Crashing My Stash - a Challenge Page!

There are challenges on various website and FB pages and sometimes it's a good thing to play along to get you to try something new, to use some of your stash, to get over a scrapper's block.

But sometimes, it's just plain old fun.  On one of my favorite FB pages, Mercy Tiara's 27 day challenge page, another gal added yet another challenge by way of a tic tac toe board, and you needed to choose a line and go for it.

I chose the line which included the use of vellum, two photos, and stencils.  After looking about at the material I had at hand (items that were already out and right at hand--I've always said I am at heart a lazy scrapper!), it turned out I was following the same line that our fearless leader, Tracy used, although I didn't set out to use the same one...  honest, I didn't!

The  background paper was one that I had stenciled quite some time ago for a different page and then never used; it was laying on the floor!  The vellum scraps were laying out, left from a page I put together a week or so ago!  And these two photos didn't seem to fit on any other paper that was within easy reach!  So, that's how this decision was made.  Nothing but pure laziness! 

The stencil pattern had been applied using two different stencils and a couple of different colors of chalk inks.  I trimmed it down some to to clean up the edges and then sewed the two pieces of vellum into place and continued sewing around the perimeter of the page.

I did the gold splatters next, since I wanted those to dry before anything else went onto the page (I've smeared gold paint or ink on too many occasions---not today!).


While the gold ink was drying I went to work layering paper scraps, tags, and journaling cards under the photos.  Once I placed my photo block in place, I could see where to add in extra pieces of paper to fill it out and also tucked in a couple of stickers from my stash. 

Next was to create a line or base for my title to sit on, so out came some washi tape, one of which I repeated in two other areas. 

  
The other additions to the page were some Raindots.  Remember those---they came out way before enamel dots came into play...and yes I still had a few...had being the operative word.  They're gone now!!!  Ya-hoo!

It makes me ridiculously happy to fulfill a challenge, use up some stash, as well as a piece of paper I had previously stenciled and not used, and get rid of old product (er, I mean use it up!).

Try a challenge to get you moving, use up some stash, finish off partial packs of older product...   See if this doesn't make you ridiculously happy!

in other words, crash your stash!

Cheryl 

Choosing a Kit Club - New Club; New Look

Since I procrastinated too long to be able to order my second Gossamer Blue kit, I moved ahead to some Citrus Twist to play with.  I need to order one more kit from Gossamer Blue and now one more from Citrus Twist (cuz, I said I'd work with two kits from each club I listed....) 

On first appraisal of the contents of my Citrus Twist September kit; it's pretty, the product selection seems to coordinate well, they are a bit embellishment heavy, six patterned papers and two card stock choices, one alphabet.

Since the kit seemed embellishment rich, I ripped right into the various packages and applied a bunch of things on this layout.  This is not my usual motis apparendi!!!!  Don't get me wrong, I love embellishments as much as the next scrapper, I just usually go for smaller clusters or one grand statement piece with a few small supporting pieces.

But here as you can see, I just went for it and lined a bunch of elements up.  I think the reason it still fits with my desire for some structure, is that everything is contained on the horizontal band of pink patterned paper.  I cut the pink pattern to stretch across one of the card stock pieces, the vanilla one (seemed like the word vanilla was more appropriate given the sweet goodness of the candies in my photo!) and this preserved the remainder of the pink piece to use on another page.   

For the title I used one of the (many--since we got en entire pack!) wood veneer pieces and I remembered that I had a Thickers set in this kind of peachy-pinky hue!  Yeah!

 
I felt that I needed to carry a bit of interest up to the top and back down at the bottom of the page, so I added a cut doily and a couple more small embellishment pieces.  Last, was to sprinkle on some pretty Heidi Swapp gold mist and then drool over the chocolates in the photo!!!!

This kit is proving fun to work with...looking forward to seeing how it all plays out!



happy scrappin'!
Cheryl

Choosing a Kit Club Research Updates! --or-- Which Clubs Give You What Goodies!

