Imperfect Grid

I know this confession will shock y’all.  I eyeball everything.  Cuts are measured fairly accurately.  We won’t talk about how neither of my paper trimmers seem to be able to cut in a straight line.  When it comes to actually placing my papers down, yeah, I eyeball it… which works most of the time.  When does it backfire?  Those VERY rare times that I try to make a geometric or grid type of layout.

I did put a little extra effort into this one.  I used a straightedge and everything.  Still, you can clearly see where some squares aren’t quite right.  (Is it any wonder that it took me 10 years to hang up my pictures in my house?  I don’t even own a level!)  I really should have measured everything out perfectly and used more than one straight edge while I was laying it out.  *Sigh*

Is there anything else I would have done differently?  Yes.  I wish I had layered a slightly larger square below each of the squares you see.  Maybe a cream or light grey would have been nice.  They just need SOMETHING to make them stand out from the white background.  I would have also typed out the journaling.  I just don’t like how it looks in that square.

So, is there anything I like?  Absolutely!  I am honestly thrilled to get those chipboard banners used.  Another win was the use of the project life/journal card behind the photo.  You probably didn’t notice it.  It says, “Love These Little Things.”  It worked perfectly as a layer there.  I got it from a grab bag/box.  Since I don’t generally scrap with them, it was nice to get one out of my stash.  Overall, the “sprinkle embellishments here and there” is also just really freeing.  That part was effortless and fun.  And the best part?  I got rid of some of those pesky scraps that have been piling up on my desk.

Oh, and that ocean view?  That’s an incredible lookout point just south of Cannon Beach, Oregon.  If you ever visit, and you should, be prepared for a busy little town.  If you are heading to the beach, get there early.  There is minimal parking, and it fills up quickly.  We rented a house just out of town.  It was far enough away in the woods to feel completely secluded, while just minutes from the main drag of town.

 

Coordinating Pages

Usually I scrap 1 page layouts that don’t match the facing page.  After finishing my layout with Alice, I realized that I had a photo of the tea cups.  Since they are on the same theme, I decided to scrap this photo next.  I used the scraps from the previous layout, as well as a bit more from the Echo Park Alice in Wonderland collection.  (So happy I bought those papers!)

The biggest challenge I have with the Alice papers is the busy print.  I love them, but they are difficult to use in conjunction with each other.  Yes, I could use just one print on a page… I just wasn’t willing to do so.  I really love that butterfly print paper, so I knew I wanted to use it.  Since this was my last Alice themed page, I wanted to use the Alice paper as well.

In this case, I decided to show enough of the butterfly paper to make the pattern recognizable without it becoming overwhelming.  I also separated the two patterns with a subtle pink tone on tone paper from the collection. In order to cover enough of the butterfly print to keep it from being too much, I had to create a pretty large journal block.  It would have been best to go with the pink of the photo mat.  Sadly, that paper was textured, making it difficult for writing.  Instead I went with white and inked the edge in pink.

Once it was time for decorating, I again turned to some Alice in Wonderland diecuts. I pulled one for the top of the photo and one for the bottom.  I also used buttons again so that it would provide symmetry with the Alice page.  This time I included some yellow buttons in order to bring a little yellow into that lower right hand corner.  I also chose a wood veneer teacup and arrow that I inked pink.  Then I added a few stickers and a brad to finish it off.

I can’t wait to put the two layouts side by side in my album.  They won’t form a 2 page layout.  The base pages are different colors.  Still, the papers are largely the same, and the buttons will tie the two together.  They will simply live in harmony.

Disney tip:  If you are doing an adult Disney trip, take the time to enjoy the parks at night.  The lighting makes the atmosphere that more magical.  I wish I had stopped and taken more nighttime photographs.

Too Much Time and Too Many Scraps

Before all of this pandemic madness hit, I got sick.  For 2 weeks I have been cooped up at home doing nothing.  As soon as I got better, schools were closed.  So here I am, with far more time than I am used to having.  My first thought was to scrap.  (It should have been cleaning the house, but scrapping is just so much more appealing.)

As I have been cleaning up my scraproom a bit, I discovered that my scraps have once again gotten out of control.  That means one thing.  It’s time to make some cards.  I’m not a creative card maker.  I put some matching strips of paper together and then see what matching embellishments I can throw on them.  So my first job was separating out the scraps into piles of papers that would work together.  From there, I grab a pile and start creating.

