Challenge: Animal Attraction....

Susan issued a challenge this month...Animal Attraction.....basically anything we wanted to do that had animals, that was about animals, or people just acting like crazy animals! For this challenge, use at least 75% of Nikki's papers on your project! We can't wait to see them! Let's see what our fabulous DT created!

As you know, Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker has partnered with Provocraft!  And these first two projects the Divas have used the Cricut Expression to create them!!!

First up is Andrea Budjack with a Thank You card. She used the Summer and It's Raining, It's Pouring collections, some Bread(less) tabs and the Cute as a Button Buttons!

And then I created this pick me up card!  It's with the "It's Raining, It's Pouring" collection.  And I used the Four Legged Friends Cricut Lite cartridge on this one!

And a cute card from Rae Barthel, love how she did this!!!  She combined Beatrice, Max and Mollie, It's Raining, It's Pouring, It's Your Day and Henry's Brilliance!!!

Then we have an adorable gift bag from Lea.  I went crazy when I saw it!  She used the Beatrice collection to make it.  Check out those scallop feathers for the chest!

Now we have some layouts......

First up with the layouts is Susan Dupre.  She used the Summer collection...how cute are those ice cream cone shades?!  

Next up is Julie Howard.  Love this girl...she is crazy and her layouts are always great!!  She used mix of  Max and Mollie, Summer, Beatrice, and We Are Family.  I think she even threw in a little Victoria's Street with that lampshade!

Then we have Deana Boston.  She has such a unique style.  She used the Beatrice collection on a Christmas themed layout!  

Nikki Sivils is doing a cross promotion with Want 2 Scrap. Deana used some gems from there to decorate and bling out her tree!! 

And now  Ms. Julie Tucker-Wolek!  She used the Beatrice collection and some of those Cute as a Button Burlap buttons.  How sweet are Julie and Mr. Dandy?! 

And last, here is a double page layout from me about the corn maze using the Beatrice collection. Yeah...we were acting like crazy little animals in the field!!!  

That's it from the Divas today!!  June is going to be a busy month on the blog, so make sure you keep checking back!  

Have a Scrappy Kind of Day!!~~Katrina

Happy Easter Everyone!

If you have little ones, I hope the Easter Bunny has dropped plenty of eggs in your yard.  If not, then I hope he still came to visit! 

Let's see what some of the girls have been up to this month.  To start us out how about this sweet Easter layout by design team diva Jennifer Yates.

Jennifer used Max & Mollie on this layout.  The Max & Mollie collection is the perfect line for an Easter layout with those cute little bunnies!

I love the title on Jen Matott's layout above. It is obviously about breast cancer awareness.  How perfect the pink is for a layout like this.  Jen also used Max & Mollie.

 

I adore the happiness in Delaina Burns layout.  The Summer Collection  just seems to fit those happy smiles on her daughter's faces.  Below is another layout she made using Summer.   It is so precious how she used the bird and the dragonfly to hold the banner.

It seems that two page layouts seem to be making a comeback.  I am seeing them more and more.  How perfect that Jennifer Yates made this wonderful layout using We Are Family.  Isn't the detail fabulous in her layout.  Just look at the sun!

This layout below by Julie Howard just makes me smile.  I love the added milkshake as well.  Julie also used Summer on this layout.

To top it off how about this little mini book by Mimi Leinbach. Mimi used the Beatrice Collection for her mini book. Little Beatrice looks so cute there amongst the grass and trees.

 

I hope you enjoyed the girls work today!  Have a great one!

Susan Dupre

Making history with Nikki Sivils...

Yep. That's what I'm doing. I'm gonna make history with Nikki Sivils by posting my blog entry today... September 28th. Throughout history, big things have happened on September 28th. For example:

September 28, 1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlie becomes king of Scotland

September 28, 1928 - 1st recording session in Nashville

September 28, 1932 - New York Yankees win World Series

September 28, 1956 - RCA Records reports Elvis Presley sold over 10 million records

September 28, 1968 - Beatles' "Hey Jude" single goes #1

September 28, 1970 - Anwar Sadat replaces Egyptian President Nassar

September 28, 1994 - "Cats" 5,000th Broadway performance

And now today...

September 28, 2010 - Julie Howard posts two totally random layouts on Nikki Sivils' blog

It's truly a day for the history books. I believe this post calls for paid time off work, cookouts and, dare I say it? Fireworks.

