An update

Discovering beauty amidst the mundane... This is something Project Life is teaching me.



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Little Yellow Bicycle layouts for Scrapbook Supplies Online

This month for Scrapbook Supplies Online I got to play with the Saturday collection from Little Yellow Bicycle.  This collection was so much fun to use with its rich denim blues with red, brown, and cream.  My kids were away for a few days so I did some power scrapping over a 2 day period (be forewarned: there are 4 layouts and a mini album in this one post!!).  Here is what I came up with first:


Everything except the paint splatters, letter stickers, and the little red label stamp in the top right corner is from the Saturday collection.  The Tear Out Ticket and Journalling Card pack provided plenty of embellishments for this layout and many of the others I created.


I layered 2 of the Chipboard Shapes together and stuck some stick pins in behind them.


Those zigzags were cut from paper in the collection, using a Sizzix die (Tasteful Trims).  This layout (and the next) is proof that this collection is not just for boys!

Process vid:


This next layout was created using a 12X12 photo as the background.  I don't have a large-format printer, so I had the print done at Costco.  My Costco does not offer same day service for 12X12 prints, but had this one done in about a week.  It then took me over a year to scrap it, lol (although, to be fair to myself, I had already scrapped it before and gave it to Papa as a gift)!

I used bits and pieces from the Saturday collection for this layout.  Letter stickers and the little red stars (cut from card stock with an MFT die) are from my stash.





Process vid:


I knew I wanted to do a mini album using this collection, and these photos of my nephew were perfect for these papers!  I wanted the mini to have a clean and simple look and to be fast and easy to create.  I used a piece of scrap corrugated cardboard for the front and back covers and attached a tag to each page to use as a simple way to bind the pages.

I cut the blue chipboard frame from the collection and used it as the main embellishment for the cover.  The great thing about the chipboard in this collection is that it has a smooth white finish on the backside, so if it overhangs the page in a mini album, there is no need to cover the back of it.  I made sure there was lots of white in the mini so the white backside of the chipboard would fit well with the overall look of the mini.


Above you can see the white backside of the frame on the cover as well as the top of a flag that overhangs on another page.  They look fabulous just as they are!


Oh my goodness, he is so sweet, isn't he?


I used a Maya Road envelope for this page (opens at the bottom for something different) but you could use any kind of pocket or envelope.  I put a few journalling tags inside for my sister to write some notes.




How yummy are these pages?



Share vid:


Process vid (coming soon)

My third layout (4th project) using the Saturday collection showcased some of the photos from the mini album.  I'll be giving the mini to my sister, so I wanted to scrap a few of these photos for my own scrapbook.

Most of the banner pieces are from the package of Chipboard Shapes that came with the collection, but I did make a few extra pieces to make it a double banner.  It was easy to make extra pieces using the coordinating paper from the collection.





Process Vid:


Here is my last (and probably my favourite, thanks to that amazing piece of ScrapFX chipboard available at  Scrapbook Supplies Online) layout using this collection:


I was down to a single full piece of paper from the collection at this point, and I didn't want to have any blue in this layout, so I did have to raid my red scrap bin for a few little pieces to get the layering right on this one.  But the majority of the layering is book paper and a paper bag, which most people have readily available at home.


I stuck one of the tags from the Tear-Out Ticket and Journalling Tags pack to do some hidden journalling on a pull-out tag.


That chipboard is so gorgeous!!!  I heat embossed it in black and I just love how it turned out.
Quick Tips for Working with Chipboard: Heat Embossing:



Even the edges are beautiful!



Process vid:

Splash

Here's my take on this week's Nuts About Sketches sketch:



This sketch was so much fun to work with!  I decided to take it easy with the embellies for this one, making this a fairly inexpensive and quick layout.  Sometimes when I use a bold paper like the large square in this layout, I go a little lighter on the embellishments so it's not overly busy.  Papers are October Afternoon (Farmhouse), Dear Lizzy by American Crafts, SEI, and Lush by My Mind's Eye.  I splattered paint in white, brown, and orange, and lined all the papers in marker.



I've had those Umbrella Thickers in my stash for ages, but I find them hard to use because of their size.  They were perfect for this topic, so they became the jumping off point for all the other elements in the layout.  The colour is called Grapefruit, and they are the yummiest letters I've used in a long time!



I typed up the journalling strips, leaving space for the stickers for "Florida."  I rarely ever think that far ahead, so I was happy that it worked out.  I wanted the Sassafras cloud layered over the pinwheel flower (American Crafts) so I had to use a lot of dimensional adhesive to get it popped up far enough, as you can see from this angle.  I wanted the flower to look like a sun peeking out from behind the cloud.

Magical Moments Layout- Nuts About Sketches

I had so much fun with this week's sketch over at Nuts About Sketches!



This layout is a lot more feminine than my usual style, but I had a lot of fun playing with flowers for a change.  I used paper from Stampin' Up's Beau Chateau collection, My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Madison Ave collection, and a bit of Basic Grey Olivia paper too.  Cardstock for matting the photos, journalling card, and the whole layout is also Stampin' Up (Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla).  I'm loving the soft colours!



