Pages I completed at the Scrapbooksteals.com Retreat

I'm warning you now, this one's a little photo heavier than I typically post, but I was pretty excited about the amount of work I completed at the Scrapbooksteals.com Retreat and wanted to share it all with you. This is what I did in addition to the planned out projects that the manufacturers brought in for us. 

Using Authentique Glowing, another vacation photo page. Light on the journaling because I knew I had lots of other photos and wanted to make certain I didn't overlap content to much.

This one uses MME Kraft Funday. Alas, kraft and I aren't besties. I really like the way this one turned out in the end, but it took me a lot longer than it looks like it should have!

This one was paper that MME provided during their class, I can't remember the name anymore. KC challenged us to create something in a very brief time, using their papers and one of ten prompts. The prompt that I based it one was the word "write." The journaling is about how I went to college for a journalism degree and while I'm not telling the news anymore I am still sharing stories through my scrapbooking and that's what brought me to the Scrapbooksteals.com Retreat. I intend to print a copy of the group photo for this page.

These three use some Glitz papers that I bought at the Retreat. I chalked the edges of the paper strips instead of inking them, I really like the effect and will have to remember to use that again!

I literally went to bed in the middle of working on this page. When I woke I knew I had an idea that would finally give the page the "umph" I was looking for! I pulled out my computer and cut up that red doily for a backdrop. I'm so glad that I did! It gave the page a nice edge to complement the distressing of the other papers.

 This is the first page I completed while there, and probably my favorite. It showcases my love of distressing.  I love the pocket for the journaling folder. The eyelets. The stars from the Kristy stash table.

Thanks for looking! I can't wait to go back next year. 

Papa layout

Do you ever do things and then have to stop mid way through your usual process and forget to come back and finish? Let's just say that it happens to me a lot, which is why I'm sort of obsessive about sticking to the process.

This page is one I created based on the CSI: Color, Stories Inspiration color palette from before I left for the Scrapbooksteals.com Retreat. Oops, I made the page and then never posted it. So now I'm sharing it with you all just for fun. 

You can't read all the journaling, nor can you clearly see Squishy's face in the second picture, but let's just say that we were playing at the park. My parents arrived and were walking on the path and little man got very excited and ran down the hill to them. I ran also so I could get these pics! What can I say? He loves my dad.

Two weeks worth of Mid Week Mojos

Mid Week Mojo at Scrapbooksteals.com is seriously one of my favorite moments in the week! I have enjoyed the variety of sketches that Kristy Lee and her team of guest sketchers, designers and the recently formed design team have created. I love the weekly challenges so much that I even took products with me on vacation so I could keep up! Interestingly enough, I joined them for their second annual scrapbooking retreat and came back and didn't touch my papers, other than to put them away, for nearly two weeks. 

Alas, change is on it's way. The first page you see is my interpretation of the last sketch that Kristy Lee did for the company before moving on to other scrappy digs. She has been a huge source of inspiration for me and her blog posts and sketches will be missed. 

Both the circle background and the wheel were cuts from the Silhouette Store. The papers and stickers are all Echo Park This and That (maybe some of the new For The Record Documented too). I added the eyelets to the tags and then threaded them with solid brown WRMK floss.

This second page was a sketch by one of the Steals.com staff members. At first I looked at her page and thought that it was so not me, but I plunged ahead and ended up really liking the way it turned out even if it was a deviation from my normal style.

The Echo Park papers were still out so I used them again on this one. I'm almost out of the This & That papers that I bought a while back, but like that I was able to use up lots of the stickers on these two pages. Why is it that I always forget to use those stickers sheets until the end?

Transparency layout

Transparencies dog me. But I just got a bunch in my Scrapbooksteals.com package pick-up while at their annual retreat and set to work to use them for the Paper Girls Challenge Blog.

Not much to say right now, just trying to link up and get back to crafting at the retreat. Gotta get my scrap on!

pre-mini-vacay playtime

What a busy week ahead of me! I'm packing for my first real crop. So exciting!!! It's of course with my very favorite, Scrapbooksteals.com, so it was a steal of a deal even with the airfare and hotel. 

Before I pack away my tools I thought I'd whip up this week's Coral 3 MWM submissions so I don't miss out on the drawing. 

There was a guest sketcher this week which almost always means two sketches and this week I managed to do both of them.

