Encre, papier, ciseaux

My Little Monkey

Inspiration: Paper Issues - July 2 sketch

I was happy to see that Paper Issues is hosting a 31 days of sketches in July. Sketches are always a great way to spark inspiration and stretch my design muscle. I was liking the overlapping papers sketch, as I saw it as a great way to use smaller scraps on a full 12" x 12" page. I went to my Disney pictures to see what could work as a stand-alone on a page and when I saw the picture of my niece hanging upside down while we were waiting in line for a ride, I knew I could do something with the Into the Wild collection using the monkey images.

When I started working with this new collection a couple of weeks ago, I pulled out some monochromatic Designer Series Paper from Stampin' Up! in matching shades and kept those close so I could stretch the collection further. I decided to use those here rather than the papers from the collection since I knew we would only see corners peeking out from underneath the picture. Before I glued my papers down, I smooshed my Old Olive ink pad on a piece of acetate, spritzed it with water and I smooshed the acetate on my textured cardstock to create texture.

I found a little monkey in the chipboard pack and the title "My Little Monkey" in the foam stickers, which made my job easier to begin with. I also found a "just hangin'" die-cut in the Journaling Bits pack, which I superposed on another die-cut to give it more visual weight and add the leaf pattern. I snuck two branch die-cuts from the Bits & Bobs pack in the corners. I added flower stickers from the cardstock and foam packs, as wild as a little sentiment strip and paw print. I embellished with pearls, gems and enamel dots in matching colours. And I doodled borders around the papers.

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Old Olive Textured (Stampin' Up!)
Designer Series Vellum: Vellum Layering Designs (Stampin' Up!)
Designer Series Paper: Brights Stack, Neutrals Stack (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Old Olive (Stampin' Up!)
Foam Stickers, Cardstock Stickers, Bits & Pieces, Journaling Bits: Into the Wild (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Brown Pen (PaperMate); Stampin' Dimensionals, Distressing Tool,
Treasured Tags Pick a Punch (Stampin' Up!); Café au Lait, Rose Pink and Apricot Glacé Pearls (Studio Katia); 
Bundle of Joy Enamel Dots (Echo Park); Diamond Say It in Crystals (Prima Marketing)

 

Let's Get Beachy

Inspiration: Little Red Wagon #660 (Sea Creature - see the sea serpent my niece built out of sand with her father)

I was really hoping to use the Simple Vintage Vintage Seas collection in my scrapbook, and I found some beach pictures from our trip to Wasaga Beach that I had not scrapbooked yet.

I drew inspiration from a September 2020 Page Maps sketch, with a 4" x 6" picture at the top and two smaller pictures at the bottom. I didn't make my bottom pictures quite as small, though, as I was inspired to use one of the chipboard frames and I cut the pictures to fit the apertures. I love those beautiful chipboard frames - I feel like half of the designing job is already done when they are added to a page. The foam stickers, which are recent addition to the Simple Stories lineup of products, seem to have been well-received as it is now included in most collections, and those also speed up the designing job quite significantly. I will usually create my own title when I want to tell a very specific story about the event showcased, but when it's something generic, I don't mind going for the stickers, even if that means having an English title in my album.

Another thing the company is doing more regularly is a cut-apart page of various sizes, rather than just the standard pocket sizes. I also love those, which I find easier to use on traditional layouts. Here, I picked the beautiful library pocket, I rounded the top corners and I used my stamp to add numbers and info on the top portion. I used my handwriting to add journaling below, and I picked stickers from the sticker book to dress up the bottom. I added a tab from the sticker book at the top and two hearts from the foam stickers. 

On the left side of the patterned paper, I tied a piece of Sahara Sand/Night of Navy baker's twine. I've been using this specific twine on a lot of projects over the year. I like the fact that it's a little thicker and also it not being white makes it blend better on a lot of projects. I found a wheel in the ephemera pack and I slipped it over the twine bow for added detailing.

I picked the compass image and placed it where the circle was on the sketch, under my other elements rather than over so I wouldn't hide the text. I added the foam word "Beachy" and I was planning to cut apart the "Let's Get Beachy" stickers from the cardstock sticker sheet to add the first two words, but the foam stickers are not the same white as the cardstock stickers and having them both side by side made the difference very obvious and jarring, so I went back to the sticker book and round the words I was looking for on a smaller sentiment strip, which I snipped and added to my red banner.

To finish embellishing, I added a few decorative brads and enamel dots around the page, as well as the paddles sticker and the metal book plate from the foam stickers.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Eccentric (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous); Library Love (Inky Antics);
Date Stamp (Office Supplies)
Patterned Papers, Foam Stickers, Sticker Book, Cardstock Stickers, Enamel Dots,
Decorative Brads, Nautical Bits, Chipboard Frames: Simple Vintage Vintage Seas (Simple Stories)
Ink: Night of Navy, Cherry Cobbler (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Sahara Sand/Night of Navy Baker's Twine, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Perfect Layers (Stampin' Up!); Craft Blade (Fiskars); Ink Joy Gel Pen 0.7 (Paper Mate);
Corner Chomper (We R Memory Makers)

 

A Father's Pride and Joy

Inspiration: Tic Tac Toe #168 (Any Shape Die + Fireworks + Sentiment) + Global Design Project #349

My first try at using a gel plate produced questionable results, but I watched a couple of YouTube videos for ideas and gave it another go with my Distress Oxide inks. The second round produced elements that I was much happier with, and they became the starting point for this card.

I had selected ink colours that could work with the Global Design Project challenge, namely Salty Ocean, Twisted Citron and Mustard Seed. I created three strips with each ink colour on my 6" x 6" gel plate, used a brayer to bridge the gap between the colours and rolled the brayer on a tag so I wouldn't lose the ink. I then placed the Classy & Fabulous stencil over my plate before placing a piece of Bristol cardstock over the gel plate and doing a pull. When I pulled up the stencil, I placed it on the tag and rubbed to transfer the ink as well. I made a couple more pulls, but those first two elements are what I used on this card here.

You'll also see the dark teal strip I have layered over the background. This is the leftover piece from my initial try at the gel plate. I had used my Uncharted Mariner Distress spray and found out it was way too runny for what I was trying to achieve, making a huge blob of colour on the cardstock. Waste not want not, I simply used it as a layer on this project since the colour worked nicely.

Another leftover piece I was on my desk that served as inspiration was the white dotted frame. I had used the Dotted Rectangle Stackables dies on a previous project and the layer I had created was simply too large, so I used the next size down to cut the cardstock again, making sure to center the die so that I would get a frame out of it. I also had the Botanical Gardens Designer Vellum Stack out on my desk and I picked a scrap from the stack, tore the edge off and stapled it in place on the project. I used a turquoise alcohol marker to colour my staples to match.

On the tag, I combined the Mini stencils set 38 from Tim Holtz with Glitz glitter gel to add the fireworks to the bottom of the tag in green and little turquoise stars at the top. I tied some In Color metallic ribbon to the top of the tag and glued it to the card. I then went looking through Tim Holtz's paper dolls for something interesting. I thought some black and white image would pop nicely against the colorful background. I auditioned a few images and settled on the little boy and girl. Then I went looking through my French sentiment dies. My collection is slowly building, but we certainly don't have the same extensive selection has can be found in English. This one is interesting, as it was purchased from a company that does not usually sell French stuff, so I was all over it, especially since it has a nice font, a nice size and the bubble die as well. I capitalized on the fact that I have both the cardstock and Designer Series Paper in the new In Colour and picked Tahitian Tide as my colour for the sentiment. Doesn't that look nice? I figured the little boy and girl could be the kids.

Lastly, I embellished with different gems, rhinestones and enamel dots I had in matching colours. I made a matching envelope out of an old sheet of Tempting Turquoise DSP and used a journaling card with a yellow stripe at the top as my journaling block. I've started putting stray elements I don't necessarily want to use as a collection anymore in my scrap drawers by colours and I find I'm using all kinds of stuff that were otherwise overlooked by organizing that way. Organization tips usually advise to store products either by theme, type of product, manufacturers or colours, depending on how you think when you craft. Experience has confirmed that organizing by colour is definitely what suits me the best. Here, I was able to quickly find a 12" x 12" paper to make my envelope and a matching paper to make the address block in a matter of seconds.

