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!

Halloween layout for Get Picky

I know, I know! Spring is just around the corner so why am I scrapping Halloween? Because I can!! LOL!
Actually, it wasn't on my table to scrap. I did not wake up yesterday and say "I've got to get those Halloween pictures down on paper today!" But ... somehow it happened anyway!

I am a couple days behind with LOAD so I was working on the prompt for Day 22 which was "holidays". Our LOAD Scrapper on the Street, Dani did a layout about Halloween and I felt the pieces of my layout fall into place. Thanks Dani!! I was also able to combine a couple other challenges into it, namely Apron Strings Bake Your Cake challenge and Get Picky's sketch challenge.

Here's the sketch I used (loosely!)

And here's my layout.

I thought I'd use some leftover Halloween papers but I couldn't find any - I guess I used them up already. What I do have plenty of (kind of hording it 'cus I love it so much!) is the Spice Cake DSP from the Holiday mini (discontinued now - I checked the Clearance Rack of my On-line store but it's not there ... yet?) 

To create the title I used 3 different stamp sets - Jayne's Type Alphabet, Just Perfect Alphabet and Calendar Alphabet & Numbers. I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to get them perfectly aligned. (I totally meant to do that! Sigh. Clearly I need some practice!) The leaves were stamped using the Gently Falling stamp set (also from the Holiday mini so now discontinued - hopefully they bring it back for next year as it is a great set!) 

To add some distinctly Halloween elements I used 4 stamps from the Out on a Limb stamp set. This pumpkin one - 3 goofy pumpkins for my 3 goofy girls!

This little black cat for my little kitty.

And this little witch for my little witch. The broom and the witch are two different stamps - having the clear mount stamps means you can line them up to create a scene with ease (no Stamp-a-ma-jig required!)

Oh, and a quick comment on the jagged trim piece anchoring my pictures. This is an example of why I never throw anything away. This was a scrap that was created when I made the giant rosette for this layout. I saw it in my scrap bag and felt the jaggedness complimented my layouts theme.

I added bling in several locations in the form of Basic Rhinestones. I scattered some of the large ones in among the leaves and then used the small rope rhinestones two ways. One was under the kitty, in a straight line. The other you can see here - I curved it as I was sticking it down to create glittery swirls. The organic shape compliments the leaf cluster. 

My Apron Strings cake had bling as one of my ingredients (Sprinkles) so I was glad to incorporate it so cleverly here.

Finally, an apology. For using so many discontinued items. It was totally not my intention and to be honest I didn't even notice until I was writing this post and trying to link to the products. I am sure that all scrappers out there can attest to having older product in their stashes so please forgive me for trying to use mine up. I think a good take away tip for you is that products that are non-themed can still be used effectively on a themed layout. The Spice Cake DSP and the Gently Falling stamp set are most definitely NOT Halloween themed but the colours are a good match and when mixed with few Halloween stamps and some great pictures of kids in costume, they work well for this kind of layout.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy Stamping Everyone!