You Rock Layout #3

These workshops are so EASY! They come with a FULL paper pack, a matching stamp set - made specifically for the workshop, a package of accents, and a full-color instruction brochure that includes one double layout and some directions for a second one. This layout was the second one that it suggested. It is called, "Unified Whole" and is on page 68 of the Cherish program. I made some small changes to this layout, too, and I love how Jeannette's designs allow for that! In this one, the design calls for a large 8x8 photograph on the left page. When I used to see those designs, I would always steer clear of them, but this one ended up working easily into my idea for this layout by substituting some 4 x 4 pictures for the 8 x 8 one. I accented the corner with another one of those Top Coats - so fancy - and this time, the colorful paper has circles all over it. I called the first one Starburst, so this one is the Planet paper. LOL!
Anyway, I did some interesting embellishment on this page. First, I wrapped the ribbon that came in my accent kit around the corner of the page. But then I had this great Top Coat piece that was a guitar. Well, I don't really need a guitar for my family, but I liked the way it was in a circle of dots and such. So, I cut it out of the surroundings and used those in little swirley half-circles. I really liked the effect, and I have a buddy who has some need for an extra guitar picture!

I was inspired by the "river" of stamped images in some of the other layouts and made sure I included something of the same sort in this one. The right 3 x 3 cardstock was perfect for the technique. I only did 1 image (I had already stuck down the other elements before the inspiration set in!) but the bright yellow stars and the top coat piece makes it look like it all goes together. The bitty sparkles and the Outdoor Denim Bigger Brad just blended everything together. I even added an extra star and sparkles on another square. Also on this close-up picture, it looks like a couple of the pictures are mis-cut - just too small. What I actually did was use my edge distresser on the edges of the pictures, creating a rough white edge on both of them. It is a great accent on some pages, but I'm not sure it looks right here so I might just reprint the pictures and replace them.

You Rock - Layout #2

I love love love the way the starburst paper from the You Rock collections makes this layout pop!

This double design is called "Silver Screen" from the Cherish program on page 20. I have used this design again and again in my albums and it never looks the same. That is such a cool thing about Jeannette's awesome books! (If you want to learn more about Jeannette Lynton or her scrap-booking programs, visit her blog, posted on the left!)
So since this page is from her designs, I won't give the specks for cutting, but I do want to share
a few details on how I put it together and embellished it.

First the paper! It only uses one piece of the starburst and one of the polka-dot along with the Indian Corn Blue cardstock. The pattern called for a second piece of cardstock for the little squares at the bottom of the right page, and the rectangle at the top right corner of the left-hand page. In that corner, I used the polka-dots again. It blended nicely. And for the little squares (there are actually 3 of them, but I covered one up) I stuck with the Indian Corn Blue. There was plenty to complete the effect with it. You can see on the little strips and also on the wider, title strip that I've stamped a string of dots using Outdoor Denim. (The same dark blue that is my base cardstocks.) I also accented all these pieces with brads.

I haven't decided on the title yet - maybe "Family Fun"? I'm SURE not going to mention my own birthday, although the cake is right there. Yep, that's me in the pink with one of my twinkies.

Back to the accents. Do you see the little white swooshie thing hanging down from the cake picture? That is actually a new accent called a Top Coat. They are GREAT! I used them all through this workshop and had so much fun with them. They are printed transparancy pieces, and this set is MADE for the You Rock paper, matching it in both color and theme!

The picture with my twinking singing also shows how I stamped and accented the paper. I used the White Daisy pigment ink first. Then I went back and restamped the stars in yellow. (That's the lighter stars!) I also stamped the stars in Sunflower on regular cardstock and cut them out to add to my "Milky Way." As a final accent, I added the new "Bitty Sparkles."

You Rock Workshop - Layout 1

I so love this layout and am just amazed how well it turned out. I just got inspired last month when I surfed through several scrap-booking sites. This design came from a mixture of about 4 others and it goes perfectly with this paper set!

The cuts are very involved, but the general set up is a 9 1/2 inch tall rectangle (split between the 2 pages with 10 inches on the left and 6 inches on the right) with rounded corners and an 8-inch tall "band" that shows on either side of the rounded rectangle.


This is the right side side of the layout. The base is one of the blue distressed B&Ts (background and texture or design paper). The outside of the rectangle is the green B&T - actually the back, patterned side of an orange distressed page. On the green rectangle-half, I added 2 mattes that I originally cut to 6 x 5 1/2. Then, with the top matte overlapping the bottom one by about 2 inches, I cut a curvy pattern. Because I cut them both at the same time, the pattern matched perfectly. When I cut my pictures, I just "eye-balled" it, but it wouldn't be hard to use the matte as a template for the photos. The outside "band" on this page is an 8 x 6 rectangle of orange cardstock. I used a piece of "starburst" B&T on top of that. The starburst is 1/4 inch thinner than the cardstock and 1/2 inch shorter than the cardstock. I added the spirograph images from the Top Coat collection in the bottom of one picture - held by a brad, and a corner piece in the top of the page with a stamped star covering that. The star is in Sunflower ink and a button with natural hemp adorns the bottom right corner. Finally, I added a couple of small pictures and used the orange B&T (the front side of the green) as small mattes for them.

