It's I Inspire me time! (a little late)

I am a little late posting this but here is my latest for the I Inspire Me challenge blog. The theme this time around is fashion/outfit. I was inspired by this clothing tag from Old Navy, I loved the large ON and the curve along the O, so I recreated the effect on my title (the title was done using ad design software on my Mac). I also liked how the left of the tag had the stripe. The tag also inspired me to dig out an old Pebbles Inc. plastic tag from my stash -I attached some journaling to the tag with my sewing machine and then attached the whole thing with a brad. I liked how the tag end had an "O". I also added some stitching all around the edge and buttons to go along with the theme. My favorite little tidbit on this layout is the stamped date that is part of the Cosmo Cricket patterned paper, very faintly you can read the date Aug. 4 - which just happens to be Nate's birthday! Happy Tuesday!

It's project kit time!

Happy Friday everyone! Here is my August Project Kit for Cocoa Daisy: "10 things we....." and you get to fill in the blank! What I love about this one is it is so versatile, I have included 3 die cuts for the front for you to choose from " things we did at the" "things we saw at the" and "things we did this" you just fill in the 10 and the location/time with the letter stickers and you are good to go!
For example mine says "10 things we did at the fair" but you could have it say "10 things we saw at the zoo" or "10 things we did this summer" make sense?
The colors are happy and bright just right for summer time. Some of the paper, the acrylic stamps and the chipboard accents are all from the new Chatterbox "happy days" line. My favorite are the metal 1-10 clips from 7gypsies! Kit goes for sale on August 1st! Have a great day!

Happy Birthday and a little project

Today is my little baby Zach's 3rd birthday! So in celebration I took this photo first thing this morning of the birthday boy:


And I made this special little project for the Daisy Diva blog (which we are having some problems posting to, so I am posting it here for now). I thought today was the perfect day to share it! I used the adorable card, special delivery label as well as a bunch of the other goodies from the Cocoa Daisy July kit. I cut the card open and created pages with assorted patterned paper. Once I was done with the pages I bound it all with some red string (mine is from the Martha Stewart line). I found it helpful to hold all the pages together with a couple binder clips and then use a paper piercer to put the holes through all the pages at once. Do not ask me what "pattern" I used to create the binding, I just kept playing until I got the look I wanted. But you can go check out this talented ladies blog Karla Dudley, who is the one that inspired me to try binding!
I wanted to create a little mini for those personal/emotional hospital photos we all take of our precious little newborns, now all of the photos are not really for public viewing and some are just plain too personal, so that is why you will not see all the pages, but I have shared enough to give you an idea of how to make one for yourself. I used the envelope that came with the card to hold Zach's birth announcement and our wrist bands.
I look at these photos and it feels like just yesterday I held him in my arms for that first moment, I can't believe he is three today!! Happy birthday my little sweetheart!!

Back home!

I am back and so full of ideas!
CHA was a blast-tiring, but a blast! I was a little overwhelmed at first, there was soooo much to look at, about midday Friday I got my groove going though and thankfully Tricia was there to "show me the ropes". I am so glad I was able to go this year and spend some time with Tricia, she is just as sweet and witty as can be! I feel very blessed to have her in my life!

She has some great stuff picked out for upcoming kits, can't wait for you to see them. I also found some great goodies to add to some upcoming project kits, so excited about those too!

I was amazed at how many people I ran into that I had talked with through MB's and email, and it was so wonderful to meet them face to face! One special lady that I was finally able to meet (though sadly did not have long to talk to) was Lisa Pace big hug to her, wish we could have had lunch!

One of the best parts of the weekend was the wonderful kid free meals I had, a wonderful cheese drenched sandwich (so yummy) with Tricia and Ali (who I was very happy to meet, Ali is very nice and she is such a creative soul!) and an enormous steak dinner at a place called Gibsons with Greg, they had the best apple martini I have ever tasted! I had forgotten how nice it was to have adult conversation over a relaxing meal! Luckily all the walking cancelled out all the extra calories!


OK so now about the scrap goodies, who did I love the most - probably my top three would be: Basic Grey, My Mind's Eye and October Afternoon. The Making Memories Christmas and Halloween lines were beautiful too, as well as the 7gypsies Savannah line. One product I was thrilled to see was the miniature version of her bingo cards that Jenni Bowlin did. I also saw a smaller version of the ATG gun - I am so going to get one of those! The hardest thing about going to CHA though is that you see all these great products and you can't have any of them yet!!!!

