A Trip To Chimney Rock

Good morning! I'm back today with a vacation layout. 

Chimney Rock is one of the most iconic sites in North Carolina, offering sweeping views of the mountains and gorge. So when my parents bought a new RV this year and wanted to take a trip, the first place we went was to Chimney Rock State Park. 

I took this photo of Cory and my parents at the base of the park in the shade of the trees. 

I used my October kit from My Creative Scrapbook to make this layout. The kit's theme was family and that was perfect for this photo. I don't worry too much about the papers being matchy matchy with my photo. Mom is wearing a pink floral summer shirt and I just ignored that! I used the papers instead to bring out the Fall colors from the photo. 

I wanted to add a bit of strip journaling to the page. I typed a couple of short sentences on the computer, printed them out, then took a small piece of aqua paper from the kit and placed it over the journaling. I used washi to temporarily hold the aqua paper in place, then ran the paper through my printer again. 

I used a paper trimmer to cut the journaling strips then placed them on my layout. 

The bottom third of my layout are just strips of border paper from the kit. Easy peasy. This is from the cute Family Frenzy line from Bella Blvd. 

The border strips give the layout a fun pop of color. 

Here's a photo of the kit I used from My Creative Scrapbook: 

Here's one more look at the layout: 

Thank you for stopping by. Have a great week!

My Creative Scrapbook Reveal: iPad Fans

Hello everyone. Happy October!

Today, I have a layout documenting my young son's iPad love. He was just 3 years old here and no matter how many toys he had, he loved the iPad best!

I made this layout using the new October kit from My Creative Scrapbook. The kit was family-themed, combining the Family Frenzy collection from Bella Blvd and The Story of our Family from Echo Park Paper. 

I made the base of this layout using the front and back of one sheet of paper called "Around the Block" from Bella Blvd.  The houses are the front and the yellow pattern is the back. 

I used my trimmer to carefully cut out a large square of yellow and used kraft cardstock to hide the cut marks. 

Once I had my base, I layered other papers from the kit and created a colorful mat for my photos. 

Below is a photo of the kit I used: 

Here's one more look at the layout: 

You can find all the kits from My Creative Scrapbook on its website.

Thanks for stopping by!

The Sea & Me: Anatomy of a Layout

Hello and happy Friday!  I'm back today with a summer layout from the June kit at My Creative Scrapbook. 

This kit featured the Color Chaos collection from Bella Blvd and I really loved the fun mix of colors and patterns. 

I started the page using the pretty blues as my base, cut down to 11 x 11 inches, layering them on kraft paper. I loved the script paper but wanted to make it a bit softer, so I added a layer of vellum on top. It gave kind of a dreamy look, which I liked. I stitched the vellum, script paper and kraft together, then added the other layers. 

I created a photo mat with the star paper, added a photo, and tucked a journaling tag underneath. I added some pops of black to ground the layout. 

Here's one more look: 

Thanks so much for stopping by. You can find more information about the monthly kits offered by My Creative Scrapbook on its website here.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Love These Rascals

Good morning!

My son is in kindergarten and I tried to visit and volunteer whenever I could to document his first year of school. 

I worked a station at the school's Field Day last month and grabbed these shots of Cory with his best friend. Those two!  Always goofing around. 

I used the June kit from My Creative Scrapbook and a series of snapshots for this layout.  I mounted the photos on white cardstock then created a large photo mat underneath it, tucking in scraps of paper for a punch of color and patterns. I added a 3 x 4 card to the upper left for balance and a title to the bottom and called it good. Sometimes I just want a quick scrapbook page and I like a simple design like this. 

I'll be back on Friday with a beach layout. I appreciate your stopping by!

Take Me Out To The Ball Game: A Baseball Layout

Happy Monday!  I hope you had a great weekend. It was gorgeous here. Yay for summer!

Of course, baseball is the perfect summer activity.  We went to cheer on our local triple A team a couple weeks ago and I snapped these cute pics. 

I paired my photos with the fun patterns and icons of Bella Blvd's Color Chaos collection, which was featured in the new June kit at My Creative Scrapbook. Though the kit wasn't baseball themed, the colors worked well with the photos. 

