Experimentation - TCR 26

7Gypsies' summer CHA Paddington line has this "waterloo" paper, and it is typography made easy.  I love it just as I have everything 7Gypsies for the last eight years.  Here is a 7Gypsies hoarder confession: I buy two sheets of every 7Gypsies rubbing. I buy four sheets of every 97% Complete Stickers: one to "use," one to have, one to hoard, one to spare! Oh believe me, they ain't never had a cutomer like me! LOL

For this Color Room layout, I was inspired by the typography and since my photo is 7x2.5 inches, I thought it fit well in this design.  I used some beloved 7Gypsies rubbings, and a very appropriate sentiment stamp from My Favorite Things. Pardon my French, it really should have been "Sans frontiers" but oh well, no "s" in the end, hopefully Alex isn't looking, lol.

Isn't the palette totally striking?  It's your turn to try it out. The October RAK is provided by the Scarlet Lime!  Everyone who participates has a chance!  Don't wait!

Tomorrow is October already, how time flies by so quickly.  I don't think I have posted this layout from the WIP kit club.  I also used Helmar adhesives on this project, many Zapdots were used to pop out the clouds on which I stamped some great Gardening sentiments by My Favorite Things. Fall is upon us and our cantaloupes are almost all eaten, but we will always remember 2010 as a great year for our crop of canteloupes.

A video, a Layout, and a Card

A couple of weekends ago, I worked the Graphic 45 booth at Scrapfest.  The make-and-take we did was this little flower using the Steampunk Debutante papers.  I have made a video on making this flower.  Instead of inking the flower petals, I am painting them with Shimmerz Choc-o-lot.  You can see the shimmer even on this photograph!  And of course, I used my trusted Helmar foam dots to put this flower together.

You can easily make this flower for embellishments on your scrapbooking pages or cards.  Just make sure all the flower petals are curling upwards :) 

Here is the layout I did for AdornIt and using all Helmar adhesives. The photos are from my brief visit to Atlantic City with Michelle and her kids last summer. 

I "collaged" the photos in Picasa and print out 4 onto a 4x6 photo.  For this layout, I trimmed a few of them down to 2x2 inches to mount onto the AdornIt stickers. I used Helmar Zapdots to pop them out of the page for dimension. You can see that I also popped out that WTG from My Favorite Things.  I pieced her together using various papers from AdornIt.  It is definitely my go-to stamping technique. 

If you love the border punch at the top of the layout, that's a Marvy Uchida punch!  The SRM design team members received this wonderful new tool called Clever Lever Quick Borders punch, and I am a punch addict and have already purchased more cartridge for this wonderful tool for my collection :)

While I'm at it, I will post a miscellaneous card I made with WIP's September kit. I so love the Kaiser Scrapbooking papers, sigh...  The bicycle came in the kit, and the stamped image is from My Favorite Things. The first of October is only a few days away, I look forward to sharing my October kit creations.  There are a couple in there that I quite love :) 

Guest Blogged for AdornIt

This past week I had the pleasure of guest blogging for AdornIt.  I have loved their products for years and years now, evidenced by a favorite layout of mine created five years ago on naming First Born.  I still have several sheets of these papers in my stash. I think they have that timeless look and I look forward to pairing them with some coordinating papers and use them in the future :)

That was then, five years ago, and this is now!  Here are some of the projects I created with the latest AdornIt collections.  I have a lot of garden and gardening projects, don't I?  It makes sense, it's my family's hobby and my hobby is to scrap their hobby :)

This layout is done with the Pink Hoot collection. I totally adore this collection. I'm so glad that AdornIt expanded its "Life's a Hoot" collection and colored it pink just for me!  LOL!  Okay, not just for me, but I am so glad that it is pink all over! My pink hoot deserves Pink Hoot! :) I also used a lot of SRM stickers on this layout.  Sometimes it's just nice not have to do my own journaling :)

Last project for today, a card I made using AdornIt papers.  I colored this My Favorite Things Pure Innocence gal and she looks jaundiced.  Ugh, I need more practice obviously!  I didn't color her dress though. I just stamped the image onto some PP and cut it out to avoid furthering coloring, lol. 

That's about it for now.  I have a video to share this coming Monday: making a layered flower that you can wear :)  I made it today with my new FLIP and I got choked up a few times thanks to some lingering issues with the cold, but it's almost over!  Tomorrow the kids and I are headed to a baby shower.  I hope there's lots of food, lol!

TCR 25 M{art}y

I have a bad cold, sniff sniff, so I've been absent from the dear ol' blog this week. However, there are many things going on even though I am not here.  I am guest blogging for AdornIt this week.  I will post those projects this weekend, but you can check them out at AdornIt's blog for now.

The Color Room's new weekly palette has been released.  I took advantage of the sketch and made this layout about DD drawing her stuffed monkey.  I also stamped the line of journaling using My Favorite Things stamp set: Banner Day.  The monkey and monkey business stamps are also My Favorite Things. They are so cute!!

