YO Leah---

You have won yourself some TOMBOW girl!
And a box of scrappiness from me ;)
Shoot me an email: ljbridges33AThotmailDOTcom with your address and I will hook you up :)
...and I hope Santa brought your wish ;)

It was so nice to read everyone's wishes...most involved quality time and creating memories with family. What a great thing to hope for this time of year....any time of year!
Hope everyone had the Merriest Christmas!

In the spirit of the season...

...a giveaway!
A Tombow giveaway to be exact!
The sweet people at Tombow have offered to host a giveaway on my blog of my top 4 favorite Tombow MUST HAVES. Here's what you can win:

1. Mono Permanent Adhesive--classic, paper crafting goodness adhesive
2. Mono Glue Pen--my new side kick. Love this thing.
3. Mono Multi Liquid Glue--love the dual tip and that it dries clear
4. Mono Vellum  Adhesive--*perfect* for vellum and transparencies
And perhaps I will throw in a box of scrapping goodies from my stash. Sound good?

To enter is simple--just leave a comment finishing the sentence "This year my Christmas wish is..."

And make sure you are being good. Elfie is watching ;)
 I will draw a winner and announce on Sunday!

12 Days of Dec

Two days of blogging in a row? wow! Am I on a roll or what? ;)
On the Tombow blog today you will find the guts, so to speak, of my 12 days of Dec mini album.

There are pictures of each page as well as my explanation of what why I chose to do it in this way and what I plan to do with it. There is a variety of different elements to it so if you have a question as to a particular product or technique I used just leave me a comment on the Tombow blog or here and I will do my best to answer it!
*And as soon as the giveaway info is passed on to me I will post it here ;)

8 more days until Christmas! I think the craziness of this time of year has caught up to me...I was awaken last night at 2 a.m. by a certain 2 year old that was completely soaked....as well as his bed because momma forgot to put a diaper on him before putting him to sleep! What?! I think he definitely deserves a flashlight, or two, for that one. *see previous post for the flashlight reference ;)

Long Johns

Grab 'em. It's cold here.

Oh wait.

I'm talking about February's kit from Freehand Scraps. Loved it. And could have done SO MUCH MORE except that I am still on the flip side of a wicked sinus infection. I will spare you the fun details. * I believe Heidi and Samantha saw enough ;)

I do own you a massive CHA post that will come sometime this week. Suffice to say, I was disappointed to be so sick on my trip, but NOT disappointed in the new products or my new friends :)

And to make way for all the new kits that will be FILLED with handpicked new CHA goodies, Heidi is having a kit sale. All remaining kits are 40% off . Grab one, or 2 or 3 or 10 before they are gone. The list of remaining kits can be found here.

I promised...

...and although it's late, here it is:

1. Thrifty Finds

Give me a free hour or two and I don't head to the mall. I head to the local thrift shop...and come away a few dollars more poor, but a few treasures more rich :) The guy ringing up my total said, "These are grandma things."

He was like 70.

I said, "Well I feel like an old lady trapped in a young person's body most of the time."

I don't think we either one had any idea what to say after that.

2. Instead of sneaks how about the real deal?

Meet an "Old Acquaintance"

Used a part of a chipboard flower to mask here and some recent photobooth pics of my cousin, her baby boy and I. Loved the toned down feel of this. Journaling about how I can't believe we are in this place in our lives, how blessed we are and how I wish we lived closer. The paper is Bella Blvd. as well as the paper flowers--aren't those awesome? You get one in the kit, but they has so many layers I pulled them apart for more ideas...although I also messed them up in the process ;( Guess that's how it goes!

