Scrapping Your Stash Monthly Blog Hop: 5 & Happy!

Welcome to the Practical Scrappers "Scrapping Our Stash" monthly blog hop!   On the last Friday of each month, a group of us share a project with older stash that we haven't used in a while.  Hop along the blog list below to see a ton of great projects making the "old", NEW again!

My daughter just turned 5 a few weeks ago and we threw a tea party for her and her friends!  The girls each got a hat that they decorated with feathers and flowers and they each got a tea cup and saucer to take home, too (thank you Salvation Army!).

For her invites, I found a tea cup card cut file (see more details below) and used some old Basic Grey "Sweet Threads" paper for pattern (these are at least 2-3 years old!).  As I was going through the papers, I realized how much I loved them, so I decided to bring them back for this page as well.

I was inspired by a quick little tutorial I saw at ScrapMuch? by Laura.  You simply cut a scalloped punched piece at the highest points instead of the valleys.  Anyways, I cut all these pieces out from lots of different patterns and created a "wreath" like pattern on the background.  Before I glued the papers down, I stitched concentric circles around the page, put the papers down, and stitched a circle around them, as well.  Then I outlined some of the punched shapes with a thin black pen to make them stand out a bit more.

There are a few mist splatters on the background and some chipboard pieces also from the Sweet Thread collection. You can also faintly see some polka dots that I lightly stamped with a black ink.

I wanted to make this page really look frilly, so I used some pearls (along with the frilly punch to create the wreath pieces), pink, and flowers.  What's more girly than that? :)

The #5 was cut with my Cameo and the "Happy" was a sticker from the collection, too!

Continue on the hop below to see MORE inspiring projects!

Practical Scrappers http://practicalscrappers.blogspot.com

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

Wendy C www.stampingrules.com 

Erin http://girlpaperscissors.blogspot.com

Majken  http://chocoscrapaholic.blogspot.com/

Christine http://scrappingwithchristine.blogspot.com

Ruth  http://paperandmusings.wordpress.com/

Lee-Anne http://lee-annelovethejourney.blogspot.com

Bobbi http://vintagemusedesigns.blogspot.com/

Kerri http://kerrikr8tions.blogspot.com

Alison  http://alisondaydesigns.com/

Lisa http://www.snappinandscrappin.blogspot.com/

Cheryl http://patchesandscraps.blogspot.com

Laura http://scrapaddict4life.blogspot.com/

Deborah http://scrappinthelittlethings.blogspot.com/

Suzanna  http://lifestrivialities.typepad.com/

Stay scrappy my friends!

-Audrey

Almost 5!

If you have followed my blog for a long time, you may remember that every year around Charlotte's Birthday I do an "Almost _" layout, lifting the design of the page every year.  So here is this year's installment of an "Almost _" layout: Almost 5!

I was inspired by a color combo at Color Me Scrappy.  The green of my daughters shirt was perfect for this combo.  I don't usually use such a bold color for background, but I loved this ombre paper from Glitz "Finnley" and the shade of green was a great match!

I was browsing through some cut files in the Silhouette store and loved this one (cut out of white cardstock). I backed some of the open spaces with patterned paper (Crate Paper Styleboard) and gold vellum (MME Necessities).  Then I stitched around the circle with pink thread.

I fussy cut a LOT of flowers from some MME "Now & Then Mildred" paper, and used some other die cut and vellum flowers (Crate Paper MH Styleboard).

A few other stickers and vellum bits here and there on the page.

Just for fun, here are the other 4 layouts from the past years!

Thanks for stopping by!  Stay Scrappy My Friends!

Scrapbook Circle Projects-May

Has it really been THAT long since I blogged?  Why look....yes it has!

May was a super crazy month.  I went to a crop May 3rd, and that day I got super sick (a day after my daughter got it). I had a fever for 4 days, and for the next 10 days, someone in my house was sick.  It was tough.

Then it was Charlotte's 5th birthday on the 16th.  And we had TWO parties...one for friends and one for family (more to come on that!).

THEN, I had a super big show as a vendor for My Scraps & More at a small trade show event.  It was a LOT of planning and set up, but VERY awesome exposure for the store....I was even interviewed for a news segment!

So I am going to try and play catch up a bit this month.  And let me start by sharing my layouts with the May kit, "High Five", from Scrapbook Circle.   The May kit is still available in the store HERE.

So here are my pages and a bit about them:

I am so tired of listening to kids CD's in the car, so I have been playing the radio a lot.  The kids LOVE Hey Brother by Avicii because they say "Hey brother" and "hey sister" to each other.

