... just Laura

Kerri Bradford Studio: NSD Week - Photo Templates

As part of the week-long NSD celebration at Kerri Bradford Studios, today is all about the photos!

Photo templates! One of my favorite things to use on my layouts. I've been using photo collages on my layouts for years and years. I used to sit and create my own collages, which is fun. But takes forever and a day. This is why I am such a huge fan of photo templates. It has all of the design work done for you, and you simply drop your photos into the template and POOF ... you have a photo collage!

I created this fun collage, using some photos I randomly took of the girls and myself, back in January. No big story behind them. I just took my camera upstairs one night, snapped some photos of them where they were, and left. I might not have scrapped these photos together, when originally looking at them. But I had the fun Bright Side papers out, from one of the new My Minds Eye collections, and knew they would match perfectly and tie in the colors in the photos.

I love the simple look of white on white. I don't do it often, but I thought it would be fun to do with these flowers. The larger photo collage has a lot going on and takes up a lot of space on the page. So I didn't want to add to many other elements that would make it feel cluttered.

I like how the white on white adds interest, but also keeps the design clean and easy on the eyes. I added some threaded buttons to the centers of each flower for a fun touch.

I cut my title, using a few of the Bright Side patterned papers. I love Kerri's titles, that allow you to cut a word, or several of the words, from different papers. Adds such interest to the title.

Supplies Used:

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For my tips and tricks part of the week, I created a little video on how you can play with your templates a bit and customize them to fit your different photo needs. The template I used on this layout originally held 11 photos, but I only used 8 photos. You'll see how I did that in the video. A few things I have to say about the video. I thought it would look clearer, but it seems quite blurry. You have no idea how many ways I tried saving this and uploading this, to make it better. Didn't seem to help. It might work better to watch on Youtube, if it's looking cut off here. I've been sick for 5 days, so excuse the voice or any sniffles you hear from me. I'm a rambler, so no matter how many times I did this, I could not get it any shorter :)

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Kerri also asked us to share 5 of our favorite things. Hard to pick just 5 favorite things. But when asked to choose, I made impulsive decisions. Java Chip Frappacino's from Starbucks, which help me get so much done every day. Pinterest, which helps get me inspired, when I'm in a creative rut. Jeans, which are my daily staple to my wardrobe, and I just love a good pair of reliable jeans. Music, because I can't live without it. And Friends, which is my all-time favorite TV show, and one that I have recently become addicted to watching late at night on Nickelodeon ;)

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Now, I'm not quite done. I still have the shape that Kerri designed, per my request, available as a FREEBIE DOWNLOAD today. But only for today. If you don't go and download it today, it goes into Kerri's magic vault (wouldn't that be so cool to see if she really has one ;)), and will be available to purchase, along with all the other daily freebies, at the end of the week.

So head over to Kerri's blog, where you can find my FREEBIE shape, and also enter in her giveaway for the day. It's a gorgeous one, so you'll want to get your name in there!

And there's even more!!! Kerri is so super generous and sweet, that she has given me TWO $25 GIFT CARDS to give away to two of my lucky blog readers! How awesome is that! Just leave me a comment, and I will randomly choose two winners on Friday!

Kerri Bradford Studio: NSD Week-Long Celebration

Did you know that this coming Saturday is National Scrapbook Day? Or NSD, for short. My family still laughs when I try and claim that it's a holiday ;) Big things are going on over at Kerri Bradford Studio this week, in honor of NSD!

All week long, Kerri will be having sales, giveaways, and freebies! As part of her Creative Team, I, along with Nichol, Robyn, Shari, have all came up with some fun tips for you, projects, and a peek at our favorite things. Kerri will also be designing a free shape, inspired by each Creative Team member, that you can download on our featured day. But only on that day, because at the end of the week, they will all go into a kit that will be available for purchase!

Long story short ... you will want to visit Kerri's blog every day ;)

Each day this week, there will also be something different on sale! But if you see something you like, you must get it that day. Because the following day, that item will go back to normal price, and there will be new things on sale! Let's see what Kerri has on sale for today, Monday:

Check HERE for a video tutorial tip from Kerri, her freebie shape for the day, and to see what the giveaway for the day is (hint: project life)!

And check back here tomorrow, to see what I put together for the big week! If all goes as planned, there will even be a video ;)

hello spring - a kerri bradford studio layout

i have a layout up at kerri bradford studio today.

i know that pretty much everyone, everywhere, has had some strange weather this past year. just two weeks ago, we had some of the craziest thunderstorms, a bit of rain, and even some hail. not your typical april weather for us here. but the following week, we had some gorgeous weather. it finally felt like spring, with all of us dragging out capri's, shorts, tshirts, and flipflops.

the girls were outside taking photos of themselves one afternoon, using their ipod touch's. it's what kids do, right? sarah alone has over 3000 photos on her ipod. lol! i find some great ones in there though, and i often think that i should save them and use them for something.

i "borrowed" some of their photos from that one afternoon, to create this layout. because the ipod touch's don't get you the best quality photos, i knew i wanted to keep them fairly small on the layout. i choose a filmstrip type photo template from kerri's storyboard #6 kit, and filled 3 of them with photos. because the coloring wasn't the best on a few, and because they changed shirts at some point, i decided to change all of the photos to black & white to keep a consistent look.

i wanted to add a touch of black across the top of the page, and went looking for a border to use. i came across these birds on a wire and had to use them.  

i choose several papers from amy tangerine, along with the black dot paper from crate paper. the colors might not be your typical "spring" colors, but i thought they gave a more funky vibe to go along with my teenager and my pre-teen's photos. i always love to use the titles with different fonts on them, and that i can cut from several different papers. it adds such a fun look to the titles.

i cut several daisies, from different pattern papers, in varying sizes, and added threaded buttons to the centers. to add more color to the page, i dug out some wide turquoise ribbon and adhered it across the page.

