& currently:

I finally caved...

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this piece of paper.  And so didn't want to use it.

Unless it was to frame it alone, or at the very least NOT cut it up!

We have been so busy with end of school activities, house renos and just 

general business that I haven't done much scrapping this week;

I find myself starting to become buries in beautiful products calling my name!

So, I decided to just go for it

I really wanted to just have the paper and this photo (there are so MANY pages

that start out like that in my mind!)...and then I thought I should accentuate the bokeh effect 

with some Elle's Studio tidbits...and some other polka dots...and before I knew it, 

I was in my usual layering frenzy...yup, that's ok!

I wanted to have some hidden journaling for my kids to read later, 

so I added this kraft bag and the kraft ES tidbit in the top left corner to tie back to it.

I wanted to journal a little note about how they are currently not shy about showing 

each other love and support...and that hopefully it will stay that way.

I also used this Elle's Studio tag from the "You & Me" collection to help

bring in a bit of the dark floor in the photo...

Hopefully, now that school has ended, I will have a bit more free time...
oh wait, who am I kidding??
Well, I am hoping to start getting into our summer routine that still allows me some creative time!

EXPLORE @ 1968...Scrapbook Circle April Kit

This is part of the batch of Polaroids from my in-laws that I have been scanning 

and trying to scrapbook!  One of a couple beach photos of my mother-in-law...

Every time I look at this pic, I hear the Beach Boys in my head!

Not only is she a hottie, but how cute is that swimsuit?  

I would love one like it...but she isn't fooling anyone into thinking she was surfing! ;)

Still, it is a great pose, my daughter thought she really was surfing, for about 3 minutes.

I used some leftover pieces of the Scrapbook Circle kit from April "Happy Place"

The colors were just perfect and I loved the ghost alphas from Heidi Swapp.

I have also been going thru a large lovely stack of chipboard that is about 3 years old

and misting it, or using it in some way...It has been wonderful using something that

was gathering dust!  Almost enough motivation to buy some new things to play with...:)

 

I also used a Christy Tomlinson mask and some Amy Tan fabric stickers from previous kits, 

many months ago!  Trying to incorporate as much of them as I can...showing love to all my stash! 

I had to throw in some of these new sequins from Studio Calico, 

some Elle's Studio vellum & other miscellaneous pieces lying around on my desk...

 This started to get me more in the mood for Summer and the beach, 

especially since our Spring lasted all of 4 days!

This is our kids' last week of school, so I had better start getting ready for summer!

ALMOST there!!!

We are trying to reach 8,000 Likes on Facebook today!  It is really close!

Help us reach our goal and one lucky fan will receive our limited edition May kit! 

For your chance to win, go to the Elle's Studio FB page and simply Like us,

 then comment below or on our other contest posts from earlier this week. 

Help us out!!  It is a really cool kit too!

Love My Tapes - Washi as a Tool!

 I focused on washi tape as a tool rather than an embellishment for my LMT post this week...

Washi tape is adhesive, but non-stick...not a lot of tapes can do that well!

I used my washi, masking off a piece of watercolor paper to paint ombre effect for a card.

I started by taping my paper down to my board.

I tore a couple pieces of tape and used it to roughly divide the piece of paper into thirds.

I painted a pale blue wash over the top two halves and painted a sand color at the bottom.

  

I tore more pieces off and then tore each of those in half to get a rough edge.

I randomly placed those pieces of tape & kept painting washes on top off each other.

I didn't keep using more washi, I just moved the other tape down,gradually adding more color!

  

I finally pulled off all the tape pieces and the borders too.

I stamped and embossed a piece of vellum with StazOn and gold Zing!, 

added a couple other embellishments and a piece of patterned paper.

Check out all the washi & other tapes available from Love My Tapes HERE!

And check out our Facebook page for other inspiration & ideas from the Design Team!

Thanks for stopping by & Happy Friday!

When Will It Be Spring? * Elle's Studio {featuring new May kit!} *

I got to play with the new May 2013 Embellishment/Tag Kit which just began at Elle's Studio!

I used it for this layout, "WHeN will it bE SPRING?"  

Our weather has been especially crazy this year...like most of the country it seems.

