Sigh, it's snowing again

As I sat uploading this layout to some galleries, I looked out the window and it is snowing - AGAIN! I'm afraid to look up how many inches of snow we've had this year so far - I'm sure it far exceeds the "norm". Ugh. Well, last night I was bummed by the forecast of snow, and I did this quickie layout. Honestly, it's getting harder and harder to remember spring!

credits: papers and flower stamps from Oscraps Lucky March collaboration kit (available March 1st).
Photo run through NinaScraps "Brighten it up" action.























be sure to check out the Oscraps Collab on the first of March - it's a beautiful kit full of great elements and papers!

Have you taken up the challenge?

There's a new challenge at the G.R.I.N. blog- it's a scraplift. Be sure to check it out. There's a great slideshow which shows what the CT has done with their lifts! Here's mine:



background paper (recolored and lightened a bit) "Bright Side of Life part 1" by NinaScraps
staple and tab tag from "Harvest Festival" kit by NinaScraps
brown ribbon and "you" alpha" (recolored) from "Clarisse" kit by NinaScraps
Star ornament from "U are my Star" element pack by NinaScraps
stitches (extracted and full circle)and triple frame from "Madeleine" by NinaScraps Date
tags ("January" and "2008") from "Date Bits" by Misty Cato
star overlay made by me!
fonts: Copperplate Gothic and Century Gothic










and did you see that Link to Misty Cato's blog in my credits - be sure to visit. All week she's been giving away a series of dating products called "Date Bits" - I think she's up to part 6 -and they are fabulous!!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

I made these 4x6 "layouts" to go in a two sided heart frame that I've had FOREVER and never used. I'm going to pick up the prints in the morning and give it to DH for valentines day. I bought the two heart pillows, got the kids haircuts, and took the pictures yesterday - nothing like last minute, hunh? And I should have opted for smaller pillows - they're just too big! But the kids do love them. Maybe on the 15th I'll go hunting the clearance racks for some little ones for next year!! Oh, and I took Bella's pics while Nate was doing homework, and his after she was in bed - they each came up with the "sleeping" pose independently - KIDS!

credits: Paper and "word art" tag from the Oscraps Valentine Collab. kit (Tag says "Love" on it, I altered it to say "2008" "sweet" and "dreams".

"Torrent" overlay by Kristi Wiseman

Six years old already

So, my baby boy turned six a few weeks ago. One of our neighborhood friends, who is also in his Kindergarten class, has a birthday 8 days later. So we pooled resources and party guests and threw one big party at a local gymnastics facility.

edited - I have NO earthly idea why the preview of the layout looks so lousy. If you click on it, the actual image is much clearer!!

Here's the layout:

credits: Blue Background, star button, note paper – "Denim" kit by Miss Vivi
Orange paper for mats and strip – "A Vendre" kit by MissVivi
Yellow paper for mats and strip - "NAM" kit by MissViviMesh Star from "On the Road" by Miss Vivi
Stitches from "Sweety Spring" by MissVivi
Red and green papers for mats and strips - "Lucious Solids" retired blog freebie by Bren Boone.
Mesh (recolored and cut into "6") from Gotta Pixel 06/2006 "Father's Day" group kit - mesh by Tara Forbes
gemstone star – "Home Sweet Home" kit by MissVivi
staple – "Coyote Girl" kit by MissVivi
fonts: Simple Scrapbooks Play, Arial Narrow (clipping mask for mesh "6")

and here is a quick Valentine card I designed with my son - for him to take to school:

Companion pages to prior layouts

so, since albums have facing pages, I tend to do two page spreads. Here are two pages I did to compliment the pages I showed in this post:





All papers (green and purple floral, green swirl, pink, beige )and elements (stitches, flowers, lace, rickrack and paper swirl) from MissVivi's and Maryse Vincent's charity colaboration Couleur d'Espoir.

template - Simply Yin blog freebie (frames recolored to match kit)Papers, buttons, swirls, stitches and rickrack - from MissVivi's and MaryseVincent's charity colaboration Couleur d'Espoir. (one rickrack and swirls recolored).

CT layout catch-up.

