Layout of the Week - Quick & Colorful

Some projects are just for fun!  This is one of them.  I've always been wanting to try more of the fun tints on the Costco Photo Center website and this seemed like a fun photo to use.  I love the whimsical look of Andy Warhol's pop art and so does Delaney.  She took an art class last year where she got to create some very cool pieces of pop art!  Thanks to her, I have all sorts of fun, bright pieces around my home.

Since she turned 10 this Spring, I used this photo where a "10" appears to be coming out of her head...don't even remember where this was taken, but it's a fun photo!  Then I used the tints in the editting menu on Costco's Photo Center website to change the colors, saving a copy of the original and then going back to the original and doing it all over again for each color.  I printed each tint as wallets (you get 4 of the same photo, wallet size, for 39 cents...a GREAT deal, if you ask me!)

Next, photos in hand, I headed to Whimzee's to see what I could find.  I knew that my layout needed to be a simple one, with simple papers & embellishments.  I started this project with my ribbon chosen...we needed a sample at the store using this fun white felt flower ribbon from Creative Cafe, so I started with a couple pieces of it.  To add a little texture, I chose the white Bazzill dot paper with it's embossed texture.  Finally to mix in just a bit of color, I used some KaiserCraft rhinestones in colors that matched as closely as possible to my tinted photos.  I ended up with green, blue and red.  I was hoping to find an orange or gold rhinestone to match my sepia photo, but we didn't have any at the store.  So I used what I could find and spaced them out in the centers of the flowers with a few spaces in between.

For a simple layout design, I decided to arrange my photos "Warhol Style" in a square (I know it's a rectangle, but square just sounds better.)  I added a few rows of the ribbon and filled some of the flowers with the rhinestones & I was finished.  I love the look and the layout was super quick.  It's a fun design to use with any photos you have.  Just print out some wallets or crop your photos to wallet or small square size, grab your ribbon and you'll have a finished page!

I know some of you purists will notice I don't have any journaling...but I don't think every photo or layout needs journaling.  Sometimes just a photo or 4 photos tell the story!

Have fun scrapping!

Stop & visit me on Facebook, where I'm putting together a new page for the JulieChats Blog!

Tips

Use a group of 4 small photos and some ribbon or paper strips to create a simple, quick layout.

Try some tinted photos on your next project!

Don't feel like you always have to use tons of printed paper or lot's of color, sometimes neutrals & a little burst of color is all you need.

And DON'T worry if you don't want to journal every page!!!  It's YOUR page after all, there are no rules to scrapbooking!!!

Supplies

Bazzill Dot Paper

Creative Cafe Felt Ribbon

KaiserCraft Rhinstones

Costco Tinted Wallet Photos

Layout of the Week - Me & U with Bo Bunny

Hi there! :)  I'm Julie and I have a problem....  OK, maybe it's not that bad, but I certainly haven't been a good blogger for...about a year now!  I guess for quite a while, I was in a creative funk.  Now I'm just so crazy busy that this is the first scrapbook layout I've really taken time to create for myself in months.  And in another amazing feat (for me anyway), I even shot a photo of it, uploaded it and Photoshopped it a bit for you.  So I'll share a little bit about it's story & then get back to my 4 part time jobs.  Yes, 4, no lying around here!

If you can remember way back when in this blog, I'm sure I've mentioned that I moderate an online community for the local scrapbook store where I work, Whimzee's Scrapbook Studio.  Well, right now, we have almost 600 project photos posted, so that's where I go to look for layout inspiration.  And just look what I found...

This fun layout was created by Kris, our online member with the most uploaded photos.  I love how she uses only half of the bracket die cut and gives the illusion of the other half by tracing its shape onto her background.  Such an amazing idea and also a money saving one.  Now, she has the other half of the bracket to use in another project.  I'll have to ask her what she did with that other half, or just check her project photos to see if I can find it!

Personally, I think "scraplifting" is the highest form of scrapbook flattery!  It says, "I love your layout so much that I'd use it with my own photos!"  It also gives those of us who are unpublished, the those warm fuzzy feelings of having people love us for our creativity! :)  So please, please use my layout (via Kris, of course) to create something for yourself!

