"Trouble" for NSD and Sketch 'n' Scrap

Most people reading this blog probably realize that last Saturday was (inter)National Scrapbook Day, but just in case you didn't, yeah, it is a thing!  I had kind of forgotten about it (I know, bad scrapbooker!) until I started reading my blog roll in the morning, and then shouted out to my family, "It's NSD, I am going to scrapbook ALL.  Day!"  You can imagine how well that went over.  So my ambitions were somewhat downgraded to, "Okay fine, but I want to make at least one page."  And here you have it:

I've been wanting to scrap these photos for a while, and finally I found the perfect sketch to go with them:

It's from Sketch 'N' Scrap, and as you can see, I didn't deviate much.  Papers are from Simple Stories, twine and wood veneer by Close to My Heart, glitter tape from Michael's, and a ticket stub from Tim Holtz.

A couple close ups of the journaling:

I'm quite happy with how this page turned out, and the fact that I finished it in one day!  I even had time to start another layout, but haven't touched it since.  Maybe tomorrow...

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New Counterfeit Kit for April

I know, I know, soooooo late this month! If you want to know why, read my previous post, but basically I've just been busy with traveling and family stuff.  I remain optimistic that I WILL be able to make a dent in this kit before the end of the month.

So, without further fanfare, here is the kit that the gals at Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog have chosen to copy this month:

This is the March Messy Box from A Beautiful Mess.   I'm seriously loving the brights mixed with the black and white, and I found some great things to forge, like the cards.  Here's what I came up with:

Bit of trial and error involved, but I'm pretty impressed with how they turned out.

I thought if it's a "Messy Box", I better include some messy stuff, like Dylusions and acrylic paint.  I also added some washi tape:

Some tissue paper, die cuts, and gold alphas:

And finally, some patterned paper that seemed to go along with the theme:

Back row is Amy Tangerine, middle row is all Recollections, then bottom row has two Dream Street papers, one from Simple Stories, one from KI Memories, and I'm not sure where the last one is from.

Rather a small kit, so I might be pulling other stuff from my stash as I create, we shall see.  Very excited to get messy, though!

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March Counterfeit Kit - "Sunny Skies"

Well, February was pretty much a write off as far as scrapbooking went!  With two birthday blasts, and now the flu running through the house, it's been pretty hectic, but now I'm ready to get some serious work done!  What better way to get motivated than to put together a kit?

Here's the kit the scrappy ladies at Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog have decided to copy:

Pretty, huh?  Here's mine:

I started with the papers, as usual, specifically the one in the back left.  (I apologize for the photo quality, but it's the best I could do with my dark living room!). The back row is all from Close to my Heart.  The next row down is all Simple Stories, except the last which is from Fancy Pants.  The third row has 1 Prima, 2 MME, 1 Echo Park, and one Carta Bella.  And the very front row is Amy Tan.  The last paper reminded me of the doilies in the original kit, so I chose it thinking I could fussy cut them or colour them.

Here's the rest of my kit, "Sunny Skies":

Bit of a hodgepodge, but basically I've got:

2 sheets of Echo Park Everyday Eclectic stickers and one partially cut up piece of patterned paper 

Some die cuts from MME 

Some die cut doilies, Polaroid frames, journaling cards and banners from the days when my computer was functional and I could use my Cameo

A stamp set, twine, wood veneer shapes, cork stickers, and washi tape from CTMH

Flair buttons from Studio Calico

Gelatos!  I don't have the exact colours of what was in the original kit, but close enough.

A little tin of orange buttons in lieu of sequins

Kraft tag stickers

Blue and clear gem stickers 

Two rolls of glitter tape from Michael's 

Whew, think that's it!  How about you, are you joining in this month?  You should, because I can't tell you how motivated I am to kill this kit, haha!  If you need a kick in the pants, you should give it a try, it's a fantastic stash buster!

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January Counterfeit Kit

Hey everyone, hope you had a wonderful holiday season!  Ours was both good and bad, but maybe I'll get to that later.  First off, here is the beautiful kit the Design Team at Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog chose for us to copy this month:

Wow, I really love the soft colours of this kit, so that's what I let inspire me.

And now let me introduce you to the products I've put together for my January Counterfeit Kit:

In the back row I've got some Echo Park "Everyday Eclectic", middle row is Basic Grey, Prima, Fancy Pants, and Kaisercraft, and the front row is all card stock from CTMH.

Then I have more paper!  (I seem to have gone a little overboard with the paper this month!)

Back row is MME, Carta Bella and Authentique.  Middle row is all Simple Stories.  Front row is CTMH.

I had a bit more trouble with embellishments this month.  Nothing I had in my stash really jumped out at me, so this is what I ended up with:

I've got some wood veneers that were lost for about a year and I finally found, some cork, washi, chipboard, a stamp set, tags and inks (the Distress Stain is "antiqued bronze" which is as close to gold as I had).  I also pulled together a bunch of previously die cut pieces that kind of go with a camera/captured moment theme. I reserve the right to pull various embellies from my stash as the month progresses, because I can't help but feel that this here is a rather sad assortment!

Well I think I'll leave my Christmas story for another time, as I really want to get this posted so I can play with my yummy kit!  Thanks for dropping by!

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November Counterfeit Kit

So I actually put this kit together a few days ago, but I'm just getting it posted now because my stupid computer died on me!  I'm using the Blogger app on my phone to write this, that's how dedicated I am to my blog, haha!  

Anyway, I don't know how to post a pic of the original kit on here, but you can go to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog to see it.  (Dang, I tried to add a link but I don't think this app will let me do it, sorry!). They also have a YouTube link showing the entire kit, which was very helpful to my replication process.  I ended up having two of the exact papers in my stash already, so started with those and went from there:

These were the first papers I pulled. Back row is from Fancy Pants' Burlap and Bouquets line, and the front row is from CTMH's Free To Be Me line.