Under the photos, I added a journaling block and a line of various Lsized banners. 

There you have it: a baseball layout. My first, I think.

Originally, I was going to make some handmade baseball embellishments, but in the end, I decided to go with the lively vibe of the banners and the fun pops of color. I think it captures the overall feeling of the day without being theme-y. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you have a great week!

Documenting Everyday Life: My Creative Scrapbook

Good morning!  

It's reveal day at My Creative Scrapbook and I loved the fun, colorful papers and embellishments in the June kit. 

I have been holding onto this photo for awhile. Though taken on the Fourth of July, I knew I wanted to use this picture to document a story from our everyday life. 

My son loves American flags.  He began to really notice them at a young age and when he was a preschooler, he came up with a game to play in the car: to count American flags as we passed them. We have played this game hundreds of times and he is usually the first to spy a flag. He has keen observation skills, which led to his nickname, Sharp Eye. You can't get anything pass that kid!

I journaled the story under my photo. I just ran regular paper through the printer in landscape mode. Nothing fancy, but it accomplished my goal. 

I added a few embellishments to the left of the photo, including a flag pole made from a long Q-tip I got at the cosmetic counter of our local department store. 

This kit primarily featured the Color Chaos collection from Bella Blvd. I've long been a fan of this particular manufacturer and I had a great time putting together layouts with this kit. 

You can find information about all the kits offered by My Creative Scrapbook on its website.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful weekend!

Animal Cards: Bella Blvd

I'm sharing a couple cards today made with Bella Blvd that were published in recent issues of CARDS magazine. 

First up is a sweet baby card:

This is a shaped card connected at the top of the trunk and the top of the elephant's back.  I don't often make shaped cards, but this one was fun to do. 

I made the elephant's tail using a piece of twill ribbon from May Arts and used some floral paper and pom pom trim to make a blanket. 

Second is a birthday or celebration card:

The frog and gift are chipboard icons from separate collections.  To have the frog holding the gift, I added little frog hands cut from patterned paper. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. 

Happy Thanksgiving: Bella Blvd

[For the twine hop and giveaway, please see this post. ]

Oh, how quickly the holidays roll around! I can hardly believe that this Thursday is Thanksgiving. I made a quick little card to celebrate.

To make this card, I used some scraps from the Bella Blvd Thankful line and a simple design. I stitched the rows of patterned paper across the card, then added chipboard and little pennants.

To make the pennants, I added word stickers to some plain Bella flags in my stash.  To curl the twine for tendrils on the pumpkin, I wet the twine with a glue medium, then wrapped the twine around a pencil.  When the glue was dry, I unwrapped the twine and it sprung back into a curlicue shape. Easy!

If you'd like to win some twine, be sure to check out last Saturday's post.  I'm giving away 4 colors of holiday twine.  Entries close tomorrow night and the winner will be announced here on Wednesday.

To my American friends, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Thanks so much, everyone, for stopping by.

Big Welcome: Baby Card With Twine Fringe

I'm sometimes asked what is my favorite type of card to make. I usually say thank you cards, but I've been having a change of heart lately. I think baby cards might be my favorite.  Like a sweet baby, a sweet baby card is hard to resist.

For this card, I used Bella Bvld and fussy cut a giraffe from patterned paper. I added a tuft of twine fringe to his neck using Trendy Twine's Orange Truffle. To make the fringe, I made a series of loops, placed very tightly together on the underside of the giraffe's neck.

After I had all the loops, I turned the giraffe over and cut off the loops to make fringe, trimming the the twine to the desired length.

Here's a closeup of the fringe:

Trendy Twine is hosting a "thankful" challenge this month and we'd love to see your entries. There's a great prize up for grabs. You can find out all the details on this post.  You have until Nov. 30 to link your project.  For more ideas on how to use twine, please visit the Trendy Twine blog.

The Bella Buzz: Featured Project

We are hunkered down here on the East coast. I was so happy to wake up to power and heat today. It's cold and rainy here and some areas are flooded. This Frankenstorm is no fun.

But there is a bright spot to today:  the new Bella Buzz is out.

The Bella Blvd newsletters features some amazing projects from the design team as well as some fan projects, including one from yours truly.

