Scrap Your Story :: Almost 4

It's FRIDAY!  That means so much more now that I am back to work! :-)

This week is a theme week at Scrap Your Story, and we are scrapping birthdays -- could be a party, or an age theme, too!  I have never scrapped a birthday (I know, right?).  I also don't really do holidays (Gasp!). I have no idea why. Mostly, I'm an everyday scrapper, and those "big events" freak me out or something!  But I did make this:

Yep, ladies and gentleman -- it's a two pager and 8.5 x 11!!  I used to scrap exclusively in two pages.  I just couldn't make a one pager happen until about 2 years ago. And now I'm usually one-pagin' in. And I cannot remember the last time I used the smaller size!  This was fun!

For this layout I was once again inspired by Ali Edwards. I am taking her Hello Story class over at Big Picture classes.  One of her prompts included using a "fill in the blank" as a way to tell the story. I made several modifications to fit my sweet B. and interviewed her.  FUN! She will be 4 later this month, and I wanted to capture what she is like right now.

I grabbed a bunch of photos from July that I thought really showed off her personality, and made a collage in photoshop. I cut a little hole in the middle (because the collage turned out that way) so that the patterned paper could be seen in the middle.

For the story telling part, I wrote everything with my own handwriting, then filled in the blanks (her answers) with alpha stamps.  I made them a bit wonky so it looks more like a child (or I messed up once and then decided to make the rest match, you pick which one you think it was) and I used some of her voice by writing the words as she says them, not as they are spelled.  I added some hearts with an Ali Edwards stamp and a little paint, and then a few paper strips and wood veneer hearts. Done!

We are packing our things to go camping this weekend.  We haven't been all year, but the weather is going to be so great this weekend we cannot resist!  Have a great weekend!  Hope you find a little scrappy time, and hope you join us at Scrap Your Story!

Scrap Your Story :: growing up

Hello Friday! Today is my last Friday before returning to work -- Boo! However, it is Friday, so there is a new challenge up at Scrap Your Story and it's a fun one!  This week's "use it" challenge is ARROWS!

For this challenge I used several types of arrows. One of the scraps that I used has arrows right on the patterned paper, I used chevron wood veneer pieces to point to the photo, there is an arrow on the flair, and the word "epic" is also in an arrow. Until this challenge, I didn't even realize how trendy arrows are right now, I started seeing them everywhere!  This was a fun one!

This was an important story to tell!  For months B. has been talking about "Getting bigger" and measures "getting bigger" by being able to touch the monkey bars.  Well, this summer she did that and a few weeks later, she was also going across the monkey bars by herself. I grabbed this photo the night she cross those monkey bars for the first time. 

Where is the journaling you ask? Hidden behind the title! I popped up the photo and the title with pop dots to make it a bit more interesting.  Then I journaled on a small square, put a tab on it and stuck it behind the title!

I hope you join us this week at Scrap Your Story for this fun "use it" challenge!

and the winner is....

Christy at Scrap Your Story had to deal with some health issues and was unable to post the challenge last week. So, Jessica and I will be trying our best to fill her shoes for a while.  Here is the most recent post at SYS, please play along! :-)

My SYS post with tutorial can be found here.  I still have something to give away! These lovely little wood veneers go to:

Chelsea! She said:  

Chelsea  July 19, 2013 at 12:44 PM

I love that little pocket you made for your PL! Thanks for a chance to win I love wood veneers too :) I follow you on Bloglovin!

Thanks for following me Chelsea! Please email me with your info. and I'll get that right out to you!  orange-gearle (at) mchsi (dot) com.

That felt so good I'm going to do it again!  See below for another give away! But first here's a simple layout that I did this week:

This lovely paper was in my stash and is probably old (I think Echo Park, playground maybe?)! All I did for this LO was outline "love" with my white pen, add a few heart stamps in the corners, stitch around it, and add a little journaling. Love how easy this was!

