Sometimes,Simple Is Best

Sometimes, I create simple pages. It does not mean they are plain. It means, to me, that I chose not to use a lot of techniques on that page.I merely chose elements and placed them in an manner which I felt was visually pleasing. It also does not mean that my layout is devoid of a deeper meaning. Some photos call for deep stories while others do not.Some photos can tell more than one story.

Snap Crackle Pop by Christy Strickler Supplies Patterned Paper,Stickers, Alphas: Pink Paislee; Other: Sequins, Jewels

Made with the Scrapbook News and Review Color Palette of the Week

For whatever odd reason, I associate Rice Krispy Treats with the Fourth of July. I don't have any proof, but I am pretty sure that my Grandmother made them every year around this time when I was a very young. So rather than use these photos for a story about making Rice Krispy treats ( which is sort of a plain story anyway),I chose to document this half remembered tradition of my youth.

The page came together quickly. The patterned paper already had the frame around it. I used  matching border stickers and embellishments.Then I sprinkled jeweled stars ( one of my new favorite embellishments) and some sequins across the page for a little dimension. I sewed a little under the title, added journaling and then the page was done. It's simple,but I like the way it accents my story.

Sometimes simple is good. 

Mother's Day Blog hop,2012

  Welcome to the Mother's day blog hop. You should have arrived here from Andrea Joy's page. If you stopped here first or have gotten lost along the way, please pop over the Amanda's blog to get going on the right path.
  Mother's hold a special place in our hearts. So do grandmother's. Today I wanted to share a page which highlights the photo of someone who was very special to both my husband and son. Her name was Pat and she is my husband's grandmother. I was very lucky recently to have been given some wonderful photos which feature her in it. This series of photos immediately caught my attention. For one thing, the cute little boy is my hubby. For another, I really loved this photo of  Pat.

Papers from JBS Mercatile April 2012 kit: Pink Paislee and Hambly Screen prints
Alphas: Sassafrass, chipboard: Crate Paper
paper border: American Crafts, mist- homemade

When I received these photos, they were very yellowed. My husband and I discussed at length the quality of different cameras and film over time. Since these photos are special, I made sure to scan them right away. I then touched them up as much as I could in photoshop and printed a set to use on my page. The original will be stored carefully in an envelope which I will attach to the back of the scrapbook page.
  We didn't live close to Pat. I really wish we could have. My husband always has such wonderful stories to tell about how she would take him to the toy store or of things they did together when he was younger. On the few occasions she was able to spend time with my son, she captured his heart. He remembers just walking around her property looking at ants and talking with her. She would sit and listen to him rambling on and on. It was something not many adults did, and he really appreciated her for it.If you notice, I have not yet journaled on this page. The story here is my husband's to tell. I hope he has the time to share it with me soon. It will be nice to have his own words on a page, rather than just mine.
  Thank you for stopping by and sharing just one brief moment in the life of a great lady. Your next stop on the hop is the blog of a truly talented, young lady( boy does saying that ever make me sound old!). So click your mouse and see what Jordan has to share with you.

Happy Mother's day!!!

Bringing Ju Ju Bee Home

     Recently, we were very lucky to open our home to a new kitten. When we first met her, she was full of energy and bold enough to jump right to the front of the kennel to play. We figured that she would be the perfect kitten for a home with an energetic little boy and a playful, older tabby cat. When I saw the Layout a Day prompt about home, I figured it would be a great opportunity to scrap about our new kitten's homecoming. It was not as smooth as we had expected. From carrier to car to house, she became quite frightened. She cried all the way home and remained quite timid  during almost the entire day. We were not sure where that brave kitten had gone.

Viva Pink and Electric Blue glimmer mist
Pink paislee paper and rub on house
OA alphas and brown rub ons
Sassafrass border
Maya road chipboard

Since I am participating in May Flaum's Curious Scrapbooker's field guide class and week one is all about misting, I used a chipboard house from a mini album as a mask( mini album pages make wonderful shaped masks). I carried through with the house theme by using the Pink Paislee house paper. I am no stranger to using mists, but I have still learned new things from May as I always do. I am sure you will see more fun, messy pages from me over the next few weeks as I follow along with this class. I am really excited to see what new techniques I can pick up.

   As for our kitten...she has settled in quite nicely. I don't think it took her too long to figure out that she has a good home. She is very playful and affectionate. Her name is Ju Ju Bee. How she got her name is another story. I am sure it's going to appear on a page I make somewhere in the near future.

 

Battery Powered?

  I homeschool my son and one of our favourite subjects is science. I tend to hoard science kits like I hoard scrapbook supplies. So my son and I made a commitment to not bring any more home until we used some kits up. This kicked off some good fun in our home, though I must admit, some of those kits were duds. As in...duds, not working, it's a no go. This was one such kit. Maybe the citrus was too old to conduct a charge.( we live on an island and it's shipped in). Maybe we had the wrong kind of penny or paper clip. Who knows!?!? We never got the light to come on using oranges and lemons as batteries. We still  had a great time and managed to learn about electricity. I took a bunch of photos for me to scrap which meant I not only used up a science kit, I used up stash too. It was a win-win all around.