We usually have a blissful 2 weeks in between the time when the pollen is over and it becomes 

too hot to be outside!  Seriously...This year it was cooler longer, which was great, but we were 

all ready for sunnier, dryer weather!  Especially when the kids just want to be outside...

and the parents want them outside ;)

I can't say enough fabulous things about ALL the products at Elle's Studio.  They are constantly 

surprising us with new products...vellum papers & tags, vellum photo strips!  And new patterned 

paper photo frames...so many cool patterns and colors, but perfect because they all work together!  

I have never worked with a collection of papers that changes between white & ivory based papers 

& products so seamlessly.  It makes matching and working with any of the collections effortless!

You can see the new May Kit and the other new collections at Elle's Studio HERE!

And stay tuned soon for new DT projects featuring the new Cameron & Saltwater Collections!

Elle's Studio MAY DT Gallery Card

 

This was a birthday card I made for the Elle's Studio May DT Gallery.

Just a quick, bright card that could be for a variety of occasions!

I used mostly the Day to Day collection with some of that lovely vellum that is a part of the

 Limited Edition Serendipity Vellum collection...That vellum looks really cool layered over

 another color, like red, because the aqua makes it almost a pink-ish/purple hue. 

I used the Day to Day stamp at the top of the tab and used the snippet tag to

 bring in a little pink, trying to highlight that pinky color...

Thanks for looking!  You can check out all the collections at Two Peas, Scrapbook.com,

A Cherry on Top and of course at Elle's Studio, including the new Serendipity collection.

Sadly, in writing this post, I found out that the vellum in that Limited Edition collection is sold out...boo. 

I wanted some more as well.  BUT, the May Kit which is a part of lots of new surprises from 

Elle's Studio does have some vellum included in it, 6 photo strips and a 3x4 tag!  

You can see it HERE!

Happy Mother's Day & quick cards...

Happy Mother's Day to ALL the Mothers, 

Grandmothers, Mother-in-laws, Stepmothers, Foster Mothers, Mothers to animals...

I hope didn't I leave anyone out?

I made some quick cards for some special ladies in our lives and came up with a 

quick formula to make it easier! :)  I picked out several large stamps, watercolored

some little pieces of paper really quick and let them dry...

I stamped over the watercolor with black Versamark Ink, added some sparkle with Stickles
and adhered them to some matching patterned paper from 6x6 pads!  

I need to use more of those...Not super involved but I love the way they came out...

It would be great to have a lot of these on hand and then stamp whatever sentiment I needed!
Hope everyone had a great weekend, mother or not!
Thanks for stopping by...

a beautiful world...Scrapbook Circle Challenge!

It used to totally stress me out that I didn't, or couldn't make myself scrap our photos, event, 

whatever in chronological order!  I think that is probably why it would be a huge test of patience, 

will power and organization for me to try to do Project Life...

I may do it one day...not today, or this year.

However, I have decided that I really enjoy not scrapping in any kind of chronological order!  

For one thing, it will be nice to look back through book and see different trends in all different years.  

Also, it makes me happy to remember moments like this so long after the event!  

It is part of why I started to scrapbooking to begin with.

And sometimes that is a a beautiful reminder...in fact, lately, it has been extra necessary!

So, this LO was for the Scrapbook Circle Challenge #52 to use patterned paper as

the background.  Not card stock.  I love patterned paper; it is my most favorite "embellishment!"

So, this wasn't hard, knowing when to stop...is.  But luckily my daughter came into

my craft room and said "sometimes there is just too much going on..."

Well put.  And part of her personality that these photos captured. 

She has always been willful and stubborn, but not in the same way her brother is.

He can be a downright mule.  She wants her way and will keep trying til she is triumphant!

That sounds a little dramatic, but for a toddler to maneuver cobblestone streets can

be very dramatic...especially with everyone trying to help and hold a hand and she wouldn't

have ANY of it!  She wanted to do it on her own, in her way...

Okay that does sound a bit mule-ish!  

 I remember this day like it was yesterday...not nearly 8 years ago!!! What??

And it was a particularly difficult afternoon...for me.  But looking back at these photos,

I forget that and remember the beautiful village and her sweet dress and chubby cheeks

and a gorgeous Tuscan day.  That is why I love this hobby so much!

sometimes you need to get your feet wet a little at a time...

