Scrapping Our Stash Blog Hop - September

If you are looking for the October Blog Hop - Click Here!

Welcome to the Practical Scrappers Blog Hop 

where we are Scrapping our Stash.  

You should have arrived from the Cathy's Blog - if you didn't you may want to go back and check out everyone's blogs for lots of inspirations and giveaways!  I know you'll enjoy the inspiration that they are providing!

This month (and from here on out) we are inviting anyone who's interested in joining the stash busting hop to join us.  If you want to join us next month email me at practicalscrappers@gmail.com.

Here's the entire Hop List in case you get lost along the way:

Practical Scrappers http://practicalscrappers.blogspot.com

Wendi http://scrappydayinparadise.blogspot.com/2014/09/love-practical-scrappers-use-your-stash.html

Cathy http://alteredplayground.blogspot.com

Christine http://scrappingwithchristine.blogspot.com/2014/09/scrapping-our-stash-blog-hop-september.html *You are here*

Suzanna  http://lifestrivialities.typepad.com/ *Head here next*

Bobbi http://vintagemusedesigns.blogspot.com/

Majken  http://chocoscrapaholic.blogspot.com/

Ruth http://paperandmusings.wordpress.com/

Kristy http://alwaysworldaway.blogspot.com

Jennifer http://livethemoment-jen.blogspot.com 

Cheryl http://patchesandscraps.blogspot.com

Sandy http://itsafamilyaffairwithscrappynana.blogspot.ca/

Laura http://scrapaddict4life.blogspot.com/

Alison http://alisondaydesigns.com/

For my project this month I got out some Doodlebug Hip, Hip, Hooray and worked with a picture from my youngest son's birthday last week! Cathy (where you came from) created using this same line - how fun to see it used in two different ways!

I love the way Doodlebug's lines are coordinated and come together quickly and easily.  It leaves lots of time for my favorite part - the embellishing!  One of my favorite things to do with paper crafts is to look at paper and stickers and try to find a clever twist on their use.  I did a couple things today that were out of the box.  

First off I cut out the "Happy" word out of grid paper.

Makes for a one of a kind title doesn't it!?!

I also added the letters to spell out Dude on the little monsters at the bottom

Little details like this help to make the layout my own and full of surprise! 

As a Thank You for stopping by today I am going to do a Stash Busting Giveaway!  The winner will get one yard of each of the bakers twine rolls pictured below!  How fun will that be to receive!?!

You can do any or all of the following to enter:

1) Become a follower here

2) Like my Scrapping with Christine facebook page

3) Pin the layout picture onto Pinterest

And lastly leave me a comment to let me know which you have done!

This giveaway will remain open until 11:59 pm on October 3rd!  I will announce a winner within a couple days!  

If you are interested - I also have a giveaway on the post located here that is open until the 1st!

Now Hop on Over to the talented Suzanna's Blog!

Adornit Guest Designer Days 1-5 and a Giveaway!

This week I am the featured guest designer at Adornit!
Each day I will be adding a new project to this post so be sure to check back!

I will be sharing projects all week both here and on their blog! I love their paper crafting collections and am thrilled to be sharing what I created!  They supplied me with two new collections: Rhapsody Bop and You & Me.

Day One:
Today I have a layout using Rhapsody Bop:

The colors of Rhapsody Bop are a beautiful mix of vibrant and soft - a combination that comes together perfectly for little girl layouts!  I absolutely loved this floral patterned paper and knew I wanted to use it in a big way so I made it the base of my layout.  Because of the brightness of that paper I went much more subtle for the center using a light polka dot pattern to anchor my black and white pictures.  I cut out and stitched on a large white heart to surround the pictures.  Embellishing was made easy by using coordinating die cuts and clear stickers

Day Two:
Since I did one vibrant project already with Rhapsody Bop I thought it would be nice to do one with the softer colors. 

