Friday, July 10, 2015

Becoming Elsa

Hey Scrappers!!! I have another new post on my newer blog on wordpress. I shared a layout I made a little more than a month ago. I dyed my oldest daughters hair to be like Elsa since she had lost all her hair a while ago due to chemotherapy. It was a fun way to help to reward her bravery for being so strong.  You can read the original post on www.scrapbookpagesandcupcakes.wordpress.com. The link to my process video is in that blog post too!!!
Have an inspired day!!!
Aloha, Hannah

Friday, July 3, 2015

Where has Hannah been?!!

You may have noticed I have been a little MIA lately!! Well I have been working like crazy! Things in my life have been pretty busy, I have finished my kids school year, I homeschool my two daughters. My oldest daughter is just about to finish her chemo treatment, so we have been doing things around to get ready for that. On Tuesday she actually had her last dose of IV chemo in the clinic. We are so glad this day has come and we are planning on celebrating with a party! On top of all this I am actually working on something really fun and cool for all you scrappers out there too!!
Maybe you have heard, but if not I am currently working on starting a new Youtube channel where a bunch of Scrappy Youtubers will post a project or layout once or twice a month. It is like a youtube hop and 2peas combined. 
Each week there is a new piece of inspiration that the scrappers will use to connect all the weeks worth of layout/projects together, but viewers will be able to see how each scrapper uses and interprets this inspiration piece. Giving them ideas and giving them an inspiration vacation!!IMG_1759
The name of this new Youtube channel I am working on is The Crafty Maven Getaway.  Aside from the Youtube channel there is also a blog to go along with the Youtube Channel where I will be linking the videos that are posted and where you can find the poster on Youtube. The blog website for that is www.thecraftymavengetaway.wordpress.com
There is also a community Facebook page as well which is like a blog on Facebook, but may be a little easier to comment on the layouts and videos than on a blog. 
Everyone who is involved is getting really excited and ready to share with everyone what they have been working on, I hope you scrappers are excited too, because so many Youtubers are going to be in one place posting everyday!! Some days even have more than one post!! 
I will keep you posted on my new Youtube channel and I will be trying like allows to keeping up with my own layouts that I am working on!! 
Have an Inspired Weekend!!! 
Aloha, 
Hannah

Friday, May 29, 2015

Mood boards, Parrots, and Embossing!!

Aloha Scrappers!!
I have a new blog post up over at my new blog site. I am talking about embossing this background and the Paper Issues mood board that I used as the inspiration for this layout. Come check it out!!!
Until next time, Aloha!!
Hannah

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Moving my blog

Hey My Scrapping Friends!! How is your creative mojo this week? Are you crafting A lot, purging maybe, or just soaking in what all your scrappy favorites are doing? 
Things have been busy with me, as always, having three young kids our house is never dull. But I have decided to switch my blog over to wordpress instead of keeping up my blog here. I will make sure that I will make a note when I post over there for a while as I continue to move blog posts over there. I really am excited about the look of my blog over there and am interested in having a professional looking space for you to get inspiration. Head over there and let me know what you think!! My new blog is www.scrapbookpagesandcupcakes.wordpress.com. Like I said let me know what you think, give me some input into what you like and don't. I really want a nice place for you to get inspiration and see what I am up too. 
I will make sure to make a final post here when everything is switched over and then again when I am ready to stop posting here what's up over there. I want to make this transition is easy and to keep you guys updated properly.  
Have a great week, and I look forward to hearing what you think!!
Aloha, 
Hannah

