What a Sweeeeeeeeeeeet Month!

I have to tell ya, it has been one sugary month around here at IIG! Between the hearts and sugar cookies I am sure I have gained 5 pounds ")




At least I know I have gained some new layouts, new projects, new friends, and new ideas based on all the creations shown and the ones coming in for the Have a Heart Challenge. SMILE!!!


There is still time for you to get your layout in as well~Enter your heart layout by 11pm EST tonight Feb 28 and you may get your sweet little hands on that Nikki Sivils goodies. You know you want to!

3 options to show me what you've got:
groovydeb@yahoo.com
scrapbook.com interactive forum/challenges
Fiskateers gallery

See ya in March with a new challenge, a new sponsor and hopefully lots of sunshine!
Deb♥

p.s. Special THANKS AGAIN to Nikki Sivils who generously provided for The Groovy Chicks and to one of you also :)

It's A Peachy Thing!

So this past month I have been showing you the "I'm a Peachy Kat" pic to the right...just letting you know that I am helping design for this up and coming blog, Let's Get Peachy, that I hope you will check out and have fun with. The girls will be producing layouts and altered projects and I will be sketching. Hope you will stop by to see what they are all up to after your visits here at IIG.

Find me sketching there on Thursdays beginning mid-March :)

Hugs, Deb♥

SUGAR COOKIE: Doreen

As we round out this month we have a few last layouts provided by Doreen after she used Nikki Sivils, Sugar Cookie. We hope that in this month we have been able to show you many different idea for using just one of her beautiful product lines. I had to giggle to myself when I saw the variety of layouts created by Doreen...a big girl bed, a puppy, married couple and Kim Kardashian! Too funny! Just goes to show this line has many possabilities. Be sure to go back over to Nikki's website and look for how you too can order some of this and others :)
Deb♥


From Doreen:
Cute sketch + Cute papers + Cute Subject = Cute layout!
Well, at least I think so. :0)

Having just joined the Groovy Chicks in November, this was my first experience w/ a sponsor. A sponsor is someone who gives you their product in exchange for you promoting it by using it on a layout (or other craft project). Did you catch that? "Gives" you their product? As in for free? So basically I was given free stuff to use for my hobby; Cool Beans! Even cooler beans is when the free stuff is CUTE, which is the case w/ the kit given to us by our fabulous sponsor Nikki Sivils!!! The kit is called "Sugar Cookie" and it is SUPER CUTE! It is also perfect for my super, super cute pics of my fur baby Ivanna!

These pics were taken by my son the same day I received the kit. *Note - I hadn't seen the kit until after I saw the pics*. When I saw the pics I told my son that I wanted to print them and create a layout as soon as I could! Then, I opened the kit, and I was instantly drawn to the colors and the feeling of love that jumped off the pages full of hearts! That's when I knew I had to use it to create the layout of my fur baby.

It was scrappy fate!!!

As for the sketch...I thought it was perfect 'as is' so I didn't stray too far from it, choosing to keep the other elements simple, allowing the sketch, papers, and pics to really shine!!
Which leads me back to: Cute sketch + Cute papers + Cute Subject = Cute layout!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Seriously? Who made up that phrase??? LOL!

Just want to announce that the winner of last month's Crayon Challenge is Laura. We had two entries outside of The Groovy Chicks, Laura and Danielle. Here are both layouts so you can see what they created ") Danielle's with Laura's following. Thanks to you both!

Don't let this month slip by and forget to send in your entry! Remember that this month it is HEARTS, one or more...you decide! See you by 2/28!
Deb♥




























WINNER THIS MONTH!!!

SUGAR COOKIE: Silvana

This title on Silvana's newest Nikki Sivils project has me thinking "more icing"! I love the way the outlined letters look sugary sweet. Don't you?
Deb♥

What a great line "Sugar Cookie"!!! as soon as I got it in my hands and saw this cute cookie papers I remember I had and old pic of my son standing by the oven window "waiting for cookies " to bake, this was last feb/16/2009 so the heart shape cookies were perfect :)
I choose "sprinkle love" and "cookie border strips" papers for my layout base , add a cookie and cookie journaling cut-out, alpha stickers from the set for my title and to stick out more the part where he is looking at the cookies I cut a circle and glue it to the pic + a arrow cut-out pointing to it...perfect don't' you think?
What I love most about Nikki Sivils lines is that besides scissors and glue probably won't need anything more to make our layouts.

