My top three picks and Blog candy!

I guess being iced in got my creative juices to flowing. I created seven different cards based on some new sketches I made up on my lunch hour the other day. I have been in a card making rut lately and had been relying on my two favorite sketches over the last six plus months , so it was time for new ideas and new layouts for my cards. I am going to CKC St. Louis in April with a friend and we are attending the Papercrafts Card swap and class. You basically make 20 of the same card to swap with others in the class and then make a few cards during the class as well. So here are my top three that I made yesterday and today. Please help me choose the winner and the one I will recreate 19 more of to swap. I want the card to be something that most people would like and use. So please leave me a comment on which is your favorite of the three by Sunday Feb. 1st at 11:59 pm CST. I am then going to draw a winner from all the comments to receive a RAK of the winning card as well as some other cards I have made. Can't wait to see which card is declared the winner! Have a great weekend!

Iced in

We are iced in here in Texas folks. Of course, with the least bit of bad weather things do tend to shut down here, but last night was a huge ice storm coating everything and making the roads impassable this morning so school was canceled and work as well for me. It is around noon here now and the roads still aren't very good, so we are staying put, and staying warm. It's cold still yet, right around 25 degrees and the wind chill this morning was 8 degrees! So I thought it was fitting that I title my page "ICE". This is my my layout for the Personalscrapper Snowflake challenge, featuring my 2005 pictures from the Gaylord Texas Ice exhibit. It is a beautiful hotel, and the ice exhibit is something to see. I didn't get a lot of good pictures of the actual ice sculptures, but these two did turn out without a HUGE crowd of people in the background. I don't know exactly how many ice sculptures they have there but it is a LOT. The two on my page were some little bunnies and then a pony. They also had a beautiful angel, three polar bears playing on a pond, and a neat slide made of ice that you could go down. I went down it and you really went fast. They have a smaller version for the kids. It is a lot of fun and when you are done you get a cup of hot chocolate at the end. It is very cold in there to keep the sculptures cold, so you really need to bundle up. They even provide coats for you to wear! The paper and everything used on this layout is from the January Personalscrapper kit featuring Fancy Pants' Artic Chill. I used vanilla pigment ink on the chipboard snowflake then embossed it with clear embossing powder to make it shine. This layout is based on Sketch #2 from the 52 sketches 52 weeks sketch site. I am hope to get some more creating down today. I signed up to participate in a secret sister swap over on the Personalscrapper board and I need to send my package out here in the next couple of days, so I need to finish up my little gift I am making. I can't show it to you just yet, as it would spoil the surprise, but I promise to show it to you once she gets the package next week! Hope she likes it. Jake and I plan on watching a movie later today and playing some games, then hopefully I will finish up my swap cards and my secret sis gift. Snow days are great for catching up! Stay warm folks!

Use your stash Tuesday the card edition

For this weeks Use your stash Tuesday I decided to use up some of my retired Stampin Up paper that I have had for so long now I can't remember what great idea I had planned for it! I decided that I needed to use something with some spring colors to wash away the winter blues and even though I really didn't have any pressing need for cards at the present time I went ahead and used up the rest of this paper making 12 cards ( 2 sets of 6) to give away as "pick me ups" to some friends. I really hate to see all this paper just sitting here wasting away when it can be put to good use. And besides, I wanna get some more. I also decided that if I died anytime soon it would surely look bad if anyone saw how much paper I actually have hoarded in my little scrapbooking room! These cards also gave me a chance to break out my poor neglected stamp sets. I used a retired Stampin Up set called "Wishing you the best" for the stamped images as well as last year's Sellabration set "Lots of Thoughts" for the sentiments. The sketch is based off of my favorite sketch I have come up with for a card, and was the same one I used on my Halloween AND Christmas cards, and before you say it, I know its time to come up with another one. I promise to try, but for some reason just can't seem to get this one outta my mind quite yet! LOL! It's like some cheesy song you don't really like but you wake up singing and then continue to do so all day long. ...which for me today was "Jungle Love" as I heard it on some commercial early this morning and then walked around singing it all day...sheesh...I definitely DO NOT LIKE that song. Well, better get back to work on my project for Git 'R Done Wednesday, so catch ya back here same time same place tomorrow!

