Stuck?! on an Angle

I am trying to get back to some of my creative habits that helped keep me scrapping.  One of the best of those was following the challenges at Stuck?! Sketches.  They publish two sketches each month and they usually provide lots of opportunity to play with layers and details.

So while I am wrapping up my amazing 4 day weekend, I decided to check out the current sketch.  I was excited to see that it was a fun diagonal design.

My layouts tend to be either horizontal or vertical in design so this sketch provided a fun challenge.

I started with the January kit from Citrus Twist Kits (my last one for a while) and a photo that brings back all those summer feelings.   I added lots of bits from my stash and created this layout.  There are quite a few pieces from Crate Paper Wonder, an older Crate paper line, Simple Stories, Dear Lizzy and Studio Calico kits mixed in with the pretty supplies from the kit.

I stuck really closely to the sketch and used layers and embellishments to tell my story.  And my tip for the day - check out the packaging - that fun yellow piece with the blue scalloped edge that is one of the bottom layers - that was the backing in the die cut pack from the Fancy Pants Joy Parade collection.  It is so cute and perfect here. 

I will be returning to work tomorrow but am definitely going to squeeze a little scrapping time in.  And you never know - maybe another blog post.   In the meantime, thanks for stopping by!

All the Colors

Sometimes I get stuck in a color rut - lately its been all about blue and yellow.  But the April kits from Citrus Twist had lots of bright, fun colors.  So I went looking for a picture that would work with a layout that uses all the colors.  I found an old one of my daughter looking through her haul on Halloween.

Then I hunted down a sketch that provided the chance to use lots of layers and bits so I could pull out the colors in the photo.  The April sketch at Paper Issues was perfect!

I focused on the layered horizontal elements, the large circle, the banner and the tag for my layout. 

I started with papers from the April Citrus Twist kits - the green, the black and white stripe and the small piece under the tag.  Then I went to my scraps and stash to pull out other pieces.  .  I was excited to used the acrylic "hooray" from a recent haul from Colorcast Designs.  Then I kept adding bits from both the Citrus Twist kits and my stash til I felt like the layout was balanced.  The bit of black and white polka dot paper was the last thing I added - and it made all the difference - it seemed to ground the whole layout.

I hope your Tuesday is filled with all the colors - thanks for stopping by.

Squeezing in Some Scrap Time

I love the holidays but there never seems to be enough time.  Still, I managed to make a few layouts this month and am hoping to share a few this week.  Since I only had a bit of time, I used a sketch to get me started.  This one from Stuck?! is awesome.

I turned the sketch on its side and put together a quick layout for a Christmas Caroling challenge at My Scraps and More.

The challenge was to use a large number on your page and the "2" from Pebbles was perfect for this title.  I had fun with my journaling too - I used my new typewriter (yay!) to create a conversation I thought my daughter and her dog might be having - way out of the box for me but lots of fun. 

Hope you squeezed in some crafty time during the holidays.  Thanks for stopping by.

So This Is Christmas

The holidays started in earnest with Thanksgiving at our house so I haven't had much time to scrap.  But the decorations are up, the shopping is well underway and some gifts are even wrapped.  So last night I took a little bit of time to scrap.  And -- of course -- just to maintain that Christmas spirit -- I chose a photo of our tree last year. 

But I hit a little bump in the road - when I scrap everyday, layouts generally come pretty easily.  But when it's been a few days, I often have a hard time getting started.  So I started looking for a sketch and found this one at Stuck?!

I really liked all the horizontal layers, but I was using one vertical photo.  So I had some work to do.  I cut a number of pieces of patterned paper for layers and just played with them til I came up with my design.

supplies are from November Citrus Twist kits and my stash

I used some tags from the Fancy Pants Christmas collection to add additional layers.  I especially loved the striped one and the way it tied my other papers together.  So I cut the bottom off the tag so I could repeat the pattern on the other side of my layout.  And those red letters from SevenPaper might be one of my favorite alphas ever - but you only get one of each letter which just isn't very practical.  Luckily I had stocked up since it took two packages to spell Christmas. 

