Sweetness & Light {CSI Case File No. 169}

We've got a new Case File open for investigation at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration:

Here the page I made. Clues I used...Evidence: light bulbs, stars, stamps, diamond shapes, stencils, pearls, eyeglasses, sunburst rays; Testimony: Inspiration Words sweetness, light; Journal as dialogue.

I sort of deconstructed the sketch by turning it sideways, staggering the photos and placing the banners in different directions.

I must confess, the photos were completely planned based on this Case File, as you can tell from reading the dialogue!

Here are some details. We've got The Cut Shoppe sponsoring CSI this month, and Ashley was kind enough to provide the design team with some cut files to work with. This lightbulb came from her shop in a set of four. The Title was one I pieced together from various cut files from the Silhouette store. The title comes from the title of the Case File's Scene. Papers I used are American Crafts (striped background), Teresa Collins (orange quatrefoil and tickets), SEI (teal blossoms), My Mind's Eye (dots). The turquoise paper behind the photos is actually cardboard from the cupcake box. Thanks, Tracee, for that idea.

The Cut Shoppe is offering a discount this week to CSI members:

How cool is this cut file? Also from The Cut Shoppe. Those fun speech bubbles and the banner sticker are by MAMBI. I stamped those eyeglasses using a My Mind's Eye stamp an dadded some googly eyes for whimsy.

Tracee and I found these cute puffy cupcake stickers during one of our craft store shopping sprees, and we had to get them for this layout. The diamond stamp in the background is by Fiskars, and I also used a stencil with ink behind that. The lightbulb below is also from that same set from The Cut Shoppe.

You must go see what the rest of the team and guest designers made and play for a chance to win some of these awesome Cut Files and prizes from six other sponsors!

Two Days {CSI Case File No. 75}

I'm so late posting this. The end of the school year is such a busy time for teachers. Oh, well. Better late than never, I always say. I loved The Scene and the soft, dreamy colors of this Case File.

Here's my page. Clues I used...Evidence: lace, chevron, flowers, jewels, wood, heart, gold, and a banner; Testimony: Document a wedding.

Here are some details. The framed text was cut out of a Teresa Collins paper. Papers I used are by My Mind's Eye (the stripe at the top, the teal underneath the vellum), American Crafts (the gold dot vellum and gray), My Little Shoebox (the grid), and Teresa Collins (the rest).

I used acrylic paint mixed with molding paste and a template from The Crafter's Workshop for the chevrons.

This striped My Mind's Eye paper had all the colors of the palette.  The ink that looks like mist is actually an old stamp by Stampin' Up.

The title lettering is by Webster's Pages. My journaling, on the back, reads: We were in love and had already talked about getting married. We had no specific time frame, but I figured it would happen after I finished school. Like all young girls, I had dreamed of a fancy wedding with a long gown and veil, bridesmaids, and all the trimmings that go with a wedding. As often happens in life, things don't always work out as planned. 

Immigration agents showed up at Farzad's work and hauled him away, set a deportation hearing, and threw our love into a whirlwind. Yes, I was dating an illegal alien. I didn't know it at the time, and Farzad didn't even realize it either. He had come to the United States five years earlier to go to school. When the Iranian revolution started, his parents were unable to send money to the States, so Farzad was forced to quit school and start working. He got a job flipping hamburgers at Roy Rogers in Georgetown. He worked his way up to manager over the next few years, and landed in the Gaithersburg Roy Rogers, where I was working as a cashier. We eventually started dating.

Fast forward six months. An old girlfriend showed up at the restaurant. She scowled at me. I didn't know who she was. Within a week INS showed up at the door to escort Farzad downtown. Seemed this old girlfriend reported Farzad to immigration.

There was no question in my mind that we had to get married, and pronto. There was no way I was going to lose the love of my life, so marry we did. We had two days to plan. File paperwork for a marriage license--Mom had to give written consent, since I was only seventeen. Find wedding garb--we drove all over Maryland, Virginia, and DC to find white bloomers in my size (I had seen them in a dream and knew that's what I was destined to wear). Invite family and friends (just our small family-Mom, Gram, Dawn, Tina, and Aunt Vonne--and our good friends Doris and Lama).

