Cocoa Daisy Guest Designer

Good morning, everyone!  I was so lucky to be the asked to be the guest designer for Cocoa Daisy this month!  I got to play with their 12x12 Memory Keeping Kit and the Pocket Pages Memory Keeping Kit.  The kits this month were travel-themed and oh-so-much fun!  Here are the projects I made:

This one is not my normal style, but when I saw the map paper, I knew I needed to do it:

I made Piper's monthly spread with this kit:

I scrapped the world's most adorable doggy:

And I finally scrapped a photo from our 2011 Paris trip!

Thanks so much for popping in!  Happy Wednesday!

The Studio || Clean Off Your Desk Challenge

**If you're looking for The Sparkler DT blog hop, click here.**

Good morning, everyone!  There is a new challenge up at The Studio today -- and I LOVE it.  It's a little different than regular, but it really pushed me out of my comfort zone - in  a good way.  The challenge today: take whatever's been sitting on your desk for awhile and FINALLY use it in a project.

For me, it was my September Cocoa Daisy kit.  It was the last kit I got before cancelling my subscription and joining Clique Kits.  I loved Cocoa Daisy's kits, but in order to keep myself from accumulating waaaaay too much stuff, I have to be a one kit girl.  Their September kit was gorgeous - and totally not my style.  But I didn't want to get rid of it because I thought everything in it was so pretty.  So, when we were given this challenge, I  knew this kit was going to get used.  I was inspired by this beautiful layout by Tanya Privalova as my starting point.  Here is my final result:

I'm actually really happy with how it turned out, even if it is a bit outside my comfort zone.  I'm trying really hard to incorporate more patterned paper into my layouts this year, and I really like this technique for doing it.  You'll probably be seeing it again in the future :)

I hope you can play along with us at The Studio this month!  We always love to see what everyone creates!

Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned Paper: Cocoa Daisy; Alpha: Heidi Swapp; Wood Veneer Alphas, Sequins, Gold Star: Studio Calico; Frames, Tag: Crate Paper; Badge: Evalicious

Project Life Update (warning: photo heavy post!)

Hey, everyone!  This weekend I made it my goal to get some scrapping done.  I didn't make very many traditional layouts, but I did get A LOT of Project Life done, which is good because I really hate falling too far behind.

 

Week 31:

Not a lot happened this week.  It rained a bunch, so it was a lot of sitting inside and watching old TV shows (Charmed, to be exact).  I used the August Studio Calico kit for this one.

 

Week 32 was a lot of fun.  My niece came to visit us and stay for the week.  I took time off from work and we went to the beach, played mini golf, and just had a ton of good times!  I used the August Cocoa Daisy kit for this one.

 

Week 33: This was my birthday week.  Our niece left us that week and we met up with a bunch of friends to move out some remaining items from my husband's old house.  I used a random assortment of goodies for this spread.

 

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope your weekend was a good one!

 

Week 31: Page Protector: Becky Higgins (Design F); Journaling Cards, Wood Veneer, Alphas, Sequins, Vellum Stars, Washi Tape: Studio Calico; Labels, Plastic Shapes: Hello Forever; Staples: Tim Holtz

 

Week 32: Page Protectors: Becky Higgins (Designs A & F); Journaling Cards: Cocoa Daisy, Evalicious, Fancy Pants; Diecuts: My Mind's Eye, Evalicious; Alphas: Kaiser Craft, Jenni Bowlin; Washi: Little B; Label Sticker: Pebbles; Tickets: Fancy Pants; Enamel Shapes: We R Memory Keepers; Staples: Tim Holtz

 

Week 33: Page Protectors: Becky Higgins (Designs A & H); Journaling Cards: Hello Forever, Birchbox, Becky Higgins, Clique Kits; Wood Veneers: Studio Calico, Pinkfresh; Diecuts: Jillibean Soup, Chic Tags, My Mind's Eye; Stickers: Heidi Swapp; Enamel Shapes: Doodlebug Design; Alphas: Kaiser Craft; Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye; Staples: Tim Holtz

Cocoa Daisy vs. Studio Calico: July Project Life

Hey, everyone!  I am popping in to share the PL spreads I made with the Cocoa Daisy and Studio Calico July kits.  The kits were very different last month, so it was a little bit difficult to compare them.  See what I mean:

 

The July Cocoa Daisy kit was travel-themed, and therefore perfect to highlight a trip we took to Iowa for a family get together:

 

 

The Studio Calico kit had a lot of woodgrains and bright colors, although I seemed to gravitate more towards the subdued journaling cards for this spread:



In the end, I am a bit undecided on which is my favorite.  I guess if I had to pick, Cocoa Daisy would be the winner this month.  They pack a whole lot of product into their kits and I am always such a fan of the Evalicious exclusives!

