Mixing up those pattern papers!

Everyone has their "trademark" style of paper crafting...maybe you ALWAYS have ribbon on your layout, or perhaps you're a stampaholic, or you just HAVE to have stickers galore. Me? I'm a pattern paper nut, most pages I creat will have 2-3 patterns workong together. I love to mix colors, polka dots and stripes, and just play until they layer together and work well with my photos. To help in this direction, I store my papers in 2 different ways- some by theme like "vintage", "winter" and "travel". Others that don't fit into themed categories are simply sorted by color. It makes it easy when I'm, scrapping, I grap my photos and a few sheets of cardstock, and then I hit the pattern paper files, searching for anything that might coordinated.

I was excited to see the October challenge over at Scrapbookers Anonymous. This month they are looking for pages that combine 3 pattern papers, all from different manufacturers. I pulled out an old photo of my daughter and my niece (hello 2003!!)and printed it 3 times wallet size- rather than enlarge the photo, I wanted to go tiny to emphasize the "tinyness" of the 2 little girls.

Starting with the black and white polka dot paper as my background, I searched through my scraps for 2 other PPs that would work. Loved the green for something unexpected, and wanted red to go with the photo-but not TOO red. The maroon scrap was the right color I was looking for, but the pattern was too much for me. To resolve this issue, I crumpled the scrap, flattened it out, and then ran over the wrinkles with a sanding block to take the edge off! Try the challenge yourself, grab a bold pattern and a couple of scraps, and see what kind of layering you can do with the unexpected! =) T

Gettin Sketchy!

Love using sketches as a jump start for my scrapping! Here's this week's sketch challenge from Sketchy Thursdays and below that is my "Summer School" layout as interpretation of the sketch.

Sketches are a great way to break through that "scrappers block", but don't feel like you have to follow every detail exactly. You can see I sort of tweaked it a bit. Their sketch called for 2 horizontal pics, but I was working with was 2 verticals. To accomodate my photos I simply flipped the sketch on its side. I also pulled the scallop in and pushed the title to the outside edge. Next time your hung up on how to get started, why not start with a sketch? =)T

inspired by lyrics...

I often create projects based off of a great song- I'll be listening to my ipod, signing along and all of a sudden it hits me, "this line would make a great title for a layout". On a good day I'll have a chance to jot down my ideas, and maybe even add a sketch to a scrap of paper. On a REALLY good day I'll be able to get into my craft room and file the sketch in my ideas binder. On a SUPER-FABULOUS day I'll be able to head straight into the craft room and let that song play over and over as I create!

The creative minds over at Scrapping the Music know just what I mean. They come up with some fantastic challenges, all inspired by the lyrics! Here's my layout for their latest lyrical challenge, "Bubbly" by Colbie Caillat.  As soon as I read the lyrics I knew I had the perfect picture- my adorable 10 year old still cherishes his bubble baths! =) T 

Oooh- a giveaway of scrapping goodies!

Who doesn’t like free stuff, especially if it’s free scrapbooking stuff right? Samantha at Me and the Little Rascals has a great giveaway going on right now, in fact it’s her biggest giveaway EVER!!! Over at Carsons Cricut Creations she’s giving away a Halloween bag of tick-or-treats that I’m sure are even better than candy! At Life Love and Scrap she’s giving away an adorable Halloween Kit from Bo Bunny. So hop on over, take a peak at these fabulous blogs, they really have some beautiful projects to share- and maybe you could be a lucky winner!! =) T

Poetic License

I am very excited to be creating for another design team,
Scrap That Poetry! It’s a different direction in scrapbooking for me, but I’m really enjoying the challenge of drawing inspiration from the beautiful poetry that is suggested twice a month. Below is my first “assignment”, to create a layout as inspired by the poem There is Another Sky by Emily Dickenson. Inspired to create too? Be sure to add your link to the Scrap That Poetry blog by Oct 31st to be included in the challenge! =) T

There is Another Sky
by Emily Dickenson

There is another sky,
Ever serene and fair,
And there is another sunshine,
Though it be darkness there;
Never mind faded forests, Austin,
Never mind silent fields—
Here is a little forest,
Whose leaf is ever green;
Here is a brighter garden,
Where not a frost has been;
In its unfading flowers
I hear the bright bee hum:
Prithee, my brother,
Into my garden come!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

I am what you might call a “pack rat” scrapper- I save…save…save! Scraps of pattern papers, cardstock pieces, the packaging from stickers- I just never know when or how that little scrap can be transformed into something beautiful, but I know I WILL need it, and therefore I MUST save it!

I keep 2 files of paper scraps- 1 cardstock sorted by colors (great when you’re in need of a strip of paper to use as a border, or a small piece for your journaling or a photo mat) Another file houses all of my of patterns sorted by colors. I am a big fan of layering many pieces of pattern papers together on one layout, and rarely use a full 12x12 sheet, so I always have a TON of good-sized scraps.

Now, every once in a while my pack-rat nature pays off and I’m able to find a use for something long before it’s spent 5-years sitting in my craft room, and today was just one of those days! A few weeks ago I made a layout using a 2” strip of torn blue sky pattern, leaving me with 10” of blue sky to file for another project. And then along comes another layout that I had planned to layer with various reds, but when they all stacked up it was just too much red, and needed a bit to break it up…so out came the blue sky and it fit perfectly for me, didn’t even have to trim the paper! Had these 2 layouts been headed for the same album, I probably wouldn’t have duplicated the patterns like this. Fortunately, my 1st layout is going in my 2009 album, and the 2nd is going in 2007. THIS is the beauty of working out-of-order!

Try it for yourself, save a scrap and use it for another project, you’ll get more bang for your buck every time! Not into reusing? Why not swap large scraps with another crafty friend? One girl’s trash is another girl’s next scrapbook layout!! =)T