Simply Challenged Challenge ~Back to School~

Hello, all! I hope everyone is doing good, what with the hectic first days of school upon us. I am happy to say that my two kiddos are going to school now and I have a little time to myself now. We all haven't got the routine down just yet, but it's only a matter of time that our days will run smoother. I can actually get to enjoy my coffee in the morning! Let's not forget, us parents have to have some "me" time! So today I have another SCC challenge to share with you! Go ahead and spend some of your "me" time creating!

A Simply Challenged Challenge is open! It's Back to School time right now, so the challenge is to create something for TEACHER!

This is a card I created for teacher! I used a sketch from Mojo Mondays Sketch Challenge blog, so I'll be entering this card in Challenge #306 there.

Sketch:

My Card:

Back to School card. I used Teacher's Pet Betty for this. I just love her twirling her hair with her finger. Something I do when I'm bored! Lol.

Make sure to stop by Simply Challenged Challenges to check out the new challenge and what the other DT members have to show you! I hope you'll decide to enter!

Punky Scraps Challenge #47

Hello, all! Today I bring you a page I created for Challenge 47 over at Punky Scraps. Check out the challenge below and visit the Punky Scraps Blog to see what the other DT members came up with. I hope I will see some of you participating over there!

Hey, everyone!! It's time for a sketch challenge. Here is the sketch created by our fearless Punky leader, Natalie:

Here is my take on the challenge:

Punky Scraps Challenge 34

Hello, all! It's Friday...which means there is a new challenge posted at Punky Scraps. This week it's a sketch challenge. I had a lot of fun with this sketch and hope some of you will use it for inspiration on one of you projects! Here is the sketch and the layout I created with it:

Punky Scraps Challenge 34 Sketch.

Autumn Layout. I turned the sketch on its side and created a LO using fall colors and leaves. I used my Cricut Expression to cut out all the leaves and inked them up with coordinating Distress Inks. The flourishes are handmade with acrylic and liquid pearls. The papers are from GCD and The Paper Studio. The photo is one I took on an autumn family outing that we had while we still lived in Wisconsin. The horse was pulling a wagon for an apple orchard tour.

Make sure to stop by Punky Scraps to view all the other wonderful pages inspired by the above sketch!

Scraps of Darkness Release & Halloween Blog Hop, & Day 15 - 31 Days of Halloween

Hello, all! A lot of stuff to share with you today! Today is the 15th and that means the October release for Scraps of Darkness. Not only do I have the release to share but today is also the first ever Scraps of Darkness blog hop - The Halloween Blog Hop! AND today is the 15th day of the 31 Days of Halloween over at Smeared and Smudged, too!

I'll only be sharing one page from the release today but I'll have a new one for you each day for the next few days to coincide with the 31 Days of Halloween.

So to begin, here is the Scraps of Darkness October Kit - The All Hallows Eve Kit.  This kit is full of papers from Moxxie, Kaisercraft, Fancy Pants, and Authentique! There are embellishments from Pink Paislee, Petaloo, and Scrapmatts; just to name a few! This kit can be used for all your wildest Halloween pages or your most elegant fall memories! It's so versatile!

Scraps of Darkness October All Hallows Eve Kit.

October All Hallows Eve Kit Sketch by Suepup (aka Charlotte).

Queen of the Damned Layout. I love this photo. In my opinion, Aaliyah made one of the prettiest vampires I've seen in movies and I wanted to create a page for her with this All Hallows Eve kit. I based this page on the Monochrome Challenge over at scrapbook.com, which includes for week 3 the use of Orange and Red. I used the Authentique Afterglow paper and a couple of different oranges, plus a red, cardstocks. I distressed the edges and inked them with Ingvild Bolm Black Coal Ink. I painted the papers with Shimmerz Orange Sherbert as well. The flourishes were cut out with my Cricut Expression and covered in Orange Peel Stickles. The bling flourishes were made by hand with Liquid Pearls in Cantaloupe. I used one of the Kaisercraft Acetate Shapes from the kit to assemble my title tag. The black flowers are from Petaloo and the orange flowers are Petaloo Color Me Crazy flowers misted with Lindy's Stamp Gang Hag Wart Orange Mist and Shimmerz Terra Cotta Mist. I stamped the background with Tim Holtz's Limited Edition Ripe Persimmon Distress Ink and some starry stamp from Inkadinkado.

And now for the Scraps of Darkness Halloween Blog Hop!

Rules: To win a prize you must become a follower on the Scraps of Darkness Blog and leave a comment on each blog in the hop including the Scraps of Darkness Blog. For the individual blog prizes (given by each design team member) you must become a follower of each individual blog as well. So to be eligible to win your all prizes in the blog giveaway you must become a follower over at the Scraps of Darkness Blog and each blog in the hop.

