WRECKING BALL

This is my latest creation for Red Carpet Studio.  And sadly, it will be the last for a little while. RCS is going on a  hiatus, but we will be back.  And we have some great challenges and prizes on the horizon.  For this final challenge, the inspiration was the poster for the movie "The Iron Giant."  I was inspired by the "iron" of the robot in the poster and  instantly thought of my daughter's creation two Halloween's ago.  I should be worried when she asks for strange objects; this time around it was gray spray paint, the dog's choke chain, & a tube of super glue.  I go outside, and this is what I found...She turned an old Bratz doll into Miley Cyrus riding on a wrecking ball...I really had no words for this....Especially when I saw she wrote "censored" across the doll's chest.  In addition for this layout, I used a sketch from my new design team Sketches in Thyme and paper from Michael's that I thought looked industrial; something a wrecking ball would smash.  The metal part of this project are the music notes in the title.  And because pumpkins played such a pivotal role in this outdoor masterpiece, I added a dash of orange (another shout out to the movie poster as well).  Please check back on our RCS blog to get an update on when we will be posting projects again.  Until then, thank you for all your love on our blog, on our personal blogs, and our facebook page!

PLAY BALL

Here's another little secret I've been keeping under the wraps for a while...I was asked in March to join a new sketch design team for one of my favorite scrapbooking blogs; Sketches in Thyme!  I have been a fan of their sketches for years, so having been selected for their design team was such an honor!  So for my first sketch assignment, found below, I was inspired by the circles.  And as I've said so many times, I'm a seasonal scrapbooker.  And nothing screams spring to me like going to a Dayton Dragons baseball game.  My girls are very fortunate sports fans because their Uncle is a pitching coach for the West Michigan White Caps; a minor league team that our local team the Dragons often play.  When "Uncle Marko" is in town, he keeps the girls in amazing seats at the ballpark.  We were literally right behind home plate at this game.  My oldest was "enjoying the view" of all the cute ball players.  (She is her mother's daughter...nothing like a baseball player in his uniform...).  My youngest, the sports fanatic, was trying to figure out the game.  Nevertheless, we had a great time.  And I got some great pictures from the day.  So when I saw this sketch, I saw baseballs.  I kept the baseball theme throughout using a brown leather looking paper as a shout out to the baseball glove, baseball theme stickers, and used the Dragons colors as the base for this layout..

THE EASTER BUNNY HAS ARRIVED

This is my latest double page layout for my new sketch team "Let's Scrap."  I absolutely ADORED the sketch.  I have a soft place in my heart for mock paper ribbons on layouts basically because I never know how to use busy paper without overpowering my photos.  Being the seasonal scrapper that I am, I decided to dip into my Easter picture archives and chose some classics of when my oldest daughter was a toddler at Easter time to use for this sketch.  I can't believe how much she has changed...so much in fact her little sister looked at these pictures and said, "Who is this girl?"  I used a new line of Easter theme paper entitled "Happy Easter" from Echo Park to pull this project together.

AHOY THERE

This is my latest creation for RCS.  The inspiration for this challenge was the 1980's classic movie "Overboard."  This is truly one of my favorites from my childhood.  I loved watching Goldie Hawn trying to wrangle the wild children of the carpenter who was pulling a fast one on her.  However, my favorite scenes were her attempting to do housekeeping in the pigsty they called home...So for this project, we were asked to combine a masculine and feminine element; similar to the plot of the movie "Overboard."   I decided to go literal and use a picture of my daughters (feminine) hanging out on a boat (masculine).  I used papers from the Carta Bella "Ahoy There" collection along with Echo Park's "Summer Adventure" to bring this layout together.  And in case anyone is wondering, no one went "Overboard" on this boat adventure!

FROSTED DESIGNS GUEST DESIGN PROJECTS

I got wonderful news back in January when the talented crafters at Frosted Designs invited me to be a Guest Designer for their blog this Spring.  One of the reasons I like Frosted Designs so much is because their design team not only produces amazing scrapbooking projects, but also creates paper craft items that can be used for a variety of occasions.  I am a teacher by trade, and recently in my class, we finished studying about Western Expansion.  Sometimes the strangest things inspire me, and with all the discussions we were having about the Wild West and the Gold Rush, I decided to create projects with a "western theme" using paper and stickers from the October Afternoon "Sasparilla" line.  In addition, upon looking at my calendar, I realized that Teacher Appreciation Week is on the horizon; May 4-8, 2015 to be exact.  So I decided to create projects to be used as possible Teacher Appreciation Gifts.  Because I'm a busy working Mom, I wanted to create gifts that would be easy to create for any level of crafter.  For my first project, I created a "Wanted" scrapbook 8x10 picture frame featuring my students in front of the Supreme Court building in Washington DC last year.  For the second project, I designed a gift card "pocket" similar to what a sheriff would wear in the Wild West.  I created the pattern myself, added a gift tag pocket, a few embellishments to make the pocket look authentic, and then added a Starbucks gift card.  The final project is a mason jar filled with trail mix.  Of all the projects, this one was the easiest to create.  A mixture of M&M's, raisins, peanuts, a small square of a red handkerchief, a western tag, and some jute had this project created in no time.  (And as a teacher, I will say this would be my favorite of the gifts; nothing like a little chocolate and protein to get you through the day!)  Overall, I had a lot of fun creating these projects for Frosted Designs.  And if you have any questions on how I created any of these projects, feel free to leave me a message.  Enjoy!

LITTLE MERMAIDS

Here is my third official double page layout for Let's Scrap.  I've always called myself the "seasonal scrapbooker."  If I tried to be a chronological scrapper, I would've given up on this hobby a while ago.  I scrap the mood that hits me at the time.  And this time around, it was beach.  I'm pretty sure I have salt in my veins.  How I ended up in a landlocked state is beyond me...But for this double page layout, I was inspired by pictures of my girls playing in the sand in Panama City Beach, Florida.  My oldest is highly creative.  (And I'm not just saying that because I'm her Mom...she just is).  So I'm sitting in a beach chair reading a book letting the view of the emerald water overcome me, and I get a "Hey Mom look!"  And next thing I know, she's covered in sand and made herself a "mermaid tail."  My younger daughter of course was in on the action finding seaweed and other stuff to decorate the tail.  So when I saw the sketch and the "flourishes" at the bottom, this is what I wanted to recreate in this layout.  And the Graphic 45 "By the Sea" line was perfect to bring this all together.