(tiny) Cinderella

I've been getting ready for a scrap retreat that I'm going on in three weeks with my friend Juanita, doing everything I can to get ready, from {finally} organizing my photos to even pre-organizing my layouts. Usually I'm a fly by the seat of my pants, spontaneous, admittedly disorganized, the type to throw everything in a box or basket and hope for the best, kinda gal. This organized thing is a big step for me!

I've categorized almost all of Andrew & Sophia's pictures, and finally broke in my Power Layouts box I bought when my friend Kathy sold Creative Memories a long while ago. I packed that Power Layouts box to the brim with pictures, papers and stickers for each layout so hopefully I won't agonize forever on what to do!

I got so excited, in fact, that I had to test drive the Power Layouts theory, just to make sure it works, you know? Plus, I just got my first-ever order from Scrapbooks.com (another great site for inspiration), which had these really cute cardstock alphabet stickers from Doodlebug that I had to try. Here's what I came up with:

These pictures are of Sophia on Christmas day 2006. She LOVED her Cinderella costume and wanted to wear it all day long. She's such a ham and posed for the camera every chance she got!

I used patterned paper and textured cardstock and flowers from Stampin' Up. I direct-to-inkpad dyed the medium flower with Crystal Blue CTMH Ink. I distressed all of the edges - including the photographs - with silver metallic ink from Encore. The swirl stamps are Playful Flourishes from Close To My Heart. I used more of my bling swirls from Wal-Mart.

All Cracked Up!

This adorable card was Candice's create & take at our March Girls Night Out. It was so cute I had to share! Her card was really clever and used a brad as a hinge between the green and yellow cardstock, and the image was only glued to one side so you could open the card to read the message. Since I'm not nearly that handy, especially hopped up on Oreos, I glued all of my pieces down as a normal card.

This card uses almost all Stampin' Up! products that you can purchase from Candice's website here: www.candicestukes.stampinup.net.

The only non-SU! products are the Pretty Pin from Close To My Heart and glitter from Martha Stewart.

Butterfly Kisses

We've had at least five different girl's birthday parties in the last month, so when we were looking for a paper that would be suitable for my mother-in-law, sister-in-law and three of Sophia's friends, I needed something versatile. Soph & I came across this beautiful paper in Target - full of bright colored butterfly outlines in purple, teal, lime green, fuchsia & shadowy gray. I loved it so much that I knew I HAD to use it on a page.

I sprayed the paper with acid-free spray and adhered it to my page as normal with my tape runner from Wal-Mart. Since the paper was a lot thinner than normal papers, it was difficult to adhere straight without wrinkles or rips, but I hid the worst of it with the flower.

This layout includes ColorBok textured cardstock, Best Occasion bling swirlies (a great deal at $3.50-ish for four swirls at Wal-Mart), flowers by Making Memories (the teal one) and Petaloo (white daisy & sprinkle center), plus cardstock alphabet stickers from Doodlebug Designs.

A few sketches and a little inspiration for you

I know it's been a while since my last "real" post. Life gets in the way some times, you know? Especially when you can't find your camera to share what you've finally created...

{sigh}

Since I couldn't find my camera (still can't, just finally brought the hubby's home from the office so I can share the rest later tonight), I've been blog surfing to get inspiration for an upcoming accordion album workshop I'm doing. I've come across some pretty amazing artwork and fun sketch/challenge sites.

Some of my *new* favorites are:

http://scrappingoutloud.blogspot.com/ - super cute sketches & artwork and CONTESTS! (gotta love a freebie!)

http://creativescrappers.blogspot.com/ - another fun sketch site

http://ahappyscrappyplace.blogspot.com/ - featuring Jamie Harder - a fabulous artist. When I grow up I want to scrap like her! (actually, I may have gotten the two sketch sites off of her blog, too, but I don't remember for sure)

http://www.creativelycreating.blogspot.com/ - featuring Tiffany Cheney - she's a CTMHer with great artwork

I got inspired by viewing these blogs to come up with some sketches of my own for my workshop. Here they are - what do you think?

