Cherish Paris

Cherish Paris

Hi everyone. TGIF. I hope you are enjoying your Friday. Today is the last work day before a three day weekend. We have Labor Day coming up on Monday. Do you have plans for a fun filled weekend? My husband and I will be celebrating our 17th wedding anniversary! I can't believe that we have been married that long. We met in high school and have been together ever since. I am very thankful that I am married to my best friend.

Anyway, I am sure when you clicked on the link to this layout you expected to see Paris, as in France. Sorry to disappoint. My daughter is in love with the city of Paris. She wants to visit one day, and I won't be surprised if she lives there. I hope when she goes to college she takes the chance to study aboard and gets the chance to really spend some time in that beautiful city.

So due to her love of Paris, she so cutely named her puppy Paris. Paris is now eight months old, and super tall. She stands about an inch taller then all the other dogs, even her parents. She is very sweet and shy. I happened to be at the CKC this year and I saw this Paris tag, that I of course had to get. (And since I have bought anything I could find with the word Paris on it.) It's a perfect way to add the name of her puppy to the layout.

For this layout, I started with a blank piece of white cardstock. I took white gesso and sponged it all over the page. Then I took pink and black acrylic paint and sponged that randomly over the page also.  Then I found a paper stack that would work well with the colors I started with, it's by DCWV. It's called the Street Lace Stack. I bought this stack a while ago and I have used it for a layout or two. But it's been in my cabinet ever since. Weirdly enough I didn't look for paper before I did the paint, I just had it in my mind that the stack would work for it and it did. 

I then, took one of the pinks sheets of patterned paper and tore it up, laying in out on the background paper, until I found an arrangement that I liked. 

The next thing I did was find a piece of patterned paper that worked with the layout but was a neutral enough color not to overpower or take away from the pink I already used. I grabbed this sheet by Fancy Pants Designs. I cut it into five different size sheets, and then I inked all the edges with black Cat's Eye ink from Colorbox.

The die cut was made using my Slice machine, and all the flowers are either Prima or Recollections.

And while I was at Michael's the other day, I happened to find this damask tape that I thought would be super cute on the layout. It's washi crafting tape, by Recollections.

I hope you enjoyed my layout. 

Thank you for stopping in today to view it.

If you would like more detailed instructions on any of my layouts or if  you have any questions, please don't hesitate to comment.

I am still working on that bigger project I was telling you about earlier. I will be posting a step by step tutorial on the entire project when it's finished.

Have a super duper weekend. Enjoy the holiday.

You're such an Amazing Friend

You're such an Amazing Friend

Happy Monday everyone. I wanted to share this layout I did yesterday with yet another pic of my puppy Roo. Are you sick of her yet? I can promise that the next one will not have Roo on it, well maybe. I came across this little cardstock die cut by Fancy Pants Designs, it suited the way I feel about Roo so perfectly.

Dogs have a tendency to know when we need them, when we just need someone to give us love, without asking for anything in return. Roo is a special girl. She is always at my side, there if I need her. She spends most of her days chewing a bone underneath my desk, sitting on my lap, taking walks with me or just plain old goofing around on the floor with me. We spend a lot of time together, and I wouldn't change that for the world. 

I started this layout, looking at the photos I took on the puppy photo shoot, and selecting one that I liked. After that I decided on a color scheme that worked with the photo and of course, My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Two papers were the ones I picked. (Yes I do have other paper lines, but MME is my favorite!)

After selecting the six papers that worked well together, I picked one that would work as the base for the layout. Then the other five papers were layered until I found a order that I liked. The mustard yellow envelope I made myself, with one of the papers in the MME line. I used my Crop-A-Dile corner chomper to round the flaps two corners and give it a more envelope look. Then I took a 3/4 inch circle of gray/brown paper and punched a hole in it and set a eyelet so that it really looks like that envelope I was gunning for.

The yellow striped strip was ripped at the bottom to give the page some texture and diversity. Amazingly enough, at least I think so, I didn't ink a thing on this layout. Normally I ink at least one thing on a layout.

The paper strips underneath the photo reads:

You greet me, every day, with kisses. You are always there when I need a hug.

