I wanna say Cheese!

Supplies : Paper by Scenic Route; Ink, Cardstock, and Classmates Alpha stamp set by CTMH; Thickers letter stickers and ribbon by American Crafts; Waxy Flax; Buttons open stock at LSS; Scallop Nesties

Same sketch - totally different look. I loved that #26 sketch so much that right after finishing yesterday's layout, I created this one only I broke out from my basic grey roll. Over the past year Basic Grey has easily won out as my favorite paper company closely followed by Scenic Route which is what these papers are. Though I do have to admit I hoard my basic grey a lot more than any of my other papers. I started with these fun fall papers to go with Audrey's little camera ham pictures and then created these blossoms with the scallop nesties and prima flowers. The inspiration for these were from an item Sparkle had on her etsy months ago. They aren't there anymore but I do remember noticing some little flower button blooms on her etsy shop link and even in passing I thought it was such a cute idea. Once I got my own nesties and saw the tiny scallop circle I instantly remembered the little blossoms and had to make my own! Some ribbon posing as leaves finishes off the blooms perfectly. The journaling is simply about how Audrey is a camera ham. "I wanna say Cheese!" is her way of saying take a picture of me, Mom! Thanks for stopping by and have a super Friday!

Cromartie and the Dolls

Sounds like a band! Meet Cromartie. Cromartie is my silly little voodoo pin cushion. Even though I'm an amateur, I was determined to sew a fun pin cushion for myself since I didn't have one and those simple tomatoes don't offer much in the way of inspiration. Cromartie took me way too many hours for how simple he was and I won't even show you my other failed attempts. Long story short my papercrafting and sketch skills were not enough to transcend the 2D to 3D barrier. He's much different than the doll I sketched, but in some ways he turned out even better - like the way he sits up which wouldn't have happened with the limbs I drew in his preliminary design. And I have used him a lot the past couple days as I made dolls for my girls. It's been weird to sew instead of papercraft this week!


Here are the girls' dolls together. Normally I only sew flat things - baby blankets, simple square tied quilts, pillow cases - easy stuff. But after seeing some cute dolls on Etsy and The Black Apple I thought maybe... maybe I could make something like those. I did a lot of watching youtube doll sewing tutorials and searching Etsy for more examples. You can buy patterns but I didn't want to spend that much money on someone else's pattern if I could come up with my own, especially when they seemed simple. Some of the dolls and patterns seem pricey but after creating my own I can understand why. Just making the doll pattern took me about 4 hours (with interruptions). I sketched everything first then went over with my sharpie to emphasize the correct lines before cutting out the pattern pieces.


Cromartie was so instrumental in teaching me how to sew a stuffed piece while I made him. All the strife I had creating him made putting together the dolls so much easier. Plus he's a lot smaller and I've discovered it's easier to sew a bigger doll like these than a small one like Cromartie. This doll is Audrey's. She picked out light pink hair. The hair and shoes are felt and the rest is quilting fabric. Remnants and fat quarters are my new shopping favs. Some papercrafting supplies made it onto her as well with My Minds Eye buttons embellishing her shoes and some grosgrain I had in my stash for hair bows. I know, technically those were sewing items before they were ever papercrafting ^_~


Caitie's doll is wearing her favorite color - purple. She picked out hot pink for the hair so I decided to give her rocker girl type colors with the black tights and purple shoes. This doll's hair was much easier to sew than Audrey's and I'm thinking the next time I just won't stuff the buns. I drew their faces on with a fabric marker - way easier and quicker than embroidering which was what I had originally planned. Now the best part is that they LOVE these dolls! They have never shown the interest or love in the store bought dolls as they have with these and it makes me even more proud of them because the girls cherish them so much :D Anyway, it looks like this became a triple doll Thursday instead of a triple card. I hope you enjoyed the change in crafts and have a terrific Thursday!

Fashionita

Supplies : Papers by Basic Grey (Marrakech) and My Minds Eye (Tres Jolie and Bloom and Grow); Ribbon from LSS; Buttons by My Minds Eye; Cardstock and Marker by CTMH; Remarks Letter Stickers by American Crafts; Embroidery Floss; Blossom Nesties

Can you tell I've been addicted to playing with my Basic Grey papers this week? Now if someone would just get the lemonade line in town before I break down and buy it online! I used the Inspired Blueprints #26 sketch for this layout which was a 2 page sketch. I didn't have enough photos for both pages so I just did the right side. I finally got a few nesties after debating for a year and a half! Yeah, I'm so not an impulse shopper. I got just a few of the ones I think I'd use the most for right now to make sure I like using them and I love 'em! This one I used the blossom nesties to make a lollipop flower. This baby is what made the layout take so darn long to make! The first combo I cut out I didn't like the order of, I had the flower print on the outside and it just disappeared into the background. So I cut some more blossoms and then thought stitching would be cute after finding the combo I liked. Each blossom is hand stitched and I sew really s-l-o-w. I curled the edges of each blossom up for some dimension and then gave the same treatment to the photo corner on the right. I love the way this came out and I'm sure to be using these blossoms for more lollipop flowers in the future! Everything else was fairly quick. The letters are just the remarks stickers so to make them pop more on the layout I took my cocoa marker and traced around the edge. It really made so much of a difference (note to self I should start taking before/after photos). A little ribbon scrap to take the place of a flourish on the sketch and viola - a fashionable page for my little fashionita! Enjoy and have a terrific Wednesday!

