Nana's Birthday Card

Hiya! Thanks so much for stopping by today. It's a special day because a very special lady was born on this day several years ago. It's my Nana's birthday today! I haven't seen her in awhile and this makes me sad. So I wanted to make her an extra special card so she knows how much I love her.

I used my absolute favorite The Pier line by Crate Paper, some inspiration from Ann Schneider guest blogging at Shimelle.com, and the Camp Scrap Week 1 Make & Take to create my card.

 

May's Camp Scrap Make & Take really inspired me to add the extra ink to the edges and the gold polka dots over my patterned paper.

I made sure to really bling it up because my Grandma ain't ever said no to no bling bling. And I love that about her =)

And I'm excited to have used this birthday stamp set from Papertrey Ink. For shame that I had not yet used it!!! But hey, that's what happens when Product Free crafting is on. I use what I have!!

I also made sure to decorate the envelope as well. I think it makes people more excited to open up the card! Simply sprinkle some mist and add a date stamp. Viola!

Here's wishing you a wonderful beyond blessed day Nana! I love you so much.

cheers & besos,

Bob Marley

Hi hello!! Quick share with you this evening, gotta get ready for my first day back at work in awhile.

[EDITED TO ADD: I was wondering why my Best Great Wall Memory page was getting so many visits. Thanks Shimelle for featuring it on your blog! Didn't realize that before I decided to use another Shimelle.com sketch for the page below =)]

I'm still making my way through the pile of photos I pulled out for Camp Scrap. I was really inspired by May's White Cardstock challenge but I don't think this really applies. However, she's definitely why I added some sequins to the page!! 

Mainly, this is for the Titles mini class. You see, I thought of the title (or idea) first and created a page around it. It's a long windy title (something I do often enough I should probably think to blog about some time) with lots o' words and a fun mix of textures and fonts. And like I said before, the jumping off point for this layout.

I used a Shimelle.com sketch as the basis for this page. I didn't even intend to play along with this sketch, but rotating it opened up a whole new option for me. And the sunburst has special significance since the top photo was taken just after sunrise as we were looking for dolphins.

Originally, I had a whole set of paper pulled out for this layout, lots of oranges and blues. And I tried so hard to make it work but I just wasn't inspired. So I scrapped that whole idea and decided to go in a different direction.

Blue + turquoise + magenta + lime was what I went with and I'm so much happier with how it turned out!

I custom made the very faint background you see. It's a whole bunch of Bob Marley lyrics printed super light on vellum and then stitched to the background page. Because....

BREAKING NEWS!!! I got my sewing machine fixed!!! It's operational for the first time in about 4 years. I'm still really terrible at it, but you should have seen how excited I was to make these few stitches.

Journaling Reads:
"You know how certain songs can trigger memories? How the minute you hear the tune, you're instantly transported to a different time and place? Bob Marley does that to me. But I think of a different island. I remember Bali.

Sarah & I had the same driver the whole time we were there. He drove us from the airport, two hours to our hotel. He drove us across the island, to see temples and waterfalls and rice paddies. He drove us the two hours back to the airport. All the while, Bob Marley was playing in the background. There's nothing that instantly makes me remember Bali more than Bob Marley."

Sometimes guys, I literally have to scrapbook my memories just to remember everywhere I've been. Like I know I've been to Bali, I have the memories. But it's so easy to just forget! You might think, "how does that happen?" But it really does. It's surreal to think about sometimes. It's one of the main reasons I scrapbook and why I love this hobby so so much.

Oh, and if you're interested in seeing more from this trip, I made a mini book a few years back.
Yall have an awesome week!

cheers & besos,

Hong Kong Skyline

Hey yall! Hope everyone had a lovely week. 

It's crazy to believe I was in Chicago only Monday and now it's Friday and sadly I'm home sick in bed. I'm hoping with more rest this weekend, that I'll be on the mend. But until then, I'll share a scrapbook layout with you.

I'm still chugging along with May at Camp Scrap. This was what I came up with for the Week 2: Layering Mini Class. I loved the colors in these photos (btw, they were the first photos I ever processed with Rad Lab. And I love them! But unfortunately the photos don't do them justice!!) so I pulled patterns in blues and grays with pops of greenish colors and that bright magenta.

I used an older Shimelle.com sketch as the basis for this page and minimal embellishments. But I made sure to use my last purchase before my Product Free Summer started, the Wanderlust set from Mama Elephant. These might be one of my most favorite stamp sets. I've used them on a few projects already!

I'm undaunted about being behind in my Camp Scrap lessons. Like May said, I won't have time to do everything. But I'm getting my game plan together for the next week and a half and really considering how I want to finish out this class.

I hope all of the above made sense. Apologies if it's a bit scattered!!
Ok, back to sleep. But I felt like I needed to tick at least one thing off my to do list!

cheers & besos,

First Video

My first video! I did it! And it was fun =) Not easy but still fun. Bear with me guys, this was my first ever video. I was having to learn iMovie this morning as I went along. But luckily it's pretty straight forward. And as I say in the video, apologies for the shaky cam! I'll work on it for next time.

Here's the Shimelle sketch I based my page off of:

...and some close-ups of the finished layout! 

Let me know what you think!

cheers & besos,

NSD: Digital Elements

I can't believe my big little guy turned 4! It was a quiet birthday, just the 5 of us (and the puppy), a birthday cake and some balloons.

