Challenge for Me

We've all heard and said it ourselves a thousand times.... "I have enough scrapbook supplies to open a store". Well, I'm in the same boat, and I'm not really in the position to buy anything right now. But when you see that really cute paper and that awesome new tool, you just can't help yourself. I really need to stop!!!

So I've challenged myself. The next big crop of mine is Feb 26th. I have a few blog hops between now and then and I'm really needing to use up what I have. Plus, I want to save some of my money so that I have some to really spend that weekend. Maybe I'll even be able to finally buy that Cuddlebug that I've really been wanting lately.

My challenge is simple.... for each project I make with using things only from my stash, I earn myself $ to spend. When I finish that particular project, I'll take the $ immediately and put it in my savings jar. So the price list is as follows....

Layouts $1

Cards $.25

Altered Project $2

Craft it Forward Completed Project $3

30 min of cleaning scrap space $2

This is just an idea, not sure if I'm gonna add anything in the future. And if Kori wants to join in on the fun, then YEAH! I'll be happy to have company.  Anyone else is welcome too.  I'm excited to get to scrapping now, because I'll be earning $ to spend on future projects! And hopefully by time the crop rolls around I will have completed all the "need to do's" and be able to spend some time on "want to do's".

 

- Krista

A few cards I made today....

I got so much done today! Which considering that we took on a new puppy in our family today and having to still do the "mommy" thing, I'm actually quite pleased.  And I LOVE all these things I got done.  I have posted basic pics for all my projects but if you want details, please visit my blog Scrapaleupagus I have listed materials and basic how to.

- Krista

Happy Girl

 I absolutely love this photo. My daughter and I were sitting in the truck while the boys ran into Hastings to get a movie for the evening.  She asked me to draw her a tattoo (her daddy had just gotten one the day before).  So I whipped this up while the boys were inside.  She was so proud of this.  She couldn't wait to get home so we could take a photo of it.  And she is def a daddy's girl.

This entire page was made from the "Plaintin" cartridge.  I love this flower.  Saw it in the new Cricut Magazine and couldn't resist.  They had a different bottom but since I was trying to stay with all Plaintin cuts, I used the zig zag cut.  And I made this page from scraps!  All of it!  Well except for the orange background of course.  But the rest is scraps.  I can't wait to show her this when she gets home today.

- Krista

Our new blog award!!!  Thanks Karelj for thinking of us.  It makes me so happy to know that our blog is actually on people's mind :) 

Soooooo, we're supposed to pick 5 other blogs to pass this along to and tell 3 things that make us unique from others.  Here goes...

Krista's Awesomeness
1. I could easily spend a few hours looking up random things on Wikipidea.  I LOVE to find something I didn't know already. Especially history.
2. I'm fascinated by "natural disasters". Morbid I know, but the bigger the death toll the more I've gotta know.
3. I love the color yellow.  But hardly use it.  I have a hard time using it on my projects but find myself wanting to.  Also, can't wear yellow.  It doesn't look good on me.  But I will def add a few yellow accessories every now and then.

Since, I picked the blogs to award last time, I'm going to let Kori pick these 5. 

Again, thanks Karelj.

Kori's Awesomeness

1) I love and adore doing Trash to Treasures! I love to go look around a garage sale or a Thrift store and find things to use in my crafting. Whether it be scrapbooking, painting, or just something for my home decor.

2) Very much to Krista's despair, I always mix my patterned papers. Stripes go with polka-dots and checkered goes with circles. As long as they are in the same color group, they go together! And don't expect me to always have my striped paper going the same directions either.

3) And the thing that I think makes us unique is that we are just two friends doing what we love and bragging about it to the world. You are just along for the crazy, wacky, incredibly immature ride that is US!

and p.s. there are no seat belts ;)

To Do List - updated

Tomorrow Krista and I have an ALL DAY Crop!!! WOOHOO!!!


