I bet you thought...

...that I forgot about my December Daily, didn't you? Well, if you thought that...you'd be absolutely right. Oops. ;o) Here is another installment of December Daily 2011:

Day 18:
This was at a Disney "character breakfast." The waiters and waitresses made fun "napkin hats" for everyone to wear.

Day 19:

We took family portraits along the cruise ship's stairs...I love the results.

Day 20:

This is my favorite page so far! On this day, E's sister, Laura, got engaged on the beaches of St Maarten in the U.S. Virgin Islands. It was so beautiful and her fiance was nice enough to let us hang around and take pictures of the whole thing. I think these pictures of the event are awesome!

I hope your 2012 is going well so far...it's back to work for me tomorrow (blah), but I have high hopes for this year. I'll be getting married and probably moving to a new state. Do you have any exciting 2012 plans?

Top 10 in 2011

Hi, all! I LOVE when other people do these posts, and I love posting my own, because it forces me to look back at my work throughout the past year. This year was fun to look back on because I think my style evolved a bit. And all my favorites are super colorful...So, here are my top 10 favorite layouts, in order by when they were made: (P.S.- This was a pre-scheduled post and sometimes Blogger isn't very nice to me. If my pictures end up with a million annoying spaces between them I'm sorry!)

Combo of Green, Pink, Blue and Green Horned Unicorn products:
Loved Sassafras' Paper Crush collection:

Loved those Glitz rub ons:

This is around the time when every single layout I made contained about a billion butterflies:

I made this for my guest design stint at Creative Scrappers:

I loved Studio Calico's Metropolitan kit more than any other. This was the first SC kit I ever bought and it is still my fave:

Such a weird combo of colors here, but I was pushed into it with one of Crate Paper's color challenges:

On this one, I was trying to clear out some of my brad stash...I think it worked:

One of the first layouts that really illustrates my new style:

This was made from another Studio Calico kit, Field Guide. Love the colors, the fun picture, everything...I think this is my favortie layout from the entire year:

And there we go...my top 10. E was sitting by me while I was prepping this post and he picked out 2 of his favorites, neither of which ever entered on my radar. It's funny what people consider to be good and how we evaluate our own work. Here are his 2 faves:

A layout of us being ridiculous...he likes how colorful it is, and how funny the picture is:

This one features pictures from Catalina Island. And includes Merv, the seagull. E loved Merv, therefore E loves this layout:

Thanks so much for hanging in here until the end. I hope that you have a happy New Year. I'll see you in 2012!

DD days 15 - 17

Hey, everyone! I'm back to share a few more of my December Daily pages:

Day 15:
This is my Pinterest board that is full of fun gift wrapping ideas. All the packages looked so pretty...too bad I didn't use any of the ideas this year. Maybe next year?

Day 16:

This day I left to fly to Orlando to meet E and his parents for a 7-day cruise. I look frantic in the picture, because, well...I was :o)

Day 17:

This is the day we boarded our cruise..fun times ahead!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a nice day!

I'm baaaack..with more December Daily-ness

Hey, everyone! I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas...and are looking forward to a happy New Year. I've been trucking along on my December Daily since returning from a nice vacation with family. But instead of bombarding you with a GIANT post, I figured I would just share a few pages at a time...if you're like me, you are so behind on blogs at this point, that you can really only afford to spend about 30 seonds at each page :o)

Day 12:
These are E's and my Christmas lists. Thank goodness for Pinterest. I made my list on that site and he was able to quickly click on the picture and get to exactly what I wanted!

Day 13:

Ha! I know these pictures look somewhat ridiculous. I ordered Eric one of those really nice memory foam pillows, and for some crazy reason, it shipped in the world's biggest box. I really had to ham it up and capture it on film. :o)

Day 14:

I decided that one ugly faux tree was just not enough, so I added a second "birthday" tree for Eric. His birthday is in January, but I do birthday/Christmas shopping simultaneously. I'm still playing around with the idea of decorating it.

Thanks for stopping by! I will be back again soon with more DD updates {I'm sure you are just riveted to see my progress... ;o)}.

Him.

Hey, everyone! I'm just popping by super quickly to share a new layout that I made for the current challenge over at The Creative Type. The prompt this month: scrap your greatest gift. My greatest gift is my fiance (or ex-boyfriend, as I lovingly call him). We recently got engaged...and I feel truly lucky and blessed that he chose me to spend the rest of his life with. I'm a lucky, lucky gal.
Enjoy the holidays...I'm taking a bit of a bloggy break to enjoy the season and spend time with family and friends...when I come back, you'll get to see all my December Daily goodness :)

Layout:Patterned paper: Studio Calico; Paint: Apple Barrel; Alphas: American Crafts; Tape: MT Deco; Ribbon: Green Horned Unicorn; Diecuts: Basic Grey; Jillibean Soup

All Caught Up!

