... just Laura

Pebbles Guest Designer - Country Picnic

I'm back today, with the rest of my projects that were featured on the Pebbles blog yesterday, as a Guest Designer! I shared my projects with the Hip Hip Hooray collections yesterday, and today, it's all about the Country Picnic collection. 

This collection is gorgeous! I love the shades of greens and pinks, paired up with white and krafts. This was another one of my layouts, that I started to create, without even having any particular photos in mind. When it came time to dig out some photos, I came across these photos I took of my friend Deneen's daughter, Holly. I have already created a layout of her twin sister, Heather, so it was only right that I scrap a layout about Holly as well.

Once again, I started with my favorite paper saving trick (the second trick on that post), to create the base of my layout. I cut out the entire center of the embossed green dotted paper, and the white heart paper as well. I just left the framed around all four sides and layered them together, since I knew my kraft dotted paper would cover the inside parts that were missing. Do you notice anything funny with the hearts? Kills me that once I got to adhereing photos and embellishments, I wasn't paying attention and now the hearts are sideways. LOL.

I love that Pebbles came out with the corrugated alpha stickers! They are available in 3 colors, and are a great size for titles. I trimmed a strip of flowered patterned paper, just a tad bit wider than the alphas, for my title piece. I cut a notch at one end of the strip, distressed the edges, and machine stitched right down the center before adhered my title letters.

Just a little side note. Green is my favorite color, and this shade of green is my favorite kind of green! I have tons of this green in my house, including a lot of the walls :)

The dimensional flowers were my favorite embellishment in this collection. They have thick, canvas-like petals, and a fun button in the center.

I also created a set of cards, using some scraps and the layered kraft tags. The layered kraft tags are so pretty, and have so much dimension to them. I love that it looks like you put a lot of work into creating the tags, but all you had to do was pull them out of the package!

I started each card with a white cardstock base, and I gave each one a light mist of pink misting spray. I used one of my border punches along some green cardstock, and adhered a small strip along the left edge of the card.

Then I dug out a scrap of pattern paper, distressed the edges, and adhered along the bottom of the card.

Then I adhered the layered kraft tag to the card at a slight angle, peeking out from behind the pattern paper strip. I added a few of the masking tape stickers along the side of the tag, and stapled down the tag strings.

I had lots of fun working with the Country Picnic collection! Thanks to Pebbles for letting me work with their super fun products, and for letting me join them on the blog today! Make sure to go over to their blog, and check out the rest of my projects. I also did a fun little Question & Answer thing, where you can read a few fun tidbits from me. AND, there's a giveaway over there, so you'll want to leave a comment for a chance to win! 

Supplies Used:

Pebbles Guest Designer - Hip Hip Hooray

I'm super excited to be guest designing on the Pebbles blog today! I worked with two different collections, so I thought I would share one collection today, and one tomorrow. First up, is the Hip Hip Hooray collection!

This collection is all about birthdays and celebrations. So I knew I wanted to scrap one of the girl's birthday parties. I hadn't done anything yet with the photos from Sarah's 11th birthday party, which was almost two years ago. It was a swimming party, of course (she's a fish!). And the photos all looked great, paired up with the fun, colorful Hip Hip Hooray papers. I choose two main photos for this layout. One group shot, and one of the birthday girl.

I started out by doing my favorite paper saving trick, and framing my page with a few strips of the glittered dotted patterned paper. I trimmed down a sheet of white cardstock, and misting it with some pink misting spray, and adhered it to the center of the page. I knew I wanted to use the glittered flag banners in the upper corner. The banners come with two flags in one, so that you can fold them over, and string them along the cord that is included. Which I think would be cute. But I also knew that if I simply cut them in half, and seperated the flags, I could get even more banners out of it! I added the fun little sequin candy dots inbetween the flags.

For my title, I wanted to mimic the banner in the upper corner. I choose a fun banner "Birthday" title from the Silhouette store, and cut it from one of the aqua pattern papers. I used the pink glitter alpha stickers to add the "Happy" to my "Happy Birthday" title. I really love those glitter alphas. They're thick, and I didn't find glitter all over the place, like a lot of glitter stickers will do.

I adhered my die cut title to the page, using pop dots. Then I tucked in a few of the adorable pinwheels, to embellish the title.

Some journaling. I find that most of our birthday parties have the same stories. There's lots of swimming, games and joking around, eating, presents, cake and ice cream. Just what a party should be about!

The upper corner needed a little something, so I added her age. It's a very important fact to get down on the page, since all of the swimming parties start to look the same ;)

But I didn't want to stop there. If I'm going to scrap some birthday photos, I'm going to scrap the entire party. Even though my two main photos were the focus of my layout, and this one page could easily stand on it's own, I wanted to add all the other photos in as well. I decided to use some divided page protectors, from Becky Higgins.

I'm actually going to have 3 of these pages, to go along with the single page paper layout. So I will have two 2 page spreads in the album, to cover the entire party. This first page has a selection of photos from the swimming fun. The next page will have photos from the games they played out of the pool, and the last page will have photos of the gift opening and cake and ice cream.  

I printed photos in three different sizes. I did a few 3x4", which will fit perfectly in the page protectors.

Then I printed some at 2.5x3.5", which I then matted on white cardstock, and then on some pattern paper.

And lastly, I printed some at 2.5x2.5". For these, I started with a 3x4" piece of white cardstock, which I misted with the pink misting spray. I took a scrap of dotted patterned paper, distressed the edges, and adhered in the corner. Then I adhered my photos using pop dots. I finished embellishing with alpha stickers and other embellishments. This entire page only took me about 20 minutes to throw together. I still need to do the other 2 pages, but I wanted to show what I had so far.

Since I am ALWAYS in need of birthday cards, I decided to use some scraps to make a few cards. I used my Silhouette to die cut "Party" from some pink patterned paper. 

For all of these cards, the thin strips of pattern paper across the bottom or top of the cards, are actually the UPC strips from the sheets of paper.

