4 on the 4th - a Lasting Memories Challenge

Hello, friends!

I hope you will join us over at Lasting Memories today for the kick off to our May challenges - yes, tomorrow is May. WHAT?!

This week's challenge is to use small embellishments (buttons, brads, bling, enamel dots, etc) to create BIG number(s) or letter(s) on your page.

Here is my layout for this challenge:

I used pompoms, star sequins, round sequins and a few other bits to create the number 4 for my title.

I love making fourth of July pages sparkly!

With two small boys, sometimes you just get what you get with group photos, as was the case with these two.

I hope you will play along with us over at Lasting Memories for this fun month of challenges!

Thanks for looking!

First Glimpse at Magic - a Stick It Down sketch

Happy Weekend, y'all!

Today I'm bringing you a fun, Disneyworld layout I created with this month's single-page sketch from Stick It Down. I LOVE this sketch! And it's very likely I may use it again! :)

Here is the original sketch:

I took a little liberty to add some additional feature at the bottom. Since I accented with gold, I had these little glitter pockets I got on clearance at Hobby Lobby a while ago, but had yet to use. It was a perfect chance. I put a little ephemera piece with the date and the location - as if one wouldn't know the location?!

I recently got this black, Heidi Swapp texture paste on clearance at Michael's and I thought it was really different - I feel like you don't see black very much. So I was excited at a chance to use it for my Disney layout with my new Echo Park castle stencil.

I used an Echo Park stamp for the large castle - which is always tricky and nerve wracking when you're applying it directly onto your background paper. But, success!

The paper bits are from the Simple Stories Say Cheese III collection, and the side pieces are mostly branding strips - a great way to use them up. The Mickey and Minnie are buttons, and I cut off the back bits & popped them up with foam.

I chose the Say Cheese magic sticker in gold for my title, so accented with gold otherwise with HS shine and gold glitter ribbon. I also added the red sequins to tie the red into the bottom vignette, and because sequins make every page better!

I have a video filmed & edited, just awaiting voice-over, and the process for this page will be on YouTube.

Supplies:
Background paper - Dear Lizzy Documentary
Patterned Layer paper and Stickers - Simple Stories Say Cheese III
Stencil and stamp - Echo Park
Doily - Recollections by Michael's
Frames - Simple Stories Say Cheese I (i think)

Thanks for looking!

Adventure with these boys for sure - A Stuck?! sketch

Hey everyone!

Today I'm bringing you a layout I created with a sketch from the amazing Laura Whitaker over at Stuck?! sketches. I just adore all of her creations & love working with her inspiring sketches!

Here is the original sketch:

So fun, right?!

This photo is one of my FAVORITES that I took in Disneyworld on our last trip - and it's not even Disney related, so go figure!

I liked this colorful wall where we stopped for lunch at the Animal Kingdom, so I had my wild boys pose. I didn't even have a great phone camera at that time, but this was taken on my phone, and I love how it turned out!

I fussy cut these acetate medallions from a piece of 12x12 paper, and I used gel medium to stick these sequins and shiny little bits on. I added the cork to man it up a bit - LOL.

I just got these little Tim Holtz sentiments stickers that look like typewriting, and they're just great! So subtle.

Haha - poor Lachlan. We tell Heath, the older one, that soon Lachlan will be bigger than him, so watch out!

This was a super fun page to create. I'm definitely feeling all about the colors lately!

Supplies:
Grey paper - I Lowe Scrap
Life is an Adventure paper ephemera - Recollections by Michaels
Patterned paper and labels - Studio calico
Cork - The Paper Studio by Hobby Lobby
Glitter domes - Docraft Papermania
splatters - Heidi Swapp Shine

Thanks for looking!

Bear Cub

Hey everyone!

Today I'm bringing you a layout I created for my youngest little cub. I adore bears and cubs and what not, so of course I loved making this page!

I have this one coveted sheet of white cardstock embossed with a wood grain pattern that I got at the Studio Calico sale last year and that I wish I had about 100 thousand other pages of! I used it for this page, so I knew I had to make it one of my favorites. I started with one of my favorite outfits of my Lachlan, any outfit with animal ears will get me every time!

These Jasmine Jones letters from a December Daily kit I also got at the sale have lasted me a surprisingly long time.

I wanted to pull out the navy from the photo, so I chose a navy bear. I did some navy splatters, and added gold because of the photo background and I needed another accent.

I stuck with a wood grain theme and used this little frame & sticker as embellishments. Seriously that face - 5 days old - **sobs**.

To separate my paper layers, I sewed a "pleat" on some vellum, and I tied some twine together in red, blue and gold. I adhered that with gold staples.

I added some gold rub-on stars for a final touch. I'm happy with how this sweet photo layout of my babe turned out :) I miss the baby stage!

Supplies:
Embossed White cardstock *swoon*, hi sticker and gold stars - Studio Calico
Wood grain frame - Pink Paislee Cedar Lane ephemera
Tree sticker - Remarks
Splatters - Heidi Swapp Shine
Light wood paper - Craft Smith Pumpkin Spice collection
Red x paper - Studio Calico Thataway collection
Arrow - American Crafts
Alphas - December Daily Jasmine Jones collection
Bear ephemera - Recollections by Michaels
Chipboard Perfect - Me and My Big ideas

Thanks for looking!

Hello Bro!

Happy Hump Day!

Today I'm bringing you a layout I created with a splatter technique I've been noticing as "on trend" lately and wanted to try out. I've been seeing layouts with colorful, almost rainbow-like splatter patterned backgrounds, and we all know I am a sucker for rainbows.

I really love how it turned out!

