Lately, after I finish a page and clean up, I set the photos I want to use next on my desk with a piece of scratch paper.  I think it's helping me work faster.  I see the photos and can think about what I want to do.  If I have an idea, I write it down. Then when I have a few minutes, I can grab the supplies and sit down to 'work'.  That's what happened yesterday.  I found myself with a few minutes to spare and whipped out this page.  I'll be using it as my entry for Club CK Mar/Apr Issue Challenge #9, use a button banner.  

It's fairly simple.  2 pieces of BoBunny PP, twine, random buttons and WASHI TAPE!!! My new favorite item!!!!! I used tape from Queen & Co and Target.  That's it.  Colorful and finished!

The photos are from the summer of 2006.  Mom had just moved into her new house and it had a big backyard.  What a better way to keep cool on a hot day than a hose and bowl full of water.  The boys had a blast.

Tiptoe Through the Tulips

Last weekend we went to the Tulip Festival in Mt. Vernon.  It was our first time there.  It was a sunny day, a rare treat, so wee took full advantage of it.  The flowers were exquisite.  I felt like Dorothy in her field of Poppys, only my field was Tulips.  I have to thank my friend Laurie.  She took time out of her Saturday to be our tour guide.

I created this LO using a sketch by Ashley H.  I submitted it for 3 different challenges over at Club CK.   ThanksLiving #4, April Sketch it Out, and Scrapbooking Simply.  

I turned Ashley's sketch into a 2 page spread.  I needed to do this for 2 reasons.  It worked for the photos, and the design element for ThanksLiving is symmetry.  The photos are so vivid and have so many colors, I needed to keep it simple. I wanted them to be the focus, not all the stuff surrounding them.  I stuck to white card stock and added some color around the edges by punching 5 more CS colors with the same punch, then stapling them to the page.  I added the same colors of twine and brads along the vertical edge, adding a subtly misted flower to the middle.  I misted white CS scraps with the same 5 colors and used them to anchor the title and journaling.  A variety of alpha letters and I was finished.  I know I could have added a bunch of stuff, but I am happy with the way it looks.

A busy post!

I have so many ideas swirling in my head and have had no time lately to do anything with them.  The photos are printed and laid out, but that is as far as I have gotten.  Until today!  Yippee!  There are lots of things I like about my LO.  First of all, I used supplies that I don't ordinarily use, including the photos.  I won a challenge at Club CK, sponsored by Scrapbooking From the Inside Out.  I received a kit from them as the prize.  Everything on the LO is from the kit, except the twine.  Tulle, PP by PinkPaislee, and Memory Box, Resist fabric flowers, PinkPaislee hexagon chipboard pieces.  Second, I used the Hipstamatic app on my phone to take the photos.  Totally cool!  These have a more 70's feel. There is a different cast to them that I really like and went well with the PP.  None of which is my style.  It was really fun to try something so completely not me.

I finished a LO that I am entering in two challenges.  I participated in Diana Fisher's Blogiversay Blog Hop last weekend. I really like the sketch that the hop was based on.  In Diana's sketch, I flipped it, omitted the 1/2 circle, moved the journaling and moved around some embellies.  I also chose to use the tulle in place of the chevron looking border.

I also am submitting this to Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday-Hexagons challenge.  Two birds. One stone. Gotta love.  I took the negative space from the chipboard embellishments and used it as a mask for some Tattered Angels Mist.  Hexagons remind me of honeycomb and bees.  Bees like flowers.  You get the idea.

Lastly, you need to check out two of my friends' blogs.  They are having a great giveaway of a new CK Special Issue -Simple Scrapbooking!

http://www.thinkingthroughdesign.typepad.com/ and http://dleebug.wordpress.com/2012/04/24/simple-scrapbooks-giveaway/

Just Sweet

This is one of my favorite photos of my little guy.  In all the photos I have of him, I think this is the sweetest look on his face.  I had a terrible time deciding how I wanted this LO to look.  A sweet photo, with bright colors, and of course, a 4 foot tall Mickey Mouse front and center.  After much help from my peeps at Club CK, I began working on it.  I stopped and started all week, making sure I liked what I was doing.  Can you say over thinking?  After the March/April Issue Challenge was posted on Wed, I knew which direction I was taking the embellishments.

