House of Tomorrow

Patterened Paper & Journaling Block: Paisley Pop kit by Karen Funk; Stamp: Be You kit by Karla Dudley; Stitching: My Shabby Valentine kit by Karen Funk; Font: carbon type; Poem: "Children" by Khalil Gibran

Love these current pics of my son.  He's technology-obsessed. 

The current poem challenge over on Scrap That Poetry is "Children" by Khalil Gibran.  So much of this poem spoke to me.  I am sure I'll use various parts of this one over and over again on my layouts.  

Come on over to STP, check out what the DT made for your inspiration and we would LOVE for you to play along with us.

Speaking of love, how was your Valentines Day?  I was showered with homemade cards and gifts and lots of love.  :oD  My hubby also got me a stereo system for my iPhone.  My kids quickly broke it in by busting a move, LOL!  There's video.  I'll try to post it in a little bit. 

Loved

Happy February!

Today's Scrap That Poetry poem, "May You Always Feel Loved" by Sandra Sturtz Hauss, made me reflect on welcoming into our lives both our babies. 

April 2011 issue

Digi Papers & Stamp: The Best Things kit by Anita Richards; Digi Metal Charms, Hardware & Trim: Heart Sweet Heart kit by Dianne Rigdon Design; Font: Bookman Old Style, Carbon Type; Software: Adobe; Other: scalloped border 

I'm struck by just how similar they look in these pics.  LOL!  My little Baby Burritos.  :oD

This layout is based on my Sketchy Thursdays sketch for this past week. 

I'm really on a bit of a digital kick lately.  Amazingly, contrary to what I expected, it doesn't take any less time to make a digi layout for me than a traditional one.  That's a bit disappointing, LOL. 

We'd love for you to play along with us for this poem challenge.  Check out the STP blog for the poem.  It really is beautiful and full of scrapping possibilities.

*****

Some exciting news on the Sketchy Thursdays front...

To fill the gaping hole Mirjam left behind when she decided to unfortunately step down from our DT (we miss you, Mirjam!) we've asked (and she's accepted) our amazing Guest Design Team Member from December & January, Heather, to join our regular DT for the rest of the current term!   Welcome, Heather!

(Which reminds me...keep an eye out later this month for the next DT call!)

Aaaaannnnndddd...we've asked Julie to join our ST team indefinitely as our Social Director.  Julie is a social force to be reckoned with so we're going to tap that incredible energy and have her help out with the Fave posts, our Facebook page and , as Diana so eloquently put it, help "...with our social marketing and commenting strategies." 

I mean, really, who doesn't love getting a gaggle of Julie smileys in their comments??!!   :):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):) 

*****

Now, tell me...how do you deal with a child who has figured out that you can't disprove a stomachache and employs the doubled-over, grimacing, groaning strategy far too often?  Do you just make them go to school or do you give in? 

Have a great day!

Scrap That Poetry Joy

I'm posting a little early Scrap That Poetry's next challenge.  We were going to do a Ho Ho Ho Hop today but you know how life can get in the way of our hobbies and the hop has been postponed.  Instead, this is a sneak preview of one of the poems that will be featured on the 15th's STP challenge.

Poem by Marinela Reka:

As you may or may not know about STP challenges, you can use as much or as little of the inspiration poem as you wish, or even just use it's inspiration!  For this poem, I focused on the idea of "joy":
 

Supplies Patterned Paper: Basic Grey; Stickers: Jolee's, Making Memories; Pearls: Prima Marketing; Ornament: Wal-Mart; Ink: Ranger Industries, Clearsnap; Other: chipboard sheet

I'm a hoarder.  I admit it.  And for years I've had sitting in my scraproom a sizeable stash of the negative chipboard sheets that are leftover after you remove all the chipboard shapes.  I figured they were too cool to trash but I hadn't used any of them until I recently completed another layout for an upcoming call in Scrapbook News and Review Magazine.  I loved the way it came out so much that I just had to do it again for this hop! 

Trace all the openings and outline of the chipboard sheet onto your patterned paper and carefully cut them all out a little bigger than original size to leave a border for the chipboard to peek through.  Then ink the chipboard edges and adhere the cut out to the chipboard.  I just love the dimension this gives the layout!

