How Not to Build a Floral Wreath: A Tutorial

;)

But no, really.

Layout: Love You to the Moon

For this layout, I used the Simple Stories Hello, Baby collection.  I bought the Simply Basics pack (love love LOVE that they do this, a pack of B sides, yes please!) and one cut apart sheet.  So for $7, I have the equivalent of a collection pack, as far as I’m concerned.  I can get several layouts and cards with the look of the collection, and not shell out the $20+ they want for their collection packs. I did add in a sheet of metallic gold heart vellum from  We R Memory Keepers, and of course, my go to white Bazzill cardstock for the foundation.

I stacked a lot of papers, and distressed the edges of every piece for a bit of a shabby chic feel.

I stamped and heat embossed (pale pink and metallic gold) a ton of tiny stars and hearts from Ali Edwards’ baby stamp set, and scattered bling amidst them, too.  Some Twinkling H20s along the edge and some jute and heart snaps tied it all together.

TFL!

All A-Twitter, Layout 1

This pic didn’t turn out too bad as a 4×6 for an iPhone pic, did it?  One of our local coffee shops offers a free “classic” movie each Friday night.  We were going pretty regularly last year, and spent our Valentine’s there, too.  T brought little electric tea lights to set about our table and a carved wooden rose, and it was a sweet little date.  I believe this was Roman Holiday, but as much as I love Audrey Hepburn, I’m not positive about that–they showed a lot of Audrey films last year, so I may be mixing them up.

From my April Counterfeit Kit.  I loved the unexpected color combo I was able to create with this kit.  For the title area, I cut up some JBS journaling spots (not in my kit–I tend to add to regular kits all the time, so I figure it’s okay here, too) and tucked them under the ribbon.  I also am *not* a big glitter on acetate fan, so the combination of stickles, MM glitter, and the acetate heart only came about because I turned to my kit contents first…  Otherwise, I would have used some aqua paint to bring that color to the heart.  I’m too impatient, and this was still wet when I adhered it to the layout!

Thanks for looking!  I’ll have a couple of thank you cards from my kit tomorrow.

Previously scheduled post.

Cat’s Paw Layout

From my March Counterfeit Kit (sorry the pics aren’t great, I am taking pics and blogging from my phone so I can do that in bed).  Die-cut paper, tree paper, MR rub-ons, and AC thickers.  Quick and easy!   Pics are from July 2010, when hubs and I hiked a trail back home, and stopped here at the Cat’s Paw lookout to snap a few pics.  Love these pics.  The comments on my last post got me to thinking–I think the three big things helping me scrap on bedrest are:

1) I’m a simple scrapper.  It took less than a minute to pull out the supplies I wanted to use–which was further aided because all of the supplies are already pulled out to be part of the kit!

2) I sketched everything out before hand while in bed, since I knew my kit contents, and I had already decided what pictures I would use, from memory, based on what I had that fit the theme of the kit.

3)  I’m an organized scrapper (at least right now).  My space has been kept clean and things put away where they belong ever since I moved into the guest room in January.  Sharing that space with guests and my husband (we moved our desktop computer in there, too) has really kept me on the ball. That helped me put my kit together in little 1-2 minute bursts (still took 2 days!  lol), and helps when I need to grab an extra piece of paper, my trimmer, or adhesive–it’s all within arm’s reach.

I actually video-taped a little snippet today, a 3-minute scrap session with my kit.  Hoping to get it up later in the week.  And I have officially had all the check-ups I will have while on bedrest, and every one of them has been positive!  In fact, in my last one this past Monday, the doctor said my measurements were better than expected, so he was very happy with the success of my bed rest.  Meanwhile, baby is GROWING and my belly is SOOOOOOO BIG!  I really feel like I’ll go to term (which is another 3.5-6.5 weeks).  Can’t wait for Thursday–I’m attacking the nursery!  (at least as much as T will let me, since he feels I should still be on BR until I deliver…  but dude, I can’t *nest* that way!  ;-)  )

You Have My Heart Layout

I hated the color of that background piece. But in a small dose, it was quite lovely on a fall layout. I found a complementary piece of patterned paper and put a nice, fat, 10″ square chunk over the expanse of too-much-burnt-orange. And I like the result. Best part? That cardstock is out of my stash forever! I don’t have to think of a way to try and use it ever again! (Can you tell it’s been haunting me for far too long?)

YAWYK Count: 635/2010
590-592) Patterned paper & cardstock
593-596) Brads (they were ‘ribbon loop’ brads, I just snapped them off with heavy-duty scissors.)
597-602) Chipboard & grungeboard pieces
603) journaling tag

PLUS

604-629) MORE Christmas cards. Dude.
630-632) Oogly cards
633-635) Christmas card envies