It wasn't the fancy wedding I'd dreamed of--just a civil ceremony at the Rockville courthouse and a gathering at Gram's house with some food and a couple of hastily-purchased wedding gifts, followed by a weekend honeymoon somewhere in the Shenandoah mountains a couple of hours away. But that's okay. I have the life of my dreams with the love of my life, and we'll be celebrating our 32nd anniversary next month. And that's really all I ever needed.

Like a Princess {CSI Case File No. 43}

We just opened Case File No. 43 for investigation at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration:

I decided to scrap this photo from my junior prom from 32 years ago. The photo was discolored and dark, so I decided to use a diffuse glow on it. That's my husband, Farzad, who took me to my prom.

Clues I used to solve this Case File...Evidence: damask, frames, something transparent, foliage, patterned brad, black and white patterned paper, and rub-ons; Testimony: Document a special event, tie the past to the present.

(Pardon the bad picture of my layout. Cloudy skies and no time to re-take it.

I had no space for my journaling because I scrap 8 x 8, so I added my journaling to the back of my page, which reads:

This is one of my all-time favorite pictures of Farzad and me. We look so young and joyful and beautiful. I remember every detail of that special night, and the days leading up to it, as Farzad took me in search of the perfect prom dress. We found my gown at Lord & Taylor in Bethesda, and I knew the moment I saw it that it was the dress I had to wear. It still hangs in my closet though I have no delusions that I will ever be able to fit in that size five dress, even if I ever do reach my Weight Watchers goal.

Farzad rented a tux that went just perfect with my dress, and he took me to dinner at Rive Gauche, a fancy-schmancy, expensive restaurant in Georgetown. Afterwards, as we walked to the car, I remember there were people wanting to snap our picture. 

Walking into the hotel ballroom where our prom was held, I felt just like a princess with my prince charming, and we danced the night away--fast dancing to Kool & the Gang and the Gap Band and slow dancing to Air Supply and Styx. Whereas I felt invisible in high school, I felt like a glowing light was on me that night. I felt just like a princess that night back in 1981, and you know what? Farzad still knows how to make me feel just like a princess 31 years later.

I used this beautiful sketch by Michele Singh as inspiration for my page:

I love that fluffy, sparkly yellow flower. It's by Prima, and I need to get some more of those. I wonder if they come in other colors? They're nice and small and perfect for my 8 x 8 pages.

My patterned papers are by My Mind's Eye (yellow), Paper Studio (light green), and Pink Paislee (darker green). The clocks are cut from a Teresa Collins transparency. The die-cut leaves are from a Cheery Lynn Designs die. I also cut a few leaves from a Webster's Pages paper and tucked them into the cluster.

I knew I wanted to put a crown on my layout. This one is a 7 Gypsies rub-on, rubbed onto a blank scrap of the transparency from the clocks. 

The fabric brad is by BasicGrey. I added those word stickers at the end, when I felt my page needed a little something more. I originally had a black-and-white patterned paper as the bottom layer of my page, but I decided to switch to plain cardstock. I wanted to use that clue, so I tucked a little black-and-white strip behind the green paper matting the photo. It's actually from the tear strip of a Teresa Collins paper. Her papers always have that lovely bit of decoration on the tear strips.

Here's a little closeup of the edge of my layout. I used an old Technique Tuesday stamp on the cardstock. The fancy borders on my page are cut from Cheery Lynn Designs dies. I'm not sure where I got those little tiny flowers--I had a little baggie of them, and they were just perfect for my page.

Thank you, Tracee for helping me decide where to put my title! The birdcage (or urn or whatever it is) is cut form a Webster's Pages paper. The frame is from a Teresa Colllins paper. The letter stickers are both by Webster's Pages.