 Remember to stop by the Scrap That Poetry blog on Wednesday the 15th for the next TWO poem inspirations and check out what the DT has made. 

Thank you again for stopping by!
 
Heidi
 
p.s.  The special holiday edition of Scrapbook News and Review Magazine will publish this Sunday, 12/12!  You do NOT want to miss this one, chock full of gorgeous and inspiring holiday layouts, cards, and projects!   There are even a few of Tessa's flowers in there!  :o)  A sneak peek at a couple of my projects in the magazine:

Have a great time on the hop!

Scrap That Poetry Challenge December 1

How can it be December already??!! 

Earlier today I was thinking about something, thinking it felt like it just happened, and then realized it had taken place in January!  HOW is that possible?? 

The current Scrap That Poetry challenge is the poem The Tables Turned by William Wordsworth. 

I chose to use the lines,

"She has a world of ready wealth,

Our minds and hearts to bless

Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health,

Truth breathed by cheerfulness.

I've been wanting ot use this paper and flower combo with this pic of my daughter for a while now.  I miss that little dress.  Are you like me?  Do you get emotionally attached to certain pieces of your kids' clothing?  I've got waaaay more saved items than I probably should.  Oh, well. 

Be sure to check out the STP blog for all the awesome DT inspiration!!! 

Happy December!!

Gratitude

Today's Scrap That Poetry poem is "Prayer for the Great Family", a Mohawk Indian prayer. 


Gratitude to Mother Earth, sailing through night and day—

and to her soil: rich, rare and sweet
in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to Plants, the sun-facing, light-changing leaf
and fine root-hairs; standing still through wind
and rain; their dance is in the flowering spiral grain
in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to Air, bearing the soaring Swift and silent
Owl at dawn. Breath of our song
clear spirit breeze
in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to Wild Beings, our brothers, teaching secrets,
freedoms, and ways; who share with us their milk;
self-complete, brave and aware
in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to Water: clouds, lakes, rivers, glaciers;
holding or releasing; streaming through all
our bodies salty seas
in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to the Sun: blinding pulsing light through
trunks of trees, through mists, warming caves where
bears and snakes sleep— he who wakes us—
in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to the Great Sky
who holds billions of stars— and goes yet beyond that—
beyond all powers, and thoughts
and yet is within us—
Grandfather Space.
The Mind is his Wife.
so be it.

What a perfect poem for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday and the Attitude of Gratitude challenge. 

Supplies Patterned Paper: Basic Grey; Metal Charm: Around the Block; Brad: Bo Bunny; Stickers: Basic Grey, Cosmo Cricket; Twine: EK Success; Pen: Zig

I am so grateful my kids sometimes really like and are grateful for each other.  Sometimes. 

As Fair Art Thou

Oops!  I forgot yesterday was the 1st of the month which means another Scrap That Poetry challenge.  This time we have the beautiful poem "A Red, Red Rose" by Robert Burns.  Check out the poem HERE.

I chose the lines, "As fair art thou, my bonnie lass, so deep in luve am I..."  And, no, I that's not a typo!  That's how Mr. Burns spelled love back in the day.  ;oD

This is a pic of The Girl as Alice in Wonderland at the Disneyland Halloween Celebration a few weeks ago.  I thought this Webster's Pages paper complemented the colors in the picture beautifully. 

I didn't want to cover up any of the gorgeous images so I did a fair amount of fussy cutting.  However, what I did cover up was my daughter's shoes which I thought really made her outfit.  See, in my rush to pack for the trip, Mommy forgot to consider footwear for the kids' costumes so the girl ended up wearing her All-Stars with her costume.  However, I thought it looked ADORABLE because she looked like a little punk Alice.  Man, if I'd have thought to do that on purpose I would've tried to find her a fitted full-sleeve tattoo t-shirt to go under it, too, LOL.

Drooling over that gorgeous flower???  That's a yummy Precocious Paper Bridal Satin Blossom.  Unfortunately, this picture just doesn't do the color justice.  It's a rich, jewel red.

Check out the amazing inspiration from the Scrap That Poetry DT for this poem.  And we'd love to have you come by and play along with us, too!

