Design Team work for Scraputante

Well the New Year is almost upon us.  And I am so proud to announce that I have made the Design Team for Scraputante.com.  Scraputante.com is a new scrapbooking site with many supplies and monthly Kits available.  They have several kits each month, including a vintage kit, a traditional kit, a card kit, and a project kit.  Scraputante.com offers many products that are not available locally.

Scraputante.com will open on January 1, 2012 and you will be able to begin placing orders then!  If their kits are any indication, you will not be let down.  I had the pleasure of working with their vintage kit for the month of January.

Scraputante.com is the first design team I have been accepted on, and I am so excited and proud to be a part of this team.  January's kit is absolutely amazing and so versatile.  Below are 3 layouts and 1 card I created using the January Vintage Kit.  I still have enough supplies for at least one more layout and probably several cards.

I will be posting close ups and details on these layouts throughout the week!  Thank you for visiting my blog.  I wish each and every one of you a happy new year and here is to a healthy, happy, and prosperous 2012 to all of you!

Courtney

Merry Christmas! and Big News Coming

I just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! The holidays are a favorite time of the year for me.  I am surrounded by friends and family, and enjoy the magic of the season.  Yes, the holidays are busy and stressful, but at the end of the day, what matters is that you spend time with those people that mean the most to you.

I hope you enjoy your friends and family this holiday season, and also make some time for crafting for yourself!  I have missed scrapping these past few weeks, but will be creating more memories to put into my albums.

This will be a busy week for me, Christmas, starting a new job, AND I have a BIG announcement coming around January 1st.  I am so excited but it is top secret!  I could announce it now but I would have to kill you!  HAHAH!!

Here's to a Merry Christmas and I hope to have a few projects to post before January!

With Warm Thoughts

Courtney

Nap Thirty

This is a layout of my cousin coming back from a trip with his choral group at Albright, the Mane Men.  He is awful tired!!

It felt fantastic to create again.  I feel like it has been forever since I have worked on a layout!

Here is a closeup of the gears.  These are thick chipboard that I purchased from Creek Bank Creations.  They have amazing chipboard and so may choices.  I used a template and glimmer misted these to add some dimension. 

I also used Prima Flowers ad placed buttons as a center!  Here is a close up of the flowers and clock.

Here is a closeup of the title work.  This was my favorite part of this layout.  I took Jillibean Soup corrugated banners and first applied gesso with a sponge.  Then I glimmer misted them and attached letters I had in my stash. and applied them with mini clothespins.

Thank you for visiting my blog.  Come the new year, I will be posting with much more frequency!

Have a great day!!

Hello Friends

Just wanted to stop by and say hello.  I hope all of you had an amazing Thanksgiving.  Ours was spent with family, and a fantastic time was had by all.  Wish we got together more often.

This week definitely had its ups and downs.  I started a new job that didn't work out, so I am back looking for employment.  Everything happens for a reason right?  We still have so much to be thankful for!  I have an amazing family, amazing friends, and the best husband ever.  So while the new job didn't work out, I am staying positive and making the best of things.

I am going to have more time to scrap after all HAHAH!! If only we could make a living scrapping right??!!

We did some shopping on black friday.  Got some great deals!  I would love to hear about your Thanksgiving!  I will be posting new projects this week....I promise!!

I need a vacation

I need a vacation from my vacation!! We arrived home last night at 10 pm and started my new job today.  I think I am really going to love this job.  Everyone is so nice and made me feel so welcome.  They give free turkeys for Thanksgiving...and I even got one...on my first day! How amazing is that...

Our trip was amazing and I cannot wait to start scrapping the almost 500 photos we took!!  For now I think I am going to go to bed early and start scrapping tomorrow!!

I hope to have some great layouts to post soon!

Halfway through Disney

We are halfway through our Disney trip! And what an amazing time we are having! They are still in the process of completing the christmas decorations. But so many places are decorated. It's amazing the detail that goes into each scene. The tree in our lobby went up today and they are working on a gingerbread tree!

We did a backstage safari tour at animal kingdom today! Was super informative. We learned so much. Crowds have been pretty light however I think they will be picking up! I cannot wait to scrapbook all of the memories! I also start a new job next week! Things are looking up!!

