"Brotherly Love"

1. Crop Addict April 2011 Monthly Kit, Crop Addict April 2011 Monthly Kit Option, three photos (all 3”x3”), black thin marker, light blue & white baker’s twine, blue embroidery floss, red mist, dry embossing tool/template, a border punch, a 1½” circle punch, stapler/staples and various adhesives.

2. Use the green cardstock as your base. Use a black thin marker and ruler to add a simple thin-lined border all the way around the edge of layout, leaving about ¼” of space between the border and layout edges.

3. Trim a piece of the striped Dream Street paper to 12”x4¼”; make sure the stripes run vertically. Use a border punch to create a decorative edge along one 12” side. Adhere this piece of paper horizontally along your layout so it’s 4” from the bottom edge and the decorative edge is at the top. Add a border sticker running horizontally along your layout about 1/16” below this sheet of paper.

4. Adhere one of the bingo cards to your layout so it’s 2” from the top edge and 2” from the right edge. Cover the title of the bingo card with a 4½”x1-1/16” piece of the light blue grid paper so you can create your own custom title (see step #11).

5. Trim a piece of the red Dream Street paper to 12”x3¼”. Adhere this piece horizontally along your layout and directly on top of the striped paper so there is about a ¼” of the striped paper showing at the bottom and 5/8” showing at the top.

6. Cut a 2-3/8”x3” piece of light yellow lined paper from one of the small bonus sheets of paper to create a journaling block. Add a small sticker to the lower right corner of the journaling block. Adhere this journaling block and the three photos to the red paper, leaving an 1/8” of space between and above and below each photo/journaling block; adhere in the following order – photo, photo, journaling block, photo.

7. Cut off the blank part of one of the labels and set aside for future use (see step #11).

8. Take the stitched part of the label and use it, two of the journaling die-cuts and three stickers to create an embellishment cluster near the lower left corner of the bingo card. For added interest, add a piece of baker’s twine to one element in your cluster, add a couple staples and use some foam adhesive for dimension.

9. Punch a circle from the flowered Dream Street paper and adhere it to the upper left corner of your layout so it hangs off the edge; trim off the excess hanging off. Cut a heart freehand from the red Dream Street paper and run it through your embossing template. Adhere it with foam adhesive near the circle and add a sticker to complete the embellishment cluster.

10. Stitch a 9¼” horizontal line running across your layout, about 2¼” from the top of your layout and starting about 1¾” from the left edge of your layout.

11. Add your title to the top of the bingo card using a combo of the Scenic Route square alpha stickers and the Dream Street chipboard alphas. Back one letter in your title with a red-misted fabric heart that you cut from the blank part of the fabric label.

12. Add a green plastic paper clip to the upper right corner of the far right photo.

13. Ink three small chipboard dots with the orange ink and adhere in a horizontal line above the far left photo, within the striped paper.

14. Add your journaling to the journaling block. (I omitted this step because this layout is for a gift album and I want the recipient to add their own journaling.)

"Rose Garden"

1. Gather your supplies: Crop Addict April 2011 Monthly Kit, Crop Addict April 2011 Monthly Kit Option, five photos (one 6”x4½”, four 2”x2”), journaling pen, two colors of paint, two border punches, 1¼” circle punch, green, yellow & brown chalk inks and various adhesives.

2. Choose two chipboard flowers and paint them each a different color with paint. Set aside to dry.

3. Use the light blue cardstock as your base.

4. Cut a 2”x12” piece of the diamond-patterned brown Jillibean paper and adhere it vertically along the left side of your layout. Cut a ¾”x12” piece from the green Jillibean paper and then use a border punch to create a decorative edge along one of the 12” edges. Adhere this directly over the right edge of the brown paper, with the decorative edge facing left.

5. Trim a piece of the blue flowered-patterned Jillibean paper to 2”x10”. Take the second border punch and punch a decorative edge along one of the 10”-long sides. Adhere this piece of paper horizontally along your layout, decorative edge facing down so it’s 6½” from the top edge of your layout.

6. Mat your large focal photo on a 6¼”x 4¾” piece of the blue crisscross-patterned Jillibean paper. Mat your four small square photos each on a piece of 2¼”x2¼” text-patterned Jillibean paper. Ink all the edges of the photo mats with the brown chalk ink. Adhere your focal photo so it’s 1¾” from the left edge and 1½” from the top edge of your layout. Adhere your four small photos in a horizontal line below the focal photo; the top edges of these photos should be about 5 ½” from the top edge of your layout (they will overlap your focal photo). The farthest right photo should be 1/8” from the right edge of your layout and then space all the rest of the photos about 1/8” apart.

7. Adhere your two chipboard painted flowers near the lower left corner of your photos. Add a punched 1¼” green patterned paper circle, topped with the circle of bling, to the center of the larger flower. Attach a brad to the center of the smaller flower.

8. Use your journaling pen to draw journaling lines to the right of the chipboard flowers and below the patterned paper. Next, add your journaling.

9. Use the black alphabet stickers to add your title above the focal photo.

10. Fussy-cut the pink bouquet of flowers from the one sheet of bonus paper and use foam adhesive to adhere it in the upper-right corner of your focal photo.

11. Fussy-cut three birdhouses out of the Jillbean paper and adhere them in a line in the lower right corner of your layout. Use the green & yellow ink and your stamp set to embellish them.

I have a layout featured in the April 2011 Page Maps newsletter!

Yep! That's right! I finally got the email from Becky Fleck inviting me to create the sample layout for one of her sketches to be featured in the April 2011 Page Maps newsletter. I cannot begin to tell you how super excited I was. So I received this awesome sketch below to work with...

...and created the following layout. I broke into the new Echo Park papers I received for Christmas and dove into the photos from our November trip to Kauai. I had yet to scrap any photos from this vacation and this sketch gave me the perfect reason to start!

If you haven't ever seen Becky's sketches, then be sure to check out her site, Page Maps. She has sketches for layouts of all sizes including double-pagers, round pages and mini-pages. She also features new card sketches once a quarter. Not only does she have awesome sketches on Page Maps, she also has a couple books out with even more sketches and designs the layouts for Scrapbook & Cards Today magazine and their Project 12 yearly challenge. If you are a fan of sketches, then be sure to check these all out!

The fun Crop Addict April Kit is here!

I had such a blast working with the Crop Addict April kit! This kit is chock full of awesome supplies including beautiful double sided papers from Jillibean Soup, Carolee's Creations Adornit, and Dream Street. It also contains six coordinating sheets of Bazzill cardstock, including one sheet each of dotted Swiss and bling cardstock. A Maya Road strawberry mini-album, set of diecut alphabet letters, KI Memories glitter lace cardstock, journaling cards, Prima canvas tabs, file folders, brads, an ink pad, a clear stamp set, and a other miscellaneous goodies have also been included. You'll enjoy creating with this kit. All of this can be yours for only $48...but order fast because supplies won't last. Order now!

A fabulous April kit add-on is also available. It includes Carolee's Creations Adornit clear stickers and cardstock stickers, a Scenic Route square alphabet and a pack of Fancy Pants Big Board Chipboard. This kit option can be yours for only $14. Order it now too!

I created six fun layouts with this kit including a kareoke birthday layout, two layouts for a first year baby album, a layout about moving away from home, a Happy Hour layout and a layout about a trip to the International Rose test garden. Check out all these layouts below. I am saving the mini-album for a rainy day!

You can also check out what the rest of the Crop Addict Design Team did with this kit here in the Crop Addict gallery!