Joy to You and Yours

...and best wishes for health and happiness

in 2012!

Christmas Boxes

Oh, you just have to love Pinterest! Where else can you store all of your ideas and inspiration without adding to the clutter on your desk? I found the tutorial for these little gift boxes on Jillibean Soup's blog, saved it to my Gift Wrap board on Pinterest and knew exactly where to find the instructions when I started to wrap my presents! So, here's the gift boxes I made:

Just a note on dimensions. I cut the paper for the bottom of the box to measure 7x7 as stated in the instructions. However when I cut the lid as a 5x5 and scored as instructed, it did not fit as snugly as I wanted so I cut a new piece to measure 4 5/8" x 4 5/8" and scored at the 3/4 inch mark. The result was much better! As you can see, I was able to make two boxes from the two coordinating sheets of patterned paper.

To decorate the boxes, I cut a belly band 3/4" wide and added two punched snowflakes (the top one adhered with pop dots) that were adorned with rhinestone stickers. My nieces loved their Christmas presents -- inside and out!

Supplies:

Patterned Paper: SEI Winter (Winter Song; Blaze Velvet);

Tools: Martha Stewart (Scoring Board; Nordic Snowflake punch; Icelandic Snowflake punch);

Embellishments; Recollections rhinestone stickers

Noel Tag

Whew! Is it the end of December already? I feel like this month has really flown by as evidenced by my absence here on the blog. Between Christmas preparations, a nasty upper respiratory infection, taking my mother to physical therapy, shopping, making my Christmas cards and a broken washing machine, I feel like my excuses for not being here could fill Santa's sleigh. Luckily, I was a little crafty this month and even worked on a December Daily for the first time. These are all projects I will be sharing with you over the next week or so.

Today, I want to share my folded Christmas tags. They were inspired by this challenge at Papertrey Ink. Here is my tag:

I started with the Papertrey Ink's Mat Stack 3 die. I added a strip of velvet paper which was left over from my Christmas cards I stamped a label using PTI's Label Basics, added the sentiment and brad and adhered it to the tag using pop dots. The snowflake was something I had in my stash. I bought a pack of four last year at Michael's for $1. Now, I wish I had bought more!

Supplies:

Cardstock base: Georgia Pacific;

Patterned Paper: K & Company;

Tools: Papertrey Ink dies (Mat Stack 3; Label Basics);

Stamps: Papertrey Ink (Label Basics; Think Big Favorites 8);

Ink: Stampin' Up! (Riding Hood Red); Memento (Black);

Embellishments: Snowflakes (Michael's); Brads (Anna Griffin)

It's In The Bag!

Remember this post from last year? Well, the holiday shopping bags are out so I thought I would challenge myself, once again, to use one as the basis of a card. So, here's the bag:

As luck would have it, this week's challenge at Our Creative Corner was to make a project with a Christmas tree. Here's my card:

To create it, I stamped my tree onto the shopping bag and cut it out. To give it more definition, I ran the edges along my black ink pad. I also stamped my tree onto my card base since I was only popping the top. For the background, I used Versa Mark ink to stamp the snow line and ran over it with some liquid glue so that the glitter would stick. Next, I spritzed the card with some Mister Huey in Calico White. Finally, I sprayed some Mister Huey Calico Shine over the entire background before adding the tree and the ribbon.

It's so hard to photograph the shimmer on this card but hopefully the photo below gives you an idea of why I love Calico White and Calico Shine!

If you are inspired to make a card from a shopping bag, please link it up to my blog in the comment section. I would love to see them!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Stamper's Select White);

Stamps: Hero Arts (Merriest Wishes);

Ink: Ranger (Jet Black); Versa Mark; Studio Calico Mister Huey (Calico White; Calico Shine);

Embellishments: Recollections Rhinestones (Red); Martha Stewart Glitter (Crystal Coarse); Making Memories Ribbon;

Misc.: Bath & Body Works shopping bag.