Friday, May 22, 2015

National Scrapbook Day YouTube Hop

I know National Scrapbook Day was a few weeks ago now but I am still thinking about what good fun I had!!I loved spending the day and even more sitting at my desk creating. Even if it was crazy because my kids wanted to se what I was doing every five minutes, or the hubby needed help finding peanut in the cabinet to make lunch, or I needed to make a fun the the store to get marshmallows for Smores on the grill!! It was still fun and I loved having the opportunity to spend all day crafting and playing with pretty paper. 
This National or should I say International, since many scrapbookers from all over joined in the festivities, I joined many YouTube Scrappers for a YouTube Hop.  Over at the NicoleJones911 Facebook group a group of us were wanting to do something fun for the community and who doesn't like a little challenge?! The Theme of the Hop was our "A Few Of My Favorite Things". We used the Sound of Music song as our inspiration, we used our favorite technique, color, paper and embellishments on the layout. I suggested we scrap a picture of something that is our favorite and maybe use a line from the song and turn it into something scrappy on the page. It was a blast watching everyone's videos and seeing some of their favorite things. After I tell you a little about the layout I created for the Hop I will post a list of the YouTubers who participated in the Hop so if you want you can check out their layouts. 
On to the Layout I created. I love watercoloring on my background. I wanted to do something I haven't done before and a way to keep my watercoloring fresh. I used various old rub ons from Maggie Holmes Open Book, Jen Hatfield and WRMK Jubilee. I just scattered them through out the white cardstock randomly. Then I took a teal color painted over large sections of the cardstock and over the rub ons. The rub ons kind of act like a resist so around the rub on it is white. This just makes the rub ons pop off the colored sections. I add a few sections scattered amongst the teal in pink. I really love the way pink and teal look together. It is probably my favorite color combo right now. 
I knew I wanted to use three photos so I made sure I printed those at about 3x4 size so I could stretch them across the bottom half of the paper. Underneath the photos, which I wanted to layer patterned papers and embellishments. I love the way layers of papers look with bits sticking out. I chose papers that were back and white, teal and pink. I thought they would mimic the way the background looks. 
I picked photos of my family and I, since they are my favorite things! When I was young I had tons of health issues. I wasn't sure for a while what my future would look like and if I would even have kids. But I fought for life and now I have the family that I had always wanted. For that I am blessed, I have an amazing family. These photos were taken around Easter.  I love how cute Leilani and her dad look together, they are always being so goofy together. Sam is so adorable in his Sunday Easter outfit. He was so silly while I was trying to get a nice Easter photo of him, posing in silly poses. Cayden and I are smiling so nice at our Easter family dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. 
I finished off the layout by tucking bits and pieces of ephemera pieces around the photos. I used a mix of Maggie Holmes, Amy Tan and Crate paper pieces. I also added enamel dots and Heidi Swapp Black Velvet mist splatters to create extra interest on the page. 
For my title I used a few different fonts, I love to do that mix the fonts up! I used some black Thickers that matched with all the rub ons. Then I found some black and gold Maggie Holmes Open Book block alphas, they just look so elegant. And then finished with the Dear Lizzy wood grain Thickers, which I wanted to stick out more from the rest of the title. 
I really enjoyed making this layout and putting everything together so we could do a fun YouTube Hop for National Scrapbook Day. I loved even more watching all the videos on that Saturday and Sunday while I scrapped. I am grateful for all the ladies who participated and made something for the HOP!!! It was a total SUCCESS!! 
Here is the list of all the YouTubers who joined in and made a layout for NSD, just click on their name and you will directed to their video!!
If you click on my layout it will also direct you to my NSD video!!

Jen Stokes   (Scrapsbyjen) 


I hope you all are inspired by the work you were able to do around NSD!! If not guess what, NSD comes around next year, and I am possible you will find me scrapping along with you again!!
Aloha and have an Inspired weekend!!!
Hannah







Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Where did my Mojo run off too??