So, with three Creative Teams, I scrap alot these days!! Here's two recent layouts - and credits - from recent days!
First, remember the layouts of pics of my sister's family and my brother's family? Pics taken at our cousin's wedding? Well, here's my family at that same wedding:


credits: I started with a template from the "Bella Scraps" magazine first issue freebies - but I changed it ALOT!
All papers, ribbon, rickrack and button from "Coffee House" kit by Raechel Knight at SBB.
frame (altered to remove ribbon) from TidBytes 11.07 magazine freebie by Raechel Knight.
Flower from "Captured Moments" kit by NinaScraps














Here's our daughter making faces for the camera - if you like the arrangement click the link for the "G.R.I.N blog" in the credits - the template is currently there as a freebie for a challenge - link your layout up in the blog entries Comments (over at G.R.I.N., not here!) for a chance to win gift certificates from NinaScraps!!

template from NinaScraps - freebie on the G.R.I.N blog

blue papers and large tied ribbon from "Captured Moments" kit by NinaScraps

pink paper from Oscraps Valentine Collaboration

Pewter Heart Charm and Chain by Paula Yagisawa at Gotta Pixel - part of the February 2007 Group Kit for subscribers

Paint swatches (recolored) from "Oodles of Doodles" by Melany Violette

small shadowed stitch from "Party Mix" by Jess Bolton

there's a new blog out there today:

you can visit here: http://girls-are-rockin-for-nina.blogspot.com/

there will be a new challenge started on Monday (that's tomorrow). Also, if you sport one of Nina's fan blinkies, she's instructed the whole team to alert her so she can send RAK's. Here's two blinkies to chose from:

and you can visit Nina's store at Oscraps or NDISB.
and here's my most recent CT layout using Nina's great stuff:



template: Misty Cato Rounded Corners #2
grey background paper from "Captured Moments" kit by NinaScraps
circle stamps (recolored 3 times) from "Circles" brush set by NinaScraps
purple painted paper by Emily Merritt
ribbon and eyelet borders from "Pimp your Page vol. 1" by NinaScraps
heart from "You R My Heart" embellishment kit by Nina Scraps
fonts: Arial, Elegant, and McGarey

a week already!!???!?

So it's been aweek since I posted - oops. I was on such a good run for a while there! I did catch up on Christmas 2006! Here's the layouts:


















credits: Template from Michelle Swadling 01/09/08 - Gotta Pixel Scraplift challenge
Papers, ribbon, flowers, star tag all from the 12 Days of Christmas collection by Raechel Knight

and I also got a two pager done about my daughter who doesn't like to nap:

the credits for this one are huge. It was for a challenge from the NinaScraps creative team to use FIFTEEN different elements and they each had to be from a separate kit or set, plus 2-3 papers. It was really hard, but fun and challenging, that's for sure:

photos treated with Natasha Whiteley's B&W Tone Action
Template by KatG (freebie on the DSSA Blog in January 2008)
Paper 1 - blue wrinkled and dark blue batik paper from Lena's World" by NinaScraps
Paper 2 - Blue floral graph paper from "Friends" by NinaScraps
Paper 3 - pink floral paper from "Fancy Paper Bit's" by NinaScraps
1. Scalloped mat template from "Bright Side of Life part 1" by Nina Scraps
2. cross stitches (recolored) from "Madeline" by NinaScraps
3. thin ribbon wrap (recolored) and "not" alpha from "Clarisse" by NinaScraps
4. heart from "U R my Heart" by NinaScraps
5. Star from "U are my Star" by NinaScraps
6. rafia wrap from "Bright Side of Life part 3" by NinaScraps (extracted from a frame)
7. journal tag with eyelets from "Noble Castellana" by NinaScraps
8. mini tag from "Bright Side of Life part 2" by NinaScraps (recolored and resized)
9. Paper clip from "Country" by NinaScraps (an old freebie)
10. Colored file tab from "Trendy Coltabs" by NinaScraps
11. Ribbon bow (on heart and star, recolored) from "Bright Side of Life 4" by NinaScraps
12. ribbon and eyelet fasteners (recolored and extracted) from "Pimp your Page" set one by NinaScraps
13. frame – "Captured Moments" kit by NinaScraps
14. eyelet lace border (recolored) from "Harvest Festival" by NinaScraps
15. heart charm (extracted from a frame) from Oscraps collaborative OValentine frame was by NinaScraps!
fonts: 2Peas Scrapbook, Abusive pencil and Papyrus