So You 5.12.13 {CSI Case File No.76}

We have a super-fun Case File open for investigation at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration this week! I love the second week of the month because that's when we have a Page Draft designed exclusively for CSI by our fabulous Composite Sketch Artist Em Stafrace.

I wanted my page to be equally fun, and I found the perfect pictures of my nephew to go with these colors and the fun vibe of this Case File. I had two different pictures of him, but the other one was a little dark, so I decided to use the same picture, and flip to use on the opposite side.

Clues I used: Evidence: circles, numbers, sun, small patterns, date/calendar accents; Testimony: "Save the Date"

Here are some details. I used lots of old stuff on my page. I found some old vellum that had teal dots on it in my stash. The lettering is Jillibean Soup.

I think I went a little overboard with the background stuff. I used a Prima Template and molding paste. Then I dripped some red ink, followed by a Stampin-Up stamp (the teal dots). The sheer calendar thingy is by Maya Road. I found The red and orange flower brads are by Sassafras Lass.

I put the journaling on transparency film. I probably should've made it black to show up more. I repeated the journaling over and over. Lots of it got covered up, so I'm going to put a copy on the back of the page. Here's what it reads: A perfect snapshot of quirky litttle you. Pokemon Pikachu hoodie. Your Happy Happy Happy t-shirt that describes your sweetness. Thumbs up--another sign of your pure sweetness. Good natured about posing for a camera. This snapshot is so you at this point in time, just about finished with fifth grade. I hope you'll always stay this sweet and adorable and good-natured and quirky. Totally loveable, little guy!

This picture shows all the papers I used: Studio Calico (yellow sripe, orange hexagons); Echo Park: Teal cross-grid); Scenic Route (cut-out stars); Simple Stories (teal chevron). Those stickers are from Lily Bee. I added some washi tape at the last minute. The black circle thing was cut with my Silhouette Cameo.

I was looking for some stamps to add more to the background and found these (Studio Calico) little arrows and the sun, which was part of the Evidence.

You must go see what the rest of the team made! Really cool stuff!

Two Days {CSI Case File No. 75}

I'm so late posting this. The end of the school year is such a busy time for teachers. Oh, well. Better late than never, I always say. I loved The Scene and the soft, dreamy colors of this Case File.

Here's my page. Clues I used...Evidence: lace, chevron, flowers, jewels, wood, heart, gold, and a banner; Testimony: Document a wedding.

Here are some details. The framed text was cut out of a Teresa Collins paper. Papers I used are by My Mind's Eye (the stripe at the top, the teal underneath the vellum), American Crafts (the gold dot vellum and gray), My Little Shoebox (the grid), and Teresa Collins (the rest).

I used acrylic paint mixed with molding paste and a template from The Crafter's Workshop for the chevrons.

This striped My Mind's Eye paper had all the colors of the palette.  The ink that looks like mist is actually an old stamp by Stampin' Up.

The title lettering is by Webster's Pages. My journaling, on the back, reads: We were in love and had already talked about getting married. We had no specific time frame, but I figured it would happen after I finished school. Like all young girls, I had dreamed of a fancy wedding with a long gown and veil, bridesmaids, and all the trimmings that go with a wedding. As often happens in life, things don't always work out as planned. 

Immigration agents showed up at Farzad's work and hauled him away, set a deportation hearing, and threw our love into a whirlwind. Yes, I was dating an illegal alien. I didn't know it at the time, and Farzad didn't even realize it either. He had come to the United States five years earlier to go to school. When the Iranian revolution started, his parents were unable to send money to the States, so Farzad was forced to quit school and start working. He got a job flipping hamburgers at Roy Rogers in Georgetown. He worked his way up to manager over the next few years, and landed in the Gaithersburg Roy Rogers, where I was working as a cashier. We eventually started dating.

Fast forward six months. An old girlfriend showed up at the restaurant. She scowled at me. I didn't know who she was. Within a week INS showed up at the door to escort Farzad downtown. Seemed this old girlfriend reported Farzad to immigration.