I had lots of fun working with the Hip Hip Hooray collection! Thanks to Pebbles for letting me work with their super fun products, and for letting me join them on the blog today! Make sure to go over to their blog, and check out the rest of my projects. I also did a fun little Question & Answer thing, where you can read a few fun tidbits from me. AND, there's a giveaway over there, so you'll want to leave a comment for a chance to win! Come back by here tomorrow, and I'll share the rest of my projects using the Country Picnic collection ;)

Supplies Used:

hello spring - a kerri bradford studio layout

i have a layout up at kerri bradford studio today.

i know that pretty much everyone, everywhere, has had some strange weather this past year. just two weeks ago, we had some of the craziest thunderstorms, a bit of rain, and even some hail. not your typical april weather for us here. but the following week, we had some gorgeous weather. it finally felt like spring, with all of us dragging out capri's, shorts, tshirts, and flipflops.

the girls were outside taking photos of themselves one afternoon, using their ipod touch's. it's what kids do, right? sarah alone has over 3000 photos on her ipod. lol! i find some great ones in there though, and i often think that i should save them and use them for something.

i "borrowed" some of their photos from that one afternoon, to create this layout. because the ipod touch's don't get you the best quality photos, i knew i wanted to keep them fairly small on the layout. i choose a filmstrip type photo template from kerri's storyboard #6 kit, and filled 3 of them with photos. because the coloring wasn't the best on a few, and because they changed shirts at some point, i decided to change all of the photos to black & white to keep a consistent look.

i wanted to add a touch of black across the top of the page, and went looking for a border to use. i came across these birds on a wire and had to use them.  

i choose several papers from amy tangerine, along with the black dot paper from crate paper. the colors might not be your typical "spring" colors, but i thought they gave a more funky vibe to go along with my teenager and my pre-teen's photos. i always love to use the titles with different fonts on them, and that i can cut from several different papers. it adds such a fun look to the titles.

i cut several daisies, from different pattern papers, in varying sizes, and added threaded buttons to the centers. to add more color to the page, i dug out some wide turquoise ribbon and adhered it across the page.

Supplies Used:

CK's Simple Scrapbooks Special Issue + Giveaway

Creating Keepsakes has a new special issue that just came out, called Simple Scrapbooks.

I'm sure a lot of you remember Simple Scrapbooks magazine, which came to an end a few years back. This special issue is filled with tons of ideas for simplifying our scrapbooking process.

As seen in the Simple Scrapbooks Special Issue, from Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

My layout was created for an article about scraplifting. I was given a layout from a previous issue to lift, and I choose the flowers as my main focus of the scrap lift. I'm sure this would make more sense, if you had the issue and could read the article. LOL. Trust me, I lifted the flowers. The original layout also had lots of layered pattern papers along one side. I got the same look, by using a large piece of a pattern paper that was all borders. One piece of paper, versus combining lots of strips of paper. Same look, less time.

The pre-made flower embellishments, from Basic Grey, made this layout super quick and easy to create. The flowers are all 3-D, and have lots of dimension and layers, and even tiny rhinestones on them. I just took them out of the package and stuck them down. Easy peasy.

I just randomly came across these number die cuts, from Pink Paislee, while digging for the flowers. It was a very random decision to use these, and I choose a totally random number to use.

I used those number die cuts, to come up with my title. "Reason No. 714 Why I Love You". And then I came up with my journaling, based off of the title.

Supplies Used:

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You can check out some additional online extras (free printables, downloads, sketches, etc) RIGHT HERE. We also have a sneek peek for you, at the inside of this issue:

We're giving you even more chances to win a copy of this new special issue. Below, you will find three names of fellow participants, who are also each doing giveaways. Head over to each of the following blogs, check out what inspiration they're sharing, and then leave a comment to be entered in their drawings. You might even find new names on some blogs, for even more chances to win.

Joey Manwarren

Kim Watson

Piradee Talvanna

And for a chance to win a free copy, here on my blog, simply leave me a comment on this post. I will randomly choose a winner on Friday. Good luck! 

creating keepsakes may/june 2012 issue - giveaway WINNER

i'm' a day late, but am here to announce a randomly chosen winner for a free copy of the new creating keepsakes may/june 2012 issue from this week's giveaway.

congrats pam! email me with your mailing address, and i'll have them get this issue right out to you!

a bella blvd layout & some bella blvd news

we had quite a bit of stuff happening on the bella blvd blog yesterday, and i wanted to share it with you, in case you missed any of it.

first up, i had a layout on the blog. this was another one of my CHA layouts. i think it's the only one left that i hadn't shared yet. i used the sunshine & happiness collection, to scrap these favorite photos of the girls out by the pool.

it's kind of hard to see here, but i covered the chipboard sun piece with diamond glaze, to make it shiny and glossy. then i added the "you are sunshine" chipboard piece to the center of the sun.

i took a few strips of dotted patterned paper, and cut notches at the end of each one, before slightly overlapping them on the page. i machine stitched down the center of each strip, and then gently bent up the edges to add a little more texture.

for my title, i started out with a journaling block, and added on a few torn strips of the yellow chevron designer tape. the string going under the buttons, on either side of the title piece, was an after thought. since i had already adhered my title piece, i just decided to run the string right over the journaling block, and then add the letter stickers over the string.

it was actually a bit tricky to get the letters to keep from popping up. a little extra adhesive fixed that problem. then i added some diamond glaze to my letters, to give them a shiny look, and also to match the chipboard sun at the top of the layout.

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i also wanted to let you know that The Bella Buzz April 2012 newsletter is now available! we have put together a bright and colorful issue, filled with lots of inspiration! you can view and download the april 2012 issue HERE. 

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and lastly, if you love bella products and want to get a fabulous deal on a box of product, you will want to check out THIS POST! bella blvd is doing their first ever warehouse box sale. you can find all the details in that post, and also within the newsletter.

creating keepsakes may/june 2012 *GIVEAWAY*

have you gotten your hands on the new creating keepsakes may/june 2012 issue yet?

it's got a gorgeous layout by stacy cohen on the cover. you can also find some additional online extras HERE, such as contests, downloads (you must download the sketches!), and additional techniques that are found in this issue.

