Love These Layouts!

It's February and love is in the air...and on my craft table! Today I want to share two recent layouts that I really love.
First up: "Me & You."  Even thought this photo of my husband and me is out of focus, I love the candid nature of it and that we are both smiling and looking happy.  Sometimes those imperfect photos make great layouts! This one uses some of the new Fancy Pants "Be Loved" collection.  I really was drawn to the water color feel and soft palette.  So many little elements are available with this collection, too.  I altered my background sheet by drawing a large heart, sewing the outline with pink American Crafts twine, and then adding some paint and pink chalk to the inside.  I also added twine in other places - the tags and several cross stitches on the left side.  The "me & you" sentiment was cut with my Cricut - Graphically Speaking is an old cartridge, but still one of my faves.  The pink glitter border strip is from Teresa Collins.

I picked up some new My Minds Eye yesterday at Scrapdoodles and had a little fun.  I also recently added a couple of new cartridges to my collection, so wanted to use them right away, too.  The beautiful background sheet is from MME's Now & Then, "Dorothy" collection.  The heart doily (LOVE) was cut with my new Edge to Edge Cricut cartridge.  The title is also from a new cart - Small Talk Frames and Tags.  The rest of the elements are MME.  I'm really loving the phrases and mini letters available with this collection.

Thanks for visiting! I hope you have a LOVE-ly day!

Memo Board and Winter Layout

Happy Scrapdoodles Design Team Wednesday! I am highlighting two beautiful collections that can be found in the store.  First up is Authentique's "Gathering" collection.  This collection is so versatile!  The colors (blue, orange/coral, brown) are very trendy right now and lend well to layouts and projects of all types.  I fell in love with the patterned paper called "Flourish" and used it as my background for this hanging memo board.  I started with a 12x12 square of cork board and hot-glued the patterened paper (which I trimmed by about 1/4 inch on each side and rounded the corners).
I kept the board simple - just using a few of the die cut quotes and shapes from the same collection.  As a bottom border, I used some felt ric-rac ribbon I found from My Mind's Eye. 

Then, I found and printed a free 2012 mini calendar from online and cut each month and attached it to a square of patterned paper, punched holes and strung it with brown ribbon.  Since the back of my board is cork, I attached the calendar pages with a large felt-covered tac.  I also made my own little notepad with graphing paper cut into strips and bound together with ribbon.  To attach this to the cork board, I actually made two holes with my awl and secured the pad with the ribbon - it's tied in the back.  To hang the board, I hot glued the large ribbon hanger and then the two bows on top in each corner.   

Since I had a lot of scraps left over, I made several simple cards.  For these I started with a plain card base and decorated the fronts with paper, ribbon, buttons, and die cuts.

Next up is this wintery layout.  I know we've hardly had any snow in the region this year, but there are so many new winter lines in the store, it's hard to pass them up.  Maybe you can catch up scrapping the Big Snow we had a few years ago! One of my new favorites is Fancy Pants Designs' "Winterland" collection.  I love the soft colors and subtle patterns.  One of the border strip sheets had a quote "Snowflakes are kisses from heaven" which made me think of the fun my daughter had when it "snowed" back in January.  She kept running around saying it tickled and tasted like frosting!  I knew this was the perfect line for a layout with her sticking out her tongue to catch the snowflakes.  The layout came together easily with a full background sheet, one border and a few of the coordinating heavy-weight stickers.  I added a bit of paper lace I had in my stash and cut out a title using my Cricut (Gypsy Wanderings cartridge).  There's still more "winterland" left and, perhaps, one more snow in Virginia before spring is finally here!  Happy Scrappin' Everyone!

December Daily

Yeah! I finally sat down to work on my December Daily Album for this year.  My cover has been done for ages, but with the tea and just catching up around the house, the dailies were at the bottom of the list.  I finally printed off pics for days 1-9 and completed them last night and this morning.  I am using a red Fancy Pants Brag Book for my album.  I basically took off the binding and am leaving it off until I am done.  I just take from the pile of pages and use what I want for each day.  The Brag Book comes with three different types of pages - the single kraft page with journaling lines and red scrolls, the red pocket page, and the 4x6 photo sleeves.  I'm not worried about them being in a specific pattern or anything - whatever I feel like for that day is what I'll use. 

I really like the Christmas line from Teresa Collins and am using a lot of that.  I purchased the set of coordinating stamps, too.  I LOVE the deer motif and the rich reds.  But I'm also using lots of other things, including the Mrs. Claus's Kitchen Christmas Stack from DCWV and the O' Christmas Tree Recollections Signature Stack.

Busy Busy

I've been crafting up a storm - but not keeping up with it all on my blog. Sorry about that, for I love to share. First, I finished a 22 page album for friends. Then I sat at my sewing machine with an actual pattern (it's been awhile!) to create a 3 foot fleece kitty for my adorable god-daughter. Of course, I had to fit in some card making for birthdays, anniversaries, and Mother's Day. And then a few layouts for myself and Scrapdoodles. I was lucky enough to come in just after they put the new CratePaper "Paper Dolls" collection out. It's so cute and very girly! The chipboard accents are awesome.

I also picked up a few pieces from Fancy Pants Designs new "My Family" line. The colors are great for any type of layout. They are also featuring a mix of acetate accents with fun glitter features. I loved the line "all because two people fell in love..." on the border sheet and thought of my parents. I've got 5 great siblings all because Jim and Sandy fell in love.