***Warning: VERY photo heavy post***

Well, I am all caught up now! And it didn't even take that long...

Day 6:
I bought some gifts to wrap, box up and mail to my parents and my grandmother.

Day 7:

I made this wreath 2 years ago, for my first Christmas in Cali. I still like it, but I probably need to stop being lazy and make a new one next year :o)

Day 8:

The left side shows the stack of Christmas cards that I wrote to be mailed out. The right side is my actual Christmas card this year. I love the sequins and glitter floating around inside the tree!

Day 9:

It wouldn't be December without a Peppermint Chocolcate Chip milkshake from Chick-Fil-A! Granted, there are an INSANE number of calories in one of these delicious yummies, but as a Friday treat, I think it's okay...

Day 10:

This is our Christmas tree this year. It may look a little sad in this picture, but it doesn't look so sad in real life. E isn't here to help me put up the big one, and I didn't think I would be able to do it by myself, so I just decorated the faux tree that sits in the corner of the living room.

Day 11:

Today the stockings are up and ready to be filled. I ♥ Christmas stockings. It's one of my favorite traditions...not so much getting my own, but I love buying little goodies to put in everyone else's!

If you made it to the end of this post, bravo! You hung in here longer than I would have :o)

A Very Punky Christmas...

Here I am, just popping in super quick to share my layout for the current Punky Scraps challenge. It is a Christmas-inspired challenge, but you certainly don't have to make a holiday layout if you don't want to. The sketch provided is pretty awesome, too.
I kept this layout super simple and I'm pretty happy with it. I hope you can play along with us this month!

Layout: Patterned Paper: Crate Paper; Doilies: Martha Stewart; Wooden Shapes: Studio Calico; Bling: Paper Source, Prima; Alphas: Cosmo Cricket, Basic Grey; Paint: Apple Barrell

More DD pages...

Helo, hello! I have 2 more December Daily pages to share with you. I am a bit behind right now, but I'll be able to catch up this weekend....especially if it stays as cold as it is here.

Day 4:
Here we are making sad faces because we are leaving Vegas. Unfortunately, this is the only picture I had from this day...and I look like a little boy. Oh well... But E makes an incredibly cute puppy dog face, does he not? In addition to the picture, I also put our hotel room keys in the little pocket.

Day 5:

So, I said it was cold here. This was a screenshot taken at about 945 in the morning. I do not think that it came even close to the 66 degree high that it predicted. And I know that 42 degrees is not cold at all compared to some places, but for Southern California, that is super chilly :-)

As always, thanks for dropping by...Enjoy the remainder of the week.

December Daily Update

Hi, everyone! Sorry I've been MIA recently. I've been doing A LOT of traveling, but I am back now {at least for the next few weeks... :o)}. I will be stopping by blogs soon to catch up on everything that I've missed!

I did want to pop in to quickly share the work that I have done on my December Daily so far. Last year I created my foundation pages ahead of time. This year, I am trying a different strategy and am creating them as I go. I did a few things ahead of time, such as the number tags and gathering on my supplies, but I think this way may produce a product that I am slightly more happy with.

Day 1:
We were in Vegas this day, so I included a picture of us during the day and at night. I also included part of the ticket from the show we went to see that night.

Day 2:

Another day spent in Vegas. We did a lot of fun things that day, so I included a lot of pictures on this page.

Day 3:

Yesterday was our last full day in Vegas. I included a series of silly photos we took that had the Vegas Strip as our backdrop. I also included the ticket from a Cirque de Soleil show we saw last night.

I totally love this project and am glad that I am doing it again this year. Do you have a December Daily? Share a link...I'd love to see!

From my family to yours...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

(and thus the madness of the Christmas season begins...bring it on...I can't wait!)

Another Recipe Challenge Brought to you by Punky Scraps...

