{Rebecca} Catered Crop : Flower Power

  Love is the flower you've got to let grow.
   ~ John Lennon

I would be lieing if I said the first thing that popped into my head when this challenge was announced wasn't 70's pop music, orange and tie dye, peace and hippies, and VW vans. That was way before my time, but I still have always associated "Flower Power" with the generation that my parents were teenagers in. But of course, since that wasn't my generation, my card has absolutley nothing to do with 70's Flower Power. It took a much more shabby turn.

It has been a while since I crafted anything quite like this, but its a style I love and my pinterest boards are full of inspiration images that are more shabby and chic. I took the opportunity to create a girly card and pulled out my flowers and had a ball!

I can't wait to see what the other designers have created and encourage you to go take a peak, and if you have time, to play along with this challenge. Who doesn't love the prospect of getting to be Catered Crops guest designer? Fun, fun!
I'm so ready for Spring, aren't you? Let's celebrate with some Flower Power. Just include flowers somewhere in your project – as a stamped image, in your pattern paper, or as an embellishment – anyway you choose.

• Just show us any project using a flower.
• Include a link to us at Catered Crop or add our button, which you can grab on our sidebar or at our {button gallery}.
• Link up and link often, but be sure you link up by 8:00 PM EST on Saturday, March 30.
• Keep the party hopping by visiting the other players and leaving comments.
• Check back with us on March 31 to see if you've won an opportunity to be a guest designer.

CHALLENGES :

• Catered Crop : Flower Power
• Freshly Made Sketches : Sketch 78
• Paper Issues : Crafting with Flair!

Read more...

{Rebecca} Catered Crop : Framed

I was framed, framed, I was blamed, framed
Well, I never knew nothin, but I always get framed
Oh, framed.
   ~ Framed, sung by Ritchen Valens


My Mom turned 50 this year and I knew that even though she is a huge fan of my cards, this year, that wasn't going to be enough. The older I become, especially now that I have a baby girl, the more I realize all the sacrifices my Mom has made and the love she has poured in my life. I wanted some thing a little more meaningful and lasting to say how much I love her.

So, I took this challenge quite literally and created a "framed" project. Quite conveniently we had a very recent photograph of the entire family from my brothers wedding and created a wall hanging based on Proverbs 31, specifically choosing the verse "and her children shall rise up and call her blessed". 

 

This (bi)week at Catered Crop, we want to see you frame your focal point or frame your project – just include a frame somewhere in your project. 

• Just show us any project using a frame or mat.
• Include a link to us at Catered Crop or add our button, which you can grab on our sidebar or at our {button gallery}.
• Link up and link often, but be sure you link up by 8:00 PM EST on Saturday, March 16.
• Check back with us on March 17 to see if you've won an opportunity to be a guest designer.

Read more...

{Rebecca} Catered Crop Star Bright

For my part I know nothing with any certainty,
but the sight of the stars makes me dream.
   ~ Vincent Van Gogh



I knew right away that stars were going to len themselves perfectly for a baby boy card that was on my "to make" list. I love it when my commitments and my other to do lists coordinate so nicely!

 

SUPPLIES

My Minds Eye Paper, buttons

American Crafts Thickers, Floss

 Misc Ric Rac, buttons,

You have until March 2 to link up with this fun challenge! Be sure to check out the Catered Crop blog for more inspiration and all the details.

Challenges

Catered Crop : Star Bright

Paper Players : Buttons and Bows for Baby

Read more...

{Rebecca} Catered Crop Polkadots

 Round, soft, colorful, senseless and unknowing.
Polka-dots become movement . . . 
Polka dots are a way to infinity.
   ~ Yayoi Kusama





I think it may be very apparent given the name of this blog, that we're very excited about Polkadots over here. So when Linda announced the theme for the current Catered Crop Recipe Swap was polkadots, there were no complaints here! I decided to make two cards for the swap because you can never have to many polkadots, right? :)

SUPPLIES

My Minds Eye paper, rhinestones

Chatterbox Rub Ons

K & Co Chipboard Cutout

SUPPLIES

My Minds Eye Paper, rhinestones

Scrabble Tiles

CHALLENGES:

• Catered Crop Recipe Swap : Polkadots
• CAS-ual Fridays : Creative Letters
• Cardabilities : Sketch 68

Read more...

{Rebecca} Catered Crop : Knot Now

Another few weeks have flown by and I honestly can't tell you if I'm thrilled, or disappointing the Sofia seems to be growing just as quickly as time keeps passing. I'm pretty sure that at this rate she will be walking by the time she's 9 months old as she has already mastered sleeping through the night, smiling, holding her head up, and just generally falling into a routine and she's not even 6 weeks old. However, I'm not going to complain about any of these things, even though it means she's quickly leaving the newborn stage behind, though it does mean she's already not the itty bitty baby she once was.

