The Small Things...March 2015 Clique Kits Pep Rally

Welcome to the March 2015 Pep Rally with Clique Kits and featuring the March Kit J'Adore.

This month's challenge:

Add a POP of Neon to your project! This month's kit is filled with beautiful pastels contrasted with black and white. It also mixes and matches BOLD patterns with soft watercolor brush strokes. In my opinion- trendy and genius of our spotlight designer Amanda Rose and the Clique Kits kit design team ! Now it's your turn to show us your interpretation of the challenge to add a pop of neon to a project!  Get inspired by this fun neon sign by Kate Spade, NY.

This past Friday the 13th marked 90 days of marriage for me! (and my DH) So we had some fun with "reviews" for one another, talked about lots of stuff and went out to dinner at the local Cheesecake Factory (I'd never eaten food that wasn't cheesecake there before.) I LOVED using this kit for this layout. (P.S. We both passed our reviews and will be staying married!)

This kit was full of so many lovely bits and papers, I used it to make two layouts about my grandparents here and here. I also made a minibook that I'll be sharing on Thursday this week. I started this layout by coloring the door cut from one of the papers with some neon colored pencils I picked up a while back at my local Paper Source, the nI cut out that neon pink heart from an acetate card in the kit and stapled it to one of the exclusive 3x4 cards. Then layered that over a fantastic black doily (BTW Clique ladies I'd LOVE to have more of these to play with.) I knew I wanted to use a piece of that yellow neon polka dot acetate and I had some other little paper scraps on my table so I started layering. I wanted that lovely wood veneer tag to be a part of my layout... I was kind of going for a grid style layout but it's not quite squared up... oh well I love it anyway. Then I had gotten the Bella Rouge add on paper pack (that's actually where the background paper came from) and I used some of those bits for layering as well. I took some of my favorite phrases off of the Cosmo Cricket and piled them on... LOVE THOSE! Then I added the strip that was at the bottom of the same 3x4 card that says The Small Things to the bottom of the door with my tiny attacher and added the heart lock and key that were listed as add ons and found applicable flair to add. Then I decided it was time to stop. No ink splatters this time, no edging of papers, just stop . I love how it turned out, picture, journalling and some pops of Neon. :)

March Line-Up
Clique Kits https://cliquekits.wordpress.com/
Erica http://ericarosecreates.blogspot.com/
Lacey  http://laceybugcreations.blogspot.com/
Tyra*  http://www.justtyra.com/
Danielle http://picsandcheesecake.blogspot.nl/
Nicole M* http://www.nicolemartel.blogspot.com/
*************Charity http://www.scrapfaire.blogspot.com/ ******** You are here
Cassandra H. http://www.fortheloveofscrap.com
Kat*  http://kraftykat9.blogspot.com/
Kim http://kimsscrappyblog.blogspot.com/
Mariah www.fun2scrap.blogspot.com
Carolina* http://www.carolinaschulz.com/
Sarah M http://sarahmoore4.blogspot.com/
Marcia  http://www.onescrapatatime-bymumsie.blogspot.com/ 
Sandy G http://www.thepinkcamera.com/

Dig Daddy

This is actually the first layout I completed using the March Clique Kits J'adore kit! It's my Mother's Father and really I just sat down with the kit, and started cutting  up some of the papers to make the mini that I actually was inspired to make when I first saw the kit contents, and there was some watercolor paper laying out on the table and this story of my grandfather taking my cousin and I for ice cream (specifically chocolate dipped ice cream cones from the Dairy Queen) just came to mind, so I wrote it out, threw some gelato color on the page and texted my mom for a photo of my grandfather. I had some frames and these wood veneer people in an iris container leftover from previous Clique Kits (I throw my bits into a container together sometimes). Those stamped ice cream cones are from Lawn Fawn : Here's the Scoop They are stamped with Hero Arts Unicorn Pigment Ink ( I colored over the ice cream a bit with a brown marker trying to make the "dipped" part)

The cardstock was from my stash, but that background paper is my FAVORITE one from the kit, then I layered the add on papers from Bella Rouge under my photo. Those tones in the paper, I just love them for the  and those phrases from Cosmo Cricket, sigh... love those!

I'm noticing a trend for myself to just freehand cut my papers, I'm gonna see how this plays out, I'm just too impatient to pick things up off the trimmer to use it sometimes ;).

Critters Ever After Congrats

I have what is now an empty box where I keep cards partially made up in case I need one in kind of a hurry for someone. I take the card out, then finish it off. These usually start out as images I want to play with... in this card, I had gotten my first gelatos and wanted to play with coloring some ADORABLE Lawn Fawn Images. Critters Ever After is a stamp set that I reach or over and over again for all sorts of cards.

This card started out as a scrap of Cosmo Cricket paper, on a kraft card base with the dragon and crown from the stamp set in place. 

Then I added some Washi from Pinkfresh Studio that I won from participating with Clique Kits. Those letters, They are Cosmo Cricket as well... Tiny Type. Those gold stars are from Pretty Little Studio and came in my August Clique Kit.

This just wasn't enough, I knew as soon as I started looking at the photo... so I didn't get a better one, I just started adding some more stuff. Actually I just added Three stickers from the Highline collection by Basic Grey. And then, I thought it was Perfect!

I JUST LOVE how this turned out! Let me know what you think! Thanks so much for stopping by.

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!!

