Occupied: Wall Space

I want one of these hanging on my wall, don't you??? Are you listening Heather? She made awesome wall art!
Deb♥



When I first seen these photo trays, I knew exactly what my Christmas gifts were going to be for my parents and my in-laws! I had such fun creating these! It was like doing 6 4x6 lo's for each one!!!

My mother has 6 grandsons, so with the 6 openings, I put a picture of each grandson in each opening. In the others, I put a pic of each of my sons in an opening, a pic of my hubby and I in another and the 6th opening was basically my "title" spot. I titled them with "Our Family is a Work of Heart".

I tried to find something that would relate to each child to make their "block" specific to them. One way I did this was using chipboard letters. I used the first letter of each one's name in their block. I distressed them, glimmer misted them, inked them! I then used Tim Holtz gears and jewelry charms to add a little some thing more to the block. My oldest son plays drums, so I found a drum charm and attached it to his "P" (for Payton). All 3 of my little ones love puzzles, but since I didn't want a puzzle piece charm on each one, only one of them got a puzzle and I found other things that were suitable for the others. I then tied some different ribbons to the handle for a finishing touch!!!

I made 4 of these photo trays. Once I got 3 of them done, my husband decided he wanted me to make one for his grandmother also! It felt so good that he liked it enough that he wanted one for her also!!! And I have been in each of the homes since they received them and got to see them hanging in their houses! What a great feeling!!!

Scrapbooking = home decor!!! What better way to show off our love of family and scrapbooking but by combining them into one beautiful piece to display!

So Long to Natalie

It is with much sadness I say so long to my dear online friend and groovy designer, Natalie. She has been here at IIG for over a year now and I have grown to care so much about her that I am already missing her! She is a beautiful person in and out and it shows in her art work each time I see something new. Please help me to say farewell as we bid her adieu.

Love ya Girl!
Deb♥





My 3 year old is a very dear person to me. I do tell her all the time. There will come a day where doubt will creep into her mind when I am long gone and she'll need some personal touch from me to keep her going. The letter I wrote to her just mentions a few of the things I love about her. It reads:
We've had some difficult times together during the last couple years. I've never been a mom before to a 2-3 year old and well, you're just being you! You are truly a gift from God! I love you...all of you! I love how you do everything in your own way. Mixing and matching what you see in the world and putting your own spin on it. I love how you run around naked before we can get you dressed or into PJs! I think it's funny how you love to brush your teeth 10 times a day if I'd let you! You are one of the cleanest kids I know! I love spending time with you, especially when we're both able to figure out what it is you really want! We are a great team! When I make bread or cookies, you just want to taste the batter and do the dishes! You love putting away the silverware while I put away the other dishes. I love how you love God! I watch you as you grow to know Him, and ask, "Why did God create us?" at three and a half years old! To which I reply, "So He could have a relationship with us, plain and simply, a Holy, loving relationship!" You amaze me on a daily basis and I would never want my life to be any different! I love being your mom, you bring out the best in me and sometimes, well, you know! Love, Mom

I used my Cricut Imagine to make the 12 x 12 paper background, the bracketed box floral designed paper, the title and sun as well as the envelope. I used Better Together cartridge for the Imagine and the envelope was made with patterned paper from the Imagine and then I used my Gypsy and Plantin Schoolbook for the envelope. I inked the edges of the bracketed box, put Stickles on the sun and title and inked the edges of the pictures after I used my Fiskars scissors to scrape the edges. I used rivets and my Crop-o-dile Big Bite to set them within the pictures. I used buttons from Wal-Mart and fiber for the envelope as well as page embellishments. The photos were printed on my Epson Picture Mate Deluxe printer this time. Hope you are inspired to include a layout like this in your albums often! Natalie

Imagine the Butterflies

Natalie has shown me why a Cricut Imagine would be a lot of fun. Wait until you see this pretty card she made :)I'm in Butterfly Heaven!
Deb♥

Butterfly Kisses is the first card and very first project that I created using the Cricut Imagine! I didn't do any extra to the card because I hadn't experimented with chalking or distressing. The Imagine is so much fun; you can change the colors of the images, print the card out in one layer, or cut out the pieces and layer them with pop-dots! You can even just cut out the pieces on your own printed paper! I plan on making many more cards and scrapbook layout embellishments with my Imagine! The cartridge I used is an Imagine cartridge and it is called Nursery Tails! It has great images for the little ones and can be used for birth announcements, cards, or layouts of your dollbabies and sweethearts! The colors are a bit on the subdues side, but as I collect pattern cartridges and input my own RGB codes, which mimic my favorite Stampin Up! colors then I can make even more GROOVY designs!
Natalie

Save Your Scraps!