How delicious is this palette, good enough to eat no? :)  Meanwhile, I gots to go get more rest!  TTFN!

Water Fun TCR Palette 23

I missed posting last week's Color Room Palette, so here it is!  I don't know about you, but I would love a bite of those cupcakes and stuff, lol.  That sketch by Lydell is so pretty, but she added long after I did my layout months ago.  I am going to try out that sketch elsewhere for sure!

Here is a close-up of the banner: a Midnight Rooster stamp from the July kit.  Isn't it just fabulous?  As far as I'm concerned, the banner can be all the rage for as long as it wants to be! 


I am having the time of my life doing make-and-takes for the Graphic 45 booth at Scrapfest. At times, there would be seven ladies at my station all at difference pace making our flower, and I'm like a field general orchestrating and loving it all!  What's not to love really?  Fabulous papers, adorable make-and-take, eager crafters, and non-stop talking, sound like me?  I thought so!  Today is the last day, oh then it will be the bittersweet parting and back to my real job tomorrow, lol.  But I will enjoy every last second while it lasts, so I hope you have a great Sunday, and if you'll be at the MOA, stop by and say "Hi."

TCR #24 and Chipboards

When it comes to the Color Room's palettes, they stretch me in ways and directions that I am not naturally inclined.  However, once I let the palettes take me, I usually am really fond of the results.
I was particularly delighted when I happened up a thread on 2peas about a sketch challenge at Magistical Memories.  I quite adore that sketch, and partly because I know exactly which Fancy Pants chipboard swirls I want to use for that sketch!  Little by little, I'm approaching the end of my FP 12x12 chipboard pieces, I already miss them! :)  This is also my first Webster's Pages layout. Many thanks to Christine for sharing some of her papers with me. This "Foo on Film" is entirely too perfect for this palette! 

I also must mention my punched borders.  Marvy Uchida has sponsored the SRM Stickers DT members with a generous package of their new border punches, and the bubble one you see here is a Marvy punch.  And layered on top of the bubbles is this amazingly gorgeous EK Success scallop punch!  I journaled around the swirls of the chipboard pieces and used some brown SRM stickers for title and accent.  The brown stickers are new as of CHA-summer 2010.  I love that they blend so well into this page that has touches of brown!

Before I go, the winner of the Midnight Rooster Mini-Kit giveaway is Jessy who just happen to have a picture of her pet on her blog right now!  :) If you did not win the Midnight Rooster giveaway, no worries, I know of another huge giveaway, being hosted by my friend Cheese Aubree.  Check out her blog for details on the giveaway!  It's a big pile of stuff!!

Good night everyone, tomorrow I am going to work the Graphic 45 booth at Scrapfest!  I think I'm going to be exhausted, but I am so looking forward to it!

Peace, Interrupted and Mini-kit Giveaway

EDITED: Picture of the Mini-kit Giveaway below!

Peace, interrupted, by girl, of course ;)  This is my last project using the September Midnight Rooster kit and by far my most favorite layout out of the bunch.  I really love these colors together.  They feel so serene together. I think I've warned about more bunny layouts :)  Cute they might look!  Touch them, I will not!  Girl on the other hand, was quite handy with them, lol.

I found a new use for the banner stamp in the Going Places set by My Favorite Things: journaling spots! I then stamped the subtitle using the Banner Day Stamp. I love that look!

Now onto the giveaway! Here it is! The September kit is up on the site and absolutely gorgeous!!!  Go check it out here!  To be entered into the mini-kit giveaway, how about something easy?  If you have a pet, tell me something about it.  Good night!

Thank You !

I am so tickled pink to share that thanks to your help and support, I have landed the first prize of the Helmar Flips for Video contest.  Thank you so much!!!  And thank you Helmar for the fun contest!  What an honor it was to be amongst such worthy competitors!   Thank you all who have helped me along the way! I really appreciate it!  I look forward to making more videos in the future and of course, I look forward to more Helmar glue! 

Midnight Rooster will reveal its monthly kit in a few days, however the DT projects have gone up.  I am going to share a couple of Rooster layouts here.  First, giddy up, neigh! lol.  Is it me or these photos are just utterly hilarious?!  The hat and the horse were Christmas gifts from NaiNai and the kids sure love playing cowgirls :)

Check out the fun horse stamp from My Favorite Things!

You've seen the layout about the hardworking picker of the berries, now it's time to scrap the eater of the berries, lol.  She's blue, da ba dee daba dai, da ba dee daba dai...  lol

I used Shimmerz Pearlz to paint the Pink Paislee artisan frames and the Prima letters.  The fun blue flower with the bling center is a Midnight Rooster exclusive embellishment! It is really gorgeous, isn't it! 

