Practical Scrappers Specialty Team Blog Hop

This weekend I am participating in the Practical Scrappers Blog Hop!  Our topic is projects that use Chevrons!  You should have arrived here from Michelle's blog but if you didn't you can head back to Practical Scrappers to start the whole hop!  You want to be sure to pop in at Practical Scrappers to get in on the great prize from Scrapbook Pal!  I am also giving away a prize and will share a little more on that after my project!

 To create my chevrons I cut out 1 1/4" squares and laid them all out creating rows of chevrons that mimic a quilt.  I then added in zig zag stitching in between the rows.  It makes for a subtle chevron pattern and allows you to use several patterns that you love!  Because the background has a lot going on I stuck with just one photo (a rarity for me!), used a black and white photograph,  and added a strip of kraft paper the draw the eye in to the photograph.  I embellished very little but what I did use is a lot of round/curved embellishments.  I felt like this helps to break up the rigidity of the squares.  All the supplies come from Echo Park's "Beautiful Life" line.

GIVEAWAY

As a thank you for visiting I'm going to do a giveaway!  Anyone who is a follower here and leaves me a comment will be entered!  I will cut out a variety titles like the "smile" one I used here and send them your way.  I will leave the giveaway open thru the weekend and announce a winner early next week!

Thanks for hopping with us today - your next stop is at Kerri's blog!

August Quilted Cards Class featuring Carta Bella "So Noted"

I prepped all my August classes before I left for vacation (currently on it) and saved some to share with you so there isn't a major lull on the blog!  Here's the samples for my August Quilted Cards Class!

This month we will be working with Carta Bella's So Noted line.  If you are a regular attendee there are a couple things that will be different this time.  First off we won't be using stickers - this is generally a staple in my classes but they just didn't fit into this one!  Second we won't be using any ribbon - again this is usually a staple and they just weren't necessary! What we will be using is lots of paper, folding techniques, flowers, and an Epiphany Crafts Epoxy Square Maker.  We will have some new techniques that I am excited to share!  Here are some close-ups!

The class will be on Friday, August 30th and you can get your spot reserved by calling the store at (309)585-0409

Carta Bella Giddy Up Card

Back today to share a card using that same Giddy Up line from Carta Bella!  

I had fun playing around with the sticker elements for this card.  My friend Cathy is always doing unique things with tags on cards and my tag placement inspiration came from her!  I added some bling to the ribbon sticker.  I also added some mist droplets....a rarity for a card for me!  If you are near The Scrapbooking Studio you can pop in and check this out in person!

Born to Wear Boots: Carta Bella Layout

I have really enjoyed playing with Giddy Up!  This is my second layout for The Scrapbooking Studio - still have a card and altered embroidery hoop coming!  I took Lucy out to do a little photo shoot just for this!

One of my favorite parts of this layout is the burlap bow.  It would be way too much on a card...but for a layout it worked.  I was just kinda playing to see if I could come up with something different to do with burlap.  It comes in so many pretty colors now!  I have enjoyed this line so much, I think I'll have to pick up some of the boy line too!  Cooper wears boots all the time....so it will be perfect!

Supplies Used:

Paper & Stickers: Carta Bella

Enamel Dots: My Minds Eye

Doily: Gina's Designs

Burlap: My Minds Eye

Hello Sunshine - GCD Studios Card

I am up today over at the GCD Studios blog!  I am addicted to border strips.  There, I said it, and I feel better!  Today I am here to share today one of my favorite ways to use border strips!

Bet you are looking at my card right now and wondering where in the world the border strips are...I love to take them and fold them into medallion flowers creating unique flowers.  I used two different scallop borders to create these ones and as you can see they have a slightly different look from your perfectly round medallion flowers.  So the next time you pick up a border, stop and think if there is an out of the box way you can use it!

Supplies Used:

Sunkissed Border Strips #2036

Sunkissed Label Stickers #2033

Sunkissed "Pretty Swimsuit" #2061 Paper

Clean and Simple Sports Card

 I'm busy getting ready for a three week vacation...leaving not so much time to blog!  But I thought I'd pop in and share a quick clean and simple sports card.

