I'm Beyond Excited....

I was asked to join the Cocoa Daisy Design Team! I am over the moon excited to be joining these talented ladies. I will begin working with them next month with the November kit.

I can't wait to start creating with this team :) Cocoa Daisy will be making introductions over the next month. I am going to link the team in case you would like to learn more about them.

Lisa * Alissa * Suz * Niru

Katherine * Suzanna * Kylie * Moon

 Marie * Kelli * Sarah * Janet

String Art Fun

Happy Wednesday friends! I have my final layout of the month for My Creative Scrapbook using their September Main kit. As I was looking through some of my older photos I came across ones of my son playing with string making designs. I hadn't told this story yet in his album, and I thought that the colors in the kit would be great with the colors in the photo. 

String art is pretty popular right now so I thought it would be fun to incorporate it onto the page. I sketched out the arrow using my ruler and lightly drew pencil lines outlining the arrow. I then took my piercer and pierced holes along the edges. Crochet thread was my choice of thread because it is a bit thicker than embroidery floss and looks more like the string that he used to play with.

I kept the embellishments to a minimum. The background paper is extremely busy, and the arrow is as well. I like for my embellishments to help me tell a story and to help keep the focus on the photos.

 To make the arrow head, I just used a simple backstitch and varied where I inserted my thread. In the video, I show a great deal of this process so that you can get a better feel of how I did it. 

The title nestled perfectly in the arrow. I left plenty of room beneath the arrow to tell the story of how he became obsessed with string art. I have linked the process video in case you'd like to take a closer look. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Hope that you have a great scrappy week :)

Scrap the Challenge: Focus on the Story

Today Mari and I are back with a new challenge in which we are focusing on telling a story. I had a few ideas going into making this page, but I finally settled on telling a recent story involving my son who is learning to drive. While backing out of my parents driveway, he scraped the rear panel of the car. The worst part was that I was sitting in the front seat and knew that it was going to happen and I just could not get the word STOP to come out of my mouth. Ugh!! He was pretty devastated. There are many opportunities to learn important lessons and I chose to make this a good one. We were on our way to church and the two of us sat in the car and talked while my mom and daughter went in to the service. 

I pointed out that there were many things to be thankful for with this incident. First, and most importantly no one else was involved. No one was hurt. It happened on private property so there was no need to involve the police. We didn't have to make a claim on our insurance so our premiums wouldn't go through the roof. It was only a matter of time before something happened with the car and a teenage driver. I was rear ended as a teenager and the car was totaled. My husband did some pretty significant damage to a car as well backing up...there was a pole that got in his way. It happens, we are human and make mistakes, and we are just hoping that he has learned a lesson from this day. Never put the car in reverse!! Ha! If only it were that simple. 

I decided to use the Better Together collection by Amy Tangerine for this layout. I had recently used this collection on a layout and loved it so much I pulled it out again. The arrow paper was perfect. It brought attention to the photos, plus I love it when the paper or embellishments correlate with the photos and the journaling.

Sarcasm and teenagers go hand in hand. So I thought that the NOT stickers were perfect above the phrase sticker. 

I fussy cut some cameras and placed them around the page. It bothered me a little that I only had one pop of red on the page, but I decided that I needed to get over it. I also only had two stars that were the yellow. Again, I decided that it was better to actually use the product than to leave them in my stash just because I didn't have a third one. I would have preferred to have a visual triangle of stars across my page, but at least I used them!!! 

I briefly debated on typing my journaling on the computer, but decided against it for one reason. It's a personal page...yes, I know that a lot of layouts are personal. But I really wanted him to know that things happen and it truly is beneficial if you can find the good that comes with the bad. 

Here's a link to the process video. Be sure and check out Mari's channel for her video as well. As always, if you have any ideas for challenges let us know. We love to hear from our viewers :)

 

Hello Apple Time

One of the things that I love about autumn is picking apples. We are fortunate to live about an hour away from a local orchard and always have a great time whenever we have the chance to visit. The September Main kit from My Creative Scrapbook is perfect for fall pictures and I dug out a couple that I had of the kids goofing off in the orchard. 

For this layout I wanted the title to be predominant and show off some of the gorgeous papers included in the kit. I have seen some comments on Facebook about people wishing they could do some creative title work, but not owning a digital cutting machine. I pulled out some large alphas that I had purchased for a school project, and used those to trace around the shape on the different patterns. You can also print out words with different fonts on your computer as well to achieve this look. Basic fonts are the simplest to cut. However, before I had my silhouette I cut cursive fonts out with my craft knife. This is time consuming, but the results are beautiful.

The letters needed something to help them stand out, so I chose a navy thread and did a simple backstitch around the letters to help them pop off the page.

Don't forget about using your branding strips. These cute words phrases were on a branding strip and were super simple to cut out. I love the way that they look clustered together.

I overlapped the Thickers onto the title to help bring the two together. The Thickers did not have the word "time" included, so I used a W to make an M, and pulled a few other letters from words that I didn't think I would use. If you have something in your stash that doesn't work for you, see if you can get creative and find ways to change it. My final touch for the layout was a few sprinkles of Heidi Swapp Color Shine in bronze.

I have included the link to my process video. Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope that you have a wonderful day!

A Good Book

It's Wednesday and that means it is time for another layout for My Creative Scrapbook. Shimelle's collection is both fall and travel themed, so I challenged myself to make a couple of layouts that used themed products in a different way. For today's layout, I chose to document a picture of some books that I had checked out of the library. I had several that were on my Goodreads list to read, and a couple that just caught my eye. My jumping off points for this page were the chipboard frame and the suitcase with "let's go" printed on it from a cut apart sheet. The color scheme I pulled from the suitcase and the photo, and was able to find things that ended up being perfect embellishments.

