Imaginisce Halloween Card Challenge

Happy Halloween! Just a quick post to share tonight as I have two little tuckered out Little Red Riding Hoods asleep in their beds. All of the fun and excitement of trick or treating wore them out! I have a "Happy Halloween" card to share for the Imaginisce Halloween Card Challenge to use the colors orange, black, purple and green. I hand drew a candy corn shape and then created my card using the fun "Spooky Town" collection by Imaginisce. The little chipboard ghost and "Happy Halloween" rub-on and are also in the collection. I machine stitched my candy corn layers together and punched a hole in the top of the ghost and attached him with twine to the ribbon.

Here's a little closer look....

Hope your Halloween was fun! 

I'll be back again soon! :)

Spooky Spider Cards & More with Sleepy Hollow!

Today, I have some Halloween cards to share with you that I made with the Sleepy Hollow kit from Noel Mignon. I had to make about 15 cards to send to family so I kept the design fairly simple and even got my girls involved in the process! I would have made more of the spider cards but I could only keep the girls' attention for so long. I'm sure making cards like this would work even better for older children. Here's a look at the cards...

For this design, I punched out circles from The Girls' Paperie paper and then adhered one of the crepe paper sentiments in the center. I did some inking and machine stitching and that was all! Very quick and easy but it looks like it took me forever to make those crepe paper flowers! :) 

For the spider cards, I used StazOn ink in Jet Black and made fingerprints with my girls on white cardstock (not textured). I took a thin journaling pen and drew the legs on. I adhered the squares with foam adhesive onto my card. The sentiment was stamped with the Toil & Trouble stamps from The Girls' Paperie. 

Here's two more of the cards in similar designs...

And then I included a photo of the girls in their Halloween costumes this year! I love that I was able to capture their fingerprints and might just make this an annual project! :)

Don't forget to stop by and pick up the "Dear Diary" kit before it's sold out! 

Have a great day! :)

Noel Mignon Challenge: Shades of the Same

It's time for a new challenge at the Noel Mignon Challenge Blog and this one is called "Shades of the Same". I created a monochromatic layout using the color red and the "Office Party" kit. My title "The Office" was actually one of my possibilities for the TV Title challenge from a few weeks ago. While I no longer work at an office, I was happy to capture these photos of my husband and I hard at work and write a little bit about what we do (and did) while at work. (We actually included these photos in our adoption profile scrapbook as we talked about our careers). The die-cut paper is Jenni Bowlin, the patterned papers are My Mind's Eye and I also used Core'dinations cardstock (all in the kit). 

Here's a close-up of my title.

I thought the Tim Holtz ruler ribbon was perfect for an actual "office" layout. 

And, here's my journaling using a Basic Grey sticker.

Be sure to stop by the Noel Mignon shop! The November kit "Dear Diary" is up for sale and I can't wait to get my hands on this kit! 

We're looking forward to a busy week of Halloween fun. Tonight, we're going trick or treating at a local mall - should be fun! It actually feels like fall today...rainy and windy! 

Have a great day! :)

My Mind's Eye: Challenge #16

Good morning, friends! I took a bit of a hiatus so I could go meet my new nephew, Tatum! He sure is a cutie! Today, I have a layout to share with you for this month's My Mind's Eye challenge. We were supposed to use the color black (not necessarily for Halloween) and the sketch below. Here is my take using the beautiful Lost & Found: Union Square collection for these photos of my sisters and me at Jaime's wedding last year. 

Here's a close-up of a flower I created using layers of punched scalloped circles. I crumpled them and then held them together with a brad from the Lush collection. 

Here's part of my title...perfect for a wedding!

The chipboard and brads are from the Lush collection. 

That's all for today! See you again soon! :)

Noel Mignon Challenge: Time Capsule

Today, I've got a new layout to share for the "Time Capsule" challenge over at the Noel Mignon challenge blog. This was a fun one to do as I scoured the Internet for images that would represent "me" at this moment in time. I made a list: reading, cooking, drinking, wearing, smelling, and watching and came up with a recent chick lit book I read, The Pioneer Woman's website for a great recipe I just tried and loved, an image of a Pumpkin Spice Latte (yum!), skinny jeans from Ann Taylor Loft, a Caramel Rum Swirl candle, and The Vampire Diaries (favorite show!). I used the "Sweet Sue" kit for this layout (still can't believe how many projects I'm getting out of this one!). Here's a look....

