What can it be? It's a coffee cup for me

Hey guys, I'm up on the Blogger with an ANYTHING GOES Challenge for STAMPlorations.  Click here to join in on the fun and get some amazing inspiration! Their rules state you have to use stamps (if you are not using anything from →Stamplorations←.  Unfortunately I do not have anything (yet) from them.  Here is a link to check out their fabulous shop.

Today I decided to do a layout.  I have been making so many cards lately I am neglecting my layouts.  I am doing a Christmas layout from 2025 and found 2 pictures of my mom's husband opening a coffee cup my Nephew got him.

Since stamping was a requirement (and I am not mad at that at all because I have a TON of stamps) I decided to make my own background.

I pulled out a couple of stamp sets from Whimsy stamps  (GRUMPY HOLIDAYS and LOADS OF CHEER) and a Karen Burniston (SEASON OF CHEER) along with one of their alpha die set and a stamp set from Spellbinders (HOLIDAY GNOMES).

Since the pictures are primarily red and blues I reached into my Arden SEASON OF JOY collection and it was a perfect match for these photos!

I backed the 12x12 white card stock with a piece of Arden's Season of Joy but I made sure to gut it because it's not just red it has some black stamping on the background as almost a grunge effect and I didn't want to waste it...but since I needed to match the red I used to back the white 12x12 paper, I used it to mat the photos😞

After backing the 12x12 I went to town stamping.  I start with the largest stamp and worked my way down in size trying to keep them at odd numbers because for some reason our brains love that.  After I finished stamping I was going to color in the Charlie Brown looking Christmas tree with my Copics but I didn't want to ruin the look so I kept it as is and brought in some reds and blues in with the title, some title pieces and stars from that Arden collection and some bling.  I think keeping the background black and white those pieces really made it pop.

Well that is it!  I hope I inspired you to reach into your stamps and create your own background, it is so much fun to do!  Don't forget to head over to Stamplorations' Monthly Blog Challenge and join in on the fun.

Thanks for hanging out with my!

Stay crafty,

Kimberly

Moments Worth Remembering - Layout #22 of the 365 scrapbook challenge and what lessons I learned with this layout

Hey Newbies,

I'm here working on number 22 of my 365 Page Layout Challenge 2019 (and the lessons I learned).  I will try to list everything I used below and try to link up to where you can purchase them if you happen to like any of them.

Today I'm doing one of my challenges that I found on a FB group from the UK (yeap, still counting it as part of my challenges.)😬  This one was very specific about what was required.  It required mixed media, BIG stencil work and stitching, which I've never done😱...which was pretty cool because learning new stuff is awesome!

I started off with a heavy red card stock for the background.  I took some white 12x12 card stock, cut it down by an inch on each side and used white gesso on it to do some mixed media work.  After it dried, I did the tear technique at the top before starting the mixed media work.


I used one of my favorite heart stencils and used glass bead gel, it's messy and takes a bit to get the technique down but I do love it.  I used my heat gun to try and dry it but had to let it set to fully dry...so this layout took a while to do.

After the gel dried I made a heart stencil (out of a cardboard) and stenciled the big heart using my ink blending tool by Tim Holtz and blended the ink around the stencil using Stamp Craft Ink in "RED" I bought at Michaels.  I also used smaller heart stencils in the middle of the larger heart using red acrylic paint and the same blending tool. 

I didn't want to leave the paper white, I'm not a huge fan of a lot of white space in my layouts.  I do them every so often when I "lift" an amazing layout  I see on IG.  So I took my blending tool and blended some more of the acrylic paint all around, making sure I don't mess with the glass beads, those are super delicate so I used Distressed spray stain in ABANDONED CORAL on them.

I used my heart punched to punch out some hearts in the same red card stock I used for the background and one out of gold foil paper (I purchased from Michaels, it goes on sale a lot so wait for it).   I backed the one red heart at the top with the gold heart and did my journaling.  I did the stitching on the single heart at the bottom.  Not bad for my first time and no sewing machine!

The photos I backed with black card stock and some of the gold foil paper.  I wanted to pull some of the black out of his shirt and add some other color other than the reds because it was starting to look a bit...red🤷🏻‍♀️.  I used foam backing for the pictures to give some dimension to them and also it's hard for anything to stick to the glass beading so I had to use the foam.

I added the "LOVE" sticker in between the photos to pull more of the black out.  That was from a very old stash and I have no idea where I got those words because I love them!  It's got kind of a rough texture to it...If you guys find them anywhere please leave a comment, I would love to buy some more of those!

I then used the words NEW, ARRIVAL, HELLO, CUTE, on top of the red hearts to pull more of the gold color out and seriously, how cute is this new arrival anyways!  These are so awesome and I WILL be purchasing more of them!  They are Gold Foam Letters from Thickers Goldie (151) collection!  

I sprayed the entire page with Perfect Pearls Mist from Ranger in PERFECT COPPER.  It is one of my favorite colors!!!!

