Where Did You Go? {CSI Case File No. 4}

CSI Case File No. 4 is Live! And we have a very beautiful Case for you to solve:

I was looking through photos to scrap and came across this photo of my Gram, and the pants she was wearing were the exact color of the last teal in the palette, so I went with that.

As I stared at that picture, I started thinking about how sad it is that my Gram is getting old and changing from the spunky, lively Gram I've known all my life into a very different person, so that's where I went with this layout.

The clues I used:
Evidence: frame, striped butterfly, rhinestones, something shiny (the epoxy brad)
Testimony: unexpected text, get curious and ask questions, my reflections, journaled in a frame, and inspiration word: change.

I remember this photo well. Gram and Nom went on vacation to Maine with us. We were on top of Cadillac Mountain, and it was very windy, and I started throwing my arms out and saying, "I'm flying," and soon everyone was doing it. I decided to have my Gram flying out of the frame and right off the page. I wanted my story to be the focus of my page. I photographed my page so that you could see the distressed edge and where the picture comes off the page a bit. In retrospect, I wish I had place it even a little more off the page.

In case you can't read the journaling on my photo, here it is:

What happened to this energetic, lively person? Is it possible to pinpoint a specific location in time when you became the person you are today? That person who  is dependent on others.  That person who no longer can drive. That person who gets out of breath  when she  walks to the mailbox. That someone who spends her days in a chair watching TV. There are times when that old you makes an appearance. The someone who still gets her hair and nails fixed. The person who loves to have her family visit. The person who still loves to give advice because she knows what's best. I'm thankful there's still a shadow of the old you left, but I just want to know, where did you go?

Here are a few details. I went to my Crate Paper folder to look for my papers and was pleased to find most of the colors I needed in there. All the paper I used is by Crate Paper, from various collections, including Orbit and Restoration. The felt flower is by Maya Road. The gold was a little tricky to match. The epoxy brad is a cheapy one I found at the Target Dollar spot a couple of years ago and matched that first blue almost perfectly.

Remember when Thickers first came out and it was so awesome because there were so many more varieties than Heidi Swapp letters? I remember AC Moore had a super-duper sale on these felt black Thickers and I bought a ton of packs of them. They're a little big for my 8 x 8 pages, so I don't use them a lot. The smaller letter stickers actually match that last teal, even though this photo doesn't show it. The gold butterfly is Pink Paislee, and the striped (and other cardstock butterflies) are by Making Memories.

The frame is by My Mind's Eye. Love those things and I wish they made them a little smaller too. I left the threads hanging on the butterflies after I stitched them on because I thought they sort of looked like butterfly trails.

Some more closeups of the Making Memories butterflies and a fuzzy Sassafras Lass brad.

You should definitely go check out what the rest of the team made with this Case File--all so different and all so beautiful! And make sure you play along this week if you haven't yet had the chance to crack the case--Dusty Attic is our sponsor, and you just may win a fantastic prize from them!

Snap 101 - CSI Case File No. 3 Is Live!

I'm so happy about the positive feedback we've received at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration! So many have joined and jumped right in to solving our Case Files. I can't believe we're already on Case File No. 3. We revealed it last night:

When I make up these colors, I have NO idea what I'm going to do for my layout or if I even have the colors in my stash. I can tell you, I was cursing myself as I set about making a layout, but once I got rolling, I ended up loving the colors. Here's what I made. It's going into my album called "Pursuit of Scrappiness," which documents my scrapbook-related adventures and memories. I'm struggling with finding a good place to photograph my layouts in my new home. I had found the perfect spot in the backyard of my old house. Anyway, I was trying to take a picture of my layout and it kept blowing over, and the next thing you know, I look up and my husband and his niece are laughing at me and taking pictures of this whole episode!

Here are some details. I've challenged myself to try to use the more challenging journaling prompts from the Testimony when I'm creating my layouts for CSI. I thought directions would be a fun way to approach my journaling for this page, and as I was looking for papers, I came across this filmstrip print on a Kaiser Craft paper and wondered if I could put my journaling inside each frame. It was 12 inches long, too big for my 8 x 8 page, so I cut it apart and attached it with a brad to allow one piece to swing open so you can read all the journaling that's hidden. Here's what my journaling says:

Step 1: Find decent light and set layout on little chair.