I hope your holidays are going well.  Thanks for taking a minute to stop by.

Repeating Shapes

Paper Issues sponsored an online crop over the weekend that was filled with great challenges.  (If you want to play along, the challenges aren't due til midnight Saturday, so there is plenty of time.)  One of those challenges was to use at least 10 circle, triangle or square shapes on your layout.  Now this sounds pretty easy, but I was stumped.  (And yes, I know I do a lot of grid design, but nothing was working.)

I decided to use squares and knew I wanted to vary the size of the squares on my layout.  And I picked a picture.  But I spent more time than I want to admit staring at the piece of paper I thought I wanted to use as my base.  Finally I pulled out some scraps of white cardstock and cut them into 3, 2 and 1 inch squares.  Then I moved them around on the base paper until I was happy with the design.

Next I replaced one of the 3 inch squares with my photo.  Then I started digging through my basket of small scraps for papers that coordinated with my photo.  (The photo was of beach glass, so I was looking for a "beach-y" mix of colors.)  Each time a scrap caught my eye, I pulled it out and cut it into a square.  Then I would replace one of the white cardstock squares I had used to develop my layout.  I repeated this process til all the cardstock squares had been replaced with patterned paper.

I used some Evalicious puffy alphas - these are white with gold polka dots - to fit my title into the grid.  Next I added a few trips of washi tape and a puffy rectangle sticker to break up the squares just a bit and link to the rectangular title.  I added just a few embellishments to finish off the project, trying to coordinate with the colors in the patterned paper.  Some gold splats and I was done.

How do you use your scraps?  Link me up to your projects - I can always use some new ideas.

Thanks for stopping by.

Layered Labels

I have always loved labels.  They are pretty, fun and versatile.  But they don't always work for journaling.  Sometimes I have too much to say and sometimes I don't have much of anything to say.  So I either end up with tiny little writing crammed onto a layer so that you can hardly read it or awkward blank space where it looks like I forgot to write something.  And so my label stash grows and grows and .......you get the picture.

But layered labels are my new favorite thing.  I pull several labels in different shapes and sizes and stack 'em up.  Maybe I add a few stickers, enamel dots or other small embellishments. Foam squares and glue dots can add extra dimension.   Or those phrase stickers that are all the rage - they are perfect for this.  Then I end up with a dimensional embellishment using up some of my favorite things in my stash.  And I can customize it to fit both the story I'm telling and the space I have to fill.

A little washi can anchor your cluster and add extra dimesion and texture too.

design inspired by sketch at Citrus Twist kits

 So you probably knew all about layered labels.  It is such a great way to build a custom embellishment.  But just in case you didn't...........

Thanks for stopping by

Two Layouts with the Same Paper

So I know you are sick of hearing about The Big Purge.  But one incentive for finishing up the project is trying to reduce the amount of time I spend choosing supplies for a layout.  Picking the paper can take longer than actually coming up with a design and putting it together. 

But what happens if you try to get two layouts out of the same papers - I almost never use a whole sheet unless it is a base for the design.  So Friday night I wandered into my scraproom to play and picked two papers.

This pretty pink from the Amy Tangerine Rise and Shine Collection - I love the way the pink shades toward peach shades.

And this yellow from Fancy Pants Office Hours (I love the texture of this paper)

Then I pulled a brand new sheet of vellum from the Crate paper Poolside collection from my stash.  It has a great weight and the glittery swiss crosses add something special.

And while I was going to embellish from my stash as it made sense, I did pull a doily and this chipboard pack from the Pink Paislee Citrus Bliss Collection.  The bluses, pinks, yellows and golds seemed to work perfectly with the papers I chose. 

And of course, I had a basket of scraps on my desk to use to add layers - and all the other treasures buried in my scrap room.

The first layout I came up with was this soft dreamy layout using an old picture of my oldest son and daughter on the beach.  The design was inspired by a sketch at Citrus Twist Kits.