 The border printed on this patterned paper is beautiful and makes for an easy start to the layout.  I added a border sticker above it and then built the heart of my layout above it.  I opted for just one picture because I had already used up so much space. I built clusters of embellishments around the picture as well as adding an area for journaling.

Day Three:

This card just kind of fell into my lap as I was playing with the scraps of You & Me!  You & Me is another new collection from Adornit.  I laid the marquee die cut on top of one of the pocket page elements that I had cut out and it fit on there so perfectly, I knew i had to use it!  Adding it to a base and embellishing with fussy cut flowers made for a quick but striking card.

As I mentioned with my layout, I really loved that floral patterned paper from Rhapsody Bop so I wanted to use it again on a card.  As I was contemplating what I wanted to do I noticed that one of the clear stickers looked like it would fit on a wood piece.  As you can see it wasn't 100% exact but close enough that it adds some thing unique to the wood and makes a great focal point on the card.

Day Four:

I love to make Altered Embroidery Hoops and hang them around the house.  Mine always include pictures and this was no different.  I haven't made one yet of my hubby and I so I made use of "You & Me" to create one!  I love the look of the clear stickers layered onto the print background so you can see both elements.  I made use of stickers, die cuts, and wood also on this!

Day FIVE:

Today is my last day guest designing at Adornit and I have one last layout to share that uses the You & Me collection.

I didn't have very many pictures of me and my hubby from recent days so this was a perfect opportunity to do a quick little photo shoot so I could create a pretty layout about our 14th year of marriage. For this layout I really focused my embellishing on the wood pieces.  For the title pieces, I painted them half black and left them half natural.  I had recently seen Stephanie Buice  do something similar on chipboard and thought it would work neat on wood too!  For the rest of my wood I colored the pieces and then decorated them with a fine tip black marker. I love how wood gives you some freedom to play with a variety of mediums to decorate!  The clear stickers on this patterned paper really pop too!

Adornit has been generous enough to let me host a giveaway of the Rhapsody Bop collection to one of my readers!  Here's how you can enter:

You can do either or both of the following to enter:

1) Become a follower here

2) Like my Scrapping with Christine facebook page

And lastly leave me a comment to let me know which you have done! As I am adding to this post each day of the guest designing gig - you are welcome to comment each day!

This giveaway will be open on all my guest designer posts with them this week so make sure to check back!

This giveaway will remain open until 11:59 pm on October 1st!  I will announce a winner within a couple days!  And if you are interested in checking out one more blog hop I am in that also has a giveaway, click here!

Altered Clothes Pins + Fun Pictures = Great Banner

I recently had to move my scrapbooking studio to a different location in our house.  With that comes some fun new decorating!  Today I have a simple project that makes use of Paper House Productions Canvas stickers and some clothespins

To start with I altered the clothespins by adding colorful patterned paper that coordinated with the canvas stickers.  The canvas is the perfect cushion for opening and closing the clothes pins!

 

I used my Silhouette to cut out some letters in white and patterned papers - using half of the patterned cut on the bottom half of the letters and heart. I cut out some pictures and matted them.  I then hung up a simple white rope and hung each piece to the banner.  Super simple and easy to change out the pictures or even change out the letters to say something else.  

Making a Halloween Treat Container

I am up on the SRM Stickers blog with these fun little Halloween Treats!  Come on by and check out all the details!

The Twinery & Ruby Rock-It Blog Hop

Welcome to Day 2 of The Twinery and Ruby Rock-It Blog Hop!

You should have arrived here from Candice Elliot's Blog.  

If you just happened upon things here today make sure to head back to The Twinery blog  to get in on the whole hop!  Make sure to leave comments along the way to get in on prizes!

I worked with the Heritage Collection  from Ruby Rock-It and decided to focus on the cream, brown, and turquoise colors.  There are so many beautiful colors in this line!