I had this super busy, colorful photo of my boys in their sleeping bags, and rather than do something to tone down all the colors in the photo, I embraced it!

I used almost all of the colors of spray and shine that I have and kept it in a concentrated area.

I added side borders with my sewing machine. I have also been loving seeing rainbow & black and white together.

 I used some lime embellishments to pull out the lime in the embellishing paper, and I matched my writing to the title green, just to bring a cohesiveness to the page. When you repeat colors or elements, it makes the page balanced.

I love how the enamel stars and dots added to the splatter section.

Those sweet, happy little faces are too cute - they get me every time! I'm sure this "sleep over" was the first of many!

Supplies:
Black and white stripes and chipboard stickers - Me and my big ideas
Rainbow paper and hello paper, enamel stars, stamp sticker - Studio Calico
Camera paper and circle paper, green letters, fabric banners - Amy Tangerine
Splatters - Heidi swapp shine & Tattered Angels glimmer mist
Hello title - simple stories

Thanks for looking!

Dreamer - a MTW challenge

Happy Hump Day, friends!

And I'm officially OVER the hump thanks to Good Friday!

Today I'm bringing you a mixed media layout I created with this month's prompt from More than Words. The prompt is to use black and white plus one other color, and to create a page inspired by the word Dream.

 Here is the prompt from the blog. It was a super fun challenge!

I used some gesso, then some texture paste with a stencil, and covered the paste with pink embossing powder and glitter before it dried, to mimic the gorgeous clouds in this sunset photo.

I added a textured stamp in black & some black tattered angels splatters.

I cut some clouds out of vellum from my cricut, so you can still see the texture below. I inked the edges to make them pop, and of course, sequins.

This little bit of dream themed ephemera from a collection by Shimelle just worked too perfectly!  I added some thread, some old tickets from Studio Calico and a couple of gemstone circles.

The pink, heart sunglasses are from WRMK Urban Chic & were also perfectly made for a page such as this!

I originally was just scrapping this photo of God's beautiful world for no reason, but on the day I created this page, I lost a friend from high school way too young. She left a husband and a beautiful baby boy, and left me with so many thoughts. I used this tag to put a few down and tuck them away. It is a reminder that this world is not our home. We may be selfish and want to keep our loved ones with us, but when they are no longer suffering and have gone home to their reward, why begrudge them that?

So hug your loved ones tight tonight & live your life to its fullest!

Thanks for looking!

Lucky - Sketch in Thyme GDT

Hey everyone!

Today I'm excited to bring to you a layout I did for a guest design team spot over at Sketches in Thyme.

I created this pocket card for a page about my boys on St. Patrick's day a few weeks ago. I've been super loving rainbow pages lately, and this goes right along with my love.

Here is the original sketch:

And here is the card within the themed pocket page.

Green has always been a favorite color of mine, and I had a lot of fun with the sequins & the green, glitter shamrock.

Green Lucky Charms were on the breakfast menu, of course!

I had so much fun designing with this amazing card sketch! I hope you will go play along with Sketches in Thyme!

Thanks for looking!

Magic on Main Street - A Process Video

Hey everyone!

Today I'm bringing you a fun Disney page I created with Simple Stories Say Cheese III.

I've been doing a lot of work for design teams or design team applications, and I just wanted to sit down and work on something solely for myself - it felt good!

I have been seeing more and more dark backgrounds, which I love. While I definitely see the pleasure and aesthetic of a white/light background, it is overdone IMO. I get so excited when I see my favorite designers post a darker page on IG!

I wanted to use my new castle stencil and RED, and I thought it would stand out well on black.

I also added red embossing powder and glitter. On the video you cannot tell the effect, but you can see it nicely in the photos.

I have to remind myself that I buy these ephemera packs to use - not hoard! I have been doing more intentional buying, not just of clearance items and hoping to use them - hoping to really make only pages I adore.

Sewing on a layout adds an element I believe that looks it took longer to complete a page than it actually did! Like you do a lot of extra work. There I have a custom embellishment cluster from sewing together a few ephemera from the collection.

While I have been buying more intentionally,  I make exception for Thickers found at Tuesday Morning! You can never have too many Thickers! I was excited to use these for the first time - black foam sparkles!

The little frame is from an older Say Cheese collection.

I love how it turned out & I hope you enjoy the YouTube process video!

Thanks for looking!

Somebunny is Hoppy - a LM challenge!

Hoppy April Sunday!

Today I'm bringing you a layout created for the first Lasting Memories challenge of the month - to use flowers on your page.

I had so much fun creating this layout with so many textures and layers!

You want flowers? Here's your flowers!

I used some gesso to soften my busy, gray flower paper. Then I sprayed Heidi Swapp shine in salmon and stamped some aqua floers. I used some cheesecloth for texture, along with some avocado bag which reminded me of green Easter grass.

I was generous with my flower placement. I used the same salmon HS shine to color some of my small white flowers to bring out more of the pinky color.

I had a lot of fun with the layers. I used a lot from the Pink Paislee Citrus bloom stack and from my scrap bins!

I have quite a few of these giant alphas I picked up at the SC sale a while back (fingers crossed for another soon this year!) and they're sooo big, I've not even used them yet. I just went with it though. They went well with my pinks and I actually love how it turned out!

Supplies:
Easter egg paper - American Crafts
Gray flower paper - Pink Paislee Citrus Bloom
Green alphas - Amy Tangerine
Pink alphas and flower stamp - Studio Calico
Large flowers - Prima
Small flowers - Recollections by Michael's
Striped washi - Freckled Fawn

Thanks for looking & play along with all our spring themed challenges this month at Lasting Memories!