:: the get to work book ::

Today I am sharing one of my new favorite things: the Get To Work Book designed by Elise Blaha Cripe. I haven't shared much in the way of a planner on this blog.  I'm just getting started.  I'm just beginning to experiment.  I love it. I've caught the bug.  I've tried a couple planners, and this is my current favorite.  It's beautifully simple and leaves a perfect backdrop for anything I want to add. Love. Simple. Neutral. Useful. Beautiful.  In the photo below, do you see that strip of floral patterned paper?  For the August Monthly spread, I took all of my inspiration from that little strip.  (Webster's Pages: Hall Pass)

I've had the Get To Work Book for about a month. This planner (sold out, boo!) goes from July 2015-June 2016.  The good news: There will be preorders for a 2016 planner coming soon.  It sounds like she is taking in all of the feedback she has received and making a few minor changes -- but I think the basic planner, with it's perfect-ness, will stay mostly the same.  More good news.  

My June pages were, OK.  I'm started to get in the groove and ready to share a bit more.  Here is August's monthly spread:

See the glare?  ;-)  It is so difficult to photograph a transparency!  I created the "today" book mark from some flamingo transparency paper (because. flamingos.). Most of the strips of color that you see aren't washi (there is some in there, but not most of it).  Most of it is from this vellum 12x12 sheet that is part of the WP Hall Pass collection and still available in the store.  This is the first time I've tried that, and I like the way it looks.  Don't worry, I haven't abandoned my washi. The books you see on the first day of school, and the other flower paper are both cut out from patterned paper in the same collection.

One of the things that I have done on many of my pages is use a mask with some ink to fill up larger spaces with color.  For this August spread I stuck with the whole back-to-school idea, and added alphas along the left side of the page using this technique.  First I downloaded and cut this free cut file from the Paper Issues store. Then I used my blending tool along with the Pink to Red ombre ink from Hero Arts to create the background of letters for "August 2015" to sit on! I'm super happy with the way it turned out!

I used some Snarky Stamps to stamp the word 'happy' and 'day'.  B.'s name is stamped, colored, cut out, and glued back in.  I love the texture this adds!

One of the things that I've discovered is part of my jam when it comes to planners is using water color! I doodled these little flowers, and then added some watercolor.

You might think, "Aren't you worried that the pages will crinkle or warp a bit?".  Nope.  I was worried about it…and then I accidentally set my planner in some water.  Just a little -- only enough to cause issues for about 2-3 weeks of calendar. But it also gave me permission.  :-)  It was no longer "perfect",  and so now I can play.  ;-) I love the paper in this planner -- it does lose it's shape a little with the water colors, but not enough to bother me.  

Several other Design Team members are sharing their love of planners, and the planner bits that they get from the Paper Issues store to help them make pretty things. Check out the post here.

As always, if you are looking to add to your scrapbooking, or planner-ing stash…don't forget to use the code orangegearle when checking out from the Paper Issues Store.  It'll save you 20%

See you soon!

~ b's new boots ~

B's new boots (full name is blurred)

This one came together so quickly (and I never get to say that)!  As soon as I saw these photos that my One True Love took with his phone on B's birthday, I knew they would make it to a page!  I didn't want it to be about the birthday -- this is all about the boots (but I did stick a '"no. 3" in there, all sneaky-like -- I also hid the journaling in the striped bag behind the photo)!

Last year my daughter went to a daycare that is really close to our house.  This year she goes to a daycare that is really close to work.  On Fridays at work we can leave about an hour earlier than the rest of the week, which is AWESOME!  Last year I used to come home and work on processing photos or scrapbooking for an hour or so, and then go pick up B.  This, because of the daycare change, that's really not realistic.  Soooo....a work friend and I decided that we would take advantage of our Fridays and bring some things to work and have our own little mini-crop!  This past Friday was the first of these days and that is why I got this one done so quickly.

A while back I started a notebook to help me with the memory keeping process. The whole idea of it was to write down the stories that I wanted to tell.  Often times I put the date of the photos, a description and then the text that I think I will use.  It's evolved into a place to practice a technique (here I was practicing doodling), get a sketch idea down (I ended up using this one, but flipped it because my arrow stamp went the other way), practice my journaling, and I also document all the supplies that I use so it's easier to blog.  

Even though it came together much more quickly than usual, it was not without it's problems/mistakes.  When I used the mask a second time, I was left with a giant blob of mist at the top (hate that) and I felt like you could really see the line where I extended the masking.  But I went with it (after I pouted a bit).  This is a good thing for me.  It think that sharing my disappointment on instagram helped!  In the end, I added a bit more to the giant blob and just decided to roll with it.

One of my favorite parts of this layout is the flower on the journal spot above.  I used an exactoknife and cut the bottom part so that I could put the flower over the photo.  Love that!

I added a few items, but most of the supplies came from the August Scrapbook Circle Kit :: True Stories. Among the added items is this lovely flair button from aflairforbuttons. All items are linked below.

I searched high and low for some alphas, including JoAnns, Michaels, and our LSS.  Boo!  I couldn't find a thing I liked (however Michael's was having a 50% off sale that was a surprise to me; a lovely, lovely surprise.  There were purchases, just not alphas for this.).  So, I actually used my cricut (I've been so addicted to thickers that I haven't used it in a while), cut out the letters, added a bit of 3D tape and called 'er done!  The letters standing out like this...well, it just makes me happy (I also did the same with the arrow)!

This is one of those layouts that I love -- it was fast, the ideas came to me easily, not too many mess ups that I couldn't live with, and I like the final product.  My Soul Mate saw it as I finished and he also gave his nod of approval.  Bonus!