Interrupting scrapbooking for travel

 to New Hampshire to visit the grandkids

and had a lovely ride on a

really pretty autumn day.

Since this photo was taken with my iphone

and it was shall we say - blurry

I did a "lomify" preset from Thomas Fitzgerald

and it loooks like a painting and

less than a photo gone wrong. 

LOL.

 Jill picked up her friend Corina and we had a

brunch at the Hilltop Farm which

also makes a really mean Salted Carmel latte.

Their veggie omelet was amazing

made with all fresh organic ingredients straight

from the fields.

And the cafe is in this adorable farm house.

 Beautiful colors - a barn with a matching tree.

 And a store where if you belong to the co-op you

can purchase a variety of veggies, raw milk and goat cheese.

And then, a unicorn came out to play and....

a werewolf.

After all it was a few days after the full moon

where the magic still lingers.

4th Kit from the crop

that I didn't do at the crop as time just ran out.

And its all good - I decided to 

roll with the kits at home.

I used basically everything I kitted and

added a couple of extra embellishments.

I made up my mind to just roll with this.

I knew it would be 8x8 because its

going in mom's album.

I also decided to just roll......

I have been extremely soooooooo stressed

over everything I put on a page lately

trying to make it perfect.

Well it was making me cra-cra!

Do you ever fall into that trap? 

 There are also alot of "I" sentences going on up there.

Continuining in that vein.....

I just started putting the page together

as I always do - not wanting to commit so I just 

lay stuff about and get annoyed 

because a). it doesn't stay together (because

sometimes you just can't staple,

and b). it just gets more and more strained.

And why in the world - its a scrapbook page the world

will not end if its less than an art piece.

And seriously a great bottle of undo is your friend.

Being brave and deciseful (new word)

that I am I just went for it.

Best decision ever.

And I didn't even have to pull out the undo.

And it wasn't as painful as I thought it would be.

FYI...still having stamping issues.

Heavy Sigh.

All basic grey - kelly purkey except for

stars and homemade enamel dots.

Fourth Kit from the crop

This one was the last at the crop and

it  was kinda called on account of time ran out.

I did use the papers but not necessarily those 

stickers and cut apart sheet.

I found that they were not the look I was

looking after I was putting it together.

 Still Basic Grey but clipping lines went much better.

and because it wasn't busy enough I added some 

American Craft roller dots with my favorite Vintage photo ink.

Also a bit of mist was splatted about.

 I sort of called it "done" at the crop but when I 

got home I studied on it more

and it just needed that something extra.

 At the top here I added some Carte Postale

behind the gold "notebook" mat and also below

and a banner sticker next to the arrow on the right.

It does bring more focus to the photo

which is a totally cool photo.

This is all Basic Grey except for the

alphas - Studio Calico.

Third kit from the crop - bright and sassy colors

Putting together this kit was fun.

Bright, fun primary colors for the fingerpainting

duo just having a blast.

 Love that I had a bunch of choices in the kit

some didn't make it to the page - and that's okay.

Then some not in the kit totally worked out as well.

 Using more of the transparent circus stuff from

Studio Calico - just made the page.

 Since it was obvious what the artistic duo was

doing I didn't feel it necessary to have

"fingerpainting" as a title - but when I saw "my happy place"

as I was kitting - that was a sure thing.

Actually the only sure thing LOL.

I brought in the tag and splats to help

bring it down a smidge.

The white splat is enamel paint - as my white mists

ain't so white and hard to see and it

needed to be seen.

This was totally overwhelming color-wise but

I didn't struggle as much as I thought

just by keeping everything simple.

Studio Calico - all the way........

except for the banner punch and twine.

Second kit from the crop

Is Basic Grey - Soleil and I love

that paper - its really all done for you and

of course, I struggled because of that.

You know I really hate covering stuff up - so this

was a challenge.

And and then there was the color / b&w debate.

After a census was taken......

 The details are amazing and look so real I

started with doing some background work with some

soft Tim Holtz vintage photo ink, my hero arts bird stamp

and american craft? I think, rolling stamp-hearts.

 Doesn't that masking tape look real??

Its not - but I did use some real tape on the right corner cluster.

 And as usual I used a mix of BG embellishments

because they use the same color dyes they

easily roll from collection to collection.

 This is where I put real masking tape and used 

studio calico alphas because I wanted to continue the softness.

 Doesn't that cluster - look awesomely real??

It pains me that I forget to do stuff like that ....

And...B&W won!!! 

It just works so well with the softness of the page.

Annie being a silly girl.

Love the photo!!

Aftermath of the crop & First page completed

Dragging it all out of the car and dumping

it on my desk - it really wasn't too

hard to put everything back.

