One Spooky Night

This past year for Halloween we decided to do something fun! We picked a theme and ran with it! We went with Alice in Wonderland. I was the Queen of Hearts, my daughters were- Alice, the White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat. My husband was an excellent Mad Hatter! lol It was so much fun putting these costumes together. Fun times!
So as I'm going through my stash of goodies I knew I wanted to find something fantastic to create a layout with this picture and take on Memorable Seasons stash-busting challenge. And that's when I found it! An acetate overlay with foil from Little Yellow Bicycle! Totally forgot when & where I got it! I started with a sheet of gray Bazzil cardstock and I some heat embossing to get the black diamond pattern behind the picture. Love the way the black embossing powder turned out!
I also added some Tim Holtz Pumic Stone Distress ink and some
Stampin' Up! Whisper white ink to the page. I was a little hesitant about the white I applied all over the page but with the overlay it was perfect! I also cut out my own cute little banners and used some black & white hemp cord to string them across. Once was I was done with the cardstock I then placed the acetate overlay over my layout. Doesn't it look awesome!?

Happy 9th Birthday

This was last years birthday. The big 9! This says two things to me, 1- I'm a bit (ok just between you and me a lot!) behind in my scrapbooking and 2- time just keep flying by! As I started going through my stash I came across Imaginisce B-day Bash Paper Pad! It was perfect for these pictures!

I did a lot of "fussy cutting" with this layout. I went through and cut out a few balloons out of a sheet and used some 3D foam dots on the back of some of the balloons to add some dimension. I also punched a small hole towards the bottom so I could tie on some bakers twine to each balloon! And for a finishing touch I added a glitter covered 9 to the balloon! LOVE a little bling. ;)

Then another sheet there were these wonderful circles of presents & cake! Perfect! Pulled out my circle punches and punched out a few and did the same thing here as the balloons, layered them and added some 3D foam dots for added dimension. Aren't they cute? The strip taking off to the right of them I used a scalloped punch on.

Now this part was a bit challenging! The pad had a gorgeous sheet that was covered in banners and I just HAD to figure out how in incorporate them :) I cut out the triangle banners and did some more "popping" up with the layering and the foam dots. Then I cut out letter by letter the Happy Birthday banner. The tops were a little long which was perfect for what I wanted to do next. I folded them over and "hung" each one on some plain white bakers twine I had .

I used a sketch from Page Maps for this layout. Great challenge going on over there right now. :) 

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Chicken Tortilla Soup

One of my favorite things about winter are the soups! I love a nice hot bowl of soup on a cold day. One that goes on our soup rotation is this Chicken Tortilla soup. This soup is a great because it's such an easy crock pot soup!

Chicken Tortilla Soup 

1 cup Pace Thick & Chunky Salsa
2 cans Condensed Chicken soup
1 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breasts (put these in frozen)
2 cups frozen whole kernel corn
1 can black beans, rinsed & drained
1 soup can of water
1 tsp. ground cumin

*Optional- roasted hatch chili peppers cut into small pieces. They add just a little bit of heat (varies from pepper to pepper) and great flavor.

Toppings
Tortilla Chips
shredded sharp cheddar cheese
fresh chopped cilantro

Stir salsa, soup, chicken, corn, beans, water and cumin in a 4 quart slow cooker.  Cover and cook on LOW for 7 hours. Once the chicken is cooked, shred inside pot with a fork. Serve and add toppings! Ymmy!

Sisters

I've been working on some challenges lately and having so much fun! It feels great to be getting some scrapbooking done, especially since I'm a "little" behind! ;) This layout was done using a sketch challenge over at 3 Scrappy Boys! As I was going through my pictures I came across this one. What a couple of cuties! I must say it made me a bit sad. It was taken back in 2007 when my youngest was only a year old! Now she is 7! *sigh* Where has all the time gone!? 

I used a DCWV stack The Arctic Wishes. I really love the colors AND half the pack has foil! I love to see glittering snowflakes! Don't you? You can see them if you look closer at the white vertical strip behind the picture. 

I used my silhouette to cut out the word "Sisters" twice, a lighter & a darker purple. Then layered then using some foam adhesive in between the two words.

Then for the banners behind the picture I used cardstock and ribbon. Along with more foam adhesives to "pop" the picture up off the pleated ribbon. So I had enough height I had to stack the foam 2 high.

Then I went back to my Silhouette and created a 4x7 circle mat out of some silver cardstock I had in my stash from my Stampin' Up! days. The cute little tag I fussy cut out of the DCWV stack! 

Thanks for stopping by! :)

I wasn't Kissing Him... I was Whispering into His Mouth

Paper Bakery is having a sketch challenge and I decided to give it a try. Here's the sketch. If you want to see challenge click here Sketch Challenge, there's still time to enter! :)

Here's my take of the sketch.

I used Fancy Pants line- "What a Wonderful Day". Absolutely LOVE it! The colors are amazing! I used my Silhouette to cut out the words 'Kissing' and 'Whispering'. Here's a closer look at it...
 I came across the quote- "I wasn't Kissing him... I was Whispering into his mouth", years ago and have had it written on a post note for just the right picture ;) I'm not sure who said it, but it has been one of my favorites. Do any of you ever do that? Hear a quote and write it down for a use later? Some day I'll collect them all into a notebook.

Garter Snakes & a Birthday... Oh my!

LOVE using Nuts About Sketches (aka NAS) sketches! She has some really great ones! On this layout I used sketch # 181 from October 3, 2011 . I used an Echo Park kit that I had from a while back- Hello Summer by Lori Whitlock. I seriously love everything in it!

On this one layout I used another NAS #282 from September 9, 2013 it goes a ways back but it was perfect for these pictures! Going through my stash I found a kit I had purchased....hmmm... let's just say quite a while ago! ;) It had lots of from KI Memories papers embellies. It was great for these birthday pictures!

Guest Designer Projects

Well my time as a Guest Designer at 3 Scrappy Boys has come to an end. I had so much fun and really enjoyed using their kit! Here are all my projects together that I created using their TRIO KIT. Enjoy!

 And ONE made it into Scrap n' Art for publication! I'll be able to publicly share that one with in March till then you'll just have to wait ;)