... just Laura

just arrived - a pebbles layout

last week, on the pebbles blog, it was all about the new arrival girl collection. this week is all about the new arrival boy collection. i have a layout up on the blog today, featuring that collection.

 

recognize this little dude? that's zachary, when he was just one month old. even the girls saw this layout sitting out, and said "is that him?". they were convinced it was some other little baby boy. lol! i've taken some photos of him and his parents a few times, since he was born. and these were from his one-month shoot.

 

i think my favorite part of this collection is the embossed papers. i used 2 of them on this layout. the blue dot, and the brown with white dots. you really have to see these in person, to truely appreciate them. the raised dots on both of these papers are amazing, and add a TON of texture to your projects. and i love that they're neutral and not just for baby boy layouts. i can see these papers on a lot of projects :)

 

i just love the 3D felt stars embellishments. they're thick and layered and all the work is done for you. just peel and stick to your layout. and the moneky? well, i created him with a new making memories slice design card, that will be out in december. the cool thing about it, is that it will cut your shapes in pieces, that you then assemble together. this will actually allow a lot of the shapes to become larger than the standard 4 inch size that the current design cards will cut. will share more, once it's officially announced. i cut the monkey from a few of the different pattern papers, even using the brown embossed dot paper for his body. i added some stitched buttons for his eyes, and "hung" him from the photo collage. isn't he cute :)

supplies:
new arrival boy little angel pattern paper by pebbles, new arrival boy brand new pattern paper by pebbles, new arrival boy expecting you pattern paper by pebbles, new arrival boy congrats pattern paper by pebbles, new arrival boy everything sweet pattern paper by pebbles, new arrival boy felt embellishments by pebbles, new arrival boy words stickers by pebbles, new arrival boy rubons by pebbles, slice design card by making memories, rubon stitches by doodlebug, buttons by basic grey

all smiles - three takes on one layout

i wanted to share one of my recent assignments with you. the following three layouts were featured in the october issue of creating keepsakes magazine. the challenge issued to me, was to create a 10 minute layout. and then to step it up, to a 15 minute layout. and then again, to a 20 minute layout.

 
as seen in the October 2010 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

you might think a 10 minute layout is impossible. but it's not. granted, i may have put more than 10 minutes into creating this layout, given that i was creating it for publication and wanted it to be just right. the truth is, my layouts and my process DO take me more time to come up with and put together. but at the same time, i think my layouts come off very do-able. i've been told that by numerous people, and i know exactly what they're saying. i'm not an overly complicated scrapper. sure, i have my moments where i like to do some techniques or use a bunch of goodies on one page. but i think my layouts are easy enough to duplicate, with your own photos and supplies that you have on hand.

you can totally create this layout in 10 minutes.  don't believe me? try it and see. take out 2 4x6 photos, a piece of cardstock, 2 strips of pattern paper or die cut paper, a journaling page, a piece of ribbon, 2 stickers, and a pen. what's that? you want instructions? no problem, they're right HERE. throw it all down, and it just might end up looking like my layout above. and then high-tail it back here, and show it to me ;)

 
as seen in the October 2010 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

maybe you have more than 10 minutes. if you do, i'm extremely jealous. lol! maybe you have 15 minutes, and want to step up the layout a little bit. in addition to what i listed above, you also need one more sheet of cardstock, a few jewels, another sticker, and a stapler. instructions? sure, they're right HERE.

 
as seen in the October 2010 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

say you're just all full of time, and have 20 whole minutes, and want to step it up even more than the last version. then simply add a full strand of jewels, an epoxy sticker, and some letter stickers. instructions are HERE.

if you do try out this little challenge, and find that it takes you a bit longer than 10, 15, or 20 minutes, then please don't hold it against me. lol! i really do believe that layouts can be quick and simple. and still look really cute. and i honestly believe these can be done in that amount of time. and if designers can do a little bit of the thinking part for you, use it to your advantage. take a layout, or an idea, or an element. and use it to create your own layout, with whatever you have on hand, and personalize it however you want :)

supplies: free spirit sunshine/purple peace dots pattern paper by little yellow bicycle, free spirit lace cut cardstock by little yellow bicycle ,free spirit journal tablet by little yellow bicycle, free spirit fabric favorite embellishments by little yellow bicycle, free spirit alpha & numbers cardstock stickers, free spirit fresh verse cardstock stickers, free spirit epoxy stickers by little yellow bicycle, 5 color polka ribbon by jillibean soup, pink crystals by zva creative

amanda - a pebbles layout

this week really got away from me. and my blog paid the price for it, unfortunately. but i'm getting back on track, and have things scheduled and planned out. plenty to share, just a matter of making time to share it. for today, i have a layout up on the pebbles blog.

 

i used the pebbles twitterpated collection for my layout about amanda. i've been missing having amanda around the house lately. she was one of my very first daycare kids, nine years ago. she's one of the girls best friend's. they call her their "sister", and i call her my "third daughter". she's a part of this family, and is welcome here anytime. but as the girls get older, they tend to get busier with different activities. and the last few months, they havn't gotten together as much as they used to. luckily, amanda has made a few stops by this way in the last week or two. been nice to see her again :) 

 

i've been getting a bit back into distressing my papers. i remember years ago, i was addicted to inking the edges of every single piece of paper on a layout. and then i got away from doing it. no idea why. however, i have reaching for my edge scraper more and more these days. you simply run it over the edges of your papers, whether it's cardstock or pattern paper. sometimes, i'll ink the edges as well. or sometimes, i just leave them as is. but i love the extra texture it adds to my layouts.

i'm hoping to get another post on here this weekend. tonight we're headed to the high school football game. it's homecoming, and the band will be in full uniform for the game. i LOVE hearing them play throughout the game. just love it! then saturday, we have three soccer games. starting bright and early at 7:30, and going straight through for about five hours. hopefully, it's not too hot out.

