Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Pretty Little Studio Welcomes...Me!!!


PRETTY LITTLE STUDIO has been announcing the new Design Team members on its blog all week.  Have you been following along and entering to win free Pretty Little Studio Products?  You have GOT to stop by today for a couple of reasons!  Why?  Well, first, because today's blog is all about m-e-e-e-e-e-e-e!!!!!!!  Yippee!  And, if you need a good laugh, I am pretty sure I have somehow managed to turn in the absolutely, positively geekiest design team member picture ever in the history of design team member pictures!  But, you know what?  I have decided I am okay with that - because I am a big geek AND because, for the next six months, this geeky girl gets to play with fantastically wonderful PLS products and make fun layouts like this one - using papers from the Hopscotch Collection and a few goodies from the new Birthday Cake Collection.

 
(I totally stole borrowed the bunny button tail idea from the wonderfully talented Izzy Anderson, whose cardmaking and scrapbooking style I adore!)

For those of you who know me, MY favorite product that you can win is...wait for it...BANNERS!  Actually, technically, these are called (super adorable) bunting flags from the brand new Birthday Cake Collection, but guess what you can make with them?  You got it - banners!!!
And even better, there are also two coupon codes so you can go ahead and grab all the vintage die cuts, and mini-calendars, and journaling cards that you want! They expire March 1, so don't wait!
Coupon
Oh!  Real quick, before you head over to Pretty Little Studio to laugh at my picture, enter to win those suh-weet bunting flags, and indulge in a little on-line shopping with these coupons, here are a few close-ups of my layout:
 
(Seriously, how cute are these clouds?!!!)
 
(Most adorable animal die-cuts E.V.E.R.)
 
(Here is how I used one of the bunting flags.)
 
That's it for me.  Try not to hurt yourself laughing too hard at my picture.  And have fun shopping and loading up on Pretty Little Studio goodies! 

Saturday, February 16, 2013

My Girl (My Minds Eye)


Have you heard the news?  My Minds Eye and Gossamer Blue have teamed up to host a fun little contest for a Guest Designer.  As soon as I read that, I felt like a little kid in a classroom, jumping up and down with my hand raised in the air, yelling, "Pick me! Pick me!"  And this is when I haven't even come down from my high of winning the My Mind's Eye Groundhog Day Challenge (found HERE)! But I can't help it *major whining here* It's My Mind's Eye *pouting and whining at the same time now* and it's a GUEST DESIGNER *whining, pouting, and a tic has started in my left eye*
 
Anyway, it just so happens that the week before I toddled out of my friendly neighborhood Archivers with a whole lotta MME goodied from the new My Girl Collection.  So, this layout would have been made anyway, maybe not today - but soon.
 
I started with a fun sketch by Liz Chidester that I found HERE.  Her sketch style just happens to fit my scrapbooking style, so her blog is definitely saved on my Favorites Bar.
 
I L.O.V.E. the sticker sheet that came with this collection.  The "my girl" arrow is actually the bottom strip of the sticker page.  I thought it was cute and would look good on my layout, so I cut it out and shaped it into an arrow.  The only thing that is not part of the My Girl Collection is the "take note" tab which is part of a journaling card from a different MME collection.  I cut it into strips and used the lined part of the paper as part of my title/journaling.
 
 
See, here's the title/journaling.  The title was part of a small journal card that I just cut up and outlined in black marker.
 
I love all the subtle layers this layout has.  You don't really realize how intricate it is until you hold the layout at an angle - like this...
 
 
That's it for me tonight.  Tomorrow is a new day and, with it, a new box of fabulous goodies for some projects that will be coming soon to a blog near you!

