American Crafts - Sweet Card

I thought I wouldn't have a lot of posting the rest of this month, but the month has flown by...and I need to get some projects done.  I feel like I'm getting a little more mojo back from our beach vacation too. 

I've got a quick card...Summer fun, beach, pool...it's all I think about right now.  Emma is so into the Hawaiian theme and we swim so much during the summer, I can't help it.   

So here is a fun summer card using American Crafts Mayberry as the background, Yes, Please as the wave (which didn't work for the project I'll be sharing next month - so glad I didn't throw that piece away), and Garden Soho.  The dots are My Mind's Eye, and the arrows are Studio Calico.

The dots are My Mind's Eye, and the arrows are Studio Calico.

If you had time to pop in...thank you...hope you're getting some scrapping done.

Lily Bee and Gossamer Blue; Lily Bee and PageMaps

Hope everyone had a good weekend and Father's Day!  I was busy cooking and preparing, but we made time for swimming and hanging out and had a great time.  

I have my last layout to share from the Lily Bee and Gossamer Blue collaboration for the June Gossamer Blue kit.  See more details and more inspiration from the kit here.  This layout is mostly the Lily Bee exclusives and Sweet Shoppe.  I LOVED the color scheme that Kristen used for the exclusives, so I did the entire layout mostly in the green and yellow.

I could scrap with circles all the time...I really let loose on this one with the circles.

 I used the Silhouette to cut the background from the cardstock and pop dotted it to the background.  I did add a little bit of gelato and gesso on the background...just for a little bit of an artsy look.  Oh and that "today" stamp is Lily Bee's exclusive in the kit...I just stamped a portion of it on the label.

 Then filled all those circles in with Lily Bee's new embellishments!  How fun are these! 

And one last Lily Bee layout for another collaboration with PageMaps.  Lily Bee is sponsoring the prize for PageMaps.  You still have time to enter...check out the details here.
This is what I did with the sketch Becky Fleck gave me.

I kept it to the sketch, added a pocket and a tag, layered labels and the title, then added the embellishments.

I love these photos of me and Emma.  I don't know if you noticed it, but my shirt has stripes and so does the background...when I create a layout, I usually make sure to balance vertical and horizontal lines...I didn't plan it but when I saw that the shirt had the stripes going horizontally, I thought how cool is that!  

Hope you have a great week...will be back later this week.

Lily Bee, Fatherhood, and Project Life Week 22

I have my week 22 of Project Life on the Lily Bee blog today.  Check out the Lily Bee blog for more details and why I love how this spread came together.  

Not blogging as much during the summer or going to try...just want to enjoy spending time with Emma. 

Hope everyone is enjoying your summer and your week.  Going to try to get some scrapping done this weekend.  Hoping!  

Lily Bee and Gossamer Blue

Hello and hope everyone is having a great week.  We are just returning from a short trip to the beach...always wish it could be longer.

I'm excited to finally share these layouts with you.  Lily Bee and Gossamer Blue have teamed up for some gorgeous kits.  You can see more about the kits here on the Gossamer Blue blog as well as amazing inspiration from the Gossamer team and a few of the Lily Bee design team girls.  The kits are all sold out now!  I can see why.  I loved the exclusives that Kristen did for Lily Bee, and Mitchell with Gossamer Blue did some exclusives as well...it was such a treat to work with these kits.

Here is my layout using just the main kit.

 Emma is staying at the same school for kindergarten...so there isn't a ceremony...but she was proud to get her diploma.

And this layout was with a mix of the main and both adds ons and the color kit.  I had never used pan pastels...so I used it as a mask with the cut out.

I have one more layout I can share next week that uses all Lily Bee product from the kits.

I cannot thank Kristen from Lily Bee and Lori from Gossamer Blue for the chance to play with these amazing kits!!  

It Has Been A Privilege to Know You, Young Warlock

Tonight, the Syfy channel is airing the last Merlin show.  Yes, this is a totally geeking out post.  Next to Doctor Who, Merlin was my top favorite show to watch.  I am so disappointed that it is the last of such a great show.  There are rumors of a show with the knights coming back, who knows...I will be stalking though.

Merlin is a BBC show and not a Syfy show, but here in the US, Syfy picked it up to air it.  They delayed the ending, which Merlin fans were not happy with (including ME)...after last week's show, I had to finally see the last one NOW...so I've been able to see it in segments on YouTube, but will gladly watch the entirety of it again tonight.

