Shipping Tag Fun || Pretty Little Studio

Good morning, everyone!  Happy day after Thanksgiving if you celebrated yesterday!  Now we have to decide if we want to brave the craziness of the outdoors to run any errands this weekend.  Black Friday always scares me :)

I'm up on the Pretty Little Studio blog today sharing a layout that features tons of shipping tags.  I love all the PLS shipping tags - they come in such pretty colors and fun patterns!

For this layout I scraplifted one of my fave layouts this year.  I really like the end result:

Thanks for popping in today!  Good luck if you decide to brave the madness of Black Friday!

Cardstock: Bazzill; Mist: Heidi Swapp; Everything Else: Pretty Little Studio

Bella Blvd + Kerri Bradford Studio Team Up

Hi, everyone!  Last week some members of the Bella Blvd team had the wonderful opportunity to team up with the team of Kerri Bradford Studio to bring a week's worth of awesome inspiration.  I was lucky enough to be one of those team members.  Kerri gave us a ton of great cut files to work with and I ended up creating some of my favorite Bella layouts to date:

I’ve been really trying to play catch up with my wedding album recently (it’s only been 3 ½ years since we got married!) and when I saw the “restroom people fancy” cut file in Kerri’s About Town collection, I knew I just had to use it.  I played off our wedding colors – pink and orange – and pulled in a lot of different collections and embellishments to create my layout.  I also used the “laughter” cut file from Kerri’s Giving Thanks collection to add a bit more interest and fun!

Since November 11^th was Veteran’s Day in the U.S., I figured it was the perfect time to scrap this picture of my Grandmother.  She was a Marine during WWII and worked on planes back in the States so they were in good shape for the men overseas.  I’m so proud of her.  She was a remarkable woman who passed away just under a year ago at 100 years old.  She’s definitely my hero!  For this page I used Kerri’s USA collection and the postage stamp frame from the Life Additions 2 collection.  I cut out the frame in all different sizes and filled them in with patterned paper and topped with a variety of embellishments.

Thanks for popping in!

Layout 1: Cardstock: Bazzill; Mist: Heidi Swapp; Staple: Tim Holtz; Everything Else: Bella Blvd

Layout 2: Cardstock: Bazzill; Everything Else: Bella Blvd

Painted Background || Clique Kits

Good morning, everyone!  I was up on the Clique Kits blog last week with my last layout made from the November kit.  My layout focused on using acrylic paint to create your background.

I started by putting some acrylic paint in an orange solo cup (no red for me - haha) and then adding in water.  The watered-down paint goes on really well and once it's dry, your paper isn't very wrinkled at all.  I also added in some grey paint splatters and gold mist splatters for fun.

Once the background was dry I sprinkled around some embellishments and stickers.  When I was done, I realized my background sort of looked like Texas - completely unintentional :)  Here is the finished layout:

Thanks for stopping in!  Remember, if you want to purchase any items from the Clique Kits store, use code KAT10 to save 10% off your purchase!

Cardstock: Bazzill; Stickers: We R Memory Keepers; Die Cuts: We R Memory Keepers, Pink Paislee, Mist: Heidi Swapp

Christmas Card...Already! || Pretty Little Studio

Hi, everyone!  I'm so excited today because the highs are in the 70s - it's finally starting to feel like Fall around here.  I even saw some people running with a toboggan on - I don't think it's quite that cool, but I think everyone is excited about it!

With cool weather comes the holiday spirit - I always love Christmas time.  However, I don't typically start thinking about Christmas until after Thanksgiving.  But, this year, I have Pretty Little Studio's Merry & Bright collection to play with - and I just can't wait to use it.

I whipped up this quick card to share on the blog earlier this week:

How do you feel about Christmas?  Ready for it or need a bit more time?

Cardstock: American Crafts; Everything Else: Pretty Little Studio

Fall Walks || The Studio

Hey, everyone!  There was a new challenge up at The Studio yesterday: scrap a fall-themed layout.  I love this challenge because it's s open-ended!  I decided to scrap some Instax photos of Moose before one of his walks.  He loves his walks, especially in the cooler weather.