My work featured on Clear Scraps Blog!

I woke up this morning to find that Clear Scraps featured an acrylic frame I created! Squeeeeee! What a way to start my day!

Here is the link if you would like to see! http://clearscraps.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Thank you Clear Scraps!! I am humbled!

Ok off to the airport! Mickey awaits!

Nana and Pop Pop

This is a layout I did using the September Scraps of Darkness Kit, Passages.  These kits just do not seem to end.  I have done so many layouts and still have more chachki's to play with....Here is the layout featuring my mom's parents who I called Nana and Pop Pop.  Sadly they both passed when i was young, but I do remember Pop Pop...

Here is a close up of the lacing....what i did here was tear a scrap of paper and then glue it down.  and inked the edges using Tim Holtz Distress Ink Fired Brick and Vintage Photo. Also used a Prima Butterfly.

Here is a close up of my Prima Flowers.  I mostly buy white and color them with my Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists...that way I always get the color I want.  The chipboard are from Bo Bunny's Et Cetera Collection as well as the papers I used here. The off white flowers are from Petaloo.

Here is a close up of the mat I used for the photo...The mat is regular cardboard from a box....I used gesso to coat it and give it dimension.  Then I misted with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, Chocolate Covered Cherries and Candy Apple.

Thank you for visiting my blog....we are headed to Disney in the morning, so I will not be blogging layouts for the next week...If I have some time, I may blog about our trip. Have a great weekend!!

Mojo is creeping back

With a little help from this weeks sketch at Let's Scrap, I got a layout done today..Since we leave tomorrow for Disney, I figured it was the best time to get some photos from our last trip done...



here is the sketch.  I did only the left side of this sketch...i'm not really a 2 pager.  Here is what I came up with:

Let's Scrap has amazing prizes each week.  They are extremely welcoming and friendly over there.  Come and get inspired.  http://letsscrap.ning.com/

Soundtrack of My Life

I am part of a blogging challenge over at scrapbook.com.  One of the challenges for this week is to blog about the soundtrack of your life. It is going to be difficult to keep this short because music has played such an influential part of my daily life.  I am the type of person that music effects my mood, and my mood effects my music choices.  I love music! All kinds...so here is a glimpse of the soundtrack of my life!

Smile by Uncle Kracker- this is our wedding song...everytime I hear it, I seriously smile...My husband is definitely cooler than the flip side of my pillow!!

Seasons of Love  from the play Rent -a tough song but an uplifting song...my sister was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease at the age of 14.  She suffered terribly.  At the age of 19 she became very very ill and this song is the one song that would make her smile...I lost my sister just a few short months later, but when I am having a bad day, this song just makes me smile. It lets me know I have an angel looking over me and everything will be okay!


I Could Have Danced All Night...from My Fair Lady - This song reminds me of my childhood and the years I spent dancing.  This song was our finale song for our recitals every year...and i still remember the movements that go with the song.


Soundtrack of Smokey Joes Cafe are you noticing a pattern here LOL....this soundtrack is full of feel good happy music.  Every Saturday in my house, the whole family would get together to clean...thats right ALL OF US!! my mom would always play music (and all my memories are of this soundtrack on cleaning saturday).  So when I need inspiration and just can't get motivated I play this on my iPod...yes kinda strange that songs I cleaned to as a child make me happy LOL....(no I am not a cleaning freak) My house is usually a mess!

Me & You by Kenny Chesney- this is the song I walked down the aisle to to meet my husband.  I love the words to this song.

Ordinary? No! I really don't think so,
Not a love this true.
Common destiny, we were meant to be, me and you.
Like a perfect scene from a movie screen,
We're a dream come true.
Suited perfectly, for eternity, me and you.
CHORUS:
Everyday, well I need you even more,
And the nighttime too.
There's no way, I could ever let you go.
Even if I wanted to.
Everyday I live, (I) try my best to give,
All I have to you.
Thank the stars above, that we share this love, me and you
CHORUS
Ordinary? No! I really don't think so,
Just a precious few.
Ever make it last, are as lucky as
me and you. 


