1st Photo {CSI Case File No. 30}

Wow! I can't believe we're already on our thirtieth Case File at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration. It's our last Case File for National Ice Cream Month, and I just love the image that inspired our Case File:

I made another page for Monica's book. For those who don't know, Monica is my best friend's daughter, and she recently lost her 23-year-old husband to bone cancer (he was diagnosed at 17). I'm grabbing pictures off of their Facebook pages and making her an album to remember all the sweet, happy memories they shared in their short but beautiful 6-year-marriage.

I used Nadia's current sketch at Once Upon a Time as inspiration for my page design.

I know people say this all the time, but my page really does look better in real life. I used old Wild Asparagus papers, which I believe is the first collection My Mind's Eye ever made. I added some Echo Park bits because they're sponsoring us this month.

Clues I used: Evidence: Distressing, metal, the four patterns (stripes, dots, gingham, floral), and brads; Testimony: Distressed frame

Here are a few details: Here you can see some of the Echo Park bits tucked in. The blue frame is in this week's CSI Coordinates, which you can find at the bottom of the Case File thread.

I add these little banners and camera at the top at the last minute. The cameras are from Echo Park.

I've had these polka dot flowers in my stash forever. The journaling came from the caption to the photo on Monica's facebook page. James and Monica started out as friends in high school. The penguin reference in her journaling refers to the fact that they always called each other their penguins because penguins apparently mate for life. 

Go check out what the rest of the team made. This is your last Case File to solve for a chance to win an Echo Park collection kit of your choice, so if you haven't had time to play yet in July, this is the week!

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog and reading about my page.

The Gondola {Creative Scrappers Sketch #218}

We are live with a brand-new sketch at Creative Scrappers:

I made another page for Monica's book. For those who don't know, my best friend's daughter, Monica, lost her 23-year-old husband to bone cancer after a valiant battle with this evil disease since he was diagnosed at the age of 17. It's so heartbreaking, but a little ray of hope is that Monica's pregnant with James's baby. I'm grabbing photos off of Monica and James's Facebook pages and making a book for her. 

This photo is from their wedding. They got married in one of those Las Vegas chapels. I knew I wanted to use BasicGrey to create an elegant sort of page, and when I was going through my [immense] stash of BasicGrey, I landed on Blitzen. I know it's a Christmas collection, but that green and blue damask went well with the water, and the red went with the gondolier's sash, so I thought, what the heck, I'll use this!

Here are some close-ups. I originally had large strip of the damask paper because that's how it showed in the sketch, but my layout was looking too plain, so I cut it up. I also originally only had one of those cut-out designs that you see above and below the photo, but again, the layout just felt too plain, so I added a second one to the top and bottom, tucked under another layer. I was originally thinking of maybe doing hearts where the stars are in the sketch, but settled on the pearls, which I think was a good decision. The chipboard heart, which you can just see in the photo below is by Heidi Swapp. Just about everything on this page is ancient!

I was looking for a pretty border and came across this gold one by K&Co. that I got on clearance and it seemed to perfectly match the golden glow behind the balcony in the background. I love to add word and phrase stickers to my pages, so that's what I used in place of the flags in the sketch. I couldn't fit three on my 8 x 8 page.

I love these BasicGrey letters. When I was finished with my layout, I kept thinking it was too plain, and I kept trying to add things, but they just didn't look quite right. The last little detail I added to my page was a little cut-out design from that same paper I had used and added it to the title.

This layout isn't quite as detailed and layered as I tend to like to make my pages, but in the end, I think it has an elegant feel I was going for, and I hope Monica will like it!

Go check out all the awesome takes on this great sketch by the Creative Scrappers team, and I hope you'll play along with us. It was a really fun sketch to work with.

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog and reading about my page!

Delight {CSI Case File No. 29}

Case File No. 29 is open for investigation at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration! It has a very summery, ice-creamy feel, perfect for National Ice Cream Month, which is our theme tying our Case Files together this month.

We have a great line-up of guest designers. Jill Sprott is our Special Agent, and Di Garling, Jacynthe Loubier, Lindy Gillespie, and Yumi Takasaki are on our team of Special Investigators for the month.

Here is the page I made. It's another page for Monica's book. If you don't know about Monica, she's my best friend's daughter, and she lost her 23-year-old husband to bone cancer after a long battle since he was diagnosed at 17. I'm grabbing pictures off of their Facebook pages to make a book so she can remember the happy years she spent with James. I was so happy when I found these photos that seem custom-made for this Case File.