As seen in the May/June 2012 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

speaking of wedding layouts and sketches, i have a wedding layout in this issue. and it was created for the sketch column, which you can find on page 27. i scrapped some gorgeous wedding photos of my cousin rachael and her new husband ryan, taken by heidi-o-photo.

all of the papers i used, including the lace paper, are from basic grey. i loved the rich colors of the burgundy and green's that they used in their wedding decor. so pretty together. then i added in some silver and pearls, to help give the layout an elegant look.

i wanted another silver flower on the second page, to match the netted one on the first page. so i took some satiny trim, by pink paislee, and created my own little flower. just a little trick i picked up teaching some flowers classes at CKC 2 years ago ;)

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we're giving you even more chances to win a copy of the may/june issue with a little blog hop today! below, you will find three names of fellow blog hop participants, who are also each doing giveaways. head over to each of the following blogs, check out what inspiration they're sharing, and then leave a comment to be entered in their drawings. on each of our blogs, you will find new names to visit as well. and those blogs will lead you to even more blogs. have fun with it!

Joey Manwarren

Piradee Talvanna

Adele Beck

and for a chance to win a copy of this new issue here on my blog, just leave me a comment. i will randomly draw a winner and announce it on friday. good luck!

pool time - a bella blvd layout

this past saturday, we had our first sketch for april up on the bella blvd blog. we are really excited to have the one and only becky fleck designing exclusive sketches for us! i got to work with this sketch:

i knew i wanted to use a few horizontal photos, so i decided to flip the sketch counter-clockwise, one turn. when i was teaching at the CKC's the last two years, i taught a lot of the sketch classes. i always reminded everyone to rotate their sketches. you get so many more options out of a sketch, by simply turning them around and around.

i used some of the simply simona chipboard alphas for my title. i LOVE these letters! i added a few threaded buttons to the centers of the O's, and a chipboard accent to the center of the P.

i didn't really have any specific journaling for this layout. i have TONS of photos every year of the girls in the pool. we don't have a pool, by my parents and my brother have pools. there's only so much i can say, year after year, about them swimming and having fun. lol! so i decided to use the "summer checklist" sticker in place of my journaling. I used mini brads to "check" off the things that applied to these photos.

the sketch had a fun little banner on the top of the layout. since i had flipped the sketch for my layout, i didn't want to add a sideways banner. so i created a fun little banner to add to the opposite side of the page. I used a banner punch from fiskars, stapled the top of each piece, threaded some string through the pieces, and then adhered them using pop dots.

Supplies Used:

Amy Tan's Color & Create Workshop *GIVEAWAY WINNER*

It's time to announce a randomly drawn winner for Amy Tan new workshop at Two Peas In A Bucket, called Collect & Create with Amy Tan.

Congrats Kelly! I'll sent over your 2peas username, and they'll get you all set up for class access! Hope you enjoy it!

crab and shrimp boil - a layout share

as promised, here is another layout share, from that family get-together that i shared on tuesday's layout.

this layout is about the food we ate that day. yummy, yummy crab and shrimp! my brother and his wife do an annual crab and shrimp boil every year. since my sister was out to visit, they decided to do it for our family get-together. there's nothing better than when they dump out that huge pot of food on the table, and pour TONS of butter over everything. it's so good!

i started with another digital template from janet phillips, but this time i choose a one page template. this one holds 9 photos, but i knew i only had 6-7 photos to use.

i started by taking off the scalloped border, title, grey behind the photos (for paper), and the staples.

i was ok with having a few empty spots in the collage. i knew this would print fairly large, and take up a good amount of my page. so i figured i would use the empty spaces in the collage to hold my title and journaling.

i cropped around the collage, leaving a bit of white space around the edges since i wanted a white border after trimming this down. you'll notice that i left the black boxes on the collage to print. i left them there, so that i could measure out the area for adding my papers. looking back, i'm thinking this might have used up a decent amount of ink to print all that black. lol! maybe i should delete those out next time ;)

this collage looked pretty square to me, but it turned out that one side was longer than the other. so i flipped my collage on it's side, to add it to my 8.5"x11" canvas. when i first copied my collage over, it was a lot bigger then the canvas. because this was a one page layout, all i had to do was shrink down the collage to fit the page. what you see here, is how i printed it out. if this had been a two page layout, and my collages were both the same size, i would have wanted to make sure i was shrinking them to the same exact size.

when i started putting this collage together, i had no idea i might trim it into two pieces. it was something i thought about later, once i started to assemble the page. i liked how the digital template had the scalloped border going across those bottom 2 photos. and there was a scalloped border on one of the pattern papers, that i thought would be fun to use. but it would have covered up a lot of the photos. so i simply cut across the collage, and put the border in between them.

since this layout goes right along with the one i shared yesterday, i wanted to use the same papers to tie them together. so i pulled out the wave searcher collection, from fancy pants again. this layout is pretty much paper and stickers. very simple.

i trimmed some graph paper to cover up the empty spots in the collage. i covered up two of the black boxes, with one piece of paper, for my title piece. i used some smaller alpha stickers from october afternoon for my title. they small size worked great, since i didn't have a lot of room to work with.

i must have adhered and un-adhered (is that a word?) this piece of graph paper at least 4 times. which is why it looks all curled up on the sides. too small at first, tried to make it appear bigger, was going to hand journal, then decided to print onto the paper. i should really plan ahead more before adhering things.

sweet cheeks - a bella blvd layout

i have a few CHA projects that still havn't been shared yet. two of those went up on the bella blvd blog this week, so i thought i would share them here as well.

look how cute little zachary is! he was six months old in this photo. i used the baby boy collection for this layout. i honestly wasn't sure about using the giraffe print patterned paper at first. i thought it would to busy for my style. but i love how it ended up looking on here. it's almost like i create a smaller layout (i believe the main part of this layout is 10"x10"), and then mat it on the background paper.

i will fully admit that i got a little embellishment-happy on this layout. lol! while i was working on the gob of CHA layouts for bella, i tried really hard to get a little bit of all the new embellishments on every project. the difference on this layout, was that i used quite a bit of each embellishment. it's all cute stuff, so why not go a little crazy, right ;)

i love to take the cardstock stickers (like the "sweet cheeks" sticker), and adhere them to cardstock. that way, you can adhere them using pop dots, or layer them over other elements, without worrying about them sticking to things you don't want them sticking too. i have been addicted to my distressing tool lately too. by dragging it around the edges of the sticker/cardstock piece, it actually gives the appearance of the piece being thicker then it really is. almost makes it look like chipboard.

love the little miniature stickers! i wanted to add a touch of green in the upper corner of the layout, but couldn't find a sticker that worked. this green chevron piece was part of a chipboard border. i just cut off a piece in the size i wanted, and cut into the end at a diagonal.

i started this card with the "BABY" border strip. i trimmed it to fit, and then built the card about that piece. i cut the long ruled journaling sticker in half, since i only needed part of it, and then added the chipboard "boy" letters on it. a few word stickers, torn pieces of designer tapes, and buttons, and i was done.