The journalling card was made from the Lost and Found paper, then matted and embellished with some brads (Stampin' Up and Recollections).  I sewed on some Martha Stewart Butterfly punches and scattered more brads (Stampin' up and Recollections) and flowers (Prima, Stampin' Up, and flowers cut from inexpensive trim from the fabric store).  I changed the colour of the embroidered SU flowers and the trim flowers using Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist.  I used my EK Success Embossed Dotted Lace border punch to create those pink scallops for a punch of brighter colour.  I really love that pink paper from the Basic Grey Olivia collection.



I used my Stampin' Up! tab punch and some Kaiserkraft letter stickers to date the photo.  I made the three flags using toothpicks and either a label from October Afternoon, or pieces of the Lost and Found paper.  I tied them together with a piece of Stampin Up ribbon.

Here's the process vid:

Chillaxin' Poolside

The subtitle of this blog entry could be: Sassafras- Oh How I'll Miss You!



I haven't done many layouts that focus this much on a single manufacturer, but today I combined Sassafras' Indie Girl and Amplify lines with one of my favourite pics from our Disney vacation, and this was the result.  I picked the little card with the number 3 on it because I liked all the arrows and only later worked it into the theme of the layout (realizing there were 3 days left in our vacation when this was taken).  The plan was that the journalling would be central in this layout so I used very minimal embellishments.

Journalling was the focus for this layout

I started by painting a frame for the photo in yellow which I mostly covered with heavy body paint in Parchment, using one of Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's stencils (I've been a big fan of hers for years now, so I had to pick up a few of her stencils when they came out).  Then I placed my embellishments so they covered most of the paint that was sticking out from under the photo.  I've never scrapped this way before and I have to say it was fun letting the paint (which I applied without knowing what embellishments or design I'd be using) guide me.  I will have to use this "let the supplies guide you" method again soon.  Paint splatters in yellow, parchment, and my favourite brown colour (a mixture of burnt umber and shopping bag(kraft)) followed, and then I just chose stickers and felties that fit over the remaining painted areas.  Since I only had 2 clusters, I placed my title to make the third corner of the visual triangle.  I added the foam Thickers to the title to add some dimension.  All supplies except Thickers and small blue Cosmo Cricket letter are from Sassafras Las... a company that will be missed.

And here's the process:

Tigger & Pooh- SSO March Challenge

Well I'm back from the most wonderful place in the world, and have LOTS of photos to scrap!  Disney was amazing, and we are so proud of our kids who were so well behaved that it made the trip very enjoyable for everyone.  I have a whole slew of layouts in my head, but it will take awhile to make them all happen.  I've already Project Life'd my entire trip (yes, I use it as a verb!), so now that the details are captured I can relax a bit and scrap my very favourite photos and memories at my own pace.  This is what I really love about Project Life... it's simple and quick and frees me up to scrap the fun stuff.

Well it is a new month, so that means there are new challenges over at Scrapbook Supplies Online.  Be sure to check out the layout and the card challenges- you can win a voucher to spend in the store!  Yesterday I got a bit of time to play with this sketch, which was perfect for the Tigger and Pooh layout I had in mind:

March Layout Challenge Sketch for Scrapbook Supplies Online

Here's what I came up with:

This layout posed the usual Pink-Peach-Orange-Coral challenge for me.  I love that coral colour but always have trouble coordinating it with other papers.  What I ought to do is just stick within one collection so I know the combos I pick will work.  What I typically do is try to come up with my own colour combo and fret over it for far too long.  The photo had orange, yellow, and pink, and I chose the striped patterned paper (from the Everyday Enchantment collection by Stampin' Up) first because I loved it, not because it necessarily worked with the pic.  The paper has that pink in it, which caused me a lot of grief as far as trying to make sure there was pink somewhere else in the layout.  I ended up ignoring the pink and just pulling the oranges and greens with a hit of blue.  I really like how it turned out, so I guess the lesson here is that perhaps you sometimes need to throw out the rulebook and just go with what looks nice to you in the moment.  

I love those fleece flower shapes and instead of placing a flower centre in the middle, I just stapled them for something a little unexpected.  I also stapled the ribbon flower stem on the other side of the layout.  The journalling card is from one of my Smash Pads.



I had a lot of fun making the title for this layout!  I found the frame (by Glitz Designs) in my stash and wanted book paper to go behind it, so I decided to look online for images of Winnie the Pooh text, knowing that many of the books have cute images in the text.  A quick google search and I had a great image printed.  I distressed it to look like actual book paper and layered my title letters over it.  The ampersand started as a naked chipboard elements (by Pebbles).  I painted it green, then embossed the turquoise dots.  Some Martha Stweart labels (I'm in love with the Avery-MS line of labels- don't slip in the drool on the floor at Staples when you go to get some) with the date finished off the layout.  Check out the Process vid: