More Tim Holtz Tags

I've taken several more TH tag classes over at the LSS, I just hadn't posted the photos.

These last 2 have definitely been my favs- LOVE the last one.  :)

How I Spent Last Weekend or What I did at CKC

I signed up for 5 classes but after taking one look at the vendor faire, I knew I needed to take another class- I had too much shopping time for too few vendors.  The Charlotte faire isn't nearly the size of the Valley Forge faire, the only other CKC I'd attended.  It was a GOOD faire and I was more than able to spend WAY too much money, just not BIG so it didn't require the time to browse that I'd allowed.  There were a LOT of premade/laser cut LO vendors and a LOT of vendors selling precut ribbons.  I was bummed not to see Dollar Scrapbooking or another vendor from VF (don't remember name) that sold pop dots and other goodies for $1.

I don't have pix of everything but what I do have is:
Make and Takes

Studio Calico's Misting and More.  Loved this class!  Some great techniques and a great chance to use SC's Mister Huey mists.  The BOGO coupon from this class was great.  I walked away from the booth with 2 sampler sets and 2 individual bottles of spray.  Also, I won a set of stamps as a Door Prize (DP)  (there were 2 or 3) and EVERYONE in class was given a full set of stamps (I think it was SC's last show and they were getting rid of some stuff.)

Lickety Split's Gifts Galore for Food II

I wasn't sure what to expect or if I'd like the class because I don't care for premade/laser cut LOs and that's what LS specializes in.  In the end, GREAT class and I'd take the class III they're developing for next year.  These weren't rocket science projects and easily found online but honestly, I don't think I would have ever made any of them if I hadn't taken the class and now, I think I'll be making quite a few.  They also gave us the makes to create a birthday countdown calendar that goes on a muffin tin (to be made at home).  The only thing we needed to supply was the tin.  I put it all together last night- very cute.  I don't have a picture of it but the nice thing is that it can be easily bagged up and saved flat for another year while the tin can be used for another calendar (I think I'll make a Halloween one.)  There were quite a few DP's including a LOT of extra bags of M&M's purchased for class.

Technique Tuesday's In Bloom.  Again, this wasn't rocket science and I've actually made several of these flowers myself but several were new, there were some tweaks that were nice to learn, and it makes for a nice little guide.  Everyone got a coupon for the booth for a small set of stamps with a $10 purchase.  Quite a few NICE DP's in this class.

These are some flowers I've made on my own prior to this class.  Again, not sure I NEEDED this class but I'm pretty happy with the output.

Technique Tuesday Explosion Box (still working on that one).  This was the class I picked up and I'm really glad I did.  I'd considered it but passed initially.  I love the box- the big problem's going to be finding photos for it.  The only problem I ran into was that the outer "page" of the box seemed a bit too big and I had to do quite a bit of trimming last night to get it to fit into the lid.  "" for coupons and DP's.

CK Material Girl layouts (I'm working on the first, I probably won't do the 2nd as instructed as I didn't care for it).  Overall, I like the first though not as much as I thought I would.  The sticky fabric was kinda neat to work with- I may look into getting some.  A few DP's but I don't remember what.  No coupons.

Prima Marketing's Get Your Grunge On.  The album is nice but probably nothing I couldn't have done on my own.  However, I hadn't worked with a chipboard album before and there was a FABU tape that Prima puts out that we used for binding some page edges.  While the class was pricey, the kit was HUGE.  I probably won't use near the number of flowers included on the album because while the pages ARE boyish, I just don't think putting too many flowers in it is.  Overall, good class with a killer kit of goodies (including a fab reusable wood/plexi box full of chipboard letters.)  No doorprizes or coupons but the kit was intended to make up for the lack of DP's.

I also went to the Friday night crop.  I hadn't gone last year so didn't know what to expect.  I've heard mixed reviews of the goodie bag everyone gets- I thought it was great!  I had no problems with the amount of space we each had to work in and the lighting was good in my world.  There were lots of vendors that set up for either the whole evening or just 20min or so.  Sorry I missed the cool shirts at Quick Quotes, thrilled I was the first person to discover Technique Tuesday setting up and I was able to grab first choice of their grab bags.  There was one game played based on a TV show... "what can you do in a minute" or something like that... sorry, not a big game/reality show watcher.  A LOT of REALLY nice DP's and what floored me was that EVERYONE got a DP!  NICE!

Sesame Place layout

Sorry but this is going to be quick.  I got back from CKC yesterday evening and I'm just trying to get things put away/rearranged/cleaned up/blah/blah/blah.

The first Aug. challenge over at Better Living Through Scrapbooking: Was there an event or moment you found yourself wishing to capture but without a camera on hand? Make a layout or project that conveys the point without a photo. Find a way to replace the picture with something that represents the subject in some way.
Use at least 2 of the following:
1. Hand-stitch on your project
2. Include at least 3 red items
3. Stamp on your project
4. Use a non-patterned (solid colored) paper for the main background of the layout

We went to Sesame Place last year and one of the many "blechs" of the day was that I couldn't find my camera before we left so no photos.  This challenge was the perfect time to finally scrap what I had from that day and put it all behind me.   :)

Obviously I used solid papers and I found tape wasn't keeping the map pocket together well enough so stitching it was the perfect solution.