Maybe it's the sunny weather, the fact Netflix has added a gazillion new shows or I am just over thinking it, but this past week or so I have been feeling my mojo at an all time low. Just When I finish a layout I love I go to start another one and I draw a blank. I hate that feeling!! I love to create, I love documenting those moments we have as a family that remind me we are normal. It is my therapy session and my "me" time. And I just want to be productive and Love what I work on. So what do we do when that just isn't happening? I love watching Youtube process videos but even that can overload my creativity when is lacking. The other day what I decided to try was keep things simple and use a sketch. It takes the pressure off of me to create something amazing on this blank canvas and just have fun with a fun photo and pretty paper!! I looked on Pinterest and the first sketch I found I used, no extra thinking. It just happened to be a Susan Stringfellow sketch, which she always has great and fun sketches to get you started. I used Sketch 143 from www.sketchsavvy.blogspot.com
One thing I also do when I am feeling Blah about my work is to go through old photos and pick one that is my favorite or just jumps out at me. The other day I was looking through photos from a few years ago, when my girls were really young, they always smiled amazing in pics and were so cute!! I found a photo of Leilani and Cayden at the splash pad when we lived Texas. It was their favorite place to go in the HOT summers. 
I used some old patterned papers that I had in my stash that I loved the colors and mixed them with some new patterns for this summer, like Pink Paislee Citrus Bliss. I love this collection, the muted summery colors are so fun. They worked well with the teal colors I was wanting to use. 
I had a tag with a watercolored typewriter that was so adorable that I wanted to use, and I knew it would be perfect for layering on. I layered a bright colored tiny envelope and a metal teal embellishment from Basic Gray. Adding a word sticker from Dear Lizzy with an enamel dot and an AC geo tag finished that cluster off well. I added a camera in teal and a heart up above the tag cluster. I love the way that spot turned out. Because I used a sketch it gave me the space to focus my creativity on the clusters and and where my papers were going be. That part was mapped out.
This sketch almost looks like a grid style with a cluster and photo next to each other. I added layers behind each photo to add a little more interest to the pretty simple layout. I tried to pick patterns that were subtle and staying close to the teal and pink color combo. I really wanted the focus to be on the clusters of embellishments and the photos. So the soft tones under the photos made the photos stand out but not over the top. 
The second cluster was suppose to have another tag, but I really wanted to use a cut out word. I found a pack of Me & My Big Ideas pack of cards in an instant, which were die cut cards with words in the middle. The teal dot Hello was perfect for that cluster. I added a pice of patterned paper underneath to help that Hello to pop out and off the page. I layered a small banner and couple small die cuts and a heart pop up sticker at the edge of the card, tying to it to the background. The Dear Lizzy Serendipity enamel dots were just the right color to match the papers I used on this layout. 
On the banner of that cluster I started the title. I used Elle Studio Alphas in a soft pink for the word Splish. What doesn't say I love playing in the water, like Splishing and Splashing!! I had some solid gold Thickers called Gilded that I hadn't opened and was dying to use and dug those out for this layout. I think it's important when you are in a lull of creativity to use products you love. Products you have been meaning to use but are so pretty they have been sitting on the shelf collecting dust. Sometimes using pretty stuff and products that tug at the heartstrings sparks that fire you need to keep on creating layouts and projects you love. 
I finished with the date stamp near the clusters and adding journaling. I love how this layout turned out. It really makes me want to go back and find some more older pictures of my beautiful children and scrap them. It also made me realize how much I missed making on own backgrounds. So the next layout I make I will be making sure I do that. I take out those paints, the stencils and get dirty!! Play with the products I love so much and make my layouts more me!! 
I hope you guys are creating layouts you love! I hope you find the things that inspire you to go back to your desk and create more! Look in the unexpected for inspiration but hold on to the things that work too. I hope you have an inspired week!!
Aloha, Hannah


 Keep a look out on my YouTube channel for the process video for this layout, it should be out sometimes this week!!