Finally, I used the EACH CHILD IS UNIQUE... and MOMENTS WORTH REMEMBERING from The paper Studio - Children Phrases I purchased from Michaels.

Well, there you have it...number 21 of my 365 layout challenge for 2019.  I tried to link up what I used in case you wanted to try any of them.  Thanks for following along on my journey of 365 scrapbook page challenge that I am doing, and reading about the lessons I'm learning along the way!  Please leave a comment below on what you liked about the layout and if you want to follow me on my 365 challenge please subscribe!

Come join my FB page for more challenges and to share your layouts with the group or come follow me on IG!  

Happy Scrapping🤗

Kimberly

Why choose a name like Scrapbooking for Newbies?

Hey Newbies, I hope your day has been filled with lots of scrapbooking layouts and card making for the special people in your life!

I wanted to touch base on why I named this Blog and my FB and IG pages Scrapbooking For Newbies.  Well, I don't share this on my pages but I have MS (Multiple Sclerosis) which basically is a disease that makes your body attack itself. In the case of MS it's the Mylan sheath (which is what surrounds your central nervous system (CNS)) that is being attacked.  When your body attacks itself, it puts holes in the Mylan which is what protects your CNS.  When this happens your spinal cord and brain start suffering, become damaged and don't communicate.  There is no cure and the meds only slow down the progression.  There are lots of symptoms to MS (let me say that again...LOTS of symptoms), one being cognitive.

Some times my cognitive issues go from non existent to mild to I'm not sure what my name is.  So naming my Blog Scrapbooking for Newbies sounded fitting because even though I'm learning new stuff, I'll pretty much be a Newbie the entire time.  I may learn new stuff but may not retain it all which means I have to go back and read notes, watch videos or just jump in and hope I get the technique right (or maybe make a new one, which would be awesome)!

The second reason is, I know that there are a lot of new scrapbookers who get a little intimidated by the other sites because most are experts creating these awesome layouts and cards and have fancy cameras and picture boxes so that their finished product looks amazing.  I'm not knocking them for this, I actually want to become one of those experts one day!

Also, some (most) sites won't let you do challenges or post your layout (because come on, don't we want to share our awesomeness, our one of a kind creations with the world)?  I know I did and since I couldn't find anywhere to do that at I started my Facebook group - Scrapbooking for Newbies.  I also put the word out that anyone can join not just newbies!  We love to get feedback from other scrapers and learn new things, like mixed media!  Who knew!?!?!  

So those are the reasons for naming my Blog and other social media platforms Scrapbooking For Newbies.  I'm hoping you come join us on this journey of learning new stuff, meeting new scrapers and getting some answers to questions on new techniques.  I can tell you, my IG page is full of experts who love to give great advice and helpful hints when ever you ask, so feel free to join me there as well!

Thanks for visiting my Blog and hope to see you on my IG and Fb pages!

Happy Scraping!
Kimberly

Blog Hops and what are they?

  

Hey there Newbies, so today lets talk about Blog hops.
This month I learned about blog hops from Amy Tsuruta  at Coffee Loving Cardmakers! This site is all about card making and Coffee loving and who doesn't love that combo?  (Click here for the link to the actual hop).  They put hops on a couple of times a year, so if you sign up for their news letter or follow their facebook page you will be able to join them next go around!

I stumbled upon Amy's blog via Facebook and was intrigued!  I've never heard of a blog hop nor have I ever made a card so I said to myself, self, why not.  So I did and how fun was it... so much!

You make a card, submit it by uploading it to their site and then winners are randomly picked.  You hop from card to card and make comments (which was one way of winning a prize) visit the sponsor sites, join in on conversations via facebook and keep in touch via her blog and facebook.  The best thing of the entire hop...seeing these beautiful handmade cards that really inspire you.  

I didn't think I had a chance being a newbie and all but I had so much fun figuring out how to make one and learning about digital downloads (that's for another blog another time) and getting to know all of these awesome, coffee loving people on this hop!  Amy was so helpful and took time out of her super busy schedule to help me!

There were thousands of cards (I believe the final count was a little over 1,300!).  There were over 70 sponsors and are you ready for this...I actually won a prize!  I couldn't believe it!  The sponsor I won from was Whimsy Stamps and I was so excited!  This is my entry...

Not too bad for a Newbie (if I do say so myself).  

Well, that's a little info on blog hops and I hope you take some time to visit Coffee Loving Cardmakers! Blog site and learn some awesome ways to make cards.  Oh, one more thing, their Facebook page is always posting S-A-L-E-S from a lot of different crafting sites and who doesn't love saving money!

I hope you enjoyed this blog about blog hops.  Be sure to follow me for more info on scrapbooking and card making stuff for Newbies.  Come join us Newbies on Facebook (it is a closed group only because most of us are working on scrapbook pages that we intend to give as gifts and don't want to spoil the surprise).

Happy Scraping!

Kimberly