12 Hour Online Creative Crop #2

Challenge #6
Think Outside the Box
We're pushing the boundaries, today, scrapbookers!
Even the most creative layout ideas are often trapped "within the box" of a page. Whether your preferred format is 12" x 12", 8 1/2" x 11", or some other size, they are all basically box-shaped. My challenge to you is to THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX and push the boundaries…of your pages!
This is one of my favorite techniques to mix up my layout design a bit and keep things interesting.
Special Guest - Tami Morrison

I've seen this technique a lot but have actually never considered trying it out myself! This was a great challenge and really made me "think outside the box!"



Challenge #7
Add a Banner to Your Layout
I love making my own embellishments for my layouts and lately I seem to be making a lot of banners! They are just so fun and colorful and add the perfect stylish flair to finish off each page. On the scrapbook pages below, you will see several examples of hand made banners across the top of each. They work on one page or two page layouts and you can even spread them across both of the pages. My challenge for you today is to create a layout with a home made banner across the top of your page. Below are some pictures and steps to give you an idea of how to start. Pull out some paper scraps, favorite punches or stamps, markers, and twine or rick rack that match your page. And remember, you can mix and match all kinds of shapes, sizes and styles together - there are NO rules to creating banners! For the birthday banner on the steps pictured below, I pulled out several of my American Crafts Celebrate line paper scraps and stickers. I cut some of the banner pieces from the papers and cut others from the stickers. I used dimensional embellishments to decorate the pieces and popped some up with pop dots behind them. This page will be about my daughter's eighth birthday, so I used the number eight several times on the banner to tie it to the theme of my page. Ok, it is time to create your own banner. Have fun and let your own style, color preferences and creativity shine!
Special Guest - Suzy Plantamura

I love making my own embelishments for my Scrapbook pages but have never considered making a banner. What a great and fun idea!



Challenge #8
Sadly I did not partisipate in this challenge bacause I couldn't come up with an idea for this one.


Challenge #9
Capture the Details
Don't you ever wish that you had a photo album of your grandma's that you could go back and look at details of her life? What if you could see pictures of the ingredients she used to make cookies one day? Or what if you could see pictures of what was on her nightstand? Very few of us have such treasures, so make it a challenge to record the details of your life for yourself, your children, your grandchildren and generations to come! No matter where you are or what you are doing in your life right now, take time to document the details! Things around us are so familiar and "boring" that we never think to take snapshots of life itself.
Special Guest - Elisha Snow




Challenge #10
Use this Sketch!
I'd like to challenge you to use this sketch. You can use this sketch exactly as it is or change it up to work for you. You can use as little or as much of it as you want! Perhaps this sketch will inspire you to just use square photos or use a long title.

Special Guest - Lisa Day

I love using Sketches! They are a great way to get the creative juices flowing!



Challenge #11
Doodle on Your Layout
Have you tried doodling on your layouts? If you have, wasn't it fun to just let go and doodle away? We want you to do just that today for this challenge. Get your pens and markers out, relax and start doodling. Never doodled before? Well, then, try this free downloadable doodled journaling block. Print it out, color it in and you are one step closer to using a doodled element on your next scrapbook page.
Special Guest - Mou Saha

What a fun Challenge! I don't normally use my doodles on my pages but this was a fun challenge!




Challenge #12
Journal Without a Photo
I'm so excited about this "UNphotographable" challenge, I just know you're going to be inspired! This idea is based on a blog I discovered a while back called at unphotographable.com. The blog presentation is extremely simple and minimalistic; the author just shares the photographs he DIDN'T take as journaled memories. I knew this would be the perfect challenge for anyone who documents their life experiences through blogging, journaling, and of course, scrapbooking!

I've always wanted to try this type of layout and this challenge pushed me in the right direction to get it done!


Well that is all! It was an amazing day of Scrapbooking fun! I can't believe all of the projects that I finished!

12 Hour Online Creative Crop

WoW! Yesterday was amazing!! In honor of National (& International) Scrapbook day the wonderful Big Picture Classes and Making Memories hosted a 12 Hour Online Creative Crop class. Each hour they issued a new challenge and prizes, durring that hour you could also chat live with special guests and everyone else that was participating in the crop! I have actually never been apart of a crop so it was an amazing experience for me! I completed 11 out of the 12 challenges! How fun is that! This blog is going to be a big one! But I promise it won't bore you! And I hope that the challenges will inspire you the way they have inspired me!