For my project, I chose mostly Bo Bunny products from the Love Bandit line from Valentine's last year.  If you remember, I had another layout of the week, back then using this same collection, Little Love Bugs.  For my background, I chose Bo Bunny's Turquoise Dot paper from their Double Dot Designs Collection.  Such amazing colors and wonderful matching backgrounds, with just a touch of texture.  Now they are available in more patterns than just the dots!  When we were ordering for the store, we just couldn't decide, even after hearing from our loyal Facebook fans, and decided to order them all!  I hear they just arrived yesterday, so I'm heading down today to check out the yummy colors and patterns in person!

This is a very simple layout to create.  Just choose your background and a die cut shape.  Cut the shape in half and lay one half down on your background.  Then take the other half and a pen in a matching color and trace the die cut onto the background.  I loved Kris's idea of moving the background askew a few times and tracing it over & over.  Don't worry about your lines not matching up perfectly.  Just use a paper stripe or a page length sticker (or both, like I did) to cover up the edge of your die cut and the area where the lines meet its edge.  Then have at it!  Lay your photos and embellishments on top and play with them until you like the way they're arranged and get gluing! :)

Being a fan of a beat up or distressed look, I took a large brown Bo Bunny "U" and sanded it with some sand paper from the garage and then rubbed some brown Technique Tuesday ink all over it's surface.  Always being one to add extra texture, I had a piece of thin pink twine on my table (left over from creating samples for this weekend's workshop at the store), so I wrapped it around the "U" a few times and tied it in a knot.  For one more distressed item, I used a tag from Creative Cafe.  Now, I've had this sheet of tags lying around FOREVER, just waiting for the perfect project.  I HAD to have these tags, but was never sure what to use them for.  They look exactly like the tags that The GAP used to use on all their clothes, I worked there in college and they brought back lot's of fun memories.  I chose the brown tag that says "Just Because" at the top and in fine print "I Love You" in the center.  My love of distressing took over at this point and I remembered a previous layout where I took a new tag and made it look old in my, Children of the Corn layout.  So I wadded up the tag as much as I could and then rubbed the TT brown ink over the ridges, not too much, I still wanted to read the writing.  Then I punched a hole and added a small piece of the BB green dot ribbon.

Overall, this was a pretty simple project.  I gathered my supplies and then put it together in about 15 minutes.  So the next time you're looking to "scraplift" an idea, try looking online in one of the many scrapbooking communities like ours.  These communities are a great way to meet other scrappers, share ideas and ask questions.  Remember...all scrapbookers love to hear that you like their layouts & ideas.  So when you find something you love, be sure to leave a comment for the creator and if you want to use their photo on your blog, like I did, always ask permission first.  Thanks, Kris! :)

Tips

- Browse online scrapbook communities for layouts to "scraplift".

- Don't be afraid to use left overs from another project to create something totally new.

- Holiday collections aren't just for holidays...this collection was a Valentine's collection & I've used it here to showcase a fun summer photo of my kids.

- To get a distressed look, use your imagination & items from around the house.  Here I wadded my tag & sanded my chipboard before inking both.

Supplies

Papers, Stickers, Chipboard & Ribbon

Bo Bunny

Miscellaneous

Rhinestones by Kaisercraft

Tag by Creative Cafe

Ink by Technique Tuesday

Unknown...Sandpaper & Twine

DIY...at Home: Summer Craft for Kids, Decorated Photo Frame

Just a quick note before I start with the frame instructions.

My daughter and I created these frames for her 9th birthday party. All the children had a great time making them after I had completed the first two steps for them. If you’re only making one frame and not ten, like I did, go ahead and let older children complete all the steps themselves. Allow an afternoon to create this project, as the paint and Mod Podge will require time to dry in between each step.

Instructions
Start out by opening your frame up (removing any backing and/or glass) and placing it face down on the reverse side of a piece of patterned paper large enough cover it. This paper will be the background for all your embellishments, so be sure it’s a pattern you love. Use a pen to trace around the outside and inside of the frame. Next, use scissors to cut about ½” inside each of your marks. The end result will be a doughnut sort of shape. Cutting inside will create a shape slightly smaller than your frame. In the next step, you’ll be painting the frame and you will want to see some of your paint around the edges of your paper.

