Encre, papier, ciseaux

Aboard the Magical Express

Inspiration: Lasting Memory Layout Challenge #550 (At least 3 pictures)

After putting together many various handmade ornaments this weekend, now comes the fun part: adding them to actual projects! I had gone through our Disney World pictures to see which ones could work well with the Remember the Magic collection and I had the pictures of us on board of the Magical Express bus, on the way to our hotel (after a much delayed flight that kept us on the plane 8 hours rather than 4!). I recently acquired one of the Simple Stories picture placement templates and I was really curious to test it out, so when I realized that I had two pictures going the same direction and a third that could easily be cut to 3" x 4", I jumped on the chance to use it. I give this template two very big thumbs up! I've never been able to do a grid with so much precision before and I love the look of this kind of placement, but it drives me bonkers if it is slightly off so this made it so much easier than relying on a T ruler and measurements.

Because my title was going to include the words Magical Express, I thought I would search online to see if I could find a logo that I could simply print. I found the older logo, which I was not liking all that much, and then I saw that cool mock-up of how the new buses would look, which is actually how they looked when we were on them, so I printed the image on white cardstock, cut it to size and decided I would add the other words over it. I was not liking the full 3" x 4" white rectangle, so I made it slightly slimmer and matted it with polka dot paper, which improved the overall look. For the words, I used black glitter paper and the Lucy Uppercase die from Echo Park.

For the background, I used three different patterned papers. I didn't have a full sheet of the stars on black, so I added the two other strips to fill the page, adding ribbon and washi tape between strips. I then picked three of my handmade embellishments, including the library card pocket for journaling. It was made using a stamp and die set from Hero Arts called Library Card. I love the size and look and I foresee using this one a lot for scrapbooking, mini-albums, ephemera and such. I filled in the space underneath the library pocket with a sticker strip and a word sticker.

Because the embellishments were made ahead of time, this page came together really quickly and I am very pleased with the result, I think it showcases the pictures well. I hope I can keep this momentum going and work steadily on my Disney album. I really thought I would work on it more during confinement, but my crafting focus ended up going elsewhere.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Library Card (Hero Arts)
Cardstock: Real Red, Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Black Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Sticker Book, Puffy Stickers, Coordinating Solids: Remember
the Magic, Magical Adventure (Echo Park)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Dies: Library Card (Hero Arts); Lucy Uppercase Alphabet (Echo Park); 
Border Dies (Photoplay); Peek-a-Hoot Dies (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals, 1½" Circle Punch, Wonderful Gems,
All the Trimmings Ribbon Combo Pack, Black Mini Sequin Trim (Stampin' Up!);
Deco Scissors, Disney Mickey Icons Punch (EK Success);
Halloween Mix Matte Enamels (Bella Blvd.); Red Metallic Washi Tape (Recollections)

 

7 Dwarfs Mine Train

Inspiration: Festive Friday #85 (Stripes + Stars + Circles + Punches) + Just Us Girls #586 (Spots or Dots)

This is the first page I made using some of the handmade embellishments I just finished putting together. You will see three embellishments that are not in the collection picture I shared yesterday, as I started working on the page right away, but until took pictures the next day in daylight. I used the layered circles with the Mickey head at the bottom right, the stitched cut-apart with the "vacation memory" layered sticker and the embellished doily. After looking for pictures from our Disney trip that could match this collection, I picked the ones from our ride on 7 Dwarfs Mine Train. They are very neutral, in full shades of browns, so they blended well.

I have the coordinating solids, so I picked the kraft paper for the background and I started layering patterned papers following the sketch. The outside rim felt a little blah, so I went looking through my stamps for something appropriate. I found Happiness is a Journey, a nice train silhouette, which I stamped at an angle in the bottom left corner in Soft Suede. After the ink was dry, I added the sentiment from the same set ("Happiness is a journey, not a destination") and overstamped it in Early Espresso ink. In the top right corner, I added a ticket railway ticket from Tim Holtz's Ticket Booth stamp set, also in Soft Suede ink.

While looking through my stamps, I spotted a film embellishment I purchased at the end of last year on Clearance. I wasn't sure what I would do with it exactly, but I had seen a cool one from Tim Holtz at a much higher price, so it was something that I grabbed while it was on sale, knowing I'd be able to include in a design later. Out of curiosity, I tried it on my layout, at an angle over my polka dot strip and it instantly made the layout more interesting. I stapled it in place with my mini stapler and added my title stickers over it. Also spotted in my embellishments container while looking through stamps - the wood veneers from Say Cheese II, which I had leftover from making a Disney album for my niece five years ago. I added a couple of stars and the arrow to my page.

I wanted to make the "seven" a number instead of a word, so I went looking for my chipboard numbers and found a kraft and white cut-apart sheet from a Christmas kit sold by Stampin' Up! years ago. The size and colours were perfect, so I added it to the page and stitched around it with black needlepoint floss. The second word was made with One Fine Day stickers from My Mind's Eye. Those were also found on clearance at a really good price, but online, they looked like black on white rectangles. They are actually clear, so that was a surprise when I got my package. That being said, black block letters shouldn't be too hard to use, so not a bad deal despite not being what I expected. I added a few more stickers from the sticker book and I was done. No journaling on this page, as there is not much to say about this ride. We went on it, had fun and that was about it! 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Ticket Booth (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous);
Happiness is a Journey (Stampin' Up!); Date Stamp (Office Supplies)
Patterned Papers, Sticker Book, Puffy Stickers: Remember the Magic (Echo Park)
Ink: Soft Suede, Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!); Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Alphabet Stickers: One Fine Day Marquee (My Mind's Eye); Ladybug Just My Type (Doodlebug Design);
Jane Tile Alphabet Stickers (Elle's Studio)
Accessories: Say Cheese II Wood Veneer (Simple Stories); 
Playing with Patterns Resin Dots, Stampin' Dimensionals, Jute Ribbon,
1½" Circle Punch, Mini Stapler, Pearlized Doilies, Die-Cut Numbers (Stampin' Up!);
Needlepoint Floss (DMC); Clear View Film (Fun Stampers Journey);
Disney Mickey Icon Punch (EK Success)

 

Disney - Remember the Magic Handmade Embellishments Collection

I was puttering around in my craft room, looking for inspiration and then a YouTube video came up where the crafter was doing a challenge where you punch a bunch of 1½" circles and try to embellish as many as possible in 30 minutes. That piqued my interest and I looked for a paper collection to do that with. I spotted Remember the Magic from Echo Park and I thought this was a perfect way to get embellishments ready for scrapbooking my trip to Disney.

Full disclosure: I ended up working on my embellishments for way more than 30 minutes and even though most of them have a circle in there, I went where inspiration led me and made a wider array than just embellished circles. Doing those embellishment "collections" is something I discovered last year during the peak of confinement and I am really loving those crafting sessions because a) it eliminates the pressure of wondering how to make a full project out of something, as it is just about the embellishment itself, b) it's a great way to get something done when you can't sit at your desk for hours at a time and c) I end up with ornaments that are more unique and involved than if I created something on the spot while I'm working on a specific project.

There are a few embellishments missing from this picture as I proceeded to make a page with some of them right away and I waited until I could take pictures in broad daylight the next day, but it gives you an idea of everything I was able to create while I was mass-producing.

