Midwest Scrapgarden

Sky Climbers

2012-02-13T06:22:00.000-06:00

This past week I was asked to do the sketch at Studio Calico. I was thrilled, especially because the designer of the original LOs, Kelly Noel, is one of my favorites. I decided to do a two-page LO to preserve the white space when I used three 4x4 photos. Here's what I did:

If you look at the right side, that's the sketch. I pulled the left hand elements over more and mimicked the right strips onto the left side to create this LO.

Here's close ups of the two sides:

And the details:

I love clusters of details.

I also liked the confetti on the original sketch. I made punches with small circle punches and cross-stitched a few down. I also added bling. And if you look closely, you can see where I used a Crafter's Workshop chicken wire misting mask.

Here's where I finished up the confetti. I made it go up, like my boys.

Thanks for looking at my LO! Be sure to go over to Studio Calico and enter the challenge around this sketch!

Floral foreshadowing

2012-02-07T19:23:00.000-06:00

This has been a pretty bleak winter. Almost no snow, so we haven't been able to go sledding. Plenty of jogging, but that's not what my boys want. As Dominic said, "It we can't have winter, it might as well be spring."

So to honor my dude's wishes, here's a little bit of spring/summer, using this week's sketch from Sketch Support:

I kept the design very similar, only switching around some of the papers, and that was by mistake. I'm glad I did, though, because it highlighted that gorgeous Studio Calico paper from the Memoir collection called, fittingly, Flower Bed.

To highlight the paper even more, I trimmed centers from the flowers I didn't use and added them with dimensional stickers. I also cut out a few flowers to make dimensional (and cheap!) embellishments.

Here I also stitched some stems. It was tough to pick a color, since the background was green. I went with yellow, my favorite color.

Enjoy these warm photos, especially if you're with me in Minnesota; the next week looks to be pretty chilly! Still no snow, though. Phooey.

Pages I do every year

2012-02-01T22:03:00.001-06:00

Sometimes I scrap the exact same pages every year. There: I said it. Sometimes I even do the same journaling or the same design too. Why change it? If I like it, and the ritual pleases me, why not?

Here's one thing I do every year: my page of my favorite photos:

I started doing this layout after an inspiring blog post by Stacy Julian; she suggested we spend 15 minutes not thinking too much, scrolling through the photos of the previous year, selecting our favorites, and putting them on a LO. I used this template designed by Barb Wong. I've done this for the past three years. It's awesome. This is the first page in my Project 12 albums.

Sometimes I think we put too much pressure on ourselves. We think if something is done the same as what we've done before, we're being unoriginal. I quarrel with that. We're creating, and one thing that creators do involves repetition, especially repeated style. Why reinvent the wheel? When we see a particular design of ad, for example, we know the company that produces it. That's good. So if my family sees the same design in every vacation album, that's OK; it signals the familiar, which is comforting.

It's OK if we repeat ourselves, especially if we love it. If you love it, do it again!

Here's some of the pages I do every year:

Birthdays (of course)
5 Vacation Favorites (a mini album I do every year after vacation)
Thankful (a Thanksgiving LO)
A year-in-review page
Getting off the school bus (my first day of school page)
Catch (this is a big thing with my husband and the boys)
Black Friday (We go to the Mall of America. It's a big thing.)
Vacation album (I use the same design every year)
A 2-page Christmas/December spread
Jedi Eggs (Easter dyeing)
Christmas card photo spread
Easter family photo

There's others I tend to do, but these I embrace and do every year, without fail, and without shame of copying myself, even if the design or journaling or title is the same.

What pages do you do every year?

Male Patterned Paper

2012-01-27T06:45:00.000-06:00

I've had these photos of Derick for a while, plus the page title, just waiting for inspiration. This week's sketch at Sketch Support gave me that inspiration. Here's the page:

I modified the sketch quite a bit, mainly because the star is incidental to the theme (he loves doing Star Wars role playing games). I used it to "fancy up" the replacement letter "e."

I had run out of "e's" from the wood letter set and almost got more, but my scrapping friend Janet stopped me from buying more wood letters, saying, "Use an 'e' from your supplies." That have me the idea for the embellishing. I punched a star from scrap paper, traced around it, punched holes every 1/4 inch, then stitched.

If you haven't gone to Sketch Support yet today, do so! There is a giveaway for two sketchbooks.

Fun, Family Stories, and a Ritual

2012-01-23T21:58:00.000-06:00

I have been working hard at grading papers and scrapping for my BPC class Twelve. Here's three I just finished.

The first LO is a double page spread about our crazy baseball game from last summer. I blogged about it here, and I took the photos from my post and put them on this LO. Here's what I did (click on the images to see them larger):

I used a library pocket from Maya Road to hold the tickets, which I always try to save. The blue paper, which sort of looks like rolling clouds to me, I misted with Studio Calico Heirloom Blue to make the white pattern less bright.

For interest, I stitched frames around the photos on the right and housed the journaling strips in circles of patterned paper.

My next page is about my (mostly) lovely ritual of taking my dog for a ride. She likes to ride shotgun.

I mostly used scraps, plus some mist and stitches. Love this photo of her. I took it at a light. She always gives me this look when I stop petting her.

The next page is for fun:

I've had this quote knocking around forever waiting for a page, so it found its way onto this one. I did lots of fun stuff on this one:

misting with a template
hand stitching
machine stitching
layering strips of paper
using a favorite design
using a quotation

Here's some details:

Thanks for looking at my pages--I enjoyed making and sharing them. I'll share some Sketch Support pages later this week.

Twelve

2012-01-17T21:41:00.000-06:00

One of my husband's birthday presents to me this year was a class called Twelve at Big Picture Classes. I'm so excited to be in this class. Here's a recent layout I made for it, under the category of "Me":

I used Studio Calico's December kit Brooklyn Flea for this LO. Lots of fun mixing papers.

I wanted some mixed textures on the title, so I wrote the second word, punched holes every 1/4", the stitched in turquoise.

One thing I like lately: when I punch a border, I curl the edges up. Nothing revolutionary, but it adds some nice texture to the LO.

More LOs (and more birthday!) to come.

Goofy and Happy

2012-01-11T20:34:00.000-06:00

I wanted to share a page I made recently that I love.

First, I had some wonderful photos of our trip to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, a wonderful and free museum in the Twin Cities. A docent marked up a map for us of all the boy friendly art, and we went on an adventure finding it all. The boys acted goofy the whole way. Here's the page:

I designed it a little differently. Normally on a two page LO, I box it into a mat or spread it across the page, but that design felt a bit staid to me, so I put the photos instead in three clusters across the spread. Underneath each cluster I misted, then laid some strips of my favorite GCD Studios paper from last year, The World's Greatest. I also cut frames out of one side of the paper and housed images I punched from the MIA map we'd used.

I was very happy to use some older Jenni Bowlin letter stickers on the layout. I actually used up the sheet--no more e's and a's, so out it went! I stitched over it in orange for interest, then added some cross stitches under the hand cut banner.

I stretched the journaling over the two pages to move the eye across the page.

This was a layout I smiled the whole time making. Most happily for me, my boys kept coming over and looking at the photos then the journaling, and they both asked when we could go again. We decided we'd go in February when Grandma D comes.

Another thing making me happy: looking forward to playing with this paper line:

GCD Studios is releasing Heidi Sonboul's first line, Oh Happy Day! Maybe because it finally started to feel (and look!) like winter here in Minnesota, I can't wait to play with these happy, happy colors and patterns. One image of a girl, but don't let that turn you off if you have boys: the patterns are happy and playful, and boys are happy and playful too. Awesomeness!

New Year pages

2012-01-06T20:46:00.000-06:00

I was lucky enough to spend January 2 at Archiver's, where I got a start on a few layouts. Here's three that I finished (all of these layouts I made using Studio Calico's December kit. I always try to use up my kits every month before I get the new one.):

I pulled a photo from this year after I asked Rowan what his earliest memory was, and he told me what I wrote on the page: "Meeting my brother for the first time." Wonderful. Lots of misting using Mister Huey Custard and maybe Pony, If I remember right. I also added a stitched border, which I like to do on a neutral background.

I found the quotation on Pinterest, and since I'd taken this photo on Christmas (I know, it looks like fall outside) of my husband and me, I thought it would be a great sentiment for the page. I misted with the same colors on this page.

This might be my favorite. I do so many Lego pages, I'm running out of titles! Here he told me he wanted to work in the Lego store as a grown up, and I had to put that on a page. Fortunately I had the perfect photo, though I'm not sure what's under his eye? A cat hair, maybe. Our grey and white cat also left a hair on the first layout, I think.

I like the touches of green on this layout. I think it adds an unexpected touch to the color combo, making it more playful. Goodness knows, if a word describes my boy, it's "Playful."

Guest Artist

2012-01-02T20:32:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago I applied for the Pink Paislee design team. Since I first saw Office Lingo, I've loved their products, so I thought I would give it a go. This past weekend I saw this on the blog:

I'll be one of the Guest Artists this year! (Truthfully, I didn't post this until I was absolutely sure I was the Jennifer Larson they meant, LOL! Sometimes it's hard having a common name.)

Thanks for letting me share the news! Now off to finish the pages I started at Archiver's today.

Favorites of 2011

2012-01-01T09:25:00.004-06:00

The year year is here, and I wanted to share some of my favorite layouts from last year.

Three I can't post because they were picked up for publication. One I'm not sure will be published--it was for the February CK, but that's out and it's not in? That happens sometimes. That LO used a sketch from Sketch Support and was called "A Year of Date Nights."

The other two were layouts that I knew would get picked up for publication after I made them. I don't get that feeling all the time, but this time I did. They are called "Open Sky" and "He's Got Goals," and they should be in the May Scrapbook Trends.

Here's the rest:

(ETA: Just noticed a number fell off, goshdarnit! The missing number is 6.)

Some things I noticed about these pages:

Most have stitching in some way.
Most also have color--paint or ink or mist.
Most have circles--within in the design or in the photos. Funny, because I'm still so linear!
Strips of patterned paper--I'm still a stripper, LOL!
Lots of patterned paper; also white space.
Most of the time, something overlaps a photo.
Border punches or fussy cut borders.

Thanks for looking at my favorites from last year--hoping everyone has a terrific new year!

Christmas boys

2011-12-30T07:29:00.001-06:00

Before the holidays end and I take down the decorations (which will be soon, since there is more tree on floor than on tree), I wanted to share a couple pages I made for Sketch Support this past month.

Both are pages of my boys. I tend to scrap Christmas layouts for the family, not for their albums, but I decided since they love the holidays so much, I should put together a page with their memories from the holiday too.

I didn't worry about journaling. Instead, I selected pictures from the season to represent the month for them. Here's what I did:

It was a two page sketch, but I narrowed it to one since I used fewer photos.

I added stars and stitched glimmer for fun!

Here's Dominic:

I used GCD Studios' Scandia Jul for this page--the bright colors and graphic patterns were perfect for the sketch.

I have trouble stitching with twine, so I drew a line with a ruler and pencil, laid glue down, and stuck the twine down. I did something similar with the bows: I tied them, then glued them down.

Another fun thing: Rather than having the ornaments overlap the photo and papers, I used my circle cutter to cut a slightly larger circle to house them.

Have a great New Year's weekend! I plan on (finally!) editing my Disney photos from 2010 using my Christmas gift, PSE 10 (woot!) and going to a crop on the second at Archiver's with some friends. And hopefully, we'll get snow so my boys can play outside in their boots.

Just messin' around

2011-12-26T16:18:00.000-06:00

Now that I'm on winter break, I have time to mess around with my blog formatting. I am planning something fancier, but I thought I'd try to make some basic changes right away that I've been wanting to do for a while. So if you come back this week and things look different, that's why.

On that note, if anyone knows how to size the header photo to fit the space, link me up! I am always willing to admit my current incompetence. :-)

Best Christmas Ever

2011-12-25T18:52:00.005-06:00

Like it is for many people, December is a super busy month for us. The boys perform in the church program, there's a taekwondo test, my grades are due, we're preparing for the church choral program, plus all the normal busyness of the season. The one thing missing from the season? Snow. I really want to change my banner photo, but I can't. It sort of looks like March outside. Craziness.

One thing that has been weird for me this season is scrapbooking. To put the tree up, we have to move the easy chair I normally scrap in. I've discovered I've had a hard time scrapping when I'm not in my normal seat. Go figure.

So recently, my scrapbooking has consisted of planning and idea generating. Christmas itself has given me plenty of ideas. Even though we got to bed last night at 11:30 after attending the candlelight service (Derick and I were singing), the boys woke up at 6 A.M. ready for gifts. Boy did they have fun. After Dominic opened one gift, he wandered over to Derick and me, let out a big sigh, and said, "Best Christmas Ever." I'm not even sure what he opened.