Welcome Beautiful Fall

This past week was a hectic one. I was busy taking Melissa to see this fabulous concert:

Then, a day later, I was busy preparing this:

And the day after that, I was up early to do this:

I did, however, manage to squeeze in a night of scrapping before Thanksgiving week. Here's my layout:

This layout is pretty clean and simple for me which, I guess, depicts the frame of mind I was in when I created it. Kind of like the calm before the storm, so to speak. Under the pictures, I stamped a line of text using the Technique Tuesday Studio AE stamps from October and the limited edition Tim Holtz distress inks. Love them both!

I was scrapping at a friend's house and realized I didn't bring any letters to create a title. Oh, what's a scrapper to do? Luckily, I had a bin of Fall goodies with me so I paired the "Welcome" and "Beautiful" die cut pieces from the Little Yellow Bicycle collection with the "Fall" Flair from American Crafts' Nightfall Collection. Here's a closer look:

I kept the journaling simple by combining a rub-on with a hand-written note.

The most important thing I learned from doing this layout is that rub-ons do come off. I had added some rub-ons of brown leaves to the green paper and immediately felt that they drew the eye away from my pictures. When I googled how to remove them, I learned that adhering scotch tape to the top of the rub-on (repeating as needed) did the trick. Imagine that! You just have to love Google!

Supplies:

Patterned Paper and Die Cuts: Little Yellow Bicycle (Hello Fall!);

Stamps: Technique Tuesday (Studio AE -- Give Thanks by Ali Edwards): Papertrey Ink (Label Basics);

Ink: Tim Holtz Autumn Seasonal Distress Ink (Gathered Twigs, Seedless Preserves); Stampin' Up! (Dusty Durango);

Embellishments: American Crafts Flair (Nightfall); Me & My Big Ideas rub-ons;

Tools: Papertrey Ink Die (Label Basics); Spellbinders Nestabilities 9Scallop Rectangles Large); Fiskars Border punch (Scalloped Sentiment); White Signo Gel Pen.

Tuesday Trigger: Fall is in the Bag

I have been missing in action for the last few weeks. My mother (who is 80) fell and fractured her hip. She needed surgery and then spent some time in rehab. Frequent trips to the hospital left little time for blogging. Thankfully she is home now and doing really well. Unfortunately, she won't be able to drive for a while so I will be pitching in by taking her to physical therapy, grocery shopping and doctor's appointments. The doctor has assured us that she will be dancing in no time which may not be such a good thing since she broke her hip while doing the Electric Slide at the community center of her Senior apartment complex. I kid you not!

Anyway, it felt great to get the creative juices flowing again this week after not scrapping for almost a month. So, when I spotted this week's Tuesday Trigger photo just as I was finishing up a layout using Little Yellow Bicycle's "Hello Fall!" collection, I knew I had to play along. Instead of putting my scraps away, I decided to make a card or two for Thanksgiving. Here's the trigger photo:

And here are the two cards I made. First, the clean and simple design:

And next, one with a stamped background:

Both cards feature Papertrey Ink's Wreath for all Seasons and Technique Tuesday's Studio AE -- Give Thanks by Ali Edwards stamp sets. The background stamp on the second card was created with Hero Arts Large Plaid Pattern background stamp.

Let me know which design you like best!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Stampin' UP! (Very Vanilla); Papertrey Ink (Chocolate Brown);

Patterned Paper: Little Yellow Bicycle (Hello Fall!)

Stamps: Papertrey Ink (Wreath for All Season); Technique Tuesday (Studio AE -- Give Thanks by Ali Edwards); Hero Arts (Large Plaid Pattern);

Ink: Stampin' Up! (Dusty Durango; Tim Holtz Distress (Gathered Twigs);

Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities (Classic Circle; Classic Scalloped Circle Large); EK Success Corner Rounder.

