Continuing the challenge I set for myself on Monday, I updated this page. I forgot to take a before photo but literally all the page had were the ribbons and the silver circles. There was no bling, no flowers, and definitely know lettering. The large white block at the top is just me censoring my friend's name to protect the innocent.
That being said, the ribbons did add a pretty cool base for this revamp, and I really like how it turned out. I had the orange flowers and was super excited to use them. They fit the crazy ribbon theme perfectly which also kept with the eclectic looks we were wearing for mismatch day in the photos. Identifiable Elements:
This month I decided to do something a little different. As the year is coming to an end I decided to do my best to go through old albums I have that are full of half finished scrapbook pages. I used to leaved space so I could type up titles and little blurbs about the photos but lately I haven't wanted much to do with that style. So instead of letting myself go into the New Year with all these old incomplete pages, I'm going to do my best to fix them up. Since it is December I decided to start with this page that featured a nice Christmas theme. I'd made a dress out of wrapping paper but the sad face was because I couldn't really sit in it so I knew it'd get trashed at school that day.
Before I revamped this page it was pretty bland and left a lot of negative space that I didn't really care for.
I've realized that one of the biggest challenges for these pages is going to be finding the years that the photos were taken. I had to do a lot of scrolling on Facebook to figure out if it was my junior or senior year of high school, but eventually I found it and was super grateful for social media.
Obviously, because these were made so long ago, I don't really know what bits and pieces I used to put them together. All I can list below is what I added that I can identify in the revamp stage. Identifiable Elements:
3D stars- "Sweet Freedom" stickers by Pink Paislee
It may not look like it, but my friend and I are in fact in this photo. I still know where I am, but I'll leave that as a guessing game for you all. Good Charlotte was the first band to play and kick off the cruise as we were sailing away from New Orleans. They were supposed to go on earlier but everything was delayed by a few hours with the chaos of everyone trying to board and get settled in. Kevin Lyman is the founder of Warped Tour and he took the stage with them for this awesome photo. (They were also sponsored by PBR, hence the excessive can presence. They were passing them out for free in the crowd as well.)
Since the photo was so large and took up so much of the page I didn't want to waste any paper trying to do too many layers so I opted for a rich background and a simple black piece to give it depth. It bothers me that I accidentally put my Os all upside down and now they somewhat resemble Qs but I think anyone reading could guess that they are not. The most frustrating thing about this album so far is the fact that the photos themselves are not actually straight. I've had to adjust things and cut thins wonky in my paper cutter to make the illusion that they are. Song:
Identifiable Elements:
Background- "Rose' Inspired" from the Rose' All Day collection by Reminisce
I decided to take this page in a different direction than the others because of the colors and the mood I got from the photo itself. I also think it'll be a good excuse for me to work some of these brighter elements into other pages as the album progresses as well. I had some trouble getting the page to photograph "right" so it may be a bit difficult to see some of the large flowers because I just couldn't get the contrast right in the bright Arizona sun.
This photo was taken right after we got off the ship in Mexico to explore for the day. It was the one and only stop the cruise had. I was very thankful for it because I had just started getting seasick the night before. I tried to match the lighter tones in the photo but still keep with the swashbuckling wood theme I had going with the background paper. It was fun to do something a little different than what I'd been working with lately. Today's song matches that more upbeat vibe that this photo and Mexico brought. The band Reel Big Fish played the cruise which seemed to be their ultimate dream show seeing as out they're known to be a fun party ska band. Song: Identifiable Elements:
Background paper- Birch from the SN@P! Basics collection by Simple Stories
The pages as I post them are probably not going to be in order for 2 reasons:
1. I'm making them out of order.
2. I'm not entirely sure what order I want to put them in yet.
This page was fun to make because I introduced a little bit of rubber stamping which I haven't done in quite awhile. It's something I'm looking to do more of I just have to train my brain to remember that it is an option.
