Thursday Night Special ** MORE Elle's Studio!

The is the third project I did as a new DT Member with Elle's Studio.

I used both of the new collections, a little from "You & Me" but mostly from 

the "Day to Day" collection that is full of bright reds, yellows an lots of kraft.  

See all the products I used in more detail HERE!

I normally don't go for a lot of the papers that have pieces already printed on them, 

as part of the design of the patterned paper, because I feel like it is cheating a little...

I feel similar about digital scrapbooking, but I think that is because I am honestly, 

just intimidated...I could never do it, but have great admiration for those who do!

However, I did like it here because it was a great jumping off point and 

inspired the rest of the layout.  It went perfectly with the colors in the photo,

which again, I don't always try to match to the paper...(I sound picky!)

I kind of think of it like that show "What Not To Wear", which I used to love, 

where their mantra is:

"It doesn't have to match, it just has to GO"...(go where?)

Sorry, I am feeling a bit snarky today...not enough sleep or caffeine :)

The stars and ticket punched edges in the pattern of the paper, as well as the 

large journaling tag at the bottom, inspired me to cut out some star 

punched tickets on the Silhouette.  The little red, yellow & blue chevron arrows

on the remember tag made me cut out other similar arrows for the other tags.

Obviously, the colors of the photo really helped me with the papers,

but I cannot remember wearing that shade of red lipstick...ever. (Like ever.)

The new stamp sets are great too because they have lots of small words

or phrases that are the perfect size to fit at the top of a tab or file tab...

I have been going back thru old photos from college, yes OLD photos,

and scanning them in for a digital copy as well as to scrapbook.

I love scrapbooking my children and our everyday life but at the same

time, it is kind of nice to look back and remember the life I had

had got into the "real" world, full of responsibilities like a job, 

then a mortgage, bills, dog, husband, children, more bills, etc!

SO the story behind the photo is that my bestie and I used to go out

EVERY Thursday night to the only "urban" dance club that my 

small town, much less urban University had...

We didn't go to drink (I was 20 in that photo, yikes!), we didn't go to flirt 

or mix or mingle, we went to dance and blow off steam from the constant 

barrage of work that takes over your life in Architecture school.

It was so much fun and definitely a memory worthy of recording!

Now, that I am looking at the date I realize that it was over 21 years ago...ugh.

OK, gotta go pick up kids from school and karate and go to 

the store cook dinner and again with the responsibilities!! :)

Thanks for sticking with me thru this snarky post...

I think I am going to start typing everything I want to say, 

or am really thinking in italics, in case you didn't get that...

HOME is where the heart is...& where the VIDEO is!

I used the February Sketch from Paperhaus found here:

http://www.thepaperhaus.com/2013/02/february-sketch.html

to do a layout with a photo I took to frame for Father's Day.

I can't take credit for the idea, it came from Pinterest and this was

the pin I found, it may have originated somewhere else...?

http://pinterest.com/pin/71776187781602147/

So cute!  We improvised a little since we had 4 feet instead of 8...thank goodness, 

no offense to moms with 4 kids...I admire your..well, everything!! :)

Anyway, I have been concentrating on Halloween, Fall, Christmas, Valentine's

and so it was nice to just pull out some products because I like them.  

I haven't really had a chance to play much with the 5th & Frolic collection

and it is so beautiful...really lovely, is the best word to describe it.


And yes, I did another video...and I didn't cover it all up with funky beats
but talked some about the sketch, etc. and all I can say is:
I sound WAY more Southern than I thought I did, and much to my
mother's disappointment, I say "um" a lot...so I apologize for the "umming"

I used the Paperhaus sketch and honestly hadn't planned to deviate from it much, 

it is SO cool...but then things just have a way of working out!

The little key was on a set of probably luggage keys, that was in 

a drawer in our house when we moved in...thought that was appropriate to use!

Thanks for stopping by!
And hope you listen to the "Ums"...it could be a counting game with the kids! :)

Happy BeerDay - more Copic practice...!

Well, I am still practicing at Copics...

did this little card for a friend's birthday and even though

it was for a girlfriend, this was supposed to be her husband

fetching her a beer!  Heh.

I love coloring with them, and maybe after about 10 more

years of practice, I might be decent at them, but until then

it is really fun...kinda like coloring with the kids!

Except with really expensive crayolas!

PICTURE PERFECT ** New Elle's Studio

I knew when I saw this paper I was going to have a really hard time letting it go.

It is a beautiful.
I love all shades of grey (heh.) and I know it can be cold,
but this is the perfect grey, not cold, but not too warm to be taupe-ish...

And the writing on it...sniff, sniff.  Gets me every time I read it.

Like watching Forrest Gump, I think I have seen it about a million

times, no, really! Well, at least half a million, and I cry every time...whew.

