January CC DT Blog Hop

WELCOME, WELCOME, WELCOME to all CC and WeScrap fans and friends!!!

Welcome to the January Crop Chocolate Design Team Blog Hop!!  This is your starting place, so if you are here, you can continue on and see everyone's great projects created specifically for you and this blog hop.

Crop Chocolate is such an amazing place!!!  It sells craft supplies one-deal-at-a-time at great reduced prices, and there is such a great family of crafters who frequent the site and chat.  Check it out!!!

I am one of nine design team members that create projects at least once a month.  It is an awesome, and very talented group.  I know you will enjoy continuing on through the hop!!!  But first, here is the project I made for this hop.  It is a Valentine's Day treat holder.  I have to admit that I started out with this project trying to make a 3-D heart using a TP roll and paper.  However, when I was done with the top part, it looked more like a hot-air balloon, so I added a "basket" using a baby food jar, and turned it into a treat holder.

I used EP's Yours Truly 12x12 paper pack, and some random self-adhesive paper ribbon I had.  To strengthen the pieces attached to the jar, I used some floral wire.

Please browse my other projects and posts, leave comments and click to follow me on my DT and scrapping journey.

From here, you will visit with corriew - Corrie at: http://www.corriescrafts.blogspot.com/.  And then she will send you on from there.

In conjunction with the CC Blog Hop, WeScrap is having a CROP (not a blog hop-sorry for any confusion) that is being hosted by Crop Chocolate.  You can reach that information at: http://www.wescrap.com/home/forumdisplay.php/27-Bring-in-The-New-Crop

And that's not all!!  Both WeScrap and CC are giving away blog candy!!!  Starting today (Thursday), hop through all the lovely blogs, leave a comment on the CC blog and you could win one of two scrapping kits (of the winner's choice) being donated by WeScrap.  The winners will be chosen on February 1.  Then follow the WeScrap hop, comment where they request, and you could win one of 4 $25 gift certificates from CC.  WOW!!!

Thanks for visiting and Happy Hopping! :)

December DT project

This might seem a little obvious, but it was a lot of fun to figure out.  Since it's December, we were asked to create a Christmas related, interactive project, preferably something that could be made with the family.  My first thought went to ornaments, and that opened up a whole lot of ideas.  I wanted to do something different, so I chose to create a 3-D spinning ornament.  They are pretty simple, but yet very fun to make and the kids can help.

Here are some pictures of them.  They can be made in different sizes and made into a mobile also if you want to.

You can find instructions and more information on the CC blog here.

November DT project

Recipes seem to have become a theme around CC, so for November we were given one for our challenge.  The recipe was:

3+ pieces of patterned paper, any size. 

1 fiber (ribbon, lace, stitching, twine, hairy fiber...). 

3 metals (brads, charms). 

1 decorative edge.

 

 I had just printed some pictures of my DS's first sleepover at our house, which happened to be with his cousin.  So I decided that these pictures led themselves to this recipe.  Usually, if an event involves both kids, I try to scrap both LO's at the same time so they are similar.  And usually I use the same general LO and just change the pictures, but this time I found two LO's that I liked enough to alter to fit what I needed.

My technique for this one was to use my MM Slice to get the decorative edges.  On one LO, I used words to make a border between two portions of the LO.

And on the other LO, I cut a frame to highlight the one picture.

You can find additional information and details here on the CC blog.

Halloween Special

Since Halloween is such a fun holiday (although not my favorite), the CC DT was given a special assignment to create a project for Halloween.  I chose to create a card.  I got to use some more orange paper this way, which is something I don't do enough of.

October DT project

For October, the challenge was to create a mini-album.  Immediately, I knew what I wanted to do.  I've been meaning to make mini-albums for each of my kids daycare teachers (since they spend more than one year with each one) with pictures of my DD or DS and some of their friends.  So I was going to use this challenge to help me out with one teacher's gift.

Here are some pictures.

And you can check out the CC blog here for more information.

