I Mustache You...

Have you seen anyone so cute lately?! So darn cute to be more precise.

This page, my 23rd for this month, is based on Shimelle's (coincidentally) Sketch No. 23 for 2013.

 

15,16,17...

It turns out days go by a lot faster when there is a deadline involved! Although, "deadline" isn't a very inspiring word, is it? We need a craft-astic replacement noun!

Anyway, here are my fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth layout of the month. Remember, I have challenged myself to complete 30 layouts in the 30 days of June. So far I feel extremely confident in my ability to succeed.
My local scrapbook store just closed (I'm Toadilly unhappy!) I was in one last time yesterday afternoon and managed to collect even more products. As if I "needed" more. But you know, I did!
Extreme crafting at it's best ensued as soon as I got home. Fortunately my youngest daughter slept for almost two hours, allowing me to use my bargain priced Hambly's screen printed doily transparency. Below that was a Jade colored echo park dot's and stripes sheet. Where the two joined together I ran a tiny strip of red and blue by graphic45. Since it is a transparency, whatever I put on the first side would also need to be translated to the reverse. At least the way I wanted to use it!
In the first picture you can see the third picture behind it, just as you would in my album. I didn't think of that when I started the first layout though. Well, I think I did, but once I was in the whirlwind I promptly forgot to think back on it! I find that it is a lot easier not to second-guess since I don't want to 'waste time' over embellishment or paper decisions.
You may have noticed that these pages do not include any bling. I did however create some small dots of Real Red Mr. Huey's ink also picked up yesterday. I drew the flowers on with a free pen I got from the Scrappy Stamper, then sprayed a bit of mist into it's cap, dipped in small paintbrush, and voila!
 Second layout. This time I used washi tape to seal the seam between the transparency and paper. On both sides I punched Hearts of various sizes; Close To My Heart's Tommy for the loosely nautical themed first layout. A couple 4x6 cards by We R Memory Keepers went on either side of that adorable photo of Sunday in her first bathing suit. You can see that process on video someday.
This moning Rainier helped me pull out of the Simple Stories bag and we were finished with the 17th layout of the month.
And from between her going to lay down for a nap and Sunday waking up from hers, I made this

So yes, I can see myself meeting my 30 day layout goal!

Next!

Four Days of Expression

Our daughter Sunday is such a ham! We have countless pictures of her many expressions. This layout was a fun way to showcase four days of photo fun. Nine pictures in one layout- now that's a great way to use up those prints!

A pack of Webster's Pages paper and an accompanying sticker sheet pulled all of these sets of photos together. I plunked a piece of green polka dot paper in between, with Prima washi tape to connect and draw the eye around the two pages. The washi tape and a few stickers are the only embellishments I used besides some letter stickers for the title. I felt that with the number of photos and the background paper's beautiful designs, that was plenty busy enough. If you look closely at the four outside photos you will see some black and white photo corners that I cut from the backside of the farthest right background paper, which is covered in vintage frames.

Thanks for stopping by! This is my tenth layout for this month :-)

Storytellers Club

A couple of years ago, I was receiving monthly shipments of kits from Storytellers Club. I love the thrill of opening up an anticipated package of scrap-er-phernelia, and these kits always contained a few sheets of double sided patterned paper (which at the time was sort of a new, fancier paper than I was used to), along with a slew of die-cuts waiting to be torn from their perforated sheets. The papers were always beautifully printed in rich color and the die-cuts perfectly matched the colors and included both embellishments and word-cards. The only trouble was... I rarely knew what to do with the kits! They seemed to be so pretty and perfectly matched that I had no desire to use them! Isn't that silly?

So, in my ongoing effort to use up my old, can't-bear-to-pass-them-on-even-though-I-don't-use-them supplies, I have applied two kits towards my June page a day challenge.

The first page, "It's All About Me," was especially fun to create, as I had a guest collaborator in my young friend Lilly helping me along. I think it was relating to her five-year old attitude of "more is better" that enabled me to use up so many die-cuts and not think I was over doing it. I wish this photo was clearer so you could see some of the details, like the stickers and rub-ons we added to the top banner and the chipboard definition of happy. My daughter Sunday is such a ham and is usually sporting this sunny smile :-)

Two Bright Blue Eyed Girls

The page below was a lot easier for me and is more in line with my current style. I love taking Instagram photos and found that if I visit the kiosk at Walgreens I can upload those pictures and have them printed in the four-by-four inch ratio they are meant to be viewed at. It has not ceased to amaze me that Rainier's eyes are still so blue at two years old, and Sunday could follow that same strange genetic trait. It is not easy to capture the color of babies eyes, fyi, it seems whenever one gets the camera out, the ground suddenly becomes captivating! These photos were taken in March a few days apart. I love how the light reflects the different shades of beautiful blue eyes my girls have - at least for now! I threw on some red and clear bling and felt it was just the right balance of all things elemental.
Thanks for stopping by! I'm steadily keeping up with my layout tabulation, I think I have eight out of eleven days completed as of this posting. The next trip I make to the library I'll be uploading a quick card process video that I hope you'll enjoy. How's that for a teaser!?

