Castle Gazing

ETA: I picked the winner! Or rather random.org chose commentor No. 4. That's you Marina! Forwarding along the code now. Cheers!

I have 3 things to share today: a confession, a layout, a small giveaway.

Confession: I totally caved on my Product Free Summer challenge. I couldn't pass up the 20% off at Two Peas a few weeks back! I just couldn't. But I'm back on a spending freeze. Especially after the $1000 I just had to spend fixing my car (eeeek!!)

Layout: This page features a ton of that new product I ordered, lots from Basic Grey's new(er) Mint Julep line. I only got three things for this line: the 6x6 paper pad, the badges and the title sticker sheet. I feel like they'll get you pretty far. I like to get at least a few things from each line so that they'll coordinate with each other.

I picked this line for these photos because of all the blue in the Edinburgh photo. I loved the blue in that floral print. I also definitely wanted to use it for that "So very charming" sticker.

I made this as part of the Two Peas CHA [Four Nature Elements] Challenge. There's flowers, butterflies, birds and stars on this page.

It's also for the [Five Senses] Challenge. This page is all about the castle gazing I've been doing over the years. I hadn't realized it until this year, but every place I've visited in Europe the last few years, has included visits to local castles and palaces.

Week 1 of Hello Story was the starting point for this layout. It's a loose timeline and a series. I used those great Chic Tags for each, to include the date, the city and country and the castle.

I also added small white letter stickers to each photo, to include the place and date.

The rest is just fun details. Love those clear mint Heidi Swapp letters. Like love! The color and the texture are fabulous. Also love that they coordinated with the Mint Julep line so well.

And I had to throw in some gold for good measure. Everything these days, needs a dusting of gold. Glad I picked up the gold star paper clips as well.

So I made my confession and shared the layout. Now on to the giveaway.

Giveaway: This apparently is the summer of the classes. First Camp Scrap, then Hello Story and I also signed up for Toolbox at Studio Calico. They were running a promo and I get to give a friend the class for free. That's where all my bloggy friends come in. I thought I'd share the class with one of yall.

Just leave me a comment below, to share which of the 4 parts you're most interested in learning more about: digital elements, mixed media, stitching or mist. [ETA: Please leave an e-mail address if you don't have one linked in your profile!!]

For me, I'm sooo looking forward to Shana's digital tutorial. Her work has been so inspiring to me lately!

I'm only leaving this open until Tuesday, 30 July at 11:59pm EST. I'll announce and e-mail the winner as soon as I can on Wednesday, 31 July. Class starts Thursday, 1 August which is why this is such a short one. I want you to be able to be part of the whole class.

Off to Los Angeles tomorrow for work. It's my first visit and I'm so excited! I'll be updating as and when I can. Catch up with yall later!

cheers & besos,

Kraft & KP

Oh sweet work holidays :) so thankful today for a 3 day weekend.

It's just the extra day I needed to get back on track with some stuff.

Like specifically, my blogging!

I've been scrapbooking, (some of my projects I can share, and some of which I have to wait to share until next month :) super excited about that!) just not blogging.

Today, I wanted to show off a few of the recent Sketchpad layouts I completed. Slowly but surely I've been making my way through these sketches and have used 7 of the 12 so far.

KP is famous for her use of circles, and when I saw the sketch this layout is based on, I knew I wanted to use them for these photos from the Haggia Sophia.

Jesus and Mary both have haloes depicted around their heads, which I thought went well with the circular design of the layout.

These mosaics were utter masterpieces. Their luminescence was absolutely breathtaking!

And don't you just love colors? The golds and blues with the dark red thrown in, it all felt very regal.

I wish I'd tended toward a "less is more" approach to this page, but I like how it turned out none the less. It was a fun layout to make. I just wish the Kraft had photographed better!

Speaking of Kraft, it seems I've been using it a lot lately. Here's another Sketchpad layout with a Kraft background.

The misting was meant to be the shining focal point, but I used too thin paper as a mask and it kind of bled through. Not to worry, I like the effect. It makes it feel more rustic, "manly" if you will ;)

It's very simple and straight forward, and features some instagram shots. Man do I love my instagram app! (And if only it was easier to get these bad boys printed!! But that's another story...)

The embellishment clusters came together really easy with some of the scraps I had on my desk, and also a few things from my pickle jars. Speaking of, I should probably share some of my desk organization this blog. That'll be a post for later this week.

We're getting really close to the magic 300th blog post. If you're interested in these Sketch classes of KP's you might want to keep checking back for it ;) :)

xxbesos

Sketchbook Days 11 & 12

And here we have more Istanbul pages, 2 more crop layouts, and featuring Days 11 & 12 layouts from Sketchbook 3!

Ta da!

While I was in Istanbul, I got to visit Topkapi Palace, the former home of some Sultan or other and to his Harem of ladies. These are the photos I took inside the Harem.

The entry way was stunning, with its vaulted bleached ceilings and gorgeous tile work. And foor this layout, I really wanted to highlight the tiles and the light. So I tried to re-enforce this with the light cardstock background and my patterned paper choices.

I love that the October Afternoon paper I used (turquoise with the blue design) already had a bit of an aged look to it. I think it goes perfectly with the pictures.

Then I just sprinkled in some details, fun Studio Calico printed cardstock letters, an October Afternoon chipboard shape, some ribbon and a button or two.

