MLS Teams Up With 2 Peas

My Little Shoebox + Two Peas in a Bucket are teaming up to host a layout challenge just for you starting NSD weekend and running through the end of May for two peas community members + my little shoebox fans! Entering couldn't be easier - here's what you'll need to do :

*Create a layout of any theme and size using 85% My Little Shoebox Product.

*Upload your project to the gallery - don't forget to check the "my little shoebox + two peas layout contest" box under member challenges to be included in the challenge!

*Your layout should have at least FIVE tags associated with it.

*Your layout should have at least THREE related products associated with it. Please note that to associate a product to your project, it must be available in the Two Peas store.

*Projects must be uploaded by 11:59 p.m. CST May 31, 2010 to be entered into the challenge.

*two peas + my little shoebox will select two winners who will each receive a package from my little shoebox valued at $100.


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Happy NSD weekend!!!

All A Flutter | My Little Shoebox

Spring is here and the big beautiful butterflies from MLS - All A Flutter line are floating all across this layout of my handsome boys "posing" in the Easter outfits that Grandmom bought.

Tattered Angels was generous enough to donate product to our DT and I was more than happy to put it to good use!

The following are step by step directions for creating the "zebra striped" butterfly in the top left corner. I started with a sheet of white cardstock. Using a craft knife, I carefully cut a butterfly from the patterned paper and then placed it where I wanted it on the background.

Next, I spritzed Suede and Olive Vine glimmer mist on the cardstock, over the butterfly to create the resist seen here.

Next, I took the negative space from the butterfly that I cut out and trimmed a rub-on so that it was slightly bigger than the negative space. I used Hambly's wood grain rub-on here.

I placed the negative space butterfly over the resisted butterfly on the cardstock and then applied the rub-on on top of that.

This is is what the finished butterfly looks like. Finally, I outlined the butterfly with a Sakura red glaze pen.

Here's a quick card that I created from the All A Flutter line. It's hard to see from this photo, but I used a clear glaze pen on all of the polka dots on the flowers. I love how these glaze pens add dimension and shine to everything you apply them to! The sentiment was handwritten with a plain fine point marker and then taken over the top with a brown glaze pen.

We are so thankful to Love My Tapes and Sakura for sponsoring our design team!!





I used the adhesive runner and glazed pens on the projects in this post.

Thanks for stopping by,

Creative Imaginations Sketch Contest

Creative Imaginations has a sketch contest going on until the end of the month. Check out the blog for complete info and enter for a chance to win $75.00 in the new IOD Loolah Collection.

Here's my take on this month's sketch. To say I had fun creating this is an understatement. First off, I absolutely adore this line, Ooh La La by Samantha Walker and secondly, I had the opportunity to break out the luminarte.

To create this layout: Start by cutting raindrops from paper and layering them on a white cardstock background and spritz with Apple Blossom luminarte. Paint French script stamp with Burnt Umber twinkling H2Os and then randomly stamp on the background. Splatter sunflower twinkling H2Os on background with a paint brush. Remove the raindrops and trace masked raindrops with brown pen. Punch scallop into brown cardstock and place approx. 2” from bottom of background. Layer with a border punched strip from French Scroll, the “Ohh La La” strip from Parisian Border, and a 2” strip from French Patch. Place 4 ½” x 2 ½” strip of “cursive words” from French Patch behind photo mat. Punch borders from cardstock and French Scroll and adhere to top right side of background. Embellish layout with flowers, rub-ons, rhinestone flourish 3D stickers, and felt alphabet.

here are some close-ups of the details

supplies: patterned paper, stickers, rub-ons, paint, coloring spritz, felt alpha- Creative Imaginations; cardstock- American Crafts, Bazzill; flowers- Prima; gems- Want 2 Scrap; pen- sharpie; stamp- Hero Arts; border punches- Fiskars, EK Success; Adhesive- Helmar

Thanks so much for looking!


Happy Earth Day!!

Catching Up

Yikes! Has it really been 9 days since I last posted? I guess time flies even when you're bored out of your mind! It's been 8 months since I've been unemployed and I'm getting kind of bored! Not that I don't have anything to do, there's plenty along the lines of housework, which I HATE, running between karate and soccer practice, dragging my butt to the gym and attending seminars given by the small business development center, I'm just accustomed to having a packed daily schedule. It seems that my procrastinator gene has surfaced and I haven't gotten as far in my home study photography program or business development as I had hoped.

Don't get me wrong, I love having the opportunity to take some down time and spend more time with my children, I just need to get on my grind with making other things happen, too. Unemployment won't last forever and in my household, we need 2 incomes...

