Hello Easter Bunny

Hey there crafty friends! Had some fun getting a little scrappy time in over the weekend, here's what I created:

To get started on this layout, I began with the Frame It Up challenge at Paper Issues and the Squares challenge at The Studio Challenges. I had 3 chipboard frames in my stash left from a Simple Stories collection from several years ago, and I thought the spring colors would fit my Easter Bunny pic. I layered the "you and me" card from Stampin Up behind the largest frame, and added cardstock and sweet puffy bunny stickers to the smaller frames. I also wrapped each frame with black and white twine. All of my goodies were layered on top of 2 pattern paper scraps, as well as a chunk of black CS with a filmstrip border punch element. 3 shiny pink diecutes were tucked into the layers, and I added the hand-drawn word "bunny" to the hello card as my title. Kind of a busy page, but it speaks to the fun my neice had meeting the EB last week! 

Thanks for stopping by! =) T

Isn't She Lovely

Hello crafty friends! There's a new baby in our extended family, and that means I get to create a sweet girly layout for the new arrival.

And I based it on this sketch from Sketch N Scrap:

For the layout I started with the Hip Kit Club kit from April 2017. I have quite the stash of these gorgeous kits and am trying my best to work my way though them. I started with the sweet bunny background paper as my base, tying it in with the Easter challenge at Shopping our Stash. I then built layers with the photos, tissue paper, and a couple PP scraps. I also fussy-cut flowers from a floral PP and then tucked those under either side of the photo mat, and then at the bottom right corner as well. A smaller flower in each cluster was put on foam adhesive to add some dimension.

Thanks for stopping by! =) T

Life's a Climb

Hello crafty friends! It's a cold but sunny day here in Massachusetts. I had a few pics of a sight-seeing adventure we went on last fall, and I thought the sketch from Stick it Down would work well. 

and here's the sketch:

I must admit, at first glance I found this sketch to be intimidating. But scrapbook challenges are all about trying something new and taking risks right? I scrolled through the great examples from the Design Team and then got started. 

First, I needed a long title, so off to Pinterest I went and searched for "view quotes". Found a few great ones, but the winner was "Life's a climb but the view is great." The last few years have been FILLED with challenges here at home, but we do our best to tak eit in stride and try to find the good in every day. This quote not only fit the pictures literally (the view was spectacular), but also figuratively with what we've been dealing with. NOw I don't have a machine that will cut letters out like this (and oh how I wish I did) so I hand-wrote the title and painstakenly cut it out with my craft knife. It was a good activity to do while watching a movie. I also popped the background up on foam so that the title had a bit of a shadow behind it. I cut my photos in 3.5" squares and popped them on foam as well, giving lots of space to tuck little elements behind. All the paper and embellishments are from the October Hip Kit Club. Still plugging away at those awesome kits! 

Thanks for stopping by! =) T

Happy Together

Hello Crafty friends and happy weekend! Today I have a layout to share with you that features my adorable niece and my dog Keyser:

I wanted to play along with the "Put in on an Angle" challenge at Paper Issues. I am not usually a girl who outs anything on an angle, so that's what's so great about scrapbok challenges. It encourages you to try something new and scrap outside the box! To get started with this layout, I grabbed a great PP from Paige Evans that was already angled. The bright patterns went well with the bright pink in the photos. The navy CIRCLE I had sitting on my desk as a scrap from a previous project, and it made a nice place for my photos to rest. I cut a hot pink Project Life card in half and framed either side of the photos, giving me a spot to rest my journal card.  A scrap of black and white hearts frames the top and bottom and gave a good spot for my title to rest. Finally I tucked a silly print of the poop EMOJI begind the pics, and added a lable that says "so stinkin' cute", because 1-my niece has a thing for the poop emoji and 2-she really is stinkin' cute isn't she? 

Thanks for stopping by! =) T

Challenges for this layout:

-Paper Issues put it on an angle

-Scrap Our Stash happy with an emoji

-Pile it On circles

Life is Beautiful

Hello crafty friends! Winter continues to carry on here in New England, but I'm thinking Spring in the craft room. I pulled out these 2 pics from 2 summers ago, me taking a break in my little garden:

I used this sketch from The Hip Kit Club:

I knew I wanted to use my butterfly punch for some embellishments. And when I punched out a few butterflies, I realized the negative space was pretty enough to use as the circle element on the right hand side of the sketch. My punch wouldn't go all the way up the paper of course, so I traced the shape and cut it out with my craft knife. And made a mental note that this technique would be SO much easier with a Silhouette. It's on the wishlist! I added a few black splatters and Nuvo Drops in the centers of each butterfly. Let's hope this layout gives Mother Nature the hint...Spring please!!