Thanks for stopping by!

Week 28: Page Protectors: Becky Higgins (Design A); Journaling Cards: Cocoa Daisy, Evalicious; Alphas: Jillibean Soup, Studio Calico; Stickers: October Afternoon; Paper Labels: Evalicious; Staples: Tim Holtz

 

Week 29: Page Protector: Becky Higgins (Design N); Journaling Cards, Stickers, Wood Veneers: Studio Calico; Alphas: Studio Calico, Basic Grey; Staples: Tim Holtz

Studio Calico vs. Cocoa Daisy June PL Kits

Hey, everyone!  I've been playing catch up on my Project Life today...and am back to where I need to be...yay!  That is such a wonderful feeling.  I wanted to share weeks 22 & 24 with you.

 

Week 22 was made primarily with the June Project Life kit from Studio Calico (+ a Project life add-on).  I loved the fun colors and the Kal Barteski stickers: 

 

 

Week 24 was made primarily with the June Day in the Life kit (+ add-on) from Cocoa Daisy.  Once again, I really loved the colors in this kit.  June was clearly a great month in the kit industry!  My favorite elements from this kit were the fun Simple Stories stickers. 

 

 

This one was a close one to call, but in the end, I think I liked the Cocoa Daisy kit best.  All the products just really "spoke" to me.  The bright colors totally won me over!

 

Thanks for popping in...have a happy Sunday!

 

Week 22: Page Protectors: Becky Higgins (Designs J & F); Journaling Cards: Studio Calico, Amy Tangerine; Alphas: Studio Calico, American Crafts, Jillibean Soup; Sequins: Studio Calico, Doodlebug Design; Patterned Paper, Stickers, Wood Veneers: Studio Calico; Puffy Stickers: Twine & Ink; Staples: Tim Holtz; Glitter Sticker: Heidi Swapp

 

Week 24: Page Protector: Becky Higgins (Design F cut down); Journaling Cards: Cocoa Daisy, Evalicious, KI Memories; Puffy Stickers, Patterned Paper: Heidi Swapp; Alphas, Stickers: Simple Stories; Enamel Dots: My Mind's Eye; Staples: Tim Holtz; Wood Veneer Number: Studio Calico; Embossing Powder: Recollections

Playing along with a sketch challenge...

Hi, everyone!  I wanted to share a layout I made for one of Shimelle Laine's current sketch challenges.

 

Here is the sketch: 

 

Here is my take on it:

 

And I used my June Cocoa Daisy to make this one.  I am seriously in love with that kit!

 

Sorry for the short post...it's been a tad bit hectic around here, but I'm hoping things slow down a little bit in the near future.  Have a nice week!!

 

Supplies: Patterned Paper: We R Memory Keepers, Fancy Pants; Journaling Card, Diecut Pennant: We R Memory Keepers; Glitter Frame, Puffy Stickers, Border: Heidi Swapp; Chipboard Hearts: Studio Calico; Stickers: Simple Stories, KI Memories; Ribbon: May Arts; Staples: Tim Holtz

The Studio Challenges || Triangles

Good morning, everyone!  Happy Sunday!  It's been raining here a lot, so I'm loving the force lazy days.  It's really helping me to get some scrappiness accomplished!

 

Today there is a new challenge posted at The Studio and this one is all about triangles.  Triangles?!  I do not like triangles very much and didn't even realize that until I created my layout for this challenge.  This one was definitely a hard one.

However, I had my June Cocoa Daisy kit to help me and was able to whip something up.  I think this is my fave CD kit so far.  The colors are wonderful and totally up my alley.  Expect to see many more projects with it!

Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill; Alphas: American Crafts, Teresa Collins; Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye; Puffy Shapes, Glitter Frame, Mist Mask: Heidi Swapp; Ribbon: May Arts; Stamp: October Afternoon; Stickers: KI Memories, Simple Stories; Journaling Card: We R Memory Keepers

A Few Shares...

Good morning, everyone!

 

Happy Memorial Day.  While I am loving the long weekend, I do always take a moment to reflect on what this day really means and say a little thank you to the men and women who have sacrificed it all for the freedoms we hold so dear.

 

With this long weekend, I was able to get a bit of scrappy work done.  I was 5 weeks behind on my Project Life (aughhh!) and now am only 2 weeks behind.  Thank goodness.  Here is my week 19 spread:

I made the spread using May's kit from Cocoa Daisy.

 

Another thing I made with that kit?  This layout for The Studio Challenges:

 

The challenge this week was to create a layout showcasing a selfie.  I took the challenge literally, even with my title :-)  Also, can I just say how much I adore this patterned paper?!?!  It's from Maggie Holmes' Style Board collection (Crate Paper) and I cannot get enough of it.  I'm going to stretch this one piece of paper as far as I can... :-)

 

Thanks for stopping by!!

 

Project Life: Page Protector: Becky Higgins (Design A); Journaling Cards: Cocoa Daisy, Evalicious; Bling: KI Memories; Patterned Paper: Crate Paper; Chipboard, Paperclip: Maya Road; Alphas: Studio Calico, Pink Paislee; Stickers: My Mind's Eye, Theresa Collins; Wood Veneer: Cocoa Daisy, Studio Calico; Diecuts: Evalicious

 

Layout: Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned Paper: Crate Paper; Diecuts: Evalicous, Cocoa Daisy; Gold Star Rub-ons: Jenni Bowlin; Bling: KI Memories; Sticker: Teresa Collins; Chipboard: Maya Road

PL 2014 || Week 16

Oh man!  I have been such an awful blogger recently.  And the last few posts have been way too Project Life oriented.  Unfortunately, today is no different.  Another sad thing:  I am two weeks behind and I have a crazy weekend planned, so I have no doubts that I will be three weeks in the hole come Sunday.  I'm going to have a lot of catching up to do...and I hate that!  Oh well...enough of my whining...

 

Week 16 was made using Cocoa Daisy's April kit.  I loved the greens, blues and yellows - so bright and cheerful!

I cut my page protector down to the size that I needed it to be.

 I made a card that flipped up and revealed a fun photo of a group of us from work.

And here is a close-up of one of my favorite parts of the layout.  There will be a tutorial on the Curtsey Boutique soon showing how I made it (hint: it was suuuuuper easy!).

 Thanks for stopping by.  Hopefully I will have something a bit more exciting to share next time.

 

Supplies: Page Protector: Becky Higgins (Design F cut to size); Journaling Cards: Cocoa Daisy, Evalicious; Alphas: Jillibean Soup, Studio Calico; Tape: Little B; Wooden Dots, Stickers: My Mind's Eye; Enamel Shapes: Doodlebug Design; Vellum Labels, Wooden Number: Studio Calico

The Studio || Epic Fail

There is a new challenge up at The Studio this morning.  This time we were supposed to scrap about epic fails.

 

At first glance my "epic fail" doesn't really look that epic. I chose to scrap before and after photos of when I got my hair done.  I paid almost $100 to get my hair cut and colored...and my before and after photos were almost identical.  The real epic fail is not the hair cut or the wasted money, but is actually my inability to take big chances.  I'm working on it, though.  I may not be getting pink hair anytime soon...but maybe I'll look into becoming a redhead!  :-)

 

I hope you'll be able to join us at The Studio and play along!

 

Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned Paper: Studio Calico, American Crafts; Alphas: Jillibean Soup, Studio Calico; Wood Veneers, "Hello" Card: Cocoa Daisy; Mist: Studio Calico; Chalk Writer: American Crafts; Clothespin: Studio Calico; Washi Tape: Little B; Enamel Shapes: Doodlebug Design; Kit: Cocoa Daisy

PL 2014 || Week 11

Good morning, all!  I just wanted to share my most recent PL week with you.  The week was awesome, I had lots of great pics, and I ended up creating a totally uninspired PL spread!  Oh well.  I've said it before, but you really can't be happy with every project you create.

