My Girl

I completed another challenge from the Art + Science of Scrapbooking class!

It was for Right Brain Challenge #3- Photos

The challenge was to take a recent favorite photo then pair it with another photo from a date created scrambling up the date of the first to create a new date. Taking those two photos, find the connection and create a page about it.

I had a bit of trouble finding a photo whose date could be scrambled into a date where I had taken a photo to use. After trying a handful I finally came up with something that worked.

So my original photo was from March 26, 2014. I scrambled the numbers a bit and came up with April, 26, 2013.

Both dates happened to have photos of my daughter so the connection wasn't too difficult. I did sit on the journaling for a few days and wrote it on my private blog to have ready when I was ready to create the layout (over a year later....)

So here is the layout I created.

In my stash I have a bunch of Basic Grey collection kits. They contain remnants of BG's Page of the Month kits that I used to get from my local scrapbook store in California. (You can also find more recent ones online here.) In these kits there are enough supplies to create a predesigned layout plus loads of extras to make other pages or projects, or just adapt the designed layout to your style. 

For this layout I pulled out the Sweet Threads collection and found the journaling spot that was big enough to hold the long journaling that I had and still allow room for the two 4x6 photos I had to include.

The only thing I used outside of my leftover kit was a piece of white card stock for the background.

The journaling block was really cool in the fact that it came with a patterned base and a coordinating transparency that had the black border and colored flowers to overlay.  Added the title stickers, date arrow, and flower sticker to the top after adhering with the tiny attacher.

I love how this layout turned out. Not only do I love these great photos of my daughter, I love the journaling that came from them as well. Definitely may try a similar challenge like this again!

Thanks for looking!

Sweeter Together

I have had some photos and products kitted together for a long time, just waiting for time and inspiration to put layouts together. I have been so focused on Project Life and catching up that I hadn't really allowed myself to create new layouts. Not too mention, that I still have a stack of pages in progress. 

After creating layouts the past few weeks, I allowed myself to enjoy the process in creating another new layout. As long as I completed it start to finish, and didn't add it to the stack of unfinished layouts, that is.

I had a collection of Dear Lizzy Neapolitan products. Stuff from Archivers sales from years ago to a more recent 6x6 paper pad purchase. Michaels also had "the best of Dear Lizzy" 8.5x11 paper stack that I had picked up as well. After seeing the "sweeter together" sticker, I had paired them with some photos of my kids playing together.

I struggled for a while on how to layout the photos. I had 5 4x6 photos and didn't really have much room to crop any of them. In the end, knowing I needed a large journaling block for my story, I found 6x6 papers to fill in the missing blocks that the photos didn't take up. It wound up having a bit of a Project Life layout feel.

Making one "card" for the title, another for journaling, and another for embellishment, I got to work picking out what products and supplies I wanted to use.

Originally I had selected white card stock for the base of my layout, but changed to a ombre green paper. That was decided before the over all photo placement had been decided and I am a bit disappointed that the color variation is lost on this, but I like the green at the top and subtle green on the bottom so I went with it.

At the top is a strip of patterned paper from the collection as well as the ice cream cone branding strip from a 12x12 piece at the bottom. From the Michaels 8.5x11 stack, I found the stripe paper.

I embellished with a number cut from patterned paper that has all kinds of numbers in different colors and fonts. Wrapped some twine around it and added a puffy heart sticker left from my December Daily kit.

Here is my title block. The sticker is what inspired this layout and paper choices. I found a neutral 6x6 patterned paper from the pad, added the strip of rainbow paper from the pad as well. There is a hole in the middle where the pad is hung at the store, but is covered by the sticker and the doily from my stash. Used a bit of yellow polka dot washi as well.

For my journaling block, I used a 6x6 pattern paper from the 6x6 pad of paper, ran it through my printer and then embellished with a sticker (popped up) from the collection's sticker book, another strip from the pad and a piece of washi from my stash. Added date stamp at the bottom. 

Here is page number two.

For the embellishment block, I used another 6x6 pattern cut to 4x6. I used another strip from the 6x6 pad and covered the hole with the cut outs from the polaroid sheet. 

I embellished one with another sticker from the sticker book and twine. Added a bit more of the yellow polka dot washi tape as well.

Since the stripe paper I used wasn't 12x12, I cover this up by piecing them together and covering up the seam with some pennants. 

And there you have it. Another layout done. This one I am in love with. Love the story, love the layout and products, love the photos. 

This layout has me inspired to make another! Hope to have another to share soon! (Unless baby wants to come.... any day now!)

Happy

Another class that I took last year through Big Picture Classes was Inspired Scrapbooking by Stacy Julian. Every month she had a challenges based on that month's theme. Loved the pace of this class, being a year long and challenges only once a month.

For August, the theme was FUN! One of the "assignments" was to scrapbook a "so fun" memory. I had set some photos in a folder for printing for this assignment and finally got them printed. They were printed on the same 12x12 canvas as one side of the Noah's Ark photo collage.

