Using Some Twelve Inspiration

I have been participating  (or trying to anyway) in Stacey Julian's Twelve class over at Big Picture Classes all year. I was really good up to about May and then I sort of fell off the wagon. I was still creating layouts (as evidenced on my blogs and galleries) but I was forgetting to use my designated Twelve embellishments (we all pulled out minimum 144 different embellishments in 12 colours and keep them stored in a muffin tin to be added one to each layout completed) and I was definitely not thinking about what I was creating or why. Anyway, I just finished the first layout of the year using a piece of Inspiration from Stacey herself. At the beginning of every month Stacey posts 12 new Triggers on the class site. They are designed to inspire us to create, think or just for our viewing enjoyment. As soon as I saw the triggers this month I jumped up to create this ...

It was inspired by this layout by Stephanie Howell.

I knew I had multiple doily stamps that I could use to recreate the look of her background paper and the doily Sizzlits dies in the catalogue would be perfect for the embellishments. I used Gossamer Lace, Lacy & Lovely and Artistic Etchings in Craft White on Crumb Cake (the Amour stamp is also from Artistic Etchings and is in Crumb Cake ink) to create my background image. 

We used accents of purple at our wedding so I looked for some purple patterned paper and found this one in International Bazaar. I knew that I wanted a different title work than my alphabet stamps or my alphabet dies could give me so I had to turn to my non-Stampin' Up stash for some glittery AC Thickers. 

I cut out several different doilies using the Delicate Doilies and Paper Doily Sizzlits. I cut them out in both Whisper White and Vellum intending the layer them. In this picture you can see the large Paper Doily with a smaller doily from the Delicate Doilies both tucked behind the picture block. The purple ribbon is also not from Stampin' Up - it's actually leftover from creating our wedding invitations! I accented the bow with one of the Vintage Faceted Designer buttons. The yellow heart behind is punched from Echo Parts Dots and Stripes and is my Twelve embellishment indicating that this layout was based on some sort of Inspiration. (Yellow is my Inspiration colour.)

I tucked my journalling behind my picture on a little tag I created from a leftover scrap of Whisper White card stock. 

Here's what that tag looks like.

Last but not least is the embellishment cluster behind the title. One of the smaller doilies from Delicate Doilies in Whisper White  with a couple vellum ones over top. Another couple Vintage Faceted buttons, some more ribbon to ground everything and a little hand written label that adds a bit to the title.

I am really pleased with this layout. I haven't scrapped any of my wedding pictures yet and now kind of feel inspired ... we'll see! I will for sure be creating more customized background papers though!

Thanks for stopping by today. I'd love for you to become a follower and leave a comment telling me if you've ever created your own background papers before.  Here are your links to Stampin' Up! supplies featured in this layout.

Lacy & Lovely stamp set

Gossamer Lace stamp

Artistic Etchings stamp set

Paper Doily Sizzlits Die

Delicate Doilies Sizzlits Die

International Bazaar DSP

Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons

Project 12 Layout for March 2012

Here is my latest installment in my Project 12 album - a bit later than I had originally planned to post it but I blame Catching Fire. If you haven't read the Hunger Games series ... be warned. Once you get sucked in, all else gets put on the back burner! Now I really need to get book #3 back!! Monday's another holiday after all!
But, back to the business at hand ... if you're interested in seeing my P12 layouts from January and February please click on the links. This month I am using this sketch from Pagemaps March 2012 sketches.

Sometimes I use the sketch literally and sometimes it is more of a spring board for my own inspiration. Here is where this sketch took me this month.

I have a little problem with wanting to use more photos than a sketch calls for .. I'm sure there are therapy groups for it! 

This month I am using Beyond The Garden Designer Series Paper. (I am working on another little project using this DSP which I hope to have ready to post soon. It's super cute - you don't want to miss it!) You really need to click on the link and check out all the fun patterns and colours in this line. I decided that the blue and yellow complimented the colours from my pictures and then accented with pops of Melon Mambo.

And now for the close ups, starting with the left hand page.

And then the right hand side. 

And finally the embellishments.

I created the flowers using my Blossom Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Punch and 1" Circle Punch plus some buttons from the Neutrals Collection. Underneath are some different coloured doilies. I cut these out using my Paper Doily Sizzlet Die in shades of Whisper White, Daffodil Delight and Melon Mambo for my other project which only required the centre portions so I used the outer portion to embellish this layout. Pays to be a pack rat at times!

The title uses more of my Alphabet Soup On Board letters which I inked up with Melon Mambo. It's a bit hard to see but I used my Calendar Alphabet & Numbers stamp set to stamp the year.

Under this flower I used a small piece of 1/2" Scallop Dots ribbon in Melon Mambo. I also used it to add a knot detail (see below.)

The extra doilies came in handy to accent this picture of Marley's latest lost tooth.

Hope you enjoy it. Have a great Easter 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!!