At the Pool

On Tuesday I shared with you my process for defining my style.  With a little help from my friends at BPC's Mother LOAD I discovered that my style is bold colors and graphic patterned papers with a strong visual line on the page.  And I promised that I would come back on Friday with a layout using my style.

I think there is no doubt that this layout incorporates both bold colors and graphic patterns.  And I LOVE it!  Are you surprised?  ;)

My design inspiration came from Ella's Stretch Your Sketches series. You may notice that I rotated the sketch to the right.


My color inspiration came from my son's swim trunks as well as the color of the water.

For the title I pulled out an old sticker set.  Perfect colors, perfect title.  Yay!

 To add a little bit of interest, and graphic pattern ;) I added an orange overlay by Hambly.  Glossy Accents is absolutely the best way to adhere an overlay.  Now I know that you can see where I glued on the solid orange circles but that is totally user error.  :)  I assumed that the orange would cover the glue so I wasn't very careful.  I also glued under the outlined circles and you can't see that at all.  Just use your finger to smear the glue a bit so that it isn't clumpy and it will dry totally clear!

For fun I added some green paper strips with small dots.  I just cut thin strips and embellished.  Love using my scraps!

For my journaling I simply drew some lines and wrote away.  Handwritten journaling is quickly becoming my favorite way to go.  It speeds up my scrapping a ton!












Made any fun swimming layouts lately?  Have a little one that showed off some new skills over the summer?  Wish the pool would just close already so your little people will stop asking to go?  (I hate to admit that I'm so there)  Leave me a comment!  I'd love to hear your thoughts!  

Kids Live Here

Awhile ago (like back in May!) I posted some pictures I took of my boys playing outside at our new house along with a Photoshop tutorial on recomposing an image.  This weekend I FINALLY got around to scrapping those photos.

Once again I have a photo of my inspiration page but can't find the original post.  I do know that it was done by Autumn Baldwin over at Write.Click.Scrapbook.  Wish I could link you up to the actual post, but since I can't find it I'll just link you to the website.  So totally love that place!

The original layout was done in 8.5x11 and I wanted to use 12x12.  So I just stretched the sketch.  I actually used the same size photos (4x6 and 2x3), just added one more and had more space around the mat.  That allowed more of my cute little stars to show through.  This is also a digital layout, but totally easy to translate into paper!

The green block I used to mat all my photos was too large to fit through my printer.  Since I really liked the look of the type on the background paper I used a scrap of the green paper and ran that through my printer.  You can still obviously see that it is a separate piece of paper, but I like how it blends in with the background.

To coordinate with the stars on the paper I did a bit of stitching.  I chose to attach the star to the paper and then stitch.  Which worked ok, but did get a little bit tricky when needing to turn the paper.  In hindsight I probably would stitch the star first and then attach to the paper.

Because I maintained the photo sizes from the inspiration layout I had a lot more extra space for a title.  I originally intended to just use the title directly on the patterned paper, similar to the original design.  When I put it on the paper I discovered that the background had such a large design on it, the title got lost.  So I decided to back it with a blue square.

I cut the title on my Cricut using SCAL (Sure Cuts A Lot).  Once I added the blue paper I wanted to give it more oomph.  So I pulled out my new bracket punch.  I liked the negative space left by the punch but wanted something more.  So I inked the brackets and layered them onto the frame.

To give some added depth I popped the bracket up.  Whenever I use pop dots I keep the sheet they come on and  use it for things like this.  I cut some small strips from the edge of the pop dots paper and used those.  The dots themselves would have been too big.

I love that my boys now have a fun place to play outside, and I love that we have this layout to remember our first month in the new house!

Swimming Transformation

My boys have gone through such a swimming transformation this summer.  In the past we haven't really had much access to a pool, but this summer we've been able to use the pool in our new neighborhood.  The boys were both very unsure and hesitant at the beginning of the summer.  But as we've gone through the summer months they have really became confident swimmers!

I have really been wanting to do a layout about my boys and summer swimming, but I didn't want to spend a lot of time.  I finished this layout in an hour!  Love that!

This week Donna Jannuzzi is hosting at Write.Click.Scrapbook.com and her posts are about quick summer pages.  I was inspired!  So I searched the August layout gallery there full of layouts with 4x6 pics.  I found this one by Melissa Kaiserman and knew it was perfect!

My left page documented the start of summer.  My youngest crying at every swim lesson, my oldest having fun but not wanting to go in water where he couldn't touch.  The expression on my youngest's face captures it all!

