Starting With A Sketch

One of my favorite starting points is a sketch.  So when I heard My Scraps and More was having a sketchathon in April, I was thrilled.  I've been scrapping a lot, and its the perfect way to keep my momentum going.  I mean, 30 sketches in 30 days?
 
The first sketch was published on April 1; the challenge also required fussy cutting.

I hate fussy cutting so I almost skipped the challenge.  But I really liked the sketch.  And I had photos from hy husband's birthday last summer that were begging to be scrapped.  So I poked around in my scrap room for paper that would lend itself to simple fussy cutting.  I found a sheet printed with black frames that seemed perfect.

The title and chipboard phrase stickers are from the Maggie Holmes Confetti collection.  I used the colors in the numbers to drive my color selections.  And I went to work on the background with my current favorite technique - layering rub ons and ink splatters. I added some small puffy stars from Crate Paper's Journey line to add a bit of dimension.

I'd love to know your favorite starting points for layouts when your stuck.

Thanks for stopping by.

December Daily-ish - Embellishments.

Yesterday I talked a lot about the paper choices I made for my album.  Today I'm talking about embellishments .  As I thought about embellishments, I came up with the following principles to help choose embellishments:

• I wanted a mix of holiday and non-holiday themed embellishments
• I wanted a mix of textures and colors
• I didn't want to end up with a lot of things to put away when the project was done.

Again I looked at the different kits out there to see what appealed to me.  For instance I love seeing holiday words in script form so I was excited to find some heidi swapp holiday word stickers in my stash.  And I may well buy some cut files so I can play with this look more.

I also realized that I am going to work on my album here at home most if not all the time.  And my scrap room organization is about having things where I can see them since I use what I see.  But my holiday embellishments are stored in two Iris boxes and are hard to dig through.  So I decided to focus on pulling holiday embellishments and adding reminders of non-holiday themed embellishments to my kit rather than pulling everything I might want to use.  (Remember - I don't want a lot to put away at the end of the project.)

So here is a photo that gives you a feel for the embellishment mix I've chosen.

 Here are the items I've chosen:

• die cuts - a mix of traditional, vellum, and acetate pieces so I can add a variety of textures
• rub-ons - I love using rub-ons lately, especially directly on a photo since I don't have access to photoshop.  Those gold star rub-ons were from Chic Tags last Christmas
• bags, pockets, folders and envelopes - perfect for creating inserts to hold journaling and memorabilia
• trim - I pulled a mix of ribbons and twine
• tags - love those gold glitter tags from Pebbles
• flair - a mix of traditional flair, cameos from Webster's Pages that were in my stash and those Glitz giant gems.
• washi tape - a variety of colors, widths, and textures
• wood veneer - both painted (from Basic Grey's 25th and Pine collection) and unfinished
• frames - I love frames in pockets, on inserts and on top of page protectors.  They are a great way to add dimension.  I have a mix including Crate paper, Studio Calico and My Minds Eye
• That fabric tag from an old Basic Grey collection was in my stash.  I added it specifically for the texture.
• Stickers
• Enamel dots (I found those gold and silver ones from Teresa Collins at JoAnns but have easy access to lots of colors and sizes)
• sequins - the stars from Studio Calico's Magical collection are in my kit, but again, lots of colors and sizes are in easy reach
• stickers - these are from the 25 days class kit but I have other holiday themed stickers in my kit also
• buttons - the holiday themed ones are from Fancy Pants, but my button bowl is right by my desk.

And of course, every album needs some alphas.  I pulled a few I was pretty sure I would use, but will likely go to my stash also.  And I did by the Gossamer Blue plaid alphas just for this project.  Swoon.

And while I am not much of a stamper, I am really working to use my stamps more.  So I pulled my holiday themed stamps out to store with my kit.  Some of these are from the November Studio Calico kits also.

And finally I went through my stash of project life style cards and pulled some that fit with my colors that I thought I might use.  (Since I store my cards by color this was pretty quick to do.)

So by now you should be sick of hearing about my kit.  But just in case you are still interested, I will share a bit about kit organization tomorrow.

Don't forget to leave a comment for an entry into my holiday giveaway.

