stop to smell the sunflowers...

Once again, my favorite subject Eden, smelling the sunflowers. The real point of this layout was to show her hair which I straightened for her. We were watching Dora the Explorer and she said she would like to have hair like Dora. When I reminded her that her hair was curly she was disappointed. So I offered to straighten her hair and borrowed Jessalyn's hot iron. She looks so cute and so much older with her hair straightened. It took about an hour to do her whole head and there were some places that I didn't do too well with because I was afraid she'd move and I'd burn her with the iron. I snapped a few photos to show Rebekah. By the end of the day her hair was just plain frizzy--it was humid and rained and Eden didn't cover her hair well. Oh well. Next time I'll get some hair product and do the job right.

I used Prima's stitched mulberry paper for this layout. It almost has a fabric feel to it. The colors were dead on and I've had it sitting on my shelf for a few weeks waiting for the perfect photos. The turquoise and pink flowers I made by tracing circles onto the paper and then ripping out. I wanted the imperfections. I layered the circles and added some white swirls and dots to the upper layers for interest and rhinestones for the centers. I added a few rhinestones at the end of the stitched swirls too. I didn't do any matting because I wanted as much as the paper to stand alone on this. I used bracket punches and a chipboard "e" for a title and journaling strips and heart chipboard from the same set as the "e". Simple but fun.

latest project

I created these two over-sized layouts for a customer of Gracie's. The family went to one of the World Series games as well as the Phillies parade and wanted to create wall art with these special memories. I started with illustrator board and covered it with a large sheet of art paper. From there I added a 12x12 scrapbook paper, matted photos, ribbon and some star punches. Simple, but they'll look great framed for the girls' rooms.

me

To quote my friend Michele, "Don't ya just love the subject line? ME lol" I don't usually do page layouts about myself but decided to put my photo on this page. It is the same photo you see here on my blog. When creating layouts, it's sometimes harder to come up with the photos than the layout. This particular page is somewhat "artsy-fartsy" or "airy-fairy" which is what they say on BBC's Hotel Inspector to describe something that focuses more on the art than the photo. I like airy-fairy better. Yes, I've been watching way too much tv over these last months. Back to the page. I had fun creating the background layering on pieces that I made.


I made the left side background first, actually a couple of months ago. I started with watercolor paper and added distress inks to it using the Ranger tool with the sponge pad attached. I put on masks and added more Ranger distress inks and the added Tattered Angels glimmer mists. I stamped using Ranger Artistry stamps and Prima Build a Swirl stamps in Stampin' Up inks. Idea'ology journaling tickets were stapled on and an idea'ology metal wheel is attached with a random brad. I took a silver metal word, "imagine" and inked it with alcohol inks and inked a grunge board faceplate to frame it, attached with bronze brads from my stash. I inked some idea'ology fragments with alcohol inks and adhered them to highlight parts of the words.

The right side is made from strips of grunge paper from idea'ology. I cut 1" strips, inked half with distress inks, sprayed them with glimmer mists and then dry embossed them with a Cuttlebug folder. The other half of the strips were inked, stamped and then sprayed with glimmer mists. I then wove them together to create a 3" piece to border my left side.

I put them together on a piece of kraft colored card stock, inked the edges with distress ink and then decided to sew the two pieces on. After searching high and low for my sewing machine, to no avail I thought, why not blanket stitch the piece by hand? I am glad the sewing machine didn't turn up. I used green crewel floss and stitched the piece after piercing the papers. I also added a couple of "x's" to join the two pieces. I really liked the final outcome of the background. I matted a photo of myself and added "me" in Thickers that I toned down with some ink. The whole page has such a tactile look and is much better in real life that this photo shows. So, this is me, trusting, hoping, soaring, imagining, dreaming.

SDU

I am very excited about completing my SDU training and becoming a certified instructor. SDU stands for Scrapbook Design & You and is a four week scrapbook class where you learn principles of design, color, use of tools and how to create a beautiful scrapbook layout every time. This program from EK Success taught me a few things even though I've been scrapping for years and have taught classes. I have been assigned to two AC Moore stores, the Bensalem store and the Columbus Blvd. store in Philadelphia. I'll be scheduling classes soon and hope that you check them out.

hot off the table...

Here is my latest layout, hot off my scrap table. It features my granddaughter (natch) and her favorite flower, dandylions...


The challenge I was given was to use the scalloped Bazill paper in a layout. I added the Basic Grey background from the Boxer line and the coral Bazill as well. I cut the swirls and flowers from a Hello Kitty Sizzex die and covered some of the flowers with glitter and added rhinestones. It's all about the glitter and bling baby. Thickers alphas and an acetate journaling spot finish this off.


















Here is my latest layout, hot off my scrap table. It's all about my granddaughter and making dandylion chains into a crown.

atc

I just completed an album for a customer that Grace from Stacie and Gracie's Scrapbooking Shoppe passed off to me. Since this album is a gift for my customer's son I thought I'd add in a little piece of artwork for her. I created this atc using some of my favorite things--K&Co. paper from the Margo line (it was a scrap really); some solid cardstock, stamps, metal pin, fragment and Stickles all from Ranger/Tim Holtz/idea'ology lines. This shows front and back. I like the idea of creating atcs to pass onto customers in the future.

grandmom bidwell

This layout features my Grandmom Bidwell, a truly grand woman. She's the one in the bathing suit--even when everyone else is in street clothes. She lived in Margate, NJ for a time hence her attire. I have wonderful memories of going down to the shore and staying with her. I can still smell the eggs and coffee she made for breakfast. We'd go to the beach and then come home where we'd shower off. Then she'd lay me down on a lounge chair under the mimosa tree for a nap. I still love napping in the sun. She died when I was 10 but she taught me a lot, including how to play 500 rummy. These are just a few of the photos I have of this bold, confident lady.