lil spunk - a layout

i was planning on sharing how i scrapbooked the trip i took to utah 2 years ago. finished the layouts, printed the pages of journaling, took photos of everything. and then the power went out tonight. it was only about 30 minutes. but that never happens to us, and it threw us off the rest of the evening. lol! so i'll be sharing that on wednesday. instead, i'll share a two page layout with you. i know a lot of you asked to see more 2 page layouts. and lucky for you, creating keepsakes magazine has really been focusing on 2 pagers for quite a while now, because they know it's what their readers want. so the majority of my assignments for them are 2 page layouts :)

as seen in the July/August 2010 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

i got asked to do this assignment last january. the magazine knew that i was attending the winter CHA show that month. they were going to choose their top picks of the show, and then have a few designers create projects with those products. on the last day of the show, i kept asking the editors if they had chosen their top picks yet. i was anxious to see what i was going to work with. but i had to wait until i got home from the show, and a few weeks later, the new queen bee collection from pink paislee showed up on my doorstep.  

when i first saw this collection at CHA, i thought it was gorgeous. and the decor for that part of their booth was incredible. the flowerbed, and display area, for this collection was one of my favorite parts of the show. but. i wasn't sure it was my style. i can appreciate something being gorgeous and pretty. but i also know what comes naturally to me. and i wasn't sure what i would do with this collection. 

then i remembered these photos i had taken of michaela. michaela was my very first daycare baby. she was only about 4 weeks old when i started watching her. i also watched her older sister, alison, who was about 2.5 years old at the time. there's just something about babies that gets me. some more than others (sorry, is that bad to say?). and she was one that just stuck on me. i could eat her up, loved taking care of her, kissed and snuggled on her baby rolls (and she had TONS of rolls. lol!), and just truely bonded with her from day one. even though they've been gone from our daycare for years, they're still a part of our lives. we don't see them often, even though we live super close to each other. but when i do see them, it takes me right back to why michaela was a special one to me.  

once i had these photos picked out and printed, the rest of the layout just fell together. and i was able to play with all the gorgeous product in the collection, without thinking twice about any of it. i think i managed to use a little bit of everything they sent me. the pattern papers, die cut paper, glitter chipboard alphas, ribbon pleats, flip notes journal, bella brads, cork buttons, punch out die cuts, the press ons, and even the 6x6 pattern paper pad. i was pretty proud of myself for working so much fun stuff on these two pages. 

for the flowers, i used the ribbon pleats. they come in a long strip, 12 inches in length. but you can easily shape them into a circle, or how ever you want to work them. once i got it in a circle, i added a bella brad to the center of a cork button, and added that as the center of the flower. for the stems, i used the parenthesis from the chipboard alphas, and just trimmed them into a stem and leaves.

just because - a pebbles layout

i have another pebbles layout to share, from my design team submission. i started making this about two weeks before haley was leaving, and tried my best to finish in time to get it in her book. but i ran short on time. so this is new to her parents and to all of you.

last night, we had haley and her mom over for dinner. dad had to stay home since he wasn't feeling well, but we did send some yummy food back for him. it's been a few weeks now, since haley left us to start pre-school. i think it's been quite the adjustment for all of us. we miss her more than ever. i miss having someone to talk too during the day. she was such a great story teller and talked non-stop. we miss her smiling face and bouncy way of running all over. i miss seeing her mom (and her dad every now and then) drop her off and pick her up. she was always wide awake and chatting in the mornings, when i was half asleep still. and i was wide awake and chatting in the afternoons, when she was half asleep. lol! i know that haley misses us. her mom said that she's liking pre-school, and learning a lot. she's making friends and getting settled. but she also says that she still asks to come to my house every morning. which in some ways, makes me feel just a little good inside. just knowing that we were that important to her.

i used the twitterpated collection for this layout. this is why i have loved pebbles pattern paper for years. look at all the fun patterns. this might be a collection geared towards love. but the pattern papers are always so versitile, and can be used for so many different things. hearts, dots, stripes. these are patterns i'll use over and over. for my title, i cut out one of the blocks from the perforated 3x3 sheet (it's a 12x12 sheet, but the blocks are all 3x3). there was a doodley flower in the middle that i didn't care for. so i wrapped some string around the card, adhered some paper flowers and a button with brads in the middle, and pop dotted the entire thing on the page.

supplies:
pattern paper - pebbles
die cut border - doodlebug designs
flowers - pebbles
button - making memories
brads - making memories
other - string

we'll miss you haley

three and a half years, and this baby girl has grown into a spunky little girl. and i've been there through it all.

for three and a half years, we have had the pleasure of enjoying this girl 3 days a week. we all love haley and she is honestly just part of our family now. we think of her as one of our own, and treat her like our own. and she returns the favor, by acting just like one of our own. lol! but now it's time for haley to move on to new adventures. preschool, to be exact. it's been the plan for a while now, so this isn't new info to me. i've had plenty of time to get used to the idea, and to get ready for today. it's her last day with us today. 

and while we're sad to see her go, and we will miss her like crazy. we also know that it's her time to move on, and the change will be so great for her. haley is ready for a new setting, with new friends to be made, and to learn all sorts of new things in preparation for kindergarten. and i'm not worried about not seeing miss haley again, because i know she'll be around. i already have a list of the weeks that her preschool is closed, and she will always have a spot here when she needs a place to hang out. i think all of that makes it easier for me to see her move on.

i have a special gift for haley's mom and dad that i want to share, because i really think it was a great idea and i'm so proud of how it came out. but i'm going to share that next week, since i havn't given it to them yet and don't want to spoil the surprise. and i have a few more layouts of haley, but i can't share those yet either. so there's definately more haley to come around this blog ;)

so, haley. from all of us. joe, alyssa, sarah, and myself. from the other kids you see around here. and even from grammy, papa, and jenny. we all love you like crazy. we will miss you like crazy. and we are just so thankful for all that you have brought to our lives. you and your spunky attitude will be missed around this house. so make sure and come back real soon ;)

bugs - a layout

wanted to share another layout that i did over the weekend. another one of miss haley. she appeared on quite a few of my layouts this weekend. i was working on another project (more on that another day), and realized that i hadn't scrapped much of her lately. so i was making up for it with this last batch of layouts :)

a few weeks ago, i saw this pack of felt bug embellishments from sassafrass while out shopping. it caught my eye, and i thought it was the cutest thing. but what would i do with it, was the question. then i thought of haley, and her love of bugs. so i bought the package and put it to the side of my desk to eventually use on a layout. this weekend, i finally got around to working on this. i remembered this photos of haley from over a year, and she happened to be picking a snail off the fence. seemed to fit the theme.  i went with black and white photos, since she was wearing red in the pics.