Sketch from Cathy Zielske
Jillibean soup papers, stickers
Webster's pages sparklers
Twinery Twine- cappucino
glossy accents
star punch
DMC floss
Glimmer mist- Electric blue
Maya Mist- Creme Metallic
Pink paislee alphas

  Can you tell what's new on my page? Probably not. No hard feelings about that. It's hard to tell unless you know. I got Adobe Photoshop elements 10. I must say that it has helped me out quite a bit in the "having better photos" category. I still need to learn to take better pictures, but at least the ones I have look a tad better. I also used a large photo on my page thanks to the Cathy Zielske Design your life class at Big picture Classes. It's not something I would normally do. There is one other new thing on my page...I finally got around to weaving.
  Initially, I had just stitched boxes on the right hand page to even out the design.After stitching the boxes, I thought it needed a bit more than just a plain box with mist droplets in it. I was, sadly, too lazy to stitch a whole pattern inside the box. If I had planned things out, I would have evenly aligned the holes to make the weaving easier. So the weaving is a bit uneven. No matter, it turned out to look pretty interesting. I added some punched stars with a bit of glossy accents and ended up with some nice texture on my page. Here is a close up:

I wove the threads at random through various strands of the thread. It created this lovely pattern through the block. Proof positive that trying something new can yield a wonderful result.

So now it's your turn. Try a new tool, a new technique...anything new will do. Then share it with us at Scrap Our Stash!

A Slightly Sour Adventure

  Last Easter, we took my son to a carnival at a local resort. There were a lot of great games, arts, crafts...and the opportunity to fill the bottle of your choice with powdered candy. What child could resist that?!?! There were a variety of flavors to choose from. Some sweet. Other sour. We advised my son not to choose the sour. He is not much for sour candies. Inevitably, some sour candy was put in his bottle.
    I'd like to show you his reaction to the candy. I did photograph it. Not to tease, but, I must say that I loved his reaction! Alas, it's part of my chinese whispers page for Club CK which I can not yet reveal( stay tuned). So for now, I will just share page one with you. I made it for the new CSI challenge group and I used some of the materials from my January Counterfeit kits. At CSI, you get a folder or case file like this one:
                         
Then you use it as inspiration for your page.It's sort of like a recipe challenge. Anyway, it provided a great jump off point for my page. The colours reminded me of the powdered candy. My counterfeit kit had yellow and turquoise papers in it. I felt like I could add some mists and embellishments to warm those colours up and meet the challenge requirements for CSI.

Creative Scrappers Sketch#198
Papers by sassafrass, pink Paislee and October Afternoon
DMC floss, Iroc jewels,
Ruby Rock it button
Little yellow Bicycle- tiny alphas and purple glitter alpa
Amer. crafts thicker-forest
salvaged ribbon
fruit punch stickles, pink paislee die cuts

  The title was inspired by the idea to document an adventure. The full title reads " Sandy Candy: a slightly sour adventure for the tastebuds."  The idea of using advice in the journaling set the stage for the story I told about my son and the sour flavors.
  That sort of odd looking thing under the title...well, it's a mask of sort. I made it from the top of some packaging. It's the part that would hang from a hook. I cut it out a bit more. I am not sure it it counts at the architectural element.It sort of looked architectural to me in an artsy sort of way. Regardless, I sort of liked how quirky it looked. I used this moss coloured glimmer mist which looks more blue green to me than deep green. I know I only really needed two pieces of evidence...but I did manage to get some other items from the evidence list on my page. The circles were cut from a sort of purple sheer ribbon. I hand stitched the swirls and added flowers and gems( my version of stones).

   Once again, I have managed to add some of my nemesis colours to a layout. I don't much care for yellow. Pink and purple are hard to get onto boy pages. On this page though, they had a little meaning. This carnival was at a resort hotel. So the yellow and turquoise remind me of the warmth of that day. Those colours, along with the pink and purple, are also colours of the candy. So it all sort of fit together. Adding the black to the page gave it a little masculinity. Overall though, it was the theme of the page that drove me to choose the elements that went on it. Proof positive that a page with a boy can have girl colours and flowers without being feminine.

January's Counterfeit kit

 I started participating in these challenges at the Counterfeit kit challenge about a year ago. While I could not participate in every month, I sure did enjoy partaking in them. I have become more aware of the contents of my stash. I have found new ways to use my supplies. I have also learned a little more about why some patterns go together and how to pair papers from different lines. So if you have never tried counterfeiting a kit, I really encourage you to do so. You may be surprised about the things you learn about yourself and your supplies.
  As usual, when I make my kits, I tend to go a bit overboard. That's the terrific thing though, about using your stash. It's not like when you are in the store and you overspend. There is no real penalty. I chose to lift three of the Cocoa Daisy kits suggested for the January challenge. The first is based on the cocoa and marshmellows kit.

Papers: October Afternoon: ducks in a row-sleep tight( yellow) and
Fly a kite-sprinklers, Sassafrass- Vintage yummy- darling dear
K and co. jeweled brads-wild saffron
October Afternoon- farmhouse flower sack
October Afternoon- 5 and dime found alpha
ribbon- webster's pages fabric

I am still not too sure about using the darling deer paper. I like the pattern, but I am trying to think about what I might use a deer with in my photos. So that's why I chose the OA blue paper pattern as well. it will be a nice alternate if the deer paper does not work.
  The second kit is based on the Sunshine and Snowflakes kit. I plan to use my Martha Stewart snowflake punch if I make any winter related pages. I also added a touch of blue. I am not a huge yellow fan. I am ok with it as an accent colour but am not fond of it in large doses.

Papers: Sassafrass sunshine broadcast-static( grey polka dot)
all other papers are from the Pink Paislee house of three soiree collection
Pink paislee Printed tissue
Pink Paislee soiree wood shapes
American crafts thickers-forest
Ruby Rock-it summer house bitty buttons
misc. ribbon

The last kit I chose to lift is the Amber Snowflake kit.

