mon ami cards

I think that this may finally be the last of my posts using Basic Grey's Mon Ami, though there's probably a sheet or two under the pile of paper's on my desk so you never know. 

The stickers on all three of these cards are from BG's PB&J and have been hanging around for quite a while. I was super excited when I realized how nicely they complemented the floral paper. 

The blue and yellow dots/wood grain is a piece of Crate Paper that's been in my scraps for a bit, I think it's from the Random collection.

Truly, they are super simple cards but they'll be nice to have around for one of those in a pinch moments. 

Rain on my parade

If there's one thing my youngest loves, it is his boots. He hardly goes anywhere without them! When this pair broke we chose to go buy a replacement right away, even though it was sort of the off season, because he loves rain boots so much. I'm just glad he doesn't think he has to tote toys around everywhere (what if we lost one!)

I've done other layouts about his obsession with the boots, so this one focused more on how we said good-bye to this particular pair and then went and bought another since they were important. And bonus! The new pair look like fire fighter boots. 

A couple of weeks ago I posted this layout where I'd used a Studio Calico pie chart file, the green here is the negative from that cut. 

The rest of the layout was also the scraps and leftover stickers from working with this collection (BG Mon Ami) so much. The larger title sticker is from BG's PB& J. 

ETA: I discovered that one of my favorite challenges is doing a "feet" challenge and I soooo had to link it up to SWAT. Hope that they don't mind that it went live before I made that connection. 

This Moment in Time

Sure, I had a pile of product from the scrapbook store I needed to work on but one afternoon a few weeks ago I remembered I had this 7Gypsies tray and set to work (at playing).

I'd gotten the tray in a swap, my friend had included a set of 7Gypsies paper scraps with it. I loved the clock elements and wanted to incorporate a time theme into the piece. 

The bike because it is a way to keep moving, stars are a fixed point that can guide us, and as a call to remember it all, keys.

There's some other embellishments that are just complementary to the look - the flower, some of the charms, gears, etc.

A good chunk of the way through the project I realized that I could, in fact, turn this into something that might be helpful at the store and I pulled out my Mod Podge molds and gold Mod Podge sticks. The steampunk type elements were a fun addition AND Dala was quite happy to let me display this as a sample of one way to use them. 

The day was not lost after all. 

Moments Together mini album

Time to share something not Christmassy again! I actually made this months ago and never got around to posting it, it was made for a class that I taught this past weekend. 

Some of the pages/close ups are out of order because I simply don't remember which way I put them in the book!

 The base of the book is MME Lost and Found Record It! and I have to say that I love how much glitter the kit had on it, the glitter lends some fun texture and shine. 

In addition to the paper and matching brads I added some Pink Paislee mistable shapes and ribbon. 

The blue washi on the edges is an older one from MME but I don't remember which line, it got picked because I punched the holes to close to the edges and had to patch them up so I could rethread the coil into the binding. 

I love how the simple, classic colors in the papers look with the pops of color from the customized embellishments. 

Christmas Card Party

I have been listening to a lot of Christmas music lately and it's making David shake his head, he clearly doesn't get needing that extra inspirational boost that it provides when making this sort of stuff out of season. 

Soul Sentiments is going to have a Christmas Card making party in July as part of a "Christmas in July" promotion. As part of that one of the other designers and I are contributing 5 designs each that people can choose to make. 

Dala sent me home with two 6x6 pads of Kaisercraft papers. And I set to work trying to make them each unique by comparison. 

Because some of them will simply be layering paper together they are easier to explain than others. 

For example, the quilt card is very easy to do (especially since I will precut and score the circles) but writing the directions for it is far more involved than the poinsettia one above it. 

These two cards are super easy looking but the instructions actually have them paired up with a sketch that only vaguely looks like either card. 

And this card is probably my favorite because of the textures and shine. Yummy!

Here Comes Santa Claus!

Ah, I know it's only June but I've been busy getting ready for the Christmas in July events at Soul Sentiments. This fun Kaisercraft wall hanging will be one of the classes we'll offer - it uses a mix of BasicGrey 25th and Pine papers/stickers and Viva paints. 

Last week we hosted Jen Starr at the store and she taught several classes using the Viva line of products. I fell in love and bought so much stuff so I could incorporate them into a class ASAP.  

