Sketch fun with Paper Camellia

I'm normally not a sketch user, but when the amazingly talented and awesome Kristine Davidson put together a sketch for the Paper Camellia blog, I couldn't help but want to join in on the fun.  Here is the sketch for January:

And here is what I did with it:

Am I the only one who thinks that printshop card says "lone" instead of "love"?  My second grade teacher would not approve of that cursive!  

Paper Camellia DT: December Kit Love

Hi friends!

I am so lucky to be one of the Design Team members over at Paper Camellia Kits, especially when I get a chance to play with beautifully curated supplies like those in December's kit.  Over the next week I want to share a few things I've made.

Happy Hanukkah!  This is a sweet photo of Orli and her little menorah that I wanted to keep.

I often find December a tricky month -- it's hard when everything is Christmassy and you're a blue and silver kinda girl.  But this kit was neutral enough to be very usable for me -- and I appreciate that!  Love those Thickers that spell out Miracle -- a fun focal point and it works really well!

I textured the edges of my paper with my We R Memory Keepers Heart Attack tool (which I got on clearance at Target -- holla!) and inked them with a Prima inker.  A few enamel dots, a button, a little mist -- and don't forget those freaking awesome gold rub ons -- and yeah, I liked it.  I'm into the paper layers on this layout.  Everything looks so nice together right out of the box it was easy to put together.

Up top is more layering, mist, and a really fun star paper clip from the Alison Kreft Christmas Collection from Webster's Pages.  I love me a good paper clip.  :)

I hope you're all enjoying your December so far.  I'm working on my JYC/December Daily and will have those going up soon -- and of course, more pages from this beautiful kit will go up soon, too!

September Kit Round Up: What I Made

To keep myself accountable, I'm going to post what I made each month from my last kit.  Citrus Twist releases in the middle of the month, so I'm not behind  -- yet!  :)  I recieved October earlier this week -- here is what I made with September.  I did add a few full sheets from my stash to the kit so I could keep going with my scraps.  Some pages are a little fugly, but not everything I make is blog worthy.  They are seeing the light of day only so I can keep my count honest. 

 

I plan on cutting into October tonight!  

xoxo, laurie

Favorite

I love the washed out, dreamy colors of Pink Paislee's Color Wash line.  This paper, which I used as a base for my layout, is so good I could eat it.  This is another page done with the September Citrus Twist Main and Pocket Life kits.  I added a few gold glitter mambi chip accents to compliment the gold on the amazingly intricate and organic lace that was in the kit.  I don't know where that lace came from, but isn't it beautiful?  

I found this lovely photo of Orli lounging in bed that was also a bit washed out (in the best way!  Love those bright whites!) that I thought would look lovely with the paper and went from there.  The photo is matted with a little bit of Carta Bella's Hello Again.  The butterflies are punched from that same 6x6 pad.  The Favorite chipboard title is from Dear Lizzy's Polka Dot Party.  The wood veneer asterisks came with the kit; I colored them pink with spray mist.  

I'm so glad you came by to see what I had to share today.  Please leave me a comment if you like my work; it makes my day to hear from you!

Two Best Friends

I am really getting down to the scraps of this month's kit and I can't wait to get my box full of October Goodies!  This is put together from some of the last of my big scraps -- it's all tiny pieces from here on out.  Still, I'm loving it.  This is a fun color scheme that I'm not sure I would have chosen for myself -- but I ended up really liking it.  

It's funny -- I keep my pages pretty current, working from photos of the past few weeks, usually, so it was quite a shock to see Orli this tiny!  The months are going by so quickly!  

Standing Like a Big Girl

Today another page created mainly from the September Citrus Twist Main and Pocket Life kits.  Have I mentioned that I LOVE the september kit?  I do.  Such dreamy colors! 

I used had this really cute photo of my daughter standing alone for the first time (well, with the support of the ottoman!).  One print was a misprint from having walgreens print my instagram photos (they cropped them -- I should have known that the would!) but it still had those nice dreamy colors that worked so well with the papers in the kit.  So I pulled it out and paired it with a less dreamy but entirely there photo of Orli and it looked really cute.  There is hidden journaling on the pink card that tucks behind the polka dot paper.  Sometimes journaling just doesn't work with your design -- so hide it!  I like all my pages to have a little journaling, so when it doesn't go with the layout, it just gets tucked behind something else with a little string to pull it out.  

I'm loving that October Afternoon washi.  

