Friday, March 30, 2012

Double DT Reveal

This is the first time I've had this happen, with being on multiple DT's!!  :)  So I will be sharing a layout for today's Fabulous Friday challenge at Frosted Designs and my layout for Sketch Support based on this week's One Page Sketch #19.

Our challenge this week at Frosted Designs is a really fun one...Recycle/Upcycle!  This basically means finding something to use on your layout or project, that you typically wouldn't think about using as scrapbook supplies.  For example, you could use packaging, clothing tags, household items, etc., etc., etc.!!  Let your imagination take over for this one and have fun!  I'll share my layout and then tell you what I used for my Recycle/Upcycle elements:






I LOVE to save the cardboard pieces that come in the packages that I receive when I order Scrapbook supplies.  Sometimes I use it behind an element I fussy cut from patterned paper to give it more dimension on my page.  In this case, I just peeled the top layer off of the cardboard piece to reveal the corrugated look underneath.  I thought it would be a great texture to go along with the theme of the October Afternoon Sasparilla line that I used on my layout.  A second Recycle/Upcycle element on this page, is the tag on which I placed my title.  It is the back side of a tag from the Dry Cleaners.  Fun, huh??!!  So get creative this week and see what you can find laying around, that would make for some fun scrapping!  By playing along this week, you have the chance to win a great prize from our sponsor, Karlas Kreative Korner.


Products Used:

Cardstock; Die Cuts with a View

Patterned Paper, Stickers, Buttons:  October Afternoon
Spray Mist:  Smooch Spritz
Baker's Twine:  The Twinery
Brad:  The Paper Studio
Font:  Rustler
Burlap:  My Mind's Eye
Ink:  Memento
Embroidery Floss:  Janlynn
Other:  Cardboard, Tag, Staple


I hope you have been checking in everyday this week at Sketch Support, because the DT Ladies have been doing some amazing work.  I loved this sketch and decided to change it up a little bit for my photo.  If you've seen a lot of my work, then you probably have realized that I work with portrait photos 95% of the time compared to landscape photos.  So usually, when I come across a sketch with a photo spot for landscape photos, I flip it...which is what I did with this one too!!  :)  The sketch uses some cute patterned paper banner strips behind the photo, and I thought it would be great to change those to arrows, to go along with the theme of my page.




 
Since I turned the sketch, I moved the title underneath the photo, in place of the journaling area and then I just shifted my journaling down a little bit on the page.  Come over and see what's been going on this week at Sketch Support, and look for a new sketch this Sunday afternoon!


Products Used:


Cardstock:  Bazzill
Patterned Paper:  Pink Paislee
Brads:  The Paper Studio
Paper Clip:  Hobby Lobby
Adhesive Chipboard:  Cosmo Cricket
 Thickers:  American Crafts
Font:  CK Going Places
Stitching:  Singer
Ink:  Close to My Heart
Other:  Bubble Wrap
 

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Breaking My Rule!

I am breaking my rule again, and doing a second post for the day!!  :)  I had time today to do a layout for Challenge #4 at Let's Get Sketchy and wanted to get it posted.  If you would like to see the post from earlier today, showing some of my layouts that were published in the February issue of Scrapbook News and Review, click HERE.

Since I am a Scrapbooker and there are a lot of "annual" events that I do pages for, I have noticed a trend over the past several years.  Every year, during the month of March, we head down to one of our favorite spots on the Bay to welcome Spring.  There is a pier that extends out into the Bay (restaurant included), a beach side area, a grassy picnic area, and a huge fountain that our children love.  It's just such a fun and beautiful place to be during this time of year.  We actually took the kids there to blow bubbles and they had a blast...there will be layouts to come with the bubble photos!!  :)

My friend Tina mailed me some scrappy goodies a couple of weeks ago and when I saw the beautiful GCD Studios and Lily Bee Designs papers that were included, I couldn't wait to do something with them!!  I thought the subject of this page was perfect for the beautiful pink, wood grain, and floral patterns.  Tina has a great Blog where she shares her artwork...and when I say artwork, I mean ARTWORK!!  Head over to A Dog's Life and take a peek at her work and I think you will definitely agree that she is an amazing artist!!