Papers: Crate paper- farmhouse( ruler) and Restoration-cents( die cut)
sassafrass- life is beautiful- Piccadilly( rose print)
all others- October Afternoon farmhouse( black print) and Thrift store
Misc. white doily, wood banner pieces
Sassafrass alphas-goldenrod
Prima button pieces

I know some people have mentioned to me that they would be frustrated to not be able to match each exact piece. I know that when I first started counterfeiting kits, I felt the same way. I have found though, that it is very satisfying to find a similar pattern that works. I feel like I get more from my stash this way. I hope others try this challenge in 2012. It's very budget friendly! Now...since it's a Saturday, I hope to play with some of these kits!

Becoming Mr. And Mrs.

    Every once in a while, it's good to follow the step by step instructions in the making of a layout. Why? It introduces you to a new technique without the stress and guesswork of what to do with the rest of the page. During November, I took a free class at Miss Arts Paper Crafting School. The class led me through a series of steps to add texture and dimension to my page. It was an enjoyable experience and led to the creation of a page that, while not my usual style, is truly wonderful.
   I did not have all of the materials suggested to complete the Layered Layouts class. Rather than purchase the supplies, I made a kit, attempting to match the supply list as much as I could from my stash. By doing so, the page became unique to me, despite the fact that I was following a series of step by step instructions.

Gesso
Pink Paislee glitter alphas
Glimmer mist in frost
Basic Grey paper clip
Tim Holtz metal tags
I-rock jewels
Basic Grey Wisteria paper
Making Memories shimmer flourishes-blue
My Mind's eye papers
Maya Road lace trim
Carboard
gauze from my first aide kit
Jenni Bowlin stick pins
Webster's Pages button sparkler
Maya Mist in Latte Metallic

 Though I may not use everything I learned in the making of this page, I will take parts of the process to incorporate into future pages.
  By completing the step by step instructions, I was able to learn the how and the why behind the page's design.I also learned that I love altering pre-made embellishments to meet my needs. I have always loved metal embellishments, for example, but never really liked the way they looked on many of my pages.They seemed to dominate aspects of the page. By altering them, I was able to give them a one-of-a-kind look and better able to blend them into my page's overall design.

The metal tags  have so much more character. I even think it's easier to read them now.
  This page will become the title page of my wedding album. Though it might not be my usual style, it's very special to me, both because of the amount of work I put into it and because of the end result.

Now it's your turn! Scrap Our Stash is celebrating it's birthday! Share a page or project you've made to help celebrate two wonderful years of using your stash in new ways!

The Twelve Tags of Christmas-Day 2

The tag for day two was simpler than day one. I think it's a good thing as it took me two days to make the first tag! LOL Once again, I did not have many of the materials, so I improvised.

Materials: Tim Holtz metal charm
Colorbox gold ink and Chestnut roan ink,
making memories snaps
Pink Paislee trim, twine, Bazzil cardstock
Holly  from K and Co. paper
diamond stickler

I used a printed kraft paper from the Paper Studio. To get the same effect as having the resist paper, I stamped the word Christmas with rusty pickle alphas and clear embossing powder. After I heat set the powder, I rubbed white acrylic paint across the paper. I quickly wiped it down to reveal the word. The holly was fussy cut from the k and co.paper. I hand cut the border on the bottom from chipboard. Inking it in cold achieved a nice, metal like appearance.
    I really liked how Tim had the indentations in his brads. I chose to use snaps. I did not attach them to the chipboard right away.Instead, I crimped the back of the snaps in my crop-o-dile. to do this, place the snap in the crop-o-dile without any paper. Then punch down. The result is a somewhat flattened back to the snap.

I then flipped the snap over and used the bump in the crop-o-dile to add the dent. Once I had five done, I used glossy accents to adhere them to the page. It's so much easier than trying to set the snap directly into the paper.
  I drew the dear by hand, then carefully cut it out. I inked the edges with the chestnut roan, then carefully edged it with Diamond stickles. My son says he likes it better than the day one tag! No kidding! LOL and this one was so much less work for me! Sometimes, simple really is best I guess!

Sneaking in Some Pink and Yellow

  I think everyone has a colour nemesis. Two of mine are pink and yellow. Yellow...I just don't care for a whole lot. Pink... well, I've talked before about how a male dominated household means scrapping with pink is not a regular occurrence. So I really surprised myself with this next LO for the November challenge at Scrap Our Stash.  I pulled out this plaid paper by Cosmo Cricket. The yellow and pink reminded me so of a cozy morning. It became the basis for the design behind Pancake Morning.
  While there is nothing wrong with pancakes from a box, it's really not hard to just make your own mix. My son loves helping me and so, when the challenge to scrap a family recipe was issued, it was the perfect excuse to make pancakes for breakfast. I should do this more often. I guess I am just more of a " let's have cereal" type of mom. Anyway, to make your own pancakes " not from a box", try this recipe"

Ingredients: 1 1/4 cups flour, 1/4 cup of sugar( yes I know it's a lot of sugar. We like em' sweet. You can reduce the sugar if you want to), 1 Tbsp. baking powder, 1 egg, 1 cup milk, 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

- stir dry ingredients together
- in a separate bowl, mix egg milk and oil. then mix with dry ingredients
- spoon onto a heated pan, allow to bubble, then flip and cook until golden brown

It's such an easy recipe! It makes a lot more than we can eat. So I proportion the leftover pancakes into zip loc bags and freeze. I then have my own toaster pancakes!

paper- Cosmo Cricket
ribbon- unknown
BG paper clip
Sassafrass flowers
glass beads
 K and Co. chipboard- Let's eat
Pink Paislee pink foam alphas
Rusty pickle brown alphas
 glossy accents
Webster's pages sparkler button
knife and Fork- unknown
tiger lily glimmer mist
Plum pudding smooch spritz
maya road sheer journal spot- recipe card

  To make the page more quickly, I left the white edges from the photo paper.The smaller photos are all one sheet of wallet size photos, three to a row. Some of them printed in groups with the photos in those rows aligning the same direction. I kept one group of three and simply cropped away the excess white. I cut the two photos which were horizontal and left the vertical photos in groups of two. This allowed me to save time( and supplies) by having photos that were already matted and easy to place on the page.

