Spring in Concord

I love Cosmo Cricket's Early Bird line. When I got it out and started looking at it, I just felt that it went so perfectly with these pictures of us at Louisa May Alcott 's Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts. We got to visit here in October of 2009 and this is our visit in the spring of 2010. It was so beautiful and green!

For this layout I turned Susan's sketch #54 from Sketch Savvy into a two-pager. If you haven't done so already, please stop by her blog and check out all the wonderful sketches and inspiration!



I used canvas and Tim Holtz dies to cut the green label and the cream canvas flowers. I added a smaller crinoline flower to the center of the larger ones for some additional texture.


I also loved the little tiny type letters they have. They aren't something that I usually use, but I thought it would be a fun little thing to change up.


In the corner, I cut a limb and made more white blossoms to kind of mimic the dogwoods that were in bloom all along the walkway in front of Orchard House. We had never seen a dogwood and thought they were really beautiful!

Also, the flag marking the fire hydrant was shocking to me, as a native Californian. Does the snow really get THAT high?

Spring Banner

I was going to go in a completely different direction with this, but I got inspired yesterday and decided to do this instead. I used the banner SVG from Sketch Savvy, and cut the banners out. I also bought a doily set of svg files for the doily in the center, then added junk bows (a la Margie Romney-Aslett) and some Tim Holtz Rosettes and voila! I love it!

I still have a few more ideas for spring decor, but those may have to wait. Spring Break is almost over and I have to get ready for an upcoming trip.

Here are a few close-ups.

Spring Wall Hanging

I got this idea from my friend, Susan Stringfellow. She posted several of her wall hangings on her blog, Creatively Savvy. She has several that she changes in the frame throughout the year.

Right now I'm decorating for spring and as I was working on a banner for the mantle, I decided to make one of Susan's wall hangings to hang above the entry table.

I used MME and Karen Foster papers with a teeny bit of Rusty Pickle thrown in (wow! talk about a blast from the past!) I cut the papers into 1 1/2 inch squares and arranged them in a grid of 7x7. That left a border of 3/4 of an inch all the way around.

I also pulled a 12x12 ornate cherry wood frame out from the back of my closet -- my family used to own a needlework shop with custom mat and framing. When the state decided to widen the hwy, taking out the front half of the shop, we sold out and moved on, but of course, years later we still have frames and things left over. I painted it white and then sanded it here and there for a springy shabby chic look.


For a bit of embellishment, I dyed the Rusty Pickle paper with Pesto Color Wash, then cut them out with Alterations Tattered Leaves die. The flowers are a wet, messy, crumple technique that I featured on a layout about a year ago. You can see how these are made here. The paper I used here is a really thick, shiny wedding paper that I dyed with Colorwash and some really old Fiberscraps Walnut Ink that I found when I was cleaning my scrap room a few months ago.

Of course, as Susan did, I sewed on the paper once it was secured in place. I love the look and texture that sewing gives to paper crafts. And lastly, since we celebrate Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday in the spring, I added one of my favorite hymns. When I was growing up, I loved to hear Mrs. Beeson pound this out on the piano as the church congregation sang loudly. Therefore, it was only fitting that I scan my hymnal and add a copy of this song to my spring art.

I'm looking forward to make several of these for different seasons throughout the year.

A Little Circa 1934

I think I fell in love with this Cosmo Cricket 1934 paper the minute I saw it last October. What a beautiful line! I was really quite intimidated by it and hope I have done it justice.

Practically Perfect
A little layout featuring Bert, Mary and the penguins around Disneyland Resort.
It's always a jolly holiday when Mary is around!

Of course, I turned to my friend Susan Stringfellow's sketch blog, Sketch Savvy, for inspiration, and found two sketches that I thought would be perfect. For this first layout I used Sketch #52 and turned it into a two-pager. Please click on the sketch to go to her blog and see all of the amazing sketchwork she has there.



The adorable scalloped, oval swirly frame was a FREE download from SVG Cuts. Can you believe it was FREE? And I think it was perfect for this layout. Well, practically anyway.


The small label is a FREE SVG Cut from my friend Susan. You can download it by clicking on the link. The black crystal swirls and roses are two Prima Say It In Swirls flourishes.

Mickey's 'Not So' Fun Wheel
This layout is about a "girls day" at Disneyland Resort with my friend.
She left her kids with her DH and we went down to DLR and did a bunch of
the attractions we had never done. Of course, most of them we vowed never
to do again, but we did try them at least once!

This second layout is also from Susan's sketch blog. I turned sketch #44 into a two-pager as well.


The bracket border along the bottom is a FREE SVG cut also from Susan. Please click the link and it will take you to her blog so you an download it if you would like.


While I was working on these pages, I was wracking my brain trying to come up with something really cool to put on them as an embellishment. It was that day that I noticed that Tammy Tutterow had posted a picture on her Facebook page that said she had made Tim Holtz rosettes out of crinoline, and dyed them with Distress Stains. I wondered if this could be the very thing this layout needed.

First I had to find out from Tammy what crinoline was and where to get it, then we were off to the races. Once I tried it, I LOVED it! What a fabulous idea! Tammy is full of great ideas, so if you haven't had a chance, click on the link to her website and check her out!


I didn't have Distress Stains, so I used some of my Distress Inks and a Mini Mister and it worked just as well. So well in fact, that I dyed the extra crinoline green and cut leaves from Tim's Tattered Flowers die. What fun! And what a perfect addition to the layouts!