Clues I used to solve this case: Evidence: Stripes, labels, something transparent, angles, stuff in a pocket; Testimony: Top 10 List; title from Inspiration Word

The sun wasn't cooperating today, and I had to brighten my background, which was coming out all uneven. The background is textured cardstock. The black border is digitally added.

I used the current sketch at Creative Scrappers as inspiration for my design:

Here are a few details. Echo Park is sponsoring us this month, so the design team is trying to use Echo Park if we have it in our stash. I drew from several collections for this layout. That diamond strip, the bottle cap, the yellow paper, the pink ruler, the telegram card, and the light teal papers are all by Echo Park. The "Togetherness" is cut from a tear strip of a Cosmo Cricket paper that I came across when I was digging for papers to match this week's palette. 

I dusted off some old Heidi Swapp transparent flowers for the transparent element clue in the Case File. The yellow circular bit is from an old American Crafts Backyard paper. The title is also by Heidi Swapp--really old. Her pink stuff matched the Case File really well, and Heidi had a lot of PINK back in the day!

  

Here's a little pocket I made to tuck some elements in (another piece of Evidence from the Case File). The Top 10 journaling card is in the CSI Coordinates, as are the pink and teal striped papers. I thought I'd leave that blank so Monica can journal some of her favorite memories with James. 

I also tucked into the pocket some quotes that pull out of the same pocket. These are really old "Words to Go" from K&Co. Remember them? They came in those Chinese take-out containers. I picked out some quotes that I thought went well with the photos. How awesome to be able to rescue some of these old pink Making Memories clips.

I love the jars from the Neapolitan paper by American Crafts. I added sparkles to the hearts . The little banner flags are also from American Crafts. Those little hearts I trimmed came from an old Dream Street paper and matched the colors exactly. The "Delightful Moment No." is in the CSI Coordinates.

This was a really, really fun Case File! I hope you'll come play for a chance to win an Echo Park collection kit of your choice and just to play for FUN! Also, I'm scouring the gallery looking for future guest designers, aka Special Investigators, so if you haven't been playing regularly, come on in and crack some cases!

Come see what the fantastic Detectives and guest designers made this week. It's always a thrill to see all ladies putting their different styles into the same Case Files and working their magic!

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog and reading about my page!

Be Crazy {CSI Case File No. 28}

Case File No. 28 is open for investigation at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration!

Such a fun image by Jon Reinfurt that inspired our Case File this week!

Here is the page I made. The beautiful couple in these photos is my best friend's daughter, Monica, and her husband James. Sadly, James just lost a six-year battle with osteosarcoma last Friday. I am taking photos from Monica and James' Facebook pages and making some pages for her to remember all the wonderful moments they shared. So sad.

Echo Park is sponsoring CSI for July, so the design team is trying our best to use Echo Park products on our layouts this month. How serendipitous and awesome that the Note to Self collection went with our Case File this week!  I pretty much used that collection, some cardstock and CSI Coordinates this week.

Clues I used to solve this case: Evidence - robots, circles, repetition, eyelets. Testimony: Document something silly/wacky

Here are a few details. Since I don't know the stories behind the pictures, I used quotes from the CSI Coordinates. I just adore these little robots Michele created for our Coordinates this week! It was hard to cram them all on m page, but I just couldn't choose which ones to use, so I added them ALL!

I adore the viewmaster thingamajigs from Echo Park. The tags are from that same collection, and I added eyelets, as part of the Case File.

When I was looking for an alphabet to use for the title, I found these letter stickers from Crate Paper's Orbit collection, which was almost the perfect color and had the perfect silly techno feel of the Case File. The LOL and emoticon speech bubbles are also in the Coordinates.

I was having a hard time fitting this last little robot on my page when it occurred to me that I could just use his face peeking out from behind a viewmaster reel. So cute. And I just love the circle paper that Michele made (also in the coordinates)

What a fantastic reveal we have this week. I hope you'll head over and see what the rest of the team and guest designers made. And definitely play for a chance at winning a collection kit of your choice from Echo Park as well as the opportunity to catch our eye and become a Special Investigator for a future month.

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog and reading about my page!

The Love Boat {Creative Scrappers Sketch No. 216}

I am thrilled to announce that I am on the Creative Scrappers design team again. I love Creative Scrappers sketches and I was privileged to be on the team last summer and I'm so happy Kristine picked me when I applied again this summer. I'm doubly excited to be on the team with my good friends Tracee Provis and Jenny Evans.

