She Sparkles {CSI Case File No. 124}

A new Case File is open for investigation at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration.

I found the perfect picture to go with this Case File. It's sweet little Ezra, my best friend's Michele's grandbaby, and I made this page for Michele for her birthday last weekend.

Clues I used...Evidence: butterflies, glitter, flowers, rub-ons, stamps, wings, stars, watercolor (sort of), tiny brads. Testimony: Inspiration Words - Sparkle (I tucked a tag behind the layers for Michel to journal about Ezra).

I used the current Sketchabilities sketch for my page design.

Here are some details. I tried to do a watercolor effect on my page. I first tried using a paintbrush, but I ruined a piece of paper, and anyone who knows me knows I hate wasting a good sheet of paper! So instead, I tried a different approach. I sprayed spray ink and a little water, dabbed some plastic wrap over it and smushed it onto my paper. Then I used a Bo Bunny distress stamp with plum ink. You can't see very well, but I had these teeny-tiny star sequins that I scattered up the middle of the page.

I had fun using some really old papers for my page. Papers I used were by Making Memories (orange papers); Die Cuts With a View (purple floral), BasicGrey (plum); Crate Paper (purple/pink butterfly); Lasting Impressions (pink polka dots).

I used my Silhouette Cameo to create the frames.

How lucky was I to find a purple and orange K&Co. butterfly in my stash? I added some extra glitter in the form of Stickles, and those tiny brads are really old, by Queen and Co.

I wanted to add a little something extra on the left side, and these little chipboard hearts by 2Crafty were the perfect thing. I coated them with gesso and added lots of Stickles to make them extra sparkly.

The reveal this week is so pretty--you have to go see it, and be sure to play as this is what's up for grabs for this Case File from our sponsor this month, Flying Unicorn:

Picnic {CSI Case File No. 99}

Another late post from my CSI layout from a couple of weeks ago. I love the image in this Case File:

Here's my page, another for a book I'm making for my husband's niece and her husband. I could not get a decent picture of this for some reason.

Clues I used...Evidence: butterflies, floral, stripes, wood, silver metal. Testimony: 6-word memoir.

This Sketchabilities sketch inspired my page design:

Here are some details. The butterflies were cut from a My Mind's Eye paper.  The wood circles are by Studio Calico. The little camera clip is by Prima, and the brad I added to it is super-duper old.

The orange transparent circle is cut from a Hambly overlay. I used papers from a bunch of different collections. I couldn't tell you for sure which ones are by whom right now.

The Today Today Today paper is by Webster's Pages. That alphabet stamp is by Prima. That texture paste was mixed with acrylic paint and applied with a stencil by The Crafter's Workshop.

Thank you for reading about my page!

Lovin' Spoonful {CSI Case File No. 98}

Another super-late post, but I'm determined to catch up at some point. This was a lovely CSI Case File a couple of weeks ago. Everyone always hates purple, but I think the purple looked really pretty with the other colors, and our design team, guest designers, and members did awesome things with this Case File.

Here's the page I made, for a friend of mine whose mom passed away last year. I've been making pages for her intermittently over the past year, and I thought these pictures were so sweet.

Clues...Evidence: stripes, polka dots, frames, suspend something, spiral notebook punch, labels; Testimony: inspiration word dream.

I was inspired by this sketch from Sketchabilities:

Here are some details. I used papers from a bunch of different manufacturers Fancy Pants (green background), Little Yellow Bicycle (purple) K&Co. (green dots), and Making Memories (blue polka dot and yellow). Those chipboard circles with the starbursts came from Cosmo Cricket.

The little polaroid frames are from a Dear Lizzy paper. The word stickers were from Creative Imaginations. It's always hard to do journaling when you don't know the people. I found "dreams" and decided to go with that as my Testimony clue. I dug out some shiny purple eyelets from my stash. 

I also rescued some old purple Ki Memories rub-on letters. The grid stamp is by Kaiser Craft. The green splats are a stamp, as are the heart and label under the title.

Beautiful Christmas Tree {CSI Case File No. 51}

What a lovely, festive Case File we have this week at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration.

Clues I used to solve this Case File... Evidence: snowflakes, glitter, rhinestones, embossing (embossed paper), filigree (border punch), something shiny, pen work (outline of white letters). Testimony: 6-word memoir.

Last Christmas, we had just moved into our new house and every room was filled with boxes. We didn't have the energy to put up a tree. My husband's niece from Iran was visiting us, so I'm sure it was a little disappointing that all we had in terms of a tree was the "toilet brush tree" (scroll down two blog posts to see that pathetic tree). We spent Christmas Day at my sister's house, so Arezou finally got to see a beautiful Christmas tree--which is what my six-word memoir is about.

My page design is inspired by the current sketch over at Sketchabilities.

