Honoring All Who Serve - Disneyland Flag Retreat

This was a sample layout for a Disney Scrapper's July Red White and Blue Challenge.
For this challenge, we were to use the following Pinterest inspiration board to get some ideas for scrapping a Disney photo.

 
Using the inspiration, scrap a photo for Canada, France, UK, USA, the Fab 5 in their Disneyland 60th or just something with red and white and blue. Or we could leave out the blue since is usually sky in the photos even of Canada, a light sky blue could be included.
One additional part of the challenge was to include stripes. Striped paper, ribbon, embellishments, whatever, just something striped.

For my layout I cut strips of paper (some of it striped) to form paper stripes to make a border my layout. Then I sewed across them to add texture. I got this idea from the quilt in the inspiration collage above. The rest of the layout is based on Sketch Savvy #152

I scrapped pictures from Disneyland's Flag Retreat Ceremony held every day just before sundown. Disneyland's Flag Retreat is a very stirring ceremony that respectfully lowers and folds the flag at the end of the day, but it is also a time that the DLR sets aside to salute and honor our nation and those who faithfully serve it. Flag Retreat is one of my favorite Disneyland Traditions. If you haven't been a part of one yet, put it on your list for the next time you visit.

On this particular day, I had gone to Disneyland to meet up with some college friends I hadn't seen in 20+ years.  My friend Paul is a commander in the US Navy and serves on submarines, so I included the submarine and military word stickers. His amazing wife, Courtney, holds down the fort at home while he is is at sea sometimes for six months at a time. They have five terrific kids and in these pictures he is in the white shirt standing at attention around the Disneyland flag pole and the rest of the family is behind him, supporting him, as they always do. I carefully picked the elements from the Authentique Freedom line that helped me tell the story of their family and this special Flag Retreat Ceremony.  

 

Thank you for your service CDR Paul, and thank you Courtney and kids for the sacrifices you make that allow him to serve.  We salute all of you.

DCA Food and Wine Festival

Another Sample layout for the Disney Scrappers NSD challenge week back in May.  I just realized I never posted them here.  I have a backlog of things to post.

Here is the challenge:
Much like the Disneyland Challenge, this challenge is simply to scrap anything within the 15 year old Disney California Adventure Park.
Seeing as this is a park about California, your layout must include at least two of the following:

• sun
• sunglasses
• seashells
• palm tree
• stars
• film/camera/spotlights
• redwood trees
• bear

**Extra Points if you scrap something from the original DCA park**

We just went to the DCA Food and Wine Festival!

Due to construction it has been absent from the park for the last 5 years.  I'm so very happy they brought it back.  Unlike the Epcot F&W Festival, the booths are themed to the different areas or influences on California Cuisine, all with a modern twist.  The food was incredibly good and I have a lot to scrap from just the one day. 

This is just kind of an intro page to my F&W pages. I included the sun and sunglasses from the challenge. The paper is Authentique Radiant.

Unforgettable Disney - Two Layouts

For National Scrapbook day in May, Disney Scrappers hosted our annual week of Disney scrapping with challenges.  These were two of my challenge layouts.

“Never say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting.” 

                                                                                   --Peter Pan

This challenge may cause you to shed a tear or two.  The challenge includes two elements:

1. Scrap a retired Disney something: attraction, parade, character, show, item, etc 
2. Scrap it with a retired line of paper or scrapbook items from a company that is no longer in business.

With all the changes happening in so many parks, I'm sure we all have pictures of things that are no longer part of the Disney parks.

********************
This layout features paper and embellishments by Basic Grey, and photos from Big Thunder Ranch Jamboree (RIP) which was one of my favorite parts of Disneyland park.  It was such a great get-away! These pictures were from one of the many special character events they hosted back there.
Layout based on Sketch Savvy Sketch #156

And this is my second layout and challenge:
Almost 61 years ago, Walt Disney opened his beloved Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California.
This challenge is simple, scrap anything in Disneyland Park, however, since we are still celebrating Disneyland's diamond anniversary, you must include at least one of the following on your layout:

• a rhombus (diamond) shape
• rhinestones or bling
• something Mickey Mouse

**Extra points** if you scrap a Disneyland original attraction or something with historical Disney significance.

My layout was inspired by one Susan at Creatively Savvy did for Christmas.  I loved her use of the rhombus shape and kind of fiddled around with it a few months ago but didn't get anywhere with it. I pulled it back out for this challenge, and all the Basic Grey embellishment bits that I thought I was going to throw away ended up being perfect for the pictures!

This is a sight you see either from the Mark Twain River Boat, the Sailing Ship Columbia, or the Davey Crockett Explorer Canoes.  We were in the DCE Canoes on the day I took these pictures.  Chief Waves-a-lot has been there in various forms since 1956 I believe.  Since he waves, a LOT, I thought all the hi and hello  embellishments were funny.  The chief was an important part of the original Rivers of America story in that directly across from him is the settler's cabin which has gone through several storylines itself. Now it is home to the River King, Mike Fink. All that to say that the canoes and the chief are both historically part of Disneyland's ROA since 1955-56.

