sketch sketch

Wow, kudos to scrappy Nicole for coming up with an awesome challenge! I loved the sketch options she gave us, but particularly loved sketch option 2 by Nicole's friend.
(See the sketch I chose here.)

So, I still have tons of product left over from my days as a Scrapologie kit subscriber. Particularly, the Nov. 07 kit. (Unfortunately, Scrapologie doesn't create monthly kits anymore, but they're still around and create special edition kits for holidays.) I made one LO using those colors and that was it. December came and I moved on to Christmas layouts. The colors in the November kit were so pretty and sweet, I knew I had to use them, but didn't have the right photo.


Then, a couple days ago, Eleana dressed up as a fairy princess and spent her afternoon dancing, singing, and "flying" around the living room. I took several photos, but I particularly enjoyed this one of her mid-jump.

I placed the papers on a slant, leaving only the title and photo properly aligned with the 12x12 background. I wanted to emphasize Eleana's energy as much as possible. I chose these colors mostly because of the tutu. Tutus evoke memories of my days as a dancer, and black and pink are popular apparel colors for ballerinas.

Nearly everything I used in this page was from the November kit, except for a small piece of ric-rac ribbon (and the rub-ons I used for "tiny" and the crown on the "e"). Even the damask acrylic stamp was included in the kit. The small card below that reads "Paris" was in the kit as well, and is from Tres Jolie. LOVE Tres Jolie, by the way. I stamped the princess definition myself however, using a Rusty Pickle set of acrylic stamps.



The photo itself was heavily edited using Photoshop Elements. I rendered the background in black and white (so the toys and items strewn around the background wouldn't distract the eye) and also blurred it a bit. Then, using some "Ali-isms" from the Fresh Fonts CD, I created brushes and used them like stamps all along the side of the photo. I used the color burn effect, which I love. It sort of mimics an acid burn on the color, revealing the brightest possible tone of the image. That's why the words gradually fade from pink to white (top to bottom)...because the pink words are on top of my red couch, and the white word ("darling") is on top of my tan carpet. Did I explain that well at all?



I've been informed by the husband that my journaling is corny. It reads: Tutus, wands, wings and crowns are at the top of Eleana's list of dress-up necessities. She twirls while giggling and making a "woo woo" sound, and jumps up and down. On the day this photo was taken she even tapped Daddy and I on the head with her wand, granting us our secret wishes. I wished for an abundance of moments like these.

I had so much fun working on this page today, and I'm sorry it took me so long to finish it! I was at the local scrap store for 2 hours yesterday talking business (my card class got the green light!) and then we had friends over for dinner. Crazy day yesterday.

Sketch Challenge

I was excited to host this weeks challenge to my Blog Sista's. I decided everyone should pick one of the three sketches made by the talented Liz Quaiman. Liz is a scrapbook.com friend of mine and she is brilliant! Be sure to check out her gallery which is home to ton of her beautiful sketches. The three sketches I chose were the one I used below which she titled her sketch 11. You can view it here... http://scrapbook.com/galleries/150887/view/925165/-1/20/1.html

The other two sketches we could choose are... http://scrapbook.com/galleries/150887/view/1258993/0/0/1.html

http://scrapbook.com/galleries/150887/view/1258993/0/0/1.html

By clicking on any of her sketches it will take you to her gallery! Thank you Liz for the inspiration!

So, here is the one I picked, Sketch #11. I just loved this sketch because it showcases more than one picture and allows you to have hidden journaling or add another pic or two to the tag!

The papers I used were from the Hannah Scrap Pad to Go by Kology (K&CO). I used this paper because it matched the brown in my shirt and the rug in the pics. The pics were taken at my fav dive, Sun Kong in Malden. I just adore Karaoke and this is my favorite spot to entertain lol. It is an older crowd so there aren't tiny boppers there with this tight little half shirts on and heels. Ya know what I am saying! lol. hehehe The guy pictured with me is my friend Marc. We have know each other for over 20 years. He is hysterical. Lights up a room with his personality and he doesn't drink or do drugs but yet the energy he gives off is amazing! All he needs is COKE, COKE A COLA that is!!!

We sang about 4 songs together this night! We were celebrating my 28th Birthday. The flourishes are all from Fancy Pants Chipboard which I adore! I inked it with some generic ink I own that works awesome. Just as good as the expensive ink lol. I got a bunch of inks from QVC about 6 years ago and they are all still in good working use and I use them all the time. They work awesome for painting the chipboard. Notice the bottom Flourish, I used a pale Pink/brown. I have since changed it to match the others after seeing it scanned. So it now matches the other ink. I used bling from Junkitz for the yellow blig above and below the picture. I used Prima flowers and Star brads. I Used two small buttons and one big button on the sides of the strips. The big flower is from none other than the Dream. I am heading there today when my neice comes so I can check out some of the new goods. I will be sure to report back to you guys on the goodies! The tag is from Basic Grey I believe. I picked that up at the yard sale at the Dream. Superstar is Me and my Big Ideas. And woo la there you have it! My take on the sketch!

