Counterfeit Kit Blog Hop: Random Facts at 40

Hello! Welcome to the next stop on the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog Hop! Hopefully you're arrived here from Emily's blog.  If not, and you'd like to start at the beginning of the hop, click here.

The challenge this month was to use our kits to create a page or mini album all about ourselves with at least one "I" statement on it.  Here's my page, based on a PageMaps sketch from the Spring Issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today:

I knew I wanted to create a layout about me at 40, so I decided to play off the numbers theme and count up some important factoids about my life so far.

Everything came from my original kit except for the letter stickers...dug into my stash for them!  I enjoyed playing with the Basic Grey Elements stickers...it was fun layering them and embellishing with brads.

Thanks for stopping by! If you'd like to see my kit as well as some of the other layouts I've made with it this month, click here. 

The next stop on the hop is Glinda:  http://razzledscrapper.blogspot.com/  Can't wait to see what she did with her kit. Have fun!

Birthday Girls: June Counterfeit Kit

Hello! Just popping on with a quick post to share another layout I made with my June Counterfeit Kit.

This one came together pretty quickly....a PageMaps sketch, patterned paper, ribbon, and one chipboard element was all it took.  Oh, and some last minute doodling with liquid pearls!

Be sure to check out the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog...they have lots of great challenges and blog hops going on each month.

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Fathers Day!  I hope you are all having a nice day!

Today I wanted to share with you the Fathers Day cards I made for my dad and father-in-law.

It was a pretty simple card...kraft cardstock base with rounded corners, with layers of patterned paper (that was from deep in my stash of scraps!)

I cut apart a Hero Arts "Happy Day" stamp so I could stamp it in a straight line with a gap in the middle.

Then I filled in the gap with small white Basic Grey chipboard letters that I colored blue with my copics.

The finished product!

Thanks for stopping by!

Must Love Dogs: June Counterfeit Kit

I finally broke into my June Counterfeit Kit this Tuesday.  I was going to a friend's house to scrap, and I knew I wasn't going to have a lot of time to complete many pages.  So I just grabbed my tools, my counterfeit kit, and a few pictures and I was good to go.  I didn't plan out any pages in advance, but I did try and select photos that would go with the feel and colors of the kit.  In the end, I didn't get a lot done (our 2 hour lunch break cut into actual scrapping time!) but I'm happy with the results.

Here's one of the layouts I completed:

The pictures are of my niece Elena with her two dogs.  I based this layout on one by Sheri Reguly in the spring issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today. I like how it focuses on the pictures and patterned paper and uses minimal embellishments.

I cut the butterflies from the patterned paper, adhered them with pop dots, added a bit of liquid pearls, and called it done!

Click here to see my complete kit.
Click here to visit the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog.

Thanks for visiting! Come back later this week to see some of the other pages I made with the kit.

10 Things

Shimelle has started a new blog feature, 10 things on the 10th of the month, and has encouraged folks from her Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers class to play along.


For my first installment of Ten Things, I give you 10 things I did on my recent trip to Tennessee:

1. Visited the grave of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash (this is a weird past-time of my husband's and mine...we visit lots of dead musicians.  I'll have to compile them all in another post!)

2. Made friends with my new "niece" Sadie, the miniature Doberman Pinscher my brother in law gave to his wife on the occasion of his retirement. I think the present was as much for him as it was for her!

3. Sent my brother in law off to the world of retirement, after working for the Air Force for 30 years.  It was a Hawaiian themed luncheon, in case you couldn't tell!

4. Learned how they make Jack Daniels. Very fun and free tour of the distillery! Check it out if you're ever near Lynchburg, TN.

5. Caught a show at the Grand Ole Opry

Photo courtesy of gotcountryonline.com

6. Toured the legendary Sun Studios, where Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and others got their start.

7. Watched the duck march at the Peabody Hotel

Photo courtesy of moonbeams8

8. Caught a Memphis Redbirds game

9. Paid my respects to Elvis at Graceland

10 Ate lots of barbecue!

All in all a very fun trip! Thanks for stopping by! 

