A Penny for Your Thoughts (My Creative Scrapbook)

Hey, friends!  Today I'm sharing my last project using the September Main Kit from My Creative Scrapbook.  I really had fun with the Chalkboard line from We R Memory Keepers.  This is a rather serious page, and I just adore this photo of my sweet Reesie Cup.  Although she's seven now, this was from a few years ago.  The title of this layout is something I say often to myself when I look at her.  You would never know it, but she is autistic and nonverbal.  So is her little sister.  I don't make serious pages too often...I get too emotional about it.  But sometimes it just feels right to express those emotions when the right photo comes along.

Anyway...here is the page.  I was getting close to the end of the kit and used a lot of pieces I had left.  I added some stamping and masking to jazz up the background a bit.

I really like this big "&"...it's cute!

Little banner pieces are great for scraps, and they are easily layered together.

Love these MME brads and embellishments :)

Check out all the September kits HERE.  The October kits will be revealed on Saturday...along with a fun celebration starting over on the MCS blog!  Stay tuned for that...you won't want to miss it.

Thanks for stopping by today, and enjoy your Monday!

Creative Scrappers #252

It's time for another Creative Scrappers reveal!  It's a really good one, too.  I love the sketch, and I love that it has a lot of strips.  I combined lots of random things for this page.  I used some of the chipboard frames from Crate Paper's The Pier, different washi tapes, and a paper pack that I bought at Walmart.  It's from Colorbok, and I just love the fun patterns and colors.  To give my background a little interest and color, I used a Tim Holtz Distress Ink, some gesso, modeling paste, and some mist.

Here's the sketch:

I love modeling paste!  You can really see the texture it creates.  I outlined it in black pen once it dried.  I added a little bit of bling and some floss, too.

Pop dots are so awesome...I love how they just make anything pop right off the page!  Layering the chipboard frames created the same effect.

Another shot of the chipboard and floss...lots of depth going on.

Be sure to check out the full reveal HERE, and don't forget to link up your layouts there, too!  There is a GREAT prize up for grabs from Crazy Monday Kits!

Thanks for stopping by today, and enjoy your Sunday!

She's a Natural

Happy Saturday, friends!  Today, I'm sharing a page I designed for last week's Word Up Wednesday challenge over on the My Scraps message boards.  The word was ADVENTURE.  I was so excited to use the new Wild & Free collection from Glitz!  It's available in the store right HERE. 

One of the patterned papers has a multi-colored watercolor look to it.  It inspired me to try and create my own background similar to it.  So I pulled out my paints and got creative.  I tried something new this time...I got out a piece of plastic kitchen wrap (like Saran wrap) and spread it out.  I squirted a few dabs of paint in random places.  Then, I sprayed water over them and mixed them around with a brush.  Then I took my white cardstock and laid on top of the plastic wrap and pressed my hand all over it.  When I removed the paper, this is what was there!  I dried each color with my heat tool before doing the next color.  The more colors I used, the more I could see what area of my paper needed color where, so I eventually would just stick the corner of the paper to the plastic wrap just to get a specific color in a specific spot.  VERY easy technique, and as you can see, it makes for a GREAT and colorful background!

And I think the key to keeping your paper from warping is to hold it in your hand while you heat dry it.  I was constantly holding it from different angles as I was drying it, and it never really warped or folded.

This photo is of my sweet little Paige a few years ago, riding horses at school.  She loved it then, and she still does :)  I love this striped die-cut horse in the collection...perfect for this page!

There are a lot of alpha stickers in this collection...they're a perfect match!

The arrows are so fun...I had to restrain myself from using all of them on this one page!

I just love this watercolor look...the colors turned out so pretty, I think.

I'm really loving outlining things on my pages lately.

That's it for today!  I hope you come and join us on our boards...lots of fun going on!  Thanks so much for visiting us today...and have a wonderful weekend!

11 on the 11th - Corrie Jones style

I've been a huge Corrie Jones fan for a long time.  I had the pleasure of being on a kit club team of hers a few years ago...the Sweet Peach Crop Shop.  It was my first kit club experience, and I just LOVED it!  Corrie is an amazing scrapper...I just can't get enough of her style.  And if you haven't watched any of her Garden Girl videos over at Two Peas, you're missing out!

She began doing a monthly page about herself on the 8th of every month.  She scraps eight things about her on the 8th day each month, no matter what's going on.  I just love seeing her page each month.  This time, she issued a challenge for us to give a try, and so I did.  I chose the 11th.  I had so much fun doing this...I really sat and thought about this day only...what was going through my head, what was happening, and what was going to happen later that day.  I really liked how it turned out!

I used some Basic Grey Hey Boy and Hey You, along with some Hey Girl embellies that I got super cheap at Jo Ann's a few months ago.

I really love these transparent pieces...so fun to add to a page!

