Stuff to Scrap Blog Train – Hey Mr. Groundhog

This month the Stuff to Scrap Blog Train is called Hey Mr. Groundhog and it has the greatest colors – check out the palette:

Cool huh? And my most favorite thing is the gun toting goundhog that Katina of The Scrappy Kat made – I think she said she would have the story behind it on her blog so make sure you read that!

I made a quick page with Little Red Scraps’ portion of the blog train – check it out. I loved her whole kit so I am glad I got to use it! Isn’t that duck the cutest?

Click the image to download and be sure to leave some love.

Here is the

Becky aka SAHM Scrapper
Night Light Scrapper
Digi-Scrapz by Christi
Scraps N Pieces
¡nyi + a digit·lis scrapbooking
Nibbles Skribbles
Little Red Scraps <----- the kit I used for my QP jensenmotleycrewdesigns
JIC Creations
Scrapalicious Cereal
Just For Fun
Saphira's Scrapdesign
Lots of Pretty Things
Let Me Scrapbook!
Rainamoon Scraps
Adriana's Cafe
Quiltifications
Always Be Neighbors Designs
Scrappin' Serenity
The Scrappy Kat <-----the fabulous gun-toting groundhog
Craft With Me
Shel Belle Scraps
Tonisha's Playground
Where The Heart Is
Altered Sea
Kerry's Scraps <----- you are here
GB DESIGNS
This Little Missy
Seal Scraps
Samantha Scraps
Milly Dee Designs

From the Heart

I have been waiting (impatiently) all month for the new kit from Digi-Designs by Nicole to be released – and it’s finally here!! I knew a bit of what it looked like since she decorated her blog with it back in December - and it was so worth the wait! Check out the preview:

I just love the colors and the papers are to die for! All the heart elements rock too.

I made three layouts so far but there will, at the very least, be one more since one of them is part of a two page spread in my oldest son’s first year book.

I did this one for a Speed Scrap last night – I love Speed Scraps. If you haven’t tried one, don’t be afraid. I was pretty stressed out when I did my first thinking that I had to have the layout done by the end of the hour but you actually get another hour on top of that to finish. Phew – that is do-able. And you usually get a prize! These are pictures from when J1 met J2 for the first time. I was a bit nervous since I had heard and read so many things about children being jealous of their siblings but to this day, J1 loves and takes care of his brother. Don’t get me wrong, he is not a saint! They squabble and push but for the most part, he is a great big brother which just makes me so happy!

This one was for the recipe challenge over at Stuff to Scrap – and boy was it hard this month. A recipe challenge layout must include the specified papers, photos and elements and this month Heidi of Scraps ‘n Pieces decided to torture us with many, many requirements! It is good to scrap outside your comfort zone though and you should see the results!

I did this layout for my J1’s first year book. He is four now and one of my 2010 goals was to finish a first year book for both boys. I think J2 (baby above) looks so much like J1 as a baby (below) – don’t you? There are some differences – eye color. J1 has my eyes (brown) and J2 the mister’s eyes (blue) and for some reason, J2 has the blondest hair! I guess he takes after my sister – who is mostly naturally blonde.

Thanks for reading and get ready for the awesome Stuff to Scrap February Blog Train coming soon! I’ll have a quick page made with Little Red Scraps’ portion of the blog train.

“Happy” Friday.

Well, Happy is the new kit by Growing Pains Scrapped and it is free on her blog starting Friday! Check out the preview – it is such a fun kit.

I ended up making 3 layouts with it – two are for J1’s first year book (the boy just turned 4!!) and one I made so you guys would have a 12 x 12 quick page since I am doing the boy’s books 8 1/2 x 11 so I can print them cheaper! Anyway, here they are:

This is the mister’s granny and aunt – his dad’s mom and sister. His dad passed away many years ago (way before my time unfortunately) but I want the boys to understand who they are and how they are related to them which is why I included that information.

This is the mister and J1 on his very first Father’s Day. I know the paper is a bit flowery but I love it!!

This is D and J2 – a few different pics I have of them together. I didn’t realized until last night when I was posting these around the digi community how similar these two layouts are. Well, I do love this paper!

The release schedule is papers Friday, elements Saturday, alpha Sunday and quick pages on Monday. Come back then! Head over to Tracy’s blog to pick up your papers and leave some love. Also, make sure to leave her some birthday wishes while you are there since her birthday is tomorrow.

My Life In Scrap - Project 52 week 3

This week for my project 52 we were supposed to write about out typical day so here it is - it all its boring glory! I like it though and most days am satisfied with my life. You should read some of the entries - makes me feel like a slug! Anyway, come back for next week and all about my hometown - should be another fascinating read! lol

Dino-Riffic and I Heart You layouts

I did a couple more layouts with Dino-Riffic  by Manda’s Scrappin’ Creations since the colors were perfect for J1’s 4th birthday. 

I did a two page layout with each side being for one of the birthday celebration scrap-a-thon challenges at Enchanted Studio Scraps.  It just happened to work out perfectly!  This one was for the word art challenge – do you see all the dinosaurs?