So here is my page and the sketch provided this week at Let's Get Sketchy:




  
Products Used:

Cardstock:  Bazzill
Patterned Paper:  GCD Studios & Lily Bee Designs
Acrylic Paint:  Apple Barrel
Thickers:  American Crafts
Baker's Twine:  The Twinery
Brad:  The Paper Studio
Buttons:  Blumenthal Lansing
Pearls:  Recollections
Embroidery Floss:  Janlynn
Ink:  Memento
Punch:  Martha Stewart

Published Layouts

Today, I have several layouts to share with you, that appeared in the February issue of the online magazine, Scrapbook News and Review.  I will keep this post less word-y since there are a lot of photos to share!!  :)

"A Mother's Love"



I really loved playing with the title on this one and running into the journaling...and no, that's not a famous quote or anything from anyone, just something I came up with on my own!!  :)  I didn't have an "e" (of course) in the brown glitter letters, so I turned a "c" over and upside down and sprayed it with adhesive then added some red Stampendous glitter to match the chipboard heart, that I also "glittered"!!  :)

"Fast Asleep"


Crate Paper always has some amazing lines, and even though the Restoration collection isn't one of their newer ones, I still love working with it!  I love the soft colors on these papers, along with the photos of our middle daughter sleeping away in the recliner.

"It's All Fun & Games at the Fair"




I really played a lot on this layout!!  I made some fun accordian flowers using the Martha Stewart Scoreboard and did another fun, mixed up title.  This page was for the Scrap Your Stash:  Ribbon call and I love how the border with the pleated ribbon and folded ribbon turned out, across my page.  But I think my favorite thing on this layout is the Ferris Wheel.  I just created the shape in my desktop publishing program and then cut it with my Expression.  I added some stitching for definition, and the half-punched circles for the "seats".

"This is the Life"



My Mind's Eye is another favorite company...I'm sure you can tell, because this layout and the previous layout, both include MME products!!  :)  The Lost & Found 2 papers in this line are so beautiful, and they don't really need much of anything else to make a great page.  I added a few little things here and there, with the flowers, ticket, and stamping, but other than that I kept the layout focused on the MME line.

Thanks for stopping by today and if you are thinking about submitting your work for publication, check out SNR.  They have a lot of monthly calls and are always looking for new work to publish.  Be sure to stop back by on Friday...I have two layouts to share...one for this week's One Page sketch at Sketch Support and our new Fabulous Friday challenge at Frosted Designs!! 

Sunday, March 25, 2012

The Good with the Bad

I have two layouts to share in this post...one is a happy layout, the other...not so happy!  I know when I take photos of my children, I am always encouraging them to smile and be happy, but I want my albums to include ALL aspects of their lives.  But we'll start out with the happy layout first!! :)

Club CK hosts a 1 Hour Challenge each week and I used to be pretty on the ball about participating in them.  But lately my time has been spread so thin, that I've missed them for the past several months.  I had some free time this weekend, so I decided I would play along this week.  They combined a Recipe Challenge with the 1 Hour Challenge, so I couldn't resist because I love both of these types of challenges!!  The Recipe portion of the challenge included using:  1 or more vertical photos, felt, ribbon, acrylic or rubber stamp, and a punch.




I don't know about you, but sometimes when I am working on a page, I look at it half way through and think "what in the world am I doing...this looks completely crazy??!!"  But usually, once the whole thing is completed, I end up loving it!!  That was the case with this layout.  I combined some of the My Mind's Eye On the Bright Side collection, with some embellishments from Jillibean Soup.  I think once I got the mix of alphas in the title, on the little tag at the top, that sealed the deal.  And how can you not love a page with those adorable photos of our cute little guy??!!

Now, onto the not-so-happy layout, which also has photos of our little guy.  These pictures are from last September, when he decided to smack his head into our brick fireplace.  I haven't scrapped them up until this point, because I really didn't know how to approach the page.  But, thanks to two of my favorite challenges, I finally had an idea pop into my head.  Case File #12 at CSI went live on mid-day Friday and once I saw it, I knew how I wanted to use these photos.  This was their first monochromatic color scheme and it just happened to be Blue.  I came up with the title "Feeling Blue" and everything else fell into place, once I started digging out some of the awesome Blue patterned papers from all of my new MME stash!  The second challenge I incorporated into this page is the March/April Issue Challenge #4 at Club CK.  Our challenge this week, was to use tags...plural that is.  Since I had a little more journaling to add to this page, I thought using overlapping tags would be a great way to accomplish this.

