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!

OMG I made a card, yall.

I have never made a card in my life before today.   I am applying for a design team that would pretty much be my DREAM if I got in, (because they have lots of colors!  Man I love colors!) and they want two cards.  I'll admit it; I don't know jack about card making.  I'm sure there are some techniques that people use and know and are very uptight about, but I just messed around until I found something that I thought was pretty groovy.  Which, I guess, turns out to be a great big "Dream Big" card.

The butterflies are punched from a sheet of paper I covered with washi tape strips (a by-product of my first, failed card) and I used a MAMBI card from their pocket card series as the sentiment.  I liked how the colors are bursting from the black box -- it's like the dream is flying free with the butterflies.  YES PEOPLE, THAT BAKERS TWINE IS REPRESENTATIVE OF HOPES AND DREAMS.  (That is in all caps and italics because it gave me a PTSD art school flash back.  There was this one time, I kid you not, that this one kid pulled out a giant knife in figure drawing studio, slammed it into a desk and just stood there.  Which, you know, at the school I went to could have been A+ work for concept studio.  So I think everyone just ignored it.  But back to the card...)

I think in an ideal world I would have figured out how to glitter it somehow, but I needed to do it fast to get it in on time, so here it is.  It's not so bad for a first attempt.

Shrimp Night: Sketch Fusion

For this page, I did something that I don't do often -- I used a sketch. I've heard people rave about Alison Davis' sketches so I bought the Simple Stories Sketch Fusion book to give it a try. I had a whole pile of Simple Stories I Heart Summer to use up (I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot on this blog) and a whole lot of photos from vacation, so Alison's picture heavy style seemed to suit my needs. My first attempt came out like this:



It's interesting.  Not really my instinctive style, but not unpleasant.  I won't say its one of my favorite pages ever, but it certainly serves its purpose of telling the story and showcasing lots of photos.

7 photos on one page.  That might be a record for me.  Although I did NOT enjoy all the resizing of photos.  I'm a 4x6 print and go sorta girl. 

I would also like to point out that I do not normally eat shrimp.  One time a year only -- and it's so I'm not left out at Andy's families big shrimp event.  Shalom Bayit, y'all.  Also, that shiz is delish.

Right now I'm not sold, but I have two more sets of photos resized and ready to go for two different sketches from the same book.  I do admit that it's good for vacation where you want to cram a lot of images in a small space.  I'll probably use the sketches for that again.  It won't become my normal mode of scrapping though.  I missed the creating.  It just felt too paint by number for me to use with any regularity.  

Fun in the Sun: Chalkboard Challenge

There is a super fun chalkboard challenge over at Whimsical Twist starting today.  I'm in awe of people who can make the chalkboard look work, and there are lots of great examples by my fellow design team members.  My layout uses mostly Simple Stories Hello Summer, which has a few chalkboard elements.

Pull out your chalkboard papers and embellies and enter the challenge.  You can win $15 to spend in the Whimsical Twist store -- and that can get you quite a little pile of goodies!

Welcome Sweet Baby!

I like to think of myself as a little bit Warhol.

Well, you can tell whats going on in my life by recent layouts, can't you?  Really, baby is life -- those are the only stories I have to tell right now.  I'm not complaining though - the days are long but the weeks are short and she changes so quickly that I'm glad to document things while they're fresh in my mind.

Here is baby Orli just a week or so old as seen in four shrunken versions of her birth announcement.  Because I'm a nerd, several different colorways of the announcement were mailed out and I wanted a way to highlight them all.  Again, we have Dear Lizzy Neapolitan paper and banner (which UHHHG photographed like a parabola instead of a nice swooping banner!) and a little bit of machine sewing.    This was, I think, the first layout I made after Orli came home so I was getting my sea-legs back.  WHERE ARE YOU SEA LEGS? I KNOW I PUT YOU AROUND HERE SOMEWHERE.

Being Different (Than Myself)

Gummy candy in open bins?  YES PLEASE!

Didn't I just post on Halva?  I guess I've been inspired by food a lot lately.  That is because, um, of lady hormones, I think.  We'll be back to posts that don't feature food next week.  This week, lets chow down on some scrapbooking that was actually pretty hard for me because it deviated out of my normal colorways that I enjoy and feel comfortable in.  I took these pretty serious colors but wanted to make them true to my style (which I would describe as Rainbow Bright meets Clarissa Darling of Clarissa Explains it All and they have a disco party and you're invited!).  So how do I take my natural desire for neon and wild patterns and hand drawing and tone it down without completely losing interest?  I made myself a little checklist:

