Remember: Webster's Pages Citrus Squeeze Layout

Today I have my second layout for The Scrapbooking Studio to share with you!  The colors of this line were a perfect match for these photos!

Tips:

-Cutting big circles out of your patterned paper is a great way to add flow to your layout

-Using loose twine that loops throughout your layout is a favorite trick of mine - made easier by tucking it under things to hold it in place, staples, and/or small dots of glue.  When using small dots of liquid glue toothpicks are the easiest way I have found to apply it and keep glue from going everywhere.

Techniques:  

-Tucking your pictures into elements is a great way to be able to make both those elements and the pictures pop.

-When you fussy cut flowers you can easily add a free form leaf.  If you fold that leaf in half it gives added dimension.

-Not sure how to use those new straws that are trending?  I cut mine down and used them under my title that otherwise might blend in!

The Story:

Four years ago we lost a baby.  At the time Timmy was just 4 years old and Lucy had just turned two.  One of the things we did to give us a tangible memory of this time and losing him was to plant a tree.  It is located in a spot where we can see it right out of our kitchen window.  Each spring it blooms with beautiful white flowers.  This year I took a picture of just the two kids by it (I'm hoping to actually do this each year) around the time we lost him.  Just another part of healing for me and remembering how precious life is.  One of the things I love about these pictures is the joy you can see in the picture together.  Something about that just makes me happy - even in the midst of a sad memory!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Webster's Pages

Stickers: American Crafts

Straws: Queen and Co.

Blog hop winner

 Joefil said...

Adorable layout! love the background!

August 23, 2013 at 5:39 PM

 

 to the winner of the ribbon from the blog hop!  Email me at practicalscrappers@gmail.com and I will get the ribbon sent your way!

Webster's Pages Citrus Squeeze Layout

This month I had the opportunity to work with the Citrus Squeeze line from Webster's Pages for both my design team work and a class at The Scrapbooking Studio. It's a fun line full of bright colors and cheerful patterns.  I put my Christine spin on it and here's my first layout for the store!  And for those of you who are regualar followers here, I'm setting up a new format to my blog posts.  Each post, I will highlight Tips, Techniques, The Story, and Supplies Used.

Tips:

-The base for this page was one of "those" papers...you know the kind that already has a big, pretty design printed on it and you aren't sure how to work around it without covering it up.  I decided to offset my pictures from it and play off the colors from the flowers.  

-I also went with black and white photos so that the pictures wouldn't be overwhelmed with the colors of the layout.  

-These pictures were taken on a very humid day and came out a little foggy because of it.  When I changed them to black and white I was pleased with the clarity and they became much more usable!

Techniques:

-Layers of patterned paper are the perfect way to add in color to layouts.  I add adhesive only under the middle of my photo matts.  That way I can slide small pieces of patterned paper underneath to create layers.  

-If you feel like your layout needs more pop, use a black pen to do some outlining and/or doodling.  It adds an extra touch to a layout that makes it one of a kind!

The Story:

My little boy Cooper absolutely loves his friend Hannah.  They have so much fun together, she bosses him around and he listens and loves it.  I often refer to them as an "old married couple." I was trying to get a cute picture of them together and they kept posing all silly.

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Webster's Pages

Wood: Studio Calico

Black Pen: Uniball Signo

Stickers: American Crafts

Clean & Simple Boy Cards

I have three sons.  Words I never thought I'd say.  As much as I enjoy scrapping girl stuff, I am constantly playing around with boy stuff to see how I incorporate fun techniques and such.  Today I have a couple of clean and simple cards to share with you that I created for boys. Both of these cards only took about 20 minutes to create - very simple and a quick way to use up some extra supplies that I knew I wouldn't use on a layout! 

 For this card I used a patterned paper base.  I added white cardstock and dropped mist splatters onto the top. I then added a couple stickers and done!  

Supplies Used:

Stickers: American Crafts, Heidi Swapp, Echo Park

Patterned Paper: Websters Pages

On this card I decided to offset things.  I added patterned paper to my base to create my background.  I then used white cardstock and coordinated my stickers with a washi tape background.  I used a black marker to highlight the S O N letters.  I also used my black marker to outline various parts of the card to give everything a little more definition. 

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Echo Park

Washi Tape: Bella Blvd, My Minds Eye,

Stickers: Echo Park

Wood: Studio Calico

Happy News!