 

seriously. how cute are they! i stuck a few in the jar, and scattered a few around the rest of the page.

the part about "she has been known to put bugs in her backpack, and bring them to my house in the morning". that is a true story. she once came with a live moth in her backpack. i avoided that backpack all day. wouldn't let her near it, or to open it. she's also brought little bug keepers, with random bugs and insects inside. and i make her keep it outside on the porch, and then take it home when her mom comes to get her. and everyday, when she goes home, she will pick up any bug she sees in my front yard. or she'll start digging around in the dirt of them. it really grosses me out. lol!

 

refreshing H2O - a layout

this weekend, i had a creative marathon. and i loved every minute of it. it's been a long time since i have scrapped just for fun. meaning, no deadline, no assignment, no specific requirements. just scrapping for fun, with whatever i wanted to use. actually, i checked my blog and the last time i had a "just because" layout, was back in the beginning of may. it was time. and for once, i had a free weekend with nothing big going on. so i devoted saturday and sunday to creating. i came out of it with 9 layout (5 of which are totally done, and 4 are almost done), 1 card, and 5 projects (4 of which WERE assignments). here's one of those layouts.

i had the new boardwalk collection from little yellow bicycle sitting out, waiting for me to find the time to create with it. i was digging around for photos, and came across these ones of haley from last summer that were perfect. this collection is definately geared toward the beach and the sand a bit more than regular water play. but there are so many great pieces to choose from, that you can still make a fun water page with it. 

these canvas border stickers are so cool. the large red circle border is the one that started this whole page. i liked that it pulled out haley's red shirt. but i had to use the wave border too. even though there were no waves on the slip-n-slide. it still meant water to me. lol! and how fun is that puffy "photo op" accent sticker. so cute.

i love this sun decorative edged paper. at first, i was going to use yellow cardstock on the top of the layout. but then i saw the sun paper, and it was perfect. i added some fun embossed cardstock sticker clouds at the last minute. i used my making memories slice and the summer design card to cut the word "refreshing" from one of the red pattern papers, and then added some clear stickers to spell "H2O" for the rest of the title.

 

here's a close up shot of the journaling. sort of close up. i should have zoomed in a little more, now that i see this. click on it to read it larger. the journaling strips weren't standing out enough against the pattern paper. so i inked the edges with a red ink pad.

supplies:
LYB boardwalk - double sided paper, twister
LYB boardwalk - decorative edged paper
LYB boardwalk - canvas stickers, borders
LYB boardwalk - embossed cardstock stickers
LYB boardwalk - clear stickers with foil accents, words
MM slice - summer design card

cherish the little things - a layout

i have a layout share today, from a recent issue of creating keepsakes magazine.

as seen in the May/June 2010 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

the journaling reads: "these photos capture the stuff i love the most. the everyday moments, where the girls and their friends are doing normal girl things. hanging out around the house. playing and singing and dancing. being silly and laughing about everything. they have this easy way of turning ordinary days, into wonderfully fun days. i love that they don't always have to go places or do fancy things. they are at their happiest just doing everyday things and just being together."

we've had a lot of those ordinary days around here lately. being that i work at home, with the daycare kids, we don't have a lot of freedom to come and go whenever we'd like. and it limits the things that we can do with the girls, when they're not in school. it can be hard sometimes, and they definately get bored a lot. especially now that they're a bit older. but they are also pretty good about being content at home. they've always had great imaginations, and it's always amazing at what they come up with to pass the time and enjoy the days. since we're not able to always go places and do things, i like that they don't need to always go places and do things. kwim?

this layout was featured in the "CK shows you how: to use rub-ons" column. my assignment was to show a technique for embellishing rub-ons. i choose to use these creative imaginations flower rub-ons. i have had them forever, and had always loved the ones with the letters all inside the flower design. i started by rubbing the flower onto white cardstock, and then cutting the flower out. i outlined the flower with pink puffy paint, and then covered the entire flower in diamond glaze. it dries clear, and gives off an epoxy look. then i added a button, with mini brads to the center of the flower.

i also added some diamond glaze to my title. it's a rub-on title, from carolee's creations. another oldie, but goodie. i rubbed it directly onto my layout, and then added the glaze. it adds a nice, subtle touch.

eta: dawn emailed me a great question about this layout, and i wanted to share it here. "i would never know what colors to pick, because all the kids are wearing different colors. so how did you pick the colors and what else to put on it, like the flower? i would have never thought to put a flower on there."

here's my secret, for what it's worth. my assignment was to embellish rub-ons. so i started with just finding a rub-on that i could embellish ... and i came across these flowers and thought they'd be fun to work with. then i was trying to find a rub-on title, and found this long one (it's all one rub-on). so i just pulled the colors from the title for my pattern papers, since it had so many colors. the photos just sort of happen to work with it. i think i had the photos picked out before the papers, from what i remember. if i had scrapped those photos without a specific plan .. i would have choose totally different colors, i'm quite sure of it. but flowers? i think flowers can work on any given layout, about any given subject. even boys ;)

what we do - a layout

so, most of you know that i work at home, doing daycare and taking care of little ones. i also work in my scrapbooking job when i have free moments here and there. it's nice when the two jobs mix, and something cute comes out of it. this is one of those things.

as seen in the march/april 2010 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative craft groups. posted with prior permission from the publisher

i was asked to do a layout about daily routines. i loved the idea, and thought it was the perfect opportunity to document what a normal day is like around this joint. i'm a very easy going kind of daycare provider. i'm not strict, and i don't have a ton of rules. but we do still manage to have a routine of sorts. i thrive on routine, and the kids honestly do better when they know what to expect and what comes next.
 
