... just Laura

Scrapbook & Cards Today: A Peek Into My Work Life

After sharing so many older layouts over the last 3-4 weeks, it's nice to be here sharing a NEW layout with you all. After making the decision at the end of last year to step down from the Scrapbook & Cards Today team, it was so nice to be invited to contribute to the Scrapbook & Cards Today: Fall issue a few months ago.

I was asked to create a layout for the Take A Number feature, which centers around the idea of working numbers into our projects. I was asked to give a few ideas that I might want to try out for my layout, and one of them had to do with breaking down my work day by the numbers. 

When I started thinking about this layout, and how I would break down my work day by the numbers, I had SO many different ideas going on in my head. I knew I had to settle on just a few main numbers, so I decided to focus on the number of hours I work each day, the number of kiddos I have each day, approximately how many meltdowns we experience each day, and approximately how many hugs & kisses I receive each day. 

The numbers that I used for the hours I work each day and the number of kiddos I have each day are accurate and easy to figure out. When it came to the meltdowns and hugs & kisses, it was more of a guesstimate. With a little exaggeration mixed in for humor, of course. 

I was also asked to work a fun technique into the number part of my design. I immediately thought of my embossing folders and using them on chipboard. I used the Silhouette chipboard, and die cut my numbers with my Cameo using the Weathered Door Alpha kit (which also has numbers) from Kerri Bradford. I'm totally drawing a blank on whether I cut two or three of each number to layer together. I know I definitely layered at least two together, to make them thicker.

From there, my original plan was to paint the numbers, with coordinating paint colors, and then run them thru the embossing folders. I had paint colors that matched my papers perfectly. They were crazy old Making Memories paints, and sadly, three of the four colors ended up being totally dried up to the point I couldn't make them work (I have been known to use halfway dried up paint and love the texture it gives). 

So instead, I die cut the numbers once again, from coordinating patterned papers, to layer on top of the chipboard numbers. From there, I ran each thru the embossing folder, and then lightly rubbed some sand paper over the embossed areas. 

I arranged the numbers on three inch squares down the left side of the page. I also used my Cameo, and a cutting file from Kerri Bradford again, to cut some little 3" wide background pieces (I think they were 3x4 to be exact, and then I trimmed off the excess) from white cardstock and then layered those over the bottom cardstock squares. I machine stitched around the edges of each square, before adhering to the page. 

I also cut some little tabs (using another cut file from Kerri) to go alongside each numbered square. I wanted to add what each number was for, and this seemed like the best way to do that. I used my older stash of Lily Bee tiny alpha stickers to add what each number represented. And I totally lucked out in having enough letters, in black, to do all of them.

For my title, I combined a few brush script word cut files from Kerri Bradford, along with some alpha stickers from Jillibean Soup. As for my patterned papers for this layout, I used lots of Pink Paislee, a little My Mind's Eye, and some old Studio Calico for the title. 

I kept my embellishments simple, and stuck to buttons, one of my all time favorite types of embellishments. I went digging around for buttons to match my patterned papers, and even though I only needed three colors, I ended up pulling buttons from Basic Grey, My Favorite Things, and Fancy Pants to get the ones I liked. 

For my photos, I pulled up a few photos that I thought gave a good little glimpse into my work day. I used a template for Kerri Bradford to create my photo collage, and changed all of the photos to black and white, since I had way too many clashing colors going on. 

I made sure to include more details about each number represented on my page in my journaling. My work days can be crazy and insane, and I may lose my ever-lovin mind more than I care to admit. But my days can also be filled with laughter and smiles, along with more hugs and kisses than I probably deserve. I love my little people, my squad if you will, and I never take for granted the role I am lucky to play in their little lives. 

Scrapbook & Cards Today: Chalk Fun In The Summertime

Hey again! As I was digging around for never before shared projects, I came across this layout I created for the Scrapbook & Cards Today: Summer 2015 issue, and apparently never shared with anyone. And yes, that is indeed an 8.5x11" layout. I'm pretty sure that I can count on one hand how many layouts I've made in that size. And truth be told, I've only made them when I'm told I have to make them. 

This layout was created for the 3 Designer Challenge feature, where three designers receive the same exact products and then create our layouts with those same products. For this particular issue, we were sent some Pink Paislee patterned paper, cardstock (I want to say Stampin' Up), a package of chipboard elements (I think from Carta Bella), white alpha stickers, some decorative fringe from Jillibean Soup, and an embossing folder. 

The title piece was actually the first thing I worked on, after printing my photos. I knew I wanted to use the embossing folder on some of the cardstock, and then add the alpha stickers to it to house my title. And I knew I needed that piece finished, in order to figure out the rest of the page. 

This fun tissue paper fringe from Jillibean Soup is super fun! I received four different colors, and it took me for days to figure out which color I wanted to use. From what I remember, I was more limited on the patterned paper choices that I wanted to use, so the orange patterned paper was my main choice to add along the bottom and top edges. Some of the other fringe colors just didn't seem to work as well, so I ended up going with the red. 

I'm really trying to remember the patterned papers I was sent for this. I seem to remember that a lot of them had busier patterns, and I just didn't find many that fit what I was trying to do. The white patterned paper, with little, tiny, colorful diamonds on it was a natural choice for the background. And then one of the patterned papers had lots of cute circles on it, and I punched out several of those to use on the page to add more color. 

You can check out the other two designers takes on this challenge RIGHT HERE.

Scrapbook & Cards Today: Merry Christmas 2014

I thought today would be a good day to share my layout from the Winter issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today (I'll tell you why it's a good day at the end of the post). I shared a layout back in December, where I mentioned that I had used Echo Park's The Story of Christmas collection for an assignment, and I then used my leftovers for a second layout. This is the assignment/layout I was referring too. 

When I received the assignment in my inbox, I remember making a comment about how they either knew that I disliked scrapping Christmas and wanted to challenge me - or they had seen that I was challenging myself to scrap all of our Christmases and wanted to help me knock another one off my list. Lol. I would normally create just a two page spread about the holiday and include our photos on that spread. But for this assignment, I decided it was just easier to scrap our family photos we took that day. These photos were from 2014, which is actually a Christmas I haven't scrapped yet. 

This collection was perfect for me, as the colors worked perfectly with our Christmas photos. These colors would actually go well with so many years of Christmas photos. And while I'm not necessarily a huge fan of off-white, cream, or anything beige, it just worked better with these patterned papers than the normal white cardstock I would turn too. I had a strip of this embossed, dotted cardstock from Core'dinations that was just the right size for what I needed. 

I printed two photos, one at 3x4" and one at 4x6", and then added a 3x4" card from the collection in between the photos. And since things in my little world don't usually like to go as planned, my photos actually printed a tad bit smaller than what they should have (even after picking "borderless printing"), so I had a little gap in between the photos and the "december 25" card. I simple took a sheet of coordinating patterned paper, used my scalloped border punch on a few strips, and adhered those to cover the gap. Problem solved. 

I always lean towards the simpler patterned papers in collections, and picked out a few polka dotted patterns, some tone-on-tone patterns, and the woodgrain and poinsettia pattern since I wanted more of the dark browns on the page. 

For part of my assignment, I was also asked to incorporate some shadowed title work. Totally not a problem for me, as I love to use a shadow effect on my die cut titles. I used a cut file from Kerri Bradford for my title, and I was able to cut both layers for my title from three 6x6" papers from the paper pad in the collection. I love using those smaller pads of paper, as the patterns are scaled smaller and good for die cutting and also cards. 

So, back to why I thought it was a good time to share this layout. Technically, it's one of the last layouts I created for Scrapbook & Cards Today, as a part of their design team (I think my last one was really the 2016 planner layout). They just announced the 2016 team yesterday, which you can see HERE. After three years of being on that design team announcement image, it was a little sad not to be a part of it this time around. But that decision was all me. 

After much consideration, and going back and forth with myself over it (and maybe a friend or two as well), I made the hard decision to step down from the S&CT team at the end of December. I have LOVED being a part of such a talented and amazing group of designers, and I just can't say enough kind things about Catherine, the editors, and everyone else behind the scenes. I spent three years on the Creating Keepsakes Dream Team, and then went straight into three wonderful years on the S&CT design team, and loved every year along the way. 

But, with that being said, I just felt like it was time to step down - and in a sense, step away from the magazine side of things a bit. Part of it is a time thing. I don't have as much time for creating as I used to have, and for the last year I've spent a huge majority of my weekends feeling like I was cranking out assignments and meeting deadlines. Something had to give and this made the most sense. Which leads me to the other part, which is with my girls getting so much older, I feel like it's getting harder for me to work with a lot of assignments. I've found myself creating more layouts that aren't genuine, as I'm re-scrapping photos/stories I've already scrapped just to fit an assignment, or borrowing photos from friends because I just don't have the photos I need. I've chatted a bit about this stuff before, so it's not a new realization. It was just time to make a change that would help with both of those things - time limitations and re-focusing the time that I DO have into layouts that truly mean something to me and my family. 