On the left side, the green rectangle was 9 1/2 x 10 and goes flush against the right edge of the paper. Next to it is a 2 x 8 inch piece of orange cardstock. The starburst B&T on it, like on the other side, is 1/4 inch thinner and 1/2 inch shorter than the cardstock. The mattes inside the green rectangle are 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 with a rounded corner. I used another spirograph and brad combo on the picture here, too, along with buttons and a corner top coat on the bottom. Also, I used the metal frame in the Outdoor Denim mini accents in the corner. I plan to add the date there, but haven't yet. Along the right edge, I used some more starburst B&T with 2 of the pieces being 2 x 4 and the 3rd piece measuring 5 x 4. Some of the gals at the retreat cut the center piece down a bit, but not much because inside the center piece, we applied a 4 1/2 diameter circle in the green design paper, with an orange 4 inch circle. The circle hangs off the right edge. Once you have applied your picture, you can cut the circle along the edge (in a straight cut) and then adhere the excess to the right side.

My Latest Scrappin' Happy workshop

These 4 layouts only take about 2 hours to make them all up! I get the pages all set up then add pictures, embellishments, and distressing.

This set is from our Aspen paper pack. I started with an 11 x 10 of the snowflake paper and a 4 x 12 strip of Twilight cardstock. The cardstock goes against the right side of the left-hand page and the snowflake paper is centered over it. I started the same way on the right-hand page, with a 4 x 12 strip of plaid paper against the left edge. But on this page, I cut my snowflake paper instead of wasting a lot of it. My twilight strip in the middle was 4 x 8 and the two snowflake strips are both 3 x 8. They just LOOK like they are all the same piece.
On this layout, I used the light brown snowflake paper as my bases. This layout is super simple! Aside from the strips and mattes, I just used 1 full piece of plaid paper. I cut a 4 x 12 strip and put it all the way to the right. The rest of it I put all the way to the left. Voila - simpe layout! At my workshop, we go ahead and cut all the extra pieces using the patterns from the Imagine book.
Another easy layout with the dark blue snowflakes as the base. I used a Cherish pattern to start, but changed quite a lot of it by the time I was done. Basically, the bottom half of the right-hand page and the bamboo square of the left-hand page are all 6 x 6 squares. The rest of the right-hand layout is made up of a 1 1/2 strip and a 4 1/2 inch strip of the coordinating B&Ts (background and texture papers)

This last layout was my favorite! I used the outdoor denim paper with the trees on it as the bases. On this I put a 3-inch strip on the right side of the left hand page and two 4 x 8 strips on the right-hand page. One went at the left-bottom corner, vertically, and the other went horizontally at the top-right corner. I also added Outdoor Denim cardstock mattes and strips to complete the double layout.

I can't wait to get my pictures and decorations on these. They are going to be perfect with the pictures I took of the February record-making snow here in North Texas!





I wanted to share these layouts. They were so simple to make.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I got a sweet card from Cynthia. She is such a gem! And this card is - yes - stinkin' cute! Notice the brads and the shamrocks match perfectly. I just LOVE that about Close to My Heart things. The papers are the exact color of the inks and thoroughly match the accents and markers as well. Even the design paper (we call them Background & Texture papers or B&Ts) has the same colors so that everything matches perfectly. No hunting around for paper that comes close!

The shamrocks also use our sparkles in the center. Oh and around the edge, that's not actual sewing that you see. That is a stamp from the set called, "Simple Stitches" and you can see it by clicking on the highlighted name. It has other stitches, as well, like the zigzag stitch, and a couple of sentiments including: "I'm sew happy!" You can't tell it from the view, but the little man and the sentiment are both raised - the sentiment higher than the man - using 3d foam squares or pop dots. It's also a little hard to tell, but the little man looks like he was colored with chalks or water-color pencils. Especially on the pants, it looks like a blending pen or water brush were used to create a faded look. Cynthia is quite the artist with this technique. Do you notice how the man's hat is darker along the bottom and has a lighter color (almost like a shine) along the upper part of the brim? I'm thoroughly impressed and grateful for such a talented friend who doesn't mind me sharing her expertise!

You Deserve This . . . I'm just sayin'

These are some of the pictures from my January retreat. I have to tell you, these gals were fantastic! There were few times when the room wasn't just buzzing with chatter and ideas and laughter. Total strangers became cropping buddies, literally, over night! As you can see, we bring just EVERYTHING, just in case. I also bring extra adhesive, cardstock, design papers, and embellishments to sell and you'll get all sorts of ideas from the projects going on around you!
I can't think of a better way to spend a weekend in June. (well, besides visiting a Nascar race, but that's another topic!) We have gals that complete more than 50 pages during the weekend. In fact, one gal completed 92 during one of my retreats. Another completed 84 and they were GORGEOUS. Gals start coming around noon on Friday and we order out for dinners and lunches all three days. For each meal, we choose from 2 different restaurants and I'll deliver to the dining room. Or you can save your money and bring your own food. Every room has a mini-fridge and a microwave!

We also all bring snacks and drinks to share. Sometimes gals will make a run to Sonic during happy hour for cheap drinks, but no one goes hungry. And the hotel treats us very well! The breakfast is an extra charge (only $7 for BOTH meals!) but it is well worth it and totally delicious!

You deserve this - fun girl-time while adding pages to your memories! Drop me a line and sign up for my June Retreat on the weekend of the 4-6!