Pelican Powered

 This weekend I enjoyed the company of some very scrappy ladies up at Camp Beausite, in the Olympic mountain foothills. A friend we met on the cruise earlier this year, Lani, arranged a crafter's retreat and I could go for a full 24 hours with my other friends, Becca and Daphne. There was plenty of yummy meals provided and at the end of my stay I was completely satisfied... but wanting to create more of course! Which I did have the pleasure of doin yesterday evening but more about that later this week :-*
One of the fun things about having a friend continue to scrap long after you've gone home is that they can send texts of what they continue creating in your absence. I love seeing all of the different styles of memory recording and life sharing that takes place around me at events like this. The mixing of styles and personal preferences on all manner of things adds to my creative fervor and I come with batteries drained and recharged at the same time.
One of the things I realized about myself this weekend is that, just as I enjoy these large gatherings of creative minds, I really embrace the mixing of patterns through paper. Wow, do I ever! Also, layers are an easy way for me to build a background for my photos, jump starting my story's telling and creating a theme for me to enhance with stickers etc. So, with that new eye towards recognizing my distinct style, I've chosen to share with you an example in this page I made about three weeks ago.
Note there are no less than 4 patterns or colors as well as a transparency under the 2 4x6 photos. I love using the manufacturer's strips left over from cutting papers down to size;  there is a quote down there in the bottom right corner, and it is one of those company advertisements as well. Two more are included above the hand writing- kind of a signature inclusion.I'm a fan of adding banner to my outdoor pages, so there is a multi layer pennant made from a journaling card and scraps at top right. Topped with an old postage stamp, some die cuts, and another designer paper's titled "Giddy up"

 A benefit of adding so many layers to my pages is that the 22 12x12 pages I made are full of movement, the energy of the emotions I feel I want to share, and color symbolism- and my paper stash is considerably lighter. Not that anyone could notice, as I still have oodles of cardstock and patterned papers galore. I'm a paper hoarder too- for example, it looks like those paper strips continue down the length of the page, but they are small pieces cut in half and stuck to the edge of larger pieces.
When I made this page I wasn't sure where in the album it would go, but this is where I decided to house them; next to some bright blue pictures of water on a navy background edged with twined rope. Another signature design I see a lot of in my albums is a square on top of a square with a long block over the top, and that's what I chose to do to balance the chaotic page of the pelicans.
Funny, I just thought of another signature scrap habit of mine- never use what I have the most of or love to think I'll use, i.e. ribbon and overlays. Both are included here though! I love the way the seriousness of the dark navy and the overlays contrast with the fun, bright colors I paired them with. Two hearts punched from yellow cardstock lead the eye into the next scene/page and coincidentally agree with it's color pallet.
Thanks for joining me for a little study in my personal Scrapology theories!

 

Crazy Beautiful, Seriously Awesome    &    Fort Lauderdale, FL

 

An Unexpected Punch of Fun

I absolutely love this card I made yesterday! It has layers of My Mind's Eye papers, a Jenni Bowlin argyle transparency, and Lawn Fawn stickers, a combination that pops with color and all the fun of the holiday season.

At the Creating Keepsakes Convention earlier this month, I learned a fabulous technique for creating Shaker Cards. Mike from Queen & Co. taught us to use washi tape to close our cards... WASHI! One of my all time favorites!

I brought home a lot of sequins from the convention, a product I sought out after I realized I have almost depleted my meager supply of 10 or so sequins I've been hoarding as they fall off our daughter's clothes and from Christmas decoration clean up in years gone by. Yes, I am too cheap to spend a dollar to get a bazillion sequins and prefer the distressed-by-my-concrete-floor versions... NOT.

Beloved washi, meet newly acquired mega-stash of sequins. Sequins, meet Transparency overlay that I never know what to do with. Washi, meet transparency... now that we're all acquainted, put it all together and look what happens!

Well, if you're me, what happens is that all that fun creates a bit of a mess and the inside of your card suffers. But, if you're me you go looking for a way to cover up you fingerprinting mishaps, and participate in a challenge at the same time~

Jen Schow is a somewhat new YouTube process video-er who has done what I haven't figured out yet; gained over 500 subscribers in the short time she's been 'Tubing! What an accomplishment. Jen and I sort of know each other online as members of the Nicole Jones 911 Facebook group, which a lot of fun. And to celebrate her gratefulness at all the subbie support she's getting, she is offering up an American Crafts prize pack for punched project share submitters!

Here is how I used my favorite Close To My Heart Scalloped circle punch: as a peek a boo to the back side of the background to my shaker card front. I fussy cut a snowflake and layered that inside with a pop dot, and ran another strip of washi tape down the side. If I were a forward thinker, I'd have ran the tape down the side before punching, but I just cut a fringe along the edge and folded the tape over the scallops and no one (okay, non card makers anyway) would know the difference anyway.

