George & Elizabeth Layout

When in London, we took pictures of the statues of Queen Elizabeth II's parents, George VI and Queen Elizabeth. The little I knew about them was gleaned from the Netflix series the Crown and the movie The King's Speech, so I checked them out on Wikipedia and was surprised to find out that they actually married for love, something that is probably overlooked in all the hoopla surrounding George's older brother Edward's abdication so he could marry the love of his life! Using lyrics from a couple of Bryan Adams' songs, I played off the fact that he asked her to marry him and she refused twice because she was "afraid never, never again to be free to think, speak and act as I feel I really ought to." His determination won the day and they lived quite happily together for 29 years until his death in 1952.

I tucked a journaling card behind the green cardstock.

Recipe:
Jennifer's Hand & My One & Only stamp sets
Floral papers (KI Memories)
Petal & Sweet Leaf cardstock
Petal, Sweet Leaf & Crystal Blue ink
Petal marker
Fuchsia marker (Zig)
DE Framed Fun chipboard
Illustrated Faith Family die-cuts (Bella Blvd)
#Life journaling card
Cricut Artiste cartridge: speech bubbles
Pattern: Sketches in Thyme #350

Victoria Layout

This layout took itself off in a totally different direction than I had originally envisioned, but I love the result! I was hunting through my stash for a blue patterned paper to go with the cloud paper and brown felt circle I had already pulled out when I happened across this gorgeous background paper from Basic Grey. It made me think about the fact that Victoria was Empress of India, which is why her monument is engraved with the title "Regina Imperatrix" (Queen / Empress). It didn't really match the blue in the pictures, so I left it on my desk overnight and, when I saw it this morning,I finally decided it was the right one! I ditched the cloud paper in favor of a purple one, and the rest of the layout came together over the course of the morning, with the finishing touch being the quote from Mark Twain, "In her the public saw the English Empire itself."

Recipe:
Universal Backgrounds, Victory WOTG & Vogue Alphabet stamp sets
Karma paper (Basic Grey)
Purple paper (from my stash)
Bamboo & Colonial White cardstock
Gypsy & Chocolate ink
Gypsy marker
Heartfelt Wonder felt circle
Greenhouse paper flowers (American Crafts)
Mocha Opaques pearls
DE Mixed Shapes chipboard
"V" chipboard (from my stash)
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: scalloped shapes
Pattern: Sketches in Thyme #347 (rotated to work with my vertical photos)

National Gallery Pocket Pages

Gotta confess, I love creating full size layouts, but when it comes to doing pocket cards for my pocket pages, it tends to feel more like a chore! Usually I put it off and end up with a bunch of empty spaces among the photos in my pocket pages, so I forced myself to create a few cards this week to fill in some blanks. The first set goes in the pocket page facing my National Gallery intro page, so I went with the same paper pack and even used the same letter stickers as on my main page. Originally, I was just going to throw all the paintings in the pockets and call it done, but I decided since this would probably be my only trip to England, I should really go the extra mile (kilometer?) and identify each one!

Want to see the labels? Click on the picture for an enlarged view!

Recipe:
Skylark papers
Kraft & Colonial White cardstock
Desert Sand, Flaxen & Lagoon ink
Cork Alphabet stickers
Love Letters rub-ons

The next card set was for the reverse side of same pocket page, but I needed to put cropped pictures on them, so I made them super simple. I had already emptied my spray pens of the matching ink for the facing page, so instead I used a stamp set and stamped random dots all over and then sponged the cards in Goldrush ink. Added a little lettering and everything was good to go.

Recipe:
Itty Bitty Backgrounds stamp set (SU)
White Daisy cardstock
Hollyhock, Crystal Blue & Goldrsuh ink
Black marker

Time 2 Soar Layout

For this layout memorializing my daughter's first day of second grade, I was delighted to use a bunch of pink! The base cardstock is actually white, but I used the emerging colors technique to create a patterned look in pink and then added hints of yellow using a sponge dauber. Even though there are lots of patterns on this layout, it was all created by stamping and brayering - there is no patterned paper.

