Denise Morrison recently joined the Daisy Diva’s.  If you know Denise, then you know she brings a sincerity that fills you with hope, wisdom that brings you a different perspective, and an eclectic style that makes you want to get dirty!  Lets find out more about Denise.

5 Adjectives to describe your Scrappy Style: eclectic, messy, colorful, sincere, layers

3 Things in your handbag/purse: lip gloss, black apron for work, kitty in a Chinese to go box wallet.

Your Scrappy Confession: I absolutely hate gluing down my layouts.  If I could afford it I would hire someone to be my gluegirl/boy.

Starbucks/Coffee/Tea Order: Grande brewed, room for cream.

Favorite Inspiration Store/Catalog :  my favorite stores for inspiration are junk/thrift/antique stores.  I love the rusty, messy, pretty bits that can be found in these places.

Favorite Scrappy Accessory: glitter-especially if I end up wearing it.

A blog I could read for hours is: Kara Haupt’s:  I Just might explode this young woman is 18 and funny, smart and ridiculously talented. Her sometimes sweet, sometimes snarky posts are always wonderful to read.

My other Passions include: riding my baby blue cruiser, reading good books, cooking and eating.

If you really knew me then you would know that I strangled a rabid 30 pound raccoon

I could spend hours doing absolutely nothing with a good friend.

Check out Denise’s gallery to see more of her beautiful works.  And stop by her blog to learn more about her: Life is Yummy. 

Hope you all had a great weekend and are ready for the new school year to begin!

I have a confession to make. I have a really hard time with brightly colored cardstock. I can’t often make it work. Especially red. And I love red. But an entire sheet of red cardstock never looks right when I use it.

The September kit has some great red, and I definitely wanted to see it on my layouts. I decided to cover most of my page with paint, but to use the red for my title. Then I built my page around the title.

To use this technique for a layout, you’ll need to gather the following supplies:

colored cardstock, patterned paper, contact paper, tiny scissors for detail work, gesso or white paint, other colors of acrylic paint, an old credit card, paint brushes, adhesive, embellishments, sharpie or other writing pen

If you’ve seen my layouts, you can probably tell I like messy. So when I cut my letters from contact paper, I did it freehand. I like the way they turn out that way. However, for a neater look, you could stencil your letters backwards onto the reverse side of the contact paper before cutting them out. Once your letters are cut, place them approximately where you want them. Then remove the backing on the contact paper and stick them down. I started from the right side so they title would end where I wanted it to. I also made sure my letters overlapped a little because that’s the look I was going for.

Once my title was in place, I painted over the entire page with gesso. I made my brush strokes horizontally and vertically to give the background some texture. I also allowed a little of the color from the cardstock underneath to show through.

Then, I chose acrylic paint in two different shades of green, cut them together with an old credit card and smeared it onto the page, especially in the corners.

When the paint was dry, I carefully peeled the contact paper off to reveal the cardstock underneath. Then I outlined the entire title with a black Sharpie.

I used patterned paper from the kit to mat a couple of photos and positioned them above my title.

Then I added some details – the date, a few embellishments, and a label for some journaling.

Finally, I journaled with black Sharpie beneath my title.

Here’s the finished layout…

Hope you enjoy playing with this title technique. Don’t forget to show us what you make!

Kim Watson has been rocking Cocoa Daisy’s world since 2008.  She brings with her a bubbly energetic personality & wicked style!  Let’s get to know Kim more!

5 Adjectives to describe your Scrappy Style: Layered, Eclectic, Hint of pretty, Fun, Multi photo’ed

3 Things in your handbag/purse: Mobile phone, hand cream, loads of unfiled purchase slips.

Your Scrappy Confession: *Ehem* I have a constant need to have tons of glue, white cardstock & patterned paper.

Starbucks/Coffee/Tea Order: Black straight up…LARGE!

Favorite Inspiration Store/Catalog: Anthropology

Favorite Scrappy Accessory: Border punches

A blog I could read for hours is: Notcot

My other Passions include: Guitar, Photoshop, my sweet little family.

If you really knew me then you would know that I love fishing, can tap dance well & eat Tabasco in my soup.