Now don't forget that there will be tons of prizes being given away! Here is a photo of the prize I will be giving away here at my blog for The Scraps of Darkness Halloween Blog Hop! (Open to U.S. and International Participants - International participants are responsible for shipping.)

Tim Holtz Prize Goodies!

Now the blog starts at the Scraps of Darkness Blog and ends at Lisa's (aka Raining) Blog. If you get lost, here is a blog roll to follow along:

SOD Blog - http://scrapsofdarkness.blogspot.com/

Mandy - http://forscrappingoutloud.blogspot.com

Charlotte - http://suepup.blogspot.com/

Nancy - http://justaboutthedetails.com/

Karen - http://lostcoastscrapper.blogspot.com/

Renea - http://www.myglittercoatedlife.blogspot.com/

Cheryl - http://www.cherylspassion.blogspot.com/

Celina - http://scrapvamp.blogspot.com/ <---You are Here!

Jennifer - http://scrap-escape.blogspot.com/

Lisa - http://lisas-livingincolor.blogspot.com/

Have fun hopping, enjoy the October Scraps of Darkness Release and my Day 15 project, and Good Luck!

Scraps of Darkness July Release & 12 Layouts of Alice #5 & Punky Scraps Challenge 22

Hello, all! It's the 15th of the month today and you know what that means! The release of this month's Scraps of Darkness Kit. This month's kit takes us to an exotic destination and is called Marrakesh Express. The kit is full of Christine Adolph papers and rich jewel tones. The kit is filled with luscious colors and textures. It will certainly inspire creative pages. The second layout that I completed for this release is also number 5 in my 12 Layouts of Alice series (I know it's taking me a long time to finish these up but I have a lot more on my plate this year than I did last year). Here is Marrakesh Express, including all of the optional add-ons and this month's sketch:

Scraps of Darkness July Kit - Marrakesh Express.

Marrakesh Express Paper Add On.

Marrakesh Express Card stock Add On.

Marrakesh Express Romance Add On.

Marrakesh Express Color Add On.

Marrakesh Express Flora and Fauna Add On.

Marrakesh Express Sketch by Suepup aka Charlotte.

Natural Beauty. Here is my take on July's Scraps of Darkness Sketch. This photo is one I was lucky enough to shoot from my backyard. I love the way the sunset plays off the shadows of the tree branches. Everything but the Thickers title, gold embossing, and the liquid pearls are from the Marrakesh Express Kit.

Natural Beauty Close Up 1. This is a close up of what will be my journaling spot on this layout. I wanted to show how the liquid pearls look close up.

Natural Beauty Close Up 2. Here is a close up of some of the gold embossing I did on the background paper with Lindy's Stamp Gang gold embossing powder.

Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas Tag #5.

2 Sides 2 Everything - 12 Layouts of Alice #5. When I saw these exotic papers the Caterpillar's Hookah came to mind. So I used the Caterpillar for my inspiration for this page. I used the Sparkling H2O watercolors from the Color Add On to add color to a stamp that I used on a die cut tag. I used Distress Inks in Dusty Concord and Broken China. I also used some Ranger Gold Embossing Powder on the edges of the page and on the numerals. The die cut shape behind the photos and the title letters are grunge board coated with Broken China Distress Crackle Paint. The photos are of my dog before and after he had a run in with a major amount of burrs and had to be shaved.

The leaves are covered in Lime Green Stickles and the tag is edged with Adirondack Gold Paint.

Paradise Found Layout. This page was inspired by the beach. I tried to simulate the sand, water, and sun with the shapes I cut out of the Marrakesh Express Kit papers. I also added some Thickers and Liquid Pearls to this page. I fussy cut some flowers and the bottom border, and used my Cricut Expression and the Mother's Day Bouquet Cartridge to cut out the sun.

Punky Scraps Challenge 22: Use the above sketch.

Spice of Life Layout. Okay, I went a little crazy with the stitching on this one! Lol! I even stitched the title. I created this page with the Scraps of Darkness Marrakesh Express July Kit and using the sketch for Punk Scraps Challenge #22. This has to be my favorite paper from this kit! The photos are of my kids playing around. I host a challenge over at Scraps of Darkness  called the Darkest Side Challenge and this month the topic is to scrap what puts spice in your life. My family are what do it for me!

Blue, Green, and Orange!

Hello, all! I cannot believe it but I actually finished all the challenges I signed up for this month over at scrapbook.com! And early, too! So now I am looking for new challenges to take and ideas for some more layouts. Here are a few pages from me with the same color combination. I was really feeling these colors this week! And I actually created more pages in this color combo than I'm sharing since those others are for submissions for a magazine. So here we go!

