Over the River and Thru the Woods...

A bit suprised at myself for never posting this page. I made it this past May during a scrapbooking retreat. This page was a give-away to my mother-in-law for her scrapbook album. I got the general plan for the page from Elizabeth Karchner...genius! I love the style of the page...the photos look framed and there's a clean appeal to it, but you can totally make it your own. I chose to include chipboard circles to denote their current address along with a cute little ribbon garden complete with chipboard flowers. Also loved that mixing and matching patterns and colors totally worked with the overall design.

Supplies:

Cardstock - (white) American Crafts; (brown) Worldwin

Paper - (words) 7Gypsies, (red/pink floral and teal/green pattern) My Minds Eye; (yellow pattern) K&Company; (multicolor pattern) Scenie Route

Accents - (chipboard number circles) Lil Davis; (chipboard flowers and ruler rub-on) K&Company; (green ribbon, chipboard "@") American Crafts; (word stickers) 7Gypsies; (heart chipboard, ghost clock, plastic letters) Heidi Swapp; (game spinner/brad) Tim Holtz; (plastic polka-dot circle) KI Memories

Tools - (scallop circle diecut) Spellbinders Nestabilities; (diecut machine) Cuttlebug

Fun & Funky!

Ask me what my favorite scrapbooking magazine is and you're bound to get this answer...CK - hands down! It seems like my favorite pages are created from inspiration clipped from that magazine. Two columns in particular are sources of amazingness - "Studio A" and "Ask Lizzy". The page below was based on, ok virtually COPIED from, a page by Elizabeth Kartchner. It was just too cute not to recreate and add to my scrapbook!

Ultimately, one of my favorite things about Lizzy's designs is her use of color. She's not afraid of mixing colors and patterns. I think the variety adds real flair to a page and is also a great way to utilize those small scraps. I find that some of my favorite patterned papers end up on LOTS of pages this way...and that just makes me so happy!

The page design here was super simple. One photo - though the circles could be minimized to make room for two or three, some paper strips, and circles. I chose to highlight my photo with a frame rather than just a cardstock mat. I also used various border punches to jazz up the paper accent strips. I cut all the circles using my Spellbinders dies on the Cuttlebug machine; a couple were accented with scallop borders and three were accented with various floral accents. I love these flower stickers (from Scrappy Cat) because they're glittery and layered. Perfectly completed and ready to stick to your page! Finally, I wanted to add some journaling (not featured on the Lizzy original). I opted to cut a larger circle using the Creative Memories cutter to keep with the theme. Then just add a title and some cute flower brads for good measure. How much fun is that?!

Be Happy!

I'm believe in the scrapbooking belief that recording moments is just as important as recording birthdays, holidays, and events. Sometimes the best emotions come from everday moments..and a picture snapped without staging. For this page, I wanted to document our life right now. Our goals and brief thoughts...and to just scrapbook a nice page.


















I wanted to keep things neutral by staying with only a few colors. Because of the darkness of the photo, I chose a light teal. Not sure where the idea to cut the lace to fit inside the decorative stamp-edge paper came from, but just did it. Felt like it added just the right touch of texture and dimension. I found various accents that would match - rub-ons and gems mostly. I carefully accented the photo and title with the embellishments. Overall, I really liked how the page turned out. See my additional post for close-ups of the embellishments.

Be Happy Part #2 - Closeups

Just some close-ups of the accents...



I punched circles using my infamous Cuttlebug and Nestabilities dies. Inked up the edge and popped up on dots. This accent is from a rub-on set purchased through the Scarlet Lime monthly kit (made by Pink Paislee). I added gemstones for a personalized look.


Here I wanted to show two of the other accents. The top left one features rub-ons from the same package as noted above. This super cute metal flower with gem was also supplied in the Scarlet Lime kit. For the subtitle circle, I diecut our initials using the "Sophisticate" Quickutz font on the Cuttlebug. The teal border under the letters was also part of the rub-on set.

The final accent is an amazing gem accent from Basic Grey. I love how the whole thing is ready to go...just peel and stick! It's so sparkling and wonderful. Bought some new pearl versions too...flowers, swirls, etc. Available now at Picture This! I definitely recommend trying them for a quick, easy, and beautiful page accent.

For product specifications, please contact me at laura.leland@gmail.com . I can usually identify where I got the product too...if you'd like recommendations, just let me know! Thanks for looking!

Still here...

I'm sure you thought I forgot how to scrapbook...or upload to my blog. Something that kept me away for almost 3 months! Nope, just been busy is all. Enjoying the few months of nice weather we get here in Eau Claire, WI. But last weekend (in celebration of my birthday) my sister, mom, and I stayed the weekend at Green Haven Retreat. I enjoyed MANY hours of uninterrupted scrapbooking time and have some brand spankin' new pages to share!


















This page was totally inspired by another Ali Edwards layout (featured in an old Studio A CK column). Loved the idea of making the background a TEXTURE rather than using color and/or pattern. Her layout used a black background, but I wanted something a tad more neutral - kraft was perfect. I started by diecutting varying sizes of circles using my Spellbinders Nestabilities dies and my Cuttlebug. Next, I gathered several pictures of Adam and I from different times and places in order to find a couple which were "croppable". These were also cut into circles using the dies. The main photo was originally a 5x7 print...however, it featured us holding our "mini bowling balls" which DID NOT evoke quite the right mood for the page, so I cropped it to be longer than it was taller.