Using a paper plate as your palette, apply the acrylic paint to your frame with the foam brush. Paint around the edges and center and then onto the face of the frame about 1” all around. Take the background paper you cut in the last step and hold it over the painted surface, just to be sure you don’t have any unpainted part of the frame showing through.

Allow the paint about an hour to dry.

Once the paint is dry, use a second paper plate as a palette for your Mod Podge. You can use either matte or sparkle Mod Podge for this step. But if you have both varieties, use the matte, since most of it will be covered by your paper. Since it’s slightly more expensive, you can save the sparkle variety to use as the top coat for the project. Paint the Mod Podge onto the face of the frame. Gently place the background paper onto the Mod Podge. Try to place the paper as close as you can to where you want it. You can move the paper around to center it, but do it quickly. The paper will soak up the Mod Podge as soon as it’s placed and will tear easily after that, so be careful. Once the paper is centered, use your fingers to gently smooth out any bubbles on its surface.

Allow about an hour for the project to dry.

Before adhering the flat embellishments in this step, it’s best to choose the ones you plan to use and then place them on the dry surface of the frame. Arrange them how you like, being sure to allow some of the background design to show through. These embellishments can be placed entirely on the surface of your frame or allowed to extend past the surface of the frame. In this step, use only flat, one-dimensional embellishments. Save your buttons, rhinestones, 3D stickers, etc. for the final step. The embellishments added in this step will be covered over with Mod Podge. Take your arranged embellishments and lay them down around the outside of your frame, near where you will place them. Paint Mod Podge over the area where you will place an embellishment, being sure to paint a space slightly larger than your embellishment. Place the embellishment into the Mod Podge. Repeat, painting the Mod Podge and placing the embellishment for each embellishment you have left to decorate the frame’s surface.

You do not need to wait or allow drying time before moving on to the next step.

Once your flat embellishments are placed in the Mod Podge, put a top coat of Mod Podge over the entire surface and edges of your frame. Now is the time to use the sparkle Mod Podge, if you have it, and were using matte to apply your paper and embellishments. After you have covered the edges and surface of your frame with Mod Pod, run your brush through the Mod Podge, one last time, in one direction. This step will create a smooth surface for your frame, removing any random streaking from your top coat.

Allow at least an hour for this surface to dry.

After your project is completely dry, apply your 3D embellishments, either with their own self adhesive backing or with Glue Dots. Placing these items on top of your last coat of Mod Podge will give your frame and extra, fun layer.

Fill your frame with a fun photo and display it where you will enjoy it most!

Supplies
Chipboard or Wood Photo Frame – There are several sources for these frames including your local scrapbook store, framing shop or local crafting center.
Mod Podge – Use regular matte and/or Sparkle Mod Podge. It acts as the adhesive and top coat for this project.
Patterned Scrapbook Papers – Find a group of coordinating papers that will look nice where you plan to display your frame, whether that place is your living room or your child’s bedroom.  We used the American Girl paper pad from EK Success to create our frames.
Embellishments – Choose a few embellishments that coordinate with your patterned papers, die cuts, buttons, rhinestones, 3D stickers, etc.  We used the American Girl Stacked Flowers & Embellishments pad, along with a pack of their stamps to stamp on some solid cardstock.
Adhesive – If your 3D embellishments (buttons, rhinestones, stickers, etc.) are not self adhesive, Glue Dots will be helpful to adhere these items in the final step.
Acrylic Paint – Use a color that coordinates with your papers and embellishments.  We used KaiserCraft acrylic paint in Magenta to cover our frames.

Tools
Foam Brushes – for applying paint and Mod Podge
Paper Plates – I use paper plates all the time for many different projects. Use them here as palettes for your paint and Mod Podge.
Wax Paper – Use it to create a space for your frame while using paint and Mod Podge. You will be able to easily remove your project even if the paint sticks a bit to the paper and no newsprint will be lifted onto your project.
Scissors and Punches


***Stop by & party with me Saturday night at Ann's Virtual Girls' Night Out Party!  She's moving it to Saturdays this weekend to help it stand out from all those other Friday night parties out there.  And maybe those of us who're chasing kids all day Friday will be a bit more relaxed on Saturdays!  See you over at Ann's!