Just the beginning of DISNEY

Alright ladies. Here it is, what you have been waiting for, the start of my Disney pages! Yeah, OK, so you probably haven't been waiting for them, and you are going to be sick of looking at them but too bad! LOL

The Cover Page:



I fell in love with this Disney transparency and scooped it up the second I saw it. What to do with it though, that was my problem. I finally decided that it would make a good title page...it has all the words to describe a Disney vacation and sets the mood to what you are about to look at in the album. Like I said, nothing exciting...






Buzz Lightyear:


Supplies: Bazzil Bling, Jolee's stickers, Cricut- Disney Cartridge, inks and shape punch.












"Swim" / The CHALLENGE page:

I needed to also get to work on the challenge page that Miss. Nicole set forth. I decided that I would stick to my Disney theme and try it out. This was actually the perfect page for it because there wasn't many pictures, but there was a story to tell. I am going to change the picture, but the rest is pretty much the way it's going to stay. Supplies: Green cardstock was from a paper pack that I bought in Disney, EK Success Disney papers, stickers by Jolee's, and Cricut Disney Cartridge.

Here is the link to the sketch I used for this page. The designer is Liz Qualman and I must say that I love her designs and may just try out a few more!

http://www.scrapbook.com/galleries/150887/view/1061487/0/0/1.html

mini book! (and ali edwards)

Yo girls! I miss you! All this talk of the bus tour makes me wish I didn't live so dang far away. Y'all have to promise me ONE thing. If I can't go, will one of you snag me something awesome? Thanks.

Okay, so all day today I planned on starting the sketch challenge but got totally hung up on this mini board book I wanted to make. I know you all must know Ali Edwards, right? She has a blog, which I love, and also a Flickr account. She also has this life art newsletter she publishes every so often online with little challenges and articles. I've been reading her stuff lately and I love it. She's such a fabulous photographer, and we all know how wonderful her scrapbooking skills are. I have the Life Artist book, which I haven't finished reading. Just looking through it is enough to make me feel inspired. I've started working with paint more often, getting in touch with my roots so to speak.

ANYWAY, if you read her blog, her weekend entry features a mini book she created. She created the cover by layering items and then painting the whole thing one color. I loved this, and she challenged the internets to do something similar over the weekend. So I thought about it all weekend and finally did mine today.

I love green (even my iPod is green) and I've been running around painting things green lately. I'll have to post a picture of it but I even painted a jewelry box I got for Christmas GREEN. It looks great...much better than it did as a plain cherry stained box.

So I chose green for my cover.



This is actually not a photo of the FINISHED cover...I added aqua stickles all around the edges (sparingly) and around the white "baby" and the star. So it was simple. I didn't add a whole bunch of dimension to this smally book, just the star. But it gives the effect I wanted. Simple and subdued.

The theme is obviously baby memories. There are TONS of milestones/moments/memories I haven't scrapbooked yet. Eleana is growing SO fast that I barely have enough time to keep up with her. I've had these wallet sized pictures lying around the office forever, waiting to be put somewhere, in something. I finally just created this general book of favorites using those pictures, and I wish I had room to add more.



Making this book also gave me the chance to use up some of the baby themed items I have, that I NEVER used. Like the "sleep tight" sign. It's actually metal, and surprisingly thin for a metal embelleshment. And all these pinky stickers (like the one that says "naptime" above) are finally diminishing, though I still have half of a sheet left.

The journaling above reads: As an infant, any place in the apartment was suitable for a nap. Eleana felt most comfy on her Boppy (if she wasn't in our arms.) Naps were eratic and short, but seemed so blissful to our sweet girl.



Page 2 (above) is a little more personal, documenting (briefly) our time nursing. The journaling reads: Breastfeeding Eleana was one of the best things I've done for her as her mother, though challenging at times. We lasted 8 months, until Eleana decided she'd rather feed herself.

The picture of us together above is one of my all-time favorites of us. She looks so happy-go-lucky, which is exactly who she is, even today. The green strip between the two pictures of her eating says "nurture" but it didn't photograph well.



