A Fun Time {October Kit: Birds of a Feather Kit Co; Crate Paper: Farmhouse Collection}

I created this layout using a sketch for this week's challenge at The Paper Variety and still using my October kit for BOAF :-)

 Some closeups:

 Get it? "Time"...and the clock chipboard behind "Fun"? :-)

Hope your weekend is great - the weather for us is looking fantastic!

You're So Cute {October Kit: Birds of a Feather Kit Co; Crate Paper: Farmhouse Collection}

I pulled this layout together pretty quick using my kit from BOAF. Amy said there is only one more kit left!

That is once I figured out to use the tickets for my banner. Hard to tell in the picture but it's got two layers to the banner - with a dimensional between the tickets. I got that idea from something I saw on Pinterest!

Stitching on the border strips, around the circle and around the frame.

These zipper flowers are addictive and so easy! You do NOT need a sewing machine to make them.

Thanks for looking, I've already got another layout almost done so I should have lots more to share this weekend!

Refurbished Memo Board {October Kit: Birds of a Feather Kit Co; Crate Paper: Farmhouse Collection}

The past couple of years, I've been less into altering items and more into scrapbooking actual layouts but when I saw chalkboard paper in this month's kit at Birds of A Feather, I knew that I wanted to make something useful out of it! So I took this unused dust holder (everything in there was 3+ years old): 

and turned it into this:

I wanted the tag to be permanent so I wrote on the chalkboard paper with white pen.

I used cork that I already had on hand. I actually stole it from a wall hanging in my scrappy area...so now I have a new project to replace that wall hanging! I painted/misted the alterable Maya Rd buttons, tied thread through them then hot glued them to thumb tacks.

I inked all of the embellishments in black:

This chalk tray is a drawer pull that has been turned upside down. I simply glued this down with E6000. For the key hooks (see first picture), I bought a pack of plant hangers and painted them black. Then I had my husband drill holes for those.

A close up of the button push pins. I painted two brown, two black and then misted all 4 of the to give a shimmer that isn't really visible in the picture...

I had hoped to get this entered into last week's challenge at The Paper Variety but life got in the way and I didn't get this posted in time! I already have two more posts almost ready to go so check back tomorrow for another project :-)

Card using Birds of A Feather October Kit {Crate Paper: Farmhouse}

The last few layouts I've posted have been with the October kit from Birds of a Feather Kit Co. Today I have a card for you! 

 It was super easy because I used this sketch from Cardabilities:

Part of the reason I don't make many cards is because I feel like the inside of the card and the envelope need something to match. Who wants to read what's on the inside when the outside is so pretty, right? So I used a scrap piece of the ruler paper that wasn't quite long enough. I cut it to have a bit on the left of the heart and it was just the right length!

I just checked and there are only 4 main kits left so be sure to grab it if you are interested!

Please, Not The Bottom Lip {October Kit: Birds of a Feather Kit Co; Crate Paper: Farmhouse Collection}

This is my third layout using the October kit from Birds of a Feather Kit Co. 

Let's talk about this picture. It was from 4 years ago so I can't really remember why she was crying, but I'm pretty sure it was a combination of being tired, hot, hungry and also jealous.  Her cousin was with us for pictures and she wasn't used to sharing attention! I promise, she was not hurt ;-) Both of my girls learned very quickly, if they curl their bottom lip, we give in pretty quickly so I bet that I picked her up right after this picture was taken.

 I was so excited to see a zipper in the kit. I have zippers already waiting to be used in my stash but I felt forced to finally try making a zipper flower and this is what I came up with. They are SO easy to make! 

 But, they are bulky so I had to add some dimension to the page. I started with pleating the brown paper and then I also added a layer behind this chipboard flower. 

I added a layer of cardboard behind the picture to help it pop up off the page too. I don't normally like so much bulk on my layouts but every once in a while, it's fun! I also distressed many of the edges with my Heidi Swapp distresser as well as inked most everything on the page. I even pulled out my mists for this page! (click on the first image to be able to see the inking & misting best!)

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great weekend coming up!

