The Divine Sisterhood of Scrap

Every Saturday, Sisterhood of Scrap (http://sisterhoodofscrap.blogspot.com/) spotlights an artist's sketch. When they put the call out to scrappers to design a layout to feature with the sketch, I gladly answered the call. This week I had my fourth layout featured. Here it is:

I don't know if you can see the detail on the solid card stock. I ran it through the Cuttlebug. To get the embossed image down the entire 12-inch strip, I placed the embossing folder sideways and passed the strip through three times, moving the folder as I went along. Next, I sanded the raised images to make them pop. I love how the diamonds mimic the pattern on Mark's sweater!

I'm usually behind in my scrapping so I'm pretty proud of myself for actually doing a Christmas layout in December -- even if it's a layout of Christmas 2002! LOL!

Ingredients: Bazzill card stock; Imaginisce patterned paper; Imaginisce embellishments and rub-ons; American Crafts; Queen & Company Felt Fusion; Cuttlebug Diamonds in the Rough embossing folder; Signo white pen.

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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!

Enjoy the Season!

Falling leaves, turkey with stuffing and Black Friday bargains make this a wonderful time of year. Add to that a couple of very scrappy days and you have the makings of a perfect weekend. This weekend, I finished three double-page layouts plus a single page layout. And, I feel particularly accomplished because I reached into the dark recesses of my photo boxes to scrap old photos. (As much as I love Black Friday, you wouldn't find me anywhere near Walmart and its photo machines this weekend!)

My first task was to complete a sample layout for Sisterhood of Scraps' Saturday Sketch. My sketch was provided by none other than Becky Fleck, the renown author of Scrapbook PageMaps. (You can see more of Becky Fleck's great sketches at http://www.pagemaps.com/)



So here is the layout:

Journaling reads: October 2001. Before we cut down the oak tree, Mark and Melissa loved to play in the fallen leaves.

You can see the sketch, my layout, and several other sample layouts at Sisterhood of Scrap (http://sisterhoodofscrap.blogspot.com/2008/11/sketch-saturday-becky-fleck.html).

Ingredients: Me and My Big Ideas Cornucopia paper, embellishments and rub ons; Queen & Company Felt Fusion; Fiskars Threading Water Punch.

Oh Baby!

I've been remiss about blogging the last week because my sister, Donna, was in from California for my niece's baby shower. Since she left, I've been catching up on all the things (like laundry, grocery shopping and cleaning) that I didn't want waste time doing while she was here. So tonight it will be a quick share. In honor of Jennifer's baby shower, I thought I would post the card I made.

I don't know if you can tell from the picture that I stamped the elephant three times. First I stamped it onto the patterned paper so that I wouldn't have to paper piece the thin tail. Then I stamped it onto card stock and again onto another piece of patterned paper so that I could pop up the ear. I can't take credit for the bib design. That goes to Debbie Olson at Thinking Inking. You can find her fabulous tutorial for this adorable baby bib card at http://debbiedesigns.typepad.com/muse_and_amuse/2008/06/bitty-baby-bles.html. I had actually seen the card right before Michael and Jennifer announced that they were having a baby so Debbie's timing was perfect.

Here is a picture of the matching envelope:

I can't wait to make a card for the baby's birth!

Ingredients: Stampin Up! Card stock; DCWV Nana's Nursery Baby Boy patterned paper; stamp by Brenda Walton for Inkadinkado; Stampin UP! Blue Bayou ink; Michael's pearl embellishments and ribbon; Nestabilities.

All She Wants To Do Is Dance

I've been scrapping up a storm lately but more scrapping time has meant less blogging time. Sorry. Anyway, I did this layout a few weeks ago. I usually have trouble editing my pictures for scrapping. As a result, I mostly do two-page layouts with lots of photos. Melissa's dance pictures gave me the opportunity to do a one-page layout with just two pictures which is totally out of my comfort zone but I'm really happy with the result. I've also been trying to justify many of my recent purchases by actually using my stash. LOL! So this layout includes stamping, heat embossing, use of a border punch, ribbon, flowers and a brad! Here it is:

I loved this laser die cut but I wanted to personalize it so I used my Technique Tuesday Swiss Dots stamp and heat embossed it to match the embossed cardstock. I then added the Making Memories tiny alphas to make the die cut part of my title.

Ingredients: Bo Bunny Homespun Collection Pink Punch KI Memories Pop Culture and Bazzill papers; EZ Laserdesigns die cut; Fiskars Threading Water Punch; Technique Tuesday Swiss Dots stamp; Making Memories tiny alphas; Ranger Black embossing powder; Trademark ribbons; flowers and brad from QVC.

Trick or Treat!

Just a quick post to wish you a Happy Halloween and to share two cards. I made both cards on Thursday (nothing like the last minute!) and rushed them to the post office. I hope they get to my friends in Maryland in time for the big day.

The mummy card is cased from a card I saw on another site. I can't for the life of me remember where I saw it but I'll keep looking so I can give proper credit for this great design.

For the second card, I inked up my Studio G stamps with charcoal instead of black and used the Stampin Up's retired Groovy Guava instead of a traditional orange. Also take a good look at those black gems. They were originally rhinestones; I just colored them with a black Sharpie. Thanks, Jennifer McGuire for that great tip!

Hope your day is filled with more treats than tricks!

Ingredients: Stampin Up! cardstock, Karen Foster Beastly Black patterned paper; Color Box Chalk (Charcoal) ink; Imaginisce Positively Pewter brads; Studio G stamp; gems from Michael's; Nestabilities.

Do Over

Do you remember, as a child, shouting the words "Do over!" when something didn't go your way. Well every time I would thumb through my scrapbooks, I always wished that there was a way to "do over" a layout I had done using some of my favorite pictures of Melissa when she was a baby. I loved the pictures and I loved the paper, I just didn't like the finished layout. Then I found out about Undu and my "do over" became a reality.Using Undu, I was able to lift the pictures from the page without damaging either. Pretty amazing, huh?

Here's a picture of the original layout. You may want to get out your sunglasses for this one.

It was one of the first layouts that I ever completed. I remember being so excited about finding paper to match Melissa's outfit. What I didn't realize then was that the paper was competing with the picture. And what was I thinking when I used green mats!

Here's my "Do Over":

Journaling reads: My sweet little girl...you were all smiles at Mark's birthday party. You would never know from these pictures that we would rush you to the ER just hours later with a fever of 105 degrees.
As you can see, I still used that polka dot paper but I softened the look by only letting a little bit show and inking the edges with Stampin' Up! Whisper White. I roughed up the solid DVWV cardstock with sandpaper. I even sanded the Heidi Swapp chipboard letters. (I needed to get the vacuum out after completing this layout!) My Cuttlebug also got put to use to cut the circles with my Nestabilities and emboss them with a Cuttlebug embossing folder.

In the new layout, I'm happy that the newly cropped pictures take center stage, not the paper. What do you think?

I'm tempted to call "Do Over!" again on some of my other layouts. If I do, however, I may never catch up on my scrapbooking!