Cousins and Friends- An 8.5 x 11 Scrapbook Layout

Last weekend Paper Issues had an online crop in their Facebook group. It was such much fun with lots of challenges, games and even some prizes were given away. And two lucky people will win gift cards to the store by just playing along. 

One of the challenges they had was called 'Spring Cleaning' and it was all about using up those older products. This is the layout I created for that challenge. 

I dug through my scrap box and found papers in teal/aqua, green and yellow. I went through all of my boxes of embellishments and pulled out coordinating products as well. I cut the papers into circles using my Creative Memories circle templates and cutting mat. The background wood grain  paper is from a Die Cuts with a View paper pad called 'DIY project stack-mini albums'. It was a full 12x12 sheet that I just trimmed down to 8.5 x 11. Once I had the circles cut out, I just placed them fairly evenly on my background paper, trying to vary the colors. 

I wanted to get my title in place before I started adding the embellishments, so I stamped it out using the 'Jen' stamp set that was created by Jen Schow for Felicity Jane. I used some Heidi Swapp ink in teal and fussy cut it out. Once I  had my title in place, I started embellishing. These embellishments are from many different companies and some of them I've had for so long that I don't even know who made them. 

 

There are a few from the 'Posh' collection from Simple Stories. I believe that ampersand is from the new Paige Evans 'Oh My Heart' collection.

  There are a few things from Elle's Studio and that cute enamel heart in the middle of the camera is from Pink Fresh Studio. 

I used some enamel dots from my stash and that cute puffy heart on the cloud is Recollections brand from Michael's. 

I wrote my journaling on some strips of white paper and cut it out and added it to the bottom of my page. 

I hope this layout will inspire you to use your scraps and maybe next time you will join the crop over at Paper Issues. 

Simply Magical: An 8.5 x 11 Scrapbook Layout

Do you drink coffee? Personally, I LOVE coffee! It's one of my love languages. Buy me coffee and we can be instant best friends! ;)

On this layout, I wanted to document how magical coffee is. Honestly, I don't 'need' coffee to survive the day. I truly enjoy the taste. And if you look closely at my coffee cup, you will see an adorable unicorn poking out, which makes my coffee experience even better. Unicorns RULE!!

I started this layout on a piece of white card stock that I bought at Hobby Lobby.  I used two different washi tapes from my stash. I have so much washi tape (um, like 400+ rolls) that I have no clue where these two came from! I used a piece of scrap paper and an EK Success border punch to make the cute scalloped border. 

I then decided to do a little mixed media around my photo area. I used Tim Holtz Distress inks for this. I used the colors Abandoned Coral and Cracked Pistachio. I rubbed the colors separately onto some clear packaging, added a bit of water and simply 'smooshed' the color onto the paper. I dried the first color before adding the next just so they wouldn't mix together. I did a little splattering of black Heidi Swapp Color Shine as well.

I used a stamp set called Coffee Lovers to stamp the word coffee up and down the center area of the layout. That stamp is made by Joy Clair and I bought it from Simon Says Stamp. I stamped that using some Ranger Archival Ink in black. The two coffee cups on each side above the title were also stamped using this same stamp set and the same ink. I colored the hearts in the center using the distress inks mentioned above. I placed those on some fun foam to give them some dimension and so they would be the same height at the puffy coffee cup in the center. That coffee cup is from Freckled Fawn and I simply adore those stickers!!

For my title I used the Charming Thickers and my Jen Schow hand lettering stamps that I bought from Felicity Jane.   I stamped 'magical' onto some scrap card stock in that same Ranger ink and fussy cut around the word. I love those hand lettering stamps because that is one talent I do not have!! 

For the black hearts on my layout, I used a stencil from Echo Park and some Heidi Swapp Metallic Texture paste in black. After the hearts were dry, I used white embroidery floss to stitch around each one. 

