Circles & the Wisdom of Elvis

It's Thursday so you know what that means...time for another Sketchy Thursdays sketch!

This week's sketch is sponsored by Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker so I played with her U R My Favorite line to create this layout.

This is another photo taken a few months ago when I asked the kids to pose for me so I'd have current pics to show friends that hadn't seen us in a while.  This is the "sensitive" picture.  (See the other pic HERE.)

I covered a couple of chipboard circles with some of the Nikki Sivils paper.  I seriously did not plan for the hearts on the two circles to overlap so perfectly, but they did so yea!  The small oval punch I have, perfect for threading ribbon through, would not have punched through this chipboard so I used my Cropadile to punch several holes and then sanded it to create a smooth oval of sorts.

Here you can see the dimension of this layout.

As a wise Elvis once sung (the good Elvis, lol, of the Costello variety), "What's so funny about peace, love, and understanding?" 

This is a Technique Tuesday chipboard ring which I rubbed with some pink ink, wrapped with some floss, and wrote on.  I'm a bit impatient and didn't wait for my ink to dry before I tried erasing some pencil marks causing the ink to smear.  But I thought it looked cool so I "erased" over all the lettering.   I love it when mistakes become good things. 

Head on over to the Sketchy Thursdays blog to see what the rest of the design team made for your inspiration and then play along with us.  Hook up your direct link to Mr. Linky in the sidebar by 11:59pm EST Wednesday 1/27 (my hub's 40th bday, oh my!) for your chance to win a sampler of Nikki Sivils' U R My Favorite line plus some more of her embellies. 

Details:  Nikki Sivils U R My Favorite collection:  paper & corduroy button; Bazzill chipboard circles; Technique Tuesdays chipboard ring; Colorbox ink; DMC floss; Michaels ribbon; Cropadile; Zig Millennium pen.

I also made this layout earlier this week using more of the Nikki Sivils U R My Favorite line. 

Speaking of circles, this week's Design Dollies sketch challenge also centered on circles:

I knocked this sketch on its side:

I was feeling in a playful mood so I drug out my Amercian Crafts Teen collection.  I sooo love that line!  (And some of it is featured in this month's Torendi kit "Bright"!)   I also used some pink prismatic and pink glitter papers from Colorbok.  What a find those were!  Two sheets each for 99 cents!!!!!!  Got them at Target and by the time I realized how cool they were (about a day later) when I went back to get more it was all gone.  :o(  Oh, well.  I also got some blue prismatic, too.  Can't wait to break into that one, also. 

I had this great pic of my daughter which I've been dying to scrap.  It may look as if she's throwing a tantrum but if you look closely at her hands you'll realize she's actually rocking out.  Look at her in all of her four years in a High School Musical t-shirt rocking out!  The words in the circle next to her pic say, "rock on".  There are also circles with the words, "lip gloss" and "nail polish" in them.  She's becoming quite the girly-girl, despite having a pretty tomboy-ish mom.  Which just goes to show that "girly" isn't necessarily taught, it just IS. 

I ran a strip of the pink prismatic paper through my Dymo machine for the title, "Four Going On Tween".  I rubbed over the raised letters with some black ink to make the letters stand out a bit more. 

Head on over to the Design Dollies blog to check out what the rest of the design team made for your inspiration and then get yourself hooked up to the Mr. Linky on that post for your chance to win a fabulous prize.  If you've been following the Dollies so far you know their prizes are awesome! 

Details - Paper: American Crafts, Colorbok; Dymo; Slick Writer; Zig Millennium pen; thread. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  Be sure to check in tomorrow for an awesome offer from Torendi! 

Happy Thursday!

Heidi

This Ain't No Democracy

Hope you're having a great Saturday! 

I had fun playing around with my January Torendi Kit "Bright".

This American Craft paper made me think about driving:

My picture is taken from inside my car, "Mom's Taxi". 

I applied the microbeads in a squiggly fashion to mimic the paper. 

You can see me taking the pic and the kids in the mirror.

I always liked that saying, "Get in, sit down, shut up, and hang on."  Guess getting 3 of the 4 is pretty good.  (Somehow I just can't get them to shut up.)

