Batty For You {Pink Paislee: Twilight - Nightfall and Eclipse; Basic Grey Eerie Black Doilies}

It has been ONE WHOLE MONTH since I've been able to sit down and create something for myself and even then, it wasn't scrapbooking layouts. I've got to admit that while the countdown calendar sure is cute, it was very difficult to find a variety of treats that would fit inside the mini-muffin tins! Sweet treats were easy enough to find, but if you're looking to put little trinkets/toys in there you might need to upgrade to two regular size tins....

Since the last time I scrapped was over a month ago, the pictures left on my desk were Halloween. I had only been able to make one layout using the Scrap For A Cure Fright Fest kit so I broke into it and whipped up 2 layouts. My first experience with Pink Paislee paper - and I love it. Now, I've very excited that the newest kit from my scrapbooking club also has Pink Paislee - for Valentine's Day. I see what all the fuss is about for PP!

I liked the Basic Grey Doilie paper so much that I wouldn't let a single scrap go to waste. I took all of the scraps and pieced them together for the circle background in this layout:The only thing in this LO not from the kit was those gold thickers...Don't you love the little bat pin?So I feel a little odd scrapping Halloween in December but hopefully I'll get caught up soon :) Both LOs were based on a sketch (20 and 18) from 52 Sketches...52 Weeks. I was sad to hear that Julie won't be continuing to add to the site in the new year and I hope that she'll be able to keep the site open for us to go back and use old sketches.

Thanks for stopping by - I hope to be back to updating regularly now!

Mini-Muffin Tin Christmas Countdown Calendar

This project has been very similar to birthing a child. In the beginning, you're very excited of the idea. Then you get frustrated with trying to get all of the supplies ready to actually get started on it. Next, you're so happy to begin the process...then boredom sets in (24 of the same thing...several times over). Seems like months go by, then you're just ready for it to be done with already! Final anticipation as the last pieces come together...and then when it's done...it's not quite as big of a deal as you had anticipated. I am glad to know that she is super excited about it! She woke up this morning and went straight for it - VERY disappointed that we aren't starting this right away. Poor thing!!

Some closeups:

Everything is magnetic - including the little circles inside the tins. So if I get tired of the design or want to use it for another holiday, I can reuse the tin!

Now I need to figure out where I will store the days as we remove them...And decide if I want to include a title. I could cut out some words in the green/red cardstock using my Silhouette and put them at the top and/or bottom....like "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays" or "December". What do you think- Add words or leave it alone? If you vote for adding something - what do you suggest?

******Edited to add:

I forgot to give credit to someone who I lifted an idea from... I try to always give credit when I steal an idea ;) I came across an Etsy seller in my search for ideas on how to make each square different and I came across SugarPlumMommy. It was actually one of her sold items...I took her idea of using the ribbon like I did above on #6. There are a couple of other Etsy sellers that have these types of calendars - so check them out if you want one (or need ideas!).

I'm now kicking myself in the behind for not just cutting out the dates with my Silhouette!!! You don't even want to know the complicated process I went through...

Fall Mosaic Layout

I received the paper for this layout already cut - as a make & take for the monthly bookclub meeting. If it hadn't been cut for me, I never would have tried a page like this - I would be too worried about having all of the pieces cut exactly right so that there would be even space between them all! Now I'm not so afraid of trying this on my own because I can see now that it doesn't all have to fit together perfectly ;) I changed a few pieces, added some cardstock stickers and popped up a few of the pieces - mainly the pictures since I wanted them to stand out.

I think the patterned paper used is Graphic 45 but I'm not for sure about that (and too lazy to google it to check! lol).

Lots going on around here lately that's keeping me from scrapping. It will probably be light over the next couple of weeks as I get everything ready for Christmas...but I do have one post that I should have up shortly to show a Christmas decoration I made!

Spooky House {Basic Grey: Eerie, Scrap for a Cure: Fright Fest Kit}

I've been watching several monthly kit clubs trying to find one that I think is priced within my price range but has enough supplies to keep me from going out and supplementing too much ;)

I knew I had to have the bonus kit at Scrap for a Cure back in October because of all of the Halloween goodies. Oh. My. GOSH! Did I ever pick the right kit to be my first one :)

I did not supplement from my stash at all for this layout and I barely scratched the surface of what's in the kit. You will be seeing many more pages come from it! I wanted to hide one of the pictures in the LO because it's not from Halloween night but shows the fake teeth that she got at this house. Her cherry dress didn't quite match the rest of the page but you don't notice it since it's hidden under the house! I couldn't help but cover that acrylic house with the house paper...too cute! And I *heart* those Bingo cards...

And now that I've seen pages done with their current November kits...I'm going to ask Santa for the girl kit - hehehe.

