Scrap Your Story - mixed alphas

Why is it that when someone wants you to use a technique suddenly coming up with it is rough? I use mixed alphas is titles on a regular basis, but when I sat down to work on this week's Scrap Your Story challenge all I could come up with was one word titles? Yeah, I'm a mess. But I made it work after checking out a friend's challenge blog - more on that in a minute. 

So for Scrap Your Story this week we want to see at least two fonts used on your layout - titles, journaling, random words as embellishments, it doesn't matter as long as they're there. 

Remember I said I got outside inspiration? I went to the Scrappy Friends challenge and Rochelle had posted some word art to use on a page somehow. I picked one tiny section of the text but I think it sort of sums up the point of the word art!

For the other Scrappy Friends:

Kerys: recipe using stars, layering and stamping (the doily/flourishy thing on the star)

Brenda: sketch

Kristi B.: use logo from packaging (didn't manage to include that one but thought I'd include it in case you wanted to play!)

And here's a close up of that title. Isn't it fun? I just love how the boys are holding hands - Vance wanted to help Rylan on our walk home from the park. So cute. 

Most of the papers are BasicGrey PB&J, but there's also AC Amy Tangerine, Carta Bella Beautiful Moments, Cosmo Cricket Joy Ride, and EP This & That yellow cardstock. 

Sticky alphas come from American Crafts Thickers, BasicGrey PB&J, MME Lime Twist, and Jenni Bowlin. 

The word banners are Glitz Designs, then there are WRMK eyelets, MME washi, Ranger Distress Faded Jeans, MME twine with a WRMK Sew Easy sewing head, and 7Gypsies brads. 

I also used black thread for machine stitching. 

The arrow and heart are from the Kiwi Lane Sweetheart mini design templates, the flower, bracket, star, and tags are templates too. 

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

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!

Hello Card- Kiwi Lane DT Doodles

If you're here for the Scrapbooksteals.com Blog Hop, head this way. But feel free to come back and stay awhile.

I was elated to discover that this week's DT Doodles at Kiwi Lane included both card and page sketches. I've been trying to fill that box for Operation Write Home so getting a little inspiration for my cards was super handy. 

This card was inspired in two ways. I used one of the card sketches that Gail had provided and I decided to try out the glue down spiraled twine into a shape like she had done for the flower center. 

To bad I didn't have time to get to those page sketches, I'll just have to file them away for someday when I'm lacking mojo.

Homemade Marshmallows

I know, we made homemade marshmallows. Pretty cool. I wouldn't have even tried if there hadn't been so many pins for them! So much easier than it sounds, though you really do have to stir/cook them for a bit and that got boring for this guy which means I'm really glad I didn't try it with both around. ;) 

Anyway. I designed this page based on Krisy McKeen's Kiwi Lane DT Doodles sketch. I'm also linking it to the Use It Tuesday - Fasteners challenge.  

Most of the page is MME Follow Your Heart, plus some scrap from their  Lime Twist and stickers from All Is Bright. Inked with Color Box Ocean. Kiwi Lane templates include Aspen Court, Abbie Road, Tiny Sweetheart, and Adventure. The buttons are actually brads and have been around since not long after I started scrapbooking (over 3 years old).

Jade 10 - untitled

Jade 10?! It doesn't seem like it's been 10 weeks already. Crazy.

The sketch this week for Scrapbooksteals.com MWM was by Kassandra, a Facebook fan page regular. I always  enjoy her work and was excited to get started on it ASANS (As Soon As Naptime Started).

Mmmm, so many MME scraps used here to make my hexagon and other shapes. I both hand-stitched using a WRMK Sew Easy Random head and used my sewing machine. There's WRMK washi and MME washi. And a couple of Kiwi Lane Templates helped make it happen. 

