Spread the Love Blog Hop

So here it is - today I am sharing small contribution to the Spread the Love Blog Hop.
Thinking about what kind of Valentines my kids will take to school this year reminded me about the bag of Valentines that Lila wanted to keep. She was in 2nd grade. Yes, 4 years passed and I still had the bag. It was time to do something about it. They all were store bought little cards with kids handwriting. I pulled out my Fiskars XL and L heart squeeze punches and got to work. That's what I got:
I than arranged the punched out hearts on a page leaving space for picture and glued them down. I used pop dots on some for more dimension. Ideally I would use a picture of Lila with her handmade Valentine from that year but I didn't have it. So I found a picture from one of the school parties and decided that it will be good enough.
I added red scallop border adhering punched out hearts under the cardstock edge.

One of the valentines still had the candy attached. It is probably too old to eat but good enough to embellish the page. 2 strips with little circle letter stickers for the title and we are done.
Here is it. Lila approved :)
Now go check other stops on our blog hop for some inspiring and delicious projects:

Laura
Mel
Carrie
Sharyn

Lots of snow and sleeping baby

I already decided that I will not use this sketch from Scrapbook Challenges and put the printout in my scrap drawer. But when I looked at these pictures from the last winter I thought it might work after all. I pull out the sketch again and made this layout. And I am glad I did! I love how it turned out. The base for the layout is K&Co Silhouette glitter paper. The rest of the patterned paper is Basic Grey. I used my Quickutz Washington font for the title.

The red glittered birdies are Martha Stewart stickers. They come attached to the golden branches that I cut off.

Supplies: patterned paper (K&Co, Basic Grey), stickers (Martha Stewart), font (Quickutz Washington), USX

This layout is also based on Scrapbook Challenges sketch. It came together quickly. I think I used the last bits of Heidi Grace "Only Time" collection. It was one of my favorites!


Supplies: Cardstock (core'dinations), patterned paper (Heidi Grace), journaling tags (Heidi Grace), Chipboard letters (Making Memories), ribbon (unknown)

Things on my mind

Few things I wanted to share:
1. Check this beautiful blog by Mandy. You gotta love the name - A Teacup of Scrapisms! She makes the most wonderful, full of texture and amazing details layouts. She will be my fellow DT member at Twisted Sketches. Scroll down to the post where she shared her 2009 favorites - I promise, it's a true eye candy.

2. The latest Martha Stewart magazine had an article about Darcy Miller's first gallery show. The show features Darcy's illustrations, diaries and scrapboxes and is called "Family". I love love love the scapboxes she made. Definitely something I want to do. Go here to see the show website, fo here to see the scrapboxes.

3. And here are some more amazing shadow boxes from Sarah & Bendrix etsy shop. Check this Angel Heart - gorgeous!

4. Last but not least. Crop Out Diabetes online crop. It starts tomorrow, January 29th and goes through next Friday February 5th. With a minimum donation of $5 to Juvenile Diabetis Reseach Foundation you get an access to the private forum with challenges and prizes. Go here for more information and to sign up. I just got an email that the private forum is open and had to peek. Wow, there is a huge list of challenges and a very long list of sponsors. Among the sponsors I saw Stampin' Up, Pebbles, KI Memories, Studio Calico, Advantus, Fiskars and the list goes on and on. Really, I don't see any reason why you would not sign up!

52 weeks: week 3

Thank you all for leaving all those nice comments on my previous post! It really warms my heart.

I am writing this post from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. We are here for the synchronised ice skating competition with Lila's team. The girls left for the practice (how do you like 4:45am wake up time?) and I have some free time before they come back.

I didn't have much time to scrap this week but I managed to make few layouts. This one is for Janna's week 3 of 52 weeks of stress free scrapbooking. I liked the layout she did so decided to use few ideas like 3 pictures in the middle of the layout, white space below the pictures and the position of the embellishments.

Janna challenged her blog readers to make a layered title. I used a cool transparency from Jenni Bowlin November 09 kit (unfortunately I don't know who is the manufacturer), added the journaling tag and letter stickers. The 2 is punched out from the patterned paper.


Supplies: patterned paper (October Afternoon, Creative Imaginations, Jenni Bowlin), journaling tags (Jenni Bowlin), letter stickers (Jenni Bowlin), stamp (Maya Road)

I made 2 other layouts that I will share later this week. And here is a little tease:

Remember the Holiday Blog Hop? Come back this Saturday for our Spread the Love Blog Hop. Me and my blogging friends will be here with fun Valentine projects. So excited about that, can't wait!

Sharing my news

The announcement is up and I can finally share :)
I made the Twisted Sketches Design Team. The full announcement is here.
I am so excited! From the beginning I loved this site and used several Anam's sketches.
Go and visit other DT memebers. I am thrilled to be a part of such talented team.

I submitted this layout for the DT spot. The twist was "transparent". I was looking for the nice picture to print and found a picture of my niece from her birthday celebration. In the picture she wears red dress with hibiscus flowers. I dug deeply into my stash and found CTMH papers with the same flowers. I knew I have Heidi Swapp acrylic hibiscus flowers. Perfect match!