Collect Moments Layout Kit

I bought this Fancy Pants paper kit last year at my LSS Black Friday event, but it took me a whole year to get anything made with it. Hey, in the course of my scrapping history, that is actually not bad. LOL!

This layout (not the best photo!) was based on Sketch Savvy Sketch #129.

This layout is based on Sketch Savvy Sketch #140.

Basic Grey October Page of the Month

 This month's kit was Christmas in October! It was another month with tons of embellishments. I just noticed in posting these pages that I forgot to take a photo of the single page from the kit.  I will have to add that at another time.
These papers were perfect for Disney Christmas pics, specifically my beloved Big Thunder Ranch Jamboree.  I LOVED the Jamboree and am so sad it is gone because of the impending construction of Star Wars Land.  I'm really, really, really despondent about the whole thing. Even this happy memory couldn't bring me out of my BTR mourning funk. :'-(

The layout above and below were made with leftover scraps from the kit.  There really was so much product that I still have enough to do a couple of cards, even after making two bonus pages. Both of these layouts were based on Sketch Savvy Sketches, but for the life of me I can't remember which ones. Suffice it to say that you NEED to visit Sketch Savvy for some seriously great inspiration!

Both of these layouts were taken while we were at Bass Lake for Thanksgiving the year it snowed at the lake. I hadn't scrapped these photos and thought they were perfect for this paper.
Again, I was stuck with using just the leftover embellishments and I had already had to substitute items on the kit layouts because my ephemera pack was missing pieces. So by the time we got to the bottom of the barrel it was getting kinda tough, but I'm happy with the extra layouts.

Basic Grey November Page of the Month

This month found me facilitating the Basic Grey page of the month class again and I was pleasantly surprised with the bright, fun paper.  I'm still struggling with following the directions and not just doing my own thing, and I don't like drawing the sewing on. I much prefer actually sewing, therefore, on some of the pages I forego the drawn stitching and am waiting until I get the pages back to actually sew on them. Other than that, I've been enjoying my time doing the class layouts according to directions and then doing my own thing on extra pages or cards with the leftover papers and embellishments from the kit.  I have limited myself to using ONLY things in the kit, so on the extras, although I have wanted to add some of my own stash I have refrained and only used leftover scraps from the kits.
As usual, the kits come with one two-page layout (seen above) and one single page layout (seen below.)

 This is my extra page made from the scraps from the kit.  I used Sketch Savvy Sketch #155.

 And here are two cards I made this month from scraps.  I still had enough scraps to make another page or a couple more cards.

When the Moon Climbs High o'er the Dead Oak Tree

Another Disney Scrappers NSD challenge page. Susan challenged us to use Sketch Savvy Sketch #141 to make a Disney page. We also needed to use some paper from our stash.  So I pulled some pictures of the Cadaver Dans from Disneyland's Mickey's Halloween Party and some really, really old Basic Grey, and this was the outcome.
I need to note that when I looked at the three photos I had of the Cadaver Dans, they were all very similar so I scoured the internet for two others that would compliment my photo. So I cannot take credit for the middle and right photos. They are not mine.

So because I pulled several papers from some very old, retired Basic Grey lines - Black Tie, Skate Shoppe, Fusion and Fruitcake, I didn't have any one pattern to tie all the different papers together. So I cut thin strips from them and adhered them to a piece of paper and used bits in three places.  I think it did the job of pulling all the colors and papers together into one cohesive layout.

Which Way Honey?

So for some reason, I was all pumped up about the Disney Scrappers NSD challenges and then life happened and this layout took me 5 days. Hahahahaha!  But I did finish it and it didn't go into the "almost finished" pile from which it may have never emerged, so I count that as a success.

I chose to base this layout on an old sketch from Sketch Savvy #81. And I used the Evergreen line of papers from my Basic Grey POTM kit from last December.  I just kind of felt like the patterns and watercolor feel of the floral paper lent itself well to Disneyland's JINGLE CRUISE.  Yet another favorite from Christmas time at Disneyland. The first year it was so-so, but  this year I LOVED it!  So funny and so creative, I went on it multiple times each visit. 
 

The title comes from the experience.  We loved the decorations so much at we made a Jingle Cruise themed Christmas tree for our dining room. And the hats the CMs were wearing were so dang cute I stopped the first one I saw and asked for a selfie.  His name was Alan.  He jovially obliged and then as soon as we were finished with the picture I thanked him and walked away.  As I walked away I asked my husband, "Which way Honey?" since the entrance had been moved slightly due to the crowds. And before my husband could even answer, Alan piped up with. "That way!"  Ahhhahahahahaha! So funny!  I knew I was going to have to scrap our picture with that as the title.

