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.

Creative Thursday ~ no cameras

I've found that I now take about 80% of my photos with my phone. Occasionally I turn out the iThings, and my camera (finally fixed!) seems to come out for occasions - not necessarily special, but outings. So this month's challenge from XoXo Scrapbooking was to use photographs from anything other than a camera. Lots of fun information over there about editing and apps - go take a look!

Here's one of my favorite pictures off of Instagram, of little McKenna in the cutest outfit. I had originally designed this for SOS (before they shut down to revamp - it's back up, with tons of talent, as I mentioned, and my layout will be up on the 7th!) so I was reaching way into the stash.

Simply Beautiful by Lindsey Krauss. Supplies: Paper: Pink Paislee, Flowers: Prima Marketing, Inc., Buttons: Junkitz, Glitter: Stickles, Title: My Mind's Eye, Other: Photo Corners, rhinestones, mesh.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Matthew 5:8

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!

Creative Thursday ~ These are a few of our favorite things!

I just wanted to use this space to urge you scrapbookers, home goods makers and other crafty people to stop by True XoXo Scrapbooking every day this month! This month's theme stemmed from the girls wanting to show their off-the-page projects. We also had a 'December, Baby!' project due mid-month. So we combined both of these and then I wanted to showcase these super talented gals. So each girl is getting a day... or two... or maybe even three! Here are the links that are up for the first eight days. Go take a look at each and then go visit their blogs for more information on each. It's so much fun, you may get some holiday gift ideas, and you never know if you may encounter an opportunity to win a prize! Have fun, Merry Christmas!

Deb’s project #1

Alaina’s project #2

Miae’s project #3

Kimmy’s project #4

Khristen’s project #5

Michelle’s project #6

Jaclyn’s project #7

Tess's project #8

Creative Thursday ~ Izzy!

I figure this will be one polarizing layout. You're either going to love it or hate it! It certainly looks like pink puked on my page (aw, amazing alliteration at its awesomest). Okay, whatever.

But this truly is almost exactly how I envisioned this page. See, when I snapped this picture, McKenna, who was dressed like Izzy from Jake and the Neverland Pirates for Halloween, was throwing pixie dust (glitter) into the air and was watching it fall (all this is in hidden journaling on the back). So that's pretty much how I imagined this page from the onset: as much pink as I could get on the page!

Since we ran a "stash" challenge at XoXo, it was a pretty easy choice what to do. Hey - there's no mist and no Stickles on this one it could have been worse busier!

Izzy! by Lindsey Krauss. Supplies: oh yeah right! give me 24 hours or so - there's a lot to record!

So go check out XoXo's new mid-month challenge! Use your stash, it's all I've got! I figured out the last time I bought any supplies was a year ago; I bought some cheap letters at Hobby Lobby the same day I bought an awesome teal glass pumpkin for my living room. I love the pumpkin, I don't even know where the lame letters are. Before that, I can't even remember the last time I bought supplies. It's amazing that I can fit all this stuff on one layout when I haven't bought much in years. yep. I bet we all have too much stuff!

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 ~ Boo, or not!

Okay, so the real backstory to this blogpost. I hate Halloween. Loathe It. I strongly dislike the gory, spooky, gross stuff that comes of it. I don't have a problem with it, I just don't enjoy that part of it.

Now, as a disclaimer, we do get good out of it. We get a sense of community, we get to see old friends, we get to be creative with our costumes, and hey, we're allowed to talk to strangers! (joke, folks.)

So, with that said, I find first-day-of-school pics and Halloween pics are my two worst picture-taking seasons. I'm not sure if it's just the anticipation of the once a year, so I'm always dissatisfied with the photos, or if it's light or time of day, who knows. But I always hate my Halloween photos. Therefore (yes, I said 'therefore'), I usually hate my Halloween layouts.

So I challenged the XoXo girls to deliver Halloween layouts without the normal Halloween stuff. They fought it mostly by not being able to use black, but they once again outdid themselves. These girls work so hard every month, climbing out of the box, swaying completely out of their comfort zone. Please support them by checking in at the blog, and maybe even creating a project based on their projects (scraplift)?

True XoXo Scrapbooking Blog
be inspired.

If you know my daughter, you know that she is anything BUT girlie and has never played dress-up in dresses in her life! So we were shocked when she chose the Tangled dress, complete with wig! So you know I had to take the layout to girlie extremes, and go all pink and purple on her. I found some old Elsie and remember those ancient Making Memory stickers? They were all perfect for this temporary fairy tale. :) This was not my intended design; I had a whole other design laid out and somewhat taped down! The pumpkin idea trumped the old design, so the pumpkin here is a little rugged. I added pink ribbons and purple vines to make a virtual pumpkin for my little Rapunzel.

Creative Thursday ~ Cool Rider {2012 page 9}

Another month, another True XoXo post! This time we all lifted each other secretly and all lifts were revealed together! Seriously, this team of ladies is so much fun!

