Pre-SHO-LOAD Blog Hop

Hi and welcome to my part of the Pre-ScrapHappy Only LOAD Blog Hop!  I am Katrina and if you've been following the hop you've come from Leslie.  If not, don't worry it will cycle you around & you can still get the whole hop.  Sorry I'm a little bit late getting this posted, I've had a bit of excitement here with a lightning strike messing a few things up.  Nothing permanent or even terribly expensive though, so I feel very fortunate.

I live in Colorful Colorado Springs, Colorado.  I have been scrapping pretty much my whole life, but more seriously since Ryan was born in 2002.  I am on the Design Team for the Clear It Out Challenge Blog & the Creative Team of Ready Set Create magazine (The new issue comes out October 1st. I got to interview Lain & I'm really excited about it!). My favorite color is purple and I love all things sparkly & lacy! (The things in more boyish colors tend to dissapear or get broken before I can use them...) My pages reflect that too.

This will be my 8th LOAD (Wow!) My first was October 2010, and I joined ScrapHappy before it was over!  I must say that it really changed my whole life, not just my scrapbooking.  If this is your first LOAD, you probably don't believe this.  But once you've done a couple, you'll know what I mean, and you will think so too.

October is going to be a bit chaotic!  I am spending 2 different weekends out of town (Including for True Scrap-Sniff!) and am still in the process of moving the stuff out of my old studio in the basement  and into my new one in my former dining room.*  While I have most of the "Pretty Stuff" moved including pretty much everything I need to scrap, there is still a TON of stuff in the old room...  I have an old LOAD prep blog here... with plenty of good advice, but this time things are a bit different for me. 

I don't usually do much "Prep"  because I try to go with the flow & do the prompts as they come.  This means I don't know which stories I will tell or which photo's I'll need.  It is one of the best parts of LOAD and makes me so much more creative.

Another thing I've been trying to do the last few LOADs, and am continuing this time, is using up my stash, and not purchasing new.  During the moving process I came across a whole bin of mostly scraps. 

So I decided to put them away in my scrap drawers organized by color:

As I was doing so I became puzzled.  I simply couldn't remember some of the papers I was putting away.  "I've never bought orange terrycloth paper...I've certainly never used it, where did these scraps come from?"  Well I thought that about several different papers that I had quite a few scraps of.  Suddenly it occurred to me.  A few months ago when we started the Round Robin Stash Swap, I broke apart some old kits from "Scrap Jammies" and gave away the brads & embellies & put the pre-cut paper pieces in a bin...that's where these came from!  So that's one mystery solved, and several full bins of scraps for mats and borders and many other layout possibilities!  I've been working on going to my scraps before I cut a 12x12 piece up.  I still end up cutting sometimes, but that's okay, It isn't as if I had a shortage of paper.  So If you've been in the gallery you may have seen a picture of my new scrapper studio, but I'm going to share some more anyway.

Here is my layout for September's Sketch:

Now one of these pictures is facing north, (the left one) and the other is facing south, so here is a current picture facing out the same windows to the south:

As you can see, my former dining table fits perfectly in the bay window, so I now have enough space for a guest or two to crop along with me, which I have always wanted!
Here is the opposite wall as seen from the desk:

Here is my desk as it looked this afternoon:

 And here it is after some more LOAD prep as it looks right now:

All clear & ready to work.

  I've got all my favorite tools at my fingertips.
  The most important rules of Scrapping have been followed.

Which as I see it are as follows:






1.  Have a good sized trash bin closeby

   2.  Have plenty of chocolate handy (no picture sorry...I didn't need too many visitors ;) )







 3. Don't run out of Adhesive.

                      Or Stickles.

        Or Distress Ink

4. Keep your most used tools & supplies handy & Have a  (comfortable) swivel chair so the space on at least 3 sides is accessible without getting up.

 5. Make your space welcoming for the rest of the family, & near enough to the Family activity centers (kitchen , TV, video games etc.) to supervise as needed.  (That was the biggest trouble with having it in the basement & another reason why I'm so glad it's now upstairs).

6.  Have a place for the cat to be close by, without having to be between you & your layout/project:

Can you see where this is from the picture above? well maybe this will help

This picture shows my big project from this afternoon.  I took all of my brads from these little plastic bins that used to hang on the wall in the basement:

There were 2 of these, with six bins each 1 color of brads per bin.  But alas there isn't much wall space in here and they didn't fit in the Expedit cubes.  Thankfully, Target had this lovely cupcake stand! (Okay I bought it before I knew what I was going to do with it, it is so cute after all!)  And these jelly jars just fit perfectly in it's little round spaces.  So Voila! Decorative brad storage! And it goes quite nicely on the top of my Expedit shelf.  Still within reach (On my stepstool anyway) and much prettier than the plastic bins!  Here is a poorly stitched "panorama" of the shelf:

(It is really one straight shelf, but standing in the middle makes it tough to get a good photo!)


