Brownie Girl: A 12x12 Scrapbook Layout

Do you ever play along with scrapbooking challenges to help get your 'scrappy mojo' flowing?

I love the challenges that Paper Issues has each month. I played along with their Sketchy Saturday challenge to complete this layout.

Joefil Cate had previously posted her take on the sketch in the Paper Issues Facebook group and I loved it so much that I decided to lift her version of the sketch.

Those flowers as a border just make my heart smile!

I fussy cut them from the Simple Stories 'Brand New Day' paper. I layered them and added some foam adhesive under the top layer for dimension. 

I added in some beautiful light blue watercolor in three places around the layout for some added interest as well. It's just a great subtle element.

For my title, I used a combination of stamps and stickers. The stamps that spell Brownie, are from the dollar section at Joann's. I love how they turned out. I stamped the title using some black archival ink. The tile stickers are from Simple Stories as well.  The paw prints and the 'you're purr-fect' are from an Avery Elle stamp set--along with a few more flowers and a some sequins--my title area is complete.

I added hand stitching along this banner and along the yellow scalloped border. Hand stitching is a favorite technique of mine. 

I added the cat paw stamps in a few places just to emphasize that this is a layout of our cat. :)

Overall, this is a simple layout, but I love how it turned out. Thank you Paper Issues and Joefil for the inspiration.

I hope you all will come and play along at Paper Issues. 

Magical Fun: Let's Scrap Sketches Design Team

Hey friends!! It's time for another sketch reveal over at Let's Scrap Sketches!

Here is the sketch:

And here is my take on the sketch:

I decided for this sketch just to make a one page layout.

I used my Silhouette and a free cut file from Paper Issues to make my title, the arrow and the star. I found the Mickey head online and cut it on my Silhouette as well.

For the strips at the bottom of the page, I used a combination of washi tape, ribbon and patterned paper. I cut the yellow tickets out of a piece of paper as well.

I added  three embellishment clusters all featuring those adorable Mickey head shapes.

I added a few stickers in a couple of the clusters and some gems and enamel dots as well. I finished off my layout with some black Heidi Swapp 'Color Shine.'

I hope you enjoyed my take on the sketch and that you will join us at Let's Scrap to play along!!

Happy Girl: A 12 x 12 Scrapbook Layout

Have you ever used supplies on your scrapbook layouts that once were other products? For example, my sister brought me a Mother's Day gift in an adorable gift bag and it was stuffed with some super cute tissue paper. I knew right away that both of those would end up on a scrapbook layout...and here is that layout!

Those flowers came from the gift bag and those polka dot circles are the tissue paper!

I started this layout with a white American Crafts card stock. I used a circle template to trace the circles on my background. I then used distress inks in peacock feathers, picked raspberry, chipped sapphire, and festive berries. I simply smooshed some of the ink onto plastic packaging, added some water and the ink became like watercolor paint. I wanted my circles to have that watercolor look so you can see that some of the paint is outside of the lines. I also used a glimmer mist in copper for since the leaves and stems have the copper color. 

Once my paint was dry, I added the tissue paper circles using some soft gel matte medium. I then used a Heidi Swapp stencil and some modeling paste to add more texture to my circles. 

I fussy cut the flowers out of the gift bag and once my photo was in place, I added my floral pieces in my three areas.

For my title, the word 'happy' comes from the Jen Hadfield 'Homemade' sticker sheet and I cut the world 'girl' from pink card stock using my Silhouette. The font for the word girl is called Lemonade Tuesdays. 

I finished my embellishing using a few word label stickers and some puffy hearts.

I hope you enjoyed this layout and that you will think outside of the box when it comes to scrap-booking supplies.

Right Now: A 12 x 12 Layout

Does the first Saturday in May mean anything special to you? To me it's always National Scrapbook Day, which means lots of scrapping fun!!!

Scrapbook.com listed their National Scrapbook Day challenges last week, so I decided to get a headstart and play along.  I created this layout for their Mixed Media challenge:

I had a general layout idea in mind, so I laid out my photos where I wanted them and drew a few pencil marks so I could get my mixed done around the photos. My background paper is just white American Crafts card stock. I used a Tim Holtz plus sign stencil and some Artist Loft modeling paste as my first step. Once that was dry, I used Tim Holtz distress ink pads in the colors dried marigold, spiced marmalade and ripe persimmon. I smooshed some of the ink onto some packaging and added some water to make it more like paint. I also slightly misted my card stock in the area where I wanted the ink. Misting your card stock helps the medium flow down the page better. Then I simply started painting on the ink. I let it dry between each color so that the colors wouldn't become muddy. I also added in some splatters. I used watered down black paint for my black splatters. 

Once all of that was dry, I started my stamping. The big circles are made from the top of an empty paint tube. I just dabbed it onto a ink pad and made the circles. The small circles are from a straw. There are paint splatter, dots, diamonds, plus signs, lines and words all stamped on the background.  I used an archival ink for stamping so that it wouldn't smear if it got wet. 

The messy circle die cuts are a cut file from Paper Issues that I cut on black American Crafts card stock. 

I used some various washi tapes, enamel dots and  stickers from my stash.

The title is a chipboard sticker from the Dear Lizzy 'Hello' Thickers pack. 

I hope you have been inspired to 'get messy' and create a fun layout of your own. I also hope you find some time to enjoy National Scrapbook Day!!

Autumn Fun: Let's Scrap Sketches Design Team

Can you believe that it's already May? And May 1 brings us a new sketch over at Let's Scrap!

Here is the sketch:

And here is my take on the sketch:

I used mostly the "Hello Fall" collection from Simple Stories for my layout. I cut out the hexagons from one of the patterned papers to use on my two tags and then pieced them back together. 

I cut the leaves, branches and the You & Me on my Silhouette Portrait. I layered an orange and blue cut file up for the subtitle of my layout. 

These pictures are from 2005 so the quality isn't the best, but it's still a memory that I wanted to get documented.

For the yellow papers, I used a scalloped border punch from Fiskars and a notebook edge punch from EK Success to add some extra interest. 

All of the flowers as well as the stickers are from the "Hello Fall" collection.

I used some distress ink in Gathered Twigs to ink up my papers.

I hope you enjoy this layout and you will head over to Let's Scrap and play along.