Weekly Wow #151

I enjoyed looking at the layouts that were done this week and picking a Weekly Wow is always fun.

Our choice for the is week is: Jane and I really enjoyed her fun looking page with the cute banner on it.

Congraluations Jane - your entry will go into our voting for the How awesome is to awesome drawing for the $15 gift certificate at Two Peas at the end of the month.

A Fond Farewell to Cindy

We are so sad to say goodbye to our friend Cindy. She's been a part of How Much Is Too Much forever! We're gonna miss her wonderful creations here, but we know she will continue sharing lots of fabulous inspiration through her design work with Jillibean Soup, Lilly Bee Design, Work in Progress, and other endeavors on her horizon.

Cindy, we'll miss you big time! We hope you won't forget us and that you will visit us and play every once in a while. Smooches!

Challenge #152 - Dog Years - Featuring Guest Challenger Alyssa Maldonado {October 25 - October 31}

We are pleased to have Alyssa Maldonado as our Guest Challenger this week.

Here's what Alyssa had to say: Hello, Alyssa here. I've been scrapbooking for about 8 years now. I started when I found myself unemployed with plenty of time on my hands. Borrowing stash from a few friends that also scrapbooked, I created my first book about the life my boyfriend and I were creating together. And I have been hooked ever since! Now, I have my own stash, and I can definitely say that I have too much. With all this stuff to use, I also began card making, and love all the different techniques and designs I can incorporate into both crafts. I like to partake in scrapbook challenges online, and have taught several classes at my local scrapbook store. Within the last year I have started to dabble in digital scrapbooking, and have found a new love. This is now how I do most of my layouts, but I still like to get my hand inked and dirty. I hope you enjoy the challenge this week, and I can't wait to see everyone creations. Thanks for playing along with me, and the ever creative and original HMITM team.

Alyssa's clever challenge is based on her dogs' ages. Use the following elements on your layout:

I have 3 dogs = 3 photos

Bella is 5 human years - 5 rub-ons or stamps

Thor is 11 human years - 11 elements (anything goes as long as it's not paper)

Spirit is 10 months old - a total of 10 letters for the title, any number of words is fine.

Since 1 human year is equal to 7 dog years, that means combined, the 3 dogs are 118 dog years old. - #'s of words in journaling, this can include the title.

And here is Alyssa's layout:

Janet M - This challenge really had me counting and yes I did get my 118 words in not including the title but including the discover word beside the photo. I got my rub-ons and everything on here. It's a picture of our lodge and the story about it- another page for my husbands lodge book I'm giving him for his birthday this year.

The journaling is : It had to have been in both of our subconscious minds when we built the family lodge and it came out looking like this picture. We bought this picture when we first got married and thought how wonderful that it would be to build a house that looked like this. Years later, a few more children, a move, another house. This picture was stored away and forgotten. Twenty years later we built the "cabin".One day we were talking about how much it resembled a picture that we used to have many years ago. It was found,reframed and now is hanging there to remind us how sometimes things just stay planted in the back of your mind.

I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with for this.



Elizabeth: I think I might have cheated a little on the title, I am not counting the '%' sign as a letter ;) Another great challenge, Thanks Alyssa!



Debbi: This was a fun and interesting challenge. I did cheat a little on the title, but the chipboard part of my title does have ten words, and I went over the rub-on letters by one. But my journaling DOES contain exactly 118 words (thank goodness for the word count feature on MS Word!). I counted the misting as one of my elements--wanted to make it look like splattered blood. (I made my image a little big so you can read the journaling if you click on my page.) Thanks, Alyssa, for a fun challenge!

Anna-Karin: This was a hard, but fun challenge! Three photos was easy for me, as well as five stamps (alphabet stamps, whale stamp, word stamp, star stamp and circle stamp). I found a ten character title fairly easily (and by counting ':' as one letter), but I wrote more than 118 words when I did the journaling. I didn't want to remove any journaling, so I left it as it was. The title translates 'Your 1st bath'. Thank you for a fun challenge Alyssa!

We hope you will play along. Post a link to your layout in the HMITM thread at the Two Peas Pub, and you could be chosen as our Weekly Wow and be eligible for our monthly prize of a Two Peas gift certificate!

How Awesome is Too Awesome Winner of #150

Our challenge of ten things I don't like and I have to say though that we really like this layout!

Great job and design on this.

It's by

jloubier

Congraluations to you and your Layout will be eligible for our monthy gift certificate to Two Peas.

Challenge # 151 October 18, National Chocolate Cupcake day

Janet M - It's a perfect holiday for me today it's National Chocolate Cupcake Day. I use any excuse to celebrate with cupcakes and chocolate so I picked a great day to do the HMITM challenge.


You may not all have a picture of chocolate cupcakes but I know everyone has pictures of food or having a family dinner.

Lets use on this layout:

• picture or pictures of food, having a family dinner or a birthday,
  
• something that has a picture of food on it- embellishment , pp or sticker
  
• multiple colors of brown
  
• circles
  
• flowers
  
• There's no specific number of any item on this just use everything on the list and have fun.

Here's mine with some of my family members.


