Atta Boy

So I dug into my stash of UFO (unfinished objects) and decided to take a stab and finishing this baby boy album. I think it turned out super cute... so I listed it in my Etsy shop. Thanks so much for looking and if you want, you can buy this one.

Jen McGuire Inspired!

I have some favorite inspirational people that I like to watch to learn new techniques, or how they may use techniques the I already know, but in new ways. Jen McGuire posted this video last week:

I LOVE distress ink and this technique inspired me to get out some Lawn Fawn and Paper Smooches stamps to see 1. What did I already have in my own stash that would give me a similar card and 2. What would other images give me? So here is what I came up with: (the chevron paper is from the Sketchbook Collection by Amy Tan... using my stash you see :)!

Paper Smooches Calico and Chit Chat

Paper Smooches My Peeps and Chit Chat

Lawn Fawn Woodgrain Backdrops and Here's the Scoop

Lawn Fawn Woodgrain Backdrops and Here's the Scoop

Lawn Fawn Woodgrain Backdrops

Craftastrophe

I love my Cameo! Let me state that and get it out of the way first. That being said, sometimes you need to do a practice cut. I find that when I'm working on a 3d object and it's going to take my whole special piece of paper that it works better if I cut one to practice with that it goes smoother and I don't mess up my "special" paper. The silhouette store has a 50% off sale right now so I'm using that to my advantage (um or I was buying up shapes I wanted until I had to go buy 4 new tires this week... sigh). Anyway I picked up a few CUTE purse shapes by Samantha Walker and went about trying to cut out my fav with some paper that I had been hoarding... making the special lovely hoarded paper turn in to...

So I pulled out a sheet of paper that I liked, but simply hadn't used yet as opposed to having hoarded it in my stash for a few years... took a deep breath and cleaned out my blade (sometimes that sucker holds on to a piece of paper and can't cut like you want it to... it's just maintenance, she was trying). Then I got to this lovely: 

Simply ADORABLE! Now, what to do... ok so def when I make it again it will have the buckles either out of a metallic paper (I have some from Chickaniddy Crafts that would be perfect). And a few other accents like brads or something to make it even more lifelike. OMG it's so cute. And what to do with them, well Easter is coming and some birthdays are coming up. It is adorable and will sit on the palm of my hand. I shrunk the file just a tiny bit so that all of the pieces fit comfortably on a 12x22 sheet of paper, I wonder how big I can get it...This purse is about 5 inches long at the bottom and a bit over six inches tall at the top of the handles. This paper is by Fancy Pants. I hope you like, I've made some cards inspired by a recent Jennifer McGuire video that I'll be sharing next week and I'm off Sunday and Monday this coming week (because I work today) so hopefully I'll be inspired to make something wonderful to share with you. Hugs everyone and I hope you have a lovely day. What are you making this weekend?

More Rehoboth Beach

I still have beach photos and since I'm loving this March kit from Scrapbook circle right now for these beach photos from 2013, I've done another layout with this kit! It's really simple, and btw kits are so handy when you go over to a friend's house to crop! :)

This layout uses some Scrapbook Circle Exclusive flair along with Basic Grey papers, Crate Paper Journalling Card, Basic Grey Stickers and Elle's Studio Cut aparts. I used the hexagon stencil exclusive to the kit for some pops of orange. And there is my one photo of me at the beach! (whew, not too much skin, right?

Hugs and TFL!

Thanks, Hello There

So I've been playing with my inks and stencils and getting messy and LOVING the things I've been learning in my classes. If you don't have an awesome teacher like Jen Starr coming to a location near you, I'd love for you to drop over to May Flaum's site and give her classes a try I LOVE her teaching style and have currently signed up for all her classes! I'm still working on the Winter Retreat but have finishe the stencil class and the scrapbook stamping class and they are FANTASTIC!

Anyway... using up some supplies from a kit that's a few months old and my new stencils and some lovely Paper Smooches Stamps:

TFL!

Island Nightmare

Warning!!! This covers some hard to scrap subject matter, it may be upsetting.

I woke up from a nightmare this morning. It was awful. In my nightmare my late husband was alive, and telling me that he faked his suicide ... I have typed so much more several times but really I have a blog that's for my own therapy and really where the rest of that goes, but there is stuff in the journalling that talks about the dream so I wanted to put it in perspective for you. 

This layout is made using an awesome Rebekah Meier Stencil put out by the Crafter's Workshop called Gothic Romance. I picked it up at my LSS Scrapbooks-Plus. I think I'm going to be using it more... I really like it! I used another Stencil on some book paper for the butterflies. That was the Specimens Stencil also by Rebekah Meier for Crafter's Workshop. I used the Classic Butterfly punch from Martha Stewart to punch out the butterfly shapes. The hearts were made by scraping some Graphite colored Ferro with a pallete Knife (a credit card works great also). The stained glass window I made with an old bottle of Glimmer Glam in Lady Bug. The title stickers came from The Recorded Set from Allison Kreft for Webster's Pages. That Stamp is from Tim Holtz and the Steampunk cling stamp set. 

I dripped some Heidi Swapp Gold Lame' Colorshine Mist and some Studio Blue Art Anthology Mist over for some final touches. 

The journalling is very VERY stream of conscious towards the end. In the beginning I was just rehashing the most upsetting things about my dream that wouldn't get out of my mind. Sometimes all you need to do is write it out. JUST so you know, I have seen a therapist in the past for all of this grief stuff and as my own continuing therapy, sometimes you just gotta get it out, in my case... on some paper. And I don't mind sharing. Maybe you need to get it out too. I could have done this on a smaller scale, but I like working 12x12. I could have written this down and painted over it, but that's not what I do. I may never look at this again, but it will have a home in my scrapbook. I've dated it like I do my other layouts. This is how I deal with some of the harder things in my life. It works for me. Thanks for looking. I hope it helps or inspires you as well.

I've taken a couple of Stencil and Stamping classes lately... Most notably the mixed media bootcamp at Scrapbooks Plus. BUT I've taken several classes from May Flaum and it's really inspired me to actually USE the stencils I have bought and then to STAMP on my layouts so I get more use from my stamps.

Rehoboth Adventure

Using the March Sketch and the March Kit from Scrapbook Circle I scrapped some photos from my trip to Rehoboth beach last year. I love all of these colors and journalling cards, the wooden thickers were left over from my November kit and they made me think of the boardwalk so I threw those in. I have some more photos from that day and a few more to get printed, for some reason my home printer wasn't doing a good job, so I'm sending them over to Persnickety Prints  because I want them to look as good as these photos do (these were my tester 4x6 prints to see how their photos would look). I love that the colors in these photos are so true to life... ok enough said. Can't wait to scrap the rest of my pics with this kit.

It was a very good day!

This past Sunday was spent at Scrapbooks-Plus which is my LSS in Chantilly, VA! I love going there for classes and SUNDAY was a MIXED MEDIA BOOTCAMP with none other than Jen Starr!!!

SO many new products and mediums to play with! AH!!! I also picked up a new stencil that I think looks like the death star window.

There were actually three classes, we worked with basic color theory for several hours then we worked with dyes and stencils and different mediums in the other two classes!

It was so much fun!! I am loving the stencil work and I wonder why I don't use the ones I have more often... I'll def have to work on that! I suggest if you see her coming to a LSS near you that you check it out!!

Here is that Crafter's Workshop Stencil I was telling you with the image like the Death Star. Look at the upper lefthand corner and the bottom righthand corner. The artist is Rebekah Meier and this stencil is my introduction to her.