Welcome Baby Card

I'm not a huge card maker these days because I have a large stash of cards already that I always forget to give away - LOL! However, I'm going to a baby shower tonight that required a special card. My hubby and I decided to purchase the crib for his cousin's baby since it would be something that could be used for years (it later converts into a regular bed). It's being shipped direct to the mom and dad, but I wanted to have something in hand for the shower, so I bought a copy of Goodnight, Moon, an all-time favorite in our house, to give at the shower. So of course, the card had to coordinate with the book, right? I copied the technique I used last week on my pirate layout to create the background, and I even lifted the color scheme since I liked it so much.

Recipe:
Welcome Baby, Lucky & Tiny Typewriter stamp sets
Cashmere, Chocolate & White Daisy cardstock
Sky, Crystal Blue, Sorbet, Cashmere, Chocolate & Whisper ink
Gold Metallic marker
Sorbet grosgrain ribbon
Liquid Glass
3-D foam tape
Cricut Artisty cartridge: moon & stars
Pattern: Sketch-n-Scrap card sketch #103 (love this sketch and will be saving it to re-use!)

Birthdays Are Better with Buddies Layout

It's sketch time over at Splitcoast Stampers, so here's my new sketch and sample layout for August. I love to pile lots of photos on my layouts, but I recognize that may not be everyone's style, so feel free to just use the basic background and add as many pictures as you need if you use the sketch. And don't forget to let me know you used the sketch so I can check it out!

The sketch:

My layout:

Recipe:
It's Your Day, Perfect Fit Birthday & Holiday Hoopla stamp sets
Jeepers Creepers Level 2 papers
Lagoon, Pear & White Daisy cardstock
Lagoon, Pear, Sunset, Honey & Black ink
Pear & Black brads
Cricut Artiste cartridge: "birthday"

Cricut Artbooking cartridge: "buddies"

Cricut Artistry cartridge: tab
Challenges: Heart 2 Heart friendship challenge (I plan to add captions with the names of my son's friends on them after I post this online)

EMS Sketch 65 - A Pirate's Life for Me Layout

It's been a couple of months since I managed to create a sketch for my blog, but I really needed a design for some pictures so that got my creativity kick-started. If you're able to use the sketch, please link up your post below!

The sketch:

I had lots of fun creating the background of my layout, starting with brayering Sky ink on white cardstock, then sponging on hints of Sorbet, Crystal Blue, and Cocoa. I then stamped the corners, and my canvas was ready for all the other elements to be added.

Recipe:
Live Inspired, Lucky, You and Me & Universal Backgrounds stamp sets
Majestic Blue Level 2 papers
Cocoa, Indian Corn Blue, Bamboo & White Daisy cardstock
Sky, Crystal Blue, Outdoor Denim, Bamboo, Cocoa & Sorbet ink
Outdoor Denim marker
White gel marker (Sakura)
Cocoa brads
Ribbon from my stash
Cricut Wall Decor & More cartridge: skull, monograms, ship, swirls, compass
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: tag, title (lowercase letters), scalloped border
Challenges: Fantabulous Cricut Challenge anything goes (lots of "anythings" on this layout!)

EMS SKETCH CHALLENGE 65 - Link up your layout here!

An InLinkz Link-up

Explore Historic London Layout

Back to my London layouts, this time with one from the Museum of London. I used up some stash papers and stickers from CTMH on this one, so I'm pretty happy about that! The layout ended up being pretty hard to scan because of the thickness of the pearls, but hopefully you get a good idea of what it should be IRL.

Recipe:
Tiny Typewriter & Universal Backgrounds stamp sets
Florentine Level 2 papers & My Stickease
Twilight, Creme Brulee, Goldrush, Olive, Cocoa & Bamboo cardstock
Twilight, Goldrush, Olive & Cocoa ink
Chocolate marker (Zig)
Mocha Opaques pearls
Olive embroidery floss
3-D foam tape
Cricut Wall Decor & More cartridge: explore
Cricut Artistry cartridge: arrows
Cricut Accent Essentials cartridge: arrows
Pattern: Let's Scrap 7-15-17
Challenges: Heart 2 Heart In Stitches challenge; The Studio Challenges In Stitches challenge; More Than Words July challenge

Minion Cupcakes Layout

Another layout for my son's Despicable Me party! Cupcakes are much easier for me to embellish than cakes are, so I enjoyed the challenge of creating these little minion cupcakes for my son's Despicable Me party. This layout from Splitcoast Stampers got me rolling for the design of the layout, and then I adapted it to work with my photos.

Recipe:
A Typeface stamp set
Dreamin' Big Level 2 papers
Saffron, Juniper, Poppy & White Daisy cardstock
Saffron, Juniper, Poppy, Goldrush & Slate ink
Black marker
Decorative brad from my stash
Cricut Artistry cartridge: title, tab, stars
Challenges: Heart 2 Heart fabulous fonts (I used a mix of a Cricut cut and stamping for my title)

Despicable Me Party Layout

Since my family went to see the new Despicable Me movie this weekend, I thought I'd take a break from my London vacation layouts and create my final layout for my son's Despicable Me birthday party. I started out with a sketch from Sketch-n-Scrap, added some really old papers, and topped it off with a leftover minion from the batch I designed for the invitations.