Supplies Used:

birthday cards: a kerri bradford studio project

i have some new cards up at kerri bradford studio today. i knew when kerri asked us to focus on cards this month, that i wanted to make some birthday cards. that's the one kind of card that i always need, but never seem to have on hand.

for my "happy birthday" cards, i started with the loopy card base from the for you kit, and added on a few rows of circles using the envelope insets from the signed, sealed, delivered kit. i cut it out of tone-on-tone pattern papers, and then adhered graph paper to the inside of each card.

i cut it out of tone-on-tone pattern papers from bo-bunny, and then adhered graph paper to the inside of each card. i have a definate obsession with graph paper lately.

then i adhered a threaded button in the center of each cut out circle. all of the buttons i used are from basic grey. they make some of the best buttons, and i love the colors.

the first card was my more "boyish" card. although my girls told me the buttons aren't "boyish". oh well, the colors are and that's good enough for me. this card is the "girlish" version.

when you open up the card, you're just lifting the pink piece on top, with the loopy borders. so the buttons will actually be on the inside of the cards, in two neat little rows.

for my sentiments, i spent forever looking for the perfect "happy birthday" stamp, and couldn't find one that would work. then i remembered these "happy birthday" rubons from pebbles. i LOVE these, and they're perfect for card making, since you get so many in each little package. i added the rubon to a label sticker from my mind's eye, and adhered it to the card front, along with a piece of ribbon from pebbles.

for my next cards, i wanted to use the tear-away envelope from the signed, sealed, delivered kit. i love the idea of tearing off that little strip, to get to what's inside of the envelope. i also took a little inspiration from robyn's cards that she shared a few weeks ago, since i love how she added them right to the front of her cards.

for my actual card base, i just used a regular old card. all of the papers are from amy tangerine's first collection.

i resized the envelope, so that it would be the perfect size for a gift card. we are always giving out gift cards for birthday gifts, so this will come in really handy. i cut these from some graph paper. to add a little something to the tear-away strip, i used a teeny tiny stamp from technique tuesday.

i added a few stars to the cards, embellished with threaded clear buttons. i'm sure there are stars in several of kerri's kits, but the first one i found during my search was from the christmas countdown kit. i also used a sentiment stamp from hero arts.

i had a few extra stars left over, so i also added one to the front of each envelope, along with a "Celebrate" sentiment from the all about you kit. the envelopes for all of the cards are also in the tear-away style. i cut them from kraft cardstock, and then lightly sprayed them with white misting spray from studio calico.

i love that i have a few birthday cards on hand now. i made 2 of the second style, which means i have 4 cards. only problem is that i have 3 birthdays in the extended family, during the next week. which will leave me with only one spare card. guess i'll have to make some more cards one of these days :)

kerri bradford studio: new designer and giveaway winner

time to announce a winner for kerri bradford's new class, silhouette: getting to know you, being held at jessica spraque.

congrats heidi!!! shoot me an email, and i'll get your info over to kerri, so you can can get all signed up! 

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and did you all see THIS. i'm so excited that loni stevens is teaming up with kerri bradford to share her amazing die cut designs! i have just about ALL of loni's designs in my silhouette library, and she's been a long time favorite scrapper/designer of mine. so i love that she'll be designing exclusive kits through kerri bradford studio. 

here's a look at her first kit, which you can find HERE.

Jessica Spraque + Kerri Bradford + Silhouette

I'm guessing you've all heard of Jessica Spraque, right? And I know you all know about the fabulous Kerri Bradford. Well, guess what? They are teaming up to bring a new Silhouette class, taught by Kerri, to the Jessica Spraque site!

Here's some tid-bits about the class: 

• Class: 'Getting To Know You'. It's a self-paced class, so you can go as fast or as slow as you'd like. It includes 5 lessons, with the fifth one being a mini album project.
• Start date: April 2
• Cost: Normally $24 but pick it up for the Introductory Price of $19. Price is good until the class starts.
• Great for beginners, but also fun for those who've started to familiarize themselves with the program.
• Purpose: To get people to not be afraid of using their Silhouette.
• Description:  You just got your new baby . . . *ehem*. . .  Silhouette. She's all hooked up and now you're wondering how to get to know her better. Join Kerri Bradford as she leads you through the ins and outs of what you see in Silhouette Studio. She'll give you a basic overview of how to use the library for Silhouette shapes + shapes from outside sources as well as show you the basic tools and menus to help you get on your way to making your first cuts!
• Project includes: exclusive printable papers + icons along with Silhouette shapes to make a cute mini album (shown in photo)

You can find more information and sign up, right HERE.