 So Now I have these empty, very useful & practical bins and no where to put them. So if anyone would like them, leave me a comment or message me at ScrapHappy. I have no idea what to do with them otherwise.  Maybe I'll put them on the new Swap board... 

So no doubt my room will be neater at some point  (Hopefully before LOAD)  but it will probably be messier by the end of October!  I can hardly wait to see what Leslie & Lynette have in store for us, and what all of you will create!  Hooray for Scrap Happy & Hooray for LOAD!!!

So your next stop on the hop is Kelly P.

And in case you get lost here is the whole hop:

Lynnette http://sassyscrapper2010.blogspot.com
Leslie http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com
Katrina http://k84mansramblings.blogspot.com
Kelli P. www.scrapbookgirl71.com
Alison D. http://adayinthelifeor5.blogspot.ca
Cathy H. http://pikespeakscrapper.blogspot.com
Dani www.acoffeeaddict.com
Heather H. http://heathazscrapz.blogspot.com
Alison C. http://scrappinginsingapore.blogspot.com
Heather D. http://heathersdragonsden.blogspot.com
Danielle H. http://ecoscrapbook.blogspot.com

Come back and see me sometime.  There is always something happening around here!

Time for another Clear It Out Challenge!

It is that time again!  The second Clear It Out challenge for September starts today.

This card is destined to accompany a friend's crocheted baby afghan, for a brand new little manny.

The challenge is:

Theme: a project with a child image on it.

Stash: anything you want!  (let us know what it is)

Our fantastic sponsor is:

Meljens designs

MelJens' is offering 4 digital images to one lucky winner!

 I am in the process of relocating my scrappin' studio from my basement into what was formerly my dining room, and in the process I am discovering that I have a whole lot of stuff to CLEAR OUT!  So every single thing I used (Aside from Meljen's adorable image called appropriately , Baby Shower (You can pick it up Here) & my copic markers, of course) is old stash.  The wonderful glitter card base is from a box by Die Cuts With A View that is at least 4 years old.  T The Ribbons were scraps that have been in the bottom of my jars, possibly even longer than that!  The little acetate quote is also from DCWV, and might be slightly more recent than the rest of the stash items here, even the Tumbled Glass Tim Holtz Distress Ink pad says copyright 2004 (that doesn't mean I've had it that long, mind you). The oldest item I used is the beaded wire word "boy"...let's just say I used the rest of the set on a family page, that is in my son's baby book,   around 2003 or 2004. That would make it one of my earlier pages (Not counting high school, I was scrapbooking then, but not quite the same) it was even before I started using the 12x12 format! 

 Want to see it?  

I am pretty sure that I did not buy these beaded words for this page, so I may have had them since 2001.    

What have you had in your stash for a while?  Make your project using a baby or child image and one of your older stash items and don't forget to share it with us at the Clear It Out Challenge Blog for a chance at the prize!

And by the way, We are currently looking for sponsors to fill up out 2013 calendar! Digis, or tangible items welcome. Check the challenge blog for details.

New Month, New Challenge!

Clear It Out Challenge Blog Here

Anniversary Magnet/Bookmark

Time for another Clear It Out Challenge!

Our WONDERFUL Sponsor is:

This week's challenge is to be inspired by something.  I was inspired by:

The Couch in our Family Room, or at least the colors in it.  It is a fantastic, comfy, homey, couch. We spend a lot of time there.  So I decided to use some of the colors in it.  Here is a closeup of the cushions where I got the colors:

I downplayed the brown & used mainly the greens & reds.  and here is the resulting magnet:

Our product for this week was something with glitter.  Unfortunately my scanner has a hard time showing glitter, but the green butterfly (the only one you can actually tell is glittery), was punched from glitter  DCWV cardstock The white one is coated with Clear Rock Candy Distress Stickles, and both flowers were accented with my Clear Star Gelly Roll pen.  It's really rockin' the glitter, sorry you can't see it :(
Now I just have to figure out what to do with it, since I'm single.  Oh well it's pretty right?
 Maybe I'll just put it on my own refrigerator :)

If you would like to play along with us (Please do!!!) be sure to visit  The Clear It Out Challenge Blog and you could:

Thanks Bugaboo Stamps for sponsoring us!!

It's That Time Again!!

