Encre, papier, ciseaux

Beautiful Moments Captured

Inspiration: July 2022 Page Maps Sketch + Lasting Memory Layout Challenge #643 (Use at least one outdoor picture on your LO)

I had heard that Simple Stories was changing designer for their Simple Vintage collections and I was curious to see if a change in style would be obvious when the first collection from the new designer would be launched. This was Simple Vintage Life in Bloom and I'll admit I didn't know what to think when I first saw it. I was not immediately convinced, probably because the collection has a lot of floral details. But once I started seeing samples online, it grew on me. This is the first project I've put together with the collection and I had such a fun time using it!

This two-page layout came together very easily. I was able to use the title from the Page Pieces kit, which helped simplify the process. Those pictures were taken while we were riding the Kilimanjaro Safari at Animal Kingdom in Walt Disney World. I love the picture of Arielle and her dad sitting quietly together. It captures a nice father-daughter moment. The pictures with her struggling to keep her hair out of her face also crack me up. She's never liked having her hair tied up and would immediately pull out any kind of elastic or barrette with tried putting in it, so I guess this was the price to pay for it that day! 

Most of what was used for this layout came directly from the Simple Stories collection. I snuck in a doily, a few buttons, stitching rub-ons, washi tape, ticket essentials, metallic thread, cotton twine, an eyelet and sparkle kraft-stock. I think the colours are just yummy, This reminds of the early Bo Bunny years.

I was able to get a longer banner by pairing the die-cut one from the Page Pieces kit with the one from the cardstock stickers sheet. I added button in matching colours to the pennants. I used a tab sticker from the sticker book and got the idea to add a stitched star rub-on over it. I have to admit this became one of my favorite part of the pages. Another cool detail is that I had this empty space at the right of my left-page pictures. It was too narrow to put much there, but the gap was drawing the eye there. I found this half wreath in the chipboard clusters that was the perfect filler. That's another favorite part of the layout. I also used sparkly gems to create a little Mickey head on the tag, as I'm trying to add Hidden Mickeys to my Disney layouts whenever I remember to do it.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: This & That Date Stamp (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Highland Heather (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers, Sticker Book, Chipboard Clusters, Glitter Enamel Dots,
Page Pieces: Simple Vintage Life in Bloom (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Eucalyptus Ticket Essentials, Black Roughly Sewn Rub-Ons (49 and Market); 
Pastel Dreams Sequins Mix (28 Lilac Lane/Buttons Galore & More);
Beautiful Things Doilies (Bo Bunny); Eyelets (We R Memory Makers); 
Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Stapler, Cotton Twine, Rose Metallic Thread (Stampin' Up!); Buttons (Foof-a-La);
Sparkle Classic Kraft-Stock (Idea-ology); Clear Art Pebbles (Prima Marketing)

 

Joyful

Inspiration: October 2019 Page Maps Sketch

This picture was taken at an office party a few years ago. The chalet theme worked really well with the Simple Vintage Christmas Lodge collection from Simple Stories, which I was looking forward to using. It was not hard to come up with something pretty as this collection has a lot of choose from. 

The sketch I was working with was a Halloween one and had a spiderweb in the top right corner. I replaced it with the doily from the chipboard clusters (I am loving this new addition to the Simple Vintage elements). I picked one of the beautiful woodgrain foam sentiments to create my title. For the patterned paper on the left side, I used one of the papers that already has a cluster printed on it. I cut the top and bottom at 3½" all the way to the image and then I fussy cut the rest of the overlapping image. I really liked the plaid patterned paper but it was clashing with the buffalo plaid from the main picture when I was using it as a paper on the right side of the page. To split the difference, I ended up creating a scalloped border to slide underneath my Santa paper. I added green sparkly washi tape along the edge, and I added 49 and Market Hardware stickers to both ends. I secured it in place with black brads.

The main image was matted in grey with paper from the Basics kit. I roughed the edges up with the blade of my scissors. I had a piece of white cardstock that was embossed with the Ski Lodge embossing folder on my desk. I inked it up with Lost Shadow Distress ink and slid it under the black patterned paper to add another layer. Since I was using a larger picture and my left-hand border was a tad larger than the original sketch, I moved the tag from the right of the picture to the bottom. I looked at my tag dies and picked the Square Tag from Graphic 45, which gave me plenty of room for journaling. I used word editing software to print my text on green paper (also from the Basics kit). This die has quite the large hole, so I used a few stickers from the sticker book and a button I had previously made with my button press. This die set also includes a clock and I realized this would get me three extra points if I die-cut a clock out of gold foil paper.

Total points for this page: 36 points

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Metallic Kraft-stock (Tim Holtz for Idea-ology)
Ink: Lost Shadow Distress (Ranger)
Patterned Papers, Chipboard Clusters, Sticker Book, Foam Stickers, Cardstock Stickers,
Decorative Brads, Enamel Dots: Simple Vintage Christmas Lodge (Simple Stories)
Dies: Square Tag & Clock (49 and Market)
Accessories: Pastel Dreams Sequin Mix (28 Lilac Lane/Buttons Galore & More);
Button Press (We R Memory Makers); Black Roughly Sewn Rub-Ons (49 and Market);
Stampin' Dimensionals, Green Glimmer Washi Tape, Black Brads, Rhinestone Basic Jewels (Stampin' Up!);
Blending Brushes (iCrafter); Ski Lodge Embossing Folder (Spellbinders)
Font: Harrington

 

Wow Presentation

Inspiration: August 2019 Page Maps Sketch + Just Add Ink #645 (No Stamping)

As I was digging through paper collections, I got inspired to use Simple Vintage Lemon Twist. I love the bright colours of this collection, but I don't necessarily find it easy to match with pictures. As I was going through my printed pictures box, I found those really old pictures that date back to 2010, where we see me present on stage at a stamping event. What caught my attention was the colour of the sweater I'm wearing, as the teal matched the papers nicely.

I found a sketch with multiple pictures to base my design on. I changed the left page a bit and only included one picture, since the sketch had portrait pictures and all of mine were landscape (and couldn't be trimmed without losing details). To give visual weight to the single picture, I used one of the chipboard frames (one of my favorite element from the Simple Stories collections). 

For my pages' background, I picked the lighter yellow pages from the Basics kit. Since the Calvinball list has stencil on it, I pulled out my Transparent Gloss Texture Paste and a Stamperia stencil. I really love this paste - when it dries, it gives a beautiful clear raised surface, similar to having embossed with thick embossing powder. I used the font in the top left corner and the "Alchemy" word with flourish at the top, and it added so much flair to the page.

In the center, I followed the sketch and layered two papers. I picked based on colours, but I realized that the bee paper was giving me an additional point as bee is on the list. I also realized later while I added my title with Thickers that the space between the punched border and the black glitter washi was just the right size for the letters I wanted to use. I love when things work out like that by sheer dumb luck.

Behind the framed picture, I layered various elements inspired by the list: gold-foiled acetate, gold-foiled vellum that I tore for an extra point, an embossed piece of paper, punched hexagons and a bow made out of black tulle recycled from a previous project. I added a circle just like on the sketch and used polka dot paper for an extra point. The list had "banner" on it and I had purchased the Banner Stickers, so I was able to pick from that to fill in the space at the bottom. I included the second word of the title in the tag frame (which I filled with sparkle kraft-stock. I picked typewriter chipboard letters from Stamperia. I added a decorative brads at the bottom, as brads are part of the list as well.

On a side note, I purchased Tim Holtz's new  Sparkle Classic kraft-stock in my last order and I am AMAZED by this new product. It sparkled so much and I love that the gold is actually more of a champagne shade, which I find easier to use and less obnoxious than the yellow-gold papers. I also couldn't believe that the paper is perfectly smooth and has absolutely no texture. Tim mentioned that this is printed paper, but I have a hard time wrapping my mind around that. How do you print glitter? Not sure, but what I do know if that I feel that you're getting a really good value for the price versus quantity and that without the texture, this paper will be really easy to work with. My only disappointment with Tim's paper is that he never offers 12" x 12" and so when I scrapbook, I can't make a full-size piece since his papers are 6" x 9".

On the right page, I added a decorative flourish using Opaque Crackle Paste this time. It made my paper curl pretty obviously, so I ended up gluing both yellow papers on white cardstock to stabilize the pages. I found a long journaling block on the cut-apart page, so I handwrote (one point) my journaling on it. I added a strip of patterned paper with the decorative edge. I liked that it had a doily in the image, which was another point. I cut my pictures to a slightly smaller size and stacked them on the left edge. I was not sure I liked the look of the pictures floating on the page, but the second I found the photo corners on my sticker page and added them, it immediately grounded the pictures.