So here is what I created - can you tell how far OUT of my box I went? LoL! I've never been this messy! But boy, was it fun!

from Miae's original here:

Head on over to True XoXo to see what the other artists did as well - they will knock your socks off! For a chance to win a GDT spot with us in our super secret FB group, create a project using inspiration from one of ours and you have a chance to win!  

Creative Thursday ~ My Dude {2012 page 7}

Man, am I falling behind! Even counting my sunflower project as a page, I'm still three behind of my goal of one project per week. Just haven't had the scrappy time. And I've noticed that my blogging time is directly related to my time in the scraproom, too, by the way...

Supplies: Paper: Daisy D's,  Flowers: Prima, other, Felt: Fancy Pants,
Ribbon: Making Memories,
Other: sticker letters, button, brads, ribbon, rickrack.

The post for True XoXo Scrapboooking is up (remember! new web address!) and the challenge was to be "Pinterest-ed". Man, these girls continuously amaze and surprise me. Here is my humble project for the challenge, inspired by a graph of some sort. Honestly, I never even looked closely at the Pin until a while after I finished this page! Funny how inspiration comes in the oddest forms sometimes...

and its Pin-inspiration (PINspiration?):

Enjoy. And please visit the new XoXo! https://truexoxoscrapbooking.wordpress.com/

New Month, New Year, New challenges!

Happy New Year! Here's to a healthy, happy 2012!

I challenged the Lipstick Chicks to the idea of ONE  while designing their next layout. They took it to the limits and we were all inspired in different ways!

Take a look and don't forget to design and show us how we inspired you.

True XoXo Scrapbooking Blog

True XoXo

another month, another fun challenge!

Take a look! The girls had a blast with this one - it inspired us all in different ways, and that's what I love about the xoxo girls!

Here is my idea - pretty literal, are you shocked? =)

Be inspired, create, enter for a chance to win a gdt spot with the True XoXo Scrapbooking  Blog !

True XoXo's 1st ever Blog Hop!

Hey Lipstick Chicks & fans! How is the journey? The team is just uber-talented and I am so proud to be a part of it.

If you're here today, you are XoXo blog-hoppin' and you should have come from Marie's blog. Marie won a guest design team spot last month and was invited to stay on for an extra month just to hop with us! If you just happened to stop by here today, please join us at the beginning at True XoXo's Scrapbooking Blog here! You could win your own gdt spot and lots of other prizes along the way. See the XoXo blog for details!

I was challenged by Marie to create my own embellishments or alter embellishments I have, with one handmade fabric flower! Had an MM Idol flashback there...

So I started a red and pink layout and finished with a little cd album for my McKenna. She wanted something to bring into school to show how she did her Pasta Pumpkin Project and the idea came to light when I was trying to think of a protected way to send the project - enter the cd case!

Hope this did Marie's challenge even a bit of justice! McKenna loves it!

xxxx

Thanks for stopping by! I'm going to send you off to Lisa Watson's blog now - or, if you like to copy & paste:
http://mypictures2pages.blogspot.com/2011/10/xoxo-blog-hop-authentique-and-rak.html
California roll, anyone? My mouth waters every time I read her post!

Thanks for coming. Don't forget about the ongoing monthly challenge also going on now. Check the True XoXo scrapbooking blog for more information!

p.s. xoxo

Lots of stuff going on!!

...especially at True XoXo!!

Only 3 days left to enter our random drawing to be October's guest designer!
Check it out here!

• Your next challenge starts right now! 'Like' our True XoXo Scrapbooking Blog page on Facebook for an opportunity to be our first guest designer - our designer for October. Winner will be randomly chosen (this month only) and will be announced Sept. 15th! Then she'll have two weeks to create a page along with our design team.
• If you've already 'liked' the page, you just gotta tell us here.
• Like there and comment here to be eligible to win!
• 
  

Then there is November's guest designer challenge - use any design team's layout as inspiration, link us up! 

Check that out here!

New look, new layouts, new challenges - check it out!!

http://truexoxogirls.blogspot.com

The Lipstick Chicks are back!

I mean, I have several updates - even some layouts! But take this for now and I'll be back after the kids are off to school next week. Have fun, tally ho!

http://truexoxogirls.blogspot.com/2011/09/challenge-21-were-back.html

New look, new layouts, new fun!! And we're off!

Don't forget about our current 'like' and comment challenge going on now! You have to Sept. 15th to 'like' our True XoXo Scrapbooking Blog page AND comment on the Aug. 31st post ( http://truexoxogirls.blogspot.com/2011/08/new-true-xoxo.html ) 
to be eligible to become a gdt member for October.

This month our team was inspired by the colors of their own or a favorite blog. Now it's your turn! How will you be inspired?
go to:

http://truexoxogirls.blogspot.com/2011/09/challenge-21-were-back.html

((Fine print:

The idea is to find inspiration, or scraplift, any of these layouts. Color, design, subject or wording - you may find inspiration in any or all of these. Enter as many times as you like.

