Project 12 for June 2012

I'm back with another layout for my Project 12 album. July is almost finished which led me to start thinking about this project, which then led to realize I'd neglected to do my June 2012 layout. Using another sketch from Pagemaps and the Patio Party DSP collection I came up with this.

This is the sketch I used from June's Pagemaps.

Here's a close up of the left hand page. 

And the right hand page. 

As you can see I stamped a tone on tone border on 3 sides of the layout using Flowering Flourishes. I embellished some of the flowers with rhinestones - the last thing I did to finish off this layout!

Again I have used WAY more photos than the sketch called for but to keep them from overwhelming the layout I created a grid pattern and mounted them all onto Whisper White card stock. This left me with just enough journaling space for what I had to say!

Some more close ups for you .. starting with the title.

This technique should be pretty familiar to you all by now. I cut out my title using some leftover chipboard and my Typeset Alphabet die for the Big Shot. I then inked them in Baja Breeze (including inking the edges with my Baja Breeze Stampin' Write marker) and then flooded them with Cyrstal Effects.

The Patio Party DSP collection includes a sheet with lots of different patterns in strips - perfect for creating borders. I liked these banners and had originally left them uncut but felt the layout needed a bit more texture and interest. I got the idea of fussy cutting all the little banner flags out and really love the final look. It was literally a pain to do - my hand was seriously cramping by the end of it - but worth it I think!

To embellish the journaling block I played with the Reason To Smile stamp set (a special right now - see my side bar). It is a double stamp stamp set. This means you get a solid image for each flower plus the outline/detail stamp. I knew I was going to be cutting them out so I wasn't too concerned with stamping within the lines. In fact, I stamped the small blue flowers multiple time which gave them a cool layered look! Once the base colours were stamped I got out the coordinating Stampin' Write markers and added some shading and depth. I also used my blender pen to give it a more realistic look.

A closer look at the back ground stamping.

In this picture you can see the subtle texture that the solid flower stamp have.

Thanks for coming by again today. Do you document each month in any way? If so I'd love to check it out. Please leave me a link in the comments section. Hope you have a wonderful, sunny Tuesday!

Here are your links for products featured in this post.

Patio Party DSP

Flowering Flourishes stamp set

Typeset Alphabet Bigz Die

Reason To Smile stamp set (only $5 with a purchase of $60 ENDS TODAY!)

Stampin' Write markers

Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents

Crystal Effects

May 2012 P12 Featuring Summer Smooches

This catches me up in my 2012 Project 12 album. What a nice feeling!
Since the main event this month was our family trip to Disneyland, I felt it appropriate to use mostly Disney pictures!

Here is the PageMaps sketch that I used (from the May 2012 sketches.)

I flipped the sketch to accommodate my chosen photos.

And here are close ups of each page.

As you can see, I didn't do a whole lot of stamping on this layout (just the 'happy birthday' underneath Greg's picture and the numbers.) Sometimes I'm "feeling" the stamping, and sometimes I'm  not. And that's okay! For this layout it was really more about playing with all the different paper patterns in the Summer Smooches collection. The red and white polka dot is NOT from Summer Smooches however, it is from another new collection called (appropriately enough) Polka Dot Parade. Check out the links below to see all the colours this comes in. It's a great set to have on hand to enhance other collections.

It was Greg's birthday on our last day at the park so I made him go to the City Hall and get a birthday button. To further highlight this picture I created a little banner below it and just stamped the 'happy birthday' sentiment from Best Dad Ever. My Basic Black ink pad needs to be re-inked so to make it look intentional I stamped off some images to give them a more faded look. 

My title. 

I cut out the letters with my Typeset Alphabet die and the numbers were stamped using one of the stamps in the Patterned Party stamp set (really finding this super versatile!!) and then fussy cut. (Also did this to get the '42' for Greg's birthday picture.) To dress it up a bit I added the pen faux stitching. I liked the stitch look so much I did it on the rest of the layout!

My journalling block.

And one last picture to highlight (you Moms out there will know why I'm highlighting this!!) Yes, this is Christine in the potty. The story is this; Christine is my last baby and while she's been wearing Pull-Ups for months now and we had been flirting with potty training, we hadn't committed 100% to the process. For many reasons, not least of which being my resistance. Not because I wished her to remain little (although that may have been a tiny part of it) but because I still retained very vivid and horrid memories of potty training Paige and didn't fancy repeating them with Christine. As it turned out I needn't have worried as she took to it very quickly (once we'd fully committed - after returning from Disneyland) and now I am revelling in the process of getting rid of things like diaper bags, change tables, diaper pails, etc etc etc. Ah, freedom!!

Thanks for stopping by. If you liked this please leave me some love! I may even visit you and return the favour!! Last but not least, here are your links.

Summer Smooches DSP
Polka Dot Parade DSP
Patterned Party stamp set
Best Dad Ever stamp set
Typeset Alphabet Die

Project 12 using Floral District

I am finally caught up with my Project 12 album - yay! It is unusual for me to get 2 months behind so it was really weighing on me. A lot of things have been weighing on me lately which (if you follow either of my blogs) you probably gathered just by the fact that I've been a bit MIA lately. I think I may be back on track ... ish ... but time will tell.

As an aside, can I ask a favour of those (few) of you who do follow me here or on Facebook? Can you please share this post with your own followers/friends? I am feeling a bit of frustration that my sites are not growing as quickly (or at all!) as I'd hoped so am reaching out to you good people to help spread the word. While we're at it, do you have any suggestions for content or improvements? I would really appreciate your input!! Thanks.

Okay, back to my Project 12 layout. This is for April and I see that I used the same sketch as my buddy Roxy. Here is my interpretation.

