YAY!...School starts today: A Just Nick DT Page

In my part of the world right now, everywhere you go is filled with signs of back to school.  All of the store shelves are stocked with supplies, alarms are set for earlier mornings and the kid's are all heading off with shiny new clothes and backpacks, to the start of new school year adventures. 

Today I'm sharing this page on the Just Nick blog, that is completely inspired by my current surroundings.  In fact, it proved to be just the push I needed to work on some first day of school pictures from the 2014-15 school year.



Supplies used: Doodlebug Designs - patterned paper, sequins, sprinkle shapes; DCWV - patterned paper (ledger); Basic Grey - patterned paper, letter stickers; Tim Holtz - mini paper clip; Bazzill - cardstock; Stampin Up - foam adhesive; Other - machine stitching, computer font.

Can you spot which Just Nick cut files I used on my back to school page?  I combined the Word Bubbles and Card Sentiments 1 files  to create my title.  Combining the two files was easy.  I sized the word bubble to fit within the spot I wanted it to sit, on my page and then layered the "YAY!" portion of the card sentiments file overtop of it. 

To give the word a little more 'pop', I backed the cut file with some red cardstock and used tiny letter stickers to complete my subtitle.

I couldn't stop myself at using only one word bubble - there are, in fact, several designs and styles included within the file.  Some sized down versions of the round bubble made the perfect home for a grouping of embellishments and even for some added text.

I even enlarged one of the rectangular bubbles to just over 6" long - making it an ideal spot for my journaling.

 

Did you know that every month, Just Nick releases a set of cut files that you can pick up for FREE?!  You're in luck, because the Word Bubbles file I've used above is the free file this month!  Hop on over to the Just Nick blog to see how you can add this digital die cut to your library for FREE.  And make it quick, because it's only available at no charge until August 31st.

 

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!

 

 

Vacation Hangover and LCTS sketch #141

What is it about travelling with kids that makes you feel like you need a vacation after your vacation?  Oh, yeah, it must be the nonstop adventures, early wake ups, late bedtimes, constant counting of heads, pushing of strollers, carrying of kid gear and let's not forget the endless questions.  If things are a little quiet around here, it's because we are in vacation recovery mode at the Rench household. 

My husband, kiddos and I just returned from a fun family trip to the Smokey Mountains -- our first 'official' vacation as a family of five.  The trip was wonderful and full of lots of great memories, but I am wiped from the packing, preparations, nonstop fun and car travel.  Hopefully, I'll soon get around to posting a little recap and some photos from our trip.  But since that may be awhile, I'll share one of my favorite shots from the trip.



My three sweeties posing 1/2 mile from the tallest point in the Smokey Mountains.


While we were off vacationing, the latest sketch was revealed over at LCTS, sketch #141 by Cindy Stevens.  Here's a peek at the sketch:

And a 'looksie' at my interpretation:



Supplies used: Patterned Paper - Basic Grey Little Black Dress 'best dressed' (background) and kissing booth 6x6 pad (flowers); Cardstock - Coredinations whitewash collection; Brads - Basic Grey kissing booth mixed brads; buttons, bakers twine, sticker labels, butterfly charm - My Mind's eye (various collections); Pearls - Mark Richards; Clear stamps - Ditto Hampton and Teresa Collins; Other: tulle, embroidery floss, computer font (veteran typewriter), Cricut (Kate's ABC cartridge), foam adhesive


The photos don't quite capture all the dimension and texture going on on this page, however, this shot shows a glimpse of the tulle accents I added throughout the page.  I couldn't resist 'froofing' it all up a bit with tulle, to mimic baby girls sweet little tutu!

A peek at the journaling (of course!):

As you can tell, I had a bit of fun (and wasted lots of time) cutting out a variety of florals, on my cricut, from the sweet Basic Grey kissing booth 6x6 paper prints.  I played with layering and placing the flowers for quite some time, to get it all 'just so'. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope you'll stop by the LCTS blog and play along with the sketch!  Oh, and a huge thanks for all of the sweet comments on my last post!  I am still floating on a cloud from my latest news and can't wait to start sharing some crafty Pebbles creations here!

Summertime Fun and Two Favorite Girls

Unfortunately, my blogging has gone the way of my scrapping lately - MIA! The kiddos and I have been so, so busy with a mountain of summertime activities, that by the time they are nestled into bed and I have a moment to scrap, I'm typically off to dreamland as well!  I wouldn't say we are having too many 'lazy summer days' just yet, but we sure are having a lot of fun and building lots of memories!  Just in the few short weeks that we've been on summer break we've: been to Kings Island (twice), gone strawberry picking, cheered on the Reds at Great American ballpark, visited the animals at the Columbus Zoo, sampled several new ice cream shops, swam at the Y pool, had a swim date with cousins at their local community pool, rode bikes, had a sleepover, enjoyed camp days at the Little Gym, had lots of backyard water fun, and have been reading nonstop to earn rewards through the libraries summer reading program.  Whew!!!!  I'm thinking I might relax again when school starts! LOL!

Even though, I haven't had much time for crafting, I have a few pages to share, over the next several days, that I worked on prior to my scrapping hiatus.  I recently had this page featured over on the Basic Grey blog and am anxiously awaiting my prize package in the mail!  :)  I snapped these photos on Easter of my mom and baby girl -- they are some of my favorites!  As you'll see, I succumbed to the chevron craze and created my own chevron background with the 'B sides' of several papers from Basic Grey's Picadilly collection.