Next I chose some more papers that seemed to fit with the theme of the original kit:

As you can see, I've got quite a wide variety, including some Basic Grey, Kaiser Craft, Bo Bunny, Simple Stories, and MME.  Hoping to put a dent in that crazy amount of patterned paper I have built up.

Here's my tray of embellishments and stamps:

Lots of goodies here!

And finally a little basket of printables and die cuts:

That's it for now! Hoping to get a good start on a layout today, but also need to do some laundry, get groceries, go for a workout, maybe some baking...Why oh why can't the weekends be longer?

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Counterfeit Kit for October

Well, after a whole summer of no crafting, I'm hoping to get my mojo back in order to use up some of my ever growing stash! What better way to get inspired than by joining in with the ladies from Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog?

The kit this month looks a little something like this:

And here's my take on it:

I used that piece of Simple Stories floral paper as my starting point, and just grabbed other papers, ribbon, and flowers to match.

Then, to keep the embellishment gathering process simple, I pulled out a drawer of my newest stuff. There are assorted die cuts I previously cut with my Cameo, which I figure can be inked to match whatever project they get used for.  There's also some Prima canvas shapes, buttons, feathers, and I don't even know what else.  It's like a tickle trunk!

So stay tuned to this blog for more - I already have a few layouts in the planning process.  Yay, so excited to get going again!

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Creative Blog Hop Tour!!!

Have you heard of this yet?  The "Creative Blog Hop Tour"?  Well, if you haven't, let me tell you a bit about it.  I've been tagged by my bloggy friend Alison.  I am going to answer four questions about myself, and then introduce you to one of my crafty buddies.  Next week, it will be her turn to do the same.  Like a big ol' game of tag, but without the running!

So first off, let me tell you a bit about Alison.  You can find her at her blog, Alison Day Designs.  I "met" Alison a few years ago, somehow, I don't even really know how it happened!  But after commenting back and forth on each others' crafty creations for a while, it soon became obvious that we were kindred spirits.  We are always joking about living parallel lives, because I cannot tell you how many times I visited her blog and realized that our kids were puking on the same day, or we'd used the same sketch for a scrapbook layout, or we had made a page for the same online challenge.  Pretty trippy when that happens to two gals living several hundred kilometers apart!  I was lucky enough to meet Alison in real life when I traveled to Vancouver a while back:

So fun!  Make sure to visit Alison's blog and say hi!

Seeing this hop is all about getting to know our fellow crafty bloggers, there is a series of questions I need to answer about myself:

1. What am I currently working on?  

Honestly, I haven't worked on anything in quite a while.  I seem to have lost my mojo!  I think part of it had to do with my space, or lack thereof.

This was my nook under the stairs of the house we've been in for just over a year (wow, doesn't seem like that long!)  And while it may look like a cozy little retreat, in reality, it just wasn't working for me.  Dark (even with an Ott lite), crowded, messy, with dust from the stairs falling all over my projects - ugh!  And I hated having that whole disaster area visible as soon as anyone walked in the front door.  So a couple of weeks ago, I packed up all of my stuff and moved it out of there.  Don't worry, it's still accessible - I just have to rethink my process a bit.

For the summer, though, I plan to focus on my Smashbooks.  It's so easy to just pull out some bits and pieces from my storage drawer, "smash" together a page or two, and then stick it back in the drawer.  Here's a look at some of my more recent Smashbook pages that I posted to Instagram but I don't think I've posted here:

2.  How does my work differ from others of its genre?

This is a really tough question!  I'm not sure you could look at any of my pages and say, "That's a 'Roxy' page!"  But I love taking part in online challenges, and that seems to stretch me in different directions I would never have thought possible before starting a blog.  You never really know what you're going to see from me, and so I'll say that my unpredictability is what makes me unique.

3.  Why do I write/create what I do?

My first scrapbook I made after my first trip to the Netherlands.  My relatives over there all had these albums where the photos were stuck onto pages and decorated with captions and stickers - I'd never seen anything like it!  So I bought myself an album and adhesive squares, some deckle edged scissors and markers, and set to work.  That was in 1998.  Wow, have things changed!!!  So while it started out as a desire to tell the story of my trip, eventually it turned into a hobby and a passion.  I still love that I am documenting our lives in my scrapbooks, but the act of creating something that can be considered art is so satisfying to me, and that's what has kept me doing it for so long.

4.  How does your creating process work?

This has changed over the years, too.  When I became a Creative Memories consultant in 2003, we always taught to start with the photos and matching papers, then journal, and finally embellish with stickers.  While I still often stick with this basic process, lately I've been having fun by starting with the products.  I love the challenge site "Counterfeit Kit Challenge" - they choose a kit from an online kit company, and challenge participants are to create a kit inspired from it using supplies from their own stash.  For the whole month, you can link up the projects you make with your kit, and the chicks at Counterfeit Kits will post additional challenges that you can take part in, too.  Anyhoo, by making my own kit, I force myself to start with the products first!

Here's a page I made with my last counterfeit kit:

Whew, that was tough!  Those four questions really got my mind going!  So now it's time for me to introduce one of my best scrapping and blogging buddies, Tara Cox:

Tara was the owner of my most favourite scrapbooking store in.  The.  World!!!  That's how we met, but then we got to know each other better through crops and classes, blog comments and Facebook.  Now she's closed her store, gotten married, and moved to South Carolina!  Thank goodness for all those ways we have to keep in touch!

Tara is a truly gifted artist, and even Tim Holtz has taken note!  Be sure to visit her blog to check out her amazing creations and to say hi!  

So thanks for stopping by!  This hop is a lot of fun- heads up, you may be one of the next people tagged!

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