For my first card, I chose that flower strip.  It’s from an October Afternoon collection called Woodland Park.  Oh, how I loved that collection.  I paired it with a scrap of berry colored cardstock.  At first I tried layering a few more paper strips, but it just didn’t look right.  Deciding simplicity was best, I chose some twine to frame the floral paper strip.  Next, I pulled out that pink flower for the bottom corner.  That made the card look a bit unbalanced.  What goes better with a flower than a butterfly?  I just happen to have quite a few of those kraft butterflies in my stash.  Then I did some digging and  found the “So Thankful” sticker in my stash.  I added a tiny brad to fancy it up a bit.

The next two cards follow similar patterns.  A few strips of paper with some twine used as an embellishment to hide where the paper comes together.  Then I find a matching embellishment.  The flower is a die-cut piece that’s been sitting in a bag for years.  The bee is a chipboard piece that I’ve had for over a decade!  Then I place the sentiment either on a sticker, or a banner that I’ve cut out.  If someone could help me with sentiments, that would be great.  It’s always the part I struggle with when card making.

The next two cards took a bit more effort on my part.  Instead of placing a pre-made embellishment, I got out my stamps.  On the left, I was trying my hand at my new alcohol markers.  I definitely have some learning to do.  My blending isn’t great.  I also had very few markers, so I didn’t have the range of colors I would have liked to have.  On the right, I was trying out my watercolor pencils.  Obviously, I am no artist.  Still, coloring is something I can certainly work to improve.

Now I have five new cards, and a few less scraps.  I was hoping it would make a noticeable dent in my scrap collection.  Sadly, it didn’t.  It looks like it’s time to put together a few layouts made completely out of scraps.  On the upside, if my scraps are getting out of control, it must mean I am cutting into paper!

Kevin!

I seriously love Disney movies.  Shocking, I know.  The first 5-10 minutes of Up is amazing.  I will neither confirm nor deny that I cry every single time I see it.  When I heard that Disney was bringing Kevin to Animal Kingdom right before our trip, I was thrilled.

I knew that she was a wandering character, so I was really hoping that we would cross her path.  Luck was truly on our side this trip.  We encountered Kevin several times during our visits.  The nice thing about Kevin is that she is hard to miss.  She is so tall!  She doesn’t stop for photo ops, so you aren’t likely to get that perfect picture with her.  You can see that my pictures were crowd shots.

Since Kevin is such a colorful creature, I knew I wanted an eye-catching page to match.  I pulled orange, teal, and red scraps to place behind the photo.  Originally, I was using a white cardstock background.  Somehow that just looked too stark.  So, a little rummaging led me to this very bright green background.  It does such a nice job of setting off the photos.  I knew I wanted to add a bit of blue as well, so I also included that navy strip along with another piece of the turquoise paper.

This was a pretty easy layout to put together.  I was either copying a page I had picked up off of Pinterest, or looking at a sketch.  (I created this page about a month ago.)  Normally I would link the original here, but I can’t find that Pin anywhere!  The only real challenge was figuring out how to make the Mickey head.  It finally dawned on me that I just needed to use my big circle cutter.  The trick is to make sure you cut out the inside of the circle first and then the outside.  (Yeah, I may have learned that a couple of years ago when I clearly wasn’t thinking about what I was doing.)

The rest of the embellishments just came from a die-cut pack and some gems.  I was actually pretty happy with finding a good use for those flower die-cuts.  They sat in my collection for quite some time because I don’t think I’ve ever used a compatible color scheme.  The one change that I am going to make is the placement of the black gem on the Mickey head.  Now that I am looking at it on screen, it appears that Mickey has developed an unusual growth that needs to be checked.  I will move it a bit lower so that it is floating and not touching poor Mickey.

I love this layout.  It’s colorful and quirky just like Kevin.  It also was a nice way to use up some scraps.  That always makes me happy.

Disney tip:  Make sure to do your homework before leaving for Disney.  I knew Kevin would be roaming around the park, and made sure to keep an eye out for him in certain areas of Animal Kingdom.  My research helped me get pictures with the living statues at Epcot during the Festival of the Arts.  We also got to see Gideon and Prince John in Magic Kingdom.  Without reading ahead of time, I may have completely missed these characters as they aren’t regulars with an assigned spot.

Sketches Are My Favorite Things

I do love sketches.  You may have noticed that I have linked a sketch with most of my vacation layouts.  When you are trying to scrap 250 photos, it is nice to not have to think quite so much.  (Yes, yes, I could put more photos on a page… and I will.  However, I really like 1 and 2 photo layouts.)  As I have said before, sketches also get me out of my comfort zone.  I purposely choose sketches that are different than my typical style.  You can’t learn if you don’t try new things!

