A Perfect Day Layout

This layout is one that has been done for some time now.  It was created with one of Authentique's most recent collections 'Durable'.  The earth tone colors of this collection along with the masculine elements make it an ideal choice for documenting photos of the boys in my life.

Late last year I was able to take several photos of my husband & son enjoying a crisp Autumn day by a lake.  Using 'Durable' to document this memory worked out perfectly since even the clothing they wore that day brought out some of the accent colors of the collection.

My page was based on a wonderful sketch created by The Nifty Pixel.

The embellishments used on the page were mostly burlap & felt based.  I've adhered most of the floral embellishments with pop dots to add some dimension to my page.

With the use of a couple different stamps, I further decorated the background by randomly stamping these images.  With black mist, I've added a bit of splatters to the background as well.

With a hot glue gun, I adhered a string of white twine along my page.  I adhered it based on how the layout 'flows' visually.  At least that was my intent.  :-)

The bright orange organza star flower seen here is an embellishment from my own stash.  I have these & several more organza star flowers available for sale in my Etsy shop.

Supplies: Paper - Authentique, Chipboard - Um Wow Studio, SA Crafters, Stamps - Prima Marketing, Sodalicious, Mists: Heidi Swapp, Flowers - The Kreative Korner, The Felt Shoppe, Other: Burlap Flower, Twine

Thanks for stopping by!

My Two Boys Layout Berry71Bleu February Challenge

I'm truly starting to enjoy creating a layout with a solid black background.  I really love how my embellishments & colors 'pop' on my page!  This is my interpreation for the February challenge going on over at Berry71Bleu.  This month's host is Dana & she picked a beautiful mood board to go along with this month's challenge which is: My Inspiration, My Loves - basically create a project about things or people that inspire you or that you love...simple as that.

My husband took this photo of me getting love from my two boys.  Even though my son doesn't look too happy here--he had just finished giving me a big hug.  Nothing warms my heart more or puts a smile on my face than getting love from my two boys.  My four legged eldest fur child always gives me his unconditional love & my son is at an age where he gives you hugs & kisses 'just because'.

This is when I ask Father Time to slow down a bit--during these wonderful moments...

Here's this months soft & creative mood board.  I love the colors & images used...

I used washi tape in my page again as part of my layering. I have several rolls of washi tape collecting dust in my stash.  I figured I'd clean off the 2 inches of dust & try using them into my work!  :-)

I used several digital images provided by one of our sponsors this month the CAT File Store on my page.  I primarily used thier printables as embellishments & layered them around my photo.

In Photoshop I was able to add one of their digital images 'the cutest' right onto my photo.  Since I don't have a Silhouette or any other compatible die cutting machine--I printed their digital images & used them to enhance my page as embellishments.

The contrast of the embellishments I added to my page against the solid black background adds a splash of color to my layout that I honestly really liked.

The gray tulle seen on my page is attached to a white tag that contains my journaling.  It's stored in a white glassine bag that I tucked behind my photos & most of the embellishments.

Supplies: Card Stock - American Crafts, Digitial Elements/Printables - CAT File Store, Prima Marketing, Tim Holtz, Flowers - Petaloo, Washi Tape - Tim Holtz, RubOns - Basic Grey, Chipboard - Um Wow Studio, Overlays: Hambly, Other - Silver Doily, Felt Hearts, Birds Washi Tape, Rhinestones, Fabric Flowers, Tulle

Don't forget to stop by the Berry71Bleu blog & play along with this month's challenge. There are still a few days left in the month--plus as always your entry will put you in the running to win goodies from this month's fabulous sponsors!

Thanks for stopping by & enjoy the rest of the week!

One Kiss & I Was Smitten Layout

Snow, snow, snow...can we get anymore snow!?  Needless to say we've been getting slammed here in the East Coast with lots of that cold white fluffy stuff.  I enjoy cold weather & the occasional snow storm actually--but this is getting just a bit out of hand.  Oh well, just another excuse to drink hot cocoa or hot chocolate or just plain 'ol coffee!

Today's layout is a page I made over a year ago & have simply never shared.  This was made with the use of Authentique's 'Smitten' collection which was their Valentine's Day release for last year.

The photo is of me & my now husband back in the day when we were dating.  This was our very first vacation together.  We went to the Bahamas & bought matching outfits that you can see in the photo.  Awwww how sickeningly sweet eh!? :-)  Ahhhh gotta love those dating years--it's when you can actually get your guy to do things like this!  It's OK...it all paid off in the end--I ended up marrying him didn't I?

For this page I played around with the paper itself.  Folding it in different ways, rolling it, distressing it, putting some rips n' tears in it etc...I also used many of the elements & card stock stickers that came with the collection to embellish the page.