I have another little giveaway for you. Once again, to be eligible to win you need to:

1. Become a follower of my blog.
2. Leave a comment below.

I don't have a photo of the prize, but I will add it as soon as I can!

Scrap Your Story :: project life week 27

Caution: This post is full of fun. Proceed at your own risk. I have a new challenge from SYS, a tutorial, free cut files, and a give away!

This week at Scrap Your Story, we are creating our own embellishments, Do It Yourself style! For this challenge I created a Project Life layout to share with you and I prepared a short video tutorial to show you how I created elements on my iPad, transferred them to my computer, and then cut them with the Silhouette Cameo. A great way to get your own handwriting or hand drawn designs onto your LOs or other projects. Fun!

Here is the two page spread (plus an insert) :

This week I used a mixture of the Seafoam Core kit, some of my scraps, and my first Studio Calico Project Life Kit.

What's included in this week's spread: I made a trip to the DOT, we had a family reunion, prepared for our trip north, and celebrated Independence day at my brother's house. This left side of the two-page spread reflects pretty much everything up to the Fourth of July. I had so many photos that I wanted to use this week, that I didn't put in a journaling card, I limited my journaling to one or two sentences per photo, with one exception:

I had another photo from the family reunion that I wanted to include, and I also wanted to include a more (private) story about that day. So, I added a pocket -- when you lift the photo of the four siblings, you see the other photo I wanted to share, and I had a big 4x6 space to share some journaling! Perfecto!

I used the front of the 6x12 insert to focus on the fourth of July. The photos pretty much speak for themselves, so I just stitched around them and added a decorative square. I made the stars/boarder on my iPad, and then cut it out with my Silhouette (this is my "DIY embellishment"). I used the inside of the stars on my title/date card (I also wrote the "hello" on my iPad and cut it out with the Silhouette). I will share how I did that later in this post!

I used a fun paper clip to attach a few of the items from our trip to a piece of "map" patterned paper (cut 6x12) and slid that in the page protector as the back portion of the insert. One of the things I love about Project Life is a place to put all the little bits of stuff that would normally be thrown away -- or be piled somewhere, now they have a home.  :-)

The entire right side of the spread is about our trip to the zoo and the concert. I am actually doing a mini-book about the whole trip, so I didn't feel the need to add a lot of journaling. One of the reasons I'm doing the mini-book is because I knew that I would have too many things to share about the trip; too much for a PL layout at least! So, the highlights of the trip only for this -- the zoo and the concert -- most specifically, Bea got her 15 minutes of fame (yep that's her on stage with Rick Nielsen -- more in another post)!

Don't you love that "Travel - take me away" card?! It is part of the July Studio Calico PL kit. So is the "Adventure" transparency. It came in the mail this week and so I decided I had to use them right now and document the week of the trip (even though I am terribly behind on PL)! I have some wood veneer letters that are coming (I hope) and I will add a few hand written words and the wood veneer letters to that travel card when the alphas arrive (I'm thinking "Apple Valley, MN" will probably be out of wood veneer letters).

OK, you've made it this far, congratulations, I'm impressed with your endurance! Next, a video tutorial. Be kind, please. It's my first. I just want you to know that I say, "diagonal" and I realize it should be "diagonally". Argh. And there are a few "ums". Please forgive me.  It was 11:30 at night when I was recording the audio, and I went outside so as not to disturb my family. I'm pretty sure my neighbors were out on their deck listening to my....ahem...err...uhh....several takes...so I decided to leave it as is!


Wow!  I'm assuming you have now made it through the video! As a gift to you, I have three (really five) files for you to download if you'd like! The first folder contains two of the "stars" cuts that are on my PL insert. One has the stars filled and the other is exactly like you see on the layout! You can get those here.  The second is the "hello" that I used on my title/date card. You can find that here. And finally, the "life everyday" cuts can be found here (I'm including the one I used, and a bonus one that has the words in a different place).

Oh, but there's MORE! As part of the DIY fun -- the other DT's at Scrap Your Story are also doing tutorials!  Make sure you check them out here.