This is Crate Paper:


Luxe (how fun are these!!)


Tim Holtz (OK - I just want to buy these grungeboard sets and display them like this in my house - how cool is this!!)


My vote for the best looking booth and most creative use of their product has to go to Graphic 45! The papers, though not my normal style are sooo pretty!



I apologize for the lack of quality photos - dark and blurring ;-(
Glad to be back, hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

I'm on my way to CHA!!

This is my first year going and I am so excited! I am going to see what new goodies I can find to include in some upcoming project kits. I can't wait to see all the new product and ideas, as well as finally meet some wonderful people I have only talked to on the phone or through emails. If any of you are going I hope we bump into each other!

Needless to say I will not be posting for a couple days, but I promise to bring back pictures! The other reason I am so happy about going is this will be the first time in 6 years that I will be away from the kids, I cannot begin to say how much I am looking forward to uninterrupted meals and sleep!!!!!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Displaying your layouts

I have been trying to think of a way to display some of my layouts in our stairway and I was not having very much luck until my genius husband came up with this idea! The "clothespins" are from Pottery Barn (can you tell how much I love Pottery Barn) and they make it easy to change the display whenever I want.

August Project kit Sneak Peek!

These colors just make me think summer - so bright and happy! This kit has a lot of the new Chatterbox "happy days" in it and the hint I will give you for the theme is "10". Can't wait to share it with you all.

Creative Cafe Sneak Peek

Check out the Creative Cafe blog this weekend for some sneak peeks and fun give aways! So many great new products are coming out this summer. Make sure to stop by the blog and play along!

I Inspire Me!

The new eye candy is up at the I Inspire Me challenge blog! The theme was "kitchen" and I gathered my inspiration from this little plate I have hanging on my kitchen wall. I thought it was pretty amazing that I happened to have a rubber stamp with such a similar motif! I loved the soft cream color and shape as well. Make sure to play along with us and link up your creation at the blog.

Peek-a-boo album

I created this album using the Peek-a-boo mini album add-on from Cocoa Daisy this month. I have wanted to scrap these pictures from our 2006 Outer Banks vacation, I just did not know in what form. When I saw this mini and the great travel theme of the kit I immediately thought of these pictures! It took a little bit of planning to get the pictures just right for the peek-a-boo windows in the album, but it was worth it. I added some extra pages using the Scenic Route tab mattes and enlarged photos with patterned paper adhered to the back. I kept it pretty simple as far as embellishments, just some rub-ons, arrow photo turns and punched circles. The tag on the front is from a new shirt Greg got for his birthday -he knows he has to give them to me and NOT throw them away :-) Hope you all had a great holiday weekend! Wish us luck swim lessons start tomorrow!!

July Cocoa Daisy layouts!!

Before I tell you about my projects for Cocoa Daisy this month I wanted to say "happy anniversary" to me! This July marks my 1st year anniversary with Cocoa Daisy! I am so thrilled to be a part of their team of talented ladies and to work with Tricia and her amazing kits each month! I can't believe it has been a year already, I have had so much fun and I can't wait to see what kits she has in store this next year! I will give you a very small hint for August, there may be a little something that I worked on in each kit (we will have to wait and see).
Ok so here are my Cocoa Daisy projects, in keeping with my new love for finding inspiration, I challenged myself to find inspiration in non-scrapbook magazines and catalogs for each layout I did this month. I was able to do it for four layouts (one of the layouts will be posted on the new Cocoa Daisy DT blog later this month).

This picture from a Pottery Barn catalog inspired my "together" layout. The layers of hats looked like circles to me, and of course they made me think of this picture of Zach playing with my hat.



I loved the strong vertical lines of this bookmark from a Real Simple magazine, I stacked my elements; photo - title-journaling the same way it was done on the bookmark. I liked the circles they used on the bookmark too, I just made mine larger and used them to break up the vertical line and create a path for your eye to follow.



The artwork hanging over the bed on this page from a Pottery Barn catalog inspired me to do the same with a strip of patterned paper on this layout.



This one just "popped in my head" no inspiration needed :-) I love the little Basic Grey glazed brad - I think it looks just like a rock.



Seeing as Ali is our guest designer this month I created this layout which was inspired by a layout she did in the latest issue of Creating Keepsakes.


And finally a couple cards. I also created a mini album using the Peek-a-boo add-on album, but I will post that later this week, it's getting late! Have a wonderful Thursday!