So here's the first sketch I got to work with, and it's a fabulous one (well, yeah, they all are):

And here is the page I made. This is for the book I'm making for my sweet friend Monica (she's my best friend's daughter). Her husband, James, has been battling osteosarcoma for 6 long years and sadly passed away Friday night at the age of 23. 

Here are some details. When I was searching through my stash for papers to use, I came across this old MOD collection by Autumn Leaves and thought the colors and flowers had a tropical feel that would be perfect to go with the pictures. I love it when I can use old stash. The letter stickers are by Sassafras Lass (red) and Webster's Pages (teal).

I love adding word stickers to my pages. They add a little extra to the message on my page, and these were some fun embossed stickers I found in a K&Co. pack. I love these Martha Stewart doilies and wish I could find some more. And how perfect was that little My Mind's Eye brad that said "Cruisin.'"

I wanted to add some leaves to the flowers and I was trying to decide what color when I remembered these leaves on an SEI Poppy paper and when I checked, the color was perfect!

I saw Monica last night and gave her the two pages I've made so far, and she loved them, so that made my heart happy, and I look forward to making more pages for her. Rest in peace, sweet baby James.

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog and reading about my page. Please be sure to go take a look at all the awesome work the team at Creative Scrappers did, and I hope you'll play along with us!

Daily Goods From Our Walk in the Woods {CSI Case File No. 27}

I'm always excited to begin a new month at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration. A new month means a new sponsor, new guest designers, and a brand-new theme. I've chosen a delicious theme in honor of July, which is officially National Ice Cream Month. Here's our first Case File for July:

Here is my page. (The black border is digital). I documented some things about this path my friend and I started walking daily for exercise.

Clues I used...Evidence: fence, leaves, flower, rainbow, woodland animals, sparkles, clouds, long title; Testimony: I documented something about the outdoors and I rhymed my long title.

Here are some details. Echo Park is sponsoring CSI this month, so I went to my Echo Park stash first. The tape measure is from an Echo Park paper. I used it to symbolize the inches I'm losing and also the distance that we're walking every day. That arrow is also from an Echo Park chevron paper. I've had that green wooden frame FOREVER. I have 3 and have always wanted to use it but somehow it never worked out. The arrow is pointing to a deer we saw. The fence is a border punch by Martha Stewart. The little deer brad is by DCWV.

The viewmaster thingamajig and the camera are also from Echo Park and represent the sights we see every day when we're walking in the woods. The cloud, the yellow gingham, the blue polka dot, the phrase labels, the rainbow, and the leaf are all in this week's CSI Coordinates (plus there's lots more--you can find these at the bottom of our reveal). The deer was cut from a Sassafras Lass paper.

My journaling pulls out. The journaling cards are from an Echo Park paper too. Fortunately, I had two sheets of this paper because my journaling wound up long. My story took another turn as I wrote it, which is why my page has two titles. I usually start my pages by doing the journaling, but on this one, I sort of knew what I was going to say and I started working on the page first. I wanted a rhyming title and came up with "Daily Goods from our Walk in the Woods," and I was going to write about all the things we see on the trail

As I started writing, the story took a turn, but I was wedded to that rhyming title, so I decided to put the second title on there in parentheses.

Here's my journaling:  I've come to think of this stretch of the C&O Canal as "our towpath." We never see anyone else walking the path--just bikers every once in a while. Maybe it's because we start our walk at 6:15 on weekday mornings, but really, it's more fun to think we're alone because it's "our towpath."

And it's "our towpath" because I already feel at home in these woods in just a couple of short weeks. Even after the first day or two, I started to recognize and name little landmarks. "The Waterfall Spot," the little area with the beautiful view of the river on one side and an invisible waterfall on the other. "The Rain Place," that spot with the rust colored mushy mossy carpeted ground where we turned back when it started raining hard that very first day we walked the path.

It's "our towpath because it's right in our back yard. Well, not literally, but it's a short ten minute  drive from my house. I never knew the canal was so close to our home, so it's like one of those serendipitous backyard discoveries. 

And it's our towpath because on our walks we encounter little forest friends. Just about every day we see at least five deer cross the path (you can see one in the framed photo if you look close) and bunnies galore and the occasional groundhog, fox, or chipmunk. Oh, and the birds. They sing to us as we walk "our towpath." All kinds of strange and wonderful  songs that make us feel like we're in our own private tropical rainforest with not just woodland animals but monkeys and exotic birds. 

 It's "our towpath" because Kathy and I are building a fun little history of experiences like walking into cobwebs and simultaneously having aching toes and witnessing the aftermath of the summer storms that turned our towpath into what looked like a war zone. And together we celebrate the exhilaration of  milestones like reaching the Monocacy Aqueduct.