Thursday, May 14, 2015

Doodling Time

I feel like it has been forever since I posted a blog!! I am so sorry, my Hubby has been on vacation and we as a family have been spending time together. I have been enjoying the low maintenance of the break, it has me itching for summer!! Ready to relax, enjoy the beautiful weather and sunshine and maybe even get some extra playing time with my scrappy goodies! Since we homeschool the school year has taken away of my own freedoms of having extra time to do things around the house, whether it's cleaning or reading or maybe even scrapping. And overall I am good with that. I love teaching our kids, watching them learn and grow. I know these days of them being little and imaginative are limited. I am glad I have scrapbooking to hold on to all these fun moments in life, because I have a feeling that as time goes on it will be harder and harder to remember every little detail. 
Last week I finally was able to dig into my new Clique Kit, recently I switched kit clubs because I really just needed a change. I thought about not getting a kit, but one draw I like about many kits is the exclusive items they have. I love seeing others creativity and interpretation of items that are put in a kit. Clique Kits generally just uses one collection for their kits. I like the idea that I can get most of a collection in one kit for a good price, then I can just buy odd and end embellishment, paper and other goodies that match that collection. 
For the first layout I used my kit and the Amy Tangerine Rise and Shine collection. I really wanted to get down and creative. It is always hard for me to cut up papers at first. And I find creating my own backgrounds I can get the most of my papers cutting it layers and getting multiple uses out of my papers ad the collection. I started out by using a piece of white yardstick and using bright watercolors on it. I used yellow, orange and pink which matched this collection perfectly. Then I looked at the doodles already in the collection and took a black marker to that watercolored cardstock. At first I was a little worried about just using a black marker right away without knowing what exactly I was going to doodle. 


  Part of what makes the doodling cool though is its imperfectness. So I embraced that black marker!! I love how it turned out as a whole. I also added a little silver gel pen in the doodles. I knew one of the papers in the collection had silver in it, so I knew if I used that it would tie in the papers and the doodles. 
I knew I wanted to scrap this professional photo taken from my brothers wedding last summer. The photographer was really wanting to get tons of fun shots, among all the traditional shots for weddings. It was fun to pose silly and act young during this fun and exciting day. The picture is of all our shoes. My sister in law wanted all our shoes to match and look perfect, which they really did. I love how the photographer picked up on this fact!! And let me just say my sister in laws shoes are amazing, and not your traditional brides wedding shoes, I love how all our shoes compliment hers. I really wanted to use papers from the Rise and Shine collection that mirrored the really fun vibe of the photo. I picked out papers in Yellow, Orange and pink to match the watercolor background. I also really loved the blue and silver paper and had to use it on this layout. 
I tend to do that when I first break in to a collection or kit, find one of my favorite papers and use it on that layout. I can't resist using that paper first before I find another paper I love just as much!!I also decided I liked the natural look of the craft paper cut parts from the collection too, and cut some of those to use. I added some silver to help tie that into the layout. 


I centered the photo for a change. I really like the way the layered papers looked on diagonal sides of the photo, matching the flow of the doodles. I also really didn't want to cover up the doodles to much, they are such a fun part of the layout. I normally don't care if I cover up much of the background I make, but in this case it just didn't feel right. 
I added a small clustered to the bottom right hand to draw the eye from top to bottom of the layout. I used papers from the main cluster to keep it the same and added some yellow paint to the craft cut apart on the bottom. I used an exclusive wood veneer to add another shape to the cluster. 
Using the craft Amy Tan Thickers I spelled out shoes and then I decided they needed to be silver and used my paint pen that. Using Simple Stories block alphas I spelled wedding. I like how they look like part of the layers at the top of the photo. 
 
 I added some flair, epoxy stickers and enamel stars and dots to finish off the layout. 
This really was such a fun layout to make!! I love how all the colors from this collection match the spring/summer vibe I have been in. 
You can watch the process video I made here, https://youtu.be/Z1KsILkgGQ8. 
I hope you all have a fantastic and inspired weekend!!!
Aloha, Hannah