Thanks for stopping by.

The Life of A Little Sister

Last weekend was the Oklahoma benefit crop and I'm still working on some of those challenges (I know I won't get them all done, but I'm doing as many as I can.)  One of those challenges was a layout that talked about the weather.  It was the perfect opportunity to use this picture of my daughter from a few years ago - she's sitting in the rain watching one of her brother's play soccer and she says its all she did for the first 10 years she was alive.  (She exaggerates a little bit :))

I tried something different for me on this layout - I mounted my patterned base on a piece of cardstock for added dimension.  I always love the look when I see others do it, but I'm not sure it is for me. 

I love this vellum heart on the picture - these stickers were from the Studio Calico Darling Dear collection and I've been hoarding them.  The subtle impact is just great.  (My stash of hearts is almost gone though.)

And while I was working on the layout, I got some happy mail from Chic Tags.  I was lucky enough to win the Sunday challenge a couple of weeks ago and I got to pick $25 dollars of goodies from their store.  The banner tag at the top of this layout was the perfect touch.

And look at all the goodies I have to play with in the future.  (This package totally made my day.)

Hope you have a terrific Thursday.

Scrapping About "Not Happy" Stuff

I'm betting you are like me - you have lots of photos and scrap about happy times and feelings.  That is what 99.99% of my layouts are.  But once in a while, I find myself scrapping about unhappy or angry things.  Last night was one of those times.

I wanted to do something for the Chic Tags Sunday Challenge.  It is a photo inspiration challenge this week.

And one of my sons was on my mind.  He seems to be in a good place now after a rocky year or two. So I pulled out the pieces of the May Studio Calico kits that I had left and ended up with a layout about his journey and my frustration with my inability to fix things for him these days.  It was very cathartic and actually is one my favorites in a while.  It seemed like the pieces I had left to use related directly to how I was feeling.  (And it was a great way to use an extra print from his senior pictures.

The journaling is very personal and is in a glassine bag behind the photo block.  You can see the edge of the bag.  It is accented with a Basic Grey clip.

I tried cutting the wood veneer sheet from the kits with my cricut for the title.  It didn't come out perfectly, but I liked the distressed feel.  The wood is colored with spray ink.

the vertical strips are labeling edges from the patterned paper in the kit.  And they provided a perfect anchor for the different embellishments I wanted to incorporate.

Have a great Thursday!  Its the last day of school for my daughter.

Atlantic and Arrows

 Mothers Day Giveaway here

I love the new Atlantic collection by Studio Calico.  And my favorite part is the soft pinks, yellows and peaches used in some of the patterned papers.  This totally connects with my girly side.  So I was thrilled when the weekly designer challenge at Studio Calico was a color challenge focused on those colors.  And since I am currently loving arrows, I was equally excited to see that the Sunday challenge at Chic tags was to use arrows.  So I thought I would try to combine the challenges.

I dug out an old photo of my daughter at the beach for the layout and went to work.  I pulled patterned papers in the colors I wanted to use to get started - mostly from Atlantic, but the heart paper is from Lily Bee.  I used pink and gold spray ink to soften the background paper and emphasize the colors.  I used the same inks to color arrows from Pink Paislee.  Here's what I came up with.

 I even painted the sunrise thickers with some gold ink to add that glimmer.  Here are some close-ups of the embellishment clusters.

This cluster uses the Atlantic vellum die cuts, sequins and enamel dots from the Theresa Collins Summer Stories line/  The vellum die cuts are the perfect soft touch for this color scheme.

The pink pasilee arrows took the gold and pink colors perfectly.  And by layering the inks, I was able to get different shades with just two ink colors.  I attached my sequins with mini glue dots.

The mix of pink and gold inks on the page with ink spatters, sequins and enamel dots reminds me of sunrise on the beach.  (Wish I was there.)

I'm loving these papers and have a pile of scraps on my cropping station that I keep going to. I think I'm going to have to print more of these old beach pictures.  I love the way they work with these papers.  Working on these layouts is bringing back memories of those lazy beach days when my daughter was young.

Hope you have a terrific Tuesday.