Practical Scrappers DT Challenge: Punches

The challenge this week at Practical Scrappers was to use punches. Since the purchase of my Cricut machines 2 years ago, my punches see more dust than action however my collection of circle Paper Shapers by EK Success are truly my "go-to" tools on a regular basis.

My "Hope Rocks The Beach" layout is a very simple page, with lots of photos from a fundraiser on Fort Myers Beach that I co-chaired a year and a half ago. I used a photo collage template from Scrapbooks Etc to include a bunch of pictures but still maintain a clean design.


My circle punch was used for the number labels that correspond with the numbered list on the right of the LO. I feel horrible when years after taking a picture, I forget the details, so by listing everyone in this manner, I can remember all the FABULOUS people who stepped up to help out a good cause (and had a lot of fun doing it!)

That's all for this week, but come back and visit next Wednesday to see what the DT has in store...

Happy crafting,
Barb!

One of my fave LO's

On Practical Scrapper's message board, there is a Question of the Day thread asking to share/show your favorite scrapbooking page that you've done that shows a little bit of your style and tell us why it's your favorite. Sounds like a good excuse to post one of my favorite layouts that I have ever done.

Here it is:



I used the menu/mask from the photos as a template for the paper-pieced parrot on the left page. The title "my keets" is short for "parakeets" which is what the children of Parrot Heads are called, is just letters that I drew and cut by hand (this LO was done BmC... Before my Cricut). The beak is yellow card stock that I chalked to give it dimension. On the right edge near the tip of the beak, I wrote lift here... this will reveal my hidden journaling. Because the layout is about a trip to Orlando's Margaritaville, the story is written using Jimmy Buffett song titles (ALL GREEN CAPS) and is shaped like the beak! Here is the journaling:

Hoping to BRING BACK THE
MAGIC, the kids and I decided to
TAKE ANOTHER ROAD to go
Christmas shopping. CHANGES IN
LATITUDES CHANGES IN ATTITUDES
was something this family certainly
needed. A HOLIDAY in Orlando would
surely make us feel like BAREFOOT
CHILDREN IN THE RAIN. In my quest
to be INCOMMUNICADO, I left a
message on my answering machine:
“BABY’S GONE SHOPPIN’. Leave a
message after the beep.”

We spent a SUNNY AFTERNOON having
a blast SPENDING MONEY (remember I
USED TO HAVE MONEY ONE TIME).
After an entire day of LIVIN’ IT UP we
realized we were hungry, so we headed
to MARGARITAVILLE for a
CHEESEBURGER IN PARADISE. We
knew that COME MONDAY it would
be back to our CARNIVAL WORLD,
which made us WONDER WHY
WE EVER GO HOME. I know
it’s CLICHÉ but don’t we all
want to live HAPPILY EVER
AFTER (NOW AND THEN)?

Although it’s really a
SEMI-TRUE STORY I’ll
end with THAT’S MY
STORY & I’M
STICKIN’ WITH
IT!

On the right page, I used the Margaritaville logo behind my kids as inspiration for the sunset / palm trees paper-piecing. Again, lots of chalk was used for the sun. The title letters for "Margaritaville" was copied from my late husband's favorite t-shirt - a margarita spilling out forming the letters. I outlined each letter with a black glaze pen, added white glaze pen highlights and cut around the entire word. There are spots that I found too intricate to cut out, so I colored them in with black marker, but you really have to look closely to see it.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by!

Happy crafting,
Barb