Cosmo Cricket Tryout Take Two

Of all of the different scrapbook companies that have come and gone since I began scrapping more than 10 years ago, Cosmo Cricket has been one of my all-time favorites. It is consistently wonderful and so fun and inspiring to use! So, here I ago again...my second shot at trying for their design team. I just can't help it! While it may seem a little far-fetched because of all of the many other talented scrapbookers out there, I am giving it the old "college try" because you can't, after all, make it on a team that you don't try for. Being a member of the Cosmo Cricket team would be a dream come true for me!!! And, at the very least, if I don't make the team I've had fun going through both old and more recent Cosmo Cricket projects I've created and have been able to make some brand new things as well.

I knew that I was a Cosmo fan but hadn't realized the depth of my CC stash until I pulled everything out a week or so ago, surprised to find papers and other embellishments from a wide variety of past and current lines: Halfway Cafe, Oh Joy, Chemistry, Gretel, Ever After, Girl Friday, Lil' Man (even though I don't have any boys- I 've used it on some girl pages and bought it special for a mini book I created for Hailey's preschool teacher this year), Storytime, Souvenir, Wanted, Haunted, Honey Pie, Dutch Girl, Jitterbug, Mr. Campy, Early Bird (my favorite so far!!)Snorkel, Hello Sunshine, Wonderland and Hey Sugar. Quite a variety, huh? For some I have lots left because I bought more and more and more (that's what I did with the Early Bird- I couldn't help myself, and I am sure that some of you can relate) and for others I have merely scraps. Each line is unique and gorgeous and fun and have provided hours of scrapping enjoyment for me over the years. To avoid stretching this out too far, here are some of the Cosmo Cricket layouts, cards and things that I have created, some recent and others a little bit older.

How about some older projects first?

Here you can see featured some Girl Friday, Oh Joy, Dutch Girl, Wanted, Gretel, Hey Sugar, Mr. Campy and Hello Sunshine. These are by no means all of the pages I have created using Cosmo Cricket but simply a sampling of my love for these products. My style has certainly changed over the years but my love of Cosmo Cricket has not. It's amazing!!! I don't know how they keep coming up with all of the great, innovative ideas for their designs but they do it again and again.

And now for a few more recent layouts and cards:

Ever After collection

Girl Friday

Oh Joy Christmas collection

Early Bird -This has got to be my all-time favorite collection from Cosmo Cricket!The colors are rich and beautiful, the patterns gorgeous and so easy to scrap with and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the coordinating chipboard and these new spinner cards. They are way too much fun!!

This one combines some Girl Friday, Jack's World, Early Bird and Lil' Man.

And last, but not least, a wall hanging I created using some "vintage" Halfway Cafe paper paired with some not-s0-old Oh Joy. I was excited that these two very different lines could work together so well. I started with a plain frame which I distressed (with my Crop A Dile, ha ha!) and inked before doing the rest of the work.

So there you have it! Now to send off my email to the Cosmo Cricket folks to make this official! Wish me luck :)

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. I hope you've been inspired by these beautiful Cosmo Cricket products just like I have! Have a wonderful day :)

I'm the Bean Chase winner!!!

Do we have any Jillibean Soup fans here?

Did you do the Bean Chase last week?

I did it just for fun and just happened to pick the right blog the first time and was the lucky winner. There were 101 people to leave a comment on Kimber McGray's blog and I WON!!! So, I am a winner after all :)

You can check it out here

So I wonder if I get full sheets of paper??? I'd love some more JBS to add to my stash.

Bathing Beauty and American Crafts

I haven't been feeling very well lately but have had the urge to do some scrapbooking, so here is one of the most recent pages I've done. I am not totally happy about the title placement but that's the way it goes sometimes, right? And, it was overcast yesterday so the picture of the layout isn't the greatest, either. I'll try and get a better one taken tomorrow.

I did love this picture of Sarah looking so cute at swim lessons a couple weeks ago :) and could not resist scrapping it. For this page I used papers from the Craft Fair and Everyday paper lines as well as letter stickers and other embellishments by American Crafts. Hint: the chipboard centers on the foam flowers are actually little quotation bubbles and I hid the tail under the felt flower and added some detail stitching with my Sharpie. Glossy Accents did the trick for sticking the chipboard onto the foam.

