A layout I actually love!

I did this page for Scrapbook News + Review (the July issue dropped yesterday, by the way - it's FABULOUS! Over 300 projects!) in the June issue for the sketch column and I REALLY was happy with how it came out. And it was even a page about something me (or at least my shoes, lol)! Yay me! :)

Supply list:

Patterned papers - Organic Honeysuckle and Organic Poppy from Bo Bunny

Journaling pen - Zig Writer in chocolate from EK Success

Ink - Colorbox Fluid Chalk in Chestnut Roan from Clearsnap

Cutter - Curvy Cutter from EK Success

Letter stickers - American Crafts LAX Remarks

Flowers - Prima

Velvet brads - Making Memories

Journaling:

No, I don't wait to catch glimpses of robins, or to see flowers peeking up through the soil. For me, Spring is here when I can pull out all my favorite shoes and set my toes free! Growing up, I was never a "shoe girl" - I had sensible, boring shoes. Even in college and beyond, I never got into shoe shopping. I always had a few pairs - a pair of tennis shoes, a pair or two of heels, and a pair or two of dress flats. All usually in black, brown and white. After my divorce, however, I started to pay more attention to my appearance - it was time for a change! I was shopping for clothes one day, and the store happened to have a small selection of shoes. A pair of high heeled red sandals caught my eye. Red! I've never owned a pair of red shoes in my life! It was daring. It was provocative. It was everything I wanted to be! Soon that adorable pair of shoes (which I left in my hotel room at CHA last year) led to more. And more. I am now a shoe whore - I admit it! And all of my favorites are open-toed with a heel. They make me feel pretty. And sexy. Like a new person - a girl enjoying Spring again! Time to go shopping!

CHA in Spirit Day at 2Peas

Whew! I've been at it all day long with my fellow Peas and I'm exhausted! I managed to complete four layouts today and that's HUGE for me! I haven't scrapped much for the past several years - altered a lot, but not scrapped. So I'm excited and thought I'd share what I did today! Nothing earth shattering, but I had a blast!!!

50th Post!

Wow! Just realized my little blog has hit a milestone! It makes me glad this is a picture-heavy day, lol! This is the matching album to the wooden gift bag I posted yesterday. It's made from a wooden mini-album from Kaiser Craft (I desperately need Hobby Lobby to pick them up so I have easier access - I LOVE their stuff!!!). This went super fast because I found a quick, easy formula and stuck with it. I used the same paper I used for the gift bag (total between the two projects was under two pieces - I still have tons of scraps) and Mod Podged it onto the fronts of all the discs. I painted the backs and edges with Lipstick paint from Making Memories. All the glittered chipboard hearts are from Scrapworks and again, I have tons of these left over from the original box. This was my one attempt at proper "design" - I used the visual triangle to "frame" my pictures. The pictures themselves are printed on self-adhesive cotton from Shortcuts (now distributed by DMD). This stuff is amazing! It can go through your printer, you can stamp on it, whatever! Gorgeous texture - you end up with a canvas-like end result. I have tons and tons of this and had forgotten all about it but will try to bring it out again to show you some of the fun tecniques you can do with this. The last thing I used on every page was 3D paper paint from PSX that I outlined all the pictures with. I used a few other things on the cover and back, but will mention those near the pictures.

The whole album


The cover. I used Papier Glass Finish from Plaid inside the hearts. This is very similar to Ranger's glossy accents. The one I used happened to be a tinted version in baby blue. Which I totally did not notice for some reason (and actually thought it would eventually dry clear because I just wasn't paying attention) but it worked out nicely because of the blue in the paper...crisis averted, lol! I literally noticed this when I grabbed the bottle just now to make sure I credited the product correctly. I KNEW this product usually dried crystal clear, lol (and it does...when you don't use baby blue...). Anyways. Now that I've embarassed myself, just wanted to let you in on HOW I did the heart on the left that's hanging off the edge. Since the outline hearts are open in the middle all the way through I was kind of bummed that I wouldn't be able to fill that one in like I had the one in the middle then I got a brainstorm. I took a piece of clear packaging (in this case it was the little plastic box the Target ribbon came in) and glued it under the overhang. Once that dried, I was able to fill that heart in as well and after the glass finish (blue...) had dried, I was able to use a craft knife to cut off the excess plastic and it left the heart transparent. As always, I've uploaded these in hi-res so if you click on any picture you can get a gigantic version to see close up (eek, and any mistakes I've made). I mention this here because only close up can you see the oops moment I had when I was trimming the excess and just under the left side of the heart I cut into the dark pink stripe. I used a tiny piece of scrap to Mod Podge over it. Another crisis averted. Are you sensing a pattern? LOL!


The inside pages.

The back cover. Here I've used a chipboard coaster I've had forever from Little Davis. I love finding things I'd forgotten about just at the right moment! I surrounded it with Prima's and used the same PSX 3D paper paint as the centers. I use this a lot for flower centers because I love the way it keeps its chocolate chip shape after it's dried.

And the whole gift. You'll notice I didn't photograph any of the backs of the pages in the album, well those will be used for the sentiments for the recipient so I figured they didn't need to go on the blog. At least PART of this project will be a surprise for her, lol, since of all days, she started reading my blog yesterday. Thanks, mom, lol!

Last post of 2007!

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful holiday season - Merry Christmas, Happy Haunnakah, Happy Kwaanza, Happy Winter Solstice, and Merry Every-Other-Holiday-I-Might-Have-Forgotten, lol! I wanted to end the year by thanking everyone for joining me for my random creative excursions and hope you'll join me again in 2008! I'm honored that you have all stopped by and amazed at all the different visitors I've had from all over the US and different spots all over the world!


I've spent the past week doing a lot more organizing than actual creating (I actually found my tabletop in my craft room!) and what creating I've done has mostly still been Christmas and I've promised to stop subjecting you to Christmas projects for a while, lol, so I don't have much new to share for the moment. I DID want to share this quick and easy project though! There was a post on 2Peas linking to this clock with some ideas to make one. Well, I went the super quick and easy route so it's definitely not the same project, but was still a lot of fun - I hung it up in my son's room so we'll see what he thinks when he comes home later this afternon. This is a $3 clock from Walgreens (they had them in a huge dump bin at one point and still have them occasionally in little endcap displays). And ONE set of foam Thickers from American Crafts. I'm really glad I used the foam instead of the chipboard because it "gives" enough to really tweak the placement. In hindsight, I wish I'd used a less "curvy" font. I think it would look better with a more defined font. But still, it's a 15 minute project - can't beat that!




And also, for this last post of 2007, I'll leave you with MY favorite layout (I admit, there really haven't been as many as I'd hoped to accomplish!) of the year. Paper from My Mind's Eye, everything else from the Making Memories Noteworthy line. It's a picture I love and a story that just makes me happy!



I wish you all happiness and creativity in 2008!!!