 

i think 12:00 is my favorite part of the day ;)

 

i thought these little bumble bees were so cute, and adhered them using pop dots for some extra lift off the page. this rub-on was all one piece, but i wanted to spread it out and fit the curve of the pattern paper. so i simply cut the words apart and worked them in between the bumble bees.

this little, simple technique was featured in the magazine. layering letter stickers together, to make them stand out more on the page. i choose the same letter stickers, in two different colors, and offset them just a tad bit for my title.

curious - a layout

i was digging around in my files today, and realized i never shared this layout.

i think the new pitter pattern collection from making memories is adorable. honestly, i wanted to dig around for photos of my girls when they were babies or ittie bitties. and i'm sure i will at some point. but that was back in my film days, so i found it was much quicker and easier to dig out some digital photos of one of the daycare kids. lol! miss miranda was the lucky winner for this layout.

i printed one 4x6 photo, and a few 2x3 photos. i really wanted to use this shaped paper as my background, but also wanted to keep my linear style. i think adding the strip of pattern paper across the bottom of the page really helped ground everything and keep the majority of the layout very clean and linear. to get the sides of that paper strip to fit the curved line of the background paper, i just lightly sketched the curve with a pencil and then cut it out to fit.

this is one of my favorite photos of miranda. just an everyday photo, of her and her stuff. her blanket, her baby, and her sippy cup. standard girlie stuff. i was standing on the table, looking down at her for a photo. gets their attention every time. never mind that it occasionally teaches them some bad habits along the way. lol! she's looking up at me with that "ohhhhh, what are you doing" look.

i added that little birdie epoxy sticker at the last minue, and felt like it needed something. i wanted to give the feel of him flying across the layout, not just stuck there in thin air. so i hand stitched a little trail, using some of the thread in the trims and treats package.

aren't these felt and fabric embellishments the cutest things? they're both stickers, and i added a jewel sticker to the fabric barn. some chipboard letters, a few brads, and a scrap of trim, and i was done. simple and quick.

love you forever - a layout

i know this is getting a little crazy. sharing another digital page. i promised you that i'm not making some big switch to digital. and i'm totally not. these are just pages that i've been making, while sitting upstairs when the girls go to bed. when i'm not around my supplies, and all i have is my laptop and a comfy chair. trust me, i've been making TONS of paper layouts and projects. i just can't share any of them yet. so bare with me on another digital layout ;)

i used a layered template from cathy zielske to create this layout. it was really simple. just pulled up my photos and plopped them in the template. i changed the color of the stitching and the heart, and added my journaling in the journaling layer. and then i added my digital papers to the template as well.

one of my BFF's, lynn, made a comment to me last night that i had to jot down on my blog. she knew i had assignments to work on. and she knew that i was doing anything BUT working on them this weekend. she said, "you give yourself a window of time to work on assignments and you will find a way to close it shut until you have to squeeze through it". i had to laugh, because she knows me all to well. and she did say it out of love and was laughing about it, since we're totally different in this regard. lol! i'm such a last minute person, and a total procrastinator. but i seem to work the best under pressure. it's just what i do. so today, i did lots of other stuff around the house. tomorrow, i will wake up and kick myself for not working on my projects like i should have. but then i'll get them done. "always on time, but never early". that's my motto :)

i visited the digi side of the world

i have always been very quick to say that i am NOT or ever will be a digital scrapbooker. i understand so little of photoshop. just enough to edit my photos and print some photo collages. i ignore any tutorials on digital scrapbooking i see. i admire the layouts, sure. but i don't pay attention to how they're done. i have a stack of digital scrapbooking idea books also. about five or six of them. but i just look at the layouts. i've never read all the great instructions and tips that are written inside. 

that being said, i have managed to start a small collection of digital kits and elements. and i never use them. but this weekend, i got around to doing some browsing on the scrapgirls site. they were super generous in sending the CK dream team some gift certificates, and i figured it was time i use mine. i loaded up on paper kits. since i always start with paper when i scrap. figured i would do the same with digital scrapping, once i got around to trying it. luckily, getting new kits all downloaded and organized on my computer got me inspired to try and use them.

and here is what i came up with. my very first all digital layout. i actually started out with the idea to just do the paper and photos digital. and then print it out, and add real "stuff" to it. like embellishments, ribbons, title letters. since that is something that i don't have much of. i have just a tiny handful of digital embellishments, and am not patient enough to learn how to make my own. but in the end, i just used what i did have and and made it work.

i created my layout in the 8x8 inch size. my photo printer only prints 8.5x11, and that way i could print at home. or i could order them from costco, and pick them up for $1.49 each. then i can mat that 8x8, onto a 9x9 sheet of cardstock. since i do scrap the 9x9 size, and since i always love a good matted look around my layouts. and another thought that just came to mind. this could very easily be reprinted for haley's mom and dad, and they could have their own copy.

i certainly have no plans of becoming a digital scrapper. or switching over to "the other side". lol! but this was fun to play around with. i created this and printed it all within an hour. i didn't make a mess, i didn't have to cut paper, i didn't have to dig out title letters, i didn't have to go upstairs to print my journaling and then cut it into strips, i didn't have to take photos of my layout and then find my card reader to upload them to the computer, i didn't have to crop and resize that photo of my layout to share on my blog. i literally sat in my chair and scrapped, just by clicking some buttons. kind of a nice change of pace. but i'll be back with my paper and real "stuff" today :)

supplies:
birthday wishes solids paper mini, by sarah batdorf (turquoise paper)
young at heart paper biggie, by angie briggs (orange circles paper)
typesets hello ness brushes and stamps, by cathy zielske (title)
artist in me, by karla dudley designs (stitches)

sweet - a layout

i had another layout and card to share from my crate paper samples that i mentioned yesterday. once again, i simply started with about eight 3x3 squares of pattern paper. this time using the paper doll collection. i picked my favorite six of them, and here's what i did.