My photo is matted on a piece of white card stock and then onto a black and white stripped paper from Bella Blvd. The green 'this right here' sticker is from Freckled Fawn.  I made a label using an EK Success label punch to add to the side of the photo. I stamped 'I love you lots' on the label using a Dear Lizzy roller stamp. The black puffy heart is from Bella Blvd. as well. 

I hope you enjoyed seeing this layout and maybe it will inspire you to document those 'simply magical' things in your life.

Making Mini Pizzas-Let's Scrap Design Team Sketch

Have you joined us over at Let's Scrap yet?? If not, come on over. Today we have a new sketch and you could win a great prize!!

Here is the new sketch for March 15:

And here is my take on the sketch:

 These are some older pictures of my boys making mini pizzas. I didn't have a lot of pizza themed embellishments so I turned to the Silhouette Design Store. I found this adorable pizza chef and a piece of pizza. I cut them out using my Silhouette Portrait and then colored them using Zig Clean Color Brush Markers. I love how they turned out. 

Just look at that adorable little pizza chef!! :)  The stamps that spell out "YUM" are from Joann's and are made by Ms. Sparkle and Co. Paperie. They were $1.99 and work great for the price. I stamped the words using some Ranger Archival ink in black. 

I used one sheet of patterned paper from the new Amy Tan On A Whim collection. That pizza print paper was perfect. I used a Fiskars scalloped border punch to add some interest to the paper. 

I used some really old Making Memories alphas and some Thickers to make my title. I'm glad to use up some older products that I've had forever. I also used the little pizza puffy sticker from Amy Tan to dot the 'i' in the word pizzas!

I was also excited to be able to use this 'toppings on my pizza' card from Elle's Studio. I received it in a grab bag that I bought during her Black Friday sale. I just listed the ingredients  the boys used on their pizzas. 

With the remaining patterned paper, I fussy cut the pizzas from it and used some embroidery thread to make  a cute border to span across both pages. I gave the pizzas some dimension by using some fun foam under them. I used a few tabs from Bella Blvds. Alex collection as well. They were the perfect fit!

I used some black Nuvo Crystal Drops as a finishing touch. 

I hope you enjoyed my take on the sketch. Now come on over and play along!!

Let's Get Sketchy Design Team Call

Let's Get Sketchy  is having a Design Team Call. Head over to their blog and check it out. Below is the sketch that you have to use to create a layout from for their call.

Applications will be accepted through March 23, so enter now!!

Exciting News!!!

I've got some exciting news to share!!

I am now on the Let's Scrap Sketches Design Team!! Let's Scrap is a great sketch blog. All of their sketches are double pages but you can adapt them to fit your style, which is why I love sketches. Another bonus is that if you link up your layout, you have the chance to win some great prizes. For the March 1st sketch, you could win a $30 gift card to Scrapbook Circle.  Sketches are released on the 1st and 15th of each month. Come on over and play along with us.

Here is the sketch for March 1:

Here is my take on the sketch:

All of the beautiful flowers are from the Shimelle Starshine collection. I fussy cut them out of a piece of patterned paper. I added some dimension to some of them using some fun foam, which you can find  at your local craft store or even at Wal-Mart. The patterned paper that I cut into the banner strips are also from the Starshine collection. The circular patterned paper is from the Pink Paislee Moonstruck collection. 

I used the beautiful Darling Thickers for the bigger words in my title. The small alphas are from the Gather collection by Maggie Holmes   

The globe in the center of the four pictures was also fussy cut. 

I added several embellishments from the Starshine collection including some stickers, acetate pieces and word labels. 

I finished up the embellishing but using some gold Nuvo Crystal Drops, some stamping in a few places and some Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Gold Lame. 

Thanks for stopping by my blog and I hope you will join us over at Let's Scrap!!

You Make My Heart Skip a Bark: A 12 x 12 Scrapbook Layout

Do you have pets that you scrap about? We have an adorable but mischievous dog named Dexter and an ornery cat named Brownie, that I occasionally scrap about. This layout features that cute dog.  He's seriously so cute and spoiled rotten. 

