12x12 Layout Process Video featuring Shimelle from American Crafts

Hey Scrap Fans!  So, instead of cleaning my house and packing for the crop I'm going to this weekend, I decided to spend my afternoon doing a process video.  I used products from the new Shimelle line from American Crafts, as well as some Thickers and enamel dots from MME.  Hope you enjoy!

Click here to watch video if it doesn't appear below. 



Thanks for watching and until next time, Happy Scrappin'!!

Showcase Your Journaling

Hey Scrap Fans!! Today's layout was the result of another challenge from the Art + Science of Scrapbooking class I'm taking at Big Picture Classes. What an amazing adventure this challenge turned into. At first I was a bit frustrated with the format, however, spending time looking through my photos brought up so many stories I could tell, in so many different ways.   

Once I chose the two photos I wanted to use and determined how much space I would need for my journaling, I pulled out an old kit from Citrus Twist and picked this hombre pattern paper from Chic Tags. I did a lot of playing around with the configuration of the photos before I finally decided to cut them down to 4x4 and mount the journaling in the center.  I trimmed down the Chic Tags paper and mounted it on the card stock to pull it together with the ampersand paper.  I wanted to pull in the pink from the journaling card so I used a strip of pink chevron washi tape, with a strip of grey on top to tone it down a little. I used the Remarks stickers from Amy Tangerine to balance out the pink. I opted for minimal embellishment as not to distract from the story.  A few dates with October Afternoon stickers and names with Pink Paislee stickers and my page was complete. 

Sometimes there are stories you want to tell that you may not have specific photos for. You'd be surprised at the connections you can make just by spending some time with your photos and looking at them in a different way. I hope you can find some inspiration to tell some of your stories. If you do, be sure to post it with #CropsyTurvy100Layouts. Until next time, Happy Scrappin'!!

If at first you don't succeed......

I made this layout of our recent trip to the zoo for a class I'm taking at Big Picture Classes. The challenge was to create and use a photo collage. Surprisingly, this challenge proved to be much more difficult than I anticipated. The photos weren't a problem, as I frequently use photo collages and almost always print from my iPhone to my selphy.  My problem was with the amount of journaling I wanted to include. I usually prefer to handwrite my journaling, but I'm finding lately I want to tell longer stories, so I have been printing the journaling. For some reason I had a hard time finding a good balance with the length of the journaling, my photo collages and the products I wanted to use. 

I started out using paper from Amy Tan's Yes, Please collection and was trying to find a way to include my journaling that looked balanced. I printed my journaling several different times before I finally decided on printing on a simple sheet of white Stampin' Up card stock and mounted the photos next to the journaling. I wanted a bolder background for contrast so the white card stock didn't look out of place. I used a sheet from Allison Kreft. I added my title with Amy Tan Plus One Thickers and October Afternoon letter stickers, chose a few simple chipboard embellishments from October Afternoon Woodland Park and called it done. 

Even though I ended up with a very different look than what I started with, I'm pretty happy over all with the way it turned out. I like that I got so many pictures and all my journaling on one page, and I'm comfortable with the amount of embellishments I used. If you have a smart phone, there are lots of inexpensive and free collage making apps available. I used Pic Frame, which was $.99 and I also have used and like Pic Stitch.  I hope you enjoyed this layout and until next time, Happy Scrappin'!!

Skinny pic, room shot and an actual Polaroid!

Hey Scrap Fans! So my hubby and daughter bought me the Art + Science of Scrapbooking class at Big Picture Classes for Mother's Day. One of the assignments led to me organizing some of my hard copy photos and I pulled together all the photos I had from my school years. I've been slowly working on an album all about me, so scrapping some of my high school photos was a natural progression.

I identified this photo as one I wanted to scrap when I was visiting Andy in Ohio and I only brought a few Studio Calico kits. I decided I didn't have enough with me to do what I really wanted so I held on to it until I got home. I'm not sure why I wanted to used this paper, maybe because I think that sweater I was wearing in the pic may have had a gold stripe on the sleeve. In any case, it just seemed right. 

I knew I wanted to say a lot in the journaling, so I opted to type it on a 4x6 card from Becky Higgins' Project Life Kraft edition, and I picked the matching 3x4 card to pull in the brown and cream. I grounded it all with a stip of craft and gold washi tape from Maggie Holmes and added some gold accents here and there. I stamped some kraft card stock with Ali Edwards' stamps and sprinkled some gold mist around both areas of embellishment. I used gold Thickers from American Crafts and black on kraft letter stickers from October Afternoon for my title "Blasts from the Past", which introduces the three reasons I wanted to scrap that photo. 

I really liked the look of the gold with the kraft, so I decided to trim a half an inch all around from my pattern paper and mount it on some Kraft card stock from Bazzill. Viola! Another 12x12 page for my race to 100! 

Thanks for stopping by, and Happy Scrappin'!!