Top of the World {CSI Case File No. 11}

We have the most cheerful, playful Case File this week at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration!

I love documenting fun little stories from my childhood, and this was the perfect Case File to do it. I used a sketch from Page Maps as my starting point:

Here's what I made. The clues I used: Evidence: butterflies, string, patterned paper with vintage images, and tearing. Testimony: a story from my childhood.

My hidden journaling (on the 7 Gypsies tag tucked behind the photos) tells about how when I was a kid, we'd go to the school playground after hours and I'd sit on the top of those monkey bars singing the old Carpenters song, "I'm on the top of the world looking down on creation..." at the top of my lungs.

For you young'ns who have no idea who the Carpenters are or what the song sounds like, here you go...

Here are some details. I used a whole bunch of different papers on this page. From the following image, the black polka dot is by Jillbean Soup, the green grid is by Echo Park, the blue paper is by Ki Memories, the yellow polkie is American Crafts, the music print is by October Afternoon, and the vintage girl and flowers is Sassafras Lass. I added Stickles to my flowers.

These butterflies were cut out of a Jillibean Soup paper. The red number paper is by Jenni Bowlin, and the clouds are cut out of a Bella Blvd. paper. The kraft label is by Maya Road. I added "Random Memory No." with Headline Rub-ons. Love those things--they're really tiny and perfect for labeling things like this. You can find them at AC Moore in the fine arts section.

I elevated several of the elements on my page with pop dots. My title letters are American Crafts Thickers, old Foofala (red), and Echo Park (typewriter key-syle letters). The flowery border with the 4's is from a Sassafras Lass paper. The border punches are by Martha Stewart and EK Success.

The little banners from the sketch just weren't working out for me on my borders, so I added them to the top of my page, along with a 7 Gypsies phrase sticker, which I snipped into a flag shape. That little flower-shaped brad is ancient, by Autumn Leaves MOD.

The design team and all of our guest designers did amazing things with this challenge--you must go check it out--it's such a fun Case File!

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

Apple a Day {HMITM + WIP}

Making my page for our current challenge at How Much is Too Much coincided with work on my October Work in Progress kit, and when I opened the box, I discovered that the kit would be perfect for Janet's Johnny Appleseed challenge:

Our challenge this time is going to do a layout using apples in it. So it can be a recipe page, layout about fall or anything that uses apples. Since apples come in three colors I want the colors of the layout to have red, yellow and green in them.
3 apples
3 red,
3 yellow, and
3 green embellishments - ( buttons, brads, twine)

I'm a teacher, so I get a school portrait taken every year, and I never know what to do with them. I decided this challenge was the perfect opportunity to document my apple-a-day ritual, which I plan to add to my weight-loss album.

My hidden journaling reads: During the school year, I eat an apple a day. Every day, I bring an apple in my lunch. My favorite is apple is the honeycrisp. My apple-a-day habit started when I began Weight Watchers. I bring a knife and cut my apple into small slices so I can take a long time eating it. I usually bring a frozen Weight Watchers Smart One or a Lean Cuisine, which gets eaten pretty fast, and then I cut my apple and enjoy it for the rest of my lunch time. (School portrait - Fall 2011)

Here are a few details. I cut the flower and punched the apple image out of some Crate Paper papers from the kit. The little typewriter was from a Jillibean Soup paper. I added that green apple from an old October Afternoon paper.

I used the space in between the apple images on that pattern above to cut out the banner shapes. The border sticker came in the kit. It's also by Crate Paper.

Here's a coseup of my hidden jouranling card. I added a border sticker and a paper clip for some of my red accents to meet the challenge.

These nifty fruit labels came from a Crate Paper paper--there's a whole sheet of them, and I just love this ruler paper, also by Crate Paper.

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

All Things Lovely and Green

Well, darnit, I meant to post this on St. Patrick's Day because that's what our current challenge at How Much Is Too Much was celebrating. Our challenge is called "All Things Lovely and Green," and Elizabeth challenged us to use:

• at least 10 green things on your layout
• 3 sheer embellishments
• 5 label stickers or journaling spots
• 3 different stamps

Here's what I came up with. I was so happy to finally scrap this Polaroid of Farzad in Las Vegas with a guy dressed up as The Mask character. Such a garish green face--and so hard to scrap!

It was the perfect opportunity to use the fun Sassafras Lass monsters. The oval frame is cut from the same monster paper. I trimmed a monster out of the middle and used the frame, tied with some baker's twine.