1. Pick a tamer version of a color you absolutely love (I picked this moss green variant of lime green)
2. Keep some bold pattern, just use it judiciously.  
3. Use the things you love, just make choices that fit within the color scheme.  (Thank you Tim Holtz washi tape!  And cute little "Sweet" doo-dad.  And not-quite matching but whatever, close enough glitter butterfly!) 
4. Keep the calm feeling with ample amounts of negative space
5. Add a little bit more interest with a graphic edge punch instead of adding more color

I think it worked out.  It was a struggle at times, but its fun to flip through my book and see a page that both doesn't look like my other pages, but still looks like I made it.  Don't you hate it when you're totally inspired by someones awesome page but then when you use their style it just doesn't feel like you anymore?   I feel like that all the time!  I think I struck a good balance this time, and doing something different makes me feel like I'm capable of designing on a larger scope than just what comes naturally to me.

How do you get out of your comfort zone?  Do you embrace the foreignness of creating something that doesn't look like you or do you add a little bit of yourself and your style into all of your layouts?  I would love to know!

Ikea Organization

A lot of hex keys went into this project

And here it is, a thing of great beauty!  There are two new Expedit units in this new, updated, better than ever version of my crafting space.  The 4x2 on the left with all the baskets is brand new as well as the 2x2 that has my blue photo box on top of it.  The chair is fresh as well.  Before I was working at just the desk and the tall bookshelf on a rickety old second hand dining room chair.  It was not awesome.  There were also two rainbow rolly carts that were, while somewhat effective, mostly not effective and pretty darn ugly.  So, 4 hours in a car, 350 dollars (ugh), and a few blisters later -- here we are!  Lots of green boxes, 8 baskets (over $100 in baskets.  That almost makes me sick -- but I guess they'll last forever.  When I was getting my new iPhone a few days ago (I AM SPEWING MONEY RIGHT NOW SOMEONE PLUG ME UP) the lady I was dealing with told me that her grandfather told her "I'm too poor to be cheap".  I know that as someone who just bought a ton of stuff from Ikea I should probably not be quoting that, but it struck a chord with me.  Just spend the money and get something that will last.  So that is the justification on the nice baskets.  They will last, or something), and a rail, some hooks and other rail stuff later, I am good with a place for everything and everything in its place.  Which I love, even if I am only good about that sort of thing 85% of the time.  And there is room to grow, which I should probably not do but probably will anyways.

I also would like to tell you about my sewing machine that you can see in one of the cubbies someday (because it is awesome and runs by using a GAME BOY!) but that day is not today.  But just you wait.  It is so. freaking. awesome.  A Game Boy, no joke!

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!

BPC: Design Challenge 7

When I was your age I used film cameras and I liked it!  Just kidding, sorta.

I like things to look like what they are.  Let a chair look like a chair, don't disguise it as a high heeled shoe.  Dress children like children, not tiny adults.  And scrapbook pages that harken back to the original days of gluing photos to paper -- I like those a lot.  And so I was inspired to put away my paper trimmer (not that it cuts right angles, but that is a story for a different day) and pick up my handy dandy scissors and go to town with some brightly colored paper and some photos that I took on some vintage and toy cameras a few summers ago.

Luckily (?) I had my bike tire exploded by Andy's (who has asked to be referred to as Mr. Wonderful) uncle, so I had an interesting story to tell on my page.  Now you see, Uncle Wonderful (which is to say, Andy's Uncle) is a bike dude.  He has spandex pants and a shirt with pockets all over its back and shoes with clips and all that fancy stuff and a bike with like 107 speeds*.  I, on the other hand, have an awesome vintage 3 speed that I got at a garage sale.  So Uncle Wonderful does not approve of my tire inflation levels and comes over with his pump and proceeds to add so much air that my tire cannot take it and literally explodes.  The sound of a bicycle tire exploding is horrifying, by the way. 

So here we are, on a small island with one general store and an exploded bike tire.  We rent houses on the island, so we don't really know where any tools are to fix the bike and even if we had tools we don't have a replacement tire.  But the men of the Wonderful Family are true heros and hop on their bikes (the irony is not lost on me) to go to the island general store and see what can be done to repair my tire.

And they fix it.  There was a lot of digging in the rental house's garage and a good deal of sweating (its hot in July in Georgia) but my tire was repaired.  And, of course, by then I was cranky and tired and pretty over riding my bike around the island.  The cool morning had faded into the blistering afternoon and no one wants to ride around in that.  I mean, maybe you do if you have on spandex pants and a shirt with pockets on its back.  I can't say. 

Wow, that was rambly.

But the photos look vintage and I thought it was a good fit for a more traditional looking page.  And man do I love that paper.  Love love love!

*107 may be a touch high. 

The Shimelle Challenge Commences!