  I don't have a lot of cooking themed embellishments in my stash. I had a Eureka moment when I discovered food themed embellishments in my travel supplies. Prior to this page, I might never have thought to look in my travel stash for such a thing. I noticed many of the travel themed collections had papers or items about places you had eaten. So next time I have a cooking themed page, I will also look to the travel themed papers.

 I am very happy with the title. Glossy accents is one of my go to adhesives. It allowed me to add dimension to the flat brown letters. Now they look more like epoxy letters and I was able to add some glass beads to add more texture.

  This year, my goal was to learn how to take better photos of my pages. I am best at photographing one page LO's. Two pagers are very difficult given that they often have a warped or bent look to them. With this two pager, I think I finally found a trick to reduce the warped look and get a more flat, even photo. I placed the LO on a travel trunk which reached to my knees. I was then able to bend over the photo and I found that if I cocked my wrist as I photographed the page, the page came out more flat as I cropped in afterwards. So try finding something to lay your page on that is about the height of your knees and experiment with moving the angle of your wrist. 

  Overall, I really enjoyed making this page...from staging a photo shoot with a pancake breakfast, to adding the finishing touches on the page. Yes, it's true...I staged the photos. So now it's your turn. Find a recipe you like and stage your own photos to make a wonderful LO. Don't forget to submit it to Scrap Our Stash.

Swim America

This month's Red, White and Blue challenge was the perfect motivation for me to scrap the photos of my son learning to swim. He participated in the Swim America program and finished up with it a little over a year ago. I've had the photos sitting, printed and grouped by theme begging for me to get them onto pages, but I was never sure of what paper to use. I had even bought swim team themed stickers quite some time ago when I knew he was going into the program. I realized that the small star print paper and borders in my little 6x6 kit of Pink Paislee's home town summer line would go swimmingly with the photos.

  I set to work, happily splattering sapphire glimmer mist onto the card stock.After fidgeting with the photos, I settled on a design. However, I was not happy at all with the team photo. My son seemed lost in the large group of children. I wanted some way to highlight him while still having him a part of the group. I chose to use a scrap piece of vellum. I used an craft knife to cut out a little window. It was a wonderful solution to my dilemma.

Please pardon the blurry photo and the covered faces, this was done for privacy
Pink Paislee border and Paper
Sapphire glimmer mist
 7 Gypsies number tags
Jolee's by you stickers-goggles
Making memories snaps
SEI Ink blue ink
Me and mY bug Ideas Stickers

I was very pleased to use up some older Making Memories silver snaps. I used my son's first ribbon as a part of the page while adding some of the sticker's I had been holding onto for so many years. In these photos, my son could not yet swim well, but they allowed him to participate with a coach as a spotter. he raced in the seahorse race(pool noodle) and a paddle board race.

  My second page started off with the best of intentions. When I was almost done, I realized I had a big problem. My photos were off-centre.

 I chose to draw attention away from that using markers and hand stitching. The off kilter squares sort of hide the off kilter photos and border. It may not be as noticeable here due to the lovely straightening feature of my photo editing software. ;)

  We'd love it if you shared some patriotic themed pages and projects with us here at Scrap Our Stash. With all of the wonderful events this month, I am sure you will have plenty of photo ops!

The Magic Mirror

  We all have those papers we don't know what to do with. It has been suggested that I should purge my stash and get rid of them. I find it hard to do. One reason being that I would hate to take the time to do that. It's time I could spend creating. The other reason being that it's sometimes those odd papers that end up being just the right thing. Take Graphic 45's Halloween in Wonderland papers. I won a pad last year. It's one of those papers that has a nice weight and quality but that frankly, is just not my normal style. I used some for a swap hoping for inspiration. I still had a lot left. So there it sat. Then last November, I found the perfect photos for using some of the paper up. Or rather, the opportunity to take photos that would compliment the paper arose.
  We were waiting in the kid's fitting room of a department store. The attendant had gone to get my son some more pants to try on. In the corner was this fun house mirror. As my son began making faces in it, I snatched my camera out of my purse and began snapping away( I never leave the house without lip gloss and the camera). All I could think of as I was taking the photos was the silly Alice in Wonderland paper. The layout was taking shape in my mind right there. I guess that's the sign of a true scrapbook addict. LOL
  The first page was made last December shortly after the photos were taken. I had 2 sheets of this tea party paper. I took one, cut out the center square and flipped it to reveal the pattern on the back. I used scraps of black card stock to help adhere it back together. By allowing some of the black card stock to peek out, I was able to roll it and tear it to create the look of a window.

Graphic 45 Halloween in Wonderland papers
flowers made with Pink Paislee Artisan tape and metal buttons
title cut on Cricut with CK Opa font
matchsticks with the heads cut off for Club CK challenge to use sticks

Some of the elements were fussy cut from other papers. I cut the heads off of matchsticks and glued cut embellishments to  them.
  Sometimes, I don't make the second page right away. If I am not making a traditional two page layout, I may save the photos for a later date. Sometimes I save them for a specific challenge or for when they inspire me again. I just completed page two this week.

pagemaps sketch
Graphic 45 Halloween in Wonderland papers
Basic Grey brown notebook paper and black brads
Making Memories button brads
Colorbox Chestnut roan ink
ribbon unknown
Little Yellow Bicycle tiny type alphas
Fancy pants brackets

I saw the song challenge for Scrap it with a song and I thought I could alter some of the lyrics to make a great subtitle for this page. This week's song is by the Police..." Every Little Thing She Does is Magic." I chose to use the subtitle of " It's magic" to fit in with the Alice and Wonderland theme of the page. Seeing this particular challenge had made me want to go back and complete page two. If you get in a rut, scrapping photos or challenges that you find interesting are often a great way to find your creative spark again.