Anyone out there trying for the American Crafts team? I know a few people (Leah F. for example) who really should and who would be amazing on that team. Good luck to you!!! I am going to try and get a submission together just for fun :)

watching you grow- more American Crafts

I have in the past felt somewhat intimidated by the bold patterns of some of the American Crafts papers but over the last couple of days I've been having so much fun with their products. I made one layout today and have another one almost done. Hooray!! for me for using papers from my huge stash.
So, here it is, a page using some of the papers from the Backyard collection along with coordinating flowers, journal spot, Thickers, ribbon and buttons. All from American Crafts. I also used some twine and some black rhinestones (Hero Arts).

Have a great night. I hope to have more to show you tomorrow. I am so in the scrapping mood!!

fun with American Crafts

American Crafts, a scrapbook product manufacturer is currently holding a design team call. So, if you love their stuff, you ought to give it a try!

I think their products are really cute and have quite a stash (especially Thickers in all fonts and colors) and like the challenge it is for me to work with some of the papers. The ribbons and letters I love, the Flair and felt and vinyl and fleece and foam and chipboard embellishments I adore but sometimes have a hard time working with the papers. I do LOVE them, though, and there have been some cute things released in the last little while.

So, today, in honor of the DT call, I put together a simple little page using only American Crafts products and had quite a blast doing so. I find that when I work with AC my style becomes more simple. And, here is the result of my work, made in about half an hour.

So, what do you think? Cute stuff, huh? If you want to give it a try you can find all of the needed information on the American Crafts blog.

Pencil Lines sketch

There was a cute sketch posted on the Pink Paislee blog that came from pencillines.com. I posted it in the forum at My Scrapbook Nook and a bunch of us have been working on it, which has been kinda fun.

Here is my take, using the Mr. Campy line by Cosmo Cricket, leftovers from an old AC Bailey kit from last year. I kept it fairly simple to go along with the sketch. This is my 3 year old Sarah.

Have a great day! I hope to do some more scrapping later so that I have something else to share with you but have lately been busy keeping the kids occupied and getting the house organized since it's become quite a mess.

Happy Father's Day!!!

I just wanted to wish my sweet Matt, the father of my 3 silly girls, a very happy Father's Day. He is a kind and patient dad, more patient than I am a lot of the time. He is fun to play with, even sits down and has tea parties with them and lets them put hairclips in his hair, runs around the house with them, reads them stories, goes on little one-on-one dates with them and is a good example of love and kindness to them.

Happy Father's Day!!

a few good men

We were sitting down to dinner and Hailey out-of-the-blue asked us if there were still any good boys to marry. It kind of took us by surprise but we assured here that there were indeed some good ones left. She said that there are some of each kind...some are nice and some are mean and that we need to marry the nice ones. You can't marry a boy that is mean, after all. And then Sarah piped in that a boy can't marry a mean lady like Ursula (from the Little Mermaid, of course). Hailey then told me that she has to marry a good one, like I did. Cute girl. I did in fact get a good one. The best.

What a sweet girl. It's funny that she thinks about this so much, but she watches tons of shows with princes marrying princesses and we talk about how we need to look for someone who is kind, etc. I just hope she remembers all of this when she gets older and starts to date and starts thinking about who she will marry.

for Janelle and Sami and Ellie

I told you that I got that little blog award but neglected to pass it on to anyone.

So, I am now passing it on to Janelle Guymon, Sami Carter and Ellie Malsbary. I love their blogs and want them to feel a little special today :)

some scrappy fun for me

I've done a little bit of scrapbooking lately, made one page today and the others are from earlier in the week or from last weekend. Some are quick pages, the one of Aimee in the striped shirt took a bit longer because of the detail work I did.

First of all, I LOVED this picture of Sarah with her cheesy grin and cute, cute outfit. This was taken at my sister Ellie's house. Sarah has always been the silly one, the one to make us laugh at the many unexpected things she does. This time, she caught me off guard and I just had to take her picture! I think I caught the essence of Sarah in this one. I used the new October Afternoon line, Cherry Hill, for this page and some journal spots from Collage Press, button flower from Sassafras Lass, Thickers letters from American Crafts and green chipboard flower from Pebbles Inc.

