My Life: Up Close and Personal

*Featured Member and a layout

I'm so excited!!

I was chosen to be the featured member at Swirlydoos blog. I was honored and surprised when I got the email saying I was chosen. There is a great post up about me as well as a few of my layouts that they considered favorites, please drop by the blog and check me out. While you are there take a look at the amazing kits and fun filled forums.

Speaking of Swirlydoos, there is always a challenge going on over there. The one I try not to miss is the round robin challenge. Check out the round robin thread for challenge details. This month I am up first for my team.

The picture I chose is of dh and I at a couples retreat the Church held. The first evening was called date night and at the end of the evening they bought out a cake decorated like a marriage certificate and each couple got their picture taken with the cake pretending to cut it.

I used the Swirlydoos March kit. The pink floral vine, the corner chipboard, the gold watch face and tissue tape are from my stash. Here is my layout.

I've got more layouts to share later in the week. Thanks for stopping by.

Peace and Love!

Update and OUAS

I was doing well with my updates until I did the UDC Challenge at Swirlydoos. I guess the pressure of having to turn out a project weekly for 5 weeks (I didn't make it to round 6) wore me out. It didn't stop me from scrapping, but it i'm using it as my excuse for not updating my blog.

I went away for a scrappy weekend with some friends and had a great time. I'll upload some pics from that later. I have to get them from someone else, I only took a few. I wanted to spend my time scrapping. I finished a few layouts and I got my circle journal done. I am just starting a new circle journal with friends. I can't show you any pics until it comesback because I forgot to take any before I sent it off.

Today I have a layout for Once upon a sketch. I love their challenges, they give you a sketch and a theme. Your layout must include some type of journalingas well.  I have used their sketches before, however this is the first time I have ever entered the challenge. The challenge runs for a month. This months challenge is "Its the weekend" what does your weekend look like?

For my entry, I chose a photo of dh and our Goddaughter. My dh is only off on the weekend every 6 weeks, so we really cherish our weekends. This particular weekend our Goddaughter spent with us. They went to a base ball game ( football is my sport), we watched fireworks and then went for a bike ride on the lakefront. There is a tag behind my photo that has all this written as hidden journaling. Here is my layout.

I used of dusty attic chipboard. I embossed and layered it. The green flowers are dusty attic as well. The white ones are prima. I used molding paste and a stencil from crafters workshop for the chicken wire. The papers are from an older Swirlydoos kit.

Hope you like the layout.

Peace and Love!

Ultimate Designer Challenge week 2 and 3

So I didn't make it back last week to update you on my progress in the challenge. Well I made it to week 2 and I also made it to week 3. YAY!!

Week 2 challenge was layers. To create a layout, card or tag using multiple layers. This was easy for me. The hardest part was finding a photo I like to use. Once I found the photo, it all came together pretty easy.

I chose a photo dh took of me. The photo is a bit imperfect, but for some reason it just speaks to me. Like it captured a quick moment of ME! So here is the layout that got me to week 3.

This layout has about 10 or so layers going on. I really like it.

 

We are on to week 3 and the challenge is metal foil tape. Create a layout, card, tag or altered project using metal foil technique. There was a video showing a few different techniques on using the foil tape.

I went a completely different route on this layout. Once I got the idea the mojo just flowed. i finished this in a couple of hours. I love this too, but am a bit nervous onl because it's just so different for me. Here is my week 3 submission.

The flowers and gears are made of foil tape, then embossed and painted. I added watch parts, ink lots of distressing.Let's hope this layout gets me to week 4.

Both layouts were done using past Swirlydoos kits. That made things much easier. Everything was all coordinated. If you haven't looked at the kits at Swirlydoos you should check them out. Krissy does an amazing job month after month to bring us the newest papers/embellishments and projects.

I'll be back soon with another update.

Peace and Love

 

Ultimate Designer Challenge week 1

I know, I said last week I would be back with more challenge layouts. Sorry, life happened food poisoning hit. Just wasn't a good week for crafting. However, I'm back today with my layout for the Ultimate Designer Challenge project for week 1. Here are the details to the first week challenge. I have to admit, when I first read the details my head was spinning. How was I going too get this done in time (i'm leaving town in the morning). Turns out, I was really over thinking the whole thing. Once I settled down and started getting messy everything fell into place.

I had this pic of dh Godmother who passed away 6 mos ago. I have been dying to scrap it, so this was the perfect opportunity. I pulled out one of my Swirlydoos August kit and went to work. I had this frame to use so I decided too add a current photo before she got sick. I am very happy with the results. Lots of misting, embossing and distressing. Here is the final project.

Hate that all the details don't show up that well. That's one thing I am trying to work on this year, better photos of my layouts and projects.

Good luck to all those who entered the contest. I will find out on Sunday if I move on to the next round. Wish me luck.

It's Challenge Monday

Hope everyone had a happy and crafty weekend. I know I did. I got to spend all day crafting Saturday and today I will share one of my creations with you.

Every month at Swirlydoos there is a challenge called Round Robin. It's where you are assigned to a team and the first person on the team post a layout and the second person lifts the first person and so on. Then to add to the fun a special twist is added. It could be to use a certain technique, or embellishment. Or it could be a certain topic. This month was a topic since we are bringing in a new year. The topic was something about 2012 you learned, or did that was fun or special.

Well I am the first person on my team. I took several vacations in 2012, but one was special because it was a girls trip. It was an overdue girls trip. We all need to just get away and enjoy ourselves. I have already scrapped several special pics from that trip. Here is my entry for this weeks round robin at Swirlydoos:

 

 

I'm working on a few other challenges, so hopefully I'll be back later in the week with some new layouts.