I am a fan of globes, although I don't use them frequently. This globe is adorable! It looks like a snow globe and the saying is so versatile and can be used for lots of different things. 

I did distress the edges of the papers to give the layout a bit more character. I typed the journaling on the tag with an old typewriter that I found off Craigslist. I have some ghosting around the letters so I need to figure out how to clean it up. If you have any typewriter tips, please leave me a comment. 

 I am so happy with the way that the title came out on this layout. The Thickers are beautiful and I love that they are a mixture of fonts. The color is absolutely gorgeous as well and looks amazing with the papers in this kit.

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

Scrap the Challenge: School Theme

This week Mari and I decided to focus on something related to school. My kids just went back to school this week, and I must say that I am envious of all the cute photos that I have seen of the kindergartners and their backpacks. It's harder when your kids are teens, especially since my boy is not a fan of being in front of the lens. So I am forced to get creative. Last year I took a picture of his schedule and made a layout...you can find that post here.  I loved it so I decided to do it again this year.

I couldn't find a patterned paper that I liked for the background, so I decided to add a bit of acrylic paint on the background for some added interest. Both of the cut files are from Ashley Horton and The Cut Shoppe. 

I chose to back the title and the stars with some papers that I had from Amy Tangerine's Better Together line. A bit of messy stitching helped to give the die cut a bit of texture. The yellow acrylic camera is from Freckled Fawn, and the stickers are all Amy Tangerine.

The alphas are from PinkFresh Studio, the rub-on stars are Heidi Swapp, and the camera was fussy cut from one of the Amy Tangerine papers.

I love the addition of this flair from Freckled Fawn in the lower cluster. The saying is perfect and it is always a great feeling to use things in my stash :)

Be sure and check Mari's video out as well. I have linked her channel in the details section of my video. Thanks so much for joining us, and as always please leave us a comment if you have any wishes on future challenges.

I'm Up On the Crafty Maven Channel Today

Hey friends! I'm up on the Crafty Maven channel with my last video for this DT for this term. I have decided to step down because life is just a bunch of balls that I'm trying to juggle at the moment, plus I have some other things that I'd like to work on. I was super excited that I was placed on one of my favorite days, Sketch It Out Thursday!! I love using sketches, and have really enjoyed using them with the mood boards for this team. Here is the mood board for this week. I love, love, love the mood board for this week. There's just one problem...I don't like to scrapbook with the color orange. So I'm going to go over a few things that I look at when I'm looking at mood boards and ways that I draw my inspiration.

1. Colors - while this may seem obvious, I also look and see if they are monochromatic or complementary. Are they soft or bold? Can I bring in another color to the mix if there are only a couple colors represented. This mood board reads fairly monochromatic to me with the exception of the yellow flowers and red butterflies. 

2. Shapes - this mood board has a couple right off the bat. The paint can lids and the shapes of the fruit are both circular, while the lower right picture made me think of a bunch of squares together. Do you want your design to have a geometric feel? Are you looking to add a digital die cut? If so, this is a great way for inspiration in choosing your files.

3. Images - I am always on the lookout for inspiration to use for my embellishments. In this board there are flowers, butterflies, and fruit. These images can also be inspiration for your topic. Have you changed your hair? The ombre hair photo made me think of not only an ombre design, but to scrap a particular hair cut or style. The lids of the paint can were sparking the idea to add paint onto my layout. One way to incorporate them all together would be to use paint on your page in an ombre design. 

4. If you are like me, you have tons of photos to scrap. Sometimes it is nice to let the mood board inspire you on the photos that you choose to scrap. From this mood board I brainstormed the following ideas: My favorite fruit, fall, flowers in my yard, hair styles, home improvement, and a trip to see a butterfly exhibit. 

Since it is Sketch It Out Thursday I decided to look at a few sketches while I was trying to figure out what photo I wanted to scrap. I love this one by Laura Whitaker from Stuck?! Sketches. One of my favorite things is patterned paper and this sketch has several different ways to incorporate several patterns on your layout. It also repeated the circular theme from the mood board.

I decided to follow the color scheme of the mood board but instead of bright and bold colors, I chose some more muted papers. I have the Felicity Jane Maggie kit and several of the patterned papers are perfect for the direction that I decided to go with the mood board.

The circular theme is further reinforced with the embellishments (sequins, rubber charms, and doilies). 

 This stamp included in the kit is so fun. This sentiment is perfect for this photo of my daughter and one of her besties.

Here's a link to my process video. I hope that you enjoyed this post and perhaps learned a new way to look at a mood board when searching for inspiration. Have a great day :)

September Reveal....

The September main kit from My Creative Scrapbook is filled with Shimelle's new fall and travel themed collection Go Now Go, which of course is perfect for right now! Here's a picture of the main kit and I must say that the photo doesn't do the Thickers justice. They are a gorgeous copper glitter and the words are a mix of fonts with some shapes as well.

For my first layout I decided to scrap a school picture from my son's last day of second grade. The lined paper is actually travel themed, however I just cut it apart to highlight the Notes section, and of course needed to use my notebook punch along the edge. 

 There are several chipboard buildings included in the chipboard stickers and this red one was perfect to use as a school. I love the way that it helps to bring the color across the page from the strip of paper to the title.

 For the title, I cut the letters today away from the ticket, and also used the Echo Park sheet to create a long title with a mix of fonts. One of the patterned papers has a bunch of suitcases on it along with this journal and pen image. It was perfect for this layout and so easy to fussy cut. For the final touches I added a pop of navy stitching to help ground the title and some navy Heidi Swapp color shine.

Here's a link to my process if you'd like to take a peek. Thanks so much and I hope that you have a great day :)