Friday, August 29, 2014

Stamping It Up at Frosted Designs!

Hello all! It's Friday which means we have another challenge for you over at Frosted Designs! This challenge is all about stamping! And there really is no specific rule to this challenge other than to bust out those stamps and use them somewhere on your layout, card, art journal page, altered art piece...whatever project you choose to create! Be sure to link your entry to the Frosted Designs Blog by noon Central Time on Wednesday, September 10th for your chance to win a $30 prize pack of chipboard from Scrapmatts

And here is my take on the challenge. I stamped various sentiments, hearts and stars in black ink in various places on my layout.
Products used from the Frosted Designs Store:
Glitz 77 - Collection Kit, Giant Rhinestones and Puffy Word Stickers
Elle's Studio Stamps - Everyday Moments and Good Times
Kaisercraft Mini Paper Blooms - Sea Breeze
Sakura Identi-Pen

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Project Life 2014: Week 12

Today I am sharing Week 12 of Project Life 2014. Again, for these weeks where Andrew is living apart from the rest of us, one side is dedicated to him and the other side is ours. This spread, the left is the Andrew/Portland side and the right is the Rest of Us/Milwaukee side.

And here is a closer look at the left side. Andrew is definitely not as good at taking photos as I am but he does try. In fact, over the course of a couple days, he took a lot of "stock" photos - things that he did almost everyday like grab coffee in the morning, going to the gym, etc - that I could use to fill in any gaps during his "light photo" weeks. I did that here with the photo of his bike locked up; as a daily bike commuter, this is a familiar scene to him everyday. The photo he took of the Portland sign at sunset wasn't very clear but I still wanted to use it. So, I ran it through one of the artistic filters in PSE and made a blurry photo into an artsy photo - perfect solution! The "lucky" filler card is my tribute to St. Patrick's Day.

So this was the infamous week when I had two big boo-boos...one was cracking my driver's side mirror on the side of the garage (center bottom photo) and the other was slicing my left thumb and needing nine stitches (center top photo). At least I remembered to keep my hospital bracelet for documentation.

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Project Life 2014: Week 11

And here is Week 11 of Project Life 2014. Sorry the photos are so bad today; I didn't have great light for taking these. Anyways, this week continues my idea of "splitting" our Project Life album with the left side documenting Liam's, Scout's and my lives in Milwaukee and the right side documenting Andrew's life in Portland. 

And here's a closer look at the left side. Again, pretty basic. Just trying to catch up best I can. My favorite item on this side of the spread is the October Afternoon Daily Flash frame I used around Scout on the photo in the upper right. 

And here is the right side. I love both of the photos at the bottom that Andrew took. So beautiful and I because of that, I wanted to keep the embellishing minimal on them. I didn't add any embellishing or details to the Timbers photo because it's such a busy photo I thought anything I added would get lost. 

I created this spread as the example for my Memorable Seasons Members Challenge Us challenge. If you've never been over to Memorable Seasons, I definitely suggest you check it out this week for this awesome event and a chance to win prizes and RAKs!!

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Project Life 2014: Week 10

Another week of Project Life is done. I will catch up...one day. But until then, I am slowly documenting our lives when I find the time and am still loving every minute of it. This week is the first official week of the 3.5 month separation between Andrew and the rest of us as we lived apart. At first, I struggled with how to document what was going on in our lives during this time of separation in our Project Life album. But, I came up with a solution...one side of each spread during these weeks will be the Milwaukee side and the other is the Portland side! So for this one, the left is all the Milwaukee happenings and the right is the Portland happenings.

And here's a closer look at the left (Milwaukee) side. This was a pretty basic spread. As I play catchup, I rely heavily on hybrid scrapping and keeping my embellishing to a minimum. This is the first time I used one of the cool Cosmo Cricket wood frames - love them!

And here's a better look at the right (Portland) side. Andrew was so thoughtful and kept one of the house keys from our old home so I could include it in the album. I also really like how the photo in the center row, far right turned out. It was Andrew's last view into our home as he locked up the last day he was there. I used PSE to add text right along the edge of the door saying "Bye, bye Kerby House. Thanks for the memories." 

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Saying "Hello Today" with some summer fun layouts!

