Road Trip {CSI Case File No. 174}

We've just opened a new Case File at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration.

Tracee and I made another page for our book called Tracee and Debbi's Epic Adventures part 2. Here's my page. Clues I used... Evidence: globe, travel accents, chevrons, tape measure, hinges, metal, leaves, something woven, mesh, stitching, buttons, starburst. Testimony: Document something about a location.

I used a sketch from Stuck? Sketches. I flipped elements on the sketch horizontally to form a visual triangle with the bold brown elements on my page.

Here are some details. My background paper is a Dear Lizzy paper. I used a stencil from The Crafter's Workshop and some texture paste mixed with a little white and blue acrylic paint. The brown cut files are from The Cut Shoppe.  The geotag came from the Round Up set and the title came from the Here and There set. The green stripe paper is really old, by Wild Asparagus. The globe was cut from an Echo Park paper, as was the chevron paper. The labels are also really old, by Fontwerks. I loved their labels. The tape measure rub-on is by 7Gypsies, and the tiny dot stamp is by Kaiser Craft.

Some more cut files from The Cut Shoppe--this is from The Happy Camper set. I found a hinge that I've had in my stash for eons, and I also rescued some mesh that has been sitting in my stash for ages. The phrase stickers are by 7Gypsies.

You should come see what the rest of the team and guest designers made, and you'll want to play because we have lots of prizes up for grabs.

Brothers from Another Mother {Just for Fun!}

I had a snow day, and my good friend Tracee Provis and I were scrapping together via Skype (she's on the other side of the Atlantic from me. We decided it would be fun to enter a challenge--just for the fun of it--since we're both always so busy scrapping for DT work. You can see Tracee's page here.

So here's what we found...

This cool sketch from Grand Diva's Creative Corner:

This bright, happy color palette from Kelly's Creating With Paper & More:

And this fun Tic-Tac-Toe challenge from Through the Eyes of Rochelle. Such a clever challenge! You have to pick three in a row, but I decided to go for a triple tic-tac-toe and use all of the items.

So here's my page. That's my husband and brother-in-law. Dan always says Farzad's his "brother from another mother," hence the title.

Here are some details. I used lots of different patterns on here. The background paper is American Crafts. Other papers: Lily Bee (green polka dots); Studio Calico (green triangle); Sassafras Lass (green grid); October Afternoon (turquoise); American Crafts (speech bubbles); Jillibean Soup (red polka dots).

The black Dymo-tape-looking stickers are super old and are by Pebbles. The wooden stars are Studio Calico.

"Brothers" is a Silhouette cut file. The little wooden men are by Studio Calico. Dan is super-tall and Farzad is on the short side, which is why I chose those two different sizes. There's an enamel dot inside the O for the tic-tac-toe box. And of course you can see the mini-alphas from another tic-tac-toe box.

The little camera was cut out of a Webster's Pages paper. I added a rhinestone for the "something that sparkles" on the tic-tac toe box.

These cool flair pins are by A Flair for Buttons. I love their buttons!

It was super fun playing with these challenges, and I'm sure I'll be visiting these girls' challenges again!

Delight {Case File No. 133}

I'm behind on my blog posts, but I wanted to get this up anyway. I love the colors on this happy CSI Case File (August is Happiness Happens Month, and when I saw this image, I knew it would be perfect for a Case File):

I found the perfect picture of my best friend's daughter and her sweet little Ezra on her facebook page.

I used all scraps on this page, and almost everything is really old. Clues I used...Evidence: polka dots, animal, flowers, flair pin, paint/watercolor; Testimony: Delight, how-to list (the sticker on the left seemed like a how-to-list for achieving delight.

I used this sketch from Laura Whitaker to inspire my page design:

Here are some details. I made the background by spritzing ink on my craft mat, dipping a piece of plastic bag in the ink and smushing it onto my paper and then I used a Crafter's Workshop stencil with stamp ink and did some extra stamping.

Those goofy whales and the hearts are old K&Co stickers. I used a scrap of Ki Memories lace paper. I can always count on finding BasicGrey letter stickers in my stash to match my colors. The "i adore you" is a rub-on."

The hearts below are from that same sticker set as the whales. The flair button is by TwoPeas, I think. the piece underneath with the text is a half of a sticker by Christina Cole (really, really old--maybe a decade old)--the other half is on the bottom right.

I cut the heart out on my Silhouette Cameo.

Here's the other half of that Cristina Cole sticker--the flowers for my Evidence clue.

Even though the Case File is closed, you are still welcome to play and add your page to the Gallery, and be sure to go see all the gorgeous pages by the design team and guest designers.

Wonder {Scrap Africa Guest Designing}

Have you heard of Scrap Africa? It's an awesome scrapbook challenge with an amazing design team for inspiration. They feature a sketch challenge at the beginning of the month, plus an additional challenge mid-month. I'm so excited and honored that Denise van Deventer invited me to be a guest at this wonderful site this month!

Here's the sketch I got to work with:

And here is the page I made. Recently, my friend's mom died, and I've begun a scrapbook for her. My friend's daughter gave me a flashdrive with a bunch of photos, and I just thought these were the sweetest pictures.

I wanted to use the nature colors to go with the quote I was planning to use and also pull in blues to go with the blues in the pictures. I happened upon these old Scenic Route papers and paired them with a newer Echo Park paper (the blue in the background).

