You Mean the World to Me

My mojo has been with me, I just couldn't find a spot to sit and scrap because I haven't been cleaning as I go... My table hath overfloweth with stuff. So I "found" my table while I was off work today and made the layout that had been on my mind. I found this photo with the other photos of the my Daddy's retirement party. I was going to scrap it first, but got stuck, so I scrapped all the other photos from that party which I've already shared. I LOVED using the May Clique Kit ,Carnival for these layouts.
I actually thought I had lost the photo. I kept moving those photos around with the kit, and when I decided I wanted to work on this one, I couldn't find it, until today. It had fallen off the table and under a shelf where I store some of my scrappy supplies. As soon as I found it, I sat down with the kit leftovers and scrapped it! I made a background paper similar to it's "sister" pages and did a lot of journalling. I'm really happy with how it turned out.

 The title card is one of the Clique Kits exclusive 4x6 cards that come in the kits.  It was my favorite card in this kit, and I'm so happy to have it on my layout rather than taking up room in my stash and not getting some layout love! I'm trying so hard not to hoard my things, but get them used. I made an error in my journalling, I left the "n" out of the word and, and pretty much stopped writing when I did that. Sometimes I keep going and just decide to leave the mistake, but since I noticed it while I was doing it, I picked up a scrap from some of my paper layers and correctly spelled "and" and glued it over my error. I really love the look of that painted doily, I'm so glad I saved it for this layout! 

More good news, I found some Project Life albums on steep sale over the weekend and picked up a couple, the albums I have here were getting overly crowded and I have some layouts just hanging out in page protectors. NOW they can go into albums as well.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. 

If you haven't seen my latest video, it's of my most recent KIT HAUL!

Catching up 5-6

I am so sorry to everyone that I wasn't able to participate in the 2015 NSD events. I hadn't scheduled my post to go up for the blog hop, and I had to leave town because my father was very ill. He passed away on May1. I had several projects ready to share with you for the weekend and I'll be sharing those starting today.

This was my take on the sketch you can find at the SpiegelMomScraps facebook page, I really enjoyed using this sketch created by my fellow Sparkler Kat Benjamin. Jody, the owner of SpiegelMomScraps posted this layout on fb the other day for me, but I wanted to make sure you saw it! It's made with the Pinkfresh Studo's Up in the Clouds collection, I also doodled around the edges of the black cardstock with a Sakura Gel Pen and I wanted to make sure it showed up in the photo, that's why you see the floor as well. That vellum is from Webster's pages and the cork, washi and gold doilies are from SpiegelMomScraps. I AM LOVING the cork shapes, I have more projects coming up featuring them. Not sure how many of you might recognize them, but there are some Sassafras Lass stickers on this layout, I dug into my secret stash, I'm trying hard not to be a hoarder.

SMS supplies on this layout:
Gold Doily (I painted over it with pink chalk paint for the effect in the layout)
Cork Butterfly
Cork Heart
Cork Cloud
Washi Tape

What did you do for NSD? I hope you had a blast!

Moments

It's the weirdest thing how sometimes a kit just lets you know what you'll be scrapping with it. I knew as soon as I saw the J'adore kit that I wanted to make a mini book with it, and make a mini I have, I just haven't shared it yet. As I looked through the papers trying to decide what to use to make my mini, all of a sudden stories of my mother's parents kept coming to mind, I started writing them down and after ransacking all my old photos and not finding the photos I needed, I started texting to ask mom to PLEASE send me pics of her parents, she responded by texting some back and I was set... photos to go with my stories and precious memories logged!

The only items not from the March Kit are those diecut flowers and word and they are left over from my January Clique Kit. (The background cardstock is from my stash.) The Stamp is by Mama Elephant and I have to say it's in a set of stamps that can be used for ANYTHING! It's called Filigree.

This kit sold out at Clique Kits and let me tell you, that is FANTASTIC! They have so much support and lots of fun stuff is in the works! I can't wait for next month as they celebrate their first year! I've been a subscriber since the first kit and it just keeps getting better!

January Pep Rally for Tailor Made!

