Master Forger Journaling Project

Thanks for hopping to the next stop on our special blog project today!  You've likely arrived from Milissa's blog, and I am the final stop for the day:

Angela http://colestoucan.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Jemma http://just-jimjams.blogspot.com/

Jennifer http://www.jennifersjumbles.blogspot.com/ 

Julie http://www.hisglorygirl.blogspot.com/ 

Lisa H. http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/ 

Lisa J http://thesimplelifewithlisa.blogspot.com.au/

Lynnette http://sassyscrapper2010.blogspot.com/ 

Milissa http://millermall.blogspot.com/

Rebecca http://howiburb.blogspot.com/

In case you are starting from here, the details of today's project are included in today's post on the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog.  One last big thank you to  Christie Zimmer at Grace is Overrated.
I approached Christie a few weeks ago about this vague idea of a project, and she was so gracious to let us use her journaling sheets as a part of the project.  Thanks, Christie!

So, here are my journaling jots, completed around Valentine's Day. You can tell that I had vacation on the brain and was coming down to crunch time on what was going to get done before I left the country (including this project :)).  If it wasn't for the last minute, I'd never get anything done at all!

I had several stories that came to mind after a bit of journaling, but one of them stuck out for my project. I had a clear winner for the "favorite part of my day" prompt. The greeting I share with my dog when I get home each day gives me a few moments of pure joy, regardless of the kind of day I'm returning from. I had an extra copy of a favorite picture of Junior, so I thought I'd do a page that captured this story for us.

About this page layout: I've recently noticed a trend (maybe not new, but new to me) toward un-clustering and un-layering embellishments and photos. You know, the way we used to do things back in the days of the sticker sneeze, just updated with today's embellishments.  Everything old is new again!  I started a Pinterest board with a few examples if you're interested. I'm no trend setter or definer, but I think the divided page protector "movement" is influencing the way people are doing their regular 12x12 pages, too.  Anyway, I wanted to try something similar and used this page by Robyn Weirlich as my scraplift/inspiration here.

Thanks again to all of you that are hopping through our projects today. Hope you learned a little more about some of the Master Forgers and found a couple of good tips along the way.  Stop by the Counterfeit Kit blog today and take one last look at this month's Mr. Linky.  It will disappear in a day or so, to be replaced with a new link for the month of March. And please stop back on Friday to see the new inspiration kit, meet this month's guest designer, and take a look at the Master Forgers' kits for the month, too.  See you then!

Post-Vacation High: Bring on March!

We're back from our vacation to Mexico.  It had its highs.....

Hello down there, Gulf Coast!

 And it had its lows:

 But the highs definitely win!

Used a few scrap supplies to decorate my Bubba mug for the week.  This one happened to be full of Miami Vice.

 But that vacation high really wears off quickly, doesn't it?  I'm already tired of being back to work, the weather stinks, there's no one to bring me drinks/food on demand,  and I don't have much motivation to catch up on much of anything around the house. Boo hoo.

Ugh.....back to work stinks!

A public shout out to Crystal, though, who stayed home from work because she didn't feel good on Monday and Tuesday but went ahead and did all our laundry and suitcase clean-out anyway.  That's called "being a trooper" around our house, and she was definitely a trooper.  

And here we are, about to start another month......I think I need some blog goals to lift my spirits and to keep me busy for the coming weeks:

• I left off with some Instagram and app related posts earlier this month.  I will get back to posting about more app uses in March.  I actually just loaded a couple more options to my phone and iPad, so I may have some success stories to share there, too.
• I almost exclusively used my phone for this trip's pictures.  I'm anxious to dig in and start a project with them, but I think I'll wait a bit.  I'm not doing a big giant album - I feel like I just finished last year's trip.  And I don't have nearly the volume of pictures that I usually have.  So I need some time to plot and plan how I want to tackle this project.
• After getting caught up on several project life weeks, I now need another round of catch-up.  I'd like to stop "catching up" by the end of March so I can finish the last few months of the project in real time.  I think it's an obtainable goal!