Kerri and Jessica have given me a spot, in her first class, for a giveaway to one of my lucky blog readers! All you need to do is leave a comment on this post to be entered, and I will announce a winner on Wednesday!

the very thought of you - a kerri bradford studio layout

i had another layout up at kerri bradford studio yesterday. i really should have posted this yesterday, since it fits with the february/valentines/love theme. and now it's march. we can still have some love though, right ;)

this was one of those layouts that i started without photos, or without any idea of what photos i would use. i knew i was making a love themed layout. and i knew i wanted to use the love story collection, from fancy pants. i figured i would go looking for photos at some point. but i ended up pulling these photos of the girls, from years ago, that i had printed out for another layout.

i knew i wanted to use the circle background, from the more background basics kit. my intention was to cover the entire 12x12 page with these. three rows, with four in each row. so i started out cutting twelve circle backgrounds from white cardstock.

on the first run though the silhouette, when i cut the first eight, it turns out i should have changed my blade. i knew it was wearing down a bit, but i figured i could get a bit more use out of it. i spend forever trying to get these off my mat, and all the circles out. that'll teach me to be sure and have a good, sharp blade.

i pulled out my pattern papers, and started trimming an assortment of papers into the same size as my circle background pieces, and rounding the edges. i adhered them all together, and lined them up on a sheet of aqua cardstock.

i had two photos of the girls, that i printed for another layout. they were printed quite a bit larger, but it worked out perfectly to trim them into the same size as my circle background pieces. somewhere along the line, i decided to add the strip across the center of the layout, and only use the circle background pieces along the top and bottom.

i used my title and subtitle, to do double duty for my journaling as well. i like to think i'm pretty good about journaling, but sometimes, i don't have a lot to say. i got my title piece from the smitten kit, and cut it from a text patterned paper and some pink cardstock.

i wanted to keep the rest of the embellishments pretty simple, since there was already a lot going on with the different patterned papers. so i simply cut some hearts, from the XOXO kit, using different patterned papers and cardstock. a single threaded button on each heart and i was done!

valentine's day - a kerri bradford studio layout

i had a new layout up over at kerri bradford studio yesterday! i got my silhouette out, broke out some new papers, and created two new layouts over the weekend. in between a full day of soccer and regular life stuff, of course.

for the month of february, we were focusing on "love" projects. i honestly wasn't sure what i was going to do, until the day i was digging around on my external hard drives, and came across these photos from alyssa's kindergarten valentine's day party at school. these photos are from 2001, which means they're 11 years old. and i've never scrapped them. these were actually digital photos too. i didn't hop onto the digital wagon until around 2006, so these were from alyssa's dad's camera.

digital images back then, are a lot different than digital images these days. lol! but i fixed up all the images a bit. there's a few blurry ones, but that's ok. i used a template from kerri's storyboard #1 kit, and printed out this photo collage. i used to use photo collages so much more in the past, and kind of got away from it because of magazine work. i've been having fun with them again though, since kerri has SOOOOO many great ones to choose from.

i used the large circles from kerri's background basics kit, on my red & white dot pattern paper (from bella blvd). this is one of those square background shapes, so i actually only cut a small section of the shape to use here. i cut three rows of the circles, just a tad bit shorter than 12 inches high. i also used the scalloped scribble border from kerri's borderlines #1 kit, on some aqua cardstock. i've used that shape before, and it's so cute.

for my title, i cut out the "valentine's day" shape, from kerri's XOXO kit, from aqua and red cardstock. i also cut the word "day" from white cardstock as well, to layer under the red word. i felt like it needed a little bit of white on that corner of the layout. you might notice that my "valentine's" word looks a little worn.

well, i had this bright idea to cut a few hearts from that same aqua cardstock. i positioned them to cut below where i had cut "valentine's" from, since i had just enough cardstock left to fit them. i had already removed my cutting mat from the silhouette though, so i knew i couldn't line it up perfectly. well, i forgot to delete the word "valentine's", before i hit the "cut" button, so it went and cut that word again. and i wasn't lined up, since i wasn't planning on cutting it. instead of starting over, i just used the word as it was. with a little raggedness to it, which i personally think looks fine ;)

i wanted to be sure to add the year to this layout, since it was from so long ago. i found the 2001 in kerri's decade 2000 kit. i did add a very light misting of mister huey's calico white spray from studio calico, to my 2001 piece and to my hearts.

here's one of the hearts that i cut out, using kerri's smitten kit. i ended up cutting these from the aqua cardstock, red cardstock, and some of the pink scrabble patterned paper (that and the woodgrain paper are both from jillibean soup).

when i went to crop this photos of the girls together, there was this huge blue pole next to them. i could deal with the blue showing behind them, but not with a huge blue pole next to them. so i just cropped them over to the side, and i figured i would add a little embellishment to the empty space on the photo.

i also added some little pearl accents to the hearts, and randomly next to my title piece. i shouldn't say randomly. i like things to appear "random" at times, but i put a TON of thought into the placement of each piece. lol! just a cute little extra touch.

i have one more "love" themed layout that i did for kerri over the weekend, that i'll be sharing later this week. stay tuned ;)

happiness: a bella blvd challenge layout

we have lots of great stuff going on this week on the bella blvd blog. first off, we have a special week-long guest designer joining us. shannon tidwell! i've been a long time fan of her work, mostly at 2peas and for KI memories. it's been a lot of fun working so closely with her on this feature. she's heading up a week long challenge feature, where we have a different challenge every day this week. shannon has created lots of layouts for the challenges, and then our design team is playing along as well.

