Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

So, I'm a little late, but my RAK winner is:

inara said...
oooooooh pick me pick me, I was already drooling over your stuff and then I kept reading! Of course your projects are gorgeous, I should have guessed you had fabulous stash! I love big chunky embellishments, and yours are delightful!

So girl, send me your addy and I'll get some goodies out to ya by the end of the week! Shoot me an email: brookstewart79@gmail.com

So, the big news around here is that my mom is getting married this weekend! Lots to do this week to get prepared...already bought something to wear and now I have to get her boquet made before Saturday...I've never attempted one before, so wish me luck!

And as promised, more layouts from the awesome
Nook U challenges! The girls over there are SO creative and inspiring!

Economics 101: All about the love/hate relationship with money...You also had to use a sketch as inspiration. Here's what I did:


History: Use photos that are at least 20 years old and some vintage piece on the layout as well. I dug out some pics of me that are about 28-29 years old...the ones from K-Mart that turn red over time. But I love that...it's a sign of the times. My vintage piece is the paper from an old book.


Science: It's all about the chemistry you have with someone else--spouse, friend, relative...I chose my friend Teresa...we just get along so well...have lots in common and just have fun when we are around each other. You don't come across those truely good friends very often!


So, with another week of Nook U coming up, I should have more to share soon. If I don't blog again before the end of the week you'll know I'm either up to my elbows in pretty flowers for the wedding or buried underneath a bunch of paper and adhesive frantically trying to get my class assignments done...Once a procrastinator, always a procrastinator...that's me!

Getting Organized

Okay, so I read a post over on The Nook a while back about organizing. It had a link to Christine's Blog and how she organizes. Now, I don't know about anyone else, but I spend just as much time (if not more) organizing and reorganizing my scrap supplies than I do actually USING the stuff. So, when I find something new and different I usually like to try it. And that's what I spent my Sunday doing...sorting and organizing using Christine's method. And so far I really like it! Everything is right on my table in front of me, sorted by color.

I am obsessed with felt...mainly that cute Fancy Pants stuff, so I have a TON. But they stayed in the packages and I never thought to pull them out and use them very often. Solution:


I took them all apart and stuck them in drawers...they are the wide drawers that can fit 12x12 paper since some of the felt pieces are big. Also, on the back of the packaging, it shows a picture of what's on each sheet...so I cut those out and taped them to the inside of the drawers so I would know exactly what I had in there!


I did the same thing with my smaller chipboard pieces, epoxy shapes and other dimensional embellishments:


and for my tags, transparencies, die cuts and journaling spots:


and my flowers:


and my buttons:


and here's kind of what the whole setup looks like...although it's facing the wrong direction in the pic because I couldn't scoot back far enough the other way to take the pic:


I used what I happened to have on hand since WalMart's an hour away, so I thought it turned out pretty good!

RAK ALERT!! RAK ALERT!! RAK ALERT!! RAK ALERT!!
*************************************************
So, did you SEE how many flowers and buttons that are crammed into those drawers? I thought about buying some bigger storage drawers for them, but I have a better idea. Since I have way more than I could probably ever use, I thought I would do a little giveaway! All you have to do is post a comment here and I'll do a random drawing for a little package of flower/button goodness! I'll draw and post a winner sometime next Monday, September 22.

I've also got a couple more layouts to share! This first one was a lift from the most recent Scrapbooks Etc. magazine. I used the Cosmo Cricket Mr. Campy papers...LOVE them!!


And this one was for the

Nook U Challenge going on over at MyScrapbook Nook. The challenge was to do a layout based on artist inspiration. Finding a piece of art and taking something from it. I used my favorite architect Frank Lloyd Wright. He is known for his graphic style and clean lines. If you havn't seen any of his stuff, you should check it out! Especially the Fallingwater House...AMAZING!! I would love to go tour it someday!

So, I picked a piece of stained glass that he designed:


and here is the result on my layout:


This weeks Core classes are up at the Nook, so I have lots more to work on this week, so hopefully more to share by the week's end!

On another good note, it has finally stopped raining! Yesterday was just gorgeous! Low 70's all day long! And today looks to be just as beautiful...too bad I'm stuck inside! Have a great week everyone and don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win some goodies from me!

Getting Inspired

And it only took browsing through my email! I opened up my Scenic Route email newsletter this morning to see what kind of eye candy they would have for me this month...One of them linked to Lisa Dickinson so I made my way over there. Boy, was I in for a treat! Not only does she have some amazing layouts, but the reading is fabulous! I love good story tellers...maybe because I'm not always so great with words. I just wanted to share...if you havn't already been over there, you should check her out!

And how can you NOT be inspired when you are working on some fun challenges? I'm participating in an educational venture known as Nook U. It consists of core classes (mandatory challenges if you are in it for the big prize) and elective classes with some extra credit through in. It's a 4 week school, so I hope I can stick with it! Want to see what I've accomplished so far?

Core Class: Math 101 - using your supplies in multiples of 3.
I used:
3 photos
3 patterned papers
6 words for the title
18 letters/punctuation in the title
3 white edges (around the photos, around the artisan edge paper, and under the striped strip)


Elective Class: Physical Education/Health - using some form of movement as your subject or something that actually moves on the layout.


Core Class: English - It had to be a layout about books/reading and you had to have a photo of yourself reading.
What else would I scrap about besides the Twilight series that took over my free nights this year?!


I still have one more core class to complete by Saturday and since we don't have much going on at the clinic today, I brought my scrappy stuff with me! Now if only it would quit raining long enough for me to get it all out of my car...the rain can really just go away now. It's been raining all week and with Ike on the move, it doesn't look like we'll be getting any relief any time soon.

Have a great week folks! :)

Crockpot Brownies!

And yes, 2 posts from me in 2 days! But I just had to share this cute little video of my friend Amie from The Nook making crockpot brownies. She totally cracks me up and the brownies look amazing too! I think I'll try some this weekend!



And don't forget to comment below and let me know what you think of my first baby photos! I need all the feedback I can get! :)

Some Photos

So, Tate and I ventured down to Oklahoma City this past weekend to visit the Jennifers and we had a fantastic time! We hung out with the girls, went swimming (got lots of mosquito bites, youch!), did some chatting, some shopping and Tate got to play with Javier. Oh yes, and I also got my first baby photo practice time with Enrique...Yep, he's a cutie for sure! Not bad for first baby shots I thought! All black & white conversions and textures are from LCH Photography. Have I mentioned how much I ADORE her photoshop goodies?! Gorgeous stuff!









And here's one of Javier and one of Tate fromt he weekend as well:





I do have a couple of layouts done, but I need to get some pics of them when I'm at the store this weekend. Hope the rest of your week is fantastic! :)