Creative Thursday ~ SOS/Sketch and "They Call Her Icebox" part 1

Hey there! It seems I'm in my niche with a very busy job and a very busy life at the football fields lately! But if I can squeeze out a page, you'll probably still see the kids. :-D

Here is my cutie all ready for football practice!

Come on back this weekend to read the entire story of how we got here and page two of this layout...

But for now, here is a SOS-sketch inspired page!

They Call Her Icebox by Lindsey Krauss.
Supplies: Paper: Junkitz, Crate Paper, Inc.; Cardstock: Bazzill, other; Stickers: Making Memories; Chipboard: Heidi Swapp, Twiddleybitz, Best Creation, Inc.; Markers: Sharpie; Ink: Staz-On, Marcella By K; Mist: Tattered Angels; Rub-ons: DCWV; Sketch: Rochelle Spears for Scrap Our Stash.

And the Scrap Our Stash sketch...

Creative Thursday ~ lil lady liberty at SOS!

Ohhh, it feels so good to scrap again. :) My 20th page on the year, can you believe it? I used to do 20 a month so many years ago... Thank goodness for SOS, or I'd probably never get to add any scrapbook pages... ever!

Anyhow, the time out felt good and this one is working for me (even though it's yellow!)

Scrap Our Stash told us: At least one of the following premade embellishments: airplane, train, bus, car, or boat AND...you must also include a travel signage embellishment.

As I searched through my papers to find something to travel with, I ran into a little Basic Grey Urban Couture (who needs new supplies, lol!) and held on to the yellow I'd normally run from. Thought about the cabs, thought about this pic, and found those super old NYC stickers in the stash I have tucked away for my husband's NYPD books.

N.Y.C. lil lady liberty by Lindsey Krauss.
Supplies: Paper, Sticker letters: Basic Grey; Cardstock: Wausau; Rhinestones: Kaiser Scrapbook;
Stickers: Me & My Big Ideas, Frances Meyer, Stickopotamus; Rub-ons: _____;
Chipboard stars and letters: ScrapWorks; Bracket: _____, Mist: Tattered Angels.

Just a few tips and tricks:

• I had about dozen of the cab and Liberty stickers. To give the sticker just a bit more dimension, I layered the same stickers to the left and to the right, and then centered the top sticker.
• Also, I really envisioned checkered paper on this layout, but couldn't find any at all! So I used the old CM punch and made my own - in two sizes. ") hey - whatever works!
• Lastly, I realigned the number line to put the date in the middle of the line, then bracketed it. :)

Um, doesn't it look like the Lady Liberty's torch is smoking? Didn't plan that one... 

Have a GREAT day. 

p.s. the real layout is *not* crooked...

PEACE.

Feelin' sunny yellow:

The Lord your God is with you,

    the Mighty Warrior who saves.

He will take great delight in you;

    in his love he will no longer rebuke you,

    but will rejoice over you with singing.

Zephaniah 3:17

Tuesday Special ~ diecuts and summer at SOS

Okay, secret? I loathe both die-cuts and themed paper, the very things on which scrapbooking was probably founded. So to put them all together - that's a real challenge! So what do you do? Put the things you don't like with the things you do - Just thought this was funny - I had started a post for this blog ages ago and it went like this, lol - I guess I was in a softer mood today! :)

Yeah, soooo... I'm not a die-cut person.

Like. At all.

I don't have them. I don't use them. I don't buy them. I don't own them. I never bought a machine. I never thought about buying a machine. I'm not saying die-cuts don't have their place in the scrapbooking world. I've seen many people use them successfully.
I'm just not one of them.

So Scrap Our Stash's 6th challenge became a real challenge.

Luckily, I keep a stash of such things for McKenna and I went shopping in her supplies. She helped me pick out a few things I might be able to use and on we went.

And then they added summer-themed papers.

Challenged.

I figure I can do anything in small doses, so I found all my supplies first and then found a picture to dazzle the page.

So I took SOS's challenge and combined it with one of my favorite lettering techniques. Well, not a technique, really - just mix and match. A great way to use up your letter stash, by the way! Another small stash secret - I didn't have enough yellow bling, so I tucked my sunshine in the clouds to block some rays.

All in all, I got enough on there to highlight the story that was to be - a little trouble!

Enjoy and visit us over at SOS!!

This Looks Like Trouble by Lindsey Krauss.
Supplies: Paper: S.E.I., Scrappin' Sports & More, Amscan; Cardstock, brads: Making Memories; Diecuts: What's New Ltd.; Washi Tape: Scotch; Droplets: Kaiser Scrapbook, Cloud 9 Design; Bling: Jeannie's, VivAmerica; Letters: White Blossom, Jillibean Soup, American Crafts; Mist: Tattered Angels.

Creative Thursday ~ Friends and Angels @ WOW

I had one more WOW piece to work with and as much as I loved that chipboard, I found myself devoid of all inspiration. So I took a walk around looking for a sketch to jump start the process. I {re}found my friend Pam's blog and a fun sketch to boot. Yes, another McKenna layout, I must play catch up after this with some Matthew pages...

See this on XoXo, too...

Friends and Angels by Lindsey Krauss.
Supplies: Paper: Daisy Bucket Designs, Brads, Staples: Making Memories, Flowers: Prima Marketing, Mist: Tattered Angels, Title: Words or Whatever. Sketch: Pamela Young.

For the WoW title, I colored with Sharpies (ombre and all) and then misted with Tattered Angels Dragonfly and Party Pink (my two colors of choice as of late). I found the pink flowers that I misted for my last projects and didn't use and paired those up with a few little yellow petals to complement the dark blue. The sunshine was an afterthought, after I was trying to arrange my banner scraps. And as haphazardly as I tried to arrange my banner pieces, somehow they still came out, well, arranged. :) 

Thanks for looking and another huge thanks to Words or Whatever for donating pieces and prizes. These are truly one of my favorite chipboard companies to work with - I think it's because of the flexibility of the pieces. 

Anyhow, enjoy. and a verse to go with friends and angels:

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

I'm on this journey with "edification", as I started and learned of in our own Graceland kids ministry. Love that.

Tuesday Special ~ Sketch + Flower Stash at SOS!

I don't get much done in the scrapbook lately, but SoS keeps me going. :) Squeezed this one in last weekend -

Laugh by Lindsey Krauss. 

Did you see the sketch? Yum. Add three flowers, and you're in.

I flipped through some recent photos of the fam & I on a real tourist family field trip to NYC. I was taking some pics of the kids and their dad and the boat blew its horn. I just love the faces she made, and I'm so glad I caught them on camera! Too cute -

As for the layout, I started the background with crayon - yes, real Crayola. I sprayed with a little TA (who, by the way, is abandoning their old website and its viruses while developing a new one; just in case you noticed! Update here.)

Then the layers just kept comin'... The strip mostly hidden at the bottom of the photo is actually a piece I laid down a few weeks ago to spray something else. The colors happened to match, so I stuck it on there to start. Then let's talk stash! Queen & Co.! Jolee's! Daisy D's! Yes, we definitely covered Scrapping Our Stash here!

Thanks for stopping by, see more here!
http://scrapourstash.blogspot.com

Creative Thursdayl ~ WOW & SOS!

A patterned paper party to go with some sweet new chipboard!
Actually, I made a mistake and accidentally combined two design team layouts, but the more, the merrier. :) Scrap away!

find that sweet chipboard here: WOW

and

find this fun challenge here: SOS

,

JUMP by Lindsey Krauss.
Supplies: Paper: Making Memories, Rhonna Farrer, Lilly Bee Design; Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Stickers: Making Memories; Artisan Tape: Pink Paislee; Marker: Sharpie; Mist: Tattered Angels; Glitter: Stickles, Studio G; letters: VivAmerica;
Chipboard: Words or Whatever.

Scrap Can you tell I'm trying to get rid of those old monograms? I could almost spell JUMP, and was going to hide the letters in all that patterned paper, but I was missing an 'm'. So we got a 'j' with lots of extra polka dots - my favorite, anyway! It looked too plain when I got done, so I added the pink spray at the very end. 

Oh, and don't do what I did - I forgot rub-ons! You have to successfully enter a layout with all parts of the challenge to win over at SOS... Got them in, tho; be sure you do, too! 

Tuesday Special ~ The Bet.

Superbowl ~ SuperBet

So, "brilliant" me bet "my" girls at XoXo Scrapbooking over the big game. I thought we had it. I really did. But we didn't. And then we did. But ultimately, we didn't. I'm proud, but a loser in this bet.

