Traveling and Prepping for CHA!

Well we are here in Chicago. Megan and I have been playing Beauty Parlor...as Tracy has said! LOL! Megan painted my toes with Cricut Heads. She also highlighted my hair for me!! SHE IS A GREAT STYLIST!! I will show a photo of my new color tomorrow!

We left Florida at 7pm Sunday night. We decided to drive straight through! I got about 4 hours of sleep on and off in the van. It took a little over 18 hours to get here.

I wanted to share a few of the sights from the drive.

This is a wind farm! It was TOTALLY COOL! There were 100s of these windmills and more were being built.

This is the sunrise in Indiana. So beautiful!!

The sunset leaving Florida!!

Layouts from my crop

Here are three layouts that I completed at a crop I went to this week. It felt good to get some layouts done. I have been working non-stop on GIBBS (a secret sister type swap), that I have hardly had time to put any photos of my own onto some pages!

I love this pink layout. I used the Slice to cut the swinging bassinet, title and numbers all from the Nursery Rhyme disc.

This layout I used the Slice for the title and the flower.

This layout is using rub-ons and some accents from Memory Makers that I purchased at Big Lots for $1.00. The large yellow piece in the center is cut with the Cricut using the Once Upon a Princess cartridge.

All Cracked Up

I made Becca a cute little Toilet Paper Mini-Album. It is packed with jokes, one-liners and comics that are all scrapbooking related. I hope this CRACKS her up!!

I also sent her some peanuts to "crack in to" while she is reading.

Twilight Swap-Thanks Tiara

Today my Twilight package arrived from Tiara. It is packed with lots of really cool things. Several notepads, a jewelry box, some chocolates, lots of cuts, an really cute calendar, a frame, a mini album, a bracelet and a bunch of cuts. GREAT JOB! I want to thank Tiara for all the hard work she put into this swap. I hope she likes the things I sent her!!

LOVE BITES!

Had a great day today scrapping with my friend Heidi. I got a few layouts done! It was a good day!

Here is the first layout:

I used a free flyer I picked up from Joann's as a sketch for this one.

The solid paper is Bazzill. The printed paper is from Creative Imagination. I used the Pooh Font Cricut cartridge to cut Bites. The little dog is a Cuttlebug Kids die. The paw is from American Traditional Designs. The fire hydrant is chipboard from Die Cuts With a View. I used Versa Magic Midnight Black ink for all the edges that are inked.

Win the new Sure Cuts A Lot program!

I wanted to share this with everyone today. I love the Sure Cuts A Lot program, but I have the older version! Check this out and you can enter to win a free copy.

http://svgcuts.com/blog/2010/07/14/sure-cuts-a-lot-blowout/

My Pack of Fur Babies

So today I thought I would share my Fur Babies with everyone. I love to take photos of them!

This is Marie. She is my son's dog. She is only a year old! She is a Fox Terrier.
This chubby guy is Stanley. He is Beagle/Jack Russell Terrier Mix. He is my husband's dog. He is 9 years old.
This is Little Bear. He is a Chi-Poo. That's a Chihuahua/Mini Poodle. He's MY BABY!! He's my scrapping buddy. He is 2 years old.
This is Stitch. He is a brindle Boston Terrier. We rescued him. He was a stray. He is also my dog. He gets psycho when I go away! We think he is about 9 years old.

Button It

I am feeling the creative Mojo right now. This is a shadow box type frame. I cut a piece of chipboard to fit inside. Covered the chipboard with paper, then with lots of great vintage images. I also used a bunch of buttons that were given to me when my grandmother died! I added a couple little pieces of lace and vintage material and a dictionary flower. And.. PRESTO...BUTTON IT!!

Time Flies!

I found this neat clock at the Goodwill! You put photos in the little blank plastic spots in each corner. I covered the clock with a piece of cardstock and then embellished with a bunch of vintage images. Some I printed off the internet, some were from a Paper Pizazz Vintage Ephemera pad and some are cut from a piece of cardstock with glittery vintage images on it. I added a few buttons and a couple of dictionary flowers dipped in glitter. I covered it with Dimensional Adhesive Glaze from Adhesive Tech. I am very happy with the way it came out! I hope Becca will be too!

I am sharing a mini-album that I have created. I made it from a $1.00 Phone Journal and cut the pages from Chipboard that comes form the back of paper packs. The idea of this album was to recycle/reuse!

These two layouts I did recently. They are photos of my sons when they were young. I don't scrapbook in chronological order. I scrap what inspires me when I open up the boxes of photos I have.

For WINK: I used Bazzill solid cardstock. The skulls are called "Heads of the Household". The little metal letters are from KI Memories-Metallix. The flowers are BoBunny.

Funny's Time: I used Bazzill solid cardstock. The patterned paper was from a kit. The pink heart boarder if from K & Company- adhesive paper ribbon. The title was cut with the Cricut. I used Tim Holtz Distress Ink for the inking of the edges of the paper (ON BOTH LAYOUTS).

These two layouts were fun and out of the norm for me. The title was cut using the Cricut and the Gypsy. The solid cardstock and pink strip are Bazzill. I also used Autumn Leaves patterned paper. I used Ranger Distressing Ink pads for the brown ink. The brass brads are from Memory Makers. The Family license plate is cut from a piece of Recollections (Michael's brand) paper.

At the crop this past weekend I helped my MIL with her photos from her recent Med Cruise. She took these photos of the layouts I did because I forgot to before she left. I used mostly Die Cuts with a View solid cardstock, K & Company patterned paper for mounting the photos, Bo Bunny Flowers and Viva Decor Pearl Pens as accents. I used the Circut to cut the titles. The object of this project was to try and include as many photos as possible in as few pages as possible so the album could be kept to a smaller size and yet show off all the countries in all their glory!!

Here are the rest of the layouts to share from this past weekends fun project. I enjoyed working with my MIL to help her get these together quickly. There is one more set of photos to do and the album will be done.

I hope these layouts spark you to think about ways to add lots of photos to a 2-page layout. We used 2x2 photos. We 3 or 4 pictures onto 1 picture using Picasa and printed them out in the 4x6 format. This allowed us to cut them apart and have all of the photo in a smaller area. I wanted to keep all of the beautiful scenery intact and not have to crop out anything.