Done!

Hullo!!! Long time no blog. You know that mojo I'd been talking about a few weeks back? Yeah, it completely blew away. Along with any desire to blog, craft, or create.

I'm trying to get back on the bandwagon. It's been awhile since I've made anything but at least I can share some pages that hadn't yet been blogged.

Here's another Sketchpad layout, that I created based on a past Glitter Girl challenge to use transparencies. I've had this gorgeous gray damask from Hambly for awhile now, and pairing it with the deep purple made for a bold look. Like literally think of the bold Crayola color pack :)

The photos are from a night out in Bangkok. We were celebrating being done with finals and thesis and just wanting to spend time together before the whole MBA & Mountbatten experience came to an end.

I miss this cast of characters so much sometimes. Especially as I'm marooned in Houston at the moment. Why do we have to live so far away from each other?!

cheers & besos,

Sketchpad Goodness

I signed up for Sketchbook 4, so I figured I needed to finish up with Sketchpad before April 1. Now, I've used all but 2 of the sketches!

Here's my take on Sketch No. 1, a fun page of some friends & I at the Kemah Boardwalk.

I ended up tilting the design of the sketch & rounded some corners. I also got to use some of the goodies I got on the cheap at Marshalls of all places. They just felt like great boardwalk/carnival pieces.

Oh, and about the largest photo. I took it on manual, not realizing my camera was set to manual, so it came out super wicked over exposed! But I was able to "save" it by playing with my histogram & sliders in iPhoto. I looks like it was put through some fun filter when really I just messed up!

This next layout was based off of Sketch No. 10. It was really about clustering & layering pieces, playing with paint and ink splatters.

I went for the red/black/white color combo & warmed it up with some gray & cream. I also dug into my London scrap stash & used the telephone booth stamp with white embossing powder.

I've been on a roll lately, just churning out layouts these last few weekends. I hope I can keep it up! I love being so productive!

cheers & besos,

Ferris Bueller Layouts

It was a cold & rainy Saturday here in Houston. So I left early, headed to the grocery store, stocked up on provisions & came back to hibernate & play with my new Studio Calico kit, Story Hour. I LOVE the colors in this one! I had so much fun playing with the paper & all of the little goodies.

My parents came to visit me in London. I took them out to meet some of my friends & we all hit it off. My friends loved my parents, my parents liked my friends.

Journaling Reads: When I say "out" I mean we were literally out, at a bar with my friends. The parents were having a good old time meeting everyone. But by the time the tequila shots were bought & Mama declared she was staying at the Crowne Royal it was time for them to go. I'm so happy that they got to meet everyone and it seems like they had maybe too good a time.

I love this sheet of Crate Paper patterned paper. The color combo is one of my absolute favorites. I had to tone it down a bit with some white Mister Huey. Then I started layering the ledger papers, tags & stickers from the Illustrated add-on.

I guess I've been in the mood to scrap friends & family. I dug out these random photos from a night out in Bangkok with some of my best girls. There's not much going on in these, other than that we're pretty girls in pretty dresses.

The dresses made for a fun jumping off point. I loved the design of Liz's dressed the black with the khaki polka dots so I tried to mimic it with some paint and various circle "stamps". I ended up using a wine cork, the top of a tube of lipstick & a pencil for the dots.

Then I took my circle punch to a few sheets of the papers from the kit, cut them into 4's and pieces them back together.

Journaling Reads: These photos commemorate one of the few times we went out for a girls night. We decided to hit up the infamous bed bar, a few weeks before graduation. I remember being super tired & not at all the life of the party, but such is the life of a grad student. We needed to blow off a little steam with some dancing, drinks & a few girlfriends; no drugs, weapons or sex obviously. I so miss these lovely ladies and it's crazy to think that 2 of 4 of us are married now, 1 lives in Japan and another in Australia.

It's so crazy to think that these photos were taken nearly 4 years ago. I had to use the Ferris Bueller quote on both layouts.

It's so true. "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it."

cheers & besos,

Nifty Fifty

He's 50!! I can't believe it, my Papa has officially become an old man ;) In honor of his birth and his life, I made him a card. It's funky and graphic and totally unique. I just went to town with some mists & paint.

I saw the idea for those candles on Pinterest so incorporated 5 of them into the card.

And this is how sweet my Papa is, he keeps all of my cards! Here's 4 that he has sitting on top of his dresser. The photo wasn't staged or anything, he has them there year round. I love that he appreciates my craftiness. He's where I get my artistic side after all.

I hope he has an amazing 50th year! I love him so much =)

cheers & besos,

Perfect Polka Dot

I have succeeded. I have finally found the perfect polka dot paper. It's soft, it's neutral, it goes with everything! It's from the new Dear Lizzy line and it's called Sea Breeze.