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

SNL 12 Days of Spring

If you haven't heard in February I was asked to be apart of the SNL (Scrap Night Late) Design Team, which is a YouTube based scrapbooking/crafting team that focuses on using you stash to create. Every Saturday we do a stash dive and have to create a layout, card or project life spread using a craft item that we have in our. It has been so much fun so far. Even though I have only been scrapping for a year, it is so easy to buy more scrap products than you use. In addition to doing Stash Dive videos we have been posting crafty videos that are inspired by Spring. It has been inspiring to see all these crafts made that encourage us to think about warm weather, blooming flowers, and Easter. All the ladies on the team have done some amazing stuff. Later in the blog I will link to their channels so you can check them out! 
I want to share the layout I made for Day 9, I have been very much in an artsy mood lately. I really have been trying to find ways to add art to my layout to in essence make my layout a piece of art. This layout was inspired by art journaling. I really am digging all the spring colors especially in recent collections such as Dear Lizzy Serendipity, WRMK Love Notes, and PinkFresh Studios Up In The Clouds. 
I started with a piece of plain white cardstock and clear gesso. I used a baby wipe to paint acrylic paint unto the cardstock, like the cardstock was a canvas. I put them in a diagonals and used 3 different colors, teal, blue and lavender.  
I used a The Crafters Workshop stencil with yellow paint. I love the pops of chicken wire in yellow through the page. 
I then used Multi Matte Media to glue down cut strips of thin patterned paper from DCWV antique 6x6 pack. I tore the strips before I glued them down for interest and to give it more that art journal feel. I used four gelatos (metallic grape, metallic blueberry, metallic mint and lavender) on the paper too. I made sure I covered this all with more clear gesso to seal the gelatos in place. just incase I wanted to add more liquid media. 
I used a white gel pen to draw various sizes of circles all over the page. I really wanted this layout to look like an art journal page so I
thought this would be a fun addition to the layers on the background to build it up. After finishing this I realized that I really couldn't see the circles and I really wanted them to show up, so I pulled my paints back out. I used my thin paintbrush to draw circles with acrylic paint in white and teal colors.  I also painted circles on another patterned paper that I would later add to my layers. 
PinkFresh Studios has the cutest heart wood veneer piece that I wanted to add to my layers. This also helped me decide
on the photo. I scrapped a photo I took during sunset on the day before Easter during a family dinner we had out with my mom. We wanted to have a nice sit down meal for Easter but she was leaving on Easter so Saturday
worked perfectly. We went to the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co, in the Ala Moana Center in Honolulu which over looks the dock area near Waikiki. The way the sun shone on the buildings and reflected off the windows was gorgeous. 
I added tons of layers of paper and a glassine bag. I also raided my embellishment stash for pieces that had teal, blue or purple on them. 
I had leftover wood buttons from my PinkFresh Studios embellishment kits that were perfect.   And an exclusive pineapple flair button that matched. 


I finished my layout by drawing an artsy border around the layout in black sharpie to draw

your eye in. Added some enamel dots and thinned out some white paint for splatters.
I absolutely love how it turned out, so colorful and a fun way to remember the view from that evening. 




I have a process video for this layout, https://youtu.be/DKH0OkPXhn4
Here is where you can find out what all the Design Team members are doing and creating, https://www.facebook.com/groups/1442761359296084/ 

Here is a list of the SNL Design team members just in case you watch to check out their YouTube video out and see all the things they are creating...
Carol also known as OneHappyCraftyChick
Cindy also known as Cindy4kiddos
Megan Paulos Blethen also known as Crafty Meggy
Sheri also known as Auntie Re Creates
Teresa also known as CraftinmommaML
and the Guest Designer Heather Little
I hope you have an Inspired Week!!
Aloha, 
Hannah