I love the extra detail the patterned base sheet adds.  And then I saw a grid layout that caught my eye - and you know I love a good grid.  So I made this layout. 

I added some dear lizzy scraps and some labels and other bits, but came up with a layout with a totally different feel. But using the same papers as my starting point meant I put two layouts together in about 3 hours - super fast for me.   And there was less to clean up. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Adding Texture and Dimension

I love pretty paper, but lets face it - it is flat.  So I am always trying to add dimension and texture to my layouts.  Those heavy textured papers are always favorites for just that reason.  But they seem to be harder and harder to find.  And since my LSS closed, I am having to guess at the texture of a sheet of paper based on online descriptions and knowledge about specific manufacturers.

As a result, I am looking more at my stash to find ways to use layers and embellishments to add dimension and texture to layouts.  When I worked with this sketch from MSAM, I really tried to focus on texture and dimension as a way to make the design my own.

I started with a patterned paper background.  The large polka dots were fairly bold for a background, but seemd to go with the feel of my page and added a lot of dimension before I did anything else. 

Textures - Crate Paper - Craft Market

Then I started building the layers.  I pulled the peach and the floral papers from the March Studio Calico kits.  Then I dug through my scraps and found a piece of navy corrugated paper (maybe Fancy Pants?) and added that.  I also used a glassine bag that was leftover kit packaging under my photo - those pabs are a great way to add dimension and texture without spending an extra dime!

I added die cuts from Pinkfresh Studios (Up In the Clouds) and Elle's Studio (Cierra) and a glittery piece of wood veneer that was in my stash.  I dug out those gold foil alphas from the Studio Calico Lemon Lush line for the title.   Some ink splatters (using teal, peach and primrose colorshine) finished it off.

The finished layout had lots of dimension without burying the picture. 

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.

Five Easy Cards

For Studio Calico stamp sale list go here.

More often than not, making cards just frustrates me.  I struggle with the scale and am rarely happy with my end results.  So no one was more surprised than me when I took on the five World Card Making challenges at Studio Calico.  And I had a good time with the challenges - they really helped me focus on specific elements and put together some quick and easy cards. Here's what I came up with.

The first challenge was to use this mood board.

Here's what I came up with.

The second challenge was to incorporate an ombre element.  I used some awesome pink and green ombre washi from Pinkfresh Studio and Amy Tangerine chipboard for this simple card.

The third challenge was to use your scraps.  I used a couple paper scraps, the end of a piece of trim, some Freckled Fawn leaves and a few sequins for this quick thank you card.

The next challenge was to use five of something.  I added five pieces of wood veneer from the Licorice add-on for this fun Halloween card.  I loved adding aqua, a non-traditional color to the mix.

The last challenge was a sketch challenge.  There were several choices, but I chose this one

for this quick card using a Glitz 6x6 card, a strip of washi from the Container Store, some wood veneer and a Fancy Pants tag.

These were so fun and easy I might just be inspired to make some more cards some day soon.  Thanks for looking.  I hope you have a marvelous Monday!

The Christmas In July Blog Hop (with a giveaway)

Welcome to the Christmas in July Blog Hop, inspiring you to get out your Christmas stash and use it before all the new collections are introduced this month. Join the fun and create something too, use the hastag #scrapbookchristmas in twitter, facebook or instagram.

When the planning for this blog hop started, I was really excited about the chance to participate.  I love Christmas and have tons of Christmas stash.  But as the date got closer, I wasn't feeling very inspired.  I had lots of stuff, but it was the bits and pieces left from prior year projects.  Then I saw a challenge at My Scraps and More that asked you to create a layout that used Christmas papers and a Christmas phrase to create a layout about a non-holiday topic.  Given the size of my stash, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to use up some of my stash.  I made a layout about a visit to Slate Run Farm titled "Away In The Manger."

I used papers from Studio Calico's Winter Wonderland, Crate Paper's Sleigh Ride, and Basic Grey's Figgy Pudding (an old one right?) and Jovial.  You were allowed to use any embellishments and these came from My Mind's Eye, Jillibean Soup and Simple Stories.  And that great Fancy Pants chalk tape was perfect for adding a quick note about where we were.