I am still one of S&CT's biggest fans, and am excited to watch what their team does this year. They really do put out an amazing publication, as I'm sure so many of you would agree. And if you haven't been checking them out, I hope you do! 

Scrapbook & Cards Today: Winter Issue Now Available

Just popping in to let you know that today is the day that the Winter issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today is available to view and/or download, completely FREE, online. You can also get print issues with a subscription (HERE), for just the price of shipping and handling. If you've never had a chance to hold this magazine in your little hands, you're missing out. I love the online version, and it's awesome that it's completely free to view. But there's nothing better to me than having a magazine in my hands, to flip thru over and over. It's such a high quality publication, with nice thick pages. Either way, check it out!

Scrapbook & Cards Today: Under The Tree Are Presents For Me

I have a new layout up on the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog today. I do four blog posts a year over there, and when it came time to start thinking about what I was going to create for this post, I started thinking back to the last post I did for the 2014 year, which was in November 2014 (found HERE). I realized that I had shared the new approach I had decided to take to tackling the years of Christmas photos that I had never gotten around to documenting. I had shared my first two layouts (both two pagers) from this project on that post, and I figured with this post being my last post on the S&CT blog for 2015, it would be the perfect time to share another layout from this same undertaking.

Just a quick refresher on this project and my plans for it (you can read more about it in full HERE). My goal when it comes to scrapping holidays and events is to get the entire celebration on the page. I am not one to do a large number of layouts every Christmas, with a single photo, or maybe two or three photos on a page. If I'm going to take the time to scrap Christmas, I'm going to use ALL the photos at once, and "get it done". That just sort of goes in line with my style and how I like to scrap. I had a plan to get all of these photos, from 6 different years, scrapped quickly and without much fuss. And that plan heavily revolved around photo collages. It's the best way to get LOTS of photos on your pages, in a neat and organized way. I like clean looking pages, and photo collages are great for just that.

For this layout, documenting Christmas morning with my girls back in 2008, I had created a large photo collage for one side of the page, and I had two main photos that I printed as 4x6” prints. I’m a firm believer in turning to the colors in your photos when it comes to picking out your patterned papers and embellishments. I’ve been holding onto this older Jolly Good Christmas collection from Chickaniddy Crafts that went really well with these photos. I don’t see pink or even the lighter green pop up in our Christmas photos anymore, so I wanted to make sure and use this collection once I realized how well it matched with these older photos.

Since I fit the majority of our photos into the photo collage for the second page, I choose two main photos to include on the first page. Since they were both 4x6”, I adhered them side by side across the page, which gave me plenty of room above and below to play. Actually, they weren't a true 4x6", since there's a gap in between the photos. Lol. I find it so annoying when things aren't the exact size they should be.

The white and grey circle patterned paper was perfect for the background of this page, as it was subtle enough to let all the other elements stand out against it. This entire layout is pretty much all patterned paper and photos, with a touch of cardstock in my title. I even cut the “Ho!Ho!Ho!” and “The Magic of Christmas” strips from a sheet of patterned paper.

My title is straight from the Silhouette store, and I cut it using both patterned paper and solid cardstock. I love titles that include both a cursive font and a clean font with straight lines, and this title had both.

When it comes to photo collage templates, I think you all know that my go-to templates are from Kerri Bradford Studio, as she has such a wide variety to choose from. I print a lot of my smaller photo collages at home, but anything larger than 8.5x11” I send to Costco for printing, which is super convenient for me as it’s only two miles from my house. And yes, that's a super unflattering photo of me on there. But it's not often I'm even in photos, so I had to include it to show I was there ;)

The only real embellishments that I included on this layout were some enamel dots that I added to some of the flowers on the floral patterned paper. I even fussy cut some of these adorable pink and red flowers to add to the first page of the spread. It’s such a quick way to bring in a touch of that floral patterned paper to the opposite page, without adding a large piece of it.

I'm pretty sure I've said this in every post related to this "tackling Christmases past" project, but it’s worth repeating. I figure if using the same basic design, some of the same elements, and even the same photo templates helps me tackle something that I’ve been avoiding, then it’s all good. I would rather create quick and easy pages and “get it done” … then to keep pushing these photos and memories aside, all because they’re subjects or themes that I either don’t enjoy doing, or am too overwhelmed to dig into!

I have two more Christmas layouts to share during the next week, which will bring this project to an end. Sort of. Once I share the last layout, I'll be doing a post to share the progress I made, some final thoughts on how I went about this, and what comes next related to this same project.

 

Scrapbook & Cards Today: Grateful For Home Mini Album

Hey everyone! I'm back with a mini album share. Yes, you read that right. A mini album. I honestly can't even remember the last time I created a mini album. It's been years and years, other than a few 6x8 albums that I have started, in varying stages. So when I got my assignment for the Fall issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today, and saw the words "mini album" and "shaped album", I was scared.

Luckily, I was able to pick the shaped album that I wanted to use from Maya Road. Since they were looking for albums with a theme of gratefulness, I chose this house shaped mini album, with the plan to create an album about being grateful for my home.

I was also sent some patterned papers and stickers from Close To My Heart to work with. These tone-on-tone patterns fit my style perfectly, and I thought the colors worked really well for fall. For my completed album, I used just one of the silver rings to hold the pages together. I wasn't able to work in both rings, since my photos ended up being in the way. So I simply punched holes up near the roof, and added the ring there.

I am grateful for my home. After all, it's where I spend the majority of my time. I decided to focus on four of the main things I do in my home, since I had room for 4 spreads.

The shaped mini album consisted of raw chipboard pages. I started out by tracing the album shape onto several of the patterned papers that I wanted to include, and then traced it onto textured white cardstock as well. And then obviously, I cut them all out ;) I ended up needing 5 patterned paper "houses" and 5 white cardstock "houses".

I then spritzed all of the patterned paper "houses" with white misting spray, and all of the white cardstock "houses" with tan misting spray.

I decided I wanted to emboss the white cardstock "houses" for extra texture, using several different embossing folders. The paper was too big to fit into the folders, but since I knew that I was going to add photos to the white cardstock "houses", I simply embossed the top and bottom separately. There was a small gap, without the embossing, that was later covered by the photos.

After embossing the white cardstock "houses" and letting the mist dry on all pieces, I took them to my sewing machine and machine stitched around the edges of each "house". I thought about just using regular adhesive to adhere the papers to the chipboard album pages. But in the end, I decided to use Mod Podge instead, as I wanted to be sure everything was really secure and in place.

For my photos, I went with either two or four photos for each section. I printed them in small collages, sized to fit across the width of the page. I adhered them to the page using glue dots (my photo paper has a textured backside, so regular adhesive doesn't stick) and then added a thin strip of patterned paper above and below the collage.

I kept with the "home" theme, I added the "home is where I _____" to each spread, filling in what I was focusing on for that page. I went with chipboard alphas from Bella Blvd in white text, since I had plenty of them to complete all of my words (home, love, work, make, relax), and also because they fit perfectly across the width of the page.

I then die cut the word "home" several times, along with the word "grateful" for the cover (and both from Kerri Bradford), from brown cardstock. I used some tiny alpha stickers from Lily Bee to add the "is where i" to each page.

And last, but not least, I added some stickers from Close To My Heart that coordinated with the paper collection. One of the sticker sheets had these words on it, and I was able to pull out a word that tied in with each of my spreads. Like "hooray" for relaxing, "create" for making, "wonder" for working (kids have lots of wonderment about them!), and "laugh" for loving. Then I finished each spread off with a few label stickers, hearts, starts, geotags, etc, and a few coordinating enamels.

There were 4 additional mini albums featured in the article, and you can download the Make It Mini PDF file to see all 5 albums RIGHT HERE.

Scrapbook & Cards Today: Lakeside Water Fishies

I somehow never got around to sharing this layout that I created for the Summer issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today. One of my assignments for that issue was to create a two page, summer themed layout. Easy enough. 

I knew that I wanted to incorporate the Campout collection from Bella Blvd, so I went with these photos taken years ago on a family trip to my uncle's cabin up by the river. I have scrapped them before, but not on any particular layout that I loved. So I didn't mind scrapping them again.

I believe my original plan was to arrange the 3x4" photos, along with some 3x4" pieces of patterned paper along the outside edges of the page, leaving the center part open for my title and journaling. I'm glad I changed my mind along the way, going with this design instead.

I love mixing fonts for my titles, so I went with a die cut word using my Cameo, and some chipboard alphas and letter stickers. I mentioned that my uncle cabin is on a river, right? Well, this title might lead you to believe that we were on a lake. We weren't. But the sticker I used on the second page refers to a lake, and I just figured it was easier to go with the river for my title, since I was set on using that sticker.

For the longest time, I've been printing my journaling in strips. Which I still love. But I'm finding myself printing it in smaller blocks more and more lately. I matted my journaling blocks on a tone-on-tone orange patterned paper to add more color to the page.

