Hello Sunshine | CSI Case File No. 388

I made this layout last month for CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration, featuring a picture of my friend's daughter. 

Here are the Case File and Clues that inspired this layout:

The beautiful Scene was found on Pinterest.

I was inspired by all the florals and greenery in The Scene, as well as the wreath. In addition to using the colors, I used the following Evidence clues: stripes, flowers, greenery, layers, wood, paint, jars (in the photo), hearts, wreath, circles, lemons, cursive, flair.

Here are some details. I started with a free cut file from Paper Issues called Bud Wreath. I love white on white, but the cut file was getting lost on the background, so I added some yellow ink with a blending brush and some paint splatters, and it still wasn't standing out enough, so I cut it a second time in green and mounted the white on top of that, and that did the trick. 

I looked through my stash for yellow floral paper but couldn't find any, so I decided to use some Vicki Boutin flower stamps to add to my wreath. I used alcohol markers to color them in. The title is from a Simple Stories foam sticker pack. I always add a heart (or more) to the layouts I give to my friends, and I found a perfect flair badge to add, which met the heart and circle clue. And I found a paper in my stash with lemons for the lemon clue and fussy cut those to add to my floral clusters. In retrospect, I wish I had flipped the design because it looks a little top heavy, but I don't always see these things until they're on the computer screen and it's too late.

Once I had all the flowers arranged, I added some more details, like the branches made with a die from Simply Graphic, some phrase stickers, and some rub-on phrases. I tried to add dimension to the stamped flowers and leaves by adding some folds in them. I stitched the white page onto a green background--that paper is really old, by K&Co. Some wooden hearts and enamel dots finished off my page.

Even though this challenge is over tomorrow, we've got new challenges every month at CSI, so I hope you'll come play with us!

Attitude {Paper Issues Scraplift Sunday}

I just made this page this morning for Paper Issues Scraplift Sunday challenge.

I loved the mixed media in Angie's layout that we lifted. I'd love to know she achieved that vibrant blue.

Here are some details. I used Fancy Pants Dream Big collection and then chose all the rest of the stuff I used based on that. That flair badge is by A Flair for Buttons. I've had that epoxy sticker, I think by Creative Imaginations, forever. They've gone a bit yellow with age. I pick the sheet of these stickers up every now and then and then put them back. I've thought about tossing them over the years, but I'm glad I kept them because I think this sticker works well here.

The reinforcements are by Heidi Swapp--how perfect a match is that blue color! The wood veneer stars are by Studio Calico. The checker stamp is by Prima, and the plus-signs are also a stamp, by Carabelle Studio.

The puffy sticker arrow is from the dream Big collection.

This was a really fun page to scraplift, and my page came together very quickly (for me) in a few hours.

You'll definitely want to get in on the fun for a chance to win one of two gift certificate to the Paper Issues store. Just add your creation to the Paper Issues Friends and Fans Facebook page. You have until November 4.

Have you seen all the awesome new stuff in the store? Be sure to use my code Debbi (no e on the end), and you'll get 20% off your entire purchase!

Let Me In! {CSI Case File No. 261}

Our mid-month challenge at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration is live! Here's what I made:

And here is the Case File for this challenge that inspired my layout:

I have countless photos of this furry little mischief maker, and this photo was calling to me. These doors go to the library, where I keep not only my books but the cage holding my bearded dragon. Miss Minnie Cupcake wants to get in there so bad. I had locked the door from the inside when I went in to feed the lizard, and when I turned around, she had climbed halfway up the French door and was staring at me. I was so lucky I had my camera to catch that funny shot! I used many of the traditional clues, including the color scheme, a floral print (which I fussy cut), stripes, dots, animals, flowers, hearts, triangles, buttons, a bow, and brads, as well as the topic Testimony.

Here are some details. That fuchsia paper with the wonky dots is really old, by Ki Memories. I think they were ahead of their time. It's funny--I used that We R Memory Keepers paper with the doors on my other September CSI page. I thought it was perfect here (and for the other page too). The flowers were fussy cut from an Amy Tangerine paper, and the "hello" speech bubble was cut from a My Mind's Eye paper. My flair badges are from A Flair for Buttons. I love it when I can find the perfect word stickers, and I found the "world domination strategies" on an old 7Gypsies sticker sheet. It made me laugh with this picture.

I found a little lizard in a Shimelle puffy sticker pack. You gotta love BasicGrey for letter stickers. I have every single pack they ever made, so I can always find the perfect color in my stash. The green letters are old Sassafras Lass stickers.

I couldn't not use this "adorakable" flair badge, also by A Flair for Buttons. That "laugh" sticker is ANCIENT--by Ki memories, and I found a little bow-shaped enamel dot in just the right color to match that clue.

I hope you'll come play with us. We've got a dozen sponsors donating prizes this month--everything from prize packs to kits to gift certificates:

CSI: Case File No. 253

Did you know May is Creative Beginnings Month? I'm not sure exactly how that's celebrated elsewhere, but at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration, we used the occasion to make up a beautiful new Case File:



And before I share my page, I want to let you know that we're having a design team call, which you can check out here.

Here is the page I created. These were the Evidence clues I used, which can be found at the bottom of the reveal. I used all the Evidence clues, along with palette from The Scheme.

• solid background
• solid cardstock
• stripes
• wonky dots
• scallops
• textured paper
• die cuts/cut files
• hand cutting
• washi tape
• leaves/branches
• jar/vase shape
• hand-drawn elements
• paint
• circles
• combine colorful patterns with a black and white pattern
• metal

I'm creating a bunch of pages for my pastor. This is going to be a surprise. Basically, I'm snagging photos of her adorable dogs off her Facebook page and using the captions for either titles or journaling. This photo was taken shortly after her third dog passed away, hence the title.

