u r a grt txtr

That's text speak for "You Are a Great Texter"! This layout is all about my son's affinity for texting. I used a picture of him texting on a shore excursion on our cruise to New England to tell the story. (Guess it really didn't surprise me that he spent our tour of the Newport mansions texting his friends.) Here's my layout:

I went through our phone bill for statistics cited in the journaling. It reads: 13,679...That's how many texts you had this month alone. You texted as many as 67 messages in one hour. You texted before school and as late as 2 a.m. on a weekend. Thank goodness we have an unlimited plan!

The inspiration for this layout was the number paper from Cosmo Cricket's Circa 1934 collection. I added layer upon layer of die cut tags from Pink Paislee's Hometown summer collection. To add a touch of whimsy, I used several fonts for the title.

Supplies

Cardstock: American Crafts; C'Oredination;

Patterned Paper/Die Cut Tags: Cosmo Cricket (Circa 1934);

Letter Stickers: American Crafts Thickers; October Afternoon (Tiny Types);

Stamps: Studio Calico (alphabet); Papertrey Ink (Library Ledger);

Pen: Stampin' Up!

Tools: Fiskars Border Punch (Scalloped Sentiment): EK Success Border Punch (Postage Stamp).

Ad-spiration

Mark is turning 16 in a little over a week. Yikes! A year of learning to drive, PSATs and college trips is upon us. Realizing this, I thought I would share a birthday layout I did last summer. Don't know why I never got around to posting it. The inspiration for the layout came from this advertisement for the Imaginisce paper:

When I saw those colorful papers, I just knew that this was a layout I wanted to scraplift. Since I didn't purchase all of the embellishments, I made my own. Here's my layout:

Let me walk you through some of the handmade touches I made for just pennies! The banner at the top of the page of the inspiration piece was actually two different packages of paper ribbons, one with flags and the other with the sentiment. I created my banner by fussy cutting a piece of patterned paper which I purchased at just a fraction of the cost. After stitching the banner string, I added the sentiment on foam adhesive.

I also didn't purchase the Springing Stackers so instead, I die-cut a circle, stamped random dots using the back of a patterned circle stamp and added a chipboard number to create the "Celebrate 4" embellishment.

I did purchase two Snag 'Em stamps at $1 each. I heat embossed the "Make a Wish" stamp on red cardstock to add another texture to the layout.

I stamped the "For Me" stamp three times and used paper piecing and foam dimensionals to create a custom embellishments.

Journaling reads:

7/99 -- Knowing how much you loved firetrucks, cousin Marie sent this for your birthday.

This layout is not all I made with my three pieces of patterned paper and two stamps. You can see the cards I created with this collection on this blog post.

Supplies:

Cardstock: American Crafts

Patterned Paper: Imaginisce (B-Day Bash);

Stamps: Imaginisce (B-Day Bash); Papertrey Ink (Label Basics); Technique Tuesday (The Family Circle);

Ink: VersaMark; Stampin' Up! (Riding Hood Red); Ranger (Coffee); Ranger Distress Ink (Vintage Photo);

Embossing Powder: American Crafts Zing! (white);

Pen: Stampin' Up! (Chocolate Chip);

Embellishments: Recollections;

Tools: EK Success Circle Punch.

Another June Bug Layout

Okay so it's officially Day Two of the Unofficial Kelly Goree Week on my blog. Today, I have another layout from the June Bug Triple Double class that I took last year. The June Bug collection is predominantly primary colors.

Leave it to Kelly to create a pastel layout by using the B side of this very busy floral paper.

Here's the layout:

Doesn't this layout have such a different look from the one I posted yesterday? You would never even know it was from the same collection. I just heart two-sided papers for that reason!

Another thing that Kelly did to give this layout a unique look is to use the chipboard elements from Basic Grey's Offbeat collection. I love mixing and matching manufacturers and collections in my own designs since I seldom buy an entire collection. :(

In the original design, Kelly used four 3.25 x 4.75 pictures. However, since I was using old prints from film, I had three vertical and one horizontal picture. I tried scanning the one picture but the integrity of the colors were lost. After pondering many solutions, I decided to move the word "sublime" onto the yellow mat. To fill up the space on top of the photos I drew in a trail for the butterfly with my white Signo pen.