I have to confess that I refuse to be tied down to any specific size page. These photos, which together equal 1 4x6 print just had to be done in 8 1/2 x 11 format. So that's what I did.

This one is all about the beauty and grandeaur of palace decor and this fountain was the epitome of that for me. It was just gorgeous!

And like the journaling says, as a plumber's daughter I couldn't not take a photo!

I really loved the product in this one, and that I got to use one of those great House of Three "chalkboard" stickers. The shape was too perfect for these photos!

Thus, we come to the end of Sketchbook 3's pages. More on that later this afternoon. And now I only have 1 more crop layout to share. Be sure to stop back soon for the conclusion of the "crop series"

xxbesos

Sketchbook Day 9

Back today with another Sketchbook 3 layout,

another from my trip to Istanbul,

and another Lawn Party page!

Confession I: This is my absolute favorite page that I've made in quite awhile.

Confession II: I really think I have a favorite Studio Calico kit now!

Just look at the gorgeous colors that were featured in the May kit. I love the seafoam greens and bright pinks mixed with with limey greens and soft pinks.

So this page is all about me, traveling alone.

That's how much I love to travel!

I'll go by myself if I have to =)

After reading this month's challenges for the Paperclipping Community, I knew I wanted to scrap this photo of me. And how hard it can be to get photos of yourself when you travel by yourself.

But back to the products! Loved these yellow thickers! And I'm happy that I actually used the resin flowers. I have quite a few from different brands and had yet to use them on anything.

But that's the beauty of a kit.

You want to use all of the beautiful projects, instead of just hoarding them.

Journaling Reads:

I travel by myself from time to time. And I know people may think that's daring or lonely or just plain dumb, but it's not going to stop me If I have the opportunity to go somewhere, I'm going to go. The lack of a little thing such as a travel buddy is not going to keep me from any once in a lifetime opportunity. Yup, it's harder to get photos of myself and the places I visit, but I make do.

And the irony of this visit is not lost on me. I get that it is a privilege for me, as a free independent female, to choose to visit any place on my own, let alone the former home of an imprisoned group of women. But that is the world we live in. and I feel incredibly blessed to live in this day and age.

[4 of 7 crop layouts blogged!]

xxbesos

Sketchbook Day 8

[I apologize for the overly saturated photos!! My camera has never liked taking photos of browns for some reason.]

But here's a third crop layout to share!

And one from Istanbul!!

And one of the layouts I planned beforehand using Day 8's sketch from KP's Sketchbook 3 =)

There were about 20-30 of these gigantic chandeliers hanging in the middle of the Hagia Sofia. It made the whole place look magical. Especially on the cold chilly day that it was in Turkey.

And this page is all about the gorgeous patterned papers from Basic Grey (brown background) and Pink Paislee (Gray/Yellow double-sided pp & Blue geometric design).

The only real embellishments I used were the baker's twine and buttons. I didn't want anything to over shadow the photos!

As always, thanks for stopping by to see another crop layout, which makes 3 :)

Be sure to check back tomorrow for another.

xxbesos

Sneaks!

If you're a Studio Calico subscriber, you know all about sneaks.

I've always thought it was fun to do, so I'm doing my own round of sneaks just because :)

(I recognize that I am the biggest dork)

Sneaks of what you might ask?

Sneaks of my crop layouts of course!

I went to my first 2011 crop yesterday.

Archivers was having a Customer Appreciation Crop so I signed up and joined in.

Now I wasn't so sure it would work. I mean I don't have kids (as another scrapbooker felt the need to point out to me yesterday...). I have my own dedicated space. And I get to scrapbook fairly regularly.

So I wasn't sure if I could really get motivated.

But motivated I did, and 7 nearly completed (sans journaling) pages came home with me!

This was my secret:

• I page planned 6 pages (turned to the few remaining KP Sketchbook 3 sketches I hadn't got to before)
• Printed photos in my desired sizes (seriously, buy an at home photo printer!!).
• Took my latest Studio Calico kit with me.
• And just a random smattering of about 30 sheets of patterned paper that I thought could coordinate and also some random embellishments.
• Along with my staples: trimmer, scissors, adhesive of course.

I also made a bargain with myself, if I was going to buy anything, It was only going to be for the page(s) I was working on. No superfluous spending on this crop. I meant business!

And aside from the one roll of smash tape I just had to have, I largely succeeded.

And I made a page with new product from Cosmo Cricket's Rocket Age line that I loved and wasn't planning to buy because I hadn't thought of a use for it.

But! By just looking at the products and seeing the metal button with the words "to the moon!" on it, I had a whole new direction to take the photo of my brother and Urijah.

What didn't work, was not bringing cardstock.

Major fail on my part.

It really hurt (read 'annoyed me') to buy that sheet of white cardstock when I have a perfectly good pack of 50 sheets sitting at home.

Live and learn!

I also don't think it's something I could do very often. But now I know it's especially helpful when you want to tackle a big group of photos!

And not only did I get 7 layouts done, 4 of them were from my trip to Istanbul! Something I hadn't even considered scrapbooking until yesterday morning.

I love these pages because they're beautiful. But am really more tickled that I actually have a few done!

I'm also 3 layouts closer to be done with Urijah's Year 1 Album (only 2 more to go!)

So check back this week and next to see all of my pages :)

I just have to end with, yay crops!!

xxbesos