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!

Simple and Fun!

Another page created last weekend during my scrapbooking retreat. Been busy this past week and weekend so no new pages to post. Still have a few from last weekend though! (Told you I got a lot done...) This one uses lots of premade accents. Fast, simple, cute. Very me. Love to play with different color combinations too...particularily fond of the brown and bright pink combo. Added a little olive and seafoam green for contrast. Love to use my accents as color inspiration - perfect for photos with not a lot going on or featuring neutrals.



















Wanted to include some detail shots so you could really see the accents. I really love the tone on tone look for subtle titles. This works particularly well with chipboard, plastic or even felt letters where the texture/dimension adds some impact. I also accented the title with some bright brads for better visability on the page.









Another favorite are the 3-d squares from Scrapbook Adhesives. I love raising up the accents (i.e. the scalloped circles here). I also created my own layered accents by punching butterflies and layering them, pulling up the top diecuts' wings. You'll notice I used this same technique on the Mother's Day card a few posts back. Would work great for flower punches too.









Supply Listing:
Paper - (brown cs) Bazzill; (white cs) American Crafts; (green lace) KI Memories; (pink dot) Diecuts with a View; (brown dot) Chatterbox
Accents - (pink brads) Doodlebug; (bronze brads) Making Memories; (border cs strips) Bazzill; (felt and leather floral accents) American Crafts; (clear scrolls) Bo Bunny; (chipboard letters) Heidi Swapp
Tools - (circle/circle scallop diecuts) Nestabilities-Spellbinders; (butterfly punch and border punch) Martha Stewart; (dot embossing folder) Cuttlebug

Kitties = Love

I love my pets...three precious cats. Two are sisters and the third girl we got late last fall. They are all super cuddly and absolutely loveable! Almost two years ago I received the perfect wall hanging from my aunt, "Happiness is a home with at least one cat." How perfect is that phrase for a scrapbook page? I simply incorporated the number three since I can't imagine life without all of them.

This page came together pretty quickly. Bo Bunny has some amazing products now, including coordinating papers and stickers. They have designs to fit any theme with flowers, swirls and arrows too. I love that the swirls and borders come as stickers, making it super easy to adhere and layer. And how easy is it to personalize these by adding flowers, gems, brads, etc?! I also love that the papers are simple and neutral...double-sided too!

I saw a page in an old issue of CK with swirl rub-ons overlapping the top and bottom opposite edges of the page and thought, "what a cool idea". Here I applied the stickers to the top right side, cut off the excess and applied the remainder to the other side. I really love the color combo here too since it is fairly neutral and complements rather than overwhelming the photos.

Supply Listing:

Paper - (white cs) American Craft; (green dot) Bo Bunny (grey) Basic Grey

Accents - (swirl and border stickers) Bo Bunny, (metal heart) Colorbok; (all gems) Kaiser Craft

Tools - (label diecut) Spellbinders; (title diecut letters) Nutmeg by Quickutz; (pen) Slick Writer by AC

A Laura Original!

Can you believe it? A design all my own! The idea for this page came from a sketch I saw in Creating Keepsakes where all the photos were trimmed to circles. I liked the idea since it seemed fresh and unique...never done it before, in fact! So I pulled out my trusty EK Sucess Curvy Cutter and cut down all my pictures to medium-sized circles. I'm not great with tools, so I got some uneven edges on the circles. But no matter - this just adds character! I cut two additional circles for layering. I wanted to use bright fun colors to match the theme. One was very neutral - a way to soften the page (i.e. tan dot). One was bright and busy - to liven up the page (i.e. the red dot). The last one was in-between and a way to bridge the gap between the photos and the page (i.e. the green pattern). Since I wanted to use a fair amount of pattern without overwhelming the page, I opted to outline and accent the photos with the patterns along with bordering the entire page.

One of my favorite things about the page is the title which I've highlighted above. I bought these letter stickers in the Valentine section thinking they'd work great for other uses too. The glitter texture and cursive/serif mix worked perfect for the page. I also bought these gems in the bargain. The package actually came with 3-4 oval lines of gems. I simply cut the strand and used the large oval as a double under-score. And, of course, I needed a little paradise on the page and the ghost hibiscus worked perfectly.

Supply Listing:
Paper - (white cs, green pattern) American Crafts; (red dot) My Minds Eye; (tan dot) Scenic Route
Accents - ("happy me" bubble stkr) Creative Imaginations; (lemon button) American Crafts; (hibiscus and gem lines) Heidi Swapp; (glitter letters) Making Memories
Tools - (pen) Zig Signature; (circle cutter) EK Success Curvy Cutter; (dot with scallop border punch) Martha Stewart

Totally Love...This!

So I went a little crazy this weekend... Bought a whole bunch of scrapbook stuff - including a lime green case for my Cuttlebug ;)...Had some wine and stayed up late...And scrapbooked 10 pages! Yep, about time for that! Enjoyed a wonderful catered weekend at Greenhaven Retreat with my mom and some friends. Loved it and am excited to go back! I hope to share with you some of the pages I created over the weekend during the next few days so remember to keep checking back for more!