I used a quote from the song as a subtitle and wrote my journaling around the edge.  Behind my photos, I used a sheet of paper from Heidi Swapp (Rainbow Rounds) and cut them to make frames.

I scattered some transparencies, sequins, and brads around the page, along with a few paint splatters.

Next I did this page for a challenge prompt on the SBC page: use hearts in your design.

I started by simply cutting out hearts free hand from different patterned papers and them arranging them on the page. Then I stitched over each one with a horizontal stitch.

 Charlotte's favorite color is orange, so I had to incorporate that a bit behind the photo.  I balanced out the placement of the color with other dies cuts and the title.

This next page is based on a sketch from the My Scraps & More Sketch blog, using a grid design.

On the squares where there were no photos, I layered some paper and embellishments.  There were so many extras in this kit like stickers, transparencies, die cuts, metal clips, stamps, and more!  I use them all!  :)

When I saw the sticker that said "Joy", I knew exactly what my title was going to be!

Here I did some stitching over the chevron stamp, and then added some small brads from my stash for the jouraling sticker.

Lastly, I played around with my Silhouette for this one, and I love how it came out.  Not the best photo of me, but it was the only one I had on my actual birthday, so I decided to use it!

I started by printing the numbers through the Silhouette software and set it so that only the 3 and 8 would cut out while the rest of the numbers were just printed.  Then I backed the 3 and 8 with paper.

 I added only a few simple embellishments for some color and to help draw your eyes across the page because I thought the numbers were a big focus for the page and didn't want to add too much else.

I'll be back with more....hopefully a lot more, for June!

Stay scrappy my friends!

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Scrap Your Stash BLOG HOP *Practical Scrappers*

Welcome to the Practical Scrappers Scrap Your Stash Blog Hop!  You should have arrived here from Jennifer Haggerty's Blog! A whole bunch of us have gotten together to tackle our mounds and piles of scrap goodness that has been left to the wayside and is collecting dust as new products continually find their way to the front of our scrap desks!

I, personally, have been trying to scrap my stash more and trying NOT to buy as much (but is is SO hard!).  So I try to incorporate a little something from my stash here and there.

But for today, I did an entire page devoted to using my older stash.  It's not new news that I love working with Crate Paper products, so I used up some papers and embellishments from Acorn Ave, The Pier, and Close Knit.

I started by using a stencil and some gesso on the background.  It was a little too white, so I tried wiping it off, and it left a lighter cover, and I was happy with that!  Then I splattered some mists and water colors here and there.

For my page design, I was inspired by a sketch at Skissedilla, and used strips of paper, distressed them, and then stitched them down with a mix of straight and zig zag stitches. Then I used a few other patterns to mat my photos.

The rest was just clustering of embellishments: stickers, chipboard, brads, labels.....all tucked here and there around my photo.

I spent an HOUR looking for the wagon chipboard piece that I KNEW I had seen somewhere before.  And just FYI, if you ever need a wagon, there is one in the Crate Paper Close Knit die cuts (NOT the one on my page), and this chipboard one from Crate Paper Acorn Ave. (and that collection also has one printed on a card and a wood veneer one, too!).

If you would like to see the ENTIRE blog hop list, please go to the Practical Scrappers Blog!

Now you are headed over to Lee-Anne Thornton's Blog!

Stay scrappy my friends!

What's In Your Basket?

Last Easter, we spent the day at Grandma & Grandpa's and the Easter Bunny hid some eggs and baskets there!  Of course the thing the kids were most interested in in their baskets were the candy filled plastic eggs.  And of course you have to compare to make sure you got the same thing as your sibling.

I used the Dear Lizzy Day Dreamer collection for this page and it is based on a sketch by Melissa Elsner.  You can see on my title letters above that I tried to create an ombre effect by using a stamp pad on the white letters, and stamped darker from right to left.

I used an egg cut file from the Silhouette store to create my eggs from white paper and vellum.  Since the flower paper was so busy, I decided to keep the eggs white.

Finally, to ground the photo more, I stitched a large circle in the background.  And for embellies, I fussy cut out some of the flowers and leaves from that floral print paper...yes, it took a while!


Hope you had a wonderful Easter!!!

Stay scrappy my friends!

Do you wanna build a Snowman?

I couldn't help but try and use a line from "Frozen" at some point on my blog this winter.  So here it is.

When I asked the kids this, their answer was YES!  But guess who did all the work?  Momma.  They helped pack in the snow a bit and put some of the pieces on.  And Charlotte helped me find sticks for arms, and while we were doing so, noticed the Holly bush.  So we picked a piece (which somehow ended up in the snowman's armpit) and it also became our snowpersons' name: Holly!  :)

This is yet ANOTHER page for the Sketchathon going on at My Scraps & More!

