This blog has temporarily been interupted by a much-needed break. Service will resume in one week!
Have a great week everyone!
smiles,
Christi

Art Inspiration Challenge...

It's been a while since I posted one of these, but this is part of the challenges going on over at the Cottage. We are back up and running over there if you want to come join us.
smiles,
christi

Feeling Bored???

Timed challenges are going on over at the Cottage for RAK's. Come join in the fun!!!

Nevermind...it appears that the Cottage website is having "issues" today. Maybe later!
smiles,
christi

Deadline Day...

Been playing catch-up today with lots of projects that are at their deadlines. As a result, I made 4 layouts and a card today, but I can't share any of them. :) So here is something that I can share. This is a normal three ring binder that you buy at any office supply store. I simply altered the front cover and added handles for easy carrying throughout the summer. Now I will stylishly be carrying my work notes with me! I am a couple of days behind on my French art journal, but I am out of ink in my printer so after I run to the office supply store tomorrow, I will get back onto that project.


It's my reveal day over at the Cottage and there are a couple of new projects online that I created today so you may want to go take a peek.
smiles,
christi

French Art Journal Catch-up...

I had to play catch up yesterday on my art journal since I spent Friday and Saturday playing with DS (and shopping!) Because of this, my phrases on these pages are a little bit easier so that they wouldn't take as long to learn.

Here is day 7:






I am in a serious stamping mood and Day 6&7 definitely reflect this. Lots of my new Purple Onion stamps, a few Stampington stamps and a few CTMH stamps.







Day 5:


smiles,
christi

Happy Father's Day!!!

A couple of projects that I did for the Cottage Classroom newsletter. We will call it the lost issue because only a handful of people saw this issue...unfortunately, we had website issues and it never made it online. If you want to see the whole issue though (it does have some fabulous stuff in it!), you can email me and I will email it to you. It is a big pdf file so don't request it unless your email can handle it.



But it's fathers day and we have already done the big event around here...breakfast in bed plus a new golf putter. I swore that I wasn't going to do anything because mom's day passed by with nary a glance in this household, but I am a sucker for a chance to spoil someone so we did the event anyway. Here is DH and DS...they are so much alike!



And here is my Dad... I love this guy so much! Happy Father's Day, Daddy!!!

smiles,
christi

Stamping fun with Numbers...

Well, I had to work from my own creative muse today since Rhonna is a little behind on the quote for the day (which is perfectly understandable...I don't see how she does all that she does! Wow! I bow to her brilliance and organizational skills). But I didn't have a quote today which is usually what determines the style of my journal page, but luckily I received a couple of packages today...one with my new Purple Onion stamps and the other with some lovely Foofala and this is what conspired when I got to playing. I am REALLY going to like these stamps! :D
smiles,
christi

Week of Color...

I admit that I really don't know the whole gist of this challenge, but it appears to have originated here and after seeing the results of Pam Garrison and Shimelle, I decided to tag along. :) Basically you are supposed to take a photo using the day's colors for a week. Well, I cheated and did them all at the same time, but here are my results. BTW, the schedule is:
Monday- White
Tuesday- Brown
Wednesday- Black & Grey
Thursday- Blue
Friday- Red

I think that they will make a fun layout!

Art Journal and art inspiration...

Here is today's entry for my 21 day art journal (inspired by Rhonna). My French phrase for the day is C'est combien, piece? which means How much is it each? I thought this would be a useful phrase while shopping in Paris. :)




I created this layout using the art inspiration piece from yesterday. I am not really happy with it, but I am not real sure what to do with it to fix it. For now, I am considering it done, but I may end up playing with it a bit more...
smiles,
christi

New Creative prompt...

I have been trying to upload an artwork picture here, but nothing is cooperating so I will just link you to the piece. I have been playing with art inspirations lately and thought that you might want to join me. This is a piece by Carol Robinson. She does beautiful inspiration pieces for papercrafting so hopefully this will inspire you too! Pressed Crimson

Be sure to come back and give us a link if you do something using this as inspiration!!!
smiles,
christi

Je me suis tres bien amuse...

'Je me suis tres bien amuse' is the french phrase for today for my art journal inspired by Rhonna's 21-Day Challenge. Translated, it means: "I have enjoyed myself very much" and so far, I am definitely enjoying myself very much, although my family may kill me before this is all over as I walk around saying the same French phrase over and over all day long. LOL!

I am working on some projects so I don't have much that I can share right now, but maybe soon....
smiles,
christi

21 days...

Rhonna has started another 21 day art journal challenge. This time I am starting to work on learning a bit of French so my journal will be filled with my phrases to learn. This is today's entry and my phrase for the day which is je m'appelle Christi (translation is My name is Christi.) I am hoping that by doing the visual of creating the journal that my phrases will absorb into my brain a bit better and I love the beauty of written French so it is a 'win-win'.

smiles,
christi

Part two..

Here is my second layout using this fun line from Daisy D's. I used the sketch from below as my layout...otherwise everything on here is the Daisy D's girlfriend line and my beautiful niece, Mia with puppy,Katie.
smiles,
christi

Daisy D's Girlfriend line...

I am getting to play with this gorgeous new line for some projects for my LSS...loving it and of course, it definitely helps to have such gorgeous subjects to scrap. More to come...
smiles,
christi

The list is long and the time is short...

