Weekly Round Up Ending 7/29

What a great week of Challenges...
First we had Sandy's Jack and Jill Challenge-Today's Technique challenge is simple. I want you to take after Jack by "bounding", or tying, something on your project. But that's not all. The tying technique is so easy, I also want you to use brown paper of some sort (patterned paper or cardstock, or whatever brown paper you have) somewhere on it as well. After all, Jack did use brown paper himself.

Then on Wednesday we had Scrappy Jo's Monday's Child-Today's challenge is to do a layout of a child and use a paper with a small pattern on it. For those of you with no little kids around for photos, a puppy or similar photo will be okay too. Remember, 1 layout, 2 cards or 4 ATC's will count toward the drawing at the end of the month.

Thursday brought BarbP's Old King Cole Challenge-Today, I want you to do a layout or project that uses OLD photos and/or patterned paper. Now, by "old" I mean from last year or earlier. And, your layout or project must be about something happy or fun.

Finally Friday's challenge was Petra's Incy Wincy Spider-So today i want you use SPIDERS on your layout
In order to qualify for BPC Drawing at the end of the month,Please create either 1 layout or 2 cards

Saturdays Challenge Jan brought us This little piggy-Using the following sketch create a layout

Sunday's Challenge Tammy's little boy blue-Asked us focus on the word "BLUE"....specifically the feeling of being blue!
I'd also like to see some type of facial expression other than a smile....easy peasy, no smiling layouts.

Don't forget to upload your layouts and link them back to the challenge link for your chance to win this month's prize.  Have a crafty week!

LOTW 7/25

Look at this great layout by Beth!  I love the fun colors and the cute owls.  Definately a fun summer layout.  Great job Beth!

Make-up Monday Blue Plate Specials

Happy Monday everyone!  It is once again Make up Monday time and I am here to share a recap of this week's BPS challenges.  Here is our Nursery Rhyme inspiration!

For Technique Tuesday this week, Barb focused on Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and challenged you to add a little twinkle or shine to your layout as she did in this beautiful example:

In What's New Wednesday, Annette used the poem One, Two, Buckle my Shoe to inspire you to focus your layout on numbers and use something new as she did here in her layout:

Toss-up Thursday this week centered around the rhyme Patty-Cake.  Tamara asked you to create a layout with photos of someone tossing something -  a frisbee to the dog, a ball in the hoop or the air or any sport with a ball.  She made this adorable two-pager of her family with a giant parachute:

 

 In Focus Friday Michelle asked you to focus on the numbers from Fish Story and include outdoorsy photos as she did in this manly layout of her husbands fishing expeditions:

 

For Sketchy Saturday, Jan centered her layout on a sketch with an unknown creator and the rhyme Hark, Hark:

and she asked you to add a tag like she did on this oh-so-cute layout of Coop:

And finally, Inspirational Sunday asked you to consider the poem Birds of a Feather and asked you to merge two stamps or pieces of clip-art together to create an image to support your layout.  She combined wings and a skull to create an embellishment that resembles the one from her daughter's dress:

Thanks for joining us this week for our Blue Plate Special Challenges!  Also remember that you can still upload items and projects for our Christmas in July Crop - until Wednesday of this week!

It's the CHRISTMAS IN JULY blog hop!

Welcome to the Cookin' Up Creations CHRISTMAS IN JULY BLOG HOP, hosted by the Master Chef Challenge Team!

It might be the middle of summer, and the temperatures outside may be soaring, but here at Cookin' Up Creations we're hearing holiday carols and maybe the distant sound of sleigh bells .... Have you ever told yourself, as you hurry in the last couple of weeks before the holidays to get all of your cards, tags, decorations and gifts completed, that "next year I'll start all of this way ahead of time so I'm not rushing around at the last minute"? Well, that's why we're here -- to help you get a head start on your Christmas crafts! All of us are excited to show you the holiday projects we've been working on, and we can't wait to inspire you!

Here's the order for our CHRISTMAS IN JULY blog hop:
Cookin' Up Creations blog (you're here!)
Annie Collins
Barb Prendergast
Cassy Suszek
Jan Mosier
Jo Luty
Michelle McDonald
Sandy Liles
Tamara Reed

Be sure to leave a comment on each team member's blog, as well as on this one, for your chance to win a prize package valued at more than $50 from a*muse / studio consultant Renee Zieglmeier. The winner will be chosen at random from among the blog hop and crop participants.