I added embellishments to the page. I placed another hexagon so I'd have three. I added a heart sticker (one point), a sentiment banner (one point) and a chipboard tag (another point). I threaded twine in the tag (one more point) and added a cute yellow flower to it (point for bling). I added my date (one point) using the same Thickers. As I scanned the Calvinball list for inspiration, I decided to add buttons as well, so I placed three (yellow and black) around the two pages. I also added enamel dots around. And then I saw clear stickers and I remembered I had black clear stickers from Maggie Holmes so I pulled them out to see if they would fit the look of the page. They had a doodled look to them, so a bit different from the vintage look, but I decided to make it work. I added a doodled heart around my floral heart cardstock sticker. I added little stars around the date. I added Let's Have Fun at the bottom of the page and Always be Brave on the left page. I tucked little stems around my left-page cluster. And finally, I also wanted to do rub-ons, so I plucked "This Moment" from the Simple Vintage Life in Bloom rub-ons pack. The black was working well with this layout, and the typewriter font gave me an additional point.

I also got the idea to use my new Teal wax beads since the colour was matching so nicely. I happened to have a Honey Bee seal that has a rainbow on it, so that gave me one more point. I added tickets to the corner of the frame for an additional point as well.

I had two leftover pictures that I had not been able to fit on the page, so I got the idea to use one of those mini pockets that can be inserted in the album's rings. The only one I had left was 5" x 7" so I grabbed a piece of patterned paper, matted my pictures in white and added them to both sides of the paper. I realized this gave me another chance to embellish with items I had not marked points for yet, so I added wood veneer, arrow, fussy cutting, sequins, branding strip, ribbon, burlap, chevrons and puffy stickers to my tally. I was surprised to get all of those extra points from that very small insert.  

This double-page layout totals 69 points. (This is my highest-scoring layout so far.)

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers, Basics Kit, Chipboard Frames, Decorative Brads, Banner Stickers,
Cardstock Stickers: Simple Vintage Lemon Twist (Simple Stories)
Cardstock: Sparkle Classic Kraft-Stock (Tim Holtz for Idea-ology);
Gold-foiled Vellum, Golden Garden Designer Specialty Acetate (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Circle Layering Set (Tonic)
Accessories: Transparent Gloss Texture Paste, Opaque Distress Crackle Paint (Ranger);
Say It in Crystals (Prima Marketing); Clear Stickers (Maggie Holmes for American Crafts);
Stampin' Dimensionals, Black Glimmer Washi Tape, Grey/Black Baker's Twine, Eyelet, Finial Presse
Embossing Folder, Plenty of Patterns Stencil, Scalloped Border and Eyelet Border Punches (Stampin' Up!);
Enamel Dots, Simple Vintage Life in Bloom Rub-Ons (Simple Stories); Buttons (Foof-a-La);
Alchemy Stencil (Stamperia); Romantic Christmas Adhesive Chipboard Alphabet (Stamperia);
Garden Party Thickers (American Crafts); Black Tulle (Recollections);
Teal Wax Beads (Spellbinders); Rainbow Wax Seal (Honey Bee)

 

Let's Cruise

Inspiration: July 2022 Page Maps Sketch + Lasting Memories Layout Challenge #642 (Make a LO about something that makes me happy - Going to Walt Disney World and riding the Jungle Cruise makes me happy!)

This is the second page I made using the Say Cheese Adventure at the Park collection from Simple Stories. I really wanted to use the Jungle Cruise images, but I realized I had not taken any pictures while we were on the ride. (We rode it after dinner and it was already dark, so I think the pictures would not have shown much.) I picked a cute picture of my niece and let the embellishments set the theme instead.

The starting point of the design was the torn paper I had leftover from my previous project. I liked how the white edge looked like seafoam on top of the waves, and I had a larger scale boat in the Page Elements pack. To create the sky, I used a piece of Robin's Egg Color Vibe cardstock. I made sure to use the polka dot side to get a point, and I ran it through the Stitched Cloud Backdrop: Portrait die from Lawn Fawn. Adding cloud also produced a point, but it was nice way to create the scene as well. I played around with the vine from the Page Elements and ended up hanging it at the top, dividing the scene and the picture on the side. I didn't like the top part leading to nowhere, so I added a flower cluster foam sticker.

I created my title using a cardstock sticker that reads, "Let's Cruise." From this same sheet, I pulled the music notes, as if people on the boat are singing. I had quite a bit of journaling to include, so I use a word processing software to type it out and I used the Typewriter Rustic RNH font to get a typewriter font extra point. I printed it directly on patterned paper to create my lower right panel. I had room at the top, so I wrapped a piece of tiki pattern washi tape.

The day we visited Magic Kingdom, after dinner, we had limited time to try and squeeze in additional rides before we went to see the firework show. We had to decide between Pirates of the Caribbean and Jungle Cruise. My sister and brother-in-law voted for the former; my oldest niece and I voted for the latter. My sister said, "It's too bad Arielle is too young to vote as she would have been the tie-breaker." She was two at the time and LOVED animals. She kept making animal sounds all the time, so when I pointed out to my sister that should Arielle vote, she would most likely be more interested by animals, we ended up going to queue for Jungle Cruise. That being said, the discussion ended up being a moot point as the lines were under 20 minutes each and we ended up being able to ride both!

This page was surprisingly quick and easy to put together, despite the result being fairly embellished. There's a lot of stickers and die-cut layering involved. Because of that, I didn't think it would score me that many points for the Calvinball challenge, but it turned out to be the second-highest scoring project I've made so far! There are a few elements that I auditioned and decided not to add to the page even though it could have scored me a few extra points. In the end, I aim at ending up with layouts that I really love, so I will take pleasing design over additional points.

Total points: 37 points

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Robin's Egg and Lime Color Vibe (Simple Stories); Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers, Foam Stickers, Sticker Book, Enamel Dots,
Page Elements: Say Cheese Adventure at the Park (Simple Stories)
Dies: Stitched Cloud Backdrop - Portrait (Lawn Fawn); Curves Ahead (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Lagoon Vintage Bits Filmstrips, Sunbeam Ticket Essentials (49 and Market);
Stampin' Dimensionals, Tropical Elements, Crushed Curry Baker's Twine,
In Color Printed Designer Brads (Stampin' Up!); Clear Art Pebbles (Prima Marketing);
Into the Wild Puffy Stickers (Simple Stories); Clear Stickers (Maggie Homes for American Crafts)
Font: Typewriter Rustic RNH

 

Bewitched

Inspiration: May 2022 Page Maps Sketch + TGIF #412 (Magical)

This is my latest project done for the Calvinball challenge. The picture was taken 3 years ago. My niece has started to love the Harry Potter movies and her mom had gotten her this cute HP outfit. I snapped a picture of her as she was playing around with a wand.

I used the Witches & Wizards No. 2 collection from Echo Park. I followed a Page Maps sketch to get my page started. The sketch has multiple pictures, so I substituted cut-apart images to fill in the space. I looked at the Calvinball list for ideas of additional embellishments I could add to the page. I combined Books and Fussy cutting to create a book stack ornament. I also remembered I had purchased doilies in Stampin' Up!'s clearance rack, so I picked a blue one to put underneath the books. One of the cut-apart was a tag, so that covered another item. I had also started inking the edges of my paper after I put the newspaper print over the star pattern to help it stand out more, and Inking was another item on the list. I remembered I had purchased the Wizard Wear dies from Echo Park, so I die-cut a wand and s broom and added them to the page. Since Metal Ornament was on the list, I looked at my Tim Holtz embellishments and I found a Word Plaque that says "Season of Magic." This is technically a Christmas plaque, but it tied very nicely to my page, and I was able to score an additional point by stitching the plaque onto the page. I used Pewter tickets and saw that one of them had arrows on it, so I made sure to incorporate it to get a point for Arrows.

I added a Wood button from Cocoa Vanilla with a star on it. As I was getting the buttons out, I found the Garden Party heart resin stickers, so that gave me a point for Heart. I added washi tape and enamel dots and I sprinkled a few of Tim Holtz's Mirrored Stars around the page. The title was created with Midnight Thickers and red Tiny Type stickers from Cosmo Cricket (those date back to 2010!), so I got a point for using two different fonts for the title. I got a point for Label by fussy-cutting a label from the Cut-apart page and writing my journaling on it (that was a point for Handwriting as well). The label was put on foam tape, so I got a point for Dimensional Adhesive as well.

I used Stencil set 38 from Tim Holtz and gold pigment ink to add stars to the top of the newsletter paper, using a stencil brush. I cut a rub-on image from the Eccentric remnant rubs and added it to the corner of my picture. I added a red pearl to the wand to get a point for Bling, and I added two pieces of washi tape to the tag. I stamped the date the picture was taken with a date stamp on the tag in black ink. I sprinkled enamel dots around the page to get a point for Enamel Dots.