If you know anything about me, its that I scrap on the fly. I make things up as I go and I very rarely plan what project I am going to be working on. So most times when I travel to crop, I end up taking my entire life savings in craftiness along with me. I know I am gonna end up taking it all with me. Its an inevitability I have come to embrace. But I am going to try something a tiny bit differnt this time. I'm still taking everything with me, but I have made a list of the current projects I am working on and desperately need to get some of them done. I am posting it below and next week, I will post pics of what I was able to accomplish off the list. I plan on doing a page here and there on each project because sometimes I get stuck when I'm working on the same thing over and over. We'll see how it goes.

Now comes the 2nd part of this fun adventure.... Krista and I genrally make little challenges for ourselves when we go crop together. Most times it ends up being a bingo card of using certain materials or techniques on a page. And ofcourse we have a little prize for ourselves. We challenge each other and it helps inspire us when we get stuck. Plus we are just that competitive. So, this is going to be our challenge for tomorrow. We will both post a list of a minimum of 15 projects or specific pages to do. Whoever accomplishes the most and has it POSTED on here as proof (hehe) will win the prize. Not sure what the prize is going to be yet, but I'll let you know as soon as we figure it out. Now all this being said...I suppose I better call Krista and let her know that we are doing a challenge, hahaha!

Kori's To Do List:


1. Top 10 Page - Completed

This was for a challenge. Make a Top Ten, Holiday Centered page. Although this doesn't look like a Christmas page, it is a story about my most treasured Christmas memory. We gave all our family members, a "Top Ten Things We've Learned From..." page. To read the entire story please check out my hubby's blog at http://mystrangemeanderings.blogspot.com/2011/01/top-ten-lists.html

2. Morgan's Inspiration Box

3. Marcus/Mikaila 2page layout - Completed

This was supposed to be a 2 page layout, but after working with the pictures I decided to just make 2 differnt layouts.

4. Hannah/Haven 2 page layout - Completed

Please ignore the bad coloring on these pictures. I had already given them as gifts then realized that I forgot to get pictures of them! The colors are a lime green, hot pink, and zebra print. 

5. Zanna/Adam Family Mini Book

6. Brown Family Album

7. Garrett Baby Book - not completed but worked on :)

Well the book is not completed but I did get one more page of it done :)

8. Book of Me

9. Collin Mini Book

10. Mikaila Mini Book

11. Hannah Mini Book

12. Haven Mini Book

13. Hannah/Haven Door Sign

14. Rachel Mini Album

15. Strange Love Page


Unfortunately I didn't get NEAR as much accomplished as I wanted to, but I am very happy with the few things I got. I am gonna have to say, that Krista is most definatly the winner of this challenge. Good Job!

Okay.... Well, WOW.  I got a call about 3:00 while in line picking my kids up from school and am told "When you get home, get on the blog.... you've been challenged."  Which really surprises me cause I'm usually the one who brings up the "challenge" idea first and Kori relunctantly agrees after I pout.  Just Kidding, she's always on board but seriously.... I'm the one who makes the first move.  ALSO, I knew she had some things she needed to get done and I how stressing it can be when you have a list of things you NEED to do and a list of challenges that are not really the best for getting them completed.  I only have one change, most of Kori's projects are big.  She likes to make albums as gifts and these can take up lots of time.  Mine are much smaller.  I have a few large projects but a lot of small ones.  So I'm going to do a list of 20 and we'll compete for the best percentage done.  So now I guess I need to get on with my project list....

1. Top 10 layout - completed

This was for a challenge at the crop.  We had to create a layout using a top ten list centered around the holiday's.  I chose to do mine based on my top ten holiday songs.  I even included a pocket behind the "inspire" tag for a cd that I'm going to burn my list onto for future generations to listen to.

2. Craft it Foward Wheeler Album - completed

           Ck it out at my blog.... http://scrapaleupagus.blogspot.com/

I don't want to have to repost all the pics, it took forever this morning to do this many.

