Major Back Log....

I had such a great schedule planned for Dec.  Yeah...the execution was something to be desired.  I put a little too much on my plate this year (can't blame a girl for trying) so I took a little longer than I wanted to getting my "JOY" decoration done.  I finally finished it last night.    I even like it better than my boo :)

This is what I started with.  I was going to do "JOY" in all the same letters but when I got to the craft store they were all out of  O's.  So I had to get even more creative than I was planning to.  I grabbed this big one and decided I would figure out something.  I grabbed some white paint and started my project. 

 

I love the new Nordic collection from Basic Grey and at a stamp convention back in Sept I picked up one of Darcies ornament kits and some twill.  I added some distress inks to the fun and this is what I ended up with.  Enjoy! :)   

I also got day 2 done in Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas.  I've been following his awesome tags but not copying them.  Unfortunately I only got to day 2 - this was the one I had to defer to 2012.  My DD has really just taken over everything and I'm totally OK with it, happy even.  I'm having a blast with my DD and PL so it's all good :)  

Here is day 2:

I used Cosmo Cricket silver rub-ons, broken china and iced spruce for the back ground color, a little water, clear snowflakes from Imaginisce and Echo Park paper snow flake brad. 

Check back later for more DD pages.  I hope to "catch up" in the next day or two.  :)

My DD title page

Originally I had the 25 on chipboard but then cut it down to fit the original binder that was part of the kit.  I loved the look of Ali's cover and wanted to do something similar so I got a thing of white flock and went to town.  I ended up flocking it over and over again because it just wasn't coming out how I had it in my head and then I started to lose the coolness of this font so I whipped out the white paint and outlined the numbers.  It still wasn't looking exactly the way I wanted it which lead me to the icicle stickles.  This is when I really switched gears to do the 12x12 PL and now my chipboard was only 6x8.  I decided to grab the holly berry spray and a white piece of Bazzill.  I also grabbed my washi sliver tape from A Muse Studio's, some glitter glass by Melissa Frances and you can't do Ali's DD without her awesome Technique Tuesday December stamps (I highly suggest becoming a member)

Once I finish any project I put it up on my mantel and take a step back.  When I did this for this page I realized I was PL was the perfect fit for me and that I'm on the right track!  Stay tuned for 25 more layouts :)   

December is a busy month & Moxie Fab World's Championing Award Medallions Challenge

Hi everyone,
December is setting out to be one crazy month!  And I'm not talking the regular shopping, decorating, baking etc etc crazy.  I'm talking about taking on WAY too many projects for one's sanity ;)  SO just what am I up too?  Well besides my A Muse Studio "business" (see my other blog @ http://www.itsallveryamusing.blogspot.com/) I have decided to do Tim Holtz's12 days of tags AND Ali Edwards' December Daily/25 days book.  I am also working on my home decor and just like the BOO for Halloween I've got a JOY for Christmas coming this way too.  Yes I know I'm nuts, but in a fun way I guess.  So without further ado... Here is my first tag in my TH "collection".  I will be adding this in with my 25 days so at least it goes hand in hand.  Since this little guy also has a rosette I am adding it to the Moxie Fab World  challenge just for fun.  Yes I know I said no more challenges but this just happened to fall within the challenge guidelines so why not toss my hat into the ring...

I wanted to something along the lines of sugar plum fairy and even though I find this a bit cutesy for me I think it came out pretty well.  All the stamps are from A Muse Studio, the tags (Tim Holtz) and the glass glitter (Melisa Frances) I purchased from Simon Says Stamp.  I used Versa Mark for the back ground stamps then took two of Tim's limited edition colors - Seedless Preserves (fall) and Festive Berries (winter) and swirled them on to each corner.  I then took antique linen and covered the entire tag to give it a more grunge look.  I then took my Martha Stewart scoring board (can't paper craft without this tool!) and made the rosette from MMBI Christmas kit paper pack.  I once I scored the 1.5 inch strip I balled it up then flattened it out, ran over it with more antique linen and then attempted to fold it.  There are some rips and a few parts that didn't want to fold up but that's just all part of the "look".  I grabbed my nesting circles from spellbinders for the center, gave that an antique linen treatment and then stamped in black my sentiment.  I stamped out our little ginger bread couple, cut them out and gave them some antique linen treatment.  To color them I used a white gel pen for the "icing" and my awesome copics for the buttons and eyes.  I also stamped out 3 gum drops, ran them through the seedless preserves and then used icicle stickles and glitter glass to give them the look of sugar.  Because I felt it needed more bling I used the same stickles and glitter around the circle.  Grabbed some ribbon out of my stash for the green bow and used A Muse Studios' twine (dragged that through antique linen as well - can you tell it's one of my favorite colors) for the ribbon on the top. 


Whew!  What a post!  I think that's the longest one I've done so far.  Well only 11 more to go as well as my DD (daily December) book and Joy decor to post.  It's going to be one crafty month!  I will do my best to post almost every day.  Thanks everyone :)

Today's cards so far

**If you are hoping from OWH or Paper Crafts, please scroll down to see the two Christmas cards that are part of these hops**

Wow - this has been a crazy day.  My first blog hop and not only World Card Making Day but all my favorite vendors doing huge contests.  How can you not play?  I was hoping to post these earlier today but all those fun activities made that day turn into night...

Here are 3 (so far)

I had a heck of a time getting a good pic of this one.  My flash wanted to drown out the very light colors in this awesome Melissa Frances line.  Now that I'm looking at it - you can't even see the deal in the cookies and milk Lawn Fawn stamps I did with my copics.  Sentiment is from A Muse Studio. 

Love Doodlebug and poking around on the OWH site they need Birthday, Miss you, Love you and Thank you cards so I used DB's birthday line to make this card.  The sentiment is from A Muse Studio and you can't really see it but on each side of the sentiment there is a gem. 

Using my Paper Smooches I made this silly little guy.  I love google eyes - they make me giggle.  Sentiment is also PS.  All but the teal is Echo Park's little girl line.  The polka dot teal card stock is Bazzill.  

Big Picture Classes - Big Idea Festival pages

For those who have yet to check out Big Picture Classes @ www.bigpictureclasses.com I highly recommend them.  I ran into BPC by taking one of their live classes at GASC (Great American Scrapbooking Convention) earlier this year and loved it.  The girls were super fun and easy going.  BPC offers a ton of classes for all styles and budgets.  Some of their classes are even FREE! 

I signed up for one of those free classes called Big Idea Festival.  It ran for 2 weeks and while it wasn’t the best timing since I was trying to get ready for my submission to Doodlebug I didn’t want to pass it up either.  There was a different teacher and a different word each day and as of right now I only have the title page and 2 pages done but I’m going to finish off my mini album so that I can check it off my list.  See my three in total below J

Title Page:

I used the 6x6 Echo Park Country Drive paper pack and one small oval resin frame from Melissa Frances.    

Less:

I used the same EP paper pad with a doodlebug chunky blue brad and orange flower from the ladybug garden collection.  I know “they” tell you to never go back but I might “go back” anyway and hand write on the actual paper instead of that huge white square I’ve got going on.

Share: I used watercolor paint to make this layout because I couldn’t find a picture I liked and the ones I took just didn't capture what I was trying to say.  I have gotten a surprising amount of wonderful feedback - everyone seems to love it.  Apparently I need to paint more! 

It's funny how the layouts you're like whatever it's done on people gravitate towards. 

I also wanted to give a BIG thank you to BPC and everyone from teachers to members.  I just love a community that isn't afraid to tell someone they do a great job!  :)