Lasting Memories Guest Designer- Week 4

My last layout went up on Sunday at Lasting Memories. Here is the tic-tac-toe board for week 4:

I was also inspired by this sketch from Sketches In Thyme:

I broke the photo spots into multiple spots so I could get more photos on my layout. I then went to work with some fun papers. I used my Cricut to cut the title and the circles. I scattered the circles around the page like the hexes on the sketch. I added some pieces of washi tape around the page as well. I finished off the page with some enamel dots. I used the top left to bottom right diagonal on the tic-tac- toe board: 2+ papers, circles, and blue.

 Thanks for stopping by and following along this month!

Lasting Memories Guest Designer- Week 3

Hello! The week 3 tic tac toe board from Lasting Memories looks like this:

I started with a rainbow lined piece of patterned paper for my background. Then I found some patterned papers to back my photos. I used a coordinating color of cardstock for the center strip. I used my Cricut for the stars and letters. For the journaling spots and the word "Hello", I used some stickers. To frame the center, I used some washi tape and sewed over it with my my sewing machine. To embellish the page, I once again used some school die cuts and stickers. I finished things off with a few enamel dots.

 This layout was inspired by this sketch from last month's Creative Memories crop on Facebook:

Birthday Card- Color Inspiration

Hello! I have another new card to share! For this card, I started with this challenge from Color Dare:

I loved the bold colors of this challenge! I started wtih a piece of golden cardstock. I used a background stamp and blue ink, followed by clear embossing powder for the background. I then blended some orange and red ink over that. The blue ink was not as bold as I'd hoped, so I added some blue ink splatters. I then used my Cricut to cut the cake and the sentiment. I assembled that directly on my card front. To finish things off, I added some sequins for added interest.

 

Mother's Day cards- Working with 6x6 pad

Hello and Happy Mother's Day! I have some cards to share today that I sent to my mom, mother-in-law, and grandmas. I started with the Scrapbook Customs Mom paper pad. 

For my first card, I ink blended the background with a set of masks. The background was a pink patterned paper with white words. I used inks for three of the layers and for the final layer I used Versamark and then silver embossing powder. I then used a strip of the striped Happy Mother's Day paper and layered that over two more patterned papers and angled it across the card.

For my next card, I started with the black and grey patterned paper and used the circle background stamp. I stamped it with Versamark and used white embossing powder. Another patterned paper had circles with "Happy Mother's day" and flowers in the center, so I used a circle cutter to cut some of those out and added them to the center of the cut circles. I then layered that over a gingham patterned paper. 

I cut the striped "Happy Mother's Day" paper again for this card, cutting the strips. I then layered those over the diagonal stiped paper. To add dimension, I layered two strips of paper underneath each text strip. I cut the flower using my Cricut and outlined it with a black pen and then attached it with foam adhesive. To finish off the card, I used some clear gems and a large black gem for the center of the flower.

For my final card, I started with two patterned and layered them on the card front. I used another strip from the text paper to cover the seam. I used my Cricut to cut the little floral doily and flower. I added detail to the center of the flower with a pen and finished it off with a black gem.

 Thanks for stopping by to check out my cards!

Lasting Memories Guest Designer- Week 2

Hello, I'm back with my layout for this week's challenge at Lasting Memories. We started with this tic tac toe board:

This week I used the center column to inspire my layout. I started with the three photos from Halloween 2015. I then found two patterned papers that brought out the colors of my daughter's costume. I cut those into large tags. For the background, I stamped snowflakes with white pigment ink. I used my cricut to cut the title and snowflakes. I stamped and heat embossed the journaling spot. To finish things off, I used a few silver star puffy stickers and a epoxy flair.

I used a sketch from Scrap a Sketch again for this week's layout:

 

Lasting Memories May Guest Designer- Week 1

Hello! I'm excited to share that I am a guest designer at Lasting Memories this month! Each week, we will be working with a tic tac toe board. Here is this week's board:

I used the top row to inspire my layout. I started with two photos of my son making art when he was younger. I then used these fun watercolor style papers for my background. I used a punch for the banners and then my Cricut to cut the letters and blobs. For the journaling spot, I stamped the journaling area and wrote my journaling with a white gel pen. To embellish the page, I used a pack of school die cuts and found the artsy ones. For the metal, I used two metal brads on my tags. 

