Another First

Birthday layout that is! LOL This time is of my second son, Kevin's, first birthday. These layouts are also going to be used for my monthly workshop. This month's workshop features, CTMH's Zippidee WOTG. Now I changed it up a bit just to give the layout a more festive feel and look to the pages.

I changed it by adding some black "Fancy Fuzz" to the bottom portion of the layouts. Then I punched out colored circles from coordinating cardstock and glued that to a clear button. Then I glued both to the Fancy Fuzz. Instead of using a Colonial White foundation, I wanted to use the polka dot patterned paper from CTMH's "Everlasting" paper pack, but I just had scraps and not enough to use on both layouts. So, I use the polka dot patterned paper from My Mind's Eye, designer's paper slab. My title came from ShariDesigns over at the Cutters Market. The balloon and little cake came from La Petites. I bought these little balloons when K-Mart did a clearance of all their crafts and scrapbooks items. I've been saving them for just this purpose.

That's it for today. I need to go finish getting ready for my workshop and then try to tidy up the house, even with two little four year olds under foot.

So, until next time (which I hope will be again some time this week)....

Happy Scrappin'

Leanne

A Month of Birthdays

With the birth of our granddaughter, Deborah, eight years ago, June seems the beginning of a summer full of birthdays. We celebrate not only Deborah's birthday, but also DH's birthday the day before and Matthew's birthday 10 days later. We'll end the summer with Kelli's birthday and her husband, Mike's birthday in August. So, with all the birthday celebrations, I thought I would work on birthday layouts. Believe me, I have plenty to keep me busy for some time.

This first layout, is of my oldest son, Michael's first birthday back in November 1977. Oh the excitement in his eyes are just precious! The foundation page is from Creative Imaginations. I used stamps from CTMH and Technique Tuesday and stamped 1st, a cupcake and Happy Birthday into each of the circles of the foundation page. Then I cut and layered papers from My Little Yellow Bicycle "Baby Safari Boy" and CTMH B&T paper (retired). The balloons are from La Petite. (I've had these in my stash for a while, just waiting for me to start these birthday layouts) The bear holding the balloons is a digital image from PJG Scrapbook Heaven and the cupcake in the lower left corner of the layout was made using my Nestabilities cupcake die. Now, the die comes in one piece. So after cutting it with my Big Shot, I cut it apart and ran the top portion of the cupcake through my Cuttlebug, "Swiss Dots". The with my markers I added just a touch of color to each little dot, then I used some pop dots to give the page some dimension. And finally the title was done with my print and cut feature on my Wishblade.

This second layout is from my daughter, Kelli's 1st birthday in August 1984. For the foundation page, I used Amanda Blu and Co.'s Happy Birthday To You patterned paper. The patterned paper on the left is CTMH's Birthday Bash (retired) collection. The party hats and the cake and the saying "Happy 1st Birthday" are from Suzy Zoo birthday collection. I printed out the title "Special Girl" using my Wishblade and printing it out on a transparency.

This next set of layouts are of our granddaughter, Deborah's 3rd birthday. Kelli combined Matthew's and Deborah's birthday celebration at Pizza Factory. There really isn't much to this page, believe it or not. The patterned paper is from Creative Imaginations (I think). I loved all the swirls and vibrant colors, that I just couldn't cover or even cut this paper. I ran a strip of Magic Mesh and topped the mesh with some scalloped edge, across the upper half of the page. I cut the photos out as balloons and tied some thin ribbon to the bottom. I also added lots of little embellishments from Suzy Zoo and other goodies I had in my stash.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope to have some more to share in the next few days.

So, until next time...

Happy Scrappin'!!

Leanne

Cherries vs Strawberries

Which do you prefer? Do you like your desserts with a cherry on top? Or does a strawberry parfait sound more appetizing? Do I have your mouth watering? I am so sorry about that..I am just trying to make a point.

When Close To My Heart introduce their new summer catalog last month, and I saw the new Cherry-O papers...the only thing I thought of was...why couldn't this be strawberries? Then I search a little further into the catalog and saw the new stamp set, "Fruitful Delight" on page 49. I was so excited about the fact that there is a strawberry stamp! So, hopefully within the next few weeks I'll be able to purchase that stamp set. I was given as a gift earlier in the year, a strawberry stamp set from Flourishes. Knowing I had this stamp set, I decided to use it instead of purchasing the one from CTMH. But the stamp set from CTMH would work marvelously here as I have done with the Flourishes stamp set. All I did was random stamp on a 12x12 Colonial White cardstock with chocolate ink and then using my CTMH markers and my white gel pen, colored in the strawberries, flowers and leaves. The colors I used were: Tulip, Sweet Leaf.

