Encre, papier, ciseaux

Little Artists

Happy Inspire Your Heart With Art Day! 

I got the idea to look up what today's themed day was to see if I could draw inspiration from it. "Inspired Your Heart with Art Day" was a perfect fit for the LIttle Artists stamp set from Waffle Flower. I also pulled out the Heart & Kisses stamp set from Stampin' Up!(sold in current minicatalogue) to use the watercolor wash to create my background. The colour scheme was inspired by an old ColourQ challenge. I stamped the watercolor wash four times and determined my card dimension based on this (8½" x 3").

I stamped all of the images from the set in Tuxedo Black Memento ink and colored them with Copic markers. Since I got the stamp set on deep clearance, it came without the dies, which means there was a lot of hand cutting involved on this project! I started building my scene over the watercolor wash background. I dry embossed a frame around the white cardstock using the Stampin' Score tool and i added Candy Dots in matching colours in the four corners. 

I used the Envelope Punch Board and Designer Series Paper to make a matching envelope and glued the remaining images on the envelope and inside the card as embellishments. I used the frame from the set as a place to add my sentiment. I recently gifted all of my thank you cards to my sister so she would have some on hand for the teachers and daycare educators. No point in her having to purchase cards when I can provide her with some. So I will try to replenish my thank you pile in the coming months.

I realized as I was finishing up the card that I had not included any heart on it, so I looked through my stamps, pulled out the little hearts from Pampered Pets and added them to the blank canvas as an additional nod to the daily theme. We'll see if I can keep this up, but I think it'd be fun to keep drawing inspiration from the day's themes in the future.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Little Artists (Waffle Flower); Pampered Pets, Hearts & Kisses, Douceurs glacées,
Hey There [Paper Pumpkin] (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Melon Mambo (Stampin' Up!)
Designer Series Paper: Perfectly Artistic, Lily Impressions (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Certainly Celery, Melon Mambo, Tempting Turquoise (Stampin' Up!);
Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Stampin' Score Tool, Stampin' DImensionals, Stampin' Blends Markers,
Share What You Love Artisan Pearls, Brights and Subtles Candy Dots, Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!);
Markers (Copic); Nested Rectangles Dies (Scrapbook.com)

 

Stylish Girl

I placed a few orders in the months leading up to Christmas and instead of trickling in, they all got to me at once in the past couple of weeks. I'm guessing things had to die down from the Christmas rush before the postal services could catch up on deliveries. While I should be excited to have lots of new things to choose from, I am actually feeling rather overwhelmed and didn't know where to begin when I sat down at my desk to craft. I decided to just test out some of the dies and not worry about turning the pieces I was assembling into full projects.

One of the die set I played with is Go Girl, which I managed to score with the stamp set and the Winter add-on at a deep discount. I started with a white and blue striped shirt, which seemed really parisian to me, so I gave her a bun and white sunglasses to match. I colored the inside the glasses with Copic markers and reinserted the cut-out pieces on her face. I gave her Poppy Parade lips and I kept thinking a scarf would look nice to complete the outfit. When you look at the bun die, the part with the bangs really look like a tied scarf, so I used that die and cut the bun off, then I used the headband die to create the part that ties around her neck. It worked out so well! I framed my lady with the Polaroid frame from the Go Girl Winter die set. (On a side note, the dies are sold on a magnetic sheet. I was wondering if I could fit the dies from both sets on one magnetic sheet and the answer is yes! That will save me some storage space and will make it easy to mix and match when creating my girls.)

Since I wanted a red scarf, I was going through scraps and putting aside a couple of options that might work. I ended up placing the red paper I hadn't used behind her to create a background and liked the look. I picked Misty Moonlight cardstock for the card base to go with the striped shirt. The red paper was too narrow to cover the card front. I was deliberating using a smaller card size, but I changed gears and decided to use a stencil instead. I pulled out a few options and decided on Classy & Fabulous from Carta Bella, which I felt again fit my parisian theme.

I took a short break to move back my Christmas sets in storage under the bed and pull out generic sentiment sets to place in my library, where they are more easily accessible, in exchange, and after I was done, I picked a couple of options and settled on the #IMissYou sentiment. I was planning on stamping it directly on the frame, but then I spotted my clever clasps (sold in the January-June minicatalogue) and decided it could look cute if I clasped something like a tag or ticket on the frame. I punched a piece of Gold Rush cardstock from Lawn Fawn and stamped my sentiment in Misty Moonlight ink on it, embossed with clear powder. I knotted a piece of gold and white baker's twine on the clip and added a Love Filled faceted heart over it. I added Glossy Accents on the sunglasses. I made a matching envelope and used another ticket (made with the same punch and a retired matching stamp set). 

