... 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!

Pebbles Guest Designer - Hip Hip Hooray

I'm super excited to be guest designing on the Pebbles blog today! I worked with two different collections, so I thought I would share one collection today, and one tomorrow. First up, is the Hip Hip Hooray collection!

This collection is all about birthdays and celebrations. So I knew I wanted to scrap one of the girl's birthday parties. I hadn't done anything yet with the photos from Sarah's 11th birthday party, which was almost two years ago. It was a swimming party, of course (she's a fish!). And the photos all looked great, paired up with the fun, colorful Hip Hip Hooray papers. I choose two main photos for this layout. One group shot, and one of the birthday girl.

I started out by doing my favorite paper saving trick, and framing my page with a few strips of the glittered dotted patterned paper. I trimmed down a sheet of white cardstock, and misting it with some pink misting spray, and adhered it to the center of the page. I knew I wanted to use the glittered flag banners in the upper corner. The banners come with two flags in one, so that you can fold them over, and string them along the cord that is included. Which I think would be cute. But I also knew that if I simply cut them in half, and seperated the flags, I could get even more banners out of it! I added the fun little sequin candy dots inbetween the flags.

For my title, I wanted to mimic the banner in the upper corner. I choose a fun banner "Birthday" title from the Silhouette store, and cut it from one of the aqua pattern papers. I used the pink glitter alpha stickers to add the "Happy" to my "Happy Birthday" title. I really love those glitter alphas. They're thick, and I didn't find glitter all over the place, like a lot of glitter stickers will do.

I adhered my die cut title to the page, using pop dots. Then I tucked in a few of the adorable pinwheels, to embellish the title.

Some journaling. I find that most of our birthday parties have the same stories. There's lots of swimming, games and joking around, eating, presents, cake and ice cream. Just what a party should be about!

The upper corner needed a little something, so I added her age. It's a very important fact to get down on the page, since all of the swimming parties start to look the same ;)

But I didn't want to stop there. If I'm going to scrap some birthday photos, I'm going to scrap the entire party. Even though my two main photos were the focus of my layout, and this one page could easily stand on it's own, I wanted to add all the other photos in as well. I decided to use some divided page protectors, from Becky Higgins.

I'm actually going to have 3 of these pages, to go along with the single page paper layout. So I will have two 2 page spreads in the album, to cover the entire party. This first page has a selection of photos from the swimming fun. The next page will have photos from the games they played out of the pool, and the last page will have photos of the gift opening and cake and ice cream.  

I printed photos in three different sizes. I did a few 3x4", which will fit perfectly in the page protectors.

Then I printed some at 2.5x3.5", which I then matted on white cardstock, and then on some pattern paper.

And lastly, I printed some at 2.5x2.5". For these, I started with a 3x4" piece of white cardstock, which I misted with the pink misting spray. I took a scrap of dotted patterned paper, distressed the edges, and adhered in the corner. Then I adhered my photos using pop dots. I finished embellishing with alpha stickers and other embellishments. This entire page only took me about 20 minutes to throw together. I still need to do the other 2 pages, but I wanted to show what I had so far.

Since I am ALWAYS in need of birthday cards, I decided to use some scraps to make a few cards. I used my Silhouette to die cut "Party" from some pink patterned paper. 

For all of these cards, the thin strips of pattern paper across the bottom or top of the cards, are actually the UPC strips from the sheets of paper.

I had lots of fun working with the Hip Hip Hooray collection! Thanks to Pebbles for letting me work with their super fun products, and for letting me join them on the blog today! Make sure to go over to their blog, and check out the rest of my projects. I also did a fun little Question & Answer thing, where you can read a few fun tidbits from me. AND, there's a giveaway over there, so you'll want to leave a comment for a chance to win! Come back by here tomorrow, and I'll share the rest of my projects using the Country Picnic collection ;)

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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.

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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 ;)

fun & games - a creating keepsakes layout

i have a layout share today from scrapbooking ides for every season, a special issue from creating keepsakes.

