Blog hop with Scrapbook Circle and The Cut Shoppe

I'm excited to share with you that this week Scrapbook Circle is teaming up with The Cut Shoppe to bring you loads of inspiration using the June Have a Little Fun Kit plus our favorite cut files from The Cut Shoppe. First, a deal for everyone this week:


In addition to those great savings the week of the hop, hop along with our Scrapbook Circle team and comment as you go. We will be selecting a winner from all of the blog hop comments to receive $20 to The Cut Shoppe. Be sure to stop by The Cut Shoppe blog and hop along to see what their team created with our June kit. Comment on The Cut Shoppe hop and you are entered to win one of our June Kits from Scrapbook Circle!

Here's my page:

The state die cuts inspired me to scrapbook the story of my husband and me meeting. It's a story that spans the country and ended up in the Mall of America. I cut Idaho and Maine (our home states) fairly small, and then I enlarged Minnesota to fill the page. Here's some details:

Thank you for visiting! Here's the rest of the Scrapbook Circle hop:

Scrapbook Circle Blog

Diana W

Rebecca 

Audrey

Jenni

Gina 

Valerie

Jennifer (that's me!)

Jamie

Diana F.

Tessa

Lisa

Hope you are inspired to scrapbook as you blog hop here at Scrapbook Circle and then over at The Cut Shoppe!

Scrapbook Circle anniversary blog hop

Hello! It's Jennifer Larson, and I'm so thrilled to be a part of the Scrapbook Circle 9th Anniversary blog hop!

This week we are doing a blog hop around to the design team members' blogs to showcase some of the fun things we have created with the May Hello Sunshine Kit. The hop starts at the Scrapbook Circle blog. Comment along your way while visiting our team members' blogs. Each comment will be one entry in a random drawing where we will be giving away FIVE May Hello Sunshine Kits.
We hope you feel inspired today!

Comments close at midnight PST on May 21. Winners will be posted on the Scrapbook Circle blog on May 22.


Here is the project I'd like to share that I made using the Hip Hip Hooray Chicken Wire Project kit:

I like to plan meals for a few weeks, using recipes I cut out of magazines. I store those in a brag book, but I periodically go through them and pull some that I'd like to make. Until I made this frame, I have kept them on the counter, where they would become decrepit. I made this frame to store recipes I pulled with the intent to cook. Here's some details:

The trickiest thing for me on this project was adhering everything. I adhered the overlay on the patterned paper from the May kit by adding glue dots on the back of the white dots, and I adhered the overlay to the back of the chicken wire with some strategically-applied staples. (A regular stapler works better than a mini attacher.) I used the clothespins and the stapler to adhere the pockets to the frame.

The doily I adhered with glue dots to the overlay, plus the clothespin.

And here's the frame with some recipes that I'm planning to make in the pockets!

Thank you for checking out my project! Here's the whole blog hop in order:

Diana Waite

Rebecca Keppel

Audrey Yeager

Jenni Calma

Gina Lideros

Mona Glod 

Valerie Huang

Jennifer Larson  - That's me!

Jamie Leija

Diana Fisher

Tessa Buys

Lisa Andrews

Be sure to visit the rest of the hop between the 18th and the 21st and leave comments for a chance to win. Comments close at midnight PST on May 21. Remember that winners on the Scrapbook Circle blog on May 22. Enjoy your inspiration!

Scrappy Blog Tour

The wonderful and talented Kay Rogers tagged me to participate in this scrappy blog hop--thank you, Kay! I'm a big fan of her work and am honored by her recognition.

What am I working on right now? 

Last weekend I was lucky to go on a scrapbooking weekend outside of town with some girlfriends. I brought back about 12 layouts and one mini album, completed or almost completed. I'm still finishing up some of those pages. Here's my favorite from the weekend:

Every summer I put this album together right away we get back from vacation.  I delayed this year, but I finally put it together. This was pretty quick to make; I'd printed my favorite photos of each of us from the trip to Itasca, then I brought a Crate Paper mini album from their latest travel line (The Open Road?). I added some Project Life cards I'd picked up from Joann's that deal with camping; since the patterns on the cards come from Pebbles' Lakeside line, I added some leftover products from that too. Finally, I added some buttons. Just because every project could use a button. Here's the inner pages:

How long does it take me to create a project? 

I'm pretty quick--maybe an hour? But stretch that out over a week, and that's usually my process. I start a page and do a little on it every day until it's done.

For more involved projects, I spend a couple hours.

What are my favorite things to create with at the moment? 

I have always loved stickers--I particularly love to remove the stickiness and then adhere them with dimensional adhesive. I also love buttons. Lately, I've enjoyed using Project Life cards and using my Cameo to cut titles (not so often to add cut embellishments, but I'm working on it!).

How does my writing/creating process work? 

