Paper Piecing is not My Friend

I don't do much paper piecing, and after completing this page and the accompanying 4 divided page protectors, I know why.  It's A LOT of work, from cutting each little piece to getting them all put together.  But I can also see why people do it: it's just adorable.  I mean, look at that gnome!  He is just too cute!

Bavarian Countryside

Sketch:  Sketch Support

Supplies: American Crafts Botanique (Elanor), Thickers; Cosmo Cricket Earth Love (6x6 pad, Repeat, Elements), Girl Friday, Togetherness (Making Plans), Tiny Type, Social Club stickers; Bella Blvd. Man of the House (Distinguished); Lily Bee 6x6 pads (Handmade, Harvest Market, Double Dutch); My Minds Eye 6x6 pad (Dilly Dally); Basic Grey 6x6 pad (Life of the Party); 7 Gypsies 97% complete stickers; Silhouette shapes (Gnome, Mushrooms, Log)

Using the Negative challenge: Cutest Kitty

Another National Scrapbook Day challenge today. I got a lot accomplished for my scrapbooks that week in May!  This one was a challenge on 2 Peas to use the negative space.  I made up this silly song that I sing to Ozzy sometimes, so that's what I scrapped.  You can see by the messy journaling why I don't like to use my handwriting!

Cutest Kitty

Supplies:  My Minds Eye Miss Caroline, Lush, Stella and Rose papers, Miss Caroline brads; Lily Bee 6x6 pads ( Memorandum, Double Dutch, Handmade); Cosmo Cricket stickers; Kerri Bradford shape (Honeycomb Scatter Large); Authentique elements;  Cuttlebug embossing folder; Quickutz Mind Your P's and Q's alphabet dies

Create with Polaroids Challenge: Here Come the Brides

 One of the challenges Two Peas in a Bucket hosted for National Scrapbooking Day was to create a layout using those oh-so-popular Polaroids.  I love the Polaroid look, and have used the Polodroid app to turn several photos into the Polaroid look.  This time I used some Crate Paper and Silhouette cut frames to frame a print I cropped and some paper.

When we were in Prague, we saw many wedding couples having portraits made in front of the Astronomical Clock.  But one day we were surprised to see a whole group of brides there, and no grooms.  On closer inspection, most of the girls' dresses were being held in with clothespins and clips.  Apparently these Japanese ladies had paid for the opportunity to play bride for the day!

Here Come the Brides

Supplies: American Crafts cardstock, Thickers (Vera vinyl white); WRMK Sewn Cardstock (Buttercup); Lily Bee Memorandum (Payday); The Paper Studio printed vellum; October Afternoon 5 & Dime; Basic Grey Blush (Admire), Junebug; Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type, Circa 1934;  Heidi Swapp mask (dots); Crate Paper diecuts; Glimmer Mist; Silhouette shape (Instant Photo Frame Square); Jenni Bowlin Ink (Lemon Drops, Chili Powder, Soap Powder); VersaMark ink; Clear Tops Embossing Powder (Ultra Deep Snow Fall); Lawn Fawn washi tape; Studio Calico Stamps (Adventure); Studio AE for Technique Tuesday (The Observant Traveler, Today You)

A Scraplift: Tiny Houses on the Golden Lane

Another of the Two Peas in a Bucket National Scrapbook Day challenges was to "continue the Morph," which were a series of scraplifts by their design team.  This was my take.

Tiny Houses on the Golden Lane

Supplies: Core'dination Graphic 45 Timeless (Diamonds-Cityscape); Lily Bee This and That (Teacup); Crate Paper Portrait (Something Blue, diecuts); Cosmo Cricket Ever After; Miss Elizabeth's chipboard letters; Echo Park Dots and Stripes Metropolitain Alpha stickers; Colorbok Flea Market foil stickers; Jenni Bowlin ink; Tim Holtz Distress ink; Hambly overlay (Grandma's Wallpaper); Martha Stewart punch

Using Bright Colors: Hungarian Snackage

For National Scrapbook Day, Two Peas in a Bucket had a series of challenges.  I put together this layout for the "use a bright color palette" challenge.  I love the bright happy papers.

Hungarian Snackage

Sketch: Lisa Day 28 days of sketches

Supplies: My Minds Eye Quite Contrary (Jack & Jill Cute Beautiful Blooms), Miss Caroline (Dolled Up Day stickers); Stella and Rose "Delightful" Blossom; Basic Grey paper, letters (Curio), trim stickers (Heritage); Echo Park for the Record (Table Cloth); DCWV paper; EK Success punch; Target Washi tape; Miss Elizabeth Chipboard Letters; Ali Edwards for Technique Tuesday (The Journey that Matters); Jenni Bowlin Ink; Cosmo Cricket Butterflies and Doilies (Social Club); Making Memories chipboard clocks; Pink Paislee flip notes (Old School)

Misting with a Mask: Outside Adventure

Back in May I participated in Ella Publishing's Spring Training Event.  It was tons of fun and I learned a lot.  Thanks Ella!

One of the challenges was to use a mask on a layout, but not a traditional mask, like those from Tim Holtz.  I chose a die-cut patterned paper to mask a zigzag border around my page.  It's subtle, but you can see it if you look closely.  I also used a Lisa Day sketch from the Big Picture Classes National Scrapbook Day event.