Journaling is: This was the perfect way to spend the evening. The family all had dinner together and then some of them headed home. The rest of the family all went to a dessert bar and bakery to top off the evening. It was wonderful to try all the different selections on the menu. I even broke down and bought a birthday cake for my mother which in this family doesn't happen very often because the more challenging the recipe and more complex a dessert is, it's a challenge we like to do.





Amanda - What a fun & yummy challenge, Janet! I found some fun cupcake photos to use. Mixing them with the flowers really makes it pretty! I used different shades of brown buttons as my circles. And I dug out that cupcake felti I've been saving for the perfect occasion!


Debbi: I have to admit, when I first read this challenge, I wasn't too thrilled because brown isn't my thing. I like bright, happy colors, but once I got working on my page, I realized brown was the perfect color for my page! Plus, the challenge gave me the perfect excuse to use some of this old Heidi Grace cupcake paper that's been in my stash forever and to scrap these photos that I've had sitting on my scrap desk for over a year. Thanks, Janet, for a terrific, creative, yummy challenge!

Anna-Karin: I really enjoyed this challenge! I used photos from two different occasions and scrapped about our tradition of having taco-evenings. Our tacos are probably nothing like the real stuff, but we love them. The title letters were embossed with two colours of embossing powder, and I used the same powders to emboss the flowers. They were sponged with brown shades of Distress Ink after embossing. Lots of stamped circles and different shades of brown (cardstock, punched border, stitching, ricrac, kraft paper). Thanks for this great challenge Janet!

Journaling: ‘Tacos started to become popular in Sweden around 1991. We started to have taco-evenings, both with the family and with friends. Now, almost 20 years later, I still love our taco-evenings. We often eat it when we have sister-evenings, like here below. Or when we are travelling, like on the second page in Norway. Our taco-evenings usually involve: spicy mince, tortillas, hard tacos, salad, tomatoes, cucumber, guacamole (my speciality), onion, cheese, corn, taco sauce, salsa. Yummy!

Have fun playing along this week and don't forget to give us a link to your post or connect it to the post in the Pub at Two Peas In A bucket so we can maybe showcase your layout in our weekly wow section and have you eligible for our monthly $15 gift certificate to there.

September How Awesome Is Too Awesome Winner

Our winner for the September prize is debikins! All of the layouts were wonderful, and we thank everyone for playing! Check out this fun and fabulous layout Debi made for Challenge 145. We loved her clever design and how she framed the PacMan screen with photos and then added all those fun, kooky ghosties.

Debi, I will be contacting you so I can send your your 2Peas gift certificate.

Challenge #150 - 10 Things I Hate - Featuring Guest Challenger Liz Kordek {October 11 - October 17}

We are happy to have Liz Kordek as our Guest Challenger this week!

Here is what Liz has to say: Hi, my name is Liz and live in Adelaide, Australia with my husband of 9 years and my two children - Kajetan who is 6 and Kalia who is 18months old. I have been scrapbooking for 2 years and am completely addicted. My style is clean and simple and I love using embellishments. I am so honoured to be a Guest Designer this week at How Much Is Too Much?

Here is Liz's fun challenge for us:

Ten things I hate - generally we do things we love or like. Create a layout documenting ten things you hate or dislike (maybe pet peeves), and include on your page ten things from your stash that you don't "love" anymore--we all have those things we bought and now wonder why--now's a good time to use them!

And here is a bit about Liz's layout:

For my layout Ihave chosen 10 things that I don't necessarily dislike but also find quite difficult to work with. Hope you have fun with this week's challenge. I chose:

1. Patterned Paper with pictures - I usually cut these out rather than use the whole page.
2. stickers

3. felt

4. printed pictures - I used butterflies on my layout

5. artisan tape - you can see a tiny amount used in the top right hand corner

6. chalk

7. buttons - the 'normal' ones not the cute decorative ones

8. brads

9. paper string

10. glitter - I generally find this very messy

Janet - This was a fun and interesting challenge to do. I tried to not get off on anything serious so I just went with some of my little Pet Peeves. It sure was easy finding 10 things in my stash that I don't love anymore or wonder what they are doing in there.



Elizabeth: This was such an interesting and fun challenge! Didn't have too much trouble coming up with my list of 10 things :P Picking products I do not love anymore was more difficult. I tried to go through my stash and pick things that I have had forever and keep passing over, for whatever reason. And the funny thing is, in the end I really liked how the layout turned out (6x12 layout). Thanks for the push, Liz!

Debbi: I wasn't going to scrap this weekend because I was feeling miserable. My eye was all swollen and red and sore. I've been in a bad mood all weekend. Then, my husband pointed out that the date was 10-10-10, and that gave me the idea to scrap my bad mood! For my ten products I dislike, I started with smooth cardstock (I prefer textured). I used letter stickers (I prefer chipboard ones). I remember seeing all these layouts using Rouge de Garance paper a few years ago and I ordered a whole bunch--and it was expensive because it was coming from France. When I got it, I immediately regretted it. The stuff is hard to work with and looked much prettier online. So there it has sat in my stash until today. I used two sheets. I used these white brads for the date that I hate. I bought them at the office supply store when brads started being popular. I had these Scrapworks rub-on flowers that I didn't really like. I have packages in a bunch of diferent colors. I knew I wanted to use eyelets and fiber because I still have a ton of those things (the centers of the flowers are decorative eyelets). I also used a stupid Karen Foster strip brad (why on earth did I buy those?), and a Narratives sticker from a sheet that look sort of like fortunes, and for some reason, I don't really like them. So there you have it. Ten things I hate about today using ten products I hate. It turns out I like the layout okay, though. (Well, except for the hideous picture of me.) And an update--I went to the doctor, and it turns out I have blepharitis and not pink eye. Which really doesn't sound all that much better, does it?