I just had to use this piece...haha!

I've learned that it's therapeutic to do a page about myself...I used to think it was a waste of time.  Now, I'm glad I do it every now and then!  It's a nice break from scrapping the kiddos all the time.

Well, thanks for stopping by today!

Lesson Learned - My Mind's Eye

Happy Tuesday, friends!  I'm up on the My Mind's Eye blog today!  I'm sharing a layout featuring MME's amazing decorative tapes. I was SO excited to be asked to work with these tapes...they are most definitely a favorite of mine!  And they're so fun and easy to use to create a unique background.

For this layout, I decided to scrap a few photos from a spring photo shoot I had with my youngest daughter a few years ago.  I put her in a sundress hoping for some cute girly photos.  What I wound up with was a lot of pictures of her with her legs in the air, flashing everyone her bloomers!  Lesson learned…Paige isn’t the dress-wearing type…haha!  The pictures turned out so cute, and they really show her feisty yet adorable personality.
 

I used the Cut & Paste Charm collection for this page.  I liked that the colors aren’t really girly, yet you can still use them for a feminine page.  I started with the Charm “Sweet” Spin Paper and added lots of watered down acrylic paints.  Then, I began adding lots of tapes.  I used the tapes from the Charm collection as well as some from the Adorbs and Presh lines and some from the stand-alone tape sets. 

I love this woodgrain stamp.  I started adding in different MME stamps all over the place to add interest and give the look of dimension.  I also enjoy using hemp cord on my layouts. 
  

Layering washi tape together is a great way to add pops of color, patterns or designs to your pages.  I love how well these coordinate together.  Here you can see an arrow stamp and an enamel dot.  

Another angle on the paint and stamps.  One of my favorite things about combining tape, paint and stamps is that you can’t really mess things up.  It’s supposed to be messy and random, so even if you make a mistake, you can fix it easily.

  
Tapes can also be a good background for your title.  If your background is busy, use some tape behind your stickers to break it up and make it stand out.  Don’t you just love this striped tape?  It’s so bold and bright…one of my favorites, for sure!

Another tip about creating a background like this is that it’s great if you don’t have a lot of patterned papers left.  The only patterned paper I used was the background.  The rest of the layout is bits and pieces from the collection.  I used the Journal Cards, Bits & Pieces, Label Stickers…you’d be surprised what you can make without patterned paper.

I hope this inspires you to pull out your tapes (and stamps!) and try something new :)

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Supplies:Cut & Paste Charm “Sweet” Spin Paper, Cut & Paste Presh Tape, Cut & Paste Charm Tape, Cut & Paste Adorbs Tape, Decorative Tape Sets Blue & Yellow, Emerald & Blue, Charm “Sweet” Treat Paper, Charm “Carefree” Chipboard Stickers, Charm “Sweet” 4x6 Journal Card, Charm “Carefree” 4x6 Journal Card, Charm “Hey You” Decorative Stamps, Collectable Stamps, Find Your Wings & Fly – Up & Away Decorative Stamps, Cut & Paste Flair “Snapshots” Decorative Stamps, Cut & Paste Charm “Smile” Enamel Dots, Charm “Smile” Decorative Brads, Charm “Sweet” Bits & Pieces, Charm “Carefree” Label Stickers, Charm “Sweet” Tiny Word Stickers.  Misc—Acrylic Paints, October Afternoon Mini Market Letter Stickers, Making Memories Letter Stickers.

She's Excited {My Creative Scrapbook}

Hey there! I'm sharing another page today that I created using the September Main Kit from My Creative Scrapbook.  For this page, I knew it was going to be tough because I was using three pictures that were all different sizes.  I wanted to use one of the MME frames, so I used it around the smallest photo. 

To make the background a little more interesting, I colored some modeling paste with some peach color shine, and then used a chevron stencil.  I layered several of the We R Memory Keepers patterned papers, and then added in another MME frame, along with some Prima flowers, and lot of banner pieces and cord.  I wouldn't say this is my favorite page from this kit...this was the last one I created, and for some reason, the last one always seems to be my least favorite.  Maybe that's because I've used up my most favorite parts of the kit...who knows.

I love these MME frames...they give such great dimension...especially when you add in layers, flowers, stickers and cord!

Another angle.  I also used a black pen to outline some of the arrows and my title.

I printed out my journaling.  You can see the really cool color in my modeling paste here.

Thanks for stopping by today!  If you'd like to see more of the My Creative Scrapbook kits, go HERE.  There are several kits you can purchase.

Have a great day!

So Glad We're Friends

Hey there!  I hope your Thursday is going well.  Today, I'm sharing a page I created using the new Hello Again line from Carta Bella.  This page was up on the My Scraps Blog last week HERE.  I've had this line for a while now, and I finally had the time to play with it.  Oh my goodness...it is amazing!  I almost couldn't cut the gorgeous pink/orange ombre paper...both sides are gorgeous.  I'm glad I bought two of that sheet!

