52 Friday Favorites-Twenty

(Originally posted on the Paper Issues blog 2/28/20)

My 52 Friday Favorites Week 5 was all about my youngest turning 20. It's a big milestone, leaving those teenage years behind! We celebrated with King Cake one night, then went out to eat crawfish another. He loves having a birthday in February, with Mardi Gras on the horizon and crawfish season in full swing.

For my spread, I spelled out Twenty, creating letters from many of my favorite colorful washi tapes, then cut tags from Pebbles' Happy Cake Day collection papers. More of those papers were used to cut and piece a King Cake embellishment. 

What is your favorite thing from this past week?

Document it on a page, in a planner or mini album, with a traveler's notebook or a tag, then add it to the 52 Friday Favorites challenge thread in the Paper Issues Friends and Fans Facebook Group.
See you there!

When you need new supplies from the Paper Issues Store,
remember to use the code Madeline to get 20% off everything. 

Let's Wander-Create A Cluster

Here's my page for the Paper Issues Create-A-Cluster March challenge. But can you really call it a challenge, when it's so easy and such a fun thing to do?! For this page I created two clusters: 

The first is a cluster that embellishes my title, a simple die-cut from the Vicki Boutin 

Let's Wander collection: 

The second is a small embellishment cluster anchoring the map ephemera on the bottom left:

I love to add circular elements to my clusters; enamel dots and decorative brads are some of my favorite. What do you like to use in your embellishment groupings?

I have many more pages in the works with this beautiful Vicki Boutin collection.
Here’s a peek at one of them:

Find these papers and more in the Paper Issues Store.
Save 20% off everything with my code!

Scraplift Sunday-Right Now

It's that time again, Scraplift Sunday, and Paper Issues has a really fun page to lift. It inspired me in so many ways: from the bright and lively colors to the randomly placed strips of patterned paper.

My colors are those of Mardi Gras: purple, green, and gold, a look that goes with the themed attire worn by my son's swim team at their conference banquet.

Like Kat on her original, I got out my border punches and went to work dressing up the strips before adhering them to the page.

The pink/purple title, heart, and "good stuff" banner are from the
Truly Grateful collection by Pink Paislee:

Here's Kat's original:

So cute!

The Name Game-HB2U-96

(Originally posted on the Paper Issues blog 2/19/20)

Welcome back! Have you been playing along with this month's challenges? How about The Name Game? It's not hard, but it sure gets you thinking, especially if you have a long name, or double letters in your name (like me). 

Try it! Take your name, write down the letters, and find something that begins with each letter to use on your page. Here's what I created with the Pebbles' Happy Cake Day collection and 2 Free Cut Files from the Paper Issues Store:

Yes, my dad turned 96! Go Dad!

Can you find all the things that were prompted by the letters in my name? 

I'll clue you in after these close-ups of my page (hint-hint):

Here is my list:

• M-mist
• A-animals 
• D-die cuts
• E-enamel dots
• L-letter stickers
• I-inked edges
• N-numbers
• E-envelope (I made my own with patterned paper from the collection) 

Did you find them all? Maybe you even thought of more. Click on over to The Name Game challenge thread to see what everyone else has created, and if you're stumped for a letter, I'd love to help you brainstorm. Have fun and when you shop for supplies, be sure to use the code Madeline for 20% off your entire order in the Paper Issues Online Store:

52 Favorites-Week 4-Demo Day!

As soon as Laura and I were finished building and decorating the gingerbread house, I snapped a photo. It’s a good thing, because, like Chip Gaines on Fixer Upper, everyone was anxiously awaiting demo day! We got the roof and a couple of walls down when Laura tested positive for the flu. 

Yikes!!! Demolition was halted indefinitely and an implosion into the trash was ordered. Hahaha!

This colorful spread for my 52 Favorites album was created with a fun collection from Simple Stories, Oh Happy Day. It has the cutest diecuts, gorgeous papers, chipboard, and washi tape AND it can still be found in the Paper Issues store!

In case you missed it, here is another page that I created with this collection. So fun!

For all your scrapbooking needs, head on over to the Paper Issues Shop and save 20% with my code:

Write It On Your Heart

Yes, this page is about another incredible mural we found during our stay in San Antonio. Not only was I surprised to find so many really cool murals in easily accessible places, but I was totally surprised that Tommy was so into finding them too. 

The title is one of the new free cut files from Paper Issues. Isn't it perfect?! 

This page shows one of my favorite ways to use frames. They are great for grounding elements on the page. Here I use one to frame a hashtag saying on the left:

The other two create little clusters on the right:

With these little strips of leftover papers, I might be at the end of my stash of Simple Stories' Oh Happy Day. You can't say I didn't get my use out of this collection! It remains one of my favorites from the Paper Issues Store. Use my code for 20% off your order anytime. ;)

Eye Candy-SWAK

Although we were primarily there to cheer on our swimmer, we used the time between preliminary and final meet sessions to explore the city of San Antonio. One of our endeavors was to find and photograph some of the incredible murals around town. The "Lips" mural was one of my favorites!

I used the fabulous Love Notes collection from Doodlebug Design to recreate an envelope, and rose to the Paper Issues Eye Candy Challenge with the addition of Nuvo drops and enamel dots. 

I knew those stamp-edge scissors would come in handy one day! 

As would the cancellation mark stencil!

If you're ever in San Antonio, be sure to check out the mural installation at 51 Essex Street!

Yesterday's Scraplift Sunday-Today

Yesterday was another Scraplift Sunday over at Paper Issues, and I played along. I scrapped an early morning photo snapped at the airport, as we were preparing to fly home from a trip to San Antonio late last year.

First I used a stencil to trace and cut a background reminiscent of the sun rays in my picture, layering it over another patterned paper.

Then I laid a horizontal strip from which to hang my colorful banner pieces of all shapes, sizes and patterns...the real fun part of this page!

As you can see, I drew inspiration from both the photo and the banners 

on Chelsea's gorgeous original:

Journaling was kept simple. 

Short and sweet, it uses only half of a journaling card tucked in behind the photo.

I LOVE banners! They are such an easy and fun way to embellish a page:

This is one of my favorite collections. Simple Stories, Oh Happy Day has the cutest diecuts, gorgeous papers, chipboard, and washi tape AND it can still be found in the Paper Issues store!

For this and every other scrapbooking supply on your list, check out the store, an use my code to get 20% off of your entire order.