New Sketch site

No scrappy pics today folks...Mondays just aren't scrappy for me unfortunately. I am one of those people who have trouble switching gears from weekend fun and play back to work as usual. It's not that I don't like my job, I do, its just hard to switch gears and it takes me most of Monday to do so! I did want to share a new sketch site with you that I just stumbled upon off another blog I read. As you all know its all about the sketch and these are absolutely FAB sketches. So check them out, post a comment here with your link if you use on of their sketches so we can all see your stunning artwork! It looks like they give away some awesome prizes for playing along and while it was too late for me to play along with their current sketch when I stumbled upon them yesterday (the deadline was that night at midnight), I still plan to use that sketch as well as play along with their next one. Hope you will as well. So hurry on over to http://52sketches52weeks.com Have a wonderful week and tune in tomorrow as I will be showing you how to use up your older stash so you can add some new goodies in there!

Leaving on a Jet plane

Here is the page I got done last night after my son's basketball game. I did get another one started but got too sleepy before I just had to call it a night. I am finding I can't stay up super late anymore, plus with me having to get up early to get ready for my spa party today, I knew I was just asking for trouble LOL! I used the American Crafts travel line I picked up a while back in Tulsa at CKC 2008. I took these photos in anticipation of using this line with them, and while the title was exactly how I wanted it I do like how it turned out. This is based on another of my original sketches but I just didn't leave enough room for such a big title, so I had to improvise and use smaller letters, but I was able to use the foam shapes which I like so well. The scallop border is from doodlebug (paper frills)- love these, so fast and easy, much faster then punching them yourself. I am really into sketching out layouts prior to actually deciding on paper, embellies etc, this lets me move much faster when I actually can grab an hour or two to create. I keep a notebook by my bedside so I can sketch at night when I usually have my best ideas. On my agenda for the upcoming week is to complete the two remaining Personalscrapper challenges I have left to do before February roles around and finish up my card for the Papercrafts card swap I am attending in April at CKC. I have 2 ideas in mind and will try and post them soon so ya'll can give me feedback on which one I should actually use ...then I will get to work duplicating that card, I need 20 of them! Now do you see why I am starting 2 mos early???? Enjoy your Sunday, gotta run and bake some cookies for the spa party in a few hours!

Got Sketch 103 is about to start!

Many of you may have heard me talk about taking Got Sketch 102 with Valerie Salmon and Janna Wilson. If not, then I will tell you it is super fun. Got Sketch 101 and 102 are still available for download and Got sketch 103 is about to start on February 9th. This is a NO PRESSURE class. Basically you have access to the private classroom site from the day it starts til about a month or so after it "officially" ends. That way you can go back and work on all the stuff you didn't get to do during the class due to other obligations and life just interfering! You get brand new never seen sketches from Valerie and Janna, great tips and stunning example pages. Plus there are prizes, interaction with other students and many students post and share their layouts in the gallery (you can do this but are not obligated to do so). Then you can print and download all the sketches on little cards (mini sketches) to save to use later. I had never taken an online class before so I cannot say how it compares to others, but it really did exceed my expectations. If you are going to sign up or want to learn more go to: http://gotsketch.blogspot.com/ and if you do end up signing up, please leave me a comment here and I will add you to my friends list and we can catch up during class. I promise, this is much more fun then high school! HA! See you in class!