Layout of the Week - Our Peaceful Free Spirit

Sorry I've been away from blogging for so long!  I've been in a bit of a funk for the last few weeks.  Just a combination of coming back to the rainy weather from tropical Mexico, not getting enough sleep, lot's to do at work & school, mortgage issues (don't get me started on this one...) and wondering where my time would be best spent.  You know, those problems all of us have.  But this week I decided I was going to get out of my funk, start working out again and try to get back to my regular routine...at least until school is out for the summer and it all blows up in my face again!  The appearance of the sun here in Northwest Oregon definitely helped urge me along in my effort to get back to normal.  A little sun can do wonders for your mood!

So I'm back at the blogging gig!  And I have a layout to share with you that matches my newly sunny mood this week!  I create this one during my stint working at our National Scrapbook Weekend Crop.  I had been looking for the perfect papers & embellishments for these photos of Delaney we had taken at Sears.  She's wearing her favorite birthday outfit from her favorite store Justice.  She's really into t-shirts & skirts, bright colors, peace signs & a little bling.  We love how these photos turned out...just like a magazine ad!

Tips

Save money and create a beautiful double page layout by cutting a large die cut in half and placing one half on the inside of each page.  The great die cut effect is now part of both of your pages.

Add a fun embellishment by using die cut felt self-adhesive ribbon trimmed into pieces & added to your projects.

Try tearing & sanding your Core'dinations cardstock!  The inner layer of these great textured cardstocks comes in lot's of great colors that can be revealed by tearing, sanding & embossing.

Supplies

Little Yellow Bicycle Free Spirit collection papers & stickers
Core'dinations cardstock
Kaisercraft Fozz Felt Ribbon
Prima paper flowers
Boxer buttons

I shared this Layout of the Week...

with Today's Creative's Get Your Craft on Tuesday



and with the ladies at Ann's Friday Night Virtual Girls' Night Out

Layout of the Week - Punky Posh Mini Album with Punky Sprouts & Chatterbox Part 2

I thought I'd share a few detail shots of the album I featured last week.  I'm still in love with this album.  I have some more ideas for creating a totally different look with this same album.  I did make another of Punky Sprouts's albums last week.  And after I return from my relaxing vacation to Mexico, I'll share it with you.  I'm in Mexico as you're reading this, hopefully laying in the sun sipping a margarita celebrating 40th birthdays with a couple of my closest friends.  I don't have my 40th for a few months, but we're all going to celebrate all year...there's no law against that...is there?

I like to embellish these little mini albums with all sorts of things.  For this one, I added some tags, ribbon & twine.

I liked the burlap page I made so much, I added a little scrap to the cover.  It was fun piling things on the cover over the dry brush painting I had completed earlier.  I think the date tag is a great idea, it's always fun to remember the exact date of an occasion.  The felt birdie was a fun last minute addition when I thought the empty space was a little too much.

For Delaney's page, I created a girly look...sparkly glitter paper, velvet flocked paper with a scalloped edge, pom pom fringe, ribbon and a butterfly.

I created my own page to add to this album, trimming burlap and using a zutter hole punch to create the holes.  I thought the rough texture suited a rambunctious little boy!  I added the bit of ribbon on the right at the last minute, just pulling on the burlap's twine pieces to create a space to weave the ribbon.

This was my quickest page of this album, just a square of lime paint to frame my photo.

This page probably took the longest to create.  I wanted a brown canvas page, so I got some at my local sewing shop and cut two pieces the same size as the album's other pages.  I used my sewing machine and ivory thread to add the details.  I'm not very experienced with the sewing machine, so I tried out the scallop stitch on this project.  It's so nice that when we use machine stitching on papercrafts people don't expect or want perfectly straight lines.  This would drive my mother nuts, she's such a great seamstress and tried for years to teach me to sew.  But she was forever pulling out my mistakes and I finally gave up.  I'm excited I finally found a use for that sewing machine that was stuck away in a closet!  And thank goodness, I still have my mom to do the "real" sewing! :)

Oh, and I love the felt embellishments that Chatterbox made to match these collections, so cute and self adhesive too!

On the back of my canvas page, I stuck with little circle embellishments and a tag to create a boyish look.

This was another quick page.  Delaney is our artist, she loves all things creative.  So I just grabbed a foam brush, dipped it into the paints I was using on this project and randomly added touches of color to this ivory canvas page.  For a final touch, I added a little tag & some fun embellishments from my packs.