And a couple close-ups...I created a grid and gave each love a section, including a space for my title and journaling...

The starburst punch is Martha Stewart and was a great way to number each section...

Be sure to stop by the Noel Mignon message board to see sneak peeks of the November kit, "Dear Diary"! This one goes on sale on October 25th!

Have a great weekend! :)

Our 1st Halloween Mini Album with Sleepy Hollow!

I'm back with a mini album I created using the gorgeous "Sleepy Hollow" kit in celebration of my girls' first Halloween last year. I've pretty much scrapped all I can of their 1st Halloween now so I'm gearing up to start working on photos from this year! I used a Maya Road cascading album that I've had in my stash for a while and kept the design on each page fairly simple. I alternated pages and dry brushed them cream and black (allowing some of the chipboard page to show through). 

Here's a look at the interior pages....

One way I stretched one of the embellishments in the kit was to cut the We R Memory Keepers flocked lace in half. It was a little wide for my mini album so by cutting it in half, I was able to get even more from it! 

So, there you have it! A very simple, shabby mini album to capture some of our best 1st Halloween memories! 

Mini Kit Winner & Crate Paper!

The winner of the Midnight Rooster October mini kit is.......................................... 

angie gutshall said...

Here's mine:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Easy-Cheesy-Chicken-I/Detail.aspx

Cute kit and love your layouts!

Angie, please send me an e-mail at cornellgj(at)yahoo(dot)com with your mailing information!

Today, I have a new layout to share using the beautiful School Spirit and Brook collections by Crate Paper. I combined the two collections to showcase these two very recent photos of my girls at the pumpkin patch. They look like little girls to me in these photos...I can't believe in a couple short weeks they will be 18 months old! 

I used my large scallop border bunch by EK Success on the top of my layout and backed the punch with teal paper from the Brook collection. The multi-colored border is from School Spirit. I used a red chipboard alphabet by Basic Grey (that I think was from a past holiday line) and the Jenni Bowlin vintage bingo alphabet cut-outs for my title. 

I layered the stem and chipboard flower (both from Brook) with an Imaginisce crochet flower and brad from School Spirit. 

Finally, I punched some scalloped circles from vintage dictionary paper, cut them in half and crumpled them and used them as a border. The bottom wavy border is a punch by EK Success along with a border sticker from Brook. 

That's all from me today! We've been enjoying beautiful weather this month! I love it as we've been able to do some very fun fall activities including trips to the pumpkin patch and apple orchard. We're very anxiously awaiting the birth of my nephew, who will make his arrival any day now. Then, we'll be off a couple times to visit with my sister and the rest of my family. I'm so looking forward to it! 

Have a great Wednesday! 

GCD Studios Theme:: Fall & Halloween Tags

This month, the design team worked with the ChipArt tags to create a fall tag and a halloween tag. I kept with my usual shabby chic style and had fun working with GCD Studios products that aren't typically for fall or Halloween.

Here are my two tags....

For the fall tag, I used patterned paper from the Independence collection...the elegant, rich colors are perfect for fall. The bird transparency, brad and clip are from the Artsy Urban collection. 

I also used lace trim and a rub-on from Melissa Frances, My Mind's Eye rhinestone and EK Success punch. 

For my Halloween tag, I used patterned paper from the new Christmas Sleigh collection and from Artsy Urban. The chipboard window is part of the ChipArt frame collection and I painted it with white paint for a shabby look. I used a bird stamp from the ChipArt tool on a chipboard circle that I then painted with orange paint and used black Stickles to highlight the bird. The border is from the Artsy Urban collection. 

The rub-ons are by Melissa Frances and the ribbon is from Michael's. 

Until next time,

Jill

Midnight Rooster October Kit & Mini Kit Giveaway!

Good morning! It's the 9th of the month, which means the Midnight Rooster October kit will be revealed today! And I'm now able to share my work with this month's kit with you and I've got a mini kit giveaway at the end of this post! :)

For my first layout this month, I was drawn to the bright, fun patterned paper by Sassafras Lass. It was perfect for a photo of my girls playing together. I went with a black and white photo since the patterned paper was so busy. I used red Maya Mist (in a previous kit) for added texture.

The My Mind's Eye die-cut, Jenni Bowlin label sticker, October Afternoon sticker and American Crafts thickers that I used for my title are all in the kit. 