This photo was taken right after I had finished unpacking my stuff in our room and changed for the first night. It was still a little chilly in the New Orleans port so I kept on my jacket and found a place to sit on deck while I watched them set up the final touches on one of the stages.
I'm pretty proud that I managed to find nautical themed paper that wasn't too cheesy and fit the asthetic I'm going for with this album. I think the black flowers and funky bling sets really bring it together as well as help keep it from getting too "cruise-y".
The song for today is going to be from one of the bands that played the cruise (and that I've seen multiple times on other Warped Tour runs) called Mayday Parade. I chose this song mostly because it talks about cameras which once again seems pretty appropriate for a scrapbooking blog.
Song:
Identifiable Elements:
Background paper- "Version 12.0" by Bella! iWood Paperz
Anchor paper- "Ahoy Matey" from the Pirate Tales collection by Echo Park Paper Co.
Splatter stamps- Gorgeous Grunge set by Stampin' Up!
I finally decided to get around to scrapbooking the cruise that my friend and I took almost 2 years ago. We went on the Warped Rewind at Sea cruise which took place over Halloween of 2017. About 20-30 bands who were all Warped Tour alumni stayed on our ship and played shows daily. We got to see a lot of favorites and had so much fun. We stopped off in Mexico as well, so needless to say I have plenty to scrapbook from the trip. We left out of New Orleans and took a train all the way down from Chicago but I might not be able to fit everything from that part of the trip in as well so for now this album will focus on the cruise itself.
This was the first page I decided to do, since it was the first picture that the official photographers took of us as we boarded the ship. We were still in our lazy travel clothes (we'd had a fun night out in New Orleans the night before and were rushing to check out of our hotel and make it on the boat early), but I did manage to rep my Yellowcard tank top I made in high school. The first time I ever saw them live was at a Warped Tour so it felt appropriate.
I was able to raid more of my mom's stash for this album and I found some real gems. I'm surprised she had the embroidery nautical anchors because we do very little involving boats or sailing but thankfully she did because they worked great with this page!
I'm going to be linking to songs by bands I've seen at various Warped Tours, preferably ones on the ship, but today I'm starting with Yellowcard who was not on the cruise but in my heart that first day. (Plus the song is about hanging up a photograph which seems doubly appropriate) Song:
Identifiable Elements:
Music note paper- Stampin' Up!
Red paper- Poppy Parade by Stampin' Up!
Yellos paper- Daffodil Delight by Stampin' Up!
Letters- "Tinsel" Foil Letter Stickers by Thickers by American Crafts
Today's page features a lovely postcard brought to us by Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville in Las Vegas. When I went to Vegas last year with some of my friends three of us decided to check out his restaurant since it was hooked right on to our hotel. They came by and snapped this photo. We didn't end up buying the actual photo but we kept the postcard they gave us with the photo on it so I could scrapbook it. I tried to play off of the cool beach that is featured on the card. I debated adding more bright, crazy colors, but I liked the tone that was forming and I didn't want to overwhelm the tiny photo of us which was the most important part.
I had a lot of fun raiding my mom's embellishment stash for the flair on this page and I think she's probably glad that I was able to use more of the ones left over from my grandma's stash.
Identifiable Elements:
Dark blue paper- Island Indigo by Stampin' Up!
Green paper- Old Olive by Stampin' Up!
Light blue paper- Coastal Cabana by Stampin' Up!
Lettering- Thickers in the color "Shamrock" from the Amy Tangerine line with American Crafts
This thank you card was an experiment in layering for me. I don't often use layering as a way to border things but using it to border this sentiment gave the card the oomph it needed.
This card was also a great way to use up some of the large scrap papers I've had on my work space for too long. It's fun finding new ways to use paper that you've already been using and it's always a great exercise to challenge my creativity.
I'm still working my way through my grandma's old stash of bling. I've been running into the issue of the glue being dried up on the backs so a lot a delicate manual gluing has had to happen. Identifiable Elements:
Blue paper- Coastal Cabana by Stampin' Up!