I also plan to share some travel stories throughout the month as I play with the pictures.  Like the one about my spider monkey bite.

No, really, I got bit by a spider monkey! That's a story that will never get old for retelling. The one in my arms above was not the biter, though.  This one climbed up in my arms to cuddle, and she made the cutest grunting noise that's apparently the equivalent to a cat's purr.....amazing life moment!

Tomorrow I'll be back with a special Master Forger project, and then Friday with a new March kit. So bring on March......a little looking forward, a little looking back, and probably a lot of living in the moment!

February Counterfeit Kit

Welcome to February! A new month means a new Counterfeit Kit Challenge. 

Update: I just rearranged this post's text and pictures this morning, so I'm back in action.  My complaint for the day: Blogger is pretty user friendly from a desktop, but the Blogger app for mobile devices, frankly, stinks.

Now on to the kit!

This month's inspiration kit is Chasing Pavements from Scraptastic Kit Club.

The inspiration kit.....full of greens and blues.

I had none of the Chasing Pavements contents, but I had some very similar papers, so I went from there. I've put together a lot of stuff (you might actually find a kitchen sink in there somewhere) just because I couldn't stop pulling these blues and greens from my stash. I used my scrap bin and Cricut to make a bowl of arrows and confetti, too.

My kit - papers are mostly from years of collecting Jillibean Soup, with a few other pieces thrown in there, too. I guess those colors have been popular for awhile! I pulled scraps from my red, yellow and orange scrap bins to cut the arrows with my Cricut, a counterfeit of that sheet of Studio Calico arrows.  I added lots of other bits and pieces that included the colors of the inspiration kit, so I have plenty of stuff to work with this month!

I usually pick pics first, then kit. But this month i have no idea what pictures I'm going to scrap. That's pretty scary for me!  But my biggest challenge for the month? We fly to Mexico in just a few days, so I imagine this big kit will be a work in progress for months to come. Who knows, maybe it will end up being the start of my next Mexico album.

Oh, almost forgot to mention that I made my collage picture with the PhotoGrid app that I mentioned last week on a post about photo apps. Last night at 9pm, when I was in a mild panic because of some laptop issues, I had to figure out how to get my pictures into this post with just the use of my phone or iPad, and that PhotoGrid app saved my night.

I am the last stop on the Master Forger hop today, so please visit the CKC blog for this month's challenge info and the new Mr Linky page for links to all your kit work.and I'll be back later this morning to clean up/rearrange my post a bit. For now, my kit pics should be below:

Counterfeit Kit Blog Hop

With the new year come new changes! This month we're reinstating the monthly blog hop for the Counterfeit Kit participants, and I'm jumping in on the fun.  If you're hopping, you came here from Julie at http://jsquaredscrapspot.wordpress.com.  I've also listed the hop order at the end of this post so you can navigate from where you were, to where you are, to where you should go next.

The challenge for the hop project is to use 3 patterned papers, 3 embellishments and a 3 word title from your kit.  I stuck to the rules and used them to get me through yet another week of catch-up in my Project Life 2012 album.

I stuck to the rules: 3 pieces of 6x6 Pink Paislee Portfolio paper and 3 embellishments (arrow stickers, a clip, and a piece of flair).

And a 3 word title: I don't usually have a title for each week in my book, but this week seemed like it could use one.

First page with a couple of hospital pictures. For the record, we really celebrated Crystal's birthday the weekend before this week, so she wasn't completely forgotten :). 

My view of the Stadium from my room.

They have quite a system, don't they?  Crystal said they keep you updated in the waiting room and it's pretty easy to know a patient's whereabouts. 

I added a clear pocket to hold some papers from the hospital and clipped just a little paper and the flair button to the front.  The flair is actually hiding the staple I used to hold the paper to the envelope.

I put this picture of Crystal on the back of the pocket page. We just happened to go to an event for the hospital that weekend, and it was one of my first excursions out of the house.  Someone working at the check in booth noticed the cut/scar on my neck and said, "Dr. xyz? I thought so," and then showed me her matching scar. "I recognized his work," she said!  The facing page is just a picture of us at the dog park, but I made it big so I could show that I was feeling better and ended the week on a good note!

