A Tone on Tone Background

  I've been eyeing border punched backgrounds for awhile. Tone on Tone punched backgrounds always seem to make quite a statement. So when I saw the current pagerize this challenge at Scrap Our Stash, I felt the punched background would be a nice substitute for the stamped and painted background of La Vikinga's page.
Since this was a page for my wedding album, I chose to use some of Bazzil's pearlized cardstock. I only own three border punches and only one seemed to be appropriate for my wedding theme. This meant that  I had to get a little creative. I hand cut scallop borders from one inch strips. I then layered the leftovers from the punched edges and the hand cut borders in alternating patterns. Doing this made it seem as though I had more border patterns then I really did.

Pagerize this challenge#16-Scrap our Stash
Bazzill Cardstock
Apron Lace border punch- Martha Stewart
Bazzill paper flowers-white
other flowers-Prima
K and Co. brad
Webster's pages trims and lace
Little Yellow Bicycle hat pins with glass beads
Pink Paislee rhinestone button
Webster's pages sparkler's buttons

  I added an additional photo to the design and substituted flowers and embellishments for the title. I did not feel the page needed a title since it will be in the middle of my wedding album. I am happy to say that the lace I used was a scrap piece. There was just enough to make a second page with the same design.

I managed to use up the last of my Webster's pages sparkler buttons and several packages of flowers. I can say that I am happy to have used so much of my stash and I now have two more pages complete in my wedding album.

Now it's your turn!Head on over to Scrap our Stash so you can pagerize this!

Someday

   As part of a recent writing assignment, my son was asked to illustrate and write about places he would like to visit. One of those places was France...or more specifically, Paris. I was struck by how passionate my son became as he talked about what he thought Paris was like. I felt like this would be a great moment to capture...one of my son's dreams. I think someday it will be neat to reflect back upon this page...especially if we ever get to visit Paris.

Sketches 4 All January Gallery girl Scraplift

  To capture the romance of Paris, I chose this older, cream colored paper from my stash. I don't know who makes it, but I do love the look of the white on cream words and phrases printed on it. For a Masculine vibe, I chose to go with a black, green and blue color palette. The Making Memories and crate paper patterned papers were a perfect fit. I mixed in some Crate Paper die cuts with Restoration border stickers, along with pink paislee chipboard, making memories flowers, and some office supplies. I must admit, that when I received the package of Pink paislee chipboard, I never thought I would find a use for the Eiffel Tower!

Scrapfit,workout#36
Scrap Whispers challenge #86
Frosted designs 1-25-11 Sketch

 The journaling was done on a Maya Road sheer ticket. A Tim Holtz compass mask with black magic glimmer mist adds to the travel theme. A fun set of pages, and a fond memory...and maybe Someday, there will be some photos of us in France.

Authentic Cattitude

Yes...she has it! Not usually. Just in this photo I took of her. You see, DS likes to leave boxes in different spots around the house. No one was sure if the cats would fit...but we wondered if they would try. Sure enough...Sweetpea hopped in and fell asleep. I tried my best not to wake her as I took her photo. As you can see by the groggy look of disgust, I failed. LOL

This is a page maps sketch completed for Skethes 4 All's sketch crazy contest. I recently took the "6 layouts,1 kit" class from stash to treasure and so I decided to employ a new technique here. I stamped on the back of the cardstock with some Sassfrass flower stamps. I wish I had a background stamp...it would have turned out better, I think. I then sprayed glimmer mist in silver sugar over it. While it was wet, I tore a circle in the center and rolled the paper.

You can see some of the flowers on the rolls, just a little. All of the papers, borders, and flowers used are from Sassafrass.The blue lace is prima. I hand cut the leaves from scraps. The blue leather frame and blue brads are MM Chloe's closet. I cut the title on my cricut using Ck beantree font and SCAL. the rub on is BG two scoops.I used a Jenni Bowlin pin and some metal pins from the fabric store. ( I heart metal pins now!BTW...they are just such an easy way to add a little something more to a page!)

Overall, I loved the class at Stash to treasure and hope to take more there. I am so glad that I was able to try it out. Sometimes taking classes helps me to push my limits. In this case, I always liked the torn frame...just not usually when I did it on a page. I think I most often don't like a technique when i am just not used to using it. I am going to push myself a little more out of my comfort zone and see what i can come up with...

a Bright and Happy Sketches 4 All DT sketch reveal

WOW...it's been a few weeks since I have posted. I must admit that family illness and travel have left little time for blogging and sadly, scrapbooking. I did manage to find a little time to complete the DT sketch for Sketches 4 All. I am honored and excited to continue to be a part of their Design team. I was also happy that this sketch helped me to complete a page that was several months overdue!

