Encre, papier, ciseaux

Beautiful Moments Captured

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Joyful

Inspiration: October 2019 Page Maps Sketch

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

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

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

Total points for this page: 36 points

 

 

 

 

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

 

Wow Presentation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

 

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

 

Let's Cruise

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

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

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

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

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

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

Total points: 37 points

 

 

 

 

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

 

Bewitched

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

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

 

Training Required

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

 

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

 

Low Prices

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Rocking Chairs

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

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

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

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

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

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

Calvinball Points

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

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

 

 

 

 

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

 

Mini-Cindy

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

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

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

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

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

Calvinball elements:

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

For a total of 20 points. 

 

 

 

 

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

Mix & A-Mingle

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

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

 

Ariri

Inspiration: May 2022 Page Map Sketch

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

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

 

Before Leaving...

Inspiration: December 2022 Page Maps Sketch

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

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

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

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

I never stop learning and growing my designing skills!

 

 

 

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

 

2023 Mantra

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

 

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

 

Hilarious

Inspiration: April 2022 Page Maps Sketch

I wanted to craft yesterday and I was struggling to find inspiration, so I decided to put together embellishments, using the Make It Merry collection Simple Stories (released in 2021). Today, I thought if I used the chipboard frames pack and my handmade embellishments, I'd have a nice base for a scrapbook page, so I printed a couple of Christmas pictures and found a sketch for inspiration.

I made my pictures black and white to go with the collection and trimmed them to size for the double-picture frame. I matted the back paper with White Smoke Cardstock (a nice warm white cardstock from My Mind's Eye). 

One of the handmade embellishments I put together was a ribbon cluster, using jewelry clamps and a hanging mother-of-pearl star. I had also done a nice little banner cluster using leftover papers and die-cut images. As well, I had used the Seasonal Sketch dies from Tim Holtz to make layered poinsettias, using the papers from the collection and silver foil paper for the overlay. Those were all arranged on the circle at the top left of the sketch. I thought of using the alphabet stickers from the sticker book for my title, but I was afraid the flat brown letters would get lost in the pattern. Using Thickers gave it a little more shine and weight, giving it enough contrast to stand out.

I typed my journaling in Word and formatted it to fit on one of the cut-apart tags from the papers. I added a sentiment sticker, cut in two, and a cute clip from the cardstock stickers, as well as the word Christmas in a frame at the top of the page. I pulled the two gifts from the puffy stickers and added them to the frame. I used the holly image from the puffy stickers at the right of the title.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: White Smoke (My Mind's Eye); 
Metallic Kraft-stock (Tim Holtz for Idea-ology)
Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers, Sticker Book, Puffy Stickers, Enamel Dots,
Decorative Brads, Chipboard Frames: Make It Merry (Simple Stories)
Dies: Seasonal Sketch (Tim Holtz for Sizzix)
Accessories: Baker's Twine (Recollections); Stampin' DImensionals, Ribbons (Stampin' Up!);
Star Charm, Silver Clamp (Bead Landing); Say It WIth Crystals (Prima Marketing);
Garden Party Thickers (American Crafts); White Ricrac (Fabric Store);
Letters to Santa Washi Tape (Carta Bella)

 

It's a Beautiful World

Inspiration: April 2022 Page Maps Sketch + Lasting Memory Layout Challenge #627 (use three of various products)

I went back to scrapbooking tonight and made a page for the picture of my niece in front of It's a Small World. I know that this ride is polarizing - people either love it or hate, but my family falls in the "love it" category. As kids, we often visited WDW during summer, when the heat was smoldering, so a lazy boat ride in air conditioning was very welcome and since the queue was often pretty short, we've even been known to ride it twice in a row so that we could enjoy and relax. I still get amazed by the amount of details found in the various scenes and I am always happy to revisit this old favorite. It's also classic Disney, which adds to the charm.

