Kitchen Keepsake Blog Hop

Welcome to the first Kitchen Keepsake Blog Hop!

We are super excited to share some wonderful inspiration with you. Be sure to grab your favorite drink and enjoy the hop.

Here is the order of the hop.

Suzanne
Carmen
Janet
Kelly <--- You are here! 
Shelly
Phillis
Colleen
Kitchen Keepsake Forum - Register & post for lots of fun!

If you are following the order, you should have arrived here from Janet's blog. If not, be sure to head back over there and all the ones before so you have a chance to win all of the prizes.

I am lucky to be a member of the design team at Kitchen Keepsake. And what a fun forum to be part of! There are challenges posted on the 1st and 15th of each month. Some are recipe related and some not, but you don't have to scrap recipes to join in the fun. Any paper crafters are welcome and I know you will find something to inspire you. 

I am challenging you to use a rainbow on your page. It doesn't have to be a traditional arc rainbow, use ROY G BIV or anything. Just use a rainbow however it inspires you! Maybe a rainbow embellie, or a picture of a rainbow or someone wearing a rainbow shirt. 

As for me, I drew my circles then painted them in with good ol' Crayola watercolors (shhhh... don't tell the kids I borrowed their stuff). I added in some Rusty Pickle rubons, prima flowers from my stash, paint & marker splotches, doodles, stickers and bling. 

Thanks for stopping by my blog! I hope my challenge and page can inspire you somehow. :) And, since you are here I have a freebie for you! Here are two 4x6 printable recipe cards. Click on the picture below to download them. 

Now, just a few more things before you wander off (hopefully I haven't lost you already). I've got a RAK up for grabs to a lucky winner as well! Here is a sneaky peek. It is cooking/summer related, I think its perfect for this giveaway. 

Rules (gotta have 'em) ----> You have until July 31, 2014 at 12:00 midnight Eastern time to comment for a chance to win! You need to follow my blog for a chance to win my RAK. Winners will be posted on August 1st on the blogs, so make sure you follow them to get the updates!

Thank you for getting through this lengthy post! Your next stop on the hop is Shelly. She is super talented, so be sure to browse around her blog for a bit. 

The Joy of Grandchildren...

I love this quote, and I am pretty happy with how this page turned out.

"The joy of grandchildren is measured in the heart"

Lots of embellishments layered up in here! Stickers, buttons, flowers and even some quilling. I know those were given to me from a fellow paper crafter a long time ago, but I can't recall who. Back in the day, probably when the man and I were first married.

The background paper was done with mists. I finally got my misters working again! They sat dormant for so long that the sprayers stopped working. There are also lots of Prima flowers and some made from paper scraps.

And here are a couple close-ups of the embellishment clusters...

Princess

Happy Thursday people! I haven't been  blogging this week because I started remodeling my bathroom over the weekend. Everything was a lovely shade of avocado. Honestly y'all. Everything. Sigh.

But, today I'm here and it's the 15th! That means new challenge day at Kitchen Keepsake. :) So today my challenge is to attach a specialty paper using paint! And here is my example to hopefully inspire you.

And on a side note, can she be any cuter. Of course, she is quiet when she sleeps. :) No tears, no three-year-old attitude. She crawled in the bed with me on Mother's Day morning and this is what I woke up to.

Happy National Scrapbook Day & A ScrapBuster Sketch

Happy National Scrapbook Day to all my scrappy friends. Hope you are getting the chance to get your craft on! I'm working on Teacher Appreciation gifts for the upcoming week. I'll be sharing them here this week too. 

I figured I would share with you my current challenge at Kitchen Keepsake. I am challenging you to make a page using a color scheme! Here is the one I chose. 

I have no idea why, but I just love the picture. The colors make me happy! And you know what, they matched perfectly with Grayson's spring pictures from school. So here is the layout I created with those colors. 

And here is a close up of my little embellishment cluster.

And of course, here is a sketch for you to work with. I'd love to see what you create if you work with it! 

Come join us over at the kitchen! The forum is great and the challenges are truly inspiring. :)

Kindergarten Picture

Hello!
I love this layout of the little man. Its his fall kindergarten picture. I did this page for a challenge over at Kitchen Keepsake. The challenge was to paint/color hot glue dots. I used embossing powder on mine. It was so easy!

All I did was drop down a hot glue dot and toss some embossing powder down on top of it. For these I used a metallic one. Bronze I believe. 

You should try it out, it was easy and lots of fun!

Fun Stuff Y'all!

I'm sharing a layout of my dear baby girl today. She is a handful. I have no idea how I'm going to cope with life in 10 years. Any suggestions on getting through the teen years with a drama filled child? She is definitely the opposite of her brother. He is so easy going. She has mood swings and cries at the drop of a hat. She also has the most spectacular hand gestures.