To "Fall it up" a bit, I used a fun fall-themed collection from Doodlebug Design - the colors scream cozy fall to me!

I also sprinkled in my favorite gold rush sequins and a gold doily from the SpiegelMom Scraps shop.  Those two items are pretty much my scrap staples!

Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned Paper, Paperclips: Doodlebug Design; Alphas: Doodlebug Design, Bella Blvd; Sequins, Doily: SpiegelMom Scraps; Mist: Heidi Swapp; Glitter Leaf: Making Memories

Clique Kits Share

Hi, everyone!  I had another layout up on the Clique Kits blog earlier this week.  My post was a "Geek Lab" post, meaning I was supposed to share a tip using tools or technology.  I went "old school" and pulled out one of my favorite tools - a Martha Stewart butterfly punch.  Sometimes we need to pay attention to our old faves!

Here's my layout:

Have you pulled out any of your older supplies recently?

Layout: Patterned Paper: We R Memory Keepers, Pink Paislee; Punch Martha Stewart; Die Cuts, Wood Veneers: Pink Paislee; Alphas: American Crafts; Sticker: We R Memory Keepers

More Circles!

I've certainly been on a bit of a circle kick recently.  Lots of circles making their way on to my layouts - but they're so much fun - and so versatile!

Today's circle-ly layout was made for Pretty Little Studio and popped up on their blog yesterday.  I'm still working my way through the photos we took when E's family came to visit us at the beach this summer.  PLS's Treasure Island collection is pretty much perfect for beach photos.  So, I pulled out some of my favorite patterns, cut out a bunch of wonky circles, layered them, and voila!  A page was born:

So simple, so easy!  That's my kind of scrappin' ;-)

Cardstock: Baziil; Mist: Heidi Swapp; Everything Else: Pretty Little Studio

Pretty Little Studio Shares

Eeeek!  Happy November!  I hope your Halloween was good and now you're in the right frame of mind to get ready for the holidays!  Where did this year go?!?!

I wanted to pop in and share two layouts that I made for Pretty Little Studio recently.

For the first layout, we were asked to use Word Art in our project.  Word Art are those fun die cut words that PLS sales.  I used the "I Love You" Word Art and focused on bringing the colors from the die cut into the rest of my layout.  I created a very linear design:

The second layout I created was for a Pinterest prompt.  Here is the photo:

Source

Here how I was inspired:

I placed my photos in a similar design as the planters in the photo.  I also really loved the white on grey, so I used white doilies on top of grey cardstock.

Thanks for stopping in.  Enjoy your Sunday!!

Layout 1: Cardstock: Bazzill; Mist: Studio Calico; Everything Else: Pretty Little Studio

Layout 2: Cardstok: American Crafts; Mist: Heidi Swapp; Staple: Tim Holtz; Everything Else: Pretty Little Studio

Playing Catch Up...

Y'all!  Life is moving so fast and I can't keep up recently.  I'm waaaaaay behind on posting projects here.  Anyone else feeling slightly overwhelmed and overworked?  Please tell me I'm not the only one!  ;-)

I have two projects to share with you today.  The first is a layout I made for Clique Kits using their November kit, Tapestry.  The kit has a lot of fun products from We R Memory Keepers and then some great add-ons from Pink Paislee.  It's definitely a yummy Autumn-inspired kit!

I was inspired by a fun image that I found on Pinterest and used it to create my layout.  Here is the image:

Here is the layout: 

My second layout was made for The Studio Challenges.  This week's challenge is a tic-tac-toe challenge.  I chose the line that contained gold, sequins and mint.  Here is my layout:

Of course, I used my gold rush sequins from SpiegelMom Scraps!!  (I acutally used them on the first layout, too!)

Make sure you head over to The Studio to see the full board.

Thanks for popping in!  Hopefully, life will slow down soon and I can do a better job of staying updated!