So please head over to my other blog to ck it out.

3. Craft it Foward Diaz Name
4. Make 5 cards for Operation Write Home
5. Christmas 2010 photos
6. Family Block Clock
7. Thanksgiving Treats layout
8. Mother/Son Dance layout
9. New Years Eve layout
10. Anniversary card for hubby
11. Hubby and SIL layout
12. Nephew Ryder layout
13. Willow's Temp Tattoo layout
14. Dad and the boys layout - completed
15. Camron's Olive layout

16. Kids Snowman layout - completed

I lifted this layout off the net.  I love getting ideas from online.  The snowman is from the Hello Kitty Cartridge.  And I bought this kit of patterned paper at Hobby Lobby in the clearance section.  So glad I was able to use it on this.  I love the way it turned out.

17. Christmas 2009 layout
18. Make some copic stamped cards to show - completed

I actually colored the images a while back and decided to make them into cards at the last minute yesterday.  I think I'm going to donate them to the local women's shelter. 

19. Christmas 2002 layout

20. Seth in the snow layout - completed

I've had these pictures for a very long time.  These were printed back in 2003 of the Christmas 2001 snow.  This was my son's first snow and first christmas.  I actually need to add some journaling to this.  I don't like how I left that off.  I do like this cart that I used tho.  The winter woodland cart is so amazing.  It has so many great titles for winter layouts.  And this hat and mittens was just perfect.

Krista's progress...... 6 out of 20 projects completed.

Perfect

    This is one of the layouts that I'm most proud of.  And there are many reasons as to why....
    1. It is simple, not a whole lot added. I did this on purpose which is def not my regular scrap style.
    2. This photo is of my first and only daughter on our first "gals day out" together.
    3. This photo is taken by the other host of this blog, my best friend Kori. 
    4. The colors are some of my favorites and it was the first time I had used swirl stamps.
    5. My husband shows it off to everyone who comes over, its his fave too :)

    I like to keep scrapbook pages on my walls as home decor.  And while I usually tend to change them out and replace with newer layouts I just created....this one is pretty permanent.  I don't know if I'll ever take it down and place it in the album. 
    The journaling rubon says "Perfect....Nothing Better....Irreplaceable....100%....Couldn't Ask for More"  and this is so true.

- Krista

WE HAVE A WINNER!

Congradulations Kacee, and thanks everyone who spent the weekend with us.  We are super excited!  Be sure to follow us as we will have many more projects to show and maybe some contest of our own in the future! 

McVic said...

What a Beautiful project! I love the color of the cover and the layouts inside are great!
kacee

Our First Blog Award!!!

First off I want to thank Kathy at http://kathyskraftsandmore.blogspot.com/ for bestowing this award on me. I do so appreciate it. Kori and I have just recently joined the BLOG scene together and I am soooooo honored to have made such an impression so quickly.  Thanks!

To accept this award We have to 

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded us

2. Share 8 things about myself

3. Pay it forward to 8 bloggers we recently found

4. Contact those bloggers and tell them about their award

Since this blog is ran by two people I feel its only fair that we each pick 4 blogs to honor and to share 8 things about each of us.  I will be picking my blogs and posting them later this evening!

8 Things about Krista

1. I'm a mother of 5 children, 2 boys, 1 girl, 1 labrador, and 1 kitty

2. I've been married almost 10 years (celebrate next week).

3. I am working towards earning my degree to be a high

school math teacher.  I have about 2 years left!

4. I host this blog with my bestest friend of almost 12 years.

It's so nice to have someone I can scrap with.

5. I am ADDICTED to Grey's Anatomy and Big Bang Theory.

6. I love photography and have taught myself everything

I know by drawing inspiration from people online and

following the wonderful site....Digital Photography School

7. I hate to bake and do dishes.  I don't mind cooking tho.

8. Sometimes find myself abandoning all my "need to do's" for a

day of scrapbooking and crafting even tho I really need to do them.