NSD Challenges: Shimelle's Spray Inks and Mists, Shimelle's Line up your Embellishments, Shimelle's Scrapbook with Square Photos, Studio Calico's By the Numbers, Studio Calico's Break out the Buttons, Studio Calico's Digital Elements.

Of course I forgot my camera! But thankfully my iPhone was there to capture our tiny celebration. I used a ton of different apps to achieve this look: PicTapGo--converted to black and white, Snapster--added the rainbow effect & PicFX--threw some bokeh on top. I could have used Over to add the words but just ended up adding them using PSE.

My mists did some heavy lifting, as I was trying to make the page as festive as can be!

I also used the Studio Calico free printable for decoration. Loved the circles & thought the sentiments were perfect for a birthday page! I also sprinkled in some "4" Thickers and buttons.

And finally, I used the Studio Calico date stamp to add a horizontal element to the bottom of the page.  Completely loving how it turned out!

cheers & besos,

Best Great Wall Memory

Hiya! Sharing a Shimelle sketch page today. I got to use an enlarged print with this one. It was my first time using my large format at home printer. Over Christmas, I got a Pixma iX6520 for super cheap. I like it so far, but learned that I need to print on glossy paper vs matte.

I also made this page for Simon Says Stamps "what are you known for" challenge. 

Here's how it's my style:

I love to mix pattern paper.

And also different size prints. 

Almost all of my pages have some kind of mist. 

For this one I used a mask and a mix of brown & gold ink. 

Lately, I've been using a ton of metallic. Love these as neutrals.

And speaking of neutrals, gray is undoubtedly my favorite neutral these days.

I also print my journaling on vellum a ton.

But I think the biggest component of my "style" is that I use color in my pages. Lots of color! And I pick my color choices based on my photos.

I love this page and it's story. It was an amazing experience in and of itself to visit the Great Wall. But for it to then start snowing! That just made it magical.

Here's a video I took when it started. I heard that a high school classmate used it in her middle school classroom. And that the kids thought it was very cool. =) Maybe I inspired one of them to travel the world!

cheers & besos,

Smile

I'm officially in sharing mode. And totally killing the photos in my "To Scrap-Urijah" folder. I'll definitely be done with his 2 year old pages by the end of the month.

Oh man, I can't believe my little guy is already going to be 3 on Friday!

Here's another Shimelle Challenge + Urijah + Studio Calico kit page. I busted into Paper Moon. I've been hoarding all this time. Not even realizing that I'd been hoarding it because although its' box was hidden in plain sight, I didn't know it was in there!! For shame, I'll sheepishly admit it.

It was a lucky coincidence I found this kit, since I'd pulled these photos for a page about Urijah's smile! The Amy Tangerine tag was the perfect touch. I absolutely adore that it's done in orange thread!

This was for Shimelle's Scraplift Wilna Challenge aka No. 5. It was perfect for this already printed large photo. Loved her tone on tone punched elements and the rounded banner. I replaced it for circle photos of Urijah instead.

Journaling Reads: "U have the best one dimpled smile. It's at times sweet and others cheeky. Sometimes U have a mischievous look in your eyes. I love when you're just happy and your joy is written all over your face, but most especially in your smile."

cheers & besos,

Bro-ing Out

I had an absolute blast crafting up a storm this weekend. First with some friends, then once I got home for a quick half day at work yesterday. Yup, I had to get some work in yesterday. It's our craziest time of year!

But to reward myself, I came home, relaxed and parked myself at my scrap table for the rest of the day. My mojo was really flowing! So it was hard for me to pick which page to share with you first, I have so many that are my "favorite".

This I think is the winner. It combines a whole host of challenges, both real and ones that I put on myself. Two from Shimelle's scrapbooking weekend, the gray + yellow + [insert color] challenge, and the put it in a pocket challenge. It's based off of KP's sketch No. 6. (I'll share my official Sketch No. 6 layout later this week.) It was also created using only my City of Lights + Sorbonne add-on, the 4th I've made with this kit!

I had fun with the bright colors in the Sorbonne add-on kit. I love gray and yellow together, and teal was one of the dominant colors in the add-on.

I have to admit, I was very intimidated by those little ziplock bags. I had no idea how I was going to use them or what to put in there. The frame on this one was perfect for the 5th photo I printed for the page. I threw in a tangle of baker's twine and a few sequins, viola!

I'm not sure if it's the bright colors, the silly journaling or the fact that I used that plastic bag, that makes this page my favorite. But I'm definitely so happy with how it came out!

cheers & besos,

Little Wild Goose Pagoda

I have a China page to share today.

It's one of those "sacrificial" layouts that I used to get some creativity going.

It's not my favorite, but it's another layout to add to my scrapbook and more photos actually scrapped so I'm very happy about that.

I loved the designs for Shimelle's June 2011 prompt for 4x6 photo love. But wasn't sure that I had 6 vertical photos of one "theme".

Then I printed me China photos...and was excited to see that I had just enough!

I had to do some tweaking, that photo of me in the middle was originally a landscape shot. But with the help of PSE, I cropped it down to a usable vertical image.

I added some stamped cardstock and patterned paper rectangles to the top and bottom of each photo, distressing the edges for some texture.

And added my journaling in strips.

"On a pretty fall day during the middle of our Chinese adventure, we walked out to see the Little Goose Pagoda inside of the Xi'an History Museum."

"Little? Hardly! It was flight after flight up and each one got narrower and shorter. Here is Patrick bent half way over as we found that his 6'3" frame wasn't exactly suited to China."

xxbesos