For my "N" and "L", I punched the letters from K & Co. alphabet cards I had in my stash. 

The label sticker is by October Afternoon and is included in the Thrift Shop stickers in the kit. 

My next layout was actually fairly simple because I used one of the exclusive Midnight Rooster embellishments as my main focus. My girls are so blessed to have their grandparents close by so I created this layout to honor their first grandparents day with them. I loved the red Core'dinations cardstock in the kit so I used that as my base for this layout. 

I used the Jenni Bowlin label stickers from the kit but the Basic Grey alphabet stickers came from my stash. The October Afternoon sticker is from the Thrift Shop collection and was included in the kit this month. 

LOVE, LOVE the exclusive fabric flower in this month's kit! I placed the yellow October Afternoon doily sticker behind the flower and let a few of the layers overlap my photos. 

This was my favorite layout this month. Love these photos of Lily taking a little snooze next to me in the rocking chair. The kraft envelope and black and yellow alphabet stickers (Basic Grey) came from my stash but see the cream flowers? Those are in the kit this month and they are so pretty! Love that lace trim too! 

Here's another look at my title...

The little tickets are stickers by October Afternoon and the blue doily was cut from October Afternoon patterned paper. 

Finally, I have a card to share with you this month using a lot of October Afternoon products. I used the little cream flower in the kit and the lace trim. 

And, now it's time for a little mini kit giveaway this month! Here's what you might win!

Paper:

Jillibean Soup - Egg Drop Soup, egg yolk

Pink Paislee - Imagine

American Crafts - Letterbox

American Crafts - Botanique

Embellishments:

Purple Onion Stamp

Maya Road - brown ric rac ribbon

American Crafts - Brown Alphabets

Milk Caps

Buttons

Chiffon Flower - handmade

To win, this lovely mini kit, just leave me a comment answering this question:

What's your favorite meal to make in the crock pot? And share your recipe to be eligible...you can link me up if you want!

You have until Monday night to enter my giveaway and I'll post the winner Tuesday! Have a great weekend! :)

Melissa Frances: Now & Then, I love cookies!

Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved to bake! I was always the one baking something at home and learned a lot about baking from my grandmas, aunts and mom. Both of my grandmas always had something baked to offer when company came calling. My Grandma Theresa was famous for her chocolate chip cookies - people in our family would jokingly (I think it was jokingly anyway) fight over them. My Grandma Kathryn was famous for her cinnamon rolls. I remember many times baking something side by side with them. It was one of my favorite things to do. My mom liked to bake too but she just let me go loose in the kitchen when I wanted to. Now that I have my own kitchen, I experiment with new recipes but go back to our tried and true family favorites time and time again. I'm very much looking forward to baking with my two daughters at my side and I hope to instill the same love for it that I have. 

I documented my love for baking with this layout using the Kitschy Kitchen collection by Melissa Frances. While we were creating our adoption scrapbook, we had to take a lot of photos of ourselves doing what we loved. The photo on the upper left is me whipping up a batch of cookies. I came across this photo of little Jill making some Christmas cookies and thought it would be great to a comparison of the two. I was almost 3 in this picture. 

I created a patchwork of patterned paper squares that I then stitched together. 

Here's a look at part of my title. I used a few different chipboard alphabet sets by Melissa Frances and a scalloped "I love cookies" sticker. I wrapped a die-cut with red & white Martha Stewart baker's twine - pretty fitting for a baking layout, right? :) 

The scallops at the bottom of the layout are a Martha Stewart starburst punch that I cut in half. 

I put a couple of the starburst punches at the top of my layout too along with a tag that I cut and accented with baker's twine. 

We've had a very long week in our house dealing with some sleeping issues with one of the girls. She has been refusing to nap at times and waking up in the middle of the night again. I had one of those days yesterday that made me struggle with a lot of doubt and frustration. It can be very tiring chasing after two toddlers every day so I cherish the little break I get in the middle of the day for nap time. It's a time for me to regroup and mentally get ready for the rest of the day. Yesterday, that didn't happen so I was left feeling very, very frustrated. I prayed a lot throughout the day and my child who had issues actually slept through the night last night! Yay! Now, we'll see how today goes! Each stage of growth and development brings new joys and challenges. Just keeping it real, you know?! :) 

Have a great day! :)