Thursday, February 14, 2013

My Valentine (Practical Scrappers)




Happy Valentine's Day!!!  Today at PRACTICAL SCRAPPERS we are sharing our Pinterest inspired Valentine Projects.  I have been saving so many cool layouts that inspire me on Pinterest that this was the perfect opportunity to do something I haven't had the fun of doing in a long time - a lift!  And not just any lift but a lift by an artist that I L-O-V-E, MAGGIE HOLMES!  I lifted this fantastic layout (did I mention I love, love, love it?):

Like the original artist, I used STUDIO CALICO papers - although I am not a member of their kit club and bought mine from a scrapbook store.
 
My layout is about my honey-bunny, who is my very favorite valentine.  I thought the travel papers were perfect for my Maya Angelou quote, and I loved creating a layout that did not use the traditional Valentine pinks and reds.  Don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against the traditional colors, but my unique guy deserved something a little less...ordinary, for lack of a better word.
 
Here are some close-ups (oohing and aahing not required but always appreciated!):

My hearts were cut out using my Silhouette (of course), and I outlined them all with a black fine-tip marker.


I only glued the middle section of some of my hearts so the edges could be lifted up to add more dimension.
 
Got to have a cluster around the picture - got ta'!
 
Annnddd, I stitched all around my "earth" and added tiny brads and the stars from my punched background.

That's it for me, but head on over to PRACTICAL SCRAPPERS to see how the rest of the girls were inspired on this Day of Love!

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Live Inspired - A Practical Scrappers Sketch Reveal


Today over at PRACTICAL SCRAPPERS, we have the February sketch reveal and it is another fantastic one by our Practical Scrapper, Liz Chidester!  I love her sketch, but I decided it worked better with my papers and picture if I flipped the sketch upside down and mirrored it.  Whatever direction her sketch is turned, it is fantastic!

I used a picture that I love of "my boys" taken in December along with some artsy, wonderful STUDIO CALICO papers from a couple of different collections.  I love their bold, graphic style and thought it really suited this photo of these guys doing their "inspirational album cover pose" - especially since the clouds on the background paper seemed like an extension of the sky in my photo.
 
The top right corner of the paper had several blue lines that, to me, looked like the rays of the sun (yes, even though they were blue).  So, I layered and extended those with leftover strips of paper that I machine stitched in contrasting orange.  I printed out this great Silhouette quote four times in teeny-tiny letters and further accented each "ray of sun" with bright shiny gold stars, also from Studio Calico.
 


I added a couple of punched clouds that I randomly machine stitched across to help connect the clouds on the background paper to my picture. 

My journaling extended across the bottom half of my page, from here:


to here:
 
Liz's sketch certainly inspired me this week!  Why don't you print it out and give it a try?  And if you do, feel free to leave me a comment with a link to YOUR layout (and link it on Practical Scrappers, too!) - I would love to admire what you have created!
 
Until this time tomorrow (when I show you a Valentine's layout in non-Valentine colors), happy scrapping!

Monday, February 11, 2013

Happy Girls Layout - Using Crate Paper

Happy Monday morning everyone!  With Valentine's Day right around the corner, I have really been focused on the people and things I love - and scrapbooking all about them, of course!  And some of my favorite papers to use have been from CRATE PAPER'S 14 COLLECTION, which is defintely on my TOP 5 Paper Collections List right now.  The papers are saturated with color and a little bit vintage-y and absolutely perfect for layouts such as this one featuring my sweet, lovely daughters! 
 
As my starting point, I used this fantastic sketch from CREATIVE SCRAPPERS.  Seriously, Kristine's crew comes up with so many awesome sketches, I don't know when I will have time to get to them all!
 
Let me tell you a little bit about this layout - because I had so much fun making it!
 
First, this banner was fussy cut directly from a page of - you guessed it - banners!  I just cut a few out and zig zag stitched around my pieces, then sewed them across the top directly onto my layout.  I initially had a second, different banner making a larger swoop below this one but decided it made my layout too busy - after I had already glued it down to my papers, of course!  So, I ripped the second banner off, sewed these little hearts on top of a few of the ripped areas, and decided that the other visible tears in my papers were extra distressing that I MEANT to have on my layout - hahahahaha!  Besides, they compliment my white paint spatters that really were put there on purpose.  (Yes, I am the Queen of Rationalization - that's how I am able to continue buying new scrapbook papers when I will never use up all the ones I already have.)  I left the threads at the end of my hearts long and uncut because I liked the way they looked.
 