So today will be a brief update on what I have perceived thus far in my "research"!  And it did kind of surprise me as to what made me "happiest" with a kit. 

The page here is my second "boy" page made from the September Scrapbook Circle kit.  There were a lot of florals and pastels in the kit, so at very first glance it struck me as a more feminine kit.

But, as I began to put photos next to various papers, it became clear that I could easily translate the stronger navy blue colors into a boy page.  Which is exactly what I did!  The floral piece under the photos is from the center of that paper I used on a previous layout (Training Day). 


But here's the update on my kit club research... as applies to the style and content type of the clubs I've played with so far. 

Scraptastic                    (out of the running, since they no longer offer scrapbook kits)

Studio Calico:        (worked with two kits)
Alphas:                   No Thickers, thin, thin thin stickers (hard to see to peel off the backing sheet), and
                                a larger set (I think they are trying to be "original and "artsy") but difficult to use

Embellies:              Not feminine or masculine, but again I found some things difficult to translate
                                to my subject matter, and again I found them to be pretty slight in what
                                was included in a kit (not a lot to choose from)  chipboard words, cut a parts,
                                roll of washi (usually highly specific to the kit), acetate pieces, stamp set

                               No enamel dots, no flair, no stencils,

Paper:                     6 printed sheets, three sheets card stock (eh, I can live without more card stock) 


Scrapbook Circle:  (worked with two kits)
Alphas:                   One puffy set, or a chipboard set, or Thickers and one smaller sticker
                                style alpha

Embellies:               full pack or two of ephemera, partial packs of chipboard or enamel shapes,
                                acrylic word(s), cut a parts, partial packs of decorative metal clips, tassels 

Paper:                     9 printed sheets (heavy on the printed paper!  fine by me!) 


Gossamer Blue:  (worked with one kit so far)
Alphas:                 One set puffy alphas or Thickers (or similar set)

Embellies:            enamel dots or shapes, sticker set, wood veneer pieces, flair, vellum tapes,
                             stamp set, stencil, metal clips, cut a parts, acrylic shapes, acrylic word(s) 

Paper:                   9-11 printed sheets! 

Citrus Twist:        (worked with one kit so far)
Alphas:                  one Thickers (or similar style)

Embellies:             enamel shapes, metal decorative paper clips, cut a parts, full set ephemera pack,
                              full set wood veneer pack, chipboard set, stamp set, acrylic words

Paper:                   6 sheets printed paper, plus two sheets cardstock

So, by comparison, I've found that Scrapbook Circle and Gossamer Blue are about even on embellishments included...but Gossamer Blue is paper heavy (which I like).   Citrus Twist is heavy on embellishment, a little slim on papers and only one set of alphas. Again...I stress, what I like is not gonna be necessarily what others are going to like to work with.  This is simply supposed to give you an overview of what I am receiving and what I like to work with. And while I like embellishments, I am, always have been, and probably always will be, a paper person first! 

OK, moving on to details on this page:

The photos were matted on plain white card stock and layered with a gray (scrap from my stash) and that diagonal green-blue stripe, with a strip of the navy/white stripe tucked in as kind of a base on which the photos sit. 

I gessoed and water-colored the white supporting card stock (something I am enjoying more and more!).  And after the water color was dry, I added splatters of navy (Heidi Swapp), medium blue (water color), aqua green (Studio Calico) and white (Studio Calico). 

Stapled a couple small strips of coordinating papers at the top and bottom of the page.  

And then added just a very few of the little banner stickers (included in the kit), as well as the title.  The navy blue alpha is from Pink Paislee (not included) and the aqua mini alpha is from the kit.

The blues picked up wonderfully with the color of Jackson's coat and the gold and aqua accents worked well with the background colors in the photo without highlighting them or overpowering anything.  

I've had a good time with this kit and am looking forward to more from Scrapbook Circle!  (Yep, I am going ahead and getting a third kit!!!) And, sadly due to my lack of internet at times, I again missed ordering Gossamer Blue before they sold out.  Harummmph!!  So, I'll probably go ahead with the second Citrus Twist kit now and then try Gossamer Blue again for November (sigh--I'm not good at waiting). 

hmmmm, I see on this page that I so could use the added texture sewing on page gives you.  Maybe instead of ordering a second kit from anyone, I order the mini sewing machine I've had my eye on! 

