Midnight Rooster June Kit & Giveaway

The June Midnight Rooster main kit and add-on are now available and that means I can share my work with you. I worked with the add-on kit again this month. 

My little cuties got a red wagon for their 1st birthday and love going for wagon rides. The bright red was the inspiration for this layout. I cut the heart banner from the Dear Lizzy patterned paper, the polka dot paper is by My Mind's Eye and the green and blue die-cut paper is by Crate Paper and from the May kit. 

The red alphabet is by Sassafras Lass and included in the add-on kit. I cut the cherries from patterned paper by Sassafrass Lass. 

I knotted the yellow lace along the bottom of my patterned paper. 

The photos on my next layout are so, so special to me as they are from the day that we legally became a forever family. Glen and I had to testify in court why we should be Nora & Lily's parents and it was such an emotional day. They were 7 months old when they became officially ours. 

The brown Jenni Bowlin butterfly is from my stash and I used both of the alphas in the main and add-on kits. I outlined them with a brown journaling pen to help them pop off the page.

A little paper pleating adds extra texture...

The white silk flower is a Midnight Rooster exclusive. I punched a scalloped circle from brown cardstock and placed the flower on top. The little butterflies were punched with a Martha Stewart punch.

This layout has a lot of embellishments from the add-on kit. I sanded the Core'dinations cardstock to bring out the pinkish-red color. Patterned papers are by October Afternoon and Dear Lizzy. The trim is in the add-on kit.

The title block is a Midnight Rooster exclusive in the main kit. I used the alphabet from the add-on and the "bliss" is part of the Dear Lizzy chipboard in the add-on.

This little collage has a mini doily in the add-on, Dear Lizzy chipboard in the add-on and a stick pin from the main kit.

I cut the banner from Dear Lizzy patterned paper.

And finally, I have a card to share with you using the kit. The main kit has a great label stamp in it so I did something a little different with it and made a tree. The "blessed" rub-on is from my stash and the rhinestones were in the May kit. 

And now that you have stayed with me this long....I have an exclusive Midnight Rooster mini kit to give away to you as do the rest of the design team members. All you have to do is leave a comment answering this question:

What are some fun things I could do this summer with my girls (keep in mind they are just 1)?

You have until tomorrow at noon (CST) to comment and I'll choose my favorite answer to win this mini kit:

Paper: 

October Afternoon - Fly A Kite, Ice Cream

October Afternoon - Fly A Kite, Strawberry Jam

American Crafts - Letterbox, Sincerely

Pink Paislee - Queen Bee, Bees Wax

Embellishments:

Vintage bingo card

12" vintage blue crochet lace trim

6x11 yellow gingham fabric

Journaling label stamp - Purple Onion Designs

Have a great day! :)

Noel Mignon Challenge: Double Trouble

The latest challenge at NoelMignon.com is to use a single sheet of double-sided patterned paper on your layout. You can use cardstock and all the embellishments you want. I chose this patterned paper by KI Memories that is in the Lemonade Stand kit:

Little Miss Nora wasn't too fond of her bunny ears this past Easter and we captured these photos of her trying to get rid of them. The transparency is by Hambly, tape by Pink Paislee, chipboard alphabet by Making Memories, stickers by October Afternoon and KI Memories, and flower by Prima. 

Here's a close-up of my title.

And a close-up of the flower border. I cut flowers from the patterned paper, cut them in half and then used pop dots on a few of them for extra dimension.

Noel's latest kit "Sun-kissed" is up for purchase now but there are just 4 left! Be sure to get your order in quickly as Noel is going on vacation soon. I just got this beauty in the mail yesterday and can't wait to scrap lots of summer photos! 

Have a great day! I have a ton to share this week so you'll most likely see a post from me every day! :)

Midnight Rooster June Kit Sneaks!

I've got sneak peeks for you today of my work for the June Midnight Rooster kit. This is another fabulous kit with exclusive products and perfect colors for all your summer photos (although none of my layouts have anything to do with summer!). 

I worked with the add-on kit again this month and this first sneak has a look at one of the exclusive silk flowers in the add-on.

The chipboard and little white doily are also in the add-on kit.

These Sassafras Lass alphabet stickers are also the featured alphabet in the add-on....LOVED these!

The kit will be up for subscribers on June 7th and the reveal for everyone else is June 9th. Check back next week for my full reveal!

I'm super busy over the next few days as we are having a garage sale this weekend. I'm still going through things and hope we're able to make some good money. Sales are so much work so this one better be worth it! :)

Have a great weekend! I'll be back on Monday! 

GCD Studios Technique:: Creating Borders With Punches

I've got a simple, quick tutorial to share with you today but it's one that can make a big impact on a layout. I love the ready-made borders in the Artsy Urban collection and used a couple on my layout but also created a border of my own using punches.

My layout is fairly simple but it's about a very important routine in our house - when daddy comes home from work! The girls are usually eating supper but they flip out when their dad comes through the door, and I was able to capture it all on camera. 

I used patterned paper from both the Artsy Urban and Lydia collections and the border strips, epoxy sticker, paper clip, brads, journaling block, crocheted flower and chipboard title are all from Artsy Urban.