And just a word of warning for those with weak tummies...I did cover the wound on our son's head, so you don't have to worry about seeing the full cut.









And I can't forget about the other two fun components from the CSI challenge!!  For this week's Evidence, I chose stars, and I combined the cloud embellishments with the silhouette cuts.  Under the Testimony, I decided to go with string on my journaling spot.  I added some baker's twine to each of my tags and then stapled, for some added texture.

That's all I have for today!!  Even though we homeschool our Kindergartner...next week is Spring Break for our area public schools, so I am thinking we might take a break too.  That way mommy can spend some extra time working on some layouts!!  :) 

Thursday, March 22, 2012

I Love It When a Plan Comes Together

***I have an earlier post from today, revealing my DT layout for Sketch Support's Add-On Sketch #15.  You can take a look at it HERE.***

...or in this case, a layout.  And just in case you missed the meaning behind this post title, it's one of my favorite lines from the A-Team movie with Liam Neeson and Bradley Cooper.  :)  Okay, enough of my rambling and onto the layout.  I did this page for Case File #11 at CSI.  I know I probably say this in each post that I do for a CSI challenge, but I REALLY LOVED the color scheme this week!!  One of the CSI Designers Michelle Singh even put together some digi papers that coordinate along with the colors in the challenge.  Originally, I had planned to print out Michelle's papers and use them, but I remembered this great paper pack that I had from K&Company.  I started flipping through the pack and was so excited to see that all of the colors from this week's scheme coordinated into these papers.  And since one of the choices under the Evidence portion of the challenge, was to use paper with a vintage image, I thought these are definitely going to be perfect!!




 
If you haven't had a chance to play along with these challenges, you are definitely going to want to head over and check them out.  I love everything about the way CSI sets up their challenges.  It's not just a sketch, or a color challenge, or a suggestion challenge.  They incorporate 5 colors for you to use on your layout, provide "Evidence" and ask that you choose from two of them, and provide "Testimony" prompts for you to use in your journaling.  I love that it is a more "challenging" challenge!!  :)  It definitely makes me put my thinking cap on every week.

For this week's evidence portion, I used paint in the background, butterfly accents, string, and patterned paper with vintage images.  I chose the word "ties" from the Testimony portion, to use as the prompt for my journaling.

And I have to give a little brag, because I was so excited to be one of the Top 5 layouts placed "Under Surveillance" for Case File #10.  That was my first time to be included in the Top 5 and I am so thankful to the Ladies at CSI for including me among some very talented Ladies!

Products Used:

Patterned Paper:  K&Company

Smash Tape:  EK Success
Punch:  Marvy
Thickers:  American Crafts
Mini Market Stickers:  October Afternoon
Font:  Eurostyle
Acrylic Paint:  Apple Barrel
Brads:  The Paper Studio
Baker's Twine:  The Twinery
Mini Round Gems:  Recollections
Embroidery Floss:  Janlynn
Button:  Michael's

Happy Flag Day!

Well, it's not technically "Flag Day" today, but if you are a scrapbooker, everyday can be Flag Day!!  :)  I am sure you have seen all of the adorable flag embellishments that have been popping up lately.  I think this is such a fun trend!!  And let me just tell you, I was so, so excited when Allison sent us the March Add-On sketch for Sketch Support!  We got to work with some adorable flags for our layouts, cards, or projects!  Of course, you can buy the cute pre-made flags from several of the companies out there, but I decided to go the hand-made embellishment route on this one!!



 
I used mostly MME On the Bright Side for this layout.  I loved the cute stick pins that are part of this line, so I decided to use those as the base for creating my flags.  I just cut a few thin strips of patterned paper and used hot glue to secure them around the stick pins.  I cut the little triangle in each end to create the banner look and then added some little hearts to umph it up a little!!

I also had a little bit of fun with the title on this one.  I wanted to use a graffiti font, but I didn't think the letters would cut very well on my Cricut.  So I decided to cut my 12x12 background paper down to 8.5x12.  I created the word "writing" in my desktop publishing program and then printed it onto the 8.5x12 paper.  Then I put the two pieces of paper back together to make the full 12x12 background sheet again.  I used the border strip and banner across the page, to cover the seam, where I cut the papers into.  Once it was printed, the color was a little bit dull against the background paper, so I used some diamond glaze over each letter to give it a shiny, epoxy look.

