5 on Friday

Oi -- I remembered last night that it was Friday, but this whole Monday-vacation-day thing has thrown me off. Well, and I'm in the middle of shipping September kits off to everyone and that tends to take the focus for the day. In essence, sorry that 5 on Friday is late. Good thing I give you the ingredient list and you just do the creating! I'd really enjoy seeing the ladies that participated last week and a couple new folks. Come on, you know you want to get a layout done this weekend . . .

• 1 sheet paper with dots or circles
• 2 sheets of cardstock
• 1 set of chipboard
• 1 frame

No, it's five things -- 2 sheets of cardstock. :) Remember, outside of the items listed above you're only allowed title and journaling. Layouts need to be linked in the comment section by Saturday night to be eligible for a Cookie Jar Treat.

Cartoon Feet & Lots of Stuff

I love TV -- there it's out there. I grew up watching it, and I could still sit and just veg in front of it. It's the perfect "great escape" for me. My kids mess with my escape time now -- dangit! :) Ah, well, I can share with them all my favorite cartoons, you know, the good ones: The Flintstones, The Jetsons and, of course, Looney Toons. Do you know how when a cartoon character is getting ready to run, run really fast, that they jump in the air and their feet start spinning around in a circle. They just hang in the air for a few seconds before dropping to the ground and flying off like a rocket. Well, that's how I feel when coming back into work/school life after a long holiday weekend. Especially when I've been out of town. Add to that the week is billing and shipping week and wholly cow! While I was hanging up in the air for that split second, on Monday night, I saw before me the busy, busy week ahead. I knew when my feet touched down, it was going to be a crazy ride. And here, on Thursday, it has been and I still have a couple days left before Sunday, decompression day. I issued a photo challenge before leaving and have a winner from that challenge: Maria Swiatkowski was selected by Random.org. I'll add a goodie to your kit shipment :). It was great to see photos from people's long weekend. Below are a few shots from our weekend away: DH and I enjoying a nice quiet game of Cribbage, our newest way to spend quiet time together -- no electricity needed. So far, I'm up on wins over him.

Three of the six fish caught on Sunday afternoon. A storm drove the excited fishermen back to shore. Those of us back at that cabin, aka "Base" received a walkie-talkie update from "Boat" every time a fish was landed.

My sweet kiddos, with the beautiful scenery behind them. Look how great they're coordinated, with no planning!

After a little four-wheeling, my older boys tumbled out of the car to do what boys do when rocks present themselves; throw the rocks into Texas Creek and see who can throw the farthest.

Hurray, to those who completed the 5 on Friday challenge. Great layouts! Thanks, Molly, for the letting us know the reasons you enjoy 5 on Fridays. If you haven't tried 5 on Friday, I encourage you to take it up this Friday. It's a quick, fun way to get a page done (maybe step outside that box, like Molly said) and get the chance to win something yummy, too. Speaking of which, Random.org has selected Bessie! Bessie, look for your goodie in your shipment. The last Blog Party Challenge produced some wonderful layouts with metallic embellishments. Random.org says that Linda is the winner -- look for your goodie in your next shipment. Congrats! It's a beautiful layout. Wow, that's a lot of stuff -- I'll leave you here for now. 5 on Friday coming up!

Monday Challenge #6 - Grandparents

Enjoying this long weekend? Anything fun and/or special? This month is National Grandparents Day - specifically September 13th - so, lets honor those grandparents in our lives. This week challenge is to make a LO about grandparents - your grandparents, your kids' grandparents, of you if you are a grandparent, etc. For card makers, make a card for that special grandpa or grandma to let them know how much they mean to you.

This is what I came up with: a LO about my parents (my kids' grandparents) and a card for grandpa.

Hope you play along. Remember you have until Sunday evening to link your LO or card to this post. Want a second chance to win? Leave a comment along with your LO telling me what challenges you enjoy the most, and your name will be put on the drawing twice. How simple is that?

I'm very happy to see more people playing along. I see that a lot of us like sketches, so we'll have more of those coming on future challenges. Now on to our winner of last challenge: Molly. Thanks for playing along. Another cookie jar treat will be heading your way. :-) Here's what she created:

Thanks everyone for playing along, and see you next Monday!

Bessie

Labor Day Weekend Photo Challenge

Inspired by a photo challenge we had during our Blog Hop, I'd like to issue this challenge for the coming holiday weekend. It's easy, and if your camera is out anyway, which mine will be, it'll be a piece of cake. The challenge: Snap one photo a day, starting today, Friday September 4th, and running through Monday September 7th, of something you did during the weekend. Whether you're taking off for a quick vacation, or it's business as usual with laundry and sports, share what you did. Post a link to your photos from the weekend, in the comment section, by Tuesday evening to be eligible to win a Cookie Jar Treat. How easy is that? No creating, no thinking. I love it!