Challenge on Clear It Out

Hi Everybody! 
There is still 2 weeks left for the Red & Green Challenge on Clear it Out.  Here's my card:

(For My Scrap Happy friends This is also one of my tags for the Travel themed tag swap.)

I used a mask from Tattered Angels and 2 different Red/Orange glimmer mists.  Then some different travel theme stickers from my stash.  The best part is the image from Digital Darla Designs.  They are our sponsor this time.   The winner gets 5 digis  of your choice.  If you create something with Red & Green This month be sure & add a link to our challenge at: clearitoutchallenge.blogspot.com Challenge runs till August 6th so show us what you've got!

It's June!!!

http://clearitoutchallenge.blogspot.ca/

Clear It Out Challenge

There's still time to join our ConBRADulations challenge at Clear It Out!  Here is my card:

I've had several graduations to go to this month.  Congrats to all the Grads who have worked so hard!

If you make something with the Congrats theme & using brads (before Midnight June 4), be sure to link it up so you are eligible for the prize from Sassy Studios!

More LOAD Layouts including this months' Take 12

Here it is the 13th of May already!  As my son was quick to point out, there are only 7 days of school left.  Where has the time gone?  Since it is the 13th, I will start off with this month's take 12 & here it is:
As you may have guessed it is also my LOAD layout for today.  And today is:

Day 13-Sketchy Sunday

& here is the sketch:

Again we had to adapt it or change it up in some way.  

So Here is my page:

 I am just loving the pictures I take on the 12th & think the book I print at the end of the year will be such a great way to remember our life as it is.  As always, I took WAY more than 12 pictures, in fact I took 102.  So here are a couple that just barely missed the cut:

My Front Porch.  I just love pansies!

A bit of the back yard.   Flowers are everywhere & they aren't all dandelions!

Ryan is tired from playing outside most of the day, & wet from the sprinkler, so he's reading a Baby Blues Comic collection

Spent a couple hours this week doing this arrangement for the TV room wall.  

This container used to grow a philodendron, but my brown thumb got another one...

Now back to LOAD:

Day 9: Wicked Wednesday – 6+ Photos

As you can see I used way more than 6 photos.   If you count, there are 18!!! I got all the highlights of the event on just one page and love the result.

Day 10: Who's have Thunk it Thursday-Lift a cereal box

My choice of Cereal inspiration

Who would have ever thought that the inspiration for this page was a cereal box?  Not even me & I did it LOL! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 11: Five-Sense Friday – Touch

Now a little funny for you. The prompt wasn't working when I went to bed (It was fixed when I got up though so no biggie :)) Knowing it was  Five-Sense Friday & that there were only 4 senses left I guessed that it would be Touch. Someone on the message board said I must be a good guesser :) How did I get it? Well since we'd lifted cereal the day before I had a feeling taste was not going to be it, & smell goes along with taste a lot.  Sight is too easy since it's not out of the box at all so Touch seemed to make sense.  Maybe a little of the Sherlock Holmes I've been reading is rubbing off?

Anywho here is my page:

This is also my first layout for Nic & May's Double Take class at BPC.  It's about the place where I sit (when I get to sit) when my son is home & since my legs have been sore from a workout on Tuesday, I haven't been climbing up & downstairs to my scrap room in the basement, so this week, I've been sitting here even more.  Not the neatest area (Esp during LOAD)  but a place where we love to be:). (Much of this is on the pullout journaling card).

Day 12: Random Acts of Scrapping Saturday – Something from Your Trash

 If you look closely at the take 12 page you'll see the layout already but here it is:

 This is my pre-class layout for Nic Howard's Dimensional Details class at BPC, I am so looking forward to this class!! & Yes I did use trash!  Here's a closeup of the cluster:

Can you count all 5 different pieces of trash?  

I'll give you a hint one of them is not trash in the picture above it...

Okay I'll tell you:  1. Wrapper from a Lindor Truffle 2. Wrapper from a KIND bar 3. Cardboard

4. Leftover Eyelash yarn, too short to crochet with 5. the lid from a Ball jar. 

So that brings us to today & we already did that one :)  More from me soon, including a new challenge at Clear It Out!

More LOAD Layouts

Can you believe I am actually posting a second set of  LOAD layouts before the second week is even over?  I almost can't, but as my DS used to say "I Yam!"  As my mom said on the phone earlier today "It's been a crazy week, crazy month, crazy year crazy LIFE"  Besides LOAD I am working hard on my assignments for the Clear It Out challenge blog next week, the June/July issue of Ready Set Create and working on some new pinwheel embellies for my etsy shop so (not to mention volunteering at School, & last month of school/ teacher appreciation gifts) Stuff happens & blogger waits...but LOAD & Life don't so here are some pages for you:

Day 4- Five Sense Friday- Our prompt was about sound & hearing. 