Time for another fun announcement!  Told ya there were lots of changes coming my way!

Practical Scrappers/Paper Secrets Blog Hop

Today I am participating in the Practical Scrappers/Paper Secrets Blog Hop!  Thanks so much for popping by!  If you are just getting started here you should head back and start from the beginning...lots of prizes and lots of fun to be had!  Here's the entire list of hoppers for you!

Blog Hop List

Practical Scrappers

Charity Hotrum

Lisa Moen

Jessica Arrant

Kristi Biesel 

Stephanie U

Patty Selah 

Karen Sessions

Kelly Holfield

Wendy Coffman

Deborah Johnson

Krissy Clark

Rochelle Spears

Kerri Yarus  

Lee-Anne Thornton

Leslii Wagner

Kelli Fortier

Kim Ryden 

Lucy Kelleher

Sue Kithcart 

Brenda Ragsdale

Charissa Miller

Christine Meyer ***You Are Here***

Kelly Jean Guzlas

Paper Secrets

Our topic for this hop was to use "wood" of some sort.  I decided to use wood hearts scattered throughout my chicken wire on my layout.  I liked the way the dark wood hearts matched the chipboard color!

Supplies Used:

Epoxy Circles: Epiphany Crafts

Patterned Paper: American Crafts, Carta Bella

Stickers: Pebbles, Carta Bella, Jillibean Soup, Heidi Swapp

Decorative Tape: Bella Blvd

As a thank you for stop by today I am doing a giveaway!  I am also up at the Ribbons Unlimited Blog today and thought I would do a giveaway of some of their ribbons!  I will giveaway a variety pack of 18 inches of 10 of their ribbons!  To enter: 

1)Be a Follower Here

2) Leave me a comment

Next up is Kelly Jean!  Enjoy the rest of the hop!

Ribbons Unlimited

I really want you to head over to the Ribbons Unlimited Blog and check out my creation and tutorial so today I am going to just give you a little teaser...

Now hop on over and check it out :)

Using up Scraps

The ladies in my card classes often ask what I do with my scraps.  Generally as a rule I don't keep anything too small.  But just for kicks I thought I'd save pretty much everything from my June Quilted Cards class and see if I could pull together some kind of a layout from them.  Today I have that to share with you!

It's a little wacky but it's also kinda fun with all the negative space! Best of all I didn't cut into one new piece of paper to create this! Gotta love that sweet little smile on my Cooper too!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Jillibean Soup

Stickers: Jillibean Soup

Decorative Tape: Bella Blvd

Die Cuts: Jillibean Soup

Handstitched Birthday Card

As I was sorting thru a stack of layouts today, I found a whole bunch of cards and layouts I haven't shared with you yet!  This first one is perfect for the last day of summer (my kids go back to school tomorrow!)

As I've mentioned before I have been playing with long hand stitches and seeing what kinds of fun backgrounds I can create with them.  For this card I created by sunburst first.  All the bursts go back to one hole....which was ginormous and had to be covered!  I didn't want to go with just a sun because I wanted a contrast in color so I decided to use some pretty blue cloud stickers from Echo Park.  I also added a chipboard banner piece from Pebbles.  I used some liquid pearls to create my little dots and added a birthday sentiment.  This might just be the perfect birthday card for my hubby in a few weeks!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Echo Park, Pebbles, Simple Stories

Stickers: Pebbles, Echo Park

Congrats Card

Today I have one last GCD Studios card to share with you!  It's a pretty clean and simple card that was originally intended to go in there monthly magazine but alas no more!

I decided to go with slanted lines and focus on a blue and yellow color scheme.  The borders and papers all come from GCD Studios (various lines).  II also added several stickers from them to my cluster.  The lovely ribbon (possibly my favorite ribbon EVER) comes from Ribbons Unlimited.  I just got it in navy blue stripes too, oh soooo pretty!  

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: GCD Studios

Wood: Studio Calico

Enamel Dots: My Minds Eye

Ribbon: Ribbons Unlimited

Stickers: GCD Studios & Doodlebug

Carta Bella "Giddy Up" Layout and Altered Embroidery Hoop

Vacation ended and I have been busy recovering and trying to crank out some projects!  A lot has happened in my scrapbooking world in the last few weeks, including that I am no longer on the design team with GCD Studios as they have canceled their design team.  The other big change is that I am no longer with Gina's Designs - but with those big changes comes exciting and happy news.  I can't share it yet, but look for some announcements soon!!!  Today I have another couple projects to share with you that feature the Giddy Up line from Carta Bella.  

