For Mom...

Today's lovely little creation is from Gourmet Rubber Stamps using the new Appetizer sets called Mother Knows Best.    I just love the frame in this set & the tiny roses are gorgeous.  When I saw this set, I knew I wanted to use this pretty pattern paper from My Mind's Eye {Miss Caroline collection} & the coral crochet trim from May Arts. This set is now available online from i{heart}papers!

Have a lovely Monday!

Happy Easter!

rejoice...He has risen

He loves us so much that he gave his life so we shall live forever in His kingdom.  Jesus Christ has risen today!

OCL Challenge #112...Borders and Beyond!

It's Friday ~ TGIF!  Today we are working with our fun Border & Background stamps for our weekly challenge & I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!

For my challenge project, I used the stamp set called Fancy Fringe.  There are 6 fabulous borders in this set & I love using the simple dot border for scrapbook pages.  I often stamp on my pages, and this set is a must have for me.   I stamped the dot border along the top left side and then again on the bottom of the page.  Then I added the dotted paper and embossed dots on the embellishment to tie all the dots together.  I printed the title and journaling from my photo printer using Photoshop Elements. 

This page is one the pages in a scrapbook project I've been working on called my Alaska Project.  To see more posts about my project, click HERE.

Don't forget to play along and add your direct link to the OCL Blog.

Sweet Easter...

Today I have a sweet little Easter card to share with you.  I used the Prescription for Spring set by Gourmet Rubber Stamps.  I just love the paisley patterns on the bunny and the chick.  I paired up these adorable Easter images with this gorgeous paper from My Mind's Eye {Miss Caroline collection}.

Thanks for stopping by today!

THE ALASKA PROJECT ... Miscellaneous Pages

It's another day in my ALASKA Project!  YIPEEE!  Today I wanted to share some of the miscellaneous layout styles from the We-R-Memory Keepers page protectors that I've been using for my photographs & more photographs from our time in Talkeetna ~ which is a favorite Alaskan spot for us.

My first page uses a 3-2-3 layout ~ it's one of the pretty straight forward layouts and easy to find photos to use.  I used a pre-made title block from the Simple Stories Destination kit for the center square & added a wooden button to the center of the compass along with some sticker numbers and letters from the kit to journal the date.  I also added some other stickers, bits of paper and stamping to add small embellishments to the photos.  Fast and easy...

My next page layout is one of the standard 6 horizontal page protectors.  On this page I added some postcards I purchased along the way.  I always buy a few postcards from each place we visit because the professional photographers always take great shots & sometimes they have interesting tidbits of information on the back about the place we have visited.  TIPS: Sometimes we find great postcards in the hotel rooms where we've stayed.  Also on this page {lower left photo}, I used a portion of a pre-made journaling block and added some basic information about the town of Talkeetna.

The next layout has a 12x6 pocket.  I needed that layout on the other side; however, on this side I really wanted to use 3 horizontal photos.  Therefore, I simply took a piece of kraft cardstock, stamped the tone-on-tone map image, trimmed the photos just a bit and then attached them to the cardstock.  I added a bit of journaling, stickers, stamping, and a bracket border to the top for Easy Peasy embellishments.

For this super easy layout, I used 9 square photos and a pre-made title card to fill the pockets.  I simply added some stamped words directly to the photos using archival safe ink.  The stamps are various sets from Technique Tuesday.

And my final layout for today has a slot for a 6x8 photo.  I used one oft he pre-made photo mats from the kit and added just a simple photo and minimal journaling to it.  For the rest of the photos, I trimmed them slightly and added kraft cardstock behind each photo.

You can see all of my ALASKA PROJECT posts HERE.   You'll be seeing more from this project in the next few months.  I need to get it done before we go on our next Summer Vacation ~ it's gonna be amazing too!

OCL Challenge #111... Easter!

Hoppy Monday!  Easter is fast approaching and last Friday OCL presented a sweet little Easter photo as the inspiration for this week's challenge.

For my project this week, I decided to use theme of Easter from the photo rather than the colors or subject of the photo.  I used the Hippity Hoppity set by Our Craft Lounge and paper pieced the pieces of the basket ~ {which is one of my favorite techniques}.  I like the unusual take on the Easter card ~ not so cutesy.

You can play along too ~ just leave your link on the OCL Challenge post this week.

GRS...The Weekly Recipe

Happy Friday ~ today it's my turn to host the Weekly Recipe sketch challenge on the Gourmet Rubber Stamps Blog.  It's a pretty simple sketch, but you can fancy it up pretty easily!

I used the new Appetizer set called Spring Botanical for this sketch & I love how it turned out.  I stamped a tone-on-tone background using a script text image from the Sealed with a Kiss stamp set & then stamped the flower over the top.  There is already so much shading on the image, that it makes coloring a breeze!   The gorgeous pattern paper is from My Minds Eye (Miss Caroline Collection).