This gave me a chance to dive into the Say Cheese Fantasy at the Park collection from Simple Stories, one of my favorites from this release with its charming colours. Most of the design is based off of products from the line. I only die-cut one of the cut-apart images with a scalloped rectangle die, threaded twine to the chipboard tag and stamped my date on a ticket, but the rest all comes from the collection.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Date Stamp (Office Supplies)
Ink: Old Olive (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers, Foam Stickers, Sticker Book, Decorative Brads,
Enamel Dots: Say Cheese Fantasy at the Park (Simple Stories)
Dies: Scalloped Contours (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Golden Yellow Twine (May Arts); Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

 

Stupid O'Clock

Inspiration: November 2020 Page Maps sketch

Oh, how I love having to set the alarm at 4 a.m. to catch a flight at Stupid o'clock, as my cousin would put it! Those selfies were taken on the tub in London on our way to take our flight back home and my eyes are still pretty red from getting up way too early. I was happy to revisit the Going Places collection from Simple Stories and its lovely, bright colours. I followed an old Page Maps sketch to help place the base shapes and then I let the images and embellishments from the collection guide my design.

The luggage pile was fussy cut from a Snap card. I also used Snap cards for the Travel log journaling block and the Go-See-Do image above my pictures, on which I added the title using alphabet stickers. The London bus was fussy cut from patterned paper. There was a double-decker bus in the Bits & Pieces pack, but I like the smaller version with the London word on it. While looking for my Snap cards, I found some veneer shapes from an older traveling collection also from Simple Stories, so I used the travel word, the little camera and the plane to embellish the page. I covered the camera with yellow embossing powder and added a little square punched out of gold glitter paper. I backed the camera with orange and added an art pebble in the center. (I see that my art pebbles are starting to yellow - yellowing embellishments is one of my biggest pet peeves!) I added a few cardstock stickers and enamel dots as well.

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers, Enamel Dots, Snap Cards, Cardstock Stickers,
Chipboard Stickers, Bits & Pieces, Journaling Bits: Going Places (Simple Stories)
Glimmer Paper: Gold (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: Crushed Curry Stampin' Emboss Powder, Stampin' Dimensionals, 1/4" Square Punch,
Metallic Pearls (Stampin' Up!); Teal Puffy Alphabet Stickers (Elle's Studio);
Art Pebbles (Finnabair / Prima Marketing); You Are Here Veneer Pieces (Simple Stories);
Bumblebee Sunshine Alphabet Stickers (Doodlebug Design)

 

If Leaves are Fallin', Autumn is Callin'

Inspiration: November 2020 Page Maps Sketch

I had been dying to use the Pumpkin Spice collection from Doodlebug ever since it first came out. Don't know why it took so long, but I'm glad to finally have a finished project done with it. I love the colours of this line and I think the page turned out so cute! 

I matted my picture with the turquoise plaid paper and Baked Brown Sugar cardstock. I cut three stripes of patterned paper and punched 1" circles out of various patterns. I added a scalloped border from the This & That sticker page and I picked the large scallop circle for my title. I stitched around the whole block using orange floss.

To finish embellishing, I added Icon stickers and Shape Sprinkles around the page. I also added little sentiment strips and the date using Thickers.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Baked Brown Sugar (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Icon Stickers, This & That Cardstock Stickers: Pumpkin Spice (Doodlebug Design)
Shape Sprinkles: Happy Fall (Doodlebug Design)
Accessories: Needlepoint Floss (DMC); 1" Circle Punch, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

 

Out of This World

Inspiration: Page Maps July 2022 Sketch + Scrap Our Stash (2 forgotten tools: my Perfect Layers (to mat pictures) and the flip pockets with the fuse tool

I was eager to use the Say Cheese at the Park line with my Disney vacation pictures, and the Tomorrow collection was a great pick for our pictures taken at Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin ride. That being said, I had three full-size pictures of us riding on it and I was struggling to find a way to get all of them on a page without it feeling crowded. I ended up putting the pictures aside and working on something else until I thought of the flip protectors I have and once I thought of those, I was ready to revisit the page again. I'm so glad I got this idea, because it allowed me to include the Zurg picture on the page as well.

