It's Scrap-a-stack time!

Every fall for the past few years, I have done a "scrap-a-stack".  Each participant completes (10) 12x12 pages, in one sitting -- such a great way to get a good head start on your scrap books!  These are the pages we made this year.  One of my goals with this event, is to use up retired products -- card stock, designer papers, embellishments, etc.

This first one features a new product from the Holiday catalog -- the Start of Light bundle.  I LOVE that little "Milky Way" type flourish that comes in the stamp set, and the intricate die cut stars are beautiful!!!  One thing I learned recently, is that if you cut your glitter paper glitter side down with intricate dies, it works so much better.  These intricate stars are just such a die that works better this way.  To make that scalloped border, we used the Best Badge punch -- you just insert your DSP strip into the top of the punch and take "bites" out of the edge with the top cutting edge of this punch.  Easy peasy, and gives you another use for this punch.  We embossed the flourish on opposite corners using Versamark and White embossing powder.  Helps give it a great "pop"

This next layout, is a CASE from one that Lyssa made on Song of my Heart Stampers.  She is an amazing scrap booker (and card maker) and has so many tips to share regarding how to create a balanced looking page.  I just loved how easy this layout was, yet eye catching.  I really wanted to use my little acorn punch, as I hadn't featured it yet in a class, and it is so cute -- just makes me smile every time I see it!  I had these cute "first fish" photos, that also were taken in October, so I went with a fall look and folks could substitute in a title that worked for their photos.

Here is another layout inspired by Lyssa.  I had a ton of this Typeset DSP, and thought everyone would enjoy a vintage, black and white layout.  Since the paper is black and Vanilla, I used a Vanilla matt for the left hand page, with 11" strips layered on.  We used Soft Suede ink sponged over the whole page to soften the starkness of this paper, and help it all blend a little.

This next layout, BEACH Day, is a nice bright layout perfect for those fun summer pictures we all seem to have a lot of.  I had a lot of this Orange DSP, so this was the perfect page to use it up on.  The sail boat, kite, sun, and waves are all from the Swirly Bird bundle.  This is such a unique set, that I thought was down right unusual when I first saw it, but now that I have it, I have found SO many uses for it.  It makes the perfect sun (OR pumpkin, flower, wreath, you name it!).  The title features the new big alphabet set -- Letters For You.

This "everyday adventure" layout was also inspired by Lyssa.  These kits varied a lot based on what DSP papers I had on hand, so each person's layout was different than their neighbor's.  Kind of fun.  This is basically just a bunch of punched circles used to make an interesting border.  The die cut words are actually from a Tim Holtz set I have.

Thoughtful Branches and beautiful ballerinas!

Happy Monday, Everyone!

Stampin' Up! has released a limited, exclusive bundle called "Thoughtful Branches", that is only available in August, while supplies last.  It is an amazing bundle that works well for so many applications -- floral, Christmas, Halloween, Fall, etc.  I haven't had a lot of time to play, but I have made several things with the Hydrangea flower (which can also be a tree topper).  All I can say is it is beautiful and elegant!  I love hydrangeas, and have a big white one blooming in my back yard.  They are elegant flowers that last a long time, so you get to enjoy them for a good, long while!

I had these lovely ballet photographs of my sweet little Sabina's first ballet recital, and I love how I was able to make these little hydrangeas match their little pink dresses perfectly!  The awesome thing about this layout, is that you could make the flowers any color you wanted to match whatever dresses they were wearing.  The background is neutral, so the flowers would be lovely in purple or blue -- more gorgeous hydrangea colors.  Anyways, it was fun creating this little girly layout.  The hostess of scrap club this month, also has a dancer, and I thought she would love having a layout to scrap some of those pictures with.  The fun thing about this set, is that you can make trees with that same flower topper, so for the club members wanting to scrap pictures of their boys, they can make a border with trees and a little picket fence!  A perfect solution for everyone!

My title says "DANCE like there's no tomorrow", but if you didn't have ballet pictures, you could make it say "LIVE" as the song actually says, and it would work for any pictures you had.  The background is white, and the borders are Kraft card stock that I embossed with the new Seaside embossing folder.  It creates a wavy pattern that adds a nice touch of texture.  I also used the long border die and the tiny flower accent from the Flourishing Phrases bundle to add that darling little pink border and flowers.  It is an easy die to cut with, surprisingly, and adds that girly touch I was going for.  The stems and leaves are cut from Pear Pizzazz card stock -- a nice soft green.  I used Pink Pirouette for the hydrangeas, and then spritzed them with a glittery spray to make them sparkly.