ETA: These stamps are now available online at i{heart}papers!

Play along and then leave your photo and/or link on the GRS Facebook page so we can ohhhhhh and awwwww over your lovely creation!

THE ALASKA PROJECT ...pages and pockets

Oh happy day ~ it's time to share more pages from my Alaska Project.   I'm totally re-energized about scrapbooking again ~ so I hope you're enjoying my pages.  As you can tell, I've scaled back from doing design team work {on purpose} & doing more project "just because".   I wanted to get back to the things that really bring me joy in crafting & scrapbooking is one of those things.

So on with my pages today... first up is a 12x12 layout I made using a photo my son collected while we were in the open market in Anchorage.  Matt and Tim watch this show every now and then, so Matt was super excited when he had the chance to meet one of the cast members and have a photo taken with them.  Then they gave him this 8x10 promo photo ~ so we added it to our memorabilia file to include in the album.  As I've done with all my pages, I used the Unity Stamps map background image and stamped it tone-on-tone in the background.  Then I used alphabet & border stickers from Simple Stories Destination kit for the embellishments.

Next up are some pages where I've included several different mini pockets within my layouts.  They contain maps & brochures that we collected along our trip.   These page protectors from We-R-Memory Keepers come in different size layouts & make fast-scraping a snap! 

While we were in the little town of Talkeetna, we visited the Sun Dog Kennels & went for a ride on the summer dog sleds.  Iditarod musher, Gerald Sousa owns the kennel and was our guide for the day.  After our ride, he have a great talk about the race and showed us the route on a giant map he had painted on the floor of the cabin.  It was awesome!  FYI ~ the 2012 Iditarod just finished and we tracked Gerald's progress & he came in 20th out of the 53 mushers who finished. 

The page protector layout that I used for this page has a 12x6 pocket along the right side.  I made the photo on the bottom a pocket so I could include the brochure we collected.

Here's the pocket for the brochure.  I wanted to make it a pocket because there was information on both sides of the brochure.

Also in Talkeetna, we stayed at this GORGEOUS lodge that had wonderful walking trails and beautiful views of Mt. McKinley {on a clear day}. For this page, I made a pocket that included a map of the grounds.  I also used a few pre-made journaling/title card that came in the Simple Stories kit.

The pocket for this page was just made from a scrap of pattern paper that I attached to one of the pre-made photo mats. I used tone-on-tone stamping and some additional coordinating stamps to finish off the pocket.

My final page for today is from out visit to the Mt. Alyeska Ski Resort.  This resort also had wonderful hiking trails and a tram to the top of the mountain.  I wanted to include the map in our album, so I used one of the pre-made journaling cards and photo mats to make the pocket.    On this page, I also included some of the photo transparencies and some stickers on some of the other photos on this page to tie it all together.

I journaled on the pocket with alphabet letters from Hero Arts ~ one of my MUST HAVE tools for scrapbooking {I think I use them on just about every page I make}.

Hope you enjoyed this installment of my Alaska Project.  You can see all of my other posts HERE.

{Fabulous}

Time for Tuesday... how's it going peeps?  I should have been working harder yesterday to get things off my To Do list; however, I took some new pictures of my sweet girl on Sunday sooooooooooooooo....I HAD to scrapbook!  Megan bought a new outfit & it's ADORABLE ~ so it was photo time! 

For the supplies I used, I have a new scrapbook kit from Simple Stories called Fabulous & it is just that FAB*U*LOUS!  I love it! All of the pattern paper and stickers are from that kit.  Then I also used some fun stamps I've had for a while from Unity Stamp Company called Moments in Bloom & Naturally You.   I really enjoyed making this page of my gorgeous girl.

Here are a few close ups of the page.  In this photo, you can really see the tone-on-tone stamping and all the great stickers that come with this kit.

Check out Meg's new cowboy boots ~ cool huh?

Finished off the page with some perfect touches ~ tidbits of stamped journaling and word stickers.

Fun huh?  Have a great Tuesday!

Gourmet Rubber Stamps ... April Diners Club Preview!

Hello Hello...Happy Monday!  Today Gourmet Rubber Stamps is previewing the newest Diners Club set for April called Garden Tea Time.  Here is the project I made using the pretty text frame and flower from the set.

I love this round frame in the set and knew I wanted to stamp the flower inside but knew the flower was bigger than the frame.  Soooooo...here's how I did it in just a few Easy-Peasy steps.

First, I stamped the frame in brown ink on kraft cardstock and then I used a circle Nestability die to cut it out.  Then I found the correct size of Nestibility for the inside circle and cut that out on a sheet of plain old printer paper (a Post-it note would work too).  You want to make sure the paper is thin ~ cardstock won't work for this.

Next, I placed the piece of plan paper over the pre-stamped image.

Using Champagne Dazzle Versamark ink (watermark ink with shimmer), I stamped the flower image twice inside the circle.  I went off the edge on both sides.

