Pink Floyd Concert

Hello friends!

I was asked by the lovely Laurel Seabrook to be a guest designer for the Inspired By Challenge Blog and I was more than happy to create a layout.

Last October, my youngest son turned eighteen years old and because it was a milestone birthday, my husband and I surprised him with a trip to see his favorite band Pink Floyd in concert.

To begin, I used my We R Memory Keepers Stitch Happy Sewing Machine and the Stitch Happy Thread in the color citrine and stitched a random design on the white card stock background. 

I wanted to add a guitar to the layout so I found the I Wanna Rock digital cut files from Just Nick Digital Cut Files, and cut them out with my Silhouette Cameo. 

For the guitar, I first cut the arrow patterned paper and then offset the design in the Silhouette Studio software and cut the guitar design out on black card stock as well as a few other designs for my layout.

Once I was done with the cutting, I had a lightbulb moment to use gold thread for the frets and black thread for the strings. I thought some pewter sequins would be great to embellish the head of the guitar. 

Of course I had to use some flair buttons that I have been waiting to use from the Rock On 3 Flair Set and the Hello Weekend Flair at A Flair For Buttons.  They were placed in a triangle design on the layout to draw the eyes around the page. 

The grey alphabet stickers for the title and the patterned papers were from Bella Blvd.'s Alex Collection. I outlined the alphabet stickers with a black fine line felt pen and then placed them on a border sticker and took my sewing machine and stitched across the title to make sure that they were going to stay put. 

I wanted to make sure that there was lots of dimension on my page. 

Once I had completed the layout, I thought the page didn't look complete and was missing something  so I decided to use the packaging technique and my Distress Oxide in Bundled Sage to add some mixed media to the layout. I think it gives it more of a grungy look and I was happier with the result. 

I think my son will like having a scrapbook page for this special memory.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a creative day!

Flair Used On Layout

Hello Weekend Flair

Rock On 3 Flair

Digital Cut Files On Layout

I Wanna Rock

Baby It's Cold Outside

Hello friends! Today I wanted to share a winter layout of my pup enjoying his first winter in the snow.

For my layout I used papers from the Snow & Cocoa Collection by Crate Paper for the patterned papers, stickers, chipboard and ephemera. I must admit that this is one of my favorite winter collections ever. Don't you just love the mint green and soft pinks?

I began my layout by smooshing some pink watercolor paint mixed with a tiny bit of white watercolor paint and brushing it onto a piece of cellophane packaging and smooshing it onto the white cardstock background. Once it was dry, I chose two cut files, the Snowflake Background and the Handcut Letters cut file that I offset on my Silhouette Cameo, welded them to make one large title and backed it with some patterned papers. To make it more dimensional, I popped it up on some foam adhesive squares over the Snowflake Background. 

I added a polar bear flair button, which is one of the flair buttons from the Animal 3 Flair set from A Flair For Buttons to the left hand side of the word "it's" in my title to direct the eye to the title. 

I matted the two photos of my pup on green checked patterned paper and embellished the layout in some chipboard stickers, ephemera and gold sequins.

Lastly, I added strips of patterned papers around the edge of the layout and machine stitched them so they weren't going anywhere and some gold mist splatters.

I will be taking a little break and going on a week's vacation and getting away from the -30 temperatures. My youngest son and I will be flying to southern California to enjoy some warmer weather and explore Disneyland, Universal Studios and San Diego. We can't wait!

Have a nice weekend!

Succulents

Hello friends! It's been a while since I have posted anything on my blog. This summer I have really enjoyed hanging out in my yard gardening and also planting lots of succulents. I have added some pots of these awesome plants both indoors and outdoors and have made several miniature gardens with them too. They are so easy to take care of. That is what my layout is about today...my love for succulents.

When I saw the Cacti Love Flair in the A Flair For Buttons shop, I knew they would be perfect for this layout. I chose two of the flair buttons from the set and placed them on my "cactus",  a cut file from Just Nick Digital Cut Files from the Cactus Jack cut file set, that I cut with my Silhouette Cameo.


 I wanted to create a visual triangle with the flair buttons and the cactus die cut on the top left hand corner of the photo.

I added some white gesso to the pink background paper and added lots of paint splatters. I backed the cactus cut file with several patterned papers from the American Crafts Saturday Collection. I also hand stitched around the cactus and pot with embroidery floss.

Be sure and check out all the fabulous flair buttons in the A Flair For Buttons shop. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Flair Used On Layout
Cacti Love Flair


Cut File

Cactus Jack

A New Chapter

Hello friends! Today I am sharing a personal layout over at Just Nick Digital Cut Files.

