The Pink Ladies

Happy Saturday, friends!  I created this page for the Tuesday Trigger challenge over on the My Scraps and More forum.  Our monthly theme is THANKFUL, so the challenge was to create a page about friends that you're thankful for.  These fun and special ladies are my gym friends...and we have such a great time together each week!  We actually DO work out hard...but on this day we all dressed alike without knowing it until we got to the gym!  We just had to photograph it :)

I used a lot of the older American Crafts Sketchbook collection on this, mostly because of the bright pinks.  I decided to throw in some blues and yellows, and then went for my stash of washi tapes, mists, stamps and rub-ons.  I also added some modeling paste to my background using an arrow template.  I even threw in some rick rack that I've had collecting dust in a drawer for forever!

I used a black pen to outline my arrows once they dried...I love the messy look it gives!  I also love that the mist ran right through it.

Mist, stamps, and buttons!  It's so much fun to get messy and experiment with different mediums.  The fun part is that it's not perfect, and you just may wind up with something cool you didn't even envision when you started.

I love tucking things behind papers.  This floss was perfect, and I love the way it peeks out behind this curled up yellow paper.

We'd love to have you join us on the boards!

Thanks so much for stopping by today...have a great weekend!

The Intriguing Egg

You're probably thinking, "what in the world is this post about?"  Haha!  Well, it's the subject of my layout today :)  This little egg had my little one mesmerized.  My mother-in-law is an elementary school music teacher, and she uses these shaker eggs as an instrument.  They make a cool noise when you shake them, and she brought one for Paige to play with.  She was obsessed with playing with it and rolling it around all over the coffee table.

I used the Here & Now collection from Echo Park for this one.  I used sketch #53 from My Scraps and More.  I am a big fan of bold and bright, and this line is perfect for that!  I added some watercolor and gesso to the background, as well as various matching washi tapes.

I threw in a few buttons here and there, too.  They always add the perfect little touches.

A close-up of the watercolors and layers.  Very easy to do!

I love the dimension that layering and pop dots give!

Another angle of the watercolor work...

Watercolors are a great way to add some color and interest to your backgrounds.  If you need to add a pop of color and don't want to add more paper or another embellishment, add a blob of watercolor.  It's really fun and easy!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

Sketch Week / My Mind's Eye

Happy Monday, friends!  I'm up on the My Mind's Eye blog today.  It's Sketch Week, and Ronda has an awesome sketch for you to play with.  I'm showing how to use the sketch in a literal, straight-forward way.  I didn't stray from it all.  You can use up some scrap pieces with this one...lots of opportunities for small pieces of paper or embellishments. Go HERE to see the sketch and play along!

I combined the Cut & Paste "Flair" and Cupid's Arrow collections. I also threw in some washi tape, stickers, enamel shapes, buttons, chipboard and did some fussy cutting.

I fussy cut these adorable little frames out...they're perfect for the little squares and rectangles on the sketch.  Aren't these enamel quotation marks so cute?!

These chipboard hearts are so fun...it's hard to see in the layout pic up top that one of the hearts is shiny and red!

And another angle of a dimensional piece with an added heart sticker :)

Be sure to visit the MME blog all this week for different takes on the sketch!  I hope you have time to play along with us :)

Thanks for stopping by!

3 Cheers for Cheerios

Hey there, friends!  I have a fun page to share today.  I created it a few weeks back for a "Pass it On" challenge at My Scraps and More.  About 10 of us participated in this.  It starts with one scrapper lifting another member's page.  When she's finished, she sends her layout to the next girl on the list.  Each girl's page keeps getting passed on until the last scrapper lifts the one in front of her.  It's really neat to see the full reveal and see how the layouts morph from each lift.  And only the first girl sees the original layout.  It's pretty cool!

Here's mine.  I created my background with modeling paste and a stencil.  I added pink paint to the paste to make it colored.  Works great!  Once it dried, I used gelatos to work in the other colors around the pink.  Then I went through my stash of random papers (all either Michael's or Hobby Lobby brand) and layered them underneath my photo.  Washi tape, stamps, buttons and brads finished it off.

I think these Thickers are my favorite...I just love the font!  That big 3 is from some REALLY old Thickers...it was white and I painted it.