today's challenge is to use patterned papers from at least 4 different collections. that's actually really easy for me. i've always loved picking and choosing patterned papers from lots of different collections, and using them together on one layout. so i decided to double the challenge for myself. i choose patterned papers from EIGHT different collections for this layout.

the great thing about bella blvd papers, is that they have such great tone-on-tone patterns. this makes mixing papers easy to do. and you'll find so many of the same colors and shades, in many of the collections. when i was looking for a green patterned paper for this layout, i ended up with about 5 different choices, from 5 different collections, all of which would have worked. same with the aqua, or red, etc.

i thought it would be fun to do another sunburst on my layout. it's such a great way to use lots of patterned papers, and it looks super cool too! but, these sunburst do take a lot of work and thinking. lol! i snapped a few quick photos, while i was creating mine, to let you peek at my process. keep in mind, this is just the way i do them. doesn't mean it's the best way ;)

the word "happiness" from the sunshine & happiness chipboard set, was the starting point for this layout. when i went to choose my papers, i used these colors to make my choices.

and here's the final papers that i decided on. like i said, there were lots of choices for each color. i just made sure to have a good mix of patterns. chevron, polka dots, plaid, etc.

i knew i wanted my sunburst to go across the top of the page. so i cut a piece of white cardstock to the same size that i wanted my sunburst to be. i believe this is 4.5x12 inches. usually, you'll want to have something placed over the center of the sunburst. a photo, an accent, etc. my intention was to put my title over the center, and i knew i was going to use a large circle to add my title too.

so i arranged the circle template over where i knew i would be putting it, and then traced around it, onto the white cardstock. i made a pencil mark in the center of the circle, along the edge of the paper. then i used my ruler to draw the lines out ... from that center pencil mark, to the outside edge of the paper. i varied the size of the bursts, making some thinner and some wider.

since i was going to be placing a large circle over the center of the sunburst, i knew i didn't need the bursts to go all the way to the middle. if more of the bursts would have shown, and i had something smaller being placed over the center, i would have traced the lines further in. if that makes sense. after drawing all my lines, i numbered each burst, so that i could easily keep track of where they go. otherwise, it's like a puzzle, getting them back together. then cut them all apart, using your paper trimmer.

i then used each burst, as a template, to cut out my patterned papers. i used just a tiny bit of removeable adhesive, to stick the template piece to the backside of the patterned paper, and then cut them out. i won't lie. i spent FOREVER getting a color combo and arrangement that i liked. several of these bursts, i cut out numerous times, from different papers, trying to get the right look.

then i adhered each piece to a 12x12 sheet of white cardstock. this is just the piece that i'm building my entire layout on. i started with the two orange corner pieces, and then worked my way in. on a few other projects, where i have created sunbursts, i have machine stitched along each burst. which takes FOREVER. so i skipped that on this layout.

and here you can see where i placed my large circle, over the center of the sunburst. i used my circle cutters, to cut two different circles, slightly varying in size. the top piece is an embossed white cardstock, and the bottom is a text paper. i adhered the layered circles to the layout using pop dots.

in my journaling, i mention "all my girls".

i should clarify that only two of these are technically "my girls". the other four are previous daycare girls of mine. i've always lovingly called almost all of my daycare kids "mine". i used a photo template from kerri bradford studio, to create my photo collage.

i used my favorite grid patterned paper for the bottom part of my page. i really need to get more of it, because i'm down to my last sheet. the text paper along the left side, is the same paper that i used as the bottom circle on my title piece. the text is mostly red, which i thought was good, since i only used one piece of red paper on my sunburst. plus, lots of the words in the text are printed in other colors. most of which are the other fun colors that i used. it was meant to be used.

i ended up with all of these oddly shaped scraps of patterned paper, from cutting out my bursts. the day i created this layout, i had bought this tiny flower punch. i picked it up, after i realized i had no small flower punches, and recently, i had the need for one. since it was on my desk, i just decided to use it. i punched these little flowers out of each of the six papers i used on the sunburst. i adhered them along the text strip of paper, and then added little silver accents to the centers. i finished embellishing the layout with lots of little word stickers, in my six coordinating colors, and a few chipboard clouds.

make sure and stop by the bella blvd blog all week long, to check in on the fun. there is a TON of inspiration going on, with LOADS of new projects being shared. and we want YOU to join in on our challenges too. we're inviting you to play along, and then upload your projects showing your take on any or all of the challenges. you can link your layout at the end of each post this week. we're giving one lucky participate a prize package worth $100! but to be entered in the random drawing, you have to participate. for each project you create and link on our posts, your name will be entered in the drawing. so the more you create, the more chances you have to win. have fun, and good luck!

kerri bradford studio: i love sale

for all you silhouette lovers, and kerri bradford fans, you won't want to miss this:

you'll want to head over to the kerri bradford studio blog each day this week, for a special "i love" sale! each day this week, she will have some of your favorite kits on sale for 30% off. but only for that one day. then a new set of kits will be on sale the next day. here's a look at what she has planned for the week:

make sure you drop by each day, so you can stock up on the kits that you love, but just havn't gotten around to adding to your collection yet!

the player - a kerri bradford studio layout

i'm switching gears a bit today. i've had SO much bella blvd stuff to share. but i also created a layout last week that just went up on kerri bradford's blog a few days ago.