Peace and Love!

2012 Top 10

So everyone has been sharing their 2012 top ten crafting projects. i decided to jump on the band wagon and share mine. I did a lot of scrapping in 2012 (althought I didn't do a lot of blogging). I mainly did layouts, with a few cards and altered items and mixed media thrown in. However, all my top 10 are layouts. Here we go.

Number 10: This was done for a challenge at Swirlydoos. I love the color combo

 

Number 9: This photo is one of my favorites of me and my bff. We have been friends since second grade. ok, so she is more like my sister than friend. 

 

Number 8: This one barely made the 2012 cut. i finished it Dec. 30th for another challenge at Swirlydoos. I was on vacation in New Orleans and my sno cone turned my lips red.

Number 7: This is my favorite photo of my grandmother. You are going to see this a lot. I just love how this turned out. it was one of those that sat on my desk for a week and every time I walked by, I added something else to it and it just worked. Love it!

 

Number 6: I actually won the sketch challenge at Swirlydoos with this layout. i used postcards instead of photos. I picked them up while I was in New Orleans. I loved the papers from this kit. This layout came together so easy.

Number 5: Another photo from my trip to New Orleans. This was a girls trip and we had so much fun.

Number 4: This is an old photo of my inlaws (fil on left and mil in middle, unknown male on right) I stole from my dh. This was done for a rock n roll challenge. I just love this layout and how it turned out. My favorite part is how I did the title and the faux guitar.

Number 3: Again photos from my girls trip to New Orleans. You never know what you are going to find on Burbon street. This one barely made the 2012 cut as well.I love the flower/embellie cluster.

 

Number 2: Told you this photo would surface again. I made this layout as a Christmas gift and then put it in one of those Prima frames. I used a stencil and some molding paste for the swirls. I also used the November kit from Swirlydoos. I think it was my favorite, as you can see 3 of my top 10 were mad from that kit.

 

Number 1: I did this layout as a Christmas gift for my sister. This is a phot of my mom when she was young. It's a photo my sister didn't have. I also put it into one of the prima frames. It will be 12 yrs ago on January 30th that our mom died. I still miss her like crazy.

 

So there you have my top 10 for 2012. I have a few more that i just love that didn't make the cut. I thought about adding some honorable mentions, but this post is long enough already. Hope you have a happy and crafty weekend. I know I will while watching the NFL playoffs.

Peace and Love. Kim

 

Happy New Year and another challenge

Hope everyone had a safe New Years Eve. Hope your New Year is off to a great start. Mine is, I woke up this morning.

I didn't make any resolutions, but I do have a list of goals I want to achieve. Plus I want to continue working on being a better person overall.

Now on to some crafting. Each month a member over at Swirlydoos gets to host a monthly challenge. It's called the SGC Challenge. I have the pleasure of hosting the January challenge.

This challenge can be whatever you want it to be. I decided since it was the beginning of the year to to a palette cleansing challenge. The idea is to pull out one of your Swirlydoos kits and just scrap. Everyone has a pic that they have been dying to scrap, now is the time to get it done.

I've created an example layout to get the challenge going. This pic was taken on a vacation earlier last year.

Hope you make it over to Swirlydoos and check out all the other challenges going on. Some you have to be a kit subscriber to join in, but some are open to anyone.

Ultimate Design Challenge

There is s huge challenge going on over at Swirlydoos. It's called the Ultimate Design Challenge and it has a prize package valued at over $400.

You have to register by Jan. 10 in order to play. This challenge is open to anyone, not just kit subscribers.

Just wanted to also take this moment to remind everyone to be safe tonight. Celebrate ringing in the New Year responsibly. Don't drink and drive.

Happy New Year all!

I'm back

It's been a rough few months, but life is finally back to normal. Even though things have been crazy around here, I did manage to get some scrapping done. I think it was one of the few things that has helped keep me sane.

Here are a few layouts that I have created in the past few months. I've got plenty more to share later.

I'll be back early next week to share more.

Mojo inspiration blog hop

About a week or so ago, my friend Kisha asked me if I wanted to do a scrapping inspiration blog hop. Since I love to scrap I said sure why not. So here we are today on day 1 of our hop.

The premise of  the hop was to either use the inspiration Kisha posted or find something that inspired you, and the just create. Since I waited to the last minute to do my layout I liked Kisha inspiration I chose to use hers. Here is the inspiration Kisha provided.

I went with the neutral colors. I had the perfect papers for this. I used the September kit from Swirlydoos. It was loaded with BoBunny and Prima papers. Lots of neutral colors. I also chose to do a masculine layout. I don't scrap solo pics of my dh often, that's because he rarely takes a decent enough picture for me to scrap.

So here is you mojo inspiration. Sorry, it's still missing a title, it just hasn't come to me yet.

I used lots of techniques on this layout. Distressing and inking around the paper edges. The clock was sprayed with wheat fields glimmer mist, then brushed with some magical mica's, the heat embossed in places with vintage photo distress embossing powder. The wings are my favorite. I randomly smeared on some gesso, the sprayed with glimmer mist. When they dried I smeared on some vintage photo distress stickles. Attached to the big key is a smaller ky and heart, tied with twine. The photo corners were rubbed with metallic rubs and vintage photo distress stickles.

Hope you enjoyed today's mojo inspiration. Tomorrow Kisha will be providing you with your inspiration. She is not only an amazing scrapper, but she is one heck of a cardmaker too. I can't wait to see what she comes up with.

If you have any questions about the products I used, please leave them in the comments.

Smooches!!