If you've taken a look at Roxy's layout you'll see that I have quite a few more pictures on mine. It's a weakness of mine, I admit it! Must. Use. Many. Pictures. Always!

This is the PageMaps sketch I used. Loosely! 

And some close ups ... first the left hand page.

And the right hand page.

Some close ups of the details.

Loving my new Alphabet die! 

Here you can see some of the papers in the Floral District DSP pack as well as one of the new Naturals Designer Buttons - lovely wooden buttons!

I loved the stamping I'd done on Starting Point layout so added it on this one too.

Okay, that's it. Here are your links - thanks for stopping by. If you liked this please leave me some love!

Floral District DSP

Flowering Flourishes stamp set

Naturals Designer Buttons

Typeset Alphabet Bigz Die

I've decided to enter this into Creative Accents Buttons and Twine challenge for June. Check them out at the link above.

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!

Project 12 - February 2012

Time for another Project 12 layout. I've decided to feature a different paper collection with each month/layout so this month I used Big Top Birthday. If you click the link you'll see how fun this paper is!

Here's my layout.

I used this sketch from the February 2012 PageMaps sketches.

In the interest of making this a quick post I'm not going to go into great detail about my process but here are some close up shots of the details. Hope you like them!

Left side

Right side

Stamping + paper covered On Board hearts + a button = cute collage!

On board letters that are inked and then covered in Crystal Effects.

Some stickers from the Big Top Birthday Quick Accents kit plus a couple punched circles and an On Board banner.

All that white card stock needed a little something something ... if you know what I mean. Love these little embellishment clusters!

More stamping with my embellishments.

Products used:
Big Top Birthday DSP and Big Top Birthday Quick Accents Kit
12x12 Textured Card Stock in Whisper White from the Neutrals Collection
12x12 Textured Card Stock in Daffodil Delight from the Brights Collection
Real Red smooth card stock
Classic Stampin Pad in Tempting Turquoise
Patterned Party stamp set
On Board Alphabet Soup and Merry Medley
Crystal Effects
1" and 21/2" Circle punches
Decorative Label Punch
Heart-to-Heart Punch
Scallop Trim Border Punch
Designer Buttons - Brights Collection

Thanks for stopping by. Don't forget about my Sale-a-Bration Celebration on Saturday. All the information is here - come by for some inspiration and the chance to win great prizes! I might even have some items for sale - if I get organized in time!!

Project 12 My Way

Hello fellow crafters!
I've got another layout to share with you today as well as a card.

For the past 2 years I have played along with Davinie Fiero and Scrapbook and Cards Today in their Project 12 Challenge. The idea was that each month we were given a Becky Fleck Pagemaps sketch to play with and we created a month-in-review type page. I loved getting a new sketch each month and loved seeing how all the different participants interpreted them. This year they have changed the format. There are no new sketches (although we are welcome to mine their archives and re-use a sketch from the past 2 years) and instead of making it strictly about the entire month we can pick any topic, week, day, whatever to scrap. They have (and I think this will be a monthly thing) given us a colour scheme as an added challenge. I'm not thrilled about the changes but have decided that since my favourite part of the whole thing was documenting each month in one layout, that's what I'm going to take from it and continue doing.

So ... I decided to use a new sketch and used PageMaps' January 2012's double page layout sketch.

And this is what I came up with.

As you can see I used the sketch as a jumping off point but my pictures seemed to want to be arranged in a slightly different way. So I went with it!

Here are some close ups.

The left side - I used Crumb Cake smooth card stock as my base and layered two pieces from the Everyday Enchantment line in the background. 

The right side - I moved the title and journalling block to this side - again, it just seemed to want to be there!

I had a lot to say so I decided to type it up. I printed it onto Very Vanilla card stock and cut out the individual paragraphs for a more casual look.

My snowflakes (kind of fun that we actually had snow so I could use them!) were made with the Snowflake #2 die for the Big Shot (the large snowflake) and the snowflake punch. To attach them to the page and to add some sparkle I used the flower Brads. And speaking of sparkle, I also gave the snowflakes a liberal spraying of Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz. The shine is subtle but it's there!

Here is the smaller snowflake with the smaller size of flower brad.

For my title I used the Alphabet Soup On Board letters. They are raw chipboard so I coated them with two coats of Very Vanilla Craft Ink and a liberal coating of Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz. 

Here is another of the snowflakes and you can also see that I popped up my title letters with Dimensionals for even more texture. I think the snowflake is curling up so much because it was slightly wet when I attached it to the page. I'm sure it will lay flat once it's in a page protector!

Everything I've highlighted is available for order through me or through my on-line store (just follow the links). The Everyday Enchantment DSP is only available as a Sale-A-Bration purchase through me. The best way to get it is to host a workshop and for every purchase of $60 you get to choose one free item from the Sale-a-Bration list. 

Here is another project I did using this DSP.

I made these cards for an upline group meeting last week. We have card swaps so in return for making these, I got some really cute cards for my display board. 

To make this card I took a piece of the Everyday Enchantment DSP, cut it to size then ran it through my Big Shot using the Framelits Dies Hearts Collection. Behind the heart cut out I mounted both a smaller heart and a doily made using the Paper Doily Sizzlit Die which I had lightly sprayed with Log Cabin Smooch Spritz.

The bit along the bottom was created by rolling one of our Stampin' Wheels along a piece of Very Vanilla card stock with the Decor standard wheel in Calypso Coral ink. I then tied a piece of Calypso Coral 1/8" Organdy ribbon around it and through a Designer Series button from the Neutrals collection.

Hope you like these projects. If you are interested in making something similar please use the link at the side to email me. Space is still available in the Mommy and Me Valentines class so sign up now!

Thanks and Happy Crafting!