Gossamer Blue July Sketch Challenge: You Are My Sunshine

For this layout, I employed both my Silhouette sketch pens once again, and the July Gossamer Blue sketch. I really liked the sun element, but couldn't get the circles to work like I wanted to so I changed it up to one large photograph instead.

I also liked the clouds. So much so that I also added journaling in one of them. I then inked them all with some Memento Chalk Inks (VersaMagic). I'm loving those inks!!

And isn't this I Heart Summer Simple Stories paper just adorable? I loved the floral pattern. And I'm not usually a floral pattern lover. Thanks for looking!

Elle's Studio Sketch Thursday 7/25

Sometimes the right photograph needs the right layout. And the right products. I don't remember ever scrapping this picture. It's from Ro's newborn pics. I kind of love how the color in the photo works with the colors in the Serendipity line from Elle's Studio. I also pulled pieces from the past few monthly kits (June/July) and some older Lil' Snippets.

I even pulled out my Silhouette sketch pens and used them for my journaling!!

And a stamp!! I'm trying to use my inks and stamps in new ways. I'm still not so hip to the stamping on layouts (mainly in case it messes up), but I stamped it and fussy cut to give it a layered effect. Then used some Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type for the mini-title.

Elle's Studio: Project Spotlight!!

Hello All!! Today I am being featured on the Elle's Studio blog. Make sure you check it out!! Here is just a sneak. You may have seen this layout before, but go check out Elle's blog for the rest of it!!

I just love Elle's Studio. They are another fabulous Washington company and I love shopping local (Elle's, Starbucks, Costco, Amazon...) I even have another layout that I will post tomorrow using Elle's products!

Lawn Fawn Cards...

I love simple stamped cards. Mainly, because I'm a wanna-be stamper. I stamped each using Lawn Fawn's Gnome Sweet Gnome and Happy Summer sets. They are also colored using Sakura markers.

 

They made for perfect thank you cards for the girls' teachers!!

AUTHENTIQUE PAPER: Joyous in July

Here is a little sneak peek of two projects that I have up on the Authentique blog today. Check out my version of Christmas in July and how I used the wonderful Joyous Collection!!

  

WINNER WINNER (Chicken Dinner!) [Happy Birthday ScrapbookSteals BlogHop!]

II got a late start this morning. And especially late start, as one of the mini-me's were up between 2 and 4 am. Bah. Anyway... I downloaded a Random Number Generator (Random #) off of the app store and hit comment #15: Jill. Congratulations Jill! I'll try to get ahold of you at some point today!!

 

Jill: July 12, 2013 at 8:43 PM

Ummm....SANUK'S ARE MY FAVORITE EVER! Love that layout :)

Thank you for all of your kind words, I love the Steals Network, and was so happy to be a part of their birthday celebration!

Three Summer Projects

I met one deadline, and missed two others. Such is the life of a parent. Even one off for the summer... I even found a funny layout I made just for kicks. It kind of got placed under quite a few things.

The first layout is my take on ScrapbookSteals' Aquamarine #1 and Scrapbook Circle's Challenge #56: "Just My Type". 

The Scrapbook Circle challenge was to include typewriters of some sort. I have loved Amy Tan's original set of papers since I first saw it. It just happens to be an SS purchase also! I loved this paper; all of the safety pins, hangers, planes, sewing machines. cameras and of course, typewriters were just too sweet. I also included a typewriter font that I used my Silhouette and sketch pens for. I love those things! I just found out how to actually use them, and am going to be using them a whole lot more now that I know what they are capable of! I simply placed the journaling in the middle of the cut shape, made the outside cut line "disappear" and then tossed the pen in instead of the blade. After that was done, replace the blade and cut out the shape. SUPER simple. (Seriously, I think the explanation took longer than the actual work!)