There's still time to add your own kit projects to January's Mr. Linky thread.  We'll be back on February 1st to reveal the Master Forgers' February kits and get started on a fresh new month of stash busting and kit making.

Thanks for stopping!  Your next stop in the hop is Tammie at http://www.lifeinterruptedthenscrapped.blogspot.com/.  (EDIT: As of right now, I don't see a post from Tammie, so skip right to Lisa at http://lisahausmann.blogspot.de/ ! I'll come back and edit that point if I see that Tammie has joined us).  

Here is the full hop order, and you can always go back to the Counterfeit Kit Blog if you get lost along the way.

1.	Jemma Sharrock	http://just-jimjams.blogspot.uk/
2.	Lesley Graffham	http://ohblogitifyoucantbeatthem.blogspot.co.uk/
3.	Lucinda Messman	http://www.scrapbooksandcows.blogspot.com/
4.	Shir Benovich	http://shir-benovich.blogspot.com/
5.	Leslie Smith	http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com/
6.	Julie Hearn	http://spendlesscraftmore.blogspot.com.au/
7.	Kate Blue	http://kateblue.blogspot.com/
8.	Tricia Simmons	http://triciasimmons.blogspot.co.uk/
9.	Lisa Johnston	http://thesimplelifewithlisa.blogspot.com.au/
10.	Rebecca Delo	You are here:  http://howiburb.blogspot.com/
11.    12. 13.	Tammie  Lisa Hausmann Andrea Ockey Parr	Next Stop: http://www.lifeinterruptedthenscrapped.blogspot.com/ http://lisahausmann.blogspot.de/ SnappingMonsters.blogspot.com

 

Have a great weekend! (What is a weekend?)

Completed Summer Vacation Album - Finger Lakes 2012

Happy Weekend!

I have some friends coming to visit this weekend, and I'm really looking forward to some fun.  I haven't seen them since our vacation in August, and we have some things to catch up on.  And if nothing else, since my scrap room is also my guest room, it was good motivation to clean!

I had a goal of completing the album for that summer vacation before this visit, and I'm happy to report that I made it. I've shown some of the pages here in the past few months, but here's the whole album in order, if you're interested.


Album on Flickr

Sigh.....now if only our weather could be as nice this weekend as it was during our summer trip.  Oh well, I think we'll find some fun, anyway.

I had no intention of making an entire album for the week, but that's what it became - the album is nearly stuffed.  I usually have one album for a year, maybe an extra album for a special vacation or project.  I don't do mini albums or projects, so everything goes in the "big book."  To put it in perspective: In 2010 I used 2 albums, one for the year and one for a vacation.  In 2011 I used 2 albums, one for the year and one for a December Daily.  For 2012 I will end up with 6-7 albums:

--Two 12x12s for the year
--One 8 1/2 x 11 for February's Mexico vacation
--One 12x12 for this vacation album from August
--One project life 6x8
--One December Daily 6x8
That's crazy!  And really I should put my Week in the Life project into its own album, but I just stuffed it into one of the 12x12s.  It's definitely out of the ordinary for me, and I don't want to end up with that many albums EVERY year, but apparently it was a big year for scrapping.

Maybe I'll simplify and do everything 12x12 this year (other than my current project life pages) - I don't know, we'll see.

Have a super weekend!

Counterfeit Kit Pages

Today I'm finally posting some pages created with my January Counterfeit Kit. And before I get to the pages, I wanted to mention info about the CKC blog this month:

• Be sure to link something to this month's Mr. Linky! There's an extra incentive - Cassie owns an awesome scrappy store on Etsy called Paper Issues, and she is sponsoring a $20 Paper Issues gift certificate to one random winner from all those who add to the Mr. Linky.The winner will be drawn at the end of the month.  So get your projects linked up for your change to win! 
• Watch for this month's blog hop on January 25th. It's too late to join the hop, but please join us for some inspiration.

OK, so on to the pages......

