Photos First

At the Creating Keepsakes Convention, I had the opportunity to take the Photos First class with Marnie Flores. If you ever have a chance to take one of Marnie's classes, do so. Not only is she a fantastic teacher, she is very funny and upbeat. The thing I loved about this class was that I completed three layouts using a total of 27 pictures!!! Those are my kind of layouts. None of those single photo layouts with lots of flowers. After all, I've got years and years of pictures to get on my pages. The other thing I liked about this class is that the projects depicted in the registration information were the projects we completed in class. There were no surprises here! And Marnie posted very detailed directions on how to crop the pictures. While I waited to cut my pictures down to size at the crop, this information was very helpful in picking my photos. So on to the layouts...

When I first saw the Side By Side layout on line, my initial reaction was "Ack!" Where was I going to find nine pictures that would go with bright green and pink papers. Making my pictures black and white was the perfect solution. What I like most about this layout is that it includes pictures from all different events

All materials are from the class kit except the green and white sticker that I ran along the bottom of the pictures to cover up a cropping mistake. This turned out to be a happy accident because I love how that strip grounds the photos.

The journaling reads: Separated by age and by miles, the Iandoli cousins are always close in each other's hearts. Side by side are Thomas, Jennifer, Mike, Jenn, Paul, Jim, Joe, Lisa, Mark, Sarah (with Athena), and Melissa.

Layout Two used one 5x7 (landscape) and eight smaller portrait photos. This time, the challenge was finding eight portrait images that would still have impact in this smaller format. I pulled my pictures from a Tiffany lamp exhibit that I attended last year. Voila! I had the perfect match. (Please note that the kraft card stock did not photograph well.)

All materials are from the class kit except the brads and letters. I swapped out the letters from the class kit for these Making Memories letters and the Tim Holtz ink I used to distress them.

Finally, the last layout showcases another nine photos -- this time on just one page! Seeing the bright rainbows, I was drawn to my pictures from our float trip down the Colorado River. I like how Marnie designed this layout using the scalloped edge from the Sasssafras Lass paper. I also liked how there was a lot of journaling space so that I could add a lot of details about this trip.

This layout may look relatively simple but let me tell you that these photos were difficult to line up. Thank heavens for repositionable tape! In the end, it was worth the effort. I love the result.

Journaling reads: Starting at Glen Canyon Dam early in the morning, we set off amidst the shadows of the canyon for a 15-mile float trip down the Colorado River. The 55 degree river temp chilled our feet as they hovered above the cold water. After enjoying spectacular views of the sandstone cliffs, petroglyphs and Horseshoe Bend, we arrived at Lee's Ferry, the gateway to the Grand Canyon.

All in all, I would give this class two thumbs up. I REALLY liked the designs of each and every layout. We got a full set of chipboard alphas (both positives and negatives) and their was plenty of glimmer mist (green for the second layout and blue for the third) to go around to alter the letters.

Can't wait to see what Marnie will be teaching next year!

If you've read this far, you deserve a little reward. Here's a link to some blog candy over at Tami Mayberry's blog: http://tamimayberry.blogspot.com/2009/09/little-update-via-blog-candy.html

The Last of the Latest & Greatest

I've been in a scrapping frenzy around here, trying to finish up and use up as much of my CKC class and Vendor Fair goodies from last year before I head off to CKC next week. And, as usual, the more I scrap (which has been A LOT!) the less I blog. Sorry about that.


Today I want to share the last completed projects from the Latest & Greatest Basic Grey. I love these classes and have signed up to take another one. The only challenge (sometimes) is finding the right pictures for each layout. After a lot of digging through old pictures, I think I found just the right ones. Here's the finished layout featuring Basic Grey's Wassail line:

In All Together for the Holiday, I personalized the class kit by adding Thickers, rub-ons, silk flowers, plus chipboard and jelly sticker embellishments.

The journaling reads: What a special day! It was the first Christmas that Donna, Diane, Ricky and I had spent together in years. It was wonderful to be all together again!

Rather than using brads in the center of the flowers, I chose the MAMBI jelly stickers because the words added more meaning to this layout.

The next layout features the Granola line. Here it is:

As soon as I saw these papers, I knew that I wanted to do a layout about my Dad who passed away in 1998. I printed all of the photos in Sepia and sanded the edges of each. I found the "cherish" rub-on in my stash and thought it was perfect!

Again, I personalized the layout. This time I used a border punch (on the page above), rub-ons, Thickers and distressing techniques.

Well that's it for the Latest & Greatest Basic Grey until next week when I come home from CKC with four more Basic Grey layouts. I can't wait!!!