**

Attitude of Gratitude, Day 2

Today I am grateful for all the wonderful, sweet, and MAJORLY talented people on the Design Teams I'm involved with: Sketchy Thursdays, Scrap That Poetry, Precocious Paper, Pink Ninjas, and the entire staff of Scrapbook News and Review.  These people inspire me daily.  What a wonderful craft!!!

First Day of School and Playlists

Wow!  Somehow Scrap That Poetry's and The Pink Ninjas's prompts have fallen on the same day again! 

Let's start with STP.  The new poem is "First Day of School" by Eddie Garcia.  This poem really spoke to me.  I finally had inspiration for scrapping the very traumatic before-school scene of my son's first day of Kindergarten. 

My son was so sad but he tried to keep up a brave face. It killed me to watch him from afar try to be brave standing in line with all his new and unfamiliar classmates until his teacher led him off to his new classroom. He finally ended up crying a little bit and tried to hide his face in his shirt. I didn't want to make it worse by running over to him so I just stood back and took pictures. Since that day, over a year ago, I have had a hard time even looking at the pictures, they make me feel so sad. The first few lines of the poem went perfectly with these pics.

Remembering my first day of school,

Scared adn feeling I'd become a fool...

Afraid of being left alone,

Away from Mom & Dad

My comfort zone...

I remember being taken away by a lady saying

We were going to have fun today...

...

I was feeling very lonely and sad...

 
I feel such a sense of relief having finally scrapped this moment.  This part of his school story deserved to be told and claim a place in his Kindergarten album.  (Truth be told, I'm happy these pictures are finally off my desk!  I'm so done with that guilt trip!)
 
I must qualify this story and tell you that when he came out after school he was beaming.  He'd made his first bff and most of the rest of the year was awesome.  Whew!



On to happier subjects...
 
So, what's in YOUR playlist?
 
That's what The Pink Ninjas want to know!
 
 

October/November 2010 issue

 
Mine is all over the place.  I have over 1000 songs on my iPod and I have lots of different playlists catering to my different moods:  All Time Faves, Teenage Dirt Bag, Love Rollercoaster, and Pop Crap to name a few. 
 
So, what's in YOUR playlist?  The Pink Ninjas want to know!
 
Have a great day!
 
Heidi

Rather Plus Than Minus

I like that idea.  I like when things feel a little more plus than minus. 

That's how I've been feeling lately.  I have lots of great pluses going on in my life right now.  Getting the kids into the new school year, getting them set up with all sorts of new activities and friends.  Getting ready for the boy's birthday party in a few weeks.  Planning for a fall break vacation to Disneyland.  Awesome design teams to work with, fun challenges debuting.  Learning the ins and outs of how a digital scrapping magazine works and immersing myself in it.  Planning and creating and writing for the magazine.  So many pluses.  But all these pluses have been keeping me from YOU, both from posting new projects here and from visiting all my favorite blogs.  I apologize profusely!  I miss the creative sharing!!! 

I do have one layout to share with you today.  Scrap That Poetry's newest poetic inspiration for you is "Ode To the End of Summer" by Phillis McGinley. 

I was drawn to one line in particular in the poem...

I used the sketch that I made for the Sketchy Thursdays September Guest Design Team Challenge for this one as I really liked the sketch and figured I shouldn't let it pass me by just because I couldn't enter the challenge, lol.

And, while it's too late to enter a layout for this sketch, it's not too late to make something for this week's ST sketch (another by me, woohoo!).  You have until tonight at 10pm EST to enter for your chance to win something yummy from Your Memories Here. 

And speaking of chances to win something, the RAK for the aforementioned Scrap That Poetry challenge this time is a little something from me.  ;oD

We'd LOVE to have you come play along with us!  For many of us, we're entering into the twilight of summer, so why not scrap you own ode to it?

The first day of a month is always a busy one.  There are also AWESOME challenges happening over on The Pink Ninjas ("_________ need love, too") and Category Stories (an embarrassing fact about me...).  Please, please, pretty please check them out and play along!!!!!! 

As mentioned, I'm having a great time getting to know all the ins and outs of the digi magazine Scrapbook News and Review.  If you haven't checked it out, you are really missing something.  This publication is amazing.  Everything from layouts - both traditional and digi - to cards to mixed media to tutorials to product reviews to everything to do with paper crafting can be found in the pages of the magazine!   Every issue boasts over 400 layouts and paper crafts!!!  It just so happens that this month's issue contains 28 of my layouts and 6 cards.  Yes, you read those numbers right.  LOL.  See?  They just had to bring me on board so I'd stop bombarding their submissions box. 

