Learn & Grow

Supplies : Papers by Collage Press, Scenic Route, October Afternoon, and Cosmo Cricket; Remarks Stickers (Letters and Trees) and Flair button by American Crafts; Glitter Bird sticker by Colorbok

It's Sketch Friday at Practical Scrappers! Heidi created the sketch this week and I do have to say I was stumped for a while on what I would do. I decided to trade out the big oval photo for a trio photo row that fit much better with my style and I staggered the size of my photos to make it closer to an oval shape rather than a straight rectangular row. Aside from the base all the rest of the papers are old scraps and I was so happy to use some of them! It seemed like forever to find a combo that inspired me since I started with the photos, but after a bit of trial and error I went with this tree theme and just love it! All those darling tree stickers are from American Crafts and have you seen their new stuff lately? I am in love with the Adobe, Spring, and Heat Wave lines. Well, I'm loving them all but those are going to be the first ones I get to play with ;) Pebbles just started carrying a whole bunch of new American Crafts and My Minds Eye goodies, and my my they are all such yummy eye candy! Anyway, the sketch is below if you want to play. Head on over to Practical Scrappers if you make a layout and post it to the Mr. Linky there. Thanks for popping by and have a fantastic Friday!

Collecting

Supplies : Paper - Sassafras (Monstrocity) and October Afternoon (Farm Fresh); Cardstock by Bazzil and CTMH; Forest Friends, Take Note, Journaling Lines, and Borders and Corners Circles stamp sets and inks by Papertrey Ink; Remarks letter stickers by American Crafts

Playing around with your stamps is the challenge over at Practical Scrappers this week! It's so easy to get stuck in a rut with my stamps. I tend to use them just for making cards or adding journaling prompts on my layouts. So to get out of my box I stamped on pattern paper ;) It definitely gives my stamped elements a lot more personality and opened up many new ideas to use my solid and text stamps on! Stamping my own journaling lines, which is something I do quite often, also adds more customization to my layout. I stamped the dotted lines in Ripe Avocado instead of black to keep the journaling block from looking too heavy on the page. To keep my focus on making cute stamped elements on my page I used the #42 sketch from Inspired Blueprints so I didn't have to think up a design, subbing an extra photo for the big title section. Cait is always collecting stuff outside whether it's pinecones or rocks, sticks or flowers. They all end up in her 'garden' which is usually a meticulously designed set up on the porch where she can proudly display it to us, lol. It drives me batty that she does this but at the same time I can't help but love that she loves nature so much and wants to show off her findings. If you make a project with stamps head on over to the Practical Scrappers blog and link it up ;) Thanks for stopping by and have a terrific Tuesday!

Quick Wrapping!

Supplies : Tiny Treats Valentines, Polka Dot Basics, Borders and Corners Circles, and Everyday Classics stamp sets, Ink, and button twine by Papertrey Ink;

I had a baby shower to go to last Saturday and being the scatter-brained mom that I am I completely forgot about it until that morning. So I rushed out to shop for the new baby boy and found a couple darling outfits (didn't get pictures, oops!). The colors were orange, brown, and khaki in both outfits, one sporting a truck the other a puppy. I got home with about 20 minutes until I had to leave for the shower and so I made quick work with a simple tag and card.

I've been trying to be more earth conscious with my wrapping so I used a repurposed kraft bag from the quilt store and some of the packing paper from an online order. I grabbed some kraft and rustic cream scraps, pulled out the orange zest and dark chocolate inks and went to work. I kept both the tag and card very simple, the dog and welcome circle elements pop dotted up for some dimension as the only real embellishment. For just a few minutes I think it turned out very cute! The pictures aren't that great since I just propped everything on top of my armoire real quick to snap a couple photos before running out the door with the girls. We were about 10 minutes late but it ended up just fine since the guest of honor wasn't there yet ;) Anyway, enjoy and have a lovely Sunday!