Did you notice the taxi and the Statue of Liberty stamps in the previous two pictures?  They're also in the Bright Kit this month - they're from the Shinzi Katoh NY stamp set.  So stinkin' cute, eh?  And the inclusion of the Liberty stamps led to the title of this layout:

In Mom's Taxi, this ain't no democracy!  Mom is the supreme ruler (in her own head). 

Thanks for stopping by this weekend!

Heidi

Details - Paper, Thickers & stamps from the January Torendi Kit "Bright", Colorbox transparency frame, StazOn ink, Martha Stewart microbeads, Dymo labels.

Autumn in Disneyland

Happy Monday!

It's time for the 15th installment of SPCC!!!  Can you believe we've done 15 already??

My first impression of this color combo was Disneyland.  My second was fall.  Sooooo...

Autumn in Disneyland

Of course, you wouldn't really know this pic was taken at Disneyland by just looking at it, but it was.  Have you been there in October?  It's so cool!  They decorate the whole place for fall and Halloween.  There are giant carved pumpkins everywhere, includings some amazing ones carved as the faces of some of the characters. 

And the Haunted Mansion looks even cooler than normal.

They even change the entire ride to be the Nightmare Before Christmas!  Pretty Cool!

Ummmm...as I was going through these pics I realized I have some SERIOUS D-Land trip scrapping to do, huh??  Three days and 600 pics worth! 

This particular setting was at the Woody's Round Up show in Frontier Land.  My son has been a die-hard Toy Story fan since before he was 2 and he still is! 

Just before this pic was taken, they were dancing up a storm!  Great memories!

Details:  DCWV paper; American Crafts felt flowers; Heart and Home Collectibles button; Michaels ribbon; Zig Milennium pen; thread. 

Of course, can't forget to tell you what you're playing for this week on SPCC!!  Memories Forever Scrapbooking has generously donated this scalloped foam shapes prize plus a $5 gift certificate to their store:

Head on over to SPCC to link up your creation by Sunday, September 20th (which happens to be my DS's birthday!) for a chance to win!

Have a great day!

Heidi

p.s.  I must, once again, apologize for the poor state of formatting on this post.  I just do not have the time nor the patience right now to try to mess with it.  It was fine until Blogger got a hold of it.  I'm ready to tear my hair out over the stress they cause me with formatting.  Ugh!!

100 mostly random WORDS

Happy Unity Friday Friends with Flair!!!

Did your week just FLY like mine? Holiday weeks throw me.

I must start with a HUGE congrats to The Pink Ninjas challenge blog for reaching 100 followers! I'm so excited for them. I am a BIG fan of their prompts every week. If you haven't played along before, give them a look-see.

To celebrate their 100 milestone, they're having a random challenge: "100".

So, as you can see, my 100 is words. And, yes, there are exactly 100 words on the layout. Some are random words, some are in quotes, notes, and declarations.

LUH-HUH-HUVIN' this rockin' quote from the August Unity KOTM!

Had some fun fingerpainting, literally.  The border and the hearts are all fingerprints.

The design for this layout is based on this week's Sketchy Thursdays sketch. Once again, I took a bit of creative license with the sketch, but isn't that what sketches are all about? A starting place? A springboard? I'm pretty confident I'm not offending or hurting Miss Diana's feelings. She knows I love her!

So, I'm thinking if you click on the pic of the whole layout, you just might be able to find all 100 words. Here's a close up of some...



Details: Paper - American Craft, Stampin' Up!; Unity Stamp Co. stamp; StazOn ink; Provo Craft alpha stickers; Zig Milennium pen; Making Memories paint; thread.

 Don't forget to stop by Unity Stamp Co. this weekend to see what awesome specials they have going on. (Don't they ALWAYS??!!)

And, hey, if you're feeling a bit raucous, head on over to The Pink Ninjas' blog to get in on the super fun action, give them a congrats, and poke around a bit!

Plus, join us on Sketchy Thursdays for the weekly sketch challenge. You won't regret it! (P.S. there's a super secret announcement revealing this weekend...)

 Hope you all have a good weekend!

Heidi

The Force Is Strong

Soooo lovin' the prompt this week (ok, so I guess there's only about 45 minutes left in "this week") over on The Pink Ninjas: Star Wars or Star Trek? I mean really, is there any contest?? At least definitely not in THIS house.