As seen in the Scrapbooking Ideas For Every Season special issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

for this assignment, i was asked to create a layout with a gameboard inspired background. and it was supposed to be winter themed. this threw me a bit. after all, we don't have "winter" here where we live in california. so we certainly don't have many winter themed moments. then there was the "gameboard inspired background". what could i do with that?

after much thinking, i came up the perfect board game to use as inspiration for my layout. scene it! it's one of our favorite games to play, here in this house. we have a wide variety of scene it games. a few disney channel versions, disney movie version, nickelodeon channel version, twilight versions, etc.

i started by taking out one of the game boards, to use as a template for my layout. i knew i was doing a two page spread. and it turned out, that the game board was the PERFECT fit! i set two sheets of blue cardstock side by side, lined up the board on top, and then traced the board onto my cardstock. i cut those out, and then adhered them to my pages.

i used a white grid pattern paper for the base of my pages. i wanted a clean background, to let everything else stand out. the grid just adds a bit more interest, than plan white cardstock. i also added a few strips of black/white pattern paper, and a embossed red cardstock, along the tops and bottoms of my pages.

then i got to work finding photos to add to my "gameboard". since the girls (and admittedly, both joe and i as well) are huge disney channel and nickelodeon channels fans, i set out to find our favorite shows and stars. google images was my friend for this. i typed in what i was looking for, and then searched for the best photo i could find, in a size that would copy well for printing. for our favorite tv shows, i looked for great cast photos whenever i could.

i then pulled up each photo in photoshop, and resized them all to 1 inch x 1 inch. when i placed each photo onto my full sheet to print, i copied each one several times. i think i printed each photo 4-5 times, just to be sure i would have enough photos to go around the gameboard. after they printed out, i used a 1 inch square punch to punch out each photo.

i then set out to arrange the photos around the board. i spent forever on this part, trying to get them all lined up perfectly. i adhered each and every piece, using pop dots, for extra dimension. my "fun & games" title was cut with my silhouette, from black cardstock. i simply centered it across the two pages, and cut it where the pages meet, before adhering it.

i also cut some circles from a few different shades of blue cardstock, using a circle cutter. those mimic the circles on the actual scene it gameboard. the arrows were cut from the same red embossed cardstock that i used across the top and bottom of the pages. i simply dug up an old chipboard arrow, and traced it on the backside of the red cardstock, and then cut them out.

two things i have to point out about this layout, just because i thought they were kind of funny. this was supposed to be a "winter themed" layout. i was told that playing boardgames could be a winter activity that we do, which still makes this a winter themed layout. except that, after i had send this in, it dawned on me that the girls are wearing tank tops/tshirts in their photos. kind of a giveaway that i took these photos during the summer.

and when i sent this layout in, i was asked if i would be able to provide photo releases for all of the people in my photos. i had to laugh when i emailed back and said that they were all actors and actresses, and that i found all of their photos on google. i did NOT laugh when i was asked to provide links to all of the places where i had found these photos, which led me to google search them all over again. lol! i think it's also a great way to tell who has kids and can name all of these stars and shows, and who does not have kids (or your kids aren't quite old enough yet for some of these) and has no clue who the people in these photos are :)

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!

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!

blessings - a layout share

i feel like i'm really off my blogging routine lately. i usually blog late at night. but with joe on an entirely different work schedule right now, he gets home late at night (when i'm used to leaving for work late at night). when you've spent 8 years, having nights to yourself, it's weird to have someone else around. throws me off my game a little. anyways. morning blogging it is for now, i guess. he goes back to his regular hours in a week :)

i have a quick layout share today. i created this layout for something, and then that thing got postponed, and then it got canceled all together. huge let-down for me. and for the gorgeous family in these photos, by krista lund, that i borrowed for the assignment. the silver lining, i guess, is that i can share it now. instead of sitting on it for even longer.

isn't this photo gorgeous? krista is an amazing photographer, who is local to me. she's also super creative, and always amazes me with the fun crafts, photo props, and scrapbook projects she's working on. i took a photography workshop from krista back in june, and the two little kids in these photos were our models for the day. they were so adorable. i should really share some of my photos from that workshop. maybe tomorrow.

for my title, i used this "blessings" design from the silhouette store (by loni stevens). i love these layered titles, with the thin outline.

i cut the title from the same purple and golden yellow pattern papers that i used on the second page of the spread. those two papers, along with the dark brown leaf pattern paper, are from bella blvd. the lighter kraft pattern paper is from american crafts.

i chose a layered chrysanthemum flower, to cut on the silhouette. this was the first time i had used a shape like this, and i love the way it cut. it pulls up about 8 different sized flower, that you can cut all at once. they all fit together, to create this great dimensional flower. 

just a head's up. i'll be drawing a winner tomorrow morning, for monday's giveaway. so if  you havn't commented to enter yet, make sure and do that (one comment per person, please). and saturday, i'll be sharing another new gift giving project for kerri bradford studio. it's a good one. i promise ;)

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 ;)

old fashion rivalry - a creating keepsakes layout

today, i'm finally able to share this fun layout that was in the september issue of creating keepsakes. i cut it super close on the deadline to submit this, and apparently only took one photo of it. and i never took more pics, before i mailed it in. then it got held up coming back to me. it finally found it's way home last week, and i was able to get more photos of it.

