010116 Archi-scraps January Challenge

Well, another new year - another clean slate - another opportunity to resolve to improve...

Use watercolours. 

I don't mind if I do!

At first, I was thinking of something artsy & challenging.

I can really spend a lot of time thinking about this stuff without doing anything, lol.

I found this fab yet easy-peasy technique on Pinterest:

LINK

As usual, my vision took a few detours. 

I wanted to use these photos with this quote.

I tried a few combinations with the doily paper I created but wasn't happy with any of them.
And that washi in the first photo left a nasty sticky residue, sigh...

Do you ever reach that point when you have to stop forcing something to work & move on?
(That happens to me a lot - I guess you could call me a random scrapper.)
I reluctantly put the photos & sentiment away & went in search of a new image to scrap.

I still loved the doilies, though, so I decided to fussy-cut them & make a banner.
That would help me knock out another Whimsical Musings prompt #181 - be inspired by banners.

Well, the fussy-cutting went well, but my banner idea went South... sigh.
 I started all of this so early & was now getting nowhere FAST!
Here's the image I chose (which of course I forgot to photo until the page was done)
I went downstairs to scan the original so I could adjust the exposure.

This was where I was heading but was not liking the colors with my doilies...

I continued to sub in papers until I was happier, then went to check them with the photo.
Yet that impish little photo that had run off & hid somewhere - seriously???

I had just about given up & was going to throw a card together but decided just to go to bed
& work it all out in the morning (well, later in the morning as it was 2 a.m.)

Amazing what a good night's sleep will do for your creative brain.
Also what it apparently can do to cause an impish little photo to reappear - whew!

Without further ado...

Although this photo is truly one of my all-time faves, I'm not sure how crazy I am about the layout.

I added some hand stitching for texture & a custom stamped border lifted from my uber-inspiring scrappy friend, Susan. Visit her blog Little Things, Big Days for a mega dose of creativity.

Even my photographs turned out poorly.

I hope you have better luck than I did!

Please share your creation with us at Archi-scraps.

Thanks for stopping by!

121715 My December Daily Progress

It's been a quiet month here on the blog. Busy, busy, busy with shopping & parties & visiting the Saginaw area sharing the gospel &  inviting people to First Baptist's big Christmas program.
If you aren't in the area please join us via livestream Sunday, December 20th 6:00pm EST!

My post over at Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog about my December Daily
includes a slide show of my pages but I wanted to add some personal & crafty details here.

Day One: This year we are going with a much more neutral & natural Christmas decor.

Day Two: Such a precious shot by El of the boys in a sweet moment.

Day Three: We are trying to invite the entire community to our Christmas drama this year.

Day Four: It's always so much fun to get the first Christmas card in the mail! 

I even saved the cute stamp & included it on the page.

Day Five: First party, so I crafted a festive shaker pocket.

Day Six: I used a patterned transparency to get two titles on this one day. 

Where the letters showed from the other side I added some hearts.

Day Seven: I love this bicycle propped by the fence, so this year we decided to string it with lights!

Day Eight: Favorite eatery in Gladwin where we are greeted by a black bear at the door.

Day Nine: Sally surprised me with goodies! 

Day Ten: Sad day - Blondie & Barbara moved on to greener pastures.

Day Eleven: Our little man is 4 years old today!

Day Twelve: Finally getting the tree trimmed - it has stood there bare in the living room for a week.

Day Thirteen: Finished decorating in the living room.

Day Fourteen: Dara's party! Made some new friends :)

So much inspiration out there, but I especially love Let's December Daily.
Be sure to visit the link!

It's been a great December so far!
Enjoy the season of the Saviour's birth.
He IS the reason for the season.

120115 Archi-scraps December Challenge

December's criteria at Archi-scraps is

Now this poses a dilemma.

Do I look for a photo?

Do I search my stash for something blingy to inspire me?

Do I try to think of a story?

What shall I do...

Well, inspiration dropped into my lap as my daughter sent me
these photos of the grands joyously playing in the first snow of the season!

I already had my Christmas/Winter stash out in preparation for a December Daily project.
It was just a matter of choosing the papers. I wanted to keep to a primarily black & white scheme
and the grey polka dots reminded me of falling snow. The awesome October Afternoon plaid is
 actually from the Sassafras line - a cowboy western collection. I love it here!

I had a lot of fun adding bling to a boy page.

Thanks for stopping by!

112515 I'm Thankful for Happy Scrapping Time

It's been a little while since I've scrapped for fun.

Not for a deadline, not for a challenge, not with a kit...

First up, uber cute Addie! 

I got a new leaf die & wanted to play with it.

I had a few leaves that were the wrong shade, and that big white space was really bugging me. Actually the color on the other side gives a nice tint to the shadow underneath. Happy accident.

 Second up is a page for Whimsical Musings prompt #190: be inspired by pumpkins!

 Here's a little of the thought process for this one. This was where I began... 

I just needed to get all of those photos on the page.

I kept trying to think of what to do with that kraft background. Stamp it? 

Who am I kidding? I want patterned paper!

I remembered this post from Susan Brochu with a technique dubbed, "reverse matting", 

shown in this YouTube video by Tracy Banks aka Mercytiara.

I used that as a way to introduce some patterned paper. 

It also makes a great place to tuck other papers into.

I had decided that I wanted a tiny touch of white to tie in with the white borders of the photos.

It looked great on the kraft, but I eventually traded the kraft for the subtle pattern that dramatically lightened & brightened the whole page. I couldn't forsake the kraft altogether so it made a reappearance as a third layer in the border which I finished off with machine stitching.

I wanted to dress up those title letters so I added a little floss detail.

 I added a simple stitch to the edge of the featured photo as well to tie it all together.