Hello everyone, if you just came from Sandy at the Pink Camera, you are at the right place, and if you were just stopping by to visit me today:
Welcome to my version of the pep rally starring the January Kit from Clique Kits: Tailor Made: 

The only thing on my page that wasn't included in the kit are those chipboard Thickers from my private stash, I thought with an added freehand outlining of black pen they went perfectly with this kit, oh and a single piece of black cardstock to add a border around my layout. I love the faux stitching and watercoloryness (I'm saying this is a word) in this kit. It's really, really lovely and it brings to my attention one of the reasons I enjoy being in a kit club. These papers aren't something I would have just chosen for myself, I may have picked a couple of them, but it really stretches me out of my box to look at a group of supplies and think about how to use them together. I hadn't made a layout yet this year and there are some big memories I want to get on paper and in my scrapbook. This layout is a pic taken from a co-workers IG feed showing the surprise wedding shower they threw me at work after I eloped! I had no idea!!! And my favorite things on this layout are the doodly circle that I cut out of one of the 4x4 cards and that strip of gray and white hearts that was on the bottom of one of the 12x12 sheets of paper, I love those hearts!! This was the challenge for this month's pep rally: In the true spirit of Tailor Made, we want to see something sewn, stitched, embroidered, quilted, knitted, or crocheted on your project this month!  For extra credit, share some goals, hopes and dreams for the new year, or even your "word" of the year if you choose one.

So I kind of bombed the challenge, but I did use a paper that has those lovely faux stitched squares, and I got a special memory preserved, and that is why I scrapbook! Those Amy Tan stickers in the kit have to be one of my favorite things, so plan on seeing more of those really soon, I am trying hard not to hoard them! Don't miss out on the rest of the hop:

 (BTW there IS a GIVEAWAY!!!)

January Line-Up
Clique Kits https://cliquekits.wordpress.com/
Jody http://spiegelmomscraps.com/
Lacey http://laceybugcreations.blogspot.com/
Sarah M. http://sarahmoore4.blogspot.ca/
Bonita Rose http://www.bonitarose.com/?view=classic
Nicole M http://www.nicolemartel.blogspot.com/
Cari O. http://cariilup.blogspot.com/
Carolina S http://www.carolinaschulz.com/
Sandy http://www.thepinkcamera.com/
Charity http://www.scrapfaire.blogspot.com/
Kat http://kraftykat9.blogspot.com/
Kim http://kimsscrappyblog.blogspot.com/
Mariah http://www.fun2scrap.blogspot.com/
Alisha Www.alishabuggins.blogspot.com
Danielle http://picsandcheesecake.blogspot.nl/
Aliza http://peopleofthescrapbook.blogspot.com/

Little Moments... and using photo stacks to pack on the photos!

Photo Stacks are an idea I heard about on a video by Heidi Swapp on her show at My Craft Channel. I have used these on other layouts, but it's been a while. I really like to use these for older photos where maybe the photos aren't awesome and I don't want to feature them in a divided protector, because well... maybe there is a photo or two that I'd rather not have jump out at me when I flip through. Ok, all that being said, here is my layout and it is the first layout I've made this month with my Clique Kits July kit!

I believe these photos are the LAST photos I made with a non-digi camera. I forgot my camera the day we went to Graceland, and only these few photos turned out... I think there were 24 on the roll, but the rest weren't even worth keeping after I printed them. If you notice I didn't worry about anything on the backs of the flips, you could decorate them, but I don't think anyone who is looking through my album will even notice. That triangle 3x4 is a Clique Kits exclusive that I printed on Vellum and I love how it turned out!

There is a lot of white space, but I like it, and I love the  colors of this kit with these older photos. I added in some stickers from the June kit and my fauxnamel dots that are made from Perler Beads that I learned to make in the Summer School class. Also from my stash is the gray washi which is several years old and from My Mind's eye and the viewmaster plastic piece is from the Basic Grey Capture collection. I used the other half last year I think... I also added some tags from my misc scrappy stuff basket and the washi that was used on my kit packaging.

As for storing this in a page protector, I will put this page in a regular protector then carefully use scissors to cut out a slit where the photo stack is, then I will push the stack through the protector so I can flip them up inside the album without taking the page out of the protector. Let me know if that is clear as mud and I can make a video to show you what I'm trying to explain. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Balcony Tomatoes

This is a super fun layout that came together really quickly. I've been mainly catching up my little summer SNAP album with the events of my summer, and I wanted a 12x12 to go with my little balcony tomatoes. These are the first tomato plants I have ever grown and honestly I'm surprised at how they are thriving. I loaded up this page with things just sitting on my table.