awwwww, miranda. such a sweetie. and one of my all around favorite, technically awesome shots of all time. and yes, i've scrapped this photo before. no reason i can't use it again. i was actually looking for another photo on my external hard drive, and came across this one. it just called out to me, to be used.

i trimmed down the papers to fit the area i was working with, and then distressed the edges of them and roughed them up. then on three of them, i found coordinating thread and tied it haphazzardly around the paper and tied a bow on the front. then i adhered the thread-wrapped papers with pop dots. i had shown this to a few friends, and one of them asked if i had bought that thread to match. nope, i didn't. i just happen to have a very large jar of random embroidery threads, in just about every color out there. so i can usually find what i need.

for the journaling, i went and searched her mom's blog. this photo was taken when she was about 8 months old (give or take a little). and now, she is almost 3 years old. i found a post sierra had written a few months back, where she talked about what miranda is into these days. so i wrote my journaling from her parents view point, and if they had any idea back then, that she would be who she is today. at some point, i'm sure this layout will end up in mom's hands ;)

and then another twist on the card i posted yesterday. this time using samples from the pink plum collection. 

cars and trucks, a layout

had this layout go up on the jillibean soup blog today, along with a few more from other design team members.

this was using the new kraft new england chowder collection. i love the little cars in this collection, they're so cute. this would be great for a travel layout, but my first thought was boys. so naturally, i figured i'd do a layout about nikolas. the girls seemed to be concerned that there were no actual cars or trucks in the photo. but i assured them it was fine, and that the point of my layout was to remember how much this boy LOVES his cars and trucks.

edited to add: i have to thank cheryl, for giving me the friendly heads-up that my journaling strips on the bottom are out of order. lol! classic. i'm actually surpised that this doesn't happen to me more often. i'll have to fix those. but i will tell you that i'm too lazy to actually retake the photo of the fixed layout. so just imagine it fixed ;)

i used the new white corrugated alphas, and just inked the edges up a little and adhered them with mini pop dots. used some of the new alphabeans letter stickers. as much as i loved the previous font of the stickers and will miss them, i do love this new font too. i punched a few of the car circles from the pattern paper, and pop dotted them onto some journaling sprouts. then added some of the cool bean buttons.

wrong friday, but found some more jillibean peeks

i know i said i had something fun to share today. something that was scrapbook related. turns out that is scheduled for NEXT friday. lol! my bad. it's understandable that i'd get confused, since there is SO much going on right now. and yet it's totally not understandable, since one of my bff's gave me a planner so that i could finally start keeping track of all my going-ons. lol!

my hope is that you'll see this photo. and their super duper cuteness will make you forget all about whatever you're thinking you came here to see. lol! back later with some more Q&A's, that obviously i did not get around to yesterday :)

wait a minute. i just found two new peeks on the jillibean blog for you. i absolutely loved their alphabeans, the letter stickers. and now, they've come out with a new font, new colors, and even added numbers.

and i LOVE the corrugated alphas. they're amazing. well, check out the new colors!

head on over to the jillibean soup blog, and leave a comment for your chance to win some for yourself. they'll draw a winner on monday morning. 

nikolas's framed collage

stopping by super quick to share nikolas's finished photo collage. the colors look a little wonky in this shot i took. but i have way too much glaring sunlight to get a decent picture right now. will retake it tomorrow if i have time.

everyone at once. awwwwwww! seriously, how cute are these photos of nikolas? i was digging around for some of my favorites over the last 2 years or so. and they were all so cute. he had such a massive amount of hair when he was little, and it was the cutest thing. i was constantly smiling and laughing as i pulled up these photos :) 

just added a strip of ribbon (making memories), a "N" foam letter sticker (american crafts), and a few cute stickers (imaginisce).

and here's a shot of the photoshopped collage that i had printed. gives a better feel for the colors. i have 3 collages left to frame downstairs. all the rest are done and ready to hand out. i even have one displayed in my kitchen right now, and it looks so cool!

and i always love when to see when other's are inspired to try one of my ideas. a blog reader shared her take on the photo collage idea, and i it made me smile to see it. check it out HERE. and let me know if you give it a try too :)

the finished collage

yesterday i showed you the basic sketch i was using for my framed photo collages, and today i'm sharing one of the finished ones with you. and i'm sort of crossing my fingers that haley's mom doesn't see this on my blog. i know she reads it, but i'm not sure how often. it's all for the sake of the blog readers ;) lol!

 

i love how this turned out (click on it to see it a little bigger). i went through all the photos i've taken of haley over the last 3 years, and choose some of my favorites. i love that it shows her over the years, starting when she was just about 3 months old. shows how much she's changed, and yet how much she's stayed the same. i'm so grateful that we've been a part of it all :)

now, for how i got this result. 

the first thing i did was create my canvas at 10.5 x 13.5 inches. this is everything that will show in the opening of my frame. and then when i was totally done, i placed this on an 11x14 canvas to have printed. if you're going to try this, make sure and double check your frame opening. just in case it's different then mine. then i simply pulled up 16 of my favorite photos. a few of these were horizontal, but i was able to crop what i wanted just fine. but most of them were vertical shots. i cropped each one to 2.1 x 2.7 inches, and then copy and pasted them onto my blank canvas. i used the "move" tool to move them around, into a pattern i liked. those four extra spots are going to be for pattern paper, but could easily be filled with more photos. or you could add in some vertical photos that are 4.2 x 2.7 inches (taking up two spots). HERE is a post i did about making photo collages in photoshop.

