Layout Catch-up!

Hello, and Happy Tuesday to you all! I hope you are enjoying you summer vacation so far. We've had several days of sun and warm weather and I have been loving it! Tried to get out as much as possible. Even today, it was 70* even though you couldn't see the sun through the clouds. By this evening it was sprinkling, but it was still very warm and left the air smelling fresh and clean.

Ok, well, it's been a while since I've shared any of my layouts with you, so let me just get caught up. Be forewarned, this may be a long post, lol. I hope you enjoy!

Last time I shared, I left you with a beautiful kit by Sherwood Studio called "Catharsis". I LOVED working with that kit! It is so unique. I just knew what I was going to do with it and it all just seemed to fall into place. (I love when that happens!) Here is my page, "Art Therapy":

Credits:

Kit - 'Catharsis' by Sherwood Studio.

Template by Mye DeLeon (GP May Cluster Your Heart Out Challenge).

Font - Special Elite.

Now, orange is definitely not one of my favorite colors, but I really love how this next page turned out. I had this super cute pic of my kitty, "Sophie", that I wanted to scrap and when I came upon the May Indulgence Challenge over at Brownie Scraps I knew it would be perfect for my photo. (The challenge is to use every piece of the mini kit that they provide. Go check it out sometime! It's a fun one.) I tried a new-to-me technique on this page: cutting out a shape. I cut the section out of the white paper so that you can read the word "moments" from the page behind it. I see this technique so much around digiworld and I love the look! I'll definitely be trying this one again. And here is my page, "Sophie":

Credits:

Kit - 'Moments of Sunshine' by Jacabean Designs (Brownie Scraps May Indulgence Challenge).

Template by Crisdam Designs (Gotta Pixel Temp Challenge 11-2010).

Font - DJB_SWEETROBIN.

I absolutely LOVE the photos in my next page! This is my niece, Natalie. She is so adorable!! I just love her to pieces! And boy does she know how to have fun! Just try not to smile when you look at her ;)

These photos were taken a couple weeks ago when we had a party for my oldest niece, Tisha, who graduated from High School! (SUPER proud of her!!) Here is "Backyard Swingin'":

You smiled, didn't you? ;)

Credits:

Kit - 'Think Spring' SHCO Collab.

Template - 'Building Blocks Singles No. 5' by Tracie Stroud.

Alpha - 'Kinda Sketchy {Black}' by Ellie Lash.

Font - Boring Showers and Problem Secretary.

Summer is upon us, in full swing, and there are so many things we would like to do. I doubt we'll be able to do as much as we'd like to, but the kids and I had fun writing up a list of some ideas. A coupe days later I came across a challenge over at Ginger Scraps asking you to scrap a Summer Bucket List! What perfect timing! So here is what I came up with, "Summer Bucket List 2011":

Kit - 'Summer Day' collab by Ellie Lash and Sunny Day Scraps.

Template by Ramona the pest for the SO June Member Spotlight Challenge.

Fonts - Boris Black Boxx and CK Buddies.

Last weekend Hubby and I refurbished my old desk and made it into the desk I've been wanting for so long. I never seem to have enough room on my desk to be able to use my computer and also be crafty. I knew what I wanted, but I've never been able to find it and never had the money to buy it anyway, lol. Well, I guess I'll let my layout tell the rest of the story. Here is "Desk Remodel":

I entered this page in several different challenges: The June Font Challenge at Brownie Scraps, using Pea Nicki; Scrap Orchard's "What the Font" challenge, using Sea Dreams; and the June Sugar Swap Challenge over at Ginger Scraps. This is the page, by Emma (Hobbes130), that I lifted:

Credits for my page:

Kit - MScraps iNSD 2011 Blog Train Freebie:

Deca Designs - flower, butterfly, ribbon, lace, lined paper, light green paper; Erica Zwart - green patterned paper; Designs by Heather T - frame; ListGirl Designs - flowered paper; Ruth Melody Designs - glitter; Tracy Ann Little - pink paper, string; Yoshiko Designs - heart brad; Designs by Sweet Mesquite - green stitches; Pink Reptile Designs - pink ricrac; MandyMade - brown stitching.