 

Love this photo

I've scrapped my little cockatiel Gem before, she is getting close to a year old now and until recently, was doing a bit of flying because she was so pretty I just didn't want to clip her wings. alas she flew into a light fixture and nearly gave me a heart attack (the light was on at the time). So now she can't get any lift. But before that, she had been taking advantage of her ability and flapping over and landing on my head. The ONE place I don't like for her to land. ;)

I finally stood still long enough for a pic and just had to scrap it.

Also this past Saturday after work I got to take my friend Lila out for Ice Cream. 

Most of the materials for these two layouts are from Amy Tangerine's Plus one and the April debut kit from Clique Kits. The yellow pen I used for journalling is a Sakura Souffle pen. I just love these pens and have had them for many years and am just now getting them out and using them. The background paper with the diamond pattern is from Cosmo Cricket's Creative Surfaces pad, the pink matches Plus 1 perfectly!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, I CAN'T wait for Thursday's Project share, I've been dying to share it with you for months!

Get Well Soon!

I don't make many get well cards and I take that as a good sign, that I don't know many people who are ill long enough to get a card. But I needed one recently and got busy with some Cosmo Cricket, Thickers and misc stuff lying around on my table... speaking of which I'm currently trying to clean off my dining room table, it's shameful how much stuff I have strown out over the top of it :).

I think it turned out lovely! I love the pink!! 

Christmas Cards 2014 Part 5

Are you sick of them yet? These two are my favorite... um well they all are but I love these two especially for their non traditional ness.

I purchased the Cosmo Cricket Creative Girl 8x8 pad and the Simple Surfaces 12x12 pad a while back and really have been pulling them out and telling myself I didn't have a project worthy of their lovliness... um, yeah I'm trying hard not to just pet and hoard some paper :).

I used a fiskars paper punch to punch those scallopped circles and threw on some navy twine and an old metal Making Memories sentiment and there it was. I LOVE IT!

This one features some really old alphas from CC, those pink woodgrain and the aqua blue ones. I'm almost out of my gray foam lullaby font thickers, and new was the only word I could make work with Holiday Traditions.

The twine and sequins came from Endless Inkabilities.

Really love the non traditional looks!

Lawnscaping Challenge #70, Take 2!

I am definately enjoying the Polka Dot Lawnscaping Challenge!

I pulled out my Creative Girl paper pad by Cosmo Cricket and then used the Happy Hanukkah set from Lawn Fawn. Oh yes, There are some sprays from Tattered Angels and some Distress Paint in Pewter. LOVE that stuff! I sprayed some crepe paper and used it under the sentiment banner. LOVE using crepe paper in my crafting. This is my favorite Hanukkah card so far this year!

It also has just a couple of peeks of glitter tape because I'm practically obsessed with the stuff right now! OH.... that polka dotty circle paper... it came out of the Simple Surfaces paper pad by Cosmo Cricket, I almost forgot to let you know! Thanks for stopping by to take a look!

Lawnscaping Challenge #70, Take 1!

I adore the polkadot/ star snowy background from the Let it Snow set of Lawn Fawn Stamps. So when I saw Challenge #70 was Polka Dots I couldn't resist making a card from this set, and since I needed some on hand I also used the Happy Hanukkah set.
I used a kraft cardbase that I had on hand, Some fine White embossing powder from Inkadinkadoo, some paper from the new Cosmo Cricket Creative Girl 8x8 paper pad, some scraps of a piece of paper from Glitz Design's Yours Truly Collection and two Wilton brand doilies. I stamped the Menorah in Spice Tin colored Ink (Jenni Bowling for Ranger Dye Ink) and then filled in the flames with gold stickles. I also brushed around the edges of the doily with the ink and REALLY swiped the inkpad on the doily I layered underneath the first one.
This card is fairly simple, I then stamped Happy Hanukkah on a scrap of the Glitz Design paper and embossed, then cut the flag end and adhered it to my card. That background is simply one of my favorties. I think it's so fun and versatile!

Thanks for looking!

How to handle a sensitive subject part I

So in 2012 I posted here about a LO that I made which was full of some sensitive journalling and really I guess it was a more art journally type page, but whatever. Today I want to share this LO with you.

I will be the first to admit it's a bright, happy, springy, colorful thing to look at. (OMG I've been wanting to use those papers on something lovely for so long). The photo is of me and my now deceased DH from Easter 2000. The vellum to the left of the photo covers a LOT of journalling. Some really painful journalling about how that day seems in the photo and the reality that was my life for so long. I love so much about this LO. But most of all I love LOVE the way I felt after I wrote all of my feelings down. It was like breathing a sigh of relief. I worked a desk job for several years, and this photo sat in a cute but really cheap little frame that had plastic on it rather than glass. One day a glass of water spilled on my desk and damaged the photo. The plastic from the frame is STILL stuck to the photo, it will tear up the photo if I try to take it off, so if you think it looks weird, that's why. I wouldn't change a thing about it... I wouldn't put anything on here straighter. I think it's awesome just the way it is. I used my favorite products, a stamp, some trim that I misted, some stickers that I've been hoarding shamelessly... and design tips from Shimelle Laine (I'm kind of addicted to her videos right now).

Do you scrap the hard stuff? Do you keep a journal that's private to put your feelings in? I'm kind of combining my therapy blog with my scrapping. I think it's good for me, and hopefully one day if any of my good friends takes a look at this page, they can share their own feelings, or they may not stop and read it. I think either way it's a really good idea.