The layering of the elements really made the page as well as the use of pop dots to give some of the stickers some dimension.

My journaling was stored in the form of a scroll seen here.  It was & still is one of my absolute favorite ways to store journaling on layouts.  I can store many thoughts & stories in a compact way & the scroll itself makes for a unique embellishment.

Supplies: Paper - Authentique, Dies: Cheery Lynn Designs, Embellishments - Authentique, Other - Fabric Flowers, Rhinestone Flowers, Glitter Foam Hearts, Transparency

Thanks for stopping by, enjoy the rest of the week & stay warm!

My Little Angel Layout Berry71Bleu January Challenge

This month's Berry71Bleu challenge was an enjoyable one for me!  I finally had the opportunity to give my little guy a pair of angel wings.  This idea had been going around my head for quite some time now & I had also seen several other fellow scrappers do this to their own little angels.  So when the challenge for January was: Things With Wings--I took my queue & ran with it.

I kept the overall design of the page fairly simple since I wanted the focus to be on the photo.  Plus it didn't help that while I made this page I was home sick with bronchitis topped with a sinus infection. Meh.  I'm pleased with the end result & I love how the colors I chose pop against the solid black background.

My son was a little over a month old when this photo was taken--his facial features have changed a bit except for his big brown eyes--he still has those.

I tucked a small white glassine bag behind the photo that is being used to store my journaling tag.  I made the tag out of leftover white card stock scraps that I had in my stash & tied a bit of yellow tulle to the top.

Several items & embellishments were used to comply with this months challenge.  I've used Tim Holtz washi paper in the background that has images of butterflies.  In this photo you can see the different strips I used to create the background.  I included a mini mushroom bird embellishment & the most obvious element were the wings I gave my son.

These floral blue images were provided by one of our sponsors this month by Digital Paper. They were lovely pink images of flowers--but I needed blue to go with the theme of my page.  So I edited the images in Photoshop & changed their color.  This is the beauty of digital images--with just a little bit of photo editing knowledge you can manipulate the images to go with any theme you need.

Once I changed the color for the flowers, I printed them & fussy cut them out.

The angel wings is an image that I edited in Photoshop, printed & fussy cut out.  I did much fussy cutting for this page since I also fussy cut the photo of my son--I felt that cutting him out of the solid black background would make the wings more noticeable & give the effect that he actually has his very own set of wings.  :-)

Supplies: Black Cardstock - American Crafts, Washi Tape - Tim Holtz, Stencil - Crafters Workshop, Embellishments - SA Crafters,  Mists: Heidi Swapp, Flowers - I Am Roses, Other - Modeling Paste, Mini Mushroom Bird, Mini Bird's Nest, Card Stock Angel Wings, Tulle, White Gel Pen

Thanks for stopping by & enjoy the rest of the week!  Don't forget to stop by the Berry71Bleu blog to play along with this month's challenge & for the chance to win some fabulous prizes!

You're My Treasure Layout Berry71Bleu December Challenge

Happy 2015 everybody!!!  I hope everybody had a fabulous Holiday & an amazing start to 2015.  I know I started 2015 exactly how I wanted--relaxing in bed with my flannel PJ's & cuddling with two very handsome guys--my husband & my son!

Today I bring you my take on Berry71Bleu's December challenge.  The theme was 'Winter Chill'--to celebrate all the things that represent the wonderful Winter season--from fresh fallen snow to the beauty of icicles.  Whether you're a snow bunny who makes the best of the Winter chill or if you're the type that copes with Winter by snuggling next to a fire place with a hot cup of cocoa--we want to see your interpretation of a 'Winter Chill'.

My take was of my son--this photo was one of my faves taken for Christmas.  So I ended up doing a mix of a Winter/Christmas themed page.

With the Christmas rush I certainly didn't have time to come up with my own design--so once again I went to my fave source of creative sketches--Page Drafts, for inspiration.  You'll be seeing many more Page Drafts sketches in the near future.  Lately I just don't seem to have the time to come up with my own design--I'm a slow scrapper in general & when I do my own design then multiply my slowness by three times!  When I have the time to spare--this isn't a problem...but when I have to complete a project within a few hours--then Page Drafts is my solution!

I'm a very big fan of dimension & love them on my pages--so I always give my embellishments a lift by adhering them to my page with pop dots also referred to as foam dots.

All papers used are from Authentique's 'Cozy' collection.  This collection is composed of kraft & light blue colors with just a hint of red.  I accentuated the red a bit more by making the embellishments of my page mostly red.  These embellishments added a pop of color to the layout.