i was feeling the need to do a fun sports layout, and decided to scrap some of alyssa's softball photos from 6 years ago. all of my papers are from the making the team collection, from bella blvd.

this layout design just sort of happened by accident. i had printed my photos as 2x3's, and i also had one more photo that i printed larger. i didn't end up using that one, once the layout got going. anyways. i trimmed my photos up, leaving a nice white border around each one. i knew i wanted them on a big strip of white grid patterned paper, to go the length of the page.

i had adhered the photos across the grid paper, overlapping them a bit as i went. my intention was to trim off that entire strip, and then add it to my page. i didn't pay much attention to where i adhered them on the sheet. once i started pulling out pattern papers, i decided to just build right on the grid paper, working around where i already had the photos. i think it worked out nicely.

i had a little gap between the last two photos. i had planned on filling it in with something, but i wasn't sure what. i simply took a few thin strips of blue and green patterned papers, and adhered them in between the photos, and then machine stitched down the middle. i also used some of the brand new designer tape from bella blvd, to tape down my photos. i love that yellow chevron tape the most!

i knew i wanted to use the circles from the background basics kit. i LOVE cutting the background shapes on my silhouette. i'm not lucky enough to have a cameo (not yet anyways ;)), so i'm still cutting on the silhouette SD. so i can't cut the full 12x12 background shapes. but it's all good, because i can still cut shapes 12 inches long for fun borders. i just selected a portion of the design to cut out, and adhered that across the top of my page.

the stars are from the ol' ballgame kit. i resized them to a few different sizes, and cut them from black cardstock. i picked out a few brads and a button, to add to the centers of each star.

kerri has lots of fun titles and phrases in the ol' ballgame kit. i choose to use "the player" for my title, because i knew my journaling would be more about alyssa as a softball player. and not so much on her team, or how the year went.

i tend to go towards my regular journaling strips the majority of the time, which i love. but when i have more to say, a few journaling blocks work so much better. i also found one of the new flags from bella blvd that coordinated with my layout nicely, so i tucked it behind one of the journaling papers.

yearly intro pages - a creating keepsakes layout

happy new year's, everyone! i was such a bad blogger last week. and then i had every intention of blogging before the year ended. i sat here on new year's eve, with a blank post pulled up, just waiting for me to write something. i was at a loss for words. i didn't have any photos or layouts to share. nothing. plus, i was sick all of new year's, with a terrible head cold. so i just decided to let it go, and come back in the new year. to hopefully do better at blogging, taking more photos, and scrapping more layouts. 

As seen in the January/February 2012 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

i created this layout for an article about using calendar products on our scrapbook layouts. when these diecut calendar papers came out, from ki memories, i stocked up a bunch of them. but i hadn't gotten around to using any of them. so i knew right away that i would use a few of these for my assignment. i took on the task of creating title pages/divider pages for our albums.

i organize our albums chronologically. the girls each have albums, with any pages about just them. and then i have family albums, which hold all the layouts that feature both the girls, or our family as a whole. i have large envelope protectors inbetween each year, so that i can keep them easily seperated. and so that i can slip in any memorabilia from the year, until i figure out what to do with it. but i like the idea of creating an intro page for each year. i have done something a little similiar in the past (see HERE), but this is a simpler version of the idea.

i choose this month border shape, and cut it out with my silhouette. since this is an into page to the entire year's worth of layouts, i liked the idea of having the months go all the way down the side of the layout. i added a wide ribbon next to the border, and embellished with a few buttons. i searched through my photos for the year, and choose a favorite photo of each of us. four simple photos.

when it came time to add the year, i knew i wanted to use something cut with my silhouette. i couldn't find the year i wanted, so i emailed the fabulous kerri bradford, who so kindly whipped up this "twenty eight" for me. she also created the "two thousand nine" that is seen on the following page. i cut these shapes twice, from two different colors of cardstock, and offset them just a bit when adhering them to the page. then i typed up some of the high-lights from the year, and added the journaling strips to the intro page.

i had created two layouts, to show another take on the same general idea. but they only ended up using one of the layouts in the magazine.

i'm really hoping to get some new layouts to share soon. but it's also CHA time, so i'll be creating up a storm for that, and won't be able to share my projects until the end of the month. i am swamped with work for bella blvd right now, and getting the design team all set up with assignments for booth projects, using the adorable new products that will be debuting at winter CHA. i think you're all going to love them!

my last-minute gifts: kerri bradford & lori whitlock blog party

It's day two of the "Last-Minute Gifts" Blog Party! You'll want to stop by kerri's blog, to grab your freebie shape for the day. Remember, it's only free for one day, and then it goes into a kit that can be purchased at the end of the week. You'll also want to stop by both kerri's blog and lori's blog, to find the details to be entered for a chance to win a $50 gift card. My projects went up today, so I thought I would share them here. And if you read all the way through, you might find a little giveaway here as well ;) 

I often make little cards, or envelopes, for giving out gift cards. I didn't set out to create this fun box, for holding a gift card. But it turned out, that the size I choose to cut my box in was quite a bit smaller than I realized, once I assembled the box. It turned out to be the perfect little size for a gift card.

I used Lori's box with bracket flap (SVG's on Lori's site. shape also located in Lori's Silhouette store), and cut it from some red tone-on-tone pattern paper. I used a few snowflakes from Kerri's This & That Winter: Shapes Only kit, and adhered them to the front of the box using glitter brads.

