Scrap your Stash!!!

For the first ten days of October, I was signed up for an amazing online class called "Supplies on Hand" by May Flaum.  Each day had a lesson with a ton of ideas for using items currently in our stash.  Subjects covered in the ten days were:  Alphabets, Buttons & Things, Color Mediums, Journaling Cards, Scraps, Punches & Dies, Stamps & Stencils, Stickers, Trims & Tapes, and More Paper.  I was intrigued by this idea since I am currently trying to fit may big stash into a smaller space.  Each day's lesson featured at least two videos by May herself, Ashli Olver, and project s(including downloads) from many other fabulous contributors.  I was very inspired by this class, and would strongly recommend it to anyone on the fence about buying it.  It was crammed with content, many extras, four live chat sessions, and was well worth the price of admission!  I was so inspired, I completed several projects over the long Columbus Day weekend.  Here are a few:

I made this card front for the alphabet lesson.  I was able to use one of my oldest sets of Thickers (with the use of added adhesive), and a scrap of very old Cosmo Cricket paper.  I got the idea to layer die cut paper over my alphabets from the Scrap your Scraps blog.

Lately, I have been in a very Halloween mood, and pulled out all my Halloween stash.  In the past, I had purchased a lot of themed product, which needs using.  I was able to use some old scraps of paper, alphas, and some embellishments from my stash.  I'm not sure what I'll do with these, but they're cute!

I also made a wreath using some very old MME paper from 2009.  I saw the idea to make folded rosette wreaths from Jennifer McGuire.

I really hope I continue to be inspired to use up some of the items that have been gathering dust in my stash.  It really feels good to put them to use!  Thanks for dropping by!  

Wonderful World of Color Challenge #2 - Color Recipe Challenge

Here is my first challenge for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge.  I started with Challenge #2 because I had the perfect photo in mind for Jemma's recipe challenge, which is as follows: "My recipe challenge to you today is to make a palette from the following ingredients: I want you to feature BLACK and/or WHITE (or mix them to make GREY) along with shades of ONE other COLOUR."

 

I chose to use black and white and only a pop of red in the title and the red from my son's shirt in the photo.  The journaling describes how my youngest currently hates to have his photo taken, and rarely smiles for pictures.  I used a sheet of paper from my kit, wood veneer stars as embellishments, and a bunch of Midnight Project Life cards from my stash.  I figured the wood stars are more of a neutral, and would still work with the challenge.  Thanks for the fun challenge!

May Counterfeit Kit

This month, I am hoping to jump back in to the world of forgery!  At least when it comes to forging awesome scrapbook kits!  I loved the inspiration kit by Paper Camelia this month at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge, and wanted to create a kit of my own with a fun travel-ish theme.

http://papercamellia.com/collections/kits/products/april-2014-main-scrapbook-kit

I was especially was drawn to the map paper from the inspiration kit, so I included old stash from a Girl's Paperie travel line, which has one map print sheet.  I added some freshness to that by including papers from Maggie Holmes' Crate Paper's Flea Market Collection.  The colors of the collections seemed to work well together, with all the teal, yellow, navy, and pinks tones.  They both have a yummy vintage feel, as well.  There are two cut apart sheets in my kit, which I liked.

For my embellishments, I added the gorgeous vellum sheets that came with the Flea market collection, as well as a bunch of other items from my stash that caught my eye.  I think it's a pretty kit, and I hope to use it up this month completing some of the NSD challenges!

Happy (Belated) National Scrapbooking Day!

Some people may not be aware that there is an actual day dedicated to the craft of scrapbooking, but it is absolutely true!  I think NSD, as it is known by those that know such things, is always celebrated on the first Saturday in May, and this year it fell on May 3rd.  I was very excited to participate this year, and actually told my husband that I planned to spend the day scrapping away, and that he was not to bother me.  It worked out perfectly, because our youngest was out of town at a choir festival, and I thought I would have even less to distract me!  Well, you know how those big plans can turn out...  I started the day visiting many scrapbooking sites.  I went to Two Peas in a Bucket, Big Picture Classes, and The Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog, among other places.  The I got to work and completed exactly ONE layout!  I think I had set my expectations too high, and was overwhelmed by so much inspiration available on the web.  In the future, it might be better to stick to one website or blog, and do the challenges presented there.

Here is my layout, which includes photos from a trip I take each year to Santa Barbara with my sister Ann.  I used a scheme inspired by Stacy Julian, which is like a pocket page, but does not use a pocket page protector.  I fussed with this page for hours, and I guess I'm happy with it.  I actually had to make myself stop, or who knows how long I would have fiddled around with it before calling it quits!

Another tip for having a more successful NSD in the future is to have a bunch of new photos printed prior to the day.  I had many photos at my disposal, but I think a fresh batch would have inspired me more.  I'll try to remember these things for next year!

Luckily, one of my favorite blogs, the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog, has extended their challenges until May 16th!  I think I'll take advantage of the coming Mother's Day weekend to eke out a few more hours to my favorite hobby!  I hope to even get a few more challenges completed!  One of the more exciting things about NSD is that there are many great prizes available to participants of some of the challenge sites.  Nothing beats the thrill of winning a coveted NSD prize package!  Wish me luck!!