Papertrey Ink), Flourish background Stamp (Hero Arts)
Ink: Coffee Archival Ink, Antique Linen Distress Ink, Big & Bossy Embossing Ink (Ranger),
Embellishments:  Craft Tags Brown Bag2 (Paper Accents), Pearl (colored with E35 Copic Marker (Hero Arts)White Doiley (Wilton)
Other Tools: Gypsy, Gypsy Wanderings Cartridge, Cricut Expression (ProvoCraft), Crop-a-Dile Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers), Distress Tool (Tim Holtz), Clear Embossing Powder (Ranger), Scallop Punch (Paper Shapers), Cuttlebug with Embossing Folder (ProvoCraft)

Practical Scrappers Ribbon Challenge

I've been hardly waiting to write up this post for the ribbon challenge at Practical Scrappers this week!  I love ribbon, so naturally I got pretty excited to learn about the ribbon challenge.  However, I wanted to do something new with it so I went on a quest across Internet-land and found this FANTASTIC tutorial over at Scrap A Little by Helen Croft.

To doll the ribbon flower up a bit, I used my Cricut and my Cuttlebug to cut and emboss leaves for the flowers and to add just a bit more zip... I cut a couple of flourishes for the flower too.  The cuts are from my Accent Essentials cartridge which I have been using quite a bit lately I suddenly realized!

The cardstock and patterned papers for this project are from Papertrey Ink. I used Martha Stewart's Royal Butterfly punch for the butterflies and the ribbon and stamped sentiment are Papertrey Ink as well. The pearls are Hero Arts.

I do hope you'll pop on over to Practical Scrappers to check out all the other wonderful Designer inspiration pieces and then join us for this challenge too!

Better Living Through Scrapbooking

Welcome to the last BetterScrap challenge for the month of September! Yes, we know there is still another week in the month after this one but don’t worry – we have something fabulous in store for the crafting community. Be sure to check the Better Living Through Scrabooking blog later this week for news on the fun (and prizes!) we have planned just for you!

“Holiday paper challenge”

Use holiday-themed papers (Christmas, Halloween, Easter, 4th of July, etc.) to create a non-holiday themed page layout or mini album.

Choose at least two of the following prompts:
1. Use photos that are at least five years old.
2. Use punches or a die-cut machine to hand-make embellishments or letters out of patterned paper for your page.
3. Use pop-dots to give 3-D dimension to an element of your page.
4. Use numbers in the title of your page.
5. Use rubber or acrylic stamps somewhere on your page.

Deadline to enter September Challenge #4 (and all other September challenges) is midnight EST September 30th, 2010, so visit the Better Scraps blog to enter today!

For this challenge I selected patterned paper from the Graphic 45 “Christmas Past” collection that I adhered to Discount Cardstock “Natural Smooth 12×12″ cardstock to create the background for this layout of my oldest grandson wearing his #1 sandbox wellies (aka rubber boots).

I also opted to use all of the additions to the challenge with the exception of item 1., a five year old photo (this one was taken in May 2010).

I used my Cricut Expression with both the Freshly Picked and Plantin Schoolbook cartridges to create the title in patterned paper and several page embellishments, including the boots and spade. I popped the title, “Wellies” up with pop dots on it’s shadow that I cut from cardstock with the Cricut. I cut the number sign and the numeral “1″ twice and adhered them together with pop dots to create a 3-D effect. I also used pop dots to raise one boot, and the spade as well for some added dimension on the page.

The journal block is stamped using Stampabilities Journal with Brackets wooden stamp, that I stamped on to Rustic Cream paper and cut out by hand. I then wrote a simple little paragraph about Jack’s boots, “There are probably few little boys who get more pleasure and use out of just one pair of wellies as Jack.”