So, why did I opt to use strawberries instead of cherries? I guess the biggest thing is my love for strawberries and also the pictures I scrapped were of Deborah and she is wearing a "Strawberry Shortcake" shirt. See? There is a method to my madness! LOL AND of course you all know how I feel about empty spaces on a layout!! LOL

So, besides using the Cherry-O Workshop on the Go and changing it a bit. I basically followed the instructions. I did add some paper flowers and red brads and gingham ribbon to the mix. I also cut my title out on my Wishblade. I love the oversize photo of Deborah looking up from her paper. If you can't tell from the photos on the layout, she was busy sitting at the kitchen table stamping. Yes, I've started her early to become a stamper. Our next step is to start her scrapbooking.

Well, I need to scoot! My son is taking the children to the movies this evening to celebrate Matthew's 6th birthday. We're going to go see "Shrek." Fun Fun Fun!!!

I still have more to share, so hopefully tomorrow I'll post.

Until next time...

Happy Scrappin'!!

Leanne

Long Time

I can't believe it...its been almost two months since I've posted anything here on my blog. I do so want to apologize for not posting sooner. Now, as I am about to share some of the artwork I've been working on the past couple of months, I ask myself, "What do I want to accomplish with my blog?" I don't do challenges, or sketches very often...I could sit and post and tell you about what kind of day I've had. But I am afraid of either boring you to death, or this blog would turn into a b*%^h-a-thon. So, until I can figure out what direction I want my blog to go, I will continue to just post my artwork and try to explain or give some guidance of how I did a particular layout.

So, let me tell what I've been up to the last couple of months. Our daughter Kelli and her family were living in an apartment out in Mojave. Its been decades, since DH and I lived in an apartment, but we remember oh so well, having to deal with other people and their lifestyles. Kelli has learned such a lesson, since leaving home 8 years ago. Well, she and the family had the opportunity to move into a house and they jumped at the chance. They knew this would be excellent for the children to have their own backyard to play in and put some "normalcy" to their lives. So, about the last week of April, we started packing up her apartment and started moving her belongings to the new house. Now, the house had been sitting empty for over 9 months. So, before things could be moved into the house, the house needed a good cleaning. Kelli and I spent close to 4 days scrubbing the house from top to bottom. Then her brother-in-law who owns a franchise of Stanley Steamer came out and cleaned all the carpets. Then we started moving things into the house. First we tackled the kitchen. To me that's the biggest chore in moving. Then the rest fell into place.

So, while we're busy trying to get Kelli settled into her new home, the twins came for a visit. We hadn't seen them in almost 4 weeks. So the plan was they were to stay for about a week, but turned out to be 3 weeks. I love having them come for a visit. They are due to return this week and will be here for about 10 days.

Meanwhile, I am searching for solace in this turmoil of my children's lives. Where do I find such comfort? Of course, back in my rubber room working on layouts. I am so surprised that I was even able to get the layouts done for my monthly workshop. But I have and then some. Now, granted, I have never been one to rush through a layout just to get it completed. But it seemed with all that was going on...its a miracle I could get even the first thing done. But I did and with the weather permitting...I was able to step outside with the sun shining and the wind NOT blowing and photograph my layouts. I will do my best to explain each of the layouts and what I did.

Veranda Layouts

These layouts were done for my monthly workshop in April. I took the Veranda "Workshop on the Go" and changed it a bit. Instead of plain cardstock background, I substituted patterned paper for the background. I also pulled out of my stash, some large silk flowers and used them on each page. I cut on my Wishblade a decorative mat to go around the journaling block, so that everything had the elegant feel to the page.

Miracle Kit Layouts

May was National Scrapbooking Month, and Close To My Heart, in celebration of NSD, offered this wonderful kit called "Miracle." I loved what the kit included and thought of these pictures immediately when I saw the paper packet. Now, the instructions said to use "Colonial White" cardstock as my foundation page. We all know how I feel about plain white background, so I chose to use "Hollyhock" patterned paper. It really made the pictures, papers and embellishments just pop. I added few more paper flowers and buttons to the layout besides the embellies that the instructions said to use.

I have a few more layouts to share, but for now, I need to run. Hopefully, later on this afternoon or perhaps tomorrow, I'll be able to get back on the computer and share with you some more.

Thanks for stopping by. Until next time...

Happy Scrappin'!!

Leanne