Ending the weekend with the end of the Birds Of A Feather June Kit

Hi all! It's a dreary, rainy Sunday night here in the Pacific Northwest. Luckily, I still have bright, cheery Birds Of A Feather June kit here to help brighten up my scraproom! There's still time to grab a kit for yourself if you haven't already and be sure to check out the extras too! So, it's time to share the last of my June projects with you.

My first layout was such a fun one to put together. I used a couple pieces of the Jillibean Soup placemat on some earlier projects but still had most of it intact. So, I decided I wanted to use that large piece as the focus of a layout. I framed four smaller photos with the placemat but then I had a 6x4 photo to contend with that really couldn't be cropped down to fit in one of the squares. So I decided to mat it with cardstock and then back it with chipboard and place it on top of the placemat. I love how the chipboard behind it helps it pop of the page and really become the focal photo. This time around, I altered the corrugated cardboard shapes with embossing powder - now THAT was fun! I also love that I was able to use up a lot of scraps on this one.

And here are a couple closeups...

My next layout I am so in love with. I have had these photos FOREVER and just didn't know where to start with them. I think it was all the different colors in them and the fact that I wanted to keep them all together on a page. Well, since the June kit has just about every color of the rainbow in it, it was perfect to scrap these photos with! I pulled the Lily Bee alpha sticker sheet out of my May Kit to use for the subtitle and when I saw the phrase on my chosen die-cut title card, I just had to pull a few of my coveted Studio Calico wood veneer stars out.

And a couple closeups...

Finally, I have a card to share with you all. I love how American Crafts prints fun patterns on the backside of all the paper strips at the bottom of all their papers. So I decided to use a few of them, along with a "mistake strip" from the above layout to create this card. I used the Cats Eye ink pad to ink the edges of my sentiment block as well as the edges of my card. I really like the definition it adds. I pulled out a couple buttons from my stash to use as flower centers and also stole a few more Lily Bee alpha stickers from my May Kit. This card is going out in the mail tomorrow - it's my Mom's birthday on Wednesday!

Stay tuned because I'll be back here on Technique Tuesday debuting the beautiful July kit!

More with the Bold and Beautiful Birds Of A Feather June Kit!

Hello all! It's time for another Birds Of A Feather June Kit Reveal. If you haven't gotten a kit yet, go grab one now before they are gone and also be sure to check out the kit extras - they are all so much fun and you will see lots of the extras on my reveal projects since I got, um, all of them!

So here is my favorite (so far) layout created with this kit. I really took liberty with the bold patterns and colors on this one. I figured it was only appropriate to match the bright colors and fun patterns of my photos taken at Islands of Adventure's Seuss Landing in Orlando. I inked the edges of my photos in black StazOn to help them pop a bit off all the bright papers. I knew right away that I wanted to use this particular vellum quote from the Maude Ashbury collection as soon as I saw it because I felt it was most appropriate considering the subject matter of my photos. I adhered it to white cardstock, trimmed it down a bit and inked the edges. Then I used foam adhesive to mount it with all the other elements in the lower left corner. Speaking of which, I also love how the Canvas Corp burlap looks in the Jillibean polaroid frame. And I really had fun with the Maude Ashbury 3D flowers too!

And here are a couple closeups...

My next project is another Project 12 catchup layout. And I figured it would be appropriate to scrap last June's Project 12 page with this June's Kit! I really wanted to use the two sheets of bright pink cardstock, available as part of the extra cardstock add-on, for my background but knew that two sheets of it right next to each other, with a lot of the pink exposed, would be too bright. So I muted it a bit by use the Maude Ashbury Memories paper on the right side. I also pulled some yellow vellum from my stash to use as photo mats to help the photos stand out. I lightly brushed the corrugated shapes with paint and then added the very appropriate "Hello Sunshine" flair to my sun. :)

And here are a couple closeups...

Thanks, as always, for looking! I'll be back later in the month with one more reveal with this awesome kit!

The Birds Of A Feather June Kit Makes My Heart Sing!

Hello all! I hope everyone had a good weekend! 

It's time to share my first reveal using the beautiful Birds Of A Feather June Kit. If you haven't picked yours up in the store yet, do it now because there are only three left in stock! You might want to check out all the beautiful kit extras too; once again, I snagged them all. So now it's time to show you my first creations with this kit. I have to tell you, at first I was a little intimidated by all the bright colors and bold patterns, but once I dove into the kit I had more fun creating than I have in awhile and I can't wait to dig right back into this kit once my out-of-town guests all depart! Oh, and I have to say the Maude Ashbury/Anna Griffin and American Crafts/Dear Lizzy coordinate perfectly together!

For my first layout, I had lots of fun playing with the different patterns in this kit. I fussy-cut out part of some of the chevrons from the Dear Lizzy paper to make them pop and accented them with lines of embroidery floss down the middle. I also added a line of pink floss to the striped paper for added texture and decided to color the corrugated Jillibean embellies with mists. 

And here are a couple closeups...

On my second layout, I went all out with layering and embellie clusters! I knew right away I wanted to use the grid, wood-framed Maude Ashbury paper as the background on a layout. I fussy cut a bit around the arrows in the corners so I could tuck a couple punched circles behind them. And I had a ton of fun adding all sorts of embellies to them to create my clusters. Look at how well the negative pieces from the heart die-cut card work with the heart-patterned Dear Lizzy paper. Also, I used the Cat's Eye espresso ink on my cardboard butterfly and on the edges of my punched circles for added definition.

And here are a couple closeups...

I hope you liked my layouts. I am so excited to show you more later on in the month!

More memory-making with the Birds Of A Feather May Kit!

