Hello Friends!

Today I'm sharing my 4th layout using the May After the Storm kit and add-on along with the May stamp sets!

HELLO FRIENDS

 

These photo's are of my daughter taken a couple years ago at a petting zoo. I picked these photos because they matched the papers so well. Bright and cheery just like she is! 

I have a couple close-ups to share:

As you can see I have lots of layering and texture going on here! The stickers in the kit are what gave me the idea of the title. I mixed the colors for added interest. I machine stitched the butterflies to the layout. After looking at now it I wish I would have used a color thread instead of the white-oh well.

I made a little journaling block by printing on cardstock and using a stamp to bring attention to the journaling.

I got the idea for the flower by the flower on my daughter's shirt in the picture. I made the flower by cutting out some of the doily patterns from the pattern paper, crumbled them in my hand, inked the edges brown and used foam dots between the pieces. I slipped in a stick pin and added a sticker!

Thanks for stopping by the blog today, have a great day!!!

~Melanie

April's: 8 Days a Week Kit

Hello!

Today I have a couple layouts using the Scraptastic's 8 Days a Week kit and Add-on!

YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL EVERYDAY

 

These pictures are of my daughter. She likes to take pictures of herself on her laptop, edit them and using them for facebook. So, I grabbed them and printed them out. The Ell's Studio day to day labels worked perfect as 1 embellishment instead of cutting them apart. 

Lots of layering going on here! I used a stamp sentiment from the April stamp set 

Again, gotta love the Ormolu Exclusive Flairs in the kits!! My favorite embellishment at this moment.

OUT ON THE TOWN

Again more pictures from facebook! This is my daughter with her friend "shopping" at the mall, trying on prom dress...JUST FOR FUN! They had a great time doing it. 

I really enjoy layering all the pieces in the kits. I used one of the exclusive die cuts that Jessica adds to the kits. 

Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you were able to pick up a kit this month, I heard they sold out fast!!!!

Have a great weekend!

~Melanie

March Kits: Mr. Brightside

Hello!

For the month of March I'll be using the Scraptastic, Mr. Brightside Kit, coordinating add-on, and the stamp set. I'll also be using some of the other set of stamps as well.

OH, THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

Everything on this layout in included in the main kit and add-on. 

* I have one little tip...on the Awesome Day pattern paper, I have layered it with a sticker from the Photo Freedom Elements sticker sheet. I stamped the image of "100% fun"-well I used black ink (don't remember which one) a couple hours later I went back to write my journaling and smudged the stamped image all over. After a little cleaning up I restamped the image with Staz-on ink and no more issues.

Isn't that a cool piece of flair! On the yellow ticket, I stamped the "life's little details" image. Stamped phrases are so fun to use!

I think the colored MME enamel dots in the add-on are my most favorite colors ever! 

I bet you can't wait to see the sketch I used, stay tuned to the Scraptastic blog!

I highly recommend grabbing an extra set of the EXCLUSIVE flair with your order! I love these!

Until next time...

~Melanie

Scraptastic's January Color Challenge

Hello!

For the month of January, Scraptastic Kit Club has a great color challenge for you! This month our colors are dark and light blue, green, grey, and I used an accent color of reddish orange.

 

 

  

I used the color combo and came up with a double page layout.

The Great Outdoors

As soon as I saw the plaid paper, camping came to mind! Our family loved to camp in the summer. I picked some random photo's from last summer camping trips and combined them for 1 layout. 

I used a Mr Huey mist, which I had purchased from the shop called Sunset (just a side note...the mists are on sale right now, grab them while they are available!! I used it on the mistable thickers to give my layout a little more color. The mist matched the arrows and hearts really well.

I think it's so cool there are 3 alphabet set with the kit/add-on. It really gives it a fun look!

Hope you will join us for January's color challenge. Here's the blog post with all the little details:  BLOG

 Have a great day!

~Melanie

Decembers All of the Lights Kit

I haven't had a chance to share my layouts using the December All of the Lights Main kit and add-on.

Ferris Wheel

I loved that I had taken some photo shots of the Ferris wheel, they went perfect with the paper. At the time I took them I had no idea why I was taken them. It must have been the scrapbooker in me!  The Ferris wheel word sticker is actually from my supplies-it is from the Midway Collection 12x12 sticker sheet. I used the Midway Sew fun banner. They were really easy to stitch, punch out and adhere to the page. 

PICK A LUCKY DUCK

Really, how cute are those duckies from the Midway collection? I love them!!! These pictures are from the school fun fair at the pick a duck game. 

REMEMBER THE GOOD TIMES

This layout is one that I have re-scrapped. I don't recommend rescrapping layouts-especially if you want to stay "caught up." But seriously this is one of those layouts that every time I looked at I asked myself-what were you thinking. I had random size pictures on it, mismatched papers and products, no date or title. So it looked like a great layout to redo!

One of my favorite pieces is from the add-on kit they are the Heidi Swapp word stickers-aren't they just the cutest?!?!?!

Those are my 3 (of the 4) layouts for me this month. The Midway paper collection from October Afternoon was one of my must haves from the last CHA. I can't believe there is going to be another CHA around the corner before we know it. 

I have 1 more layout to share from this kit.

Thanks for stopping by today!

~Melanie

Layout and a twine flower tutorial

Hello,

Today I'm sharing my layout from Scraptastic Kit Club.  

THANKFUL FOR MY FAMILY

My layout is based on a sketch from our sketch artist Heather. I love how easy her sketch was. It actually took me longer to find pictures than to make the layout.

Notice the flower with the blue petals (shown below),  I used pieces of the bling and backed them with the leaves from the Farmer's Market kit.

Are you ready to get a little creative and make your own twine flowers?