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: Discount Cardstock “Natural Smooth 80# 12×12, Sunflower 80# 12×12,” Papertrey Ink: “Simply Chartreuse, Rustic Cream, Orange Zest, Enchanted Evening, Harvest Gold, Terra Cotta Tile”; Patterned Paper: Graphic 45 “Christmas Past,” Sassafras: Apple Jack Wee Bundle; Stamps: Stampabilities “Journal with Brackets”; Ink: Memento “Black Tuxedo”; Embellishments: Basic Grey “Granola Chipboard”, My Little Shoebox “Carrot Juice Mini Alphabet Stickers”; Other Tools: Papertrey Ink “Med Scallop Die Cut”, Provo Craft “Cricut Expression, Freshly Picked cartridge, Plantin Schoolbook cartridge”; Pen: Copic “0.5 Multiliner”

Better Living Through Scrapbooking September Newsletter

Have you signed up for the Better Living Through Scrapbooking newsletter yet?  If not, you need to rush on over there right now (well, right after you check out this layout) and sign up!  It's FREE!  Go here to sign up from the right sidebar of the home page for Better Scrap.com.

The newsletter features (among other wonderful things), a really fun challenge and everyone is welcome (and encouraged) to participate too!

“Baby, You’re the Greatest” challenge

Create a baby layout about you, using the oldest photo you have of yourself.
Choose at least 2 of the following:
1. Scan the original photo and print it using your home printer or photo printing service, or take the photo to your local copy shop and have them make a color copy of the photo so that you can scrap the photo and save the original.
2. Use no pastels or “baby colors” on the page (no light pinks, blues or pastel yellows)
3. Frame the photo on your page in an unusual way.
4. Use words/letters as “art”. Cut letters and words from old magazines, junk mail, newspapers, packaging, etc. and use them in an artistic way on your page. Use them as a title, journaling, or just as embellishments on your page.
5. Use lace or ribbon on your page.

And my take on the challenge...

Whoa, now this photograph is a blast from the past for sure! Waaaay back in 1962 when I was but a wee lassie of just one year! I really had to blow the dust off this oldie before I could get any glue to stick to it. Well, okay, maybe I exaggerate, but you get the idea…it’s an old photo that COULD have had dust on it, had I not had it packed away in a Zip Lock bag (ah, the wonders of Zip Lock!).


Okay, now for the challenge I decided to scan the old picture and then scrap the copy (one of the additional parts of the challenge that we could select). I also used ribbon/lace on the page, and I didn’t really use any traditional “baby colors” like pastel blue or pink … although the muted tones of this beauiful Graphic 45 paper certainly lent itself well to a baby layout. However, I recognize that some may consider the colors pastel…but I figured since I did pick the other two additions to the Challenge, I could just use this one as an extra and let you all decided whether the layout features ”baby colors” or not!

After I scanned the photo I warmed it up in Photoshop (with a photo filter) wanting it to have a bit more yellow in it than it actually had (believe it or not! LOL), to match the design more closely. I left my journal entry for the layout very simple and decided to add it in my own handwriting for a more personal touch, it reads, “Elizabeth A. Moore, March 1962, 1 year old.”

I couldn’t resist the chance to create a little wordplay with the title too… “Baby Me.”

Now hop on over to Better Scraps and sign up for the newsletter to see all the other Designer inspiration and by signing up with your email address, you won't ever have to miss an up-coming issue!

Supplies Used:
Patterned Paper: Steampunk Debutante, Le’ Romantique Collection (Graphic 45)
Cardstock: Natural Smooth (Discount Cardstock)
Fibers: Ribbon (Martha Stewart), Lace (Ellen Hutson Freebie), Alabaster Splendid Ribbon (Artsy.licious)
Embellishments: Brads (Making Memories), Flower (Prima Marketing), Journaling Card, Sparklers (Webster’s Pages)
Other Tools: Cricut Expression, Cindi Loo, Fabulous Finds and Tags, Bags, Boxes and More cartridges (ProvoCraft)

A new Challenge at Papercraft Star!

Challenge 13, a Sketch Challenge begins today over at Papercraft Star and this week's inspiration is a sketch created by by me!

You may choose to use the sketch as your inspiration to create any papercraft project you desire and then be sure to enter it at Papercraft Star before Saturday September 18 at 12 noon Eastern time, after that, the voting begins!






