Summer Lovin' - Or should I say, "Lovin' Summer"

Summer break is a week away for me, but we've got a SWEET summery challenge up at Color Combos Galore! But before I share this week's Inspiration Board, here's a tune to go with this week's challenge...



I can't tell you how many times I saw that movie back in the 70's and how I practically wore the grooves out on that record! So here's Challenge 196:

My layout was inspired by Sketch 156 from Creative Scrappers:

and my page...

I realized when making this page that I need to start getting more photos of myself. I used this photo on another layout, but I like this picture because I look relaxed and happy, which is just what this layout is all about.

Here are some close-ups. I dug out a lot of old papers for this page. The photo on the Inspiration Board led me to tear the paper strips--trying to get a seafoam feel. I left the ends of the threads uncut--I was going for a seabreeze sort of look. You can see the threads on the left side of my page, but when I cropped the photo, the ones on the right didn't show up so you can see them in this photo. Papers I used, from top to bottom are 7 Gypsies, Hambly, Fancy Pants, another 7 Gypsies, Crate Paper, Making Memories, yet another 7 Gypsies, one more Fancy Pants, and Die Cuts With a View. The branchy thing is cut out from an old Making Memories paper that I just love. The burlap was sitting on my scrap desk from a layout I made a while back, and I thought it would add some nice texture to the layers. (Lucky thing I don't clean my scrap desk too often, lol!)

This flower is cut out of a rose ribbon trim by BoBunny (it's sort of like the Webster's Pages Bloomers), and I tucked a black rhinestone brad (Recollections) in there. I got that butterfly years ago in a Scarlet Lime kit, I think. I stapled his body to the page and put pop dots under the wings.

The little chipboard butterflies are by Dusty Attic, and I left them raw because they matched the palette. I have a huge collection of rhinestones in every color imaginable, and I found the perfect blue for this page.

The letter stickers are BasicGrey, of course. Love those things. Such a classic look. The rub-on letters ("sweet") are by Headline. I don't like where I placed them, but I was afraid of messing up the whole page once they were rubbed on, so I left them.

The design team and our featured member and guest designers made some beautiful projects, so you should head over there and take a peek. And please play along--you could win a prize from our sponsor or you might be spotted as a Gallery Fave. And you might even be asked to be a Featured Member. If you haven't tried the challenges, you should really give it a whirl--they're really, really fun!

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

Inspiration Is Everywhere! {CP4U #53}

We have a brand-new challenge up at Creative Prompts for You, and it's a fun one. Here was our prompt:

My first thought was to use different letter styles for a title, but as I looked at this print, it was the message that spoke to me, and I knew just what I wanted to make. I started an album a while back called "Pursuit of Scrappiness" where I'm documenting bits and pieces of my scrappy life. I decided I'd make a page to chronicle my stint at CP4U. The little photographs of all those different letters made me think of using pictures of my fellow design team members, so I snagged their avatars off of their blogs, and the title is obviously taken from the inspiration piece because "inspiration is everywhere" is what CP4U is all about! Here's my page. I used Studio Calico's Continental kit to make my layout. Patterned papers are My Mind's Eye (ledger) and The Girls' Paperie (polka dots).

I decided a travel theme would be perfect for this page because inspiration can take me anywhere. Love the little die-cut car that came in the kit by Making Memories. The stickpin clippy thing is by Tim Holtz, and the postage stamp that says "The Story" is The Girls' Paperie. The pointing hand stamp is by Purple Onion Designs, and indictes that I have journaling on the back of my page.

My hidden journaling reads: Inspiration IS everywhere, and I get to live that motto several times a month as a design team member at Creative Prompts for You. I remember Faye Morrow Bell's column in Creating Keepsakes was one of my favorites, where she'd take an object and create layouts and projects inspired by that object--might be a detail or a color scheme or the theme. We get to do the same thing at CP4U. It's such a thrill to see what I can make, and my result is always surprising and unexpected--layouts that I never would've thought up on my own. And so fun to see how my teammates interpret it so differently. Inspiration for this challenge has come from so many varied and interesting sources: bags hanging on a wall, book quotes, fashion models on a runway, bare frames hanging on a wall, a quilt, album covers, advertisements, and wedding cakes, to name a few. Inspiration IS everywhere, and I look at everything through a scrapbooker's eyes.

The CP4U Team, pictured from top to bottom: Allison Cope, Nicole Nowosad, Kaori Fujimoto, Wendy Kwok, Solange Marques, Ro Philippsen, Fabiola Rosa, Me, Regiane Thahira, Sue Sykes

I thought the numbers would be a fun accent to signify the numerous sources of inspiration. They're cut from a Making Memories paper.

The title letters I used are Heidi Swapp (chipboard) and Webster's Pages (stickers). I love those metal stud stickers by BasicGrey.