The Thickers on this page have been in my stash for years and I've used them once before, but just look how they match that Amy Tan rub-on! Those tiny black stickers are from 7 Gypsies, the wooden pieces are from Studio Calico and I've had then a couple of years, the little tags are mostly from Elle's Studio and I just think they work PERFECT! That Grey paper is Elle's Studio and the background sheet is a white piece of carstock that I went around the edges with Distress ink. The watercolor paper is a combo of water colors, distress ink and Stamping with Elle's Studio Stamps. Sigh, I just love the results. 

TFL!

Sparkle and Wine

I used to feel really intimidated looking through online galleries and wishing my own pages looked nicer... the photos that were being showcased were so perfect. Then I got more comfortable with my very own work and decided that I liked the photos that I liked, the ones that tell the story aren't always the prettiest ones. In fact, that photo of me there in the middle is one of the WORST photos I have taken... but this memory is so sweet and fun that I wanted to document it. The products on this page come from the June Show and Tell kit from Clique Kits. I used a fiskars circle punch to punch out all the pink dots and kind of thought of all the polka dots as the bubbles in the sparkling wine that is in the photos. I used the red sequins to also echo the bubbles. I LOVE the paper that has all the square blocks with ampersands and wanted to use one as an accent and in my title, that yellow and gray just seemed to add the right touch. Then this page just sat... I couldn't decide on a title or something... it needed SOMETHING. Then I got my email and watched my first Summer School lesson...

The page needed more yellow and so I broke out my watercolor set and just splodged on some yellow that I mixed by combining the yellows in the set. I used a pipette to drop drops on the colorwash and create that look of movement as it dried. Then when it was dry (aka, this morning) I used another circle punch, this time one with scallops (also by Fiskars... love their punches) and  punched a bunch of shapes, I went around the scallops with a Faber Castell Big Brush pen in black and made doodle dots to accent and add more "bubbles".

I also remembered that I had this My Mind's Eye washi tape hanging out in my stash and that it would bring some more gray into the layout. 

I really love how this layout turned out. OH... important note... that bow is not a real bow... I just looped the ribbon from the kit around and then put another piece over the middle and stapled it. I cut the flagged ends and then added printables and images from the cut apart sheet and a Simple Stories sticker to make it all wordy and happy. I loved creating this page and hope that it will inspire you to use whatever pics you have, even selfies made at night indoors and in low light like me! 

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:

In case you didn't notice, there is a new badge over on the right hand side of my blog... it's a Clique Kits Substitute Teacher badge... I'm doing some guest designing for this awesome club and my first post will show up over there on June 11th (tomorrow even!!!). Be sure to head over and check them out because they are AWESOME! Like them on Facebook and Instagram too! Hugs everyone!!

Brave New World

Woo HOO! How is everybody feeling today??? I'm all excited and have my pom poms in the air!!! I really love this month's kit Field Trip and LOVE all the colors and patterns! Honestly this is a collection that would normally just get hoarded in my stash and I'm so glad I have so much inspiration and encouragement to USE this stuff!! It's way too pretty to stay hoarded up! Our theme this month is "Be Brave" I didn't have very long to think about what subject matter I would choose for that, I simply chose my move from Memphis, TN to Annandale, VA all by myself. Well I had friends that helped me pack up and get here but I am now 6 hours from my nearest relative and for someone who grew up in the rural south, that is kind of a big deal!

In my new attempts not to hoarder, I'm trying to go ahead and use multiple die cuts and ephemera on a layout. I love when someone else does it, and when I hold back, I just keep things in my stash that don't get used as often as I like. I used several exclusive printables that came with the kit, the tiny anchors from map paper, That AWESOME washi tape and my die cuts, I layered the letter stickers over some paper from the kit to help them show up better on the stripy background paper. I fussy cut several flowers from the papers and layered them around, that gold file folder contains a ton of journalling and the little chipboard globe is by fancy pants as are the chipboard buttons scattered around although they didn't come with the kit. LOVE the accent of those Studio Calico stars! I did edge almost everything with Black soot distress ink to kind of define edges a bit better. Here are some detail shots:

Here is the lineup... be sure to stop by everyone's blog... I hear there is a fantastic giveaway! Thanks for stopping by here!