Considering it was just me playing around with paper scraps and dies, I'm happy with the resulting card.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Go Girl (Waffle Flower)
Cardstock: Misty Moonlight, Whisper White. Blush Blossom, Basic Black, Poppy Parade (Stampin' Up!);
Gold Rush (Lawn Fawn)
Patterned Papers: Scraps (Unknown); 2015-2017 Envelope Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Misty Moonlight, Poppy Parade, Petal Pink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Go Girl and Go Girl Winter Dies (Waffle Flower); Classy & Fabulous Stencil (Carta Bella);
Gold & White Baker's Twine, Love Filled Embellishments (Fun Stampers Journey);
Clever Clasps, Foam Adhesive Strips, Envelope Punch Board, Stamp Duo Punch,
Misty Moonlight Stampin' Write Marker (Stampin' Up!); 
Markers (Copic); Glossy Accents (Ranger); Blender Brushes (Picket Fence Studios);
Postage Stamp Dies (Hero Arts)

 

Operation Home Run

This page started with me handcutting circles from a very old scrap of patterned paper that I still think it really pretty. I didn't have any specific plan in mind, I was just keeping busy, but I started thinking they'd look good against a white background on a page. I wanted some kind of stamping or color wash behind, and I wasn't sure what to use, until I remember an old purchase - an oversized background stamp from Carabelle Studio. The stamp was sold with an acrylic block due to its large size (about 7" x 10"), and the acrylic block was really what I was after at the time, so I believe the stamp itself has only been used once. It was so perfect to create a background here, though! I used Pistachio Pudding to match the green on the paper circles, and Peekaboo Peach ink to stamp the date at the bottom. I tried adding a few elements to the page, but I kept coming back to an uncluttered layout showcasing only the circles, so in the end, all I added was a couple of paper scraps in matching colours to mat the picture and a title created with alphabet stickers. I also added decorative brads, gems and enamel dots to the circles to add dimension. 

The journaling I wanted to add was quite lengthy and that is where I was struggling as it didn't work with the design I wanted to go for. I considered using a hidden tag or some sort of hidden journaling, but this is always challenging when the page is placed in the protector. In the end, I did something I had never done before in almost 20 years of scrapbooking: I handwrite my journaling on the back of my page! I didn't want to compromise on my design or on recording the story, so that was the easiest way to get both. I might reuse that trick again in the future.

By the way, that date at the bottom that appears three times? It was by design. It is something I saw a scrapbooker do in a YouTube video, restamp a sentiment a few times without reinking on her layouts. I had never thought to do that and I found that to be an interesting way to add a unique detail, so it came back to mind when I made the page tonight. I used my date stamp. I realized earlier last year that I had run out of years on my previous date stamp so I ordered a new one and it was my first time using it. (I wish I had realized that earlier, though, as I found myself with a gap of a few years in between both date stamps, but I'll use other stamp sets when I am scrapbooking those dates.) 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Avalanche (Bazzill)
Stamp: Background with Circles (Carabelle Studio); Date Stamp (Staples)
Ink: Peekaboo Peach, Pistachio Pudding (Stampin' Up!)
Stickers: Green Little Letters (Queen & Co); Cecily Thicker, Bright Lights (American Crafts)
Accessories: Velvet Brads (Making Memories); Cool Summer Brads (Carta Bella);
Pumpkin and Spice Say It in Crystals (Prima Design); Botanical Enamel Dots (Waffle Flower) 

 

The Lost Island of the Voodoo Queen

Last week, I was going through the patterned papers in my scrap drawers and I found pirate-themed papers from Sandylion that were purchased many moons ago (design dates back to 2006). I was surprised to see that the map paper was almost a full page, save for a tiny piece cut off in one corner. I realized they could work well to scrapbook the picture of my sister and I when we went did an escape room this summer that was themed around a pirate ship and a lost island.

