Gorgeous Weekend!!!

Wow! The weather this weekend was absolutely perfect!!! Better yet, I think that it is supposed to pretty much stay that way all through the week. So, Junior the cat and I took advantage of it by opening the windows wide in the scrap room and while he sat there and dreamed about catching the squirrels and birds that ran by, I scrapped. There is something so extremely peaceful about scrapping while listening to the outside noises.

The layouts that I did this weekend were all done as a result of various challenges that have been posed. This first one was from a fairly new blog called Scrapjacked. They take an art piece from various scrapbookers and you are supposed to lift or scrapjack it. This week's is a gorgeous piece by Heidi Swapp.

This is my version of the layout which features all Chatterbox papers, Heidi Swapp letters and bling. The photo is from our vacation in the Carolina mtns from last summer.

This second layout was done in respnse to an ad challenge that Linda Peterson posted over on Cropper's Cottage.

I used Linda's ad challenge as inspiration for the frame around the ultrasound scan. There is tons of stamping, sanding, and a bit of paint on it. This is Kat's 4D scan from when she was 31 weeks in utero...just a glimpse of what she looks like.
Supplies used:
*crate Paper Samantha line
*Crate Paper Samantha chipboard
*stamps by Technique Tuesday, Rhonna Farrer, and Anna Griffen
*Punches (for the notebook paper look and tab) by Stampin Up
*Bazzill Cardstock

My final layout was done using the April sketch from the Basic Grey newsletter.

Supplies used: Basic Grey Phoebe, Daisy D's Rub-on, stamp, lettering template, Bazzill, and Stampin Up Notebook punch.

I hope to find some time to create some more today, but first I have to pay some attention to the mountains of laundry. Yuk! Have a happy Monday everyone!!!
smiles,
christi

Nesting....

Once again, I need to apologize for my absense from my blog, but the fact of the matter is, that with a baby arriving shortly, that trend will probably get worse before it gets better. But I do think about blogging at least once a day...does that count for anything???

So what have I been up to this week, you ask? Serious nesting going on around my household. I don't remember doing this with Jacob, but that may be because I didn't fully appreciate the impact that having a baby in the house was going to impact my ability to get anything done. Now I know and am in panic mode about everything that needs to get done before Kat is born (6 weeks til due date!)

I don't know if I have mentioned it before, but this entire family can be classified as bookhounds. One of us one day will be killed by a falling pile of books...I can almost guarantee it. But this week I was struck with a need to conquer (at least temporarily) the teetering piles of books. The rest of us can defend ourselves against the piles, but it just wouldn't do to have a pile fall over on poor wee Katherine. So new bookshelves and storage systems were bought and put into place and I feel MUCH better for it.

The other big news is that Kat's side of my scraproom is put together. Six months ago, I wasn't sure how I was ever going to fit a baby bed in there. And here it is:

The final piece, the bed, was bought and put in there last night. I love how girly and fun it all is.



Everything on the walls (except for the hanging clothes...one of these will be her take-home outfit) has been made by me. I have been having a blast doing that. I just made the peg board a couple of days ago and it ended up much more distressed and beachy-looking than I had planned, but I think that the swirly stamping glams it back up.

The Kat wall art is something that I made this week. The Cottage is hosting an Altered Idol competition with an awesome prize provided by Junkitz. I am not eligible to compete, but I love a challenge so I did the challenge part of it.

I created the K off my computer and transferred it onto chipboard. All of the papers on the piece (except for the blue) and the flowers are from Junkitz. The buttons and the blue paper are Rhonna Farrer and the "at" are from Basic Greys undressed chipboard line. Go take a look at the contest over at the Cottage. It looks to be a really fun one.

The other item that I finished this week was the mobile. You can see it in its beginning stages down in the crochet post and this is the final product. I really like the way that it turned out and it was MUCH cheaper than buying one...much more satisifying too.