The chipboard elements are from the Evergreen line and the wooden one is from Basic Grey Grand Bazaar from a different POTM club kit.

I'd Rather Be Seaside with Donald

Well, just after my St. Patrick's Day Class, Authentique Paper had a challenge to post a project made with one of their paper lines.  So I posted the frame I made with their Lucky paper.  And I won some paper from their brand new Seaside collection.   It couldn't have been more perfect for my DISNEY pictures!
That's right, you know I love, love, love to use unexpected paper for my Disney pictures and the moment I pulled this paper out I just knew which photos I was going to scrap

 These nautical photos on Paradise Pier in DCA with Donald Duck couldn't have been more perfect. I used some of the word and letter stickers to alter the title so it would work.  This layout is based on Sketch Savvy Sketch #116.

One of my favorite elements was the little crab.  I picked the crab and the boat because I felt they fit Donald perfectly with him being a sailor and also having a bit of a temper.

And the last little element was to add a couple of pennants using the life preserver paper.  I actually have another layout I want to do with this paper using Donald's boat in Toon Town.  So stayed tooned for more with this fun line!

Marmee - MME Just Sayin

We also got to play with the My Mind's Eye Just Sayin line. I decided to scrap a picture of my feral mama cat, Lady Marmalade.  We call her Marmee after the mom in Little Women.

This layout is based on Sketch Savvy Sketch #90

There are no techniques on this page, just a simple layout based on a cute sketch.  Bright, fun paper line to work with.

Be Merry Layout with MME Joyous

This layout was based on Sketch Savvy Sketch #92

 These pictures make me smile! We went back to see Santa at Disneyland's Big Thunder Ranch Jamboree, and the minute Santa saw Dad walking up he said in a loud jolly voice, "Oh ho ho! I remember you!" and then to the rest of us he said, "He was a lot of trouble when he was younger!"

 No techniques or anything on this layout, just a simple Christmas layout.

The wooden snowflakes are from Studio Calico.

Happy Haunts

My last Halloween design team project was to do a 12x12 layout with the My Mind's Eye Frightful collection.

I chose to scrap two pictures from last years's Mickey's Trick or Treat Halloween Party at Disneyland.  We found Minnie the Candy Corn Queen and Zorro Mickey in their Halloween costumes back in Toon Town. 

 I used Sketch Savvy Sketch #121 for this layout.  

The title font is Tim Holtz Spooktacular.

 The pointy edge and the pointy shape below are from the Tim Holtz Snowflake Rosette Die.  The border is actually just the left over piece from the rosette I cut and used on the treat bags from yesterday.  And because I knew the middle of the rosette would be covered, I didn't put this cute pointy snowflake center on it.  It looks much better on this page instead of all covered up.

And both strips of paper, the b&w stripe and the jack o lanterns are the pieces on the bottom of the 12x12 paper that shows you what is on the back side of the cardstock.

LESSON: Don't throw things away until you are certain you won't need to use them.

Plaza Inn Chicken Dinner

This layout uses the Bo Bunny Madeleine collection and was for the design team at my LSS.

It is based on Susan Stringfellow sketch done for Basic Grey.

I felt this part of the paper line went really well with the beautiful Plaza Inn in Disneyland. The colors and birdcages worked perfectly. 

I did do some fussy cutting of birds for the second page and I added some leaves cut from a Tim Holtz greenery die.

This was a very simple layout. No techniques, sorry.

Haunted Mansion - True Love

A design team assignment to make a layout using Bo Bunny Madeleine Collection.

For some reason I was feeling the Haunted Mansion from part of this collection, so I went with it.  Sometimes you can't fight it and just have to go with it.

I based this on a favorite Sketch Savvy Sketch #15

 The A True Love Story Never Ends sticker with this theme totally cracked me up! For those of you who don't know, there are kind of two stories going on in the Haunted Mansion and one of them included Constance Hatchaway.  She is the black widow bride who kills off all her husbands. She haunts the attic with wedding pictures of herself with all her different husbands.

 I've shown this flower technique on my blog many times.  this was just a variation so I could use an acrylic flower center.

 Fill a mini mister with water.  I punched several flowers from grey cardstock.  Then spritz the cardstock.  You want it moist, but not soaking wet.

 Crinkle the flowers up as much as you can. Really scrunch em up!

 Uncrinkle and dry with a heat gun.  This really crinckles them again. I also use this time to kind of shape them and crinkle any spots I missed.

 Layer and attach them together.  I attached the smallest flower to the back of the acrylic flower.

 Then I smooshed it up around the edges.  This is a very technical tutorial. LOL!

 Finally attach it to the center.  Then I lightly spritzed again and reshaped the petals one last time as I dried it for added shape and texture.

That's it!  Easy, right?