Supplies used:

Amy Tan's Collect & Create Workshop at Two Peas In A Bucket *GIVEAWAY*

I was beyond thrilled when Amy Tan asked me to contribute to her new workshop at Two Peas In A Bucket, called Collect & Create with Amy Tan.

Here's a bit more about the workshop, straight from Amy and Two Peas:

As crafters and storytellers, we are natural collectors. We save everything from treasured products and pieces from our everyday lives, to scraps and sketches. Incorporating these elements and all of our favorite bits from life are essential to the process of creating. I want to help you create with what you collect!

In this self-paced class, my contributors and I will show you over 50 brand-new projects! Five chapters covering a range of topics are each supplemented with a printable PDF providing step-by-step photos and in-depth looks at the process behind the pages. Get your creative juices going with the "extras" in the PDF's like challenges and tips, and be inspired by the video in each chapter covering even more examples and tutorials!

Collect & Create explores different styles, as well as my favorite go-to techniques like embossing, using up scraps, incorporating real memorabilia, misting, mixing products and colors, and using sketches. Join me and together we'll create a whole new collection - pages and projects we love!

The content of this workshop will be available immediately upon purchase. The lessons are available for you to work at your own pace and upon purchase can be accessed in the "Workshops" section under "Classes & Events." A private message board forum is also available to ask questions for Amy and to connect with other participants. Enjoy!

There's a special promo going on, and you still have a bit of time to get in on it: 

When you purchase this workshop before April 12th, you'll receive a FREE printable PDF made up of Amy's label and border designs! Find it in the "My: Downloads" section upon purchase, click on the Digikit tab, print and enjoy. You'll want to hurry, this is a limited time offer!

I created 3 brand new layouts to contribute to Amy's workshop. Here is a little peek at one of them ;)

The cost of this workshop, packed with content and video, is $25, and one of my readers will be receiving a spot for free! If you'd like to enter, just leave a comment here (please include your 2Peas user name if you have one) by Friday morning. I'll be announcing a winner Friday afternoon.

Oh, and if you've already signed up for the workshop or want to go ahead and purchase a seat to take advantage of the special promotion ending on the 12th, 2Peas will either refund your tuition or let you give the seat to a friend should you be chosen as the winner. How cool is that?

summer 2010 - a layout share

i think this is going to be a good week on the blog, my friends! i actually have layouts/cards to share every day this week. including saturday. should make up a little bit for the last few slow weeks over here ;)

{click to see larger}

lately, i've really been wanting to scrap a few events, get-togethers, birthdays, and things like that. these are all layouts where i know that i have TONS of photos to choose from, and i want to make sure and get as many as i can onto my layouts.

this is where i get hung up though. i have been struggling to figure out exactly how i want to go about scrapping these photos. do i want to use divided page protectors, and keep it pretty simple? do i come up with a page design, and then size all my photos accordingly, print them out, and trim them up? do i just do a quick print at costco, trim them all myself, and just do my best to fit them on the page? do i create digital layouts? do i create photo collages and print as one large photo? i can't tell you how many times i have debated back and forth on these ideas. on a whim this weekend, i went with the last idea, for the photos from this family get-together from a while back.

i have a TON of digital templates from janet phillips, thanks to an amazing black friday sale i came across last thanksgiving. i love that she has so many two page templates. sure, you can take one or two collages, and use them together for a two page layout. but for some reason, that's not always as easy as it sounds, to make them look cohesive. i love that these are designed with the two pages in mind, so that they flow together so nicely. i started with this template here, which holds 23 photos.

here's how my template looked, once i got all of my photos dropped in. for a few minutes, i debated actually making this a digital layout. but i had some papers picked out already, and really wanted to do a real paper layout. so i figured i would just print out the photo part of this design. it was late at night, and i didn't want to wait to upload and order this from costco, which would be my first way of printing something like this. so i decided to play with this, and see if i could print it myself.

i started by taking off all of the other elements in this digital design. i deleted the side papers, the bracket, and the title. so i was left with what you see here. just the photos, all pretty in their collage.

these templates are set up as a 24"x12" image. so i knew i had to break this into two pages, in order to print. i simply cropped the two pages out seperately, both at 12"x12". here is the first page of the spread.

and here is the second page of the spread. the next thing i did was to resize this down to an 11"x11" image. i knew i was printing this out at home, and i can only print 8.5"x11" on my photo printer. i wasn't sure what the final dimensions would be on the actual photo part of the page, but figured i could easily take off an inch to help bring the size down a bit for starters.

then i cropped out JUST the photo part of the page, leaving a bit of a border around the edges. i copied and pasted that onto an 8.5"x11" canvas, and the photo collage fit perfectly on there. what you see here, is what i printed out. i did the same thing for the first page. if the collage had been too big, i would have just adjusted it to fit the page. {i did this same trick for another layout that i'll share tomorrow, and i'll explain how i had to resize it even more before i was able to print}

and here is how they look on my layout. the first page.

and the second page.

a reminder of what the pages look like together. i love how the photo collage flows so nicely on the two pages. fancy pants is a generous sponsor of the CK dream team, and i just love getting their boxes with the new collections. last week, one showed up on my doorstep, and it included the new wave searcher collection, which is what i used for this layout.

one thing that i love about doing these layouts just for fun, and not to meet any design team or magazine requirements, is that i can include some older products here and there. remember these plastic letters from heidi swapp? from years and years ago? i have a TON of these, and used to hoard them, claiming they were "too special" to use. goofy, i know.

