Bambo Baby

 

 

 

 

Sorry it's been so quiet around here.  Been a bit swamped, we had some relatives in town over the weekend, a bunch of family/friend activities, and I've been working on DT projects and cards for the PC call.  BUT, I've been itching to do some layouts, so here's my take at the current Pretty Little Studio sketch.  I'm also going to link it up at ScrapFIT since I've got stars in my layout.

This is kind of a companion layout to the one I did for last week's sketch.  I just love the look Carina has....that 'why am I here and what is going on' look.

The pretty houndstooth paper is from Pretty Little Studio's Sand Castle collection.  I used the full size sheet, for the grid, and you guessed it...Slate cardstock.  Pretty Little Studio collections always have some sheets that have the prints on a smaller scale, in quadrants on a full size sheet, so I used the mini pink houndstooth quadrant to cover a Jenni Bowlin star.



One of my goals for this year is to do a better job of incorporating stamping on my layouts.  The stamp set I used is an older CTMH one that came with the Elemental workshop on the go.  The little 'circles' at the top were stamped using that set.  Those are actually half circles.  I stamped them and then used a circle punch to cut them out.  The little plaid stars are also from that stamp set.



Lots of machine stitching on this one too.

Hope that you had a great start to the week!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Pretty Little Studio - Sand Castle collection; CTMH - White Daisy, Slate, and Whisper cardstock.
Stamps:  CTMH - Elemental Workshop on the GO stamp set
Ink:  CTMH - Slate and Tulip ink
Other:  Pretty Little Studio - White Train Tickets Tags; Jenni Bowlin Studio - Chipboard Star; Pu;nky Sprouts - Lil Lacy Blossoms; Elle's Studio - Lil Snippets Tiny Labels; American Crafts - Amy Tangerine White Journal Foam Letter Stickers and Black 01 Precision Pen; CTMH - Bonding Memories Adhesive, Finishing Files; Xyron - 5" Creative Station; Uniball - White Signo Gel Pen; Tombow - Mono Adhesive

I've got your back

Popping in to share a layout today for the current Pretty Little Studio sketch. 

This is from a couple Christmases ago.  My sister Lydia travels to Africa relatively frequently and apparently the women there carry their babies on their backs everywhere - when they are walking around, cooking, working in the fields, etc.  So, Lydia wanted to experiment with Carina (who was just 3 months old at the time) when she came.  It actually worked really well.  Carina was pretty content and fell asleep several times.  Anyway, Ellie (who adores Lydia) did not want to be left out, and insisted on getting to ride on her back too, and Lydia was happy to oblige.  I was actually surprised that this worked for Ellie, but she was on there quite securely.

I'm using Pretty Little Studio's Home For Christmas collection, I really like how bright and vibrant the colors in the collection are, and they are really perfect for the photo (featuring the our Washington Capitals towel....there was much joy in the house when we heard that they players/owners had finally come to an agreement).

This is a bit brighter/bolder than I usually go in my layouts, so I left the background pretty plain and just used a white gel pen to add the journaling around the edges.

The red cardstock was a little bit too stark for me, so I added a some stamping with a Jane's Doodles' chevron border. 

That's it for me today.  Hope that you guys had a great weekend/start to your week!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Pretty Little Studio - Home for Christmas collection; CTMH - Outdoor Denim and Holiday Red cardstock
Stamps:  Janes Doodles - Patterns for Him
Ink:  CTMH - Holiday Red
Other:  Pretty Little Studio - Mini Christmas Home Shipping Tags; May Arts - Burlap Twine; American Crafts - Amy Tangerine White Muse Thickers; Tombow Mono Adhesive; White Gelly Roll Pen

Done

Compared to my last couple layouts, this one is rather stark, but I had a great time putting it together.  It's for Pretty Little Studio's current sketch challenge. 

This was a photo I 'rescued'.  When I took it, it came out really dark, but I played with the brightness/contrast a little and this is what I got.  I really like the kind of halo/glow effect around Carina, and the expression on her face. 

I took it much less literally than I usually do.  I used my new Mama Elephant Trifecta stamp set (I think this is going to be one of my favorites), and a blend of stamping and pieced triangles to add some color/pattern.  The title was cut using the Cricut Artiste cartridge.  I also inked the edges of my photo....something I don't normally do, but especially with all the white on this layout, I think it makes the photo pop.