My son has a fascination with most things SCI FI. He gets it from his parents. What can I say...except that it's very awesome to share something in common with him that both my husband and I love. In the past few years, my son has developed an obsession with aliens. When he found out that we had seen an alien statue at Planet Hollywood in Orlando, he requested we take him there for a birthday lunch. We happily complied...however, it's been so long since my DH and I have been there that many things have changed. Including the props showcased there. The alien is no longer on display. We did enjoy a nice lunch and DS got to see many sci fi related props. It was still a great trip. I love that they take your photo as you go in the door. I have a wonderful photo of my DS.

I sprayed some of the napkins with archival mist and found they worked great with the page. Kraft paper toned down the rich purple photo frame. I pulled the red and yellow from the napkins. I used borders punched from a swap I was in and added a purple recollections Halloween border. The I-rock allowed me to easily add some bling to the prima flowers and border. The tickets were from a Rak I had just received. I am a sucker for these little tickets and was so glad to use them here...along with the silver hat pins I have had in my stash for months. Now I am hat pin crazy! LOL You may be seeing them on other pages. Stay tuned for page 2 of this layout....

P.S>since I love the bright colors of this page and since it just makes me happy, I am submitting it over at Scrap Whispers!
P.P.S.Don't be surprised if you see this at frosted designs 11-5-10 challenge. ;)

Halloween Bonanza

  If you don't know by now, I love Halloween. I love the costumes, the trick or treating, carving pumpkins...well everything! Sadly, I am WAY behind in documenting the photos that go along with this holiday. So, with many recent challenges focusing on this spooky holiday, I took the opportunity to use some of my new BG Eerie paper to get those photos onto paper.

Let's Scrap sketch 10-13-10

Pumpkin carving is a favorite family pastime, so I wanted a fun, pumpkin theme page. Add to that the fun of incorporating your senses into the page...for carving pumpkins is a very touch based experience. Orange Cardstock set the mood and I loved the textured feel of the embossed felt pumpkin trim from Recollections Autumn collection. To add to the sense of touch, I used Chatterbox corduroy brads to hold twine and handmade felt banners. I found the poem on-line,printed and stamped a tree onto the background, then used colorbox inks in chestnut roan, olive and creamy brown to mimic the tones in the BG paper. I did the same with the title. Hand stitching added a warm cozy feel while i-rock jewels and orange peel stickles added a little glitz to the pumpkin stamp.

To scrap the trick or treat fun, I used Eerie papers over a DCWV purple Cardstock base. This is a hybrid page. I used a printed title from CLUB CK which I fussy cut and distressed with colorbox inks. I also distressed a prima flower with black ink, then added an Eerie brad for the center. This was the first page I had made with my new I-rock. I love how easy it is to put on jewels. The trim is from my local fabric store. I have been finding some great deals on trims and lace there.

completed for Sketches for All Sketch-a-thon

I love how the many challenges out there get me in the mood to scrap. There's a ton of Halloween challenges right now from the Halloween party at Sketches for All, Workout #30 at Scrap fit, to the Halloween/Fall challenge at Frosted.  Also, don't forget to submit to Scrap and Stamp Saturday if you use a stamp on your page. So go on out there...find challenges, make pages!

Hidden Messages

  Do you ever leave hidden messages on your pages? I really have not thought to until recently. Earlier this year, I chose to use a pocket for journal tags when I ran out of space on my page. On a more recent LO, I chose to use a hidden tag because I hope someday it will be a nice message for my son. One he'll understand as he grows up. I probably would not have done this had it not been for the recent Project Scrapbook challenge at Challenge Masters. I had to do a page about me...which is not my favorite topic. I would far rather scrap my wonderful son, handsome hubby or quirky cats. However, Given the challenge, I chose to make a page for my son ( and hopefully soon, one about his Dad) which tells him a little about me, my hopes for him and some facts about the time when he was born.

   I have wanted to include more of my son's art work in my pages, so I used this drawing he made of he and I if we were mice. I sewed it into a pocket on the page. I loved the warm cozy feel of the My Mind's Eye Be Loved papers. They reminded me of a quilt, so I used this Sassy Lil' Sketch:

I fussy cut some of the paisleys from the blocks of paper and used 3-d foam to make them pop. From the title block, I cut the word "mom" and then wrote variations of mom on the paper. I covered it with vellum, and once it was stitched on, added the word mom back with 3-d foam. The flowers were hand made from a wonderful tutorial found here. I made mine smaller using some scraps left over from making the blocks. Just remember to keep all of your paper strips the same length and to vary them in width by 1/4 inch. I finished the project with prima trim and K and company border stickers from the poppyseed collection.