His words made me pull out some paper and list why this could be the best Christmas ever. Here's a few:

1. Lola at our feet.
2. A bucket full of Little Miss Matched socks.
3. The family jog in the afternoon.
4. Lego Ninjago for each boy.
5. The Zombies wearing Santa hats in Plants Versus Zombies.
6. The sound of Lego sorting and hummed Christmas carols in the boys' rooms.

7. The boys in Dominic's room, playing games with their newly constructed Legos.
8. Me hiding by their door and tossing in a shrieking Angry Bird.

One of my favorite books is Little House on the Prairie. I don't remember which one it was, but I know in one book two sisters (Carrie and Laura?) talked about how Christmas gets better each year. I sort of feel that way. I know Christmas can be a melancholy season for some--one friend of mine who recently lost her mother, for one--but it's also a season to reflect on the great gifts we have been given, not all of which cost money and many of which are human (or in the case of Lola, canine).

Merry Christmas to everyone, and a blessed New Year.

In the bleak midwinter: my design process

2011-12-18T19:30:00.000-06:00

That title is misleading. It's not really been bleak here in Minnesota this year. Very little snow, very little cold. In fact, it should be 40 degrees this weekend! I'm going jogging.

Still, midwinter in Minnesota means almost no sunlight. I leave for work in the dark and arrive home in the almost dark too. That means it's very hard to take pictures of my layouts. I tried it outdoors, which didn't really work well. I'll just have to figure something else out until the Christmas tree comes down. (Our tree is in front of the picture window, the only natural lighting source indoors.) Here it is:

I started the page typically for me: I picked the photos with the idea of the story behind it. One photo was obviously the "starring" shot, so I printed it big; the rest were 3x3.

Next, I selected papers, this time from the left overs from Studio Calico's November kit Handmade. Indoor shots tend to be kind of dull color-wise for me, so I picked subdued hues; since my son was the most colorful thing of the page, he would stand out more against subdued hues.

At this point I figured out how to lay the photos on the page, fitting the papers in between. I made a block layout because it was the easiest way to put these photos together in a balanced manner. I tend towards asymmetry, so I like the way it looked.

At this point I picked embellishments and the title lettering. I selected the leaves because they looked a little bunny earish, and set them against a button. The letters were from a kit; I overlapped them slightly as I lay them down.

Here's where something typical happened for me: I realized I'd like to stitch some stuff down right next to some dimensional accents. So, I pried the buttons off carefully, stitched, and lay them down again. (Confession: this is the point I tend to mess up, ripping the paper or something. Then I have to fix it. Remember: no mistakes, only creative opportunities. Or there's this reminder by Ryan G. a la Handmade Ryan Gosling, if you prefer.)

Right now I journaled. I like doing the strips of journaling, since I can fit them almost anywhere.

Finally...finishing touches. The page looked a little blah, so I pulled out my twine and tied bow ties around the buttons. It was thematic and added a nice detail to the page. Just what I needed!

So there was a little glimpse into my design process. Thank you for reading! Please let me know how your design process goes, especially how it's different. I love to know how others create.

Muted Christmas hues

2011-12-17T05:00:00.000-06:00

A holiday confession:

I really don't love scrapbooking Christmas.

There! Off my chest! My month is so packed, I can't even begin to think about December Daily, and scrapbooking with traditional colors makes me never want to look at anything red or green again.

But this combo of colors makes me want to scrapbook the holidays:

See how subdued they are? Classy and fresh!

To get over my dread of making innumerable layouts from December, I used PSE 7 to make a collage that captured the entire month of December 2010:

I used black and mint for accent colors and depended on the light orange and cranberry red for the main hues.

I couldn't find a cardstock hue in just the right orange, so I created my own with a texture wheel and a light orange ink.

I wasn't much for extensive journaling, so I made a list and printed on a transparency to make the stamped background paper visible. To make the numbers stand out more, I punched mint circles from cardstock and set them under the numbers.

Here's the GCD Studios products I used:

Spring in Bloom Tags, Ribbons, and Mosaics

Funhouse Coney Island

Funhouse Shooting Gallery (I hand cut the mint-green stars from this paper.)

Funhouse The World's Greatest (I also hand-cut this one, the mint green banners this time.)

Funhouse Ribbon Spool (The red and white striped twine is like a candy cane!)

Die cut borders from Homespun Chic

Have fun experimenting with a subdued version of the traditional colors!

A Black Belt, a 5K, and Queen

2011-12-08T05:00:00.000-06:00

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about inspiration. After jogging with my boys to train them (and me!) for a 5K, I came up with a title for a layout. I then took a photo (well, my husband did), and I printed it out and made this page:

I used Studio Calico's Handmade kit for this.

The journaling came directly from my blog, a first for me. It made it so easy to just copy and paste. Wowza.

I stitched some photo corners around the photo, something I have really liked doing lately:

As usual, I did a little stripping. The top strip of paper I hand cut from this piece of October Afternoon paper. I stitched over it and added buttons just for fun.

I had a Fancy Pants chipboard flourish that had been lying around for a while, so I decided to use it as a misting mask. I didn't want dramatic mist, so I used yellow and Mister Huey's Shine. I also punched some patterned paper circles and stitched them down with cross stitches, another thing I've liked doing lately.

Thanks for looking at my project! I'm very pleased with how it turned out, even though I'm red as a lobster in this picture while my boys don't even look like they ran at all.

What have you done lately that you are proud of but haven't scrapped?

Winner!

2011-12-07T22:10:00.002-06:00

How's this for random? I plugged the number into Random.org, and it selected number 1!

Marg said...

Thanks for the awesome tutorial! I have yet to play with my Lost and Found papers but now, you've got me thinking! I tend to use very basic patterns and like stamping on my cards. Thanks for sharing your time and talent at Ella!

December 5, 2011 7:14 AM

Marg, please email me at jennyrahnlarson at yahoo dot com and I will send you the coupon code!

Ella Friends blog hop: Cards!

2011-12-05T05:00:00.002-06:00

Welcome to the Ella Friends blog hop! This has been a wonderful year working with such a talented and friendly bunch of women. I'm honored to have been on this team.

As a final farewell, we are hosting a blog hop focusing on cards. Our ideas come from this wonderful ebook:

31 Thank You Cards, by Kimber McGray, Heather Nichols, and Kristina Werner. The book is filled with design inspirations for creating various beautiful cards. At the end of this post I have information on a giveaway that can include an ebook, so be sure to read to the end!

I took inspiration from the challenge to let a beautiful piece of paper shine. Here's what I did, on a Congratulations card:

I cut out the intricate design from a piece of Lost and Found paper from My Mind's Eye. (I never use those intricate part for layouts, so it was great to put it to good use on a card!)

I also took inspiration from another challenge: to use multiple colors of mist with a template. This time, though, I used it on a layout! The book is not just great for inspiring card ideas. I used a piece of die cut paper from a Studio Calico kit as the template, and these three mists:

Mister Huey Shine, Maya Road Buttermilk Cream, and Mister Huey Lemonade. I laid down the Buttermilk cream heavily because it's the lightest, followed by a smidge of Lemonade, then a dousing of Shine.

I turned the template sideways for an interesting angle:

Then covered the edges with paper to color only the inside of the template:

Here's the design (upside down):

When I looked at the LO the next day, I thought the top looked too empty, so I decided to add another misting with the same template.

Since I had already adhered the rest of the LO, I covered them up with wax paper to prevent mist seepage.

And here's the finished LO, complete with additional details:

Design inspired by cards! I may go back and stitch lines under the journaling. Still deciding.

Thank you for visiting my blog! All of you can use the code CARDHOP one time for a $2 discount off of the ebook 31 Thank You Cards; code expires 12/10/11.

Now for the giveaway: Please leave a comment telling me what you like to do with cards--design wise, product wise, you tell me! Your comment puts you in the running to win a Gift Card to Ella Publishing, which you can use to buy this wonderful ebook. I will keep comments open until Wednesday, December 7 at 8 P.M. CST.

Thank you for visiting my blog! I hope you can stop by again. Now please visit the wonderful creations at the blogs of the other Ella Friends participating in this hop:

Have a great Monday!

New Year

2011-12-02T20:53:00.003-06:00

I am thankful to be invited for another year of designing for Sketch Support. I've loved working with Allison Davis' designs, and the community has been fabulous! Here was a page I did for my reapplication (click on the picture to see it larger):

Yes, the page is a little bent. Not sure how that happened, but oh well. I used Studio Calico's Field Guide kit for this.

Every year our family goes to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum to enjoy the beautiful summertime. This time we went for a wedding. I scrapped our family tradition of going for a walk in the gardens and the trees.

Here's some details:

Yellow, green, and tan were a lovely color combo. And I really like adding a few cross-stitches to a page for a little somethin' somethin'.

This weekend I will do my darndest to finish my grading for the first term. Then I can decorate for the holidays!

Black Friday tradition

2011-11-27T07:30:00.000-06:00

The Mall of America is a special spot for my family, most especially because my husband and I first met there. Every year we go to the Mall of America on Black Friday. It's honestly not as crazy as it sounds! We went again this year; I'll post that story soon.

I took our pictures from last year and made a mini album using the following color combo as inspiration:

The desaturated colors are warm but not to showy, perfect for my bright photos.

Here's the mini-album:

I used paint on my stamps to make the images stand out on the black paper. I also used some gems and baker's twine to add some texture to the pages.

And here's the GCD Studios products I used:

Animal Crackers for boys Cube Leaf

Animal Crackers for boys Wallpaper Stripe

Animal Crackers for boys Fauna Stripe

Animal Crackers for boys Quirky rub-on letters

The Great Outdoors Trail Blazer

Chip Art Stars

Chip Art 5x7 mini album kit

Enjoy these muted hues, even when scrapping a bright and wild event!

Where do you get your inspiration?

2011-11-20T19:58:00.006-06:00

Like most scrapbookers, I get most of my inspiration from the stories I want to tell and the photos I print to accompany them. I know there are other sources of inspiration; I just don't use them as much. I also get inspired by sketches, Pinterest, and occasionally by product, like here:

I had these photo strip stickers from K & Company for a while, but I didn't know what I wanted to use them for until I found some random photos my husband took of me and my boys around Christmas last year. I printed them in the right size, but still, no full inspiration until I saw the stamp with my October Studio Calico kit: You Are Here. That made me think of a phrase to finish it off: and it is good. The page was born in full.

Rarely, though, life itself gives me a page before I even get a photo. Case in point: this fall.

My son is preparing for his black belt test in taekwondo. As part of that, he needs to run a 5K. God bless my son, but no way did I trust I could just tell him to run and expect him to. He's a little like that dog in Up: "Squirrel!" Since my son had to run, I had to run, and I brought along my other son too.

It's been tough. At first, they complained the whole two blocks we started. Then I thought to play music on my iPhone. We ran happily to Queen, and later Green Day, but mostly Queen. Fat Bottomed Girls is surprisingly a great song to run to.

Slowly, we increased the distance until we ran 2.3 miles a week ago. We ran again today, going 2.66 miles, though Dominic ran an extra big block and did the entire 5k (3.1 miles). WTG!

As proof for Rowan's black belt, we signed up to run the TD 5K in Minneapolis this Thanksgiving. We are very excited for our shirts and the hot cocoa or cider after. Plus we want to see a turkey run. You never know.

This is definitely an event I want to scrap, so I asked my husband to take our picture after we ran last week:

I plan on calling the page " A black belt, a 5K, and Queen."

I'll post the page after I make it.

2011-11-13T21:08:00.005-06:00

I spent most of this past week grading. I'm now half-way done with research papers, 20% done with memoir second drafts, and almost done with novel summative assessments. Since I was closer, I finished the journaling on the pages I worked on last weekend. With the exception of the Sketch Support page I did, here's the rest:

Here's one of the few two-page layouts I made this weekend. I had taken a bunch of random photos last spring and printed them here to scrap about what a happy, everyday weekend it was. Well, everyday except for Dominic meeting Twins pitcher Scott Baker.

One of two Halloween LOs I did. Fun hand-stitching using the Bazzill templates with this one.
Both of these first two LOs used September's Studio Calico kits, though the Halloween one used an add-one. As did this one:

This one is becoming my favorite. My pages were becoming linear at this point, so I started cutting circles. I like how I added the spider web in the corner; it makes the stitched circles look a little webby. I added last year's Making Memories circle stickers and pumpkins.

Click on this image to see the journaling closer. My mom fixes my boys' damaged stuffed animals, so we call her the bear doctor. What a woman.