Warm sunny days part deux

Ok, finally here is page 2 of my double page layout entitled FRIENDS. You can see page one on my previous post here: http://createdbylisa.blogspot.com/2009/01/dreaming-of-warm-sunny-summer-days.html I was trying to fit these photos into a sketch where all 3 ran across the middle, but I didn't want to crop the photos that much, so I decided to go with the oldie but a goodie sketch shown here. I like how it turned out and it seems to flow well as a two pager. It shows the fun we had that day last summer at NRH2O with everyone hamming it up for the camera! Once again this is the Grafton line by Scenic Route. I have heard through various other blogs that Scenic Route has pulled out of CHA and is facing hard times like many companies in today's economy. It is my absolutely favorite scrapbook company and I am so hoping they do not close. If you have a little extra green on you please send it their way, they have an online store: http://store.scenicroutepaper.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=SRS so you can order direct from them. I am scheduled to take 3 classes from them at CKC St. Louis, so I hope that they aren't canceled, asCKC there is not til April. Enjoy your weekend, we are off to basketball practice and have a game Saturday and I am having a spa party on Sunday. It is featuring Sensaria products: http://sensaria.com go check it out, I highly recommend their products, I have been using them for over a month now and really love them. I hope to fit some scrapbooking in there along the way as well!

Dreaming of warm sunny summer days...

It was a sunny beautiful 78 degrees here today, tomorrow its suppose to be around 80 degrees. It really felt hot and got me wishing that we could be back at the pool or waterpark cooling off. We love to go to our local waterpark as much as possible in the summer. So in honor of such a wonderfully warm day I had to do a page that reminds me of all the fun we had at NRH2O last year. This picture was actually taken with one of those waterproof disposable cameras, so not too bad taking that into consideration and the colors in the picture look perfect with Scenic Route's Grafton Line. All papers/embellishments except the chipboard letters (FRIENDS) are from the June 2008 Personalscrapper kit. The journaling on this page reads: "Childhood is a magic castle of sand on a shore. One moment it is here, the next, no more." This is a simple page I have had an idea in my head about for a long time, and this is one of the few pages I have made lately from my OWN sketch. I don't have a scanner but when I get access to one I will post the sketch here so you can use it to. I am trying to work on a page for the other two Personascrapper January challenges, which are to scrap your WINTER...and to use SNOWFLAKES on your page. Maybe I can get in the mood for Winter and snowflakes on Saturday as its suppose to not get above 44 degrees that day...now that is MY Winter, hot one day, freezing the next! Enjoy you winter days while you can, the summer heat is right around the corner! Keep an eye out for page 2 of this layout, I'm tweaking it a bit as the sketch I had drawn up wasn't really fitting with my pictures like I wanted it to. I'll try and post it soon!

Long time no post..

Sorry for the no posts lately...I have had some computer issues this past week. Thanks to my Dad, I think I am up and running again and thanks to my brother I will soon have a brand new computer to play with. So no scrappy stuff to show you today but I will have some to show off later on this week. Jake and I have stayed busy working on his basketball dribble and doing our little 2 mile walk 3 times a week. We hope to bump it up to every night this spring..we are just have too many things going on with basketball right now to walk every night. We have enjoyed some beautiful January winter weather here lately as you can see by this picture! So don't give up on me, I am working hard on using up some of my scrapbooking supplies I got right before the holiday as I plan on placing another order the first of February to get a few more things I have had my eye on for a while..including the Oh Joy line from Cosmo Cricket, the Good Cheer line from October Afternoon and a few cute Valentines papers from Little Yellow Bicycle! And I gotta make room for some more stuff..my closets are full! LOL! Enjoy your Hump day!

Git 'R Done Wednesday 2009

Welcome to the first Git 'R Done Wednesday for 2009! This page is not as old as most of the pages I have featured. I started this one in 2007 and never finished the journaling or adhering it all down, so now it is done! YEA! I like the big chipboard letters, but covering them with paper was not fun at all..next time I think I will paint them. I do like the colors as they go great with the ball my son is holding. This picture was taken at the Harlem Globetrotters show in 2007 at the American Airlines Center and is my favorite picture of us from 2007. I did scraplift this page which was designed by Amy Yingling for Stampin Up and was featured in the Scrapbook Trends September 2007 edition. I changed it a bit as I didn't have all the stuff she used. I also changed the colors to match my picture, but it really is a lift so I wanted to give proper credit as the original idea is very nice and simple, showcasing the photo well. I apologize for the poor picture quality, but this photo was printed on extra glossy paper and was hard to get a nonglare photo even without the flash, I promise you the colors look better IRL.. thanks for stopping by for Git 'R Done Wednesday...have a wonderful rest of the week!