The stars were done with Viva Glitter Paste (uh, what's not to love about something as solid as modeling paste with all the fun of glitter?!). 

The accents on the tree and gifts were done with the Viva Glitter and Pearl Pens - the way they shimmer in real life is so pretty compared to regular glitter glues (probably because Viva uses glass glitter). I think they're a bit easier to control than some of the other brands too, just my two cents. 

I used two colors of Viva 3D Stamping Paint (don't ask, it goes on more like an acrylic but can dry with a bit of dimension) over the frame (which I'd prepped with a layer of green mist). The shimmer and shine in that stuff is so much fun, and then to top it off with two shades of Inka Gold! Fun!

I may have gotten a little excited about the Inka Gold and used it on the edges of everything. 

Paper Girls Challenge - Summer Songs

I'm so happy that I had time to participate with the Paper Girls Challenge Blog again this month. These past few months have been a doozy for getting stuff done in a timely manner, thankfully they understood and were patient with me! 

For the challenge this time Deborah is asking that we all do a little "Summer Lovin" and use a summer song in the title. I picked a song that was big last year and is still getting a lot of radio play around these parts - "Happy" by Pharell Williams. Even if I do sort of hate that song after repetitive listening, I still have to sort of tap my foot or bob my head when it comes on (again!).

This layout features BasicGrey's Mon Ami papers and stickers. The pie chart die cut is Studio Calico file from their Toolbox class. 

I also used a WRMK Sew Easy template for the "documented" title at the bottom. 

The transparency instant photo frames are from Webster's Pages.

Using paper outside the theme

There are few things I like more to do with my scrapbook paper than to take a beautiful themed line and throw the theme out the window and use the papers for something outside the box. The BasicGrey line Mon Ami worked perfectly with these Halloween photos I've been holding onto for months! Granted that's because my boys are dressed in very summery types of colors but doesn't it just work?!

You ready for some close-ups?

The left page: 

The right page: 

This photo is from the left page, I ran my WRMK Sew Easy around the circle several times and then used the reverse side of the circle so I'd get the pregnant chads (thank you election coverage for teaching me that valuable description!). 

Some of the layering on the right side of the spread. 

The small cluster grouping on the far right bottom. Staples were my friend on this layout, what can I say? And what about that Fancy Pants cork arrow, I love it!

The black stamping here was done with some shapes from the Silhouette store and Silhouette stamping material, black pigment ink, and black embossing powder. 

And another of layering, this is from the far left.

Other products not mentioned: 

• cork stars from my scrappy friend Denise
• Studio Calico wood veneers
• embroidery floss

Leftover alphas

Remember a couple of days ago when I said that I'd gotten bitten by a need to use up my alpha stash? Well, here's the second installment. 

I managed to finish off all but the numbers from three alpha sets. Woot Woot! 

You'll notice that I again used my current favorite, BasicGrey Mon Ami. Thankfully, with all those alphas on the background I really didn't use much so I was able to stretch the line just a teeny bit further. Sweet. If I'm remembering correctly, there's another four pages and a couple of cards that I made using the line. 

Anyway, as I said on Monday, using up alphas like this isn't something new to me but I was really inspired to use them up because of a post on Becki Adams' blog last week.  

Vance Summer School

In our community, students entering kindergarten in the fall may attend the summer school session preceding, so we decided to enroll Vance as a way to help him adjust to a more structured life. Not that we don't have routines, but let's just say that nothing happens at.the.same.time.every.day. Ya know?! Well, summer school starts today so I'm probably having to help Rylan figure out how to entertain himself for hours on end without a big brother to play with - guess Vance isn't the only one who needs an adjustment period. 

As part of my mental preparation for this important week I created a layout using my current favorite line, BasicGrey's Mon Ami and all I still have to do is print off a photo and slap it onto this layout about his first day.

Good planning, no? 

This page is actually the leftover bits and pieces from a variety of layouts I've been working on, including one that'll be a class at Soul Sentiments this summer. 

How about using part of the alphas sheet as a background element? Totally cool for a "school" themed page! Not gonna lie, while I have done it before it wasn't mentally on my radar until I read Becki Adams' post about using some of her mismatched alphas. Oh, the things with alphas that I'm gonna be trying in the next several weeks.