So the challenge was toward another Ravens fan, and the girls got to weigh in something they wanted to see on the layout. Here's how the evil plan turned out:

Stencil
Lace
Purple
Red & gold
purple washi tape
Lobster/embossed stamping
Mist
Distressing
Stitching
Index cards

And here is how my page turned out. Busy. There's a lot to it, but it's Christmas afterall. Or, was. Whatever. :)

Happy Christmas 2012 by Lindsey Krauss. Paper: daisy d's, Flowers: Prima Marketing, other, Diecut: Prima Marketing,  Letters: Making Memories, Prima Marketing, Rub-ons: DCWV, Pink Paislee,  Stamp: Inque Boutique, Ink: K & Company, Mist: Tattered Angels, Artisan Tape: Pink Paislee, Other: lace ribbon, rhinestones, index card. Sketch: Rebecca Ludens.

So
*Stencil -- On the bottom right of the photo mat (now almost completely covered with the last S of ChristmaS, is a stencil of a corner piece - I traced it and then misted it with graphite.

*Lace -- black lace with silver - it was this questionable 3-layered ribbon. I took it apart and used the black for lace.

*Purple -- accent color.

*Red & Gold -- red as a major color, yellow as printed on paper.

*Purple Washi tape -- I don't have purple Washi, so it's artisan tape and it's in the flower, at the edge of the 2012 rectangle, and along the top right edge of the photo.

*Embossed stamping -- I flipped the layout, stamped on the back, dry embossed, flipped it back over, went over it with an almost-dry black in pad, slipped pearl mist on my finger and ran over it again.

*Mist -- the flower and dry embossing have pearl, the stencil and index card pieces have graphite.

*Distressing -- does the background print count? I didn't add any myself.

*Stitching -- sooooo rub-on. But it's stitching nonetheless.

*Index cards -- I heavily misted an index card and hung it overnight. It puddled at the bottom and made this cool border (see under '2012'). Then I used other pieces of the index card under the photo, under the artisan tape, and under the 3 squares on the left of the layout. It's that cool-gray color.

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Why the copyright?

No, I don't think I'm a celebrity. I don't even think anyone will steal my designs. It's to protect the kids. I think the photo adds a lot to the page, so without completely blurring them out, I'm marking them up. I've heard one too many true horror stories lately. Have you seen Catfish? A true-life friend of mine had her some's photo stolen and put on an adoption website -and put up for adoption! The only reason she knows is that someone Good Imaged the picture and contacted her. Google Image, people. It's our friend. So for now, it's the best way I can keep the kids for myself and share my full page with you.

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And just for fun...

I'm slightly obsessed with houndstooth right now. So from now on until... well... till I want to stop, there will be a bit of houndstooth on every layout I design. Remember that year I named all of my layouts like FRIENDS named their episodes? "The One With..." I thought I'd have a little design fun. Feel free to comment if you find the houndstooth!

Tuesday Special ~ Paper Secrets & If It's Groovy!

Sometimes I just want a little extra space to fit in some thoughts or scrapbook pages, so I'm adding Tuesday Special to the lineup. Anything goes!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Paper Secrets~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I just completed this layout Sunday and wanted to share. I wasn't liking it much at first, but it's growing on me, despite its many imperfections. Thanks to my husband for snapping these pics as I was busy having a blast while coaching a bunch of amazing little kids!

This is the November 1 sketch from Paper Secrets that made these pics come to life. Thought the banner-style was pretty perfect for some sports pics. 

Team Red Bulls by Lindsey Krauss. Supplies: Paper: CherryArte, Sweetwater, Junkitz, Cardstock: Making Memories, Bling: Heidi Swapp, Sticker: Scrappin' Sports & More, Marker: Sharpie, Bic.

*No, I'm not kidding about CherryArte and Junkitz - I told you I haven't bought supplies in a while! Really working the stash now!*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SoS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm delighted to accept a design team position on the If It's Groovy blog! I jumped right in and joined their challenge to create a hand-cut title - I don't do this nearly enough anymore!

Have fonts - Will use. 

So I chose one of my fav pics of the fall and went from there. Here's a little how-to (how I did it - ) in pics:

Step one: I chose a good bubbly font and resized it to fit in the space I had planned. I printed in black, but could have printed in brown.