Outside Adventure

Sketch: Lisa Day - Big Picture Classes National Scrapbook Day challenge

Supplies: My Minds Eye Follow Your Heart (Be Happy Favorite Things, Be Happy Honey Pink, Be Happy brads, Be Happy chipboard, Be Amazing chipboard, Be Happy buttons), On the Bright Side (Blue Wood), Lush (Blue Diamonds), Miss Caroline (Dilly Dally Celebrate brads); Lily Bee 6x6 pad (Double Dutch); Glimmer Mist (Silver); Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type; Crafter's Workshop Template (Triangle Mosaic); DMC floss

Flourishes: I'm Bringing 'Em Back

Remember the flourish trend from a few years back?  If you do then you're probably like me, and you have tons of flourish stamps, flourish die cuts, and, in my case, flourish Silhouette shapes.  I still like the look of flourishes, but I don't seem to use them much anymore.  But when I got to this layout, I thought that flourishes that echoed those in the diecut paper, would be the perfect space-filling yet subtle embellishment this page needed.

The Citadel

Sketch:  Sketches for Scrapbooking 

Supplies: American Crafts cardstock; My Minds Eye So Sophie (Little Lady Lovely Ledger paper), stamp; 

Basic Grey Junebug (Crazy Quilt), alpha (Perephery); Lily Bee 6x6 pad; Jenni Bowlin ink; Cosmo Cricket Ever After

They don't always have to be complicated

A lot of my layouts are time consuming, with lots of layers and embellishment clusters.  Even if I start from a sketch, a layout can easily take me an hour and a half to complete.  If I start without a sketch, it can take much, much longer! But not all of my layouts are that labor-intensive.  On this one, I used a couple of 8x10 photo collages and some very colorful paper, so I didn't want too much else to compete with all of that,  but it still comes together in a nice, cohesive layout.

National Aquarium

Supplies:  American Crafts Cardstock; Pink Paislee Hometown Summer (Summer Fun); Basic Grey Indie Bloom (Abandon, El Camino, Senora); Cosmo Cricket stickers, Ready Set Chip (Salt Air); EK Success punches

More Practice with Sketches

It's pretty obvious if you've followed my blog for any amount of time that I love sketches.  I'm just finishing up a class with Lisa Day over at Big Picture Classes called 28 Days of Sketches.  It's been fun, although I'm really just starting to put some of those sketches to work.

The Good Stuff

Sketch: Lisa Day 28 Days of Sketches

Supplies: American Crafts cardstock, Thickers;  Sassafrass Indie Girls (Pocahontas and me); Authentique letter stickers; K & Co Smash tape; The Girls Paperie diecuts (On Holiday); Cosmo Cricket stickers, lovely bits butterflies and doilies die cuts (Social Club); October Afternoon word stickers; Crate Paper border stickers; Echo Park stickers; My Minds Eye Lush brads; Elle's Studio vintage label; Martha Stewart twine; Ditto Glimmer Mist; Tim Holtz mini paper clips

Husbands: Do They Ever Really Grow Up?

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Congratulations to the winner of the Ella Publishing Spring Training Event!  Julie (Mowhouse), please contact me to claim your prize!
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I love my husband, I really really do.  But most days I think I'm married to a 12 year old in a 42 year old body.  Of course, he informed me that all men are perpetually 12 years old.  He has his Star Wars "collectibles" and his Legos, and he loves playing with 4 wheelers and trucks and tractors on his parents' farm!  Maybe I should've done this layout about me being married to Peter Pan!

Country Boy at Heart

The star embellishment started out looking like this:

But the "3" brad didn't really fit with the feel of the layout.  I simply picked another brad from the card that was similar in color and size and swapped them out.  Just another way to stretch your supplies to make them work for you!

Supplies:  My Minds Eye Miss Caroline Dilly Dally (6x6 paper pad, Adventures Fair,  Best Vines, Celebrate brads), Dolled Up (Cute Quaint, Cute brads), On the Bright Side (Grey Wood), Stella and Rose Gerty Girly Doily Stamps, Follow Your Heart Be Amazing Chipboard, Lost and Found Union Square Moments buttons; DCWV Cardstock; Heidi Swapp Color Magic Banner Delights; Martha Stewart Home Office Brown Kraft Labels, Textured Labels, punch; American Crafts Thickers; Cosmo Cricket tiny type; Tim Holtz Tissue Tape; Staz On ink; Jenni Bowlin ink; Glimmer Mist Chalkboard Mist

A One-Off Layout

I'm giving away a seat in Ella publishing's Spring Training 2012!  To learn how you can win, visit this post.

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I use a lot of inspiration in my scrapbooking: sketches, challenges, classes I'm taking -- and I love it.  It helps free my creativity when I don't have to start from scratch, and helps me work more efficiently.  But every once in a while I'm inspired by something else.  On this layout, it was the red paper (My Minds Eye Lost and Found Union Square "Beautiful Day" Journey).  I knew I wanted to use it and exactly what photos I wanted to use it with, and from there, the layout just came together.

Our Big Trip

Supplies: My Minds Eye Lost and Found Union Square ("Beautiful Day" Journey), Transfer Titles "Our Big Trip"; Pink Paislee House of 3 Daily Junque (Map); Echo Park For the Record (Newsprint, Noteworthy); Teresa Collins World Traveler;  Cosmo Cricket Circa 1934 (Ginger); Ali Edwards for Technique Tuesday ("This One", "Everyday Life", "Are We There Yet"); 7Gypsies 97%Complete stickers (Travel Voyage), Calendar tickets; Crate Paper Chipboard (Restoration), Phrase stickers, Die Cuts; Making Memories Eclectic Metal Signs (Travel);  Bo Bunny Brads; The Paper Studio Spare Parts Epoxy Brads Friends; K and Co Smash stickies; Elle's Studio Red Pennants; Jenni Bowlin Ink; Staz On Ink (Jet Black); Tim Holtz Distress Ink, Tiny Attacher, Tissue Tape (Tidings)

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