Two layouts for the gift album

I made two layouts last night for an album I started for our niece who turns one tomorrow. I only have four layouts in there, but I will add as time goes on. I used sketches for both of these layouts. Sadly, I cannot remember who made this sketch or where I found it, so if you recognize it, please let me know so I can give appropriate credit to the artist. If it is yours, please accept my apologies in advance for this oversight.

I have blurred the faces to protect the innocent and because I haven't received permission from the subjects to publish their image. I worked with Pink Paislee papers, Bazzil card stock, Jenni Bowlin banner stickers, and a Dear Lizzy journaling tag. The burlap flower, (LOVE it!!!), is K& Co with a Jenni Bowlin chipboard button, Heidi Swap bling, and some ribbon and yarn scraps. The chipboard "Love" sticker is something I don't recall and the gold coin is from Monterey's Cannery Row. The yellow dot ribbon and the funky green fiber are from my stash and I haven't a clue where I found them.

I really liked the simplicity of this sketch. I knew that I could put some busy patterned paper in it and it would speak volumes. This was not the paper I had in mind, but as quick as this layout came together and as much as I love the end result, that is all the matters.

Look at all that yummy color! K&Co patterned paper, Thickers alphas, Dear Lizzy ribbon, and My Mind's Eye die cut flower and acrylic overlay. The two yellow roses are made from the Dear Lizzy sticky back canvas paper and the longest strip behind the photo is the bottom edge from a Sassafras Lass paper that I had cut off on another project. The other strip is something I received in a RAK and the rick rack, which is one of my all time favorite fibers EVER, is May Arts, I *think* or possibly Maya Road. I have just a little bit left and would love to find a bunch more of it. It has the best texture, weight, and color saturation.

Hope you are getting your craft on today!

A picture heavy post

Here is what I have been up to for the last two days.

The top photo is of stamps sets that I have been trying to organize and catalog and the bottom one is of inks, embossing powders, and extras. I was generously gifted with an incredible stamp collection over the weekend and I have been integrating it.

Now, on the crafty side, here is a LO I did last night. I had to use the Martha Stewart butterfly punch.

I canNOT wait to see this little girl soon! It will be the first time we have met in person, but I am already madly in love.

Last but not least, I promised to show you more of the inside of the Eclipse mini featuring the Punky Sprouts album. 

Okay, back to those stamps!

Eclipse Mini!

Here are a few pages of the Eclipse mini I just finished using the Punky Sprouts album from my June For The Luv Of Art kit. I LOVE how this turned out!!! I made some new flowers for this book, using a scalloped punch and the paper towel I used to wipe up the excess Glimmer Mist every time I sprayed something for the book. I also made my own masks for the pages.

This is just a sneak peek because as I was going through the pictures, I noticed a few pages needed something more, so I am going to return this to the scrap room to further embellish those pages I overlooked and then I will show the entire book.

I used the kid's meal toys that I have collected from Burger King to further embellish the album.

Beware! I even journaled in this book!

So there are some sneak shots! I will be back Sunday to post the rest! I am off to the Central Valley of California, where I will be dealing with 101 degree temperatures! Whew! Have a great weekend!

A first!

I have never done a Fourth of July layout before, which is odd, since I am a huge fan of Americana patterns and colors. Pink Paislee's Starlight line, Maya Road's new Star Trinket Pins, and these photos of my niece in red, white, and blue finally changed that. I had started this layout last week, but wasn't really feeling the design, so I set it aside. I am so glad I did. Paper Poppy Kit Co announced their sketch of the month and it was perfect! I wasn't really looking to play in a challenge, but this sketch spoke to me.

I played with two patterns from the Starlight line and added a sheet of yellow Bazzill dotted card stock. There is also 7Gypsies gaffer tape, Pink Paisless Starlight sticker banner, Thickers gold letters, and Jenni Bowlin sticker letters and stars.