I wanted to keep the background of the page simple, so that my photos would stand out, but I still wanted something of interest there. So I went with my all-time favorite circle background die cut from Kerri Bradford, using a summer themed text patterned paper from a super old Bella Blvd collection. I spritzed them both with brown misting spray before adhering them to my white cardstock pages. 

I had to use the little chipboard fishies from the Campout collection. Luckily, I had several packs of the chipboard, since each one only had two fishies. I added some navy blue enamel dots for the bubbles.

When the majority of my background is white, I like to add thin pattered paper strips along the top and bottom of the page. If I'm doing a single page layout, I will often add a scalloped border sticker along with a strip of patterned paper. But when doing two page layouts, I usually pull out the scalloped border punches, and just use a second patterned paper.

If you never got a chance to check out the Summer issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today, you're not too late. You can find all of the previous issues on their website, for viewing and/or downloading.

Scrapbook & Cards Today: Then & Now

Hey everyone! I had a new layout go up on the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog earlier this week. A few weeks back my sister came out from Denver for a surprise visit home. She doesn’t make it home that often, so whenever she does come out, we try and make a point to take new family photos. And this time, we were smart enough to get a few photos of just our little family. It seems like the only time we get a photo of the four of us together is at Christmas.

The last time we had a nice family photo taken (not including Christmas!) was back in 2009. That’s six years, which is a little crazy. I thought it would be fun to include photos from the two separate years, 2009 and 2015, onto one layout. Showing us then, and now.

  

Our photos were pretty similar in look and colors. This really helped when making my paper choices. If the colors had been totally different, I would have most likely printed my photos in black and white. I printed a family photo and a photo of just the girls from each year, all 3”x 4” in size. I knew that my plan was to split the page in half, so putting the two photos for each year together would make them 6” across (half the page).

This layout is pretty much made up of paper, paper, and more paper! I dug into some new Amy Tangerine patterned papers, from her Finder's Keepers collection (one might be from another collection come to think of it), that I had just bought, and found a few patterns that I thought went great with my photos. By cutting small strips of each pattern, and also using one for my die cut title, I was able to work 5 different patterned papers onto the page.

For my title, "Then & Now" (but without the & because I just forgot), I used the Weathered Door Alpha kit from Kerri Bradford Studio. I cut the main letters from the blue dotted patterned paper and the outline of the letters from a dark brown cardstock.

I had already put my Silhouette Cameo away (it resides on the floor when I'm not using it) when I decided that I wanted to include a few die cut strips to mix up all of the solid blocks of patterned paper. I remembered a Die-namics die cut I had from My Favorite Things, and the 6" circle border die was perfect for what I needed. 

For my journaling, I typed up just a few facts about our family for each year. I could have said so much more, but I wanted to keep it fairly short and sweet to fit the space I had to work with. Journaling is almost always the last thing I add to my layouts, so whatever space is left usually dictates how much I can say ;)

Scrapbook & Cards Today: They Humor Me

Sooooo. Back in May, when National Scrapbook Day rolled around, I was searching for the layout I had created for NSD in 2014, and was baffled when I couldn't find it on my blog. I mean, it was definitely up on the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog (HERE) that year.

But I searched my blog high and low one day, and couldn't find it anywhere. It makes no sense that I never shared it, but maybe I really did overlook it. Or maybe I did share it and then the post vanished. Stranger things have happened. Anyways. I thought since I don't have anything else new to share right now, I would share it again. Or for the first time. Who knows at this point ;)

I go back and forth between two different styles when it comes to creating my layouts. Sometimes I’m all about the layers and texture and sometimes I work in a technique or two. I almost always add machine stitching and I love die cutting. I also love mixing and matching between manufactures and using a fun variety of products!

However, sometimes I'm looking to create simple and quick layouts, without all the fuss. Of course, I also still want them to look amazing and have plenty of interest. Luckily, there are so many products on the market that make "simple and quick" look "amazing and interesting". I created this two page layout with 10 photos, 6 3x4” cards, 6 thin strips of patterned paper, a few stickers, some alphas (chipboard and stickers), a few paper flowers, and a handful of buttons. And it really didn’t take me any time at all.

With the hugely popular Project Life elements showing up in so many manufacturer’s collections, it’s easy to find a wide variety of 3x4” and 4x6” cards to coordinate with your photos. I am not a Project Lifer (is that a term?), but I have a huge collection of Project Life cards and elements. They are easy for working into my everyday layouts and cards.

The 3x4” cards that were used on this spread came from a single sheet of 12x12” patterned paper, so I did have to trim them before using. I love that it gives the illusion that I dug into so many different patterned papers to create all of these different cards, when in fact, they all came from one sheet of paper.

I truly LOVE my die cut machine and my sewing machine, and I rarely make a project without using one, if not both, of them. However, with the way my scrap space is set up, I don’t have easy access to either one. If I want to die cut a title or shape, or if I want to machine stitch on my project, it involves clearing off enough room on my desk to put those machines. When I set out to do super quick projects, I forgo my die cut machine and head straight to my large collection of alpha stickers and chipboard for my titles and I skip the sewing machine all together.

By printing my photos 3x4”, the same size as my cards, I was able to create a collage of photos and paper across the two page spread. By lining everything up, and keeping things very clean and linear, I was able to get the “bones” of the page (cardstock, patterned paper and photos) put together very quickly.  

I added some simple embellishments to some of the 3x4” cards. By sticking to a few of my go-to embellishments … buttons, flowers, and stickers … I saved time by not having to dig through all of my supplies looking for little bits of things to add to the pages.

Remember, creating eye-catching layouts doesn’t mean you have to spend hours on every page, or put $20 worth of product onto your pages. A little really can go a long way!

Scrapbook & Cards Today: Pack Your Bags & Fly Away

I've been meaning to share this layout for about two months, and with nothing else new to share, I figure this is a good time to share it. I created this layout for the Spring issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today, which if you haven't seen it yet, you can download/view it RIGHT HERE.

This layout was included in an article called Back to Basics, all about using some of your basic supplies in a new way. I was asked to focus on chipboard, and received a few packs of new chipboard elements from Pink Paislee, from both the Citrus Bliss collection and the Atlas collection.

After pondering the two packs of chipboard for WAY longer than needed, I decided to go with a travel themed layout, as many of the pieces I thought would work well together for the assignment were geared more towards travel.

If I'm being totally honest, I've already created a layout with many of these same photos and the same journaling. And even the same title. You can see it HERE. But I don't travel enough to have completely different photos, a different story, and the title? Well, I just really liked the title the first time I used it, and it fit the story of my page.

Because this was the spring issue, I wanted to keep the colors lighter and even a big spring-ish. Luckily, all of the chipboard pieces I wanted to use fit with that idea. I dug through my patterned paper stash and found quite a few papers from Dear Lizzy and Amy Tangerine that worked great with the chipboard.

I used several of the chipboard frames to create a border across the bottom of the page. I spent more time than I care to admit coming up with the perfect arrangement. I backed each frame with pieces of patterned paper and used the frames to hold extra chipboard elements and my journaling.

And a little behind the scenes tidbit about this layout. I'm pretty sure I printed my photo collage at least six times for this layout. I had way more photos on there the first time, but they really weren't standing out enough. So then I changed to a different collage and narrowed down my photos.

Then I was asked to add in a people photo, since there were too many photos of the same thing. Luckily, I did have a photo of Diane and myself, when she was on my Bella Blvd DT and came to visit me at one of the CKU's. Then I was asked to make a few of the photos color, since I had them all black and white. And last but not least (or maybe I should say first), the first 2 times I printed this collage, the coloring was all wonky from not using my photo printer in a while. It's a good thing I'm stocked up on photo paper!

Scrapbook & Cards Today: Perfect Selfie

I have a new layout up on the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog! The last time I took a turn sharing on "Design Team Wednesday", I shared a layout using photos that the girls had taken of themselves. That layout can be seen HERE. Well, this time is no different. I'm dealing with sassy teen girls, and the last thing they're up for is mom pointing her camera at them. It's a good thing I can rely on their photos from time to time.

Sarah just turned 16 years old this past weekend. She is truly an expert at taking selfies, and has been for years. I just love this photo that she took of herself while we were driving in the car last month. It's a gorgeous photo of my gorgeous girl. So I asked her to send it to me so I could scrap it. It took a few reminders, but she finally emailed it to me.

I have never been one to work from kits, or subscribe to kits, but I did recently pick up a few kits during a big sale at Studio Calico. It has been sitting on the floor since I got it, and I'm glad I ended up looking through it when I started this layout. I found three patterned papers in there that worked so well with what I had in mind.

The pink dotted pattered paper matched the colors in my photo perfectly. I always love a good brown woodgrain patterned paper, and it went well with the pinks and Sarah's brown hair. And the gold glittered patterned paper added a touch of glam to the page, tying in nicely with the brown woodgrain paper.