The rings are simple metal rings that you can buy at any craft store although the only place that I have seen the flower shaped ones has been at JoAnn's. I simply crocheted colored yarns over the top of them. The butterflies are from an Easter garland (only $7) from Target and then everything is simply put together with ribbon and the little Making Memories flower shaped brads. Super easy!!

Finally, one last photo. Because Kat will be sharing a room with my scrapbook supplies, I have had to completely reorganize them to make it all fit. This was the final step this week...organizing my cardstock by color. It looks so pretty this way!


I hope that you all have had a really creative week. I am missing my scrapbooking so I am off to that side of the room today.
smiles,
christi

DT Creations....

This week was my upload for the Cropper's Cottage DT. Our sponsor this month was Junkitz with their gorgeous Salsa Celebration papers. These papers are beautiful, but I just didn't have any photos that fit them. They are birthday papers with a lot of really bright pink so they look a bit feminine. So when we went to Busch Gardens, I had Jacob wear a really bright shirt so that he would coordinate with the papers. The best thing about this is that he was super-easy to spot on rides for photo-taking!!! So here are my layouts...





In other news, I had my ob appt. with my midwife today. They said a couple of weeks ago at my ultrasound that Kat is big (then she weighed 4.1 lbs.) Well, my midwife is now estimating that she is at least 7 lbs. Aaackkkk!!! I still have 7 weeks to go until my due date which is more than a little scary. I am going to give birth to a full grown toddler!?! We'll see what they say at the next ultrasound which is May 2nd...

And here is my layout for my 31 week photo that DS took while we were up in Virginia Beach...

After the brights of the Junkitz papers, I felt the need to work with something soft and feminine and these K-Ology products were perfect. BTW, for that title, I printed it off the computer and then traced it onto my layout so that I could then paint it.

I hit the bookstore and found some fabulous new idea books so I am buzzing with inspiration for upcoming projects...

smiles,
christi

Virginia Beach Cuteness...

Just sharing a quick layout with you...


This is the layout that I did for Angie's Junkitz April Challenge over at the Cottage. The photo was taken on the beach in VA last week.
Supplies Used:
*Junkitz Extreme Boy Stars paper
*Junkitz Extreme Boy Flames paper
*Junkitz Extreme Boy Tilez
*Bazzill Red Cardstock
*Heidi Swapp Addict Chipboard
*Making Memories alpha stickers
(this fabulous Junkitz line is available in the Cottage store)

I'll have more to share later today or tomorrow...
smiles,
christi

Some new layouts...

Hi, all!
I am thrilled to say that I finished a couple of layouts yesterday...

This was my first. The photos are from the gardens at Colonial Willimsburg. Ever since I found out that we were having a girl, I have been allowing myself to buy scrapbook papers that are very pink and girly. I was thrilled to be able to use some of them on this layout. The papers are Fancy Pants and the stamps are Rhonna Farrer's.


Every month over at the Cottage, Angie posts a series of challenges. The product challenge for this month was to use: 2 patterned papers, ghost letters, chipboard, bling, and a transparency. Linda took it up a notch by challenging us to do one of Angie's challenges using the word "look" somewhere on this page. When I thought about this photo from Busch Gardens, I knew that it would be perfect. I was going for a freestyle, messy look on this, but I am not too sure I did anything but the messy part.

The journaling says: "I saw this saying and knew that I needed Jacob to pose. I told him to look tortured- I think that he nailed it. LOL!"

It is still very early on Saturday morning and I feel my creative muse buzzing so I am off to go play in my scraproom. Today is the day that I finish Kat's mobile. There was a glimpse of its beginning in my crochet post so hopefully tomorrow I will be able to show you its finishing. I am also halfway done making DS an old-time haversack (like was part of his costume from Colonial Williamsburg), but we need to make a quick jaunt to town before we can finish it up so that is on the agenda too. Not too sure what else will be created but I am sure that it will involve patterned papers. :)
Happy Saturday!
smiles,
christi

Memorial...