Hopefully, you will get a chance to play with some flag embellies on your next layout or project.  For more awesome inspiration, make sure you stop by Sketch Support to see what the other talented DT Ladies have been working on!!

Products Used:

Patterned Paper, Buttons, Twine, Stickers, Wood Banner, Stick Pins:  My Mind's Eye
Brads:  The Paper Studio
Acrylic Paint:  Apple Barrel
Thickers:  American Crafts
Mini Market Stickers:  October Afternoon
Fonts:  Urban Scrawl-Buttah & CK Emily
Glaze:  Diamond Glaze
Punch:  Martha Stewart
Sketch:  Sketch Support March Add-On

Friday, March 16, 2012

It's Spring-y Around Here!!

**Normally I try to avoid doing multiple posts in a day, but I wanted to participate in the sketch challenge at Let's Get Sketchy, which ends tonight...SO, if you would like to see my post for the Fabulous Friday challenge at Frosted Designs, that I posted this morning, please check it out HERE.**

I'm sure the weather is just as crazy in your neck of the woods as it has been here!  We never really have cold, cold Winter's, but I think this has to be the mildest one in a while.  It actually feels like late Spring here, with temps getting close to the 80's already.  Well, with the hot temperatures aside, there is a great benefit to Spring and that is all of the gorgeous flowers that are in bloom!!  I snapped a few Spring-y pics yesterday afternoon of our two youngest kiddies playing around outside.  We were in search of flowers...most of the ones they found were actually weeds, but they didn't know that!!  :)  

I created this layout for two challenges.  The first is for Let's Get Sketchy, using their Challenge #2 sketch.  This was my first time to play along with one of their challenges and I had a lot of fun using the sketch.  Miraculously, I stuck pretty close to the original design of the sketch.  The only thing I really changed, was moving the title down just a little bit.  This layout is also for the March/April Issue Challenge #3 at Club CK, to use stitching through your title letters.  I LOVE the look of this, but I don't use it much, because a lot of scrappers also sew and they use their sewing machines to add stitching to their pages.  It always looks so awesome...but unfortunately I do not sew and therefore, do not own a sewing machine!!  :)  My stitching is usually always done by hand, using embroidery floss.  I still always end up liking the end result, but there is just something that is so (sew) cool about the machine stitching on layouts!!  :)




 
Products Used:

Cardstock:  Bazzill
Patterned Paper, Twine, Letter Stickers, Chipboard Elements, Flower Sack Shapes,      Sprinklers:  October Afternoon
Buttons:  Michael's
Brads:  The Paper Studio

Edgers:  Provo Craft
Embroidery Floss:  Janlynn
Punch:  Marvy
Pen:  Zig Memory System

Things with Wings!!

If you are wondering what "Things with Wings" means...well, let me tell you!!  :)  It is our Fabulous Friday challenge this week at Frosted Designs!!  If you are anything like me, then I can bet you love adding those cute butterflies and birdies to your layouts and projects.  I actually have to restrain myself from adding butterflies to every page...and I've actually been known to add some to my little boy's pages!!  :)  But, things with wings aren't just limited to birds and butterflies.  You can get really creative...how about Angels or lady bugs and other insects??!!  Just some more fun ideas.

I finally received my awesome goodie package from Little Yellow Bicycle for being one of the winners in the Fall/Winter sketch challenge.  It was filled with the amazing Paradise collection and I decided to design my layout with the papers and embellies.



There are some totally adorable bird embellies included with the Paradise collection, so I added a few of those here and there.  For the butterflies, I used some Martha Stewart acrylic stamps and acrylic paint.  I just stamped them on some of the LYB scrap paper and then fussy cut around the stamped image.  The letters for the word "backyard" were also all fussy cut from one of the LYB papers!!

I hope you will come play along with us this week for the chance to win a prize from our sponsor, Prairie Bird Boutique.  I look forward to seeing all of your fabulous creations!