Thanks for stopping by! =) T

Ready for Adventure

Hello crafty friends! Back with another layout I created from the creative nest that is my new craft room. Don't you just love when inspiration strikes? 

I decided to play along with the Feel the Beat challenge at Paper Issues. They're challenging you to create a layout inspired by the album cover from Twentyone Pilots:

As soon as I saw this challenge, I KNEW I had the perfect paper to use. My friend Karen had given all her attendees at last week's crop a little kit of supplies from Creative Memories, and it was just waiting to be scrapped! The colors of the papers are black, red, and yellow, and I wasn't sure how I'd put them to use, but this challenge fit them PERFECTLY! 

I hand-cut circles from white cardstock to mimic the circles on the album, and this also fit in well with the latest challenge over at Pile It On, circles! Strips of yellow paper for my journaling (the reverse of the  background) mimicked the band name and title on the cover. I added a vellum mat behind the photo to soften the edges a bit. Then I tucked a chipboard tag I had from a pair of jeans behind the pic, top and bottom, fitting in with the tag challenge at Challenge Up Your Life. I carried the stars from the background throughout the layout with a few wood veneer stars, a metal star clip and a red puffy star. 

Thanks for stopping by! =) T

Girl Squad

Hello crafty friends! Back again with another sketch and layout. Here in my neck of the woods it has been snowing, snowing, snowing. Sure, I do wish it was warmer more Spring-like weather, but it is nice to enjoy a cozy snow day in my craft room. Still plugging away at some 2016 pics that I found in the big craft room move, here's a layout of my daughter and her friends after soccer practice:

And the sketch and mood board I used for inspiration from Let's Get Sketchy:

Fot this layout I grabbed a pattern paper from my stash, it's a lovely Basic Grey I've been holding on to, and fits well with the mood board. I then pulled a few different PPs from my scraps to use as the banners behind the photo. I outlined each banner and then tore the bottom edge to add a little texture. The "Girl Squad" title is a Thickers from American crafts, I love the how bold and eye-catching these jumbo titles are. To balance out the bold black from the title, I matted the entire layout and the photo on black, and added a few elements of black throughout with mist, 2 soccerball stickers, and a black and white scrap as one of the banners. 

Thanks for stopping by! =) T 

Foodies

Hello crafty friends! Last week I moved my craft room downstairs. Now I'm right off the kitchen, sort of in the thick of it and love it! The move has allowed me to get all my crafty stuff together in one place, it's been a bit here, there, and everywhere since I moved into this house a little over a year ago. So it's out of the attic and out of the spare room and out of the garage...and wow I have a LOT of stuff! Time to get crafty, and luckily the move has sparked my creative juices! 

Something I really love to do is participate in online challenges. Not only does it serve as a great jumping-off point, but it also gives a bit of sense of community. You share your work with other scrappers, see what they're creating, and it's almost like being part of a virtual crop. Here's my latest:

And I based it on the sketch from the Paper Issues and Stuck?! Sketches partner challenge:

This was a fun layout to create, and  the easy sketch allowed me to stay within in my "20 minutes or less" perameter. I started with the background paper, while we actually didn't use ANY untensils while consuming food at the Food Truck Festival, the paper fit the theme well, and I was happy to put something to that's been hanging around my stash for a loooong time. The bright colors of the paper coordinated well with the bright colors of my kids' shirts too. I trimmed the background down to 11.5x11.5, giving a this white border to calm things down a bit. And see the red and yellow dotted paper strips above and below the photos? That's the reverse side of the background, I had 2 1/2' strips leftover that were put to good use. For the large circular element of the sketch, I scribbled a circle on a bright blue paper and then hand-cut to create a messy, artsy circle. I knew I wanted "foodies" as my title, but sadly my Thicker collection is MIA, and I was too lazy to plug in the Cricut. So I just hand-wrote the title in grey pen on a light blue scrap and fussy cut it out. Not the best, but it did the trick! 

Thanks for stopping by, I'll have a few more layouts to share later in the week. =) T