Pre-K Graduation {Kaisercraft: Class of '87}

I was super excited when I saw this week's challenge at The Paper Variety...to make a paper project with a school theme. With our school year having just ended, I have several photos that need to be scrapped :) I still have one or two more to be done, but I was thrilled to get 2 LOs done from the Pre-K graduation day!

 Forgive these next photos...they are a tad dark since I had to take them tonight indoors. I knew there was no way I'd take them in the morning and get them uploaded before the due date/time!

 I had so much fun with this one...sewing, staples, inking with BLACK. And I even went online to find quotes from the Dr. Suess book that was read at their graduation.

All of the papers (except cardstock) are Kaisercraft, Class of '87. Such a cute school line! Both layouts are based on PageMaps sketches.

1st Haircut {BoBunny: Mama-razzi}

After the last layout took me days to finish, I was glad that this one was done in just a couple of hours :) I started this morning and am already blogging it!

The layout is for the May photography challenge at Birds of A Feather. Our challenge was to edit a photo using at least 2 actions and then create a layout using the photo. I can't remember the last time I printed a photo without editing it, so this one was easy for me ;)

 I actually edited all of the photos some, but this one I edited the most. Before:

 After:

 For these photos, I used the neutral color selection tool in Picasa first. Then I opened them in Photoshop and used Pioneer Woman's Fresh and Colorful action as well as her Sharpen This action (they are both free downloads). For the small photos, I lightened anywhere that need it and took away any dark circles under my girl's eyes (another free PW download). For the large photo, I played some more with lightening - especially around their eyes. I cleaned up their faces a bit - removed any blemishes and circles/bags under their eyes. Their faces look a little odd to me - too bright I guess? - but I prefer that look over being too dark.

Some closeups:

 The flower is from my friend Kayla who was nice enough to send me a few! She's posted some info on them here.

A little bit of her hair :) We didn't think to snag some of my first daughter's first haircut but maybe because she was older when it happened and the hair wasn't so babyish anymore? This is the little bit that used to curl up in the back. I wasn't quite sure what to do with the memorabilia pocket...but it's really not very noticeable in real life.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Merry Mermaids {Echo Park: Splash}

Another layout that is not for a challenge! It took me days to complete it because I didn't have a sketch to start with.

 This smaller splash on the left side is cut from the cover sheet of the collection pack as I needed another splash but the sticker sheet only had one. Only to find out minutes after all that fussy cutting that there are some EP images available for the Silhouette!

 I got a little crazy with the stickles on both splashes!

Thanks for stopping by...I hope to get working on this week's challenge at The Paper Variety since I have some end of school year pictures to scrap :) I'm definitely feeling the need for a challenge or sketch to get me motivated ;)

LIttle Fish {Echo Park: Splash}

This layout is one that I made just because - not for any challenge! I did use a PageMaps sketch and some of my new stuff from Echo Park. LOVE the matching alpha stickers that come in the collection pack.

 A bit closer of the left...

 and right...

Thanks for stopping by!

Happiness is... {Cosmo Cricket: Salt Air}

The journaling reads:

"Happiness is

a summer breeze,

sand between your toes

and your best friend

by your side" 

This is a two-fer layout. First off, I used all Cosmo Cricket products for Kayla's challenge at scrapbook.com. This months challenge was to fussy cut...The little yellow half-flowers are cut out from a 12x12 paper and then layered for a pleated look. I also cute the journal spot out, as well as the two PP strips in the upper right corner. Those actually came from the cover sheet of the collection pack as their size fit the layout better!

And for the second challenge, I used the May sketch at Birds of a Feather. I actually struggled with this one but making the page 8.5x11 helped :)
P.S. Sorry the sketch picture is so big!

Queen of (our) Hearts {Crate Paper: Restoration}

I did it! I finally did it! I used black ink for distressing instead of brown :) I've been seeing lots of scrapbookers using black ink lately but I guess most of my paper has a brown hue to it, so I naturally grab the brown ink. I pushed myself to find a project to try black and here it is :)

I used some paper that I picked up on sale over NSD weekend from Amy at Birds of a Feather. When I saw the background PP, I immediately knew I needed it to scrap this picture ;) Everything except the alpha stickers came from BOAF.

I used the same sketch that I used in my last blog post but changed it up a bit. You can see the sketch here, just scroll down to #156. The great thing about Nuts About Sketches is that she has LOTS of sketches with LOTS of photos :) I will definitely be going back to this site more often!