As always, the design team and guest designers outdid themselves with this beautiful Case File. Come see, and play along for a chance to win an awesome kit from Scraps of Elegance.

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

Tiny Miracle {CSI Case File No. 41}

Case File No. 41 is open for investigation at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration.

I made another page for Monica. I'm not sure if I ever told you this, but Monica is pregnant with James's baby. For those who don't know Monica's story, you'll want to read about why this is so exciting and such a miracle.

Monica is my best friend's daughter. Her husband was diagnosed with osteosarcoma when he was 17. They were married for six short years before James died at the age of 23 this past July. They had been trying to have a baby but were unsuccessful for several years. Two months before James died, they got pregnant.

James got to name the baby the day before he died. At the time they didn't know the gender, so Monica and James's little girl is going to have a boy's name: Ezra James. The name came from a song that James knew Monica always loved--"A Lifetime' by Better Than Ezra. In the song, a girl died in a car crash, and her boyfriend went to the wake and stole her ashes to sprinkle in the ocean.

Such a sad and beautiful story.

Such a sweet, tiny miracle.

I grabbed the sonogram photo of Ezra tiny inside her mommy, from a month or two ago, off of Monica's facebook page and made this layout.

Clues I used...Evidence: gold elements, tassel, layers, ombre, white-on-white textured element; Testimony: Inspiration Word: dream (I'm going to let Monica do journaling for her book).

I used this sketch by Michele Singh, who's on my CSI design team and has so-so many talents:

Here are a few details. The papers are from Teresa Collins's Tell Your Story collection.  The roses are by Recollections. That layered round flower is by K&Co. It's pretty old. I cut the little tassel out of this week's CSI Coordinates. The gold charm is form Michael's, and the resin pieces are by Melissa Francis. That big fabric brad is by Heidi Grace.

The only paper on my page that isn't by Teresa Collins is that green layer you can see in the next photo--It's by Autumn Leaves (Foofala)--really old. I lace in between the layers.

The butterflies were cut out of one of the Teresa Collins papers, and I added Cheery Lynn die-cut butterflies on top, along with some pearls. The sparkly letters are Thickers, and the smaller letter stickers are by October Afternoon, inked and mounted on pop dots. The ticket is from one of the Teresa Collins patterned papers. 

I found this sweet little ribbon rose in my stash, seeming to be waiting just for this layout.

As always, our design team and guest designers made some gorgeous layouts this week, so come take a peek and play with us! We have three sponsors this month--Scraps of Elegance, Flying Unicorn, and Scrapbook Fantasies.

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

WIP + Creative Prompts

It's a new month, which means I can start sharing my Work in Progress layouts! My first layout I made for last week's prompt at Creative Prompts for You, which was a combination prompt, where we had to use something calendar-related, fabric, a transparency, and embossing. The calendar part of the prompt made me think of the clocks on the Jenni Bowlin paper that was in the April kit. I know, a clock isn't a calendar--I did add a calendar--but they made me think of the idea of time, and this layout was born:

The little polaroid frame is a cut-out from one of the Echo Park papers that came in the kit. I trimmed the inside from the frame and tucked a photo from our wedding inside.

A few detail shots...The frame around the journaling is from The Graphics Fairy. The transparent element is cut from a Teresa Collins transparency. I added pop dots under where I adhered the jewels so it would sit up and cast a shadow on the page.

The silk ruffle trim is by Pink Paislee, which is what I used for the fabric part of the prompt. Those numbers are cut from a Jenni Bowlin paper. They signify our ages when we got married, our current ages, and our wedding date. That pretty border punch is by EK Success.

The April kit featured the Playground collection by Echo Park, a bright and lively collection, which made it difficult to use for the romantic feel I wanted to achieve for this page, but there was a sheet of red paper that had "Love" printed on it. I ran it through my Cuttlebug to emboss it and sanded it a little. The red was a perfect color to add to my otherwise monochromatic page.