I started out with a die cut title, from the gold glittered patterned paper, but it wasn't standing out as much as I would have liked. I also felt like I needed some silver added in, since Sarah's sunglasses had silver rims.

I remembered these silver chipboard alphas that I had bought from the dollar section at Target last year (in full disclosure, I may have bought about 10 packs of them!). I love a good chunky font mixed with a cursive or script font for my titles, so pairing the chipboard alphas with a die cut word ended up working perfectly.

I also die cut a fun circle border from the brown woodgrain patterned paper. It was something I had in my Silhouette library, found in their store. It worked well to cover up the top part of the ruffled paper, since it had an unfinished look to it once I cut it.

One product that immediately came to mind after printing my photo was the ruffled paper from an older Dear Lizzy collection. I have a few sheets of it, and have never gotten around to using it. I always feel oddly accomplished when I finally use a product that I love, but that I've been hoarding for years.

I trimmed off the lighter pink rows of ruffles, which also matched the photo perfectly. I printed my journaling and matted them with the gold glittered patterned paper, to bring in another touch of the gold on the page, and adhered the strips to the page using silver brads.

I know it may appear that my buttons don't actually match each other. I promise you, in real life, they're all the same shade of pink (and a few off white) and match the pinks on the page really well. I also added some tiny silver accent dots around the page, for some subtle touches of silver.

Scrapbook & Cards Today: Adventure On The Green

I had mentioned in my post last Saturday that there was a big National Scrapbook Day celebration going on over at the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog. Did you check out the 12 posts that went up that day? There were tons of giveaways going on, in each of those 12 posts, and there's still time to get in on them, if you haven't already. You have until Saturday, May 9th, to leave a comment for any and all giveaways.

I wanted to share the layout I created for the celebration, which you can also see HERE. I didn’t realize until I was halfway done with this layout that I had created a two page layout, using lots of 3x4” photos and accent cards, for my NSD project last year. It’s how I love to scrap, so I guess it makes sense that you would see this type of design a lot from me.

If I make a two page layout, you can bet there is going to be a TON of photos on it. I love putting the focus on the photos, telling the entire story with those photos, and if I can get these pages done quickly, than that’s just an extra bonus. 

I wanted to scrap these photos of a little golfing adventure we took with the girls several years ago (or 8 years!), and printed out twelve 3x4” photos and one 3x3” photo. I lined up all of my 3x4” photos, along with a few 3x4” project life style cards, along the top and bottom of my two page spread. I’m a huge fan of collages and linear pages, so lining up photos and papers is my favorite way to start my pages. 

Across the center of the two pages, I added in 4” strips of a more neutral patterned paper, knowing that I would want my title to stand out against it. I love good text patterned papers, and this one just happen to have a summer theme to it, which worked perfectly for this page. The patterned papers and cards on this spread are all from Simple Stories.

For about half a minute, I thought about die cutting a golf bag that I found in my Silhouette library. But it involved lots of different pieces, that I would assume look best cut from different colors/papers, and then pieced together. I ended up going with this cute little golf cart (even though we didn't use one that day), since it was simple and all one piece.

I love die cutting my titles, using my Silhouette Cameo, as it allows me the freedom to make my title as big, or as little, as I want. And I also love that it lets me use additional patterned papers, getting more color and patterns onto the page. 

I used a few cut files from Kerri Bradford for my title. I pulled the "adventure" from the Something To Say kit, and "green" from the A Beautiful World kit, and cut them both from patterned papers from Simple Stories. Some older Jillibean Soup alpha stickers helped complete my title.

The majority of the time, I will also die cut my title pieces from either black or brown cardstock, as well as cutting the pieces from my patterned papers. I like to layer the pieces together, slightly offsetting them, so that it adds a little dimension to my title. 

I had two 3x4" spaces left to add my journaling to. I typed it up in two different text boxes, so that I knew it would fit the space, and printed my journaling onto white grid patterned paper. I matted them both on brown cardstock and adhered them in place.

While I do love my embellishments, I often finish layouts and realize that I didn’t even use any actual embellishments on my page. This entire two page layout is made up of photos and patterned paper (and a few alpha stickers), and I love it!

Scrapbook & Cards Today: Hanging Out

Last week was my turn to share over on the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog, and I wanted to share my layout here today as well. Now that both of my girls are older (almost 16 and 18), one of the things that I find myself missing the most is the ability to get photos of them easily. If any of you out there have teenagers that love getting their photos taken, and do so willingly and without bribes, I would love to know your secret!

For the last few years, it's gotten harder and harder for me to get photos of them. Which in turn gives me a lot less photos to work with when it come to scrapping. Which then means I'm scrapping less layouts that I used too, and documenting less about their lives. I do think, that in some ways, it's a natural progression. They're not little kids anymore, doing cute and funny things, without a care in the world if mom snaps photos of them doing whatever it is they're doing. But after all these years of photographing them, and telling their stories, it's hard to have less options as they grow up, right?

While my girls aren't fans of me pointing my camera at them very often these days, I know that they both take tons of photos with their cell phones. I try not to ask very often, as I know they won't want to share all of those photos with me, but every now and then I will ask them to share a few photos with me.

When Alyssa was home from college for Thanksgiving break, the girls snapped off a whole bunch of photos on their phones while waiting to head out for our Thanksgiving dinner. At the time, they shared one single photo with me. And I was forever grateful! I've asked a few times since then, if I could get a few more photos to go with that one lonely photo. And finally, months later, I caught Sarah in a good mood, and she sent me about ten photos, no questions asked!

I printed out every photo, because quite honestly, I was just excited to have new photos of them! I finally decided to include just three of them, even though I wanted to use them all. They might all look slightly the same, and yet they're all different at the same time, showing off their goofy looks and funny personalities.

I kept the design of this page pretty simple, letting the photos take center stage. I went with my go-to, favorite supplies: lots of patterned paper, a large die cut title, machine stitching, and a few simple embellishments. Clean, linear, and simple. 

Scrapbook & Cards Today: Birthday Celebration

I'm not sure if you've heard, but Scrapbook & Cards Today is celebrating their 9th birthday, with a celebration on the blog that's lasting for 9 straight days! Each day they're sharing a project created by one of the team members and hosting a giveaway from their generous advertisers. I must not have been paying attention, as my cards went up on day four (Tuesday).

The one type of card that I always find myself needing more of is birthday cards, which is why I love to mass produce them a few times a year. My Silhouette Cameo comes in super handy for this, as I can cut pieces for numerous cards at once, and then simply piece them together. 

  

Design team member Nicole Nowosad designed a free birthday cut file (containing a handful of different designs), which you can find HERE. We were asked to incorporate one or more of the cut files into a birthday themed project. I picked out a few designs from the cut file and arranged them in my Silhouette software so that I could cut all of the pieces for 6 cards at once.

I picked out a few different patterned papers (one set for girlish cards and one set for boyish cards), and cut strips of each paper to place on my cutting mat: one pattern for the sentiment, one pattern for the scalloped borders, and 3-4 patterns for the little banner flags. So after running my cutting mat thru twice, once with each set of papers, I had everything I needed to make 12 cards, assembly style.

I used white card bases for all of my cards, and also cut a piece of white cardstock for the front of the card, just a little smaller than the size of the card. I ran those thru my Cuttlebug, in a dotted embossing folder. Then I spritzed them with some misting spray - black on the girlish cards and tan on the boyish cards.

I kept these cards very simple and fairly flat, so that they're easy to mail if needed. I trimmed down the scallop borders just a bit, since they were taller than I wanted them, and then added a strip of patterned paper along the top, along with a piece of ribbon. Ribbon? Yeah, something I have TONS of and never seem to use anymore.

I added the "birthday" to my "happy birthday" sentiment using tiny alpha stickers on these two cards. But I will most likely dig up a "birthday" stamp to use on the other cards once I put them together. Just easier than using up all of my alpha stickers.

You'll want to visit the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog and check out all of the other projects that have been shared so far, and get in on the fabulous giveaways. For an opportunity to win each day's prize package, just leave one comment on each day's post before 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 4th. They will be announcing all of the winners on Sunday, April 5th.

Scrapbook & Cards Today: Little Miss Sunshine

As promised, I'm back today to share the layout that I created for a try at the cover of the spring issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today. If you haven't yet checked it out, you can download/view it HERE. The editors ask three designers to each work on a layout option for the cover, so we are each sent the same photo, title, and journaling. From there, it's all up to us where we go from there.

Isn't it the most adorable photo, of the most adorable little girl? That little girl, Emily, belongs to the talented Maggie Holmes, who is an amazing photograph (along with scrapbooker and product designer). I usually let the photos determine my color choices, and that's exactly what I did here. I knew I wanted greens and yellows, and a touch of navy blue to go with Emily's denim jacket. I also wanted to mix in a touch of brown and cream, a I saw more cream in her headband, even though I think it was a very light pink.