Rise and Shine

Supplies : Paper by Sassafras (Monstrosity); Stickers and Journaling/Title prompts by Cosmo Cricket (Early Bird) and October Afternoon (Farm Fresh); Blossoms by Sassafras (Sunny Day)

It's Sketch Friday at Practical Scrappers! This week Ann Katrin provided the sketch for us. I just picked up these papers and blossoms from Roberts and wanted to use them on a fun cheerful layout. Cait is such an early bird. The funny thing is she'll even stay up way past bedtime usually playing in her room in the dark while Audrey is asleep or trying to sneak out to see what we're doing instead of going to sleep herself, lol, yet she is the first one up in the morning. She is literally our own little rooster, we don't even set our alarm because she's up and waking us so early in the morning! Luckily for me Paul is great at getting up with her so I get a few extra snoozes in the morning before having to start our crazy days ;) The layout was easy and went together in a jiffy. No real layers, just some photo matting and a bunch of cute embellies. Of course I had to add a spot for some fun journaling about her early bird habit. Below is the sketch if you want play, then head on over to Practical Scrappers to link your project to the Mr. Linky. Enjoy and have a fab Friday!

I'm Windy

Supplies : Paper by Bo Bunny; Glazed Brads by Bo Bunny; Earth Love Chipboard by Cosmo Cricket; Thickers Letter Stickers and Chocolate Cardstock by American Crafts; Rustic Cream Cardstock by Papertrey Ink; Apron Lace Punch by Fiskars

This is the third layout with these Bo Bunny papers and oh I have loved using them. I hardly have any scraps left and it makes me both a little sad because the papers nearly gone yet very proud since I'm doing well with my goals this year with scraps ;) Caitlyn is so hilarious. She knows that wind blows and so one time she said she was windy while blowing some of those little weed flowers that we all love (but hate in our grass, lol). I don't have a picture of that but I did have one of her blowing bubbles and that fit perfectly with the little story. I wish I could remember all the silly things she says. The other evening she saw some jet lights in the sky and immediately squealed out "It's IRONMAN! Look Mom, look! Ironman is up there!" I love that she can believe in stuff like that. She believes in fairies and unicorns, Santa and superheroes, magic and flying. She keeps telling me one day she'll learn how to fly ;) Anyway, about the layout, I used another January Page Maps for this one. That was just a great month of sketches, I think I loved most all of them! And much of this layout uses both fronts and backs of the papers. The blue dot is the back of the plaid, the brown damask is the blue flower print. I had to piece the layout base on some white cardstock so that I could maximize the use of my pretty Bo Bunny paper ;) Enjoy the page and have a wonderful Wednesday!

Fall 4 U - Flowers Challenge

Supplies : Paper by Bo Bunny; Woolies Indian Summer by Basic Grey; Silk flowers and glazed brads by Bo Bunny; In a Stitch flowers by Sassafras; Bird Glazed brad Indian Summer by Basic Grey; Fall/Back to School Slice Card by Making Memories; Scallop Scissors; Rustic Cream cardstock by Papertrey ink; Cardstock by American Crafts

Using flowers is the Challenge this week at Practical Scrappers. I love flowers, so this was a really fun one for me! Here I did a mix of cardstock, silk, and felt flowers for a fun texture rich page. It's so funny what you forget your kids had until you see a photo of it. This was one of Audrey's favorite shirts and I had completely forgotten it since she last year winter was the last time she fit into it. I remember her Aunt Beth sent it to her for her birthday and since Audrey's favorite color is pink she immediately fell in love with it. She also loved all the fun things on that pretty embroidery and I have to admit I did too, like the butterfly and bird, the flowers, that design was just full of hidden treasures. The picture doesn't do the cute blouse justice as there is shimmery gold in there as well, such a perfect pretty fall shirt for my girly girl plus it was soft and comfy ;) And since she's an autumn baby, it was doubly perfect! So use some flowers in a project this week and then head on over to Practical Scrappers and link it up! Thanks for visiting and have a terrific Tuesday!

I Heart You

Supplies : Paper by Bo Bunny; I Heart You title stickers by Pebbles Inc.; Silk flowers and Designer Brads by Bo Bunny; Woolies Indian Summer by Basic Grey; In a Stitch Blossoms by Sassafras; White Gel Pen; Cardstock by AC; Apron Lace Punch by Fiskars; Corner Rounder by EK Success;

