Out With the Old, In With the New Day 12

It was a hot weekend.  Long, laid back and hot.  A brother-in-law was in town for a high school reunion, which was a quick turn-around, but nice to see him none the less.  I discovered the joy of pineapple coconut pancakes with a vanilla cream sauce.  And I finished my laundry. . .which means a whole week in front of me without sorting, washing or folding.  WOOHOO.


We're taking a little trip to the Florida Keys today - virtually unfortunately.  I'll take anything that makes me think of cooler places.  Cool blue waters, cocktails with little umbrellas and fruit, ocean breezes and colors that make you feel cooler just being around them.

Today incorporate this new color scheme into your layout using an old Apron Strings kit.  No kit?  No problem, select the scheme and items from your stash.

Here's your PageMaps sketch.  Remember, the sketches aren't necessary, unless you want or need the inspiration.

Finally, 37 years ago I woke up in the lobby of a hospital, on two chairs shoved together - a hospital I might add my parents had never been to prior to that night - to find out I had a baby sister.  A nurse (one none of us knew) took us to the home we had only just moved into, while my dad stayed with my mom.  She served us a breakfast of mini boxes of Kellogg's cereals, IN THE BOX.  We had never experienced anything so cool.  My poor only brother had no idea what was coming down the road - four teenage sisters.  But to my baby sister - HAPPY BIRTHDAY.  I love you.  See you tonight at the park!!

I'm sooo looking forward to the week's worth of 100 degree days - I can't tell you.  So I'm off to look for someplace cool to hang until winter arrives.

Happy Monday.

Out With the Old, In With the New Day 11

It's the weekend....well in four and a half hours it will be.  My men folk are out fishing for the day and the calendar looks pretty wide open for the weekend.  But the heat is turning up and the Monsoons are still here, so that's a great reason to crawl downstairs to spend some time dealing with my studio.  LOL, I am determined to be cropping down there, if not at the end of the summer (hahahahahahaha) then by the end of the year.  Determined!


To get you cropping today, so that you can upload your layout by tomorrow night, your challenge for today is grab an older kit that contains a stripe or plaid patterned (you can use whatever other papers are in the kit you pick, but one of them should be a stripe or plaid) and combine that with something newer and round and something newer and soft from your stash.

Have a happy Friday and a great weekend!

Out With the Old, In With the New Day 10

Because we had late storms blow through again last night.  Because the 2 y.o. woke, again, in the middle of the night (though not because of a storm.)  Because the floor of the 2 y.o.'s room is not conducive to a good night's sleep.  Because the 2 y.o. woke up sounding like Froggy from the Little Rascals.  Because I have laundry crying to be folded, a newsletter to get out and other things I'm in denial about doing. . .today it's short and sweet.


Today's challenge is use your LEAST favorite kit and combine it with something new you really love.  It could be a least fave because it's old, or because the photos you had planned for it are done with something else, or because it's just not "you" anymore.  Whatever the reason, because you refuse to let it go, it's time to use it up.  And pairing it with something new, that you just can't wait to use will make it all work.


A nice multi-photo sketch from Becky at PageMaps.  Layouts are due by Saturday evening.

Happy Thursday!

Out With the Old, In With the New Day 9

How does a two foot tall human being take up more than six feet of space? 

Very unusual for us here in the Denver-area are late night thunder storms, but we had a doozy last night.  Rolled in just before midnight (usually any severe storms are out and done in our area by 10 pm) and was a marvelous light show - think a movie back-drop for a "who done it" flashing through windows to light up the whole house - and nice big booms to follow.  Unfortunately, it knocked out our power, which turned off the white noise of the fan (and thunder-drowning noise) in the 2 y.o.'s room, so that when the next crack of thunder came, he woke up and thus spent the rest of the night in our bed, with us contorted into odd sleeping shapes, clinging to the edges of the bed.

I love the storms - day or night. They provoke a nesting in me and I usually get a lot done.