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers, Sticker Book, Puffy Stickers: Remember the Magic (Echo Park)
Punch: Confetti - Mickey Ears (EK Success); 1½" Circle Punch, Small Heart, Small Star (Stampin' Up!)
Ribbons: Stampin' Up!
Dies: Peek-a-Hoot (Stampin' Up!); Border Dies (Photoplay)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White, Gold Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Pearl Toppings, Shaped Shaker Magic Kit (Queen & Co);
Stampin' Dimensionals, Wonderful Gems, Black Rhinestone Jewels,
Playing with Patterns Resin Dots, Resin Heart Embellishments, Gold Glitter Enamel Dots (Stampin' Up!);
Halloween Mix Matte Enamels (Bells Blvd.); Ice Ice Baby Gumdrops (Your Next Stamp);
Beetle Black Mini Paper Doilies (Doodlebug Design)

 

Sweet Tote Bag

Inspiration: Tic Tac Toe challenge #115 (Texture + Ribbon + Die Cut) + Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Anything Goes)

This project was inspired by everything that was on my desk when I sat down to craft. I had some time to kill earlier today so I went to the art store near my mechanics and I came back with a few fun finds. One of them was papers and ephemera from the Little Adventurer collection from Pink Paislee. This one dates back to 2018, so I was surprised to find it in stock. While I was roaming the aisles, I also remembered that I wanted crimps, which I found in silver in two sizes at clearance price, so that was lucky. I was also curious to test out the Tote Bag die from Mama Elephant, so I combined all of those things and started putting together my little bag.

Another recent purchase is the white woodgrain cardstock from Memory Box. Up until now, I had been using the Lawn Fawn version, which I love and hoard because it is not cheap. When I saw that the Memory Box cardstock was $12 for 25 sheets compared to $8 for 5 sheets by Lawn Fawn, I became really curious to see if it was of the same quality. Now that I have both side by side, here are my observations. The Lawn Fawn cardstock is thicker, but the Memory Box one is not flimsy. As you can see in the pictures below, it holds up very nicely when doing a 3D project. I still consider it cardstock weight. The pattern on the Lawn Fawn cardstock is deeper and has more depth variation whereas the Memory Box cardstock is one printed design that is all the same depth. The pattern still shows up very well, but when placed side by side, the Lawn Fawn cardstock looks more luxurious. I also notice a difference in colour. The Lawn Fawn cardstock is warm white whereas the Memory Box cardstock is a cold white. I would need to test inking to see how different the results are on both. All in all, I am happy to have both and I think I will use the Lawn Fawn cardstock when the woodgrain texture is at the forefront and the star of the show and the Memory Box cardstock when I want to add a little texture to the background. This is a good example here - the die has to be cut twice to make the tote bag and because I wanted the woodgrain to run vertically, I had to cut into two sheets as the die was too high to fit it twice on the same cardstock page. When you are working with a 5-sheet pack, this feels like a lot of cardstock! At a quarter of the price, I didn't think twice about it when I decided to use the woodgrain cardstock for my tote base. And the result is really neat! Clean look of the white but with a twist.

The die set includes a pocket, which I die-cut out of the heart pattern. I added another tag die from the same set and a flower that I fussy cut from the patterned paper. Also sitting on my desk was the Library Card stamp and die set, so I stamped the library card image in Sahara Sand ink on the ledger patterned paper. The card when cut with the matching die was a 1/8" too wide, so I use my paper trimmer to make it slightly narrower so that it would fit into the pocket. I stamped the heart from the stamp set in stamped off pink ink and I added to the pocket a cut-apart image from the papers.

On the back, I used the adorable little banner that folds in half at the top of the tote bag and added another fussy cut flower, along with a few sequins. I used the rounded tag from the die set and stamped "a gift for you" from the Library Card stamp set, added an eyelet and tied the tag with ribbon to the tote handle.

I then pulled out my box of ribbon scraps (ribbons purchased by the yarn or too short to be kept on bobbins) and dug for ribbon in matching colours. I can see why those Maggie Holmes-inspired ribbon tassels have become an instant hit overnight. They are beautiful, incredibly easy to put together, cost next to nothing to make and are a great way to use up tiny ribbon scraps. I added three ribbons to the crimp, then a jump ring and lobster clasp, which I tied to a ribbon bow added to my tote handle. I then did wire wrapping on a mother-of-pearl star and a green bead, two finds from today's shopping as well. Then came the fun part of using jump rings to add those charms to the crimp. Let me tell you: I've tried various different forms of crafts over the years, but miniatures will never be one of them. I am SO clumsy when it comes to handling those tiny jewelry bits with my tools. I guess I would not have made a great dentist either... It took way longer than it should have to add those two items, but it was worth the struggle because the result is adorable! Logically, I also know that practice makes perfect and that I will probably improve over time if I keep at it, but I'll admit that part was a little aggravating.

I'm really happy with the result. This sits right in my preferred spot, layered enough to be interesting but not too cluttered. And those colors are right up my alley.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Library Card (Hero Arts)
Cardstock: White Woodgrain (Memory Box)
Patterned Papers: Little Adventurer (Pink Paislee)
Ink: Sahara Sand, Basic Grey, Petal Pink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Tote Bag Dies (Mama Elephant); 
Warm Golden Glow Sequins (Little Things from Lucy's Cards);
Mini Hearts - Cotton Candy Glossies (Pure & Simple);
Calypso Coral Ombre Ribbon, Eyelet, Crop-a-Dile (Stampin' Up!);
Crimp, Mother-of-Pearl Star Bead, Green Bead (DeSerres);
Lobster Clamp, Jump Ring (Recollections); Ribbons (May Arts, Basic Grey, Unknown)

 

Hobbs: Palace Collection

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Anything Goes)

These pictures were taken during my trip to London. The Hobbs store was offering an exclusive Palace collection that was absolutely beautiful and elegant and we circled back to the store at the end of our sightseeing day so that I could try on a few things. I ended up purchasing a leaf green cardigan and teal velvet Mary Janes.

I found the Welcome to Paris papers from Prima Marketing (2012) in my paper stack and thought the colours and designs could work well with the pictures. I have the papers in 6" x 6" format, though, so I had to design my page so that I could put two pages side by side and hide the seam. It worked out pretty well. To mat the pictures, I basically just used all of the scraps I had tucked in the pack and arranged them nicely to peak underneath the pictures. I also added the leftover "lace" scrap I had sitting on my desk. My scraps included a large red circle, which I thought looked nice, so I added it underneath the upper right corner of my picture and I punched two other circles to repeat the design on the page. 

To create my title, I used Banners Thickers for the first word - got those on sale and I love how they look on my page, with the gold-foiled letters. The last two words were created with red puffy alphabet stickers from Elle's Studio. The size and colours are perfect. I took a page out of other scrapbookers' book and have started buying two alphabet packs instead of one when I get a new collection. I am hoping that by doing that, I will stretch the packs further. This is a good example here, as "collection" as three Cs and the sticker pack only had two. I wouldn't have been able to write what I wanted with a brand-new pack of stickers had I not doubled. I just started doing that this year and we will see if the theory is paying off.

The journaling was created in Word and printed on white cardstock, then cut into strips. I cut the right edge at an angle for a change from the usual rectangle strips. Little silhouettes were fussy cut out of one of the patterned papers and added in three different spots on the page to create a visual triangle.