Use your stash Tuesday 2009

Welcome to the first edition of Use your stash Tuesday for 2009! For this layout, which I did for the Hobby challenge over at Personalscrapper, I used my September Personalscrapper kit, which features Fancy Pants All Fall. I also used a Heidi Swapp ghost heart (which I have had for a few years and never knew how or what to use it for)- they really show up so much better if you add a touch of paint to the edge I found out. I also used my Fancy Pants felt (big bracket) and one of my journaling spots from Elle's studio. I used nothing new for this layout and used up quite a bit of older things from my stash, in fact I only have a few pages of All Fall paper left, and since I actually bought the add on I had a bunch of it. It may be the first kit where I totally use up every last bit before the next kit from that month comes out! I like how the the picture of my blog banner turned out when printed, it looks like a postcard..in fact I thought I should use them to send out notes to people, but that might make me look a bit self absorbed huh? If you are wondering how I took the pic of myself blogging, I used my self timer ...the only danger if you do this is, don't trip over something when running to get in place. I tripped over the USB cable to my camera that was still hooked to the computer and the first picture was of my behind :o) Enjoy your evening and tune in tomorrow for Git 'R Done Wednesday, I have a great page to show you that would be perfect for Valentine's Day!

2008 A year in Review

I have been frantically organizing my photos and thoughts reviewing 2008. I have set some resolutions and goals and FINALLY got my Christmas decorations down and put away this week. WHEW...now that was a chore. I love putting up my decorations, but taking them down, well obviously its not my fav or I wouldn't just be getting around to it on January 10th! Now with that chore out of the way I can delve into scrapbooking more. I did my first year in review page for the year 2007 and made a goal to continue to do so every year. I was inspired to do this by all the gals at Personalscrapper. I really thought it wasn't such a fun idea until I started trying to remember what year different things happened and had a hard time doing so. So I decided why not do a Year in Review page and recap all the ups and downs each year holds. This year I included some things like: latest crazes (Bakugan and Yugioh and Pokemon are this year's craze); Superbowl and NCAA basketball champs (NY Giants & our fav the KU JAYHAWKS), historical moments (this years election); and other momentous occasions that marked 2008 for our family. It's kind of like a time capsule. I chose to use the January Personalscrapper kit for this page it features Fancy Pants Artic Chill. I must admit, I wasn't excited at all about this kit as we rarely have snow here in Texas, and quite frankly, I am not a big snow fan, so I try to stay away from snow, not planning any snowy destinations to visit in the near future, so I was contemplating what I would do with this papers. Well, then I received them and saw them in person! Beautiful colors...double sided yumminess. I was able to use the second nonsnowflake sides to create my page, and I have another layout in the works using this kit. So if you are in a nonsnowy area, don't be afraid of these papers, they are super cool as usual with anything Fancy Pants. I also used the 7 Gypsies "Y is for YEAR" stickers I got on sale at hobby lobby a few weeks ago to do this layout and can you believe they actually matched these papers so well? No, this was really not planned, I fell a** backwards into it as they say on Seinfeld! So my challenge to you, even if you aren't a scrapbooker, create a YEAR IN REVIEW for 2008 while its still fresh in your mind..heck in 3 mos you won't even be able to recall what you did in 2008 if your like me! Even those of you who are nonscrappers, write your memories down, it'll be fun to look back on in 25 years and say "wow, wasn't gas cheap back then! " HA! Well, I'm off to my son's first basketball game of 2009...will post some pics tomorrow if I get any good ones, they are hard to come by in the poor lighting of the gym. I'm back in the swing of things so check back on Tuesday and Wednesday for my Use your Stash and Git 'R Done features!

