Some scrappy randomness.

The July project kit is SOLD OUT!! And wow it went fast! Thank you to everyone that purchased a kit and if you wanted one and were not able to get one drop Tricia at Cocoa Daisy a note, if there is enough interest she might be able to re-stock it.

I did a daily prompt at Cocoa Daisy this week, all about using a mat to highlight your photo(s). Yes you heard me right a mat - remember when we used them on all our layouts!! Here is my example:


The third Monday of each month I am doing a design challenge at Cocoa Daisy. Here is my challenge/tip and layout from May:
For this months design challenge I wanted to share with you a little trick on how to draw a person's eye to the primary subject or photo on your layout. The first thing we are usually drawn to in a photograph is a person's face/eyes. Sometimes we have a great photograph were the subject's eyes just pop off the page at us, but other times we need to lead the viewer in the right direction. I have found the best way to do this is by using paper strips and embellishments that will point the viewer in the right direction. I have used a few different techniques on the example below. Most people view a layout from left to right, so I started with a bold black photo turn on the left side of my layout pointing into the page. Next your eye goes to the bright red strip of lace paper. The way the lace paper is positioned it does two things: first the width of it highlights Nate in the picture, bringing your eye down to his face and gloves, second the edge of the paper is centered right in the middle of his eye, so that edge of the paper leads you right down again to his face and eyes. The last thing I did was position the title and bee embellishment cluster to push your eye back into the photo, framing his face. I even positioned the bee's wings so that they line up with Nate's eyes.


The challenge and layout for June:
For this months Design challenge I wanted use one of my favorite layout designs: the grid!! No matter how you lay it out a grid always looks great! You can use big squares, little squares, or even circles in a grid pattern. A grid always looks clean and balanced and my favorite part about using a grid - being able to use up your scraps and have a bunch of different patterned papers on one page.



July's challenge is coming up - I hope you can join us this month!

A fun tip that I posted on the MMM blog this week:
An "a-ha" moment.
You know, one of those moments when something hits you square in the forehead and you think "why didn't I think of this sooner!". Well I had one of those moments the other day when I was trying to decide what size circle punch I wanted to use. It seems every time I go to use a circle punch I have to punch a scrap circle to see what the size will be. Not to mention how I am always measuring the circle punches to figure out what size they are.

So my solution (which is really simple) was to punch a set of circles and label them. Now when I need to find the right size circle punch I just pull out my templates and I am good to go.



Well, now I feel all caught up on my scrappy posting :) Have a great Friday everyone!

Whew! Made it just in time!

After a late couple nights I am thrilled to share the July Project kit for Cocoa Daisy!! A little history on how this kit came to be: Ever since I did this mini last July I knew I wanted to create a travel album project kit and during CHA winter I found the perfect product to include in it! Originally I was going to include photos from our 2008 trip to the Outer Banks, but then I saw this post by the incredibly talented Anna. I loved the idea of getting an album all ready before your vacation and simply adding the photos and journaling when you get home. Of course there is no rule that says you have to do it ahead of time, you can use the kit to create your mini album all at once with photos from a vacation you have already taken. It's entirely up to you :)

I did include a completed page (day 1) just to show how the album would look once it has pictures in it.







This is how the pages look without photos, I included pages for both vertical and horizontal photos.


The album comes with a pocket page which will be perfect for holding memorabilia.



Kit goes up for sale on the first and a full set of instructions is included. :) Have a great Monday!

July's Project Kit.

Introducing "Travel Ahead" July's project kit for Cocoa Daisy!! This is just a little sneak peek of what is going to be in the kit - lots of new goodies from the Making Memories and Little Yellow Bicycle travel lines. The reason I am calling this Travel "ahead" is that this mini album is something you will complete BEFORE you go on vacation, yup, you will have it all done and ready for your photos when you get back from your trip! So no excuses as to why you never got around to recording this summer's family vacation :) The papers and embellishments work great for either a road trip or a tropical vacation and the album even has a pocket page in it to hold memorabilia.