Soooo, the point is I knew I needed to use this paper as a entire background

piece, other wise I would end up hoarding it and calling it "my precious"

while sitting in a corner looking paranoid...kidding...sorta.
(Ok, I just referenced 2 of my favorite movies and one book I refuse to read, weird)

Moving ON...because of this lovely paper, I knew I wanted to keep the 

layout simple, which for me, lately, has been a little difficult.  

My husband tells our daughter she is in her "rainbow phase,"

so I am in my layering phase.  Can't see it going anywhere for a while.

When I changed this photo to black & white in Photoshop, it took on 

this sort of blueish tint so it picked up well on the tabbed tags, which next

to the paper is my other favorite part of the new collections.

My sweet husband bought me a bunch of Copic markers for Christmas,
either because he knew I secretly wanted them or he was tired of
me watching tutorials on YouTube with our kids and hoping I would just do it already!
I am trying to incorporate one little thing I color in each project,
and for this one it was the little camera to go with the 'Hello Sweetheart
stamp set that is also new!

I have been either punching or die cutting lots of vellum with my Silhouette and just 

keeping them in a little bowl, so I took the circles and punch another partial circle

in them to make them look like a crescent moon.  I also cut the journaling 

tag down for the same effect.  

This is one of my favorite pages I have done in a long time...at least to me.

it was like the perfect scrapbooking storm, if there is such a thing...?

I loved the photo my husband captured of a sweet moment I will not forget,

I had beautiful papers and products to work with and it came together 

practically on its own...when all that blends together, I think it becomes 

a nice balance between photo, story and pretty paper. :)

Thanks for looking and reading, if you got all the way down here!!

love...New ELLE'S STUDIO Debut!

love is in the air!!!  

Valentine's, new design team, new products to show loving to!!   

I am SO excited to be on the Elle's Studio DT for this new collection debut!

Aside from just getting to work with one of my favorite products,

they have now included PAPER in their collections...

To see the products I used and all the rest of the new loveliness click HERE.

Yep, if you haven't seen it yet, then you are either reading this for entertainment

and not interested in scrapbooking or you have been living under a rock!

Just kidding, I had no clue until my lovely package arrived with these new 

paper collections that literally took my breath away.

I know that sounds dramatic, but they are such a wonderful mix of 

graphics and color that is super fresh and very unique to the market...

Ok, ok, enough talk of my love affair with the papers, and onto the love affair with my best friend.
Obviously, I felt the need to do a lovey-dovey page with Valentine's coming

up and this Chalkboard like paper from the "You & Me" collection was perfect.

This photo was actually fairly washed out and taken by myself,

not a great pose, but I heavily saturated it, converted it to black & white

and it really popped with the other tags and papers I used...

I have lots of new Elle's Studio layout to share, so come back!

Thanks for stopping by...

what looks COOL to a five year old...Color Me Scrappy Guest DT

[ these were photos I found on the iPad that apparently my son had been playing with when I was unaware...]

This was the final LO I did as one of the January Guest DT's at Color-Me-Scrappy...

Here is the CMS blogpost to this challenge which runs from 1.31.13 - 2.14.13

www.color-me-scrappy.blogspot.com

I have really enjoyed their challenges this month and love some of the LO

that those challenges pushed me to create!  A big thank you to Lisa & Pam 

and all their talented designers for including me this month!

I will continue to stalk unique their challenges and urge you to check it out too!

Also, this challenge forced me to do something I have wanted to do for a long

time but didn't have the guts to do!  but, it is a new year right?  

I am a year older, ahem, and so I am more ready to throw myself out into the 

World Wide Web of criticism and potential failure...

Seriously, if for no other reason than for myself & my kids who get a big kick out of it!  

My husband bought me a video camera and has been trying to set up and 

urge me to film my own process start to finish videos and 

although I have a lot to learn and am starting to appreciate how much time 

and effort really goes into making one, I am giving it a shot...

So, here is the link to one of the videos I have made public 

which shows the process of making this LO!

I don't normally double up project challenges but I used the majority of the

January Scrapbook Circle kit for this page so I used it as an excuse to 

participate in their current challenge to use arrows on a project.

I have been so busy with projects that unfortunately I cannot share yet,

that I haven't gotten to play with their new kit as much as I normally would

and it is really cool so that is frustrating!  Hopefully before the February one

comes I will have more of a chance to play...

Here is the link to that challenge and blog post:

http://www.scrapbookcircle.com/2013/01/challenge-45-make-your-point

* SNEAKS * New Elle's Studio!!

I thought I would post a couple sneaky treats for the 

NEW Elle's Studio collections "You & Me" and "Day to Day"

that are being released in their shop tomorrow morning!!

Thanks for looking!

The Design Team Gallery launch for these collections from myself 

and all rest of the new DT is on Friday February 1st!