Products Used:

Patterned Paper, Chipboard Embellishments, Flowers & Stickers:  Little Yellow Bicycle
Brads:  The Paper Studio
Acrylic Stamps & Punch:  Martha Stewart
Acrylic Paint:  Apple Barrel

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Know When to Hold 'Em, Know When to Fold 'Em!

I bet you weren't expecting Kenny Rogers this morning!!  Hopefully, you won't have this song stuck in your head now, like I have for the past two weeks, since I thought of using it for my post title for today!!  :)  If you are wondering what in the world this has to do with scrapbooking...well, let me get to it!  Do you ever buy those gorgeous double sided papers and think...ugh, how can I use one side and have the other side go to waste and never be seen??!!  Well, I have a quick and easy little idea, that can help you show off both sides of those gorgeous patterned papers...FOLDING!  First, I'll share two pages with you, that I created using some of the yummy, yummy Miss Caroline goodies from My Mind's Eye, that I received as one of my DT assignments for my LSS, Scraphappy Pensacola.





For the folding technique on these layouts, I cut several circles using my Cricut Expression.  You could also use a circle cutter or circle punch.  On the "Happy Leap Day" layout, I just folded a quarter of the circle over and then alternated the pattern to create a fun banner for my title.  On the second layout, "Enjoy Today", I folded over four sides of the circle to create a square shape.  I chose to use my shapes side by side, but you could also turn then corner to corner and create a fun diamond pattern on your page.  

I really hope you enjoyed stopping by today and that you will try this technique, that is very popular right now in the crafty world.  Not only do you get to show off both sides of those gorgeous papers, but you can also add a little texture to your pages without adding a lot of bulk!!  And don't forget the exciting news, that Scraphappy has a new location!!!  Come by and check out the new place and grab some of these amazing My Mind's Eye products and be on the look out for new upcoming products that were released during Winter CHA!!


Products Used:

Patterned Paper, Stickers, Pearl Flourish, Wood Accent:  My Mind's Eye
Brads:  The Paper Studio & Chloe's Closet
Baker's Twine:  The Twinery
Thickers:  American Crafts
Mini Market Stickers:  October Afternoon
Edgers:  Provo Craft
Sprinklers:  October Afternoon
Pearls:  Recollections

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Unexpected You

Yesterday afternoon, I got to sit down and break open the new Graceful collection from Echo Park!  I have been dying to use it since I ordered it from A Cherry on Top last week!!  :)  There were two challenges I wanted to combine in this one layout and I knew this line would be perfect for both of them!  The March/April Issue Challenge #2 at Club CK, was to scrapbook everyday moments.  Well, our middle daughter always cracks us up everyday with some kind of comedic act!!  I had several photos of her from the month of February that I wanted to use, to show how funny she can be.  The second challenge I incorporated into this page, was Case File #10 at CSI.  As soon as I saw the color scheme for this week's Case File, I knew that the Graceful line would work perfectly!!



I really love that CSI provides you with more than just the color scheme to incorporate into your layout!!  It is a lot of fun solving their cases and figuring out what evidence and testimony you want to use on your page too!!  For the evidence on this page, I chose to use clouds, a metal frame, and the brads I used give the look of a glass accent.  I decided to "shed some light on the subject" for the testimony portion, by journaling about how our daughter's personality has developed into the comedian of the family.

Products Used:

Patterned Paper & Stickers:  Echo Park

Spray Mist:  Smooch Spritz
Thickers:  American Crafts
Font:  Girls are Weird
Brads:  American Crafts
Metal Frame:  Making Memories
Embossing:  Sizzix & The Paper Studio

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Crop Layouts!

Last night, I got to attend our monthly Crop at church.  I took photos for 6 pages and finished 4.  I could've kept going, but everybody else had come to a stopping point, so I just decided to bring the last two sets of photos home to do those pages later.  I am sharing 2 of my pages from last night, since the other 2 are for DT"s and will be revealed in the upcoming days.

This first layout, is for the sketch challenge at Artful Delight.  I really liked the design of their sketch this month and thought it would be perfect for this page, since it included one photo, which was all I needed to tell my story.  Our son is 2 1/2 and apparently already addicted to Video Games.  He will sit and play the Leapster Explorer for hours and if you take it away from him, he throws a MAJOR fit!!!




I used a mix of papers on this one...Crate Paper Toy Box collection, Sassafras, and a little Bella Blvd.  I really love the way all of the colors work together on this page and I added some distressing with a dark brown ink, to give it a little bit more of a boyish look.