After the last busy page, I wanted to calm things down a bit.  I used the self adhesive felt embellishments on this one.

I love acrylic, especially when it's mixed with other types of pages.  For the acrylic, I painted the Tropical Water paint around the edges with a small, dry regular paint brush.  When you try this type of technique, don't be too perfect, the messy look is in! :)  I used a Crop A Dile tool to punch two holes in the right edge and then tied a couple ribbon knots as accents.

I like how the acrylic page looks when it's turned & placed over the photo on the left too!

This page is on the right behind the acrylic.  I used a patterned paper to cover this page and then placed a smaller torn, inked piece of foiled paper on the left.  Next I inked around the whole page and added a little garden twine on the left, as a fun contrast to the foil paper.

For a fun Jake page, I chose a checked paper and some star & button embellishments.

For my last Delaney page, I used acrylic stamps and my lime & tropical water paints to stamp some flowers onto the canvas.  It was fun adding a little tag & butterfly as a finishing touch.

Again I used the stamps and my two paint colors for this page.  For my little journaling, I used a letter stamp that creates an old fashioned typewriter still look.  I stamped, "At Home Together, Our Favorite Place," in brown ink.

This acrylic page was my biggest stretch yet....  I used a large Technique Tuesday stamp in Versamark ink and then added lime embossing powder and heated it with my heat gun.  Just let me tell you, this technique is not for the faint of heart or perfectionists out there.  The acrylic folded up all funny while I was heating the powder.  I was doing this page while I worked a crop at the store and boy everyone was nervous about how it might turn out.  I'm pretty sure they all thought I'd ruined the page.  But I grabbed two pieces of white paper and used them to help me flatten the acrylic back to its shape.   I think it turned out great!  It definitely isn't perfect though.  There are a few little spots of embossing powder that didn't get blown off the ink and created little green spots.  And the acrylic isn't as flat as I would like it to be.  But I love the look and don't really mind the bumpy-ness of the page.  What project is really PERFECT in the end anyway.  How would you know it's homemade if it's perfect!!!?

Here's the stamped, embossed acrylic page laying over the page to its left.

For my final page, I used the teal blue flocked paper, a bit of ribbon and a little monogram tag.

As you probably noticed, I used sepia tone photos again on this project.  If you've never tried them, you definitely should.  It's impossible for me to imagine how busy this album would be with color photos.  And of course the perfectionist in me loves when color schemes are in harmony in my projects.

You should also know that it's OK to just shoot some photos around  your house or yard and use them in a family album.  This wasn't a photo shoot, we were just hanging out outside in the yard on one of the few warm spring days here in Oregon.  I did get my mom to shoot the family photo, but the rest are just candids my husband & I shot with my point & shoot.  So don't worry about everyone matching and setting an appointment, just get together & take some photos.  Depending on your chosen papers, sepia tone or black & white can cover a million color matching mistakes!

I decided to skip photos on the back cover.  Just a little paint & a dry brush...the ribbon is tied around the whole page.

Supplies

Brown Cardstock - American Crafts

Patterned Papers - artsy.licious, Fabulous and Together by Chatterbox

Embellishments - Tags, Buttons, Journal Boxes, Ribbon

Kaisercraft - Acrylic Paint: Lime & Tropical Water

Ink - Brown Pigment Brush Pad by Color Box and Versamark Pad

Stamps - Technique Tuesday and Provo Craft

Embossing Powder - Zing by American Crafts

Ribbon - Various Manufacturers

Garden Twine - Unknown Manufacturer

Sewing Supplies - Burlap, Brown Canvas and Ivory Thread from Local Sewing Shop

A little note from Julie...I hope you're all having wonderful weeks!  I am in Mexico this week to help my friends celebrate their 40th birthdays (well, I'm celebrating mine too, albeit a bit early!).  I can't wait to see what I can find on my vacation to inspire my next project!  Have a wonderful weekend! :)

Layout of the Week - Spring Mini Album Project & a Punky Sprouts Sneak Peek

I've been a little busy lately to finish any actual layouts to feature as my "Layout of the Week," so I'm sharing what I have been working on.  This Saturday I'm teaching a class at the scrapbook store where I work, Whimzee's Scrapbook Studio in Beaverton, Oregon....in case you're in the area & want to sign up!  I taught this class at Christmas and a few people asked me to do it again.  I thought a Spring theme would be fun for the little mini album.  You could use it for a great Mother's Day gift or maybe for a special friend's birthday.