I colored the Maya Road Star Trinket pins with Copic and Stickles, then added them to the MS rosettes and a random piece of left over ribbon to make a bunting like embellishment. The "4" card is something I won in a RAK and I love how it looks with some yellow My Little Shoebox letters.

The bling on the rosettes is from a Melody Ross/ GCD Studios kit that happened to be laying on my desk while I was making this. 

Ahh..some dimension! Makes me so happy! 

I am going to journal the tags with "yesterday," "today," and "tomorrow" themes, telling Miss Cady-bird about the sacrifices of generations before us, what we have today, and what I hope her tomorrow brings in the Land of the Free. 

Summer of Unfinished Business

That is what I am calling one of my new endeavors. I have a ton of projects floating around the house that are in some state of completion, but haven't attained the "Finished" seal of approval yet. So, my idea is that this summer, for every new project I start, (layouts excluded), I must finish one of the unfinished ones.

Since I started a new mini over the weekend, I decided I needed to pull out a project that has been hanging around the studio since last fall. I am happy to say I completed it, finally! While I cannot show you the pictures of the project without some distortion for my own protection, I will tell you that it is two 5x7 canvases that I painted, then Modge Podged the background onto, I used sticky back canvas for my subjects, old lace, dyed and Glimmer Misted around the edges, a bat beaded strip of decorative embellishment ribbon, and the inspiration that started it all is the Buzz and Bloom flower strip along the bottom.

Last summer I was looking at this strip in it's raw chipboard like form, wondering how to use it when my genius mother mentioned they reminded her of a certain film I loved as a child and the inspiration hit. The canvases and the flowers sat in my studio, painted and waiting all fall, winter, and spring while I tried to pretend they weren't there.

Sunday, I got to work and finished them this afternoon. They are a pair, meant to hang side by side, and they are also a gift for a dear lady who also loves this film. I am pretty keen on how they turned out and hope that she likes them as much as I do.

Now, I do not have to pretend to ignore this project. It will soon be on its way to a new home, in all its finished glory. Sadly, this is a small step on the list of unfinished projects, but it is a step. I will be back later with photos of the mini album that I completed. The Stickles needed to dry and now it is way dark. 

Eclipse VIP night & IMAX opening day

So, in case you hadn't heard, Eclipse, the third installment in the Twilight Saga movies based on the books by Stephanie Meyer debuted last night. To 7 million people. Yes, it broke some sort of record. And, I was a part of it last night and today. Thanks to having a very lucky friend who won VIP passes to an early special premiere, I was able to watch New Moon at 6:00pm on the big screen and then Eclipse at 9:00pm. I cannot tell you how excited I was. Maybe this photo will give you an idea.

Yes, I went full Wolf Pack. Well, I guess full would have to been to wear a furry suit, but I was close. One of my besties was a vampire for the evening, sporting her incredible red eyes and awesome Volturi

costume. 

Hottie, isn't she? We had to show off our chosen sides and we went to all lengths. ;P

Gold eyes, my friends, gold eyes. It was so awesome to dress up and watch this with my friends and all the fans who were so excited they couldn't contain their squeals, screams, and gasps. I know that their fanaticism isn't for some, but to me, it is all part of the experience. So were these guys.

And, no my hands were not THERE. Then today, we headed over to the IMAX theater in our "regular" street clothes to see it again on the massive screen.

I love this movie! It is the best of the three and I KNOW I will be seeing it again in the theater at least once more. And, I will be eagerly awaiting it's release on DVD. What a great 24 hours!!!

Back to creating tomorrow. Tonight, it is time to reflect on the six hours of yummy movie- goodness that I have greedily consumed. With my focus on one hot wolf.

One productive night!

Finally, I was able and willing to create last night. Not sure what is up with these dry spells, but they are not making me happy. Anywhoo, I made two cards, two layouts, and a tag. The cards and layouts were for challenges on the Scrap-Friendzy link and I was about 2 weeks behind, but the point was that I did them and they were fun.

