Went crazy with the mixed media

I have been bored lately and wanted to do something different

especially with this great photo I took of Lucas.

And I seriously needed to use the mustache stamp.

 I did lay down some gesso on some kraft paper and 

commenced with the watercolors.

I also used a bunch of background stamps and stencils

trying to keep it manly.

I also broke out the embossing powder to use on that

wooden veneer from Studio Calico.

 Of course my bird had to make an appearance.

 And one of these days I'll have a flashback and remember

where this brad came from.

It makes an unobtrusive title.

This photo has been flipping around on my desk for a long time.

I couldn't decide on 

WELL

a lot of things. LOL.

It was a lot of fun to do and I totally love this photo.

Every now and then I get a photo right.

Remember those old CD jackets?

Found ONE!

And its baaaaccckkkk!

They make the cutest little minis

and great for gifts.

Not too overwhelming.

So when and why did they fall out favor.

Inquiring minds want to know.

I noticed as I opened the jacket - there are 2 glued

together - as they should be.

Only one was upside down - as it shouldn't be.

 Undo does work its magic on old wet glue.

It wasn't pretty but it became undone

so I could flip it around and make it right.

It was a bit on the rough side

so I sanded the sides down just to even it out.

 And reglued it the right way. 

Now tags can be put in the pocket and they won't fall out.

 I inked the edges as I always do because

getting the measurements correct is really a crap shoot.

With the edges inked the booboos don't stand out like a sore thumb.

 I wrapped a single sheet of pattern paper around the spine

and I employed my bone crusher tool 

to burnish the paper to make it wrap easier.

 And then wa-la.

Like magic.

A completed mini album.

It's Quintin's 7th birthday and good think I looked

because I really wanted to make him 8.

 Of course in the photos he's 6 and under.

But who's counting.

And dangit I meant to add his birthday photo in it.

And forgot. :|

 However, its fabulous all the same.

Tucked away are tags inside where the CD would go

or maybe some playlist.

 I decided to get carried away and add glitter and paint

to the chipboard alpha and number.

As I was working on the page - the glitter kept getting all over the photo.

I solved the problem by a. putting modge podge 

over the characters AND b. putting the ectrochrome transparency

over the photo.

If you look real close you'll notice its backwards.

Oops.

 And the same set up on the next page. 

I didn't pull out the tag and I actually added a photo

behind the flap with one tag tucked in.

I was going to leave the back plain but just.couldn't.do.it.

LOL.

Stamp with white ink - came out pretty good.

All is Basic Grey.

Have I mentioned I love that collection.

Working some layers

I find it easier to pile on the layers when

you have them right at hand.

And it was alot of fun to add them on.

Actually I find it hard to stop.

Scary, huh.

 Not only did I use my diecuts but I also have subscribed

twice now to Paper Issues goody bags.

And they are chockful of goodies.

I used a mix of course, and I'm trying to get stamps in there as well.

They do add a little something something but

I have a hard time with them.

Therefore I decided to do obvious at first while

I get comfy with it and then let'r rip.

Lou

loves to swing

Lou

loves to go high

Lou 

loves to fly.

Lou

is two.

Used a mess of stuff from Studio Calico, Quikutz, and Paper Issues.

Again, reusing elements on different layouts

I seem to be diggin' circles lately.

And borders - they do create a lovely feel.

And again employing their use on another page even

the same color.

It does make an album cohesive, however, there's really nothing

cohesive about my everyday albums.

And a lot of my pages go in the grandkids 8x8 albums

so that doesn't help with the cohesiveness,

and doesn't that give me the license to use whatever I want,

whenever I want. LOL!

This was basically a driveby page as I couldn't make up my mind

about a lot of things.

I know you're surprised.

It was the new Echo Park I've been working with and

I love the heart page - and all its busy-ness.

So I threw on some gesso and watercolors and then

couldn't decide if I liked it.

Therefore, its mostly covered up.

I also had a couple of leaf branches where the feathers

are now, and decided that looked too girly

and went with just feathers.

Did some stamping, the music is Studio G and the100% boy

is from Recollections and both work perfectly.

And then there's the wood veneer alphas and stars.

Well finding the letters was fun.

NOT.

For some dumb reason that, I in my infinite wisdom, dumped

every single wooden embellishment I had from Studio Calico

into one big ole bowl.

Every.single.one.

And doesn't that make for good hunting when you need to make words.

I proceeded to dump everything out of the bowl and now I have

them all segregated according to alphas, hearts, people, and arrows that

I have an amazing abundance of.

As you can see.

Border diecuts are cutting edge

There are a few languishing in my drawer that I forgot I owned.