Pre-K {October Kit: Birds of a Feather Kit Co; Fancy Pants: Off to School; Imaginisce: Geek Chic}

Another layout using the October Kit from Birds of a Feather Kit Co. I was a little bummed that I had already scrapped all of this year's back to school pictures - normally I have at least one picture that is left to scrap. Then I realized I had the class pictures from Pre-K last year. I found a sketch from PageMaps and went to work to come up with this:

 A couple of closeups. The twine is from my stash but everything else is from the kit. The little ticket tags and the lined patterened paper are from the add-ons.

 I decided to leave this button naked and not alter it. You get a whole pack of them in two sizes with your main kit!

You can click on any of the pictures to see a bigger version with more detail. It's hard to see on the whole layout picture but there is some stitching and staples in the folded corner. Thanks for stopping by!

Sweet {October Kit: Birds of a Feather Kit Co; Crate Paper: Farmhouse Collection}

My blog has been quiet but that is because I have been busy working with the October kit from Birds of a Feather Kit Co. Amy was so great to let me design for her again! This is my first layout to share:

 The kit is full of FALL and SCHOOL theme papers but when I saw the little tag from Jillibean Soup that says "Fresh Picked" I immediately thought of newborn baby pictures.

The dress that my little one wore home from the hospital was a cherry print and these apples actually looked like cherries to me. I used the chipboard piece and punched a scallop circle from one of the papers in the main kit. The other squares are all trimmed from a piece of paper in the add-on. The little banner sticker is a small piece from the border stickers that are in the add-on embellishments. 

I added a little stitching across the banner, under the name stickers, and in the corner of the upper square.

 The little tags in the add-on are ADORABLE! So much fun. And talking about fun, in the main kit, you get a whole collection of Maya Rd alterable wooden buttons! I distressed this button with Cats Eye Chestnut Roan ink and then used a brown marker to color in the inner crevices that I couldn't reach with the ink pad.

 I also wanted to say that I lifted the design for this layout from the packaging material that comes with the Jillibean Soup corrugated letters! The grid design really stood out to me and then the squares on the "Homemade" paper seemed like the perfect fit! The kit is available and ready to purchase as well as all of the add-ons. I'll be back soon with another layout to share! :-)

August Project 12 {Echo Park: Life Is Good}

I'm entering this layout into this week's challenge over at The Paper Variety to use stickers. The flourish and flowers are all stickers. The blue flower & brown circle w/pink flower are stickers that I took the sticky out of before adding dimensional stickers to the back. I also used stickers for the date and title. 

I actually finished this layout a while back but haven't felt motivated to post it. August was a hard month here. I had spent the summer preparing to go on a 10 day vacation to Oregon and Washington to visit family and also get to meet an online friend. I worked so hard to be prepared for the trip and then the school year starting right as we returned. Two days before we were to leave, and the day after we told my daughter about the trip, we lost a very important family member. I am still glad that I prepared so much in advance for the school year so that I wasn't thinking about that while also dealing with the trauma of loosing a loved one.  So August wasn't what I thought it would be and that alone made it difficult to scrap. I didn't want the focus to only be on what we lost, but I also couldn't scrap just the happy, beginning of school times.

I realized toward the end of the month that it was a month of beginnings and endings so I went with that for a "title".

 With the obvious ending of a life, we also ended karate lessons for my oldest daughter. In just one more month, she would have been in it for 2 years. In turn, she was able to start a new gymnastics class, which she LOVES. She also started Kindergarten and we had a special dinner the night before to celebrate (idea for that stolen from here, but not quite as fancy!). We celebrated one birthday in this house and at least 2 birthdays for friends...ending one year and starting another.

I originally thought I would use a different sketch...because how could I fit everything in with just 3 pictures? But then I decided that the most important part was documenting the girls at this moment in time, and not every picture from every event. If an event is important enough to me anyway, it deserves its own layout.

I really did want this layout to focus on how much this month has changed our family and the heavy emotions that we have felt all month long. This is partly why I chose to print the pictures in black and white - to create more of an emotional, somber feel. However, in my journaling, I tried not to focus on the loss so much as get in all of the day to day details that aren't documented in the photos.

