Christmas Memories | Digital Layout

Hey there! During the past few weeks two of the designers I work for, Karla Dudley and Shannon McNab (of Scotty Girl Designs), have transitioned from Pixels and Company to their new home at The Digital Press. I will continue to work for both designers at their new store, and I have a layout finished using one of Karla's new kits, Gilded. 

The templates in this kit are super cute and easy to work with. I used one of my favorite photos from this holiday season and wrote up a quick little blurb about Jack's first hot cocoa experience.

  

The gold foil accents in this kit are so pretty! I love the big star & star button. 

Most of my December photos will make it into my December Memories album, which I will finish when the boys and I fly home early next week. I'm anxious to finish it... I had a great time working on it this year. We did so many fun holiday activities that I was able to document in a cute little album.

You can check out Karla's products here and Scotty Girl Designs' here.  

Make sure to check out the two new releases from Chickaniddy Crafts! 365 and Yippee are debuting at CHA this year. I can't wait to start working with these new collections! You can see 365 here and Yippee here. 

Paper Smooches Sparks | Designer Drafts Challenge

Good morning! I am so happy to be sharing a card today. Mark, the kids, and I have been on vacation for the past week and I've really enjoyed unplugging (and stepping away from my studio) for a bit, but I miss posting here! Breaks are great, but I feel so disconnected from the "crafty world" when my blog is neglected. 

This week's Paper Smooches Sparks challenge is Designer Drafts. I love sketch challenges. :) 

When I was packing for our trip to Washington, I included a big box of Paper Smooches stamp sets. I hate feeling limited, and I am so glad I packed a ton of sets. I have been working on my December Memories album for the past month, plus a ton of Christmas and holiday cards, so I was in the mood to create something non-holiday. 

I pulled out three Paper Smooches stamp sets for my card: Little Fella, Seeing Stars, and Teen Routine. I used a variety of blue and green inks for the "teen" images, and black Memento ink for the sentiment.

I am so sorry the photograph is not great... the one thing I forgot at home was my big camera. Whoops. I will hopefully pull out Evan's camera and get a better picture tomorrow. 

**ETA I have uploaded a new photo. Thanks for understanding! 

Make sure to check out the rest of the design team and their cards!

Alice

Lisa

Jenny

Savannah

CAS(E) this Sketch | Challenge #104

This week's CAS(E) this Sketch challenge is up and I had a little time last night to play along. I pulled out my Chickaniddy Crafts box and used some of the Jolly Good collection for my card.

Here's the sketch:

The floral patterned paper, text patterned paper, and Merry Christmas label are all from the Jolly Good collection. I used the Doily Detail die from Papertrey Ink for the green cardstock, and some buttons from my stash.

  

The kids and I are off to The Festival of Lights tonight. I love this time of year, but it's still hard for me to get into the holiday spirit when it's 74 degrees outside. I'm not complaining... the weather is absolutely gorgeous, but I still think "snow" when I think of Christmas. 

I posted some of my December Memories pages on my blog last night. You can see them here or scroll down.

Gossamer Blue | December Memories

Hello crafty friends! I have been working on my December Memories album religiously this year, and I wanted to share a few of my completed pages. I am using the Gossamer Blue December Memories kit and album.

I tried taking pictures of each page in the album, but the glare from the page protectors was horrible, so I took each page out and photographed it on a white background. 

About half of my pages are single page spreads, and half are double page spreads. I evaluated that based on the photos and story for each day. On December 8th, I made hot cocoa for the kids. The photos weren't great, because it was indoors at night, so I used a photoshop action to change them to black and white, then cropped them to 3x4 inches.

 

 

 My next page is another single page spread, without a photo. The boys and I went to a high school soccer game and I took photos, but my phone crashed and I had to do a factory reset, so I lost those photos. Fortunately the rest of my photos were found, but not Wednesday night's photos. I told the story, create the page, and called it a day. 

This next page is probably my favorite. The kids created Christmas ornaments for my mom's tree using kits I picked up at Michael's, and the look on Jack's face was priceless. He adores Christmas and had so much fun making something special for Grandma. Evan is usually reluctant to try new art projects, but he even got into it. 