This next one has some pictures of Hailey from swim lessons this summer. She loved the "mushroom" that sprayed water all over the place, enjoyed doing bobs under the water and doing the kick boards. She's becoming quite a fish!! The paper is from My Mind's Eye, journal spot from Jillibean Soup, flower from Sassafras Lass and more American Crafts Thickers.

This next one uses more of the Cherry Hill line from October Afternoon. I decided to get creative and cut around the little shapes to make the page more interesting. That was quite a chore but I like the end result. I added some glitter to some of the flower centers, but that's hard to see in this picture. I used some Basic Grey chipboard letters, October Afternoon journal spot, Sassafras Lass buttons, Pebbles Inc chipboard bracket and glitter flower and the little flower flair from American Crafts. Most of these items came in a kit I got from Little Red Scrapbook.

And NEXT, a page I made using the June kit from My Scrapbook Nook featuring the Early Bird line from Cosmo Cricket. I LOVE this paper collection and have been using it quite a bit. Oh, the blue paper in the background is not from the kit, but is some old SEI Dill Blossom I had in my stash, and the lace is something I added as well.

Aren't those Maya road leaf pins so cute?

My Aimee is such a sweetheart. I had fun using this kit with pics of Aimee that I took yesterday before the big wind storm hit :) Isn't the chipboard adorable?!

For this last page I combined the May and May mini kits from My Scrapbook Nook. I finally pulled out my little Maya Road trees to use them on this page :) The journaling is about Sarah's long, curly eyelashes and how she will one day bat them at some unsuspecting young man and sweep him off of his feet.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed your little stop at my blog today. Have a great weekend!!

i really need to do some scrapping

I am sure that some of you check here wondering if I have anything new to share scrappy-wise and so today I am going to get something done. I have some new layouts to put on here, simple and quick ones, so I'll do that later on today. I've just been trying to find my niche lately and my pages have been so different for me lately. I did so much scrapping during the contest that I think my brain is taking a bit of a creative break and my layouts have been coming out so much more simply. Kinda interesting...

I will post something later on today :)

it was a happy day after all

What started out to be a rotten day ended up in a happy way. Thanks to everyone for your birthday wishes, thanks to Matt for planning so many fun things and thanks to those of you who were a BIG part of my day ending up so well. I hope you know who you are!!

Have a great night :)

a nice treat

A friend of mine from here in town dropped by this afternoon with a nice surprise- dinner in a bag- a frozen lasagne, a bag of salad with a bottle of dressing, a loaf of french bread and some chocolate covered cream puffs. YUM! Wasn't that sweet? She also brought some treats for the kids and a book for me. Thank you so much, Jen. That was very kind of you. Thanks for making my birthday a little bit sweeter.

Now, I don't have to worry about what to make for dinner :)

a very un-merry birthday to me, to me

I know that's not exactly how the song goes, it's actually "A very merry un-Birthday to me" from Alice in Wonderland but the post title seems more inappropriate for today. Yes, it's my birthday, the big 34, and it should be such a happy day but the kids think that the song, "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" applies to them. I'm the one who should be crying today. Each one of them has thrown multiple fits, the older two are being bossy and grumpy and Matt is at work until later tonight. Oh happy day.

We went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast this morning for what is usually a great place to eat. Today they got my order wrong, but I decided to go ahead and eat it anyway and then Aimee got really grumpy and was throwing a fit so I took her out her seat and we went for a walk in the general store part of Cracker Barrel. I came back and my food was gone, turns out they were going to fix my order even though I told them I would just eat the original thing they brought. I'd ordered an Italian sausage skillet meal and was brought the ham one instead. Not a big deal, and it tasted fine. What they brought back was nasty and had lots of grease in the bottom and tons of gravy which I didn't like. I sound like such a whiner. It just wasn't turning out to be a very happy day and I'd not gotten much sleep the night before.

Then, after Matt went to work I thought it would be fun to go to the scrapbook store and found some things I really liked but had to put it all back because their credit/debit system was down. Happy birthday to me. And, then the girls were running around the store, being generally a pain and I'd had it so we came home. The car was making funny noises, too.

The good thing about today so far was a yummy fruit bouquet that my sister, Debbie, sent to me. I really need to call and thank her for saving my day. I'm sure I am just overreacting due to my lack of sleep and less-than-stellar day but her kindness sure helped me feel better. THANK YOU!!!!!!

