Hello, Happy Home {CSI Case File No. 113}

I'm a little late posting last week's page I created for CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration. This Case File is still open until midnight tomorrow.

Clues I used: ledger paper, camera, hearts, stars, birds, scallops, envelope (on back for journaling), pen work, stripes. Testimony: Put journaling in an envelope, and all three inspiration words.

I created another page for my mom's album. For those who don't know, my stepdad died the day after Christmas. I'm writing the journaling as if Ed were speaking to her and tucking those stories into an envelope adhered to the back of each layout.

I used this sketch that I found at Grand Diva's Creative Corner:

Here are some details: The little frames, of course, are by Dear Lizzy. The speech bubbles are from another American Crafts paper. The blue papers are by Love, Elsie (ledger) and Simple Stories (dots and stripes), and American Crafts (the triangles). The pink heart paper is Pebbles, and the text paper is by Studio Calico. And of course the little wood veneer bird is by Studio Calico.

The stars are also by Studio Calico. Those fabric covered chipboard letters are Thickers, and the hearts are old Heidi Swapp hearts.

That little camera clip is by Prima. I tucked an ANCIENT epoxy sticker by Autumn Leaves MOD in there. That little heart tab came from the inside of the frames I cut out. The grid stamp is Kaiser Craft.

I added some words to the background with roller stamps by American Crafts. The pink paper at the bottom was from a tear strip at the bottom of a paper, and It wasn't wide enough, so I just used two pieces. Those circle elements were cut on my Silhouette Cameo. 

I haven't yet had time to write the journaling, but it's going to be about how much Ed loved his home with my mom.

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.

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!

You're a Jerk - Creative Scrappers Sketch

A while back, my nephew was really into jerking, and I snapped some pictures of him doing this crazy dance. In case you've never heard of this dance, here's the song that sparked it all:



I thought our current sketch at Creative Scrappers was perfect for these pictures:

Here's my page. I used Studio Calico's "Mind the Gap" kit to make my page, along with a couple of stickers and rub-ons from my stash.

The grid stamp is from another Studio Calico kit. I used clear embossing powder on it. I added Glossy Accents to the letter stickers to give them a little more dimension. I love those little metal studs that came in this kit. They're by 7 Gypsies. That gray paper is byAmerican Crafts. It's glossy and embossed.

These cool metal buttons also came in that kit. The word stickers are from my stash. The circles were made with a regular hole punch. They are my next day additions when I gave my page a second look.

I tend not to use mists because of the lack of control. The splatters just seem to go wherever they want, which happened to be the case on this layout. I didn't intend for those big splats to be at the edge of the page, but in the end, I decided they looked okay. I outlined the splats with a fine pen. Those number rub-ons are by 7 Gypsies. That circular wood-grain bit is a label that sealed the bag my Studio Calico kit came in. I always cut them out and save them (because I am such a packrat), and it came in handy for this page. I punched one of my stars out of the bottom that's hidden by the pictures.

This was such a fun sketch to work with. You should go check out what the rest of the team made, and I hope you'll play along. You just might win a prize from our July sponsor Pretty Little Studio.

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

It's Official! It's Summer!

I just got home from closing my classroom. It's official--I'm on summer break! Yay!

Speaking of summer, our next challenge is up at Color Combos Galore, and we're continuing our theme with a delightful palette and Inspiration Board.

But first, here's some music to get you in the summery mood--we're playing it over at the CCG reveal...



So here's the challenge:

And here's my page. I dug out a ton of older stash for this layout. The ledger paper in the background is pretty old Collage Press paper, and the big cream on pink polka dot paper is by K&Co.

And here are some closeups. The rolled papers are my attempt at making birthday candles. I used some ancient Chatterbox paper (stripes), some October Afternoon (black polka dot) and Die Cuts With a View (red polka dot). I used pearl-topped stickpins for the candle flames. That red gingham ribbon was sitting my desk, leftover from a recent layout. The pearl brad is by Recollections from Michael's.

I used some other stuff that happened to be sitting on my desk--the Prima flower, which I layered over an old black cork flower. The fabric brad is by SEI. That scrolly bit holding my title was also sitting on my desk, a reject from a previous layout. The red cut-out designs are from a Pink Paislee paper. I added a snippet of red mesh behind all of this.

These pink elements are cut out of an American Crafts Letterbox paper. For the Designer's Challenge, I found some digital frame stamps at Designer Digitals. I just pasted them on top of my picture and changed them to white.

That strip of circles is by BasicGrey and also happened to be sitting on my desk leftover from the last layout I made. All these bits and pieces were easy to collect together because they were just sitting there staring at me (good thing I don't always clean my desk after finishing a page!). The journaling tag is also by Collage Press. As always, I added some word stickers. They always seem to do the trick when something seems "missing" when I look at my page the next day.

I hope you'll come play with us at CCG! You should definitely go take a peek at the fantastic pages by our design team, guest designer, and featured member. It's always so fun to see all the different takes on the same challenge!

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

A Shiny, Happy Challenge at CCG!

Challenge 189 went live last night at Color Combos Galore. Such a beautiful Inspiration Board we have this week:

The colors are beautiful, but I had to look long and hard to find just the right picture to go with them. I came upon this picture of baby me, and it looked just perfect for the combo. As soon as I saw my shiny bum, I was reminded of the silly song my mom would sing to us when we were little (and naked).

I scrounged through my paper stash to find the colors and came up with some old and new stuff: My Mind's Eye Fine and Dandy, American Crafts Dear Lizzy, and some old Fancy Pants. I found some Peach Core'dinations that was perfect. I used the current sketch from Pencil Lines (sketch 234) as inspiration for my page design: 

Here are some close-ups. The journaling labels are by October Afternoon. I thought the little windows in the Dear Lizzy birdhouse needed something, so I added some Pearls (by BasicGrey). That gauzy rose is cut from a Webster's Pages Bloomers trim. For some reason, I forgot to get a detail shot of the other roses, but they're by Prima. At the last minute, I stuck those pins in--I think they're by Heidi Grace (not a hundred percent sure because they were floating in the bottom of my pin drawer--yeah, I have a drawer dedicated exclusively to pins).

I think I have a lifetime supply of Heidi Swapp letters, and I'm always so happy when I have enough vowels for the title I want to use! That little brad is an old Autumn Leaves MOD brad. You can see a little of the Core'dinations paper behind the title, which I sanded.

I love tucking little odds and ends between layers. These two piece are also VERY old. The soap one is a cut-out from Melissa Frances, and the Exhibit A bit is by Daisy D's.

  

A little detal shot from the bottom corner. I added a little Doodlebug sugared brad to the Bloomer rose to make it stay the way I wanted. The sparkly chipboard heart is Dear Lizzy.

  

The edges on that picture above look sort of muddy, but the edges are actually shimmery. Our Designer's Challenge was to add shimmer. I didn't want to cop out and just use the glittery accents, so I dug out the Twinkling H2O's that I bought eons ago when I saw them demonstrated at a stamping store. I distressed the edges of my papers with the Zutter Distrezz-It-All and then painted them with the Twinkling H2O's. So shimmery and pretty. Don't know why I never used them before. I think I tried to use them once but I didn't let the water soak into the pigment enough, so when I tried painting with them, it was too watery.

  

The reveal for the challenge is especially beautiful this week with these gorgeous colors. Head over and check out what the rest of the design team made. And I hope you'll play along. You might catch Janet's eye and be featured or even win a prize from our sponsor...

Thank you so much for visiting and reading about my layout!