I ended up with a total of 28 points for this layout. My goal is to see if I can beat my own score from last year's Calvinball (which was 506 points. I think it will mostly depend on how much time I can free up to create until the end of March (and how tired I am, as tiredness seems to be my creativity's biggest enemy).

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: This & That Date Stamp (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Antique Linen and Walnut Stain Distress (Ranger)
Cardstock: Bravo Burgundy (Stampin' Up!); Metallic Kraft-stock (Tim Holtz for Idea-ology)
Patterned Papers: Witches & Wizards No. 2 (Echo Park)
Dies: Wizard Wear (Echo Park)
Accessories: Red Tiny Type Alphabet Stickers (Cosmo Cricket); Midnight Thickers (American Crafts);
Eccentric Remnant Rubs, Mirrored Stars, Christmas Word Plaques (Tim Holtz for Idea-ology);
Garden Party Resin Stickers (Maggie Holmes for American Crafts); 
Set 38 Mini Stencils (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous); Distress Stencil Brushes (Tim Holtz for Ranger);
Pewter Ticket Essentials (49 and Market); Glossy Berry Pearls Mix (Little Things from Lucy's Cards);
No Limits Wood Buttons (Cocoa Vanilla); Stars Halloween Mix Epoxy (Bella Blvd.);
Holly Jolly Enamel Dots (Simple Stories: Gumdrops (Your Next Stamp); Oh What Fun! Enamel Dots (PinkFresh);
Stampin' Dimensionals, Sponge Daubers, Midnight Mist Stampin' Write Marker,
Heart & Home Doilies, Green Baker's Twine (Stampin' Up!)

 

Training Required

Inspiration: September 2022 Page Maps Sketch + Festive Friday #130 (Children + Squares + Patterned Paper)

Those pictures were taken during our day at Animal Kingdom. My sister had purchased Mickey binoculars for the girls and even though we kept insisting they were looking in them the wrong way in, they were refusing to turn them around! 

I pulled out the Say Cheese Adventure at the Park collection from Simple Stories. It's arguably my favorite of the Say Cheese collections they released last year, because the colours look really good together and the tiki images are really cute. I've noticed that their Say Cheese collections are inspired by Disneyland as they include the Indiana Jones images, the whale image from the Storybook ride, the submarine, and the collections are based on the different lands, which are not the same in Disney World. For example, I used the Frontier at the Park collection to scrapbook my pictures from Pirates of the Caribbean, but in WDW, this ride is in Adventureland. So I went about it the other way around: I pulled the collection, looked at the sticker images, and decided which pictures from the trip could go with it. When I spotted the binoculars, I decided to pull pictures from our day at Animal Kingdom, where we see the girls playing with their souvenir toy.

I had a lot of pictures to choose from, so I pulled a two-page layout sketch that included 5 pictures. In order to stretch my patterned papers, I added Color Vibe cardstock in matching colours for the base page and the central block. I also cut out the center of the green patterned paper so that I had some leftover for other projects (since part of it was going to be hidden underneath the Coral cardstock.

I started by cutting the main papers to size and putting them in place with the pictures. Then I immediately went to the Calvinball list and started pulling out elements based on the list so I could work my design around them. I will tell you, it made a huge different on how many elements I was able to fit on my page, rather than doing that step when I was ready to start embellishing. For example, the list had "cut-apart cards" so I cut three of the little square images, then I snipped the bottom of the definition one as a banner (because that was also on the list), and I fussy cut the map from the page as well since fussy-cutting was on the list. So rather than put a die-cut on the bottom right circle, I selected my hand-cut image instead. I also slipped an arrow under it as I had since it on the list.

I like that Calvinball made me pull out some older supplies (chipboard and wood veneers) and also mix and match items from other collections. The chipboard flowers are from a My Mind's Eye collection that is not the same colour scheme, but I was able to pull out the aqua flowers an the green leaves, which did match the collection. I also used my travel-theme rub-ons from 49 and Market and go the idea to add them to an acetate (which was on the list), which I then cut underneath the photo frame die-cut. And I was inspired to use this die because I was looking for a camera die and found one in the same die set. Which happened to have a heart in the center so I was able to top it with a heart enamel shape and check that off the list as well.

I found a chip frame in a P13 set and saw that one actually was a vine, so that went with my theme very well. The wood veneer set had chevrons, so I made sure to pull those out. I was debating leaving the wood bare or not, but I got curious to know how Distress Glaze would look on it, so I pulled out Peeled Paint to try it out. I thought since the glaze is sheer that we would see the wood underneath. The first layer turned out very uneven. I let the pieces cool, and I pressed them in my VersaMark pad again and added a second coat of glaze. The result got a bit more even, but it did not end up like I hoped it would. It was good enough to keep on the page, but I might favour embossing powder over glaze next time.

The foam stickers for this collection have some really cool images in it. I realized that contrary to most of Simple Stories' foam stickers pack, which include large words meant for page titles, this set contains a large selection of images and a few words that are smaller and therefore usable as accents. I wish their foam stickers sets were always done that way - they'd definitely work better for my scrapbooking. So I used the binoculars, the safari shirt and the "welcome to the jungle" sentiment. Because I love that collection so much, I did get the matching washi, which has really cute patterns. I cut my branding strip with pinking shear decorative scissors and wanted to add washi at the top. I usually would have picked one of the thematic patterns, but I realized that the brown tape had a woodgrain pattern, which allowed me to score a point for that as well. That strip also became the grounding point for the first part of my title, which I did in two different fonts for an additional point. Last time I ordered from Elle's Studio, they were offering an alphabet grab bag, which included a white cardstock alphabet. I don't know why it never occurred to me when I ordered to get white cardstock alphabets, but it suddenly dawned on me after looking through my sets and not finding the colour I was looking for that I could pull my alcohol markers out and make my own yellow letters. 

I scored a total of 53 points for this double-page layout.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: This & That Date Stamp (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Always Artichoke (Stampin' Up!); VersaMark
Cardstock: Espresso, Lime, Coral and Dandelion Color Vibe (Simple Stories);
Acetate (Lawn Fawn); Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Bits & Pieces, Washi Tape, Foam Stickers, Cardstock Stickers, 
Enamel Dots: Say Cheese Adventure at the Park (Simple Stories)
Dies: Planner Essentials 37 Letters & Numbers, Planner Essentials 4, Sidekick Essentials 11 (Elizabeth Craft Designs);
Cross Stitched Circles (Lawn Fawn); Curves Ahead Sizzlits (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: White Jane Alphabet Stickers (Elle's Studio); Chasing Adventures
Puffy Stickers (Jen Hadfield for American Crafts)
Frames Light Chipboard Embellishments (P13); Yellow Say It in Crystals (Prima Marketing);
Vintage Artistry Travel Anywhere Rub-On Transfers, Eucalyptus Ticket Essentials (49 and Market);
Light Mango Melody Stampin' Blends Marker, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Jute Ribbon, Mini Stapler,
Butterfly Punch, Essentials Wooden Elements, LIbrary Clips, Tropical Elements, Mini Vintage Tags (Stampin' Up!);
Star-fetti Shape Sprinkles, Heart-fetti Shape Sprinkles (Doodlebug Design); Peeled Paint Distress Glaze (Ranger);
Happy Days Chipboard Elements (My Mind's Eye); Disney Mickey Icons Punch (Ek Success)

 

Low Prices

Inspiration: June 2018 Page Maps Sketch + Time Out Challenge #234

This picture was snapped during quarantine. This is the cheapest I've ever paid for full since I own a car. It goes without saying that at that time, fuel was half its current cost because there was nowhere to go to with that full tank anyway.

This gave me the chance to pull out the Quarantined collection from Simple Stories. I kept the design pretty simple. I cut my picture to 3" x 4" and matted it with Blush Color Vibe cardstock. I used a cut-apart image in lieu of the second picture from the sketch and matted it with Olive Color Vibe cardstock. I used a puffy heart sticker to frame the red heart that was already on the earth image.

I used the aqua patterned paper as my background strip as the design was subtle enough to print my journaling on. I cut the strip in half so I would be able to run it through my printer. I made sure to select a typewriter font to get a point for that in the Calvinball grid.