I scrapbook with a friend who told me one day that she throws her paper scraps away. GASP! I had to pick my jaw up as I find that scraps are still part of the paper we just "had to have". You too?

Let's see how Sarah used her scraps :) and say goodbye as she finishes her tour here on IIG. Thanks Sarah for everything!
Deb♥



I love making birthday cards. Or any type of card for that matter. What better way to use up some of those scraps we all have lying around? I make a rule that when I make a card, I has to be from scraps. Scrap paper, scrap ribbon, extra flowers I have lying around...all scraps! Not only do I get to use up some of my stash, my friends and family get wonderful, handmade cards that you can't buy in a store. It really helps their day feel special.

I made this card for my sister for her birthday. She loves pink and I had fun digging through all my pink stash to find the perfect products to go on it. She called me the day she received it and told me how much she loved it. Have you made a card recently? You should!

After 3 Months

From where I sit I think a lot can change in three months. Usually when we have a new designer here at If It's Groovy, the term is for three months and we are able to see a lot of great projects provided during that rein ") This has been no exception with Sarah. She gave us a look into the her life and now her life is getting bigger as she will welcome a new baby in just a few months down the road. Let's enjoy her lo and pregnancy with her and she shares with us an amazing layout she created for us this month.

In Sarah's Words:

Dear Love:
I don't know what you'll look like, how you'll behave, or even whether you're a boy or a girl. One thing I do know is that I love you so much. When we found out that we were pregnant with you, we were so excited. You're big sister, Caylan, is excited too. She talks to you and kisses my belly all the time. We still have 6 months until we can meet you and we can't wait to welcome you into our family. You're already in our hearts and we love you very much!
Love,
Dad, Mom, and Caylan

At Home with Silvana!

Part of the fun of scrapbooking is dreaming of a new, sometimes bigger, well-lit, and organized scrap space, at least with a great many people who are accustomed to scrapping from their corner, the dining room table, or the trunk of their car. I think it is always a good thing to get ideas on how others use the space they have been given to create. Let's check in with Silvana today and let her show us how she lights up her world.
Deb♥



Is this call recycling or reuprosing? well whatever it is called, LOL, I want to share with you what I did with an old lamp....you know those floor lamps from Ikea that are cover in some kind of texture paper, they look really pretty when they are new, but with kids they don't last long :( .

One day I was about to throw mine in the trash went I said: Hey wait the minute!!! the electrical is fine, the base looks good!!! I only have to replace the paper !!! and that's exactly what I did ....I had this nice rice paper for a while which I was saving for something special but I didn't know what ... until I started this project. I used the whole length of the paper which was perfect because it cover the ligthbulbs. I wrapped the paper around then glued it and to cover the edges (which didn't look great). I used a few pieces of cardstock which I punch with a MS punch to match the rest of my scrap room decorations and voila a brand new floor lamp.

(You can see the old lamp in the picture where my son is playing with bubbles, that's the only pic I found where u can see the whole lamp).
(New lamp in my scraproom)

And the winner is...

For all of my challenges I use Random.org with the sequence generator using one line of numbers including all entries. For this month we had 34 beautiful entries. I wish we had a prize for all but it went like this:
Random Sequence Generator
Here is your sequence:


8
5
31
21
24
25
13
7
18
29
27
3
32
4
2
9
30
34
33
26
19
23
10
20
12
17
11
14
1
28
6
16
15
22
Timestamp: 2011-03-01 05:46:46 UTC






If you now take a look you will see our winner is in the 8th spot of the slideshow.

CONGRATS Megan! I hope you will enjoy the Nikki Sivils! Please email me with your address :)

Here are all of the entries from our awesome friends:

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! :)