 I used a sketch from Scrap a Sketch as the starting point of my design.

Totally Buggin- Sketches In Thyme

Hello! I have a new layout to share that I was able to complete over the weekend. I started with this sketch from Sketches In Thyme:

I rotated the sketch to accomodate my vertical 4x6 photo. The other two columns were adjusted slightly for the sizes of my photos. Instead of the arrows, I cut some bugs with my Cricut. Before attaching them to my layout, I used my sewing machine to add some wavy stitching. I also used my Cricut for the title. I used a couple of journaling stickers. I finished off the page with some red Nuvo Drops.

 

Sacrament Cards

Hello again! I have a few more cards to share today. I am part of the card ministry at my church and I was asked to make cards for the people receiving sacraments of initiation at Easter. I put my Cricut to work on these cards!

First up are cards for people who are receiving both First Communion and Confirmation. This cut is perfect for this with the dove and the bread and chalice. I cut the background out of watercolor paper and did the smooshing techinique with yellow, orange and red Distress Inks. As that was drying, I cut the rest of the layers. I then assembled everything. The rest of the card was pretty simple- a patterned paper background and a stamped and heat embossed sentiment on vellum that I wrapped around the bottom of the card.

I made a couple of cards for people who are receiving Baptism, First Communion, and Confirmation. I just copied the card in this post I made for my nephew earlier this year because I liked the design.

I also made a card for someone who is just receiving First Communion. For this one, I cut a chalice and a circle that I scored a cross into the center of. For the background, I dry embossed and sanded some Core-dinations whitewash cardstock. I edged the piece with some gold ink. The sentiment was stamped and heat embossed on some vellum and layered under the chalice.

 

May Calendar Page

Hello all! I have my May calendar page today. I used this sketch from Lasting Memories because I worked best with the photos I had:

I divided some of the photo spots into smaller spots so I could get more photos on my page. I used a new collection of paper I found at my local scrapbook store from a company called Paper Rose out of Australia. The colors and designs are so beautiful, I look forward to using this one more! I used strips of cardstock for my journaling. For the title, I used my Cricut. I had a scrap of paper that I had done the smooshing technique on with colors that worked with the colors of the papers on my layout, so I cut "May" from that and found coordinating cardstock for the flowers. This collection has a die cut butterfly pack, so I used some of those to scatter around my page. I decided a couple of the clusters needed a little more, so I splattered some yellow and orange ink on the background. I finished things off with some washi tape and enamel dots.

 

Cards- Using Up Scraps

Hi all! Earlier this week I sat down to create some birthday cards for the month ahead. I decided to pull out my folder of scraps and work with those. For my first card, I started with this sketch from Sketch Saturday:

As I was going through my scraps, I found I had a lot of strips, so I decided to use some of those for the background. Then I used a couple rectangular scraps over the top. I punched the flower from a cardstock scrap and inked the edges for some dimension. I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment on a scrap of vellum and adhered that to my card. I finished things off with some black dimensional paint.

 

For my next card, I had the three pieces of floral paper. I needed something the fill in the center of the card, so I found a scrap of coordinating cardstock to trim down. I edged my background pieces with black ink and adhered them down. I cut the word "birthday" with my Cricut. I stamped "happy" on a scrap of white cardstock and added the cut word below it. "Happy" wasn's fully centered, so I added a small flower stamp to balance it. I edged this piece as well with black ink. I finished this card off with some sequins.

Next, I made a card for one of my nieces. I found this fun cut so I started there. Since that took up most of the card front, I just needed to come up with a background. I pulled out this dot circle stamp (this is definitely a favorite) and stamped and heat embossed it in white on white cardstock. I then inked the whole background with Salty Ocean Distress ink. I glued down the cut pieces. The cut just had holes for the eyes, so I pulled out some googly eyes to add to it. It still needed a little something, so I fussy cut the ladybugs from a border strip in my scrap folder.