For the title, I found that the pink and red letters from the Tinsel Town set fit with the Simple Stories collection, so I used those for the main word and gold letters from the Courtyard Thickers set for the rest. I added my date with navy puffy letters from Elle's Studio.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Calypso Coral (Stampin' Up!);
Blush and Olive Color Vibe (Simple Stories)
Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers: Quarantined (Simple Stories)
Dies: Sentiment Labels (Spellbinders); Foundation 4 (Queen & Co)
Accessories: Mini Library Clips, Stampin' Dimensionals, Brads, Min Buttons (Stampin' Up!);
Enamel Dots (Simple Stories); Aqua Enamel Dots (Hero Arts);
 Tinsel Town and Courtyard Thickers (American Crafts); Sugar Brads (Doodlebug Design);
Navy Jane Alphabet Puffy Stickers, Gold Heart and Star Puffy Stickers (Elle's Studio)
Font: Elegant Typewriter

 

Rocking Chairs

Inspiration: December 2022 Page Maps Sketch + Lasting Memory Layout challenge #641 (Plant a Flower Day)

I was excited to see the new collections that would be released by Simple Stories this Spring. The second I saw a preview of their Wildflower collection, I thought the style was reminiscent of My Mind's Eye. Turns out I was right, as it says on the packaging it is a collaboration. While I am not usually big on florals, there is something very soothing about the colours and patterns of that line.

I was eager to put it to good use and I ended up pairing it with a very old picture that dates back to 2011, when I visited Nashville to attend a Leadership convention. I was really surprised to find out the Nashville airport had rocking chairs! There is something about the chaos and fast-moving rhythm of an airport that does not quite fit with the cozy, laid-back nature of a rocking chair. The dichotomy of those two elements together really stood out to me and kind of gave the tone of the week that was waiting ahead for me.

I'm still playing in the Calvinball challenge, so this is another layout that's shock-full of elements. The one I'm most happy about is the canvas tag I used to back my journaling tag with. It's from Pink Paislee, and it says on the packaging this was released in 2009. So if you do the math, this has been sitting in my stash for 14 years. I'm happy to finally have found a use for it. It made me very happy when I found out that 49 and Market was releasing boxes of stamps and tickets in a myriad of colours, and I've found out with their last two releases that they keep adding colours to their offering. I purchases Blossom (pink) and Eucalyptus (soft aqua) earlier this Spring and you can see both colours here peeking from underneath the tag. Those boxes of tickets are making me very happy, as it's one of my favorite elements to add to projects.

The metal paperclip is another embellishment I've had in my stash for a long time. The pink was fitting nicely, and I topped it with a cardstock sticker. I noticed that the patterned paper are printed with inked edges, so to keep the look once papers were cut down to size, I pulled out my Distress Lost Shadow ink and inked the edges with a dauber. I have the full Distress Oxide ink collection, but for this new colour, I decided to get the regular Distress ink pad instead. I've tried a few grey inks in the past and they were never as pale as I hoped they would be, so I think this one fills the gap and I knew I'd use it more as a dye ink rather than a pigment one. It was the perfect option to shade my papers without overpowering the soft colours.

For my journaling, I used a tag from the cut-apart sheet, and I specifically selected this one as I remembered that Chevron was an element on the Calvinball list.

Calvinball Points

• Die-Cut
• Striped Paper
• Use a stamp
• Add a date
• Clean your desk between projects
• Heart
• Handwriting
• Titles with 2+ fonts
• Circle
• Butterfly
• Torn Paper
• Bling/rhinestones
• Label
• Ribbon
• Use 3 patterned papers
• Inking
• Enamel Dots
• Green
• Use a punch
• Metal Embellishment
• Use a sketch
• Floral patterned paper
• Chevron
• Pink
• Ticket
• Dimensional Adhesive
• Tag
• Multi-challenge project (with scrapbook floral theme challenge)
• Chipboard

With the points allowed for posting online, this is totalling 32 points.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Date Stamp (Office Supplies)
Ink: Lost Lagoon (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Burnished Rose Mirror (Tonic)
Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers, Sticker Book, Chipboard Stickers,
Enamel Dots, Foam Stickers, Floral Bits: Wildflower (Simple Stories)
Dies: #9 Borders (Photoplay); Mixed Media Motifs (Sizzix)
Accessories: Cecily Thickers (American Crafts); Pink Jane Tile Alphabet Stickers (Elle's Studio);
Blossom and Eucalyptus Ticket Essentials (49 and Market); 
Strawberry Milkshake Say It in Crystals (Prima Marketing); 
Pink Metal Clip (Making Memories); Amber Road Canvas Tag Patches (Pink Paislee);
Stampin' Dimensionals, Soft Succulent Organza Ribbon, Sponge Daubers,
Misty Moonlight Stampin' Write Marker (Stampin' Up!); Eyelets (We R Memory Keepers); 
Round Binding Edge Punch (EK Tools)

 

Mini-Cindy

I got really excited when I saw the reminder in my calendar that Calvinball was right around the corner! This month-long creative challenge pushed me to create a lot of layouts last year, so I was eager to draw inspiration from it again this year.

This layout was easy to make since the beautiful 49 and Market paper did most of the work for me. The most time-consuming part was the tone-on-tone hand stitching I added to each section using matching colored floss. I added washi tape to a couple of sections before adding the stitching, and also a piece of white sparkly washi at the bottom of the page.

Once that was done, I picked a few die-cuts from the Spectrum Sherbet laser-cut elements and Mix & Match packs to mat the image with. I create three clusters around the picture using additional die-cuts and I included layered circles to the center of the stitched sections. I also slid a filmstrip under the picture, as it was one of the temporary bonus points and I had the Lagoon film strips from 49 and market. (And that is why I find the Calvinball challenge both fun and useful - it makes you pull out a variety of elements from your stash, inspiring you to dig out older elements as well.)

I wanted to make my titles with two alphabets in matching tones. I ended up using the Adventure Thickers, which has a wood pattern that matched the dusty yellow nicely, and since I didn't have anything in the right green, I went to the Fernwood Thickers. Those are nice because they are black and white and meant to be colored in. So I pulled out the Stampin' Blends markers and colored them in a matching shade of green.

I also added jumbo eyelets in matching colours on each of the paper's sections. I handwrote my journaling with a matching pen in the dark teal section. To finish up, I saw that the list had punch and vellum on it, so I punched small stars and I stapled them in place for additional texture.

Calvinball elements:

• Stitching 
• Metal embellishment (staples)
• Vellum
• Filmstrip
• Chipboard
• Use a punch
• Green
• Circle
• Title with 2+ font
• Handwriting
• Gold
• Washi
• Heart
• Use a frame
• Clean my desk between projects
• Add a date
• Use a stamp
• Die-cut
• Star

For a total of 20 points. 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: This & That Date Stamp (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Lost Lagoon (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Vellum (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Painted Foundations - Kaleidoscope - Spectrum Sherbet collection (49 and Market)
Embellishments: Lagoon Essentials Filmstrips, Tidal Wave Ephemera Bits, Sherbet Essential
Laser-Cut Elements, Sherbet Remnants, Eucalyptus Ticket Essentials (49 and Market);
Mini Stapler, Stampin' Dimensionals, Washi Tape, Mini Star Punch, Pretty Peacock
Stampin' Write Marker (Stampin' Up!); Gold Puffy Heart & Star Stickers (Elle's Studio);
Large Eyelets (We R Memory Keepers); Fernwood and Adventure Thickers (American Crafts);
Needlepoint Floss (DMC)

Wishes of Light and Hope

Inspiration: Tic Tac Toe challenge #197 (CAS + pink + embossing)

I kept going designing with the Joyful collection from Cocoa Vanilla. I fussy cut a circle frame out of the cut-apart sheet and used it for my focal point, adding a fussy cut star and the fox ephemera piece. Underneath, I added a striped scalloped square matted with Venetian Gold mirror cardstock (a new favorite). 

The background piece was die-cut using the Wonky Stitched Rectangle dies and I stamped a sentiment from the Brightest Glow stamp set, embossed in gold. I fussy cut a fox image from one of the patterned papers and added it to my Aquamarine metallic envelope to finish the set.

 

 

 

Joyful Bunny

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Emboss It)

This card was inspired by a few straggler pieces on my desk. I had embossed the Sweater folder on white cardstock but the cardstock had moved before going in the machine so it was embossed at an angle. It didn't work for my previous card, but here, I was able to hide the side that was not embossed by layering a border over it. I used the Ribbon Threading border punch and wove white crinkled ribbon in it. I added a border from the cut-apart patterned paper and a very slim piece of Venetian Gold mirror cardstock.

The main image was created with the gold-foiled scalloped circle frame, with polka dot patterned paper under it, and the bunny ephemera piece placed in the middle. I added the holly ephemera image and one of the puffy stars from the collection. For the sentiment, I used a film strip stamp from the Framed stamp set and added a "Happy Holidays" sentiment from a Stampin' Up! set in it. I layered a banner ephemera piece underneath for a touch of colour.