Inspired by the Page Maps sketch, I stitched a double circle with sparkly red floss in the background. I layered images from the Page Pieces to create the title at the bottom, and I added the rocket with the words Blast off on the right side. I matted the Zurg picture with patterned paper. I cut two tags from the Say Cheese at the Park papers, layered them at an angle and handwrote my journaling on them. I added a little zapper sticker at the top from the Sticker Book, and I added twine bows on both tags.

Once the page itself was done, I slipped it into a page protector and then I layered the three pictures in flip pockets where I wanted them and used the fuse tool to add them to the page protector. I added black sparkly washi tape over the top to hide the seam. 

The Sticker Book included little tabs that were the perfect size, but they couldn't be used on their own on the flips, as the stickers from the book are made of flimsy paper and also would have remained sticky, so I added them to white cardstock, fussy cut them out and then glued them on the flips.

I realized as I was turning the flips over that the back of the pictures didn't look great, so I went back to the patterned papers and cut-apart sheets and I created little inserts to put behind the pictures (gluing them behind the picture so that it would remain aligned). That made me happy, as the page looks more finished that way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers, Sticker Book, Page Pieces, Cardstock Stickers, Enamel Dots.
Puffy Stickers: Say Cheese at the Park, Say Cheese Tomorrow at the Park (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Yellow Twine (Doodlebug Design); Red Twine (Recollections); 
Red Sparkly Needlepoint Floss (DMC); Page Flips (Project Life)

 

Sweetheart

Inspiration: May 2020 Page Maps Sketch

I had a few selfies taken with my youngest niece that I put together in an app so that they could be printed in a smaller size. I also made sure to make the pictures black and white so that they could be scrapbooked using any paper collection.

I have a few love-themed collections that I'm always trying to use outside of Valentine's Day, so I pulled the Sweet Talk collection from Simple Stories here (2020) and put this simple page together. Most of what was used came from the collection, but I did add a Lagoon Vintage Bits Filmstrip from 49 & Market in there. I used black Roughly Sewn Rub-Ons at the top and the bottom of the heart-patterned paper. 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Pink (Unknown); Vanilla Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers, Enamel Dots, Decorative Brads, 
Bits & Pieces, Puffy Stickers: Sweet Talk (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Corner Chomper (We R Memory Makers); Real Red Cotton Ribbon, 
Stampin' Dimensionals, Black Sparkly Organza Ribbon, Washi Tape (Stampin' Up!);
Black Rough Sewn Rub-Ons, Lagoon Vintage Bits Filmstrips (49 & Market);
Sorbet Thickers (American Crafts); Cupcake Sunshine Alphabet Stickers (Doodlebug Design)

 

Pirates of the Caribbean

Inspiration: Festive Friday #115 (Dog + Spots + Cannon Balls)

I got really excited when preview of the Say Cheese at the Parks collections from Simple Stories appeared online. Those might be the cutest Disney-inspired scrapbook collections I've seen so far. I impatiently waited for them to come out and got my hand on most of the items as soon as they came out. This is my first time finally using them. I have to assume the collections are based on Disneyland's lands as the pirates images are found under the Frontier at the Park collection, but the pirates ride is clearly in Adventureland in Walt Disney World. (I pulled the map I have from our last trip to double-check, as I was doubting my memory.)

The design of the page is pretty simple. I basically just had fun moving the ephemera images and foam stickers around to make a cohesive design. I love the picture of my niece - she doesn't need much prompting to make sassy poses for pictures and that pirate face is all her! I discovered that the pirate's hat from the foam stickers was the perfect size to fit her head and I couldn't stop giggling once I put it on her.

We visited the Adventureland section of the park after dinner and we started debating whether to ride Pirates or Jungle Cruise. We got lucky, as the lines for both rides were pretty short, so we ended up being able to ride both before the firework show started. I'm glad we had the chance to revisit this classic with the kids.