Products Used:

Patterned Paper:  Crate Paper, Sassafras, Bella Blvd.
Chipboard Accents & Tiny Type:  Cosmo Cricket
Buttons:  Blumenthal Lansing
Thickers:  American Crafts
Ink:  Memento
Font:  CK Matrix
Mini Round Gems:  Recollections
Punch:  EK Success
Embossing:  Sizzix & The Paper Studio
Embroidery Floss:  Janlynn

The second layout is for Case File #9 at CSI.  I started this layout, without a clear vision of what I wanted to do and wasn't really happy with it half way through.  But once I got the whole layout completed, I ended up loving it!  I used some acrylic and rubber stamps along with ink from Stampin' Up, to create the pattern on my background paper.  I don't normally do a lot of inky/messy pages...so it's funny that both of the layouts in this post are inked!!




I picked up the adorable layered flowers by K&Company last week and knew they would fit in perfectly with the color scheme for this Case File.  I pulled my paper choices from a variety of companies to get the ones I needed to match the colors.  This week for the evidence portion, I used hot air balloons, a bird accent, and a striped pattern.  I used a definition for the word fun, for the testimony portion of the challenge.  I think I ended up loving this page so much, because it wasn't the typical look for a Fair page, but it still has some casual elements that tie in the with Fair...like, the Denim pattern and the pennant banner.

Products Used:

Cardstock:  Die Cuts with a View
Patterned Paper:  Doodlebug Designs Inc., MME, BoBunny, Sassafras
Layered Flowers:  K&Company
Thickers:  American Crafts
Mini Market Stickers:  October Afternoon
Ink:  Tim Holtz, Stampin' Up, & Close to My Heart
Stamp:  Studio G
Brads:  The Paper Studio
Embroidery Floss:  Janlynn
Fonts:  Gill Sans MT & CK Jolly Elf

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Finally Getting Around to It!

This has been a weird week!  Up until today, I just haven't really felt like doing anything...including working on any of my layouts (I know...horror, right??!!)!!  I think sometimes, that I just let myself get too overwhelmed with things and then I just STOP!  Apparently this has been one of those times.  But today, I had my Thursday morning Bible Study with other SAHM moms and some of the other Ladies in our church, who don't work.  When we came home, we had lunch, then I got the kids down for their naps (my favorite part of the day)...and then I started cleaning!!  I got the kitchen mopped...which is a rare event around here.  It's really one of those things that I think, "what's the point", because in 5 minutes, somebody's gonna spill juice on it, drop food all over it, or who knows what else.  But needless to say, it is at least clean for the moment!  :)  I also got several baskets of laundry folded, cleaned the bathroom (another area I usually try to avoid) and vacuumed!  And then...supper started!!  WHEW!  It makes me all tired again, just thinking about it!  :)

With all of that said, I am finally getting around to posting my layout for Card Sketch #17 at Sketch Support!!  True, I could have had it ready to post this morning by setting up my Auto-Post, but that was just another one of those things I wasn't motivated to do!!  :)  But I really enjoyed using this sketch, because I think it's fun to take the Card Sketches and turn them into layouts.  Here's what I did:



I played with some of the yummy Simple Stories papers on this one and kept my embellies pretty simple.  I added some buttons, brads, and a few stamped images.  We love to visit New Orleans and even with all of the delicious restaurants located there, I always love stopping at Bubba Gumps.  We went over the weekend before Valentine's Day and I ordered their Barbecue Shrimp and it was so, so delicious!  Of course, I had to snap a pic of my plate before I dug in!!

I hope you will stop by Sketch Support and check out what the Team has been doing this week!  There are some amazing cards and today's post features all layouts, based on the Card Sketch.  And I am happy to say that after feeling like most of my week has been wasted this week, I feel very accomplished after my busy day today.  And I get to go to our monthly Craft Night tomorrow night, so I can get caught up on all of those pages, I was too lazy to create this week!!  :)

Products Used:

Patterned Paper & Stickers:  Simple Stories
Buttons:  Basic Grey
Brads:  The Paper Studio
Ink:  Stampin' Up
Acrylic Stamp:  Close to My Heart
Paper Crimper:  Fiskars