This page is such a total scraplift. But what can I say? I'm good at copying so why stop now?! I totally love black and white photos because they allow you to use any (and ALL) color combos on your layout. Super fun! Plus, any time you add in photo booth pictures it's a real treat! Notice that instead of using all ribbon on the right hand border I mixed in patterened paper. This was a great way to use up my scraps. Also, incorporating the border punches with the paper gave the illusion of ribbon. Try it...you'll love it too!

Supply Listing:

Paper - (black cardstock) Worldwin; (orange lace) KI Memories; (orange pattern and green dot) Scenic Route; (black paisley) Doodlebug; (teal pattern) Basic Grey

Accents - (black/white dot ribbon) KI Memories; (yellow, green and blue stripe ribbon) Making Memories; (pink floral ribbon) Scrapworks; (green stripe) American Crafts; (red stitched ribbon) Doodlebug; (green floral and black rickrack) Craft Supply; (white flower) Heidi Swapp; (decorative eyelet) WER; (gel floral accents) KI Memories; (diecut label) Spellbinders; (marker) Zig Signature; (brads) KFD; (plastic letters) Heidi Swapp

Cuttlebug Challenge #29 - Mom's Day card

So this challenge came at the perfect time. I actually had the perfect idea for a card...inspired by a design in last month's "Card magazine". Yesterday I turned this design into reality, creating a thank you card for my husband's grandma. Today, though, I used the same design to create a super sparkly floral MOTHER'S DAY card.

My inspiration was a card punched with various flowers and backed with ribbon. Those of you who know me probably also know that I love creating, but am not into all the work. (If that "easy" button from the commericials actually worked I'd be the proud owner of several!) Anyway, what could be simpler than punches backed with patterned paper?! It provided a similar look to ribbon but without the work.

With the last Cuttlebug challenge I discovered a new technique which I just love. Instead of embossing each piece, I run my layered creation through the machine all at once. I wouldn't recommend this if you have a super-thick design, but the above card has about two layers of cardstock and it ran through perfectly. I love it because the embossing is more defined too.

Card info:
I started with a 4 x 5.25 inch white cardstock scrap (by Georgia Pacific) and randomly punched out parts with my Martha Stewart flower punch (by EK Success). (This punch features all three flowers so for the two flower portions I lined up the punch with the edge of the paper so that the large part didn't get punched.) I selected some other papers - two patterned (pink-Making Memories; yellow-Basic Grey) and one textured cardstock (by Diecuts with a View). I cut these papers down to fit the punched shapes and adhered using regular tape to the backside of the card. Then the Cuttlebug came out. I ran the whole piece through - layers and all and actually ended up using the debossed side of the paper for the front of the card...no real reason except that I thought it looked nice (Floral Fantasy folder). I took some of the punch outs and used tiny zots to attach to the front of the card and accented with mini gems. You'll notice I peeled up the edges of the small adhered flowers for added dimension. I also added a larger gem to the four large punchout flowers for flair (gems by Kaiser Crafts). The final step was the layered greeting and butterfly. I used the oval and matching scallop templates from Spellbinders to cut the greeting tag. The "Mom" stamp (by Amuse) was stamped directly to the white cardstock using a Staz On pad. I used 3-D dots to pop up the greeting also. Finally, I punched two butterflies (Martha Stewart by EK Success) from the yellow pattern. The top butterfly was glued to the bottom one using a glue dot so that only the body was attached allowing me to peel up the wings to create more dimension. And it absolutely couldn't be complete with some bling (row of gems by Hero Arts). To finish, I backed the white piece with a layer of teal to offset from the white card base.

As for the matching envelope, I used a standard white A2. I cut a block of the textured cardstock and added a scallop strip to the top (border punch by Stampin' Up!). I accented with the same floral diecuts as used on the card. (Tip: Instead of using glue to attach the diecuts, I ran a strip of the patterned yellow through my mini Xyron machine to create a "sticker". I then punched the images and peeled away the backing. Permanent and ready-to-go!) I then added a faux envelope seal by cutting a circle and scallop shadow with Spellbinders templates. Finally, I added a layered butterfly. Also, all pieces were run through the Cuttlebug with the Floral Fantasy embossing folder prior to be attached to the envelope.

To enter your design in the Cuttlebug challenge, click here for more info!

Home Sweet Home Challenge!

Finally a day off and a little extra time for fun! Visiting Dawn's blog, I saw a super fun challenge on the Cuttlebug blog and decided to play along. So here's my version of the "Home Sweet Home" challenge. Visit the Cuttlebug blog for rules/instructions.

Wanted to use fun & bright colors for this challenge. Used three embossing folders - script, bird/vine, and bubbles for the accent pieces. Also snuck in a Cricut accent from the Don Juan cartridge (the house). I love that the Cuttlebug is so versatile and CAN BE used with Quickutz. I'm quite the collector of alphabets and love that one manual diecut machine can truly use them all!

Supplies:

Paper - (yellow) Worldwin; (teal/red) Diecuts with a View; (black) Rooney Printing; white (Geogia Pacific)

Other - (mini metal key) Tim Holtz; (red brad) Imagincse; (teal brad) Making Memories; (yellow brad) Karen Foster Designs; (black rickrack) Joann craft; (red dot ribbon) American Crafts; (scroll diecut, embossing folders) Cuttlebug; (diecut letters - Metro) Quickutz; (brackets & house diecut - Don Juan) Cricut; (scallop border punch) Stampin; Up!; (scallop square) Spellbinders

Thanks for looking!