I die cut the cap on my Cameo and then just added some washi tape, letters, and stars.  Perfect for one of my special little boys!  

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Pebbles

Washi Tape: My Minds Eye

Letters: Momenta

Stars: Echo Park

Bella Blvd All American Layout

I shared one the other day that was actually 4th of July themed..this one isn't but it does use those patriotic colors!

Cooper so thoroughly enjoyed the county fair last year I wanted to document his experience on a page all his own.  To create my background I made a center hole and then did long stitches out from there.  I added little scallop doodles to the long stitches in random locations to soften things up a bit.  I used layers of paper and border strips to mat my photos and topped the whole thing off with lots of sequins and stickers.  I love this line and am looking forward to playing with it more!

Supplies Used:

Ribbon: May Arts

Decorative Tape: Bella Blvd

Stickers: Bella Blvd & Jilliean Soup

Patterned Paper: Bella Blvd

Flags: Bella Blvd

Stars: Maya Road

You Make My Heart Go...Watercolor Painting Layout

I've been wanting to play with watercolor paints on a layout for awhile...finally made time to do it and came up with what is one of my favorite recent layouts!

I started with some plain black and white patterned paper from Teresa Collins and added watercolor painted hearts in the colors I wanted.  Once dry I added the rest, trying to mix up my textures but stick within the same color scheme.  This also happens to include two of my favorite pictures of Cooper too!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Teresa Collins, Pebbles

Stickers: Bella Blvd, Jillibean Soup, American Crafts, Momenta, SRM Stickers, Echo Park

Washi Tape: Queen & Co, Bella Blvd, My Minds Eye

Wood: Lawn Fawn

Die Cut: Studio Calico

Happy 4th of July! GCD Studios Card

I got the privilege of hosting the GCD Studios blog today!  Here's my Independence Day card!

 I love to create cards in a freestyle collage style and pile on all kinds of goodies in layers and layers!  For this one I started with my base layer adding patterned paper and faux stitching.  Then came some stickers.  Lastly I piled on some dimensional pieces including chipboard stars from Gina's Designs, a brad, and ribbon.

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Special Delivery Dillon #2040

Stickers: Special Delivery Labels #2052, Letter Stickers #2051

Brad: Special Delivery
Chipboard Stars: Gina's Designs

My Premiere at Ribbons Unlimited!

Today was my very first post over at Ribbons Unlimited!  If you haven't checked out their blog you can find it by clicking on this link...they have some mega talents there!  I love playing with ribbon and I love trying to incorporate a couple different types of it into my projects.  Today I have a card to share with you that uses two different ribbons!  I pulled out the new American Crafts line "Mayberry" and combined it with a doily from Gina's Designs.  

I love how ribbon can add a pop of color and texture to a background.  To create my yellow ribbon scallops I used the Sew Ribbon Scallop Tool by We R Memory Keepers and created several rows to weave the ribbon through.  It was the perfect size ribbon to fit!

I then decided to use the sheer ribbon to add a pretty bow to the bottom of the card.  It's a totally different texture than the grosgrain but it works!  I flipped the tails of my bow in different directions so that they didn't make the bottom of the card too heavy.

Supplies Used

Ribbon - Strawberry Organdy Ribbon & Yellow Grosgrain Stripes Ribbon - Ribbons Unlimited

Die Cuts & Stickers - American Crafts

Sequins - Pebbles

Doily - Gina's Designs

Pearls - Ranger

Blog Hop Winner

Congrats to the winner from the Practical Scrappers blog hop:

 Patricia said...

Great 2 pager! I love all the circles! I'm a follower!

Send me a message at practicalscrappers@gmail.com and I will get your prize out to you!

I Love Lucy

Not sure if I have done a layout yet titled "I Love Lucy" and it was high time!  

This layout features some fun pictures of her last summer that my mom took while we were awaiting Bo's arrival!  I created a banner belowt he pictures uses paper and stickers from Pebbles along with enamel dots from My Minds Eye.  I also added some doilies from Gina's Designs throughout the layout!  I think I have finally gotten a hang of how to make mist splatters and have been enjoying adding those to white space that just needs a little something extra!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Pebbles

Stickers: Pebbles, American Crafts, Doodlebug Design

Doilies: Gina's Designs

Sequins: Pebbles

Mist: Studio Calico

Bella Blvd All American Layout

I fell in love with this line "All American" the minute I saw it!  I love how it combines traditional patriotic colors with some non-traditional ones!  