Step 2: Aim camera looking straight on so your photo doesn't wind up crooked.

Step 3: Watch the wind carry your layout off the little chair. Curse the wind.

Step 4: Chase after your layout. Dust off dirt. Repeat steps 1 and 2.

Step 5: Repeat Step 3.

Step 6: Repeat Step 4. Curse.

Step 7: Use one hand to hold layout steady and the other to snap the picture.

Step 8: Make a wish that layout won't be blurry from one- handed snapping.

Step 9: Edit photo. Praise steady hand. Curse that all the shots were crooked.

The lavender paper in the punched border is BasicGrey Oh Baby Girl. That corduroy brad is by Pink Paislee, and I used a bit of sheer ribbon and tags, from the Evidence part of the challenge.

I was delighted to rescue these old lavendar Heidi Swapp Schizophrenic letters from my stash. They appear a little brighter than they really are; in reality they are a PERFECT match to the lilac in the palette. (I had to photograph my layout in my classroom because I kept getting home late and it was dark.) The cut out flowers are from the BasicGrey Curio collection, as is the circle behind the photos. Those pink flowers, which also are showing up a little too vibrant, are cheapie silk flowers from Michaels.

Those cool circles are cut from a BasicGrey Porcelain collection, and I used gold American Crafts brads for the centers. The brown background paper I used from the B side of a Crate Paper Paper Doll piece.

I had originally wanted to call my page "How to Photograph a Layout," but it turned out to be WAY too big for my 8 x 8 page, so I came up with Snap 101, which turned out to be a far more interesting title, in my opinion, and I managed to get my original title in there as a subtitle on the tag. The "endless" sticker is cut from a VERY old Pebbles definition sticker from way back in the day when the vintage look was in style. Not sure you can tell, but I used gold staples as part of the gold metallic element part of the Evidence. The camera image was cut out of a Studio Calico paper and mounted on pop dots. I snuck a Martha Stewart doily in there.  (Sorry for the glare on the photograph.)

The team and guest designers did an amazing job with this Case File. You must go check it out! And if you haven't yet played, you will want to because The Dusty Attic is our January sponsor.

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

Top Secret Preview of Tomorrow's CSI Challenge

Can't wait to show you our new Case File! Here's a top-secret preview:

I hope you'll come join us at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration tomorrow evening for the reveal!

Good Advice - CSI Case File No. 2 Is Live!

What a fantastic launch we had at CSI! We already have over 300 members in just a week! And I'm so excited to see so many jump right in and "solve" our first Case! If you haven't had time to play with our first Case File, you still have time to play. I've set the challenges so that they run for a week plus an extra weekend, so the deadline for Case File No. 1 is Sunday, January 15 at 11:59 pm EST. You'll definitely want to play in January because we have The Dusty Attic sponsoring us!

Well, the week flew by and before I knew it, we were ready to reveal Case File No. 2 last night. Here it is (you can find more details about the clues at CSI -- just scroll down to the bottom):

And here is the page I made. (It photographed a little lopsided--still gotta master that--and I had to do some creative cropping since I wanted to pull out my hidden journaling a little.)

Here are some details. The "advice" part of the journaling prompts comes from this Alice in Wonderland quote, which I included on the yellow Webster's Pages journaling card:

"Good advice. If I listened earlier, I wouldn't be here. But that's just the trouble with me. I give myself very good advice, but I very seldom follow it." --Alice

My page is for my weight-loss album. I've been really struggling with my weight-loss journey for the past year, and I really fell down the past 6 months since we started the whole process of selling our home and buying a new one. I used a picture from a little over a year ago when I was well on my way, having lost 60 pounds. I've gained half that back. :(

Anyway, the rest of my journaling is stream-of-consciousness (another bit of the CSI Case File Testimony) and just contains good advice and messages I was telling myself when I was being "good," and they're now going to serve as reminders for me now that I'm getting back on track:

This is the last time I will do this. I will not let little slip-ups derail me. Tracking is the solution. I can do this. I can exercise a little each day. Keep a journal and set little goals. I can get through this one meal. This one day. I can do this. (On the "Remember When You Said" My Mind's Eye journaling card.)