Just Treats

Just a quick post tonight to share a Halloween layout that I did a while back. I have spent the last two days at the hospital with my fell. She fell and fractured her hip. However, I've been saving this layout to share with you on Halloween so here it is:

To create this layout, I used a technique that Kristina Werner highlighted a while back on Basic Grey's blog. As you can see, my page is a scraplift but I certainly plan to use this technique again. What a fun way to use up scraps or 6x6 pads!

Here's a closer look at the title and yes, I even hand wrote one the word "Just"!

Here's a closer look at some of the embellishments.

And, a peak at some quick journaling with the "who" and "when."

Supplies:

Pattern Paper: Basic Grey (Basics Manila); Cosmo Cricket (Matilda);

Stickers: Basic Grey (Urban Prairie letters); October Afternoon (Farm Fresh Journaling label);

Stamps: Making Memories (Spellbound);

Ink: Ranger (Jet Black);

Embellishments: Jolee's (candy and pumpkins); EZ Designs die cut; Recollections ribbon

"Leafing" Memories Behind Blog Hop

Welcome to the "Leafing" Memories Behind Blog Hop. A few of us on the Club CK Forum (17 to be exact!) are sharing projects that incorporate leaves. If you didn't arrive here from Mandi's blog, you may want to hop on over to Amanda's blog so you can start the blog hop from the beginning and enter Amanda's blog candy.

So here's my layout:

This layout all started with a piece of patterned paper that I never even used. I hate when that happens but my design took a left turn when I saw Nichol Magouirk's October Scrapbook Stamping class over at twopeasinabucket.com. Her challenge this month was to stamp a scene on your scrapbook page. Because I was creating a busy and colorful scene on my page, I opted to use the more neutral papers from Little Yellow Bicycle's "Hello Fall!" collection.

To create my scene, I pulled out an old stamp set (Branching Out from Stampin' UP!) and used my new Tim Holtz seasonal distress inks along with some other distress inks. For the title, I used the die-cut letters that was part of the LYB collection along with two Technique Tuesday stamps. Here's a a close-up of the scene I created for my title block:

For the journaling, I created a little banner using yellow and cream banner stickers from Studio Calico. At first, I journaled straight on the sticker but the combination of my brown marker ink and the finish on the sticker yielded a lot of smears. To cover them up, I traced and hand cut banners from the paper left over from my title block. To adhere the banner, I tied my twine into a bow with one long tail. I put a dab of Glossy Accents behind the knot and affixed it to the page. I draped the longer of the two tails to the edge of the page and used the Tiny Attacher. I popped the banners on foam adhesive. Here's a closer look:

The journaling reads: I long for the days when we spent time as a family picking apples and pumpkins. What beautiful memories I have!

The cluster of leaves on the bottom of the layout is from the LYB cardstock diecuts and corrugated shapes. Because the brown color on the maple leaf was so intense, I sprayed it with Mister Huey in Calico White. I arranged the cluster around the quote that appears on the bottom of the patterned paper.

Thanks for visiting. Now, hop on over to Devra's blog.

Supplies:

Patterned Paper: Little Yellow Bicycle (Hello Fall!);

Stamps: Stampin' Up! (Branching Out); Technique Tuesday (Amazing by Ali Edwards; Favorite Memories by Ali Edwards); Papertrey Ink (Library Ledger; Library Ledger Year Additions):

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Gathered Twigs; Ripe Persimmon; Seedless Preserves; Shabby Shutters; Scattered Straw); Studio Calico Mister Huey (Calico White);

Embellishments: Little Yellow Bicycle cardstock diecuts and corrugated shapes (Hello Fall!): Studio Calico label stickers (cream and yellow); My Mind's Eye twine (Lime Twist); October Afternoon label stickers (Seaside);

Tools: Fiskars border punch (Scallop Sentiment); Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher.

Bootiful!

