Love....Sweet & Lovely

I really love the trend of layers and that is where I take my scrapbooking most of the time, but lately I have been having fun just keeping it simple and these next two layouts really reflect that........

 

My children and I recently spent several days with my brother and his wife--something that has not happened in two years, so this pic is really special.  When deciding upon how I was going to approach this page, I knew I really wanted to keep the focus on my family.  With this in mind, I created simple layers and embellies and used a mask and my fave Mister Huey to draw the focus right to them.

Again, I went way simple.  I even had some help from Maleia who handed me the piece of lace after raiding my ribbon stash :-). 

 

I find it hard not to get caught up in what everyone is doing "now" and all the trends that seem to dominate scrapbooking galleries.  But lately I find myself more and more just doing what I really love and sometimes that is sweet and simple :-)

Michelle

 

Patterned Paper Challenge....

One of the March Challenges over at the Scraptastic Kit Club is to create a project using little or no cardstock and I played along, times two.....sort of :-).

Here is the layout I created specifically with the challenge in mind using one of their March kits .........

I almost felt like I was cheating since the background paper from Elle's Studio looks like a piece of kraft :-).  Absolutely love this kit by the way.  The primary colors are what really drew me in when selecting my kit for March and I am really enjoying playing with it.

Now, I mentioned I sort of had a second layout for the challenge and here it is.......

I said "sort of" because I actually had this done in February, way before the challenge, but wanted to throw it in as another example of a cardstock-less layout using another Scraptastic kit (this one is from February and it is AWESOME).

 

Wishing everyone a fun and busy weekend!

Michelle

Bubbles and Sunshine.....

Valentine's Day was a beautiful day this year and I will always remember it for the lovely sunshine and the new bottle of Minnie bubbles.......

I have seriously coveted this piece of woodgrain paper from Amy Tangerine forever and I was so stoked when it showed up in Citrus Twist's February kit.  I know it was not entirely original to fill in some of the chevron shapes with patterned paper, but I had to have one of my own layouts with just that :-). 

Something new that I have not done in awhile was handstitching. I gave it a go on this one with a super simple stitch straight across the paper.  LOL.  I know, not very life altering, but I get an A for effort!  I have to note though, that I used twine as opposed to embroidery floss and I am not too sure I will be doing that again.  The twine is thick, almost too thick.  I had to be super careful when pulling the twine through. 

Michelle

Sketchabilities #86....

Good morning!  Today, a few days early, is the reveal of Sketchabilities #86......

My lovely Maleia trying to have fun in the sand without looking at me.  LOL.  Little did she know I really just wanted to take pictures of her awesome beach hair!

Can I just say that Studio Calico's new lines from Winter CHA were just a dream to work with?!  Hands down this is their BEST release yet!  I was one of those psychos who haunted SC's site just waiting for their new products to arrive and when they did I hit buy!  I know, not so in line with my goal to acquire less product, but I will tell you that it was controlled buying.  I bought bits and pieces, not the whole lines, that I knew I would use.  And use them I did as you can tell!  (All products minus the AC Glitter Tape and Bazzil Cardstock are from SC's Snippets and Sundrifter lines.)

As for the sketch, I used it pretty liberally.  More as a guideline this time around :-).  The sketch, which you can see here, called for a large scalloped circle in the right hand corner, but I switched it up to better suit me.  That is one thing that I really strive for when using a sketch, trying to keep it "me."  The few, random layouts that I end up disliking are those that I try to fit myself into.  So to prevent any feelings of despair, I switched the scalloped circle out for a rectangle. 

Hope to see your take on the sketch.........

Michelle

Birthday Girl.....

I have recently developed a scrappy crush on Corrie Jones.  Her work is so incredibly artistic and full of product.  Recently I pinned a layout of her's titled My Valentine that you can see here and it inspired this.....

My 3 year old studiously avoiding making eye contact with my camera.  LOL.  Where has the time gone???

 

When creating this I wanted to go with loads of layers, lots of detail, and whole lot of messy paint! I pulled papers that went with the colors of the balloons that are blowing away (when planning this shot I did not count on the wind which is really dumb because it is almost always windy where I live!) as well as the grey in my daughter's clothes.  Placing these on top of the black patterned paper really made them stand out, so I went with it. 

Something new to me this time around was punching hearts out of glitter tape--why had I not ever thought of this before???  They punched really easy, had adhesive already on them, and added a bit more texture to the page. 

Michelle

Hello Salon....

First off, I know I have been using the heck out of "Hello" in my titles.  My justification is that all these "Hello....." layouts are going in different albums, so why not??  Truthfully, I have been in a bit of a title rut, and "Hello....." is all that comes to mind.  LOL.  So on with my next installment of "Hello....."

I have had these pics sitting around since July and have finally scrapped them!  Yeah!! 

Super simple and super quick.  Sketch from Citrus Twist Kit club.  Products from Citrus Twist January kit.  Not too much brain work here :-).

Michelle

Hello Blog.....

I have been in a total non-blogging mode lately.  Not sure why.  Think I might just be a bit lazy.   But I am here to remedy that!

I have been super busy lately.  LOTS of scrapping.  I mean lots.  I have seriously sped up my process.  Not sure if this has anything to do with the change, but I have been really going through my scrap stash.  I am being very honest with myself and getting rid of a whole bunch of stuff I have been hanging on to.  Feels great to have a lighter load.  I even parted ways with American Crafts' Peachy Keen line, which is a huge move for me. 

Here is a layout I finished a few weeks ago....

This was done using the scraps from Gossamer Blue's September kit--a kit that has now been officially killed!  Woo hoo!!  Love that feeling! 

My son took the pictures for this layout.  Love it when he gets behind the camera--except when he goes on to proclaim that he is insanely better than me :-).

Have been reading too. 

Have just started this series and am so far loving it!  (Yes, I know I am a little late to the party on this one, but that is kind of how I roll.  I did not even think about starting the Twilight Series until the third movie was released.)  Fun, fun, fun!  And despite the fact I am now having wierd dreams about it, I look forward to spending a bit of time everyday with the book. 

Well, I have a sleepy, hiccupy baby wanting up on my lap, so off I go!

Michelle