In case someone was wondering how Tahitian Tide compared to Tempting Turquoise, the new In Color is slightly more blue, whereas Tempting Turquoise has a tad more green in it, but the difference is very subtle. To me, this feels very much like a repeat colour, but Tempting Turquoise left so long ago, it feels like a nice opportunity to replenish the cardstock stack in that colour.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Tahitian Tide, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Designer Vellum Stack: Botanical Gardens (Stampin' Up!)
Designer Series Paper Stack: 2022-2024 In Color (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Salty Ocean, Twisted Citron, Mustard Seed Distress Oxide inks (Ranger)
Dies: Dotted Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn); Papa (Simon Says Stamp)
Accessories: Uncharted Mariner Distress Spray, #5 Mixed Media Heavystock Tags (Ranger); 
Envelope Punch Board, Stampin' Dimensionals, Blue Adhesive-Backed Gems, Mini Stapler,
Glitter Enamel Dots, Noble Peacock Rhinestones, Project LIfe Journaling Cards,
Tahitian Tide 1/8" Metallic Woven Ribbon (Stampin' Up!); Corner Chomper (We R Memory Makers);
Classy & Fabulous Stencil (Carta Bella); Alcohol Markers (Copic);
Surf and Pearfection Glitz Glitter Gel (Deco Foil); Washi Tape (Unknown)

 

Refuse to Sink

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Anything Goes) + Fusion (color combo)

I was excited to see the Fusion color combo because it reminded me of Simple Stories' Vintage Seas collection. As soon as I received the products I had ordered from my local store, I got to working with it.

I didn't have a clear plan when I started. I wanted to try out my gel press plate, which I don't have any experience with. To ease into it, I thought I'd start with inks. I inked the gel plate with Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink, then I inked the Hardwood background stamp with Uncharted Mariner Distress Oxide ink and stamped it on the gel plate. I created a mask out of a grid die I own and then I used the Uncharted Mariner Distress spray but I found out that this is way too liquid and the mask didn't make a difference, the spray just pooled over that part of the plate. I still went ahead and transferred my image to a piece of Bristol cardstock and that is how I ended up with what became the background of this card.

I pulled out a mixed media #5 tag and spritzed it with Candied Apple Distress Oxide spray, then Uncharted Mariner Distress spray and I took the nozzle out of the Vintage Photo Distress Oxide spray to splatter the tag. I dried it with my heat tool. Then, I crinkled a piece of plastic, picked up some flake and glitter glue with it and dabbed it on the tag. I then applied gold gilded leafing over the tag. I reused my grid mask from earlier, folded it in half and stapled it onto my tag. I then looked through the ephemera pieces and stickers from the Vintage Seas collection to embellish the tag.

I liked the wheel, so I centered that on the tag (from Sticker Book). I added two pieces of coral and the lighthouse from the Nautical bits. I added the "Refuse to sink" foam sticker in the center, and I found an anchor sticker on the cardstock sticker sheet. I finished the tag with a decorative brad and metallic woven ribbon from the new In Color product line, which suits this collection nicely.

Since I already had a background and a tag, I decided to make a card. I cut the background with a Dotted Rectangle die and matted it with In the Navy cardstock from Gina K. Design using the Perfect Layers rulers and a craft knife. I recently bought the Fiskars blade with a loop that goes over your finger and so far, I'm really liking it. I added a piece of patterned paper, tore the top edge, then flipped the torn piece over and used the backside to create an additional layer. I decided to ink all of my pieces with Night of Navy ink to go with the vintage look. I picked a banner sticker from the sticker book to fill the space at the top, and a little chip sticker from the cardstock sticker to place under the anchor.

I discovered that the Ann's Quilt embellishment pack from Buttons Galore & More (28 Lilac Lane collection) fits very nicely with the colours from the Simple Stories collection, so I used a button and a few sequins from this pack to embellish the card.

I used a navy linen envelope and added a cut-apart paper image for the address block, then a lighthouse sticker to tie with the card.

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Hardwood (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: In the Navy (Gina K. Designs); Thick Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Sticker Book, Cardstock Stickers, Foam Stickers,
Decorative Brads: Simple Vintage Vintage Seas (Simple Stories) 
Ink: Tumbled Glass, Uncharted Mariner Distress Oxide (Ranger);
Night of Navy Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Grillage (Les ateliers de Karine); Dotted Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Perfect Layers (American Crafts); Hobby Blade (Fiskars);
A2 Nautical Blue Linen Envelope (Envelopes.com); Sponge Daubers, Gold Gilded Leafing, Mini Stapler,
Starry Sky 1/8" Metallic Woven Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Vintage Photo and Candied Apple Distress Oxide Sprays, Uncharted Mariner Distress Spray,
#5 Mixed-Media Heavystock Tags (Ranger); 6" x 6" Gel Printing Plate (Gel Press);
Ann's Quilt 28 Lilac Lane Shaker Mix (Buttons Galore & More)

 

Letters to Santa

Inspiration: July 2022 Card Maps Sketch

Here is one more card in my Holly Days collection and Card Maps sketches series. I had fussy cut the letterbox from the cut-apart sheet and I decided to place it on one of the tags from the cut-apart sheet to mirror the sketch. I wasn't sure how big my card would need to be to keep the proportions of the sketch, so I build my card from the center out and ended up with a 5" x 7" card (hence the handmade envelope to match).

I used the adorable Love Notes dies from Doodlebug Design to create the mini envelopes and decorate them. That mini stamp and that mini heart are beyond adorable! For the letter, I used red felt paper to die-cut the heart and I layered the XO from the same die set over it. I added pink washi tape between the two background papers, matted the piece in white cardstock and placed it on a red polka dot piece that was die-cut with the Scalloped Borders from Queen & Co. To embellish, I added a few sequins and seed beads, a stray button and enamel dots. This might be my favorite card from the Holly Days series so far.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Old Olive, Whisper White, Pool Party, Red Velvet Sheets (Stampin' Up!);
Cotton Candy (Bazzill)
Patterned Papers, Puffy Stickers, Sticker Book, Enamel Dots: Holly Days (Simple Stories)
Dies: Love Notes (Doodlebug Design); Scalloped Borders (Queen & Co)
Accessories: Envelope Punch Board, Stampin' Dimensionals, Pretty Peacock Ribbon (Stampin' Up!);
Washi Tape (Unknown); Pastel Dreams Shaker Mix - Buttons and Sequins (Buttons Galore & More);
Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo)

 

All-Star Movies Resort

Inspiration: July 2016 Scrapbook Generation Free Sketch + Simon Says Stamp Monday (Inspired by a Movie = The Love Bug)

While I was working on my last layout and going through the very generous pack of Odds & Ends from the Fun in the Park collection by Doodlebug, I spotted some adorable old-time hotel keys. I had yet to scrapbook the pictures of the hotel we stayed at during our Disney trip, so I put those images aside and they became the starting point for my next layout.

I had quite a few pictures taken at the hotel and I decided to use another Scrapbook Generation free sketch I had downloaded recently from their website. The layout includes five full-size 4" x 6" pictures, a sixth one that's cut down to 4" x 4" and I included the room number in a 2½" punched circle. I popped some of the pictures on dimensional adhesive to make them stand out.

For the page base, I picked turquoise cardstock. I should mention that I purchased the matching textured cardstock pack from the Fun in the Park line and I'm glad I did because I can quickly grab the colour I need for my page base and know for certain that it will match.

This was another really easy layout: I put five strips of patterned paper along the length of the two cardstock pages and seven banners at the top of the right page. To make my life simpler, I used the stitched banner die from the Foundation 4 set by Queen & Co. It was way too long, so I cut it down to 2" afterwards, but not only was it quick but it added a little extra with the stitching as well. For the slim strip, I used red foil polka dot washi tape, which has a definite Minnie vibe to it (even though it's from a Christmas set). I first tried the strip down like on the original sketch but I was not liking the look, so I moved it up.

Along with the keys, I had also put aside the luggage images from the Odds & Ends pack. I really liked the three luggage pile, but it was too short to fill in the space on the yellow paper and it looked lost, so I popped the first image on top of the other suitcase, cutting the white border off at the bottom to make it look like one continuous image.

The title was created with three different Thickers set, overlapping the lobby picture a bit. I printed my journaling on a scrap of grey cardstock, using the Waltograph font. I cut the text in strips and added it to the page with liquid glue so I could move the strips around before the glue set to make sure everything was straight. I'm glad I went for grey cardstock instead of white, I think it pops better against the movie strip and it adds a bit of interest.

