Scrappy Gems

As I was going through the disaster that is my scrap container, I stumbled upon a wondrous thing.  First, a lovely lime green and teal leaf print that I believe was from Dear Lizzy.  Just a few papers later I ran across a teal green leaf print from Bo Bunny.  How had these two perfectly paired beauties escaped my attention for what was probably more than a year?  (Years, really.  That Bo Bunny paper was a new release in 2010.  Yikes!)   I think that I work so hard at using up the smaller messier scraps, that I overlooked the larger pieces.  A few more larger scraps yielded the newer lime green pieces as well as the mulberry paper.  Remember mulberry paper?  It’s so 10 years ago.

I knew that my photos were going to be somewhat nature based, to go with the leaves.  Though I have some nice photos of forests, it was a little too much green.  So, I settled for some landscaping photos.  A little green, and it’s outside… so it counts, right?

Once I got the photos and papers in place, I felt like I needed to bring another contrasting color.  Green may be my favorite color, but it was just flat.  As I was going through my embellishments, the I am collection struck me as working well.  It pulled in the softer teal/aqua as well as added in some peach.

For once, the embellishment were pretty easy to put together.  I went with tags up top.  (I was dying to get some on a page.  For some reason they usually don’t work for me.)  A couple of die-cuts and a cut from my Silhouette made up the cluster below.  Then to add in some dimension, I dug through my brads.  Oh how I love and hate brads.  They are gorgeous.  However, I like to move my embellishments around.  Once you place a brad, you are stuck.  I took a deep breath, and just went for it.

So now I challenge you.  Can you find 2 papers in your scrap bins that were just meant to be together?  Get them out, and let them be the starting elements for your next page.

 

At the Pier

It was bound to happen.  I got tired of my project that involved using up all of my scraps.  I started itching to break out some uncut paper.  Besides, I need to use up paper so that it can fit into my holders again.  Really this layout lives a little bit in both worlds.

There are both new papers and scrap papers on this layout.  I got to use that red and white polka dot paper.  (I really like a polka dot for a background.  It adds interest while not being too busy.)  The blue chevron and bright green stripe were scraps.  Everything else came out of my 6×6 pads.  So, I used scraps and made new scraps.  Hrm, that didn’t really net me any space in my scraps bin.

This sign in this photo allowed for a nice variety of color. (And for once there is no pink or aqua!)  It really made picking out papers quite easy.  I even managed to work in both a multi-color star paper and a multi-color dot paper!  They are far enough away from each other that the small amount used didn’t clash.

Embellishing this piece was a snap.  The number of papers and colors called for a pretty small amount of embellishment.  If I had added a lot of embellishment, it simply would have overwhelmed the photo.  Since I had a chevron/dot/star/stripe thing going, I pulled some die cuts from a Simple Stories’ Say Cheese II collection.  Those banners with the arrows seemed to fit perfectly.  I also pulled the “Admit One” ticket and the “here we go!” banner.  Then all I really needed was some dimension.  A few chipboard hearts with enamel dots, and voila!  Why can’t embellishing always be this easy?

I would like to add, that I did get inspiration from somewhere when I made this.  Even though I just finished this page last week, I can’t remember what the inspiration was.  A scan through hundreds of pins yielded nothing.  If I ever find the page or sketch that started me on the path to this layout, I will link it!

More Fun With Scraps

One of the fun parts of making a “kit” with scraps is that sometimes you end up with color combinations that you would otherwise not use.  In this case, I pulled the grey polka dot and the yellow floral first.  Then I added in the red scrap as well because I felt the page needed a little more weight to it.  After playing for a bit, I realized I needed another piece of paper that would pull things together.  Off I went to my 6×6 pads and found the pink/yellow/orange/red dotted paper.  Oh joyous day!  That is exactly what the page needed.

I found myself working with a decidedly warm palette.  It’s so not me.  I mean, where is the teal or aqua?!  (Yes, I know I have a problem.  I just can’t seem to stop buying blue/green papers.)  And a better question, do I even have the embellishments to support such a layout?

As it turns out, the “not me” colors were actually freeing.  I stopped worrying about if things were the perfect color.  If it was warm, I was going to try it.  So this page has bright orange and peach.  It has hot pinks and soft pinks.  It has pastel yellow and sunshine yellow.  And do you know what?  I like it.  It may not be this wonderfully cohesive piece, but that’s alright.  I love the warmth.  I embrace the warmth!  I may even do another non-turquoise page.  (Well, maybe.)