Instead of doing hidden journaling about the details regarding our little hospital visit pictured here, I wrote them in silver ink. The casual observer may not notice it and flip through quickly, and for that, hopefully, Vance will be slightly less embarrassed about this picture when his future girlfriends take a gander at the scrapbooks!

Smile Often.

I've done the Scrappy Friends challenge for a few months now. I love that it combines so many elements to mix and match. Each friend offers up one challenge and you get bonus entries for combining into one layout. Let's just say that I really, really enjoy the challenge of squeezing all the elements into one look!

My interpretation:

Brenda - Sketch Challenge - yep

Rochelle Spears ~ Color Combo - as soon as I saw the colors I knew I wanted to use MME Lime Twist

Kerys Sharrock ~ Quote Challenge -use sentences from some Subway/Word Art.

Kristi B ~ Stash Challenge - mustaches, pennants, and dry embossing - check, check, check

I didn't really know how I wanted to go about using Kerys' word art, so I started by just using one as the title. I had that decided before I laid out the page. Then I was trying to figure out how in the world I'd get mustaches into it, naturally adding one to the title seemed fun. Then as I adhered it in place I had this idea to sketch on a bunch of 'staches and add some of the other sentences from the word art that describe Rylan or that I'd like for him. I like that doing so supplied a "boyish" and playful aspect to a "girl" colored page (what can I say, the colors matched my Christmas tree so well that I just had to use these pics!). 

Thankful for Food

I absolutely loved this week's DT Doodles at Kiwi Lane. I only had time to knock out one of the sketches though. This one's about Thanksgiving Day foods, things they've liked in the past, this year, and then that they discovered putting olives on their fingers. True family traditions right there!

This one is also getting submitted to the new blog, About a Boy. Their first challenge was to include your boy/boys' name on the layout in some way. I built mine into the title. 

Rockin' with my Dad

Ever start a project only to realize that now that you've picked papers that you have to abandon it to help the kiddos, make dinner, etc.? That's what happened with this layout. I'd set out to do it and realized that it was time to start dinner for company. When hubby's alarm woke me the next day I woke with a start! I had a crazy idea about what I wanted to do for this page. 

I have LOTS of pictures of my guys throwing these pebbles at our local park's lake and I wanted to take this two photo Paper Secrets sketch and give it a few more while maintaining the sketch. 

In addition to the sketch, Paper Secrets challenge included using a chevron. I accomplished this with some paper piecing that I then sewed together.

So I laid out what would go behind the multi-colored doily page and stitched the doily paper down on just one side to make a flap. I even decorated the back of the doily paper with another photo. 

The inside of my three page single page layout!

All the papers are My Mind's Eye Follow Your Heart, as are the dimensional stickers and clips. There's WRMK and MME washi. The alphas are a variety of American Crafts Thickers and October Afternoon alphas. In addition to machine stitching I used two WRMK Sew Stamper heads. And lastly, Kiwi Lane templates provided some of the shapes, and I used a Lifestyle Crafts embossing folder.

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!

Kiwi Lane Blog Hop - photo box

Thanks for joining in on the Kiwi Lane Designs Blog Hop, if you didn't come here from Melissa's page, head back to the start.

I was excited when Kristy asked me to join the February Blog Hop. I've been a closet follower for a while - but I mostly have accessories so it's not always crystal clear when I've used them.

Needless to say, when she asked me I jumped at the chance to play with some 12 in borders - Clara Lane. I just love the soft curves of this template set! But I have to admit, that after only using the accessories for so long, it was a bit of a learning curve for me. (Read, there's a couple of "failed" projects around my house right now.)

I started my projects by redecorating a white photo box. After I'd framed one side of the box, and cut out the papers for it I realized that it's pristine white was a poor match for my Authentique papers. So I inked up the box, much of the ink rubbed right back off but enough stayed on it to make me happy.

I used 1A, 2A, 3A, and 3B.

Then, I started piecing together the base layer. My typical adhesive (ATG) wasn't going to hold up on this project - there's a shiny coating that I had to gently sand in order for even the Quick-dry Liquid Adhesive to stick.