I created this page to use up some scraps. I love being able to use scraps on a page, instead of cutting up a full 12" piece of paper for a 1" strip. Especially when I can mix it with a bunch of older embellishments. I'm all about using up my supplies!

And because I love using my scraps so much, I'm starting a ScrapBuster Sketches area of my blog. Check it out up there at the top. Here is the sketch for this layout. I'm sure you will see more in the future!

Guess what?! I have some fun news! I was asked to be part of the design team over at Kitchen Keepsake. It's a forum with challenges each month and you should come by. Its a great group of scrappers, both digital and paper. Fun times!

And then... Happy St. Patrick's Day! This is an old Rusty Pickle project, but serves the purpose of the day! Hope everyone has a wonderful day. Don't forget your green and maybe you can find your pot of gold at the end of a rainbow!

My Silly Boy

Every time I pull out my camera the boy is seriously into making funny faces. He thinks he is hilarious, and I have to admit he's right. :)

This page was done for a challenge at Kitchen Keepsake too. It was to use four of things. So I used four different stitches, four purple eyelets, four blue eyelets, four different styles of rubons, four patterned papers and four paints.

I forgot how much I enjoy working with the paints and sprays for fun backgrounds and stuff, but unfortunately my spray bottles are all clogged. Does anybody know a good way to unclog them?!

Yum!

Hello! 

I just thought I would share a layout that I did with some one heart one mind papers I had. The kids love their felt food which my dear friend sent to them (thanks girl, you are the best). Yes, this is an old picture... it's from 2012. I was hoping to use up some of the pictures I have here on my table. 

Just to note, I ran a couple stitches on the letters, I created an M since there wasn't one left in the pack and I doodled on the paisley as well as around the pictures. 

I did this for a doodling challenge over at Kitchen Keepsake. Come on over and join us, the forum is a blast. By the way, they are currently having a design team call. :)

Disney Autograph Books

I decided to make the kids autograph books for our Disney trip. There are millions of examples out there for inspiration, but I decided to keep them kinda simple (don't want them to get torn up and the kids are still young). They each picked their character, I assembled and now they are ready for our trip (woohoo)! I did put a light coat of mod podge on the outside just for some added durability.

Grayson went with Cars. And I just happened to have some cars ribbon sitting around to make a lanyard. Perfect!

Braelyn picked Tinkerbell. Cause she is a die hard Fairies fan. Unfortunately I didn't have any Tink ribbon, but I don't think it will matter. ;) I even added a little pixie dust to the cover.

And while I was making the lanyard, I added a little spot in there to hold their pens. Just so little hands don't continually drop them. :)

There is a stripes challenge over at Kitchen Keepsakes, you should check it out. Grayson's autograph book worked great! 

RC Truck

I'm certain I have shared a layout with this picture, or one very similar, before. But right at the moment I am scrapping pics I have printed and on hand. And guess what cutie was in the pile?!

So here you go. I did this for a challenge at Kitchen Keepsake last month.

 

Spring 2013 Pictures

These pictures were taken back in the spring. They were the kid's pictures from preschool. 

She did a fabulous job on them, even though she specializes in weddings. 

I'm pretty sure I lifted the first one from a layout I saw on pinterest and it's a great scrap buster. I actually scrapped them a couple months ago too, but never got around to sharing them. 

Tomorrow I've got another layout to share. Look at me, I'm on a roll! 

Handmade Sweater

My grandmother made this sweater for the boy. It's the cutest thing with little primary color car shaped buttons. And of course I love it a little extra cause it was handmade by her. :)

The page is an adaptation of the September sketch from Kitchen Keepsake. The papers are mostly Momenta, the letter stickers are old K&Co and the rest is just what nots from my stash. 

Nothing super spectacular for my first day back in months, but tomorrow is a fun Halloween altered inspired by Pinterest. :)

2012 Christmas Card

I realize Christmas is over, but it was pretty chilly this weekend and we had a touch of winter weather. Given the circumstances, I thought I would share our 2012 Christmas card.

For this one I used a sheet of dotted bazzill, and some making memories paper & embellies. 

And I'm excited to say that this week, I have a few more paper projects to share with you! :) Enjoy your week and be sure to stop back by later.

Go Carts

I really love how this page turned out, probably because I have such great memories of this day. We had a lot of fun, despite it being hot and having a little one around that couldn't get on the go carts. But, my boys had fun... so that is enough for me. :)

 

This page was done with mostly Pebbles & American Crafts stuff.  I added some cardboard for texture, some stickles and I distressed some of the leftover tickets we had from letting the boy play skee ball.

The circles and some of the stars on the page are done with sharpie. I filled some of them in to mid it up a bit, and of course added some stickles around them.

And you'll see, the boy was even nice enough to 'let' his daddy drive this track. :)

Hope you are having a wonderful Wednesday!

