2 Picture Layout: My Son

It has been pretty difficult to find time to scrapbook lately. With the summer comes, lazy days by the pool and lot's of party planning for my son's birthday. This year he will be 4 years old.

With that said, I caught a great picture of my son after a long day in the pool. We sat on the grass and had some snacks and he lay on the grass on his tummy holding his chin up with his hand....



2 Picture Layout:




I am so happy on the way this layout turned out. I had the 12x12 grass paper in my stash for the longest time and as soon I realized I wanted to scrap these pictures I went digging for this paper - the perfect paper! All the layered papers and embellishments are all 'outdoors-ie' and work out great. The paper tree is by MyKi, a site that sponsers Scrapnwin and is handmade and so very adorable.



I hope you like it!

I Have been MIA!!!

I clearly have been missing in action. Life has been busy and hectic. I have been sneaking some scrapping in here and there and still working on that friends pregnancy album - it is taking me forever and I am loosing interest :-/

I also have 2 layouts that I started but haven't finished yet. I know exactly what I want to do with them but haven't had the energy to actually do it - I guess I am in a funk. But I did a few layouts last month that I have not posted here yet and will now. Enjoy!

2 Picture Layouts:

Coloring Easter Eggs:

Here I found the cutest Easter 12x12 paper but instead of placing my pictures directly onto that (I thought it would have been 'too much')) I centered a bright yellow card stock to bring out the yellow Easter Eggs and them matted the pictures with green cardstock that matches the green grass in the 12x12 paper.

I added green chipboard corners in different sizes for a little 'extra' effect. The Happy Easter stickers is from Soft Spoken and I used eggs stickers as letters in the word coloring in my title. I think it came out fantastic. And these photos are from Easter 2008.

The Outdoors:

I found this great line at Michaels called Friendly Forest Friends. The cutest line ever! I bought a bunch of the embellishment sets as we all the paper pack. It seems more Fall oriented but I was able to use it now.

As I finshed this layout I kept looking at it because I knew and still know it is missing something but can't put my finger on what. But I am the type of person, once I say I am finished with a layout, there is no going back.

The only exciting thing about this layout, well for me anyway, is the tree. It was a stamp part of this collection and I embossed it.

My first double page layout:

I have always been aprehensive about doing a 2 page layout. The thought of it always frightens me and I am not sure why. This time I did, a guess you would call it a modified 2 page layout? The 2 pages are the same theme and event but I didn't not combine them and have them bleed together - does that make sense?

I am really happy on how these came out. They are really colorful and show how much fun we had at the Circus this year.

The paper I used is from the "All About Boys" Stack by DCWV. There are really great papers in this stack - can't wait to get to use more of them!

I saved our tickets stubs and added them to page 1. I like adding that because all the details are there and I don't have to do too much journaling.

I had saved my popcorn box from the show and cut out with my Fiskars Circle punch, the Ringlin Bros and Barnum and Bailey Circus logo. You can see that on page 1. I put adhered it with 3d dots.

And on page 2, I also cut out the Circus name as well as the logo again.

Page 1

Page 2

1 Picture Layout:

His Gal Pal

I was told by a friend that this layout was too busy. It might be but I like it and I like how I coordinated all of it. But I am disappointed on how I placed my journaling circles on the layout. Once I got it down, I couldn't get it back up without ripping the paper.

Almost everyone one the below layout are from Fancy Pants Designs "All About a Boy". The transparancy is my favorite part. I have owned that piece for a long time but never knew how to use it and I think it looks perfect here :)

Another Weekend: Another 2 Layouts

I am pretty happy to say that this weekend I was able to get 2 layouts done. 1 each day. And being home with an active 3.5 year old, it honestly took me an entire day to get each layout done because of many interuptions.

2 Picture Layouts

Valentines Day 2009:

A precious time to capture. My son with his gal pal Catie on the day after Valentines Day having their own celebration with cupcakes.

I used some great supply on this layout. I received for Christmas a very large pack of handmade Velvet papers - GORGEOUS! I used the velvet paper as the back drop to this layout. I layered on top of that the Making Memories Artisan die-cut 12x12 paper and I used 3d-glue dots so it is raised.

I used my Cricut to create the entire title. I cut the hearts using my George Basic Shapes cart and used my Zooballoo cart to cut the letters. I highlighted the letters with Stickles in a coordinating color.

I was gifted during Valentines, a gift from a fellower myspace scrapper. Quick a few Valentines Day embellies which I was able to use on this layout. K&Company BW Sweet Talk banners and die-cuts. The die-cuts are not paper, they are a plastic like material, heavy duty and very pretty. On the banners I used an epoxy sticker for the first initials of the names and for the rest of the name I used rub-on letters that are 'mixed up' and it was fun putting that together.

