Pebbles Garden Party Guest Design!!!

Today's the day - it's finally here!  Is it Christmas again already? Not exactly - although that is what it feels like for me!  Today is the reveal day for Garden Party on the PEBBLES BLOG, and guess who the featured guest designer is?  Me-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-!!!!!!!!!!!  I've got to tell you, that is the best way to start off a Monday - ever!

Now, I'm not going to do a lot of talking in this post (because I have three projects to show you), except to tell you that the GARDEN PARTY COLLECTION is every bit as fresh and bright and pretty as it sounds!  The Pebbles patterns always mix and match well, making layering (and layering and more layering) easy-breezy, and Garden Party is no exception.  The hardest part of each project for me was choosing which papers I was going to use because they ALL look perfect together!  

Without further ado, here are my Pebbles Garden Party projects:

First is my layout - spring flowers aren't the only things blooming around here!  My 13 year old daughter is suddenly starting to look like a young woman, so this spring collection was just what I needed to create a layout about her.

Yep, I layered my little heart out!  I love adding bits of symbolism to my layouts, and the self-adhesive BUTTERFLY and "tweet" bird were perfect!  And I have to tell you, the glittery foam THICKERS that I used for my title are some of the prettiest I have seen yet.

Here are a few close-ups:

For my second project, I chose to do a Project Life layout.  I have just discovered Project Life and am really loving it now that I have things somewhat figured out.  Pebbles creates wonderful journaling cards, but I wanted to show that you can also cut up your regular papers and use them for Project Life spreads, too!  

Of course, I've got that little layering obsession so lots of things seem to end up attached to the tops of my pockets rather than in them!  Repeat after me - there is no wrong way to scrapbook.  And the journaling POCKETS WITH INSERTS and MINI ENVELOPES  were so unbelievably adorable (and functional) that I couldn't resist!  Just look at how cute these are:

So....what do you do when you have one extra pocket left over with nothing to put in it?  Well, if you are me, you fill that space with several pretty vellum and adhesive FLOWERS.  Why?  Because they are pretty.  And I like pretty things. *smile*

Did I machine stitch over that pocket so that the back side cannot be used?  Um, yes.  Yes I did.

Finally, my third project, which was created with the help of my handy-dandy Silhouette Cameo.  I made a spring purse with packets full of sweet treats to give away to little ones at a recent party.  Seriously, is this not the cutest way to bring little treat bags to a party?!

I created my treat bags by starting with this PEONY PAPER, which I cut up and sewed to my other patterned papers.  The Garden Party PHRASE AND ACCENT STICKERS and MINI-CLOTHESPINS dressed my little bags up beautifully!

Have I mentioned how much I love layering?  I have, haven't I???

Whew!  That's it for me.  I hope you have enjoyed these projects and, if you have, let the ladies over at the Pebbles BLOG know what you think!

Playing with Pebbles (Sketchy Thursday)

I know I have said this at least a hundred and five times but...wait for it...I LOVE sketches!!!  And when I saw the BECKY FLECK sketch up at PEBBLES for Sketchy Thursday, it was definitely love at first sight!  So, I raided my Pebbles stash and created this layout from a combination of the Seen and Noted, Sunnyside, and Basics collections. 

This picture is the ONLY one I took on little Huntie's 13th birthday!  Such a big banner day and she only got one photo (a fact that she is most likely immensely thankful for!)  But in my rush to get out of the house and get Huntie and her bestie to the water park, I forgot my camera.  And since cell phones and water are not a good combination, this one lone shot away from any H20 was as good as it got.  But the layout captures the mood of the day and I have a very detailed letter to my daughter added to the back of this.  And we had FUN, which is what birthday celebrations are all about!

 

I am really pleased with my clouds and sun, which I created with my Silhouette Cameo.

I did a little stamping across my clouds to match my stamp-turned-splatter that I "deliberately" created in the background (you totally believe me, don't you???)  And I machine-stitched around my sun (this time it really was deliberately messy, I promise) to add a little bit of movement and fun to my layout.  Pop dots to add dimension behind a cloud and my "hello" were the perfect finishing touches.

 

I love this cluster - it's not too much and not too little but j-u-u-s-s-t right.  I used flower stickers, with pop dots behind the two smaller ones; a life is good sentiment cut out from a sheet of banners and sentiments in the Sunnyside collection; and a large journaling tag that anchors the entire cluster down.  My 13 was quickly cut out using my Silhouette.  Because I used so much white in this layout, I accented everything with doodling to help it stand out.

 

That's it for me today - but stay tuned!  A Pretty Little Studio project and a Practical Scrappers Blog Hop (with a cool grand prize) are headed your way!!!

Im-Practically Scrapping with Practical Scrappers

 

Yeah - it's Friday!  And that means the weekend is almost here!  And THAT means I will have time to sit down and do a little crafting - I have so MANY plans floating around in my craft-loving little brain already!

 

Today, I am up over at PRACTICAL SCRAPPERS with a quick post about creating layouts for no particular reason.  I used this picture of Lula that I had taken with a bajillion others.  I had already used other photos on layouts where I journaled about the day and how I feel about her, so I really didn't have a single thing to say about this picture.  But I liked it, and I wanted to use it, and that is exactly what I did.  I think sometimes we get so caught up in being "responsible scrappers" who tell our stories and preserve our memories - which is a wonderful thing to do - but it really is okay to create a layout just because! 

 

I used wonderful PEBBLES papers from the Seen and Noted Collection (which I l-o-v-e).  (By the way, they have a new Sketchy Thursday sketch up by Becky Fleck, so if you are a sketch lover like me, go check it out!)

 

That's it for me today.  Got to jump in the shower and get ready for work.  But I will be back in a few days with a super cute home decor project I created for PRETTY LITTLE STUDIOS - I can't wait to show you!  Until then - whether you are making memories or simply playing with pretty papers - happy crafting my friends!

Perfectly Imperfect - Using a Less Than Perfect Photo

Happy Saturday!  I hope you are all having a wonderful day - relaxing, crafting, organizing - whatever you are doing.  I am sharing a layout that, with my busy couple of weeks, I COMPLETELY FORGOT to post!  PAPER SECRETS does a monthly challenge, which includes a great sketch with a twist.  The twist last month - to use banners, which is totally one of my favorite things to do!

 

I found this picture of Hunter that I took a month ago.  She was laying on her bed talking and joking with me. I only took one shot, and it ended up being a little out of focus - but I loved it because it reminded me of a perfect moment with my daughter.  So I decided to use it anyway - a less than perfect picture that I love about my perfectly less than perfect daughter whom I love dearly (clearly taken by a less than perfect mom/photographer!).  I used wonderful PEBBLES papers from the Seen and Noted Collection, which are so bright and cheerful and perfect for a layout about my favorite tween!

My title/journaling was mainly hand written strips of paper which were cut out and outlined in marker. 

 

I machine stitched just about every place possible on this layout - and what I didn't machine stitch, I doodled on.

That's it for me, today.  Be sure to stay tuned as I expect a rare sighting of a Krissy Clark McKee two-page layout to make an appearance next week!