Paper Smooches Cool Shades Challenge

It seems like it has been FOREVER since I have done anything creative.  I got really lazy during the summer and didn't feel crafty at. all.  Now that school has started and (most importantly!!) now that I have my very own crafty space (::sigh of happiness:: - and picts to follow soon!) I feel like getting back into the groove.

I decided to play along with Paper Smooches' Color Challenge.  Here are this week's colors:

And here is my card:

These colors are very Springy to me, but also very happy.  That is why I used them on this card for my friend who just had a baby. 

That is all I have for you today!  Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for pictures of my NEW SCRAP ROOM!  :)

Until next time...

Movin' on up!

One of the last times I posted, I showed you all a picture of the place that I call my personal scrappy space.  It is actually the closet in my kid's toy room...so I am sure you all can figure out why I haven't actually been doing any scrapping lately.  It has been so hot this summer that we haven't ventured out much and my girls have been doing a lot of play time in the toy room.

Well...that is about to change!!  I am in the process of turning the nursery into my very own scrap room!!  With a door!  That LOCKS!!  While this change is completely turning my girls' lives upside down, I am so grateful that my hubby agreed to let me make this change.  As he said, "happy wife, happy life!"  :)

The new bunk beds that will be going in my biggie's room arrive tomorrow.  Until then, I have been doing as much prep work as I can.  This weekend I took all of the pictures, etc. off the walls in the nursery, filled in nail holes and even repainted the room with a fresh, clean coat of paint.  It looks like a whole new room!  Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to start moving things into the room and start making the space my own.  I will be interesting to see how it all fits into a REAL room!

Stay tuned for some after pictures!  And hopefully some projects, too!  :)

Until then...

I Love A Tool...

As my title states, I love a tool.  And no, I am not referring to my husband...although some days I might beg to differ.  :)  I did a tutorial over on Scrapbooksteals.com (my go-to place for scrapbooking supplies, as you all already know) using this tool of my heart...the We R Memory Keepers Brad Setter.

Here is a little teaser picture of the project I created with my biggie:

 
Interested to see the rest?  Good!  Now go over to Scrapbooksteals.com's blog to see the rest...and go steal today's awesome steal while it's fresh in your brain.  :)

Until next time...

I'm still here!!

Oh my word!  It's been quite a while, hasn't it?  So much has been happening the past couple months that I guess blogging took a back seat for a bit.  Not to worry, though.  I have been staying busy scrapping on and off during my bloggy time out.  I attended my very first crop with some friends I met in a scrappy group online.  We met in St. Louis and cropped at Archiver's on National Scrapbooking Day.  It was SO. MUCH. FUN!  I thought I would be intimidated cropping with such talented ladies, but it was so relaxing and natural.  I need to do that again!

I've also been working on some pages to help my Aunt make a scrapbook for my cousin, who is graduating from high school this week.  She called me about two months ago saying that she was going to put together a scrapbook for my cousin...using pictures from the day he was born through today!!  Nothing like leaving a project until the last minute, right?  :)  I offered to help and almost reconsidered when the stack of pictures showed up in my mail box.  No lie...it was bigger than the stack of pictures I have to scrap of my own girls.  But I have scrapped them all and I hope my Aunt and cousin like them.

Here are a couple of the last ones that I did:

For the first layout, I used Authentique's Celebrate collection.  I made the banner and the pennants using papers from the Celebrate 6x6 paper pad.

For the second layout, I used my On the Bright Side 6x6 paper pad.  (A recent steal on scrapbooksteals.com!)  I love that I was able to do a 12x12 layout with 6x6 papers.  The seams are hidden under the big banner and behind the picture.  This layout is a little plain in my eyes, but it's for an almost 18 year-old boy, so there was no need to go crazy with it.  I love how both layouts turned out. 

Well, that is all for now!  Tomorrow is my biggie's last day of preschool and I have to make a couple cards for her teachers.  I'll be back soon to show you more things I made during my time away.

Until next time...

Get well soon...

On Thursday I found out that my dad is really sick. He has bronchitis and borderline pneumonia and has been home sick since Thursday. If anyone knows my dad, they know how hard of a worker he is. He doesn't miss work for any kinds of sicknesses. In fact, if his employer hadn't banned him from coming in until Tuesday, he probably would have still gone in.

ANYway, I thought I'd take this perfect opportunity to use some new stamps I just got last week. I've been wanting these Paper Smooches stamps for a while now and finally took the plunge to get them.

Here is the card I created with them:

This card is simple, but I like it. I used paper from a 6x6 pad from MME's Lime Twist Life of the Party line. (Kind of ironic using "life of the party paper" when the card is "sorry you're hacking up your lungs" related. Didn't think about that until just now.) The red dotted strip is some of Target's new washi-like tape. It's basically decorated masking tape, but better. And it's from Target. When have I ever passed up anything from Target??

I knew I wanted to use the tissue box somewhere, so I decided to put that and the sentiment on the inside of the card. I used tissue paper for the tissues.

AND because I love to tag the back of my cards with my initials, the date and something fun that is card themed, I used the red cross symbol in between my initials. I love how this turned out!

That's all for today! Until next time!

This is no joke!

Happy April Fool's Day, everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful day today! I'm here today to tell you who won my giveaway!! Thanks to random.org, today's winner is...

Congrats, Stephanie!! Send me an email at onescrappynovice at yahoo dot com so I can send you your Genuine goodies!!

Here's to a great week ahead! I'll be back tomorrow with a card I created this weekend.

Until then...

A Sketchy Situation...

Many of you who have followed me for a while know that I heavily rely on sketches for inspiration (and you are probably sick of me saying that, too!). :) Let me jump off the path I was going on with this post for a moment to give you some background on myself first...

The reason I named my blog "One Scrappy Novice" was because, in all honesty, I do not have a creative eye. I am really good at faking it and the only way that is possible is by using something like a sketch or another layout/card to create from. I can only think of a dozen or so layouts/cards/projects that I've created on my own, with no help needed. I like to joke that I couldn't craft my way out of a paper bag. Others might get out by turning it into something beautiful, like a landscape picture or fun hat or outfit. To me, all I see is that brown bag. Now granted, I'm learning to appreciate my own work more and I do feel that I am much better at my hobby now than I was even a year ago. Some people are born with the ability to be artistic (my oldest daughter is proving that at 5 years old). Others learn to be artistic. That's definitely me.

So going back to the point of this post...sketches give me a basic jumping off point and get the creative juices flowing. Without them, I am usually totally lost. There are cases where I am totally lost while using them, too. The layout I created for this post is a perfect example.

But first, here is the sketch (found on Pinterest):

And here is the layout I created with it:

Once I saw the sketch, I wanted to use my My Mind's Eye Stella and Rose 6x6 paper pad. I knew all of the soft pinks, greens and blues would go together perfectly. And I knew that a picture I had of my friend's daughter would work with those colors as well. I got it all laid out and only adhered the banner down. The rest I was completely clueless on. I had other flowers that I wanted to use and thought the spacing was off. So I went to a bunch of my crafty friends and asked them for their eyes. I knew they would be able to see this layout better than I could. Their advice totally helped me and I am thrilled with the outcome. I hope my friend likes it as much as I do!

Don't be afraid to admit it if you are a self-professed "novice" like myself. As long as your projects turn out looking good, take all the credit you deserve! (Easier said than done, I know!)

Before I sign off, I want to remind you all of the giveaway I currently have going on! Be sure to check out {this} blog post to see how you can win one Authentique Paper Genuine collection!

Until next time...