Layout 1: Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned Paper, Chipboard Frames: Pink Paislee; Alphas: American Crafts; Die Cuts: We R Memory Keepers; Flair: Clique Kits; Sequins: SpiegelMom Scraps

Layout 2: Cardstock: Bazzill; Alphas: American Crafts; Patterned Paper: Pretty Little Studio, Bella Blvd, Studio Calico; Vellum Hearts: Cocoa Vanilla Studio; Wood Veneer: Evalicious; Enamel Dots: My Mind's Eye

Love Knox || Bella Blvd

Hey, everyone!!  I am popping in real quickly to share a layout that I had up on the Bella Blvd blog yesterday.  I had a lot of fun making this one.  I really like circles, but I don't always know how to incorporate them into my layouts.  I like this way because it also allows me to incorporate a bunch of fun patterns, too:

I haven't really had the opportunity to play around with the Whatever Is Lovely collection, so I decided that this was the perfect time.  I pulled out all the masculine colors and had a great time!

Cardstock: Bazzill; Everything else: Bella Blvd

October Pep Rally || Clique Kits

Hey, everyone!  Happy pep rally!!  This month we are showing off the October kit from Clique Kits.  This kit was so much fun - it was full of a lot of Pinkfresh Studio goodies and CK exclusives.

Here is my project for today:

I had a great time figuring out how to use that fun paper.  And I had a really cute photo to work with :)  The CK exclusive cut-aparts were one of my favorite things in the kit this month.  I think they are so cute!  Lacey always does a wonderful job designing!

Here is the full line up for today:

Clique Kits https://cliquekits.wordpress.com/
Gia http://www.giaaloha.wordpress.com/
Erica http://ericarosecreates.blogspot.com/
Leeann Pearce http://thepaintbrushgoesspottie.blogspot.com/
Maryam http://maryamperez.blogspot.com/
Aliza http://peopleofthescrapbook.blogspot.com/
Megan Blethen http://www.craftymeggy.com/
Emma Pescott http://emslifedocumented.blogspot.co.nz/
Melissa http://yesterday2day4ever.blogspot.co.nz/
Kim http://krodesigns.blogspot.com/
Leigh http://www.artfulleighcreative.com/
Renee Aslette http://www.reneeaslette.blogspot.com/
Kat http://kraftykat9.blogspot.com/ (me!)
Sandy Gonzalez craftythought.com/
Tyra Babington http://justtyra.com/
Marcia* http://www.onescrapatatime-bymumsie.blogspot.com/
Kim Allen http://kimsscrappyblog.blogspot.com/
Candace http://findingeverydayperfection.com/
Rhonda Van Ginkel http://snapwhiz.blogspot.com
Hannah http://scrapbookpagesandcupcakes.com
Evi http://lifewithevi.blogspot.com
Janet Zeppa http://janetsjoy.blogspot.com/

Melissa Goble http://mgphoto89.tumblr.com

Thanks for popping in!!  Happy hopping!!

Cardstock: American Crafts; Patterned Paper, Wood Veneers, Puffy Stickers, Alphas: Pinkfresh Studio; Sequins, Cut-aparts: Clique Kits

A Quick SpiegelMom Scraps Layout

Good morning, everyone!  I am still alive, just SUPER, SUPER busy.  Sorry if I haven't been stopping by to leave love on your blog.  I really am swamped, but hoping that things calm down within the next few weeks.  Until then, here is a SpiegelMom Scraps project to share with you...

I have totally fallen in love with the Dazzlerz medium from Shimmerz.  The texture of this paste is awesome and the metallic finish is really beautiful!  I had to make this a focus of my layout, so I took one of my favorite stencils (by Heidi Swapp) and created a band across my cardstock.  The effect looked a lot like a piece of patterned paper or a transparency.

Once the paste was dry, I added a piece of blue chevron ribbon and then I did some simple layering of my photo, patterned paper, a glassine bag, a shipping tag and a lace doily.  I wanted to pull in a lot of different textures to give the layout some more interest.  You may recognize the cutie in the layout as one of Jody’s daughters.  I left the tag blank so Jody can go in and add her own journaling later.

I finished the layout off with a sprinkling of embellishments, including the Studio Calico Wood Veneer stars and the Sunny Day sequins. 

This layout came together really quickly and was so much fun to make.  Thanks for stopping by today and don’t forget to use code KAT15 at check out to save 15% on your entire purchase!