This was for the numbers challenge – basically 1 of everything – a fairly difficult challenge really!

I finally got some layouts done with I Heart You – isn’t the kit lovely?

This was also done for one of the birthday celebration scrap-a-thon challenges – the template challenge – fun to scrap a picture from my wedding!

This was for the recipe challenge – it was pretty fun.  You had to add numbers from your date of birth, year of birth, age and also the day your birthday falls to get your required elements.  Hopefully no one is checking the math!

There are awesome prizes for completing the challenges for the birthday scrap-a-thon so go check it out!

A+ Designs

I am a bit behind blogging my A+ Designs layouts.  And that is a shame because the kits are so beautiful!  I love Sweet Dreams for the soft colors and that moon!

This layout is available as a quick page freebie at the A+ Design blog – along with many others so go check it out.

Isn’t this kit amazing?  It is available as a download for Scrapbook Bytes subscribers which you can read about here.

Here is my layout – my MIL and her grandkids.  That was before J2 was born – maybe 1 month before so surely I was hiding from all cameras!

And this last kit – I love it!  It is called Romance Me and it is just lovely.

Look for this layout as a quick page in the near future!

Embarrassing Stories – week 2 of P52

This week for My Life IN Scrap we were supposed to make a layout highlighting our most embarrassing moment. Fortunately for me, I couldn’t think of any so I just wrote about not really getting embarrassed. Since this is supposed to be a biography about me, it was what I needed to write - thanks D. for talking me through it! By the way, most of the pictures I am planning on putting in these layouts don’t directly relate to the layout, they are just random pictures of me through the years. Anyway, I have to say, there were some pretty funny stories – you should go check them out. It isn’t too late to start this project either. The host of the challenge said this:

I would love that at the end of the year - that each of you can look back and see that you have given future generations a biography of YOU. I think it would be one of the greatest gifts to give your family. I know that I would have loved to have something like this from my Mom.

Who wouldn’t love to have that? Just to have the insight and stories from your parents when you are all grown up – so cool! That is the main reason I am doing this challenge, something to leave the boys. Anyway, here is my layout. The next one will be about a day in my life – who won’t fall asleep reading that?? LOL

Spring into Spring

It is just a bit early for Spring around here but it’s never to early to dream about Spring. Hannah and Nicole of Scrapteam 2008 were nice enough to let me make some pages with their new kit called Spring into Spring. I loved the colors and all the flowers from the moment I saw this preview – isn’t it awesome?

Go check out their store over at Stuff to Scrap because they have more great kits. My favorites include It’s Raining Again for the red and the cute and so-appropriate-for-the-Pacific NW elements, and The Boy Rules because those animal elements are to die for and I can't get enough of boy kits!

Here is my first layout, which I did for the font challenge over at STS.

And this one because the colors were perfect and I have so many pictures of J1 in this costume – thanks D!!

That’s it for now – go check out Scrapteam 2008’s stuff – the kits are all so fab!

You Color My World

That is the name of the awesome kit I used this week. You Color My World is the mega collab this month by the Stuff to Scrap designers and it is huge! Here is the preview – aren’t the colors great? I loved the artsy feel of it and the sheer variety of elements and paper – it was hard to choose what to use because I wanted to use it all!

I did this layout for the quote challenge and I loved including these pictures of my son’s creations. It is the perfect kit for showcasing these little works of art and J1 does love me to photograph them. It is one of two situations where he is happy to have his picture taken so you can be sure I have lots of them. The third picture down on the right is a T-rex which had killed the other dinosaur (which was the tube of play-doh coming out of the tube maker thingy) – he has quite an imagination!

I did this one for the scraplift challenge. I love how you can use this kit for everyday layouts too. I was supposed to blend that small picture but since I have absolutely no idea how to do a blend I just applied a few random effects, clipped it to the paper and called it good. I do need to learn the blend though because it looks awesome!

There is also a matching set of quick pages in the store.

Head over to the forums and get started on the challenges – they are always great! I’ll be back soon with an awesome new kit by Digi-Designs by Nicole so be on the look out for it.

They are also having a designer challenge at Stuff to Scrap right now – it is the first week. There are tons of downloads so if you are after freebies, you definitely need to get over there! The color palette is really nice and the kits are so varied you are bound to find a bunch that you like. Here are the colors:

Click here to see the previews and download the kits – forum registration is required but it is free! A lot of the designer-hopefuls are having add-ons on their blogs too so look for that.

Manda’s Scrappin’ Creations is back!

If you were sad when Manda from Manda’s Scrappin’ Creations stopped designing you are in luck! She is back and having a Grand Opening Sale starting today at Enchanted Studio Scraps.

She is also having a contest to win a free kit – and it is so easy! Just head to her blog and guess which day this month is her birthday, post it in the comments and come back on the 16th to see if you won. The easiest way to remember is to just follow her blog so you may as well do that while you are there! By the way, she is turning 25 so leave a nice birthday wish too. Man I feel old!! :)

Right now there are two brand new kits in her store and they rock! I made a couple layouts with Dino-riffic since the colors and theme go so well with my two boys.

