May Scrap Our Stash Blog Hop

Happy Friday - I am so glad you are hopping along with us to get the weekend kick-started!  You should have arrived here from CHERYL'S BLOG.  If you are just stopping by and want to start at the beginning of the hop, head over to PRACTICAL SCRAPPERS.

I have two confessions to make to you while you are here.  The first is, today is my birthday!  And I think that being involved in a blog hop with my good friends is the perfect start to the beginning of my *cough mumble mumble cough* year.  LOL!

My second confession involves my layout, which is really, really (really) bright; however, after several days of heavy downpours and dark gray skies, I needed some bright sun, even if it only came from my paper stash:

You may be saying, "Krissy, this is a new(ish) summer collection by AMERICAN CRAFTS.  How could you possibly consider this to be scrapping your stash, which is kind of the point of the whole blog hop?"  Okay...time for confession two.  You see, through a stroke of sheer luck, I managed to score these papers way back during CHA in January.  Then, well, life happened (in ways that I would have preferred it not to have done) any my scrapbooking goodies got shoved in a bag under a table, where they sat alone and neglected.  Do I have older stash?  Oh, yes.  But I am positive I don't have anything brighter and more sunshiny than these papers!

To get started, I used this sketch by CREATIVE SCRAPPERS:

As you can see, I stayed pretty true to the sketch.  Here are a few close-ups (go ahead, put on your sunglasses if you need to):

As you can see, I was one layering crazy woman!  But what can I say?  I wanted to use all my bright pretty papers.  And then I found some cool transparancies that I HAD to use; and the same with the cute stickers; and, gosh, how could I NOT use the adorable wood veneer shapes?  

And, of course, I had to include a little flair.  And include tiny type stickers to add a little visual interest to my title.  And sew.  And fussy cut.  And cut fringes...

But - my stash is just a little more scrapped now, and my work here is done.  Or at least my layout is done...you know what I mean...

Next up on the blog hop is WENDI.  I am sure you are going to love her project!  

Have a great weekend and happy hopping!

PRACTICAL SCRAPPERS - SCRAPPING YOUR STASH BLOG HOP

Welcome to the Practical Scrappers Blog Hop 

where we are Scrapping our Stash.

 If you want to see five darling, adorable notecards I made for PRETTY LITTLE STUDIO, then click HERE.   If you want to see the latest coolio sketch, and my take on it, by MY SCRAPS AND MORE, click HERE. 

This month we are focusing on scrapping our Valentine's stash, or at least stash that has to do with love. We are thrilled to have Kiwi Lane Designs sponsoring this month!  

Kiwi Lane Designs creates templates that help take the frustration out of scrapbooking!  And one lucky winner will get a border set and an accessory set from Kiwi Lane.  We are big fans of Kiwi Lane Designs and in fact have several members of our design team who either currently or in the past have been a part of their design team!  Details on how you can win this prize are at the bottom of this post!

Here is my layout that I created for this blog hop:

Now, I have a confession to make.  I don't have any Valentine's paper left in my stash.  I used to hoard collect Valentine's paper along with all the holiday papers, but then I realized I had lots of cutesy papers that I probably wasn't going to use.  So I gave most of it to a certain 4 year old in my family who was most appreciative!  

That being said, I am on the design team for PRETTY LITTLE STUDIO and have been very fortunate to get the new collections as soon as they come in.  And to make way for the new, I need to use up some of my older stash, including some appropriately-themed heart papers and lovely pastel papers.  I l-o-v-e these papers, which is why I held on to them.  But there is no better time to use them, I think, then on a layout about my youngest daughter and her daddy.  She is a Daddy's girl, through and through, and he has often said he would give her the world.  Unfortunately, he didn't realize "giving her the world" might include giving her his favorite Irish cap!

Here are a couple of close-ups.  I love the way the bright yellow hearts pop against the softer pastel papers, don't you?

I cut up my background paper and then layered it in angled strips, which I machine-stitched onto a piece of cardstock.  I added a little peek-a-boo strip of heart paper for fun.  I used rub-ons (also dug out of my stash), a label-maker, and alphas to create my extremely long title.

 Okay, back to the blog hop...we this is a huge list for the blog hop and would love for you to visit as many as you can...but we are not making that mandatory to qualify for the big prize.  BUT - many of the designers are offering prizes of their own so the more you hop, the more chances you have to win!