I'll share the finished accordion album next week. In the meantime - I hope you get inspired too!

Sneak peek at March projects

Spring is sneaking up on us and it's the perfect time to use the fun new Emporium papers. They're my favorite line in the latest Close To My Heart catalog and I've used them a bunch already. I'm not usually the girl who creates workshop projects until nearly the last minute so the fact that these are not only done, but cut out and ready for my crops next week says a lot!

This first spring layout is what we'll be doing as the CTMH project for the Girls' Night Out Crop next Friday, March 13. It uses a lot of glitter and bling and the cute Bunny Love stamps, so it's perfect for girls night. I hope you'll be able to join us!

Girls Night Out Crop - Friday, March 13 from 6-10 p.m. at the Rifle Fire Station. Join Candice (Stampin' Up) and I for a night filled with cute projects, good food and fabulous friends! Enjoy two create-n-takes, plus plenty of time and space to work on your own stuff too. Just $10 for a great night out! Please RSVP by March 12.

This is our Glenwood Springs Crop Club layout.

Glenwood Springs Crop Club - Sunday, March 14 from 12:30-5 p.m. at my Glenwood Springs home. We'll create a beautiful 2-page layout just in time for spring celebrations. JUST $7 FOR DROP INS or FREE for club members. Wear something green for a chance to win a free CTMH stamp set! Please RSVP by March 13 - address details given at time of registration.


Also, if you were interested in our Close To Home Retreat in May, we only have FIVE SPOTS left! SPACES ARE FILLING FAST for the Close to Home Retreat/Crop for a Cause! Friday, May 1st-Sunday May 3rd at the Silt Fire Station. Celebrate National Scrapbooking Month in style with create & takes from Close To My Heart and Stampin' Up. This event is a fundraiser for the Rifle Relay for Life. $100 includes all meals, create & takes, door prizes & more! There are only a few spots left & spaces are going VERY fast! If you're interested, please let me know ASAP! Check out this posting for further details: Retreat Info


I hope you'll be able to join us this month for lots of scrapping fun!

Bunny Love

I just got a new box of goodies from Close To My Heart. It's like Christmas every time a new order comes in - yahoo! Anyway, I got this adorable new stamp set - Bunny Love, filled with sweet little bunnies ready for spring and Easter. I'm going to use this cutie for this month's workshops, but I also used him on another card I made just for fun.

All papers, stamps & inks are Close To My Heart (the new Emporium line). The ribbon, scallop circle punch and Watercolor Wonder Crayons were Stampin' Up. Though you can't tell, I cut out the egg from a second image and popped it up with pop dots for a little extra dimension.

A little Valentine love.. in March

OK, I know it's March and I'm just getting around to sharing the gift we gave to Michael's parents, but better late than never! It was a quick and easy one. I got the cute magnetic frame at a school fundraiser, but Creative Memories sells ones that are similar in two different sizes and (I believe) three different finshes. I used Stampin' Up's Bella Rose paper packet and rub ons and embellies from Close To My Heart. The thing I love most about this is they can change the pictures whenever they want with new ones or old favorites.

As I was surfing the web the other day, I came across a website, http://www.outonalimbscrapbooking.com that sells cute page kits. One of the kit layouts really caught my eye, and I cased it for this Valentine's layout I did. This layout uses my favorite paper from Close To My Heart from the Key To My Heart winter 09 special. Ribbon is from Offray, the flowers are Pima (big pink one) and Making Memories and the center of the flower is a large yellow button topped with a large bling brad, both also Making Memories. The pretty pin ribbon accent, rub on and stamps are also Close To My Heart. The bling next to the heart is from Target's dollar isle - last summer's collection, I believe. I journaled with my trusty Creative Memories brown journaling pen.