 

I will say it wasn't Cocoa Daisy's fault I was uninspired.  I used their April Day in the Life kit, as well as their PL add-on kit, Blue Ridge.  These were great kits and included so many fun little elements.

 

Here is my spread:

 

I also have a rather unexciting insert that I created to document our day at the local St. Patrick's Day Festival...it's just photos with very little embellishment, so I will spare you for now.  I'm still working on the title card for it, so if that turns out well, I may share it in a later post.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Supplies: Page Protetor: Becky Higgins (Design A); Journaling Cards: Cocoa Daisy, Evalicious, Becky Higgins; Badge: Evalcious; Alphas: October Afternoon, Studio Calico, Jillibean Soup; Diecuts: Elle's Studio; Enamel Shapes: Doodlebug Design; Labels: Studio Calico; Washi Tape: October Afternoon; Patterned Paper: Cocoa Daisy

PL Update || Weeks 8 & 9

Good morning, everyone!!

 

I am popping in super fast to share my latest two weeks of Project Life.  I got a week behind last week and I knew I needed to work my butt off to catch back up.  I LOVE this project, but it somehow becomes waaaaay less fun when you're playing catch up!

 

Week 8:

This one was made with a combination of my Cocoa Daisy and Studio Calico kits.  Both kits were so colorful that I thought my spread would end up super colorful, too.  I guess my creative spirit wanted to go in a different direction ;-)

 

Week 9:

I finally made a confetti pocket for this year!  I shockingly realized that I had yet to do a confetti pocket for 2014 and decided to rectify that situation immediately.  What was I thinking?!?

 

I also had a lot of fun playing and creating this week's title card:

 

Thanks for stopping in!

 

Supplies:

 

Week 8: Page Protector: Becky Higgins (Design A); Journaling Cards: Studio Calico, Evalicious, Washi Tpae, Wood Veneers, Word Stickers: Studio Calico; Puffy Stickers: Evalicious; Alphas: October Afternoon; Labels: Heidi Swapp, Kaitlin Sheaffer; Calendar Card, Chipboard: Hello Forever for Studio Calico' Enamel Dots: My Mind's Eye

 

Week 9: Page Protector: Becky Higgins (Design F); Journaling Cards: Studio Calico, Becky Higgins; Scripted Word Stickers: Heidi Swapp; Alphas: Studio Calico, Basic Grey; Labels: Studio Calico, Heidi Swapp; Chipboard Shapes, Wood Veneers: Studio Calico, Enamel Dots: My Mind's Eye; Puffy Hearts: Studio Calico, Lily Bee Designs; Washi Tape: Studio Calico, American Crafts, Tim Holts, Mt;Staples: Tim Holtz

PL: Cocoa Daisy vs. Studio Calico February Kits

Good morning, everyone!  If you are in the U.S., I hope you enjoyed your long holiday weekend!  I wanted to pop in and quickly share 2 weeks worth of PL.  One week was made using the February Cocoa Daisy kit, Color Swatch, and one was made using the February Studio Calico kit, Sugar Rush. 

 

First up is Week 7 of 2014, using the Cocoa Daisy kit:

I focused on the "love" aspect of this kit, since it was Valentine's week.  I love all the bright fuchsia that this kit is rocking.

 

Then, it's Week 49 of 2013, using the Studio Calico kit:

Even though this week was in December, the SC kit still worked with the subject matter.  This was the first week back home from my 7 month work-cation and we celebrated my birthday, so there were lots of happy, bright memories to include.

 

I loved both kits this month.  I think I loved Cocoa Daisy's just a little bit more because I thought the colors and Evalicious assorted tags were so much fun.  But I also really loved the chipboard shapes and some of the unique journaling cards in the Studio Calico kit.  Really, it was a win for both kits this month.  For week 8, I think I'm going to mix the contents and use them together to create a spread...it has the potential to be my most colorful spread yet!

 

Week 7: Page Protectors: Becky Higgins (Design G and Design A); Journaling Cards: Evalicious, Studio Calico, Cocoa Daisy; Alphas: Studio Calico, October Afternoon; Tags: Evalicious; Patterned Paper: Cocoa Daisy; Camera Clip: Prima; Staples: Tim Holtz

 

Week 49: Page Protector: Becky Higgins (Design F); Staples: Tim Holtz; All Other Products: Studio Calico

PL 2014 || Weeks 1, 3 & 4

Good morning!  I am freezing my butt off in this little part of the world!  Hopefully, it's a bit more comfortable where you are...