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Back In the Saddle

Hey my Scrappy Friends!! If you were wondering where I have been lately, I've been on Vacation! Well my mom had come to visit us on the Island and so I played tour guide. Visiting and seeing the sights, smells and sounds of Hawaii!
I love starting a vacation, it's always so nice to take a break from the normal grind of daily life and do fun things. But I have to admit after a while I am itching to get back to my desk and steal some time to scrap. By the time you sit down at your desk though, you are just to tired for the daily activities to put together a decent page. 
Getting back into the groove has been hard for me. So what do you do when you feel like your loosing your mojo? I watched tons of Process Videos, and eventually I kicked myself in the butt and got back to my desk, because you know I really am happier when I can sit back, flip through whole pieces of 12x12 papers and figure out how I'm going to give it it's voice among 3 or 4 other papers. Thankfully another scrapping and I do challenges together almost just for this purpose, to push each other and to keep us motivated to keep our love for our craft alive. 
If you are new to this blog, or my YouTube challenge, I'll refresh your memory. In January my friend Alicia Tilman, (Alicia JinHee on Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiI0sh1z7NRCej6h9bsja-A)  started doing Youtube challenges with each other. The series is called Scrappy Play Date with Alicia and Hannah. We use various forms of inspiration and create a layout, art journal or something crafty. Usually it's a layout but sometimes we just need to do something different to change it up. We have used mood boards, sketches, pictures or quotes from Pinterest. I love how we both interpret the pieces differently and make them fit our style and come up with something fun! 
This last week we decided to use multiple photos on our layouts. Both of us are known to just use one maybe two photos on a 12x12 layout. And while there is nothing wrong with that sometimes it's nice to change it up, or something it just makes more sense to have multiple photos from an outing or event we are documenting. 
Doing multiple photos isn't an easy thing, there is a lot to think about. Like how mach empty space do you want, how big do you want the photos, is layering possible or do you need to rethink what layering should mean on the layout, I could go on but I think you catch my drift. For me I am used to having lots of empty space to play, so I figured I should go with a patterned paper with some pattern on it. I figured I would have to rethink how I would the way I would have to layer. I picked my photos, which were from a beach day we had from when My Mom was here, and I had quite a few I thought should make the cut. I had 6 in total, so I printed them out in 3x4 sizes some vertical and some horizontal interest, if I really needed to add extra!! 
I decided that this would be a good chance to use my brand new Clique Kit since it had lots of full papers, all the embellishments matched and it would give me more space to focus on placement of the actual layout and less thought into what works together. Thats the nice part of using a kit anyway. But I also loved the papers from this kit, they used PinkFresh Studios Up in The Clouds Collection for their kit, and this is liken of my all time favorite kits!! No lie! It is just so spring like and fun, with tons of gold!!
I decided to place the horizontal photos on the bottom half and stagger the vertical photos on the top half. I felt like this gave me enough empty space to see the fun background paper and to embellish later. 
 I loved the Fun 3x4 watercolor card in the kit, so I cut it down and used it to help separate the top from the bottom. 
I then decided to use one of their papers, Patterned Circles, as the inspiration for top half since I wasn't comfortable using lots of layers behind the photos like I usually do on layouts. I used my circle punch and cut out some of the fun patterns from the circles and I also added some stamps from past PinkFresh Studios embellishment kits that I had. They were the perfect size for these small circle. I lined the circles in rows on the top half. I liked the way bits and pieces from the circles and patterns stick out but because they are small it's not too much. 
In one of my PinkFresh Studios Embellishments we received gold chipboard pieces. They matched perfect with all the gold in the 3x4 card and embellishment pack from the collection so I wanted to use these. The only thing I wanted to tone down the gold a little, and I also am digging all the paint dipped chipboard pieces American
Crafts is putting out lately. I figured I could do this same thing with these chipboard pieces. I picked out multiple different spring colors from my acrylic paint and painted most of my chipboard pieces in half. I love the way they turned out too!
In the April Clique Kit there was also some Websters Pages Vellum that worked perfect along with some blue heart Vellum from Pretty Little Studios in my stash. I layered these behind the bottom photos. Since there is only two photos on the bottom, it helped add a little something more down on the bottom of the page.  I added a flair from the Clique Kit that matched the paper, which added a nice touch. I used some acetate pieces, puffy stickers, hearts and the chipboard pieces I altered in groups around the photos. I pretty much made sure each photo had a little grouping of embellishing near it, bringing your eye to that photo. 
Finally I finished my title. In the embellishment pack, there was a big ampersand with gold on it, and I know I wanted to use this next to the fun card I cut up to fit better. I used the alpha stickers to spell out sand and the title read Fun & Sand. Perfect. I finished up with enamel dots, from freckled fawn and Dear Lizzy. I also used a black pen to write the date and outline around the outside of the layout to keep your eye focused in the layout and not all the colors flowing off the paper. I
I really love how it turned out. I was surprised at how it really did just come right together. I was sure when I started I would have to toss a couple of photos aside form another layout. But persistence  paid off and I ended up with a great layout and fun photos documenting my kids enjoying the beach!! 
You can find some of the products I used from the websites for  Clique Kits Store, http://www.cliquekits.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html and from the website for the embellishment kits of PinkFresh Studios, http://www.pinkfreshstudio.com.  Also here is the link for for YouTube Process Video for this layout, https://youtu.be/5tLxPcvh_-8?list=PLStgm2kXSUE4TIr7G6dPDMS0ecMrl07LZ
Hope you have an Inspired Week!! 
Aloha, 
Hannah
 