This game is the most recent addition to the Escaparium offering and it is quite impressive. Without giving too much away, let's just say that there is movement and tons of sand involved! The game master mentioned that this is currently the largest escape room in Canada. I'm really proud that between the two of us, we managed to solve all of the puzzles and exit the room before the time was up! This was one of my favorite rooms we have done so far and I am amazed at the amount of details they have included in the room and how everything intertwines so nicely with the main story.

Because the map page had a square cut out of the corner, I decided to rip it at an angle, roll and ink the exposed edge and use the pirate pattern to fill in the corner. The Sandylion patterned papers were super thin, so matting with cardstock was necessary. I picked a nice blue that mirrored the color in the paper. I wanted to use the striped paper in the upper third, and I ripped the edge as well to go with the ripped corner. I was planning to glue the striped paper and follow the rip along the same angle, but I forgot to do that before I added the patterned paper to the bottom cardstock, so I improvised and ripped the striped paper randomly. Turns out I like this better, so that worked out well.

I decided to print my journaling to fit it into a smaller space , so I went through my blue scrap drawer and picked a matching cardstock. While I was going through the scraps, I spotted a dark blue mulberry paper and decided it would add a nice textyre behind my picture. I also found a lighter blue paper that had snowflakes and winter wording on it, but since I was only using the edge, you really can't tell, and it helped delimit the picture better against the mulberry paper. This is something I've seen a lot of scrapbookers do in videos recently, matting with different papers of all sizes - I really like the look, the depth it adds and what a great way to put paper scraps to good use.

The Gilded Leafing I purchased from Stampin' Up! was sitting on my desk, so it inspired me to add a gold touch to my page. The company also brought back Heat 'n Stick powder, so I stamped a filigree image from Timeless Texture and added gilded leafing to it. The image did not completely get covered, but because the whole page has a distressed look, I was not too concerned about it. I also decided to add a garnet wax seal to my page. I was thinking of adding it to the journaling piece, but I changed my mind while designing and placed it on my picture corner instead. The journaling block was cut out using the Deckle Trimmer from Tim Holtz and I rolled the bottom, then inked all edges. I wanted to use something at the top to look like a push pin, and I used a Doodlebug brad. As I was looking through my ornements for the brads, I spotted some old flags from October Afternoon (2011) and decided that would work with my pirate theme as well. The flag with the blue stripes worked well, and I used a Label Sticker from the same collection to add my date (with a date stamp) on it. At first, I didn't like how the flag was floating on the page, so I used a tiny circle punch and placed the flag through the page so it looks like it comes out of the sand. I made sure to place it close to the X on the treasure map.

For the title, I thought the Wonderland alphabet would fit the look and feel of the page with its uneven edges. I die-cut the small words with a set that has the most used pronouns in French (very practical to avoid running out of those specific letters in sticker sets) out of gold foil paper, and I finished the title with black rub-ons purchased over a decade ago. The rub-ons were not transferring to the mulberry paper very well, so that gave me a bit of trouble, but I got most of it done and finished the missing parts of the letters with a gel pen afterwards. I added gold foil pearls and I was done. I can't believe how nicely that turned out knowing I was working only with scraps.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Timeless Textures (Stampin' Up!); Date Stamp (Staples)
Cardstock: Brocade Blue (Stampin' Up!); Various Scraps
Patterned Papers: Treasure Map, Pirate Stripes (Sandylion)
Ink: Basic Grey, Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Gold Foil Pearls (Studio Katia); Tangerine Sugar Coated Brads (Doodlebug Design);
Rub-Ons (Sticko); Sasparilla Label Stickers and Little Flyers (October Afternoon);
Deckle Trimmer (Tim Holtz for Tonic); Wonderland Alphabet Bigz Die (Tim Holtz for Sizzix);
Sponge Daubers (Stampin' Up!); Garnet Wax Seal Beads, Spoon (Altenew);
C Wax Stamper (Gartner Studios); Ref. Articles Dies (Kesi'art)
Font: Blackadder JTC (Dafont)

 

Make A Wish

I stretched my Little Baby Boy scraps for one more project. As I was putting away the Boba Tea stamp set, I spotted the Wish Upon a Star stamp set from Mama Elephant and figured it would look really nice against the cloud-patterned paper. This made for a really quick design. I stamped the moon image on white cardstock and colored it with Polychromos pencils. Then I stamped "Make a Wish" on Barely Banana cardstock and embossed the sentiment with Platinum powder. I added a couple of paper strips, distressed the edges and I added fussy cut clouds where the strips meet, decorated with buttons. Quick and sweet.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Wish Upon a Star (Mama Elephant), Tendres basiques (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, Barely Banana (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Little Baby Boy (Bella Blvd.)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark; Marine Mist (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: White Medium Envelope, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Platinum Embossing Powder (Ranger); Polychromos Pencils (Faber-Castell); 
Buttons (Foof-A-La); Wonky Stitched Rectangles Die-namics (My Favorite Things)