First up I created an altered embroidery hoop for a sample for The Scrapbooking Studio!

I love doing these and I haven't had the opportunity to do one in awhile.  The entire thing is made up of paper!  I added a few papers and stickers from the line and tied a big burlap bow.  When I was finished I felt like it was a little too plain so I added the pennants made from washi tape to the bottom and that added just a little extra color and texture.  

My next project is a layout that I thought I had already shared...but I guess I had only done so on Facebook.  I am thrilled to say that I actually won a contest using it!

I liked so many of the patterned papers in this line that I decided to create a grid base so I could use a bunch of them.  Anytime you do that though you have to keep things pretty simple for the rest.  I tiled the whole grid so it wasn't quite so linear.  The pictures on here are just a hodge podge of ones that I hadn't used yet but wanted to!  Perfect chance to get five photos committed!

As we traveled I was able to visit several local scrapbook stores.  Doing so drove home all the more how much I love The Scrapbooking Studio in Bloomington!  The prices are competitive if not better than the others I visited.  In fact there were adhesives and tools that I saw that are significantly cheaper at The Scrapbooking Studio.  I also visited stores that didn't carry a lot of the current lines and the great variety of style that are offered there.  It made me realize even more how blessed we are to have that little store available to us!  The day after we got home, I went in and did some shopping :)

Rolled Paper layouts with My Minds Eye

I love patterned paper and I am so glad to see so many companies offering the 6 X 6 paper pads.  It's such a great way to get all the sheets from a collection without breaking the bank.  I had fun playing with a variety of papers from the Kate & Co line from My Minds Eye to create this layout.  the double sided papers in the pad were perfect for trying out a rolling technique.

 

 I'm a sucker for any patterned paper that includes navy blue.  I'm not sure why but that is definitely my go to color!  To create my rolled paper background I cut 2 X 6 inch strips of paper.  I then did my bottom row, lining it up with the bottom of my white cardstock base but only putting adhesive about 3 inches up.  I rolled over the tops making sure that they were different heights.  I then slid my second row underneath those and did the same.  I knew I wanted to leave the top plain white giving the eyes someplace to rest amongst all the patterns :).I added my pictures with simple clusters of embellishments, letters, and words.  Kind of a fun technique to try!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: My Minds Eye

Arrows: Jillibean Soup

Borders: GCD Studios

Letter Stickers: American Crafts & Jillibean soup

Die Cut: american Crafts

First Timer and Loving It

Back today with a fairly clean and simple layout filled with lots of doodling.  Doodling is one of my favorite go to techniques!  This layout focuses on my Lucy's first time fishing last summer in Oklahoma.

I created the wave background with my silhouette, adding strips of pattered paper behind the middle rows.  I felt that it was still a little too plain so I decided then to use some SRM Stickers to fill in some holes and then doodle - adding in lines and outlines.  Because of all the patterns I knew I didn't need to embellish too much - so I just added some sequins and a few fish stickers.  I went with black stickers for dimension and boldness.  I love a title that pops!  Lastly I felt like the outside of the layout needed something so I added some scallop doodling and then colored in random scallops.

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Pebbles

Black Pen: Uniball Signo

Stickers: SRM Stickers, Echo Park, American Crafts

Echo Park "Beautiful Life" Layout

It has been over two weeks since I have done any papercrafting because we have been on vacation.  I don't know if that has happened any time in at least two years!  I've been trying to hold off some projects to share so there wouldn't be a complete lull on the blog.  

In the meantime I got some AWESOME news!  I was asked to be a guest designer for We R Memory Keepers!  When I get home I should have a package waiting for me to work with!  I have long been a fan of their products...especially their tools!

Today I have a little layout to share with you that uses more of the Echo Park "Beautiful Life" line.

These pictures are from the last time we went to California, two years ago!  I used tons of the patterned paper and stickers from this line to create lots and lots of layers.  I also added in some twine and wooden butterflies to add a big of whimsy.  

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Echo park

Decorate Tape: Bella Blvd, My Minds eye

Stickers: Echo Park

Wood: Maya Road