Embellishing if fairly simple. I added rhinestones on the left page, epoxy stars to the film strip, enamel dots to the banners, a little Mickey heart sticker and a few Travel Time Shape Sprinkles. I hope they don't yellow too badly over time. It's been my main gripe with the epoxy stickers from Doodlebug - they yellow pretty badly and pretty quickly, too. It's really too bad, because those things are incredibly adorable, but I feel it makes a project look dingy when the colour turn. We'll see how it goes, but I added a backpack and a suitcase to the top of the right picture, a third suitcase at the bottom of the page and I dangled the cute little room keys from the journaling strips. I also added a geotag to the first journaling strip.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Fun at the Park Solid Assortment (Doodlebug Design)
Patterned Papers, Icons, Odds & Ends: Fun at the Park (Doodlebug Design)
Dies: Foundation 4 (Queen & Co)
Accessories: Red Foil Polka Dot Washi Tape (Recollections); Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); 
Festive Assortment Sprinkles, Festive Assortment Mini Jewels, Travel Time Shape
Sprinkles, Star Attraction Shape Sprinkles (Doodlebug Design); 
Lindsay, Land of Wonder and Sorbet Thickers (American Crafts)
Font: Waltograph

 

Train Postcard

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Monday (Inspired by a Movie = The Girl on the Train)

This card started with me grabbing a box in which I've thrown various unused elements from past projects that I sometimes dig through to include on what I'm working on. Here, I found the newspaper print paper on which I had previously stenciled roses in gold ink and a piece of Crumb Cake that was embossed with the pattern from the Stitched Greenery die. I liked the two together and the vintage look reminded me I have recently purchased the Snapshots ephemera from Tim Holtz and I thought this could go well with the two pieces. I also found a leftover brown silhouette from a Tim Holtz die set, which was perfect for the challenge.

I found that the snapshots are in black and white, so the white was a little too bright against the vanilla paper, but then I remembered I have Vintage Beeswax Baked Texture embossing powder from Seth Apter for Emerald Creek, which is awesome to give something a vintage look. I trimmed the edges of the picture with my Deckle trimmer and covered the whole picture with VersaMark ink, then the embossing powder. This gave it the perfect sepia look I was looking for. I then started digging through my stash for other vintage elements to use. I picked up Reminisce the book 3 and went through the patterns to pick something for the card background. I liked the burgundy paper, so I figured out how big of a card I would need to accommodate the large picture, and I went with 5" x 7", cutting the burgundy paper a quarter of an inch shorter. Also from the same book, I found a page of vintage tags, so I fussy cut one to use as a layer. At that point, I pulled out my Antique Linen Distress pad, my Vintage Photo Distress Oxide pad and a few brown and burgundy Classic ink pads from Stampin' Up! to ink the edges of of all the pieces I had. I crinkled the newsprint paper and inked the crinkles to make them stand out.

I found Tim Holtz's Mail Art stamp set in my stash and decided to add a few images here and there: the numbers to the patterned paper, the word "Approved" to the tag die-cut, a few images to the silhouette and the Registered block, which I stamped in burgundy and cut out. I also stamped the star in the circle on Gold Rush cardstock from Lawn Fawn and punched it with a circle punch. I added a Mini Flair from idea-ology. I found that pack in the clearance section for $0.99. Considering how expensive the idea-ology embellishments are at full price, I was all over it! I picked the one that says "6¼ cent fare," as it went well with the train image.

For the sentiment, I looked through the new sentiment dies I recently found at my local store. I was excited to add to my French die selection - those are few and far in between, but the European companies have started to offer more options and I'm excited about it as word die cuts are sometimes easier to add than stamped sentiments, which require a flat surface to work out. In this instance, I was able to layer the word over the silhouette and the embossed train image, where stamping would have been extremely difficult. I layered three die-cuts, the top one being cut out of black Kraft-stock to add sheen to it.

I added layering inside the card since the card base was made of really dark cardstock (Merry Merlot), and I looked through my paper stash to find paper to make an oversize envelope with. I lucked out and found this old paper that's been in my stash for close to two decades now (it's single sided, so that's a sign right there). The vintage colours and mail print was perfect for my card, so I used my Envelope Punch Board to make a matching envelope. I inked the edges with a dauber and added another label from the Reminisce book. This will be my father's birthday/Father's Day card (those two events are a couple of days apart, so his card always cover both.) I had put aside a few snapshots from the pack that I felt could work with the pieces I had pulled, but I ended up going with the train since my dad has worked for a train company his whole career and that seemed appropriate.

I'm really happy with this card - masculine cards are always challenging and vintage is not my natural crafting style, so I'm always pleased when I manage to nail it. 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Mail Art (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous)
Cardstock: Merry Merlot, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake (Stampin' Up!); Gold Rush (Lawn Fawn)
Patterned Paper: Reminisce the Book 3 (Elizabeth Craft Designs); Unknown (Stampin' Up!); 
Unknown (K & Company); Metallic-3 Kraft-stock (Tim Holtz for idea-ology)
Ink: Antique Linen Distress, Vintage Photo Distress Oxide (Ranger);
Merry Merlot, Soft Suede, Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!); Antique Gold (Altenew)
Dies: Stitched Greenery (Stampin' Up!); Carterie (DIY & Cie)
Accessories: Circle Punch, Black Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Sponge Daubers,
Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!); Mini Flair, Snapshots (Tim Holtz for idea-ology);
Vintage Beeswax Baked Texture Embossing Powder (Seth Apter for Emerald Creek);
Stipple Brush, Roses Stencil (Tim Holtz)

 

For Skill and Amusement Only Tag

I received the new Uncharted Mariner Distress Oxide ink pad today and immediately opened it to do my sample and also try it on a tag. I have to admit that when the previous colour was released (Villainous Potion), I thought that I didn't really need it since I'm not big on purple anyway. But it's the only Distress colour missing from my collection, so on a whim, I decided to purchase it along with Uncharted Mariner and don't they look awesome together on that mixed media heavystock tag? (Another item I decided to try.)

The stamping is done with Tim Holtz's Eccentric set and embossed in Vintage Pearl powder from Ranger, which has a nice white gold sheen to it. I spritzed some water through the Linked Squares stencil, but now that the tag is embellished, you can hardly tell.

Interestingly enough, my local store was trying to make room for the upcoming Holidays collection so they ran a Christmas sale, with a few fall and Halloween elements, including the Happy Haunting Odds & Ends set, that I decided to get my hands on while it was on sale. The ink colour I had blended on the tag went with the ephemera images quite well, so I decided to use them to embellish the tag. This is really random in the middle of June, but I've learn that you should never fight inspiration and go wherever it chooses to lead you. I auditioned a few images and ended up picking the black cat, the full moon, the spiderweb and a couple of stars. I was delighted to find out that this Odds & Ends set include acetate pieces - they are so cool!! 

To embellish, I added gold foil pearl to the stars, crystal stars on the tag and Berry Burst crinkled seam binding to the tag. I also added Midas Touch Aqua Shimmer to the moon and stars.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Eccentric (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous)
Ink: Villainous Potion, Uncharted Mariner Distress Oxide (Ranger);
Elegant Eggplant (Stampin' Up!); VersaMark
Cardstock: #5 Mixed Media Heavystock Tags (Ranger)
Accessories: Happy Haunting Odds & Ends (Doodlebug Design);
Stampin' Dimensionals, Berry Burst Crinkled Seam Binding (Stampin' Up!);
Linked Squares Stencil (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous);
Gold Foil Pearls (Studio Katia); Crystal Stars (Buttons Galore & More);
Vintage Pearl Embossing Powder, Distress Sprayer (Ranger)

 

Christmas Stocking Trio

Inspiration: October 2018 Card Maps Sketch

While looking through my tags and embellishment pile, I found this stocking trio tag I made a few years ago. I thought I could turn it into a card for the children's hospital, so I went back to the same patterned paper stack I had used for it and added a plaid paper to create the background. I included three white snowflakes underneath the tag to frame it, and gold photo corners on opposite sides. This came together really quickly since the main image was already completed. 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Garden Green, Whisper White, Gold Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Designer Series Paper Stack: Warmth & Cheer (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: ? , Decorative Labels (Stampin' Up!); Christmas Day Snow (Echo Park);
Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Square Punches, Snowflake Sequins, Gold Faceted Gems, Garden Green Baker's Twine,
Stampin' Dimensionals, Regals Candy Dots, Stocking Punch, White Medium Envelope (Stampin' Up!)