The More That You Read... layout. This is for the Dr. Seuss, Colour, and Scraplift 101 Challenges over at scrapbook.com. For the Dr. Seuss Challenge, you had to use a Seuss quote or related topic. For the Colour Challenge, you had to use Blue, Lime Green, and Orange as your palette. And for the Scraplift 101, this is a lift of Exploring the Land in Epcot by Godschild94. The photos are of my son (my daughter is in there a bit, too) after school on March 2nd, Dr. Suess' birthday. They had celebrated at school by reading the book Green Eggs and Ham and eating real green eggs and ham! He was so excited when he got home that I took out all the Dr. Seuss books my daughter's had from storage to give to him. He's been reading them non-stop!

The More That You Read (1)...Close-Up. I used some DCWV Animal Crackers papers and photos I took that day, plus added the little announcement all the kids in my son's class got for this day.

The More That You Read (2)...Close-Up. More photos of my son reading his "new" books. I used Thickers in various styles to make up the long title. I colored them with Adirondack Alcohol Inks in Sailboat Blue, Lettuce, and Sunset Orange. I used my Cricut Expression on all the stars.

Sketchy Thursdays Sketch for 3-24-2011.

The Pier layout. This is my take on the Sketchy Thursday sketch for 3-24-2011. The photos are of my son and niece, and of a restaurant called The Pier we stopped at on our mini vacation to visit relatives. The shark is real, just stuffed, and it was caught from the boat pictured at the top. I used my Cricut Expression on the stars and Stickles in Lime Green, Waterfall, and Orange Peel. The paper is from the Where the Heart Is Paper Pack from My Mind's Eye.

Night at the Pier layout. I had so many pictures of this occasion that I decided to make a second page to the sketch layout. I used the same paper pack and Stickles to complete this one as well.

(Paper) Trailmakers Sketch Challenge

Hello, all! I just wanted to give you a heads up about the challenge going on over at the (Paper) Trailmakers' Blog. There is a prize of a $15 gift certificate. I hope some of you will join in! Here is the description according to Karen:

It's a Sketchy Challenge this time!!

Hello everyone - welcome to Challenge #2 for March here at TrailMakers. I am so excited to share this sketch with you all!! Our very own DT member - Amarilys designed it specifically for YOU so please make use of it!! Remember, even though it shows a bunch of flowers, you can use any type of embellishment in place of it. Also, remember this is all about YOUR interpretation of her beautiful sketch so you can follow it exactly or make your own creation based off of it!

You will have until Saturday April 2nd to link your sketch creation to Mr. Linky. Also - reminder to you that if you participate in both challenges and put in your comment section that you are interested in a GDT spot, you are in the running for Guest Designer for May and also everyone who participates this month in the activities posted here on the blog are eligible for that $15 gift certificate to my store The Paper Trail. Each time you participate you get a chance to win!!!

This is a fabulous sketch and prize! So I hope some of you will give this a try!

Whatever Wednesday 3-16-2011

Hello, all! For Whatever Wednesday today I wanted to share another Scraps of Darkness project I was working on. This is a Prima Mist-a-bles canvas, although you can't tell any more! Lol! I kind of went overboard with the ink! I just saw Red Riding Hood yesterday and I was greatly inspired to use an image I found on the Internet almost a year ago (I think it was at the Graphics Fairy). I also completed a layout with the Thursday Sketch from the Pages in Time Blog for 3-10-2011, which I will share below.

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? layout. I was inspired by the movie Red Riding Hood, which I saw yesterday and remembered that I had this image saved. I used my March Scraps of Darkness kit on this. I used Be Positive and Stiletto Glimmer Glam on the background then stamped and embossed the flourishes with Lindy's Stamp Gang Gold Embossing Powder. I stitched on lace, and added a flower that I made using my own tutorial for Dechire Style Flowers (See link below) and some Prima flowers and Prima metal flowers. The gold rose was white and I misted it with Lindy's Stamp Gang's Gossamer Gold Moon Shadow mist. The wolf eyes are from my Immortal Love paper stack. The vine, Thickers, and black mini roses are from my stash.

Link to Dechire Style Flower Tutorial: http://scrapsofdarkness.com/TutorialDechireFlowers.html 

Thursday Sketch at Pages in Time Blog for 3-10-2011.

Birdies layout. I used the Pages in Time Sketch for 3-10-2011 for this page. The photos are of birds we saw while my family was visiting the Cameron Park Zoo in March 2010. I used Heidi Swapp papers and Thickers.

The Scraps of Darkness March Release post is below.

