52 Week Photography Challenge- Self Portrait

Well, I said this prompt was going to be a challenge, and it was. I procrastinated and put it off. Finally, today I set up the tripod and took some shots. The one I liked the best ended up not being triggered by me...

Close enough, right? This is what I am going with. My little daytime buddy and me.

Winter Fun

Hello all! I have a layout to share today. This one took me a while to complete for some reason, but I think it is pretty fun!

I started with this sketch from Let's Get Sketchy:

I stuck pretty close to the sketch, but made a few tweaks in terms of embellishing. I was also inspired by the Mix It Up challenge at Paper Issues which was to use gesso and acrylic paint on your layout. I started my layout by taking a plastic card and using it to spread gesso over a scroll stencil. I then took a foam brush and lightly brushed blue acrylic paint over that. The card technique made the gesso smoosh out under the stencil, but it also meant that I have a white outline around my scrolls. 

I used my Cricut a ton for this layout, for the snowflakes, title, and scroll. It is a little hard to see in this photo, but I heat embossed all of the white die cuts with glitter embossing powder to make them a little more snow-like. I was inspired by a couple other challenges as well. First up is the tic-tac-toe challenge from Scrap Our Stash:

I used the diagonal from the top left to bottom right. Finally, there was also the Ribbon, Washi, Paper Strips challenge at Lasting Memories. I used a paper strip, 2 types of washi tape and a premade paper border for the bottom of my layout.

Materials:

Cardstock- Bazzill, Michael's

Patterned Paper- American Crafts, Moxxie, unknown

Transparency- We R Memory Keepers

Die Cutter- Provo Craft

Cartridge- Stretch Your Imagination, Holiday Cakes, Botanicals, Doodlecharms

Gesso- Liquitex

Paint- DecoArt, Delta

Stencil- The Crafter's Workshop

Pen- Sharpie

Sequins- October Afternoon, unknown

Tape- My Mind's Eye, Target

Border Strip- Making Memories

Ink- Tsukineko

Embossing Powder- Stampendous

Happy Birthday- Sketch Saturday

Hello! I have a card to share that I made last week and never got around to posting. I started with the Sketch Saturday sketch from last week:

I rotated it 90 degrees to make this card. For the background, I embossed a piece of cardstock that had been wrapped in aluminum foil. Then I took a couple of pieces of washi tape and wrapped them around the background. I used my Cricut and the "Boys Will Be Boys" cartridge to make the truck. I also embossed the background square with another embossing folder. I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment circle and attached it with foam adhesive for dimension.

Love You a Ton- CAS(E) This Sketch

Hello again! I have a card to share that I made a couple of days ago for my youngest son's birthday. I started with the current sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch:

I started with a 3x4 card from the Bella Blvd. Tiny Tots collection. I matted it on the dark blue paper. Then I took painter's tape and masked off the edges of my card. I used Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey and a combination of Forest Moss and Mowed Lawn Distress inks to blend in from the edge. I used foam to attach the sentiment and then glued a couple of googly eyes onto the elephant for a little extra fun.

52 Week Photography Challenge- Drink

Happy Monday! I'm back with my photo for the From Moments to Memories 52 Week Photo Challenge!  This prompt was definitely more of a challenge for me. I drink mostly water, which is not very interesting... I also drink tea, so that is what I ended up working with for my shot this week. I made some Irish Breakfast tea and then poured a bit of cashew milk into it before snapping this photo.

It looks like next week's prompt is "self portrait," that should be another challenging one!

52 Week Photography Challenge- Winter

Hello! I hope you are all staying warm! We are in the middle of a freezing rain/snow storm, which is appropriate, since the prompt this week for the 52 Week Photography Challenge was "winter." My kids have been loving playing in the snow, and that is what I captured in my image this week. 

I wasn't totally thrilled with this photo when I took it, but a few tweaks in Photoshop to brighten it and I am pretty happy with it! It was taken in late afternoon, so the sun in behind and off to the left of my daughter.

In case you are interested in looking ahead, like I am, here is the list of prompts for the year:

Rejoice- Baptism Card

Hello again! I am back tonight with a baptism card for our goddaughter who is being baptized tomorrow. 

I took inspiration from a couple of places for this card. First was the inspiration photo from The Card Concept:

My second source of inspiration was from the CAS-ual Fridays blog as their current challenge was to use gold.

I started with a white card base and added gold polka dot transparency to the background. Then I stamped my image and sentiment on some white vellum. I colored on the back of the image to soften the color. I finished off the card front with some pearls.

Always Creating

Hello! I had a little time to create this week and was able to create this layout for my daughter's book. She is my little artist, always working on a project and has been since she was little (she was 2 1/2 to 3-years-old in these photos). 

I was inspired by one of the challenges this month at Lasting Memories. They are doing a stash buster theme and their week 1 challenge was punches. I decided to pull out my around the page border punch for this layout. I have used this punch for cards, but I don't think I've ever used it on a layout! I used another border punch for the center strip and a scalloped circle punch for an embellishment. For my journaling and title, I stamped and heat embossed some lines on some vellum and finished the journaling with my title. 

