everything which is yes

halloweeny

So I have had a bee in my bonnet lately about doing something crafty and while this project only rates maybe 1 bee out of 5 on the bee bonnet scale of supercreative craftiness (which I totally invented just now)...it was a fast and easy little something extra that was 100% suitable for Bugga's preschool class.  They are cute and fun and the kids loooooved them!  And Bugga loved helping me create them too!

And so today I thought I'd share a these supereasy but tasty and sure-to-win-over-the-kids projects.  I had been thinking of putting together little harevsty halloweeny treat bags for her class and had grand visions of fabulously decorated cookies with fondant or cake pops! and other fun homemadey things...and then I found out that the age of "moms sending homemade goodies to class" has gone the way of the Dodo.  I could only bring and share storebought items.  A policy which I can understand, but also totally took the wind out of my creative cooking sails. So on to plan B: thinking of something creative and fun and still storebought. 

And here's our plan B: Little Lollypop Ghosties and Sweet Little Scarecrows. 

Little Lollypop Ghosties couldn't be easier.  Here's our supplies:

 

Yep, kleenex (you could also use tissue paper, but I kinda like the softness of the tissues and it is something you probably already have around the house..so win-win).  And a sharpie or other pen.  Some raffia, kraft ribbon, string or any something-or-another for tying.  And lollypops.  Any kind.  We used blow pops because they have a fabulous ghosty shape.  And they are yumm-o.

 

Take a few sheets of kleenex and wrap them around the lolly and tie with string.  Fluff the tissues, make a little face, and voila!  Cute, right?

Then we made little "scarecrows".  Which admittedly is not my idea.  The fantastically creative Jacque Larsen mentioned these guys and we gave it a shot. 

Our supplies:

Raisins (the wee little cute boxes) for the "body", tootsie rolls for the "arms", smarties for the "legs" and wrapped taffies for the "heads".  Also, rafia for the "hay", lol.  And a glue gun.  Side note: a low heat setting with your glue gun will work just fine, but you can use whatever setting you like..high is good too.  Only be sure you have an aloe plant handy if you use that setting.  Or be more careful than I.  That would work too.  lol!

I wanted to try to find candies that looked as harvesty as possible.  I'd say the smarties are a "fail" in that department, but tootsies and these cute candy corny taffies worked well.

Here's our little "scarecrow":

It's pretty obvious it's our first try.  LOL!  There's a lot of room in this project to amp up the creativity and make the scarecrows look even more scarecrow-y, but I figured they would be demolished by four year olds in mere minutes and it probably wasn't worth the effort to go all gung ho.  Plus, we like them just the way they are.  :)

Good news is the kids loooved these.  Love loved them.  And we loved making them.  Lots of fun!

Happy Halloweeny! 

CatScrap Fever

We're getting our meow on in all kinds of fun and fabulous ways at CatScrap as we celebrate CatScrap's 4th birthday this week!  The forums have been full of fun (and freebies) all week and the fantasticness continues through the weekend.  There are loads of fabulous challenges and chances to save big.  And of course, we are celebrating with a wonderful Blog Hop!!

You've probably found your way from Tez's blog, but if you've missed a spot or lost your way, you can head over to the CatScrap blog to start fresh.

Here's my little goodie for you...I was inspired to scrap a simple everyday moment shared with Bugga last autumn.  I so hope you enjoy it!!!  You can click on the preview image or the link below to download.

You can download {HERE} or by clicking the preview above.  

Your next stop on the blog hop is Jess's blog Paper Crush Studio. I just know you'll looove what she has to share too!

Hope you have a beautiful day!!

Happy Scrapping!!

meow meow meow meow

Just wanted to share the fun news!  There's lots, tons, oodles, and loads of fun happening this week at CatScrap!  Including (YAYYYYYY!) me joining in on the fun as a guest designer.  Woot!