I repeated the bunny image on the matching envelope and included a framed bunny image fussy cut from patterned paper inside the card to match as well. This Joyful collection is just so very sweet and a lot of fun to create with.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Framed (Elizabeth Craft Designs); Moments lumineux (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Pool Party, Basic White (Stampin' Up!); Venetian Gold Mirror (Tonic)
Patterned Papers, Chipboard Stickers, Cardstock Stickers, Puffy Stars, Ephemera: Joyful (Cocoa Vanilla)
Ink: Watermelon Wonder, Pool Party (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals, White Crinkled Ribbon (Stampin' Up!);
Sweater 3D Embossing Folder (Sizzix); Hustle & Bustle Thickers (American Crafts);
Ribbon Threading Border Punch (Dress My Craft); A2 Aquamarine Metallic Envelope (Envelopes.com)

 

Mix & A-Mingle

Inspiration: March 2021 Page Maps Sketch + Simon Says Stamp Monday (Frame It)

The office Christmas party tradition finally came back after two years of being put off. There was a photobooth available, so my colleagues and I went to have our pictures taken together. I had a printed copy that was given to me from the photobooth, but it was a little scratched and the colours were off. I had also received a digital copy by email, so I went back to it and played around in Photoshop to see if I could improve on the quality. I actually ended up changing it from portrait to landscape, cropping it to keep our faces and as I was playing with saturation to make it black and white, I realized that if I kept a very low saturation, I was getting a very nice retro-looking picture with soft colours that matched the green in my papers and solved our blotchy skin problem. It also allowed me to use one of the chipboard frames, which I love to do.

I really wanted to use the Mix & A-Mingle collection from Simple Stories to make sure it was represented in my scrapbook album. It was love at first sight when the company released previews of the collection online and even though I had made a few cards with it, I had yet to scrapbook with it. I had plenty to pick from, as I pretty much purchased the entire collection. I went to the foam stickers for my title and immediately realized Mix & A-Mingle was appropriate since that was exactly why we wanted to attend the Christmas party: to have the chance to mingle outside of work. (We're also a fully remote team, so I actually met some of my coworkers in person for the very first time at the party, even though we talk on the phone almost every day.)

I based my design on a Page Maps sketch. It's for a 8½ x 11 page, but I stretched it to a 12" x 12" page. As I mentioned, I love using the chipboard frames when I can because it really draws the eye to the picture and gives a strong starting point to the design. Because the title was going to be on two lines, I didn't even try to fit it above the frame, I went straight to the right side to fill the space left empty by stretching the sketch to a larger page.

I looked through the Journaling Bits for a journaling block and didn't have anything big enough for the scale I needed, but I realized that if I layered a few of the pieces I liked, I could create a bundle that had the right visual weight and gave me more room to tell the story.

I had already decided I wanted the star paper for the background and the striped ledger paper for the center. After cutting it to size, I saw the poinsettia background, which I also liked and when I auditioned the two pieces to pick the one I preferred, I  realized the best look was stacking them both and using the mint paper to mat the poinsettia one. I also realized I needed to turn the star paper 90 degrees so that the stars would be going up and down, first so that I wouldn't layer stripes on stripes going the same way, but also because it then looked like hanging decorations (curtain-style), which worked well with the theme.

Because my base was already pattern-heavy, I wasn't sure what to do with the overlapping banners from the sketch. I tried a few things and decided I liked the red banner the best. I also realized that I could turn to the Color Vibe cardstock to find a matching colour in a neutral pattern. I have been investing in this cardstock when I've found it on sale and it has now become a staple whenever I work with Simple Stories collections as I love the coordination. I made a note of the cardstock that matched the collection and decided to add the colour Green, as it was only shown in the little stars and nowhere else so far.

The top part of the banners was not showing a lot, so I picked a decorative brad to top it and it was enough to fill the space there. The bottom looked pretty empty, though. I had this label from the Page Pieces that looked nice, especially overlapped with the flower bunch from the same pack. I slid the red berry die-cut underneath to make it fuller and the pink star on the other side and then I stamped my date and wrote where the party was held on the label. I also topped the flowers with a champagne bottle chipboard piece to go with the party theme. The light string also came from the Page Pieces. I liked it but was worried the page was already getting full. I tried it a couple of places where it didn't work, before I strung it between the two journaling sections and decided I liked the look.

At that point, I started adding enamel dots, decorative brads and opals and I felt the page was close to being done. But one more flip through the sticker book had me wishing I had included the cute stamps somewhere, so I layered two at an angle in the corner of the frame, and then I spotted the Christmas Party circle sticker and couldn't help adding it to the opposite corner. Then I also wanted the pink door because its ornate look reminded me of the renovated church where the event was held. And when I saw the pink champagne bottle, it went very well with the pink glasses on the journaling block, so I slid that in there as well...  And then I wanted sentiment stickers and the ones from the sticker book were not holding up well because they're made of flimsy paper, so I used the cardstock stickers instead, and went for the rule of three. One my rule of three was taking care of for the embellishments, I decided to call the page done.

I'm happy with the result, I feel this page will represent this beloved collection well in my album!

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Date Stamp (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Pretty Peacock (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Page Pieces, Sticker Book, Cardstock Stickers, Enamel Dots, 
Chipboard Stickers, Chipboard Frames, Decorative Brads, Journal Bits, 
Foam Stickers: Mix & A-Mingle (Simple Stories)
Cardstock: Green Color Vibe (Simple Stories)
Accessories: 2021-2023 In Color Opal Rounds, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Pretty Peacock and Old Olive Stampin' Write Marker (Stampin' Up!); 
Large Eyelets (We R Memory Keepers)

 

Ariri

Inspiration: May 2022 Page Map Sketch

It is hard to look at the Heart Eyes collection from Simple Stories and not have your spirits instantly lifted up. I love this brightly colored collection and I appreciate that even though it was released around the Valentine period, it can definitely be used for much more. I had been hanging onto this very sweet picture of me and my niece and I realized this collection would work well with the colours of her outfit.

I used Flamingo Color Vibe cardstock for the base, using the polka dot side. I also used Tomato Color Vibe cardstock to mat the floral paper, for better definition. I cut a strip of tickets from the patterned paper to make the vertical strip of the sketch. It was getting lost over the striped paper, so I added a strip of sparkly black washi tape and it really helped make the tickets stand out. I have the chipboard frames from the collection, but I was bummed to find out that the only frames that are large enough for a 4" x 6" picture were landscape and not portrait. I matted my picture with two different patterned paper to frame it instead.

I would like to eventually get the foam stickers, but since I didn't have them, I played around with stickers and die-cuts to see what I could make my title with. I really loved the Love banner placed over the note curt-apart, but it was not filling the space enough to fill like the page's title, so I reached out for my Thickers alphabets and I pulled out the one called Warm & Cozy. It's meant to be Christmas-y, but by avoiding the green letters and only using the red ones, I was able to match this collection. The two tones also worked well with the red and orange of the papers.

Earlier this year, I scored the square and heart additions for the We R Memory Keepers Button Press. I had played around with the Herat Eyes papers to test the heart buttons and I was really liking the look. (Word of advice, though: you need to really take your time when placing the mylar heart over your paper. If you don't, the sides will not get pinched properly when you create the button and they will come up, more so than on the other button shapes. And since the heart buttons are larger and therefore more expensive, you really don't want to mess up when you go to press it together.) I picked the button with the heart pattern and placed it at the end of the heart banner sticker. On the opposite side, I added a flower bouquet and the little heart tic tac toe ephemera.

I found some puffy heart stickers from Elle's Studio in matching colours, so I sprinkled some of the hearts and dots around the page, framing my title with them. I also added a few plusses around the page. Again, I followed a designing trick I've seen in many scrapbooking videos, where I repeated my elements in three on my pages: the sentiment strips, the little plusses, the puffy hearts, the puffy dots.

I handwrote my journaling and then I stamped the date in black ink multiple times without reinking it. This is another trick I saw someone do in a scrapbooking video and I really liked how it can help fill the space. I added Stickles to the hearts on the tic tac toe and to the candy, and Crystal Glaze to the sunglasses.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Date Stamp (Office Supplies)
Ink: Archival Basic Black (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers, Bits & Pieces: Heart Eyes (Simple Stories)
Cardstock: Flamingo and Tomato Color Vibe (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Heart Button Press (We R Memory Keepers);
Black Glimmer Washi Tape, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Warm & Cozy Alphabet Thickers (American Crafts); Star Dust Stickles (Ranger);
Puffy Heart & Star Stickers (Elle's Studio) 

 

Before Leaving...

Inspiration: December 2022 Page Maps Sketch

This page recalls the story of how I had purchased a sweater at a British chain the day before we were heading back home and the clerk forgot to take the security tag off! The morning of our departure, I called the store the second it opened and asked what could be done to fix the situation. They let me know they had one of their stores at the Heathrow airport and that if I brought the sweater there, the salesperson would take it off for me. It was a little stressful to add that errand on top of everything else but thankfully, the commute to the airport went smoothly, the walk through security was not too long and the store in question was on the way to our gate, so it all worked out.