Sorry, this just seems to be much more important at the moment.

Krista's 4 Blog Picks

Paper Patch Crafts

Nanne's Creations

One Busy Mom

The Sweetest Thing

I looked around and these are four of my top blogs that I try to visit at least weekly and have not won this award yet.  So, here you go ladies.  Thanks.

~~~~~

WOOHOO!!! I'm away for a day or two due to the sniffles and I come back to an award!!! *does happy dance*

8 Things about Kori
1. I'm a mother of 2 kitties and one doggie who always keep be busy!
2. I've been married 8 years to my high school sweetheart.
3. I am self employed as a Private Childcare provider. My job rocks! I get to play with babies all day!
4. This is my frist experience even in the blog world. I have never even seen one or followed on before this. Krista surprised me with this one about 2 weeks ago.
5. I am ADDICTED to musicals. Anything musical. If there is singing invovled, I'm there!
6. I love crafts. I have never met a craft I didn't like. I paint regularly as well as cross-stitching and the occasional sewing.
7. I have tubs upon tubs of "just in case" crafting supplies. Including 2 that are just for making baby gifts!
8. I am a vivacious reader! I will read one of sometimes even two books a night. And yes, most of them are smutty romance novels! Add some vampire fangs and I am SO THERE!

Kori's 4 Blog Picks

Dreamer

Since this blog has two creators, i thought it only fitting for us each to do our own projects.  So, without further ado.....

I have been wanting to use this Bear Lounging stamp for so long.  As soon as I heard we were doing a "dream" themed blog hop, I knew I was going to use this stamp.  Just didn't know how, LOL.  I had to start over 3 times since this is the first time I have used this stamp.  I'm really happy in the way it turned out tho.  And this "DREAMER" title stamp was perfect for this bear.  I just love my copic markers.  I also decided to try a new technique by curling my flowers backwards and making them pop a little off the page.  The photo is of my beautiful 5 year old daughter Willow who is coming into her own and is following after me in the craft world.  Thanks for looking!  And remember, to win our blog candy all you have to do is leave a comment and become a follower! 

Dream Blog Candy!

As promised, our blog candy!  As I said, just leave a comment and follow us and I'll add you to the random drawing monday!  Enjoy!

The ribbons have peace signs, and the green one says "made with love".  Perfect for any project!

Welcome to the Blog Hop

Welcome to the Martin Luther King Blog Hop!  We are so glad you stopped by!  Hope you enjoy yourself and please be sure to leave comments...how else are we to know you like or don't like us :)

If this is your first stop along the blog, I would like for you to take a moment and hop over to Karelj's blog (which is #1 below) and check out our hostess.  She has really outdone herself!

Now, on to awesome inspiration!

This is a dream journal. This is my take on Martin Luther King's I have a dream speech. In that speech, he lays out a powerful vision of a future where hate has been put aside in favor of brotherhood. The book itself is just a premade full size journal I got from Barnes and Noble. I added the glitter details to the leaves as well as the word “Dream” along the bottom. Then some ribbon to finish it off. I realize that its a very pink, girly journal that I plan on giving to my kids, but then again I'm a pink, girly kinda person. I wanted it to reflect me even though its meant for them. On the inside covers I collaged pictures of me and my husband going back to when we first met to present day. I outlined some of the photos with ribbon that quotes 1 Corinthians 13. This was the passage that we recited at our wedding. I purposely didn't doing any fancy scrapping on this. It looks very rough and handmade. I wanted to see JUST the important stuff and not get caught up in any details. The pictures of us and the verses that we bound ourselves together with. With this journal, I am going to tell the story of us and our dreams. I would like to someday pass this down to our children. They will have a collected story of our trials and smiles, our almost desperate prayers to have children, and our unfailing love for God and each other.

Kori