{arrived} Hands Across the Gulf

Hands Across the Gulf is now available at After Five Designs.  As I mentioned in yesterday's teaser post this project has become something beautifully meaningful to all of us who have participated.  I am SO very grateful for the outpouring of support from the community and everyone who joined me in this endeavor.  We hope you love it as much as we do.  And I want to give sincere thanks in advance for your support of this cause.  

And I have to say, as empirically as possible, I don't think I've ever encountered such a beautiful collection of designs in a charity collaboration before.  I love the range of scrapping styles represented, I love the beautiful artistry and creativity expressed.  I love how GINORMOUS it is (and really, it's huge.).  Here's a peek at the main preview (there are many more detailed previews in the shoppe, so feel free to check those out as well):

And here's a closer look the templates from me that you'll find in the kit:

And I wanted to compile a few inspiration pages to share with you so you can get a closer look at the kit in action:

For more than 90 days, oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico before the leak was finally "capped" in late July. It is estimated that approximately 4.9 million barrels (or 205.8 million gallons) of oil spilled into the waters. It has been one of the biggest environmental disasters in decades. Hundreds of miles of beaches, wetlands, and estuaries along the northern Gulf Coast have been impacted. The spill, though temporarily "capped", continues to cause extensive damage to marine and wildlife habitats as well as the Gulf's fishing and tourism industries. Families are without work and marine and land animals continue to suffer. And there are still many unknowns about the long term effects of the oil and of chemical disbursements used in attempts to curtail the flow and impact upon the regional coastline and waters.

Forty-five designers across the digital scrapbooking community have united with one shared cause: to raise awareness and to support recovery efforts for the environment and those impacted by this tragic disaster.

Participating designers include: Aja Abney, Amy Martin, Biograffiti, Boutique Cute Dolls, Createwings Designs, Deena Rutter, Designs by Cindy Schneider, Designs by Crystal Livesay, Dido Designs, Dunia Designs, Emily Merritt Designs, Fiddle Dee Dee Designs, Fizzy Pop Designs, FruitLoOp Sally Designs, Laurie Ann (Heaven's Gate Designs), Holliewood Studios, Holly Designs, Holly Spring Designs, Jazzmin Designs, Jennifer Barrette Designs, Jacque Larsen, Juliana Kneipp Designs, Kay Miller Designs, Kaye Winiecki, Kitty Designs, Kristin Aagard Designs, Lauren Grier, Leora Sanford, Loreta Labarca, Micheline Martin, Nikki Beaudreau, Paislee Press, One Little Bird Designs, Sabrina Dupre, Sahlin Studio, Sarah Cornish of My 4 Hens Photography, Shabby Miss Jenn, Studio Basic Designs, Sugarplum Paperie, Tickled Pink Studios, Tiny Toes Designs, Tracie Stroud, Vera Lim, Vinnie Pearce, and zinnias and swallowtails.

Hands Across the Gulf is our heartsong for this cause. This gorgeous kit representing the varied styles of the scrapping community, is positively overflowing with beautiful papers, unique elements, templates and Photoshop actions. All told, designers have contributed more than 100 papers and 200 elements, 2 full alphas, 20 templates, and 4 PS actions to Hands Across the Gulf.

Available for sale for one month only, 100% of the proceeds from this kit will be donated to the National Wildlife Federation and to the United Way's Gulf Recovery Fund.

After the sales period we will donate all proceeds from the sales to these organizations and we will share a receipt of our donation here at After Five Designs on our blog, forum and in our newsletter.

Thank you in advance for your support in this cause that is so near to our hearts.

{a heartsong} : Hands Across the Gulf

As some of you may know, our family has called the Gulf Coast "home" for many years now. And we love it so. It is beautiful. It is vibrant. We take our daughter to the beach, we hear the sounds of the waves crashing on the sugar white sands, we smell the air. We get to see dolphins at play, view all manner of beautiful sea birds and sea life, we are blessed to eat some amazing seafood. We have enjoyed the shade of the majestic live oak trees, we have appreciated the vitality and beauty of the wetlands. We get to enjoy the people who live here. They are warm and genuine and kind and totally full of life.