See how this one section had to be pieced? Yep, I'm pretty proud of that part.

And the finished product! A cute little box to hold my ever-growing stamp collection.

The next thing I did with my Clara Lane templates (2A, 2B, 3A, 3B) was draw lines onto a corkboard and start painting it in bright colors that match my craft space. I also used my Scallops mini 1A. After all the horizontal layers had dried I used my 1/2 in Strips minis to mask off spaces to paint vertical lines. When all of it was dry I edged all the lines and added some pen work and stamping for interest.

I made the board to hang some cards that other crafters have sent AND to hold my templates. Sadly, I'd already made all the holes when I realized I have to many templates for this baby. It'll work this way until I buy more ("more" is pretty inevitable).

As a random but potentially useful aside, I got paint on my templates.  I was bummed that the acryllics had dried to fast thus leaving the templates stained. Quite accidentally, I spilled some non-acetone nail polish remover on one. Voila! So much cleaner. There's still a faint hint of pinks and purples on some, but they are much more transparent now. 

Now, don't forget that a random winner from ONE of the 13 blogs (including Kiwi Lane), will be given a $25 gift certificate to the Kiwi Lane Shop, just for leaving a comment by Sunday, February 3 at 11:59 MST. Winners will be posted on the Kiwi Lane blog the following Wednesday.
So go soak up some inspiration! Next up is Charissa.

7. Charissa Miller http://www.akihasmommascraps.com

8. Sherri Thompson http://www.sherrithompson.blogspot.com

9. Kristy MacKeen http://www.mamasanity.blogspot.com

10. Sherri Funk http://faithandscraphappiness.blogspot.ca

11. Roselyn Riley http://prettylittlepackages.blogspot.com/

12. Lisa Anderson http://scrappingobsession.blogspot.com

13. Leslie Prinkki http://www.scrapsofmine.blogspot.com

So It Began

My sons have/had a Cars obsession, but it didn't really begin before we went to Disney World in 2011. Neither son would have been disappointed to miss this duo, but they now rank as some of the most important characters in our lives! So much so that I busted out this older picture to document the change. 

I used the January Sketch from My Mind's Eye for this page. Also from MME is all that Kraft-ty goodness, Kraft Funday to be exact! I love how the colors complement the characters.

Other things I used include Kiwi Lane Designer Templates (Tags and mini scallops), Jenni Bowlin Mini alphas, Color Box Charcoal ink, and WRMK Sew Easy Random Stitch head.

Babies wear diapers

When I got married my mom gave me a box of my childhood photos. I've at various times attempted to scrap them. Sometimes I include true stories or captions, normally I just try to write some type of witty caption for the photos instead. I realize that long-term it may not overly educate my future generations about the individuals in the photos but it may shed a light into my personality. Besides since there's nothing on the backs of the photos I'm certainly not hurting history! LOL.

I mean, I could text a copy of the photo to my mom and have her write a journal entry for me. Naaaaaah, that's a lot of work.

Today's layout features one such photo coupled with Authentique papers and Kiwi Lane Templates.

Kiwi Templates I used: Tags 4, Bracket 2, Paisley Place mini 1B

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.

Charming and Adorable - Kiwi Lane DT Doodle week 2

This week's DT Doodles at Kiwi Lane spoke to me. Paper and sketches do that sometimes, though I don't know how many people experience that effect. It's been a couple of months since I played along with the DT Doodles challenge, but I'm hoping to add it into my regular routine this year.

I pulled out some pics of my biggie taking photos and generally having a good time at the park and set to work cutting, inking, sewing, crumpling. So much fun - and this baby came together in about an hour! Sweeeeeeet. 

Papers are MME Lost and Found

Epoxy stickers are Glitz Design

Design Templates used: Wildflowers Tiny, Brackets, Tags, Paisley Place mini