June 2015 Pep Rally Featuring Dream Quest!

Welcome to the Pep Rally everyone! If you've come from Megan's blog, you are right on track, if you are just stopping by to see me, be sure and follow the blogroll below and comment on everyone's projects for your chance to win! The best part about being a member of the Clique is that EVERYONE who wants to can be a part of the monthly Pep Rally!!!!  This was our challenge this month:

The challenge:  Use three or more photos on your next project. We want to see lots of fun photos this month!

Based on this challenge, I decided to scrap some photos of my 20 year high school reunion (it was in 2013.) It fit my own criteria of using photos I've already printed or had printed to scrap, and I had three from the same event so I did it! 

I really love how this layout came out, I used  those Mommey Lhey stamps from the Clique Kits store, (I stamped them with the Hero Arts Ombre Inks that I picked up there as well)the letters from the Pretty Little Studios selections from the store (I actually bought those to use in my planner, but the colors were WORKING with the kit, so... I just used them! Everything else came from the kit, I cut up the cut-apart sheet and used that awesome chalkboard of the USA and put a star on Alabama (because that's where I went to High School), I repeated the stars in two other clusters of  embellishments, I included one of those thick wood veneer pieces and (gasp!) I even cut apart the acrylic sheet of tags, ephemera that came with the kit so I could add some tags from it as well. The only thing I added from my stash was the white tag, I stamped the pink ombre ink on it and glued it to the clear tag to make my title stand out. Those flag shapes were stamped on a piece of white cardstock from my stash then added to the clusters, SIGH, Crate Paper just knows what it's doing with ephemera! I loved making this layout with the kit, but I can't wait to turn the rest of it into a travel minibook! 

JUNE 2015 Line-Up
Clique Kits https://cliquekits.wordpress.com/
Lacey  http://laceybugcreations.blogspot.com/
Annelie http://www.swewi.wordpress.com/
Tyra* http://justtyra.com/
Brenda Smith http://lillylanephoto.blogspot.com/
Kim A. http://kimsscrappyblog.blogspot.com/
Aliza* http://peopleofthescrapbook.blogspot.com/
Sandy G.*  http://www.thepinkcamera.com/
Donna* http://scrappydonna.blogspot.com/
Sarah http://sarahmoore4.blogspot.com/
Marcia* http://www.onescrapatatime-bymumsie.blogspot.com/
Mariah www.fun2scrap.blogspot.com 
Megan Blethen http://www.craftymeggy.com/
Charity Donaldson http://www.scrapfaire.blogspot.com/

Life is Wonderful!

I had decided a while back that after I got married, I'd get a haircut. I have finally found someone that I trust to cut my hair, so I went a few months ago and I got a haircut that I love, I got some highlights that everyone else loves and I guess they look ok, I had to laugh when someone told me they looked "natural." I didn't really want to go get a haircut by myself, so Lila to the rescue! She got her nails done at the same time, and the ladies at the beauty shop treated her like a queen. I'm about ready to go back for a touchup! I loved using my April Happy Everything Clique Kit on this layout. That puffy star just makes me smile. This has to be my favorite kit so far, but I think I say that about every kit. It just goes to show that I chose the right kit club for me! 

Most of this layout is PinkFresh Studios but I layered my photos from Persnickity Prints over some lovely printed Vellum from Webster's Pages, it was in the kit, and that puffy star was an add on. There are some gold rub-ons, diecuts, and enamel hearts and the background paper that are all PinkFresh Studios Up in the Clouds collection. I can't wait to see what Pinkfresh does next, I'm drooling over their May embellishment kit. I'm so glad to share this layout with you today! It's been a rough couple of months, My computer was dying most of April making online classes and blogging very difficult, then I lost my father this month. I've cleaned off a large enough section of my dining room table to start my scrap therapy and I can't wait to share the pages with you. 

Bootiful Girls

This kit made the most of my October kit Masquerade Ball from Clique Kits, I used a ton of the ephemera as layering pieces, some stickers, one of those awesome glittery hearts you could get as an add on and I even discovered that the Shimelle rub-ons in the store will stick to that lovely glittery heart!! I used one of the exclusive journalling cards for my journalling (weird, I know) and those stickers, I just couldn't get enough of those October afternoon stickers... I gave up on keeping them straight because that just wasn't important to me... 

These were my pets in 2008. While the kitty Sayuri doesn't look thrilled, she actually liked wearing "clothes" perhaps shirts and things rather than this jingly jester collar... but they looked so cute together. I found my inspiration for the diagonal papers on the layout here at yt, but I also saw one of the CK designers got inspired with a similar layout from IG on yesterday's blog share.

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!

Birthday Cakes

Sunday was spent playing with my A Midsummer Night's Dream July Kit from Clique Kits. Last month I had determined that the best way to get through my kit was to go ahead and have some photos printed when my kit arrived, but I have been working in my snap album so much with the Summer School class that I never got around to that (this class ROCKS btw.) So I went to my album that is just old photos in divided page protectors and pulled out two different events to scrap. This was the second bunch, but I wanted to feature them first. Erica had shared this sketch from Life. Paper. Scrapbook. and I decided it would be a GREAT sketch to use with these photos.