Clique Kits ..... The hop starts here

Gia

Jody

Erica

Lacey

Sophie

Brooke

Madge

Charity.... You are here

Gina
Rosann

From Mom

Still going over layouts from NSD and Yes, I have done at least ONE project post NSD, LOL! I made this no photo layout that talks about things I learned from my Mom, but not just things she told me but things I learned from observation. I used a pretty little stencil from The Crafter's Workshop and no photo... did all my journalling on a piece of purple vellum I've had in my stash for more years than I've actually been a scrapbooker. The background paper is from October Afternoon and there is also a lovely piece of Cosmo Cricket paper from the Creative Surfaces pad.

The stickers are from October Afternoon and Chickaniddy Crafts. The heart paper is from Crate Paper.

I celebrated NSD2014, did you?

I did go out to see a production of Threepenny Opera on Saturday in the middle of the afternoon... but after that I got home, logged on to Big Picture Classes and played along with their exciting NSD10K! Seriously you should check out #NSD10K... on instagram... it has been AMAZING! I got 8 layouts (ok some were pocket pages and not much embellishing) but I thought that was FABULOUS for 2 days of scrapping. I'm going to share these pages with you, not all today, but the first two. There were 10 inspiration videos for us to watch (released hourly) so there was tons of encouragement, challenges offered and just a TON of inspiration and advice!

This page was inspired by Stacey Julian's video, she advised us to make a pocket page sans pocket...

Papers here from Basic Grey Capture and 3x4 cards and Diecut Card and Beach letters from Crate Paper, Sticker from Basic Grey Capture line. Grey tiny type stickers from Jillibean Soup.

I have already scrapped some of the photos I have from this beach trip last year, but I had these in the pile of photos that I wanted to scrap and I had a bit more story about the trip to tell. 

Then I watched more videos and then decided I wanted to scrap a vintage photo of my grandmother and told a story that she had told me about her and her sister. I dug out some special hoarded papers and so thanks to Crate Paper and Maggie Holmes I have a LOVELY layout of my Big Mama. I also used a TON of Thickers, I even had to make my own "h" and "e" from those awesome gold MH ones... I am getting really low on the amount of words I can make from my favorite Thickers, guess I need to be stocking up on those.

Other supplies used in this layout are an old piece of sheet music, a strip from an old Prima Printables, Some Dear Lizzy Ruffled Paper cut into strips, Crate Paper Washi, Pier Collection diecuts, Woodgrain Paper from the Pier Collection and a few tiny wooden hearts from a Scrapbook Circle kit. Stickers from My Mind's Eye.

Once Upon a Time Layout with Process Video

It's been a while since I did a process video, and while I love watching and even making them, I feel like my setup is less than ideal... and I always feel like I fight with my camera. So I made a process video and when I was trying to upload from my sd card, some of the files were corrupted so I lost the last part of the video. I have stills of the finished layouts to share first:

The journalling is really the important part of this layout. and I was worried in the beginning of how much space I needed to leave, but I really wanted all these photos together. They were my favs from when I got married, and in 1996 polaroids were our instagram! LOL. Here is a link to the process video, any feedback at all is appreciated. HAPPY SCRAPBOOK DAY! I am actually going to an event this afternoon so I'm not sure how much crafty time I'll be getting in, but I plan on doing SOME scrappy stuff today. Can't wait to see all the layouts going up on Instagram. Hugs!!

 

Welcome to the April Pep Rally!

If you have come from Gina's blog as part of the Clique Kits April Pep Rally, then welcome to my little blog! If not, then why not go ahead and hop along, it's not too many and the  projects with inspire you to create! I am thrilled to be a part of the first official Clique Kits Pep Rally and this month's challenge was: Tell us something about yourself!

The photo is a recent "selfie" I took of myself after I got all dressed to go out dancing with the other silly people I work with. We all went out to a place called the Clarendon Ballroom and wound up staying out way later than I planned. SO MUCH FUN! I do like this selfie... and I don't think I take too many, it's nice to see the changes in how I look from time to time. 

Items used in the layout are mostly from the debut kit from Clique Kits:  Debutante. The flair and printables on the page are EXCLUSIVE to Clique Kits! I am LOVING using those Amy Tangerine plus one papers, and of course those butterflies are from my most used Martha Stewart Punch! (Also I am so proud I used some of those Pinkfresh Studio wooden hearts, and didn't just hoard the lot of them!!) Thanks so much for looking and here is the blog roll:

Clique Kits

Gia

Jody

Erica

Lacey

Danielle

Brooke

Madge

Gina

                    ***Charity***(you are here)

Rosann

Sometimes you just have to scrap it out!