But on another note...

My baby turned 2 on the 9th!!!! I tried to post some pics of his birthday party one day, but my computer was PMSing! We gave him an ice cream party at this cute little parlor near our home and all the kids had fun...except Xander! He was fine at first, but once the children started arriving and they turned down the lights, he clung to me for dear life. Here's a photo of him blowing out his candles. He's so adorable with those kissable lips!


One thing I LOVE about being home is having the time to scrap (well except when my mojo packs up and checks out on me). I created this layout for Petaloo using the uber adorable Dear Lizzy line from American Crafts. Although the layout clearly is not about Spring, I like how the colors, the banners, and the playful butterflies really bring out the joy in the photos that Troy took of Donovan and me on Easter.

I used Petaloo sequins to add dimension to the flower centers.

I created the butterflies using Petaloo dazzlers and gems.

supplies: patterned paper- American Crafts, My Mind's Eye; Flowers, gems, sequins- Petaloo; rub-on- DCWV; stickles- Ranger; cardstock- American Crafts, alpha stickers- American Crafts, Bella Blvd; adhesive- Helmar

This wall hanging was fun to make. I plan to hang it in the boys' room once we get everything moved around. I used Away We Go from My Little Shoebox. Don't you just love those cars?


supplies: Patterned paper, alpha stickers. die cuts, transparency- My Little Shoebox; chipboard- Pink Paislee, K&Co, Zsiage, Heidi Swapp; ink- Clearsnaps; pen- sharpie; cardstock- Bazzill; glitter- sparkle n sprinkle; adhesive- Helmar

Thanks for stopping by!!

First Buzz & Bloom Post

Hello everyone!! I am finally able to share with you my very first post for Buzz and Bloom's blog. I thought it would be cool to share a technique with you since a lot of my layouts are technique based in some form or other.

My layout is about Autumn, so I to use 2 different chipboard leaves: CB Leaves and CB Retro Leaves to accent my photo.

I started by inking the CB Leaves with brown chalk ink and then coating it with rock candy crackle paint. I left the CB Retro Leaves raw and just coated them with rock candy crackle paint.

I used alcohol ink on the MIR Be Mine - Love embellishment. **Please note: alcohol inks caused the mirror to crack** I used a woodgrain background and crackle paints on my layout, so I didn't mind the cracks because I thought they added to the theme.

I dabbed the CB Shelby Alphabet - Uppercase with the remaining alcohol ink so that the colors coordinated with my layout.

I used the denim and corduroy tokens that Div (the owner) handed out at CHA to create these fun fabric flowers. See below for step-by-step directions.

I wanted my flowers to have a little sparkle to them, so I spritzed the tokens with vanilla shimmer smooch spritz and then frayed the edges.

I then cut the token into a spiral as seen here.

I started from the outer edge and rolled the entire spiral until I reached the center.

I wanted my flower to be a little loose, so I played around with it to get it to unravel a bit.

Once I was happy with the flower, I used a hot glue gun to adhere the flower to it's center. Repeat for the corduroy coaster.

I hope this tutorial has inspired you to give a whirl! Until the next post...happy scrapping!

Hanging With My Boys

We're having unusually warm temperatures here, today was somewhere between high 80's and low 90's. Donovan is out on Spring Break and he and Xander were going stir crazy, so I took the to the park for a nice little picnic. Actually, I just bought Wendy's and we sat in the grass under a big shady tree, but it was nice to get some fresh air and just hang out.

Of course, I had my camera in tow. I needed some updated photos of the 2 of them. These are just a few of my favorites.

You can tell they're related; they stand and walk alike.

My baby is 2 days away from his second birthday. He's becoming so independent.


Donovan was ready to go. Can you tell by the look on his face? He can only tolerate the sun for so long (just like his daddy).

Away We Go | My Little Shoebox

I am lovin' the bright colors and adorable car images on My Little Shoebox's new line, Away We Go.

I played on the images here and used them to create a layout about how fast my Donovan is growing. The other day we stood face to face in the kitchen and I was shocked at how much he's grown lately. He's a lot closer to my eye level than I realized. Gosh, before I know it, he'll be taller than me!

Speaking of my "big" little guy--we had a lunch date this afternoon. I took him to Friendly's as a treat for sitting through a 2 hour seminar with me with little interruption. He was so cute, even tried to open my car door for me like a little gentleman.


This is a super quick card that I created, again using the large image.


If you haven't visited the blog lately, get on over there. My Little Shoebox is hosting a design team call...you have to be in it to win it! Good luck to all how apply!