Lunar Eclipse

  Sometimes we experience a wonderful moment in our lives but don't have a photo to document it. Last December, my son and I went outside in our Pj's, all wrapped up in blankets just so that we could witness the Lunar eclipse. The Eclipse itself was gorgeous. Unfortunately, I lack the skills and the camera equipment to properly photograph it. The next morning, my son drew a picture of the event so that I could still scrapbook about it. In some ways, the drawing is almost better than a photo. Not only does it preserve the moment, but it also shows how considerate my son is.

papers and brads from my June counterfeit kit:
pink paislee 365 degrees paper, making memroies poolside brads,
Maya road ribbon, brackets-American crafts forest thickers
items not from counterfeit kit: vellum, star brads ( doodlebug ?),
Making Memories noteworthy alphas, moon button, blue button
and ephemera from October Afternoon
Sassy lil Sketch 6-14-11

0001110101

   I have no clue as to what I may have said in the title's sequence of numbers. If you are not familiar with these types of number sequences, they are the language of computers. My son is sure getting curious as to how he might translate the way a computer speaks. So to that end, I bought a homeschool computer programming course for him last fall. I say it's for him, but truth be told, it's for both of us. This is all so new to me that I have to learn right alongside him. This has caused quite a few challenges for us in a short time( I am not very savvy with computer programming), though I do enjoy learning something new. It's nice that my son can see, first hand, that even adults learn new things. Learning should be something that does not ever end.
  As boring as programming may seem, I was stoked when my son programmed his first text box which proclaimed " hello world" as it popped up onto the screen. I took a lot of photos of the text box and my son working diligently at his computer. Now I needed an interesting way to document photos that, while a huge milestone for us, were in reality quite mundane. Page one was completed last fall.
                                                       

Sassy Lil' Sketch made for Sketches for All's Fall Sketch-a-thon
DCWV Tech generation Stack paper
Bazzill Silver CS
Pink Paislee alphas
DMC floss
MISC. ribbons stamped with colorbox white or black inks
Basic Grey Brads
Black magic glimmer mist

  DCWV had made this wonderful computer language paper in its' tech generation stack. Paired with the Metallic silver card stock, it perfectly symbolized computers and technology.I used some chipboard numbers to create a mask for some black magic glimmer mist. I carried the number patterns off the patterned paper using DMC floss to sew little ones and zeroes onto the page. I stamped more ones and zeroes onto ribbon. It varied the embellishments a little while at the same time, continuing the theme of computer progamming. In the end, I had a layout I loved. However, I still had enough photos and paper scraps for one more page.

  Those leftover photos and paper scraps sat waiting  until recently when I saw the Pagerize This #10 challenge at Scrap Our Stash. I decided to make a page which highlighted my son's dreams of becoming a video game programmer. In place of Lea's block of rub-on's, I used the chipboard numbers to once again make a mask. I chose to use 3 photos rather than just one. I had just enough white space on a photo of the computer screen to place my journaling.

 Scraps of paper and ribbon from the first page were arranged around the photos in such a way that they gave the appearance of creating a background of data strips behind the photos.

In reality, as you can see from the  picture above, the scraps are just sort of tucked in underneath the photo. This method is both a wonderful way to use scraps and a paper saver. I use this with papers of all sizes. It has allowed me to really stretch my stash just that much farther. From the photo, you can also see a close up of the stamped ribbon. Stamping on plain ribbon is another way to optimize the theme on your page. Plain ribbon can often be found in large rolls at the fabric store and is much less expensive than printed or fancier ribbon. It's something I plan to add more of to my stash in the future.

  From the original page down to a wonderful scraplift made with, well quite literally, scraps, I have two wonderful pages documenting my son's dreams and one of the milestones he reached in getting there. There is still time to pagerize Lea's wonderful page. Pop on over to Scrap Our Stash to check out Lea's page and to submit your work. We'd love for you to share it with us!

                                                            

June's Counterfeit Kit

   It's that time again! Like a little kid, i have been eagerly awaiting the reveal of this month's Counterfeit Kit Challenge. While a part of me know's the things I will be using are already a part of my stash, another part of me is excited. Putting these kits together is almost as exciting as receiving a kit club in the mail! Those of you who have followed along with my other kits will not be surprised to see that, as usual, I went overboard as I shopped my stash. My only justification for that is that A. I did not spend any money in the making of this kit and B. I always intend on getting the most that I can out of it. Last month, I was able to make seven pages from my kit's supplies. This month, since I have no plans to travel and DH has a few paid holiday to burn, I hope to get even more pages done. Let's see if I can top seven pages.
   As for the kit itself, It may be a bit of a challenge with so many floral accents. Since the kit is styled after Burlap and Buttercups June 2011 kit, which has a slight summer tone, I am hoping I can utilize these summer florals in some masculine pages by playing up the colour palette. I got as close to the kit as I could in paper pattern and colour. I chose not to use any butterfly accents. Should I make any pages where I wish to use a butterfly, I shall cut one out of the Patterned paper from the kit.

