Doodlebug Leap Year Blog Hop

Hello friends and visitors!  Welcome to the Doodlebug Leap Year Blog Hop. You should have started at the Doodlebug blog HERE and arrived from Kandis Smith's lovely blog.  Throughout this hop you'll see tons of great inspiration using the Create A Card products.  Here's what I made just For You!

Supplies:  Create A Card Swiss Dots Bubblegum, Nifty Notions Sew Plaid Cardstock, Nifty Notions Cross Stitch Cardstock, Nifty Notions Cute Cuts, Doodle Pops Kaleidoscope Sticker.

Before you hop along to the next designer's blog, let me show you the prize. 

Yep, the ENTIRE new Hello Spring collection.  What a great prize.  Here's what you have to do to win.

Start at Doodlebug's blog and hop on over to every blog you are sent to (be sure to hop in order);

Leave a comment on each blog;

At each blog, you are directed to another blog. Be sure to visit and comment on each blog, to increase your chances of winning;

When you hop back to Doodlebug's blog, leave a comment saying that you are done (1) AND email them that you have completed the hop and send them your shipping address (2). So there are TWO ways to win!

You have through Friday, March 2, 2012, 6.00 am MST to hop! The winners will be announced on Doodlebug's blog on Friday afternoon.

Your next stop is the fabulously talented Elizabeth Carney.  Happy Hopping!

TSR March Sneak

Hiya! Hope you're well this last Monday of February. I had some scrappy time this weekend to play with the March ScrapRoom Flavors of the Month kit. Today, I'm sharing my sneak layout.

Crafty Boys

This line is called Saturdays by Little Yellow Bicycle.  I LOVE it!  Reds and blues with lots of brown and cream.  And the patterns are pretty masculine.  Yummy!  And I used their February/March sketch, created by talented Liz Qualman.

Thanks for stopping by today!  Be sure to head over to the ScrapRoom blog HERE to see all the sneaks.  There are some fabulous lines in this month's kit.  Don't miss out!

Game ON!

Yesterday was the first day of Spring soccer season here at my house. My oldest had practice at 5:15. The younger one has practice today at 5:30, and then we have three back-to-back games on Saturday. I've bought the Gatorade and snacks, put the blanket and chairs in the SUV, and laid out my soccer mom clothes. Bring it! Ha ha!

In honor of the season, I thought I'd share a couple of soccer layouts today. First up is my oldest using Jillibean Soup's NEW Game Day Chili papers. Bright colors on kraft with lots of fun sports icons.

All Star Soccer Goalie

And next I have a double-page layout about my youngest's first season, which wasn't quite so all star.  He's just four and isn't really that interested in the game.  He plays for a few minutes, kicks the ball a couple of times, and then he feels like he did his job and should be allowed to sit the bench and eat his snack.  After a little threatening encouraging, he goes back out on the field and picks grass, runs around with his arms inside his shirt, and takes a seat on the circle.  Good times!  When I asked him why he doesn't do better in soccer, here's what he said, "Mom, you know that's a lot of running to never get the ball, right?  Those other two boys always get the ball, and they are doing a good job."  Well, can't argue with that logic, can ya?

This page was created with the Pink Paislee Vintage Vogue that came in my February ScrapRoom Flavors of the Month kit.  Since that line wasn't really intended for a sports layout, I had to get creative with the embellishing.  I cut triangles for the title banner and used my Cricut to cut a couple of soccer balls.

Soccer 

These pictures still crack me up.  Did you see the one where his dad has had enough and is carrying hime off the field like a sack?  Oh wait, and what about the one where he made himself into a worm by crawling into the bag for my chair?  Four-year-olds . . . they are fun!

Anyhoo, this layout was actually my Recipe Card layout for The ScrapRoom.  We create step-by-step instructions for each of the six kits offered each month, and these recipes are free to subscribing members.  Such a great resource if you are new to scrapping or if you don't have a lot of time to design a page.

Well, thanks for stopping by today!  And thanks especially for all of your sweet comments.  Totally makes my day when you leave me a little love.  Have a great weekend!

Southern Chicken Dumpling Soup

Good morning friends.  Happy Thursday to ya!  I realized the other day at Target whilst passing rows of flip flops, bathing suits, and aisles and aisles of Easter goodies that it is just about Spring here in Louisiana.  I kept waiting on Winter to arrive, but it never did.  Well, time to embrace the sunshine and bits of green popping up outside.

Oh, and how about a little spring in your scrapbook, too?  Jillibean Soup's NEW Southern Chicken Dumpling Soup line just oozes Spring!  Pastel colors, fun patterns, sweet icons.  Here's a couple of projects that I created with this awesome new line.

The Hunt Is On

Ok, first off, I have to just apologize for the awful picture that I took of this layout. It was a rainy, overcast, no good day and I was in a hurry to get this in the mail for CHA.  I didn't realize just how bad the photo was until I sat down to edit it.  Anyhoo, I hope you can still see just how cute all that patterned paper is.  A pink and a yellow wood grain.  Pink chicken wire.  Flowers, chicks, bunnies.  And one piece looks a bit like subway art with phrases all across it.  I cut off a strip for my title.

