Life with Besties

Happy Friday all! I'm so excited to relax my bum off, this long weekend. Like sooo excited!! Happily, my apartments all clean, so really I have the whole weekend to play with paper, read, watch videos and movies.

I'm planning a Two Peas video marathon and to catch up on my Hello Story and Toolbox classes. It's gonna be good.

But tonight I wanted to share a summer layout I made weeks ago, but just hadn't sat down to blog about it. It's a page using a Toolbox prompt and some of the new(er) Carta Bella, Hello Again collection (it's on sale at Two Peas for a bit, so snatch some up!).

I tried something a bit different and decided to film a quick 90 second video of me talking about the page. Apologies in advance for the quality. I have no idea what happened! But if you listen to the words and check out the photos, you get the picture.

And I'm super pumped that I get to hang out with this girl this weekend. She's visiting the boyfriend who just relocated here. That means more time with besties for me!

Hope yall have a lovely long weekend if you're in the US. Otherwise, I hope you have some awesome relaxing days!

cheers & besos,

LBD March Layouts

Hey there! I'm so excited to share my first pages for the Little Black Dress Kit club, using the A Chance for Luck kit. I've just shared all the bits and pieces you get from this kit and now I want to show you my layouts!

I loved the monochromatic look of the papers so I used a bunch on this page about me. I shared 5 things about life right now in March 2013.

1. I am a new member to the Little Black Dress Kit club! (I should probably have added design team member in there. But as I was doing this at 1am I wasn't actually thinking straight!)
2. Wishing I could sleep more. This year has already been a whirlwind. Off to San Antonio for work this week. (Ha! See item one)
3. So loving anything metallic right now & am wearing my latest favorite dress in this pic.
4. Losing weight! Down 10 lbs since the new year & hoping to lose much more.
5. Planning my holidays for the year. I want to make it to Australia but will definitely by visiting the Pacific Northwest with MT this summer.

I used my Silhouette to cut out these tear drop shapes. They're fairly similar to the silver pattern on my dress. But these I backed with all the great grays & neutrals. I dappled some gold Heidi Swapp Color Shine (which btw I absolutely adore. I bought all the colors!!) And added title on top of a piece of wood veneer.

This is for my monthly black cardstock challenge. I don't use this rich hue enough in my scrapbooking. So I'm hoping to share a monthly page using this overlooked neutral.

The next page features one of my favorite families. My friends Susie & Gus welcomed baby Lauren last August and they are the absolute cutest. I love this photo of the three of them. I snapped it at Kim & Eric's wedding last month.

I had fun with the background paper and did some painting with pink mist. Then I outlined the hearts and added in a few of my own. There's so much love in this little family love had to be the theme.

I used that kraft butterfly I was talking about, instead of hoarding it like I wanted to. And I used some wood veneer, a Silhouette cut and a little kraft envelope to anchor the photo and create a title.

This last page is just fun. I loved the Studio Calico patterned paper, with it's neutral gray color and its diagonal stripes. They were just begging to be filled in with pops of color and a bit of texture.

I used some patterned paper strips and a few of the great trims. I like all the color on here since we're all wearing different colored clothes in the photos. I added just a bit more dimension with the gorgeous gold buttons and the red brads that came in the kit.

Next, I'm sharing the two cards I made. Check back in just a few for them =)

cheers & besos,

Tomerlin Presies

Good morning! Man does it feel great to be scrapping and blogging again =) I'm still scrapping out of boxes, but I'm hopefully I'll spend a good chunk of next week getting my scrapbook area set up and organized. 

In the meantime, I made a few Christmas gifts that I wanted to share. It was frustrating to want to use some things I knew were packed, but I made these work in the end.

Here's a shadowbox (is that what we're calling these?) of Matt and his sweet Grandma Rose. 

I love this smaller size and the 3 little boxes to decorate. It makes it easy! Well, as easy I'll let it. These tiny spaces are hard for me to fill for some reason! These 3 took me hours to make because I kept shifting through options, trying to find what I wanted.

I drew a lot from the colors in each of the photos. Grandma Rose's shirt helped me pull in some blues and pinks, and the trees helped with the greens and yellows.

I used a hodge podge of products on all of these. Most notably on this one, I used some of the new 5th & Frolic from American Crafts and the Crate Paper Trendsetter I think it's called.

