Writer's Block...

I think it's been close to 3 weeks since my last post - not sure what's gonig on, but just haven't been able to find the time, or inclination, to write.  So, here I sit today, determined to post these beautiful pictures of a Camp themed mini album I created for my Secret Santa.  Hope you like them....I'll get more back in the swing of things after the New Year when the chaos subsides. 

 This is Basic Gray 'Origins' paper line and it's really just so beautiful!  I had several papers, embellishments and decided to go a little nuts with the paper distressing.  I've been using that distressing tool by Tim Holtz - if you don't have one, as a Happy New Year to you, go get one - you will love it!!! 

paper distresser

I used my cricut to cut out the little tree with the birdie on top, as well as the flower petals here I tucked behind the wooden heart.  I really wanted to dig in and use some supplies I had been 'hoarding' in my stash.   

Here you can see the full book.  I tore the edges of the paper, as well as distressed them, rolling them back to allow for a full 4 x 6 photo, as well as the other 3 mats I included.  I have found when gifting these, or even selling these mini albums, its important to allow for someone to visualize where the photo is going to go so matting is essential. 

This is one of my flowers I made -- I seriously just love making flowers.  My husband, Michael, was so sweet as he said my hand created flowers were as good as the prima ones I dropped on -- here you see my green one and the prima one to the right in yellow.  Not bad, eh?  They're very simple - only here I added an extra twist by weaving the ribbon around the center, and I used a green flower petal base that I had. 

As always - thanks for dropping by and have a wonderful day! 

Monday's Child...

It's late and I should be going to bed, but I do so love these little prompts.  

Come in, come in, come in from the cold!
You're hair's all a-tousled, and your cheeks all aglow!
You look like you might need some warm bread and jam,
A little bit of honey, or some fine meal of ham?             

I've got a fire, a warm bed, if you're tired.
Relax with a book, play chutes and ladders!
And when you're all rested, happy and warm,
I will hear your great stories and we'll laugh and be bold!

You will tell me your adventures, I will tell you of mine,
how I sit here all day and the nighttime I pine....
for my home, it is great, yes I know that is true,
But it's never a home until I'm sharing with you!

Hope you liked it and thank you  Monday's Child as always for the prompt!

Artsy Urban Garland....beautiful!

I must say, this has been a wonderful year for me when I think of the scrapbooking adventures I've had!  I have participated in more challenges, admired so many wonderful creations and had a ball building new relationships centered around scrapbooking - my absolute favorite creative outlet. 

Kicking off the year, I was invited to be a GCD Studios Spotlight Gal, and I was so excited for the opportunity to really get out there.  Well, December has rolled around and they do not seem to be actively supporting the Spotlight Gals anymore, but I've decided to show off my goodies anyway! 

I love all of the Artsy Urban line of papers and embellishments, so when I came across these chipboard birds in my stash, I thought how utterly perfect to decorate with all of the GCD line of goodies!  I am so happy with how they came out and so I've done something new for me, hang my scrapbooking art right out in the middle of everything!  These are hanging between my kitchen and living room where I can really enjoy them.  Hope you love them too! 

Hope you've enjoyed my little birds! 

I hope I've inspired you to get started on your own creation! If not, check out my etsy shop for more inspiration --www.tiffanyscrapbooks.com.

DO-OVER! My first page makeover...

How many of us wouldn't take advantage of a 'do-over' if given the chance?  I would!  And so happy that this week's Next Top Scrapper offered me the chance to do just that.  Take my original layout here, oh it's just so sad.  Everytime I look at this page all I can see think is blood????  Maybe it's the red paper, or the c-section, or who knows what happened?  All I know is blue, red and gold and let's not overlook the silver stars and pacifier!  Something must have been wrong in my creative eye to have let this one slip to THE FIRST PAGE of Wyatt's baby album. I mean seriously, what was I thinking?

And so, for years I have hesitated showing this album off because immediatley upon opening, you're hit with this layout, and why would you want to look further? 

Here's my makeover.  I must admit my style has changed bigtime in the last year, let alone how it evolved since 2004.  I kept my journaling, as I still feel the same today as I did then about Wyatt's arrival into our lives.  He was one of 2 miracles we are blessed to have found in our lives and we could not love him more.  The pictures I made over using Picassa, changing them to sepia, adding a glow...I think it works much better.  I still am such a sucker for baby feet. 

Hope you like the makeover!  Try one of your own!  And make sure you check out the others going on over at

Scrapbook Challenges Next Top Scrapper - Challenge 2. 

Monday's Child...Missing My Mom

There's nothing like a picture to prompt you down a journey.  This picture prompt, from Monday's Child, took me back to my childhood and those few times I actually baked with my mom.  My mom passed away when I was 21, fresh out of college and do I ever miss her!  Thanks for the prompt - I hope you like my verse. 



Missing Mom...

Will you make a cake with me?
I bet we'd make it great!
Will you make a pie with me,
No matter how long it takes?
Will you show the world to me,
and all that you have learned?
Tell me if you can do this, Mother,
even now that I am old.

For I miss my mother's love,
this night, to guide me in my life.
I want my mother's love again,
to show me the way to do things right. 

GCD Studios SPOTLIGHT GAL MONTH!!!

Yeah - it's finally here!  At last, my month as a GCD Studios Spotlight Gal!

This is a layout I created for the Scrapbook Challenge NEXT TOP SCRAPPER! contest.  You would have thought the name of it would have given it away, but no, I had to read the rules.  I will remind myself next time, do not read the rules...of course, now having read them I began to doubt myself, my entry...'what if I don't make it through the first round?'  My son, Owen, he's my biggest fan and confidence booster - said of course you're going to make it!  Thank you Owen!