There really are a plethora of sketches available online.  Of course you could be like me and stalk Pinterest in the middle of the night when you can’t sleep.  There are plenty of scrapbooking sketch boards to look through there.  Most large online scrapbook stores offer forums that have sketch challenges or have sketch challenges on their Facebook pages. I am not affiliated with any scrapbooking businesses, so I won’t post them here.

For those of us in the blogosphere, there are a number of sketch blogs that should keep you busy for years.  I am going to link a few here, in case you don’t want to go blog hunting on your own.

The Scrap Our Stash Challenge Blog features a sketch each month along with examples of how designers have used it.  A random winner is drawn each month to receive a gift card.

Sketches In Thyme features a sketch 4 times a month with prizes provided by sponsors.

Sketch Savvy is a blog I’ve mentioned in a previous post.  It’s currently my go-to for fabulous sketches.

For this layout I used a sketch from one of my favorite scrappy stores.  I chose it for two reasons.  First, it is nothing like what I would come up with on my own.  Pretty much any time you see a white cardstock background, you know I’ve used a sketch or taken the idea from another scrapper.  Additionally, it eats up scraps!  Every piece of paper on this layout is a scrap.  You know how I love to use my scraps.

The process was super quick on this one.  I found 6 pieces of paper that went together fairly well from my scrap pile.  Then I cut each one down to the same size (roughly 3×4) before using a corner chomper on them.  It did take some fiddling for me to decide which pieces were going to go in which position.  Then I cut the banners from the remaining scraps.  I don’t have a banner punch, so I had to cut the banners by hand.  From there I added some twine, stickers, and flowers.  (Yes!  I finally found a project that used those tiny little flowers!  It’s the little things that excite me.)  The only daunting task for me was getting the twine tied around the brads at the top.  I may have had to count to ten a few times as the twine slipped and refused to behave.

Universal Studios tip:  Make sure you have your tickets purchased and with you before you get to the park.  The line for buying tickets can be awfully long in the morning.  They will let you into the park before opening, but will stop you shortly after you get inside.  We were able to do a little shopping before the park officially opened.

 

A Little Cotton Candy

If I haven’t mentioned it before, I have an allergy to dairy.  Honestly, it’s not that big of an issue when I am eating at home.  (Cashew milk is the best!)  Eating out can be tricky.  Dessert can be darn near impossible.  So when we went to Universal, I was looking forward to some cotton candy.  Now I knew the cotton candy was going to be a bit bigger than normal, but holy cow!  I had not imagined that it was half the size of an adult.

Luckily, my niece offered to help me out.  There was seriously no way I could begin to tackle that thing by myself.  I took a picture of her holding it, because I wanted to document the enormity of it all.  It’s bigger than her torso!

I actually really love this photo, even though it isn’t the best quality.  It has two of my absolute favorite things… my niece and heaps of sugar.  It also clearly shows some of the whimsy of Seuss Landing.  The bright colors do make this area a bit magical for me.  I grew up reading Seuss and admiring his imaginative illustrations.  For me, it was important to create a layout that did the photo justice.

Looking through my Pinterest boards, I stumbled upon sketch #153 by Susan Stringfellow.  If you haven’t seen her work, it is AMAZING!  I was able to trace it back to the Sketch Savvy blog.  Before writing this post, I didn’t know that blog existed.  Now I am obsessed with it!  I have admired her work for years.  You may see a ton of her sketches pop up here in the future.

My favorite part about this sketch is that I could use my scraps.  I keep ridiculously small scraps that any normal human being would throw out.  I was able to sort through those tiny bits of paper and match the colors to the ones in Seuss Landing.  (Hello branding strips that I kept just in case I ever found a use for them.)  I was also able to use up a few larger scraps to place behind the photo.  This is going to be one of my “go to” sketches when I’m feeling like eating up some scraps.

Once I had my strips cut, I placed them willy-nilly along the side and glued them down.  Next came the stitching which is far from perfect.  (Perhaps I shouldn’t have been making the holes while sitting in front of the television?)  There is no such thing as a straight line in the world of Seuss, right?  Then I needed a bit of embellishment.  I pulled a couple more scraps and used my Sizzix to cut the circle and heart.  Then I added in the chipboard stars.  (I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love chipboard stars.)  Lastly, I finished off with a few enamel dots and confetti hearts.  With all of the different patterns in the papers, I felt that was plenty of embellishment.

This is one of the few layouts that went together really quickly for me.  I didn’t have to languish over placement of anything since it’s supposed to be whimsical.  Everything is a bit off kilter, which suits my style and skill perfectly.  Even the little embellishments were placed with minimal fuss.  The end result is exactly what I wanted.

