Farm Life from Best Creation

When Karen got the "Farm Life" paper by Best Creation into the store, I was excited to use it! I definitely have enough farm photos to create a variety of layouts.

First, I'll share the cards. I enjoyed mixing small bits of the pattern paper with solid color cardstock. When you use such small amounts of the pattern paper, you can make a whole lot of cards with one sheet of your favorite pattern!

 

For one of my layouts I used the project life page protectors with 9 4x4 squares-- it was a very easy way to slip some photos and pattern paper and build a simple yet creative layout.

 

And my second layout was simpler... I used a polkadot pattern paper and cut a creative edge to make it unique.  I printed an 8x10 photo but trimmed it to a 6x10 to give it a longer rectangle shape for the layout.

 

Do you have any farm life photos that you could use with this super cute paper?

Happy New Year in Scrapbooks!

Happy 2013 to all of you!

New Years is almost a definition of scrapbooking. We look back at what we've done and we look ahead to a bright future too. Scrapbooking encompasses our past and our future too!

Using more of my leftovers from my Pebbles "Seen and Noted" line (I TOLD you I love it!!!) I created a two page layout to reflect on this last year. I included a photo collage as well as a printed out version of one of those fun "year in review" Facebook status compilations. Photos and Facebook statuses are GREAT ways to record a quick synopsis of a chunk of time.

 

Or if your last year isn't a great one to look back on and you simply prefer to look toward what's ahead of you in hopes of a better year, maybe you want to do something more like this layout I did two years ago:

 

 

Focusing on my faith and my future, I made a layout in Jan. 2011 that plans for what's ahead. I used an inspiring bible verse  (plus a quote from Veggie Tales) and a collage of photos where I see calendars throughout my day. The papers and accents I used were definitely a mish-mash of a WIDE variety of products I've purchased through the years... no rhyme or reason except using up the old so I can move on to the new. (I thought that was a suitable tie-in to my layout theme too!)



 

Hopefully these two different ideas will kick start your year of scrapbooking! Enjoy the last of your holidays and scrap a lot in 2013!

Seen and Noted by Pebbles

Okay, peeps. Pullman has been a dreary gray recently. In a funk from it? Then check out Paper Pals' new lines of paper, including this bright and cheery line called "Seen and Noted" by Pebbles.

I had forgotten how much I love Pebbles papers. And this line had unique and fun MASKING TAPE and LABEL MAKER stickers as well as fun preprinted cards that fit well into the same Photo Freedom sleeves that Anita mentioned in her last post.

Here are a couple of quick layouts I made with family fun photos. Somehow, the photos you just can't quite make work in "traditional" scrap layouts go together easily in these photo sleeve pages.

Seriously. Are these patterns and colors not just the cheeriest thing you've seen recently? Placing a few elements on the outside of the sleeves mix up the design and help you break out of the box of pockets, too.

I also had to create a traditional layout and several cards with this line of paper.

Love love love it! What do you like about it?

Unique Holiday Photos

Each year after Thanksgiving and Christmas I get a bit of the scrapbooking blahs. I have lost interest in scrapping my holiday photos.

What?

Yep. I have lost new and interesting ideas to build pages with photos that look the same every year. Opening presents, photo of the tree... and they're not the highest quality shots because they're indoors using a flash. Blech.

So in order to avoid the "same ol', same ol'" in holiday photos, I came up with a plan for future holidays-- and here are two layouts to feature the photos I've taken.

 

New Thanksgiving plan: Take photos of each person with you that day holding a sign that they wrote saying what they are thankful for.

 

New Christmas plan: find something related to the holiday that everyone can wear and take a pic of each of them wearing it. Reindeer antlers, anyone?

 

So if there's any chance you too get bored with your holiday photos, mix it up! Come up with a creative way to commemorate your holidays through photos. And think quick! You've got an opportunity to jump on this idea this week!

 

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

Adornit "Sister" Line

Sister. This paper line theme has one obvious use... scrap about your sisters. I was able to use the line not quite so literally. I chose to scrap about my sorority sisters!

My sorority had a 100 year anniversary a year and a half ago. It was a wonderful celebration and truly worthy of scrapping.

The first layout is a Now and Then layout-- a pic of my sorority sister Aimee and I "back in the day" TWENTY years ago (oi, I'm old) and then one of the two of us "now" at the reunion. It is a great way to commemorate our sisterhood. Isn't Aimee just beautiful? I miss her a ton.

The papers are great. The "Sister Cut Apart" and "Sister Word Play" were great "title" papers to use with the alternate sides containing great patterns. My "GPB" letters are the fun chipboard letters at Paper Pals that I just covered with pattern paper. So cute!

This second layout has a simple cardstock base and flowers cut from the pattern paper as embellishments. I printed a photo collage to feature several photos from our reunion. So many great memories of these ladies. Go Gamma Phi and Go Vandals!