i knew i wanted to do the photos in black and white. i love color photos, and i'm totally ok with all the color going on in the above collage. but i wanted to keep this simple and clean, since it's going to be hanging on a wall. i could have changed each photo to black and white individually, but i'm all about taking short cuts when i can. i've learned that i can arrange all the photos, flatten the layers, and then turn the entire collage to black and white in one step. genious, i know! i use an action in photoshop cs2 that i got ages ago for all my black and white photos. so i really can't explain how to do that. i simply press my one action button and it's magically done for me. sorry, that was sort of like sticking my tonque out at you, wasn't it? lol!

this shows the digital papers and brush that i added. the black line around the edge is just there to make it stand out on the blog, so that doesn't actually print on the actual photo. keep in mind, i'm not a digital scrapper. so this is super basic. and i'm ok with that. the papers are from jen allyson (who is the digital spotlight artist right now and her stuff is 25% off), the digikit - urban chic boutique solid papers. i'm not very knowledgable about digital products or digital scrapbooking. i think i just happen to see this paper kit on a 2peas newsletter or something. it caught my eye, so i got it. the "looking through the lens" is from the photography hand drawn brushes from ali edwards.

that is the final collage. i flattened all my layers and saved it. then i copied and pasted it onto an 11x14 canvas, placing it right in the middle. i uploaded that to costco to order, and picked it up an hour later.

then i took that printed collage, and added a few real life embellishments to it.

a few flowers (making memories and hero arts). a few rhinestones and pearl accents (michaels, and hero arts). a foam letter sticker (american crafts). a sticker (making memories). some ribbon (adornit). wasn't thought out, but just whatever caught my eye first.

and now that i've made this one for haley, i better get to work on one for nikolas ;)

photo collage sketch

i've mentioned to a few friends, that i was planning on making some framed photo collages this year, for christmas gifts. i have one all put together and finished for some of my family. but i don't want to share that one just yet. don't want to ruin the surprise. i created a new one today, that i can share. first though, i want to show you the basic plan.

here's the sketch that i came up with for this project. this is an 11x14 framed project. i thought 8x10 was just too small for this. and i wanted to fit a lot of photos. 11x14 was the next choice, and you can get frames that size fairly cheap (about $10-12 on sale at michaels). i came up with the 4 rows, of 5 photos each. but then decided to take out 3-4 spots to add some pattern paper and embellishing. so i have 16-17 photos, depending on who i'm doing this for. but it could easily hold 20 photos. or more, if you wanted.

now the actual collage is 10.5 x 13.5 inches. when i took out my 11x14 frames, i realized that the opening for the actual photo is 10.5 x 13.5 inches. it cuts off a little on each side, to hold the photo in the frame. so i created the collage as 10.5 x 13.5, and once i was done, i simply copied and pasted that onto an 11x14 canvas. seemed like the easiest way to do it for me. i did the math, and came up with 2.1 x 2.7 inches for each photo. i wanted enough room at the bottom to add a title of some sort.

the spots on the sketch that have a flower? that's a spot for embellishing. i always put a flower when i sketch things. just my symbol for "embellishment". lol! but it could be anything. you could do this digitally. just like adding a digital pattern paper. or print the photo collage, and then add "real" pattern paper and embellishments on top of the collage. like hybrid scrapbooking. i used both real stuff and digital stuff, depending on the collage.

here are some of my frames all waiting to be filled up. i'm going with oak frames, black frames, and white frames. i choose each, based around how that person decorates their home and what i think they'd like. i'm having my new collage printed, and will pick it up later tonight. so i'll show you the finished collage and the finished framed project tomorrow :)  

just chillin giveaway

making memories is such an awesome manufacturer to work for. and i think it's so cool that three of their designers were chosen for the 2010 creating keepsakes dream team (maggie, wendy, and i). i'm so excited that we all get to experience these two great adventures together. making memories is generously donating each of our favorite collections to give away to one of our lucky blog readers. of course i had to pick the just chillin collection for my favorite. and i figured this layout goes perfectly with this giveaway.

copyright creating keepsakes. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

i've been wanting to share this layout for a while. it was featured in the october 2009 issue of creating keepsakes, in the becky higgins sketch column. when i saw her sketch posted, i knew that it would be perfect for this layout idea. the sketch had room for 16 photos. so i was able to include 15 of my most recent daycare kids, along with a photo of myself. although as soon as my girls saw this, they asked "where is so-and-so" for a bunch of the other kids that have been here over the past 8 years. i told them i could only do the kids that were here during my digital years. lol!

now if you saw this layout in the october issue, you might have noticed a different photo of me on there. i did change that out before sending it out (but forgot to take a picture), since this photo of me has been previously used for something in the magazine. i admit, i like this photo better. and i did change it back when i got the layout back. lol! then i found my favorite photos of 15 kids. took me a while to dig around the external hard drive, since these were all taken over the last 4-5 years or so. i've had some cute kids, haven't i ;)

i went with the mix of color photos and black and white photos for one main reason. all the boys photos looked great in color. but i had a little too much color going on. i loved all the colors in the girls photos, and knew that i wanted to use the just chillin girls collection on this. so i made the boys all black and white. i think it actually looks pretty cool. all the photos are 3x4 in size. such a great way to get a ton of photos on there.

so, what do you need to do? just leave me a comment. i know a lot of you already congratulated me on my other post, so don't feel like you have to do it all over again. lol! just a simple comment is all that's required, to get your name in there. then make sure to go over to maggie's blog and wendy's blog, and leave them some congrats too. we're each doing separate drawings for different collections. then monday, we'll randomly pick the winners, who will be announced on the making memories blog :) 

comments now closed. look for the winner to be announced on the making memories blog later this morning.

scrapbook bakery november kit

the scrapbook bakery monthly kit is back this month. heather has put together a super fun kit for november, called best friends forever. in case you missed it, heather has invited 4 designers to be a part of her dream team. so i'll be working with some kits over the next year, along with the talented wendy sue anderson, erin terrell clarkson, and jenn biederman. i was first up this month, and here's what i came up with using the kit.

i paniced a little when i saw all the purple. lol! i have always said that purple is my least favorite color to scrap. i love to wear it, and actually can be seen in it at least 2-3 times a week. just not scrap with it. but these papers are such a gorgeous shade of purple. and paired with the green, i actually really like it! and turns out, i have photos to go with purple. first up, were these photos of alyssa on the first day of school.