I did this one for the template challenge over at ESS. If you haven't checked out the forums there, you should. Everyone is so nice and you can always count on gallery love which is awesome!

I am excited about making some layouts with this kit, I Heart You, next – isn’t it beautiful?

She also has some fabulous word art – I think this is my favorite but they are all great.

Oh, did I mention that I was lucky enough to be accepted as part of her creative team? Look for more inspiration and new releases in the future!

My P52 for 2010

Well, since I just started digi-scrapping in June, I didn’t have a project for 2009. Didn’t even really know such a thing existed until December when people were talking about how they didn’t complete the P365 for 2009. For those not in the know, generally speaking Project 365 consists of taking a picture daily of every day things so you can have a record of what day-to-day life is – at least that is my understanding of what P365 is. I think the number of layouts can vary though because I saw some people talking of doing a daily layout for their picture but also a weekly recap of the daily photos. The latter seems infinitely more do-able but I am doing neither. I know myself and can’t possibly remember to take a photo every day. I would have failed by day 1 really as I have no pictures of New Year’s Day – we did nothing so there was nothing to photograph. So a Project 52 is one layout a week for the year and no daily picture requirement.

I had been considering doing some sort of project but nothing had really struck me until I saw a post at DST about a P52 at My Life and Scrap (MLAS). I had never been to that forum before (although I have undoubtedly shopped there!) but I headed over to read about it. Since I won’t be able to do it justice, I will just copy the challenge text – it is called My Life IN Scrap.

I am your hostess for Project52 - My Life IN Scrap. Every Friday I will provide you with a prompt to inspire you to scrap about YOU.
What is My Life IN Scrap? Well think of it as a biography of you IN scrap. Journaling will be the largest focus of this challenge. Since I love genealogy; I jumped to host this challenge. I hope you will join me.
I would love that at the end of the year - that each of you can look back and see that you have given future generations a biography of YOU. I think it would be one of the greatest gifts to give your family. I know that I would have loved to have something like this from my Mom.

Doesn’t it sound cool?? I am not sure why this appeals to me so much but I am really drawn to it so I went ahead and signed up. I really like the forum so far – the comments are great and everyone seems super friendly. Just what I needed – another site! Anyway, one layout a week seems like something I can do, even during tax season. Based on my lessons learned in 2009 – the first layout for the project – I definitely need to keep scrapping. The other fun thing is that I don’t have any kits from MLAS which gives me the opportunity to use one of the (many, many, many) kits I have acquired but not used. I will inevitably buy some kits from there but I am being extra picky now since I am running out of space on my scrapping hard drive and am already having to move my layouts to make room.

There are so many poignant and thought-provoking layouts already. It is sort of a different take on scrapping as I have seen it. The focus is most often kids and the pages seem to center mostly around big events, holidays and vacations. Just getting insight into the women as people, people who have struggles, problems, sadness and joy just like you is really special. Go check it out if it sounds interesting. And join in – how often do you scrap about yourself??

Here is my week 1 layout.

I forgot to credit this kit - it is Root Beer Float by Shelleyrae Designs.

Cherry Chocolate Quick Page Freebie

It’s time for your quick page from the awesome kit Cherry Chocolate by Growing Pains Scrapped! Take a look at the preview again – I just love it.

And here is the quick page:

:: download here ::

Random Reflections by Digital Scrap Fun

Happy New Year to everyone – hope you all had a nice holiday. We didn’t do much – it’s hard to get out when you have young kids. My best babysitters were already going out and my MIL is watching the boys overnight in a couple of weeks so I didn’t want to ask her. It is back to reality now – no more three day weekends and tax season is imminent. I guess we may have a bit of a delay this year as Oregon decided (for some reason) to have a vote on taxes in the middle of January for the previous year. It depends on the tax software manufacturers if we will be able to get started or not. Grrrr!

Anyway, this week I made some layouts with Random Reflections by Digital Scrap Fun. I love the colors in this kit and have many pictures to match. This time I focused on my birthday which is rare. I mostly scrap about the boys so it was a fun change. I was looking back on my paper scrapbooks recently and loved all the pages about me and my husband that I made before we had kids so I am going to try to incorporate more of those in my scrapping. Check out the preview:

Here are my layouts. I did them both using the template provided for this month’s template challenge. I loved it and it worked great for both pages. The mister, D and I went to Sand in the City which is held at Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland. It is a charity event and people make these great sand sculptures. I am constantly amazed by the things people can create with sand.

Don’t forget that Stuff to Scrap is having a Designer Darling Contest starting on the 11th – you may have a chance to join the awesome group of designers over there. Go sign up now! Questions answered here and sign ups are here.

Also, tomorrow morning there will be a freebie quick page made by me over at A+ Designs blog. The blog has a new, fabulous look and freebies every Monday. There is also a newsletter that comes out on Fridays which has a freebie too – make sure to sign up.

Come back here Wednesday for my Cherry Chocolate quick page and stay tuned for news of the new creative team I was just accepted to – I am very excited!