And that made me think - could I do a Christmas layout without any Christmas paper.  So I pulled out my Valley High goodies (the July kit at Studio Calico) and went to work.  The colors and patterns in the kits turned out to work perfectly for a Christmas layout.  Here's what I ended up with.

I was scrapping with my friend Gloria, and she looked at the annual picture of our kids by the Christmas tree and immediately suggested this title.  And, I have to admit that it suits the expression on the boys' faces.

Giveaway

I still have lots of bits and pieces left, so I thought I'd share them.  Just make sure you are a follower and leave a comment.  I'll leave the drawing until midnight on Sunday, July 21.  Rather than post a picture of the goodies, I thought I'd leave it as a surprise for the winner (kind of like a Christmas present.)

I'm the last stop today.  If you started in the middle you can hop on over to see Ruth and get started at the beginning.  And just in case you got lost at any point, here is the list all the blogs.

Ruth - http://scrapmachine.com/

Bernice - http://btsoi.blogspot.com/

Theresa - http://himynameistheresa.com/

Holly - http://harmonydiy.blogspot.com/

Sandra - http://www.thecraftybunch.com.au/

Melissa - http://digitalscrapbookinghq.com/christmashop

Kimberly - http://kimberlymariekett.blogspot.com/

Stella - http://myscrapbliss.blogspot.com/

Alanna - http://scrapping-and-life.blogspot.com

Megan - http://meganlianesblog.blogspot.com/

Jen - http://myreillyboysandme.blogspot.com

Lisa - http://mykreativepursuits.blogspot.com

Margareta - http://www.paperpilekitten.com/

Taniesa - http://thecraftypickle.com/

Smitha - http://www.smilingcolors.com

Catherine - http://paperaddictcatherine.blogspot.com

Kate - http://www.funkytales.blogspot.co.uk

Tasha - http://tashascreativejuice.blogspot.com/

Melissa - http://yesterday2day4ever.blogspot.co.nz

Alison - http://magicalmesses.blogspot.com/

Cat - http://decisioninspired.com

Manda - http://www.mandalikadesigns.com/

Madeleine - http://senoritaml.wordpress.com/

Melissa - http://www.scrappyjedi.com/

Amanda - http://amandathemadscrapper.blogspot.com/

Ali - http://www.moloneystylestamping.wordpress.com

Jenny - http://scrappinjen-partyoffive.blogspot.com/

Ros - http://noteverypicturezperfect.blogspot.com.au/

Sue - http://themakingtable.blogspot.com.au/

Julie - http://plywthpper.blogspot.com/

Thanks for stopping by - hope your Monday is just marvelous!

nonymous Giraffe has left the document.

Photo Effects and the Sunday Sketch

I've been having lots of fun playing with the different effects you can apply to photos lately.  And once in a while, I really love the way a picture looks when it prints.  This picture of Nicholas and my nephew Tyler is one of those pictures.

Nicholas and Tyler have always had a special relationship and this picture from Tyler's birthday party captured the joy they find in spending time together.  And when I applied the special effect, I loved the way Tyler's red shirt popped in the photo.

My Roundabout kits were sitting on my desk and I went there first for papers.  But I had to dig into my stash for the base (from MME Miss Caroline) and the red polka dot (Basic Grey Hipster).  I started with this week's Sunday Sketch (I chose the layout sketch) , but the final interpretation is pretty loose.  I can see the connections, but I'm not sure anyone else can.

I did steal the idea of cutting up mini alphas (from a layout in the gallery that I couldn't find - sorry.)  I took my star punch to some Fancy Pants Alphas.  I had lots of fun adding other bits and pieces, like the end of the vintage tag, the basic grey stars, some enamel dots and the airmail twine to finish it off.

 

Have a great Saturday!

The Perfect Alpha for Sports Layouts - From The Pier

If you follow me at all, you know that I do tons of sports layouts - with two athletic sons, it's inevitable.  So I'm always looking for supplies that work well on those layouts.  And the letter tiles from Crate Paper's new line, The Pier, might be the best I've ever found. 