Sad that I have so much I can't remember it all.

But its all coming back now.

Bam!

And because I didn't have enough paper already

I picked up the Echo Park Capture Life pack.

AND I LOVE IT.

The colors work perfectly.

And all the cutouts and stickers, oh my.
I used my "shine" stamp from Studio Calico on that
blank bannery card, works perfect.
However, now looking at the 3rd card - which is blue -
I should've put it in the middle.
Too late.

Anyhoo, I dug out my sissix border diecuts.

Love the delicateness of it - it doesn't take over.

So the confetti came from the border-all those itty bitty holes.

How fun is that.

There's a studio calico stamp, stars and badge.

Thickers.

First day of Kindergarten, always a milestone.
I shortened the title because I love that fun font but didn't
have all the letters.
I think its cool.
Hopefully someone/anyone will get it.

Going manly

Since all my remaining papers from my Studio Calico kit are girlie,

I pawed through my stash and wa-la Cosmo Cricket.

Very manly.

Perfect for Cavin who's growing up way to fast.

I have always loved Cosmo - my favorite line was the Wanted line.

Used some of the negative from the die cuts.

Still loving the Evalicious arrows.

And snuck in my new instagram diecut.

The Title inadvertently matches some of the embellishments

I KNOW.

Just occurred to me.....although potatoe / potahto.

Circles or rings.

Ring master.

Get it!!!

I can be sooooo witty.

or Not.

However I had the design going on with another title until my pal

April the titlemaker came up with ringmaster.

And it was like a head slappin' DOH moment as to why I didn't think of it.

And when I was looking for something witty as a title for my blog,

I happened to notice the similarity.

Clever eh?

Love the rings as an embelishment and whipped out the ole QK cookie cutters

and used each and every one of them on the page.

Everything except the thickers and washi is Studio Calico including the mr. Huey mist,

 and those stars came in this cute lil glassine package

 and I used every one of them too.

I'm totally on a roll here and using supplies.

Yay!

Leaving busy paper - well busy

I wanted the numbers because its a birthday page and grandpop really

 needed more candles on his cupcakes.

However, because anticipation was high and the wait was long, its probably best

not setting the house on fire and making 2 littles wait.

It was the second celebration of grandpop's birthday while visiting in NJ.

And how fun was that.

Liz rocks the cupcakes and they didn't last long.

The page is busy but I feel those beigie/white arrows actually 

bring it down to a mild roar along with the matting

and border strips and washi tape.

The B&W photo also tends to bring in your focus as well

calming down all the busy-ness around it.

I'm totally impressed and you should be too that I worked in a journaling

sticker with a cupcake on it. 

I tend to have a hard time with stuff like that.

All Basic Grey except for the Studio Calico wooden arrows, word strips, the

recollections washi tape and

 I got to use some really really OLD BG alphas.

Feathers and feathers

Love this paper by Studio Calico- feathers.

Honestly I didn't know what to do with it at first.

And this set of photos came together.

Found some cutouts and punches and FEATHERS.

Love the feathers on the page and then the wooden veneers feathers.

And don't they all play nice together.

There's some Jillybean soup patterned paper going on.

Evidently, in addition to duck face - there's mean mugs.

I can do mean mugs.

Printed a tri-photo photo

And say that 3 times fast. 

Instagram photo.

In the print section in Aperture, there is a choice to do 3 photos

in sequence that I thought was cool. 

It kind of gives you a taste of the photos or in my case 

actually focuses on the best part of the photo.

I printed it on 8.5x11 photo paper and trimmed the sides evenly

since one was wonkier than the other.

Yes, Nick I used Aperture because Lightroom is making me crazy.

I wanted a page that was a bit different than what I posted on my blog 

earlier on boondockin' and use some of the landscape

photos that I take in abundance but don't scrap much.

Why? I don't know.

If you've never been to the Great Smokey Mtns - you really need to

put it on your to do list.

October Afternoon is the background paper from my Studio Calico kit

as well as that tree trunk bole. I'm kinda proud how I worked that in.

Scraps of simple stories made it in there.

The alpha is deja view with some quickutz going on.

I used a background stamp that came out kindof lame and

covered most up.

And I made that tag. I KNOW. 

It's the little things.

AND WEDNESDAY IS THE BIG DAY - I'LL KEEP YOU POSTED.

Printer's tray challenge and 'lift' completed

Not bad for the first time out and I'm glad I had a blueprint

from the 2012 CK magazine.

I did learn a few things.

Spray paint the color on - to avoid streaks (thanks Lisa!)

unless you're going for the shabby chic look.

If you're going to cover up the sections - don't paint them.

If you're going to put papers on them - either make

the photos smaller OR just put the paper on a couple of sections.

Next time - I'm going to make the photos bigger

to avoid gaps.

I used simple stories patterned paper that you can't see except the outside

embellishments and straws because the photos covers them up.

Got some Studio Calico wood veneers, ticket and QK crab.

I'm really quite pleased. 

Hopefully Jill will be too.

*WHINING ALERT*

I completed this printer's tray under much duress - 

last night was not a good night.

And it was a LONG night.

I had restless boot syndrome all.night.long.

My foot itched, twitched and ached.

And no amount of iBprofen, aspercreme and icing helped.

And when I finally drifted off, I'd twitch like I was electrocuted 

and wake right up. I finally just gave it up.

So after a restless no-sleep night - I didn't work out because

I was meeting up with my best pal Barbara whom I 

haven't seen or talked to in - like forever and I didn't want

to sleep walk through that.

Stay tuned for the reveal on Off the Rails Scrapbooking challenge due tomorrow which I totally forgot about.

(Honestly I got my days all wrong).

Working on it.

Sort of a monochromatic page

I love sort of monochromatic pages. 

Especially with little pops of color.

Red happens to be my favorite but you would
never know it from my wardrobe.

The monochromatic can also rock the 

black and white photos.
And these naturally are precious.

Love the smiles on their faces and in their eyes.
Looks like everyone is looking forward to a road trip.

All Studio Calico, except for the circle-Authentique.
I need to practice my stamping a bit more.
And for added texture - I added some burlap and mesh.

Vellum paper

I tend to forget about vellum. 

It became somewhat of a trend midway in the scrapbooking phenomenom

and of course I and everyone else jumped on that bandwagon.

And then like all trends it tended to fall away.

Well I happen to have some leftover from that trend and am 

bringing it back. Why? 

Because it is very versatile with its sheer, opaque quality. 

It can add elegance, soften patterns and mute colors.

It also can be a pain to adhere because the adhesive can be seen.

Unless your very stealthy in applying it.

 For instance, the only adhesive on the vellum is hidden behind the photo 

with a couple pieces of the washi tape. 

The top is being held in place by the tag and cloud. 

Stamping and writing on it can be tricky.

I used Stazon ink which will dry quickly without smearing.

Everything Studio Calico except for the tag- old Basic Grey that worked perfectly.

I love their face masks and I'd pretend to snowboard just so I could wear one.

Or maybe for Halloween - that would work for me.

Lessens the capacity for impending disaster.

Join in the fun over at Off the Rails Scrapbooking's first blog hop.

Click here to begin.

Again, these kidlets crack me up

And the Kaiser Craft papers work really well with this photo.In the background I used a stamp and some mists to give it depth. I was annoyed with my red because the pump would not work. Ran it under some extremely hot water. Nada. So I srpinkled it around and broke out some Heidi Swapp turquoise and sprayed that about. I think most of its covered up. LOL. There's some October Afternoon alphas - finally used them along with some Authentique. Got a bit of layers and used my semi-new honeycomb punch. Worked that baby in. ooo ooo and my new banner stamp from Sutdio Calico. Swoon.

Go graphic!

I love all kinds of designs but I have to say I love graphic.

It's clean and regimented.

Sometimes its fun to line things up and sometimes its fun to mess things up.

And I decided that lining things up would be fun and perfect.

I had originally printed the 4 instagram photos on 4x6 photo paper

as well as the 4x4. And I had every intention of leaving it that way.

Until I looked closely at the photos.

Those kidlets totally crack me up.

And their posing is of super hero standards for sure so I felt 

those photos would be showcased more whacked up.

And they are and now each one can take the stage.

Jillybean soup wins the day!

Studio Calico stamp, arrows, geo tag and astrik.

The thickers are now missing some E's.

Washi tape and paper strips bring it all down.

Old Sassafrass Lass paper

I've been into using stash - not because it was stash, although it's always cool to whittle down the vast amount of papers and to not waste the tree that went into that stash, but because it actually

works for the photo and story. 

What you may not have been attracted to in the past actually rocks your little scrap world now. 

How cool is that.

I have subscribed to kits in the past and raise your hand if you DIDN'T love everything you received.

It really makes sense and I was okay with that because at times it made me spread my wings a bit.

Now the paper I used on this page isn't earth shattering out there and why I haven't used it prior to this I really can't say. I'm glad that as I was searching for something else this popped into my hands.

I love that I was able to use newer items like washi, wooden veneers, Simple Stories labels, mists, and twine and they all made the page. And maybe if I hadn't told you - you wouldn't remember how old this paper is. Or maybe you would. 

My philopsophy is 100 years from now no one is going to know I didn't use the latest and greatest on any given page.

However isn't great to USE NEW STUFF!

I love that stamp too, which is new from my Studio Calico kit. 

I just need to remember to keep an eye on my same brand of  inks when choosing inks and not just grab one. I wanted black and ended up with grey and didn't trust that I could line it up correctly.

ooooppps.....However, it really out well.

Five photos on an 8x8 layout

does that rock or what? However, not hard to do.

The 4 photos were printed on a 4x6 precut photo paper and the big photo is 4x3. I did chat about photo sizes here.

In order to work in stuff I kept things simple. I love the multi-colored triangle paper from my Studio Calico kit.

I adhered the 4x6 photo and then anchored it with washi tape. Had I used a mat I felt it would cover up the cool paper that is helping (in my head) to tell the story.

The bigger photo was the start of the story. Two adorable brothers planning and collaborating their building project.

Of course they are hammering out the details - which I got from Simple Stories. Added and Amy Tangerine tag and Karen Foster alphas, a couple of Studio Calico arrows and wa-la. OOOO OOO a couple of manly things on the tag - molding wire and Bead Landings sprocket.

And just to do something different - the photo was taken with instagram.

Series of photos that tell a story

Cousins are a different lot. 

They're friends, they're related, they fight and then friends again
 and they get to go back to their separate corners

at the end of the day.

Thanksgiving 2013 was different.

 Missing the family matriarch - the family is shrinking.

So I decided to get a photo of the young cousins that were there.

The next next generation.

It was like herding cats in getting them all situated.

I figured the stairs was a good start - it kept them contained

for the most part which was key.

Then is was keeping their focus maintained.

Snort. as if.

So, once I had their attention, which took awhile,

  I said let's get ONE good one and then......

you can be goofy.

I love the series - they focused, they goofed, and they high-fived.

Totally made me laugh.

So there's some Authentique going on, with a bit of Mr. Huey and Heidi Swapp misting, as well as some stamping from Deadbeat designs. Basic Grey,  and Studio Calico of course.

On a side note - this made me feel really dumb.
It's life altering according to my pal Jill.
I just wanted to hear him say get Moose and Squirrel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGiPh_UPzEw&feature=youtu.be

Printing and Using customized sized photos

I love to scrap in different sizes and most especially 8x8 that are for the grandkids - with the thought not to take up too much space and storage in their parents abode.

(Laughing here) because I tend to blow out the books.

Anyway, there are times when I will use a 4x6 photo on an 8x8 page because you can get 4 - 2x3's on one 4x6 pre-cut photo paper and use as a collage, it does save photo paper because no cropping is involved unless the pictures are not in the order you want to tell the story and you still are not whacking into and using up an 8x11 piece of photo paper (some printers are picky about odd size papers-so you end up cutting it down to 4x6 and wasting quite a bit.

The photos above are 3x4 - I felt that 3x5 would've been too big and 2x3 for only 2 photos would be too small. (There are times when those sizes are the one you have to work with so just go for it). But, when you can be in control, you can chose. It particulary helps if you take and use instagram or hipstomatic photos because you can print those in 3x3 and 4x4 sizes and not lose any photo detail.

I work with Aperture as my photo program but most all of them have some kind of custom button and in windows (of which is the ONLY thing I miss from windows) there are an array of print templates that can be used for cost effective printing and collages. I love and miss collages. I do have one of the Adobe photoshops, however, its a program that baffles me and makes me crazy. And if that's what you have, there is a great tutorial and templates (that you would have thought I'd have memorized by now) on Scrapbook Etc website that are free - all you have to do is sign up on their website.

I just had to use my new stamp....

And that's where it all started.  (In full disclosure I got the stamp before the crop - just in case.)

The cool jar stamp is from Inkadinkado (I love how that rolls off the tongue). 

I grabbed some grey Recollections cardstock and went to town stamping. Had I thought of it I would've taken some photos after I stamped it and when I whacked it out. Since I didn't you need to use your imagination.

Well as you well know I have some challenges, i.e. adhesive, scissors, cutting in a straight line, thickers, etc. so after I stamped I needed to cut it out, needless to say there were some questionable spots. 

I know you're really surprised.

Well, that's where the ole ink around the edges comes in and not only straightens out the unsightly spots but adds some depth and dare I say realism to the jar.

Anyway I popped everything on the page and then had to go in search of a photo. Two made the cut, however, I chose this one because of the way the jar was adhered on there and it really worked better with this photo.

Everything is Studio Calico except for Recollections c/s, PP-Basic Grey & Bo Bunny, thickers, twine, and unknown label.