And you thought that was it??!!  Of course not! I am giving something fun away! Wood veneers. I'm totally addicted. For realz. I'd like to share my addiction with you. I'm giving away two packages of wood veneers to one lucky winner!

To be eligible to win you need to:
1. Become a follower of my blog.
2. Leave a comment below.

That's it! You have until Thursday, July 25th, 11:59PM CST to enter. The winner (chosen by random.org) will be announced on Friday, July 26th!  Winner is Chelsea!  See this post for another giveaway!

Freckled Fawn is not sponsoring this blogpost, this is more of a Random Act of Kindness, from me to you. :-)

Scrap Your Story :: Hello Cheap Trick

It's FRIDAY!  You know what that means, a great challenge @ the Scrap Your Story Challenge Blog! This week we are working with an awesome sketch!   The sketch (as seen on the right), was a fun one to work with! Two photos, a giant circle,and both a vertical and horizontal line. I stayed fairly true to the sketch, but remember, you can flip, rotate, tweak, whatever you need! I hope to see you play along with us this week!  I grabbed my June Kit from Scrapbook Circle, a few scraps from my scrap box and this is what I came up with :

This past weekend the three of us attended a concert at the zoo in Apple Valley, MN. We had front row seats at this outdoor, all-ages show.  It was Bea's first concert! You will see more photos from this trip at some point; I am currently working on a mini book all about it!

I took the main background paper (Basic Grey :: Bow Ties :: kick the can) and cut a big circle on my Silhouette, then placed another piece of patterned paper (Farmhouse Paper Company :: where ideas take root) behind it. I machine stitched around the circle to define it a bit more, and then added a few stitches in other locations (can never have enough stitches!).  The bright orange arrows are all from the kit as well, they are fuzzy rub-ons (part of the Hipster collection by Basic Grey). I also added some wood veneer shapes that I tinted with orange ink. The "hello" is also from the Hipster Collection, and the "cheap trick" is from Recollections. This was a fun layout to make!

Check out Scrap Your Story and play along this week! I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Scrap Your Story :: Beatrice @ bat

UPDATE:  I'm linking this up to Paper Issues Feb. 7, 2015 Issue Hip to Be Square (I used square photos and some {aflairforbuttons} flair.

It's FRIDAY!  Scrap Your Story Challenge blog has a new challenge posted! This week we are all about childhood!

This week I was fortunate enough to be able to hang out with a friend and scrap & chat all afternoon! Love getting that time to catch up, and share some creative juices! I had the basic idea of this page (and even some of it created) before we met, but it was so awesome to be able to say, "What do you think of this....or this...or..."! I think we each created 2-3 pages that day -- we must do it again soon!

Most everything came from Jillibean Soup :: Irish Farm House Soup collection pack.  I added some wood veneers, washi and "today" flair from A Flair For Buttons.

For the painted stars in the background I made a stencil using my Silhouette Cameo.  Then I used Tim Holtz Distress paint (Antique White) to paint the stars on. Best part: I used blank stencil "paper" (did you know you can purchase that at Michael's?) to create the star stencil, so I can use it over and over again!

Fun!  We are off to a great adventure this weekend!  I am going to attempt my first "Smash" book to document the trip! I'll update you soon!

Scrap Your Story :: a picnic for SUPERS

It's FRIDAY! And we are having a great time this week at Scrap Your Story! Embrace the sunburst!

That awesome sunburst paper is from American Crafts, Shoreline collection. I got it in a Scrapbook Circle kit (I think last summer?).   I used my sewing machine to stitch a bunch of circles and lines on the paper to make it even more sunburst-y (it's a word, really).

The banners are stamps from Ali Edwards.  First I misted some plain white card stock with orange and yellow Mister Huey, then I used orange ink and clear embossing powder to heat emboss them.  After cutting them out, I popped them on with some pop dots for a bit of dimension. For the title I added some DIY Thickers (that I misted with orange Mister Huey) to the picnic tag from Elle's Studio.