I recently got the Letters for You bundle, so wanted to use it in my title.  I love that the letters are big enough to make a statement without overpowering your page.  It's a bit of a spendy bundle, but not too bad if you earn it as a half price item, like I did.  I can see lots of ideas using it -- banners, name frames, scrap booking, etc.

I recently heard this idea for adhering intricate die cuts that I am really loving!  Get out your little silicone craft sheet, and take some Mulitpurpous liquid glue and scribble some glue randomly over your craft sheet -- creating an area of glue streaks about 4x4" -- then simply lay your die cut down on the scribbled glue, lift and stick.  It works best if you have all your die cuts ready in a pile, and glue them down all at once.  It works so well and doesn't require all that fussy applying of glue to the backs, or using up all your expensive Xyron refills.  This is my new go-to way to apply intricate dies. And once the glue dries on the sheet, you can just rub your finger over it and the dried glue balls up and comes off easily.  Whoever thought of this is genius -- Just Sayin'! and THANKS whoever you are! :)

Ok!  I'm off to do the things I do on Mondays! :)  Swimming lessons for the kids, a "puppy training" class for our little "Buddy", and gosh! do I ever need to clean up this house!  Somehow the weekends always turn the house into a disaster.  Not quite sure how that happens, but it does.

Always an Adventure camping layout

Happy Saturday!

On Thursday, I received a VERY special box on my doorstep.... new SU toys to play with!!!  I was incredibly excited to open that box and see them for myself.  I was planning to do a camping layout with the new Always an Adventure bundle for our next scrap club next Friday.  Isn't that the cutest little camping set you've ever seen! AND there are matching framelits so you can cut the little individual cuteness out easily.  My absolute favorite part of these framelits, are the little snow capped mountains.  Ridiculously cute!  Even if you aren't a scrapbooker, the ways to use this bundle are endless -- I can see a beautiful Christmas card using the trees and the mountains, a little boy's birthday invitation using that little tent and fire and camping sign, a Father's Day or birthday card for the outdoorsy guy...

These pictures were from a camping trip we went on last June -- to some property on Little Bitterroot Lake that my boss owns.  She was kind enough to let us camp there for the weekend, and boy, did we have a blast!  Jon had gotten me a new inflatable kayak for my birthday, so we gave it it's first tryout that weekend.  The water was still a little on the cold side, but the kids didn't seem to notice!  They played and swam and played some more.  Sabina tried out her new bike on this trip, too -- thus the helmet! Lots of new things -- all in one weekend!

Now for the layout -- the background is Pool Party, and the lighter green is a retired color, Gumball Green (that I happen to have a LOT of).  I wanted some purple mountains, to tie in with Sabina's jacket and helmet, so I cut some Wisteria Wonder mountains, as well as Crumb Cake and Gumball Green ones -- then layered them all together to make a border on the left side.  I made a little "hiking path" by just cutting a wavy line and then sponging the edges.  It adds to the scene. :)  I just had to make the tent orange, cause that seems to be a popular tent color, AND it was less boring than beige!  For the tree border on the right page, I simply cut two green borders with the line of trees framelits and layered them together to look like a forest.  The title, "A Camping we will go..." is a cute Sabina-ism. When we go hiking, she constantly sings that little song and we have to find rhymes for all the little animals... "A hiking we will go, a hiking we will go, we'll catch a 'fish' and give it a 'dish', and then we'll let it go..." By the time we get to where we're going, Jon and I are completely OUT of animal rhyming ideas!

One more new thing on this layout -- the new layering circle framelits -- for the sun.  This set has a lot of dies in it, and the nesting layers are much tighter -- so the little frame is about 1/8" rather than our old ones which were at least a 1/4".  AND there is a little scalloped frame to match each circle size!  Really useful for sentiments on cards, OR a sun! :)

 Today is a BIG day for our family!  Our new puppy is arriving!  Sabina is so excited she can hardly stand it.  Jon flew to Portland to pick it up, and will be coming home today around 3:30.  I know I will be hearing -- "When will Daddy be here?" at least 200 times between now and then....  Talk about cuteness overload!...  It's a boy puppy, and we are still deciding on a name, but "Bandit" has been in the lead so far.