Here is the list if you are just joining in and want to hop along:

Practical Scrappers Blog Hop List

PRACTICAL SCRAPPERS

Krissy Clark McKee (YOU ARE HERE!!!)

Christine Meyer
Kim Ryden
Patty Selah
Charity Hotrum

Lissa Mitchell
Jennifer Haggerty
Alison Day

Bobbi Smith
Michelle Johns
Kerri Yarus
Cathy Harper
Nicole Laha
Lanette Erickson
Majken Pullin

Erin Morehouse

Lisa Peeples
Claude Campeau
Wendy Coffman
Lee-Anne Thornton

This is what you need to do to win the big prize! You can do any or all of the following for up to three entries! 

1) Become a follower here; or

2) Become a fan on our facebook page; or

3) Become a fan on the Kiwi Lane facebook page, and make sure to tell them we sent ya!

WANT TO WIN A PRIZE WITH ME?  IN THE SPIRIT OF VALENTINE'S DAY, I WOULD LIKE YOU TO LEAVE A SWEET MESSAGE ON SOMEONE ELSE'S BLOG ON THIS HOP.  THEN LEAVE ME A MESSAGE TO LET ME KNOW WHOSE BLOG YOU COMMENTED ON.  What's the prize?  How about a $15 gift certificate to my favorite store - Pretty Little Studio!

This contest will close at 11:59 pm CST on Sunday, the 16th.  

Valentine's Cards

Today, we are sharing Valentines over at PRACTICAL SCRAPPERS.  I decided to take the challenge to create a Valentine project literally and made a couple of cards using leftover papers and bits and pieces from my PAPER BAKERY LOVE POTION #9 SCRAPBOOK KIT.  Yep, so far I have made four layouts and three cards from one kit.  AND, I have enough left over to make another card or two.  That's a pretty awesome kit, if you ask me!

Here is the second Valentine I made with my kit (the third card is an everyday card that I will share later):

I do not consider myself a "card maker;" however, this kit contained so many cute design elements that even my simple cards turned out absolutely adorable.  I am sure they will put a smile on my Valentines' faces!

Have you made your Valentine Cards yet?  Better hurry!  Only 7 days left to V Day!!!

P.S. - did you know that both PRACTICAL SCRAPPERS and PAPER BAKERY have sketches posted each month?  If you like to use sketches to create your layouts and cards, you are going to love these!  Be sure to check them out (and tell them Krissy sent you).

SCRAPPING OUR STASH: PRACTICAL SCRAPPERS BLOG HOP

Welcome to the Practical Scrappers Blog Hop 

where we are Scrapping our Stash.

You should have just arrived from Nicole Laha's BLOG.  If, however, you just found me by accident and want to start at the very beginning (that's a very good place to start), then just click the link for PRACTICAL SCRAPPERS.

As I am sure you know, CHA is this weekend.  That means all the manufacturers we know and love are putting out all kinds of fabulous new goodies for us to play with. So what better time to kick off our new monthly series of Scrapping our Stash than now, when we are getting ready to get lots of new stuff in!   Right?  Right!!

Before I show you what I created from my stash, I want to give a special shout out to the sponsor of today's hop: Kiwi Lane Designs!

Kiwi Lane Designs creates templates that help take the frustration out of scrapbooking!  And one lucky winner today will get a border set and an accessory set from Kiwi Lane.  We at Practical Scrappers are big fans of Kiwi Lane Designs in fact, several of our Practical Scrappers are either currently on or have been part of Kiwi Lane's design team!  

 There's a lot of blogs to hop to, and we sure would love for you to visit as many of us as possible (and maybe leave a nice comment or two).  BUT - it is not mandatory to qualify for the Kiwi Lane grand prize.  

Want to know how to qualify for the grand prize? You can do any or all of the following for up to three entries!

1) Become a follower here

2) Become a fan on our Practical Scrapper facebook page

3) Become a fan on the Kiwi Lane facebook page and make sure to tell them we sent ya!

And one last thing, be sure to leave a comment on the Practical Scrappers blog to let us know what you did.

Speaking of stash, I have some new stash coming in from PAPER BAKERY, including some exclusive FLAIR that you cannot find anywhere else!  I have two extra packs to give away as candy at the end of this blog hop.  How do you win it?  It's simple -  become a follower on my blog (if you aren't one already) and leave me a comment.  I love feedback, and it would make my day to hear from you!