I will treat Weight Watchers like a class with assignments... cook the recipe in the little weekly book, do the assignment on the back. I'll look at the scrapbook I'm making. Look at this picture where I was well on my way. I can do this. (On the third card.)

Reading my friend Wendy Mitchell's story on her blog prompted me to get my butt back in gear, so you could say she inspired this page.

I used some old stash on this page, including the clip, which is from that old Rebecca Sowers Attic Collection, the striped paper is by Daisy D's, and the red torn bits of paper are old Christine Adolph papers by Creative Imaginations. The polka dot paper is by My Mind's Eye (Bloom & Grow).

When I was looking for the lavendar color, I came across this ANCIENT mulberry paper and knew I had to use it. So happy to finally rescue that from my stash! The blue papers on the picture below are both by Fancy Pants, also pretty old. The brad is by K&Co. from the Wild Saffron collection.

I think that yellow flower is by Prima and the red one is by Petaloo. The lavendar flower was from a cheapie bunch of silk flowers I bought at Michael's. The leaves are from an old Scenic Route paper, and I'll be sad when they're all gone.  I scored them in the center and bent them up a little for dimension. I also love the Webster's paper lanterns cut out of one of their papers, and I'll be sad when I use them all up too. That's another K&Co. fabric brad. I added some swirls that were part of the Case File Evidence, as were the flowers.

I was happy to use this Dusty Attic gate as part of my Evidence. I coated it with embossing ink and sprinkled on a blue embossing powder that was lighter on paper. Note to self: Next time I want to use embossing ink on chipboard, try it out on a sample first instead of just going by the sample I have on the white cardstock. The butterflies are cut from a DCWV paper.

And here's an experiment gone bad, but once I set my mind to something, I don't give up. I found these lavendar letter stickers that I've probably had in my stash for close to 10 years, and I was determined to use them. I stamped them with a texture stamp and embossed them with clear embossing powder to give them a different sort of look. Well, it didn't show up really, so then I got the idea of coating them with Glossy Accents and after they dried, I bent them back and forth to give them a cracked look. Didn't quite work out the way I had imagined, but I went ahead and added them to my page because I had put so much effort into them, LOL. I added those yellow "metallic dots" topped with lavender rhinestones to cover up some of that darker purple.

These colors were tricky but I love how pretty and happy they are, and I had great fun digging through my stash to find the right blues. I hope you'll come play with us and go take a look at the amazing work our team and guest designers made!

Thank you for stopping by and reading about my page today!

Two more days...

It's almost time! If you haven't signed up, we'd love you to join us over at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration! Our first challenge will be revealed on Friday evening (around 6:00 pm EST). Just wait until you see the beautiful work from our Detectives and our guest designers, and I can't wait for you to see who our January sponsor is! We are going to have FUN!

Below, I leave you with the top-secret sneak preview of Case File No. 1...

A peek at my first layout for CSI

I'm so excited! It's very near! We launch CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration in four short days! Our design team members, aka the CSI Detectives, have been busy posting sneaks of their pages on their blogs, so I thought it was about time that I shared a peek of mine too:

The site is still under construction, but it's almost ready. If you haven't had a chance to visit, please drop by, register as a member, and take a look around. This challenge is going to be fun, fun, fun! It's a color challenge, but so much more. There's a fun journaling element (journalphobes, don't be scared--there's a range of options from easy to more challenging) and an inspiration element that will get you digging through your stash.

We have the most amazing sponsor for our launch, so you will definitely want to play once we reveal our first Case File. Here's a little tiny peek of that Case File:

And by the way, we will be having a design team call in a bit once we get rolling, so come join the fun and get a head start!