MCS November Sneak Peeks

My Creative Scrapbook is just about ready to unveil our next round of fabulous Kits on Thursday, November 5th. There are some marvelous manufacturer lines and coordinated goodies to look forward to. Below are some close ups from the Main Kit featuring the Teresa Collins Friendship Collection.

Thank you for stopping by - Liz

The Good Sport

Sometimes you get those natural moments on film that you look back upon and think, "That was a kodak moment." Then sometimes you get those moments where there was probably money changing hands. Which kind of moment do you think this is??? I can still hear the whine, "Do I have to hold my brother?" Kids...

Tuesday Mornings

My husband has banned all glitter products from our home. I think he has a phobia that once glitter is released into the atmosphere, a human will inevitably ingest it. So...I don't use glitter on any of my projects, instead I like to use materials like chalk that have some kind of shimmer or glow "trapped" within the product. The Metallic Creme chalks from Pebbles Inc. have an abundance of colors choices and are perfect for coloring things like chipboard. You can purchase an entire set of metallic chalks for under $20.
Do you have a good pair of tweezers??? I love to use stickers (well... I am a teacher), and I am meticulous when it comes to positioning those little suckers into place. You can find this cool pair from Making Memories for less than $5.


Another one of my favorite small online shops is Blackberry Paper. The owner, Beth, has many discounts on products and will ship you orders quickly and at a reasonable price. She carries a full line of many collections. Stop by and check out her place, she even writes a thank you note on all of her order forms. Talk about service.

Sunday Sketch, October 25th

I don't know what it is about little boys and 8.5x11 layouts, but they seem to go together well. It is so much fun having one of each, because there are so many super cute little boy lines out there. Let's Roll from Imaginisce is perfect for the little man on the run or roll depending on the situation. My son loves to be pulled in his wagon and is just starting to show interest in toy cars and trucks. I really like the way the primary colors in this line are just a tad muted for a bright, but softer feel. There are also some adorable rubons, chipboard pieces and stickers to coordinate with this collection. Thank you so much for stopping by - Liz

Getting Ready for Halloween

One week to go and all the little Ghouls and Goblins will be clambering through the neighborhood seeking candy and mischief. I purchased what I hope will be enough CANDY to get us to 9:00pm. It's not helping that the holiday is on a Saturday this year. We may have some late night Trick or Treaters. Better get some rocks too...hee, hee. Below are a few projects I created with Pebbles Inc.'s awesome Spooky Collection.


This card was so much fun to make. I traced a ghost pattern on cardstock and then used Pebbles Chips and Candy Dots to make eyes like the ghosts on the stickers that come with the Spooky Collection. The big "Boo" is a word sticker that comes in the kit.


I used the large round die cut that comes with the kit for the title of this card and some green tufted Pebbles Inc. Ribbon.


This photo of my daughter totally cracks me up. She is really holding a wand in the photo, but it looks like she is holding the round Trick or Treat sticker on a stick. She is such a little candy fiend, so I love that she has a candy corn shirt on in the photo and that the Spooky Collection came with "candy" as one of the sticker words. The colors and patterns on these papers are so much fun and perfect for kids.

Mobile Challenge

This week's challenge at Pebbles Inc. comes from Sophia Allison and she asked us to make a mobile. I like to alter things on occasion and this challenge had just the right amount of "pleasure and pain" to keep it interesting.


I used the Lil' Miss line for my mobile because I really like the stickers and there are these really big stickers of owls, butterflies and lady bugs, which I thought would make a really cute mobile for a little girl. The stickers also come with words and had the really large "daughter".


I used am embroidery loop for my mobile frame and put all of the stickers on cardstock to make them sturdy. Then I tied a Pebbles Chip to the bottom of each one for some extra weight.

Tuesday Mornings

Have you ever been to a Tuesday Morning store? It is a a retailer specializing in upscale closeout merchandise with designer and name-brands selling at extraordinarily discounted prices. It seems like every time a visit one I leave with the most interesting items without making a big dent in my wallet. I thought I might borrow the concept and each Tuesday list a few of my favorite scrap items or places that won't break the bank.