The tag and compass accents are by The Girls' Paperie, and I tucked in a little Jenni Bowlin ticket. The kraft word stickers are oldies from my stash by Making Memories.

Head over to CP4U and see what the rest of the team did with this prompt--so fun to see all the different takes on the same inspiration piece! And I hope you'll play along--there's a great prize to be won, which is icing on the cake. See all the details at CP4U.

Thank you for visiting and reading about my page!

More Work in Progress Layouts

January is getting away from me! Here are some other pages I made with the January Work in Progress kits. Speaking of WIP kits, the February kits are up for sale--the add on and project kits are already sold out, but the main kit hasn't yet sold out--gotta grab your WIP kits quick, as they usually go fast! Here's a peek at the February main kit -- you can see the entire kit and list of contents here.

So here are the other layouts I made with the January kit. Lately, Maggie, my old lady cat, has been tearing around the house and then she just flops on the floor, like she ran out of gas. Not the greatest pictures of her on my kitchen floor, but I wanted to document this little quirk about her.

The kit came with a really cool item--a Jenni Bowlin paint dabber. I used it on the embossed circles on this cardstock. So fun to play with! The black polka dot thingamajig at the top of my layout is cut of the edge of one of the journaling spots included in the kit.

I used another bit from that same journaling spot to tuck behind the paper. LOVE those fancy BasicGrey brads that came in the kit. Such yummy colors and perfect with the happy Crate Paper colors.

I cut a little bird from one of the papers and perched him inside the o of my title.

Here's another page I made mixing the January Main and Project kits. I journaled on the back about how my husband keeps these rugs in the closet all year so the cats don't scratch them, but takes them out on Christmas when we sit on the cold floor and open our presents.

Some closeups...I used the chipboard circle to frame the rug and also hold the title. I added some pen work to the chipboard pieces.

Trish always includes nifty trims in her kits, and I added a bit to the chipboard tree.

Finally, here's a page I created using the main kit for this blog post I made about Storypeople. If you've never been properly introduced to Storypeople, you must go meet them now!

I had some shoes like this back in the 80's, and I wore them until they were no longer wearable and then could never find another pair--until a couple of months ago. I was so excited that I bought three pairs! (Don't want to have to wait another two and a half decades again when this pair wears out!) So, when my husband saw them, he started looking for a pair, but couldn't find any. I found a pair for him online and suprised him at Christmas. We wore our shoes to my sister's house on Christmas, and she snapped this photo. I added a shadowy edge to it in Picnik. (Sorry for the crummy photo--weather forced me to take it indoors.)

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look at my pages!

CP4U Meets WIP

Our challenge this week at Creative Prompts for You was an "All Play" where my team pitched in on parts of the prompt and all the teams got to play. Here's what we had to include on our layouts:

Ally - use 3 photos

Wendy - use glitter

Sue - include at least one handmade embellishment

Debbi - include journaling (more than names and dates)

I was in the midst of creating my layouts for the November Work in Progress gallery, so I decided to use my kit to make my CP4U page.  I fudged a little bit on the 3 photo thing by dividing my photo into three panels, but I like how that turned out! 

I love this challenge because I bought the Martha Stewart glitter set that has every color known to man, and I never use it. I coated my die-cut leaves with dry adhesive and sprinkled on the glitter--so easy!  

For my handmade embellishment, I made a little pumpkin by hand-cutting patterned paper and stitching on it. I added a little stem made out of a scrap of velvet ribbon I had sitting on my scrap desk.

 

The Making Memories Paper Reverie stickers that came in the kit are so pretty. They have a bit of shimmer on them--just the right amount so as not to compete with the glittery accents I added to my page.

I wanted to add the border sticker to the cool flag banners Trish included in the kit. When I added my title letters, I decided I needed to add something to the letters to make them stand out. I outlined the letters with a glue pen and added embossing powder and heated it.

Go check out what the rest of the team did at CP4U, and I hope you'll play along! (There's even a prize involved!)

 

Another WIP Layout

Today I'd like to share another layout I made using the November Work in Progress kit. I think Trish had autumn in mind when she put this kit together, but to me, it's so much more versatile than that. The Making Memories Paper Reverie seemed perfect for this heritage photo of my great uncle, who I never got to meet because he was killed in World War II. My Gram always talks about him with fondness, and my mom was named after him. It makes me sad that even my mom never got to meet him. (If you click on my page, you can read my journaling better.)

I love the design on that ledger paper. The black doily designs were printed on the opposite side of the paper, but since I scrap 8 x 8, I couldn't get both the bordered design and the larger doilies on my page, so I cut one out and tucked it behind the photo and journaling block. The orange sparkly border was cut oof of the edge of one of the die-cut papers that came in the kit.