Ingredients -- All Together for Christmas: Bazzill card stock; Basic Grey patterned paper (Wassail); Imaginesce rub-ons and flowers: Me & My Big Ideas jelly stickers and embellishments (Noel); American Craft Thickers.

Ingredients -- Miss You: Bazzill card stock; Basic Grey patterned paper (Granola); Stampin' Up! marker (Chocolate Chip); 7 Gypsy rub-ons; American Craft Thickers.

Mosaic Moments

How can you maximize the number of pictures you include in a 12 x 12 layout while making your page a work of art? I found out at the Mosaic Moments class I took at CKC Hartford! I have to admit that the gorgeous mosaic layouts I had seen online both intrigued and intimidated me. Well, thanks to the fabulous Tami Potter, CKC instructor and author of Designing Photo Mosaics and More, I'm no longer intimidated.

In addition to being a talented designer, Tami is a gifted teacher. She made the mosaic process easy. So here's my layout. The only things I added were the embellishments and the oval title which I cut using my Nestabilities.

Melissa was thrilled that I chose her communion pictures for this page. Since I was using the mosaic as a background for pictures from 2005, I had to cut the 2008 out of the cornerstone and insert the oval title block (which I printed on scrap on my computer) on dimensionals. Here's a close-up:

I added a trio of pearls to each mat on the second page to make up for the fact that my pictures were not sized appropriately for these pre-cut mats. A pearl cross (which I bought months ago from Your Happy Place) and the Jolee's communion embellishment finished off the page.

For those of you contemplating the value of this class, let me tell you that it is well worth the cost. The price of the class included an easy-to-read self-healing mat plus all of the supplies to make this page. Tami even includes the pictures of the flowers so that everyone has the right photos to work with.

I was leaving CKC right after this class and had forgotten to stop by Tami's booth earlier in the day to buy supllies for future layouts. Well Tami and her husband, Kevin, thought of everything. They had a plentiful assortment of grid paper on hand to sell during the class. I can't wait to get started on a layout using my Grand Canyon pictures.

And now for some blog candy...check out Webster's Pages at http://websterspages.typepad.com/webstershome/2008/10/ready-for-more.html for a chance to win some goodies from their beautiful new paper line!

Scheming Around

I took the Scheming Around class at CKC Hartford last week. The class, which is based on Donna Downey's book, A Photos-First Approach to Designing Layouts, required a lot of preparation to gather and cut pictures. It was also overcrowded, extremely fast paced (3 layouts in an hour!) and very noisy despite the fact that we were using "silent" setters to punch holes in out paper. I have to tell you that I left the class feeling a little disappointed and very stressed. However, once I got home and put Donna's approach to work with my own tools (a Big Bite!), paper and stamps (Technique Tuesday), I loved the results and am happy that I took the class.

So, here's the first layout. It's based on a sketch that uses eight pictures that were cut into 2.5" squares. Now anyone who knows how I obsess over picking the "right" paper to go with my photos will know how out-of-the-box it was for me to cut pictures ahead of time not knowing what my paper even looked like. I got lucky since some of the sunset pictures picked up the coral from the paper.

So, I finished the first layout in class (adding the letters was a personal touch I put on it at home) and began the second layout. Here's where my frustration set in. The design of the second layout centered around using the Dot All Around template from Crafter's Workshop. You can find it here http://shop.scrapbooks.com/cf-tcw78.html. Everyone had to share the few templates that circulated the room and, to make matters worse, they were not available for sale at the Vendor Fair. (If anyone from CKC is reading this, take note: I would rather pay a few extra dollars for the class and walk out with the template.) Okay, so once I drew the circles, I had to wait for one of the silent setters to become available. At my table, there were six people using two setters because the third setter was missing a mat. Many people turned to their Fiskars Eyelet setters which is what made this the noisiest class ever! (I started to use my Fiskars Eyelet setter but it always jams and there were so many holes to punch so I waited for the setter.) While we waited, we stamped the circle pattern on the paper using a Stampin' Up! stamp. However, the stamps were in desperate need of a cleaning so I wasn't happy with the result. To make a long story short, when I came home, I took my own cardstock and, using the class project as my template, I punched out the holes using my Big Bite, stamped the circles using stamps from Technique Tuesday's Back Rounds Medium set and added Thickers which I distressed with sandpaper. The result is one of my favorite layouts.

Journaling reads: Watkins Glen 2005...Watkins Glen 1966

If it wasn't for this class, I don't think I would have ever combined pictures from a childhood vacation with a recent one.

There was no time for the last layout in class which was not surprising. When I got home, I took the Bazzill watermelon cardstock (which was supposed to be the background for the second layout) and paired it with Around the Block's Maple Leaf patterned paper. I distressed the patterned paper with Cat's Eye charcoal ink and used the edge of my scissor to distress the cardstock.