Oh the hardships of life :)

Of course, with the passage of time that means its time for for another Catered Crop challenge! I had a lot of fun with this one (I always do!) : Know Now.

SUPPLIES:
My Minds Eye Honey Cake and Lime Twist Paper

Lilly Belle Paperie Ribbon

Be sure to hop over to the Catered Crop blog for full details on how to play along! You have until the 30th of September.

Challenges : 

• Catered Crop : Knot Now
• Paper Players : CAS with Banners
• CAS-ology : White
• DYSU : Flags

Read more...

{Rebecca} Catered Crop : No Stress to Distress & vintage freebie

I ran across this adorable vintage tag download a few months ago and knew I wanted to use it when the Quickfire Challenge at Catered Crop was announced. Feel free to download it to your computer and use it on your own project! Click the link for a higher resolution file. 

 (Vintage Tag Download)

"No Stress to Distress" was a perfect excuse to pull out the inks and just generally have fun with tearing and ripping and all around making things look a little more grungy, great fun!

SUPPLIES

My Minds Eye Paper

Prima Paper

Recolelctions Paper

Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch

Vintage rick-rack, ribbon, buttons, dictionary paper

I know you are going to love playing along with this challenge, there are some fantastic sponsors and Linda will be showcasing the rest of the teams projects on Saturday, you don't want to miss that reveal!

Read more...

{Sarah} Catered Crop: White Pages

I've never really gotten into the whole CAS thing when it comes to my paper crafting.  It is definitely a look that I admire and appreciate, but I like "stuff" too much and can't seem to help piling it on my pages.   However, when I saw this week's Recipe Swap over at the Catered Crop, I knew that it was a good time to try something a little bit different. 

I've had these images pinned to my Pinterest board for quite a while.  I love the simplicity of the white on white, and I am a huge fan of typographic art.  Unfortunately, with 4 little kids in the house, white is not a color I use very frequently in my decor.

However, I've always thought that these canvases would translate very well as a card. 

Supplies Used: American Crafts Cardstock & Ribbon

At first I was going to use Thickers (painted white) on a white cardstock background to achieve the look I was going for, but I couldn't find quite the right font in my stash.  Then I remembered that, (thanks to my wonderful husband) I have a Silhouette Cameo!!! and can cut out any shape that I want.  I simply created my graphic, mounted the words with foam adhesive for a bit of dimension and slipped a piece of ribbon in behind the words.  I originally intended to keep the whole card completely white, but it looked a little bit...boring... so I added just a touch of purple cardstock.  I finished it all off with a spray of glimmer mist, but I don't think that really shows up in the picture. 

Now head on over to the Catered Crop to check out all the details of this week's White Pages Recipe Swap!

Read more...

{Rebecca} Catered Crop White Pages Quickfire Challenge

Its time for another Recipe Exchange over at Catered Crop and let me tell you, this one was a challenge for me! White Pages, highlighting mainly well....the colour white. I'm not really a white person. I love color and patterns, textures, and basically anything besides just plain white. Case in point, there isn't a white wall in my house, every single wall is painted.

But I persisted and in the end was able to to create something that I'm rather happy with. I wasn't able to stick quite entirely with just white, so I compromised, but kept it simple with the addition of kraft paper.

SUPPLIES

White and Kraft paper from Stash

Starbucks cup liners

Vintage ribbons and buttons

Be sure to check out Sarah's project as well in a few days and the other gorgeous creations that I know the other ladies are cooking up. You still have almost 2 weeks to enter the challenge and I'm looking forward to see what you come up with.

Challenges :

• CAS-ual Fridays : Things in the Sky (star)
• Paper Play Challenges : Layer it Up!
• The Ribbon Girl : Bingo (pearls, lace, ribbon)
• The Pink Elephant : Ribbons Galore

Read more...

{Rebecca} Catered Crop : Washi Up, Doc

Very quick post to share my project for Washi Up, Doc? our newest challenge at Catered Crop. This challenge was so much fun, especially since our wonderful DT team leader sent us all free Washi Tape from our Sponsor to work with. Thanks Linda!

I couldn't just create one project for this fun challenge, so created a page and a card using left over scraps and trying to be sure I incorporated the same sort of elements.

SUPPLIES

October Afternoon Paper

American Crafts Thickers and Knock Out Punch

Scrabble Tiles

Sassafrass Lass Sticker

Cosmo Cricket Cloud Chipboard

Vintage Floss, buttons, and ribbon

Chickydoodle Washi Tape

Challenges 

• Retro Sketches : Sketch # 22
• Case Study : Challenge # 101
• Really Reasonable Ribbon : Sizzling Summer Colours and Ribbon
• Catered Crop : Washi Up, Doc?

