Freedom

My mom and sister came down this weekend and stayed with us. Mom and I were both taking different classes from Marion Smith at my LSS. So when we weren't in class, one or the other of us was working on various scrapbooking projects with my sister (who wasn't taking any of the classes.) Since she was working on finishing several of the mini albums we started together a few years ago, I decided to get out some old kits and get them put together.

This was an old Bo Bunny kit that I picked up at an LSS in Simi Valley a few years ago. I've been wanting to get it put together, but just never made the time to sit down and get it done. I changed the layout of the pages so I could get more photos on it and also didn't use most of the embellishments, stickers or words. I did use lots of Ranger Distress Inks though!

Me and DH at the family 4th this year, my family here at our house for the 4th in 2005,
and my sister's bird, Peep, who is a very patriotic love bird!

After Peep is a picture of me and DH in front of our favorite attraction at Disneyland,
Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln on July 3, 2010,
and then a picture of us on Main Street USA on July 4, 2009.

And the last picture is of me in Boston with a costumed tour guide who happened to be playing my favorite American Revolutionary and Patriot, James Otis.

This will go perfectly on my mantle.
I keep my patriotic decor up until after Patriot's Day on September 11th.

Summer Tote

I made this cute summer tote with my Adirondack Colorwash, some Basic Grey Origins fabric and my QuicKutz. Fast, easy, and FUN! I'll try and take some pictures and post a tutorial on how to do this. It's so easy you'll want to run out and get a tote so you can make one too!

Bang that Beat!

This Disney layout is dedicated to some of the great Disneyland Street Performers. The Trashcan Trio is a group of percussionists who play in Tomorrowland at Disneyland. They keep a foot stomping, toe tapping beat going using just trashcans, buckets and trashcan lids. As you can tell, they're a fun group!


Again, I used Scrap Within Reach " Paper Boy" paper for this layout, and sketch #11 from Sketch Savvy. It was a one pager, but you know I can't do just one page for my Disney photos or I will never get them finished! So I turned it into a two-pager again.


I decided to put part of the title in a trashcan. The template for the trashcan is at the end of this blog post. No, I still can't make an SVG file, so if you make one, please let me know and I will link it here.



The trashcan is cut from some really old Black Tie Basic Grey paper that I had.


To add to the industrial look, I added some Tim Holtz Ideaology washers and some large pewter brads. The teal trim is Creative Imaginations.


Here is the template. Please let me know if you convert any of my templates into SVG files so I can link to them and we can share them with others.

Jolly

Awhile back I got some free Cosmo Cricket Christmas paper and thought I would do a fun, simple layout. This is a picture of us all at Disney's California Adventure a few years ago.


I used one of Susan's sketches from Sketch Savvy, and cut the title, flourish, and snowflakes with my Cricut.

I inked the edges of all the paper with Ranger Distress Ink Old Paper, and then added some Rock Candy Distress Stickles for a little clear glitter affect.


And for the additional embellishments, I used some old metal ornament charms I have had forever, and the velvet scalloped ribbon from Cosmo Cricket as well.

Not Today Zurg!

I think I have a hundred photos from Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters at Disneyland. We ride it just about every time we're there and since we are AP holders, that is quite often. So, the next few blog entries you may be inundated with Buzz pictures okay?

This layout is based on Sketch #22 from Sketch Savvy. I made it into a two-pager, but I just felt like the sketch went so well with these papers.


I had fun with this paper; it is a line from Scrap Within Reach called "Paper Boy." The funky shapes are an exclusive QuicKutz die from Hobby Lobby, and the stars are QK too.

I made my own "unscalloped border" for this layout, and blew up one of the Quickutz shapes so I could make a large journaling box. I've linked those below. I would have made them SVG's for those of you with SCAL, but I just got it and can't figure out how to do that just yet. Maybe soon though!


Yay! Another Buzz layout done!

Disneyland Railroad - E.P. Ripley

Yep, it's that time of the month again, time for the Graphic 45 page contest. This month we were to use papers from their Transatlantique paper line.


I had planned to use some pictures of us on the LA Steamers trains that go around Walt's Barn in Griffith Park but when I pulled them with the G45 paper I had stored them with, I realized that I had planned to use them with a different G45 line, so I had to find some other train pics with DH in them.

These are pictures from October 2008 when DH got tender passes for us to ride behind the engineers on the Disneyland Railroad. We got to ride on the E.P.Ripley engine. They answered all of DH's train and steam engine questions and showed him all about running the train. It was something we had never imagined we would get to do, so he was pretty thrilled about it. It was definitely a memorable trip.

I used all paper from Graphic 45's Transatlantique line and included a few metal items from the Tim Holtz Ideaology line. I included a few punched Mickeys and called it good.

It isn't what I had planned originally, but I'm so glad to have these scrapped and DH really likes the masculine feel it has. Can you believe I did a layout with no flowers?