Many of the elements were more trial and error than anything. I wanted to add pops of color and texture but not overwhelm the overall neutral feel of the page. I choose a Basic Grey pattern, a deep brown cardstock, and a bright pink cardstock to match both the colors in the main photo (i.e. my shirt) and our wedding colors (sort of the basis for the page). I kept the accents simple and consistent with circles, felt flowers, and brads. To add the final bit of dimension, all of the circles are popped up with foam squares. (This took a while! My secret to keeping the rows as straight as possible? I cut strips of cardstock and temporarily adhered them down, lining up the circles above them. When the row was done, I removed the strip and started a new row.)

Supplies:

Paper - (kraft cardstock) Papercut; (brown and pink cardstock) Bazzill Basics; (white journaling cardstock) Georgia Pacific (brown/pink pattern) Basic Grey;

Accents - (felt flowers) Stampin' Up!; (golden brads) Making Memories; (gemstones) Joann; ("us" acetate) Heidi Swapp; (gem flower) Kaiser Craft

Tools - (scallop and plain circles) Spellbinders; (funky circles and heart diecuts) Cuttlebug; (scallop border punch) Stampin' Up!

DIY accents!

Okay, so by now you've probably realized I tend to stick to pre-made, ultra-cute and easy embellishments. But...there are sometimes that I go out on a limb and MAKE MY OWN. I'm featuring two on the page below - 1) Center heart/key/lock accents and 2) Title block element (see close-ups below).

















This was another instance where my Spellbinders Nestabilities dies came in handy! Seriously, there are NOT just for cardmakers...though they work great for that too ;) The base for my first accent was a layer oval/scallop oval cut in two different patterned papers. I popped up the entire piece with 3D dots. To create the accent, I took a glossy chipboard heart, concho-style "lock" and metal key accent. I played around until it looked right and attached them down with glue dots. The second accent came from the inspiration of the page which features rectangle blocks with houses and hearts. To recreate this image, I diecut a house using my Cricut Create and layered on multiple papers. Additional elements of this embellishment include a metal sticker heart and brass brads. I also wanted to include the title below the picture block. This was made by layering various patterns and cardstocks and then adhering down the chipboard letters. I used brads to accent the title along with another diecut oval/scallop oval to emphasize the "S" in the title. I added a tag to signify the date and a chipboard heart to tie everything together. Also note that I used both upper and lower case letters in the title. This isn't only a design-feature...I do it to save on letters!

Supply Listing:

Paper - (Craft cs) unknown; (teal cs) Worldwin; (cream pattern) Basic Grey; (red dot) Bo Bunny; (Home words background) Love, Elsie by KI Memories

Accents - (keyhole concho, key charm) Joann; (glossy chipboard hearts and chipboard letters) Heidi Swapp; (metal heart) Colorbok; (brads) Making Memories

Tools - (scallop border punch) EK Success; (house diecut) Cricut - Don Juan cartridge; (oval/oval scallop and tag diecut) Spellbinders; (photo corner diecut) Quickutz

Happy Accidents

This page would be what Ali Edwards calls a "happy accident". You know...when something you don't plan on happening - does, but it turns out just fine. Yep, a happy accident. So here I was trying to pack up my stuff for my scrapbook getaway weekend. It was getting later and later and I still wasn't done. I wanted to bring with enough "kits" for about 8-10 pages and I wasn't there yet. So I thought why not bring this wedding reception photo. I haven't even started my wedding album yet...and no real plans in the near future...but have gathered and printed many of the photos. This one in particular seemed more about me and my friends having an amazing time and less about the actual wedding formality. A friendship page would be perfect. I took out my tote filled with wedding items...coordinating colors, embellishments, etc. Not much struck my fancy except for the 12x12 scalloped pink background and the light pink "frills". I love these pre-punched borders! I laid the accents and papers about, struggling to find a combination that I liked. And the time ticked by. I was getting nothing done. Finally, I started just pulling out various "frills" to see my choices. As I pulled them out I laid them down against the pink cardstock. Suddenly I realized it...this was it! Arrange the borders randomly across the bottom, overlapping the edges - super cute. From there, everything came together. I already had some flowers out and I laid them against the background...fabulous. Add some bling (of course!) and a brad and voila! Done!

I wanted to add a close-up of the title since I think the dimension really adds something cool to the page. These stickers are actually made out of vinyl - kind of puffy, kind of flat, really cool.

Supply Listing:

Paper - (scallop pink and plain pink cs) Bazzill; (white) American Crafts

Accents - (vinyl letters and stars) American Crafts; (bling) KaiserCraft and Heidi Swapp; (felt flowers) Stampin' Up!; (flower brads) Making Memories; (border strip "frills") Doodlebug

Tools - (corner rounder) EK Success

P.S. There's just something about adding rounded corners to a page. I thought it worked especially well here where there was a lot of circular repetition. Seriously, you could make this page in minutes! I did - under one hour once all was said and done (after the supplies were picked out, of course). Now that's good times!

One more thing...can you believe it? A Laura page without patterned paper?! It can be done!