Challenge #1
Use Text in Your Projects
Words can make a big difference in your collages, journals and scrapbook layouts. I really enjoy adding text to my collage pieces because it helps tell a story to the viewer. Add a word or two to any collage and it's amazing how just that small change can alter your impression of the whole artwork.Add some text to your latest project!
Old books and dictionaries are a great place to find text. I recently got a free copy of a Gossip Girl book, (which I would normally not be reading) and I used it to harvest great snippets of text to use in my next project. Young Adult and Romance books are really fun because they have such over the top dialog!
I also use text as idea jump starters. Sometimes just a phrase or a fun saying is enough to get my mind off and running with a new idea.
Special Guest - Claudine Hellmuth

These are the pictures of my rendition of #1 **I originally made this for Valentines Day this year for my Husband but wasn't fully satisfied with the way the it turned out so I spent the hour given to redue the layout of it all. I love updating old projects!



Challenge #2
10 + 10 + 10 @ 10
First off, let me just wish you the happiest National Scrapbook Day EVER! I'm so delighted that you're joining us to celebrate this glorious hobby of ours. The page that illustrates my challenge for you is not what you might expect from me—it is not a typical"Stacy Julian" layout. But then, today is NOT just any old day. In a very playful effort to truly celebrate what we do, I am issuing the...
10 + 10 + 10 @ 10 Challenge
I would like you to scrapbook a photo of someone you love with TEN products, TEN techniques and TEN words.
Special Guest - Stacy Julian

My rendition of #2



Challenge #3
Get Organized in Minutes
Have you noticed that maintaining an organized scrapbook space is an ever-evolving process? I think this has to do with two things:
Our scrapbook stashes are ever changing, which means our storage systems sometimes need to evolve to keep up with that change. (Hey, we can't help it that scrapbook products are so fun to purchase.)
We may start out with one system in place, thinking it's the bee's knees, only to find that it doesn't work as well as we thought it would. This happened to me with my patterned paper. I originally sorted it by color, thinking I'd love the outcome, only to later reorganize by manufacturer, which has worked out much better for me and my style/needs.
The beautiful thing about this is, no matter the reason you may need to organize or re-organize, you have the freedom to do so. There's no reason any of us should feel trapped in any particular storage approach when finding or updating an area of organization can be both fun and creative.
Here's the Challenge
Find an area in your scrapbook space that you'd like to update. Spend five to ten minutes working on your identified area, whether that's sorting things in a new way or creating a new storage piece for your supplies (decorated shoe box, altered magazine files, labeled jars, etc.). This can be as simple as adding labels to your drawers or as complex as reorganizing your albums.
Share Your Progress
As part of this challenge, I'd love to see you post what progress you've made in the Challenge #3 gallery. And, while you're at it, feel free to share an organizational tip. I'm always looking for new tips to publish in Creating Keepsakes magazine, and I know your fellow students will enjoy your insights as much as I will. To start the fun, I've posted a new little storage system I created particularly for this class.
Ready, set, organize...and then share! Can't wait to hear your ideas and see your progress soon. :)
Special Guest - Megan Hoeppner

My Rendition of #3 ** I actually started this process awhile ago but never finished it so this challenge was great to get my butt in gear and get it finished. And who wants just plain black binder to hold their scrapbooking supplies? So I made sure to jazz mine up with some of my favorite colors. Pink and Green!



Challenge #4
Use Wood or Wood Grain
Have you noticed all of the wood and wood grain scrapbooking products there are right now? I love how these nature inspired products easily add both texture and a homespun feel to my scrapbook pages. On my page "Talkin' Hoops with Moya" I used some wooden stars as well as wood grain patterned paper - both premade products. On my "Play Doh & Toothpick Math" layout I used plain old toothpicks for that touch of wood! So I'm wondering, wood you use wood on your next scrapbook page? I hope the answer is yes because here is my challenge. Create a layout using wood or wood grain in some way. If you don't have woody scrapbook supplies on hand no worries! Here's your chance to get really creative and see what wooden items you can use from around your house or try your hand at creating your own wood grain texture! I can't wait to see what wooden wonders you come up with!
Special Guest - Cindy Tobey

This was a fun challenge, but in truth, I use wood all the time. I love the pre-painted cutouts that you can find at JoAnns for under a dollar. So this wasn't really a challenge for me. But it was still fun making the layout and using my big wood grey cat!