Congratulations Card

Isn't that stripe divine?  LOVE me a multi-colored stripe, especially when the widths vary.  Notice I only used small strips of that paper.  I'm hoarding it.  Ha!  The corrugated butterflies and felt flowers are from previous releases but I thought they went very well with the theme of this paper. 

You can see more projects using this line and other new Jillibean Soup lines at the Bean Talk blog HERE.  Serious eye candy, my friends. 

Have a great day!

Happy Mardi Gras

Here in Louisiana we will be celebrating Mardi Gras (otherwise known as Fat Tuesday) tomorrow. My kids' school is closed today and tomorrow. Woo hoo! Although we won't be attending any parades, we'll still enjoy the holiday by eating some king cake and hanging out together. Here's my boys all garbed up from their school parade on Friday.

L'aissez les bon temps roulez!

SURPRISE Blog Hop!

This is a special Happy Birthday post to celebrate Kimber McGray's 40th birthday! 

Kimber is such a talented card designer (you've probably seen her creations at Jillibean Soup, the Card Kitchen, at Two Peas in a Bucket, in Scrapbook and Cards Today Magazine, or in one of her FOUR books) so what better way to show her some love than with a big surprise birthday card blog hop.  Woo hoo!!!  Here is the sweet, colorful card that I made for an equally sweet, colorful lady.

Kimber, I hope your day is amazing!!!  Now, hop on over HERE to see your next card by the talented Jennifer Buck.

Feeling Challenged

Each week, Lynn from Pebbles challenges some of the design team to create a project in 30 minutes or less for the Whip It Up Wednesday post. This past week it was my turn.  Yikes! Thirty minutes?  I was feeling seriously challenged.  Hmmm . . . some serious planning was in order.

Since I am most comfortable creating scrapbook pages, that's what I decided to do.  I looked through my Pebbles supplies for inspiration. Ahhh, the With Love Gift Tags. Oh, and the Mini Clothespins. Two products that I love and haven't really used yet. That was all the start I needed.  I drew out a sketch, printed my pictures, set the timer, and started scrapping like a mad woman. Here is my result.

Play @ the Park

As you can see, the layout is pretty simple.  The main embellishment is the gift tags, which are also my title area.  The pennants hanging behind them were left over from another project, so I didn't even have to cut them out.  Serious time saver!  Everything else (chipboard flowers, navy alphas, flower borders) were all pre-made, so again super fast.

All these fun, bright Fresh Goods products plus a layout that I completed in less than 30 minutes equals one happy scrappy girl, I tell ya!  I may need to take on this challenge more often. 

Have a great day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Spreading Sunshine

Ahhhh . . . the weekend!  Today is a sunshiny day.  It's cold, but the sun is shining and that makes me happy.  Something else that is sunny and bright is this layout that I did for Cricut Circle back in October.

What's Cookin'?

I used my Cricut Expression and Nifty Fifties cartridge to scrap these pics of my little fellow eating breakfast at our bar.  He loves to sit up there and order his breakfast like he's at the diner.  Too funny!

I used my Cuttlebug to emboss the circles with the Polka Dots folder.  The oven mitt was embossed with the Moroccan Screen folder.  And all the papers are Echo Park.  LOVE the bright colors.

Have a great day!  We're off to run some errands and soak up a little sun.

Birthday Party Layout

Well, it seems I spoke too soon yesterday when I said that the rain had stopped. At 7:00 am, it started back. Just as we were heading to the bus stop. My kids were a bit disappointed that they probably wouldn't have recess today. I guess we'll just have to go to the mall later, so we can get out of the house and burn off some energy. Hey, works for me!

Before I get my walking shoes on, I wanted to share a layout that I have up on the Doodlebug blog today. While the design team waits on the new CHA goodies (Woot! Woot!), we are showcasing our favorites from previous releases. I chose to create a birthday layout with Birthday Celebration, a fun and colorful collection just perfect for some pics of my eleven-year-old.

Birthday Party

My son had his party at the bowling alley, which was a tough place for me to take some good pictures.  The backgrounds were busy, the lighting was terrible, and all those 11 and 12 year olds would not sit still.  Ha!  I did manage to capture a couple of good pics of him with his cake, so I scrapped those.  The rest will go into some divided page protectors.  Yay!!!  Glad to not have all those pics hanging over my head any longer.

I LOVE all the different colors of Doodle Twine that I have, so I decided to put a bunch of it on this layout by way of the birthday balloons.  Too fun!  Oh, and for the "patterned paper" beside my pictures, I used several different Fancy Frills stickers.  I couldn't pick just one, so I just layered them all on there.  More is more, right?  Ha!

More die cuts, more stickers, more balloons, more twine.  Again, more is more, right?  Seriously, though, I just loved all the patterns and colors, so I kept on layering. 

Thanks for popping in today!  Have a good weekend.

