Scrapbooking About Our Pets

Our pets hold a special place in our hearts and lives. They are our faithful companions. They are always there for us when we need a friend, a hello, or a warm, fuzzy snuggle. They definitely deserve a spot in our scrapbooks, don’t you think?!

I have had dogs my entire life, so there was no question I wanted them to be a part of our children’s lives. We have two little white pups we love and adore!

But because we always had owned dogs, I never even thought about adding a cat to our family  … that is, until one day last fall when my daughter was visiting a friend whose cat had just had a litter. She texted me photos of her holding the most beautiful, black kitten that had bright, blue eyes … and I was immediately smitten!

I couldn’t stop thinking about that sweet boy! And a few weeks later, right before Halloween, Ozzie joined our family. ❤

He is our Halloween kitty and we ADORE him! I completely understand cat loving people now and wish that we had gotten one sooner. They are simply DELIGHTFUL!!!

I used the Simple Stories Simple Vintage Halloween collection for this photo. I created a cluster of elements at the top of the page anchored on a punched half-circle of the Pumpkin Time paper.

A cluster of the Bits & Pieces die cuts anchors the chipboard title overlapping the top of my photo.

The spiderweb and banner sticker hug the bottom right corner of my photo and lead your eye towards the journaling strips.

The layout is built on the Snap Basics Walnut/Cream Dot paper, then matted with the Chestnut/White Dot paper and Little Monsters paper (LOVE the storybook look of this fun paper!).

Have you scrapped your furry friend lately? What do you love about them? What drives you crazy? How have they enriched our life? Why not add that story to your next page?

SUPPLIES:

Thank you for coming by!

Stashbusting

I’ve been on a stashbusting kick lately. My good friend, Jen Schow, has the best post about creating your own scrapbooking kit. I used her list and guidelines to create kits using items from my stash, and these two pages are a result of one of those kits.

HERE & NOW

I love this cloud paper by Simple Stories and just HAD to cut them out to use on both of these pages today. For this layout, I outlined them a couple of times in a messy/random way for a more artsy look.

I’m having fun layering up papers behind my photos lately … especially on pages with a single photo. The contrast of the black and white patterns and the pops of bright color make my creative heart sing!

Word stickers make adding a title to a page really easy. I use aqua blue on almost every page I create, but hadn’t put these fun blue phrases to work yet. I love how they look here!

SUPPLIES:

Patterned Paper:
Reddish-Pink Background Paper: Amy Tangerine Better Together Cut & Paste
Black with Blue Polka Dots: October Afternoon Hometown County Library
Green Grid Paper: Bella Blvd. Birthday Boy Eat Cake
Clouds: Simple Stories Carpe Diem Fist Bump
Yellow Hearts: Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm Wild Hearts
Black/White Stripe: Simple Stories Carpe Diem Don’t Mind Me
Blue Script Paper: Pebbles Seen & Noted
Blue Herringbone/Flowers: Simple Stories Carpe Diem Brand New Day
Bradz: Simple Stories You Are Here
Tag: Elle’s Studio (?)
Thickers Title: Fancy (310224)
Chipboard: Simple Stories Carpe Diem
Journal Spot: Elle’s Studio
Black Journaling Pen/Scissors/Trimmer
Adhesive/Foam Squares

……………………………………………………………………………..

SIDEWALK CHALK

This page is actually a page re-do. The first time I made this layout, I was trying my hand at mixed media for the first time and DID NOT like the result. I know most people would have called it done … but I just KNOW that every time I look at that page as I flip through my books, it will bug me! Hahaha!

I layered up a sun die cut on top of a starburst circle to give the sun a bit more dimension. And again, I used those cute Simple Stories clouds from the Carpe Diem collection. Swoon! They look even cuter with the colorful buttons on top of them. I LOVE me some buttons!

For the title, I used puffy letter stickers by Bella Blvd. in two colors. There was no rhyme or reason to the way I decided to add in the red letters … I just did what I thought looked good.

Simple Stories always has the cutest icons and these birds are no exception. They are so cute with the flowers tucked behind their “ear” or ??? sound hole? Or what do you call them … Be right back … Okay, here is what I found … they are called ear coverts. Hmmm! I guess you learn something new every day! (See, honey … scrapbooking is educational, too! *wink*)

SUPPLIES:

Cardstock: Red, Black, Green
Patterned Paper
Aqua Background: Pebbles Walnut Grove Laura
Black with Blue Polka Dots: October Afternoon Hometown County Library
Script: Elle’s Studio Little Moments My Favorite
Clouds: Simple Stories Carpe Diem Fist Bump
Camera: Simple Stories Posh
Sun Die: My Favorite Things
Starburst Die: Source Unknown
Chipboard, Bradz, Stickers: Simple Stories
Silhouette Cameo Machine
“Grass” cut file by Echo Park Paper (Design #184767 in the Silhouette Design Store)
Stamp Border Punch: Fiskars
Blue Ribbon/White Twine
Red/Blue Buttons
Black Journaling Pen/Gray Distressing Ink
Adhesive/Foam Squares
Sewing Machine/White Thread

Be sure to check out Jen Schow’s kit post. It is well worth your time and will definitely inspire you to create a kit from your stash! If you make one, I’d love to hear about your experience. I, for one, LOVE making them AND creating from them!

