The Lighter Side

My last two pages with Scraptastic's Faded Jeans kit combined many of the lighter papers. For the page below, a contrasting background was needed to balance out the dark photo taken after my son's graduation. I loved this pattern from Authentique, as the stitched-look design reminded me of star-bursts or fireworks. This was a celebration after all; Chris had graduated summa cum laude!

For a moment I considered stitching over the paper design but ultimately decided to add a trio of festive pinwheels. The pinwheels take advantage of the beautiful double sided paper, which I also used behind the photo and as a strip underneath. 

My final project for today highlights a tinted heritage photo taken when my mother was but a teen. The subtle colors of the papers I chose compliment the soft colors in this hand colored photograph.

Growing up, no one in her family called her by her given name, Dorothy, nor the shortened version, Dot. No, they gave her the nickname "Mickey", after the newly penned character created by Walt Disney. Isn't that funny?! I'm sure at the time, no one would have suspected that the little mouse would come to have worldwide renown and be the iconic symbol of an entertainment empire. I have a couple more questions for my mom before completing the journaling on this one. I wonder who first gave her the nickname and why. Future generations might also have this question so I don't want to leave it out!

Have you scrapped any old photos recently?

Wolf River

We love to canoe! On our paddle down the Wolf River, Kevin and I took our time and lots of pictures. I bravely brought my good camera and kept it in a dry bag whenever it wasn't in my hands capturing photos. It was a gorgeous day of blue skies and full sun for our trip. We were adventurous this day, and not content with a leisurely paddle, we took a few detours to explore the little offshoots and backwater lakes of the river. By the end of our journey, we were pretty exhausted...but happy!

I had been saving up these papers from October Afternoon for scout camping photos, and was pleasantly surprised at how perfect they were for documenting our canoe trip. I'm so in love with the little map prints and the animal images are too cute. One of the coolest things about OA papers is their ability to coordinate across collections. I have at least three collections represented here!

Thumbs up for the Canoe & Kayak Club!

Arrow Of Light

I was so proud of my son and his pack when they received the highest award in Cub Scouting, the Arrow of Light. They were each presented with a beautifully finished wooden wall hanging created by the grandfather of one of the boys. Cradled in the cup hooks attached to the hanging is an authentic arrow.

Here is the page I scrapped with photos taken at the ceremony:

The Simple Stories Awesome collection had the perfect papers for my rustic-colored, boy-theme photos. I added a little banner made with a trio of triangular paper-covered chipboard flags alternating with buttons. The numbers on the notebook represent the boys' pack number.

It was an exciting time for the boys as they joined the older scouts for meetings and activities. But sadly it did not last for Kevin. School was becoming more challenging and time-consuming and night time activities were difficult. Finally, he asked to quit scouting. He didn't find it fun anymore. Great memories of good times and camp-outs will have to suffice.

Banner Love

Do you like to use banners on your pages? I had admired them for months on other people's pages before I tried one myself. Once I did one, I was hooked. I've been making banners for months now and am STILL not over them. There are SO many variations, and this is one of my favorites...a banner bursting with a hodge-podge of overlapping flags. This is also my favorite page thus far with Scraptastic's Faded Jeans kit.

The fun part of banner-making is the arranging and stacking! For this page, I cut a bunch of banner shapes from various papers...some small, some large, some thin, some wide. Then I began my layering, larger (longer) ones on the bottom, smaller (shorter) ones on the top. I cut the tickets from one of the kit papers to add to my banner, and used a couple of buttons from the kit as well. After assembling the main banner, I had a few extra pieces that were hung underneath the title block. 

I find that this is great way to use up all those bits and pieces of paper that are leftover from other projects. In this case, I'd completed a few layouts with my kit, and with my penchant for layering, had cut up many of the papers leaving me with lots of fodder for my banner. All those little scraps didn't go to waste!

It was so much fun creating this page. I guess it's a good thing that I don't scrap chronologically, because every other page would have a banner. But then again, that wouldn't be such a bad thing!

House Boats

Every now and again, I pull out some of my "leftover" travel pics. I still have photos from Italy, Bermuda, and an Alaskan cruise that I'd like to put on a layout. I go through my old photo envelopes with no real purpose other than hoping to match them up with papers from my stash. These colorful pictures of houseboats in the harbor at Vancouver jumped out at me, as did papers from October Afternoon's Boarding Pass collection.

 

But you know me, I had to mix in a few tidbits from elsewhere...like the Echo Park viewmaster reel cutout. See that strip of ship wheels on the bottom right? That paper has to be over 5 years old, but was perfect in color and theme. Just goes to show you...everything seems to find a use eventually! 