The Grand Prize Blog Candy is the Dreams Come True Cartridge,  donated by an anonymous donor!!  In order to be eligible to win, you need to leave a comment on each and every stop on the hop, along with a way to contact you.  Karelj will choose a winner by random.org on the 18th and announce it on her blog, as well as contacting the winner personally

More to come tomorrow by the other owner of this blog so please remember to come back!  Also, we will be posting some amazing blog candy later this afternoon.  To get in the drawing, simply add yourself as a follower, comment on this post, and vote on the pole to the left!  We will randomly pick someone on Tuesday morning and will contact you to get you your stuffs. 

1. Karelj at One By One The Flamingos Are Stealing My Sanity http://karelj.blogspot.com

2.  Nicolette at Beyond Scrapping  www.beyondscrapin.blogspot.com

3. Christel at Scrappin' Sista http://onescrappinsista.blogspot.com
4. Celeste at Touched By a Butterfly www.touchedbyabutterfly.blogspot.com
5. Rachel Henahan  at Suburban Crafter  http://www.rachelstampshappy.blogspot.com/
6. Stephenie at SS Crafter     http://www.sscrafter.blogspot.com/
7.  Col at Col's Creative Corner at www.scrappycol.blogspot.com
8. Jessica at  Overjoyed Scrapper  www.overjoyedscrapper.blogspot.com
9. Krista and Kori at 2 Crafty Chicks  http://2craftychics.blogspot.com/  YOU ARE HERE!
10.  Gina at Gina Thornton Stamping   http://ginathorntonstamping.blogspot.com/
11. Monique at Unique Monique at http://uniquemonique01.blogspot.com
12. Kathryn at Creations with Kathryn at  http://wamfamily.blogspot.com/

Blog hop at Midnight

Starting at Midnight tonight we will be participating in our first BLOG HOP!  If you've never done one before, def be sure to check this out.  Lots of fun! Hope to see you here!

Rock Star

My son is such a rock star all the time.  I love these pictures of my son at the botanicle gardens and was so happy when I found this paper to scrap them.  Didn't have to add much, just a few journaling strips, some stars, and faux stitches.  I hope you enjoy looking at it as much as I do!

Journaling says....

"As a Rock Star I have two instincts, I want to have fun, and I want to change the world.  I have the chance to do both." -Anonymous

Cleaning my Scrapspace

I have been in such a scrapping rut lately that my scrapbook room has definately taken a toll.  When I buy something, it just gets tossed on top of the pile of "crafty things".  I have baskets upon baskets (as you can see in the picture) of things that need to be put away or things that don't have a home.  I used to have everything so organzied and in its right place.  On top of all this mess, I share this space in my master bedroom so I don't have a whole lot of space to spread out.  I spent Tuesday and Wednesday cleaning and organizing all my stuff.  Please feel free to click on the pictures to enlarge them.  And while I still have a long way to go, I think I'm happy with what has been conquored so far. 

 My desk drawers are soo full of things that are NOT scrap stuff.  Filled to the brim of just all kinds of junk and things in my room that don't have a home.  Its time to finally rid them of that problem...

And so the after pictures.........

Here is my desk after I cleared everything out.  I found some interesting things in there.  20 mini notepads, batteries, 2 pairs of scissors, etc etc. But the greatest discovery was some sheet music that I purchased from the Library a few years ago that is dated 1914.  I had put them in there for safe keeping and forgot all about them!  They are now on the music shelf where they belong.  My drawers now house all my important tools, some cd's for copying pictures, and much more.  All at my fingertips and NO junk to dig through.

Please pay no attention to the back wall that is in SERIOUS need of a paint job.  My landlord has been promising this since we moved in a year ago and I'm tooooo busy to do it myself right now.  I love that my shelf is finally clear enough to hold my cricut again. I went through all my baskets and put things away properly so now I can find it!  All my adhesives are in one spot, my brushes all in the flower pot where they belong, and my ink pads all lined up perfectly.

 And here are all the empty baskets I had left over.  Even the large laundry baskets were full of stuff.  These small baskets were bought to help organize and now they have finally been used for what I bought them for.  And my laundry room has gained two extra bins!!