And be sure to join us Friday, July 20 through Sunday, July 22 on the Cookin' Up Creations forum  for the CHRISTMAS IN JULY CROP! There will be more holiday inspiration, challenges and games.  There will be more chances to win the a*muse studio prize package! Another lucky winner will have the chance to be GUEST CHEF OF THE MONTH on the forum in August. You will find more details on the forum.

And now ... on to the CHRISTMAS IN JULY blog hop, starting with Annie's blog! Just wait until you see the project she's waiting to show you ....

POTW 7/18/12 ~Jan~

I absolutely LOVE Jan's LO she created for the scrap lift a member challenge.  The layers and little embellishments she has tucked on the LO are perfect.  Congrats Jan on being POTW. 

Check out here LO titled HAPPY :

Isn't her LO fabulous. Now, everyone go leave Jan some lovin'.  you can see her LO by clicking on the title above.

Need a jump start on holiday crafting?

Sure, the temperatures outside are rising and it's the middle of summer ... but if you're like me, you always intend to start your Christmas crafting several months ahead of the holiday season, and then never seem to get around to it. Then you're stressing over cards, gifts, and so on the last few weeks before the Big Day.

This year, get a head start with the CHRISTMAS IN JULY BLOG HOP AND CROP! The Master Chef Challenge Team members will be hosting a blog hop beginning at 10 a.m. eastern time Wednesday, July 18 and continuing through the weekend. They'll be posting some projects to inspire you. The hop will start here on the Cookin' Up Creations blog.

The crop will start Friday morning, July 20 on the Cookin' Up Creations Scrapbooking Forum and continue through the weekend. The team will be offering up some great challenges for cards, tags, layouts and other projects; and there will be plenty of games, just for fun!

And be sure to check out our Blue Plate Specials, with a new challenge each day throughout the month. July's theme is "Nursery Rhymes".

See you at the hop!

Make Up Monday 7-16-12

We are almost half way through our month of Nursery Rhymed themed challenges...how many have you done???

Here is a recap of last week's challenges:

Petra started the week off with a "Marry had a little lamb" inspired challenge to use flocking on a layout:

Doesn't that white flocking make a perfect snow layout???

Then on Wednesday, Tamara used the rhyme "Hickory, Dickory, Dock" and asked us to use a clock of some type on our prjects.  Here is her layout using a beautiful timepiece paper:

On Thursday, Michelle played a little game with "Eeny, Meany, Miny, Moe" and asked us to use the rhyme to select 4 embellishments to use on our layouts...  Here is the Christmas layout she created with the embellishments she selected:

For Friday's Focus, Annie gave a tutorial based on "Mary Mary Quite Contrary"  using multiple layered embellishment that "grow"....make sure you check it out!!

 For Sketchy Saturday, Cassy started with this sketch from jennifersjumbles.blogspot.com 

and combined it with her rhyme of "little Jack Horner"  with the focus on the line "Pulled out a plum"  and asked us to use fruit on our layouts...  Here is her cute example:

And on Sunday, Sandy used the rhyme "There was an old woman who lived in a shoe"  and asked us to use a vintage ad from Jello which used the poem as our inspiration for a layout which also focuses on the relationship between two or more special people.  Here is her layout:

We hope you enjoyed these challenges and keep checking back for more in our

Blue Plate Special Forum!!

LOTW~ Annie

Congratulations to Annie on her layout of the week.

I picked this layout from the gallery this week because I love the rough edges, the cute title and the striking colors used on this "What little boys are made of" layout!  Don't you agree?

Make Up Monday -- July 9, 2012

Today's Make Up Monday is brought to you by ANNETTE:

Hello, everyone! It's hard to believe that we are going into the second week of July already. With that said, let's get right into the recap of last week's challenges. The Nursery Rhyme theme we are doing for July is a fun theme, and we have some good challenges coming up.

Technique Tuesday: Michelle used Humpty Dumpty and asked us to do some tiling with our photos. With Humpty Dumpty having a great fall and no one was able to put him back together, she wanted us to do that with our photo:

What'w New Wednesday: Annie used the nursery rhyme "If all the world were paper".  She had us focus on our paper by doing some misting on our cardstock:

Toss Up Thursday: Cassy used the nursery rhyme "Pop Goes the Weasel". She asked us to make something "pop" off the page and did a layout that really popped!

