Practical Scrappers DT Challenge: Use Rub-ons

This week's challenge at Practical Scrappers is to use rub-ons - something that I, admittedly, am NOT a fan of. I bought some to use for the challenge and didn't end up having time to create a layout around the rub-ons - which is what I would have to do in this case. I had been working on scrapbook layouts with non-scrapping friends last week. We started on Monday and needed an entire book done before Friday - it was a moving away gift for a family that are dear friends of mine and Will (the husband) was leaving on Tuesday morning, so his surprise going away party was on Friday night.

On Friday while working on a "Friends" page and cooking up a huge batch of gumbo for the party, I decided to use some old rub-ons that I've had for a while on the layout, which I was able to submit as my project. Talk about getting it done on the 11th hour!

Here is my 2-page layout "You've got a friend in me".

Left page:

here's the right page:


The left page has an oversized tag cut from tags, bags, boxes and more. I printed the lyrics to the Randy Newman song "You've got a friend in me" (we all know it from Toy Story) and used that as the journaling tag. I knew this going away party was going to be emotional and our friend Will needed something to remind him of his friends here in Florida. I didn't want the journaling to be too personal - he's a tough guy, so I opted for this song. The photos on the layout were from various times we all spent together at a bar where Will's wife (and one of my best friends) Krissy works. My boyfriend plays guitar and sings there on Sundays so the music theme seemed appropriate. It went over well - and there were a lot of tears.

On the lower right corner of the left page, there is a mini album, which is held closed by sheer yellow/gold ribbon tied in a bow. It's folded accordian style and houses 7 photos between the 2 sides of the pages. Here's a close-up of it opened:


The right page also holds a bunch of photos, but this time I used a tag holder that I find quite handy, unique and fun! I've used both of these multiple photo LO techniques on a previous layout (Emily the Destroyer) but both LOs look so different - it's just a great way to get a lot of photos on a 2-page spread.

The tag holder was made from a #10 business size envelope that was folded, inked, & covered with coordinating paper. It holds 4 tags and each has a photo on both sides. I discovered this technique by visiting Following the PaperTrail. Laura has a lot of very cool things on her blog... check her out when you get a chance. You won't be disappointed! Here's a link for a YouTube video with directions on how to make the tag holder.

Here's a close-up of horizontal tags that slide into the tag holder:


and here is a close-up of the vertical tags that slide into the top of the tag holder:

Keep in mind, more tags can be added, I just chose to have 4 double-sided photo-tags for this layout. The final photo count on this 2-page layout: 18! Had I chosen to make the journaling tag a lot smaller I certainly would have been able to include at least 1 more photo on that page. In fact this layout had the potential to hold well over 20 photos without crowding them all in - gotta love that! I used Great Big Brads from Hot off the Press with quirky little HotP rub-ons on 2 of the photo tags and 1 on the journaling tag. The tags were all distressesd with Tim Holtz distress inks (spiced marmalade & dried marigold).

The striped paper was from Reminisce. It's double sided - the quilt-pattern you see under the vertical tags is on the reverse side.

Title letters were cut from Alphalicious, the music notes were from Hannah Montana and the tags were all TBB&M.

That's it for this week. I'll be celebrating my birthday this weekend so hopefully I'll have a few funny pictures to scrap in the coming weeks. My mom is doing her annual Easter Egg hunt on Sunday for the kids so there's another photo-op!

Thanks for visiting my blog and be sure to check out Practical Scrappers to see the great rub-on projects my DT sisters have created this week.

Til next Wednesday...

Happy crafting,
Barb

Practical Scrappers Sketch Friday (March 19)

This week's sketch at Practical Scrappers comes from the very talented Ann-Katrin. I LOVE her work!!! Here is her sketch:




And here is my "Rock Out' layout based upon her sketch:



I did take some artistic freedom with the sketch as you can tell... I omitted the horizontal and vertical paper strips because it just wouldn't work with my background paper (DCWV "Rockstar Stack") or my Cricut cuts.

The entire layout was designed and welded in Cricut DesignStudio, which made placement of the photo and all of the paper-pieced die cut layers SOOOOOO simple and precise! I used the Hannah Montana Cricut cartridge for the funky guitar and the word "ROCK", George and Basic shapes for the photo mat, Home Decor and Home Accents for the swirls. and Black Letter for the letters "OUT". You may not be able to see in the picture but I inked the edges of the "Rock Out" letters with "Tattered Rose" Distress Ink and the guitar with "Broken China" Distrss Ink. I love the contrast between the tattered rose and yellow CS (in real life).