The sheer elements in the back are really old Maya Road sheers. And I cut another little monster out and popped him up with a pop dot. The green dots are called metallic dots and they're by Colorbok. The labels are really old, too--by Creative Cafe, from their very first collection. The word stickers on my page are by K&Co., and the brad, which matches the monsters is, of course by Sassafras Lass. That grid stamp in the background came in a Studio Calico kit, and I used green embossing powder.

The chipboard letters are also really old, by Scenic Route. I don't usually use them because they're kind of large for my 8 x 8 pages, but overlapping them helped me to conserve space. The green labels are by Luxe Design. They're kind of ugly, but the green color went well with the letters, and I covered them up with my title and the monsters. I added some of that triangle paper that's behind one of the monsters inside of some of my letters. The scallop stamp is by Sassafras Lass--it's pretty old, too. Using old stash makes me happy! :)

The faq stamp, which I embossed with black powder is also by Studio Calico, and the fabric brad is a Sass one, too.

I trimmed the banner from a Sassafras Lass paper. I can't get enough of banners these days--they add such a touch of whimsy to a page, and this page screams whimsy, I think. I read somewhere some people complaining about all the banners they're seeing nowadays, saying something like they were pointless unless they were on a party page. But can't you say the same thing about flowers or stars or any other thing people use to embellish their pages? Unless we all start loading Jolee's theme stickers on our pages, banners are a sort of generic embllishment (not that there's anything wrong with Jolee's--please dont' flame me, LOL).

I am white-space-challenged, and whenever I have empty space on my page, I have this strange urge to fill it up, even though I really, really like how white space looks. I added a punched border in the same kraft paper as my background to give an illusion of empty space that wasn't really empty. Sick, I know.

At the last minute (and I mean last minute--right as I was picking up the layout to photograph it), I added the laser-cut frame, which I picked up at my local scrapbook store. It was a small piece leftover from another layout, and it was sitting there on my desk. It was just the finishing layer I needed, and I just tucked it into everything that was already stitched down. Love when serendipitous stuff like that happens!

Thanks for reading about my page!  I hope you'll come over to HMITM and see what the other team members made and that you'll play along in this fun challenge. We recently added a perk to our "How Awesome Is Too Awesome" winners--if selected for our HAITA gallery, you'll have a chance to be a future guest designer for an upcoming month.

A Lovely Juxaposition at Color Combos Galore

Last night, Challenge 177 went live at Color Combos Galore! This week, we have a lovely juxtaposition of fresh spring color and the drama of black and white. I think the names I gave the colors are especially fun this week:

Here's the page I made. I always find it a fun challenge to find just the right colors, and I found the perfect teal the Bloom & Grow collection from My Mind's Eye. For the black and white papers, I cut out pieces from a couple of Teresa Collins papers (the damask and the frames), and the houdstooth is an old CherryArte paper. The banner is from My Mind's Eye's Fine and Dandy collection. I love mixing old and new stuff. I even dug out some old Autumn Leaves papers (the yellow behind the teal).

Our Designer's Challenge was to use flowers, metal, and lace. I have so many flowers, it was easy to find just the right colors. For the metal, I knew I wanted to use this little frame I got from Michael's eons ago--from that Card Connection line that was popular, and I added a chipboard heart under the glass. The Chatterbox chipboard was just the right shade of yellow.

I trimmed a banner from the Fine and Dandy paper and added it under the flowers. It's funny, I've had this bit of lace sitting on my desk for months, not knowing what to do with it, and it turned out to be the perfect size for this page.



I added another bit of metal up near the title. My sister and I stumbled onto a Hobby Lobby about a month ago when we were going on a "field trip" to a LSS an hour and a half away--I didn't even know we had that store so close to us! They were having a 40% off sale on almost every scrapbook supply, and I filled up my cart, including these pretty metal flower brads.

The letters are BasicGrey and I thought the color was close enough. I LOVE these microchip letters and I buy them whenever I see them because they're the perfect size for my 8 x 8 pages.

I found these pretty layered chipboard butterflies by K&Co at Michael's recently.

I love to tuck little phrase stickers onto my page here and there. This one's from an old sheet of stickers by Creative Imaginations that look sort of like fortune cookie sayings.

I added a little color with BasicGrey pearls to this damask design I cut out.

Thank you for stopping by and reading about my layout. Head over to CCG and take a look at the beautiful pages from our design team and guest designers. I hop you'll play along. There's an awesome prize to be won, provided by our sponsor, Stash to Treasure.

A Palette of Pinks and Perky Plum

Say THAT three times fast! Our first challenge of 2011 went live on Thursday at Color Combos Galore. I've had so much fun making the Inspiration Boards while Janet was away. I couldn't resist using the fact taht January is National Hot Tea Month as our theme this month. Here's the Inspiration Board for Challenge #174:

We have a new sponsor this month! Stash to Treasure is offering a very cool prize to two lucky winners. Check out the main page of CCG for details.

