Paper Pile Kitten

Wedding Wishes

Wedding season is here. This is a card for a bride and groom. Clean and simple, but still modern with neon accents. Made from the Rewind kit.

I really love the neon ink cubes from Hero Arts. They make coloring wood veneer so easy.

What To Do With All the 6x6 Paper Pads? Get the Answers In This Free Webinar!

Lain Ehmann keeps spoiling us with the most amazing FREE scrapinars! On June 12, 8 pm EST, Lisa Echerd will show us how we can use up those 6x6 paper pads we all have been hoarding (yeah, I am a scrapbook room psychic and I knooow what's in your stash. LOL!).

Here’s What You’ll Learn:

• How to choose the best pads for your scrapbook pages
• How to use die-cuts to make your investment go even further
• When to use whole sheets or partial sheets
• Tips on how to leverage these little gems to get an abundance of pattern choices
• And more!

A "scrapinar" is an hour long online event that you can follow in the privacy of your home (in your pajamas, if you'd like, since no one can see or hear you). You can text chat with hundreds of other scrappers, you will watch a video class and afterwards there will be Q&A with the instructor. In short, hanging out with friends, have fun and learn something new at the same time.

Don't worry about the technical details. Lain always send out links and videos before the event, showing you how everything works.

And if you can't make it to the live event, Lain is going to post a link to the replay the day after the scrapinar, so you can watch the class video. But you have to sign up to get that link!

Did I mention that all this is FREE? Did I forget to add that there will be prizes from the sponsor, Echo Park? Did I mention that Lain is amazing? Of course, you'll join! Sign up here!

 

Best Cousins Layout

Orange and turquoise is another fun color combination that I have tried lately. Made from the Hot Spring kit.

Short & Sweet Layout With Process Video

It was fun to use this color combination of pink and orange from the Hot Spring kit. Here's my scrapbooking process video:

The Amy Tangerine letter stickers I used for the title are my favorites right now:

 

Scrap Stash Kit for May: Rewind!

Here's a sneak of the new Scrap Stash kit Rewind. There's no set color combo this month. Instead, the challenge is to make an eclectic mix of vintage and current trends. It's going to be fun experimenting with that! :)

 

Coffee Card With Process Video

This is the birthday card I made for my DH in April. I got him an espresso machine and I wanted a card to go with it.  Here's a video showing the design process:

Some of the supplies used on the card:

Town & Country

Here's the last layout for today. Again, inspired by the loads of fun challenges from Shimelle's blog. No, the title does not refer to the classic UK magazine, but to the fact that I am blessed enough to live smack in the middle of a large city and still just have a 15 minute brisk walk to our big national city park with natural woods and waters. All those small (about 2.5" x 2.5") Instagram photos are from these environments.

I made a small moodboard on Pinterest for inspiration, and despite a lot of different papers and patterns, the photos are playing the main role on this page. I also did enjoy adding all the cute accents to the page, wood veneer pieces and fun paper clips. I used a stamp set from Amy Tangerine for the first and last squares.

Thank you so much for looking! Have a great Sunday and Mother's Day! :)

Time to Run

Here's a layout that I made today, inspired by the fun challenges over at Shimelle's blog. I wanted to make a page about my goal to run again. I love running, and 10 years ago I entered quite a few local fun runs. Then studies, work and other life events happened and I forgot to run. It's easily done, isn't it? So this spring, I'm starting over. Hopefully it will help me keep my health and help my knee to recover (hurt it in an accident last summer).

For this page, I used mostly brand new products. That was fun, for a change. Usually I mix the new stuff with older supplies from my stash. I think most of these products are in stock in my favorite online stores.

The wood veneer pieces are colored with Hero Arts Neon Ink. I love those colors!

 

 

Mother's Day Card

Another Mother's Day card for today. I love this color combo of blues and greens with a touch of grey. The flowers come from Cosmo Cricket's Social Club collection and the butterflies are die cut from a paper from the Darling Dear collection (Studio Calico) and Woodland Park (October Afternoon). Letter stickers from Lily Bee. Color drops in the background were made with an October Afternoon sprinkler: Tinsel from Holiday Style.

Thank you for looking!

 

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope that all you moms out there are having the most wonderful Mother's Day. This is the card for my own mom. I sewed on a pocket to the front of the card where I put an envelope for a gift card. Everything on the card, except for the rhinestone stickers, is from Webster's Pages.

 

Cute As a Button

Confession: I have only used buttons in my scrapbooking a few select times. As a consequence, I also have few buttons in my stash but the ones I do have, they have been sitting in a box for a long long time. Time to bring them out!

