Double Header Today...

I have two layouts and process videos to share today, one for My Creative Scrapbook and the other for the Crafty Maven Getaway. I'm going to start with the layout for My Creative Scrapbook. This will be the last layout that I am sharing using their June main kit. I still have a lot of this kit left, but time just ran away from me. I could easily make another 3-4 layouts. My inspiration for this page came from the Thickers that were in the kit. I love to use words as journaling prompts and for my titles (especially since I'm not super creative with my titles). Right Now can be used for so many prompts....documenting a pregnancy, a baby's development, a list of your favorite television shows...it truly is one of the best prompts that I can think of for me to start a page.

I chose to make a page about my daughter's back to school shopping for her first year in middle school (sixth grade). Oh my gracious how her style changed in just a few short months. I am so glad that I thought to document this aspect of her life, and I would love to have this glimpse in my own life as a pre-teen. 

It is so hard to photograph silver. The heart stickers in two of the clusters are so pretty in real life. The photos just don't do them justice. Once again, I fussy cut these flowers. What can I say...I am predictable when it comes to floral papers :)

I loved this chipboard stamp from the moment I saw it and knew that it would be perfect for this page. I layered the flowers for a bit of dimension and so that the butterfly could be tucked underneath.

Here is my process video if you'd like to take a peek. 

My next layout share is for the Crafty Maven. I'm up on Free Flow Wednesday and the mood board this week is incredible! I chose to work with the pineapple theme since I have been wanting to redo my Honeymoon album. I love the bright colors of this mood board and the shoes reminded me of the luau photos that I wanted to get onto a page...a page that I really liked.

 

I need to say that as a general rule I don't remake layouts. However, if I don't like what I have done, and if I don't enjoy the album, why keep it?!?! I would much rather take the time to remake a layout, use supplies that I love, and tell the story that I want to tell rather than keep a page just because it is done. Everything that I used on this layout is from Authentique's Utopia line (except for enamel dots and Heidi Shine). It's perfect for tropical photos and the quality of their paper is outstanding.

My original title was Luau...because I could not remember which luau we went to while I was making the album back in 2002. Thank goodness for the internet! I was able to do a bit of research, and within minutes found the traditional luau and the location. It makes for a much better title.

I have some other photos from this luau of the dancers wearing red, so I chose these accents to tie the pages together. 

Here is a link to the video on my channel. I also have it posted onto the Crafty Maven channel and would link it there but blogger will not let me. I hope that you enjoy these process videos and have a great day!

Her Biggest Fan

I don't know if you are like me, but every once in a while I will take a photo that almost takes my breath away. The photo that I am scrapping in this layout is definitely one of those. I just adore the look on my husband's face as he is looking down at my daughter. The photo says it all. Be still my heart...it makes me fall in love with my husband all over again!

I chose to document this photo with the June kit from My Creative Scrapbook because I knew the colors would work well with the photo. The main kit this month is full of the Simple Story Life in Color line and it is such a fun line! I love the XOXO background paper and thought that it matched the mood of the photo.

I cut the yellow label from a cut apart sheet and layered a few flowers to finish off the cluster. I love to fussy cut and this line from Simple Stories has many different images that are perfect to fussy cut.

Titles are not my strong point, but every once in a while I hit a dinger (that's a home run over the fence in softball). I love that my title and my journaling are one in the same. Nothing else needs to be said, except for the fact that I am tied for her biggest fan as well :)

The teal and pink flowers were a surprise for me to add onto the page. My original thoughts were to keep the page to red, black and white. I am really happy though with the way that it turned out. The additional colors bring a bit of life to the page.

I have a process video as well if you'd like to take a peek. Thanks so much for stopping by today :)

It's a Little Late....

This post is a bit late, but I still wanted to get it up. We had some crazy thunderstorms roll through last Thursday night. They were so bad that numerous trees blew over, power lines were down and exposed lines on the roads, and in my county 80% of us were without power. However, there were blessings in all of this mess. We did not sustain any major damage, and the weather cooperated with us. It was unseasonably cool which allowed us to open the windows and have a cool breeze. The kids did great without the power...I thought that my son might go into withdrawals but he surprised me :)

Anyway, Mari and I posted another challenge video and our challenge was to use the inspiration paper from our stash kit and to lift one another. Here is the layout that I chose to lift from Mari. I had several of the flower clusters that I knew that I could fussy cut and wanted to make a border similar to the one that she made. I also decided to make a layout about one of our daughter's nicknames.

This is my end result using her layout as inspiration. 

I did not use a bunch of products from my stash kit to use as embellishments. I felt like the flowers made a bold statement on the page and I did not want to take away from them. I did cut the gold circles in half to use as a scallop border on top and underneath the photo. 

The puffy stickers, cor heart and washi tape are from my stash but they are both by the same Pink Paislee line as the papers (C'est La Vie). Mari and I decided that we would allow ourselves the option to choose things outside of our stash kit...after all the goal is to use our stash. The kit just makes it easier to get started.

The last challenge I had die cut a few doilies from tissue paper. I kept them on my desk and was able to use one on this page.

I added a bit of gold stitching under the journaling for another touch of gold. The gold Heidi Shine is absolutely beautiful in person.

Here's a link to the process video. I hope that you have a great day!

