All Things Grow With Love

Hello Friends! The inspiration for this layout is my sweet niece Christy & her hubby Richard! We were gathered celebrating Richards 40th birthday & I was able to snap a pic of them together without the kids! That does not happen too often LOL!!
I used the August Limited Edition Kit from My Creative Scrapbook featuring the Basic Grey Lemonade Collection. Everything came in or was made with contents of kit with exception of black card stock & blue bling! I used an awesome sketch by Liz Qualman. I do not often use sketches, but her sketches inspire me!!

I made the black scallop die cut using the "Quick N Easy "scallops technique from a couple posts ago. I then layered with a circle that was inked with Distress Broken China ink. The hearts are chipboard covered with printed paper, inked & bling-ed a bit! The large LOVE is Basic Grey Wilma raw chip letters & is hanging from Websters ribbon.

The flower is Prima & was included in the kit. I adhered the branch to follow the circle so it would have some "flow. The butterfly was inked with Ranger Pitch Black Alcohol ink. I placed some paper scraps behind the chipboard to fill in the wings.

I punched hearts & mini flowers from the papers & added them to the die cut! The "all things grow" are adhesive letters from the Lemonade collection. I inked them with Distress Black Soot, as they were originally pink. The arrow bling is made by "Glitz". I also used this as the butterfly trails.
This was such a fun layout to do!! I love the papers & were perfect for the photo! Thanks to all my friends who stop & visit!!

One Room School House

The inspiration for this layout is an amazing photo of my Grandma at a rural Missouri one room schoolhouse. The photo was used as proof of my Grandma's age. She had no birth certificate & this was considered documentation of her age. She was born in 1897 & was 13 year old & in the 8th grade when the photo was taken in 1910. The children look so much older .. they all had to do hard hard work at that time. She is on the far left leaning against the school.
I have had the picture for some time, but was waiting for the perfect papers. If you notice in the picture you can see the dried leaves & dirt roads . When I opened the September My Creative Scrapbook main kit I knew it was perfect!! It features the Pink Paislee Amber Road Collection papers! Are they not yummy??? Love em.

This was really a very simple layout to do. The fabulous chalkboard die cut is made by Collage Press. It was originally a 12" die cut that I cut down to size to act as a "frame" for my black card stock matted photo. After I adhered the photo I added some Prima black crystal flourishes around the edges. The tree is a Pink Paislee rub-on that I rubbed on clear plastic & cut out with my CutterBee scissors. The rub-ons on the photo are also from the same pack!

The letters are Thickers & were included in the kit. I punched the background paper with Fiskars Lace border punch. I love this punch for vintage. I inked the edges of the papers with both Distress Frayed Burlap & Distress Aged Mahogany. The small deco swirl is a Cuttlebug die that I cut with my Big Shot.

The flowers are kit included Prima's that I took apart added the burnt orange & black layers to make them pop! The apple was from a RAK from SB.com & is made by EKSuccess. I inked it & added the little distressed 1910.
This was a super easy lo to do! EVERYTHING but the apple was from the kit ! I had such fun with this lo! The papers & picture did all the work!! Thanks so much for taking a look! Always nice to hear from friends!!

Quick N Easy Budget Friendly Scallops

Hi friends!~ I have had several people ask me how I have made some of my scalloped papers & I thought I would share how simple it is to do! The supplies are very basic : paper, spool of thread, circle template ( in this case I used a bowl! ) ,marker & scissors.


First mark the spool for the size scallop you would like & be sure to take the mark up the side of rim a bit. I chose to male this one pretty much down the middle.

I then place the bowl on backside of paper & trace.

Place your spool on the traced circle with the mark touching the tracing on both sides & draw around the spool top.

Next move the spool over to the end of the first scallop again with marks touching traced circle. Draw around & continue this around circle. Adjust the size at end if off a little bit!

Next cut with those awesome CutterBee scissors!

If you have some irregular cutting, you can even it out using a nail file!
I then ink the edges to give it a finished look. You can make the scallops as big or as small as you would like by using different size spools & marking them in various spots.

It's that easy!! You can also use it on straight edges, hearts, background layers etc. Here is couple samples that I have done with this technique. I have used it MANY times!!

Thanks so much for stopping by & taking a peek! I love to share & am happy to hear your ideas too!

Enjoy The Little Things

Hi friends! The inspiration behind this layout is this pic of my son Nick & I at a family get together! The reason I love the photo so much is because of the crooked grin on Nick's face! My father, who passed away 20 years ago when Nick was only 8 years old, had that same crooked smile! Every now & then when Nick gets tickled about something... that grins pops up! When I seen this photo it brought a huge smile to MY face & happy memories of my Dad! It really is a little thing, yet brings me so much joy!
I used Basic Grey's Marrakech papers. I love the rich colors to that collection! I thought they worked really well with the photo. The design is very basic. The background paper was punched with a fiskars scallop punch & the edges were inked with both Distress Spiced Marmalade & Nick Bantock Prussian Blue ink. I have posted about the Nick Bantock inks before.. they are AWESOME. They are made by Ranger ( Distress, Tim Holtz & Adirondack), and are rich rich jewel toned inks.