Recipe:
The Summer Stack patterned papers (DCWV)
Dutch Blue, Hollyhock & Honey cardstock
Dutch Blue, Hollyhock & Honey ink
Black marker
Cricut Artiste cartridge: title
Cricut Artistry cartridge: balloon
Pattern: Sketch-n-Scrap #132
Challenges: Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge use old paper from your stash (mine is 10 years old +!); Colorful Creations color combo (mine has a bit more green than the original color combo, but hopefully it's close enough); Fantabulous Cricut Challenge anything goes

For the Minion recipe, see here!

London from Above Layout

I'm not exactly zipping through my London layouts, but they are slowly getting done. Here's another one from our trip to St. Paul's Cathedral. Having injured my knee right before we left on our trip, I was not up to climbing the 528 steps to get to the Golden Gallery on the exterior of the dome, even with a great view like this in store, so my hubby took lots of pictures for me to scrapbook instead! Many thanks to my Splitcoast Stampers buddy Lela, whose layout I scraplifted, although I made some modifications to fit my panoramic pictures.

Recipe:
Jennifer's Hand Alphabet & Take Note stamp sets
Jackson Level 2 papers
Juniper, Glacier, Barn Red & Colonial White cardstock
Juniper, Glacier, Barn Red & Cocoa ink
Barn Red marker
Barn Red Bigger Brads
Colonial White brads
White Daisy baker's twine
Bronze shimmer trim
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: banner
Cricut Artbooking cartridge: notebook paper
Challenges: Splitcoast Stampers Tour de France challenge 4 (pick a favorite layout and scraplift it); Lasting Memories outdoor adventures challenge (okay, this may be cheating a little, but these pictures were certainly taken outdoors, and it was quite an adventure to get to the top, so  . . . ); Scrap Our Stash tic-tac-toe (I chose the column on the right, with twine, stamping, and a banner).

All Around the Cathedral Layout

I finally got to work on some scrapbooking today after several weeks away, and these postcards from St. Paul's Cathedral were beckoning! I already had an intro page plus a pocket page with some journaling for St. Paul's, so I kept the writing on this one to a minimum. In keeping with my previous page, the title is inspired by the song "Feed the Birds" from Disney's Mary Poppins. The interior of the cathedral was as beautiful as the exterior, and we really enjoyed our tour, but since you couldn't take pictures inside, we had to purchase some postcards from the gift shop. I used my July sketch from Splitcoast Stampers for the design, and adapted it to create a row of arches with silhouettes from the life of Christ in them. I also created a pocket on the left hand page to hold the extra postcards. All the postcards are mounted using photo corners so that you can slide them out and see what's written on the back.

The sketch:

My layout:

Recipe:

Paper Fundamentals Basic Assortment patterned paper

Cashmere, Lagoon, Sapphire, Glacier & White Daisy cardstock

Lagoon & Glacier ink

Gold brads

Photo corners (Pioneer)

Cricut New Testament cartridge: life of Christ figures

Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: title, arches

Pattern: Splitcoast Stampers Sketch17Jul

Challenges: Heart 2 Heart Oh the Places You'll Go challenge (we went to St. Paul's, of course!); The Studio Challenges No People (although there are statues and die-cuts of people, there are no living people on this layout, quite a change for me)

Feed the Birds Layout

When I think of Saint Paul's Cathedral in London, the song "Feed the Birds" from Disney's Mary Poppins movie is the first thing that comes to mind, so I made sure we took some pictures of the pigeons when we were visiting St. Paul's! This is my first St. Paul's layout, accompanied by a photo storage page, and features a few pictures of the exterior. For the bird die-cut next to the title, I actually used a quail cut, but I snipped off the plume on top of his head so he resembled a pigeon.

Here's my journaling card for the coordinating pocket storage page. I started with a sketch but changed the orientation to fit with my other photos. FYI: the dots on the ground are supposed to be bird seed, not bird poop! I realized after I added them that there could be some confusion there. . .

And these photos of the exterior of St. Pauls will also go in the pocket page.

Recipe:
Striped paper (MME)
Chocolate, Cashmere, Whisper, Sunset & Black cardstock
Chocolate ink
Brown and Black markers (Zig)
Tan ribbon (from my stash)
Cricut Noah's ABC Animals cartridge: title, bird
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: tags
Cricut Artiste cartridge: border
Pattern: Let's Scrap 6-15-17 sketch (left side only)
Journaling Card Pattern: Sketches in Thyme Project Life Style #75
Challenges: Bitten By the Bug 2 Birds of a Feather challenge

Gear Up Father's Day Card

I had to whip up a quick Father's Day card and decided to use stuff I already had on my desk. I had cut out a bunch of gears as decorations for vacation Bible school (Maker Fun Factory, anyone?), and thought gears went great with a masculine theme, so I used the left-overs and added some stamped gears and a sentiment. Easy peasy, but hopefully Dad will like it! I even stamped a coordinating envelope.

Recipe:
Gear Up, Holiday Tags & Marquee Uppercase stamp sets
Clover, Sunflower, Dutch Blue & White Daisy cardstock
Ruby, Desert Sand & Dutch Blue ink
Cricut Artiste cartridge: gears
Challenges: Bitten By the Bug 2 Father's Day theme; Fantabulous Cricut Challenge masculine/Father's Day theme