• Show your layout on your blog, and link its specific post in the comments section. -or-
• Put your layout in your favorite gallery if you don't have a blog, post in comments. -or-
• or Mister Linky is working below - yay!!

We'd love to know what inspired you, if you have time to write a little about that.

Layouts are due Sept. 30th, midnight your time.
The team will vote on their favorite and the winner will be announced September 5th.
Winner will be our November guest design team member; she will be invited to hang with us in our super secret True XoXo design team Facebook group during October, find out how XoXo designers get their inspiration and will have a layout posted for November blog entry.))

June: A pic a day with my friend Bri - PAUSE!

Well, it turns out that if I put my camera in the shop for some cleaning and repair, it's a bit like cutting off my right arm. {Well, it is two days short of a MONTH, I guess I'm entitled to be a bit fidgety.} All mojo, all vision, all inspiration seems like it's on hold. I guess I'll either try again in July (or 1/2 July, 2nd 1/2 August) or pick this up in September. Look at me, planning!


In the meantime, I would love to spend my time scrapbooking the pictures I actually do have. In between year-end festivities and planning our church's vbs, I wish there was more time!


If you have the time, hop on over to xoxo - there is a new lift up for June and still time to enter!


This month's prize is a subscription to Scrapbooks Etc., magazine...courtesy of our diva donor, Charvonna Stackhouse!


p.s. I miss my camera. 
xoxo

la-la-la-la-lift!

Time for some true girls time - true xoxo! In the mood to lift? The options this month are GORgeous... Take a look!

http://truexoxogirls.blogspot.com/2011/04/challenge-18-sponsored-by-candy-shoppe.html

Your challenge should you choose to except, is to scraplift one or more of these April creations by the Lipstick Chicks. When you are finished, link up your scraplift below and make sure you leave your name with it (just so we can mention your name if you are the winner/honorable mention).

If your link(s) lead to your blog, please make sure you have mentioned our April Sponsor - Candy Shoppe Designs and our challenge blog "XOXO" with a working link leading back to us. Don't forget to include the names of the Lipstick Chicks you scraplifted in your posting to give them proper credit.

Scraplifts will be accepted until Saturday, April 30, 2011. The more you scraplift, the better your chances at winning. This months prize is coming from Candy Shoppe Designs once again. Have fun playing and good luck!

Life needs a lift

...the Lipstick Chicks sure can attest to that! So here is Challenge #17, ready?

http://truexoxogirls.blogspot.com/2011/03/challenge-17-sponsored-by-candy-shoppe.html

Didja see? I think I might do some lifting this month! The pages are so gorgeous this month...

Sponsor this month is
Candy Shoppe Designs
Check 'em out!


(=
xoxo

fizzy lifting drinks

...or another Lipstick Chick xoxo LIFT!

Go check us out here:
True xoxo Girls Blog

Lift, post, repeat as necessary.

You can see my little creation this month. Sooooo incredibly *not* wht I had planned for the page, but it's fun nonetheless. You don't get extra credit for lifting me, but I probably would give ya a blog mention if you do. (= Props!

This is the January lift -
Prize is from SWEET PEACH CROP SHOP and it's to die for! You'll have to check the link to see the "Second Semester" kit prize. (=

Have fun!

Butterflies Fly by Lindsey Krauss.
Supplies:
Paper: Pink Paislee, Flowers: Urban Lily,
Bling/Pearls: Heidi Swapp, MME, Kaiser, Bazzill Paper, Prima.
Flocked Lace: WRMK, Letters: AC Thickers, White Blossom,
Journaling spot: Maya Road, Ink: Staz-On.Rub-ons: Bazzill, Pen: Sharpie. 

Ok, in case you missed it - I was lifted last month! This contributing chick Mrs. Green lifted so well, it could have been sister pages to my soccer layout (as the matter of fact, I think I like her soccer ball better!) Can't wait to see it with pictures!

XOXO to you...

http://truexoxogirls.blogspot.com/2010/12/challenge-14-sponsored-by-candy-shoppe.html

Hey! The new True XOXO Lipstick Chicks' blog layouts-to-lift are up under November's winners! This one is sponsored by CSD. Lots of fun stuff to look at, to lift. New girlies on next month so stayed tuned...

Here is the layout I did - way different for me.

Lifted!

You know, for XOXO.

I'm honored. I wasn't sure what it would do to my normally-low self esteem if I wasn't lifted on my first time out. However, not only was I lifted, but I think I like this layout better than my own, and I think I'm fixin' to lift my lifter! =)

Take a look at Tracee Provis (aka Fluffy)'s lift layout TRUST! It is so sweet! I just love the colors she chose. (Actually, they've been my chosen colors for Christmas this season. More on that in the December issue of ScrapStreet...)


Mine: 

Hers!