I made the flower using paper layers & card stock cut from various punches & dies . The edges were inked with the Prussian Blue & the Spiced Marmalade. I added a EK Success Fern punch for foliage.

The letters are Basic Grey "Sweets" that have been inked with Ranger pitch black alcohol ink. I think the double matted pic really helped bring the blue from the pic into the layout.

I hand cut the large scalloped paper layer & inked the edges. I punched some small Retro flowers and adhered them to the dips in the scallops! Orange bling was used as the flower center! This added a much needed detail!

I love the Rusty Pickle flourishes that I inked with the Pitch Black alcohol ink. I then added some blues flowers & a couple bling accents.. and Wahlah done!

This was such a fun layout to do! I am so happy to share my Dad & Nick's grin with my friends! Thanks for taking a peek!

"Let's Do Fishy Face"

This adorable picture of my niece Anna & daughter in law Stephanie was this inspiration for this layout! It was Anna's B-day party & Stephanie brought a huge pink & orange glittery, glittery, glittery fish with huge eyes & lovely long lashes!! It was the hit of the party! Glitter everywhere ... and tons of fun! Anna was "posing "with the fishy & kept saying "Let's do fishy face"!! Ironically both girls had on pink & orange clothes just like the fish!
So when the August 2009 My Creative Scrapbook kit came in the mail, I KNEW it was made for this photo! The kit features My Minds Eye, Adventure Series "Fruit Flavored" line of paper! They scream summer fun!

The flowers were made with both Prima paper flowers & cardstock punched with various dies & punches. I added some cardstock punched branches ( Martha Stewart spooky branch) to the flowers to give a "sea weed' feel to the layout. The edges of the background paper was punched with the Fiskars Effervesance punch & inked with both Distress "worn lipstick" & "spiced marmalade' ink. Kit included buttons were placed in corners with a touch of bling. They are made by Bo Bunny Buttons n Bling.

The "bursts" are from a McGill punch with a touch of bling for the center. The title letters are good old Thickers ( also from the kit). They were originally white, however I inked them with 2 shades of Ranger alcohol ink- watermelon & sunset orange.

I matted the pic with pink cardstock & added a blue punched border. I wanted to include a couple fish, so I dug through my old stash & found some old Sticko stickers that I adhered to blue cardstock & then cut leaving a small cardstock edge. This seemed to make them more of an embellie. I inked the edges with Adirondack pool ink & mounted with Glue Dots.

What a fun layout to do!! Such a great memory too! My sister is still finding glitter! Thanks for sharing your time with me friends! I appreciate it very much!

How to - Flower Blooms #1

Hi friends! I have had quite a few requests asking how I made the flowers on my recent layout "first date". They were super easy to do & I thought I would share just how easy with you! Below is pictured the punches I have used. ANY rounded petal flower punch will work! The smallest green punch is a "sun". It does not show up very well in the photo. they are left to right:
Small Retro punch, Mcgill StarBurst punch, mini sun punch, Sizzix Hello Kitty flowers layers die, & Ex Success fern branch.

I used 3 different pattern papers & one solid card stock. The papers I chose were from the K & CO Que Sera Sera paper stack. I also used Adirondack ink in colors a shade darker than the papers & some bling for the flower centers.

This particular flower has only 4 layers. I usually have more layers, but I wanted to get a different look & few layers seemed to work better. Below you can see what I have punched for 4 flowers. The bottom layers was cut in alternate colors, the other layers were all the same. I did this to have a little variety, yet still keep the flow!

I inked the edges of the flowers- putting a touch of the purple ink on both the orange & the green layers.

Now here's the twist... using the small sun punch, turn bottom side up & punch the edge of the petal... do this to the bottom two layers.

I then ink the newly punched edge with a bit of purple ink.

Next glue the bottom 2 layers together. After dry, give the petals a little tug up, so they are not laying real flat!

Next add the best flower punch EVER.. the RETRO punch. Again, pull the layers up after drying.

The last flower layer is the Mcgill Starburst punch. It was done with the black card stock. A touch of bling was adhered to the center!

I then added the fern leaf punch randomly. I often add leaves & foliage to my flowers.. it just has that natural look!

And there ya go!! Easy!! Below they are placed on another printed paper from the Que Sera Sera paper stack. What great papers!!!

I hope I have answered your questions! Please let me know if you have more, or if you would like me to do more on my flowers!! thanks my friends for taking a peek!!