This is a layout that I finished up late last night.


The journaling says:"When my Grandmother died in 1999, I was devastated. But I love that her memory lives on through this welcome sign on the way into Hooker, Okla. The rocks and the wagon wheel are from her ranch in Colorado. It's a wonderful legacy!"

Supplies used:
*MME papers
*Tres Jolie journaling card
*7 gypsies gaffer tape
*Junkitz newspaper flowerz
*Prima flowers
*ribbon
*brads

I hope that you have big creative plans for the weekend!! I know that I do!

smiles,
Christi

We're back!!!

Warning: This post is going to be very heavy on the pictures!!

Well, Jacob and I are back from our four day mini-break to the Williamsburg area. We stayed on a military base up in the area where we were literally about an 1/8 of a mile from the beach. Unfortunately, I was too darn tired at the end of each day to spend much time out there so we only really got to visit it the last morning that we were there. I think that we both had a really good time even with the very modified schedule with me being so pregnant. I can only walk so much! LOL!

The first day that we were in the area, we went to Colonial Williamsburg. This was really the whole point of us going. Jacob is a huge history fan and has been wanting to make this trip for years. So when we got there and saw that they had costume rentals for kids...well, he was definitely in his element!


We hit the area at just the right time so that the flowers were all blooming gorgeously. This allowed for some great photo opportunities!!! Which means that I was a happy camper too!


This is just one of the many garden areas in the park. I loved this little vignette!!


Our second day in the area was spent at Busch Gardens. Jacob, at 12 years old, has led a very sad life. Until this day, he had never been to an amusement park so this was high on the priority list too. Unfortunately, DH was not able to make the trip at the last moment so that meant that Jacob had to ride all the rides by himself, but he loved it. Luckily as an only child (at least until now) he is used to being pretty independent. I am not posting any of the photos from the rides, but you will see them soon as I have already printed them out to scrapbook.

Again, at Busch Gardens the flowers were absolutely fantastic!!


One of the things that I did when we were in England was take tons of photos of the gorgeous doors so when we saw these at the park, we had to take another photo. Notice how wet Jacob is...he spent almost the entire day on the water rides. Luckily, it was an absolutely gorgeous day!


When I saw the saying on this, I knew that I had to get Jacob to pose. I told him to look miserable...I think that he has got that look perfect! LOL!


Finally the last morning as we were leaving, we got to head down to the beach for a bit. It's really a shame that we didn't get to spend more time here as it was simply gorgeous.


Finally, here is a shot of me pregnant at 31 weeks. Thankfully, Jacob cut the shot so that you can't see my extremely swollen feet. I don't think that they are ever going to return to normal after this trip until the baby is born. LOL! He's a pretty good photographer, isn't he?


So now we are back and I have 145 new photos to scrapbook so I am sure that you will be seeing a whole lot more of our trip in the near future.
smiles,
christi

Off for a mini-break...

I will be back Wednesday. DS and I are off on a mini-break!
smiles,
christi

Katherine at 31 weeks...

I was in the middle of an ultrasound today and imagine my surprise when the technician froze the frame and this is what came up! Look at my little girl...

I had no idea that my ob clinic had a machine that could even do this. She and I are both doing really well, but she is getting big. They estimate her to already be 4.1 lbs with 9 weeks still to grow. Aackkkk! That's a bit scary. She is also already head down. Because she is measuring big, I get to go back in 4-5 weeks where they will do another ultrasound just to check on her.

smiles,
christi

Rusty Pickle- Old McDonald

Today is upload day for half the DT over at the Cropper's Cottage. This month we received the Rusty Pickle Old McDonald papers and I admit that I was truly stumped on how to use them at first, but I got inspired when I pulled out Ben's old albums (he grew up on a farm.)

For this first layout, the journaling says, "Ben at the age of 8, taking care of his cow for show. I love the look of concentration on his face. As he says now...this was serious business. Notice also his moccasins...he made them himself. September, 1971

In the file folder is a copy of the newspaper clipping that shows he placed 2nd with his cow.


