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Thursday, June 30, 2011

Sunshine

Well...its time to post my very last layout as a Design Team member for Scrapbooking From the Inside Out.

It is somehow fitting that my last theme would be OPTIMISM and that my last layout would be SUNSHINE!!

SFTIO has certainly been a way for me to let the sunshine into my life...it got me thinking deep and hard about some things.

It got me onto my own scrapbook pages...something my boys may treasure one day.

It helped me to define what certain things have meant to me.

And this amazing community of scrapbookers have been my on line friends and supporters for the last year...and they are COOL!

This last layout seems to sum it up nicely for me:


My little clouds are a combo of Marshmallow Tattered Angels Mist and white paint:


Keep your eyes peeled for SFTIO layouts from the NEW design team. They are an amazing group of ladies:

Melissa Elsner - who is also the DT coordinator
Pamela Palmarini
Laura Croft
Jamie Long
Mette Kallander

And stay tuned here too...I have some mischief up my sleeve!

Peace, ya'll!

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Another Counterfeit Kit

Still working on getting some kits ready for the Creating Keepsakes Convention at the end of August.

I love the Studio Calico Over the Moon Kit for June:


Here is my take:



I tried to get a very close approximation for each paper from my own stash. I subbed journaling cards from Simple stories for the Smash Pad and library pockets for the Smash Pockets.

Here is what is in this one:

Printed Cardstock:
Basic Grey Life Life of the Party How You’ve Grown
Pink Paislee Hometown Summer Green Acres
Simple Stories 100 Days of Summer Simple Pleasures
Simple Stories 100 Days of Summer Hello Sunshine
Studio Calico Elementary Penmanship
Jillibean Soup Atomic Soup Bunch of Matter
Prima Shabby Chick Apricot Tree
October Afternoon Fly a Kite Fireflies
Teresa Collins Freestyle Stars

Cardstock:
Paperbilities Cream
Paperbilities Kraft
Bazzill Carob
Bazzill Powder Blue
Bazzill Lizard

Embellishments:
American Crafts Thickers Gift Box Craft
Crate Paper Toy Box Collection Borders
Making Memories Teal Ledge Tiny Alphas
Jillibean Soup Arrows Corrugated Shapes
7gypsies tags
BoBunny Ad Lib Buttons
Simple Stories Vertical Journaling Card Elements
Misc Library Pockets

Every time I do one of these I'm surprised at how much I have in my stash that approximates what is in the kits that appeal to me.

I guess I'm fairly consistent in what I choose for scrapping supplies!!!

Now, just for sketches and photos to go with.

Peace!

Monday, June 27, 2011

Monday Muse the One with the Cool Tile

This is a little ditty from Kismet Tile. I'm not entirely sure I'm hip and modern enough for this, but it is certainly cool.


There is a lot to be inspired about here.

The colors. The MIX of colors.

The shape of these tiles.

The idea of rethinking something ages old to make it fit a modern aesthetic.

Its just a cool little muse.

Peace, ya'll!

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Counterfeit Kit

Better late than never, I've finally done my version for the June Counterfeit Kit Challenge.

I'm building kits for the Creating Keepsakes Convention at the end of August. I know it seem early, but I've 10 hours of cropping to think about, so I'm building kits and putting together my pictures and sketches now, as I come across a few hours in my week that isn't full of work or summer fun.

So...this month, the inspiration kit was from Burlap and Buttercups..


Honestly, the kit was a little too flowery and pastel for me and what I intend to scrap at the convention. SO, I concentrated on the idea of green, teal, yellow and pink...and the fabulous Dotted Swiss cardstock they put into the kit. I have TONS of it that I purchased at a huge discount.

Here is my take:




Kit contents include:

Printed Cardstock:
Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday Tuesday
Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday Saturday
Simple Stories 100 Days of Summer 100% Summer Fun
Webster’s Pages Spring Rain
Making Memories Ledger Bookkeeper
Crate paper Neighborhood Collection Picnic
Crate paper Neighborhood Collection Friendly
Crate paper Neighborhood Collection Picnic
Crate paper Neighborhood Collection Visit
Crate paper Neighborhood Collection Garden

Cardstock:
Bazzill Dotted Swiss Blissful
Bazzill Dotted Swiss Butter
Bazzill Dotted Swiss Mud Puddle
Bazzill Cardstock Lagoon
Paperbilities Cream
Paperbilities Kraft

Embellishments:
Handmade dimensional Bees
Studio Calico Elementary Cardstock Aplha stickers
Simple Stories 100 Days of Summer Fundamentals Cardstock Stickers

Pink Paislee Hometown Summer Banner Sticker
7gypsies Avignon Paper Tape
Sassafras Spring Sprout Blossoms
My Minds Eye Market Street “Love” brads
Bazzill Navajo pom pom trim

Now to find the right pictures and sketches to dig into this!!

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Like A Seed

Sometimes, when I'm working through the ideas for a Scrapbooking From the Inside Out kit, I just don't have the pictures to reflect what I'm thinking.

The OPTIMISM kit was no exception.

I kept thinking that there is nothing more optimistic than a seed - it dies to itself in order to be born again into the sunlight.

And if you've ever watched seeds sprout, you know that once they break that shell, the sprouts shoot up and grow very quickly into something sun and water seeking.

This idea inspired me, but what to do without a picture?

Well...

Just scrap without it:


I love the fabric flower...I made it using one of the tutorials found HERE


And those little BALLOONS are so cute!! I painted mine with plain old water colors:


Its not perfect, but we don't do perfection here! lol

Have you ever had an idea and no pictures to work with?