On my list of things to do today:
*3 DT projects for my LSS using the new Daisy D's girlfriend line...can we say yum!!! I will be uploading these as I get them finished...I plan on having some fun with my new photos of my nieces
*Create 21 day journal because Rhonna is starting a new one tomorrow...Yippeee!!!
*Create a travel journal for our vacation
*work on Marnie's office supply challenge layout
*create a layout using my sketch for a challenge over at the Cottage
*Make a couple of thank you cards
*Prepare a sample for a sketch swap idea
*start work on an article for TSBM
*do a bit of computer work for SC&P
*mow the lawn (unfortunately I have to do this first before I get to play with the others)

Here is the sketch that I will be working with for one/two of those projects...thought maybe you might enjoy a crack at it too. :)



Happy Sunday!
smiles,
christi

The ENTIRE Cottage is on sale 30% off!!!

Hey everyone! Cropper's Cottage is clearing out the old to make way for new goodies from CHA so Kim has put the entire store on sale for 30% off!!! The discount code is store30 and I think that the sale is on through next Tuesday. Have fun shopping!!!
smiles,
christi

Embracing your Passion....

Well, I had a huge long post started, but I just deleted it and decided to just share instead. I am still busy with assignments so here is another of my favorite layouts that just came out in The Scrapbook Magazine.


This is my new niece Mia just a couple of weeks after she was born. Isn't she just a little angel?? Love that girl and I have never even met her, but her sweet mama keeps me up to date with gorgeous photos like these. In fact, she just sent me a whole new batch to play with last night so I need to get my assignment done so that I can go get to playing with my scrapbooking! :)

I hope that you are creating today!
smiles,
christi

Chat with Ginger from GinX tonight...

Hi, everyone! Just a quick post to let you know that Ginger from GinX is going to be over at the Cottage tonight doing a live chat at 9:00 EST. Come join us for the fun!!! Cropper's Cottage Message Board I hear that she may have a bit of "scoop" for us tonight...
smiles,
christi

The latest...

I have a million things that I need to be working on, but I just had to have a play with this kit last night. It is very rare that I have photos of DH and I together and this one is certainly not the best (ack! Why didn't someone tell me to take off that jacket when standing next to his camouflage???).

This is one of the gorgeous Kaleidoscope 3 kits (Friends) and I adore that color combo (orange, sky blue, teal, and lime green). You would never think that they would work together, but I love the summery feel to it. The only things that I added to the kit were the Heidi Swapp photo corners, the deco brad, and the paisley ribbon.

I am super busy today and tomorrow. Cropper's Cottage newsletter should be out tomorrow, but I am publishing it now so hopefully that goes smoothly (still have the publishing and a bit of writing still to do for it). I also have an article for Simply Cards & Papercraft to finish up. All that and I am seriously behind in my household...my guys need clean socks. :) And I am dreadfully behind on my mailing...yes, my mother's day gifts are STILL sitting here!?!? And for once, I actually had them bought and cards made before the fact...I really need an assistant to run my errands and do all those little things for me that just never get done!

I hope that you had a good weekend! Create today!
smiles,
christi

Parisian Scooters....

This is a layout that I completed for the Effer Dare #30: Bad Photos!

The journaling reads: Paris~ August, 2004: Our last night in Paris... After a carafe of wine and a couple of drinks at Hard Rock, Ben and I decided that we needed a photo of a typical Parisian site- the scooter. Drinking and photograpy do NOT go together, but we had so much fun & it is definitely one of our many great memories from Paris.

I had tons of photos from that night...all BAD. So I took one of the really bad ones that ended up just being swirls of light and blew it up. That is what the journaling and doodling is on. Then I punched out circles from several of the other photos, a bit of doodling, and a bit of stamping and you have a very FREESTYLE layout. LOL!

smiles,
christi

HaPpY BiRtHdAy, MoM!!!!

I hope that you are having a fabulous day!!! I love you!
smiles,
christi

In a funk...

I have been in a funk for a few days now and it is time for it to end. I hate it when I get like this...mainly because I get NOTHING DONE!!! Female hormones sometimes really SUCK!! So what do you do to get yourself out of a funk??? Normally, I go shopping, but I am really trying to watch my pennies so I stay at home and mope...not a good alternative! I swear that today this is going to change and I am going to be productive. I will not be ruled by my hormones!

On to happier things...here is one of my favorite layouts from last year that I did for the latest issue of The Scrapbooking Magazine. I did it for an article on journaling which is one of those things that I just tend not to do so much of the time, but this one was good and meaningful to me and hopefully to DS in a few years so he will understand why I was always nagging him about his shoes. I hope that you can click on the layout and read it...if not, I will come back in and edit this post to add the journaling.



So in honor of our new day, we have a new creative prompt. This one is a little different and may take a few days to complete. I was reading a decorating magazine last night and they were talking about creating a mood board for your decorating planning and the thought occurred to me that we should try this with scrapbooking.
Basically, it is a corkboard full of the elements/styles that you want to include in the project. It can be filled with layouts from magazines, scraps of papers, cardstocks, even embellishments attached to it. It seems to me that this would be a great way to plan a large project. Now, I have never done this before, but I am going to try it so keep an eye out and I will be posting my board in progress and the finished layout...hopefully it works.

Have a great day, everyone!!!
smiles,
christi