 

have you ever noticed that when i work on a monthly kit, i tend to handjournal all my layouts? i noticed that last time i did a kit. because at the time i looked at the previous kits i had done, and those had hand journaling too. so i thought it was funny that i handjournaled on all these layouts too. because, i normally hate my handwriting. just a funny thing that i noticed.

next up was haley. i'm not always one to be super matchy matchy. but i do tend to pick out my paper colors, by first going with whatever the person in my photos are wearing. so these ones of her in a purple shirt immediately came to mind. plus, i just love that main photo of her.

i tore out one of the pages from the notebook to use on here. i always love a fun grid pattern. then i just started adding on the die cuts and stickers in layers. added a few of the gems, and a few dots of the pearl accents here and there. and i was so excited when i saw the "happy" sticker, and tossed in on the layout. thought it was the perfect touch for the photo of haley and her "happy" dog. then i realized that that is "katie" she's holding, and not happy. lol! she carries happy around all day, every day. and it looks nothing like this stuffed doggie. no idea how i could get them confused.
 

the other photos that came to mind were these ones of the girls from the summer, playing with their bratz dolls. these photos printed a little darker than what they should be. but just a fun simple layout to remember something they liked to do.

i wasn't totally sure about adding the liquid pearls to the pattern paper. i wanted too. and it seemed like a fun idea, to just trace some of the circles with it. then i finally just went for it. and then i got crooked on a lot of them. and then i couldn't stop and didn't know how to say "when". but i think it adds a fun touch.

i really thought all the "best friends" stickers were so cute. i thought they would be really fun to use on some cards. these are all 3.5x3.5 inch cards, that i rounded the edges of. nice and small. and perfect for the girls to give to their friends, just for fun. and all it took was a few scrap pieces of the pattern papers, and a few stickers. added a little ribbon, some gems, and some staples. i made all 8 of these in about 15 minutes.

 

i still have plans for the super cute notebook that is in the kit. it would make a great sketch idea book, to jot down layout ides and sketches. the papers are lined on one side, and have the graph design on the other side of the paper. and those glitter letter stickers in the kit are going with it. so i'll share that in a few days. 

the squirt bottle

i have 10 minutes until the big kids get home from school, and the little ones wake up. can i blog in 10 minutes? not sure. found these photos sitting on my computer that i had forgotten about.

haley and alyssa. they adore each other.

 

love the way haley is looking at alyssa in this one. alyssa had just done haley's hair for her. put it up all cute and pretty.

this photo is terrible. but i think it's so cute. anytime we do hair around here, we take out this spray bottle of water. to tame the hairsyles. the little ones just love to get their hands on this spray bottle. they usually just squirt the water into each others mouth. or their own mouth, which can be pretty funny. it's a wonky spray bottle, and usually takes some effort to get it to work. they've also been known to go around and just spray stuff. which i don't like. lol!

my ten minutes is up. i know, i know. that didn't seem like a 10 minute post. but it was. lol! short and sweet.   

they were so cute today

havn't shared anything about the daycare kiddos in a while. might be because i havn't taken any photos of them in a while. my camera has been ignored lately. i don't like that, and decided to brush the dust off it for a few minutes today. because i had to get some photos of these two.

 

as i was pulling up this photo, i realized that i did in fact take ONE photo in the last 6 weeks of haley. and she was wearing the exact same shirt. lol! just a funny sidenote. so haley shows up today with not one, but two tattoos on her arms. she has these from time to time. her and her dad love to put the tattoos on her.

 

you were probably expecting a butterfly or a heart, right? not haley. she goes for the bolder choices. i'm hoping those come off pretty easily. she's in a wedding on saturday. lol!

 

then nikolas showed up. he walked in wearing all these smiley face stickers. he had 5 on his right arm, and one on his forehead. it was so stinkin cute.

 

man, aren't those little hands and arms just calling out to be squeezed? i tell him about 83 times a day how cute he is. at one point, he was hiding behind the rocking chair. i think he was trying to get away from haley or something. then he stayed back there for a while, and was really quiet. he finally came out, and he didn't have any stickers on his arm. i asked him where they were, and he said "on the chair". i forgot all about them.

 

and i'm thinking he forgot about the one on his forehead. lol! i'm not making this part up. he wore that sticker on his forehead for over 2 hours. i was constantly laughing, because it was so funny. he even wore it during snack time. i finally took it off when he laid down for a nap.

 

nikolas also started bringing a backpack with him. i keep all the diapers and stuff here, so he never came with anything. now it's so cute to see him pull out all this stuff that he decided important enough to bring. he's been packing some snacks too. probably after watching big brothers and sister pack their lunches. here he's snacking on pretzels.

 

and here's haley snacking on the pretzel's she kept snagging from nikolas's backpack. she would run over and grab one super quick, watching him the whole time to see if he was watching her. then he would see her, and yell "nooooo, haley". and she would run for her dear life, land in the beanbag, and munch away. of course, the rule is that if you bring something, you have to share. but nikolas doesn't quite get that part yet. i keep telling him that haley always shares. she loves to bring us donuts every once in a while :)

and right before nikolas left today, i was cleaning up toys on the floor. and i spotted 5 smiley stickers all lined up on the back of the rocking chair. i reminded nikolas that he left his stickers there. he disappeared behind that chair for a few minutes. and when he came out, he had all 5 stickers lined back up on his arm. i offered him the one for his forehead back, but he didn't want it. lol!

and just something funny that haley said the other day, and i don't want to forget. i have about a million of these funnies, i really should write more of them down. anyways. i was in the bathroom, going tinkle. and of course, the kids are in there with me. because it would make no sense to let laura do her 10 seconds of business by herself, right? lol! haley asked me if i wanted her to shut the door. i said "nope, it really doesn't even matter at this point". and then she says "do you want me to get you some privacy?". omg, it was hilarious! i love these kids so much :)

some water fun

alyssa and sarah always tell me we have such a boring backyard. no big pool to spend their days in and help keep them cool. but honestly, do you need a pool bigger than this?

