Oh crop!

Personal Scrapper hosted an online crop that ran from National Scrapbook Day to Mother's Day. I was able to finish all 15 challenges and the 4 extra challenges posted during the week, too. It was a productive crop!



I mixed the March PS kit with a Jenni Bowlin journaling card for this page for Blake's album. I rarely get pics of him with me anymore, so I was excited to use this one for the "favorite photo" challenge. Erica, the owner at PS, sent out a great PDF of LOs using the March kit with layouts by both DT members and kit club members. One challenge was to scraplift one of the layouts from that PDF. I lifted a LO by Star. I turned her LO on it's side and added an extra photo. Love this page! Thanks for the inspiration, Star!

PS member Paige R. posted an ad inspiration challenge. The ad reminded me of some woodgrain paper in the Mr. Campy line by Cosmo Cricket. Ipulled out my kit bag for that line and enjoyed scrapping a new photo of Blake working at the picnic table on his field study guide for Science. He ended up with a 100% on that project! (And I got a fun LO out of it, too!)

I thought the "definition" challenge would be a hard one until I realized my 7gypsies sticker sheets had definitions on them. The color scheme for some appropriate ones to use with this photo of Blake with Uncle Terry and Olivia (wacky, friend) matched some new Bella Boulevard "Family" papers I'd picked up on a recent trip to Henderson. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how this one turned out. I loved using a sketch made by fellow PS member Sheila/smayden. It worked great with these pics of the boys playing on the go carts and motorcycles in front of the local Tractor Supply!

I fell in love with Cosmo Cricket's new Snorkel line when it debuted at Winter CHA. I was thrilled to receive a few sheets from Paige R. when I won a RAK at PS. But, I still ended up buying the whole line with a coupon at Archiver's, too. The line worked great with our slip & slide pics from last summer and for the "summer's coming" challenge.

There was an "alphabet soup" (mixed title) challenge that also worked with Snorkel.

And Snorkel is good for non-water pics, too. I used it on "a fun tie?" and no, that's not a typo. Look closely...crazy Kev is wearing a tie while riding his bike! This challenge was to lift another LO I'd completed previously. I lifted a page I'd completed during the Slice challenges.

I also made a page with similar photos for Blake's album. This challenge was to use 3 different paper manufacturers. I used 4.

Erica asked me to post a challenge during the crop. I decided to ask everyone to make a page that used a "play on words." I posted "oh hail no!" for my example. Whenever I read this title, I say it in my best Jerry Springer guest voice complete with head bobbing and finger waving. (And, no...I'm not a regular viewer!) The photo collage was of a recent April hail storm we had - that lasted ten minutes! Luckily we had no damage.

I also completed a second layout for my own challenge with this shot of Blake at baseball's opening weekend. We take our "cheese & chips" very seriously, and us Wheelers DO NOT like to share. Yes, if looks could kill (see photo below)... Needless to say, we've taken to calling nachos "NOT-CHO" cheese! (And this LO uses the Snorkel line, too.)Another challenge that stumped me was the black and white challenge. When I looked through my possible paper options, the letter paper reminded me of a photo I'd filed away of Kevin's journal. And so...a layout was born.

Snorkel made another appearance in the "monochromatic" challenge.

The "Cinco de Mayo" challenge was to use red, green and white. I decided to make a Christmas layout.

I got to use some of the new Basic Grey Lime Rickey papers on a page for Kevin's album. These shots were from last summer. The page is simple, but I liked all the bright colors.

I completed the Mother's Day challenge by making a mini album for my mom. I used a $1 chipboard heart shaped album from Michael's and the Scenic Route Sonoma line of papers.

I also wanted to post a free card I made at Archiver's. This is before my boys attacked it with water guns. I had it in the garage with the hydrangea we were giving her as a gift. The flower bled, the card was soaked and some of the bling fell off. :(

I guess now I'll wait around for the next online crop and group of challenges...

Happy scrappin'!

"It's My Party"

OK...so it's not my party...my birthday is in December. I did feel like partying after using the new Bo Bunny "It's My Party" line of papers though. I picked up five sheets of their double sided paper and a package of coordinating brads and finished SIX 12x12 layouts and FOUR 2-page 12x12 layouts. That's really helping to make a dent in my obscene amount of birthday photos that have piled up over the years!

For starters, I pulled out Kevin's Chick-fil-A birthday pics from '07. Oh how I wish I had been printing out photo collages of that party! Still, I was able to get all my pics and even the memorabilia card to fit nicely into three double page LOs.

I also did a one page LO for Blake's album for the party. I had just received a photo order that included my nephew Luke's birthday party from last month. I made a really cute page for Blake's album using a special sheet of patterned paper. All the words were on the bottom of the paper - I just had to add Luke's name for my title. Then I added a striped strip to the top of the page, some brads, and called it done! I got a little sad looking at Kevin's 5th birthday photos. He was so little! I think "Life of the Party" is my favorite LO using this paper line. I love how it turned out.

"I'm this man...5" is my second favorite LO. I actually finished it for a crop challenge. I pulled out my circle punches to punch shapes out of one of the patterns and then raised them up with pop dots to add dimension to the page.

I had almost forgotten that on Kevin's 6th birthday, we didn't have a cake ON his actual birthday. We'd spent the day in Louisville and night he blew a candle out on one of the leftover cupcakes from his Chick-fil-A party. See...this is why we scrapbook. Or maybe why we shouldn't...I wonder now if Blake had a cake both at his friend party and at home that year...hmmm... I even scrapped my own birthday from last year! This page is for Blake's album.

Finally, I just took all the scraps I had and made them work on this page. This is for Blake's album. I liked how I got creative and finally did a folded corner (backed by patterned paper). I see that all the time on layouts, but never think to do it. I'm finding that I work quickly and feel really productive when I take a paper line and work with it until it's gone. I know some people comment that they get bored with a line if they use it for a period, but I think I like the rewarding feeling of getting so many pages finished.

I'm trying to decided if I should pull out the Cosmo Cricket Snorkel line to work on some water fun/pool pics or get the WRMK MVP line back out to finish up some more sports pages. Stay tuned...

May Personal Scrapper kit layouts

I was excited to hear that the May monthly kit from Personal Scrapper would include the "Delight" paperline by Fancy Pants. I fell in love with that line when I saw it previewed online for CHA at the beginning of the year.

When I saw the color scheme, I knew it would fit with Easter photos. I pulled out Kevin's pics from this Easter and went to work. I'm on a collage kick right now and it's really a time saver (as far as cropping goes) and a money saving option, too.

I was able to scrap Kevin's Easter from coloring eggs, seeing what the Easter Bunny brought, attending church, and hunting for eggs at Grandma's all onto 4-12x12 pages. Then I went back in time a bit and pulled photos from '06. Here's one for Blake's album. I lifted a LO in CK's new Easier than Ever Scrapbooking 2 idea book. The original LO was by Kim Arnold.

On Easter '06, Blake wrote "love notes" to us and Kevin. I had to document how sweet that was for his album. I thought the large quote card that came with the kit was very appropriate. Kevin's Easter basket loot for '06: I also scrapped similar/duplicate shots for each of the boys on the following two layouts:

The paper placement for "Sweet" was inspired by a LO in CK's new Easier Than Ever Scrapbooking 2 idea book. The LO was by Nicole Samuels. These pics are from Easter '07.

I posted when Kevin got his glasses. Now I have the photos documented for his album, too.

I completed this challenge during the National Scrapbook Day crop at Personal Scrapper. Fellow member Lynette challenged us to make a 2-page LO about ourselves. I made a 2-page 8.5x11" LO using pics of me in the only wedding party of I was ever part of (except as the bride!). I can't believe these pics are almost 25 years old! They were taken about a month before I started 5th grade. Now, my own son will start 5th grade this fall. Is that crazy or what??

I loved the quote card that came with the kit and wanted to use it with a parent/child photo. This photo of Tom with the boys on Father's Day '07 worked with it.

To use of the rest of my scraps, I completed this page for Kevin's album about Kaitlin's high school graduation. I just added a couple AC Thicker fonts and scraps of ribbon I had leftover from old PS kits. Now I guess I'll patiently wait for the June kit to arrive!

Happy scrapping!

"SLICE" of life contest

Last month I participated in a "Slice of Life" contest at Personal Scrapper. The top prize in the random drawing contest is a Making Memories SLICE machine. To participate, you had to complete 10 required challenges and had the option to complete another 40 optional challenges. I was able to complete all 50 during the six week contest.

I'd like to share a few of my favorites.

"How Not to Smile" is for Kevin's album. These shots are from this spring. The challenge was to use three different flowers on a LO. "Show Me the Money" is another Kevin page with a recent photo from the day he opened his own savings account. (See the ziploc bag full of coin rolls!)

In February, Blake competed with the academic team at the district level. His Quick Recall team won FIRST PLACE and the school also placed FIRST overall! We were so proud of them!

I had to use an "old" photo from the '90s, so I scrapped my 18th birthday.

I can't remember what challenge this "roll out the Red Carpet" LO was for, but I LOVE this photo of the boys on our mini vacation to St. Louis last fall. The restaurant had a red carpet out front, to the boys practiced waving to their fans!

I had the newspaper clipping I used for "Someday" hanging on our fridge for almost a year. Jon Lester, Red Sox pitcher, pitched a no-hitter. I altered the article to fit Blake's future. I had to scrap it so he'd remember it. ;)

One of the required challenges was to complete a mini album. I've wanted to document my favorite Christmas ornaments for quite a while. I made 5x7 photo collages of the ornaments divided up into themes and showcased them in a handmade mini album.

For the b/w or sepia photo challenge, I used a photo from 1927 of my great grandparents "kissing in a cornfield."

When going through my photos, I was surprised to see how much Kevin changed just from January to December of last year. I decided to use those two photos with the "review" challenge. My '08 calendar notes came in handy in compiling this page!

On a recent trip to Archiver's I picked up 5 sheets of birthday themed paper by The Paper Studio. I was able to make twelve 12x12 pages out of that line. Here are a few of my favorites.

I used my March kit from Personal Scrapper for the kit challenge.

There were several "About Me" challenges for this contest. One was to scrap about someone in your family. I scrapped my parents at their prom. While going through older photos, I found this one of me and a friend at Kings Island. I decided to scrap my favorites from '94 for the "favorites" challenge.

Here I am in the 4th grade with my then best friend, Becca. I still see her around town every now and then.

The achievement challenge had me stumped a bit. Then I decided to document being named a state officer in FHA. I added my name badge to the page.

The food challenge stumped a few people, but not me. I had pics of us eating out for Mom's birthday in December. We've become quite the crowd when we all go out to eat together!

I lifted a LO by Layle Koncar for the "lift Layle" challenge. She was guest designer at PS in March.

The monochromatic challenge was actually fun. I went green with Kevin's page of him helping Tom clean up after the ice storm in February.

One of my favorite LOs from the crop used a Becky Fleck sketch. I was able to mix some old embellishments in on this page.

I love crops and challenges. They always stretch my creativity.

Good luck to everyone who participated in the Slice challenges. I'm looking forward to the winners announcements.