A Productive Day!

Today was a productive one in terms of scrapbooking for me.  I created three different layouts, for three different events!  Hello!  I know people who spend an 8-hour crop on one layout!  No pressure, okay - but that is a bit too long!  No matter what you do, it can only be better than a plain, undocumented photo!  You can't go wrong in scrapbooking is my moto!  So don't obsess, if you aren't having fun why are you scrapbooking?

So yeah, I'm feeling good about doing a few layouts on a lazy Saturday, with an afternoon nap thrown in there to boot.

First, is a layout of my niece and I at Santa Fe Pride.  Unlike the Pride Parades in Washington, DC or Philadelphia, this one was so short I scrambled to get my camera out and didn't get any decent shots!  Too funny, I have to remember I'm not in a big city anymore!  But we still had some nice shots of us hanging around the plaza.  I used a My Mind's Eye collection, "Collectable," along with a chipboard butterfly, a bit of bling, and some random flowers from my stash.  The pictures are arranged in a pinwheel design, simple but cute.  One down!

Next up was a layout style that I don't usually do - the one photo.  The picture of my baby boy, Tyrone, was so cute that I had it printed as a 5x7 and felt it could handle the one photo per layout style.  Who only takes one photo of an event?  I don't like having to choose, that is why multi-photo layouts are my style of choice.  The single style works here, he is so cute right?  For this layout,

I used another My Mind's Eye collection, "Lush," which perfectly describes the elements of the collection.  The paper is thick and creamy, with a beautiful navy velvet design; and velvet rick rack ribbon.  I used some BasicGrey sticker letters from my stash to create the title, and outlined it with a navy glitter pen.  The swirls were cut with my Cricut, using the Art Philosophy cartridge.  That cartridge is the bomb, it is so versatile, I've used it to create accents for so many different layouts.  Two down!

My last layout of the day is a two-page spread, my personal favorite, with lots of photos!  I used BasicGrey's "Indie Bloom" collection for this layout and visited Pinterest for some sketch inspiration, man I love that site.  I found some old school BasicGrey velvet ribbon that I've hard for a long-time!  I love using old stash, but then I panic because I know that I probably won't find anymore of it!  These pics are from my good friend Ashley's graduation.  So proud of her.  This layout was done after my nap, sometimes you need to re-charge your creative batteries!  Third layout is the charm.

So yep, I spent my Saturday scrapping and napping, and I'm pretty excited about it!  Now I am sipping on a cocktail, listening to the PBS special about the Roosevelts, and writing this blog entry.  Cheers!

Walk On The Wild Side

I'm not a big card maker, however, I do enjoy making invitations.  And when my sister asked me to make invitations for her first grandchild's baby shower, with an animal theme, I was looking forward to a different project, since I usually stick to scrapbooking.

I did a lot of searching on pinterest, but couldn't really find anything that inspired me, which is unusual.  Everything was either too "cutesy" which is not my sister at all, or had to be done digitally, which I'm not into.  So, I hit the stores to get some inspiration, and not a lot of luck there either.  Michael's paper selection was "eh."  Nothing much animal themed at all and the one pack that was were pinks and purples, and they're having a boy.  What was going on?


In Joanne's I found some super cute, glittery giraffe washi tape which got me going.  Glittery without being girly.  I decided the rest of my supplies needed to have a more natural vibe.  Even though my sister wanted a animal/jungle theme, I didn't want animals on the invite, so I was really happy when I found zebra paper and rafia.  Finished up with some kraft envelopes from David Tutera that were on clearance for 50%.  Score.

I used some Making Memories glitter stickers from my stash for the word "wild" and some glittery thickers for the word "joy."  I outlined the small black words "we're" and "wild" with a white pen to make give them some definition on top of the patterned paper.

 The inside really pops!  I used a die from Art Gone Wild that creates these little pop-up templates for you.  My friend and fellow crafting buddy, La-Vie, and I attended a rubber stamp show last spring, taking a class from Art Gone Wild and used this tool to make super-cute birthday cards.  I immediately thought about using it for these invites because it really creates a unique look.  In class, we used plain white cardstock, for my little pop ups, I used a textured, colored paper, and I have to say, it was a little tricky finding the scored marks.  It worked, but in the future I'll use untextured paper.

I attached the word "boy" on each of my little pop up "trees," added some leaves I cut out with my Cricut, and tied on a bit of rafia.  As on the cover, I outlined the small black letters with a white pen, as well as the leaves.  I also lightly inked the card with some blue chalk ink.

My sister will fill in the bottom with the time and location of the shower, so I'm done!  I think they are awesome.  Contemporary, not cutesy, but still with a wild vibe. 

 

Twice the Fun

When I turned 40, my girls took me to Las Vegas to celebrate and we had a great time.  Afterwards, I wanted to create an album for each person of our time there.  Making 8 albums was a huge challenge.  It took forever, and I got burnt out doing the same photos 8 times.  I still have never done MY album from the trip... maybe when I turn 50.

My sister came to visit recently and we took some beautiful pictures of the fun times we had in New Mexico.  I didn't need to make 8 albums this time, only 2, but decided that I would do both albums at the same time.  This way I can get both albums done at the same time and not get burnt out.

My sister's page - using the Close to My Heart collection

First I separated my pics by each event/activity we did, making sure I had two of each photo.  Then I just grabbed a pile and got to work.  I went to Pinterest for my layout inspiration of course.  My sister likes earthy, toned down colors - I like bright and bold.  So even though I'm using the same photos and same sketch for each layout, I'm using different paper collections for each of us.

For my sister's layout, I used a great collection from Close to My Heart, called Balloon Ride, that my mother bought for me once she heard we were going on a hot air balloon.  The design and colors were perfect my for sister's taste and look great right?

