I stayed up LATE last night scrapbooking. Well.. I scrapbooked until about 12:30am, when I got on a Creative Escape conf. call for a couple of hours, and then I was too excited to sleep! We have ALL NEW SURPRISES in store. So those of you who think you know what happens at CE… well, you don’t! (wink). It’s going to be fab… and it’s going to be here before we know it.. . and that is freaking me out. but just seeing all the projects, and talking about the secrets, is EXCITING. So, I am operating on about an hour of sleep today and feeling a bit sluggish. I think I’ll have to sleep when Capri sleeps today, for sure.
So, I completed 4 layouts…there is no rhyme or reason, just wanting to get my creativity flowing. I just needed to PLAY! I have SO many fun, memorable photos from the last 4-5 months… so I need to just do some pleasure-scrapbooking! Eric got on his bike ‘rollers’… man, I should have taken a photo. I will next time. He just got them-he used to just ride on a ‘trainer’ that you mount your bike on, and it just turns it to a stationary bike. Well ‘rollers’ is kinda like a treadmill for bikers, but you have to keep pedaling, and keep your balance. It was looking like a lot of work! So we were watching that 24 movie- ‘Redemption’, so now forever when I see these pages I will be traumatized by my memories of that movie! LOL.
I started with this cute photo of the boys playing monopoly. I love this photo-the bird’s eye view… and what I wanted to remember was just them hanging around playing a game together. (well, that is what I want THEM to remember).
I used paper from the Street Smarts collection- it’s perfect for the boys. Then I decided to make my own embellishments, and I stole a $50, $20 and $10 from the game. I SHOULD have just photo copied them, but I was LAZY. I inked them w/ distress to get the color to pop, and used glossy accents to adhere Tim’s fragments over the parts of the money that I liked. Who doesn’t love and connect w/ monopoly money! I then pulled from some of the old-standby’s… cut a definition out of my old dictionary, and typed on my Dymo.
For the finishing touches, I used some of Tim’s spinners, and my Street Smarts glossy accents, ghost wings, and mini-ghost crown that I sanded to make a little less transparent. The black and white letters have been resurrected, and will be available very soon! Yay!
The 2nd page I did…was about our Thanksgiving. We celebrated with a bunch of families here in our branch, and it was a highlight of my time in Beijing. The photo is just a ‘feel’ photo, I didn’t get a big group photo, which I am KICKING myself for STILL! But this photo captures, and jogs my memory of what I was feeling that day. SO the goal for this page was journaling my memory-capturing that feel. I used this SUPER cute Karen Russell paper layered over a piece from the World Traveller line. I just love this brown and black hounds. Very versatile. I mounted the photo using a few cream photo corners (I didn’t have enough for them to all be the same size, so there is one small one… just pretend I MEANT to do that!) –mounted on a piece from the Street Smarts collection-good, subtle. Then wrapped it with soft ribbons- silks and printed seambinding. I added a couple felt leaves from Chatterbox, and you can probably spot the chandelier crystal and bling. I just stiched the chandelier crystal on while I was sewing buttons on. (funny side note.. Emily Waters just HATES it when I attach buttons w/ nothing in the holes…it’s her biggest pet peeve… so now forever more, I can’t just glue on a button, has to be sewn on! Thanks em)…… I am on a bit of a button kick, and this set from Chatterbox (artsy.licious 'splendid treasures) totally has done me right. I bought it when I was with the house of 3 girls in Provo… and I have almost used every last one. That is what I used at the top of this journaling strip. The ‘gratitude’ and ‘thankful for’ elements are from that hybrid book that I posted on my blog in Dec. I have used those a lot! I added a couple stamps- the ‘thanksgiving’ is one of those huge Provo Craft alphabet turning stamps; and my very favorite stamp set: Cavallini Papers &Co Birds & Nests. (the bird)
I couldn’t resist using some of my new papers… they should start to be available here any time! so look for them! The ‘Summer Sun’ collection is perfect for my cruise photos… These are both from Grand Cayman… perfect to really mix bright colors and patterns! Some of my new papers have the printed elements die-cut for you so they are like ‘built in embellishments’.. SO fab. That is what you see here.. the border sheet also has a flap, that has the little turquoise flowers that layer on the white ones and it all looks dimensional and so easy to do! once I positioned my photos, and journaling spot, I layered a hambly overlay on top. And I used my favorite MM product.. love these little glitter letters. Dang cute. but the lime green flower gets center stage!
The ‘let’s ride’ was the last one of the night/morning. This was the hightlight of my cruise! My folks and I rented scooters and cruised the island. As you can imagine they were dog-scooters, but they did the trick. Again, this is new paper from my CHA 09 release.. the big circle journaling element is on the border sheet, and is a ‘die cut’ element. I coupled it with OLD heidi stuff.. chipboard tags, and chipboard letters.. I absolutely LOVE the mixed print letters.. and they were perfect for these… get this, they are on sale on my website for .99$ (the stripes and dots).. I also used orange, lime and that little hot pink apostrophe. (it’s so cute!) the orange arrow journaling spots are .99$ too! notice the glitter stickers, the dymo tape and of course orange bling…anything goes with island photos! You gotta love that.
Hey- just a couple things in regard to my last post about the blog backgrounds…
Guess what: we have decided to offer a FREE House of 3 background for you to TRY OUT! now… here is the deal. If you add this to your blog, and send us a link… you’ll be in the running to win the ULTIMATE House Warming Package… that is a WHOLE bunch of stuff that we have been working on for this special event! And you will get access to it EARLY, so you get a sneak peek! You can post in here in my comments… you can email me, or Rhonna or Janet… we’ll be collaborating, and picking a winner on Friday morning. (27th). You’ll be notified and gifted! Most of all, we just want you to TRY it!... check the tutorial section of the House of 3 site if you have questions… that might help!
ALSO, I have learned a cool trick (this is for you typepad folks again)… notice how here on my blog, right behind the text you see the yellow houndstooth? There is no color for my template background… so (excuse the technical addition here).
Inside the DESIGN tab, where you post your blog banner… there is also a place there for background. if you select that button, and you see ‘background color’- type in “NONE”. That will make it transparent!!
There is still time to win a banner of your choice, customized by me!! whatever you want it to say…your wish is my command!
take some time to scrapbook! it's FUN!
can't wait for american idol tonight. -the simple pleasures!