There is barely any embellishing done on this page, aside from a few rub-ons (words, stitching and the map) and a little epoxy word. I didn't feel I needed to add anything else for the page to feel complete.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Mois de l'année Script (Lime citron)
Patterned Papers: Welcome to Paris (Prima Marketing)
Alphabet Stickers: Banners Thickers (American Crafts); Red Puffy Alphabet (Elle's Studio)
Rub-Ons: Black Rough Sewn Rub-Ons, Vintage Artistry Travel Anywhere (49 and Market)
Accessories: Mots doux céladon (Florilège Design)

 

Picture-Perfect Hug

Simon Says Stamp Monday (Frame It)

Lawn Fawn is coming up with awesome releases quicker than I manage to use it all, it seems. The Magic Iris Camera Add-On is not new, and yet I had not used this die yet. I was looking forward to, though, because the camera makes a lot of sense for the magic iris and also because I think I'll be able to use this die on its own in my scrapbook as well. I was inspired to pull it out today and find nice colorful papers for it - I picked Blessed from Kaiser Craft (isn't it just lovely?). I started putting together the camera without really knowing what I would do with it. I initially looked at sentiments that could fit inside the lens and nothing was really grabbing me. I kept thinking the hugging critters could look cute and would be the right size, so I switched gears and decided to do the two running little guys in front of the camera and add the moment they are hugging inside the magic iris. I assume a lot of pictures will get taken when people can finally reunite with their loved ones. I used the "can't wait to hug you" sentiment from the Happy Hugs set. 

I had only done one magic iris card before so there were a few hits and miss, trying to add adhesive to my back image and the camera without getting in the way of the mechanism. I finally figured things out but I had to go back and fix things a couple of times! I placed the moving arm of the mechanism at the top rather than on the side and I find it easier to use there. I went to the Magic Iris Camera Pull-Tab Add-On dies to use the stitched circle to add around the lens. I think it looks better with the lens framed like that.

I made a 4-3/4" x 5-3/4" card - I was planning to make a 5" x 6" but then I realized that I had used a lot of dimensional adhesive and that it wouldn't fit well in an envelope for a 5" x 6" card, so I made my card slightly narrower and now the card fits nicely in the envelope (but still snuggly due to the dimension). 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Happy Hugs, Scootin' By (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Bermuda Bay, Tango Tangerine, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); Holo Waves (Tonic)
Patterned Papers: Blessed (Kaiser Craft)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Tango Tangerine (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Happy Hugs, Scootin' By, Magic Iris, Magic Iris Camera Add-On, 
Magic Iris Camera Pull-Tab Add-On (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Scotch Foam Tape (3M); Envelope Punch Board, Clear Faceted Gems (Stampin' Up!)
Markers (Copic)

 

Elvis is in the Building

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #366 + Tic Tac Toe #114 (Square + Embossing + Masculine)

Elvis was my favorite stamp from the famous Oddball release from Stamping Bella and I was lucky to find it at my local store. This will be great to make masculine cards and possibly a birthday card for my dad, who's always been an Elvis fan. I looked at my 6" x 6" paper pads before coloring the image to see which colour scheme I'd be working with and I picked an older My Mind's Eye called Cut & Paste (from 2013). I colored Elvis' suit in yellow hues with a bit of ochre around the waste. I fussy cut the image (too bad the matching dies are not available anymore, although I guess my budget will be better for it). I picked an older Mojo Monday sketch that has a square piece of paper, so that I could work that into my tic tac toe line. I wanted this card to be a father's day card, to add to my stash, so I looked through my trusty sentiment spreadsheet and found I had a "Happy Father's Day" in the Geared Up Garage stamp set. This was great, because it's already framed and has matching dies, so it made it easy to add to the design. I embossed the sentiment with Patina Oxide Baked Texture embossing powder.

Both Elvis and the sentiment were popped up on dimensional adhesive. I added a gold frame to the background, that I had leftover from previously using the Fine Frames Cover die from Altenew (the 13 cuts out 13 frames at once, so I have a few leftovers aside for future projects). The Garage Gears die set includes different gears, so I picked a couple of die-cut out of gold foils sheets and add to the card to fill in the space. I added clear Stickles to Elvis' outfit for a bit of pizzazz. I don't usually add bling to masculine cards, but for a scene outfit, it seemed appropriate.

I used the gridline paper from the collection to line the inside of the card and I gold-embossed Elvis on a Sapphire metallic envelope that matched the navy shade from the papers nicely. I used papers from the same paper pad on the envelope's flap. I've come to the realization when I last cleaned up my scrap room that I am drowning underneath patterned paper so I'm trying to put it to good use. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Oddball Elvis (Stamping Bella); À plein moteur (Geared Up Garage - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Dusty Durango, Whisper White, Gold Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Cut & Paste (Jen Allyson for My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark
Accessories: Fine Frames Cover Die (Altenew); Polychromos Pencils (Fäber-Castell);
A2 Sapphire Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com); Garage Gears Dies,
Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn);
Patina Oxide Baked Texture Embossing Powder (Emerald Creek); Stickles (Ranger)

 

Drink Up the Sunshine

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #292 + Sunday Stamps #257

I was enjoying using the Blessed papers from Kaiser Craft so I kept going and made a second card, this time pairing the papers with the Drink Up the Sunshine stamps and dies from My Favorite Things. This cute stamp set kept going on backorder and it took me a long time before I could get my hands on it - happened in winter time, which makes sense, and now I'm finally getting around to using it.

This card was fairly easy and quick to make, as I layered patterned paper as per the sketch and the images didn't require intricate coloring. I love the final result - this is the kind of card that just puts me in a good mood. I added a gold frame to the card using the Fine Frames Cover die from Altenew. I love how the die produces thin frames, but those are challenging to die-cut and glue on! The first time I used the die, I discovered that it wouldn't cut all the way through without the use of my chrome plate, so I made sure to pull it out this time. I added adhesive sheet to the back of the paper and it made for a very tight sandwich, so I ended up with adhesive on my chrome plate. Next time, I'll try using my Sizzix adhesive sheets, which are slightly thinner, to see if it helps. The other challenge is to glue the frame on straight! The cardstock is so thin, it easil bends out of shape, so it made for an interesting challenge, getting it on straight. The gold frame does add a very neat touch to the final result, though.

I used a Flame metallic envelope to go with the card, and I recycled the circle I had leftover from the camera lens hole from my previous project.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Drink Up the Sunshine (My Favorite Things); Pensées au pinceau (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, Coastal Cabana. Gold Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Blessed (Kaiser Craft)
Ink: Bermuda Bay (Stampin' Up!); Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Dies: Fine Frames Cover Die (Altenew); Drink Up the Sunshine (My Favorite Things)
Accessories: Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers); Markers (Copic);
A2 Flame Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com); Watercolor Floral and Pumpkin and Spice
Say It in Crystals (Prima Marketing Inc.); Mini Stampin' Dimensionals,
Scalloped Border Punch, Banners Pick a Punch (Stampin' Up!)

 

Dandelion Wishes

Inspiration: Inspired By challenge #174 (sketch)

I was down to a few scraps left of my Cold Avocado Soup papers from Jillibean Soup and the dandelion pattern seemed like a good fit with the Dandy Day stamp set from Lawn Fawn. I was inspired by the sketch to pull out the Reverse Stitched Scalloped Circle Windows and fill the inside with the other patterns from the same collection. I scattered my colored images around the card to fill the circles and I added some flowers at the bottom along with the Sending Wishes sentiment banner. I added Gold Foil Pearls to the center of the dandelions.