For my last card, I started with a strip with the birds on the line. I searched up a cut that said "A little birdie told me...". I cut  the background panel from dot cardstock and layered the bird strips and a slim strip of red plaid over it. I then glued down my sentiment. I finished this card off in the inside with cut words that said "You're 3."

April Calendar Page- Stick It Down

Hi all! I have my April calendar page to share today! I used the March Double page sketch from Stick It Down:

I had lots more photos, so I made them all 3x3 squares and rounded the corners instead of cutting them as circles. I then fussy cut some flowers and used a circle cutter to cut some circles from coordinating patterned paper to layer under the photos. I cut a sheet of the butterfly patterned paper in half diagonally and arranged my photos along the edge. I used my Cricut to cut the title. I used a chunk of lined patterned paper for my journaling block. I wanted a little texture on my cardstock background, so I splattered some teal, pink, and purple inks on it before adhering my title and journaling. I embellished the page with some puffy stickers. I also added a fussy cut butterfly to the title to bring the butterflies to that part of the layout.

 

March Cards

I had a few cards to make this month. First up was two confirmation cards for my daughter and my nephew. I started with some scraps of watercolor paper. I painted waves on them in red, orange and yellow with shimmer watercolors. I then added some splatters of red before it was dry. Once it was dry, I stamped some texture onto the background in a yellow shade of Distress Oxide ink. I finished it off with some splatters of gold ink. for the card base, I stamped a script background stamp with gold ink. Once that was dry, I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment with embossing powder. I cut the dove and cross combo using my Cricut from cream shimmer cardstock. 

Next up is a birthday card. I started with a watercolor patterned paper in blue and green. I layered blue distress ink through a mask over the top. I cut the wheat branches using my Cricut and added some inking for depth. I stamped, heat embossed and fussy cut the banner. I added some gold splatters to the background for some interest and a double bow of embroidery floss to the wheat bundle.

 

Vive Le Swing- Dance Layout

Hi all! I have my last dance page (for a bit) to share! For this page, I started with this sketch from Sketches in Thyme:

I changed the layout of the photos a bit and placed them over the top of the papers. I also moved the title to an area that had more space. The larger pieces of paper on either side are watercolor papers with resist on them. I started by using some Distress Inks on them. The color wasn't vibrant enough, so I then sprayed them with red spray ink. I let that dry and then went to wipe the excess off the resist areas. That resulted in very vibrant red all over everything. I was bummed at first, but the vibrant red goes much better with with photos, so it worked out. For the title, I cut it with the Cricut from gold foil cardstock once and kraft cardstock two more times and stacked them up for dimension. I used a couple of premade embellishments and some gold gems to finish off the page.

 Now we just wait until she gets her dance photos from this year- then it will be crunch time before graduation!

Cross the Line- Dance Layout

Hello! I have another layout to share today! I only have one left to make before I am caught up on these, at least until she take photos for this year!

One of the challenges this month at Lasting Memories is to make a wreath on your layout using punched or die cut circles. This dance made me think of pom style dance, even though they didn't use poms, so I punched a bunch of scalloped circles to create the wreath of "poms" around my page. I then stamped the starbursts around that. I cut the title with my Cricut and wrote the journaling on a small journaling spot. I finished off the page with some clear iridescent sequins.

 

A New Layout and Cards

Hello, I have a few new project sto share today. First up is another dance layout for my daughter's album. I had been thinking about how to create this layout for a while. I wanted to try something with inkpads to make a modern, geometric background. I started by pressing a black inkpad onto the background paper. Then I took a pink inkpad and drug it across in different directions (This would be even more effective with an inkpad that has a little more ink in it, mine was a little dry.) I then matted the photos with black and pink cardstock. I then cut the title with my Cricut. I wanted to add some more silver to my layout (the shadow around the title it silver). I have some silver foil sheets and I tried running a strip of adhesive on some scrap paper and rubbing the foil over it and I loved the effect. So I added some strips of silver around the page. I love how the adhesive runner gives a ragged end to the strip. I then finished off the layout with a journaling tag and a die cut.

