I'm finally feeling it again...

It's been a long time since I've done anything with this blog, but that's because it's been a long time since I've felt like crafting.  I don't entirely know what it was, but I just wasn't feeling up to it.  I'm finally feeling the bug again, though, so I'm back for now!

This page was one that was made after I decided to clean out my ribbon stash.  I have a lot of ribbons that I just haven't touched in a very long time and that I know I should probably just clear out, but it's so hard to part with pieces that I think could still be useful.

I enjoy how it came out and I'm glad I was able to use up pieces that I'd long forgotten about.  I'm looking to do more projects like this, because on my break I realized the sheer volume of crafting supplies I've accumulated over the years and decided that I think I could half them and still have more than enough.  We'll see if I can ever bear to just part with things without a "proper send off" of creating with them one last time.

Identifiable Elements:

• Blue ribbon - Stampin' Up! Grosgrain Ribbon in the color "Pacific Point"
• Flower paper - Cosmo Cricket "Sunday" from the Girl Friday collection
• Green letters - Three Bugs In A Rug "Chaos & Confusion" green alphabet cardstock stickers
• Flowers - Prima Flowers

Love It

Today's page was a very special one for me to make because I really love the photo I used.  It's an old one of my cousin and I on my grandpa's lap when we were little.

I really like how I was able to pattern mix my papers and incorporate some old textured paper I'd been holding onto since about 7 or 8 years ago.  

Sometimes it's difficult for me to figure out how to mix multiple textures, patterns, and materials together but I think this turned out pretty cohesive.

I accidentally deleted my file that told me all of the elements and where they came from so the list is really short.

Identifiable Elements:

• Small gold letters - Create 365

Scrapbooking Fever

 Lately I've been trying to go through my box of ticket stubs and other mementos to try and scrapbook them.  This is the playbill and ticket from when one of my dad's coworkers gave me tickets to a musical.  I used them to go on a first date and while the date wasn't all that exciting the musical sure was!

I tried to keep a fun disco-esque theme with the page since that was what the musical was focused around.  I also got to use a lot of sparkle and sequins which is right up my alley.

Identifiable Elements:

• Music notes - Jolee's Boutique

Hot Mess Indeed...

Today's page was a very fun one to make.  The picture was silly which meant that I finally had a decent thematic excuse to use the mismatch font that I had sitting around my stash for awhile.  I'd tried using these letter stickers before but I never quite found the "right" look for them to go with.  I knew I'd need to make a more eclectic page than what I'm used to making, but I just needed the nudge to do so.  This photo was so void of anything that I really wanted to "focus" on per se that it was perfect for trying this style out.

Assembling all the pieces took a little bit and looking at it now, I forgot to put the year of the photo on the page, but I can always add that in later.  I really enjoy this look and hopefully I'll bring more of the random eclectic style in my work moving forward.

Identifiable Elements:

• Brown labels- Spellbinders Nestaboard by Want 2 Scrap
• Background polka dots paper- Stampin' Up!
• Dark brown paper- Neutrals card stock stack by DCWV
• Wood paper- "I Love Family" collection by Echo Park Paper Co.
• Flower embellishments- Bella! Paper Florals

Cruise Album #4

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
• Black paper- Basic Black by Stampin' Up!
• Yellow paper- Daffodil Delight by Stampin' Up!
• Lettering- Alphabet stickers by The Paper Studio

Relaxation Nation

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

Scrap Our Stash July Challenge!

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

Perfect Paper, More Perfect Photo

This page was difficult to photograph because of the absolutely beautiful paper that I used for the background.  You can almost see that it has a glossy emboss and is slightly iridescent in way where it can be either white or light pink depending on how the light catches it.  I thought it would be perfect for this photograph because it is one of my favorites of my grandparents and I from when I was little and it matches perfectly.

I tried to use the tan paper to make sure that the photo really stood out and used minimal embellishments for the same reason.  The only thing I'm considering adding is to this is the year it was taken in if my mom remembers since there wasn't any date on the back.

Unfortunately, I don't know who makes the paper since I got it from a massive clearance pile awhile back but I've listed below the parts that I do know.

Identifiable Elements:

• Beige enamel tear drop shapes- Enamel Shapes by We R Memory Keepers
• Light blue framed stickers- Watering Can Label Stickers by October Afternoon
• Embossed flower stickers- by Vintage Blue
• Textured tan cardstock- "Neutrals" collection 8x8" by DCWV
•  Letters- Marquise Pearl Letter Stickers by Thickers

Feels Good to be Back

I decided that the perfect way to kick off the new and improved blog would be to scrap a page of photos that were taken when the lovely ladies in my family (my mom, aunt, and cousin) decided to  take a trip to an amazing craft store and have lunch at a really good Chinese place near by.  I am certain that quite a few of the pieces on this page came from that trip.

I love the color scheme on this page.  Two of my favorite colors are black and orange, but often it's hard to fit them into one page without crossing into Halloween territory.  I think the pink and green liven it up and the gold in the lettering as well as the rhinestones gives the look a little more glam!  I also got the chance to use some of the punches my mother sent to me to spice up the background. 

It is my plan to try and list as many of the elements of my project that I can identify when moving forward with this blog, but be warned that I have a lot of random bits that I have to work my way through that I will not know where they came from.

Identifiable Elements:

• Green paper- "Melon Ball" 12x12" paper set by Colorbӧk
• Orange worded paper- "Melon Ball" 12x12" paper set by Colorbӧk
• Orange hearts paper- "I Love Family" 6x6" paper pad by Echo Park Paper Co.
• Gold gems- Adhesive Gems 6mm by Simply Creative
• Paper punches- Stampin' Up!