So, run.... don't walk to the nearest Papercraft Star (this is the only one I know of... ) click here. While you are there, hurry and sign up for the $25.00 gift certificate drawing too, you have until noon (Eastern Time) on Friday!

By the way... the Papercraft Star Creative Team used the sketch to create inspiration for this challenge to get you going on your own project this week. Today we are showcaseing Regan, Jan, Liz and Caroline's inspiration pieces. If you visit there again tomorrow and Friday you'll see even more inspiration from our talented team of designers that also include Tracy, Steph, Catherine, Christy and Suzy!

Practical Scrappers Button Challenge

Okay, Okay, I admit it! For this week's button challenge over at Practical Scrappers I really hit a wall.  I tried and tried to think of something unique to do with buttons....and I failed before I even got started really.  So, I guess you can say that I attempted to make up for the/lack of button uniqueness with the quantity of buttons I chose to use for this layout.

I do have a great idea now that I am on the subject of a lack of being unique in the way I used the buttons on this layout.... how 'bout you go ahead and join us for this button challenge at Practical Scrappers and you can inspire all of us on how to use buttons in a unique way!  Doesn't that sound fun?! 

As for this layout, I did do two things I don't normally do.  I wrote the journaling in my own handwriting (yuck, I really hate it, and you can see why I don't normally do so, because I think my writing actually DETRACTS from the layout.... but alas, I am trying to love my handwriting since I am reading the book by Heidi Swapp that is suppose to help me learn to write better and love my writing too).  The second thing that I did but don't normally do is keep my embellishments to a minimum using almost exclusively buttons, because I didn't want to detract from THAT FACE! :-)

Okay... I think that is it for now... if you want to see what I wrote for the journaling...just click on the photograph, I believe it is large enough read (if you can actually read my writing - ha!)


Supplies Used:

A whole bunch of stuff that I wrote on a piece of paper that I misplaced... ugh. :-)

Gone Scrapping and Examiner.Com

Today I wanted to take a moment to share another card I created for the Gone Scrapping Creative Team that was published at Examiner.Com.  I made this card back in August after Sandi, a girlfriend of mine had surgery and was recovering.  You'd probably never guess that when it comes to papercrafting my biggest passion is scrapbooking because I certainly have been posting a lot of cards over the past couple of months. The fact is, I've spent a lot of my crafting time doing anything but layouts because there are lots of occassions that I like to recognize with a handmade card and when I can I like to incorporate my Design Team work with whatever I am making.

Anyhow, for this card and to brighten Sandi's day I combined cheerful solid colors that coordinated perfectly with the Beautiful Blooms patterned paper that I used on the card. I finished the project off with a crisp white bow and shiny gemmed brad.

Product List

Papertrey Ink
Beautiful Blooms Patterned Paper Collection
Pure Poppy, Simply Chartreuse, Hawaiian Shores Cardstock
Beautiful Blooms II Stamps
Twill Ribbon, Fresh Snow
Hybrid Ink, Hawaiian Shores

Sizzix
Tim Holtz Alterations "The Edge" Brackets

Spellbinders
Nestabilities Labels 9

Hero Arts
Classic Messages Stamp

Papercraft Star Fabulous Bloggers and Other News!

(If you are here to pick up your blogger award... keep reading!!) :-)

So much stuff is going on over a Papercraft Star (have you been there yet?)

We are in the middle of a membership (followers) drive (with give-aways). We started a new program "Papercraft Star Friends" and we have a $25.00 gift certificate give-away going on Right Now (click here to learn more!)

To learn more about becoming a Friend of Papercraft Star and getting your blog listed on the left sidebar of the Papercraft Star blog, click right here.

In addition to that, the Executive Team (Kristina, Jan and Myself) as well as the whole Creative Team are out and about at papercrafting blogs (as we speak) giving out this Fabulous Blogger Star Award!

Just one part of the mission of Papercraft Star is to encourage crafters of all skill levels and so, we are out looking for blogs that maybe have something extra special going on... perhaps it is a fabulous project recently posted, or a wonderful story, or perhaps they are just starting up and need some encouragement! 