Last but not least, a card. My new favorite (and super simple) technique is to roll up the edges of flower petals to give it a little dimension. Looking forward to sending this card as a "just because" note to one of my sisters. That's a random act of kindness I need to do more often!

Do you have sisters you could "scrap" using this paper?

Scrappin' Numbers

10 years! Can you believe Karen has been in business for 10 years! I think back to where I was on my scrapping journey 10 years ago... it was so different then. But I digress...

Back to the anniversary! Don't you think the anniversary deserves a scrapbook page?!? Actually, I can think of a lot of things in life that relate to numbers that are scrapworthy. Here's one of my favorite layouts I've made that also features the number 10:

(You can see a post with other 10/10/10 papercrafting I did for my daughter's golden birthday in this post.)

 

I've also found a couple of other recent projects by other scrappers that feature numbers.

 

13 things tha tmake you happy... great mini album! And this scrapper cut the chipboard herself to make the numbered book!

And this "life in numbers" layout by a designer with mad digi-skillz... wow.

 

What numbers can you use as your central theme on a scrap page?

 

If you need help with ideas of products to use, here are a few things available right now at Paper Pals to help you scrap by numbers.

Calendar "bingo card" pattern paper... an easy way to scrap numbers! Go by a date!

 Game pieces by Tim Holtz... mixed media deliciousness here...

 A funky set of stencil numbers-- with a border too!

 Athletic paper w/ scores... a game score that's worthy a scrap page? Anyone?

 And some lovely stamps with a variety of useful patterns/letters and of course, numbers...

Of course, my personal favorite... Thickers. Did you know they sell entire sets of numbers seperate from alphas? Wow.

 

What ideas do you have for scrapping numbers? Which of these products would you like to pick up at the store to get you started?

What's the "WOW!" about Washi?

I admit-- when I first heard of Washi Tape, I felt a little wishy-washy about its purpose. (Aren't I "punny"?)

But thanks to Pintrest and the world wide web... ideas were abundant and made me excited to try out the product.

First, I started looking around the house to find things I could "Washi-ize". The options were endless! Here is where I've started:

 A basic painted clothespin,

 Hairclips that never get worn due to their odd brown/purple color,

And a headband that is a bit "young" for my girls now.

Add some Washi, and voila! Within a few seconds you have upcycled new items!

(Thanks to my hair model, my sweet daughter Allison. Is anyone else as jealous as I am about her gorgeous hair???)

When I put the tape on the clothespin, I found some other items to dress up. Here's how the clothespin, candle, picture frame and clipboard turned out. What do you think?

 Lastly, as I prepped for guests to come to my house, I found a good way to label their drinking glasses in the bathroom-- they just have to remember (or even write on) the washi tape glass that is theirs!

What would you do with Washi?

More Adornit Fabulousness!

Fabulous. I just love the yellow, grey and blue together in this Adornit paper line! Capri, the "Family" sticker sheet, gray chevron... they made for some fun combinations with the photos I've been wanting to scrap.

Antonym-- Have you ever looked at a photo and felt like it displayed the complete opposite of that person's personality? So often I see a photo and say "this is exactly like them". But this photo of my dad made the perfect opportunity to create an "antonym" layout.

This next layout was a great way to use a photo collage in a new way. I printed a collage first, and then cut it apart. I used a variety of blocks of other stickers and pattern papers to fill in a new collage of photos and papers. Simple and straightforward!

And a couple of cards too. Aren't these colors together just great?

October Afternoon-- Farmhouse

This line conjured up memories and numerous ideas for scrapping pages!

Oh, the joy it brought me to scrap these photos. One page of my childhood home (a farmhouse)... The colors in the vintage photos just blended so nicely with the page elements and pattern papers. This one is my favorite!

And a layout with a special couple in our family. The memories of staying with them bring back great feelings! The lace/ribbon inspired a long "cluster" of elements on this page.

 

The pattern papers truly inspired several cards too.

The chipboard elements that come with this line are simply adorable! What a great product line.

TCP Studio-- Let's Eat!

This line from TCP Studio has the most suitable title... "Let's Eat!" As soon as I saw this paper I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

Our family's favorite recipes are used frequently, and I'm always fearful that I'll lose them. (I have them written up in word files too, but you know that if you lose the paper version your hard drive will crash too and then you'll have nothing... but I digress...)

So I created a mini book featuring our family favorites (along with photos). I don't think I'll lose a mini album. :)
Here's the front of the little book...

 And then the back... (TCP has the cutest cardstock stickers (utensils, etc.) for this project!)

 And inside. Each page has a photo and recipe. Some pages have handwritten notes from the members of my family to denote their favorites.

This was my first opportunity to use TCP Studios products, and I had a lot of fun with them! The pattern papers and cardstock stickers went so great together for the mini album as well as a few greeting cards, too.

What would you make with this line of papers?