My Retreat: The mountains.

I could spend hours tucked up in bed with a good book.

Check out Kim’s Gallery to see more of her fabulous works.   And stop by her blog to get to know her more: Kim Watson’s Blog. Thank you Kim for inspiring us daily!

Popping in to share a layout and some journaling inspiration. I think of my scrapbook layouts as little snapshots of my life. Most of the time I scrap moments in time rather than big events.

I did this layout to document a few current things about my relationship with my best friend, Paola. It’s just a quick list of facts about us at this point in time. She’s such an important person in my life that every so often, I like to do a little state of the friendship type layout. This picture I took of us in our matching sunhats during beach week provided the impetus I needed to do a new one.

I used a bunch of goodies from the September kit, Brighter Skies. Great papers in there – perfect fall color palette. And I love those little stick pins! I added my own cardstock and some crepe paper ribbon leftover from Ozzie and Harriet.

Take a minute and jot down a few little facts about your best friend. What do you like to do together? What are some of the things you’ve talked about recently? What are some things you have in common? Some ways you’re different? Some plans you have for the future? Next time you scrap, you’ve got your journaling all ready to go. Best friends definitely deserve their place in our scrapbooks!

Anja has been around since the beginning of Cocoa Daisy.  Her quirky & whimsical style leaves us in awe.  Let’s get to know her a bit more:

5 Adjectives to describe your Scrappy Style: messy, vintage, colorful, quirky, painty

3 Things in your handbag/purse:  iPhone, Charlie card, C. O. Bigelow mentha lip tint No. 1642

Your Scrappy Confession: I’m super lazy and impatient. I take short cuts all the time and usually don’t wait for the paint to dry. I just slap stuff down on top of the wet paint!

Starbucks/Coffee/Tea Order:  French press, home-brewed, one cream, one sugar

Favorite Inspiration Store/Catalog : Anthropologie!

Favorite Scrappy Accessory: embroidery floss and buttons

A blog I could read for hours is: Design Sponge

My other Passions include: reading, running, cooking, home decor and design, fashion, news

If you really knew me then you would know:  I need a lot of alone time.

My Retreat: my office/craft room

I could spend hours: organizing my drawers and closets.

Check out Anja’s gallery for more of her creations.  and stop by her blog to get to know her a bit more: A pocketful of Licorice.  Thanks Anja for this peek into your world!

Hello Daisies.  Here is the new sketch for September.   This lift can be worked with any supplies.   You have until September 30th to create your lifts and post your layouts to this message board post.  Make sure you check out the Design Team’s beautiful creations on that same post!

So much fun in a kit!  Brighter Skies will bring a little sunshine into your life!  On Sale September 1st!

Don’t forget to check out the gorgeous add-ons too!

This month we have the very talented Jody Ferlaak is our September Guest Designer and you can check out all of her gorgeous layouts  here. 

And don’t miss out on all our own Daisy Divas’ designs — this month’s gallery will definitely keep you inspired!  Here are a few of my favorites!

We are happily settled in our new home in Colorado.  The kids are loving their new school and are making lots of new friends.  Jack has lost both his top front teeth this week so has a whole new look.  Alice is now riding a two wheeler — bye-bye training wheels!  And fortunately all is well with our little wee one.  Right before leaving Oregon we had an ultrasound at OHSU and everything is fine with the baby.  They had initially thought one of the ventricles in the baby’s brain was enlarged.  The doctor who literally wrote the book on reading fetal brain ultrasounds did our scan and said that all was fine with the baby.  It was a HUGE relief! 

I’ll be back shortly with photos of a toothless grin, a very happy bike rider and some photos of the new house (I’ve been avoiding those as I hate to have the place look less than perfect and that’s certainly where we still are!).    I hope you enjoyed your weekend and are ready to dive into September this week!

Tomorrow, Saturday Aug 28th is Reveal Night.  Come see Brighter Skies in its all its glory.  We will have games, prizes, lots of fun, and gallery & kit reveal starting at 9 Pm Eastern (8 Central).

and just to get you started here are some sneaks from our talented design team & awesome guest designer.

Hope to see you on the Message Boards!