What's Up, Wednesday?

Hi.  It is Leah Larson.  I get to fill you in on what is going on in my world.  Have you ever been asked "How often do you scrapbook?"  Well I would love to be able to scrap every day but we all live in the real world.   I do get to check in on some of my favorite blogs daily.
Ali Edwards, Becky Higgins and Cathy Zielske"s are the 3 blogs that I check on a daily basis.  I especially love Ali's blog and enjoy reading about her life and her projects.  I also check in on a regular basis at Blue Cricket Design.  I like when they have a show and tell linking party were you can check out what people on other blogs are doing.  There are a lot of talented people out there.  I am thankful for that because it gives me an endless supply of inspiration.  Check out the blog little things bring smiles.  I am thinking that these canvases can also be done with letters cut out on the Cricut.  I love the bright colors.  I am thinking of making them for my craft room.  Perhaps with words like:  create, cut, paste, crop, sew....  So much to do so little time.  Thanks for stopping in to my world.

What's Up! Wednesday

It's my turn to share on What's Up Wednesday, and I decided to try something new for Paper Pals-- a video post!

Enjoy as I share with you my favorite things available at Paper Pals right now.

What's your favorite?

BoBunny Gabrielle Elegance

The line of paper I used is BoBunny Gabrielle Elegance, what a beautiful line,I love double sided paper. With paper like this a person doesn't need allot of embellishments.


I cut the Family out with the Cricket Home Accents cartridge, the metal tag is Tim Holtz. The butterfly I cut 2 of the same out so I could layer it and fold the wings to give it some dimension! It turned out great I think.

The cards were very simple. I cut the butterflies out with an inch circle punch and I Mog Podged them with the glitter to give them a little sparkle...love the bling!!!
 
Thanks for stopping by! Leah Candler

Whats Up Wednesday!

My latest and greatest infatuation is mini books. They can give the "life artist" a chance to do a quick slice of life; a childs soccer season, a typical monday, Easter or any fun day with the family et. These little slices of life help you remember a lot without a lot of time put into them and they are easy to pick up and look at, really fun to embellish and you can whip it out in an afternoon. Paper Pals has tons of ideas for quick, sweet, fun mini-book scrapbooking. I did a mini-album of Romans summer for a Valentines gift this year and he loved it! I used the "My Minds Eye fine and Dandy" Collection at Paper Pals, It was a total blast!

More Good Day Sunshine

I don't think I posted this layout earlier that I made with more of the Good Day Sunshine line from My Minds Eye. Can't say how much I love this manufacturer!

I post this as these two boys are playing together downstairs. The photo in the layout was taken a year ago, guess it's time to take another shot!

Do you have any good projects where you compared photos of the same people at different times in life?

What's Up Wednesday

Welcome to our third "What's Up? Wednesday"! Each Wednesday you'll hear from one of our Design Team members on what's up in the scrapping world-- either worldwide, at Paper Pals, or even in our Design Team member's lives.
This Wednesday it is my turn-Leah Larson. Right now I am changing our guest bedroom into my scrap room. I have been referring to it as my studio.  My husband says I can't call it that unless it brings in money.  I have a small desk set up in our rec room where I have been scrapbook.   My stuff has kind of spread over into the entire rec room. Oops.  So I finally talked my husband into letting me have the guest room.
I have been busy clearing out all the stuff in there and preparing to paint.  I have one coat of paint on and plan to do another coat tonight.  I will post the finished room on my next turn at What's Up Wednesday.
I am super excited to get everything set up.  My scrapbooking has been on hold while I have been working on the room.  I of course forgot to take before pictures but I did take some midway photos the other day after I had started painting.

This room has a lot of light.  It is going to be perfect.

In the photos I have started painting.  The two colors together looked really bad so I was a bit worried.  I am planning on putting in a counter top in this area.  Stay tuned for the finished project.

Kaisercraft Bubblegum Hills collection

I love these bright wonderful patterns and color combinations! There is such a variety of nifty paper that my only real disappointment was that I couldn't show them all. They are double sided and full of variety and whimsical pattern. I just loved, loved, loved my scrapbook journey with this paper. I think you will too! It is great for Easter and just for spring!

Three Bugs In A Rug

Three Bugs in a Rug is quickly becoming one of my very favorite companies!  Their double-sided printed papers are adorable, whimsical, colorful, cheerful...all the things that I look for when I'm choosing printed papers! When I see layouts on more "grown-up" type printed papers (you know the kind I mean), I always wish I could do the beautiful layouts that I see other scrapbookers doing!  But, bottom line, I love the whimsical, cutesy style papers!! 

This new "April Showers" group from Three Bugs in a Rug didn't disappoint...both sides of the papers are fantastic!!

Besides the papers, this line includes a sticker sheet that makes it super simple to create cards.  Go in and take a look...you're going to love it as much as I do!!

Bazzill Basics Paper-Grandma's Feather Bed

I love the bright colors of this paper.  It is nice thick good quality paper.  The stickers on the sticker sheet were super cute.  They were perfect for photos of the family.  The fork, knife and spoon were cut out on the Cricut and then I covered them with some silver pearl.  Thank you Shawna.  You can't tell in the photo but on the top pattern paper I covered the dots with brads.  I also covered the "my family" sticker with glossy accents because I love that stuff.