First are the cards. Everyone needs birthday cards on hand so I whipped up these two. The challenge was to use your scraps, no new sheets of paper. Since I have an overflowing box of scraps, this wasn't too hard. I added the Greeting Farm stamps, because, seriously, how can you not love these little people?

Inside the Alice card and the tag I made in case I need to tag a gift. (I really wanted to use this stamp. It cracks me up every time I see it.)

Obviously, whoever I decide to send the Alice/Jasper card to will have to be a fan of Twilight or they won't get it, but that is okay. 

My layout is for the Nature challenge and it had to include a shade of green, two kinds of flowers, and a bird and/or butterfly. I used photos of three of my favorite scrapbook artists that I have been able to meet in person. I also used mostly Sassafras Lass for this layout because I had received the Vintage Yummy kit from Crafty Steals and it was sitting on my desk calling to me. The crochet flower is from an old cardigan I found at the Salvation Army. 

If life gives you "Lemmons,"

you should consider yourself DAMN lucky!!!

That was the stroke of genius that came to me last weekend regarding this picture of our dear friend, Tracy and her lovely mom. As I am sure you can surmise, their last name is Lemmon and she loves anything that refers to lemons, so I built this layout around that and my new Tracy-slogan.

Patterned paper is BG's Nook and Pantry, bling lemons are from their Bling It! line, there is a piece of lime Pink Paislee pleated ribbon overlaid with some Nikki Sivils gingham ribbon and burlap covered buttons, three Nikki Sivils heart tabs above the photo, AC Thickers, MM journal block cut in half, Jenni Bowlin buttons with yellow bling, and some Art Life flowers. The two crochet flowers were cut off of an atrocious cardigan I found at the Salvation Army for $2.00. It yielded a bunch of these flowers, pearls, hot pink buttons, and a pair of crocheted cherries. Plus, I saved someone from possibly ever actually wearing that atrocity in public. Cute embellishments and saving the fashion world? All in a day's work, my friends, all in a day's work. ;-P

Flower clouds and cupcake blossoms

I had a dream. No, seriously, I did, and this is what I dreamt about.

This is my canvas set that I created in honor of my friend Daniela's new artistic endeavor, The Art Life Flower Shop. I wanted a way to showcase as many of her beautiful flowers as possible on one project and this was my brain's answer.

I started with two My Mind's Eye canvases that I found at Michael's and layered what I call a paint wash until I reached the desired look of a rainy sky. To add a little bit of sparkle, I spritzed it with Marshmallow Glimmer Mist. I took a piece of 12x12 paper and sketched my pictures out on each side, then used carbon paper to trace my designs onto the canvas. The base of the clouds, the hills, the little girl, and her dog are all paint, with the exception of her coat which is a piece of scrap fabric, (actually from an old Christmas ornament!!!), and the shiny umbrella and boots it Glossy Accents over yellow paint.

To fill the clouds, I cut the stems off of a bunch of The Art Life Flowers, then swirled Fabri-Tac on my cloud shapes and began filling them in with the flowers. I started with the larger flowers and then worked my way to the small posies to fill in any spaces I didn't like. The rain drops are self adhesive bling strips.

I punched the cupcakes with an EK Success punch and added the little touches of bling or drawing sprinkles with a marker. I highlighted them with different color paint and some Stickle grass. I drew the features and outline of the girl and dog with a fine tipped Sharpie marker. 

Lastly, I ran some fun rainbow ribbon around the outer edges, adhering with the ever useful Fabri-Tac. I loved making this set and while I haven't decided where they will hang permanently, their temporary place over the bed is working out just fine. 

One of the questions I was asked yesterday when I showed this pair off at the LSS was how much did I invest in flowers? The inquirer was under the impression that I had spent A LOT of money to make such a project. That is not the case. While I used about four packages per color and size for this project, The Art Life's flowers are very inexpensive, none of them over $2.00 for a package. How is that for great value? Want to know more about these great blossoms? They were also featured on The Scrap Review, where Paula Gilarde made an adorable project with them that I SO wish I had thought of!