Hey, everyone! There is another challenge posted on the Punky Scraps blog this week...and it's a recipe challenge. We had to use at least 3 of the items from the list (masking, no patterned paper , lots of stars, at least 3 staples, washi tape, book paper, cardboard and a bottle cap). I found away to work in every single item, but I'm not a huge fan of the final product: Head on over to Punky Scraps to see the rest of the team's work...and of course, to play along! :o)

Layout: Cardstock: Recollections; Mist: Tattered Angels; Alphas: Jillibean Soup; Tape: Tim Holtz; K & Company; Wooden stars: Studio Calico

The Creative Type - November

Hi, everyone! Team B's layouts are up on The Creative Type. This month's prompt: the best advice you've ever received. I used one of my favorite quotes, "Never frown, even when you're sad, because you never know who is falling in love with your smile."
I also used another one of Toni's awesome blooms! This one came from her "Autumn Splendor" kit and really matched everything so well.

Thanks for stopping in...Bounce on over to The Creative Type to see the rest of the takes on this month's prompt!

Layout: Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye; Alphas: American Crafts, October Afternoon, Glitz, Sassafras, Jenni Bowlin Studios, Cosmo Cricket; My Mind's Eye;Bling: Recollections; Felt flower: Green Horned Unicorn; Washi Tape: American Crafts

It's December Daily Time!

Yay! Last year was my first year doing the December Daily project. At the time, I wasn't sure if it would be a good project for me or not. I don't have kids and I didn't feel like there were a whole lot of happenings that I could put into this project. However, I was wrong. I love my December Daily from last year, so of course, I had to participate again this year. And since I had a long weekend, I figured there was no better time to start. So tonight, I will share my cover with you. It kinda fits in to that messy style I've been digging so much lately:
Are you doing a December Daily this year? If so, I'd love to see your progress...just share the link here! :-)

Patterned Paper, Wooden shapes: Studio Calico; Alphas, Red tag: American Crafts; Brad/Tag: Echo Park; Rub Ons: 7Gypsies; Paint: Apple Barrel

Punky Scraps Challenge...and Happy Veteran's Day.

Hello, all! It's Friday...which means there is a new challenge posted at Punky Scraps. This week it's a sketch challenge. I had a rather hard time sticking to the sketch this week, but sometimes it just goes that way! Here is my layout:
Head on over to Punky Scraps to see the awesome layouts that the other wonderful ladies of Team A created.
And on another note, Happy Veteran's Day! Today is a day to honor the many men and women who have fought for our country and the freedoms we hold so dear. I am lucky enough to be surrounded by veterans...my Mom, my Dad, my Grandmother, and of course, Eric. Needless to say, I always feel safe :-) I hope you enjoy the day, but also take a few moments to remember what it's all about.
Thanks for stopping by...enjoy the weekend!!
Layout: Patterned Paper: Studio Calico, My Mind's Eye; Alphas: Authentique; Brads: Making Memories; American Crafts; Twine: We R Memory Keepers; Paint: Apple Barrel; Tape: Basic Grey; Punch: Martha Stewart

ScrapStreet/GingerScrapStreet Publications

Hey, everyone! I just wanted to share the layouts that I had published in the Fall issue of ScrapStreet Magazine:

Article and supply list found here.

Article and supply list found here.

I also had 2 publications in the October issue of GingerScrapStreet Magazine:

Article and supply list found here.

Article and supply list found here.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a nice week!

New Punky Scraps Challenge

Hey, everyone! Sorry I've been a bit MIA recently. On top of being sick, my internet went out for a few days, but I'm back now :-)

I wanted to share a quick layout that I made for the newest challenge at Punky Scraps. We were supposed to use a quote as one of our inspiration pieces...and since I'm not very good/not very comfortable with scrapping deep/dark emotions, I kept it light and fun: Notice my bloom from Toni's shop? I cannot get enough of those wonderful embellishments. I used one of her blooms and then topped it with one of her yummy buttons.

Layout: Patterned Paper: Studio Calico, My Mind's Eye; Alphas: October Afternoon, American Crafts, Making Memories; Sticker: My Mind's Eye; Bling: Recollections; Paper Tape: Cavallini & Co; Felt embellishment, Button: Green Horned Unicorn

Halloween Time!