Here is the page I made for this challenge. Not a very good picture because the dang weather won't cooperate and I had to take the picture inside. I went a little crazy adding stuff to my page--it's hard to fit all the stuff I want to put on my 8 x 8 pages! I journaled on the back about my awesome birthday. I was spoiled this year and had four celebrations--one with my husband, one with my family, my best friend threw me a party, and my coworkers too me out for dinner. Made turning 47 not feel so awful!

Thank you for visiting my blog and taking a look at my layout! I hope you'll play along with us! Come check out all the beautiful work the rest of the team and our guest designers and featured member did this week.

I Love Lucy!

Well, actually, I love my husband and that he loves cheesy photo ops! So that gave me the idea to start an album featuring all these goofy snapshots. I made this page with the awesome December Work in Progress kit, which I believe hasn't yet sold out. I am totally in love with Cosmo Cricket's Circa 1934 collection, and it's featured in this kit. Here's another page I made with it (all the supplies except the brads and stamp came in the kit):

Aren't those chipboard banners cool? I mounted mine on black cardstock to make them stand out more against the patterned paper. I layered a border that came from the sticker sheet over them to give them a connection to my photo.

The title letters were punched from one of the patterned papers that came in the kit.

A stamp from my favorite stamp company, Catslife Press. (I asked if they'd make a stamp saying "Reason No. because I'm making this book of Reasons--all the little reasons I love my husband, and they made this stamp, as well as a circular one with journaling lines at my request.)

I just adore this collection, and I'm so happy Trish packed this kit so full because even after six layouts with lots of stuff piled on, I still have tons left! Thanks for visiting my blog and reading about my page!

My Work in Progress Pages

Now that the October Work in Progress gallery is live, I can start sharing my pages. I think the October kit is my favorite yet!

Here is my favorite page I made. Trish sent us some little Work in Progress buttons, which is where this layout began. It's a little ripply from gluing on the letters, which is why it has that weird shadow (but it's calming down now).

Here's a close-up of that button. I trimmed a Martha Stewart label and adhered it to a punched circle on top of a silk flower I got from Michael's.

I love how all the little bits of varied patterned papers look lined up together. Love, love, love the fabric tape Trish included in the kit!

I love the way white letters look against white paper. I've done that on many layouts. I added some scraps behind the openings of some of the letters.

Here is a layout I made for Color Combos Galore. The kit was perfect for this palette:

I made a page for my weight-loss album. This picture was taken  last winter. I've lost more weight since then.

The tabbed border came from a Teresa Collins paper in the kit. I cut it out and trimmed it down to fit my 8 x 8 page. The fabric tape was from the September WIP kit, and I pleated it before stitching it down. LOVE the Crate Paper ruler paper that was in this kit!

Trish always includes really nifty die-cuts in her kits. This month, she sent us two little olive trees. I painted mine brown to go with the palette and added stitching. One of my favorite embellishments iw word stickers, and 7 Gypsies are my favorite. I added some phrases from the "D is for Diet" sticker set. The report card is cut from a Crate Paper sheet that was in the kit. What a fun way to journal!

Also in the kit was a Bo Bunny paper that has all these little flash cards. A million of them! So I have lots left for other layouts.

I'll share the rest of my layouts during the week. In the meantime, be sure to go check out what the rest of the team did with this awesome kit!

Back to School with Color Combos Galore

Challenge 159 is live at Color Combos Galore. Our inspiration images for September all center around school. Here's our current Color Combo:

I just recently made a layout with some school portraits, so I wanted to use something different. This picture was taken on Halloween at school last year. I swear that "Goodbye Blue" looks black to me. I guess I goofed on this one!

I used the Joyland kit by Studio Calico for this page, plus some stuff from my stash. I added a stamped transparency to the frame to make it look like windows, as inspired by the school bus windows.

The BasicGrey chipboard bees were a natural accent for this page, since my teammate was dressed as a bumblebee.

I printed my journaling and that ribbon shape on my printer using the RGB codes on the palette, but I didn't like the way it looked, so I scuffed it up a bit with sandpaper. The chipboard letters were off-white, and I wanted them to be yellow, so I stamped with distress ink and added clear embossing powder.

The black circular element is a label that seals the Studio Calico bags. I always save them because they're so pretty. I was happy to finally use one. And I always save the fun advertising cards and the "packed by" cards that come in the kit. I used one on this page (the little vintage boy image).

I hope you'll play along and come see what the rest of the team did with this combo (they all realized it was blue, LOL).