Well, that's it for project share for now, I hope you have a great and productive weekend.  We are headed to the apple orchard tomorrow.  Pick me excited about the photo opportunities! LOL.  xxoo, good night, and thank you again!

Experimenting... with Midnight Rooster

The Midnight Rooster September Kit reveal is tomorrow, and I am here to kick things off with a layout and process share.

But first, one last blog pleading to vote for yours truly, Jing-Jing Nickel, as in those coins making that jingling noises in your pocket!  LOL.

I have admired Jessy's small photo layouts and have been intentionally trying to do layouts that perhaps emulate her style just a little bit.  This may not be immediately obvious because her style is quite a bit different from mine. Before setting out on this experiment, I looked through several pages of her blog studying her layouts.  Instead of copying one, I tried visualizing a few things that stand out most to me.  What I remembered is that she staggers her photos. She always have a visual break somewhere in the page: horizontal or vertical bar.  She has layers of strips of paper and embellishments.  So this is what I came up with, a month ago :) using the Midnight Rooster kit.


Here is a closeup of a Pink Paislee artisan frame.  I painted it with Shimmerz Pearls in Choco-lot to frame the My Favorite Things Pure Innocence gal. Gosh I wonder if she has a name?? The background scallop is cut with Laina Lamb's digital kit, available at 2peas. Lastly I used an SRM sticker for the title.  She is a mostly sweet child, lol.

Remember, tomorrow the Midnight Rooster kit will be for sale for non-subscribers!!! And... remember to vote for me again, lol. Voting ends on September 9th! 

I'm Blue... da ba dee da ba dai

It's a dead heat!!  Please vote for me, video #1!! Thank you!!

When I attended CHA in July, I really fell in love with everything in Kaiser's booth.  I was so delighted when Trish included several sheets of Kaiser papers in the September WIP kit. Here is my favorite layout from the September kit.  I was greatly energized by Christine and her words and this layout was a product of taking care of the details: layering embellishments :) 

It was nothing but pure coincidence that he wore a t-shirt that says "the fruit never falls far from the tree" to go blueberry picking.  Serendipity now has found its permanent place in my scrapbooks, lol! 

Here is a close up of my cluster of embellishments.  Oh these are such cute hot air balloons!  And what do they have to do with blueberries...  they both need air?  I also used two tiny SRM stickers to decorate my title. I am loving these subtle uses of stickers in the titles recently!

It's a long weekend to celebrate Labor Day.  I cleaned my desk last night, and thought of taking an "after" photo, what a mess even that is!!  No more, it's covered twice over again after today, lol.  No wonder it is so hard to get my kids to clean up their rooms.  "Do as I say, not as I do" really is not an effective way of parenting. ALAS!!!

Happy weekend everyone!

Nice Hair - TCR 22

Today, we interrupt the regularly scheduled voting to bring you the Color Room Palette 22. But please feel free to stay tuned to the regularly schedule voting as you see fit. Hee hee! Thank you thank you thank you, please keep voting :)

Check out this palette, do you not just love that little owl?  I want to pluck its feather and cook it for dinner, that's for sure!  LOL.  As much as I loved the palette, I had a hard hard hard time with it!!  However, after several weeks of struggle, a diamond in the rough did emerge!  I love this layout!!  I painted the heart with Shimmerz Pearlz "Grammie Berries" and it dried a little darker and purpler than I thought it would, but overlook that, the colors were spot on with the palette, yahoo!!  I also used the "thick bar" in the "Just Add Notes" set from myStamp Box. I cut into a pack of 8x8 7Gypsies paper that I won from its blog, oh gorgeousness redefined.  I think these papers look so good against this sheet of MME!!  Oh happiness is me with this layout, lol.

A long Labor Day weekend is coming up.  I look forward to scrapbooking of course, what else?  I suppose I can clean my scrap room, yikes, that's gonna be an all-weekend project. I think I'll pass! LOL!

The Thirst Quencher

First, I want to thank you for your support and your votes.  There are nine days left of voting, so if you have 10 seconds, please click here and vote for me again.  Yes, it is allowed in the rules: one vote per day per person :)  Thank you so much!

It is the first of the month, and time to share more WIP September projects!  As things turned out, I did four layouts with this month's kit, and every layout is related to garden/gardening!  LOL.  Here is my Second Child watering :)  Oh my gosh, can that My Favorite Things Pure Innocence gal BE more "identical" to my DD watering??

I have embarked on the copic marker world.  I have broken out the few markers I received from Prism when I was on their team and started coloring. It is yet another hobby onto itself really, and I have so much to learn... 

I am very pleased to share that I have joined the Best Creation design team.  I was introduced to this company by the now-closed Scrapbook Obsessions kit club back in January of this year.  You can see my projects done using BC's Chinese line here. It is absolutely the best looking Chinese line I have ever seen, one that this Chinese woman was and is proud to use! The enthusiasm of everyone at Best Creation has been extremely contagious. I truly look forward to getting started.