September DT project

For September's project, we were given a sketch made by a very talented CC DT member, and were asked to create a project from it.  The first time I saw the sketch, it led me to create LO's of my DD and DS in their school pictures from last year.  So I did one of each.  The first letter in each title was made using my previous month's technique.  For this one, I did two-step stamping in two different ways.


Here are pictures of the LO's.

Check out the information here on CC's blog.

August DT project

So now to start reviewing all my projects I have made for the CC DT challenges.  Each month we have a new one, for which we need to publish an equipment list, instructions, pictures, and a video highlighting a certain technique.

For the projects made public in August, we were to create something or do something we've never done before.  So I tackled embellishing medium size chipboard letters with patterned paper and create seasonal frames.  Here are some pictures.

For detailed information, you can check out CC's blog here.

Recent LO's of SGK walk

Recently I decided to find some sketches online to try to inspire me to get some scrapping done.  I found one I liked - sketchinspiration.ning.com and I have been trying to participate in their weekly sketch challenge.  So far I have managed about every other week, which is actually pretty good for me.


Here is my LO I did for Sketch #301.

Here is my LO I did for Sketch #303.  For this one, the stars triggered my memory of "All Star" by Smash Mouth playing at the walk.  So I used that as the inspiration for me.  I don't know if you can see it, but I included what I felt was a pertinent part of the song on the LO (but I tried not to make it stand out too much).

I still have a lot more pictures from the walk to scrap, but I at least know I'm making progress.

Recent LO's of kids

Due to various reasons I was able to scrap some LO's over the last six months or so.  Here are some of them.

After participating and having fun in the card tag, I decided to join in a Scraplift tag.  Here is what I ended up doing.  It's a fun LO of my DD's first ice cream cone.

Then I participated in a recipe challenge.  This is where you are given a certain "recipe" of scrapping items you need to include in your project (specific colors, embellishments, quantities of patterned paper, etc).  For this challenge, we were actually given two different recipes, and I opted to do one LO for each since they led themselves toward different genders.  I had recently printed the pictures I took from this year's strawberry picking adventure with both kids, so I used those.  They worked well with the colors.

My next LO was made for two friends after the birth of their son.  Often, when close friends who I know would appreciate home made gifts, I make a 12x12 birth record, which includes a picture that I then put in a shadow box frame.  Here is the latest one I made.

New CC Focus Group

Starting February 1, there will be a new Focus Group for Crop Chocolate, so a couple weeks ago, the shoppers were allowed to submit a project to join the group.  Again, the DT members are automatically in, but we are encouraged to submit a project.  This time, we were given a sketch made by a very talented CC DT member.  I liked how it led me to one larger photo.  So I used it to highlight a very poignant picture we took during our 2010 SGK walk.  I used BG and SU paper, MM and OT embellishments and MM alphas.

CC Focus Group Projects

So shortly after the CC DT was chosen and introduced, CC started a Focus Group of shoppers to help with ideas, product reviews, and wishes.  The DT members were automatically included.  Each month we were asked to create a project following certain guidelines.  Here are those projects and the guidelines/rules we were asked to follow.

For August, we were asked to create a project based on a collage of nature pictures.  There was a stone fence, butterflies, flowers, and lots of colors involved.  So I came up with the following birthday card.

However, I forgot one very important rule about the projects: most of the products needed to be ones we had bought from CC.  And in this card, absolutely none of them were.  OOPS!!  So I had to start anew, and came up with a similar, but simplified version of the card which followed the rules.

For September, we were asked to create a project using an embellishment that we made.  I decided to use ribbon and create a special kind of border.  It's not my favorite project, but I think it works.

The guidelines for October were to use some kind of stitching - be it real or faux.  So I decided to make some thank you cards for my walk, and create a border using two different types of stitching.