I added a few heart brads here and there to finish it off. I am very happy the way this came out. I have done 2 other Valentine Day layouts when my son was a few months and I can actually say they are the worst layouts ever!

Easter 2008:

Easter of 2008 was the first Easter where my son could color his own eggs. He was 2.5 years old.

*first I want to say... I have an issue with photographing my layouts. unfortunately I don't know the proper way... the coloring is not great on this one. I didn't use the flash because when I did, it hit the center of one of the pictures causing the pictures to be all white. If anyone can give me a good tip, I'd really really appreciated it. **

The background paper on there is a gorgeous grass scence with Easter Eggs - simply gorgeous but also a bit overpowering to put pictures directly on it... at least in my opinion. I choose a yellow paper with little blue swirls on it and cut it down as the center of the layout. I added green chipboard corners, big and small for contrast. I cut out the title using my Cricut Zooballoo cartridge (I have a bunch of carts but I love the font on the Zooballoo). I used Sandylion Essential 'Easter Eggs' as the letter O in 'Coloring'.

The 'Happy Easter' sticker is from Soft Spoken. I also added light green and light yellow ribbon on the side, attached using my Making Memories mini stapler.

I hope you like them!

2 New Layouts

I was able to get 2 layouts done this past weekend. A nice lazy Sunday home with my son.... he played on the computer and did his own arts & crafts and I scrapped.

4 Picture Layout:

Surprisingly enough, I was able to get 4 pictures on this layout and still make it work without making it look cluttered. All the pictures were 4"x6"... I trimmed a few down, but barely.

I love the snowflake paper on the background and was able to pull out the different blues by the matts and the words. I added some photo corners to 2 of the pictures... I didn't want to over-do the photo corners.

The word SNOW is make of really thick chipboard... I am going to even say they are wood! I got them last year at Oriental Trading. I added Stickles dots to the corners and I think it looks really pretty. I cut out the words much fun using my Cricut and used the Design Studio as well to weld the words together. I used Pebbles chalk on them for some contrast and even outlined them with Stickles.

I didn't go overboard with embellishments, instead I just placed 3 brad buddies scattered.... pretty blue and white snowflakes.

The color scheme worked out really well with the supply I had on hand.

2 Picture Layout:

I had bought a Curious George paper back from Oriental Trading almost 2 years ago and never got the opportunity to use it until now.

I mean this is not the best layout I ever did... it's pretty simple.

I used 2 different papers.... one I used as a back drop to the pictures and matts. I finally learned how to use one of my Martha Stewart edge punches.... yes I couldn't figure out how to keep the punch straight and connected! I watched a video on scrapbook.com and it really helped me out, as you can see :)

I hope you enjoy these!

Using my Green Stack: 2 Picture Layout

After the GREEN STACK was gifted to me a few weeks ago, I have been staring at it and flipping through all the different papers and wondering how and when I would use it and of course in awe because the papers are so detailed and beautiful.

I finally came up with something. I have 2 pictures of my son with 1 of my nieces and nephews and the pictures are very similar just taken 2 years apart. It is almost like a 'then' and 'now' layout.

I choose the paper with the bird background. I love the colors. So bright and happy. I matted the pictures in a coordinating paper from the same line. The chipboard embellishments are also from the Green Stack. I cut out the names with my Cricut and for the first time used my Cricut Design Studio (I purchased it last year but never got to install it on my desktop but now that I have a laptop, I installed it and I am lovin' it!). The "Cousins" title is a laser die-cut that I had purchased last year on Ebay. I actually purchased a bunch of different ones that I know I will use eventually.

I hope you like it as much as I do :)

Shop'g: 2 Picture Layout

Another layout done this weekend... feels good to get another one done.

These were pictures from almost 2 years ago.... in 2007. And yes I even take my camera food shopping! You never know when there will be a Kodak moment :)

I had purchased that adorable shopping cart embellishment a long while ago. It is from Jolee's and I knew I would be able to use it at some point and it worked perfectly in this layout. I have gotten a lot of compliments on it, but let's thank Jolee's for it! Oh and that little brown shopping bag with the loaf of bread is also a Jolee's but an older item I had in my stash.

I liked the color combination on this. I hardly ever use yellow and I was happy this worked out. I did my journaling with my Dymo Caption maker. I still haven't gotten used to the placement of the little stickers but in time I am sure I will. I used my Fiskars Side Circle Punch for the date and I used a sticker by Remarks which was clear. And a little ribbon and colored staples finished it off nicely.