It was a lot of work, but I'm so happy now.  Since these photos were taken I have finished clearing off the top of the desk, organized all my ribbon, cricut stuff, and put away another large basket.  While my progress might be slow, its steady and I can't wait to finally be able to scrap in my space again.

-Krista

Kori's Mini Challenge

After the first couple of little photo magnets today, I got kinda bored with what I was working on. But I didn't want to move away from the magnets I am trying to finish. (That fridge will be covered before long!) So I decided to give myself a mini challenge.

The Challenge:

You just got a new paper stack that you absolutely love and adore. You get home, sit down to scrap, and start flipping through the stack...
"Oh that one is cute!"
"This will look great for that picture of the kids."
Then it happens. You come across that one paper in the stack that just makes you cringe a little...
"Hmm, I'll never use that paper."

That's my challenge for today. Use a paper that you don't particularly like, or even one that you outright hate. Stretch yourself to see what you can make beautiful out of something less than desirable.

Above is the picture that I plan on using for this photo magnet. I didn't have a copy of this picture to use immediately, but will rectify that soon.

~Kori

The Process

I have a completely unorganized and random process for my scrapbooking. I kinda work by the seat of my pants. I have tried to plan things out and sometimes it works. Other times its a disaster that puts me in a creative funk. So over the years I have just learned to work with the chaos. So I sat down early this morning to figure out what I wanted to work on today...

The Process:

 Step 1: Spread a group of pictured out on the table so I can see what I at some point decided I wanted to scrapbook.

Step 2: Flip aimlessly through a big stack of papers.

Step 3: Randomly pic up pictures that might..and I stress the word MIGHT...look good on whatever paper I am looking at.

Step 4: Lather, Rinse, Repeat until....

Step 5: "[She's] having a stroke. A stroke of GENIUS!" - The Producers

~Kori

Photo Magnets

I live in a rent house and it has wonderfully been supplied with appliances. As nice as that is, I do have to say that my refrigerator leaves something to be desired. It works perfectly, but its just not the most attractive color. After seeing Krista make some of these I scraplifted her idea and ran with it. I am on a mission to cover my entire fridge with these adorable little magnets. These are simply 4x6 mini scrapped pages. I buy the frames from Walmart for cheap. And being the loved "Aunt Koki" to lots of nieces and nephews and various other kiddies, I am always being given new pictures. I have found that this is the perfect way to use those little wallet size pictures that I have always been at a loss as to what to do with them.

~Kori

Amazing Kit......

We found this amazing kit at walmart (again) for only $5! Soooooo, we decided to challenge ourselves and each see what we could come up with.  Rules?  Had to make at least 2 layouts, 2 cards, and "something else".  This is what I came up with, Kori's pics to come soon.

This album was soooo much fun to make and probably one of my favorites I've made before.  This kit made it really easy to coordinate everything.  The only thing I added were the

swirlie dudads.

- Krista

Ok, here are my much awaited and anticipated Walmart Kit creations...

2 layouts

2 cards

...and 2 "something else"

These are 4x6 photo magnet frames. I put these in little plastic magnet frames and I'm working on covering the front of my fridge with them.

Then I decided that I had entirely too much of my kit left so I got a wild and crazy idea. You all know my love for Modge Podge, so I got to thinking, "What can I Modge Podge today?" After digging through a couple of storage tubs of "just in case" craft supplies, I came across a foam wreath. What happened next I can only call a stroke of GENIUS!



The foam is covered with torn strips of the coordinating papers. I used a gold glitter Modge Podge to jazz things up a bit. I inked the twine with some dark brown to make it look a little more grungy. The scrabble tiles are one of my favorite things to use. Thank you Krista for the idea many years ago. I absolutely love how it turned out and have decided to keep it instead of giving away as originally intended. Now just to find the perfect picture for it!

~Kori