joy|Whimsical Twist December challenge.

Christmas time is in full swing around here! The stockings are hung and the shopping is getting done! 

Today I'm sharing a December Christmas themed layout from with photos from 1986. I was two years old. 

Right now all December Days kits are just $35 and each come with some exclusive flair!  They are the perfect start for documenting your December and holiday memories or creating beautiful Christmas cards.  You can check them out HERE in the shop.

We hope you'll join our challenge - create a project with a December or Holiday theme and link it up on the WT blog and you could win a $15 gift card to the Whimsical Twist shop!

There are plenty of ways to enter to win:

• Link up your December or Holiday project (this will give you 5 entries!)
• Like our Facebook page
• Leave some blog love HERE
• Follow us on Twitter
• Tweet this giveaway

The December and Holiday challenge closes on December 20 with the winner to be announced on Monday, December 23. Have fun!
Most everything I used can be found in the Whimsical Twist store and I've provided some links below. I used a good mix of new + old with the Studio Calico Print Shop line and some embellishments from my stash. Other items not linked below are the Jenni Bowlin gold rub ons, Heidi Swapp stickers, Studio Calico stamp set, American Crafts glitter tape, VersaColor (cardinal) ink. 

Printshop 12x12 Paper Pad - Studio Calico

Printshop Gold Star Rub-ons - Studio Calico

Everyday Sugardots by Prima Marketing

Finnley Whatnots Die Cuts by Glitz Designs

InLinkz.com

I love this [LCOM sketch challenge #49].

Hello! Today I'm sharing my layout for our sketch challenge #49 at LCOM! 

This is a great sketch for fitting several photos on one layout. I didn't follow the sketch exactly - I didn't use the same number of photos or the same sizes for my photos and my placement is a little different as well. Fitting seven photos on one page is a huge accomplishment for me! I printed my photos and cropped them based on the subject matter of the photos - not on the sizes. Then I just laid them all out how they looked best. Here's what I came up with:

 These are all photos taken with my phone at a concert in October. We saw Gary Allan + Sheryl Crow in Detroit. This layout is pretty simple because of the number of photos and because of the design and bold colors in the background patterned paper.

Here is the sketch:

You can view some inspiration from the other design team members HERE. Our December prize is a copy of Scrapbook & Cards Today's new 2014 Scrapbooking Planner and Sketch Calendar! Here's how you can join us:

1. Make a newly created project using the provided sketch and upload it to your blog or online gallery.

2. Then leave a link to your project using the Inlinkz widgett. Please use a direct link to your LCOM Sketch post and not just your blog address.
3. If you upload to online galleries, please also use tag/keyword LCOM49.  LCOM products are NOT required to participate, and you can enter as many times as you want. If you don't have a particular shape indicated in the sketch, feel free to substitute.
4. There is no time limit - you can always play any week at any time, but the linking form will close on the last day of the month at 8:00pm (Atlantic Standard Time) to allow us to find a prize winner.

LCOM design team call|layout team and card team!

We are seeking individuals who are passionate about creating and inspiring others. If you are not afraid to think outside the box, let loose and have fun getting creative with your projects, then you are perfect for our Let's Capture Our Memories Layout Design Team and/or Card Design Teams! 

Requirements: Let's Capture Our Memories is seeking designers who are interested in working with a team to create layouts and cards using sketches. You love sharing your projects and you take awesome pictures of them. You must have an active blog and you are willing to promote Let's Capture Our Memories on any online galleries/forums you participate as well as all aspects of social media and you are able to commit to a 4 month term from January 1, 2014 to April 30, 2014. 

Responsibilities: 
1) Create 2-3 projects per month. 
2) Post your projects on your own blog, your Facebook page and/or Twitter account on a weekly basis. 
3) Promote Let's Capture Our Memories through your own personal blog, Facebook, Twitter and any online forums you are able to. 
4) You will create projects on a rotational basis as scheduled. Send your "assignments" in a timely manner. 
5) Upload your Layout and/or Card Design Team projects into the LCOM gallery monthly. 
6) Some Forum participation will be required. 

We are also looking for creative individuals to create sketches for our Layout and Card Design Teams. 

What’s in it for you? 
*Opportunity to design for a growing and talented scrapbooking blog! 
*Recognition for you and your blog! 
*Experience, inspiration and the chance to be on a seriously amazing team!! 

If you're thinking about applying (and you should - Isabelle is awesome!) you can view the blog post and details HERE.

December Color Spot|Let's Capture our Memories

Isabelle asked me to do the color spot feature for December and I was really excited. I found this color combo to be perfect for a photo from last Christmas I'd been wanting to scrapbook. 