Today, I've found three such blogs that I would like to recognize with this post.  Here is how receiving this award works.  The Award winner comes here to copy and paste the award to their blog and they make a post with the award in it... then they answer these two questions,

My most favorite papercraft project I've ever made is....

I like to craft because...

Then, after answering the questions in their own blogpost (this is so we can all get to know a little something about each other), they choose three people to give the award to as well...and they will then do the same thing!

Okay... so to learn more about all the fun stuff going on at Papercraft Star...go here.

And now... the Fabulous Crafters/Bloggers that I am presenting this award to today are:

Grandma Penny (She has a Siamese cat that is PuRRRRRfect too!)

RLS Innovations

Stefeni of My Idea Box

Have a great day everyone!

BBTB2 Challenge - Crayon Box from Bags, Tags, Boxes and More

'Tis time for another weekly challenge over at the BBTB2 blog and this week Regina Easter (the original creator of Bitten by the Bug) selected the Crayon Box from the Bags, Tags, Boxes and More cartridge.

I used the cut to create a gift box from a piece of 12 x 12 American Crafts white cardstock. I cut the box using the "Fit to Page" selection button on the Cricut in order to make it as large as I could. The image cut at 8 3/4 inches, which is large enough (when folded) to fit a stack of standard A2 cards and envelopes.  In other words it is the perfect box for presentation of a stack of notecards or gift cards... what a cute gift that will be! Granted I haven't made the gift cards to go into this particular box (YET)...but I see that in my future.

Please excuse the strange photo set-up... I finished up crafting in the wee hours of the night, and thus the lighting was less than wonderful, so I put the box up on my shelves with my Cricut carts to photograph where the lighting was just a tad better.

To decorate this box, I used for the first time EVAH, Bazzil cardstock (gasp) (I typically use Papertrey Ink and American Crafts)... but I loved the paper and so I certainly won't be afraid to use it again.  The patterned paper is from Basic Grey. I used my Accent Essentials cart to create the flowers and flourishes and Walk in My Garden to create the leaves of the flower.  The ribbon is from Papertrey Ink, in Terra Cotta Tile. Tim Holtz and his nifty Brackets Alterations helped me doll up the cardstock and why that cute little rhinestone came right from my stash. So that's the supply low-down, now head on over to Bitten by the Bug2 and join us in the Crayon Box challenge!

Fashion Disaster over at Better Living Through Scrapbooking

It's a new challenge over at Better Living Through Scrapbooking and you are not going to believe what is in store for you!  You've just got to join in this week and of course, once you are finished here, make sure you go take a look at all the inspiration our Design Team has crafted up for you to get you going on this week's challenge! 

“Fashion disaster challenge”
Create a layout about a fashion disaster, hair disaster, or social faux pas that happened to you.
1. Use an old school photo of yourself on your layout.
2. Use fabric or canvas on your page(s).
3. Use one larger and two smaller photo on your page.
4. Use ribbon in a fun and/or unusual way on your page.
5. Use the following as a page title, or the beginning of your journaling: “Quick, Call the Fashion Police!”

To tell the truth, when I learned about this challenge, I knew exactly what photo I was going to use, (trust me, though I may have plenty of fashion disaster photos, nothing tops this one) anyhow, after I dug the photo out of the dust, I quickly learned that it is no easy task to match up the beautiful patterned papers from Graphic 45 with a fashion disaster like this one. Where are the people from the television show, "What not to Wear" when you need them anyhow?

At any rate, I'm not even going to attempt to explain this outfit (or the HAIR for that matter). I'll simply say that besides using the sponsor products from Discount Cardstock and Graphic 45, I also chose to use the additional items 4., to use ribbon in a fun and/or unusual way and and 3., to use one larger and two smaller photos on the page (as if I actually needed to have more than one photo to prove this was a true fashion blunder, even for that decade). It's scary really! Perhaps I should have used the ribbon to cover the photos! LOL.

This "Note to Self" reads simply, "No one should be caught dead in an outfit like this, no matter how pregnant they might be. Unless maybe it is Halloween."