From time to time I just need to have a pretty conversation with myself about stuff running around through my head. This layout is one of those. It doesn't have a title, the papers are from Amy Tangerine's Plus one collection. The rub ons and pink foam Thickers in the Kal Barteski font are on here as well. All the journalling and some of the doodling were done with my Sakura Souffle pen in orange. The journalling isn't easy to read, but as this is some emotional stuff that is mostly me working through my thoughts, I'm ok with that.
All products on this layout (that aren't my souffle pen) came from Clique Kits if you haven't checked them out, you SHOULD! Awesome kits, INCREDIBLE customer service! These girls are where it's at!!

I went a bit wild with the layering of papers... and I LOVE that paper with the frames. I'm thinking some frame stamps would be good to have as much as I enjoyed cutting these out and journalling all over them. Do you ever journal out your feelings? Do you use an art journal rather than a layout? Do you just keep a journal/diary?

Date Night and You and Me

Using awesomeness from Chickaniddy Crafts that was in my Scrapbook Circle kit (there's some Scrapbook Circle Exclusive stuff in this two pager as well. LOVE this month's kit. Had a girlfriend visiting me and we had a blast running around DC!

You can click for a larger view.

I used some Art Anthology Sorbet paint with a Heidi Swapp stencil for the tiny stars on my background papers. I also got a set of Le Pen  pens and used the teal one for my journalling. I think it worked out great. I'm entering these layouts in the #70 Challenge Tag You're It Scrapbook Circle Challenge. Have you entered? Also, Paper Smooches is having a sale TODAY only, I 've ordered some stamps off my wish list have you?

Big Apple Red

I only have some scraps of paper left from my All is Bright December kit from Scrapbook Circle, so I pulled out some Basic Grey Paper left in my Home Sweet Home November Kit and threw together this layout of my painted nails in my all time fav shade of RED from O P I.

I used some thickers from my stash in the font lax, they were white, with glitter and I was missing e's and a's so I pieced together the letters I needed from what I had, then painted over them with gold stickles. I think they turned out ok, but I did position the red a bit wonky. I'm ok with that.

Here is a shot of my pieced letters.

And, the finished layout:

I think it looks great. Happy Scrapping, I'm off to DC to take some touristy photos today!

Six Flags was Always Fun

I have been out of my normal home for the last couple of weeks and it's been different. I was mostly knitting, but Saturday I had to come by home to pick up my SCRAPBOOK Circle Kit for February! I love LOVE these kits! This month was full of Chickaniddy goodies along with some October Afternoon. and other lovely things... check them out!

I made a quick video to show you all the lovely goodies (I did pick up the add ons this month and that Metallic Paper from Chickaniddy is a MUST HAVE!!!).

Here is the first layout I've completed with the kit. It has yellow cardstock from the kit, my photo which is terrible but taken from the years before we had those flip around screens or cell phones for selfies... and the labels and layering pieces were cut from paper in the Chickaniddy Date Night 6x6 Paper Pad and there are some stickers from the Date Night Sticker sheet as well. The photo is framed with that AWESOME gold metallic paper!!! The Flair, Boca paper and chipboard numbers are from October Afternoon Daily Flash collection. It's a special layout because it's of a happy time before I was married, with the man who was to be my husband. I've been scrapping mostly sad memories about him in 2013, but when I saw this photo I was moved to scrap something happy... which I take as a very good sign.

Crafty Goals for 2014 on Paper!

WHEW! I made my first layout for 2014 and it turned out ok. I really like the products on this layout and most of them came from the main December Kit from Scrapbook Circle. I pulled out my favorite Thickers from this year as I had ALL of the numbers left on that sheet and those Gold Maggie Holmes Thickers worked so well on my NY layout! I enjoy using "holiday" products on projects that aren't for that "holiday. The 3x4 card is exclusive to Scrapbook Circle and I just loved that it said Happy in those lovely colors. A few Fancy Pants Chipboard Stars, some "stamps from Basic Grey a snip of AWESOME Starburst design paper from Webster's Pages and that lovely glittery twill. Accents from journalling cards by Webster's pages and a teeny tiny date sticker.

ooo, see that star stamp, it's also a scrapbook circle exclusive ;)

Here is a more detailed shot of my journalling with my craft goals listed.

Can't wait to go by and pick up my photos for my 2013 December Daily and get it all pretty and posted for you. Did you do a December Daily? Is it finished? Hugs everyone! What are your crafty goals for the new year?