BIG announcement!

I hope everyone had a great Monday!  As promised, I'm back with my BIG announcement--I'm the newest member of the Design Team at Through the Purple Haze!  I'm on Team A, so my first challenge will be next Monday, September 23.  The new challenge--Bling It Up--was posted today, though, so hop over and check it out!

If you've been wanting to try digi stamps but just aren't sure, I found a link to a FREE (yes, I said FREE!) downloadable ebook about digi stamps.  The name of the book is Getting Started with Digital Stamps and be found here.  There are lots of great tips inside from Kristy Dalman of Some Odd Girl!

I should be back later this week with some new projects!  Have a great week!  Happy scrapping!

Scrapping4fun Challenges--Challenge Two--Card

I hope everyone's had a great week!  I've been in my craft room in the afternoon/evening for several days this week, and I feel like I've really accomplished some things.  It's time for another challenge at Scrapping4fun Challenges!

For Challenge Two, we'd like to see a card with at least two embellishments and a quote, and your card must also relate to the upcoming season.

I used a piece of brown cardstock as my base and folded it to make a 4x6 card.  I embossed my ecru cardstock with the Cuttlebug Autumn embossing folder before adhering it to my card base.  The images and sentiment are all from There She Goes Clear Stamps' Bountiful Blessings set, and I used Ranger Archival Ink in coffee to stamp them and to ink the edges of the torn paper.  I've had this stamp set for a little while, but I hadn't had the chance to use it until now.  I'm really happy with the way it turned out, though!

We can't wait to see what you can create!  You've got two weeks to get your card uploaded to the Scrapping4fun Challenges blog, which means the deadline is Thursday, 26 September (my oldest son's birthday!).  Be sure to stop back by on Monday for a BIG announcement!  Good luck, and happy scrapping!

Whimsical Twist Chalkboard Challenge

My sweet friend Sandi Pressley is on the DT at Whimsical Twist, and she posted about their Chalkboard Challenge last week.  It took me a while to find what I KNEW I had to participate, but luckily I ran across my blackboard album (which Sandi sent me!) and got to work!

I don't think I'm COMPLETELY finished with this, but it's finished enough to share.  I know there are some pages that I want to add a few more things to, like some embellies, but I've got to dig through my stash to find them.  This is Cosmo Cricket's Happy's Blackboard Album, which I believe is no longer available (I couldn't find it on their site).

Obviously, this is a gift for my husband!  Our dating anniversary is coming up in December, so I think I'm going to hold it until then.  I'm always at a loss as to what to get him!  Here's my supply list and links to products, if they're still available:  Cosmo Cricket Happy's Blackboard Album, Personalized by You Jeweled I Love You stickers, colored pencils, Gelly Roll white pen, Me & My Big Ideas Soft Spoken Embellishments--Walter-Husband, Jolee's Boutique No 1 Dad stickers, EK Success Dallas Cowboys stickers, Making Memories word fetti travel, Bo Bunny Cardstock Stickers Smitten, Little Yellow Bicycle Dimensional Stickers Sweet Love, Me & My Big Ideas Soft Spoken Embellishments Love of My Life, Me & My Big Ideas Mambi Minis Crazy Alphabet, sei Rub-on words Bridgeport.

I hope you've all had the chance to craft this week!  I've been in my craft room just about every day this week, and I've got one more project to make before Friday.  I'll be back on Friday with a new DT post for Scrapbooking4fun Challenges and then again on Monday with a BIG announcement!  Until then, happy scrapping!

Scrapping4fun Challenges--Challenge One--Color Combo & Recipe

Welcome to the FIRST challenge for Scrapping4fun Challenges!  The first challenge is a color combo and recipe:

The color combo for Challenge One is dark brown, blue, green, and white.  You should use all six colors in your layout, but any shade of these colors is fine.  Here's the recipe to go along with the color combo:  

                     1.  Flowers (store bought or handmade)

                     2.  Mist or ink

                     3.  Title

                     4.  Journaling

                     5.  Any pattern with an emboss folder

                     6.  12x12 layout (single or double)

Here's my layout for Challenge One:

The cardstock underneath my title, flower, & brad are all from my stash.  The background paper, striped strip, arrow sticker, and journal card are all from the Echo Park Boys Mini Theme collection.

 I chose the Cuttlebug Houndstooth embossing folder to use underneath my title,

and the title stickers are Reminisce self-adhesive diecut stickers from The Freedom Collection (from a LOOOOOONG time ago!).  I inked the edges of the patterned paper underneath the photo with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Faded Jeans.

 I found this sketch at Sketch N Stash:

I think the sketch was meant to be for a card, but it just seemed to work perfectly for what I wanted.  