This was a fun layout.  I will likely add some journaling to the page, but I haven't decided exactly what or where, and I hate to rush these things!  However, I did print and scrap these photos the same day that I took them!  The girls were having such a good time eating a picnic in their super hero costumes.

Hope you link up over at Scrap Your Story! It's the perfect time of year to embrace that sunburst!

PS, I am counting down the days to when my summer begins.  I cannot wait to have more scrappy time one week from now!

Scrap Your Story :: bubbles and boots

It's Friday! This week at Scrap Your Story Challenge Blog, we have a sketch!


Thank goodness I am not a chronological scrapper! The moment I stopped worrying about scrapping things in order and getting "caught up", was the moment that I started scrapping more. I bring this up because these lovely photos were taken June 29, 2011, nearly two years ago! Look how little B. is! And that face. This story just had to be told -- but two years ago it just wasn't happenin'.

Journaling reads: B. frequently suggests going "outside deck". On this night we had fun with bubbles.  This is after she insisted that it's a good idea to wear fur-lined boots -- no matter the weather."  True story.

It has been super busy around here!  Out of town for several days, working with teachers writing assessments, designing professional learning for next week, and so much more. I have managed to get a little bit of creative time in, but I am looking forward to the end of June when I will have a bit more free time for projects big and small!

To the left is Christy's awesome sketch that I used for this layout!  Won't you make some time for creating, and play along with us this week?

I have several fun announcements and creations to share -- soon!

Thanks for following!

Scrap Your Story :: adventure is out there

It's FRIDAY!  There is a new challenge up at Scrap Your Story! Our theme this week is "A Journey". Here is my take on the theme:

Journaling reads: You have become so obsessed with Batman! Daddy bought you this fabulous t-shirt with an attached cape! I found the tutu and you added the boots.

My "journey" is really more about the adventure of raising an imaginative three-year-old! This is the ultimate journey; navigating parenting with my Soul Mate. What a lovely adventure! I used the quote (from the movie UP) "Adventure is out there" for my title, and aren't super heroes adventurous?! 

If you follow me on instagram, you may have seen that I purchased gelatos (not the food, the awesomeness from Faber-Castell). I have had so much fun playing.  I love getting a new toy -- it always makes me want to create and gives me a boost of inspiration.

I used a mix of gelatos and Tim Holtz Distress Paint  to make circles in a grid on white card stock. I blended the gelatos with a round, foam brush. Then I used a dropper and dropped some of the blue paint right onto the page in big blobs (that took forever to dry).

 I added some stamping (Ali Edwards) some wood veneer and some sequins for fun!

I also mixed the gelatos with water to make these orange splotches. I am in love with this product. I just know you will find gelatos showing up on my layouts more and more.

I am actually on a bit of a journey right now. I'm in St. Charles, MO for a PLC conference for work, but I brought a few scrapping supplies along with me, and I created my layout for this week's challenge in the hotel (first time doing that for me). This is the longest I have been away from My One True Love since 2007, and the longest away from my daughter EVER. I'm certainly glad that I had some scrappy supplies to keep me company (and more importantly, try to keep my mind off missing them)!

I hope to see your 'journey' layouts pop up on the Scrap Your Story challenge blog soon!

I scraplifted the basic design of this page. I saw this layout by qingmei on the Studio Calico blog and I knew I had to make my own version! 

Scrap Your Story --

It's FRIDAY!  Woot! Time for another challenge at Scrap Your Story! This week we are mixin' it up -- an alpha mix up, that is!

I used three different alphas for this challenge.  "toothpicks" and "hicks" are both cork, but different fonts, sizes, and manufacturers.  And then, of course, the "for two" is different entirely. This was a fun challenge!  I hope you play along!!!

(after today, only 4.5 days left of school for the kids)

(today is Bob Dylan's birthday)

(he's 72)

(tomorrow is my One True Love's birthday)

(he's significantly younger)

Scrap Your Story :: welcome flowers

It's Friday! You know what that means -- a new challenge!  This week at Scrap Your Story Challenges we are playing with stamps!

