By the Bay Today {CSI Case File No. 190}

We've got a new Case File open for investigation at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration:

Here's my page. Clues I used... Evidence: stripes, solid background, bird, nautical element, heart, stars, rub-ons, stamps, scallops, wood; Testimony: Write a haiku, inspiration word call, hand-drawn journaling spots.

These photos were taken during Tracee's first visit with me.

We've been having crazy weather here in Maryland, and when I had to photograph my page, there was over three feet of snow on the ground, so I only got to photograph my page. I couldn't get any closeups because I usually have to sit on the ground for that. But to talk about some details, I just cropped some spots from my layout.

Those are some super-duper old brads I used, and I even used an eyelet in the anchor! Always happy to use up some of my old stash. The scalloped frames are real old too--by Making Memories. That crackle washi tape is by Little B. The crackles are silver. Don't you hate how hard it is to photograph metallics?

I recently took all my brads out of their packaging and organized them by color, which makes it so easy to find a brad to match and also helps me to use up ones that I've had forever. Here's a look at how I organized them. I bought a few sheets of foam core board and cut them into pieces that would fit into these stackable drawer units I have. You can see those if you look at the photos of my scrap room. Then I poked holes in the board with my embossing stylus and suck them in. I love organizing things ROYGBIV!

I also recently organized a lot of my embellishments by color, which you can see here. Makes it so easy to match up colors.  I decided to write a haiku. Originally I was going to draw a label or tag and put the whole poem on it, but I couldn't find a spot for it, so I just cut strips and drew some sketchy lines around them. I wrote a haiku, and originally the first line had the inspiration word "call" in it, but I decided to change it and use "beckoned," which is a synonym, so it still meets that clue, in my opinion!

I always forget to use the gazillions of sequins I have, but I remembered this time, and I thought they were perfect for this page. I used the packaging watercolor technique with blue watercolors and lime Heidi Swapp ColorShine mists for the background and then did some stamping using a stamp from Denim Tampons. I found some green stars in an old package of American Crafts rub-ons. I recently reorganized my rub-ons too, so I find I'm using them more.

The Studio Calio Tweet served double duty for the wood and bird Evidence clues. The picture of Tracee was originally oriented the other way, but to meet the design I had in mind, I flipped the photo before printing it. Papers I used are by Authentique (gray stars), My Mind's Eye (teal stripe and the green dot--really old Kaleidoscope collection).

I hope you'll come play with us. We have eleven sponsors this month, a couple of whom are offering prizes for two players. That means almost everyone whose layouts are chosen as favorites will win a prize! Come check out the details here.