Ali's Favorites-The Sept. Cocoa Daisy kit!

Here is the September kit for Cocoa Daisy, full of Ali Edwards' favorite products. Her theme for this years kit is letters and numbers. I have been playing with this kit last night and today and i am so in love!! I already have 4 layouts with sketches for 3 more and a mini album!! *Sigh* I do love all things type inspired!


Designed just for the Cocoa Daisy kit by Ali are a set of journaling cards and acrylic stamp. As with previous Ali kits, this kit is much larger than our regular monthly kits and will retail for $47.50. To ensure you get one of these great kits you can sign up for a subscription here. The price of the kit when purchased as a 3 month subscription is $45.50 and with a 6 month subscription it is $44.50. The kit will go on sale to the general public on September 3rd at 12 PDT.

300!

No not 300 Spartans, 300 posts!!
I have been thinking about what I want my 300th post to be, so I gave some thought to why I have this blog. Well the main reasons I have this blog are as a personal outlet and a way to share my passion for scrapbooking. It only makes sense then that my 300th post some how be a combination of those two things. So what have I learned traveling down this little scrappy blog road? That you need to be true to you and embrace your style! After hundreds of layouts, cards and mini albums I finally feel comfortable in my creative skin. What do I mean when I say that? Well, this little card made me realize a number of things about what I like to create, and what makes me happy.


This simple little card is one of my favorites, you know one of those things that you create and are so happy with that you can't stop looking at it. How everything about it just feels "right" and it all fits together so perfectly. What I like about this card: the pop of bright colors on the white background, the touch of black, the graphic pattern of the polka dots and the simple layers. It made me realize two things: first, those are the type of products that I like to use and that I am most comfortable using, second, that when I work with the products that I love, I create things that I love. When you find this mix you discover your own unique style, and when you embrace your style you end up loving what you create. When you combine all of this you gain a confidence that makes the whole process all the more enjoyable. There are a lot of different ways to put a scrapbook page together, but there is only one way that is your way - embrace it! I see so many beautiful layouts and am constantly amazed at the talent of others. I have tried to emulate other styles, for instance the layouts with all the beautiful layers, but no matter how hard I try it just never looks right when I do it. Simple reason is that it is just not "me".

A good example of this comes from my Mom, she is an amazing artist, not only does she paint but she quilts, sews and scrapbooks too. A while back she bought my canvas project kit, and even though she used all the same product as me, and followed my kit instructions hers looks very different from mine. She likes mine, but she loves hers -and that is because she made it reflect here style. She used the paint and stamps that came with the kit but also added some of her own.

Of course I like to flex my creative muscles and try new things, new techniques and new products. This keeps me enthused about the hobby. But there are also times when I want to just scrap and not have to come up with a new idea, that is when I find a sketch or project online, or I do a scrap lift challenge. What is fun is that once you have found your style it will come through in everything you create.

As you can tell I am completely enamored with my paper and glue and I am so thankful to have this little blog to share my ideas and to hopefully inspire others.

In celebration of my 300th post I am going to put together a little pack of some of the scrappy things that I like to create with and have a RAK drawing! All you need to do is leave a comment about something that you feel is part of your own special scrappy style. I will pick a winner on Sunday. Thanks for stopping by!

Ali's Favorites at Cocoa Daisy

Yes that's right Cocoa Daisy is teaming up with Ali Edwards again this year! The September kit is designed by Ali and full of her favorite scrap goodies. Now the big question, would you like to win one of these kits? Thought so! All you have to do is guess what you think she has included in the kit. Go here for details. I am sorry but absolutely no amount of bribery will get me to divulge what is in this very awesome kit!!!

A couple fun challenges.

This first layout was done for my monthly design challenge at Cocoa Daisy. I hope you can play along!

Here is the challenge:
Designing with type.
One of my favorite parts of designing a layout is working with the type that will go on my page. The title, the journaling even the little extra tidbits of type that get placed on a layout, all of these are what I think "make" a layout. Some things to think about when picking out type for your layout: do you want the title to be prominent or more subtle. What color will make the most impact and still fit with your theme or flow of the layout. And of course what typeface best compliments your layout. My favorite resource for typography inspiration is a book called: "The end of Print" the Grafik design of David Carson. Seriously this man is my Typography Idol!!! His manipulation of type is amazing, considering he did what he did when computers were not a household item. The book is pure eye candy, I highly recommend it!
Here are a couple examples of what is in his book:



And this is the one that inspired my layout:

I loved the narrow strip of journaling and the fact that it was flushed left and placed directly on the photograph.
I took that idea and used it on the photo of Nate. This photo had the perfect empty space for some journaling, I arranged the type so that I could include a circle embellishment. Even though it's not a lot of journaling I think the effect is still pretty cool. Another trick is to pull your title right from your journaling. I made my title bold and bright to go with the fun of the journaling. To add one last little bit to my layout I included the phrase "a conversation" with an arrow to help draw your eye into the photo and to the journaling.



All month long at Cocoa Daisy we have been posting inspirational prompts to encourage you to do some layouts about YOU! If you complete all/some of them you would have a "Book of Me". Well my prompt for today is: Hobbies and here is the layout I did about my other favorite hobby, gardening!