Fun with Border Punches!

In my opinion, the best two inventions for card making have been 1) the Cuttlebug embossing folders and 2) border punches. Cards are so simple and easy to make with these two tools! Love them both! Yesterday in an effort to get my mom more into stamping and cardmaking I did a "class" at her house and made these two cards. She's a beginner and we completed both cards in about 35-45 minutes. I wanted to use a variety of techniques including stamping, punching, embossing, and diecutting. See descriptions below:

Above: So simple and for any occasion! When I make cards I tend to start with a base, but not the actual card base (i.e. the green piece above). I do this so that if I add brads or other embellishments, I can attach them and the recipient doesn't see them in the inside of the card. I started with the green piece and ran it through the Cuttlebug with an embossing folder. This is a white-cored cardstock as you can see above where I got a little overzealous and peeled away the top layer. Oh well...it adds originality! Then I stamped the floral in purple and punched with a circle punch. It's hard to tell in the photo above, but I added stickles to some of the pattern for a little glitz! This piece goes on top of a scallop cut - the entire piece is popped up with 3-D foam dots. I added the punched border to the bottom and overlapped with a piece of white cardstock - I thought this added a different look. Unfortunately, the text weight shimmer paper I used for the border doesn't show up as well as I had hoped, but I really liked this glittery addition too. Finish it off with a greeting tag and some ribbon and brads.

Love this cute wedding card. This design could easily be modified for any wedding colors for personalization. Simply adore the stamp set by Cornish Heritage Farms! Stamped the cake in black and adorned it with gemstones and a floral topper. You could easily add colored gems, if desired, or a heart brad at the top instead of the flower. The oval was diecut and embossed using a Spellbinders oval - LOVE THESE! A scalloped oval was cut to outline. For this image, I added 3-D dots below the white oval to pop up from the red outline. I stamped the "congrats" stamp directly on the card basis. The shimmer silver metallic was embossed using a new Spellbinders metal template. The image isn't as defined as with the Cuttlebug folders, but I love the subtle design. I punched a border using a Martha Stewart punch and added a line of ribbon for extra flair. This piece - the silver, black border, and ribbon are all on one piece which I then adhered to the front of the card. I use this technique so that I can wrap the ribbon around the back and tape it rather than trying to adhere it to the front of the card.

I would LOVE to see your border punch cards too! If you have made one or feel like you are up for a challenge, leave a comment along with the link to your card to this post. Spread the word! If I receive ten links, one randomly selected person will win a card kit which everything needed to make the two cards above - everything stamped, cut to size, and ready-to-go! Good luck and send me your links!

Premade Bliss!

I love creating. I love making. But I also love premade. I would even venture to say buying some things premade saves a little money. For instance, the flower I used below came from a set by K&Company. This is a three-piece paper flower complete with a cordoroy brad. I'm sure the pack of six flowers cost me around $4, but -trust me- those jars of flowers are $7-8 and textured brads...you're talking $3-4 for a 10-pack. Money is definately not the main reason I buy premade though. I love using embellishments like this as a starting point - for color or texture inspiration. On the page below I started with the paper butterfly and worked backwards to find papers and other accents to match. It was just the inspiration I needed!

Every now and again I would like to feature products on my blog that people buy but never use. Maybe it's because you're not sure how. Or maybe it's because you need an example to follow. Well, here it is. Feature #1 for "Usual product, Unusually used". I love cardstock photo frames. Shimmery, textured, patterned...all of them. But I've personally always found it difficult to use them for the typical purpose - framing photos. So here I used them as accents. Really, they are the perfect way to showcase other aspects of your page too - papers, accents, titles.

"Bunny Ears" - by Laura Leland - 04/25/09

Supplies:

Paper - (white cardstock) American Crafts; (brown cs) Worldwin; (green cs) Close to My Heart; (green floral & brown dot) Chatterbox; (textured pink-peach) Basic Grey;

Accents - (photo frames) My Minds Eye; (brads-plain) Imaginsce; (bunny brad) Doodlebug; (flower) K&Co; (chipboard swirl & "e") Bo Bunny; (ribbon) American Crafts; (paper butterfly) Prima

Tools - (scallop circle diecut) Spellbinders; (swirl embossing folder) Cuttlebug; (Date and Title diecuts) Lyrical Letters - Cricut; (scallop border punch) EK Success

The kid in me LOVED coloring this!

So I got these stamps from Stampin' Up! Super cute messy outline greeting stamps and have been waiting to use them. On Sunday (during my little card-making session), I finally broke them out! I love the versatility in stamping them in any color or in black and then coloring in. So fun. Great stamp set to match with patterned paper of your choosing too.

Just thought I'd make a simple card. Stamps, markers, a few tools and done.

Supplies:

Paper - (purple cardstock) Diecuts with a View; (white cs) American Crafts; (teal cs) Close to My Heart; (black cs) Papercut; (red dots) Scenic Route

Other - (markers) Close to My Heart; (oval scallop/plain) Spellbinders; (scallop border) Stampin' Up!; (brads - red) Doodlebug; (brads - purple) KFD; (diecut accents) Cricut Don Juan cartridge

Tip: I noticed that many of the shape diecuts on the Cricut cartidges are amazingly versatile! Perfect for home accents, scrapbook pages, and cards. Here I used a "snowflake" diecut as a fun birthday accent.