Anyone else ever have a not-s0-happy birthday? I guess today is my turn. After the girls finish lunch I'm sending them all for naps and I think I'll take one, too. Aimee just won't stop crying and I don't know what's wrong with her today since she's typically a happy kid. Oh, and I asked Hailey and Sarah if they could be nice to me today and they kindly reassured me that they'll be nice to me on my NEXT birthday. So, at least I have that to look forward to. I was hoping for a day off from chores and cooking but instead I got a day at home with three grumpy kids, loads of laundry to fold and whatever else might come my way. I guess it could be worse. As Matt likes to tease me, I could have gout. Or swine flu.

a couple quick pages

I have been trying to scrapbook more lately because of the growing pile of pictures I have sitting on my craft table. Not that I feel the need to scrap every single photo but because I am getting my mojo back and I really WANT to scrap.

So, today I made two very quick pages. Very simple and very easy. No fussing over details ro doing anything fancy. The first one uses some of the new Early Bird from Cosmo Cricket and a picture of Matt and Sarah at Disneyland from this Spring and the other uses papers from the Minestrone collection by Jillibean Soup with pics of Sarah picking flowers.

One of the things I LOVE about Cosmo Cricket is their coordinating journal tags and chipboard. I love having everything so well coordinated which makes creating a quick page very simple.

These Minestrone papers and journal spots from Jillibean Soup are some things I bought a little while back and have been anxious to use. I have the June kit from AC Bailey which also features some papers from this collection and I'll be putting some things together with that as well.

Have a happy rest of your day!

awwww! She's so sweet

I was reading my friend, Jessica's blog, and just saw that she'd given me this little award. What a sweet friend :) Thanks, Jess! You just made my day lots happier. It has been pretty good so far but now it's even better. I mean, how could it not be a great day with the news I got this morning?!

Her blog, Crafty Cafe, is amazing. Tons of fun tips and other cool stuff. Check it out.

Thanks, Jess!! I hope you have a great day.

and the winners are....

Drum roll, please!!!!

We had to wait until this morning to find out the results of My Scrapbook Nook's Scrap-Off contest since the judges had been given the weekend to make their decisions. We did, however, get to read comments those judges made about our layouts, which was so fun :) Some of the design team members made up part of the panel and other guest judges were called in to help out as well. Those guest judges were Layle Koncar (formerly with Scenic Route and now with Basic Grey), Lindsay Moore (yay! Mr. Lindsay from Cosmo Cricket), Brandin O'Neill (from Webster's Pages) and the ever-so-talented Stephanie Howell (Lily Bee and many other fabulous things). Does Leah have connections or WHAT??? It was awesome to find out that these people had seen my work and helped in the judging process. And, it was incredible to read the comments they made about everyone's pages.

Anyway, so we had to wait out the weekend to find out the results and just minutes ago Leah posted the following:

Ladies, wow! You guys outdid yourself, and as you can see form the wonderful comments from the judges- you are all amazing! The following three came out on top- so congratulations! I look forward to working with you as designers!

Daniela (ddobson) is our 1st place winner and will be on our DT throughout the next term!

Alex will spend a wonderful 3 months on our DT!

annnnnnd Beckyjune will enjoy 2 months!!!

In case you are wondering- the voting was VERY close! Thank you to EVERYONE who played annnnnnd- get ready runners up- Cosmo Cricket says they plan to send you each a special prize packet! So shoot me your e-mails...

So, to say the least, I am very excited about getting to work on the team for a couple of months as a guest designer, and humbled to have made it into the top 3 out of about 65 people ( I think that's what I counted this morning- those who started out in the first round). There is so much talent that just about anyone could have won the contest.

And, to get a prize package from Cosmo Cricket???? HOW FUN IS THAT??? AWESOME!! What a great start to a new week, don't you think?

and a new Sarah layout

I've done some Aimee and Hailey layouts recently so I figured I should even the score for Sarah.

She is almost 3 1/2 now and is far from excited when she sees me pull out the camera. Of course, she's had thousands of pictures taken of her in her short lifetime and I think she's just at that age where she'd rather run and hide than smile pretty for me. That's ok.

