Time to tidy up and catch up....

First off, I've posted the April Trend watch challenge over at Love is in the Details! At first I was thinking it might be hard to come up with a new trend or two every month to highlight, but things evolve so quickly with all that creativity out there, that I've stopped worrying! This month it was about the paper doilies and crepe paper.

Paper doilies add just that extra dollop of cute to pretty much any project and crepe paper is a blast from my past!! We used to use that stuff to make EVERYthing!! From streamers at bday parties to folded flowers for our bike parades! I love the crepe paper ruffles that are popping up on layouts and cards too. For my layout I used a crepe paper strip about 1" wide and sewed a long stitch line on one edge. When you pull the top thread, it pulls the whole strip into a tight ruffle that forms a rosette very easily. Adhere a button or chipboard embellie over the hole and you have a quick and cute embellishment!

This layout shows two photos of my parents standing in front of the house I was raised in. They've lived there since just before I was born. They STILL live there. Soon they'll need to be moving but at this point they've now become the people who've lived on that street the longest!!

Scrap Your Crap has a new challenge up and it was the teeniest bit challenging for me!! To use only paper on a layout. No bought embellishments, not even manufactured alphabets!

Well it was only laziness that was holding me back... Once I pulled out the alphabet dies I have and hardly ever use, I was off and running! Add some paper punches, a fussy cut branch and leaves from some My Little Shoebox paper and a Hero Arts and Sizzex bicycle stamp and die and it all came together pretty quick.

I had to try my hand at something new with the confetti, which was fun to adhere. After punch a selection of patterned papers with the Swiss Cheese punch, I "swiped" a glue stick in the approximate area I wanted the confetti and then just poured the bits on. What stuck got to stay, what didn't got dumped off to try again in another spot!! Kinda fun!!

And one more challenge and layout! Challenge Me Happy's new challenge is to take your inspiration from this photo! Bright and cheerful, huh?

I loved the colors and I used supplies sent to me by the nice people at The Scrappin Patch!

Love the white on white of the alphabets and card stock, but to prevent them completely disappearing into the background I (carefully) outlined them with a Micron pen!

The photos are of a bunch of kids who are grown and married and have kids of their own now. Some of them. Craziness!! I guess that's what can happen between 1985 and now.

Thanks for stopping by to check things out... check back again soon for more housekeeping!!