To create this pretty accent, I traced a chipboard butterfly shape onto white cardstock, stamped it in versamark with a dotted background stamp and heat embossed it with white embossing powder for a subtle, but pretty tone on tone effect.

I couldn't call the page complete without some (okay, A LOT!) of machine stitching - and chose to accent all of the chevrons with a bit.  I also had fun testing out a new Stampin Up floral die that I had recently purchased - to sprinkle embellishments throughout the page.

So, just a quick share today.  Hoping to be back soon with more!  Thanks, as always for stopping by!

Mother's Day mini and some fun news

Now that the holiday is officially past and gifts have been given, I wanted to share the cute little mini books I put together for both my mom and mother in law for mother's day this year.  The album measures a little more than 4" x 4", so it's the perfect size for these Grandma's to pop in their purses and always have on hand, to share photos of their darling grandchildren!  For the contents of the album I selected some favorite photos of my kiddos and paired it with text, that answers a couple of 'interview' questions that I asked them about their Grandma and Nana.  Here's the look at the cover:




And a side view of the album, shows how it is kept closed with a length of twill tape.  I love from this view, how you can see all of the bits and pieces of each page peeking out - and hint at what's to come inside!

As you will see, I laid out the album to include a picture of each child on the left page, and their response on the right.  In the middle of each page, I sewed a small envelope into the book binding, which when opened, reveals a sweet little drawing from them.  I started the book with a picture of my oldest.

Here is a look at the page once the pocket page is turned.

Again the next set of pages is set up with the same 'formula' - picture, pocket, then text.

A close up reveals how the envelope opens, and shows a peek at the paper, containing Justin's sweet little artwork, inside.

The backside of the envelope and his response to my questions are shown here.  I love the he said he loves his Nana because, "she teaches me tricks." Ha, ha - funny boy!

Next, is baby girl's page.  Obviously, she is not quite at the age to create artwork yet so, I chose to use a decorative envelope here.  I punched some 'confetti' from paper scraps (as is all the rage in scrapbooking right now!), tucked it inside a vellum envelope and sewed it shut.  I think it adds a fun little decorative element!

I gave baby girl a little help with her 'interview', as well! (wink!)

For the final pages, I mixed up the 'formula' a little bit.  I include some decorative elements on the left, sewed a vellum envelope into the binding and finished it off with a group photo of all three kids.

This picture reveals the contents of the vellum envelope -- sweet little mini instax photos of each child!  Love this!  I was thrilled when I figured out that the envelope was the perfect size to contain these!

Here's a look at the final page:

To finish off the back side of the album I stamped a sweet little phrase, from an older Hero Arts Stamp set and added a remaining sticker.  

As you can imagine, these little albums were quite a hit with the Grandma's! My only regret is not making a copy to tote along in my own purse!

Oh, and before I sign off -- just wanted to share my fun news.  I found out yesterday that a recent page, shown in this post, won the latest sketch challenge over at the Jillibean Soup blog.  Yay, me!  If that wasn't enough -- my prize was to select $50 worth of items of my own choosing from the online Jillibean store.  How fun is that????  I had so much fun shopping with my Jillibean dollars.  Maybe when I get my package in the mail, I'll snap a pic and share my goodies!

As always, thanks for stopping by!

School, school, school...

As of tomorrow afternoon at 3:32pm, we will have officially completed our first full week on school.  Yes, I realize that it's actually TJ who is attending, but the reason I say we is that mommy has a big role and some added responsibilities in this whole school process too (bigger than I realized!).  So far we've made it out the door on-time, in uniform, hair brushed, backpack on, snack packed and arrived to school at the proper drop off time and place, each day.  Mommy has also kept track of the multiple daily school emails, communicating a variety of things, filled out loads of paperwork for the school fundraiser, signed and returned necessary forms, read and evaluated the numerous volunteer opportunities and signed up for some, and sat down with TJ to complete his first night of homework.  Holy moly -- and this is only Kindergarten.  I'm sure once we settle into the school year and the routine, this will all reach a level of normalcy.  At least I'm hoping so, because right now, with all of the added work, I feel like I'm back in school again!

Speaking of school... I mentioned in several prior posts that I had a some school themed pages to share.  Well, the wait is now over!  I know, the suspense has been killing you, huh?  I recently had the opportunity to work with Basic Grey's new Oxford line.  At first glance, this line looked to be a bit mature for my young boy, but I still thought I could make it work.  I've always liked Basic Grey's collections, but quite honestly, have found them a bit difficult to work with simply because they differ from what I would normally gravitate towards (which is bright and clean patterns and papers, rather than more distressed and muted).  When I spotted the 'school supply' themed paper in this line, though, I just couldn't resist!  That single paper inspired me to create a page documenting the supplies that TJ needed to start Kindergarten this year.

I thought it would be a fun memory for us to look back on -- just exactly what he needed that first year of school, and even included a little pocket with the receipt, so we can remember just what the supplies cost, as well.

In addition, I've tried to include a pocket style page for each year of school to house: memorabilia, extra photos, artwork, teacher evaluations, etc.  So, again, I used Basic Grey's Oxford line to create a page to do just that, for TJ's preschool year 2010-2011.

and some close-ups (you can click on any of the pictures, for an even larger view):

Well, that's all I've got for tonight.  I've been crafting like crazy most evenings this week, so it might be time to get into bed at a decent hour!  Thanks for stopping by!