Supplies: Cardstock (Recollections), patterned paper (Close to my heart), letter stickers (Martha Stewart), flowers (Heidi Swapp), acrylic paint (DecoArt, Honig, Ranger), stamp (Hero arts), ink (Brilliance), clip (Making Memories)

I painted the edges of the flowers with acrylic paint. Added glitter letter stickers and a strip of paper with curled tails. Viola!
The layout is cute but my niece steals the show!

I am also will be a Guest Design Team member for Scrappy Times in February. Whoo-hooo! I will be busy!

And here is my last toot for today. My Pickleman layout won Ella's Publishing contest. :)
Let me just say it was a good week :)

Fiskars online crop

Starting today through Wednesday on Fiskateers message board. Dust off your Fiskateer cap or sign up to be a Fiskateer if you didn't do so yet. Today I am hosting a challenge. The prize for this challenge is Squarely Sentimental stamp set (thanks Fiskars!) I thought I should use the same stamp set for my layout as well. I based this layout on Twisted Sketch #32. The twist for this sketch was stamps - so that all worked out perfectly.

The teal paper on right is Heidi Swapp Invisibles. I misted it with teal Glimmer Mist.
The title and the decorative squares are embossed. I layered the small squares on top of the bigger squares
Supplies: cardstock (Core'dinations), patterned paper (Heidi Swapp, Pink Paislee), stamps (Fiskars, Heidi Swapp), pearls (Prima), Glimmer Mist (Tattered Angles), embossing powder (Jo-Ann's)

I am off to check the rest of the challenges!

Layouts from the kitchen

I like to have my camera handy when I am in the kitchen - there is always something interesting happening. Sometimes I need to think - should I take the baby down from the table or should I take the picture first :)

I took the picture first but for the record the baby is safe.
Here are 2 layouts from not so dramatic events. Eli is enjoying his pickle. Who would think that 13 months old will like pickles?? I used Week 1 sketch from Six Weeks of Sketches on Ella Publishing blog.

Supplies: Cardstock (core'dinations), patterned paper (Basic Grey, Creative Imaginations), letter stickers (Scenic Route), chipboard (Basic Grey), raindots (Cloud 9), Fiskars USX template and sandpaper for the scallops

To create the scallops I put this Fiskars template under the cardstock and went over the edges with a piece of sandpaper. I used whitewash core'dinations cardstock with green core. I found it at my local Jo-Ann. Love core'dinations! So pretty!
Here Ella and Eli are sharing fruit snacks. That's when we found out that he really likes them. This little baby has a sweet tooth :)

The little windows are cut with Fiskars USX using freehand cutting. The cupcake is also cut with USX using the cupcake template.

Supplies: cardstock (Bazzil), patterned paper (K&Co), letter stickers (Heidi Grace), tab (SEI), raindots (Cloud 9), Fiskars USX

Tuesday trigger - Purple and Yellow

This week's Tuesday Trigger was from the garden. This beautiful vegetable is January King Cabbage. Purple is one of my favorite colors expecially combined with light yellow, so I had to play along. I had a piece of light yellow paper lying around for very long time. I even don't remember where I got it. I suspect it is by Making Memories but I am not sure. I misted it with purple Glimmer Mist and handcut 2 layers of petals. The flower center is made with 2 punched out stars and some purple Cloud 9 raindots. The flower is mounted on the shaped label (love this Quickutz die!)
The leaves are punched with Fiskars squeeze punch Mint Condition. I made the lines with my bone folder.

For some reason I had troubles getting a decent picture. At least the flower is in focus :)

2 layouts from last night

Remember this Blog Hop? Guess what? I actually won a prize :) The full collection of Basic Grey Origins. The full collection is a lot of patterned paper. You will be seeing lots of layouts in green/yellow/brown color scheme from me :)

Here is the first one. Based on Sketch 181 from Scrapbook Challenges. All products are Basic Grey except the gray cardstock. I used Fiskars USX to cut the journaling tag and Fiskars squeeze corner punch.

The whole central part of the layout is raised with pop dots.

Another Scrapbook Challenges sketch - #178 this time.

Supplies: patterned paper (October Afternoon, Crate Paper), die-cut flowers and tag (October Afternoon), letter stickers (Basic Grey)

Gifts from Israel

My sister always sends us the most thoughtful gifts. I thought this time I will share what came to us last week.

Cute little fleece top for Eli in my favorite color.

2 fleece hats for the girls.

Handmade bag for me!

Ella loved her new warm hat - perfect for Wisconsin winter.

Thanks my dear! You are the best sister and aunt ever!

Here is something else that I wanted to share - one of the new blogs that I discovered is called Israeli Kitchen. It is in English and it posts recipes and articles about Israeli food. Today's post is about a market in Ramla. If you like to read about other cultures you will enjoy this post.

I made a minialbum about a trip to another market in Israel. You can see few pages here.