"Shh!! We're reading" sign

If you've checked out anything else on my blog, you'll at some point run across the mention of our MOPS group's spring auction and what I've made for it. I tend to make a variety of items- there are some things I've made several years in a row because they did really well, and then there are specific to the year and my whim and fancy. Anyhow, I digress..... :) Each year every table of ladies in the MOPS group comes up with a themed gift basket in which we put together items that go with that theme. Our table chose "Child's first library" in which all those classics are included that you'd typically buy for a new baby. I decided to contribute a little sign, the idea just came to me... thanks God!! I think God gives me the best ideas :) So, what popped into my mind was "Shh!! We're reading" Pretty basic, really. I painted a little plaque from Craft Warehouse a bottom coat of red, then painted over that with a light aqua color. I then sanded around the edges a bit and on the front to let the red show through slightly for contrast. I used a red ribbon hanger to complement the red and aqua, and then used my Cricut with the Alphalicious cartridge to cut out some vinyl lettering. I think it will be a fun addition to our First Library basket.

Framed "Sisters" Layout

I finally finished this layout of two sweet sisters meeting for the first time. I love pictures, but I especially love scrapping those sweet moments captured by the camera. The pictures in this layout are of the meeting of a new sister. I love the wonder on big sister's face. These little girls belong to a friend of mine from church. I knew as soon as I saw these pictures that they should be framed, and so this became my gift instead of new baby clothes, toys, or diapers. Maybe I'm just a real sap when it comes to pictures and people... but... isn't that what makes a scrapper? (at least sometimes.. :) ? ) Ooh, and I played with the ribbon and ruffling this time, which I haven't tried before, and I think I'm hooked already..

"good sport" layout

This was a layout I did using a sketch- which took a lot of thinking work out of it. I like the clean look of it. I distressed the striped paper, picture mat, and the journaling strips. I just used some embroidery floss to add a bit more interest to the title and the journaling strips. I used the bubbles embossing folder from the Cuttlebug to add more texture to the letters. My original intention for the title was to use chipboard letters, but I didn't have enough, so I traced around the chipboard letters onto cardstock, then cut them out and embossed them. It was one of those pleasant surprises with how much I liked the letters in the end, despite having to compromise.

Mini Album- masculine themed, with distressing and black and white pics...

This album is a gift for one of my good friends. I was inspired by some pictures she posted of herself with her boys- six of them in all! She's a great mom, and I thought it would be neat to celebrate that in an album, as she doesn't really get much time to scrap and is overwhelmed by it all. I started out with the pictures in color, but there were so many competing colors, that I thought it would get really distracting. So, for the very first time, I changed them to black and white, and worked with them in black and white, and was so much happier with how they worked with the paper colors and print. I also distressed and inked around the edges of the pictures- a first for me there also, and I'm really pleased with how it looked- especially with the black and white pictures. I hand stitched around the pictures and various aspects of the album- again, another first for me. I've been working on it since the latter part of September- it was supposed to be a birthday gift (in October), and yes, I'm aware that it's the middle of December... and very late.... Fortunately my friend is very understanding- I showed her what I had started when I saw her on her birthday, so she knew to a degree what was coming. I've changed and added a lot since I showed her the beginnings of it. I painted and crackled the chipboard on the cover and added the pearls- it coordinates with the layout I did with the same paper not too long ago-inspired by the album and using extra pictures from this project. I would have liked to have added some of the pearls to the inside, but I was trying hard to keep it masculine- being all boys for the album- and I thought I was kind of pushing it with the scroll/flourishes on the pages for accents, so I opted not to add them inside. The cover though, I thought I could get away with it more, and like I said, it coordinates with the layout I made and framed for her that matches this. So, stick me with a fork, for I am done.. finally...