fiskars is another super generous sponsor of the CK dream team, and just sent over a box of new punches last week. i used the groovy rainbow interchangeable punch, which works with the interchangeable punch starter set, on some of the brown distressed pattern paper. i love that these punches take up so much less space, and the interchangeable pieces stack up so nicely together. you just snap in the one you want to use, and you're ready to go. so easy.

here, i combined two of my favorite embellishments that fancy pants has in their collections. the chipboard banner stickers and the buttons. i'm a huge fan of both of these.

overall, it's a pretty basic layout. the photo collages take up a lot of the space on the pages, so there's not a lot of room left that you have to fill up. but i find that for layouts based on holidays, events, vacations, etc ... anything where you have TONS of photos ... photo collages are the way to go. at least, for me they are. i absolutely love that i fit 23 photos on this layout! i had a small handful of photos that didn't make the cut for this layout. but they were all about the food we ate that day. i decided to make that a page of it's own, and i'll be sharing that tomorrow ;)  change of plans: will share that layout on friday.

bella blvd: sophisticates & crochet flowers & designer tape project sheet

today, on the bella blvd blog, we have a new project sheet available for download. this month, i focused on the sophisticates collection, crochet flowers, and designer tapes.

my challenge for this layout was to use the sophisticates collection, along with the newest crochet flowers and designer tapes, and three photos. this layout started with the "sister" chipboard title piece. then i found 3 photos of the girls to use. alyssa's shirt was purple, so i chose the purple sprinkles & lace pattern paper to build my layout on.

for the flowers, i choose papers and flower stickers in colors that coordinated with the "sisters" chipboard piece. three of these flowers are stickers (the yellow, purple, and aqua). for the green and pink flowers, i simply traced a flower sticker onto the sprinkles & lace pattern paper, and cut them out by hand.

i used a distressing tool around the edges of all of the flowers, and then curled up the edges of all the petals. i used a scalloped circle punch on my favorite graph paper, and adhered one to the center of each paper/sticker flower, using pop dots. on a few of the flowers, i also added a circle sticker, to add another touch of color. then i finished them off my adhering a crochet flower to the top of each flower. when i adhered the finished flowers to my layout, i adhered a few of them using more pop dots. lots of dimension and texture going on here!

you can download our project sheet, with full instructions for creating this layout, right HERE.

hoppy easter

wishing everyone a very hoppy easter!

my girls, flowers, and hair

how's that for a random title ;) let's start with my girls. because they're cute, and because i like to start my posts with a photo.

i took this photo of the girls tuesday night, after their band concert. i'm terrible at taking pics in the gym, but this one wasn't half bad. then i went to post it here, and typepad sucked all the color out of it. i'm too tired to try and figure out why. anyways, they're so cute all dressed up, aren't they?

it's been busy around here lately. i keep saying that i'm going to blog more, and that i'm going to have new layouts to share. honestly, i have TONS of layouts in mind that i want to work on. i have some event photos that i have ideas for and want to do something with. i have new products out that i'm dying to use. i just got a huge box of new tools that i really want to open up and use on pretty paper. lots of ideas. but not enough time. isn't that how it usually works?

it's been a little crazy here, with a new baby in the house. even though i get to send the daycare kids home every evening and have time for other things, i'm usually too tired to do much. after working 10 hours a day, doing drop offs and pick ups at school, school events, etc, we're just plain tired. in the last 3 days we had a choir concert, a band concert, 2 JV soccer games for alyssa, church activity for sarah, and joe umpired 2 games. i'm really looking forward to the girls being off from school on friday and monday, since it means less running around and a little extra time to sleep in the morning.

anyways. enough of that. i happen to remember myself mentioning these flowers back in december. and saying that i would have to share something about them. 3 months later, i remembered to come back and do that. i created about 15 of these flowers, to add to some large wreaths i made for christmas gifts. it took quite a while, but it was fun to work with fabric for a change, and was something i could do while watching tv at night. i found the tutorial HERE, after seeing it on pinterest. so easy to make. these would be really cute to make for headbands or to pin on a tote bag or something.

and next up was hair. something i mentioned at the same time as the flowers. i discovered the small things blog last year, and have been addicted to it ever since. the writer, kate, is a hairdresser and crafter, who shares lots of fashion and hair stuff on her blog. i was drawn to the hair stuff. hair styling has never come easily to me. i can get a certain look, but i usually do way more to my hair than is needed.

she has a TON of hair tutorials, with full videos on how she created the style. i'm a visual person. so even seeing something basic, like teasing your hair ... it's nice to see someone actually do it, so you know if you're doing it right. i have watched every single video she's made. you can even follow her on her youtube channel. i have a pretty similiar cut as her, so i find her tips very useful. for example, i thought i knew how to curl my hair, since i used to curl it every single day, for years and years. and yet, i have learned so many new tricks to curling hair that make a huge difference. i highly recommend checking her out.

those are my quick shares for today. hopefully, i'll have more to share soon.

bowling - a layout share

backtrack to february of 2011. the girls had a day off from school, and i took them and 2 of their friends bowling. and i took some photos while we where there. and then i blogged about it HERE. and at the end of that post, i typed this:
"and amazingly enough, these photos are all on a two page layout already. not quite finished. but should be ready to share it very soon".
yes, that was over a year ago. and it wasn't until yesterday, that i actually finished this layout. lol!

i have pulled out this layout about a dozen times in the last year, with the intention of finishing it up. i had the two pages here, with all but 2 photos adhered, all the pattern paper was done and machine stitched, and title was adhered. but i just couldn't seem to figure out how to finish it. yeserday, i forced myself to do it. mainly, so that i would have something to blog about today ;)

at the time, i had just gotten a hold of the rocket age collection, from october afternoon, which was super new at the time. there was something about that collection that i just loved, even though i didn't have boys. well, i realized that bits and pieces of it would work with these bowling photos.

the two page layout started with this paper here. i love the sunburst look to the page, and immediately did some machine stitching down every single row. yes, it took me forever.