It's starting to look like Halloween around here -- although you would never guess that judging by today's temperature which reached 84 degrees! Anyway, I thought I would share a layout I made using last year's pictures. Here it is:

I started this layout wit two matching pieces from the Basic Grey Basics line. Does anyone know if the are phasing this line out? I didn't see it at CKC but I just love it! It's a great alternative to cardstock. But I digress! I adhered the stripe paper about one inch off the bottom. To frame my pictures, I fussy cut the wonky frames from the journaling spots on Jillibean Soup's Pinch of Hair. I cut a third journaling spot and stamped

Inspired by PageMaps

Sometimes a sketch proves to be truly inspiring. Such was the case with Becky Fleck's October Pagemaps. When I saw her sketch, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Here's Becky's sketch:

And here's my layout:

(I have to apologize for the blueish tinge on my photos lately. Sal got me Photoshop Elements for my birthday and my learning curve is rather steep. If anyone has any tips, I would love to hear them!)

As you can see, I kept pretty true to the sketch. I switched out the 4x6 photo and used a 5x7. I love this photo of the kids watching the fireworks! Instead of a circular element in the bottom left corner, I added a rectangular transparency. Love how the shiny stars help anchor the corner. I am finding that I love using transparencies as mats more than I do as overlays. The title is from the My Mind's Eye accessory sheet which I customized with Stickles. Here's a close-up:

I used a Papertrey Ink Tag Sale die to created the journaling label. I added a strip from the accessory sheet and stamped using Technique Tuesday stamps for further customization. I was so happy with how the tag came out that I used the rest of the lined paper to cut out journaling tags for my stash.

The journaling reads: One of my favorite summertime traditions is the 4th of July BBQ at the P***'s. Good friends, good food and fireworks -- what more can you ask for!

Supplies:

Cardstock: American Crafts;

Patterned Paper and Accessories: My Mind's Eye (American Made);

Stamps: Technique Tuesday (Good Times; Everday Life);

Ink: Stampin' Up! (Night of Navy; Riding Hood Red);

Tools: Papertrey Ink die (Tag Sale #1); Spellbinders Shapeabilities (Lotus); Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher;

Misc: Transparency (My Mind's Eye/Lime Twist); Button (Doodlebug/Ladybug); Diamond Stickles by Ranger; Twine from my stash.

World Card Making Day (Or Should I Say Weekend?)

Well yesterday was World Card Making Day and a previous commitment (like babysitting for my adorable two year-old nephew) meant that there was nothing crafty happening here. Today, Mark and his high school band marched in the Huntington Columbus Day Parade so nothing crafty today, either! However, to honor the day, I thought I would share a card that I made recently. This one was for my niece, Lisa, on her birthday. Here it is:

This card is pretty self explanatory. The music paper is actually real sheet music that my friend salvaged from her elementary school's recycling bin. To add some texture to it, I stamped it with Hero Arts Envelope Pattern background stamp and then distressed the edges. I thought this was the perfect touch for my niece's card since she is a Music major! I added the same background pattern to the sentiment piece. Here's a close-up:

In honor of World Card Making Day, Michele Kovack has a giveaway over at her blog. You can find it here!

Supplies:

Cardstock: American Crafts; Papertrey Ink (Vintage Cream);

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey (Sweet Threads); sheet music;

Stamps: Hero Arts (Envelope Pattern; Antique Engravings); Technique Tuesday (This Is the Day by Ali Edwards);

Ink: Stampin' Up! (Elegant Eggplant); Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Antique Linen);

Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities (Labels Three; Labels Four);

Misc.: brad (Karen Foster Riviera).

Slip 'n Slide

I have a clean and simple layout to share with you today. I created this one at the "crop" that Lissette and I set up in our hotel room when we went to CKC. Since our space was limited, I kept my supplies to a minimum. Here's our cropping space:

Not bad for a hotel room. We had everything we needed -- even the M&Ms!

And here's my layout:

Since there was so much white space in my design, I trimmed my card stock 1/4-inch on two sides and adhered it to the yellow cardstock leaving a 1/8-inch border on each side. I thought that this served to add a little pop of color while grounding the elements in the layout.

