Creative Estates, Bats and More

My friend, Shey, is planning a creative event, Creative Estates, in Arizona in April. She said that the three day of the event will include creativity classes on photography, scrapbooking, sewing and more. Plus there will be a handmade market where you can shop. Who wouldn't love that? I've been having a lot of fun with the October Scrapbook Circle kit. The Parisian Anthology goods by House of 3 in this kit are amazing. The paper has a vinyl finish that resists misting. On this layout, I sprayed the paper with Glimmer Mist and then wiped the paper with a paper towel so that the vinyl doilies would stay white.

This next idea was shared by Char at Crap I've Made and I really want to do this. Now that Silhouette has come out with software for the Mac, I can finally download shapes from their store! One of my first downloads will be these bats. Just cut the bats from vinyl and stick to the light fixture. So clever!
Thanks for stopping by!

Favorite Disney Rides

Today I finally has a little time to create with the upcoming October Scrapbook Circle kit. The bright colors from the Glitz Scarlett papers were so fun to work with. Plus, I really like the contrast of the Pink Paislee Parisian Anthology white paper and artisan elements. One of my favorite things about this layout is the number rub-ons I put across the top of the photos. Such a cheery set of scrapbooking goods. Everything on this page came from the kit. Fun way to document our favorite rides at Disneyland.

Vienna and Camping

This summer I was lucky enough to get to go on two fabulous vacations. One was a camping trip to the beach in San Diego and the other was a trip with my husband to Austria.

We started off our summer beach camping with friends for a few days near San Diego. We fell asleep to the sound of the waves each night and ate way too much while relaxing at the beach.

I put together a layout with a few of my favorite photos from the camp site.

One of the cities we visited in Austria was Vienna. I combined photos from a few of my favorite sites around Vienna for this layout.
The Glitz frame stamp made a perfect accent for my photos.Such great vacations!

Supplies
Camping layout: Glitz Kismet paper, glitzers, alpha and frosting.
Vienna layout: Glitz Distressed Couture paper, stickers and red alpha.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Photo Booth, Chalkboard and a Peek

I just came across a cool site, La Photo Cabine, that creates vintage style photo booth photos. All you need is a camera on your computer.I just did a little test of the photo booth and here are my photos.Pretty fun. I'm going to show this to my kids. I think they will LOVE this. You can print the photos directly from the site or download them to your computer. A bonus: it's free!

This digital chalkboard paper collection is only $1 today at jessicasprauge.com. I'm not a digi scrapper, but I do love printing out digital elements and using them on my paper projects. Really loving the look of this chalkboard set!
Finally, wanted to share a little peek of the October Scrapbook Circle kit with you.
I'm so excited about this kit! Lots of brand new goodness from Pink Paislee Parisian Anthology, Glitz Scarlett and October Afternoon School House. More peeks coming soon.

Carving Pumpkins

We haven't carved pumpkins yet this year, but I did just do a layout on last year's pumpkin carving fun.

I used the Scrapbook Circle Spooky Town Kit for this layout.The My Mind's Eye die cuts were perfect accents for this page.
Looking forward to more pumpkin carving next month!

I think I'm Hungry

I guess it doesn't help that I haven't eaten breakfast yet, but I think that these foods need to make it onto my table in the near future.

Creamy Cauliflower Soup with Bacon and Gorgonzola from Steamy Kitchen.

This looks so delicious. Now we just need the temperature to drop below 100 degrees so that I feel like I can eat soup for dinner without overheating.

Have you seen the newest issue of the Sweet Paul Magazine?
Be sure to check out the 1,000 layer cake on page 53. And the Salted Carmel Cake on page 54. And the Goat Cheese and Dill Quiche on page 89. Yum!

Tonight, my sister is making me the best carrot cake recipe ever from this cookbook for MY BIRTHDAY!
YAY! It will be fun to celebrate with family tonight.

Today's Interesting Finds

Almost everyday I pour through Google reader checking out many blogs for ideas and inspiration.

I thought I'd share a few of my finds from my morning scroll though blog land.

Seesaw has created these beautiful letterpressed 2011 calendars. Each page has two months at the bottom. I love the geometric shapes and gold metallic foil. You can see more images on Angela Hardison's blog.
Here the calendars are framed without the months. Love that the calendar is a piece of art.These Echo Park digital files are available today for only $1 at JessicaSprague.com. Both the Halloween paper and Halloween elements are on sale. I'm thinking I may need to add these to my stash of Halloween goodies.I have a love/hate relationship with headbands. I love how they look on others or in the store, but then when I try them on, I don't like how they look. Anyone else have this problem? This braided headband could be worth trying though. I love that it has so many colors and would go with so many different outfits.Sometimes I really wish that I knew how to sew. I might sew a cute ruffle table cloth like the one below if/when I buy a sewing machine and learn to sew. You can check out the tutorial here if you want to learn to sew one of these yourself. So many things to learn and do everyday!That's all for now. Hope you are having a great day!