Alpha - 'Sisters' by Ramona the Pest.

Fonts - Pea Nicki & Sea Dreams.

This last one had funny timing also. As usual, Zach had me cracking up over something he had said, but this time I had actually taken the time to write it down. (I always wish I had done that more often as the kids have grown up so fast.) The next day I found the June 6th "Everyday Magic Challenge" over at Scrap Matters. The challenge was to scrap a conversation! Perfect!! Here is "No Beat":

He is my dancin' fool! And my comic relief <3

Credits:

Kit - 'Work It Out' by Ellie Lash.

Musical elements - 'Birds of a Feather' by Ellie Lash.

Template by Blue Scraps for Brownie Scraps June Semi-Homemade Challenge.

Font - Pea Noodle's Girlfriends.

Now, before I go I thought I'd share a quick update on my life with Grandma. We have along over-due appointment tomorrow with a Neurologist. I'm praying he will finally have some answers for us. Her Primary Physician hasn't been much help at all. He has no patience with Grandma. He asks her questions and then talks over her and doesn't listen to what she has to say. I get so frustrated! He has had several tests ran, but never has any answers for us. He has mentioned once that we may be seeing the beginning affects of Parkinson's, but he's not sure. We had a CT Scan ran on the 16th. They found no tumors or signs of a stroke, but there is a lot of atrophy. Her muscles are showing signs of atrophy as well. She is not able to stand straight up anymore, it's almost like she walks in a sitting position, knees and hips bent. She barely has the strength to walk to the bathroom or to her room. I can't walk her anymore as she pulls so hard on me, and our weights are to close to the same that I'm not able to hold her up. Charles walks her so she gets some excercise, but I have her sit in her walker and I push her around the house ;) You gotta do what you can, right? Get creative! Anyway, I'll elt you know how the appointment oges tomorrow. Please say a prayer for her! Things are getting quite over-whelming for all of us here.

One day at a time.....

Show 'N Tell

Hello! Happy Friday to you!! The last 2 days here have been absolutely beautiful! The temps have been about 75 degrees, and I could really get used to this! I even broke out the shorts, flip-flops and, of course, my signature fuchsia pink toenail polish ;) That screams summer to me, so bring it on!!

My kids only have 2 weeks and 2 1/2 days of school left, so Summer has to be coming soon, right? I hope the weather continues to cooperate.

So, I have 2 pages I want to share today. I haven't been spending as much time scrapping as I would've liked to lately. I've even had the time to do it (shock!) But every time I get online I end up surfing all my favorite scrapping and crafty blogs and websites! I get so many ideas running through my head that I'd like to try that I end up overwhelming myself and then getting nothing done in the end! LOL Well I take  that back.. I did get these done ;)

This first page is another one done with a kit by Sherwood Studio. The kit is so beautiful! As soon as I saw it I knew exactly what photos I wanted to use. I had just noticed, a few days before, all the pretty little Blue Bonnets (I think that's what they are :P) growing up along side of our gravel driveway by the fence. I was impressed by their beauty and their persistence to grow even though there is no soft soil or grass there. Here is my page: Spring Flowers

Kit - 'Garden Fairies' by Sherwood Studio.

Template by Designs by Camijo.

Fonts - Berylium and Beautiful.

My second page was done for the "Show Me the Mini" challenge over at Gotta Pixel. As soon as I saw the beautiful little mini kit put together by Trixie Scraps, I knew I had to join in. And since it's May, the month of Mother's Day, the challenge was devoted to a page of our Mom's. So it was my pleasure to make this page for my Mom :) I hope she likes it too! Here's my page: My Mother

Kit - "My Lovely Mother" by Trixie Scraps (Gotta Pixel May Show Me The Mini Challenge)

Template by Marni Designs (Brownie Scraps May Template Challenge)

Font - Digs My Heart

I have one more new kit by Sherwood Studio that I need to work with. It's called "Catharsis" and you can find it at TDC. Take a look at it. It is absolutely gorgeous! And I can't wait to dig my digital fingers into it! :) 

So, I'll be back to share my page when I get it done. 