My second layout used a bunch of the Lilybee papers from June's Gossamer Blue box. The colors were not my normal go-to colors, so I went with it, and created something totally fun and silly with them using random pics of daily things. And fact: I hate housework. Except cleaning the stove. And mopping sometimes. It's weird. I'm okay with it.

For this layout, I'm late to a challenge once again. Oh well. I won a drawing from one of the fabulous Pretty Little Studio DT members, Heather (thanks Heather!!). I was super stoked to see the amazingness. I took a few pieces of the Saltwater line and pieced together this layout. I added a couple of enamel dots, and some Lilybee alphas. The circles and half circles are all from the wonderful 8x8 hexagon paper. I liked all of the mini patterns, and they were the perfect size size for my 1" punch.

Hope you enjoyed the update!

Happy Birthday ScrapbookSteals! It's a July Blog Hop

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCRAPBOOKSTEALS! I seriously love both the Steals Network, and the community that they have built. I consider many of the ladies that I met through ScrapbookSteals as some of my absolute closest friends. When Melodee asked if I would help to celebrate ScrapbookSteal's 4th birthday, I jumped at the chance.

You should be here from Cyndee's blog. I love her work.

If you want to start from the beginning:
ScrapbookSteals: http://scrapbook.steals.com/wp/?p=18660
Cathy Caines: www.inthecatcave.com
Cristine Redmond: http://onescrappynovice.blogspot.com
Venetia Holbrook: www.atomicvenetia.blogspot.com
Cyndee Kawa: http://scrappydaylily.blogspot.com
Heather Conklin: http://goldiecar.blogspot.com   (You are HERE!)
Van Nguyen: http://likethecar.blogspot.com
Staci Jones: http://scrapbookingischeaperthantherapy.blogspot.com
Charissa Miller: http://www.akihasmommascraps.com
Brenda Smith: http://theimperfectscrapper.blogspot.com
Erin Colby: http://oursliceofcheese.blogspot.com
Erica Bass: http://stampingstarlette.blogspot.com
Kristy Lee: http://lifescrapped.blogspot.com

Challenge #1: Use 4 types of products
For this challenge, I used patterned paper, stickers, Elle's Studio tags and flair. I LOVE Sanuks, and have too many pairs!! They are super comfy.


Challenge #2: 2009
I found a photo that was taken just a few months after Miss I was born. It was a rough time. Babies are a whole lot of work, and I know that we had idealized what real life with babies was all about. And now she's four and has a little sister. A lot has happened in four years.

Challenge #3: Favorite Vendor
I chose to spotlight this fantastic photo of my oldest with some of my lovely SS purchases. I chose to use the now defunct (BOO!) Sassafras Lass. My first "real" purchase of scrapbook paper was Sass, so I knew that it would be a personal thing for me to include the company that got me out of the Target scrap aisle and using really quality products, alongside the wonderful company that helped me to develop into the crafter I am today. 

Challenge #4: Washi Fever
I had this cute little notebook lying around, that I wanted to spruce up. What's better than to decorate it with a little bit of washi. 

If you leave a comment on how you follow my blog. Email, Twitter, Bloglovin', Feedly, or Google Friend Connect, I will put you in a drawing for a 6x6 card kit that I will be making this weekend. I usually combine 15 or so papers, with stickers, wood veneers, ribbon and other embellishments. All in matching color combos, so it's easy to mix and match. You can even choose the color or color combo that you would like it to be, just make sure you note it on your comment!

Leave a comment by Midnight, Wednesday (July 17th) for the card kit. Check back to see if you are a winner!! And make sure that you link up your projects to the ScrapbookSteals blog by the same time for some great prizes from the Steals Network!!

Now, head onto one of my favorite people ever: Van Nguyen!!

AUTHENTIQUE: Be(You)tiful Baby!!

Make sure you check out today's Authentique blog post. My wonderful layout using Misty's enamel dot remix is located there today!!