I love the way this page turned out.  I like to have a mix of pattern paper.  Especially when the pattern paper is so cute that I can't decide which one to use.  I actually cut the circles in the paper then placed the pattern paper behind the circles.  I then sewed them in place.  I painted the chipboard flowers then covered them in 2 coats of clear embossing powder.  The "together" and "2010" were cut out on the Cricut and then covered in glossy accents.  I embroidered around the stickers. 

The colors of the paper are so bright.  The patterned papers are called Art Deco,Chocolate Drops, Deco Daisy, Lazy Daisy, Grandma's Damask & Bold Stripe.  It makes for some real cheerful cards.

What's Up? Wednesday

Last week Angela introduced you to our first "What's Up? Wednesday"! Each Wednesday you'll hear from one of our Design Team members on what's up in the scrapping world-- either worldwide, at Paper Pals, or even in our Design Team member's lives.

Today Judy is sharing her very favorite scrapbook gift (to give)..."Mini Albums!"

Those of you that know me, know that I LOVE to create mini albums!  They make a perfect gift for birthday, Christmas, new baby...whatever the occasion! (If you've never given someone a mini album for a gift, you need to...I guarantee the response you get will make it worth all your time!) 

My current project is a "Happy First Birthday" mini album for our baby grandson, Graehm, who will be turning one year old in July.  I have SO many photos, and this is a great way to use them!  I'm using an 8X8 3-ring binder album from "We R Memory Keepers."  Paper Pals carries these albums (and, refill pages if you want to add more pages to your album.  The refill pages with two pockets allow you to add more pictures without doing a layout for that page.  It's a great way to increase the number of photos in an album.)

In my years of teaching classes at Paper Pals, my favorite thing to teach was mini albums. It was so fun to get together for two hours and have everyone leave the class with an album "picture ready!"  Below are a few--- using only Bazzill Cardstock.

Shawna is teaching a "Mother's Day"and "WSU Cougars"  mini album class...perfect for gift-giving!!  You should check them out!!

Echo Park-- For the Record

This was my first chance working with some Echo Park products... and I just love them! These layouts came together more easily than normal. The only thing different in the creation was the products, so I'll attribute my success to Echo Park!

 I was so excited to scrap this photo that my good friend Becky w/ Simply Enjoy Photography (in NW Washington) took of my kids and I in December. Scrapping really important photos can be scary-- you don't want to "lose" them in the layout. How do you think I did?

 I hand cut the black and white polkadot banner-- just begin with rectangles and then flip over your square punch, turn it to a 45 degree angle and precisely match up the corners to punch out the bottom edge!

This next layout uses photos from a fun little game of football w/ my son. My friend Harmony shot these photos... I'm so thankful for others who enjoy photography so that I can BE in photos sometimes!

Echo Park's "For the Record" pattern papers include borders and journaling spots that just made throwing these layouts together simple! Go check out their stuff at Paper Pals today.

What's Up? Wednesday

Welcome to our first "What's Up? Wednesday"! Each Wednesday you'll hear from one of our Design Team members on what's up in the scrapping world-- either worldwide, at Paper Pals, or even in our Design Team member's lives.

Today, Angela is sharing a bit about "What's Up" for her cardmaking.

I'm not all that confident in my cardmaking skills. Photos are a passion of mine, and layouts I make always have photos as a central theme. I've used photos on cards before, but get a little discouraged when trying to come up with card designs.

I've learned to scraplift others' great ideas, or even just use their cards as an inpiration piece. Today I'm sharing two cards with you that I made using the new My Minds Eye boy line "Good Day Sunshine" (at Paper Pals)-- both of which were inspired by cards I saw on blogs I like to visit.

#1: The inspiration card (found on "Bean Talk", Jillibean Soup's blog):

     And my take on the card using My Minds Eye from Paper Pals:

#2: The inspiration card (found on The Scrap Review blog):

     And my take on the card using My Minds Eye from Paper Pals:

Where do you get your inspiration when you are looking to create something?

Good Day Sunshine! from My Minds Eye

Here's a layout I created today using the Good Day Sunshine line from My Minds Eye. This is a super set of papers that work great for boy themed layouts but is versatile enough for beach layouts or no theme at all!

The paper line also had a page called "Boardwalk" designed to require little to no embellishing. I just loved the graphics on the page. I emphasiszed the existing artwork by adding some Stickles and Glossy Accents. Otherwise, the Thickers title and the photo collage were all I needed to complete this page. Fast and easy!

Go get yourself some MME Good Day Sunshine!!!

DT Technique Challenge-- Claudine Hellmuth

 CClaudine Hellmuth Studio Creative Layers Foam and Clear Stamps

These new stamps that are available at the store are a little slice of stamping heaven!

The foam layer plus the defining clear layer are whimsical and have such a variety of uses. We put the design team to the test to see what they came up with for projects using the stamps. (You can see most all of the samples up close and personal at Paper Pals.)

Angela created a tag using spray ink, the stamps in paint, and bits from the new My Minds Eye "Good Day Sunshine" line:

Leah created an ADORABLE growth chart for her little girl. Is it not the greatest idea ever? You could make this for gifts!

Angela also gave her girls (age 7 and 10) the chance to play with the stamps-- they stamped with acrylic paint on fabric and created two clever and creative pillows.

Lastly, Angela also created a card and jazzed up a gift bag too.

There are so many options with these great stamps! What are your ideas for using the layered stamps?