Love is in the air!

My cousin just announced the date of her upcoming wedding. There was no engagement party and so I felt it was about time to send her a congratulations card. I didn't want it to be over-the-top wedding themed so I went with a nice love theme instead. I think these stamps are meant for a valentines day card, but they worked perfectly.

I absolutely knew what patterned paper I would use...this fabulous spring cloud paper (with shimmer!). I stamped directly on the background. It dried immediately since I used the Staz On black ink pad...using a dye or other pigment ink could have resulting in smearing due to the glossy quality of the paper. I colored the plane in using stamping markers and highlighted the greeting with the markers as well. Some brads and a scalloped border were added for good measure. Fun, cute, fast.

Supplies:

Paper - (red cs) Worldwin; (white cs) Georgia Pacific; (blue dot and cloud paper) Reminsce; (text weight metallic) Paper Cut

Other - (plane and greeting stamps) Amuse; (black ink) Staz On; (stamping marker - red) Stampin' Up!; (border punch) Fiskars; (oval/scallop oval diecut) Spellbinders; (brads) Karen Foster Designs; (diecut machine) Cuttlebug

A Card-Making Sort of Day

It seems to me that Sundays like this one - cold and rainy - are absolutely perfect for making cards. Doing laundry, sweeping the kitchen, vacuuming...that can all wait for another day! Sundays are traditionally the day my husband and I head out to my parents for the afternoon (visiting and supper) so I packed up a few bags worth of supplies and off we went. I brought my new toy...a Cricut Create to show off. I had always promised myself not to buy one, not to get sucked up in the hype. But there it was...on sale at Michael's and under $200. And it was mine. Did I mention they have an AWESOME sale on cartridges right now too - $40 each! Anyway, I brought the new gadget out and showed it to my mom (she sooo wants one now too). And the cartridge that came with it, "Don Juan" has absolutely fabulous phrases for cards, i.e. Thanks below.

Nevermind that I bought these stamps several months ago at Picture This - they're still very cute and begged to be used. I used the idea on the packaging (sort of) for a card by layering the stamped images with scalloped and plain-edged circles cut from scrap patterned papers. This type of card would actually work out perfectly for just about any occasion. Really liked how the bright colors and design turned out. Yep, a card-making sort of day...more images to come this week of my creations from Sunday.

Supplies:
Paper - (white cs) American Crafts; (black cs) Paper Cut; (green pattern) My Minds Eye; (yellow and orange patterns) Scenic Route; (teal pattern) Basic Grey
Accents - (green and orange brads) Queen & Co.; (flower brads - white and teal) Making Memories
Tools - (diecut machines) Cuttlebug and Cricut Create; (Don Juan cartridge) Provo Craft; (scallop/plain circles) Spellbinders; (stamps) Hero Arts; (ink) Staz On; (border punch) Stampin' Up!; (flower punch) Martha Stewart; (corner rounder) EK Success

A quick card!

Just enough time and energy for a quick card tonight.

Went out to dinner last night with one of my oldest friends and found out she and her husband are having a baby! How exciting! Getting home I decided I oaught to send her a quick card in the mail - just a bring a little joy and sunshine to her day.

Today I made it. I based the card upon a sketch from a previous CK magazine. I love to use scrapbook sketches for card-making too! Check out Becky Higgins' column in CK - each month she creates one card based on her sketch. Super cute! Anyway, pulled together scraps from my table...yes, these were all papers already out and cut up. Stamped this fun pregnant lady and colored in with markers. Added a doo-dad or two and done.

Supplies:

Paper - (white cs) Georgia Pacific; (teal cs) Bazzill; (teal dot) Reminsce; (pink) My Minds Eye; (yellow) Scenie Route

Other - (pregnant woman stamp) Amuse artstamps; (square scallop punch, scallop border punch, congrats stamp and markers - blue/pink) Stampin' Up!; (marker - yellow) Studio; (metal star) Colorbok - $1 at Joann's; (ribbon) Michaels; (oval and oval scalloped) Spellbinders; (corner rounder) EK Success

Hint: I love to buy my 8.5x11 white cardstock at Sam's Club. It comes in a huge pack - like 250 sheets - for under $10! Why spend more?!

Bits and Pieces

Another page with bits and pieces...this and that...fun and more fun! I love to search my supplies for perfect accents. It's like shopping again! I created this page based on another page by Elizabeth Kartchner...I love the way she incorporates shapes and color into her layouts. They always turn out so stylish and fun! Anyway, working on creating some pages for a scrapbook for my mom. Similar plan as for the mother-in-law: I'll create a page for major holidays and gift them to her.

I have about a million pictures from our trip to Las Vegas a couple of years ago, but didn't have the time or want to put in the effort to scrapbook them all. And since I wanted to make ONE page, not many, I decided to go for a more generalized concept - what a vacation should be. The journaling features many of the mishaps and adventures from this vacation in particular, but pretty much sums up all of our silly, dysfunctional Leland-family vacations.

I love the idea of the angle! It seems to add just the right flair. I also like to concentrate on 4-5 main colors for the page. As you can see the pictures didn't offer much inspiration. However, I remembered from the trip the abundance of the Southwestern colors: the blue sky and turquoise jewelry, the orange rocks and sun, the green evergreens in the mountains, etc and brought these colors in. I also just love my Spellbinders diecuts and notice that I use the circles and scalloped circles over and over...these sets are definately a GREAT BUY!