And That Makes Peridot 1-10: ScrapbookSteals.com

Most every week, I try to do a layout alongside of ScrapbookSteals.com. My lovely friend Melodee has been the Mojo Mama for this series. It's lovely to see her (and a guest designer or two) create wonderful sketches each week. I've used some of my Gossamer Blue June kit, some MME Alphabet Soup, and leftovers from my April Gossamer Blue kit.

 Peridot 1: Your Grin is Beautiful

Peridot 2: PDZA: What do you mean I cannot go pet the tigers?


Peridot 3: We Get to Keep Her?

Peridot 6: Untitled

Just in case you want to check out my versions of the rest of the series:
Peridot 4
Peridot 5
Peridot 7
Peridot 8
Peridot 9
Peridot 10

I cannot wait for the next in the series!

Pretty Little Studio & Peridot 10

I love color challenges. As in, simply adore them. I often scour Pinterest for color palettes and wish that I could just zap my magic wand and make things in my house match them. But then again... It's probably for the best that I can't.

 

When I saw this lovely color collaboration from Pretty Little Studio, it got me thinking about how I could pull some of my older stuff from my stash and use away. Which was a great idea, because I had some amazing papers that were needing to be used up: Cosmo Cricket, Kaisercraft, Basic Grey, American Crafts. I really loved how the fabric paper frayed, and how I was able to make the black chalkboard paper look like a chalkboard with a little bit of ImagineCrafts chalk ink. Just 'dirty' it up, and buff it out.

I even used the Peridot Sketch 10 from Scrapbooksteals.com. And of course, I had to change it up a bit. I only used the left side, swapped out the squares for feathers (made sense with the colors), rotated the pics, and moved the title to the other side. LOVE IT!

Pretty Little Studio Color Challenge

I don't have a finished project yet... But here's a start! I went deep into my stash for these. My goal was to find products that were 6 months or older. 

My papers:

Kaisercraft-Devonshire Collection (Guinevere)

Basic Grey-Nook & Pantry (Waffles)

American Crafts-Amy Tangerine (fabric paper)

Cosmo Cricket-Nutmeg (Autumn)

American Crafts-Nightfall (Fall Moon)

With that success, I'm off to find matching embellishments. I'll try to stick to the same "rules"... But those enamel dots get me every time!

Preparing for CHA: How to Restick Silhouette Mats

While I cannot (yet!) give a bunch of sneaks of some of my CHA/Create-N-Connect projects for Authentique, I can share with you how I am re-sticking my Silhouette mats. I find that after awhile, they get unsticky, and then the paper goes all sorts of wonky, and then, yeah... Makes for an unhappy crafter.

 

Here's my simple fix. Wipe the entire mat with a baby wipe. I get mine scent-free and from Costco. Mainly because I don't like baby wipe smell, and they are cheap there. We go through a lot. They are ALL over the house. You could probably use dish soap and just gently clean without scrubbing...

LET DRY. ALL THE WAY. Seriously, this is an important step. The caps are for me. I'm not patient. 

Use glue of some sort that still stays kind of tacky. I like the ZIG Memory System's 2 Way Glue. The big one.  Some people use spray glue. I think Making Memories has one that you use with their cutter that works... I always like the ZIG glue. Probably because I can stay in the lines better. Cover the entire mat (within the lines) with a thin layer of glue. Let dry. 

At that point, if you covered all the parts of the mat, you're good to go. Otherwise, do another thin layer of glue and let dry again. Until the mat is falling apart (and you've run out of clear packing tape for the back!) you can restick as needed. 

Happy 4th of July!!

Happy 4th of July!! Just a little patriotic banner to help celebrate our country's birthday. I love the Pride Collection from Authentique Paper, it just has the perfect shades of red, white and blue.

And a sweet little journal from Sierra Pacific Crafts...

There you go!! Happy 4th of July!

Supplies Used: Authentique Papers and Stickers (Pride Collection), May Arts ribbon, Distress Ink, dimensional adhesive, SPC notebook & pen