Fabulous & 50 Blog Hop

I've been MIA for almost a year (YIKES) but that doesn't mean I haven't been crafting :) 


My Cricut Demo Army friend Angie is celebrating her 50th Birthday on Saturday, February 26th with a "Fabulous & 50 Blog Hop" and I'm honored to be one of the 12 blogs in the hop. I hope you stop by and check out the crafty birthday projects these talented ladies have created.


Have a creative day,
Barb

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

Practical Scrappers DT Challenge: Use Buttons

This week at Practical Scrappers, the challenge was to use buttons... not one of my favorite things - in fact I have NEVER used a button on a layout and probably never will again, it's just not my thing. I have seen many BEAUTIFUL layouts that have included buttons, it's just not my style I guess.

On to my layout...

The papers are Reminisce's Stripestock Collection and is called "Denise". I felt the colors worked for the photos I chose.

The flowers are Mulberry Street by Petaloo and the buttons are from Hot off the Press. I tied embroidery floss in the buttons to give them a finished look. The ribbon "stems" is just from a spool that's been hanging out in my supplies stash for longer than I can recall.

The phrase was cut on my Cricut using the Alphalicious cartridge.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Happy crafting,

Barb!

Practical Scrappers DT Challenge: Use Glitter / Bling

Hey there! Thanks for stopping by my blog!

I had to skip last week's DT challenge, but this week's challenge at Practical Scrappers was to show your projects that feature glitter, bling, jewels, pearls...all that fun girly stuff! The winner will get their choice of five digi-stamps from Creations by Penny. The deadline to enter is 5 pm ET on SUNDAY.

I had the pleasure of going to the Upper Keys / Islamorada Florida with 2 very good friends of mine to celebrate our birthdays last week. We spent 3 days in the sun, so I decided to use that as the focus for my DT project this week!

We're kind of goofy, fun-loving, VERY friendly girls so we decided to buy a tacky pink plastic flamingo and ask everyone we met to sign it. We called the flamingo "Holiday" as we were on holiday AND we were at Holiday Isle Beach Resort & Marina when we got our first "autograph" (see how goofy we are?)

Okay, back to my project... The PP was from Flair Designs' Paradise Collection and is called "Jungle Fever" - LOVE IT!!!!! As in almost every LO I do, I mounted the PP to CS, but this time I dug deep into my stash and pulled out ancient "Paper Adventures 2-Tones" CS that I purchased WAY back in 2003! These papers were amazing and I wish these babies were still around today. It's sort of like Core'dinations where the front and back are coordinating hues, but with a felt-like texture. Have I mentioned I love paper??? The color was called "Bubble Gum" and it's as yummy as a big hunk of Bazooka!

The flamingo was cut from Core'dination cs (fuscia) using Life's a Beach "fit to page" mode on my Cricut Expression. I did the usual layering and decided it needed more. Way in the back of my "everything else" stash drawer, I had a bag of bright pink feathers (why???) and they were perfect for my flamingo. She's kinda cute, right?

The title letters (Alphalicious) were welded with the sun (Cricut Office Help cartridge) in Design Studio and then layered and adhered together with shadows. I applied Stickles to the letters (fruit punch) and the sun (yellow) for the glitter challenge requirement.

I added a Kaisercraft rhinestone word ("FUN") centered on the bottom of my photo, as well as a few pink rhinestones in 2 of the photo corners for some bling.

There it is... a layout almost as fun as our 3 days in the sun!

Thanks for stopping by my blog. Leave a comment if you like my layout and PLEASE become a follower if you are not one yet... I'll return the favor!

Happy crafting,
Barb!

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 DT Challenge: Use something that you've had in your stash for over a year

Spring is here so it's time to clean out your storage bins & drawers, dust off those packages of stickers that you HAD to have but never used and use up those patterned papers that you've been holding on to for that special page!

This week Practical Scrappers wants you to dig into that stash and use something that you have had for over a year. It can be a product or tool and you only need to use one item to qualify. The Grand Prize winner will receive two free digi stamps from The Stamping Boutique. The deadline to enter is 5 p.m. on Saturday, so hop on over to Practical Scrappers and submit your project. My Design Team sisters and I would LOVE to see what's been hiding in your stash!

Here's my "Snow Much Fun" layout for this week:

I have had these papers from Hot Off The Press' "Mixing Christmas Papers" since 2002 and it's really great to use them! I wanted to bring in a little purple from the photos and the patterned paper so I matted the 2 photos in purple, then white, then a coordinating HotP paper from the same collection and finally another white mat. I felt that because the geometric pattern on the paper was so busy, the quadruple mats helped to tone it down, while still tying it together.

The glitzy snowflakes cascading down the layout are from Jolee's Boutique - another item that has been floating around in my stash since about 2003. I love how well the silver & pearl beads and clear rhinestones play with the cool blues and purples of the papers.

Because this month's sponsor is The Stamping Boutique, the DT members all were asked to use a digi stamp on a card or layout during the month. I chose an adorable Snowman Scrapbook Journal, which helped me do another snowy layout from our old home in New England. I colored the happy fellow with colored pencils, then applied Glossy Accents on him. While the Glossy Accents was still wet, I sprinkled a healthy dose of Martha Stewart Crafts "Snow" glitter all over to give him a frosty look. This glitter is a lot chunkier than normal glitter so it does look like ice crystals - take a closer look:


After the first coat of glossy accents dried, I applied more to his hat, scarf & mittens as well as along the exposed edges of the journaling block and the bottoms of his feet. I cut the entire digi stamp out and used 3d foam dots to affix him to the page.

The title letters ("Much Fun") are from the Tear Drop Cricut cartridge and were welded using my Gypsy and "Snow" is from Gypsy Wanderings. I applied Liquid Pearls White Opal (I've had since '08) to the tear drop letters and Distress Rock Candy Stickles to the "Snow" title. I also added some additional rhinestone bling on the snowflakes for a little extra sparkle.

I think I'm done with snowy layouts for a while. The sun is shining here in Southwest Florida and it looks like we're back to our normal 80 degree temperatures for a while... sounds like there may be a few beach days with my girlfriends along with some bright beachy layouts in the coming weeks!

I hope the sun is shining, the snow is melting, the rain has stopped and the crocuses are popping up where you are! Thanks for visiting my blog and...

happy crafting,
Barb