Come back tomorrow for a look at how I took Kelly's design for a one page layout and made it a double page layout.

Supplies:

Patterned Paper/Stickers: Basic Grey (June Bug)

Chipboard: Basic Grey (Offbeat)

Pen: Signo Gel Pen (White)

June Bug Layout

If you ever get the opportunity to take a class designed by Kelly Goree, do it! Kelly is uber talented and designs the most beautiful layouts. After I took her class at Scrapbook Expo in 2009, I began to think about paper in a whole new way. (Alright, so the fact that I think about paper at all may be a sign that I need a 12-step program but you scrappers out there know what I mean.) Anyway, take this June Bug paper for example:

When I saw it in the class kit, I hoped we were going to use only the B side. We don't have any pets so what would I possibly do with any of those pups on a page. Well here's the page designed by Kelly:

I don't think I ever would have scrapped those pictures let alone have created such a whimsical page. In fact, I would have neglected those doggone cute pups and just used the dots on any page I created on my own but Kelly Goree is the Queen of Fussy Cutting. And, those two pups...

...really make this page (and yesterday's card) so doggone cute!

In addition to fussy cutting, I noticed how Kelly likes to doodle around the edge of the page. No machine sewing here. Just draw a quick free-hand line and Voila, the layout is grounded. Love this easy technique.

I took another class designed by Kelly at Scrapbook Expo this year. Unfortunately, she didn't teach it but the designs were equally as fabulous. I'll share those later this week. I guess I'll officially make it the Unofficial Kelly Goree Week on my blog. LOL!

Supplies:

Paper, Stickers, Brads: Basic Grey

Pen: Stampin' Up (Black)

Tools: EK Success Corner Rounder punch

Up, Up and Away

Has a patterned paper ever inspired you to do a layout and then when you sit down to do that layout, you don't use the paper that inspired it? That's what happened to me. When I saw this:

I wanted to scrap this:

And this is what I wound up with:

Do you see any blue cloud paper? Nope. I see yellow cloud paper but not blue -- a little decision that cost me an extra trip to the local scrapbook store which is 16 miles away. In fact the only piece I used from that beautiful blue cloud paper is the 3/4-inch strip of the B side that I used for the journaling.

The journaling reads: 8/08 Conquering a collective fear of heights and boating, we soared high above the Gulf of Mexico in Marco Island, FL, with Danielle & Kevin.

Now you may be wondering why I didn't use the blue cloud paper. The answer is simple. It didn't match the blue ric rac ribbon that I bought with the intention of using on this layout almost two years ago!

Now one other thing I have to confess about this layout is that these papers were released in February so they had a bit of a Valentine's theme. This required a little camouflaging on my part. I used the left side of this paper:

with fussy cut clouds and my own para sailing embellishment.

As for the hearts that were scattered throughout the polka dots, I simply covered them up with brads.

And yes, that required a third trip to the local scrapbook store because I didn't have the right colors in my stash. Let me know if you think this layout was worth three trip (96 miles round trip) to the store. LOL!

Supplies

Card Stock: American Crafts

Patterned Paper: My Minds Eye (Love Me Do); Imaginisce (red dot from Scooter's Vacation)

Stickers: American Craft Thickers (Rainboots); Jolee's Dimensional Stickers (Para sailing)

Tools: EK Success (Slim Edger Punch -- Embossed Curve)

Embellishments: Basic Grey Brads; ribbon from stash

Pen: Stampin' Up!

Once in a Century!

So what were you doing on July 8, 2009 at 10:11 a.m.? While reading various blogs this past summer, I saw a lot of scrappers preparing pages for this once-in-a-lifetime moment and decided to join in the fun. After all, what better way was there for me to tell the story of what Mark and Melissa did this past summer. So I took pictures (well actually I had Mark and Melissa reenact the moment) but sadly didn't get to the layout for a while. Finally, here's my layout called "07-08-09 @ 10:11":

First, can I just say that having a title with all numbers is a great way to use up some of your sticker stash. LOL!

Here are some details about the layout. I knew that I wanted to journal on this layout but I didn't want a strong journaling block so instead, I used the Jenni Bowlin tickets. The journaling reads: "It only happens once each century. Melissa was at field hockey camp & Mark was training for East Meadow High Cross Country."

