Saturday, June 20, 2015

Scrapbook Stamping Saturday...Fun with Ombre ink!

I have had this fantastic new ombre ink



for a few weeks now, and I thought it would be just the right motivation to start my Saturday Scrapbook Stamping back up with!
 I also had some pretty scraps from a previous counterfeit kit, some fun border Stickers from my May add-on kit, Buttons and Bows, and this is how it all came together for me:

The ombre inks worked beautifully with some large flower stamps for layering, and just added the perfect touch of pizzazz to the layout. I layered several of the border stickers in the center of the page, over the join of the papers.
The stamping:

Untitled
All Layered Up:

I got a little bit of ink on my finger while stamping, which I promptly smudged on my layout:


Untitled

Which is why I decided to stamp the three small butterflies on the upper left side! What do you think? Good enough for a cover up?

Thursday, June 18, 2015

It's Time for a Throwback Thursday(An Evolution in Scrapbooking)

Just for today, I thought that it might be fun to re-share the first layout that I shared on my blog. It was an 8x8 layout, that I shared in February of 2009, and I am not really sure where it is now.
I still think that I like it, even though my scrapbooking style has taken many swings in many different directions since then.

I went through a diecut heavy phase, back when I used to scour the internet searching for hours for the perfect free file:

(I posted that one in May of 2010) Which also was the beginning of a flowery phase-I didn't like a layout unless it had some sort of flowers on it!
October 2010:

February 2011:

April 2011:
During April of 2011 sometime, I realized that bigger pictures=a good thing on my blog, so my pictures got bigger, and my layouts just kept getting heavier. 


I still love this page, though!

September 2011:
(more flowers)


November 2011:

(My layouts for that year or two were very heavy, and filled about 2 scrapbook albums very full each year!But, that's what I loved right then, and I didn't care)
After that, I went through a phase for about a year where I used a sketch for nearly every layout or card that I made. Partly because I wanted to enter a bunch of the contests that the websites ran, partly because I felt that I could scrap more quickly that way. Until I discovered Shimelle's classes/Glitter Girl videos on 2Peas, and I finally started to find a style that just flowed for me. I loved layering, I loved using up my bits and pieces, and she was just so easy and inspiring to listen to. Here is the first Glitter Girl inspired layout that I shared on my blog:
One from Shimelle's Pretty Paper Party class:


One of several that I made inspired by her Scrapbook Remix Class:

One of many inspired by Shimelle's Return to the Collection class:

Shimelle got me interested in watching all of the other garden girls videos on two peas, as well, and then I fell in love with Wilna's dreamy, artsy style.
Here's one of my favorite pages inspired by her Art and Design class:

And finally, one of my most recently completed pages, using my April Fantastic&Fabulous kit:
I definitely used bits and pieces of inspiration that I have gathered from both Wilna and Shimelle in this page, but it just sort of flowed out for me. No sketches, just me, some fun products (the flowers were printables from Wilna's Art and Design Class, and the lightbulbs on the previous page were cut files from that same class-so I guess this falls in the "sharing my homework" category as well).

Thank you for stopping by today, I hope you have been inspired as I have reminisced through at least my online scrapbooking history today!

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

What I'm Loving Wednesday...

Just thought I would share a little bit of what I am loving today...

Google Photos
Did you know that Google offers free unlimited photo storage, and it organizes them for you, and you can pull all of your digital photos from all of your devices into one place? Me either, until a week or two ago! I have since been uploading all of my digital photos, and I am so happy to have my photos all (or it will be all when I get finished uploading-there are thousands and thousands, so it takes a while!) backed up to one place, and organized by date. I think it will also help me to reorganize my photo library when I am finished, as well. I have rediscovered treasures such as this:

And, thanks to Google photo, I can easily see that it was taken shortly after 2:00 pm on Sunday, March 16, 2003. Yes, she's 16 now, and he's 13. This just melts my heart!
And here are a couple from the twins' 3rd Birthday in 2006...

I just love their expressions sooo much!!

Okay, also loving right now (on a somewhat different topic, for totally different reasons...) Senior Inspire on instagram , because they find and share some gorgeous examples of senior photography, and just give so many ideas to use at work. Do yourself a favor and check them out if you love gorgeous photography like me!

Also loving:
This fantastic looking tutorial over at 36th Avenue:
I have a huge area on my deck that this would be so perfect for!! Now if I can just talk my hubby into making it for me!!

And if he makes that, I want to make these awesome wine bottle torches to go around the rest of the deck:

See the tutorial here on Design Sponge.

So, that is just a little peek into what I am loving on this Wednesday! What are you loving right now? I would love to know-leave me a comment so that I can be inspired, too!