I think maybe I should get some kind of (crazy) award for actually putting a scrapbook layout up for the whole world to see with a photo like THIS of me on it!  Don't you?  So, just so I don't feel all alone... go ahead and dig out some of those old fashion disaster photos (you know you got 'em) and get scrappin'!

P.S. I realized after I finished this layout that I actually put the wrong date down for when this photo was taken... it was actually 1989... not 1990 (does that make a difference...maybe?).


Supplies Used:
Patterned Paper: Hallowe'en in Wonderland (Graphic 45)
Cardstock: Midnight Black #80, Natural Smooth (Discount Cardstock)
Fiber: True Black Twill Ribbon, Rustic Button Twine (Papertrey Ink)
Embellishments: Hallowe'en in Wonderland Die Cuts (Graphic 45)
Other Tools: Cricut Expression, Don Juan Font cartridge (ProvoCraft)

Vote for your Favorites at Papercraft Star!

Voting has begun for Challenge 12 over at Papercraft Star! We have a large number of entries for this week's photo inspiration challenge so you've got quite a selection to choose from.  You can cast two votes one for your favorite participant project and one for your favorite Design Team project! 

Also, if you not a follower over at Papercraft Star yet, we're in the middle of a big "followership" drive right now... We've got prizes to give away once we reach 250 and 500 followers!  So head on over there right now to join us!

Hope to see you at Papercraft Star soon!

A little Grandson Love....

Just had to post two recent photographs of the cutest little men in the ENTIRE universe... it's okay to gush... I do all the time! :-)

I HEART Jumping Jax Designs

Becca from Jumping Jax Designs took a few formating speicifications and my blog bio and created a space for me that feels more like home than my own home (cleaner and less animal fur too)!

Of course, I knew she was talented long before I hired her to recreate the unique look of Runs with Scraps, after all, she did design Papercraft Star as well! Not to mention, my best buddy Kristina from Kristina's World blog.

I had such a fabulous time interacting with Becca as she created my blog (I might just have to hire her to make another blog, just so she has a reason to keep in contact with me) .

At any rate, I want to sincerely thank Becca of Jumping Jax Designs for creating a design that so totally reflects me and the vision I had for Runs with Scraps but could have never realized without her!

Thank you again Becca...it was a true pleasure working with you!

Cough, Cough... please excuse the dust...

while my blog goes through some changes!

Give us some assistance and you could win a great prize!

We need you to help us promote our new Papercraft Star Facebook Page! Visit our page right here, and then at the top left of the page, under the Papercraft logo, click on Suggest to Friends, once your friend list pops up starting inviting everyone you know! Once we hit 150 fans, we'll award a $15.00 gift certificate to either Papertrey Ink or My Favorite Things (winner's choice!) over at the Papercraft Star blog.

While you are at it, let ALL your friends know about Papercraft Star the challenge blog too! We want to reach 500 followers before the end of September! Once we reach 250 we'll award a $25.00 gift certificate to one random follower... and once we reach 500 followers at the Papercraft Star blog, we'll award another $25.00 gift certificate to another random follower. The winners get to pick the store!

So spread the word... and remember, we want people from all skill levels to join us in our challenges over at Papercraft Star ... so please encourage your scrapping and papercrafting friends to join us in our next challenge that start tomorrow!

Gone Scrapping and Examiner.Com

I do believe that it is a perfect day to share with you a card that I made earlier last month as part of the Gone Scrapping Creative Team for publication at Examiner.Com.  I created this Thanks for Everything Card using fresh and colorful Garden Variety patterned paper and Ready Set Chipboard by Cosmo Cricut. I added stiching on all the layers of patterned paper and inked edges to add to the overall homestyle feel of this card that I made for a friend of mine.

It's the first time I used chipboard as the main feature of a card and I think it turned out bee-utiful. When I bought that whole page of the Garden Variety Chipboard I wondered what on earth I would do with all of it... now I know it's just as cute for cards as it is for layouts! The strawberries actually came in one long 12 inch border piece, so I simply cut off a portion for this card.