Supplies:

Paper - (turquiose) My Minds Eye; (white) American Crafts; (orange) Scenic Route; (green) My Minds Eye; (yellow) unknown; (orange) Stampin' Up!; (brown transparancy) Hambly

Accents - (chipboard circle words) Scenie Route; (felt flowers) Prima; (sun diecut) Cosmo Cricket; (deco eyelets) We R Memory Keepers; ("happy" plastic) KI Memories; (chipboard "L" and "4") K&Company; (chipboard "what a" and "should be") Heidi Swapp; (foam "family vacation") American Crafts; (cloud paper border) Sass-a-fras

Tools - (marker) Slick Writer by AC; (circle/scallop circle diecuts) Spellbinders; diecut machine (Cuttlebug)

It's a Colorful World

Gotta love these colors! How fun are these bright colors? I love the new line by Cosmo Cricket (Snorkel)...it's so bright and fun and summery! You can find it RIGHT NOW at Picture This too! Anyway, decided to start a holiday tradition for my in-laws by making a scrapbook page featuring one of the kids or grandkids for each holiday. My mother-in-law doesn't scrapbook, but I still think she appreciates the effort.

Found one of these pictures in a stack she printed for us and the other is one I took while babysitting. (This is my niece, Emily. Isn't she super cute?!) I was inspired by an absolutely adorable page made by Elizabeth Kartchner - check it out here. Since the colors in the photos were all over the place, I decided to use a paper with a lot of color too. Kinda bold, but I think it works.

Supplies:

Paper - (black scallop) Diecuts With a View; (white) American Crafts; (yellow hearts) Sass-a-fras; (stripe) Cosmo Cricket

Accents - (red buttons) Walmart; (green buttons) Oriental Trading; (teal buttons) K&Company; (yellow plastic buttons) ATD; (floss) Karen Foster Designs; (glitter chipboard flowers and butterfly) Paper Crush by Colorbok; ("happy" chipboard and "Emily" sticker letters) American Crafts; (lined stamp) Inque Boutique; (white embossing powder) Stampin' Up!; (journal box) Cosmo Cricket; (brads) Making Memories; (ribbon) May Arts; (rickrack paper border) Doodlebug

Tools - (border punch) Martha Stewart

Hippity Hoppity...

I'm not a huge fan of "theme" pages. Sure, I scrapbook the holidays and birthdays and events, but not the same way as others. As with my other pages, I try to stick to the basics as far as supplies go - patterned paper, flowers, flourishes, buttons, brads, etc. In reality, I'm actually kind of boring since I use the same things all the time. I guess using them in different ways and seeing the different textures and colors is the only way I get around this and keep things fresh and fun.

This page took me about 1 1/2 hours. And that's pretty typical. I mess around with the accents and photo placement a gazillion times before adhering anything down. And usually I end up with a completely different page than when I started. For example, I started the page above with a yellow/white pattern and 3 6x4 inch photos. I knew I wanted the accents and photos to be arranged in a circle, but things just weren't coming out right. So, I cropped a photo and added another (after noting there was room since the photo was smaller). I also realized the yellow looked best right behind the pictures since they are a tad bit dark and found a brighter red/pink background instead. I was all about the felt flowers no matter what. I added gems and plastic swirls to form the circle. And I love these letters because they are fuzzy - matched the flowers and just felt Easter-y. Sure liked how it came out!

Supplies:

Paper - (red/pink dot, light yellow dot, red dot) Scenic Route; (yellow pattern) K&Company

Accents - (paper border) Sass-a-fras; (straight lines of gems) Hero Arts; (curved lines of gems) Heidi Swapp, (red/pink/plain yellow felt flowers) KI Memories; (yellow flower w/ gems) K&Company; (plastic swirls) Bo Bunny; (rhinestone brads) Making Memories; (5-stone brad) Creative Imaginations; (felt letter stickers) Doodlebug; (journal box) My Minds Eye

Tools - (marker) Slick Writer by AC; (scallop and plain circle diecuts) Spellbinders; (border punch) EK Success

No more snow! We want SUMMER!

Been too busy lately BUYING to actually do a scrapbook page...thinking about doing a little creating tonight though. From a past photo session I pulled this page - a classic. I love the design - so simple, so easy, so fun.

You could really create a page similar to this one but with more photos, less photos, two pages, etc. I think it would make a super 2 page layout too...one page full of pictures and patterns (wall-to-wall with no white space) and then one page like the one above. But anyway, just wanted to share this to remind everyone that summer will come...eventually. Love those late summer afternoons and evenings - BBQ's, drinking with friends, enjoying a camp fire. Such good times.

***Laura's quick tip: Something I learned a LONG time ago - to add quick dimension and texture, just add a little ink! I buy those round yellow sponges (i.e. from Michael's art department) and cut them into wedges. Snap the lid shut on your ink pad and press in to create a small pool of ink in the lid. Flip it open and dab the sponge in it and rub/apply to page. Love this!