I stained the wood pieces to be a darker brown that matched the other elements.  I then backed the oval shape with Natural Solid Bakers Twine to create a unique background for the silhouette.  The whole card is accented by a pretty bow using the Ocean Stripe Bakers Twine.

Check out these prizes that are up for grabs!

 One lucky winner can win three spools of Twinery twine of the winner's choice ($45 retail value). Another lucky winner can win the Ruby Rock-It Essence Empire Bebe Collection, with the exception of the album.The rules are available on each manufacturer's blog!

Here's the whole hop list for today:

The Twinery - http://thetwinery.com/blog

Ruby Rock-It - http://www.rubyrock-it.com/articles

Erin Yamabe - http://www.erinyamabe.com/

Tifany DeGough - http://www.inkblotsbytrd.blogspot.com/

Stacey Schafer - http://stampinwithstacey.blogspot.com/

Candice Elliott - http://truedivinehand.blogspot.com/

Christine Meyer - http://scrappingwithchristine.blogspot.com/

Kaka Costa - http://kakamari.blogspot.com/

DoBea Alberts - http://www.plumpoppystudio.com/blog/

Tobi Crawford - http://tobicrawford.blogspot.ca/

Anita Mulcahey - http://happypapercrafthappenings.blogspot.com/

Up next on the hop is Kaka - check out her amazing work!

Getting a jump start on Halloween cards

I'm hosting the blog today at Leaky Shed Studio with a fun little Halloween Card!

Did you know Leaky Shed has some items in cardstock too?  This is one of those items - this black tree set comes with two sizes and is black which makes it perfect for those Halloween projects!

By simply adding some gemstones to it and some Halloween characters throughout it makes for an eye catching card that will be fun for all the little spooks in your life!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Doodlebug 

Stickers: Doodlebug

Twine: The Twinery

Tree: Leaky Shed Studio

Inspiration Elevator - Using a BIG photo on a layout

Several of my friends from Practical Scrappers participate in a monthly inspiration challenge called Inspiration Elevator.  They asked me to play along this month as a guest designer!

A little about Inspiration Elevator:

Our main purpose here at IE is to challenge ourselves, each other and 

YOU to take the creative process to the next level;  to inspire growth 

and change in our scrapbooking beyond the mundane.

You can see all of Inspiration Elevator's previous challenges at our blog and catch us on Facebook .

This month's challenge is issued by the creative Christa Uttley. Here is her challenge for us, in her own words:

 GO BIG OR GO HOME: Scrapbookers as a rule use what photos they have on 

hand or if you are designing, whatever pictures allow you to best 

showcase your lines or express your paper lines. This month's challenge 

is to be very deliberate about your photo choice because we are going 

BIG! Bigger than 8x10 if you can do it. Recently, I saw a friend using a 

12x12 she had printed at the local 

Costco and was stunned at the power this GIANT image had on her story 

telling. (If you'd rather not spend any extra on your photo then scrap 

those large baby pictures or a wedding shot you have lying around.)  

Think scenic vistas or think about all the details that go missing in 

your world and blow them up. Be brave!

 Here are the MUST DO's: Must be at least 8x10 in size. We want this 

GIANT photo to take centre stage and tell the story in a big way.

Here's the lineup for today's inspiration:

Christa Uttley

Wendi Robinson

Katherine Sutton

Lisa Moen

Lisa Speigel

Ann Jobes

Jayne Morgan 

Guest Designer: Christine Meyer

And without further adieu here is my interpretation!

One thing I almost always do when using a big picture is find a way to incorporate the title into it - I love the look of a title on a picture.  My family is big - 6 of us - so we by default require a larger than average picture if we're all squeezing in!  This one from our summer vacation was perfect to fit the challenge!  Using a big photograph requires even more creative placement of embellishments and such.  I just used border strips (which are looking a little wonky because my layout kept bowing because of the borders) and a few embellishment clusters.  Thanks to the ladies for letting me play along this month!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Bella Blvd

Stickers: Bella Blvd

Sketchy Saturday Week 20 - Using Pocket Page elements on a Sketch

It's been awhile since I have had the chance to share a sketch!  I have actually had this one prepared for a bit but have been busy soaking up Saturdays with my family.  Today's sketch is a little different because it makes use of pocket page pieces.  Mine come from Simple Stories and I built a grid of 2 rows of 3.  They are uneven rows but come together to tell one story.

