The Adventures We Didn’t Take

 

This layout was inspired by the Adventure Story Stamp, but once I began working on it, I found the stamps from Roam a better fit for my story. I also found a stamp on the Journey, "Embrace the detours" perfect for one of the suitcases.

The design was influenced from a sketch from the Simple Scrapper sketch library, number 578. The Square One class we are working on as a community is focused on using the sketches in the membership and how to make them work for us.

My paper selection was informed by Shimelle's Use What You Buy- Bold Pattern Paper edition. I was to use a non repeating pattern for this lesson, and when I came across this suitcase pattern in Shimelle's Go Now Go collection, I thought it was perfect.

The story for this layout is about the vacations we didn't take because of the Covid shut downs. I found a few stickers in my stash of Covid supplies that worked for this story- like the "cancelled" sticker.

Loved the cork phrase stickers, but found they are not forgiving when it comes to moving them around! They come apart if you try to move them. 

I ghost stamped the Roam stamps on the red paper and used the number stamps from Journey Story Stamp to match with the journaling.

Used the cork arrows to repeat from the title.

So excited to use one layout for so many challenges! Thanks for looking!

Best Friends

The layout I am sharing today was inspired by Ali Edwards Friends Story Stamp. I decided to tell the story of my daughter’s best friend.

 Simple Scrapper has a challenge this journey to use three things to create embellishment clusters.

This layout didn’t end up using many of the stamps, just the friend title I gold embossed, and I created the card in the photo strip with a few of the flowers and the sentiment.

I used the Stay Colorful collection by Dear Lizzie to create this layout with the marbled paper coming from Carousel by Maggie Holmes. I thought the sentiment I cut from the cut apart was perfect for this story.

In staying with the Simple Scrapper challenge, I layered a chipboard piece, and you will have to forgive me, i don’t remember where they are from, a heart die cut i made using a Stampin’ Up! Die and some enamel dots.

Love that I have this story told! Thanks for stopping by!

 

Me-44 on 4/4/24

The layout I am sharing today was inspired by Ali Edwards Story Stamp for the theme of me as well as Shimelle’s Use What You Buy class Stencil Edition.

The Me Story Stamp had a stamp with a bunch of -ing words that I journaled on April 4, 2024. At the time I was 44. 

When looking for a stencil to use for lesson 4 on the Stencil class, I came across a number stencil by The Crafter’s Workshop. I wanted to emphasize the 4 so I decided to ink the numbers all different colors, emphasizing the 4 with the most prominent color. 

Initially I tried to use gesso through the stencil to give it a bit of texture, but when I layered the ink over it once it had dried, the color went weird like it reacted with it. 

The stencil lesson called for columns of stenciling, so I created 3 panels. 

I chose Lilac Lane collection from Fancy Pants in my stash from 2010! Thought the purple matched well to my shirt in the photo.

Finished it off with another area of embellishment with more stamping, stenciling and enamel dots.

The stencil class from Shimelle finally got me using my stencils! Love how this layout and the others came together and I am not so intimidated by using my stencils anymore!  

Thanks for looking!
 

My Personality Type

Sharing a layout that was inspired by Ali Edwards Story Stamp for the theme of Type.  Past few years I have been interested in different personality types and where I fall and interact in the world. When brainstorming different stories to tell with this theme, I thought it would be fun to have a page that captured them all. 

I used the stamp set with gold embossing powder to create my title. 

I was also inspired by Shimelle's Use What You Buy Class- Stencil edition to create a background with a quadrants of color. I thought this lesson worked well with the structure of the layouts with its own quadrant in the middle.

I struggled picking a stencil for this. Shimelle had used a polka dot but I didn't have a dot one that was structured enough for my personality, which can be very structured and rigid, so I opted for this lined one from Vicki Boutin that felt more appropriate. 