Instead of using a strip of paper like the inspiration page I knew I wanted to use arrows.  So I cut an arrow in SCAL.  I typed the text right on the arrow so that when the Cricut cut it out, the letters would come out of the arrow.  I then backed the arrow with black so that the letters would pop.  Essentially I used the negative.  Much easier than adhering tiny letters!

The right page shows my boys now.  Jumping off diving boards, swimming underwater, and for my youngest swimming without using a death grip on any adult in close proximity.  :)  I accented the pages with a few 3D stickers just to add a punch of colorful fun!

Rather than using a large journaling square I wrote words in my own handwriting to describe each page.  The left page has words like hesitant, hold on tight, crying, waist deep, dry heads.  While the right page expresses my oldest son's LOVE of jumping in and the new found freedom in swimming.  In between each word I put a small gradient jewel in clear, blue, or green.

The inspiration layout used what looked like doodles down the corners of one picture on each side.  I loved the look, but wanted to be sure my lines were straight, so I chose to stitch instead.  Plus it gave the page a bit more dimension and color.

This layout is happy and fun while still documenting the story I wanted to tell.  But best of all it was FAST!  From start to finish (and blogged about) while my son was napping.  Gotta love that!

Summer Reading

Today at the Big Idea Festival over on BigPictureScrapbooking.com Amy Sorensen challenged us to make a layout involving reading.  My boys and I all love to read, but I don't really have any pictures depicting that.  So I thought this layout would be one to go in the someday file.

We spent the morning at an interactive Clifford exhibit on loan from a MN children's museum.  There was  lots of opportunities for creative play, and my boys took advantage.  But I began noticing them in the library area reading.  We were surrounded by chaos with kids everywhere and my boys would wander over, sit in chairs and read book after book.  I grabbed my camera and snapped away.

My layout is very similar to the inspiration layout.  You have to be enrolled in the class to have access to that, but I can show you how I made mine.

The original layout was one page.  I always scrap two so I flipped it for the second page.  You can see that I adapted my right page a bit from this sketch by moving the vertical 4x6 down so that the top lined up with the top of the horizontal 4x6.

I was so excited to learn this new tip from Amy.  Whenever I want a border around the outside of a page I usually just put a piece of cardstock behind the slightly smaller piece.  The paper Amy was using had a solid border, but was decorative inside.  She cut out the inside to use elsewhere, and just used the solid part.  My paper was just solid red cardstock, but rather than waste a whole page, I used a craft knife to cut out the center.  I then attached the white cardstock to the front.  Here is a view of the back.  I left enough of an edge to put adhesive on.  Such a simple idea, but one I'd never thought of before.

I used my SCAL program to cut the squares (what are those pointy squares called anyway?).  The inspiration layout had flowers alternating with each square.  I didn't have that many flowers so I chose to add in some gems as well.  The gems are from Creative Charms (love that place).

To line up my gems and flowers I used my new ruler from Tim Holtz.  The ruler has holes every 1/8 in that you can pierce through.  I lined the holes up across the points of the squares and found the center between each square.  I punched the hole through the ruler.  Once I had all the holes punched I added the brads.  It worked so well.  LOVE THAT RULER!  I've got issues, I know.  :)

Amy printed her journaling on the bottom corner of her 12x12 page.  I do not have a printer that can feed paper that size.  I just printed mine onto white cardstock and cut it to match the corner of paper visible at the bottom of the page.  It gives the same look without requiring a bigger printer.

Rather than putting the title at the bottom of this page as the original sketch showed I decided to move it to the top.  I liked the balance that gave the two pages.

When I cut my title on SCAL some of the letters ran together so much it made it difficult to read.  I decided to use red Sharpie to outline the edges of some of the letters to give it more definition.  I added one last gem for the dot on the i.  I really like how it turned out.

This layout was quick and simple.  Used mostly 4x6 photos and very easy embellishing.  I love how it turned out.  Now I have something to document the love my boys have for reading, and that is something we will all cherish!

Garden of Goodies

The Fantabulous Cricut Blog is hosting a challenge this week that glorifies the wonders of summer food.  I figured this was a perfect time to scrap some gardening photos.

I found my layout inspiration over at Write.Click.Scrapbook.  Their August gallery is all about using 4x6 photos.  I specifically drew inspiration from this layout by Donna Januzzi.

I stretched the layout across two pages and added a few 2x2 photos so that I could highlight some of my garden goodies.  I originally intended to use 2 of the smaller photos, but ended up using 4.

