Hopscotchin'

Hello again!  :)

I wanted to pop in and share a couple layouts I made using the fabulous Hopscotch collection from Fancy Pants Designs.  I love all the fun patterned papers in this collection!  :)

Here's my first layout:

To make my sun, I actually used the sheet of die cuts that comes with this collection as a template.  I used a triangle banner piece (the negative part) with ink, then added stitching around it all.  :)

Oh and did you catch my title?  I totally ran out of e's and had to think a bit creatively.  I used c's, with small buttons on them for my e's.  ;)

Here's the close up's of my layout:

And then here is my second layout:

It was a funny moment that I captured.  Eryn was upset and Austin went to hug her.  Her words were saying she didn't want a hug.  But her body was saying she did because she reached out and hugged him back.  It was cute.  :)

Here's the close up's:

Thanks so much for stopping in today!
I hope you have a wonderful day and a fun weekend!

Team Austin

Hi everyone!  So I know there's a place for sports themed papers.   I get that they sell well.  But they are not my thing.  I have a hard time using sports themed papers...I think we all struggle with some type of papers.  But I love love love Fancy Pants, so I won't hold it against them that they made a new sports collection.  Gotta sell papers, right?  So here is me playing with their Little Sport collection:

It still looks like it needs something to me.  I think if I were to start over again, I would have added paint to the background.  But sometimes you just need to proclaim that you are finished and put it away.  This was one of those layouts.  It happens to us all.

Here are some close up's of my layout:

Well thanks so much for stopping by today!

Have a fantastic day!!

Changes

Hi everyone!!  As you may have noticed, I've had a busy August.  Which means, I haven't been posting as much.  Now that my kids are back in school I am hoping I will get more accomplished that I can post.  I've been working on some stuff I can't post yet.  I have written a book, and done projects for that.  Will it get published?  Well, I am going to try--I'll let you know how it goes.  Plus I have been playing around with product design.  Will anything come of that?  Who knows.  I had one smaller company interested in a collection I designed, but a few things have changed and I am thinking that's not going to happen.  BUT I've been in touch with another company who seems interested but it wouldn't happen for awhile.  So we'll see....  Really, I have no idea.  I have just been craving change lately.  I want to try new things in this industry (and out of it).  I've been dreaming of purchasing a large amount of land and opening a retreat, with a large studio, classrooms, and a gallery.  But as of right now, that is just a dream.  I'm going to try!  I really want it.  But I know it will take a lot of money and a lot of time before it happens.  But see what I mean--change, I'm longing for it.

Well with the end of August does comes some changes for me and my scrapping obligations.  Two of my design teams are ending.  You may have seen that BasicGrey announced a new DT, and my name is not on it.  Totally ok.  Like I've said, I am really wanting some change.

Congrats to the new BasicGrey DT!

And then my term with Skipping Stones Design is also coming to an end.  It's been fun.

Congrats to the new Skipping Stones Design DT!

So that leaves me with two DT's.  And to be honest, one of them may end soon...I am waiting to see how something turns out.  If I get down to one...I don't know what I'll do with myself.  ;)  Right now I have to decide if I would even want to pursue more DT's.  Honestly, only one DT sounds wonderful.  But I also know me.  I thrive off deadlines, so I am not sure I would get much done if I do not have a deadline.  DT's don't really need me, I need them to get things done.  Am I weird?  But I also love the idea of letting NEW people on the DT's, fresh faces.  And let's face it...I am no longer really a fresh face.

So help me think this out.  How do I give myself deadlines and keep them?  Should I post a blog schedule on here and have you guys hold me to it?  Maybe I stop worrying about the blog and don't worry if I don't get much done at all?  What other ideas do you have?  Seriously, I want to hear what you have to say.  :)

In the meantime...

Here's my card for the SSD challenge this week, my last card as DT for SSD:

It is inspired by the retro sketch of the week:

It's retro because it's been used before, we've been bringing back some favorites this month.  I hope you play along with the sketch!  You do NOT have to use Skipping Stones stamps to play along, but you can win some!  ;)  Play along here.

My circle on my card is actually cut out.  The image you see is stamped on the inside of the card.  Here's how my card looks standing up:

And this is the inside:

I used the gorgeous Victorian Summer stamp set from Skipping Stones Design on my card.

Well thanks so much for stopping by today!
Hope you have a wonderful day!  :)

Cousins

Hi everyone!!  Today I have another layout to share with you.

I really enjoyed spending time with all my cousins last month.  It had actually been quite awhile since I'd seen them.  But one thing hadn't changed...there's no shortage of females in our group.  Including my own family, the group of cousins includes 8 girls and 2 boys.  I wanted to make a layout about my cousins, so I pulled out the fabulous Paper Cottage collection from BasicGrey and made this:

I really really really LOVE this collection.  :)

I do this often in my layouts, but I did a lot of clustering.  I clustered the cool chipboard embellishments near the bottom.  I clustered the girl photos.  And I clustered my male cousin and the title.  But all three distinct clusters.

I really love those felt bows that I added to the layout.  :)

Here are some close up's:

And I thought I'd share a tip with you.  Sometimes on the back of my layouts, I will add a label sticker with the names of each person, left to right, on it.  That way I don't have to include it on the front of the page, but the information is still there for others who may want to know in the future.  Really it depends on the page.  But I did do that on this one.