I started by washing over the background with some gesso and a dry brush to tone down the pattern a bit.  Then I machine stitched a circle with white thread in the upper right corner to draw more attention to the photo up there.  A trick I used on a previous page that I will probably use again and again, is to use a white pen and draw in some lines along the white threads to make the circle stand out more.

I splattered some blue paint on the background, too. Then I just placed my photos, and built up the one in the top right a bit more with some papers and embellies.  For my title, I just decided to use the words right on the die cut...it was perfect!

Finally, I bit of layering with some labels, brads, chipboard, and pre-stitched pieces.  Working with a whole collection makes it so easy to put things together!

Would love to see you join in at the Sketchathon!  Check it out HERE:

http://myscrapsandmore.proboards.com/

Stay sccrappy my friends!

Muddy Mess!

When the snow starts to melt, we get mud.  Lots of mud.  Why is mud so fun?  I have no idea....but it keeps my kids entertained and I don't mind throwing their clothes in the laundry!  So I let them play!

I don't usually mix and match lines, but I did a LOT on this page!  I used products from the Amy Tan Plus One, Dear Lizzy daydreamer, Crate Paper Styleboard, Studio Calico Lemon Lush and Wanderlust collections!  I love how the background paper looks like rain drops!  That's why I chose it!  :)

For each photo, I just added some bits of paper behind and clusters of embellies on top of each.  I layered vellum, chipboard, die cuts, stickers, and even some wood veneers. Then topped it all with some machine stitching in black.

On my title letters, the black alphas were just too dark, and I wanted them to look more muddy, so I used white ones and stamped them with some grey and brown inks.  And I LOVE those gold foil leaves from Studio Calico!

I kinda like the bright springy colors of this page contrasting with the MUDDY photos!  :)  And there is a lot more mud out there still!  :)  but at least the flowers are starting to poke through in some spots!

Stay scrappy my friends!

Snow Fall- My Scraps Sketchathon!

Have you stopped by to see all the awesome things going on with the Sketchathon at My Scraps & More???  There are some seriously fantastic sketches by the DT members!

I am sharing one today that is a favorite of mine lately!

We had a LOT of snow this winter and there were literally MOUNDS of it everywhere, espeically after shoveling.  The kids liked standing in front of a pile and falling back into it and then looking up at the falling snow!  I used the wonderfully colorful and fun Bundled Up collection from Crate Paper.

On my background, I started with white cardstock and then stitched a transparency on it from Webster's Pages.  This embellishment is from the Crate 3D embellies pack.

I die cut a whole bunch of snowflakes and then just scattered them on my page.  I dusted off my Stickles and added some glitter sparkle on them.

Finally, I just tucked some tags and a few other embellies on the page and it was done!  The only patterned paper on the page is that strip in the middle!

It is still early in the month and you have plenty of time to play along with the sketches!  Check out the forum HERE: http://myscrapsandmore.proboards.com/

Stay scrappy my friends!

Should I go with xxPro or Valencia?

Have you heard the #selfie song by The Chainsmokers?  The girl talking reminds me so much of the girl in the song "Baby Got Back".   I don't take many selfies. But we happened to be outside on a nice, spring like day, and I was with the kids and we were having fun and the sun was setting, and it was just such a nice night, so I thought I would document myself enjoying it! Plus the quote "Not all who wander are lost", is one of my favorites so I have to include that on my page. I used the Scrapbook Circle April kit, "Bucket List" and a few of the add ons.

I started with a kraft background and went over it with some white gesso with a dry brush.  The Fancy Pants papers in the kit are SO bold and have great patterns, so I just used small bits of them to add a LOT of color.  I also layered some of the Elle's Studio die cuts (seen here) and ephemera from Fancy Pants as well.  Oh, and those little wood veneer triangles come in the kit....they are AWESOME!

Around the outside edge of my page, I used the Studio Calico stamp and stamped a border with dark grey ink.  Then I stitched the frame with teal thread and added some stitching to my die cuts, too.  I added some chipboard buttons and put black BRADS from my stash in them (I need to use those things more!)

There are some awesome things happening at Scrapbook Circle this month, so stay tuned there!

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On another note, we are having a SKETCHATHON the entire month of April at the My Scraps & More forums.  All the sketches have been EXCLUSIVLEY designed by the DT, and they are awesome!  Stop by and check it out HERE:  My Scraps & More Forums.

Stay Scrappy My Friends!