Elle's Studio Peeks

Happy Tuesday to you!

So far it's been a very productive day. Love that. I helped out in two of my kids' classes for a few hours this morning. I was even able to sneak in a quick lunch date with my husband. I've worked my way through a bunch of email and I finally took photos of a few of my recent cards and layouts. They are all for design teams, so I can't share full images yet, but I thought I'd show a few peeks at my Elle's Studio stuff. The full gallery will be up next week.


Hope your day is going great! I'm getting together tonight with a few friends for dinner and games. Need to whip up a quick and yummy dessert.

Another Busy Week

As usual, it's been another crazy busy week around here. We got away up to Sedona last weekend with some friends. It was nice to get away and relax for a few days.

While we were in Sedona, we tried a crazy/amazing home made dessert from a local bakery. Actually it was at NY Bagels and Deli, but they have a bakery inside. I don't even know what this dessert is called. Here's a look at the dessert before we dug in.The inside was layered with chocolate cake, chocolate mousse and cheesecake. Then the entire creation was covered in chocolate. Wow. Who thinks of this kind of dessert?Also while in Sedona, I played around with taking pictures of our friend's baby. He was sitting on my lap and I kept snapping photos. This one is my favorite.I spent the last couple of days getting all of the Scrapbook Circle September kits shipped out. Now I will hopefully have a little time to create more with my kit. I have a few ideas floating around in my head right now.

Another project that is taking up some of my time is that I am posting design inspiration posts at Design.org. Stop by sometime if you have a chance and check it out.

Hope you are having a fantastic day!

Being Thankful

I was just sitting here thinking about how blessed I am today. Everyday. There is never a perfect day, but I try to focus on the good rather than the bad each day.

Of course, there are so many big things that I am thankful for like my husband, kids, parents, siblings, health and my home.

Today, I am also thankful for these smaller things too.

Time away with my family and friends in Sedona for the weekend
The crispy sourdough bread grilled cheese with fresh cracked pepper I ate for lunch
Watching the kids play air hockey for hours
Card games until way too late last night
A warm, sunny day
A pedicure earlier this week
A inspiring church meeting
Homemade pies (chocolate & banana cream)
Relaxing in the hotel hot tub last night
A good night's sleep
My kids playing together
A new book waiting to be started
My view tonight right before sunset

Photo Booth Fun

Last weekend our family went to a friend's first birthday party. The parents had a photo booth set up where we could go in and take pictures. We all had fun playing in the photo booth.

Here's a look at a few of the picutures we took.
This was such a fun party idea and I hope to do this at a party we host sometime!

Supplies: Paper & Stickers: Glitz, Snapshot Tag: Shabby Chic Designs.

Birthday Gift Idea

A couple of days ago I was trying to come up with a little birthday gift idea for a friend. I remembered this post that Audrey made over at the Scrapbook Circle blog and then I knew what I wanted to do: make bottle cap magnets.

I punched circles to fill the bottlecaps and then added things that were on my scrapbook table like buttons, chipboard pieces and a little plastic butterfly. I then covered it all with Glossy Accents and let it dry overnight. Once the bottle caps were dry, I glued little magnets to the back.
I found a round tin to hold the magnets in my stash and covered it with paper so it matched the magnets. Of course, I needed a card to go with it. This was a really quick card because I just used a few different stickers from the SBC Sept. Kit and layered them on the Crate wood grain paper.I also decided to give my friend a yummy snack too, so I filled a jar from IKEA with chocolate and yogurt covered pretzels. I used the silhouette to cut the "happy birthday" letters from white fuzzy vinyl and sprayed it with apricot chalk board mist.It was fun putting together a hand made gift for my friend!

To Do Lists and a Card

I'm feeling pretty organized today. A couple of days ago I added the TeuxDeux (To Do) app to my phone and I've been checking things off my list ever since. I am so much more productive when I write something down that I want to do. Just looking at it on a list makes me want to do it. Anyone else a big list maker?

After this post, I'll get to cross this blog post off of my list. Love that.

Today I wanted to share a birthday card I just put together with the September Scrapbook Circle Kit. The Crate Restoration line is amazing to work with.


The yellow flowers in this kit were made by one of the talented SBC DT girls, Tessa. She has a great etsy shop where she sells the flowers and a lot of other great things. Thanks for the beautiful flowers, Tessa!

Okay, time to see what is next on my list.