I repeated the reverse stitched circle on the envelope, using the embossing mats to avoid cutting through the envelope. I used the leftover piece from the circles I die-cut on the card to fill the center. Cool result and great way to use what I already had! I added colored images and I stamped the dandelion pieces blowing in the wind in VersaMark and embossed with gold powder. (The metallic envelopes are pretty slick, so regular ink tends to smear on them.)

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Dandy Day (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Daffodil Delight, Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Cold Avocado Soup (Jillibean Soup)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Blueberry Bushel (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Dotted Rectangle Stackables, Reverse Stitched Scalloped Circle Windows,
Simple Wavy Banners, Dandy Day (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: A2 Sapphire Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com); Gold Foil Pearls (Studio Katia);
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Markers (Copic)

 

Bernie Sanders Meme

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #393

I couldn't resist this Riley and Company stamp, spoofing the Bernie Sanders picture seen around the world! This is a stamp that will have a shelf life as the reference will get obscure over time, but I don't care - it was just too good to pass up! I revisited an old collection from Fancy Pants Designs called Collecting Moments (2013), which is so beautiful. I based my coloring on the collection's colours, using Copic markers.

I wasn't sure which sentiment to use. I found "The Best is Yet to Come" in a photopolymer set, so I was able to curve the sentiment to follow the circular shape. I liked the uneven rectangle shape from the Mojo sketch, which adds interest to an otherwise pretty straightforward design. I added baker's twine and a couple of brads. A navy envelope was decorated to match.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Riley and Bernie (Riley & Company); Ballons à l'aventure (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Seaside Spray (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Collecting Moments (Fancy Pants Designs)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); NIght of Navy (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Circle Double Stitched Dies (Art Impressions);
A2 Nautical Blue Linen Envelope (envelopes.com); Yellow Twine (May Arts);
Blushing Bride Stampin' Emboss Powder, Stampin' Dimensionals, Brads (Stampin' Up!)

 

Summer Days

Every year since she's had her first baby, my sister prepares a calendar with pictures from the last year to give us as a Christmas gift. I've kept all of them and have wanted to scrapbook my favorite pictures and I finally got around to doing that. It's perfect because they are already printed and a lot of them are in a larger size.

I purchased a few pieces from the A Slice of Summer collection from Echo Park, and I went for the 6" x 6" paper pad in an effort to limit the inflow of patterned papers. This makes creating a 12 x 12 layout trickier, but not impossible. When I saw this adorable picture of my niece, sipping her colorful drink by the pool, I knew it would pair well with the line, and having the oversized (9" x 7") picture filled out most of the page. I did get the Coordinating Solids paper pack so that I would have layout bases in matching colour, so I used the green sheet for my base. I stamped a few images from the Marks stamp set from Woodware Craft collection to add a bit of texture.

I have the chipboard accents and the 12 x 12 sticker sheet, so I picked the Summer Days sticker as my title and the lemonade stand as my main image. I have this cool netting die that I found at my local store and knew would be great for layering, so I die-cut it out of aqua paper and glued it in the back. (I made sure to use an adhesive sheet on the back of the paper before die-cutting to make gluing easier on myself.) I looked at my dies to find a tag and found a long slim one in the Dotted Tags set from Waffle Flower. I die-cut the tag in navy paper and filled the center with plaid paper. I had initially tried out the lemon paper but the lemonade stand was getting lost, so the lemon paper ended up as a banner piece behind instead. I used yellow seam binding on the tag, and added the little melon bucket as well. I topped the tag with two crystals.

At the top, I used red gingham paper, the branding strip from my main page to add the yellow paper peeking out from behind the picture and a torn piece of floral paper. I had this die-cut piece of parchment paper, that was actually used when die-cutting to make the paper and negative pieces fall out of the die more easily. I was loving the delicate look of the lacy paper so I used it as a layer. I added the French Lemonade sticker as an embellishment there. I folded a white doily in half and stapled it to the side of the page, then added a punched half-circle over it and stamped my date on it. I added chipboard butterflies in that top corner, and the cute clothesline sticker at the bottom. This layout came together in about an hour and I love the cheerful look. I found that not having to create a custom title was a big time saver!

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Project Life Une date (Stampin' Up!); Marks (Woodware Craft Collection)
Patterned Papers, Chipboard Accents, Element Stickers, Coordinating Solids: A Slice of Summer (Echo Park)
Ink: Granny Apple Green, Misty Moonlight (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Grillage (Les ateliers de Karine); Dotted Tags (Waffle Flower)
Accessories: Red Twinkle Stars, Green Checkers (Queen and Co.);
Daffodil Delight Seam Binding, Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Stapler (Stampin' Up!);
White Doily (Dollar Store); Watercolor Floral Say It in Crystals (Prima Marketing Inc.)

 

You Melt My Heart

I revisited the Ice Cream Corner suite and created these simple but cute cards. Sentiment reads, "You Make My Heart Melt." I added little resin hearts next to the sentiment to embellish. I really like this pretty stamp set, everything I've seen done with it turn out so adorable!

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Douceurs glacées (Sweet Ice Cream)
Cardstock: Purple Posy, Blackberry Bliss, Whisper White
Designer Series Paper: Ice Cream Corner
Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Cinnamon Cider, Blackberry Bliss, Purple Posy, Calypso Coral
Accessories: Pear PIzzazz Glimmer Ribbon, Stitched So Sweetly Dies, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Resin Heart Embellishments, White Medium Envelopes

 

Hat Show - London Edition

Inspiration: Scrap Your Stash May 2021

I was in the mood to scrapbook so I decided to draw inspiration from the Scrap Your Stash challenge and CAS(E) the layout shown in the inspiration picture. I wanted to use the Safe Travels collection from Simple Stories and scrap some of my pictures from my London trip, which I have been sitting on for a good five years now. I found those two portrait pictures that were the perfect colours to go with the line. Those pictures were taken at Marks and Spencer, where I was enjoying trying out cute hats. For some reason, because my boss, who often traveled to London for business, had told me I could grab food at Marks and Spencer if I wanted to save a bit of money, I was under the impression that it was  a grocery store. You can imagine my shock when we walked in there and I discovered it was a huge department store that offers way more than food! I don't think I purchased anything but it was fun to discover their offering.

The page is quite detailed, but it didn't take too long to put together since a lot of the designing was already done from the inspiration piece. I would have had difficulty fitting my journaling on the right side, so I decided to do two tags on the left side, pop my left picture up on foam adhesive, leaving a pocket underneath where I could slip the second tag, which has my journaling on it and can be pulled out. I used a large white doily for the circle underneath and a couple of die-cuts from the Bits & Pieces. I reused the car idea at the bottom, pulling two pieces from the chipboard set. I have the sticker book from the collection so I was able to pull alphabet stickers from it to create my title, and I made the last part with my Dymo label maker. I cut a 3/8" strip of Core'dinations cardstock, ran it through the Dymo and sanded the letters so that they would stand out better. It would have been easier to read on darker cardstock, but I didn't know where my navy Core'dinations was hiding, so I went with the Pool Party instead. On the left of the title, I used a rub-on from the Travel Anywhere set from 49 and Market. I have to say, their rub-ons are great quality and have really gorgeous and unique designs. This is a company I am keeping an eye on, as they seem to be having a moment and their latest offering has been really strong. As you can see, the rub-on transfered perfectly right over the two layers and I didn't have to scratch for days on end to get a good result. The little rose gold camera clip at the top is also from this company. The clips were on the pricier side, but I liked the rose gold finishing and also the fact that the clip hides behind the paper and leave you with a perfect image showing on the front. If you've ever had clips were the clip is showing in the design or part of the design disappears behind the paper you clip it to, you'll know what I mean. Those were very-well thought-out. (The pack also includes three envelopes and three arrows.)