This photo was the one I used for our Christmas cards last year. It took a little bit of work and a lot of treats to get 'the photo. Here's my layout:

I used some bits from Glitz Design's Hello December collection and some bits from the Gingerbread Studio Calico November add on. The mists are Studio Calico Mistery Huey's Hey Diddle Diddle and Tattered Angels Chalkboard mist in Seven Seas.The stamp set for 'December memories' is a very old set from my stash by Autumn Leaves. 

I added some circle tags and note tags from Elle's Studio that are actually from the Spooky Tales and Summer Lovin' collections. Also from my stash is the Pink Paislee Luxe circle place mat and the oldoldold Jenni Bowlin gold tiny trim rub ons. Up on the top of the page, I also added some gold glitter tape from American Crafts and some gold washi from a SC kit earlier this year.

Isabelle joined in on this challenge as well! You can see her layout and the details of this challenge on the LCOM blog HERE.

bad dog [LCOM sketch #48].

Hey people! Today is reveal day for Let's Capture our Memories sketch #48 and this sketch is a fun one! Here's it is: 

 Here's my page:

You may remember THIS story from last year, when I found Bentley had grabbed the toilet paper roll from the bathroom and destroyed it in the hallway. It's not funny, but it's funny. I know this picture isn't very good (it was taken with my phone) but his face is so innocent and happy. Totally cracked me up. This is exactly how I found him too. Just sitting there, all proud.

The polka dot patterned papers are from Polka Dot Party (American Crafts). The camera paper is Studio Calico (Tourist). I used some labels from Elle's Studio and Chic Tags. The "adventure" stamp is from the Roundabout SC kit and is stamped with onyx ink by Versafine. The wood veneer tag and arrow are both SC and the sticker is from my stash (old 7 Gypsies).

The December prize is a copy of Scrapbook & Cards Today 2014 scrapbooking planner and sketch calendar! You can view the other DT members projects and all the details of the challenge HERE.
 

How to Play Along: 

1. Make a newly created project using the provided sketch and upload it to your blog or online gallery.

2. Then leave a link to your project using the Inlinkz widget. Please use a direct link to your LCOM Sketch post and not just your blog address.
3. If you upload to online galleries, please also use tag/keyword LCOM48. LCOM products are NOT required to participate, and you can enter as many times as you want. If you don't have a particular shape indicated in the sketch, feel free to substitute.
4. There is no time limit - you can always play any week at any time, but the linking form will close on the last day of the month at 8:00pm (Atlantic Standard Time) to allow us to find a prize winner.

smile. [LCOM sketch challenge #47].

Time for our next sketch challenge at Let's Capture our Memories. This sketch was a little tricky to turn into a layout - to me, it seems more geared toward cards. I kept the sentiment/title in the same area, as well as the main focal point/photo. To help mimic the borders from the sketch, I used layers of paint, paper, border stickers, and embellishments. Here's what I did:

me and my brother @ our cousin's wedding in October

This was our sketch:

you can see some resemblance, right?

I used almost all Webster's Pages Recorded collection. The papers, the "today" sticker, and the "2" circle embellishment (cut from patterned paper), as well as the arrow paperclip are all from that collection. 

The "smile" and the grey arrow embellishments are from Glitz Bits and Pieces from the Wild and Free collection. They're trimmed down. 

I dug into my stash for the leaf chipboard embellishment (Crate Paper Acorn Ave) and the "love this photo" sticker (Webster's Pages Everyday Eclectic). 

The November prize is a $10 credit to the LCOM store! You can view all the details about entering HERE.

The time I bought a house...

I've been looking for a couple of months. I've seen about 20 houses.

This was my first love. It's just under 2200 square feet. Four bedrooms (or 3 bedrooms + an office), 2.5 baths. I love tri-levels. So much space. Nice yard, attached garage with a pulldown stairs for extra storage above the garage. The kitchen is lovely. Hardwood floors throughout + slate at the entrance. There's an added on sunroom with skylights that is so perfect for relaxing and reading a good book.

It's basically move in ready. The location is the best part. Super nice neighborhood, older subdivision. Out in the country, off the main road. No traffic. Quiet.

After it'd been on the market for about a month, they lowered the asking price by $5,000. I still hesitated about a week.

6/14/13 I finally put an offer in.
6/15/13 They called back. I have until tomorrow to give my best offer. 
6/16/13 I gave my best offer. 
6/17/13 I didn't get it.

6/26/13 We looked at three more houses. 
7/19/13 We looked at more houses.

 8/7/13 I've looked at more houses. I found another one that I really like.