I have a fall page that I'd like to post but I need to wait for a sunny day so I can better capture the dimension on the LO....Maybe we'll have sun tomorrow!

Christmas Cutie {Bo Bunny: Tis The Season Chorus Die Cut}

It had been almost 2 weeks since I had scrapped anything and it was hurting me! I'd had the picture sitting with this paper for a few weeks so I started working on it one night last week but was interrupted after a couple of minutes. The whole page only took a few minutes to make but it was spread out over 5 days of stealing a minute here or there...

No sketch or inspiration for this one - can you believe it?! It's very simple, nothing really fantastic but it made me feel really good to get another page done. The textures have intrigued my daughter...Every time she walked by it, she had to touch the fiber across the picture!

Tonight, she was playing with the Strawberry Shortcake stamper that came in her Happy Meal. She took the book that it came with and turned it so that she was inking the edges of each page - just like I do! What a proud moment :D

Thankful 4 U {My Mind's Eye: Free Bird "Love"}

I created this layout for a challenge at Scrap For A Cure to create a LO based on what you are thankful or grateful for. I did this based on some of the people that I'm thankful for (not all, so don't be offended if you didn't make this LO!). The 4 and fact that there are 4 people is not coincidental :) I'm already brainstorming another layout that lists some of the things that I'm thankful for...like red wine! lol Because you know I love sketches I also based the LO on one of Julie's sketches...#28. I rotated the sketch which I've never done before! I plan to go back and use the sketch again without rotating it because I like so many of the examples I've seen done that way.

I have been missing around here lately...just catching up after being gone for a trip and dealing with sick kids. I do have another layout done that I'll get up for tomorrow - using a Bo Bunny die cut page!

Thanks for stopping by and thanks to everyone who leaves me nice comments :) It sure makes a girl feel good!

Sketch #43 @ 52 Sketches...52 Weeks

Click here for the sketch at 52 Sketches...52 Weeks.

I was amazed as I looked through some of the other layouts based on this sketch - that some people don't like circle layouts! Oh my, I really like them :)

I like them so much that I've used most of my supply of diecut pages so I had to create this one myself! First, I traced and cut out a large circle. Then, I used my coluzzle cutter to cut half circles all the way around the edge of the circle. Took some time but I think it's worth it! I wanted to show how I cheated too - without the close up you'd never have known! I ran out of "E"s so I had to create one out of an F and an extra piece of punctuation :) I was torn between backing the circle or not - but I think I like it backed on this textured dot paper. Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!!

Sweet Princess {Little Yellow Bicycle: Baby Safari}

I had printed this picture for the 6 month page but chose to go with the others instead. I would have found a way to fit it in if I hadn't had this paper to go with it :) It's also Little Yellow Bicycle paper...I'm really excited about this LO!I used sketch #31 at 52 Sketches...52 Weeks for my inspiration and it came together very quickly. The only problem with this layout was that it was 10 PM, both girls were sleeping and I wanted to finish the one last step of putting glitter on that arrow. I needed to use the SU! heat & stick powder...the heat gun is not too loud but I guess it was loud enough to wake both of the princesses ;)Thanks for looking!

Six Months {Little Yellow Bicycle: Baby Safari}

It's been a slow scrapbooking week because my oldest and I have both had a head cold. Luckily, she's doing fine now and I'm on the way to recovery...

Before my youngest was even born, I bought all of the supplies for her first year album. I wanted a small album so that I wouldn't overwhelm myself trying to scrap ALL of the pictures. So this is an 8 1/2 inch square album and the key is that I've stayed up to date on it! I really like that I'm using the Baby Safari line from Little Yellow Bicycle - it makes the album feel cohesive. Unfortunately, I need more of the patterned papers! I have a ton of accessories from the line and started to wonder if I would ever use them all :) I was thrilled with these rubons - they are very colorful and are meant to be layered.

What great weather we are having - 2 weekends in a row! Hope you all are enjoying YOUR weekend ;)

Sketch #41 52 Sketches...52 Weeks {K & Company Peppermint Twist}

(Blogger is being weird and not letting me left align my text)

Christmas in October - I can't believe I'm doing this! Yes, I have just scrapped a LO about Christmas and it's not even Halloween yet!!!

I gave it my best shot to use the papers from my bookclub kit this month but they didn't work out with this picture. I based the LO on sketch #41 at 52 Sketches...52 Weeks.

The colors of the paper are the same as the wrapping paper that I used last year so it worked well. Plus, her nightgown was pink! (I never could find a reasonably priced Christmas nightgown for her, the one she is wearing has monkeys on it!)

All she talked about for the month of December was wanting Santa to bring her earrings - if I remember correctly, a girl in her preschool class had REAL earrings. I lucked out that she didn't care that Santa only brought her sticker earrings!