Hello all! I am sharing my latest Frosted Designs projects today on this wonderful Saturday exactly halfway through August! That's right...we are halfway through the last true month of summer. Seriously, where did the time go? So today, I am holding onto summer with a tight grip as I share two sunny, fun, summery layouts I created using the gorgeous Heidi Swapp Hello Today collection. Although this collection would be great for scrapping just about any topic, it was the shades of blue and green mixed with pops of bright color then all pulled together with a sandy kraft neutral that made me think of the beach. So I sought out photos with sand, water and sky!

My first layout features a photo of my parents taken last August at Cannon Beach, Oregon when they came for a visit. I purposely used the American Crafts yellow cardstock to anchor my photo and help it stand out more against all the fun patterned paper. Every sheet of paper in this collection is awesome and I had such a tough time deciding which ones to use first. I also have the "hoard it" syndrome and don't like to use my favorites right away. Luckily, this paper pad comes with two sheets of each design so I was able to use one sheet of my favorite patterns, the multi-colored stripe and the arrows on kraft, and hoard the other sheets for later. This is also the first project I've used the new Prima wire thread on (here I just used a bit to detail my pink button) and I have to say it is a fun product and I'm looking forward to playing with it more in the future!

My second layout is a new favorite not only because of the awesome products used, but because of how special these photos are. We have been living with my in-laws for almost six months while we've been house-hunting for a new home. Although it can get tight at times, moments like the ones in these photos would be harder to come by if we weren't all living together right now. My father-in-law loves taking Liam for walks, especially down to Big Bay Park nearby. This day, I tagged along and managed to hang back and snap these photos. I had lots of fun creating the wonky photo mat of paper strips behind the photos on this layout. I also really love the fun sequin rub-ons in this collection and used them here in sort of a cascading affect down and across the page. Another detail I wanted to point out is that I inked all the edges of the all the papers on this page because this collection does have a lot of white in it and I didn't want all the different papers' white areas to "bleed" together. 

And here are a few closeups of these two layouts so you can get a better sense of exactly how funky and fun these products are!

I hope these bright, summery layouts have inspired you to get out and enjoy the last couple weeks of summer! But, before you rush out the door, be sure to swing by the Frosted Designs store to stock up on some Hello Today goodies for yourself so you can document all your fun memories when the cool weather hits!

Products used from the Frosted Designs Store:

Friday, August 1, 2014

Project Life 2014: Week 9 (and a new Frosted Designs Challenge!)

Another week of Project Life is done! This week was NUTS. Just NUTS. I had a really hard time narrowing down the photos for this one, so I used the Design K and Design F page protectors so I had lots of pockets and I just accepted the fact that this layout would be very photo heavy. I also completed this layout for today's Frosted Designs Friday Challenge - "Three Words." The three words are mask, stamp and paper clip - you must use all three on your project, whatever it may be (layout, card, altered art, etc.) Be sure to link up your project to the Frosted Designs blog by Wednesday, August 13th at noon Central Time for your chance to win a prize!

And now for a closer look at the left side. I know I've said it before, but I love, love, love the Design K page protectors. One this side of the spread, I used three different Elle's Studio stamps to fulfill the first challenge requirement and then added a navy blue paper clip to the Body Back photo to complete the second challenge requirement.

 Here's a better look at the right side. I kept this week's recap card super simple because I had to make the font teeny tiny in order to get everything on there. So, the "today sucked" journaling card stands out. But, I'm glad it does because it's true. There were multiple days this week that sucked as we left a much-loved home in Portland and started a cross-country road trip only to be stranded for three days in Missoula, Montana because of a blizzard. So, this filler card is quite appropriate. And Project Life is about LIFE - the good, bad and ugly. The other filler card in the lower right corner I created with some mist and a Heidi Swapp stencil/mask thus completing the third challenge requirement.

Products used from the Frosted Designs Store:
Elle's Studio Cameron - Tidbits
Elle's Studio Everyday Moments - Stamp
Elle's Studio Everyday Moments - Cutouts
Elle's Studio Letter & Number Stickers - Teal
Studio Calico Thataway Plastic Die-Cuts - Stars
Studio Calico Printshop Wood Veneers - Hearts
Studio Calico Wood Veneers - Cameras
Basic Grey Capture Wood Veneer Die-Cuts
Um-Wow Diamond Confetti
Heidi Swapp Mini Stencils - Shapes