Final Capture the Flag Entry!

Yay!! It's up and in!! I am really proud - not only of this kit, but of the body of work I pulled together through the month! I feel like I showed versatility, while sticking to a style that is really "me" - and that means a lot! :D Even when I had a few worries that maybe what I came up with was a little off the beaten path - thank goodness I had friends there to tell me to just go for it! So here's another special thanks to the girls who put in words of wisdom in my moments of doubt! :D Jess, Amanda, and Phoebe!!

Here's a layout Amanda put together with the kit!! Isn't it yummy?


So, if you want to grab it {after all, it's a freebie for the moment!} - it's up over here!

Be back later/tomorrow for some more NSD fun!! :D

watching my vision become reality...

A couple of weeks ago I posted that I had some painting to do... well, I finally took a few hours this week to do it!

(sigh) Our little piece of rest. I <3 this color. I'm so glad I didn't chicken out and go lighter. I knew I chose the right one when hubby beat me home and called me just to say how much he loved it - breathed a sigh of relief even upon walking in!



...and to be honest, I've been collecting little bits for the last few years to create a special place for our room. The lamps and shades were bought separately, and the sake set was a little find on it's own. I love piecing something together that feels like every part belongs, and is loved.


On another note - I was actually able to scrap this afternoon! For me! When I do personal stuff, I really tend to lean toward the "less is more" attitude. I like the layers, but sometimes I just want to see the pictures and the story.

It was good to have a few minutes in the midst of everything to just play. Also took the boys to the park and enjoyed a Jamaican breakfast from my lovely mother-in-law today. Mmmm... I might have to scrap that some time!


I'm also busy working away on my fourth and final entry for the "Capture the Flag" contest! We were given an inspiration piece to work from, so I printed my choice, left it sitting where I could see, then I put something together as it pops into my head. I'm amazed at how quickly this method seems to be helping me progress through a fairly large assignment... I'll be sure to share a link when the full kit is ready! It's due on Friday...

Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

Well, it's done.

It's in. It's posted. Done. Week 6 for Bad Girls Top Designer.



It was tough to hit the button and submit. I'm not second guessing myself - it just always kinda seems more final once it's out there. ;)

I was a sew-er looong before I started scrapping, so that was the first thing that popped into my head this week...

Whatever happens from here - I'm glad I got a chance to join in. It made me push myself like I haven't in a while. And that's a good thing.

Happy Friday! :)

One more week...

This was my entry for week 5 Bad Girls Top Designer:


I held my breath a little when I hit the submit button for this one... we were supposed to focus on color, and pull our color scheme from the photo that we used... I thought it might be risky to do something so different and not use any patterned paper. but I have to say, it still followed what they were looking for for the class, and stayed true to my personal style, so whether I made it or not, I would have been happy.

But I've made it to the Top 25. Wow. There is just sooo much talent over there... it's amazing to be able to play along with those girls. Whether I win the top prize or not, I can say, it's pushed me to elevate my work, so I'll feel like I've forever gained something great from playing along! :) Congrats to all you girls still playing along for this week!

Week 4 Top Designer Contest

This is my attempt for this week's lesson. The lesson was a little nebulous, so, I just had to try to interpret it the best I could. We were to demonstrate unity, harmony, balance, and texture in our layout. The emphasis was on "accessorizing," so we were supposed to use accessories to do this...

This was my description with my assignment:
Unity - I used the concept of a circle to link my elements for starters, not only do I have the large circles, but they are repeated in the transparency, flair, and even the little headlights on the truck/bus. I also felt that kinda linked to the eyes, which is what I'm really talking about in this layout. ;)

Harmony - I chose to repeat my colors through out the layout. The colors in my photos are really neutral, so I was able to just choose some fun papers and products to work with! :D Though I did purposely choose brown for the title, since that the dominate color in my photos. I also repeated several shapes through the layout - clouds, circles, hearts, flourishes...

Balance - my main focus for balance was to make my title approx. the same size as my lrg photo, so they would balance each other on the page. I also lined up the right edges of my photos and the truck completes the rectangle shape...

Texture - I introduced texture to my layout by crumpling my lrg circle, using trims, and choosing "accessories" that are vinyl, foam, and felt.

Accessories were placed to draw attention into the photos and title.

Seems like a lot of gabbing to go along, but oh well. Ha!

I also had some exciting news this week! Yep. That's me! I won 3rd place in Jenni Bowlin's Guest Designer Contest! You can read the announcement here. She really is sweet! We exchanged a few emails, it was totally clear that she really spent a lot of time and effort choosing the person she felt would best fit her needs! I really appreciate that! It's can be so easy to just gravitate to big names on entries...

Other news... as part of the big celebration over at SCrapbookGraphics this weekend, I hosted a little chat last night. Wow are those chatrooms crazy! It was only my second using one, and I had a bit of a computer malfunction (had forgotten a DL had come through during the day, and I needed to re-boot), so I felt like a bit of boob on that account, but hey, it happens to all of us! Everyone was so busy chatting, I don't know that many questions were actually answered, but hopefully everyone had fun!

Here's my sample for the challenge!


The details are posted here. The quickpage I used for the challenge is a freebie you can download while you're there, too! :) Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!

Hope everyone's having a good weekend! T-ball got rained out this morning, here, so now I've got some energetic boys... have to find something to occupy them... :P