life LATELY & Video - Come on Get Crafty DT

Last week I had my day to "hog the blog" at Come On Get Crafty and I thought I would

use a few of my favorite 'go-to' scrapbook elements for this LO challenge!

Believe it or not, I also made a video of my process from start to finish.

You can see click the YouTube link HERE or click on the movie below!

I love tags, shipping tags, mini tags, any kind of tag.  It makes me think of not just an scrapbook embellishment,

but as a potential interactive piece, as a theme for a travel page, as lots of different things...

even as just an addition of a splash of color!  I love tags!  I also love Project Life, love the idea,

the products, and the devotion and dedication people give to it.  I can't commit to that,

but I can appreciate everything that goes along with it...especially the products! ;)

This American Crafts set of PL Bits in 'Blush' has the most amazing colors and patterns, very applicable

for any project!  And finally I love wood veneers since there are so many ways to customize and use it...

Those three products being chosen, I was ready to tackle this LO!  My style is to provide a background

making a "photo" or journaling mat that is the central focus of the page and to embellish around it...

lots of the embellish part! And then, throw in some sewing...joining pieces of paper, stitching ideas and

dates together. The first thing I did was to spread some Pearl embossing paste over a 12x12 circle dot

stencil to the text patterned paper, to add some dimension and mute the text a bit.

  

The patterned papers I chose helped me narrow down my color palette to grey and teal with a

little yellow and pink thrown in...I know he is my little man, but there is so much love and he doesn't mind pink!

I love the fiddling and fussing, placing the cards and tags exactly how I want them.  I layered tags, PL cards

and the photo on top of a 6x6 piece of Crate Paper paper...I misted the wood veneer with a combination

of Heidi Swapp Color Shine in White and Mister Huey's in Calico White.

By layering this punched tag on top of another one, I think the contrasting chalkboard and hot pink worked great!

I tried to limit the colors to 3, but I just love color.  I think the complimenting colors are subtle enough that it doesn't

take away too much away!  Wood veneers are great to customize adding texture, dimension and interest! 

 Thanks for stopping by the blog and letting me share a few of my favorites!

Hope you all have a safe and happy Labor Day!

SCRAPPY BLOG TOUR!!

Last week I was tagged by the super talented Gina Lideros to participate in a Scrappy Blog Tour.

We are on the Scrapbook Circle DT together, but she is on some other fabulous teams as well!

Gina's style is so full of detail and she has an effortless way of combining colors and patterns that amaze me.

Looking at her projects, I can really see the love she puts into them! 

Here are a few questions and answers, so you can get to know me and my

obsession that is scrapbooking as part of this scrappy blog tour:

1. What am I working on right now?

I am currently working my way through the September Scrapbook Circle kit

and a couple other exciting projects on the horizon!  Here is a sneak peek...

2. How long does it take me to create a project?

It usually takes me anywhere from an hour to two and a half to finish a project.

That being said, I usually keep a sketchbook handy to jot down some journaling or sketch a LO.  I hardly ever get a large enough block of time to do an entire layout from start to finish, between 2 kids and going back to work part time (last week was my first week back)!  On the weekends though, my super supportive husband takes care of the kids, so I can have an afternoon or evening locked in my craft room!  It is precious, cherished time with paper, photos, music (or catching up on my fav series) and maybe a glass of wine.  ;)

3. What are my favorite things to create with at the moment?

I love my Silhouette Cameo and will cut titles and elements in either white cardstock or  watercolor paper to paint/mist.  I also love chipboard, vellums, and my sewing machine.  I have a Singer Heavy Duty and it
would sew through my craft table with no problem...it is awesome!

4. How does my writing/creating process work?

Like I said, I keep a sketchbook handy and will make a note of a specific photo or event I want to document.  I usually start with photos and they inspire the project's theme or color palette.  If there is a paper or product I want to use, that helps me decide whether I want to print my pictures in color or black & white.  After the photos, usually comes the title/theme of the page and then piling on the embellishments!  Yay!

5. How do I become inspired and stay inspired?

Like many of us, I love Pinterest and the endless barrage of creativity!  I am also inspired by many other things like magazine graphics/fonts, clothing and fabrics and lately, song lyrics! Sometimes, I find the most inspiration looking back at my own work, either by technique, the layout design or reminding myself to do a follow-up page!

6. What is my signature style?

My signature style is fairly eclectic, sometimes varying from simple to busy, but mostly I love layering.  I like the details it brings to a LO, adding just a hint of color or pattern, a little something tucked here and there.  I also love to watercolor, stencil or mist on my pages.  It may only be on a tag or the entire background, but I love the unique and completely customizable (not a word) element it brings!

I am tagging two of my favorite scrappers:

Missy Whidden 
Missy has one of the most recognizable styles in the scrapbooking community, they always make me smile!!

Ashley Fowler
 Her Blog is called "I Sweat Glitter"...need I say more?  I love her style process videos on YouTube are so inspiring!

Look for their scrappy blog tour posts in a week, next Monday September 1st!!
Thank you so much for letting me share a little bit of myself and my most favorite hobby!
Have an amazing day!

RIGHT now - Scrapbook Circle Designer's Choice

This is the page I shared on Scrapbook Circle yesterday and the last using the 'Island Paradise' kit and Add-ons from August.  I LOVE this Allison Kreft paper from Echo Park.  It is my color du jour and add some bokeh = love.

I wanted to keep as much of this paper without covering it up as possible.  It is such a beautiful design and the color is stunning.  One of my favorite reasons for buying the extra paper pack that is offered from Scrapbook Circle is for this reason.  I could use the same piece of the same paper to overlap specific pieces I punched out.