i can't remember how i decided to use these super old black chipboard letters from lil davis. i've held onto them for years, just because i like the different sizes and looks to the letters, and because they're really chunky letters. the word "bowling" fit perfectly along one of the rows.

i originally had the photo of the girls printed as a 4x6, and it was the only photo i had for the first page. this is partly what i was struggling with, was what to do with the rest of the page. i finally printed out the photo as a 5x7, and also printed out a photo of the score board to add on.

i had printed out eight 2x3 inch photos, 2 of each of the girls, to use on the second page. i added a strip of the star pattern paper, in between the two rows of photos, and machine stitched along either side. i also added the black large scalloped border, to balance out the black chunky title on the opposite page.

to embellish the layout, i made it easy on myself. i just pulled out the miscellany kit, and pulled pieces from there to use. i used a few of the flashcards, the label, a ticket stub, a piece of the ribbon, the chipboard star (i painted it black), and the buttons. all from the kit.

i could not be happier with this layout. first off, i'm just glad that it's finally done and in the albums. and secondly, i really like how it came out. now, if only i could finish up the other 7 layouts that are sitting on my shelf, partically done ;)

birthday cards: a kerri bradford studio project

i have some new cards up at kerri bradford studio today. i knew when kerri asked us to focus on cards this month, that i wanted to make some birthday cards. that's the one kind of card that i always need, but never seem to have on hand.

for my "happy birthday" cards, i started with the loopy card base from the for you kit, and added on a few rows of circles using the envelope insets from the signed, sealed, delivered kit. i cut it out of tone-on-tone pattern papers, and then adhered graph paper to the inside of each card.

i cut it out of tone-on-tone pattern papers from bo-bunny, and then adhered graph paper to the inside of each card. i have a definate obsession with graph paper lately.

then i adhered a threaded button in the center of each cut out circle. all of the buttons i used are from basic grey. they make some of the best buttons, and i love the colors.

the first card was my more "boyish" card. although my girls told me the buttons aren't "boyish". oh well, the colors are and that's good enough for me. this card is the "girlish" version.

when you open up the card, you're just lifting the pink piece on top, with the loopy borders. so the buttons will actually be on the inside of the cards, in two neat little rows.

for my sentiments, i spent forever looking for the perfect "happy birthday" stamp, and couldn't find one that would work. then i remembered these "happy birthday" rubons from pebbles. i LOVE these, and they're perfect for card making, since you get so many in each little package. i added the rubon to a label sticker from my mind's eye, and adhered it to the card front, along with a piece of ribbon from pebbles.

for my next cards, i wanted to use the tear-away envelope from the signed, sealed, delivered kit. i love the idea of tearing off that little strip, to get to what's inside of the envelope. i also took a little inspiration from robyn's cards that she shared a few weeks ago, since i love how she added them right to the front of her cards.

for my actual card base, i just used a regular old card. all of the papers are from amy tangerine's first collection.

i resized the envelope, so that it would be the perfect size for a gift card. we are always giving out gift cards for birthday gifts, so this will come in really handy. i cut these from some graph paper. to add a little something to the tear-away strip, i used a teeny tiny stamp from technique tuesday.

i added a few stars to the cards, embellished with threaded clear buttons. i'm sure there are stars in several of kerri's kits, but the first one i found during my search was from the christmas countdown kit. i also used a sentiment stamp from hero arts.

i had a few extra stars left over, so i also added one to the front of each envelope, along with a "Celebrate" sentiment from the all about you kit. the envelopes for all of the cards are also in the tear-away style. i cut them from kraft cardstock, and then lightly sprayed them with white misting spray from studio calico.

i love that i have a few birthday cards on hand now. i made 2 of the second style, which means i have 4 cards. only problem is that i have 3 birthdays in the extended family, during the next week. which will leave me with only one spare card. guess i'll have to make some more cards one of these days :)

for like ever - a digital layout

i've been creating lots of layouts over the last few weeks. but nothing i can share for a while. i actually have a nice little creative break, and don't have any projects that i HAVE to do, for a little over a week. which is nice, because i have some layouts that i've been really wanting to work on. just for fun. i'm hoping i'll have some ready to share late this week or next week. in the meantime, how about a digital layout share.

{for whatever reason, this shows better when you click on it}

i can't remember the last time i created a digital layout. actually, i can tell you. through the beauty of "categories" on typepad (and the beauty that i actually DO check off categories for all my posts ;)), i can tell you the last time i made a digital layout was november 2010. what??? that doesn't seem right, considering what a huge amount of digital products i have. lol!

this was a really quick layout that i created a while back. the only thing that wasn't done was the journaling. that's the hardest part of digital scrapping for me, is actually typing up some journaling. i have no clue why, since it's pretty easy to do. it's just the part i put off. which is why it took me this long to actually finish the layout.

i started with this fun digital template, from robyn meierotto. the great thing about templates like this, is that the design is already done for you. you just drop everything in. photos, papers, cardstock, etc. and you still have the freedom to add extra pieces, or change things around.  

i know i used the cool star die cut paper from robyn's let's go paper kit. i think one of the reasons i used it, other then because it's cool looking, is that i purchased this kit at the same time as the template. it saved me time, so i didn't have to dig around for another cool paper.

i took the title from the a kind word - love part 2 kit, from deena rutter. i knew i only had 2 photos for this layout, and i wanted to add the title in the third photo frame. "for like ever" was really a cute title. and it fit.

i wanted to add a little extra something to the frames in the template, so i dipped into my insta-frames, from audrey neal. i've actualy used these on a paper layout before. just printed them out, and trimmed them up.

after adding in those main pieces, i then lost track of what products i was using, from what kits. i picked a few other pattern papers to add in. pink and yellow to go behind the frames, black for the top and bottom of the page, and blue for the background. i found some buttons from random kits. and finished it off with some journaling strips.

i would never give up paper scrapping. but i also really enjoy playing with digital scrapping too. with a basic knowledge of photoshop and layers, it's really not that hard to learn. i remember saying a few years ago, that i would NEVER digi scrap. i thought it was too intimidating. i'm glad i took the time to play around with it and learn "just enough" to get me doing some pages every now and then.