 There is a little secret twist. When I got most everything adhered it had all 

gotten shifted too far to the left - ugh! I hunted up the embellishment pack & added 

one more pumpkin & a random leaf to the title block. Voila!

To my American peeps: Don't eat too much pie tomorrow! Save some for breakfast on Friday, hehe...

Thanks for stopping by!

112015 CKC Special Design Team Challenge

Over at Counterfeit Kit Challenge the Master Forgers have some chit chat & lots of fun
going on every day. We have such a FUN & nice group on the Design Team!
It's like stopping to chat with dear friends any time, night or day, as we are international.

Our own Lisa Hausmann finds a scrummy inspiration for us every now & then.
This time we get to play with some really cute
gratitude/thankfulness FREE printables from Allison Kimball .

Link HERE and HERE

I chose this thankfulness graph.

With the size of my alpha stash I chose my own letters for the "thankfulness" title.

I loved her adorable doodled patterns on the graph towers, but wanted to use more stash,
so I cut out inside the black lines and used washi tape on a backer piece.
I tried to stay as similar as possible to Allison's original pattern ideas.

I love having a record of all of my current blessings!

I know you will find the perfect inspiration for your very own gratitude page.
There is a lot of other inspiration on Allison's blog so be sure you make some time to check it out!

Now hop on...

Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog   http://www.counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com

Bethany   http://inspiredscrapper-bethany.blogspot.com

Lynnette   http://www.sassyscrapper2010.blogspot.de

Susan   http://littlethingsbigdays.blogspot.com

Susanne   http://snapsandsnippets.blogspot.de

YOU ARE HERE: Leslie   http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com

GO HERE NOW: Kelly   http://www.honeysucklehillcrafts.com

Margie   http://scrappinmargie.blogspot.com

Lisa   http://lisahausmann.blogspot.de

Thanks for stopping by!

111515 Frosty Festivities 2015 at Jennifer Grace Creates

Well, hi there!

So glad you hopped on by for the 2015 Frosty Festivities Blog Hop!

Jennifer has challenged us to put our creative elf caps on & give you 

something wonderful to inspire you to create for the upcoming season.

Personally? I'm a big fan of easy to make but packs a punch...

I wanted  to add a new element to my mantel this year.
I saw a lot of cute ideas for ways to dress up clear glass ball ornaments
but I ultimately decided to simply stuff them with gold & white elements!

Hanging glittered snowflakes, gold tinsel, sections of a feathered boa & gold jingle bells peek out of these glass ornaments.

Tied onto a wide ribbon of dreamy tulle they add the perfect bit of interest that demands a closer look.

If you check on my Christmas Pinterest Board you can find other ideas for these ornaments.

Be it Christmas, New Year or winter, decking your halls or your hair, capturing the memories or finding new traditions, I hope we have given you some new directions for your creativity.

And just in case everything you've seen so far this month & will see today on the hop isn't inspiring enough? Jennifer Grace is giving away this PRIZE PACK of a Lawn Fawn stamp set and more - enter to win by commenting on all the blogs in the Frosty Festivities 2015 hop! The giveaway closes on Sunday the 6th of December at 10pm GMT, and is open internationally.

Make sure that you don't miss any of the stops on the hop today!

Jennifer - http://jennifergracecreates.com/

Claire N - http://www.creativemakings.co.uk/

Clare B - http://clarebrowndesign.com/

Daphne - https://dapfniedesign.wordpress.com/

Furrypig - http://chattycraftyartypig.blogspot.co.uk/

Jacky - http://scrappyjackylive.blogspot.co.uk/

Julia - http://juliaheald.blogspot.co.uk/

Katherine - http://fruitofmyscraps.blogspot.co.uk/

YOU ARE HERE: Leslie - http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.co.uk/

GO HERE NOW: Mandysea - http://teacupofscrapisms.blogspot.com.au/

Sheena - http://sheenasscrapsandscribbles.blogspot.co.uk/

Jennifer - http://jennifergracecreates.com/

Thanks for stopping by!

110415 CKC November Tutorials

This month's inspiration is the "Cedar Lane" collection from Pink Paislee.

This paper caught my eye & I decided I could do a decent forgery.

 I loved the bookpage background of the words & found three OLD sets of alphabets like that.

As you can see below I pulled the word "happy" from them & gently stuck them to some rulers.

I used the "happy" die in my Hero Arts stamp & cuts set

on a variety of papers from my stash with bookpage-style patterns.

I used some smaller stamps (happy, smile, Yay!) to fill in the gaps.

Stamping some of them off the edge of the page helps the counterfeit look more professional.

I had one little booboo near the bottom where I tried to kiss a script stamp onto the "happy" stamp in the Hero Arts set, which barely showed up at all but of course left some little blemishes on my page.

I decided to just ignore it & stamped some sentiments right on top!

My philosophy with stamping is that it's all good...finished is better than perfect.

I have actually used a white pen on a white background to color over these if I just can't stand it.

I really, really wanted to forge these COOL arrows:

 Yes - that's GOLD GLITTER accenting them...swoon.

But I got real & decided to take the easy way out, lol.
From some of the discussion in the background by the Design Team,
I think you may see these counterfeited, and I can't wait!

 

I used my arrow dies with the multi-striped paper & I'm so happy with how they came out.

No arrow die? Freehand fussy-cut some funky arrows, baby!
I used these on one of the cards below.

 I love cut-apart papers!

 

I cut a few card blanks & played around with what was in my kit.

The little sentiments helped me decide what to do with these.

Okay, then!
Go take a look at what's in your kit & choose a favorite item from the inspiration.
Give it a whirl - the forging is almost as fun as the scrapping!

Thanks for stopping by!