I embellished things far beyond what the sketch has - but that is the fun of a sketch - having a jumping off point and running with it!  If you do anything with this sketch, I would love to see what you create!  Please share a link with me here or on my facebook page.

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Simple Stories

Stickers: Simple Stories & Bella Blvd

Wood: Chic Tags

Using Kiwi Lane Templates on 3 different types of Projects: Guest Design Spot

I am so excited to be guest designing on the Kiwi Lane Designs Blog this week sharing some of my new projects with you!  I have been a long time fan of Bella Blvd products and they are one of my favorites for two page layouts!  My last post as a design team member at Kiwi Lane was actually a  two page layout using Bella Blvd (you can check it out here)!  First up is a two page layout using the Molly line.

The pink patterned paper with the words on it jumped out at me because of all it’s curves and swirls.  I knew it would be perfect to combine with Kiwi Templates.  I went with the Chestnut Drive Border Set because the curves pretty much fit around the word “Beautiful” perfectly.  After cutting that out for both sides, I added my pictures so that they would be enhanced by the curves.  The Chevron Border Templates are pretty much my favorite – so I used those also to create borders along the bottom.  Bella Blvd makes lots of great border stickers as well as a patterned paper sheet of borders – these complement the Kiwi Lane Border system so well!  To embellish the page I used the Rings Set (to create my sunshine) and the Tags Set for my journalling spot.

Pocket Page

We love our two pagers here at Kiwi Lane but we also know that the templates are great for other things too!  Next up I have a pocket page layout that makes use of them.

This pocket page has a really neat narrow side border which was screaming “Kiwi Lane, Kiwi Lane, Kiwi Lane” at me.  So I obliged ;).  I used one of the Large Brackets to create a layered border there.  I then filled each of the other pockets with layers of paper and pictures.  The Shapes set was especially useful for creating just basic shapes to highlight the photos. The Tags set was also useful for creating my “title” pocket with it’s perfect banner shape.

Paper Piecing

Lastly I have one of my favorite techniques using Kiwi Lane to share: paper piecing with the Chevron Border Set.

I have done this technique a couple of other times!  Once for a Kiwi Lane Hop that you can find here and once for a Stash Busting Hop that you can find here.  Every time I need to combine vibrant papers with Kiwi Lane supplies I want to do this.  The Max line from Bella Blvd was perfect!  To do it I create five Chevron borders in five coordinating papers.  I then cut the chevrons apart and piece them back together.  There is something so satisfying about taking beautiful papers and putting them together in a different way to make them your own!  One thing I would recommend when trying this technique is having a good black pen to outline your shapes with.  I think they get a little lost otherwise and the black just makes them pop!

Samantha Walker Creative Team Blog Hop: Fall

Welcome to the 

Samantha Walker Creative Crafters Team Blog Hop!

You should have arrived here from Nicole Stark's Blog!

We have a fabulous giveaway this month of a Spellbinder's Fall Splendor Grand Impressabilities

All you need to do is enter below. You can earn multiple entries by following us on Facebook, commenting below, tweeting about the giveaway, and signing up for the email updates. This giveaway is open to US customers only and closes on this Sunday at 11:59 PM MDT.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

For my project this month I combined a couple things that I love - metallics, sequins, and leaves!  I have a shaker card that I made using the 3 leaves card (51469)

I always save good wrappers from sticker sets and other embellishment sets because they make great containers for making shaker cards.  For this one I used an old wrapper and filled it with gold, white, and silver sequins.  I then sealed off the top and attached it to the backside of my base.  I layered the base onto an additional white cardstock base to add some dimension.  I then added the whole thing to a metallic gold card.  Because the shaker part in itself is busy I went very simple beyond that - adding just a chipboard sentiment and some additional metallic dots.  