And, did you know they have a very active and lively forum?  There's a ton of information and inspiration from both SNR staff and readers alike.  And guess what?  For the next few days, I'll be sharing some Tips of the Day.  Come check it out!   

Hope you're having a great week!

Heidi

home sweet home

Happy mid-month!  Today over on Scrap That Poetry we have the poem "Home Sweet Home" by John Howard Payne for you. 

Found this gorgeous MAMBI paper pad at Michael's on clearance!  I love fussy cutting around elements in patterned papers and tucking my pictures behind them to create a border or dimension on the page.  Doesn't it look like the tag is real because it sits on top of my picture??  It's part of the paper! 

Check out what the rest of the DT made for your inspiration with this wonderful poem.

Have a great day!

Heidi

Patterned Paper: MAMBI; Transparency: MAMBI; Cork: Pink Paislee; Charm: Imaginisce; Brad: Delish; Stamps: Technique Tuesday, Anna Griffin; Ink: Ranger; Crackle Medium: Ranger; Pen: Zig; Other: mini tags, ball chain, eyelet, key.

Poe & Sunshine

Is it already August??!!!  Didn't we just start this year?  I always look at my son's birthday as the official start to the holiday season because it's non-stop birthdays, vacations, and holidays from there until January.  His birthday is just a little over a month away!  Aaaaaagh!!!!!!

OK, I'm a little slow on these two layouts.  Both went live yesterday, 8/1. 

The current Scrap That Poetry poem is "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allen Poe.  Such a beautiful poem of love.  My mom requested I create something special for my step-brother and his wife and this is what I came up with, using a picture from their wedding:

The frame is a crochet hoop.  I got the idea for this from the Big Picture Scrapbooking Claudine Hellmuth class I'm taking.  The coolest part...the background fabric...

It began life as some Prima patterned paper!!!!!  I transferred it to some of Claudine Hellmuth's sticky back canvas!!!!

As you can see, it lost a little brightness of color but still!!!  It's so cool, right?  I have so many more ideas for this technique!!!!

If you're familiar with the poem "Annabel Lee" you know it's quite a long one so I only extracted one part for this hanging.  And I took a little bit of creative license with it and changed it slightly.  The original line was, "Can ever dissever my soul from the soul, Of the beautiful Annabel Lee."  Well, of course neither of my subject's names were Annabel Lee (how incovenient, lol!) so I changed it to, "Can ever dissever my soul from thee."  Hey, it rhymes, right?  Hope Mr. Poe doesn't cringe!

I filled in the bookplate with a crackle medium to further the antique-iness of the piece.

Actually, truth be told I futzed with a couple things on this piece.  I cut and pasted the Prima pearl flourish to fit within the circle. And although I had the Jenni Bowlin cardstock butterflies on hand, I liked the pattern on the Prima packaging better for this piece so I traced the Jenni Bowlin butterfly and added my own pearls. 

One other thing I did on this piece that you can't see on the pictures is I painted on their pictures with acrylic paint.  I painted their cheeks, lips, and hair.  I also painted all her jewelry with pearlized paint. 

Being the first of the month,  I also have a Category Stories layout for you, too.  This month's prompt is "_________ is my sunshine."

I incorporated techniques from both the Claudine Hellmuth class AND a class I took last weekend at my LSS with Bethany Kartchner into this.  (BTW, I am so stinkin proud of the mini book I made in Bethany's class and will be sharing that just as soon as I get it filled with some pictures - which will hopefully be asap.)  I am star-struck at having met and played along with Bethany in person.  This woman is ooooooooozing creativity.  I've already signed up for her next class at my LSS which is an art journaling class (with my other amazingly creative friend, Julie, who imparted that she's a bit trepidatious about art journaling but I know she'll make something completely fabulous!).  If you happen to be in the Mesa, AZ area on 8/28, sign up for this class!  It's going to be so much messy fun!  Oh, you should've seen me in the class last week.  I was COVERED with paint...ask Julie.  I am NOT prissy when it comes to paint.  I think it's usually much easier applied by hand. 