The Christmas themed images are actually digital images provided by one of Berry71Bleu's December sponsors, Gecko Galz.  I printed the images & fussy cut a few of them out--one of them being this very clever Santa Claus.

The silver flower is from my own stash--I have a few of these up for sale in my Etsy shop.

The adorable deer cut out was also a digital image by Gecko Galz.

Supplies: Paper - Authentique, Dies - Cheery Lynn, Flowers - Petaloo, Kay's Kreative Korner, Digital Images - Gecko Galz, Other - Mini Pine Cone Spray, Mini Gift Box, Fabric Poinsettia, Red Paper Doilies

Thanks for stopping by & enjoy the New Year!

You're My Miracle Layout Berry71Bleu November Challenge

The November challenge at Berry71Bleu couldn't have fallen at a more perfect time!   The challenge for November was 'Early Birthday'--to create a project about yourself, your children, a member of your family, or a special someone - an early year birthday celebration!  As it turns out, November is my son's birthday month.  So I based this layout on my little guy turning the big '2'.  

I've already made it into a sort of tradition for him to pose on his birthday with a large wooden number representing his birthday.  I decorate the number based on the outfit he'll be wearing & it's been working out really nice.  So I think I'll keep this tradition until he's old enough to roll his eyes & say 'that's lame mom--I'll pass on the number'.  Then I'll have to come up with some other 'cooler' version of my tradition. :-)

For the design of my layout I turned to yet another fabulous sketch from Page Drafts.  This sketch jumped at me the moment I saw it & knew it'd work out perfectly for the photos of my son.

What I liked best about this sketch was that on page pocket at the top.  Turns out one can insert many little tid bits into a pocket such as this & I think I'll be using more hidden pockets like this in my future projects.  The black tag seen in the background tucked into my pocket is where I stored my journaling.  I can't have a page without some sort of journaling; is my theory!

The papers I've used are from the 'Oliver' collection by Basic Grey.  I've had these papers in my stash for many years--am glad I found the right occasion to use them.

This time I followed the sketch fairly closely because I really liked the elements that were part of the sketch.  So I added string behind my photos which is what I interpreted the swirly lines behind the photos in the sketch to be.

Using a date stamp, I stamped my son's birth date randomly onto the background of my page--so you can see a subtle date all along the background.

Supplies: Paper - Basic Grey, Stencil - Um Wow Studio, Chipboard - Um Wow Studio, Paper Punches - EK Success, Fiskars, Stampin' Up, Flowers - Michaels, Kaisercraft, Wild Orchid Crafts, Flair Button: Panda Eight Designs, Other - String, Molding Paste, Spiral Clips, Mini Flocked Teddy Bear

Thanks for stopping by & en joy the rest of the week!

Naughty Or Nice? Layout

Hello again fellow scrappers!  With the Holidays just around the corner I figured I'd do a Christmas themed layout that's long overdue.  This is my son last year for Christmas--so I'm only 1 year behind!  :-)  I absolutely loved this photo of him where he's giving us one of his infamous backwards glances.  This photo begged to be fussy cut--so I did exactly that & I loved the end result.

This layout is a DT page for a cross promotion between Authentique & Petaloo.  I've used papers from both the 'Believe' & 'Faith' collections by Authentique.  For embellishments, I've used several flowers by Petaloo as well as their tinsel trim.

Once again, I turned to Page Drafts to kick start my mojo. I found this fabulous sketch & had to give it a go--I loved the design of this sketch--it's different & unique--right up my alley!

The Christmas tree is an idea I found on Pinterest.  Many referred to it as the 'Folded Christmas Tree'. I found this to be a quick, simple & easy way to create a Christmas tree embellishment for a layout since all it takes is half a circle & a couple of folds.  Plus once complete, you can decorate it in so many ways.  I dressed up my tree with clear rhinestones & red tinsel trim by Petaloo.

This was the best template I found to create this folded tree.  You can also search Pinterest with the words 'folded christmas tree' and several hits should come up.   Based on where you fold the half circle, you can also control how thin, wide or even how many layers your tree will have.

I've stored my journaling on this tag.  I created an on page pocket to store it & added a bit of red tulle to dress it up a bit.

The flower cluster is all by Petaloo--mostly from their Darjeeling collection.

Supplies: Paper - Authentique, Flowers - Petaloo, Dies: Cheery Lynn Designs, Chipboard Confetti - UmWow Studio, Mists: Heidi Swapp, Stamps - Stamps by Judith, Other - Mini Candy Cane, Mini Pine Cones, Mini Present Embellishment, Rhinestones, Spiral Clip

Thanks for stopping by & enjoy the rest of the week!