Have a great end to your weekend!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - White Daisy, Black, and Holiday Red cardstock; Pretty Little Studio - April Showers patterned paper
Stamps:  Mama Elephant - Trifecta
Ink:  CTMH - Black and Desert Sand; Hero Arts - Bubble Gum
Other:  CTMH - Cricut Artiste cartridge, Bonding Memories Adhesive; Black Pigma Micron Pen; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; Kuretake - Glue Pen

Carina and Po Po

I haven't gotten to play along with the Pretty Little Studio sketch lately, but I really liked this week's, and I just ordered some prints from Shutterfly, so here I am with a layout to share.

These photos are from our vacation this summer with my family - Carina and my mom hanging out on the screened in porch of the home we rented.  Since my parents are no longer 7 hours away, but just a half hour and we see them pretty regularly, I haven't been good about taking photos of them with the kids.  It was nice to have an excuse to have the camera out and be snapping away while we were on vacation.

The sketch was very structured this time, and I really kept this layout simple.  I'm using PLS's Sand Castle collection.  I cut two pieces to create the background grid, and stitched around each of the four quadrants as well as the white cardstock mat for the photos.

Then I cut the quilt square elements from another of the Sand Castle prints and mixed in some cardstock squares for journaling.  It's kind of a CAS modern feeling layout, and other than all the stitching was really pretty easy to put together.

Short and sweet, I'm off to bed, but please stop by tomorrow.  I'll be sharing my card for the inaugural Little Tangles Challenge!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  PLS - Sand Castle papers; CTMH - Twilight and White Daisy cardstock

 

Other:  American Crafts - White Prancer Thickers; Sewing Machine; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; Pigma - Black Micron Pen

Awake

Another layout to share today.  This one is for the current Pretty Little Studio sketch as well as Kerys from Scrappin' n' Happy's October challenge to use a one word title.

It's kind of a different layout for me since it's a photo that doesn't include people, but I wanted to capture this image of Carina's crib....which is gnawed down to bare wood.  The girl does not like to sleep!  Ellie, who is three years older, still sleeps more than Carina does.  We're lucky if we can eke a one hour nap out of her on the weekends.  I have to sit in the room until she falls asleep....it's like she needs moral support to go to bed.  Her teacher told me, she's always the last kid to fall asleep....I guess she feels like there's nothing better to do once everyone else is asleep.

Anyway, this layout is a bit of an experiment with mist.  The circles were cut using my CM punch from cardstock that I misted.

I stitched them onto the layout, and then I unscrewed the cap and kind of painted a strip of the mist across the page by each of the circles.  Then I splattered some on also.  I think it looks OK.  Mist is so random, but somehow I feel that I need to practice more at it.

Sorry the photo is so screwy.  I'm going to try and retake it later when the sun is out.  The flash on the camera is such a pain when it comes to reflecting off photos.

Hope you had a good start to the week.  I pledge not to stay up late tonight watching a movie I have already seen at least twice on a cable....

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Pretty Little Studio - Sand Castle collection papers; CTMH - White Daisy

 

Other:  Studio Calico - Mister Huey's Water Cooler; American Crafts - Amy Tangerine White Muse Thickers; Creative Memories - Circle Punch; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; Sewing Machine

Puzzled and some Candy

 

 

One of my favorite sketch challenges to participate in these days is over at Pretty Little Studio.  The layouts are simple, balanced, and leave plenty of room for interpretation.

Here is this week's sketch:

I'm using My Little Shoebox's Up in the Trees collection.  Sometimes when you're pressed for time, it's great to just pull out a collection and use it exclusively.  Even with limited time, when I'm not off mixing and matching products, I can add some extra touches to make it special.

Here I did some fussy cutting to incorporate two of the patterned papers - the paper with the banners that I used at the top of the page, and one with kind of vertical strings of hearts and dots which I cut for the vertical element.



Add some great photos, cardstock stickers and journaling, and that's all she wrote.



And, I did mention some candy, right?  Some great things are coming, and since I can't share about them quite yet, I thought maybe I would share a little blog candy.  Here's what you could win:



It includes stamps from Pink Paislee, We R Memory Keepers, Inkadinkadoo, Unity, and some Webster's Pages embellishments. 

All you have to do is leave a comment.  If you're a follower (which is not required) leave an extra comment.  I'll draw a winner Sunday night and post it on Monday.