Here are some details. I knew I wanted to use these awesome leafy dies from Simply Graphic. A couple of the dies were from Peachy Cheap.I originally thought of either hand-cutting a vase, but then I remember all these jars from Dear Lizzy papers that were in my stash. I was going to just use one and make a cluster on the page, but my page evolved as I kept adding more jars. I  added some butterflies from a punch and sewed through them, leaving some of the ends of the thread behind to look like antennae.

For the metal clue, I found this awesome clip by Evalicious and tied some old printed tags that I think are by Making Memories. The jar that has the heart and rhinestone is a stamped image. I used the packaging technique in the background and added some hand-drawn hearts, another clue.

The flair badge, which I used for the circles clue, is by A Flair for Buttons.

I found this cool double-sided mulberry paper to use for the textured paper clue and tore it at the bottom and then tucked a lacy scalloped border underneath.

I do hope you'll come play in this fun challenge. We've got a whole bunch of prizes up for grabs from twelve awesome sponsors:

Jars to Inspire {CSI Case File No. 252}

Our mid-month challenge is live at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration. Here's the page I created for this challenge:

And here's the Case File for the challenge: I used most of the traditional clues from the Case File (which, since I'm the one who creates the clues, is how I drew inspiration from The Scene). From the Evidence list, I used stripes, dots, diamond pattern, text pattern, triangles, circles, doily, light bulb, frame, banner, numbers clip, metal, puffy stickers, animals, hearts. For the Testimony, I sort of put my journaling in a frame.

Here are some details. I used a combination of old and newer stuff on this page. My story is typed on that tag, which is tucked inside a really old transparent pocket by Creative Imaginations (Narratives). Probably a dozen years old. That yellow frame is a newer thing in my stash, as is the silver puffy sticker, which is by Freckled Fawn. That transparent light bulb is by Maya Road.

Below you can read my story. So I go to Weight Watchers on Saturday morning, and I started this jar thing a while back, and the tag tells the story behind the jars. The stamps on my page are all by Denim Tampons, one of our generous sponsors this month. They have the coolest stamps. There are some stamps in yellow and light gray, which are hard to see in my photos. I just love that scissor stamp.

The numbers are from a pack of rub-ons by Tim Holtz. Not sure who made the jar, but it came in a pack from Hobby Lobby. That flair badge is by A Flair for Buttons.

One of my favorite craft finds of all times at Michael's is that little black bunting. I wish they had it in other colors. The clear sticker that I put on my photograph is by Simple Stories.

And here's a shot of the title. My favorite thicker alpha by Amy Tangerine, some tiny letters from Lily Bee. The brackets are from a die by Simply Graphic, a French company, and that bird is a puffy sticker from that company that sells things for a dollar at Michael's (the name is escaping me at the moment). I added the bird because the lid of my pounds lost jar has a bird on it.

You Are a Masterpiece {Paper Issues Frame It Up Challenge}

I made another page for one of my students:

This layout was inspired by the Frame it Up challenge over at Paper Issues:

Here are some details. Most of the papers are from Photoplay's Like a Girl collection, as are the red letter stickers (the black vinyl letter stickers are Thickers). That chipboard flamingo is by My Mind's Eye (On Trend 2)--I thought the color of the flamingo matched peach in the circles on the right-hand side paper. All the flair badges are from A Flair for Buttons.

The blue frames were fussy-cut from an old  paper by My Little Shoebox. The speech bubbles were cut from one the Like a Girl papers.

The camera was cut from a paper by Dear Lizzy Saturday collection, and that puffy heart that says Love it is by Heidi Swapp.

Chomp! {Paper Issues Scraplift Sunday Challenge}

I had a very unexpected snow day on Wednesday, so Tracee and I decided to play over at Paper Issues. We chose the Scraplift Sunday challenge. Here's the page we had to lift for the challenge:

I pretty much scraplifted the whole thing! Farzad, Tracee, and I went to National Harbor last summer, and there was a street filled with dozens of statues which made for some pretty fun photo ops.

Here are some details. I wasn't sure what paper to use for this, but I decided I'd use a collection. Most of my paper is sorted by color, but I have a few collections together, and when I pulled out the Fancy Pants Millie & June paper, I wasn't sure if the colors would go with my photos, but to my surprise, I like the way they looked together. As you can see, I arranged my papers almost the same way as Kelly, except for how I layered the paper behind the pictures. I also stitched the three patterns onto the background. My Flair badges are by A Flair for Buttons, and that label layer is actually an old Scenic Route rub-on label, cut in half.

Here's another badge from A Flair for Buttons. Those solid puffy circles are from the Millie & June collection, and the puffy "Dude" is by Amy Tangerine.  The black dots were made with Enamel Accents. Haven't used those in forever, so I thank Kelly for including those little circles on her layout!

I really loved the way Kelly's title looked, and I have a cut file with an alpha like that from The Cut Shoppe, but Tracee said she was going to try to use up some large Thickers, and I thought, "What a good idea!" I have so many alphas that are way too big for my 8 x 8 pages, including several packages of old Heidi Swapp Misunderstood chipboard letters in every color imaginable. I decided I'd mimic Kelly's lettering by backing the letters with patterned paper. I searched my puffy stickers for some fun ones to put on the title, and I was so delighted when I found this chomping hippo in almost the right color!

And I kept searching for something for the other side and found this funny bunny chomping on a cookie. Perfect!