The exclusive 'happy day' stamp fit perfectly into my 1" circle punch.

I inked the edges of both the circle and heart to tie in the other colors.

After lining up the hearts I had punched from one piece with the matching piece of paper I cut,
I stitched through them on my sewing machine.  The Heidi Swapp glitter stickers add some sparkle
without taking too much away from that bokeh paper.

Thanks for checking it out!

Pinkfresh Studio August - Cards

I am playing major catch-up this weekend

These are a couple cards I made using the Limited Edition Kit from Pinkfresh Studio

as well as some Pinkfresh goodies!  I love to make cads but don't consider myself to be a

very good cardmaker.  These gorgeous transparent cards with symbols and unique

sentiments make it pretty easy! and inspiring...

I made this card using some distress ink misted with water on my craft mat tho get

the watercolor sky look...I stamped and fussy cut the bike and sun from two

different Pinkfresh stamp sets and heat embossed my sentiment on vellum.  

More posts to come today!

Pinkfresh Studio August - Layouts

Hi everyone!  Yesterday was my monthly post for Pinkfresh Studio and these are the two 

LO's I posted.  You can find the original post on the Pinkfresh Blog HERE.

Both are using photos from our trip to Britain this summer.  I have endless photos to be scrapped and this collection of 'Vacation' wood screen printed chips were perfect for this trip.  I wanted to use

them to accent the title and theme, and also decided to use the other ones to line up along the journaling.

I watercolored a piece of paper in a soft green to lay underneath the vellum map card from Studio Calico.

I had to use the Pinkfresh Geotag veneer to point to our destination and made a tiny stitched arch

marking our journey across the Atlantic.

The 'Think Less Live More' framed stamp was appropriate for the sleeping kiddos,

in between all the delays and layovers along our trip.

My second page was using a photo of my Mom, Sofia & I in England.  It was one of the our
nights out and so for once on our trip, we weren't wearing raincoats! ;)  I am a little obsessed with
this color combination of peach and pale teal.  These coral/gold foil alphas from Pinkfresh
were the starting point of this color palette.

I stamped a couple of Pinkfresh Studio stamps onto plain tags and lined them all up with the
canvas pocket from Pinkfresh.  I ticked my journaling tag into that printed canvas pocket.
I had some pale peach crepe paper ribbon which I though would add some nice texture under
the photo and stitched through all of it.

I love this Ampersand stamp from the '& Hello' stamp set and thought the vine outlines looked

great with the lacy details in a couple stickers and the doily.  I love combining pieces from

different collections that go together like this, and sort of making up my own kit!

Thanks for stopping by today...tomorrow I will post about the cards I made and have more
posts throughout the week!  Come back and have an amazing day!

SOMEWHERE - Scrapbook Circle August Sketch & Pinkfresh Studio Prize!

There is a new sketch challenge at Scrapbook Circle and it is, as usual, it is super inspiring!
I looked at this sketch and thought the horizontal strips would be perfect for a rainbow of colors.
There are so many vivid colors in the August 'Island Paradise' kit.  And I had the perfect photo to use!

Here is the sketch below and you can find the original post HERE along with lots of
great interpretations from the rest of the design team.



I chose my colors for the rainbow stripes to match the colors of spray mist I had.
I misted groups of the wood veneer sequins from Chic Tags that were part of the
'Tiki Torch' Add-on in those colors in the six colors.

  I chose some embellishments from both Add-ons kits and the main kit and added the

like colors elements to the same colored strips.

I used the Scrapbook Circle August stamp to get lime green color I

wanted and that would match my mist and flair.

The prize for this challenge is the current Limited Edition kit from Pinkfresh Studio!

It is an amazing collection of stamps, canvas pockets, a metal die and so much more!

Definitely a fabulous prize! :)

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you get crafty and join this challenge!
The challenge ends at 11:59pm on August 27th.
You can upload your LO based on the sketch to either the post on the Scrapbook Circle Blog
or to our Facebook page!  Have a great weekend!

Love Is All You Need - Scrapbook Circle Designer's Choice

Today on the Scrapbook Circle Blog, I am sharing this LO about using inspiration from text,

script and most especially patterned papers using song lyrics.  The source of my inspiration
is this love script paper from Echo Park-Capture Life that is in the August ‘Island Paradise’ kit.
I also used both the ‘Tiki Torch’ and ‘Bungalow’ Add-ons.

Even if I have photos and a plan for a scrapbook page, I draw inspiration from the colors or composition

in the photo and most especially the patterns of the paper. I love papers with text, typography and print.

I also love music making the title and theme for this page an easy.

This was actually a photo I had already printed for scrapping and thought a simple, bold, color palette

would work well with the photo. My husband took the photo walking behind us and I never saw it until

I downloaded all the photos off of his phone.  It makes me smile and a little sad that one day,

my little man won't want to hold my hand.  Sniff...

The map print paper from Crate Paper was perfect for vacation photos, and provided

a neutral background. I placed the wood veneer sequins on the cities and intersecting

lines on the map, to emphasize the idea of travel, or destination.

The ‘sounds’ in the Elle’s Studio tag also emphasized my theme.  And I cut this title from my Silhouette.

I know the Beatles song is actually "All You Need Is Love," but I thought this cut file was too perfect.

 I wrapped the twine around the entire photo/mat cluster I created, sort of holding us all

together. That may sound like a stretch of symbolism for a simple scrapbook page,

but I love this song, and it inspired lots of love in me!

Thanks so much for sharing a piece of your day with me!