Enough of that self-doubt....after all, this was supposed to be fun!  My layout is called,

With Love, She Was Beautiful Inside and Out.

The challenge was to create a layout all about yourself.  Like so many others, I rarely scrapbook myself and here I was, being challenged to do it twice within the same month!  It's been an interesting time these last 4 weeks, and so I loved this paper from Melody Ross's Artsy Urban collection.  (I can not wait for the SOUL FOOD to be available near me!)

It really spoke the words I wanted to say -- YES, YOU -- IT'S TIME!  No more excuses....Lessons Learned....I am learning. 

I elected to do my own journaling hidden behind one of these great tags.  I used a generic tag, hid it behind the beautiful tag "Listen closely and you will hear what you need to hear." It's there that I hid words of motivation to myself. 

Thanks for dropping by! 

So Happy Together.....time to scrap a few wedding photos!

When I look at these photos I just really can't believe it's been 13 years already.  Honestly, where does the time go? What's worse, is that with all of my scrapbooking, I've yet to complete our wedding album.  Is that the craziest thing you've ever heard? And here I am, wondering how I can incorporate all the beautiful embellies I find, hahaha. 

Mike and I dancing....so many memories of that!  We both love to dance and we just had so much fun.  What would you expect from a couple known as the 'Wedding Dancers'?  Of course, I can't really boogie down to TOOTSIE ROLL like I used to, but who cares, we still love it!

A few of my latest little poppy flowers that I so enjoy making!

I selected a poem by Robert Frost that I enjoyed for the journaling.  It just moved me.  IF you're ever looking for inspiration, try http://www.scrapbook.com/ because they have all kinds of quotes and poems and they're categorized to make browsing very simple! 

Love how my little banner here turned out. So into the birds these days! And if you can't use the sweet little birds, butterflies and roses on a wedding page, well you might as well never use them.

 

Here's the beautiful sketch by Julie Bonner. Hope on over to MyCreativeScrapbook and give it a try yourself! There's an AMAZING prize. Have fun!!! 

Thanks for dropping by!!!

'Scrap the Scrapper'

When's the last time you took the time to really 'scrap' yourself?  I have to admit, it's probably been close to a year....pretty overdue I think. So, when I saw this challenge at My Creative Scrapbook

I decided to make it a priority.  

It's difficult to slow down and celebrate what you've been up to.  I mean seriously, baby's first steps, the big soccer game, first haircut - those events are just made for scrapbooking.  What about us scrapbookers and the moments that make up our lives each day?  I've been going through a lot lately and I must admit, trying to find the perfect embellishment that said what I was feeling was nearly impossible. Then I remembered this overlay I had picked up nearly 2 years ago.  Funny how the message still speaks to me....'Stop Searching, Create Yourself'.  Isn't that what we are all doing everyday? And so, I remind myself, "You will make mistakes.  You will learn and move on." 

"Noone is perfect.  You are beautiful, smart, creative and loved."  To be loved....when you are loved it's ok that the road was bumpy and the day was long, because you just know that there's a safe haven waiting for you.  That haven is my boys and my husband. 

"This time you will be ok"  This is what I tell myself and although I have my doubts they are fewer and I know I'm going to grow stronger each day. 

Lastly, something I need to remind myself daily, "With so much hurt in the world, why would you be anything but kind to yourself?"  And so, there are no black clouds on my layout, no haunted trees and no weeping angels.  I am free to Create Myself and I am creating a beautiful story.  

Thank you for dropping by!   

3 Perfect Beauties

What does this picture say to you?  This painting, 'The Beach' by Chris Wake, is the current inspiration over at ARTastic. What I really want to know is what has these 3 women wearing those vary odd expressions? Are they happy?  Are they sad?  Perhaps they have gotten a kink from sitting in those uncomfortable chairs all day long....but alas, who ever knows what inspires one to create? 

I love the painting, and although I nearly dared to 'bare' some pictures of myself, and others (who I would never torture like that here on my blog) settled deep into our own easy chairs at the beach, I decided instead to pick this beautiful photo of my husband's three little second cousins. 

   

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3 Perfect Beauties



I just loved how this photo resembled the lighting demonstrated in the painting.   Second cousins to my husband, these 3 girls are just so beautiful!  A little bit of envy on my part, not that my 2 boys aren't the most handsome children around (did I say that?) but I would love to shop for cute little dresses, if only once in a while:)

  

  I believe I hit all the diva points - beach pail, seagulls and beach paper.  I found this beautiful photo taken by by Gary Trabant and with some help from photoshop, changed the tone to fit my needs and voila, the 3 seagulls photo across the top.  I was sure I had no seagulls just lying around in my stash, but then again, who was I kidding?  While searching for the pail, I found a seagull button and so used it as well in the upper corner. I must say this is one of my favorite layouts! And that is why I love ARTASTIC!!!

Thanks for dropping by!

I hope I've inspired you to get started on your own creation! If not, check out my etsy shop for more inspiration! http://www.tiffanyscrapbooks.com/

Monday's Child

I knew a fellow, a fine young fellow
Off to work he did a bellow,
An ugly scamper, a lickity split,
He dropped so fast, it was quick, quick, quick!

Now he soon got up, that fine young laddy
But not before he hugged his Daddy.
If only all our life it were as simple as this...
To fall flat on your butt, wipe off your cuts and get a kiss!

And now, for my son, Owen's interpretation...
I'm sick as a brick,
I've lost my head!
I really need a piece of bread. 

LOL!

Happy Day to All!!!

Thanks to Monday's Child for this weeks prompt.