Yellow paper- So Saffron by Stampin' Up!
Sentiment- "Apple of My Eye" stamp set by Stampin' Up!
Happy Monday! Tomorrow is the first day of school for one of the districts I've started subbing in so this might be my last early morning crafting day for awhile. Here is a card I made a bit ago with a cute little chick that my mom has that I fell in love with (I've named him Georgie).
It was a really fast and really simple card to make but he just turned out so adorable! I also got to use one of her die cuts and start getting back into using more of those again. The possibilities for future cards are endless. Identifiable Elements:
This might be my favorite Christmas in July card so far. I really like the color scheme I ended up going with and the stamp set is one that I've always admired from afar. Luckily for me my mom owns it so that means I get to play with it!
I'm really liking the fact that most of these cards I've been making are really easy to replicate. It gives me a little peace of mind knowing that if it comes down to it, I can crank out extras pretty quickly. I usually try to send all different cards to people (mostly because I don't always have the patience to mass produce a design) but if any of these have to be repeated I really don't think I'll feel all that bad about it. Identifiable Elements:
This birthday card is more proof that I really love my monochromatic color schemes. I've been trying to break out of them lately, but not today. I designed the whole card around the pretty metallic blue floral paper that I just love. It's almost all gone but I can't bear to through a good thing away. (I understand that's probably 100% my hoarding talking but I can't help it).
I wasn't planning on doing the entire background in the splatter but I messed a small part and the only way to hide it was to keep going. If I ever made the card again, I'd definitely stick with my original plan to leave more negative space and just try to be more careful. That being said, I think the card turned out swell overall and I know the person I sent it to will appreciate it. Identifiable elements:
This card would've turned out so clean and perfect if I had only noticed that there was still a bit of ink on my thumb when I picked it up to go photograph it. Unfortunately I smudged it a bit, but I'm not entirely sure that anyone but me would examine it that closely.
As you can see, I've been on a bit of a washi tape binge lately. I usually don't use it that often, but my mom has an extensive collection and I couldn't resist. I think it really brought in a cool texture for the look of this card and I'm starting to think I'll have to expand my own collection when I move out in October. Identifiable Elements:
The journey to the holiday season continues with this super simple card that I still managed to mess up a bit (but I hid it under some bling).
I accidentally bent back the corner of my greeting but managed to cover it up pretty well. My main goal for this card was to use the pretty Crumb Cake brown from Stampin' Up! that I found among my mom's supplies. I think I was able to jazz it up fairly well and once again make a card that I can easily replicate if I need to when December comes. Identifiable Elements:
Green paper & ink- Wild Wasabi by Stampin' Up!
Brown ink- Crumb Cake by Stampin' Up!
Stamp set- "Holly Berry Happiness" by Stampin' Up!
It's another great day to take on another great scrapbooking challenge! Today's challenge was a color pallet inspiration one from Scrap The Girls. I made the page for a photo I had pinned up on a bulletin board when I was in elementary school which is why the photo itself is pretty beat up.
The color inspiration really spoke to me since they're a combination of colors that I don't often lean towards.
I also tried to use a lot of my mom's old stash which is why I actually have no idea where any of the pieces came from, unfortunately. There's a chance that some of it was even left over from my grandmother's stash when she gave up crafting.
I tried to keep the sketchy watercolor feel that the image accompanying the pallet had with the watercolor paper, die cuts, and the tiny sketched flowers on the large golden background paper. Of course, because it's me, I made sure to get some bling and glitter on the page as well!
This was a very fun challenge and I can't wait to see what they come up with next!
Today was a good day because I got to use framelets for the first time. I'd never actually taken the time to sit down and use any before so I decided to take advantage of this less than busy day to give them a shot!
I really enjoy how this card turned out and how nice clean the lines are. It keeps the card simple, but interesting. Hopefully this month will give me plenty of inspiration for more cards come Christmas time, but this is one that I wouldn't mind making a few more exact replicas of. Identifiable Elements:
Red paper & ink- Poppy Parade by Stampin' Up!
