Labor Day Weekend *Mini Album*

I am swamped with summer photos, and on Labor Day weekend we had a fantastic fun weekend, and of course I upped my photo count even more!  Then I saw that there was a "Labor Day" challenge on the My Mind's Eye blog, so I decided that I wanted to do a mini album, which I haven't done in a while.

I LOVE doing minis and I love looking at other ones out there, so I spent some time on Pinterest!  :)  But after all that time, I just ended  up doing my own thing anyways....

So I started by digging out my MME stash and picking out some blue, yellow, and coral/red papers. I used a ton of MME lines including Stella & Rose, Indie Chic, Collectable, even Alphabet Soup. As I mentioned in a previous post, blue and yellow have been my go-to summer colors this year!  I used my Cricut to cut some pages out of different sizes, and then for other pages I just cut out some rectangles and punched the edges with border punches or left them plain.

I have a few busy patterns on some of the papers, so I did a gesso white wash over all of the pages, front and back.  I just bought a new set of Gelattos, so I chose a bright yellow and did a few swipes of it on each page and watered it down.

Still a bit too bright, so a stencil and some white paint brought them all together.  Then I splattered some navy mist.  I outlined each page border with a black pen.

After spending what seemed like forever putting the pages in the right order, I took some more papers from my stash and did simple photo mats for each photo and added some other strips of papers here and there.  Then each photo got finished with some washi tape, and I completed the page with enamel dots, brads, sentiment stickers, and a few chipboard pieces here and there.

For the cover, I started with this awesome yellow chevron paper and cut a size that I liked.  Then I cut some chipboard covers and glued the paper to them.  It is hard to tell, but on the yellow part of the paper, I added some gold Gelattos, which gives it a bit of sheen.  I stitched around one of the chevron designs and the outside edge of the covers with blue thread.

I did the same treatment to the covers as I did the pages: stencil with white paint, navy and bright blue mists, enamel dots, chipboard and stickers.

On the outside, I bound the album with plain twine, which I love to use.  I used a group of 3 strands and where it ties, I braided the strands together.  Isn't it convenient that Paper Issues theme this week is twine?  :)  I'm linkin' up!

Here are my pages:

I journaled a bit on each page, but on the inside back cover, I told the story of the weekend.

I just love this little book and I got so many photos scrapped!!!  I feel like doing another mini, so you may see another one soon!

Thanks for stopping by and stay scrappy my friends!

Paper Issues *Pretty Little Studio* Blog Hop...

Welcome to the Paper Issues Blog Hop!  This weeks issue is sponsored by Pretty Little Studio and the theme is "Nature Walk".  PLS has a recent release called Nature Walk which features adorable elements like woodland animals, mushrooms, feathers, and elements like banner pieces and labels.

I used a sketch from Skissedilla and the June color combo from ScrapFriends for my page and also some goodies from PLS of course!

I immediately knew what papers I wanted to use for this color combo from ScrapFriends:  The colors in the "Acorn Ave" collection from Crate Paper were perfect!

I started by painting my background with a stencil and some mint/greenish-blue colored paint.  I had some white on my paint tray (aka....a piece of plastic wrapping) and as I mixed it, I was loving the ombre effect, so I went darker on the bottom and lighter towards the top.  Once dry, I went over some areas with the stencil and a thin black pen.

I fussy cut out a bunch of flowers and started laying them out on my page with a tag (which already had the "A" on it), a journal spot, and a few other bits.

I used the banner pieces from Pretty Little Studio at the top of the page with two different colors of twine.  I wanted a bit more green, so I covered one of the pennants with some green washi.  I also have a few of the feathers from the Nature Walk line tucked in here and there.

I even raided my stash and found some OLD flair from American Crafts. Some splatters, a few tiny chipboard circles here and there, and that's it!

Here is the order of the hop!  Be sure to hop along to each person's blog and then stop by the PLS blog and leave some love to all!

Ashley: http://www.ashleyhortondesigns.com/

Audrey: http://audreysreflection.blogspot.com/  <----YOU ARE HERE

Becki: http://beckiadams.blogspot.com/

Bente: http://paperandglueheaven.blogspot.com/

Carol: http://carolmonson.blogspot.com/

Caz: http://www.cazhancock.com/

Pretty Little Studio Blog: http://prettylittlestudio.com/blog/

Also make sure you:

1.      Like Pretty Little Studio on Facebook {tell them we sent you}

2.      Like Paper Issues on Facebook

3.      Leave a comment

TThanks for hopping with us today!  Stay Scrappy my Friends!

*WINNERS* and another Paper Issues page!

I have had a LOT of giveaways going on the past week or so and it's time for some winners!

From the Inspiration Elevator Blog Hop (winning a little kit I put together)- DARCY

Darcy said...

Have fun in your future creative endeavors! I love that you made her style your own!

APRIL 17, 2013 AT 4:22 PM 

From the Glitz Blog Hop (a stash of Glitz goodies)-  june2015 said...

the garland is genius! will definitely give that a try.

April 25, 2013 at 3:02 PM

 

and from Cassie's Birthday Week celebration for Paper Issues (winning a Lucky You kit): AMBER

 Amber said...

Im a new follower - love your blog! I've liked Paper Issues from the beginning :) they rock! LOVE the kit!

April 28, 2013 at 5:13 PM

Ladies, please contact me with your mailing information so I can get your prizes out to you! audreykit at yahoo dot com

Speaking of Paper Issues, here is another page I made with the "Lucky You" kit!  The colors of my photos were kinda yuck, so I changed them to black and white.  The smoothies we made were berry and banana, so I used some pinks, blues, and yellow.  I was thinking of round berries, so I used a circle scheme for my page!  