Okay, the last page in the book is all about Daddy. The bottom photo on the left is censored per Daddy's request. It's a picture of our 2-month-old girly laying on his bare chest. He hates when his chest is hairy, and in the picture it's super hairy, so he didn't want everyone to see it. Insert giggling here. There's no journaling on this page. No room. I love the picture on the right so much that I had to make it big. The color is off here too. The "bundle of joy" tag should be pink.




The back cover isn't fabulous...just plain and pretty.

Tomorrow I'm doing the sketch. I already know what picture I'm using and everything!
XOXOXO

Signo to the rescue!

Me again. Heh heh. So! I'm reviewing my work and I'm tortured by the fact that something just ain't right in scrapsville. Something was missing from ye ol layout. It was the journaling. And also the balance was off. So remembering these rub-ons I borrowed from NP last year, I decided to mimic them and journal around the floral swirls on the left in my trusty white SIGNO pen. Then added flourish on the right for proper balance. Then of course, I had to do the same with the tag. I'm getting braver with the doodling since our last project! See the difference below:

"Fall"-ing in love with this sketch! (challenge)

First, let me say kudos to Nicole for picking out a cool sketch : http://www.scrapbook.com/gallery/source/150887/Sketch230.jpg

Do you ever look at a sketch and know right away what pictures you'll use? Often, I do. But not this time. At first, I couldn't figure out what photos I had to match the colors in the sketch. Then the lighbulb went off that it was up for our interpretation! I have tons of pictures from fall that I wanted to crop, so I headed in that direction. The results are below!




I chose to shape my paper a little differently than the sketch. I thought the elements were close enough. I must be watching too much HGTV. I realize I have to go back and do something to the left side. It's too bare. And it's going to be journaling. I'll follow the swirls. Nichole P. had rub-ons once like that! ( I wonder if she knows which ones I'm talkin' about?) Next, the sketch asks for a tag. I LOVE tags! Tags are great for the not-quite-card-maker like myself. And speaking of cards, did you see Nichole P's cards in the prior layout? Wow-za!
I used all kinds of goodies here like stickers from the almighty dollar store, ribbon from the almighty dollar section in Michaels. You'll notice accents like the bottle caps from Building 19. I inked yellow on the corners to bring in the color from the flower on the main page, which was originally hideous and so I used my cat eye inks with Sienna, Brown, etc. God bless the inks!


Viola! Here's the entire representation! I like this so much, I think I'm going to use this sketch for another layout! Thanks for viewing!

fun announcement

Hello hello, ladies! I have some great news to share with everyone! I got a job teaching at the local scrapbook store! I'm on staff for one month as a trial, and if all goes well I'll be on indefinitely.

The owner wants our first class to be a greeting card class. I was told to have my samples by the end of this week, and her guidelines were these:

1. create 6 cards
2. have a spring theme
3. have all 6 cards coordinate with each other so they package nicely if to be presented by the maker as a gift to someone else
4. use one product in all 6 cards, utilizing the product uniquely in each card so as to teach how versatile that product can be.


So, I made 6 cards, each pink, white and yellow. I used brads and eyelets as my versatile product of choice. The cards are simple, mostly because this is expected to be a 2 hour course - not a lot of time for 6 cards per person!

I'm taking the cards to the store tomorrow as it's closed today. I'm so nervous the owner won't like them!


See the bottom right card above? The one with the little sign post? Yeah, the paper the yellow brads is attached to is actually a pale yellow. These didn't scan well at all!



The top card here, above the "hello!" card is solid white, with a torn patterned panel. Again you can barely see the white card because of the scanner. I guess I should've put a piece of paper behind the cards as I scanned. Woops. Lesson learned.

I'd love to know what you ladies think of these cards!

Mom Survival Kit in a can... (baby shower present to go with the baby album)

I decorated a naked paint can with the matching papers I used on the baby album and card I made. Inside the can I put Chocolate bars of all sorts and brands, clear eyes for those sleepless weeks lol, Tylenol for headaches and a diaper wheel with mom, dad, nana and papas name on it so she's always not the one changing diapers. This was so much fun!

Jenn, I too scrapped even though we couldn't scrap together tonight!

Well, we were suppose to get together tonight but with the snow and all we couldn't make it. =( From the looks of things that didn't stop Jenn and I from Scrappin' anyway! I have a baby shower for a distant cousin of mine coming up on Sunday so I made this accordion book for the mom to be. I am also making her a New Mother Survival Pail. I will post that tomorrow when I finish it.

So, for this project I used the Creative Imaginations BE Naked Accordion Album and dressed it up with some fabulous Brenda Walton papers. A long time ago I bought the Brenda Walton Scrap Pad to go. The Dollhouse collection. It is so pretty and comes with great stickers and they sell chipboard letters that match it as well as chipboard dies and all kinds of other goodies. I used all the scraps I had left from it to make this book. The few that aren't Brenda Walton on here are so blah, The pink paper with the colored circles with the baby die at the top is not one of my fav. papers but what am I going to do I already glued the bad boy on there. It is three bugs in a rug. The princess crown paper is also three bugs in a rug. The front side came out way better than the back side.