I just used a tag for the journaling card that I sprayed with a bit of tattered angels mist and tied a piece of My Mind's eye Lime Twist baker's twine.  Some mist splatters and a mambi chip to indicate that I do, in fact, "love this" and it all came together.

Also, I cannot believe it's the middle of October already.  I am soooooo ready for some turkey!

Fall Card

Fall is my hands down favorite season.  I love apple cider, the smell of fireplaces, the crisp autumn air, sweaters -- I love everything about fall.  I thought I would make a little card to celebrate my favorite season.  Again, I am a novice card maker, so don't be too harsh.



Stamping on cork gave me a messier impression than I was hoping for, but the look grew on me.  The gold leave is a button that I had left over from another project and the Bronte quote is from a MAMBI sticker set.  Firstly, a Bronte quote -- that's awesome.  Secondly, a Bronte quote about my favorite season ever -- that's swoon worthy!

Here is what I used:  Cardstock by American Crafts, Martha Stewart baker's twine, Glitter tape by American Crafts, a leaf button, sticker by Me and My Big Ideas, Cork sheet by Recollections,  a crazy old stamp set that I have no idea where it is from,  Vintage Photo Distress Ink, and sequins.

I Love You So Very Much

This is one of those layouts that came about as I tried to kill the last bits of a kit and was really stretching.  In the end, though, I think I'm actually rather fond of it, although I'll admit I had mixed feelings for the majority of the time I worked on it.  That pink background paper was my jumping off point.  It was the last whole sheet I had left and I needed to use it.  And in theory it's very pretty and fun and funky, but I had the hardest time working with it.  It wants to take center stage but I wanted it to be background but still shine.  The end product isn't anything I'd submit to a publication or anything, but I'm happy to flip through my album and see it.  

The butterfly was cut from the same painted paper I used on my "beach baby" layout earlier this year.  I'm really embracing the pink/orange color scheme it seems!

Whimsical Twist Blog Hop!

Welcome to Whimsical Twist's first challenge! We thought it would be a lot of fun to also have a Blog Hop to celebrate our first challenge! How does that sound?
During the Hop you will be visiting blogs from several of our fabulous design team members. You will find so much inspiration on the way, that your head might explode!
The hop will start at the Whimsical Twist blog and end at Sharm's blog. You should have arrived from Kimmie Rishebarger's blog. If you are just joining in, be sure to go to the Whimsical Twist blog to start. If you get lost along the way, just look at the list below to get you hopping in the right direction.
And you can't have a Blog Hop without giveaways and this one is no different! In order to be entered into the giveaways, you will need to be sure you leave a comment on each blog on the hop. Whimsical Twist will also be giving away a $15 gift certificate to the shop to one random hopper! We will be announcing the winners of our giveaways on August 12th, so be sure to watch for the announcements.
Without further ado, let's get this celebration started!
Our first challenge is inspired by summer!


I hope you're enjoying all the great layouts by my fellow design team members - aren't they great?

Here is the mood board we were all inspired by:

For my layout, I was inspired by the bright pink hue of the watermelon photo for its cheerful, summery feel. The former art major in me says where there is orange, though, you need a blue - so I chose a photo with lots of blue to focus on like the puppy in the float. And here is what I came up with:

I used water soluble crayon for the background color and the border, plus a little Tattered Angels Shimmer Mist for extra color. The stars are punched out of a background I painted but didn't like (I think it looks great as stars, though!) and the paper is Webster's Pages Sweet Notes by Allison Kreft. That binder clip in the corner I had attached to my shirt when I came home from the office, and it was yellow and cute -- so on it went! Throw in some twine, stickers by My Mind's Eye, some enamel dots and a few sequins and you've got yourself a layout!

My motto: Use It! Use It! Use It!

Speaking of, I used: Sweet Notes by Allison Kreft for Websters Pages, MME Tiny Label Stickers, MME Tiny Word Stickers, Travel Girl Tidbits, MME Enamel Dots (are you addicted to these?  I am!), Sequins, water soluble crayons, some Martha Stewart paints, a fiskars star punch, Thickers, a riverbank revels doily, twine, a Citrus Twist Kits exclusive stamp, some washi tape from a Citrus Twist kit, and I think that's a Dear Lizzy roller date stamp.  I have like one million of roller date stamps, so I'm not positive.  Oh, and the dolphin paper clip is from a japanese stationary store.  And the binder clip is from my office, which I accidentally wore home the day I made this layout.

I love that little dolphin paper clip -- isn't it cute?