Another thing that's been sitting in my stash is plain black cardstock. Lately, I have almost exclusively used white cardstock as a background. But the truth is that black cardstock is perfect for making bright colors pop off the page! 

In this layout I used a lot of neon colors along with the bright colored buttons from Crate Paper and Basic Grey. I also used my Hero Arts Neon ink pads to color the wood veneer birds from Studio Calico. Papers from Amy Tangerine's Sketchbook and Maggie Holmes collection from Crate Paper. Letter stickers from Pink Paislee and word stickers from My Mind's Eye. Rhinestone stickers from Doodlebug. Bright turquoise trim from Webster's Pages.

 

All Stamps 25-75% Off at Two Peas!

Wow! I have no idea what's happening today but I just got word in my e-mail inbox: Two Peas put ALL of their stamps on clearance sale with 25-75% off! ALL of them! Hero Arts, Lawn Fawn, Unity Stamps, Mama Elephant... Even the latest stamp sets are on sale! I almost don't believe it. All right, off we go to get ourselves some super sale stamps!

 

How To Make Double Pages Without Making Double Pages

I never do double pages. Haven't made one in my whole life. That format is just too big for me! The 12x12 format is quite enough, thank you. Then the brilliant scrapbooking super hero Shimelle came along last weekend, and told us that we could have a double page by simply making two single layouts! Awesome! I had to try it and see for myself!

I had a single layout that I made some time ago from my February Scrap Stash Kit (no shopping, no shipping, just use your stash). Now, I added another page with the same colors and theme, similar or sometimes the same papers and embellishments, and voilá! Double page!!! Look!

Another first for me was to add a regular photo pocket to these  pages. I have loads of photos of our cats and I haven't had the time to scrap many of them yet. But most of my newer photos come in 4x4 Instagram format that doesn't fit the 4x6 photo pockets. So I also added 4x6 scraps of the papers I had used for the layout, and used them as matting in the photo pockets.

Nothing is glued down, so I can choose to scrap the photos and use the 4x6 papers for my Project Life album instead. So this way, within minutes, I could store my surplus photos and make it look pretty. :)

Perhaps you can take away some ideas and inspiration from this post for your own albums? In any case, thank you so much for looking! 

 

Free Shipping From Scrapbook.com Today Only!

You know how I'm always keeping an eye out for you for great scrappy offers. Well, today I have something extra special that only comes around in once in a blue moon or so: Free shipping from scrapbook.com!

I love Scrapbook.com because they have almost everything for your papercrafting in stock and their customer service is outstanding. My main headache with that store is the steep shipping rates, and I know that other scrappers sometimes express their disappointment when the subject comes up.

So for all scrappers who have hesitated to order from this store because of the shipping rates, here's a wonderful surprise! Today only, Scrapbook.com offer free standard shipping! Here's how you get the free shipping: Purchase a minimum of $50, then select STANDARD shipping and type the coupon code MYS386 in the coupon field at checkout. Then shipping will be absolutely free within contiguous US! 

(International customers can enter the same coupon code to get $6 off shipping charges)

Kelly Purkey Summer Reveal at Simon Says Stamp

When I woke up this morning there was an e-mail from Simon Says Stamp with the new reveal of Kelly Purkey's summer kit. Woweee! So much cuteness in one package! 

I have to admit that I personally didn't care for her first SSS kit for spring. It wasn't quite my style. Still, many of you scrappers loved it because that kit sold out very quickly! (So if you want the current summer kit, do not delay - grab it now before it's gone!!)

I love the exclusive stamp set (above) for this kit! Perfect for summer BUT versatile for use all year round! Can't wait to use that 'The Weekend Report' stamp.

The whole kit would be great to use for Project Life during the summer months because the style is light in happy colors. A lot of the kit content comes from brand new Basic Grey collections Hello and Hey You. Here's the kit page with the full reveal, content list and all the detail pics. Go and have a look!

Fact: It's not the cheapest kit out there. I did a quick sum up and you pay approximately what the contents are worth in store, so no big discounts on the products. But I'm worth it! And so are you! :)

Since the kit will arrive to my doorstep in time for my birthday in June, I decided to buy it as a birthday gift from hubby. Yes, that's how it works in this family. I buy the gifts and my DH will wrap them and hand them over, pretending that he bought these things as a surprise (well, it IS  a surprise - to him!). LOL!

Here's some other cute and fun KP stuff I got for my birthday order:

New 'Like a Boss' stamp set. Look at that awesome triangle border! And I especially appreciate the stamp 'Pardon my French'. I suspect that I will get to use that a lot. LOL!