Thanks for stopping by!

August Cocoa Daisy!!

The August Cocoa Daisy kit is a little late in getting out to everyone, but with good reason!! It is full of new goodies fresh from CHA -including some of the adorable "Blue Skys" line from American Crafts and some new My Mind's Eye! Here is what I created with this fun and bright kit:

I created the yellow, blue and green circle with Glimmer mist sprayed over a cut out circle.








The stamped circle around the flair is from the plastic piece of a tape dispenser :) I know I will be using it a lot more!! Love how it looks!


Spray mist doesn't just have to be used with masks, they can be used in subtle ways too. Like on this layout I used some yellow and green mist to add a little depth to the grouping in the lower corner.




Have a great weekend everyone!
Christine

Birthday boy and randomness!

My first born had his 7th birthday last week - 7th!!! Where did the time go? I love to see him grow and experience new things but at the same time I just want to grab him and hold on tight as I know with each passing year he grows just a little bit further "away" from us. But for right now at least he is still our little boy and I could not resist giving him a new stuffed animal. He loved his new Webkinz fish:


Here is the birthday boy blowing out his candles (we had had enough cake over the last couple weeks so I asked Nate to pick something else for his birthday treat. He picked lemon bars -Good Choice!)


These are some of my favorite photos from Nate's birthday. Grandpa is speaking Dutch to Nate which for some reason just makes him crack up! Of course most of what Grandpa is saying is translated into funny things like "kick you in the butt" - the perfect sentences to teach a 7 year old boy :)




I bet you did not know I have a very special hidden talent? Yes, that is right, I rock at making forts!! We played outside yesterday and built this one on the back porch. All we needed were sheets, clothes pins and some cushions :)



Lastly the AUGUST PROJECT KIT is up for sale!! You can get it here and don't forget it comes with TWO bottles of Glimmer MIst :)

Have a great weekend!

Saying goodbye to Memory Makers

I can't believe it's been a year already! It feels like just yesterday that I got "the call"! I cannot begin to express what a pleasure it has been to work with Memory Makers Magazine. Beth, Patty, Katie and Christy are incredible, genuine and so encouraging I will truly miss them. I will also miss working with, sharing and creating with my fellow masters, 9 amazingly talented women. All with their own unique style. I feel so blessed to have been masters with them.

I posted this note and my MMM entry layouts on the MMM blog a couple weeks ago. I had debated on whether or not to share my entry layouts, I had a passing thought that I may submit them for other calls, but to be honest I rarely submit to magazine or DT calls. Not that I don't want to it's just that little thing called "time" and the lack of it I seem to have :) So I am sharing them with you - which frankly is more fun anyway! So here is all five of them, they are still some of my favorite layouts!













Thanks for stopping by and have a great Wednesday!

What a great week!

Where do I begin! This last week at CHA was filled with friends, plenty of good food and some wonderful new scrapbooking products. Before we get to the pictures I feel I must give you a bit of a disclaimer - they are a little less than stellar :) All I brought was my little point and shoot, and, well, I shake, so then of course the pictures are blurry (thankfully I have a nice Canon that compensates for that but I just didn't feel like lugging it around this trip).

OK on to the pictures! I had a great time hanging out with Tricia again. We shared so many laughs, stories and wonderful food! The time always goes too fast (well except for that cab ride to downtown Disney - nothing quick about that, but it did result in a couple of very happy boys when they got new Bionicles from the Lego store)! She has put together some awesome kits for the up coming months, I am so excited to be able to play with those. Here we are having dinner (thank you Ronda for the picture):


I feel very blessed to have finally met some of my fellow masters and Cocoa Daisy DT members. Ronda, Vee, Summer, Anabelle, Mou, and Amy. I had so much fun getting to know Ronda, chatting with Vee, seeing Summer again and finally meeting Anabelle, Mou and Amy. What an amazing group of talented and sweet ladies!! How lucky am I to call them my friends!

Here is Ronda and Amy:


Anabelle, me and Ronda:


We stayed at the Peabody hotel and they are famous for the ducks that spend the afternoon in their lobby fountain:


Now on to the scrappy goodness :) I loved this ATC display from 7gypsies (hmmmm, maybe a project kit coming up, wink, wink, nudge, nudge):


This window display from Sassafras Lass was so cute:


So were their stamps:


Hambly did not disappoint with these adorable wall decals and new dress form overlays:



My favorite from the show, hands down, was this film strip ribbon by Tim Holtz:


This fun piece of eye candy was from the Tim Holtz booth as well:


Loved these letter stickers from Little Yellow Bicycle and Jenni Bowlin:



A big trend that we noticed was that many of the manufacturers had "themed" lines out this summer. Two of my favorites were the Pink Paislee Halloween line and the Making Memories Christmas line:



I loved so much in the Jillibean booth, here is a cute little embelly cluster from a layout in their booth:


I want the entire line from Cosmo Cricket!!


And last but not least these pretty felt pieces from Prima:


Seriously, that is just a taste of the fun we had and all the great new product out there. I can't wait for winter CHA :) have a great night and thanks for stopping by.