Papers: turquoise- from the Best of K and CO.
Basic Grey basic-ledger
Crate paper restoration-Slip Cover
Crate Paper restoration-doilies
Sassafrass- Indie Girl-Pocahontas
Pink Paislee 365 degrees 6x6 pad
frame- Making Memories Chloe's Closet
Maya Road chipboard album-classic scroll frame
Maya Road Signature ribbon/trim in blue
Twinery Baker's Twine in Pea Pod and Caribbean
Sassafrass In stitch blossoms in kelly green,kraft, and vintage rose
Jenni Bowlin die cut journaling cards
Scenic route Garden grove laebls
Little Yellow Bicycle stick pins
Fancy Pants Write Now Rub ons
K and Co. fabric brads
Making Memories poolside brads
American Crafts thickers-Forest
Pink Paislee 365 degrees rub on
Pink Paislee 365 degrees borderlines

   You may be wondering about the chipboard album. I am not one to make mini albums, though I do greatly admire them. What I prefer to do, is to take the album apart and use the wonderful shapes on my pages. I thought the scroll pattern of this mini would make a wonderful substitute for the chipboard frames in the original kit. I can also opt to cut my own chipboard frames if need be.
  I also opted to make the add on summer kit. I chose a variety of papers from the scenic route grab bag I had received recently. They are the types of papers I might not reach for right away. I felt they complimented the papers from the main kit and that with the addition of the turquoise paper, the colours had a very summery feel to them. I do realize that there was only one bottle of mist in the original add on kit. However, lets face it, I LOVE to mist. So we all know it's highly likely for a variety of these mist colours to end up on a page.

papers: Sassafrass Indie Girl- free spirit
Sassafrass Indie Girlaffection
October Afternoon- patio umbrella
Scenic Route - Providence:Green st,Franklin St. and Scrap Strip
Scenic Route Sonoma- Plive Ave.
Making Memories Paperie greenhouse spiral journal book
Pink Paislee 365 degrees flip notes
Sassafrass paper whimsies- beatnik buds
K and Co. chipboard frames
Creative Memories black alphas
Making Memories simply stated rub on alphas
glimmer mists: patina, sapphire,tiger lily,viva pink,meadow green and candy apple red

  For both the main kit and the addition, I tried to choose papers I might not normally reach for. When I make these kits, I can often perceive new options for the papers and patterns that I might not have seen before. I also made it a point this time to choose some embellishments from pre-opened packages. I am challenging myself to try to finish those packages off. Stay tuned for further posts showcasing pages made with my June Counterfeit kit...

Gingerbread Houses in May

  I'm not up to date on all of my latest photos. Then again, what Scrapper is? Part of my problem is more than likely due to my need to take a gazillion photos of every family event that occurs. This is one problem, however, that I refuse to curb. I love all of the wonderful photos of my family. I often wonder if my son will not let me take as many pictures of him when he's a teen as he does now. Either way, here I am in the month of May scrapping Christmas photos.
  Every year we make a gingerbread something or other. Some years, it has been a gingerbread Christmas tree made from star shaped cookies. Other years, we have attempted to make a gingerbread house( despite the fact that I am the only soul in the house who will eat gingerbread!). Despite the wonderful house cookie cutter shapes we have, the house always ends in ruins. It just won't hold together. So this past year, I chose to go a simpler route...the pre-made gingerbread house kit.
   At first, I almost opted to make yet another standard Christmas page. After all, I have a HUGE collection of holiday papers in my stash. Something else came to mind though. I have this Echo Park paper with little house on it. It matched wonderfully with the Pink Paislee striped candy looking paper I had. Kraft paper simulated a gingerbread base while white Acrylic paint played the role of icing. I fussy cut some candy pieces from an unkown paper then topped them with glossy accents. This made them look more like a real piece of candy.

Punky Scraps Challenge 16 Sketch 5-13-11

   I wanted a fun title, so I chose to use a variety of alphabet stickers from Echo Park and Pink Paislee. Embellishments such as the chipboard key from Crate Paper and the Echo park house sticker made interesting substitutions for words in the title. Faux stitching and Making Memories chipboard pieces embellished with stickles completed the page.

Scrap lift for May Flaum's " May with May" BPS class

  I chose to journal as a set of directions versus just telling the story. It added a fun twist and with the page elements I chose, these pages stand out as just a little bit different from the usual holiday pages I create.

Some Most Unusual Flowers

  While I do love flowers( and readily admit to hoarding quite a few Primas in my stash) I will admit that I cringed a little when I heard that Scrap Our Stash's May challenge was all about flowers. I find flowers difficult to use on pages since my home is male dominated. I quickly realized that I had to get very creative with the types of flowers I would use for this challenge. I recently experimented with making my own zipper flower. I think the flowers look cool and they can have a bit of a masculine edge to them. However, the flowers I made were black...which is really not the colour you think of when you think of Spring flowers. Black flowers make me think of Halloween, which is why you are now going to see a Halloween layout in May.

 My son was a Predator( from the movie last year). I wanted a sort of grungy page to go along with his costume. I splattered some Tiger Lily and Black magic glimmer mist to provide a grungy background. I loved the Pink Paislee canvas label. It provided me with a title as well as a direction for the rest of the page. To match it's used look, I embossed some Coredinations cardstock with a Sizzix folder. I then distressed it to reveal parts of the orange colour in the core. The beads are actually part of a necklace my son got for me. We were Trick or Treating in Disney's Boardwalk hotel. They have games for the kids to play and the bead necklaces were one of the prizes. My Son was thrilled that I wanted to use it on a page( he even went back and won me several more necklaces just to be sure I had enough). I think it's a nice touch with the Satin ribbon and the staples. I used Making Memories papers for the other flowers. The smallest ones were made with a simple office style hole punch. I was inspired by a Big Picture Classes blog post to make the medium size flowers. I used a button punch to make mine. I used a Basic grey stmap with white ink along with an office date stamp, to make the badge. I stamped them on black card stock and then used clear embossing powder. So there you have it...a sort of grungy, Gothic floral page in the middle of May. Proof positive that flowers can be used on any page when you think outside the box.

March's Counterfeit kit- Into the Woods

  I will be the first to admit that I went WAY overboard with this kit. I am finding that while shopping my stash, the same "must have" impulsiveness that sometimes hits me while shopping in real life scenarios is very evident here. It's a good thing it IS my stash...or hubby would be broke! Looking at what I chose this month, I know there is NO way I will use it all...but it's going to be fun trying to!
  This month's Counterfeit kit challenge  was inspired by Studio Calico's Into the Woods Kit. For my main kit, I chose to mimic the colour and nature theme as closely as possible. I have a lot of Sassafrass, so this was a wonderful opportunity to use some of that paper up.many of the papers I chose were double sided so I can get more bang for my buck, so to speak.

Papers: Cosmo Cricket- earth Love/Recycle,Artsylicious fine illustrated paper in chocolate
sassafrass-apple jack/translate, life is Beautiful/intertwined, Serendipty/chirp, chirp, brown paper
and cherry delicious
alphas: K and co. actopus to zed( loved the wood grain) and pink paislee in chocolate
tags from scrapbook ID in tangerine
Frames from k and co.
K and co. transparency
K and co. journal spots
My Mind's eye chipboard journal stickers
K and co. green stack chipboard ( for the owls, mushrooms, birds and wood grain pieces)

Since money is no object, I chose to have ALL of the add on kits. Why not?!?! Right? For the Babbling Brook add on, I thought some of my Basic Grey papers would closely match the pattern and colour. I chose Crate Paper's showers since this matched the water theme of the kit. Since I had a lot of the matching embellies, those popped into the kit as well.

Basic Grey papers: offbeat's nonchalant and casual
Crate paper: Season collection winter and showers, die cut paper- cloudy
Making Memories Passport alphas ( as a substitute for the handwritten paper)
Kaiser craft mini alphas in chocolate and white
American crafts mini marks rub on alphas in purkey
ribbon-unkown
K and co. brads
Artsylicious fabulous brads in chocolate
7 Gypsies foldover sticker book in Bureau ( as a substitute for the office pockets)
Marcella K adhesive chipboard in Sabrina
Crate Paper Season title stickers and borders

  I don't have anything quite like the circle stamp in the kit.I think I might be able to use my cricut to cut a mask or perhaps some recycled bottle lids to make my own stamp. I shall have to experiment with it.

   Now, for the Mossy Knoll kit... sounds a bit ominous. Or maybe mysterious. If I were buying this kit in real life, this would have been the point at which my budget would have been lost amongst the proverbial tall grasses. I actually made this add on kit before I made the others. I was searching to find a page with the blue stripes similar to the actual Studio calico kit. This is when  had my Eureka moment. The crate paper season kit was a perfect set to incorporate with  the sassafrass papers and nature theme.It had the right colours and a fun whimsical tone which went well with the Sassafrass papers.

Crate paper:  restoration ruffles( as a substitute for the calendar die cut)
Crate Paper die cut- restoration-Cents
Crate paper: seasons- Fall and Love papers
Sassafrass; Life is Beautiful-golden love and apple Jack
Crate Paper Season chipboard accents, plus restoration bicycle
Crate Paper Seasons art brads
Making Memories Chloe's Closet green leather frame
Making Memories Chloe's Closet clips-2
Prima lace
Webster's pages lace
ribbon unknown
Crate Paper Prudence Glitter borders
Crate paper prudence Alpha twist
K and co. Borders
Making Memories Paperie Greenhouse felt clips

I added some of the crate paper restoration papers to add the vintage feel of the original kit. I don't have any circus theme pages planned. If I change my mind, I might go out on the world wide web to find some vintage images to print off. One of my favourite sites for free vintage printables is found here.

  The sunny Clearing... The name connotes warmth. So I set out to duplicate the warm feeling of the original kit as best as I could. I noticed that Studio Calico used some Cosmo cricket paper. I don't have the fish tales paper, but I  do have Snorkel. I chose a sun and a bicycle from that collection. There is less paper here, b/c the gingham papers I have do not coordinate well with the other papers I have chosen. So I compensated with extra embellies.

Crate Paper: Season- friendly paper
Crate paper; restoration- fringe( has a wonderful orange pattern on the back)
Sassafrass: Life is Beautiful- rose thicket( a wonderful warm rose pattern on the back)
Pink Paislee Old school glitter alpha
Crate Paper restoration border stickers
Cosmo Cricket: snorkel collection- bicycle/lazy days and sunshine
Crate Paper chipboard flower border
Artsylicious deluxe brads
red crochet flower- from Ikea, it's a curtain decoration
Fancy Pants write now rub on's
Making Memories Chloe's closet square gem stickers
Fancy pants ric racs-red, yellow and cream
homemade red flower
crochet lace- unkown
Sassafrass in stitch blossoms-orange
Jillibean Soup clear stamps- top ten
Making Memories Chloe's Closet tags- 3
Making Memories Chloe's closet paper clips and clips

And now for the final kit.... wild flower. Since I have a boy, the original was too floral for me. I toned it down a bit with the more masculine colours and whimsical flowers of the crate paper Season collection.

Sassafrass paper- yellow hearts
Crate paper : Seasons- Spring and Summer
Crate paper; prudence-discretion paper
Crate paper Season journal stickers
Crate Paper Seasons rub ons
Maya Road Fresh chipboard-motifs
Artsylicious Splendid treasures in chocolate
Making Memories ribbons and trims
Cosmo Cricket lil. man ribbon

I had more trim than I originally intended. I just could not decide which one to pick...so I picked them all!
Now it's time to see what I can create with this kit. I already have a few pages in mind and with my husband having a three day weekend, I have plenty of time.