Thanks for visiting me again! I appreciate all the sweet comments I get from all my friends, whether Real Life friends or Computer friends. You all make me smile! :D Enjoy your weekend!

Winter is on it's way!

I don't know about where you live, but it has gotten very cold here in the last few days. They are already talking about maybe getting some snow this weekend! That is very early for for us. But I'm ready for it. LOL, as long as I don't have to go out in it for anything other than photo ops! :) It's absolutely beautiful, but I am not made to handle the cold very well at all. 'Not enough insulation', I'm told ;) hehe.

Ok, last time I promised a couple new pages and I've got them for you. I really like this first one. I thought it turned out realy well, and it also displays two of my crafts in one! See, the circle elements in the page are the front and back of a thanksgiving decoration I made for some of my friends. I used an old CD that was scratched up and didn't work anymore. Remember, I showed you another one of those here. Here is "Thankful For You":

I used a template from Leenie Lou Desings @ Brownie Scraps. The kit is "Let's Get Together" by Erica Zane and Denise Beatty Originals @ Scrap Matters. I LOVE the colors in this kit!

Now, this second one I did as a RAK (Random Act of Kindness) Challenge over at Scrap Orchard. See, you post one of you photos you would like to see someone else scrap for you and you take someone else's photo and scrap it for them. This is the first time I have ever done something like this, but as soon as I saw the photo that was posted I had to grab it. I love the coloring and lighting of the photo, and I knew I had to perfect kit for it. Here is "Let It Snow":

The kit is 'Christmas Joy' by The Ettes & Company; Designed By Annette Ward at Scrap Orchard. The template I used is by Ziggle Designs. I was so relieved when the girl I made it for said she loved it! I knew I liked it, but I really wanted her to like it as well. lol.

Well, now that Fall is passing us by I guess it's about time I started working on a new blog background, isn't it? I'm of course thinking either Christmas or Wintery. I haven't decided which one yet. I have so many awesome kits of both styles. Guess you'll have to wait and see what I come up with ;) Until then... C'ya!

Goodbye, October...

Hello, November! This year is running by so quickly, but thanks to all my digital scrapbooking, I have lots of great memories that I will never forget. What a blessing! And isn't that what this month is all about? Counting all our blessings. I can never say that without going back in my mind to singing that song in church as a young girl.

"Count your blessings, name them one by one.

Count your blessings, see what God has done.

Count your blessings, name them one by one.

Count you many blessing see what God has done."

I love that song! I know I need to stop more often and count my blessing. I tend to get overwhelmed with everything that's wrong and forget all the things that are perfectly right. I hope that in this special time of the year that you, too, will count your blessing and remember to give thanks for each and every one of them.

I have just a couple pages I would like to share with you. I haven't been as busy scrapping as I had been. I'll explain why in just a minute. First, I'd like to show you my page I called "David Hill Winery in the Fall". This was another photo I took that day Charles and I went out driving around looking for fall's splendor. :) The vineyard is beautiful painted in fall colors. Have a look:

The kit I used for this page is 'Autumn Beginnings' by Lyndie Collins, Marnie Designs, Punky Princess Scraps, and Ramona the Pest at Brownie Scraps. The template is by CaroB71 at Sunshine Studio Scraps. The font is Britannic EF Extra Light.

This next one also uses one of the photos from that same day. I'm telling you there was beauty all around! When I saw this old, leaning barn I knew I had to take it's picture and I also knew I was going to try a photo action on it to make it look more antiqued. But then I came across one of my challenges that was doing that very thing, and I was so excited! I used a grungy overlay over the photo and then added the darkened frame. I really like how it turned out! This one is "Bit of Yesterday":

The kit is 'Early Autumn' Collab from Digital Crea. The stitches and ribbon are from 'Happy Summer' Collab from Digital Crea. The template is from 'Be Inspired - Amanda' Templates by WM Squared Designs. The WordArt is by Elegant WordArt by Bethany.

The sun has a new kit out in the shop that is Oh So Cute! It's called 'Warm Winter Wishes' by ProjectB. I absolutely LOVE her style! It's so fun and playful. This kit is going to be a must for scrapping those snowy days that are sure to be coming sooner than we'd like. (I'm not particularly fond of playing in the snow, but I LOVE to sit inside wrapped in a blanket and just watch it fall so peacefully.) Take a look at the preview and then you just have to go check it out for yourself. Here it is in the shop.

