Saturday, March 26, 2011

...and the fun continues!!




...last night i had my friends lori and tracy over for a chill night of scrappin'...
( and my banana martini's )

...oh, and in my last post, i was showing a bunch of fun new paper flower techniques I've been playing with
( and plan to share with at my May 2 day crop )
and i accidentally deleted the finished product of the last flowers..
well, here they are...
the are pleated paper flowers, and i trimmed these ones off with some Ranger Stickles ( thanks for the suggestion Tracy...)

this is going to be a TOTAL scrappy post, and I just wanted to share my process as I worked on a few layouts!
this is the ONLY layout i completed last night ( hahahaha )...
it seems my Mexico album is lagging ( amongst other things ) in the scrapbooking dept. so i had the creative juices to work on one!
i "punched off" the white cardstock ( like stamping off ) and trimmed the white C/S down to 11.5 x 11.5 and adhered it to kraft C/S.


...i also sprayed the white C/S with tattered angels glimmer mists and painted with bubble wrap for a fun background effect!

...ta-daaa...


...a closer peek...

...and the finished product...
LOVE. IT!!!



...and today, the mojo kept going and i played all day long...
here's some of my creations of the day!

...i finally made a layout for tyler about his piano lessons...


...and another fun one for Oliver's album too...
( don't forget to scrap your furry family members too! )

i cut the C/S down to 8.5 x 11 ( his album size ) and stamped off the paper with Stampin Up
goodies!!!


..and of course, pulled out the paints again and dotted around the journaling...

...drying time is about 5 mins...

...and then using my ultra fine point sharpie, i drew circles around the painted dots to make them pop right off the paper!! ( a trick i've adopted long ago from Elsie Flannigan )

...i also had a fun piece of "embellishment" to add to this layout to go with the journaling...
the other day Oliver bit the cable for our PC keyboard ( Grrr, that's 3 cables now! ) and i added a small piece of the cable to the layout!!!

...and had fun playing with the bottom of the page too...
ta-daaaa!!!


...and here's the process of another one for tyler's album...
the photo is from a couple summers ago, but still a favorite and a soft spot in my heart!!


...i free hand cut out the "marry me" words out of wood grain MAC TAC, and the bonus is IT IS ALREADY ADHESIVE!!! try it out yourself, cut out shapes, use it in your punches ( works like buttah!! )



...and while i was playing, i found another fun paper flower embellishment on the American Crafts website and tried it out...( again, you'll see this one at the May crop! )




...love it...

...and i tried out a few other ones with smaller papers...

...and i wanted to use the pretty brown travel flower right away, so here's the last one of the day...
of course, for my Mexico album!!




...looking back, i can see that WHITE was my canvas color of these layouts...hahaha....i guess it just shows off the glimmer mist so nicely, in its true color...
ANYWAY....hope you've enjoyed a peek at my creative day today!!!
...be back soon....
:)

Thursday, March 24, 2011

...last night...

I made Mexican for dinner.
aside from lasagna, definitely a favorite in La Casa Griffin!


...at courtney's dance lesson last night, susan started teaching the girls their new hornpipe steps for the upcoming competition ( it has to be a 5 step, plus a mandatory 3rd step for all dancers )
so the girls were having fun with something new...and as always, courtney soaks up the 'new stuff' and has been hornpiping around here all night tonight...
:)



..i was super excited to come home last night to watch American Idol ( THANK GOD FOR PVR, ya know! )
i am soooooo loving James this season...i am just so, sooo happy for everything that is happening for him...it's so inspiring to watch him go for it every week and ENJOY every minute of it...
James is just so real.
maybe because he's also so QUIRKY ( like my courtney ) i feel a connection to him...I get him.
i would love to see him go all the way....

...and tonight...
( while watching the results show...GAH...so exciting, I could barely contain myself! )

anyway...tonight...
I. PLAYED.

awwwwwww yyeeeaaaaahhhhhh!!!

I have found my mojo the last few days, and feeling so inspired from reading my favorite blogs...
here's my take on one of Sasha's layouts over at
http://www.sassysasha.typepad.com/

( sesriously...CHECK. OUT. THE. CRAZY. TALENT. OVER. THERE!! )

while on her blog, if you click on the top right of her screen "LAYOUTS" it will take you to her flickr album of all her posted layouts...
my following layout is off her sketch called "A Hero @ 10"....love it, love it, LOVE it!!
( sorry I couldn't figure out how to add the link to make it easier...)



...i had fun using my butterfly punch on MACK TACK and CORK, and adding bling!!!
i also 'splashed' glimmer mist over the patterned paper as well to add some funk!

...and then the mojo just took over me!! HAHA!!
i have been asked recently to maybe check out teaching different flower embellishments to add to layouts, so i was in a learning / producing mood tonight and here's what i banged out...
( NOTE: i plan to share and show these faily easy techniques at my May 2 day crop...FREE!!! )
Okay...for starters, these totally cute felt / button lollipop embellies were posted all over in blog world months and months ago. i just haven't bothered really making them until now, so for the most part, these were my own creations, long since inspired!!
...and these cute loopy flowers i found on a tutorial on
Paper Trunk
sooooo cute and fun to make!!

...and these chifon distressed lovelies i was told how to make by my inspiring and talented friend
Thelma Findlay!
i couldn't wait to try making them, and LOVE how they turned out ( and i did them in green, intending to add them to my Scotland scrapbook, but I can't wait to make them in in a TON of different colors and bling! )
check out thelma's beautiful creativity at
:)
...and probably the hardest, fussiest, testiest ( is that a word? ) was these pleated paper flowers...
another tutorial i played with on the AMAZING Studio Calico blog...
(shown by Emily Pitts )
OOPSSS!!!!
hahaha...i accidentally just DELETED the finished paper flower...
Grrr....
i guess that's what happens when you blog at 10:36pm and your eyeballs would rather be watching Big Bang Theory....
but have no fear...i intend to scrap with it tomorrow, so you WILL see it soon enough!!
...be back soon...
:)















Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Last night...


...was tyler's Tumbling Rally through his schools gymnastics club...
it was a looooong time sitting on those hard wooden bleachers, but most enjoyable!!
Great Job Buddy!!!


...and today was another fun day of Spirit Week at courtney's school - HAWAII DAY!!!
( thank you BJ Super Toy Sales for stocking lots of fun costume accessories! )
i couldn't resist a fun little photo shoot when she came home...







...and tyler couldn't resist getting in on the action of a photo shoot either...
here's his Justin Bieber impression!!
HAHAHA...he is such a little ham!!!
...and one of tyler being himself...
the cutest lil' man ever!!!


...SCRAPBOOKERS...
details coming soon regarding my two day crop in May ( 27 & 28 ). things are all coming together and i will release all the info by the weekend!!!!
...be back soon...
:)