I utilized some wonderful SVGs that I bought over at SVGCuts.com.  These are from their Veggie Garden sets 1 and 2.  The vegetables and title all came from these digicarts.

I flipped the cherry tomatoes and wrapped them in and around the cage.  I wanted them to look more like tomatoes growing on the vine.

I utilized ink and subtlety patterned paper to give the veggies texture.  In this 4x4 block I originally put two 2x4 strips.  But then decided to move the squash and pepper into that space.  To highlight the sizes of the various vegetables I added a small patterned square next to the pepper.  I loved how it turned out!

I'm so glad I took some pics of my veggies as they grew.  I loved that I could add that touch to my garden layout.

I have had these wood grained stickers for years.  I felt like the earthy words were very fitting for this layout.  I decided to us them as a border around my pictures.  I added buttons, and just for fun put in one red one similar to the one red tomato.

Gardening was good for our family.  Not just because we had healthy veggies to eat, but also because it gave my children a project and a connection to this amazing world we live in!

Picture Summer

After I made the photo collage to upload into the student gallery I decided I wanted to make one with a photo for each of the prompts.  I thought that would be a great way to make a scrapbook page for my project.  I was inspired by a layout made by a fellow class member.  See her layout here.

I learned that making your own collage in Photoshop Elements is really not that hard.  Especially if you want all the photos to be the same size.

I first created a blank canvas that was 8.5 x 11 in.  Next I opened up a photo and cropped it to 2x2 in.  Then I selected the blank canvas again and dragged the photo from the photo bin into the canvas.  I dragged the corner down to the size I wanted.  I kept adding pictures and resizing them until I had them arranged the way I wanted.

I also wanted some blocks left blank.  When I had all the pictures in I used the marquee tool to create a square the same size as one of the photos.  I then moved it into a blank block.  Then I clicked on the paint can.  I double clicked on the color square and used the dropper to sample a color from one of the photos.  I used the orange to get the orange block, the kickball for the blue block, and the swirl pic for the green.  I then used text tool to type words into each block.

The quintessential colors of summer for me are green, orange, and bright blue.  So I decided to take advantage of that in my layout.  I am in love with my Citrus Stack from DCWV.  I chose my pattern papers from there.

I took some of my favorite lines from the inspirational emails sent to us by our instructor, Tracey Clark and used that for my journaling.  I got these awesome vinyl flowers from Creative Charms July deal of the month.  You can get AMAZING deals there each month!  Check it out!

I added a few gradient jewels just for fun.  I had such fun at Picture Summer!  Can't wait for Picture Fall!  You can join me at Big Picture Scrapbooking.  Enrollment starts next week.

July 31st

I can't believe our 30 days of summer project is over.  It has been an amazing journey.  I've found such inspiration throughout this month.  To celebrate my favorite photos I tried my hand at a photo collage.

July 30th

There's not much better than watching a sunset.  The gorgeous skies are hard to resist.  Today we were to photograph a sunset.  I was, unfortunately, not able to do tonight's sunset.  Luckily I have taken several sunset photos during this project.  Here are a few of my favorites.

I love the grass in the foreground and the sun rays in the background.

As the sun sets, I say goodbye to July and my 30 days of summer.

July 29th

What says summer more than bare feet?  Once the temps rise above 50 you won't see me in anything other than flip flops.  So when I saw that today's prompt was to photograph bare feet I thought it very appropriate.

Rosie Toesies - I tossed some rose petals around my boys' feet and snapped away.  This was the best shot.

This pic reminded me of how hot the concrete can be during the summer.

I chose to use the reverse coloring technique on this shot.  Let the rose petals be the only color and made the rest black and white.

I loved the light in this shot.

In trying to photo my boys they often get so silly.  More rolling around and giggling than still feet.  :)

July 28th

Summer spins.  That was the topic for today.  It took me a LONG time to get this technique right.  It involves spinning the camera as you snap the photo.  It's fun once you get the hang of it.  I took over 200 photos in the process. :)  I narrowed it down, but still have several to share.

Sprinkler spin- I think this technique is perfect for playing in the sprinkler.  It represents the fun of playing in the water.

I love the rainbow shining in the water here.

Several running and jumping shots.  :)

I love the abstract feel of the grass and water.

The hose in this shot gave an interesting twist to the abstract.

This shot was a few seconds before I got sprayed with the hose.  :)  Fun was had by all!