I will be digging into this tonight (I know cutting things a little close aren't I) and should have some sneaks of the finished product on Sunday :) Have a great weekend everyone!

BAD BLOGGER, BAD, BAD BLOGGER!!

Well it does seem like forever since I have updated - sorry about that! I have spent the last week preparing for and then enjoying some out of town guests! Greg's dad and his girlfriend (Pa Pa and Shirley) came up this last weekend and we had such a good time with them. Here is a little photo recap:

We spent some time outdoors after dinner playing with the boys, you can tell by looking at the sky there was a big storm rolling in. In fact we had a huge storm come through, many places around us were flooded and without electricity by morning.



Just when the rain started the boys decided that dancing in the rain was a very fun thing to do :) Looking back at this photo I now wish I had danced in the rain with them!


On Friday we did a little antique hunting (I found another printer's drawer :) it's in great condition, not sure where I am going to put it yet but I could not pass it up. Saturday was a beautiful day so we decided to head to the beach for lunch. We sat outside in the sun while we ate and I have to say that after such a long winter and cool spring it was nice to feel some "kisses" from the sun:

(Zach actually took this photo - which I thought was pretty cool)


After a walk along the pier it was decided that an ice cream break was necessary. Pa Pa tried to get Zach to share his milkshake with him but as you can guess Zach said NO!


Sunday was not only Father's day but also Greg's birthday - a big one in fact! The big 4-0!!! He met the day with enthusiasm and good humor, not a bit of fear :) Here is the birthday boy with his slice of birthday pie - yes he wanted apple pie instead of cake, very good choice if I do say so myself!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GREGGY!!


Pa Pa requested a photo of him and the boys and after a few promises of candy I was able to get this one:
(love how it turned out!)


And last but not least the obligatory "aw aren't they cute" photos of my boys:



After almost 10 days of no scrapping I am about to burst! So here is hoping that I get some time to scrap tomorrow, hope you all had a great Father's day!

June layouts for Cocoa Daisy

Here are my June creations for Cocoa Daisy. I loved how I was able to make "grungy" layouts as well as bright & graphic layouts from the same kit!! Not to mention being able to play with the mask that comes with the kit. I used Maya Mists with the mask on my layouts.













Have a great weekend everyone :)

I want to remember.

This day June 10th is not a good day. Today is the 4 year anniversary of my nephew Andrew's death. I have struggled with if I should post about this again this year. It is very hard for me to talk about and to express my feelings when it comes to my sweet nephew. But I was thinking about him today and I started looking to try and find the last photo that I had of him, and this is it.
It was Easter 2005 and he is the tall young man with his pocket full of Easter Eggs, only 16 years old. This is the very last photo that I have of him, which is why I decided I needed to post about him today. I know as scrapbookers we like to say we scrap to keep the memories recorded for our kids and future generations, but that is not really why I scrap anymore. Andrew's unfortunate death made me realize that I need to scrap for me - for right now. I want the memories of my boy's pudgy wrists when they were two, their cheesy smiles, the funny things they say and just all of it! I want to have it all there for ME to look back on and remember. You never know what life will bring and we never know how long we have with those we love, so please, don't just scrap for someday, for your kids to look back at, scrap for you to remember, for right now.

I want each of you who reads this to do two things for me today, tell your children you love them and take a photo of them RIGHT NOW!! I don't care what the lighting is like or what they are doing just go grab your camera and take a picture of them.

June 14, on-line crop class!

As part of our fun on-line crop this coming weekend (June 14, noon-4pm at Cocoa Daisy), I will be hosting a class between 1-2pm. We will be creating a simple layout using a mask and some hand stitching. The layout was created using the June Cocoa Daisy kit (but you can use whatever you wish). Additional materials you may want to have on hand: Glimmer Mist or Maya Mist, paint or ink. A paper piercer, needle and embroidery thread.
Here is a little bit of a tease, I really hope you can join me!