Right Now

I don't even remember when I did this layout but I super love it, and know it is less than two months old because I haven't had that stitching template for very long. I *think* the page was based on a Scrapbooksteals MWM sketch but yeah...

I also remember that I used Silhouette stencil material to make those hexagons. I'd made a larger stencil for something else and then used the inside pieces as a mask.

Lots of scraps and leftover bits. 

Possibilities

I took some time on National Scrapbook Day to make some "for fun" layouts to meet a couple of challenges that were being hosted online. Not often I get to dig into my own stash to create these days and it was kind of nice. 

I used the Studio Calico Challenges NSD 1 (color scheme) and 2 (unused stamp) and Scrapbooksteals MWM Daisy 2 sketch as inspiration for this layout. 

Gold embossed wood veneers, sequins, and stitching, OH MY!

Supplies:

MME All is Bright, Find Your Wings and Fly papers

Crate Paper buttons

MME brad

Echo Park Reflections

Studio Calico Ampersand wood veneers

Teresa Collins sequins

Webster's Pages lace

Amy Tangerine Stitching template

gold embroidery floss, stash

Tim Holtz stamp

Walnut Stain Distress Ink

Spell - SYS sketch week!

"How do you spell?" "What does that spell?" "What rhymes with ___" and any sort of similar variation on the theme fills our conversations with Vance. Which is totally cool and doesn't really phase us anymore, we guide him to sound it out himself typically and then go back to our own devices. But when he brought me a can of soup and the letters 'd' and 'y' and told me he'd spelled candy I knew that it had to be a page - that's a new level of word building right there kids! 

Needless to say, the two Instagram photos I had of him playing around with magnet letters fit perfectly into this week's sketch at Scrap Your Story.  We want to see your take on the sketch - feel free to flip it, rotate, use it as an inspiration point - just make sure if you deviate to far that you tell us!

For mine, I started by pulling out some old My Mind's Eye Quite Contrary, I don't even know when it was released but it was some of the swag I picked up at last year's Scrapbooksteals Retreat. I paired it up with some of the chipboard embellies from Kraft Funday and a journaling card from Lush 2 Orange. 

Now I pretty much stink at drawing so I pulled out my handy Silhouette Cameo and had it cut a series of tiny circles two form the two circles. I hand stitched them with WRMK embroidery floss. 

The title banner was designed to say "party" but I inked it up and then covered it with pieces of a used coffee sleeve and glued the Thickers onto them. 

After I got it all in place, I felt like the circle was really crowded for my journaling and that the opposite corner was to bare so I closed in the page by writing my journaling around the outside - honestly a favorite technique. I loved the white pen journaling so much that I did a little doodling with it to help tie the bright white into the rest of the layout. 

Baby Book . Done!

I'm so excited to have finished that baby book mini. On one hand, rewarding crafty experience. On the other hand, making a book for another mama is extremely stressful. What to include, what not to include? Personal style? But it's D-O-N-E.

So here are the last pages and extra touches that I've made to it.

For the cover I bought one of the SmashBook rubber bands. This baby is already thick and by the time the mama starts filling it up with photos and notes the band should come in handy. Until then, it's just a cool touch. ;)

LOVE the tone on tone background of this one. Both layers are the same paper, I cut a guitar background out on my Silhouette Cameo (and ruined a mat in the process, don't ask I'm still annoyed at myself). Then I used Scotch QuickDry to seal it down and layered everything on top. Shhhhh, I somehow lost one of the calendar pieces, she won't be able to record January quite the same as anything else. ;)

Close up of my way cool background and the Girl's Paperie Toil and Trouble medallion thing.

The final two months in the book. I confess that I was a little bored and out of ideas by this point because March doesn't have much going on. I did make a sort of in-the-mini-mini on April though, each of those little scallops is a flap so lots of documenting can happen for baby's 1 year/12 month stuff.

The endsheets (otherwise known as the last page and the inside of the back cover). Fairly simple from a decorative standpoint, but from a "I'm pretty cool in my own mind" standpoint this page ROCKS. I made a little folder so that the mama can tuck in random bits that won't fit on the monthly pages - ziplocs with locks of hair, footprint from hospital, etc.

It opens fairly large, hence wanting the rubber band!