 

here's the september 2011 sketch. i love working with sketches, and figured i would give it a try. i think i've said this before, but i tend to follow sketches, exactly as they're shown. recently, i have tried to mix it up and alter sketches, just slightly. but this is one i worked on AGES ago (beauty of the magazine world. lol!), and i think you'll see that i used this sketch as-is.

 
as seen in the September 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

since this sketch had lots of 4x6 photos, i knew i had to find something to scrap about, that had lots of pics to choose from. i remembered this photos of joe and alyssa, that i had taken a while back. joe is a die hard LA dodger fan, and alyssa is a huge SF giants fan. actually, i'll let my journaling tell you what the photos are about :)

 

 

the sketch had this fun scalloped border across the bottom of the pages. i decided to use my silhouette to cut these, from some blue tone-on-tone pattern paper. even though i had had my silhouette for about four months, i still hadn't used it. working on this layout, was the first time that i actually took it out of the box and tried it out. i also cut those sketchy stars, from the same blue pattern paper.

 

back on the original sketch, months ago, there weren't any sizes on the photos. so i really did some quess work, trimming a bit here and there, and layering the photos all together. i kept going, until it all fit together nicely, and looked like the sketch.

 

i love these skinny fabric thickers, from american crafts. and on my buttons, i added mini brads to two of the buttons holes. i love doing that, instead of threading them all the time.

 

these two smaller photos of alyssa look so dramatic, don't they? lol! after all these years, she knows how to turn it on to the camera. but her and joe really were watching the game, through the window, while i took photos of them. when the dodgers happen to score, this was her "reaction" for the camera.

speaking of alyssa, today is her birthday! i can't believe that she's turning FIFTEEN YEARS OLD today!

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 ;)

august stretch your sketch - guest designer

about a month ago, the talented jen gallacher asked me if i'd be interested in guest designing for her august stretch your sketch class over on two peas in a bucket. i love working off sketches, so i jumped at the chance.

      

here is the sketch that jen provided for us this month. the great thing about her class, is that she doesn't just show you how to use the sketch "as-is". she encouraged us to make it our own. i decided to flip the sketch upside down for my layout, flip flop the title and the journaling piece, and then swap out the journaling piece and the photo. and here's what i ended up with:

 

i actually had no clue what i was going to do my layout about, until last weekend. one of alyssa's friends came over, to work on a school project. and i happen to hear them talking about books. turns out, her friend saw a list of books that alyssa has hanging in her room, and asked about it.

when she was in the 7th grade, they had to keep track of all their reading for the school year. listing books, authors, and number of pages they read. in the 10 months they were in school, alyssa read 57 books. and not just little books. big ones, like the twilight series. i had always commented, on how that would make a great layout. to list them all, so that we could look back on it. she's had the list hanging in her room for 2 years, and i finally did what i said i wanted to do.

 

i used a mix of crate paper and my mind's eye pattern papers, for this page. i cut my main title words, "fifty seven", from pattern paper, using my silhouette. and then i used two different kinds of bella blvd letter stickers, to complete my title.

 

i also cut the circle grid piece with the silhouette, from pattern paper.  i had a background shape, that was 5 circles high and 5 circles side to side. since the sketch was only 4 circles wide, i just deleted a row of circles before i cut the piece out.

 

instead of actually journaling about this story, i decided to simply type up all the books off her list. these are in the order she read them, right off her list. and i think there might be one or two duplicates in there, since she occasionally loves a book so much, that she'll read it a second time. the row of books stamp is from a studio calico kit, from the beginning of the year.

 

then it was time to embellish my circles. this was the fun part. i knew that i just wanted to add random, fun embellishments to each circle. although, it could have been fun to add in some little photos of some of alyssa's favorite books. didn't think of that until i was typing this. lol! i just dug around in my stash, looking for things i could add, in coordinating colors. reds, aquas, greens, browns, and a bit of yellow. i  have a mix of buttons, brads, flowers, chipboard pieces, 3D flower stickers, and even a plastic clock piece.

you can check out jen's layout, download an instructional PDF, watch her video, and see the other two guest designers HERE. thanks jen, and 2peas, for letting me play along this month!

apple chompin' - a bella blvd layout

did you get a chance to check out the newly released bella buzz newsletter? for our "challenge on the blvd" section, i invited one of the local artistas, katherine mcelvain, to take on a challenge with me.

"Create a layout, using at least 1 pattern paper from each of the 4 new collections, at least 3 different colors of letter stickers from the 4 new collections, and at least one other sticker or embellishment from each of the 4 new collections."