The photo is my DD Alyssa when she was about 4-years-old... she's going to be 17 next month - Guess I'm a little behind on my scrapping, LOL!

Thanks Ann-Katrin for another AMAZING and INSPIRING sketch layout. I can't wait to see what you come up with next, and thank YOU for visiting my blog. Please leave a comment and become a follower, if you are not one yet!

Thanks and happy crafting,
Barb!

Moriarty Girls

I've been procrastinating doing this layout - not knowing exactly where to begin. I feared not being able to do it justice in a classy vintage style. After taking the "heritage" plunge with Dad's sisters, I jumped into "Moriarty Girls" without looking back (no pun intended)!



Before I get into the details of the layout, I have to describe the telephone conversation I had two days ago with my 84-year-old mom Dorothy (pictured in the back row far right in the photo above). I had told her about the layout I did for the photo of my dad's sisters and told her that the next page I was working on was using a photo of her and her sisters. Without me going into much detail about the photo with her, she began to tell me this story:

"It was Easter Sunday and my sisters and I were at the (Lawrence) Common. Anna was wearing a large hat because Lance had accidentally closed a door on her hand and she had been crying so she wanted to hide her eyes. Mary was wearing a brown checkered suit that she had for a while, but the rest of us all were wearing brand new outfits. It was before your father and I got married so I was able to afford an expensive outfit. I really loved that one... the jacket came to a point in the back, almost like tails. Grace had her hair up in a rat's nest - that's what they called it back then, you know. It was like a roll with cotton batting in it that we would wrap our hair around. Joan was standing in front of her mother, Rosemarie was sitting next to Mary and Annemarie was sitting on Mary's lap. Lance took the picture and it had to be around 1946 because your father and I got married in '47."

WOW... all these details without having the photo in front of her. She actually went into more detail describing the colors of each of their outfits but I was blown away by her recollection of a brief moment nearly 64 years ago and didn't write it all down as I sat looking at the black and white photo.

These sisters were the strongest women I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. They endured hardship, suffering, health issues, as well as enjoyed good times all while remaining to be best friends throughout the years. My Mom is the only one left to tell these stories and I hope to document as many of them as I possibly can on layouts such as this to share with my family and relatives.

Here are the materials used in the layout:

Patterned papers: Hot Off The Press "Busy Scrapper's Solution Vintage Papers"

Inks: Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Walnut Stain, Pine Needles & Aged Mahogany
VersaMagic: Pink Petunia

Paper Roses: MyMoments (Pink)

Sheer ribbon: unknown

I used an Anna Griffin technique for the pleated border as well as the photo corner treatment.

The journaling was placed on top of more paper pleats and I used 3D foam dots to adhere it to the layout. The journaling was done on my computer using "American Typewriter" font. I also added additional 3D foam dots inside some of the pleats to give it more definition.

I hope that I did these remarkable ladies proud with this layout.

Thanks for stopping by. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

Happy crafting,
Barb

SOUS 2/19 Sketch

This week's Stuck on U Sketch is another by Liz Qualman. Here is the sketch:


and here is my rendition of her sketch:



The photo is a great shot of 2 of my dad's sisters that my cousin uploaded to Facebook several months ago. I knew I wanted to do a layout using that photo and even picked out what I felt was the perfect paper for it - I just didn't know what I wanted the layout to look like. I have never done a vintage layout before but I have so many pictures that I want to scrap so I'm glad I got my feet wet with this photo and Liz' sketch.

I used Cosmo Cricket "Everafter: Something Old" paper, distressing the edges a bit with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo and Spiced Marmalade distress inks. I used the same colors of distress inks on the plain cream cardstock oversized mat to tone it down, then using walnut stain distress, I inked the edges to give it more definition. I double matted the photo with cream and butterscotch CS and inked the edge of the cream with weathered wood.

The butterscotch flourishes were cut on my Cricut with the Home Decor cartridge, then I painted a light wash of water and gold Perfect Pearls to make them sparkle ever-so-slightly. The scalloped border below the photo was cut using Accent Essentials cartridge and I placed some Best Occasions by Colorbok self adhesive ribbon between the photo and scallop edge as well as 3 self adhesive pearls (Target) for a little sophisticated vintage bling.

The tag was printed from my computer using "American Typewriter" font but I decided to format a few letters throughout the journaling to mimic the stuck keys and different keystroke pressure of an old typewriter. I crumpled then distressed the tag with more spiced marmalade and vintage photo, then gave it a misting of water & gold perfect pearls. After drying it with my heat gun, I added a little walnut stain distress to the edges and a bit on the surface to accentuate the wrinkles. The sheer ribbon added a soft and feminine look to it.