First, the picture of my little rays of sunshine is a packing tape transfer (which is indirectly a techinique I learned from Claudine Hellmuth...I already knew the basics of the technique but refined it with her tips). 

~picture detail~
Bethany's class was all about getting messy with paint, mists, and oil pastels and I incorporated all three here!  The sun rays are misted and then accented with oil pastels. 

The sky is a faux woodgrain paint technique that gives a great streaky effect.  I also misted a bit in the sky, too, and topped it off with some painted clouds using a Heidi Swapp mask (which, truthfully, I wish I hadn't done but oh, well). 

The butterfly and alpha silhouettes are created with Heidi Swapp masks and oil pastels. 

~title detail~


Finally, I used an actual Jenni Bowlin butterfly this time, but sprayed it wish mist (thanks Diana for that idea!) and topped it with some Ranger Perfect Pearls (Claudine, again!). 

~butterfly detail~


I really hope you like my project and PLEASE come play along with us!!!  Just click on the links for each above!

I'm off to my craft room.  I'm in a creatin' mood now!

Heidi

Let Your Dreams Fly

Once again this month we have Scrap That Poetry's poem debut coinciding with Sketchy Thursdays so of course I couldn't pass up the opportunity to blend them, especially since they were really rather complementary.

These pictures are from the last time I had my daughter professionally photographed.  She's 4 months in these pics...she's almost 5-years-old now.  Maybe it's time to get some more pics done, eh?

STP's challenge #20 poem is "Dreams" by Langston Hughes.  I chose to interpret the poem for my title "Let Your Dreams Fly". 

~flower trim detail pic~

Oh, that Webster's Pages flower trim is so dreamy!  And check out that frame.  It's from Pink Paislee and I have absolutely no idea what material it is made out of but it's gorgeous.  It's like super soft taffy that doesn't lose its shape.  It comes "naked", kind of a manilla color.  I sprayed it with some lime Maya Mist and rubbed a bit of it off so that the surface is just subtley green while much of the color pooled in the crevices. 

~pebble detail pic~

And how stinkin cute is that Prima pebble with the little bonneted girl? I layered it on top of a digi stamp flower from Digi Doodle Shop, this week's Sketchy Thursdays sponsor. There's another one in the picture below. On both I printed them out, colored them in with colored pencils, and sprayed them with some pearl Glimmer Mist.

~flowers detail pic~

Into my second week in the Claudine Hellmuth online techniques class and had to incorporate some newly acquired acrylic paint techniques.  Here I used watermark resist with an acrylic paint wash and acrylic paint stamping on some French text paper I got from Diana's etsy shop. 

~book page detail~

With the exception of the French paper, digi stamps, and the Webster's trim, everything on this layout is from the Ninja Addicts kit "Thrift Shoppe Junkie".  Such a gorgeous kit!!!

I would love to see you play along with us on both Sketchy Thursdays and Scrap That Poetry!!!

Off to check out what's in store for week 3 in the Claudine Hellmuth class, put some finishing touches on some other things I've made for it so far, and to enjoy the official last week of my son's summer vacation.  I think I may break out the huge roll of butcher paper today and see what they create. 

Heidi

They Meet & High School Crush

The new poem on Scrap That Poetry is "First Love" by John Clare.  Click HERE to see the poem. 

I chose to use the line, "...with love so sudden and so sweet" to complement these pics of the first meeting between my son and daughter.  She was 1-day-old here.  Awwwww. 

Almost everything on the layout, except for the felt flowers and the letter stickers, are Stampin' Up!, mostly from a really old scrapbooking kit they offered like 4 years ago. 

Just gotta make myself use up all those old supplies I've been collecting for years!  I think I'd never really used this kit before because it's so simple (not in a bad way) but it totally worked for not only the innocence and simplicity of this moment but also for this week's Sketchy Thursdays 2-page sketch:

Being that today is the 1st of the month I also have the next Category Stories challenge for you.  The prompt is "high school crush".  Gotta say this one stumped me.  I finally arrived here:

It says, "I learned in high school NOT to allow popular expectation to CRUSH individual creative expression." 

