See You Later (Card)

Today I start off vacation and our first stop is the zoo!  So it's the perfect time to share this fun animal themed card from the Echo Park "Day at the Zoo" line.  I made this as a sample for The Scrapbooking Studio.

I fussy cut the alligator and quote out and then added a couple of layers of different patterns behind it.  A quick little banner, some extra animal stickers, and enamel dots pull it all together to make a quick and cute card.  I am not sure how often I will have blog access over the next week so my posts may be scattered (or may not :)).  But I will definitely See You Later Alligator :)

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Echo Park

Stickers: Echo Park & Simple Stories

Enamel Dots: My Mind's Eye

Sketchy Saturday Week 16 - Scrapbooking about a nightmare?

Pretty simple but one of the big features is a big title!  Here's my interpretation:

Because the title and journaling actually are the main point of the layout I thought this was perfect for a big title.  It doesn't happen often for me but sometimes the words tell the story more than the picture and this was definitely one of those cases! About a month ago my son had a nightmare about a fox in his room.  It was hilarious how the story continued for days after.  I really wanted to document it because t was just a sweet moment!  This picture was perfect cause I feel like his face looks like he is telling a whopping tale!  I used a lot of Pebbles Inc's line Special Delivery because I knew it had a fox in it!  I also used cork accents and paper from American Crafts.  I cut my title out on my cameo and then used the negative space.  I filled that in with journaling.  I then used letter stickers to round out the rest of the story! 

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Pebbles, American Crafts

Stickers: Bella Blvd, American Crafts

Sequins: Teresa Collins

Practical Scrappers Scrapping Our Stash Blog Hop

Welcome to the Practical Scrappers Blog Hop 

where we are Scrapping our Stash.  

You should have arrived from Majken's Blog - if you didn't you may want to go back and check out everyone's blogs - lots of inspirations and giveaways!

This month (and from here on out) we are inviting anyone who's interested in joining the stash busting hop to join us.  If you want to join us next month email me at practicalscrappers@gmail.com.

Here's the Blog Hop List for today:

Practical Scrappers

Audrey

Wendy

Erin

Majken

Christine *You Are Here*

Ruth

Lee-Anne 

Bobbi

Kerri

Alison

Lisa

Cheryl

Laura

Deborah

Suzanna

I decided to focus in on my patriotic stash and use some Doodlebug from their Kraft in Color and Patriotic Parade line.  The stickers are all from the Stars & Stripes line.

I have been loving the trend of a big circle as a focal point on your layout.  I have always loved circles....so yes, I will certainly embrace this trend :).  I knew I wanted to add text following the curves of the circle so after adding my pictures I did just that.  I then created clusters of stickers in three different points.  The pictures of my son wandering thru our local cemetery checking out flags were just perfect for a patriotic layout.  I used up nearly an entire two sheets of stickers - so some serious stash busting happened today!  

Supplies Used:

Stickers: Doodlebug Design

Enamel Hearts: Doodlebug Design

Patterned Paper: Doodlebug Design

As a Thank You for stopping by today I am going to do a Stash Busting Giveaway of the following Red, White, and Blue goodies - it includes papers, stickers, trims, and die cuts! 

You can do any or all of the following to enter:

1) Become a follower here

2) Like my Scrapping with Christine facebook page

3) Pin any of these projects onto Pinterest

And lastly leave me a comment to let me know which you have done!

This giveaway will remain open until 11:59 pm on July 9th!  I will announce a winner within a couple days (can't guarantee an exact date as we'll be on vacation with unknown internet access).

Now hop on over to check out what the talented Ruth has created to share with you this month!

You make my Heart Sing - Leaky Shed Studios

I am up over at Leaky Shed Studio today!  I'm a music teacher so when I saw the musical staff border I was very excited!  I debated using it on a layout but decided I really wanted to make a card with it!

One measure was a perfect fit for an A2 card!  So after using my black mist to color it, I cut it off there and added it to the top of the card.  I followed the curve of it to line the bottom with patterned paper.

I then topped the whole thing with heart embellishments and stickers to go with the color scheme.  It comes together to make a perfect card for celebrating someone be it their birthday, congratulations, or just encouraging them along!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Teresa Collins

Stickers: Simple Stories

Enamel Dots: Teresa Collins

Mist: Heidi Swapp

4th of July Lantern - Imaginisce

The 4th of July is a great day to put out some fun decor and Imaginisce has some papers in the Perfect Vacation line that work just great for creating those projects!  Today I have a patriotic lantern to share with you that is featured over at Imaginisce.

I used a cut file to create this lantern that you can add a little electric tea light to for the evening hours.  Because the file comes with stars think of all the possibilities you could create with it!  You could do a baby shower decoration or a Christmas decoration all by using different lines from Imaginisce!

I cut the base in a dark blue patterned paper and then did the stars in some red paper.  I decided to just do USA in plain white so it wouldn't get lost in the patterns.  Some Red Irocks were the perfect embellishment.

To add some embellishing to the lantern I created a couple of Brads using my ITop and the same red patterned paper I had used earlier.  Not too overwhelming but adds some nice dimension and makes my embellishments one of a kind!

Supplies Used:

Imaginisce: Patterned Paper (Perfect Vacation), Itop, Irock

American Crafts: Cardstock

June Publication Layout

I didn't submit a ton this month because I was super busy!  But I did manage a card and layout and today I have that layout to share with you! This was published in the June issue of Create Magazine - a free online magazine that you can find here!

Hard to believe this little guy is walking and talking and a little boy now!  The entire layout is based on the one page sketch from the magazine and uses a variety of Special Delivery line from Pebbles.  I layered lots of strips of banners - trying to mix up the lighter and darker colors/patterns. Some stars and clouds add a touch of whimsy. I also played with fonts and slant to make for a unique title and journaling! I also added a little bit of mist splattering to help break up all the lines and leftover white space.

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Pebbles

Die Cuts: Pebbles

Stickers: Pebbles

Chipboard: Studio Calico

Enamel Dots: My Minds Eye

Dreams Come True! Exciting News to Share!

I have so very exciting news to share today!  I was chosen to be on the design team for one of my very favorite companies in the entire industry: SRM Stickers! 

This has been a dream of mine for quite awhile so since I got the email sharing the news I have just been about to burst at the seams with excitement!  

My love for the company grew even more when I got to meet Susan (the owner) at CHA in 2012!  

We had a delightful conversation and that pretty much sealed the deal all the more for me!

To mark today's special news I got out my supplies and created a card to share!  

If you aren't already - Make sure you are a follower over at their fabulous blog!  Hop on over there to check out the rest of the new team! They also have a fun facebook page full of even more inspiration! 

I can't wait to begin this adventure and share even more SRM projects with you!  If you want to see some of my other projects - I usually tag them in my posts - so click on the SRM Stickers tag at the end of this post and you will see some others I have done!  

My very last Kiwi Lane Designs Post

I have really enjoyed my nine months with Kiwi Lane Designs.  They have stretched me in different ways and been an absolute joy to work with.  Today is my very last post for them!  They asked us to use some of our favorite templates and create a two pager.  I love to make scenes with their templates so I went that route and documented a fun family trip to a river that I grew up playing in in California!

I have lots of closeups and details that you can check out over at the Kiwi Lane Blog today!

Supplies Used: 

Patterned Paper: Bella Blvd

Stickers: Bella Blvd

Flags: Bella Blvd

Sketchy Saturday Week 15

I'm running a little late today!  Had a little date night with the hubby last night and then this morning walked in my first ever 5K.  I've been working hard leading up to it - but am still a little beat!  On to today's sketch!

This week's sketch is a three picture one!  Now to share how I interpreted it:

This is another sample for The Scrapbooking Studio using the Echo Park mini line "Day at the Zoo."  To shake things up I did some tearing instead of straight up stripes!  The shape of my tearing led to me wanting t use the Wild About You banner!  This was Cooper's first trip to the zoo and in the left picture (that's a lot overexposed) he was right up next to a giant monkey that was staring him down in the window.  Just goes to show how sometimes you don't have the best picture but you still want to use it to tell the story!  I've been enjoying seeing so many of you share your sketch interpretations with me!  I'd love to have you share this week's with me either in the comments here or on my facebook page!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Echo Park

Stickers: Echo Park & American Crafts

Washi Tape: My Mind's Eye

Tickets: Maya Road

Day at the Zoo - Echo Park - The Scrapbooking Studio

This month I am playing with the mini theme from Echo Park called "Day at the Zoo" for The Scrapbooking Studio.  I have gobs of zoo pictures so this was a perfect collection to create with!  

I created a grid for my base and then added layers of stickers and fussy cut pieces on top.  To personalize it more I added my own title: "7 loud Meyers at the Zoo."  Using a variety of stickers for this added to the fun of creating it!  On this particular day we were visiting there with a whole group of Ben's family.  There were more than 7 of us - but the group of cousins in the picture has 7 of them!  

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Echo Park

Stickers: Bella Blvd, Echo Park

Enamel Dots: Studio Calico

Preschool Graduation Layout - Paper House Productions

Can you tell I have been super busy with my kiddos?  My blogging has slowed way down the last few weeks!  I definitely have projects to share and today I have one I created for Paper House Productions featuring their new Graduation line.

This line can be fun for both big kids and little kids alike depending on what direction you want to go with it.  My oldest is 10 - so I went the preschool graduation route!  I started off using the background paper just as it was but added a little bit of mist splatters in the top corner.  I then mounted my picture and added journaling around it.  I topped that with the podium sticker and diploma 3D sticker.  I added in letter stickers to put on 2012. I fussy cut the word graduate from the other patterned paper in this line and used that as the base for my banner grouping.  Using colors that coordinated I created banner pieces, notching out the bottoms.  Adding a few punched stars added to the coordinating it with the bottom banner.

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Paper House Productions

Stickers: Paper House Productions, Studio Calico

Cardstock: American Crafts

I (Heart) Summer Card

I have never done a gate fold card before but today I am up at Samantha Walker and I thought it was the perfect chance to try one out! Since summer is kicking off I thought it would be the perfect time to do the A2 sun gate fold card.

Using pieces from both Summer Lovin' and Cool Summer, I pieced this card together and created a bright and cheery summer piece!

First I cut the card in a bright yellow cardstock.  I then added some adhesive to the main base of the card.

I added some striped paper from Summer Lovin' to jazz up the background!

I then did some faux stitching along the edges of the sun and added some pearls.  I backed the I love Summer sticker with cardstock and cut it out.  I then added it to the center over where the card fastens.  I fussy cut a few clouds and added those to both sides as well as a palm tree sticker.  Twine and a clothespin were my final touches.  Because it is an intricate cut - you can just add a few personal touches to make it really shine!  

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Samantha Walker for Carta Bella

Twine: The Twinery

Stickers: Samantha Walker for Carta Bella

Pearls: Doodlebug

Sketchy Saturday Week 14

Each week as I create my Sketchy Saturday project I try to create using non-design team stuff and pictures that I have just been itching to use!  This week I used some gorgeous Simple Stories and some pictures of my little Cooper that are nearly three years old!  Here's the sketch!

This week it is a two picture sketch - can you tell I don't do tons of one picture layouts? I just don't have time to with four kids...I have to get things documented!  Here's the layout I created:

 As you can see I did not stick with the hearts - but I did do the building of embellishments on a diagonal which just adds a really nice flow to things.  You can see I also started small in the corner and built up the embellishments from there.  Can't wait to see what you come up with!  Please stop by my facebook page and share what you create!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Simple Stories

Stickers: Simple Stories & Bella Blvd

Brads: Simple Stories

Mist: Studio Calico

Wedding Card Inspiration

A good friend of mine has a sister getting married this weekend and I made a card for her to use for it!  I tried to incorporate some of the wedding colors to add a personal touch!

Can you tell I love that Mosaic Die from Top Dog Dies???? I decided to use it once again!  I then added Black Irocks from Imaginisce to the center of all the flowers.  I used a die from Poppy Stamps for my leaves and then topped the whole thing off with the perfect SRM Sticker!  This wedding sticker set comes in black & white with some gray also.  Perfect for adding to any color to personalize it for the wedding you are going to!

Supplies Used:

Sticker: SRM Stickers

IRocks: Imaginisce

Dies: Top Dog Dies & Poppy Stamps

Cardstock: CutCardstock

Samantha Walker Creative Team Blog Hop - Birthdays

Welcome to the 

Samantha Walker Creative Crafters Team Blog Hop!

You should have arrived here from Nicole Stark's Blog!

We have a fabulous giveaway this month of a 

 $10 Silhouette Online Store Download Code 

All you need to do is enter below. You can earn multiple entries by following us on Facebook, commenting below, tweeting about the giveaway, and signing up for the email updates. This giveaway is open to US customers only and closes on this Sunday at 11:59 PM MDT.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Our theme this month is Birthdays!  I decided to use the free file for my project today and created a layout with it!

It's a very clean layout - but definitely not simple :).  This is a time consuming process - but I can honestly say I think it was worth every minute! Here's how I created it:

1) Expand the size of the flower so that it is in the 10 inch range.

2) Ungroup everything and cut out the two big flowers

3) Bring the doily shape to the center, highlight it, and click "release compound path"

4) Doing this will allow you to pull out all the negative space parts.

5)I decided to do four different patterns so I deleted the main outline and then dragged each of the negative parts to a different corner (as seen below)

6) If this is too much work for you, you could also trace and cut out each part.

7)Assemble the doily and parts onto the big flower pieces.

Don't forget to sign up for Samantha's Newsletter 

through the Rafflecopter widget to receive your

FREE SVG and Silhouette Studio file! 

Thanks so much for stopping in today! Next up is Jamie!  You can get to her blog by clicking on the picture below!

Tailgating Box Card

Playing around with box cards has become addicting...today I have another one to share with you that features some Paper House Productions goodies.  Again - this is a great card - but it could be an awesome piece of decor on a table too!

This is all made up of the new Tailgate line from Paper House Productions - patterned paper and cardstock stickers.  I went for a solid white base so that nothing got overshadowed!

I added stickers and buttons to each of the side flaps.

This is the perfect project for when you have lots of cute stickers or die cuts that you want to be able to use!

Each of these stickers are mounted onto a thin piece of cardstock so that they pop up at different levels...not sure which I think is more fun - the grill, the hot dog, or the solo cups!

Thanks for joining me today!  If you have been making some box cards too, link me up in the comments, I would definitely love to see them!

Scrapping our Stash Blog Hop Winner!

Samantha Houston you are the winner of the prize pack from the hop!  Please message me at practicalscrappers@gmail.com to claim your prize!

Church Picnic Layout

Today is our Annual Church Picnic.  It is one of my favorite days of the year so I thought it would be perfect to share a Church Picnic Layout today!  I don't take lots of pictures on this day because we're busy running around in all different directions having fun!  So I take what I can get and document it!  This layout shows a few of my favorites from last year.

I did some serious washi tape play on this layout.  The base is a green gingham paper and then I added yellow washi tape to create the stripes.  I then added the pink to the top and bottom to try to add an extra shot of color in.  The doodle cut background is a cut file that I had done a while ago and have been waiting for a good fit for it!  I think it adds nicely to the whimsy of the layout today.  The very last thing I added was a title and that was because I was stumped for placement and what to create it with. Finally I setttled on just a simple title mounted on white cardstock with a little embellishment added!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Doodlebug Design

Stickers: Doodlebug Design

Washi Tape: Doodlebug Design

Enamel Dots: Studio Calico

Sketchy Saturday Week 13

It's Saturday and that means I have a fun sketch to share with you!  This one focuses on the right side of the layout and has lots of vertical layering!  I can't wait to see what you come up with!  Please share your creation with me on my facebook page!