As much as I like starting with white cardstock and creating my own background, I also love challenging myself to start with a busy piece of patterned paper.  The key is creating a base for your photos so there's some separation from the busy-ness.  This way your photo doesn't get lost in all the pattern, and it still stands out.

I added a button & some cord.  There are a lot of fun stickers on the included sheet :)

I love these little people holding hands...perfect for a "friend" page.  I also threw in some embossed vellum I had cluttering up my desk from a previous project.  Use it up!

More cord, more stickers!

The My Scraps store has a lot of Carta Bella products, as well as a lot of other new brands.  This particular collection has already sold out, but there are TONS of other lines available!  Go check it out HERE.

Thanks for taking a peek, and have a great day!

Grungy Rainbow layout for My Scraps!

Hey there, friends!  I hope you're week is going well so far.  Have you ever had a layout designed in your head and you know exactly how you want it to look...and then when you create it, it looks nothing like you had planned?  Well, this page actually turned out JUST the way I envisioned it!  I love it so much and it is definitely one of my favorite pages so far.

I created it for last week's Throwback Thursday challenge over on the My Scraps boards.  I challenged members to use at least three different lines from three different manufacturers, and the collections had to be at least a year old...or close to it.  I know sometimes it's hard to go back and find the release dates, but you know if something's old :)

Anyway, I pulled out the original Echo Park For the Record line, Hip Hip Hooray from Pebbles, Emma's Shoppe from Crate Paper, and even a little bit of Echo Park's This and That collection.  I have bags of random collections on my shelves, so I pulled an old one down and challenged myself to create a page with whatever was inside.  This is what I came up with!  And I used an AWESOME sketch from ScrapFriends...even though it was passed the challenge deadline.

I grunged up my background with stencils and modeling paste, stamping, and mists.  I used another one of my templates to trace those chevron arrows onto different patterned papers, and then I cut them out, distressed & inked them, and then outlined them with a black pen.  The rest is layers, chipboard shapes, stickers, washi tape and floss.

I'm so addicted to templates and modeling paste...omg!  It's so much fun to play with!

Crate Paper chipboard...the perfect colors to match!

I had this die-cut butterfly laying around from a previous project...so I inked and stamped him and put him to use on this page :)

I love this lollipop chipboard...I figured this page was perfect since I was going with the rainbow effect.  Plus it's a "sweet" picture, right?  :)

Thanks so much for stopping by today...you should come over and join us on the My Scraps boards.  So many fun challenges and prizes to give away!  You can also see this page posted on the My Scraps blog here.

Have a great day!

Creative Scrappers #251

Yay!!  It's finally time for my very first reveal as a Creative Scrappers DT member!  I'm so thrilled to be a part of the team for the next few months!  This sketch is so much fun...it's full of fun circles.  I have been itching to use this gorgeous background paper from Maggie Holmes, and when I saw the sketch, I thought it was perfect.  I added in even more circles with a mask I cut using my Cameo and some modeling paste.

Here's the sketch:

Lots of Crate Paper awesomeness here...chipboard, tape and negative punches.

 
I love the yellow in this tag...it really pops.  You can really see the textures here, too.

Distressed layers...my favorite!

You really MUST go see what the rest of the team created with this sketch...you won't believe the talent of these amazing ladies!  Check out the CS blog HERE and link up your layout.  There's a great prize up for grabs!!

Thanks for checking things out today, and have a great Sunday!

She's Just Silly {My Creative Scrapbook}

Happy Saturday, friends!  Today I'm sharing another layout I created using the September Main Kit from My Creative Scrapbook.  I love the gorgeous colors and patterns in the Chalkboard line from We R Memory Keepers included in this kit.

I rarely do hidden journaling, but I wanted to change things up on this page.  So I decided to create a little envelope for a journaling tag.  It just pulls out and slides back in.  I have a tutorial for it at the end of this post :)

This page was easy to throw together...I started with some coral paint and an old credit card and just smudged it all around where I wanted my cluster.  The rest is just layering in bits and pieces of patterned papers, die-cuts, chipboard pieces and stickers.  I also added in some stamping here and there.  I fussy cut the flowers & leaves from patterned paper.

The MME brads are awesome!  They're also in the kit :)  I love outlining stickers with a pen...it just makes it pop a little more.

Fussy cutting...stamping...and layering.

More layers!  I love bending and scrunching up the ends of the layers...it adds dimension and interest.

My journaling tag. I love how it turned out!

Another angle of my layered cluster...

Here's how I created my cute little envelope.  I found this little  envelope/baggie in a pack on clearance at Michael's. 

Be sure to check out all the available kits from My Creative Scrapbook HERE.  There is SO much to choose from!  Very pretty stuff.

Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by!