This is a funny story--again, click the image to read it. It took effort to cut the patterned paper and assemble this, but I love this page.

Technically...I did not do this page last weekend. It's one of my 100 moments pages. It has been done and awaiting journaling and embellishments for a while. I took the opportunity this weekend. look at me, age 10! Thank goodness you cannot see my teeth, pre-braces.

Scrap-tacular weekend

2011-11-08T20:00:00.010-06:00

(Sorry for the delay in writing; I have been inundated with grading papers. The piles are still there, but I've made a dent.)

In the midst of grading, I took a weekend scrap break to the wonderful Scrapbooking Company in Pine City. I went with my scrapbooking friends, the Scrapping J's (minus 2 who couldn't make it).This is us in front of the store. Attached in the back was a big room for scrapping surrounded by many 2-bed rooms, plus a master bath and a kitchen. The scrap space was delightful, as were the ladies who were also there that weekend. Here we are, in action:

Total, I made about 14 layouts. Here are the ones I totally finished (others I needed to add journaling or photos):

I got the idea for this page from Ella List It! Everyday. I sketched it out, scanned old photos, printed them in a uniform size, then dug into Stash. My favorite: the photo on top of my mom and my brother and me is mirrored by the same photo almost 30 years later of me and my sons.

This is one of two two-page layouts I made. I use the same title every year for this layout because we always make the Star Wars Eggs, and thanks to my husband's brilliant idea, we always do Jedi poses with them after. I used Studio Calico's Field Guide, plus a little Stash for this.

Another Easter Stash LO. The chipboard swirl was a random thing that was in my traveling Stash, so I used it. And can I say, this past year was one of the only GREEN Easters we've had? The year before it snowed. No lie.

This one...perhaps my fave. The J's had a late night challenge to complete a LO in a half hour. This was mine (confession: I added the hand stitching after). This challenge gave me a real sense of what it must be like to be on Project Runway. Seriously, I had started out with another page, realized I couldn't "Make it Work" in 30 minutes, so I decided to use a favorite design scheme of mine with this photo. I misted, I punched, I adhered, and then the insanity: I stitched. And of course, the bobbin ran out with about 2 minutes to go. I could almost hear Tim Gunn saying "Stop sewing and get on the runway NOW!"

And this is the LO I started and stopped. I used a really cool piece of paper from Studio Calico's Field Guide. I trimmed it, which made me a little dizzy, and adhered it. Then I thought I needed stitching, so I moved on to the above LO. I came back to this one later (around 1 A.M.) and finished.

When I finish the journaling for the other LOs, I'll share those too.

Pinterest inspiration

2011-10-31T08:00:00.000-05:00

I pin on Pinterest and love the inspiration that I get from it. Sometimes I wonder how to translate that inspiration into a scrapbook layout. Here's one thing I did.

First, the pin from Kathleen Rogers:

SO adorable. However I found myself drawn to the cupcakes more than the flags. (Maybe I was hungry!) So I took the inspiration and created this layout:

I have the orange in the center (the pumpkin in the pin), circles (cupcakes) surrounding it, and "sprinkles" of mist all around the outside.

Here's the papers I used:

First, I used some red papers from Elementary, My Dear.

Next:

Trick Pony from Funhouse

Sunday Morning from Youthful Eggsuberance

A couple things I did to finish the page:

I stitched the circles down with a couple straight stitched, then I slowly swirled a few more stitches around the straight stitches.

And to add one more photo, I trimmed it into a circle, then cut a slightly larger circle out of the photos block to house it. I lay the journaling on top of it.

I enjoyed using this pin, not to recreate the actual craft but to take its inspiration to create an original layout. I hope you go use those pins to make a page!

OA Winner!

2011-10-30T20:25:00.002-05:00

I used random.org to pick a winner, and here it is, #15:

Jenni said...

SO COOL! how awesome to go to their warehouse sale!!!! recently i am loving how are october afternoons are spent outside playing soccer!

October 29, 2011 12:54 PM

Jenni, email me at jennyrahnlarson at yahoo dot com with your full name and address and I will send it out to you this week!

October Afternoon Warehouse Sale (and a giveaway!)

2011-10-29T05:00:00.000-05:00

Like most people in the scrapbooking universe, I have been a big fan of October Afternoon for a while. No matter what the line, I love it. Here's a page I made a month or so ago using an upcoming line, Sasparilla, to document our Road Trip out West this past summer:

(Most photos from my iPhone using Instagram.)

How delighted was I last year when I found out that their warehouse was in Minnesota and they were having a sale. That was a Mother's Day present I gave to myself.

A week ago, the universe put itself in perfect alignment: OA announced another warehouse sale, and I had the day off from work, as did my scrapping buddies, the Scrapping J's, Jennifer, Janet, me, and Sandra. (Her nickname is Jo-Sandra so she can fit in, LOL!) We went down and saw a line-up to get into the warehouse:

Darn fire code limited the number of people inside.

There were some new products since the last sale and some new pricing on old stuff, so we went to town (well, at least I did). The wait to check out was long, but that's known as a photo op for scrapbookers:

I withstood the cashiers' pushing me to spend a little more to get the Boarding Pass paper pack (I already had it, but I can't believe I had the restraint!). Here we were outside with our loot:

I had so much fun I want to share:

Here's some papers, stickers, and a mini-album that I got. If you would like to be entered for a chance to win it, please leave a comment on this blog post, telling me what you like to do on an October Afternoon. You have until Sunday, October 30 at 8 P.M. CST to comment.

Project 12 September

2011-10-28T20:00:00.000-05:00

I've just collected my students' research papers, so I am in for a lot of reading this next month. We also enjoyed a visit by my parents and my son's birthday, so this place has been busy busy busy!

I did get a chance to work on September Project 12. Here's what I did (click the images to see them larger):

I followed the Becky Fleck sketch pretty closely. Since I've been so busy, though, I had to seriously hold myself back from adding the extra layer of hand stitching. It looked good without it, so I left it off.

I used Studio Calico's Glee Club kit, which is still available. I pulled the flowers from my stash. As usual, I added a photo.

I also realized I haven't posted last June's LO, which is annoying me for neglecting, so here it is:

I used Studio Calico's June kit Paper Moon for this; it had a lot of OA Rocket Age in it, which I loved. So fun to pair blue with such happy, warm colors.

More OA tomorrow...

Warm colors

2011-10-27T22:01:00.000-05:00

Now that autumn is fully upon us here in Minnesota, I am fully ready to scrap the lovely rich colors of the season, not just on outdoors layouts, but anything that makes me feel warm and cozy.

Here's one of those subjects: my husband. We've been together for many years now, and he is my rock.

The other day I noticed we were both wearing similar shirts that reflected our interests, in his case his favorite activity, Dungeons and Dragons, and in my case the best TV show ever, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That inspired me to take some photos of ourselves, which my husband tried to sabotage a bit (see photo three below).

I used a digital photo strip frame from Fei-Fei's Stuff to house all the photos we took, and then I made this layout:

I was inspired by this color combo:
The bit of rich blue makes the typical autumn color combo fresh to look at.

I used the following GCD Studios papers:

Bandana from The Great Outdoors

Garden Mix from Animal Crackers for boys

Trick Pony from Funhouse

Lovely Garden from Soul Food

And just for fun, I stamped and embossed part of my title and painted behind the die cut letters:

Enjoy using this cozy color combo to scrap something that makes you warm inside!

School preparation

2011-10-23T21:00:00.000-05:00

When I think of back-to-school, I think supply shopping, clothes shopping, and open house; really, though, we prepare for school in other ways as well. This summer my boys started reading the Harry Potter books, with a little help at times from my husband and me. When I saw him reading to my younger boy, I pulled out my phone, took some photos, and made this layout:

I used the following color inspiration:

Isn't that photo beautiful? The shot paired with the colors made me think tranquility, perfect for these shots of these two together.

I used the following GCD Studios products:

Homespun Mod from Homespun Chic

Our Family Tree from Sweet Surrender

Lovely Garden from Soul Food

Die cut borders from Homespun chic

Metal Rimmed Glass Brads from Soul Food

I added some stamped, embossed borders of bookshelves to frame the photos:

I also added some paint, mist, and hand-stitching to draw attention to the title:

Thanks for looking at my page; if you're making some school pages right now, try doing some of the things your family does outside of the classroom that involves learning!

October visit

2011-10-22T20:50:00.005-05:00

Every October my parents come to visit from Maine. Their visit is at an end, and they head home tomorrow. We will miss them.

I made the following page for my mom to take home with her (next month is her birthday):

I used a favorite photo of my mother's that I took at the State Fair this August. I also used September's Studio Calico kit Glee Club. Lots of happy colors on this one.

I played around a little with punches, specifically the EK Success Swiss Cheese punch, which I haven't used enough:

I also punched little bits of patterned paper using a 1/4 " circle punch to fit in some of the holes; other holes I filled with gems or brads.

Just for fun, I added some random cross-stitches, which are a current favorite accent of mine. I also "in-lined" the letter stickers with a Zig Millenium fine gauge pen to make the letters stand out more.

I've been working hard on two things: some design work for GCD Studios, and grading papers. I'll show you some other smaller projects I've worked on this month in the next week.

Coming soon: A trip to the October Afternoon Warehouse Sale, plus a giveaway!

Mom, we broke the tree...

2011-10-15T09:00:00.001-05:00

This summer my boys were doing what they so love to do, climbing a tree. They came to me with a confession: "Mom, we broke the tree." I went outside and sure enough, a branch was bent. We cut it off, and then I saved the smaller branches to make a swag.

First, I pulled the leaves off (I waiting until they dried so it was easier). The I grouped the branches together, taped them together, and covered the tape with patterned paper strips, specifically GCD Studios' Ponderosa from The Great Outdoors and papers from Elementary, My Dear.

Next, I die cut leaves out of more paper from Elementary, My Dear. I cut three leaves from each die: two in different kinds of patterned paper and one piece of cardstock. I used glue dots to adhere the leaves together, applying them with a little pace in between so that I could stitch them together later. After I'd stitched them, I folded the leaves up to make them dimensional:

Next I broke out my hot glue gun, which I used to attach the leaves randomly across the swag. I also used my hot glue to attach a hanger to the back.

My wall is prettier that my door, so that's where this project resides. Here it is:

And a close up:

I tied little bows with linen thread around the swag for a little whimsy.

Thank you for letting me share this project with you--I hope it gives you ideas for using your paper products to add some swag to your house this fall!

Boo 2010

2011-10-12T21:17:00.006-05:00

My favorite Halloween line at CHA was probably Fancy Pants October 31st. LOVED it. Truth be told, though, I have a ton of Halloween product, so when I saw it at Archivers, I actually held back and didn't get it.

When I got a published layout back this week*, how delighted was I to also receive this very collection in the box. I kept it out to scrap my remaining Halloween photos from last year. Here's Boo 2010 (the story is amusing--if you click on the image, you should be able to read it.):

Since the box came with lots of embellishments, I used them much more profusely than I normally do--chipboard, rubons, glitter cuts, die cuts, plus some jewels, brads, and stitching from my own stash and supplies. One teeny regret: using all the magic and witches' hats. Guess who's going to be Harry Potter this year?

I raised several elements on dimensional stickers just to add more texture and depth.

The paper corner was smooshed, so to hide it, I folded it over and put a wee bit of blue behind it. The flourishes are a cool rubon, as is the bit of magic.

* The layout is published in the online and print magazine Scrapbook and Cards Today. It's around page 58 in the Reader Gallery. This was my first page in this magazine, so I was truly honored to have the page selected, and I'm thankful my son's teacher gave me permission to submit the layout!

Thinking about summer...

2011-10-02T17:31:00.011-05:00

*Apologies for the delayed post. Following family tradition, the internet fritzed while my husband was away on a business trip. I got it working on every computer except the one with my photos on it. Today my husband returned, as did the internet.*

I can't believe I said this on October 2: I told my son to go put on his swimsuit and play in the sprinkler. It was that warm, despite at least two frost warnings this past week. October is lookin' good.

I suppose it's OK then, that I am working on some summer pages. Here are some recent ones (click on any image to see it larger):

This was for last week's Sketch Support single page sketch. I wanted to use two pages, so I stretched it to two. I used Studio Calico's Boardwalk kit. The flower paper included just scraps, so I did some fussy cutting and sewing to make them look fancier (and nicer!) than the scraps actually were.

Here's one from August:

This was my Project 12 layout. I used Becky Fleck's sketch. As usual, I added more photos. Again, I used Boardwalk. Loved the bright colors in it. Definitely a page about summer!

I have another two page LO about the state fair that I'll share in a couple weeks; I used a terrific two-page sketch from Sketch Support for it! And hold the presses--I got 17 photos on it. Woot!

