Two Baby Cards and My New Project

I had two events this past weekend that called for cards. The first was the Baptism of my nephew (as well as my son). For this card I used the Card Challenge at Challenge Masters for inspiration. The challenge was to use ribbon in a unique way. I decided to fill in my cross with the ribbon and fray the ends to fill out where the stamp spread out.


Next I made a baby shower card for a friend whose baby shower was on Sunday. Unfortunately, I was unable to be at the shower (because of the aforementioned Baptisms) but I still had a gift for her. I have had this pink "Congratulations" paper for quite a while and thought this was the perfect opportunity to use it. I also used my Cricut and the "New Arrival" cartridge for the cute little dress.


Finally, I have decided to do my own Project 365. The idea is to take a photo every day to document a year in your life. I decided to start last Monday, my 28th birthday. With all that I have going on right now, I thought it would be a good way to document those not-so-significant, but still important, moments and snippets of my life. My other, less important goal, is to work on my photography skills and learn how to use our camera to its fullest. So, here are my photos for my first week:

8/16 My daughter licking the beater after we made my birthday cake.


8/17 Cloth diapers hanging on the clothes line


8/18 My little boy taking a bath with help from his sisters


8/19 My girls playing "Ring Around the Rosie" with friends during a play date


8/20 Angela making burgers for Girls Weekend


8/21 My daughter and nephew doing laps through my in-laws house


8/22 Family socializing after the Baptisms


I didn't take this photo, but it is too beautiful not to share. That is my handsome little boy in his Baptism suit.

Some New Stuff!

Well, I've finally found a little time to get some scrapping done! First, I did this card for my nephew whose birthday was on Monday. I had a little trouble coming up with a sentiment for the inside so I asked at Challenge Masters for some help. Tammy came up with "Sound the alarm... _______ is 2!", which I decided to use on the inside. The firetruck on the front is from a set of Creative Memories die cuts I've had for quite some time. I added the details with some pens and I am pretty happy with how it turned out.



I also completed this layout for the Manufacturer Challenge at Challenge Masters. The challenge was to use products from at least 3 of the following manufacturers: Bazzill
Lilybee Design
Cosmo Cricket
American Crafts
Pebbles
EK Success
I wasn't sure I would be able to do it as I don't think I have ANYTHING from Lilybee or Pebbles and very limited product from EK Success, but I was able to make it work. The cardstock for the background is Bazzill, the circle patterned paper and the green patterned paper are Cosmo Cricket (that I found recently on clearance), and the ribbon is American Crafts. I had fun putting this one together. The pleating that I did with the ribbon is something I've wanted to try for some time. I like how it turned out. The embellishment cluster on the left side of the page came about when I somehow got white paint smudged on the page and I needed to cover it. Again, I like how it turned out and I got to use my new scalloped circle punch. :)



I did one other layout this week, but it was for another round of layout tag so I cannot share it now. I will share it once the tag is complete!

Tag, You're It!

At the beginning of June I participated in "Layout Tag" with some of the other ladies at Challenge Masters. How it works is someone picks a layout to start from, it is sent to the first person who uses it as inspiration for a layout they make. The new completed layout is sent to the next person who uses it as inspiration and so on. There were 16 participants. I was the first person. The layout I was given for inspiration was this:


Here is the layout I made:


As you can see, I copied the placement of the elements very closely. I like the distressed background so I used some paint and a dry foam brush to distress my background paper. Instead of the beaded string spiraling diagonally through the page, I added some buttons. Finally I added my journaling in strips to the bottom right corner because I needed more space than was available in the original design. You can see the rest of the progression here.

Technique Challenge

It's been a while since I posted, but I have a good reason: I had a baby! William was born July 9th and we are so excited to have him as part of our family.

My first layout is from my brother and sister-in-law's wedding last year using photos from the ceremony. (I've had this one done for a while, I just hadn't taken a photo of it.)



The next layout I started before William was born, but then it sat for over a week on my desk. I finally had a little time yesterday to finish it. It is for the Technique Challenge at Challenge Masters. The challenge was to make patriotic pinwheels. I thought these pictures of Ellie at the county fairs last year worked very well with the red, white and blue.



Finally, a picture of the reason I haven't been scrapping. :)

Happy 4th of July!

I was hoping to be holding my baby by now, but I guess we will have to wait a few more days to meet him/her. We spent the day with family having a BBQ, playing games and shooting off some fireworks. It was fun and took my mind of being pregnant for a while.

While I've been waiting to go into labor, I have been getting some more scrapping done. My first project was a birthday card for my sister-in-law whose birthday is on Wednesday. I used this week's sketch from Get Sketchy.





My second project was a layout for the July Surprise Challenge at Challenge Masters. Colette challenged us to use the Becky Fleck sketch below and turn the single photo into a multiphoto photo collage. I had just bought the Cosmo Cricket DeLovely collection yesterday and the fun patterns and bright colors had me inspired to create.

Playing with Alcohol Inks

I made a couple of cards this week using glossy cardstock and Tim Holtz alcohol inks. I am having a lot of fun playing with these inks and the different effects I can make with them. The first card I made a plaid background using instructions from Tim Holtz's blog. This is for my brother-in-law whose birthday is on the 4th of July. I am really happy with how it turned out and will definitely use this technique more!


The next card is for my brother and sister-in-law whose anniversary is also on the 4th of July. For the squares on this one I used red alcohol ink, copper metallic mixative and blending solution to make the mottled effect. I also love how this one turned out and will be trying it again. I used the current sketch at 2 Sketches 4 You for this card.




Here are a couple of layouts I have completed in the last week or so. These were all just for fun, no challenges involved! The first is a layout with pictures from a wedding we went to last summer. This page went together quickly as I used the invitation and other items from the wedding to embellish the page.

I've Been Published!

Today is the release date of the Scrapbooking.com July issue. About a month and a half ago, the editor of this e-zine requested that I write an article about two layouts I had submitted of my girls playing in their pool. Here it is.