I found the journaling spot on the Cut Outs patterned paper. To personalize it, I added the "Hello sunshine" stamp. In addition, since the art from the journaling spot had "staples," I decided to add my own for more texture and dimension. I love the Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher. The journaling reads: Melissa, you wanted a slip 'n slide for the longest time but the stores were always sold out when we thought of it. Finally, you got it with birthday money in 2009! Here's a closer look:

To mimic the dimension of the "splash zone" embellishments, I dry embossed the splashes on the patterned paper. (I did this at home so as not to travel with my Cuttlebug.) After fussy cutting the splashes, I popped some using foam adhesive. Finally, I used a brad for the dot over the "i" and wrote the "'n" on a pre-made embellishment using my white Signo pen.

Supplies:

Cardstock: American Crafts;

Patterned Paper & Embellishments: Bo Bunny (Sun Kissed);

Stamps: Technique Tuesday (Awesome Days of Summer by Ali Edwards;

Ink: Stampin' Up (Dusty Durango);

Tools: Cuttlebug Embossing Folder (Seeing Spots);Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher; EK Success Border Punch (Postage Stamp); EK Success Corner Rounder; White Signo Gel Pen.

I Will Always Remember

As many of you know, I am not a chronological scrapper. And, I don't consider myself an event scrapper either. Yes, I do scrap trips and pictures from birthdays and Christmas but I do those pages as much to tell a story about that period in time more as I do to tell about the particular event. Maybe this is why I have had so much trouble doing a layout about Melissa's first day of school. You see, her first day of school was September 11, 2001. I have always felt a need to do a layout about this day but I have never been able to capture the emotions of that day on paper. That is, until this year. Possibly it was the magnitude of the 10th anniversary or the inspiration I drew from the My Mind's Eye sketch and their American Made collection, but I finally felt ready to create this important layout for her album.

Here's the sketch:

And here's my layout:

To create this layout, I started with the blue on blue stripe from the Lime Twist collection. (The white that you see is the background where I photographed my layout.) I pretty much followed the sketch using patterned papers from the American Made collection and then I got to the journaling. I knew it had to be typed since I had so much to say and I thought that two columns, commemorating the Twin Towers, would be appropriate. You can double click on the photo above if you want to enlarge it and read the journaling.

To create my title, I combined American Craft Thickers with a stamped image. I fussy cut the word "remember" and adhered it with foam adhesive to give it the same dimension as the rest of the title.

I didn't want to add a lot of embellishments. After all, this layout is about the journaling. However, the layout needed something. I thought butterflies would do the trick. I first tried punching different sized butterflies from the patterned papers but they all looked to fussy. Then, I pulled these Jillibean Soup corrugated shapes, distressed them with some mists and added the buttons and twine. Finally, I found the small word stickers in my stash, added them using foam dimensional adhesive and drew a dashed line around three sides of my page.

Supplies:

Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye (Lime Twist; American Made);

Vellum: The Paper Company;

Stamps: Technique Tuesday (Studio AE -- April);

Ink: Stampin' UP! (Night of Navy);

Letters: American Crafts Thickers (Sweet);

Mists: Tattered Angels (Frost): Studio Calico Mister Huey (Calico White; Calico Shine);

Tools: EK Success Border Punch (Double Embossed Dotted Lace); Fiskars Border Punch (Scallop Sentiment);

Misc.: My Mind's Eye Accessories (American Made); Jillibean Soup Corrugated Shapes (Corrugated Butterflies); Doodlebug buttons (Ladybug); twine (recycled from my stash); word stickers from Girl's Paperie.

