All dogs DO go to HEAVEN * Little Black Dress Kit Club - March *

 

This layout has been a long time coming...
In fact, a lot of pages featuring our first child have been a long time coming.
I did a mini book, a few years ago, after my baby died, but haven't done
much since.  Mostly because most the photos I have are not digital,
a few with him in there, sadly, in the backgrounds while we were
p[photographing our kids...sniff, sniff.  It happens, when children come along
even the most beloved pets move to the back of the line, at least
that has been my experience.  

I have been on a gold kick and this star punch, from Martha Stewart,
made me think if stars in the sky, or floating upwards.
 It will be 3 years ago next month that our heaven sent hairy (really hairy)
baby, went back to heaven.  Time for me to move on and document
some good times we had with him...

I have noticed a lot of Scrapbooking trending towards more of a mix
of media, in the background, as the base of a page, everything.
I love it, and is actually more of how I came into papercrafting.

Sometimes, it is the best way to let go and just let the layout
take shape, not a sketched out page for me, for this one...
I had an idea what I wanted, it to feel light and airy, all the colors
of mint, teal & gold I am loving right now.

I used the Little Black Dress Kit Club March Kit for this layout,
EXCEPT a couple extras, the star punch, roller chevron stamp (love!),
some wood veneers and mist...Other than that, the kit included lots
of those subdued colors that I mentioned above...I had the piece
of corrugated cardboard I cut the heart out of from another LBD
project from this kit.  I misted it to tone down the color and just went
from there.  I wanted to use lots of texture and didn't mind the bulk
because I plan to put this layout into a shadow box to display...

Anyone, who has read my blog, or my Pinterest boards, know that I 

am a little obsessed with birds (more on that later) and I love the symbolism 

and idea of these pages that actually have layers beneath them wanting to be seen, 

to be included, in this case, the birds lifting my baby up to Heaven.

I know that may sound cheesy and a far reach, but anyone who has
loved a pet like a child knows the hole it can leave in  your heart.
 Neither Shawn or I grew up with a dog, so Scrapa was the first for both of us,
our first beg responsibility together, since it was pre-marriage and we
think about his all the time. We have Lola now, and she is sweet,
but we will never forget our first dog...

Elle's Studio * March DT Reveal #3 * Card

I totally thought I had posted this, but since I am on a roll!

This is the card I made for a friend whose birthday was on February 18th

and for the Elle's Studio March DT Inspiration Gallery!

HERE is a complete list of the products used on that Gallery page

You can see the rest of the Design Team Gallery HERE!

I love this new little stamp called "Right Here."  It comes in a package

with a couple other small stamps too!

All the new collections are now sold at Two Peas, Scrapbook.com, A Cherry on Top 

and of course the Elle's Studio website: shopellesstudio.com

There is a new collection coming out soon, "Serendipity"...

I can't WAIT to get my little hands on it!!

pure joy, Smile, LOVED. & Video * Little Black Dress Kit Club - March *

This is another one of the wood veneers that was included that,

because it has a camera on it, I had to make it front and center!!

Behind it is some of the text tissue included in the kit I stamped with the 

typewriter in the new Glitz stamps from the Color Me Happy collection.

(Sorry, the stamp set isn't part of the kit!)

Speaking of happy, I am total sucker for packaging!

In college we had a professor who said that a true designer  thinks about 

design in everything, in the placement of pins that hold up a project, 

not just things like font or color!  So, the Glitz stamps I would 

buy for the fantastic tin they come packaged in!

 * Start to Finish video *

I really had no idea how this page was going to turn out when I started,
you can tell from the video!  But I wanted to use the more neutral
papers to make the photos pop.  I pinned a sheet of book paper someone
had stamped on to the LBD board "Techniques We Want To Try" and
that inspired me to use that Glitz stamp, unfortunately not in the kit...sorry.
You can see the pin HERE!

I have been making a conscious effort to try to actually USE the pins
I take the time to reference as inspiration!  Imagine that!

Thanks for checking out this page and go watch the video!
I wish I could scrap that fast!  We would need a room dedicated to just scrapbooks!
My husband would die...heh.

happy together. * Little Black Dress Kit Club - March *

Well, this is going to be the first of several posts of the course
of the day, (if I'm lucky) or weekend, more likely...

I really wanted to give each page a little extra liovin',
since this is my last DT Gallery with Little Black Dress!
You can see the other DT Member Blogs posted on the LBD Blog here...

I love the colors in this March kit, it is a good balance of some beginnings of
Spring with still a little muted colors in it for some left over Winter projects.
It is so weird to see some of the other members and folks who are having
snow and our daffodils are already done blooinmng...
I am so ready for Spring though, and the time change too!

The kit included lots of these wood veneer tags from Studio Calico...
Some have holes in them and some are a little like labels,
but I punched holes in those, used my gold Zing! to
emboss some fun stuff on them and strung them up in a little banner
along with all the pretty iridescent buttons included in the kit.

There were several of these little kraft baggies which I used most of...

to hold my journaling tags...DT member Valerie did a really cool mini-book

using those baggies which I thought was genius.  

I couldn't think that far out of the box!  I did mist the baggie and used

the Studio Calico hexagon mask that was included in a previous kit.