A smaller one, this one too from the state fair:

When I saw all the photos I had from photo stands (not sure what the official name for these things is), I decided to put them together on a page. This was the last page I made from Paper Moon, June's Studio Calico kit, plus some spare Sassafras flowers. I got 18 pages out of that kit plus three add-ons. Love love love that outer space kit.

Handmade accent

2011-09-24T07:23:00.005-05:00

I don't normally paper piece, mainly because I have Stash, but the sketch at Sketch Support was so cute and easy, I had to do something with it!

Here's what I did:

I paired this camera with the photos of my sons playing with a classic Fisher Price camera at my Grandmother's this summer.

I also used an Amy Tangerine dimensional photo sticker, plus clusters of stuff in a visual triangle. I thought about adding another camera to the upper right, but it seemed like it was too much.

A fun, quick page with some basic paper piecing to make it even cuter! And how about that--I used pink! I don't do pink, so this was a feat.

Final Big Idea Festival layouts

2011-09-18T16:40:00.005-05:00

I thought I would post the remaining Big Idea Festival layouts I did. It's been almost a month (!), and I finished them a while ago, so I thought I'd share.

Though the inspiration was just a word (and I download, but I didn't use those), words are my favorite inspiration. If you doubt me, check out my pins on Pinterest. Words give me ideas and make me think about my life in new ways. Here's what I did with the last few words:

FREE

I had these goofy pictures of Rowan,and the prompt FREE made me think of what I wish for him: to be fun and spunky as he grows up. My favorite quote: We never grow up, we only learn how to behave in public.

(The song "Free to be you and me" was running through my head when I made this page. Remember that song?)

EMBRACE

I had this page in mind for a while when I took this picture, so pairing it with the word EMBRACE seemed fitting. This is his nickname, by the way: Monkey Boy Cougar Bait Larson.

PLAY

This was the last prompt, and it made me think of how important it is to approach parenting with play. It's hard, especially when I have to be drill sergeant too (like now, when I'm nagging my son to work on his taekwondo essay), but play just feels right. I used unscrapped leftover silly photos for this layout.

LIVE

I don't really have anything profound to say about living, so I wrote about my goal to live healthy. I used this picture that I loved--I think my son took it?--of me with my new bike. And the song running through my head during this layout was this song by Queen, of course.

MOMENT

I've been obsessed lately with trying to appreciate every moment, even those that are hard to (cleaning the cat box, I'm talking to you!). I documented a day's routine moments to appreciate them for what they are and break myself from that nagging feeling I think we all get that the routines are tedious. I don't want to feel that way.

Thanks for reading about these final pages of mine! I enjoyed the Festival and I hope to do it again!

Early morning chat

2011-09-15T18:17:00.005-05:00

My work day starts at 7:10; my boys' school day starts at 9:30. Because of the discrepancy, I drive the boys to a school program called Kidstop before I head to work.

These early morning drives have been special times for me, mainly because I get to chat with the boys. This past week we had particularly thoughtful discussion.

My son Dominic

asked me if we could go to Old Country Buffet. I told him probably never, since Derick doesn't like it. I told him he could ask Grandma and Grandpa when they come out next month. He asked me if I meant Grandma and Grandpa L, which caught me a little; I reminded him that Grandma L had died a year ago.

That sparked a conversation. Dominic said he wished he had an iron heart so that he wouldn't die. I told him no, Grandma L was in heaven. Rowan (who always gives me a goofy grin)

asked me what heaven was like, and how I knew she was there, so we chatted a while about prophets and Jesus. Big stuff to talk about before school!

I told them the most important thing was to live a good life like Jesus would want us to live. At this, Dominic nodded energetically. He said, "I am going to live such a good life!" This made me smile. Then he followed with, "And you know what would be a really good life for me?" I shrugged, and he continued:

"Going to Old Country Buffet."

Love it!

Ella digi winners!

2011-09-10T19:15:00.002-05:00

My three men (Derick, Rowan, and Dominic) each picked a number for winners of the Ella List It! ebooks. Here are the winners:

Steffanie said...: It's my constant resource for all things scrappy. I use it to search for ideas, techniques, design. I also have done some hybrid and digi scrapbooking---but only a bit! I do journaling and sentiments. A little bit of this and that, I guess!

Jen said...: I consider myself a hybrid scrapper. I use my computer to manage and edit photos, obviously. I use it for some of my journaling or to print digital elements for my traditional pages. Sometimes I make a photo collage. And I have even done several completely digital pages (using templates). But I like to touch and move things around, so I don't see myself going completely digital. Thanks for the chance to win!
joel & ginny said...: I use my computer when making digi pages and sometimes for journaling on a paper LO. Of course I use it in sorting, purging, and uploading my photos. I also use it to scan heritage photos, but that is an ongoing process for me.

Thank you, ladies, for leaving comments! Please email me at jennyrahnlarson at yahoo dot com for your coupon codes!

Scrapbooking as Therapy

2011-09-07T21:45:00.004-05:00

*Don't forget to leave a comment on this post for a chance to win one of THREE copies of any List It! of your choice. Comments are open until Friday at 9 P.M. CST.

My guest blog post is up at Simple Scrapper today. I wrote about using scrapbooking as therapy, specifically as a parent. Please go visit and read and explore the site, which is wonderful.

Here's one LO I included:

I used Studio Calico's July kit Mind the Gap, which is still available here. This topic is appropriate because I have yet again overbooked myself and my sons. When will I learn??? At least I'll get a lot of grading done.

Heritage photos, digital scrapping, and a giveaway!

2011-09-05T18:14:00.013-05:00

My scrapbooking friend Alexandra asked me to do a post about scrapping heritage photos on a challenge blog she writes on called Scrap Rendez-vous. The page posted today, so I encourage you to go over and read it! Here's a page from the post using heritage photos:

(published in Create: Quick and Easy 2011)

The photos might not seem heritage, but they are almost 30 years old. They were also starting to fade, a problem I've see with photos I have from the 70s and 80s. I scanned these photos, did some color and lighting corrections, then added textures to mask inconsistencies between the photos. For kicks, I added them to a collage, added brushes, then stitched to connect the digi to the paper.

This past week I posted this LO on Ella Publishing--yes, it's full digi:

I'm not a digi scrapper, but I do like some of the effects that I can do with digi, so I make* the occasional project with digi; most of what I plan are photo books. I just prefer my own design to what online photo companies make.

So since today's post is about using the computer for scrapbooking, I'd like to share a giveaway connected to digital or hybrid scrapbooking thanks to Ella Publishing! I have THREE coupon codes to giveaway for the journaling product I used above on the digi page, from the List It! collection of Ella Fun. These products can be used on digital projects like I did or downloaded to use on hybrid pages. Here's a description of the collections (click on the collection titles to see the products in the shop):

List It! journaling guides make it easier than ever to capture important details about your everyday life RIGHT NOW.

List It! Childhood
Some of the 91 prompts in List It! Childhood Edition are obvious and universal, others are quirky and unique. But they'll all help you unlock important memories from your childhood—from school memories and family experiences to your childhood fashion and music tastes.

List It! Holiday
Many of the 94 prompts in List It! Holiday Edition are obvious and universal, others are quirky and unique. But they're all inspired by major events on the calendar, from winter to spring to Valentine’s Day to Christmas.

List It! Everyday Life
Of the 90 prompts in List It! Everyday Life Edition some are standard and universal, others are quirky and unique. But they'll all help you paint a complete picture of what your life is like—your schedule and routine, your goals and pursuits, the people you love, your home and surroundings, your possessions, and more.

If you want to be one of THREE winners, please leave a comment telling me how you use your computer when scrapbooking. I will draw three winners Friday, September 9 at 8 P.M. CST.

*When I say that I make digi pages, I'm exaggerating a little. I've made one other page and a photo book that used basically the same design and the same papers throughout. I have plans for more, so maybe I'm not fibbing.

Busy busy busy

2011-09-02T21:48:00.004-05:00

This week school started for me--sort of. Since I teach, I spent the week readying my room, working with colleagues, and attending training. I am looking forward to teaching my students this year. It will be fun.

I also spent the week finishing up a few assignments, most of which I can't share yet, so I thought I'd share this one (click on the image to see it larger):

After my son "messed with" a bee last year and was stung, he is now pathologically afraid of them, a problem considering how many gardens I have around my house. This page is a bit of encouragement for him to be brave, and not to "mess" with them any more. I used Studio Calico's August kit Boardwalk for this.

I dipped into my Basic Grey Bloomers supply for the page. Love love love them.

Pardon the punny title.

I also dipped into an older kit for the bee stamp, which I stamped, embossed, colored and blended with watercolor pencils, cut out, and adhered with dimensional adhesive. I also hand drew the flight line and stitched it.

This layout is a bit of a farewell to summer. Time to shift from jewel tones into burnt tones on my scrapbook pages.

Mom, I'm sorry I spilled water on your page...

2011-08-26T11:01:00.006-05:00

I have a shared scrap space, specifically the living room. I store my belongings by the computer downstairs, but I don't want to scrap with my back to the room there, so I scrap on a lap desk in the easy chair upstairs. My most used supplies are located there.

Based on the word "Nest" from Big Idea Festival, I made a layout about my space at the suggestion of my friend Sandra:

These are some remnants from this month's Studio Calico kit Boardwalk.

Truly, I am envious of bigger spaces, but I love scrapping while the family is around, so that little phrase sticker was fun to put on.

This nice Bella Blvd. bloom looks great with the colors. I replaced the center brad with this one from Basic Grey.

Amazingly, I have only had two layouts damaged in the shared scrap space: I tripped and fell on a page and had to replace the background paper, which was bent, and my cat once licked a photo. Bleh. Only two times, and none from my boys...until this week.

I was working on my July Project 12 page (there's a link on the top of my blog if you want to learn more about this project), and I was almost done, so the page was lying on the ottoman. I reminded my son for the umpteenth time to take his Kemps ice cream bucket, which he'd put on his head after he took a shower, to his room.

He took the bucket, walked into the living room and started swinging it around in windmills, which spilled water all over the right hand side of the page.

Every photo was ruined, as was one square of patterned paper. This isn't a big deal, perhaps, except I'd stitched the photos down.

After my son went to bed with hugs and "I forgive you, but you have to sit by me and do nothing fun while I reconstruct this page" from mom, I snipped off all the stitching and prised off every photo.

The next day, with a very bored boy next to me, I reprinted the photos and readhered them. I also restitched, which required the removal of some chipboard elements and some manual cranking of the wheel to make sure the stitches went into the previous hole. So, it took me about an extra hour to finish my page, but I did finish it. Here it is:

I used July's Studio Calico kit Mind the Gap. I had run out of many embellishments, so I had to dig into stash.

Here's the re-done page two:

I had to replace the center map paper. Truthfully, the previous one was more orange, and I like this green-heavy piece better. Not enough to redo the whole page, but I'm being glass half full.

I used up my last orange Studio Calico banner stickers for this!

The felt stars and milk cap chipboard from Jenni Bowlin have been in my stash for a long time and worked well for this page.

Repaired page 2 details.

Something fun I'm doing with embossing powder lately: speckling one or two colors of one powder, tapping off excess, then adding the main color, saving this excess. Here I mostly used AC Leaf Zing, with accents of Apricot and Chocolate.

One of my mottos is "There are no mistakes in scrapbooking, only unplanned opportunities for creativity." The same is true in life, I guess.

Big Idea Festival

2011-08-20T12:05:00.006-05:00

One of my favorite web places, Big Picture Classes, is hosting its free Big Idea Festival this week and next. The class has daily layout inspiration and some free downloads. I did this last year August and loved it, so I signed up again. The idea this year is a word a day; at the end, you should have a complete 6x6 album of words connected to your life. Love it.

I didn't want to use the templates, so I made 12x12 layouts. They won't get their own albums, but they will be put inside my already existing albums--my album or the family album, probably. Here's my first five words:

I used a photo I took using my iphone and the Hipstamatic app. The blues and greens were so intense, the photo worked perfectly with the Studio Calico Boardwalk kit. I misted lightly in yellow and green, then unscrewed the lid and blopped color down on the page too. I used the kit's zig zag stamp; I used it on a piece of patterned paper and embossed it, using it along with other patterned paper strips. After I made the LO, I punched circles, adhered, then stitched them onto the page.

The word "wonder" was hard for me. It became easier when I used it as a verb, which you can see in the journaling. The title came from the amount of time I've been with my husband. We started dating in 1996.

I dug into stash for this page. I misted the old October afternoon patterned paper with Studio Calico clover mist to make it more monochromatic. I also punched the circle border to make my own sort-of scallop border. I went a little mist crazy on this layout--the flowers were a little bright, so I misted them with SC Pony to mute them a tad.