Focus Friday: Sandy went with the Queen of Hearts, asking us to use at least three hearts on a layout or two cards:

Sketchy Saturday: Barb's rhyme was "What are little boys made of?" She asked us to use a masculine theme and make it grubby looking. She used sketch #219 from Nuts About Sketches:

Sunday Inspiration: Jo used "the ABC Song" to get us to think about the alphabet. Her challenge was to  use at least two different alphas (colors or fonts) in our title:

Have fun with this week's challenges! Join us for all of the Blue Plate Specials on the forum!

I'm back!!!

My name is Barb Prendergast, and I'm so excited to be back as the Coordinator of the Master Chef Challenge Team at Cookin' Up Creations! I've been a team member since August 2010; and quite simply, I love it here!

I live in central Illinois with my husband, Mike. We have four grown children (three of them married) and seven beautiful grandchildren. I'm a former newspaper writer/editor and nonprofit marketing and public relations director. Scrapbooking allows me to combine my love of crafts, photography and writing. It has proven to be a natural outlet for me to record my family's history -- both the "big moments" and the small, day to day ones. In addition to scrapbooking, I enjoy spending time with my family (especially my grandchildren!), cooking and reading; and if money were no object, I would travel the world!

My scrap style is eclectic; I like to try new styles, products and techniques. My favorite layouts, though, tend to involve layering and fussy cutting. One of my favorite paper companies is Graphic 45, because the intricate patterns are just made for "piling it on".

I also love vintage photos -- this one features a photo of my husband's grandparents when they were courting:

And, I can also do grunge when I get the right photos:

Please be sure to join us on the Cookin' Up Creations forum  for our daily Blue Plate Special challenges! This month, our theme is "Nursery Rhymes", and we're taking inspiration from our favorite childhood poems throughout July. And don't miss our CHRISTMAS IN JULY blog hop and crop, July 18-22.

Have a great day!

Hello again.

Hello y'all! I am so happy to be on the design team here at CUC once again. My name is Sandy Liles and if you couldn't tell I live in the south. Alabama to be exact. My husband Lin and I have been married for 18 years now and I truly believe God put us together to complete each other. We have three children: Zach, 16 Becca, 14 and Blake 11. I started scrapping shortly after Zach was born but didn't become truly addicted until right after Blake was born. My family is the main focus of my pages, however, occasionally you will see a page about one of our furbabies or an event, place or item that has a special meaning to me. I hope that as a Challenge Team member here I can inspire each and every one of you in some way.

Here are a few of my favorite layouts:

The envelope I made myself out of cardstock and it holds a letter to my daughter about what I hope the future holds for her.

When this picture was taken, my husband and I had been married 16 years.  That is what the two "8" cards represent. 

One of my favorite things is college football.  Especially the Crimson Tide...ROLL TIDE!

I am looking forward to another awesome term on the design team here.  And I am especially looking forward to seeing what all our wonderful members of the message board create.

Happy to be back!!

My name is Jo and I am so happy to be returning for another term with the great designers here at Cookin’ Up Creations!!  I am happily scrapping away in Sourthern California with my husband of almost 22 years and our three teenagers.  I love taking photos and almost always have a camera of sorts with me!!  Of course, this means that I will never run out of things to scrap!  I am looking forward to a fun term with lots of amazing challenges by this wonderful team!!

Here are a few of my recent layouts...

This should be a fun term as I know the team is "Cookin' Up" some great challenges! There will be new monthly themes and a few surprises thrown in too!!

Jo

Layout of the Week - Nikki Deal

First off with today being a holiday and all....I'm really missing my family - most importantly my mother. She been gone a few years now, but I'd have to say that I still think about her just about every.single.day!

When I saw this layout in the gallery by Nikki, the first thing that came to mind was awwww. It's sooooo good to see Nikki scrapping! Secondly, I love the layout of the whole page....from the colors, to the large die cut paper, and most importantly the quote & theme of the layout. Gotta love those mothers and Mother in-laws (in Nikki's case here)....

So congratulations Nikki on having the Layout of the Week here at Cookin' up Creations for the week of July 4th.

Happy 4th!

Hello bloggers, my name is Jan Mosier and I'm a carollina girl born and raised.  I live in the small town of Cassatt with my husband Jack of over 22 years and 6 furbabies.....4 dogs and 2 cats.  We have one child - Kyle who is now 22 and lives next door to us.  My hobbies include scrapbooking of course, photography, card making, rubber stamping and camping.  I've been playing with paper since kindergarten.  What started out with construction paper and glitter has now been replaced with what it is today.  I'm so glad to be a part of the challenge team for another term and I look forward to sharing my passion with you.  


Here are a few of my recent layouts.