Backyard Beauty

This afternoon Sunday was helping me create this simple page for her sister. I was really impressed by how attentive she was! This is my seventh page made for my 30 Days of June challenge to myself. To gain color inspiration we looked to the most recent Nordstrom mailing. The colors found within perfectly echo the brightness of Rainie bathing suit and smile, but we finally settled on this page to lift ideas from.

The blue background is an old S.E.I. paper from their Holiday Cheer line. The reverse is the most beautiful deep purple... if I'd had two hands available I would have cut off most of the sheet and just glued a small strip to one side of the green patterned paper to make it appear as though it was a full sheet of 12x12". I only adhered one side of the papers, and will do my trimming later if I'm desperate from some purple houndstooth!

When I took this photo, I had sent it to Ray with the text, "Wal-Mart called, they want Rainie to model for them!" Heh heh, because of the plastic toy corral and satellite on the roof of the house :-)

I added a lot of bling to my embellishment cluster at the top. In one of my videos you can see that I have more than enough bling to last me awhile! But what girl doesn't need a lot of bling in her life?!

So tell me, where do you find color inspiration for your layouts? Which supplies do you tend to buy in abundance and then hoard! What's your favorite outdoor snack? And... do you know anyone with an "in" at the Wal-Mart marketing department :-D

Happy crafting!

Is Something Missing?

Help me out! This is the fifth layout I've completed in my June challenge of completing a page a day. The help I'm seeking is, do you think this layout needs something more to make it look complete?

I added the dark brown Echo Park paper as a border to the flower patterned Crate Paper, and that seemed to help. Is it just me, am I over thinking it?

Leave me a message and let me know your opinion!

3 out of 4

This is my third layout of my month long challenge. I'd better get started on the next one, I don't want to fall behind... well, its a great excuse to craft anyway :-) As if I need any more motivation, haha.

Look at this beautiful smiling baby. I can't get enough of that gorgeous sunshine in my day. I love how she wakes up and reaches for me before dazzling me with a gummy grin. At five in the morning its a great way to start the day!

Hmmm... Scrapbooking in bed?!

So far I'm 2 for 2!

I'm always looking to challenge myself in crafting. I gain something in inspiration when there is a time constraint or product suggestion or layout to lift. Maybe because I love directions? The guidelines somehow free me to be more of my artistic self!

So my current challenge: scrapbook a page for every day in June. Not OF  every day in June, but to have completed 30 pages by month's end :-) I regularly scrap about three or four pages a week, so I am confident that I can meet my goal.

Here is my second page of the month... using kits is a really easy way to pull a page or two together quickly. The May Club Kit from embellishkits.com contains really beautiful papers and stickers, brads, you name it, from Echo Park and Simple Stories. You can see a couple other layouts I've made recently using this same kit on this video.

 

I just love that my daughter gets to spend time with my grandma. Seeing the two of them together always makes my heart warm with joy. Capturing them outside on a Gorgeous afternoon was really special. See those bushes on the left side of the smaller photo? When I was little I would sit behind hose bushes and make believe I was a witch brewing up all sorts of concoctions. Those hedge's needles made the perfect "spices." I felt so hidden away, filling up flower pot bases with mud. Now air realize the chain link fence was see through and anyone walking by on the other side could totally see me! Ah, hindsight...

Thanks for stopping by and let me know if you want to see my first 30days of June challenge layout!

A Note To My Teenage Self- Party Like It's 1999!

Ah the nineties... or as I sometimes recall them, the pre-feminine days! These were the days before I truly embraced how fun it is to be a girly-girl, and mostly adorned myself with cool jewelry instead of dresses and such. I even wore an earring in my nose, eyebrow, and tongue, too!
Those have long since disappeared from my face, but the memories, (the holes), and this photo collage from Wal-Mart remain :-)

Watch me as I layer it with some S.E.I. paper, a hidden note, and washi-covered raw chipboard elements. The chipboard fun was inspired by Lisa Dickinson's Seeing Double prompt over at TwoPeas. If you've got a mental block when it comes to using chipboard, I highly recommend her inspiration- it worked for me at least!
My hidden journaling reads, *find the positive quickly, *forgive yourself and others, *don't get down on yourself, *weight isn't important- being healthy is! *be cautious, * try new things and ideas, *love with all your heart.   There were many other wise words for myself in my heart, but alas, when it came time to write them, I went for the much simplified version... perhaps in the future I'll type out some additional verbiage for the back of my hidden card. Just in case my daughters are interested when or before they themselves are teenagers. Now that's a scary thought :-D

I hope you enjoy my third scrapbook process video!

Let me know what you think about my attempt at voice-over, as well as the much shorter video length... and thanks for watching!