Puppy Love

When I got my digital cutter for Christmas, I had already bookmarked and downloaded a bunch of SVG files that I knew would be great for scrapbooking. I continued to add to my collection-borders and label shapes, silhouettes and more. A couple of months ago my PC died...the one with all of my cutting files! What horror! I had to start all over amassing my freebies from the generous and talented people out there who share their work. This time I'm trying to pin them to Pinterest as well, in case we have another computer malfunction.

I went searching for files the other day, and the majority of my time was spent looking for doily shapes. The flourish circle on the layout below is my favorite find. I love the fancy swirly cut-outs inside the shape, and the hearts go nicely with the title of my page, Puppy Love.

I continue my hunt for fabulous digital cutter files. There are still some shapes I'm hoping to find, like a plain old scalloped edge, with holes doily. Wish I had the talent and know-how to make my own. But until that time, this will do...and do nicely.

The whimsical puppies from these older Basic Grey papers were so cute. You might also notice some Echo Park, Crate Paper, and October Afternoon on here. It's a real mix. ;)

Pinewood Derby

As soon as I saw the Faded Jeans Scraptastic kit, I knew that one of my pages this month would highlight a scouting event! Anyone with Cub Scouts will understand what a great kit this is for scout activities! The blue hues and yellow are well matched for their uniform and neckerchief. Going through my photos, I found the perfect picture.

On my Pinewood Derby page I mounted the blue patterned paper over yellow cardstock, adding photo corners all around. Next I layered blue and yellow patterned papers above and below a ticket border. Then I adhered several of the kit stickers to chipboard and used them to decorate the top half of my page, leaving room for my title.

The tags here are purely decorative! I love using them this way...sticking out haphazardly and tied with twine. 

Blue and yellow is such a great color combination. Don't you think so?

The Upside Down Tree

On Walt Disney World's Kilimanjaro Safari ride, you travel in open-air vehicles through the 100 acre savannah of Animal Kingdom's African area, getting glimpses here and there of giraffe, elephants, lions, rhinos, zebra, and more. Then there is this one big baobab tree. It looks so real as it stands sentinel. Kevin gave it a nick-name that aptly describes the huge hulking tree which in real life can live over a thousand years...the upside down tree! 

He's not the only one to think this. Legend has it that the baobab tree looks like it does "because the devil yanked it out of the ground and shoved it back into the earth upside down, leaving its roots sticking up into the air." That explains it! :)

Just a lot of layers here. I pulled out paper after paper that looked pretty with my photo and piled them on! Did the same with the smattering of mismatched flowers. Great way to use those "singletons"!

Supplies: Patterned papers-BasicGrey, Collage Press, October Afternoon, and 7 Gypsies. Flowers-Prima. Deco brad-Karen Foster. Felt letters-Making Memories. Chipboard letters-American Crafts. Other-buttons, brads, burlap, ink and punches.

Cute Little Crinkly Nose

Wow...I can't believe this little boy is now 12 years old. They grow up too fast. He's definitely thinned out, but the hair is still the same, thick and straight as a poker stick, sticking out in every direction when it gets too long.

I still remember the day I took this photo. It was early autumn and the trees were beginning to lose their leaves. As we stepped on some while walking from the car to the house, I remarked how "crunchy" they were. Before you knew it, Kevin was picking one up and putting it up to his mouth. He knew we used the word crunchy when talking about food and thought he'd try one of those crunchy leaves! Of course he enjoyed my somewhat horrified reaction, so the little bugger continued to tease me by picking up leaves and pretending to taste them. Then he gave up his antics and ran over to swing.

It was so cute when he would smile for the camera, and that little nose would wrinkle up as he did so. Don't worry, although there's no journaling on this page, I did tell the story about the leaf tasting incident on another layout. :)

Lombardi Party

Here is the first page created with Scraptastic's Faded Jeans kit. When our team won the Super Bowl a couple of years ago, the city went nuts, and the partying went on and on. Although I'd completed a couple of layouts and a mini-album about the win, I still had some scrap-worthy photos begging for a page: Coach Sean Peyton driving from the airport waving the Lombardi trophy out the sunroof of his car, Dave Matthews performing at the NFL Kick-off party, and a trio of Saints fans with their homemade trophy hats!

To tie together the disparate photos (from different days and in dissimilar sizes) I arranged and matted them together on a rectangular piece of cardstock.The linear blocking gave it some unity.

Then the title was cut with my Cricut, but instead of using the individual letters, I used the negative on my page, revealing the cardstock beneath the patterned paper. (Glimmer Mist in Jack O' Lantern turned cream-colored cardstock to an orange that closely matched the orange of the polka dot patterned paper.)

My "trophy" is simply a piece of chipboard covered in tin foil! So easy to do!

I love how this page portrays a little more of the story of those days, that year, and our super team.