When I saw Lori's Photo Box (SVG's on Lori's site. shape also located in Lori's Silhouette store), I knew I wanted to create a few, for sharing photos with family over the holidays. I have family members that we only see a few times a year, and Christmas is always one of those times. 

I tend to save up photos of our family, and my girls, and hand them out when we see everyone. I think it'll be so much cooler to hand them out in such adorable little boxes. And the recipients can easily keep them in the box, until they're ready to find a home for them.

I embellished the front of the box, with a loopy frame from Kerri's Life Additions #1 kit, and some pretty flowers from her Modern Nature kit.

With several golfers in my family, golf balls are a very popular gift of choice around here at Christmas time. There are usually a few boxes under the Christmas tree, or tucked in stockings. Instead of leaving them in their original boxes, I thought it would be fun to create a more unique box to hold them in.

I cut the "Play Hard" title from Kerri's The Ol' Ballgame kit, to add to my boxes. I love the grungy look to it.

Love the amazing details, that cut perfectly on my Silhouette.

Lori's Bracket Closure Box (SVG's on Lori's site. Also located in Lori's Silhouette store) was the perfect shape for it. When I adjusted the size of the box to fit the width of the golf balls, the box ended up being just long enough to hold four golf balls.

And now for the giveaway part! Kerri and Lori have generously given me a $25 shopping spree to EITHER of their stores, to give away to one lucky blog reader. Just leave me a comment, telling me your favorite handmade gift that you love to make every year, for gift giving. I will announce a randomly drawn winner on Friday!

last minute gifts blog party

christmas shopping. have you started yet? were you finished months ago? are you close to being done? i'm one of those that hasn't even thought about christmas shopping yet. i'm a total last-minute girl, and that goes for my christmas shopping just as much as it goes for everything else in my life. so the last minute gifts blog party is perfect for me!

kerri bradford and lori whitlock are two of my absolute favorite designers, when it comes to my silhouette shapes. i'm pretty sure i have almost their entire collection, in my silhoutte library. so, when they decided to team up for this blog party, i thought it was brilliant. both of their design teams are playing along, and we used shapes from both kerri and lori for our projects.

you'll want to check both of their blogs every day this week, to see what they have in store for you. there are sales, and giveaways, and freebies. then check out their design team members blogs, because we have giveaways as well ;)

kerri is offering one freebie each day this week. "holly jolly" is the freebie for monday. you MUST go get it today, because each freebie is only good for one day. at the end of the week, all five freebies will go into a kit, that you can then purchase. but if you stay on it each day, you'll have them all for free!

head over HERE to check it all out on kerri's blog, and then over HERE to check it out on lori's blog. i'll be sharing my projects later this week. so stay tuned ;)

seasonal framed set: a kerri bradford studio project

I have another share for Kerri Bradford Studio today. As part of "Get Started Now" week on Kerri Bradford's blog, the design team has been sharing ideas on creating cards/gifts/decor for Christmas now before the real craziness of the season begins.

As I was trying to think of a framed project I could make for gift giving, I came across Kerri's In Transit #1, which is full of subway art. I really love the look of subway art, but had yet to try cutting any of these on my Silhouette.

After a few minutes of pondering the themes in the kit, I decided that I would make a set of framed pieces that could be used throughout the year. The beauty of my plan, was that even though I created 5 different themed pieces, I only needed one frame to use with all of them. I choose to do a Valentines Day piece, a St Patrick's Day piece, a spring piece, a summer piece, and a family piece.

I started by taking out a really nice, worn wood frame that I happen to have handy. My opening on the frame was 8x10, so I cut all of my subway art pieces at about 8.5" tall. The designs are wide enough, that you can cut two of each design at once, on one sheet of cardstock. I just copied and pasted the shape, so that I could cut two of each. That way, I can make two sets of these framed pieces for gift giving. I find it so much easier, to mass produce things right from the start, if you have any thoughts of making more than one of something. When all my shapes were cut, I adhered them each to a piece of white cardstock that was slightly larger than the subway art piece, and I distressed the edges of the cardstock.

I then picked out some basic pattern papers, with tone on tone prints, in coordinating colors. I added some machine stitching around the edges, and adhered my matted subway art piece to the pattern paper.

I took some scraps of white cardstock, and misted them with different colors of mists, that would coordinate with each piece. After they dried, I used my favorite scalloped edged border punch on the strips, and slipped them under the sides of the subway art. I then raided my stash of flowers and brads, and added a few to each piece. Really simple and really easy.

A family themed print.

A Valentines Day/Love themed print.

A St Patrick's Day print.

A spring print.

A summer print.

All this took was a few sheets of cardstock and pattern paper, some flowers and brads, a frame, and a little creative energy. And you have a great seasonal framed collection of pieces to give as a gift, where the recipient can change out the pieces throughout the year.

Don't forget about Kerri's "Get Started Now" sale, that ends tomorrow. You still have time to load up on great designs, so that you can start preparing and working ahead on all your cards, gifts, holiday decor, and scrapbook creations!

tiny notes gift jar - a kerri bradford studio project

Kerri Bradford Studio is having a Get Started Now sale this week, that you won't want to miss.

