Decisions

Oh the decisions that we have to make...  They seem to be never ending.  Some are big and some are small, but in the end, they all have to be made.  Just like this page.  I arranged the embellies and then rearranged them and then rearranged them again.  The end result is below.  I've been trying to get this layering effect down, but man do I struggle with it.  I'm making progress, but in the end, this is not supposed to be hard!

One of the blogs I follow is White With 1, which is the color inspiration for this page.  Technically, this page is off-white, but with a sepia photo, white doesn't go so well.  The May inspiration is White + Orange + Scallops.

Sketch inspiration provided by Sketchy Thursdays.

I see good and bad with the title.  The good is the uniqueness of the letters.  I love how there is a variety.  The bad, IMHO, is the 'D'.  I think it is too big in comparison to the other letters and I think it takes away from the layering I tried to do above it.

Enjoy!  I forgot to mention that this is my "D" for my ABC Book of Me.

Monkeying 'Round

Challenge # 66 from Creative Prompts (My Playground) made me instantly think of the playground that was right around the corner from our temporary living situation last year.  Here we were, in a new city, stuck in a 2 bedroom condo with 2 very high energy boys.  What is a mom to do???  Any decent mom would find a source for those 2 boys to burn some of their energy, so off we went...

Inspiration:
http://creativeprompts4u.blogspot.com/2011/05/challenge-66-my-playground.html

Result:

A 2-page LO.  Yes, it's been a long time since I've done a 2-pager.  The funny thing is, that's ALL I used to do.  I like the look of 2 coordinated pages in an album.  I got over that!

I love my title with the polka-dots.  I think I just love polka-dots in general.  These were made with paint and then Liquid Glass.

Who doesn't love a sock monkey?

Macro

I'm really on a roll today.  Two posts in one day and I cleaned the bathrooms too.  No slackin'today!!

The page was taken from an inspiration from Creative Scrappers.  I truely love all of their sketches.  The talent from this blog is amazing.  In an attempt to be a part of the Creative Team, I created this page using one of their LOs.

The inspiration...

And the result...

I love how bright and cheerful this page turned out.  I debated as to whether or not to use muted colors and let the photo speak for itself, but in the end, I'm glad I chose these bright colors.  It's been raining here for the last month or so and maybe that's why I've been leaning in this direction.

When I found this red and white polka-dot ribbon in my stash, I thought to myself, "Well hello you beautiful ribbon.  Where have you been all my scrappin' days."  I love this ribbon and not only because it's cute, it already comes with sticky back.  You will be seeing this more in the future.  It is by KI Memories and is called Wild Think Dots.

Comments always appreciated.

Explore

It isn't very often that you get the chance to scrapbook yourself.  As a scrapbooker, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.  I just had this photo printed so I could do exactly that.  I didn't take inspiration from any of the (too) many challenge blogs that I follow.  All I know is that I was going to be on a page and to top it off, I was going to be the ONLY one on a page.  Call me selfish if you want...

Here is what I came up with...

Hand written journaling...  something I haven't done much in the past, but has been growing on me.  Maybe it has something to do with the new colorful pens I just snaged from Tuesday Morning.

My attempt at the layering thing again.  Still not 100% satisfied.  I'm struggling with that.

Stickles on the dots of the stamp.  Picture doesn't show it well, but I continues the swirl up and over the picture.

The title is actually made with flocking.  If anyone knows how to get it to actually stick, I would appreciate a comment.  It stays on pretty good until you touch it.  It rubs off very easily.  We'll have to see how well it stays on once it's in the page protector.  I attempted to spray it with some "Make It Acid-Free" thinking it might give it a protective coating, but it didn't help.

Hope everyone enjoys and have a great day!

My Sunshine

I think I went overboard on the challenges on this one.  I was searching through all the blogs I follow to find inspiration, and that is exactly what I found, inspiration.  A little too much inspiration.  As a matter of fact, I found that I could do a page that fit into 5 different challenges.  The challenges...

1. Crop Stop - Had to use a bird or a birdcage.  Check.
2. Bird is the Word - Had to use the word "Sunshine".  Check.
3. (Paper) Trail Makers - Had to make handmade flowers.  Check.
4. Color Combos Galore - Inspiration Board 191.  Check.
5. Scrapbook Challenges - I used the sketch.  Check.

Phew!

The result...

The flowers are made from a circle puch and then cut in half.  Have to admit, not my own design, but isn't that the point of scraplifting...  LOL.

So, I combined all my favorite techniques...  sewing (framed the picture), paint (the sunshine and the dots), inking (pedals of the flowers).

XOXOX

My favorite subject to scrapbook is my boys.  They are the reason I started scrapbooking in the first place.  I don't usually use small pictures and I don't really like to leave a lot of negative space, but in this layout I did both.  And...  much to my surprise, I like the result.

Inspiration from Stuck?! Sketches...

As I look back at what I produced, I think I might add some stitching to frame the page...

My latest LOVE is paint...  slop it on and dots.

Snap @ Gator Lake

As I work on this album from a family vacation that took place in October 2009, I realize.  I'm REALLY behind.  How many people actually are all caught up?  Is that really possible?  I look back and realize that the only time I was caught up was when my computer crashed and I lost about 2 years of pictures.  Ouch!  For any new scrapbookers out there, I have a tip for you...

Tip:  Backup, Backup, and then Backup Again!

On to the challenge of the Day.  I worked with 2 sites for this page.  Color inspiration came from Color Combos Galore and sketch inspiration came from Creative Scrappers.

Drum roll please...

My pictures turned out a bit dark, so sorry about that.  Gray and gloomy outside = Gray and gloomy inside...

Kind of hard to tell, but on the flowers of the BG paper, I used Liquid Glass by Close to my Heart for added dimension.

Enjoy and comments welcome and appreciated.

Catch of the Day

I fell in love with this sketch from Sketchy Thursdays. 

I took the idea of taking the same photo and using both the B&W and the color on the same layout from a magazine I saw years ago.  I love the result.

Hard to see the date, but "Oct" is circled.

I laced the two photos together with wire.

Comments are appreciated.