I needed to fill the back side of a page protector (cut down from an 8x10 protector). I just used things from my kit (except some scraps and a piece of kraftstock) to fill this awkward space.

I think this next page ended up being one of my favorites of the book. I just love the flower picture. We ate outside on the patio with that beautiful view of the vineyard and lake, just a really nice place to be.  I  like how the colors on the page added to the colors of that picture: 

And I couldn't show three pages today without including the dog, could I? 

Again, mostly items from my kit. The sticker sentiments in my kit didn't have what I needed, so I covered the saying in the middle and used it for the background of my title.

I used Stickles to hide the not-so-great edges of that oval I cut to cover the sticker.  It also worked to hold those tiny little letter stickers in place. These little sticker letters are so cute, but the adhesive is never really very good, is it? I decided to name the phenomenon - Alphabet Drift.  Ever see it?  You spell a word, turn around, and find the letters have drifted - down the page, up your arm, across the desk, etc.  Alphabet Drift. Look it up - I bet it's in the dictionary.

I used a Zig Glue Pen in spots across the page, and then sprinkled sequins over the sticky spots.  Pretty simple way to use loose sequins, as long as you don't mind the work of corralling those little boogers back into the jar.  After my experience, my work with sequins may be short lived.

I don't know if it's my kit, the new year, the cold weather, or the pending visit of friends, but I suddenly feel the draw of my scraproom like I haven't felt in quite awhile. Wish I could bottle the motivation I'm feeling right now.

Welcome 2013!! January Counterfeit Kit

Glad to be back to start 2013!

Today I have just a quick post for the January Counterfeit Kit. I'll be back later this week - after holiday houseguests leave and some decorations are put away - and hopefully will get to play with my kit soon.

I'm at the end of the Master Forger kit hop.  Click here to start from the beginning and to see the full list of Master Forgers for 2013.  We're welcoming lots of new faces for the new year!

This month's inspiration kit from Paperissues, with lovely blues, pinks and reds.....

The start of my kit - I decided to raid my December Daily kit for anything not-so-holiday looking and looked for similar blues, greens and pink/reds from the inspiration kit. Definitely not the same colors, but these papers from the Crate Peppermint Twist line have that same Crate style/feel as the inspiration kit's contents.

I looked for other papers to add and decided on the pretty neutral Pink Paislee line. I added some travel/journal-theme items, because I'm hoping to finish my summer vacation pages this month. I didn't have a string of sequins like the inspiration kit, but I did have this jar of loose sequins. Maybe I'll string them together, maybe I'll sprinkle them around a page....who knows?

Please do visit the CKC blog for more information about this month's challenges and special news for the new year!  There's nothing like January to get us all excited for new beginnings, fresh challenges, and motivation to meet goals and resolutions. Hope you play along and add your work to the month's Mr. Linky and find the inspiration you need to get started on some great projects!

Counterfeit Kit Guest Post and Completed Mexico Album

My second guest post on the Counterfeit Kit blog is up today, and I talk about how I make kits work for my scrapping process. 

I'm really excited to say that I've completed the project I talked about in yesterday and today's posts.  My Mexico album is finished, and you can see all the pages here.

Between my Fresh Starts page kit and other items in my stash I was able to finish the few remaining pages in the pile.


 



 

I've decided to move this group of pages to its own 8 1/2 x 11 album. I was going to add them to my 12x12 2012 album, but it just seemed like too many smaller pages to stay stable in that larger album. 

I've completed this 2012 album just in time.  We just booked our next trip for later this winter, and we can hardly think of anything else right now. I wish there was a way to bottle the high that comes with these happy moments! 

Hope you all enjoy this month's posts on the Counterfeit Kit blog and have a great month!

Using My Fresh Starts Page Kit

Today I'm kicking off December's guest posts on the Counterfeit Kit blog.  All the Master Forgers and friends will be posting page kits and inspiration to help you wrap up your own 2012 projects.