Who...isthis..."Captain Kirk"...you...speakof? (read it in William Shatner's voice)

My Milennium Falcon can beat up your Starship Enterprise!!

I employed the two-embossing powder technique on the star...I think it gives it good highlight. (I love Tim Holtz Distress Powders - I've got mustard seed and weathered wood here.)

Details: Paper - DCWV, American Craft; Stamps - Technique Tuesday, My Mind's Eye; VersaMark ink; Tim Holtz Distress Powders; Stampin' Up! marker; Zig Milennium pen; unknown photo corners; clothing tag.

The new Pink Ninjas prompt should come out Wednesday morning. I always look forward to them!!!

Thanks for looking!

Heidi

Happy Hip Hop Hangover!!

Woohooooo! It's Hip Hop Hangover Friday!!!

I got a great shipment of Unity goodness this past week (Stylin' Stars, You're a Star single, houndstooth background, and Love Is In the Air) but haven't had a chance to play with any of it yet except You're a Star:

I set out to make a card with this stamp thinking it'd be good for my son on a particularly great day in Kindergarten. But as I perused my patterned paper collection, it occurred to me that my daughter is also (finally) starting her school career this coming week, too, so this card could be "girl-themed", too.

It's hard to see in the pic above but all the colored swirls in the mat paper and on the star stamp are glazed with Diamond Glaze. You can see that better in this shot, although the colors in this one are a bit off (hazard of taking pics at night under house lights). That's why you also get the "flat" picture with the flash above - the colors are truer to life.

Both the stamped image and the mat are zig-zag stitched.

Details: Paper - American Craft, The Paper Co.; Unity Stamp Co. stamp; VersaMark ink; Stampendous embossing powder; Marvy markers; Diamond Glaze; thread.

Don't forget to check out the AMAZING deals going on over on the Unity Stamp Co. site this weekend! (OMG - past KOTM 30% off!!!) And did you see the August KOTM??!!!!! I know I always gush about each upcoming KOTM but I have to say, in all honesty, this has to be the best one so far. The images are to die for! I can't wait for mine to arrive!!!

Have a great weekend!!

Heidi

Live the Life You've Imagined...Happy

Happy Hump Day!

I've recently discovered a great new website called Memories Always-Forever. It's full of fun challenges (you know I can't pass that up!), a place to upload your projects and peruse those of other majorly talented contributors, and connect with other crafty people.

They just had a card sketch challenge using this sketch:

Aaaaaaand, here's where I took it:

I had so much fun making this. It's seriously much more impressive IRL. I hate how the camera flattens an image. You know, I've been holding on to that Basic Grey Obscure 6x6 pad forever but just recently discovered how so "me" it is. I L-O-V-E it!

For the two framed areas on the sketch I scribbled/scratched frame outlines. Then I went over them with an embossing pen and then covered them with UTEE a couple of times so there are clear, bubbley, melty, raised frames. The sentiment is stamped on a transparency and then I plopped it on top of the UTEE while it was still hot to "glue" the transparency down. (Here's a little tip...molten UTEE is H-O-T! Use tweezers if you're going to set something down into it. Don't learn the hard way like I did. Trust me, you won't do it twice.) I also "glued" down in the UTEE a couple of transistors. I've been holding on to those babies for ages, too. It's fun discovering the treasures you have organized away over the years. I have some really cool stuff.

~title detail~

For the scalloped area I created a frame with some old Heidi Swapp printed tape - this one is some sort of measuring device. Unfortunately, I have no idea where I got the camera eyelet but I'm glad I discovered those in my stash, too.

The tickets, sentiment, and the umbrella man (notice he's shadow stamped, too?) are all Tim Holtz stamps. That man is wicked talented, eh?

~stamps detail~

Details: Basic Grey paper; Tim Holtz stamps; JudiKins transparency; StazOn & VersaMark ink; Zig Millenium pen & Emboss Writer; Ranger UTEE; Heidi Swapp tape; unknown transistors & eyelet.

