Friday, October 30, 2015

Interrupting scrapbooking for travel

 to New Hampshire to visit the grandkids
and had a lovely ride on a
really pretty autumn day.
Since this photo was taken with my iphone
and it was shall we say - blurry
I did a "lomify" preset from Thomas Fitzgerald
and it loooks like a painting and
less than a photo gone wrong. 
LOL.
 Jill picked up her friend Corina and we had a
brunch at the Hilltop Farm which
also makes a really mean Salted Carmel latte.
Their veggie omelet was amazing
made with all fresh organic ingredients straight
from the fields.
And the cafe is in this adorable farm house.
 Beautiful colors - a barn with a matching tree.
 And a store where if you belong to the co-op you
can purchase a variety of veggies, raw milk and goat cheese.

And then, a unicorn came out to play and....
a werewolf.
After all it was a few days after the full moon
where the magic still lingers.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

4th Kit from the crop


that I didn't do at the crop as time just ran out.
And its all good - I decided to 
roll with the kits at home.
I used basically everything I kitted and
added a couple of extra embellishments.
I made up my mind to just roll with this.
I knew it would be 8x8 because its
going in mom's album.
I also decided to just roll......
I have been extremely soooooooo stressed
over everything I put on a page lately
trying to make it perfect.
Well it was making me cra-cra!
Do you ever fall into that trap? 
 There are also alot of "I" sentences going on up there.
Continuining in that vein.....
I just started putting the page together
as I always do - not wanting to commit so I just 
lay stuff about and get annoyed 
because a). it doesn't stay together (because
sometimes you just can't staple,
and b). it just gets more and more strained.
And why in the world - its a scrapbook page the world
will not end if its less than an art piece.
And seriously a great bottle of undo is your friend.
Being brave and deciseful (new word)
that I am I just went for it.
Best decision ever.

And I didn't even have to pull out the undo.
And it wasn't as painful as I thought it would be.
FYI...still having stamping issues.
Heavy Sigh.
All basic grey - kelly purkey except for
stars and homemade enamel dots.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Fourth Kit from the crop

This one was the last at the crop and
it  was kinda called on account of time ran out.
I did use the papers but not necessarily those 
stickers and cut apart sheet.
I found that they were not the look I was
looking after I was putting it together.
 Still Basic Grey but clipping lines went much better.
and because it wasn't busy enough I added some 
American Craft roller dots with my favorite Vintage photo ink.
Also a bit of mist was splatted about.
 I sort of called it "done" at the crop but when I 
got home I studied on it more
and it just needed that something extra.
 At the top here I added some Carte Postale
behind the gold "notebook" mat and also below
and a banner sticker next to the arrow on the right.
It does bring more focus to the photo
which is a totally cool photo.
This is all Basic Grey except for the
alphas - Studio Calico.



Third kit from the crop - bright and sassy colors

Putting together this kit was fun.
Bright, fun primary colors for the fingerpainting
duo just having a blast.
 Love that I had a bunch of choices in the kit
some didn't make it to the page - and that's okay.
Then some not in the kit totally worked out as well.
 Using more of the transparent circus stuff from
Studio Calico - just made the page.
 Since it was obvious what the artistic duo was
doing I didn't feel it necessary to have
"fingerpainting" as a title - but when I saw "my happy place"
as I was kitting - that was a sure thing.
Actually the only sure thing LOL.
I brought in the tag and splats to help
bring it down a smidge.
The white splat is enamel paint - as my white mists
ain't so white and hard to see and it
needed to be seen.
This was totally overwhelming color-wise but
I didn't struggle as much as I thought
just by keeping everything simple.

Studio Calico - all the way........
except for the banner punch and twine.

Monday, October 26, 2015

Second kit from the crop

Is Basic Grey - Soleil and I love
that paper - its really all done for you and
of course, I struggled because of that.
You know I really hate covering stuff up - so this
was a challenge.
And and then there was the color / b&w debate.
After a census was taken......
 The details are amazing and look so real I
started with doing some background work with some
soft Tim Holtz vintage photo ink, my hero arts bird stamp
and american craft? I think, rolling stamp-hearts.
 Doesn't that masking tape look real??
Its not - but I did use some real tape on the right corner cluster.
 And as usual I used a mix of BG embellishments
because they use the same color dyes they
easily roll from collection to collection.
 This is where I put real masking tape and used 
studio calico alphas because I wanted to continue the softness.
 Doesn't that cluster - look awesomely real??
It pains me that I forget to do stuff like that ....

And...B&W won!!! 
It just works so well with the softness of the page.
Annie being a silly girl.
Love the photo!!

