Renew, Recycle, Restore

We had a couple of these Nintendo DS packages laying around at Christmas and I quickly confiscated them. I had this bright idea that they would make great mini albums for the kiddos. What do you think?

I swiped the ribbon from a pair of pj's one of the boys picked out recently. I thought it was way kool the ribbon said Guitar Hero. Just one more recycled piece to add to the list!

Each one of the kiddos has a page dedicated to them and a page where they can answer questions about they're favorite games. They write it all in by hand and will have something to look back at later when they're older.

I love the Maya Road Kraft Envelopes for this mini. It's a perfect spot to keep a master list of all the games they have acquired through the years.....and it stops me from buying unnecessary doubles! Hope you've enjoyed my Recycled Mini.

Did you get a chance to recycle anything in your projects this month? I'd love to see it. Share your links and I'll pop on over and check them out!

xoxo,

Charity

Five kids aren't enough......

They found the need to add two new pets to the bunch! Thank GOODNESS I don't have to feed the little boogers, because I just might have had to run away.....snicker

I love Keandra's choice of color scheme this month. She brings me over to the other side of the fence! I rarely use orange even though it's my youngest sons favorite color. But I love how it plays off of the teal. And I just adore the fact that there are TWO flavors of letter stickers in the January kit!

I'll be back with my recycled item.....the kiddos are already fighting over who gets it. So I guess I'm going to have to make 4 more to appease them. Which is fine by me because it means I need more scrapbook supplies to get started!

xoxo
Charity Sorrells

As much as we hate...

...to say goodbye to Jennifer, it's a new month and time for another Kreator to come and play with us! This lady is one of the first scrappy friends I made when I brought my kreative thang online! Not only do I love her energy, her personality...I LOVE that she scraps 8.5x11 like someone ELSE I love SOOO much!!! She's my J and I'm her K...help me show love to my twin
JAIME LYNN LEA!!! WHAT?!?!? You don't see the resemblance? HMM, must be because my hair isn't straight anymore! Anywho, I'm EXTRA excited about having J kreate for us this month because she JUST did a blog post announcing that she will stop paper scrapping (a waste, I tell you!) But, she said the Kreatorville kits are SO inspiring that she would LOVE to kreate with one! How awesome is THAT?!? I don't have Jaime's layout yet, but I CAN share the February embellishments and titles with you!
The first embellishment is a chubby Cupid! Even though he looks pretty small here, he's actually about 5 or 6 inches tall! He's a gorgeous shimmery pink (I added extra shine to the paint!) The second embellishment is a single dove. She's a beautiful shimmery oyster color with a blinged out heart eye and an extra heart on her tail. I kreated her because not everyone is part of a couple. But, for those of you who ARE...I present the double doves! Each of them has a blinged out eye and tail. Even though you may not be able to see it well in these pictures, all of the doves shimmer...take my word for it...they're AWESOME!!! (Have I EVER steered you wrong?!?!)
Next, we have the February titles. I changed it up this month and made the "US" print. The other two are "ADORE" and "TOGETHER". All different...all lovely!
Stay tuned for more kreations from our Kore Kreators and subscribers, as well as peeks from the February kit!
I ALMOST forgot to mention: I'm giving away one of these to one of my followers
All you have to do is sign up to follow here AND my personal blog (kiwithekreator.blogspot.com) by February 14th for a chance to win this 17x23" self healing mat by Making Memories! You show ME love and I'll give it right back to ya!!!

I just want to share...

...the awesomeness from some of our Kreators! Chalese Knight kreated this 8.5x11 using the November kit. I love the way she cut the Yukon Gold cardstock into hinges. I love that beautiful picture showcasing the love between her two guys, and I'm digging the two clusters of embellishments above and below that picture!

The next page is from Kreator Julie Wolek-Tucker. SIDEBAR: I went to Jule's blog to get the link and she has some RAWKING jams playin'!!! I'm groovin' right now to "Waterfalls" by TLC...that's my JAM!!!! OK! I got distracted by the music. Jules kreates for Nikki Silvils AND she's the boss lady over at "These are a Few of my Favorite Things"...in other words, SHE ROCKS!!! AND, she like to play with Kreatorville kits...howdiya like THAT??? This page entitled "Peace" showcases the loving relationship between Jules and her two babies (well, one baby and one BIG baby!) and it was kreated using the December kit. I love the mixture of patterned papers and that APTLY TITLE thrown in there...looks great!