Sadly, this is my last layout for Just Nick. I had so much fun in my two year run on the team. I have been blessed to be a part of the design team since it's inception. Nicole is amazing to work for and I consider her my friend. She is so sweet and kind.

It's time for a new chapter and my layout today is documenting just that. I applied for college last January and I was accepted into the Hospital Unit Clerk Certificate program for this Fall. I'm not going to lie, I am really excited, yet a bit nervous.

I have been a stay at home mother for the past eighteen years with my third child, my youngest son, who is graduating from high school this year. Before that, I was a stay at home mom for my only daughter and oldest son, whom are now both married. When they were little, I worked part time, but always kept up my computer skills and took courses along the way.

Here are a few more closeups of my layout:

I used the Beautiful Bouquet cut file from Just Nick and cut it out on white cardstock with my Silhouette Cameo. One of my favorite things to do with cut files is to back the design with patterned papers. For this layout, I added some papers from the Jillibean Soup's Bowl Of Dreams Collection to the leaves and flowers and also the outside edge of the layout.

To add dimension to the flowers, I added some Glossy Accents to the pink flowers. I think this gives the flowers more shine and dimension. The diecuts, puffy flower stickers and stickers are also from Jillibean Soup's Bowl Of Dreams Collection.

I also added a flair button from A Flair For Buttons and some computer generated journaling.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great day!

Syd At 8 Weeks Old

Hello friends! Happy Thursday! I am honored that I was asked to contribute a layout for the June Page Maps along with a few design team members at Just Nick Digital Cut Files. If you are not familiar with Page Maps, it is a free sketch blog, by Becky Fleck, that has been around since 2006. Her free sketches for scrapbook layouts and cards are amazing and they can be seen here and also here at Scrapbook And Cards Today Magazine. 

Today I am excited to share this layout of my puppy Syd when he was 8 weeks old. He is technically still a puppy even though he just turned one years old about two weeks ago and now weighs a whopping 70 pounds.

Creating pet layouts is pure fun for me. My fur babies are dear to my heart and I love the Puppy Love Collection of papers and die cuts by Doodlebug Designs. 

I also added some the brown puppy flair button from the Good Dog Flair Set  and also the paw flair button from Cute Kitty Flair Set at A Flair For Buttons on my layout. Flair gives it the finishing touch. Don't you think?

Good Dog Flair Set

Cute Kitty Flair Set

It's always nice when I can put lots and lots of photos on a layout and Becky's sketches help me do just that. Here is the sketch that I was assigned

For my title "Syd" I used the Outline Alphas cut file from Just Nick, cut it out on white card stock with my Silhouette Cameo, and backed it with some patterned papers and added some mini alpha stickers as well to complete my title.

I also added some machine stitching with red thread to add some interest.

I hope you enjoyed your visit and I want to thank you for stopping by my blog. Have a great day!

Mom You Are Loved

Hello friends! Today I wanted to share a layout that I created for Just Nick Digital Cut Files of my mom.  She loves flowers and the color purple so I knew the Floral Ring 2 cut file and the Mom cut file would be perfect to use on this layout.

There is a lot of hand stitching on my layout. I love the homemade feel it gives the layout. I used purple, light pink, dark pink, yellow and green embroidery floss to stitch the flowers, leave and around the ring and then I watercolored inside the flowers, leaves and ring. The white card stock background was created with the packaging technique to give it some more splashes of color.

The Mom cut file was cut on my Silhouette Cameo onto plaid patterned paper from Lawn Fawn. It needed some more dimension so I added some very thin strips of foam adhesive tape that I cut out with my scissors and stuck it to the backside of the title. I added a piece of white card stock that I trimmed with my scissors slightly larger than my die cut title and then stuck it down. The mini black alpha stickers from Pretty Little Studio were added below the cut title to complete the title. To make sure they stayed put, I thought I would machine stitch them down.  

To embellish the layout, I used a flair button and a label from Pretty Little Studio, and some enamel dots from Pinkfresh Studio. The last step I trimmed the white card stock background down to 11 inches by 11 inches and stuck it down to the plaid patterned paper and machine stitched a 1/4 inch from the outside edge of the page with pink thread.

I really enjoyed the process of this layout. It truly looks better in person than it does in a photo. Don't forget to check out the Just Nick shop for these cut files and hundreds more.

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous day!

Cut Files Used On My Layout:

Floral Ring 2

Mom