We Are So Blessed

Welp, I gotta say, people, I am blessed. Truly.
These last couple of weeks have been a doozy! A lot of work and running around, and not knowing quite how I would get it all done, but luckily, I am blessed with a stinkin' awesome kid, amazing and supportive husband, and a super fun and giving Mamala! And a couple of hours magically appeared on Tuesday night to be able to pull together this little layout. It's funny how right when you need a little miracle, one can just magically appear, isn't it?

After a long weekend visiting my Mamala, I got a phone call in the wee hours from her in her bedroom to come and help. And there she was, with a couple of funky-looking toes! So it was an unexpected extended vacation, without all of the things one normally packs for a two-week getaway. You know, like my Noel Mignon kits! LOL! Luckily, my amazing hubby made some time last weekend to come down and visit us, and bring me my kit box so I could make up this little guy, just in time for Gratitude Week here on the blog!

The title of this layout is "We are so Blessed" and man, we are! Even though it has been a hectic couple of weeks, I feel so lucky that I am able to take this time to help when it's needed. Not everyone can do that, and I am so grateful to my hubbs that I am able to be a stay-at-home mama and live-in nurse when the Mamala calls!

I have been in a very layery mood the last several months, where my layouts are concerned. And all of the cute little individual bit of ephemera that Noel puts in the kits are so perfect to tuck and stitch into place. And I love the translucency of that gorgeous vellum! LOVE it! But I basically love all things gold right now, so I super love those cork star stickers with a little Zazz on them!

And speaking of Zazz and cork - I mean, come on! Was that a no-brainer to do with those super cute We R stickers? Um yes.

And I can't tell you how grateful I am for RUBONS THAT ACTUALLY WORK! I mean, you know what I'm talking about, people! There is nothing more irritating than going to rub down an image and - NOPE - not going on! Very grateful that we get the best goodies in our kits, that I can always count on to work perfectly!

So that's all for me today. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you are having a great week so far!

Scraps + Tool Card Challenge

So when I first read about this challenge, I thought to myself, "Oh dear." Cards are definitely not my forte, and tools? Considering that I debated on purchasing a Crop-A-Dile for a good year, you could say I'm not so much of a tool buyin' gal.

What do I do when I get out of my element? I go to my old crutches: horizontal strips, and my Silhouette machine. :)

This first card is made with a mixture of the Sonoma County and Dear Diary kits. I used a small artisan label shape from another design in my Silhouette downloads to make the nested spot for the sentiment to layer on top of.

And for this card (made with the Very Virginia kit), I did horizontal strips again, but got a little wild and crazy with making one strip shorter and cutting a notch out of the side. On top of that I adhered a cute little birdie on a branch I cut out with my Silhouette machine, and then inked & roughly traced around.

That's my trick when I get out of my box- go to some old stand-bys that help me not feel too overwhelmed, and incorporate it into the challenge so that it still looks like "me." :)

Home Town

One of my very favorite things about the Dear Diary Kit so far has been the Making Memories embellie. I ripped it apart, and used the ribbon on the layout below, to back the title.



It was the perfect color to make it pop just enough.

Then I used the metal part in the layout below. I made this layout using the Inspired Blueprints Sketch #59. I am so not a sketch person usually, and circles are a real stretch for me, but I had lots of fun stepping outside my scrappy bubble to try something new!



See how I made a little flower with the metal part? I just layered a button on top of it, then cut the flippy flappy parts off of the Basic Grey brad and glued that right to the center of the button. It gives it some nice depth, and then I added some leaves that I trimmed out from the Pyrus paper in the kit.



So how about it? Find an embellie that you've been hoarding and make it into something else! Rip it up, pull it apart, and show us a new way to use it!

Can't wait to see what you create!
Happy Monday!
xoxo
Britt

The Great Pumpkin Adventure!

Happy Thursday, friends! I have a 2-page layout to share with you today using the stunning "Dear Diary" kit. Gasp! Yes, I said a 2-page layout. It's definitely out of my comfort zone to do a 2-page layout but it's something I'm trying to do more and more. (Check out the message board for a challenge to do a layout out of your comfort zone posted by message board member, Caz - she offered up a gift card to the store for the winner!) I used primarily Lily Bee Designs products on my layout and even did a little misting using Glimmer Mist in Tiger Lily and Coffee Shop for added texture.

Here's a close-up of my title. I used Crate Paper and Jenni Bowlin sticker labels, Cosmo Cricket alphabet stickers, Pink Paislee alphabet stickers (from Sleepy Hollow) and American Crafts thickers. 

For the pumpkins, I hand drew a template and then pieced them together using Lily Bee patterned paper. You could certainly use a Cricut or other die-cut machine. I also machine stitched the pumpkins together.  The leaves were punched with a Martha Stewart maple leaf punch and I used foam adhesive on several of them for added dimension. 

Here's a look at my banner and journaling. 

I definitely enjoyed creating this 2-pager and hope to do more! See you next Thursday!

Jill

Using Text as a Design Element

I have to try to remember to leave space for journaling, because I get carried away with the design and forget to leave room for what I want to say! I'm sure many of you can relate!

I'm trying now to be more intentional about not only making journaling room, but making it part of the design elements.



Using colored ink pens (I have been newly introduced to Bic's Mark It collection and I'm in love with it!) can help make your journaling stand out and be an element all on its own. (This layout was created with the Dear Diary kit.)

Forever Family with "Dear Diary"

November is National Adoption Month, and my family has been twice blessed by the gift of adoption. (To read our adoption story, just visit my blog). I used the gorgeous "Dear Diary" kit to create this layout about the day we legally and officially became a "Forever Family". I love using a grid design and creating little vignettes to go along with my story. The patterned papers I pulled to go along with my photos are by Crate Paper, Lily Bee Designs, We R Memory Keepers and October Afternoon. 

Here's a close-up of my title work...I used the heart brad by Basic Grey as the dot of my "i". 

I cut the "4" card from a patterned paper by Crate Paper and accented it with a Crate Paper sticker and Jillibean Soup pin. That gold glitter frame by Making Memories was perfect to highlight our family photo. 

I applied a Hambly flower rub-on to a Crate Paper sticker and placed a green Basic Grey brad through it. 

"Dear Diary" is perfect for those family photos! 

Until next time,

Jill

An All-Nighter!!

That's right! I stayed up all night and I must say that it all started with this little vixen of a kit. I couldn't wait to dig in, and here's what I came up with.



Gotta love that punnum! Loving that Jenni Bowlin paint dauber, too. Never made my own patterned paper before. And I'm likin' it!!



Layered a corrugate button, Restoration stickers, Pyrus brad, and those cuter than cute Jillibean pins! I tried to add some extra texture and depth to the photo by brushing the dauber over it. It just makes it look a little fuzzy around the edges, so your eye is drawn into the center.



Of course, there's lots of stitching and lots of vintage photo distress ink in there, too! It just wouldn't be a "me" layout without those!