Bubbling Halloween card

Ingredients:

Stamps: Unity's Love Potion #9. 
Paper: G45's Halloween in Wonderland, the strips of a paper that I can't identify.  :) 
Misc: Cuttlebug spiderweb folder, Copics, Dimensional glaze, Stickles
I created the bottom sentiment in Word to match the DSP. 

Challenges:
Crafter's Cafe Unity/Ippity challenge #4: Color challenge
A La Card Monkey: Challenge 70: Halloween/sketch

2009 Halloween Layout

Well, I just did something that if you'd told me a month, or even a few days ago I'd be doing, I would have laughed at you.  I used 5 different patterned papers on a layout.  Ok, ok.  So they were from the same DCWV stack but still!  You have to understand that I didn't TRULY buy any patterned papers with the intent of REALLY using them until last year.  Sure, I'd bought some and used bits and pieces here and there but I've only recently decided to REALLY use them.  I went to Joann's last week to get the new DCWV autumn stack but decided in the end that though I need more Halloween paper like I need a hole in the head, I liked and would likely use the Ghosts & Goblins stack the most.  Guess I was right on THAT one.

This was one of my baggies of photos I wanted to scrap (I've gone through a lot of my photos and separated different events into sandwich baggies of photos- then I can just grab a pack and go or I can easily flip through all events looking for 1 that has x number of photos if I find a layout I like) and the DCWV August Stack-a-holic Template Challenge sketch works really well for them... or at least I think it does.  I thought it worked so well that for once, I didn't really even tweak the sketch.  Ok, well, maybe a smidge but less than usual!

Everything is from the Ghosts & Goblins stack except the green paper (not sure whose it is honestly), and the letters (Halloween rub on- October Afternoon, Number stickers- Piggy Tales)

New craft board with giveaway

I just saw this over at Scrapcat Cards by Linda...
There is a new group over at a place called Crafters Cafe. They would like to invite you all to come check it out, say hi, and would love for you to join them.  Even better, someone wins this candy!

Udderly Tickled Pink card

I really need to get a gift in the mail to a friend's daughter for her 4th bday but first I needed a card. 

This one is real simple and unfortunately cropped a bit odd- the base card is white.  The inside says, "Udderly tickled pink" and then I wrote "it's your birthday."  I penned in bowties on the cows just because I thought they needed a bit of "pop".

Ingredients:
SU papers, stamps and watercolor crayons.  Staedtler watercolor pencils

I'm entering it over at Sweet Stampin' Challenge's Down on the Farm challenge and Southern Girls Challenge #25: Black & White with a Pop.

Who's it going to be layout

I set up the easel outside the other day for Boy to go to town and he went to town, city and metropolis. Once we ran out of drying line for paper art, he moved onto body art (I'm a big fan of the leaves he used to complete the look).

I spattered the Jackson Pollock side, background and title, with acrylic paints. I used metallic crayons on the Kat Von D background paper (they have a really nice shimmer that don't show up well on camera) and watercolor crayoned the name. I then smudged the crayon onto the title background paper for a bit more finish.

I was entering this in the CK Summer Camp Arts & Crafts challenge but just realized that submissions had to be made within 24hrs of the challenge post.  Oh well.

Ingredients:
Papers: Stampin' Up & misc
Cricut cartridges: Happy Hauntings, A Word Party
Sizzix die: Naturally Serif
Coloring supplies: Metallic crayons: Crayola, Watercolor Crayons: Stampin' Up, Acrylic paints

Reminder of 2 monthly challenges/giveaways going on

Life in the Craft Lane is giving these away this month:

and Better Living Through Scrapbooking has their first Aug. challenge up.  Check 'em out!!

I'm back in the saddle again!

Obviously, it's been a while.  First there was the recovery from those 8 days on the road which led straight into our parents coming and visiting for a long weekend to having Boy at home with me for a week while recovering from the visit.  Needless to say, little crafting has been done since mid-July.  BUT... I'm getting back to it... 5pgs!  Yay!!

Let's see.  What's to be said?  ...   Ummmm.... not much.  :) 

I'm entering this in the My Mind's Eye #26 Layout challenge- the first page is from a sketch they provided and the print paper, journal card, and all embellishments are theirs. Hopefully it's enough. It's supposed to be 80% their product. The blue papers aren't theirs (Core-dinations) but I'm not sure if they go 80% surface area or 80% number of items. Oh well. It is what it is.

I made a decision not to fuzz faces here.  I hope I don't offend anyone but I've included no names so...  I used the invite as the title and subtitle- I thought the banner she created made a nice title replacement and banners are just all the rage- why recreate the wheel?  KISS and all that good stuff.  :)  The invite is actually slipped into a pocket I made with the photo strip below it.  That keeps the deets of the party (address, date, etc.) bit more "secluded" but available if desired. 

I'm entering this in the Simply Betty #3 challenge- make a pocket and Scrappin' Chics use a banner/pennant challenge (hope I'm not cheating with the direction I went in with it!)

I like this one though it's a bit plain. The photos took so much room that I didn't want to interfere with them (all 3 of these pages/spreads have that going for them- LOTS of photos!) The thing that bugs me is that my paper keeps warping when I use mist like I did on this page. I flattened it between books but as you can see from the bottom edge, not so great.

I'm entering it in Whimsical Wednesday's Sense of Humor challenge.  I love the smile Boy has as a pirate (he enjoyed that one) and the photos of him as an alien are funny- I'd love to know what he was thinking in that first one.