I had some small amounts of this cream text patterned paper and the brown woodgrain patterned paper, both from Maggie's Open Book collection, and thought they would make for a good background. I cut a circle background from the text paper using my Cameo and adhered it to white cardstock, before adhering that to the brown woodgrain patterned paper.

I thought this fun "sunshine" title that I found in my Silhouette library was really cute. I cut it from a green grid patterned paper from Simple Stories and also from the brown woodgrain patterned paper, and then layered them together. I used some navy blue alpha stickers from Jillibean Soup to complete my title.

I wanted to incorporate some lemons into the page design, as there were lemons in the background of the photo and lemons were also a part of the journaling. I came across this mason jar, also in my Silhouette library, and thought it was perfect for "holding" some lemons.

I had every intention of die cutting some lemons, but I came across a patterned paper from the Dear Lizzy Serendipity collection that had these cute little lemons and figured I would fussy cut them out to use. I lightly wadded them up, to give them a bit of texture, before adhering them and then added a few yellow enamel dots to each lemon.

Scrapbook & Cards Today: My Story

Hey everyone! Today I thought I would share my layout from the Scrapbook & Cards Today Winter Issue. If you haven't checked out this issue, make sure and take a few minutes to peek inside the pages. It's free to view and/or download, so you can't pass up a deal like that!

I was sent the gorgeous Open Book collection from Maggie Holmes to work with. At first glance, this collection is so different from the products I normally gravitate towards. But right away there were patterned papers that I just loved and couldn't wait to use, and I really ended up loving so much of this collection.

I knew that I wanted to use the dark brown woodgrain patterned paper, and was also drawn to two different yellow patterned papers. The shades of yellow in the collection pair up so nicely with the rich brown. I added a small strip of the brown woodgrain patterned paper at the top of the page, and used my favorite scalloped border punch on the yellow ruled patterned paper to go right below.

That small, thin mint green strip of paper was a very skinny piece that I cut off one of the border papers. It had the darker green on it, which was like a little bonus, since I have the look of two papers, but only used one. I also used my scalloped border punch on some text patterned paper to add above and below the center strip of photos and papers.

I wanted to use quite a few of the patterned papers, and sort of kept THIS layout of my in mind as I worked on this page. I cut random sized pieces of four different patterned papers to spread across the top of the page, distressing the edges and adding machine stitching to each before adhering in place. I also added in some stickers, tags, and even a rub-on to embellish the paper blocks.

I am trying to remember what was under the chipboard flower. I want to say that 3x4" card had a heart on it, but don't quote me on that. I just decided that the chipboard flower fit so nicely there, and it added a lot more dimension, so I used it.

I also picked out the bullseye 3x4" card to include across the center of the page. I added the large fabric floral brad to the center.

I love the large chipboard sheets that are a part of the Crate Paper collections. I really wanted to use the "my story" for my title, but had to add a little subtitle, to make it work with my journaling. The brown alpha stickers are from Jillibean Soup.

I used the "the storyteller" border strip from the borders patterned paper along the bottom of the page, with another scalloped punched border from the brown woodgrain patterned paper. I printed my journaling onto the yellow ruled patterned paper, and adhered it in the bottom corner of the page, embellishing it with a die cut label, a few stickers, and a rub-on.

Scrapbook & Cards Today: 2015 Team

So, last week, in the midst of all the pre-CHA madness, the new S&CT 2015 Team was announced over on the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog. And I am completely honored to be a part of that team, along with so many talented and creative designers! This will be my third year on the S&CT design team, and I couldn't ask for a better magazine, better editors, or better designers to work with.

To get to know more about each of these designers and contributors, click HERE.

Scrapbook & Cards Today: 12 Days Of Holiday Giving

I hope you've been visiting the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog for the last week and a half, to check out their 12 Day of Holiday Giving celebration! Each and every day, for 12 full days, they are sharing holiday project ideas from the design team and hosting some amazing giveaways from their generous sponsors! And TODAY is my turn to share! 

When I sit down to create Christmas cards, I love to come up with designs that are simple, quick, and easy to mass produce. I use this same concept when I create birthday cards, since I use so many of them. I also love to keep my cards fairly flat, so that they don't require any extra postage or special handling when mailing off to family and friends. If I happen to create more elaborate or bulky designs, I save those for the ones that I personally hand out.

These cards took no time at all to put together. I chose a sentiment and a scalloped border to die cut using my Silhouette Cameo, and arranged them on my cutting mat so that I could cut multiple sets at once. I used three different strips of patterned paper on my mat, lining them up so that I cut 2 sets (a sentiment and a border) from each paper. If you were doing a large amount of cards, you could even cut all 6 sets from the same patterned paper, and then repeat for your other paper choices.

I also cut the "merry" part of my sentiment from a black chalkboard patterned paper (arranging as many as needed on my cutting mat), which was layered over the original sentiment cut. Once my pieces were cut, it was just a matter of adhering them to my cards.

I adhered two thin coordinating strips of patterned paper along the bottom of each card base, which I also lightly spritzed with misting spray in coordinating colors. 

I adhered my scalloped border die cuts to each card, matching the color of my border to the color of misting spray on each card base. 

Then I decided which color sentiment I wanted on each card, and adhered those in place. A little machine stitching and I was finished.

I mentioned there is a new giveaway every single day, right? And I said they were amazing giveaways, right? Today, for the day 10 giveaway, there is a generous prize package from both Stampin' Up and Gossamer Blue! Head over HERE to get all the details and leave a comment to be entered in the giveaway.

You have until 6:00pm EST on Sunday, December 21st to enter in all of the giveaways. So if you're just now hearing about Scrapbook & Cards Today's 12 Days of Holiday Giving celebration, you can still go back and check out the first 9 days and get in on those giveaways as well!

Scrapbook & Cards Today: They Are All Mine

I randomly came across this layout in my files and realized that I hadn't shared it yet, so I figured I would toss it up today. I created this for the fall issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today. If you haven't checked out the issue yet, you can view it for free, RIGHT HERE. And just a head's up. The winter issue will be available on December 5th!

I worked on the PageMaps sketch column for my layout. And just in case you saw the issue, and my layout, and thought to yourself "Laura sure doesn't know how to follow a sketch", I just wanted to mention that the wrong sketch got put next to my layout. Lol. This is the sketch that I worked with.

I got to work with the Me-ology collection from Fancy Pants for this assignment. I've always been a huge fan of Fancy Pants, and was excited to work with some of their newer stuff. I choose my patterned papers pretty quickly, as I was drawn to the black, orange, pink, and aqua color combo. I also love the corrugated paper that comes in the kit. Since I love to incorporate a good amount of white in so many of my layouts, I knew the white corrugated paper would work well in place of regular cardstock.

One of the things that I've always loved about Fancy Pants is that their collections have TONS of great embellishments to choose from. I wanted to use one of the fun envelopes, and this orange one was the perfect size to fit into the sketch.

Part of my assignment was creating a visual triangle on my page. The sketch has three clusters of embellishments, and I kept with the circle theme when creating my clusters. I knew I wanted to use the coordinating buttons that came with the collection, but needed them to fill up more space. So I used a few circle punches on the solid papers in the collection, and layered them together before adding a button, die cut, or badge to the centers.

I'm pretty sure this layout has more layers and pop dots on it than most of the layouts I've been making lately. I've noticed that I go back and forth between adding tons of texture and dimension, and keeping things simpler, and flatter. Kind of nice to switch things up I guess.

Tackling Christmases Past: Hello Christmas and Christmas Love & Joy

I'm back to talk more about tackling Christmases past. If you haven't yet read my post from Monday, you might want to read that first, since it explains the why, what, and how about how this project started. You can check it out HERE.

I worked on my first two double page layouts last weekend, to share for my feature on the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog today.

On this first layout, from our 2013 Christmas get-together with my side of the family, I got a total of 18 photos on my two page layout. I mentioned this in my previous post, but I really do aim to get the majority of my photos on the page. And I did just that here. I still had some photos left over that I didn't use, but most were duplicates or photos that looked very similiar.

When I have lots of photos to include, I will often create a 12x12” photo collage for one side of the two page spread. I then create a smaller collage to include on the opposite page of the spread, which still gives me room to include a bit of patterned paper, my title, journaling (if I feel it’s necessary), and a few simple embellishments. 

***When I first started thinking about tackling this project, I had THIS layout in mind, as I just loved the overall design.

Knowing that I wasn’t going to have room to add a ton of product really helped narrow down my choices as far as what I wanted to include. I stuck to 3-4 patterned papers for each layout. I have picked up some Christmas papers here and there, and have some olders ones in my stash as well. I looked thru all of those first, and then if needed, will find everyday papers to fill in the gaps.

I picked out three patterned papers from Simple Stories for this layout, and you can see that they're really not themed papers, but more simple patterns. You'll also noticed that I hardly used any patterned paper at all. I only needed a few strips of patterned paper to add to the page, and then I did use the same patterned papers to die cut my title as well.