Not my favorite layout, but it's one more done :) Hope you're having fabulous weather like we are!

Little Pumkin {My Mind's Eye: The Spider's Web; Die Cuts With A View: The Doodlin' Around Stack}

Today's LO is based on sketch #40 at 52 Sketches...52 Weeks. I was worried I wouldn't find pictures to fit the sketch and since my printer is still on the fritz (I doubt it ever will get fixed) I couldn't print any small enough. But I made do! The pumpkins and dot paper are scraps from some other pages I did. (here and here) Let me tell you how glad I am that I cut out that middle section of the dot paper! I'm not normally THAT stingy with my paper but I really liked it :) and it ended up being the perfect size for this layout! What wasn't working perfect for me was my border punch. Not sure what my problem was but I could not get it to come out straight... I still have a few of these pumpkins left - I just love popping them up and it worked perfectly to cover the camera date print on this picture!

The sun has come out and our temperatures are only in the 70s so I'm going to try to get outside for a little bit :) I do have a couple of kits from the bookclub but I'm just not ready to make anything Christmas!

Inspired Blueprints Sketch #32 {My Mind's Eye: Tiny Dancer Chasse, Free Bird Beauty}

This LO came together very quickly. Inspired Blueprints just blogged the sketch today and I've already got it done :)It's very basic - the only dimension is that I popped up the "Family" tag. (And that was my 2nd choice but I accidentally inked my fingerprint onto my first choice of tag...it's a good thing I have so much MME stuff in my stash!)

Fussy Girl {Basic Grey: Lemonade, Sugared, Sultry, Urban Prairie}

I have a love/hate relationship with this layout (picture is slightly skewed - had to be quick in the wind we had yesterday, no time to straighten it up!lol)... LOVE:

• Basic Grey papers - I was able to use a sheet from 4 different lines and they look great together (plus a few diecut stickers as well)
• My girl (even though she IS fussy)
• The fake stitching

HATE:

• That I wrote her name in my handwriting...but I gave up after several attempts of getting it to look "right". None of my accessories looked good there at the time. NOW I see that the heart rhinestones would have been cute there instead *sigh*
• That I obsessed over it enough to ink the edges of EVERYTHING. (see next picture)
• That the title "Fussy Girl" is not obvious.
• I could go on and on but I won't...

I did this based on a sketch seen here designed by Julie from 52 Sketches...52 Weeks. I LOVE Julie's page that she made for the sketch!

Family {SEI Paper}

Here I am using orange again! All of the papers were given to me at our bookclub meeting for our make and take. I think the papers are SEI - not something I would have picked up myself but they go well with this picture. Some of the paper also has flocking on it - pretty cool! I didn't realize it till I actually started putting this together. I copied the layout exactly like the front cover of our Pine Cone Press Design's idea book - but they used the Jolly By Golly line from Cosmo Cricket. I tried to find an image to show but didn't come across one easily - and am too lazy to just go take a picture of my book!

What I really thought was neat was making my own "chipboard". I got the idea from someone on the Quickutz Yahoo group forum. I used the Silhouette to cut "family" 3 times and then glued them together. It gave the added dimension to the page without having to use popdots...would have been hard with this font to keep them hidden. Stacking them was actually very easy - I expected to have some issues getting them stacked so nicely.

One more layout to share tomorrow (NOT orange!) then I'll have to get busy again!

Tender Moment {Bo Bunny Love Shack}

I feel funny typing both "Tender Moment" and "Love Shack" in the title! lol

This LO is for the October 1st sketch at Stuck?! Sketches.I never thought of myself using ORANGE as the main color of my layout (especially a non-Halloween one!) but it went well with the dress. I REALLY like this side of the paper better but it was just too busy :)There was an insane amount of distressing - or so it felt. And I got carried away with the stickles...I think I need to attend a help group!Not sure if I would stickle the brackets if I had it to do over again... But I only had one set. This flower with the butterfly on it is proof that I went overboard on the stickles. BUT the butterfly was so P.L.A.I.N. all by itself. I love the Bo Bunny lines but their die cuts tend to lack something in my opinion. The yellow flower was actually part of a circle - I cut it up to be able to give it dimension. I had to cut that red one some, too. When I stand away from the layout, I like it...but close up, I think I took the stickles just a little too far. Think I've learned my lesson?

I have 2 other layouts I finished (turns out Friday was the only good weather day) but now that I finally have enough sun for pictures, the wind is too fast and blowing the layouts away :( I'll try to get those posts up soon.