This was perfect for the challenge, as I had dotted paper, cannon balls and the little dog holding the key. I love that Simple Stories incorporated that image in the collection - it was the scene from the ride that stuck the most for me as a kid.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Date Stamp (Office Supplies)
Ink: Pool Party (Stampin' Up!); Vintage Photo Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Patterned Papers, Foam Stickers, Cardstock Stickers, Bits & Pieces, Enamel Dots,
Decorative Brads: Say Cheese Frontier at the Park (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Stitched Oval Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn);
Tree Rings Dies, Tree Rings Hybrid Embossing Folder, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

 

 

 

 

 

Let's Go!

Inspiration: Paper Issues July 11^th Sketch + Simon Says Stamp Monday (Let's Go on Vacation!)

When I saw the sketch with the blocked pieces, I immediately thought of the Simple Stories page templates. I pulled one out and it became the starting point for this page. I had been chomping at the bits to use the Let's Go! collection from Simple Stories, so I pulled the picture taken at a restaurant where we stopped for lunch on the way to Wasaga Beach a few years ago.

I was planning to make a watercolor wash background and I painted gesso on a piece of white cardstock, but after the gesso was dry and I started auditioning some of the papers over the background, I felt it looked a little too off-white compared to the paper and it was bothering me. I also realized hat we would not be seeing a whole lot of the background once I added the blocks, so I went back to a white cardstock for the background (and will keep the gesso'ed piece for something else at a later time). I replaced the watercolour wash with 49 & Market rub-ons instead, from the Travel Anywhere collection. Those pair with the SImple Stories line very nicely.  

As part of the collection, I purchased the Page Pieces. I looked in there to see what I could use and I pulled the super cute van plus the awesome marquee. I added dimensional adhesive behind both images and started looking at which patterned paper would look cool underneath. I picked the grey map for the marquee and I had picked the pink map for the van, but I realized once I saw the back of the paper that the plates pattern looked much better. I picked my favorite pattern from the line, the lovely plaid, for the other 6" x 4" piece.

I started looking through Thickers to see what I could use for my title. I was curious to see if the pink Color Vibe letters I had previously purchased could work with this line. Those letters are something I picked up online when my local store did a clearance sale and I thought soft pink letters would be useful since it's a colour that comes back in a lot of paper lines, but when I got my order, I realized that this is more of a soft peach/nude colour. I was glad that it matched the lighter pink from this line, but I was concerned the letters were getting lost in the plaid design, so I used a grey pen and added doodling around the stickers. For the first words, I knew I had a pink alphabet from Queen & Co, which worked perfectly.

In the sketch, the journaling block is towards the bottom, but I had more room to fill at the top of my block, so I used the tag die-cut from the Page PIeces pack and moved it to the top block, handwriting my journaling on it with a pink gel pen. I also found a chipboard tag in the decorative brads pack, and added it at the bottom of the first one, to frame the title.

I created the block at the bottom using half a tag from the cut-apart page, layering a rub-on and two stickers from the sticker book. I stamped my date on the tag and I added a few puffy stickers. I added a few stickers and die-cuts to the page to fill in a few spots. I put enamel dots on the van and the marquee, added art pebbles to the van's headlights, a enamel heart to the van sign, and I glued pink Doo Dadz all aorund the marquee where the white lights were. That really brought the marquee to life with the sparkle it added.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Date Stamp Office (Supplies)
Cardstock: Textured White (American Crafts)
Patterned Papers, Foam Stickers, Sticker Book, Decorative Brads, Page Pieces,
Enamel Dots, Cardstock Stickers, Puffy Stickers: Let's Go! (Simple Stories)
Ink: Bermuda Bay (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Vintage Artistry Travel Anywhere Rub-On Transfers (49 & Market);
Blush Foam Alpha Stickers (Simple Stories); Princess Sparkle Doo Dadz (Buttons Galore & More);
Glossy Accents (Ranger); Mini Hearts - Cotton Candy Glossies (Pure & Simple);
Pink Little Letters (Queen & Co)

 

Frozen Ever After

Inspiration: Paper Issues July 6 Sketch 

I thought this sketch could work well to scrapbook our picture taken at the Frozen Ever After ride. We almost never received this picture, as it had not originally saved to our account and we had to contact Disney and provide them the exact day and time we were at the ride, with a description of what our party looked like. Thankfully, they located it in their archives and were able to send it to us. My nieces were big fans of that movie and this was one of the rides we definitely wanted to capture a memory of. 