My first choice for my titles was to die cut them with my Silhouette Cameo. These layouts end up being pretty "flat", especially since one side of the spread is just a large photo collage. So the die cut title keeps with the look. Also, I just really, really love die cut titles! Although I am open to mixing in some stickers or chipboard alphas if I decide I need them.

When it came to embellishing, I knew I would keep it simple by using brads, buttons, and a few basic punches. I also have a small stash of Christmas themed embellishments, both old and new, that I may pull from if they coordinate. These tags are a great example. They're from My Mind's Eye, and I've had them for about two years. They matched the Simple Stories papers so well, it's like they were meant to be used together. Those came jus as you see them too. The layered tags, with the brads already there.

I pulled the 4x4" "Be Merry and Bright" die cut card from the Simple Stories collection as well, as it matched the cream/yellowish patterned paper that I used for my title. It also helped fill up the space on the left side of the page, since I wasn't going to add any journaling.

Journaling. I guess that's something I should mention. I almost always journal on my layouts, even if it's something short and sweet. But I don't necessarily feel like I need to journal on these Christmas layouts. Maybe I'm wrong, and maybe I should be writing something down. When you get down to it, our family Christmas get-togethers are a lot alike. We're usually at my parents house, it's the same family members (every few years, we get a few extra family members that visit from out of state), we do the same gift exchange game, and eat a lot of the same foods. I feel like if I were to journal on these pages, it would be the same thing every year.

Both of the photo templates that I used on this layout are from Kerri Bradford's Storyboard #7 kit. This smaller template isn't too tall in size, so that I still had plenty of room to groove at the top of the page. I did combine a few of the openings in the template, since it was originally set up for 8 photos, and I only used 6 photos.

This was mainly because of the orientation of my photos, and not being able to crop them all down small enough to fit the smaller openings. So I just combined two openings, in several different places, in order to fit a wider photo. I actually did a video tutorial on this a few years ago, which you can view HERE.

This is by far my favorite photo template to use when I want a full page collage. Like I said, it's from Kerri Bradford's Storyboard #7 kit. That kit has another full page template as well, but this one just seems to work really well for my photos, while not making all of the photos too teeny tiny.

I always adhere these full page photo collages to a sheet of cardstock, just to make them a bit more stable. I know they get slipped into an album, so it's not that they necessarily need the extra stability. But it definately helps when I'm trying to photograph them.

My second layout is from our 2012 Christmas get-together with my side of the family. I used the same 12x12” photo template as I used in the first layout, but I used a slightly different template for the smaller collage on the first page. I then added two individual 3x4" photos right above the smaller photo collage, for a total of 20 photos on this spread.

But that wasn’t enough, as I still had leftover photos that I wanted to include. Some years I take more photos than others. This was one of those years.

So I also created two 6x12” photo collages, using Kerri Bradford's Picture That: Go Long kit, which I am including in a 6x12” page protector that will be inserted between these two pages in my album, for a grand total of 29 photos. Kind of hard to see here, as the photos all blend together, but it's there.

I feel like the photo of my brother in the orange cone hat really clashes with the rest of the page. Lol. There's a story behind that. And it's not even a hat. It's been traveling around our family for years, and is sort of an inside joke :)

I used a mix of die cut words, using my Cameo, and chipboard alphas for the title on this layout. See that word "love" there? It's such a skinny little outline word, but I love it. I was running it thru my Xyron sticker maker thing, and it totally ate it up. It was a jumbled mess. But I really didn't want to re-cut it, since I had already put my Cameo away and really didn't want to set it all back up again, dragging my laptop back into my scraproom.

So I did the best I could to un-jumble the word and re-shape it, as most of the backside did end up with adhesive on it. It doesn't look perfect, but it's good enough for me. And I even told myself that "no one will ever know, except for when you tell them all about it on your blog". Lol.

The silver chipboard alphas were from the dollar section at Target last year. I’m pretty sure I bought about 14 packs of them, because silver was all the rage at the time, and because I loved the font. And because they were only a dollar. I know, I know. By buying so many packs, they soon became a $14 purchase, but you know you need several packs in order to spell out anything when you only get one of each letter in the pack. Lol. It felt nice to actually use a few of them! 

Instead of adding a simple strip of the black text patterned paper along the top of the page, I used a scalloped edged banner punch to create the fun row of flags across the top of the page. I also wanted a bit more silver to tie in with the chipboard letters, so I used my scalloped border punch on a sheet of silver glittered paper to create a thin border strip to add along the side of the page.

Personally, I have no problem with having layouts that look very similar in my albums. Usually, these layouts don’t end up next to each other, so it’s not going to be super obvious that I used the same basic page design. This is especially true with Christmas layouts, since they’re a full year apart in the albums. 

I figure if using the same basic design, some of the same elements, and even the same photo templates helps me tackle something that I’ve been avoiding, then it’s all good. I would rather create quick and easy pages and “get it done” … then to keep pushing these photos and memories aside, all because they’re subjects or themes that I either don’t enjoy doing, or am too overwhelmed to dig into.

I'm hoping to have a few more of these to share next week, if all goes as planned. Stay tuned.

Scrapbook & Cards Today: World Card Making Day 2014

Hey everyone! If you haven't heard yet, today is World Card Making Day. I had a card go up over on the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog early this morning, and wanted to share it here too. I picked out a sketch from the new Card Maps 4 issue, and created my card based off that. You can check out the sketch over on their blog.

Maybe it's because I've been working with Bella Blvd's Snapshots fabic collection all week, but my mind immediately went to our Snapshots paper collection for this card.

You should definately take some time to visit the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog today. There has been posts going up every hour, on the hour all day long. There are 17 posts in all, with amazing giveaways every single hour. You have until Friday, October 17th to leave comments and get in on a chance to win some fun goodies.

Scrapbook & Cards Today: You Are The Best

Hey everyone! I know I sort of, kind of, disappeared on you all. It's been a busy few weeks around these parts. In the last two weeks, I've send my fifteen year old back to high school, had two seven year olds go back to school, had a two and a half year old kiddo leave my daycare, started watching a new eight month old baby girl, and moved my almost eighteen year old into the college dorms. That last item deserves a post of it's own, but I'm not quite ready to type that up just yet.

I do have some things that I want to share, and I'm pretty sure I had mentioned sharing a certain project a month ago that I just let slip through the cracks. I'll be getting back to some more normal blogging later this week, but in the meantime I thought I would do a simple card share just to get something new up on this blog!

I created this card for the Summer issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today. I was asked to pick a card from the Spring issue, and then "lift" the design to create a new card. I found a card that fit my style perfectly, as this is a straightforward design (paper placement wise) that I use often.

I used some patterned paper from Bella Blvd, along with some Bo Bunny tone-on-tone dotted patterned paper. I actually started the card with the flower, as it was left over from THIS layout. It was on the desk, and fit the card design I was lifting, so I just went with it. I love when projects just fall together on their own.

Scrapbook & Cards Today: First Day Freshman Year

Around these parts, today is back to school day. I know that might seem early to some of you, but we did finish the last school year right before Memorial Day. So the kid have had almost two and a half months off. I'm not going to lie. I'm excited to get back on a regular schedule, where we have more structure and purpose to our days. It's a bit different this year, since for the first time in eleven years (if I did my math right, which I'm not guaranteeing), I am only sending one kiddo to school.

I knew I was scheduled to do a post on the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog today. Since my assigned day landed on the first day of school, I thought it would be a great time to scrap Sarah's photo from the first day of her freshman year of high school. After all, today she is enjoying her first day of her sophomore year of high school. It's nice to get the memories down from one year, before they get intermixed with the memories from the new year.

I usually document that first day of school photo at the beginning of the school year, which means my journaling is kept pretty simple, and most likely includes the standard “I think this will be a great year” phrase that I include on just about every back to school layout. Since I am just getting around to scrapping her first day of school photo now, at the end of the school year (give or take a few months!), this allowed me to journal specifically about how the last school year went for her.

The journaling was a first for me. In the fact that it was the very first thing I did for this layout. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you might know that journaling is almost always the LAST thing I do on my layouts. I did have my photo printed already, but other than that, I hadn't picked out a single thing for this page, or even thought about how I wanted to lay everything out. I just typed it up and figured I would work the rest of the page around it.

It’s not often that I have this much to say on a layout. I really wanted to make this page about the photo and the journaling, so I kept the page pretty simple overall. It’s paper and stickers, and that’s about it. I thought about adding a few simple embellishments at the end, but decided that it was perfect for me just the way it was.

As for the patterned papers? I must have dug out about fifteen different patterned papers that I thought might look good with my photo. I focused on lots of blues, greens, and black. It's kind of strange how I ended up using the few patterns that I did, since I was looking for a darker, more navy blue to match Sarah's shirt and greens to match the greenery in the photo. I'm not even sure how I ended up using the cloud paper. I guess that's why it's good that I pull out SOOOO many papers sometimes, since I often end up using things that weren't my original choices.