I hope you like it!

School Layouts

My son started Nursery school this past Fall and as any parent would say, it was a bitter sweet milestone.

3 Picture Layout:

I took tons of pictures of his first day of school but I only choose a few for the layout: getting ready to leave the house, he shows off his new CARS school bag, at school he waits outside of his classroom holding Papa's hand, and in class his desk with his name on it. He is on the Elephant team and shares his desk with two other classmates in the AM class.

I used this really cute 12x12 green paper that had chalk drawings in each corner but due to the amount of pictures I was using, I ended up covering 2 of the corners. The other 2 corners, I went over the chalk drawings with yellow stickles for some extra brightness. I used a scalloped piece of black paper in the center, almost like a chalkboard. I used my new Dymo Caption Maker to give some extra facts that I could not fit on the journal card. I used chipboard school embellies from K&Company and Soft Spoken. The yellow apple straight pin is something I found on Oriental Trading and I finally got to use it!

2 Picture Layout:

His first school photographer picture was a very exciting day! When I picked him up from school and asked him how his pictures went, he told me he said "CHEESE" with a huge grin on his face. I was so happy and anxious to get the pictures. About a month or so later, we received the pictures and I was surprised not to see the big Cheese grin he told me about!

I wanted to do a layout featuring his school picture as well as his class picture. It is something I am hoping to do every year. The background 12x12 paper is phrased with classroom sayings. I matted each picture on white and punched the corners out of the mat and picture to a scalloped corner. I also antiqued the edges of the mat in a silvery gray. I wanted to do something different with the journaling, so I literally ripped out a piece of paper from a mini notebook I have and I used a distressing tool to make the paper look worn. I antiqued the edges in a light blue. I took a piece of journal paper that looks like notebook paper and did the same, distressed and antiqued the edges. I stamped the apple on and used stickles to outline it. A pencil and crayon stickers were perfect for a little extra. I had an apple altered paper clip that was made by a fellow scrapper to make it look like it was holding the two notebook papers together. On the journaling I listed all the names of his teachers and classmates in the group photo. A nice memory for the future.

The other two chipboard embellies are from K&Company and Soft Spoken. The 'Nursery' title, I used a piece of white scrap that was leftover from the mats of the pictures and I used rub-on letters. And I have to say those rub-on letters are adorable and were a dollar store find!

I hope you like them!

New Years Eve

So let's face it, there is no way I am going to get 33 more layouts done today to meet my goal. Yes I am hung up on this goal that I have not met!

Here are the last 2 layouts I have done for the year.....

3 Picture Layout:



I did this layout, almost rushed through it just to get it done and I have to admit I hate it. And I am not the type of person to re-do layouts. This is how it came out and this is how I will leave it.

I wish I would have done the title differently. It is hard to see but the title is in silver glitter stickers and just says "Our Tree ~ 2006". I think if I would have matted the stickers there would have been a better effect and obviously would be able to read it more clearly.

Other than this layout being terrible, the pictures sure are cute!


2 Picture Layout:

Thanksgiving 2008... I finally got a family picture! But my husband had to spoil it with his Nike sweatshirt! LOL!

I like the way this layout came out. I used more of the Me & My Big Ideas Cornucopia line (the papers, letters & some of the embellies). The only things on this layout not from that line are the turkey sticker and the felt adhesive border at the top of the page, which I love so much!

I used my oh so famous 3d-dots behind the 'Thankful' title. That is the only thing raised in this layout.

Overall it is a basic layout, no fancy techniques used here (not that I know many anyway!).

Enjoy and Happy New Year!

Fall Layout: 2 Pictures

A few months back I was at a typical trip to Michaels and came across this free booklet. I usually don't take the booklets because I feel they are out of my league but this one caught my eye.

I ended up buying the entire Me & My Big Ideas Cornucopia line, except for the felt leaves which I could not find. At home I knew I had tons of smaller felt leaves that I could possibly make work.

I finally took 2 pictures of my son near some leaves... we never got to actually play in them but for the sake of this layout I got 2 pictures :)

I altered this layout to make it my own. I followed the guidelines in the sample picture but I changed it by using 2 pictures instead of 1 and used a "FALL" title instead of "Thankful". I figured I can save the Thankful idea for a Thanksgiving layout.

I didn't use my felt leaves, instead I found very large package of these die-cut leaves by K&Company. I scattered them on the layout, some with and without 3d-dots. I used Stickles on some and also used some jewels on some.