Recipe:
Diverse Backgrounds, It's Your Day, Live Out Loud, Take Note & He Said She Said stamp sets
Canary, Watermelon & White Daisy cardstock
Canary, Watermelon, Bubblegum, Black & Versamark ink
Black marker
Craft buttons
Bubblegum embroidery floss
Chipboard 2
White paint
Star Dust Stickles (Ranger)
Gold embossing powder
Cricut Artistry cartridge: butterflies
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: envelopes (since I didn't need to put anything in them, I used tags and folded over the tops)
Pattern: Let's Scrap 11-1-18 sketch

Little Star Layout

For this page for my daughter's school album, I used a sketch from Sketches in Thyme and took advantage of the large journaling circle at the bottom to write some words of advice for my sweetie. I had to move things around many times until I was satisfied with the look, but hopefully you agree it was worth the effort. The sayings and die-cut shapes are from a variety of Cricut cartridges, and some I welded together using Design Space.

Recipe:
Stardust papers
Sky, Moonstruck, Honey, Sunset & Topiary cardstock
Sunset & Honey ink
Moonstruck marker
White gel pen (Sakura)
White enamel stars
Playful Circle KaleidoCut (MME)
Pattern: Sketches in Thyme #349

Challenges: Scrap Our Stash A Star Is Born inspiration challenge (included quote plus star paper, lots of star embellishments, and a star themed- title); Heart 2 Heart Spotlight On  . . . (I chose to turn the spotlight on my sweet daughter)

Through the Trees Layout

It's time for another challenge at Lasting Memories, but their challenges are so addicting that I'm still playing around with the last one! I couldn't resist using up the last of the blue ink in my spray pen to mist the background of this layout, but I also had fun playing with their new challenge: stamping. I'm a long time stamp lover, but I used the stamps in a little different way this time. There was nothing in my stash that seemed to go with the green patterned paper in the middle of the page, so I pulled out a leaf stamp set and repeatedly stamped it until I had a new background to match - voila! The title is also stamped, as are all the trees. For the title circle, I even used some masking to create a denser look for the trees rather than the evenly spaced look elsewhere on the layout. Hopefully you now feel inspired  to pull out some stamps and join in the fun challenge over at Lasting Memories!

Recipe:
Intrinsic Backgrounds, True Happiness & Pen Pal Alphabet stamp sets
Dutch Blue, Whisper, Olive, Creme Brulee & White Daisy cardstock
Dutch Blue, Whisper, Olive, Creme Brulee & Crystal Blue ink
Steel Grey marker (Zig)
Silver washi tape
Durables Artisan Studs - pewter
Cricut Artbooking cartridge: banners
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: semi-circle cut-out (welded in Design space)
Pattern: Scrapbook.com November 2 page sketch challenge
Challenges: The Studio Challenges die-cuts (I cut both banners using my Cricut and backed them with patterned paper, plus I welded the semi-circle to the rectangular block in Design Space)

National Gallery 1300s - 1500s Layout

Since this layout is all about paintings, it seemed fitting to do some painting of my own on it. Well, it's not actually painting, but misting is close, right? Since I was scrapping 7 photos, I kept the design pretty simple, just a collage with an outline to pull it all together, plus a stamped title and some die-cuts to finish it off. Easy-peasy!

Recipe:
Brushstroke Upper & Lowercase Alphabet stamp sets (SU)
White Daisy cardstock
Hollyhock, Crystal Blue, Goldrush, Glacier & Black ink
Black marker
Pinstripes Ephemera die-cuts (Echo Park)

Seven Layout

It's Sunday, and that means another fun challenge from Lasting Memories! As their guest designer this month, I was quite challenged when they asked me to use watercolors, paints, and/or mists on my layout. This is totally out of my comfort zone, but I had recently stumbled across the technique of adding a pop of color to a stamped line image by brushing on some watercolor paint, so I tried that with my three cupcake circles. I then misted on top of that, and added white gel pen accents and an enamel dot to each one.

