Follow me on Bloglovin'

As many of you know, Google Reader is will be gone from the 1st of July and as from that date, you will lose the list of blogs you follow. I moved to Bloglovin’ and love it. 
You can easily transfer the list of all the blogs you already follow so you don’t miss out. Here is how to import all the blogs you follow from Google Reader to Bloglovin’ …
Don’t forget to follow Basement Chronicles :)

Choir retreat

A quick layout I made today based on Bo Bunny sketch. I had few sheets of old AdLib collection and added the music note sheet from Love Letters. I can't decided what I think about it. It turned so ... not me. But that's ok. I am going to embrace it and add it happily to Lila's album. (That part will have to wait till we move and unpack since the scrapbooks are packed already)

Supplies: patterned paper, stickers (Bo Bunny), cardstock (Bazzill), thickers (American Crafts), border punch (Fiskars), circle and speech bubble squeeze punches (Fiskars)

 

 

Road trip to New Jersey - part 1

Last Monday, June 17th, I packed my kids into the minivan, loaded it with snacks and set the GPS to Fair Lawn, NJ.

If you ask "Why New Jersey?" you probably don't know yet that after 10 years in Wisconsin we are moving to New Jersey. Ofir is already there, working at his new job but we stayed in Wisconsin to finish the school year, pack the house and get ready for the move. Our school year ended earlier than the school year on New Jersey so we decided to take a road trip, visit the schools and take a look at the area.  

First stop at Lake Forest Oasis in Chicago. Time for ice cream.

Hmm, I probably didn't take enough snacks...

No problem. We will stop and the next rest stop for more ice cream.
 We spent the whole day on the road and late at night arrived to our hotel in Pennsylvania.

The next morning we decided to take a detour and visit the Kinzua Bridge State Park. The views of the bridge are stunning.

Here is what was left from the bridge support after it was destroyed by tornado in 2003.

We had fun at the observation deck.

Ella had to check if the restored segment of the rail tracks will hold her.
The same evening we arrived to Fair Lawn and picked up Ofir from our friends house.

The next morning we had a meeting at the high school and after that we had lunch in Hoboken. After the lunch we dropped of Ofir at his office and went to visit the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City. the highlight of the center is the observation deck with gorgeous view of New York.

We spent some time looking at the tall buildings,

 catching balls with upside-down glasses on and

making handprints.

We had some free time before dinner so per my request we found Starbucks and everyone happily reunited with their electronic devices.

We had great dinner with our friends at sushi restaurant at Ridgewood. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures inside the restaurant.

Stay tuned for part 2.

P.S. A short blog maintenance announcement. As all you know and probably saw on endless other blogs, Google Reader is going away. After trying few things I decided to use Bloglovin. I especially like it's app on my Android. So if you followed me through Google Reader or Google Friends you can continue following by clicking on the Bloglovin icon on my left side bar. Hope to see some old and new names :)

Samantha Walker Blog Hop with JustRite

Hello Samantha Walker and JustRite friends! And all others who stumbled across my blog! Today I am participating in a blog hop featuring Samantha Walker stamps for JustRite. Let me tell you, when my package arrived at my doorstep I couldn't be more excited! These stamps are terrific and I know I will use every single one of them!

For my project I chose to use Leafy Background stamp .

 

It is a cling stamp made out of deep etched red rubber mounted on a thick foam. When I saw how elegant it looks I wanted to try it on canvas. I used Faber-Castell Stampers Big Brush pen in green to color the stamp and was able to get a really nice image. To get the best results I sprayed the stamp with water after coloring and used a thin piece of foam under the canvas.

I hand stitched the canvas to the card base with gold thread. I want to keep it simple so I just added few flowers from my stash and a stamped sentiment from Samantha's Buntings and Banners stamp set.

 You can win the Buntings and Banners set along with the matching dies by hoping along.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And don't forget! All Samantha Walker stamps and dies are 25% off!

Thank you for visiting! You next stop on the blog hop is Kristi Schurr! Have a great hopping day!

Samantha Walker Creative Team June Blog Hop

Welcome to Samantha Walker Creative Team Blog Hop! This month's theme is Summer!

You should have arrived here from Susie's blog. This month giveaway is Botanical Swirls Spellbinders™ Expandable Patterns Die Set. 

Isn't it pretty? All you need to do is enter below. You can earn multiple entries by following us on Facebook, commenting below, tweeting about the giveaway, and signing up for the email updates.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Summer in our house means ice cream. I have countless pictures of my kids licking away this delicious summer treat. Here is one that I snapped last summer when Ella was "helping" Eli with his cone.

Supplies: cardstock (Core'dinations), patterned paper, stickers, brad (Carta Bella), liquid pearls (Ranger), twine

I used fun papers from Samantha Walker "Cool Summer" collection for Carta Bella. The colors are so bright and delicious that I didn't need to load the layout with embellishments. I used handcut banner with letter stickers, a cute brad and few stickers.

I wrote my journaling on the strips of paper and layered them on top of busy background with dimensional adhesive. I used two photo corner stickers as arrows.

I "threaded" the button stickers with liquid pearls and added more liquid pearls to the letter stickers. It reminds me of melted ice cream.

