All The Gold

In an attempt to cut through more of my stash, I've been sorting through old kits, choosing items that I still love for today's pages. A sheet of gold-striped patterned paper became the base for the layout below, along with several gorgeous floral die-cuts and gold-studded embellishments, 2 chipboard frames, a gold-text paper, and ticket stub pattern. Stripes, text and ticket stubs...all favorites!

The gold is extremely difficult to photograph, and doesn't always show up well in pictures. An exception is the shot below, where those pretty glittery papers are shown off to their best advantage.

More of my favorite embellishments were used on here-enamel dots and brads included.

Who knew a bunch of leftovers could come together to create such a beautiful page?!

Whistler Title Page

While I was waiting to get our trip photos printed, I dug out my travel themed papers and pulled together a few elements to make the page below. Perhaps a photo or two could be placed on the bottom of the page. If not, I'll use this layout as a title page in my album. 

Check back here as I'm sure to scrap quite a few of our trip photos over the next few weeks!

Our Family-Step By Step

This step-by-step for my Our Family layout was shared on the My Creative Scrapbooks blog last week:

I began my page not really thinking about the page, but about ALL the possibilities for combining butterflies, flowers, and journaling cards, all plentiful in the papers and embellishments of this month's My Creative Scrapbooks Main kit. So out came the scissors...

to set those butterflies free!

Here they are dressing up three of the large journaling cards. Adhered to a cardstock or patterned paper base, any of these would make a wonderful all-purpose greeting card. But first, I'll choose one for my layout.

I started with two patterned papers from the kit, a yellow print up top, black and white plaid below, in a 1:2 ratio, then picked one of the dressed up journaling cards and adhered it to the bottom of my page. A second journaling card was layered behind the first.

Out came the scissors again, this time cutting up the prettiest floral paper. (I know! Hard to do, but I had ideas for the pieces!) Sifting through my fussy cut flowers and greenery, I chose a few pieces for the bottom of my page, and set the others aside for another layout I had planned. ;)

Three more butterflies were added, flying up from the flowers:

To balance things out, a pretty doily was tucked behind the cards. This was actually a RED doily, but the backside was perfectly white. Yay!

Believe it or not, up to this point I hadn't decided upon a photo! I had printed several, but when I set this rare family photo on the page, I knew it was the one. As you can see, a plaid scallop border sticker was added to the top, with the beginnings of my title:

A couple of tags were tucked beneath the picture, and buttons adhered beneath the word, family:

As always, a few final details seemed to attach themselves. I added to my title, dotted the "i" with hearts and a little banner, then dated the page:

Like the page says, "I am...thankful, grateful, blessed" for my awesome family, and this awesome kit from My Creative Scrapbooks. ;)

Paper Weaving: Simply Me Layout and Card

Today I'm sharing a layout (and bonus card) both created with the gorgeous March main kit from My Creative Scrapbooks. For this page, and the card below, I use a favorite paper scrap technique, paper weaving.

You could use just a few chosen patterned papers, and create an orderly design with your weaving...or opt for a more freestyle look, as in the weaving I've done here.

I love the random look of these paper strips woven together. They create a fun second photo mat of sorts for my photo, which was first narrowly matted on yellow. Additional pops of yellow, flower chipboard, button, and bird sticker give the layout a happy feel.

Stickers, chipboard pieces, and die-cuts from the Simple Stories "I Am" collection are scattered around the journaling card. 

Of course, what does one do with those extra strips cut for the layout above, except continue the weaving exercise! Backing a heart cut-out, and embellished with die-cuts, a button and tag, it makes a beautiful card. 

And who doesn't love a handmade birthday card? 'Til next time...

Enjoy

I'm finally getting to all the pictures from our spring trip to Whistler, Canada, and this one shows exactly what we did there...relax! Yes, there were trips up the mountain in the Gondola, lots of great meals and window shopping, but the best times were when we had nothing planned and could just enjoy our time away from the everyday. 

Here's Tommy checking out the oversized chess board at our hotel. 

This layout was made with the March main kit from My Creative Scrapbooks, a gorgeous kit full of Simple Stories' "I Am" papers, chipboard, die-cuts, and stickers. Fussy cut flowers and greenery were used to trim the large paper heart shape.

That yellow house reminded me of our own home, two story, yellow, and full of charm (if not flowers), so I cut it from one of the patterned paper journaling cards and added it to the page as well.

Now let me tell you about my title. The foam letters were originally pure white, but a brushing with gold Perfect Pearls pigment powder gave them a shimmery new look. Another pot of Perfect Pearls rescued the patterned paper heart. Trying to be a bit more artsy, I had originally dry brushed the edges with white paint. The result was too stark, and not exactly what I had in mind! A brushing with pink pearl powder fixed it up nicely.

Now it looks so much better!

Stay tuned for more projects from this beautiful main kit by My Creative Scrapbooks.

College Tour

After Kevin's last exam in May, we hit the road again, in search of that perfect university. It was a whirlwind tour, four colleges in three days. Sooner or later, he'll have to choose between all the schools he's visited. Hoping for robust scholarship offers to sweeten the pot, and make the choice an easier one. Meanwhile he's started to amass a nice collection of T-shirts from his favorite SEC schools!

This page was created with the June main kit from My Creative Scrapbooks.

Epic Success Step-by-Step

The following tutorial was recently shared on My Creative's Scrapbook blog. It's an easy step-by-step for my page, Epic Success, created with My Creative Scrapbooks' Main kit for June.

As you can see, I drew inspiration for my page from the patterned paper below, one of the kit papers from the Fancy Pants' Family And Co. collection:

I loved those color-blocked stars and decided to make a similar star the focal point of my design. Using a piece of 12x12 paper, I sketched a five-pointed star to use as my template. Then, to make assembling the star easier, I numbered each segment and the corresponding side of the center section. 

After cutting apart the star, I traced each section on various patterned papers from the kit.

Here are my colorful star pieces, placed upon a grid-design background paper from my stash.

Next, I have a photo and a frame but, uh-oh, my picture was cropped too small!

That wasn't a problem for long...as I backed the frame with patterned paper, 

and placed my photo askew on top! It actually sets off the photo better than if it fit perfectly. ;)

Did you notice what has changed?! Before adhering the papers, I switched around two of the star's rays, so that a more solid pattern was on top. This strategic move was intended help my title stand out better when it is added to the upper portion of the layout.

Meanwhile, I added a few die-cuts around the photo frame and at the bottom of the star,

and placed several puffy banner stickers along a hand-drawn "clothesline" of sorts:

Finally, a long title was added using a Fancy Pants chipboard sticker, Jillibean Soup tiny letter stickers, and Fancy Pants chipboard alphabet, all three a part of the June Main kit. Pretty epic!

A bit of journaling, and a couple more stickers, finishes it off. Sweet!

I love when patterned papers and/or kit accessories spark an idea for me! What inspires your page designs?