I purchased the Merry Christmas gold washi from Target a couple of weeks ago. It is more like clear tape, but it looks so cool on photos. 

My last page is the traditional picture with Santa. We went to Bass Pro Shop for the photo rather than fight the crowds at the mall. The green banner is from the ephemera pack (included in the December Memories kit), along with the green vellum tag, number 12, and "Friday" sticker. 

I haven't completed a December Memories project since 2007, and I can't believe we only have a week left! Of course I ran out of printer ink tonight so I need to make a run to Target in the morning, but I am on track to get this album finished this year. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

October Afternoon | Thursday Sketch Challenge

** This is my second post of the day. To see this week's Retro Sketches card, click here. 

Surprise! Two posts from me today. I usually post as I create, but right now I actually have a backlog of projects that are photographed but I haven't shared. This layout is one of those projects. I created it a few weeks ago following this sketch from October Afternoon:

I admit that I'm a bit of a hoarder when it comes to October Afternoon products. They have some of my favorite collections of all time... The entire Snapshots line, Public Library, Midway, Woodland Park, Rocket Age. Their letter stickers and labels are awesome to work with. A few of the "deals" sites have had OA products recently and I've managed to pick up some of the newer lines. Don't even get me started on the Santa Sacks... oh how I love them! 

I'm not sure exactly which products I used on my layout... I just pulled out my "October Afternoon" bin and went to work. I mixed and matched patterns and colors until I was happy. Before adhering everything down, I spritzed the kraft cardstock with Heidi Swapp Navy Color Shine for a little texture.

The navy "instagrammed" tag and "{heart} this photo" tags are so cute and versatile. I printed out my journaling using the Rough Typewriter font onto Neenah Solar White cardstock. The black and white letters, in the title, are some of my most used and I ran out of letters for the word "library" (after I had placed them on the page, of course). Rather than remove all the letters, I pulled out my orange letters in the same font to finish off the title. 

A closer look at the title and the cute picture of my boys. We have so much fun during the summer visiting the library, and ours does a great job of providing fun activities for kids each week. Angry Birds day was definitely their favorite of the summer. 

A closer look at the strips of patterned paper, journaling, and "summer 2014" stickers. I added a few star enamel dots last... I wasn't sure if I wanted to include them, but now that the layout is finished, I'm glad I did. 

I've been creating a lot more traditional layouts lately and I'm not happy with my album system. I think it might be time to re-do my current system. I'll be checking out some blogs, looking for a new system between now and the end of the year. I would love to spend January organizing and purging my studio... the new year always makes me want to have a fresh start in my craft space.

Thanks for stopping by!

Retro Sketches | Challenge #145

Hi there! Today I have a card for this week's Retro Sketches challenge:

Tracey's original card uses Papertrey Ink's Daydreamer stamp set (LOVE this set), and I really like how the florals look using this design. I pulled out an older Papertrey Ink stamp set, Wishing You, for my card.

The dark pink patterned paper is from an older Studio Calico card kit, and I used a trio of enamel dots from My Mind's Eye. I used Memento Luxe and Avery Elle pigment ink to stamp the flowers, leaves/stems, and dragonfly. 

 Make sure to check out the Retro Sketches blog for more inspiration. Thanks for stopping by!

Gossamer Blue | On My Desk collection

Good morning! I have a CAS layout to share featuring one of Gossamer Blue's collections: On My Desk.

Do your kids ever do things just to make you laugh? Jack is one of those kids. He is a such a ham sometimes and loves doing goofy things to get a laugh, including wear my hats (and shoes). I have this straw hat that I use when we're at the beach, and he loves to wear it around the house. I tried to get him to stand still so I could get a decent picture, but every single one turned out slightly blurry. I decided to scrap it anyway... I love his big smile and the story behind it.

I used quite a few bits and pieces from the On My Desk collection: Stargazer patterned paper, enamel stars, wood veneer, ephemera pack, days of the week label stickers, and a 3x4 transparency. The tiny letter stickers are from Gramercy Road.

