Final Layout

No, no I'm still going to be scrapping...this is just the last layout for our Grandson's first year album.As you can tell by the photos I'm pretty sure that Liam really likes cake since he seems to be wearing most of it, lol. I used the Scenic Route Metropolis Idea kit for this layout. I thought this kraft sheet from the kit was perfect for a birthday layout. So what do you think?

 

Memories

Don't you just love it when you see little ones smiling? When our daughter sent these photos of our grandson I knew I had to scrap them....oh actually I scrap every photo of him, lol. Anyways back to the layout.

For this layout I used the Bo Bunny "Bella Rosa" paper collection. I used the red side of the Amore paper from this collection for my background paper which I distressed and inked. For the torn corners I used the Aryia and Rustic paper from this paper collection for the top corner and for the bottom corner I used the Amore and Rustic paper and of course I distressed and inked them. I then cut out one of tags from the Elegant paper which I used to add Liam's name and what month the photos were taken. I distressed and inked this tag also. I popped up the two photos with cardboard. I had a peach color flower from my stash that I cut in half and tucked the two pieces under the bottom papers. I added a couple of other flowers from my stash below the photos. I added my wooden Memories title and added the little pocket watch that I added a twine bow to, and then added my butterfly and called it done. I was quite happy at how the layout turned out. What do you think?

 

LOTW

Well I was pleasantly surprised this evening when I went onto the Swirlydoos Facebook page and found out that I got "Layout of the Week" for my "Baby Boy" layout.

 Thank you so much Swirlydoos!

Baby Boy

I cant believe in another week and a half this little guy is going to be a year old and these photos just make him look like such a grown up little boy! Still on my use papers from my stash regime I came across these papers from We R Memory Keepers "Winter Frost" collection and thought they'd be great for this layout. I also used a sketch from Kelly Holifield:

Although it shows as a Halloween type sketch you can use it for any type of layout. A sketch just gives you a starting point for your design; I pretty much stuck to the sketch other than the spider and web. Here's how  my layout turned out.

 
 

The Boys

Well I've been digging through my paper stash trying to use up older papers before buying new papers. I've been pretty good so far in not buying new, she says giving herself a pat on the back, lol. The papers used in this layout was a scrap kit I bought about 7 or 8 years ago. Yea, I know I'm a pack rat, never throw anything out. These were perfect for this photo of my husband and our newest Grandson Liam. I guess not that new anymore since he will be turning one years old on December 2nd. Wow that went by so fast.

I used a green cardstock that matched the green in the papers almost perfectly. I matted the photo with a green cardstock just a bit darker than the background paper. I took the lighter blue paper and cut it approximately 3" x 12" and laid it out as shown in the photo. I cut three more pieces of the patterned paper and laid them out as shown in the photo. I added a doily as shown and also a couple of tags which were included in this kit. I added a Prima vine and my title "The Boys". I also tore the background cardstock and rolled it back, added a small orange piece of cardstock behind the tear and added a small rose bud that I made.  I distressed all of my papers and inked them. Here's the finished layout.

 

Another layout & a couple of cards.

Well I've been digging through my paper stash and scraps trying to use things up that I've had for ages. For my layout I picked this die cut from Websters Pages. I backed it with some coordinating green cardstock. I distressed and inked both papers. I dug around in my paper scraps to find these other papers which I distressed and inked. I seem to be into banners on my layouts lately, I really like how they look on the layouts. I popped the photos up with cardboard and I used a Prima vine which I ran down the right side of the larger photo. I also printed out a pair of flip flops that I drew in my Paint Shop Pro program and cut them out and popped them up with foam dots.

When I was downloading these photos from my phone I was looking at the small photo and thinking why does it look like Liam has a Mohawk. I looked at the actual photo and realized that it's actually a person way in the background behind them, lol. If I had noticed that earlier I could have photo shopped that person out of the photo. I'll probably do that and replace the photos.

 So still trying to use up more paper scraps I made these three cards. These papers are from a kit I bought way back in2010, most of the papers in this kit were quite pretty but the others, to me, were kind of blah looking so I really had to force myself to use them.  Nothing super fancy but I liked the way they turned out considering I didn't like the papers, lol. So here they are:

I'd love to hear your comments on my projects!
 