FIRST DATE

The inspiration for this layout is this awesome photo taken of my Mom & Dad on their first date in the Summer of 1945. If you notice in the upper left hand corner of the layout you will see in my Mom's handwriting "Chris & I -first date" . I wanted to include it in the layout, so I scanned & printed it out. After looking at it I thought what a great title! So "First Date" it is! I love the Basic Grey Wisteria line of papers & thought that it worked perfectly with the photo. It is so soft & full of natural elements! The Wisteria papers were featured in the July 2009 Limited Edition Kit at My Creative Scrapbook. The layout design is based on Liz Qualman's Sunday Aug 30 Sketch. Thanks Liz for sharing your great sketches!

The background shield was cut using an older off brand shield I purchased to be used as a template. I then inked the edges with Adirondack Espresso ink. I cut a "ring" of printed paper out of the same paper that I used as my base paper, the ring was also inked with the Espresso ink. The lettering is Basic Grey Wilma raw chip alpha. I blended to colors of Ranger Alcohol ink to achieve the shade I was looking for: Espresso as the first coat & Raisin as the top coat.

The Dragonfly is from the Wisteria chip sticker shape packet & was inked with some Espresso ink. I placed the photo in a Fancy Pants raw chip frame & inked with the same Alcohol inks as the title work. The corner flourish are from Cuttlebug & was cut using my Sizzix Big Shot.

The flowers were made with various punches & dies I used a new technique of punching the petals... I was happy with the way it turned out & will post the technique in a couple days!
I scattered McGill Starburst punched cardstock about the layout. An EK Success leaf punch added some dimension to the flowers. Lastly I highlighted with touches of blue bling!

What a wonderful picture to find! I especially love the writing on back!

Thanks so much my friends for taking a peek! I appreciate you taking the time!

Children Learn What They Live

The inspiration for this layout is the wonderful photo of my hubby as a young boy. I can count on one hand the number of photos we have a him as a child, so it is very special to me! I love the way the sun is peeking through the trees & shining on him in the photo. I wanted to pull from that in the layout & the Prima "Indeed" Collection featured in the beautiful September 2009 Swirlydoo's "Bejeweled" kit were perfect!

I wanted to showcase the beautiful papers, so I used purple & greens to accent. I mounted a printed paper circle to solid card stock to use as a home for the photo. All papers were inked on the edges using a combo of Distress Peeled Paint & Adirondack Purple Twilight. The flowers have 2 die cut layers made from the card stock. The main portion are kit included Prima Trellis Roses- purple mist.

The lettering was colored using Ranger Purple Twilight Alcohol ink applied with a Q-tip. The alpha is 7Gypsies. The decorative photo corners are made from Cuttlebug dies & were cut with my Sizzix Big Shot. I placed contrasting colors in different corners. The small green butterflies were punched from a Martha Stewart punch from the Prima packaging!! Waste not, Want not!!!

Lastly I cut some green leafy decorative edging with my Sizzix & distressed it with the Adinrondack Purple Twilight ink. I then attached a purple punched branch for some extra detail. A touch of lavender & lime green Stickles was added to the greenery to highlight.

This layout was so fun to do! I love the photo & wanted to create a calm gardeny feel! I love scrapping with older pics!! Thanks so much my friends for taking a peek! I appreciate it very much!!!

Fashion Fades...Style is Eternal

The inspiration for this layout was an awesome photo -dated 1918 -of my Grandma ( far right ) with other family members paired with the "Oh Soooo Yummy" Graphic 45 Fashionista papers. Toss in a quote by Yves Saint Laurent & the result is a layout that was fun, fun, fun to do!!!
The G45 papers were featured in the July 2009 Limited Edition Kit at My Creative Scrapbook .

I cut the border trim from the Haute Couture paper with my Cutter Bee scissors & mounted in on a circle disc. I then inked the edges with Distress Aged Mahogany & Black Soot ink. I adhered it to black card stock for my border to the great printed papers from Graphic 45.

Cosmo Cricket Blackboard flowers were used to help bring some dimension to the layout. I then added small Retro punched flowers with bling centers to the Blackboard. I love the Blackboard products. I think they were a great find & I have used over & over again. I cut G45 "buttons" from Buttons Ala Mode paper & adhered to paper disc & placed in corner.

The Fashion Fades letters are Heidi Swapp "She" letters & were originally pink. I painted them with Ranger Pitch Black alcohol ink. The punch edged photo mats are made from the papers used in layout & the Martha Stewart Lattice Arch punch. ( Ohhh I love her punches! )

I cut a large paper embellie & mounted it on black card stock. I then separated some Prima "Say it with Crystals" black flourishes & scattered them about the layout! I really wanted to carry the "dotted" theme in the papers throughout the layout!

I had so much fun with this! I love Graphic 45 papers.. they really inspire!!!

Thanks so much for taking a peek my friends!!!