There was no question in my mind that we had to get married, and pronto. There was no way I was going to lose the love of my life, so marry we did. We had two days to plan. File paperwork for a marriage license--Mom had to give written consent, since I was only seventeen. Find wedding garb--we drove all over Maryland, Virginia, and DC to find white bloomers in my size (I had seen them in a dream and knew that's what I was destined to wear). Invite family and friends (just our small family-Mom, Gram, Dawn, Tina, and Aunt Vonne--and our good friends Doris and Lama).

It wasn't the fancy wedding I'd dreamed of--just a civil ceremony at the Rockville courthouse and a gathering at Gram's house with some food and a couple of hastily-purchased wedding gifts, followed by a weekend honeymoon somewhere in the Shenandoah mountains a couple of hours away. But that's okay. I have the life of my dreams with the love of my life, and we'll be celebrating our 32nd anniversary next month. And that's really all I ever needed.

Sounds {CSI Case FIle No. 74}

We have a sweet and lovely Case File open for investigation at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration this week:

Clues I used...Evidence: metal, rolled fabric flowers, flowers, leaves, cabochons; Testimony: I decided to go with a childhood memory. I wasn't sure what I wanted to document, so I looked to the prompts from the Case File and hovered over Saturday and found "List all the sounds you used to hear at your grandparents' house," so that's what I went with.

Here are some details. Most of the papers I used on my page are really old, except for the jar (American Crafts Dear Lizzy) and the black stripe (BasicGrey Clippings). The yellow polka dots are by Jillibean Soup.  The flower paper is by K&Co.The leaves were cut out of a We R Memory Keeper paper. The background is cut out with my Silhouette Cameo.

I thought I'd be able to recollect a lot more sounds from my Gram's house, but only three stuck out in my mind as I journaled, and I listed them on the little spot tucked behind the photo: 1) the shk-shk-shk sound of Gram's sewing machine; 2) really old records, like Herb Alpert and Englebert Humpberdink; and 3) Donny Osmond on the radio under my pillow.

Here are some of flowers. I made the rolled fabric flower out of a torn piece of muslin that I died with ink and mist. The pink fabric flower is by Making Memories. The silk flowers are from Michael's, and there's a little yellow cabochon flower tucked in there too.  The sweet gold-rimmed brads are by Dear Lizzy. I always forget to use my embossing folders, but I managed to use one on this layout. 

As I was carrying my layout upstairs, I glanced at my page and thought that raspberry circle didn't look right where it was, so I took my layout back to my scrap room and tried to move it, which wasn't easy since I had stitched down the background. I managed to move it but then I didn't like where I moved it, so back it went. Unfortunately, I had stretched out that Silhouette-cut piece, which you can see from the shadows.

We have another beautiful reveal, as always. Come see!

Bedtime {CSI Case File No. 73}

What a fun Case File we have going at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration this week!

Here's how I solved this Case File. Clues I used...Evidence: Circles, swirls, tone-on tone patterns, pom-pom trim, architectural accents, something upside-down, birds; Testimony: Directions.

I had to make my page after work again last week, so being in a bit of a rush, I turned to a sketch. I used one of Em Stafrace's fabulous Page Drafts--the one currently up at Paper Stories. I love this sketch so much that I went pretty literal with it, and the page came together painlessly. (I tend to agonize for hours over the placement of everything.)

I lied a little. I struggled a bit with the upside-down element. I tried the bird, but it looked like a dead bird. The house looked awkward upside-down. My husband came into my scrap room and saw me frowning. I told him I needed to put something upside down. He looked at my layout and told me to put the pom-pom trim upside down, and I said well, there's not necessarily a right-side-up with trims. He came to my rescue and suggested putting one of the photos upside-down, and I loved how that worked out! I painted a Maya Road chipboard house and added glitter, but the glitter started sprinkling off, so I added Glossy Accents. It made it so shiny! 