And I also misted the shape with the sub-title on it, but since it's hard to see in the full view of the layout, here's a close-up.

Recipe:
Cutie Pie, Fanfare & Hodgepodge Alphabet stamp sets
Dream Pop patterned papers & cardstock
Creme Brulee & White Daisy cardstock
Black ink
Black marker
White gel pen (Sakura)
ShinHan Touch Twin markers
Black washi tape
Flamingo Dots
Enamel & Glitter Duos blue dots
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: scalloped border, scalloped circles, sub-title shape
Pattern: Sketch-n-Scrap #164

St. James Park Layout

I already did one layout on St. James park, wherein I featured the many species of birds we saw, but this is my overview layout that shows some of the flowers and the lake. For the October scraplift challenge at Splitcoast Stampers (I know, I'm a little behind on this), I scraplifted a layout from Elizabeth G, who had actually scraplifted Wendella247, so it was fun to keep the love going! I was inspired to add the smile button and stamp the phrase "This makes me smile" because of  Stacy's song inspiration challenge (loved the line "my world it smiles" from Led Zeppelin's Thank You).

Recipe:
Enjoy the little Things & Love This stamp sets
Beautiful Friendship & Fresh Air papers
Sapphire, Smoothie & White Daisy cardstock
Sapphire, Smoothie & Canary ink
Moonstruck marker
Golden Yellow ShinHan Touch Twin marker
Enamel & Glitter Duos - blue dots
Outdoor Denim brads
Hopscotch assortment badge button
Paradise Just Blooms paper flowers
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: title, heart, scalloped border, photo corner
Challenges: Heart 2 Heart Inspired by Nature

Snapshots of St. James Park Layout

The November Variety Challenge at Splitcoast Stampers, "Gridlocked," is to arrange pictures in a grid pattern. To make it easy, I used a sketch from Jeanette Lynton that already had a grid, and I just adapted it to work for my photos. Feel free to play along with this challenge until the end of the month!

Recipe:
Live Inspired stamp set
Vintage Green Ornate papers (The Paper Studio)
Flaxen, Kraft & White Daisy cardstock
Flaxen & Desert Sand ink
Chocolate marker
Kraft Color-Ready Borders
Fern ribbon
White baker's twine
Base & Bling heart charm
Snapshots Complements
Let's Go tags(Chic Tags)
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: journaling shape
Pattern: Small Packages from Imagine by Jeanette Lynton
Challenges: Color My Heart Monochromatic Green + neutrals (okay, there is a tiny splash of pink here, but it was fun using mostly greens on my layout!)

EMS Sketch Challenge 69 - This & That Layout

I have two fun challenges for you today! The first is my sketch challenge, with a single page sketch featuring three 4" x 6" photos. For my layout, I chose to go with the sketch pretty much as is, except I added a piece of ribbon towards the top. My second challenge was the Lasting Memories stitching challenge. I'm a guest designer this month, so I decided to forego my usual stitching M.O. (drawing stitches on with a pen) and actually thread up my needle with some embroidery floss! Stitching always adds extra zip to a layout, so why don't you figure out how to incorporate some on your layout and then join us over at Lasting Memories?

The sketch:

My layout:

Recipe:
This & That, Whooo's Your Valentine & My Life Cricut stamp sets
Cameras with Floral paper (Paper Studio)
Sorbet, Lagoon, Black & White Daisy cardstock
Sorbet, Lagoon & Black ink
Black marker
Peacock Green ShinHan Touch Twin marker
Sorbet grosgrain ribbon
Black embroidery floss
My Crush Best Day Ever Assortment sticker
Cricut Artbooking cartridge: hearts, camera
Cricut Artiste cartridge: ampersand