I've also noticed that MANY of my Jackson pages are of him.... eating...  I mean, that boy is serious about his food!!!

later,
Cheryl

Kit Clubs---A little Bit About Included Embellishments

This is a another one of those easy pages to assemble. I absolutely loved the background paper (from Pink Fresh Studio) that was included in my September Scrapbook Circle kit.  There was a nice mix of strong navy blue patterns and pretty pastels.  Here I used leftover strips cut from one of my previous pages (the Hello Cuties page)  and just laid these on the background paper to aid in directing your eyes to the photo. 

I added more of the black ink splatters.  There was some printed on the paper -- I just added the splatters at the bottom right corner for balance.  And, after layering up my photo, I did some outlining. 

What I really wanted to talk about was embellishments that are often included in kit clubs.  I've seen a lot of words and phrases and frequently I find the chosen words a bit over-used, almost common.  And I don't want my pages to be common.   Although many of the phrases are popular and I do  understand the thinking behind manufacturer's choice to produce them, I want my page titles a bit more specific, a bit more personal (and that would be difficult for a manufactured title).

So, I change them!  Cut apart the various words and put together something more meaningful for your page.  Rearrange the letters and make a new word.  Just don't look at the embellishment pack and settle for an over-used title.   Or worse, don't look at a pack of words and titles and think these don't fit me, stick them in a drawer and leave them unused!

The mirror words were included in the September kit and I think they are awesome!  However, I wanted something just a little different for my page.  The words "Sweet" and "Life" were provided and as you can see I did use them...but the word "Our"  I made by confiscating the R from the word Dream; the U came from Fun, and the O was from ______ (gosh, I don't even remember which word the "O" was from!).   

Maybe this is something that everyone actually already does...but the teacher part of me just wouldn't let it rest till I put it down into words.  So, if this is old  school, well then thanks for just hanging out with me for a bit~!  And if not, well, think about the embellishments included in your kit(s);even if at first you think they are not quite right for your page, think about taking them apart, or adding a word or item from another embellishment pack to get the look you want.  After all, you paid for them,  I want you to be able to make use of them!

later all!
Cheryl

Does Your Kit Club Make Quick and Easy Pages?

I love me a quick and easy page to put together!  I am equally happy to get messy with paints and gesso and texture paste...but I really do love to be able to trim up some papers, glue them down, add a title and move on.  There's something about adding another page to the "done" stack that is so satisfying! 

And this latest kit from Scrapbook Circle is so feeding that urge of mine to pile up the "done" pages!  They've made it so darn easy to do this month!  Everything looks so cute together all I truly did was use two strips of patterned papers down the right side of the page and layer up some cut pieces of patterned papers behind the photo.  OK, I did tuck in a few extra little things.  

Like the punched hearts, the banner (cut from a border on one of the papers and trimmed into a banner) and the pink and yellow floral sticker peeking out the left side of the photo layers.  And even though I hate the white halo around stickers, by placing this floral sticker directly against the white cardstock background, the white halo disappears.

I also found a place for one of the three bow paperclips (aren't they just too sweet?) and one of the tab stickers. Along the edge of the page where the patterned paper strips are, I also added several punched strips, just to add some texture and some more detail.  Punching the pieces from white cardstock kept the extra pieces from being too busy and distracting yet added some needed detail. 

The hearts are all punched out of another strip of that pretty pastel stripe; used some on this page and even though I am not much of a sticker person...I do have a penchant for word stickers and this "Hello" sticker was perfect for, well can you say easy - peasy titles?!  I can!  I am always on the look out for a way to make titles quick and easy, plus I love that look of using two different fonts. 

I was also able to get the floral tabbed paper clip put to good use on this page and, AND, the pink enamel dots were the perfect finishing touch!

Ahhhhh, I am so loving this. 

I trimmed down the page and placed it on a yellow-gold pattern paper, added my journaling  and put 'er on the done pile!

An easy-peasy page is always a good thing.  Does your kit club give you this?  Every page does not necessarily need to be this easy, but it sure is nice to get a quick scrappy fix now and again!

best!
Cheryl

Kit Clubs and Reclaiming My Scrappy Mojo!

Somewhere along the way, not quite sure how, I neglected to post this layout...  And I do like this page, so I am happy to be able to share it now; especially since after having been away for a week, I had a difficult time getting my scrappy thing going again.   

Finding this page really made me think about that, how being away from scrapping for even as little as a week, made producing a page I was actually happy with, kind of troublesome. 

Oh, after we got back I got right back to scrapping... I had ordered a set of Prima Oil Crayons and I was in a hurry to play with them.  But, after putting together three different layouts, and then taking said layouts back apart again, I came to the conclusion I should switch gears.  So I opened up the kit from Scrapbook Circle that I had received right before we left and set about making some pages. 

Working straight from the kit made my transition back to scrapping go so-o-o-o-o-o much smoother!  I felt relieved of the pressure to "be creative" and just sliced, punched, and glued my way to my happy scrappy place.   Now, rest assured I will get back to playing with those crayons, but when confronted with a bit of a break in the scrapping mojo, working with the tried and true seemed like a better choice (for me anyway).  And it worked! 

Now, for details on the "found" page!  Papers are from the June Gossamer Blue kit.  The adds from outside the kit are the Thickers, the flair badge, the little diagonal striped banner, and a scrap of vellum.  Instead of layering up the photo, I placed several patterned papers vertically over a couple of horizontal banner.  This created a sort of L-shape and a nice little corner for my title.  After I fussy cut the clouds from one of the papers, and did some outlining, I was done!  

As I have said before, I was really very happy with the Gossamer Blue kit and was looking forward to my second kit (their September kit).  Ah-h-h-h, but I procrastinated too long and they sold out.   So this is the last of the Gossamer Blue layouts, at least until their October offering is available.  Since I have to wait a few more weeks for a second Gossamer Blue kit, I'll work with my September Scrapbook Circle kit and then skip around and move on to Citrus Twist for a bit.  Nice to have scrappy options! 

Thank you kit clubs...for making helping me reclaim my scrapping mojo!! And thank you kit clubs for options, always nice to have options.    

best to all
Cheryl

Why It Can Be Easier to Use Kits for Problem Photos!

Really?  Easier?  Yeah, sometimes I think so.  And here's a quick why. 

When that kit shows up, you are looking at a very specific selection of papers...  you take those papers and head to your desk and spread them out (at least I do).  Let them "speak" to you for a moment or two.  Then pull out a few of those photos you've printed but have never gotten a home, because they just didn't seem to fit with anything. 

I had pulled these photos off movie advertising and the books from Amazon I think.  I had wanted to document something that was a "big hit" of the time, and the fact that my daughter and I (both voracious readers) had traded the books back and forth, then went to each of the movies.  It was fun to read and discuss, then watch and discuss.  The title came about because I kept thinking about how we traded the books between us, then my thoughts strayed to that old decorating show Trading Spaces and ta-da, "Trading Pages"! 

When I saw the kraft paper with the arrows, I thought of these photos.  Cuz of the bow and arrow thing of course, !that was the "speaking to me" part!  Since using the entire 12x12 piece seemed a bit much (and a bit dark), I experimented on a separate piece of kraft cardstock  using the included stencil, another Tim Holtz stencil and both white spray mist and white acrylic paint.  That helped lighten up the page considerably. 

From there it was just layering up papers, adding a punched piece (that notebook edge piece) and adding a small strip of print paper to "join" the two sides together a bit and some of the white puffy stickers (that came in the kit) for some additional dimension. 

The page actually came together fairly quickly, once the paints were dry...and it was all due to that arrow printed kraft paper and the fact that I was strictly looking at the kit inclusions.  Then I started layering papers under my photos and allowed myself to dig about a bit for some pieces to tie the colors together.  The adds from outside the kit were a piece of vellum and a scrap piece of red brick type pattern (it was a Basic Grey paper), plus that Tim Holtz stencil and the two different Thickers alpha sets. 

I've had such a good time scrapping with this kit, and it's almost time for the next one to be shipping!  Yeah!!!  But I haven't quite finished this kit up; I'll do more of a wrap up when I get closer to the end of it.  So far, even though I haven't posted them all yet, I've done six pages, and I may eek out two more.  All in all, I am quite pleased with this kit and looking forward to the next one. 

later! 
Cheryl

 

Flat Layouts---the saga continues

And here we are again with another "flat" layout...and it has title placement issues to boot!  Poor baby.  And again, I remind myself (and others) that the story is told, it is not an ugly page, and the recipient loved it.  Mission accomplished! 

That being said.  Let's start with the title.  Once again, when I look at the page on the computer screen, I see that I would be happier if I had cut the title slightly smaller and placed it below the photo, right on the navy print layer.  Bah... live and learn.  Always learning! 

Then the flatness.... I have an ongoing battle with myself.  I love giving some dimension to a page, using pop dots and dimensional accents. But, in this case, my practical side won out.  I simply had to make some of the pages for this project flat.  I simply did not want to venture into a third album for this project. 

Papers for the page were from Authentique (the B side for that nice distressed background), old Creative Imaginations, Basic Grey, and more pieces from Authentique.  I cut the title using my Cricut and three different cartridges to make a wack-a-mo looking title for this crazy bunch of wack-a-mo boys.  Stickers were from Lily Bee, Simple Stories and Basic Grey. 

This was the last day of school, Junior year.  Some sort of dress-up day...not sure the look they were going for (Daisy Duke?), but they were funny! 

As for me..still have to be happy with a page that makes the recipient happy. 

and better yet, still learning
Cheryl 

Title Town - (No Not Green Bay, WI)

OK so all that would come to mind when I thought about labeling this post was title town... so sorry if you were expecting a post about football.... cuz that ain't happening here. 

Nope this is more about the placement of the title on the page. 

You see, I do love this page...except for one thing.  That one thing?  It's where I have placed the title.  Now that the page has been photographed and I see it on the computer screen, that title is just silently screaming at me that it belonged closer to the photo.  (I said before, this blog thing has helped me so much to be able to see things I might otherwise miss.) 

There is NO right or wrong way to title a page.  There is what you like and what you don't.  There is what is pleasing to your eye and what isn't.  For me, I am learning that I really like titles tucked into the photo, nice and tight.  Not floating off by itself in la-la land.  It feels disconnected to me.  (I guess it would be easy enough to have pull the title stickers up and replace them where I want them---except that this page is part of Jacob's grad album---I don't have it anymore.  I had just quickly selected some pages, photographed them for blogging purposes before I gifted the albums to him.) 

I had held this and a couple of other pages back from blogging because there were things that bothered me about the page (that became apparent when I saw them on the computer screen).  Then I thought, well let's just talk about what bothers me and why. 

So there you have it.  I'm sure there are exceptions to my title placement preference(s), and I'll go with it when it comes up (or when I notice that has happened).  But it is kind of nice to pinpoint what it is that makes me not as happy with a page.  I've often had these conversations with other scrapping friends (either they or me) saying, "I like this page, but there just something that bothers me and I'm not sure what..."  

On the page itself... background paper is an old Basic Grey (I loved the distressed solid colors for backgrounds), the layers are Maggie Holmes (from that $5 pack purchased at Michaels like 7-8 months ago.  It was a holiday week of some sort and this was one of their super saver daily deal things).  Title alphas are an older Cloud 9 (remember them?).  Stickers are from My Mind's Eye and Jillibean Soup. 

And the title itself came to me because of a commercial that was running on tv when I did the page. And our boy does have a signature look...  love him and that sly little sideways look. 

 best,
Cheryl