 

Be Our Guest

Inspiration: Festive Friday #112 (Heart + Teacup + Magic) + January 2020 Page Maps Sketch

I really wanted to include the Dulce collection somewhere in my Disney album. With the soft pink hues along with the food and carrousel images, it seemed like a great fit. I kept going through the pictures from our day at Magic Kingdom and either all of the colours from the pictures were too bright or the attractions we had visited just didn't work. I finally realized my best bet might be pairing them with the pictures taken at the Be Our Guest restaurant, where the colours were more muted. This also worked well with the Festive Friday challenge, since the pictures are taken at Magic Kingdom and I had teacup and heart images in my chipboard pack.

I started with the Page Maps sketch and picked pictures that would suit the sizes. It worked surprisingly well, as most of the pictures I could cut to the size mentioned on the sketch and have the fit be exactly what I wanted. I adapted the size a bit on the pictures at the left of the title, changing the height to fit my pictures.

Things were going well picking papers and putting the layout together and then I hit a wall for a little while and was finding the resulting pages very boring. I kept trying out items and moving them around until I finally managed to get myself out of that creative corner and put something together that I was pleased with.

The middle panel was made out of Opalescent Green Ombre cardstock from Tonic. That paper is gorgeous! The colour and sparkle is beautiful, and I'm mostly impressed with how smooth that paper is. Glitter paper is usually a little sandpaper-y in texture, but not this one. You could never believe you are touching glittery paper if you had your eyes closed. Using a long vertical strip allowed me to showcase the ombre effect as well. I punched the corner with a Curvy Corner punch, and I layered a few cut-apart and chipboard pieces to dress it up. I created my title using three different alphabet stickers pack. I decided to stop being stingy with my alphabet stickers. Life is short and I might as well use them while I can. I have noticed that I tend to like my finished layouts more when I use stickers as well, as the different fonts and the dimension add to the final design. I got lucky here and was able to find the letters I needed for the second word in my Treasure Thickers pack, which is getting really empty. I made sure to add liquid glue behind the pink letters to make sure they would stay put on the glitter cardstock.

The sketch had the top border go all the way across the two pages. I tried it and was not liking the look, so I stopped at the edge of the pictures. I used an old vanilla flower trim, which suited the papers well. I added flowers from the matching flower pack.

For embellishing, I didn't have a lot from this line aside from the chipboard stickers and Say It in Cystals gems, so I went to town with those elements. Once I was finished with the layout, I realized I could probably include two more of my 4" x 6" pictures if I used a little floating pocket (those independent pockets with holes that are meant to be added between larger pages in an album). I went looking through what I had and could only find 5" x 7" protectors. I was about to put them back and I realized that if I matted my pictures with paper, that would solve my problem. I recently purchased the Christmas Sparkle vellum sheet when it was on sale at my local store and the colours were a nice match, so I cut a piece to size and glued my pictures back to back on it. I added chipboard pieces on both sides to decorate, glued over the page protector.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Pool Party (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Chipboard Stickers, Say It in Crystals, Flowers: Dulce (Prima Marketing)
Ombre Cardstock: Opalescent Green (Tonic)
Vellum Sheet: Christmas Sparkle (Prima Marketing)
Accessories: Curvy Corner Trio Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, Vanilla 5/8" Flower Trim (Stampin' Up!);
Treasure Thickers (American Crafts); Pink Jane Tile Alphabet Stickers (Elle's Studio);
Office Hours Puffy Alpha Stickers (Pinkfresh); 5" x 7" Page Protector (Project Life)

 

Mickey Pretzel

Inspiration: June 2013 Scrapbook Generation Free Sketch + Tic Tac Toe #167 (Metallic [thread] + Gems + Patterned Papers)

Another element from the Fun at the Park Odds & Ends I had put aside was the pretzel. When we went to Disney, my brother-in-law and I talked about how we had a craving for a Mickey pretzel. Thing is, we had tried the meal plan with the sit-down dinners for the first time and we discovered that the meal plan includes a LOT of food! After a sit-down dinner, where you had appetizers or a big buffet plus dessert, you're not really hungry for a snack. At least, we weren't. On the second to last day, we had dinner at Disney Springs, shopped at the Disney Store and when we came out, I spotted a pretzel cart and decided, Our trip is almost over - tonight is the night, I'm getting that darn pretzel! My brother-in-law was not hungry, so he just tasted a piece of mine and what's funny is that two years later, he is still talking about how he regrets never getting a pretzel while we were there! It's just a funny story that I wanted to add to the scrapbook. I didn't have an actual picture of my own pretzel, but I grabbed a picture online so that I would have something to put on the page.

I looked at the Scrapbook Generation sketches and I liked the June 2013 one. It has three pictures, but Allison always encourages her readers to adapt the sketches to their needs and I liked the rest of the design - particularly since I figured I might be able to cut my pattern paper to a 8½ width and run it though my printer to print directly on it. This became the starting point of the page, and I love how it turned out. I cut the page down further after I was done printing, turned the pieces I had cut off over and used the backside pattern to make contrasting strips at the top and bottom.

I centered the picture over the text and I added my title to the right, using two different Thickers set. I added the little twirly border from the cardstock stickers underneath the last word and added a little snack Shape Sprinkle to the side.

Rather than waste paper, I just cut the edge of my paper strip to look like pennants and I slid short pieces underneath the main paper, then I added hand stitching on each strip. I used regular white thread on the red paper, and sparkly red thread on the black paper and sparkly black thread on the turquoise paper. (Those three patterns are from the Petite Prints pattern pack, which is helping me stretch my collection further when I design and tone the heavy patterns down as well.) 

I wanted to give the pretzel die-cut a little more visual weight, so I added a scalloped circle underneath, topped with a fireworks die-cut for layering. I included dimensional adhesive between both layers. The little stamp is cut with decorative edge scissors out of patterned paper, the little arrow is from the cardstock stickers and I added die-cut stars around the page, topped with rhinestone stickers and enamel dots.

This was a fun page to put together. I'm really making grounds on my Disney album lately. I've scrapbooked so much since the beginning of the year that I've pretty much put together the same amount of pages in six months as I've had all of last year! 

 

 

Supplies
Textured Cardstock: Fun at the Park Solid Assortment (Doodlebug Design)
Patterned Papers, Odds & Ends, Bits & Pieces, This & That Cardstock Stickers: Fun at the Park (Doodlebug Design)
Accessories: Star Attraction, I love This Place and Foodie Fun Shape Sprinkles, Festive Assortment Mini Jewels,
Festive Assortment Sprinkles (Doodlebug Design); Needlepoint Thread (DMC);
Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Land of Wonder and Garden Party Thickers (American Crafts)
Font: Typewriter Rustic RNH

 

School Circles

Inspiration: Little Red Wagon #659 (Make It Count) + July 2020 Card Maps sketch

I picked the School Days papers from Doodlebug Design for this card, and I incorporated the paper with all of the math equations plus the ruler. 

To create the background, I picked a piece of lined paper from the Color Vibe - Woods paper pad and I added paper clips using the stencil from Simple Stories' Let's Get Crafty collection and Platinum Stencil Butter.

I had been wanting to ink up the Pencil In stamp set from Waffle Flower for a while, so it was a good opportunity to do so.