I wanted to use the lovely Let's Go! collection from Simple Stories. Since my journaling was long, I printed it on patterned paper using a retro-looking font called Bio Monster. It unfortunately does not include French accents, so I will have to add those by hand with a pen. The title was created with Simple Stories Color Vibe Blush foam stickers and Elle's Studio Coral puffy stickers.

Pretty much everything you see on the page came from the collection. I added a bit of Pool Color Vibe cardstock to mat my picture and I made a matching button using We R Memory Makers' Button Press. I have been watching crafting videos lately and I've noticed that some scrapbookers mention the rule of three, in that they include three elements of the same color or three of the same embellishments or three of the same shape. I gave that a try on my last two pages and I have to say, there's some merit to that logic because it does seem to create something that's very balanced. For example here:

• 3 round shapes: the Let's Fly Away sticker, the button and the earth sticker
• 3 square elements: the airplane window sticker, the Departures sticker and the Airline Bagage sticker
• 3 enamel dots: on the nose of the airplane, on the bag and on the sentiment strip
• 3 sentiment strip
• 3 tabs: at the top, near the little earth and the date label
• 3 decorative brads: on the three square elements

I never stop learning and growing my designing skills!

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Date Stamp (Office Supplies)
Ink: Basic Grey (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Enamel Dots, Decorative Brads, Puffy Stickers, Cardstock Stickers,
Sticker Book, Washi Tape, Foam Stickers: Let's Go! (Simple Stories)
Alphabet Stickers: Coral Puffy Stickers (Elle's Studio); Blush Color Vibe Foam Stickers (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Button Press (We R Makers); Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)
Font: Bio Monster

 

Santa's Visit on Christmas Eve

Inspiration: Colour Inkspiration #136

I love the soft colours from the latest Colour Inkspiration challenge and based on elements that I had lying around my desk, I ended up making a holiday card.

I stenciled Cracked Pistachio and Pine Needles Distress Oxide inks on Sahara Sand cardstock, using the layering Nordic Winter stencils from Honey Bee. I heat set the ink with my heat tool and then I overstamped images from Tim Holtz's Department Store stamp set in Versamark. I embossed the tag in Blushing Bride powder and the 25 and music notes in Rustic Wilderness embossing glaze.

I have Clocks chipboard pieces from Mintay and I decided to stain one silver using the Iron Gate Distress mica stain. The center looked a little too plain to me, so I dug through my pieces previously done with moulds and I found this gear that I had previously colored with Sage wax that was the right size and colour, so I adhered it to the center of the clock.

For the main image, I assembled Tim Holtz's Retro Santa die. This was my first time using it and this is arguably the easiest layered die-cut set I've ever used - cut and assembled in two minutes, top. I considered adding a silver belt buckle but I decided against it. The base layer was die-cut out of black kraft-stock paper, so it's more gunmetal than black and it has a nice shine to it.

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Department Store (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous)
Cardstock: Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, Blushing Bride, Garden Green, Mint Macaron (Stampin' Up!);
Metallic 3 Kraft-stock (Tim Holtz for idea-ology)
Ink: Cracked PIstachio, PIne Needles Distress Oxide, Clear Emboss It (Ranger);
Blushing Bride (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Retro Santa (Tim Holtz for Sizzix)
Accessories: Clocks Chippies (Mintay); Iron Gate Distress Mica Stain, 
Rustic Wilderness Embossing Glaze (Ranger); Mould, Clay, Sage Wax (Prima Marketing);
Stampin' Dimensionals, Blushing Bride Stampin' Emboss Powder, Crumb Cake Medium Envelope (Stampin' Up!)

 

Fall 2018

Inspiration: Tic Tac Toe #195 (Layers + Friendship + Circle)

I wanted to use the Harvest Market collection from Simple Stories, so I found a nice fall picture of my niece going apple picking with her friend Charles-Olivier and I followed a January 2023 Page Maps sketch to put this layout together. I wanted to use the woodgrain pattern for the background mat, but I decided to shift it around by cutting a mitered frame glued over the aqua pattern instead. 

I wonder how many projects I will be able to create with this collection. I immediately fell in love with the colour scheme, but I realize most of the images are showing a fresh market, which makes it a very limiting subject matter. 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers, Sticker Book, Enamel Dots, Foam Stickers,
Journaling Bits, Bits & Pieces: Harvest Market (Simple Stories)
Dies: Borders (Photoplay); Layering Circles (Tonic)
Accessories: Designer Elements, Brushed Metallic Adhesive-Backed Dots,
Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Sparkly Stickers (Maggie Holmes for American Crafts)

 

Icy Fun This Way!

Inspiration: Festive Friday #127 (Ribbon + Fancy Fold + Something Shiny)

I kept playing with the Snowball Fight collection from Photoplay. I fussy cut another snowman from the cut-apart sheet, as well as the sign post. I wanted to revisit the flap cards I had done last Christmas, as I really liked the look and they are quite easy to put together. I layered two papers on the left side, added jumbo eyelets and threaded a bright chevron ribbon tied in a bow. On the flap, I layered the striped and the polka dot papers, and then I glued the post flat on the panel and I added the snowman popped on dimensional adhesive.

I stamped the Merry Christmas sentiment on Lime Light pearlescent cardstock, embossed it with Verdigris powder and punched it with a 1-1/8" circle punch. I added it to the card with dimensional adhesive as well.

To embellish the card, I added Frosted Lace Stickles to the snow and glitter enamel dots to the snowman's outfit. I made a matching envelope out of patterned paper and I used the Stars and swirls dies to make an address block. I reused one of the tiny stars from this die cut on the sentiment circle.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Fêtes branchées (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Lemon Lime Twist, Daffodil Delight (Stampin' Up!); Lime LIght Pearlescent (Tonic)
Patterned Papers: Snowball Fight (Photoplay)
Ink: VersaMark
Dies: Stars and Swirls (Yvonne's Creations)
Accessories: Calypso Coral Chevron Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, Envelope Punch Board,
Jumbo Eyelets (Stampin' Up!); Verdigris Antiquities Embossing Powder, Frosted Lace Stickles (Ranger);
Hello Assortment Glitter Sprinkles (Doodlebug Design)

 

Festive Drink

Inspiration: Scrapbook.com Cardmaking Techniques Class 

I was watching a video tutorial on scrapbook.com and decided to use the scraps from the Snowball Fight collection to try out making an acetate card. I don't like when adhesive is showing, so I did line the back of both pieces of cardstock (on the cover and inside the card) for a neater finish. I wanted to use the adorable drink pattern, so I looked through my dies to see if I had a mug and I found one in the retired Cup & Kettle die set. I used the heart that's usually the steam to decorate the mug and I filled it with whipped cream from another set instead, cut out of Pink Frosting glitter cardstock. I used the spoon die-cut on silver kraft-stock to embellish.

I wrapped white twine around the patterned paper and I embossed a seasonal sentiment in Turquoise Lagoon embossing powder at the top. I made a matching envelope with patterned paper and fussy cut a little cup to decorate the address block

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Joyeux moments (Stampin' Up!) 
Cardstock: Lemon Lime Twist, Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo (Stampin' Up!);
Metallic Kraft-stock (Tim Holtz for idea-ology); Lime Light Pearlescent,
Pink Frosting Glitter (Tonic)
Dies: Cup & Kettle, Coffee Cups, Stitched So Sweetly (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, White Baker's Twine, 
Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!); Turquoise Lagoon Embossing Powder (Nuvo)

 

Chilly Pocket

Inspiration: Cardmaking Technique Lesson from Scrapbook.com 

I used some more Snowball Fight paper scraps to make a pocket card inspired by the sample shown in the linked video above. I changed the pocket measurement to be able to use the scraps I had on hand (I made the pocket narrower).

I fussy cut the upside down snowman image and used it to show in the pocket window. The window felt a little bland so I pulled out the Stitched Scalloped Circle Frames dies from Lawn Fawn and Lovely Lipstick foil paper to line it up. I tore sparkly washi tape to create snow at the bottom and I popped up the fussy cut penguin on dimensional adhesive.

The tag is actually a card, as shown in the video. I added a brad and threaded ribbon on the front part of it. The leftover part of my town washi was used on a matching green envelope, and I added another fussy cut snowman, as well as a couple of snowflakes.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Daffodil Delight, Lovely Lipstick Foil Paper (Stampin' Up!);
Lime Light Pearlescent (Tonic)
Patterned Papers: Snowball Fight (Photoplay)
Dies: Layering Circle (Tonic); Stitched Scalloped Circle Frames (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Christmas Fairy Crystals (Memory Box); Stampin' Dimensionals, Window Sheets,
Sparkly Washi Tape (Stampin' Up!); A2 Metallic Fairway Envelope (Envelopes.com);
Sticker Strip (Starform)

 

Snowmen Fun

Inspiration: Try Stampin’ on Tuesday #591

I found some papers from an older Photoplay collection called Snowball Fight and the cheery colours seemed appropriate to make sunny Christmas cards to give to the children's hospital. I cut two images from the cut-apart sheet.