I used the circle idea as the basis for my challenge at the My Scraps & More Spring into Summer Crop.  Check it out HERE!

This wood button from MME was a bit too dark, so I just painted over it with a whitewash to tone the color down a bit.

For each circle, I outlined it with a white pen just to make it stand out a bit more.  A few of the circles I popped off the page.  And I LOVE these word stickers from Jillibean!

The alphas weren't part of the kit, but were the perfect color yellow!  Lastly I added this chipboard piece with some twine tied in a bow.

I've got a lot more to share this week AND another blog hop with a prize coming up early next week!

Stay scrappy my friends!

Paper Issues *GIVEAWAY*

Check out my THREE previous posts for giveaways, too! A huge Glitz Designs one, one from My Scraps & More, and another from Paper Issues!


So excited to be a part of Cassie's Birthday week celebration at Paper Issues!

But I have a little secret:

It's MY BIRTHDAY, TOO!  :)

And guess who's getting the present?  YOU!

I am giving away a "Lucky You" kit that I co-designed for the Paper Issues store!

Here's what you have to do to win:

1.  Follow my blog and leave a comment!

2. Like Paper Issues on FB (and wish Cassie a Happy Birthday!)

And that's it!  I will choose a winner at random to win this fab kit!

Check back tomorrow for another page I made with this awesome kit!

Papers Issues ftg. Elle's Studio 'Serendipity" *blog hop*

A new theme is up this week at Paper Issues and it is all about "Serendipity" (anyone remember that movie?). Anyways, when I typed in "serendipity" into a google search (because I didn't know how to spell it correctly)  I see that part of the definition says "happy accident".  I LOVE happy accidents when it comes to scrapping, and I wish I could say I had one on this page, but there were no "accidents" this time around...everything was as planned!  Although I did use all Elle's Studio 'Serendipity' products:

I based my page off of a sketch at Skissedilla this week.  I loved the scattered photos on the page, and I had a lot from this little "shoot", so it was perfect! We have a GREAT climbing tree in our new backyard, and Charlotte felt like she was up so high (but she was about 3 feet off the ground) :).

On the background, I painted with a wash of gesso mixed with some light blue paint, then I splattered some yellow and green mists.

Over that, I added some white washi tape and some washi with gold little dots.  Then I took a stamp from Elle's Studio and stamped the "So lucky to have you" sentiment over and over again.

 A few fussy cut flowers and a great scattering of tags and she's done!  Not a lot of paper on this page, but still a lot of little details and colors!

So if you have a project that is "serendipitous", or perhaps one of these other themes, you should link it up to Paper Issues:

Chance
Fate
Destiny
Luck
Fortune
Kismet

OK, now hop on to these other fine ladies blogs and see some more Elle's projects!


Amy T.: http://tsurutadesigns.blogspot.com/
Audrey: http://audreysreflection.blogspot.com/   <---you are here
Diana: http://designbydiana.blogspot.com/
Leslie: http://leslieashe.blogspot.com/
Melissa: http://www.missygener.com/
Pamella: http://happytobecreating.blogspot.com/





Thanks for hopping with us today!

Be sure to do the following:

 1. Like Elle’s Studio on Facebook {tell them we sent you}
2. Like Paper Issues on Facebook
3. Leave a comment

****************************************************************

Oh, and one more thing before I go....another page with the "Lucky You" kit from Paper Issues!  Last time I checked, there was only one kit left!

We have a lot of beautiful gardens at our new house and it is fun waiting to see what is popping up this spring.  I let the kiddos each pick a daffodil and they thought it was the best thing....:)

Sometimes if I am not sure where I am going with a page design, I just start fussy cutting and as I am cutting, I think about it more and more.  That is what I did here:  I just started cutting the flowers and the page took off from there!  I love how awesome the seam binding is for making bows!!

Remember, you can always save 20% off your purchase at the Paper Issues store by using the code AUDREY!

Stay scrappy my friends!

April Paper Issues Kit-Lucky You

I am so excited to share the new Paper Issues http://paperissues.blogspot.com/kit for April!  Paper Issues will be releasing a new kit quarterly.  I am proud to say that I co-designed this kit with Carol Monson!  We focused on some bright, fun, primary colors and wanted to have a variety of embellishments.

And guess what???  You can save 20% right now by typing in the code AUDREY in the Paper Issues shop!  That's 20% your ENTIRE purchase!



Here is a page I created with this kit.  Charlotte had a "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" day at school and I thought that the green paper in this kit would make great coconut tree leaves!  :)

I cut the leaf shapes by hand and then just snipped along the edges to create the fringe.  Then I stitched down the center of each leaf.  I didn't want the ends of the pins to stick out the other side of the wooden button, so I just bent the pin in half (which is hidden under the button).

I used the vine stencil included in the kit and some different shades of light green inks.  The wooden buttons in the two photos below are NOT part of the kit, but I just wanted to have a few more wood pieces on my page.

 I used my Cricut to cut the title from the multicolored vellum.  The font is called Dunkin' Sans.

Want to see some more lovely projects using this kit!  Check out the ladies blogs below!


Carol Monson
Sara Zenger
Anna Sigga
Kate Vickers
Jen Chesnick

And for more fun, here is a little video that Anna Sigga put together showing you the contents of the kit!


Stay tuned to my blog for some more projects with this kit, and who knows, maybe you will have a chance to win one in a few weeks! ;)

Stay scrappy my friends!