Kids' Zone- Sketches In Thyme

Hello, I'm back with another layout using another Sketches In Thyme sketch:

I made a two page layout, so I used the sketch for the left hand page. I played around with mists to start this layout. First I did the plastic smooshing technique. I sprayed some mist onto a piece of plastic and then sprayed some water on that and then pressed it onto my paper. I used a circle cutter to make the large circle on the left hand page and kept my smooshing inside that. I then used a lined circle mask and misted pink Color Shine over that. I forgot to cover the edges outside my circle cutter, so I ended up with overspray outside my circle- oops! Finally, I added some ink splatters to my background. Once that dried, I went to work with patterned papers. I tore some strips to run across both pages- I haven't torn paper in so long! Then I cut some circles from the butterfly paper. I embellished my layout with stickers, buttons, gems and sequins. 

 Thanks for stopping by to check out my layout!

Get Moving- Sketches In Thyme

Hello, I have a new layout to share today! When this sketch was revealed at Sketches In Thyme last Friday, I knew I had to use it:

I pulled out these photos of my son at open gym several years ago and went to work. Since there are lots of primary colors in the photos, I looked for papers in the same color scheme. This is a great design for scraps since I just needed a couple of small squares and some strips. I roughed up the bottom edges of my strips for some texture. For my title, I used the "Boys Will Be Boys" Cricut font. Quick tip to get the spacing right for those small pieces of the letters: use the negative cut and glue the small pieces down through the openings that they were cut from. I also cut the letters from chipboard to give them dimension. I found coordinating arrows and cut those out for either side of my title. I then went to work finding embellishments. I used a couple of stickers, a die cut, wood veneers, and some enamel dots to finish off the layout.

 I did some hand journaling directly on one of the paper strips across the bottom so I am entering this in The Studio's handwritten journaling challenge.

Oh Happy Day- Sketch Saturday

Hello! I have a card to share today! I started with this sketch from Sketch Saturday:

My card is definitely more loosely based on this sketch. Rather than blocks of paper, the star cut design is in the place of the vertical block and the banner with my sentiment takes the place of the horizontal piece. I did lots of cutting with my Cricut and inking on this card. For the "Earth," I first pressed Mowed Lawn Distress Ink onto a piece of plastic. I misted that with water and pressed the circle into the ink. Once that was dry, I pressed Salty Ocean Distress Ink onto the same piece and misted that. I then pressed the circle into that and dried it. I pressed the circle into the leftover ink one last time to add some depth to the color. For my background, I pressed Black Soot Distress Oxide Ink onto the plastic and misted it and then pressed my black cardstock into it. I like the depth it added to my background. The rest of my card was putting together the rocket and stamping the sentiment. I added the dot details with Liquid Mercury Nuvo Drops. I'm really loving how this one turned out!

 

February Calendar Page

Hi all! I have my February calendar page done a full week early! I started with the two page sketch from Stick It Down:

I of course made the photo spots hold lots more photos. I created the photo collage on the right hand page in Photoshop Elements. Once I had all my papers and photos down, I went to work on the title and journaling. I used my Cricut to cut the title three times and then stacked them (I am really loving this technique for adding dimension). I typed and printed my journaling and cut it into strips. To embellish the layout, I fussy cut some flowers and used stickers, washi tape, and rub ons. I finished off my embellishment clusters with some pink Nuvo Drops. 

 I am also entering this in the Scrappy Friends Tic Tac Toe challenge (I used the items in the middle horizontal row):

Thanks for stopping by to check out my layout!

Junior Dog Whisperer

Hello and happy weekend! I have a new layout to share today! I was inspired by the fun sketch at challenge at Scrap Our Stash this month:

I added another photo , but stuck pretty close to the inspiration layout in design. I initially was just going to use the woodgrain paper for the base of my page, but decided to trim it down and add the green cardstock behind it. I cut a large square out of the middle of the green cardstock and that's what I used to cut "Whisperer" with my Cricut. I cut that word 3 times and stacked the letters to give it some dimension. The green was getting a little lost on the leaf and bug paper, so I inked the edges with dark brown ink. I stuck with mostly natural textures for my embellishments- wood veneer, cork, metal. 

This layout has a good mix of some really old products- the letter stickers, gromlet, button brads, and with the newer (to me anyway) "Never Grow Up" collection. It was really fun to dig into some of my older stash and use it! I am entering this layout in the "Old and New" challenge at The Studio.

Thanks for stopping by to check out my layout!

 

Fly High

Hello! I have a new layout to share today! This one was based on this sketch from Paper Issues:

As you can see, I added several more photos than the sketch suggests, but stuck pretty close to the sketch from there. This sketch worked great for the scraps I have of a couple of collections. Once I got my background pieces cut and attached and attached my photos, I went to work on the title. I decided to use DIY Thickers and some glitter. I am running out of letters in this set, so I ended up cutting down a "J" for an "L" and an ampersand for the "G". Get creative with those letters! I used a Paper Issues cut file for the little bursts around the page. For the frame around the layout, I used my sewing machine and black thread. I finished off the layout with some stickers and Nuvo Drops. 

