Red, white and blue

It just kinda worked out that way, the watercolors

are a bit softer.

Lots of layers going on.

Do you find that there is always that one

"thing" you do when one completes numerous 

pages in a row.

Well it seems to be layers for me this round.

How about that adorable critter peeking out

and that wooden bike.

Hand that title laying about for a along time.

It works perfect here - Lou and his fantastic smile.

What a sweet face.

Studio Calico, die cuts and punches, Pink Fresh

Shine!

It appears to be working out okay with the melding

of ALL the kits and papers I ordered this month.

It's still kind of overwhelming but it

helps to just dive in.

So this page is a mix of old, new, really old and really new.

 I fussy cut those skyscrapers out because this young man

is NY grown and it just seemed fitting.

Kept it simple because it was such a cool photo

of Lou heading off to his first day of Kindergarten.

Instead of white mist that doesn't do well, I used

white enamel paint watered down for the splatters and

around the page.

I used black and white nuvo dots about the page too.

Love them because one can control the size!!

Studio Calico.

Love this paper with 6x12 size

This paper is very fun, I love the bright colors.

I changed up the size because of the size

of the photo which is 3.5x5 it stands out more.

 I kept the embellishments simple and

backed everything on navy blue card stock.

Adorable photo of Lou and I love the jaunty tilt of his hat.

Take note-Play on words

Yunk Yunk. 

And......

I always wanted to learn how to play the piano but alas

'twas not to be.

However, its soooo cool to me when kidlets start young.

 So, of course being really obvious, I used music paper.

Also really obvious I finally got to use my "note" die cut and punch.

Because why not.

And kept it simple with the focus on Lou playing.

I jacked the title from a cut apart I saw that was for a planner. 

I would've loved to use the cut apart but it
just didn't work.
Also a bit different style going on.
I like it.

Studio Calico, music paper- Marah Johnson-creative cafe (Ha!

told you it was old). 

Continuing with April birthdays

April is a happening month for birthdays

in this family and continuing

on with Studio Calico on this 6x6 page 

celebrates Lou's birthday and his dad's that

happen to be on the same day.

 This paper has a fun "confetti" type celebration look but

I whacked a hunk out of it, therefore it needed whacking down to 6x12.

I love that size.

Used up some transparency stash that I had forever

and totally works with this paper.

Vegetable netting as a mat

My pal Holli got me this prize of Jillybean Soup embellishments

and they work perfectly with this page.

I am loving this cluster.

 I had all kinds of things going on as a mat when I

noticed this veggie bag netting laying around on my desk.

Normally I use the netting as a "stencil" but

when I put it behind the photo it just looked very cool as a mat layer.

Added some watercolors for background color

and just love how it turned out.

Lou checking out the grass.

Studio calico, Jillybean Soup, watercolors, netting.

Rolling with another 4x4 photo on 6x6

I also rolled with the splattering of white paint

while I had it out and ready to go.

I actually splattered it before I added anything on the page.

I also rolled with basically the same design.

I'm okay with that.

I picked a card stock base mostly because of indecision

and the fact I didn't wanted want to whack down a 12x12

I wanted it to be a leftover scrap.

This card stock worked perfectly because it had

been whacked into previously.

 So I layered the photo and this top left corner made

me crazy because the layers were out of control so I made

this cluster to make myself happy about those goofy layers.

 I also sort of got the background idea from Inky Quill

but mine didn't work out as cool as hers #1.

and #2 I used a photo with lots of layers that I

put together before I came up with the layering strips.

Her's was not perfectly straight -but because the offset of the

strips with the gaps made me crazy -

 I whacked the strips sort of straight on each side.

Also because of the white space in the photo

to the left that's where all the embellishments were going.

I hadn't planned on that goofy corner so

everything lined up right down the left side

so in the spirit of the triangle

I added some enamel dots to the right.

The title came from a die cut from HL I got on sale
that's actually for a planner and didn't
it fit in the space quite nicely.

Sweet Lou - love that hat.

Incoherent word stamping

because well sometimes it just

works out that way.

Especially when one stamps AFTER

one puts all the stuff on the page.

One can only hope one learns from this experience.

Uhuh.

 And then there's a touch of green.

It just seemed to work out especially when I popped

a flower on it from G45 that was

in my die cut box

and didn't that quite marry the colors together

because I really wasn't sure what colors to do.

 Yup. 

I totally need to rethink the whole

stamping when the paper is blank.

 Since my white mist was really lame,

I used white enamel paint diluted with some water

to splat the about. They're hard to see here
but in real life it looks really cool.

It was fun with 3 photos and I didn't realize

one was landscape hence my design.

Its quirky and fun.

Lou having a ball!!!

Using the same design sort of

I'm okay with that.

Just got this fun paper on sale from Studio Calico

shopping on the road LOL.

 It's perfect for two little boys checking crab tracks

at the shore.

 I was in a giddy mood at the time

and gave the ole crab googly eyes.

Tossed some mists about.

Love these layers of old scraps.

Overthinking a page

 Can drive you absolutely nuts.

Fortunately, I was hanging with my pal Holli and

we were scrappin' together at her place and after

bouncing some ideas off each other - she hit one!

Strips.

Doh!

So simple, yet fun.

So I whacked a few strips, put them behind the photo

and wa-la instant mat on a very colorful page.

  

And how about that adorable bird.

Sigh....

Holli also supplied the splat punch for that fun splat.

LOL....

I love this photo! 

Lou totally exemplifies the fun I have in scrapping.

His enthusiastic crafting at his cousins

crafting party made me smile.

I feel the same way Lou when I have paint in my hand.

This turned out really fun and Holli once again

came through with the title!!