As you can see, Disney adds this Frozen overlay to the picture, which is entirely turquoise and therefore dictates the colour scheme. I had already done a monochromatic turquoise page in another album when I recorded an Olaf costume my brother-in-law's cousin had done by hand. I didn't want to go down that road again so I started shopping my stash and I got excited when I spotted the Sparkle City collection from American Crafts (2018). The colours were a nice match and I thought I could make it work if I avoided the city-themed papers. 

I used purple textured cardstock for the page base and I layered orchid dotted paper on the right, teal geographic paper on the right and a strip of paper with light strings on it (some of the lights having holographic foil on them). This detail is particularly nice because in the queue for the ride, we go through the Arendelle village and there are strings of lights hanging above our head, so I feel like that makes for a nice callback.

The picture mat is actually the packaging of the sticker pack! I liked the colours and patterns so I cut the marketing strip off and placed it under the picture on my page. I found a border punched out of holographic paper that was leftover from a previous project, so I slipped it at the top of the picture.

I used the matching holographic Thickers to create the first word of the title and include the date at the bottom of the page. I've been doing that more recently instead of stamping a small date on the page and I'm liking the look that it gives, plus the fact that I get to use the number stickers, which otherwise would tend to sit.

The Sparkle City collection included a vellum page, that is entirely filled with marquee. It was not fitting my page really well, but as I was about to put it away, I noticed that one of the marquee had the phrase "Never Give Up" and I realized that if I cut the N at the beginning of the word, I would have "ever" ready to use for my title! The word "after" was added with the block letters from the sticker pack.

I had Frozen-themed stickers from American Crafts that I pulled out and added to my page. I had Olaf sit on top of my date, I added the sisters' shadow at the top of my journaling block, each sister in the bottom corners of my picture mat, and an Olaf silhouette on top of the title. I also sprinkled snowflakes (stickers and sequins) around the page. 

The camera was fussy cut from patterned paper and added at an angle to frame the journaling. I had a leftover half-ticket in a purplish blue colour that suited the layout, so I slipped that underneath the picture. I used a branding strip as a teal border, cutting the ends with pinking decorative scissors. At the last minute, I remembered to look at the matching chipboard and I found this neat arrow with holographic lights on it, and I added it underneath the title, pointing towards the picture. That little addition really made the page feel completed. 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Wisteria Wonder Textured (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Stickers: Sparkle City, Chipboard (Shimelle for American Crafts)
Embellishments: Harmony Thickers, Disney Frozen Stickers (American Crafts); 
Stampin' Dimensionals, Sequins, Rhinestone Stickers, Iridescent Trim,
Mini Stapler (Stampin' Up!)

Islands of Adventure

Inspiration: Lasting Memory Layout challenge #607 - Old and New

(This is my first time using the Color Study collection from Vicki Boutin, which is relatively new as it came out last year. The sparkly Thickers are really old and so are the Echo Park decorative brads and the washi tapes.)

This will be the first page of our day at Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. I was going through my paper collections to find something that would work and I found Vicki Boutin's mixed media paper pad. I really liked the colorful background with the stars, so I went looking for patterned papers to match and I found the few sheets from the Color Study collection that I have. I matted the picture with the black paper and added a few torn edges with the pink and purple one. I ran my black ink pad along the edges to make them stand out.