Cardstock: Bazzill; Textured Past: Dazzlerz; Patterned Paper: American Crafts, Chickaniddy Crafts; Ribbon: May Arts; Die Cut, Mists: Heidi Swapp; Wood Veneer Stars, Vellum Hearts: Studio Calico; Sequins, Doily, Tag: SpiegelMom Scraps; Staples: Tim Holtz

Sketch Challenge || The Studio

Good morning, everyone!  There is a new sketch challenge up at The Studio today!  I had a fairly easy time working with the sketch because it was based off of one of my previous layouts for The Studio.  The design is one of my go-to designs when I'm feeling stuck, so this layout came together really quickly.  Here is the sketch:

Here is my take on it:

I managed to squeeze in a lot of goodies from the SpiegelMom Scraps Shop on this layout:

-3/4" green chevron ribbon

-Normandy Lace Doily

-Medium Shipping Tag

-Large Shipping Tag

-Sunny Days Sequins

-Bermuda Triangle Sequin Mix (I used the pretty little blue ones from this mix)

If you see anything in the shop that you like, use code KAT15 to get 15% off your entire purchase- and I hope you can play along with The Studio this month!!

Happy Sunday!

Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned Paper, Border, Label Sticker, Chipboard Sticker, Alphas: Pink Paislee; "Sun, Fun & Laughter" Die Cut: Chic Tags; Paper Bag: Webster's Pages; Tags, Doily, Sequins: SpiegelMom Scraps Shop; Ribbon: May Arts

October Challenge || Clique Kits

Hey, everyone!!  The October challenge at Clique Kits went up last weekend!  Same rules as always: make anything!  You don't have to use a Clique Kit and you can enter up to three times in a month. How awesome is that?!?!

For my challenge layout this month I used October's kit, Funfetti (isn't that the best name?!?!).  It is chock full of Pinkfresh Studio goodness.  I decided to make this layout of my nephew:

It was actually baby's first scrapbook page, as I made this layout just a few days after he was born.  I love my nieces and nephew!!

As always, thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you can play along with us this month!!

Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned Paper, Alphas, Puffy Stickers, Wood Veneers: Pinkfresh Studio; Mist: Studio Calico; Doily: SpiegelMom Scraps; Sequins: Clique Kits

Project Read || August + September

Hey, everyone!  It's been awhile since I've done a Project Read post!  I'm a tad bit behind, but I think I'll catch up by the end of the year. Here's what I read in August and September:

You by Caroline Kepnes – Okay…this book was creepy.  And graphic.  And creepy some more.  But I could not put it down!  And I feel guilty admitting that I liked it.  This is the story of Joe, who meets Beck when she comes in to his bookstore.  He is immediately attracted to her…and then he begins stalking her.  Joe is a full-on stalker.  He watches Beck through windows, he reads all her emails and he figures out how to deal with people who get in the way of their “relationship.”  It’s fascinating to read the story from his point-of-view and the book is written in second person, which is definitely an interesting literary device.  None of the characters are likeable, but somehow Kepnes makes it work.  This story reminds me a lot of Dexter in the sense that the main character is a BAD guy and even though you are repulsed by what he’s doing, you can’t stop reading and in a weird, weird way you almost (almost!) want him to succeed.  There is a sequel to this book scheduled to come out in February of 2016 and you can pretty much guarantee that I’ll be reading it!

Ten Girls to Watch by Charity Shumway – I love, love, LOVED this book.  It is a chit lit book for sure, but it manages to be different.  This book tells the story of Dawn, a young woman still desperately struggling to find a real writing job after she’s been a college graduate for over a year and a half.  In a lucky turn of events she gets a temporary job working for Charm magazine where she is responsible for re-connecting with all the past winners of the magazine’s annual “Ten Girls to Watch” column.  The women are inspirational and Dawn learns a lot from each conversation she has.  There is a love story in here, too, and lots of other miscellaneous personal drama.  However, it’s not a typical love story and not a typical chick lit story, and without giving anything away, I LOVE how the love story part of the book ended.  It was refreshing!  I’ve tried to find other books by Shumway, but I believe this is her only book so far.  I’ve followed her on GoodReads, though, to ensure that I don’t miss her next book whenever it comes out.