Step two: I printed out a leafy picture which would become the title, making sure it was large enough to cut the font-title out of it. 

Step three: staple the font onto the picture. Staple in the white space, in the space that will not become the title) good ol' preschool teacher trick!)

Step four: Cut another title (title mat), leaving about an 1/8'' around the font. Place the cut title onto the font (it easily relieves any little imperfections in my cutting). :)

Step five: Make sure it fits. It fits! Distress, embellish as you wish!

Jump! by Lindsey Krauss. Supplies: Paper: Bella Blvd., Xerox, Cardstock: Bazzill Basics, Sticker: Bella Blvd., Pearls: Kaiser Crafts, Mist: Tattered Angels (Tsukineko), Paint: Making Memories,  Other: leaf vellum, brown ribbons, heart button, raffia. Font: Brody.

Design note: To create this hand-cut title, I printed out a picture with leaves large enough to fit in the space I planned on my page. I then found a nice, bubble font and printed that out a few times in black on another sheet of paper. I stapled the font to the leafy picture in its white space and cut the title with a craft blade. I simply cut around the black font, about 1/8" out. I laid the picture-title on the white paper-title (I like the ink behind the title because it covers some little fussy-cutting imperfections.) Although as you can see, I think imperfect layouts are pretty perfect, too (RUSTIC, we call it!) :)

Creative Thursday ~ Groovy, Stash, Timeline, and XoXo

I look busy, but this is the work of the last few weeks, and lots of extra time off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SoS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next, I somehow got a sweet bunny layout (no, really) done during #Sandy. The kids, dogs and I were bunkered down in the smallest room of the house when the storm really hit. It was scary for a while, but we fared really well. Lost a playground, lost a car window, lost some pieces off the roof, lost phone/internet/cable for a few days, but we are alive and healthy. My heart goes out to NY/NJ and if you can donate - anything from prayers to supplies to cash - please do!

So I was hanging out at Scrap Our Stash, and saw this "pagerize" challenge - basically a scraplift or inspiration challenge - but a fun word! I loved Wendy's 3-photo layout with the design at the bottom, so I took that to a page of my own. I added a little layering, a few critters, and sprayed away!

Her layout, My layout.

Little Baby Bunny Rabbit by Lindsey Krauss. Supplies: Paper: Crate Paper, Flocked Lace: We R Memory Keepers, Sticker letters: Adornit, Glimmer Mist: Tattered Angels ((Tsukineko), Template: TheCraftersWorkshop.com, Marker: Sharpie.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~xoxo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Onto True XoXo scrapbooking! I challenged the girls to be inspired by Timeline or Facebook and I even made a sketch for them. (girls = such troopers!) They didn't hate me and no one left the team running...) lol!

Here we go - my take, the sketch and a link to the blog. Be inpired by us, scraplift one of us, and have a chance to be a guest team designer - try it out! 

Cutie by Lindsey Krauss. Supplies: I'll get back to ya on this!

I didn't use the sketch :P I was "inspired" by it - and timeline. 
I forget how I was inspired, exactly, (lol) but this did come from looking at
my profile page. The four squares came from both!

Facebook/Timeline -inspired sketch. Tear it apart, use half,
use all, turn into two pages, whatever! Have fun!

Now, go play! Can't wait to see what you create!
https://truexoxoscrapbooking.wordpress.com/2012/11/01/challenge-35-timeline/

Creative Thursday ~ Adventurer {2012 page 2}

I found this cute little blog, The Paper Bakery, through ScrapChallenge this week and used my day off to create.

    

Her sketch looked like this, but because of my picture orientations, I used it like that.

It feels great to create (2 for 2{weeks)) but then I feel like the house stuff I need to do before the kids get home is neglected. How did I scrap guilt-free for so many years and why can't I do that now? lol!

Adventurer by Lindsey Krauss.
Paper: Crate Paper, Bo-Bunny, Ribbon pleats: Pink Paislee, Blackboard: Cosmo Cricket, Rhinestones: Studio18, Rub-on: Karen Foster Designs, Ink: StazOn, Glimmer mist: Tattered Angels. Font: 2Peas Lighhouse. Sketch: The Paper Bakery.