I used lots of old paper on here--the old Scenic Route Metropolis was an almost perfect match for this palette. I also used some old October Afternoon papers.

The blue circles were made with a Crafter's Workshop template. I used molding paste mixed with a little blue paint. I was thinking how I'd love to add some mist, but I always screw up mist. I need to practice using that this summer. I remembered some old Stampin' Up Stamps that look like splatter, and that's what I used. I love how well that worked out! It's funny--I almost got rid of those stamps a few years ago, before the whole mist trend, and I'm so glad that I'm a packrat and kept them instead. The cut-out circles sort of reminded me of spirals, for the Evidence, but I also drew a few spiral-y outlines on some of the circles.

Here's a closeup of my journaling. I went with the Directions prompt, that I thought was a fun way to document my little old boy's bed-time ritual. 

I couldn't find the right color letters that would fit in the space, so I painted some Webster's Pages letters with the blue paint that matched my circles, and I added glossy accents to them.  If you click on the image below, you can see how shiny they turned out.

Here's one of those Studio Calico birdies that seem to be appearing on a lot of my pages lately. He looks totally different covered with glitter instead of left in its raw wood veneer state.

You must go see what the rest of the team and our guest designers made--really fun stuff in the reveal. I hope you'll play along.

#Aack! {CSI Case File No. 72}

Aack is right! It's almost time for another Case File to open for investigation at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration, and I'm just now sharing my page from last week's Case File. Busy week. I went out last weekend on my regular scrappy day, and I've been playing catch-up all week.

Here's Case File No. 72, in case you haven't seen it:

So here's my page. Clues I used...Evidence: doilies, labels, layering rub-ons, something clear, book pages, leafy vine, kraft background, metal, pen work. Testimony: Journal on a series of stacked labels, tweet w/hashtags.

And speaking of playing catch-up, the same thing happened the week before, and I had to make this page in a jiffy. Well, for me, a jifffy--I put it together in about 4 hours last Thursday night after school.

That teal is actually a little closer to the palette in real life.

Here are some details. I was so happy to break out some rub-ons for this page. I layered two My Mind's Eye rub-ons in the lower right corner.

These leafy elements and the teal element in the background were cut with my Silhouette Cameo. The doily is by Martha Stewart. The ledger with the bracket is a Fancy Pants rub-on.

I adore these little Studio Calico birds and they've been showing up a lot on my pages lately. I thought it was especially perfect for this "Tweet" Testimony prompt. The blue bit at the top of the dictionary page is also a rub-on.

I'm planning to journal in more detail on the back, but the gist of the story is this: My hair stylist moved to the next state a few years ago, and I've been driving down to Virginia, but the traffic is so stressful after school. Then I moved further away, and it got even more stressful, so I've been in search of a closer stylist. This guy, Tone (prounounced To-nay) worked at the new Ulta near me and cut my mom's friend's hair. She said he did a great job on her hair. I had an Ulta coupon for salon services, so I thought, What the heck, I'll give him a try.

These pictures were taken the first time, and he did a pretty good job with my hair. He put a glaze on it to make it have more shine, which I really liked.

Well.

The second time I went to him, I wasn't so happy. He talked me into putting some red in the glaze--"Just a little, to brighten it up." I was very nervous because I had never in my life colored my hair, but I trusted him. 

I shouldn't have trusted him. My hair turned out so dark, it was almost dark brown. And he gave me an "asymmetrical" cut, which was supposed to be trendy, I guess, but just looked like a kindergartner had hacked my hair. 

I didn't cry in front of him, but I did when I got home. And the next day and the next. I spent the next several weeks scrubbing my hair with Head and Shoulders daily, which my sister told me would help the color wash out quicker.

I've gone to one other stylist in my town, who did a significantly better job, but last weekend, I finally went back to Hasan because I had another event planned in Virginia, and I am vowing to always go back to him, no matter what.

