cactus nursery- 2 page SB layout (it's finally done!!)

whew!! This layout has been sitting on my workspace for a couple weeks now, and staring at me whenever I wanted to work on something else. (I started it back in this post, if you want a refresher.) So, tonight I finally decided it was time. I only needed to complete the journaling, but I was having a bit of a mental block about doing it for some reason. First I thought I'd hand-write it, but I decided I had too much to say (which is quite often the case, with me, lol!) so I went for the typewriter. Here it is:

sorry for the glare, but I didn't want to wait
till tomorrow to take the photos of it, lol!

I typed the text on a piece of plain ivory cardstock, then cut the pieces apart with my trimmer. I had to get creative with my cutting to get everything I wanted to say in the space, and make it look neat, without creating too many places where there was 'trapped white space' to make it look strange. Journaling like this takes a bit of time (to get everything typed and spaced right), but I like how it turned out.

LEFT

RIGHT

close-up #1: a re-styled flower embellishment

close-up #2: second re-styled flower embellishment

It's not my favorite layout in the world, but it's finally done, and I like it. I still think I'm going to print more photos from that trip and make another layout, but this one is in the can (so to speak, lol!). 

cozy kittys SB layout

so, I've finally moved on from scrapbook layout makeovers to working on making layouts with some un-scrapped photos! I have a pile of random to-be-scrapped photos sitting on my desk, and grabbed a couple of them last evening to work on. These pictures are actually pretty old- the photos are of my first two cats, Cleo and Phoebe. (I got them as kittens, for my 25th birthday- seems like a long time ago, now.) And from the background in the photos, I can tell that the pictures were taken in the very first apartment I lived in on my own, so it was somewhere in the early-to-mid 1990s. Crazy, huh? More like lucky that I've kept them all these years, without losing them! I'm pretty sure these are actually film photos, too, so that's an even better reason to get them scrapbooked and into my photo album.  

Here's the finished layout:

Well, actually, the scrapping process for this page started a bit before yesterday: I knew I wanted to scrap these particular photos, and I knew I wanted a 'fun' patterned paper that included pink, since there's pink in the pictures. The other day I was in Michael's craft store, and there it was: the perfect polka-dotted paper! It includes the pink, but not so in an 'overly girly' way... and the other colors made it easy to choose complementary papers to use with it. The general page layout was inspired by a scrapbook page I found and have saved on Pinterest. (see the Pinterest pin here. The layout was originally pinned from a website called myscrapbooknook.org but it looks like the site's no longer active, otherwise I'd link to the original layout itself.) 

Now, on to the some of the details:

I thought my layout needed a little 'something' in the upper left corner, so I added a couple small snippets of paper left over from making the layout. I added a bit of dimension with 3-D foam tape, and by inking the edges of the striped paper (and most of the other papers) with a black ink pad.

This is a look at the lower right area underneath the title; that tag was also popped up with 3-D foam tape for dimension.  Funny thing about that 'tag' too... it actually started as a 3x4 card from my Project Life core kit! I had another one of them out to make a Project Life journaling card, and I thought the colors would work perfect with the patterned background paper. Altogether, I think I used six different patterned papers on this page, from about as many different manufacturers. Adding in the stickers and the heart stickers, and that makes it a total of eight different patterns and manufacturers. As long as the colors and patterns work together, I don't care who made it, or how old it is. 

And the 3-D pillow heart stickers on this page? They were still on my desk from the Valentine cards I made last week, lol! I thought they fit in perfect, since the photos are of my kitties being all snuggly and loving with each other. (the stickers in this photo are sitting on a gray vintage ticket that I inked and tucked underneath the top part of the photo mat. This helps lead your eye to the photos. 

Between finishing the previous 2-page layout and making this page, I was in my scrapbooking room last night till well after midnight: now that I've finally got my scrapping mojo back, I don't want to quit! (partly for fear of losing it again, I think...) But sadly, right now I do need to quit, at least for a bit- I need to do some yard work. After all those freezing low temps, I need to do some pruning and cleaning up. But the quicker I get it done, the quicker I can get back up to my craft supplies, right? (that's one way to get incentive for completing my chores, I guess!)

Christmas already?? more scrapbooking

No, I haven't started scrapping Christmas (and if I had, it would be from a few years ago!)... Last month I put together a pre-made Christmas photo album for donation to a charity auction, and thought I would show you those pages (since I don't have anything new and crafty of my own yet). I used an 8 x 8 album from SEI, with a heavy cardboard cover and 10 page protectors... just the right size for someone to showcase a few special photos, and it was actually pretty cheap compared to some albums out there- only $4.99 at my (somewhat) local Hobby Lobby. I made every 2-page layout with space for a photo, and space for journaling and writing memories on the opposite page. The top 2 pics are a 2-page spread using Basic Grey paper- the triangle paper was just perfect for making the little pennant border on the left. The right-hand page is spaces for journaling, with inking around the edges for a bit of distressing. The bottom two pics were both decorated using dimensional adhesive (I think I used Ranger Glossy Accents) for some extra shine. The swirl on the left was cut from chipboard (using the SB store's huge collection of die-cuts!), and painted with a crackle finish. I stuck it down- just on the edges- with glue dots , so the tags can be slipped out for writing. The button designs on the right-hand page were cut from Graphic 45 paper... this company has some wonderful vintage-style patterns (all double-sided for twice the fun)!!

Nothing too spectacular about the top 2 pages-- not exactly a traditional Christmas color palette, but I didn't want the entire album to be red and green. The bottom left page (for journaling) is more Graphic 45 paper (the green holly pattern) with rickrack trim, and the paper on the right-hand (photo) page has a hand-doodled pattern of leaves and berries on it.

The top left pic is the album cover-- the album started out as plain red, but I couldn't leave it that way!! The "Holly Jolly Christmas" is a large sticker that I embellished with glitter... the ornaments are chipboard- one covered with gold glitter, the other covered with patterned paper and a sparkle glaze. They hang from a pine bough made from punched paper. The right-hand pic is the first page; another sticker, a journaling space, and some decorative buttons. The bottom pics, again, aren't exactly traditional colors... more red rickrack, a lime green and turquoise cardstock set off a large Tim Holtz Christmas stamp on the journaling page.

Again, not exactly traditional-- the top 2 pics are using some ultra-cute Christmas paper I found at the SB store... the Merry & Bright line, chock-full of retro 1950s colors and great patterns. The journaling space on the left is actually a library card and pocket-- I just covered the pocket with the polka-dotted paper, and added a chipboard bracked painted with an acrylic pink crackled finish. And don't you just love the pom-pom fringe on the right-hand side?!? (I do!! that's the first time I've used it, and it definitely won't be the last.) The lower 2 pics use another non-traditional color palette, adding the bright pink in with the red and green die-cut paper. The right-hand page is a pocket to save Christmas cards, set of by glittered letter stickers, and some hand stitching around the edge.

These pages all use a very elegant embossed Bazzill cardstock-- both layouts use the cardstock to make pockets for journaling spots, and all the pages use ribbon in some way. The entire album was a lot of fun to make; I hope whoever won the auction likes it, and uses it to record some of their current (or past) holiday memories!!