I kept going back and forth on the Safe Travels collection. I love this new cutesy, Crate Paper style that Simple Stories has adopted in the past year but I wasn't sure about the colour scheme online. Looking at this finished page, I am happy I went for it, as I think I will enjoy working with the line.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Alphabet (Hampton Art)
Cardstock: Pool Party Core'dinations (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Sticker Book, Bits & Pieces, Chipboard Stickers: Safe Travels (Simple Stories)
Ink: Cajun Craze (Stampin' Up!)
 Accessories: Label Maker (Dymo); Sanding Tools (Basic Grey);
Vintage Artistry Travel Anywhere Rub-On Transfers, Rose Gold Shaped Clips (49 and Market);
Yellow Baker's Twine (May Arts); Star Design Elements, Regals Enamel Shapes,
Stampin' Dimensionals, Neutrals Candy Dots (Stampin' Up!); Doily (Dollar Store)

 

Family Tradition

There were many awesome Holidays collection that came out last fall and Oh What Fun! from Pinkfresh was one of my faves. Even though I purchased quite a few elements from the collection, I ended up getting tied up with the big batch of holidays cards I was making for the seniors centre and I never got to use this collection at all. I wasn't really worried, as I knew I'd get around to it eventually and this might actually have worked out in my favour because I had a full set of papers and embellishments to choose from when came time to scrapbook Christmas pictures.

I picked a few showing the family working on a 300-piece puzzle my niece had received for Christmas. I have those puzzle dies from Stampin' Up! (now retired) that I had put aside specifically to pair with those pictures on a layout and I could have gone for an everything paper line, but I love any excuse to pull holidays papers out. The Pinkfresh collection is also more about the holiday season than Christmas per se, so that suited the theme well.

I purchased the puffy word stickers, so I pulled out Traditions, cut off the s, and it's lucky that the word is the same in French so I was able to work that sticker into my title, using stamps and dies to create the rest. The Mini Alpha Cuts and Mini Alpha Grid die are one of my favorite purchase. I used to love using the little Making Memories mini alpha rectangles but it goes without saying that you run out of the popular letters quickly. This stamp set has actually been designed to have multiples of each letters so I am actually able to write when I need with you one use of the stamp and matching grid die. (It's from The Stamp Market, and they also have a larger size as well.) I can also select my own colours, so here I used Burnished Rose satin cardstock and embossed my letters in Navy embossing powder.

I used the puzzle square grid in my upper left corner and assembled part of the puzzle, then I started putting the pieces a little offset and I scattered the rest across the page. The die set also has a puzzle heart, so I placed that under my title as a layering piece. I fussy cut a lot of elements from the papers to decorate: a few frames from the frame pattern, one for my journaling and one peeking from underneath a picture to add the date; the "Holiday tradition" cut-apart, on which I popped a punched star for the O; the hanging ornament; the postage stamps and the house and car at the bottom.

I completed my embellishing with puffy stickers, pearls, twine and gems. This is one of the rare times when I didn't work with a sketch. I wanted to keep two full 4" x 6" landscape pictures intact and I didn't want to do a double-page layout, so I decided to come up with a design on my own as a lot of the sketches include smaller-size pictures. 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Mois script (Lime Citron); Mini Alpha Cuts (The Stamp Market)
Cardstock: Seaside Spray (Stampin' Up!); Burnished Rose Mirror (Tonic)
Patterned Papers, Puffy Stickers, Puffy Phrases: Oh What Fun! (Pinkfresh)
Dies: Puzzle Pieces (Stampin' Up!); Ref. Articles (Kesi'art); Mini Alpha Grid (The Stamp Market)
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals, Black Rhinestone Jewels,
Share What You Love Artisan Pearls (Stampin' Up!); Deep Blue Embossing Powder (Top Boss);
Golden Yellow Baker's Twine (May Arts); Pretty Pale Say It in Crystals (Prima)

 

Big Shoes to Fill

Inspiration: March 2021 Page Maps Sketch

I have been on a scrapbook roll this week and kept cranking out the layouts. I had this single picture that I wanted to get on a page, so I decided to make it an 8" x 8" layout. I have an older album that still has a few empty page protectors in it and that I'm trying to fill out and this was a perfect candidate since I didn't have a whole lot of journaling to add either.

This is basically just a cute picture of my youngest niece walking around with my shoes, which I had taken off when I sat down on the floor with the kiddos. Because my shoes are sparkly, the girls were quite enamored with them and each took turns trying them on. I went through my pile of patterned paper leftovers. When I worked on my organization last year, I clipped together the paper collections that had enough left in them to still make projects out of, but not enough to have a full pocket of their own. I used either mini hinge clips or paper clips to hold the scraps together and placed those collections together in a big pocket envelope. Once in a while, I go through it and make pages or cards with the scraps. Because this page is so generic (and even the color my niece is wearing are really neutral), options were wide open. I went through my pile and when I saw the old Cold Avocado Soup collection (2013) from Jillibean Soup, I liked how the blues matched the shirt in the picture so I settled on that option. 

I could have done the title in French, but the equivalent expression was much longer, so I went with English for design reasons. I drew inspiration from a sketch and kept the main elements I liked, but modified it to fit a smaller page. I liked the angled top, and I ended up doing the same thing at the bottom to fill the space better. I did my journaling in handwritten form on a long strip of vanilla cardstock, also glued at an angle. I added washi tape to both top and bottom papers, and I created my title with the very practical Tall Skinny Alphabet dies and Jillibean Soup alphabet stickers (didn't realize it was the same brand when I pulled it out, but it figured that it matches so nicely). Embellishment was kept to a minimum, with opal rounds, iridescent pearls and a bit of grey twine.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Thick Very Vanilla, Blueberry Bushel (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Cold Avocado Soup (Jillibean Soup)
Dies: Tall Skinny lphabet (Scrapbook.com); Zig Zag Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn);
Stitched Shapes (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Basic Grey Twine, Stampin' Dimensionals, Iridescent Pearls,
Opal Rounds (Stampin' Up!); Washi Tape (Unknown); Newberg Navy Alphabeans (Jillibean Soup)
 

 

Christmas 2017

I am still trying to make the most out of the space I have in my spare room to find the best way to store my mounting pile of supplies. In my reorganization efforts, I discovered last year that taking apart some of my paper pack was a good way to finally get some use out of them. Our style and tastes tend to evolve over time and there are older packs (and let's be honest, recent ones, too) that I have a hard time getting inspiration from, so I took them apart and stored the papers in my scrap drawers, by dominant colour. This also frees up a bit of room in my bookcase at the same time. I had done this exercise last year, and I revisited my pile of DSP to see if more could be dismantled. I made three piles: keep together, dismantle, unsure. The Santa's Workshop was in the maybe pile. The patterns are adorable, but I have found that I have a hard time designing with papers that only include two colours as it is hard to layer things or mat pieces without everything getting lost. 

