Days to Remember {April 2018] Layout for Lasting Memories #747

Hello everyone. Hope you all had a blessed Easter and didn't eat too much chocolate! I was able to get some scrapbooking in after church and lunch with the family, so here's what I came up with. This week's Lasting Memories challenge is a favorite sketch from Design Team member Lisa, and  I meant to get my layout done in time for the reveal yesterday, but no such luck. However, I did get inspired this morning and was able to complete it, so here it is.

I included a third photo in a pocket behind the two photos:

And here is the sketch (the challenge is open through 5/3, so click the link above to check it out and play along):

Recipe:
Simple Stitches, Besties - Zoey & Buddies - Joey stamp sets
Vicki Boutin Mixed Media paper (American Crafts)
Field Trip Journaling Pad paper (American Crafts)
Floral papers (from my stash, source unknown)
Tulip, Glacier, Chocolate, Hollyhock, Slate, Sky, Sage & White Daisy cardstock
Tulip, Sky, Twilight, Gypsy & Black ink
Black marker
ShinHan Touch Twin markers
Telling Our Story Adhesive Brads & Chipboard (Echo Park)
Freshly Baked enamel dots
Spring Fun Scrapbooking kit - stickers (KI Memories)
3-D foam tape
Besties - Zoey & Buddies - Joey Thin Cuts
Mini flower punch (EK Success)
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: flowers, branch
Challenges: Let's Craft and Create #218 AG + add flowers (grabbed my bag of pre-cut but unused Cricut cut flowers and used a bunch on this layout!); Neglected Stuff April challenge (my neglected stuff is the boy and girl Thin Cuts and stamps that I have only used once since I got them in 2022, plus the stitching stamp, the days to remember and tab stickers, and the two pieces of floral paper, all sitting in my stash for 10-15 years!); The Outlawz Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone April challenge; Unicorn Challenges #108 Use Dies (used 2 Thin Cut dies to cut out the boy and girl, and also used a bunch of die cut flowers and a leafy branch that were cut on my Cricut)

LOAD #24 - Cousins

Today was quite a day. Between getting ready for another open house, attending church, going to the pumpkin patch while we were banished from our home, and getting home to find the open house was still going strong (an hour after it was supposed to finish), I have not had a moment to scrap. Plus I'm all out of photos (one of the hazards of scrapping every day) and I did not get more pictures sent to Costco to be printed. Woe is me! I did not get a layout done yet today, and it may not happen. But I promise I'll catch up tomorrow. LOADies, please post your layouts and I'll add mine after I get photos developed.

*****Friday******
Well, I promised I would get this layout posted days ago and it just did not happen. Sorry! At last, I have it ready to go, so here it is. I was inspired by a layout created by Michele (Chelemom) at Splitcoast Stampers. She was the featured scrapper last week, and we were challenged to scraplift a layout. I love the look of her layouts, but I have a hard time doing all the layers, so this was quite a challenge for me. I finally decided to use layers but not worry about the eclectic style part. All my papers and stickers are from the same paper collection and they all look like they match, but I think that's okay. Hopefully it shows how you can find inspiration from anyone's style, no matter how different from your own. Here's the page I scraplifted: They Are Why I Scrapbook



Recipe:
Picture Perfect & Simple Stitches stamp sets
Animal Cookies Level 2 & Creative Basics papers
Animal Cookies My Stickease
Creme Brulee, Tulip & White Daisy cardstock
Tulip & Dutch Blue ink
Irresistible Lots of Dots stickers
3-D foam tape
Scalloped border punch (Fiskars)

Splendor Card Workshop Part 2

A few weeks ago, I posted pictures of the cards I was going to be doing for a workshop this weekend. Well, this week I finally got busy and finished the other cards for the workshop. The ladies really loved doing this workshop, and it was lots of fun to show them how many different looks you can get using just 1 color of cardstock plus 2 pieces of B&T paper.

I used the Mojo Monday Sketch from July 5th for this card:


This is a scraplift of Jayma Malme's card for Heart2Heart Challenge 9:


This uses the pattern Delightful Dots from the Wishes card book:


This was inspired by a challenge from the CTMH Virtual Convention plus Mary Vogel's class on using alphabet / number stamps:


This uses the pattern Done right from the Wishes book:


Recipe:
Best Wishes, Hot Diggity, Tiny Typewriter Alphabet, Happy Birthday, A Posy, Simple Stitches & Friendship Alphabet Small stamp sets
Splendor Level 2 papers
Colonial White cardstock
Chocolate, Topiary, Goldrush & Moonstruck ink
Colonial White brads
Chocolate Bigger Brads
Chocolate Ribbons Rounds
White Daisy Just Blooms
Big Pinks paper flowers
Liquid Glass
3-D foam tape
Scalloped scissors (Fiskars)

Mother's Day Card

Let me start with a reminder that today is the National Day of Prayer. All of you who believe in the power of prayer, please lift our county up in prayer today, especially our leaders.