Counterfeit Kit Challenge February Blog Hop

Welcome to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge February Blog hop!!!

  Blog hopping is always fun. I love seeing everyone's blogs and the inspiration they have to offer. I will admit, I often end up getting distracted and find my way off the trail of the hop. If you are easily distracted like me or did not arrive here from Kim's blog, just pop back over to the Counterfeit Kit site so you can get back on the right path.

I have really enjoyed utilizing the kit I made this month. There is always such a good feeling when I see a completed page...knowing a page is done and stash is used. I love my stash but it sure can be a bit overwhelming as it slowly consumes my dining room. I have quite a collection after around a decade of scrapbooking. Which brings me to my subject today...collections. 
  Some people collect stamps or magnets. I collect and acquire scrapbook supplies. My son collects action figures. They usually have a science fiction theme. He started doing this at the tender age of 3. He is fascinated with all things alien. In the last few years, he has acquired an obsession for predators. One morning, he decided to photograph his collection. Off he went with my camera, posing and shooting photos of his beloved toys. I was, at first, a bit unsure of the photos. What would I do with them? Being 10, my son is not the world's best photographer( then again, neither am I). As I examined his work, I realized that some of them could be said to have interesting merit. I had wanted to document his collection, so why not use his photos...his perspective. So I discarded the blurry shots and cropped some of the photos. In a weird way, they seemed sort of artistic. Next came the daunting task of finding the right papers and embellishments to scrap about his love of the most ugly of alien toys.

Scrapbook Challenges Sketch # 241

I quickly realized that the colors I had in my kit were perfect...black ,green and pink. In the right tone, they sort of could be, well...alien colors. I chose to smear black paint onto the page, then added a black K and Co. border for some tone on tone texture. Staples seemed a perfect accent to harden the scroll work of the border. I cut apart a Making memories pink leather frame. The leather reminded me of the alien's armor. The clear pink paislee flower reminded me of the crystal stealth predator and his weapons.

Counterfeit Kit Scraps of Darkness Sketch

 Hand stitching added to the rough grunge feel. On page 2, I used some basic grey flourish stamps with white ink. They reminded me of alien plant life. To add a touch of pink to this page, I used another scrap of the leather frame. I also added Shimmerz Plum Pudding spritz to the flocked MME Lush paper. On both pages, I highlighted certain photos by raising them with 3-d adhesive. It was a fun way to document one of my son's collections.

Thank you for stopping by. It's time for you to hop on to Melissa's Blog.  If you haven't tried it, I hope you try making your own counterfeit kit in March.

Down by the Covered Bridge

I know I should not scrap every single photo I take...but there were so many wonderfully beautiful pictures of our trip to Vail,CO. Though these two were similar, I loved the serene beauty and could not resist including both on a page. My Son looks so cute and little near the covered bridge.

Sketchy Thursday 2-24-11 challenge
PageFrame Designs acrylic snowflake
Imagine That- Winter Fun paper
Pink Paislee Alphas in coconut

I had begun using this color scheme on another page from this trip, so I continued it here. I love how the deep blue looks against the forest inspired green. It felt perfect to capture our hike through the town.I used a border from a swap I was in. The embossed snowflakes in it's design were perfect for this page. My Sew Easy made it a snap to stitch the snowflake style border.

Add a little fur...

and this month's Counterfeit kit was purrfect! I truly love everything in the Counterfeit kit I made for the month of February. However, one of the reasons some of the things have sat in my stash is due to the fact that I had no clue how to use them. I admit, that I was stumped for a little bit...until I realized I could make these supplies work with photos of my sweet cat on one of her prissy days.

Sketch Inspiration #206

She is a steadfast companion and is often nearby while I scrapbook. Most days, she hangs out on a chair. On this particular day, she chose to get into my scrap basket. Keep in mind, she is not supposed to be on the table. She had been removed several times and deposited upon the chair or the floor...only to persistently hop back onto the table. I decided to snap these photos of her after she had defiantly crammed herself into the little basket.

sketch inspiration #207

I felt like the color palette of my kit lent a prissy, refined tone that these pages seemed to call for. I got the idea for the silver frames from the Counterfeit kit blog. Unfortunately, I did not have all of the same materials used in the recommended tutorials. So instead, I used a sizzix folder to emboss a piece of scrap pad cover. I then painted it silver with acrylic paint and inked the edges with Colorbox black ink. I think my version is quite passable and I love the texture it adds to the page. I also loved the ease of making a bling flourish with my i-rock and a Bazzill flourish  stitching template.

  Now that I was on a roll with my kit, I  pulled out some photos of my dog running around after a bath. After all...furry cuteness is a good thing. Admittedly, some of these shots were not the best. It's hard to get your dog to pose for photos when he's busy running around the house and rolling on the rugs. I took care of bad lighting in the shots by converting them to black and white. The movement in the photos was something I loved. The photo in which part of my dog is cut off only serves to emphasize it...at least in my opinion.

I will admit, I added an extra glimmer mist color to my kit. The moonlight blue just worked so well with the blue papers from the Bayberry cottage pad. I loved the way it looked splattered across the page. I used glossy accents on the hole punched circles to make my own mini pebbles. I also added some as droplets on the photo of my dog shaking.

I wish my camera better emphasized the blue of the papers in these pages.  It makes such a nice pop of color with the black and white papers.

  I am really enjoying using my kit. It's been so much fun rediscovering things in my stash and finding photos to use them with. I am really looking forward to using more and to making up a kit for March( WOW...it's almost here!). Stay tuned for more creations with my counterfeit kit...