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Counterfeit Kit Challenge: One Side or the Other

Hi, all! Today, I am sharing a page for the Counterfeit Challenge blog's 3rd challenge of the month;
Challenge 3: One side or the other.  Focus on only ONE side of your project and keep the rest white space. 
I think I did pretty well with this challenge, although I did cheat just a little bit... I had a compass rose acetate piece that fit perfectly, and really tied the page together for me. So, I almost followed the rules...
I did use the rule of thirds for this page, loaded up the left third of the page, and let the other 2/3 breathe.
The journaling reads: "Disney knows exactly how to draw the kids in with glow in the dark everything for the fireworks shows. I came prepared with necklaces and bracelets for all of the kids. Honestly, I kind of wanted some, too!"

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

My Month of May (AKA a little of what I've been up to)

You may have noticed a much less frequent posting schedule in May...here are just a few of the reasons why...my "babies" graduated from 5th grade:


I know that the whole "fifth grade graduation" thing is a bit silly, but it does symbolize growing and moving on. They are leaving a small elementary school of less than 200 kids and going to a middle school of 600+ kids, so I know it will be an adjustment for them! Also, I am not sure if I am ready for 4 teenagers in the house!
Speaking of teenagers, this girl turned 16:
We got a Pandora charm bracelet for her for her birthday, so that she can start collecting charms and momentos from the good things we share as a family, since we realize that our time with her at home is becoming very limited!

And, the biggest reason that I haven't been posting as frequently is that I got a job at a photography studio in my town, helping with senior portraits. I am learning so much, and truly enjoying the process! I am still pinching myself, because I feel so blessed to be able to do something that I enjoy so much, and get paid for it!. I am still working out the whole balancing act, though, since I have been a stay at home mom for the past nine years, it is definitely an adjustment! I love it, though, and the people that I am blessed to work with are fantastic. They already feel like family!

Monday, June 1, 2015

June Counterfeit Kit

Good morning! Can you believe that it is already June 1st? I can't! Somehow, the days slipped away from me so quickly in May! May was a super busy month for me, but I will post a bit more about in another post. For now, I am sure you are here to see my kit! This month, we were given the challenge of "counterfeiting" a new Basic Grey collection. I don't know about the rest of you, but I do remember the days when I used to save to buy all of the collection packs of BG that I could get get my hands on, and I would hoard every scrap of my precious Basic Grey paper. Now, with the rise of the signature collections through American crafts, by some of my favorite designers such as Shimelle, Amy Tan, Maggie Holmes, and Dear Lizzy, it has been a while since I really took a good look at Basic Grey. This challenge gave me that perfect opportunity! Here is a look at their newest collections:http://www.basicgrey.com/scrapbook .
For this challenge, I chose to counterfeit the Aurora collection. The purple, mint, and navy color scheme just drew me in! It is the collection that I most wanted to purchase from the choices offered, but I knew what to do instead...counterfeit it! Here is the Aurora collection:

The notes I made for counterfeiting...geometric patterns, stripes, stars/star charts, navy, mint, purple, with touches of kraft or gold, and black. Here are the papers that I chose:


I may end up using the "b" sides on some of them, but I think I pretty well captured the feel of this collection. We were given a good bit of liberty with choosing embellishments, so I tried to stick pretty close to the feel of the collection, but added in a few extra bits for texture that I wanted to get used up. Here is my whole kit for June:

A closer look at embellishments:

I am very happy with the colors and dreamy feel of this kit, and look forward to playing with it this month. And I promise to share, as the kids are out of school and sports for the summer, and my life will hopefully be settling down a bit. I hope you will play along, and perhaps reignite a love for all things Basic Grey!
Now, grab a cup of coffee (or whatever beverage you may prefer), and have a look around at what the other designers have chosen to put in their Basic Grey inspired kits!

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Sharing my homework...Wilna's Art And Design Class

This class was one of my favorite classes related to scrapbooking that I have ever taken! For any one that missed the original run of it on Big Picture Classes old website, she is now offering it in her shop, iheartstudio . I felt it was well worth the cost of admission, just for the cut files, much less the wonderful inspiration and instruction! Here are a few more of my pages inspired by the class, click on "Wilna's Art and Design" in my category tab to see more:

I fussy cut the "Primeval Whirl" title from an actual photo that I took of the sign. I painted the smear across the page with Gelatos, and the "Awesome" was a cut file from the class. I know that every time I use Gelatos, I think of Wilna, and her videos for 2Peas, because I never would have discovered them if not for that.

A couple of embellishment close ups:


The "windows were also a cut file offered up in the class, and I had such fun scrapping once forgotten photos from my honeymoon, and filling the grid up with little bits of loveliness from a past counterfeit kit, such as these fun stamped and painted mixed media embellishments:


I love the tiny textured treasures on this page. The stamped cork and canvas really adds a fun bit of texture to the page!