Have a great day!

Scrapbook Page: Hello Binx

We are not cat people … we are dog people (I hope the cat people don’t throw tomatoes at me!); however, my kids have absolutely fallen in love with our neighbor’s cat. They even go as far as walking by my neighbor’s house hoping that their cat is out-and-about so they can sit and cuddle with him for awhile. Haha!

HELLO BINX

Of course I had to use the gorgeous florals from the Warm & Cozy “Checkerboard” paper on this page again. As you know, I LOVE cutting out florals and they look so pretty here!

I used my manual die cut machine and an old Cuttlekids heart die to create the cork hearts (Cork Sheets from a Die Cuts with a View stack). I added a rose gold staple in the center of each one using the WRMK Staple Board.

I found the black and white chalkboard chipboard stickers (by Mambi) at Tuesday Morning last week. They look perfect with these papers … AND the photos of this sweet black and white kitty.

I added brown and gold gems (Darice) to the centers of the fussy-cut flowers, and also sprinkled them around the cork hearts. I like the way they add some warmth and make this page feel a little more sophisticated.

I wanted to break up the outer gingham border a bit, so it didn’t feel so predictable. I cut the brown patterned branding strip from the “Green Plaid” paper and placed a long piece of it at the bottom of the page, and then a shorter piece in the upper left corner. It’s a subtle detail but makes a big difference. The darker color of these pieces form a visual triangle with the journaling labels in the top right of the page, making them feel balanced.

SUPPLIES:

OTHER SUPPLIES:
Cardstock: Black, Red, White
Patterned Paper: Pink Paislee Memorandum (Black labels)
Cork Sheets (Die Cuts with a View)
MAMBI Chipboard Stickers
Heart Dies: Provo Craft Cuttlekids
Gems: Darice
Adhesive/Trimmer/Scissors
Black Journaling Pen

I hope you enjoyed your visit today. See you again soon!

         

Noel Mignon: Ellie Belly

This week on the Noel Mignon Blog, the design team is sharing what things on our projects are “Perfectly Paired” … things that just seemed to go naturally together! I’m going to share with you the two things I selected from the February Heart of Gold Classic Kit that started me off on this page, and you might be surprised!

But first, I learned something from creating this week with the “Perfectly Paired” theme at the forefront of my thoughts … EVERY design decision I make seems to be based on items that I think pair well together … I’ll tell you what I mean as we go through the details of this page.

ELLIE BELLY

Valentine’s Day can be counted as one of my favorite holidays … I mean, as a crafter don’t we love the opportunity to create cards and treats?! But I know that Valentine’s/Love themed kits might be daunting for some people. I gotta say … I LOVE them! I not only love the opportunity to scrapbook about Valentine’s Day or Love, but also the other things in my life that I love. For example, this page of my daughter and her love for our dogs.

So what was the catalyst for this page? What was the one thing that first “paired” itself together in my mind? See that wood arrow with the pink ribbon! Yep! That little combination was calling my name … and was the impetus of this page.

After deciding that I needed to have a page with this arrow on it, I worked on the layers from front to back … I needed a home for that arrow, so I dug through the kit supplies and found this foil frame. Perfect! I can put a photo inside and have the arrow layer on top and point to the subjects … *Proceed to find photos of my daughter with one of our pups.*

From there, I needed to choose papers to highlight my photos. The pink color of the ribbon and the wood tone of the arrow reminded me of pink and gold … so that is what I ran with.

Pink and Gold! Another perfect pair! I love the way the photos looked with the pink background and the way the gold and white elements looked against it. Soft and pretty!

At this point I tucked a few doily and flower layers behind my photos and decided to pair them with hearts. Hearts and Flowers … ANOTHER perfect design pair! 😀

See that luscious champagne bow … this was an out-of-the-norm design decision for me … I NEVER put two different ribbons on a page. I usually just stick to one and pair it with twine or something like that, but for whatever reason (maybe it was that the champagne color of the ribbon picked up on the wood and gold tones going on in other parts of the page) it just worked!!! Don’t be afraid to break your own rules. Pair two ribbons together if that is what your design heart is telling you to do!

Finally, here is a closer look at the journaling … professing my daughter’s love for her dogs. 🙂

SUPPLIES: Noel Mignon February 2016 Heart of Gold Classic Kit, Patterned Papers (BasicGrey, We R Memory Keepers, Echo Park Paper, Pink Paislee), Transparency (Pink Paislee), Die cuts (We R Memory Keepers), Stickers (We R Memory Keepers, PInk Paislee), Washi Stickers (Pink Paislee), Wood Shapes (Crate Paper), Chipboard Frame (Pink Paislee), Ribbon (May Arts), Journal Block (Collage Press),  Flair (A Flair for Buttons), Other: Gray journaling pen, gray ink, date stamp, adhesive, foam squares.

I hope you enjoyed this little tour through my page … What items is your creative heart telling you to pair together on your project this week?