 

I have a few weeks worth of Project Life to share with you today.  This weekend I had a mini-PL marathon.  I caught up on all my DVR shows while catching up on 2014.  I still have weeks to do in 2013 and I didn't want to get behind in 2014 already.  Anywho, here they are:

Week 1:

I love the "Hello 2014" card.  It actually came in my January Birchbox.  (Don't know what Birchbox is?  Click on the link.  It may just change your life!  :o) ) I loved the colors and knew that I wanted to cut it down to use in my PL spread.

 

Week 3:

This was my Studio Calico kit only spread.  I really like this kit.  There were a ton of great embellishments included in it.  Unfortunately, I'm not the biggest fan of the project I actually created.  Oh well.  You can't like them all.  On the plus side, I think the new style of Becky Higgins page protectors are really fun!

 

Week 4:

This was my Cocoa Daisy kit only spread for the month.  The colors are not colors that I typically gravitate towards, but I think they ended up looking okay...

 

Thanks for stopping by!!

 

Supplies:

 

Week 1: Page Protector: Becky Higgins (Design F); Alphas: Basic Grey, Pink Paislee; Journaling Cards: Becky Higgins, Studio Calico, Birchbox; Labels: Simple Stories, Heidi Swapp, Hello Forever; Wood Veneers: Studio Calico; Puffy Sticker: Skipping 5; Staples: Tim Holtz

 

Week 3: Page Protector: Becky Higgins (Design K); Patterned Paper: Studio Calico, October Afternoon; Labels, Wood Veneers, Tag, Star Clips, Rub-Ons, Journaling Card, Stickers: Studio Calico; Enamel Dots: Queen & Company; Puffy Stickers: Twine & Ink;Staples: Tim Holtz; Kit: Studio Calico Copper Mountain

 

Week 4: Page Protector: Becky Higgins (Design K); Cards: Cocoa Daisy, Evalicious; Alphas: October Afternoon, Basic Grey, American Crafts; Enamel Dots: Basic Grey; Patterned Paper: Cocoa Daisy, Studio Calico; Badge: Evalicious; Wood Veneer: Cocoa Daisy; Chipboard: October Afternoon; Staples: Tim Holtz; Kit: Cocoa Daisy Blueprint

PL update!

Hey, everyone!  I have a few Project Life spreads to share with you today.  The first one documents Week #2 of the year.  We were in Hawaii for the whole week.  (Sigh.  I miss it so much already and want to go back so badly!)  This spread was a lot of fun for me to make because I finally got to use a 12x12 photo.  I've wanted to do this for awhile now, but never really had a good occasion to do so.  I thought this picture would be perfect to blow up and use.

The right side of this spread was inspired by a fabulous layout created by Susan Weinroth. I even used the same paper as her because it worked so well with my photos!

 

The next spread to share is from Week 51 of 2013.  I have a few random weeks from the year that I need to finish up before I can officially close out my 2013 Project Life album.  I'm really hoping to get them all completed in the next few weeks. 

This spread was made using only the Cocoa Daisy Day in the Life kit.  My goal this year is to try to make one spread a month using the CD supplies, one spread a month using my Studio Calico supplies and the other spreads can be made using anything.  I really need to put my supplies to use this year.  And of course, I had to document my Stitch Fix experience!

 

Week 2: Page Protector: Recollections; Cardstock: Bazzill;  Patterned Paper: Crate Paper; Wooden Letters: Pink Paislee; Wooden Shapes: Studio Calico; Enamel Dots: Doodlebug Design; Badges: Studio Calico; Evalicious; Paperclips: Freckled Fawn; Script Stickers: Heidi Swapp; Clothespin: American Crafts; Calendar: Hello Forever; Star Stickers, Sunburst: Studio Calico; Alpha Stickers: October Afternoon, Pebbles

 

Week 51: Page Protector: Becky Higgins (Design F); Journaling Cards: Cocoa Daisy, Evalicious; Alphas: October Afternoon; Wood Veneers: Cocoa Daisy, Studio Calico; Puffy Stickers: Evalicious; Label Stickers: Pink Paislee