So in honor of my most favorite show...  I used the intro the Great Dragon always said:  "In a land of myth, and a time of magic, the destiny of a great kingdom rests on the shoulders of a young man.  His name, Merlin."  

 At the bottom, I added what the Great Dragon says as well..."It has been a privilege to know you, young warlock."

 I used mostly new products...but that red PP is a year old or more.  I used gel medium (Mod Podge would work) to attach the square cut out (which I created from the design one of the high priestesses had tattooed on her arm).  You can download it here.  It's not perfect, but it worked for what I wanted on the background.  I used two.  You can resize it smaller if you like.  The gel medium helped with the sequins and stars too...I wanted them sprinkled and not placed.  So they stuck where they dropped.

 I used vellum to print on, because I wanted to include those quotes, but not take away from the layout...I just lightly layered them on top.  And I had to add "I was born with it."  I can hear him saying that...can you see it right under his photo?

Okay...thank you for letting me geek out a little.  I'm sure Syfy will show re-runs or even BBCAmerican.  I know I will watch them again and hopefully have the DVD collection one day.

Have a great weekend!  I may be not back with a blog post until later next week, but I'll be checking in on Facebook and Instagram.  

Crate Paper's The Pier Summer Splash Challenge

I remember when I first saw this line on the computer, I wasn't too sure about it.  When I saw it in person, I LOVED it!  I played with the Crate Paper's current Summer Splash challenge using their new The Pier line.

I had the idea of what I wanted to do, but not sure how it would come out, and it came out not exact, but I love the outcome.   

 I wanted a summery, pool feeling layout.  And I knew I wanted an ombre effect on the background.  I had learned this little technique from Janna Werner.  Using mist watered down on a non-stick mat...swipe your paint brush through it and go from side to side moving the length of the paper...you CANNOT re-dip your brush...you have to keep going...that is the key to the look.  Try this on a scrap piece first.  And I did and I didn't get the stronger color I wanted first, but kept going.  And glad I did...it was perfect.

 Cut the pinking circles, then putting pattern paper behind the circles (I used the 6x6 smaller patterns for that).  This was a fun layout and captured the feel I wanted for my first dip in the pool this year.

Paper Issues has a new theme up right now for Lifestyle projects.  I'm linking this one up.  You can link yours up here and a chance to win from our sponsor, Lifestyle Crafts.  Thanks for stopping by...will be back tomorrow with another layout.

Project Life, Week 21

I hope everyone had a great weekend whether or not you had the extra day off or not for Memorial Day. 

As usual for us, our days center around Emma, but we enjoyed it too...we spent a lot of time outside in or by the pool and made fajitas.  

I can tell I'm ready for summer (although, it is pretty hot) because of my color choices for week 21.  Changing it up a little...I have masked and misted before on cardstock for Project Life pockets, so I decided to stick with what I like for now...so using leftover cardstock that I had smeared watered down mist onto, I masked and misted in yellow the sunburst mask...I don't like to waste that ink, so then I turned the mask over and stamped on the second piece of cardstock.  It gave it the color, but with a different look.  So used those sheets for all the 4x6 pockets.  I used mostly Crate Paper's The Pier for the smaller pockets with some Studio Calico printables.

I could scrap with these colors all the time for every theme!  I just love it...I added in some neon too! Stamped and embossed with Zing Neon green and pink, and the smiley face was from stickers Emma gave me for Mother's Day ;)   Stamped the "good stuff" with Hero Arts neon pink.

 This week marked our fist time getting in the pool this year...our favorite place to be all summer long!  The photo of me and Emma doing errands with the temps in the 90's cracks me up...I didn't know if it came out...I can see her and me and we look hot!  We were dripping with sweat.

 I did take a few close-ups this time, so you can see the cardstock...such an easy thing to do and adds just the right amount of color and texture...I did not add much more detail to these spreads, because it was just perfect.

 I have to add...I LOVE the new burnished Studio Calico wood veneers...my favorite wood veneers so far!  Another new love are the frames from the Crate Paper The Pier line.

 

And the cork embellies from Studio Calico...the "today," are so awesome.

I think this spread really fits my mixed up style:  pretty, funky, colorful, detailed, a little romantic, and goofy.  

As always, thanks for stopping by and taking a look into our day to day...hope you have a great day!