When I saw the October Afternoon aplha in the kit it immediately made me think of all the pics I have of Aven creating. Here he is, Bumblebee Transformer costume on, painting away. My journaling talks about how he loves art and said on this day, "When I grow up I want to be an artist, but right now I'm just a little artist." Totally fine by me! I used the bottom of an old metal basket as the misting mask and some new spray ink. My stocking was filled with 8 new colors from Maya Road..guess I was on the nice list after all ;)

And this might be my most favorite project of the whole kit and it was so easy! Thrifted this frame for 50 cents and cut out some beautiful paper from Basic Grey to fit.For the life of me I can't remember where I came across this quote or who it is by. But I have always loved it and thought it could mean so many things..

*I took a deep breathe and let it go....and walked into the room to face my fears.

*I took a deep breathe and let it go...and pushed my baby into the world.

*I took a deep breathe and let it go...and chose to move beyond past disappointments.

*I took a deep breathe and let it go...and drove away for the last time.

You get the idea. Anyway, I loved how the butterflies seem to be flying away and kinda went with the quote. Plan on hanging this by my computer as a reminder that sometimes all I need to do is take a deep breathe and

let

it

go.

A couple of cards in the gallery, as well as some super inspiration form the January guest and design team. Be sure to check it all out!

3. Be my guest

There is a new prompt over at Category Stories and a new guest designer you might know ;)

The prompt was "perfect fit". Here is my interpretation:

I love that they give prompts and then you just jump off with it and create. Be sure to play along with them this month. All you have to do is link your creation to the January 1 post and/or their Flickr group (do both for a second chance to win!) The prize is determined by a random draw so you have nothing to lose and a cool new layout to gain! Please link me up if you do play along. I would love to see what you do with it :)

Hope you all had a wonderful ringing in of the new year. Wishes of the most blessed year for you and yours!

Bonus

Here's a little bonus for you.

In Freehand Scraps December kit is a great piece of plaid patterned paper by October Afternoon. It's not actually from a Christmas line, but I thought it could work for gift tags just fine :)

I used my Slice and cut tags from kraft paper and then cut several different icons using the Fa La La design card. I planned on making just one tag. hee hee! I made 9! Couldn't stop--they were so fun!

Typed some sentiments after I used Maya Road Mist in metallic emerald and then put them together with a few embellishments from my stash.

I love how they all look together.

It won't be hard to give these tags away, especially since I plan to only attach them to presents of friends I know will appreciate the effort! :D I found some black and white houndstooth wrapping paper that I think will match lovely.

Speaking of matching....

how cute are these two?

I thought they went well with the Christmas plaid tags I had going on ;)

Give

This month's kit from Freehand Scraps is just too pretty for words.

So I'll let my layouts do the talking ;)

I must confess, this is not the picture that was suppose to go on this layout. I have only a few photos of me from when I was young, 2 of which are in frilly, girly dresses. Either dress photo would have worked, and yet, and I couldn't find either one :( I thought about using a newborn photo of one of the boys in black and white, but I really wanted a photo with a more vintage feel. So this...is my husband :) Isn't he a cutey?

This layout was just fun. No rhyme or reason. Just playing with paint and paper. I cut the camera shape using my Slice and I loved how the chipboard button fit right in. I knew once I saw those frames I would paint some and "hang" them from thread. Appropriate I thought since I am confessing my love of taking pics with my instant camera.

And what december kit would be complete with out a december layout? This was the pic I used for our Christmas cards last year, and as I have confessed in the past I haven't scrapped a whole lot of holiday photos. In fact, bedsides Aven's birthday photo from last month's gallery, this is the first! I like that it's traditional colors in a bit of a funky way. I added a few buttons, jingle bells and a bit of twine from my stash to complete it. And this years Starbuck's seasonal cup sleeves are exceptionally awesome. I knew there was a reason I saved EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. ;)

Finally a card. I do believe if given the opportunity I could make fabric yo-yos all day long. Instead, I just made one and added the girlfriends looking button to the center.

Don't forget to head to the gallery for more inspiration!

Going "Granny"

Forget going green.

I'm going granny.

*I mean, go green too, ya know :)

"Granny Chic" is becoming increasingly popular...and if filling a room full of crocheted goodies defines that...