It's about 1500 square feet, three bedrooms, two bathrooms. It has two separate living spaces, which I'm considering more of a priority now that I've seen more homes. The fireplace in the family room is amazing. Easily my favorite part of the home. They've started putting crown molding up in several of the rooms. The master bedroom is huge with a private bath and a walk in closet. The laundry room is actually a room, unlike in a lot of houses where it has just been in a closet in the kitchen. I hate that. It sits on a hill and the backyard is fenced in. It's a chain link fence so in the future I'd love to replace it with 6' privacy fencing but it will work for now.

9/5/13 I put an offer. We count offered back and forth a few times. Ultimately, she would not come down enough on the price and I thought she was asking too much so I rejected her final offer and am still looking. 

10/23/13 I just put another offer on a house. I like it. It's a tri-level. It is just under 1500 square feet, three bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms. 

It's located in a quiet neighborhood on a cul de sac. The garage opens into the kitchen, which I decided could be a deal breaker for me. My friend bought an home in an expensive subdivision and you come in from her garage into their (carpeted) family room. I hate that. The garage is huge and includes a workbench (!) and I love that the driveway is to the side of the house, instead of in front of the house. I prefer this, which is funny because the previous two houses I loved both had garages right in front. The bedrooms are on the smaller side and so are the closets so there's not a ton of space but I'm gaining a garage for storage so that's ok. The full bathroom is on the small side, but the bright side of this is that it can be more of a private (master) bath since only the bedrooms and that bathroom are upstairs. The main living space is on the first level/basement which has an amazing fireplace.

this is the previous owner's photo

The laundry and half bath are also down there so it's convenient to do laundry while you're watching TV in the evenings and since this would be the main living space, the half bath down there is perfect for guests. I also plan to resurrect my treadmill from storage and have it down here. There's definitely enough room and since it's getting colder outside, I'm going to appreciate running indoors! It has a nice size backyard that is fenced in, but I want to replace it with a privacy fence in the future. It's a great size for a starter home for me with everything I'm looking for + the price is perfect.

10/25/13 We have an accepted offer!
10/28/13 The home inspection was done and there are some brick repairs to the chimney that I am asking the home owners to complete. 
11/4/13 The owner agreed to repair the bricks and I met with the financial guy today. He said we should close in 10-12 days! Yikes.  
11/8/13 I found out my loan was approved! 
11/14/13 We closed today! Our original date was Nov 27 so this is a huge deal!
11/15/13 Mom and I started moving stuff in and cleaning.

Win a December Days kit [Whimsical Twist/Pink Paislee give away!].

Whimsical Twist is on the Pink Paislee blog today and there's a change to win the December Days kit! You MUST check this out: 

appreciate|Whimsical Twist challenge.

It's time for our next challenge at Whimsical Twist - what are you thankful for? 

We don't see many sunsets that are this beautiful around here, so when we do I always stop and appreciate them. This one took place a few months ago. Love that pink sky! 

The rules for our Grateful Challenge are simple!  Create a project with the focus of being grateful/thankful and link it up on the WT blog and you could win a $15 gift card to the Whimsical Twist shop! There is a rafflecopter to make it super easy and other ways you can enter too!

Printshop Gold Star Rub-ons - Studio Calico

Elle's Studio Summer Lovin' Pennants

Elle's Studio Seredipity Pennants

Basic Grey Carte Postale Transparancies & Die Cuts

InLinkz.com

merry.

It's that time again... 'tis the season! I received my SC November kits today and I could not wait to get into my Gingerbread kit. Seriously. Holy Christmas. I found a sweet photo from two Christmases ago when we were fostering Choco. He was the sweetest and most tolerable of Bentley of any dog I've ever met.

Pretty much everything came from the kit. I added a few things from my stash - the gold washi, doily, and the gold enamel dots (Basic Grey) are all of previous SC kits. The green star is an old Heidi Swapp resist chipboard piece and the gold glitter tape is American Crafts.

I used this sketch from week 2 at Scrap Much?

A [LCOM sketch #45].

Hey guys! I'm here to share my 12x12 layout for the Let's Capture our Memories sketch #45. 

This sketch started out as a challenge for me because 1) there are a lot of photos and 2) I don't normally scrap photos that small. So here's what I did: 

I used a lot of the new Print Shop line from Studio Calico. It's so pretty.

• wood veneer tiny hearts
• wood veneer hand drawn stars
• vellum die cuts
• rub ons - gold stars
• 12x12 paper (background) - monochromatic

+ some older Studio Calico stamps + the Studio Calico Amsterdam add on kit stamp + the Dublin project life add on stamp. I used pigment ink (yellow) from American Crafts and onyx Versafine ink.