Hope your week is off to a great start!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock/Stickers:  My Little Shoebox - Up in the Trees Collection
Other:  Tombow - Mono Adhesive; Pigma - Black Micron Pen

Unscripted vs. Scripted

Sharing a layout for Pretty Little Studio's sketch challenge today.

I wanted to document how quickly we go from photo op to chaos....literally seconds after the first photo, Ellie managed to find and put on a headband, and she's holding onto Carina who is trying to escape while hamming it up at the same time.

As soon as I saw this sketch I knew I wanted to use it since I just happen to have a bunch of homemade chevron stamps in my stash. ;)





I did add a little color to the center of the stamps on the outer rows with a Zig marker, and that arrow is just a doodle.

It's a pretty CAS layout. There's a lot of empty space on the sketch and I wanted to stay true to that. There's also a good mix of products/companies. It's fun to just look through your stash and pull out bits and pieces that work for a particular project

We've started Week 2 of Kindergarten - thanks for all your sweet comments last week. Ellie is LOVING kindergarten, and we're really enjoying our time together after school too. We've done lots of reading, bike riding, cooking dinner together, crafts, gotten haircuts, it's been a great work/life balance change for us!

Hope your week is off to a good start!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock: Bella Blvd - Birthday Boy (blue polka dot); Echo Park Happy Days 6x6 pad (black and white pattern); CTMH - White Daisy and Sweet Pea cardstock
Stamps: Custom carved chevron
Ink: Ranger Archival Black
Other: Pretty Little Studio - Monsieur Mr. Connor Bookmark Tags; American Crafts - Black Amy Tangerine Sketchbook Journal Foam Thickers; Nikki Sivlis - Gingerbread House Alpha Stickers; EK Success Zig Blue marker; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; CM - Photo Splits; Sewing Machine; Pigma - Micron Pen

Every Day is an Adventure

A quick card to share tonight. This is for Pretty Little Studio's Ad inspiration challenge.

That great little journaling spot with the bicycles on it is from PLS's Monsiour collection, and when I saw this inspiration photo, I knew I wanted to incorporate that tag into it.



I've used three stamps from CTMH's It's Your Day stamp set (more on that later). The Happy Day sentiment I stamped and centered into the little bracket which is actually for the date if you're using it to actually journal in.

The word bubble sentiment is a Cricut compatible cut, although I just fussy cut it because my TV that is showing the Olympics is downstairs and the Cricut machine is upstairs....



I used some Tsukineko Fireworks in Tangelo to add some splatter to the piece the bicycle is stamped on and did some stitching on the card also.

The little circle/star are pieces from the Lucky Level 2 assortment that I stacked together.



Now for a little commercial regarding the It's Your Day stamp set. This is a double stamp set that is available for $5 with a $35 purchase between August 15th-September 30th; however, I'm offering a personal special. If you purchase the Cricut Artiste collection during that time, I'll cover the cost of the stamp set. If you're interested, please shoot me an email.



Thanks for coming by! Have a great evening!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock: CMTH - Dreamin papers; White Daisy and Pacifica cardstock
Stamps: CTMH - It's Your Day
Ink: CTMH - Black
Other: Pretty Little Studio - Monsiour Journaling Card; CTMH - Lucky Level 2 Assortment, Dimensional Foam Adhesive; Helmar Quickfix Adhesive Runner; Sewing Machine; 3L - Large and Small Dodz adhesives

Pure Happy

**For the Shaping Up Blog Hop and Giveaways please scroll down - today is the last day to leave comments!



A really CAS layout today. This is for the Moxie Fab World Hooked on Hexagons challenge as well as Pretty Little Studio's Sketch challenge.

I used my Creative Memories cutting system to cut a bunch of hexagons from GCD Studios Sweet Tooth papers. Then I created a partial grid on the page and stitched around the hexagons using my sewing machine.



There's really not too much else to say about the layout. It was simple to put together, although it takes a while to line everything up correctly and stitch around, but I like how crisp it is and how much white space there is. (It might not seem like a lot of white space to you, but it's a lot for me.)

Thanks for visiting!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock: GCD Studios - Sweet Tooth Collection; CTMH - White Daisy Cardstock
Other: American Crafts - Amy Tangerine Sketchbook Glitter Foam Thickers - Scene - Taffy; Creative Memories - Custom Cutting System, Black Pen; Sewing Machine