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

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!!

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

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

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

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!!

Nicole Jones 911 

Scrappy Jem 

Kelly Wells Barron  

Katty Miranda 

Felicia Young 

Kelly Carter English 

Mari Clarke 

Jen Stokes   (Scrapsbyjen) 

Sarah Swann  

Megan Paulos Blethen (Crafty Meggy)  

Jessica Lynn 

Carlie Hamilton  

Manda Moore  

Sandy Carter   

Auntie ReCreates  

Asa Malm 

Melissa Jane Vining  

Gina Wojciechowski  

Hannah Lemieux  

Tanya Hubbard    

Rachel Reynolds   

Haylay Stewart     

Tracey Eisenberg   

Victoria Marie   

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

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!!

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