Journaling reads: Instead of going to the CN Tower, we surprised the kids with tickets to a Yankees/Blue Jays game and went to the CN Tower the next day!

For this layout I used Technique Tuesday's Endless Summer stamps. The word "BALL" is not included in this set so I used the "B" from Barbeque, masked it and added the word "ALL." I just love my Technique Tuesday stamps!

I know this is a long post but I have one final tip to share. Since I was using such a big block of cardstock on this layout, I cut a 6"x6" square from the center of the patterned paper so that I could use it to embellish my layout. Here's how the layout looks from the back.

Ingredients: All supplies, except those noted, from CKC Scheming Around class kit.

Finally...A Post

With a hectic back-to-school schedule, helping with homework and studying, as well as putting "Mom's Taxi" back on the road, I haven't had much time for scrapping or blogging. Finally I have a layout to share. Mind you, I completed most of this layout at the CKC Crop back in July. All I had to do was the journalling when I got home. Bestselling novels have probably been written in the time it took me to journal. So, here it is. Hope you enjoy the layout and the journalling!

Journalling reads: How could we go wrong when we accepted the rental car agent's offer to give us an upgrade? But parked next to the sporty convertibles and the cool SUVs was this burgandy albatross. Melissa burst into tears and, despite 95 degree temperatures, Mark pulled the hood of his sweatshirt over his head to make sure that his friends -- who were 1,000 miles away -- wouldn't see him getting into this car. As for Sal and I, we suddenly felt the urge to look for an early-bird special! After the disappointment passed, we laughed about the car we now call the Grandma (r Quis)!

I used a lot of materials on this one page -- some planned and some unplanned. The half circle from Making Memories' Noteworthy Collection and the Technique Tuesday stamp (seen in green and black) were items I acquired at CKC. I love how these extra elements added personality to the layout. Oh how my CKC trip has paid off. LOL!

Speaking of CKC, I'm headed to Hartford for the day in early October. This time around, I've signed up for more classes which will save me a lot of money at the Vendor Fair.

Ingredients: Creating Keepsakes and Making Memories paper; Technique TuesdayBoho Buzz Stamp; VersaMagic "Tea Leaves" green and Archival Ink Jet Black ink; American Crafts Thickers; Making Memories 3-D Metal Tag; Bazzill Garden Flower chipboard; Ranger pink embossing glitter; flowers from my stash; Michael's Rhinestone Stickers; Stampin Up! black marker.

CKC Layout

Lissette and I got together to scrap the other day and thought it would be fun if we each worked on a simple layout of our trip to CKC. Well it was fun, but I don't know about simple. I started with a sketch from the Scrappy Chick's Scrappy Sketch Sunday (http://scrappychick.typepad.com/scrappy_chick/2008/08/scrappy-sketch-sunday.html). But even with Cyndi Bundy's great sketch as a road map, I spent over an hour moving pictures around. (Of course I had one too many horizontal pictures.) I was happy with the final layout. Here it is:

It was one of those Murphy Law kind of days where everything I touched went wrong. Thank goodness for the circle elements in the original layout because that giant brad is covering a big ink stain on the Technique Tuesday Tile!

Journaling reads: Lissette and I shopped and cropped until we dropped at CKC Valley Forge. Highlights include winning door prizes, meeting Stacy Croninger and talking to Ana at the Technique Tuesday booth!




Another problem I had with the layout was that I felt there was too much black space showing on the top and bottom of the mat on the second page. To fill it in, I stamped the image I used on the tile with VersaMark ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder.

Ingredients: DCWV Cardstock; Basic Grey Scarlet Letter patterned paper; Studio G Series 11 stamp; Archival Ink Jet Black, Stampin Up! Bravo Burgundy, and VersaMark inks; Kaiser brads; Technique Tuesday Square Tile; Clear Stamp N Stuff embossing powder; Stampin Up! black marker; EZ Laser Designs die cut title.

CKC Part 2

Okay, so do you want to see what was inside the "Who' s Your Daddy" tote I got at CKC? Well, here is a picture of all of my purchases:

Nestabilities are among my "new" favorites and the best thing about the Spellbinder's booth was the ability to mix and match shapes for the price of one set.

When Lissette andI saw this gorgeous RicRac trim (one-inch wide!!!) we knew we had to have it. I can't wait to use mine on a beach layout. Oh, and check out all that Basic Grey. Can't wait to use that too!

As I said in a previous post, Technique Tuesday was one of my favorite booths at the Vendor Fair. I love how their stamps ink up.

And check out what I got for free. Well I really had to spend a certain amount to get them free but still...

And, who doesn't love a bargain. Everything in this picture cost $1 or $1.50!

Tomorrow I will start to share my layouts from CKC classes and crop.