This week's Heart 2 Heart challenge was to create a Mother's Day card. Since I needed to do it anyway, this was easy! I used the Splendor paper pack again (loving these papers), and I kept the card pretty simple since I have to mail it. I did add some Liquid Glass to the center of the flower and the birds' eyes, so there is a little bit of dimension. My mom loves to sew, so I thought she would get a kick out of the faux stitches around the border of the card.



Recipe:
Love You Forever, Flower Pot, & Simple Stitches stamp sets
Splendor Level 2 papers
Heavenly Blue, Moonstruck & White Daisy cardstock
Chocolate & Moonstruck ink
Watercolor pencils (Prismacolor)
Blender pen
Liquid Glass

A Little Everything Card Workshop

A few friends are coming over tomorrow night to make cards. It's a small workshop, only four cards, but I know we'll have lots of fun. I really love the March Stamp of the Month, A Little Everything, and I think it is so versatile, so I decided to use it on all my cards. In the interest of keeping the cost down, I used mostly scraps, and I'm not using major embellishments, but I had fun with the Liquid Glass and Bitty Sparkles. I'm open to feedback, although I won't have a lot of time tomorrow to change anything, so please tell me if you have any minor tweaks that would improve the cards. Thanks to all the ladies who participated in the March SOTM Blog Hop. Their creativity totally inspired me! Special thanks to Annette Green for her Easter card, which was the basis for my Easter card.





Recipe:
A Little Everything, Love You Forever, Star Struck, Connections, Holiday Hoopla, Simple Stitches, State of Mind, Thoughtful Seasons, Grown with Love & Dainty Thoughts stamp sets
Twitterpated Level 2 papers
Sweet Leaf, Sorbet, Crystal Blue & Colonial White cardstock
Sweet Leaf, Sorbet, Crystal Blue & Chocolate ink
Sorbet & Chocolate grosgrain ribbon
White Daisy Just Blooms
Clear buttons
Bitty Sparkles
Liquid Glass

LOAD #19 - Our Little Hairy Man

I have my layout all ready to go, but I can't post it because we're having computer problems. Boohoo!!! I'll try to get it up tomorrow. Hopefully my hubby can figure out what's wrong with my computer!

It's tomorrow, and the computer is still not fixed. I heard from a friend that she's having the same problem (hard drive won't boot up), so maybe all the rain we're having in Southern California is affecting my computer. I'm posting this from my husband's laptop, which doesn't have a scanner hooked up to it, hence the less than stellar image of my layout today! It's the best photo I could take of it. This is another layout for my son's baby album, this time with a humorous look at how much hair he had all over his body as a newborn. I didn't use any really cool techniques on this, but I do have a tip for those who are into getting the most mileage out of your supplies. I had used a journaling box from the Dazzling Diecuts package, and I had the leftover frame from where I punched out the diecut. I cut around the edge to create an outline frame, which I then inked up with Sorbet ink to use as a frame around part of the bottom picture.



Recipe:
Tiny Typewriter Alphabet, Charm Lowercase Alphabet, Extreme Caps & Simple Stitches stamp sets
Twitterpated Level 2 papers
Colonial White cardstock
Cocoa & Sorbet ink
Cocoa marker
White Daisy Dazzling Diecuts
Dimensional Elements in Color: Organic
Sweet Leaf embroidery floss

LOAD #13 - Sing Praise!

I backtracked a few months in order to scrapbook the final layout for last summer's VBS. When I was scrapping my other VBS photos, I realized I didn't have any music stamps, so I ordered Encore, a brand new stamp set found in the Spring 2010 CTMH idea book. I paired it with the January stamp of the month, True Friends, and some more retired B&T paper. There's no journaling on the page because I'm sticking it in one of the pockets on the facing photo storage page (not pictured). I'm not crazy about the layout, but considering the primary color palette I had to work with (Bubblegum and Citrus Leaf!), I did my best. By the way, if you're following this challenge, don't forget to check out Monica, Linda, and Beth's layouts. Links are posted in the comments, and the layouts are really worth seeing. Until tomorrow, keep on scrapping'!



