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