 

Infusion of Happiness

I decided to keep using the scraps from the Little Baby Boy collection from Bella Blvd. for one more card. I thought I could make something generic with the patterns I had left so I went through my stamps and I decided to ink the Boba Tea set from Mama Elephant. I’ve had this one pretty much since it came out but it took me a while to get my hands on the matching dies so in the meantime, I kept circling around it and not using it. I referred to my Mojo Monday sketch list for inspiration and picked #294.

The striped paper looked a little bare and as I was looking for a rectangle die set, I spotted the Just Stitching Double Rectangles dies set, which I have not used a whole lot so far, so I decided to pull it out to add stitching to the paper. It made a huge difference on tying everything together. I also used the Wrapped in Texture embossing folder at the bottom of the green cardstock for added detailing.

I looked through my French sentiment to see if something would catch my attention, not sure what kind of card I wanted this to be, and when I saw “infused with happiness,” I didn’t look any further. The stamp set the sentiment came from also had the cute little tea bag, which I decided to add to my design.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Boba Tea (Mama Elephant); Petite tasse (Stampin’ Up!)
Cardstock: Barely Banana, Lucky Limeade, Peach Passion, Whisper White, Marina Mist (Stampin’ Up!)
Patterned Papers: Little Baby Boy (Bella Blvd.)
Ink: VersaMark; Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Boba Tea Dies (Mama Elephant); A2 Metallic Blonde Envelope (envelopes.com);
Markers (Copic); Deep Blue Embossing Powder (Top Boss); Subtle Enamel Shapes, Stampin’ Dimensionals,
Classic Label Punch, Resin Heart Embellishments, Marina Mist Organza Ribbon,
Wrapped in Texture Embossing Folder (Stampin’ Up!); Border Dies (Photoplay);
Just Stitching Double Rectangles Dies (Lawn Fawn)

 

Hello Moon

This started out using scraps from the Little Baby Boy collection. I wondered how it would look if I made a mini-envelope and put one of the cut-apart images in it. It wasn’t long before inspiration was flowing and I put this card together. I mixed older supplies with more recent ones on this project, for example the new gilded leafing Stampin’ Up! included in its Spring minicatalogue with some old chipboard shapes (the heart). I have some Flake and Glitter Glue from Cosmic Shimmer and it was perfect to cover the chipboard shape, let dry until tacky and add the leafing. It looks really cute!

The cut-apart had some English wording on it, so I stamped a French sentiment (“Congratulations”) on Barely Banana cardstock (that falls in the old supply category!), embossed it in navy powder and covered the initial text with it. I layered clouds made out of vellum and white cardstock and added Diamonds Stickles to the edge for definition and shine. I was still missing a little something and as I was looking for something else, I spotted the Starry Night stencil and thought I could add only a few gold stars on it, so I did using a sponge dauber and Antique Gold pigment ink.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps : Éclosion de pensées (Stampin’ Up!)
Cardstock : Barely Banana, Vellum (Stampin’ Up!)
Patterned Paper: Little Baby Boy (Bella Blvd.)
Ink: VersaMark; Antique Gold (Altenew)
Accessories: Deep Blue Embossing Powder (Top Boss); Gold Gilded Leafing, Curvy Corner Trio Punch,
Stampin’ Dimensionals, Night of Navy Velvet Ribbon (Stampin’ Up!); Diamonds Stickles (Ranger);
Flake and Glitter Glue (Cosmic Shimmer); Starry Night Stencil (Simple Stories);
Square Cards with Envelopes (DoCrafts); Puffy Cloud Borders Dies (Lawn Fawn)

 