Product List

Cosmo Cricut
Garden Variety Patterned Paper Collection
Garden Variety Ready Set Chipboard
Papertrey Ink
Vintage Cream Ribbon
Rustic Cream Cardstock
Year of Flowers Violet Sentiment
Spellbinders
Nestabilities Classic Scallop, Small
Nestabilities Standard Circles, Small
Ranger
Archival Ink, Coffee
Tim Holtz Distress Ink, Antique Linen
Other Tools
Singer Sewing Machine; White Thread

BBTB2 Challenge - Reader's Choice - Mini Monograms

This week at BBTB2 the challenge is to use any number with any feature key from the Mini Monograms cartridge.  I found myself in the mood to create a Halloween card. That alone created quite a challenge for me, because at first I just could not think of a way to incorporate a number from the Mini Monogram cart with a Halloween theme... so ummm, eventually I ended up with "1 Scray Cat"... (I didn't say it was clever, I just said I ended up with it...)

It isn't exactly the most sophisticated of cards - but it did give me the opportunity to use my new Graphic 45 Halloween in Wonderland paper right along with my new Happy Hauntings Cricut cartridge, and of course the Mini Monogram cart as well (we can't forget that...as it is the challenge this week).  I also used Kraft, Zesty Orange, and True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink. Also from Papertrey Ink is the Saddle Stitch ribbon in orange as well as the button twine. I added a bit of glossy accents on the bat tie (on the cat) and the monogram dots too... which actually ended up helping me to create a bit of a shiny mess in places on the card... I HATE when that happens! (grin).

Now it's your turn to create your happy mess, so hop on over to Bitten By the Bug 2 and get your craft on with this Mini Monogram challenge...or I'll have to send my scary cat after you!  muwahahaha.

BBTB2 Runs with Scraps Blog Hop Winner

I'm excited to announce the winner of the recent BBTB2 blog hop!  

GiGi said... I love your card. Right now my favorite cart is Happy Hauntings! I'm having lots of fun creating Halloween stuff! :D

Gigi is the winner of a $17.50 gift certificate to My Favorite Things. 

Since Gigi also left her email address with her comment, I'll be sending her the gift certificate today (as soon as I finish this post in fact)!

I sincerely thank everyone who played along with all of us at Bitten by the Bug2 by creating their own project with the apron cut!  I also thank all of you who stopped by here during the week-long blog hop, left comments and become followers as well!

Hope you are all enjoying the last days of summer and this long holiday weekend!

Better Scrap Bad Photo Challenge

If you really want some inspiration to step outside your scrapbooking box, then joining us for this week's challenge at Better Living Through Scrapbooking is the way to go!  For this second challenge of September we're asking you to not skip through those "bad" photos or toss them into the trash, unused... Instead, we want you to put them into a layout... here are the full challenge details.

"Bad Photo Challenge"

Create a layout using a photo or photos that you would normally have discarded.

Choose at least 2 of the following:
1. Use rub-ons or stickers directly on your photo(s).
2. Use paint on your page in a messy or unusual way.
3. Use a die-cut or pre-purchased journaling “spot” on which to write your journaling.
4. Use the following sketch as design inspiration for your page: http://www.betterscrap.com/images/sketch2.jpg
5. Make a handmade flower using Katie’s technique in our August 1st reveal, and use the flower on your layout.

To start my layout for this challenge I selected some photographs of my oldest grandson when he was about 11 months old. We dicarded a lot of his photographs back then simply because his parents taught him to "Say Cheese" for the camera. I also used items 1 through 4 additions to the challenge. I used stickers directly on my photos, I "messy" painted a frame around the layout, I used the sketch as inspiration and I used some purchased journaling spots for the background of my journal entry.

The journaling reads, "We always had a difficult time getting photographs of Jack smiling (actually we still do!). For most photographs Jack kept a poker-face on.  So his parents spent a lot of time just before he turned 1 year old teaching him to "Say Cheese" for the camera.  Once Jack learned,  we stopped getting even the rare photograph of him smiling like the first one pictured here and starting getting  photographs like the last two pictures, bad or just plain SCARY, instead.  We soon stopped telling Jack to "Say Cheese" and instead just said..."Smile" and if he didn't...we took the photograph anyhow, poker face or not...even that is a better face than his "Say Cheese" scary smile! (Jack pictured at approximately 11 months old... journaling done August 2010)."