Travel tip (since I am trying to help out anyone visiting Orlando):

If you plan on going to both Universal and DisneyWorld, consider a split stay.  Since we were only visiting Universal 1 day, we didn’t stay at a Universal resort.  However, if we had planned on going 2 or more days, it would have been much better to have stayed in a Universal hotel.  Universal guests get into the parks an hour early to visit the World of Harry Potter.  They also get to use the express line for most rides.  If your family likes rides, this is definitely the way to go.

Speed Scrapping

Okay, okay, I am NOT a speed scrapper.  Even the most simple of layouts takes me FOREVER.  But when I really want to get something done, I stick to a simple formula.  Just stack a bunch of rectangles until you like the way they look.  That’s what I decided to do with today’s page.

The photographer at Hollywood Studios took a close-up photo of me.  At the time, I thought he was a little bit crazy.  However, when I saw the end product, I was pretty thrilled.  I mean, it’s a picture of me that I actually like!  That doesn’t happen very often.  He also got a great photo of my husband and I in front of the Chinese Theater.  Since they are taken from way different perspectives, they just didn’t work together on the same page.  So, I was left with this solo photo of me.

When I started pulling papers, I was going to go with the red, blue, silver color scheme from those R2D2 ears.  (Aren’t they adorable?  Oh how I love Etsy.)  Turns out, the only silver I had in my collection were some Thickers.  That just wasn’t going to be enough for an entire layout.  So instead, I adjusted to the red, blue, and yellow that you see in the finished product.  You can’t go wrong with primary colors.

Disney Tip:  If you want unique ears, search for them on Etsy.  I know ears can be a great souvenir from the house of mouse, but I wanted something special.  In my case, I wanted ears that reflected my favorite movies and characters.  I’ve loved R2D2 since I was 4 years old, so these ears by CraftyOliviaCuties were perfect for me.  If you follow along on my Disney adventures, you will spot several more sets of ears.

One of the great things about stacking boxes, is that I can sift through my scraps and use them first.  In this case,  all of the red and yellow papers came from my scraps.  I didn’t have any blues in my scrap bin that worked with the blue cardstock background.  Being the thrifty soul that I am, I pulled out a DCWV paper pad that I purchased about a decade ago.  It had been gathering dust for quite some time.  (You see, I have become a paper snob that prefers the thicker papers.)  The blue polka dot I found was just perfect.  That led me to find the light blue chart paper in a 6×6 pad.

Once the papers were obtained, I just did a bit of rearranging until I was satisfied with how it looked.  Of course, that leaves me with a bunch of sharp edges in the design.  I actually don’t mind that so much.  However, I did soften some corners with the embellishment cluster up top and the title placement down below.  The word “happy” was quite purposely placed to overlap the blue and yellow papers just a bit.  The curvy letters take away a bit of the sharpness of the lines.

Oh, and after finishing this layout, I decided to use the scraps to make a card.  Since I already had papers that worked well together, it was a snap to create another simple project.  That’s right, I am using scraps from my scraps.  I don’t like anything to go to waste.

 

 

Weird Gadget

This layout was inspired by a punch.  You see, one of my friends gave me some of her old scrapbook supplies.  There were eyelets, ribbons, and this really odd punch.  The punch caught my attention, but I wasn’t sure what to do with it.  So, it sat with my other punches for a couple of years.  What do you do with this weird concave square-ish thing with no lines of symmetry?  Every time I saw that punch, it would just get under my skin.

Finally, after a night of insomnia, I grabbed that punch and started in on some of my small scrap pieces like a wild woman.  I chose mostly pastel papers and punched each scrap as many times as I could.  Some of my scrap papers are much too small to justify keeping.  This was a good way to clean out my paper bin.  I knew that if I wound up hating the design, the only thing lost was time.

I found some photos of our yard when we had it redone.  They seemed like a good match for the spring-like color palette.  Then I matted them with that pink floral and added a yellow punched border. Normally I would have gone through my larger scraps to find the photo mat.  However, I have SO MUCH PAPER right now, that I find myself being a little less frugal.  I actually want to cut into and get some full sheets used.

Now it was time for the real work… laying out all of those punched pieces.  At first I utilized a ruler.  I was going to use the straight edge and make sure everything was lined up perfectly.  Yeah, my patience for that didn’t even last through the top row.  Instead, I eyeballed the whole thing.  (It’s a weird shape!  Does it really matter if it isn’t perfect?)  I didn’t do any gluing until I had every punched piece where I wanted it.  Then I used some Tombow liquid glue to get them all down.