When the Deepwater Horizon disaster happened on April 20, we could not have imagined the heartsickness that would follow. For more than 90 days, oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico before the leak was finally "capped" in late July. It is estimated that approximately 4.9 million barrels (or 205.8 million gallons) of oil spilled into the waters. It has been one of the biggest environmental disasters in decades. Hundreds of miles of beaches, wetlands, and estuaries along the northern Gulf Coast have been impacted. The spill, though temporarily "capped", continues to cause extensive damage to marine and wildlife habitats as well as the Gulf's fishing and tourism industries. Families are without work and marine and land animals continue to suffer. And there are still many unknowns about the long term effects of the oil and of chemical disbursements used in attempts to curtail the flow and impact upon the regional coastline and waters.

And so I just ached. And I felt it on my heart to try to do something, any some small something to try to help raise awareness and support for the region.

I got together some of my most dear and favorite artists in the community who shared the same tug on their hearts for this disaster. In the works for six weeks now, Hands Across the Gulf is our heartsong for this cause. And it arrives tomorrow Sunday 15 August.

Forty-five designers across the digital scrapbooking community have united with one shared cause: to raise awareness and to support recovery efforts for the environment and those impacted by this tragic disaster.

Participating designers include: Aja Abney, Amy Martin, Biograffiti, Boutique Cute Dolls, Createwings Designs, Deena Rutter, Designs by Cindy Schneider, Designs by Crystal Livesay, Dido Designs, Dunia Designs, Emily Merritt Designs, Fiddle Dee Dee Designs, Fizzy Pop Designs, FruitLoOp Sally Designs, Laurie Ann (Heaven's Gate Designs), Holliewood Studios, Holly Designs, Holly Spring Designs, Jazzmin Designs, Jennifer Barrette Designs, Jacque Larsen, Juliana Kneipp Designs, Kay Miller Designs, Kaye Winiecki, Kitty Designs, Kristin Aagard Designs, Lauren Grier, Leora Sanford, Loreta Labarca, Micheline Martin, Nikki Beaudreau, Paislee Press, One Little Bird Designs, Sabrina Dupre, Sahlin Studio, Sarah Cornish of My 4 Hens Photography, Shabby Miss Jenn, Studio Basic Designs, Sugarplum Paperie, Tickled Pink Studios, Tiny Toes Designs, Tracie Stroud, Vera Lim, Vinnie Pearce, and zinnias and swallowtails.

This gorgeous kit representing the varied styles of the scrapping community, is positively overflowing with beautiful papers, unique elements, templates and Photoshop actions. All told, designers have contributed more than 100 papers and 200 elements, 2 full alphas, 18 templates, and 4 PS actions to Hands Across the Gulf.

Available for sale for one month only, 100% of the proceeds from this kit will be donated to the National Wildlife Federation and to the United Way's Gulf Recovery Fund.

Hands Across the Gulf arrives Sunday 15 August 2010 at After Five Designs.

squee

I am so humbly honored today!  The 2010 Scrappers World Awards, which were hosted and conducted over at Scrappers World Online, announced its winners yesterday.  I was so SO inspired by all the pages nominated and submitted...it really was a beautiful representation of the digital scrapbooking community and the talent is just overwhelming (in a good, awe inspiring kind of way).  And so I am so SO very grateful to have been included among the winners this year.  Squeee!

Honorable Mention for Best Overall Layout -- Nominated

Best Use of Journaling -- Submitted

Honorable Mention for Best Layout Without a Photo -- Submitted

Best Use of Elements -- Nominated

Best Multi-Photo Layout -- Nominated

And so today I'm feeling so very full of thanks. Thank you to those who nominated my pages.  And to the judges, thank you so much for this honor!  It really is an honor to me, as cheesy as that sounds.  So humbly, thank you.

playing with color

This weekend has been a positive whirlwind of fun and new experiences and SO much scrappy goodness I hardly know what to do with myself.  One little splice of the fun is a Color Challenge I'm hosting at The Lilypad.  I did this for DSD in the autumn and it was a huge hit.  I really love the creative inspiration everyone shares! 