Discounts are shown in the store and indicated with a 'sale' tag. NOTE: Please make sure you do all your purchases through the Store. There is a Store link along the top menu and over to the right. You can also go into the store HERE.

Today, she's sharing a gift giving idea that I designed, on her BLOG.

I have this huge collection of jars that I have stored away, that I used to use in my scrapbook studio years ago. I love finding new ways to use these jars, for gift giving at birthdays and holidays. I was thinking ahead to Christmas, and trying to come up with some ideas for gifts that I could make.

I thought it would be cute to make some tiny little cards and fill up a jar with them.

I used the Fancy Long Envelope, from the Signed, Sealed, and Delivered kit, to create my envelopes from white textured cardstock. I made them pretty tiny, so they're only 4 inches tall, and about 2 inches wide. I also the Circle Insets, from this same kit, to add some interest to the fronts of the envelopes.

For the flower and vase, I used the shapes from the This & That: Lucky kit, and cut them from tan, green, and orange cardstock. After I adhered them to the front of each tiny envelope, I added a small staple at the neck of the vase, and an orange jewel to the flower.

I also trimmed small pieces of blue cardstock, to slip inside of each envelope. I thought these would be fun to write tiny, little messages on. Then they could be slipped into someone's lunch bag, purse, or desk, to find later.

I created 12 of these envelopes/cards, and slipped them into a jar (from target). I dropped some shredded kraft paper in the bottom of the jar, before adding them.

Then I embellished the jar with ribbon and a fun little tag hanging from a chain. It's a cute little gift that you can give to a friend or family member, and they will have tiny little notes on hand, that they can then share with their friends or family. 

Be sure to check out Kerri's blog, as the design team will be showing fun ideas all week long!

BOO - a kerri bradford designs layout

i had a layout go up at kerri bradford designs yesterday. since it's october, i thought it was fitting to create a halloween layout for my project.

at first glance, this might not look like your average halloween layout. there's no orange. there's no purple. there is black, but not mixed with orange and purple. those are the colors normally found in most halloween collections. BUT. my girls don't usually choose costumes in your more traditional halloween colors. so when it comes time to scrap these photos, i definately look for more creative options to use on my layouts.

the great thing about die cutting your own images, is that you can choose the colors and papers that you cut your shapes from. i almost always pull the colors for my layouts, from my photos. these photos of alyssa and sarah, along with their friend amanda, were from two halloween's ago. i pulled the aqua from my girl's costumes, red from amanda's costume, and green from the greenery in the background of the photos.

i started with the grunge diamond background, which is from kerri's new foundations: trick or treat kit.

i used this new aqua patterned paper, from bella blvd's new winter wonder collection. i knew i wanted this background to cover half of my layout. i simply cut the shape twice, both at 6 inches square.

i knew my smaller photos would be covering the background design a bit, so i could cover where the two pieces met. i ended up cutting off a few rows of the diamond background at the last minute, to use on a card.  i love the grungy look to the shape, with the little torn pieces here and there. this cut beautifully on my silhouette.

next up, i knew i wanted to use this spider web, from kerri's this & that halloween: shapes only kit.

i cut the spider web from black cardstock. i wanted it to go from the top to the bottom of the page. but i didn't want the shape to get too wide, since i only had 6 inches across to work with, on that side of the page. so i cut my shape at about 8 inches high. then i just cut off the top 2 inches or so, and adhered the two pieces above and below my photo strip.

i decided on using the "BOO" title, that is also from kerri's this & that halloween: shapes only kit.

i had already added some of this red and green pattern papers to the opposite side of my layout (both by bella blvd). so i cut my "BOO" title from both of those same papers, keeping them the same size. then i adhered the green letters on top of the red letters, using pop dots. i shifted the top letters to the side, just a tad, so that you could see the red letters peeking out from behind. i added a few rhinestones to the letters, to embellish them.

one of my BFF's, lynn ghahary, has a challenge up in the garden at 2peas, for just this sort of idea. to scrap using non-traditional halloween colors. you can see her adorable layout and join in on the challenge HERE.

adventure - a kerri bradford studio layout

today, i have a kerri bradford studio layout to share. we're finishing out the "happy" theme for the month. creating layouts about things that make us happy.

i have never been a big traveler, and our family has never taken a real vacation. so it's been a big change for me, as i've been doing quite a bit of traveling over the last two years, all for scrapbooking related work. i'll be totally honest with you. i'm NOT a big fan of traveling. i think i have been on about 22 airplanes, over the past two years. i find that just getting to and from the events, completely wears me out and it takes me days to recover.

 

BUT. the reason i put up with the traveling, is that once i get to where i'm going, i have so much fun. i love being able to teach other's about scrapbooking and to be surrounded with scrapbookers that share that same passion as i do for paper and glue. so while the actual traveling doesn't make me very happy, what i am traveling too makes me very happy. and to be totally honest again. seeing as i work at home, taking care of infants and toddlers ... every now and then, it's good for me to get out and be surrounded by big people, that can hold big people conversations with me ;)  

 

this map pattern paper from little yellow bicycle is what started this entire layout. i found it in my stash a few months ago, and pulled it out, with the intention of doing a layout about the places that i have gone. once i started working, and pulling out more products (all from little yellow bicycle), and deciding on which of kerri's going places shapes i wanted to add, the second page just sort of happened.

