Something Old, Something New

STILL trying to whittle down the stash of supplies accumulated over the last several years, I have been digging into some of the collections that I once loved, but were pushed aside in favor of newer products. I'm now on a mission to use them up...or send them on, to somewhere they will be loved, such as New Orleans' Ronald McDonald House, Children's Hospital, etc. But before I do...

This first project uses old BasicGrey patterned papers and stickers from the Offbeat collection, pairing them with the new fabric brads from the Out of Print collection. Likewise, I used old BasicGrey letter stickers for my title, but a new(-er) alphabet card embellishment.


Supplies: Patterned paper-BasicGrey Offbeat collection, Simple Stories 100 Days of Summer collection. Alphabet card-K and Co. Stickers-Basic Grey Offbeat. Fabric brads-BasicGrey Out of Print.



And finally, a project with BasicGrey Archaic patterned paper...


perfect for a Walt Disney World Dinoland page!

Fantastic Scraptastic!

This month I am very honored to be Guest Designer for Scraptastic Club a kit club with awesome monthly scrapbooking kits. You actually have your choice between TWO kits each month, and the March kits are so amazing that you will have a hard time choosing! There are also add-on options for those of us who just can't get enough of a good thing. ;)

Here's a peek at the first page I created with the beautiful Be Amazing March kit:


7 double-sided patterned papers, 8 sheets of cardstock, a chipboard alphabet and a fun mix of embellishments are in this March kit:


The add-on option includes even more decorative elements:


And now you will see why I said it's hard to choose! Look at the fabulous Celebrate Life kit. LOVE that potty people paper. <---Try saying that three times real fast!


Here's the add-on option for the Celebrate Life kit:


Both of these kits are available to order beginning March 1st at Scraptastic Club. Also, be sure to check out the Scraptastic blog for kit examples, contests, and more.

Soaking Up The Sun

Yep, that's exactly what I've been doing, soaking up the sun. First on Sunday, watching the Okeanos, Mid City and Thoth parades, then on Tuesday, Mardi Gras Day itself. We spent most of the day out on St. Charles Avenue, people watching, picture taking, and bead catching. And of course snacking! Our weather has been SO delightful, with temps in the 70's and more sun than clouds. These unseasonably warm days could go on forever as far as I'm concerned. I'm ready for summer!

And speaking of summer, here is yet another layout from the great paper collection 100 Days of Summer from Simple Stories. I love all the cards (post cards, bingo cards, title cards) and the various decorative sticker elements (tickets, border strips, flags, and more) that make it easy to pull together an attractive page in the layered style that I love. Let's see...how many more days until it's summer again? I can't wait!


Supplies: Patterned paper, stickers, cards-Simple Stories 100 Days of Summer collection. Die-cut doilie-BasicGrey. Pigment ink-Tsukineko. Other-twine.

PawPaw Was A Soldier

The WWII Museum in New Orleans is a place I could spend all day perusing. There are hands-on activities for kids and the exhibits are so comprehensive and intensely moving. It's made even more personal when we go outside and find the brick honoring my Dad's service.

When pulling together products to make this layout, I thought immediately of the papers from Crate Paper's Toy Box collection, with its great camouflage paper and Hero journaling card. Wanting to get three pictures on this page (four if you include the photo of the brick), I made a collage of the elements, overlapping pictures and papers, even including a bit of memorabilia, a special V-Day pin given out on this particular day at the museum. The ration stamps are actually from a very old piece of patterned paper!



Supplies: Patterned paper-Crate Paper, Sassafras, Collage Press. Stickers-Crate Paper. Pigment ink-Brilliance from Tsukineko. Other: corrugated cardstock, star tag from Converse, V-Day pin, and chipboard scrabble letters.

Bon Voyage

Here we go again. I take a picture of Tommy. He takes a picture of me. And I end up with two pictures that are not always easy to scrapbook. In this case, overlapping the photos helps hide duplicate scenery and gives me more space to play. Works for me.

Funny thing...the page was complete, everything glued down, and I still didn't have a title. I went through every single letter sticker I owned but nothing seemed to work. Then I pulled out this pack of Scrapworks cardstock letters that have been in my stash forever (the back of the package says 2003-yikes!). Perfect! Makes it hard to purge the stash when things like this happen. LOL!