You can find all the rules for the challenge at Scrapping4fun Challenges.  You have until Saturday, September 14, at 1:00 pm European time to get your creation linked up on the challenge blog.  If you're not sure about the time difference, there's a clock with European time in the upper left corner of the challenge blog.  I hope several of you will enter and get this new challenge blog going!  Can't wait to see what you create!  Happy scrapping, everyone!

Scrapping4funChallenges Design Team!

There's a new challenge blog starting up called Scrapping4funChallenges, and I made their first Design Team!

I am SUPER excited!!!  The first challenge will be posted on 30 August and can be found at the Scrapping4funChallenges blog.  I hope to see some of you over there participating in the challenges.  Be sure to check back here on Friday, August 30, for the first challenge reveal!

Scrapping 4fun Challenges Design Team Call!

As I was looking around on Paper Playful's new site the other day, I found a link for a new challenge blog that will be starting at the end of August, and they're having a Design Team Call!

If you're interested in applying for their DT Call, you still have a few more days, as the deadline is August 20.  You can find all the information by clicking here.  I'm looking to get my mojo back soon, so I've already submitted my application.  Why don't you give it a whirl, too?  Good luck, and happy scrapping!

Award time!

As I was cleaning out my e-mail inbox this morning, I found a few e-mails giving me blog awards from a LOOOOOOOONG time ago, so I thought I should acknowledge them and do something about them!  I'd like to thank Pam, Kim, and Brenda for giving me the Liebster Blog Award and AJ for the Versatile Blogger Award.

Thank you for noticing my blog and choosing me as a recipient of this fabulous award!  Thank you so much; it is an honor!  Here's a little information on the award:  "Liebster" is German for "dearest."  The award is a "Share the love arrangement," given to inspirational bloggers with less than 200 followers.  I have over 200 followers now, but WAAAAAY back when this award was given to me, I didn't.  I love sharing my projects and love getting ideas from all of my blogging crafty friends.

Here's the to-do list for the Liebster Blog Award recipients:

1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who presented you the award.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Present the Liebster Blog Award to five bloggers with less than 200 followers.
5. Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment on their blog.

I know how hard it is to get new followers (still trying to get them on my travel blog!), so I hope you'll all hop over and follow these bloggers.  A moment of encouragement means a lifetime of inspiration!  Here are my five choices with less than 200 followers:

1. Barbara--Barb's Blab
2. Lori--My Happy Life
3. Sandi--Slightly Off Center
4. Sue--The Scrappings of Sue
5. Ruth--Paper and Musings

Congratulations to these very talented bloggers!  I really enjoy the projects they share on their blogs, and I hope you do, too!

With The Versatile Blogger Award, you have to give seven facts about yourself, then pass it on to fifteen other people.  Here goes:

1. I am married to the most wonderful man in the word, a retired Marine, and I have two awesome boys!
   
2. We moved back to my hometown of Batesville, Arkansas in the summer of 2012, but it just doesn't feel like home anymore.  Things are still just as cliquish as they were when I was in high school, and I really feel like an outsider. :-(  
   
3. I miss living in a military community.  My favorite duty station was USMCRD--Parris Island, South Carolina.  My husband and I got married in Beaufort and started our life together there.  There's just something different about military towns, and I have no doubt in my mind that we will end up back there within about the next ten years or so.
   
4. I love my two boys with all my heart, but I REALLY wish I had a little girl!!!
   
5. I would love to go to law school and become a sports & entertainment lawyer, but it's just WAAAAAY too expensive!  Anyone know where I can get a grant or scholarship to go back to school? ;-)  
   
6. I teach high school English at an alternative school and over the past nineteen years of my career have taught at eight different schools in four states--Texas, Arkansas, South Carolina, and California.
   
7. I was adopted when I was five months old and first made contact with my birth mother when I was in my late twenties.  It was at that point that I learned she was told I died shortly after birth.  WOW!  I can't even begin to imagine what kind of parents she had that would tell her that and hold that secret for so long.
   
   
   
   
   
   Here are the fifteen blogs I've chosen for this award:
   
   
   1.  April--Scrapper Forever
   2.  Danni--Danni's Dreams
   3.  Kim--Me-Ma Kim's Place
   4.  Kristie--My Paper Life
   5.  Suzanne--Scrap with Suzy
   6.  Theresa--Scrappy Art Crafters
   7.  Vicki--Scrapbooking Creations by Vicki
   8.  Anita--Anita & Bugs
   9.  Heather--Heather Plotzke
   10.  Beckie--Just B Creative Crazy
   11.  Ashley--The Glamorous Side of Scrapping
   12.  Elizabeth--217 Creations
   13.  Anne--Anne-Made
   14.  Lisa--Bellalistona
   15.  Rachael--A window to my scrapping world
   
   
   I hope you enjoy their blogs as much as I do!  Happy scrapping, everyone!