Supply Listing:

Paper - (white) Bazzill; (patterned) Mod by Autumn Leaves

Accents - ("BBQ" title) Sticker Studio; (ink) Archival Ink by Ranger; (date stamp) Stampin' Up; (pen) Slick Writer by American Crafts

P.S. Didn't realize until now there were NO embellishments on the page. Just punched circles and photo corners from the patterned paper. Seriously...how easy is that!

I Wanna Rock!

A little rock and roll...Okay, I was never a real fan of classic rock (I am getting there though). My husband, then boyfriend, IS. And he's totally obsessed with Styx! In many ways, it closely parallels my obsession with Keith. But anyway, we thought of making a fun weekend out of concert trip to Chicago. Stayed in the suburbs, but drove downtown for the big show. It was pretty neat - right on the lake. Thank goodness it was fairly warm out for a fall night! We had a blast and even though the pictures didn't turn out the best I wanted to make a scrapbook page.

As you can see, I used mostly smaller pictures. You'll note that even if your picture is fuzzy as a 4x6, it may be clearer as a wallet. I also wanted to include some memoribilia on the page: the ticket and a bumper sticker I bought at the show. I found a cool Basic Grey paper (the garbled green/blue) that I thought just rocked..and was perfect for such a page. Kept the colors matching for the rest of the page...I appreicated the ticket was in blue (which matched) and the pictures and sticker in neutral colors (which match anything). Most of my journaling is hidden on two tags "tucked" into the page. This is a perfect idea when you want to journal more but just don't have the space! I just really liked how this one turned out. A keeper.

Supplies: Paper - (grey pattern and blue/green garbled) Basic Grey, (black cardstock) Rooney Printing, (white cardstock) Georgia Pacific Accents - (file tab) KI Memories; (ribbon - stripe & stitch pink/black) American Crafts; (black stitched) May Arts; (sm star eyelets) Doodlebug; (sm letter stickers, silver brads) Making Memories; (ghost stars) Heidi Swapp; (staples) craft supply

My Little Family...

My little family... Sometimes I feel a bit left out with all the pages everywhere of "real families" - mom, dad, and junior. But scrapbooking as single person (or as a married person with no children) can be fun too! I mean we're still a family right?! Below I included my little family (minus the current addition...Chowder, my new kitten). Again, this page was inspired by my favorite artist...Ali Edwards. See her version here. This page offered me the opportunity to try out some of my newest purchases...the EK Success curvy cutter, Martha Stewart border punch, and Cosmo Cricut diecut letters. I also incorporated some classic Basic Grey papers and used my Wishblade for a quick, custom title!

Some of my favorite things...mini bio's about everyone in the family. It may be a bit cheeky to write from the cats' perspectives, but I think it's cute! Also, love the personalization the page offers....in an instant you can see who and what it's about. Plus using the dates gives you a time reference. I definately think it would be fun to update/recreate this page on a yearly basis to show how people and things have changed in your life. Maybe look for a 2009 one to come....

Supplies:

Paper - (white) Bazzill, (patterned) Basic Grey

Accents - (chipboard scrolls, corners) American Crafts; (chipboard tag) Heidi Swapp; (gold snap) Making Memories; (diecut letters - 'FAM" & initials) Cosmo Cricket; (rub-on branches) Heidi Grace; (staples) craft supply; (ink) unknown

Tools - (diecut machine - lettering "MY" and "08") Wishblade; border punch (Martha Stewart); (circle cutter) EK Success Curvy Cutter

I (heart) accents!

I love them, love them, love them! Can't get enough of them. Seriously...check out my basket sometime at any of my favorite scrapbook stores - gotta have everything chipboard, acetate, and sparkly! What I really do like about accents, though, is that a whole package can go a long way. A flower here, a flower there and you still have a bunch left. One of my favorite scrapbookers who has the amazing ability to use tons of accents without a page looking too busy is Jamie Waters. She's been featured in Scrapbooks Etc, Creating Keepsakes, and at 2Peas. Seriously...check out her layout gallery - it's so cute and bright and fun. Just makes you want to sit down and scrapbook!

Here I took some inspiration from her pages in one of my all-time favorite CK articles, "10 Fast and Fabulous Designs" (March 2007 issue). Layered and mixed and matched until things just "felt right" Think it turned out absolutely adorable. Guess it can't hurt there's a cute and snuggly kitten on it! Anyway, love the look and wanted to share. (P.S. This is a great way to go through your stash and use up bits and pieces of things.)

Product Listing:

Paper - (kraft) Papercut; (pink hearts) Making Memories; (pink swirl) KI Memories

Accents - (white paper ribbon) Doodlebug; (paisley rub-ons) Paper Studio; (heart/circle stickers) Heidi Grace; (paper flower, rhinestone brad, translucent photo corner, "adore"/"sweet" word sticker) Making Memories; ("S" ghost letter, ghost heart) Heidi Swapp; (button) My Minds Eye; (heart brad) Queen & Company; (foam title) American Crafts

Tools - (pen) Zig Photo Signature

Spring Fever

I love mini golfing. I might even go so far as to say it is my favorite summer pasttime. What could be better than spending a warm, sunny day out on the greens, navigating obstacles, trying to teach your significant other than you are a force to be reckoned with. It really is the best. I created this page in order to remember all the good times Adam and I had mini golfing during our days of dating. The Dells, Green Bay, Edina, Chicago, even right here in Eau Claire (Action City, of course!)...we've golfed them all!