Supplies: Patterned paper-Heidi Swapp, The Girl's Paperie, Echo Park, Making Memories, October Afternoon. Letter sticker-October Afternoon. Decorative brad-Karen Foster. Cardstock letters-Scrapworks. Pigment ink-Brilliance by Tsukineko. Other-bottlecap.

Halls of Congress

Last year I had the opportunity to spend four days in Washington, D. C., at a leadership conference filled with speakers, training and workshops by leading advocates and experts on international development. The weekend provided me with resources and knowledge about extreme poverty and global health issues and how to support the many efforts being undertaken to help the poorest and most vulnerable people. The conference culminated with a day on Capitol Hill, where I was able to meet with our members of Congress and/or their staff to advocate for the less than 1 % of the federal budget that goes towards humanitarian assistance for those living in extreme poverty. I walked through those hallowed halls hoping to make a difference.


Supplies: Patterned paper-October Afternoon Farmhouse Collection. Flowers-Prima Marketing. Pigment ink-Brilliance by Tsukineko. Other: mini file folder, tag, baker's twine, mini-brad, and wooden disc.

Zap the Evil Zurg!

One of our family's favorite games/rides at Walt Disney World has to be Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. We love the competition, spinning and zapping away to see who can amass the most points. Three of our sharp shooters pose in the queue, ready to zap all those Z's, to defeat the evil Emperor Zurg.

I dressed up this layout with a paper piecing of another Toy Story character, an alien guy from the Claw machine at Pizza Planet. Isn't he cute?! If you look closely at the photo, one of the screens shows a squadron of these little aliens. I guess they must have some significance in the game, but seriously, I don't remember. We were too busy swinging our ray guns back and forth, trying to outdo each other in the mad race for points! It's such crazy fun.


Supplies: Patterned paper-Crate Paper. Stickers-October Afternoon. Letter stickers-Doodlebug Design. Pigment ink-Brilliance by Tsukineko.

Yours Truly Blog Hop!

Who knew I could have so much fun with a Valentine's theme paper pack?! I generally don't take cutesy kid pictures since most of my "kids" are grown and the youngest three are boys at that! However, with the truly versatile papers in this collection, created by the talented Cassandra Cooper, I was able to put together a football page and a travel page, as well as the typical Valentines themed layout. Fun stuff!

Black and white houndstooth...oh my! This particular pattern caught my eye immediately, and drove me to create a more non-traditional layout with these papers...a football page!

The houndstooth tradition at the University of Alabama began with legendary Bama football coach "Bear" Bryant and his houndstooth patterned hats. Today you can find fans with houndstooth coats, gloves, scarves, purses, ties, and all other manner of clothing and accessories!

I had baked football-shaped cookies for our houseguests, my son's fraternity friends, who were camping out in our family room before the big game. After Alabama's convincing win over LSU, I took a picture of the cookies, knowing that I'd need to scrap such a momentous occasion even if I didn't have a single picture of the game or the tailgating that the boys had experienced.

The kraft color was a perfect backdrop for the red, black and white (Crimson Tide colors BTW!) My page is based on Sketch #65 from Susan Stringfellow's Sketch Savvy Blog. I love those oversized ribbonlike strips! A pieced football was created using kraft paper that was then embossed and inked for more of a pigskin look. I also had the opportunity to use my newly acquired die cutting machine, giving me a perfect Alabama "A"!


My second page with Yours Truly has more of a pink, grey, black and white scheme with a tiny bit of red thrown in. A favorite part of this line is the collection of die cut stickers...and they are precisely cut! Thank you, thank you, thank you! (It's a big pet peeve of mine when they are cut in the wrong place!)


The title Love Beyond Measure was borrowed from one of the die cut stickers as I thought the saying paired well with the ruler border strip! I punched some squares and covered some old chipboard letters with various patterns to create this fun and easy page.


Thanks to all who stopped by my blog today. Be sure to check out all the other great projects (layouts, tags, cards, and more!) as you continue through the Echo Park Yours Truly Blog Hop:

Susan Stringfellow

Lara Gustafson

Heidi Smith

Nancy Burke-Coming soon!

Denise Thorton-Coming soon!

I'll add more links as they go live!

The Two of Us

We don't have a lot of pictures of the two of us, because one of us is usually behind the camera. We might swap it out a bit and take a picture of each other, but generally there aren't many times when we're in the shot together. That's why I like this picture. We were in Bermuda, dressed in our tropical wear, on the way to a company party on the lawn of the hotel. Someone must have offered to take the photo, and I gladly handed off the camera. Say cheese!



