Round up for "Hop To It"

End of month. End of kit. Time to show off the month's accomplishments.

The snow had finally receded to where I could walk around the yard when we had another snowstorm yesterday. Nothing chases me down to the studio, faster than inhospitable weather. Knocked out another four layouts because of it. 

Ten single page layouts. One sheet of patterned paper that didn't turn my crank, so in the end it has been moved to the "pay it forward" pile. Partial sheets go to the scrap box. Itty bitty bits of paper get dropped into another box, from which I compile my fake project life journal cards. Embellies get sorted back into the drawers.

The ingredients used:

This month I found myself harvesting ideas and scraplifting from flikr more than usual. I am not sure why, as scrappers we always feel obliged to comment when our designs are not completely hatched from our own noggin. When you have people for dinner, you don't have to say that you consulted a recipe book for ideas. Maybe, it is an internal obligation to recognize the person(s) who inspired you.

The first layout for Hop To It was appropriately, about the furry courier of chocolate eggs, himself.

Paper Whites features the first collage I made with Picasa

Gets me joked up: Lifted from Kelli. http://www.flickr.com/photos/scrapbookgirl71/6827542967/

 

 Spring Bling: Featuring a close up of my (then) new Canadian diamond engagement ring. (blush)

 "baby" was made from two epoxy lower case "Q"s turned on end. And the "a" and "y" were painted pink and covered in liquid glass. The photos of Rebecca were extra's given to me by a friend that must have made a slight error when she was printing four-ups. Managed to use some of them here.
Scraplifted from Lynnette. http://www.flickr.com/photos/54430328@N03/8622951894/

 Another lift of Lynnette. http://www.flickr.com/photos/54430328@N03/8683924679/ 
Pee In The Tree: Still some tweaking needed on this one. The unusual topic for a layout, needs an explanation that while Cohen was potty training we encouraged him to "borrow a bush" when he was playing in the sandbox. Keep in mind, friends, that we live in the country, surrounded by trees.

 My Piggy: Extra credit earned for using messy techniques. Resist paper and twinkling water colours.

Organize This: The "go-to" product for this month turned out to be washi tape as it turned up on a lot of layouts. This resulted in a new affirmation for me. "When in doubt, add washi." Wonder if I can still squeeze an "a" in where the "i" is going to come out of. Thanks spell-check.

I do hope the links to the flikr gallery work. If not I will be editing after publishing, until I get it figured out.

Also during April, I worked toward clearing away old projects as spring will soon be sprung with the budding of the trees,  new season, new inspirations. A plethora of new projects is sure to be on the agenda. Meanwhile back at the ranch, the  "to be continued" pile was cut by more than half. Most of them were started long before I found LOAD and CKC. It gave me a good indication of how my design sense has changed. They needed titles, journaling, names, dates. I dug in and brought them to completion in record time.

 In Bloom: Might change out the journaling to strips

 Dymo tape was called on to finish up a few.

 You and Me: First attempt at journaling had been a fail. Used a fake PL card to cover it up.

 Tommy and Jo. Note to self: Time to get Tom's stories down. He went missing on July 27, last year.
And finally, another birthday layout. Not from the kit and not from the  "to be continued" pile. Just one that wanted to be done now.

And that concludes the scraptivity for the month of April.

Don't miss tomorrow with the launch of a new CKC kit and a really special, exciting announcement. Stay tuned!

Sharity Shop part II

The "Kid's Stuff Sale" in an annual spring event in our town. Many tables of outgrown clothes, toys and books and various items for children and infants. Also home sales companies and a few independent crafters, like my dear friend Charity and me.

This is a look at the hall where the event is being held.

Here is a peak at my side of the table. Some of those things look familiar?

And a view of Charity's side of the table.

Oh did you want to step in for a closer look?

A pixie house.

A gnome home.

Some good reads.

A tray of delicious hair adornments.

This one made it home with me.

Sweet heart pin cushions.

Felted Key Fobs, with beads and embroidery.

A basket of delights.

Applique  and patchwork bags.

I also sold some of my journaling cards.

It's a pretty little table.

Thanks for stopping by for a look.

See you next time.

Sharity Shop part I

Do you remember, a ways back I announced I would be sharing a table with a friend at a rummage and craft sale? Well it is this weekend. And I have a few pretties to share with you.

First we put our names together to christen our little store for the day as "Sharity Shop"

The bulk of my sewing has been up-cycled t-shirts and tops made into reusable shopping bags. We call them "t-bags"

The off cuts from the t-bags are then sliced up and braided into doggie toys, called t-tuggies.

Have finished my second sweater coat.

A pillow pieced from vintage bedding.

And a pennant banner made from same.