This next layout was sent to me by subscriber Abbey Knutson. I told Abbey that I'm REALLY feeling the simplicity of this page. A lot of us are showcasing the patterned paper; I love to see the cardstock featured with the patterned paper used as a mat. And, UMMM...how CUTE is baby girl?!?!
And last...but CERTAINLY not least, this beautiful kreation from our January Kontributing Kreator, Jennifer Yates. Have any of you ever noticed how VIBRANT this lady's work is? Like she's infusing everything with SKITTLES or something...just SAYING!!! Of COURSE the first thing I noticed was the circles since I'm a circle JUNKIE!!!! The buttons look so naturally in the company of the circles. And Jen DEFINITELY gave her punches a WORKOUT when she kreated this page! I count at LEAST six! I love how she used one of the Pink Paislee stamps from the January kit and incorporated it into the title. And how FAB that her resolutions are hidden in the Maya Road envelope?!?!

LLOOOOOOOVE IT!!!! Even though January has run out, Jen's projects haven't! We got a late start because the computers in our house have been possessed! So, I'll be back to share more projects from Jen, as well as some of our other Kreators. AND tomorrow, I'll share Jennifer's fabulous flower tutorial...see?!?!? I DIDN'T forget!

Finally...

....I'm getting the opportunity to share Jen's fabulous flower tutorial with you all!!
Step 1
Gather your materials. You will need a 5 x 5 paper of your choice, scissors, small rubber band and some type of distress ink.

Step 2
Fold your paper in a RECTANGLE shape.



Step 3
Fold your paper in a SQUARE shape.

Step 4
From the square shape fold it into a triangle with the OPEN sides together, this is very important when you are cutting.
(see photo)

Step 5 and Step 6
Start cutting about 1 1/2 from the bottom and curver around to the top till you form a half petal shape.



Step 7 and Step 8
Open up your flower and begin wrinkling it. This will allow the paper to become somewhat soft. BE CAREFUL not to wrinkle too much that you rip the paper.


Step 9 and Step 10
Place large brad in the center of the flower with paper turned upside down. Begin wrapping the flower around the brad gathering it together.



Step 11
Take your small rubber band and wrap it twice around the brad.

Step 12
Spread out the petals of your flower and begin to shape it the way you would like. You can scrunch, wrinkle or cut if you would like too. At this point you may also add some distress ink in the center and around the edges as I did.

Your are finished!! Now you have a beautiful embellishment to add to any scrapbook page! Enjoy!

Welllll, when Jen sent this tutorial to me I thought to myself, "She explained that really well; I can do that!" And I did...until 2am! Jen forgot to include Step 13: Be CAREFUL of becoming addicted! We all decided this month to recycle something. We eat a lot of these in our house
a WHOLLLLLE lot!!! So, I decided to use one of the cans to make this
I used a piece of Pink Paislee Fascinating patterned paper from the January kit to cover the can and adhered this beautiful flower I kreated using Jen's great tutorial! I stuffed batting in the inside and covered it with burlap to kreate a pin cushion. Around here, I have needles stuck in the walls, the decorative flowers...EVERYWHERE so I really need this! (Hopefully I'll utilize it!)
That just wasn't enough so then I kreated this:

Hey, CharyAmore and Peggers!!! My GIRLS!!! For one of the flowers, I covered a brad like Jennifer taught us; for the
other, I just used a decorative brad in the center.
Speaking of Jennifer, let me show you what she recycled using her January kit:
How awesome is this?!?! Jen recycled a pickle jar! Jen explained the story behind her "Family Stones":
I recycled an old pickle jar to keep all the rocks that my son gives to me from places we have been...it is kinda silly but he has been doing it so long that I've been trying to keep them all!!! I've called the jar "family stones"

I think this is SO sweet! And, as the mother of mostly boys, let me tell you Jen...he could be bringing you something FAR more ICKY than rocks!
Jen even used another version of that flower on the lid of the "Family Rocks" jar! Somehow, this one is more masculine...don't you think?
I'll be back soon with the February embellishments!!!