The journal and photo mats were from a SCT Sampler kit. I loved the touch of gold. I then paired it with an Amy Tangerine floral paper that had the four mat colors as well. I used some die cuts from a Vicki Boutin die cut pack that had some gold foiling and was a good match to the paper.

The personality type titles were created using a CTMH alpha stamps from my stash.

Glad to have this documented! Thanks for stopping by!

 

Celebrate 6

The layout I am sharing today was inspired by the Ali Edwards Story Stamp for the theme of Celebrate. 

When working through Shimelle’s Use What You Buy Class, Stencil edition, I thought the sketch I originally selected here would work well with her third lesson.

I used Maggie Holmes Confetti paper pad for most of the layout, with exception of the rainbow ledger paper which is from Shimelle’s Main Character Energy paper pad.

I used gesso on the ledger paper to allow the wet media I was putting on top, not to soak through. It is also a little magic in that “mistakes” can be erased with a bit of water and a towel. Makes the process a little more forgiving.

The gesso and mixed media did make the paper curl and warp, which adding the base paper frame helped a bit to flatten out. 

I used Distress Inks with the packaging technique at the top and stenciled the matching color underneath. 

Since this layout started with the Story Stamp set, I managed to use a few in the layers of mixed media and at the end of the journaling block.  Love the touch it added. 

I selected ink colors to match the tickets in the collection I chose and lined them under the photos and title block. 

The sketch I used had banners represented, but since the story award about party hats, I detail cut the hats to embellish instead. 

The title used a banner from the Confetti paper pad, an acetate number from Felicity Jane and celebrate was cut with a SCT Sampler Kit die. 

Love how it came together! Thanks for stopping by!

 

Spring Break Adventures 2024

This layout was inspired by Ali Edwards' Adventure Story Stamp. Once it was in progress, I used a challenge from Simple Scrappers' Refresh Retreat in May to complete it. The challenge was to use 9 photos to tell the story and to use a product based class for a technique or starting point. I decided to use Shimelle's Use What You Buy Stencil Edition for my technique.

 

Shimelle's UWYB lesson that I used was to emboss and ink a panel. I found a stencil and ink blended a white panel with 3 inks that coordinated with the papers I had chosen from a SCT Sampler Kit. I hadn't ink blended over a stencil before so I started there instead of the embossing. I was unaware that the stencil I had chosen was larger than my die cut platform so I wouldn't be able to emboss with my Sizzix machine. Instead I got out a stylus and did the embossing by hand. I do not recommend. I was committed and didn't want to re-ink so I just finished the job. 

I used the Adventure Story stamp set to embellish the tags and used the enamel dots and die cuts from the same SCT Sampler kit to finish it off. 

For the journaling, I used the Daily Story Stamp for the days of the week and printed my journaling on clear sticker paper and placed it after stamping. Use the "adventure memories" from the Adventure Story Stamp. Wood veneer are from my stash.

Created a fun title treatment using 3 different stamps. The "adventures" did not come from the Story Stamp but from an old Technique Tuesday set. The tiles came from a Stamping Up! set that I had a coordinating square punch for. Added the string to bring the string from the tags at the top of the page in a third spot. Thought it also brought more attention to the title.

I created a companion page of sorts to go with this one. I had Spring Break Adventures for my other daughter the week after. Will share that one soon!

Rosie at 12 months

 

When finishing up the monthly layouts for my daughter's baby album, I came across this rainbow paper from Cocoa Vanilla's Happy Days collection and wanted to use it to feature the last month. Simple Scrapper had a sketch this journey that also featured a rainbow background so I thought it a sign to share it now.

It is a rather simple layout with a few layers and flowers around the photo. I didn't want to detract from the background too much so I went light on the embellishments on this one. It felt like cheating that the layout came together so quickly, but I loved it too much to add anymore.

For the associated journaling pages, I went all out on the rainbow theme and love how it ties to the title page.

The titles on both are the same as the other months in the album, using a cut files some that are digital word art from Ali Edwards.