Confessions of a Shopaholic {My Mind's Eye: Abbey Road, Lucky Me}

This layout came together because of 3 challenges! The Paper Variety's challenge this week is to create a movie theme project or one based on the title of the movie. I had several ideas in mind...but went with "Confessions of a Shopaholic".

Last weekend during the crop at BOAF for National Scrapbook Day, Deb posted a layout for her challenge about her daughter being a fashionista. I loved it and remembered I had printed several photos of my oldest in some of her favorite outfits. She loves getting dressed up and then having her picture taken :) One of the challenges Amy has posted this month at BOAF is to scraplift a layout from the gallery, so I chose Deb's!

And then lastly, I also used sketch #156 from Nuts about Sketches to help me pull this all together. Silly me, I just realized it's not a sketch for their current contest! ;)

You still with me? :) Here's my layout:

The journaling is hidden behind the picture:

I had lots of fun using these My Mind's Eye paper from my stash...even though I have tons of new paper to use! I got some great deals last weekend for NSD but am not brave enough to cut into that pretty paper yet :)

April Project 12 {Imaginisce: Lucy Bird}

This month's sketch had lots of photos in it, and I even split one 3x5 into two smaller pictures because I neded a couple of vertical pictures but all the sketch had was horizontal!

 Very few embellishments...which is good since the layout is so busy with pictures.

 To be honest, our month was so busy that I wasn't even able to get all of the events highlighted on this page! If I was one to keep a scrapping to do list, it would have lots of new pages from last month on there ;)

I love the feeling of another monthly layout done...I can scrap some other challenges and just for fun pages now guilt-free :)

I Scrap Because... {Pink Paislee: Cupid; The Girls' Paperie}

I'm mainly posting this for Suzanne to see because I think she'll appreciate my title humor :). The title is split between the pullout journaling card and the two strips by the picture: "I scrap because...it's not hoarding if it looks pretty, right?" I have so many pictures to hold onto and if they were just all in boxes, I would look like a hoarder. But now that they are going into albums, I'm not hoarding...right? RIGHT? lol Linda challenged us to create a layout about why we scrap and the REAL reasons are hidden behind the photo ;) I'm kinda sappy with my journaling on this one so I'll spare you.

 Another layout I did for the crop was a sketch challenge (both of these layouts are based on PageMaps sketches) and it uses the same papers from the last layout I posted. Love the blues and greens mixed with the pink - it was a nice change from my ordinary papers!

So life is back to normal now, no more endless hours at the scrapbook table. Laundry, cooking and cleaning all are waiting for me now :) I hope to be back soon with my April layout - thanks for stopping by!!

Ready? Set...Go! {The Girls' Paperie}

Happy National Scrapbooking Day! Has there ever been a better weekend...NSD AND Mother's Day? :)

I'm cropping with the chicks at Birds of a Feather Kit Co - you should come join us! If you do... you can see my very first layout I ever made ;) This is for Deb's challenge to great a multiphoto layout using small photos.

 I've had this PageMaps sketch on my desk for about a month now and almost got rid of it because it was intimidating me :( But digging through my stash, I came across these papers and it was a perfect fit!

 Whatever did I do before I used my sewing machine? lol I distressed all of the pieces with my cat's eye chalk so I'm linking this up for the current challenge at The Paper Variety. Use inks, mists or paint for a chance to win over there!

Love those butterflies :) Sorry the pictures are so dark...but I'm not going to waste time fixing that when I could be scrapping! Off to work on another challenge!!

Strawberry Picking {Cosmo Cricket: Garden Variety}

Two reasons I am impressed with this layout. First of all, it has 11 (ELEVEN!) photos on it! Second, I used my Silhouette to cut the title. It must be over a year since I last used it! :-o

 I chose to use the Silhouette since my stash of red alphas did not have enough Rs...and Michaels did not have a huge variety to choose from . Yay me for saving some cash! I broke out the stickles too...kinda hard to tell in this photo though, the strawberries, bees & some flowers are accented. It seems like forever since I've used stickles!

I've got to say that this layout feels different than any other layout I've ever done but I love how I fit so many photos on the page :) And it worked great since all I had left of the CC paper was scraps! I was inspired by a sketch of Becky Higgins in the Sketches 2 book.