To make sure you get a lot done, today's challenge is to use your oldest kit, combined with a new style.  Today's look is Shabby Chic - so look for your oldest Shabby Chic kit (or papers and embellies if you don't have kits), to create a new to you Shabby Chic layout.  What is Shabby Chic?  Worn and weathered, with a touch of that romance to it.  Think torn, crinkled, inked, lace, velvet, muted tones, fabric embellishments.  Here are some examples of Apron Strings kits that fit the Shabby Chic look:

• My Mind's Eye Laundry Bigger January '09
• Basic Grey Eve Bigger February '09
• My Mind's Eye Life Stories Bigger February '10
• Pink Paislee Queen Bee Smaller May '10
• Crate Restoration Smaller November '10
• Basic Grey Hopscotch Bigger March '11
• Almost any thing with Sassafras Lass Smaller May '11, April '10
• Almost any Lily Bee French Couture, Vintage Poppy Bigger December '09, Picket Fence Bigger May '11
• Crate Emma's Shoppe Smaller June '11

And a PageMaps sketch to go with it.  The link is below - due Saturday evening.

I'm off to be productive - hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! (oh (sniff) my (wiping eye) . . .that's a good one)

Happy Wednesday!

Out With the Old, In With the New Winner

First I need to do a little shout out for Sous Chef, Amy Crockett (her blog is HERE) who has a layout that was picked up by Cricut magazine.  Look for it in the December issue.  Amy does fantastic work and if she lived closer I know she'd be on my butt to use my Cricut, because she can seriously work hers!

Now.  Winners.  From last week's layout upload, of which there were 26.  26!!  Deanna's number came up.

I'll draw a "Follower" if I can actually get access to my Followers.  Right now I can see I have them, but can't see them individually.  Hopefully I can find a fix.

Out With the Old, In With the New Day 8

Here is a great layout from July's Guest Designer, Kailyn Siebert.  She's used the Bigger July kit, the My Mind's Eye line.  She has a great newly redesigned blog HERE.  I'm loving the flowers she made with the crepe paper ribbon in the kit.  So cute!

Today's challenge is to use the older kit of your choice and combine it with one of Kailyn's techniques.  She's got several on the above layout, which may be new to you:  the pleated flower, the glitter, the use of more than one patterned paper, even the layering she's done.  Layout for this challenge is due Saturday evening.

Happy Tuesday,

Out With the Old, In With the New Day 7

I hope you all had a great weekend.  Enjoyed some out door time.  Some family time.  Some croppin' time.  We had another sport-free weekend.  Laid back.  Just the weather kept things interesting.


So we start week #2 of the Out with the Old/In with the New.  How'd everyone do?  Are you digging down into that stash to unearth past treasures?  Remember this is just about working with what we have.  If something in the challenge doesn't match up with what you have on hand, substitute baby.  If I call for ribbon and you're working really hard to use up kits, and the kit you have doesn't have ribbon, cut your own "ribbon" from strips of patterned paper in the kit, or grab some leftovers from another layout.  If I said, buttons, and you're not a button person, think round and try brads, eyelets (eyelets?  blast from the past) or even punched circles.


Monday. . . and I need something bright to get my eyes open this morning; coffee's not gonna be enough.  So I have this nice, bright color scheme to look for in your supply of kits.  I love these colors - they make me think of Popsicles, flip-flops, toe-nail polish, swimsuits and pool towels.

Past Kits with this color scheme:

• SEI Mimosa, Bigger April '09
• Bo Bunny Popsicle, Smaller July '09
• My Mind's Eye Colorful Christmas, January '10
• Sassafras Lass Sweet Marmalade, Smaller January '10
• We R Memory Keepers Hippity Hop, Smaller April '10
• Basic Grey Green @ Heart and Jillibean Egg Drop Soup - Bigger April '10
• American Crafts City Park, Bigger January '10
• Jillibean Blossom Soup, Bigger April '11
• We R Memory Keepers Peep, Smaller April '11
• Fancy Pants Beach Babe, Smaller July '11 - if you're an autoshipper, you should see your kit this week

Link up your projects by Saturday night, July 16th to be eligible for the next round of goodies.  Now, to clarify, you don't need to enter every challenge to be eligible for prizes.  So if you're on vacation and miss two, but complete two, you're still in the weekly drawings.  Each completed challenge, however, will get you another entry in the drawing.

I'm done with my Monday chores, except the bring down of the laundry, ick.  So I'm off to getting shipping stuff done.

Happy Monday.