I liked the idea of the circles from the Card Maps sketch, as it allowed me to include a lot of the images from the set and create little scenes on each circle. At the bottom, I included a ruler image inspired by a leftover scrap I found in this paper collection, and I added the "thank you" banner over it. Some of the images were glued flat on the card, and some were popped on Stampin' Dimensionals. I used the leftover images to decorate the envelope and the inside of the card. I added Candy Dots to each of the circle for a bit of dimension.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Pencil In (Waffle Flower); Douceurs glacées (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); Solar White (Nenah)
Patterned Papers: School Days (Doodlebug Design)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Blueberry Bushel (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Outside In Stitched Rectangles Stackables (Lawn Fawn); Pencil In (Waffle Flower)
Accessories: Platinum Stencil Butter (The Crafter's Workshop);
Paper Clips Stencil (Simple stories); A2 Fairway Metallic Envelope (Envelopes.com);
Circle Punches, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Candy Dots (Stampin' Up!);
Markers (Copic)

 

Christmas Gift Reindeer

I based the design of this card on the previous card I had made with the polar bear Woodland Critter Hugger. I also had a little deer already done, so I picked Designer Series Paper - Warmth & Cheer - to match. To make life simple, I repeated the same design, adding snowflakes die-cut with the Christmas Day Snow dies and a French sentiment that reads "Merry Christmas", die-cut of gold kraft-stock, overlaid over vellum. While searching through my paper pads, I found the Botanical Gardens Designer Vellum pack and used it to make the word bubbles. This card will also be donated to the children's hospital.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Garden Green, Whisper White, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette,
Basic Black, Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!); Metallic Kraft-stock (Tim Holtz for idea-ology)
Designer Series Paper: Warmth & Cheer (Stampin' Up!)
Designer Vellum Stack: Botanical Gardens (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Mini Slimline Stackables, Woodland Critter Huggers, Woodland Critter Huggers Add-On (Lawn Fawn);
joyeux Noël / bonne année (Crealies); Christmas Day Snow (Echo Park)
Accessories: Slimline Envelope (Envelopes.com)

 

Snow Day Cocoa

I found some cute Woodland Critter Huggers I had put together before and decided to turn them into Christmas cards for the children's hospital. I looked through my Lawn Fawn patterned papers to find something in matching colours and pulled out Knit Picky Fall. I used the Mini Slimline Stackables dies to die-cut a teal background and layer a green background. I used the pink knit pattern to die cut "merry Christmas" and the Pearlescent Vellum to die-cut the bubbles behind the words. I also die-cut white snowflakes using the Christmas Day Snow dies from Echo Park. This came together really quickly since the bear was already completely done. He looks so cute in his sparkly winter gear.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Berry Burst, Whisper White, Basic Black, Basic Grey, Pink Pirouette, Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!);
Pearlescent Vellum (Lawn Fawn)
Patterned Papers: Knit Picky Fall (Lawn Fawn)
Dies: Mini Slimline Stackables, Woodland Critter Huggers, Woodland Critter Huggers Add-On (Lawn Fawn);
joyeux Noël / bonne année (Crealies); Christmas Day Snow (Echo Park)
Accessories: Slimline Envelope (Envelopes.com)

 

Tropical Collage

Inspiration: Time Out Challenge #216 (Tropical)

The Tropical challenge was a good opportunity to use my new Artfully Layered bundle. I created my background with the Dictionary background stamp (now retired) and inking through a stencil with a blender brush. I created the border using the mesh pattern and the border from the dies found in the bundle.

The foliage was created using different shades of green cardstock and vellum as well. I stamped the sentiment ("Sending lots of hugs") on a piece of patterned paper, die-cut with a stitched oval die. To embellish, I added a couple of buttons and a few sequins in matching shades.

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Collage tropical (Artfully Layered), Dictionary
Cardstock: Evening Evergreen, Shaded Spruce, Soft Succulent, Vellum
Ink: Evening Evergreen, Soft Succulent
Dies: Tropical Layers
Accessories: Plenty of Patterns Decorative Masks;
Buttons, Sequins (Buttons Galore & More); A2 Rose Quartz Metallic Envelope (Envelopes.com)

 

Ooh La La

Inspiration: In[k]spire Me #480

After creating a layout and set of embellishments, I decided to make a card with the With Love stickers pack before putting all of the supplies away. This came together really quickly since I already had matching patterned papers handy and I got inspired to use the leftover piece of mesh ribbon I had cut off previously. I took the metal wire out of the sides to make it lay flat and I used it as the main square. Rather than adding twine, I used little arrow stickers and a circle (since I didn't have enough in the pack to do both sides). I added the gold scalloped border underneath the aqua paper.

I layered the pink doily and the envelope images and added some of the leftover heart stickers (from the scalloped border) on the envelope image. I used the ooh la la stickers as my sentiment, using mini Stampin' Dimensionals to pop the words up.

I decorated a Seafoam envelope with stickers to match. This probably took 15 minutes top to assemble.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Pink (Unknown Source)
Patterned Paper: Pool Party Stripes (Stampin' Up!); Polka Dots (Unknown Source)
Dies: Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things)
Accessories: With Love Stickers (My Mind's Eye); A2 Seafoam Envelope (Envelopes.com);
Mesh Ribbon (Recollections); From My Heart Faceted Gems, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

 

Curiousity

Inspiration: Just Add Ink #608

When I purchased the Kaleidoscope Plaid dies from Spellbinders, I used paper scraps to test it out and see how it looked assembled. I repeated the blocks four times, in shades of grey, orange and black to create a background. (I assume I had Halloween on the brain when I chose those colours.) This background stayed in my bin where I keep little elements that have not been used on projects yet. Today, I rummaged through that bin for inspiration and I realized that the colours of that background fit the Just Add Ink challenge perfectly! I only add the include yellow and vanilla in there and I would be on my way.

I looked at Card Maps sketches for inspiration and picked one from July 2020. I looked through my stamps and immediately decided on Observations, as I was happy to have a chance to get this one used. Isn't this gentleman just fantastic? It was one of those sets that I really liked but passed on when it was released because those rubber sets can really add to the bill. I was psyched to see some of the previous stamp sets released in bundles including photopolymer stamps and stencils at a much more affordable price. This was one of them. I *think* the size might be smaller (that would have to be checked), but in this case, I find this size easier to work on a card front. I find that the Tim Holtz products I've purchased over the past years are really helping me come up with masculine cards more easily. This is one of them, where I find I don't have to compromise my personal crafting style to get to a masculine card that both myself and the recipient can enjoy.

The main image was stamped in Memento ink on Very Vanilla cardstock and colored with Copic markers, then fussy cut. The tag was created with the Angle Tag topper punch from Stampin' Up! and I added a hole reinforcer using the Planner Essentials dies from Elizabeth Craft Designs. The wheels and cogs image from the Observations stamp set were added to the yellow cardstock with matching ink. I added matching baker's twine and two brushed metallic adhesive-backed dots.

I stamped the gentleman on a metallic orange envelope using VersaMark and embossed it in black. I added Glossy Accents to the monocle on the card and on the envelope.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Observations (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous)
Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Hello Honey, Very Vanilla, Black Glimmer Paper, Basic Grey (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Various Scraps
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Basic Grey (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Kaleidoscope Plaid (Spellbinders); Reinforcement Variety Pack (Elizabeth Craft Designs)
Accessories: A2 Flame Metallic Envelope (Envelopes.com); Markers (Copic);
Black Stampin' Emboss Powder, Black Stampin' Dimensionals, Angle Tag Topper Punch,
Brushed Metallic Adhesive-Backed Dots (Stampin' Up!); Gold Yellow Baker's Twine (May Arts);
Glossy Accents (Ranger)

 

Playing in the Puddles

Inspiration: Sunday Stamps #285

The Sunday Stamps colour combo reminded me of the new In Color hues, so I paired for of them with Hello Honey cardstock. I decided to make a platform pop-up card, so I used the In Color Designer Series Paper to make the base and I used the In Color ombre glimmer paper to make the water puddles and the little clouds around the sun. 

The images were colored with my Stampin' Blends markers. I used acetate to have some of the elements floating above the card, like the sun, the frog and the splash. At the last minute, I decided to use the back panel piece of the dies. I picked Orchid Oasis polka dot paper and I added clouds using a stencil, ink and a blender brush.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Beary Rainy Day (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Hello Honey, Whisper White, 2022-2024 In Color Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Designer Series Paper: 2022-2024 In Color (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Orchid Oasis (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Platform Pop-Up, Platform Pop-Up Add-On, Beary Rainy Day, Spring Showers (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Blender Brushes (Waffle Flower); Gansai Tambi Starry Colors Watercolors (Kuretake);
Window Sheet, Stampin' Blends Markers (Stampin' Up!)

 

Holiday Home

Inspiration: July 2022 Card Maps sketch

This is the second card I made with the Holly Days collection from Simple Stories based on the Card Maps sketches. The white cardstock was die-cut using the Dotted Rectangle Stackables dies and embossed with the Winter Snowflakes 3D embossing folder. The sentiment was created with Paper Rose's Falalalala Fine Script die, with Old Olive cardstock for the word and Pearlescent Vellum for the bubble.

This is another card I plan to give to the children's hospital.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); Pearlescent Vellum (Lawn Fawn)
Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers, Enamel Dots, Sticker Book: Holly Days (Simple Stories)
Dies: Falalalala Fine Script (Paper Rose); Dotted Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Cherry Cobbler Curly Trim, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
White Envelope (The Paper Cut); Winter Snowflakes 3D Embossing Folder (Sizzix)

 

Santa's Sack

Inspiration: July 2022 Card Maps sketch

The new Card Maps quarterly sketches just came out and I decided to draw inspiration from them to put together more Christmas cards for the children's hospital. I started looking through my Christmas collections and Holly Days quickly jumped out at me. I didn't have time to make a lot with it when it came out last year and I thought the colorful, whimsical designs would appeal to children.