SUGAR COOKIE: Groovy Deb♥

Hey! I created another project with the goodies from the Nikki Sivils Sugar Cookie line! Have we had fun this month!

This pic is of my husband's mother and niece before his mom passed away. I know this young lady was very special to her and so I created this layout and plan to give it to her as a gift. I left the big area empty in case she would like to add another pic or write something in ")

TFL!

Don't forget to email a layout with at least one heart on it for your chance to win some of the fab line of paper!!!
Deb♥

HAVE A HEART: Silvana

Aren't these two perfect looking together?
Deb♥



I mostly scrap pics of my kids... but when I read that the challenge was to make an LO with lots of hearts I decide to scrap this cute pic of my DH and me.
I have this old collection of valentines paper by K&Company so it was perfect for this LO.... I choose a paper with hearts for my base ......but is a double side paper !!! one purple with little hearts and the other side red with big hearts and keys ....mmm what should I do? I ended up using the purple side which I like better and I roll the paper in the corner so I can show a little bit of the other side too :).
Used some more paper of the same collection to frame my picture. Lately I been into stitching in my projects just a little bit here and there and thats what I did with this LO... a couple the swirl stitches ( it was a little hard try passing a needle thru a pic + beige cardstock + red cardstock + purple cardstock ) for the title I use a a rub-on the word Sweethearts. I really enjoy making this page and scrapping a romantic pic for a change.

SUGAR COOKIE: Jen T

Jen T appropriately named her layout I Heart My Family. What a great looking family she has too! Let's take a look at how pretty they look on Nikki Sivils pretty papers!
Deb♥

HAVE A HEART: Doreen

Great advice to follow given by Doreen this month. Notice her outlining? Have you tried that on your layouts?
Deb♥

Have a Heart Challenge
‘What is Love?’

When it comes to love, I instantly think of my kids. After all, what love is stronger than that of a parent and child? But I always scrap my kids, and although I love to do so, I realized I was neglecting the other love of my life: my hubby. So when this challenge came along, I decided to scrap a pic of him, but since they are so rare, I had to include myself in it (and unfortunately it is a very unflattering pic of me)! But sometimes, it’s not “all about me”… :o)
xoxoxoxoxo


Journaling reads:
"I hate this picture of myself!
I have no make-up on, my hair is thrown back in a bun, I am dressed in my bummy clothes… I look awful!
So why did I scrap the picture you may ask? Well, because my hubby hates to have his picture taken, and this is one of the rare times he allowed it.
And I love him and want to show future generations what a handsome hubby I have.
So in order to allow him to “shine” I had to sacrifice and reveal this awful picture of myself.
If that isn’t love…I don’t know what is! "

SUGAR COOKIE: Natalie

Natalie's pages are here for us today with the Sugar Cookie line. You will have to smile looking at them ")
Deb♥Thank you Nikki Sivils for providing our DT with some of your great papers, cardstock stickers, and designer buttons! Your products are really quality in my opinion! The colors are so vibrant and the paper is just right, not too thin, not too thick, which is my fav for using in the Cricut. However, I didn't use the Cricut this time! I actually got out my scissors and used pencil drawn templates, too! Oh, the humanity!

This layout uses Nikki Sivils double-sided 12 x 12 papers and cardstock stickers from "Sugar Cookie", as well as some of her burlap buttons. I used some inks, glitter, glitter pens, and a crimper to add my personal touch to the items. Pop dots helped bring her charming little extras off the page!

My 3-Year old daughter is the star of this layout. If I've never told you her name before it is because I want to protect her identity a little! So I'll just let you know a little funny fact about her instead; we call her Larry! As in Larry the Cucumber from Veggie Tales! She actually named herself this and it kind of stuck! So...we have Larry in this layout pigging out on ice cream cake on her Daddy's birthday a couple of years ago. Larry has quite a "sweet tooth" and when I saw that cut and paste saying in Nikki's "Sugar Cookie" collection I had the perfect picture for it.