When you move it around the sequins bounce all over and provide a different look at each glance!  Super fun and not too difficult to make (the hardest part was sorting thru my sequins :))

Don't forget to sign up for Samantha's Newsletter 

through the Rafflecopter widget to receive your

FREE SVG and Silhouette Studio file! 

Thanks so much for stopping in today! Next up is Jamie!  You can get to her blog by clicking on the picture below!

Lemonade Stand Layout & Giveaway Winners

First off I want to share the winners from my recent giveaways!
The winner from the Scrapping Our Stash hop is: Nichole Bentley
The winner from the Paper House Productions Endless Summer hop is: Beverly Jordan
Please email me at practicalscrappers@gmail.com and I will get those out to you!

One of my favorite things about the Summer Lovin' line from Samantha Walker and Carta Bella is that it included some moments that get left out of a lot of summer lines, but lots of us experience.  I knew I wanted to make use of the lemonade stand stuff to document my kiddos and their stands from the last two years!  I figure now that summer is wrapping up I better get some of these memories committed to layouts!  You are also going to notice a new trend with me - I have been doing a lot more 8 1/2 X 11 layouts!  Not sure why but that canvas seems to be where my brain is going a lot!

I went for an 8 1/2 X 11 base this time and layered papers onto a green cardstock background.  I left a  little of that to peek out underneath the colorful vertical stripes. I lined up my pictures (one from each year) vertically on some more green cardstock.

I fussy cut out a giant chevron from patterned paper and added that as a focal point in the base.  I really like how it plays off of the colorful vertical stripes!  

Coordinating stickers and wood pieces make up a few clusters around the layout but otherwise I kept it clean and simple.  I can't believe these summer days are already wrapped up and we're on to the next season of Back to School and Fall!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Carta Bella

Stickers: Samantha Walker

Twine: The Twinery

Wood: Studio Calico

A Halloween Layout and Card using the same Sticker Set

I love Halloween crafting, it is by far my absolute favorite holiday to do layout, cards, and projects of all sorts for!  This week I am sharing a post on Paper House Productions that uses this layout and I thought it would be fun to also create a card that makes use of the same stickers!

I shared this layout with y'all earlier as it is one of them that is on the pull sheets for project ideas at the Joann's stores.  But here's the card with the same sticker set.

Still has that similar eery feel but uses different colors and elements.  I fussy cut the frame from some other Paper House Productions patterned paper.  I'm so excited that is Halloween season and look forward to sharing many more "scary" projects with you over the next month!

Imaginisce Fall Project

When I think of fall one of the first things that comes to mind is owls.  So today I decided to play around with my I Top and I Rocks and create my own cute owls!  Owls are a fun thing to base projects around because you can cute them up and make them special for adults or kiddos!

Using my electronic die cut machine I cut out an owl pillow box and then created a card to slide inside of it.

The cut file came with eyes and a beak but I decided to use my Imaginisce goodies to make my own!  I created the eyes using the I Top and then adding a white dot topped with a black I Rock gem.  I curled up the feathers and then added I Rock gems to each one.  I love the dimension and sparkle that using the I Rock to a project can add!  I fussy cut a chevron shape out of some patterned paper from the Perfect Vacation line to use for the beak.

I then made a mini card using coordinating colors and products.  I again used a chevron for the beak and I Top eyes.  To create the ears for the owl, I simply used the Clicut Retractable Pen Knife and created notches and then curled the point up.  

These will be fun to fill up with some candy corn and share with someone special this fall!

Products Used:

Imaginisce: Patterned Paper (Perfect Vacation), Clicut Retractable Pen Knife, I Rock, I Top