Young Love

As part of the BasicGrey Fresh Cut class I'm teaching we decided to include a couple of layout samples/instruction sheets for class participants. It gives me a way to highlight a different style using the same paper and makes sure that I put it all to good use. 

I do love me some crumpled and sewn paper, throw in some fussy cutting and I am a happy lady! Probably what I love most about this style of layout is that it looks soooo intense but crumpling and tearing are such fast techniques that I did this layout in under an hour - including that fussy cutting!

Supplies:

BasicGrey FreshCut paper and waterfall packs

Stash buttons and feathers

Sewing machine, thread

Worn Lipstick Distress Ink

WRMK pink/white twine

Summer: memories and favorites

I don't pull out my Graphic 45 papers nearly enough, but when I saw their August challenge was a sketch I decided that I needed to work it into my crafty plan for the week. 

I used a mix of Bohemian Bazaar stickers, Communique die cuts, Fashionista papers, and Botanicabella die cuts and papers. Much fussy cutting and a lot of foam dots went into the making of this layout. ;)

Also inspiration came from Scrap Our Stash, the current challenge is to do a layout about something summer and to use 3 or more premade die cuts. 

P.S. when needing help with figuring out if your layout is done don't ask your scientist hubby. He simply complained that it was an ugly shade of green and said I needed to hide more of it. Grrrrrrr. 

Scrap Your Story - something from childhood

At Scrap Your Story this week we're asking you to bust out those photos that are from childhood - yours, the children/grandchildren, favorite toys, or something that reminds you of childhood in some way.

I went a little away from my personal trend of scrapping the boys' lives and pulled out a photo of my own childhood (and lots of pink papers!). This one is from Christmas when I was three, hugging my little sister.

Such a simple moment in a box full of highlights - Christmas presents, birthday presents, graduations. I loved it! Plus it seems like a good reminder that my boys really do love each other and just because a hug around here turns to rough housing doesn't mean I need to get involved. At least not right away. ;)

I'm linking this up with the Paper Girls Challenge Blog - sketch challenge.

Papers are from MME Follow Your Heart
Flowers and Thickers are American Crafts
Ranger Distress Worn Lipstick ink
Stickles

Practical Scrappers - Red, White, and Blue

It's time to bust out the ol' red, white and blue at Practical Scrappers today! I very nearly went with a more traditional use of the color scheme (aka something patriotic) but when I saw those cute cupcakes on the back of this Authentique paper I knew I needed to scrap about our adventure helping out at the Food Bank.

For inspiration, I used Scrapbooksteals MWM Peridot 2 sketch. 

Papers are from Authentique Celebrate and Glory and Fancy Pants Rough & Tough

Alphas are American Crafts Thickers and Girl's Paperie chipboard letters

American Crafts Chap ribbon

Studio G white glitter glue

Ranger Distress Fired Brick

Scrap Your Story - sun burst

When Christy announced that this week's technique was going to be sunburst I inwardly groaned. Love the way they look, but not such a fan of making them. I was looking through my papers for an upcoming project and found this MME Ooh La La paper that had a burst printed into it. Scoooore! 

I had two pieces so I cut one set of the pattern and popped it up to give a touch of dimension - don't worry I used the yellow part of the second sheet on that other project I mentioned. 

Then I just layered up a bunch of scraps from the line/similar colored lines. I just love how it turned out  AND I didn't have to give blood sweat and tears to make that burst perfect. 

Now, go check out what the rest of the design team did over at Scrap Your Story. 

Such A Goof

Vance absolutely adores playing with cameras - on our phones, my old point and shoot, on the computers, etc. That means we have quite a few goofy photos, and I just love them all! 

For this page, based on the Let's Get Sketchy April week 2 sketch, I busted out my MME Indie Chic Nutmeg. Yummy. There's so many things I love about this kit - the names (love the spicy theme!), the colors, and those fabulous brads. 

A lot of fussy cutting went into this, the rose on the far left, the blue chevron band, and the vertical rows. The rows were fussy cut and then glued on strips from the opposite side of their paper. 

For the title, I pulled together some Jenni Bowlin alphas, an October Afternoon Sticky Keys, and some Amy Tangerine Thickers (I inked them to match the other colors on the page).

And here's the sketch that inspired me:

Beautiful Moments

If things have seemed quiet around here lately, well, they have been! I've still been crafting, mostly trying to get ahead on a few projects (read, you'll have to wait to see them!). But I did scratch out time to get my Paper Secrets Challenge done. YaY!

They had a fun twist this time, use ribbon/trim in addition to the sketch. So I busted out my hoarded Carta Bella Beautiful Moments and some burlap trim. It's not often that I buy papers *right* after they come out, but I just loved the look of these papers, can't believe it took until today to use them! Gorgeous papers, love that texture. Yummy.