My featured project is this one below, which I made with the October kit from My Creative Scrapbook.  My fellow MCS designer and friend, Alicia Giess, also has a project in this newsletter.

I used the Thankful collection for this layout. Even though this isn't a Fall-themed page, the neutral colors of this line worked well with these summer photos.

You can find the link to the Bella Bvld newsletter and giveaway here on the Bella blog. 

At The Patch: Paper Pieced Pumpkins

Some of my favorite photos each year are from our visits to the local pumpkin patch.  Even though we often have a long Indian Summer here in the South, it seems like it's officially Fall once the pumpkins are out.

Bella Blvd's Thankful line, which was included in the My Creative Scrapbook kit, was perfect for scrapbooking our pumpkin patch visit.  The collection has this fun paper that features a variety of trees with pumpkins sitting underneath. Cuteness! 

Pumpkins embellishments are really easy to make. I went old-school here and paper pieced them. I started by roughly sketching two pumpkins - one tall, one fat - on kraft paper to use as my base. I cut out the kraft shapes then traced them onto patterned paper.

I added a little machine stitching around the edges, then embellished the pumpkins with stickers, button and twine.

To curl the twine, I used glue to wet it, then wrapped the twine around a straw to dry.  Once dry, I uncurled the twine from the straw. The twine "remembers" the shape and springs back into a curlicue.  I used Trendy Twine here in Holly. I have a tutorial on how to curl twine here.

For more information on the monthy kits at My Creative Scrapbook, please visit the homepage.  Thanks so much for stopping by.  I'll be back on Thursday with a Halloween treat.

Happy World Card Making Day!

Hello and happy Saturday. It's a great day for papercrafters, especially card makers. Today we have our own holiday, World Card Making Day.

I am thankful for all of you, my crafty friends and blog readers. Thank you for stopping by, for encouraging me, for inspiring me, for making me laugh, for making my day better.  I appreciate it so much.

This card is for you. 

Supplies:

CS: American Crafts

PP: Bella Blvd

Stickers: Bella Blvd

Flower: Prima

Twine: Trendy Twine

Punch: Martha Stewart

Ink: Ranger

Sewing Machine: Bernina

Cardboard:  Canvas Corp

Kit: My Creative Scrapbook 

October Reveal: Fair Fun & Gather Round

I love the Fall season and Fall collections. I was so excited to see Bella Blvd's Thankful line spotlighted in the October kit at My Creative Scrapbook. 

I found this line to be so versatile. used this collection for a non-Thanksgiving, non-Fall page.  On a beautiful (hot!) September day, my family went to the county fair.  It was a great outing. I thought my son, age 3, would be most excited about the animals. And while he did love them, what he really had his eyes on - and his heart set on - were the prizes on the Midway. 

I took this trio of photos, sized them to match the "love life" journaling card in the Thankful collection, and used them as the focal point of my layout. 

Since the colors in this collection are pretty neutral, it's easy to use Thankful with non Fall layouts.  Below is a closeup of the page top.  

Of course, this Bella Blvd' line is perfect for Fall themed layouts. I particularly liked the Thanksgiving theme that ran through this aptly named Thankful collection.  It turned out to be just perfect for scrapbooking a collage of photos from our family gathering last year.

On this layout, I numbered each photo, then journaled directly on the patterned paper below the collage. To do so, I first tested the placement of the journaling on regular printer paper. Then, I cut a strip of patterned paper slightly larger than the journaling area, taped the patterned paper strip on top, and ran the paper through the printer again.

Here's a closeup of that cute turkey. It was part of the "Cute Cuts" sheet in the collection.  The heart button is also Bella Blvd and was included in the kit.

Here's a photo of the kit I worked with, the Creative kit.

 
My Creative Scrapbook has several kits to choose from each month.  You can see all the kits on the MCS website. I'll be back next week with more projects with this kit.

We are also giving away this terrific prize package on Monday of papers and embellishments from Webster's Pages, featured in our Limited Edition kit.

To enter the drawing to win this prize (pictured above), just leave a comment on the My Creative Scrapbook blog by midnight EST on Sunday.  We'll announce the winner on Monday, Oct. 8.

Have a great weekend!