{source}

I'm in.

Or would be in if I knew how to crochet. That was one of last years resolutions...hmm...I still have a few months to learn, right?

In any case I pulled off my own look with a scrap page.

Fabulous paper designed by this talented girl.

I used this weeks sketch from Sketchy Thursdays as my jumping point. Lots of white space, spray ink and clusters--yum!

Anyone else digging the granny look?

He is...

such the speed racer. And has the face to go with it ;)

Happy Fall

Would this be a nice door greeter for our Thanksgiving day feast?

Special Delivery

I get excited about mail.

Particularly mail that comes in a box.

But sometimes that excitement rises to a whole new level.

Especially when that box contains this...

Yep. I now love doing laundry. Unfortunately I didn't get the machine that actually folds the clothes and puts them away, but I am able to wash 20+ towels in one load so I guess that makes up for it ;)

And I swear my floor isn't crooked ;)

My picture taking skills, however, are.

A simple fall layout using some buzz and bloom chipboard I cut apart to create "leaves".

Misted the shapes first and then zig zag stitched with different colors to create more falling leaves. Simple and fun.

When I showed Rory he said, "oh cool. I see the little footballs."

umm...no.

Those would be leaves.

But we do love football around here and it is fall so I will let it slide. **If you do this project maybe try a straight stitch instead for the leaf middle, to avoid any football confusion ;)

A fall themed altered book cover (yes I am addicted!) coming tomorrow.

A time to "Gather"

First off..."AArrRGGgGHhhh Mateys! Me hopes ye had a frightfully fun Halloween, ya scalleywag!"

And now to time to "Gather". This kit knocked my mismatched socks right off! The buzz between designers was it's the most favorite yet and I have to agree. In fact, there *might* be a rumor floating around that I could marry this kit I love it so...*might* ;)

On to the good stuff.

Paxton's first treat: a sucker from Cookie Cutters. He ate every last sticky bite and loved it! --Although my mom claims he has had a sucker before on her watch. I guess that's what Grandma's are for ;)

Loved clustering all the embellies and paper here and as you can tell I am LOVING my new camera--those instant pics are too fun! The smiling alligator was a great touch--he already comes stitched.

I used a piece of Buzz and Bloom chipboard I already had as a mask for the mist and then sewed around it it orange--the color of the sucker :)

Glad to actually get a birthday layout done! Would you believe that I have NEVER scrapped a birthday or holiday before this one? Aven is all about super heros and that was the theme of his party a few weeks ago. The lighting at the party combined with super busy 4 year olds did not lend itself to great pictures, but he loved every minute of it and the few I got were priceless.

I realized after I finished that I didn't really leave room for journaling. Sure there was some white space that could be used or I could have wrote on the edge of the cardstock, but I felt it was busy enough sooo...

behind the clouds it goes! I've never made an "interactive" element to a page but loved doing this. And those SAWEET chipboard and cord clouds?? From Buzz and Bloom, an Australian based company and they are SUPER hard to find here in the States my friend. So if you want a chance at them this is the kit to get!

I used this title on a post awhile back and it's also the theme song on the Noggin channel for the season. I couldn't help but use it here after seeing Aven in the leaves. We have PILES AND PILES of leaves here and although most have fallen by now, a few weeks ago when I would look out leaves would falling so softly so I tried to mimic that with the leaves I cut out using the Slice.

I used the leaves as a mask before attaching and also pop-dotted a few to stand out.

Saw this twig in my craft room (yes, I had a twig in my craft room!) and decided it would be perfect to have the title falling from :)

Such an easy peasy project. Grabbed an old book and ripped off the cover. The clouds were the inspiration to find a quote I loved and wanted to display. I took the negative piece of the chipboard from the Buzz and Bloom clouds to paint with and then added the chipboard and cord clouds on top.