Besides gently used children's books and clothes, my partner will bring many of her own hand made items.
Will report on the event with more photos, in "Sharity Shop part II"

Hop To It

Easter Monday. The Rabbit has come and gone. Winter is waning. There is enough sun power to bring the temperatures above freezing almost everyday. Snow is melting! And we got lots and lots of it this past season. One more month of "inside" weather. By this time next month, my thoughts and activities will have me poking around the yard, cleaning up and organizing for our short but brilliant summer.

Right now, as I observe the in-progress projects and to-do piles that surround me, suddenly there is a comprehensible deadline and if I want to have them out of the way (or at least a good portion of them completed) before the spring breezes beckon me outside, I had better hop to it.

So for this months Counterfeit Kit Challenge, I held tight the reigns of restraint. Less to choose from should translate into faster design decisions for me. I hope.  I studied the inspiration kit at Gossamer Blue. Followed that with the design team's blog hop leaving  greetings and comments in my wake. And then grabbed the drawer of yellow paper and started flipping.

This is the inspiration kit:

Pulling a page or two that resembled the papers in the inspiration photo, I quickly had my eight patterned papers and four cardstocks picked out. Then the alphas, as best I could match. Followed by a selection of embellies. Stickers, chipboard, ribbons, flowers, brads, bling, paper clips, pins and homemade project life cards. It's all in there.

And this is my April kit, named "Hop To It"

 The papers:

Blue cardstock, Manufacturer Unknown. (muk)
Yellow cardstock, American crafts Backyard tweet (bird cages on reverse)
White cardstock, Heidi Snapp, Invisibles, circle frame (has a resist feature and is begging for colour mediums
Green cardstock, muk
Sassafras Lass, Playtime, Crackerjack
Blue, tone on tone, paisley, muk
Yellow, tone on tone, diamonds, muk
Black on white, Creative Memories
Yellow, tone on tone, swirls, muk
Echo Park, Bella Road, For the Record, Lace Stripes
I don't have any sheets of journal cards as shown in the inspiration kit so I chose Basic Grey, Urban Prairie, Weather Vane because of it's bright energy.
Red, tone on tone dot, muk
Orange, tone on tone, small print, My Mine's Eye, Lost and Found Two, Rosy "Love"
Soft pink stripe, muk

Had a conversation with my scrappy daughter yesterday. She thinks that if you don't like a piece of paper when you first see it, you shouldn't hang on to it, thinking it may grow on you. You either like it or you don't and if not, you should not hang on to it because you will never use it.

I am not sure I can agree with that. Every month, in matching up to the inspiration kit, I pull out papers I would never have choosen if I was just matching up to a photo in hand. And for the most part, they work their way onto a layout. If I was to let go of the papers that just don't "move" me, I would have a lot of anxiety, and worry that next month's inspiration kit would probably need a patterned paper just like the one(s) I was letting go of.

On to the fun parts.

Alphas:
Bo Bunny, Mama-razzi. There are some photography themed stickers along with the alphas.
Basic Grey, Olivia, Micro mono stickers
Part sheet of medium height green alphas, muk
And because I don't have any candy coloured, mini alpha, and I just stocked up on these, I have included my Close to My Heart, Keyboard Kraft Alphabet
Also, not shown are the remnants of alphas from Polar Bear Press, and a mini sticker book, cover long gone. These will be in the "use it or loose it" basket.

Embellies:
The Poloroid frame  is a plastic overlay. I found a couple in a thrift shop one day. Just the sort of thing to tuck in a drawer until you need it to match to a challenge kit.

The paper clips were sourced out at Staples. Packaging long since discarded so not sure on brand. I find it hard to incorporate a paperclip onto a layout without it looking (to me) affected. I think I will remove the wires and use the cheerful epoxy-like circles for flair.

The paper flowers also are missing their packaging and brand name. The came with a handful of coordinating buttons. I will have to pull them into the fray. Buttons are a staple for me. Buttons and chocolate. I can't scrap without them. Well, maybe I can but I prefer the indulgence.
Quilt pins from the sewing shop. I think I declared their providence a few months back when I first used them.
Three bits of ribbon, muk. Pink scallop edge, black ric-rac, and VELVET olive ric-rac. They were in a package with three Basic Grey papers. Kind of a mini-kit made by a vendor at a trade show. And at $1 a package, you know I brought home too many.
Chipboard by Scenic Route, Grafton Boys and Sonoma, Happy Together

Brads, American Crafts, Dear Lizzy, Large fabric brads and Plastic Rose brads
Pearls  Kaisercraft, Pewter
Gems; gold, Rhinstones, Kaisercraft; blue, muk; red, CTMH
Stickers, from a card kit called Road Shot by Fancy Pants designs. I also added the paper from the card kit. If it doesn't make it onto the layouts, then I will have to make the cards it was meant for.
Journal spots, Heidi Snapp, tear away strip of three, off a pp called carefree-pink school stripe

And my ever growing stack of homemade project life cards. Each of them a unique little mini layout.

So there it is. My April CKC kit, "Hop To It." What do you think?