Halloween Duck

Another Halloween layout of our grandson in his duck costume. This was actually taken in September when our daughter had first picked this costume up. I think on Halloween day Liam had three costumes that he wore. I used some of the same papers I used in my previous Halloween layout of Liam. These are from Making Memories "Spellbound" paper collection as well as the embellishments. 

I played around with my papers until I got an idea of the design I wanted then I distressed and inked all of my papers and glued them all down. I added my embellishments and flowers. The bottle cap with the pumpkin is one that I made by punching out the pumpkin from one of the papers and then adding it to a flattened bottle cap and then adding a clear 1" epoxy circle on top. I added my title and there it is. Here's my finished layout.

 

There is only one you

My layout for this photo of our grandson was fairly simple with the layers and banners. I used the Heartfelt "Under the Sea" paper collection. I did distress all my papers for this layout but I didn't ink them. I fussy cut one of the flowers from the paper collection which I popped up with foam dots and laid in the bottom left corner. I added flowers from my stash and called it done. Here's the finished layout.

 

Walking Dead

Here's another Halloween layout I did, this is my grandson (no not Liam this time, lol) showing off his makeup talents. His favorite show is the "Walking Dead", I think he's hoping to get a job in their makeup department. He's getting pretty good at this stuff.

For my background paper I used the Echo Park "Chillingsworth Manor" paper. I backed my photo's with some green card stock. I distressed and inked the background paper. The other papers I've used are from Tim Holtz "Laboratory" paper collection. I tore the papers into strips which I inked and glued down some horizontal and some vertical. I then took some white lace I had and colored it with green distress ink and laid that down across the page just below the paper strips. 

I then took some black Gelato across the top of the page and then sprayed with water and used my finger to spread it out. I took some of my Lindy's stamp gang ink in "Bells of Ireland" green and "Pineapple Paradise" yellow and sprayed them in different areas of the background paper as shown in the photo. I added cheese cloth to the layout behind the photos. I added my spider webs that I cut out on my Cricut machine. I added cardboard to the photos to pop them up, then added a few flowers from my stash, did my title and called it done. I'd love to hear your comments on this layout. Have a great week everyone!

 

Little Pumpkin

I hope everyone is having a great day today! I just wanted to do a quick post to show off my first Halloween layout. Of course it is another layout of our grandson Liam, I'm sure everyone is getting sick of seeing him by now, lol. Liam's to young for trick or treating but that doesn't mean his Mama isn't going to dress him up in his pumpkin jammies, lol. So here's the layout, I'd love to hear what you think of  it!

 

Making of a layout

When I'm posting my layouts and cards here on my blog I usually do try and give a "sort of" explanation as to how I did the layout. Today I decided to actually give a step by step on how I made this layout. So here goes!

The first thing to do is to decide what photo you're scrapping (duh, lol) and pick out your background paper. For this layout I'm using the Bo Bunny "Madeleine" paper collection. I distressed all sides of the background paper with my Prima distress tool as well as inking the edges with Tim Holtz "Vintage Photo" distress ink. I also made a small tear on the right side of the background paper which I inked and rolled back. I took a small piece of pink paper from my stash and glued that to the back of this tear as shown in the photo.

You can pick out some coordinating papers now and cut to size as shown in the photo below (click on the photo to see a larger size). Distress and ink all of your edges. Please note the sizes are in inches.

Now you can glue the layers down as shown in the photo below. A little tip (that someone shared with me long ago) is when you are using your tape runner, glue or whatever you use, is to not put your glue/tape right to the edges of your paper put them further towards the middle of your paper. That way when your adding your embellishments you can lift the edges to tuck things under the paper edges.

Now all you have to do is add your photo and pick out your embellishments to finish the layout off. For my photo I added some card board to the back of the photo to pop it up. I added a tiny rose to the tear on the right side. Added my flower clusters and a couple of ephemera tags. I added a small wooden clock from Prima and inked it on the edges and tucked it under the photo. I also fussy cut out one of the bird cages from the "Madeleine" papers and popped it up with foam dots. To finish the layout off I added my wooden "Family" title that I painted to match up with the papers. I really hope you found this step by step helpful and I'd love to hear your comments. If you try out this layout leave me a link to your layout so I can check it out! Here's my finished layout. TFL!