The calendar accent is a Maya Road Sheer that has been languishing in my stash forever. The little banner stickers are by Jenni Bowlin, and I turned them on their sides to make flags and hold the title. Those rub-ons are by Headline--love those things--nice and small and they rub on like butter! The jeweled pin is also by Jenni Bowlin. That "You + Me" is a cut-out from one of the Echo Park papers, and the polka dot flowers are old Prima blooms. I added silver pearls from Recollections around the photo. That little scrap of mesh was sitting on my scrap desk from a layout I made a while back, and I decided to tuck that in.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek at my page! I'll be sharing some other layouts I made with this kit in the next few days.

An Elegant Valentine Palette at CCG!

Challenge 179 went live at Color Combos Galore last night, and this week's palette was chosen in honor of upcoming Valentine's Day. I love that we included gray in the mix:

This palette, plus the Designer's Challenge, was perfect for scrapping one of my wedding photos. I've just recently started re-scrapping them. When I first started scrapping, I was so excited with all the stickers and deco scissors, that I went to town on my wedding pictures, and unfortunately I ruined a lot of them with those dreadful scissors. I cringe when I look at that first scrapbook I made. It wasn't until lately that I've gotten the courage to start scrapping them again.

Here's the page I made. We got married way back in 1981--yes, that means we'll be celebrating our 30th anniversary this July! Boy does that make me feel old (though I was a child bride--really--I was seventeen)! The picture was taken in front of the courthouse steps.

I had pulled a whole bunch of papers out when I started planning my page, and to my surprise and delight, this clapperboard from one of the Webster's Pages Hollywood Vogue papers had the number 24 on it--we got married on July 24!

This transparent detail was cut from a Teresa Collins transparency that has a whole bunch of these pretty framed words on them. I wanted to lift it off the page so that the print would cast a pretty shadow on the white background. I added some jewels so that I could put the pop dots behind them.

I thought the Hambly birdcage rub-on was a perfect accent because it has two little lovebirds inside. I got that pretty laser-cut frame from a local scrapbook store. The "memories" label is also Teresa Collins, and the ticket is from The Graphics Fairy (my new best friend)--it comes in a whole sheet with different sayings, and what I love is that I can make it any size I want--which is important when you scrap 8 x 8. And isn't that border punch pretty? It's by EK Success.

I used some old 7 Gypsies paper (the circles with flowers) and added some gray pearls for shine and dimension. The red sayings came from Teresa Collins--it's a sheet of paper that has a gazillion word strips on it, all in red, black, and white. I got the butterfly through Google Images. I love the new Google feature that lets you select what color images you want. I knew I wanted red butterflies, so it was easy to find a couple of pretty ones and make them just the right size for my small page. I just printed them, cut them out, and popped on my page with pop dots under the wings and added some sparkly jewels. Yeah, after I drew in those antennae, I wished I had drawn them longer.

Here's a different red butterfly I found through Google Images.  Love all the pretty jeweled swirls they're making nowadays--perfect for a butterfly trail. And I added some lace at the top. Love the embossed Swiss dot cardstock.

This journaling spot is also from the Graphics Fairy. After I put it on, I realized the white was a way different shade than the other white cardstock pieces I had used, and it stuck out like a sore thumb, so I smudged some gray chalk around the edges.

The roses on the Inspiration Board cupcakes inspired me to use these tiny roses I got at Michael's (by Recollections). I love the edging BasicGrey has been adding on their glazed brads lately. So pretty! The gray velvet letters are American Crafts Thickers.

The frames I added to the left and right edge of my page are from a Teresa Collins paper. I added a bit of a Webster's Pages paper behind this one. The "Know This" stamp is also by Teresa Collins. I heat embossed it to make it a nice bold black.

The CCG team, Featured Member, and guest designer did a beautiful job with this palette. You should go take a peek at their work. And you should definitely play along--you might be selected as an upcoming Featured Member or even win the February prize from this month's sponsor, Unity Stamp Company. I hope to see your work in our Gallery soon!

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

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.