Honestly, it was really hard for me to decide which picture to use for the sketch we were provided with because Nikki's papers and the cut and paste sayings and stickers gave me so many choices. So needless to say I am going to be able to make many more layouts and cards with this collection!
Natalie





And more from Natalie about this layout too...


All mothers think their children are the cutest, right? Well I think my little Larry is her cutest when she's just playing and being herself. I like catching her doing things and before she can get cheeky with me, being the old soul that she is, I snap a picture! That was the motivation it took for me to get a SLR camera! I had to be quick or they'd all be grumpy pics!!!



I used Nikki Sivils "Sugar Cookie" line of papers and stickers for this layout. The sketch I used is by Liz Qualman.

A Beautiful Layout from Natalie

From the oversized tag to the chipboard letters and beautiful pics...this is a great lo with a great message as well. Natalie reminds us of something important. Contact your local Humane Society or shelter if you are looking for a life-long pet, but be sure to ask how the animal you pick is with other members of families such as children and other pets. They will do your best to provide the proper info and connect you with a friend with fur!
Deb♥


This layout was hard to make. The day before I did it, I had to relinquish the cat in the picture, to the Humane Society in our county. He was a lovey kitty, but very aggressive. He had bitten me twice, once I excused because he had been riled up by our older cats as we were trying to acclimate him into our home. He was a feral cat and we were trying to domesticate him. He sealed his fate the other day by attacking my daughter in our yard and biting her several times and scratching her on the abdomen. She admitted to poking him and playing a little rough. She is only 3 and I had to choose. Letting a cat overrun our yard where we want to be free from fear or give him away. There are many people in our county with land and they get these cats and feed them. We did neuter him to begin with as we wanted to help stop the feral cat problem as much as we could.

My daughter loves to play outside and plant things, now she can without the fear of being bitten or harassed. Let this remind all of us that it is oh so important to support the efforts of your local animal advocate groups in spaying and neutering feral cats and adopting animals from shelters. Both of my indoor cats consist of a shelter rescue and a feral rescue.

The layout is inspired from one of my sketches. I used my Cricut and Gypsy to cut out the title, bird, and birdcage. The title is from Storybook cart, and the bird and cage are from Serenity. The large "tag" has a pocket behind it holding a letter to my daughter explaining what happened and why we had to let the kitty go. I inked the edges of everything and used the Xyron 1.5" Create a Sticker for attaching the letters to the page. 3D pop dots where used with the bird and cage.

It looks as though birds are still trending this year and I patterned mine after an uncaged canary!
Natalie

Who Are "They"???

You know what "they" say right? When you least expect it, expect it!
Deb♥



Unexpected Delight
-"Love Your Brace Face"-











As a parent I try really hard to get pictures of all of the significant, and sometimes not-so-significant, events in my children’s lives. As a scrapper it has become practically an obsession for me!
Right after Madison got her braces, I tried for days to get a picture of her showing off her braces. However, it never seemed to work out!
Either I didn’t have time, or she wasn’t in the mood, or she wasn’t dressed appropriately or the setting was too busy…etc, etc… So eventually I resigned myself to the fact that I would never get the pictures I wanted *sigh*.
Well, when I went to make this layout, I didn’t have any intention for it to be about Madison’s braces! But as I looked at the pictures, it hit me: these are awesome pictures of her and her braces!!! So I instead of just a random layout about her, I turned it into a layout about her cute “brace face”!
How funny that when I wasn’t even trying, I got the pictures I wanted, LOL!


Journaling reads:
"At the age of 8 Madison had to get an upper jaw palate expander & braces. She started treatment in Jan 2010. Pics taken Jan 2011."

