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!

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!

Sketch Challenge: 1 Picture

I joined another sketch challenge on myspace. These are addicting and fun.


This one was quite a challenge. This is the sketch that Liz challenged us with:



































Here is my version of the layout.




I used a cool picture I have of my son trying on my husbands pricey Gucci sunglasses. I had to get a picture of it because my husband is always complaining about the fingerprints so I had to show him the guilty party!


It's a bit hard to tell but I used 3-D foam dots on the light blue card stock and on the red circle just to give it definition. I always try to do that in my layouts, I don't want them to always be flat.



I printed the Gucci logo on Vellum. The silver index tab is from Making Memories and it says "Chillin" and it just slides onto the paper - cute addition. The word "Genuine" is chipboard and from K&Company Wild Saffron line. The ribbon are self-adhesive which is a real plus because it can be tricky to get the ribbon to adhere with other products. I got the ribbon at Oriental Trading and there were about 5 different colors and patterns in the pack - all fun colors.


I definitely know this is not a winning layout, there were soo many great entries.



Hope you like it.

Hurry up Fall!

Fall is my all time favorite season. The crisp air, cool enough for a sweater or light jacket but warm enough to still do outside activities, and the crisp leaves on the ground.

I need to take a picture of my son jumping and stomping in a great pile of crisp leaves so I can do the perfect layout.

I just bought the greatest fall paper pack at A.C. Moore, and got a package of die-cut leaves by K&Company as well as other Fall themed embellies and my wheels are turning. There is a great layout waiting to be made!

So Fall, please hurry up and get here!

My 1st Sketch Challenge: 3 Pictures

I am part a handful, well maybe 2 handfuls of scrapbooking groups on myspace and I have to say I have befriended many great women.

One of my scrap-friends, Denise, posted a sketch challenge. She sketched out a layout and challenged the group to put together a similar layout.

This is Denise's sketch:

I have known about this challenge for about 2 weeks now, and it is due month's end and I hadn't given much thought about it until tonight. I just sat at my scrapping area (my dinning room table!) and it just came to me. What is the most prized possession that my son has at this moment? All of his cars.... but his 'own' car tops his list.

This is my version of the sketch:

I think it came out fairly well. I have a lot of car themed embellishments (brads & stickers) because I know I will use them pretty often. I was even lucky enough to find a journal tag with a car on it from my K&Company Tag Pad and attached it to the layout with a red car brad.

Thanks Denise! I can't wait for the next one!

I Made it!

Step 1 - get crafty a
Step 2 - start scrapbooking a
Step 3 - start making invitations!!!! aa


I am very very proud of myself for attempting home-made invitations this year for my son's 3rd Birthday Party. I wanted to do something different and wow everyone.


I started just with an idea and had no idea if and how I would implement it.


The Theme: Cowboy/Western


I started with the supplies (all purchased at Michaels):

• white/blank cards with envelopes
• vellum paper
• 3 kinds of patterned paper
• Jolee's stickers
• Brads
• glue stick
• glue dots
• ColorBox Cat's Eye Ink

I sat there looking at the white cards and said to myself "how am I am going to 'un-whiten' them".



I took a piece of the bandanna print patterned paper and cut it down to size and glued it to the inside of the card (cover all the white space). So far so good...




I then took the tanned cowboy print patterned paper and did the same to the front of the card.


I printed the invitation information onto the vellum paper using MS Word and added a cowboy silhouette clip art. I cut the vellum down to size (I was able to print 2 invitations on 1 piece of 8.5" x11" vellum paper) and attached it to the inside of the card using 2 western themed brads (lucky find on eBay!) on the top 2 corners.


The inside verse was:

Howdy Partner!

I'm asking you

to saddle up

and come chow down!

Thomas' 3rd Birthday Party

Date

Time

RSVP

Here is a closer look at the brads - aren't they the coolest?

Back to the front....

I used another color of the bandanna patterned paper and cut out "You're Invited" on my Cricut using the Beyond Birthdays cartridge. I attached the cut out using Glue Dots to the center of the front.

I used decorative scissors and cut the bottom edge of the front of the card to give the illusion that the card was ripped or even burned. I used my ColorBox Cat's Eye ink and distressed all the edges in a dark brown to give it the burned/antiqued look. Looked PERFECT!!!

To add the final touch to the front, I placed Jolee's cowboy themed stickers to the front. The package can with a few different stickers, so I was able to have 4 variations of the front.

The final product:

These are the 4 variations of the front: the inside:

I am so proud of how these came out and was so happy to send them out to everyone. I received tons of compliments and the "you should start your own invitation making business" suggestion but I don't know about that :)

I then made my own return labels and stamped the front of the envelope with a horse stamp that I was lucky to find on sale at A.C. Moore.

The party came and went and it was a success.

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!