I waited a long time to find my husband...and we definitely do not have an ordinary love!


It Takes Two by Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock yes I am for real here...LOL...this is my JAM!! I love this song...brings me back to my nights at the Tide, and Joe Pops on LBI....hahah good times!!


Me and Mrs. Jones...performed by the band that played our wedding....ok so most people are thinking...its a song about adultery....and Arturo just kills this song...I cannot explain it....Arturo has become a dear friend of my husband and I... and I love his wife so its not like that people LOL...But when he sings this song it gives me goosebumps....whenever we go out to see him play he knows he needs to play this..


Neon Moon by Brooks and Dunn- this brings me back to the mid 90's when my mom, stepdad and myself would go country line dancing at our local moose club...it was always so much fun...then we would come home and practice! 


Make You Feel My Love - just discovered the Adele version..but always loved the Garth Brooks version from Hope Floats..just an all around beautiful song...love either version of it!


Well that is just a small taste...I am sure I could go on for hours...but theres a glimpse into my musical life...Thank you for reading and hope you have a great weekend!

Creation Block

I am suffering today with a block...I don't know which photos I want to scrap, how I want to scrap them...Does this ever happen to you?  What do you do to get yourself out of it?

I have about 8 hours of scrap time here today while I am at the store. I packed some things last night, but kinda haphazardly.  Where do you find inspiration when it seems nowhere to be found?

I have several sites that I will be heading to after I write this blog.  Scrapbook.com is always full of inspiration, Let's Scrap has fantastic sketches, truexoxogirls has interesting and different challenges.  I will place links to each of these places in case you haven't discovered them.

I would love to hear how you get out of your creative funks!  Have a great day!

Truexoxogirls
Let's Scrap
Scrapbook.com

Picture Perfect

Here is a layout I did for the Round Robin Challenge over at Scraps of Darkness.  I used my "All Hallows Eve" from October for this one...Yes this paper is all "Halloween"...who would have known right???

I had the honor and pleasure of following Reneabouquet and Lisa aka Raining in the round robin challenge.  And what an undertaking to follow these ladies amazing talent!!

This picture was taken in 1978 at my Uncles wedding....it is one of the rarest photo's of my mom and her 3 siblings....also my pop pop and my great grandma!! a treasure for sure...

The squares are chipboard.  I applied gesso with a sponge to give them texture and then added Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze to give them that rich color...the title is also a chipboard piece that i purchased at the  CK Booth at CK Convention...the brown is tattered angels glimmer mist (tattered leather) and the blue is a blue mist by Lindy's Stamp Gang!...the flowers are all from Prima!

If you haven't had a chance to check out scraps of darkness, you really need to visit.  Do not let the name fool you!! They are the greatest group of people around!!  www.scrapsofdarkness.com

Thank you for visiting!

Courtney

Beautiful Girl...Beautiful Memories

Here is a layout I did of a picture of my mother...not really sure about the year.  But I am guessing she is about 8 or 9 years old....Inside the envelope is a letter my mom wrote to my grandparents from girl scout camp in 1956.

The letter was a gift from my uncle for our wedding and it is probably my most favorite gift!

I used Glimmer Mist to color the doilie.  And the paper is My Minds Eye Lost and Found 2.  

Here is a closeup of the hinges.  For the hinges, I started with a gel medium, and then I used glimmer glaze to add the colors..I attached them with a blingy brad.  

Here is what my uncle wrote in our wedding card that contained the letter!

Here are some of the Lost and Found two brads I added to the layout.

Thank you for looking! 

Sneak Peek

Here is a small sneak peek of my layout for the Round Robin over at Scraps of Darkness. I was so excited by the 2 layouts that came before mine that I sat down and completed it even though its not due until November 7th... I am dying to share so here is a sneak peek of my layout!

Renea led off the Round Robin with her amazing Autumn Layout, followed by Lisa with her awe inspiring Gaga Layout!  Visit www.scrapsofdarkness.com for more information on this fun challenge!

Dom's Train

Yesterday my husband and I celebrated our First Wedding Anniversary!  I recently left my job, and well money was a little tight so I decided to make him his anniversary gift.  My husband loves trains like I love scrapbooking!  I had bought an acrylic train banner  from Clear Scraps a while back and finally decided this was the project that I was going to undertake for his anniversary present.