The snowman in a mason jar image was used on the card inspired by the Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch. I was also excited to try out the Noel Buzzword dies from Honey Bee that I found in an after-Christmas sale. I love the font and size and the fact that it has three layers. It's also nice that it works for French cards (even though it's missing its umlaut on the e). I added black gingham ribbon for a bit of texture and topped it with a gold fabric star that I found on my desk. The little gold stars placed around the image are negative die-cuts from the Stars and Swirls die-cut I used on the second card.

Speaking of which, the second card measures 4" x 6" as the starting point was the cut-apart sheet. Because of the pink frame, I didn't want to cut it down to fit a regular A2 card, so I made a larger card. I was liking the look of the snowcone snowman image over it, so I added the gold star swirl in the background to add shine and fill the space, and I returned to the Noel Buzzword die-cut as it filled the space nicely and added colour to the layout as well. I topped the snowflake with a turquoise gem and added a few leftover gold stars around the card.

Both envelopes were done with the Envelope Punch Board and matching patterned paper. On the green envelope, I die-cut a stitched nested tag out of Daffodil Delight cardstock and added a fussy cut snowman from the patterned paper.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Daffodil Delight, Lemon Lime Twist, Granny Apple Green, Melon Mambo,
Coastal Cababa (Stampin' Up!); Pearlescent Vellum (Lawn Fawn);
Metallic Kraft-stock (Tim Holtz for idea-ology)
Patterned Papers: Snowball Fight (Photoplay)
Dies: Dotted Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn); Wonky Stitched
Rectangles (My Favorite Things); Noel Buzzword (Honey Bee); 
Stars and Swirls (Yvonne's Creations); Foundation 4 (Queen & Co)
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals, Envelope Punch Board, Black Gingham Ribbon (Stampin' Up!);
Gold Stars (Cocoa Vanilla); March Crystals (Studio Katia)

 

Joyful Diagonal Pocket Card

Inspiration: Graphic45 YouTube video

I tested out the diagonal pocket card technique shown by Graphic45 in one of their recent YouTube videos using Cocoa Vanilla's Joyful collection. I had cut a lot of stars from the patterned paper previously, and I grouped them around the side of the flap, overlapping a candy cane and fa la la la ephemera pieces, then adding the chipboard bird.

The ephemera pack included a small tag, which I topped with a copper eyelet and white trim and slid inside the pocket for decoration. For the message, I created a larger tag out of aqua patterned paper using MFT's Do-It-All Gift Tag dies. I added an heart eyelet and pink ribbon at the top, plus a leftover scalloped piece and one of the wooden buttons. I also added gold ribbon on the edge of the pocket for a bit of shine.

The striped ribbon was repeated on the envelope, along with a fussy cut circle image.

 

 

 

Supplies
Square Cards and Envelopes: Anita's (Docrafts)
Patterned Papers, Wooden Buttons, Chipboard Stickers, Ephemera: Joyful (Cocoa Vanilla)
Dies: Do-It-All Tags (My Favorite Things)
Accessories: 1/8" Gold Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, Blushing Bride Satin Ribbon (Stampin' Up!);
Eyelets (We R Memory Makers); Marshmallow Scrubby Sparkle (Red Heart)

 

Hat and Stocking

Inspiration: In[k]spire Me #497

This is one more creation made with the Joyful collection from Cocoa Vanilla. I had this scalloped circle ephemera piece that was perfect as a starting point from the sketch. I placed the chipboard Santa hat on it and overlapped the Ho Ho Ho ephemera image. It was a little blank, so I fussy cut a stocking and holly berry from the patterned paper and placed it underneath the sentiment. I added a circle die-cut out of Venetian Gold mirror cardstock underneath and a wooden button at the bottom of the banner. I had this acrylic sentiment but I was not liking it placed at the bottom of the banner, so I moved it underneath the Ho Ho Ho image. To finish it off, I added a few stars from the chipboard stickers and puffy title stickers.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Pool Party (Stampin' Up!); Venetian Gold Mirror Cardstock (Tonic)
Patterned Papers, Chipboard Stickers, Puffy Title Stickers, Wooden Buttons, Ephemera: Joyful (Cocoa Vanilla)
Dies: Dotted Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn); Circle Double Stitched (Art Impressions)
Accessories: A2 Rose Quartz Metallic Envelope (Envelopes.com);
Décos Mots Doux Céladon (Florilège Design)

 

Huge Bouquet of Bliss

I made a card with the Harvest Market collection before putting it away. I picked an image from the Delivering Cheer stamp set - the girl with the big bouquet - and colored it with Stampin' Blends markers. I used one of the tags from the cut-apart sheet, but stamped some images from the Ranunculus Romance stamp set on the background to fill it up a little.

I picked a sentiment from the Sending You Thoughts stamp set (offered during SAB). I stamped it in VersaMark and embossed it with Deep Sea powder on a stitched banner die-cut out of orange gingham paper. The left side was a little empty, so I tied a bit of Old Olive ribbon on it. The tag was matted with copper kraftstock to make it stand out more against the busy back paper, and the colored image was fussy cut and mounted with Stampin' Dimensionals. I added two enamel dots in the top left corner.

I added a floral sticker to a Flame metallic envelope to finish off the set.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Delivering Cheer, Pensées pour toi, Pétales de romance (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Dapper Denim (Stampin' Up!); Solar White (Neenah); Metallic Kraftstock (Tim Holtz for Idea-ology)
Patterned Papers, Sticker Book, Enamel Dots: Harvest Market (Simple Stories)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark; Bermuda Bay, Mossy Meadow, Rose Red (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Foundation 4 (Queen & Co); Mini Slimline Stackables (Lawn Fawn);
Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things)
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals, Stampin' Blends Markers, 1/8" Old Olive Ribbon (Stampin' Up!);
A2 Flame Metallic Envelope (Envelopes.com); Deep Sea Baked Texture Embossing Powder (Emerald Creek)

 

A Ticket To Your Heart

I was going through my 6" x 6" paper pack and about to pull KaiserCraft's Up, Up & Away part apart, adding the leftover papers to my scrap bins. But as I was pulling the pad apart, I got inspired and came up with this card. The design was inspired by an old Mojo Monday sketch, which included hearts. I like how this heart card is not in shades of pinks or reds. Sentiment reads, "Far from the eyes but close to my heart." 

The neutral background was a little bare, so I pulled out Tim Holtz's Mechanical stencils and added an 8 in Sage Shadows ink, with a bit of Walnut Stain to dirty it up. All elements were inked with Walnut Stain ink as well, including the velvet ribbon. I die-cut the hot air balloon paper with Banners Framelits dies and matted it with copper kraftstock paper using my Perfect Layers tool and craft knife.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Pétales de romance, Bonheur florissant (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Sage Shadow (Stampin' Up!); Metallic Kraft-stock (Tim Holtz for idea-ology)
Patterned Papers: Up, Up & Away (KaiserCraft)
Ink: Antique Linen, Walnut Stain Distress (Ranger); Sage Shadow (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Banners (Stampin' Up!); Wonky Stitched Squares, Wonky Stitched
Rectangles (My Favorite Things); Folk Hearts (Ellen Hutson)
Accessories: Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Stapler, Very Vanilla Medium Envelope,
Brushed Metallic Adhesive-Backed Dots, Mint Macaron Velvet Ribbon, Heart Punch (Stampin' Up!);
Blender Brushes (Waffle Flower); Blending Tool (Ranger);
Mechanical Stencils (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous)

 

2023 Mantra

I saw this grid on Instagram stating that the first three words that jumped out at you would be your 2023 mantra. Change, Trust and Care were the first three words that jumped out at me. They seem in line with what I'm hoping to see crystallize in 2023. Last year lacked in work-life balance since I was learning a new job and stretching out of my comfort zone, so this year, I am hoping to make changes to reach a better balance and to take better care of myself. As for trust, I need to have a lot of it right now to hope that things will work themselves out.

It happened that the grid was a salmon-pink color that perfectly matched with the Joyful collection from Cocoa Vanilla I've been using all week. It is a Christmas collection, but I thought if I focused on the more generic element from the line, I could make it work for this page. One of the papers had this large wreath that could only be used on a scrapbook page so I fussy cut it out and layered it over the pink plaid paper. I cut one of the journal card in half and placed a piece on each side of the wreath to add another pattern. I had played with Elizabeth Craft Designs dies and had this little pocket sitting on my desk, so I filled it with sequins, placed acetate on the front and added adhesive strip all around to create a little shaker. One of the patterned paper had 25 blocks with a countdown to Christmas, which I was pretty sure I wouldn't use, so I picked 20 and 23 and fussy cut the numbers out to create the date in my title. The other word was created with Banners Thickers.