For this second layout, Ben is about 3 or 4 and just the cutest little thing. The journaling says: "Muddy, Ben's grandmother, staged this photo for a newspaper competition. She wanted to show off how cute this little guy was. So she set him up in a corner field with a stick and his grandfather's kerchief to make it look like he was running away."


For this final layout, when I saw this wonderful camouflage paper, I knew that it was absolutely perfect for Jacob. This layout is a lift from Heidi Swapp's newest book and the layout includes a lot of her product also. The journaling says: "This photo is so Jacob- as he is today. I was taking some photos of him reading and he finally gave in and looked at me. I love this kid so much and I want to always remember the way that he looks today. March 27, 2007"


All these fun new Rusty Pickle products can be found over at the Cropper's Cottage Store.smiles,
Christi

Altered states...

Well, over the weekend I went on a little altering phase.

The first thing I altered was this file accordian. First, let me explain the Design Collective. This is a group of 13 uber-talented UK designers who have gotten together to create 4 classes a month. You can join for 10 pounds/month (that equals about $20.) They are just getting started with the first month starting in April. I am so excited because these gals are some seriously inspirational designers. They have a forum and a blog. Right now the forum is open to anyone, but starting (I think this is the right date) March 30th, it will only be open to those that have the monthly membership.

But the classes will go out 4 times a month as pdfs so all of the designers have come up with fun designs/methods to store the pdfs (all of these creations are simply stunning...go check out the gallery!) I created a accordian file folder loosely based upon AmberJane's creation. Here is my version using one of the My Mind's Eye Front Porch Collections.


Way back in January, one of the challenges that I started was the weekly altered cards challenge being hosted by Emily Falconbridge. After a great ambitious start, I fell a bit behind and have slowly been playing catch-up. Here are my 5 latest cards:
The themes in the order that they are posted is
~My symbol...I chose fleur de lis because I love all things French.
~My love...DH
~I miss...some of my body woes with being pregnant
~Things that inspire me... a list of places that I look for creative inspiration
~My initial

I also altered a band-aid tin to hold all of my cards. This is using another line of the My Mind's Eye Front Porch Collection and a bit of Heidi bling....


Finally, I have one last little discovery to show you. If you have been following my blog at all, you may have noticed that I love to use bits of notebook paper. I absolutely love the look that the spiral binding adds to a page. The downside to this is that it is not a very good idea for the life of your scrapbooking because notebook paper is not acid free. Well, yesterday I was cruising my long list of blogs that I like to visit and I came across this post over at Christine's blog. OMG!!! Stampin Up makes a punch that makes that edge. Let me just tell you this...I am definitely ordering that baby so be on the lookout for this effect on upcoming layouts!!! Definitely one of those...Duh! Why didn't someone think of this before!!!

smiles,
Christi

My latest layouts...

I have had a creative surge lately. Today I will share some of my latest layouts. Tomorrow I will be posting a few items that I have been altering.

Over at the Cropper's Cottage, Angie posts 6 monthly challenges. One of these is a sketch that she has drawn. This layout is using Angie's sketch for this month. These are some more photos from our vacation in 2001. I can't believe that I haven't scrapped these photos before!


This weekend I was playing just for the sake of playing and these 2 layouts are a result from that. This first one is using some the new gorgeous Daisy D's papers, the new Fancy Pants journaling card and some photos from our trip to Bath when we lived in England.


When we lived in England, I had a purple powder room. Someday I will have one again and when I do, I will frame up this layout for wall art.


I hope that you managed to create some fun goodies over the weekend!!!
smiles,
christi

Learning to Crochet...

Like I said in Wednesday's post, I taught myself to crochet while I was resting. It's something that I have been wanting to do for ages (either crochet or knit, but I decided that I wasn't smart enough to handle the two needles for knitting! LOL!). The main reason that I wanted to learn is because of baby hats...I love them and need them all, but that gets rather expensive so this works for me...a ball of yarn is MUCH cheaper than shopping at Janie & Jack who makes the cutest baby hats around!!!