As you can see, this page isn’t quite finished.  I will add the journaling on the big text block to the right of the photo.  I also think it needs something down below where the red is.  Ribbon?  A border?  A title?  More journaling?  I’m not quite sure.  The one thing that I am sure about is that there are quite a few more scraps out of my stash and onto a page.

If You Are Messy and You Know It

No, I will not be clapping my hands.  Right now I am feeling the frustration that only comes with being a messy scrapbooker.  My room has finally reached the tipping point of being unusable.

I see three main issues right now.  First, I don’t have the proper storage for my supplies.  About 6 months ago I did buy some cubes to help with this problem.  It did help.  I finally had a place to put my scrapbooks, buttons, ribbon and a number of punches.  The problem is that there are a number of items that still either don’t have a home, or have a poorly designed home.  My Thickers live all willy-nilly in a rolling bin.  My 12×12 sticker sheets sit in a drawer that allows them to slide all over the place.  Another drawer houses my glitter, Stickles, embossing powders, and embroidery thread.  (One of these things is not like the others!)

Yes, I am just disorganized.  Things don’t always go back right after I am done working with them.  Every once in a while I will clean the room and begin the mess making all over again.  Which oddly, usually works pretty well for me… until today.  I wanted to make a Christmas card.  I needed a sticker or die cut to place on the front.  Could I find my Christmas themed items?  No.  They weren’t with my stickers.  They weren’t with my chipboard or die cut packs.  I then remembered that I separated out all of my Christmas products so that they were all together.  Which was a great idea, until I couldn’t find them.

The real epiphany for me is that I simply have too much product.  (Which really is a good problem to have.)   I do have containers to hold my paper.  However, at this point, I have way more paper than will fit in them.  I have a drawer for my wood veneer, chipboard, and brads.  If I try to shove one more package in there, it will explode.  There is too much pretty goodness!

So how am I going to fix this?  I’m now systematically going through one area at a time and reorganizing.  As I go through that process, I’m taking items that I know I won’t use and putting them in a box to donate to my elementary school.  It isn’t much, but it frees up a little space. I’ve added in a couple of containers so things like my chipboard pieces are easier to find.

I also plan on scrapping more often.  In order to get items out of my stash, I need to use them.  So for now, I am working on a page or a card each day.  I know I can’t keep up the pace forever.  Still, every piece of paper counts when you are trying to make room.  Hopefully I will be able to see a change by the end of next month.

 

 

Inspiration from Blogs

I’m new to blogging, and trying to find my way.  Currently, I’m writing for me.  I figure out what is tickling my fancy, and then post.  There is no great vision.  My posts aren’t planned out in any way really.  So if things seem a bit disconnected to you, they probably are.

As the post count climbs, I’m beginning to wonder if I need to have a goal.  What do I want this blog to become?  If you ask me today, I think I want to inspire.  I’m not looking for advertisers or 6 million followers.  I want you to see something and become inspired.

So today I’m going to share an inspiration I found.  Searching Stacy Cohen’s blog, I found a lovely layout called Best Friends. From there I created my 3 Lovely Ladies page.

 

I very much love the stitched circles.  They are something I want to repeat in the near future.  I don’t hand stitch nearly enough on my pages.

You will see that I avoided the ink and paint splatters that Stacy used so well.  Sometimes I just don’t feel like making a mess.  Instead I opted to add interest by sprinkling buttons and flower brads around the bottom of the page.

So what inspires you?  What blogs get the creative juices flowing?  Let’s share our inspiration, and support the blogging community.

3 Is a Crowd

I am almost exclusively a 4×6 photo scrapper.  I’m just too lazy to edit my photos or use different apps.  Though this isn’t generally a problem, if I want to put 3 or more photos on a page, I run out of room.  If one of those photos is a different orientation, then I’m at a total loss.

So imagine my surprise when this page actually turned out for me.  (Please ignore the weird shadows.  I photographed this outside in the bright sun.  The learning curve is slow for me.)  Look!  All 3 photos fit and I still had room to embellish AND journal.

I knew I was going with a red/yellow/black color scheme just based on the photos.  I made a squarish mat on some thin black cardstock in order to separate the photos from that yellow and white striped paper.  Those big stripes give the page some movement.

At that point I knew I needed to soften up the corners a bit.  The addition of scalloped and rounded elements at the right and left corners helped the page be less boxy.  I  also made sure those embellishment clusters were tied together by the butterflies and rosettes.

In the end, I really like how this page came together.  Sometimes those pages that pose the biggest challenges also result in the biggest successes.  At least on this page, 3 is not a crowd.

