Guest Designer: Basic Grey

I was thrilled to recently receive an email inviting me to be a guest designer for Basic Grey.  Ummmmm, you want me to create with my choice of your beautiful paper collections AND you'll feature my work on your blog?!  YES, please, sign me up!

If you follow me on instagram, you might have guessed from the sneak peeks I've been sharing, that I've been keeping this little secret.   Todays' the day I get to share all of the projects I have been working on in their entirety!  I used a mix of Basic Grey's Second City collection by Kelly Purkey and the Capture collection.

Second City has many travel themed icons and phrases, which are great for documenting your trips and/or vacations.  I wanted to use this collection in a bit of a different way on my first page, though.  All of the purples in the collection, reminded me of some photos I had not yet scrapped of my daughter when she was just learning to cruise and walk.   The travel themed phrases 'let's go', 'take the scenic route' '& adventure' worked just perfect to document this milestone. 



Supplies used: Basic Grey Capture & Second City - patterned paper, stickers, diecuts, flair, 3x4 cards, chipboard; Other: veteran typewriter font, foam adhesive, twine.

I loved that I could combine pieces of Second City so easily with the Capture collection. I might not have paired these two initially, but they share some common colors that really allow them to coordinate well.

 

 

Sizing my photos down to 2x3" and arranging everything into a 3 x 3 grid allowed the design to stay cohesive.  I was able to include four pictures, plenty of journaling and lots of different layers and textures.  Take for instance this title piece - I used multiple stickers, diecuts, chipboard, stitching and twine all layered together.  If I had done this type of layering all throughout the page, it would be chaotic.  Focusing the textures and layers among select pieces of the grid, instead, allows for movement through the page, and still keeps the focus on the pictures.

 

 

For the second of the two layouts I completed, I couldn't help but to go pretty literal in theme and memory. I used Second City to document a fun memory from a girl's trip my mom, sister and I took, this past summer.

 

Once again, I was drawn to the purple in this collection, which surprisingly is actually is a color I never reach for!  I love how it provides a somewhat 'neutral' background for all of the added details and layers happening on this page.

 

Supplies used: Basic Grey Second City - patterned paper, transparent & paper diecuts, wood embellishments, letter stickers, flair; American Crafts - twine; We R Memory Keepers - cardstock; Silhouette - Vegas script title; Other: Bebas Nue font (title), Veteran Typewriter font (journaling); machine stitching.

Aren't those feathers great?  I mixed a diecut paper, transparent and sticker feather to create a cluster alongside my photo.  The '3' circle diecut couldn't have been more perfect to represent a picture of the three of us.

 

Lots more strategically placed diecuts and stitching work together to frame the photo.  I loved the wood veneer pieces that accompanied this collection.  Boy are they sticky, too!  There will be no worries of coming back to this page in the future, and wondering whether or not the heavier embellishments have stayed in place!

To create the title I used a combination of letters cut from my silhouette along with the great tiny letter stickers included in the collection.  That orange ombre paper was too fun not to use for the title!

 

 

These two collections make for some pretty fun cards, too!  Again, I went for it with a cluster and mix of feathers behind my sentiment.  To continue to carry the color throughout the card design, I used the transparent triangle pieces to carry the eye from the top of the card to the bottom.

 



 

 

I knew this cityscape image would be the perfect compliment to a 'missing you' greeting.  The alphabets included in each collection are a great size for cards.  Since they are small enough to work on a card, they allowed me to customize my sentiment just perfectly!

 



 

Thanks for stopping by and sharing in my excitement today!  I hope you'll swing on over to the Basic Grey blog also, to get another look at my featured projects and read my answers to the 'baker's dozen' questions.  If you do, make sure you comment and say HI!

 

 

Two-page Tuesday #2

Good morning!  I'm popping in today to share my second installment of 'Two-page Tuesday'!  Today's page features pictures from my little girl's second birthday party. 

Surely I'm not the only one that takes a million and one pictures during my kid's birthday celebrations, right?!  There is no way, anything less than a two page layout will suffice to properly preserve these special celebrations.  From the cake, decorations, guests and opening of gifts - I tend to try to capture it all.  And while this page showcases eleven (!) pictures, there are many more that aren't included.  (Just a note: oftentimes, I will add an additional insert in the album, using divided pocket page protectors, between the two page spread, to include all of the extra photos).




Supplies used: Doodlebug Design - patterned paper, stickers (arrows & chevrons), enamel dots, balloon brad; Technique Tuesday: stamps; Stampin; Up: ink; American Crafts: kraft cardstock, date stamp; Other: silhouette, veteran typewriter font, circle punch, foam adhesive.