The size, the font, and the color all have a great feel for those sports pages.  Check out this soccer layout.

See what I mean?  I may need about a zillion packages of those letters - and it would be great if I could get some in black or charcoal for some different team colors.

This is one of my favorite sports layouts because it uses no sports themed products at all.  It makes it really different from the other soccer layouts I've done.

And even better, other than the base paper, all of the patterned paper came from my scrap file.

I'd love to see your ideas for using scraps and products for unintended themes.  Leave me a comment and/or link me up.

I'm home today to recover from graduation and hope I get motivated to play in my scrap room.  Hope you have a marvelous Monday!

Documenting A Soccer Season

If you read these posts often, you know that I try to do a "year in the life" album for my kids for every year.  As I've worked on my boys' albums, sport seasons have become a huge challenge.

The sports seasons are a huge part of their lives and very important to them.  By the time we go to all those games, there are literally hundreds of pictures.  And I'm just not able to narrow the photos down to pages for one or two pages.  So I always end up with multiple 2 page layouts.  And in the various albums, I've tried to make them look alike, I've tried to use a common design element (e.g., stars) to connect them, and I've just ignored the connection.  All of the approaches have pluses and minuses.

But lately I've been working on Nicholas's senior year album and I tried something different.  I pulled together a kit of papers, cardstock and embellishments that I used for the layouts - there were 7 this year.  After that I didn't worry at all about the connection. The end result was cohesive layouts that were still visually interesting.

The papers were mostly Fancy Pants and Simple Stories, but the green was Echo Park and there is a red chevron from Jillibean. I had themed embellishments, wood, stars, sequins, vellum arrow die cuts and enamel dots in my embellishment stack. 

Here are the layouts (and some things I learned):

By using the same background paper on all the layouts, I created a feeling of "a mini album inside a larger album.

Washi tape was a great addition to the kit - a quick and easy way to add interest to pages and able to be used in a lot of ways.

The Martha Stewart chalkboard labels were a great way to add consistent journaling throughout the series of layouts.  And mixing themed and non themed embellishments created added lots of interest.

Using the same thickers throughout was a great unifying touch.  And use thickers from an coordinating set to add the uniform number to sports layouts as an embellishment.

Experiment with different shapes and title treatments for interest.  This circle layout ended up being one of my favorites.

Combine a frame with a themed embellishment to create an interesting embellishment. 

Think out of the box when your journaling.  I printed the bio he wrote for the senior night presentation on vellum here.

Hope this gave you some ideas for your sports season layouts.  I'd love to hear your ideas too. 

Have a fantastic Friday.

A Soccer Layout and a Song Title- With a Little Flair

I do tons of soccer layouts.  Sometimes it feels like that is all I do.  So I was especially pleased when a friend told me that they were impressed because my soccer layouts all look unique.  That might be the best scrappy compliment I've ever received.  But it made me think about how I could make my soccer layouts more unique.

So when I had a chance to play this week, I put together this layout with a photograph I had sitting on my desk.

 

Here are some things I did that made this different from other soccer layouts I've done.

• I used a bold pattern as my base.  I often start with a subtle pattern, but almost never use a bold pattern as my foundaytion.  The stripes from Fancy Pants  provided a really fun starting point.
• I limited myself to my scrap pile for the remaining sheets.  That led to an interesting mix of papers.  I even had a scrap of corrugated paper in the pile - who knew that would make a comeback?
• I played with blue and orange ink to add dimension and accent layers.
• I mixed base embellishments from my stash and used nothing that had a soccer or sports theme.  I used a vellum tape strip from Basic Grey and other embellishments from Studio Calico.
• I added a piece of flair from my stash - it added dimension and was a great accent.
• I avoided a sports themed title and used a song title instead.
• And I succumbed to my latest obsession and added sequins.  

I'd love to hear the ways you keep layouts fresh.  Thanks for checking in.  I hope you have a great weekend.