Old Photos / Sweet Stories

I wasn't always a scrapbooker, but I did always take photos.  How lucky I am to have these photos now to scrapbook and tell these sweet stories from the past.

layout created for Amanda Robinson Studio 

When new products come around I like to match them up to these older photos.  Many times they are just perfect for the story I want to tell.  The flatback above with the sweet dog image is from the Jenni Bowlin Studio Reader Flatback set.  It so reminded me of the little dog that used to run away from his own house to visit with my boys down the street.  My boys would get nervous that he might get hurt by a car and would put him in our red wagon and take him home.

The JBS Wood Veneer Insta-Frame works wonderfully to bring attention to the boys in the center of the photo.  It's simple to do by cutting out a 2 inch piece of the photo to focus on, placing it on the center of the Insta-Frame, and adhering the piece back onto the main photo.  The JBS Wood Veneer Home card from the Flash-Card set drives the theme home.  Ha - no pun intended!

I also had two new products to use that worked perfectly together: the April Triangles Background Cut file from Amanda Robinson Studio and the new JBS Triangles Sequins.  How perfectly they worked together on the same page.

Have fun taking your older photos, scrapping them and bringing new life to their stories!

Creative Tuesday : Watercolor on Text

I've been dying to play with the watercolor sheets I bought at last year's Art-is-You in Stamford, Ct.  Sally Lynne McDonald was working Joanne Sharpe's booth - Joanne does magic with this stuff - and they both had no trouble convincing me to try them.

I wanted to try something easy first, so I pulled out my favorite JBS line, Wren, and used the patterns that have gorgeous text on them:

I'm using Joanne's own palette of Peerless Watercolors.

I punched out some scalloped circles from the text and just started playing:

It's addicting, really.  Without much effort, you get combinations of colors and patterns that look so pretty. And the Wren patterned paper is such a nice heavy cardstock that it held up fine to the watercolor and extra water I used on it.  Color on text looks so cool, doesn't it?

I made layered flowers and punched out postage stamp shapes and colored them also.

I added the new sweet JBS Butterfly Sequins with wire.  Their little wings can fold up!

Supplies:  Wren Wheatgrass / Wren Bird / Wren Mini Pattern Sheet / Wren Blueprint / JBS Everyday Mini Deck Flashcards (New!) / JBS Butterfly Sequin Assortment (New!) / Postage Stamp Cardstock Stickers  /  JBS/Fiskars Tab Punch / Paper Tape Notebook Grid / Vintage Style Sew On Button

This was a blast.  And this kind of paint is NO MESS.  Love that.  Thanks for stopping by!  

Have a Creative Tuesday!

And After 3 Years ...

... it's done.

I finally finished ds#1's High School Baseball book.  Sound the trumpets!

Finishing this up now, three years later, I think I might have done some things differently.  That's what happens when it takes 3 years to finish something. But my son will LOVE it.  He's away this weekend at a retreat, and a burst of energy came over me.  It was the perfect time to finish this up.

When John was a HS senior, I found the red/black/white sports mini album kit by Teresa Collins.  These are the colors of our high school, so how perfect was this?  I bought two (for each son) and got some friends to buy one also.


We got together only once to work on this as a group.  We probably drank more wine than actually worked on the album, and my non-scrappy friends made me laugh ("What if I get ink on my hands?"), but this was the start.

Add the perfect American Crafts Thickers, and anything red and black from Jenni Bowlin Studio, and I had the best collection of supplies to get this done.

After day one, this was promptly stored away and I didn't work on it again until a weekend crop with my friend Amy.  Amy had brought Slice to the crop and generously let me use it, so add various Slice images to the mix and the book was taking on an even different look.

Fast forward to yesterday!  I had a lot of newer items in my stash that were perfect for the album - especially Jenni Bowlin Studio stamps, flatbacks, rhinestone stars, and stickers.  Friday was spent finishing freshman year (I had "lost" the photos) and adding these goodies to the rest of the book.

I thought I was finished late last night, until I saw the three blank chipboard tab pieces peeking out from the book.  The Hear Ye Hear Ye Banner Stickers worked great for these.

I have some blank pages that I'll leave for ds to add whatever he wants, I messed up the binding a bit, and as I said, there are some things if I was doing this start to finish now that I would change.

But I showed ds#2 my finished project and he carefully opened and looked at every single page:

ds#2: "This is amazing. He's going to love it."

me: > sigh of relief <

ds#2: "Where's mine?!"

And so the next project begins ... !



Have a great and creative weekend!

Oh that JBS Butterfly ...

... that classic JBS butterfly ...  you know the one ....

... the rub-on JBS butterfly ...

... the one Donna Downey used so wonderfully  in her art journal here ...

... the one that was recently released in digi ...

... and now is even available as a silhouette cut! ...

Well I just couldn't resist using my Cameo for the first time to cut this beautiful butterfly ...

and beautiful it is!  Look at the detail!

This was made with the Jenni Bowlin Mercantile April kit .... gosh that kit (and the Artisan add-on) sold-out quickly!  You can still get other kits and extras on the Mercantile, though.  These papers ranked as my number one favorite!

Hope you're having a great week so far!  I'm so in the mood to create!  It helps having Doris think up fun games over at the Mercantile forum.  Check out Ms Pacman in my side bar - join the fun! Prizes are included!

Pretty Pretty Pixels

This digi kit ...

... has me aching for spring ... the crack of a baseball bat ... birds in the trees ... and the little purple flowers that spring up in my lawn ...