For some reason, I really wanted a stitched circle on the page, so I started there.  I used my Bazzill in Stitchz circle template.  When I laid it down, I liked the size of the square of the template, so I used Queen & Co red trendy tape to make the square.  Then I added the SMASH book black/white wash tape in the two corners, trying to work the focus to the photo.  Sitting on my desk was the AC word strip.  It was perfect.  I needed to add some yellow, so I got our my Sew Easy and sewed the yellow circle chains to the top an bottom as well.  I used some Tattered Angels pearl mist, which can be seen much better in person.  It added a little shimmer to the dark black. Souffle pens? Yes please.  I doodled around the outside of the red frame, and journaled with a white one.  My favorite white pen.  I took 3 little heart chipboard pieces, inked them the same color as his shirt,  and added some Stickles. I probably could have done with out the punched edges, but it does keep my eye moving around the page. A collaborative effort.  Thanks for the help!

It's MY Party

This is one of the LO's I worked on the other night at my friend's house.  I have so many pictures of little man's birthday, that I printed an 8x10 collage to go along with some 4x6 prints.  I struggled with it, but was able to make it work.  The photo parts are so large, it didn't need a lot of extra embellishments.  Once I added the white, I began to feel better about it. It helped ground it a little and move the eye from left to right.

This is my entry for the Club CK Issue Challenge #7.  It didn't start out that way, but that is how it wound up.  I had more yellow on the right side than on the left. I used that yellow area for the journaling and added word stickers into it to mimic the blocks of the PP.  A satisfactory job, but not one of my favorites.

"Ah Ha" Moments

#1. I spent much of last week making up some kits to take with me to a crop at a friends house. It has been a really long time since I have done that. It was very time consuming. I realized while I was working on them, that that was the only way I used to scrap. I would get my photos, organize then into pages, write down an idea, find a page to life, a sketch, and maybe which PP and CS to use. I would grab a kit when I had time to scrap and that was that.

For the past 6 months or so, I've just organized my photos into pages and left it at that. I've been participating in so many challenges and sketch sites, that I haven't needed to prepare kits. I guess I am finding more confidence in what I can do start to finish. I still use my idea book, ans sketches . Sometimes I use them as they are, sometimes I use them as a starting point. But I'm able to look at my photos and know what I want to do. I guess I've grown more than I thought.

#2. As I was preparing these kits, I didn't include a lot of embellishments. I decided not to. What a mistake that was. I basically was able to stick some PP on some CS with my photos and that was about it. But the reason I didn't include them, was this. As I looked around at my supplies, it occurred to me that is use my embellies and tools in spurts. Lately, I've been sewing and using a lot if twine. Before that it was border strips and border punches. Before that it was Stickles and bling. It isn't that I can't use more of them together on one LO, I just don't. I don't use a lot of embellies on my LOs. I never have. So, something else I learned about myself this week. (Oh, and even though it is beside the point, yes, I have too many tools and embellishments anyway).

#3. I have always scrapped with 4x6 photos. I crop them as needed, both before and/or after printing. Well, there I'd only so much variety you can get on a page with 4x6 photos. I've been toying around with iPhoto and Picasa lately, making collages and having some photos printed in different sizes. I'm still learning which photos are better in smaller sizes and which are better in large sizes. But yes, this allows more variety and flexibility.

Many sketches use multiple sized photos. I've struggled to make those sketches work for my 4x6 photos and have been unhappy with the way the LOs turn out. I'm going to continue to play around in Picasa, but I think the bottom line for me is that I am going to have to break down and buy Photoshop. My ultimate goal, is to know who I am as a scrapper. If I want to continue on my path of creative growth, I think this is a step I am going to have to take.

Fascinating

It's good to be back.  Home, scrapping, blogging, whatever.  One of my favorite challenges is the Issue Challenge over at Club Ck.  I like how Erika can find the minute to the bold ideas from the magazine.  This weeks challenge is to use the colors grey, yellow and white.  Such pretty colors, but ones I don't use together that often, if at all.  A challenge indeed.  Well, I have to say, this LO came together fairly quickly and I'm happy with how it turned out.

I came across this one and liked the idea of the charms on the bracelet.  I used the twine and Glubers and the misting mask to repeat the circular charms.

I started with a Sketch Support sketch, one page #19, but kind of went my own way with it. I love Glubers and twine!!!!  I have so much fun using the twine on the Glubers. (Flowers still need some work). the background PP is Sassafrass from that Mystery Box I bought last fall.  (I have had so much fun with all that stuff.  More than I thought I would too!).  Pp strips are Sassafrass, and American Crafts/Dear Lizzy.  I used a mask and some Glimmer Mist, random buttons and OA letter stickers and it is finished!