I was particularly drawn to the sketch with a tag as I knew this collection had a sheet of cut-apart tags that I could use. I picked the Dec. 25 tag and the Santa image from the cardstock stickers. Then I looked through patterned papers to see what I could use to go with it. I selected the snowflakes pattern for the background and the Ho Ho Ho pattern for the center. I matted the center paper with Shaded Spruce cardstock using the Perfect Layers tool. I used the same cardstock to cut a little dimensional banner using the Fancy Folded Banners die and I glued the Ho Ho Ho puffy sticker over it. I added enamel dots on each side and threaded white, pink and red baker's twine on the tag.

I didn't like having the Santa float on the card, so adding the scalloped polka dot banner grounded the image. The card still felt a little bare, so I added the little tab and a gift from the sticker book, and another cardstock sticker gift popped up over the Santa. I used my mini stapler to add staples to each side of the polka dot border, which finished the card to my liking. I use additional stickers on the envelope to finish up the set. 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Shaded Spruce (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Puffy Stickers, Enamel Dots, Cardstock Stickers, Sticker Book: Holly Days (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Baker's Twine, Fancy Folded Banners Dies (Lawn Fawn);
Square Card Blanks and Envelopes (Docrafts); Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Stapler (Stampin' Up!)

 

Halloween Mini-Album

I am so elated with how this mini-album turned out. Earlier this Spring, Simple Stories did a Live YouTube presentation and Jana showed the pages of three mini-albums designed to be classes for the company. I thought they were so adorable and I particularly liked how they had done a lot of insert pages and flip-ups and totally changed how the pocket protectors are used. This left me totally inspired and as soon as I had a free weekend, I circled back to that video to have a closer look and try putting together a mini-album of my own.

A few years ago, we had an Halloween party at my place. We all dressed up and took family pictures and then my nieces went on a candy treasure hunt to find treats I had packaged and hidden around the house. Because I had quite a few pictures of this day, I figured a mini-album would be a better format than individual scrapbook pages. Two years ago, I had fallen in love with the Boo Crew Halloween collection from Simple Stories and preordered pretty much every item from the collection from my local store. I figured this collection would be a great pick for the mini-album since I had plenty of elements to choose from. I went all out on the embellishing to see how much of a dent I could make in the collection. I have to say, I'm amazed at how much paper and embellishments I still have left considering that I didn't hold back at all on decorating my pages.

The album has 18 pages overall (9 front and back), so here are a few highlighted details from it.

Page 1: One the elements that immediately made me fall in love with the album Jana was sharing was the flaps that fold over the plastic of the page protector. One of the reasons I started disliking pocket scrapbooking really quickly after giving it a try was how confining it felt (both with thickness and width) and how everything felt very grid-like when you leafed through an album. This way of doing pocket scrapbooking breaks out of that mold and makes the best out of those pockets. On this page, I am using a regular 6" x 8" protector, but by using 12" x 12" patterned paper, I'm able to cut a 6" x 11-3/4" piece, score at 8" and fold the piece over, showing the backside pattern. When picking a pattern for this, make sure you think of how you are cutting and scoring the paper if the pattern is directional. Inside the flap, I used a 3" x 4" cut-apart to make a pocket, in which I slid one of the tags from the cut-apart paper.

Page 2: The foam stickers are wonderful to add depth to a page, but they can definitely distort the plastic of the protector once you slip the page in. Those stick really well to the page protector, so you are better off sticking them outside of the protector rather than on the page. My page initially felt a little bare, so adding the foam words really filled up the space nicely.

Pages 3 and 4: This was the very last page I put together. In a different album shown in the video, Jana had done half-page inserts with patterned paper and I really love the idea. I decided I could use it as a way to fit two more portrait-size pictures in my album, glued back to back over the piece of paper. I rounded the corners, added the scalloped border sticker and punched holes using an empty protector as reference. Having those smaller inserts that are not full-sized really make the album more unexpected and dimensional, and that type of insert does not limit you to any picture size or orientation.

Page 8: I had a few pictures from the candy hunt that were not the best quality, because the girls kept moving around quickly and the lighting was not always the best depending on where they were standing. I still wanted to include some pictures to remember the fun we had, but I made them smaller so I used a four quadrant protector for this one. This is one of the format that fills very grid-like to me, and I found that I was able to work around that by adding my stickers on top of the plastic. For example, I had put the "broom hair, don't care" over my niece's picture on the right and I really wanted to add the broom sticker to go with it. I tried adding it to the "Trick or Treat" cut-apart piece, but it was hiding the text too much and made it unreadable. I finally realized that if I put the broom outside of the pocket, I was able to position it exactly where I wanted it and it instantly made the whole page more pleasing. The same is true for the banner sticker at the top. I was trying to get the candle lined up with the edge of the picture and having the black line fall in the middle of the picture was really throwing the balance off, so when I lined up the black piece with the edge of the picture, the candle was hanging off the side of the protector. I thought about cutting it off, but I liked this detail, so I decided to test it as is (adding powder to the back to take the sticky off). Because I'm using a ring binder, there is plenty of room to turn the page without damaging the candle, so again, this helps break the grid off.

Page 10: This is another element from the sample album that I loved. You use a 10½" x 8" piece of patterned paper and score it at 6" to create a narrower flap. I used a circle punch at the top like in the example, but I had noticed that the Bits & Pieces included a few circles so I made sure to add one in my half-circle punchout. This is another spot where I added the foam stickers (Trick or Treat?) since I had the room to accommodate the bulk. On the front flap, there's a bunch of text on the pattern, but one part caught my eye and made me laugh - Beware... be very, very ware! I wanted to make sure to draw attention to that part, so I used the candlelight from the bits and pieces nd added the hand with the finger pointing to those words. At the top, I added the adorable mummy die-cut and I added foam and enamel stars around it.

Page 12: This page also uses the flap concept, and I used the October 31 calendar page as a tab. I didn't like having the back all white when the panel is opened, so I worked a few stickers on it to decorate it. I recently purchased some border dies from Photoplay that are meant for slimline cards. I don't really make those long cards really often, but I figured the longer border dies would come in handy for scrapbooking and they sure do! It was my first use of this wonky edge and I absolutely love the look. I also pulled out this Halloween paper fringe from Tim Holtz and it looks totally awesome! The candy word is a foam sticker.

Page 13: Now this is a fun detail to point out. It appears (if I interpreted what I saw on the video properly) that a pocket was created over the page protector by gluing a cut-apart over it and sliding elements inside the pocket. This is again such a cool way to not be restricted to the pocket sizes of the protector you are using. Here, I had two different patterns from the back of the image slid in the "3 x4" pockets, and I used a 4" x 4" cut-apart, glued in place with sticky strip on three sides, with a cut-apart tag slid in. I added some vanilla flower trim that was purchased years ago.

Page 16: Instead of a flap, you can create a pocket on this one by folding the paper over the front and gluing it in place or in this case, I stapled both sides. I slid two pieces inside. The first one is a leftover die-cut from a frame done on a prior page, on which I punched a slit at the top to add ribbon. I fussy cut a big pumpkin image and added it to the tag with dimensional adhesive. The second piece is two tags from the cut-apart sheet, cut together and folded it in half to make a mini-booklet. I finally (after many years) managed to find a tutorial on how to put pictures together in Photoshop Elements to print smaller-sized pictures at home without using an app, so I used two 1½" x 3" pictures inside the booklet.

Page 18: One of the papers had 2" x 2" cut-aparts, so I used those with a page protector that had two rows of those small squares. Again, I used the concept of gluing things over the protector with dimensional adhesive to give the page dimension.

All of my pages have been put in a temporary 6" x 8" binder that I had on hand. The colour would fit, but the snowflakes, not so much, so they will be transferred to another album once I can find one in the right colour for Halloween. I will probably add a few embellishments to the album itself once I have it.

This mini-album took a full three days of work to get done, but it is arguable one of my favorite mini-albums I have ever put together, in parts because the Boo Crew is one of my fave Halloween lines I've worked with. I love the grey/orange/vanilla combo and the adorable characters and images.