Our sponsors for this month at Better Scrap are Graphic 45 and Discount Cardstock, so I've featured their yummy products in this layout.

Now head on over to Better Scrap and take a look at all the fun and inspirational layouts the rest of our Creative Team have prepared for you this week... and most importantly, join us in this "Bad Photo" challenge!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: Midnight Black #80, Natural Smooth (Discount Cardstock)
Patterned Paper: Nonsense Uncommon from Hallowe'en in Wonderland Collection, The Holly & the Ivy Christmas Past Collection (Graphic 45)
Stickers: Granola Chip Stickes (Basic Grey), Mini Market Stickers Ledger, Thrift Shop Label Stickers(October Afternoon)
Embellishments: Vintage Button (Papertrey Ink), Kraft Journaling Tags (Maya Road) Rustic Cream Button Twine (Papertrey Ink), Memo Pin (Tim Holtz) Pearls and Gems (Hero Arts)
Other Tools: Black Calligraphy 2.0 Pen (Marvy), Corner Chomper (Crop 'O Dile), Black and Cream Acrylic paints (Delta Ceramcoat)

That annoying security word typing...

Okay...so I just had to post this today, as it is kind of a funny story, um. Sort of.  You know when you go to someone's blog to leave a comment and you write the comment then you enter it and then it comes up and then you have to type in a word and then you have to hit enter again.  (fair warning that this will offend some) I HATE THAT! 

So, when my gal pal Kristina and I started the challenge blog over at Papercraft Star early this summer, and we wrote up the Design Team guidelines, I encouraged all the Designers to remove this step from their blog so as not to force commenters to take that extra time just to leave a comment. When you leave a lot of comments on blogs like many Design Teams do, it takes a lot of extra time to type in that word (especially if you get the word wrong the first time!!!)  At any rate, I even mentioned in the guidelines that we wrote that my blog has NEVER required that step and I hadn't ever received any comments that were inappropriate or unwanted. 

Well............. to make a long story short... I don't know how or when it happened... but apparently my blog at some point (or maybe always??) was set to require commenters to type in the security word in order to leave a comment here at Runs with Scraps.... ACCCCKKKKK!  :-|

Are you kiddding me??!!!  All this time I have loathed this extra step (I just like to comment, press enter and move on!).... and my blog has been requiring this step from my readers.... EEEEKKKKKkkkkkk.  (Kristina just pointed this out to me the other day, after we were reviewing the Design Team guidelines for changes.)

This makes me wonder, how many of the Designers from the Papercraft Star team came to my blog, left messages here and wondered why the HECK I required that step when I asked them to consider NOT doing that??!!!   (can you see my red face here??)

At any rate.... here at my blog that annoying step to enter the security word has been removed!... (even tho I thought it was NEVER there).... and I'm just hoping that should it mysteriously appear again, that someone will tell me right away so that I can remove it again!!

Now...that said there are perhaps some of you who require that on your blogs and perhaps this post will offend you, so I apologize in advance for that... I hope you know that I love and adore you all.... but I do hate typing in that word.  However.... for you... I'll do it.... I just won't like it! LOL.  xoxoxox

Hope you are enjoying your long weekend!!!

P.S. If you want to remove the word verification from your blog, in your dashboard go to settings, then comments, then scroll down to word verification and select no.

Practical Scrappers Friday Sketch

It's Farm Market time around Michigan and this put me in the mood to use this fun Practical Scrappers sketch by Sasya to create a "veggie-style" card with the Garden Variety Cosmo Cricut papers and chipboard. This card is a great way to let your "Sweet-Pea" know you are thinking of them, me thinks anyhow! :-) 

If you head on over to Practical Scrappers right now you can check out the other Design Team creations that I'm sure will spark your creativity.  We've got a link up over at the blog right now so that you can join us with this sketch challenge!