Finally, I used clear embossing powder & a heat gun to make the image pop just a bit.

It's as easy as that!  Now it's time to see what all the other lovely ladies on the Design Team came up with using this great new set!  So go take a peek at the full set on the GRS Blog and then hop around to see the samples ~ don't forget to leave a little love along the way!

• Deb Felts
• Jeni Allen
• Joy Stagg
• Kendra Wietstock - You're Here
• Kelli Palmer
• Pam Hornschu
• Taylor Usry

Have a great Monday!

just because...revisited

just too good so i had to share...

{found on facebook - photo by Karen Toby}

OCL Challenge #110...Spring Things!

As of Wednesday, Spring has officially SPRUNG & one look outside here in northern Indiana and you would agree!  Well that is the theme today for the weekly OCL Challenge! 

I have a few spring related projects to share with you today that I did as a class last month at my local scrapbook/stamping store ...

The first project uses the set Sunshine Cheer & we used Sugar Sparkly Fluff on the clouds.

My second card uses the Shamrock Blessings stamp set along with Appletini Green Sparkly Fluff.

My last card today uses the Spring Sketches stamp set along with Rockstar Red Sparkly Fluff.

Let's see what wonderful spring things you come up with ~ don't forget to add your link to the OCL Blog for a chance to win a gift certificate to the OCL Website.

THE ALASKA PROJECT ... Scrapbooking Memorabilia

Welcome to Wednesday...  It's been several weeks since I've shared any pages from my Alaska Project, so I thought I'd sneak in a few pages today.  As I stated early on, I love collecting maps, brochures, postcards and other memorabilia on our trips.  It's a great way to learn facts about the places we've gone and it stirs up memories after we've arrived home and are looking through our travel albums.  I've shared some of the pocket pages I've done, but this time I have some full sized layouts to share.

The first layout I have features some pretty cool facts about the great State of Alaska.  When we were reading over this sheet, I immediately thought it would be fun to include in our album so I tucked it away in my travel folder that I take on trips.  When I pulled it out to scrapbook, it was printed 2-sided on blue paper and wouldn't match the theme of my album at all.  So.... I scanned both sides of the paper, resized the images, pulled the scans into a Photoshop document and then printed it on a piece of cream cardstock that would match my album.  I also stamped the map background (from Unity Stamps) around the edges to tie it into the rest of the page & then added stickers from the Simple Stories Destination kit.  I love how it turned out.

My next page included our visit to the The Alaska Zoo.  I forgot to keep a map while we were at the zoo, so when I was doing this page, I decided to go to the zoo website and find one.  They had this nice colored map online.  It wasn't really a great color with the orange background, so I tamed that down a bit in Photoshop ~ I would have liked to change the color altogether, but that would have been pretty time consuming, so I decided against it.  Once the image was sized to proper measurements I wanted, I printed it off on cream cardstock. 

For the rest of the page, I stamped the background with the map stamp from Unity Stamps with the same kraft tone ink on the kraft paper and then I stamped some travel words tone on tone as well.  I added some great animal photos we took that day, typed up a journaling box to personalize the trip & stamped the word border around the map in black using some travel stamps from the Technique Tuesday travel set by Ali Edwards.

My last page for today shows the documents from our tour itinerary along with photos of our tour guide and driver for the tour.  This document was given to us the first day of our tour in a booklet, so I just trimmed it up and matted the pages on cardstock to add to the page.  If you collect pages that are too larger, it's rather easy to scan them in and then print them smaller like I did on my first page today. 

As for the rest of this layout, I once again used my Unity Stamps map background over the entire page tone on tone ~ it's just a great way to add texture without bulk and if you carry that throughout your album, it will tie everything together perfectly.  All of the stickers, pattern paper and journaling cards are from the Simple Stories Destination kit ~ which as you might be able to tell, I LOVE!!!   The other small alphabet stamps I used on all of my pages are from Hero Arts ~ these are a MUST HAVE for me on my scrapbook pages.

I haven't had much time to do many pages over the last few weeks, so I'm looking forward to getting back into my books this week.   I think what I love about this project is not only is it scrapbooking (which I adore), but it's also just for me because I want to do it.   Well I hope you enjoyed my pages today & learned a few ideas for documenting memorabilia in your albums ~ I'd love to hear what you think so far...

See you soon!

Spring Fever...

Is it Spring yet?  I don't know about where you are, but here in Northern Indiana, it sure feels like it.  We've had 7 days in a row of record breaking temps & still another few days coming up.  It's CRAZY, but oh so nice!

So I have a fun spring card for you today using the Gourmet Rubber Stamps set called Prescription for Spring.  I just love the kite image in that set!  And the great sentiment is from the Vintage Birthday set.

Well it's gonna hit 80º today, so I know I'll be outside enjoying the warm weather ~ I hope you can too!