Usually, I go through my photo files on the computer to download and edit once a month. That's when I print photos that I'll work with for the next month or so. If I'm designing for Scrapbook Circle, I'll take out the kit to use; if I'm designing for Simple Scrapper or Write Click Scrapbook, I'll use the sketch or prompt to inspire my product choice. In short, I'm photo driven for the most part, and I like to use kits and supplement with stash.

Occasionally, I start with product. In this next page, I had some Project Life cards that dealt with reading, which inspired me to scrap the list of notable books I'd posted on Facebook:

How do I become inspired and stay inspired? 

I find it helpful to record my family stories on Facebook, either with words or pictures or both. They serve as placemarkers for me so that I can remember them and go back and scrap them later. I love to create, so once my kids are in bed, I like to pull out my supplies and create a little before I go to bed. Surfing through online galleries and Pinterest also inspires me, though I don't scraplift; instead, I think looking through terrific pages inspires me to create.

What is my signature style? 

I'm pretty linear. I also love color. I love clustering embellishments, and I love stitching. I think my pages tends to have some sort of whimsy or playful element to them, although sometimes it might just be in the presence of a button. Here's a page that's pretty typical of my style: 

Thank you for visiting my pages on this scrappy tour! Now I tag three scrapbookers who have inspired me: Jennifer Haggerty, Donna Jannuzzi, and Cristina C. Scrap!

Scrapbook Circle and PageMaps blog hop!

Welcome to our Scrapbook Circle Blog Hop! This month Scrapbook Circle has a new kit and a new team, and we're celebrating! You could win one of five August kits by commenting as you hop from blog to blog, meeting the team of Scrapbook Circle. If you just left Sarah Zenger's blog, you are in the right place. If not, please join us for the entire hop by starting at the Scrapbook Circle blog, here.

For those of you who don't know me: I am Jennifer Larson, a high school English teacher who is a wife to an RPG gamer and a mother to two Minecraft-Lego-Star Wars crazed boys.I was born in Maine but have lived in Minnesota since college. I started my crafting life as a cross-stitcher when I was a child, then fell into cardmaking in 1998 and scrapbooking in 2002. In addition to scrapbooking and cross-stitching, I love to read, run, and garden. Plus, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the best TV show. Ever.

Here's my page that I'm sharing for the hop:

I used the two-page sketch from August Page Maps for this layout:

I kept the orientation much the same, but I replaced some design elements with goodies from the August Scrapbook Circle kit, Island Paradise. I used bits from both embellishment add-ons: the Bungalow add-on I dipped into for the flair, and the Elle's Studio die-cuts and  Basic Grey chipboard I used from the Tiki Torch add-on (my favorite!).

To be eligible for the chance to win an Island Paradise kit, please leave a comment below and continue on to the next designer's blog, Diana Fisher, and enjoy the layouts through the rest of the hop! Remember, comments for the hop end Monday, August 4th at 9:00 p.m. Pacific.

Inspired by Write Click Scrapbook: Using up stash

Today is the new month for Write Click Scrapbook. We were to look at the past 6 months of WCS and take inspiration from a past post. I took from Amy Coose's Use Your Stash post and decided to use some stamps as a background page. Here's what I did:

I used one of my favorite stamps, my Studio Calico Polaroid stamp, to serve as a photo frame for my layout. I used my paper trimmer to fill in the stamp. Here's the details:

I punched some circles from the patterned paper and added some wood veneer stars to the background. I also stitched around the main photo to add some texture.

The title I added to one of the frames, which I added on dimensional stickers.

The journaling I printed on the same paper as the background, spaced, 1.5, then trimmed it out and inked it with yellow to make it stand out.

Thank you for stopping by my page! Here's the rest of the Write Click Scrapbook people to visit today to get some inspiration:

Aliza Deutsch
Amy Coose
Christine Newman
Diane Payne
Jenny Larson (me!)
Katie Ehmann
Marnie Flores
Valerie O'Neall

Enjoy the start of June! May it be warmer and sunnier than it is here in Minnesota.

Elle's Studio blog hop!

Welcome to the blog hop! If you've been following the hop in order, you just got here from Jenni Hufford, and you are now at my blog (Jennifer Larson), and I'm so excited to participate in the release of Elle’s Studio’s two new lines for Autumn and Christmas: Spooky Tales and Be Merry! They are hitting the stores this week and you can also get them at their website now!

 

I really loved The Spooky Tales because it was so versatile--it contained both Halloween and fall images. And Be Merry will work for whatever Christmas or holiday project you have planned! And for those of you who do Project Life, both lines contain tons of tags that are perfectly sized for PL!

 

I loved working with the Halloween/fall tags especially--they have the traditional colors of the holiday, plus some unexpected color twists, and the fonts are just adorable. They were perfect for layering and creating embellishments for the page.

 

Here’s an example of how I layered those tags on a page for the October gallery that is debuting on October 1st. 

Supplies I used in this sneak peek are: 

• Spooky Tales Tidbits
• Thankful pennants

Making the "award" ribbon with the tags was so easy and fun. It matched the playful feel of this whole page.  I also used the following products in the rest of my page:

• Spooky Tales Large Journaling Tags
• Spooky Tales Note Tags 

I trimmed the note tags up to fit my page better.