If you click on the picture, which you may already know it will make the picture bigger so you can get a better view. I had to leave room for a wallet size picture so I was limited decorating the area because most would be covered with a pic or two. This was fun cause I got to use a lot of my old stash for this. Like all the dies I had and added a little Martha Stewart bling to it. Jolee's & Sandylion Essentials 3d stickers are always fun for gift projects too! The duck is from a sticker pack I got at Target many, many moons ago. I forget who makes it. I think it is Generic. But they are 3d and are raised with foam dots. They come like that! WOOT WOOT! Bath time is part of the accordion book.

The accordion books come with it's own storage case. I decorated that with the matching papers and added ribbon to the rim that reads Sweet Baby Girl.

The back of the album is the polka dot paper. The front of the album is the cool paisley paper. I also added the same Sweet Baby Girl pink ribbon to the front of the rim of the box. I took my cricut and added SWEET BABY GIRL as the title of the box and inked it with white. I added a lil bling to the "I" in girl. I added foam squares to the back of the baby die cut and called it a day!

Woola, this is how I kept busy during the snow storm! It was fun, but would of been much better if you gals could of joined me! Till tomorrow. Signing off for now. Nicole ((((HUGS))))))

Valentine's Sugar

Here is my one and ONLY Valentine's Day LO. It's actually from a monthly sketch from http://gettinsketchy.blogspot.com/. LOVED the sketch, but wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do the challenge this month. Am bogged down thinking about doing my Disney stuff. Anyway, As most of you know, I really could care less about Valentine's day. Maybe it's because everyday is like Valentine's with my husband (really, not kidding!), or maybe it's because growing up we celebrated my Dad's b-day and then my Grandfather's b-day on V-day? Who knows. There's a cute little story to go along with these pictures - you can view that on my blog http://schelinski.blogspot.com/2008/02/its-not-junk-its-sugar.html

The materials: Bazzil, Creative Imaginations, Robins Nest glitter hearts, glitter letters, buttons and ribbon. Oh and I can't forget the cute little Quickutz penguin.

My "funny" Valentine

Nicole posted some scrap-a-rific Valentine layouts so I had to dive into my massive supply and crank one out myself. What the heck am I waiting for? Besides, this story was too good to sit on.

After a fab-U time at the spa Valentine's eve, husband and I have just enough time to make our dinner reservations! So we head around the corner for dinner. I adore this restaurant, and was so taken by the sights and smells and sounds, that I didn't even REALIZE who they were sitting me near - behind actually - it was none other than NICOLE herself (and husband, who is awesome by the way).

What were the chances?!?!!! The whole dinner I wanted to keep turning around and tapping her on the shoulder to gab. You KNOW I had to get a pic for this moment. You KNOW I did!!! And ah-ha I beat ya to it Nicole! ;)
Pictured here are the scrapbook divas. Literally, we're back to back. What torture! I wanted to scoot my table next to hers! As the night wore on, all four of us were talking and laughing so loud. I think the other patrons were a tad bit annoyed!

Oh! About the scrapping! I got this paper set at Michael's I think. I really loved the colors. The glitter embellishments around the page are from ye ol dollar section at Target. Me loves that dollar section, yo!

And Nichole P, I know you're dyin' to know about the tags, my alter-er extraordinaire! Why, they are 7 Gypsies, of course. And the "Look" tag was for me to pull out and read so I can always remember that moment I saw Nicole and her husband. I was really psyched. The "Celebration" tag is adorned with my $1 acrylic stamps I collect. Everyone carries them now. I included a close up because I know Nichole P is anxious to feast her little eyeballs on 'em. And yes, I have in fact doodled on 'em. Thanks for noticing.

The funniest thing about Valentine's (aside from my surprise encounter) was that we both had a terrible cold. Sneezed ALL THRU DINNER. I had to take a pic of this. You KNOW I did! My flash went off so many times during dinner, you'd think a celebrity was dining there.

I wanted to accomplish two things here. First, I wanted to use two different types of paper on the same page. I didn't really need a border to separate them, but I loved this ribbon I got at Walmart that was black and red and said "Kiss Me". I also have it on the hat pin on the tag. Can't get enough of it. Next, I've always liked the look of small pictures together like a film negative. I made sure to print them as if they were telling a story. At least, to me they do. The tags will do the rest!

Enjoy!