If you do make the flowers, pop on over to Sketches for You. DT Member Brenda was the one who offered the tutorial and she has a monthly challenge with a RAK for you.

It's all Vegetal!

Yes, that's a word. At least, I think it is. It's vegetal...as in vegetation. I like using the word. It sounded interesting and upon reading that it was a challenge over at Method Playground in which I need to use something plant related. I set out to find some floral paper to use up in my stash. I settled upon some MM die cut 5th avenue paper. It's black and white color matched with what I need to complete an LO about dinner at Carmine's...an Lo which I am entering over at Challenge Masters, and, as is my usual pattern, am popping around the net submitting where it may best fit into with other challenges. The challenge masters week 2 challenge requires me to use colors that match the logo of a favorite food or place to eat. Coincidentally, We had just been to a local favorite restaurant: Carmines! I had taken a photo of the sign over the door. So I fussy cut this and used 3-d adhesive along with pink paislee letters to make the title pop on a polka dot background. I went to Carmine's website to look for more photos and a menu. It was a jack pot! If you ever visit someplace and don't have a photo, their website can be a goldmine for you or for ideas on how to scrap your trip.

I used some white crochet lace ribbon from Melissa Johnson. The black crochet trim was found at my local fabric store. The buttons were an awesome find. I was cleaning out a box of craft supplies and discovered them in a box. They were my great grandmother's. I used some MM and prima flowers embellished with  some prima pearls. I felt all of these elements matched the atmosphere of the restaurant. Carmine's is a family style, Italian place decorated in a style I like to call gaudy elegance. Some of the looks are very traditional, but there are tons of photos in various eclectic frames on the walls. Some of the lamps in the bar are mismatched in both color and style. So I felt that the crochet provided the home style feel of a family meal, while the mismatched buttons provided the eclectic feel. Diamond stickles on some of the dots and flowers of the paper added to this eclectic tone.

You Have...

  For awhile now, I have been wanting to do a page about my son's characteristics. We always tell him things like " you have mommy's nose and Daddy's eyes." So, while we were waiting in the car for his swim lessons, I snapped off some photos of his hands, feet, and other features. I created this page based on a project at Big Picture Scrapbooking.

I used Some glimmer mist in tiger lily and patina to splatter the background onto the white cardstock. The flowers are prima's e-line as are the blue jewels. The patterned papers are crate paper and cosmo cricket. I used a very old fiskars punch. For the title, I used black cardstock to add a shadow effect and to highlight it. I journaled about his personality traits and who he gets some of those from and then on the photos, I added journal strips about where his physical characteristics came from.

My First Sketch!

I never thought I would be one to draw my own sketch. Yet, here was a challenge that required me to do just that! At first, I was really intimidated. Finally, I just decided to slide the photos around on the page and then work from there. This worked well for me as I began to see ideas form while sliding the photos around. I finally settled on a design and then sketched what I had made.

I used my cricut to cut the title with "a red bucket" font. The journal spot is K and Company. I tore a cs border, used an old fiskars border punch on another shade of green, then added some ek success fiber. I fussy cut some K and Co. scalloped pp from the recycle green grass matte stack. I then added a cloud 9 design baby boy stitched sparkle sticker. I fussy cut the green flower from the DCWV all dressed up stack and added a brad. The little green flowers were part of a ribbon strip I got in a rak. I cut them apart and added a green pearl to each. I stamped dots with green moss colorbox ink and a pencil eraser.

I am really happy with how this turned out and now I think I can draw a sketch almost any time I would like to. To try your hand at this challenge, pop on over to Sketches for you.

Flowers Everywhere!

  Flowers have been such a big trend, that it's no surprise they are popping up all over the place at CHA. What's a girl to do when she can't buy all of the pretty flowers out there? Learn to make her own of course! There are a lot of advantages to making your own flowers. The main one being that you can customize it to fit your page. That's a big plus when your main topic of interest is a little boy. I have always admired the flowers but really don't always want girly looking pages.

Recently, I took the fabulous flowers class at Scrapbook Challenges. It was a great class! I could do everything at my own pace and I learned how to make 6 different flowers.I highly recommend the classes there and am looking forward to taking some more! Here are a few samples of things I made:

These were my first handmade flowers. I used crepe paper and buttons.

I did not make the small red flowers. I did make the white daisies with red crepe paper. This was for several July challenges at Sketches for you. The materials used on the lay out are K and company and Making memories.

I made these roses for the MS. Scraptastic 2010  Competition using crepe paper. I cut the leaves on my cricut, then used a bone folder to crease them. I inked them, folded them and sewed them to the page. The PP used is all Basic grey.

Then, to my delight, Club CK hosted a one hour challenge involving another flower technique. I love the flower, though I do find it a bit bulky in my album.