Here are the details for the challenge. The November prize is a $10 gift certificate to the LCOM store!

How to Play Along: 

1. Make a newly created project using the provided sketch and upload it to your blog or online gallery.

2. Then leave a link to your project using the Inlinkz widget HEREt. Please use a direct link to your LCOM Sketch post and not just your blog address.
3. If you upload to online galleries, please also use tag/keyword LCOM45. LCOM products are NOT required to participate, and you can enter as many times as you want. If you don't have a particular shape indicated in the sketch, feel free to substitute.
4. There is no time limit - you can always play any week at any time, but the linking form will close on the last day of the month at 8:00pm (Atlantic Standard Time) to allow us to find a prize winner.

Whimsical Twist blog hop|my top 5 product picks!

Welcome to the Whimsical Twist Favorite Blog Hop!  Hopefully you reached me from Carrie's blog, but if not head back to Whimsical Twist blog  and start the hop from there!

Today I am sharing a favorite project and 5 of my favorite items in the Whimsical Twist Shop.

Enamel dots, wood veneer, and labels are embellishments I find myself reaching for on every layout. For this reason, I chose to feature some Elle's Studio pennants and tidbits, Freckled Fawn wood veneer arrows, and Prima Sugardots (yellow hearts). The Recorded collection from Webster's Pages is new and I am loving the colors and designs in this collection pack. Everyday Eclectic was my MOST favorite collection of all time and these two collections are both by Allison Kreft. I used the 12x12 papers, the coordinating sticker sheets, and the paperclips (pink heart).

All blog hops should have a giveaway and this is no exception! At each stop along the hop, make sure that you leave a comment so you can be entered to win a $20 gift card to the Whimsical Twist shop!  One random commenter who has commented on ALL of the blogs will win!

Your next top will be: LISA
Here is the complete hop in order, just in case you get lost along the way!
Whimsical Twist - http://whimsicaltwist.com/blog/

Carrie - http://carrieshappyscrappin.blogspot.com/

Ashley - http://marklandandmain.blogspot.com/

Lisa - http://lisascreativeniche.blogspot.com/
Laurie - http://lauriedanielle.com

Sharm- http://craftyliciousme.blogspot.com

Sandi-  http://lifeatthebeach51.blogspot.com/

Alexandra- http://avc-creations.blogspot.gr/

Kristin- http://memoriesbythepageful-kristin.blogspot.com/
Charissa- http://www.akihasmommascraps.com

My photo is from my cousin's bridal shower in August. These cupcakes were SO delicious.

 

Elle's Studio Seredipity Pennants	Elle's Studio The Sweet Life Tidbits	Elle's Studio Serendipity Lil' Snippets - Labels	Anna Maire Sugardots by Prima Marketing
Recorded Collection Pack - Allison Kreft for Webster's Pages	Hearts & Arrows Paperclips - Webster's Pages	Recorded Alpha Sticker - by Allison Kreft for Webster's Pages	Arrow Wood Chips - Freckled Fawn

InLinkz.com

Adrienne Looman feature at Whimsical Twist!

If you missed the Whimsical Twist blog yesterday, be sure to stop by today. Today the WT design team is featuring projects using the new Family Traditions line by Webster's Pages that Adrienne Looman designed. 

Yesterday on the WT blog is an artist spotlight and interview with the great Adrienne Looman! Check it out HERE.There is a chance to win a $20 gift certificate to the WT shop - deadline to enter is Nov 15.

Stitch Fix review #2.

You can read about my first experience HERE where I didn't keep anything. It's been over a year and I've seen some really cute pieces in reviews so I decided to try again. Spoiler: it was another fail.

Here's what I got. I do feel like my stylist read my comments and tried to match me with what I was looking for. I also set up a Pinterest board this time and she referenced it so that was awesome too.

First, these maroon skinny pants with pleats. They had a hole in them; it looked like they had just split at the seam. But they were too big (size large) and I don't like pleats.

Next was this blouse, for which the stylist said she took inspiration from my Pinterest board. I liked the colors and I liked the idea of the design but it just wasn't right for me. It was shorter in the front and longer in the back and just had a large overall fit. When I leaned or moved the entire shirt fell off of me. It was really cute and if it fit better I would've kept it.

There was a pretty blue tunic, but the fit was too large which made the waist hit too low and it hung too long.

Then there was a wool coat but I have a similar black cardigan that fits much better. This was itchy and hot and I look like I'm headed to a funeral:

I returned everything this time, but if you want to try Stitch Fix out for yourself, please use my referral link.