Hello!

So I thought I would dust off the blog today and actually post a project. I know it's been a long time -- too long in fact -- but sometimes life gets in the way of doing all the things you want to do. That and the weather. Can I just tell you how hard it was to take a decent picture of my projects in May with all the gloomy, grey, rainy days we had here in New York. And then there was the problem with the Internet. Hard for me to live without for a week but nearly impossible for the kids! They felt like they were living in the Stone Ages! Anyway, I am back and although I haven't been posting, I have been creating so I will have a lot to share in the coming weeks.

Today's layout was inspired by a sketch Jen Gallacher created for the March Stretch Your Sketch class over at Two Peas. Here's the sketch:

Here's my layout:

As you can see, I stretched the sketch by using one 4x6 photo (which I trimmed slightly smaller) at the top in place of the two smaller photos. Because the paper was so busy, I converted my photos to black and white, matted the smaller ones and kept my embellishments to a minimum.

I stamped lines directly on my background paper and worked the title right into the journaling. The journaling reads: Melissa, from a very early age, you loved the phone. You would talk on your play phone or ask to say hello! to whoever called. You even pretended to shop by catalog. That's why you were so excited to get your first cell phone in June 2009. Here's a close-up of the journaling block:

Here's the cute phone I cut with my Cricut. I also stamped the dot on the tan piece to give it more texture.

Finally, I added a few heart brads to the layout.

Okay, so in rereading this post, I realize just how much things have changed in Melissa's lifetime. Who shops by catalog anymore? Not me. I am an Internet shopper and proud of it! LOL!

Supplies:

Cardstock: American Crafts;

Patterned Paper: American Crafts (I Heart You); KI Memories Lace Cardstock (Fruit Punch Streamers;

Chipboard: American Crafts Thickers;

Stamps: Hero Arts (Raindrop Background); Papertrey Ink (Mini Scrapbook Series: Library Ledger);

Ink: Versamark;

Embellishments: Martha Stewart baker's twine; Making Memories brads (Mini Hearts);

Tools: Cricut cartridge (From My Kitchen); Fiskars border punch (Scallop Sentiment); Stampin' UP! punch (Photo Corner); McGill punch (File Tab);