I never really let myself fit into any expected mold in high school.  I was an honor student but I changed my style from year to year to MY whim, not necessarily always looking like what the honor students were supposed to look like.  My junior year I went what was called "punk"at the time...I think it would be called "EMO" today.  I was friends with the honor students, the popular kids, the sporty kids, and the kids on the fringe.  I remember my French teacher took one look at me and decided I was obviously a trouble-making idiot the first day.  Boy did he get proven wrong!  Ha ha ha ha ha!  

I just like to do my own thing.  And sometimes that means SUPER messy stitching, painting, misting, border punching,  masking tape journaling on a declaration of individuality!  LOL.

So, has everyone seen Eclipse yet?  Yes, I was one of the crazy ones Tuesday evening at the "Twilogy".  8+ hours in a movie theatre commencing in the first showing of Eclipse at 12:01am!  But it was so much fun!!!!!!  It was so funny when we got out to see the parking lot PACKED and bustling at 2:30am...busier than a hot Friday night.  I think every girl in a 10 mile radius was there. 

I liked Eclipse.  Not loved, just liked.  It was better than New Moon, for sure.  I liked that there were a few funny moments.  But seriously...did Jacob lose some buffness in this one?  WTH???  And I think I just may be joining a new team...Team Jasper!  He had a larger roll in this one and didn't just look like the weirdo lurking in the background grimacing about the apparent stick up his butt.  Love his Southern accent!!!!  So, what did you think?

OK, go have a great day!!!   

The Giving Tree

I'm so excited!  Today is my first layout for Scrap That Poetry!  And how serendipitous that the poem I cited as one of my faves for my DT application was "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out" by Shel Silverstein and now my first STP poem to work with is "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein!

The poem:

Once there was a giving tree who loved a little boy.

And everyday the boy would come to play
Swinging from the branches, sleeping in the shade
Laughing all the summer’s hours away.
And so they love,
Oh, the tree was happy.
Oh, the tree was glad.

But soon the boy grew older and one day he came and said,
"Can you give me some money, tree, to buy something I’ve found?"
"I have no money," said the tree, "Just apples, twigs and leaves."
"But you can take my apples, boy, and sell them in the town."
And so he did and
Oh, the tree was happy.
Oh, the tree was glad.

But soon again the boy came back and he said to the tree,
"I’m now a man and I must have a house that’s all my home."
"I can’t give you a house" he said, "The forest is my house."
"But you may cut my branches off and build yourself a home"
And so he did.
Oh, the tree was happy.
Oh, the tree was glad.

And time went by and the boy came back with sadness in his eyes.
"My life has turned so cold," he says, "and I need sunny days."
"I’ve nothing but my trunk," he says, "But you can cut it down
And build yourself a boat and sail away."
And so he did and
Oh, the tree was happy.
Oh, the tree was glad.

And after years the boy came back, both of them were old.
"I really cannot help you if you ask for another gift."
"I’m nothing but an old stump now. I’m sorry but I’ve nothing more to give"
"I do not need very much now, just a quiet place to rest,"
The boy, he whispered, with a weary smile.
"Well", said the tree, "An old stump is still good for that."
"Come, boy", he said, "Sit down, sit down and rest a while."
And so he did and
Oh, the trees was happy.
Oh, the tree was glad.

We have a tree in our front yard that the kids love to climb and hang on. 
 

 

So I chose to extract these lines from the poem:

 

 

I LOVE that Prima obviously makes their packaging to be used as an embellishment also. 

 

I used a few goodies from Torendi on this layout, too.

 

 

The adorable houses canvas fabric is called "Stroll" by Shinzi Katoh.  It's from the May Torendi kit "Color By Number".   I made the flowers with the "Material Girl" mini deck from Cosmo Cricket, also in the Torendi store.   I love how that paper really looks like fabric flowers. 

This layout actually also marks my last project for the Torendi Design Team.  Be sure to stop by the Torendi blog from time to time and check out what Jenn, Tiff, Kelly Marie, and BR-T (Beth) continue to make.  Such a wonderfully talented group of ladies!  I'll miss being included as part of this team but life just keeps getting busier and busier with the kids growing up and it's just so hard to keep up with DTs with weekly requirements at this time (other than ST, of course!!).  I'm hoping once I get the house reorganized I'll be able to shift more of my focus back on scrapping TONS again!   (On a related note, the scrap room is thisclose to being done!!!!  And I REALLY reorganized that sucker so it took A LOT of effort.  I should be finishing it up TODAY, WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOO.  I'll share pics later this week.  It's not all designer and gorgeous but it's organized and functional which is exactly what it needs to be.) 

