Scrap Your Story Challenge :: come & go

It's FRIDAY!  And you know what that means -- another challenge and Scrap Your Story! Our challenge this week is to use at least two sentences of journaling. No problem!

For this layout I used a sketch by the great Audrey Yeager.  I am not posting it because I got the sketch through a class that I am taking at My Scraps and More, and I'm not sure if I can share it (I paid for the class and I'm not sure about the sharing rules)!

My journaling is hidden, and there are way more than two sentences.  :-)  (I've never been accused of being at a loss for words). The story I am telling is about how B. got the bike for Christmas and it was way to big for her.  And now, just a few months later, we had to raise the seat!  She just keeps growing!

 Loving this Heidi Swapp paper! Most of my supplies came from the April Scrapbook Circle Kit.

See that vellum?  It's an envelope full of confetti on the bottom and the tags and journaling on the top.  Much of the confetti (and the sequins) are from a kit that I got when I signed up for the Lots of Layers class at My Scraps and More.

That's all for today.  Short one -- it's been a long week!  It's also been a rather difficult week for us because we are remembering what was going on in our lives a year ago. I am thankful that we have that first year behind us.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you play along at Scrap Your Story this week!

Scrap Your Story Challenge :: you are my favorite color

It all started with an idea and some white card stock. 

And it's probably one of my favorite LOs ever.  I love it when my vision actually turns out exactly like (or even better than ) I expected!

This week at Scrap Your Story, we are all about STITCHING.  This was not difficult for me, since I am obsessed with machine stitching!  This week I machine stitched, but I also hand stitched (something I don't do quite as often).

First I added some chalk...next some machine stitching. Let me tell ya, it was SO MUCH FUN to add the stitching.  I matted my photo with some Amy Tangerine vellum (purchased at Michael's -- Recollections "Signature" pack), and some regular vellum.  I used more of the Amy Tangerine vellum for my title, then traced around it with a pink Sharpie.  I actually did the trick again where I wrote "favorite color" with my finger on my iPad, and then used my Silhouette Cameo to cut it out. "You Are My" is April's Studio AE stamp set from Ali Edwards.

I actually did a practice page with this one before starting. I didn't want that page to go to waste, so I used it for several items on this LO. First I used Amy Tangerine's Yes, Please template and hand stitched a flower (totally fun, right)? I cut it out and popped it off the page with pop dots. I also used some of the practice page to write my journaling on (cut it and hid it behind the pic -- just pull the yellow washi tab).  There is a stamp set with the same Amy Tangerine collection, and I used the flower stamp on that practice page, cut it out and added a little colored pencil to it before gluing it on. Added some washi tape and sequins and I was finished. I cannot tell you how much fun this was to pull together!

Here are a few closeups!

"You Are My" is a new Ali Edwards stamp!

I also linking this up with Paper Issues.  Their current issue is all about using instagram photos! You have until April 20th to link up!

I'm headed to my friend's wedding this weekend!  It's local....it's outside....and it's been raining hard for what seems like weeks and weeks.  Cross your fingers!

:: project life update ::

Anyone behind yet?  I am!!!  Before I started Project Life (remember, this is my first year), I kept seeing all these blogposts about staying organized and some of the things people do to help them keep up, etc. I read them, but didn't really do anything about it, because I was thinking, "Just print the photos as you go and slip them in the pockets, how hard can that be to keep up?" Which is just silly, right? At the same time, I wasn't completely naive, if you remember I was totally worried about not completing regular layouts because PL might take up my whole 'creative' time. Well...remember that thing we call "LIFE"?  It happened. I got on a Design Team (yay!) that involves a layout a week, which is way more than I've ever done regularly (this is mostly because I have a more than full time job AND a three year old, and, well,  I like to spend time with my family. It would be quite silly if I spent so much time trying to document our lives that I missed out on our lives, now wouldn't it?  :-) Plus, I'm supposed to "be present", to keep true to my One Little Word)! I am a slower than average scrapper, I know this, and it's OK. As a result of all of that...I got behind. Now I know what all these experienced Project Lifers were talking about! So, I'm catching up and I thought I would share how I'm doing that!

1. I already organize my Canon digital files in folders on my computer by month. This saved my bum more than a few times during my 365 photo adventures. And now for PL, too!

2. Even while I was keeping up, I would use the Stickies app on my computer to jot down stuff, mostly as it was happening, or just after, so that I would remember the stuff I wanted to stick in my book. I might not use it all, but my material was there. I suppose you could also do this in journal form, but I don't. A journal seems like I would need to write more. That would take more time. This is easy and painless.  ;-)  It looks something like what you see here on the left.
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3. As I got behind, and even while I was on track, I used and conitnue to use the Momento app on my iPhone as my biggest crutch. I could not do Project Life without this app! You can set it up to automatically sync with as many feeds as you like/use (twitter, instagram, flickr, facebook, etc.). It then sticks them all in one place, with times and dates! Holy sorcery, Batman, that is like magic, just sayin'.