edited to add: it was just a coincidence that most of the kits i used for this layout came from design house digital. there are a few digital shops that i frequent, for great digital kits. one thing i love about design house digital, is that on tuesdays, they have tuesday dollar deals. 5 brand new kits that are each only $1. so the ones you see above were all purchased for $1 each, when they first came out. a great way to try out digital and see if it's something you might enjoy.

a heads-up + the CK march/april giveaway WINNER

i'm not sure what happened to me this past week. i was very absent on the blog. too many other things going on, i guess. i had a very big deadline to meet on thursday, and once i got that all finished and sent in, i just sort of did a creative brain dump. which lead me to what you see next.

since i have a little downtime, before my next round of projects, i decided it was a good time to do some cleaning in the scraproom. i feel like i just did this not to long ago, but it's amazing how things just piled right back up. i started purging my pattern paper first. so far, these are 2 of the 3 piles i have to get rid of. it's a lot, i know. i'm moving on to the rest of the room today. anyways. i will most likely be putting up some boxes for sale at the end of next week. i did this same thing about 6 months ago. just wanted to give you a heads-up, if you're looking to get a really good value ;)

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and now, i need to announce a winner for the free copy of the new Creating Keepsakes March/April 2012 issue, from monday's giveaway.

congrats sandra!!! email me with your mailing address, and i'll have the kind folks at CK get that right out to you!

suddenly a boy: a bella blvd layout

i have a new layout up today, on the bella blvd blog.

i look forward to our "free-for-all" layout days, which our designers have once a month. it's a chance to scrap about whatever we want to scrap about. no rules or restrictions to what collections or products we use. it's a great way to create some layouts that i've been wanting to do, just for fun.

it started when i took this photo of him last week. 26 months, going on 27 months. 2+ years, if you will.

and it made me think back to this photo of him. 7 months old. just a little thing.

time really does fly by so fast these days. it sort of seems like he magically became a full-fledged boy out of no where. he still had a few of those "baby" qualities about him. and then one day, he didn't. he was suddenly a boy.

i'll be honest. it bugs me just a teensy-tiny bit that my journaling printed a little crooked on the ruled pattern paper. lol! i'm sure no one would notice that except me. and i'm sure i'm weird for feeling the need to point it out to you all.

all of bella's new products started shipping out last week. so keep your eyes out for them, at your LSS's and online retailers. i know you can find them HERE at 2peas ;)

Creating Keepsakes March/April 2012 *GIVEAWAY*

Have you seen the new Creating Keepsakes March/April 2012 issue yet?

You can also find some additional online extras HERE, such as contests, downloads (you must download the sketches!), and additional techniques that are found in this issue.

We're giving you even more chances to win a copy of the March/April issue now. I want to share 5 more blogs that you can visit, who are also each doing giveaways. Head over to each of the following blogs, browse around a bit, and then leave a comment to be entered in their drawings.

Paper Crafts Magazine 

Erika Hayes

Piradee Talvanna

Joey Manwarren

Stacy Cohen

And for a chance to win a copy of this new issue here on my blog, just leave me a comment. I will randomly draw a winner and announce it on Friday. Good luck!

four foto friday

i'm short on time this week. i'm not short on words, but just don't have time to share them here on the blog. too much going on. so i'm taking the easy way out, but still getting something cute up here to look at. it's four foto friday.

seems like zachary was just a baby not too long ago. apparently, when i had my head turned, he went and grew into a full fledged boy. a little dude. 2 years and almost 3 months old.

and still quite attached to me. literally.

which is all good to me, since i find him quite entertaining and super adorable.

he's one of the funniest little dudes i've had the pleasure of taking care of. we all love him to pieces!

kerri bradford studio: new designer and giveaway winner

time to announce a winner for kerri bradford's new class, silhouette: getting to know you, being held at jessica spraque.

congrats heidi!!! shoot me an email, and i'll get your info over to kerri, so you can can get all signed up! 

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and did you all see THIS. i'm so excited that loni stevens is teaming up with kerri bradford to share her amazing die cut designs! i have just about ALL of loni's designs in my silhouette library, and she's been a long time favorite scrapper/designer of mine. so i love that she'll be designing exclusive kits through kerri bradford studio. 

here's a look at her first kit, which you can find HERE.

bella blvd: spring flings & easter things project sheet

this past monday, on the bella blvd blog, we shared our newest project sheet. for our march layout, i featured the spring flings & easter things collection.

every month, stephanie gives me a challenge, for when i go to create these project sheet layouts. for this one, i was to create a layout that was based on the definition of a word. since i was scrapping some easter photos, i went with the word "hunt".

i included the definition of the word "hunt" in my journaling, and then added a few sentences to tie in the photos to that definition.

i also used some of the tiny alpha stickers, from the quattrofina alphabet stickers sheets, to add additional descriptive words to each photo.

you can view and/or download the spring flings & easter things project sheet RIGHT HERE.

Jessica Spraque + Kerri Bradford + Silhouette

I'm guessing you've all heard of Jessica Spraque, right? And I know you all know about the fabulous Kerri Bradford. Well, guess what? They are teaming up to bring a new Silhouette class, taught by Kerri, to the Jessica Spraque site!

Here's some tid-bits about the class: 

• Class: 'Getting To Know You'. It's a self-paced class, so you can go as fast or as slow as you'd like. It includes 5 lessons, with the fifth one being a mini album project.
• Start date: April 2
• Cost: Normally $24 but pick it up for the Introductory Price of $19. Price is good until the class starts.
• Great for beginners, but also fun for those who've started to familiarize themselves with the program.
• Purpose: To get people to not be afraid of using their Silhouette.
• Description:  You just got your new baby . . . *ehem*. . .  Silhouette. She's all hooked up and now you're wondering how to get to know her better. Join Kerri Bradford as she leads you through the ins and outs of what you see in Silhouette Studio. She'll give you a basic overview of how to use the library for Silhouette shapes + shapes from outside sources as well as show you the basic tools and menus to help you get on your way to making your first cuts!
• Project includes: exclusive printable papers + icons along with Silhouette shapes to make a cute mini album (shown in photo)

You can find more information and sign up, right HERE.