Green paper & ink- Old Olive by Stampin' Up!
Sentiment- "Versatile Christmas" set by Stampin' Up!
Ornaments- "Holiday Ornaments" set by Stampin' Up!
Yesterday I decided that I wanted to get back into making some scrapbook pages, even though I'm still at my parent's house for a bit, and I only have a handful of photos to work with at the moment. I decided to take on Scrap Our Stash's July sketch challenge. At first I was hesitant because sketch challenges are harder than others for me and I was worried about not having the right photos for it. Luckily for me, I found some that work, and I think that the page turned out great!
This was the sketch that we had to work off of:
I stuck close to the sketch until I realized the title I wanted was a bit bigger than theirs, but I think I made it work. I really wanted to keep the photo positions, long background strip, and the fun accent in between the photos (which is something I would probably have never tried to do on my own). I'm both glad to say I kept all three. For the "Arrow" I made sure to use arrow like pink paper and the thicker with the arrow banner. I didn't have any true arrows in my personal stash to work with but even if it doesn't fit the challenge absolutely perfectly, I'm very proud of my effort.
This whole color scheme and everything isn't my usual style but I think I might start adopting it as such. I really love how it turned out and can't wait to do some more like this! Identifiable elements:
Chipboard embellishments- "Butterfly Kisses" Layered Chipboard by Bo Bunny
Coral lettering- Boardwalk glitter foam Thickers in Fireberry by American Crafts
I woke up this morning and found that it's actually overcast out in Arizona today. With the apocalypse clearly imminent I decided to catch back up on my Christmas in July series and make this cute little card.
It would be a quick and simple design but unfortunately the letter stickers I decided to use didn't want to stick so I ended up hand gluing each down. I'm still considering making a few more though just to be done with the stickers and to knock a few more cards out quickly. Identifiable elements:
Snowflake stamps- "Snow is Glistening" by Stampin' Up!
This Christmas in July card I was bound and determined to use some of my massive stash of eyelets. I have an unnecessarily large collection and yet I never use them. They're usually annoying for me to line up and get together, but I pushed through and used some for this card.
I really feel like I could've done more with the card style wise but after all the eyelet dealings I had to do I was more exhausted than anything. I just wanted to be done. I still like the way it looks but it's definitely not a practical approach if you want a quick and easy Christmas card.
Today's card actually uses a cream background, something that I thought I'd never really do in my modern craft life. I don't know why but I've always been biased against creams and off whites, partially because I've always just thought of them as scummy white, but I'm learning to move past that particular neurosis.
I really tried to mimic falling snow with my random placement of elements. I also tried to steer away from my fallback of using large blocks of colors and patterns to create interest.
I really enjoy this fun, simple, and whimsical design. I might have to make some duplicates for the holiday season!
I'm getting a head start on my Christmas cards again this year! I really like the idea of some monochromatic holiday cards which are great to send out to just about anyone.
I'm also a fan of using more scrap paper and elements that I've had tucked away for way too long.
This is a very fast and simple card, but that's probably exactly what I need to make sure I have everything ready this holiday season!
I've been making big life changes again, and as per usual, I fell behind on the blog again. I used this page as an excuse to use up a lot of scrap paper that I had stashed away and I really like how it turned out. I think I'm just about out of all of my "I Love Family" papers by Echo Park and while I'll be a bit sad to see them go, it's definitely time for something new. I was able to use a lot of elements that I wouldn't have usually put together as well. I'm very proud of myself for how far I've come with pattern mixing. It wasn't long ago that I would've never mixed together the patterned papers AND patterned border stickers.
I'm having fun getting back into it and since I'm staying with my mother for a while I've got even more fun stuff to play around with.
I'm going to try and start posting on here more regularly again, but I've learned that I shouldn't really being making that promise at this point so don't hold me to it. Identifiable Elements:
Sequins- Mixed Sequins by Advantus Corp.