As I was looking at the papers to decide which pile it would end up with, I noticed that one of the papers had a really nice scalloped frame around it and I thought, this is something I should have used in my scrapbooking. The center of the piece is a mishmash of characters that are perfect to fussy cut, so in order no to waste, I figured I could cut the center out and layer another patterned paper over it. And because I had already started fussy cutting some of the images, I was left with a missing corner to the page, so I figured I could roll the corner out.

At that point, I was really curious to see how that idea would look, so I dropped the organizing and went to my work table to put inspiration to paper. The corner idea was not working to my liking, so I switched gears, tore up other papers and layered them over instead. I decided to only glue the edges so that the paper could become pockets and I could slip stuff in there.

I had a leftover strip from another paper that made a great border, so I added it at the bottom of the âge and lined it with the All the Trimmings ribbon (currently offered at almost half-price in the Clerance Rack currently, so check it out!). Then I fussy cut some images from the paper center I had taken out and started organizing images on the page.

I was looking at sketches for inspiration, but couldn't find something that worked with what I already had, so I threw caution to the wind and decided I would design from scratch. I matted my photo with the candy cane pattern and this is where I was a little stuck because of what I was talking about: the two colour problem. Couldn't add red or green in between, but the gold on the edge of the ribbon reminded me of some vellum I had found while organizing my patterned papers. I was part of a Holiday-themed collection from My Mind's Eye, but I realized I could use the vellum more sucessfully if I got it out of the paper pack and put it with my specialty papers. I have some heay-duty pockets in which I store my metallic papers and glitter papers, so I added a new one for vellum. It was fresh in mind so I remembered to use it, and it worked so nicely. 

I wanted to slide a large tag in my corner pocket and unfortunately, all of the tag topper punches from Stampin' Up! are 2" wide, so I went to my Elizabeth Craft Designs' Planner Essentials dies and found just what I needed in the Wave Pocket pack. (I am really getting my money's worth out of those planner dies!) On a whim, I decided to make a second, smaller tag out of patterned paper and insert it in the first pocket, to layer. While looking through the planner dies, the ones with Christmas trees caught my eye and  decided to make a tree to go with the gifts I had fussy cut. I realized that some of the images had a really small touch of Pool Party colour in there, so adding that third colour gave me more options for design. I incorporated the colour in the tree, the garland I added to the tag and my retro marquee used for the title. 

I started looking through my Stampin' Up! dies because I remembered the retired wreath set had the word "Noel" in there, but while going through the stack, I started pulling other things that could be of interest. So the garland and the bow on the tree come from the skate set. The marquee was from a birthday set, available only in English, but that I got because I really loved that shape (and I'm surprised it's the first time I think to include it in a layout). The retro snowflake is from the dies that went with the Santa's Workshop suite. And even though I did find my wreath dies, I found a prettier Noël in a sentiment set from a couple years back, so I went with that one instead. For the year, I went to my Alphanumeric dies and selected the Script collection to match the font style. I was again struggling to pick a colour (wasn't liking the look of Garden Green cardstock) - I remembered the Holidays glitter paper pack we had a couple of years ago so I pulled it out to check the colours and I love how pretty the green looks.

I had the Santa's Workshop Enamel Shapes and I was pleased to find that the small dots were the perfect size for the "lights" in the marquee. I didn't have enough white, so I decided to alternate colours and I love how that turned out, as I think the alternating colours look better than a monochromatic look would have, so this worked out.

I will admit this is a busy page, but I like where I ended up with it and that I managed to use more of that patterned paper. The journaling I added has nothing to do with the moment you see on the picture. It was our family Christmas dinner in 2017, but my journaling talks about me now looking at this picture with a very different perspective, after being forced to stay apart last year due to the pandemic. It was a reminder that the opportunity to see our loved ones should never be taken for granted. And I finished with a quote from one of my favorite song:

"And then we'll understand
We held gold dust in our hands" - Tori Amos 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Pool Party, Whisper White, Gold Foil, Green Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!);
Gold Glitter Paper (Unknown)
Specialty Designer Series Paper: Santa's Workshop (Stampin' Up!);
Vellum (My Mind's Eye)
 Dies: Detailed Skate, Joyeux Noël, Santa's Signpost, Broadway Lights (Stampin' Up!);
Planner Essentials 12, Planner Wave Pocket (Elizabeth Craft Designs);
Alphanumeric Script Alphabet (Tim Holtz for Sizzix)
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals, Santa's Workshop Enamel Shapes, All the
Trimmings Ribbon Combo Pack, Gold Basic Designer Buttons (Stampin' Up!);
Gold and White Twine (May Art); LePen Markers (Marvy Uchida)

 

The End of an Era

Inspiration: Creative Layout Design with Paige Evans Class on Scrapbook.com + SCT challenge Stamp Your Heart Out

I watched the three Paige Evans class videos this weekend while I was scrapbooking. I love the gradient design in her layout shared in the third class and the way she had done her stamping, but I was absorbed by what I was working on and sort of forgot about it until I had a flash of inspiration later that day. I wondered, what if I used my mini envelope punch board and created a pile of colorful envelopes? The wheels started turning. I initially had a certain picture in mind, but I didn't have a print copy of it and in the end, I got caught up in what I was doing and ended up just doing a picture-less layout. Sometimes, the journaling is all a layout needs.

I glued all of the envelopes shut except the one I slipped my journaling in. This was mainly because most of the scraps I used for my envelopes had a backside that clashed, so seeing inside the flap would have ruined the rainbow effect.

It took a while to select papers that worked well together, cut them to size, punch the envelopes and assemble them. I looked through my stamps and a postage image in the Till We Meet Again set from P13 that was perfect. I started creating my gradient. It's too bad most of it got hidden, but having the stamping peek on the sides really made a big difference on the overall design. I used other stamps from the same set to stamp on some of the envelopes as well.

By the way, I should share how I glued my envelopes down. I fiddled to arrange them in a pleasing way and once they were in place, I wondered how I could stick everything down and keep the envelopes where I wanted them. So I actually placed a strip of tape at the bottom of the envelope only and then I was able to slip the next row of envelope underneath it (and I also figured that it left me room to embellish later if I didn't glue everything down too firmly). I started from both corners and worked my way to the middle. Because the envelopes are piled up, it doesn't really matter if the top portion is not glued down, it's not liking a flat piece of paper where corners are coming up. The envelopes are sturdy enough to stay in place, and it gives the whole thing a bit of dimension without the use of dimensional adhesive. 

For the title, I used the Society Alphabet Bigz die from Tim Holtz. I cut the letters out of chipboard first and then I went back to my scraps to use the same papers for the letters following the same color order. This took a while because I have repeating letters, but the result is pretty cool. I did a line of piercing underneath as well.

I started decorating the envelopes. I had a roll of Doodlebug Design washi that has postage stamps that can be torn to be used individually (probably my favorite washi tape I own). Another cool Doodlebug washi from the French Kiss line looks like mailing envelope border with the red and blue stripes, so I added it to my blue envelope. And then I added buttons to most of the envelopes in matching colours.