 

  

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Basic Grey, Black Foil Sheets, Vellum (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Decorative Brads, Foam Stickers, Cardstock Stickers, Bits & Pieces, 
Washi Tape, Enamel Dots: The Boo Crew (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Mini Album, Mini Dimensionals, Twine, Black Sparkly Organza Ribbon, Curvy Corner Punch,
Black Rhinestones, Pinking Heart Border Punch, Tango Tangerine/White Trim,
Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Natural/White Ribbon (Stampin' Up!);
Buttons (Foof-a-La); Decorative Clips, Black Messy Stitches Rub-Ons (49 & Market);
Decorative Scissors (Fiskars); Reinforcement Pack Dies (Elizabeth Craft Designs);
Baker's Twine, Beetle Black Mini Doilies, Black Sugar Brads (Doodlebug Design);
Rhinestone Flourish Stickers, Wax Seal Stickers, Black Square Rhinestone Stickers (Recollections);
Enamel Stars (Bella Blvd.); Dies (Coco & Reno)

 

Where Dreams Come True

Inspiration: Freshly Made Sketch #541

I wanted to make a card with the Fun at the Park collection before putting it away, and I drew inspiration from the Freshly Made sketch. I used one of the stickers from the cardstock sticker sheet, and I was planning on hiding the English words with a die-cut banner with a French stamped sentiment, but I ended up switching gears as I was designing. I used the dies from the Foundation 4 set to create the background piece, the straight banner and the tag overlapping the image. The stamped sentiment reads, "Have a nice day" and came from a Stampin' Up! set. I added a Mini Icon bow sticker to fill the space above the sentiment and two turquoise rhinestones from the mini jewel pack. I used stickers to embellish inside the card and the front of the matching envelope as well. 

I think I can now retire this collection for a little while and try including some other ones in my Disney album!

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Douceur de pêche (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Mini Icon Stickers, Icon Stickers: Fun at the Park (Doodlebug Design)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Foundation 4 Dies (Queen & Co); Festive Assortment Mini Jewels (Doodlebug Design);
A2 White Envelope (The Paper Cut); Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Corner Chomper (We R Memory Makers)

 

Reunion

Inspiration: January 2022 Page Maps Sketch

I love this picture of my niece with my parents, it turned out really well, but it also captures a very special moment - the first time we were able to reunite after the pandemic. I already had used the I Am collection from Simple Stories (2020) on my previous layout, and I thought the colours and patterns could work with this picture as well, so I kept going. I've always loved Simple Stories' offering but I find myself favoring their products more and more when I craft these days. Seems like I am always pleased with the results, so might as well use what I love first - life is short!

You'll notice there's a few buttons and pearls on there. Those come from 28 Lilac Lane cubes I got on clearance. They were on my wish list for years and I kept thinking, do I really need more buttons and sequins... The clearance price finally sealed the deal and I'm really happy with the embellishments I received. I just have to organize them so that buttons get organized by colours and sequins as well, as by colour is usually how I shop my stash. Buttons have had their ups and downs when it comes to craft trends, but it is an element that I have used consistently on my projects over the years, whether they are trendy or not.

Another element I managed to sneak in there is the large die cut behind the picture. I recently tried to use the leftover pieces from a 49 & Market album kit and I placed all of the leftover die-cuts in a little bin on my basket, thinking I could dig through it when I craft. I thought to do so as I was putting together this page and I realized it made a really neat mat to make my picture stand out. I also knew I wanted to use the Midnight alphabet Thickers to match the gold of the die-cuts so putting together the title was a quick job. I typed my journaling on the computer, changed the colour to match the papers and cut the cardstock into thin strips to add to the page.

Another element I thought to use is the Expressions in Ink ephemera pack from Stampin' Up!, again to match the gold touches of the chipboard pieces. I glued two of the super thin frames behind my 2 x 2 cut-apart images and added those to the central band of the page. I also added a little twig behind the "Focusing on the good!" circle die-cut, which I topped with a chipboard flower. I added a heart chipboard piece next to the title, a "Happy" banner on the picture, with a chipboard bird over it, pointing to the title. The date was handwritten on a little tab from the Bits & Pieces kit.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Tranquil Tide (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Chipboard Stickers, Journal Bits & Pieces: I Am (Simple Stories)
Font: Juice ITC
Accessories: Buttons and Pearls (28 Lilac Lane - Buttons Galore and More);
Midnight Alphabet Thickers (American Crafts); Decorative Scissors (Fiskars);
Expressions in Ink Ephemera Pack, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Black Roughly Sewn Rub-Ons, Vintage Artistry Butter Ephemera Stack (49 & Market)

 

You Are Beautiful, Fabulous, Loved

Inspiration: January 2022 Page Maps sketch

Oh, those glasses... They used to belong to me when I was a kid. My parents swear I was the one that picked them out, and I vaguely remember that I did, but what was I thinking? They got me endlessly teased in school and now I can see why! My niece got a kick out of trying them out and even though the glasses are awful, she still look pretty cute! 

The I Am collection from Simple Stories (2020) was a good fit with the colours of the pictures. This is one collection where I just got a few single sheets, the Bits and Pieces and the chipboard. I had enough choice to make an interesting pages pretty quickly. drawing inspiration from the sketch I had selected. 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamp: Date Stamp (Office Supplies)
Ink: Pretty Peacock (Stampin' Up!)
Specialty Designer Series Paper: Noble Peacock (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Journal Bits & Pieces, Chipboard Stickers: I Am (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Circle Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Layering Circle Dies (Tonic); Carpe Diem Bradz (Simple Stories)

 

Kilimanjaro Safari

Inspiration: November 2013 Scrapbook Generation Free Sketch + Just Us Girls challenge #639

Simple Stories has been releasing fantastic collections throughout the year and I was initially going to pass up on Into the Wild because I've found in the past that I've struggled to use collections that are animal or zoo-themed. I have been slowly but surely working on my Disney World album but I still had not put together any layout for our day spent at Animal Kingdom, as I wasn't sure what to use for those pictures. It dawned on me that Into the Wild could work pretty well, and this is the first layout I've finished putting together with the collection. I started with pictures from the Kilimanjaro Safari. It was pretty cool that the foam stickers have that exact word in it, and the Bits & Bobs have that adorable little green jeep as well.

My pictures from the safari are not stellar - most of the animals were far off in the distance, away or sleeping when we rode the attraction, but it was my very first visit at the Animal Kingdom park altogether, so I still wanted to document our visit there. Since the Scrapbook Generation layouts often include a ton of pictures, I had a look at various sketches and picked the November 2013 one. The fact that the animals were far off in the distance made it really easy to crop the pictures off to small 2" x 2" pictures and so on.

I bought a single collection pack so I didn't have any sheet duplicate, which means that in order to get the two blocks of paper going across the two-page layout, I had to get creative. I went looking through my monochromatic DSP from Stampin' Up! and pulled papers that matched the collection. I was really liking the yellow paper but only had a sheet and a half, so I reduced the size of the right-side block to accommodate the scrap I had. The photo mat and the two borders came from the Into the Wild papers.

For the square border, I would have die-cut squares out of patterned papers, but I wanted to be strategic about how I use the paper I have and I was also worried that would be one busy border, since the papers are not exactly discreet patterns. So I pulled cardstock colours matching the papers, die-cut each colour twice, then I used the Dotted and Stitched stamp set from Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous to add texture to each of them. I have to say, this might be one of my favorite detail of the layout! I also later on went through Candy Dots and Enamel Dots to add dots of matching colours on each of the squares.

I used one of the cut-apart blocks, turned 90 degree to match the sketch, for my journaling. I created my title with the foam sticker and gold puffy stickers from the Magical Forest collection. I recycled a piece of torn vellum that was on my desk to create a "shelf" for the word and add a bit of texture.

While looking through the ephemera pack, I noticed that the die-cuts included a lot of the same animals I had in my pictures, so I put those aside to see if I could match them to the pictures. I could not get each animal by its matching picture, because some of the animals were facing off the page, which did not look good and some were too big for the allowed space, so I moved the images around until I could find a pleasing arrangement. The animals I had the most trouble fitting in were the elephant, the zebra and the ostrich. I solved my problem by putting the elephant and the ostrich on top of other animals, to fill the space, and I found out that the cardstock sticker also included a zebra image that was actually smaller, so this condensed scale worked way better on the page.