Here are a few details. That doily shape in the background was cut out with my Silhouette Cameo. How I love those Scenic Route leaves, and how sad I'll be when I use up the last of them. That was one of my favorite paper companies.

The photograph on the bottom was super dark. As I lightened it, it lost a lot of the color, so I decided I'd change that one to black and white.

This sweet little fabric birdhouse button  is by Colorbok. The butterflies were punched out of an old SEI paper.

Go check out what the awesome Scrap Africa team made, and I hope you'll play along. This was a fun, versatile sketch. They have a great giveaway up for grabs too!

Just Because {Creative Scrappers Book!}

Have you heard? Kristine Davidson just published another eBook with her fabulous Creative Scrappers sketches! The book has 60 pages, 56 designers and 125 brand-new sketches and is full of wonderful inspiration. The eBook is available now, and the printed book is available for preorder.

I am fortunate to be a part of this awesome publication. Here is my page. I usually like to scrap stories, but when I was looking for a picture, I came across this one of Farzad...it's one of my favorite pictures, and it's going into an album of favorite photos.

Here are some details.I used a combination of BasicGrey and My Mind's Eye papers on this page, as well as Echo Park (the viewmaster reels). That little love flag is an old Pebbles tag sticker that I cut into a flag shape. I used a Crafter's Workshop template and texture paste to make the diamonds.

Some hand-cut hearts...

The arrows were cut with my Silhouette Cameo and mounted on pop dots.

A little Studio Calico wooden arrow.

I always admired how Lilith Eeckels uses the lose thread on her pages, and I thought I'd give it a try. The scalloped border was made with an EK Success border punch.

Now for something special for you...Kristine has generously given us a promo code to give to friends!  Go to the Creative Scrappers Store  to order your e-book, and enter in code: CWS2Discount  and you will receive $2.00 off of the cost of the book! Tell Kristine that Debbi sent you.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and reading about my page!

I ❤ Tea {CSI Case File No. 54}

Case File No. 54 is open for investigation at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration. And because it's CSI's birthday, we have another surprise to share this week. We are excited to announce that CSI is collaborating with Page Drafts! The brilliant Em Stafrace is joining our team as Composite Sketch Artist, and every second week of the month, she is making an awesome sketch exclusively for our Case Files!

Here is this week's Case File:

I am so blessed to have so many talented folks helping me to make CSI the awesome site that it is. Speaking of talented folks, look at the cool printables Michele made for us this week. I used lots of them for my page this week.

Here's my page. I decided to document my love (obsession) with tea. I used a Crafter's Workshop template to add chevrons with embossing powder. It looks really cool in real life, but I hate the way it photographed.

Clues I used: Evidence: tickets, polka dots, text pattern, string, teacup accent; Testimony: collage words, handwritten journaling (on the tag), inspiration word tea.

My journaling tucked behind my picture reads: It's true. I absolutely love hot tea. I drink it all day long at home. I love collecting tea so that I have lots of choices, depending on my mood. I have at least 75 varieties in my pantry. I use my Perfect Tea Maker from Teavana and add Silk Light soy milk and Splenda. So, so very yummy.

Here are some closeups. I love this teacup with the quote that Michele made for our Coordinates. I added some pearls to jazz it up. I printed my Coordinates on photo paper this week to make the colors more saturated.

These tickets are also in the Coordinates, and I thought they'd be fun as my banner from the sketch. Thanks, Tracee, for suggesting the brads on the banner. I used yellow vellum underneath the word tea.

The bumpy paper is just some old yellow paper run through my Cuttlebug with an embossing folder. The striped paper is by My Mind's Eye, the black text print is 7 Gypsies, and the kraft polka dot paper is really old Making Memories paper. The chipboard letters are BasicGrey.

The fabric polka dot brad is by Colorbok. I added some more pearls to the quotes.

Michele made a whole sheet of really cool collage words, and I found the perfect words for my page.

Come see all the fantastic and varied interpretations of this Case File by the team and guest designers, and come play with us--lots of excitement this birthday month at CSI!

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog and reading about my page!

Sure {CSI Case File No. 53}

Case File No. 53 is open for investigation at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration.

I was looking through pictures that would work with this palette and came across this picture of Farzad and me from when we were dating. I decided to try the oneword prompt for my Testimony. Basically, you click the button, the site gives you a word, and you have to write for a minute until the timer goes off. My word was "sure" and this is what I came up with. For my evidence, I chose flowers, metal, pleating, fabric (brads) and scallops.

I used a sketch from Sketchbook365.

Here are some closeups.I cut the doilies with my new Silhouette cameo. Still trying to get the hang of the blade settings. That yellowish flower on my page is more of a beige in real life. The butterfly is a Cheery Lynn Designs die. That fabric brad with the hearts is BasicGrey. The leaves are by Cottage Cutz, I think.

I learned how to make the box pleats from Susan Stringfellow. I found the gray striped paper at Mel Stampz blog and printed it on white Bazzill.

I used BasicGrey's LilyKate papers, which were perfect--they had the green, blue, lavendar, and pink in this collection. The green paper is by Autumn Leaves. Lots of old stuff on my page!

Here's my journaling.

You must go check out what the rest of the team and our guest designers did with this lovely Case File. And be sure to play along because Pink Paislee is our January sponsor, and the entire Secret Crush collection is up for grabs!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and reading about my page!