Cropping the Night Away!

Ok, I don't have as much to show as I would have liked...I did get one layout totally done and two more started..long story,but sometimes I get blocked on a layout and I will just put it up and then go on to another one, so right now I have two unfinished layouts on my desk. I did my Christmas decorations down outside though, and that was a good thing as it was over 80 here yesterday and I knew it was going to be around 40 for a high today and windy, so I didn't have as much time to crop as I would have liked. My friend Angie was able to join me for a bit though and we had fun chatting and cropping. Today I wasn't able to play as we went to the King Tut exhibit in Dallas at the Musuem of Art. It was EXCELLENT, but don't have really any pics to show as they are not allowed, but it was very interesting and we went with some good friends which made it even more fun. I would highly recommend it if you get a chance to see it when it comes to a city near you. But, as I always say, one layout is better than no layouts, so I am pleased to have finished one. I used a sketch from Valerie Salmon again, this is sketch #24 and I really like the way it turned out. I did this for the birthday challenge for the AC Bailey online crop, where we were to scrap a birthday layout using at least 3 pics. I used the Grafton line from Scenic Route and alphabet stickers from Chatterbox (orange) and American Crafts (brown). So wish me luck on staying up late tonight and finishing off these other two layouts...I'm gonna try but not sure how far I will get as I am planning on watching some of the playoff games at the same time. Have a nice rest of the weekend and tune in for more scrappy goodness next week!

Some more So sketchy Goodness

I know many of you are thinking, wow, what a fast worker, already scrapping her Christmas pictures, (I wish)..no, this pic is from Christmas 2006. I love this layout using the Scenic Route Roxbury line. I didn't like this line at first, but the more I use it, the more, I think I need to get so more of it! HA! This layout is based on a sketch from the So sketchy blog, it is the 12 x 12 sketch for December 14th. The title in the upper right corner is one of the fun new goodies I got from the LivingRoom Floor etsy shop : http://lrfloor.blogspot.com/ I LOVE all the goodies there, it was hard to decide what to get, but I settled on these neat Christmas themed embellies, I just love the vintage look they have. Plus you get one of each on white and kraft cardstock, so that makes it even more versatile. I would highly recommend them as they had super fast shipping and very pleasant to deal with! If you haven't found etsy yet (http://www.etsy.com), you need to check it out...it is AWESOME, neat and fun homemade goodies, just bring your wallet, you'll need it! Ok, I am off to play bingo at the AC Bailey site and after I get all my housework done I will dig into the challenges for the online crop there this weekend...why not stop by and join us? http://www.acbaileyltd.com/ The challenges will definitely get you inspired and cropping. I'll post what I get done tonight and tomorrow here tomorrow night so check back soon!

Happy New Year friends!

I hope everyone had a safe New Year's eve. I ran in the New Year by myself. I stayed up until 1115 pm CST, but that was midnight on the East Coast so I was able to see the ball drop in NYC. My son didn't make it the entire time like he had hoped, he was out like a light by nine! So I had to ring in 2009 celebrating by myself!

Here is how I spent the evening: drinking my yummy Comfort and Joy tea from Republic Tea Company and

eating my delicious birthday cookies, all in my comfy PJ's! I don't think I will win any beauty contests for these photos, but hey, this is REAL LIFE people! HA! We plan to go to the IMAX today to see a movie about the Egyptian Pharoahs and mummies. Should be good as we are going with friends to see the King Tut exhibit that is in Dallas on Sunday, so this will give us some background info on the archeological digs behind all these artifacts, fascinating stuff. Well, enjoy the rest of your day and hope to catch you again soon to share more of my pages, I am doing an online crop at AC Bailey this weekend, so hope to get a lot done!