I hope everyone is having a Happy Valentines weekend ;) I thought it would be fun to post a love page today. You might recognize the photo from my year in review. It's one of my favorites of Audrey. I have been so excited to use these Bo Bunny papers and this photo just went with them so well. I didn't have a story to go with this picture, other than that I was practicing (ever practicing) taking pictures of my cutie pies. So I decided to make a page just to tell Audrey how much I love her. I tell both my girls everyday that I love them, usually multiple times but for me it's never enough so I though just journaling that along with one of my favorite photos would be a great way to scrap a photo I love while adding meaningful journaling when there isn't a story. I used a January Page Maps layout, though I think it was for an 8.5 x 11. I just altered and flipped it to fit the scraps I had and I think it came out lovely. The journaling I took a little leap out of my comfort zone and used my white gel pen on the dark cocoa cardstock. I'm really liking the effect ;) Paul and I already celebrated Valentines last weekend since it was only time we could get a sitter, lol. So we went out to see From Paris With Love which is not a romance in case the title fools you, lol. We love action flicks so it was that or When In Rome, which would have been cute I'm sure but blowing up stuff on the big screen always outways romantic comedies (though I love snuggling up and watching those at home!) Then we went out for a nice quiet dinner and then hung out chatting just the two of us and we got a whole 4 hours together without kids, yay! I love when I get to date my hubby ;) Anyway, enjoy the page and happy Saturday!

Dyson

Supplies : Paper by American Crafts and October Afternoon; Cardstock from American Crafts, Bazzil, and Papertrey Ink; EK Success heart punches; American Crafts Brads; Journal Lines stamp set and Pure Poppy Ink by Papertrey Ink; Fall/Back to School Slice Card by Making Memories;

Using your brads is the supply challenge over at Practical Scrappers this week! I also used a Friday Sketch from PS last month to create this layout. This bright AC paper was so fun and funky I knew I wanted to make a kind of quirky layout with it and the daily random photos of my vacuum were just the ticket with that bright yellow ;) I used some hot pink brads on my hot pink punched out hearts to give them some fun texture without making them too busy and taking away from the paper which is what I really wanted to pop, aside from the photos that is! Try creating patterns with your brads on punches like a heart within heart or polka dots on circles. Use are variety of different sizes and patterned brads for a focus embellishment or keep it simpler like I did here with monochromatic colors on cardstock for a more subtle look. Starting on the 20th of January I decided I'd start taking at least one photo a day. I take a bazillion ton of photos of the girls so the goal is to take random shots of other things that are in our daily lives. Also I'm trying to make it a goal to get at least one photo of myself each month as well and hopefully more of Paul and I together ;) The vacuum was actually the very first random item I shot. I knew I wanted to make a page about it later just for fun and then after that the ideas just started rolling of things I could take pictures of and journal about, lol. So I've been trying to keep up by making a list of items I want to take pictures of. I also write a couple sentences to a paragraph about the item in the photo to help me learn to journal better and I'm starting to do it with the girls photos too when I upload them to my computer. That way even though it may take me months (or longer!) to scrap a page, I'll have the memory already written so that I won't forget. And it really helps with the random photo to remember why I took the picture in the first place, lol. Enjoy the layout and have a fun Tuesday!

Perfect Pear

Supplies : Paper by Sassafras; Cardstock, Fruitful and Punny Valentine stamp sets by Papertrey Ink; Sans Small stamp set, Cocoa, Cranberry, and Sweetleaf inks by CTMH; Button by My Minds Eye; Jute by Papertrey Ink

Another Fruitful Valentine! I saw a card in Scrapbooks Etc. that said 'We make a great pear' and instantly thought how fun it would be to use the pears in the fruitful set to make a similar theme card. Making the pears was really simple. I stamped the big pear in sweet leaf on white and then second generationed the smaller pear next to it. Then I used the teensy heart from Punny Valentine to make the heart shaped seeds in the small pear then cut it out and glued it onto the big pear so that it looks like the inside. Both are pop dotted on the card ;) I think this would make a cute anniversary card as well, especially if you had some pear goodies to give. Enjoy and have a super Saturday!

Tutti Fruiti

Supplies : Blue Skies and Letterbox papers by American Crafts; Blue Skies Remarks and Flair button and Letterbox Chipboard shapes by American Crafts; Thickers and Remarks Letter Stickers by American Crafts; Nook and Pantry Woolies by Basic Grey; Orange Cardstock by American Crafts; White Cardstock from LSS; Corner Rounder by EK Success

It's Sketch Friday at Practical Scrappers! Ann-Katrin created the sketch for this week. This was a fun simple sketch that allowed for some great embellishment showcasing! I broke out some of the new American Crafts Letterbox goodies and mixed it with some Blue Skies stuff for a quick and easy layout. These are the cute photos of Cait in this top. The other ones she is sporting some grumpy girl attitude, lol. I remember it took a while to get her to warm up to the camera that day, she was just not in the mood but I wanted to get pictures of her because she looked so darn cute! Okay, who am I kiddin' she always looks cute but I don't always get pictures of some of the outfits I love on her, so I really wanted a picture of this cute citrus top before I forgot about it ;) Below is the sketch. Visit Practical Scrappers to link your creation if you play along! Thanks for popping by and have a Fabulous Friday!!