I found the cutest little owl by Jolee's by You and was able to add it to this layout, it fit the theme perfectly.

All of the other items on this layout, besides the leaves are "Me & My Big Ideas". The background 12x12 paper is green and velvet embossed. The die-cut 12x12 is also velvet embossed and I laid that onto the green 12x12 using 3d-dots. I worked on the entire layout on the die-cut 12x12 and when I was done placed it on the green background.

I hope you like it as much as I do... I think this has taken the spot of my favorite layout!

Busy Little Bee...

I was a busy little bee today.... It rained all day, my brakes were being replaced on my truck so I was home all day with no car. Thomasino behaved and I was able to get some scrapping done! I am glad that the numbers on my Goal Ticker is going down! But I still have a lot more to go.

Enjoy!

1 Picture Layout:

I finally got to use some of my new Making Memories Note Worthy Collection! The 12x12 paper and the journal card is from the collection. I had fun with this one, it was more for me and a little bit girly.

The Smile title was naked chipboard and I used my Pebbles chalks to color them and then inked the edges with my Cat's Eye inks. I used the Queen & Co felt flourish and brightened it up by adding blue and purple jeweled felt flowers, a bulk purchase from Oriental Trading.



2 Picture Layout:

Another trip to the NYC Aquarium and pictures of my son his his gal pal Catie hanging out and watching the Penguin feeding.

I used Making Memories foam letters in the title. I finally got to use a penguin laser die cut that has been sitting in my stash for quite sometime now. The die cut got 'lost' on the gray paper so I backed it with white card stock and cut it to fit. I added my favorite 3d-dots to that for a layer effect. I used my new Martha Stewart border punch and I have to say, I should have practiced first - not sure if you can notice my mistakes :)



1 Picture Layout:

A cute picture of my son from this past summer. In my friend Teba's father's garage, my son was eyeing his Harley and was soo happy to get to sit on it. He looks a little scared in this picture, I think because he didn't want to wear the helmet.

I liked what I did with this one. I used my Fiskars paper edger for a taring effect and then I realized I had all this empty black space at the bottom so decided to add the rest of the paper that was ripped off - that piece was in my garbage stash! I added a journal square to the center and used 3d-dots on that for some pop! I added a vellum quote, attached by 4 black square brads. And the motorcycle embellies are from the Sandylion Essentials line.

4 Picture Layout:

I have to be quite honest... the pieces to this layout have been in a folder for over a year now and I had no inspiration to do it. I finally just broke down and did it today... it is not fancy nor does it have the wow factor... I am just happy to get it done and over with.

Sketch Challenge: 2 Pictures

I joined yet another sketch challenge on myspace. I hadn't done one in awhile and this one was fairly simple. This was my second sketch challenge hosted by Denise.

This was her original sketch:

And this is my version of it.
I went with the neutral brown theme and had these 2 pictures of my son putting cookie dough on a cookie sheet. I titled it "Made with Love" and that sticker, the brackets and the tab are from Flair Designs Keep on Cooking collection.

I used my Fiskars paper edger to get the ripped effect on the 2nd toned paper.

I antiqued the edges on the matts with my Color Box Cats Eye inks.

The 3 embellishments are by Jolee's by You (cookie tray, milk carton, cookie jar) and I used 3D-Dots on those. For the journlaing I used one of my Remarks journal sticker books. I wished I would have thought to mat the journaling square and have it raised, I think it would have looked better.

Ed Hardy Boy

My husband is a designer snob. And the newest designer in his wardrobe is Ed Hardy by Christian Audigier. All of the Ed Hardy line is inspired by tattoo's and is is commonly called "Tattoo Wear".


There are a few t-shirts in my husbands closet but the most recent t-shirt made it home and in the wash and dryer. As soon as I took it out of the dryer my son wanted to wear it. It fit him huge but it made him laugh and happy and kept on showing my husband that he was wearing his shirt.


And of course, if you know me, any moment is a camera moment, so this made for a few good pictures.


And of course, a few good pictures means a good scrapbook layout!


I have been in the green kick lately with my layouts, if you haven't noticed and this layout would be perfect with green since the t-shirt was in the green family.




For the 12x12 background I used this funky paper by CherryArte and I never thought I would get to use it because of the color scheme but amazingly it was PERFECT for this layout. I took a green sheet of paper that has faint little dots in it and cut it down to the right size and set it down with my very favorite 3D-dots. I added green corner stickers to the one side of the layout just to give it symmetry.


I matted my 2 pictures in a funky black and white glittered card stock. This time around I kept my corners sharp, I didn't round them like I normally like to. I placed them on the green paper which would be my common area.