The End =)

 

Read more...

{Sarah} Catered Crop: Washi Tape

I freely admit to everyone (except my husband), that half of my love for scrapbooking is the excuse it gives me to shop for supplies.  I am such a sucker for pretty little packages, so of course I have jumped right on the washi tape bandwagon.  There are so many gorgeous designs to choose from, and as more and more manufactures are creating decorative tape to coordinate with their lines... well, let's just say there is way too much temptation out there!

So I have been happily accumulating a little stash of pretty washi tapes...and trying to come up with creative ideas for how to actually use it.  That is why I was so excited to see this week's recipe swap over at the Catered Crop - Washis Up.  

Supplies used - October Afternoon patterned paper, alphabet stickers,

 label stickers, American Crafts cardstock & thickers, Basic Grey glazed brads,

 Carolee's Creations mini alpha stickers, Studio Calico die-cut stickers

Linda put together a fabulous inspiration board of ways to use washi tape, but in the end, I used my tape in a really basic way on this layout.  One of my favorite things about washi tape is that in addition to being pretty and decorative, it is also functional - as adhesive (that is wonderfully re-positionable!)

And if you need, or want, to add to your own washi tape collection, make sure you link up an entry to this week's challenge because one lucky winner will be receiving a $25 gift certificate from Chickydoddle!

Read more...

Catered Crop: Ruffles {Sarah}

I was pretty excited when I saw what was on the menu for this week's Catered Crop Recipe Swap - Ruffles!  I have a bit of a ruffle obsession at the moment and have tons of pins on my Pinterest boards of projects that include ruffles.

When I set out to make my project for this challenge, I fully intended to go completely overboard on the ruffles - since it is a sweet sixteen card for a girly girl, I figured I could get away with making it ridiculously frilly and over-the-top.  But as I was playing with the papers and ribbons I just could not get it to work together the way I had envisioned. In the end, I only used one ruffle along the edge. 

Supplies: Echo Park "Sweet Day" patterned papers & alpha stickers, 

American Crafts cardstock, unknown ruffled ribbon.

Since my card didn't quite satisfy my ruffle craving for the day, I decided to actually accomplish something that I saw on Pinterest and made (I think the technical term is "refashioned") this for the birthday girl -

I think it turned out rather well - it fits me nicely, so if the birthday girl doesn't like it I will happily take it back!

Read more...

Catered Crop : Ruffles {Rebecca}

This is one of those days I wish that I had super-human photography skills. However, I know that I can't be good at everything and should be quite content with my super-human chocolate eating skills, because honestly, I think that may be the more useful of the two skills .... But if I did possess better photography skills I feel like this card would benefit greatly. Something got lost between the snapping of my shutter and the transferring of the image to the computer. Hmmm .... while I try to sort of what's different, maybe you should just take a peak.

SUPPLIES
KaiserCraft Paper

Vintage buttons, ruffles, lace, rickrack

American Crafts Thicker

Chatterbox Rub Ons 

Graphics Fairy Printable Dress Form

The challenge at Catered Crop this week is to incorporate ruffles onto your project. If I would have been very adventurous I would have turned it into a guys card somehow, but seeing as I was looking for something a little less out of the box, ruffles very naturally became a girly card.

Be sure to check out the Catered Crop blog for a full list of details and sponsors. You'll also have to check out the rest of the design teams work, this is one challenge that is full of gorgeous inspiration! 

Read more...

Catered Crop : Colour Me a Rainbow {Rebecca}

Yes its me again, with clouds, and banners, and I managed to squeeze on a butterfly too. I'm becoming a little predictable I think. But then again, its really quite difficult not to be when there are just certain elements that I love! Usually the people I give my cards to haven't been looking at the blog, so they have no idea that about 75% of my other cards look pretty much the same.

Ok, maybe this one is a little bit different. They all are just a tad because I have to tweak them somewhat to play along with my favourite challenges. This weeks challenge isn't just another challenge, its my first post officially as a "Top Chef" at Catered Crop. Its rather a yummy design team position that I'm thrilled to be a part of. Challenges run for two weeks, so you have lots of time to play, just tell them Rebecca sent you :)

SUPPLIES

My Minds Eye Button and Ribbon

Prima Ribbon

Misc Ribbon and floss

The ribbons look a little wet, and they are, but not with water. I dabbed the ends with a little bit of clear nail polish so they wouldn't fray. However, in my eagerness to finish the card, take a picture, and blog about it all before the husband got home, I didn't quite allow it time to dry. Oops :)

Thanks for stopping in.