Here is what I created for this hop - a little layout using (mainly) Lily Bee's We R Family Collection:

Now you might be saying, "Krissy, the We R Family Collection is not that old.  How can this possibly be an example of you scrapping your stash?"  Well, it's like this.  I have been playing with my Lily Bee products and recently created two other layouts.  They can be found HERE and HERE.   By the time I finished with them, my work table was covered with lots of scraps and a couple of lonely Lily Bee papers that I had not yet used.  Rather than put them back in their little folder on the shelf, I took the lazy way out came up with the ingenious time-saving idea to go ahead and make one more layout, effectively using up all of my stash.  Now I have an empty paper folder just waiting for the new Everyday Collection, which I cannot wait to get my hands on! (Note:  I did use a few embellishments that were also sitting out on my table by Jillibean Soup.  But Jillibean and Lily Bee play nicely with each other on my layout, don't you think?)

Here are a couple of close-ups:

Well, that's it for me.  Your next stop on our hop is WENDI ROBINSON.  Happy hopping!!!

Top 10 Blog Hop and Give-Away - 2013 Edition

Welcome to the Top 10 Blog Hop - 2013 Edition.  You should have arrived from Laurel Seabrook's BLOG.  I am thrilled to be hopping along with many of my scrappy friends this year and am so glad you are joining us!  In fact, I am so thrilled that I will be having a little give-away (more on that at the end of this post).  

I loved looking back at the projects I created this year.  I tried to narrow them down to my favorite 10, I really did!  But, the closest I could get my favorites narrowed down was to a "lucky" 13, which just happens to correspond with the year.  So, I went with it. I know - it's a Top 10 Blog Hop, and I am being a rebel and a rule-breaker; you aren't telling me anything my Grandmama didn't tell me at least a hundred thousand bejillion times growing up!  But the heart wants what the heart wants.  *smile*

So, without further ado, here are my Lucky 13 from 2013.  I included the link to each original post just in case you want more details or close-ups:

(HERE AND NOW created for a Practical Scrappers Frugal Finds Challenge, using American Crafts papers)

(THESE ARE THE DAYS created for the Two Peas CHA 13 Online Winter Social Challenge, using several Echo Park collections)

(HUGS AND KISSES created for the Practical Scrappers Pinterest Challenge, using Crate Paper's 14 Collection)

(LIVE INSPIRED created for a Practical Scrappers Sketch Challenge, using Studio Calico papers)

(PERFECTLY IMPERFECT created for a Practical Scrappers individual feature on using less-than-perfect photos, using Pebbles Seen and Noted Collection)

(THE JOURNEY created for Pretty Little Studio, using the Birthday Cake Collection)

(HELLO 13, created for a Pebbles Sketchy Thursday Challenge, using several Pebbles collections)

(FAMILY OF 4 created for Pretty Little Studio, using the Nature Walk Collection)

(BELIEVE YOUR DREAMS, created using Glitz Design papers)

(LIKE A SHINING STAR, created for a Pretty Little Studio sketch challenge, using Woodland Christmas papers)

(FOLLOW THE LEADER created for a Practical Scrappers sketch challenge using Pink Paislee's Hey Kid Collection)

(DEAR SANTA...PLEASE STOP HERE created for the My Mind's Eye "Dear Santa" challenge, using a couple of My Mind's Eye collections)

(OH CHRISTMAS TREE, created as a mixed media tutorial for Pretty Little Studio, using the Woodland Christmas Collection)

Whew!  Are you still with me?  If you are, you may have noticed that several of my projects feature Pretty Little Studio papers.  I have been extremely fortunate to be on the Pretty Little Studio design team and love, love, LOVE their products.  So, if you are a follower of my blog AND leave me a comment telling me which layout you like best from my Lucky 13, then I will choose a winner by random drawing on Monday, December 30th to receive a $20 gift certificate to the PRETTY LITTLE STUDIO STORE!!!

Ready to keep blogging?  Your next stop is KERRI YARUS. 

Here is the entire list (just in case you get lost).  Happy hopping!!!