Easter Sunday 2008 Layout

This layout was based on a sketch challenge in a super inspiring scrapbooking group on Cafemom- Julie, you and your scrappy ladies ROCK! Part of the challenge was to use the sketch, but to also incorporate some felt on the layout, in addition to some hand stitching. This was the first time I've used stitching on a layout, and I have to say that I am HOOKED on it now. For whatever reason, there is something calming and therapeutic with the stitching- now I'm just talking the basic stitch (not fancy embroidery), for the record- THAT would not be calming to me... :) Anyhow, I stitched around the pictures before I matted them- I used a single strand of embroidery floss for that. I stitched around other various aspects of the layout too, with more than one strand. I used my edge distresser (oh my, how I love my edge distresser! thanks to my best buddy Katherine for giving it to me- I have used it SO much! ). The distressed edges really soften up the look of the layout. Here's a secret- the paper actually says "growing boy" along the top of some of the leaves of the flowers. I used more stitching along those areas to hide it, because the paper and the floss and pictures all coordinated so well, and I couldn't find anything else suitable- so I improvised... I bought 2 sheets of the flower paper, so I cut some of the flowers out and used pop up dots to raise them out of the background to add depth. I then stickled the centers of them. I cut out more flowers and put them along the bottom of the pictures with rhinestones and buttons that coordinated. And then there's the felt- my first time working with it. To make the scallops, I used my corner rounder punch on a piece of paper to make it scalloped and then used it as template with a little bit of dry adhesive to stick the paper to the felt and cut around it . All I had to do was remove the paper and there you have it. I used beads that coordinated with the colors and sewed them on the felt, and I stitched around the border of the scallops with coordinating embroidery floss. It was really fun to do. I have to say that I'm really pleased with this layout- and that doesn't happen too often for me.

Good Baby/Bad Hair Day redone

Well, I wasn't happy with the layout the way it was, so I trimmed the edges of the title pieces and inked them again (it looked neater than the distressed edges inked) and I added ribbon instead of the embroidery floss on the corners and the title pieces. It added more than the plain white floss in my opinion.. anyhow here is the new improved (anal retentive) version:

Chipboard Car Mini Album (Baby boy themed)

I finally finished up this album that my best friend gave me- when I started it was just a plain chipboard album waiting to be decorated. I chose to decorate it in a baby boy theme for a gift. I've been at the point of being "almost" done for a while now. I still don't think it's as good as it COULD be, but I'm as done as I'm going to be. I'll show some of my favorite pages out of it. I used chipboard letters from one of the chipboard cubes you can find around in various stores. I'd gotten it on clearance and it was pastel colors and sayings that I wouldn't normally use, but I decided that I could use it by painting/covering up the original surfaces. It took me a while, but I'm definitely happier with the result. I used embroidery floss to make little ties around it and inside the buttons to add more dimension to them. I also used my handy dandy edge distresser to roughen up the mats a little bit, since it's for a boy. I also sanded and inked around the edges of the car shape. I made little journaling tags to slip in behind the pictures with a strip of paper that matched the page it was on. I'm glad to be done with it, it was definitely an awkward shape to decorate to where it would look balanced. Some how a picture ended up on there twice, and since I've already accidentally canceled what I was working on once already, I'm going to leave well enough alone and leave it on there rather than risk messing up and having to start all over again...

My weeklong layout...

A week ago, yes, a whole week.... I started this layout. No sketches or creative ideas other than playing around, it evolved quite a bit from where I first started with it. I even asked for help from the gals in Scrapping with Friends on Cafemom for suggestions... This was the first time I tried using the edge distresser that my best buddy Katherine gave me- it looks like a little pink Pac-man (that makes me old, because that was a very eighties reference there.. ). It was so much fun using the edge distresser, I probably went a bit overboard... but it does help a layout with a boy in it not look too girly. So here it is, finally, my son being a goofball (this is not a rare occurrence). When he asks me to spike his hair, he says "like a shark"- meaning: a dorsal fin.. My husband gets really annoyed when I allow him to go to school like this, but I think there's no harm in it, and he's a great kid, so it's not like he's "punking out" with attitude. The title of the layout was actually part of a piece of scrapbooking paper that said that, originally part of the layout that got scrapped (not literally :) ) but I loved the saying, so I used chipboard instead. I kind of wonder if it looks a bit too busy, but I'm as done as I'm going to be with this layout. I haven't scrapped a layout in months, so there was a lot of rust being shaken off. I just couldn't resist using these pictures, they really motivated me to scrap them :) I also made a tag to journal on that kind of blends in but allows me to talk more about what was behind the pictures.