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For those of you unfamiliar with the whole scrapbook kit making process (I keep having to explain it to my family!) it often involves using a mixture of elements and papers that someone else scanned and extracted (the kit designer can then add their own tweak to it, like colors, glitter, or textures, etc.) as well as making your own elements and papers.  So for instance in my previous challenge kit “A Road Less Traveled” (the yellow one) I used a flower that another designer scanned and made available to use commercially and I re-colored it and added glitter.  Then the leaf in my yellow kit I cut from a piece of silky fabric, ironed the creases in, scanned it, removed the background, recolored it, and added shading with the burn tool on photoshop.  The funny thing is that I originally wanted to  have a burned look to the edges of the leaf, but when I held the match flame to the fabric it just caught fire!  Fortunately I’d scanned it first, just in case

For my challenge I wanted to make items that could easily be recolored to fit any color scheme.  I love CU items that you can really tweak to your heart’s content.  So I collected a fun key I found in the dollar bin at Marshall’s with a pretty ribbon, a pretty fabric flower, and an awesome looking frame (also from the dollar bin and I picked up a round and square one too)  I thought it would be great if people could change the color of the ribbon (which was originally burgandy-ish) to match any kit they are making without also changing the color of the key or having to mess with the color replacement brush.   So here is the end result.  You can download this set from Stuff to Scrap by clicking on the image which will redirect you to their forum.

If you like these items, I’d love it if you vote for me for this round by clicking HERE

Again thank you to everyone who voted for me in the last two rounds.

And now some personal use items that I made using the above elements recolored to look fun and springy-I’m feeling really ready for spring
Click image to download

And an extra CU OK item for you

Ivory Keys Digital Dreams is looking to add a few new Creative Team members to her team.  Click on the image to be redirected to her blog for more information.  If you have been admiring all her kits I talk about on my blog, now is a great time to join the team.  Good Luck!

Head over to her blog to read more and sign up.

I should have posted this sooner, but the feltboards really didn’t come together until the end.  But here is my groundhog program at little late

5 Little Groundhogs

The first little groundhog crept out of his lair (creep fingers)
The second little groundhog said, “Is spring in the air?” (sniff air)
The third little groundhog asked, “Is the time right?” (point to “watch” on wrist)
The fourth little groundhog squirmed, “The sun is too bright!” (shade eyes)
The fifth little groundhog squeaked, “My shadow I see!”
“I’m not staying out here! No siree! Not ME! (shake head no)
“Back to my burrow I’m going to creep.” (creep fingers)
“And for six more weeks I’m going to sleep!” (rest head on hands and close eyes)
                             ~From teachingheart.net

I also made a feltboard based (loosely) on the story from Liz and Dick Wilmes’ book Magnet Board Fun called “Gregory Groundhog Sees His Shadow.”

I just basically used the first and last paragraph from their book, where Greggory goes out to look for his shadow and sees the shadows of other animals.  As he sees each shadow I put it on the feltboard and had the kids guess what the animal was.  Most of them were pretty easy.  I narrated what he was thinking as he sees the shadows and discovers what each one really is.  Like for instance he realized he should have known the giraffe’s shadow was not his own since his neck isn’t nearly that long.  At the end he sees a shadow that scares him so much he races back to his burrow where he realizes he has just been frightened by his own shadow.  He decides to stay in his den for 6 more weeks to rest and recover from his fright.  The kids really liked it and they and the parents all had some good chuckles over Greggory’s confusion about the different animal shapes he sees.  I decided to just grab a few animals from my assorted felt board color sets and make matching shadows for them to use for this program.

At the end of the program we had a cute little craft that I also found at teachingheart.net where they linked back to a blog called Skip to My Lou that had the most adorable groundhog craft ever.  I substituted craft foam for the felt she used and used pompoms for the noses.  We had a variety pack of pompoms so some of the groundhogs had really colorful noses!
I had the slits in the cups cut ahead of time and the green felt glued around the cup already in place before storytime.  The kids did make their own grass by cutting the inch or so of felt that I left at the top of the cup.  They then glued their pre-cut groundhogs to the stick, added googly eyes, a nose, and teeth and were all set.  I made the groundhog body in one piece-the ears were part of the body, not separate pieces, again just to cut down on parts to assemble.
the kids all loved them and laughed out loud when I demonstrated how the puppet worked, they were a huge hit.  My youngest daughter continues to carry her groundhog (out of the cup) around the house.  Fiona shows off her groundhog

Katie at storytimesecrets is hosting the round up today and they will be posted later this evening.

So here it is
Clicking on the image will take you to the Stuff to Scrap forum where you can download my kit.  I also have a freebie add on here on my blog which you can grab now.

Also please vote for me if you like this kit by clicking HERE (my name is listed as Crafting Mommy on the voting poll).  I would really appreciate it. I did well in the voting last round so a great big thanks to everyone who did vote for me!

Click image to download the add on.

The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

And here’s a page I made using my mini kit and the add on.

I bought a nice piece of wood from Home Depot and cut it down to be little flat squares.  Then I printed out buildings that Fiona and I decided upon.  She wanted American Girl Place and I also suggested our houses, the grandparents’ houses, the library, and a few of our favorite museums.

I cut out these images and used Mod Podge to adhere them to the blocks.  Lexi helped paint on the glue.

After the Mod Podge dried I added a layer of clear spray paint to keep the Mod Podge from sticking to itself when the blocks are piled up together.

This was super easy to do and the blocks are so much fun to play with.  We tried them out with the Brio train and they look great with the set!  I plan to add more pictures of buildings to the backs of each block so they look nice from both sides when being played with.

Click on the previews to be redirected to her store at STS.  Both items are 30% off right now

She also made a set of templates to go with it.

The first one also uses one of Shel Belle’s Be Mine templates

And now for the color challenge freebie.

Click on the image to download it…

And here’s a page I made with the kit of my wedding day.

Thanks!!

The designer challenge started this week at Stuff to Scrap and I wanted to share a preview of my submission as well as a freebie to go with it that you can download from my blog.  There are over 40 people in the competition and I can’t wait to see all the different kits everyone comes up with using the same colors.  If you are interested in my kit please click on the preview to be redirected to the STS challenge postings where you can download all the submissions.

We were all given the same color palate to work with.  We were able to come up with our own theme and title.  All that was required was that our kits used these colors.

Here’s my kit.  If you click on the image you will be redirected to STS where you can download the kit.  Please leave a comment if you like it at STS.  You do need to be a member, but it’s free and it’s a great community if you are interested in scrapbooking.

To share with you here right now I have an add on kit with some cool worn papers (I LOVE worn papers!) that you can download by clicking on the image.

and here’s a page I made using the kit and the add on.