Friday, March 27, 2015

Fun With Sketches

When I started scrapping a little over a year ago now I used sketches exclusively. The thought of not using a sketch scared me to death! I mean this 12x12 paper was completely blank and where to start was a mystery. Maybe you've been in that place before, maybe you are there now. But I always find using a sketch now like coming home. It's like being all grown up and visiting, the home I grew up in  with big girl eyes and remembering all the things I loved about being there. And then I use the sketch and put it away and glad I can go to my big girl home called full reign creativity. I love using sketches now still but find I change them so much most of the time. I love being able to do whatever I want on a page, but because of sketches I understand why things look good where they do. 
Paper Issues had a crop this past weekend, and when I seen they had a sketch challenge I knew for sure that was one challenge I needed to do. It is a simple sketch but leaves a lot open for the crafter to add and make it their own. I usually change up sketch just so I can make it me, but this time I really wanted to stick with the sketch. I did however use a patterned paper on the background. Since I started using a lot of media on my pages I have found myself using more and more white and kraft colors as backgrounds. I find that really helps open the layout up and keeps it from looking to busy, since I still have to add lots of layers! I mean I still want to use all those yummy patterns. 
I dug in my older papers and found a old Crate Paper collection and used that to start. But to keep it current I used newer lines for my layering papers. The sketch calls for 4 3x4 papers along the top third of the paper. I choose to cut my papers in different sizes, some 3x4 and some thinner but longer. I even used some gold star vellum from Studio Calico under a 3x4 journaling card from Clique kits. 
Since the background was a teal color  choose pink to compliment it. Also I was scrapping a photo of my middle daughter and she loves her some pink. I thought pink would play on her playfulness and cute smile. Also I kept the patterns simple on the layering paper, like pink watercolored paper on Pink Fresh Studios  paper, or simple patterns on white paper like on We Are Memory Keepers Love Notes paper. 
For embellishments I added gold since I had gold on the vellum and made sure I used lots of pink too. On the journaling card since there was some bright teal, I used one teal sequin in the clusters to mirror that as well. I find that mirroring colors in my papers with embellishments helps make my layouts look like they belong together. The colors don't have to match perfect but or patterns don't have to be the same but if the are similar they look like they should go together. 
I added a craft paper from the Amy Tangerine Stitched collection and drew in stitch lines, since I don't own a sewing machine to make it look more homemade. For the title I used October Afternoon letter stickers in white. Nice and simple and then one word had pink sparkle foam letter thickers from a older Dear Lizzy line. Just the right touch of spunk. 
I ended everything with some splatters of black color shine, pink shimmer homemade mist and then some thinned out white paint. 
By keeping this layout simple, for me at least, it is so much easier to focus on my daughter and her story, which is written in hot pink on the journaling card. 
I really had fun using this sketch. But like always after using a sketch I am happy to go back to creating something equally great without a sketch. I hope this week you guys try to use a technique that reminds you of when you first started scrapping. That you love but don't try enough. 