Somethings I just threw in exactly as is so the

basket and yellow tub went

right back on the shelves and the 3

baskets were diecuts and punches went

easily back in their drawers

as well as the inks, paints and mists.

I'll have to remember doing that next time.

First up was this kit that was actually the first one.

I think I was doing them in order.

Who knew.

 I really love that yellow and black - however

it had cut aparts on it - and not realizing - I whacked something

out of the middle - SIGH - so I need to figure how

I can salvage it.

I actually wanted to use that paper until.....

 I figured the circus theme would be fun for my

sleeping Amelia - and it did start as a 8x8 BUT.....

 I started the embellies on the right side and decided that it needed to be 12x12

because I couldn't fit them on the page.

And I had packed the other piece soooooo win-win.

I did use the orange from the writing to make it pop off the page

and in the title.

And the adorable transparency lion fit just perfect.

I jacked the title from her mama's hashtags which is

why I really wanted to make it 8x8 -

Sorry Jill you'll have to get a bigger album LOL.

All Studion Calico - expect for bow and Sissix die..

I actually completed 4 kits - and helped my pal Holli finish

100 wedding invites. We rocked it.

Optimistic kits for the upcoming crop

I kitted 8 which if I get half of them done 

I'll be totally thrilled.

Imagine my delirium if I get them all done.

If not, I'll scrap them at home using the kits unless

I feel that I totally missed in putting them together as

has at times happened in the past.

I put this mix together with papers from

Studio Calico along with some

of their kit embellishments.

I can't decide if this photo is for me or Jill

which means either 8x8 or 12x12.

 Halloween - love this using some old

Bella Blvd with some leftover

stamping I did from the cards.

 Love these bright colorful papers to go

with the finger painting artists.

 I wanted something masculine for this b&w photo

and I'm heading to my Basic Grey Haul.

 I originally put this kit together using these 

really pretty papers from Basic Grey

for the colored photo- However, I decided

to throw in a b&w photo because of the colors in

the photos and the pretty papers 

seemed to be a bit jarring when I did a double take.

We shall see....

And I love having the flexibility.

 This page will be turned into an 8x8

yes....using 2 4x4 photos.

It could work - however, I can always go 8.5x11

Basic Grey second city - should be fun.

 This to will be 8x8 androlling with Basic Grey and

Studio Calico mix with some Paper Issues.

 Another 8x8 and I wanted this to be soft and pretty.

So the watercolors will be there to help.

Or not.

 Not everything is hard and fast which is also fun.

AND I'll be throwing everything and

the kitchen sink in the trunk of my car to take to the crop.

Stamps, inks, mists and more do-dads

will be tossed into the mix.

If not, we'll be scrapping at our LSS

so I can purchase stuff.

A total win-win.

Another Basic Grey warehouse haul

I can't believe I forgot about this.

So much for paying attention to scheduling.

 I was an amazing haul.

 10 - 6x6 paper pads and assorted chipboard

and stickers.

And matching packets of embellishments. 

Tons of stickers and embellies.

Of course I've been using them and of course,

they'll be part of my "kitting" for

the crop.

Stay tuned.

Diecut branches and sequins

I started out with this page with the branches

and sequins at the top.

And I just couldn't work in the photo.

The branches are a sissix die that I

totally love and you'll be seeing more of.

The squins were tossed on there by a handful and

I glued where they landed.

That's when I turned the page sideways.

 The cardstock actually works really well IRL.

I brought some branches to the right side to cluster on the

journaling card. 

Left some blank spaces because not all the folks

could be ID'd.

 As there was no information on the back.

Loving this one too.

I have a crop on Saturday, which means I'll be preparing

for it over the next couple of days as I usually

kit and print everything ahead of time

so I shall be regaling you with that.

I know your eager to see.

LOL.

When a photo isn't what it seems

This photo was so not a hotbed of information so

I took to the Clan page on FB to see

if someone from the family could ID the person

in this photo.

I, at first, thought it was female.

 And you will too.

I did some light stamping on the background using

a "handwriting stamp" and one with dots

just to give it a bit more dimension.

Why do I keep forgetting stuff like that?

It's very annoying.

Then.............

I used gold mist on the flower and twigs to brighten

up the kraft paper I die cut them from

And found circles.

It seems I'm into shapes as well these days.

The little cancelled stamp from my grandpop's collection

adds a pop of color - love that and

the little heart came from the die cut box.

 I loved the brightness of the leaves which popped off the photo

so I spread them around the page to draw your eye.

And then to my surprise the photo was identified

as a boy - and wasn't I shocked.

I proceeded to do searches on 1900's confirmation outfits

for boys and the pants, boots and shirt fit 

but not the cape and sassy hat.

Knights of Columbus came up but I couldn't confirm that

either and its not leaning towards Halloween.

Takes alot of confidence for a boy 

to pull this off.