This month in the Farmer's Market kit we received Twine from Lawn Fawn; orange, teal, and brown. These flowers are simple and fast...perfect for the busy scrapbooker!

 

Here are my Step by Step Directions:

Step 1:

Punch out 2 circles from cardstock (I used Kraft). 

These are about 3/4 inch. The size all depends on the size of flowers you want. 

Step 2: 

Cut the twine 2.5 inches long. You'll need between 8 (simple flowers) and 16 (fuller flowers) pieces of twine.

Step 3:

Dab some glue onto the one of the circles. I used Zip Dry and the glue gun (just pick one). If you use the glue gun be prepared for stringy pieces to clean off the twine when you are finished.

Step 4:

Use 1 piece of twine at a time, make a loop and stick to the glue. Keep going around until you get the look you want. Each petal will lay differently from the next. Embrace it, nothing is perfect in nature!

Step 5: 

Once you have all the petals down add a dab of glue the other circle to create a 'sandwich'.

Step 6:

Now you are ready for the center of the flower! You'll need a length of twine. I did not measure it only because I think each center will be a little different. Start by knotting the end and trimming off any excess.

Step 7:

Add glue to the center of the cardstock. I liked the Zip dry for this part. It gives you a little more working time than the hot glue would. Start in the middle with the knot and go around and around until you get to the end. Trim off excess.

Step 8:

When you are finished with the center the flower should look like this. If you used the hot glue be prepared to clean up any fly-a-ways. Which I did after I took this picture, sorry about that.

The finished flowers (using the measurements I suggested), will be around 2.25 inches.

These are the 4 twine flowers I made. 

Give them a try. You'll be surprised how fast and easy they are. I think adding some glitter to the middle would be a nice touch too, or spray glitter over the entire flower. The best part is they cost pennies to make and you make them to match your project. You know if a manufacture sold them a set would be at least $3.99 and up.

Have a great day!

~Melanie 

I {heart} this...3rd grade

Hello!

I have just 1 more layout using the October kit called Hall Pass. These are recent pictures of my son Kaden starting 3rd Grade. Since this month we are focusing on multi-pictures on our layouts, these random shots of him exploring his new classroom worked well for me!

My plan is to add journaling on the bottom where those library cards are. I want to do something creative like Q's and A's about 3rd Grade. I would be really easy to say Kaden had fun on his first day of third grade.... BORING, been there, done that. I'm thinking more along the lines of: Q: What book did you see on the shelf you are interested in reading first. 

Here's a close up using some of the stickers, journaling cards and that really cool Studio Calico paper clip! 

This pictures is focusing on the, I {heart} this word bubble. I backed the bubble with pattern paper and pop-dots. 

Hope you stop back next week, we'll be sharing out Halloween layouts using the Spookfest kit.

~Melanie

My challenge this month at Scraptastic

Welcome to my October Challenge: Tags, Banners, and Journaling Cards Oh My!!!!!

I do believe we are focusing on multi-photos layouts  this month as well so this worked out perfectly for me!

FIRST DAY OF K

Today's layout if about Kaden's first day of Kindergarten...in 2009. I had taken a handful of photo's (ok a little more than handful, more like a bucket load!) but picked these to focus on. 

To get started, these are the Studio Calico journaling cards available in the add-on kit (everything I used on this layout is from the October Hall Pass kit and add-on) I layered them as a background pieces and added pictures, stickers, letters, chipboard, and those mistable stars.

again, more of the journaling cards used down the right side of the page. These were used as journaling tags.

Up next, is banners! The banners are from Elle's Studio available in the main kit. I cut them out and layered them behind a photo and on top another journaling card.

Here's a tag I made just by cutting a piece of the journaling card and bending the top over. Just pop a couple stickers on, tack it down with my favorite tool, the Tim Holtz mini stapler, and tada a quick embellishment. The stars were colored from Studio Calico mists. I used the red from the kit and the taxi yellow.

And with that I give you the challenge of Tags, Banners and Journaling Cards! Please be sure to link us up. You have until October 31st at midnight to complete your entry for the October Challenges. The prize for the October Challenges is a $20.00 GC to the store. Sounds like a great treat to me!

Here's the double page spread split up to 2 single pages to give you a better overview.

Thank you so much for by the blog! I do hope you join us for my challenge!

~Melanie

Learn to Tell Time

Hello all!

We are in full swing with the October Kits this month at Scraptastic Kit Club. I will be using the Hall Pass and Add-on. As of today, I do believe there are a few still available. I really enjoyed using this kit because, for some reason school layouts are on of my favorite events to scrapbook.

My first layout is of my son Kaden from about 2 years ago. We were sitting in the bleachers watching my other son's basketball practice game and I started snapping pictures of him working on his homework. Just watching his face expressions was hilarious, he had no idea I was taking pictures. 

LEARN TO TELL TIME

 

Here's a close-up picture of the embellishment cluster I put together. I loved the stamp set add-on. It's one of those that can be used over and over, very practical in my opinion. I used the "love this moment" statement on the lower part of the tag and the "The story of today 2010" on the upper part of the tag. I hadn't even noticed this set was an Ali Edwards set. I just love her products, so excited when I opened my box this month!

The stars were white, but using some mists the color can be changed very easily! I used Studio Calico, Mister Huey, taxi on my stars. I did experiment using mists and using just an ink pad. They both worked well however, I found a quick spray of mist was very simple and cleaner for my fingers. 

For the embellishmed area I just kept layering papers, sticker, paperclips, twine, letter stickers until I got the look I wanted. You'll noticed I used my favorite tool, Tim Holtz mini stapler. I use it more for looks than function.

I do hope you join me on October 18 for my October monthly Challenge. To give you idea of what I'll be doing think...tags, banners and journaling cards oh my!

Thank you for stopping by today! Enjoy the day.

~Melanie