Happy Girls are the Prettiest

When I made my last layout about our visit to Quebec City, I really wanted to add this picture on it, but I just couldn't make the design work with three pictures, so I left this one aside and then I decided to work it into a smaller design using my Planner Essentials dies. As I've said many times, I am thoroughly enjoying using this die serie from Elizabeth Craft Designs and pulling patterned paper leftovers, which are great on this smaller size of page. Here, I revisited the Girl Squad collection from Pebbles (from 2017). I wanted to use the arrow page die, and use a larger page behind to mat it, but I was unsure that I wanted to glue them together, as I prefered the layered effect. I decided to go for a double page, so I ended up decorating the two pages front and back, and that also left me space for longer journaling. I was having a lot of fun, but it was getting really late, so I had stop mid-production and revisit this layout later to finish it. I finished it today (even though I really need to be working on something else I'm on a deadline for, but I didn't want to put the supplies aside until I was done with it.) 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Mois de l'année script (Lime citron)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Lucky Limeade, Hello Honey (Stampin' Up!) 
Patterned Papers: Girl Squad (Pebbles)
Dies: Planner Essentials (Elizabeth Craft Designs); Painted Labels (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Granny Apple Green Ribbon, Subtle Candy Dots, Corner Trio Punch,
Designer Brads (Stampin' Up!); Washi Tape (Unknown);
Sea Shore Enamel Dots (Altenew); Hello Today Chipboard Stickers (Simple Stories)

 

Quebec City

Inspiration: January 2019 Page Maps Sketch

I kept going with the Let's Travel collection while it was out, and went back to older pictures from a Canadian Summit meeting that was held in Quebec City in 2015. I was really happy to hear we were going to Quebec City, as I've lived there in the past and I'm always grateful whenever I have a reason to go back. Between meetings, we went out to visit the Old Quebec and I became the honorary tour guide since I had lived in that area in the past. It was funny, because my colleagues had all kinds of questions for me that I didn't necessarily have answers to as I don't know the full history of every building in there! We had a really enjoyable time roaming around and having dinner together.

Isn't this collecton adorable? I'm really enjoying the unexpected colour combo and cute chipboard accents. I also got to use the Tall Skinny Alphabet dies from Scrapbook.com for my title. I was very excited about that alphabet, which includes both lowercase and uppercase in one set for a very reasonable price (and I got it on sale, so it was an even better deal). Mostly, I'm excited that the letters are tall, but narrow so it gives the title some weight without the full title being too large. This is often an issue in French, as words tend to be long and we have a lot of filler words (prepositions) required as well.

The sketch has a border around it, and instead of matting and having to sacrifice two 12" x 12" cardstock, I decided to try adding washi tape around my main cardstock instead. That made for a fun and unique detail. I also love the angled strips at the bottom of the sketch, I think this whimsical detail works well with the look of the collection. Since I was working with paper scraps. I layered different papers and cardstock around my pictures to have the size I needed. I was really hoping to use the luggage chipboard accent, as I think it's adorable, but the shape just wasn't working well with the layout, so I went with the luggage tag instead. I also made sure when I cut the stamp patterned paper to have the Canada stamp positioned where it could be seen. For the date, I found this old Bella Blvd alphabet and number sticker sheet in navy, that was the perfect whimsical font to go with the look and feel of the page.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Blush Blossom, Coastal Cabana, Brilliant Blue, Bermuda Bay (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Chipboard Accents, Chipboard Phrases: Let's Travel (Carta Bella)
Dies: Tall Skinny Alphabet (Scrapbook.com)
Accessories: Eyelets, Washi Tapes (Stampin' Up!); Baker's Twine (Hero Arts);
Decorative Scissors (Fiskars); White Roughly Sewn Rub-Ons (40 & Market);
Navy Alphabet and Number Stickers (Bella Blvd.); Navy Pigma Micron Pen (Sakura)

 

Our Trip

Inspiration: January 2019 Page Maps Sketch

My London album has definitely fallen by the wayside, and today, I came back to it when I pulled out the Let's Travel collection from Carta Bella. I believe my store got the whole paper pack when the collection came out, but I didn't like all of the papers enough to jump on it. Later down the road, I was looking to add chipboard pieces to my stash and I thought the chipboard phrases and accents pieces were really fun, so I purchased them and selected a few individual sheets from the collection to go with it. 