While technically it was not about My hearing but Hubby's & Newborn baby Ryan's this seemed to qualify.  The red journaling card behind the picture reads:  I've always known that I snore, my sister made sure of that.  But Brad never mentioned it for 5 years.  So when he woke me up one night, soon after coming home from the hospital I was perplexed & a bit perturbed, (after all Sleep was very precious!) so I said "You've never mentioned it before, did this just start?"  He replied "No you've always snored, but I was afraid you would wake the baby." 


(Did I have a wonderful sweet husband or what!)





Day 5- Random Acts of Scrapping Saturdays: eBay Inspiration! (Search ebay for your name & be inspired by something)

I was not inspired by the many Hurricane related items on ebay.  However, thanks to my study of the Nepali language I recently learned that there is a Bollywood star named Katrina, so I just added the word Bollywood after my name & searched again.  She really is beautiful!  I was immediately inspired by a poster of her with purple flowers just floating all around.  Now I should probably mention (In case you're thinking, like me that this layout isn't particularly well designed) that I was at/preparing for a large formal party all day & got home just in time to barely make the deadline (The deadline is 1am for me)...but I got the page done & uploaded ON Time!  As we keep telling one another in the LOAD discussion board "Done is Better than Perfect!" I even a picture I took that day.  Now don't those girls look sweet!

Day 6:  Sketchy Sunday!  We were given this sketch:

But were told we had to adapt it in some way, not to just use it as is (Which if you know me, you know I almost never use a sketch exactly as it is but that's okay!) I turned the sketch on it's side and flipped it.
  I decided to do the facing page for the LO from the previous day (So many pics of these adorable girls how could I help it?)

So here are the two days pages together:

 

Day 7: Manic Monday: 30-Minute Day

 I did all of this layout including choosing pictures, paper & embellishments in 30 minutes, except the journaling took a bit longer:  There's a little tag behind me with the continuation of the journaling that talks about how I wanted Ryan to love the Little Mermaid as much as I did (But duh he's a boy and was a toddler (That sea witch IS quite scary) whereas I had been a teenager when it came out), But I had to content myself with the fact that he did love the sequel & was quite excited to meet Ariel when we got to Disneyland.

That brings us to today:

Day 8: Tough Topic Tuesday – Someone Else’s Story

And once again I was so inspired by Tough Topic Tuesday, that I made not one but 2 layouts. (Not to mention that my legs hurt so bad from Body Pump this morning that I could barely walk, so sat at the computer for a few hours, but did I do Creative Team stuff?-No! LOAD wins again :))

Besides being my Grandmother's Depression era story, It was also tough to tell because she passed away in 2002.   It's the story of how she found a dime, when there was no money in the house & her mother let her choose what kind of food to buy with it.  What a different world we live in today!  

These peaceful looking pictures made me wonder what was going on in the mind of my usually non-stop Go-go-go son:

 That's it for this edition of LOAD tributes.  Check back next week for a new Clear It Out Challenge (I'll give you a hint, it has to do with using up one of the supplies I completely love & hoard!).  & more LOAD layouts coming soon!

 

Time for LOAD again! (Already?)

Yes indeedy it is May & time for LOAD again in fact it's already the third day!  So I have 3 4 layouts to show you!  Besides the prompts, I have been having some fun using challenge blogs too so here goes:

Day 1:  Tough Topic Tuesday:  Self Portrait

Well it must not've been that tough, because I made 2 layouts!  I finally did some pregnancy pictures.  I didn't have very many & I couldn't find that 9th month baby bump picture that I was sure I had but I still like it.

After I had uploaded this page, I got an email with the monthly newsletter from the athletic club we belong to, and they featured me,  So I did another layout:

Day 2 "Wicked Wednesday"  Make A Layout without a photo

I've had this drawing in my scrap room since my DS made it in 2007 so I just had to use it!  i just love seeing myself through his eyes!

Day 3 "Who'd have Thunk It Thursday"  Use Holiday colors on a non-holiday page.
It just so happens I had the perfect story for this one!  (Although it took me a few hours to figure out what I was going to do!). 

And on this layout I took the C.R.A.F.T. Challenge to use buttons. 
And the DYSU Challenge to use circles If polka dots don't count I'm sure buttons do right?

 I just love how it turned out!

As always I am using LOAD as an opportunity to shop my stash & clear out by using up some old stuff!  Can you believe I've had these fabulous papers & buttons & embellies for all of these pages for several years?  Well I have.  Can't wait to see what Lain comes up with for tomorrow's prompt!

It's May!