Getting funky!

The layout below must be my funkiest to date. While the end result is pretty and girly, the process wasn't. This is one of those projects I dreamt about and then tried to recreate in reality and I am happy with it. First, I splatter painted the hot pink card stock. Not a new technique, but the first time I have done it. Then I cut the four strip of gray, heat embossed that awesome wood grain stamp on them, and distressed the edges. My final unique touch was the twigs. I soaked them in bleach water just in case of bugs and once dry, covered them in two coats of glitter Modge Podge. The phrase block and the pink phrase chipboard stickers are from the awesome Melody Ross, Homespun Chic, the roses are from The Art Life, and the pink flocked paper for the two mats is scraps of Doodlebug.

This layout was so close to fitting a recipe challenge at Scrap-Friendzy, so I added the last two required ingredients. The journaling spot under the photo and the word rub ons in the grain of the gray strips. I wanted the words to look like they were a part of the grain, either as if someone had carved them or nature was giving us messages.

I also finished a canvas project that I have been working on for two months, but it is an entry for a design team and I have asked them if I can post it prior to the end of the team call. If they say yes, then I will have it to show you too.

Kicking butt and taking names...

First name I took would be Migraine. Despite having a doosey yesterday, I finally surfaced last night and was still able to pull out two layouts and a mini hanging. I seem to be a on a kick of those lately. The first layout is for the Scrap-Friendzy Archery Challenge. The layout had to include three circle elements and an arrow. I used random family shots from the recent gathering in April.

Second is the mini wall hanging. I made one of these a while back, but am submitting it to be published so I can't share it yet. I was so enamored with the original that I had to make a second one, this time focusing on my Grandma as the subject. I used the Melissa Frances vintage postcard book as the base, (I LOVE this book, FYI. So much possibility), Melissa Frances element at the top and some of her and Heidi Swap's chandelier crystals. There is a Melody Ross inspiration card, The Art Life roses and collage words, Tim Holtz memo pin, Making Memories stick pin, Jenni Bowlin buttons, Basic Grey pearls, and vintage daisy jewelry and lace.

I love this. This is totally my style and it was so fun to put together. Most of these items were purchased at The Art Life Shop, in case you want to make your own. Now let's see what TODAY holds for me. Definitely not a headache.

Migraine-1, Lora-0

Ugh. I love starting the day with a headache, especially a migraine. It so doesn't seem fair, you don't even get a fighting chance. My plans for today were to work on the project I started last night and to knock out some fun challenges I am participating in, all while listening to the new Eclipse movie soundtrack. Instead, the Migraine pulled a TKO on me and I have been on the couch with the blinds drawn and no sound for most of the day. I hope that the dinner I just got together will be done in time for actual dinner or we may be going out tonight and having it tomorrow. I really would like to go play in the studio, but right now it is still touch and go.

Luckily, I did get this little project put together last night. It was one of those things where I was moving some embellies around and I happened to toss them next to a different set of embellies and a lightbulb went off in my head, "Hey, I wonder if..." Well, I wondered right. The Webster's Fabric Fancy DOES fit perfectly in a Maya Road Mega Bottle Cap. And if I add a Prima rose, some Art Life roses, a Tim Holtz charm, three random chandelier crystals, some plastic dew drops, peacock feathers, and a thrift store beaded necklace, I WILL get this pretty and unique wall hanging. Ta-Da!

Funny how those things work. I think I may have to make some more of these as gifts. I know Webster's has Christmas Fabric Fancies that might be really cute in a Mega Cap. Oh, the possibilities.

Likes and dislikes

You know what I like? Sunshine, a good cup of coffee, time in my scrap studio, the smell of a new book, creative inspiration from my friends, laughing. Pretty simple pleasures. You know what I don't like? HOA's, ridiculous rules, sneaky stalkers, double standards, one dimensional people. These little irritants are like sand in your bikini bottom. They rub you till you are raw and want to vow never to go to the beach again. And, for the most part, they are unnecessary, that is the biggest irritant of all.