... and this digi kit was perfect - JUST PERFECT - for two 12-year old photos I've had ... so I did some hybrid scrapping ...  because this kit was PERFECT I tell you!

... but I can't show the whole thing as I need to save it for something special ...

 And the giveaway!  I have doubles of these 2 JBS clear stamps and I'd love to share!  

Leave a comment (leave your email if there is not an email link on your own blog)  and tell me if you've ever used computer generated embellishments on your layouts!

I'll pick a random name Friday 9pm eastern!

Have a creative day!

Studio Envy

In the past couple of days, I've seen two creative studios that have blown me away.  They've so inspired me that I truly truly feel like ripping up my little space and creating something pretty.

In the following video, you catch glimpses of Jenni Bowlin's studio.  OK ... it is a little more than glimpses, but I want to see EVERYTHING!  Jenni!  Show us everything!

What I love?  Old interesting containers,  acck! that white scroll molding and I have something similar sitting in my garage!, stamps organized on a shelf so you can SEE them, OLD.WOODEN.TABLES, old doors with crystal knobs, old paint, interesting drawers for storage, and of ummmm gorgeous handmade projects hanging around ... and it seems big, doesn't it?  Room to breath!

The other studio i ran across belongs to Teresa McFayden.  You've got to watch for a bit before the studio tour starts.  

                                         
                                Studio and Behind the Scenes from Teresa McFayden on Vimeo.

What I love?  Besides the fact that she plays one of my all-time favorite songs at the start?  Glass, apothecary! jars, the chandelier, her little photo displays, the inspiration chicken wire, the old stamp shelving, old card catalog,  bits and baubles everywhere ...

and I didn't see an Iris Cart in either of these!

Inspiring to say the least!

If I Build It Will He Come?

Toads.  Aren't they adorable? When the boys were younger, we used to catch them and keep them in a terrarium for a couple of days.  We'd throw worms in there and the boys would be in hysterics as I became the "voice" of the toad as he stalked and ate his dinner.

DH has seen a fairly large toad in my garden every morning.  And the other night, Matt saw Toad sitting in our garage.

I like to think Toad's hanging around to check out this piece of real estate:

As far as I can see though, he hasn't tried it out yet.  I know Toad Houses attract toads.  It's worked for me before.  Hopefully Toad will like this rental!

Jenni Bowlin Mercantile June Kit: oh so beautiful!  Here's another layout from me using the kit:

The kit features Jenni's new line Haven.  Haven has colors and patterns that work with everything. I love that. One line ... lots of uses.  I have plans for this line for my vacation photos, Christmas photos, graduation mini, home mini ... i can go on and on ...

And the subject of the layout above ... that kid ... is graduating high school next week ... party this Saturday ... lots to do ... trying to stay calm knowing the empty nest is around the corner ... but i know you are a mother forever ... and time doesn't stop ... and the parenting you've put in will hopefully pay off ... but life isn't easy ... and we have to be positive and happy ...

lots of thoughts ... 

A Paper Lovers Adventure

I saw this ad in the paper this morning:

It was a local number and I got excited.

The interesting thing however, was that I was the only "non-dealer" there.  Guys that had been in the business for years it seems were climbing all over each other rummaging through crates and crates of this gigantic collection.  There was so much, and it was so stuffed into one garage, that I'd say we were only able to see 5% of the stuff.

When the owner asked what I was looking for I felt a little dorky saying "Sweet little graphics for projects I'm working on ..."

And pickin' through this stuff is hard work.

Guys were asking other guys to pass boxes to them and some guys would pretend not to hear and just continue their searching mumbling "leave me alone".

One guy found his treasures by taking them right out of my box.   Ya', I nicely asked for them back.

It's hard to find your little treasures in this kind of situation I think.  I think I'm more of a flea market girl, where the stuff is usually neatly displayed. Or a tag sale girl, where it's so much easier to look around.  I think I should leave this kind of pickin' to the experts like Jenni at the Mercantile.

But look what I managed to pick up:

I would have totally passed over vintage checks if I didn't see how the Mercantile design team has used them in their monthly kits.  You know, they have gorgeous graphics on them!  The pages of the Winston Readers has great graphics and sweet child-like text.  There's old sheet music in great condition there and a sweet little book.

So that's my adventure for today.  I need a rest. 

and then I'll scrapbook - the new Haven line by JBS is so much fun to scrap with.  It goes with everything and there is true genius behind these product lines, I swear!

A new kit reveal is coming on the 31st and I created my favorite mini to date with it:

Have a wonderful weekend!

circa 1999

Sharing Some Ribbon!

Did you know that May Arts has challenges and contests every month?  And that you can win a roll of ribbon from them?  Check it out on their blog here!  I think they post at the beginning of the month - not totally sure.

Here's what I entered last month . . . Messenger Doves:

Made with Jenni Bowlin Studio patterned paper, vintage buttons and bling for the eyes and May Arts Ribbon for the wings.

These doves are truly messenger doves because they're carrying inspiring messages to whoever would like to read.

They're being housed in a birdcage I found at my parents' house. I snagged it before it made it to the consignment shop!

I received a whole roll of this ribbon just for submitting and getting an "hm":

and I'd like to share . . . so leave a comment here and I'll draw a name Thursday 10pm est.  I'll send off 3 yards of this very cool stuff to you!

And Weeeeehooooo!  I cannot wait for this!

All those details here!