Here are a few details. My little flowery cluster. The white flower is by Prima. That pink one is an old layered flower by K&Co. I added a Jolee's snowflake on top. The leafy branch is by Cheery Lynn Designs.

I'm not sure who made this pretty embossed paper but I thought the designs looked a little like snowflakes. The sparkly letters are by Making Memories. The chipboard Christmas piece is by Maya Road. I painted it with acrylic paint.

Some more of the Jolee's snowflakes, along with some Word Art from this week's CSI Coordinates.

The trees are made from My Mind's Eye (the blue and fuchsia ones) and Me and My Big Idea (the pink polka dot) and topped by sparkly Jolee's snowflakes.

The glittery frame is by Making Memories. I tucked a little tag behind the photograph so that Arezou can add her thoughts. I plan to give her this layout when I see her again.

Come see the gorgeous work by the design team and guest designers. Noel Mignon is sponsoring us this month, so you'll definitely want to play along.

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

Grand Turk {Sketchabilities Sketch #74}

Time sure flies when you're having fun, as they say, and it's been really fun working with the Sketchabilities during my term as a design team member. Thank you, Karan, for including me on this wonderful team!

Here's our current sketch:

And here is the page I made. The young lady in the photos is my best friend's daughter, Monica, and that's her sweet husband, James, who was diagnosed with osteosarcoma when he was sixteen. He has been battling this evil cancer for six long years, and at this very moment, James is at Georgetown University Hospital, and it's looking like this disease is hell-bent on winning. My heart is breaking for James, for Monica, and for everyone who is going to miss this amazing young man. Monica has been posting photos taken over the years on James's facebook page, and I decided I'm going to make an album for Monica using some of these photos. This is the first page.

Here are some details. These papers are all pretty old, from K&Co. I thought they had a nice tropical feel that goes with the pictures.

This beautiful border is made with a Cheery Lynn Designs die. The butterflies, of course, are by Jenni Bowlin, and the rhinestone brads are from Jo-Ann's a long time ago, and they're by Creating Keepsakes.

I used some old Heidi Swapp chipboard letters, which I bought a ton of back in the day when they were the only chipboard letters on the market. The lime-looking shape is also from a K&Co paper. The leaves are a Cheery Lynn die.

Go see the amazing layouts from the rest of the design team here. And you'll definitely want to play along--this was a really fun sketch to work with!

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

The Truth {Sketchabilities Sketch #73}

Sketch #73 has been revealed at Sketchabilities, and another fabulous sketch we have:

Here's the page I made. That's my nephew Cristian, and his t-shirt speaks the truth. I struggled to find colors to go with the vibrant blue shirt and finally settled on primary colors. The background red polka dot paper is Girl's Paperie. The yellow ledger paper is by We R Memory Keepers. The smaller red polka dot paper is by Jillibean Soup. All the rest of the patterned papers are by My Mind's Eye, from various collections.

Here are some details. The little balloon, clouds, and swirls are cut from different My Mind's Eye papers from the "Love Me Do" collection. I had that stamped journaling spot leftover from a layout where I had decided not to use it, so that came in handy here. I  used a little asterisk from the title letters to add a little extra deimension and mounted the balloon, swirls, and one of the clouds with pop dots. I traced a circle several times with a fine-line pen in the background. It seemed like a good idea at the time. :)

The title letters are really glittery and fun. I added a little bird cut from one of the Love Me Do papers. I was originally going to stitch my papers but decided instead to distress and outline the papers with black pen. The border punch is by Martha Stewart (it's called Double Loops).

I added the black paper at at the last minute to add a some contrast. It's from a Halloween collection. I thought the yellow Doodlebug sugared brad was the perfect color and tied in with the sparkly letters.

Go check out what the rest of the team made. It's always so fun to see all the different takes on the same sketch. I hope you'll play with us. This was a really fun sketch to work with!

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

Embrace {Sketchabilities Sketch #72}

We have a beautiful and interesting sketch up at Sketchabilities this week:

Here's the page I made. I started an album for my mom for Mother's Day of some favorite family pictures, and this one's for that album. The album is going to have pictures with quotes. The picture's of my mom and Gram on Mom's wedding day.

I flipped the sketch horizontally. I used BasicGrey's Lily Kate, and the blue background paper is from BasicGrey's Oh, Baby! collection.

Here are a few details. The paisley designs in the LilyKate paper are so pretty and I cut them out and added some pearls to the flower centers.

The frame is my Maya Road, and I mixed a couple of different greens to get a color to match the papers. The leafy branch is a Cheery Lynn die cut, as is the yellow doily behind the frame. I used glittery brown brads for the Old Prima flower centers.

 Here's another picture  showing another flower, I think by Recollections, and tucked underneath is an SEI brad that I thought worked perfectly with this BasicGrey collection.

Go check out the awesome work by the rest of the Sketchabilities team. I love all the different interpretations of the sketch. My page is a pretty literal translation.

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