Cocoa Vanilla You Rock! - Play On!

Whilst languishing about in my aforementioned summer funk, I engaged in a wee bit of retail therapy.  I had seen the Cocoa Vanilla You Rock collection and was fortunate enough to purchase some of it; not everything I lusted after was in stock :(   It's a great "boy" themed line, without being too little boy-ish or too heavily themed. 

One of the papers had various strips of prints across the sheet and taking advantage of that (since this cool black and white text sheet was one that had been out of stock) I cut out the text printed strip and cut it into two pieces so it could be applied at the top and bottom of my page as part of a border.  I just love a decorative border and I use them often, especially when trying to make good use of just a few pieces of a collection! 

On this border I trimmed the text printed strips with an irregular piece of red card stock (meaning I made the red strip thinner at one end than at the other) and also tucked in partial pieces of the gray print and the dark blue print papers.  Adding a doodled line or two completed the borders for me.  Well, almost... I just had to add that Boys Rule flair badge too!  

The use of the gray, dark blue and a black and white prints, along torn pieces of red card stock and kraft paper layered under my photo was a nice repeat of the colors in the border and the colors in the photo.  And even though I was happy with the layers, I added a messy, multi-lined, doodled border all around the photo, just to finish it off! 

I cut a few banner tails from scraps and cut out the "brothers" piece from a sheet of You Rock cut-a-parts.  Also added a partial ticket stub, and a phrase sticker (not from the You Rock line--just lying about on my desk). 

The title is made up of black Thickers alphas from three different partial packs.  A playful boy page is a great place to use up mismatched alphas! 

I am loving this collection!  So much so, that I will probably haunt the two on-line suppliers I found that carry Cocoa Vanilla (a great little manufacturer out of Australia, I believe), in an effort to obtain those pieces I was unable to order before!! 

In working with "boy" pages---today's hints: 

Find a line or two that you love and that will work for the guys in your life (both big and little) and hunt them down mercilessly!  No really, if you find something you are particularly fond of that works for the guys in your life, search those on-line shops, ask about the collection within your scrappy Facebook groups (that's how I found these!). 

And next, lots of layers needn't equate to a foofy, girly look.  Use small snippets and tuck them in with pieces from a crumpled brown shopping bag, and try adding a messy doodled border around the photo to act as another layer. 

And with this, I feel like I am overcoming this summer funk of mine---we'll keep at it! 

Best!
Cheryl

A Summer Funk

So, another long, long break from blogging.  I know there are no blog-o-sphere "rules" as to how often one should blog, yadda, yadda, yadda.  But I always feel guilty when I've been away from it for weeks at a time.  I've just been in an awful funk this summer. 

I've gardened; we did a quick (way too quick) trip to Wisconsin to visit my kids and grand-kids; we added a second raised bed to the garden area; did a little leveling in the yard stemming from last year's new septic system; and I did a little on-line retail therapy; found a remedy for my allergy to something outside here...so I feel better, but I have just had a heck of a time shaking this overwhelming feeling of "eh" off. 

Today's plan is to can a batch of green beans from the garden, finish off the laundry, and actually sit down with some of my retail therapy purchases and make a scrapbook page!  Gonna try and force it... sometimes the hardest part is just to sit down and try. 

Short blog post hey?  But it's the sitting down and doing something that is the key.  Hopefully this little start eases me back into the swing of things.  I sure hope so. 

Bless you all--
Cheryl

Saturday - A Gossamer Blue Layout

Aren't they sweet when they are asleep? 

Still working on my April Gossamer Blue kit.  It was full of pretty things, some very tropical type ephemera and stickers, alas, as  I've said before---not a lot of tropical stuff goes on in my everyday experiences!  But, there is still plenty to be created from this kit! 

For this page,I chose a patterned paper as my background, one filled with small typed text.  So it was still a "white" background, but it does have pattern in the way of all that typed and woven text.  The white did not compete with the couch color in the background of the photo and it allowed me to use some of the yummy pinks and aquas that were included in the April kit. 

After choosing the base paper I set about layering up some papers at the top of the page.  Didn't really want all nice straight edges, so I tore the papers and arranged them asymmetrically to soften the overall look.  Just to finish the top of the page, I added a small-ish strip of black and white striped paper.  (I love that paper--it's really a larger herringbone type pattern that I keep trimming off these striped pieces from!) 

Oh, I also added one of my favorite things, a scribbly penned border around the perimeter of the page.

With the top all set, I started tucking various pieces of papers under my photo of the sleeping princess, and I kept playing with that piece of ephemera with the Party, Sleep, Sun, Repeat on it, tucking it under, on top, beside until I was happy with its placement.  It seemed a little too square, so a nice pink tag added on the left side of the photo and layers offset that.  Then little star stickers, a golden geo-tag and arrow, wood veneer tab and camera, puffy hearts and gold sequins added small touches of sparkle and softness.  

A couple of phrase stickers with appropriate messages found a home in the lower right corner of the arrangement to really complete the photo block! 

I used a sticker for my title, and tucked in a few puffy floral stickers.  I still wanted to bring a bit of the gold sparkle to the top of the page, so I added some gold Stickles to the little white flowers, another sparkly gold geo-tag, as well as sprinkled just a couple of gold sequins about. 

Overall, the page design is pretty simple and I didn't want to over-do the softness with adding a ton of stickers, or die cuts.  I think just the few stickers keeping most of them close to the photo block, and just a little bit of sparkle was all that was necessary to make the page seem a little dream-like and yet keep it kind of cozy! 

Can't say it enough, just because you receive a kit that has a very definitive theme, doesn't mean that has to be the theme of the photos you use with it!  Look at color, twist the theme a little, ignore the palm print and use the other side... there are lots of ways to use that kit up! 

later,
Cheryl

More Pages from INSD...

Sorry, small break in blogging due to, well, I just wasn't feeling very good with the sudden upsurge in temp and humidity here and husband was on a "we are not running the air conditioning already" kick.  Yuk.  I don't do heat and humidity well.

But I'm back with the last of my pages to share from INSD weekend!  Below is a page that I did for the using up old stuff challenge "One More Time."  Papers are ancient Echo Park, Amy Tangerine, and Authentique.  Found and used a couple of old stickers from Basic Grey, chipboard pieces from MAMBI, as well as leftovers from past kit clubs.  I had tried for some time to use various gray-toned and printed papers... wasn't working for me, so I switched and went with blues! 

The next page was the second one for the Mood Board Challenge and I used the colors from the balloon print paper as my inspiration.   

I particularly loved the blue-y aqua in that first paper, along with a touch of pink and red!   Raided my stash again, even though that was not required for the challenge, it was great to put more older product to good use---love that!

This page was created specifically for the One More Time Challenge again, using old MME glittery papers from their Laundry Line collection and a piece from the very first Fancy Pants release!  Stamping, some sequins, wood veneer hearts, wound up thread, tags and a journaling spot cut in half completed the page. 

This last page is the only entry I did for another FB group over INSD weekend.  I got so wrapped up and was enjoying the challenges from the first group I was playing along with that I kind of never made it back to this group.  But I did so enjoy getting this page done.  I had struggled with the page due to the photo's bright pink background.  It would have been much easier to scrap if the photographer had used a soft white background.   I am happy with the results, and happy for the challenge of working with "brights!" 

There are a couple more pages from the weekend, but I think I will use them within the context of another topic...fixing or do-overs for pages.   Yeah, not so happy with a couple of pages, so I'll let them sit and go back to them in a bit.  I did take photos, so I can show a before and after of the make-overs.  That should be fun!! 

Glad to be back in the blog-o-sphere and back to playin' with paper!! 

best,
Cheryl

INSD Page Recap Continued!

This set of pages that I created over INSD weekend had me digging through old, old photos!  Participating in the challenges in an online crop, sometimes means you are not (ah--um, clearing throat) quite prepared for what the challenges might be asking you to include.  At least I wasn't.  Which for some I guess could be frustrating; but for me, I found it exhilarating!  It made for a good reason for me to dig through a box of old photos, old supplies, and tools that honestly I like, I'm just too, um, lazy to get up and find and use!  LOL!

This is my now, well-over 30 year old daughter, as a cute little witch one Halloween.  See those little bats stamped at the top of the tag?  Cute, huh?!  I have stamps; I just don't often think of incorporating them onto my pages.  I tend to think of them for card making and forget about them when I am making scrapbook pages.  One of the other things to try and use was a geometric element.  I added the two triangle punches (in purple) at the top of the page, and it totally helped balance out that purple from the left side!

Bingo Challenge is a favorite of mine... use the supplies, photos, etc. noted in the "Bingo" squares, by column, row, or diagonally.  I had to use a 6x6 paper pad, a 5x7 photo or larger, acetate or acrylic shapes, squares or rectangles, and punches. 

The challenge for me on this next page as to use a 6x6 paper pad.  Not much of a challenge you say?  Well, it is for me!  I'm not a big fan of 6x6 pads.  The few that I have, I've had for  couple of years.  The other part of this challenge was to incorporate squares or rectangles in the page design.  Ahhh, cut those 6x6 papers into rectangles, outlined them and added stitch marks.  And what do you know?  I ended up really liking this page!  (I might even purchase another 6x6 pad or two.) 

 This one was created for the Inspiration Board challenge.  There were four papers pictured, we were to pick on to use as our inspiration when creating our page.  So I used one of the papers that had lots of triangles, reds, and blues (plus beige and I think there was a gold color.)  And this was my result. 

 It's ok, but it seems not quite done to me.  I hand cut, thank you very much, most of those little, bitty triangles and also used a couple of enamel shaped triangles.  And I used several of the colors from the same segment of the board.  Back to the page itself, though; I do like the borders, I like the tag cluster... but it just doesn't feel finished to me.  This one I will set aside and look at again (hopefully with fresh eyes) in a few days.  

My message would be, if you decide to participate in an on-line crop, or a challenge for that matter, don't get discouraged if you wind up not truly prepared for a challenge.  Use it as an opportunity to dig into photos left behind, or tools that you typically overlook.  And if you, like me looking at this last page, are not quite satisfied, set that page aside and look at it again later! 

Take a chance, try an on-line crop when you have the opportunity.  Nothing beats a real time, in person crop; but this was fun, challenging, and I actually got a tidy little stack of pages done! 

have yourself a scrappy day!
Cheryl