:: road trip + free cut file ::

I'm currently working on a minibook to document our short little road trip up North. I'm using a small Smash book as my base.  This is the first time I've used one! It's been fun. I have the first day and 1/2 of the second day complete.  Will share more about the trip and the book soon. Here's a peek at the cover:

I made that "July 2013" cut for my Silhouette!  It was so fun, I decided to share it with you! This is my first time sharing, so I am not even sure it will work, please let me know if there are any problems! You can download the .studio file here!

It's not too late to play with Scrap Your Story and the great sketch this week! Check it out here! I'll be back tomorrow with another freebie (if today's works -- feedback please!) and a new Scrap Your Story DT post!

:: hello princess rock & roll ::

'Ello Kiddies (sorry, I am still singing Cheap Trick songs from our trip earlier this month)! Back with my second layout from this month's Scrapbook Circle Kit!

For this layout I used this awesome sketch by Diana Fisher for the July Sketch Challenge at Scrapbook Circle. I pretty much always enjoy working with Diana's sketches! Instead of three photos, I used two and placed the journaling where the third photo would go, other than that, I stayed fairly true to the sketch. Since I only used two photos, I scaled down the size of the patterned papers, too. I absolutely love the colors in this kit. Everything you see here (except for the "hello" and "rock & roll" alphas) came from the kit and I still have tons more to work with. I'm telling you, the kits that are put together by the Scrapbook Circle gang, are totally fab. They just keep getting better and better. I love opening the kit when it arrives because usually I will have several ideas right away. What I don't like is getting the kit and having no time to use it! July is the exception - no meetings, and basically off work. Whew! :-)

I love these pics of B. dancing to her daddy's guitar playing. We had to put on the tutu (right over her PJs) and a flashing tiara, all rock and roll princesses need those things, right?

Here are a couple of close ups!

Don't forget: my blogaversary is coming up (it's Sunday)!!! I will be doing a special giveaway on my blog -- check back later this week for the details.

:: b & a ::

I don't know about you but I love kraft and white together. I also love Ali Edwards. I think that she is a genius when it comes to telling stories, documenting life, and making it beautiful; artful; all at the same time. That's why, when I saw this layout on her blog November 2012, I pinned it with the idea that I would use it as inspiration at some point. What I didn't know is how little I would change the basic design. Why mess with perfection, right?

I used the July Scrapbook Circle Kit and Ali Edwards stamps for this layout. In fact, I got the stamps in the mail the same day I took the photos of this tea party. As soon as the stamps arrived, I thought I'd try them out with my new frost white ColorBox pigment ink. When I stamped it, I loved the sentiments and the softness of the white on kraft. It reminded me of the Ali layout I had pinned, so I got to work!

At the same time I had been working with this awesome Studio Calico Mister Huey's Mask that I'd gotten in the Scrapbook Circle July Embellishment add-on kit. I tried the mask with Mister Huey mist, then stamps, then paint, but none of them really gave me what I wanted. So, I tried the absolutely magnificent White Signo Pen (an aside: I was about halfway finished making this background paper when the mail arrive with the Ali Edwards stamps.....). Here's a close up of the mask + pen:

Remember me saying that I like the softness of the white ink on the kraft? Well, the signo pen, while usually perfection, is very.....WHITE. Not soft. So I covered the whole background with vellum. Love! It brought the focus back to the photos (another aside: the photos were taken right after I stamped the stamps for the first time....I added the softness to them in Photoshop, because I knew I would use the photos, with the stamps).

I added a bit of tiny circle stamping (from an Ali Edwards December Daily stamp set that I can't seem to find to link up)! 

And pretty much nothing is complete these days without a bit of stitching! :-)

Thank you to my friend Kirsten for taking my scrapbooking emergency text while I was creating this LO. (I couldn't decide on b&w or color photos)!

I will have another LO to share with you tomorrow, using the same Scrapbook Circle Kit.  Here's a sneak:

Did you know that my blogaversary is coming up (it's Sunday)!!??! I will be doing a special giveaway on my blog -- don't forget to check back later this week for the details.

It's not too late to play with Scrap Your Story and the great sketch this week! Check it out here!