I'm ba-ack!!

Wow! It's been awhile since I posted anything here!
Life has been more chaotic than usual and on top of that, I've been trying to wrap my head around the retiring lists and the new catalogue. Somewhere along the way, my mojo has been hard to find.
We also took a trip to Disneyland which really put a wrench into my creative routine! But we are back and I am back creating layouts so it's time to share one with you now.

I have been attempting to participate with Lain's LOAD challenge this month but have only managed to complete 8 or 9 layouts (travel will do that to you!). Today her challenge was to use something from the last layout we had done. Well, my last layout was this one. Do you see that flower in the lower left corner? I made it using my Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack (the 4-petal flower). I was left with a piece of 12x12" paper with all these little flower shapes punched out of it (in basically a straight line) and I wondered if I could use them as a stencil of some sort. As I was playing with it and my Daffodil Delight ink, it became sun rays and I knew what the rest of my layout needed to be. I grabbed some Flirtatious Specialty DSP, some of the card stock flowers and pink jewels from the Blossom Builders Designer Printed Kit (that I'd be hoarding for some unknown reason!) and very quickly put this together.

Here is a close up of two of the flowers I made with the kit and my journaling. It reads: May 6, 2012 First Day in the Magic Kingdom. The sun had yet to come out but our smiles and the excitement of the girls was as bright as the sun became later. What an awesome trip!

I love Stampin' Up! products. Really I do. But ... they do not make alphabet stickers and as someone who tries to be both creative and fast I rely on sticky alphas a lot! I have a drawer full of Thickers and a shelf of card stock ones. Yes, it's a bit of an addiction. I'm sure someone can direct me to the appropriate treatment facility!! So ... this title is made up of Basic Grey alphabet stickers. Gulp!

The Blossom Builders kit comes with the large pink rhinestones that I used as flower centres AND these itty bitty ones that I felt needed to be scattered a bit across my page. I love these rhinestones and  if they ever bring them out again I am stocking up!!

Well thanks for coming by. Hope you enjoyed my layout. There are only 12 more days to shop the current Idea Book and Catalogue! Can you believe it?! I have looked at the new catalogue and drooled heavily over it but have yet to make any purchases. After Disneyland money is a wee bit tight! That being said, I am planning a Catalogue Launch Party and Retired Product Garage Sale next month. Once I set my dates I'll be sure to let you know!!

Enjoy the rest of your long weekend everyone!

Flirtatious Birthday Card

Today is my sister-in-law Jonina's birthday so I have another gorgeous (if I do say so myself) card to share.

I used my Flirtatious Specialty DSP this time. The bottom layer is Melon Mambo card stock then is a layer of one of the patterns from the Flirtatious line. On top of that is a doily I cut out in Whisper White card stock using my Paper Doily Sizzlits Die. Then are two doilies cut out from the laser cut sheets - one in Melon Mambo and the other in Pumpkin Pie. This colour combination screams spring to me!

I stamped the banner image from the Take It To Heart stamp set in Melon Mambo and used a sentiment from the Create a Cupcake stamp set (in Pumpkin Pie) before cutting out the banner, curling the edges and popping it up with Dimensionals. It still needed a little something extra so I used the scalloped circle punch from my Itty Bitty Punch Pack to punch out a Melon Mambo flower that I could add a pearl to.

The pearls looked a little lonely so I added a few more in two different sizes.

For the inside I stamped some images from the Delicate Doilies stamp set in Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie and Daffodil Delight and another sentiment from the Create a Cupcake set. 

Super simple but quite stunning, don't you think?

Happy Birthday Jo!!

Big Blue Eyes

I've got another layout of one of my beautiful daughters to share with you today. I've mixed several paper lines - just proves how versatile Stampin' Up! products are!!

This is Paige and the final of the portrait shots that we had taken this past December that I plan to scrap. 

I'm planning to enter this layout into Elle's Studio Thursday sketch challenge so here is the sketch we were given.

For my layout I started with a piece of 12x12 card stock in Bashful Blue. I inked the edges with Concord Crush and then layered  a piece of Sweet Shop DSP on top. The photo and journaling block (just a piece of Whisper White card stock) were mounted on Concord Crush card stock and then I added strips of papers from Cheerful Treat and Flirtatious DSP. 

One of the papers in the Flirtatious Specialty DSP is these awesome laser cut doilies so for the title I cut out three of them, layered them over some more Cheerful Treat paper and a piece of 1/2" Stitched-Poly Ribbon in Concord Crush and adhered my letters on top. The word BIG is from the Word Play stamp set and originally said 'Wish Big' but I only needed the second word so just cut off the top of the stamped image.

I treated my letters in the same way as this layout. These are from the Alphabet Soup On Board set. First I inked them up with Bashful Blue, then I coated them in Crystal Effects and finally, to accent the word 'blue', I added a bit of Dazzling Details while the Crystal Effects was still wet. NOTE: I would do a second coat of ink before adding the other products next time. I'm not super happy that the letters look more grey than blue. But ... it is what it is.

For this embellishment I cut out another of the laser cut doilies and added a plastic flower (from my Twelve embellishment tin so not Stampin' Up!) and a Glimmer Brad. I also added a couple other brads from the Sweet Shop Jelly Bean and Everyday Enchantment collections. The Everyday Enchantment Ribbon and Brad pack is exclusive to the Sale-A-Bration catalogue so I can't provide you a link but to view the catalogue please click here.

Here are more of the brads I used on this layout - more than I normally use, to be honest! The green one is another from the Sweet Shop Jelly Bean brad collection and the lighter purple one is from the IN COLOR Printed Designer brads.