SUGAR COOKIE: Sarah

Our sponsor for this month has certainly inspired The Groovy Chicks in many directions! Here is how Sarah chose to use some of the product to create a layout using memorabelia.
Deb♥


From Sarah:
When I saw all the hearts in the sponsor package, I just knew I wanted to do a page about my favorite local band, Heritage. We were so lucky to be able to go see them when we were home for New Years this year. We have their CD and listen to them all the time (even my two-year-old likes their music!). I was so great to see them in person. I really wanted to capture their spirit in the page so I used brown as the background and popped it with red, yellow and green - their signature colors. I cut out a large heart image from one of the pattern papers and stitched in red along the inside. I added my own ribbon, a date stamp and the ticket stub and wrist band from the performance. A big thanks to Nikki for supplying us with these awesome products and for sponsoring If It's Groovy!

SUGAR COOKIE: Heather

We are so lucky to have received a great pet page today from Heather using the Nikki Sivils sketch. Notice the rolled down corner? Cute huh? A great way to add distressing to a great layout! Check out the second lo she made as well...darling children aren't they? The b/w pic really is a great idea with this line don't ya think?
Deb♥




Upon receiving our goodies from Nikki, I knew exactly what I wanted to scrap!!! Having all boys in my house, it's not often that I get to scrap with hearts and pink! However, brown and pink together are my fave colors!!! So, when I opened this packet up, I knew I was going to scrap a picture of my new Christmas gift, the only other female in my house, my new kitten Jasmine aka Jaz!

I cut the heart smaller then it was originally and then distressed the edges. After distressing the edges, I misted the top right corner and the bottom point with water. After that, I rolled the paper and then used my heat tool to dry it so it would stay rounded. I then distressed the other papers that I used. I punched the heart in top left corner out and then added some Glossy Accents to the heart. I LOVED the canvas buttons that were included. I didn't want it even though (odd for an OCD person, I know!) so I included the 3 buttons on one side and put the one lonely button on the other side!

The only thing I used that was not from the Sugar Cookie collection was the lace that I already had in my scrap ribbon jar. I loved the little pink letters and so those were a MUST on this lo!!!

So, now you can finally see, my first ever layout of my new precious kitten!

We ♥ YOU!!!

Happy Valentine's Day from Groovy Deb♥, Natalie, Jen T, Darlene, Doreen, Silvana, Heather and Sarah!!!

We hope you have had a beautiful holiday shared with those who you love!!!

We love and ♥ you!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Hi Everyone! Happy Valentine's Day! I thought I would take today to show you a little project I worked on to keep on my desk and this one has my little Valentine daughters right there for me to see while I create :)

I bought a 3" styrafoam cube and took one of the papers from Nikki Sivils' Sugar Cookie line then I scored every 3" which you can see in one of the pics below. Using my Fiskars Fingertip Craft Knife I cut alongside some of the lines that would fit along the block.. The other pieces were cut away and used to help embellish the top.

Using some of the supplies in the kit I added little pictures of my daughter adhering them to party toothpicks then inserted them into the foam. Voila! I have a photo holder!

If you need further instructions feel free to drop me a line :)TFL!
Deb♥

SUGAR COOKIE: Darlene

Darlene has made several amazing projects to share this month using the Sugar Cookie line sponsored by Nikki Sivils. Let me get right to those for you. Enjoy!
Deb♥

This month, If It’s Groovy is being sponsored by Nikki Sivils! Nikki was so generous with her products! I was able to make 5 layouts with 8 sheets of her paper only!!! That was pretty exciting to me when I realized how far I could “stretch” my stash! :)

I really loved the fun yet funky style of the Sugar Cookie line! This line was sooo cute and the colors are truly yummy! These layouts seemed to make themselves. I had most of these assembled in one short night, shocker! :) I only used some clear glitter glue for extra sparkle and glitziness on some of the elements, as well as some border punches. :) And voila, done! :)

Everything you need to make as many layouts as I did is in one kit of the Sugar Cookie line! Learn where to snag a set of this collection at Nikki Sivils's site!