One of the things I love most about this page is how easy it came together. I actually put this page together at a local scrapbook retreat, White's Wildwood Retreat. I had decided on colors, accents and the layout at home, packed everything up, and was able to complete the page in a short amount of time. Trust me, if you plan on going to a retreat, this is the way to do it! Hands down. Anyway, I love the layout style - bits and pieces of color and pattern. I used a fairly monochromatic scheme which helps keep the focus on the pictures. I love the title...including the brads on the dots of i's - doesn't it remind you of the colored golf balls? Another thing that I just love is the subtitle ("Seriously the best game ever"). I think subtitles like these really bring together the story of the page. When people are flipping through your scrapbooks, they may see the photos but not the stories. I like to add lead-in's like this one - I think it encourages people to read on and really feel the story. Love that about scrapbooking...telling the story. Anyway, just wanted to share this burst of summer fun on a spring-like Sunday. Have a fabulous day!

Product Listing:
Paper - (green background, green floral, green plaid) KI Memories; (yellow) Basic Grey; (Purple cardstock) Bazzill; (white cardstock) Georgia Pacific
Accents - (rub-on words) Basic Grey; (sticker photo corners and border) KI Memories; ("mini golf" title) Reminsce; ("madness" title and purple brads) Doodlebug; (green swirl brads) Queen & Co.; (white letter stickers - subtitle) Making Memories
Tools - (corner rounder) EK Success; (marker) Slick Writer by American Crafts
(Inspired by design in CK magazine - June 2007)

About Me...About Time!

I totally believe in the idea of scrapbooking about yourself. How often are YOU actually in the pictures? I've noticed that as the scrapbooker in the family, I sometimes get missed in the photographs. Granted, I've been scrapbooking since I was about 12 years old and thank goodness my Mom learned that I loved getting my picture taken - so she's been a big help in having pictures of myself in my scrapbooks. Another fun part? I thought what better way to showcase my personality than by using accents I truly love. So, after finding the perfect patterned paper, I started grabbing for my favorite accents...felt flowers, "ghost" shapes, and chipboard. And used my favorite colors of course too (pink and lime green!). So much fun.

And, on another note, sometimes it's just fun to dig out random pictures. I have taken up the Stacy Julian approach to photo storage (at least I'm in the preliminary stages of adopting this approach). Seriously...if you have not read her book, I would recommend it. Her methods are tremendous. Check it out - it may just change your perspective on photos.
















I took a closer up view of the page here so you can see all the dimension. I seriously LOVE dimension. Oh, and forgot to mention this is another page inspired by Ali. Check out her post from today...mix and match accents. Love it!

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE the new My Minds Eye papers. Saw them on the website at Picture This and went to buy some immediately. There's two great lines - both of which are showcased on my blog. The colors are bright and fun. I'm positive you can find photos to go with any of them. Very cool. So now. So spring. So had to buy them all!

Product Listing:
Paper - (white) Georgia Pacific; (multi-color circle) My Minds Eye; (light yellow dot) Scenic Route
Accents - (pink gel flower, pink plastic letters, green brackets, "ghost" heart; white chipboard flower) Heidi Swapp; (pink felt flower sm) KI Memories; (sm circle bubble stkr) Heidi Grace; ("Happy" chipboard) Scenic Route; (layer felt flower, flower button) K & Company; (mini button) American Crafts
Tools - (pen) Zig Photo Signature; (border punch) Martha Stewart

Copycat!

Just another copycat. That's me. Sure, I have an original design every now and then. But I find the simplest way to get my creative juices flowing (and to have a page actually get DONE) is to find a page and copy it. Most of the time it's not an exact replicate, but copies some or all of the page elements (like the layout, the colors, the embellishments, etc).



On this one, I just LOVED the layered butterflies. While I didn't have the felt ones like Ali (hard to believe...gonna have to pick some up next time I'm at Archivers), I made what I had work.







Supply List:
Paper - (red stripe) Crate; (tan dots) Scenic Route; (teal w/ red dots) My Minds Eye; (black damask) KI Memories
Accents - (journal/accent blocks, red felt flower, puffy letter stickers) Making Memories; (acetate butterflies, teal felt flower, white paper flower) Heidi Swapp; (patterned brads) Bo Bunny; (chipboard polka-dot buttons and silver chipboard flourish) Colorbok; (chipboard butterflies & mini heart, printed quote) K & Company; (gem) Kaiser Craft; ("everyday" stamp) Technique Tuesday; (ink) Stazon; (marker) Zig Photo Signature
Tools - (scallop border punch - no holes) Stampin' Up!; (scallop border punch w/holes) Martha Stewart; (corner rounder) EK Success

My inspiration...from the March 2009 Studio A column of Creating Keepsakes. Note the layered butterflies on one page and the shaped paper accent on the other. Copied a little here, a little there to make it completely my own. Thanks for the inspiration, Ali!

Another take...