 

Happy Birthday card- Stick It Down

Hello all! I have a new card to share today. I started with the current card sketch from Stick It Down:

I wanted to play a little with inking, so I started by using a blending tool and yellow and orange distress inks to blend the entire background. Then I took a circle mask and a blending tool with VersaMark. I covered the circle with clear embossing powder and heated it. The embossing wasn't as solid as I was hoping so I did another layer of VersaMark and clear embossing powder. I then pressed my Black Soot Distress Oxide ink onto a plastic panel and sprayed it with water. I ran my card front through the ink until it was covered. I took an ink blending tool and did a bit of extra blending around th ecircle to make sure it stood out more. I used Archival ink for the geese and sentiment. To finish off the card, I added some gold stars.

 

Yoda Birthday Card

Hi all, I have a card to share today! I made this card for my son's 8th birthday. He is a big Star Wars fan, so I went in search of a fun cut file to use on his card. I ended up finding this site which has several cut files. This one was NOT easy to assemble! The outline is truly an outline and was very fragile. I ended up using Press and Seal to help lift the outline off the cutting mat (along with a spatula) and keep it in shape. Then as I cut out the other colors, I placed them face down on the outline. You are going to want to add glue to areas of the outline that are under the other colors, I didn't and then had to go back and add it once I had it assembled- which wasn't easy! Here you can see what the front looked like while still on the Press and Seal:

Once I had all the pieces together, I ran my adhesive gun over it several times, making sure to get areas where there were multiple small pieces to help keep them in place. This is what the back looked like with the adhesive added:

 For the background of my card, I used a tiny star mask and glimmer spray. I then pressed the die cut onto the card front. With the detailed die cut, I didn't think the card needed anything else on the outside!

Thanks for checking out my card!

Let's Celebrate

Hello again! I have another layout to share today! This time I was inspired by this sketch from Let's Get Sketchy:

Once again, I added more photos than the sketch suggested. I also used squares instead of hexagons because they were quicker and easier to make. I used a bunch of scraps for this layout since it didn't require large pieces of patterned paper. Once I had my squares cut and adhered, I used some washi tape and a thin strip of paper for the vertical strip. I decided to add some interest to the top right and bottom left corners, so I pulled out a mask and Distress Oxide ink in Crushed Olive. I then splattered some grey ink over that. I used my Cricut to cut the title. I wrote my journaling directly on the layout. To embellish my layout, I used a die cut tag and ribbon, stickers, a flair badge, and enamel dots. 

 Thanks for stopping by to check out my layout!

Oh Brother

My blog has been a bit quiet, but I have been busy creating! I will be sharing what I have been working on over the next few days. First up are a couple of layouts for my middle son's book. 

My first layout has photos of him and his older brother when he was a baby (he just turned 8! 😱). I ran some patterned paper down the center of my cardstock and then layered my photos over the top. I double matted the adorable focal point photo to make it stand out a little more. I added washi tape between the photos down the right side to break them up a bit. For the title, I used my Cricut. I am loving how easy it is to cut thin chipboard for my letters to give them some dimension! I found a quote I liked for the journaling and then went to work embellishing. I used some brads, chipboard hearts, stickers, and rub ons to finish the page. 

Next up is a recap layout of the first 6 months of his life with his milestones and growth. I used some 3x4 and 3x3 cards on the layout to add some interest between the photos. I used a digital element and matched the color to my patterned paper and typed the journaling before printing them out. I added rub on numbers of the month it covered to the end of the journaling spots. I used my Cricut to cut out my main title and letter stickers for the subtitle. I embellished the page with buttons, silver "Dew Drops", and Nuvo Drops.

 

Living History

Happy New Year! I am starting the year with a new layout! I started with the photos and pulled out this piece of patterned paper I've been saving for just the right layout and decided this was it! I stuck my photos down on this awesome background and went to work embellishing. I used both Thickers and my Cricut to cut the title. The journaling tag, "Hello Sunshine" tag and the gray word strip across the bottom were all from a cut apart sheet. I used stickers, wood veneer, chipboard, washi tape, and an enamel accent to embellish the page. There is a sheet of irridescent dot stickers in the colors of the rainbow in the Shimelle #stickerbook and I decided to match those to the colors of my background to add some shimmer to the page. 

 I was inspired by the Word Play- Lights challenge at Lasting Memories. The challenge was to use something for each letter of the alphabet on your layout. Here's mine:

L- letter stickers

I- irridescent stickers

G- green

H- hand written journaling

T- tag

S- stickers