So, anyway, back to the layout at hand...check out what the rest of the Scrap That Poetry DT made for your inspiration.  This is also the introduction of the other new STP DT members, too!!!!  And the STP Guest Designer for this poem is none other than Diana!!!!  Can you believe it? 

I would LOVE for you to play along with us, too.  You can you can use the entire poem, a line, a verse or a few words from the poem, or just let the poem inspire you in some way to create your card, layout, or altered art!

You have until June 14th at 10am EST, to link your entry to this post.   The lucky winner will receive a $15 gift certificate for Precocious Paper with FREE shipping!!!!!  TRUST ME - you WANT this prize!!!!  Tessa's Precocious Paper goodies are to die for. 
 
Only 2 more days of Kindergarten for the boy.  Gotta remember to take all the requisite pictures (standing in the same place as on the 1st day, walking in to school, with his WONDERFUL teacher), get a handwriting sample, reinterview him about his current faves, apply my waterproof mascara and pop some gum in.  I'm in his classroom that day and I'm sure I'm going to get all weepy again.  What a HUGE milestone. 
 
Hope you had a great weekend!!!
 
Heidi

p.s.  Don't forget I also have a Torendi GIVEAWAY going on.  Check out THIS POST to enter.

Scrap That Poetry

Yea!  I'm so excited to be a new member of the Scrap That Poetry Design Team!!!!!   There are so many awesomely talented girls on the DT and amazing people who play along.  (Did you see Diana won the last challenge?)

My term won't start until the 6/1 poem but in the meantime stop by to play along with the current poem, Maya Angelou's "Woman Work". 

The Cool, The Random, and The Lovely

Some cool things...

I made the Scrapfreak newsletter in the Member Spotlight with THIS layout!!

I got the most AMAZING happy mail from Tessa at Precocious Paper!!!  Just lOOk at this amazingness:

I won this yummy haul from Scrap That Poetry for THIS layout!  I can't WAIT to play with it!  Even the packaging is too stinkin cute!

The random...

We had our own "V" (visitor for those of you who don't watch the show...) yesterday:

A days-old baby duckling in our pool.  No idea how the little bugger got into our pool all by himself because he clearly couldn't fly yet with his stubby little downy wings!  But I soon discovered that he was born in our neighbor's backyard and he has 8 siblings!  It was like a Benny Hill skit trying to capture the little guy.  (Can you hear the music?  Is this reference too old?  LOL)  Did you know eeny-weeny little baby ducks can dive like freakin submarines??!!  And a word of advice...don't try catching one with a pool skimmer.  Too shallow.  They JUMP!  4 times as a matter of fact.  He was finally wrangled, though...

Awwwwwww.... 

And returned to mom...

The lovely...

Another card made with the gorgeous Lawn Fawn Stamps "Sew Lovely" set.  The colorful measuring tapes paper is from the Cosmo Cricket "Material Girl" Mini Deck that I got in the Torendi store. 

We spent the day having fun with the kids.  The boy had another basketball game this morning and he's coming along great!  He is having so much fun!!!  (Did I tell you he made his first basket in a game last week??  ~beaming mom~)  Then we spent the afternoon at a birthday party playing round after round (after round) of mini golf, eating pizza and sno-cones, and getting entirely too much sun again.  Tomorrow we have another jam-packed outdoorsy type of day planned with a trip to a local olive farm where they serve the most amazing food.  Maybe I'll have some pics to share. 

Hope the rest of your weekend is awesome!

Heidi

Scrap That Poetry GDT, Sketchy Thursdays, & Who's That Girl!!!!!!!

** warning ** warning ** warning** this is a loooooong post with lots of yummy pics!

For some reason it seems like everything cool happening in my scrappy world is happening on Thursdays this month.  (OK, except for my Pink Ninja shtuff...they get Wednesdays all to themselves this month!)  Today is no exception.  I've got 2 layouts for 3 awesome challenges to share with you today.

I was stunned when I won challenge #12 over on Scrap That Poetry for THIS layout.  Seriously, I even checked out their site to find out what the poem was for challenge #13 and didn't even bother to scroll down to the winner post.  I found out I won from a random comment on my flikr account!!!!  LOL.  The most exciting part is that I get to be the Guest DT for challenge #14!!!!!! 

The poem is April by John Greenleaf Whittier.  Click HERE to see the whole poem.   Upon first read, I was worried.  Much of the poem seems to speak of the ushering out of a snowy winter.  I'm from Gilbert, Arizona!!!!  We don't have snow!!!  Our trees and flowers are confused from November to April with several false spring starts since we regularly get 70+ degree weather at any point during that time. 

But then I was able to pick out a few lines that made me think of the most adorable fairy costume my daughter wore for her first Halloween and birthday party. 

I love this costume so much it hangs on her wall in her bedroom now!!! 

The base of the layout is the shaped paper...the white background is the board upon which I photographed it. 

So, I loved my sketch so much that I made for the current Sketchy Thursdays blog hop (in which Scrap That Poetry is also a participant!) that I just had to make another layout with it!!

Incidentally, you have until Sunday night to play along with the hop and this sketch HERE.

The lines I extracted from the poem are:

I used mists on quite a few items to echo the shimmer and iridescence of the fairy dress.

The two doilies are misted with green, blue, and pink mists.  The flower has pearl mist on it.

The wings were cut out of white glitter paper that I sprayed with mists, too.  Incidentally, I made the wings by tracing the acrylic Maya Road wings I got in my Ninja Addicts' "Carrousel" kit. 

Please stop by Scrap That Poetry, take a look at what their Design Team made, and play along with us!!!! 

And, as if that wasn't enough, I also have - of course! - my weekly Sketchy Thursdays layout!!!!  And to make it just that much more fun, we teamed up with Who's That Girl for the fun prompt "Right Now".   (Anyone else now have the Van Haggar song running through their brain??  It's been coursing through mine for days.  Ugh!!) 

Does Diana ever disappoint??  Her sketches are perfect. 

October/November 2010 issue

The idea of the prompt was to document 5 (or more) things that provide a little glimpse into who you are right now.  (Dammit, there's that song again!!)  I went with 5 of my current simple pleasures. 

Have I mentioned  I ~heart~ picnik.com?  So easy to make a cool collage. 

McLovin my new iPod! (Yes, I just got one...the Hubs surprised me out of the blue with it one day.)

GREEN!!!!  My fave color since forever...just ask my mom!  Already stuffed it full of over 1000 songs and have many more on my wishlist.  And how cool are playlists??!!  (Yes, I'm like a little kid with this.)

I couldn't pick just one fave scrappy challenge site because I have TWO (Sketchy Thursdays and Pink Ninjas) so they are sharing one spot on my list of 5. 

Dancing With the Stars - the only show I religiously watch the same day it is recorded.  It's addictive!

I drink coffee at every hour of the day or night.  Raw sugar and fat free 1/2 & 1/2, thank you very much.  (Shush, Diana!!)  This is my fave mug.  It's just the right shape, the perfect weight.  Unfortunately, it's a little worse for the wear having sustained a fall and chipping once or twice. 

And by now you probably know of my obsession with Harry Potter.  When I took this pic yesterday I was in the midst of reading book #5 for the fourth time.  (I've since graduated to book #6.)  You can see from the pic how well loved this poor book is.  It's literally held together with clear packing tape. 

I was hoping to one day pass along my love for Harry to my kids to read but I don't think this particular edition will make it.  I'm sure I'll have to purchase another soon...I'm hoping the boy hits this reading level in the next couple years. 

Here's more of that scrumptious glitter paper, this time in black and fashioned after a Prima lollipop flower.  I gotta get back to Target to see if they've gotten any more of the black and white Colorbok glitter papers in.  Two sheets for 99 cents!  Can't beat that with a stick.  The red flowers are made with mini treat (cupcake) liners and Prima flower centers. 

** updated **  I totally forgot to mention that cheetah print paper...it's FLOCKED!!!!  Mmmmmmmmmm...

Join us over on Sketchy Thursdays to check out what the DT made for your inspiration with our awesome sketch and the Who's That Girl prompt.  You have until next Wednesday 4/21 to play along for your chance to win Apron Strings' "Bigger Than a Breadbox" April kit!! 

Happy Thursday!!

Heidi