I use stamps all the time now that I get stamps from Ali Edwards (@Technique Tuesday) in the mail every month. They are perfect and totally match my style. This layout was no exception. All of the stamps I used were from Ali. Nearly all of the papers and other materials were found in the May Scrapbook Circle kit : My Favorite. Are these papers fun?!  It's early in the month and I've already used most of the papers in the kit!  WOW!

Here are a few close ups:

I used the flower stamp from Ali's "Favorite Circles" stamps all over this page! I love that stamp! It's super simple and can be used for pretty much anything!

This welcome stamp was from "Memories of Home" by Ali Edwards.

In this photo you can sort of see the phrases that I stamped all over the vellum (along with that flower stamp again). The phrases are from Ali's "This Story" stamp set.

The journaling is in a vellum envelope that cut out using my Silhouette Cameo (I've been doing that a lot lately), and I used this blog post for my text. :-) So happy to get this fun story documented!

I hope you play with us this week!

Scrap Your Story :: No Rain ::

It's FRIDAY!  For mean this means I can wear jeans to work, I get to have pizza and wine for supper, AND it's a new challenge at Scrap Your Story Challenge Blog!  This week is a sketch.  Here is the sketch:

And here is my take on it:

I hope you join us this week at Scrap Your Story.  I love seeing all of the great submissions each week!

TTFN!

Scrap Your Story :: growing love

UPDATE:  I'm linking this up to Paper Issues Feb. 7, 2015 Issue Hip to Be Square (I used square photos and some {aflairforbuttons} flair.

It's FRIDAY -- and you know what that means -- another challenge at Scrap Your Story Challenge blog! Ready to play along? This is a "theme" week -- and the theme is "favorite(s)".  You can interpret that anyway you wish, as long in your journaling or title we can see that you are sharing something that is a favorite!

I have the word "favorite" a couple of places on this layout.  First I used an Amy Tangerine stamp that I got at Target and stamped "You are my fave" all over a piece of patterned paper.  Then I used one of Amy Tangerine's templates to make a speech bubble with a heart in the middle.  The second place, also involved stamping.  This time it was an Ali Edwards stamp "SUPER favorite" that I stamped over some Elle's studio tags (all supplies are linked below). Most of the rest of the supplies came from the Lucky You Scrapbook Kit by paperissues available here. And of course there is flair from {a flair for buttons}!

This photo was taken on the anniversary of Mikaela's death. It was a difficult day for us all. My daughter Hollyanne came over just to be with us for a while, and I was ever so thankful. I journaled a bit about that, but also about how B. was obsessed with her baby belly! Either way, I wanted the journaling to be hidden. I'm really happy with how this one turned out!  Love that green/yellow combo! Hope you play along with us this week at Scrap Your Story Challenges!


Supplies
Crate Paper :: Party Day :: Happy
My Minds Eye :: Collectable :: Remarkable Smile Grin
American Crafts :: Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm :: 6x6 paper pad
American Crafts :: Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm :: Wild Hearts
Studio Calico :: Here & There :: woodgrain thickers
Glitz :: Color Me Happy :: 6x6 paper pad
Glitz :: Color Me Happy :: woodgrain paper
Glitz :: woodgrain washi tape
Jillibean Soup :: Sunshine Resin Sugar Picks
Studio Calico :: Sundrifter :: flowers and leave wood veneer
My Minds Eye :: Collectable :: Remarkable Day Decorative Buttons
My Minds Eye :: The Sweetest Thing :: enamel dots
a flair for buttons :: arrow 1 flair
a flair for buttons :: lovely words flair
TCW :: Minivine mask
Elle's Studio :: Day to Day tidbits
American Crafts :: Amy Tangerine :: stencils
American Crafts :: Amy Tangerine :: authentic phrase stamp
Technique Tuesday :: Studeio AE :: super fantastic
Heidi Swapp :: Color Shine :: Mustard
Heidi Swapp :: Color Shine :: Mint Green

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!

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