Papertrey Ink Make It Monday -- Frosted Images

I have a second post today -- a card I created using the Frosted Images technique highlighted in Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday video from last week. Here's my card:

As Lisa Johnson explains in the video, I stamped my images first using a grey ink and then after quickly swiping my stamp on a wipe so as not to ruin my ink pad, I stamped the image over the first using Vintage Cream. I did not "frost" the sentiment. Another clean and simple card today. Don't know what has gotten into me LOL!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Fine Linen);

Stamps: Papertrey Ink (Botanical Silhouettes);

Ink: Stampin' UP! (Basic Grey);

Ribbon: American Crafts (Grey)

Misc.: Queen & Compan pearls (Black & White)

PTI September 2011 Blog Hop & WMC69 Challenge

It's time for another Papertrey Ink Blog Challenge. The challenge this month was to create a project based on the photo inspiration.

When I saw the inspiration, I knew I wanted to play along since I had two masculine birthday cards to make. As I was definitely short on time this weekend, I decided to keep my card clean and simple and use patterned paper which just happened to be the Scrappy Saturday challenge at Wee Memories. Here's my card:

I wasn't kidding when I said it was clean and simple! To create it, I cut a standard size card. Next, I cut a piece of white cardstock to measure 5" x 3.75" and embossed it using a PTI embossing plate. I cut a strip of patterned paper 1" wide and a piece of Terracotta Tile cardstock 1/4 inch wider. I adhered the patterned paper strip to my embossed cardstock, stamped the sentiment and then adhered that piece to the card using foam adhesive. It doesn't get easier than that! Here's a close-up of the embossing. It didn't photograph as well as I would have liked it but it definitely adds interest and texture to the card.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Stamper's Select White; Terracotta Tile);

Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye (Lime Twist);

Stamps: Papertrey Ink (Fillable Frames #1);

Ink: Stampin' Up! (Soft Suede);

Misc.: Papertrey Ink Impression Plate (Linen & Canvas -- Side 1)

CR84FN Challenge & A Winner

Hellooooo! Is anybody here? That's probably what you have been wondering. It has been a whirlwind this past month. Since I wrote my last blog post, I have experienced an earthquake (a rarity in New York); prepared for Hurricane Irene; spent hours on the phone (mostly on hold!) rearranging our travel plans because of said hurricane; went on a wonderful 7-day cruise to the Western Caribbean; had said cruise turn into a 9-day cruise because of Tropical Storm Lee; and missed the first day of school because 7-day cruise was now a 9-day cruise. You get the point. It seems like we jumped off the high board into the deep end of the pool this September. There was no time to gradually get back into the swing of things so blogging has taken a back seat. It's taken a month, though, but I think I can come up for air! So finally, I have a project to share.

Today's card uses the colors from the CR84FN38 challenge.

Here's my card:

My sister is a francophile and her home pays homage to her love of all things French. There are Eiffel Towers everywhere. (She even has a purse shaped like an Eiffel Tower!) She loves Paris as much as I love scrapbooking and if I tell her that I am going to Paris this weekend, she knows that I am scrapping! On a recent visit to her home, Melissa and my niece, Sarah, went from room to room and counted more than 75. It was their own version of Where's Waldo! So, you can understand why I hoard any papers or embellishments that picture the Eiffel Tower to use on her birthday card each year. The paper on this card was from Echo Park's 2010 Be Mine collection. (Yes, I've been saving the paper for that long!)

To create the card, I cut a piece of Papertrey Ink Smokey Shadow cardstock to a standard size. I cut the white cardstock 1/2-inch smaller on each side so that the finished card would have a 1/4-inch border. Next, I cut a piece of patterned paper 1/4-inch smaller and stamped a background image on it. For the focal point, I matted the journaling card onto a piece of Smokey Shadow cardstock. I used Distress Stickles to add some bling to the Eiffel Tower as well as the ornate trim along the top of the card. Finally, I stamped the "Happy Birthday" sentiment, added a row of pearls to the top of the mat, adhered it to the card using foam dimensional adhesive and added a ribbon from my stash. Here's a closer look:

Now for some unfinished business.... Last month, I participated in the August Sketch Blog Hop and I offered a little blog candy for those who left a comment and became followers. At last, I have a winner. Drum roll please! The winner is:

True Random Number

Generator

Min: Max:

Result:

12Powered by RANDOM.ORG\

That means the winner is photochic!

photochic said...