On the main envelope, I was really happy to be able to recycle my yellow chipboard circle from my previous layout that I wasn't able to use because the colour clashed. It looked beautiful here, so I embellished my main envelope with it and then I went digging for a chipboard accent for the center. Surprisingly, I found what I was looking for in the Simple Vintage Coastal set. The stamp worked perfectly, and then I lookd at the other elements and found three words - hello, fun and enjoy in aqua, which were perfect to add to the other envelopes.

For the journaling, I folded a piece of Soft Sky cardstock in three and handwrote my journaling on it. I thought about using my computer to print in colour, but I realized that doing a layout about the art of sending letters and not using my own handwriting would be pretty ludacrous! Hence the threefold to have more room. I didn't like the cardstock showing as much as it did, so I used a leftover paper from the same collection and I did a belly band around it, then tied a ribbon, which makes it easier to pull the journaling out of the envelope. I looked through my box of ribbon scraps and I loved how the Tango Tangerine ribbon looked next to the aqua, so I added it and tied it in place with gold and white baker's twine.

My journaling talks about my love of writing and receiving mail. I've had dozen of pen pals when I was young and have send hundreds of letters over the years. Then email became more popular and eventually, people got sucked into social medias and texting, the efficiency of it all being more appealing, and handwriting became a dying art. I can still enjoy sending mail through the greeting cards I send, but sadly, my own inbox remains pretty lonely.

I love how this layout turned out. Granted, this is a scraplift but it was fun to take the concept and reinterpret it differently, And who doesn't love rainbow projects?

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Till We Meet Again (P13)
Ink: Various (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Textured White (American Crafts)
Patterned Papers: Paper Scraps from Various Companies
Dies: Society Alphabet (Tim Holtz for Sizzix)
Accessories: Paper Piercer, Stampin' Dimensionals, Designer Buttons, Chipboard Circle, 
Tango Tangerine Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Crushed Curry Stampin' Emboss Powder (Stampin' Up!);
Gold and White Baker's Twine (Spellbinders); Mini Envelope Punch Board (We R Memory Keepers);
Special Delivery, Wish You Were Here Washi Tape (Doodlebug Design); Buttons (Foof-a-La)

Grevin Museum

Inspiration: Scrapbook & Cards Today International Scrapbooking Day challenge - Mix Up Your Media

It is interesting that the very first SCT challenge I latched onto was the mixed media one, as I only usually dab in mixed media very tentatively. I guess I was in the right mood to experiment, so I decided it would be a great time to finally open the Beautiful Blue Izink Diamond glitter paint from Aladine. Seth Apter made a Facebook Live for my local store and presented his new products and I feel in love with his deep royal blue glitter paste, so I grabbed one at my store when the product line was release. Because I had love the golden yellow and royal blue combo so much, I knew I would be pairing those colours together. I looked through my Distress Oxide sprays and pulled out Squeezed Lemonade, Twisted Citron and then the Antiqued Bonrzed Bronze Dstress mica as well. I spritzed my background with the two colours and pulled the top off of the bottles to add splatters as well. I let aside to dry and I went through my stencils. I was looking for something geometric initially, but the circle stencil from the Storyteller collection was the one that caught my attention. I added a few circles on the left side and worked on something else while the paste was drying.

When I came back to the layout, I wanted something on the right side, so I pulled another stencil from the Storyteller collection and I used Tim Holtz's stipple brush to add Mowed Lawn Distress Oxide ink through. I love the soft texture it adds. Then I had the Bubble stencil on my desk, which was what I had initialy wanted to stipple through, so I started wondering what I could use it for, and I decided to pull out the Distress Crayons to see if I had a colour that could work. I chose Tarnished Brass and proceeded to try adding it through the stencil. I used an Aqua Painter brush to dissolve the product and move it around. It produced an interesting result. While that was drying, I started going through pictures to see what I could put on my layout. It didn't take me long to make a choice - when I saw the picture of my mom and niece at the museum, the green foliage and blue surrounding worked so well with the page, I didn't look any further.

Now, I started thinking about what patterned paper I could mat the pictures with... and I realized that the Cold Avocado Soup collection I had used on two projects earlier this week was actually perfect to go with my mix (as long as I avoided the turquoise, which I didn't want to incorporate). Funny how I had just put the scraps away and immediately pulled them back out without even planning for it. I created a random mat to my picture using various scraps (except the main mat, which was created using the Perfect Layers tool). The sparkly border was a random addition - I want to get rid of the die set it came in, but I do want to keep this specific one, so I pulled it out and left it on my desk until I can figure out where to store it. I used Cobalt Blue mirror cardstock from Tonic and added it to the side of my picture.

At this point, I started thinking about how to do my title. I was trying to keep with the mixed media theme and thinking I hadn't used paint yet. That immediately made me think of the foam stamps from Making Memories that are still hiding at the back of my closet. I actually had to get my stepladder to get to those, as they were all the way in the back. I started digging through my limited stamp collection. I didn't have any deep blue, so I started mixing paint to see if I could get something going but the results weren't working to my liking. You see the date stamped in a very dark purplish-black colour as I didn't want to waste all of that paint. 

At the top, I combined two alphabet sets. On the tall letters, I applied both yellow and green to dry and get a gradient. After the paint was dry, I decided to doodle around the letters with a navy marker to make the title stand out better. I also used a navy pen to add my journaling on the right side. I liked the trick learned in Paige Evans' training video to add lines to your page before writing your journaling so I used that trick here again. 

It is interesting to note that I was hesitating between two stories that went with this picture. I actually ended up going with the latter, but I will revisit the first one on another layout. Basically, my mom and I had been wanting to visit the Grévin museum ever since I moved to the city, as she and I have always enjoyed wax museums. (Don't ask me why, it is a weird concept, but I still have had a fun time whenever we've visited one.) Last March, my mom came over at the beginning of March to take care of her granddaughter during her Spring Break week. Because I don't work Fridays, we were able to plan a visit to the museum all three of us that day. We had a wonderful time, tested my niece on her knowledge of known people and enjoyed the area at the back that was filled with various games meant for kids.

So that's the first story. This outing was on March 6th, 2020. One week before the pandemic was officially announced in Canada and everything closed. It is so strange to look back on those pictures as this was the last time we spent time together as a family, the last time we were totally carefree in a crowded room, tried on costumes, played games in the kid zone and were totally and utterfly carefree. I also can't believe how lucky we were not to catch anything, knowing we were out and about in a crowded Spring Break context, in a museum, and had no clue what was coming. That's the second story, and I will circle back to it when I create something with the other pictures I took that day. I might make a mini-album because I have a bunch of funny pics from that day.

When I had dug my paints out, I had also found some big jars of Pearl Ex purchased around the same era as the foam stamps and I decided to go mixed media all the way, so I pulled out a very old stamp set called Snow Flurries, which is six little stamps of star-shapes round images. Some of them are definitely snowflakes, but some are more starbursts, so I stamped them in VersaMark and brushed Super Bronze and Sparkle Gold Pearl Ex pigments on it. While the Pearl Ex was out, I thought I could use an Aqua Paint brush and add sparkle to the date to tone the paint colour down.

At this point, I was ready to embellish so I played around with a few idea (I had this cool thin chipboard circle that I embossed with yellow, but the colour just was not working with the layout, so I abandoned that idea). I did keep the embossed star, though, and placed it in one of the glittered circles.