It goes a little something like this:

Color can be used in so many crucial ways in a layout: as an accent, as a way to create a focal point and guide the eye, as a means to underscore the theme or emotion and tone of a page, or as a way to create a seamless and coordinated "look" for your page.

We are going to focus on using color as a subtle way to tie your page together and keep the focus on your photo.  And so we are going to pick a photo and draw colors *from* that photo and use them in our paper and element choices.

A fun way to do that is to get a custom color palette using a color palette generator  tool.  You can find one here: Big Huge Labs.  And also here: Kuler.   All you have to do is upload a photo (or photos) that you'd like to scrap, and this free tool will create a color palette custom to your photo.  Draw from that palette to create your page.

Here's an example.  I uploaded this photo of my Bugga and the fabulous Kuler tool generated this palette for me:




I especially love the blues and green here with the pop of pink...so I started thinking of what goodies could coordinate with my photo's palette.  There are TONS.  But here's a few I grabbed to create my page:














And then I used the palette and goodies to color coordinate my page!  I added the darker blue in my journaling as I wanted that aspect to be more subtle.  And here's what I created:

If you want to play with me this challenge is open until midnight tomorrow night (EST)--but it's also just a fun tool and something to consider when scrapping anytime.  :)

Hope everyone had a beautiful NSD weekend!!!

Happy Hopping and Happy NSD!!!

National Scrapbooking Day is a mere two days away (which blows my mind, by the way) and The Lilypad is having a HUGE--and by "huge" I mean GINORMOUS--celebration this weekend.  The forums will be full of fun and games and challenges, the BYOC is my favorite ever and it's just enormous.  And my most favorite thing about it all is that six, yes 6, previous guest designers are returning for the fun for iNSD.  So you can imagine the awesome.  It's a lot. Oh yeah, and there will be a sale.  So that's like 384 reasons you'll want to visit in the coming days. 

Incidentally all this includes another fabulous blog hop, which I imagine is why you've stopped by.  You've probably found your way from Jenna's blog, but if you've missed a spot or lost your way, head on over to Amy's blog to start fresh. The good news is fun has only just begun and there is sooo much gorgeousness ahead! 

Here's my little goodie for you...I was inspired by a moment of giggling with my Bugga..and the happy and sunny mood of this month's BYOC fit perfectly!  I so hope you enjoy it!!!  You can click on the preview image or the link below to download.

You can download HERE HERE HERE

Your next stop on this fabulous and fun hop is Lisa's blog.  I think you'll really love what she has created for you!  

Hope you have a fantastic day and a fantastic National Scrapbooking Day weekend!!!

Happy Scrapping!!

Getting Excited (Totally)....

For National Scrapbooking Day this Saturday!  I can't even begin to tell you all the fun that's in store this weekend!  The biggest bit of news I can't tell you or even tease about right now.  But it's really BIG for me.  And really personal.  And I'm really gooped up on the gop about it.  (Also a little nervous).

But there's more that I CAN tell you about.  There's fun to be had at The Lilypad.  TONS of it.  Here's a little peek at what's to come. 

I can't wait!!  More news to come soon too!  Woot!

Feeling Springy and Hoppy

I'm all kinds of gooped up on the springtime gop and I can add this to the pile of reasons why:  The Lilypad is full of fun this weekend with fresh BYOC products, fresh challenges and a superamazing sale.

And as a part of the springy mood we are celebrating with a fabulous blog hop!  Eryn probably guided you my way, but if you missed the start, feel free to head on over to Amy's blog for the first stop.  There are lots of wonderful quickpages and freebies to be had, so have fun hopping along!

I have a little something for you too!!  I was inspired by the springy sunshine and my beautiful Bugga when I created this little quickpage for you...I so hope you like it!  You can click on the preview image or on the link below to download.

You can download HERE HERE HERE

And your next stop on the hop is the fantastically sweet and talented Kate's blog where more wonderful goodies await.

Hope you have a beautiful weekend!  Happy Easter!