  

 

i love mixing pattern papers together. whether it's from different manufacturers, or from different collections from the same manufacturer. you might not think to mix papers from a sports collection, a halloween collection, a fall collection, and a christmas collection. but it can definately work. i think it worked just perfectly on these photos of the girls, from an apple picking outing years ago.

 

i love the font on the alphabet stickers, that come on the alphas+bits sticker sheets. i used the green and the brown ones for my title, and used the white numbers for the year these photos were taken in. that white circular background piece was cut with my silhouette.

 

make sure and check out katherine's take on the challenge HERE.

i'll be back tomorrow, with a special saturday post. it's a layout share, for something really fun that i was asked to participate in ;)

CK - 100 photos in a night

the creating keepsakes september 2011 issue, has an article called "scrapbooking 100 photos in an evening", written by deena wuest. i remember when they asked us for some brainstorming ideas, on taking on the idea of scrapping 100 photos in one evening. is it do-able? i didn't even have to think about it. YES, it's totally do-able! so when i was asked to contribute to the article, i already had a plan of what i wanted to do, design wise. 

 
as seen in the September 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

now, what would the theme of my pages be? i wanted to do some sort of "year in review" type album. but not the normal month-by-month set-up. i thought it would be fun, to break down the year, into themes. 10 photos on a layout (2 page spread). 10 layouts total. that equals 100 photos. easy.  

my first theme was "favorite school moments". instead of doing individual layouts, for different types of school moments (band, projects, friends, graduation), why not combine some of your favorite moments onto one layout? it's a great way to sum up the entire school year, and touch on all the highlights of the year.

 

my design plan, was to choose 10 photos for each spread. one of those photos would be my focal photo. a favorite photo from the bunch, or one that was special for a particular reason. for my "favorite school moments" layout, i choose this photo of alyssa, from her 8th grade graduation. it was a very big night for her, and a very proud moment for us, as her parents. along with the one larger photo, i would include my journaling, a title block, and the rest of the page would be made up of patterned paper.

 

my plan for the other 9 photos, was to create a digital template in photoshop, and print them all as one 12x12 collage. i went with a simple grid, 3 across and 3 up and down, for my first template.

 

and then i used that template to create the second  page of my spread. i pulled up all 9 of my photos, and dropped them into the collage, cropping each photo to fit the space. once i was done, i uploaded my finished collage to costco, and had it printed as a 12x12 photo. that's all this page is. 9 photos, just like that!

 

i used my silhouette to cut out my title. i LOVE the "moments" title piece, and how it has the thin outlined piece that goes on top of the regular title piece. since my themes, for the 10 layouts, all revolve around moments, i could easily cut "moments" over and over. it's not like using letter stickers, where eventually, you're going to run out of letters. and if you're planning ahead, you could even cut out "moments" ten times at once, to save some time. i also cut out "school" with my silhouette, and added the "2010 favorite" with tiny alpha stickers.

 

i knew i would need a lot of room for my journaling, since i was summing up the entire school year's highlights. once i knew how much space i had for my journaling, i made a text box in my word processing program, and typed up my journaling to fit the space. i printed it out onto some white graph patterned paper, and added it to the page.

 
as seen in the September 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

i also created a summer themed layout. "favorite family fun moments". a little inside secret, is that my title was originally "summer moments". i think someone else had a title similar to that, so i was asked to change it. that's how "family fun moments" came to be. 

 

for this layout, i choose a favorite photo of alyssa and sarah, in the swimming pool. this was at my brother's house, at a family get-together. i went with fun, bright colors for my papers. this time, i printed my photo as a 5x7, and went with a horizontal photo. just like on the first layout, i decided where i wanted my photo and my journaling, and then built the title piece and patterned papers to fill up the page.

 

i created a second photo collage in photoshop, for this layout. i still went with a grid design, but i varied the sizes of the photos, to add some interest.

 

and here's how my other 9 photos for the layout looked in the collage. printed as a single 12x12 photo, which completes the second page of the spread.

 

keeping the design simple, and minimizing the thought that goes into being original on every page, i cut my title once again with my silhouette. i originally had "summer" cut with the silhouette, but when i changed it to "family fun", i choose to just use some letter stickers.

 

i did add a very simple embellishment to this layout. i used a template to create a whimsical sun, from my coordinating pattern papers. and i added three pre-threaded buttons to the center.