I think I am going to use every last bit of this collection. If I will run out of pictures to scrap we can always get more ice cream!

Don't forget to sign up for Samantha's Newsletter through the Rafflecopter widget to receive your Free SVG and Silhouette Studio file!  

 

I really loved this awesome double star and I couldn't resist and made another layout featuring this cool cut file.

 Supplies: cardstock (unknown), thickers (American Crafts), cut file (Samantha Walker), die cut machine (Silhouette Cameo), stick pins (Little Yellow Bicycle), mist (Tattered Angels), ink (Tim Holtz), pearls (Kaiser Crafts), safety pin, jeans, buttons

I used only the top layer of the cut file, without the mat. I changed the dimensions till I was happy with the look and cut it from white cardstock. I misted the stars with black and brown mists and layered them on top of the picture using dimensional adhesive.

The background is made by stitching torn pieces of jeans to craft cardstock. Two buttons were removed from the same jeans.

My oldest daughter Lila said to my - only you can make a layout out of torn jeans.... literally. I took it as a compliment :)

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you were inspired to try these or any other beautiful cut files from Samantha Walker Silhouette Store.

Click on the image below to head over to Claudia Harvey!

Click on the photo below to go to your next stop!

Samantha Walker projects

Today I just want to share two projects I made for Samantha Walker blog.

 Last week I made this quick layout using Samantha's "Cool Summer" collection for Carta Bella. I used Picasa to make a simple photo strip. Check the blog for more pictures and Picasa tutorial.

Supplies: patterned paper, chipboard, stickers (Carta Bella)

In May I used my sewing machine to actually sew fabric and not paper. I made new straps for my Sseko sandals.

I used the cute fabric from Samantha Walker Serenata collection and I even got a pedicure for the photo shoot :)

 

Look for more pictures and the full tutorial in the blog.

Winners, updates and Silhouette tutorial

Hello there, blog readers! It looks like once again the life got too busy and as always, my blogging is the first thing that falls.

A lot of things happen in the last two months. I didn't really have time to blog or read blogs or even scrapbook. I hardly kept up with my DT assignments but was thankful for them. At least I was able to squeeze in some creative time in the midst of all the craziness. So what happened? Let's see -
April 12 - my last "regular" blog post where I shared my Project Life and promised a prize. We will come back to that in a second.
April 14-15 - I took Lila to ice skating competition in Minnesota. Ella and Eli came with us as well.
April 17-21 - My BFF Nina visited me and we spent the most awesome 5 days together. Well, 5 and a half since her flight was cancelled.
April 8 - May 12 - Red White and Blades (the annual ice skating show) practices. They took a big chunk of Lila's and my time
May 13 - 16 - I am getting ready for MOMS rummage sale and sewing skirts for Red white and Blades.
May 17-18 - Four ice skating shows for Lila. I am helping with the ticket sales and cast dinner. Ofir is helping with the tear down.
May 17 - Ofir's last working day at GE.
May 20 - 26  Packing, sorting, taking things apart, meeting with the realtors, getting ready to rent our house
May 27  - Ofir leaves for New Jersey, our new home
May 28 - June 8 - I am living my life - taking Lila to ice skating, choir rehearsals, BBYO activities, taking Eli to soccer and music lessons, trying to keep the house clean, trying to eat healthy. The school will be done in a week and we will resume the sorting/packing/purging mode. A huge part of it is going through my scrapbooking stuff that in 8 years grew from one shoebox to countless boxes, drawers, files, binders, baskets and just piles and piles. Wish me luck here!

Enough with the boring stuff! I hope (but not promise) that I will slowly return to blogging more and maybe even catching up on my Project Life. Right now I want to announce the winner from the Project Life Celebratory Blog Hop. Since I am so late, instead of one winner I am going to pick three winners. Here they are: comments number 15, 2 and 5  - Scrumptious, eek and Kelly Sas.

Email me ladies, your shipping address and what cards do you want. You can choose from Seafoam or Jade kits. 

I don't want you to think that I didn't do anything creative in the last two months. Actually, this month I am hosting a challenge at Scrap It Girl. The challenge is to use die cuts, any way you want. I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut a gorgeous "Just Leaves Lattice" by Patricia Zapata from A Little Hut.
 

That's how it looked like after I cut it from smooth white cardstock.

Very carefully I peeled the design from the mat leaving the negative space untouched.

I decided where I wanted the design on the page and trimmed the part above the picture.

I carefully peeled the leaves from the mat, colored them with Faber Castell markers and adhered them where they belong. I did not add any adhesive to the lattice itself. It was slightly sticky from the mat and I knew that the picture will hold it in place.

I added few more layers under the picture without adhering the picture itself.

I put the picture aside and splashed few watercolor drops on the background.

After the page was dry I added the picture, few stickers and colored wood veneers.

I love this picture of my parents. I think I am going to frame it.

 Supplies: cardstock (American Crafts, Recollections), patterned paper, stickers (American Crafts), markers (Faber-Castell), wood veneer (Freckled Fawn), vellum, brad, watercolors, Silhouette Cameo, cut file (A Little Hut)

Check what other Scrap It Girl DT members did for this challenge and share your take. It's and easy one. Who doesn't have die cuts??