Monochromatic

Well, I'm not sure if this is technically "monochromatic" - but it was inspired by a prompt from CampScrap (www.CraftWithMay.com) by May Flaum.  (Have I mentioned how much I like her style of video, her layouts and her willingness to just go for it?)

I chose a neutral background and then used scraps of green and brown papers ( either from 6x6 paper pads or literally from my scrap bin) and made this two page layout of one of our trips to Acadia National Park in Maine.  One of my favorite places in the world!  I added wood veneer birds and buttons to add a little interest.  I kind of forgot to leave room for my journaling, so I hid it in a pocket behind a picture.  I could have done some stitching to add some texture, but I decided to go with simple instead! (read: lazy)

It's a fairly simple design, but I am pleased with the results.  

Hope you can take it easy (be lazy) today!

Leslie

A little sparkle

My son had the opportunity to travel to China with a friend (and his family)  three summers ago.  I haven't quite finished these layouts because I want to confirm the journaling with my son.  I know I want to write about the unusual things he ate (and liked) and some of the more personal stories from his trip.  So I have left a large journaling block to accommodate that story.  I scrap-lifted this layout from May Flaum in one of her classes.  It works really well for a lot of pictures and/or journaling.  You can just make the center block an embellished title and that works well too.

This next layout is also about his trip.  I used gold paint with a stamp to create a background and then I cut the butterfly images from a piece of scrapbook paper.  I added a little stickles to the butterfly wings to add a little sparkle and a few sequins too.

I just need to add the journaling and they are done!

Hope you can create something with sparkle today!

Leslie

Summer Fun

I've been having fun playing with lots of different techniques - spray misting, stenciling, layering, watercolors - you name it.  The trouble with having such a plethora of techniques on the brain is that sometimes it is hard to settle down and just pick one to focus on!  I get stuck staring at the papers and pictures imagining all of the different possibilities and therefore, get absolutely nothing accomplished.  I need to learn to just pick one and move forward and not look back!

Here is a summer layout I did about one of our excursions in Boston.

I love the bright summer colors and had fun mixing in some watercolors in the background and some stencils with Tim Holtz distress inks for some texture.  I layered papers (mostly from my scrap bin) and even did a little stitching on the page.  Glued down and done!

Hope you can move forward with a project today!

Leslie

Feeling Artsy

I don't think "artsy" is a word, but I'm using it anyway.  I enjoy trying different techniques for my scrapbook layouts.  Sometimes I like clean and graphic layouts and sometimes I want to go for a more messy, creative look (a.k.a. "artsy").  I have been following Missy Whidden's blog (http://littlenuggetcreations.blogspot.com) and love her designs.  This is my version of her style:

Watercoloring the background (with the "smoosh" technique - paint some leftover plastic packaging and "smoosh" it onto your background), stenciling, stamping, layering papers and adding lots of embellishments - so fun to make!  Sometimes getting messy helps get the creative process going.  So if you haven't gotten your fingers inky or your desk splattered with a little paint recently - give it a try.  Go ahead and get a little "artsy" - haha.

Hope you can get messy today!

Leslie

Motivated (again!)

I ran into a fellow crafter at Stamp Asylum, my favorite LSS (Local Stamping Store... as close to a Local Scrapbook Store as it gets these days) and she remembered me from the class we took and mentioned that she follows my blog.  Er, um... well followed it when I was updating it.  She inspired me to get back to blogging.   I'm having difficulty logging in to my Google circle account (too many user names and passwords!) but will link to her blog as soon as I figure out how to do that!

I have been busy crafting - just not taking pictures and posting.  So, with the sun finally appearing in Texas, and some new motivation, I went outside today and took lots of photos of my scrapbook layouts.  My goal for this year is to use all of this technology to connect with some new crafty friends (and maybe inspire my old creative friends to come back to the dark side and craft with me!).

I used a kit from The Scrap Room and a few goodies from my stash.  I painted the wood veneer citrus slice and the arrows in bright orange, pink and yellow (Tim Holtz acrylic paints).  The words were cut from a Bella Blvd paper and I backed them with teal paper to  make them stand out a bit more.  Just a little bit of journaling and a few paint splatters and it was finished!

Hope someone inspires you today!

Leslie

A Series of Fortunate events

I can not multi-task (apparently no one really can) because I have quite a few layouts from February that, not only did I create, but I photographed and uploaded to the computer, but since I loaded them onto Flickr for the LOAD challenge, I forgot to put them on my blog as well.  Lately, I have been cranking out layouts, but haven't managed to photograph them, so they too have not made it onto my blog.  I can only handle one technology at a time, haha.  Oh well.  I have made progress on that front, so I guess I will just keep trying!

This layout was from the February LOAD challenge, which was to create a layout from a book title. My daughter actually helped with this one.  And although this is a very well know story among the family, it is not one that I had ever scrapbooked.  Love that this story (how my college roommate and I married brothers and live near each other and have kids that are cousins!) finally got a layout of its own.

I love using my kits from the Scrap Room ( www.scrap-room.com ) because they always seem to combine papers that I like together.  Although I admit on this layout I cut strips and used both the front and backsides of the papers and mixed and matched them, so it may not really be recognizable - which is another reason I like the kits.  They can be used with the included recipe card or used as a starting point and everyone's layout is going to be completely different.

I hope a "series of fortunate events" occurs for you today!

Leslie

A Do-Over!

For some reason this layout gave me trouble.  I think I got stuck on wanting to use the paper, embellishments, and ticket stubs (ephemera - the "fancy" scrapbook term for all the memorabilia we collect on trips) and couldn't seem to get it all to balance.  I actually re-did one of the pages after I had decided it was done because it was just bothering me.  Not sure if it really made a difference, but it made me feel better.  So now it is officially done and I'm not changing it.

Can you spot the differences?

I added the teal background on the left hand page and added touches of it on the right side.  I felt like it "tightened" it up and balanced it better.   Probably not a big deal either way, but it made me feel better to "fix" it.

Hope you can be balanced today!

Leslie