Purrfect Pals {PageMaps Sketch}

This is a LO I made based on a PageMaps Sketch. I'm proud of myself that ALL of the embellishments are from my stash....my 4+ year old stash!!! I got this paper piercing title from a local scrapbook store that has since closed down. There was a local girl that made these to sell at the store and I just love them. Over the years, I bought Thanksgiving turkeys, Indians, Easter bunnies, and more that she created (or took classes with her to make them) - all from just using the basics of punches, cardstock, pens and chalk. She was very creative and I wonder if she's still making these and selling them...

Might not get much scrapping done this weekend since we are having unusually nice weather here :) But several blogs released new sketches on the 1st so I'm sure I'll get around to them next week. Thanks for stopping by!

I *heart* my feet! {My Mind's Eye Tiny Dancer & Whirly Bird}

This layout is based on the Sept 15 sketch at Stuck? Sketches and I actually used recent pictures ;) I've had it done for a while except for the glitter on the heart. Last time I used this chunky glitter from Stampin' Up!, it was a disaster....so I wanted to use the heat & stick powder to apply it this time. After a little bit of waiting, I finally picked it up today and WOW! I'll never apply glitter again without using that stuff! I'd basically given up on using glitter (except for stickles, of course) but NOW I'm considering using it on holiday cards. I don't normally like the idea of that because the glitter gets everywhere when you open the envelope (not to mention when you make them) but I promise, this glitter is STUCK. DOWN!

Cute Sassafras flowers & Hero Arts pearls...

Hope you enjoy the LO :)

Goin' Batty for Our Lil' Pumpkin {Bo Bunny Boo Crew, Little Yellow Bicycle Trick or Treat}

This smirk on my girl's face is NOT normal....she was VERY hesitant to wear the pumpkin halter that Tasha made for the portrait party. I didn't think we'd get her to wear it because it was different...and she doesn't like change (who does she get THAT from?lol)....but we got 1 or 2 pictures out of her. You can tell she thinks it feels weird by how she's holding her left hand touching the material. I loved the Boo Bunny green paper with the picture but couldn't figure out how to pull it together. I got closer when I found this Little Yellow Bicycle Lace Cardstock.

The bat paper behind it is from Stampin' Up - an old collection I think... Then what really made it all pull together was the new sketch #39 at 52 sketches...52 weeks. I used 4 squares of patterned paper instead of 6 because of the large picture and the diecut area of the black cardstock. The sketch was a lot of fun and I plan to use it again.

I have one more page almost done so check back tomorrow for that... then I get to pickup my next bookclub kits ;)

My Best Chicks {My Mind's Eye: Abbey Road - Whirly Bird "Shine" and "Best Friends"}

I based this layout on a sketch at yet ANOTHER sketch site, 52 Sketches . . . 52 Weeks. This is based on sketch #11. The original idea came from a post I saw at The Pink Ninjas. I headed over to one of my LSSs yesterday and when I saw this paper, I knew I wanted it for this picture. I don't care for the shade of pink on the glitter letters...but it was the best I had.

Hidden journaling is great because 1) I wrote several sentences but it doesn't clutter the layout and 2) I don't have to feel so exposed with my thoughts out in the open for all to see! I think most people won't even realize there's journaling hidden there :)

I knew I needed a second page so I could pop that birdie up - and decided to pop up some of the flowers ,too.This makes two layouts this week that wasn't of my girls - it's been fun! Don't worry though...I've done several pages of them as well :)

Thanks for stopping by!

My Mind's Eye {Breaking Free: Sister's Floral}

This picture is one of just a few that I have from our wedding/honeymoon. I scrapped our wedding using most of the pictures we ordered from the ship's wedding photographer and then the few we had taken by a friend were loaded on our old computer that crashed. (I know better now and backup to an external hard drive at least once a month!) Anyway, I do have a few photos taken by the ship photographers over the week that we were on the cruise. I think this one is sweet - the way that I'm looking at my husband. But in reality, he had probably just done or said something picking on me - to make us all laugh. The picture was taken at our dinner table just hours after we were married. And I think that the 4 friends that sailed with us were eating with us.
I try to buy 2 of every patterned paper I buy... and I'm glad I did here because I had to use the 2nd piece to cut out flowers for embellishments. LOTS of cutting!

I've wanted to try this for a while. I'm sure there's a really fancy technical name for it - where you pleat the paper. I've seen it done with stitching down the middle but since my sewing machine is on the fritz, I had to improvise. I do like the added texture it adds to the page but it was a booger to get it to stay down! The magic red tape saved me though :)

I really like those glittery lace circles. I'm not much of a heart fan, but it worked on this page. Actually, I'm not a very romantic or sappy person, so I felt silly making this page and coming up with journaling! Please don't laugh...especially if you know me! LOL

Oh, and can you believe I didn't reference a sketch?! I did actually start off with one in mind but I altered it so much that I actually feel like this is more of my own design...for once!