Studio Calico, Tim Holtz, one itty bitty piece of Basic Grey

and Michael's $1.50 bin (I'm telling you it rocks).

So I'm packing for our 2016 Summer Tour and its

a good think I looked at my lil album again.

I pretty much did a lot of stuff, so I just need to add journaling

and photos, but I did toss in some extras in case

I need to add more pages.

Really Big Banners

I have been wanting to use that "plot twist" since I first

laid eyes on it. It was a PL card I cut down and

its perfect for this photo.

 I layered some papers behind the photo and used my "ripped

paper" punch that I really love.

 See what I mean?

Perfect.

I really loved this gold paper and that blue

really goes well with it.

I know!

Surprised me too.

I did use some other colors to bring it all together

and since those banners are over the top

I really didn't want a lot more on the page- so a

few stars and homemade enamel dots 

were perfect.

And doodling around the page was fun.

Basic Grey, Studio Calico PL cards, the title is

 from M's $1.50 bin.

A crisp, white look sortof

with pops of red and other colors

made me swoon.

Although,

I was really torn on this paper because I really

liked the B-side which is really

cool ledger looking.

However, when I tossed this photo on this polka dotted paper with 

the fun, colorful numbers as a mat there was no debate. 

 And I didn't want to overwhelm everything either.

So I kept the embellies light.

And believe it or not, I love mists, I adore mists,

but I was really going back and forth whether to include 

mists on the page.

 I have also been trying to use that red striped bag

forever. It does have a gold heart emblazoned on it and

I think that was my problem because I have 

issues covering up cool things like that.

 I also doodled the outline.

I know.

I'll give you a minute to recover from your shock.

So Lou's sweet smile is front and center and

that was the goal.

I also love the PL card that I cut down.

I KNOW - I'm just breaking all kinds of issues

that have been plaguing me.

Studio Calico, Spellbinder leaves (I think) from my die cut box.

Those hearts match the card better IRL.

And the mist really added that something extra.

But I do love the crispness of the entire page.

OKay - so if you follow me, you know I have been extremely annoyed

with apple no supporting aperture anymore, so I stumbled

upon Aftershot Pro3 and after viewing a couple

of videos - took the leap.

Anyone use that photoshop? If so, let me know.

Aperture does so many things behind the scenes that don't

need thinking about and keeps a lot of hoop jumping to a minimum

that is causing a great stumbling block for me to

be able to move on.

However, there is going to come a time when Aperture is

going to cease to exist and I need to be ahead of that disaster

so I can access my photos in the future.

I think Aftershot is the closest to modeling Aperture.

Fingers crossed I didn't waste my money.

Birthday page without the "theme papers"

I love B&W photos.

They are so much fun to work with because everything goes

and reduces the clash of colors.

Isn't that owl adorable?? From a Halloween sheet that

I've been eking out and using sparingly.

 This adorable sticker came from Studio Calico I think

and when on some shopping spree found that cupcake.

Looks delish.

I did break out the die cut machine, punch and

fussy cut the "title".

 Love the arrows and shock upon shock

had that gray number that was 

perfect.

 The Studio Calico number page really

helped making it a celebration page.

I have so much paper and none of it "themed" really

so it was kinda of neat to do DIY.

Sprayed some SC color theory around just do

do something different.

I hardly ever spray mists anymore,

mostly because my spraying is totally out of control. 

LOL.

This is the third birthday for April - lots of grands in that month

and you got it - another one without a "theme paper"

coming up. If you check here another birthday page.

Circles- go round and round

I love circles.

They can be fun and happy.

And they can highlight something.

 This is a mix of Shimelle and Basic Grey.

I started the page with the happy photo and then

went digging in my die cut box.

 My die cut box is full of random die cuts

from random scraps.

Sometimes they work - sometimes they don't

but if I'm lazy and they work.

Win-win

 Using the positive and negative on the entire page.

 And then I felt the bottom of the page needed

a little something-something so I used

hearts

already punched from another project

that didn't make it to the page.

I find I'm quite liking the project life cards

for titles and such.

And Lou has such a great smile going on.

I'm also having issues with splattering mist.

How can you splatter wrong.

I can do it.

It either comes out OMG STOP or not enough.

Background paper that's a photo

By Studio Calico of course, and its New York

which is perfect as I gotta a couple

of grands in Brooklyn.

 Worked that badge in - points for that.

 I layered and layered with a mix of Studio Calico and

Paper Issues and also dug out the Studio Calico stamp,

stamped with black ink on white cardstock and colored it in with my 

American Crafts pink pen.

Love the look and the sentiment works because

Lou loves hanging at the Root's cafe.

The photo is sooooo pretty and delicate

and I picked out the colors

from there.

Lou is manly enough to do pink.

Stencil frenzy

I have been in a frenzy lately and this time

it's my pal Holli's fault.

She gave me the stencil - Tim Holtz arrows.

 I wanted a little dimension and color

so I mixed blue paint with the molding past.

 And decided to smear it over each and every one of them.

 On the entire page - which is going to be 8.5x11.

 Since I got carried away with the mixing I used

the leftovers to make dots on this page - that was going to

be THE page but I liked the other better.

 See those little stars???

They came in this month's Studio Calico kit and

when I tore open the package - they went

everywhere.

And I liked where they landed to I glued them all down.

one.by.one.

 My homemade enamel dots.

 The title. Sigh.

I didn't think of bounce til I glued down hop - which

is a QK cookie cutter font- cosmopolitan.

 Again with the chaos and I love.

After all Lou is bouncing around in a cage so......

This time I did add a bunch more layers and kept

the embellishments down to a mild roar.

I also mounted this on kraft cardstock and matted the

photo the same - along with some navy c/s.

Looks like Lou was having a blast.