Fluffy

Last week over at Practical Scrappers, the Tuesday post was on using washi tape.  So, I created this layout using the sketch over on Brenda's blog for this month.  It also fits the requirements for Kerys's challenge (3 patterned papers, washi, and twine).  The photo is of my youngest in her first cloth diaper - when she is just under 3 days old.  I used Authentique Uncommon with some MME Indie Chic washi for the layout.

Her Bible

So, scrapping mojo has been slightly lacking around here lately.  I will blame it on being busy for sure!  But, I was able to squeeze out this week's MWM over at ScrapbookSteals and incorporate one of their challenges  for NSD (#1 - "5").  The papters are a mix of AC Amy Tangerine, MME, and Authentique (Uncommon).  For the 5 things:
Word areas - Paper, title, journalling, and two groups of word stickers
Patterned Paper - Pink wood grain (MME), Grey text (A), Paper dolls (AC), Hot pink grid (AC), and pink with text circles (A).
Embellishments - Die cuts, button, brad, wahi, and stickers

Here is the wonderful Peridot 1 sketch:

mates

I decided I should actually SCRAP our wedding pictures.  Just after we got married, but put them in an album with the basic journalling, but there wasn't anything other than pictures and journalling.  So, I am now going to go through them and scrap the scanned copies.  I decided to start with the ones of the "boys" and the "girls" since those are first ones actually taken.  And the current Paper Secrets sketch was perfect for the men.  Since our wedding colors were navy and pink (with white), I decided to use those for the layouts.  I used some Authentique Genuine, Echo Park Times and Seasons with a tiny bit of MME Follow Your Heart and Indie Chic (washi).  The ribbon is twill WRMK Sew Ribbon, which I thought worked perfectly with the grey Thickers (since I couldn't find any navy alphas in the right size unfortunately).  Since this one was the guys, I decided to only use pink the washi tape, keeping the layout fairly manly I think. 

And here is the sketch (via PageMaps)

Quick Manly Birthday Card

I whipped up this birthday card earlier this week for my brother-in-law.  I had forgotten his birthday is also this week (same as my husband's), so I had to do a quick card for him.  I had these A Loyal papers out for another project, so I put them to work.  I then added an MME die cut, stamped happy birthday, and added some twine and brads to finish it off.  The design is based off of the March sketch over at Artful Delight.

Today Reading Tomorrow Leading - SS Amber 2

Time for another fun sketch over at Scrapbook Steals.  This week's Amber 2 by Kerys was so much fun to work with.  I started by picking the pictures and then digging through my die cut papers to see if I had any circle ones with the "right" colors.  And it turns out I had a piece of MLS Sew Easy worked perfectly.

 Then I dug through my turquoise paper (yes, it has its own drawer...), thinking I would find some more MLS paper that worked perfectly.  Well, I ended up with some MME Lush instead.  Then I went looking for a pink color.  Again, I thought I would end up with MLS, but I ended up with some A Uncommon.  I loved that it had the grey in it soo, as it gave me another color to work with.  I had thought about using ribbon or sewing, but the right colors just weren't there, and the Uncommon was just perfect.  From there I went to the washi at the bottom.  I ended up having the perfect colors - some Studio G (blue) and MME Indie Chic.

 For the embellishments, I just got the Sweet Stamp Shoppe wood grain stamps in the mail as I was workingo n this.  I decided the circles would be a great embellishment.  I found some blue and grey paper to use for thsoe and then paired it with some A Uncommon paper that I just punched to highlight the pattern.   Then I dug through my brad stash for a variety in the right colors.

 Then it was on to the title.  I searched for a quote about reading.  I found "Today a reader, tomorrow a leader."  And then I went to print out reader to stitch it, and some how ended up with reading.  But, Today Reading Tomorrow Leading works almost as well :)  With the shorter title, I added some washi at the top for some balance.

Daddy/Daughter Target Practice

This layout was a challenge for me.  First, I decided to go with an "odd" color scheme for me - grey, black, and orange.  Since we don't celebrate Halloween, it is a color combo I had never done before.  But, the colors went well with the photo, so I tried it.  And since I had recently sorted a lot of my paper by color, it wasn't too hard to find the orange and black papers.

 To make the scallop, I used my Kiwi Lane Design mini scallops (2A and B).  It was pretty easy to cut once I had them drawn.

For the bracket, I used KLD Bracket 3.  I traced it on to some paper from the garbage to get the full shape lined up, and then I used my actual template as a mask for the ink.  I finished it off my stitching around the edge using Twinery Twine (thank Paper Girls for the inspiration).