Monika Wright  

Christine Meyer

Suzanna Lee 

Ashley Horton  

Jodi Wilton 

Lisa Swift

Cathy Harper

Marcia Dehn-Nix

Lynn Shokoples

Lissa Mitchell

Juliana Michaels  

Melissa Elsner 

Charissa Miller  

Kelly Jean 

Ashley N Newell

Jennifer Haggerty

Laurel Seabrook  

Krissy Clark McKee - THAT'S ME!!!!!!!!!

Kerri Yarus 

Rhonda Van Ginkel 

Malika Kelly

December Sketch - Practical Scrappers

Happy Friday the 13th!  Do you like a good sketch?  Well, then, today is YOUR lucky day!  Why?  Because PRACTICAL SCRAPPERS has a fantastic new sketch by our own Liz Chidester that is being revealed today along with several Practical Scrappers' takes on it (including mine)!  I used a couple of different collections by PINK PAISLEE on my layout - I didn't quite have enough papers from the Hey Kid Collection to use, but I did have a sheet sheet left over from the Hometown Summer Collection (the red paper with white stars) that coordinated perfectly.  I love it when that happens!  I gotta tell you, there is something about the combination of red and yellow that I absolutely love!

I also improvised a little with Liz's sketch.  The two photos I wanted to use weren't oriented the right way to work with the sketch, so what did I do?  I rotated the sketch 90 degrees counter-clockwise so my pictures wouldn't be all "squished" together.  

These two photos make me laugh a little every time I look at them.  Little Lula really really wanted to "fly" in the swings like the Huntress but wasn't quite brave enough to stretch her arms and legs out.  She's a little daredevil, though, so I expect she will be "flying" alongside her big bestie before too much longer.

I loved layering all these pieces together into a cluster around my journaling tag.  I added doodling and machine stitching to help tie everything together:

Want to know how I came up with the left side of my layout?  It was definitely not a thought-out process!

So I was pretty sure I wanted to use an arrow or two at the bottom of my layout to help balance out the scalloped circles at the top and to call attention to my title.  There were so many cute bits and pieces, though, that I couldn't decide which I wanted to use.  Before I knew it, I had a line of "possibles" and I decided I liked the way all of them looked together.  I did move some over to the side so that the ends were off the paper (and cut off the excess parts hanging over the edge) just because I thought the arrows looked better staggered that way.  As for my title, I ran out of "L's" on my sticker sheet.  So, I simply pulled out my different alphas until I found another "L" that I liked.  And I really like the end result.  I love it when randomness comes together!!!

Getting Inspired!

I think I have just had my "in a perfect world" scenario come to life - at least in scrapbooking.  How's that?  Well, I am up on the Practical Scrappers BLOG today using a layout created with all my  (Nature Walk Collection) goodies from PRETTY LITTLE STUDIO.  I played along with this week's OOTB inspiration challenge, and IT WASN'T EVEN MY WEEK TO POST.  Pretty sure that's true love.

I really believe this week's OOTB challenge gave me that little extra bit of inspiration that I needed.  I LOVE the way this layout came together.  Of course, it's mine, so you know I'm going to say I love it if I am taking the time to blog about it but...I really do like this layout - a lot a lot!  I like the clean lines, I like the bright pops of color, I like the adorable photo and my play on the word "fall."  Yep, I like it all.  Like I said - it's a good day.

A few close ups:

#supercool - Practical Scrappers

 

The Huntress, who is now a bona fide teenager is always posing like this - flashing a peace sign and giving a big, glassy-eyed fake smiley face.  I actually asked her one time W-H-Y she kept posing like that and I got a reply that went something like, "(shrugging her shoulders) I don't k-n-o-w.  It's just (rolling her eyes and acting like my i.q. is entirely too low to ever understand), like, how I like to pose okay?  I believe in peace.  Sorry you didn't have Facebook when you were a kid."  Seriously, that was what she said to me.  Although my teen is all about peace and love, I'm not quite ready to sign her up for the Peace Corps just yet.  After a little cyber-stalking, it seems that 93.999% of the Huntress' peers are all striking identical poses.  The other 7% are a little behind the times and haven't figured out that the duck face is so five minutes ago...

 

Now you know me.  I'm hip.  I'm trendy.  And by golly, I'm always up for embarrassing showing my child I've still got some coolness in me.  So, after hours of intense practice in front of a mirror, I think I have got the look down perfectly!  What do you think???  Oh, and I am sure it was entirely accidental that my teen de-friended me on Facebook...