Recipe:
Encore, True Friends, Friendship Alphabet Small & Simple Stitches stamp sets
Summer Celebration B&T Combo papers
Cocoa, Desert Sand & White Daisy cardstock
Cocoa, Desert Sand, Bubblegum & Citrus Leaf ink
Cocoa marker
3-D foam tape
Sponge
Scalloped scissors (Fiskars)

Punchbowl Layouts

I didn't quite meet my goal of scrapping the remaining two layouts for my Hawaii album this weekend. I did finish one layout on Saturday night, and I had laid out the papers for a second one, but then on Sunday I got lazy and just read a good book after church. Ever feel like that? Today I woke up with my creative juices flowing, so I buckled down and finished the last layout. I totally changed the papers I had set out on Friday night, but I like the result much better this way. For the first layout, I created masks for certain portions of my layout, attached them temporarily to my background cardstock, and brayered over the cardstock using Dutch Blue ink. I was able to achieve a much lighter background shade than if I had used plain Dutch Blue cardstock, plus I got the look of patterned papers. I removed the masks and used the Simple Stitches stamp set to create the journaling lines, the borders around two of the pictures, and the large stars. For the second layout, I had made up my own sketch, but I kept moving things around until I got the look I wanted. In case you're wondering why I listed all those Word Puzzle stamps, I used portions of them to spell out the word "price" so it would match the font for "remember." I love how the twill ribbon I used to attach my tag is formed into a V for victory, an unintentional result that really fits the theme of the layout: the cost of freedom. I've always found the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl) to be pretty impressive. Seeing all the graves and realizing that the people buried under them gave their lives to preserve our liberty is a sobering thought. I only showed a small portion of them, but the memorial contains mosaics depicting battles (mostly naval) of WWII and the Korean War. Definitely worth seeing if you are visiting Oahu.


Recipe:
Simple Stitches, July Word Puzzle, Charm Upper Alphabet, Charm Lowercase Alphabet & Classmate Alphabet stamp sets
Colonial White cardstock
Dutch Blue, Desert Sand & Outdoor Denim ink
Desert Sand marker
Foam squares
Brayer



Recipe:
Friendship Alphabet Small, Tiny Typewriter Alphabet, January Word Puzzle, July Word Puzzle, August Word Puzzle & September Word Puzzle stamp sets
Free Spirit Level 2 papers
Cocoa, Indian Corn Blue & Colonial White cardstock
Cocoa & Indian Corn Blue ink
Twill & Cocoa grosgrain ribbon
Photo hanger
Pewter brads

ACL Surgery Layout with Masking Tutorial

My poor hubby was involved in a mid-air collision while playing volleyball, and ended up with a torn ligament in his knee. He had to have surgery, so he spent a lot of time lying down, both before and after the surgery. He ran out of reading material, and was desperate enough to read one of my scrapbook magazines, a memory I will chuckle over for years to come. The funny thing is, he is more of a critic than I am regarding the artwork. He will totally analyse a layout and tell me why he likes or dislikes the work of the designer. Must be his engineering brain at work! I snapped a few pictures of him during this time and created this layout I want to share. I used the pattern Designer's Eye from Cherish, and random stamped on Bamboo colored cardstock to create a background paper. Since I wanted the thread to go through the eye of the needle, I masked part of the needle and stamped the thread over it, then removed the mask for my completed image. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, I created a simple tutorial to show the steps to follow.
Enjoy!







And here's the layout!


Recipe:
Simple Stitches & Extreme Caps Alphabet stamp sets
Cranberry, Cocoa, Bamboo, Desert Sand, Moonstruck cardstock
Greg Wool, Coca & Cranberry ink
Versamark stamp pad
Embossing powder
Moonstruck marker
Embroidery floss (Making Memories)

10 Things I Love About You

I created this layout a few months ago, but I thought I would post it since it honors my favorite dad, my dear hubby Greg! (Sorry, Daddy, I love you, but I have to love Greg more!) I chose to use the Cherish pattern "Beauty in Repetition" because it features 10 photos to go along with my 10 things theme. Most of these photos were ones I had printed up for other layouts and ended up not using, but they showed different facets of Greg: father, husband, nature lover, coffee drinker, handyman, and all-around fun guy. By combining them, I was able to show sides of Greg that many people don't see. This is a really fun technique. I challenge you to try it the next time you are celebrating a special event with a loved one (birthday, Mother's or Father's Day, etc.). I guarantee they will get a kick out of seeing 10 reasons you think they are special! It was a fun challenge as well to put together the word cluster that I used for my title. I mixed 5 different stamp sets (but you can use as many as you like) to get this effect, and I loved how it turned out. For more ideas on how to create a word cluster, check out this episode of CTMH TV.



Recipe:
Alphabets stamp sets = Classmate, Friendship Large & Small, Homestead
Simple Stitches & February Word Puzzle stamp sets
Magic Moments paper pack
Sweet Leaf, Indian Corn Blue & Colonial White cardstock
Indian Corn Blue, Barn Red, Hollyhock, Honey & Cocoa ink
Winter & Autumn craft buttons
Indian Corn Blue marker