Too Tired to Scrap

It happens more often than I’d like to admit.  I want to go play with the pretty papers… I really do.  However, the thought of dragging myself into my scrapbooking room and creating is just too much.  I’m having one of those days today.

Perhaps it is because I just got back from a vacation.  Why is it that I always need a vacation after my vacation?  I should feel rejuvenated, not tired.  So, today I will simply share some pretty pictures with you.

 

Oh how I adore the beach.  We had a fabulous time.  How could you not enjoy these views?  And as optimists, we’ve decided to own a beach house someday.  Our finances may disagree, but for now we are going with it.

 

When You Run Out of Paper

Please don’t panic.  I have not actually run out of paper.  I’m fairly confident that I could scrap the next 3-5 years without buying a single sheet.  I’m trying to tell myself it is because my best friend just gave me a pile of paper that’s at least 6 inches tall.  But I have a feeling that my own stash would have been sufficient to cover my needs.

No, I’m talking about my kill a kit project which appears to have come to an end.  There are a couple of pages that I made that I’m not sharing.  This left me with very little to use for my final layout.  I took the scraps and decided on this vertical layout.  It’s very different for me.  I tend to use so much more patterned paper on a page.

 

The light pink paper was the only piece large enough to use as a mat for my photo.  I then cut up my 2 remaining scraps so that I could spread them out down my page.  I wanted strips of paper, rather than blocks to form my vertical column.  The bright pink ended up on the top and bottom to give the ends a bit more weight.

The embellishments on this page bounce back and forth from one side of the page to the other.  I do see one issue.  At a glance, it looks like that I didn’t put any embellishment to the right, except for the heart speech bubble.  In fact, I did put that row of pink flower brads.  The problem is, they don’t overlap the kraft cardstock at all.  This makes the layout appear unbalanced.  Chances are, I’ll add something over to the right side before I put this page away.

Now that this project is done, I’m left with a few stickers, some cut apart cards, and many great memories.  I’m not ready to take on another collection right now.  For the next few weeks I would like the freedom to mix and match supplies like the crazy woman I am.  Maybe this winter I will pull out a partly used collection and work with it until the scraps are gone.  It really is a satisfying process.

Best Friends… Running out of Papers

I’ve hit that point in the “kill a kit” process where your paper choices begin to dwindle.  I knew I wanted to use this bright pink chevron as a background.  It’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea.  It’s bold and bright, but I do love me a chevron.  I layered up the floral, bright green, and light pink papers from the Here & Now paper collection.  Additionally, I pulled that purplish-pink paper right behind my photo from my scraps.  I just felt like I needed one more layer.  The last paper I pulled was the bright green paper strip.

It was that green strip that helped me choose my photo.  “You are my happy place” is such a good description for this photo of my two best friends.  We try to go on a girls’ weekend camping trip every year.  I am one of those weirdos that love camping.  Camping with my best friends is doubly fantastic!

Now that I’m looking at this layout, I’m disliking the embellishment.  It has no flow.  In fact, it looks like a mish-mash all over the page.  I do think that the elements are layered well, however they seem misplaced.  I also think the colors are off.  The muted teal and pink doesn’t match the teal in the paper.  What was I thinking?

I could pull this apart and start over, but I won’t.  Its just another layout to learn from.  Maybe I was trying too hard when working with the leftover papers.  Oh well.  Onward and upward!

Cut Apart Cards

So many people do Project Life style albums, that cut apart cards have become a regular part of collections.  For those of us that don’t scrap that way, at least not yet, these cards pose a bit of a challenge.  We have to be more creative in order to get them used.  Now if there are cards on one side, and a patterned paper on the other, great!  I will just use the patterned paper side.  However, that is not usually the case.

When I worked on this page for my kill a kit project, I was targeting those pesky cut aparts.  In this case, I did use them much like a divided pocket page.  I wanted to put 3 photos on this page, so I chose a couple of cut aparts to go into the opposing “blocks” on the page.  I reserved that top block for a coordinating scrap of paper and the title.

I felt that this page was pretty busy, so I didn’t embellish it much.  (Yeah, I’m not a huge embellisher anyway.  I admit it.)  Again, I went for the sticker sheet first and added a few in the bottom blocks.  Additionally, I pulled 2 die cuts from the Fancy Pants Wonderful Day collection.  Did I mention it mixes really well with Here & Now?  I love it!

Hopefully the next time I use cut apart cards, I can use them more creatively.  Maybe I can add them to my layers or cut them into smaller pieces.  Any ideas?