June Counterfeit Kit Challenge

I missed the May Counterfeit Kit Challenge (just too busy at work!) so I am looking forward to playing along again this month.

The Inspiration Kit for June is by Burlap and Buttercups. Very pretty and summery! You can see the original kit here.  Click here to see what the "Masters of Forgery" created for their kits.

I did a pretty straightforward copy of the kit. I didn't have any Basic Grey "Hello Luscious" but I did have some papers from their recent "Sweet Threads" line, so I used those along with their alphabet stickers. I also threw in a few sheets of patterned paper from Little Yellow Bicycle's Elizabeth Park line, some old Creative Imaginations scalloped, lined paper, and an old Making Memories die-cut scallop paper.  All the patterned paper is rounded out by 6 sheets of Bazzill in pink, blue, green, yellow, off-white, and kraft.

Last month I went overboard with the embellishments, so I tried not to go crazy this month.  I included some old BG painted brads, green pushpins, yellow ribbon, old chipboard frames, and a set of Jenni Bowlin butterflies. I may also make some counterfeit bloomers using the patterned paper and my trusty Big Shot die cut machine.

Thanks for stopping by! I look forward to seeing all of your kits (and what you create with them!).

What I'm looking forward to this summer

I am off of work for the next three months (woo hoo!) so I have lots of free time.  I do have classes to prepare for the fall, and a few work related items to do, but luckily I can do that from the comfort of my own home (and avoid my 77 miles each way commute that I endure during the academic year).  Here's what I'm looking forward to this summer, in no particular order):

• Stacy Julian's Finding Photo Freedom class at Big Picture Classes. It started on June 2nd, and I'm loving the new format.
• Trips to Dairy Queen!
• A trip to Salt Lake City, for an Association for Women in Psychology board meeting.  Two days of hard work, with three nights of fun, feminist energy! And perhaps a side trip to a scrapbook store? Any recommendations?  
• A three-generation girls' road trip with my mom and 14 year old niece.  We're planning to hit Philadelphia, Baltimore, and DC to give California girl Sarah a taste of the East Coast.  She and I will probably also do a day trip to NYC, minus grandma.
• Fresh strawberries
• A scrapbook retreat in Kentucky where I'll be meeting up with women I have "known" for over 4 years, but have never met in real life!  Can't wait!
• Eating outside on on the deck.
• Reading for pleasure.
• Having the time to scrapbook more regularly. Maybe I'll finally finish my December Daily album! ;)

What are you looking forward to this summer?

May Recap

Hello!

May is a whirlwind in my world, which accounts for my lack of blogging!  As a professor, it's one of the busiest months with the end of the school year. Final exams to prepare and grade, along with stacks of papers to read and comment on.  Lots of end of the year meetings, lunches, and dinners. Hooding and Commencement.  Throw in three weekends of traveling, and you have a very crazy month!

Here are the highlights:

• A belated Valentine's present from my husband...a trip to Long Island for the Bon Jovi concert and a weekend at the local wineries.

Jon shows he can still pull off a leather vest, 30 years later!

Third winery of the day = Happy Becca

• My only crafting all month: Cards for Mother's Day.  I donated a set of 8 similar cards to our Newcomers Club auction, and they sold for $50! All the proceeds go to local charities...in all the club raised over $5000 in less than three hours!

• A trip to my alma mater, Smith College, with one of my best girlfriends.  We're planning our 20th reunion for next May, so we got to attend this year's festivities to get ideas.

Ivy Day in the Quad

Friday night reception

• My favorite "work" moment was when the two Honors Thesis students I supervised this semester presented their research projects.  They did great, and Kristen was especially proud of the table she created!

• A trip to Tennessee to celebrate my brother in law's retirement from the air force (civil service).  Wonderful time with family, followed by side trips to Nashville and Memphis.  More on this in a later post!

Retirement Eve!

Hubby and I with "Jack Daniels"

On the steps of Graceland

Since returning from Tennessee, I've been getting caught up with various projects around the house.  Hopefully now that I'm home, just starting a three month summer break, I can get back in to the blogging habit!

If I still have any readers out there, thanks for stopping by!