Now for more chipper topics because in all honesty, I feel great this morning, sand or no sand. I spent SIX hours in the studio last night and I created for me. You know those moments where you just go and let yourself out on whatever medium in front of you? That feels amazing. I completed one layout and one tag and I need to print journaling for the second layout. After I was done, I realized that I do not stamp as often as I should, because I love it and all the possibilities of it. I also realized that while blue and green are two of my all time favorite colors, I don't focus on them in my art very often.

This layout is one that I had already started sketching in my head when I got the hot air balloon from a RAK I won at For The Love of Art (FTLOA). When I purchased the Prima roses on Saturday, read the weekly challenge at FTLOA and the C-A-M-P-E-R challenge at Scrap-Friendzy, it all fell into place. That is another thing I like, when the idea becomes reality with little to no issue.

This week's challenge at FTLOA is to use paint, glimmer sprays, ink, etc to a project. Here I used Glimmer Mist on the doily punch strips and on the background of the card stock, though it doesn't really show in the photo. Scrap-Friendzy is hosting this awesome event called Camp-Friendzy, which is a scrapping based online "camp" running this summer. There are weekly projects, badges to earn, games to play, etc. One of the first challenges was to create a project using the recipe below.

C- Card stock (I used Co'redinations for the base and cs for the punches and stamped title)

A- Use the word "adore," "admire," "amaze," or "awesome" in the title

M- Use metal on the LO (the bling brads in the center of the hydrangeas and under the title)

P- Use a punch or punches on the page (LOVE that MS doily border punch!)

E- Emboss an element of the page ("adored" in title)

R- Use ribbon (anchored the photo)

Head over and check out both Scrap-Friendzy and FTLOA. Both are wonderful communities full of very talented and inspiring people. 

The photo is of my grandmother and her father. I never knew him, he died shortly before I was born, but I know my grandmother thought he was one of the greatest people to ever be on this Earth and that speaks volumes to me. She called him "daddy" her whole life and while that usually kind of creeps me out, when she said it, I wasn't. There was a different reverence in her voice. I wish I had been able to know him.

This second little project is a tag. I wanted to try out the new Chalkboard Glimmer Mist I got on Saturday, so I made this little guy.

 

I pulled out some Crafty Secrets stamps that I have never used and when I looked at the finished product, I wondered why I don't stamp more. I love them and all that you can do with them, but I just don't reach for them very often. I am going to make a point of changing that. The blue section of the tag is the Chalkboard Glimmer, but I think I made a mistake of wiping it before I allowed it to chalk up. Still, I love this little guy and will have to add it to a LO in the future. 

HAPPY NSBD!!!

Yay!!! A day devoted to this wonderful creative quest. I agree with Gretchen McElveen who says she thinks we should get gifts for this day. Maybe I can do that with my dear husband. Today is also National Comic Book Day, so if I buy him a comic, maybe I can convince him to buy my scrappy purchase? {I think I would come out with the better deal there.}

So in honor of this wonderful holiday, I am getting a trip to my favorite scrapbook store, Scrapbook Territory, in Berkeley and then coming home to work on some more Cricut projects. I wanted to share with you a layout that I made recently. I love the Melody Ross collections from GCD Studios and this particular piece of paper was so pretty in itself that I didn't need to add too many embellies. I did add some Dear Lizzy crochet flower, an AC badge, a Wise Words sticker from GCD, and my all time favorite embellishment right now, some Art Life flowers. The alphas/numbers are from AC as well.

Oh, there is a butterfly and phrase piece from K & Company. I think it is important to take "snapshots" of where we are or what we love at this moment in life. It is fun to look back at these type of layouts and recall what things we had to have. My top six right now are home decorations with birds on them, costume jewelry and the new open way I have to display my collection, all the new books I have acquired regarding cooking and art, the clothing trend that is so feminine and pretty right now, and my running sneaks and iPod. 

Have a fabulous day and I hope you find time to create!