The formula for this page was pretty simple and very linear.  I sized  all but one of my photos to 3x4".  Doing so, allowed me to fit quite a few snapshots and provided an easy formula for lining them up along the two 12" pages.  I chose one photo to size a little bigger, about 4x4", and act as my focal point.  Scaling the pictures down in size also allowed me to fit several different Doodlebug patterned papers (four in total!) and lots of stamping, journaling and embellishment.

Here's a closer look at some of the details...

 

I will never admit to having the most creative of titles on my scrapbook pages, but I do love mixing up the mediums I use and layering in some embellishments. :)

 

How fun are those ombre chevron arrow stickers from Doodlebug?  I was so happy that this collection coordinated with my photos, just for the fact that it would allow me to use them!  I love the added dimension and interest that popping them up with foam adhesive adds.

 

 

That's it for today, friends!  Come back and see me soon! :)

Gameday Saturdays:Jillibean Soup

It's Saturday!  For me, Saturdays during the fall would not be complete without the opportunity to cheer on my beloved Ohio State Buckeye football team.  I grew up in Columbus, Ohio - home to the Buckeyes, so to say I 'bleed' scarlet and grey, is an understatement!  Today will be a busy one, and I don't know that I'll get to tune into the actual game, but I'll be keeping tabs on the score one way or another! 

 

To celebrate my favorite fall Saturdays, I thought I'd share with you a page on the subject.  We have loads of photos decked out in our Buckeye gear and/or cheering on the team from the stands.  I thought it would be fun, to combine some of those pictures from over the years onto one page.

Supplies used: Jillibean Soup - patterned paper, stickers, diecuts; American Crafts - cardstock; Studio Calico - wood veneer; Michaels - vellum; Pebbles - patterned paper; Other - washi tape, Veteran Typewriter font, Pacifico font, machine stitching.

I love my silhouette for making fun, layered titles like this one.  The 'gameday' portion of the title was cut twice.  Once from patterned paper and a second time from white cardstock.  By layering the two together, but slightly offsetting the white under layer, a shadow is created.  The shadow helps that portion of the title to stand apart from the background patterned paper that it sits upon.  I used one of my favorite cursive fonts - Pacifico, to cut the remainder of the title out of vellum. 

I've had this Brutus Buckeye paper for a long time, and unfortunately can't remember who it's manufactured by.  It's the perfect compliment to this page, alongside the Jillibean football helmet sticker.

 

That's all I've got for today.  I've got soccer games to attend and a football game to keep tabs on! ;) Wishing you all a crafting weekend!  Go Bucks!

Fall issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today

Hi blog friends!  Today is a happy day!  Nope, not just because it's Friday (that's a pretty valid reason too!), but mainly because the newest issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today magazine is available!

Did you know you can view this magazine for free, in it's entirety?  Just click here to check it out.  If you're like me, though, and still like a hard copy version - don't fret because a subscription is an option too! 

I got my copy in the mail on Monday and it is truly awesome!  I don't know how they do it, but each issue keeps getting better and better!  The fall issue features a new article from Cathy Zielskie, and as always a really great read from Ali Edwards!

I, myself, might just have a little something featured in the reader's gallery!  Here's a little sneak.....

 

You'll have to pop on over to the free download to see the rest of it, though! ;)  This issue is sure to inspire some creativity in you this weekend!  I know I'll be scrapping!

Two-page Tuesday #1

Good morning!  I thought I'd pop in today and start a new feature I'm hopping to share regularly on the blog - Two-page Tuesdays! 

A lot of the inspiration we see in the scrapbooking world comes in the form of single page layouts.  I'll admit when it comes to making layouts I often default to the one page layout, as well.  Sometimes it's an issue of timing.  I'm a slow scrapper, so I'll go for a single 12x12 page because that, in itself, will take me several hours.  With that said, oftentimes a two pager is necessary to include all of the pictures of an event/memory.  It's fun for me to mix it up and I like the mix of pages in my albums.

Today's page features pictures of my son's baseball season and lots of Elle's Studio goodies.



Supplies used: Elle's Studio - patterned paper and diecut pieces; American Crafts - cardstock, baseball flair, and thicker chipboard letters; My Mind's Eye - enamel dots; Other - Veteran Typewriter font, machine stitching.

I typically like to work on the pages independent of one another.  Oftentimes, I will pick a focal point photo and make it the 'star' of one of the pages, as I did here.  I love this shot I captured of my boy looking back at me from the bench.  Using this single photo allowed me to included a lengthier title and lots of paper and diecut pieces. 