I thought the title needed a little something extra, so I cut a swirly design from of that same sparkly die-cut paper and added it to the title. The ledger letters are from the Making Memories Paper Reverie collection and come in the kit.

Once I had adhered everything, I felt lik the page was top-heavy and I had left too much space at the bottom. That's when I decided to add the punched border at the bottom. I love "happy accidents" like that. Had I adhered everything lower on the page, I would never have added that border, and I think it adds so much. At the last minute, I added the pearls.

Thank you for stopping by my blog and looking at my work! I'll share some more WIP layouts later in the week.

The November Work in Progress Gallery is Up!

The November Work in Progress Gallery is live, so now I can start sharing my layouts. This kit is packed with rich autumn colors and textures, and I loved working with all the beautiful products Trish packed in there. Here is my first layout. I journaled on the back about seeing my friend after a long time. She moved to Arizona two decades ago, and I hadn't seen her since she left. Sadly, her return to Maryland was to hold a memorial service for her sister, who died of inflammatory breast cancer.

Here are some close-ups. I love that ruffled velvet ribbon that came in the kit. The brown stickers are from Making Memories Paper Reverie collection, and there are several bits from that collection in this kit.

I cut a piece from one of the labels that I had used in the cluster at the bottom to use at the top. I added some cocoa pearls from my stash for some extra shine. I love the texture in the Little Yellow Bicycle paper that came in the kit.

Here, you can see that the 7 Gypsies paper at the bottom is flocked. So pretty.

The tags that came in the kit were white, so I used Glimmer Mist to change the color. In this photo you can see there's a subtle shimmer of glitter on the Making Memories stickers.

I'm always so fascinated by how the design team creates such different layouts using the same materials. You can see all the beautiful projects the rest of the team made in the Work in Progress gallery. I'll share some more about my other pages in the next few days. Thank you for looking at my work!

How Much Is Too Much?

We have a sponsor for How Much Is Too Much? this week! Eve Johnson, who has an etsy shop called Evalicious, sent us some beautiful handcrafted embellishments to work with. So our challenge is called "Homespun and Handcrafted," and we challenge you to use handmade embellishments on your layout.

Eve has generously offered a RAK to a randomly chosen participant of this challenge, so I hope you will join us this week. To qualify for the drawing, please post a link to your layout on this thread at the Pub at Two Peas.

Here is the layout I made for the challenge. I just love these blue green mix button embellishments that Eve sent me. The colors and textures and stitching added a wonderful homespun touch to my page. That's my husband and my wacky grandmother, who's going to be 90 in a month. She had some kind of bump on her behind and wanted everyone to feel it! Nobody succumbed, except my kind-hearted husband--he's such a good sport!
Thank you, Eve, for sending all these beautiful embellishments to me and for sponsoring our challenge!

A few layouts for Color Combos Galore

So here are the last couple of layouts I made for Color Combos Galore.

Farzad bought me a gizmo called Sing Stand for Christmas, and it's been a hit with my family. This gadget basically turns my iPod into a karaoke machine. That's my brother-in-law and me singing some Lynyrd Skynyrd, I think. He's so in love with Sing Stand that we've dubbed her his "girlfriend." He even kisses her goodbye when I take her home. (I still need to scrap THAT picture!)

Janet hardly ever gives us purple, so this was a really fun combo to work with.

I've decided to start a new album called "Poser" because I have so many pictures of Farzad in Cheesy poses. Here's the first one for this book.

I don't like the way this one scanned. The pink ribbon matches the pink paper a whole lot better in real life, and the butterfly on the bottom stands out against the background better in reality. Not to mention that dang shadow that my EXPENSIVE scanner makes. Ugh.

I recently realized that the fun tear-off strips on Cosmo Cricket's papers can be used for my hidden journaling (you know, the ones that say "flip for fun" and "over easy" and so forth... Journaling on the back of my layout reads:

When I was really little, Gram lived in a house, and I'm quite sure I played outside in her yard a lot, but that was so long ago that any recollections of my outdoor play have faded from my memory. For most of my childhood, Gram lived in apartments, so play kept me indoors. And there wasn't a whole lot in her apartment to play with, so my imagination took hold of some very strange playthings. There was a curious box in Gram's linen closet crammed with all these colorful telephone wires. Why she had all that telephone wire in her linen closet escapes me, but I was captivated by the pretty rainbow-colored strands and would spend hours fondling them and sorting them and twisting them into candy-colored braids. A peculiar pastime, maybe, but I found fascinating fun in that weird and wonderful box of wires.

Got Sketch?

Valerie Salmon does! And she asked me to make a layout using her latest sketch for her Got Sketch? blog.

Here is the sketch she sent me:

And here is the layout I made. I flipped the sketch a little to accommodate the elements I was using: