Making embellishments for a tag and a card

In exploring all the fun things one can do with paint, watercolors

and anything Tim Holtz (dyes, crayons, etc) I started

pages in a 7x9 album (check it out)

 using mixed media and then finding something

to do with said pages.

Some pages have photos and a layout was born, some pages

were of the "what was I thinking" concept.

Did I get a photo of this paper prior to whacking it up?

Nope.

However, here is a recreation after whacking it up. 

Notice the wonky circles.

I rock them.

Using a tiny corner, prior to totally whacking it up, 

I die cut some seashells and a tiny crab to use

for the adorable crab card I made using the

leftovers from my pal Hollie's cut file.

How stinkin' cute is that.

Oh and another sheet of premade watercolors was used

as the background.

When I looked again at the paper I pilfered the corner from

- I saw the circles

And thought what about those whacky round flowers

that are everywhere?

Of course can I cut competely round circles?

DOH.

Therefore, I sort of whacked out the circles and loved

them so much I freestyled the leaves and stems.

I KNOW!!!

I then thought "grass" was needed to I took regular scissors

and sliced the blades and mussed them up.

Love how it turned out.

Of course outlining was a must.

I am seriously challenged when it comes to drawing

of any kind so I am soooo jazzed at how

cute this turned out.

For my playdate at Holli's

I used mixed media paper from the Canson albums you

can get in the drawing section of M's or HL's.

I like that I am able to cut out tags any size I want... 

These two happened to be made the at the same time which

cleverly makes them look a lot alike.

I'm okay with that because they can look totally different

when mussed up more.

 

The tags below were made again at the play date because

I was able to "shop" Holli's endless supply of 

really cool stamps that I don't have

but love to have.

 

And if I don't like them as tags I can fussy cut them out or

cover them up. 

It all works.

 

Using up extra photos

Had a couple of photos laying about that didn't make

the Traveler's Notebook cut.

What to do, what to do.

Well, so glad you asked. 

I have this book - it lays flat with kraft pages in it

and decided it would be good for odds and ends.

Of course, going flat still applies.

Of course, who pays attention to flat.

 As you can see - dimension won.

I love the die cut embellies and they do work with this photo.

As of this post - I have organized all my die cut embellies.

GASP FAINT THUD.

 My big shot resides in a cabinet under the table

and once its out - there's not a lot of room to keep it out.

So once that bad boy is rescued from the cabinet, I try

to die cut everything and then some that I can think of and

using in different colors so that I have them on hand and

not have to drag the big shot out every.single.time.

It works well, except I have a ton of die cuts

that had prior to my superior organizational skills came to fore,

were tossed in a big super satchel, that had to be

searched through to find said embellie.

Also, having all the die cuts tossed in one big box

willy nilly - did NOT keep the embellies pristine.

So....

a quick trip to M's to get a "bead box" and wa-la....

organized die cuts.

Easy to find - easy to use.

I also organized those pesky but amazing wooden embellies
AND

 them other odds and ends that had to be looked
through to find the perfect fit.

Looking at these boxes it appears

 I need to get cranking on the die cuts.

Catching up with fun new pages in my Traveler's Notebook

 Only a few pages remaining this TN - woohoo!

It went really fast and it's is relatively FLAT!

I'm really enjoying the challenge of slim to none dimension.

So this cutie pie is our great nephew Mateo

who was a long time coming.

Happy, sweet, inquisitive and friendly babe.

Loved his Uncle Tom right out of the gate. 

Need to fix my bottom sentence.

How can one forget a word when writing. 😐

I am so diggin' the MS alpha punch but those little

devils can be found hiding everywhere.

They work perfectly in this album.

I also used a lot of die cuts on this page. 

I must say those small-medium size embellishment 

triangle immediately went to a quad.

Sigh.

And it just kept getting bigger because more

colors were required (in my mind)

to "balance" things out.

 And here we have the parents.

I actually look pretty okay in this photo.

Usually my hair is a hot mess and I look chubby.

I did leave a lot of space there and hopefully

more journaling. I wasn't very windy when I wrote this

and also had issues with words.

Sigh.

Anyone else play charades in their head when hunting

down a word that just brings it all together?

 And I found a REAL scrapbook shop.

Swoon.

It was jam packed with goodies. I think it 

took me 5-6 spins around before I actually saw 

everything and then I missed a bunch.

 I have a wide variety so this oughta be fun

working it all in. LOL.

I need to locate my other blank TN OR maybe

DIY one. I do like the rings because I can add stuff

in like the national park pamphlets.

Started a new Travelers Notebook

It's an old Studio Calico and happens to be

perfect because it has fall stuff in it.

And here I am in NJ in the Fall.

Twas meant to be.

Also, I got to use the Tim Holtz SNARKY word

phrases - I love them - you really need

a sense of humor.

 So my challenge is to do this TN withOUT dimension.

 That challenge lasted to page 2. 

LOL.

The banner that hysterically cute monster is holding

has some of that craft dimension stuff (can't think of the name)

behind it so it's not as thick as regular pop dots.

 I have been enjoying doing simple pages

and NOT OVERthinking things.

Snort.

 And okay - page for has a tad dimension but

it's not my fault.

Blaming it on my pal Holli who sent goodies

in a card - all those cute monsters, that girl and a pink

flamingo clip that I forgot to add to the photo.

It's been fun passing things back and forth via snail mail.

It took awhile to get to me so it was a fun surprise.

 I have WAITED a LONG TIME to use

that slice of pizza - also Studio Calico - very old PL card

that I fussy cut out.

Broke out the die cut machine and made a lot of stuff that made it in

these pages, along with stamps and fussy cutting.

It's been fun.

Since space is an issue - when I break out the BigShot

I cut a lot of stuff ahead of time, except alphas,

that I needed because I tossed

out a bunch of thickers I had because

I thought they were too big 😐

so the BigShot came out again as

 the alphas are QK Holiday mini's which

are a fun font.

This is going to be a fun notebook. 

I think I'm getting the hang of it.

We also toured the Air Force Museum

That had every plane and then some under it's roof.

Including some Russian MG's.

So there's the infamous blue tag, that was made for

the previous page.

 It works here which is just as well as I didn't

want to re-write the journaling because 

sometimes you only get it right once.

Why tempt fate.

 I used the map of the museum as my

'page' because it was cool and why not.

And there's my title with popped up jets.

Love that they had fun with the planes and

the faces they had.

It was already quite busy so I kept everything

to a minimum.

I broke out the ole die cut machine for that eagle.

And don't it work perfect. 

That is placed strategically on the Arizona State

from The Paper Studio.

46 more to go.

 LOL.

8.5x11

TN-Starting a new notebook

It's taken awhile mostly because my head is playing mind games.

I did the left side page awhile ago and it is

THE first page.

Using washi and PL card. thread, that cool bow and

some nuvo drops.

AND then, I had an attack of holy lack of storage batman

and do I need to do "fluff" pages thought.

 And didn't, and doesn't,  that just stifle creativity.

Second guessing pages and topics.

And not only storage of pages, traveler's notebooks and

albums, there's the paper, the embellishments and dimension.

And don't get me started flexible photographs, i.e., sizes,

shapes and strips.

WAH.... but back to the page... LOL

 So when we were invited to cruise the gulf with our

pals Wayne and Dara of course we jumped on it.

Of course I took pictures.

And of course it had to be a page in my book.

 Because there is a story there.

If you've followed me for awhile you know we've had boats

and we spent a lot of time on the water 

until we didn't.

We traded the boat for a land yacht but being on the

water yesterday (or day before) made me

realize how much I miss being on the water and on the boat

and on the gulf.

So yeah a page was needed.

Another Doodlebug Easter page

Since I've used most of the line for the shakers

that didn't work out and I'm eking out what's left 

for the rest of the grands pix coming in.

Therefore I employed the use of strips that of course,

I laid out previously and it looks nothing like that once

I had to glue them down.

 Love the fun patterns - so bright and pretty and

I used nuvo dots on those punched flowers.

 Sam and Lou collecting eggs.

Looks like fun!

Used another old K&Co title for the page

and a little quickutz swirl for an accent.

Random photos in one page

Yup. 

I've been getting into pocket pages and I absolutely love doing them.

Not all the time, but this past week and especially the

weekend my mojo done took a hike so

I've been reading and doing other

things because sometimes just stepping back helps.

Of course I stalk the videos too which I love too.

Anyhoo, I had all these photos chosen and printed and

they were getting overwhelming since I couldn't make a decision on anything

so then I had this brilliant

idea to just stick them all in a pocket page.

Shocking, I know, that it took awhile to think that one up. LOL.

But, I found that I had either scrapped them before

some going in other albums OR I really didn't have a story.

Not that I need a story but sometimes the story helps in the page design.

So.

Shazam.

It happened that I got all the grandkids on one page

AND my two kidlets.

How cool is that.

And I really like the randomness of the pocket pages.

I used some Tim Holtz stuff, WRMK PL cards

there is Studio Calico bits, punched hearts, QK and Mambi.

Circles and Squares

Since I had some already cut in the diecut box

I decided that a some shapes were

needed after splashing some watercolors on

using the packaging technique.

 Love the little feather cluster and also

the little colored shapes doted about the shapes.

This is a fun photo that I don't know how I overlooked it

til now. The grands on my lap - so cool because

now they're getting older so it may not be so cool soon.

Studio Calico. The PL card WRMK.

Instead of sending Valentine cards

I made these monkeys, one of each sex, on a straw for all the grands 

instead of a card. 10 of them in all.

They were a lot of fun to make and as an

extra goodie, I wrapped $1 bill around the straw and

used a piece of twine to hold it on.

I'm told they were a big hit.

So the girl monkey has eyelashes and earrings.

Gold earrings. LOL!!!

Making spirits bright

with candy cane striped paper and a bit of dimension

with a sort of star stencil and modeling paste.

Didn't quite work out the way I envisioned.

 I fussy cut the title from a card because it was too big

and the berries because I liked them.

 Can't go wrong with mists - it can cover a number of sins.

And that QK flower is just perfect for the sin. LOL!!

Layers and some pink fresh Christmas words and

there you have Annie (Oakley) in her

pink cowgirl hat. 

I did this page before I started running out of the Christmas papers.

Ornaments and Angels page

This is what happens when one doesn't buy enough

Christmas papers.

Using a Studio Calico paper as a base page

and splattered some mists about

and bits and pieces of Pebbles papers.

 Using QK cookie cutters to make the "ornaments"

and dangled them with twine.

The angels, another QK die cut - and put some gold paint around

to pop them off the page.

And yes, I did die cut the photo too....

shades of long ago.

 The trees are another QK die and the sparkly

trees are called disco gold - got that paper from HL (I think). 

How cool is that.

They are so festive and fun!!

I did some stamping around and didn't like the outcome

so enter more mists using the packaging technique.

I have some gold ink to spiff up the wooden "shine."

It's a bit on the wild side. 

LOL!

Some old Authentique

for the win on Jersey shore photos.

Of course what's the shore without googly eyes

on a QK die cut crab. The leaves the crab is

resting on is a Martha Stewart punch. I love punches.

 I used papers from my 6x6 pad I had forever, and

laid them out on 12x12 white cardstock in a quad format.
Quite old school.
Old school can be good.

 Finally used that flair button and didn't that work well

with the colors.

Loving doing sequence photos lately and because I have a bunch

they turned out to be fun and adorable.

Used some dylusions mists - and wa-la.

I like it.

Fall is in the air

With some new Echo Park autumn papers that I cut

down to 8x8 page size because 

this is going to mom.

The papers are adorable with their leaves and Autumn theme.

I picked them up at my favorite LSS

Treasured Memories

on the 5th Saturday where all kinds of discounts apply.

I really should've bought more.

 The pumpkin, however, is a QK die. 

It's perfect.

Don't the colors rock?

 I cut the green strips and then sort of overlapped them.

I really like the look and it was great for tucking
things in.

The kidlets breaking out scooters in the leaves.

Looks like fun as long as raking isn't involved although
kidlets may think its fun.

And beautiful fall colors - yum!

Out of the mists arises a page

 You may remember this disaster from last week....when I dumped a half bottle of Mr. Huey all over my desk. I did have the presence of mind to clean up before more damage was done and then take the photo.

I did post this on Scrapaholics Anonymous for some well deserved sympathy and while not exactly a challenge, someone mentioned seeing the final product if I ever used the paper.

And I did.

After I completed the page I flipped it over to add all the goodies as I always do and it was hot pink and polka dots with a green blob.. which would've looked cool too but honestly where's the challenge in hot pink and green LOL.

So I decided to make another green "blob" on the other

side of the paper to balance it so to speak

and tossed some more of the mist about. 

I really like the color so I need to think about ordering more.

 I wanted to keep it kind of light and airy so 

I used those QK squares with some small accents

again, keeping to the green.

 The green was kind of getting carried away

so I found some cardstock really close

to the color of the page and added them as "filler."

I really love how it turned out and in hindsight

I would never have thought of using green.

Got to use some Heidi Swapp hearts and finally that

enamel flower. 

I had a blast taking these photos of these two favorite nieces

and at first they were 

all about the posing and then Caralynn decided

she was basically done when I was taking this one. When

I saw her "look" as I was taking it, it has

become my total favorite out of the bunch because it was so natural.

So that look was aimed at me and I was totally cracking up

behind the camera.

The journaling is also on the back because did I remember

to make a spot on the page. 

UH No......