Kerri and Jessica have given me a spot, in her first class, for a giveaway to one of my lucky blog readers! All you need to do is leave a comment on this post to be entered, and I will announce a winner on Wednesday!

our crazy family: a bella blvd layout

today is saturday sketches, on the bella blvd blog. and it was my turn to play along. this week, we're using a sketch from becky fleck.

i know i have scrapped this family photo before, on one of my CHA layouts. since those layouts don't come back to me, i wanted to get this photo scrapped on a layout for my own albums. and this sketch was perfect for it. i pulled out lots of bella's family dynamix pattern papers to get started.

a few things to point out, in this full shot of the layout. the pink border piece is from the new chipboard elements set. these borders are about 8 inches in length, so they won't stretch all the way across a 12x12 page. but since i only needed it to show on the top and the bottom, i just cut it into 2 pieces, and adhered them seperately. also, i used a few of our new buttons in the upper left corner. i wanted a simple look, that didn't compete with the papers. so i choose a few floral buttons, and just used them upside down, so just the natural wood shows.

i stayed pretty true to the sketch. i did change up the title piece a bit. instead of using a full circle to hold my title, i used a half circle, and went a bit larger in size. this was partly done because i had already adhered flowers all the way across the page, forgetting that i needed my title in there.

i wanted to add some texture to my page with the flowers. i hand cut them from a sheet of patterned paper, and then wadded each one up into a ball. just like you would a piece of garbage. then i flattened them back out, and adhered them to the page using pop dots. this is SO simple, and yet it adds lots of texture and dimension to the page.

check out the bella blvd blog today, to see three more designer's take on the same sketch.

make sure and stop by next week. i have 2 giveaways that will be going up early in the week, and you won't want to miss them ;)

a quick update

i had such good intentions of finding something to blog about last night. and tonight. things just feel off, if i don't blog a certain amount of days a week. i know, it's silly. some weeks are just busier and crazier than others. that's how it's been around here.

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last weekend, we had our last tournament for sarah's all-star team. that was a little over seven months straight, of soccer for sarah. it was a good season, and we finished with a fabulous weekend. but the break will be nice, before fall season starts up.

alyssa made the JV soccer team at the high school. so she's just finishing up pre-season games, and then we'll head into the real games. still lots of soccer going on. five days a week for her.

joe started umpiring at the high schools last week. he took a break from umpiring for a few months, since he was busy coaching sarah's fall soccer team, and also the all-star team. but he's back in full swing. just this week, he has 6 games. in addition to working his night job.

the girls have both had SO many half-days at school, and days off for random holidays and teacher work days. i think, since going back after winter break, they've only had one FULL week, with no days off. weird. and they're off all next week for spring break.

alyssa is so excited to be headed to disneyland next week for a few days, with the high school band. it's a trip they take every other year. lots of fun stuff planned. band stuff. recording stuff. and some disney mixed in.

i've been busy working on layouts for random projects and guest designer things. it seems i havn't been keeping very good track of things, since i keep doing the "OMG. i think i have something due tomorrow" routine. my procrastination and forgetfullness kill me.

i have a new daycare baby that started this week. a 4 month old. which suddenly makes me realize that the so-called "baby" that i had already been watching, isn't really a baby. as soon as you get a younger kid, you realize how HUGE the other kids really are. lol! today, i had a 4 month old, a 1 year old (actually, he turns 1 today!), and a 2 year old. all boys. it was a little crazy at times, but we all survived.

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that's the main stuff. the stuff that i can remember anyways. i promise i'll be back on saturday, with a layout share. i can promise that, because i have something going on on the bella blvd blog. and then hopefully, i can get back into a blogging routine next week.

bella blvd: new project sheets

Yesterday, on the Bella Blvd blog, we shared two new project sheets that are available for download and viewing! These are layouts that I create each month, that get turned into step-by-step projects sheets, with full instructions.

{photos by Lynn Ghahary}

You can download our fifth project sheet, featuring Bella's Winter Wonder collection, by clicking HERE.

You can download our sixth project sheet, featuring Bella's Lovey Dovey collection, by clicking HERE.

I hope you check them out and use them for quick layout ideas. You can use them with the collections they're intended for. Or you can even take the design and directions, and use them with other papers or collections that you're wanting to use. I just finished up the projects sheet layout for March, so watch for that in the next few weeks!

the very thought of you - a kerri bradford studio layout

i had another layout up at kerri bradford studio yesterday. i really should have posted this yesterday, since it fits with the february/valentines/love theme. and now it's march. we can still have some love though, right ;)

this was one of those layouts that i started without photos, or without any idea of what photos i would use. i knew i was making a love themed layout. and i knew i wanted to use the love story collection, from fancy pants. i figured i would go looking for photos at some point. but i ended up pulling these photos of the girls, from years ago, that i had printed out for another layout.

i knew i wanted to use the circle background, from the more background basics kit. my intention was to cover the entire 12x12 page with these. three rows, with four in each row. so i started out cutting twelve circle backgrounds from white cardstock.

on the first run though the silhouette, when i cut the first eight, it turns out i should have changed my blade. i knew it was wearing down a bit, but i figured i could get a bit more use out of it. i spend forever trying to get these off my mat, and all the circles out. that'll teach me to be sure and have a good, sharp blade.

i pulled out my pattern papers, and started trimming an assortment of papers into the same size as my circle background pieces, and rounding the edges. i adhered them all together, and lined them up on a sheet of aqua cardstock.

i had two photos of the girls, that i printed for another layout. they were printed quite a bit larger, but it worked out perfectly to trim them into the same size as my circle background pieces. somewhere along the line, i decided to add the strip across the center of the layout, and only use the circle background pieces along the top and bottom.

i used my title and subtitle, to do double duty for my journaling as well. i like to think i'm pretty good about journaling, but sometimes, i don't have a lot to say. i got my title piece from the smitten kit, and cut it from a text patterned paper and some pink cardstock.

i wanted to keep the rest of the embellishments pretty simple, since there was already a lot going on with the different patterned papers. so i simply cut some hearts, from the XOXO kit, using different patterned papers and cardstock. a single threaded button on each heart and i was done!