Now that I've gushed about my feelings regarding this paper, have a looksie at the Paper Secrets sketch. You'll notice that I switched around some of the orientation of elements, but this was definitely my starting point. 

products used:

Carta Bella Beautiful Moments

MME Lost and Found 2 burlap trim, Miss Caroline pearl butterfly 

Black thread

Sewing machine

Ranger Distress Walnut Stain

Kiwi Lane Tag template

Two Little Monkeys Hangin Around

Wow! After that (albeit inspiring) card class last week I am ready to get back to my normal page challenges. Though if you followed my posts last week and "learned" along with me you'll probably notice some of those techniques hanging around in the next couple of posts!

So without further delay I bring you Two Little Monkeys.

The title is very important because over at Scrapbooksteals the Monday Craft Madness challenge was to use the theme "Tea for Two" which could be interpreted literally as something regarding tea/picnics or with "two" in the sentiment/title as I have done.

The layout is based on a two page sketch by Gail Owens for Kiwi Lane's DT Doodles. I used Tags 6, Aspen Court 2A/2B mini, and Clara Lane 3B.

I'm also entering this in the S.W.A.T. Drill #4  which was based on this color scheme which I completed with the help of Echo Park's For the Record, Ranger Distress Fired Brick Ink, and a bunch of fussy cutting, foam dots, October Afternoon Black Keys and Mini Market alphas, AC Thickers, Ranger black Enamel Accents, and some Studio G glitter glue. I sort of skipped adding the cream as a paper since it was almost the same color as my boys' skin! 

Scrap Your Story - sketch challenge

I love a good sketch challenge and boy did Christy cook up a good one for us this week at Scrap Your Story. 

Here's our sketch:

And my interpretation:

I used My Mind's Eye Kraft Funday - I like how the muted colors really make Rylan's shirt pop! There's also some Kiwi Lane Design templates, a bunch of WRMK wide sparkle eyelets, hand stitching with embroidery floss and some machine stitching, Ranger Distress paint, and Target and Love My Tapes Washi. 

I'm still working out the journaling for this, but I left the top of the chevron paper open so that I can tuck in a tabbed journaling card when I'm ready.

Thanks for stopping by, now don't forget to link up those challenges!

Joy & Cheer

This one's for the Let's Get Sketchy March Week 2 sketch + Color combo challenge. When I saw the colors I wanted to rebel and not do a Christmas themed page, then my spidey sense kicked in and reminded me that naptime is only so long and going with the obvious would get the job done faster! 

These photos were taken Christmas Eve while we played Mario Kart Wii with my in-laws. Vance has a fascination for the game, but kind of stinks at it still (which is mostly because we don't let him play much!) so the grandparents had to figure it out on the fly. It made for an interesting evening anyway.

The papers and stickers are from Simple Stories. I finished off the page with some inking, DIY enamel dots, and some glitter glue. 

I'm also linking this up with the Paper Girls Challenge to use Snowflakes. 

Card-y weekend

I've been getting a lot of pages done lately so I decided to dedicate my crafty time this weekend to cards for my Operation Write Home box. 

The first is based on a card that OWH posted to their Facebook page and I lifted. The original used a row of teeny punched butterflies, but since I don't really own punches I thought I'd lift it into a more masculine/gender neutral design. 

The arrows were cut from a variety of scraps using my Silhouette Cameo. The sentiment stamp is from Studio G. The embossing folder is from Lifestyle Crafts. Because I was putting the machine to use, I went ahead and made 6 just like this one.

The next group of cards is based on an Operation Write Home sketch challenge.  I love the idea of using vintage means of communication on cards for troops, yep, I'm a dork like that!

This one took a bit to get the Crackle Accents in focus, making the rest of the card out of focus. Boo.

The others based on the same sketch. All the bases are cut from the same paper, with the elements fussy cut from other papers in the same Graphic 45 pack.

That's 11 cards this weekend. Not bad. Not bad at all. Now to wait and see if Snowpocalypse 2 happens and how much crafty time I can work in during it. ;)

Meeting Buzz

I just want to give a bit shout out to all of my new friends from Kiwi Lane that have joined errantscraps! I hope you all had a good time with the hop and that you stick around for a while so we can all get to know each other better. 

One of the advantages of knowing people when you go on vacation is they show you the sights from a different perspective. My sons will never know Disneyworld the same way as most other kids because my brother works for the Mouse. We planned trips to parks based on where he was working and often he'd have little surprises for us. 

This particular day? Let's just say that we're 99.99% certain that we are genetically related to everyone in the picture (there are days I still swear my bro was adopted) and he made that little boy's day by spending so much time with him. Naturally there were lots of pictures, many which never got scrapped while I was working on our trip album. So.Many.Pictures. Now I'm trying to finish some of those up. 

This page is for the Scrapbooksteals.com Jade 8 Mid Week Mojo challenge. Only two more weeks in this series, have you been playing along? There's the weekly challenge and then a separate drawing for those who complete all 10 in a series. Better get your scrap on!

Brothers throw stones

Okay, in this case they were throwing pebbles. And into water. But the throw stones part was a witty thing I came up with as I was putting this post together, and will probably be added into the page in some manner at a later date. 