I used up most of my Echo Park For The Record Documented on this one. Still maybe a full layout and a bunch of cards left though, that prize pack sure has packed a lasting punch! 

Coral 3a 

Coral 3b

CSI 39 - eating

We all eat. And as Americans we probably eat to much. But let me tell you that while Squirrel likes food, my youngest, Squishy LOVES food. Watching him eat is highly entertaining too, so naturally there are pictures of the process! 

These two have been sitting around the scrap pile for a few months, just asking to be incorporated with a fun page!

The colors chosen were from the CSI: Color Stories Inspiration challenge this week, as was the basis for my layout. The biggest thing I kept from their sketch was the framing of the photo with flowers on the right side. 

To crack the case as my evidence I used some rub-on stars from my stash (Bo Bunny I think!), drew an extra star on the photo using Smooch, used chalk to make the frames around the papers, and incorporated leaves via one of my papers. 

The testimony is framed and hidden behind the main photo with a surprise pic opposite. 

I haven't done a lot of research into making flowers, but accidentally made these and *really really* like them. I was actually trying to make a ruffle but the thread broke in the middle. I cut the flower near what was then the center, making two differently sizes pieces. Using a tape runner I curved it around and put brads in the center. 

Back to back weekends at the Magic House

My parents have paid for a season pass to the Magic House (children's museum) for over a year now. I have  many pictures of the place, but while watching my boys exploring and getting exciting about each new discovery they make (and at least one happens every trip!) I just can't help but pull out my camera all over again.

So this spring we ended up at the museum twice in two weeks - once for a relatively normal weekend at my mom's and then the next because my out of state sister announced that she'd be in the area and we drove back.

That equals lots of pictures, though normally I wouldn't have printed as many as I did. The printer bug must have got me. I ended up with way more than I'd normally put into their scrapbooks for the same event in two weeks. Even if some of the pictures do have their cousins in them! 

Now my mom on the other hand? Never, or very rarely prints pictures. And even more rarely does she scrapbook, time has made her into more of a card maker (though it's really her fault that this is my hobby). I decided to share some of those excess pics in the form of a mini album, but she's gonna have to do the journaling about her grandbabies.

The front and back cover chipboard pages are from MME, leftover from another mini album. Almost all the paper is Amy Tangerine and Amy Tangerine Sketchbook. There are some assorted pieces from American Crafts Chap and a variety of Thickers. The ribbons are a big mess of stash, MME, and Pebbles - basically all the oldish scraps that matched. The mini alphas on the front cover are from October Afternoon (blue) and Glitz (pink)

 

The interior pages are banner shapes that I cut out of thin cardboard (the cover from paper packs, though cereal boxes would work too) using my Silhouette Cameo. This spread has lots of room for journaling and in the pocket on the right there's a bunch of pictures matted to paper and held together with eyelets and twine.

 

No picture fun here, but lots of color and one of very few photos of all the boys together. There is a hidden journaling spot under the solo picture on the left side. I also had fun adding a little bit of misting/splatter here.

 

This spread has more hidden pictures. The left side has one picture matted on the front side of the booklet. The right side has two extra layers of the cereal box curved to the edge in descending size, paper covering both sides of each piece. I punched holes through each layer and tied together with ribbon and glued the bottom layer of paper. When the page is flat photos are just offset of each other.

 

 Left side here is really basic again, with the right side featuring several pictures that can be seen by rotating them on the brad.

 

By the time I got to this spread I was nearly out of photos so I didn't have to make any hidden pockets or anything. Just lots of scrappy fun.

Love this back cover! Though I do need to come up with a solution for keeping the Thickers safely adhered. I'm worried they'll get bumped around and scraped off. Any tips?

Tough

The team over at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration sure know how to make me dig into my stash rather than just using whatever happens to be my current fave! To meet the color profile this week I pulled out  a kit that had sat untouched, still in its Scrapbooksteals.com packaging. 

Can I just say that I love the way that Echo Park For The Record looks?! 

And I also love the juxtaposition of a temporary tattoo/the word "tough" with flowers. It made me giggle the whole time. But he so thought he was big stuff because of the sticker, he was so serious about it. And that's saying something because Squirrel is one serious little dude anyway.

The flowers are a 3D file from the Silhouette Store and the letters are some Pink Paislee wooden die cuts that I inked.