He Loves Dirt

Hello scrappy peeps!  Hope you are having a great day.  The weekend is almost here, and I am soooo glad.  The rain has finally stopped and I might be able to take my boys outside.  To run and yell and get dirty.  Speaking of getting dirty, today I'd like to share a layout that I created for the Pebbles blog all about my little one's love of dirt.

He Loves Dirt

Our assignment this week was "All About Love."  Since I had already done several traditional love layouts recently, I decided to challenge myself to use the new Pebbles With Love collection in a non-traditional way.  The paper is just too cute to be ignored.  Ha!  Sooooo, when I ran across this photo of my boy hapily collecting rocks and digging in the dirt, I decided I could make it work.

To really empasize my son's baby blues, I created a sunburst effect with the patterned papers.  Pretty fun, hun?  And with so many patterns on the page, I didn't need very many embellishments.  I added an envelope and then a grouping of tags, stickers, flags, and butterflies.  Done!

Thanks for stopping by today.  See you soon!



Valentine's Mantel

I mentioned earlier this week that I had been adding some Valentine touches to my house. Well, I finally finished, and I am just dying to share.  Ta daaa!!!

The mirror was a new purchase, 50% off at Hobby Lobby.  I have been waiting for the mirrors to go on sale while my husband was home (they are CRAZY heavy) for a while.  Well, the stars aligned last week, and I got my mirror.  Yayy!!!

I created the LOVE frame using my Cricut Expression, the new Letter Envy font, a My Mind's Eye 6 x 6 paper pad, cardstock, and an old 12 x 12 frame.  As for the little Be Mine wooden block, I found it at Target's Dollar Spot. 

Have you seen all the cute subway art floating around the internet?  SO easy for decorating.  This one came from Eighteen 25.  And the best part?  FREE!  But my favorite part of the whole mantel might just be the sweet pink bird.  He was $2.59 from Target.  I just couldn't pass him up.  In fact, I went back to see if I could get a second one.  Ya know, love birds.  No such luck.  Oh well, still cute.

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to add a banner, so I used the rest of the My Mind's Eye paper pad to cut out several 4" x 6" pennants.  Then I added a couple of hearts that I cut with my Cricut.  I finished them off with buttons tied with baker's twine.  Simple.  Which is what I'm all about these days.

And lastly, I found this heart wreath at Target.  I used a suction cup hook to add it to the mirror.  The ribbon gives the illusion that it's hung, but I couldn't quite figure out how to really hang it.  LOL! 

I can't believe how easy (and inexpensively) this mantel came together.  Such fun, too!  I've already pinned a bunch of ideas for decorating for St. Patrick's Day and Easter.  Do you decorate your house for the holidays?  If so, I'd love to see.  I'm always on the lookout for cute ideas. 

Have a great weekend!

February's Flavors

Yayyy for Friday! Even though it is a dreary, rainy day here in Louisiana, I am thrilled to be all snug at home. Doing a little cleaning, a little crafting, and lots of laundry. Good times!

I wanted to stop in for just a bit to share some layouts and cards that I created with my ScrapRoom February Flavors of the Month kit. So many great patterns and colors and embellishments this month. Here take a look.

Call Me Happy

We R Memory Keepers Good Day Sunshine.  LOVE the soft colors mixed with kraft.  I like that I was able to scrap some pics of my tween with his new cell phone.  He was SO thrilled to get his dad's old phone and then the lucky boy got a free upgrade and was able to get a really nice cell phone.  Win win!

Family 4 Ever

Oh. My. Gosh.  I LOVE this Lily Bee paper.  Such bright colors and trendy patterns.  And despite the fact that there's a ton of pink mixed in, I used it to create a layout about my sweet little family of four at the pumpkin patch.  It really makes me happy when I am able to use papers that work with my photos no matter what the theme or color palette is.

Soccer

How lucky for me that my four-year-old's soccer uniform was purple!  A perfect match for this Pink Paislee Vintage Vogue paper.  I didn't use the embellishments that came with the kit.  Instead, I  used my Cricut to cut some soccer balls and then created a banner with some of the coordinating patterned paper.  Easy!

Sweet Treats

This layout is a mix of Lily Bee, Pink Paislee, and We R Memory Keepers.  Mostly B sides.  My son's yellow shirt and the yellow ice cream were just calling my name.  And since the pictures were from the spring, I cut out a couple of butterflies.  Freehand.  More on that later this month at the ScrapRoom. 

One In A Million Card

On this card, I wanted to show off TSRs February Exclusive Stamp.  I used it to create the stitched lines along the edges of the papers.  How fun,  hun?  You can see the stamp HERE. 

XOXO Card

More Lily Bee.  Can you blame me?  Chevrons.  Stripes.  Pink, orange, turquoise.  Swoon!  The butterflies are from Martha Stewart's Anywhere Butterfly Punch.  It's such a versatile punch.

There is a gallery full of inspiration HERE at The ScrapRoom.  You are sure to be inspired to get yourself one of this month's kits.  I hope you have a happy, scrappy weekend!