Debbie F:
This challenge was the most fun I've had in a while. I decided to embrace this as a chance to dig into my old supplies that I don't really want anymore. Almost everything on this layout has been sitting in my stash for years, so it really felt good to use it. I started with a Heidi Swapp mask and some acrylic paint. Then I found these OLD Rusty Pickle papers. Remember when skulls were all the rage? (Smile.) They worked with the layout theme too. Then I pulled out more old school embellies and layered. I love how this turned out!

Challenge #149 - The Sixth Sense {October 4 - October 10}

Debbi here, hoping you'll find this a fun and interesting challenge! This week, let your page be inspired by the five senses--plus, your sixth sense.

touch - use textured paper

sight - use your favorite patterned paper in your stash

smell - use something on your page that, if real, would have a smell (e.g, flowers, cupcake accents, etc.)

taste - use food-related embellishments or paper

sound - use song-title or song lyrics somewhere on your page

the sixth sense - take this quiz and let it inspire your journaling

Debbi: According to the quiz, my sixth sense makes me clair-audio (clear hearing), i.e., "someone very in-tune with sounds." For my favorite paper, I knew right away I would use the Webster's Pages balloon paper--I love that paper and bought about eight sheets of it! I also love polka dots and ledger paper, so I included them. My page title comes from the song by the O'Jays (which happens to be on my iPod). I thought I'd journal about my love for music using a picture my husband took of me holding my iPhone. I cut out an apple from an old October Afternoon paper and punched out a little notch to make it look like the Apple logo and pop-dotted it on my title. The scan doesn't show it very well, but I added gold brads to my hot-air balloon and adhered it with pop dots.

Elizabeth: Now this was a unique challenge! Love a good challenge. My sixth sense was Clair- voyant (clear seeing) and I interpreted that by using a transparent embellishment (the flower). It is tough for me to pick a favourite patterned paper, but I love almost anything by Basic Grey, so the paper fit the bill. The popsicles went perfectly with this summery page and the white cardstock is embossed for a 'touchable' look.

Janet - fun and interesting challenge to do.

Fun and interesting challenge. I'm in touch with my feelings, must be why I write so much.

touch - I used the textured paper and the glitter dress

sight - the pp on the left is one of my favorites and I like all the other ones I used

smell - the chocolate embellishment

taste - the strawberries

sound - song title is on the top of the page and one on the metal circle

the sixth sense - clairessence so I did the journaling.

Thanks Debbi for the great challenge


Anna-Karin: This was such a fun idea for a challenge Debbi! I really enjoyed planning and doing my layout and using elements of all the senses. I dry embossed some cardstock, used some of my favourite papers (I love the Making Memories ledger papers and the 7Gypies text papers), flowers (which would smell if real), cutlery patterned paper (which I had in my stash forever) and a stamp of an old fashioned milk jug. I also printed the lyrics of a childhood song on a tag. My sixth sense was sound, according to the quiz, but instead I was more inspired by one of the quiz questions, namely the one regarding the school cafeteria. So I decided to do a layout about the school dining hall experience in the different schools I was in. Thank you for this fabulous challenge Debbi!


Kathleen: This challenge is so fun! Love the questionaire, it told me Im sentimental, which I am, my pages predominantly feature titles or journalling about how the photos make me feel rather than the events themselves. I crumpled up paper to create the "textured paper". Ive been wanting to use this paper since I got it, the little poem on the strip is adorable, it reads "If clouds were made of cotton candy, and grass blades licorice, sweet and dandy, we'd sleep beneath a sugar sky and dream sweet dreams, you and I". When I took these shots of Clay and hubby having fun with churros I knew it was perfect for this page :)

Also on the page there are flowers for the "smell" sense, taste I took from the photos, sound is the title, with words from Uncle Krackers "Smile" song (also my ring tone, love it!), and finally the sixth sense is just me being true to form, using a title which explains how I feel about the photos...


We hope you'll play along--you might just be chosen as our Weekly Wow and have your name entered for an awesome RAK--a Two Peas gift certificate! Be sure to link your page to the thread at the Two Peas Pub.

How Awesome Is Too Awesome? - Weekly Wow #145

We accidentally skipped a week publishing our Weekly Wow. For Challenge #145, we chose PacMan Charisma by debikins! We loved her clever design and how she framed the PacMan screen with photos and then added all those fun, kooky ghosties. A big thank you to everyone who played along in Challenge 145!

Congratulations, Debi! Your layout will go into our HAITA Hall of Fame and you will have a chance to win our September RAK.