My favorite page element has to be the flowers. They are handmade out of paper. I used a fantistix and traced the outlines of the petals with vintage photo distress ink and after they were assembled I went back and painted some of the edges with a little water and gold Perfect Pearls. After I had the page together I decided to add just a dot of "Frayed Burlap" distress Stickles to the centers of the flowers.

Here's a close-up of one of the flowers so you can see the subtle shine of the Perfect Pearls and the Distress Stickles:


Thanks for stopping by and let me know what you think.

Happy crafting,
Barb!

SOUS 2/12 Sketch - my first submission

So, I think I'm getting a little more confident with my work. I mean I LOVE my layouts and other people seem to like them too. I just have been hesitant in submitting anything other than my design team work... until today.

I recently saw this sketch on Stuck On U Sketches:


This is a direct quote from SOUS:
"This week we have chosen one created by Liz Qualman. You can visit Liz and see more of her work at http://lizqualman.blogpsot.com/. We hope you will come back next week for a VERY special treat from Liz to us for you! You won't want to miss it! But this week we have a little TWIST on the challenge. You must use the sketch AND you must use RED or PINK on your layout! It doesn't have to be valentine-ish... just use one of those colors somewhere on your project..."

As soon as I saw it I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it! I had this amazing photo of my youngest daughter and it was perfect for this sketch challenge!

Here is my take on Liz Qualman's sketch:


The patterned papers were from HotP (striped and polka dot), Doodlebug Design (checked) and the speckled is unknown :(

I used my favorite Cricut font cartridge Alphalicious for the title letters - it just adds to the playfulness of the layout, don't you think?

Practical Scrapper's challenge for this week is flowers so I thought I would keep the theme going by using some homemade sunflowers for the embellishment.

After cutting the flower centers and stacking them, I used "pine needles" and "walnut stain" distress ink applied to a Fantastix to tap ink on the jagged edges, softening them a bit and giving them a more realistic look. Here's a close-up of the flowers:


I'm really thrilled to finally have this photo in my scrapbook where it belongs instead of in a box full of photos where nobody can see it.

Let me know what you think!

Thanks for stopping by and...

Happy crafting,
Barb!

Practical Scrappers DT Challenge: Use Flowers

Greetings from Southwest Florida!

Normally I would post my PS DT submission first thing on Wednesday morning (or late Tuesday night) but I've been up since 4:45am, it's relatively quiet in my house at the moment (so I can think), and I plan on plopping on the couch to watch TV tonight until I can't keep my eyes open, (although MY favorite show "The Biggest Loser" isn't on this week) so I decided to post this now.

Here's this week's Design Challenge From Practical Scrappers:

"It's cold and there's snow in 49 states (not here in SW Florida though!) but it's definitely time for a break from winter. This week we want you to use up flower supplies - you can make your own, use some primas, put a creative twist on a different supply to make flowers - whatever you'd like!"

All that said, here's my Design Team submission for Wednesday, February 17th:


In keeping with my goal of scrapping a lot of my older photos as well as my current ones, I decided to design a layout for another photo from our Disney World Summer 2004 trip. The kids and I went to the "Spirit of Aloha" dinner show at the Polynesian Resort and it was so much fun! Alyssa even got into the "Aloha Spirit" by joining other kids to learn how to hula!

The paper I used in this layout was "Aloha Chic" by STARfish Dreams, Inc. I used Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Dusty Concord to tone down the background just a tad. In all honesty, I was having trimmer issues and couldn't get a straight cut to save myself! When I finally managed to cut way too much more off the edge than I originally wanted I noticed the blade had mangled the paper's edge (urggg!) so distress to the rescue! I'm very pleased with the result.

The hibiscus flowers were cut using my Story Book Cricut cartridge as was the accent frame surrounding the photo. I accented the stamins with yellow stickles to make them pop. To embellish the white paper to the left and right of the photo, I turned to my Cuttlebug and a "Frills" embossing folder. I also used the embossing folder on the little journaling tag. The title letters were cut using Don Juan Cricut cartridge.

Don't forget to submit your own project at Practical Scrappers. This week we will have a winner for the project that uses the most flowers, a winner for the most creative use of flowers, and a winner for the favorite project. The design team is looking forward to seeing what you come up with! Even if you don't have a flower project to submit, take a few minnutes to check out all the projects that have been submitted by the design team as well as all the submissions by papercrafters just like you. I'm sure you'll find a lot of great ideas and tons of flowery inspiration!

Thanks for stopping by and...

Happy crafting,
Barb!