One day I was trying unsuccessfully to take some new pictures of her and she was less than cooperative. As usual. This time, though, I decided to put the camera down at chest height and take some pictures without her even realizing, and this perfect, beautiful shot is the result. I was more than ecstatic!!

I used the June kit from My Scrapbook Nook for this page; everything you see comes from the kit features Cosmo Cricket Early Bird paper, chipboard and journal tags, ribbon and two kinds of Thickers from American Crafts, a Splendid Treasures (buttons, felt pieces, etc.) from Chatterbox and leaf pins from Maya Road. I added some detailing with Stickles glitter glue and used my Fiskars Apron Lace punch for the border on the left.

Have a great night!!

Some cute October Afternoon

I just got some of the new baby line, Ducks in a Row, from October Afternoon. It was perfect for this new picture I have of Aimee trying to get into the tub. I like the soft colors and those cute little duckies!!

For the page I also used some Chatterbox chipboard (the journal spot and heart), American Crafts Thickers, Chestnut Roan ColorBox fluid chalk ink and some Stickles glitter glue.

Isn't that paper the cutest? I love the little sun peeking out from behind the clouds.

off to the judges

Leah told us that she's sent our layouts off for the judges to look at and, well, judge.

She's given them the weekend to pick their favorite and get back to her.

I'd better keep myself darn busy this weekend to avoid checking the site over and over and over and over.

Shabby Blogs for cute cute stuff!!

I am trying to cutesy-up my blog...sometimes I think it just looks a little drab. I'd visited this site before, even bookmarked it for a time in the future when I would be able to go back and add some of the cute things to my blog.

You can check it out for yourself at http://www.shabbyblogs.com to find lots of FREE blog backgrounds, blinkies and more. The new little cute things on my sidebar are from there. Go check it out!!

I got tagged

I just got tagged (by Emma, also a former member of the AC Bailey design team) with this so I am passing it on. If your name is below, please follow the rules.

Here are the rules:
1. Make a list of what you want for your Birthday.
2. The list should be 10 items
3. Include the image of the award on your post
4. Give it to ten friends.

This tag is quite time-appropriate as it requires me to list what I would like for my birthday. Being that my birthday is next week, this will MAKE me make that list that my husband has been asking me to do for him. I'll just tell him that he has to look at my blog to find it...something he is often too busy to do :)

Here is my wish list:
1. A day off from chores and cooking
2. an hour-long nap
3. Getting to shower every day in the same week (some days it just doesn't happen- most of the time, yes, but sometimes no)
4. A manicure and pedicure (I am actually getting this after my birthday)
5. Some lovely new lace to add to my trim collection for cardmaking and scrapbooking
6. The book, "Understanding Exposure." I've heard this is excellent.
7. A UV filter for my zoom lens
8. A date night with my husband...alone...out somewhere. We have lots of dates at home after the kids go to bed...movies, games, etc. but not too many nights out.
9. A spot on the Nook design team
10. to feel at peace in all areas of my life.

I will now tag: Ellie Malsbary, Mom Nearing, Phoebe Wilson, Lisa Carroll, Linda Joona, Jamie Cotter, Connie Mercer, Sami Carter, Janelle Guymon and Jenifer Moss. Have fun!!

my Nook Scrap-Off final challenge layout

I wasn't sure what to do for this challenge and have no idea what others are going to do, either. I've gone back and forth on what to do, what pictures to use, which direction to take my page and ended up with this.

The journaling is heartfelt, something very close to me right now, and the picture of Hailey is one that I absolutely love. The paper is from the Cosmo Cricket Early Bird collection (with the exception of the black polka dot and that's Pink Paislee), butterflies by Chatterbox, ribbon from Michael's, bling from Michaels, Hero Arts and Kaiser Craft. The tickets are Jenni Bowlin, the chipboard flower by Cosmo Cricket.

I added some Stickles glitter glue to the American Crafts Thickers and to spots on the patterned paper, did my customary ruffle and added some lace from the Paper Studio.



Journaling reads: "Always remember that you are special to me no matter what. Always remember that people can sometimes be mean, sometimes they will make you cry but I will always be here...Always remember that you are smart and beautiful and talented. Always remember that you are loved."

I also added a little "Always remember you are loved" to the picture before printing.

Wish me luck!! I'm sure the other projects from the other finalists will be beautiful. I am glad that I don't have to choose!!