These were made using Crate Paper lemongrass papers and some buttons from my stash.

To learn how to make this fab flower, check out the video at Club CK. BTW, I didn't have all of the supplies they asked for in the video, but still managed to make the flower. The one thing I wished I would have had was the spritz to dampen the paper and make it easier to work with.

I hope you will decide to try out some handmade flowers of your own. If you do, there is a great challenge over at Scrap our Stash for August. Even if your flower isn't handmade, they would love to see you flower embellished pages. So please go check them out...and stay tuned to the blog for more of my hand made flowers.

Owls and BellBottoms

I was recently challenged to scrap a graduation day photo( a challenge over at Sketches for You). I don't have any of my own. My Dad has those. I have a few of DH and none of DS( who is too young for high school). I do have this one of my mom...which caught my eye and got me to thinking. I was thinking, not of her graduation day ( I obviously was not there), but of growing up in the 70's. Seeing her photo brought back memories of Brown and orange furniture, the Macrame Owl she made for the living room, and the outfit she made me wear. It was all white with Blue and orange owls all over it. AN owl T-shirt and white bell bottoms(literally plastered with owls). So, inspired by these thoughts, I created an LO all about her day. I'll have to call my Dad for the specific details(my mom is no longer with us), but I must say, I really feel like I captured the feelings of the era quite well.

I used mostly Sassafrass PP. I fussycut the owl, stitched on his belly and added real buttons for eyes( he had printed ones). I used more yellow DMC floss around the mat.The brown PP is Recollections. I loved how the blue diffused the brown and yellow tone of the older photo. The flowers are also Sassafrass. The title was cut on my cricut using CK Far Out font.

 This was a Scraplift project on Scrapbook Challenges. I am proud to say it was one of today's featured photos.

Have you Ever Had...

One of those projects. You know what I mean. The type which no matter how you play with the elements, you just aren't 100% happy with it. I just had one of those. In the end I am ok with the results...not 100% ok. I am just happy that it's done. I tried out The color room's #11 palette and sketch for an Easter Layout. I never realized what a challenge that orange and pink could present me. I just didn't have the papers in my stash to really rock the design the way I wanted it. I will say though, that there are parts of the Lo I like. I love the Easter egg. I cut an oval out of white Cardstock. Then I used green and pink water color crayons for the base. I decorated it with a Martha Stewart white opaque marker and some diamond stickles. It was a fun easy embellishment. I also liked the cottontails on the rabbits. I found the rabbits as a free dingbat font and used my cricut to cut them out. I thought they needed a little something else...so I used a cotton ball to make little tails for them. I love finding things around the house to make a lay out work.
 I am also pleased to say that I used up some old stash. I had some ek success green fibers that reminded me of Easter grass. they have been in my stash for a few years now. I also used up an old sticker...the title one that says "hopping down the Bunny Trail." The flowers are Sassafrass and the ribbons are Crate paper and MM.
  So while this is not my best ever LO...I will chalk it up to one more completed and will move on. Otherwise I think I'll pull my hair out.

Fun with Flowers

  WOW...today I have posted more than I ever have before. Who would have thought that someone like me would go from no blog to posting almost daily. Part of the reason this has happened is due to all of the great on-line challenges I have found. This current challenge is all about flowers and it's over at Practical scrappers. http://www.practicalscrappers.com/2010/06/this-weeks-challenge-is-flowers.html So I thought I would post a couple of recent flower favorites from my lay outs.

  Flowers are really a tough challenge for me. Having a boy means finding ways to get creative when using flowers. One would think I wouldn't have a lot of flowers in my stash...but well, let's just say those lovely little paper flowers sing a siren song when I am at my LSS. And when my friend offered me some scrap pieces of felt flower strips, how could I say no?Needless to say, it's not all rocket ships and robots in my stash. SO...just what does one do when they have a boy and flowers in their stash? Well, you can look for another subject to scrap about as I did here in Lil' Visitor.

This little bird flew into our utility room. I am sure he doesn't mind that I scrapped him with the purple and green of the The Color room's palette. Purple is also a color challenge for me as it's not always a boy's color.

For club CK's Challenge 16, I chose a flower as an accent for my favorite May moments. It worked well with scrapbook challenges sketch 202 and fit the theme of "May'.

When in doubt, add girls to the photo. "Seriously!" as my son likes to say. Two of DS' best friends are girls. So when they appear in the photos, I try to sneak in some girly color or flowers. Our female cat, Sweetpea, is also the subject of many an LO and the perfect excuse to use pink.

I hope you can find creative ways to use up the supplies that challenge you the most, be it a color or a type of item, like flowers.