You are so loving and kind. Thank you for being my Roo.

It's nice that there are different manufacturers out there, but their lines will sometimes mess perfectly together.

Thank you for visiting my blog today.

Please leave a comment or question, I would be happy to answer anything you ask.

Have a wonderful day, and count your blessings, because they are many.

You Sparkle, You Shine

You Sparkle, You Shine

Hi there. 

I hope you are having a good day.  

I have been feeling a little more creative and decided to make a couple things this week. I will share the other project later, that one is a little bigger, and isn't done yet.

I also have been helping my son (who is not going to be a Marine anymore) get into college, he decided on the Automotive Technology program to start. He loves to fix his truck, even though it frustrates him at times. So I am glad he is going to be going into something that he will enjoy. So people don't know what they want to take in college, or do in life after college, this is his first step, he might change his mind, but this will build a good foundation for him, and if all else fails, at least int he end he will be able to repair his truck (and mine).

So to start this layout, I referred to my favorite scrapbook line, My Mind's Eye. I selected papers I thought would look good together and built a base. I really liked the flower already on the paper and I wanted to put that to use. So I took colors from there for the rest of the layout.

I didn't have flowers that exactly matched, well as far as the yellow flowers went, so I took a Sharpie and colored the petals. I really like that they turned out well, once they dried they were darker then what I originally started with.

Surprisingly on this layout, I only used two sheets of paper, the others were scraps I had out of the same paper pad. Even the mat for the photo is made from scraps. I hate cutting into a new piece of paper to get a small rectangle, even though I know I will use it later for something else, it just bothers me. Although if you saw how much paper I have, you would laugh at that statement. I have way too much, I am kind of addicted. But I will blame that on my best friend, because it's really her fault I even have this as a hobby. lol

The chipboard pieces I picked up the other day at Michael's for 99 cents, they were on clearance and I love them, they happen to go with just about any line of paper My Mind's Eye has. I spent a total of like $5 at Michael's but feel like I got a ton of stuff. I love clearance.

The photo is from a doggy photo shoot we had and I just love this photo. I used Topaz labs to edit the photo and used the vintage setting in the adjust filters. I also added a slight vignette to the edges.

I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog.

Thank you for stopping by.

Have a wonderful day. 

Admit One

Admit One

Okay, I admit it. I am obsessed. I am totally in L-O-V-E with my puppy, Roo.

She makes me happy, honestly all three puppies make me happy. But the two of us are inseparable. I took her kayaking on Saturday, hell I would take her on a bike ride if I had a basket. (My hubby would love that, not!) I sleep with her nightly, and we read together every night. Well I read and she sleeps. 

She is by far the most trained, she shakes both paws, gives hugs, and kisses, sits, and "looks at me" upon request. And when I walk her, she isn't all over the place, she stays right by my side. Now don't go thinking, that I don't spend time with the other two, I do. I have repeatedly tried to get them to shake, and it's a no go. We are working on other ways to train them though. I will keep you updated, maybe they are just slow. lol

The photos on this page are from a photo shoot I did recently with all three puppies. Roo sat good and it was work for the other two, because they were scared of the sheet. (Oh boy)

Anyway...

Here is the layout I have been working on. I suck this summer, too much going on. I am going to try to do better, I swear!

12 x 12 piece of polka dot paper by My Mind's Eye

Orange strip is also My Mind's Eye

Cream strip is a scrap piece

Doilies are just one's that I bought at the dollar store, 100 for $1 kind of thing

All flowers are Prima

And the ticket stubs are one's I got off the internet. 

For the two strips of paper with the bubbles punched out, I didn't have a punch like that, so I used one that was close and I altered it to suit my needs. Who says you have to leave it as is.

I hope you like the page I shared today.

Thank you for visiting my blog and please comment or ask questions.

Chaos

Chaos

It's July 26th and I have been lost in the chaos that is known as my life. I am not complaining, mind you. Just stating a fact. 

I have so many projects in my head, that I want to complete, including ones around the house, but it's my lack of drive that is leaving things incomplete or not even started.