Here are two layouts I made using Sea Breeze as a background:

A page from Xi'an, China, with 3 4x6 photos. I couldn't come up with a more clever photo design, what with 2 horizontal and 1 vertical photo. I think the grid worked out. I splashed some Pickle Mister Huey on the background, used the stamp that came with my Daydream Believer kit for my journaling. Which I also think would make a great frame for a photo strip, btw.

I added some twine, buttons, and those great butterfly embellishments as accents on the page.

I was channeling my inner Scrappy Jedi with this next layout. I love Melissa's layered style and all of the white space in her designs.

The page is about work, how I've finally filled in the big shoes I had to fill. After 1.5 years it's all come together. Figuring out the work environment, the sector, the government. And although I'll never be an expert on any of these things, at least I know now that I don't have to be. That no one expects us to have all of the answers at the top of our head. And that my friends, is a huge relief!

It's a bit hard to tell, but the shirt I'm wearing in this photo is purple. So I played with a purple/gold/silver/tan color scheme.

I did some splattering with Purple Maya Mist and layered small strips of paper, ribbon & stickers on the ends of the page.

See, perfect neutral right?! It can be dressed up, dressed down, the skies the limit! I will be purchasing more of it and it's cousin, Hazy Horizon, in the very near future.

Do you have a favorite neutral patterned paper? I'd love to see it! Link it up in the comments, won'tcha?

cheers & besos,

Pinspiration

I'm jumping in on Studio Calico's Weekly Challenge this week. I've been meaning to do something with all of the lovely Craft Inspiration I've been collecting on Pinterest, this gave me the excuse.

I combined two images, the design from this one:

Source: (fred one litch)

and the sentiment/title from this one:

Source: (pinterest)

...to come up with this layout of Mama & me.

She sent me a silly card in the mail the other day. She's usually really good but it's been awhile since she's sent me a card. It made me smile :) I turned that bottom panel into a pocket for her note to slide into (forgot to take a picture!).

It was fun to create a layout from inspiration rather than another layout. I'll have to turn to my Pinterest more often, and put all of those pins to good use.

cheers & besos,

Vintage Photos

My nickname as a baby (and actually still to this day) was Chubby. I had rolls up my arms and legs, chipmunk cheeks and a double chin. But man was I a cute kid. You'll see, just scroll down.

I had fun going through my baby photos the other day, as I was looking to take part in a Glitter Girl Adventure. This week, she challenged us to use our vintage photos.

I specifically went hunting around for photos of myself and my dad. He's been on my brain a lot lately. You see, he's turn 50 this week! My big sweet Papa is officially leaving his 40's behind. And so, I wanted to make a page about us and our relationship, featuring some of our great vintage photos.

The journaling is about us and how similar we are to each other. How in the hospital on the day I was born, he noticed I had a small birthmark on my chin. And that, as he tells is, is how he knew I didn't get switched in the hospital. Despite this guarantee, there has never been any doubt that I'm his daughter. We're so insanely alike in character it isn't even funny. We're both quiet and reserved, we think before we speak, we love to travel and he's where I get my art gene. We also don't get along so great sometimes, because we're so much alike. We're both stubborn & hard headed. But despite that, he's the best Papa I could have ever asked for. He's so supportive and always full of love.

I dug into my stash and used the Tap Dance add on from my Studio Calico Singin' in the Rain kit. There was a lot of Crate Paper goodness in there and they are really great about using creams, as Shimelle Glitter Girl suggests for older photos.

The main kit came with those so great buttons and I wanted to use them, so taking a page out of Jill Sprout's scrapbook, I linked them all with twine.

It ended up being a very girl page. But I'm sure he won't mind. That's another great thing about my Papa, he never minded going to see stupid girly movies with me & my mom. He'd never say no to any of my suggestions, like when I wanted to go see Wicked (the Wizard in Oz themed musical) last time we were in NYC. He wasn't even a bad sport when I drug him all around Soho looking for the perfect graduation dress. He was just happy to be spending time with me =)

I think from the get go I had him wrapped around my little finger. I mean just look at this chubby cheeked baby. Could you ever say no to her?

See, I wasn't kidding about those chubby cheeks. Do you think I could give Lucy Claire Howell a run for her money? :) I used another older Studio Calico kit, Lawn Party & the Rope Swing add on, which also featured some fabulous Crate Paper products.

The page is about how I was born with hazel eyes and how they stayed hazel for several months before they eventually turned brown. My parents weren't that great about taking photos, so I'm so happy they captured at least this one photo of me and my hazel eyes.

I had fun going through my box of vintage photos and picking out some to share a bit of family history. I'll never be able to scrapbook all of them, but it's great to be able to share some of our stories. I know I focus so much on present day events and everyday life stuff, but I think it's important to share where it was that we came from as well.

Have you scrapped any vintage photos lately? I'd love to see what you did with them. Link them up in the comments & I'll stop by to take a look!

cheers & besos,