 

 

I'm all about layering, and I love the way the papers and pieces look all stacked together.  I ran several of the diecut  pieces through my printer to add journaling and spread it across both pages. Washi tape, machine stitching, foam adhesive, enamel dots and folding down the corners of some the of the pieces add lots of texture and interest - all ultimately leading your eye to the focal point photo.

 



Since I used a single photo on the first page, I sized down the rest of my photos on page two.  This allows for me to include more, of course, and tell the complete story.  The photos were all sized to 2x3's then I manually cropped them and arranged them until they formed a pleasing design.

More layers of diecut pieces, text, stitching and embellishment tie complete this side of the spread and tie it back to page one.

 

I hope this has given you a little peek into my design thought process, and ultimately provided you a little inspiration to put together your own two page layout!

Weekend inspiration

Happy Friday, friends!  Do you have any plans to sneak in some crafting this weekend?  It's definitely on my list of to-do's for the next several days - if I can eek out some time between soccer games, kids birthday parties and a date night with my hubby!

In the meantime, I wanted to pop in quickly to share a couple of projects I've had up over on the Love My Tapes blog.  As I mentioned in my last post, our household is fully immersed in the back to school routine, so I couldn't resist creating a few projects with that theme in mind. The first was a set of lunch box notes, with a simple washi tape background.



Supplies used: Studio G - kraft notecards; Love My Tapes - washi tape; Fiskars - star punch; Heidi Swapp - sentiment stamps; KI Memories - smiley stamp; Hero Arts - black ink; Other: scrap cardstock/paper

Click here for more details on this project and a closer look at each of these sweet mini notes!

Another project I shared, would be perfect for the new or even seasoned little readers in your house - washi adorned bookmarks.



Supplies used: Love My Tapes - washi tape; Stampin Up - bookworm stamp, punch; Studio G - cupcake stamp; American Crafts - cardstock, colored pencils; Hero Arts - black ink; Other - gamsol

You can click here for a closer look at these bookmarks and easy instructions to create your own!

And today on the LMT blog I'm sharing a recent scrapbook page, that wouldn't be complete without the added texture and dimension of some pretty lace tape borders.




Supplies used: American Crafts - patterned paper, diecuts, wood & epoxy embelishments; Jillibean Soup - kraft diecut title; Love My Tapes - lace tape; Stampin Up - scallop border punch; Other - machine stitching, crochet thread, circle punch

So, now that you've got a few ideas, I hope you'll make it a priority to get crafty this weekend.  If you do, I hope you'll come back and share with me what you've made. 

Back to school and a schedule

It's back to school time for my littlest.  She has been watching her older brothers, backpack-clad and sleepy-eyed, trek off to the bus stop for nearly a month now!  She couldn't have been more excited for her turn yesterday,  It wasn't her official first day, but instead a shortened class where mommy would stay and she would meet her classmates and teacher.  She adamantly told me as we pulled into the parking lot though, "You stay here.  I'm going in my OWNself!  You're too big!".  LOL!  I guess I'll have no problems dropping her off next week?!

In celebration of all things back to school, I thought I'd share a couple of first day of school pages that I created last fall and never got around to sharing.  

I'm a huge Simple Stories fan and their school themed collections are always at the top of my list of favorites.  With a few simple sheets of patterned paper - including border prints, 4x6 and 3x4 cards, I was able to put two separate school pages for my boys.  They are similar in design (obviously!), but by changing the background cardstock and patterned paper pieces used, I was able to create a customized look for each of my boys.




Supplies used: Simple Stories - patterned paper; American Crafts - cardstock, thickers and twine; Fiskars - star punch; Technique Tuesday - date and phrase stamps; Hero Arts - ink; DCWV - cork paper; Other: veteran typewriter font, machine stitching.



 

With lots of pictures and cute page elements to fit onto a one page spread, I had to get a bit creative with my journaling.  Placing it vertically on the page adds a bit of interest and allowed me to squeeze in quite a bit of text.

 

 

 

This page follows the same formula as above, with a few minor alterations, based on the pieces I had remaining.  I love how it has a similar, clean look to it but lends to more of a 'preschool' feel with the Doctor Suess quote and apples!



Supplies used: Simple Stories - patterned paper; American Crafts - cardstock, embossing powder and twine; Fiskars - star punch; Technique Tuesday - phrase stamp; 7 Gypsies - number stamps; Hero Arts - ink (black); Tsukineko - versamark ink; DCWV - cork paper; Other: veteran typewriter font, machine stitching, foam adhesive.

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by today!  I'm hoping to be back sharing with you more regularly now that we're all back to school and have returned to a schedule.  Fingers crossed!!!!