Since the theme was fun, I decided to have some fun with this layout. I had recently purchased a Heidi Swapp stamp set of words, one of which was Happy. Since that was the name of the song we were rockin' out to in the photos, I went through my stash looking for other "happy" stamps in my stash. Surprisingly I found quite a few, most that went with a Technique Tuesday Happy Birthday set.  

Another purchase that I had made, that I hadn't broken out to use was a stamp set: My Favorite Things- Abstract Art. 

Using my Distress Ink colors that matched the October Afternoon papers that I had in my stash (Again from a kit club from years ago.), I wanted to layer the words over the "painted" page. I realized that I had to stamp off once for each of the colors otherwise the color was too saturated for the words to be visible.

I used some red Thickers from my stash (converting some Rs into Ps). Used a Fiskars tab punch to create the tabs and cut down a journaling card that coordinated with the paper collection.

 I left some real estate on the page unstamped to give myself some room for journaling.

This layout is a bit busy for my normal style, but it was sure fun. Next time I think I may try misting the stamps with a bit of water to get more of a water color affect as well.

Felt good to use product sitting in my stash and just having FUN!

Thanks for looking!

Project Life - June 8-14, 2015

I feel like I am on a roll! I don't know if my procrastination has been put on hold with the upcoming unknown date of my baby's arrival or I am just creatively on fire!

I have been creating cards, paper layouts and digital project life. And LOVING it!

So here is my Project Life layout for June 8-14, 2015.

This layout features a free kit called Cherished from The Digital Press. I really like this kit, but wished there were at least one element in the collection that had ALL of the colors incorporated into  it to tie it all together.

Used a free brush from Ali Edwards' Give Sunday feature on her blog as well as an image of Big Hero 6 I grabbed from the internet.

Used a handful of Ali Edwards Edge sentiments for this side but otherwise kept it pretty simple. Few more embellishments this week, but still rather simple.

And there you have it. Another week done!

Thanks for looking!

Noah's Ark Layout

I took the class Art + Science of Scrapbooking quite a while ago at Big Picture Classes before they changed their format. 

Stacy Julian and Jennifer Wilson were the teachers, both favorites of mine, so I knew I would enjoy the class. There were 8 rounds of challenges, one from each instructor. One left brained on the topic and the other right brained. 

I found that Jennifer Wilson's left-brained challenges were pretty much part of my process already and it was Stacy's right -brained challenges that I found difficult. I guess that means I scrap (and live) left-brained.

For Stacy Julian's first challenge for Ideation, I was to find a piece of patterned paper in my stash that reminds me of a place or space. It couldn't be really obvious like palm tree paper or Mickey Mouse paper. 

I combed through my entire stash of paper looking. I have a lot of paper so it took me a LONG time! After the first go through, I didn't really find anything! After a second go round, I found a light wood grain patterned paper from Studio Calico's Sassafras collection that made me think of the wood at the Noah's Ark at the Skirball in California.

I had taken so many photos of the place that I knew I needed to make a photo collage to include my favorites (Photo Challenge #3 from Jennifer Wilson + computer journaling).

So the paper and the photo collage sat for probably a year, before I got the collage printed. 

I have been so busy with Project Life and December Daily albums that I haven't created many layouts in quite a long time.

Here is what came of the challenge:

When I had the photo collage printed, I knew I wanted it to fit over the two page spread. I printed it (using Persnickety Prints) on two 12x12 canvases and cut them out. I had placed other photos I wanted to scrap on the remaining space on the canvas to save me money. 

The wood grain paper I used is the banner that anchors the page. In my stash I found some original Sassafras that I had gotten as part of a kit club almost 7 years ago. Sassafras is no longer (as well as the kit club that I got it through), which makes me sad because I liked their stuff. It was time to use it up! Better to be seen on a page than lost in my stash!

After searching layout configurations from my Scrapbook Sketch board on Pinterest, I ended up a combination of a few for this layout, making one of my own.

One of the things I loved about Sassafras was the branding strip on their papers were die cut and usable on one side. Loved the doily one that I used on this page.

I had chip board pieces from this collection that were different colored woodgrains that were animals that I had 2 of, figuring it went well enough with the theme of the page.

To embellish this layout I also used a handful of Ali Edwards' stamps from travel themed sets of hers.  Some of her phrase stamps were used as borders at the top of the photo collage and bottom of the banner.

The arrow stamped sentiments were die cut with a coordinating die from Technique Tuesday, but had a 3x4 card border attached. Arrows came out a little short because of how I cut the border off, but were good enough for me. (Note to self: When cutting the border off, cut along with the arrow, not the border)

Added computer journaling to the card and added a date stamp to the memorabilia  and called this one done!

Feels good to get this layout completed for many reasons.