Don't be a Tool Round Robin

Over at Swirlydoos the Round Robin for October is all about using our scrapping tools for our projects. It really is quite amazing how we tend to forget about a lot of our scrappy tools. The tools that I used were my sewing machine, compass (which I used to draw the circle I was going to sew), glue gun, Prima distress tool, heat tool and of course my paper trimmer but that one doesn't count for this RR. 

After I was happy with the design of my paper layers and glued them down, I used my compass to draw the circle that I was going to sew. I didn't want a perfect circle just wanted to give me a base to follow. Then I also stitched around the edges of the background paper. Again not sewing it straight. I then used my distress tool around the edges of the background paper.

 I used some rub ons for the flourish, tiny dots and few small flowers around the page. It is a bit hard to see on the finished layout but in the top left and bottom right corner of the background paper I stamped a corner stamp using versa mark and then some gold embossing powder and used my heat tool to set it. I cut a small piece of hexagon chipboard and painted it green to pick up the green in the papers. I added some cardboard to the back of my photo to pop it up and placed it where I wanted it. I added my flowers, adding a blue bow to the two flowers on the top side of the circle. The butterfly I printed out on my computer, cut it out and then added glossy accents to it, let it dry and once it was dry I added the tentacles that I made out of wire. Here's the finished layout. I'd love to hear what you think of it. TFL!

  

Using Paper Scraps

I'm sure there are others like me who have paper scraps that we just can't throw out because either we like the paper line or you don't think the paper scraps are small enough to throw away. Well I decided I should do something with all of these scraps so I decided to make some cards. These first 3 cards were made from paper scraps left over from a scrap kit back in 2011. I still have more scraps from that kit left over. Here are the first cards I did, you can click on the photo to see a larger view.

 These next couple of cards are made with paper scraps from a scrap kit from 2010 and like the other three there are still lots of scraps! If I didn't ever buy anymore papers I could probably keeping making cards with my scraps for a couple of years. Of course not buying new papers just wouldn't work because as soon as I see new papers I just have to have them, lol. Here are the other 2 cards.

 TFL and have a great day!

Cutie

Well here we have another layout of our grandson. The photo was taken  in June of this year, doesn't he look so cute in that yellow hat?  For this layout I used the Scenic Route "Metropolis Idea" kit that I've had  in my stash forever. I used it earlier on a layout showing off Liam's Baby Blues.This is a perfect kit for doing boy layouts with all of the fun colors and stickers etc.  For my background paper I used a piece of orange paper that I also had in my stash. I took some modeling paste and a star stencil and stenciled over the paper. Here's a photo of it.

I then took some of the different papers and cut them to different sizes and played around laying them out until I liked the design. I distressed all the papers and then glued them back down to my design. For my photo I popped it up with cardboard before laying it down. I then went into my flower stash and pulled out different flowers that would look good together and with the papers. I had these really cute little bug buttons in my stash so I picked out a couple of bee's and a ladybug and cut the back off and glued them down on the papers and flowers and also added a little butterfly and called it done. I was quite happy with the way it turned out. What do you think?

Selfie

I love this photo of our grandson, the way his arms look like they are being held out in front of him makes it look like he's taking a selfie, hence the title of the layout, lol. For this layout I used the Bo Bunny "Bella Rosa" paper collection.

For my background paper I used the Bella Rosa "Whisper" paper and I took a duplicate piece of paper and fussy cut out the left side floral section and popped it up with foam dots on the background paper. I then cut different size pieces of the other paper's in this collection and played around laying them down in different ways until I was happy with the design. I then distressed and inked all of the papers and glued them down. I took the photo and matted it and popped that up with some cardboard. 

I took some hexagon chippies from my stash and painted them with orange acrylic painted that I toned down with some white paint, helping to match up the color to the flowers in the paper. On the top right corner of the layout I tore the paper and distressed and rolled the torn edges back. I added a small peach colored piece of paper behind the torn corner and added some flowers from my stash along with a couple of tiny rose buds that I made myself and added a small feather popping out from that small flower cluster. I then added another flower cluster on the bottom right of the paper using the same flowers from my stash and added a couple of small feathers. I was very happy with the way it turned out. What do you think?