Well thanks for stopping in today!  I hope you have a fabulous day!!

A Fun Canvas

Hi everyone!  Today I wanted to share a home decor/canvas project that I made with you all.  I used the fun Time For Spring collection from Fancy Pants Designs for my project.  And really this collection is great for anytime...not just spring, so don't let the name fool you.  :)

I started with 6 pieces of paper, cut into almost squares (one side is slightly longer than the other simply because of the size of my canvas).  The pieces do not fit perfectly but that is ok because I know I am going to cover the edges with paint.  I adhered the papers to my canvas.

I took white paint and covered the edges and brushed over the papers, over the middle of the canvas.  Ideally, I wanted some of the patterns to show through a little.  

I hand-cut three large leaf shapes from 3 different patterned papers.  I arranged those and a strip of green paper to make a flower.  I also added the words "practice gentleness" to my canvas, overlapping the stem on my flower.  

For a final me step, I added a bit of stitching around the papers in my flower.

And my final project ended up looking like this:

Well there you have it, a simple but fun canvas to hang on your walls.  Thanks for stopping by the blog today! 

The Hexagons Trend

in my opinion, is totally played out.  Don't get me wrong...I still love them, but I'm also tired of them.  So when I was supposed to use hexagons and masking for a blog post for The ScrapCake I knew I had to change it up a little.  :)  So using my Cameo, I made hexagons that were taller and different than the normal stop sign hexagons we've been seeing everywhere.   

Here's my layout:

I used the FABULOUS Sweet Childhood collection from The ScrapCake.  

Here's how my masking technique played in to my layout....

I created the mask with my Cameo (the negative portion of the cardstock with my hexagons).  Then I added several mediums including ink, chalk, and paint, so it looked like this before I lifted my mask off:

Then I covered a bunch of my hexagons up with hexagons of patterned paper, as well as kraft cardstock.  Using the hexagons of the same color as the background create a much more subtle look but still add a lot of texture and character.  

Here's my close up's of the layout:

Thanks so much for stopping in today!  

So weigh in--hexagons...still hot or getting old?  

Cards!

It seems I've been making more cards than layouts lately.  I have a few to share with you today.

First up....

It is loosely based on this sketch (turned and tweeked) from the Skipping Stones Design sketch challenge this week:

It's actually a flashback sketch as it was their first ever sketch challenge.  Kinda cool.  You can play along here.

The stamp I used is from the Breathtaking Butterflies stamp set from Skipping Stones.  And the papers I used are all from the Sweet Childhood collection from The ScrapCake.

And then I have two more cards to share with you using the Sweet Childhood collection:

That "Happy Birthday" on the last card comes from the Grunge stamp set from Skipping Stones.

I've been having a lot of fun playing with this Sweet Childhood collection.  I've got a layout to share soon using it.  :)

Well thanks so much for stopping in today!
YOU rock!  :)

Have a fantastic day!

Toothpicks and Tales

Hi everyone!  So I've been playing around with a cheap embellishment...toothpicks.  :)  Just having a bit of fun.  You can buy a box of toothpicks (250 count) for under $1, so it does make for a cheap embellishment.

Here's my latest layout:

I love this layout because it totally looks like a fort to me.  :)

I used the Country Boutique collection from Fancy Pants Designs for my layout.

So I was going through the pics of my dad as a kid and was struck with the fact that Hayden looks a lot like my dad did at that age.  Pretty cool.  I didn't take the time to find the best photo to place side by side...I am sure I could have found pics that look even more alike.  But frankly, I wanted to get the story down but didn't want to take the time to look through all my photos of Hayden trying to find the perfect one that looked most like this photo of my dad.  I saw the picture of Hayden holding his cousin and thought it would work well enough since they were both holding babies.

Here are some close up's of my layout:

I had cut the strip and diamonds before deciding to use the toothpicks behind them so since the toothpicks weren't look enough, I simply cut them in half (which was really easy) and "extended" them.  No problem.

Well thanks so much for stopping in today!
Have a fabulous Friday!

Family Matters

Well I've been busy...watching the Olympics!!  I LOVE the Olympics!  Who else has been watching?  It's actually a little weird because I don't really watch any other sports or anything...but when the Olympics roll around I watch, I cheer, and I am a real fan.

Well I wanted to pop in and share a fun project with you.  I really love how it turned out.  :)

I received several frames from a neighbor who asked if I wanted them.  I have good neighbors.  :)  So I painted one white.

Then I took some "family" letters from Say It With Letters and covered them with patterned papers from Fancy Pants Designs.  I used their Time For Spring collection.  Painted the sides of the letters brown (spilling over the front of course, that's how I like it).  Then I arranged the letters in a fun, over-lapping way over the frame.  Added some flowers and the chipboard letters saying "matters", and I was done!  :)

I picture it hanging in the hall, surrounded by family photos.

Here's a couple close up's:

It was a little tricky in spots since the letters were only connected to each other (and some in only a very small part) so I added a few pins in the back to help keep them together.  You can see that above the i.

Anyways...what do you think?

Thanks so much for stopping in today!!!
I hope you are having a wonderful day!

And enjoy the Olympics!  :)