Patterned papers-BasicGrey Piccadilly. Flashcard-October Afternoon. Flowers-Making Memories and other. Bling-it-on rub on-BasicGrey. Additional embellishments-brads, jeweled nailhead, key charm, and ribbon.

Hike & Ride

Over a dozen years ago we had the opportunity to visit Bermuda for the first time. Our favorite excursion was hiking the Railway Trail, where what once held train tracks was now a serene path across the Bermudian landscape. Back then, we had younger knees and more stamina and managed to hike from our hotel all the way to the Dockyards at the tip of the island. Knowing we could never recreate that lengthy walk, I poured over maps of the trail and found a portion that seemed not only scenic, but easily managed by us "old folks"! We rode the bus out to the trailhead and began our hike, stopping to take photos of the water and a particularly pretty bird. Two city blocks later the trail ended. WHAT?! "We rode all the way out here for THAT?!" asked Tommy. Oooops. It sure looked longer on the map! Ah well, more time for photos.


I had a little fun with my banner on this page, adding tags and tickets, cards, a metal letter and a chipboard arrow among other things. The cut out border strips give the page the look of a scalloped border. What a cool surprise!

Patterned paper and journaling cards-October Afternoon (Joy Ride). Chipboard letters-Basic Grey. Chipboard arrows and deco brads-My Mind's Eye. Other-tickets, buttons, metal tag.

Climbing the Wall

Kevin was never interested in trying out the rock climbing wall at St. Ann's Fair. A few months ago, however, he had the opportunity again, at the CBS Fishing Rodeo...and this time he said O.K. He clipped in and shimmied up, quite quickly to his dad's surprise! Tommy couldn't believe how confidently he climbed the wall, and Kevin couldn't wait to show me his new-found skill.

Made a mini-banner for this page. (I know...it's an obsession.)


Patterned paper: Crate Paper (Toy Box), October Afternoon, Basic Grey. Stickers-Crate Paper (Toy Box), Sassafras. Journaling cards-Crate Paper (Toy Box). Chipboard-Maya Road. Felt shape-Fancy Pants.

Endless Inspiration

I have to show you the page that a friend of mine did after I inspired HER with MY scrapbook page (see post below) that was modeled after HER sketch... Confusing? No matter! It just goes to show you how inspiration can pass from one person to another by sharing our work. I am so thankful for all those scrappers who post their pages in galleries and on blogs, providing me with endless inspiration. Check out the awesome assemblage of embellishments along the top of Susan's banner!


For even more inspiration, check out her Sketch Savvy and Creatively Savvy blogs!

A Banner Year!

I don't know about you, but I'm LOVING all the different banners that are populating scrapbook galleries lately, especially the ones with variously sized and shaped flags. When my friend posted Sketch #72 on her SketchSavvy Blog, I knew it would be fun to try my hand at one. I pulled out some papers from Crate Paper's Toy Box collection along with a handful of colorful scraps and got busy cutting out my flags. I must have moved them around a dozen times to find the arrangement that pleased me the most. But then the REAL fun began, sifting through my stash for all those miscellaneous badges, stickers, brads and such that would create an embellishment "cluster", running from one end of the page to the other. I can't wait to make my next banner!

We fell into a Monopoly kick over summer break...Spongebob Monopoly. Boardwalk was replaced by The Krusty Crab, and the "houses" were shaped like pineapples. When I took this picture of Kevin, he had just lost his last dollar. Oh well, what can you do? There's always tomorrow's game.


Patterned paper-Crate Paper (Toy Box collection) and miscellaneous scraps. Letter stickers-Making Memories, Doodlebug. Stickers-Crate Paper. Felt shape-Fancy pants. Other-brads, chipboard, metal tab.

DC Metro

When I flew into DC alone for the first time, I foolishly boarded a cab and had the driver take me literally "across the river". Silly me! I had no idea how convenient it would have been for me to take the Metro the mile or so to my destination, which just so happened to be directly above a Metro stop! I was amazed at the cleanliness, safety and ease of use of DC's subway system and happily saved myself a cab fare by taking it back to the airport for my flight home.

This page came together fast with papers from the Basic Grey Wander travel collection!


Patterned paper-Basic Grey, Sassafras. Lace cardstock-Basic Grey. Letter stickers-Basic Grey, Doodlebug, Sassafras and 7 Gypsies. Other: Deco paper clip.