For this layout I combined some current trendy items like sequins with some old stash items like eyelets and brads.  Always trying to shrink that stash!  The pictures are from a couple years ago....now you could just replace Cooper with Bo and I might look pretty much the same :)  I added lots of layers of papers and stickers underneath my pictures as well as a different vertical title. Had fun playing with the lettering on that one to make it more unique!

Supplies Used:

Ribbon: May Arts

Letter Stickers: Jillibean Soup & Bella Blvd

All other Supplies are Bella Blvd

Practical Scrappers Project Life Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to the PRACTICAL SCRAPPERS and SCRAPTOWN LADY Blog Hop! We thought it would be fun to combine forces and share projects with you that have our design teams’ takes on one of the hottest scrapbooking trends around: Project Life.

Whether you are a “Project Lifer,” are interested in Project Life, or just want to find out ways to use all those fantastic Project Life types of products and ideas on your own projects, we have a hop FULL of inspiration and creativity! We’ve got a fabulous prize, too - a $25 gift certificate to Scraptown Lady’s shop, which is stocked with awesome scrapbooking supplies! 

What do you have to do to be entered in the drawing? It’s easy!

1. Be a follower of Practical Scrappers; and

2. Be a follower of Scraptown Lady; and

3. Visit all the blogs, starting with Practical Scrappers and ending with Scraptown Lady, and leave a comment at each blog along the way.

We will be hopping until Sunday, June 30th, at 11:59 p.m. CST. The grand prize winner will be announced on Tuesday, July 2nd!

If you get lost along the way, just check the complete list below to get you hopping in the right direction:

Practical Scrappers

Christine Freet Meyer ****You Are Here ****

Erin Morehouse-Kislingbury

Charissa Miller

Nicole Laha

 Claude Campeau

Lanette Erickson

Malika Kelly

Danielle de Konink 

Lisa Peeples

Mary Pat Siehl

Wendi Robinson 

Julie Comeau  

Kim Ryden 

Ruth Bonser

 Krissy Clark McKee

Marcia Dehn-Nix 

Cathy Harper

Rhonda Van Ginkel

Scraptown Lady

If we have inspired you so much that you “need” to do a little shopping now, SCRAPTOWN LADY is offering 20% off all orders during the hop! The sale runs from now ‘til midnight Monday. Enter “code20” to receive your discount.

And as thank you for stopping by my blog, I am doing a giveaway!  Become a follower and leave me a comment and I will enter you in to win a prize pack of goodies from GCD Studios!

I am a big fan of documenting day to day life for my family.  I haven't taken on the Project Life in it's full version but I have taken to buying the cards, downloading cuts for it on my Cameo, and taking day to day pictures.  As you can see today I am sharing a layout that uses all of those!  It's a fun layout that certainly tells a story but many of these pictures couldn't stand on their own on a layout...they tell a more complete story together of life with this precious girl!  I'd love to hear if you've taken on Project Life or if you have your own apporach to it - leave me a comment and let me know!  And then hop on to Erin's blog!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Pebbles

Washi Tape: Bella Blvd

Enamel Dots: My Minds Eye

Stickers: Pebbles, American Crafts, Little Yellow Bicycle

Twine: The Twinery

Reverse Canvas Heart starring Mayberry by American Crafts

I love the new Mayberry line from American Crafts and I had the chance to work with it for The Scrapbooking Studio.  Today I am going to share with you a reverse canvas that I made.

 Remember a few months ago when I made heart canvas that was inspired by the American Crafts blog...if you missed it you can see it here.  That got my wheels going on creating a canvas with the folded circles I like so much.  

 To create it, I cut out a big heart.  I started adding the folded circles and once done trimmed up the ones that ran over the edges.  It surprisingly didn't take too long...maybe an hour!  I started off with it being on traditional canvas....but I wasn't happy with some of the elements (shhhhh if you go into The Scrapbooking Studio do not look at the back side).  So I flipped it over and went with the reverse side.  This provides sort of a shadow box element!  I covered the frame part with some wood grain washi tape.  From a distance it really looks like a wood frame!  It was a little tricky to get that all adhered but in the end I am quite pleased with the results!