1. That I finished a challenge from the class that I took and paid for. 

2. That I was able to use up some awesome stuff from my stash.

3. That I (finally) created a 12x12 paper layout that I am in love with, even though it has been a while.

I actually have another 12x12 to share soon (need to photograph still) so stay tuned! 

Thanks for looking! 

December Daily - Cover, title page and finishing up

My December Daily is now complete! Here are the few finishing touches and the cover to share!

I never know what to do with the cover of my albums, but I saw Ali Edwards used these gold foiled letters to write DEC on a layout, using her kit. I pulled them out to do the same, but never found a good place to use them inside the album. I figured it would look nice on the cover and went for it. Using red Scrappy Tape, I adhered the letters right to the cover as well as a remaining rubber banner included in Ali's kit.

For the label I used an alpha stamp set that looks like a marque and stamped and gold embossed the year. Love how the spine already had December Daily on it!

Here is my cover page for my December Daily album.

Another of Ali's creative ideas, using the two wood veneer numbers to create the year, I saved knowing I would want to use it on my title page.

Every thing on this page came from the December Daily kit with the exception of the wood veneer hearts and arrow.

I think I shared that I was using the calendar page included in the kit. I went back and in my tiny handwriting, I wrote in what the kids got in the advent boxes every day up to Christmas. Love to have this captured this way!

Wasn't too sure what I wanted to do for my closing page in my album for this year. Opted to use a piece of patterned paper left over in the kit that I really liked, but wasn't sure how to go about using. Added some alpha stickers and called it good. 

And there you have it! My December Daily 2014 album is complete! So glad to have this off my Scrappy To Do list before baby arrived!

Thanks for looking!

December Daily - Extra Day Jan 3

Because I celebrated Christmas with my Dad after December, I decided to do an "extra" page to include this Holiday memory into this album as well.

Here is this Extra layout.

I ended up using the gold foil number 3 from Ali Edwards' December Daily kit, since it hadn't been used and to emphasize that it was no longer December. Used a label from the kit as well and stamped the month with another of Ali's stamp sets. 

Using another of Ali's stamps, I created the title on the second page as well as some letter stickers from my stash.

Used a 6x8 paper from the kit and cut it up to fit the pockets and added all of my photos and journaling and called this one done!

Just the finishing touches with this album and I am done!

Thanks for looking!

Project Life - May 25-31, 2015

Here is my Project Life layout for May 25-31, 2015.

For this week, I had a little help from my 8 year old son designing this layout. He helped m pick out the kit, Big Adventure, from Sweet Shoppe Designs.

Again, this week I kept the cards pretty simple. Most photos don't have anything added to them.

For the second page, I used a photo collage but embellished the fourth spot since I didn't have a photo. Thought it turned out well! 

And there you have it another Project Life layout done!

December Daily - Day #25

Here is the start of Day 25 in my December Daily album.

I loved this gold foiled 25 paper in the kit and instead of using a divider to separate eve from day, I thought using this would be perfect. Layered the label from the kit as well with a bit of foam adhesive and called this one done.

I love to include a before and after shot of the tree on Christmas morning. 

I used a 6x8 enlargement for the before shot, added a hand cut banner and embellished with the chip board sticker and puffy stickers.

For this page I included the "after" photo in the top pocket and the journaling for the day on the bottom. To embellish the card (included in Ali's kit) I used the stamp set included in the kit to stamp the stars and phrases at the bottom, as well as another of Ali's stamp sets to stamp "Christmas". Used alpha stickers in my stash for the "agenda" part of the title.

This layout shows some of the detail shots from gift opening and a song sheet passed out before Christmas dinner.

Embellished with a label punched out and a sticker from my stash.

For the last page I included a family photo (taken with remote) and one of my mom's grandkids. Simple, but done.

Sorry for the quality of some of these photos. I had a really tough time with the glare this time around.

And there you have it. Christmas Day documented!

Thanks for looking!

Project Life - June 1-7, 2015

Here is my Project Life layout for June 1-7, 2015.

For this layout, with help from my son again this week, picked the kit Light Up My Life from Sweet Shoppe Designs.

Originally I had designed a title card, but realized that I hadn't included this week's ultrasound picture, and that was a must, so I replaced the card with the photo. 

Lots of photos this week, must be because it is summer and we have been keeping busy!

Kept this page pretty simple. Used image from the internet to create the first journaling card. Otherwise, it is photos, labels and words.

Glad to be keeping up with these pages. I can have my baby any day now, and the more I have done now, the less I can get "behind" on!

Thanks for looking!

Project Life - May 18-24, 2015

Here is my Project Life layout for May 18-24 2015.

Still cranking these bad boys out pretty regularly. Trying to stay as current as I can while I have one of my kids in summer school, and before the new baby arrives. So far so good!

So this week I used the kit, Because of You from Sweet Shoppe Designs.

Keeping it pretty simple with mostly photos and words. Journaling cards are still have pretty minimal embellishments.

There you have it. Another Project Life layout done! 

Thanks for looking!