Used some fishing line (also found in my craft room! There could be anything in here I tell you!!) and hand-cut some raindrops to hang from the bottom. I can definitely see myself making these hanging covers for holidays and baby's rooms..all sorts of ideas :)

So there you have it. The SUPER AWESOME November kit from Freehand Scraps! Definitely take time to check out the AHhMAZInG gallery this month! All the designers are so talented and the guest was pure INSPIRATION!

I feel like I'm falling for Fall...

...any of you mommas out there watch Noggin? They have the cutest little jingles each season between cartoons and the one playing lately is "I feel like I'm falling for fall". I have it on constant replay in my head, which isn't such a bad thing because I do adore this season.

And I have a couple fallish layouts to share.

I played along with some prompts at Category Stories. I love how their challenges make you think outside the box and give you inspiration, much like a sketch. And if you are ever stuck on a title for a page, or what to write about, it's a perfect place to start.

'Tis the season for pumpkin spice lattes. And cool instant camera pics--that's always in season :) The prompt here was "pamper me" and as silly as it may sound getting a coffee from Starbucks is a simple way I can feel pampered. Anyone else get that excited feeling driving up to the drive-thru?? Anyone?

Had fun mixing textures on this one and trying to make it feel "cozy". That mug shaped chipboard is from Maya Road mini album.I just took out one page and covered in vintage text.

And if you must know, or don't already, I am a sucker for woodgrain. Woodgrain anything. I combined some woodgrain contact paper and some velvet woodgrain ribbon together. A perfect marriage if you ask me :)

Oh no she didn't scrap about her new orange coat.

Oh yes.

She did.

The prompt here was "As far as I can tell". I can see myself using that as a title sometime again because it's so versatile. I need to say how much I *LOVE* these papers by Amanda Johnson! The papers are a great thickness and perfect for misting on w/o warping. And the patterns...it is seriously hard to cut them up, but I thought they went perfect with the coat ;)

Threw in my Anthro tag and the tissue paper they put in your bag is too awesome to throw away. So of course I stash it and after cutting some scallops stitched it on.

So what are you falling for lately?

It's Oct 1st...

...and you know what that means :)

Lets' take a drive down Arbor Drive shall we?

This kit was so well put together. It all blends beautifully without being too "matchy-matchy". Know what I mean?

Cut these flowers from the fun Fancy Pants paper and added a little bling from a friend, a little sewing, a little vintage book and a little "hello" from my typewriter.

Both my boys LOVE to be outside and anything to do with nature. He actually kissed the toad after this picture was taken :) I miss using pink on layouts and it was fun to throw a bit on this one. The flair from American crafts..oh my. LOVE the woodgrain!

I've had this "L" for awhile and wanted to alter it a bit before hanging in my craft space. A great way to showcase the American Crafts deer paper I LOVE and that Lily Bee tulle flower. I actually took the sequins off the flower to use them on a layout and put buttons from the kit in it's place using stickles...it glued the buttons together and i really like how the glitter seeped thru!

And I knew when I saw the kit these jumping photos would go *perfect* with a layout about the "chicks" and our weekend getaway! Those jumping shots are TOO FUN!!

Here's where I used those sequins. Just randomly placed on the layout. Stuck down with stickles :) I think I really like that stuff :)

And apparently I like to use these :) :)

A card for a friend with a new home:

The felt in this kit was great--so many different ways it could be used and I adore those little houses! And buttons. A girl (or project!) can never have too many ;)

And then a card for my husband (which means I get to keep it!) for our anniversary coming up. 10 years! Yep, we're still quite the "pair" ;) Cheesy? Yes. But fun! Love that pear paper.

And did I mention the buttons? :)

This kit is full of embellishments..and you KNOW I love the embellishments! :) I was able to create 2 layouts, 3 cards and an altered item and could seriously STILL make more! Heidi packs so much into each kit. Be sure and check out the gallery. I love when the first of the month rolls around to see what the other talented dt members did with the same kit! If you get a kit please share your stuff. Link me up! I would love to see it.