So sorry to have rambled on and on so much in this post ;-) and thanks so much for looking (and reading if you made it this far!).

Cards for The Paper Variety

There were a total of 5 challenges at The Paper Variety this week and earlier today I uploaded 3 layouts. I still wanted to complete the last two but they were challenges that I new I would struggle with on a layout...so off to card making I went! 

I knew I'd have fun making a Halloween card so I made this for the stamping challenge. The bat and "I'm batty for you" are all one stamp so I colored it with markers and then stamped. Can't pass up an opportunity for google eyes! All of the papers & the stamp are from Stampin' Up! (oldies but goodies!)

This next card is for the challenge to use your favorite color and ONLY your favorite color. Well, my favorite color in real life is purple but with two girls, my favorite scrappy color is pink and I have TONS of it :-) The papers and stamp are also from Stampin' Up!

Let me just say that I learned a BIG lesson with card making & sewing. I decided to sew on this one after I had already adhered the papers on the front of the card. BIG mistake! Although, that would be funny to give a card that way to trick the recipient ;-)

Last of the ducks! {Echo Park: Victoria Gardens}

I sure am glad I am done scrapping this set of pictures! I created a layout for each girl and then a few extra layouts and I'm ready to move on to something else ;-)

I lifted the design from Linda's layout here:

I thought it was so smart to use the journaling cards for part of the grid design. I will be doing this more on future layouts! A closeup of the journaling:

Everything on the layout is from the September kit at Birds of A Feather. Since I have scrapped LOTS of layouts lately using Echo Park, I thought I would enter this into the favorite company challenge at The Paper Variety. To be honest though, I never can choose just one favorite scrapbooking company! ;-)

A Perfect 10! {Fancy Pants: About A Girl}

Apparently this picture is one of my favorites since I have now scrapped it on 3 different layouts! One was a digital layout about our trip to feed ducks where this picture was taken, one was about her love of pedi/manicures and then this layout. I promise, this is the last layout you will see it on! lol I'm entering it for the favorite photo challenge at The Paper Variety.

 I also used this layout for the September color challenge over at Birds of A Feather.

Thanks for looking!

Welcome Princess {Echo Park: Victoria Gardens}

I've been busy this weekend trying to complete all of the challenges at The Paper Variety for their blog birthday party! I'm entering this layout into their favorite embellishments challenge shown here. 

 I'm guessing that most people are getting sick of banners right about now, but I still love them! I'm getting better at making different kinds and this is my first time to use just a couple of pennants by themselves. Love the look!

 All of the papers and embellies (except for the Princess card for the title-thanks Kayla!) are from the September or August Birds of a Feather kits. The design is based on a PageMaps sketch.

Thanks for stopping by and if you haven't seen the challenges yet at The Paper Variety - go check them out! You have until Tuesday to enter ;-)

*That* Sweet! {Echo Park: Victoria Gardens}

This layout is made using the September kit and for the September sketch challenge over at Birds of a Feather. I guess I was too touchy feely with my alphas because I can't get all of the letters to stick down :-\

 I'm blessed with such sweet girls, but this one, my goodness. It's almost sweetness overload! A close up of this butterfly pin....

Thanks for stopping by!

Double Rainbow {Pretty Little Studio: April Showers}

Our weather changed for the better this past weekend. We finally had a teensy bit of rain and slightly lower temperatures. Unfortunately, it brought a lot of wind! We were outside enjoying the weather and saw a double rainbow! {click on the image for a better view of it}

 I've been saving this bling rainbow from Kayla for just the right layout :-)

 I wasn't sure what to do for a title or journaling, so I browsed through the quotes & titles sections at scrapbook.com and liked "The soul would  have no rainbow if the eyes had no tears". My journaling explains a bit why I felt that was an appropriate prompt.

The pattern papers and embellishments (except for the bling) are all from Pretty Little Studio and I used their sketch challenge for this week for the design. You can find the sketch here.