This made for a very quick layout, as I mostly embellished with chipboard pieces and fussy cut elements from the paper. I've been really into chipboard lately, and I am rediscovering the dimension it adds to layout. The envelope wax seal was something that was lying on my desk from testing out products, and I decided to include it on my layout as an embellishment. I used the "Our Trip" chipboard banner as my title and I created a layered dangle using a chipboard luggage tag and a cute little tassel (those are cute, but the floss is all over the place, even though they were individually wrapped). I was looking for my ricrac and also found a sparkly blue organza ribbon that went surprisingly well with the collection, so I decided to work it in on a whim.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Whisper White, Blueberry Bushel, Blush Blossom, Crisp Cantalope,
Summer Starfruit (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Chipboard Phrases, Chipboard Accents: Let's Travel (Carta Bella)
Ribbons: Sparkly Blue (Celebrate It); Pool Ricrac (American Crafts)
Accessories: Tassels (Bead Landing); Halloween Mix Matte Enamels (Bella Blvd);
Botanical Enamel Dots (Waffle Flower); Icing CutUps Die (The Cat's Pajamas);
Wax and Seal (?)
Font: Lucida Sans Typewriter

 

Gilded Ornaments

I revisited my favorite papers today, the Brightly Gleaming Specialty Designer Series Paper, and mixed them with the Wonder of the Season Specialty DSP. This last pack is entirely white, so I enjoy coloring the background to make the foil details stand out. Stampin' Up! will be offering blending brushes in the upcoming January-June minicatalogue, so those are nice to add soft ink blending without any harsh lines. This is what I used on my foiled paper to add a bit of Old Olive inking, and then I added splatter by adding ink to a clear block, spritzing water and flicking the ink off the edge with a paintbrush. The iridescent pearls are the perfect complement to the colours of the Brightly Gleaming papers. By the way, those papers are currently offered at 50% off if you are interested in getting a pack for yourself, but they are retiring by the end of the week, so they are retiring soon.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Fêtes étincelantes (Christmas Gleaming)
Cardstock: Night of Navy, Old Olive, Pretty Peacock, Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper
Specialty Designer Series Paper: Wonder of the Season, Brightly Gleaming
Ink: Old Olive, Night of Navy
Accessories: Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder, Blending Brush, Iridescent Pearls,
White Medium Envelopes, White Baker's Twine, Ornament Punches,
Old Olive/Pretty Peacock Ribbon, Aqua Painter Brush, Stampin' DImensionals

 

Blue Eyes

I made this page to record something my almost 3-year-old niece that made me smile. Her older sister was looking at family portraits and said, "This one is pretty good, except that Arielle has red eyes on it." Arielle, who apparently doesn't understand yet what "red eyes" are referring to in pictures quickly went on to correct her big sister: "My eyes are not red, they are blue." I picked a picture of her taken previously that shows her pretty blue eyes and some papers in blue hues. I picked an older Echo Park collection (from 2017) called A Perfect Winter.

Since I was only working with one picture and short journaling, I decided to add a page to my planner scrapbook. This also gave me the chance to use some of the most recent Elizabeth Craft Designs Planner Essentials dies that were added to the line. I purchased the Wave Pocket and I was curious to see how it would look. This is a great die to use with double-sided patterned paper. You will need to add it to a full page, unless you want it to just be a stand-alone pocket. Here, I used the full page with no tabs from the Planner Essentials 4 set. I used the larger tag die from the Wave Pocket set to die-cut my picture and slid it into the shortest pocket. Then, I used the tag from the Planner Essentials 7 set for my journaling block. It was too large, though, so I cut a strip off each side to make it narrower (therefore eliminating the holes as well), so it would fit into the top pocket. I added a scalloped rectangle in a lighter colour that I could handwrite my journaling on, and I used the trees from the Planner Essentials 12 set to embellish the tag. I added patterned paper to the bottom and punched the edge with the Snowflake Edger border punch.

I really wanted to use some of the fun embellishments from the #4 set (the photo frame and the camera) so I added the bear sticker from the collection to a patterned paper, backed the words on the frame with wooden-patterned paper and glued the frame over the image, then cut to size. I die-cut the words "[heart] this" (from the Wave Pocket die set) out of white and blue cardstock and red foil sheets) and added everything on top of the polka dot banner. 

