4 July: A Scrapbook Page

Happy Saturday, crafty friends!  I hope you are enjoying your weekend.  Our weekend is jam packed with - baseball games, birthday parties, baseball practices, friends over to play, church, more baseball practices, and dinner with family.  Whew!  Fortunately, I have a couple of hours in between activities, so I thought I'd pop on here and share a page I finished up the other night.

I've been eyeing the Simple Stories Life Documented collection for some time.  And lucky for me, I finally got my hands on some from the Paper Issues store.  I didn't have any pictures in particular, in mind for scrapping with it, so I was pleased to discover just how well it would work with photos I had from the Fourth of July.



Supplies used: Simple Stories - patterned paper, diecut piece; Pink Paislee - patterned paper (ledger); Kerri Bradford - Line by Line & Travelogue stamps, cut file (July); DCWV - cardstock; Studio Calico - wood veneer stars; Stampin Up - ink; Other: foam adhesive, machine stitching, computer font.

Using that navy and white stripe as my background piece was a no brainer!  In addition, the grey polka dot pattern helps to tie in more colors from the photos, while the neutral wood grain and lined papers create a resting place for the eye and help to balance out the design.

The title was created with a free Kerri Bradford cut file and a diecut from the Life Documented bits & pieces pack.  The red bow was a last minute addition and I love the pop of color it gives to the page and the attention it draws to the title.

 

 

What first drew me to this collection were all the bits and labels included in the diecut pack.  I knew I would have lots of fun stamping and embellishing all those little labels to customize my page.  I used some brand new stamps from Kerri Bradford to dress up the labels and a couple of Stampin' Up inks to customize them to my page even further!

 

The labels look so fun all layered and stitched together.  Stacking and layering them helps create movement throughout the page and besides that, they're just plain FUN!

 

Thanks for visiting me today!  I hope you're enjoying your weekend and spending some time getting crafty!

My 2 Boys: A Scrapbook Page & FREE cut file

I was thrilled to receive an email awhile back from the one and only Nicole Nowosad.  If you love scrapbooking, you probably already know who Nicole is.  She is a rock star designer and can do magic with patterned paper and her silhouette machine! Nicole designs a monthly FREE cut file for Scrapbook and Cards Today magazine (among various other crafty accolades!). She always designs an amazing layout, showing the cut file in action on the SCT blog and this month she asked me to share my take on designing with that cut file too.  Here's a look at the file she designed...

 

Isn't it great?  There are so many different ways and mediums with which this design could be used.  Here is the page that I designed...

Supplies used: Cardstock, thickers & cork hearts - American Crafts; Patterned Paper - Simple Stories, Pebbles; Wood veneers - Studio Calico; Stamps - Ali Edwards; Ink - Stampin' Up, Hero Arts; Epoxy embellishments - Jillibean Soup; Transparent die cut - Basic Grey; Tools - Silhouette, sewing machine.

I loved the punched circle cut file so much that I super sized it to make up the background of my scrapbook page.  I had fun filling in all of the circles with photos, journaling, patterned paper, stamping and lots of decorative elements to document my story.  

A pint sized version of the file was a fun way to fill in a few of the background circles too.  Cutting the smaller version of the file from white cardstock and laying it over top of a white background creates more of a textural effect.  I also made sure to arrange the circle backed circles into a visual triangle to help guide and direct the flow of the page. 

 

I reserved one of the large circles to hold both my title and journaling.  I had fun mixing and matching some Ali Edwards stamps to create the perfect title, that begins to tell my journaled story.

 

If you want to see the gorgeous page that Nicole designed using this cut file and download a copy for yourself.  Head on over to this post on the Scrapbook and Cards Today blog.

Happy Crafting!

Meeting Charlie: A Scrapbook Page

I showed a small peek of the page I'm sharing today on my instagram account awhile back.  I just couldn't resist sharing how I tucked a few sweet little elements into the back of the Bella pickup truck as my page came together.  Kinda fun, huh?  It was actually sort of a happy little accident.  I knew I wanted to include the baby gear but couldn't find a place for it where it wasn't floating on the page.  The truck bed ended up being the perfect solution!

I don't know what took me so long but I'm finally sharing the page in it's entirety, with you today!

Do you recognize this paper collection?  It's an oldie but goodie from Bella Blvd that I've used quite a bit, but still love and hoard!  I wanted to use many of the patterns included in this line, so cutting my patterned papers and sizing my photos to 3x4 allowed me to do so, while still fitting in four photos on this one page layout.



Supplies used: Bella Blvd - Patterned paper, stickers, chipboard shapes, washi tape, letter stickers; Doodlebug - enamel dots; Simple Stories - label stickers; Other: machine stitching, foam adhesive.

Here's another look at this cute little cluster of elements.  The truck and bottle were cut from patterned paper and the rattle is a coordinating chipboard sticker.  I added a little extra dimension to the truck's wheels with a couple of strategically place enamel dots.

 

I'm quite addicted to labels of every shape and size, as of late.  I love to use them to print bits of journaling, record the date or even stamp on.  This yellow one from the Staples Martha Stewart collection was the perfect size and length to include my subtitle.

Another label, this one from Simple Stories , provides a spot for some additional journaling.  I LOVE those large letter stickers from Bella Blvd.  Seriously, that font is just the cutest - I need it in every color!

 

Thanks for joining me today!  Happy crafting!