The photo above left is what it looks like when I open the app.  I can scroll through to the date that I want and then click to see my activity for that day. Once I click, I see what's on the above right! Shows the photo that I uploaded to instagram, as well as what I wrote to go with it. I can scroll up and down if there are multiple entries from one source or many sources. The whole day is right there. But oh, that is not all. See that little writing icon in the upper right corner? If something happens that you want to remember, but you don't want to upload it anywhere (don't want it public, or whatever), you can click that little button and use the app like a journal. Badda bing! Oh yeah! That's what I'm talking about! MAGIC with a capital M.

4. So, what I have done since I've been behind is go through my folder of Canon photos and pull out the photos that I think I will use and stick copies of them in another folder with the title of the week, say, "week 8".

5. Then I look at my Momento app and see what I'm missing.  All the time cross checking and/or creating the sticky note on my computer with jotted down highlights.

6. I create a "week 8 iPhone" folder on my computer, and then, using the transfer app, transfer any iPhone photos from that week onto my desktop.

7. Once all my photos are in one location, I can edit, resize and print those that I want to.

8. Finally I delete all the extra photos (duplicates, icky ones, etc.).

I now have a stack of photos, my "stickie" of text, and my Momento app for reminders. Most of my quotes I already have printed and I just need to pick the one that speaks to me for the moment -- if none of them speak to me, then I sometimes need to make that card as well. That's the hard stuff, then I just have to put everything in the pockets and "purdy it up".  :-)   I do sometimes use texts, emails, tweets, Facebook or Instagram comments as part of the journaling.  I often have too many photos printed, but this is OK because I can use the others for a layout or display them around the house!

I'm behind with PL, but I'm even further behind with sharing my PL! So here are a few weeks of fun (click on photo for slightly larger images):

Week5 Without Insert

Week 5 With Insert

This week we had a snow day, so I took several of the photos of our day of adventure and put them in an insert.  This is a coin protector with 20 slots, front and back (so 40 potential photo spots).  I split my photos into "snow" and "inside".  I didn't have 40 photos, so I filled in the rest with paper/journaling.

Week 5 Insert (front)

Week 5 insert (back)

Week 6 (NO insert this week!)

For Valentine week, I used a bunch of pink and red instead of the Seafoam Kit.

Week 7 Spread Without Insert

Week 7 Spread With Insert

Week 7 Insert (front)

There are actually kinda two inserts here. The envelop is in a 4x6 is attached to the larger insert, but you can flip that up to see the back of it, and better see the bigger insert (which is a note from daycare reminding us of B.'s valentine party and the list of students we made valentines for (and a couple of valentines).

Week 7 insert (back)

The back of the insert was what B. made at daycare for us.  I LOVE that I now have a place to put all of the lovely things that B. makes and other little memorabilia.

You may have noticed a new tab across the top of the blog called "project life".  You can find all my photos of PL layouts there. If you want to see the full blogposts about PL, you can do that here!

Here's a sneaky sneak for tomorrow's Scrap Your Story Challenge:

The layout that I will be sharing tomorrow is definitely one of my all time favorites, and it started with just some white cardstock. I absolutely love the final result.

Coming soon : a new Scrap Your Story challenge and more PL updates...I might even throw in a tutorial. ;-)

Scrap Your Story :: love spring

It's FRIDAY and you know what that means -- a new challenge goes live at Scrap Your Story Challenges!  This week we are working with one of Christy's sketches!  Here's my layout:

The journaling is about how my wonderful family stopped and let me take this photo, even though the weather was bad, we were hungry, and on our way out to eat.  But I just had to get a photo of the grass...it is turning green.  I am thankful for that -- because I am ready for spring.  Aren't you?  Here are a few close ups:

If you follow me on instagram or Facebook, you may have seen that I was letting scrapbooking stress me out this week!  Ever had one of those days/weeks where you waste a LOT of paper because none of your ideas work?  I had that this week!  Ugh.  Good news...I pushed through and I really like how my layout turned out! I got several happy packages in the mail this week, and that helped.  :-) 

The patterned papers and tags are from April's Scrapbook Circle kit, "Happy Place" and I added a couple of things from my stash. Also, I used some awesome washi that I got from a Paper Issues embellishment kit (some of the happy mail that arrived on my doorstep this week)! There is a complete list of supplies used at the bottom of this post.

Here's the sketch (I basically flipped it horizontally):

Come play with us!!!  It's so much fun to see what others create based on the same sketch!