I added texture to the layout by running the blue medallion paper through my Cuttlebug using a Swiss Dot embossing folder. I then lightly sanded the paper to make the dots pop. I used the Pink Paislee arrow sticker and added a Making Memories tiny alpha "w" to mark that this date happened on a Wednesday. I then added more tiny alphas to the top of the arrow to create my "Where Were You?" subtitle.

I added doodled rub-ons and some lines with a white gel pen to add a little touch of whimsy.

My visual triangle was completed by the "LIVE" Bingo card. I was thrilled that numbers 7 through 11 were on the card so I highlighted them with a stamp as if I was playing Bingo!

Melissa pointed out to me that I could do another layout like this next year on August 9th at 11:12 a.m. I just might do that!

Supplies

Patterned Paper: Pink Paislee (Captivating); Basic Grey (Recess)

Stamps: Technique Tuesday (Rounds Medium) -- back used to stamp Bingo card

Ink: Stampin' Up!; White Signo pen

Chipboard: Basic Grey (Offbeat)

Stickers: Pink Paislee (Captivating and Enchanting); Making Memories (Chloe's Closet Tiny Alphas)

Embellishements: Pink Paislee flower; Jenni Bowlin tickets and Bingo card;

Rub-ons: K&Company (Urban Rhapsody)

Tools: Cuttlebug (Swiss Dot embossing folder)

Sew Simple

Whether I'm reading the latest issue of a scrapbook magazine or visiting one of my favorite blogs, I find myself admiring pages and cards that incorporate sewing. I love the added texture and design element it gives to a project. I think that any combination of sewing and paper crafting is sew (pun intended) beautiful! So, I finally decided to take the plunge when I was doing my Pool Play page.

I wanted a clean look for this page since these pictures of a nighttime swim were a little on the dark side so I decided on white card stock. I only used two wavy strips of my patterned paper. (I find myself doing this more and more lately.) To lay out my pictures, I followed the principle's I learned from the CKC Scheming Around class and then used the white space on my grid for a hand-stamped title. It was only at this point that I felt the page still needed something. I added the brads but this still was not quite enough. That's when I decided to add some stitching. I used the swirls on the Bazzill In Stitchz flourishes template and voila, my page was finished. I'm happy with how my paper, stamps font and stitching all complement each other.

Since completing this page, I have taken my needle and thread out for another layout. I guess you can say that I'm sew hooked!

Ingredients: American Crafts card stock; Making Waves by Flair Design patterned paper; Autumn Leaves stamps; Stampin' Up! ink, Signo pen, Imaginisce brads; Bazzill In Stitchz flourishes template; Bazzill piercing tool, DMC embroidery floss.

The Not So Latest But Still Greatest Basic Grey

I finally finished the layouts from the Latest and Greatest from Basic Grey class that I took over the summer. You may recall the layouts from this post (http://eterno-lyyours.blogspot.com/2008/10/latest-and-greatest-part-2.html) and this post (http://eterno-lyyours.blogspot.com/2008/09/basic-grey-latest-greatest-part-1.html). They were also from the CKC Valley Forge class. Here are the last two from that class:

Journaling reads: From the first time we met Jenn, we had all hoped that she was the "one" so we were thrilled to welcome her into the family.

As soon as I saw this beautiful Basic Grey's Sultry paper, I knew that I would be using it to scrap Jim and Jenn's wedding. It's just so elegant. In addition to the gorgeous paper, my other favorite things about this layout are the doodling around the circular mat...

and the rhinestone embellishments I added to the center of the flowers once I got home from the class.
Ingredients: Basic Grey Sultry paper; Stampin Up! marker; American Crafts stickers; Technique Tuesday tile; rhinestone embellishments from Michael's.

The next layout uses Basic Grey's Ambrosia paper. I had been looking for paper to scrap Mark's Confirmation and I thought these had the right amount of elegance with out being too thematic.

Here's a close-up of some of the embellishments.

Ingredients: Bazzill cardstock; Basic Grey Ambrosia paper and embelishments; Imaginisce
embellishments.

I have two more layouts to complete and share from the fall class I took in Hartford. My goal is to get that done by the end of the year so that I can justify taking another class in 2009!