Affection

Supplies : Porcelain paper by Basic Grey; Shaped paper by Crate Paper; Blush and small baby pink button, green gingham, col white ricrac, and green discovery paper by CTMH; Big pink button, pink crochet ribbon, and tag elements by My Minds Eye; Flowers by Prima; Pearls by Kaiser;

A pretty layout! This porcelain paper is so gorgeous, I wish my LSS carried more of the designs. I only got the three, but maybe they will get more in soon. I used a lot of old stuff with this new stuff. The basic grey and crate paper were new and the pearls are fairly new but everything else is over a year old! I love it when I can pair my new goodies and oldies together like this. The title was hard on this one. It's getting more difficult to find new titles for sister pictures. I lucked out that I had an E left in this thickers alphabet. They need more Es, I always run out of those first! Anyway, enjoy and have a happy Tuesday!

Got Eyelets?

This week the Practical Scrappers challenge is to use eyelets. Be sure to stop by there to see all the amazing ideas from both design teams on what you can do with eyelets. Here were my submissions :

Supplies : Paper - Basic Grey (Urban Prairie) and Scenic Route; Thickers Letter Stickers by American Crafts; Flowers by Prima; Buttons by Papertrey Ink; Eyelets by Making Memories; Ribbon - Blue by American Crafts, Black unknown (RAK); Cardstock by CTMH; Embroidery Floss; Nestibilities

Here I started by using eyelets to create subtle circles around some of the more sour faces Caitlyn was pulling for emphasis on my layout. Make hearts, circles, stars, squares, any shape that you like! The closer the eyelets are the bigger the shape's impact, the further apart the more subtle. To create this look use a punched out shape or open die like the Nestibilities. Using your paper piercer to mark the eyelet spots, poke evenly spaced holes around the edge of the shape making sure to leave enough space for the eyelets. Using the classic hammer with punch or a Big Bite, punch the eyelet holes right over your pierced hole markers. Add your eyelets and back the open eyelet hole area with coordinating cardstock. Here I used white to back my silver eyelets.

Supplies : Paper - Pebbles (Background), Scenic Route, My Minds Eye, Sassyfras (Button Blooms); Eyelets by Doodlebug; Buttons by Papertrey Ink; Urban Bling Stickers by Me and My Big Ideas; Embroidery floss; Nestibilities

Try creating a fun border with your eyelets. In my layout I created a fun simple border using pink eyelets, then added eyelets to a couple of the journaling strips to make the look more cohesive. Do a varigated strip by alternating eyelet colors or emphasize details on a printed or stamped border by adding eyelets to the flower centers, in the scallop hump, etc. You could even use the same technique as I did on the Not Now Mom layout by substituting a scallop or other shaped border as a template for your eyelet placement to create a shaped eyelet border. Don't want too many eyelets? Simply use them to accent a couple journaling strips.

Supplies : Paper - Basic Grey Porcelian, My Minds Eye, Cosmo Cricket, and Making Memories; Ribbon from CTMH and My Minds Eye; Eyelets from Making Memories; Thickers by American Crafts; Embroidery Floss;

Add accents to your embellishments with your eyelets. Here I created some blooms with my Nestibilities and then added some white and pink eyelets to accent the flower's centers. Accent stars, hearts, paper flowers, etc with eyelets for fun pop! I created my flowers and added the eyelets before adhering them to the layout so that I wouldn't have to back the layout with coordinating cardstock. Some leaves cut out from printed Cosmo Cricket paper finish off the blooms just right. This method also works great with those shaped eyelets. Add star eyelets to circles, heart eyelets to flowers, etc. I was actually cropping with a friend when I made these and she was so sweet to let me have some of her eyelets since all I have are the basics - silver, white, black, and brown! So if you're reading this, thanks Julie! I hope you all enjoyed the layouts and have a great Monday!

Butterfly Girl

Supplies : Paper - Basic Grey, Scenic Route, and My Minds Eye; Thickers stickers by American Crafts; Chipboard butterflys by Scenic Route; Rhinestones by Kaiser; Buttons by Papertrey Ink; Ribbon and Ink by CTMH; Flourish chipboard by Rusty Pickle

I have been saving this picture and this butterfly paper by Basic Grey for months. Sometimes I get afraid to scrap certain photos because I fear I won't do them justice. I knew I wanted to use this paper, but other than that I was at a loss. Finally I decided to just do it and I pulled up my Inspired Blueprints folder and picked out the #1 sketch to use. It turned out to be a perfect setup for this picture and I love how it came out. Along with some papers from the Basic Grey Ambrosia set the mix of papers involves mostly the reverse sides of pattern papers I had gotten, which in some ways was a bummer but at the same time I love this page so much that it more than makes up for it. I added some ribbon to ground the photo and then to soften the white journaling strips I sponge inked them with bamboo and then barely edge distressed them with grey wool. I love it when layouts come together so perfectly like this! I hope you enjoy and have a fantastic weekend!