This month's Guest Design Team challenge for Unity Stamp Co. was to use a stamp from either the May or June Kit of the Month and this sketch:

I felt like stepping out of the box, so to speak, so I went round instead with a paper mache round hanger:

I thought I'd like to do something really playful so I grabbed my current go-to fun papers from the American Craft Teen collection. It's hard to see in the pic but some of the hearts are glazed and a little bit sparkly. I used a checkerboard pattern for the wide horizontal band on the sketch and cut out a squiggle for the smaller band bisecting it.

The Unity stamp I used was the June KOTM "happy" banner.

I told you you'd be seeing the fan fold flowers again soon! These are also made with the AC Teen papers and are topped off with some Around the Block brads. I backed them with some turquoise floss to make them seem just that much more festive.

And now, of course, I must address the pink elephant in the room - the fuschia feather trim. Oh. My. Gawd. It was like some exotic bird exploded when I cut that trim! There were fuschia feathers floating in the air for hours! I attached it to the hanger with Sticky Strips.

Details - American Craft paper; Unity Stamp Co. stamp; Ink - StazOn, Stampin' Up!; Brads - Around the Block, Stampin' Up!; Stickles; DMC floss; MSI paper mache hanger; Target boa trim; Offray ribbon; Sticky Strips tape.

Hope you enjoyed my creations for the day.

Stay tuned tomorrow for some possibly exciting news.

Have a good evening!

Heidi

Twinkle - Sketchy Thursday

Time again for another Sketchy Thursday over on Design By Diana. I swear this woman has some sketching TALENT!!!!! This is the third week I've participated in her Sketchy Thursday challenge and I have absolutely LOVED each and every sketch. They are AMAZING!! Head on over there tomorrow (Thursday) and check out her new sketch and play along!!

OK, here's this week's sketch:

See what I mean? Fabulous!

Here's my take:

The quote (writen in the swirls) says, "Everyone's a STAR and deserves the right to twinkle. - Marilyn Monroe." Who knew the woman was so sage.

This is the same swing and same day as the pic of my son in the previous post.

Can you tell how much I love this American Craft "TEEN" line? When I bought I thought it was cute. But when I actually dove into it, I can't get enough of it. It's apparently right up my alley. I love the graphic-quality of it, the playfulness, the colors, the faint sparkle, everything!

Details: Paper - American Craft, The Paper Company; Markers - Stampin' Up!, Marvy Uchida; Zig Millenium pen; Cricut Cuttin' Up die cut letters; Making Memories letter stickers; K & Co adhesive rhinestone; thread.

TFL!!

Heidi

100, 5000, and a swingin' good time.

Wow! Would you look at that?!! Methinks my visits will roll over 5000 today! I am absolutely amazed and humbled. Thank you all for coming by and taking look-sees so often!! And, this here li'l 'ol post is #100 for me. Cool!

THIS AMAZING PLACE

This is the first 2-page layout I've completed in a couple months. It used to be practically every single layout I made ended up a 2-pager. Huh. Wonder what happened.

My husband put up a make-shift swing in our front yard tree a few months back and the kids had a great time swinging on it. To me it looks as if there should be a water hole below for jumping off into.

I loved this particular pic of my son because of the perspective - he's practically swinging right up in your face.

The retro tree, corner flourishes, and title word block are all Quickutz Silhouette diecuts. Aren't they wonderful?! For a bit of texture, all the solid cardstock surfaces are stamped with various background stamps with VersaMark. There are also a couple of other flourishes in VersaMark stamped directly onto the background - they're hard to see in the pics but they frame the top of the picture and either side of the word block so beautifully.

I know a black background is a bit odd. I actually started out making this layout on white c/s. I was going to frame it with a thin black border and when I picked up the white paper to go trim it down the picture happened to settle onto the black c/s and the colors just POPPED. Which, incidentally, I used a Maggie Holmes Photoshop Color Action on this picture called "Color Pop". (See THIS POST for more info on the Maggie Holmes Photoshop actions.)

I love the whimsical touch of the paper airplanes. I trimmed them from some of my current favorite American Craft paper. I thought they conveyed the sense of soaring and fun of swinging.

Details: Paper - The Paper Company, American Craft; Stamps - Inkadinkado, Rubber Stampede, Autumn Leaves; VersaMark ink; Quickutz Silhouette diecuts.

Thank you again for stopping by!!

Heidi