My mother-in-law took this photo one day they took the kids to the park.

They waded in and Sam pulled his shorts way up!  In fact, he said it looked

like a diaper and that I'd better not be putting this on the Internet...Ha!

Sorry, Sam.  Too cute of a smile and I it in my pile to be scrapped....

I watercolored some pieces cut on my Silhouette for another project and had the 

paper that I used underneath it.  It has these nice watercolored coffee cup stain

like circles and another bigger place where I painted a title.

I decided to use them to a subtle rainbow pattern background under a large die cut title.

I had been wanting to do a page like this for a while but wanted a photo that was black & white 

and not too busy, so the photo and title wouldn't compete.

I have also been feeling a little scrap guilt because most of my journaling lately 

has been super short, hidden, or non-existent.  

So, the title is the journaling in this photo and it speaks volumes about my son's personality!

From starting to walk to everything after, Sam has always been one to take

his time and do things when he was ready.  He and Sofia are so different that way.

She would run and jump in not thinking about it twice.
Sam definitely needs to get his feet wet a little at a time, and that is just fine.

Yes, he can be the most stubborn person on the planet!   

But, he makes up for it with the sweetest hugs, kisses and actions...

HARMONY { & New Start to Finish Video }

Ok, first off, I want to say that I decided to wait on my little giveaway that

I had originally planned for today.  Partly because I think people would be 

so involved in NSD activities that my giveaway might get lost in the crowd...

I will do it next week or weekend instead!  Check back for that!

One of the projects I did on National Scrapbooking Day for a 2P's Challenge.

I used a PageMaps May 2013 Sketch found HERE.

Also, one of the little challenges I made for myself to scrap & film

myself doing a page/project timed...on the clock.

Well, I am pretty bad about trying to multitask so much that I ended up getting myself all 

scatter brained!  I had to pause the video to help get kids ready for dinner,

bath, and bed and thought I paused the clock on my phone too. Nope.  

And then I just decided to relax a bit and enjoy it, so it ended up not being a very timely project at all!  

Oh well... You can see the video on my YouTube channel HERE or click the link below.

HARMONY Start to Finish Process Video 

{ May-on the clock...NOT! }

The photos were from Easter last year and unlike the Easter this year, it was a gorgeous day.

We sat outside while all the cousins hunted for eggs!  We seem to so rarely have photos

of us together that I find myself needing to scrap them when they are decent pics!

 I have been playing around with some fun filters and actions on Photoshop and the one

I used for this photo made the background very soft and "misty"...so I tried to keep this light.

Still on the gold kick!  And I love everything about the 5th and Frolic collection, 

well all the Dear Lizzy collections really.  They make it easy to scrapbook "girly" stuff.

 Thanks for stopping by & Happy Cinco de Mayo!

prOof. ( & Start to Finish Process Video )

I have boxes of contact sheets that my father had stored from all the film he

took and developed himself...I mean boxes.

My mom didn't want to throw them out and thought I might want

then for some sort of project, or maybe just so she wouldn't have to

make a decision about what to do with them...kidding, Mom! ;)

So, of course, I can't throw them out, and I wanted to use one, at least

to scrapbook about the developing & printing that photographers used to do.

Some still do...but mostly it is done in Photoshop or Lightroom or by Costco.

  

I also did a Start to Finish video on my YouTube Channel 

you can see HERE or click the thumbnail above!  

Most of the paper is from the Crate Paper DIY collection.  

I wanted a grungy, page, with lots of strips to emphasize the strips of negatives

that were used to print the contact sheet.  I also wanted to do a quick, loose,

artsy page but of course, I kept running out of everything...

Video battery died, then my glue stick, then my GlueGlider Pro Runner and finally 

my regular adhesive runner.  All the replacing kind of hindered my spur of

the moment creative burst I had when I started...

Oh well, it turned out fine and I tried to include lots of symbolism that went 

along with the film developing process...hanging the prints onto a line with clothes pins,

using a large wax pencil crayon to circle the image on the negative 

and a bird, for my Dad.

  

I might be a little too Type 'A' to be grungy after all.  I still cut my strips on my paper trimmer.

But, that is the kind of scrapbooker I am...I'm ok with that!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy NSD, a little early!