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter – I saw this book highly recommended on one of the blogs I follow.  The reviewer talked about how amazing the book was and how it was one of her favorites of the year.  I don’t feel the same.  It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t blow me away.  I thought it was an average book and there were times when I felt like the story was dragging on and I just wanted it to be over.  This story follows the lives of a whole cast of characters, including a famous movie star whose name we’ll all recognize.  The story takes place across multiple generations (from WWII to present day) and in all different places (from Italy to Hollywood) on the globe and it is fun to see how all the characters’ lives overlap.  This is not a fun-loving chick lit book; it is certainly emotional in places.  If you can get into the story better than I did (and by looking at the reviews, plenty of people did), this should be a fairly quick read.  I know I didn’t give a great synopsis of the book, but it’s a bit hard to explain…the link should tell you more (I didn’t want to plagiarize Amazon!)

Enchanted, Inc. by Shanna Swendson – If you are looking for just a fun book, this is it!  This is the first book in a whole series and introduces us to Katie Chandler, a completely non-magical person.  In the world, most everyone has a little bit of magic in them, which in turn makes most people susceptible to magic.  They often don’t notice the fairies and ogres walking around amongst them or recognize when someone is using magic to their advantage.  But since Katie is completely non-magical, she sees everything and can’t be touched by magic.  This makes her very valuable to Magic, Spells and Illusions, Inc., a magic company who produces and sales spells to magical beings.  When an evil wizard threatens MSI and the values it stands for, Katie’s skills become even more valuable.  The book also includes the typical romance, but it’s all just so cute and fun, that I have to highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a light read and a little magic.

As always, if you have any recommendations for me, please let me know!!

World Cardmaking Day Blog Hop || SpiegelMom Scraps

Good morning, everyone!!  Happy World Cardmaking Day!  I am not a big cardmaker, but I do have fun making cards from time to time.  This morning the SpiegelMom Scraps team is doing a fun little blog hop to get you inspired for the day.

Here is my card:

I finally got to play with the Dazzlerz by Shimmerz that Jody has in the shop - and I'm in love.  The paste has such a pretty metallic finish once it's dry.  For my background I used two colors: Sour Apple Green and Lemon Drop Yellow.  I also typed my sentiment multiple times on a shipping tag and backed it with a gold doily.  For my finishing touch, I sprinkled some gold rush sequins about.

It's a very simple card, but I kind of like it!  If you see anything in the SpiegelMom Scraps Shop that you want to buy, use code KAT15 to get 15% off your entire purchase!

Here is the order of the rest of the hop:

Jody

Louise

Charity

Kat (me!)

Happy hopping!!!

Cardstock: Journaling Card, Patterned Paper: American Crafts; Modeling Paste: Shimmerz; Tag, Doily, Sequins: SpiegelMom Scraps

Meet the New Team || Clique Kits

Good morning, everyone!  Welcome to the Clique Kits "Meet the New Team" blog hop!  You should have arrived here from Melissa's blog.  But if you're starting here, I have the whole hop list posted below.

I was so, so, SO excited when I was asked to return to the CK team this year.  I love this team and the whole CK community.  Plus - the kits are so fun.  I love that they pull from the current most popular collections and add in unique embellishments.  Plus the CK exclusives designed by Lacey are always AWESOME!

For this hop we were asked to create a layout about ourselves and then give you a bit of info.  Here's my layout:

That black & white Pinkfresh paper is one of my faves from this month's kit and it was just screaming to be colored.  I grabbed some of my favorite gelatos and went to town!