Saturday, May 9, 2015

Scrapbook Saturday...What I made for iNSD

What did you all do for iNSD last week? Did you play along with some challenges? Enter some giveaways? Blog hop? I did a little bit of all of it, as my husband and son were occupied with all of the sporting events that were on television. I played along with the Hip Kit Club Crop on Facebook, and got a few pages made, using my Counterfeit kits from April and May. Here's a look at my pages:

Here are a couple made from my April kit:
Untitled



And one from my May kits:


Next Saturday, I will be back to regularly scheduled "Scrapbook Stamping Saturdays". But I had fun with iNSD, and I hope you did too!

Friday, May 1, 2015

May 2015 Counterfeit Kit ...Taking it back to the Beginning

This month, we were given the challenge of going back to our "counterfeiting roots", with the very first counterfeit kit, back when the challenge blog first began, in January of 2011. I can not believe that it has been that long! What is the old saying, "Time flies when you're having fun?" I remember being so excited about this concept that was going to help me use my stash and refresh my supplies, and make me feel like I had a new selection of goodies to play with each month, when I first saw Bethany and Meridy talking about it on Two Peas. I played along the first month, and joined the design team on Month 2, I believe...so, I've been along for the ride since the very beginning! I took some time off of the design team last year when I moved, but I truly missed the comraderie and excitement that I felt from getting the inspiration kit each month and the motivation to use my kits as much as possible. So, as soon as my stash was unpacked, I asked to rejoin the team, and Bethany was gracious enough to allow me to return. Anyway, so, with that back story, onto my kit! The very first kit that the CKC blog gave us to be inspired by, was the Jenni Bowlin January 2011 kit:

and their Add-On kit:

Here is the kit that I originally came up with, my very first counterfeit kit from my stash:

If you would care to see my original blog post about it, with more details about the products I included, you can find that here: Counterfeit Kit Club (the original post). Since that kit, I have learned many things about my style of crafting, counterfeiting, and photography! When Bethany gave us this challenge this month, she asked us to be inspired by those original kits, and also, the Magpie Box for this month:

So, let the vintage-y, crafty goodness ensue!

First up, the color scheme! I decided to take it in a different direction this time, as I have found that most of the year I prefer to craft in softer colors, and so have an abundance of stash in those softer colors as well. (Oh, who am I kidding. I have an abundance of stash in many colors!). But my last kit was very bold and bright, so I am in the mood for soft, feminine, and vintage colors. The best part about this challenge? You are not locked into one particular style of kits (I would probably get bored!). You are using your stash, so it is stuff that you already love (hopefully-if you have stuff you don't like, you should probably sell or donate it! Side note-I went through my paper about a month ago and weeded out all of the papers that I was "forcing" myself to use, and donated them to my girls' school-it was such a relief! Because, let's be honest, most of us have more stash than we can use in a lifetime. Or is that just me? LOL!) I went with soft pinks, browns, creams and yellows for my Main kit, which I am calling "Spring Tea Party", since the papers, flowers, doilies, ribbons, and jars are all quite girly, and that is what this kit reminds me of!

The papers:
 I have papers from Dear Lizzy, Crate Paper, Basic Grey, Chickaniddy, and Glitz Designs.

The Whole Shebang:
 Instead of the doily transparencies, I brought the doily theme in with the patterned paper and stamps. I had some of the Sassafrass Lass flowers in a different color from the inspiration kit, and, instead of making flowers, I just added in some yellow ones from my stash. I added some woodgrain and pink polka dot washi tape, rub-ons from Crate Paper, some floss in a buttery yellow, along with a few decorative stick pins, and a sheet of partially used pink and white labels.  I thought it was quite fortuitous that I had a "May" bingo card, so I included it as well.
My Add-On kit, "Buttons And Bows":
 I had a sheet of Sassafrass Lass border stickers that were similar to the ones in the inspiration add-on, so I started there. I added a few more sheets of patterned paper, Sassafrass Lass Blossoms, Glitz trims, and a handful of journaling cards that were a bit vintage-y in style.

My version of the Magpie Kit, "Trinkets":
I did have one "forgery" this month, the "vintage" doily, which I will show you how I colored on the "Forgeries on the Fourth", if you are interested in forging your own. I also included a few small leftover bits, sequins, a miniature frame, labels, buttons, and the like. There is a bit of shimmery ribbon, a Maggie Holmes hairclip and sticker banner, some journaling cards from Pretty Little Studios, and some enameled metal pieces from The Girls' Paperie.

*Edited to Add:
Here is your list for hopping:
Margie:  http://scrappinmargie.blogspot.com *you are here
Stephanie:  http://skylinepaperie.blogspot.com *go here next