2011 Christmas Card

I would wish you a happy Monday, but are they ever really happy? This week brings the close of t ball (which went really fast), the beginning of August and the last full month of the boy's freedom before he starts pre-school. This summer has flown by exceptionally fast, but I'm sort of thrilled that this heat wave might be nearing an end. However, there are still a million and one things that I had hoped to accomplish this season (probably only one of which I've actually done).

In my hopes to cool down, I'm sharing another winter holiday page today. Well, sort of. This was our 2011 Christmas Card. And in looking back at the Christmas Card pages, I really wish I had done 8x8 pages and kept them all in a book by themselves. Gotta love that hindsight thing...

At any rate, this one is done with Prima paper and Bazzill cardstock. I added some dimension to the ornaments and hung them on baker's twine to mimic the top of the card. I also dolled up the ornaments hanging from the reindeer on the paper itself. 

And here are some close up's so you can see the details on the ornaments. The baker's twine is held to the page by looping it around dew drops. I am truly amazed that I had the shades of green and blue in my stash to match the card perfectly, since they aren't your standard colors. But then again, looking at the pile of supplies I have... it shouldn't surprise me at all!

Adorable - A ScrapBuster Sketch

Happy Friday! Looks like the weekend is going to be rainy for us, but at least the temperature is supposed to be a little cooler. Maybe that means we can get some things done around the house, lots of little jobs are starting to stack up (and lots of bigger jobs that I haven't shared with the hubs too).

Today's layout is a quick page to put together using one piece of cardstock and some scraps you might have sitting around. This one uses pieces from various collections including echo park splash, american crafts the goods, basic grey june bug and a piece of momenta paper (the stars). After free hand cutting a cloud and the arrow, the page came together nicely. I drew borders around the pieces to give them a little more definition, added some stickles and some glitter circle stickers for a little extra texture.

Here is the sketch to follow...

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

sibling love

I can't believe it is Monday already. I'm almost to the point of feeling old, thinking how quickly the days pass. But I'll refrain from boring you with my melancholy.

Today I'm sharing a page I did for a challenge over at Tally Scrapper. The inspiration photo just made me think of doodling, so I doodled a a border on the paper. The title is more doodling from my handwriting. Since I wanted the picture to really be the main focus, I decided minimal embellishments would be better given all the doodling I had added.

Hope you have a fabulous Monday! I'll be around tomorrow to share a couple digital pages.

santa visit

Happy Christmas in July! Actually, I went through my printed pictures a week ago and organized the ones I hadn't scrapped yet. This made it to the top of the pile, so I figured why not?! Plus, the possibility that it would make me think of cooler weather was a bit appealing.

During this visit, the boy was more than happy to tell Santa everything that he could possibly want for the upcoming holiday (thank you Santa for delivering)! The girl, not quite as happy. I almost feel bad for Santa (and anybody in costume) that comes across her. Obviously we won't be visiting Disney anytime soon.

 

This page was done with the July sketch over at Little Red Scrapbook. I wanted to add little touches of green, so I smeared some paint under the title and journal strips.  The stitching is a rubon from doodlebug and most of the papers are from my scrap pile, but include ki memories and scenic route. 

Here are a couple close up pictures so you can see the paint smears.

Learning To Ride

What a crazy weekend! I woke up sunday morning to a sick dog and a child who had filled a diaper and desperately wanted out of it. Oh the joys! Somehow I managed to make it through my crazy day. We even ran out to pick up a tee ball glove for the boy since practice starts Tuesday. I hope I'm ready for being a sports mom, although I'm not sure I am. He is super excited about it and honestly I am too.

Today I'm sharing a layout of the boy. I know, shocker since I haven't been sharing much of him lately. He got a spiderman bike for his birthday and absolutely loves to ride it, asking all the time if he can go out. He does much better on it than I expected, I guess having a small bike we let him ride in the house (gasp!) helped him out.

The main patterned paper is from Reminisce, but the flags and banner bits are all scraps from my drawer (mostly momenta). I even decided to pull out an old leather book plate and use it. I do love getting some of my older supplies used up. Doesn't that mean I get to buy more? :)

Here are some close up pics. I added in some stickles, doodling and of course used toothpicks on my flags. I even pulled out my dymo label maker, I haven't seen that bad boy in ages!

Hope you are enjoying your Monday! I'll see you tomorrow with another project!

My Girl

Today is another layout of the girl. Back in February when I took her to the park she hadn't quite mastered the climbing yet. She actually spent most of the day on her butt since she couldn't walk on the rubber mulch very well. Oh how times change, considering now she can climb to the top and squeal her joy when she gets there.

This page uses some old Scenic Route paper. I have such mixed feelings using it. I want to use it cause it is cute, but it makes me sad cause I know I can't replace it. I added in some rolled flowers, leaves, 3 dimensional flags and tried to keep it kinda simple. The flourish is made from stickles and a crafter's workshop template.

Today the plan is to get messy, and I have high hopes for what I can do!