Just for giggles, check out the photo on the left--that's Derick and I in 1996. I had rescued this photo from a frame--it was a tad damaged, which is why I trimmed it into a circle. The other photos are extras from other pages I made; these photos were rejected sizes.

Day Three's word, Less, is a lot like my One Little Word, Reduce. I used this page to focus on attitude. I used Studio Calico's July kit, Mind the Gap, which is still available too.

I had a photo on here with me and the boys, but I wanted to have just a picture of me for this one, so I took it off and replaced it with this photo from my birthday. I had printed it in both color and black and white because I wasn't sure which I wanted. I'm glad I got some use out of this!

This page was fun to make. This was the photo I had planned on using for LESS yesterday, which is why I used a photo turn for both, to cover the hole in yesterday's LO and to cover the adhesive on this one, LOL! Another secret: I misted this paper, planning to use it on yesterday's LO, but it didn't look right, so I used it for today instead. Both pages used SC's Mind the Gap kit.

(In case you haven't noticed, I used the same pattern for three of these LOs. It might be uncreative of me, but I like the way it works for a one-photo page, and I think I used other techniques to make the pages look a little different from each other.)

Yesterday's word was Enjoy. I think the idea was to do a page about what I enjoy to do, but this photo has been staring me in the face all week. I LOVE it, so I decided to use it. They are wearing shirts my Club CK peep Alison M sent them, and they are acting goofy because I did what I learned to do from Write Click Scrapbook to get natural smiles out of my guys: I told them to get squishy. Telling them that always creates a hoot of a photo.

When I look at the photo, the journaling came to mind, so I used this for the page. I used Studio Calico's June kit Paper Moon for the page, which isn't available anymore, but the page is made largely with October Afternoon Rocket Age, which you can get.

One note about this paper: It has little punch out holes which were a pain to deal with as I punched holes to stitch. #%&!

I painted behind the journaling/title to make the letter stickers stand out better.

So those are my pages so far for the Big Idea Festival. I now have to mull over today's word, Nest. It's a tough one.

5 Vacation Faves

2011-08-16T14:48:00.006-05:00

It's been a few weeks since we got back from our South Dakota vacation, and though I have yet to even think about scrapping this vacation, I did have to get something done: my 5 Vacation Faves album.

This is a tradition for me. On our way back from vacation, I ask each family member what their 5 favorite things from vacation were. I record them, then put them into a mini albu. Here are some past ones with a sample page from each I'm showing:

This one was from Disneyworld last year.

This was from Olympic National Park two years ago.

And here's what I did this year:

I used an OLD Autumn Leave file folder, lined it with patterned paper, and decorated the cover with Stuff. I used GCD Studios The Great Outdoors for the paper and wood grain chipboard letters and October Afternoon Campfire for the stickers.

Here's what the inside looked like:

I selected 4x6 photos with white space on the side, one of each family member. I then backed each 4x6 photo with patterned paper, stamped some journaling spots, and used the white space for each family member's list. Plus some goodies.

I can't encourage you enough to make a mini like this the next time you come back from vacation. If you do, please post a link to share!

Summer-in-water colors

2011-08-16T14:20:00.001-05:00

The GCD Studios newsletter just came out, and one of my pages is highlighted! If you're not yet a subscriber, email Inthestudio@gcdstudios.com to get your own copy in your inbox.

This newsletter shares what may be my favorite color combo for summer:

Blue, red, yellow, and green, plus a little black for drama.

In particular, this combo made me think of my boys swimming because their swim clothes are blue and red. Throw in their pool toys and towels, and the colors are all there! I grabbed the following GCD Studios papers and product:

Vintage Audrey from Homespun Chic

Pink Sparkle from Homespun Chic

Scandinavian Holiday Stripe from Scandia Jul

Vintage Birdie from Homespun Chic

Vintage Buttons from Homespun Chic

Since we've spent a lot of time swimming at different places this summer, I put together this page, an overview of our summer in the water:

I misted the background with yellow and blue; the combo added a bit of green. I also misted the yellow, blue, and green patterned paper to saturate the colors.

I punched the papers and lay them on top of each other sort of like waves.

When I die cut a title, I like to cut it in two colors to add some depth.

If you have any photos of you and your family outside this summer, grab these colors and start scrapping!

Spaced out

2011-08-11T13:56:00.007-05:00

My boys love outer space. I'm not blaming anyone for that (*cough DERICK LARSON!*) but their infatuation extends to all things Star Wars, planets, spaceships, stars, and so on.

For instance, when we went to Joann's today so I could pick up a Xyron refill, they asked for a meteor kit. How could I refuse? I got two. Only a half hour more and those meteors will be ready to roll into each other like marbles to try and make some craters. Hopefully the craters will not be in the house itself.

I mention this because I love October Afternoon's Rocket Age. I could seriously make 100 layouts with that line. Most of the line I got with Studio Calico kits in June, though I supplemented at Archiver's.

I make this page for this week's Sketch Support 2-page sketch with Rocket Age (click on images to see them larger):

I used a Jenni Bowlin Malted Milk Paint Dauber to go over the words "wonder" and "adventure" lightly so they wouldn't compete with the title as much.

Yes, that's glitter on a boys' page. I painted the star with a couple shades of yellow, then used some Pink Paislee yellow glitter from an old Pixie Stix I have.

I stitched the title word to make it stand out more.

I'm finding that adding a few cross stitches here and there on the embellishments really finishes the layout nicely.

And another page using Rocket Age, this time about my son's birthday last year at Space Aliens restaurant:

Sorry, you can see me taking the photos in the middle of the LO! My bad.

I love the vintagey looking American Crafts alpha that goes so well with the vintage look of Rocket Age.

I laughed putting that sticker next to my son's photo on this page.

I added the gems to get a little spaceshipy, if you know what I mean. I was picturing the red lights on spaceships that blink on and off, kind of like the one BURN-E was trying to replace.

I added some gems to the title for balance. Oops, you can see where I removed one from the first A. Ah, well.

Terrific two-page advice

2011-08-09T08:14:00.014-05:00

A couple weeks ago, I posted a giveaway of this sketch book by Allison Davis, Debbie Sanders, and Scrapbook Generations. I asked readers to leave a comment about advice they had on creating two page layouts. You all left some tremendous advice! I thought I'd share a few of the things I do, then give you your full list of comments.

1. I select photos and make a sketch. I use sketches by others, but most of the time I select photos and sketch what I want to do with the photos. Here's one I did recently. The sketch (sorry for the bad scan):

And the layout (click on images to see them bigger):

(Confessions: this was for my American Crafts design team application.)

2. I have a line span the two pages. I love strips of patterned paper, so having some connect the two pages works for me. Lots of people commented on doing something like this to create two pages.

In this case I had a lot of lines span the pages--lines of paper, painted images, photos.

3. I connect the pages with a line of photos. I'm a linear gal, so lining up photos across the pages is an easy choice to make.

This is a new one I made. Most of the photos are the same size, though I didn't smoosh them together like I usually do.

Here's some older ones with a line of photos:

Last year's Week in the Life. I don't have the luxury of space in my house to be able to create a whole album about a week, so I did a two-page spread with hidden photos. Easy to line up photos if they're all the same size.

I trimmed leftover 4x6 vacation photos for this LO.

4. I balance embellishments across the pages. Another piece of advice people commented on. I am a slave to the visual triangle, so I often use that on a two-page spread. I tend to put those embellishments by the title, the journaling, and the important photo.

I used the GCD Studios line Elementary, My Dear for this spread. In this case, I used the embellishment clusters on both pages to balance the pages.

5. I arrange my layout in a mini-block. This is a layout design I'm using fairly consistently on an occasional project I started at last year's Big Idea Festival called 100 Moments. I trim photos to fit into a block, and I fill space with patterned paper. I used patterned paper to "bookend" the photo block either on top on bottom.

Much of what I do was reflected in some way by what readers wrote. Here's a master list (Some comments doubled each other; I tended to only include the advice once, unless it had a slight nuance to it. Judgment call.):

Have fun and don’t worry about the layouts looking the same
Use a sketch or copy someone else!
Create a visual triangle spanning two pages
Mirror something from the left side to the right in opposite ends of the page span
Think of it and work on it as a big one-page layout.
Only use your favorite photos and use those to pick your embellishments
If using a one-page sketch as inspiration, mirror or flip it to make it two pages.
Use something—a large shape, a strip of paper—to span both pages
Use patterned paper to “jump the gutter”
Use an odd number of photos in various sizes
Arrange photos in a “c” in any direction to draw the eyes across the page
Select papers first, then photos, then a sketch. Use embellishments last to fill spots
Just do it!
Stick to one pagers—ha!
Start with a good story
Have fun
Make it flow from left to right
Make the eye-catching elements flow across the page like a backwards 6 (learned from newspaper design)
Combine two one-page sketches to make a two-page sketch
Do something symmetrical on both pages
Use similar color or embellishments on both sides to add continuity
Start with the photos and two pieces of white paper to work out the placement
Balance photos, colors, and embellishments
Connect the pages with a line
Scraplift the heck out of people!
Use a design element to tie the two pages together
Look at magazine spreads for design inspiration

And here's something sad: I wanted to add three more just to make it an even 30! That explains a lot about how I scrap, LOL!

Saying goodbye to summer and hello to the memories

2011-08-06T08:00:00.002-05:00

We have had a wonderful summer so far filled with many special outings, both big (our annual vacation, this year to the Black Hills) and small (local playgrounds and swimming holes). I wanted to create a project that would record the memories while being more interactive so that my boys could enjoy it more, so I created my own game of Concentration, otherwise known as Memory.

Here's what I did:

1. Resized 18 photos to 2.5 inch squares. The photos represent 18 special places where we spent time this summer. (I think the game would work well with fewer photos--9-20 would work.)

2. Selected papers to back the photos. I chose patterns that were fairly geometric. Here's the papers I selected (I used the B sides for each, and I misted the yellow to make it more intense):

Vintage Birdie from Homespu n Chic

Fauna Stripe Aqua from Animal Crackers for Boys

Chocolate Bunnies from Youthful Eggsuberance

3. Trimmed the green dot paper to thirty-six 2.5 inch squares, punched thirty-six scallop circles out of the yellow, and punched thirty-six blue circles to nest in the scallops.

4. Created Word documents for the 18 places we visited. I made six 2.5 inch square text boxes per page, then typed the place names in fairly large (30-36 point) font. Just for fun, I colored each word to match the papers on the other side.

5. Adhered the blue circle to the yellow scallop circles, then adhered that to the green squares.

6. Adhered the 18 place names and the 18 photos on the backs of the green paper.

6. Created another Word document with the title of this Memory Game: Summer 2011. I made the words small enough to be punched out with a circle punch.

7. Punched the titles out with a 1-1/4 inch circle punch. I inked the edges with red ink and adhered the circles to the front of the Memory cards.

8. Ran the cards through my Xyron to laminate them.

Here's what the cards look like:

(Just so you know, this is not a match! The photo is from Weaver Lake.)

As a scrapper, my first instinct is always to create a layout to relive the memories, but the excitement my boys showed me when they saw this game tells me that an interactive game is even more fun for my family to relive the memories, and I'm going to do this every summer!

The Black Hills

2011-08-05T13:34:00.007-05:00

After we fulfilled my Laura Ingalls Wilder fandom on our road trip, we continued on toward the Black Hills for camping. Before then, we fulfilled another wish of mine: visiting the Badlands.

For years, we've traveled on I-90, seeing the green rolling hills and way past them, near Wall, was something else (click to see images bigger):

This is a bad picture, but you can see some striped, rocky cliffs in the back. NOT the green rolling prairie. On the map I could see it was the Badlands, but I wanted to see them, especailly encountering them in books--yes, they're mentioned in the Little House books--These Happy Golden Years, maybe?--and Peace Like a River, I think. And so we did.

We did what most people do: drive through the park and stop at some trails and vistas. It was gorgeous, though we learned later that we shouldn't have brought Lola on the trails. Oops. I learned that these stone patterns were caused by ancient erosion when South Dakota was at the bottom of an ancient sea bed. I've oversimplified that terribly, sorry. When the boys are older and Lola is kenneled, I'd like to go back and hike.

We camped at Custer State Park, which was terrific. We stayed at the Blue Bell Campground, which was nice, though on a hill. Every day deer and turkey walked through the campground. Awesome. Although they drove the dogs nuts.

To see the sites, we packed 4 adults, 2 kids, and three dogs into our Ford Freestyle and went touring. Here's where we went and what we did:

We of course went to Rushmore. I'd forgotten how the Needles Highway involves one-car tunnels that spotlight the mountain on your way. Truly outstanding.