Here's a close-up of my title. I used one of the starburst punches above the chipboard title with a brad.

Here's a close-up of my journaling.

And finally, that brings us to my punched border strip.

First, I selected two patterned papers that I wanted to use. The maroon pattern is from Artsy Urban and the gray pattern is from Lydia.

Next, I selected a punch...this starburst by Martha Stewart. I punched several starbursts from the patterned paper. 

I left my starbursts in tact but one way to make a punched shape go further when creating a border like this one would be to cut them in half. 

I inked my shapes first and then adhered the starbursts underneath my photo. I partially covered them with one of the ready-made glitter border strips.

Using punches is a great way to get more out of your patterned papers!

Happy punching!

Jill

The Scrappy Gourmet June Featured Kit!

"Our Everyday Life" mini album and layout kit is now up for sale at The Scrappy Gourmet! This kit is the featured kit for June and includes supplies and instructions to create the mini album and bonus layout you see here. I really enjoyed designing the mini album using a Clear Scraps 6 x 6 tabbed acrylic album and Maya Road kraft envelopes to hold more photos and journaling. The album features paper and embellishments from Lily Bee Designs, 7gypsies, Jenni Bowlin and Maya Road. I love the concept of "our everyday life" because ANYONE can put together this album. What a treasure to look back at later on in life! The album uses wallet size photos and is designed to hold 21 of them. 

Here's a look at the cover.

And here are some of the interior pages. There are more photos in the gallery at the Scrappy Gourmet.

And, here's a look at the bonus layout I created for the kit. My journaling is inside the kraft Maya Road envelope.

What a fabulous start to summer! The girls enjoyed several firsts this past weekend. We took them to the zoo, had ice cream at Snookie's and got them a little plastic swimming pool for our deck where they went swimming for the first time. We also celebrated Glen's birthday on Sunday and had a picnic with their grandparents yesterday. All in all, our weekend was just FUN! 

I'll have much more to share this week! Lots of projects I've had to hold onto until now. Can't wait to share with you! :)

Whoohoo!

I am so, so, so excited to share that I will be joining the design team at Noel Mignon!!!!! If you've been a blog reader of mine for a while, you'll know just how much I adore Noel's kits! They are so packed and so fun to work with! Here's a recent layout I made with Noel's "Playdate" kit using patterned paper by My Mind's Eye, Pink Paislee, October Afternoon and Cosmo Cricket. I LOVE how Noel mixes manufacturers. 

I love these photos of Lily. She made these "frowny" faces for several months but no longer does it so I'm glad we captured it on camera. I love that her look is clearly directed at me! :)

Here's a close-up of my title...

And another close-up...

The July kit "Sun-kissed" will go on sale June 5th. Here are the sneak peeks:

More from me soon! I will have a LOT to share over the next month! :)

Small Town Illusion

Today I have a new Upsy Daisy Designs layout to share with you using the "A Walk in the Park" collection. One of the many things we love about living where we do is how our neighborhood gives us the feeling of living in a small town, yet we are right in the center of a busy city and have easy access to all the city has to offer. We love taking the girls on walks and these photos are of our first stroller ride. 

All patterned papers are by Upsy Daisy Designs as well as the maroon brad on the tag. Other supplies are Basic Grey chipboard, American Crafts Thickers and rub-ons, Jenni Bowlin button and label, 7gypsies label and My Mind's Eye rhinestones. 

Here's a close-up of my title.

By the way, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the kraft cardstock by Jillibean Soup. It's a darker kraft than Bazzill (which I also love), but I find I'm using it a lot on my layouts. 

And, be sure to stop by Midnight Rooster's new blog for a sketch contest and sneak peeks of the June kit. I'll be able to share my work sneaks with you next Wednesday! 

My husband is off work this week having a little vacation time at home so we're spending a lot of time together as a family and getting some projects done around the house. It's also giving me a little time to myself which has been fun! 

We had a great weekend at my parent's house with a date night and my husband got in some fishing. We were also able to visit with our family. We're trying some "tough love" with the girls this week and trying to let them cry it out more when they go to sleep. It's been difficult to do that before now with their eczema and teething so we're hoping and praying now is a good time to do it! 

I'll have more to share soon!

Have a great day! :)

The Scrappy Gourmet Sneak Peek!

Today, I have some sneak peeks to share with you of a mini album and layout kit that will be up for sale on June 1st at The Scrappy Gourmet. I used a Clear Scraps 6 x 6 tabbed acrylic album and Maya Road square kraft envelopes to create an "Our Everyday Life" album. I love Ali Edward's concept of a "Week in a Life" but know that would take a lot of dedication and commitment on my part. What I did instead was focus on one single day in our life and documented our everyday routines. I took nearly 150 photos and narrowed them down to 21 that I could use in this album and then journaled about our day. This process was so fun for me and I know I will love to look back at this album when the girls are older. And what makes this album design simple to put together is that all photos are wallet size. Here's just a quick peek at what the album looks like:

And here's a couple peeks at the one-page layout I created to go along with the kit:

Be sure to watch my blog for more information on when this kit becomes available for sale at The Scrappy Gourmet. The kit will come with instructions and images will be available in The Scrappy Gourmet's gallery. The main patterned paper and embellishment collection I used for this kit was Lily Bee "Lovely" along with patterned papers by Jenni Bowlin and 7gypsies. It's bright, fun and vintage AND perfect if you have boys OR girls in your life. What I love about the "Our Everyday Life" concept is that ANYONE can do this album no matter where you are in your life. 

