It's 83 degrees, and snowing in here!

I had a wonderful time attending a scrapbook weekend put on by a local church and stocked by our local store the Saranac Scrapbook Garden.  It gave me some time to get a few layouts done and meet a whole bunch of great gals.  I wasn't able to attend the entire event, but here is a taste of what I did in the time I had.  

So, as I mentioned a little bit ago, I have more layouts to share using the papers from Close to My Heart called Wonderland.  (These are the last of them, I swear!)  I really had a fun time with just using the blues and grays in the paper and adding my own pop of pink.  

I was really struggling with the title, because I lot of time I have long quotes or saying that I fall in love with, and one word titles just doesn't express the overall feeling of the layout.  Then I got a tip from Jeanette Lynton's Blog about using hand stitching for titles, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  Don't be afraid to mix up your typography and use up random alpha stickers.  You'll love the results and get more out of your stamps and stickers.

 The stamp set is from the Wonderland Work Shop on the Go, and the snowflakes are from Martha Stewart Crafts 3in felt snowflake ribbon.  I didn't like how three inches wide of snowflakes overpowered my soft layout so, I cut them apart and added some bling.  Bling makes all things better!

 This "brr..." layout is from the WOTG template.  I loved how it looked, but I wasn't feeling the title.  My son didn't like the snow and so the trepidation on his face is genuine.  I wanted to capture that in the title and used a hodge podge of chipboard, rubons, and epoxy alphas.

The folded paper gives great texture and a ribbon like feel.  It was such a fun and easy technique to do that I incorporated it into my companion layout.

Whenever I create more than one layout for the same event I always try to be consistent with colors and techniques.  It makes them cohesive and complete.

Now to create some fun stuff for the 80 degree weather in March we are experiencing...wonders never cease.

P.A.R.T.Y.!!!

It's a shipping party over at Webster's Pages!  Go check it out and their fabulous new lines, In Love, Palm Beach, Game On, Everyday Poetry, and Sunday Picnic.  They are fabulous.

Wonderland Nostalgia

My close friend and CTMH consultant, Jolene, has a monthly scrapbooking workshop where we create two layouts with her product that are NOT the Workshop of the Go layouts.  Where our motto is: "It's good enough for the men I date." and chocolate is an endangered species.  I love it.

Last month we used the beautiful Wonderland kit from CTMH. Which is discontinued:(   And we weren't able to use the Icing Overlays, because the company ran out before the launch of the new catalog:(  However, with a snowflake stamp set and our Art Philosophy cartridge we were able to knock out some beautiful pages.  The left page of the layout was CASED from the Autumn/Winter catalog and she created a companion layout to match.  (I don't care that she copied it, I do the same thing.  Love a resourceful woman).  The title was supposed to be different, but I had this great silver/blue swirled and stitched title from Sticko that I've owned for years (8 to be exact).  It had extra snowflakes that I scattered around to blend in with the rest of the layout.  I'm pleased with how it turned out.

(The second layout Jolene created didn't fit my personal style, so I chopped it up into a few different ones)

A sepia tone with 74% opacity was applied to the photos to tone down the colors and blend with the papers.  This is one of my favorite techniques to use with winter layouts.  It really softens the look.

All these photos were from years past, because, well, winter seems to have skipped us this year.  I'm not complaining, nor am I happy about it either.  I love winter.  So, this year has given me a chance to catch up with my layouts and use up my paper.  In an earlier post I showed another Wonderland layout, and I I actually have a few more coming your way.  When it's all said and done, I will have six layouts from one, yes one, paperpack. So excited to share, and so sick of Wonderland papers!

If you like the layout, leave a quick comment!  I know your busy with blog hopping, but I've love to hear your thoughts.  Thanks!

Blarney!

I don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day very enthusiastically, probably because I don't see the point.  We never gave it much thought in our home growing up, and I don't need a reminder to drink every day (I've got a kid for that).

All joking aside, as a Mother, I've found myself wanting to make everything memorable for my son.  This need was never there before and I don't remember anyone mentioning this when they gave me  the "nesting" and "post depression" talks.  Maybe I missed those classes at the local hospital.  Anyways, all I know is that it consumes me.  I try to fight it and it eats away at me nonetheless.

And so, here I am, entering March and another Holiday on the horizon.  Hopefully, I don't go overboard.

 

To Do NOT

It's been one of those days that seems to go by so fast and yet, I can't for the life of me think of what I got done.  I'm beginning to think "to-do" lists were invented as a mean practical joke.  They do nothing but laugh at me behind my back, and to my face for that matter.  And I have oh, so many of them.  On my frig. On the pad of paper located on the counter.  In my purse.  In my car.  In the purse I keep in the car. On my phone.  On the App I download to my phone to keep "to-do" lists. I'm so organized, I'm unorganized.






On top of all that I had to deal with the dreaded "No Napper" today.  My plans were simple.  Get up, go into town, visit Michaels, JoAnns, Hobby Lobby and take pictures of embellishments to replicate at home with my supplies. ('Cause I'm not paying $10 for flowers and glitter stickers).  Instead, there was a power struggle in the house today for over 2 hours.  Didn't he see that "take nap" was on HIS "to-do" list? (Or maybe he did, and I'm just now realizing that the depth of this cruel joke is deeper than I thought).

I put him down.  He would sneak out.  Back down.  Sneak to Mommy's and Daddy's room and play there.  Back down with gate preventing sneakiness. Climb said gate and pretend like I don't see Mommy.

The winner?

Well, there was no clear winner.  I didn't end up going to town, and Braam ended up taking a nap. It was pretty ridiculous really.  He slept on the floor and I in the crib.  Neither gave in.