 It's "our towpath" because I'm coming to know its rich history. Every day I come home with questions and seek answers from the Internet and have found out wonderful things like George Washington dined at  a restaurant nearby called The Dutchman and traveled on Noland's Ferry, and that the son of the owner of Noland's Ferry married the daughter of the Lucketts family, which was fun to learn because Lucketts is a nearby town in Virginia where we've gone to junque lots of times. I found out that Route 15 is the site of the old Carolina Road, which dates back to colonial times. As I learn the history of this amazing and important place, and as I walk this trail most every day, it's becoming a part of me, and it's almost like I'm becoming a little part of the history of "our towpath."

I can't wait to see what exciting adventures and discoveries unfold as we walk "our towpath," in the coming weeks and months--and hopefully years.

Come see the fantastic pages by our design team and guest designers, and I hope you'll play along with us--you might wind up a guest designer or even win the prize from Echo Park.

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog and reading about my page!

Grand Turk {Sketchabilities Sketch #74}

Time sure flies when you're having fun, as they say, and it's been really fun working with the Sketchabilities during my term as a design team member. Thank you, Karan, for including me on this wonderful team!

Here's our current sketch:

And here is the page I made. The young lady in the photos is my best friend's daughter, Monica, and that's her sweet husband, James, who was diagnosed with osteosarcoma when he was sixteen. He has been battling this evil cancer for six long years, and at this very moment, James is at Georgetown University Hospital, and it's looking like this disease is hell-bent on winning. My heart is breaking for James, for Monica, and for everyone who is going to miss this amazing young man. Monica has been posting photos taken over the years on James's facebook page, and I decided I'm going to make an album for Monica using some of these photos. This is the first page.

Here are some details. These papers are all pretty old, from K&Co. I thought they had a nice tropical feel that goes with the pictures.

This beautiful border is made with a Cheery Lynn Designs die. The butterflies, of course, are by Jenni Bowlin, and the rhinestone brads are from Jo-Ann's a long time ago, and they're by Creating Keepsakes.

I used some old Heidi Swapp chipboard letters, which I bought a ton of back in the day when they were the only chipboard letters on the market. The lime-looking shape is also from a K&Co paper. The leaves are a Cheery Lynn die.

Go see the amazing layouts from the rest of the design team here. And you'll definitely want to play along--this was a really fun sketch to work with!

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog and reading about my page.

The Royal Family {CSI Case File No. 26}

We're finishing up The Queen's Birthday Month at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration with a very elegant Case File:

I knew I wanted to do the "Royal Family" prompt from the Testimony and had originally planned to do a multiphoto layout with everyone in my family and say Ed is the King of Puns, etc., but I knew it would be hard to fit nine photos on my page. As I was pondering this, it came to me that I should do a layout about my three cats, so here's what I came up with. I still want to do the Royal Family thing with my human family, and I'm thinking that might wind up as a mini album.

My clues: Evidence - all of them! Testimony: Royal Family

Here are some details. The birdcage and that fleur-de-lys bit are from the CSI Coordinates. The oval sticker is by 7 Gypsies. The black leaves are Autumn Leaves stamps with black embossing powder. That lovely border is a die-cut by Cheery Lynn Designs.

These little crowns are also in the Coordinates. The patterned papers are by My Mind's Eye. I dug out some old vellum that had silver script on it, and that lavendar paper is really old Anna Griffin, and it matches the grayish lavendar in the Case File perfectly.

"The Royal Family" piece is in the Coordinates, as are the lavendar label and the little yellow journaling spots that I've got tucked into an old vellum envelope by Rebecca Sower--remember The Attic Collection? The little doilies are cut from a paper by My Mind's Eye.

The little journaling spots pull out. If you click on the image below, you can read about Queen of Hairballs, Maggie. The other two spots read: King Little Brent is a scratchy little boy. "Pay attention to me!" he says as his little claws go into your arm. Or leg. Or face. Or head when I put every body part under the covers. I call them love scratches."

"Queen Freckles doesn't meow like a normal cat. She squeaks. All you have to do is look at her and she squeaks. And she's got a squeaky button on her fanny that makes her squeak on demand."

I hope you'll come over and play with us and definitely take a look at the awesome stuff our design team and guest designers made--and be sure to peek in the gallery, too, as our members are adding lots of gorgeous stuff!

This week is your last chance to play for an opportunity to win one of three awesome kits donated by our June sponsor, Little Black Dress Kit Club.

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog and reading about my page!