Spring is here!!!

It's that time of year, when there's a beautiful, sunny day and it totally convinces you that EVERYthing can be planted in the garden, RIGHT NOW, and that summer will be here TOMORROW!... Today is such a day.  The kids (and I) practiced their running for cross country, played football in the yard, and tossed water balloons until everyone was soaked and freezing!  But, oh, the sunshine feels so very good!...  Now for ice-cream at sweet peaks....

We made this cutie pie layout at my scrap class last night.  I was in the mood for something colorful and a little whimsical and different than my usual, so this is what I came up with!  I made a cardboard "tree pattern", and we traced it on the back of adhesive backed felt that we could then cut out, and peel and stick to the layout.  I recently got the Blossom Bunch Punch from the Occasions catalog, and  hadn't had a chance to play with it yet.  I was really surprised at how lovely the little flowers look layered together. Quite a different look than any punches I've owned.  The little stacked flowers remind me of darling scrap booking embellishments you can find at craft stores sometimes.  Only, with this punch, you can make any combination to match any project you please!  Sometimes it is so refreshing to have a nice splash of color in your scrap book pages, and this one fits the bill!

For the leaves, we used the festive flower punch.  Quick, easy, yet quite a statement.  I had a ton of this retired Designer paper stacks, and we made a really good dent in it with this class!  Now, that means I can buy the updated version.  Yippee skippee! :)

Hope all my peeps enjoyed making it as much as I did!

Ok! Ice cream time.  Happy trails to you and yours!

Bloomin' Love is so elegant!

Another favorite product from the Occasions catalog, is the Bloomin' Love bundle.  That beautiful intricate heart die cut, is so beautiful in real life!  And there are two little flower dies that coordinate with the stamps in the stamp set, so you can die cut the little flowers to layer onto the heart die cut.  Here is a card we made at my last Stampers club class, as well as a scrap layout for my club this month.  LOVE this die set!  Perfect for wedding, Valentines, or even a family photo layout as I did here!

For this first card, I used a Crumb Cake card base, and embossed it with the Happy Heart embossing folder.  A 1" strip of the Blushing Bride glimmer paper, and a strip of DSP from the Love Blossoms DSP stack, makes a simple, yet striking base for the delicate heart.  I die cut the heart out of Whisper White, and stamped the flowers in Blushing Bride ink and die cut them to layer on top.  I also used my favorite new Clear Wink of Stella brush to add some sparkle to the heart. This stuff brushes on easily, dries quickly, and leaves behind a lovely little sparkly trail! 

 This layout is what we are making at our scrap club class next Friday.  I wanted to show case the Bloomin' Love bundle, since it is a February class, but also show how it can be used in a non-Valentine's way.  I kind of like the way it turned out, other than the fact that I glued the 'u' down backwards.  Oh well!
These were family photos that my friend, Gretchen Knuffke, took of our family last November.  I really loved how they turned out, and wanted to use them for this layout.  The base pages are Cherry Cobbler, with a strip of Basic Black at the bottom.  I used the border die from the new Botanical Blooms bundle to die cut that lovely vine border.  You could use the flower dies in the botanical die set, to do a flower/vine border and create a totally different look.  A little strip of DSP from the Timeless Elegance DSP across the bottom, with some croquet trim adds that little touch of vintage.  The photo mats are Sahara Sand, which for my layout, went nicely with the barn wood in the photos. Simple layout, really.  The hearts are die cut from Very Vanilla card stock, and I used the curvy corner trio punch to punch the corners of the photos.  This punch is a must have in my opinion.  It adds that special little touch to so many projects -- and you get three punching options in one punch!

Ok! that's it for today!  Off to watch my kiddo's basketball game!  If you haven't yet, check out the fun Sale-a-bration freebies, and remember, the ones at the back of the flyer are only available till Feb 16th, so get them while you can!  My personal fave of the ones that will be going away, is "The Sky is the Limit" set on page 16 with that darling plane in it.  This set is great for masculine cards, graduation, birthday, scrap titles, etc.  Super fun, versatile set.  See it on page 16 in the Sale-a-bration flyer