welcome

With a precious new baby in the family, I just couldn't resist making a girly page featuring our beautiful new niece.  This page is featured today over at Practical Scrappers where there are tons of baby layouts to inspire you. 

This layout was inspired by a sketch by Kristy Lee for Scrapbook Steals.  I grabbed some pink supplies that don't get much use in my house, and started layering with browns and creams.  I've never been a fan of pink, so this pushes me WAY out of my comfort zone.  I had the pink fringy trim in my stash for over a year and decided this would be the perfect way to add a little sparkle and bling to my page.  My favorite addition is the meandering twine featuring some mini clothes pins (also something I've had in my stash for 10 years!) 

This layout will be my last one created for the design team at Practical Scrappers, as my term is coming to an end at the end of the month.  I've had great fun and have met a lot of talented ladies, so I'm sure I'll continue to play along as a fan for their on-going challenges!  Thanks for stopping by!

U rule

Today at Practical Scrappers, layouts using baker's twine are being featured.  Here's what I created for the design team:

I started with one of my favorite Imaginisce collections, Geek is Chic, and kept this layout clean and simple.  I cut out several diamonds on my Cricut machine using the George cartridge, then traced my diagonal lines using a ruler and a pencil.  I pierced the paper at the corners and the center and stitched over my pencil lines using red twine from the Twinery.  I added some mini buttons to the centers of the diamonds and layered some punched paper before adding the die cut title.  Thanks for looking!

1st day of 1st grade

Today at Practical Scrappers, they are featuring layouts using tags.   Here's my design team contribution:

I pulled out one of my favorite school themed collections, Geek is Chic by Imaginisce.  I cut tags of several sizes using my Cricut machine and started layering them into a grid type arrangement.  The group of three red tags behind my son's photo are actually 2" tags.  I simply cut them in half and tucked the pieces behind each side of the photo.  I added some cute embellishments, the die cut title and tied some of the tags with twine. It was a fun way to use lots of fun patterns from this collection.  Thanks for stopping by!

Hexbug Love

Today at Practical Scrappers, they are featuring layouts using basic shapes.  I decided to embrace the ever trendy hexagon and created a layout about my son's latest obsession- the hex bug. 

Hex bugs are little more than overpriced vibrating toothbrush heads, but he loves creating habitats and paths for them wiggle on.   And if the boys are happy, then momma is happy, so I support their hex bug love!

For this layout, I created a hexagon template and traced and cut a bazillion hexagon shapes.  I inked the edges and arranged them on my page in a loose pattern, popping up random hexagons with pop dots for a little added dimension.  I spent way more time than expected on this layout and I am now wishing for a hex shaped punch.   Thanks for looking!

I made it to round 3!

I was excited to learn that I advanced to round 3 of the layout challenge at Practical Scrappers.  I made this layout which was inspired by one of three quilt patterns and had to include at least four of the following: banners, tags, ribbon, chipboard, eyelets, or buttons.

I had a great time making this layout, which was inspired by this quilt pattern:

I cut out diamond shapes using my Cricut and some of my favorite papers from My Mind's Eye to cover a 4x12 piece of scrap cardstock. I cut the diamonds from 6x6 double sided paper, making it easy to arrange a random pattern from the papers.  Once I was happy with the "randomness" of the pattern, then I adhered everything down and added twine to hide my seams. 
If you haven't already voted for my layout, please check it out HERE and vote for me before the poll closes on Friday.  I'm already working on my layout for round 4 and hoping that I can advance!

Layout contest round 2

I'm playing along with a layout contest at Practical Scrappers.  I started by submitting a recent layout.  It was chosen as one of 80 to be a finalist.  The top 25 with the most votes advanced to round 2.   I had to create a layout based on a great sketch by Liz Chidester for this round.  I used Geek is Chic papers from Imaginisce to create this layout:

If my layout gets enough votes in this round, I will advance to round 3! I've worked ahead and already created my layout for round 3.  I'd love for it to be featured!  Voting is open until Friday.  If you haven't already voted, please go HERE to check it out and vote for me at the poll found at the end of the blog post.

Journaling Ideas

Today, over at Practical Scrappers, there are some great ideas for journaling.  I usually have no trouble writing stories or journaling on my layouts, but it's nice to change things up from time to time and allow someone else to do the journaling for you.  I created this layout for Practical Scrappers and featured journaling done by my boys:

Since I wanted them to stay on topic, I created a journaling template and allowed the boys to fill in the blanks.  They each enjoyed "writing their story" and especially loved reading what the other wrote about him. It's a great way to involve little ones, see their personality, get their opinions, and capture a handwriting sample!

Layout Contest at Practical Scrappers!