I used one of the polaroid frames from a newer MAGGIE HOLMES' Collection (I LOVE her work!)  Obviously, my picture is not square-shaped and not meant to fit in a polaroid frame.  But I wanted to use it so I just angled it across the top as an accent.  The number blocks were originally part of a border strip on one of the 14 Collection papers that I simply cut up, outlined, and pop-dotted on my frame. 
 

Here is another view of the center of my layout and one of the reasons why I chose the Creative Scrappers sketch that I used - LAYERS!!!!!!  I love the layers!  And look how scrumptious these papers look together - almost good enough to eat!  Okay, not really, but these papers ARE perfect for layering...and for sewing on!
 
 
My title, "Happy Girls are the Prettiest Girls" is part of a fabulous quote by Audrey Hepburn.  It's overused now, but I still love it anyway!  And, like my papers, it was perfect for this layout.  I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out those small letters.  I also cut out a few of the negative outlines left over and used those in place of the letters.
 


And speaking of my Silhouette, I love using it and my small scraps of leftover paper to make little extra things like this tab that I added to my layout. "Waste not, want not," as my Grandmama used to say.  And what a super cute way to make sure my paper isn't wasted!


Last, but not least, is the bottom of my layout.  I didn't have quite enough of the green and white striped paper I wanted to use and I didn't like my picture just hanging off the bottom of my layered papers, so I took some of the thin cut-out strips and placed those under my picture to give the "suggestion" of a continued background paper. 



That's it for me today.  Hope you are staying dry and warm whereever you are!

Monday, February 4, 2013

My Mind's Eye Challenge Layout

 
Let me start by apologizing because the quality of this picture is not that great - and I really DO apologize.  The weather here is forecast to be pretty crappy for the next few days, and I could NOT get a good picture today.  (and I am too impatient to wait).  Moving right along...

There are some really fun challenges going on all over the web right now - so many that I really, really, really want to play hookey from work and stay home and play with my scrappy supplies!  But that's not a very smart idea, so instead I have had to choose just one or two - including this fun Groundhog Day February Challenge over at My Minds Eye, found HERE.  The challenge - to scrap Groundhog Day (Duh!) - any way you want to (including using the movie idea, which is kind of what I went with). 

So, in the movie, you know how the day keeps resetting - over and over?  I have been having that feeling quite a bit watching Little Lula.  She has the same temperament, similar likes and dislikes, even the same looks and facial expressions as Hunter.  I feel like I am seeing a repeat of Hunter in Lula.  And that worked perfectly since I wanted to use this picture of the two of them pretending to be wild animals and chasing each other around the house.
 
My papers are from MME's Follow Your Heart Collection, which I found after doing some heavy duty re-organizing this past weekend.  Most of my embellishments are also from various MME collections (with maybe one or two October Afternoon embellies added in because they went so well with the other MME stuff).  The hexagon background was cut out using my Silhouette Cameo (yes, I have to say it - LOVE my Cameo) and then distressed a little (read: cut up) by yours truly.  And that's it - other than I had just been saying how I have been gravitating towards brighter, bolder colors lately, but all it took was one look at the lovely papers in this collection to remind me why I have always loved pastels. 

That's it for me, except for a few close-ups:

I pop-dotted a few random hexagons for visual interest.  I splattered some glimmer mist because - it's just no fun if you can't get a little messy.

Another angle...

Loving that pom pom ribbon that was part of MME's Christmas Collection.
 
Handmade pennants that I doodled on and sewed across:
 
I love clusters!