As for what papers I used, there is some AC baby papers, WP petite papers, NS Dan the Record Man and MLS.  The washi is MME Indie Chic, and the title is a mix NS, Authentique, and cut fromt he Silhouette.

And here is the sketch it is based off of from Brenda's

 blog:

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Embrace Change - Jade 9

This layout kept morphing as I went along.  I knew once I saw the ScrapbookSteals Jade 9 sketch that I wanted to use this picture and my hoarded Authentique Journey papers.  The sunburst was the easy part.  And the twine was a no brainer as well, as the current Paper Girls challenge is to use twine.  But then the photo placement caused problems.  When I tried to use the sunburst rotated the other direction, there wasn't a great place from the title.  So, I rotated it.  Then I thought about the title.  I decided to use some of the sayings from the WordArt Kerys has on her blog for her February challenge.  I thought about cutting out the words with my silhouette, but they were going to be so small that it would be hard to keep them intact  etc.  So, I made a mask of sorts and inked on top.  The smaller ones are still somewhat hard to read, but I kind of like the effect it gives.  All of those phrases are ones I don't want my son to forget!

The photo is from the day my youngest was born.  Although the photo isn't centered, it is one I will cherish for sure!  It looks like a very special time between daddy and son on the day they became out numbered (3 girls to 2 boys).  Since these are the two males in my life, I also though it was a perfect picture (and layout) for the first challenge over at About a Boy - Introducing (your boy).

Hidden journalling

The Sketch

The WordArt

Mixing Papers for a Card and Layout

I decided I was going to do this month's Paper Secret's second sketch.  I had been meaning to do one of their sketches for the past few months, but time always slips away!  Well, this weekend I had a chance to tackle it.  And I decided to use a challenge over at 2Peas to help.  The challenge over there was to use stickers on your layout and then use some of the same things for a card.  So, here is what I came up with.

I used Amy Tangerine for most of this - her original line with American Crafts.  The yellowy thickers are part of that kit, and the the grey and brown are the same font/type that I got from Paper Secrets actually.  The stickers are Echo Park and Authentiic, and I added a little blue twine (probably Twinery, but it was a scrap so I am not 100% sure).

For the card, I took inspiration from Unscripted Sketches #194.  It even had the same piggy back as the 2Peas challenge - stickers!  I used four different lines of papers for this one - AC Amy Tangerine, Authentique Genuine, Echo Park Times and Seasons (background paper), and a tiny bit of MME Indie Chic (the banner stripe).  I had used some of the Authentique and MME on the layout, and the scrap of EP was perfect to mat the whole card.

Here are the sketches:

Why I Scrap

I decided to do a page on why I scrapbook.  I went searching for a good single photo layout to try, and I came across this one from Sketches in Thyme.  I thought it would work perfectly with Kristi B's challenge to create a shape outline with embellishments.  Since I was wearing turquoise in the picture, I went with some Authentique Journey for the majority of the layout.  I created the circle with a bunch of translucent/opaque buttons.  Then I layered on the photo and die cuts from Journey.  I wrote the journalling on black cardstock and then finished the layout off with some washi tape and of course inked edges.  

I loved using Journey fr this because some of the words on the die cuts were just perfect for the layout.  Scrapbooking is a great escape for me, so I knew I had to use that one.  And of course photos and journey fit in perfectly as well.

Cousins - a LGS Reveal!

Its time for another Team A reveal at Let's Get Sketchy!  Below is the sketch by Bev that we had to work with for this week's reveal.  When I saw the square grid, I thought of my Authentique Uncommon papers almost immediately.  So, I knew I wanted to do a girly layout for this one!

Then I stumbled across this picture of my daughter with her only girl cousin.  I knew I had to scrapbook it as well as the story of the cousin's reaction to her birth.  And of course the papers work perfectly for the layout all about how happy she was to have a girl cousin finally!

I started with the mat for the photo.  I really wanted to try layering, and the Authentique papers and embellishments worked perfectly!  And I even was able to hide some journalling :)

 

 Then I cut out the banner from some scraps that I had.  I laced them together with some Twinery black twine for the perfect little banner.

 For the title, I inked some white AC Thickers.  It is the same charcoal Colorbox chalk ink I used on all of the paper edges too.

 I finished up with cutting some circles out of the paper and them matting them on black card stock.

 Now it it time for you to play along!  Use the sketch as inspiration, and then link it up to the Let's Get Sketchy blog!  You have until the end of the month to complete three layouts and be eligible for the drawing!  I can't wait to see what you create!