Happy News

So excited, I just found out that I got Layout of the Week over at Swirlydoo's for my layout of our grandson Liam below! Yay me!! This is quite an honor as all of the ladies over at Swirlydoo's are such amazing scrappers! Thanks so much for this honor ladies!

Another One For The Album

I'm giving myself a pat on the back that I managed to use up some older paper from my stash for this layout. These papers are from Basic Grey's "Oh Baby Boy" collection. Since I didn't have a lot of these papers I made the layout fairly simple. I distressed all of the papers but I didn't ink them this time. For my first layer I used a medium sized doily. My other layers consisted of two banners running vertical and the other two banners running horizontal. I fussy cut some of the rocket ships from one of the papers and popped them up with foam pop dots. In the top right corner I cut two very small banners and added a small green flower on top of them. So there you go, a quick and simple layout!

 

Another Grand Baby layout

I'm sure everyone must be getting tired of seeing all these layouts of our grandson Liam but I'm sure anyone who is a Mom or Gramma understands how we like to show off our babies, lol. I'm trying to do as many layouts as I can of Liam because he'll be 1 years old on December 2nd and I want to give our daughter and son-in-law an album of Liam's 1st year for Christmas. 

I'm trying to use up papers from my stash before I start buying more, not sure how well I'm doing at this but at least I'm trying, lol. I used this pretty die cut from Websters Pages "Sunday Picnic" collection. I matted my photo on some of the other pieces from this collection and I popped it up over the other papers with cardboard. I did distress the paper layers a bit. In my stash I found this ribbon threader (probably not the correct name for it) in my stash that says "Heartbreaker" and I knew it would be perfect for this layout! I had some pretty blue ribbon that went with this paper and then cut out some smaller banners to hang of the ribbon. I fussy cut one of the flowers from this paper collection and popped that up with foam dots on the top right of the photo. I then added some flowers on the bottom left of the photo and added the pretty stick pins that one of my friends from Swirlydoos sent me for a RAK, thanks Angelica! Here's the finished page!

 

Early Christmas?

I'm not sure if it's because I was in Costco the other day and they had all their Christmas stuff out or I'm just really looking forward to Christmas....I'm just thinking I'm crazy, lol. Anyways I was wanting to make something other than a scrap layout and I thought I'd use this little box I've had in my stash for quite awhile.

I first painted the box with white acrylic paint. I chose some Christmas papers from K&Company that I've had in my stash for quite awhile. The paper collection is called Swell Noel. I cut the papers to fit into each slot of the box. I used a little Christmas tree that I got at the $Store, I used some blue & red Stickles which I dotted about the tree like Christmas balls. I used a poinsettia and smaller flowers from my stash, along with some berry branches. I used some chipboard pieces (Gift box, stocking and house in the snow) from the same paper line. I added a little bird in one square and a little mouse  in his bed, this was a Christmas ornament that I bought at one of the craft sales I went to. I then added a small chipboard bird  house and a little bottle of "Fairy Dust". So here's the finished project:

 

Swirlydoos August Sketch

Although I am not able to purchase the Swirlydoos kits each month I still like to try out the sketch's using papers I have in my stash. I thought the August sketch for the tranquility kit would be perfect to do for a couple of photos of our grandson taken in July. Here's the sketch:

I used some papers I've had forever in my stash from Websters Pages "Park Drive" collection. I used the yellow "Blanket" paper for my first layer. I then took the green "Snacks" paper which I punched with one of my Martha Stewart punch around the page punches. As you can see by a couple of the corners I haven't quite mastered these punches yet, lol. I used lace, flowers and small pearl flourishes from my stash. I matted the photos with some yellow paper. There were journal cards in this collection that said "Today Was" so I cut them down in size and attached them to the back of the photos. I picked out a couple of words from my Tim Holtz small talk sticker book and attached them to these cards. One said "Beautiful" and the other "Extraordinary".  I then added a couple of stickers from the sticker pack that came with the paper pack. I tried to use papers that were quite bright to mimic the colors in Liam's play station. Here's the finished layout.