The next day we went to Wind Cave National Park, which was again outstanding. We divided in half and went on two successive cave tours, the first group (Derick, Don, and Dominic) on the Natural Entrance tour, which starts at the teeeny original hole (they've built stairs down in a man-made hole) and walks down to the elevators, and the second group (Melinda, Rowan, and I) on the Fairgrounds tour, which starts and ends at the elevator.

Even better, you can take dogs everywhere except in buildings and in the caves, so we got to walk the dogs on trails while waiting for the other group. LOVE that national park.

Later that day we hiked up Mount Coolidge, where I took a photo of us in the sunset. On the top of the mountain were 4 cell-phone towers, which means we got more bars here than anywhere on our trip. Wind Cave N.P. actually had zero bars. I almost made a phone call on this mountain, just on the principle of the thing.

Every night in the campground we attended presentations, where we learned a lot about bison, the park history, and sights to see. We decided to go to Gordon Stockade after the boys became infatuated with it at one such presentation.

Followed by a brief trip to Stockade Lake. (Just a note: driving around Stockade Lake, we found the Stockade Lake Campground--that looks even better than Blue Bell--still tucked away so it's not on a major road, but level.)

We went on a long hike on the Prairie Trail in Custer's Wildlife Loop.

You'll notice two dogs on the right in the water; one of them is not Lola, who was such a wimp about water I had to carry her across each stream. She would not wade through the water, go over rocks or bridges, nothin'.

We drove the Wildlife Loop a couple times--we never saw bison (just one at Wind Cave National PArk), but we saw antelope, white-tailed deer, pheasants, turkeys, pronghorns, and wild burros, which came up to the car looking for a snack and some pets.

On our way out of the Loop, we saw this massive thunderstorm building which hit later that night. That was significant because it was our first rain while camping. The hill we camped on meant our tent was at the bottom of a run-off. Did we get wet? No. Not at all. Thank you, REI Kingdom tent! Worth every penny.

I've got my sunbonnet hanging down my back...

2011-08-03T16:34:00.011-05:00

And if you recognize that allusion, you too read the Little House books!

Why do I mention a sunbonnet, which in my not-so-girly fashion sense, I would never wear?

When planning our summer vacation this summer to the Black Hills, my husband made sure we go to the Little House sites in Walnut Grove/Plum Creek and De Smet on our way. MAJOR bonus points for him.

Our first stop was Walnut Grove. Confession: I was never that into the TV show. I had college friends who would expound on various plots, but honestly, the only stories I remember from the TV show were the one where the Olesons got indoor plumbing and where Laura met Almanzo ("Manly!"). Still, I enjoyed the museum, which had photos, period antiques, some belonging to Laura, and a HUGE room dedicated to the TV show, which my boys loved most of all.

I learned a lot here too. For instance, the Ingalls had a son, who died in infancy. The family also lived in Burr Oak, Iowa, in between Walnut Grove and De Smet. That story was a wee bit sordid--they all worked in a hotel, a woman in town volunteered to adopt Laura, and the family snuck out of town in the middle of the night. There's a reason the books are labelled fiction, I guess.

Walnut Grove also had a replica town with period buildings, many of which were built by local students, which I loved. People who say today's students are inferior, one hearty raspberry to you!*

The boys loved the toy room in Grandma's house.

The dugout is not the original one, but it is the original size. It SMELLED. No wonder Ma was so happy to live in a wooden house above ground.

This was a favorite for the boys. There was a sample town where the kids could play storekeeper, postal worker, etc. My boys liked the phone box:

That's phone booth to old folks like me who actually remember them.

We also enjoyed the gift shop. The boys got marbles, and I got a postcard that I don't intend to send and this book:
*image obviously courtesy of Amazon.

The Wilder Life, which I enjoyed reading the rest of vacation. If you're a Laura fangirl, you should read this.

After the museum, we drove a mile across the railroad tracks that the Ingalls later rode (hee!) to find the original site of the dugout and Plum Creek:

*Sigh!*

I apologize, but I got seriously verklempt here. Seeing the creek where Laura played, thinking about where the family lived and what they did here...I don't know, it just hit me hard. I'm not sure why.

The original dugout had collapsed, but here's where it was:

It was SMALL. I couldn't fit our couch in it lengthwise. And a family of five lived here. Maybe this is why I love the books so much: they make me appreciate my life today even more.

We drove the Laura Ingalls Wilder Highway (14) west, following the train tracks that Pa was involved in getting built, until we got to De Smet, where we visited Ingalls Homestead.

This site was pricey but worth every penny. My boys LOVED it. So much was hands on. They ground seed wheat into flour, shucked corn, and made jump ropes.

They rode ponies and drove the wagon to school.

Best of all? Dogs could go EVERYWHERE. That includes inside buildings, even the gift shop.

We stayed a few hours, driving through the Big Slough on our way out, which left mud splatters that took a day to wash off. *Sigh!*

That night we got to Pierre to spend the night, where we saw a lot of this:

Sandbags. Severe flooding last month, which had mostly receded, except for the flood plains, which unfortunately included some businesses. The Wide Missouri was wider due to the floods.

More tomorrow about the rest of our trip, which included another life goal for me: the Badlands!

*This phrase I have rampantly stolen from Bill Bryson, one of my favorite authors, from the forward of one of his books. I use it often.

Winner!

2011-08-02T21:27:00.003-05:00

I just got back from the Black Hills, our summer road trip vacation. I'll post a few of our stops tomorrow. In the meantime, I went to random.org, which picked 7, and the winner is:

alisonm said...

It depends! I am going through a 1 photo phase, but generally it's 2.

July 29, 2011 9:45 AM

Alison M! Please contact me at jennyrahnlarson at yahoo dot com with your address, and I will get you your copy of the book soon!

One page sketch

2011-07-29T08:00:00.001-05:00

The sketch I did this week for Sketch Support was absolutely charming. My problem? I had no small photos on hand. I'm all about making life simpler for myself, so I took out some photos of my mom and my sons when she was in town last fall and trimmed them a bit to use. I took other liberties with the sketch too to aid my design. I plan on giving this LO to my mom, BTW:

It's hard to see, but the LO is called "Gramdma Time." I used Studio Calico's May kit for this. I love the Jillibean Soup corrugated die cuts, but I've always struggled with how to use them, so I decided to spread the frames across the page to house accents:

That's an old Doodlebug paper frill I flipped and misted to match the LO. Since this page is going to my mom, I decided to go all pink on it.

I lay down some GCD Studios chipboard flowers, misted, then added some scrap paper to them to pretty them up. I also added some painted, stamped grids randomly along the outside of the LO.

And now for the giveaway!

You asked for it, and you got it! Allison Davis and Scrapbook Generation has released a one page sketch book! I have one copy to give away. To enter your name in to the giveaway, leave a comment on this post, telling me how many photos you tend to put on one page layouts, and I will draw a random winner Tuesday night at 8 P.M. CST.

CHA faves: take 3

2011-07-27T08:00:00.001-05:00

*I spoke too soon when I said my last post would be my final CHA post. When I went through my photos, I found more lovelies.*

On my third day at CHA, I felt like I didn't see the whole floor, but I still noticed some amazing projects. Here's a few:

I can't believe I didn't notice these stamping projects until the last day. Yes, these are stamped with stamps like these:

These are from designer Dyan Reaveley. They remind me of the Story People art. I saw these in a lot of places, like Unity Stamps:

For directions on how to create these, see Julie Balzer at Crafter's Workshop.

For more traditional scrapbook projects, Little Yellow Bicycle Winter Twig:

Go for drama with a great photo.

EK Success has a great idea, pointed out to me by Ella Friend Valerie. This is a multi-use rub-on you can use to stitch! Terrific.

Finally, a great way to record your bucket list--in a bucket!--at Jillibean.

CHA faves: take 2

2011-07-24T15:30:00.009-05:00

This will be my last post for CHA this year; I'll be posting this week at Ella another time for CHA.

A note about the above photo: To honor Sasparilla, October Afternoon set up their booth like a Wild West Saloon. I think every female at the show took their pictures next to this rowdy girls sign.

Here are a few more of my favorite projects:

Epiphany Crafts again had an amazing booth. Other companies should take note: products look infinitely more desirable when the booth is attractive and has lots of samples. I love this frame, which has decorated tags.

And this frame, which has buttons made with their button maker on a neutral patterned paper.

Fiskars didn't have a booth, if I recall correctly, but they did have two Fiskateers walking around in dresses made of paper. I took their picture here with Cindy Liebel. The one on the right is sewn; the left is constructed with hot glue. Both women said it wasn't hard or time-consuming, and said that making a dress for a little girl would be easy and fun. They also said they needed help getting out of the dresses to go to the bathroom. Here's why:

She's tied up the back. But hey, if you have lots of eyelets you never use, you obviously need to make a dress using the eyelets to lace up the back.

Harmonie had those terrific wood and acrylic shapes for misting or painting, and the layouts used them well. This one used the tree branch as an accent; see the snow on it?

This LO at the Jillibean booth is also terrific. I love the blue paper frame, and the dimensional diamond part is incredible.

This LO by Cindy Liebel at Lily Bee is terrific--the accents are punched hearts attached with dimensional stickers. Evidence that you don't need a lot of embellishments for a fine looking page.

Nikki Sivils had some nice pages with white space. To be honest, I appreciated the LOs with white space because many of the pages had a ton of product on them. I understand why, but the ones with purposeful white space, like this one, were great.

You say you didn't buy Rocket Age because you don't have boys or can't use space stuff? Look at how clever these cards use the themed products.

Boarding Pass was only hinted at during Winter CHA, so I was happy seeing it in person. But check out these clever LOs using the line! I am having seriously lustful thoughts about that map paper.

White space. *Sigh!*

A cute frame at the Pebbles booth, this one for girls:

And this one for boys.

This is a cool frame with no backing at the Pink Paislee booth.

Multiple cute LOs with lots of good ideas.

Simple Stories had TERRIFIC LOs. I loved this one in particular. Note to self: dig out my Polaroid stamp.

Studio Calico also had terrific projects. I loved this one, I think by Emily Pitts? The quote had me at hello.

And this charmer is by April Foster, and it is so cute, starting with that photo. Aw!

Thanks for seeing my favorites, and I hope that you have a great rest of weekend!

CHA favorite projects part 1

2011-07-22T20:28:00.014-05:00

I love looking at the products and meeting friends at CHA, but a particular pleasure is looking at all the projects and idea sparks at the show. CHA is one big idea book.

I thought I would post my faves here today, but as I went through my pictures, I swiftly realized this would take 3 posts.

Here's my first faves in no particular order (maybe alphabetical in my photo file):

This is a page in the yellow, I think, Smash book. It gave me an idea for a page about my two boys, heh, heh, heh.

Amy Tan's line itself is an idea book, but the projects in the AC booth were so exciting. Click on the picture to see the projects closer. (I have closer images. If you'd like me to post them later this weekend, I will--just let me know).

I liked the Halloween line from Authentique. These quotations were especially inspiring, especially the one on the right about costumes.

Julie Fei-Fan Balzer is pairing with Crafter's Workshop to create some awesome misting masks. Here's how she used them on a dress, which won an award at the show.

Canvas Home Basics had lots of cool projects in their booth, and this was inspired: they stacked empty frames to create this two-bin box. It looked so real, someone tried to open a drawer--and pulled off the knob! Oops.

If I had to pick a most inspiring booth, it would have to be Bella Blvd. I got SO many ideas from so many of their posted products. Here are a few:

The white board on top with a daily schedule? I'm making one.

These two Christmas LOs are exciting design wise. The one on the left has a dimensional scallop on the tree. And I love the way the one on the right has small photos on top, a big swath of patterned paper on the bottom, and some elements right and left for balance.

I have many colored markers, but I've never thought of using them to emphasize important words in my hand journaling. Now I will.

If you've been to my blog before, you know I like paint, mist ink, but in a restrained manner. This LO gives me ideas for how to do that. LOVE.

This was maybe my favorite LO in the whole show. The background sports quote paper, the tone on tone big scallops that reflect water, the white title, the amazing photo, the banner. Perfection.

The last three projects are by the same artist, Katherine McElvaine. You can see the LOs much better on her blog. Go and make her a favorite.

EK Success had great samples. This display was gorgeous. The hot cocoa was felt.

I was so impressed with the chalkboard elements on this display, but it was just black paper with chalk writing! Inspired.

Martha Stewart flowers made with cupcake holders. Terrific.

I love the white space and the circles on this Crate Paper LO.

Another Crate LO with circles and white space.