This layout was inspired by Let's Get Sketchy's January week 4 challenge. I also used the color blue for the Scrapbooksteals.com MCM Baby Blues challenge. 

And while this used mostly My Mind's Eye Follow Your Heart, there's also touches of Indie Chic Nutmeg, and a Miss Caroline wooden embellishment that I colored on with American Crafts Metallic Markers. The splatters and mists are from October Afternoon and Mister Huey's. The doily embossing folder is Lifestyle Crafts. 

Snow - Kiwi Lane DT Doodles and Scrapbooksteals MCM

For this week's Kiwi Lane DT Doodles (week 3), I busted out more snow photos and Authentique Peaceful with some touches of Original. I love how these collections really worked with the photos - and the Kiwi Lane Templates remind me of snow drifts which was perfect for these snowy papers!

Templates used: Paisley Place mini 1A/B and 3A/B, Tags 1 and 7, Sweetheart 4T, Floral 3T

I'm also linking this one to Scrapbooksteals.com MCM - Sparkle and Shine. I used some Zing embossing powders (Copper Metallic) to add a touch of texture and shimmer to the page.

After lots of fussy cutting, some distressing and a bunch of sewing this page really just sort of came together.

Jade 6 - Tree

Chugging away here at my December album. This page is inspired by the Jade 6 Mid Week Mojo sketch at Scrapbooksteals.com, chopped down to an 8x8. 

I'm also linking it up at Cameo Creations for their Pink and Brown Challenge.

The base/brown paper is American Crafts Classics Collection. All the other bits are Authentique, mostly Uncommon. The title is on brown cardstock, cut from my Silhouette Cameo. Everything got inked with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.

Jade 5 - Play outside

Scrapbooking has been quite a struggle for me lately. My mojo seems to have left. In the end, I'm happy with my pages but getting them done is like pulling my teeth! Ugh. Thankfully, I've been a bit obsessed lately with my Kiwi Lane templates. They've been making my life just a touch easier.

This page is based on the Scrapbooksteals.com Jade 5 sketch by Kerys. I also managed to use some ledger paper and fulfill the Paper Girls Challenge Blog.

Thankfully, this week should put us back into a normal routine - no crazy trips, events, or life changes. *sigh*

Jade 4 - Fashionista

I waited days for photos to arrive, when they still hadn't arrived after the Scrapbooksteals.com MWM deadline I decided to pull out some photos of myself. I have always like this one of me playing dress-up. But it says so much more about me. My passion for my own fashion sense. My need to shop to fulfill the fashion. And I love the hat (I recently rediscovered hats and wear them almost every time I leave the house).

My friend, Michele Duffy, created the fab sketch that my page is based on. I got all fussy with my Graphic 45 Fashionista papers and so it took on a different feel from her very clean sketch. But I love this page like few that I've created in the past couple of months. 

Thanks for stopping by, I'll be seeing you around. 

Off

Wooohooo! 2013. We made it. Now it's time to get back to life as normal. I sure wish someone could tell me what that is. ;)

Day glow. Neon. Florescent colors. Whatever you call them, I have a love/hate relationship. You see, I'm a child of the 80s. I owned a *lot* of clothing in these colors and through junior high hot pink was my *favorite* color.

That might be why I tend to scrap in traditional colors, but love when others use them. Thankfully, I still have some of my Amy Tangerine Sketchbook that I won awhile back because the Paper Girls Challenge was to use that particular color range.

I also incorporated Let's Get Sketchy's challenge for this week - to use a photo that is Not Picture Perfect. This one is out of focus. I like the softness it gave the photo, but I'd given up on using it because it wasn't challenge worthy!

Wishes

Vance hasn't taken a nap since around the time Rylan was born - so for a little over two years now. And I can sense that I'm losing that time with Rylan now too. Which is so not fun! Today I barely got started working on my My Mind's Eye December Challenge - Wish List when the napper started playing which set the quiet player into full playtime mode.

I was thinking about doing something along the lines of the song "Grown Up Christmas Wish" but losing that time today made me realize how ::sacred:: it is to me. I'm going to have to figure out a new way to get "me" time in if this no/low napping business continues. So on my wish list this year I have one request: that my kids take naps. If you look closely you'll see that I actually wrote things and changed them, I was going for humor - changing "taking longer naps" to just "taking naps" and the like.

This page is Day 5 in my December Daily and will eventually include a picture of my scrap space which is of course a hot mess right now since we have several projects going at once! Part of what's on my desk is a Giveaway I'm working on, check back next week for more information. ;)

Christmas tags

I've never made my own tags before, but when this week's Scrapbooksteals.com Monday Craft Madness was to use embossing powder I knew that I really wanted to make tags for one particular set of gifts. These gifts are getting packaged into fabric bags that held the boys' twin sheet sets. So they'll look like little blue and grey Santa bags with tags. I'm fairly excited about the prospect!

Here's the tags. I simply "inked" the tags with the embossing powder. It is quite possibly my favorite way to use the powders.

The family has a couple of duplicated first initials so I just wrote their full name in my scribbly scrawl on the backs.