How do you deal with this in your art?

Peace, ya'll!!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

More SMASHing...

I already mentioned the Counterfeit Kit Challenge post about the Smash Books .

You can see my first smash book HERE.

I mentioned that I would be doing this for some friends to use as journals for the Creating Keepsakes Convention we are going to in August.

This time, I slightly modified a really good tutorial by Francine Clouden for a peek-a-boo spiral back.

I made my cover a bit differently, using two wide strips of adhesive fabric paper attached to together with the front and back covers sandwiched in between. There is about a 1/2 inch overlap of cover on either side of the fabric spine. I like the way the binding looks and the fabric paper seems less likely to tear with the opening and closing of the covers.

One of my friends loves green and the other likes red...mine is the orange one...


As with my other home-made smash book, there are a lot of things included that have been hanging around my studio a while - there are some random pockets (each of these has random goodies in them, so they are not exactly the same) and envelopes...


The first section - Sketches - has just got plain paper in it for easy sketching. The second section Notes/Quotes, I used various lined papers and journal tags.


There is also notebook paper cut to size with graph on one side and lines on the other.


The Fun Stuff section has various scrapbook papers and tags:


Old maps and lots of things that were in my scrap section (remarkable how many papers I had in my scrap bin that could accommodate an 8 1/2 by 5 1/2 page size!)


I used some old music too...(and didn't realize until now how similar thetwo scrapbook papers in the above shot and below are!!!)


I've not decided yet if I'm adding the Smash Pen. I've been toying with adding the Pioneer Glue Stick Pen and a Sharpie Twin Tip Permanent Marker instead.

Does anyone know of another pen-shaped glue stick? I'm not looking for the liquid glue pen because they get so messy...I'm really looking for a stick.

Have a BEAUTIFUL DAY, everyone!!!

Peace.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Vacation Recap.

WARNING!!! PHOTO HEAVY!!!

Its been two weeks and its time I did a bit of a recap.

I'm not one to be like that couple you know who invite you over to show you all the photos of their trip with the very long and detailed description of each and every picture....

But I will give you some highlights.

Most of the trip looked like this:





BUT, then we got to Grandma and Grandpa's and there was some of THIS:


Courtesy of Aunt Kellie:


There was this tree, which the boys thought was a bit odd...and then kinda fun:


There was a little bird in a birds nest....she had six eggs under there we found out.


There was gardening with Grandma:


Notice Grandma is the only one actually gardening?


Noah preferred getting in and out of the yard chairs.


And Jayden wanted to "make soup"


Noah's favorite place was this desk...he would drag it out into the main room and just sit there, coloring or playing...


There were obligatory Paul Bunyan and Babe pictures...


A little perspective on the size of those things...


Noah discovered the joy of puddle spashing...


There was tent set up in the yard...


Some boat driving...


A life jacket that made Noah "turtle" every time he left a standing position...


There was fishing, but no fish were caught...


Snacking...


And Jayden pointed out one of these...


Wait, let me get you a better look at what that is...do you see it?


There was some of this...I'm not exactly sure what that is, but they were having fun...


We made beautiful sidewalk pictures...


Roasted hot dogs over a bonfire...


Had some smores to go with...


Or...fruit, depending upon how old you were...


There was a campfire version of the Cremation of Sam McGee...


And Auntie snuggling...


And about a 30 minute camping trip...but more on that later....


All in all, a GREAT visit...though we DO wish it had been warmer...

Peace, ya'll!!

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Possibility

I don't think I could ever explore a topic like Optimism without thinking of my husband Scott.

He's one of the most optimistic people I know...He really sees what is good in a situation and he really believes that no matter what happens, it will all be a blessing.

He is also a master at the Babe Ruth School of thought. You know about Babe Ruth right?

Babe Ruth was a World Series Champion 7 times, he has been named both the Greatest Baseball Player of the 20th Century and the Greatest Baseball Player of ALL TIME. They call him the "Sultan of Swat".

That little nickname is important. You see, he is quoted as saying “Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.” Translation? He swung at A LOT. 714 home runs - that 3rd on the list of baseball players OF ALL TIME. 2213 runs batted in (RBI) - 2nd of baseball players OF ALL TIME. In fact, though he played Major League Baseball from 1914 to 1935, two of his batting records STILL stand today, more than 75 years later.

BUT Babe Ruth also happens to hold the dubious distinction of having 1330 career strike outs. Its not the TOP number of strike outs - 95th of all time, he was remarkably proficient with a bat - BUT it still points to one thing: if you don't swing, you can't hit. and if you don't swing BIG, you can't hit BIG. In fact, Babe Ruth said that! He said, "I swing big, with everything I've got. I hit big or I miss big. I like to live as big as I can."

And my husband Scott has sort of the same philosophy...swing and miss, or swing and hit, but swing...at everything...and SWING BIG.

He has taught me the art of POSSIBILITY:

And I can't think of anything more appropriate than that to use the Scrapbooking From the Inside Out OPTIMISM kit for:


I really really really could not choose which of those gorgeous Basic Grey papers to scrap with, so I used them all (hee hee). I misted gently with Smooch Spritz to pull up the pink in the papers and tie them more firmly together.

Then did some fussy cutting and worked in this gorgeous resin flowers and butterfly safety pins.


When you think of optimism, who is it that comes to mind for you? Who do you admire for their ability to see the good in the world and to believe that all that happens is a blessing?!?!?!

Peace, ya'll!