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Aftermath of the crop & First page completed

Dragging it all out of the car and dumping
it on my desk - it really wasn't too
hard to put everything back.
Somethings I just threw in exactly as is so the
basket and yellow tub went
right back on the shelves and the 3
baskets were diecuts and punches went
easily back in their drawers
as well as the inks, paints and mists.
I'll have to remember doing that next time.
First up was this kit that was actually the first one.
I think I was doing them in order.
Who knew.
 I really love that yellow and black - however
it had cut aparts on it - and not realizing - I whacked something
out of the middle - SIGH - so I need to figure how
I can salvage it.
I actually wanted to use that paper until.....
 I figured the circus theme would be fun for my
sleeping Amelia - and it did start as a 8x8 BUT.....
 I started the embellies on the right side and decided that it needed to be 12x12
because I couldn't fit them on the page.
And I had packed the other piece soooooo win-win.
I did use the orange from the writing to make it pop off the page
and in the title.
And the adorable transparency lion fit just perfect.
I jacked the title from her mama's hashtags which is
why I really wanted to make it 8x8 -
Sorry Jill you'll have to get a bigger album LOL.

All Studion Calico - expect for bow and Sissix die..
I actually completed 4 kits - and helped my pal Holli finish
100 wedding invites. We rocked it.

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Optimistic kits for the upcoming crop

I kitted 8 which if I get half of them done 
I'll be totally thrilled.
Imagine my delirium if I get them all done.
If not, I'll scrap them at home using the kits unless
I feel that I totally missed in putting them together as
has at times happened in the past.
I put this mix together with papers from
Studio Calico along with some
of their kit embellishments.
I can't decide if this photo is for me or Jill
which means either 8x8 or 12x12.
 Halloween - love this using some old
Bella Blvd with some leftover
stamping I did from the cards.
 Love these bright colorful papers to go
with the finger painting artists.
 I wanted something masculine for this b&w photo
and I'm heading to my Basic Grey Haul.
 I originally put this kit together using these 
really pretty papers from Basic Grey
for the colored photo- However, I decided
to throw in a b&w photo because of the colors in
the photos and the pretty papers 
seemed to be a bit jarring when I did a double take.
We shall see....
And I love having the flexibility.
 This page will be turned into an 8x8
yes....using 2 4x4 photos.
It could work - however, I can always go 8.5x11
Basic Grey second city - should be fun.
 This to will be 8x8 androlling with Basic Grey and
Studio Calico mix with some Paper Issues.
 Another 8x8 and I wanted this to be soft and pretty.
So the watercolors will be there to help.
Or not.
 Not everything is hard and fast which is also fun.
AND I'll be throwing everything and
the kitchen sink in the trunk of my car to take to the crop.
Stamps, inks, mists and more do-dads
will be tossed into the mix.
If not, we'll be scrapping at our LSS
so I can purchase stuff.
A total win-win.





Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Another Basic Grey warehouse haul

I can't believe I forgot about this.
So much for paying attention to scheduling.
 I was an amazing haul.
 10 - 6x6 paper pads and assorted chipboard
and stickers.
And matching packets of embellishments. 
Tons of stickers and embellies.
Of course I've been using them and of course,
they'll be part of my "kitting" for
the crop.
Stay tuned.


Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Diecut branches and sequins

I started out with this page with the branches
and sequins at the top.
And I just couldn't work in the photo.
The branches are a sissix die that I
totally love and you'll be seeing more of.
The squins were tossed on there by a handful and
I glued where they landed.
That's when I turned the page sideways.
 The cardstock actually works really well IRL.
I brought some branches to the right side to cluster on the
journaling card. 
Left some blank spaces because not all the folks
could be ID'd.
 As there was no information on the back.
Loving this one too.

I have a crop on Saturday, which means I'll be preparing
for it over the next couple of days as I usually
kit and print everything ahead of time
so I shall be regaling you with that.
I know your eager to see.
LOL.

Monday, October 19, 2015

When a photo isn't what it seems

This photo was so not a hotbed of information so
I took to the Clan page on FB to see
if someone from the family could ID the person
in this photo.
I, at first, thought it was female.
 And you will too.
I did some light stamping on the background using
a "handwriting stamp" and one with dots
just to give it a bit more dimension.
Why do I keep forgetting stuff like that?
It's very annoying.
Then.............
I used gold mist on the flower and twigs to brighten
up the kraft paper I die cut them from
And found circles.
It seems I'm into shapes as well these days.
The little cancelled stamp from my grandpop's collection
adds a pop of color - love that and
the little heart came from the die cut box.
 I loved the brightness of the leaves which popped off the photo
so I spread them around the page to draw your eye.
And then to my surprise the photo was identified
as a boy - and wasn't I shocked.
I proceeded to do searches on 1900's confirmation outfits
for boys and the pants, boots and shirt fit 
but not the cape and sassy hat.
Knights of Columbus came up but I couldn't confirm that
either and its not leaning towards Halloween.
Takes alot of confidence for a boy 
to pull this off.