A close-up of the texture....it's so fun to create your own background!

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Our Little Lucky Charm

Happy Thursday!  I hope all is well with you today :)  Here's a page I made for My Scraps and More a few weeks ago.  It was for our Pinspirational Crop that ended last weekend.  I hosted a challenge involving holiday inspiration, and I selected a photo of a St. Patty's Day craft.  I was inspired by the rainbow, the black pot of gold, and the shiny gold coins.

I used gelatos to create my big colorful circles...they ROCK!  I added some washi tapes and used some American Crafts papers.  I cut the word "lucky" from some gold shiny paper I have in my stash.

I love layers, buttons, tape and outlining with my black pen!

Here you can see the gold shine better.  I need to shine it up more!  I love it!

A close-up of the gelato work...it's like coloring with lipstick!

And a bit closer.  You can color anything with gelatos :)

Thanks for visiting me today...I hope you have a great afternoon!

2 layouts & a tutorial for My Creative Scrapbook

Hello there!  Today is our first official "cold" day here in Florida!  It's in the low 60s at lunch time...that is about as cold as we like it...haha!  I know my northern friends are probably laughing their butts off!  I'm sure the 60s is a total warm front for them!  I definitely prefer our summer time temps :)

Anyway, I'm sharing two pages that I created with the November Main Kit.  I created a little tutorial for the My Creative Scrapbook blog as well.  This kit has a lot of Fall-related goodies, and well...we just don't ever really have an actual Fall season.  These photos are from Thanksgiving Day...and everything is still green, and we're still wearing shorts.  So I made a Fall layout "Florida Style"!

I added some modeling paste to the background, rounded up some cord and popped up this Echo Park title sticker.

I colored this flower and painted the wooden banner piece.

My tutorial is on how I colored this cream colored ribbon.  I wanted to bring in more pink to the layout to match my daughter's shirt, so I dyed it.



I always love getting the neutral colored ribbon in the Main Kits each month.  It's like a blank canvas in which to color it any way you want!  Here's a quick and easy way to customize your ribbon with a few tools likely already in your stash.  Check it out!

My second page is one of my favorites!  I made it a girly page.  I saw the packaging for the Prima flowers and knew instantly I wanted to use it on a layout.  It's a great way to make this otherwise neutral colored page "girly."  I used a Crafter's Workshop template and some ink to created my background lines.

I colored the wooden "love" word as well as the Prima flower.  I love altering things to match!

I colored this flower, too, and tucked it behind my layers.  Peek-a-boo embellishments are fun!

Some pink floss in the corner cluster brings in a spot of pink here...

These American Craft wooden pieces are so much FUN!

 

Another little snippet from my MCS tutorial...As you can see, I used it like I would a piece of patterned paper.  I didn't want to cover up the design on it, so I painted a flower pink and placed it a little to the left. 

So even though this is a Fall kit, you can see how I made it girly.  I hope this inspires you to break out your paints or mists and color something up!

Have a great day!

Cheerio Avalanche

Hey there, friends!  Happy Monday to you :)  I'm sharing another page I created with the November Main Kit from My Creative Scrapbook today.  This picture speaks for itself...haha.  When Mommy doesn't get what we want fast enough, we just go get it ourselves.  And eating off the floor is much more fun than using an actual plate!

This page was an experiment for me.  I wanted to mimic the cheerios in the photo, so I used my watercolor pencils and a template and traced a bunch of circles.  I also did the same with the blue arrows.  Watercolor pencils are so fun and easy to use!  They smudge so easily with a little bit of water added.  Very fun to blend!

These fun wooden pieces from American Crafts are in the kit...very fun to color up and use!  There are also lots of chipboard buttons.

Here's a close up of the watercolor pencil work...definitely a neat effect.

I love the MME buttons in the kit...perfect match for the included papers.  I love curling the ends of papers...I just like the look of it.  

Even though this kit is full of Fall papers and embellishments, I was able to create pages that weren't fall related at all.  I like taking on the challenge of making seasonal papers work for a non-seasonal layout :)

You can go HERE to check out all the kits at My Creative Scrapbook.

Thanks for stopping by!