My new favorite toy is the Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page Loop punch. Finally someone has solved the corner issue. No more worries with making your own die cut papers instead of spending loads of money on fancy pre cut papers. I found this little and awesome punch set at my local Walmart for $20.00.

Needing a strong adhesive is like needing an umbrella in the rain. Sometimes getting wet can ruin everything. That's why I love Zots! They will bond the heaviest of embellishments to just about anything. I design with a lot of chipboard and metal, and Zots are a favorite of mine. You can also find these at many stores for less than $4.


I am extremely impatient when it comes to waiting for things you have ordered online to ship. It seems like a lot of retailers take their sweet time packing your stuff. I've even read disclaimers from a few large companies that say your stuff won't even leave their warehouse for three days. So....I like smaller retailers who pack your stuff the day you order it and have it out the door that afternoon. Scrapbooks and Smiles is a little shop in Pennsylvania and I am always so pleased with the service and how quickly they ship your order. The owner will send you a discount card in your very first order that will get you a pretty substantial discount on future orders.

Thank you for stopping by - Liz

Sunday Sketch, October 18th

I just love flowers and flourishes and haven't made a sketch with them for a bit, so I thought I would get back to my roots. This is a fun sketch to use with your stash of rubon or cardstock flourishes, not to mention butterflies. Knock yourself out. :)

This layout is featured in the Fall 2009 issue of Scrapbooking and Beyond Magazine as part of the Flourish for Every Season series. I just love the Pink Paislee Fetching line and how it coordinates with their Captivating line. For this layout I wrapped some pearls around a ribbon and vine, added some metal floral brads from Creative Imaginations to the flowers and used an old Basic Grey rubon flourish. I also used a Fiskers border punch called A Dozen Roses to make a custom die cut paper. Then I placed a Heidi Swapp rubon word on the Fetching butterfly chipboard piece to break up my title Beautiful Girl. Thank you so much for stopping by - Liz

Pebbles Inc. Chips

Just thought I might share a little description about Pebbles Inc. Chips. This is our design team's current challenge on our blog this week. The post following this one includes the layout I created for the challenge. Thank you for stopping by - Liz

Treat yourself to Pebbles Chips . . .
A tasty selection of Chipboard Pieces to feed your creativity!
100% good for you!
70 pieces of chipboard shapes per bag
Approx. 30% of pieces embellished with glitter
Shapes range in size from .25" to 4"

Sunday Sketch, October 11th

This week is an 8.5 x 11 sketch. Thought I might try something a little different and this is what I came up with. I think my actual layout is more like a 9x12 in the finished product. Oh well...what can you do?

The layout is for Lisa Warren's Chipboard challenge at Pebbles. If you have not used Pebbles Chips, you need to get yourself some! On the papers, I used a combination of Pebbles Inc. Lil' Miss and Lil' Buddy lines for the layout as well as the Pebbles Metallic Creme Chalks to color the American Crafts thickers and the Pebbles Chips. The two lines together make a really fun Fall palette.

Hope you all are having a wonderful Fall with lots of pics of you family, friends and pets. Thank you for stopping by - Liz.

MCS October Kits

My Creative Scrapbook just revealed the October Kits. There are always so many thoughtful goodies in every kit and every month they just seem to get better and better. The Creative kit is filled with Bo Bunny's Kitchen Spice line and all kinds of flowers, chipboard, trims and alphabets. I just love the deep fall colors and how they look with sepia photos.

This adorable Maya Road chipboard album is such a cute way to stack and display your pages. The Lullaby of Birdland papers from Scribble Scrabble along with the mini chipboard Birds w/ Cages set from Maya Road are a perfect compliment to my cute little bird Henry.

Pebbles joins American Crafts

News flash... Pebbles has just been purchased by American Crafts. This is a wonderful opportunity for our design team, since we will still design under the Pebbles brand, but also get to join the American Crafts family. We hear there will be some exciting new products in store for Pebbles, so stay tuned for exciting changes.