I made these photos about 6 months after I started scrapbooking, but I had still not gotten to the point where I knew what photos I would want to scrap. I wish I had better photos of the cakes, or the cakes with both kids, but these work and I know what happened. I think they are good enough to use for my story and I slapped the journalling on in several places. I had volunteered to make cakes for their birthday party that year and they were to be a castle and Hello Kitty. I think they turned out fine, I'm not sure I could have done better, but the kids LOVED them! That was all that mattered. If you play along with the sketch, let me know, I think it's a fun one. I used mostly items from my July Clique Kit but added, gray cardstock and I cut those gold foil doilies out of a piece of gold paper from Fancy Pants Designs with my Silhouette. Those gold thickers are from Dear Lizzy and are the font Fox. The black date stickers are also from my stash and are by 7Gypsies. 

May Faire

To start this post out, I'd like to mention that THANKS to Fancy Pants Designs, I found a new challenge blog called Scrap and Play. I am entering this layout in their June 1st Challenge #3.

For my fantastic birthday weekend I went to the Virginia Ren Faire. It was FANTASTIC and smaller than the one in Maryland that happens in the fall. I used my Field Trip Kit from Clique Kits to create this layout, and followed along with the scrapbook bingo board at Scrap and play.

This layout actually had a double bingo on it. I used a punch, mist, and chipboard (those gold stars are chipboard and made by Studio Calico). I also have a button and lots of Fancy Pants Design product on this page. Let me know if you are playing along! I had SO MUCH FUN!!

You Don't Know Jack

I am convinced that I had a "celebrity siting" when I was in NYC December 2013. I snapped a covert pic of who I think is Sean Hayes (and yes he is breakfasting with a lady with red hair worn in a syle that seems to be very Debra Messing but no comment on that...
I posted this pic on Facebook in December and I had friends who said it wasn't him, but I wanted to leave him privacy and not interrupt his meal ( or spoil my own illusion ) so I just kept this pic on my phone and cherished the memory of my own celebrity siting. :)

The ruffle is by Glitz Design, the paper and border are from the Basic Grey Highline collection, those awesome blingy jewels are also Glitz and I have just hoarded and drooled over them long enough! That mist is by Maya Road. The gold diecuts are from Clique Kits, they are the diecuts from the May kit, Field Trip and they are cut from the Fancy Pants gold paper in Field Trip. LOVE that gold paper!!! My favortie Momento Tuxedo Black journalling pen decided to quit on me right after I started journalling on this layout. Oh well, I hope to replace it soon. In the meantime I'll just use whatever I can find around here that will work. The tiny word sticker is from Authentique, the letter stickers are from Echo Park and Basic Grey.

Noted Food Traditions

Since moving to the NOVA area, I have changed some traditions. One of my FAVORITE new things is going out to eat on New Year's Day. I actually did this my last year in Memphis and found it so much more fun than cooking myself. So I have a current favorite BBQ restaurant here and went this January 1st for the second year in a row. I had a couple of snapshots on my phone so I decided to document this new tradition. Formerly I would have cooked some sort of pork product to eat, I decided BBQ was easiest a few years ago, but I used to cook this frozen Corky's BBQ that I would buy in Memphis. I would also cook some sort of potato and some greens and blackeyed peas. I was the only one in the house who would eat the blackeyed peas and I don't know why I didn't think to just go out to eat years ago.

The ruffle is by Glitz Design and I've had it in my stash for a long time. There is one piece of black cardstock used as a layer and the rest of the papers and stickers come from the Basic Grey Highline collection. LOVE these papers.... the colors are AMAZING! The letter stickers are from Ellie's Studio and Jillibean Soup.

At the Diner

Diners, love them or hate them... they are everywhere in this area. I really enjoy the fact that they have a variety of food, and that they all look so interesting. The closest diner to my current home is called the Jukebox and it has a bit of a nostalgic rock n roll 1950's-60's type of decor. I love it! I learned a trick with my coffee spoon over the weekend and decided to document a little about the diner. 

I LOVED using the colors in Field Trip to document this diner, because I feel like that pink just fits right in with the photos. That is an ACTUAL slide used as an embellishment and I borrowed the cutest little heart punch from my friend and went to town on a scratch piece of paper from the kit to make those little tiny hearts I then stuck everywhere. Those eggs look yummy right now! They are piled on top of a pile of cooked veggies, broccoli, onions, squash, etc... oh and there is cheese. YUM! Along with paper and letter stickers and cut files cut from the gold paper in the kit, I added buttons from the matching button set by Fancy Pants (the As You Wish collection buttons, Flowers from Maya Road, a postage style coffee stamp and some steam stamps borrowed from a friend, stickers from the As You Wish collection pack and Thickers.