I added some of the sentiment stickers around the page - my favorite is "Hakuna Matata" on the image of the warthog, my little Pumbaa lookalike. I had a jungle safari chipboard piece I was hoping to fit in, but I found the "Welcome to the jungle" cardstock sticker and again, the size was more convenient, so I popped it on foam and placed the puma over it. When I looked for embellishments, I found the Diamond Say It in Crystals gems, which actually have leopard dots and zebra stripes on them. They were perfect for this layout, so I added them to the title, and then I worked enamel dots around the pages.

I have a few remaining pictures, so I will probably make a couple of extra pages (maybe using pocket protectors) to add them to my album, and I'd like to use this collection to make the front page of our day at Animal Kingdom as well, so more to come later!

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Marks (Woodware Craft Collection); Dotted and Stitched (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous);
Ticket Express (49 & Market)
Cardstock: Grey (Bazzill)
Ink: Regal Rose, Peach Passion, Mint Macaron, Dusty Durango, Lucky Limeade, Sahara Sand (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Foam Stickers, Bits & Pieces, Journaling Bits,
Cardstock Stickers: Into the Wild (Simple Stories)
Designer Series Paper Stack: Brights (Stampin' Up!)
Designer Vellum Stack: Botanical Gardens
Dies: Square Nestabilities (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Diamond Say It in Crystals (Prima Marketing); Magical Forest Alphabet Stickers (Crate Paper);
Bundle of Joy Enamel Dots (Echo Park); Deckle Trimmer (Tim Holtz for Tonic); Decorative Scissors (Fiskars);
Stampin' Dimensionals, Enamel Shapes, Candy Dots, Mini Stapler, Gold and Clear Faceted Gems (Stampin' Up!)

Merry Bear

Inspiration: July 2022 Card Maps Sketch

I kept going with the Card Maps sketches and the Holly Days collection from Simple Stories and this is the third card I put together. The bear image was fussy cut from a cut-apart sheet, and the gifts from a patterned paper. I cut a tag from the cut-apart sheet, shortened it and used the backside as a decorative strip on the bottom. I rounded the bottom corners. I arranged the gifts on it, adding the last one with Stampin' Dimensionals. I stamped the "Happy Holidays" sentiment in Real Red ink. I topped the tag with a decorative brad.

I wrapped Real Red ribbon around the card and added a pink button in the center of the bow. I popped the bear on Stampin' Dimensionals and added it to the card. I added a red button to his scarf, Stickles to its cheeks and hat and sequins to the gifts' bows.

Even though the card is A2, the button made it a tight squeeze in a regular envelope, so I found an old piece of Garden Green Designer Series Paper and used it to make an oversize envelope. I used another tag from the cut-apart sheet as my address block.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Pétales de poinsettia (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Real Red (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Decorative Brads, Sticker Book: Holly Days (Simple Stories)
Ink: Real Red (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Stitched Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Envelope Punch Board, Real Red Cotton Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals,
White Baker's Twine (Stampin' Up!); Diamond Stickles (Ranger);
Pastel Dreams and Deck the Halls Shaker Mixes (28 Lilac Lane / Buttons Galore & More)

 

Christmas Portraits

Inspiration: July 2022 Page Maps sketch + Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Anything Goes)

As I was making cards with the Holly Days collection, I decided I should make at least one layout with it, especially if I was to use the chipboard frames. I picked one of the Page Maps sketches, and started layering papers. I used the File Folder Edges dies to create the tab on the polka dot paper. The word "Noel" was already in the die-cut pack, so that helped me create a quick title on the page. I used number stickers from the sticker book to add the date, on a tag die-cut from the Bits & Pieces pack.

Pretty much all of the embellishing was done with various elements from the collection - decorative brads, sticker book, chipboard stickers, chipboard frames, puffy stickers... I didn't have any Christmas pictures already printed, so I went looking through past Christmas pictures to find something that would work in the frame. The sketch called for a 4" x 6" picture, but I ended up using the frame with two apertures and printing my pictures to a smaller size to fit. I will have to make another layout showing the outtakes from those pictures, because it took a lot of work to get a couple of half-decent pictures. We were working with low lighting and a lot of the pictures unfortunately came out hazy. My young niece also got bored really quickly and peaced out, so I'm glad I have at least two good pictures that she appears in.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Pink (Bazzill)
Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers, Puffy Stickers, Sticker Book, Chipboard Stickers,
Chipboard Frames, Decorative Brads, Enamel Dots: Holly Days (Simple Stories)
Dies: File Folder Edges Die-namics (My Favorite Things)
Accessories: LePen pens (Marvy); Stampin' Dimensionals, Eyelet (Stampin' Up!)

 

Magical Memories

Inspiration: March 2016 Free Sketch from Scrapbook Generation (Allison Davis)

Inspiration sometimes take a hard left... I had taken out the soft Dulce papers from Prima Marketing and was rummaging through pictures to find something from possibly our day at the Magic Kingdom to go with it. Then I found those pictures of us munching on popcorn while waiting for the bus to go back to the hotel after a long day at Epcot and I remembered that I had purchased the What's Poppin' Shaker-pops from Doodlebug's Fun at the Park collection, which would work nicely with those pictures. The collection colour also fit the pictures' colours quite nicely, so I put the other papers aside and switched gears.

The design was based on some Scrapbook Generation sketches I recently downloaded. The design is really simple - five strips of patterned paper in the center of your page - which left a lot of room for embellishments. Initially, I had selected the scalloped circle from the sticker sheet to replace the star from the sketch and it was just supposed to be to mat the popcorn shaker, but some of the text was poking out, which was bothering. I tried finding something to hide it, but I was not liking the layering, so I changed my mind. I kept the sticker as the title and I moved the shaker to the bottom of the page, paired with the direction post Odds & Ends piece. From this same kit, I also pulled the Ice Cream cart, just to stay with the food imagery, and the popcorn bucket and kernels, which were added around the date tag.

The pictures were matted with papers from the Petite Prints pack to make them stand out more. I used the popcorn cut-apart image from the patterned paper, handwrote my journaling on it and I topped it with a Minnie bow. I used some of the little stars around the pictures and I added rhinestones to the main title. An enamel dot was added to the right of the date tag.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Au jour le jour (Project Life by Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Tempting Turquoise (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Petite Print Assortment, Odds & Ends, This & That Cardstock
Stickers: Fun at the Park (Doodlebug Design)
Accessories: Festive Assortment Mini Jewels, Foodie Fun Shape Sprinkles,
What's Poppin' Shaker-Pops Cardstock Sticker, Festive Assortment Sprinkles (Doodlebug Design);
Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

 

In the Leaves Collage

This is another card that I created using the leftover pieces from the 49 & Market mini album kit I got from my local scrapbook store last year. I paired the yellow frame and ticket die-cuts to use as my main image. For the background, I picked the page with flowers in opposite side. Because the paper measures 6" x 8", I would not have had both sets of flowers after cutting to size for an A2 card, so I fussy cut the flowers in the upper right corner, die-cut the rest of the paper using the Wonky Stitched Rectangle dies and I layered the flowers back with dimensional adhesive over the upper right corner. I added the butterfly, splatter and word rub-ons and a few pearls. I stamped "A little note" on a scrap of patterned paper and bubble cut the sentiment to add to the card. I used my mini stapler to add a staple to the ticket. I used rub-ons to decorate the inside of the card and the envelope as well. I should also add that all elements were inked with a dauber and brown ink before they were added to the card.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Collage Tropical (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Almost Artichoke (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Rub-Ons: In the Leaves (49 & Market)
Ink: Soft Suede, Crumb Cake (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things);
Champagne Celebration Satin Baubles (Trinity Stamps);
Foam Adhesive Strips, Mini Stapler, Crumb Cake Medium Envelope,
Sponge Daubers (Stampin' Up!) 

 

Leaves Frame

Inspiration: Tic Tac Toe #164 (Flowers + Twine + Free)

This card is the result of trying to use leftovers from a project kit. My local store offered a mini album kit based on the In the Leaves collection and after putting the album together, I still had quite a few papers, laser cuts and rub-ons left. I tried to see what I could come up with playing with the various pieces. I have to say, 49 & market knows how to do rub-ons. They are beautiful and they transfer easily and evenly. You can see one of them on the matching envelope, and the colour look stunning against the kraft envelope.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Hello Honey (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Rub-Ons, Laser Cuts: In the Leaves (40 & Market)
Accessories: Orange Twine (Recollections); Mini Stapler, Foam Adhesive Strips,
Crumb Cake Medium Envelope (Stampin' Up!); Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things)