Practical Scrappers is having an amazing contest with a prize package valued at over $100.  Check out the details HERE.  I'd love for all of my crafty friends to play along.  The best part about the first round of this contest is that you don't even have to do any extra work.  For your first layout submission, just email a photo of a layout you've completed in the last two months.  Easy peasy!  The layouts will be judged and the ones who make it on to the next round will be given more directions for what to submit for the next round.  It's really fun and a great way to get loads of inspiration (not to mention a chance at a nifty prize package!)  Visit Practical Scrappers and tell them I sent ya!

A scrappy start to 2012

I've been lucky enough to spend the last few months as a fresh face designer for Practical Scrappers.  We were challenged this week with the task of creating a layout to showcase a hot trend from 2011.  Far from a trendy person, I wasn't sure this was a task for me.  I decided to try to incorporate a few different techniques that I used over the course of the past year.  Here's what I came up with for my first layout of the new year:

My sewing machine had been out of commission for several months, and I recently had it repaired, so I started the layout by machine stitching a border.  My favorite thing about machine stitching is how quickly it adds a special touch to a project.  I did this step first (just in case), as I didn't want to risk ruining the whole layout if I didn't like how it came out.  Once I was satisfied with my stitching, I started making pinwheels out of some of my favorite papers.  I used pieces of the Lime Twist collection from My Mind's Eye.  I love the way the patterns and colors all compliment one another.  The pinwheels were super simple and are an easy way to make a quick embellishment.  The final trend I decided to showcase was baker's twine.  I broke out some coordinating colors of twine and started meandering, using micro glue dots every couple of inches to keep the twine in place.  For the swirly twine circles, I cut out a circle of cardstock and covered the circle with adhesive.  Starting in the center, I just started winding the twine around to fill the shape.  Overall, I was thrilled with this layout and was proud to see it featured on today's Practical Scrappers blog.  My term as a designer is about to come to an end, but I love the challenges and am thrilled to have been able to showcase my scrappy creations.

One month in

A little over one month ago I threw my hat into the crafty ring and applied for a position as a temporary design team member at Practical Scrappers.  I have "met" a lot of crafty friends online who were very supportive and encouraging.  They see my work every week and always give such great feedback.  I decided I'd like to try showing my work to even more people, so the fresh face design team was calling my name. I had submitted projects to Practical Scrappers as a "fan" and had several of my layouts featured on their blog.  I love the way they use "practical" themes and ordinary products while challenging readers and designers to look at things in a different light.  At the beginning of October, I got an email telling me I was going to be part of the team through the end of January.  I was beyond excited to be chosen and I started right in, working on projects for the month of October.  In this first month, these are my projects that have been featured:

The requirement for this layout was to use "print" from either book, music, etc.  I didn't have any music note paper handy, so I photocopied parts of a hymnal and used them to highlight these pictures of my youngest playing his keyboard.  I printed a 6 inch strip of piano keys off of Google images and cut it to go across as a border strip.  Since the color of my son's shirt didn't really match the rest of my layout, I had my photos printed in black and white.  He was so excited to see himself on the blog feature!

This is the card I made for the fall/leaf card feature.  I used some scraps from my favorite Apple Cider collection from Imaginisce and fussy cut some stamped leaves.  I embossed the orange leaf for a little extra touch and added some torn kraft paper to make the card a little more rustic.

Following in the fall/leaf theme, I created this page for the layout feature.  I had this photo sitting around for almost two years and decided this was a good excuse to finally use it.  I combined pieces from Apple Cider and Happy Harvest collections, both from Imaginisce and I distressed the edges and made a grid pattern.  I had some flimsy leaf border paper that I snagged a while back and I cut it into strips to create a leaf mat behind my photo which I popped up using dimensional tape.  I added a leaf that I cut from my Cricut and threw in some baker's twine for good measure. 

This card was created for a "stitching on cards" feature.  I simply love my Sew Easy and couldn't resist making a sweet rainbow card for a dear friend recovering from surgery.  I traced some lines with pencil using a circle cutter as my guide.  Then I "drove" my sew easy right over the pencil lines to create my holes to stitch my rainbow.  I added some free form clouds that I edged with glue and dipped in glitter.  A little white ink around the edges and it was done.  Super fast and super easy. 

This layout combined two different projects.  I signed up to do a stitching layout for Practical Scrappers and was inspired by the weekly sketch challenge at Scrapbook Steals.  I used Kristy Lee's amazing sketch and created this layout.  I used papers from Echo Park's Splash collection and added some "waves" of stitching using my sew easy once again.  I tucked a cute little half circle at the top of my page and added more stitching to make a sun.
I love a good challenge and I'm a stickler for deadlines, so I am already working on my next projects to be featured at Practical Scrappers in November.  Thanks for looking and be sure to play along.  Go to the Practical Scrappers blog to see a list of the current calls and send in a photo of your project to practicalscrapperslayouts@gmail.com to see if your work will be featured on their blog.  That's exactly what I did to get started and now I'm thrilled to be part of the team!