For the record, everything that went into creating this card is Cosmo Cricut and Papertrey Ink.

Do enjoy your weekend and have a safe holiday!

Lift Alert from Paper Craft Magazine Go-to-Sketches

I fell in love with the Mother's Day card by Kim Kesti pictured on Page 96 of Paper Craft Magazine's Go-to-Sketches Volume 1. Although I didn't have the supplies to recreate Kim's card exactly (the original has chipboard flowers), I used my Cricut and the Accent Essentials Cartridge to make flowers that mimicked those used on Kim's original card. I layered the flower die-cuts, adhered them together with brads from my stash and then popped them up on the card using Pop Dots.  I think I should note at this point that the Go-to-Sketches Volume 1 is filled with inspiration!

This card was recently published at the National Scrapbooking Examiner for the Gone Scrapbooking Creative Team. 

Product list:

American Crafts
- Element Brads
Basic Grey
- Brads
Papertrey Ink
- Mega Mixed Message Stamp Set
- Rustic White, Pure Poppy, Smokey Shadow, Spring Rain, and Simply Chartreuse Cardstock
ProvoCraft
- Accent Esstentials Cartridge
- Cricut Expressions Machine
October Afternoon
- Report Card Patterned Paper Collection

Practical Scrappers Challenge and Cri-Kits

I've been hardly waiting for this week's challenge at Practical Scrappers and the reveal as well for that matter.  A while back the manufacturer of Cri-Kits sent me their fantastic pen kits to try out.  They have four kits that include, Regular and Neon, Glitter, Mettalic, and Pastels.  They also have two sweet swirl pens that you can get for free right now just for buying the other four sets.  It's a super great deal to be sure! 

Anyhow, since I received the kits I meant to post a few projects right away, but the time just go away from me...until this challenge that is.  The kits include everything you need to draw with your Cricut or Pazzels machines.  You simply replace your blade and blade housing with one of the Cri-Kit gel pens and the pen housing, adjust your pressure and blade settings, select an image and press "cut",  The pen draws the image out for you (as opposed to the cutting that the blade would do.)  You can read more about their kits (and buy them too) by clicking right here.

Okay, now for my project.  The challenge at Practical Scrappers was to use a white pen on your project.  So I decided to make my patterned papers and my sentiment for the card with the Cri-Kits white gel pen from their Pastel kit.  After replacing my blade housing with the pen housing and pen, I adjusted the settings on my Cricut per the manufacturer directions and selected two different images from the Cindi Loo cartridge to create my patterned paper.  I printed the first doily image I selected at 5 3/4 inches (my card base here is 6  x 6).  I cut that image out to use as the first layer of the card and adhered it to the cardbase.  I then selected another doily image and set the size at 1 1/4. I selected that image four times and press cut.  I then cut out the strip of printed mini doilies and matted them on white cardstock and adhered that to the front of the card. Finally, I selected a thank you sentiment from one of my Cricut Cartridges (eek, I can't remember which one and forgot to write it down) and used the Cricut to print it out on black paper which I matted on white cardstock and adhered to the card front.  Here is what the finished product looks like.... remember the only thing I used on the paper was the white gel pen with my Cricut Machine...

Is that just totally awesome or what?  To finish the card off, I added some sheer white ribbon I purchased at my LSS and some rhinestones I've had in my stash for I don't know how long.  I loved how this card turned out and I envision being able to create many of my own patterned papers using the wide variety of pen color selections and cardstock colors I keep on hand. Between the pens, your cardstock colors and all the different images on your Cricut Cartridges your options are unlimited as to what you can do to create your next paper project.  Not to mention the fact that you can write just about any sentiment you can think of using these pens and your Cricut!  Stay tuned for more Cri-Kits creations coming up over the next few weeks and don't forget to enter your own project over at Practical Scrappers too!



Supplies Used:

Cri-Kits Pen Holder and White Gel Pen from Pastels Cri-Kit
Cricut Cartridge: Cindi Loo and another one that I forget
Cardstock: True Black and Stampers Select from Papertrey Ink
Rhinestones and Ribbon from my stash