Whatever Wednesday 2-16-11

Hello, all! I've just emerged from a mountain of blankets to post this really quickly. It seems my son gave me the flu and I've been miserable all day. I've got chills, fever, a sore throat, a runny nose, and aches all over. I really wish kids would keep their germs to themselves! lol! So here are the layouts I wanted to share with you today.

Sketchy Thursdays GDT Sketch.

2011 is just tripping along, isn't it, and we're already ready for our March Guest Design Team Challenge!

I'm feeling the whole Valentine's Day vibe around here so I'm going to up the GDT ante.

In addition to using the sketch above, please include on your layout:

♥ Pink & Green or Red & Turquoise (I chose Red & Turquoise)
♥ Hearts (I made a heart banner)
♥ A list about something/someone you love (I listed something I love about each one of my family members)

My Family layout. This is the page I created for the Sketchy Thursdays GDT Call. I also created this for the (Paper) Trailmakers Challenge - Love Letters.

This week's challenge is all about Love Letters. No, you don't have to show us those letters you received!!! What we want you to do is a Recipe Challenge this time. Not actually cooking, ladies!!! You will pick 4 of the ingredients that are spelled with the letters from Love Letters and use those on your projects!!! You can use more than 4 if you would like, but you must use at least 4 to qualify for our drawing at the end of the month for that fabulous stamp set from My Pink Stamper that Sandi introduced to you the other day!! We also want you to tell us which 4 you used. Most of the time it is obvious, but sometimes it is not, so please "spell it out" for us!!!!

You will have until 5 pm EST on Saturday, 19 Feb. to post your project to Mr. Linky. Don't forget, for everything you participate in for February you will get your name in the drawing for the stamp set. And, we just may have some surprises along the way to get your name in an extra time! Sandi started us off with her challenge a few days ago to PM her over on the forum with the answer to a question - you can read about it here!
Lace(can be lace trim or doily or lacy paper)  - Used a doilie heart
Oval shaped item
Vellum
Eyelets - Used eyelets to hold up the banner
Letters - Used Thickers for the title
Edge punch (some call it a border punch!!)
Tag
Trim - Used pom pom trim
Electronic die cutting machine - Used my Cricut for the hearts
Ribbon - Used red and white ribbon
Stamps - Used stamps on the turquoise blocks

 

Thursday Sketch for Pages in Time Blog.

Kissy. layout. This is my son giving a kiss to one of our cats. So sweet. I inked up the edges and inked over the mask with Distress Ink in Black Soot. The paper is Echo Park.



Tea Time Tuesday 2-8-2011

Hello, all! I have something really fun to share with you! At least it was really fun to create! Over at The Altered Alice Blog they are running their first monthly challenge since taking over for the Oh! Alice Blog. Here is the challenge in there words:

To reflect all these puzzling changes, the challenge is to make something that features a dress form, OR to make something that changes in form! While it is not required that your project include Alice in Wonderland, we do encourage it. If your project does feature Wonderland you will get two chances in the prize drawing instead of one!


I thought about doing a dress form on my project but I'm not really into the dress form craze that is going on right now and so I began thinking of something that changes form. What better thing than a caterpillar changing into a butterfly?! So I took that idea and used a fabulous sketch over at the Pages In Time Blog and designed this page below. Look carefully because the caterpillar changes into a butterfly in the next picture. Following the photo of the page, I'll show you how I did it.

Sketch for Thursday Sketch at the Pages in Time blog. 

Metamorphosis (caterpillar) layout. Using the beautiful sketch from Thursday Sketches at the Pages in Time Blog, I created a base for my design. This is the caterpillar part.

Metamorphosis (In Between) layout. There is a "wheel" underneath the striped green paper on which both the caterpillar and the butterfly are on and as you turn it, the charachter "changes".

Metamorphosis (butterfly) layout. Here is my version of the butterfly the Disney Caterpillar turned into in the movie. I used many flowers from my stash, The Paper Studios Basics papers, Thickers, and a whole lot of stickles. (Sorry my watermark navigated itself onto the photo, lol).

So this is where I started with this idea. I used a regular little eyelet to fasten my "wheel" to the background.

Here is where I realized that if I kept the wheel where it was, my characters would bever fit. So I moved the circle over some.

This is the green striped paper strip for over the wheel. I added quite a few layers of mounting tape to make sure it was raised enough.

This is me arranging things and testing the wheel mechanism. 

Here you can see that I love using Stickles! Lol! The butterfly wings are stamped and cut out and glued on a different color of caterpillar.

This is a close-up of the face on the flower. I made it with a push mold and modeling clay and painted it with Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze in Northern Lights