 

the green brad marks where all my trips have started. from home. i guess i could have put the brad up by "sacramento", since that's where the airport is. but i put it where i live, which is an hour away. the brown brads mark the places i have gone too. and i did add a few orange brads, to some common layover cities that i seem to end up in.

 

i thought it would be fun to map out all my flights, including the layovers. but i realized the strings would all get criss-crossed, and wouldn't make much sense. plus, i had a few cities that i've traveled too, but that i also had layovers in. and two of these locations (utah and los angeles), i have flown to a few times each, for different things.

 

i used my silhouette to cut the "take a look" piece, from two pattern papers and some cardstock. i love that i can cut the entire piece from one paper (here, i used brown). and then when i cut the individual pieces, from other papers, i can layer them directly over the top of the original cut piece. makes it really easy to get everything lined up perfectly.

 

once i decided to go to a two page layout, i figured i'd have lots of room to journal. because i did have a lot to say. since i tend to leave my journaling for last, there's times where i simply run out of room. or i find that i don't have a good enough spot to add it. so, i thought it was pretty funny when i ended up with this little journaling block, on a two page layout, with NO photos. lol!

 

i wanted to cut out the title and airplane fairly large. which is one of the reasons i added the second page. i was going to include my journaling on the bottom of this page. but i thought the boarding pass card would be nice to include, and then i pulled out another journaling block. these just kind of landed on the bottom of this layout, and i lost my journaling spot.

 

i used my silhouette to cut the airplane, from green pattern paper and from brown cardstock. i offset the green plane just slightly, and adhered it using pop dots. the "adventure" was cut from brown cardstock and orange pattern paper. i also punched some clouds from coordinating pattern papers, and pop dotted a few of them. i know there's always lots of clouds up there, when i'm in the planes.

 

so, there you have it. my first two page, no photo layout. it turned out NOTHING like i planned, when i sat down to create it. i think part of it was the fact that i hadn't scrapped a single thing in weeks. i was out of my zone, and just started tossing stuff on the pages. lol! i might even add some more journaling on the back of the layout, or add a smaller page protector in between the pages that can include more journaling and maybe some memoriabilia. we'll see. truth be told, i'll probably just toss it in my album, and call it done ;)

music makes us happy - a kerri bradford studio layout

i have a kerri bradford studio layout to share today, that just went up on her blog. kerri has a birthday this week, and decided that it was only fitting to have a celebration on her blog as well. as her design team, it was our fun job to help out with the party and make some pretty things to share. decorations, you could say. lol! we were asked to focus on happiness. create projects, based on something that makes us happy.

 

there are a lot of things that make me happy in life, like my family and friends. since i scrapbook about them all the time, i thought i would do a fun layout about something else that makes me really happy. music. i L-O-V-E music. whether i have it playing on the radio in the car, on my IPod while i'm scrapping, on ITunes when i'm working on the computer, or when my girls have it playing in their rooms. if there is music playing, i can guarantee you that you will find me singing along, boppin' in my chair, or dancing around the house.

 

i love all kinds of music, but i wanted to focus on my love of country music for this layout. i did google searches, to find photos of some of my favorite artists and groups, and printed them out in one of kerri's fabulous digital templates, from her storyboard #1 kit. the trick to finding great photos, is to look for larger sized images. if you are wanting to print them, you want a good quality photo. i had quite a few that just didn't work out, since they got super blurry when i made them big enough for the collage. 

i left one of the spots in the template empty, since i knew i was going to add my title there. I always leave the grey there (or whatever color the templates show), so that i can measure how big i need to cut my papers, to fit over the spot.

 

i trimmed up some pattern paper to fit the space. and then i used my silhouette, to cut out the "totally happy", from kerri's say what #1 kit, from both brown and red cardstock. i love to point out my "oops" moments. see that second "P"? i lost the little inside piece, cut from the brown cardstock. i was being so careful, and i lost it. so i just used a brown pen to color the red cardstock.

 

i made sure to choose photos that coordinated nicely with each other, and with the color scheme i was going for. it started with the photo of lady antebellum. i loved the rich, deep colors in the photo. so i made sure to find photos of the other artists/groups, in simliar, darker colors. this layout is a quick glance at the faces behind the music, that makes me happy!

 

isn't this fancy scroll border so gorgeous? honestly, this isn't something i would normally pick out on my own. i knew i wanted to add a fun border design on each side of my photo collage. this is from kerri's borderlines #2 kit, and when i saw it, i knew it was the perfect style to go with my layout. and check out the detail in this little 7 inch border (you can make it whatever length you want. mine happened to be 7 inches). amazing detail, and it cut out like butter on the silhouette. i cut all four of these at once, and ran them through my "X" xyron sticker-maker, to adhere them.

 

this layout is really layered, and i love it. my pattern papers were both from bella blvd, and i choose some coordinating cardstock colors from american crafts. what you can't see, is that i cut out the inside pieces from the blue, white, and green cardstock. just a paper saving trick. if i only need a small border of the blue cardstock to show, why use an entire sheet? same with the white. and the green. i cut my papers to size, and then i cut out a square from the inside, leaving 1-2 inches all the way around. no one will ever know. except all of you ;)

make sure and keep your eye on kerri's blog this week, for all the other good stuff going on. just yesterday, she put up some really fun new templates. i think i'll have to use a few of them on my next layout, for later this month ;)