Thought I'd share a quick Halloween layout. Last year, Eric and 3 of his friends dressed up like the Avengers. This is just a picture of Captain America and Thor. Gotta love Thor's flowing locks... ;0)
Have a happy and safe Halloween! You can send any extra candy my way! :-)

Layout: Patterned Paper: Recollections; Journaling spot, Bakers Twine: Jillibean Soup; Alphas: October Afternoon, Basic Grey, Little Yellow Bicycle; Brads: Queen & Co, Making Memories; Tape: K & Co; Ribbon: Green Horned Unicorn; Border strip: Bazzill; Paint: Apple Barrel

5 Steps to an Easy Halloween Card

Hey, all! I have a quick, little tutorial posted over on The Creative Type blog. It contains the 5 easy steps to creating this card:

Don't laugh at my sweet photo collage that's posted over there...technology is sometimes not my friend... :0)

Card: Cardstock: Bazzill; Die Cut: Jillibean Soup; Alphas: Basic Grey; Tape: American Crafts; Brads: Queen & Company

Pop Culture

Hey, everyone! Team B's creations are up over on The Creative Type. The prompt this month was to scrap about something "pop culture-ry." I chose Pinterest. Sigh. I love Pinterest.
The super cool part? Amy Tangerine is guest designing for the next 2 months and has some cool stuff to give away. Play along with us here.

Layout: Patterned Paper: Sassafras, Crate Paper for Studio Calico, My Mind's Eye; Alphas: Studio Calico, My Mind's Eye; Twine, sticker: My Mind's Eye; Metal clips, Tape: K & Company

Layouts to share

Hello, hello! I have a few quick layouts to share with you this evening.

First, I've been wanting to do an all-white layout for awhile. I've always thought the all-white layouts looked so elegant. Here's what I came up with:
Next, I'm going to try to do an all-black layout. I think that could look pretty awesome!

My second layout was created with the November Studio Calico kit:

I know the picture of this layout isn't the best. I'm going to try to see if I can get a better picture this weekend.

Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate those of you who check in every time I update. It really does mean so much to me!

Layout 1: Patterned Paper: Crate Paper; Bling, stars: Prima; ALphas: Basic Grey; Journaling spot: Jillibean Soup; Flower: Sassafras; Wazshi tape: Tim Holts; Paint: Apple Barrel

Layout 2: Patterned Paper, brads: Basic Grey; Tag: American Crafts; Alphas: Basic Grey, Authentique; Tape: American Crafts; Trim: Webster's Pages; Butterflies: Sassafras for Studio Calico; Sticker: Jillibean Soup; Paint: Apple Barrel

Another "messy" layout

I am totally loving this "messy" style recently. I feel like I am able to use so many embellies. Plus, I can create quickly when I am messy. I just throw things down on the paper and usually end up really liking the end result...
I am so in love with the most recent Studio Calico kit. I could not wait to dive in and play when I got it. The exclusive Sassafras paper I used as my background has got to be one of my fave papers recently. I just love how bright it is...you can't help but be happy when you see it!

Thanks for popping by...enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Layout: Patterned Paper, Chipboard butterflies: Sassafras for Studio Calico; RIbbon: Webster's Pages; Alphas: Basic Grey, My Mind's Eye; Brads: Basic Grey; Journaling Spot: Studio Calico; Sticker: Jillibean Soup; Paint: Apple Barrel; Staples: Tim Holtz; Washi Tape: American Crafts

Giveaway winner!

I used Random.org to pick the winner of my giveaway...
..and the winner is Misty! Congrats! Please email me your mailing address at kraftykat9@gmail.com.

GIVEAWAY ... and random other things...

I will begin with my "random other things..."

1. There is a new challenge up at The Creative Type...the prompt this month is to scrap a current trend...hop on over to see what the ladies created...Team B's creations will be up at the end of the week.

2. My bloggy friend, Laurie, does a monthly feature on her blog in which she highlights a scrapper and interviews them...this month is me! I'm quite honored. Go check it out here.

3. I hit 100 followers today...which brings me to... A GIVEAWAY!! I have a great selection of Studio Calico items to give away, plus a few extra items from my stash (I bought 2 SC grab bags and didn't know they were identical...while very awesome, I have a TON of paper already, without having duplicates!). Just leave a comment about anything...I'll pick a random winner on Friday, 14 Oct.

Enjoy the work week.

Paper Tape and Rub Ons Galore!

Hello, all! If you are in the U.S., I hope you are enjoying an extra day off. I always love a long weekend :o)

I have a quick layout to share today. I made it tonight in a pretty quick amount of time. I just felt like getting a bit messy...
I am sooooo in love with those 7Gypsies rub ons...I am considering purchasing about 10 packs of them before they are gone for good! Also love the Cavallini & Co paper tape I bought at Paper Source a few weeks ago...They have so many fabulous products; I kinda want to buy everything in the store...

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful week!!

Layout: Patterned Paper: Studio Calico; Paint: Apple Barrel; Journaling Spots: Jillibean Soup; Metal Pieces, staples: Tim Holtz; Rub ons: 7Gypsies; Paper Tape: Cavallini & Co