Leave me a comment and keep on hopping for a chance to win a $15 gift certificate to the Whimsical Twist store. Subscribe to my blog too because I'll be giving away a sweet little Smash prize pack next week to one of the people who comments on this post and/or subscribes to my blog and/or friends me on facebook! (You get two entries if you both comment and subscribe.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway


In case you've gotten lost, here is the order of the blog hop:

Lisa Lahiff 

Alexandra Polyzou  
Sandi Pressley 

Amanda Johnson

Ashley Hamm 

Taniesa Vlasak 

Charissa Miller 
Kimmie Rishebarger 
Sharm Nidyanandan 

YOU ARE HERE >>>  Laurie Danielle 

Lisa Wilkinson 

Next on the hop is Lisa Wilkinson! Thanks for visiting me!

Something New (on many levels).

I am always at a loss for how to use papers with large patterns or full borders so this was my go at using some Dear Lizzy paper with the full border.  I chose a HYSTERICAL photo of Orli looking shocked as she sits in her Bumbo chair.  She looks shocked probably 25% of the time, but this was a particularly funny picture, and I wanted to celebrate it.

I decided to keep it simple and just use a little scrap of orange polka dot paper and some strips of washi tape.  Probably not the most creative solution to the bordered paper issue, but it was a good first solution on my quest to master that type of paper.

I also learned that if you're gong to do some mist splatters, you should probably mask your photo so you don't splatter it too.  Oh well!  It gives it charm!

So that's that.  Certainly a different sort of look for my albums, and that's a good thing.

Inspired by Shimelle: The First Layouts

So this is how I started.  I'm finding that knowing I have a limited amount of materials is keeping me on edge.  I'm completing things when they still feel a little incomplete -- which is lending a clean and slightly retro look to my pages.  I'm not sure if I love it this page about the cookies, but it was an interesting exercise in using things.  I also feel like it was stretching before a big game -- just warming up a little, seeing what you can do without playing to win.  I have no idea what is going on with those doily stamps. As I write this I am pretty much making a face just like that cut out pumpkin cookie.  But that mess did give me a fun idea for later, so it wasn't all losing.

This is layout number two from the kit I put together and I'm feeling better, but not OMG YES A MASTERWORK! about it.  I cut the tag out of the card stock that is the mat for the first layout (yes, I cut the middle out of the mat.  I am so horrified to run out of materials.  I think it may be psychosis!)  I love that background paper, though; I love it with a fiery passion, so that makes everything gravy. 

I hope all of you playing along are having fun.  I know I am, and the challenge is teaching me a lot about the way I work that I didn't really realize before. So hooray for self discovery!

Flower Girls (and Boy)

Here is another one of the pages I did at the Michael's Crop Night I went to a few weeks ago.  I packed myself up a little envelope full of things I thought I might want to use and went at it.  I think it came out pretty cute.  The giant chipboard letters were in a free-for-all-grab-what-you-need box and the only "i" available was a pink one -- but I think it came out pretty cute despite (because of?) the pink "i".  Bob Ross would call that a happy problem.  They are giant letters, though.  I'm not sure I would ever buy any that big, but they were fun for this page.

Also, aren't my nieces and nephew totally awesome?

Anyways, I'm still off on vacation right now (Yes, I admit, I am typing this before vacation and delaying the post  -- don't you worry, I am not wasting my time away from home blogging).  As I'm typing this I am really just doing laundry, which is not nearly as exciting as saying that I am on vacation.  I am doing laundry using Mrs. Meyers Lavender Laundry Detergent, though, and that is as about as exciting as my laundry gets.   I'm a sucker for really good smelling laundry. 

And on that note... back to vacation!  :)

BPC Design Challenges: Project 1

Hooray for first layouts of new classes. I'm taking Design Challenges over at Big Picture Classes, and this was my first layout of the class. I love a fast paced class with no real rules (ugh, I ESPECIALLY hate step by step tutorials -- I want to be FREE!) so I'm digging this already.

I had a 6x6 paper pad that I picked up a while back to try out that I used for my pie chart. I learned that I tend to like bigger pieces of paper than just 6" on my layouts, so the pad hadn't been getting much use -- but it was perfect for chopping up into wedges for my chart.

Did a little experimenting with Tim Holtz distress ink, which is a new material and technique for me. Next time I'm going to tone it down a little, I think.

And of course my layout has my one true love of WASHI TAPE all over it. I tell you, I could eat that tape for breakfast lunch and dinner. Its perfect for all occasions.

Can't wait for the next challenge to be released, and I'll post what comes of it here, of course!