You can read a bit more about my layout over on the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog today, since I usually type up different things, depending on where it's posting.

Now I just need to get thru the next week and a half, which is when a few of the older daycare kids I've been watching this summer go back to school. After two+ months of having older kids (7 yrs) around that talk to me constantly and question my every move, I need to get back to just the babies and toddlers that I specialize in. Lol. 

Scrapbook & Cards Today: Friends Forever

Sorry it's been so quiet here on this blog. Summer is getting the best of me, and I have just accepted the fact that I will never have the same time to be creative as I do when we're deep in the routine of school, sports, etc. I do have a layout to share today, and one later this week. So I can at least guarantee two new posts this week!

Have you had a chance to download and browse thru the Summer issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today yet? It's completely free to view the digital issue, so there's no reason not too. Plus, it's filled with some gorgeous projects and awesome articles and features.

I wanted to share the layout I created for the summer issue. I've been working on the "What's Next" feature for the last several issues, so I'm always creating a season ahead. For the summer issue, I created more of a fallish layout. The editors know that I don't have much of a "fall" season where I live, so they thought I could create a friendship themed page, using some "fallish" products.

I chose the Now & Then: Mildred collection from My Mind's Eye to work with. I thought it had a great mix of fall colors and I've always been a fan of My Mind's Eye products. I went looking for photos to use for this layout, and was kind of shocked to realize I didn't have many photos that would work well for this layout.

The girls have plenty of photos that they've taken themselves with their friends, but none that would really work well with these papers. I ended up digging up a few photos of the girls with Amanda, one of my previous daycare kiddos and one of their best friends growing up. I had printed four photos that I had intended to use, but along the way, I only ended up with room for two of them.

I die cut a 12x12" heart background from white cardstock using my Cameo and adhered it to another sheet of white cardstock for the base of my layout. I love the subtle look of a white-on-white background. I lightly spritzed the background with some navy blue misting spray and started picking out my patterned papers to use.

I adhered a strip of solid navy blue and a strip of the diagonal stripe patterned paper along the top and bottom of the page and machine stitched along the strips. I picked out several patterned papers that I wanted to incorporate into the page design, and cut pieces from each in varying sizes that I could layer across the page. I machine stitched around the edges of each paper, and distressed the edges, before arranging them and adhering them down.

I picked a few cuts from my Silhouette library to combine for my title. I cut the inside part of "friends" from an aqua-ish solid paper and spritzed it with white misting spray, and then layered over the outline of "friends" with I cut from the navy blue solid paper. I used that same navy blue paper to cut "forever" from.

All of the chipboard pieces, chipboard buttons, brads, buttons, and enamel dots are from My Mind's Eye too. I love when manufacturers have so many embellishments that coordinate with their collections, making it super easy to create well put together layouts.

Scrapbook & Cards Today: Super Fabulous Summer Golfing

I thought I would finally share my layout from the Spring issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today. I have been working on the "What's Next" feature for the last few issues, which means I'm creating a layout with the  next season in mind. So for the spring issue, I created a summer themed layout. I was sent the new DIY Boutique collection from Simple Stories to work with.

This collection has tons of bright and fun summer colors, and then lots of black and white. I love how the colors "pop" more when mixed in with the black touches.  I'm a sucker for small text type patterns, so I knew I would use the black text patterned paper. I also chose a diagonal stripe patterned paper and a subtle woodgrain patterned paper to use, along with lots of the solid colored papers.

I used lots of little strips of the papers for this layout. In fact, if you had seen my desk at the time I was working on this layout, you would have been amazed at the amount of little scraps I had laying around. I would cut a strip, and then changed my mind on the size and cut another one. The way I pieced everything together was way more complicated than it needed to be. But that's how it goes sometimes when you start without a plan.

I also pulled out some white cardstock circles that I had left over from another project and used them on my title piece. I knew I wanted to use some of the fun circle stickers, so mixing in even more circles seemed only logical.

I rediscovered my embossing folders and Cuttlebug in creating this layout. I know I've been embossing a lot more lately, but this layout is were that started back up for me. Since I was using a lot of the solid colored papers in this collection, I felt like they needed a little texture added to them so they didn't feel so flat. I used a variety of embossing folders for a fun, random look. I also lightly sanded over the embossed areas to bring out some of the white core of the papers.

The "super" and "fabulous" were stickers. I think you all know I love to include handwritten words in my titles, so I loved that it was as easy to do as peeling off a sticker and adding it to the page. I combined them with some fabric Thicker alpha stickcers and some green alpha stickers to complete my title.

If you haven't checked out the Spring issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today yet, you can view it online or download it (totally free) RIGHT HERE.

Scrapbooking & Cards Today: MHS Senior Prom 2014

I'm up today on the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog with a new layout share. I was excited to have some new photos on hand to work with, as Alyssa just went to her senior prom two weeks ago. I ended up choosing this photo for my layout, as it was both her and her date's favorite photo from the bunch.

I think many of you know how much I love to use die cut backgrounds on my layouts. I usually turn to my Silhouette Cameo to die cut most of my backgrounds, but there are occasions that I just can’t find the exact background that I’m looking for. For this layout, I choose a different route to create my white-on-white star background. I wrote more about that in my post on the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog, which you can read HERE.

The other photos that I have were taken in front of our house, and have a ton of greenery in the background. This photo was much more neutral overall, as it was taken in front of one of her friend's houses, where there wasn't much greenery or landscaping around to take advantage of. While her date's suit was black, with the blue shirt, it came out looking a little blue in this photo. So I decided to go with it, and chose this tone-on-tone blue patterned paper from Simple Stories to use, along with some glitter paper and some music patterned paper. 

I had quite a few options for silver glittered chipboard alphas, and finally settled on this chunky font from Making Memories (a very old product!). I knew I wanted to use several different kinds of alphas, in several different colors, for my title, and went looking for anything that would match nicely. The blue alpha stickers from Jillibean Soup tie in nicely with Alyssa's dress, the cream ledger number stickers tie in with the music patterned paper, and the grey foam alpha stickers added the cursive font I wanted to add in. 

I am NOT a huge fan of glitter. In fact, glitter makes me nervous, and even a little anxious. I'm a super neat scrapper and glitter is anything but neat. So I love pre-glittered products. I love them even more when the glitter doesn't come off. Like on these chipboard alphas. 

I also had several glitter papers to chose from. And every single one of them were messy. I picked the shiniest one I could find (which was from Fancy Pants), to match the chipboard alphas, and cut a strip from it to use on my page. The glitter paper on it's own felt a little boring, so I added some silver glitter accent dots from SEI. They add just a subtle touch and a bit of dimension, which was enough to make me happy. Between this strip of the glittered paper and the glitter dots, I had glitter EVERYWHERE. I'm still trying to get rid of it.

I needed a little something to add to the blue tone-on-tone patterned paper and wasn't really sure what to add. I was still thinking "stars" in my head, and when I came across these super, duper old plastic stars from Heidi Swapp, I knew they would work perfectly. I had to turn them over and use the backside, as the front of the stars had turned a little yellowish over the years. Not even noticable, but of course, I have to mention it. Lol. I added older rhinestone brads to each plastic star.

I love how the white punched stars add some interest to what would otherwise be a flat and simple background. By keeping the stars the same color as my background cardstock, they still allow my title and journaling to stand out.

Scrapbook & Cards Today: Happiness Is Being With My Girls

I'm up on the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog today with a brand new layout share, and I'm talking a little bit about one of my favorite ways to get a TON of photos on my pages. If you know me at all, then you know I'm talking about photo collages. I’ve been using photo collages on my layouts for over 7 years now (I went and double checked that, just to be sure). Whenever I want to use a large amount of photos on my layouts, collages are my go-to way of getting all of those photos onto the page in a clean and organized way. 

On this layout, I was able to fit 10 photos onto one page, and I still had plenty of room to “play” with my patterned papers and embellishments. My style has always been very linear, and I love how clean the photos look when they’re all together within the collage.

I recently picked up the new Plus One collection, from Amy Tangerine, and I couldn't wait to use it for this layout. I actually dug into it for a few cards as well a few weeks ago, but I can't share those for a while ;) I love the bold colors and graphic feel to the patterns. I had plans on working in a few of the 3x4 cards that are on a few of the papers, but once I settled on using a photo collage, that plan had to be changed.

Not the best shot here, but can you see the die cut circle strip mixed in between the patterned papers? That's another leftover piece from THIS layout. I make a good effort to use up leftover scraps and die cut pieces. I could have easily cut another piece of patterned paper to add in there, but two rows of the cirlces fit perfecty, so I just went with it.

I spritzed it lightly with some aqua misting spray. And then I didn't realize I had a blotch of it on the backside and moved it too quickly, which is why I ended up with a nice smear there on my background paper (and on the desk and a few other things as well).