One last thing. I told you I've been busy doing something other than scrapping pages. before I learned about digital scrapbooing, when I did it all by hand, I used to do a lot more cards then pages, because cards were easier and so much quicker for me. I made them so often that everyone just started expecting my handmade ones. But once I found digiscrapping, that changed. I could get a page done SO much faster, so that's where I focused my efforts. Well, I have noticed a very few ladies out in scrapland that make templates for cards, instead of pages and wondered how difficult that could be. I've tried my hand at page templates and let's just say I'm better at using them than making them. hehe But I have several magazines here that I used to use to draw inspiration from when I paper scrapped my cards. So I wondered how easy it could be if I continued to draw inspiration from those to make a card template. Well, over the weekend I got 9 of them done! I LOVE it! It's so much fun, and now I can once again make and give cards to all my friends and family for every occasion, and just because! I'm starting out using them for a new Card Challenge at the SUN, starting today, Wednesday the 4th. But I'd really like to start selling them if there is enough interest in them. I just have no idea where to even begin. So if you have any advice for this newbie, I would LOVE to hear it! Leave me a comment here on my blog or email me at kjkreations@ymail.com. Here is a preview of the card I made for the challenge. I hope you'll come over and check it out in the forum, found here.

That's it for tonight. I better drag myself to bed. This cold weather makes it so hard for me to really wake up all day. I feel like I'm just draggin' myself from place to place. I hope you all have a great Wednesday! And until next time... C'ya!

Some more pretties :)

Hey! I finally got my October desktop done! LMBO! I know... it's already the middle of the month, but at least I can look at it for another 2 and a half weeks. :) And it's really cute! I used a kit called "Wicked" by Flutterbye Faery. It's the October daily download over at Brownie Scraps. It's a super cute kit FULL of glitter. I LOVE glitter! ;) And the template is a freebie from the Desktop Challenge over at Digi Scrap Obsession. Take a look:

I also did a page for Sephanie. :) I've had this pic of her since last fall when we went to the Tillamook Forestry Center. We also did a little hiking around out by the creek, and I caught this photo of her standing on the bridge. I absolutely love the way the sun shines on her beautiful hair. Very pretty. :) The kit is 'Fall's Whisper' by Sun's Wonder Girls. The template is by Scorpiosue in Sun's 'BahamaMama' Collab. And the font is 'Turtle Club'.

I have one more pretty to show you. It's another new kit in the SUN shop. It's called 'Me, Myself' and it's by Janice's Scrap. It's a very pretty kit full of pinks and purples. It has 20 papers and over 40 elements! The butterfly is so pretty! Take a look for yourself:

Have you checked out kevinandamanda.com yet? You may also know them as "Fonts For Peas". They have the coolest free fonts and doodles. I love all their scrapbooking fonts. Their page is so easy to navigate and a fun place to be. I just started helping her out by making up some font charts for her. It's an easy task, just monotonous and time consuming. But in return, I get to add my blog button to the bottom of each chart! Get my page a little extra attention and maybe I'll get picked for another CT.

Speaking of which... Creations By Rachael is having a CT call right now, and I applied! I LOVE her designs! Today I got an email response from her saying this: "I'm just taking a quick peek at the galleries right now, but I actually stopped for several minutes to check yours out :) You have some great ones in there. Thanks so much for applying and I will be back in touch when the call is over. ~ Rachael" I am SO excited to get that email! Keep you fingers crossed for me, please! It's starting off as a guest CT position, but it might turn into permanent if a spot opens up. That's the same way I got on at SunshineStudioScraps. :)

I also shot an email off to Joanne Bain Designs to let her know I love her stuff as well. I inquired about her CT and she sent me this: "Thank you for your interest in my designs. Your galleries are truly beautiful. Unfortunately I currently have no positions available on my team, but I have filed your email for future reference." I'll be patient. ;)

ok, I better get off here and get some scrappin' done before I go to bed for the night. I'll be back... C'ya!