A bit about me: My husband, Eric, and I just relocated to FL for his job.  We love it so far!  Before we moved here we lived on the beaches of NC, which was also quite awesome.  We don;t have any kids, but we have two nieces and a brand new nephew that we love to spoil.  We also just adopted a new dog, who we named Moose:

Life is good!  As for my scrap style, I usually keeps things simple, use white card stock and sprinkle some mist around - nothing too special :o)

Here is the whole hop list for today:

Elisabetta Margini-http://abcdeliblog.blogspot.com/

Carolina Schultz-http://www.carolinaschulz.com/

Donna Espiritu-http://scrappydonna.blogspot.com/

Justyna Skowron-http://made-by-justt.blogspot.com/

Melissa Vining-http://yesterday2day4ever.blogspot.co.nz

Kat Benjamin-http://kraftykat9.blogspot.com  (me!)

Marcia Dehn-Nix-http://www.onescrapatatime-bymumsie.blogspot.com/

Candace Perkins- http://findingeverydayperfection.com/

Kim Oedekoven-http://krodesigns.Blogspot.com/

Leigh Ann Odynski-http://www.artfulleighcreative.com/

Sandy Gonzalez-http://www.craftythought.com

Amanda O'Banion-http://amandaobanion.typepad.com/

Aliza Deutsch-http://peopleofthescrapbook.blogspot.com/

Maryam Perez-http://maryamperez.blogspot.com/

LeeAnn Pearce-http://thepaintbrushgoesspottie.blogspot.com/

Sandra Spitaleri-http://www.starsinpalm.blogspot.com

Thanks for stopping in - happy hopping!!

Pinterest Inspired || Bella Blvd

Hey, everyone!  I am stopping in to share a layout that I made for Bella Blvd recently.  It was for a Pinterest inspired prompt.  Here is the fun image we had to work with:

Here is my take on it:

I was inspired by the rainbow color pattern and all the circles in the Pinterest image. I decided to create my own rainbow pattern from punched out circles. Even though this layout took me a while (like, FOREVER!) to make, it was quite a cathartic process! I think the end result is really fun and highlights the fun times my nieces are having in the photos.

Cardstock: Bazzill; Mist: Studio Calico; Everything Else: Bella Blvd

A Few Shares

Good morning, everyone!  I am falling behind on updating my blog a bit, so I'm going to share two recent layouts today.  

The first is a layout I created for Pretty Little Studio.  I wanted to focus on mixing collections for this layout, so I mixed a lot of the You & Me, Treasure Island and Let's Go collections.

Look at that cutie - his name is Knox.  He's my new nephew, born on September 2nd.  He's pretty adorable.

The second layout was made for today's challenge at The Studio.  We were asked to scraplift another design team member.  I chose to lift this layout by Jinny:

I love her fun design.  Here is my take:

I like Jinny's better.  The original is almost always best :)  I think I should have stuck with my signature white background for this one, but I wanted to branch out a bit.  I did use a lot of fun SpiegelMom Scraps products in this layout, which is fitting, since the cuties in the picture belong to Jody :)  The pink felt hearts, wood veneer stars and the Silver Sunrise sequin mix all came from her shop.

Thanks for popping in today!

Layout 1: Cardstock: Recollections; Staples: Tim Holtz; Everything Else: Pretty Little Studio

Layout 2: Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye, Cocoa Daisy, Chickaniddy Crafts, American Crafts; Journaling Card: Becky Higgins; Twine: My Mind's Eye; Glitter Stickers: Freckled Fawn; Words, Transparent Hearts: Heidi Swapp; Wood Veneers: Studio Calico; Sequins, Felt Hearts: SpiegelMom Scraps

Hello Autumn! || Bella Blvd

Happy Saturday, friends!  I have been SLAMMED with work and this weekend I am SLAMMED with scrap assignments....at least I like my weekend work ;o)

I wanted to share a layout that I made for the Bella Blvd blog.  It was made for their "Flashback Friday" feature.  We were asked to use one of the older Bella lines to create a project.  Since it is officially Fall where I am, I thought the Hello Autumn collection would be perfect.  Plus, i'm hoping this project encourages cooler weather to come my way - I am ready to wear my boots!

Can you believe it?  A not white background!  I'm so proud of myself :o)

I also just had to sprinkle in some gold rush sequins from SpiegelMom Scraps.  They're my fave!

Have a fabulous day!

Sequins: SpiegelMom Scraps; Everything Else: Bella Blvd