DCWV rocked the last show with the paper dresses. This time there was a homey Chritsmas mantle made almost entirely of paper. The logs are paper rolls, the stockings are paper, and the deer is a die cut wood head covered in paper. Amazing.

Back tomorrow with more great inspiration.

Warm weather colors

2011-07-21T08:00:00.004-05:00

I'd like to share one of my favorite color combos:

My kitchen is painted a light orange, and I LOVE the little pop of blue and white. Add a couple of other shades of orange and blue, plus a smidge of yellow, and you have the color equivalent of happiness.

Happy colors definitely need to be used when scrapping warm weather events, so I used this combo on a page about Spring Break this year:

I used the following papers' B sides to make my own striped patterned paper using all these happy colors.

Youthful Eggsuberance "Eggcellent"

Soul Food "Lovely Garden"

Material Girl "Hugs & Kisses"

Homespun Chic "Blue Redwork"

Fun House "Trick Pony"

I cut the papers at random widths from 1/4 inch to 1 inch. Next I cut a piece of white cardstock to house the strips; to do the curve on the bottom, I hand drew the curve and cut it out. I trimmed the strips as I lay them down to allow a little of the white to show.

I also dug into my DMC and hand-stitched part of the title. I lightly wrote the word in pencil, punched holes every 1/4, erased with a white eraser, then stitched.

The journaling appears on the tags, tucked behind the striped paper block:

I hope you're inspired to use these colors to scrap about some warm weather fun!

CHA: My favorites day 2

2011-07-20T21:47:00.007-05:00

Hey, I'm still in Chicago, having spent a long but fun day walking the floors again at CHA. I thought I'd share some more of my favorites from the places we went today. (Click on the images to see them larger.)

1. Simple Stories Baby Steps. I am not much for themed paper--it's limiting, for one--but I love how this line is so versatile. It's delicate without being too delicate, and it could be used equally well for boys and girls.

2. Claudine Hellmuth acrylic paint. These hand-held containers are the size of Stickles making for easy (and I suspect for cleaner) paint application.

Here's something cool: the newer Ranger containers (don't quote me on which ones) have a little scanner-bar code thingy (sorry, not technical) you can scan with your smart phone to access videos on how to use the color supplies. Great idea!

3. Lily Bee Memorandum. I like the cool, neutral quality of this line. Plus the teeny letter stickers (not shown) are divine.

4. Fancy Pants Summer's End and Off to School. I LOVE LOVE LOVE these collections. Summer's End is a lighter, less intense fall line heavy on aqua. Check out these colorful coffee filters:

And these gorgeous papers:

Off to School is a terrific school line. I will probably get it all. Here's some of the papers:

And these chalkboard-ish sticker sheets:

5. Hero Arts/Sizzix cobranding. What a great idea to sell the stamps with the dies to cut them out.

6. Jillibean Soup Homemade 6 Bean Soup and Sweet and Sour Soup. These papers were SO cute. Check out the blue paper, which was used as a frame:

And I love this typewriter paper, which leaves a little space for you to write a little note if you wanted to cover what's in the typewriter!

7. Bella Blvd. Finally Fall and Making the Team. The lines are so cute, and the colors mesh nicely with past lines. They also include the hot color from the show, deep teal. I love that the lines have a skinny set of stickers in addition to the 12x12 sheet of stickers:

The black paper in this line is one of my favorites from the entire show: it has quotations about sports that are so inspiring.

10. Crafter's Workshop templates. I know, I know, these were my favorites last time, but I like the new lines done in partnership with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, shown below:

If I were forced upon pain of death to choose favorites, it would be the two on the top row, far right. But I feel like I'm picking favorites with my children. So don't make me do it.

Thanks for spending time looking at some of my favorite products. Tomorrow I'll share some of my favorite projects.

CHA Summer: My favorites day 1

2011-07-19T18:14:00.014-05:00

So I walked the floor today for about 4 hours with the Ella Friends (Above I'm with Jenni Hufford and Keshet Starr; We found Valerie Mangan later) and fully visited maybe 12 booths. Sigh. Still, I saw some really great things today. Some of my favorites:

1. October Afternoon Sasparilla and Farmhouse. They didn't sneak much ahead of the show for these lines, but they are right now my favorite lines. So much to love.

2. These letter and label stickers from Crate Paper Farmhouse. What a great idea to put them on a 12x12 sheet.

3. Pink Paislee mistables and Wood Shop. Very nice for those inclined to Ink. Like me.

4. Fancy die cut wood from Harmonie and Maya Road. Harmonie also had these patterns in acrylic. Niiiiiice.

5. Studio Calico Memoir collection, new stamps, and Classic collection. Very hip color combos and patterns, and new embellishments.

6. Pebbles Fresh Goods line. Love the colors, embellishments, and letter stickers.

7. American Crafts Amy Tangerine. I will buy every single item in this collection. It's so amazing.

8. New Smash. The calendars and the numbers are terrific.

9. Head of the Class by Little Yellow Bicycle. One of the few back to school lines. Terrific papers.

10. Jenni Bowlin. The Halloween line, the foam stamps, the cigar box, and the red and black line. Which is almost everything she brought. So much fun stuff.

I'll be back on Wednesday to share more finds!

Summer art

2011-07-18T06:57:00.003-05:00

I am taking a class right now: Design Challenges at Big Picture Classes. Challenge 3 was to scrap in orange, and here's what I did:

My boys rarely do art, so when they spontaneously pull out the paint and create, it's memorable.

The pictures aren't great, though, and for an art page, they didn't have any inspiring colors in them. Working with one color made it easier to capture the spirit of the event.

I had some art word stamps from Studio Calico that I wanted to use, but I didn't want them to be too dominant on the page. I inked them in Jenni Bowlin Chicken Feed ink, then stamped once on scrap paper, then stamped on the layout. Here's some close ups:

I also hand-stitched photo frames, which I love to do.

If you mist in a certain color, try doing this stamping trick to add a little more depth to the mist.

Summer waves

2011-07-17T08:00:00.001-05:00

Today I wanted to share a technique I use to make the most of my patterned paper.

I love Donna Salazar's Spring in Bloom collection. Summer is now upon us, and I still want to use it, so I decided to make some waves.

I started with this paper, called White Colored Rose:

I love the water-like quality of the blues, plus the faint words and music. I decided to use the B side for a page about our latest trip to the beach.

I first took some scrap paper and punched a bunch of borders using a wave punch. (A scallop punch would work as well.) I put the patterned paper in my fancy misting apparatus:

Yes, that's just a box.

I lay the strips across the paper in random patterns and started to mist, first with an aqua blue, then a darker turquoise, and finally a white.

(That's my son Rowan misting. He loves using any of my tools and messy stuff!)

When I removed the wavy borders, it looked like this:

After adding more papers--Antiquities Journal Cards and Spring in Bloom Springtime Ribbons--and a title, here's what the final page looks like:

I used a Pioneer Woman PSE action called Seventies to make the photos a little warmer and more subdued.

And some close-ups of the misting:

Because I could not leave well enough alone, I also stitched over the title:

So now when you have delightful spring papers like these, dig into your supplies to alter to be perfect for summer as well!

Check out Joann's this weekend!

2011-07-15T12:39:00.004-05:00

If you have a lot of chipboard hanging around and you're wondering what you could do with it, here's something for you:

I have started playing around with this lately, and it is loads of fun. Mix it with paint and mist too, and there's so much you can do! Check out the chipboard as well: See the banner and the borders? Nice.

Next week I'll be at CHA reporting for Ella Publishing. I'll be blogging and tweeting from there. If you want to follow me on Twitter, my name if Buffyfanlarson (amazingly, both Jennifer Larson and Buffy fan were taken, so I had to come up with a new name!).

WInner!

2011-07-14T22:49:00.002-05:00

I LOVED reading the hints on two-page design. More on that to come...

I went to random.org and pulled the number for this reader:

serenarepsold said...

When making a 2 page layout, I usually start with the papers. I know this sounds completely nuts, but that's what works for me. I figure out my papers, figure out the number of pics I want to use, and then base the sketch from there. I find that I can always use a space I have created for pictures. If in the end I don't have pics to fill the space out, I use an embellishment (usually hanmade). I hope this makes sense. I am most creative when I am not held hostage by my pictures. But I scrapbook for the art of creating, not for the art of preserving. Being artful keeps me sane!

July 12, 2011 5:00 PM

Serenarepsold, please email me at jennyrahnlarson at yahoo dot com to give me your address, and I will get it out to you!

New two pager and a giveaway!

2011-07-12T15:56:00.008-05:00

This week at Sketch Support there is a wonderful 2 page spread. I had several photos from my sons' butterfly fair in the fall, so I decided to use the sketch to scrap that event. The sketch uses stars, which didn't fit for my theme, but butterflies did, so I swapped out the stars for butterflies. Here's what I did (click the images to view them larger):

I sort of wish I'd used a lighter background yellow, but this color is the color of monarchs, and so it goes. Same with the die cut paper: I wish I'd tucked it in a little more. Ah, well. Neither of those bothered my boys, so I'm over it.

I hand drew then hand stitched the swoop across the page, then used my Studio Calico butterfly stamps and my Martha Stewart butterfly punches on scrap paper to add the butterflies.

After I adhered them, it became perfectly clear they would not stay, so I machine stitched each one on because I do nothing but eat bon bons and recline on the couch, so I have enough time to do so. (Big lie. I was internally swearing as I was stitching because of how much time it took. Not sure I will ever do that again with such a rabble of butterflies.)

I added more rabble to the title just 'cause I liked it. I didn't internally swear at these.

And now for the giveaway!

I would like to give a copy of Debbie Sanders and Allison Davis' Sketches for Scrapbooking volume 8. If you want to be considered for the random drawing, please leave a comment telling what hints you have for making two page layouts. Comments will be open until Thursday, July 14 (ETA 8 P.M. CST).

My two not-so-secret loves....

2011-07-10T08:00:00.001-05:00

Hello all, Jennifer Larson with a confession: I have a not-so-secret love affair with patterned paper and stitching. I'm figuring I can't be the only one.

Long before I started scrapbooking, I cross-stitched, and whenever I can, I still try to add some stitches to my pages. It's a habit. And for patterned paper, I rarely use one piece whole. I usually cut it apart, trying to get as many different uses out of it as I can.

This next page I made puts both of those love affairs to use.

When I first laid eyes on GCD Studio's Scandia Jul, I fell in love, not just because of its gorgeous design, but also because the patterns reminded me of the Scandinavian decorations my Swedish relatives put out at Christmas. So when I finally got this paper in my hands, I decided to use it to make ornaments on a page celebrating the family heritage of the Nelson ladies' Christmas tea. (Click on the image to see it larger)

I used a 1-1/8 inch circle punch to create the ornaments from the paper called Delovely, Red. Once punched, I adhered them along the bottom and top, then pierced some holes and stitched to make the ornaments "hang" from different page elements. A quick and easy way to add a handmade touch to the page!

Thank you for letting me take a break in summer and share a little Christmas in July!

The Twins, a rain delay, and a tree

2011-07-08T06:39:00.008-05:00

One week ago today our family went to a Twins game, something we've done before, but this trip was more adventurous.

Weather reports for the evening had been dicey all day, and as we left for the game, I took a picture of what looked to be an Armageddon cloud:

I've never seen a thunderhead building almost directly overhead. Amazing.

When we got to the game, it was sunny, kind of:

It started to sprinkle, so we went under the stands for cover, and we promptly got a rain delay, even though the rain swiftly stopped. Here's why the delay:

Soon after we returned to our seats these greenish clouds came up. And then this sign came up:

So down below we went again.

The clouds were so amazing it made the Star Tribune:

Photo by Kyndell Harkness of the Star Tribune. See the jumbotron on the left? On the far right , about eight rows down, that blob of white is my family. Here's a link to the weather story.

And did it rain:

I saw a little hail too. The boys were happy. The cap Rowan is wearing comes from ice cream:

Eventually (2 hours later) the grounds crew started squeegy-ing the water into the drains on the field (who knew?), so we headed back to our seats, only after we noticed this:

Yes, a rainbow.

We were treated to a stunning sunset when we got back to our seats.

The game was amazing, after an unfortunate 1st inning home run. Later, Jim Thome hit another home run!

It was late, though. The 5th inning happened at about 11 P.M., and the boys were fading fast, so we left. The rest of the game was quick, for they were finished by the time we got home, where unfortunately we found this (photo taken the next day):

My beloved pink crabapple tree split down the middle. I loved that tree. It was mature and stunning. Apparently our town only got about 7 minutes of violent wind, but it was enough to take down our tree, which we spent Saturday morning dismembering. How beautiful was the tree? See for yourself:

Ah, well.