Thanks for stopping by and let me see what you're making!

Made Today

Sprinkles of mist behind a vellum sticker,
topped with an acetate balloon.

Well, technically, this fun birthday card (left) was made just before retiring to bed last night, but these two below were really made this morning just before I dashed the kids into the car and headed to Gig Harbor to enjoy the sunshine. My girlfriend Jen met us at Java and Clay and took the kids on a short stroller ride while I met with the owners to discuss the possibility of selling my handmade greeting cards in their shop. The meeting went well! Randy and Kelly both commented on the uniqueness of my samples... hoping of course that they weren't using that word "unique" as my DF and her hubby do... as in, wow, this dish you've made out of lettuce and eggs is unique! lol

There is limited space in their store though, so I'm looking for a smaller card rack than the behemoth double, 80 card spaces rack I brought in for show and tell, and found one online for only $25. So that's promising! No matter what their decision is, I'm proud of taking the risk to put my cards in their lap and ask, "what do you think?"

My favorite part of the meeting was when I invited Randy to open the card in his hand and see the fancy inside. Their young artist son was at the table as well, and when shown the card, he smiled. Then Kelly looked and smiled. Then Randy smiled and they all leaned in for a family hug while gazing at my card. Sigh! That is the exact kind of feeling one can hope to generate with a little labor of love :-)

Well, after walking up the street to replace some cards and oogle my future CraftWithAnna designated space at the Copy Mail It store, Rainie decided we needed to lunch at my favorite Tokyo Teriyaki. As we piled back into our jumbo Joovy stroller, Miss Kim came out with our diaper bag- whew! Yeah, cause it included our keys to the car parked about a mile away! So I quickly pulled this card out of my supply and didn't mind at all giving it to her. She saved me so many steps, and truly is an egg-stra special hostess. I've been going there for over ten years now and I feel like she's my Japanese mama!

Graphic 45 - Reads, You Are the Best
One of my favorite cards created lately!

I said I didn't mind giving her the card; well I have had so much generosity shown to me lately that my thank you list is miles long. Unfortunately I've been hoarding my cards for selling. Resolved: create or send off cards to loved ones this weekend! Preferably writing outside in the delightfully hot sun we're anticipating!

Fingers crossed that more store front opportunities are on the horizon!

(H)our Attention Captured

I didn't know it when I started this layout, but for once, I appear to be scrapbooking chronologically! These pictures are from a trip our family took to Anacortes, WA this last November. The girls and I had a few hours to find some fun at the nearby Burlington Children's Museum (while their dad had his remaining wisdom teeth extracted).

I based my layout on Shimelle's sketch number thirty three for 2013. Her sketch puts the focus on the photo and allows for more journaling... I didn't include any journaling, but its possible I may in the future.

Behind this photo I layered a beautiful transparency from Jo-Ann's. A I recall, it came with three others in a package from the dollar bin. You can see how I used another of those transparencies in my Rainie Wears Glasses?! process video.

My personal scrapbooking challenge for this year is to focus on a different type of embellishment each month, and this month my product to use is Baker's Twine. A simple addition but I always like the look on other designer pages. So far, so good on incorporating a bit on each layout for this month.. of course, it's only a week in and so far I have made I think three. So three for three yippee for me!

One of my other goals is to use all those things I've had for years and not found a way to use them. So out from the dusty Cropper Hopper of never used vellum came this full 12x12 sheet of white netting. I layered the entire piece over another oldie but goodie: a  page from one of those big DCWV stacks of printed cardstock, circa 2009 :-)

 To secure my baker's twine I cut and covered the ends with a tiny piece of washi tape,  and then a glue dot in each corner of my photo mat worked to hold it against that net. For good measure I added a line of TomBow mono liquid adhesive after I got everything situated. I think it ended up a little crooked, but oh well.

Here's a look at the coordinating page on the left, using a lot of the same colors and another sheet from the DCWV Rustic glossy/glitter stack. Another, smaller piece of white netting in the bottom right corner for grounding and continuity... Kept it simple but I did sneak a small piece of baker's twine on this Amy Tangerine tag. I added some washi tape with music notes on it because at any children's museum, there are usually lots of instruments for kids to try out! I don't remember if we saw any at this one, but that's a minor detail that we can gloss over :-D

And here's the two page layout that comes before these pages. With just a little guidance from me, Rainier built this page featuring cute pictures of her and Ray posing for me in the backyard of the hotel we stayed at, the Shipwreck Inn. Great view of a harbor if you're ever looking to visit the Fidalgo Bay area. My favorite piece is that vellum envelope; inside is a handwritten note from dad to daughter saying how much he enjoys traveling with her. Awww!

Thanks for stopping by!