My Favorite Photo Layout - Chic Tags Sketch Challenge

 



I got a chance to do a little crafting this week and was inspired by the Chic Tags February Sketch It Out Challenge to create this layout.

 

I so rarely get out from behind the camera, so any photo of me with my boys is definitely one to scrapbook!  I love this great patterned paper from Crate Paper's Love Notes collection...I am now wishing I bought more than just the one sheet!  :)  I took the photo of this layout before I added my journaling.  I often like the clean look of layouts a little better without all the words, however, the words are SO important in remembering the story behind the photo.  Here is what I said:

"I am so glad that I stepped out from behind the camera to get this picture.  It captures the joy you bring me each and every day.  You are my last little man and I so cherish our time together...just the two of us.  We have lots of snuggles and laughs and I can never get enough of your sweet smile."

Here are a few close ups:

Love the triangle tags from Chic Tags!  And those gold hearts are from Studio Calico.

My Baby Love

I have a ton of Valentine products but don't tend to make a lot of Valentines.  However, Valentine products are perfect for all kinds of LOVE projects.  Here is a layout I created recently...

I am not a big mixed media gal but I decided to stretch out of my comfort zone a little and break out the paint.  I splattered it on my background paper and really love the texture it added.  Then I played around a bit with the heart garland (going for a bit of a messy/less structured look) and created a frame for my photos.  I finished off the layout with some handmade banners, a little flair, tags, and a few extra touches.

I love the touches of aqua in the American Crafts XOXO collection.  And I found a few embellishments that coordinated perfectly from Chic Tags, AC Dear Lizzy, and My Mind's Eye.

So, don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone sometimes...you might just discover a new love!  :)

Have a wonderful weekend!  My boys are lucky enough to have both Monday and Tuesday off so we will be having some nice family time.  And later this month we are planning to all go try skiing for the first time...should be quite the adventure! :)

Happy Valentine's Day - You're Cute!

Happy Valentine's Day!  I hope you all have a LOVELY day!  I will be enjoying time with all my boys...my special little Valentines!  :)  Here is a card I created using American Crafts XOXO collection. 

Cutting each row of arrows on the patterned paper at different lengths adds visual interest and movement.  I altered the layered chipboard frames to my liking.  Don't be afraid to rip apart layered embellishments and add your own touches.

Enjoy your day!

Watercolor - Old School Style

The sun has been shining here for the past three days so I haven't been crafting much...just enjoying time outside with my boys and doing some spring cleaning!  However, I did take a little time the other night to play around with some watercolors.  I am not much of a mixed media crafter (although I did love all kinds of art growing up) but I have been seeing so many AMAZING mixed media projects around the web lately.  So, when I saw Cath's challenge - The Wonder of Watercolor Challenge in the Moxie Fab World, I decided to see what I could come up with.  I went back to my preschool roots and started playing around with the crayon resist technique.

For those of you who (like me) may not have all the fancy art supplies, I simply used a white crayon and some Crayola watercolors to create this...

First I drew a heart in the middle of my card front and wrote the word love inside with white crayon.  Then I used washi tape to make a border around my card.  In order to get some richer areas of color and to see a little texture from the brush strokes, I first used just enough water to get some color on my brush.  Then I lightly swept the brush in a diagonal stroke back and forth across my card from top to bottom leaving some space between strokes to add my second color.  I repeated this technique with my second color and then added more water to my brush and lightly brushed it over my card to blend the colors and soften the color in places.  Finally, I removed the washi tape and voila! a beautifully framed watercolor/sentiment!

 

I am really happy with how this turned out and I think it was the least expensive card I have ever made! :)  I hope I have inspired you to try your hand at something new.  It is fun to experiment and you never know when it might result in something fabulous! 

 

If you want to participate in this challenge or see how others are creating with watercolor, click HERE.

 

Reclaiming My Inner Stamper! - Unity {be inspired} Challenge

Yes...I did it...I took my poor, neglected stamps out of their boxes and used them...thanks to Unity's new challenge!  Now, don't get me wrong...I do LOVE my Unity stamps but with 3 kiddos and little time to craft I think I have felt that it just takes too much time to get out the stamps/ink and clean it all up afterward.  However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that my layout actually came together faster than when I just use my papers/embellishments.  I think my stamps and the great sketch provided by Joslyn Nielson allowed me to think a little more clean and simple.  

I love how the red and turquoise pop off the white cardstock.  And I felt I didn't really need a title since I already have one in the picture.  :)

All of the stamps I used are from Unity (although I'm not sure which sets a few came from or if they are even still available...like the Did You Know and the journal line stamps).  But the worn grid is definitely a timeless classic and the little heart is actually from the Eco Chic set.

Here is the sketch from Joslyn and the color inspiration too.  You can use both or one for your project.

  

I was so inspired, I decided to make a card too!  I'm not sure if you can enter more than one project in the challenge but if so, here it is...

 

 I really liked that heart picture in the color inspiration so I decided to play around with negative space and a newsprint feel (like the fab stamped love paper in the MME Love Me collection). First I cut out a heart shape from a piece of paper...no die cut...just drew a heart and cut it out. (Since you are stamping it, it doesn't have to be perfect so no worries if you don't have a die cutting machine!) Then I taped the paper with the open heart over my card base and started stamping the word love (from Mix of Cuteness set) across it in rows.  After I finished and lifted up the paper, I had this nice heart shape filled with love!  :)  Then I glammed it up with some AC turquoise glitter paper and some red rhinestones.

Thanks again to Unity and Joslyn for this awesome challenge that got my stamping mojo working again!  You still have plenty of time to play along...go HERE for the details and to see all the other great entries.

Maybe I need to reconsider how I store my stamps...maybe they should be in easily accessible, open containers on my desk so I can play with them more. What do you think?