 

journaling printed on yellow pattern paper. we didn't do a whole lot during the summer of 2010. so i choose to journal about some of the girls favorite things to do during the summer, which goes along with the photos i choose.

some of the other ideas i had for this type of themed "year in review", were favorite sports moments, favorite work moments, favorite birthday moments, favorite holiday moments, and favorite everyday moments. i actually had my list of 10 themes, that would make up 100 photos, and now i can't remember what else was on my list.

and for your scrapping convenience, the two digital templates that i created are available on the creating keepsakes website, for you to download. you can find them HERE. how easy would that be, to take these 2 templates, and print up 10 collages. with 9 photos on each, you'd have 90 photos printed in a matter of minutes. half the work would be done :)

a few of my fellow CK dream teamers have shared their takes on this article in the past few days. visit nichol harper's blog to see her mini album sized "year in review album". i love the 8x8 size that she choose to use. and visit piradee talvanna's blog to see her super fun CHA photos, that she scrapped using divided page protectors. you might even see me on a few of her photos ;)

kerri bradford designs: my layouts

i'm so glad that today is wednesday, and it's my feature day at kerri bradford designs! because i don't think i can sit on these layouts any longer. lol! i was SO excited when kerri asked me to be one of her special guests, for her one year anniversary celebration of launching her own designs.

 

i hope you're checking out kerri's sales, going on this week! today is a good one. those are some of my favorite kits, and i used a few in my projects for today.

i have 3 projects to share with you today. 2 layouts, and a card.

 

i love this photo of my girls, and printed it out just a few days after taking it. finally decided it was time to scrap it. all the papers are from lily bee. they were sweet enough to give me a pack of paper at winter CHA, which was 7 months ago. i'm glad i finally got around to using it, because i love the colors and happy patterns.

 

i used a flower border, from the borderlines #1 kit, and cut it from 3 papers. a aqua dot paper, a yellow dot paper, and some brown cardstock. on the left side of the layout, i layered together the aqua dot flower and the brown cardstock flower. i used pop dots on the top piece, and offset them just a tad bit from each other. i added a little chipboard flower embellishment to the flower center to finish it off.

 

for the right side of the layout, i felt like it needed a little something to fill up some space. i didn't have room for a full border. so i simply cut off the stem of the flower, and used just the flower by itself. i layered the yellow dot flower, on top of the brown cardstock flower, using pop dots. and a chipboard flower embellishment to finish it off.

 

i thought the "hello sunshine" title, from the this & that: summertime (just shapes) collection, cut was perfect for this summer photo of alyssa and sarah. i cut the "hello" from red cardstock, and the "sunshine" from aqua pattern paper and brown cardstock.

 

the ribbons and tickets are from my mind's eye, and the chipboard flowers are from sassafras.

 

i try and cut a few extra shapes, when i'm using my silhouette. if i'm sending a piece of paper through, i like to try and use up the space and get the most out of that piece of paper. which is why i cut these shapes out, thinking i could use them on a card. i also managed to use scraps of paper from my layout, along with some ribbon and the extra chipboard flowers i had left.

 

a new favorite layout of mine. all the products on this layout are from my mind's eye. the die cut paper, pattern papers, cardstock (from the reverse side of the pattern), and adorable buttons. the buttons are what i started this entire layout off of. and a secret about that die cut paper. it's got tons of glitter on the backside. and those that know me, know i'm not a huge fan of glitter. i actually adhered a piece of cardstock to the back, to cover it all up, but i'm still finding glitter everywhere.

 

i was trying to choose a title from the say what #1 kit. i knew i wanted to scrap some photos of either haley or nikolas, from when they came to visit me in june. i was debating between the "this girl" title.

 

and the "that boy" title. and then i remembered THIS LAYOUT, that i did a few years ago. and i knew right away, that i wanted to use them together, on one layout.

 

i did the same thing on my titles here, that i did on some of the pieces in the first layout. cut them from different papers, and then layered and pieced them together. i printed out 3 wallet sized photos (2x3) of both haley and nikolas, and adhered them randomly down the sides. 

 

i added some glitter letter stickers, in denim, to spell out their names. and then i added some treaded buttons in a few random, but well thought out and methodically planned places on the layout ;)

 

i love this little loopy border strip. i cut two of them, from brown cardstock, and adhered them on either side of my pattern paper strips.

 

leave a comment here for a chance to win $50 of your choice of digital download kits from kerri bradford designs. i will leave comments open until friday morning, and i will randomly choose a winner on friday afternoon. good luck!

kerri is also doing a huge giveaway today. it's a HUGE one, and you'll want to toss your name in for it. also check out nichol magouirk's blog, where she's been doing lots of silhouette stuff all week. jennifer mcquire was the guest yesterday, and had some really fun card designs to share. and i think you'll find some great stuff from robyn werlich and shari carroll in the next two days ;)