The yellow paper I used is old Chatterbox paper. I tore a page out of an old dictionary and circled some of the words that went with my page. The lettering I used is by Heidi Swapp (the ledger #) and American Crafts Thickers.

When I was looking for embellishments, I came across these brads by Crate Paper that were perfect for htese colors.

These colors are very unusual but were fun to work with. You must go see the awesome work by the rest of the team and our guest designers.

Sweet Dream {Sketchbook365}

A new sketch is up at Sketchbook365, and I'm particularly excited about that because it's my first reveal as a member of the Sketchbook365 design team! Here's the sketch, which was based on a layout by Birgit Koopsen:

Here's my page. I flipped the sketch upside down. I used Monica's sweet baby Ezra as the subject of my page. That little baby is ALWAYS smiling!

Here are some details. I used my Silhouette to cut out this lily pad. The papers I used for most of this are American Crafts Dear Lizzy. The background is by My Mind's Eye. That lovely lacy border is a die by Cheery Lynn Designs. And don't you hate it when you see a flaw after your page has gone public--I wish I had moved that lilypad a few centimeters to the right--looks like the border is missing. Sigh.

 Those rub-on flowers are supposed to be white, but they're showing up more of a cream. I added some sparkly brads--the small one is by Doodlebug and the big cabochon sparkly flower is by Pebbles. The smaller cabochon is by Webster's Pages.

Sweet sparkly letters are Thickers. I added some pearls to replace the arrows in the sketch. Here you can see I added some vellum with delicate dots. That pink paper between the floral paper and vellum is really old  Autumn Leaves paper.

I adore Brian Andreas, and I thought this quote was perfect for this page. Monica and James had tried to have a baby many times before James died, and Ezra was their little miracle. She was conceived two months before he died, and it was such a blessing that he found out about the baby and was able to name her (they didn't know at the time that Ezra was going to be a girl).

You must go check out the awesome work by the rest of the team. Really gorgeous reveal!

I Mustache You {CSI Case File No. 71}

Case File No. 71 is open for investigation at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration, and it's a fun one--great colors, fun evidence and testimony, and an awesome sketch created just for us by our Composite Sketch Artist, the beautiful and talented Em Stafrace.

I haven't made a page for my "Book of Silly" for a while, so I went in search of a picture for this book of silly family photos. I found this picture of my nephew and his girlfriend on my sister's Facebook page, and I knew I wanted to scrap it.

I've been saying for a while that I don't get the whole mustache trend, but I got sucked in for this page. Clues I used...Evidence: circles, birds, speech bubbles, clouds, doodling/pen work, vellum, and bicycle( I thought the circles sort of looked like bicycle wheels); Testimony: Use speech bubbles to hold journaling, make up a conversation.

My camera apparently hates yellow. I took about 50 pictures of this layout and it still doesn't look quite right.  Sigh.

Here are some details. I'm in love with those little Studio Calico wood veneer birds. I bought 3 packs of them on sale, so you'll see them on lots of my layouts for years to come! I used my Silhouette Cameo for several things on this page, including the clouds, speech bubbles (the grid paper ones), and the mustaches. Papers I used are Bella Blvd (yellow chevron), American Crafts (blue, and circles), Scenic Route (grid), Collage Press for Pink Paislee (red stars), My Little Shoebox (blue grid behind the yellow).

I got the Coordinates after I had finished my page but I just had to use this "carpe diem" word art. So fun! That little blue bit with a heart is called a metal dot, and it's by Colorbok--I got them from JoAnn's. I put the clouds on pop dots to make them float.

I thought the gray velvet Thickers were sort of like a fuzzy mustache and perfect for my page. Here's a closeup of those circles cut out of the Amy Tangerine paper. I thought they looked like bicycle wheels.

The "dialogue" speech bubble is also in the Coordinates. 

Come see all the cool interpretations of this Case File and sketch here.