If you haven't picked up your May kit from Birds Of A Feather yet, do it soon because there's only a few left in the store! Don't forget to pick up some (or all) of the extras while you're at it too! Seriously, the kit is fabulous but the extras add so much to it! Anyways, time to share my next batch of May projects...

First up is a layout documenting the first birthday I celebrated here in Portland. My parents came to town for a visit and we had dinner the night of my birthday at Portland City Grill - an upscale restaurant that has amazing views of the city, Mt Hood and all the other Cascade peaks. I thought the fun, girly colors of this kit would be perfect for one of my birthday layouts. I placed a sheet of white cardstock with the polka dot Simple Stories paper behind the vellum paper to achieve this look. Then, I fussy cut the smaller clothesline of polaroids from the Simple Stories paper and decided to use it to hold my supporting photos.

And here are a couple closeups...

This was a very difficult layout to scrap because of the subject matter. These photos were taken the day we found out Chase had cancer. I am really making a point to scrap the rest of the photos I have of him while the memories are still vivid and before I get preoccupied by new puppy photos. I don't want to forget how important Chase was (and still is) to us. I wanted to keep this layout fairly minimal to keep the focus on the photos and the journaling. If you'd like, you can read the journaling here. I chose to keep the colors as primarily the muted gray and aqua blues found throughout the kit to enhance the rain theme. I printed my journaling on a transparency and placed it over the washi paper to make it look like the journaling was directly on the washi paper. 

And here are a couple closeups...

And I needed one last Mother's Day card for tomorrow. I am so lucky to still have a living grandmother and great-grandmother to Liam - an amazing woman I fondly call Nana. So this is a card made especially for my Nana.

Thanks so much for checking out my projects! And I hope all you Mamas have a wonderful Mother's Day tomorrow!

As local as it gets.

I created this layout for the most recent Basic Grey sketch challenge. Susan Stringfellow created one amazing sketch and I loved working with it. I was also inspired by Wendy's challenge over at Memorable Seasons to create a layout with a quilt pattern. Well, awhile back Davinie Fiero had posted a tutorial for making a cathedral quilt pattern on a layout and I have been wanting to try it for awhile. Wendy's challenge combined with my June Bug papers seemed the perfect excuse to give the technique a try. The choice of topic was inspired by this month's OLW challenge over at Club CK to scrap about something that has made you the happiest and/or healthiest. So I decided to scrap about our first garden that we planted this past summer. Finally, the little signs were inspired by Ann's challenge over at My Sketch World to use an item found in the kitchen on your layout. So I included some popsicle sticks!

(Supplies: Basic Grey papers, rub-ons, alpha die-cuts and alpha/numeric stickers; Bazzill cardstock; October Afternoon flashcard; popsicle sticks from around the house; StazOn ink; Sakura pen; Glue Arts, Thermoweb, Tombow, Helmar and 3M adhesives.)

My August Creative Scrappers Sketches

I love Creative Scrappers as much as the next scrapper and their sketches are one of my go-to jumping off points for inspiration. I am so sad I didn't get to all five August sketches before the deadline, but I did manage to complete two and love both resulting layouts. (The other three sketches are "pinned" so I can reference them later!)

So, here's sketch #219...

 

...And here is my take on it. I adapted the sketch to fit three photos. I also used up a ton of scraps and old stickers on this layout. And, I also used a new product - Washi tape! This is the first (gasp!) time I've used Washi Tape.

Supplies: Bazzill and EK Success cardstock; Little Yellow Bicycle, Basic Grey and Crate Paper  papers; Basic Grey/K and Co epoxy alpha stickers; American Crafts Thicker brackets; Me And My Big Ideas large epoxy circle stickers; Crate Paper epoxy dots; My Minds Eye washi tape; EK Success clear epoxy circles, unknown cardstock sentiment sticker and caption sticker; DMC floss; Creative Memories circle cutters and punches; StazOn ink; Sharpie marker; date stamp; Glue Arts, 3L and Thermoweb adhesives.

Then we have sketch #221...

...And here is my take on it. I used an old, old kit from Treasured Scrapbooking (now closed) for this one. I love this photo of me and my son, Liam, so I really love how this sketch centers the photo smack in the middle of the layout. I edited my photo by upping the contrast and changing it to sepia using PSE. Instead of one large rectangle background, I used strips of paper. I decided to create the circle with hand-stitched embroidery floss.

 

Supplies: Bazzill cardstock; My Mind's Eye, Prima and October Afternoon  papers; American Crafts alpha Thickers; May Arts trim, Love Elsie chipboard journaling spot; Kaiser Craft pearls; DMC floss; Zig Photo Signature pen; Glue Arts, Helmar and Thermoweb adhesives.

Project 12: May 2011 Layout

I'm back on track for Project 12. After missing the April deadline, I managed to get my May layout done in the nick of time. I adapted this sketch to fit the majority of vertical photos I had. I also chose to use a mini Bingo card as my title block rather than a circle. I love the line of flowers in the lower right corner on the sketch so I made sure to keep that element as is. Since my photos had a variety of your basic reds, blues and greens, I used this trio of colors throughout my layout. Now it's time to backtrack and complete my April layout before I move on to June. If you aren't participating in Project 12, check it out here! It's never too late to start.

American Crafts Galore!

My last (sniff, sniff) review projects at Serendipity Scrapbooks featured bright, bold colors and lots of funky and cool embellishments and patterns. I had the chance to work with the Amplified collection papers, some awesome chipboard Thickers, Flair badges and mini-marks rub-ons - all from American Crafts. My projects are below and you can read my full review here!