I, kind of, feel like the picture above.

My head spinning and being pulled a million different ways.

My summer started out with my contract not being renewed, which threw me for a loop mentally. I will miss the kids at the school I worked for, but I will not miss the management.

Anyway, I hope to have something very soon to share.

Good Times

Good Times

So I had today off, I had one more "sick" day to use up and I took it. Seeing as how we don't get paid for any left over and we don't get to roll them over, I figured what the heck why not?

So I spend the day cleaning, shopping, and cooking.

I went to AC Moore, Party City, JcPenny's, and Wegmans. I made this week's menu, seeing as how I am crazy and need my life to be more organized. I am slowly losing my sanity as the graduation party for my son gets closer and the thought of him leaving shortly after threatens the horizon.

So I was looking through old photos of the kids and I came across this one. Both of my kids are making the photo session more painful then it has to be. They are both trying real hard not to let me have a good picture.

So this is a quick layout I made the other day, with the photo.

I used papers are from The Paper Loft®. I love their papers, they look vintage and weathered. 

Recollections® has these new embellishments out that are street lights and hot air balloons. On this layout I used the hot air balloon. I really like them, they are made of metal and are very eye catching.

The flowers are Prima®. And the stamp I used in the lower left corner is by Inkadinkado®. 

I did use another stamp of a compass, they are really old, like the very fist acrylic stamps that came out by Inkadinkado®. The chain of hearts, is made from some random piece of raspberry colored paper and they are cut out with the dies that you hammer! If you can believe that. I never got rid of this one specifically because I love the size and shape of it. I have used it many times, on several of my projects. I stapled the hearts together with a mini stapler, then backed every other one with a pop dot. I torn a piece of scrap paper that looked like old newspaper. Then added chicken wire, which is made by Dusty Attic®. I love the chicken wire, I have two sheets and still have a ton left of the first sheet and I have used it on at least 4 projects if not more. The pretty butterfly is off a scrap piece of paper, I just fussy cut it out and then added matte glaze to it. The finishing touch is the cranberry/raspberry colored Stickles® that I used on the tail of the title, I felt like that color needed to be carried to one more spot on the page to create a visual triangle. The page becomes more appealing that way.

I hope you like my layout. It didn't take me very long to make, it was a simple layout to do on a weeknight when I didn't have hours to give up.

Thank you for visiting my blog and I hope you have a wonderful day.

B is for boy

B is for boy

Here is the other layout I wanted to share with you this week. My son played tennis two years ago, but I never scrapped them because, well, he didn't really like it all that much. (Even though at the time, it sure looked like he was having fun.) 

Starting from the base, I used Paper Loft paper with small brown stars on it. Then I took my stamp that looks like sewing and stamped various lengths of lines horizontally and vertically. Making sure to also vary the width in between each line.

Then I cut two four inch circles out of brown patterned paper and using my Fiskars®

circle punch, I made two doily look alikes.

I took two cards out of a deck that is missing a few other cards and colored them with my light brown inks.

I made a file folder with my Making Memories Slice Machine®, added two stickers to it. "My Favorite" and the tennis racks, and I drew thin brown frames around them with my Martha Stewart® pen.

The chicken wire is by Dusty Attic®, I cut just a strip of it and framed the words "is for boy" with one of the spaces. 

The green strip of paper is out of my scrap bin, which had colors I needed for the layout, I just inked the edges with brown ink.

The white and brown star is made with the Slice® machine, then I added a white penned outline. 

All the stickers are from Echo Park Paper Co.®, from the This & That line. I just love this sheet of stickers. They are awesome. I used them all over. 

The circle embellishment is also a sticker on pop dots, that I added a metal embellishment to that has been in my collection of hoarded stuff for a long while.

The "B is for boy" is a sticker that I cut in half and inked the edge of.

I really like way this layout turned out. And it kind of all fell together with the stickers and the pictures that I hadn't used yet.

This week has been super rainy here in NY. I hate to be inside this much without being able to take my daily walk outside, but it's great scrapping weather.

How is your summer so far? 

Thank you for visiting my blog!

Have a great weekend.