For the title, I wondered if I had the word "adventure" anywhere in my Thickers or chipboard packs, and I realized I might in the Into the Wild collection. Sure enough, the foam stickers pack include the word adventure in a colorful rainbow that matched the papers well enough to go. The word Islands was created with the Fox Thickers from Dear Lizzy and the word "of" with Little Letters stickers from Queen & Co.

I have the cut-apart sheet, so I used one of the borders at the bottom of the page, one of the banners at the top (with washi tape layered underneath) and two of the tags underneath the picture. I kept the "This day was fabulous" tag intact and I cut the viewmaster wheel out of the other tag to use as a die-cut image.

I decided to add my date with the same gold Thickers to make it stand out and fill in the space. And then I went around the page embellishing with gems, enamel dots, brads and stickers. I'm trying to include the park map on my cover pages, but it wouldn't have worked with the layout I was aiming for here, so I created a pocket with the yellow star patterned paper on the back of the page and I slid our printed tickets and the map in there.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers: Color Study (Vicki Boutin for American Crafts)
Cardstock: Ready-to-Use Mixed Media Paper (Vicki Boutin for American Crafts)
Accessories: Into the Wild Foam Stickers (Simple Stories);
Fox Thickers (Dear Lizzy for American Crafts); Yellow Little Letters Stickers (Queen & Co);
Star Stickers (Maildor); Halloween Mix Matte Enamels (Bella Blvd.);
Enamel Dots (Your Next Stamps); All Occasion Enamel Dots (Pink & Main);
Cool Summer Decorative Brads (Carta Bella); Botanical Enamel Dots (Waffle Flower);
Love Filled Gems (Fun Stampers Journey)

 

The Cube

Inspiration: Paper Issues Sketch - July 4

When I went through Vicki Boutin's Ready-to-use mixed media paper pad, I tore this page and put it aside. In the pad, the stripes are horizontal, but I realized when I turned the page 90 degrees that it looked just like the July 4 sketch and I was immediately inspired to explore that idea.

I sort of did the monochromatic sections, except for the title, where I paired three colours from the page to make sure the words were showing up well. I did do tone-on-tone stitching on all of the sections. I placed my title over the yellow stitching and I glued the first word a little crooked so it wouldn't look so plain. I added puffy stickers in yellow at the top and bottom of the sentiment to keep with the monochromatic embellishing.

I typed my journaling in Word, using the Elegant Typewriter font. I printed it on a scrap of pink cardstock, cut it as strips and added it the page. I added sparkly enamel dots and a couple of puffy stickers in matching colours. I got lucky and had a drink image, which fits with the story. (The story behind this cube that my niece is holding is that I ordered a cocktail during one of our meals and the drink had a light-up cube in it to make the drink change colours. The kids were absolutely enthralled by it and a little bit of fighting ensued once we fished it out of the glass to see who could play with it. The youngest, who was about to turn two at the time, kept the thing in her hand for a big chunk of the Disney trip. That's kids for you - they'll be totally smitten with the dollar gadget!)

I placed the picture in the fourth section, and I like that the blue of my niece's dress fits with the blue section theme. I matted the picture with a blue paper from the Color Study collection from Vicki Boutin. I went through my blue embellishment drawer and I found blue tickets that I tucked in under the picture. I also found a blue chipboard banner that I added to the picture's corner. I also found blue rub-ons in 49 and Market's Sky & Navy rub-on transfers pack. I added blue and teal sequin rub-ons around the page, the word Reminisce on the picture, the word Simplicity on the chipboard banner and the words "greatest treasure" above the picture. (That was a lucky find!) 

The teal section is very narrow and didn't need a lot of embellishing, but I did get the idea of finding a scrap of matching paper and punching little Mickey heads to glue on the page. I have this punch that does six sizes at once, and the pattern I picked really blends into the background, so I like that it adds hidden Mickeys to the page. At the bottom of the stitching, I added an aqua tag, on which I stamped the date in Bermuda Bay ink and I added a little puffy sticker in matching color to the right.