 

I also got two packs of KP flairs: the 'Oh Snap' set and the 'Feed Me' set. There's also a totally hilarious set of bacon flairs and stamp set but I didn't get those for this time. Despite that I love bacon. ;D

 

Then I found a couple of  cool KP masks, one with circles/bubbles and one with triangles. Had to have those!

Funny enough, I didn't get the new birthday stamp set. That would perhaps have been appropriate, but it will have to wait.

So, now you know what I will get for my birthday. And, that you have to make up your own excuse to get the new Kelly Purkey summer kit and products. ;D

 

List of Special NSD Offers Online!

Hey, I discovered that National Scrapbooking Day is not only online crops with challenges, prizes and good fun - it's great discounts, as well! Here's a list of offers I've discovered so far. I will add to the list through out the day if I spot more discounts. :)

Note: Most of the offers are only good on May 4 and as long as supplies last.

Simon Says Stamp - 20% off your entire order!!! Coupon code: craftsale

Elles' Studio - 25% off all stamps! Coupon code: STAMPSALE

Scrapbook Generation - The link goes to their blog post with the details of their NSD sale.

A Cherry On Top - 20 % off almost everything. Coupon code: NSD2013

Did I shop today? You bet! So far today, I've bought four stamp sets from Elle's Studio and checked out my Simon Says Stamp cart. I mean, who can turn down such amazing discounts? :)

 

National Scrapbooking Day - The Resource List!

Are you able to take some time off to scrap this weekend? In that case, you are going to have the best of times. Saturday May 4 is National Scrapbooking Day, but it should perhaps be called International Scrapbooking Day as participants come from all over the globe.

The most wonderful part of NSD is all the events during this day. And if you don't have a local event in your area, you can spend the whole weekend online with a huge crowd of scrapbooking buddies to chat with and to show off your masterpieces in the virtual galleries. Most places are posting scrapbooking challenges through the day, and if you enter any challenges you can win amazing prizes! 

On my first online NSD a few years ago, I had no idea how many web sites there were, organizing so much fun and festivities for this particular day. So, this year I thought I would make a link list to all the online events that I know of, so you don't have to search. :)

(Please, send me a link if you know of more places with NSD internet events on Saturday.)

Scrapbook.com have fun challenges all day with no less than 100 big prize boxes filled with products! Amazing!

Big Picture Classes are hosting a FREE class called Creative Crop! There are 10 instructors and challenges through out the day.

Two Peas in a Bucket will have chats, challenges and prizes. The details are not up yet, but keep looking for them in the Classes & Events section.

Studio Calico announced this week that they will organize a fun NSD event with challenges. I'm not sure where the program will be announced but keep an eye on their blog as well as the web site.

Prima will have a Live With Prima Marathon with loads of video classes, chats and prizes.

Scrapbook Generation are hosting events and they are already starting on Friday with chats, challenges and prizes through Saturday.

A Cherry On Top is organizing a day of challenges and prizes.

My Scraps and More  is rumored to be organizing some kind of NSD event. I haven't been able to confirm on site. We'll just see tomorrow. :)

Note: Almost all of these web sites require you to sign up (FREE) to participate, so you'd want to sign up before NSD to save time.

Happy (Inter)National Scrapbooking Day! Have fun!

 

One Little Word May Blog Hop!

Happy May, everyone! April 30 - May 1 is an important holiday in Sweden when we are welcoming spring with bonfires and festivities! I'm really looking forward to spring and summer this year! I have decided to enjoy these seasons as much as I can. I've been so busy in the past years that the summers have rushed by, almost without me noticing. Part of my new Shiny attitude is to be Here & Now, so this year is for savoring the seasons and making the most of every moment. :)

For my One Little Word April page (above) I used my Scrap Stash kit for April: Hot Spring (Scrap Stash Kit Club is all about getting good use out of your own paper stash). I used both old and new items from Amy Tangerine, Bella Blvd, Teresa Collins, Dear Lizzy and the brand new Maggie Holmes collection from Crate Paper. Accents from Studio Calico (wood veneer pieces) Pink Paislee, Cosmo Cricket and a new resin accent from Webster's Pages 'Live Laugh Love'. Stamp images from Mama Elephant stamp sets.

Notice the heart theme in these pages? April was all about health for me. While going through some old boxes I found our blood pressure monitor. It's been several years since I last checked my blood pressure. but it's always been normal, almost low. I changed the batteries in the BP monitor and checked my blood pressure. Turns out that I have pre-hypertension. While it's not a cause for alarm and panic - yet! - it's a strong indicator of future heart problems. This was the well needed kick in my behind to make some serious lifestyle changes. 