Materials:

Cardstock- Bazzill

Patterned Paper- October Afternoon, Echo Park

Punches- EK Success, Martha Stewart Crafts, Marvy

Stickers- Echo Park

Enamel hearts- October Afternoon

Tape- My Mind's Eye

Pens- Sharpie

Software- Sure Cuts A Lot

Die Cutter- Provo Craft

Font- Crayon

Ink- EK Success, Tattered Angels, Ranger, Stampin Up

Embossing Powder- Stampendous

Stamp- Stampin Up

52 Week Photography Challenge- New Beginnings

Hello! It's been a while since I have participated in a photography challenge, and I have been itching to get back into it, so I was super excited when fellow photographer, blogger and Minnesotan Sheila decided to host a year long challenge on her blog! Each week there is a prompt and we just have to get out there and shoot something!

This week the prompt was "New Beginnings." I wasn't really sure what to do with this, but I cleaned my floors last week (no, it doesn't happen weekly...) and I just love how clean and fresh they look when they are just scrubbed. The light and shadows for the windows were kind of interesting too. Clean floors represent a new beginning to me because we get to start over making them dirty! ;) I also found a daily cleaning schedule on another blog that I am hoping to follow to some extent to bring some regularity to my cleaning, so there's another connection.

My youngest turned 4 this week as well. Birthdays are a new beginning too, so here he is on my clean floor!

If you are interested in learning more about the challenge and/or joining in, you can find the details here.

Coming Soon- Baby Shower card

Hello again! I am back today to share a card I made last week for a baby shower I went to over the weekend. 

I used my Cricut and the New Arrival cartridge for my card. I used the card option and then colored the silhouette in using a variety of pens and markers. I then backed the panel with some patterned paper. I cut the sentiment using the All Mixed Up cartridge. To draw attention to the cute stork and baby, I used Liquid Pearls to make dots around the window. I was going to be done with the card there, but when we were signing the card, something got on the front of the card, so I punched the star from the same paper as I used for the sentiment and popped that up over the spot. :) Opportunity to be creative, right?

 I am entering this in the Bitten by the Bug 2 challenge this week which was all about "new". I used the "New Arrival" cartridge for this card and it is for a baby and it doesn't get much newer than that!

Proud Moments 12-18 Months

Hello! I had some time to scrap this week and was able to make a two page layout for my son's album. I was inspired by the current challenge at the 123 Challenge Blog:

I started with white cardstock for the background of this layout. I used a star mask, two colors of Distress Ink and an ink blending tool to create the stars. Then I started layering the photos and papers on. I loved that journaling card in the center of the layout, so I had to fit that onto the page.I went a little crazy cutting stars from patterned paper using my Cricut. I layered some with foam tape and stamped others with lines for my journaling. A piece of washi tape draws attention to my title and pulls it together. I finished off the page with some sequins.

I was also inspired by the Take 5 challenge at Paper Issues:

I used cardstock, more than one photo, patterned paper, foam tape, a star, and washi tape.

Materials:
Cardstock- American Crafts
Patterned Paper- Echo Park, Bella Blvd
Stamps- Stampin Up, Fiskars
Wood Veneer- Studio Calico
Ink- Ranger, Stampin Up
Mask- Crafter's Workshop
Stickers- Echo Park, Bella Blvd
Washi Tape- Target
Cricut Cartridges- Tear Drop, All Mixed Up, Doodlecharms
Sequins- October Afternoon, unknown

Pumpkins

Hello all! I've been able to find some scrapping time the last few days and was able to put together a layout! These are some photos that have been waiting to be scrapped for quite some time. I considered doing a two page layout, but then figured out a way to make all of the photos fit on one page. This is another fairly simple layout since there are so many photos... I'm realizing this is kind of my style!

I pulled out the Bella Blvd. Trick or Treat collection. I ended up pulling the green with black polka dot paper from my stash and just using the Bella Blvd paper and stickers for embellishment. I cut the title with my Cricut and Sure Cuts A Lot. We upgraded our computer months ago and I finally installed SCAL last night so I could use it again! I finished off the layout with some very old rub ons and buttons.

The current "issue" at Paper Issues is "Stash Busters" so I entered this layout since I pulled out lots of old products to complete it.

Materials:

Cardstock- American Crafts, Michael's

Patterned Paper- Bella Blvd,, October Afternoon

Stickers- Bella Blvd

Rub ons- We R Memory Keepers

Buttons- Fancy Pants

Enamel Dots- Basic Grey

Pens- Signo Uniball, Zig

Font- Oogie Boogie

New Stamps!

Hi all and Happy New Year! I have a couple more cards to share using some stamps that I received for Christmas. Both sets are from Altenew. If you are not familiar with the company, they have some really beautiful floral stamps, amazing layering stamps and other stamps as well. I received these two sets (which I had bought for myself on Black Friday ;)):

I've had a set of layering stamps for several years, but they are wood mounted. I was excited to try these clear stamps for layering. The results are beautiful:

For this card, I started with the branch and decided to put blossoms on it. I layered an orange ink over a coral ink. There isn't as much contrast between the colors as I would like, but I am still pleased with the result. I then used a few shades on blue for the butterfly.

The rose in the bottom left corner of this card was the first thing I stamped with this set! I was SO happy with how it turned out, it looks so realistic! The make the leaves look like they are tucked behind the flowers, I made masks of the solid roses and laid those over the stamped flowers before stamping the leaves. For the butterflies, I stamped the smaller ones on another piece of cardstock and fussy cut them. To add the shimmer, I stamped over the whole thing with the solid stamp using Versamark and then heat embossed it with glitter powder. I added the smaller butterflies with foam tape. I decided the card needed a bit more, so I stamped the large butterfly directly on the card front.