 

Want to make a layout like this one (with or without the awesome pose)?  I used this SKETCH by My Minds Eye as well as papers from the CUT AND PASTE COLLECTION.

 

As part of a PRACTICAL SCRAPPERS assignment with the On Trend Team, I used a stencil and a black marker to create a bottom "layer" of pattern around my photo

 

 

I fussy cut patterns from one of my papers and sewed them on at an angle to mimic the stenciled pattern on my layout.

 

 

And, of course, my layout would not be complete without my super long title, complete with a hashtag!

 

 

That's it for me!  Have you embarrassed your child lately???

ALL THINGS WOOD BLOG HOP WITH PRACTICAL SCRAPPERS

 

Welcome to the Practical Scrappers/Paper Secrets Blog Hop! We are so excited to have you here today! This blog hop features the wonderful Ten Things Team from PRACTICAL SCRAPPERS and members from the Design Team at PAPER SECRETS. How did I get included with the Ten Things Team which is full of crafty, innovative ladies?  Well...I think it was an accounting error (I always blame the accounting department whether there actually is one or not!).  Okay, would you believe I know someone in high places?  No?  How about...the dog ate my homework!  Whatever, the reason, I am super happy to be included because ***insert drum roll here*** (typing in my best announcer voice) OUR TOPIC FOR THIS HOP IS A FUN, TRENDY ONE SURE TO CATCH YOUR ATTENTION: WOOD! A - n-n-n-d-d, that's not all!  We have a collection of wood goodies from Paper Secrets to give away (details below).

 

You may not realize this but my husband's latest hobby this past year or two has been carpentry - mainly because I keep finding things on Pinterest that I want him to make for me.  And because he cuts wood ALL the time, our garage is constantly littered with little pieces of wood.  I can either choose to be annoyed that the Hubster still has not learned to clean up after himself.  OR, I can view all the scraps as small gifts that he thoughtfully leaves out for my crafty self.  I choose to believe the latter, which tends to make our relationship a lot less strained (and keeps my blood pressure within reasonable levels)!

 

I recently picked up a small scrap of plywood (thoughtfully left in the garage around, but not actually in, the trash container where a less thoughtful person might have put it).  The wood piece is roughly a 6x6 square.  It was perfect for creating my little piece of ar, which was  super easy to make.  Here's how I did it:

 

I used my left over papers from CRATE PAPER'S 14 Collection. 

I placed my wood piece on the background paper and traced the shape, then cut on the traced lines.

I brushed Mod Podge liberally across the surface of my wood and then placed the paper on top, making sure to press out any bubbles.

I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out my bird shape. and used Mod Podge to adhere it to my paper.

I used various word stickers and some fabric alphas to create my phrase.

I fussy cut banners out from my papers and placed them in the corners, using more Mod Podge to adhere them.

I Mod Podged my button and plastic piece.

Finally, I coated the top of everything with a thick, even layer of Mod Podge and let it dry.

 

Super easy, right?  Here's a close up of my phrase:

 

Are you feeling inspired for all things wood now?  You are!  Well, then, don't miss out on all the other stops on this blog hop!  Here is the list:

Blog Hop List

Practical Scrappers

Charity Hotrum

Lisa Moen

Jessica Arrant

Kristi Biesel

Stephanie U

Patty Selah

Karen Sessions

Kelly Holfield

Wendy Coffman

Deborah Johnson

Krissy Clark

Rochelle Spears

Kerri Yarus

Lee-Anne Thornton

Leslii Wagner

Kelli Fortier

Kim Ryden

Sue Kithcart

Brenda Ragsdale

Charissa Miller

Christine Meyer

Sarah Clark

 Kelly Jean Guzlas

Paper Secrets

And - that grand prize I was telling you about?  Here it is!!!

What can you do to qualify to win?  It's so simple, even my little Chihuahua could do it:

You can do any or all of the following to get entered:

1) Be a follower at Practical Scrappers

2) Be a follower at the Paper Secrets Blog

3) Like our Practical Scrappers Facebook Page

4) Like the Paper Secrets Facebook Page; and very importantly

5)LEAVE A COMMENT HERE TELLING ME WHICH OF THESE THINGS YOU DID. 

 

Of course, if you also want to tell me whether you like my project or not - well, let's just say it would make my day!  Because it "wood." *smile*

 

You have until 11:59 PM CST on Sunday, August 25th to enter. A winner will be announced early next week!

Back to School with Practical Scrappers

Today at PRACTICAL SCRAPPERS, we are showing off our back-to-school themed layouts.  This was a great challenge for me because I usually struggle with fall-themed layouts and that includes back-to-school stuff - maybe because it still feels like summer when the temperature gauge keeps steadily hitting 100+ degrees here in Tejasland!

The Huntress actually has one more week left of freedom before school starts, so I decided to do a little journaling and create a quiz reflecting her current likes (and a dislike) and what she hopes to accomplish in school this year. 

Just like a real quiz, the categories are on the front and the answers are on the back.  Want to know the answers to my 8th grader's quiz?  Yeah?  Here you go:

1.  Favorite movie (A: Scott Pilgrim)
2.  Fave T.V. show (A: Adventure Time)
3. Favorite New Song (A: Wow by BtoB)
4. Besties (A: Crystal and Kamber)
5. A fun activity (A: Getting crafty with Pearler Beads)
6. Can't stand (A: It's still brocolli)
7. Fave Foods (A: Pizza and Spaghetti)
8. This year I hope to... (A: get good grades, have nice teachers, and improve my singing)

My journaling tag tucks nicely into a pocket sewn into the back of my photo frame.

I used CRATE PAPER'S Portrait Collection to creat this layout - an older collection, yes, but it contained the "back-to-school" colors I was looking for without being overly "fall-y" or in-your-face back to school.  In other words, just the right papers for my project!  One thing I love about Crate Paper is that their collections always include a page of paper die cuts, which are perfect for creating clusters or titles - like mine! 

 

I also used this SKETCH found at Page Maps to get me jump started.  My layout doesn't look much like the sketch at all - but it got me going and that's all I needed!!!  By the way, Page Maps is having a contest with this sketch right now which is open for another few days - be sure to check it out!

 

That's it for me today.  Before I go, tell me, what kinds of papers do you prefer to use for your back-to-school layouts?  Do you go traditional and use themed collections or do you buck the trend and do your own thing?  I'm curious...

PRETTY LITTLE STUDIO LAYOUTS

As summer begins to transition into fall (at least for points due north of Houston), I am certainly enjoying creating layouts that evoke thoughts of cooler weather and memories of a summer that hasn't quite yet gone by.  What the heck am I talking about, you wonder? W-e-e-l-l-l, I'm not really sure myself, but it does sound kind of Martha Stewartish and fancy for the two layouts I have up for you to see today!  *smile*

First up is this layout, that I created for this week's SKETCH CHALLENGE at Pretty Little Studio.

The idea for this layout came when I stepped out from our wonderfully air-conditioned home into the crazy humidity that is our summer in Texas to take a picture (or five) of the Huntress.  The transition from nice and cold house to hotter-than-Hades and muggy outside created insta-fog on my lens.  I quickly took care of it but not before I took the first picture, which looked somewhat like a soft dreamy memory.  Since all the stores are stocking Halloween and even Christmas (yikes!) stuff, I thought I would create a layout centered around the idea that soon today will be a memory.  Cheesy?  A little.  Maybe.  But when I have such pretty papers to play with, like these from the PLS SAND CASTLE Collection, even cheesy looks good!

 

Did you know that if you play along with the sketch challenge and win, you get a credit to the Pretty Little Studio store?  It's a perfect way to try out a new product (and I guarantee you will love it!)

 

Next up is a layout I created for PRACTICAL SCRAPPERS yesterday as part of the On Trend Team.  We were making layouts with sunbursts, and this was my interpretation.

 

I L.O.V.E. (say the word "love" about 20 more times and that's how much I love it!) Pretty Little Studio's NATURE WALK Collection, especially this PAGE, called Pine Needles.

As you can see, I didn't have to do a lot with it, just cut it up and put it on a blue cardstock background, stitch a little, and then decorate it a little.  Easy peasy and the result is super cute, if I do say so myself.  And I do!

 

Whew!  Two projects revealed.  I am tired now!  And hungry.  So I will leave you to enjoy the rest of your day and wish you Happy Crafting!