5 on Friday

Ahhh -- a three-day weekend. No homework, no soccer, no nothing. We've rented a cabin up in the mountains for a couple nights; the kids are very excited. We haven't been away all summer and the last time we "camped" our youngest at the time was about a year old -- our current youngest's age. My older boys have dreams of catching a record fish; it's been a rough fishing season I guess. I haven't made any plans for while we're there. I think I'll try to pull a couple kits together to play with, maybe work on November kits and pretty much enjoy the sensation of not being pulled to do something, like when I'm at home. So, because of the holiday weekend, I'll extend the deadline for today's challenge until Monday night. While I'm sure that Molly has enjoyed winning, it's always fun to have a little competition, which we had last week with Bessie. So I'd love to see the extended deadline entice a couple more folks out of the woodwork to try their hand on this week's challenge:

• 1 sheet of cardstock
• 1 set of florals
• 1 set of buttons
• 1 sheer something
• 1 length of ribbon

Outside of any journaling and title, use only the listed ingredients above. As I said, because of the holiday weekend, we'll move the deadline to Monday, September 7th, in the evening. Link your layout in the comment section below and we'll award someone a yummy treat.

I hope everyone has a nice, long, relaxing weekend.

Naked or Dressed Chipboard is the Best

Do you remember the first time you every saw chipboard? It was probably square or rectangle or, if you were lucky, round. It was this thick (relative to what we were using at the time), brown stuff that prior to having someone tell you that you could use it in your scrapbooks you only found in men's dress shirt packaging. Within just a few months it became the thing to be using on your layouts. Today it's a staple and it's so much more than squares, rectangles and circles. Now you find it in black, white and brown. It's any and every shape you can think of. It's been embossed and laser cut for fantastic detail. I love chipboard, it is one of the most versatile embellishments out there. I think I like it because it is totally customizable for your layout and customizing it is easy. Can you believe there are folks out there that actually avoid "naked" chipboard (chipboard that is waiting for you to "dress" it) and I've read that some scrappers actually toss it in the trash when they get it in kits they buy. When I read that on a board, my first thought was "Why?!" Chipboard is the best stuff. The quickest way to customize plain chipboard is to paint it with acrylic paints, use stamp pads or markers. Left alone you have a nice matte finish. Add a little Diamond Glaze to the dried piece and you have a glossy, epoxy-like look (I use this affect most often.) You can cover the pieces with paper -- also a quick way unless the piece is more than just a basic shape and it'll take just a little more to cover the piece. If you want to cover a more intricate piece simply trace an outline of the chipboard on the paper you want to use, adhere the paper to the chipboard and using an emery board draw the board down over the edges of the chipboard to shave off the excess. If you're handy with a craft knife -- which I am sooo not -- this is the easiest way. Depending on how much "buffing" you do, you can get a more distressed edge on the piece. I love this affect. If you like living on the edge, try leaving the chipboard naked. You can apply stickers, rub-ons and bling to add even more dimension to dressed and naked chipboard. Speaking of dimension, if you like flatter layouts, most chipboard these days is thin and when simply painted or paper-covered you add very little bulk to your layouts. See perfect! I didn't even mention chipboard albums. Totally blank slates for creating great mini books about whatever your heart desires. Check out what Maria Swiatkowski did recycling some of her chipboard. Because Maria went "green" with her creation, she was able to bind it herself. She used a Bind-It-All, but paper rings and ribbon would also work. Mini chipboard albums are a wonderful way to use up all sorts of scraps. So, if you're a tosser-of-chipboard . . . STOP! Stop the madness and rethink the ways you can customize and use this extremely versatile staple. If you need inspiration I encourage you to check out Maya Road's Gallery. Maya Road makes a lot of chipboard and their designers do amazing things with it. Another place that's all about chipboard is Magistical Memories. One of our sous chefs, Kristi Bergin-Smith, is also a designer over there. I've come to enjoy how she has utilized their chipboard on her layouts and projects. You can check out Kristi's blog to see her work, or go to Magistical Memories' Designers' Gallery (click on the smaller box next to each designer's bio to see their work.) I'd say if you want to stock up on chipboard, watch for a Blue Plate Special that's all about the perfect, customizable embellishment ;)

Blog Party Challenge #7

This challenge comes from World Traveler Chef Louisa-May: "I always get stuck creating Masculine pages - eg. for or of my husband, dad or grandpa, and mine somehow inevitably ends up looking 'effeminate' LOL!!! And I always wonder how others do it so nicely and what are the tips they can share! So was thinking perhaps the challenge could be about creating a Masculine page - and to add a fun twist, to incorporate anything 'metallic' on the page." I agree, even though I have three boys, my "big boy" layouts don't quite have that grown-up look. And until this year, masculine themes were tough to come by. There was a lot of pink out there. So let's see your masculine layouts, don't forget the metallic embellishment. Have your layout linked in the comment section of this post by Saturday, September 5th to be eligible for a Cookie Jar Treat. Thanks Louisa. You can find Louisa's blog here.