Celebration!

Two years ago, I had one of my brighter moments- I started this blog!

I want you to know how much joy this blog gives me and I'm so grateful to everyone of you that reads it and keeps coming back!


During these 2 years

• I've posted 20 flower tutorials + lots of other tutorials.
• I had a design team and guest designers.
• I changed my blog header 4 times...
• I have made 48 sketches
• I've had tons of giveaways
• I have over 1000 followers. WOW!

Since people seem to like what I'm doing, I will just keep on doing it...


My first post from April 2009 had 5 comments.
I want to give my first "fans" a small gift as a token of my appreciation.
These are the ladies that was with me from the very beginning:

• "StrawberryPia"
• Paulien Van Den Bosch
• "Queenofboyz"
• April
• Hannie

If you are any of these five and you still read my blog please email your address to scrapalittle@gmail.com
( if you are NOT any of these ladies, remember: you just never know when it will pay off to leave a comment:;)...just sayin'...)


 I will end with a few of my favorite layouts:

Thanks again to all of my readers and followers. You are the best!

Layered lace flower tutorial

I want to share another flower tutorial I came across.

I found it in this e-book first and that was taken from this blog.  Lisa's blog "What a beautiful mess" is packed with gorgeous inspiration and she has TONS of stunning flower tutorials...and I know you love those,right:)

You have to check it out and make sure to become a follower. I know you don't want to miss anything she posts.

Back to the tutorial...for some reason I struggled more with these flowers than any other flower I've made before. So don't give up if it doesn't look good the first time. 

You need;

• thin patterned paper
• border punch
• flower centers
• paper crimper
• ink(optional)
• circle punch (optional)
• glue
• cardstock scraps
• scissors
• paper trimmer

Start to cut out two ( same or different paper) strips 12 inch x 1 inch

 

 

 

 

Use your border punch for the edges

 

 

Run the strips through your paper crimper. If you don't have one, it will still work.

 

 

 

Punch or cut out a circle. I prefer 1 inch, because I don't want my flowers too big. 

 

 

 

 

Take one the strip and start folding it around the outer edge of the circle. You will not need the whole 12 inch so just cut off the remaining when you're finished all around.

 

 

Add some more glue on top of the first layer

 

 

 Take the other strip and do the same thing.

 You will need less than 6 inch of the strip for this layer.

 

 

 

 Add a flower center and bend up the top layer and you're done!

 

 

Isn't it pretty?

To see the original tutorial click here.

~

Come back in two days when me and my little blog celebrates TWO YEARS!!!

I will have a surprise giveaway to some of my readers:)

My Top Ten list # 7

I'm continuing with my scrappy top ten list. I only have 4 left. Here's my next favorite:

# 7 Ink from Close To My Heart (CTMH)

I'm not a huge stamper,but I still use my inks almost every day.

My favorite inks are from Close To My Heart.

They come in 60 different colors,

 

they have a smart design where the lid flips over

and they are stackable.

I invested in the ink organizer ($69.95) since I started to get a lot of inks.

The swivel tower stores 60 ink pads.

You can buy a tray separate( $ 8.95) and place on top. It's meant for re-inkers, but I use mine for glue and other fun stuff.

Another awesome ink accessorie from CTMH is the sponge dauber. They come in three packs for $3.95. I just love them and use nothing else to ink with.

 

You simply put a dauber on your fingertip,rub it on the ink pad and ink away.

Here's some inked flowers from a recent layout.

So even if you are not a stamper, I would totally recommend that you buy yourself some ink pads in basic colors. I ink all my homemade flowers and often my patterned paper as well. I think it gives the layout depth and a more finished look.

The ink pads from CTMH are only $5.25 and you can buy them here.

April sketch # 2- Guest designer Bev Code

Again, I have the honor to introduce a new talented guest designer. Her name is Bev Code and here is a little bit about her.


Hi everyone,

My name is Bev Code ... a Canadian who loves my winters in Florida.

I am a retired wife of 40 years, mother of two amazing sons with families and gramma to the best ever grandson and 3 granddaughters ranging in age from 7 to 15 and loving every minute of it. I am blessed with amazing family and friends who are the subjects of my scrapping.

I have been scrapping since about 2007 and am addicted. My online scrapping only started in April of 2009 and I have never looked back. There are so many amazing inspiring sites, some I now call my home away from home. My only wish is that I had found this fabulous avenue of creativity much earlier in life.

Helen with Scrap A Little was my first ever DT. She gave me the opportunity to share, learn and expand my venture into scrapping. I will be forever thankful for the opportunity. That is why I jumped at the opportunity to be a Guest here. Her sketches are amazing, inspiring and motivating along with her fabulous and beautiful floral tutorials and those too cute boxes... only to mention a few.

Layouts are my favourite but I now do cards, altered items, misc. projects and even tried ATC's. I have learned so many new techniques and look forward to learning even more.

It's sites like Scrap A Little and people like Helen that make all this possible. Many thanks for the opportunity to be your Guest.. always a pleasure.... hugs Bev



Here is sketch # 48 that Bev worked with:

And her two lovely takes on it; 

Here's a few more examples of Bev's layouts, based on my sketches.

Sketch # 39

Sketch # 41

Look at this one with the stitches and the misting.