Next up, I made some thank you cards for some choreographers that helped with an outreach program our studio does. First up is a card for the director of the program who had a baby last month, so this card is a thank you/welcome baby card. This was a quick and easy card to make. I cut some patterned papers and an embellishment card. The card was the same color as the background I wanted to place it on, so I matted it in a coordinating color of cardstock. I added some gold Liquid Pearl to the crown and bowtie on the lions, the crown on the alligator and some dots around the animal patterned paper. I finished off this card with a fiber ribbon across the seam between the patterned papers.
 

For my next card, I used the "Marbled" Turnabout stamp on cream shimmer paper. This card is 5x7 and the stamp is 6x6, so I trimmed down the stamped panel to 4 3/4" wide and then cut it about 2/3 of the way down to create a gap which I filled with a plain strip of cardstock. I then stamped the dancer with Versamark cardstock and heat embossed it with navy embossing powder. I cut the sentiment and shaddow with my Cricut.  I adhered those together and to my card. I decided I wanted to add some of the turquoise glitter paper to the card, so I cut a couple of thin strips and added them to the card front.

I used a set of masks and blended directly on my card front for the next card. I had taped off the edges to creat the border. There was a gap between the mask and the tape on the bottom so I had ended up with a thin dark blue line across the bottom of the inking, so I used a pen and drew the blue border all the way around the design. I finished off this card with a cut dancer and sentiment.

For my final card, I used the Triangles Turnabout stamp. This is another stamp that creates a 6x6 panel, so I again trimmed down the sides. I then trimmed down the pieces I had trimmed off and added them on either end of the large panel. I then cut the dancer and sentiment using my Cricut.

Hey There, Pumpkin- Stick It Down

Hello! I have a new layout to share! I started with the single page sketch from Stick It Down:

I had four photos instead of three, so I just added it to the inside column. Instead of the triangle bursts, I used my Cricut to cut some large leaves from patterned paper. I used the same patterned papes to add photo mats. I used my Cricut again for the title. I used a journaling stamp to make the lines for my journaling. To embellish the page, I used some old chipboard buttons and some new puffy stickers. I finished the whole thing off with some gold ink splatter.

 

Beach Medley- Dance Layout

Hi all! I have a new dance layout to share. This one started with the current sketch from Rochelle Spears:

This sketch went on a bit of the journey. I started by extending the photos in both directions, then I rotated the paper strips because I wanted the illusion of waves, finally, I shifted the embellishments a bit to fit with the other changes I made. I chose blue and pink patterned papers for my background and found a few that had waves or looked like waves. I cut the title with my Cricut and adhered "Beach" with foam adhesive. For the tag and journaling spot, I stamped and heat embossed with white powder. To prevent smudging, I used a ultra fine tipped Sharpie for my journaling. The rest of the embellishments included washi tape, stickers, puffy stickers and some gold ink splatters.

I also did the Scrap With Stacy Tic Tac Toe challenge:

I used the top left to lower right diagonal- ink splatter, tag, and stamping.

 

A Couple New Layouts

Hello! I have a couple of new layouts to share! First up is one for my second youngest's book. He was such a busy baby and toddler- as you can see from the photos! I've had this star patterned paper for quite a while, waiting for the right photos. When I figured out I could surround the star with these photos, I went to work! . I didn't have to add a whole lot to this page since the background paper has quite a bit going on. I added some cut apart phrases and stickers. I cut my title with my Cricut. I wanted to add some more navy to the layout, so I pulled out some phrase stamps and stamped them in a few spots around my page. To finish things off, I added a few puffy stickers and some light green ink splatters. The background paper was the starting point for this layout, but I was also inspired by this color scheme from Paper Issues:

 Next is another layout for my daughter's dance album- I only have a few pages left to be caught up! I started with this sketch from Paper Issues:

I wanted a big sun in the place of the heart, so I created it. I started by making a large circle mask and ink blending it. I then took a water brush and a couple of the ink colors and made the rays. I finally added some splatters with some shimmer watercolors. I cut the title with my Cricut and used the black and gray papers for my photo mats. For the clusters, I dug into my stash and used some rub ons, felt pieces and journaling spots. I punched a couple of tags for an added layer.