Yes. I *am* one strange bird. I make no excuses for it. In order to survive the craziness of day to day life, I attempt to find the humor in everything. If I can't laugh at the absurdity of some situations, I could just as easily find myself in tears. So in my life, I've learned to keep a light heart and to laugh!

Oh... and if it wasn't obvious, I used the My Friend Birdie
collection for this layout. The letters are from some other manufacturers which I will not mention here. Bwah!

Now for the next layout, you'll be very surprised at the two collections I mixed. I decided to use:

Boo-tiful and Blueberry Hill

See... I told you I was a strange bird. But seriously! Don't they look fabulous together?!

This is my niece, Chelsea. Clearly, she has a flair for the dramatic. Nooooo idea where she gets that from. Whenever she visits her Grandma's house she always leaves behind a new message on the chalkboard in the kitchen. This "I will be discovered" note was left for her Grandma this past May. Years from now we'll all be able to look back on this and say, 'We knew her when.'

Just as years from now you'll be able to look back on this date in history and say, 'Hey! September 28, 2010 is the date that Julie Howard posted two completely random layouts to Nikki Sivils' blog!'

Bring Your Own Sunshine...

Wherever you go, no matter the weather, always bring your own sunshine. ~ Anthony J. D'Angelo

Hi everyone! It's me... Julie Howard... and I'm bursting with sunshine and happiness! Granted, it's probably the metric ton of M&M's I just downed, followed by a chaser of Mountain Dew, but we're gonna say I'm all sunshiney over the fact that it's my turn to post a blog entry.

And hey... would you looky here. I just happened to bring my own sunshine!


It's pretty easy to bring sunshine to any scrapbook page with Nikki's Blueberry Hill collection. The color palette is so vibrant and luscious. I love the unique mix of purples and greens, with accents of yellow and red. There's a very summery, garden feel to the line. For me, it brings to mind picnics and lazy afternoons.

For my flower centers, I used the blueberry stickers that can be found on Nikki's Blueberry Hill Cardstock Sticker Sheet. To make them look a little more realistic and to give them a bit of dimension, while they were still affixed to the sheet, I gave them a coating of Judikins Diamond Glaze.


(*note* if you click on the Diamond Glaze link you can request a sample.)

Sunshine, Happiness and Diamond Glaze for everyone!

Nikki's papers ROCK!

Hi everyone! I'm Julie Howard and this will be my first official blog post as a Dog House Diva. Being a part of this amazing team is an unbelievable opportunity and experience. It rocks!

As does Nikki's Dan The Record Man collection of papers.

In recent months, I moved over 900 miles so that I could live closer to my family. As an aunt to two awesome teens, it's been a great pleasure to see what amazing kids they've become during the years that I wasn't around. My nephew, Chase, gave me an impromptu concert one afternoon. Not only did I discover that he's blessed with musical talent... the kid played Ozzy's Crazy Train! But I was also thrilled to see a Green Day poster hanging on his wall. 'Cause, you see, I'm like a huge Green Day fan. I mean, HUGE! So to hear my nephew playing his guitar, with the image of the Green Day poster in the background - it was a great moment for me. I'm so proud of him and who he's becoming. Plus he's got great taste in music... he's a kid after my own heart!


For the most part, it was the simplicity of the Green Day poster that inspired my layout's design... I really liked the look of the two circles with the outer rings. The largest circle is The Record die cut, without the scalloped edge. The smaller circle and the majority of my embellishments were cut from the Record Cutie Cut-Ups sheet of paper. For the background, I used Dan's Album and the green is a scrap of leftover paper from Dan's Turntable.

I really wanted to incorporate Green Day's heart grenade on the layout so I found the image online and simply printed it on photo paper. Then it was just a matter of cutting it out. As you'll notice, I do a lot of photo cutting. As long as you have the original image saved somewhere or you have duplicates, don't be afraid to cut your photos. It really helps to tell a story better if you're able to cut away distracting elements such as windows, background clutter, other people, or a messy teenage bedroom.


Another small detail that I wanted to incorporate was the "R" from the Green Day poster. For some strange teenage reason, my nephew had cut out the "R" from his poster (see, he cuts his photos too). So I just pulled the white surface away from my chipboard letter to reveal the raw chipboard beneath. Like I said, it's a small detail, but I wanted to include it as a part of the design.

I know everyone is getting really anxious for Nikki's new lines... I know I certainly am! But I also know that everyone has some of her older lines still in their stash. So while we're all waiting for the new stuff, I suggest we all pull out the old and ROCK it!!