I found some gold Thickerscalled Heat Wave and the word "carefree" caught my attention and was too perfect not to work into the design. Because my bottom glitter circle is a little imperfect, I had been trying to hide the bottom with the chipboard circle idea that didn't work, but I figured I could add my Thickers over it. I didn't like having it floating, though, so I decided to add a second strip of patterned paper to go right over the first one I had underneath my date, and I really loved the design element it was creating. I added a puffy stickers at left and a button in the perfet shade of blue where the two strips meet.  I added some gold stars from the Thickers set, a few enamel dots and I used a date stamp with Blueprint Sketch Distress Oxide ink underneath my journaling. I did the trick of overstamping the date a few times. I've been doing it everywhere since seeing that trick in a video, but it works particularly well on this mixed media page.

I'm very pleased with where I landed with this one. Even though mixed media is a little bit out of my lane, this layout still feels very me and will fit nicely in my album. And with this layout, I am caught up with my personal challenge of trying to do one layout a week during the year. Let's see if I can keep on track! 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Philadelphia and Misunderstood Alphabet Foam Stamps (Making Memories);
Date Stamp (Office Supplies); Snow Flurries (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: White Textured (American Crafts)l Cobalt Blue Glitter Cardstock (Tonic)
Ink: Mowed Lawn, Blueprint Sketch Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Stencils: Storyteller (Vicki Boutin for American Crafts); Bubble (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous)
Dies: Lily Pad (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Heat Wave Thickers (American Crafts); Glacier Caves Enamel Dots (Altenew);
Bell Pepper Trinkets Puffy Stickers (Bella Blvd); Antiqued Bronze Distress Mica Spray,
Squeezed Lemonade and Twisted Citron Distress Oxide Spray, Antique Bronze Distress Crayon (Ranger);
Beautiful Blue Izink Diamond Gitter Paint (Seth Apter for Aladine);
Sparkle Gold and Super Bronze Pearl Ex Pigments (Stampin' Up!); Yellow Baker's Twine (Doodlebug);
Crocus Yellow Paint, Light Foliage Green, Purple Smoke, Black (Delta Ceramcoat)

 

Christmas Socks

Inspiration: Creative Layout Page Design with Paige Evans Class  

Confession time: I could never have designed a layout like that on my own. It's fun and whimsical and it totally works, but it is very far from the road my creative mind usually takes. I was watching Paige Evans' online class on scrapbook.com and when I saw her make her grid with washi tape, I thought, What a good opportunity to use washi tape that has  a ton of patterns on them and so even before I had watched a third of the video, I was already raiding my stash for supplies so that I could craft along with Paige.

As I was looking at washi collections I have, I realized that I have three larger washi collections from American Crafts, one of which is Hey Santa and because I had yet to dive into this one, I thought it would be a great opportunity to do so. I've mentioned in a recent post that last fall was filed to the brink with great new products, which means that some of the collections I invested in ended up untouched when Christmas rolled around. When I invest more heavily in certain collections and purchase the embellishments and such, I usually prefer to do a few layouts or mini-albums with it first and then dive into card-making later. There are a few reasons for that. Layouts require full 12 x 12 papers, whereas cards are perfect to dive into smaller scraps. I also feel less guilty using more expensive embellishments on layouts, which will be kept in my albums for a long time, as opposed to using them on cards, which might eventually end up in the trash. (Let's be honest here - I know my friends and family enjoy my cards, but I'm also aware that they need to declutter once in a while.) My card-making gig kept me extremely busy last fall, so I barely did any scrapbooking and therefore, this beautiful collection sat untouched.

I was really happy to remedy that today and thoroughly enjoyed having a full collection to pick and choose from. This ended up coming together more easily than I expected. I was afraid that my sprinkling of embellishments everywhere could end up looking disjointed but somehow, it didn't. I followed Paige's design and tore the edge to reveal another patterned paper underneath. It was unfortunate, though, that I got the patterned paper as a pad and that those pages are single-sided. The white underside was a little boring for me, so I pulled out two shades of green Distress Oxide inks and blended ink on my rolled edges.

I found some cute tickets in the 6" x 8" paper pad, so I cut those apart and created a cluster. I stapled them together and added a twine bow over it. I found this awesome twine online, I believe it may be from May Arts, and it has this very nice golden mustard shade that goes with a lot of paper collections, so that was a good find. The roll is also huge to I can use it to my heart's content and not worry about running out.

Still following Paige's leads, I pulled elements from all of the packs I had: the Christmas tree from the chipboard pieces, the gift and swan from the cardstock stickers, the vellum postage stamp, vellum bow and vellum speech bubble from the ephemera pack, the house from the puffy stickers and stars, snowflakes, rainbow and a bow from the sticker book.

I created my title with the Thickers from the collection and added the other words using dies. I traced lines and added handwritten journaling in one of the squares. Because vellum is tricky to adhere, I added just a few drops of glue to the back of the speech bubble and then I decided to add eyelets to it. I was planning to do just the one, but it seemed a little empty, so I went for three and I like the look better. Good thing I still have my Big Bite Crop-a-Dile. I almost got rid of it when I did my garage sale before moving, but I changed my mind at the last minute. It is one of those tools that you don't pull out often, but that you appreciate having when you need it. I see eyelets slowly creeping back in (following rub-ons) so it's good that I held on to my eyelet collection and Big Bite - I'll be ready when this trend circles back in.

For embellishments, I added a few white sequins and grey pearls. When I was looking at eyelets, I found a little gold heart charm in my bow that has been there for years and I thought it could look cute. Moved it around and decided to hang it from the vellum bow. I also found a gold wax seal from when I tested my wax beads and spoon. It was a first try, I hadn't put enough beads in and was left with a partial image, but it didn't really matter here, it was a great way to include a bit more golden yellow to the layout and a different texture. I just love when I can spot little leftover bits on my desk and work them into something to add an unexpected element. Another one of those bits was a leftover strip of sparkly white tulle from my desk, that I glued underneath the "Warm Wishes" banner at the bottom of the picture. Speaking of the picture, I matted it in white to make it stand out better. Whenever I do that, I forgo white cardstock and go to my scrap drawers, where I pull out my older patterned papers, most of which used to be one-sided, and I use the back to mat. Great way to use scraps AND get mileage out of older papers we don't love as much. I used my Perfect Layers rulers to do so. Another tool that I don't use every time I craft, but that I've used consistently throughout the years.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: White Woodgrain (Lawn Fawn)
Patterned Papers; Puffy Stickers, Ephemera Pack, Sticker Book, Stickers,
Washi Tape, Chipboard: Hey Santa (Crate Paper)
Ink: Pine Needles, Rustic Wilderness Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Accessories: Blending Tool (Ranger); Satin White Sequin Mix (Little Things from Lucy's Cards);
Stormcloud and Bora Bora Pearls (Studio Katia); Ref. Articles Dies (Kesi'art);
Bonne fête merci joyeux Noël (Simple à souhait); Yellow Baker's Twine (May Arts); 
Enchanted Gold Wax Seal Beads, With Love Wax Seal (Altenew); 
Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Stapler, Sparkly Washi Tape, Eyelets (Stampin' Up!);
Holly Jolly Thickers (American Crafts)