We'll let the stump rot out this season, have it ground down before winter, and plant another one next spring.

At least the Twins won. Woot!

Barbeque star

2011-07-07T10:29:00.004-05:00

My page for this week's Sketch Support is up. I made a layout, though the sketch is for a card. Here's what I did (click the images to see them larger):

I had two vertical photos of my husband barbequeing, so I decided to pair them with a journaling prompt from Ella's List It! Holiday Edition. I added the strips of paper and stars above and below the photos and journaling block.

I had fun pairing old and new with this layout. I used a lot of old scraps and some product from the stash--buttons, stickers, star punch--while also digging into the new--the Ella journaling spot and the October Afternoon big letter stickers. I was going for a color mix that reflected both summer and fourth of July.

I mentioned this on Sketch Support: After I had stitched the stars I realized they were not alligned. %#@*! I added the buttons to mask it a little.

Just in case you were wondering, my husband became a barbeque star after attending Kick Ass BBQ, a class he asked for one Father's Day. My boys can attest for how good he is now at making ribs: they're always suspicious of food that is unfamiliar, but both boys now love ribs thanks to Derick (and Kick Ass BBQ).

My sons' relationship

2011-07-06T08:28:00.004-05:00

On our way to church this week, my boys were in the backseat, playing some sort of "blow 'em up" game with their toys. It was LOUD. I turned to my husband and wondered, Would it sound different with girls in the backseat? (My friends with girls tell me it would be louder, LOL!) Raising boys is an adventure.

My boys' relationship is a constant topic for me. Inspired by the die cut tags from Sassafras' Monstrosity line (heh), I made this page, called "2 Monsters?" (click the image to see it larger):

Lots of stash on this one. I added the little red blop on the top to create a better sense of balance.

My boys aren't always monsters. I wrote about the other side of their relationship inspired by this photo, another 8x12 photo:

I used some newer Lily Bee papers, which for some reason made me think fall. I also used my ubiquitous Bazzill stitching template and some gorgeous Pebbles felt trees that I've been hoarding. Time to put those babies to use. (BTW, Jackie asked about my stitching: I do both hand and machine stitching. Sometimes I stitch with a template by hand, other times I stitch without. I'll post about this in the future.)

Do you have any relationships in your life that are complicated? Look at both sides in one or two LOs, and let your product choices reflect the emotion, whether it be monsters or serene trees.

Summer days!

2011-07-03T08:00:00.001-05:00

I just wanted to share a project I did to celebrate summer days I spent with my son while his brother was at Vacation Bible School.

One of my favorite things about summer is COLOR, maybe because living in Minnesota means we have such a long winter devoid of color. To celebrate the color of summer, I used the punchiest pieces of paper I could find in the Soul Food line. To punch up the color even more, I misted the background yellow and the green paper with green. (ETA: I just adjusted the image so you can hopefully see the whole thing!)

Banners are still popular, and I did a twist on one by making a banner of circles, some punched from white cardstock and patterned paper, the others from Soul Food chipboard that reflected the free, lazy spirit of summer. I "hung" the circles from the banner with brads.

I added more circles to the title to balance out the layout and added some whimsical whirls of twine. Before I glued the twine, I lightly drew the swirls with pencil, then traced over them with glue before sticking the twine down.

As you go through your days this summer, take some everyday photos, pull out some bright papers like these, and play around with mist and shapes to capture some of the joy!

May 2011

2011-06-27T15:36:00.006-05:00

I'm still going with Project 12. I was rushed to finish April's. Here it is in case I didn't post it:

On both April and May, I stuck fairly close to the sketch, though I swapped out elements and added photos. I like the colors here, and I've been using my Studio Calico kits to simplify the process, but this month's kit was really colorful and bright, and my photos aren't really. Hopefully there's not a disconnect.

Here's my May page, which I liked much better, not sure why:

I cobbled together that plaid paper with scraps basically, until I found a few more pieces of it squirreled away at Archiver's. I was so excited to find that paper, I felt like the dodos in Ice Age: "The Laaast Melon!"

The white scalloped thing is a Fancy Pants coffee filter that came with the kit. I didn't know how to use them--I didn't like them misted, and they're too transparent to put over patterned paper. I was happy to lay a circle on top, cut with my ancient Coluzzle.

I also bought an Epiphany Crafts Button maker just so I could use those fancy button holders. Now I have to make at least 19 more of them to get my money's worth.

Whoop! Here's one more! That leaves 18.

An interesting thing about those waxy flowers: I remember Studio Calcio DT members at CHA looking for embellishments to match them for a kit. It made me happy to see what finally went with those toys, which I've used up completely.

Circles

2011-06-24T12:05:00.002-05:00

I'm a fairly linear person--some would say anal. So my designs tend to be linear.

I tried to go that way with a goofy story, but it just didn't fit, so I decided to cut everything into circles. Inspired by a 10+ patterned paper challenge at Studio Calico and lots of circles I've seen on Layouts, I made this:

I used my Bazzill circle stitching guide to add stitches:

Just an all-out fun page to make. I smiled the whole time.

(Don't ask me how long it took me to make this page!)

Welcome, summer!

2011-06-21T07:41:00.005-05:00

We had a wonderful first week of summer break. Here's the evidence:

Rowan sent his first email this weekend to his friend spending the summer in China. He told him about going to see the Green Lantern. While typing, he asked me how to spell "guess," "usual," and "went." I only chided him about having to ask about "went," but after all the tricky words with u's in them, maybe he thought it could be spelled "wuent." English spelling is tough.

Derick got himself a brisket to BBQ at Osseo Meats. Apologies to Vegetarians, but for Derick, grilling something all day long while having a beer and watching baseball is life perfected.

While Rowan was at taekwondo, Dominic and I went to meet Scott Baker of the Twins. He's way taller IRL than he looks on TV. And he pitched an awesome game on Saturday a few hours after we met him!

(That's Dominic's new swim shirt, a la Target. He would wear it every day if I'd let him.)

On Father's Day, Derick played Go Fish with the boys. Old fashioned fun.

For Father's Day, we went to eat brunch at Famous Dave's in Calhoun Square. They have an AMAZING Sunday brunch. We hadn't been for years, and it was still good. Sadly, the hash browns didn't seem to have brisket in it anymore, but they still had the huge fruit tray, a variety of breakfast meats, and (my favorite) waffles with apple butter, praline sauce, and whipped cream. Mmmm...

We had a bit of a wait, so we went across the street to Magers and Quinn and got a couple books for the boys. The one that hyped them up was this one:

The Book With a Hole. That's the title. If you have boys, get this book. Girls would probably like it too, but boys definitely would.

Dominic got balloons at Byerly's, just because he was wearing a Twins shirt. Nice.

This was an almost dream for Lola. Look at the size of the bones she found! Sadly, Mom (me) didn't buy it for her.

We found out this weekend that she had worms--the only down part of the start of summer--so we had to take her to the vet, which is why we were in the Bone aisle. It took a few times for her to get the medicine down, but she's feeling better, as you can see:

Just a thought: If you haven't done a page about your life right now, maybe try doing a little recap: things that make you happy, things that went well, things that are driving you crazy right now, and so on. I could easily turn these photos into a grid and do a quick page on my life right now. What memories!

I like big photos

2011-06-15T20:49:00.005-05:00

Several years ago I remember seeing a Studio A article in CK where she touted the value of using big photos, 8x12 specifically. I was hooked. I especially loved how you could leave a bunch of yummy white space in the photo to put "stuff." Not sure what, just nice stuff.

Here's some of what I've done in the past:

This was one of my earlier big photo layouts. I loved adding the big cluster on the left, including the stamped "remember," which I stamped with Stayzon.

This one I did more recently. I found this photo unscrapped from last summer so I boosted the color, printed it big, and wrote about waiting for summer. Which I still am waiting for, thankyouverymuch.

This is my most recent big photo LO. The photo is technically bad--"muddy" is the term I hear used. But look at that blue! I used the Pioneer Woman Boost action to jack up the color and printed it big with the idea of putting smaller photos of my husband and me on it.

I didn't stitch at first, but the LO looked a little static without it, so I stitched to add some motion.

I get 8x12 photos from National Camera Exchange when I have few photos to print and Scrapbook Pictures when I have many photos to print.

Right now I have one 8x12 waiting to print. It shows my boys from behind walking down a fall path, lots of yummy white space to the left. I want to reflect on their relationship with this. I do that often, but I think that's OK.

So if you have never printed a lovely photo in 8x12, I challenge you to do so and scrap it. Using this big size makes you think differently about the way you design and embellish a page; indeed, it changed the way I take photos. I now tend to leave white space to the side, just in case I want a big print.

Meet Lola

2011-06-12T20:51:00.008-05:00

It's been a year and a half since we had to put down Roswell because of her liver disease. Her death left a hole in my heart, but gradually we knew it was time to look for another dog. Several things happened that serendipitously led us to this little girl being cuddled by Dominic:

1. Passing by a local Petco, I noticed that they would be hosting a pet adoption June 11, the day after school got out. The timing was so perfect it felt like it was meant to be.

2. Derick found the name of the rescue group, Homeward Bound, and we had perused the avilable dogs to find ones we liked. A day or two before the 11th, Derick asked me to look again, since new dogs were coming in. I saw a dog whose picture I hadn't noticed before, a Shepherd mix named Daisy. She looked jaunty with ears askew. I liked her.

3. As we waited for the dogs to be brought into the store, I met Daisy as she was walked in. She was obviously a sweetheart.

4. We test drove two dogs, taking them outside for a walk and trying to play with them. They were nice, but neither wanted to play, which was a problem for my boys. While we were outside, I saw a couple with Daisy, so I thought we'd lost our chance with her.

5. When we went back indoors, Daisy was back in her cage. I told Derick she was the one, so we took her outside to play. And she played. She was a love.

Dominic came up with the name Lola, named after a girl in his class who I hope never learns we named our dog after her. (Rowan had come up with the boy name, had we adopted a boy dog: Killebrew.) I like the name, though every time I tell people that her name is Lola, I then proceed to hear this song for an hour.

Lola is about 5 months old, but she's already mostly house and crate trained. Now we're teaching her her new name and some basic commands. Right now she's mastered "Go get your toy," which we need because her definition of a toy is much larger than our definition.

We had a funny moment this afternoon when she trotted into the room with Derick's hiking boot hanging out of her mouth. I took it away, she left, and she returned with the bathroom rug. I took it, and she came back with the kitchen rug! I then took out a tennis ball and played fetch until she was tired.

She's a love, though. When we got her home, we gave her a bath:

Doesn't she look so forlorn? All the good crusty doggie smells were taken away from her coat!

Here we tried our first walk. She's not a natural with a leash. That will take time.

After we came home, she lay on my legs and fell asleep. I didn't have to heart to move her.

I'm enjoying thinking about these next few weeks of summer, taking her to the park, taking her camping, and teaching her that her name is Lola.

Midwest Scrapgarden

Sky Climbers

Floral foreshadowing

Pages I do every year

Male Patterned Paper

Fun, Family Stories, and a Ritual

Twelve

Goofy and Happy

New Year pages

Guest Artist

Favorites of 2011

Christmas boys

Just messin' around

Best Christmas Ever

In the bleak midwinter: my design process

Muted Christmas hues

A Black Belt, a 5K, and Queen

Winner!

Ella Friends blog hop: Cards!

New Year

Black Friday tradition

Where do you get your inspiration?

More pages

Scrap-tacular weekend

Pinterest inspiration

OA Winner!

October Afternoon Warehouse Sale (and a giveaway!)

Project 12 September

Warm colors

School preparation

October visit

Mom, we broke the tree...

Boo 2010

Thinking about summer...

Handmade accent

Final Big Idea Festival layouts

Early morning chat

Ella digi winners!

Scrapbooking as Therapy

Heritage photos, digital scrapping, and a giveaway!

Busy busy busy

Mom, I'm sorry I spilled water on your page...

Big Idea Festival

5 Vacation Faves

Summer-in-water colors

Spaced out

Terrific two-page advice

Saying goodbye to summer and hello to the memories

The Black Hills

I've got my sunbonnet hanging down my back...

Winner!

One page sketch

CHA faves: take 3

CHA faves: take 2

CHA favorite projects part 1

Warm weather colors

CHA: My favorites day 2

CHA Summer: My favorites day 1

Summer art

Summer waves

Check out Joann's this weekend!

WInner!

New two pager and a giveaway!

My two not-so-secret loves....

The Twins, a rain delay, and a tree

Barbeque star

My sons' relationship

Summer days!

May 2011

Circles

Welcome, summer!

I like big photos

Meet Lola