It feels like a lot of the work was done for me since I used a pre-done mixed media page, but I really do enjoy the end result. I like that this will add variety to the final Disney album as well.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Date Stamp (Office Supplies)
Ink: Bermuda Bay (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Pink (Unknown)
Ready-to-Use Mixed Media Paper Pad: Vicki Boutin (American Crafts)
Patterned Papers: Color Study (Vicki Boutin for American Crafts); Teal (Unknown)
Alphabet Stickers: Pink Little Letters (Queen & Co); Oh, What Fun! Puffy Alphabet (Pinkfresh);
Midnight Thickers (American Crafts)
Accessories: Disney Mickey Icons Punch (EK Success); Here and Now (Dear Lizzy for American Crafts);
Dive Into Summer Puffy Stickers (Echo Park); Aqua Label Stickers (Elle's Studio); 
Vintage Artistry Sky & Navy Rub-On Transfers (49 and Market); Gumdrops (Your Next Stamp);
Bell Pepper Trinkets Puffy Stickers (Bella Blvd.)
Font: Elegant Typewriter

 

Animal Kingdom

Inspiration: Scrapbook Generation Free Sketch #2 + Lasting Memory Layout challenge #606 (Big and Small Elements)

I kept going with the Into the Wild collection from Simple Stories and made my intro page for the day we spent at Animal Kingdom in Walt Disney World. This time, I remembered to make a pocket on the layout so that I could keep the map from that day in it! I had done that in my album from 2005 and I find it fun to pull the old map back and see how the parks have evolved since then. I forgot to make a pocket for my Magical Kingdom page, so I will probably just slip the map on the back of that page, in the pocket protector. Here, I used foam strips on both sides of the picture and on the bottom edge so the picture is off the cardstock and open at the top, and I was able to slip the guidemap in. Its colors also fit very nicely with the collection, so that's a win as well.

I made sure to pick green cardstock for the page base, as it seemed an obvious pick. I based my design on a free sketch from Scrapbook Generation that had four 4" x 4" squares on it. I realized when I measured the map that it would not fit in such a small square, so I simple made the two left blocks 4" x 6" instead. That had the added bonus of preserving my Tree of Life picture, as it was already cropped pretty tightly in the picture. I did crop the other two shots of the tree - one at day and one at night - to 2¼" x 2¼" and added them to patterned paper, as per the original sketch. I moved the pictures a bit higher on my design so as not to hide the words on the bottom square. I found this neat wood 4" x 4" cut-apart with the words Wild One in aqua and decided to use this on the layout. I then realized I had the same words, slightly larger, in the foam stickers and decided to overlay the words to make it a dimensional element.

I then went on to pick embellishment. I got to reuse that Jungle Safari chipboard piece that had not made it on my Kilimanjaro Safari layout, and I slipped a flower underneath. I wrapped twine around the photo mats and added a sentiment strip on one and a foam sticker on the other. The lion head came from the Bits & Pieces and is just adorable. At the bottom, I used the little animal banners sticker, then popped the chipboard explorer hat on foam adhesive, as well as the chipboard compass and the ephemera boots. I found those cute little chipboard pawprints and put them in the corner of the alligator paper. Then, I picked the Explore tag and stamped Animal Kingdom on it with a small wood-mount alphabet I found in the bins near the cash register at Michaels years ago. I added a little iguana sticker at the top (he reminds me of Pascal from Tangled!) and a leaf at the bottom. I went back to the animal-print gems from the Diamond Say It in Crystal pack to accent the strips at the top of the page.

This collection is working out very nicely for my Animal Kingdom pictures.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Alphabet (Studio G); Date Stamp (Office Supplies)
Cardstock: Lucky Limeade Textured (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Foam Stickers, Cardstock Stickers, Chipboard Stickers: Into the Wild (Simple Stories)
Ink: Mossy Meadow (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Twine (Recollections); Stampin' Dimensionals, Foam Adhesive Strips (Stampin' Up!);
Diamond Say It in Crystals (Prima Marketing)

 

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)

 

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

 

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