And used the Glitz stickers as my journaling card, just stuck the sticker 

to some cardstock.  

Of course, I think my children are beautiful, even with this scrap Sam

had along his nose and the giant gap between Sofia's teeth, they are 

still precious...but that's what every mom thinks!  And so they should!

Thanks for looking...more to come!!

* Copic Process Video * - Birthday Card...still learning

Ok, be nice...I am still learning and very much a beginner...

But Copics are kind of addictive and very therapeutic! 

At least for me...however, not something to do while drinking

a glass of wine...not with an itty bitty card like this! Oy!

I did a Start to Finish video which is really sped up since I am 

super slow...but feel free to leave advice!  I am starting to be 

really wary of reds...not so good with them.

* You can see the video here or on my YouTube Channel *

Anyway, this is a card for my niece and goddaughter and I used a 

stamp from Penny Black called "sweet thing" and had bought a cute

little phrase stamp from the $1 bin at Michael's...I think it is

intended more as a Cheer Up sentiment but I thought it was cute.

It said "maybe a cupcake will help?"  And you'll see I try to use

it in the video, no fault in the stamp, but our dog got a hold of it

and chewed up the handle a bit, apparently some of the rubber too.

It might work for a rustic look!  I think she thought it was the same 

size as the busy bone I had given her...she had to hang out in my craft

room for a couple hours while we had some workers here...

But, she had to jump up to get the stamp off my table, and I thought

it was still in the bag...?  I have said before, our sweet dog Lola, 

is either a genius super spy dog, or dumb as a stick...sweet, but not so smart.

I will know next time not to put her in there, she could have done a lot of damage.

I used the new My Mind's Eye paper pad & washi from the "My Girl" 

collection and a sentiment from Kelly Purkey.  I also found these super

cute mini chevron square file folders that are the Michael's brand Recollections...

I thought they were adorable and matched perfect.  I meant to put a little

word sticker on the tab of the file, but forgot...oh well!

Thanks for stopping by!

GOLD on the INside

We had some seriously amazing colors in the Fall, last year...

Not bad this year, but not as nice...of course, the color doesn't come

from any fabulous maple trees or anything other than some woodsy 

bushes and small trees, we didn't plant and haven't torn out yet....

But I found out that if I use a super zoom lens and get really far away

they blur to a beautiful color and you can't tell that they are.

This was a day I was just playing around with the camera, bu the light 

was great.  Sofia wanted to make silly faces and was tired of smiling.

But she sat for me until I was finished and I these turned out to be 

some of my favorites of the group.  Not quite a smirk or really a smile...

but a little sneaky looking. 

 

I used most of the February Scrapbook Circle Kit for this page...

I thought that woodgrain paper from Glitz was perfect for the photos.

I have been on this gold kick, glitter, Thickers, and thread!

I had actually planned to make this page fairly simply and not very

layered...but, that seems hard to do for me lately!  

I did do some journaling, well really a little personal letter to my

daughter and have taped to the back of the page with some washi.

Thanks for stopping by!

choose HAPPY * Little Black Dress March Kit Early Post + Video!

This has been a serious day of DT Gallery sneak and debuts and lots of posts!

I guess I could lump them all into one post, but I prefer to give each project 

their own little spotlight...after all, I spent some quality time with them in their 

beginning stages, I feel it is only fair!  

The March kit has so many lovely papers in it, a good mix of Spring like 

colors but some muted things since we aren't quite out of the Winter woods yet...

I adore the Studio Calico chevron vellum included and already had one piece,

secretly being hoarded, so I was super excited it was in the kit...

I used it in almost every LO, but in this one as clouds punched out and 

as an embossed cloud with some fabulous new Glitz stamps!!

And speaking of Glitz, they are on the chalkboard trend too with a wonderful black paper 

& cool scroll title on one side and  a lovely soft, completely contrasting pattern on the back.

Check out the rest of the kit items in detail and the blog with more inspiration HERE!

AND I did a Start to Finish Video of the entire process featuring my 

lovely Southern accent and several well placed "ums"!

You can check it out here, or on the LBD YouTube channel, or my YouTube channel!

Also, these are the last projects for my DT term with Little Black Dress

and I really wanted to focus a little on each project as a reflection of the

past 9 months...that may be stretching it a bit at this time of night, considering

how much sleep I have had in the last few days...I mean, I know I am

a chronic insomniac, but even they need some sleep before insanity sets in...

( wonder if my children know that...? )

There are also some of the new Studio Calico wood veneers that are label tags, 

or banners with different phrases or words on them...All in all a super cool kit 

and since this is an early post I have already given too much away!!

My son certainly has his moments, especially this week!!  

Did I mention I was SO glad it was Friday??

But in general, he has a really good attitude and is laid back and pretty easy going...
very unlike me.  He does have a temper, don't get me wrong!

Totally NOT from my side of the family (heh!) but really, if he falls he honestly
gets  up and brushes himself off...not really a whiner or needing  any babying,
band aids or much.  Well, not too much, and he is asleep,
which makes writing this so much more pleasant and reflective and easier.


Seriously, he is a happy kid and his smile, laugh and eyes are absolutely contagious...
they are magnetic and charming and lovely.

Thanks for stopping by, especially after this multi-posting day!
It is now almost March 2nd...so Happy Saturday!