Old Glory

We R Memory Keepers has always been an old stand-by favorite of mine. I love their bold use of pattern and color. The Old Glory line inspired me to create this layout of my son. Although it is not "4th of July" themed per say, the photos were taken in July and he was at an age where he didn't really care for the loudness of real fireworks. So we compromised and blew bubble fireworks instead.

The Old Glory line came with an amazing sheet of die-cut stickers that included scalloped borders and embossed images. I added some Stickles (one of my very favorite products) for a little extra sparkle and voila, a great and meaningful layout of my son.

These cards literally took minutes to make using the die-cut sticker sheet, a little ribbon, and again, Stickles. I think it's a ton of fun to make holiday-inspired projects, especially with a line like Old Glory that does all the work for you in a super-cute way. It's kind of nice to think "inside" the box for a change.
Happy 4th of July!

Love Happens

My husband and I recently celebrated our first anniversary.  Since the traditional gift is paper and I'm a scrapper, well it only seemed natural to do a layout as a gift. 

Used: Bazzill Kraft CS, October Afternoon letters, misc. rhinestones & buttons, clear drying glue with dimension as a border, Graphic 45 couple on the journaling spot, pattern paper - Bo-Bunny Mama-Razzi Dot & Mama-Razzi Cut-outs, Hero Arts vintage collage flowers, Vintage Cards Distress Ink - Tim Holtz,  notebook border punch, .03 black journaling pen. The vintage playing cards I picked up at an antique mall somewhere in my journeys through the backroads.  I sprayed them with the Archival Safe spray available at Paper Pals to ensure they would be acid-free. 

Celebrating Teachers & Remembering a Special Friend

Details, details, details ..... Probably the words a teacher thinks about all year and now, aaahh, sunshine & summertime! The card is just one way to remember a teacher.  A great thank you might be to add a envelope inside to slide a gift card in to their favorite coffee shop or book store .. or maybe even a pedicure. 

The papers I used for both the card and layouts were fun, fun, fun.  Lots of details, great colors, and the best part (my favorite part) -- the paper is double-sided!  One thing I immediately noticed about the paper was the different personalities of the cats ... I saw alittle bit of my Neko in each one of them.  The paper itself is full of personality. 

So onto the details .... the subject Kitty is my childhood Neko-Chan (Japanese translation for kitten).  The patterned paper was:  Basic Grey Max & Whiskers; Lightening/Max 2450 & Gannett/Max 2455), Reminise Stickers - Cat, Mini-Alphas - cream.  A 1" circle punch & notebook-like punch was used on the card. Embellishments:  Ribbon (available at Paper Pals), glue dots, .03 black pen, and metal frame (from Paper Pals).  I had fun twisting the ribbon and trying something other then just keeping it flat on the card/layout.  To keep some of the 'twisties' in line I add a glue dot. 

Happiness Makers

I had fun playing with the same paper's that Angela just posted..."72 & Sunny"

 from We R Memory Keepers.  The bright colors are just perfect for kid's pictures!!

Sunny and 72 by We R Memory Keepers

Love the name for this paper line... Sunny and 72. That's just about perfect. :)

After my recent trip, I had plenty of sunny pictures to share. I used a 12x12 die cut paper to make this Endless Summer layout. I cut the pictures to fit inside the die cut so that it wouldn't be hidden to much. I loved the shapes and colors!

The second layout incorporated the pattern paper with so many fun and fitting words... I simply cut out some of the most applicable words and popped them up over the top of the photos to feature them.

The pattern paper page with all the monograms gave me so many ideas-- they worked great for my second layout but I loved them most for these cards. There were still tons left over on the one 12x12 sheet that had a great pattern to use on the opposite side too.

Do you have some summer or vacation photos you could use with these bright and colorful papers???

Mama Razzi by Bo Bunny

Bo Bunny's new Mama Razzi line is so great to work with! Sure, much of the printed paper and accessories are cameras and portray the Mama as Paparazzi, but the colors and flourishes on these papers are really my favorite part of the line!

By using the accessories sheet and the paper "strips" you can create really great layouts and cards, really fast!

As always, don't forget your Diamond Glaze a spot of glitter!

Scrapbooking Across the Globe

So naturally, while travelling... I think scrappers should visit any local scrapbook stores.

Design Team member Kristi did this while living in Europe. And I decided to do the same while on Saipan.

A nice woman named Allison owns the one and only scrapbook store on island-- "Expressions". It felt a little like my home store here at Paper Pals... they had Bazzill cardstock, Basic Grey lines, Making Memories... manufacturers I love.

Expressions went beyond scrapping, though. It was also a gift shop. As scrappers, what other products would you choose to sell at a scrapbooking store?

Yep. She sells it. Chocolate. And. Wine. What could be better?!?

Paper Pals is still (and always will be) my favorite local scrapbook store. But Karen, when you get that bigger store space, I vote for chocolate and wine. :)

LOVE STRUCK

Making Memories has this paper called LOVE STRUCK. It would be perfect for Valentine's day themed projects. I think it also works well for other love related themes. I did two pages using the Paisley Love Struck and Valentine Tag paper. I also got to use the Love Struck glitter tickets. Both papers are double sided but I only used a bit of the other side of the Valentine Tag paper because I wanted to use all the tags. I didn't count them all but you could create a whole lotta pretty things with all these tags. This page is a scraplift from 52 more scrapbooking challenges by Elizabeth Kartchner page 114.

This page was inspired also by Elizabeth's book pg. 78. The challenge was to use a page protector as part of your design. I cut open a 81/2 x 11 page protector and sewed it down to the page. The one seam is on the fold of the protector. I held the protector onto the paper with some clips so it would stay in place while I sewed.

And now for the cards. On this card I also sewed down a page protector so you could slide the tickets out.