I will also be posting this a Paper Issues.  Their "Current Issue" is all about using instagram photos (which I love)!

Supplies:

Echo Park :: Flower Garden 12x12 Sweet Girl

American Crafts :: Dear Lizzy 12x12 Lucky Charm Paper :: Lucky Coin

American Crafts :: Dear Lizzy 12x12 Lucky Charm Paper :: This and That

American Crafts :: Amy Tangerine Yes, Please :: Capture Embroidery Kit
American Crafts :; Amy Tangerine Yes, Please :: Create Cardstock Shapes

Studio Calico :: Chevron Snippets Wood Veneer
A Flair For Buttons :: Lovely Words Flair

Heidi Swapp :: Clear Pop :: Clear Mint Alpha (love these)!
Tape Works Green Chevron Washi Tape (got this in the Paper Issues "Thrift Shop" embellishment kit)
Elle’s Studio Serindipity Lil Snippets Labels 
Scrapbook Circle exclusive tags

:: about a girl ::

You may have heard about the awesome challenge blog About a Boy, well guess what?? There is a sister site out there called....you guess it...About a Girl!  You can bet that I will be participating in their challenges! They are currently taking applications for the first Design Team. Be sure to stop by and check them out, become a follower, even if you aren't interested in the DT call!

Coming soon : Project Life Update and a new challenge....and there just MIGHT be a give away!

Scrap Your Story :: top of the world tonight

It's Friday!  That means, pizza and wine for supper (at least for us)...but before that, a new challenge at Scrap Your Story Challenge blog!

This week is our "theme" week -- and April's theme is SPRING! The title of this layout is "Top of the World Tonight", which is my daughter's favorite Cheap Trick song! She's been requesting it and singing it since she could talk! On the lovely spring day that I snapped these photos, she was climbing on top of the rocks in our garden and saying, "See, Mommy, I'm on top of the world tonight!"

These photos were taken during our spring break last year - 2012 (This year during spring break, we were sledding and shoveling snow -- that's Iowa for you)! But last year, it really felt like spring. 

I will admit that I had already started with these background papers for a different layout -- then decided I didn't like it -- but I liked the papers. So, now a month later, I grabbed them again and got busy. First I took the PinkPaislee patterned paper and cut a hole out of the middle.  Then I decided that it was a bit too bright, so I spread Gesso over all of it. Then I added the blue paper in the middle -- it has a little bit of pink in it and I loved the two papers together! I roughed up the inside of the square -- quite a bit -- and sewed it in place.

I've been into vellum lately! I used an Elise Blaha Cripe stamp "get excited" and stamped with yellow ink, in a diagonal, all across the vellum. That was the mat for my highlighted photo. But you really couldn't see what it said, so I also added it to the tab of the hidden journaling -- and I embossed it.

I found this American Crafts flair in my stash, and it was perfect for that rock'n roll sorta aspect of the layout - as an added bonus, it's the right colors.  ;-) The yellow letters are Amy Tangerine letters that I inked with a yellow stamp pad. 

I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out the "Hello" tab (from 8 tabs by Lori Whitlock). I put some clear embossing powder inside the word hello to highlight it a bit more.

I was going for some layers...

Hope you play along with us this week! This is a fun challenge that goes through Thursday, April 11th 11:59 PM (central).

I also linked this one up to Paper Issues!  Their "Current Issue" is Up in the Clouds!   You have until Saturday, April 6th to link up with them!

AND, if that wasn't enough, I am also taking a "Lots of Layers" class over at My Scraps and More (with the great Audrey Yeager). We were working on peek a book layers.  My peek a boo involves the cut out background, vellum, "hello" cut out....you get the idea!

:: Pinterest Challenge ::

In this post I talked about how this year I am challenging myself to actually do something with all those lovely things I am pinning on Pinterest!  I find myself pinning, and pinning, and pinning, but not returning to the pins and doing, doing, doing them! My not-so-lofty goal is one per month. You can see how I completed my first month here. 

In this post I mentioned that we made some pretty awful cookies and some pretty decent cookies, both were from Pinterest and completed my challenge for February. In March...I made this...

Right now, B's stuffed animals are living in the tent because I really need to get a bigger hula hoop and another curtain. For right now it's fine, but I have plans to redo her room eventually, and when that happens I will also redo the tent. She loves it. The night we made it, she requested that we move her mattress so that she could "sleep in it". So we did. Now she lines up all of her stuffed animals inside the tent and covers them with blankets. :-)

I cannot leave you without a sneak...tomorrow is FRIDAY, which means a new challenge at Scrap Your Story Challenge Blog! Come back for the full reveal tomorrow...but until then, here's a little sneaky sneak...