Tuesday, March 24, 2015

I have been super busy this weekend having a ton of fun. I attended my first online crop!! It was so fun chatting and crafting with lots of ladies I see hanging around the crafty group. Paper Issues the online store hosted on online crop and had tons of challenges in which you can enter projects and have a chance to win goodies. Who doesn't love a good challenge. I wish I could have been more productive of course, but the kiddos needed food, and laundry needed folding too. But this weekend I worked on four layouts! It's a nice feeling getting a recent amount of scrapping done in a short amount of time. The crop is still accepting work for their challenges until March 29th too, which is awesome, because the challenges I didn't get to this weekend I now can finish up this week. Feel free t head over to their blog,http://www.paperissues.blogspot.com and see how to attend the crop, late of course and check out the challenges.
I thought I'd share a few of my layouts I worked on this weekend. The first challenge I started on the UmWow Challenge which required the use of a stencil. How I do love me a good stencil too. I thought this was a great layout challenge to start with. I decided to start off with plain white cardstock. Lately I have been in a spring mood, wanting flowers to bloom and the colors we think of with spring are calling to me to use on my layouts!! I grabbed some paint, because lets be honest, I really don't feel a layout is complete unless i add some kind of paint to it. Using blue and teal i just painted some spots of the layout. Leaving lots of white still open too. while drying I picked a photo. Sometimes I start off with a photo, sometimes I almost finish the layout before even picking the photo. It really depends on my mood. I had a photo from the other day of a bubble on some grass, it seemed perfect for the blues and teal colors, and called out spring to me.
I wanted to keep the layout simple and not to heavy, so I looked through my little stack of stencils and picked out two, a swirl one by The Crafters Workshop and a big 12x12 stencil from The Crafters Workshop that had chicken wire and other type of prints. I used thinned out pink paint with some homemade pink glimmer spray to tone down the color  and stenciled away in spots over the paint and on some white cardstock. I thought the page needed some more white so I grabbed white paint and stenciled watered down white paint with the chicken wire stencil. Keeping it light I only used it in three places mainly over the areas of paint.
I almost always need to use layers of paper on my layouts, it just doesn't feel right without layers. I picked a few papers that matched the colors I had on the layout and were spring like. I choose Pinkfresh Studios paper, Crate Paper from Notes and Things, and a 3x4 card I had painted with similar colored paint dots a while ago. I outlined the papers to help them feel uniform and together even though they weren't from the same collection.
 With the layers done, I felt it was time to embellish. I really wanted to keep it simple and fun. This is a layout about my kids having fun blowing bubbles. I made two clusters, one at the bottom left hand side of the layered photo and up on the top left hand side of the layout. Since my paint was kinda in a diagonal starting at that left corner it just seemed the perfect spot for a cluster. I used bits from Amy Tan's Stitched collection as well as bits from the embellishment pack from Up in the Clouds by Pink Fresh Studios. The colors were perfect and just really yelled fun! I also cut a triangle out of that Crate Paper paper I used in the layers to tie the top cluster together and finished that cluster with some enamel dots and a gold heart from the Dear Lizzy Serendipity collection.

The bottom cluster I looked for embellishments that matched the top like circles and similar colors, The Dear Lizzy Serendipity collection had tons of round donuts, since I don't eat much donuts and haven't planned on scrapping a donut layout, using these circles here were perfect. By hiding most of the donut it just looked more like a circle instead of a donut. There was also a round embellishment in the Stitch collected with gold on it, The craft color matched the triangle at the top and the gold tied in with all the gold from the Pink Fresh Studios embellishments. Adding some fun word stickers from Dear Lizzy and Simple stories just finished the cluster up nicely and added a fun touch.


I wanted to add a touch more of pink to the layout, and didn't have many pink enamel dots so I picked out my pink paint again and thine it down with gesso so it would drop nicely from a paint brush and added pink splats over the layout. I also wanted one more element that brought out the bubble in my and the rhinestones from PinkFresh Studios were perfect.


I love how this layout turned out, so fun and bright but balanced because of the white background. I definitely need to break out my stencils more and add them to my layouts as a nice little layer under my photos!



Throughout this week I plan on sharing with you some of the other layouts and cards I made for this crop. I had so much fun getting to know everyone and seeing all their work!! I hope you take a minute to check out what everyone is working on in the crop and maybe you will join us and link up something you made for the crop as well!!