My Main Squeeze

Supplies : Cardstock, Paper, Fruitful, Tiny Treats Valentines, and Heart Prints stamp sets by Papertrey Ink; Sunflower, Cranberry, and White Daisy Ink by CTMH; Rhinestone by Kaiser

When I saw the lemon sentiments on the Tiny Treats stamp set I immediately wanted to break out my fruitful stamps to do some big lemons on a card. What I ended up making was this cute patchwork with all three lemons! I love the little hearts in the in middle of the treats lemons ;) This will probably be Paul's card with some lemony cookies. He LOVES cookies and it's been a really long time since I've made any lemony sugar cookies so that's one of the things I'll be doing for him this year. Now I just need to hunt down my recipe, lol. Anyway, to get the lighter color inside the lemon I second generationed stamped by stamping the image off on scratch paper once before stamping it in the middle of the darker rind. I hope you all aren't bored of my Valentine cards, lol. Thanks for visiting and have a terrific Thursday!

Hey There Cupcake

Supplies : Paper, Cardstock, and Cupcake Collection stamp set by Papertrey Ink; Blush, Watermelon, White Daisy and Cranberry Ink by CTMH; Rhinestones by Kaiser;

This card is for my sister since her birthday is the day after Valentines. I thought it would be fun to make a very Valentine colored card ;) Last year I did hearts but not Valentine colors really so this year I'm going full on with the girly pink and red! I learned that she likes to bake so I'm thinking about getting her a cute whisk with some cupcake silicone molds, we'll see what I find. I used another old sketch from the 2 sketches for you blog and changed the position of the sentiment since it looked a little funny the other way with my card. Anyway, enjoy and have a happy Wednesday!

Solitary Girl

Supplies : Paper - Marrakech by Basic Grey, Brown Swirl by Pebbles Inc.; Kraft Cardstock; Brads Abbey Road by My Minds Eye; Just Chillin' Card for Slice by Making Memories; Sewing machine and white thread

Using your Die Cutting machine is the challenge this week at Practical Scrappers. I have to say this was a very sad little photo shoot. I had taken the girls to a spot by the college last March to get some pretty sister pictures. This area has a lovely water feature and these large red rocks placed for bences. But for some reason Audrey just didn't want to be near Caitlyn and Caitlyn was content to run off and do her own thing so instead of getting sweet sister pics I got some solitary grumpy girl ones. So here's the best photo out of them all, Audrey's pouty self on the rock, lol. I took inspiration from a layout on Susan's blog (second one down). Hers is so cute and happy ;) Anyway, the design of her layout fit perfectly with how I wanted to do the title, which was the only thing I knew what I wanted to do with. I cut the solitary in lowercase and then girl in upper case subbing the 'I' for a girl cutout all done with the Just Chillin' card on my Slice. I pop dotted the girl image up to make it stand out of the title more and then added a stitched frame around the title and picture. Even if the pictures didn't come out great, I think this layout did ;) Gotta love Audrey's solemn faces, lol. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful Tuesday!

Strawberry Thanks

Supplies : Around About Sentiments, Everyday Classics, and Fruitful stamp sets, Hibiscus Burst, Pure Poppy, and Sweet Blush Ink, and Kraft cardstock by Papertrey Ink; Sweet Leaf Ink by CTMH

Another mini batch of thank you notes. I used hibiscus burst and sweet blush first to see how they looked on the kraft. It was very subtle, which would be great for background stamping but not as great for when I want a single image to pop, at least not on kraft anyway. So in the next batch I switched it up. I actually meant to use Raspberry Fizz with the Hibiscus but ended up grabbing the pure poppy instead. That's what I get for stamping in dim light, lol. But I think it turned out better that way in the end. Here are the 3x3 card pieces which I made second ;)

These came out so much brighter and I like the bigger sentiment too. I'm trying to use stamps that haven't been inked much (or at all!) in my sets and this strawberry was one of them. Since I've been needing to make a bunch of these they have become the perfect project for me to play around with! I don't worry about messing up which is nice since I probably overthink too much when I craft, lol.