Post-Flood Crafting

It's been a pretty big chunk of time since I last crafted in part due to the fact that my crafting area was in my basement which conveniently flooded.  We still haven't got everything sorted out yet or put back together, but I did manage to pull so scrapbooking items out of the clutter because I just couldn't resist the pull of the craft-kick any longer.  I decided to use one of the fun new elements that my Aunt so kindly gifted to me to do this month's Challenge Yourself challenge.  The challenge needed you to have some sort of sewing on your page.  With my limited materials and space I was lucky enough to have this embroidered "love you" element from my Aunt and I made a page around it!  I really liked that I also got to keep playing with multi-photo pages which is something I've been trying to do more of.

Back When I Enjoyed Snow

This month's Pixels and Paper Challenge was to use this image as inspiration:

The funny part about this challenge coming up this month is that I had already planned on doing my Christmas in July theme when I saw that this too had a snowy feel. I chose to use the obvious white theme and then also pull in some of the blacks, navys, and browns that I saw.  I also thought the picture of me all bundled up in the snow seemed fitting for the inspiration photo as well.  I got to use a lot of pearl bling that I had been holding onto and had a lot of fun creating this page!

Patriotism At It's Finest

I'm still coming down from last weekend's 4th of July excitement so it only felt right to try the current Paper Girls Challenge which was to make your page patriotic.  I used these photos of my mom from a couple of years ago because she was just so festive!  This was a well-timed challenge and I really enjoyed participating.  I couldn't get the true colors to come quite right on my camera today so there's a slight blue tint but it almost works with the page!

Who Would Ever Actually Put These Buttons On Clothing?

This page is a very heavy one.  Literally.  I found these cool bright pink buttons at an antique store and thought they would look great on a page, which they do, but it took about seven mini glue dots to hold each one on!  I'm liking the finished product so I'd venture to say it was worth it, but let's hope the next buttons I find will be a bit lighter...

Perfect Match

This month's Challenge YOUrself challenge was to use geometric shapes.  I decided to also challenge myself by only using paper from Colorbok's Paper Plus+ Fresh Linen collection.  I had bought the set a long while ago because I loved the colors but it got pushed to the back of my paper cabinet and I totally forgot about it.  I think with the help of some Thickers and a bunch of different embellishments it turned out pretty good.  I cut squares out of different patterned papers and I really appreciate how the busy quality they have help disguise my less than perfect square cutting on some of the swatches.  Another bonus: the papers matched mine and my friend's outfits in the photo (you're only truly stylish if your clothes coordinate with your scrapping materials!)

A Real Challenge

This month's Pixels and Paper challenge I realized I had paper that was almost the exact barn door in the picture (I used one side of it on my last scrapbook page) but I decided to try and push myself and not use it because it didn't really feel like a challenge if I did.  I instead used some old scrap paper and a bunch of bits I had stored away to make this page.  I kept the wood aspect with the lettering, used the green of the grass in the photo, and I made sure that I had a few distressed elements to match the photo as well.  I'm pleased with how it turned out.  Below is the inspiration photo and my page.  It was extremely hard to take a photo of the page because so many elements had an iridescent quality so the colors are off a little.  Sorry.  Otherwise, enjoy!

Foil Fun

A little bit ago we were cleaning out the "craft cabinet" in the basement from when I was little and we came across these fun heart doilies.  There are lots of them and I decided to try and use them in a scrapbook page.  They looked so nice with this KaiserCraft paper I had.  All I had to do was add some elements from an SEI sticker pack and I was good to go!

Magically Matched

These photos were taken on a day when I was having trouble with lighting and finally just decided to get what I could and be done so take this as an upfront apology for that.   That being said this was a really fun page that let me use a lot of little bits I had stored away.  None of the different elements came from the same line or kit and actually most of them weren't even made by the same company so I am thoroughly surprised with how well they all coordinated.  I'm trying to do more pages with more than one photo.  Hopefully sometime soon I'll be making some double-page layouts again.

Something Special

I'm still on my never-ending quest to use elements that I've had stashed away for awhile.  This large orange flower was a piece I had been saving for something good.  I found this photo with me as a baby with my late grandfather and I knew it was perfect.  My "Pa" always liked planting and growing flowers and I think it really worked well with this page.  I got to use some old Stampin' Up ribbon as well as some Thickers I'd been saving for something special.

Good Dog

I enjoyed doing the challenge from yesterday so much that I figured I may as well do another today.  Today's challenge came from the Scrap Our Stash blog.  The challenge was to create a page based off of this image:

I really like the pinkish color and the way that the dark stood out on it.  I also really have a thing for hearts and I love using them.  I created the below pages with pictures taken with my old dog.  It was a fun page to make, especially because I've always enjoyed the pink and black color scheme.

Girl's Not Grey

It's been quite some time since I've tried a stamping or scrapbooking challenge so I took a swing at this month's 123 Challenge.  The challenge was to use the color grey, the word great, and the grunge style.  Once again, taking the picture of the page was proving to be one of the biggest challenge of the whole ordeal, but these will do.  I scrapped a photo I found of my cousin from years ago and thought it would work well with the challenge.  I also wanted to get it out of where it was being stored because the photo itself was getting slightly damaged.

I used a grey paper and distressed it and stamped on it to try and grunge it up.  I used ink to distress the other elements as well and make the the numbers for the year because for some reason gray is about the ONLY color I DON'T have.  I really like the way it looks!