Have a great weekend everyone! :)

Crate Paper: Card Sketch Challenge

Be sure and stop by the Crate Paper blog today to see beautiful card inspiration from several blog contributors. We were given this sketch to work with:

Give it a try yourself and link up your creation on the Crate blog for the chance to win two Crate Paper collections.

I used the Paper Doll collection for my contribution. The patterned paper, turquoise flower sticker and "Someone Loves You" rub-on are all by Crate Paper. Additional supplies used include Jillibean Soup cardstock, Making Memories notebook paper (the pink scallop), American Crafts ribbon, Jenni Bowlin button, Melissa Frances rhinestone and twine.

Here's a close-up of the texture and dimension on this card.

I have been so busy creating lately but it's nothing I can share yet! A lot of projects for design team work and some just for myself that I'll share in the next month. The girls and I have been soaking up this beautiful, sunny weather. We've had a rough two weeks at our house with teething. Holy cow...have we had some grumpy little girls (and in turn, grumpy mom and dad). We had about 3 hours of sleep the other night and would have had less if we didn't let the girls cry it out for a while. We tried everything to make them comfortable until all that worked was to have them cry themselves to sleep. Each of them has had one tooth pop through so far but I just know there are more coming through. 

Well, I better get busy today...much to do! :)

1st Birthday Party: Crate Paper and Cupcakes!

The girls' 1st birthday party was so fun! I know 1st birthday parties are more for the parents and family to enjoy but you could genuinely see the excitement on the girls' faces that so many people were around and giving them attention on their special day. I loved it and know I will never forget it! I had various ideas for themes and party decorations and in the end decided to keep things fairly simple but with a few special touches. I thought a cupcake theme was appropriate for a 1st birthday so that's what I went with, and I loved the browns, pinks and oranges in Crate Paper's Pink Plum collection. All of the party decor went around this theme and colors. I started with their birthday invitation and used my Cricut Wild Card cartridge to cut the pieces out. 

Next, I created a party centerpiece using a couple of scalloped chipboard pages from a mini album. I turned the pages so the holes lined up and I could tie them together with ribbon. The chipboard cupcakes and chipboard "celebrate" are by Maya Road. 

I used Martha Stewart micro mini beads on the "celebrate" and "1" and love the texture it gives the chipboard.

What party wouldn't be complete without party hats? I think these were my favorite thing I made for the party and they were fairly simple. I cut a large circle the size of my 12 x 12 patterned paper and then cut it in half. I shaped the half circle into a cone shape so that the flat edges of the paper met each other. I cut tiny pieces of tissue paper and then hot glued them on the base of the hat. To do the tops of the hats, I gathered the cut tissue paper fringe and tied it off the middle and went through the bottom of the hat to draw the fringe through the top. A little hot glue ensured that the fringe would stay in place. 

I used a scalloped punch and circle template to do the circles and then added a foam thicker by American Crafts for the "1". I stapled elastic string to the hats to finish them off.

The last couple items I made were large cupcakes with the girls' names to sit behind their high chairs. I used my Cricut again to cut the pieces and topped the cupcakes with chipboard flowers by Crate Paper. The letters on their names have the Martha Stewart mini beads on them. I also made tissue paper flowers and hung them from a light fixture in my kitchen at various lengths. 

Here's a look at Miss Lily in her high chair ready for cake...

And here's Miss Nora...

Sweet little birthday girls...

And there you have it! I hope you enjoyed this look at their 1st birthday decor. It was so much fun for me to make everything. I looked at the store-bought possibilities and didn't like a thing I saw. It was very meaningful for me to create it all myself. As you can see, I truly kept things simple by using one collection and coordinating all the colors. We even had pink gerbera daisies, a pink, orange and brown birthday cake and pink, orange and brown balloons. Fun, huh?! :)

Noel Mignon Challenge: Motherhood

The newest challenge at NoelMignon.com is about motherhood. I think this is the quickest I have ever scrapped a photo but this is from Mother's Day this past weekend. I come from a family of girls and we all have the most special bond. And now my daughters get to be a part of it! 

I chose to highlight the photo with soft, pretty, girly colors from the June Lemonade Stand kit. The patterned papers are a combination of Crate Paper, My Mind's Eye, KI Memories and October Afternoon. I created a patchwork block behind my photo and used gray as an accent color with the Pink Paislee tape and My Mind's Eye diecut border. 

I created a layered flower by punching a scalloped circle from the pink Crate Paper and then cut out a KI Memories flower. The next flower is a metal one by Making Memories and then I topped it with a Prima pebble. 

The green label is by October Afternoon and the leaves and rhinestones sticker is KI Memories.

More to come soon! It's been so gloomy here this week. We finally got a peek at the sun today, thank goodness! :)