Here is my page using BasicGrey

I used BasicGrey's "What's Up" collection for my layout.  The colors are a bit bolder, and I love it.  Plus I'm a BasicGrey ho... purchasing just about every collection they've ever had.  The paper is so smooth and thick and delicious.  I'm a BasicGrey hoarder, and not ashamed - so I'm happy I actually used it here!

Both layouts include metal corners on the photo, using We R Memory Keepers Main Squeeze - I love that thing and love that I've found tons of corners at Tuesday Morning for .99 a pack - hello!

I outlined all the photos and papers in black ink, and inked the edges of everything on my layout with a silver ink pad.  For my sister's layout I inked everything with blue.  There are also some super cute rub-ons on both layouts about the word "bucket."

We've always wanted to take a hot air balloon ride and it was awesome.  I used the title "Crossed Off the Bucket List" on both layouts, mixing up the fonts and using foam squares under the "crossed off" title.  Too fun.  Almost as fun as the balloon ride.

At this rate, I'll have both albums done in no time!

Doing My Own Challenge

Not doing any challenges today, except my own that is.  A co-worker, Terry, asked me to do a scrapbook for her of pictures from her son's wedding.  We're swapping craft skills - she is working on sewing some cushions for me.  Nothing like a good barter.

There aren't many pictures and they are all 4x6.  Terry had already purchased some scrap booking items from Michael's including the album and some green paper.  She also had some memorabilia from the wedding (invitation, seating cards, etc.) that I can incorporate into the album.

The challenge for me?  Terry leans towards simple, I love to bling it up!  The other issue is that since they're aren't a lot of photos, I would have to try to "stretch" out the album, so to speak, and use only one or two pics on most of the layouts, I'm not a big fan of that.

But I think I'm making it happen!  My first layout is a bit more my style, but I figured I could get it away with it since it is the opening layout and there is a page for the bridge and the groom.   I went simple on the next layout, I still feel like it is missing something, but I want her to make is personal so I will leave titles and journaling up to her which will help fill in some of the spots.

Two two-page layouts down, a few more to go.  Now I'm going to go work on a super loaded mini album to keep my creativity flowing!

Alpha Wars

I've got tons of letters, tons.  Even though I tell myself I don't need more letters or numbers, I still find myself buying them, especially if there is a good sale or clearance going on.  As many letters as I have, I often find when it comes time to do a project that I still don't have just the right type (not true, because I always find something that works - but it continues to drive my letter obsession), so I was ready to jump on the challenge from Lasting Memories, the challenge from the Challenge Hostess, Claire, is to use at least two types (pun intended) on the layout.  Besides the fact that this challenge site is about layouts only - no cards (yay!), this site is also awesome because you have all month long to enter all of the weekly challenges - no pressure is awesome.  I really "need" that prize pack Claire!

Easy.  I use this technique often so it was a no-brainer.   The subject of this page was the first snow of the season. I started with a BasicGrey doily in as the background, the flourishes reminded me of snow.  I then used a few sheets from Crate Paper's Random collection, another one of my favorite collections.  I know I say that every blog post, clearly there is a paper obsession as well as a letter obsession - but seriously, I do love the Random collection.

The word "SNOW" was created using some seriously glittery chipboard letters from K & Co.  There is glitter every where now but I'm cool with that.  See how I used a chipboard snowflake for the "o" - cute right?  "Days" was created using some vinyl Thickers.  Throw some "ice" around the page and we're done.  Yeah, it is simple, but sometimes simple is good.

Early Spring with Lasting Memories

Another 2-page layout done thanks to the Lasting Memories scrapbook challenge blog - all layouts all the time!  



The theme - Early Spring.  The challenge: use a flower.  My theme isn't exactly springy - the colors may be, but the pics are from the holidays.  Since I don't do traditional green and red for my holiday decor these colors worked great.

This is a layout using Basic Grey's Sweet Threads (I think, maybe it is the Hello Luscious collection - I love both lines).  It was part of a class I took from Shelby of Embellish It! at a CKC convention a few years ago (finally finished it!).  She always does two-pagers, and like me she is a firm believer in the more than one pic per page philosophy.  I always enjoy Shelby's classes, if CKC comes to your area, do yourself a favor and take one of her classes.  She is positive and funny.  

The flowers I used are canvas fabric from the same BasicGrey line, I frayed the edges by just pulling on them a bit with my fingers nails, and then inked them.  I layered them with some paper flowers and buttons.  The layout is finished off with some bling; some blue felt Making Memories letters and green Thickers numbers make the title.

Cheers!

For my second submission to Lasting Memorie's food and beverage challenge, I focused on my other not-guilty pleasure - martinis.  Nope, not the classic, nope not with gin.  But fruity ones (not apple though, yuck) with vodka.  I do love a good ginger martini, but my favorite is pomegranate or some combination there of.  Yes, you "true" martini lovers can say I'm not really drinking a martini, but whatever!  Olives or onions in my beverage?  Yuck.  Or the chocolate ones... yuckers.

Besides celebrating with martinis (like in this photo of my BFF's 40th birthday), I make martinis at home all the time.  I've got my special concoctions that are oh so tasty.  My son always loves it when I'm having a party or people over because it is "Martini Time" as he likes to say... he got pretty good at mixing them up too.  I've learned that ice cold vodka and a chilled glass make it perfection.

The paper collection I used was Authentique, and like a good martini, Authentique's paper is rich and rewarding.  So thick and luxurious, I love rubbing my hands over it.  Don't judge.  I used a combination of paper strips and ribbon, cute right?  Cheers!