With Thanksgiving coming up, for November's project we were asked to think about what we are grateful for and "Count our Blessings".  There are a lot of things I am grateful for, so I had a hard time coming up with a solid idea.  Finally, I decided on an LO about mine and DH's anniversary this year.  We hit 15 years this year, and I am very grateful that I found such a good man to have as my DH, who loves me for who I am, and puts up with all my quirks (and he knows I have a lot, LOL)!!  I am also grateful that my sister and her family live so close to us, and her kids are close in age to mine.  So DH and I decided to get away for a night (at a local B&B), and left the kids with my sister.  Unfortunately, I haven't gotten the pictures yet, but here is the LO.  The papers here are from EP's For the Record.  I also used American Craft Thickers, among a few others.

Then, in December, we were asked to go "old school".  Since I've only been doing this kind of thing for about 7 years, I decided to interpret this by using some of the first products I bought.  I still use them, and I know that they are still available in stores, but it was all I could think of.  I combined this challenge with one from Sketch Inspirations (Sketch #250) and used their LO sketch.  It also worked perfectly for scrapping some pictures I wanted to use of my DS.  For paper, I used EP's Wintertime.  The old school products I used were the felt border, edge scissors and photo corners.  The journaling card pulls-out.

For January, we were given another photo as inspirations.  This time it was of stained glass windows in a spiral shape.  I decided to use the bright colors and spiral shape in my project.  I made a birthday card that can be used for a kid or a man.  I decided to use the black as the background because the different parts of stained glass windows are usually separated by black strips.  I used EP's Happy Days 6x6 pad for the circles.

Thank you cards for my 2011 Susan G. Komen walk

This past year's walk was very amazing!!  It was emotional and fulfilling at the same time.  I was able to appreciate different things this time because I knew a lot of the things to expect from last year, especially the hard parts.  I was actually able to make it through without any major blisters this time.  There were a couple tiny ones that went away quickly, but that was nothing compared to last year.

Just like last year, I put a personal touch on the thank you notes to my major donors.  I am so grateful to all those who support me and believe in the fight against breast cancer, that I like to show my appreciation to them.  Here is the whole group of cards I made.

Here are some close up pictures of some of my favorites.

Baby, Retirement, and Thank you Cards

Here are some cards I've made within the last 6 months or so.  Unfortunately, I don't remember all the products I used for them off the top of my head.  If you see something you like and aren't sure where it came from, email me, and I can try to figure it out for you.

This is a retirement card for a very dear lady that was very influential in mine and DH's relationship.  She was the contact person at the church near college for the Campus Ministry program.  This past June, she retired, and we went down to share in the celebration of her wonderful career.

This next card is one I made while participating in a card tag through Crop Chocolate.  It was the first time I had done something like this, but it was fun to do.  I made it with the intention of using it as a thank you for my breast cancer walk.

In fact I had so much fun with the first card tag, that I participated again.  I really liked this one also, and the intent again was to use it as a thank you for the walk.  It opens slightly differently than usual.

The next card I made was a baby shower card for someone at work.

So, this past summer, we spent our vacation with a really, really good friend from college and her family at her mom's shore house.  It was an awesome trip, and I was actually able to relax (unusual for me while staying at someone else's house).  I made the following thank you cards for my friend and her mom for letting us invade their space.

Finally, here is a baby card I made at the request of my DD's daycare teacher so that she could give it to a friend who just had a baby.  The theme of the baby's room was monkeys.  So I decided to take a baby card I had made before and personalize it for her.  I love the way the one monkey looks like it's hugging the bow.

Welcome Back!!! and an Upcoming Blog Hop for Crop Chocolate

I know I have been a little remiss (ok, a lot remiss) in updating this blog over the last couple of months.  Between the walk, monthly challenges at Crop Chocolate, my job and life in general, I've been a little busy.  But I have still been creating.  So stay tuned for some projects I've completed over the last few months.  I think they're fun, and I hope you do too.

Then starting on Thursday January 26, the design team for Crop Chocolate will be having another Blog Hop, this time in conjunction with WeScrap.  There will be some fun prizes available and some great Valentine's Day projects for show (I have to get working on mine, LOL), so stop back then and join in the fun!!