Make-up Monday at CUC!

Wow, it is the end of January already and today is our last day to make-up those challenges from this week's BPS to qualify for those amazing prizes! 

In ourTechnique Tuesday thread this week, Tamara encouraged us to stamp with paint.  Here she created a beautiful layout as an example.

In our What's New Wednesday challenge, Jo encouraged us to take our chipboard and heat emboss to make it new again.  Here is her amazing layout with cute little embossed houses.

For our Transformation Thursday, Cassy took a toilet paper roll and transformed it to a gift card holder.

Our Focus on Friday was Crepe paper this week.  Jenny used crepe paper to make a flower and create a cute ruffled trim.  Check out her cute layout!

Barb inspired us with a very cute sketch this week for Sketchy Saturday from Lucy Chesna of My Sketch World.  Here is the sketch:

And here is Barb's layout!

And finally for our Sunday Inspiration, Jo encouraged us to create a Cutesy layout inspired by CK.  Here is her cute and funny layout!

I hope that we have inspired you to beat the winter blues and create something fabulous!!!

Stirrin' up a Li'l Love Blog Hop & Cyber Crop

Come and join the design team for a Blog Hop starting at 9 pm (eastern time)this coming Wednesday, February the 2nd at Cookin' up Creations . Each of the team members will be cookin' up a special project to show you on their individual blogs. We'll be celebrating LOVE!! Please come and be inspired.

And we invite you to join in the fun at our “Stirrin' Up a Lil' Love at Cookin' Up Creations” Weekend Crop, starting at 7 pm. (Eastern time) Friday, February the 4th and continuing through Sunday evening, February the 6th. We'll be offering some challenges to inspire you, and some games just for fun, with a few fun prizes too!

The blog hop will begin here, at the Cookin' Up Creations blog, and then it will move through the design team members' individual blogs, and then back to the Cookin' Up Creations forum -- just in time for the weekend crop.

Don't miss the fun when we're “Stirrin' Up a Lil' Love” all this upcoming month at Cookin' Up Creations. Our Blue Plate Specials this month will be all about love – romantic, parent-child, favorites ….. a brand new challenge every day...so come join us!

LOTW -- BETH C.

This week's layout is from Beth C. She posted this adorable doggie page that really caught my eye. Not only did she take our "use your stash" challenge, but she also used a Saturday Sketch as the basis of her layout! And of course, those puppies are just too darn cute!

Check out more of Beth's work in the gallery. She has uploaded some really cute baby book pages too!

Make Up Monday 1-24-2011

Wow!!! January is just flying by...and I've been so inspired by all the BPS Challenges, not only from this past week, but this entire month!! I don't know about anyone else, but I've definitely used some of my stash!!

Let's review!

On Tuesday, Cassy showed us how to stitch a shape on our pages using templates, printed images, and even stamps! Her stitched snowflakes matched her patterned paper perfectly!!


Wednesday, Barb challenged us to incorporate "Parlor Pretties" on our pages or cards. What are parlor pretties??? Things like birds and birdcages, dress forms, chandeliers...all fun stuff!! Barb added a beautiful die cut birdcage and doilies to this card.


On Thursday, Tamara transformed a wooden box she found at a craft store into a Treasure box for her granddaughter...reminding us that we can transform almost any wooden object we find!


Friday, Penny asked us to focus on using VELLUM!! She stamped images onto her vellum, colored them in, and then used the images on cards...very cute!



And even though she was battling a cold, Sandy was able to create a great sketch for us on Saturday!


On Sunday, Barb asked us to post one of our favorite pictures and THEN show a project you've made using that picture!!! Her layout about her daughter's engagement is fabulous!!

Layout of the Week 1-19-11 {Jan}

Congrats to Jan for the LOTW!!! I loved this Altered Idea Book she made! The colors are fabulous...love the big letters...and what about those boshers on the binding rings?!?!?! So cool!

Congrats Jan!!

Good Morning fellow Chefs!!!! Hope this week has gotten off to a good start for you!

As you all know, this month we are concentrating on the "Scrap Your Stash" theme. If you are just now joining us, jump right in and use up some of those older supplies (so you can make room for NEW!!) I know I have personally LOVED what I've seen this month!! Lots of great inspiration for using that older stuff!

Don't forget to check out the BPS Challenges too!! Each challenge is also geared toward using your stash...maybe in a little different way!!!

Also, take time to go visit our awesome sponsor for this month...Laughing Quilter by Lucismiles. Her little hand sewn felties are adorable!!! I want more of them! You really should check out her "Sold" list to see what all she's capable of...it's amazing! She's even offered CUC Members a little incentive this month...find out about it by visiting the Message Board and checking out our Sponsor in the Spotlight!

And now, let's see what our DT cooked up this week!

Barb altered a take-out style box that was leftover from Christmas and turned it into something to hold Valentine's treats for her Granddaughter!! She used some Fancy Pants papers and some Valentine's from a few years ago.



The top:


An overall view:


Next up, Cassy! She chose some papers that had a distressed feel to go along with the photo. Then she chose some striped vellum to mimic the fencing in the background of the photo and painted the edges. She then added the photo, pp scraps, and embellished with some felted/stitched hearts from Laughing Quilter, skeleton leaves, tickets, pearls,die cuts and flowers.



Jenny altered a paper mache mailbox using Pink Paislee's "Cupid Collection" from last year, a little Kraft cardstock and lots of Sparkle Modge Podge!