Today's post shows my Fresh Starts page kit.  I just wanted to show a page today that I completed with that kit and a sketch from Valerie Salmon's Sketch 104 at Got Sketch (posted on December 3, 2011).  It's a sketch that used a 5x7 photo, and I played with it to make it work for my own 8x10 page that did not include a photo:

I printed several 8x10 photos for this album, and I didn't always have something to put on the other side of the page protector.  This was just a chance to play with pretty paper and add some fun journaling on an empty space.

Tomorrow I'll post the rest of my completed pages and my full vacation album.  I'm so happy to have this project finished!


I'd like to take the opportunity to wish everyone a Happy December! I'll be following along with everyone else's posts this month and look forward to all the Fresh Starts that January 2013 will bring.

Season's Greetings to You

To start the season, I want to pass along a holiday message to all of you......

To see other greetings from the Master Forgers, check today's Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

November Challenge #3: Sharing a Tradition

Today's challenge for the Counterfeit Kit is to do a project that includes a tradition.

Since I'm working on my December Daily, all my work is for events and thoughts that are yet to happen.  So I decided to pre-make a page for a tradition I'm sure to document, so I can just add pictures later.

This page will be a place to put pictures of our Christmas trees.  I love to decorate, so it's pretty safe to say that we'll have trees. I usually put up two big ones and then a bunch of smaller trees throughout the house. I've scaled back over the past couple of years since Junior was a puppy, but last year he proved to be 100% not interested in the test tree, so I know for sure that the tree tradition will continue.

I'll use these two pages for one day in my book.  I'll use one 8 1/2 x 6 page and one 2-up page for each day.

I used several pieces from Basic Grey Aspen Frost and cut them with a Fiskars tree border punch. Then I layered the cuts and added some Stickles to make them sparkle. The letters on the title sticker are from one of the BG Serendipity and Shine lines and were the perfect color.

The red block is for a tree picture. I punched a tree border across the top to match the rest of the page.

I didn't do much for the second page, so it can be flexible depending on the pictures I get.  I did lightly tack on a couple of my faux wood veneers, and I'm glad I decided to keep them flat. It will help to keep the bulk of the book down a bit. I want to have something blue and a reindeer on each spread, so this cut was my reindeer choice for these pages.

I'm excited for the month of December to get started, so I can start picturing how my book will come together.  To be honest, I probably won't do a lot of it as I go along, because I have so many other things I want to accomplish before the end of the year.  But I'll try to keep good notes and take lots of pictures, and then it will all come together in early 2013 - at least that's what we all hope for our projects, right?!

There's still time to add your own challenge and kit submissions to the November Mr. Linky.  Add your links so we can all take a look and get some inspiration!  And watch the Counterfeit Kit blog next month - I can't spill the beans about what December holds, but I think it's going to be a lot of fun. 

December Daily Progress

Hi Everyone -

While I haven't been posting much this month, I have done some work for my December Daily project.  I thought I'd take a few pictures to show some of the progress.

I got my binder and started punching new holes in all the pages I plan to use.

I love this binder because of the big d-rings. Lots of room for a month of pages.

My pages will be 8 1/2 x 6, using 12x6 page protectors cut down to size. I cut page bases from the Frosty Cabin stack. The facing page will be a 2- 4x6 pocket page. I've pre-cut some 4x6 pieces for journaling, pictures or decorating; If I get really lazy, I can just print 4x6 photos and slide them right into the protector.  I found these 3-up protectors at Target on clearance for $1/pack. I just cut off the top slot so they would fit.

My inspiration collection includes some really cool page inserts.  I decided to cut my Webster's Pages paper to that insert-size, rather than making them page bases.  I'll use those pieces as needed in the book, too.

 

The binder comes with these plastic envelopes.  Instead of buying inserts, I just covered the plastic with more Frosty Cabin papers.  These inserts are handy for holding cards and other ephemera, and I'll place them where they're needed throughout the book.

Another plastic envelope.  I can also use the outside of each folder as an extra page for pictures, journaling or decorating, depending on what I need.

I have pre-made a couple of base pages, too, but I'm not worried about doing many more.  I'll put them together as my daily events and thoughts come together.  I'll post one of those pages later this week when we post some challenge work. 

Until then, enjoy your family time and turkey hangovers!