Knew I could find one. This is another example of the same layout style...same sketch, new result. Again, I used multiple patterns...my signature ;)

One thing you may notice about my pages is that I don't usually use "cute" embellishments. Sure, I may buy them...and collect them...but rarely use them. Here I bought them on purpose. We had just gotten a new Wii (a wedding gift to ourselves) and brought it along for the family Thanksgiving celebration. It would be perfect - a page to celebrate the joy of Wii bowling! These adorale and perfectly themed diecuts from Pebbles were just the ticket! I also took a trick from Stacy Julian's "Big Picture Scrapbooking" idea book. Loved her page using magic mesh...yes, magic mesh. (Remember when you just had to have the stuff?!) Anyway, just wanted to prove the point that one layout can be used multiple times without feeling old or repeated. Pretty cool concept, don't you think?

Product Listing:

Paper - (green lined & green plain textured) KI Memories; (dark green pattern) Scenic Route; (white) Bazzill

Accents - ("wii" chipboard letters") Chip Chatter; (green mesh) Magic Mesh; (plastic star "play" and paper arrows) Heidi Swapp; (diecut acccents) Pebbles; (rub-on letters) KI Memories; (star brads) Close to My Heart; (star eyelet) Making Memories; (arrow journal stamp) Autumn Leaves; (ink) Archival by Ranger; (pen) Slick Writer

An oldie, but a goodie.

When I find a style or layout design that I particularily like, I tend to repeat it. I originally started off my layout with more pictures, planning to do a collage (similar to the "Art Fair" page by Ali in the April CK). When I discovered that I didn't really have enough pictures...or the right kind of pictures (landscape vs portrait), I had to switch it up. This layout design is one of my favorites. And for good reason. It's simple. It's stylish. You can jazz it up or leave it simple. It's just classic. 3 pictures, 3 grids - it's a simple as that. You can rotate it too if your pictures run the other way!

I wanted to make a page that showcased the photos - I really think this worked out. And, yes, another page where I use multiple patterned papers (my favorite!). And I used one of my favorite techniques - layering. I like to collect every clear acetate/transparancy accent I can get my hands on. Frames are no exception. I have quite the stash and was able to pull out three that matched not only my pictures, but also the patterns I had chosen. It's a subtle accent that I think really jazzes things up. Also, on this page I was ALL ABOUT the pre-made accents...nothing fancy. Also love the look of mix n match titles. Not only does it look cool, but you can save on your alphabets and have more for later!

Product Listing:

Paper - (teal starburst, green/white dot) Crate; (tan dot) Scenic Route; (green/brown dot) My Minds Eye

Accents - (transparancy frames and diecut scroll) My Minds Eye; (journal box, silver brads, and tags) Making Memories; (chipboard buttons, felt flower) KI Memories; (chipboard title letters) Basic Grey; (letter stickers and button) K&Co; (white flower) Prima

Tools - (dot embossing folder) Cuttlebug; (pen) Martha Stewart

Note: I'll try to find another example of this same page layout for my post tomorrow. I'm sure I'll find a repeat somewhere! Also, check out my new feature - Ask Laura! on the right-hand gadget bar of my blog. I look forward to hearing from you.

How to...

When I worked at Picture This the question/comment I received the most related to patterned paper. What do I do with it? How do I use it? Is it too busy? I keep buying it but never use it!

Yep, I here you. I am a patterned paper fiend. You ask anyone...of all my supplies, the quantity of patterned paper I own is ridiculous! So why do I keep buying it?!?

Many reasons...
1) It's the cheapest supply out there. Most accent and embellishment packs cost upwards of 4 bucks. Stickers? Atleast $2. But paper, now that's usually less than a dollar!
2) I love to use it. Just test me. Check out my scrapbook pages on the blog. What's the item I use on every page? Patterned paper, of course!
3) It's the most versatile product out there.

And that last point is where some would disagree. But, hey, that's just because you haven't considered the possibilities. Patterned paper is more than just the background for a page. It can be the accent...a block here, a circle there, or even a punched flower. It can be the title...stencil and cut, diecut with a Cricut or Cuttlebug. It can be a photo mat...cut a little bigger than the photo or diecut into a frame. My favorite use? Accent piece. A bit here, a bit there. Mixing and matching patterns. Cut into a border. It's what I live for!

Just take a look at the page here. Took this idea straight from Becky's column in the April CK. I almost always use white, black or brown as my background. It leaves me free to use color almost anyway I want for my accents and embellishments. Here, I chose a brown which loosely coordinated with the pattern I chose. No particular reason for this pattern. I pulled out a few sheets of paper I liked and thought this one worked the best. I liked the colors and the pattern was just the right size. (The size of the pattern can make using pieces rather than the full sheet tricky. You need it big enough to be noticed, but small enough so that when you cut it up you can still tell what the pattern is.) Here, the paper is a modified photo mat.

With black and white photos the possibilities are endless since anything matches. So here, I pulled some of the colors from the paper for my accent colors...you'll have to look close to find the red, but it's in there. Besides, I always think yellow and red look good together!

Supply List:
Paper - (browns) unknown; (white) Georgia Pacific; (red) Stampin' Up!; (paisley pattern) American Crafts
Accents - (chipboard heart) Heidi Swapp; (green paper flower and white paper ribbon) Doodlebug; (chipboard title) American Crafts; (lg white flower) Making Memories; (deco eyelet) WER Memory Keepers; (brads) Imaginisce; (rickrack) craft supply; (marker) Martha Stewart
Tools - (paisley embossing folder) Cuttlebug; (label diecut) Spellbinders; (border punch) Martha Stewart; (corner rounder) EK Success