Here's a close up of the diagonal white striped transparency layered over the patterned paper. I tucked a notched tag, from the ephemera pack, under the dark gray slide frame. The light blue "you are magic" die cut is perfect for this picture. I feel that way about Jack on a daily basis. His quirky personality and ability to make me laugh are some of my favorite qualities of his. 

You can out of the rest of the On My Desk collection here. Thanks for stopping by!

ColourQ | Challenge #271

Hi there! I hope everyone is having a good week. I finished up my Christmas shopping today (yay!), and now I need to get everything wrapped. Target is my go-to spot for fun Christmas wrapping paper and I picked up three rolls yesterday. I hope it's enough... the boys were a little bit spoiled this year! 

Wednesday night I had a chance to create a card for this week's ColourQ Challenge #271:

I pulled out an older Simon Says Stamp kit, September's To Thine Own Shelf, for my card. The books, bookshelf, clock, and stacking boxes in this set are adorable! The sentiment is also from this set.

 

The patterned paper is from October Afternoon and the wooden dots are Teresa Collins. 

Check back tomorrow for a card for next week's Retro Sketches challenge, and a few pages from my December Memories album.

 

Gossamer Blue | December Release

Hi there! The December Gossamer Blue kits went live a few days ago and I wanted to share my project with you. Lori knocked it out of the park again this month and I had a blast working with all the bits and pieces... especially the Evalicious products. LOVE these!

First up is my Main Kit Only card. I used the gold foil "love love love" sticker with the "you" puffy sticker from Evalicious for my sentiment. I added a few feathers and a beautiful die cut flower, plus some enamel dots to finish it off.

I used the adorable tree stamp from the main kit for my next card. Three little trees, all lined up and colored with two shades of green Copic markers. I punched stars out of gold foil paper and added enamel dots from the Get Happy collection. Plaid enamel dots? Oh yes. I just ordered a second pack I love them so much. 

The last card I'm going to share is my "Life Pages Only" card. I die cut butterflies from several of the journaling cards, and backed them with solid vellum. I stamped the "for you" sentiment, from the Life Pages stamp set, with black memento ink. I added puffy stickers to the center of each butterfly and a few scattered across the card.

I'll be back next week with a few more December projects. You can check out this month's kits here. 

Have a great week! 

Paper Smooches Sparks | Anything Goes

 
Hello, hello! This week's Paper Smooches Sparks challenge is Anything Goes. I pulled out the Spectrum and Sentiment Sampler stamp sets, plus the Rainbow die for my card. How cute is that unicorn? It totally reminds me of the My Little Pony toys I had as a kid. One of my friends has a daughter who just turned nine, and this card is for her.

I die cut the rainbow from six pieces of cardstock (Papertrey Ink's Raspberry Fizz, Aqua Mist, silver foil, Sweet Blush, Hawaiian Shores, Hibiscus Burst). The unicorn was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored in with Copic markers. I added the sentiment from Sentiment Sampler, and some star gems from the November Freckled Fawn kit.

Make sure to check out the rest of the design team for more inspiration!

Alice

Jenny

Lisa

Savannah

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.

RetroSketches | Challenge #144

Good morning! Today I have a card for this week's Retro Sketches challenge. Here's the sketch:

I purchased the Paper Smooches Falling for You stamp set earlier this year, as well as the dies, and I pulled out both for today's card.

I used Spectrum Noir markers to color the monster after I stamped and die cut it. I stamped the sentiment onto a Studio Calico tag, and the puffy stickers are from my Studio Calico December Daily kit.

 

I hope you can play along with us this week! Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend. 

Thank You | Card

I have one more forgot-to-be-submitted card to share today. I love this flower set from Hero Arts, and I really wanted to use it as a silhouette against dark paper. 

I stamped the flowers onto teal cardstock with VersaMark ink, then embossed it with Zing embossing powder. I added gems to the center of each flower, the stamped a sentiment from Clearly Besotted's Label Love set. The butterflies are also from Hero Arts. 

Pretty and aqua and sparkly. All of my favorite things on one card. :)

The two gems, in the center of each butterfly, are from a Studio Calico kit that I found in the back of my closet... and I'm so glad I did! They are big, which are usually hard for me to use, but they are perfect on the blue butterflies. 

Have a wonderful Friday! Thanks for stopping by.