Toy Story and the Hundred Acre Wood

Two years ago we won tickets to preview the new Toy Story Mania ride at Disney's California Adventure Park two days before it opened to the public. We got there early and got to ride it several times in a row. What a fun ride and it's really interactive.


This layout was made using Scrap Within Reach "Carnival Ride" paper line and stickers. This layout was made using a sketch from Sketch Savvy.


I thought it was perfect because there are pennants hanging all around inside the ride.


I'm really struggling to accept the "white space" on this layout. I like a little more on my layouts and this just seems a little bland, but I am trying not to make it too busy.


The CM doing the bunny ears behind me actually remembered us when we went back that weekend to ride it again with my family.

This layout was about a day that a bunch of fellow Disney scrappers decided to go to Disneyland. Some of the girls took their kiddos with them. It was the first time at DLR for one of the little guys and since most of us were totally clueless about taking kids to DLR, we took him on Pirates of the Caribbean and it totally terrorized him. So, in order to make up for it, we took him to Critter Country to hand out with Pooh and the Gang.

For this layout I also used a sketch from Sketch Savvy. I used this sketch for the layout.


I absolutely love the tree!!

Wine Bottle Covers

I went to a crop recently at my LSS that had some Make n Takes. One of them was a wine bottle cover. It was a simple project, but included some stamping and embossing techniques. I thought it was a great idea, but wanted to change it up a bit.


For my bottle covers, I cut Tim Holtz Grungeboard into strips, squares and then die cut one piece using one of his Alterations die cuts. Then I used a Quickutz embossing folder to emboss all the grungeboard pieces. Once they were all embossed, I painted them with Distress Paint Dabbers, let the paint dry, and then sanded the raised areas. Once the raised areas were sanded, I inked the entire surface with Distress Ink, and wiped off the ink from the painted areas. The paint acts as a resist for the ink, allowing the embossed areas to show through, but not color the painted areas too much.


Then I stamped a circle and an initial onto some QuicKutz Adhesive Cork. Two kinds come in a package, so the one on the left contains larger, more irregular pieces of cork, and the one of the right has smaller, corkboard type pieces. I wanted this to resemble the top of a wine cork (even though most of them have a date on them.)

And for the top, I took four pieces of jute and dyed them using Ranger Color Wash in colors that matched the paint I used. The colors here are Lettuce, Eggplant, Wild Plum and Butterscotch. Once they dried, I tied them around the tops of the wine bottles.


Lastly I punched small holes in the edges of the decorative piece, and the strip of grungeboard and attached them with a brad. In order to get the piece to fit around a bottle, I punched a hole in each side piece and tied them together with a small piece of jute.

This was a fun, easy project that will make a great gift for someone.

Woo hoo! I won! Twice!!

In April I entered a layout contest for my LSS, Remember When. They challenged us to make a layout using My Mind's Eye Abbey Road line of paper and embellishments. I just found out that I won! This is the great MME paper and embellishment pack that I won.


I made the two layouts below. What fun! I may make some layouts with the paper I won, to share on my kit blog!



And just a few weeks ago I entered the Graphic 45 Renaissance Faire May Madness contest. For this contest you could make any paper crafting project, you just had to use the papers and things from their Renaissance Faire line.


I made this layout and won! They sent me a complete set of each of the lines above! Transatlantique, Renaissance Faire, Le Romantique, A Proper Gentleman, and On the Boardwalk.

Little Dancer

I made this for the Graphic 45 Renaissance Faire contest. You were to make a project using that line of paper. I thought it went perfectly with the pictures we took last November at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. We walked into a room and suddenly I saw it -- Degas' Little Dancer! It was stunning!

The pictures just don't do it justice. If you ever get a chance, you must go see this amazing bronze sculpture in person. He actually used a green ribbon and bronze dipped fabric for her outfit.

Along with showcasing this piece of art, I wanted to add some of my own artwork to the page. I found this rose tutorial online and wanted to make some to put on this page. Here is how you make them.

First, punch out 8 flowers or scallops. I made them in two different sizes. I used the EK Success punches.

Then spritz with water. I spritzed with water and some bronze perfect pearls for a tiny bit of shimmer.
Then crinkle each one into a little ball.
They should look like this when you are done.
The flatten them back out and stack them into a stack of 8. If you have double sided paper, you might want to flip them over every other one so that you can see the other side. I didn't do that because I didn't want it to be too busy for this layout.
Then using an awl or paper punch (as usual I couldn't find my Tim Holtz paper punch, which is my favorite!)
Stick a long brad through the hole and open the back to fasten all the papers together.
Then starting with the top petal, pull it up and squeeze it tight in the center.
Then do the same with the second petal.
And once you have squeezed all the petals around the center, it will look like a rose bud.
Then very gently, take it and spread the petals out and down to form the rose blossom.
Here is one of the smaller ones.
And the larger red one. I added some Prima swirls to fit with the feel of the metal sculpture and the grace of the dancer.


Thanks Graphic 45! This was a fun challenge!