This project takes 3 pieces of cardstock, up to 14 different patterned papers, a couple feet of ribbon, lot's of adhesive and TONS of patience.  In just a couple hours you too can have a fun little album with lot's of little doors to hide all your photos & journaling.

I hope you're in the area so you can sign up for my class!  It really is much easier to make the album with a little help from someone who's done it before.  The instructions are kind of confusing, but if you're handy, you can probably make one up from my photos.  Give it a try when you have a couple hours & want to try something new.

I've got to get back to my projects for this week, two Punky Sprouts albums.  I've been very excited about Punky Sprouts for a few weeks now.  I had the chance to crop with one of the owners, Doralisa, and we had so much fun that I left pumped to give one of her albums a try.  It's so fun to be able to share a local Portland area scrapbook manufacturer with all of you.  Keep reading for links to the Punky Sprouts site & Facebook page, so you can ask your local scrapbook store to carry these awesome albums!

Here are a couple sneak peeks at my first project, using Chatterbox papers & embellishments, along with some great Kaisercraft paint colors!

Here's a quick look at the pages included in the Punky Posh album....

I'll share my take on this great album concept next week!

Head on over to the Punky Sprouts site to check out all their great albums!  I'm working on Punky Posh and Prim & Punky right now.  Punky Sprouts is on Facebook too & looking for a few more fans, tell them Julie sent you!

Just a little reminder to join me over at my fellow Portlander, Ann's, Virtual Girls' Night Out.  Join the party, every Friday night!  Ann's got a great music video, a yummy drink recipe and lot's of fun bloggers to hang with!  Get & Give tons of comments and find more followers for your blog!  Of course, you can visit Ann anytime...it doesn't have to be a Friday for you to get a laugh out of her adventures!

I also hang out every Tuesday at Today's Creative's Get Your Craft On party.  Head on over to another of my Pacific Northwest peeps' blog to find a huge list of links to other creative blogs.  Kim features a new creative blogger almost everyday and the huge Get Your Craft On blog hopping party every Tuesday.



Hey all you Mom Bloggers!!!!  Don't forget to head on over & check out all the fun, prizes & friends at 5 Minutes for Mom's Ultimate Blog Party 2010!



Join me & enter to win! I'm hoping to win #6 The Double Stacked a lot of Love Necklace, #11 $100 Gift Certificate to Restaurant.com and #17 The Books Found Art and Real Women Scrap!!!! Wish me luck!!!!!!!!!!!

Layout of the Week - Christmas Past

Sorry I've been away so long! In the middle of my holiday prep and school holiday party prep that I haven't posted a Layout of the Week yet. I have a couple Christmas projects all ready to go, just haven't written anything about them. Time sure flies by this time of year. And maybe I forgot because my fingers have been too cold to type! It finally "warmed up" this morning...my car said it was 15, for the last few days it's said 12 on the way to school.  I know that many of  you are laughing at me right now, you know who you are...you're from the Midwest, Canada or maybe Antarctica!  But really, I'm in Portland and it doesn't get cold like this here for this long!  OK, we did have snow on the ground for 3 weeks last year, but that was a fluke...or climate change.  Of course just as many of you just ran to get your coats when you read 12, you're from SoCal, Australia or maybe the Sahara!  But I'm tired of pasting my daughter with Burt's Bees Lip Balm & that smelly, but wonderful hemp cream from The Body Shop.  And who wants to wear long johns under their clothes to school everyday?  I'm sure some of your kids do, but they probably also get to play in the snow at recess, we have no snow, just cold and a pond that's frozen over in our backyard.

Well, that's enough of me complaining, it certainly isn't that I'd like rain better, no way!  I just want summer back whenever it's convenient for me!

