But, there are some things I have been doing. I am taking a course with Big Picture Classses … Me: The Abridged Version taught by Cathy Zielske. I’m so loving it. It is super heavy on the writing, which is right up my alley. I’m doing my book 100 percent digi, so I’m hoping to finish it up soon and be able to share it. It’s been a great process.

I’m reading “Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life” by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. The book was Cathy’s inspiration for her Big Picture class and it’s quite inspiring. It’s an easy read and I highly recommend it.   

 I had a bunch of digi layouts (32 to be exact) printed at Persnickety Prints. They are having their semi-annual sale and 12×12 prints are just $1.49. The sale goes through tomorrow, Oct. 4. I can’t wait to get them and slide them into an album!  

Check out some of these adorable layouts from our fab design team … if you’re like me, you’re still working through your September kit and could use a little inspiration!

From Katie Turner:

Amber Zimmerman:

Don’t you just love what Amber did in the layout above?

 She stitched around some of the stars on the patterned paper. So cute. So clever.

Check out the adorable (seriously adorable) layouts Kelly Hansen created with this kit. Love ‘em.

To see more photos of Kelly’s layouts, check out our Gallery.

Recycle those packages
By Grace Tolman

Hi guys!

I’m sure by now, you have received your wonderful May kits. Aren’t they to die for? Just gorgeous!

Another gorgeous thing I noticed was the packaging of the products. I really have to commend manufacturers for providing us with endless inspiration. Imagine even the packaging can spark something.

Mine was the back side of the packaging for the canvas stickers from Basic Grey. Look what I made out of it ….

I handcut the flowers and used that as a focal point in this simple “hi” card.

Since my flower cut out is big, I made sure everything else was minimal. Starting with the pattern paper on the background, and then the sentiment and then the bling that I added to the flower pictures.

Inspiration abounds in product packaging. So make sure when you get your kit, don’t quickly toss the containers/packaging that it came from, you’ll never know what you can make out it.

Signing off,
Grace

By Kelly Hansen

This month mini kit rocked! I was so excited when I opened the kit and found a great mix of papers(Crate Paper & October Afternoon) and fun embellishments. Four layouts and three cards later, I still had enough of paper left over to put together this adorable mini album of my little girl.

I picked up a chipboard mini album from my local craft store in the dollar bin. Added a few embellishments I already had in my stash, mixed with the embellishments from the mini kit and still walked away with a lot of cute project for under $20.00.

Mini Kit – $17.00
Chipboard mini album – $1.00
Memories to last a lifetime = PRICELESS

For more photos of this mini book, check out the Crazy Daisy Gallery here.

This kit is so cute. Here are some layouts from Katie Turner:

Now, here are some layouts from Amber Zimmerman:

Now for your viewing pleasure … some goodies from Mara Campbell:

I love how different each design team member is and how these difference translate into fun and diverse layouts. It’s so refreshing to see what everyone can have a different style, use the same products and do what ever they please with their tools, stories and photos.

***************************

On a personal note … my little girl is 6 today! Where has the time gone? It still feels like yesterday when I held her in my arms for the first time.  She has been such a wonderful little life partner. We have so much fun together and I am blessed to have her in my life. I hope we are as close as we are now when she’s a teenager and beyond!

Happy Birthday my sweet girl. You are loved!

From Katie. I love how the pinks tones really soften up these layouts:

A mini book from Amber:

I am madly in love with what Amber did with this album. It is so FRESH ….  to see more pages from the album, check out our March Design Team Gallery.

“Layle Koncar has been scrapbooking in one form or another for the past 11+ years when her first son was born and jumped at the chance 3 years ago to take on scrapbooking as a real job! She recently accepted a new job with Basic Grey and is thrilled to be working for such a great company with such yummy products!

Layle has been teaching for the last 5 years and truly enjoys the travel and the connections with other scrapbookers that comes with it. Her work has been published in Creating Keepsakes, Better Homes and Gardens Scrapbooks Etc., Memory Makers, Paper Crafts, Legacy, Scrapbook Trends, Paper Trends and Pinecone Press. She authored and contributed to the book Memory Art and is a regular contributor to Paper Crafts books and special issues.

In addition to scrapbooking, she loves interior decorating, skiing, reading, traveling, shopping, going to flea markets and spending time with her hubby Nick and 2 rambunctious boys Jack and Sam. “

You can read more about Layle on her blog at http://laylekoncar.typepad.com

Check back next week to see all the wonderful things Layle does with our November 2009 Main Kit.

Now, since it wouldn’t be fair to dangle a free gift in front of you without showing a you a little something, here’s a peak at the September Main Kit!

A sneak peek at the September Main Kit from Crazy Daisy

*******************************

“Good Stuff”

A card by Trace using the August Main kit.

“For this card titled simply “good stuff” I used one of the chipboard butterflies as a stencil and traced it over a folded piece of cardstock, so that after trimming it, it would stand open. I used diamond glaze and some beads I had lying around to decorate the body of the butterfly(unfortunately you can still see some of the diamond glaze on the cardstock). I rolled up two small pieces of scrap patterned paper to use as the antennae.”

*******************************

“Relax: This is Fun”

“I just couldn’t think of a creative title for this one, so I just used the words from the paper as my title! I really liked the Pink Paislee stickers in this kit..On the back of the package there was a piece of paper with samples of each sticker, so I trimmed each design out to also use on my projects. I used the “relax…” paper as the flower center.”

*******************************

“Fetching Fella”

“I’m really not at all creative when it comes to my titles, so I tend to use rub ons, stickers, etc. to act as my titles.
I wanted to use up some of the numbers from the thickers, so I used them to mark the date from the pictures on my layout. I cut out the little tree design from the paper and adhered it to the matching paper using pop dots.”

*******************************

“Our Family”

“I LOVEworking with patterned paper that has a busy print because it “allows” me to keep the layout quite simple. You dont want to add too much to make it overly busy. I added very short journaling, a rub on, sticker, and for my focal point, I added 3 buttons, the AWESOME crochet flower with ribbon..I wanted my focal point to be a different color then the rest of the layout.”

*******************************

“Pure Joy”

“Because I don’t often add my own title to a layout, I like to use the alphas for other things, like the date, or as decoration. I used some of the thickers as the centers for the flowers on the paper. I added the friend rub on to a scrap piece of blue paper(from the kit) so it would blend in, but still be noticeable at the same time. I took one of the transparency pages out of the mini album , so I could cut out the green butterfly to use on this page.”

*******************************

“enjoy these good memories”

“I had fun using the stickers to form a sentence/title. I loved the journaling paper because it was 4 inches in height same as the picture, so the design worked together. I applied a rub on onto a piece of paper (I cut this paper out that matched the sticker, from the scrap piece) and then adhered a confetti butterfly with a pop dot onto the paper… To make a custom flower around the circle design I trimmed each petal off the fabric flower, and then adhered it pedal by pedal.”

“ms flirt”

“I like this picture of my puppy because she looks as though she is flirting with the camera … I chose these Jenni Bowlin papers with this picture because I find her paper to be bright and flirty too. I didn’t want my title to really pop out, so I used the white thickers over the white cardstock and blue & white patterned paper. I layered a strip of ribbon with the flower. Using pop dots, I folded and adhered the confetti butterflies over the printed butterflies on the paper.”

*******************************

“escape reality”

“I went with a 6×8 picture that had a lot of empty space on it, so that I could add my journaling, and the title directly onto the picture. To make it look as though I tied a piece of ribbon around the paper (and to save ribbon). I cut a strip that fit the width of the paper, and adhered it. Then I tied a know on a second piece of ribbon, and adhered the knot onto the ribbon strip.”

*******************************

“before and after”

“I wanted a before and after picture of my son with his haircut, so I used scrap strips of paper to create a large grid design on the background paper. I used a chipboard butterfly from the mini album, applied a rub on to the body and added a button to the center of that design. In the other grid, I layered 2 fabric flowers, with the large button as the flower center.”

When it comes to scrapbooking, there is nothing I like more than a mini book. This is one of the reasons we have a mini book in each of our kits. Jennifer and I love us some mini books. I feel so good when I finish one and I feel like I can tackle a mini book in a lot less time than a traditional album. I also love the idea of making themed mini books, like holiday ones or ones dedicated to a specific month or person.

Here’s a look at some of the mini books created using this month’s Crazy Daisy mini book, the Maya Road chipboard star album.

*****************************************

“Little Treasures” mini book by JJ Sobey

“I decided to cover the little oval tag that was attached, and use that in the album as well. I also grabbed a couple of the Maya Road tickets included with the kit, and added them as dangles, too. This is a brag book for my husband to keep at work, so he has something to make him smile in the middle of the day. I used the Jenni Bowlin rub-on letters and more of the Crate Paper borders to make the title for the cover.

Since this book is for my husband, he got to chose the pictures, so you may have seen a few of them before. I used some of the border stickers from the Cosmo Cricket sticker sheet. They were easy to trim to the size I needed for the mini.

Most of the pages I covered with patterned paper, and sanded the edges. But the next one here, I tried out inking the chipboard, then covering it with the Prima rub-ons. I love the effect, but a note of caution. Make sure the ink is bone dry before trying this – other wise the rub-ons just make a mess instead of sticking (ask me how I found this out).

I also cut apart and used some of the cream daisy trim from the kit on the second page here. It’s nice and flat, and makes an easy embellishment that won’t catch on things. I loved using the Jenni Bowlin and Prima border rub-ons around the photos.”

*****************************************

"America the Beautiful" mini book by Grace

“This one incorporated the Maya Road star minibook and the patriotic line from Cosmo Cricket.  I think sticking to one paper line keeps a project from being too busy and it also makes everything easy and fast. The papers coordinated well and the stickers was a fun addition too. I even used some of the stickers as a key chain type of embellishment outside of the book. I adhered them to some pattern papers first then punched holes onto the edge and run it through the chain.”

*****************************************

 ”July Journey” by Kim Whitten

 Have you made a mini book with one of our kits? We’d love to see it and feature here on our blog. Email me and we can make you a Crazy Daisy Superstar!