Another item in my stash that I thought I would never use is the black glittered skull. And again it goes just perfectly with this theme. The black arrow was in the same set as the skull.


My favorite addition to this layout is the Ed Hardy hang tag that came off the t-shirt. It was made so well with heavy card stock and material that was stitched onto the card, it would have been a shame to toss it. I also kept the thread along with the medallion on it for that extra jazz. My husband must have tossed the others from his other shirts because they are no where to be found and I only I would appreciate such a thing!


The title "Like father like son" is a Bohemia rub-on and I used some green scrap, rubbed it on there and put it down with 3D-dots.


I also used green scrap as the background of my journal square and I antiqued the edges with green ink. And not to throw anything off, I put that down with 3D-dots as well!


Overall, I am pretty happy the way this came out. It is simple, not too much going on, but something like this doesn't need all that commotion!



I hope you like it.

Halloween Layouts

Since Halloween is quickly approaching, I thought it would be a great time to catch up on my Halloween layouts.

My son is now 3 years old and I have never scrapped any of his Halloween pictures. I have done fall layouts just not Halloween. So these past few weeks I was able to do 3 layouts for the past 3 years.

I am hoping that this years layout won't be as late as these. Maybe I will make a goal to scrap them quickly - maybe in the month of November. Let's see if I can do it.

All of his Halloween costumes have been cute - nothing scary so far :) This year he will either be a spider or a turtle (he wants to be a monkey, so we are still tossing the idea), but I am sure which ever he is will be cute, not scary.

His 1st Halloween 2005 - ROOSTER:

Here I used a traditional Orange and Black color scheme. I used double mats behind the 2 pictures and rounded the corners of the mats as well as the pictures. I love my corner punches! I cut out the title using my Cricut and layered it.

The number 1 and the H in Halloween have a raised dimension by using some foam dots. I was once again able to use Stickles in yet another layout - I love that stuff! I created my journal in MS Word and added a clip-art image to it and then ink'd the edges for the antique look. Other embellies are store bought.

His 2nd Halloween 2006 - SHARK:

Here I used a black background with orange, green, white and purple dots. I matted the pictures in orange and rounded the corners on both the pictures and matts.

Using foam adhesive squares, I raised the 'Happy Halloween' tag, the journal square and the year.

I used a variety of embellishments from Jolee's jack-o-lantern filled with treats, to felt leaves.

His 3rd Halloween 2007 - LION:
Here I used a solid orange background paper and matted the pictures with a carmel color brown paper. I added a patterned harvest paper to the background for a something little extra. I added brads, buttons and embellies by Jolee's and Pebbles. In the center is a great fabric adhesive in a pumpkin design that I got at Oriental Trading - another fabulous spot for great deals.


This years layout to follow in November.

Sketch Challenge: 2 pictures

Yes... I gave in and participated in another myspace sketch challenge.

This challenge required 2 pictures.

Original sketch provided by Larissa:

My version:

I used a bright green with dark green polka dots 12x12 paper as my background. A different shade of the same paper was used for the paper edge up top as well as the mats for my pictures. I made the journal circle on my own in MS Word. I have journaling stamps but the circle one is not that big and I wanted one to pop out. I used my Cats Eye inks to give it some color. The stars I made on my Cricut using my Celebrations cartridge and jazzed them up with Stickles and placed them on the layout with some foam adhesive to give it dimension. I did the same with the chipboard title.

I hope you like it!

My 1st Scrap-Lift

I am not one to literally copy something that someone does. Try to get ideas, yes, but copy no. I have come to learn that 'scrap lifting' is something that is usually welcomed in the scrapbooking community.

I subscribe to the magazine Scrapbooks Etc. and they had a layout with a sketch and templates for it, basically inviting you to scrap lift.

This was the article in the magazine:

And this was my version of the layout:

I started with a 12x12 sheet of blue paper, and cut down a green sheet of 12x12 for a pop of color. I added corner embellies to the green paper for a little extra touch. I matted my pictures with a bright yellow card stock from one of my "Designer Matt Pads" by K&Company and added anchors and brads to the top corners.

I didn't use the exact colors of the original - I wanted to make it my own.

I liked the idea of the little white tags to add the journaling, so I grabbed that idea right away!

I used my Cricut to cut out the clouds and title "My Pot of Gold". I also ink'd the edges of the title and white tags.

I like the idea of adding the colored buttons to the clouds but for some reason my version doesn't have that scattered look like the original does.

I hope to do more scrap lifting soon!