I used PinkFresh's Happy Heart puffy alphabet stickers to write my three words around the grid. I just love that script font, especially in gold. The page was already pretty full, so I kept the embellishing to a minimum. I added a chipboard sentiment in the empty space, topped with a puffy sticker. I used a rolled rose that I had sitting on my desk next to the wreath flowers. I fussy cut the envelope from the 23 countdown block and glued it next to the shaker. I slipped a little pink die-cut frame under the shaker, added one of the puffy stars and a wooden button, plus a puffy sticker banner. And I added puffy stars and chipboard stars and called this page done.

I think I'm now ready to retire the Joyful collection for now and switch to something different. 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Venetian Gold Mirror (Tonic); Mystical Opulent Cardstock (Sizzix); Acetate Sheets (Lawn Fawn)
Patterned Papers, Wooden Buttons, Puffy Stars, Puffy Stickers, Chipboard Stickers: Joyful (Cocoa Vanilla)
Thickers: Banners (American Crafts); Happy Heart (PinkFresh)
Dies: Photo Film Slides (Elizabeth Craft Designs); Rolled Roses (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: My Sweet Say It In Crystals (Prima Marketing); Sequins (Cartwright's)

 

Sweet Fa La La

Inspiration: Sunday Stamps #300

This is another card inspired by the Joyful collection from Cocoa Vanilla. I wanted to put the bird in the wreath, so I mirrored the sketch in order to have the bird looking towards the center of the card. The center part is one of the pocket cards, matted with Lost Lagoon cardstock and trimmed with the Deckle Trimmer. The vertical strip comes from the Mystical opulent cardstock pack, embossed with the Wintry embossing folder, and topped with Soft Succulent ribbon. I added a tab at the left, decorated with a puffy sticker, and a few gold-foiled chipboard stars.

I was finding that the top of the center card felt a little bare, so I hunted in my stamp collection for a set with music notes and found something of the right size in The Cat's Pajamas Idols stamp set. I stamped the small notes in matching ink colours and it helped fill in the space.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Idols (The Cat's Pajamas); Framed (Elizabeth Craft Designs)
Cardstock: Pool Party, Lost Lagoon (Stampin' Up!); Mystical Opulent Cardstock (Sizzix)
Patterned Papers, Puffy Stickers, Ephemera, Chipboard Stickers: Joyful (Cocoa Vanilla)
Ink: Pool Party, Blushing Bride, Watermelon Wonder (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things); Photo Film Slides (Elizabeth Craft Designs)
Accessories: Deckle Trimmer (Tim Holtz for Tonic); 
A2 Rose Quartz Metallic Envelope (Envelopes.com); 
Stampin' Dimensionals, Wintry Embossing Folder  (Stampin' Up!)

 

Santa's Workshop Tag

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Something New)

My local scrapbook store offered 12 Days of Christmas sales so I had a few new items to play with, including the Easy Layers Tag dies from Avery Elle and the Snow Flurries Backdrop from Lawn Fawn (from which I used the snowflakes). Those were the starting point for this card. I pulled out the Holiday Magic collection from PinkFresh and layered different stickers, ephemera pieces and puffy stickers on the tag. I added a large eyelet at the top and threaded twine on it.

The backdrop was done by embossing a piece of white cardstock with Sizzix's Sweater 3D embossing folder and using the spritzed ink on an acetate technique to add a bit of blue to it. A sentiment was stamped in green ink on the gold-foiled tag sticker.

 

 

  

 

Supplies
Stamps: Moments lumineux (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Shaded Spruce, Basic White (Stampin' Up!); Mystical Collection Opulent Cardstock (Sizzix)
Patterned Papers, Ephemera, Enamel Dots, Cardstock Stickers,
Puffy Stickers: Holiday Magic (PinkFresh)
Ink: Shaded Spruce (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Easy Layers Tag (Avery Elle); Dotted Rectangle Stackables, Snow Flurries Backdrop (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Sky Baker's Twine (Lawn Fawn);
Jumbo Eyelets (We R Memory Makers); A2 Rose Quartz Metallic Envelope (Envelopes.com);
Sweater 3D Embossing Folder (Sizzix)

 

Farm Fresh Christmas Trees

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #391 + Festive Friday #125 (red + envelopes + slimline card)

I was playing around with the Hello Christmas collection and came up with this design, based on an old Mojo Monday sketch. The sentiment was stamped on Very Vanilla cardstock and fussy cut. I added a puffy sticker bird to the top of it.

The main image is one of the chipboard accents images. It was too cute to cover up, so I let it be the main image. I added a small sentiment strip and a flower puffy sticker at the top, and a holly chipboard circle at the top.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Moments lumineux (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Puffy Stickers, Chipboard Accents: Hello Christmas (Carta Bella)
Ink: Merry Merlot (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Mini Slimline Stackables (Lawn Fawn); Stitched Shapes (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals, Mint Macaron Ribbon, Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!)

 

Sweet Celebration Cupcake

Inspiration: MFT Sketch #627 + MFT Color Challenge #203

I was intrigued by the MFT sketch. It's quite simple, but I liked the idea of creating colored stripes with rectangle strip dies, so I picked two width and cut cardstock in colours inspired by the MFT color challenge. I looked through my MFT sets to see what could work well and decided to pull out Sending Sweet Celebration Wishes, which had been neglected for a little too long. I picked the cute rabbit with the cupcake and I stamped the banner from the same set at the top. I colored everything with Polychromos pencils, as I love the look of pencils on kraft cardstock. I used the set's matching dies to cut out with little bunny, which I popped on the strips with dimensional adhesive. The sentiment, which reads, "Sweet Wishes," was stamped and embossed with Deep Sea embossing powder. The card's corners were rounded with a Corner Chomper tool.

 

 

 

  

 

Supplies
Stamps: Sending Sweet Celebration Wishes (My Favorite Things); Douceurs glacées (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Magenta Madness, Daffodil Delight, Coastal Cabana (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Crumb Cake, Magenta Madness, Daffodil Delight, Coastal Cabana, VersaMark (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Sending Sweet Celebration Wishes (My Favorite Things); Sentiment Labels (Simon Says Stamp)
Accessories: Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Crumb Cake Medium Envelope (Stampin' Up!);
Corner Chomper (We R Memory Maker); Polychromos Pencils (Faber-Castell);
Deep Sea Baked Texture Embossing Powder (Emerald Creek) 

 

Joyful Christmas Tree

I was puttering around with the Elizabeth Craft Designs dies I scored on sale during the 12 Days of Christmas at my local store and I decided to try out the folder die from the General File Folder Set 2. I was wondering how big it was and it turns out the largest one is a regular 4¼" x 5½ card size once folded. I looked for double-sided paper that would work well and ended up picking the Joyful collection from Cocoa Vanilla. With the soft colours and cute animals, I think this could be a nice collection to pull out for the Christmas cards made for the children's hospital. Here, I ended up picking the chipboard Christmas tree as my main image, though. I framed it with a wooden polaroid frame (leftover from the 'Tis the Season ephemera pack). To fill the background, I cut a piece of Lawn Fawn's pearlescent vellum (which I love) to size and embossed it with the Wintry embossing folder. The chipboard gifts were a little big, so I turned to the puffy stickers pack and the gift stickers were the perfect size.

This felt a little bare on the card front, so I used one of the pocket cards and matted it with Lost Lagoon cardstock, cut using the Deckle Trimmer from Tonic. I wrapped Calypso Coral baker's twine around the polaroid frame and topped the bow with a wood button. I added a banner sticker at the top and a "ho ho ho" foiled sentiment on the side. I added a candy cane puffy sticker at the bottom and three little stars around the tree.

I added a couple of stickers inside the card and on an Aquamarine metallic envelope to match. I am very pleased with how this card turned out. The colours of this collection are just so beautiful together. Cocoa Vanilla has a real knack for doing soft colours that draw the eye.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Lost Lagoon (Stampin' Up!); Pearlescent Vellum (Lawn Fawn)
Patterned Papers, Pocket Cards, Puffy Stickers, Wood Buttons, Puffy Title Stickers, 
Chipboard Stickers, Accessory Stickers: Joyful (Cocoa Vanilla)
Accessories: Calypso Coral Baker's Twine, Stampin' Dimensionals, Wintry Embossing Folder (Stampin' Up!);
Deckle Trimmer (Tim Holtz for Tonic); General File Folder Set 2 Dies (Elizabeth Craft Designs);
A2 Aquamarine Metallic Envelope (Envelopes.com)