Monday, September 30, 2013

Tis the Season + a Blog Hop Winner!


First, lets get to that winner! I have to thank all of you for joining in the fun of our Echo Park / Jenni Bowlin Design Team Blog Hop! I hope you were all as inspired as I was. I used a random number generator to choose my winner and this is the comment chosen:

Blogger Pink Dalmatians said...
I don't know where to start I LOVE it all!!! I did a layout on the same theme several years back and I think it's time for another one as this is one of my other favorite past-times and scraping about it combines my favs! LOL. Love the actual buttons on the card, amazing! TFS

Congrats to Pink Dalmatians, please contact me so that I can get your information for your prize.

 

Now for some fun! I get to share one of my layouts that is featured in the NEW holiday idea book "Tis the Season" from Echo Park Paper! Best of all this idea book is a FREE download and it is just packed with seasonal projects. I will show you the idea book first and then you can get a peek one of my projects.

Go Download it HERE.... seriously, go download it - it will only take a minute and its really impressive, plus you know you are going to get some of these collections so you are going to want these ideas.

Now for a peek at one of my layouts that is in this holiday book... I actually wanted to share several of my projects but you will have to go see the rest in the book. The reason I chose to share this layout is that I am totally loving this fall collection and I am craving pumpkin today! We don't have fall weather yet, but seeing all the pumpkins at the store and everyone starting to decorate for fall - I want pumpkin pie, pumpkin chai tea latte, pumpkin bread - something! Anyway, I had fun doing this page because the papers and chipboard in this Reflections Fall collection are just yummy and totally put me in a cozy fall kind of mood. I love the grey chevron paper, but you have to CLICK HERE to see the whole collection. That pumpkin pies sticker inspired the whole page.


  Last fall I was digging thru some of my mom's old cookie cutters and found this old turkey cutter. I loved using those old cutters when I was a kid and now I am going to start using it every thanksgiving.  I hope you will take a minute to download that book so you can see my other projects - I even did some really fun coasters! But the rest of the Design Team blew me away with their work and you have to see it.





Thursday, September 26, 2013

Sketchy Thursday September - Scraptastic Club

Its Sketchy Thursday at the Scraptastic Club Blog so I have created a sketch and the amazing Design Team at Scraptastic has shared some great inspiration. Check it out HERE


 Here is my example layout using the We are Family Kit and Add on kit. I also have used the "remember this moment" stamp from the We are family stamp set and the Camera and heart stamp from the "Everybody Talks" stamp set.  




 To create the washi tape hearts, I applied strips of washi tape to one of the clear packaging pieces shown below and then used my Cricut to cut the heart shapes. I really like the translucent look of the heart so I will be doing this again. Give it a try!


 




Monday, September 23, 2013

Jenni Bowlin and Echo Park Paper Design Team Blog Hop!



Welcome to the Jenni Bowlin and Echo Park Paper Design Team Blog Hop! Today the teams are showcasing projects from our latest "Jenni Bowlin" Photo Freedom collection. Be sure to follow the blog hop list below as you hop from one blog to the next. Return to the Echo Park Paper blog at any time for the next blogger on the list in case you get lost or confused! ONE winner will be selected from each blog to receive an Echo Park Paper collection kit of their choosing. To qualify for the kit, comments will be due by midnight EST, Sunday, September 29th to qualify for the drawing. The winner will be announced on each blog Tuesday, October 1st so be sure to check back to see if you've won.

So here is the list of blogs, but before you start hopping, I have a layout to share below.
Have fun!

One of my favorite activities is going to thrift and antiques shops. When I saw this Jenni Bowlin Photo Freedom collection, the designs made me think of these little shops.  I chose to use some photos of my family and friends when we went shopping on Main Street  in Port Lavaca, Texas. I actually bought a jar of vintage buttons and shell buttons that I have added to my layout by attaching them to the button cards along with a couple of the sticker buttons. 


  


Supplies:
Jenni Bowlin  "Memory" patterned paper
Jenni Bowlin  "Buttons and Butterflies" patterned paper
Jenni Bowlin  "Months of the Year" patterned paper
Jenni Bowlin  "Letters" patterned paper
Jenni Bowlin  "My Thoughts" patterned paper
Jenni Bowlin  Element Stickers
Jenni Bowlin 4X6 Vertical Sleeve
Jenni Bowlin 4X6 Horizontal Sleeve
Blue Shimmer twine from The Twinery
Ivory thread
Buttons

Friday, September 13, 2013

September Scraptastic Club kit

Today I have to share my first two layouts using the September Scraptastic Club "We are Family" kit and Add on kit HERE.  I wanted to post these together because they are just about as different as can be. First, I scrapped a couple of photos from Christmas day when my brother came over with his little Christmas poodle puppy, Bella. She just posed so nicely when we went outside.


Of course this isn't a holiday themed kit but the colors were perfect for my two photos that didn't even match each other. I used the green ombre patterned paper to create a border of hand cut holly leaves with a stitched line down each leaf. Also if you look very closely at the background under the holly, I have stamped pale pink hearts on the Bazzil Bling cardstock. The three exclusive stamp sets this month from Scraptastic are just going to be so fun to use. Check them out HERE.




And for my second layout I used a photo of my husband's new SUV. The page is a bit more simple in style and texture, and I avoided the pinks that are in the kit. I really am finding this kit to go with so many different things. 






Sunday, September 08, 2013

Beloved Lilac

"Beloved Lilac: Long on Curiosity, Short on Common Scents"

You just have to love the mind of a Disney imagineer. This page is for a challenge about the special scents at the parks and this is one of my faves. I was in the Haunted Mansion queue at Disneyland where you walk past the animal graveyard with all the cute pedestals and sayings and we were smelling a skunk. How could a skunk be in Disneyland? And just as I passed by the statue of Lilac and couldn't take a photo, I realized the scent was coming from there. How cool is that?! So I asked my friend, Tami, to get a photo for me next time she was at the park and she got this amazing photo with the most appropriate sun flair ever! Definitely needed its own page. (thanks Tami!)


I found these OLD BasicGrey Periphery papers and they are just the right look for my stinky skunk grave page - how often do you get to say that! LOL! I even pulled out an old library pocket from Autumn Leaves and used the BG alphas. I don't know about you but I have a ton of those old alpha sheets and I really need to start using them more. 






Tuesday, September 03, 2013

Use those scraps!


Today is my blog post at Scraptastic Club Blog. I decided to share a couple of ways to make mixed scraps from kits work together for a layout. Check it out HERE for my tips. This is my layout and some close ups of the details. I love this photo.




and while I had the papers out I used the same idea for a card