I used a template from Kerri Bradford's Storyboard #6 kit, which was originally meant to hold 11 photos. But I did a little tweaking to the template to make it work for my 10 photos, by combining two smaller photo openings to make one larger opening. I did a video tutorial on that almost two years ago, which you can view HERE.

Another reason that collages are so nice to work with is that once you have your finished collage printed out and trimmed, you are really only working with 1 large photo (the collage itself), rather than a stack of individual photos that would have to be arranged and adhered. I won't lie. I like shortcuts like that.

I knew I wanted to use a strip of the yellow paper across the bottom of the page. It does have a "white washed" sort of look to it, but it was still just a little too "solid" yellow for my liking. I decided to run it through an embossing folder to add some texture to it. I've been using my embossing folders a ton lately (but on projects I can't share). After embossing it, I spritzed it very lightly with black misting spray.

The fun camera badge, as well as the black/white fabric brads shown above, are from Amy's Plus One collection too. I also added in some pink and aqua buttons from My Favorite Things. Love their buttons!

For my title, I chose the "happiness" cut from the Silhouette store, and cut it from black cardstock and the aqua patterned paper from the Plus One collection. I used some pink alpha stickers from Bella Blvd to complete my title.

If you haven't tried creating photo collages, you should really give it a try sometime. I mostly use pre-made templates for my collages, but I have created a few of my own here and there. We've made two of those templates available for download over on the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog. They're simpl designs and easy to use. Perfect if you are just wanting to try them out, as they're free! You can head over and download them, RIGHT HERE.

Scrapbook & Cards Today: Spring

I just finished up an assignment today for the upcoming Spring issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today. So I figured it was a good time to share a layout that I created for the Winter issue. If you haven't given the Winter issue a look yet, it's not too late. You can view, or even download it, for free HERE.

When you heard me say "Winter issue", were you expecting me to share a winter themed layout? Honestly, I was expecting to be assigned to a winter project, but was actually really happy when they asked me to work on the "What's Next" feature. It's a quick look at what to expect in the next issue, which is why I got to create a spring themed layout.

I was sent the From Me To You collection, from Pebbles, to use for my layout. There are so many great embellishments that coordinate with this collection. Sometimes I have a hard time deciding what to include, but sometimes I can rule things out because of the page design I end up with. Once I had the papers and photo in place, I narrowed down my choices. These stickers and chipboard pieces fit nicely into my page design.

I used my Silhouette die cut machine for my title, cutting out the word "Spring" fairly large. You might see a few indentations in the reddish cardstock. That's because it was an embossed patterned paper from an older collection that I had on hand, but the solid color on the back matched this collection perfectly. Those little chalkboard looking banner alphas are super cute, so I used them for part of my title as well. I took this photo before stitching them in place. So just imagine them all stitched down with white string.

There were lots of fun patterned papers in this collection, making it hard to choose just one or two. So I incorporated quite a few different patterns, just in small amounts. I cut strips from each paper in varying widths and pieced them all together on the page.

I can't wait until the Spring issue comes out, as I'm dying to share the layout I created for it. I just love how it turned out and it's so different from what I've been doing lately. But in many ways, it's a lot like layouts I've done in the past. I'm sure the issue will be here before we know it, with how quickly time seems to pass these days.

Scrapbook & Cards Today: My Diva

Happy 2014 everyone! Hope you all had a safe and happy New Years. With CHA just days away, I will soon start sharing lots of Bella Blvd goodies here on my blog. Before that all starts, I thought it might be nice to share this layout that I've had sitting in a blog "draft" for quite a while now. Not sure why I haven't gotten around to writing a little something about it and hitting the "publish" button. I just like to drag things out sometimes.

I created this layout for the Scrapbook & Cards Today Fall Issue (that link doesn't show the Fall issue, but it should be there somewhere). I was asked to incorporate feathers into my design, with the theme of my page focusing on the diva personality of my daughter. Luckily, I did have these few photos that show a slight "diva" side of Sarah. Because honestly, I don't really think of my girls as divas.

If you saw this layout in the magazine, you might remember the feathers being a lot smaller in size. I was asked to make some changes along the way, but I never did take good photos of my final layout. And I haven't been able to track down my layout to take new photos of it. Most likely because this is a two page 8.5x11 page, and I never scrap that size. I most likely stuck them somewhere until I could track down some page protectors to get them into my album.

I chose my feathers based off my patterned paper choices, which were based off the photos. The black text paper to match her sunglasses (or my sunglasses, since I'm pretty sure she put mine on for the photos) and the skulls on her shirt, the aqua to match her scarf, the green to match the ivy in the background of the photos, and pink just for fun.

I came across this old rhinestone peace sign sticker from Making Memories and knew I had to use it on my page, as she's giving me the peace sign in one of the photos. It seemed like a good way to "anchor" the feathers to the page, since I like to tuck them under or into something to give them a little purpose. Instead of feathers randomly floating on the page. I adhere the sticker to a black metal rimmed tag (also an old Making Memories product) before adhering it to the page.

I cut thin strips of the black text paper to create a border around the entire two page layout. Then I started cutting strips of varying widths to layer together across the center of the spread.

I picked out the green glitter paper to add a bit more texture to the page, and also a bit more sparkle. You can't have too much sparkle on a diva layout, right? I also used a chevron embossing folder on the aqua patterned paper, giving it some nice texture as well. I used to be so addicted to my embossing folders, and this reminded me that I should make a point to use them more often. Although, I did create this layout in April of 2013, and I'm not sure I've really used my embossing folder too much since then. Lol.

That rhinestone star is also an older sticker from Making Memories. I used some of those fabulous tiny alpha stickers from Lily Bee to add the "super star" to the rhinestone star.

The pink fabric frame is from Maggie Holmes first collection thru Crate Paper. I'm 99% sure the frame came with the little date tag adhered to it. But once again, I created this layout so long ago, that I honestly don't remember for sure. Those tiny alpha stickers came in handy again to add the date, as well as Sarah's name to the black metal rimmed tag.

Hope you all have a great weekend! I shipped off my CHA projects today, so I will be spending lots of time this weekend setting up blog posts, both for the Bella blog, as well as my own. Hope to see you back here next week, as I'll be posting every day! Making up for my absence lately ;)

Scrapbook & Cards Today: Fall Cards

I figured I woud sneak in one more post this week before the Thanksgiving holiday and long weekend. I have two more cards that I created for the Cardmaps Today Vol 3 issue, by Scrapbook & Cards Today, which was released earlier this year. 

Both of these cards were based off of the same sketch, so they have sort of the same look to them design-wise. For this first card, I choose patterned papers from Simply Stories and BoBunny, along with the cute little woodgrain house sticker. The sticker had a cut out heart in the center, which I ended up covering with a fun crochet heart from Bella Blvd.

I was asked to incorporate a masking technique using stamps for this card. I don't have a huge stamp collection, so I lucked out when I came across a set of small leaf stamps. I picked out some ink colors that coordinated with the rest of my card, and praticed my stamp placement several times before getting it right.

I stamped the leaf a few times on a post it note, and then fussy cut those out. After stamping the two red leaves on either end of the grid patterned paper, I stuck my fussy cut leaves (on the post it note) directly over the red leaves before stamping the next leaf. I just repeated this process until my little row of leaves was complete.

For my second card, I choose patterned papers from Bella Blvd's Thankful collection. Fall colors, and all of the colors seen on this card, are my favorite colors of all. Brown, red, green, yellow, and aqua. Love those colors together and you'll find them all throughout my house.

For the layered flower, I choose a corrugated chipboard flower, a paper flower, a fabric flower, a few buttons, an a paper leaf to tuck in as well. Love how a good, layered flower looks on a card!

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I hope you all have a fabulous Thanksgiving, spent with family and friends! We're sticking close to home this year, which is different than most years. While we will miss seeing Joe's family, which is where we normally head for the holiday, it will be nice to spend Thanksgiving with my family for a change. Alyssa won't be there, as she's headed out with her dad to spend the day with her grandparents. But since she's super allergic to my parent's dog, that might be better for her anyways. Joe's been working like crazy, since this time of year in the grocery business is so hectic, and he has to work Thanksgiving night as well. But his Steeler's are playing the late football game on Thanksgiving, so if they win (fingers crossed for his sake), maybe he won't be too grumpy going into work.

Oh. It's also our 15th wedding anniversary ON Thanksgiving day. Which means we'll do our traditional dinner out on Friday night. This will mean that we have to skip Friday night football, as our high school varsity team is playing in their last playoff game at home. I feel bad that I have to skip helping out in the snack bar, as NO ONE ever signs up to help. But Friday is our one free night, as Sarah is in a Quinceanera for one of her friends on Saturday, which means we're tied up all day and evening with that.  

My mind wandered all over the place there. That was a very random mix of info, all to say "Have a happy Thanksgiving"!!