 (I really have to try to mist like that soon. I just love how it looks.)

Here's a gorgeous two page layout.

Sketch # 2

Sketch # 22

Sketch # 22

Sketch # 3

Don't you just love Bev's feminine scrap style with all the flowers, swirls and bling?

Be sure to check out Bev's blog, Bee Cee Creativity, to see more of her beautiful work.

Giveaway winner(s)

Thank you to all of you that left a comment on my latest post. Doesn't it feel good to complain and feel a bit sorry for yourself sometimes?
I feel sorry for myself because my dear husband will leave (again) next month to "you-know-where" and will be gone for the rest of the year:(
It just s*cks , but there's nothing I can do about it, besides staying strong and keep myself busy.

When I read all your comments, I still feel kinda lucky. At least I have a husband and we have a steady paycheck coming in.
So many of you complained about not being able to afford to buy scrapbook stuff. Especially those of you outside the US.
I totally understand.

As you can guess, it was extremely hard for me to pick a winner. I wish I could send you all a prize!

I decided to pick TWO winners and they are Crystal and Kiera.
Crystal was recently widowed and can't afford to spend money on scrapbook paper and Kiera works as a RN in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and makes signs for the newborn babies and their parents.

So Crystal and Kiera! Congrats to you!
Email me your address at scrapalittle@gmail.com and I will send you this bright paper pack from American Crafts:)

For all of you that didn't win,don't give up. It's always a next time.

~

Come back tomorrow for a new sketch and inspiration from a new guest designer.

American Crafts giveaway

Here you have the chance to win an awesome paper pack from American Crafts.

"Heat Wave" contains 48 sheets of paper in 12 different patterns. All in bright and summery colors!

I'm gonna do something different this time; instead of picking a random winner I will handpick one lucky person to receive this prize.

Tell me why you deserve to win this more than anybody else. I want to hear whining and complaining!
The one I feel most sorry for will be the winner:)

To my email readers

Hello to all of my 379 email readers!
I just wanted to let you know that I will cancel this service.
It's not free and I pay monthly to have my blog posts sent to your inbox. Since I don't make any money on my blog, I can't justify this anymore.
So make sure you bookmark my website or become a follower so you don't miss any new posts.

My latest layouts

How are you all doing?

We started spring break today and couldn't ask for better weather. We just came back from the beach and I hope that we'll have plenty of more beach days next week. How's your weather?

~ 

Here's a few layouts I finished recently..well... I've actually made more, but the other ones are not worth showing...

~

You can look forward to another flower tutorial soon, as well as a giveaway tomorrow! YAY!

So, see you real soon:)

Tutorial for simple dahlia flowers

Here comes an easy tutorial for a paper flower that I call "simple dahlia".

You will need:

• double sided patterned paper
• 1 inch punch
• glue
• brads or something else for flower centers
• optional: ink, stickles

Start to punch out 6 circles

Fold 5 of the circles as the picture shows. ( You can fold the circles in half first so you get a guide line for the "point folds". I don't do that because I don't like the look of that fold there, when the flower is done. You what I mean? )

Add glue under the petals and add them one by one to the unfolded circle.

Actually, BEFORE you glue them down you should make sure that your flower is even. Most likely you will have to adjust the folds a bit. So do that before the gluing part.

This is how it will look when it's even and glued down,

and this is how it looks after I inked it, added a brad and some stickles.

Here's how the other dahlia flowers looks like. They just have one more fold.

Click here to see that tutorial.

April sketch- Guest designer Missy Whidden

Welcome to April and a new designer. Her name is Missy Whidden and this is what she has to say:

Hello there, fellow scrappers! My name is Missy Whidden, and I live in Florida. I’ve been married to Marshall for 11 years, but we’ve been together for almost 18. We have two beautiful little girls, Reese (4 ½) and Paige (2). They are the inspiration behind most of my layouts. I began scrapping in 2006, just a few months before Reese was born. My mother-in-law asked me to help her create a baby scrapbook for my husband, and I was instantly hooked. It’s amazing how much my style has changed since then! I started with plain cardstock and deco scissors, and now my “scrapcave” is overflowing with patterned paper, inks, mists, ribbon…the list goes on. I love bright colors. I almost always let the colors in my photos dictate my papers, and I try to scrap my pictures in order (or at least all the pictures from one month) so I can put them into albums. I love the creative release that comes from scrapbooking, and I love the photography aspect as well.

I am currently on the Design Teams for ScrapFIT and Sassy Lil’ Sketches.

I had so much fun working with Helen’s sketches. They are all so wonderful. I chose a few of her older sketches for my layouts here, along with two takes on sketch #47. Thank you for looking! You can check out my blog at http://littlenuggetcreations.blogspot.com/



And here is sketch #47 that Missy worked with:

And her two takes on it.

(I have to say that these two layouts are the cutest thing I've seen in a long time! Notice all the hand stitching. WOW!)

And here's more of Missy's fabulous work based on older sketches.

Sketch # 32

Sketch #9

Sketch #44

Sketch # 31

Sketch #27

 

Don't you just love Missy's style?

It's so magical and dreamy! Makes me think about faeries for some reason.

Thanks Missy for sharing your creations and talent!

Be sure to visit Missy's blog for more inspiration.