~ mini gift ~

A few weeks ago I took engagement photos for a friend and her fiancé.  It was stressful, but also quite fun!  I got a few good ones out of the hour and a half, and she was happy, which is all that really counts!

As a gift, I decided to stick a few of her favorites into a minibook.  I was going to use her wedding colors, but decided I would stick with fall colors since they were such a part of the photos.  One of my (and her) favorite photos is this one :

I bought two ampersand stamps from Elise Blaha Cripe (along with a few other stamps from her store) and used circles and ampersands throughout the book.  This was a bit of a challenge because there was no journaling.  I don't know them as a couple all that well (I mostly just know Amber), so I didn't feel like I know enough about the two of them to journal, and Amber isn't a scrapbooker, so I didn't want to just leave some journaling spots (not sure that would be a "gift", if that makes sense). So I found some "love" quotes and printed those out for the other side of the page.

Hambly screen print overlay on the front and back of the book.

Thanks for stopping by!

..:: currently ::..

Currently I am...

creating all kinds of fun things at the same time, with little to share at this point!  I recently took engagement photos for a friend and I am making her a fun little mini book as a gift.  I will photograph and share soon.

waiting for Elise Cripe stamps and other goodies to arrive in the mail!  Over the last couple of weeks I've participated in several scrapping events and won on two different occasions -- and the stamps I ordered from Elise will help me complete the mini book gift.

sweating or freezing with this crazy Iowa weather (today it is snowing on the other side of the state and I had the air conditioning on yesterday)!

anticipating B's excitement with carving her pumpkin!

hoping to get a chance to use my new lens and speed light (birthday presents) more!

thankful for every day that I have with my family.

~ enJOYing the ride ~

I've been going crazy with the layouts lately!  All kinds of crazy.  First of all, I'm a double page, multiple photo gearle.  However, of the last nine layouts or so, seven of them have been one pagers!  What's up with that??  Next, I used to be lucky to get one or two layouts done per month (except July, when I am not working) and I've completed three in the last ten days -- the last two for the same challenge over at Club CK.  Crazy, right?  I know for some of you, that's nothing, but for me it's quite prolific!  It's like I got started and cannot stop (I have another nearly completed on my workspace)!  OK, here's my latest...and I made several mistakes that I'd love to share!

I am pleased with the final product, but it's not exactly what I had in my head (this photo makes it look a bit crooked, but it's really not).  I wanted a bit more white space, and the placement of the title was going to be a bit different.  I started with this awesome layout (by corrie over at You, Me & Crazy) that I pinned just a week ago.  As soon as I saw it, I knew I would lift it, and I knew which photo I would use!

Most of the papers came from a Scrapbook Circle Kit :: Daydreamer (tons of Amy Tangerine), and it's all linked below.

I started with the yellow paper and added my mask and ink. Then the confetti.  After the glue dried, I took the spray bottle apart and used the end of the nozzle to put some bigger dabs of ink on the paper and let it dry for a long time (I'll get back to that later).  I cut the middle out of the pink backgroud paper because I knew I wanted to us that behind my photo.  Next I went to glue the yellow and pink paper together.  When I pressed it down, I messed up the paint.  Badly.  I tried to mess it up a bit more, thinking it would make it look like I meant to do that, but that didn't work. Mostly because I had purposely painted and glued in the diagonal, and much of the paint had smeared horizontal.  I almost cried!  But then I decided to just cover it up.  I got out the little Amy Tangerine banners (misted them a bit, cut them a bit, etc.) and then hid the worst part behind them (on the left).  I had to adjust my title a bit and then put more banners up at the top to balance it all out, but it ended up working.  I added some hidden journaling, clipped it on with a fun little clip, and it was done!  The last mistake I didn't notice until all of the photos had been taken and I was putting it in the album.  I had completely forgotten that I had used part of that pink paper already -- SOOOO it's not 12x12!  Argh!  (let's just keep that our little secret) Eh.  I just went with it.  I've been doing that a lot more lately, which is likely why I have been getting more layouts done!

Here are a few close ups:

My favorite parts: the title and the holes that I punched in the photo. Thanks for reading!

~ my assistant ~

Washi love.
Amy Tangerine love.
B. love.
(not necessarily in that order)

Everything is linked below except a couple of the washi tapes (couldn't find them online), Elise Blaha Cripe's THIS stamp (which I love, but couldn't get the InLinkz grabber to grab it), and some little patterned paper scraps that I used between the washi tapes!

..::photo walk :: squeezing the most out of mother nature::..

We had a picnic.

Jack Frost painted our view.

We ran, jumped and climbed.

There was swinging and just plain silliness.

We got our feet muddy and gooey.

But this was my favorite.

My scrappy time has been limited this week, partly because the weather has been so glorious.  The weatherman is suggesting I may get some inside time...very soon.