I was running out of room for a title, so I decided to use the layering tag from the #4 die set to add the title over the page. I'm starting to get the hang of adding layering pieces like this to make mini-albums more interactive and layered. The back was a little too bare, so I filled it with stickers that read Let It Snow. The back of the full page was also lightly embellished with hole reinforcers and a cut-apart that was laying on my desk. This was a fun one to make! You'd think it would be faster with the smaller format, but I ended up doing a lot of die-cutting, so it ended up taking a few hours overall. Still a very big fan of the whole Planner Essentials die collection, as you get so much versatile shapes out of the sets, I keep discovering new ones every time I pull the sets out.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Type Strips I & II (Papertrey Ink)
Cardstock: Balmy Blue, Whisper White, Night of Navy, Red Foil Sheets,
Silver Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Stickers: A Perfect Winter (Echo Park)
Ink: Night of Navy (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Planner Essentials 4, 7, 12, Wave Pocket, Reinforcement Variety Pack (Elizabeth Craft Designs);
Broadway Alphabet Bigz (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); Type Bit Strip (Papertrey Ink);
Stitched So Sweetly (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Subtles Enamel Shapes, Stampin' Dimensionals, Cherry Cobbler 
Scalloped Tulle, Night of Navy Seam Binding, Pearl Basic Jewels (Stampin' Up!);
Snowflake Edge Punch (EK Success)

 

Minnie Cake

Inspiration: March 2018 Page Maps Sketch

My sister makes themed cakes for her daughters for each of their birthdays. Last year, Arielle was very much into Minnie, so that is what her cake was shaped like. The starting point for my page was the Magical Characters kit from Queen & Co I have, that has Disney-shaped shakers. I picked Minnie's bow and I filled it with a mix of red Pearl Toppings, Mouse Ears Sprinkletz, clear hearts and Moonshine sequins. For the papers, I pulled out the Say Cheese collection from Simple Stories. This helped make for a quick layout, as the base paper already had patterns at the top of and bottom, so I simple added a polka dot patterned paper in the center and pulled elements from the sketch to layer. The cute balloon element comes from a cut-apart sheet, and I used fussy cutting to only keep the balloons, tag and washi strip. I also had a patterned paper with tickets on it, which I handcut to make my cluster at the left, with the shaker bow. I liked the pennant from the sketch, but moved then to the top left corber to balance the layout. I used the Nested Triangle Pennants dies in the smaller size to make the pennants and I added sewing rub-ons to the top of each.

The Say Cheese kit included alphabet stickers, so I used those to make the first words of my title and finished it with some polka dot Thickers from my stash that scream Disney (and I'm pretty sure that's what I had in mind when I bought them). I added a large paper doily, a leftover black sparkly ric rac piece leftover from a previous project and a tab sticker, and then I glued a few sequins from the Peaceful Poppies pack and I was done.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers, Stickers: Say Cheese (Simple Stories)
Shaker Kit: Magical Characters (Queen & Co)
Accessories: Tasteful Trims Dies, Stampin' DImensionals, Black Glimmer Paper,
Peaceful Poppies Sequins, Black Journaling Pen (Stampin' Up!); White Paper Doily (Dollar Store);
Nested Triangle Pennants Dies (Scrapbook.com); Black Roughly Sewn Rub-On (49 & Market);
Emma Thickers (American Crafts); Red Le Pen (Marvy); Deco Scissors (Fiskars);
Moonshine Sequins (Simon Says Stamp); Pearl Toppings (Queen & Co);
Clear Hearts (Essentials by Ellen); Mouse Ears Sprinkletz (Buttons Galore & More)

 

Sugar Shack

Inspiration: December 2020 Page Maps Sketch

Sometimes, I will go back to scrapbooking older pictures when I find the perfect papers or accessories, and this was the case for this page. It was taken after we had dinner at a sugar shack while we were all in Quebec City for a Summit meeting. I had to look up the dates in my email - it was back in 2015 but it feels like ages ago! I was already living in Montreal at the time, so it was nice to have an opportunity to go back to Quebec City for a few days.

The patterned papers and stickers are from the O Canada 2 collection from Photoplay. The maple sirup pattern couldn't be more perfect for the sugar shack theme. Since I had only one picture and limited journaling, I decided to make an 8" x 8" page. I recently pulled out an album in that size I have on my shelf and there are a few empty page protectors in there still, so I'm trying to fill it up.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, So Saffron (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Stickers: O Canada 2 (Photoplay)
Accessories: Seasonal Layers Dies, Stampin' Dimensionals, Spiral Border Punch, 
Banners Pick a Punch, Essential Wood Shapes (Stampin' Up!); 
Halloween Mix Matte Enamels (Bella Blvd.); Sorbet Thickers, Cecily Thickers (American Crafts)