I think it's time to share one of my recent creations!  I created this layout with Graphic 45's Christmas past collection.  My mom recently gave me an envelope full of photos of me that she saved from photos she had sent my grandma over the years.  Grandma Muriel passed away a few years back and she had saved photos of all her grandchildren from the time when we were born.  I found these photos in my envelope.  They were taken when I was about 2 1/2, a few months before my brother was born and I didn't get all the attention any more! :)  I love how these old photos are square with white borders and the dates stamped on them.  I thought that they went perfectly with Graphic 45's style.  To me their retro papers go perfectly with sepia tone photos and the slight natural yellowing of these photos looks great with them.  I didn't want to crop the photos at all, so I let their shape dictate my layout and how I cut the yellowed catalog page to back them.  It's so fun to see my clothes and little pig tails, but my favorite part is seeing how my dad dressed in 1972!  I guess style really does come around again...check out those sideburns!  I can also see a few ornaments on this tree that I still hang on my tree!

I wanted to keep this layout from being very sparkly...I've been using tons of sparkle lately.  So I used a pack of Little Yellow Bicycle's felt die cuts along with felt ribbon from Creative Cafe and a few red pearls from Kaisercraft.  The next time you're scrapping photos from your childhood, or someone else's, check out Graphic 45's wonderful retro papers.  I've got a great project using their Transatlantique papers to show you soon! (probably after Christmas)

Don't forget to stop by Ann's Virtual Girls' Night Out, to get a few more comments for your blog, meet some new bloggy friends and maybe learn something new!

Tips

If you've got some older, maybe slightly yellowed, photos you want to scrap, check out the beautiful retro papers from Graphic 45.  Sepia tone photos look great with their papers too!

Remember not to crop all the background out of your photos!  Choose a few photos where you will leave in some of the background, especially if it's your home or shows a little slice of how life was at the time.  It's fun to look back & remember what life was like for you as a child or for your kids to see how life was for their grandparents.

Supplies

Graphic 45 Christmas Past paper collection (Graphic 45 Blog)
Creative Cafe red felt ribbon (Creative Cafe's Blog)
Little Yellow Bicycle self adhesive felt die cuts
Kaisercraft red pearls (Kaisercraft's Blog)

Layout of the Week - I Love Your SMILE!

I was so excited to see the challenge handed out by the ladies at the Ella Publishing blog. They were looking for layout submissions with the title, "I Love Your Smile." That was the only criteria, just use that title. I think karma brought me to this gleeful photo of Delaney. For the past couple weeks, I've been designing baby layouts for my next beginning scrapbooking class, so I had a pack of photos of Jake when he was first born right there on the table. When I saw this page call, I flipped through the photos to see if any of them fit the title. And boy, this one jumped right out at me. This is THE happiest I have ever seen Delaney in a picture. It was taken, probably by Dave, just after Jake was born. We gave her this great I'm the Big Sister t-shirt and she was so excited, she put it right on. She was over flowing with joy that her little brother, whom she had waited so long for, was finally here! It brings tears to my eyes to look at it, when I think of how happy she was.

Her reaction to the photo, while I was creating this page, cracks me up! She looked at it and asked if it was taken when Jake was born. I said yes and that she was so happy. Being 8 1/2 now and having her brother be almost 2, she said, "I love him, but I don't know if I'm that happy about him now....he did cry a lot and...you know, mom, he's Jake." So that makes this picture that much more special to me, what a beautiful innocent smile, so excited that her baby brother is finally here. Unbeknownst to this sweet little girl are all the things about babies that aren't so fun, the SCREAMING (you have to know Jake to know I'm NOT kidding), the wet & poopy diapers, the hitting, throwing & destroying, etc. Of course she is still the happiest big sister in the world, when her little guy says her name, "Dee Dee, Dee Dee" or when he walks up to her, tilts his head, puckers his lips, closes his eyes, and cranes his neck toward her just hoping for a kiss.

Those are all reasons that this photo makes me a very happy mom! I hope you all create layouts showing something that makes you happy!

As far as the layout, I used the Cricut to cut the circles, placing my matted photo inside the largest circle to draw attention to it. I placed the title around the circle, also in an effort to draw attention to the photo. I chose journal strips for this page because a journal box might draw attention away from my photo. Inside the strips is my jounaling, "a girl was never so happy to have a little brother." I think that all the elements of this page help draw attention to Delaney's photo. I think it's important for her to have some pages in her album commemorating her brother's birth that show her reaction. He will have tons of blue pages showing all the exciting happenings after he was born and big sister needs a little attention too!