My starting point was these two books:

The book on the left is awesome for projects!! They are laid out to build your skills so if you follow the book, then you slowly learn everything that you need to know about crocheting. It was $24.99 at Michael's. Where it is not so good is on the actual clear stitching instructions which is where Crocheting for Dummies comes in. Great stitch instructions in this one!!! And even better, Barnes & Noble is offering a $5 rebate this month on all their Dummies books so this $19.95 book ended up costing me somewhere around $12.

This is my first failed project:

I, being the impatient person that I am, have yet to do a gauge check (although EVERYTHING you read says this is very important!) This was supposed to originally be the baby hat you see in the next photo, but it is about 1/2 the size it should be to fit even a baby's head. So the backup plan for my first piece of crochet is that I am going to use a bit of that fabric above it to make a flap and this little pouch will work great as a pouch to carry my crochet needles in.

This was my second project:

A baby hat for Katherine for her first winter. Later I am supposed to learn how to make crocheted flowers so I will probably add one of those to the cuff to make it a bit more girly. DH loves winter hats with tassels so he was very happy with this...and so am I!

My third project was a technique success, but I don't like the varigated yarn look on this, but DS loves to organize things so he has claimed this as his own...

This fourth project was much harder than it should be. I could not for the life of me figure out how to do the stitch around the metal frame (the book instructions were WAY off on this!!!), but I found a quick tutorial online which made it super easy and fast.

This will be a mobile for Katherine's room. Obviously it is still a work in progress, but I will post photos when I finish with it. BTW, the butterfly garland came from the easter section of Target for $7. I plan on cutting them apart and adding them to the rings and flowers.

My final project that I have done so far is this scarf...

It still needs to be blocked and have the fringe added to it, but since it has been in the 70's and 80's for the last couple of weeks, there doesn't seem to be much urgency in doing that.

That is what I have done so far. I have my next 3 projects planned. My next task to learn are granny squares, but I haven't quite figured them out yet. Then I think it is time for another hat. Yippee!!!
smiles,
christi

Funny thing about blogging...

Ya know, the funny thing about blogging is that the longer you don't do it, the harder it is to come back and catch up. I am sorry for my absense, but I do have a valid excuse. The day of my last entry I started having some pains...I just thought that the baby was in the wrong position and taking it out on me, but I finally realized Saturday night that those pains were coming at regular intervals...uh oh!!!

I finally went to the hospital Sunday morning (in a bit of a panic because DH was out of town, I was only 28 weeks pregnant and definitely having contractions 5 minutes apart.) The good news is that yes, I was having contractions, but it was only because of a bladder infection...not actual labor. The bad news is that they lasted another 2 days...ugh!! 4 days of contractions is something that I never want to go through again!!! I only had 10 hours with DS...and I am very happy to do that again. So I took it easy for a good week there trying to relax on the couch and not upset the balance (sitting at the computer or my scrap space would bring them on again.)

But I am all good again. Katherine is just as active as ever so she is none the worse for wear and I am finally starting to get back into my routine which finally includes some blogging.

So what did I do while spending a week on the couch??? I learned how to crochet!! So fun and relaxing!!! I have made several projects and will be taking photos over the next few days so that you can see.

In the meantime, here are a couple of cj's that I have managed to get done over the last couple of weeks. This first one is a quote themed one...
left side:


right side:


Then this one has a musical theme:


I promise to be back soon with more to share. I cleaned my scraproom yesterday so I am hoping to get something accomplished in there today!!!
smiles,
christi

Good Friday Morning!!

Good morning!!! Did you know that spring is really coming? I had confirmation yesterday when I parked by this tree...


I was lucky that I had my camera with me. We are doing photo challenges over at the Cottage and yesterday's theme was "Little Things". I was hoping to find inspiration as I was out running errands and I did! Yay!