Read more...

Catered Crop: Color Me A Rainbow {Sarah}

This week I am so excited to be joining the lovely ladies (including my own sister, Rebecca) over at the Catered Crop as a member of the design team!  I cannot even begin to tell you how much of an honor it is to have been asked to join such a talented group of crafters.

This week's recipe swap is "Color Me A Rainbow" and it gave me the perfect excuse to break into some of the October Afternoon "Fly a Kite" collection that I have been hoarding.  I have a special affection for this collection because it is the line that started my obsession with OA products.  I really like the cheerful color scheme and the whimsical designs.  

  Supplies used: October Afternoon patterned paper, stickers and journal card, 

Jenni Bowlin vintage buttons, American Crafts thickers, ribbon and cardstock.

I am not sure if my design quite lives up the expectations I had for this paper, but in the end I am really happy with this layout for a completely different reason.  While I was working on it, I jokingly asked my husband if he would do the journaling for me. To my compete surprise, he said "yes".  Since the photos are of our kids with their great-grandmother on his side, I think it is special to have their daddy's perspective on the day. 

Read more...

Something to Share

I have two projects to share with you today! We just found out that we take possession of our new home on the 26th of this month so that leaves me with little over two weeks to wrap things up and be ready to go. I am so excited, our new place is a little bit of a dream come true for my husband and I (though some people might look at the fixer-upper we're buying and think we're crazy!). I am so looking forward to having our own place. The rental that we've been in for the past year has been great, but you really are limited to what you can do when its not your own space. All that being said .... with such short notice I decided I better clear up some of my DT commitments, birthday cards that needed making, and spare photos the past few days. You may see a few blog posts coming up shortly, but I'm not actually creating anymore after today. Thats just my lovely pre-scheduled option with the blog. It makes me look so much more efficient than I really am. After today, I'll be running around trying to pack and organize everything and my scrapbooking stuff will be shut away. Who knows when it will see the light of day again? :)

My first project is a birthday card I made using 100% MME products just because :) I've been stashing these bunting chipboard's for since last year and thought it was high time I used them up. I just love the way this card turned out. Its perfect for a certain little girly whose birthday is coming up soon. I knew I needed a "fun" card for this silly person and think it turned out exactly how I wanted it too.

Challenges :

• Catered Crop : Baby Bunting
• Aud Sentiment : Child's Birthday
• CAS-ual Fridays : Polkadots

I've had this idea for this page wandering around the back of my mind for quite some time and after organizing my stash the other day in preparation for moving, I decided I'd better hurry and try to get it done! I never really thought of myself as an "orange person" but more and more I find I'm using this colour in combination with others, or just by itself. Apparently I'm a bit brighter of a person than even I knew!  wanted to play along with a new challenge site I found, "The Color Room" but didn't have any gold so am hoping the orange fits into the colour scheme instead. I absolutely love the insipration they used!

Challenges :

• The Color Room : Palette #114
• Scrapping Everyday Miracles : Celebrate Groups
• Color Me Scrappy : Challenge #5
• Scrap Fit : Sketch Challenge

Hope your week is going well! We're settling in for some heavy rain this week which means its a good time to get everything organized. My husband works outside, so I know he doesn't appreciate all of this wet weather, I try not to be to thrilled that he gets to stay home most of the week because he's getting behind on his work! I figure its better to have me happy than the customers, right? :)

Read more...

Catered Crop : Guest DT

I cannot tell you how thrilled I was to receive an email from Linda asking me to join the incredible team over at Catered Crop for this weeks newest challenge : Felt from the Heart, as a guest designer! Catered Crop is a blog I recently discovered but have fallen in love with their challenges and the fabulous inspiration that you can always find.

While felt is not an element I use very often, I was excited for the push to use it. So in every way, the challenge was just that. But when I paired the K & Co. feltie with Cosmo Cricket paper, it turned out so fun, almost retro even!

 SUPPLIES

Cosmo Cricket Paper

K & Co Feltie

American Crafts Thickers

My Minds Eye Lush Rhinestones

Prima Ribbon

Be sure to check out the Catered Crop blog this week. You have until the 9th of June to link up and be eligible to win 30, 6x9 sheets of wool felt to make loads of custom felt embellishments with!

Challenges 

• Catered Crop : Felt from the Heart
• Freshly Made Sketches : Hop for Rita
• Aud Sentiment : Any Sentiment
• Tip Top Tuesday : Dig out the Old (all items on the card have been in the stash for at least a year!)
• Crafty Friends : Flowers

Read more...