Are you ready? I know I am!!
If you've been reading my blog for a while, you might remember my posts about the crazy (for Alabama, at least) snow days that we had in January and my tales of our non-sled-ownership and how our "trashboggans" came to be. I finally got some of that scrapbooked. :)
I love, love, love that I could pull just one photo out to tell the story with no pressure to make a big, balanced, multi-photo spread. I could just play with paper and pretties, and play I did! I didn't even use a paper trimmer for a lot of it, opting instead to channel my inner Jennifer Johner and go nuts with the scissors and make all kinds of crooked cuts. Lots of little pieces and lots of white space contribute to the open feel of this page.
Supplies | Patterned Paper: Cosmo Cricket (Mitten Weather), Hambly Screen Prints; Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper (Avalanche); Chipboard: Cosmo Cricket (Mitten Weather); Letter Stickers: Making Memories; Buttons: Papertrey Ink; Bling: KaiserCraft; Punch: Martha Stewart Crafts; Date Stamp: Office Supply; Pen: Zig Millenium
While I was on a snow day roll I pulled out a couple of photos from our snow kayaking adventures (taken on the day after the trashboggan event) and paired them up with some super bright papers to make a fun page.
Again, I made a lot of these cuts (epecially the strips) freehand. Love that! I also love that since my patterned paper pieces are so small I was able to get so many different patterns on the page without overwhelming everything. And those tone-on-tone white snowflake punches? Yeah, I'm really digging using my punches these days.
Supplies | Patterned Paper, Chipboard: Crate Paper (Snow Day); Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper (Avalanche); Letter Stickers: American Crafts; Rub-on: Hambly Screen Prints; Punch: Martha Stewart Crafts; Date Stamp: Office Supply; Pen: Staedtler
For this page about my niece, Sophie, and her first Easter basket I decided to go all out with the color using my May Counterfeit Kit. I misted the background paper (originally white) with Studio Calico's Mister Huey sprays, then wiped off the pre-embossed areas of the paper to let the damask show through.
I had fun scattering lots of little items across this page- punched patterned paper bunnies, buttons, brads, rubber charms, and a tiny piece of ruffled rose ribbon. I'm finding it so much easier to embellish my pages now that they're designed more around lines than blocks like my previous pages were.
Supplies | Patterned Paper: Sassafras, Anna Griffin, Pink Paislee (Parisian Anthology), Cosmo Cricket (DeLovely); Mist: Studio Calico (Piglet, Orchard); Letter Stickers: American Crafts (large), Basic Grey (small); Ribbon: American Crafts; Punch: Martha Stewart Crafts; Brads: Making Memories; Rubber Charm: KI Memories; Button: Papertrey Ink; Staples: Tim Holtz for Advantus; Date Stamp, Tag: Office Supply; Pen: Zig Millennium
For this last layout I reverted to my old favorite background paper- kraft cardstock. I love how colors really "pop" against it, and I felt that it went with the whole kind of urban, industrial feel of a Chipotle restaurant.
I moved the edge treatments to the sides rather than the top and bottom, then built embellishment clusters on each side so that they looked like they were "growing" out from the edges of the page. Some other favorite techniques and supplies on this layout are the ink splatter misting, washi tape, and some messy stitching for definition.
Supplies | Patterned Paper: Basic Grey (Black Tie), Pink Paislee (Old School); Cardstock: The Paper Studio; Letter Stickers: American Crafts (large), Cosmo Cricket (small); Mist: Tattered Angels (Slate); Buttons: Papertrey Ink; Journaling Spot: Becky Higgins (Project Life); Tape: mt; Punch: Martha Stewart Crafts; Date Stamp: Office Supply; Pen: Zig Millennium
Did you notice that all of these layouts also have some level of snarkiness about their journaling and titles? I've decided to move away from the longer journaling where I try to cram every detail of an event onto a page, and instead I'm letting my personality come through. I've got other places (such as my blog) for that journaling, and I've even got a space right in my scrapbooks for it. I'll be covering that, plus how I include extra photos in a coming post!