The Rocket Center and an easy Microbead Embellishment Tutorial!

Last summer we hopped in the minivan and drove south to Huntsville, Alabama to visit the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. It was a day of fun, family and LOTS of photo opportunities.  So when I received my July Scrapbook Circle Kit in the mail {THANKS mom!} and found it filled with October Afternoon Rocket Days, I knew just which photos to print. I used a sketch from Cheri over at Let's Scrap to get me started.

Not too often that I pose for a cheesy photo but every now and then it happens;). I just love all the fun ephemera included in the kit, where else would I find rocket suit trading cards or tickets to the moon?!? 

I misted the Bazzill borders with sunshine Glimmermist and added baker's twine and ric rack to the already full to the brim kit. I also added RED microbeads to the star...more on that below;).

I had lots of fun painting and then distressing the little chipboard rocket. When I started off playing with it, I didn't really intend for it to land on the layout but by the time it was finished I was so happy with it that I just had to find it a spot.

I love flags, especially itty bitty ones flying on toothpicks so I had to add one of those as well.

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Now for the quick and easy microbeads: messy but so much fun...

Grab a glitter tray, your chipboard (or whatever material you'd like) and a vial of microbeads

 Next, cover your chipboard with PLENTY of adhesive. I just used my Xyron- it is quick, easy and relatively mess free. You can use a variety of different adhesives here and lots of people use a wet glue but I find working with a wet glue to be difficult as I always seem to end up with big clumps of microbeads both on and off my chipboard.

 Once you have your chipboard COMPLETELY covered with adhesive, poor the microbeads right over the top. Make sure you cover your chipboard well. Then press down on the beads just to make sure they get good and stuck. This is one of my favorite steps;)

I shake my tray gently to find my chipboard piece and then I carefully remove the chipboard and poor the microbeads right back into the vial. Next I push and poke the microbeads around until they are all exactly where I want them. After all the baeds are in place it is really important to seal the microbeads onto your surface. For this I use Glossy Accents. LET IT DRY completely, you all know what happens if you don't...

Happy Scrapping,

Scrap-a-Little Guest Designer

  Helen Croft, papercrafter extraordinaire, was kind enough to ask me to guest design for her!!!
She sent me her latest, greatest sketch to work with:

And here is what I came up with:

I used a stack of adorable We R Memory Keepers for this layout plus a bunch of punches! The big ticket and star pin are Maya Road and the memo pin is Tim Holtz. I used an old piece of blue ribbon to tie onto the pin but it was too bright so I just hit it with some distress ink and voila! I can see myself using this sketch a gazillion times...sideways, this way & reversed, thanks Helen!

I just don't know how Helen comes up with great sketches month after month, she truly amazes me. If you haven't had the chance to check our her gallery of sketches click here.

I did a little bonus layout for her based on sketch 49:

 I used some great old Sassafras from my stash for this one. Lots of fun layers and stickers and stitching. I am on a use what I have kick and that is actually making scrapping pretty fun, a bit of a challenge and I do miss the shopping and the NEW stuff but quite honestly, my scraproom is FULL!

Back when we only had three children I began a tradition of celebrating half birthdays. It seemed like a GREAT idea at the time...two kids had January birthdays and my energy for celebrating is a little lacking at that time of year...so the half birthday idea was born. I keep it pretty simple really, just half a cake and one present. Well, it was pretty simple until our family grew and grew and grew and now we have a half birthday, a real birthday, and/or a holiday constantly it seems. Sigh. I do LOVE to scrap the half birthdays though!!!

 I used my Papertrey Ink banner dies for these but they were too long and just looked funny to me so I altered them with a pair of scissors and got just the look I was going for. I strung a bit of Karen Foster floss through them and that made it so much easier to place on the page. I had always placed each individual letter first but that made it difficult to get that "hanging" look. Definitely worth the time to pierce holes and string floss first!

Happy Scrapping,

Green Milk!

No, no, not THAT kind of green milk. Milk NEVER has a chance to turn green in our fridge. The only time we have green milk around is when the Leprechaun's pay us a visit each March;).

I used some Little Yellow Bicycle papers that I have been hoarding for this layout. I just KNEW they would eventually come in handy. My layout is based on this week's sketch up at Let's Scrap:

I know! I kinda went a bit my own way. My layout really did start with the left side of the sketch! Ah well, there are those times that I follow sketches quite closely and there are these times when I start with a sketch but by the time I finish creating my layout the sketch is hardly recognizable. When I added my layout to the design team gallery, I thought they might just reject it but they didn't. It is up there on the main page at Let's Scrap;).