I also did a whole lot of sketching and planning for my upcoming projects so I am hoping to get started on some of those today although I was up til 3:00 am finishing the newest Susan Elizabeth Philips book so I am not sure how productive I will be today. I am foreseeing some naps in my future for today...
smiles,
christi

Wow! A productive day!!

Yesterday was so productive for me. I actually got 4 layouts completed. All of the layouts that I did were in response to various Cottage challenges so that makes it really easy to be productive. I love doing challenges!!


This is my layout for the March Scraplift Linda Peterson challenge.
The journaling says, "This is Junior's position of choice when he is sitting with Ben. Totally relaxed, totally exposed, Totally Spoiled."
Supplies used:
*Bazzill Peacock
*Junkitz Laguna Guy papers
*Heidi Swapp Chipboard letters
*Li'l Davis Journaling stamp


This is the layout that I did for Angie's March color challenge. I never would have put all these papers together if not for this color challenge, but I think that it works.
Lots of Misc. Supplies:
*Rhonna Farrer paper (base)
*MM Anthology papers (blue & green)
*Fancy Pants papers (pink & brown)
*Li'l Davis stamps
*Junkitz flower
*Heidi Swapp Journaling Spot
*Heidi Swapp silhouette Words


I am slowly, but surely getting these challenges done. This is the day 8 challenge from the J. Waters/CK fast & fabulous article. The approach for this one was to layer 3 horizontal photos down the side of the layout. This is also my photo from yesterdays photo challenge (cherished possession.)

The journaling reads "When Junior wants to play, he goes to this rug. He flings himself on it, scoots it across the floor, and will even fold it up so that he can shove his mice into the folds and hunt them. He loves this rug so much. He comes running when he hears one of us straightening it. I don't know what we'll do when we move to a house without wood floors. But for now this is his play place."
Supplies used:
*chatterbox paper (blue background)
*Foofala paper (right border)
*Scenic Route paper (top border)
*Heidi Swapp Chipboard letters and journaling spots
*Basic Grey Wholly Cow rub-ons


This is a layout using my photo from the day 2 challenge and it is also using tons of MM product so it works for Angie's March Challenges too.
The journaling says: "One of the funnest things about expecting a baby girl is looking at this closet full of girly, frilly clothes. So much fun!"
Supplies used:
*Fancy Pants paper (blue background)
*MM Anthology papers (all the rest)
*MM Anthology Velvet brads
*MM Anthology Metal Alphabet
*MM Anthology Metal Tab (which is silver...it just scanned really funky!)
*Heidi Swapp oval Bling
*Prima flower

smiles,
christi

Long time, no post...

Wow! How has a week already passed by since the last time I blogged?!? So sorry about that. I have been here and working, but unfortunately, I don't seem to be using my time to it's best advantage so I feel like I am running a bit behind (but what else is new?!? LOL!)


I continue to work on the Jamie Waters/CK article challenge. This was approach 6 which was to use 2 4x6 photos separated by the title. I print my own photos so I don't usually have 4x6 photos around, but I found these on the recent reorganization of my scraproom. They are photos from our 2001 summer vacation. Jacob is so little! Most of the supplies on here are Scenic Route.


This is the layout that I did using the day 7 prompt from the CK challenges. This prompt was to use a horizontal and a vertical photo and to use word stickers between them. The photos are of two of the barns from the Duke Homestead.
Supplies used:
*Prima Aurora papers**
*Li'l Davis letters**
*Heidi Swapp letters**
*K&Co. word stickers

I have also created the artwork for an article since we last "spoke", but obviously I can't share that yet.

Finally, just a bit of a creative update. I have been crocheting. I will share more in the next couple of days as I have two projects that are just hours away from completion. It's so much fun and relaxing, but I definitely can see a bit of an addiction growing to this!! It is even managing to keep me off of the computer which is unheard of!!
smiles,
christi