After everything was dry, I started digging through all of my small embellishments.  I can’t believe that I found exactly what I was looking for to finish off the page.  What you see is a mix of resin flowers, chipboard pieces from American Crafts and Basic Grey, puffy stickers, and enamel hearts.  I wanted the embellishments to be the same color as the punched paper.

I love how this page looks.  I was actually excited as I put it together.  That little punch took me out of my comfort zone, making me try something new.  Now I need to go thank my friend for giving me the gift of creativity… even though she won’t have any memory of giving me that superbly weird punch.

Fa La La La La

I know it is August, but for once, my scrapping is sticking to a theme.  I am on a mission to finish up my Christmas pictures from the last decade.  Be honest.  That sounds impressive… at least until you find out I rarely take Christmas pictures.

Originally, I hadn’t planned on scrapping a lot of these kitty photos.  They aren’t great pictures.  And then my little Dakota passed away right before Christmas.  Suddenly, I felt like it didn’t matter if the photos were “good enough.”  I just really wanted them given a place in my scrapbooks.  It’s funny how even the smallest of priorities change when you lose a furry friend.

Enough with the sadness, and on with the layout!

This is a pretty common design for me.  Most of the time I have one plain background paper with a more elaborate patterned paper on the bottom two thirds of the layout.  In this case, I didn’t use one patterned paper.  I used strips from both sides of an old Fancy Pants paper.  In this case, I really liked the added dimension of overlapping the strips, as well as including the beige ribbon.  I also didn’t stick to the 1/3 and 2/3 rule.  In this case, the strips cover just over half of the layout.  I wanted to leave some room up top for the title and tag.

The embellishment, like always, is pretty simple.  I started with the tag for journaling and the large quote sticker.  I love that sticker for this layout.  I feel like the kitties under the tree are a more important Christmas tradition than the gifts that get put there.  (The kitties are not happy about their spot being usurped by presents.)  A few chipboard pieces and sequins sprinkled, and the layout is done.

Oh, I do want to point out the title.  For once it wasn’t an afterthought!  I knew I wanted to mix 2 small fonts and have it intermingle a bit with the embellishment above the tag.  My crowning achievement was using tile stickers.  They actually are straight and don’t look awkward!  Score!  Yes, I am overly proud of myself for a very small achievement.  Just give this to me.  🙂

If you take nothing else away from this scrappy post, please remember that it is alright to scrap the less than perfect photos.  They can’t all be professional quality prints.  Well, unless you are a professional photographer of course!

Missing

I know.  I have been MIA for months.  It has been a busy time.  The holidays always are.  My itty bitty family was also dealing with a sick pet that sadly crossed over the rainbow bridge.  So when you put together holiday stress, pet stress, and just everyday stress… you just don’t get much scrapbooking done.

It appears we are mostly beyond the chaos, and I feel like getting my crafting on again.  So much time has passed that I am at a bit of a loss on where to start with a new project.  My own creativity isn’t really flowing right now.  When in doubt, I turn to a sketch.  For me, it is a nice little map that doesn’t require much thought from me.  In this case,  I cased my Pinterest boards and found the perfect sketch here.  I love it because it allowed me to pull from my scrap bin.

Once I had the sketch, I chose that incredible floral by Carta Bella.  I’m loving the peach and teal combination on a butter yellow.  From there I went through my 12×12 papers that are ancient.  Seriously.  I have a stack of papers on the floor (please don’t judge) of really old papers that I need to use.  This one fit the bill perfectly.  It was the right color, and the pattern reminds me of flower stems.  At that point I pulled scraps from my bin.  I was excited to find both the dark and light pink/peach color found in the floral.  The navy and brown scraps were added to match the photos.

I will be honest.  At first I placed the rectangles of paper in the exact order and position as the sketch.  Something wasn’t quite right.  I let it sit for a day and then did just a minor reorganization the next morning.  It’s amazing how much a tiny change can make a page come together.  Let the gluing begin!  I always feel better once the papers are down and I can no longer fiddle with them.

For embellishment, I went with some floral die cuts that matched fairly well.  The light pink wasn’t quite the right shade, but sometimes you just have to go with what you have.  A few puffy hearts from Shimelle, a smattering of enamel dots, and a stitched navy circle finished off my decorating.  I am just never going to be an elaborate embellisher.  I have tried.  It just isn’t me.

There you have it.  I am back in the saddle again.  Hopefully it won’t be another 3 months before I can glue some paper again.