The colors of this line are a super unique combination but go together really beautifully and they scream summer!  I am planning to pick up more pieces from the line to play with because I am not ready to say goodbye to it just yet!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: American Crafts

Wood Hearts: Studio Calico

Die Cut: Silhouette Cameo

Washi Tape: Glitz Design

Pebbles Freestyle Collage Card

I was in need of a distraction from real life the other night and decided to pull out some of my favorite products and make some cards.  This card combines a variety of products from Pebbles.

I recently worked hard at defining my card style/s.  Seems perhaps like a silly task...but it has helped me in knowing what direction I want to go on each project.  I determined that one of my most dominant styles is Freestyle Collage.  That is exactly what this is!  I love combining several elements, textures, and colors and having them come together to make a beautiful ensemble!  Some take this to a level with many, many layers....but my style is more to keep it relatively simple :)  And with all these beautiful colors from Pebbles, how can you not Smile (go ahead and smirk at me :))

Supplies Used: 

Patterned Paper: Pebbles

Stickers: Pebbles

Ribbon: Ribbons Unlimited

Enamel Dots: My Minds Eye

Ledger: Maya Road

GCD Studios Card

Today I have another card to share with you created for GCD Studios!  

I love geometric shapes and negative space so when I saw this cut for my Cameo I knew I had to have it!

I added some black faux stitching to bring out the black in the sentiment.  And there's some more of those long stitches.  If you are thinking this card took some patience to put together, you'd be right!  But I think the end result is worth it!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: GCD Studios Special Delivery Line

Enamel Dots: GCD Studios & My Minds Eye

Stickers: GCD Studios

Pebbles Pool Party by Amy Locurto Projects

Today I have two more projects to share with you featuring the Pool Party line from Pebbles.  Both are samples hanging up at The Scrapbooking Studio.  First off a quick, clean and simple card!  

Yes, I am way into hand stitching....

For this one cut out the center portion of the card and then used the polka dots as my guide for where to making my stitching holes.  The long yellow stitches add just enough texture and color without making the whole card overwhelming!  I then added a cluster of stickers and 3D stickers to the bottom and top corners.

My second project is a small canvas that I made.  I started out wanting to make it a little canvas that stood on decorated binder clips.  But the binder clips, well, they looked dumb and actually took away from the project itself!  So it's a stand alone canvas :)  I covered the canvas with paper and distressed the edges a bit and then once again got busy embellishing with stickers and 3D stickers.  Pebbles makes it so easy with all their coordinated goodies!

Supplies Used:

All supplies used are from Pebbles

I (heart) nerds - GCD Studios card

This month I had two cards in the digital magazine Paper Cuts.  Here is one of those creations!

The topic was "nerds" so fussy cut glasses and googly eyes it was!

Here's a link for you to the entire magazine!  It's free and full of all kinds of fabulous ideas!

Supplies Used:

All supplies used are from GCD Studios

All About a Boy by Echo Park Layout

As I was sorting thru pictures I realized I had a very similar shot of Timmy with a baby Cooper and a baby Boaz!  So of course that called for a side by side layout of the two of them!  It was a quick, clean and simple layout!

Over the years my scrapping layouts have changed quite a bit.  I now tend to work primarily in one line from one company with a few possible embellishments added in here and there.  There are a couple reasons I do that:  

1) Companies put out great coordinating stickers, papers, phrase packs, etc....you don't have to spend time (which is precious for all of us) searching for just the right match.  Let's face it, with four kids...time is a commodity!

2) Often you can buy these collections in a pack, making it way more cost effective.  

3) I like to be able to share them on company facebook walls :)

This layout is the perfect example of sticking with one company...all that doesn't belong to Echo Park is the bakers twine, mist, and enamel dots!  That made the whole thing come together in a snap!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper & Stickers: Echo Park

Twine: The Twinery

Enamel Dots: My Minds Eye

Mist: Studio Calico