Tips

Try mixing chipboard styles when creating your titles. The mix will give your layouts a whimsical look.

If you aren't happy with the color of your chipboard, so ahead & paint it. Here I painted chipboard with both paint and glitter glue.

Don't be afraid to add other embellishments to your chipboard. Here I added ribbon, rhinestones & stickers to my chipboard shapes.

Supply List

Basic Grey June Bug collection papers
Admiral: used the back side
Park Bench: used the back side
Picket Fence: used the back side

Prizm light & medium pink textured cardstock

Pink Metallic Ribbon

KaiserCraft Basics: Rhinestones - light & dark pink and Rhinestone strips - pink

Creative Cafe pink chipboard shapes

Circle shapes all cut with the Cricut

"I" - Tim Holtz Grungeboard harlequin alphas

"your" - American Crafts THICKERS hat box plain chipboard

"SMILE" - Die Cuts with a View foil chipchatter uppercase - pink

Mrs. Grossman's casual alphabet stickers

American Crafts Memory Marker pen - soft black

Paint
Scrapbook Shades by Li'l Davis Designs - marshmallow

Ranger Adirondack Brights Acrylic Paint Dabber - raspberry

Layout of the Week Bonus - Girlfriends

This week I have two layouts to share with you. Today I'm featuring one of my favorite layouts using the American Crafts Teen collection papers. I created this layout for Delaney, as a way to remember a fun day out with her girlfriends. Some moms & I got together and planned a little surprise for the girls. We took them out for lunch and to see the very first showing of the Hannah Montana movie. The girls were lucky enough to be out of school that Friday and they LOVED getting to see the movie before any of their other friends.

I chose to print this photo in black & white because lunch that day was at Red Robin and their restaurant colors didn't coordinate well with my paper choice. This is one of the reasons I love black & white photos...they go with EVERYTHING!

I love the bold papers of the Teen collection and it was fun to combine them with American Crafts' THICKERS vinyl letters and accents. I framed my photo with Prizm cardstock and added black & white floral papers from LUXE and black rhinestones from Kaisercraft.

I know that I have featured this layout before without the photo. I thought it might be fun to have an extra Layout of the Week this week so I could share the finished product with you.

Enjoy your week!

Layout of the Week - Happy 4th of July

I thought I'd try something festive for this week's Layout of the Week. So in the spirit of the 4th of July, I created a layout with my photos from last 4th of July. I love using large photos in my layouts, so I printed my photo of the kids all decked out for the neighborhood parade as a 5 x 7. I cropped the photo to a 5 x 5 square for the page, since the extra was just my garage in the background. For such a sparkly holiday, I used as much "blingy" scrapbook product as I could.



I love all the diecut paper in the stores now, but couldn't find anything for my 4th of July layout. So I started with Reminisce's Sparkly Stars paper and then thought that it would look great on a bright red background. Next I chose a diecut paper with the bracket shape. I traced the bracket shape onto a thin piece of cardboard and then cut along the lines and created my own stencil for the bracket shape. I traced half of this shape onto the Reminisce paper & cut it out to create a custom diecut for my page. Then I flipped the stencil over and traced half again, so I'd have a piece for each side of my page with the stars facing up.

I mounted my photos on red textured & white shimmery papers from American Crafts. I inked the edges of most of my mats to add a little something extra. Next I cut my titles with the Quickutz die cut system using two sizes (classic & mini) of their Eliza font. I used iridescent metallic paper for the letters. For the final touches on this layout a used a mixture of red, clear & blue rhinestones in star and circle shapes, along with some metallic ribbons.

Here's a list of supplies used on this page:

Red Textured papers from Prizm & American Crafts
Reminisce Silver Stars paper
White shimmery paper from American Crafts
Iridescent Metallic White paper
Dew Drop Brilliance Platinum Planet ink
Ancient Page Redwood & Cobalt ink
Metallic Twill Ribbon in Red, White & Blue
Felt Flowers
Kaisercraft Red & Blue Rhinestones
Queen & Co. Red, White & Blue Star Jewels
Quickutz Eliza Font in Classic & Mini

If you're looking for inspiration check out Sunday Scrappin'!