For this one of Matt and his family, I pulled out greens, blues and khakis, plus some black for good measure. Products are from Studio Calico, American Crafts, Basic Grey, Echo Park and the Girls Paperie.

But I think I had the most fun putting this one of Matt and his sister together. Jenn's shirt made for such a pretty jumping off point. There's some Dear Lizzy, Crate Paper, Amy Tangerine, Crate Paper, Echo Park thrown in here.

So yes, 3 presents done!! 5-6 more to go! Be sure to check back for more of these lil trays. Also, check back this week for the wrapping and decorating of the presents. Arguably, this might be my favorite part =)

cheers & besos,

So Cal Cards

I made cards! It's been so long since I've made a batch and I'm loving these ones. I just had fun with the So Cal kit and add-ons.

Purple, pink and blue aren't colors I typical work with, but I love them together. And the Newport add-on had them all! 

I played with the stamps and some Prima Fluid chalk ink. (Seriously, those things are like butter. I like 'em a lot!) Then I just started layering: a doily, then a punched scalloped patterned paper, those gorgeous canvas butterflies that look fab when misted, the stamped sentiment and then a pin, jewel and baker's twine to finish them off.

Where the last cards were all about rounded edges and soft layers, these ones are all about angles. The Pink Paislee chevron was my starting point and I built from there.

I really like these stamps, but struggle with stamping them. The reliefs are just too shallow and I end up getting ink on them too. Does anyone else have this problem? It's driving me nuts!

Anyway, I'm resolving here and now to make more cards. I do actually like making them, even if I struggle with designing them more than I care to admit =) Everyone could use a good card once in awhile. And handmade cards, make them feel that much more special.

cheers & besos,

Sketchbook 4| No. 6

Today I want to share a totally Jamie but not at all Jamie layout. It's for Shimelle's Mixing Styles challenge.

What's me about it? The color combo & how I use paper and embellishments that coordinate nay I say match the colors in the photo.

What's not me about it? The sweet & simple design. I used Sketch No. 6 for this page and followed it nearly to a T. No extra embellishing and really not much moving around of the sketch elements.

I so totally love this quirky color combo. The orangey pink of my dress goes great with the SC/Sassafras patterned paper. I used the teal of the pool for my journaling block and got to utilize that great washi as well. The floor boards from the deck were mimicked in the wood veneer frame. And I used yellow, the color of my straw, as an accent color.

Have I mentioned how great the City of Lights kit goes with my favorite instagram filter? It's the Walden filter by the way.

I just have to say, although not my usual style, I do love the calming effect of this page. Or maybe I'm just reminded of the wonderful relaxing time I had that weekend. Was it only a few weekends ago?!

cheers & besos,

Chevron Birthday Card

I've been crafting up a storm! 7 layouts this weekend + this card that I wanted to share.

It's for MT's Grandma's 83rd birthday.

I used some scraps from my previous page, the butterflies & the letter stickers.

It's just a pretty card for a sweet little lady.

cheers & besos,

March Brunch

I woke up with a sore arm this morning. I think it's from lugging my scrapbook things around yesterday. But I scrapbooked!!

Had a lovely afternoon yesterday, hanging out with a few scrappy friends & doing what we do best. Pushing paper around aimlessly whilst chatting. Or as in D's case, ink the edge of 100's of Italy die cuts the entire time! Small price to pay for getting married in Italy I suppose :)

But I wanted to share a few of my crop pages. I'm spreading them out over the week so be sure to check back later, k?!

I've taken heaps of everyday life instagram photos this year. So I printed a bunch and took those along with me to the crop.

For this page I wanted to play around with creating my own chevron pattern, using all of the gorgeous patterned papers from Studio Calico's City of Lights kit. The colors in this kit are great for my instagram photos. My fave filter Walden, so perfectly matches the soft colors & feel of this kit!

I wasn't so worried about my chevron "joints". They over lapped & didn't perfectly line up, so I covered them up with the lovely butterfly stickers that came in the kit. Then I printed my journaling out on vellum and added it to my page. I love the soft feel that gives off as well!

2012 is and already has been a great year. Can't wait to see what else this year has in store!

cheers & besos,