Make sure to play along with If It’s Groovy’s heart challenge this month to be in the running for this Nikki Sivils collection as well! :)

SUGAR COOKIE: Silvana

Today we bring some more projects to share made by Silvana. Each come from the Nikki Sivils Sugar Cookie line. These are very cute cards with one of them open to show dimension.
Deb♥

SUGAR COOKIE: Silvana

Using our sponsored packet of goodies from the Nikki Sivils Sugar Cookie collection Silvana was busy at work and came up with this...
Deb♥

Ohhhh!!! such a beautiful collection I didn't know which paper I want to use first.... so I went to look for photos and I found this pic of my brother's wedding ( two years ago) and I immediately knew what kind of LO I want it to do. I start with this nice yellowish diamond pattern paper "love always" as a base then I frame the photo with a brown cardstock and this pretty pink cardstock.... after that I punch lots of little flowers in pink and brown and make the shape of the heart, I just love the way this come out, it adds texture to the page and looks great. For the title I use the alpha stickers part of the kit to make the word FOREVER which seems like a perfect title for a wedding picture, I just use my white pen to draw around each letter so it pops a little bit more... a little tags sticker in the corner with a nice button to write down the date and I finish it with a recycle ribbon and a handmade pin.
Thanks so much Nikki for this beautiful collection, I have so much fun following your sketch.

Friday Night Sketch with Natalie

It's Friday, yeah! Did you catch last Friday's sketch sent out on this past Wednesday? No? Scroll down or look for SKETCH in the Tags ")
Here is a new sketch from Natalie. Enjoy!
Deb♥

HAVE A HEART: HEATHER

One word should sum up my thoughts on this one by Heather...
GORGEOUS!
Deb♥

I had so much fun making this lo! It is a semi-scraplift of MandaK over at sb.com but I had to make it my own you know!!! We had this pic of my hubby and I taken over the Christmas holidays at a family event. I needed a pic of him and I to use on some photo trays (coming soon for your viewing) that I was making for Christmas gifts. So, what better pic to use when I need to do a layout that includes hearts!!!! I love to distress!!! I have never wrinkled the paper like this though and I love the effect!

To wrinkle the paper, I just kind of pushed and folded it around. Then I sprayed it with a little water and dried it with my heat tool, while kind of forming it into place. Then I took fired brick distress ink over the tops of the folds.

I stamped all the little hearts on the pages using black soot distress ink. Didn't care for the way they turned out so I used some red Smooch Spritz to highlight the corners and cover/make the hearts stand out without being overpowering. This was the first time I have used the Smooch Spritz. I am normally a diehard Glimmer Mister, but I really liked it and it does give a different look then GM does!

I played around with the shadowing and highlighting in picassa to make the pic the color I wanted. (Was actually trying to hide the sign behind us with cropping the pic down any further!)

So, what does your heart beat for? A spouse? Your kids? A pet? A hobby? Show us!!!

God Bless, Heather

HAVE A HEART: JEN

If you ever wonder how to choose colors for a layout this is one of the best ways to do so...look at what someone is wearing in your pictures. It really helps! Watch Jen...
Deb♥


I LOVE this have a heart challenge! O.K. I use LOVE alot...but I really do mean it when I say it! That is why I had so much fun making this heart page for the challenge! this is a pic of my youngest daughter Mackenzie who is now 8 months old....as soon as I looked at the picture of her with her LOVE shirt on the my minds eye papers I just got and title name came to my mind right away. Don’t you just Love when that happens! TFL! Love, jen t.

SUGAR COOKIE: Jen T

Another layout created with our sponsored products this month :)
This time by Jen T.
Thanks for stopping by, Deb♥






ok, when I found out that we were making a page for Nikki Sivils I was so excited! I just love these heart papers and I had so much fun making this page! I felt like using distressing so I distressed all the edges and layered the pp so that you can see the other cool pp underneath and folded the edges too with a button to top it off. Then I stitched the circle to add texture and layered stickers and die-cuts along the edge of the PIC to add more interest. And finally I made a flower out of cut-out hearts and added a cool canvas covered button in the center. Tfl!

Friday Night Sketch with Natalie(early)

Last week we had a little bit of change on Friday night with our guest DT/sponsor, but we are back on schedule and also have a lo to share with you created by a friend of If It's Groovy, Natacha. I have included the sketch she used. Remember if you ever use one of our sketches here then submit it to me with your blog address and we would love to show yours here on a Friday night too!

Be sure to stop by and visit Natacha at her blog here: http://cardscrapper-me.blogspot.com/
Enjoy!