I have put myself on a diet and a workout program. I got one of those FitBit Zips (measuring daily steps) to encourage myself to take long walks. So far, I've lost 6 pounds since April 8 and the blood pressure values are already a little bit better. Yay! I'm determined to lose weight and get fit. I have tried so many times before, usually halfheartedly, but this time I mean business! I simply will not let myself get a bad heart!

The April challenge was to make a photo page with images of our One Little Words (below). When I began to choose the nine photos for my Shine photo page, I was pleasantly surprised that most of them were actually color coordinated with the Hot Sprin kit colors, turquoise and pink! 

As usual, I made a 'hybrid' page. I used Ali Edwards' photo template to make the photo page, printed it out and added letters, word stickers and other accents (mostly from MME and Amy Tangerine).

I hope that you are enjoying our monthly One Little Word Blog hop! Next up is Missus Wookie! I have posted the complete link list for the blog hop below. Happy Hopping! :)

Blog Hop Links:

Lee

Margareta <<<<<----- You are here!

Missus Wookie

Cheri

Lisa

Michelle

Melanie

Kelly

Naomi

Jacqueline

Nikki

Ruth

Veronica

 

Love Everything Shimelle!

Shimelle is one of the brightest shining scrapbooking stars right now, so I can tell I'm not alone loving her classes! Her scrapbooking style may be a tad different from my own, but the way she teaches us to use our beloved patterned papers is outstanding! And we definitely share the lifelong love of pink and glitter! :)

Shimelle's classes are always the very best value for your money, and the classes aren't expensive, so don't be afraid to jump in. I have been taking Journal Your Christmas for a couple of years now and I love it. By the way, you pay for that class once and you have access to it every forthcoming year. Isn't that simply amazing?!

Right now, I'm taking the Pretty Paper Party class together with a group of dear friends. I bought the class quite some time ago but never got the time to really dive into it. Fortunately, you can take this class anytime, and once you have signed up for it, you have forever access to the materials and to the forum.

When the class was live, we also got temporary access to one of Shimelles True Scrap classes, Creative Stash Diving, and this class is completely amazing. You can get access and watch it here (along with other video classes from the first True Scrap event).

In another True Scrap class, The Perfect Collection, Shimelle is showing how to cut up a collection pack of patterned papers and have them ready for scrapping. This video really rocked my scrapbooking life! I have never seen anything so useful. Shimelle's method will help you make a scrapbook page in minutes! Awesome! Get access to that video class here (along with the other workshops from True Scrap 3).

Shimelle is a Garden Girl at Two Peas in a Bucket where her alter ego Glitter Girl have a brand new, simply wonderful, video ready for us every Wednesday.

She also has a class at Two Peas, called The Hitchhiker's Guide to Scrapbooking. Like always, she shows us how to use certain methods and techniques to make scrapbooking more effective and more fun! Take her advice and apply the things that speak to you, to your own scrapbooking style and to your own process.

So, if you're not already a Shimelle fan, I promise that you will be once you have taken the classes and watched the video series above. And don't miss her blog!

 

One Little Word April Blog Hop!

Welcome to the OLW blog hop for April! This month, our challenge was to take Action and document it through a template we got from Ali Edwards (below). After a couple of super intensive working months, I thought that I would concentrate on my body. I need to get a routine for exercise and a better diet, so I set out for some improvements in those areas. 

Did I succeed? Uhm... maybe... in a way. I did something (as opposed to nothing!), but I didn't reach my ideal/vision. I guess that's how it usually works for most of us. :/

I'm not giving up! I will do more yoga and I will go from walking to running as soon as the ice on the parkways melts away. In fact, I'm writing this post with some difficulty, as I have really sore muscles in the arms and back right now. The other day, my husband bought one of those door trapeze bars and put it up in our bedroom doorway so he can do chin ups. I couldn't resist to try if I could hold my own weight and make something remotely resembling a pull up (nope, not a chance! lol!) and that feeble attempt must have been a real shocker for my muscles, because now I can barely hold a glass of water in my hands (spilled it all over my iPhone last night - oh, noooo! - thankfully the phone came out all right). I think that I'd better keep trying, just to build some muscles. ;)

Keep hopping! Next up is Nikki, but I've posted the whole list of wonderful and talented blog hop participants below.

April blog hop list:

Lee

Cheri

Lisa

Kelly

Veronica

Melanie

Margareta <------- You are here!

Nikki

Michelle

Naomi

Ruth

Kathryn

Missus Wookie

Jacqueline