 

we have had this pool for about 10 years, and it's still in perfect condition. i've been told they just don't make them like this anymore. and we've been known to fit a LOT of kids in there at once. and the big kids seem to enjoy it just as much as the little kids. when you're really hot, water is water. last week, we had this pool out a few times. alyssa was bummed that she missed the fun though, since she wasn't here those days.

  

there's only about 6-8 inches of water in there. so sarah was determined to find her own way to get more water on herself.

 

my neighbors, zeke and ayana, were over last week. they're all a bunch of bucket-heads ;)

 

my girl. she's like a fish!

 

we also stole the slip-n-slide from grammie to use. it was actually quite useful. all that extra water ended up helping the dead patches of grass that we had. lol!

 

nikolas loved the slip-n-slide. heck, he just loves water!

 

haley loved it too. when i mentioned going outside to play in the water, she said "no". didn't want anything to do with it. she even hates when i "accidentally" spray her with the hose. lol! but after she saw everyone having fun out there, she quietly asked me "do you have a towel for me?". i knew i had her. she wanted in.

 

at that point, the nozzel had broken off the slip-n-slide. but that didn't stop haley. she would just run and plop down in the puddle of water at the end of it. over and over and over. and she had the biggest smile on her face the entire time.

 

ayana doesn't look thrilled in this picture. but she WAS having fun. i promise.

 

yeah, she's brown.

 

since we didn't have any extra shorts for haley, she went in her underwear. but when it was time to dry off and get dressed before mommy came to pick her up, i had to go find some extra undies from sarah's room for her. she kept saying "oh, i get to wear the BIG underwear". lol!

 

and nikolas was so content in that pool. he just sat for the longest time, pouring water from bucket to bucket. at this point, i was sitting over on the patio and was actually taking a picture of sarah going something on the side of the yard. and i hear him say "cheeeeeese". i look over and he's sitting there, with his eyes squeezed shut and giving me that big cheesy smile that he always gives me. it was so funny.

there have been a few slip-n-slide events since then. involving big girls. girls that i'm sure were going to get hurt on my watch, by the way they were hauling tush down that slide. lol! but in the end, everyone survived. although i may NOT, once i see my next water bill ;)

green tangerines kit club

have you heard about the new green tangerines kit club? this is actually a LSS that is about an hour or so from me, although i have yet to get out that way to check them out. they recently started a new kit club, and have been having a huge blog party for the past two months. they asked me to be one of their guest designers for the party, and of course i said "yes". i'm all for a good kit club. and trust me, this one is good! there was so much product in there, and all fabulous stuff that coordinated so nicely together. for anyone that is interested, all these projects were made using the january kit and it is still available for purchase.

 

this monster paper was so adorable. and i was planning on using it for a layout about nikolas. but i also had this photo of sarah and alyssa laying around that i wanted to use with the kit. it was just screaming to be used with this paper. the colors were all perfect. the girls were obviously very bothered that i would imply that they were monsters. lol! but i told them that i would make it cute, and i think i did. and i had to add some googley eyes to the paper too. if you can't read it, the journaling says "they spend half of their time fighting and being monsters to each other. and half of their time being friends and loving each other".

 

i have two favorite parts of this kit. the first was the october afternoon papers. because i've seen a lot of great things with them, but have never actually had any of their papers to play with. lol! and the second favorite part was the thickers. i love me some thickers. and this kit had 2 sets. i can't believe the mileage i got out of the packs, and i still have a TON left. i wanted the raw chipboard ones to be colored for this layout, and i was going to paint them. then it dawned on me that i could color them using my ink pads. i'm sure this is a fairly old technique. but it was the first time i've tried it. i just stuck the back of the thicker letter to my finger and pushed it down on the ink pad a few times. then stuck it right on the layout. super simple.

i wanted to use up a bunch of number chipboard pieces, and came up with this title for a recent photo of nikolas. i never seem to use numbers, and this let me use quite a few. i painted the raw chipboard with orange paint. any idea how hard it was to find an orange that even semi-matched? lol! the black letters are the foam thickers. if you can't read it, the journaling says "yes, there are really 2,749,358 reasons that we love and adore nikolas. we are to lucky to have him in our lives".

 

i've had these photos of the girls (along with amanda and ashlen) for 2 years now. this kit gave me the perfect chance to scrap them. this was from their first day of school in july 2007, when we were year round schooling here.

 

i was totally fine with this layout, and now i'm not sure. it looks sort of blank, like i forgot to add the embellishments. lol! at the same time, i love how simple it looks. i'm still debating. might toss some buttons on there or something. just had this photo of the girls and grammie from bible day camp a few weeks ago, and it matched the papers.

 

and a quick card using some ribbon scraps. i had all these little strips of ribbon left over. i didn't want to throw them away, but i also didn't want them to get lost in some big ribbon jar. so i just adhered strips along this card, and a flower, brad, and rubon sentiment from my own stash.

here's the best part of their blog party. they are giving away over $1000 worth of free scrapbooking products during the event. and you have a chance to get in on that. leave me a comment here on this post, and one lucky winner will get a free kit that contains over $50 worth of scrapbooking greatness! and also make sure and head over to the green tangerines kit club blog and leave them a comment (under the post with my photo), where you'll have a second chance at winning a free kit. comments must be posted by 5:00pm PST on tuesday (tomorrow!) to be eligible to win. and then we'll both be randomly picking a winner shortly after that.

comments now closed. i said 5:00 and it's 5:05. sorry to be so prompt for once, but we're headed out to soccer practice. lol!