The other side:


Filled with goodies!


Jo chose to showcase the cute felt embellishments from our sponsor this month, The Laughing Quilter Etsy Shop. She made some really cute cards by using some
great Bo Bunny papers from her stash that matched the felt embellishments perfectly! She included two views of each card because she also decorated the inside of the card!




And last, but not least, here's a layout by Tamara.



Make sure you check out these challenges and those from the prior weeks and check out the dessert tray for this month's prize!!!!

Make Up Monday 1-17-11

What an exciting week we have had here at Cookin Up Creations! We are tryng to use up our stash in these challenges so take a look and see what you can create!

On Tuesday, Jenny showed us a new technique for embossing buttons that really makes them unique:


On What's New Wednesday, Cassy encouraged us to take old products and make them new again by painting, dying or any other technique you can think of! Here is her example:


On Thursday, Jo showed us how to transform those extra advertising magnets into cute usable decorations for your bulletin board or frig!


For Friday's Focus, Amy showed us how to use shipping tags as embellishments on our cards and layouts.


For Sketchy Saturday, Penny Noel gave us a great sketch and her really cute digital layout.


On Sunday, Jenny returned with a purple color pallete to inspire us. Here is her wonderful example:


Make sure you check out these challenges and those from the prior weeks and check out the dessert tray for this month's prize!

Scrapable Winter Bliss!

The CT got to play with the HUGE and I do mean HUGE Winter Bliss kit from Scrapable!!! OH MY!!! This kit was great to work with.

Here are the layouts that I created using this fabulous kit!!!

CUC's Layout of the Week - Amy

This week's layout is from Amy - momoffive! I loved the banner, the tickets, the colors and the way that she documented the simple things in life! Great job Amy!

DT Reveal 1/11/11

Happy SNOWY Monday Ladies.....Can you believe it's already time for our second reveal of the month. January sure is moving right along! As you know, we're doing things a tad different this month - using the "Scrap Your Stash" theme, but we're hoping that you love our reveals and will join us for the daily BPS challenges this month following the same theme. And be sure to check out the January Dessert Tray while you're at it....a little incentive to use up some of your stash this month!

Our sponsor this month is  Laughing Quilter by Lucismiles (an Etsy Store).  She has adorable little felties that are hand sewn and embellished and she even does custom orders.  You must check out her store!

For our first reveal, we have Barb.  Barb created two cards for you today. She used Scrapbox Walls "Parlor" line by Chatterbox, a definite "oldie but goodie." She made another layered flower following Jenny's tutorial for the second card. She also used a cute felt heart embellishment by our sponsor, Lucismiles etsy shop.

For this DT Reveal, Cassy made two "cards." The first, Cassy pulled some brown pp and scraps from her stash and decided to create a going away card for her nephew who is going away to college. It is an emergency car kit. It includes all the necessities to be prepared for a break down - (Some Dentyne Ice - to cool down, A Payday - for a little extra cash, A Push-Pop in case you need some help pushing and then of course a Gas Card (just in case.) 

The other card was made using entirely scraps from more than one different company, and then she created a flower using Mulberry paper, Vellum, old book pages, tissue paper, Shimmerz, etc.) Cassy used Leah Fung's flower ideas for inspiration.

Next we have Jenny.  She used some MME stuff that's been around a while for this page, along with a Maya Sheer, MM Metal Saying, and the super cute felties from our sponsor, Laughing Quilter by Lucysmiles. She cut my title from fun foam using her Sizzix Sidekick and the Fruit Smoothie Alpha.

For this week's layout, Jo pulled out some 2006 My Mind's Eye Signature line papers "Unconditional Love" and "Beauty of Life".

And lastly, Tamara made a little notebook that was altered by adding some "stash" pattern papers, some tabs, and a couple of embellishments!

I hope that we have inspired you to dig deep in your stash and pull out those "oldies but goodies!" 

It's Make Up Monday!

The first week in the new year brought us some fabulous challenges and introduced a new menu category! Here's a quick review:

In our first DT Alumni Day, Nordica offered us the challenge of dry embossing those paper scraps and highlighting them with ink. She turned hers into accents for this adorable card:

In her Blue Plate Special Challenge debut on Wednesday, Jenny gave us a great tutorial on using those Primas and other small flowers to make beautiful blooms. Here's one of her completed projects using the flowers she created:

On Thursday, Barb challenged us to embellish clips for use in our various projects. Here are the ones she created with felt and stickers:

Cassy showed us a cool stamp piecing technique on Friday to add fun and interest to our stamped motifs. Here's her adorable layout:

Saturday brought us a great two page sketch from Creating Keepsakes magazine, presented by Jo. She showed us an example of how the sketch can help us get lots of photos into one layout:

On Sunday, Tamara challenged us to draw inspiration from nature photos for our projects. This is one of the layouts she created to show us how it's done:

And Cassy offered us our first tasty hors d'ouevres with her Spicy Trio. She challenged us to choose one product and use it three different ways on a project, the way she used her flowers to create three separate accents on this card:

Remember, you have all month to work on any or all of these challenges. If you complete at least 15 of the Blue Plate Special challenges (post them in the gallery and in the challenge thread) by the deadline, then your name will be entered into the drawing to win a fabulous prize pack --  go here to see for yourself!

And happy scrappin'!!!