Here is the entire banner:

Here are close ups of each section:

He absolutely loved it! He got me the carrying case for my Pazzle..what an awesome gift!! 

If you have always been afraid to work with acrylic....don't be!! It is so much fun to work with...If you mess up some acetone free nail polish remover wipes away all of your mistakes!!

Thanks for visiting! I am heading to my scrap room to hopefully get lots of projects done!!

Have a happy and safe halloween!!

Terror Behind the Walls

This is a layout I did for our visit last weekend to Terror Behind the Walls at Eastern State Penitentiary.  Its a haunted house inside the first prison of its kind!  We go every year, but the past few we have missed.  It was so nice to get together with my cousin and her husband and some of our dear friends for a fun scary filled night.

The Scraps of Darkness October Kit "All Hallows Eve" had perfect paper and embellishments for this! Plus I took some items from my stash from the Scraps of Darkness store.  If you haven't visited the Scraps of Darkness website, you really need to go there now!! www.scrapsofdarkness.com

Ok, so here is my layout

I used Authentique's Glowing Line, as well as a KaiserCraft Die Cut, Martha Stewarts Halloween Fence, Dusty attic Tree, Dusty Attic Barbed Wire, Pink Paislee Haunting embellies, and a Scrap FX spider in the middle of a Petaloo flower.  I also used Bat Garland that I purchased at Joann's that was really for a halloween tree, but worked perfect in my dusty attic tree.  See a close up here:

Here is a close up of the Barbed Wire from Dusty Attic.  My dear friend and Dark Sister Renea aka Reneabouquets did a tutorial on Scraps of Darkness for Resin like Chipboard.  I followed her instructions, and changed it up a little bit..

First, I used gesso to create a base, then I used a gel medium.  After I dried the gel medium, I inked the barbed wire with Tim Holtz Black Soot.  When that dried I used Glimmer Mist (Scarlet) to make the blood red spots on the barbed wire.  I did not spray it however, I simply used a paint brush and highlighted the spots I wanted to.  Next I used Shimmerz Enamelz to give the barbed wire a metal feel.

Here is the final close up of the ScrapFX spider in the middle of the Petaloo flower:

Here I took the spider and covered it with gesso.  then i used Shimmerz Orange Sherbert to door it...I also used the shimmers in the corner of the Pink Paislee card...

90% of these items came from my October Scraps of Darkness Kit which blew me away! The kits are always amazing but this one hit it out of the park!  thank you for visiting my blog!

Happy Halloween

I love Halloween We are preparing for a fun filled weekend of Halloween Festivities.  We are heading to a party at our dear friends house tomorrow night for some spooky food and cocktails...Sunday is our First Wedding Anniversary!! I cannot believe it has been a year since our wedding. The best day of my life to date and I cannot wait for 50 more years with my husband!  I am so lucky to have such an amazing and supportive husband! Then Monday we will be ready for all of the trick or treaters to come and we will hand out candy! thats my favorite thing.  Seeing all of the cute kids all dressed up!! I am hoping to get some scrapbooking done this week! I miss my scrapping table!

I hope everyone has a wonderful, fun and safe Halloween.  I hope to have some projects posted over the weekend!

How do you manage to make Craft Time

In this busy world, how do you make time to create?  There is so much going on in our lives.  I know there are days where I feel like I am getting pulled in 10 different directions.  There are so many days that I want to create, but just cannot sit at my scrappy table.  Today is going to be one of those days.  Phone call this morning, interview this afternoon and then teaching dance for a couple of hours tonight.  Maybe when I get home I will have a little bit of time after cooking dinner?! Heres to hoping!

Hope everyone has a fantastic day and thank you for listening!

Hello and Welcome

Hello everyone! Thank you for visiting my blog.  This is my first post and I have to say that none of this would have been possible without my dear friend Lisa aka Raining.  She helped so much with making it pretty!  THANK YOU Lisa!!

So I am hoping to post new work very often.  Thank you again for visiting my gallery and I appreciate all of your support!