Background borders- Adhesive Borders by K & Company
Patterned paper scraps- "I Love Family" collection by Echo Park Paper Co.
It's been rough in the Chicago area this winter in case if you haven't seen the news lately. This has left me more time to scrapbook which has been nice but I'm definitely going stir crazy now. I decided to try and endear myself to the winter a bit more by scrappy a fond chilly memory but the jury is still out on how much it actually helped.
These photos were taken at a winter ale fest which I figured would be a perfect occasion to use some of these chipboard phrases I had hidden away in my stash.
I'm trying to get more comfortable with pattern mixing and pulling together papers that don't match "perfectly". This page helped me expand on that idea and I really feel more comfortable with the concept.
Identifiable Elements:
Chipboard words- Layered Chipboard from the Merry January collection by We R Memory Keepers
I'm still trying to make it through my stash and luckily I'm getting some pretty nice pages out of it. I had a lot of random photos of this little pooch that my friend had in college named Skittles so I decided to make and entire page dedicated to her.
I didn't have any pictures of the two of us printed but she liked me more than most people because I brought her empty water bottles to play with. I'm not above bribing a dog for their love.
I'm glad that I got to use this background paper because I've always really liked it. It didn't occur to me that I could use these flowers with it until I accidentally set them down next to each other when I was digging through my stash. Fate was at work that day! Identifiable Elements:
Background paper- "Enchanting Garden" from the Simple Pleasures Collection by Three Bugs In A Rug
This was an attempt for me to use the massive silver flowers on this page. I ordered these online and they did not look as huge and dimensional as they actually are. They are about an inch thick and I thought I would never actually use them.
I'm very surprised that I was able to make them work with the page aesthetically and equally surprised that I was able to physically secure them to the paper.
I'd like to say that I've learned my lesson about blindly purchasing things online but I know in my heart that I haven't.
Hopefully next time I won't end up with such a surprise but at least this one made for a decent page!
Identifiable Elements:
Background paper- "Push Me Pull You" by Studio Calico
Brown dots- Enamel Dots by We R Memory Keepers
Silver flowers- Sunrise Sunset Collection by Prima Flowers
Background swirls- Adhesive Borders by K & Company
It's been awhile since I've had the time to sit down and do some scrapping but I went ahead and made this page. I had totally forgotten that I had bought the glittery quote stickers. Usually I don't like quote stickers but I remember realizing that these were ones I could actually use and I'm glad I got them!
I love the way the page turned out and I'm glad I got to add a little more sparkly to my life in the process.
I'm thinking I might have to reorganize some of my scrapbooks by year since I've been trying to put them on as many pages as possible but that's a project for another day, I believe.
Identifiable Elements:
Flowers- Burlap Daisies from the Forever in Time collection by Paper Craft Collection
I have decided to challenge myself to do some real work clearing out my old stash this month. I'm looking to potentially relocate to another state and quite frankly, the ammount of craft items I'd have to haul with me is intimidating. To do this I'm going to be doing double time 4 days a week. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays I will be featuring 2 Fast Cards and Wednesdays will have 2 Hoarder's Hump Day pages. Each of these days I will try and use as many of the same elements for both projects to try and cull the herd.
I would say "new year, new me" but 1. I've always disliked that phrase and 2. I don't have any delusions that this purging of the stash will become a real habit.
Today's cards aren't as closely related as I hope to make moving forward but they were made from the same background card stock and both are birthday cards.
Since I'm mostly purging my collection I won't have many elements that I can identify. This is all about finally getting rid of the excess (and hopefully not purchasing much more).
Identifiable Elements:
Green flowers - Burlap Daisies from the "Forever in Time Paper Craft Collection" by MultiCraft Imports Inc.
Floral background paper - "I Love My Family" by Echo Park Paper Co.
Blue washi tape - "Summer Party" collection by Echo Park Paper Co.