Just Right

This layout just sort of morphed into what it became.  I started with inspiration from the Paper Girls Challenge Blog and the sketch at Creative Scrappers.

I quickly decided I wanted to do the circles on the sketch as a negative and fill them with pinkish papers and washi.  Then I decided to add in a challenge over at Scrap-Friendzy to use 5 patterned papers, 5 pieces of washi or ribbon, 5 stickers, 5 flowers, and 5 buttons.  So, I stuck with 5 patterned papers plus a solid pink for the circles (plus 5 strips of washi).  The papers are a mix of MME and MLS, and the washi is Downtown Tape and Studio G.  The buttons are mostly from Oriental Trading I think.  Then I worked on the flowers.  I used a paper clip flower from KI Memories, two out of papers from MLS (same ones at the background), a Doodle Bug flower, and a washi tape flower with a paper flower center.  The little stickers on the photo are Authentique (Journey and Genuine) and the title is MLS alphas.

Stapled!

Today Practical Scrappers blogged about using staples on layouts.  It gave me the push to finish this layout.  I had all but the staples done - I couldn't find my stapler this summer to add those.  So, this afternoon I pulled out the stapler and finished this layout off!

Here is a picture of the layout created using Authentique Journey, red trim from Webster's Pages, Twinery Twine, black cardstock, and some random brads from my stash.  The layout is based off of one the Scrapbook Steals MWM sketches.

And here are some close ups of where I put staples:

Under the alphas in the title

To hold down the edges of the trim

On the banners at the top

Lord of All Creation

 

This is my take on this week's Let's Get Sketchy sketch.  I used a picture my husband had taken (most likely before we even met) of Crater Lake.  A challenge over at Scrap-Friendzy was to use your favorite song title (or lyrics) on your layout.  When I originally thought about this challenge, I was stuck.  I knew my favorite songs were all Christian praise and worship songs.  I didn't know how I was going to use one of those in a layout.  Then I thought of this song.  I thought of God's creation, and I knew what I was going to do.  I knew we had pictures of Crater Lake - one of the most amazing places in the work.  The picture is perfect for the song - water, earth, and sky.

I used a piece of Authentique Journey for the background and pieces of MME Miss Caroline 6x6 pad for the rest of the paper.  I embellished with some Fancy Pants and Oriental Trading buttons, American Craft Thickers, Cosmo Cricket Mini Alphas, and Twinery Twine.  

It definitely isn't a layout I normally do, but I love it.  I think I will frame it and put it up somewhere in our house.

ScrapbookSteals NSD Challenges

With National Scrapbooking Day yesterday, ScrapbookSteals had four challenges to keep us busy!

This card was for the fourth challenge - Stitch it up!  I used MME Miss Caroline and MME Fine and Dandy 6x6 papers as well as the MCM #81 sketch.  I stitched around the "sun" at the top to create a border.  

This layout was for the second challenge - Turn back time.  I used more MME on this - Stella and Rose in this case.  I got a lot of the inspiration for the layout from two of my scrapbooking friends - Misty and Charity.  It is definitely one of my favorite layouts that I have done so far.

And this layout is for the other two challenges - Turquoise 1 and Sassy Springtime.  I once again used some MME - Lime Twist in this case.  The flowers at the bottom right are a transparency from the kit.  I added some washi for the yellow (as well as the flower center).  I am glad I remembered to do a little stitching early on for this one - stitching down the half circle around the "border" line.  I find one of my major failures in scrapping is to remember to do things like that until it is too late.  You can add some embellishments later on, but some things you have to do as you go!

TPGCB #6 - Are All Restaurants This Fun?

The current challenge on The Paper Girls Challenge Blog had a picture to use as inspiration.  I know many of the ladies are picking the colors from the picture (greys and yellows), but I decided to "copy" the square pattern for my layout.  I use Authentique Uncommon for this one, and I cut out 2 inch squares from 7 different patterns in the 6x6 pad.  I then put them down on the paper in the 4x10 grid.  I scattered the pictures on this grid and then added the title out of American Craft Thickers.  I finished it off with two banners out of more Uncommon 6x6 (scraps from my February Authentique challenge page), a piece of white cardstock with the journalling on it, and two die cuts from Uncommon.  Fairly easy to do!

And here is the inspiration image:

So, after I posted this, I decided the layout needed something!  I decided to add some grey and black twine (from Twinery) to some of the squares.  Here is the "finished" layout :)