Seeing Red

Running of the Bulls

I suppose I was in a red kind of mood this NSD weekend, because all of these layouts have touches of red! Also, all of them were created for various Studio Calico challenges. The DT prompted a TON of inspiration. These three layouts were inspired by 9 different challenges. I'll break it down for you now.

This page was created for the mist, lift yourself, and scrap an old photo challenges. I lifted my Hair layout but switched things around a bit. The mist is the same but the awesome Prima star element ended up horizontal instead. Also, used those amazing yellow Basic Grey letter stickers. Seriously, there's like a million letters on there bc I'm nowhere near to running out! And I've used them, a lot! I bought the red Max and Whiskers version because of this.

About the photo, it's an oldie. Back from 2006 when I was studying abroad in Spain. As luck would have it, the last weekend of our program was the last weekend of the running of the bulls. Also as luck would have it, the city I lived in was only a 2 hour bus ride away from Pamplona! How could we not go? Being the mother hen that Professor Cassidy is, she arranged the whole thing for us. All we all had to do was stumble on the bus at around 4 am and stumble through the dirty streets of Pamplona to our balcony around 6. Seriously, the most memorable experience!

Mama

Awww, mama. I love her :) She's my bestie! This layout was created with inspiration from the ad challenge, mist challenge, scrap yo mama challenge and I used another older photo. I feel like I look so young! It was taken at Nana's house early 2006. I think we were just over that day and I think I just felt like taking a picture of us. Who knows why I took this, but I'm happy I did because I'm so surprised that she actually smiled! She never smiles! And who knew that four eyes could make the two of us look alike. I resemble my mama, but not very much.

The Sweetest Pair

The last of my NSD weekend creations! And arguably the worst :( I'm just not really feeling it. It feels too flat. But that's what I get for using this gorgeous Sassafras paper. It did all of the work. I attempted to add dimension with the banners and the flower, but they feel a little off. I do like the idea for it though.

This ones good for the sketch, layered flower and scrap your opposite challenges. I made the flower from memory. I read a tutorial somewhere around the blogosphere. If you know where it was please let me know! But it's three layers; the folded green outer edge, the white scalloped punch and the clear green button. Loving these flowers!

I definitely say this is my opposite style. I rarely scrap 4x6 photos, and not very often a single one on a 12x12 page. It has a patterned paper background and not a lot of cardstock. Maybe the reason I don't like it, is because it's so much my opposite. At least this photo's done!

Happy National Scrapbook Day!!

xxbesos

j.leija

Mini Book May!

Here's the next of my fun surprises for May! And it all started with numbers and my obsession with them. I'm a crazy counter person. I count everything without really thinking about it. And sometimes I count things intentionally. For example, I have this tally sheet of scrappy creations. I keep track of how many layouts, cards and mini books I do, month by month. Dorky I know!! But alas, dorky I am.

Here are my numbers for 2010:

Layouts [70]

Cards [49]

Minis [7]

Only 7 minis! I love making minis! They're such a great way to get crafty with a whole bunch of pictures...or a little. I love making them for friends as gifts. In fact, 6 of those were actually made for friends, in the month of January alone. But I love making them for myself as well! And I've missed putting them together. Plus, one can never have too many minis! Thus an idea was born.

So here's what I'm doing for the month of May which I've now dubbed Mini Book May. I'm implementing Mini Book Monday! Every Monday I plan to bring you a new mini book that I've created, offer up a few tutorials, and at the end of the month, a RAK for someone who comments on one of the 4 planned posts. Fun, right? I hope so anyway! The photos above are a few sneaks of the first mini, debuting on the blog May 3. The inaugural Mini Monday post!

Seems that mini books are on the brain elsewhere in the scrappy world. I was listening to the Paperclipping Roundtable at the gym last week, and it was all about mini books. You can read about it and listen to it here. They had some interesting things to say but I was so in gym mode I've kind of forgotten what they were =/

I've added a link for you all to be able to view my current minis over on flickr. You can access it here or scroll down and click on the photo in my sidebar.

Hope you come back to share in the mini mayhem!! And I'd love for everyone to link up any mini's you've created for us to all see! Happy Scrapping!

xxbesos

j.leija

Insecurities

Hi there! If you're here for the Blog Hop please scroll down!

Or you can stay awhile...whichever you prefer :)

My Insecurity

Eek! No one likes to talk about those! Let alone scrap them. But my friend Jessica asked me to be the first Guest DT member over at Who's That Girl? and I couldn't say no!

Who's That Girl? is an awesome All About Me Challenge blog with some fabulously great prompts. It's run by a fellow Young Scrapper, Jessica Bree. I love Jessica's unique prompts. They force you to think deeper about yourself and then to express that in a creative way.

My assignment: create a page about insecurities. Now this was a challenge, I have to admit. At the risk of sounding narcissistic, I really am a very secure person. There's not much that I get down on myself about. So I had to dig a little deeper to come up with something that's been worrying me for months and months.

And that is this economy! And the unemployment rate! And my student loans piling up! And the fact that I still don't have a job! I could go on and on. And while I may be a secure individual, all of this turmoil is sure to take a toll on one's psyche. Thus this layout was created. A visual catharsis for what's going on in my life currently.

About the page: I LOVE this 7 Gypsies patterned tape! I've never used tape before and let me tell you, I'm hooked. It's so pretty and versatile and already sticky! Can't beat that. Beyond the tape, I stuck some letter stickers on a sheet of Kraft and hit it with some Orange Maya Mist. Peeled them away to reveal the mask and amped them up a bit with some pen work. I cut the little butterflies out of 7 Gypsies patterned paper using my Slice and the Basics 2 Design Card. Viola! A pretty visual representation of something that ain't so pretty.

Head on over to Who's That Girl? to see what the rest of the design team cooked up. These ladies are definitely talented! Thanks for stopping by :)

xxbesos

j.leija