I broke out of my white thread mold on this one and used some black thread to stitch my rick rack on and to stitch together my large hearts. Then I used mini-staples {Tim Holtz} to attach my journaling strips and my small hearts. That big scrappy flower...that is just what it is, a bunch of scraps that I trimmed from my mats and they all fell in a pile and voila, an embellishment!

I added the Maya Road pins to my scrappy flower just because I thought they looked good with this Making Memories metal frame that I used around his tiny hands clutching his little glass of green milk.

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Let's Scrap is having a Design Team Call! Here is the sketch to use if you'd like to apply. Details on the call can be found here. We'd LOVE to have YOU apply. Good luck!

~Sledding Weather~

This has really been SOME winter here in the south...we have had 7 or 8 accumulating snowstorms...I've lost count. I could blame it all on Santa, who picked this year to bring all the kids sleds for Christmas but that wouldn't explain the storms that hit BEFORE Christmas. I think the storms are over. Today was sunny and in the mid-50's and it is supposed to go up from there all week. I know, I know it is only the middle of February. So guess what I have been scrapping lately? That's right, I have about 265,000 snow photos from this winter and here are just a few in a new layout based on this week's sketch over at Let's Scrap.

This is Cheri's sketch:

I was a bit hesitant to cut the main photo on this page but I love how it turned out! The page is also rather dimensional with lots of foam squares, ric rack and buttons. I used my favorite Pink Paislee letters and some Fancy Pants Frosted papers.

Everyone went sledding this year, even baby bear!

'Tis the Season~

For making lots of scrappy decorations! This is an actual chicken feeder turned candy dish {never used for chickens;)} that I decorated for Christmas this year. I used Cookbookin's line called Sugar and Spice along with a bright gingham ribbon and a couple glittery snowflakes. 

I also decorated the "back" so that if the whim hits, I can turn this around and have a bit of a different look.

And just in case you were wondering what my little chicken feeder was wearing last season...here is a shot of that:

These are super easy to make and I am currently hosting a challenge over at Kitchen Keepsake on just this sort of thing. The challenge is called "All Dressed up and Ready to Share" and runs until the end of the year. Come on over and check it out!

I have also been enjoying working on and COMPLETING a few layouts!

This is my design team work for the week over at Let's Scrap! I machine stitched along the line of the bracket...actually worked out okay. I just took it nice and slow and voila! I also used a craft knife to cute out a bit of the holly leaf so I could slide my photo underneath it.

Cheri gave us the cutest sketch to work with for this week...and yes, I am working on that second page...it's all about the cheetos;)!

I also did this layout using one of Cheri's sketches and a My Creative Scrapbook kit. I just love these photos of my oldest daughter~

 I used LOTS of ink to distress the edges of my papers as well as on the ric rack which I machine stitched to my page. I don't seem to be able to finish a page without my sewing machine lately;). I loved cutting the banner from one of the Fancy Pants papers and then I added some dimension with pop dots and a random piece of green rope ribbon.

This was such a fun little impromptu photo shoot on the side of the road. Funny which photos make the best layouts.

Hope this season of joy is indeed joyful for you~

So many sketches!!!

I have THREE new sketches and layouts for you today! The first is from Cookbookin' and features my newest favorite recipe, Stromboli! Julie Bonner was kind enough to design the sketch for this month's challenge over at the Cookbookin' blog and here it is, isn't it fantastic!?!?!

This is my interpretation featuring my super yummy Stromboli!

~Papers are Cookbookin, flowers are Prima, pins and envelope are Maya Road~

~The BRADS are some older Cookbookin'~

If you'd like to enter the drawing for this Sugar and Spice kit from Cookbookin, just head over here for details.

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There is also a great sketch up this week at Let's Scrap! I really don't know how Cheri comes up with great sketches week after week but she does! Here is this week's:

And here is my take on the first page:

I used some of the yummy Garden Variety papers from Cosmo Cricket. I am back in love with lollipop flowers, they are just so fun and EASY plus I love how they look on a page. This layout is about my sweet baby bear picking out his very first pumpkin at Gentry's farm only two super short years ago. Hard for me to deal with how fast they change...here he is this year {looking like a little boy}, and having a little trouble picking out "just one."

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And finally, another Julie Bonner sketch, this time from My Creative Scrapbook. You can view Julie's sketch here. I used the MCS September main kit for this layout of my youngest daughter at Cheekwood a few weeks ago during the Chihuly exhibit. I can't believe that the first photo I have scrapped from that trip is one WITHOUT any Chiluly in it;)

 The flowers in the kit are just beautiful! Some of them didn't quite match the colors I was looking for so I inked them with some green and yellow ink and voila!

Happy Scrapping!