Here's the layout I created!

I love having my own photo printer and being able to just print off a recent picture and scrap it at my leisure!  We won't talk about the big pile of old pictures to still work on :)  I wanted to zone in on some of the fun and crazy times that you have with a toddler - what better than a picture of him with a bat to show just that!?!  I've noticed that I am getting more and more into using lots of words on my pages...I guess that is my form of journaling because I do't tend to do a lot of that...so I guess that makes up for it!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Bazill

Wood: Studio Calico

Stickers: Heidi Swapp

Imaginisce Summer Box Card

Box cards seem to be creeping up in popularity and I have been anxious to try one out!  My favorite thing about them is that they can be a card or they can really cute decor for a party table!  I used a cut file from Lori Whitlock the Silhouette Store to create the base for mine!

I decided to use the papers from Welcome Spring because they have a great summery feel to them too!

From the side you can get a better view of the various layers of sunshine, clouds, and butterflies.

I used all patterned paper except for doing the sunshine - it needed to be solid and bold.

Believe it or not these cards actually fold down and fit into an A2 envelope.  Well they would if you don't put a giant title on them - I'll need a larger envelope.  Imagine receiving something like this in the mail!

Supplies Used: 

Imaginisce: Patterned Paper (Welcome Spring)

American Crafts: Cardstock

Leaky Shed Studio - Gears & Watch Parts

I've got three little boys in my house so when it comes to boy embellishments - I am always in need.  The Gears Set and Watch Parts Set from Leaky Shed Studio are absolutely perfect for making those projects more masculine!  

My colors are masculine and my flat sickers are masculine but I needed that added dimension and texture that Leaky Shed Studio can provide!  For my project today I decided to focus in on my three year old son and some of his silly antics.  Can you see his future as a class clown?

Using some spray mist, I colored the gears black.

To bring in some color I added an enamel dot to the center of the gears. 

Leaky Shed Studio Supplies Used:

Watch Parts

Gears Set 

Other Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Simple Stories

Stickers: Simple Stories

Guest Designing for Top Dog Dies

I am so excited to be guest designing for Top Dog Dies today! 

Top Dog Dies is a new online store that offers their own brand of wafer-thin and steel-rule dies, along with dies from brands you already know and trust, including My Favorite Things, Lawn Fawn, Taylored Expressions. Savvy Stamps and Cheery Lynn Designs. Top Dog Dies is also the leading U.S. retailer for Tattered Lace, a new line of intricate dies designed by British designer Stephanie Weightman.

Now on to my projects!  For my cards I made use of my Imaginisce goodies - which combine beautifully with Top Dog Dies!

The A2 Flower Mosaic Mat is a gorgeous die!  I was so excited when I opened my package and found it in there - I quickly made a cut with it and snapped a photo to send to a fellow scrappy friend!  I love to paper piece and I did that on all three of my projects.  I also used the Leafy Flourishes Set on this one and the Pretty Petals Set.  I absolutely adore the flowers from the Pretty Petals Set!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Imaginisce

Die Cut: Imagnisce

IRocks: Imaginisce

Cardstock: CutCardStock

This one again features the A2 Flower Mosaic Mat but with a more colorful background!  You can find out more about how I created it on the Top Dog Dies blog today!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Imaginisce

Stickers: Jillibean Soup

Burlap: Little Yellow Bicycle

IRocks: Imagnisce

My last project also makes use of the A2 Flower Mosaic Mat! As soon as I got it I knew I wanted to do a rainbow style theme with it.  It worked beautifully and is striking don't you think!?!  Lots more details on this one on the Top Dog Dies blog today also!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Simple Stories

Stickers: Simple Stories

Die Cuts: Simple Stories

How about a GIVEAWAY?

 Top Dog Dies is doing a  guest designer giveaway for the whole month of June! The winner will receive $50 worth of exclusive dies from Top Dog Dies (their choice!).  You can find the giveaway here!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!