I LOVE the paper! So cute! Great layout.

Please e-mail me with your name and address so that I can get your prize to you. I will be putting in an extra goodie or two to thank you for your patience!

Supplies

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Stamper's Select White; Smokey Shadow);

Patterned Paper: Making Memories (Sabrina); Echo Park (Be Mine);

Stamps: Hero Arts (Classic Fabric Design); Papertrey Ink (Birthday Basics);

Ink: Stampin' UP! (Basic Grey); Ranger (Black);

Embelishments: Pearl Stickers (Recollection) Stickles (Diamond); Ribbon from stash.

August Sketch Blog Hop and Blog Candy

Welcome to the August Sketch Blog Hop! A few of us on the CK Forum (23 to be exact!) are sharing projects based on the wonderful sketch created by Amanda. I am sure it will be a lot of fun to see what everyone has done with the same sketch. If you did not arrive here from Mandi's blog, please return to Amanda's blog to follow the hop in order. Okay, so let's get started! Here's the sketch:

And here's my layout:

When I saw the cluster of photographs in the middle, I knew that I wanted the look of Polaroids on my page. I have been loving the look of the projects created with the Lawn Fawn Polaroid stamp from the Say Cheese set. Since I don't have the set, I decided to try my hand at making my own Polaroids with white and black cardstock. I was really happy with my faux Polaroids!

As you can see, I stretched the sketch a little. I usually try to make sketches my own. In stretching the sketch, I switched out the title block for an embellishment and moved the title down to the bottom of the page. As a result, I clustered the photos and journaling on the right to add balance and interest to my page.

Thanks to Nichol Magouirk, I have been so inspired to stamp on my layouts and this one is no exception. In addition to stamping on the faux Polaroid, I stamped the "On the Road" sentiment on the blue strip as well as the roadway under the cars. One other thing I would like to draw your eye to is my title. It's no secret that I love Thickers. However, since the Basic Grey collection pack came with stickers, I felt compelled to use them. To get the dimension of Thickers, I stacked my stickers two high. Lucky for me it was a short title and I had enough letters! Here's a closer look:

I have a confession to make: I am a latecomer to scrapbooking. While I do not scrap chronologically, nor do I fee the urge to "catch up", I look for every opportunity to group pictures from different events together. When I was playing around with the Wander collection for a travel layout that I will share next week, it occurred to me that these would also be great papers for a layout showing Mark from 1998 and Melissa from 1999 playing with the same toy. My journaling reads: Talk about getting a lot of mileage from a toy! Mark and Melissa both loved taking the Cozy Coupe out for a spin.

So, how about a giveaway to reward you for reading to the bottom of this post! I have a package of Jolee's Boutique Sightseeing Dimensional Stickers up for grabs! These should come in handy as you scrap pictures of your summer vacation! If you leave a comment and are a follower of my blog, you will be entered to win. I will randomly draw the name of a winner on Tuesday morning.

Thanks for hopping by! Your next stop is Devra's blog. And when you are done with the hop, return to Amanda's blog to see how you can enter her blog candy. In addition, check out Clever Creations for a chance at some more blog candy! And, finally, The Twinery is celebrating their anniversary and has a fabulous prize up on their blog.

Supplies

Cardstock: American Crafts;

Patterned Paper & Stickers: Basic Grey (Wander);

Embellishments: Maya Road Microchips (Motif Buttons/Neutrals); Tim Holtz (Mini Paper Clips; Tiny Attacher);

Stamps: Technique Tuesday (Good Times; Borderline--Time and Space); Hero Arts (Travel Journal);

Ink: Ranger (Black; Coffee)

Tools: Fiskars Border Punch (Scallop Sentiment); EK Success Edger Punch (Postage Stamp)