Challenge #5
Create a Photo Mat with Two Supplies
This hour's challenge is to create a photo mat using two supplies. Pretty simple, huh? Photo mats are such an easy way to add color and texture to your layout. They let you be creative without having to worry about accent placement-just add a little extra room for your photo. This means that you can have a clean and simple style layout, and bring in some cool supplies at the same time! And you can get as crazy as you want with the supplies you choose. (A huge bonus if you're a total supply hound like me.)You could add paint and glitter to cardstock or pile on the fabric and stickers. For my photo mat, I layered tissue paper on frayed fabric. I love the tropical look it gives my photo! If you need a little help with your photo sizes, or want to create a digi mat, just download one of the templates. So dig into your supply stash, my friends-it's time to create a creative 2-supply photo mat!
Special Guest - Kim Jackson

This was a great challenge. Because there are so many amazing scrapbooking products we forget how great the more simple items are!So here is my challenge #5

Cards # 11-13

These are more pictures of the amazing 19 birthday cards ordered!! I just love how everything is coming together!!! Making so many different cards for one order is one of the hardest challenges I have faced in the short time that I have been card making; but it truly is a great thing! I love testing my limits and going all out to create the best card! I would still classify myself as a beginner but my work is top notch!!! Well, here are the next three cards that have been ordered! =) As always, please enjoy my blog and have a Happy Paper Crafting day!

The first card I have to show you is for a young girl about 16. I love the colors! They all just came together so well! The metal frames are a great touch too!





The next card that I have to show you all is for a girl in her mid twenties. The birthday falls in a summer month and I just couldn't resist adding one of my favorite things about summer! A BIG fat Watermelon!!! Yummy!!






The last card I have to show you is for a little boy that is turning one! I just love the foam cloud! And the Glitter! Ha Ha Ha

Birthday Cards Ordered

Today has brought many surprises! I think the best one was the order that was placed today for a grand total of 19 different birthday cards for people of all ages!! Today I have completed 3 fun and exciting cards!!

The first one I have to show you is a birthday card for a girl, age 15. As always, please enjoy my posting and have a happy day of paper crafting!



I just love the green gems for the eyes!! It really makes the owl \\POP//! Also the pink paper is a shiny pastel, and the boxes on the front of the card are glittered!!

I actually just learned this technique. Its called a Star Ribbon Tie!!! Its great!!! And super fun to make!


Next up is a card for a boy, age 7. I saw this sketch in the great book of Cardmaking with Cricut. I knew I just had to try it!!! So here is my rendition of the card!


Again, I totally love Glitter!! I just had to add some glitter to this very cute birthday card! I think it really added the punch I was looking for!

These photos are of the inside of the card! I love the piece of cake stamp! And I don't know if you can see it or not but on the flame of the candle I added, can you guess?? THAT'S RIGHT!!! MORE GLITTER!!



Next up is a great and very sophisticated card for a girl, age 25.





I just love how all of these cards have come together!! Thanks for enjoying another fun, picture filled posting!

Living Planet 2009

For my 20th birthday my Husband took me to the Living Planet Aquarium here in Salt Lake. It was a blast! We had never been there before and it was great to see all the aquatic life! We even got to pet these giant sting rays! It was a blast! Well, feeling like I had put it off long enough I decided to start the round of scrapbook pages that would add this exciting event to our Album. I got through one double page layout, out of a grand total of 3 double paged layouts. (A total of 6 12x12 pages)

Let me explain why I only got through the one double page. I was in the scrapping zone! Scissors, paper, and glue went everywhere! I was so focused and excited that I didn't realise my Daughter Tia was jumping up on a shelf that is next to my scarpping corner. There is a large tin on that shelf and a few other random things. Needless to say, there wasn't any room for her on that shelf, let alone any reason for her to be up there in the first place. So in a matter of seconds her, the tin, and some papers come crashing down off the shelf. Just below the shelf is where I keep my camera. Of course, as always, the worst happens! The tin smashes into my camera and my camera goes flying! It hit a corner on an end table and bounces into a computer table and then hits the hard floor. Thankfully both my Daughter and my camera were fine. But, sadly, I just couldn't find the zone again. I was halfway through my second double page layout and had to stop because I was angry and my heart was still racing from the shock. So all I finished yesterday was one double page layout. (And a whole lot of spring cleaning! LoL)

Well here are the pictures of that great layout!





I normally try and avoid making Titles that include my own hand writing (I just don't think it looks right.) but in this case I thought it fit best! Especially since the layout itself is really laid back and fun!

A Very Furry Easter

I just realised that I forgot to post my babies Easter scrapbook page. Now again, these pictures are from last year, I like making holiday pages leading up to the holiday while I'm in the holiday spirit, not usually after. By then I am getting ready for the next fun filled holiday. ^.^ Here are the pictures and I hope that you enjoy them!




I love adding a touch of glitter! I very rarely feel that a page or card is complete without a hint of that great shiny stuff!! Ask anyone that knows me! I love glitter!