Today I get to giveaway two of my favorite items from the new release to one lucky winner! 

Leave a comment to be entered to win the Spooky Tales Tidbits and Thankful Pennants. I’ll draw one winner on Saturday, September 29^th at 10 A.M. CST, so make sure you check back to see if you’ve won!

 

And don't forget to check out the rest of the hop! There are different prizes and winners at every stop in the hop - you have 13 more chances to WIN:

Elle’s Studio

Angela

Becky

Diana

Jill

Jen

Jenni

Jennifer (That's Me! You are here)

Kay

Linda

Michelle

Sophie

Valerie

Waleska

 

Have fun on the rest of the hop! And good luck! Don't forget to go to Elle's Studio for the gallery reveal on October 1st.

Sketch Support blog hop

Welcome! If you just started the blog hop here, go back and start and Sketch Support, leaving comments along the way to stay in the running for the grand prize!

I love using the sketches to get me started on scrapping. Two recent books, Travel Sketches and One-Page Sketches Volume Two have been particularly inspiring.

I used the sketch from the one-page book:

to make this layout:

 

Yes, it's a two-pager. I love that about the Sketch Support sketches: they are inspirational enough to give me ideas but flexible enough to allow for easy changes. Here's what each page looks like:

  

  

I chose a big, dramatic print for the left side and added a few pictures to the left like I did on the right to bookend the spread.

 

That's me with my bunny ears and on the beach. Many, many years ago.

 

I mainly used October Afternoon's Boarding Pass collection. The grey stripe is from Dear Lizzy Neapolitan. I also used a grey ink pad, Jenni Bowlin Weather Vane, to ink the edges of most of the papers, since the papers were of a similar hue and I wanted those papers to stand out when they were layered. I also added some stitching around the main photo. I couldn't get the corners straight, darn it, but that's not a mistake, that's just whimsy.

So here's a little about me:

• How long have you been scrapbooking? I have been scrapping for 10 years, since I was pregnant with my first son.
• Why did you start scrapbooking? Archiver's had just opened in my town, and I took a scrapbooking class to do something with the photos from my first 4 years of marriage. After I finished with them, I was hooked.
• What is your favorite time of day to scrapbook? After my boys go to bed.
• How often do you scrapbook? A little bit every day!
• Where do you scrapbook/what does your space look like? I scrap in an easy chair in my living room on a lap desk. I like it. I can be near the family when I create.
• When I'm not scrapbooking you can find me...in a high school teaching English, in my garden, jogging, or reading a book.
• What is your favorite thing about using sketches? When I don't have to stress about design, I am free to play around with other creative elements like paint, mist, stitching, and so on. love that.
• What is your favorite sketch from Sketch Support? This two page sketch from June last year was awesome. I found it easy to adjust for the photo sizes and numbers that I needed.

Now for the giveaway!

If you want a chance to win a copy of One-page Sketches volume two and Travel Sketches, leave a comment telling me something that makes you happy, just because it's always good to think about that! I will leave comments open until 8 P.M. CST Monday, April 16, then I will select winners!

After commenting here, visit Allison's blog to round out the blog hop--you're almost there!

Thank you for visiting my blog--I hope you make this a regular stop!

Ella Friends blog hop: Cards!

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:

Brenda

Monika

Donna

Francine

Jenni

Valerie

Keshet

Mary Jo

Diana

Have a great Monday!

NSD Sketch Support blog hop!

Welcome to National Scrapbook Day, and thank you for joining the Sketch Support blog hop! You should have gotten here from Suzanna's blog. If you get out of order at any time, please feel free to stop off at Sketch Support to find all the blogs--and have fun on the scavenger hunt!

Here's the sketch we used:


And here's the page I made from it:

I had bunches of brother photos that had not made their way onto other pages. I took them all and printed two more photos from a recent event to make this page. The photo sizes are different, but the orientation is the same.

The idea for the page came from some words from my son, which are on the journaling card above. Click the image to see them bigger. Words like that merit a page, I think.

My boys loved that great big red inflatable whatever.

I love my Bazzill stitching template:

Oh, yes I do...

I also love those Cosmo Cricket flower and butterfly die cuts. I'd marry them if I could. Well, not really, but I really love them.


My friend Sandra gave me the idea for putting a quotation in this spot, which I created because I had an empty spot since I messed with the photo orientation. Who knew Leonardo DiCaprio would have such a heartwarming brother quote?

And for a chance at a prize...Leave a comment telling me why you scrap! I scrap to remember the stories of our lives. Also to make meaning out of them. In all honesty, I think scrapbooking helps me make my life more meaningful. Plus, God's truth, I have to scrap because I have so dang many supplies!

So share why you scrap (Comments will be open until Sunday night at 9 P.M. CST), then hop over to Amy's blog! Thanks for stopping by; come back again.