Be a Splash of Color

I love this line Life in Color by Simple Stories, and was excited when I learned that the June main kit from My Creative Scrapbook had several pieces of the collection. It is fabulous and I was inspired by one of the cut-apart sheets to scrap the photo of my daughter and her friend. They were both in yearbook together this past year, and often they would get assignments and need to go out and take pictures. They took the silly photo of their shadows and I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it.

I decided to keep this design simple. I have used this layout design before and loved the way that it turned out. I find that by adding chipboard elements and stitching that it helps keep the layout from looking "flat". It's relatively simple to create, and once I decided on the placement, the page flew together.

I decided not to journal on this layout, but may go back and make a note on the back with her friend's name. I felt like the quote said everything and more than I could possibly think of to say. It's perfect for this artistic and fun photo.

I outlined around the "Today" letter stickers, and stitched around the photo and the 4x6 card. I felt like the whites were getting lost on the cardstock and it helped that part of the title to stand out more on the page. 

The black stitching also adds a bit of weight and contrast to the page. I had so much fun making this page. It's a bit different than my usual layouts and I really enjoyed the process and the end result. I have a process video if you'd like to take a peek. Have a wonderful scrappy day!

Crafty Maven Getaway

I love the mood boards that Hannah makes for our inspiration pieces, and this one was especially inspiring. I thought of so many different things to do with my layout...confetti, sequins sprinkled around the page, the colors, a circle theme, using my watercolors, tassels, and using tissue paper. So many fun ideas but way too many for me to incorporate onto one page. 

I wanted to use the Bloom collection by Maggie Holmes to make this page for several reasons. I have more pages to scrap from this day and I love to use the same line or product selection to make coodinating layouts. I love the collection and had a few things in my stash that I wanted to make sure that I used. I'm trying to be more selective with my scrappy purchases and to also use things while I love them.

I did gut the yellow and white paper to save for other layouts. I did not use any mixed media on the page so there was no reason to waste the pretty paper, especially when I knew that I would be making more layouts of this day. I fussy cut the butterflies from one of the papers in the collection. As of this moment, that is one of my favorite papers of all-time. 

                        

I used some white thread to stitch the butterflies movement across the page. It adds such a whimsical element to the layout. I also chose to scatter some white sequins in a diagonal pattern.

This pink gingham bow I had made for a previous layout. I kept it with the collection because I knew that it would eventually get used on a layout.

I didn't have any tassels in my stash, but I did have this fringed heart. The fringe gives a whimsical feel that is close to the tassels, plus it has gold glitter. I know that some people are tired of the gold trend, but I am not. I love silver as well...basically I love bling :)

Here's a link to my process video. Have a wonderful day!!

Playing Catch Up

The end of the school year is always crazy. I have tried to keep up with things but I missed blogging about several videos that I have posted. The next few days I am going to spend catching up on the three videos that I missed :)

The first layout is You are my Spring which was made using the March Hip Kit. The green and white striped paper is an exclusive watercolor paper designed by Kim Watson and I fell in love. This spring color of green is my favorite shade of green to work with when creating pages.  My original idea was to put some watercolor behind the photo but it went wrong...it was an awful mistake. Ugh! I did not have the extra paper add-on so I was determined to fix this. I let the watercolor dry and then I added a few coats of white acrylic paint over the watercolor. While it isn't the perfect fix, it was pretty darn close and I was able to create a page that I like.

The Basic Grey flowers that came with the kit were so fun! I layered them around the photo and for some added interest I placed some pink thread under one of the clusters.

The title for my layout was inspired by the PinkFresh quote. Sometimes I just want to scrap a picture because it is a sweet photo. I don't always feel the need to journal, so the quote was a perfect addition.

Here's a link to the process video. I hope you have a great day!

My Creative Scrapbook June Kit

I'm so excited to be back with My Creative Scrapbook kit club for another month as their guest designer. This month their main kit is full of Simple Stories Life in Color. I am a sucker for a diagonal stripe, so when I saw this yellow and white stripe I fell in love. I've had these pictures on my desk waiting for inspiration and when this kit came to my door inspiration struck :) One of my favorite go-to designs is to cut a sheet of paper 4x12 inches and place it along the top of the page. I love patterned paper and like to see it on my layouts. Don't get me wrong. Layering papers is a beautiful thing, and I will do that as well. The title is mixed with fonts from the Simple Stories sticker sheet and the Amy Tangerine Thickers that came in the kit. The pop of black is perfect with this kit and really makes a bold statement on the layout. 

Black stitching just helped to give more emphasis on the title and added a bit of texture to the layout. I love the whimsical look that the zig zag stitching gives to the title. It also helped to anchor the title and gave me a great spot to start my journaling.

 

The camera was the perfect accent for this cluster. Cameras are always perfect to add to a scrapbooking layout, so if you ever get stuck on embellishment ideas, choose cameras. The kit came with the Simple Stories clear stickers. This is my first time using them and I really enjoyed using them. 

I'm going to show you now how I fixed my boo-boo. I usually journal on my page after I take pictures for my DT work, and for reasons just like the one that I am getting ready to show you. I made a mistake and I wrote a word twice. Oops! I looked through the kit and found some black arrow stickers, but they did not cover up the mistake in its entirety. So I went to my wood veneer stash and found the perfect size arrow. Fortunately where I made the mistake was on the edge and the bottom row, so the arrow just put a bit of emphasis on the journaling. I also chose two small wood veneer shapes to put in the other clusters. I left the wood veneer plain because the wood theme was already on the page, and the color was good as well.

I have a process video if you'd like to take a peek.