 Hooray!  I love a good challenge, so I'm playing along with Jennifer Smith Sloane's Inspired by Shimelle Challenge, where, much like the master herself, we take a limited number of supplies and then work and work and work until we can work no more with what we started with.  Which is pretty much how I roll to begin with (no beautiful scrap shall die without being glued SOMEWHERE!) I'm not used to such an insular process.  I think it'll be fun, and might encourage me to bring something like this along with me on vacation since we vacation in no-mans land with not a lot of entertainment options besides reading books and riding bicycles and family dinners. (Which are all great, but sometimes after 4 days of that it gets a little old, you know). 

So here were the rules of the challenge:

The challenge is to create a kit using supplies you have on hand that includes:

-10 patterned papers
-5 sheets of cardstock
-1 spray ink (Mister Huey/Glimmer Mist/etc.)
-1 stamp set
-1 Alpha Sticker large (Thickers, etc.)
-1 Alpha Sticker small (mini alphas)
-1 sheet of bling/embellishments
-1 pre-made/cut die cut accent
-1 set of border strips

*Any of the embellishing items above can be traded out for one other type of embellishment with that noted. Tools do not count as do stamping inks.

The challenge comes from using this kit to create as many projects as you can.

I just got a huge box of goodies from the Charity Box Sale (which, by the way, was TOTALLY AWESOME!) so I pulled 10 Sassafras papers from the box as well as a package of flowers and border strips.  The Thickers, Stamps, Cardstock and Cosmo Cricket page (partially used, I love those little cut apart tags) came from my bins.  I haven't yet got on the mist bandwagon, so I substituted the ever elusive Target Yellow Washi Tape Set instead.  The stamps are Amy Tangerine and the Letter stickers are Thickers and from Michaels.  The Cosmo Cricket page is substituting for my die-cut accent.  So there you have it.  Challenge accepted and ... may the odds be ever in your favor?

I hope its not that kind of challenge!

XOXO 

BPC: Design Challenge #6

Let's not tell my mother in law I posted that photo of her on the internet, shall we?

Still loving Design Challenges over at Big Picture Classes.  My craft-space is all organized and ready to go (I'll post details soon), so I worked on this today.  This started as a two page layout, but it was looking SO. BAD. that now it is a one page that actually looks decent.  I'm going to play around with the base of the other page and see what I can do to salvage it. 

As you can see from the picture, I am hereby claiming the correct way to spell that 8-day holiday with the candles is H-A-N-U-K-K-A-H.  I'm not really one for spelling it with a "C", but I guess my only real hard and fast rule is that any spelling of Hanukkah must have 8 letters.  Why?  Because 8 is important in Hanukkah and it is the only way I can tell if I have actually spelled it (any version) correctly.  It is true -- I am not such a good speller.  (Want proof?  On the post a couple down I have, in my page's journaling, spelled "pose" (like a group of people) as "posee" which I'm pretty sure isn't even a word. I should probably fix that.) 

Don't judge!

Okay -- you can judge a little. 

IKEAing

This is a photo of my lunch at Ikea.  Meatballin'!

Okay, so here is what I'm up to:

1.  Not a lot of creating going on right now because I am in the middle of a big craftin' space reorganization

2.  I have aquired, in addition to my previous Ikea 2x4 Expedit and desk set, another 2x4 Expedit and a 2x2 Expedit as well.  And so many baskets it literally pains me to think of how much money I spent on baskets

3.  That literal pain may actually have been caused by dropping the big Expedit on my finger while trying to drag it up the stairs

4.  In the future I may re-think purchasing large furniture that you have to assemble yourself while the husband is out of town.

5.  That being said, I did put everything together all by myself and I kinda feel like a beast

6.  I will fo'sho post some photos when everything is not a hot mess like it is right now

7.  Also, I am sore.

Shower Curtain-Curtains

Where the magic happens?

Why are curtains so expensive?  I drove all over town looking for pretty curtains that weren't shiny (ugh, too formal!) and found nothing.  Even the sweet sales lady in the JC Penny's Curtain Department told me that I shouldn't get my hopes up for modern, non-shiny, affordable curtains.

Well, I had to go by Target to pick up some shoelaces and decided to check out their curtain section.  Nothing.  I meandered around the store (I really should stop dawdling) and found myself on one of the bathroom aisles.  And there they were -- my beautiful, perfect, not shiny but a little funky (shower) curtains.  A few cutain clips and volia -- my problem is solved.  No longer will the neighbors and their 5 back porch lights that they keep on ALL NIGHT LONG (no joke -- 5 lights!) keep me from getting the beauty sleep that I so desperately need.  And my house doesn't look like I'm the grand dame of formal draperies.  So really, that is just great.

But, as I wrote to my friends on my facebook page, "if you come to my house and have the sudden urge to take off your clothes, its probably the shower curtain-curtains causing that."