I started with the idea of using a heart on this layout and it kind of morphed into stitching around the heart and making it look like a scalloped heart. I absolutely love how this layout turned out though. I used the 'Fur Fusion Soup' collection from Jillibean Soup and a few items from the 'Bark' collection by Echo Park. 

I cut out the heart by hand and used different patterned papers from the collection to make strips across the heart. I doodled around the edges of the heart and inked it lightly using Tim Holtz 'Distress Ink' in Tea Dye. I then traced around the heart and stitched into the card stock using some embroidery floss from DMC. To make the scalloped look, I simply punched some circles using a circle punch and then cut them in half. I placed them around the edge of the stitching and lifted up the edges of the scallops to give some dimension and to create a shadow. 

I used some of the embellishments from the 'Fur Fusion' collection to create an adorable little scene on the heart. I placed the dog house and the dog up on some fun foam for some dimension and added the banner under that cluster to act as a 'resting place' for the embellishments. I used Nuvo Crystal drops in gloss white to add some interest as well. I used those same drops on my title, the banner and the larger hearts. 

I created a cluster of embellishments at the top of the layout using a die cut label that I cut into a banner. I also used my banner punch by The Paper Studio to create another banner. I added in a button from my stash as well a heart from the collection. 

I created several clusters of embellishments around the layout including one on top of and beside my  photo. I did add in an enamel dot to each cluster as well. 

I typed my journaling on my computer, cut it into strips and placed it at the top and bottom to help balance out the layout. 

I hope this layout will inspire you to scrap about your pets.

Sheetz Nachos: A 12 x 12 Scrapbook Layout

Do you use sketches when you scrapbook? I personally love to use sketches as it takes some of the guess work out of scrapping. There are several websites that offer free sketches. One of my favorites is Page Maps and there are a ton of sketch inspirations on Pinterest. 

I used a sketch for this layout from Stuck! Sketches. They have a blog and an Instagram if you interested in playing along with them.

The sketch called for a long title, so I knew exactly what photo I wanted to scrap. My son Xander loved to eat but nachos were one of his very favorites. For MONTHS, I heard him talk about the wonderful nachos at Sheetz. I just knew those nachos were going to be amazing. But when I took him to our local Sheetz,soon after they opened, I realized those AMAZING nachos were actually nothing special!!  They were the same nachos you could get at any baseball field. But he didn't care. He loved nachos of any kind and he was thrilled to finally get some from Sheetz. 

I used some large alphas that I picked up from Target a few months back. I traced the letters on my patterned  papers from my scrap bin and cut them out. I wanted the title to stand out a bit more, so I hand stitched around all of the letters. Hand stitching does take time, but I love the look of it. 

Before doing the stitching, I used some water colors and some Tim Holtz Distress inks to make a water colored look on my background. I just put  the distress ink on some plastic packaging, added a little water and pressed the color onto my card stock. I did the same thing with the water color paint. I used some Heidi Swapp 'Color Shine' in navy to make some splatters as well. I love how the color behind the title makes it pop even more and it's such a fun technique. 

The 'Good Times' card that I purchased from Elle's Studio was a perfect addition to my layout. The color matched perfectly and well, the saying did too!

I stamped the banner on the card using Tim Holtz 'Distress Ink' in the color Chipped Sapphire with a Pink Fresh Studio stamp.  I added the 'Right Now' rubber charm on the top. I purchased that charm from Freckled Fawn. 

I also added in a few labels from Elle's Studio. Elle's Studio has amazing grab bags on Black Friday and I stocked up this past year. 

I added in a few stars in three places around my layout. The small stars were made using a punch and I just traced and cut out the larger stars. The letters that spell 'Sheetz' are from Studio Calico. 

All of the papers I used on this layout are really old bits and pieces from my scrap drawer. The paper with the stars is a new paper from the Bella Blvd. collection called 'Oh My Stars.' 

I hope this layout will inspire you to use a sketch and make it into your own.