A Little Halloween Inspiration

Happy Wednesday everyone! I hope you have had a chance to check out the current challenge that is up on the Challenge Blog. It's a fun one!

I chose this sneak of the Something Wicked kit as inspiration for my layout.

I liked the label from the Fancy Pants paper. This became the main focus of my layout. I hardly ever create a layout about myself so I also challenged myself to create a me layout.

I hope this will help you to be inspired to join us in the challenge. Happy creating!

-Diana

With a Little Twine

Halloween is coming and my girls could not be more excited. One thing I do every year is to have the girls dress up in their costumes and let them act out their characters. It makes for some really cute pictures. My youngest was a bit confused last year but this year I think she will have fun with it.

I used the awesome "Something Wicked" kit for my layout. There still are a few left so make sure you grab one before they are gone! A fun way to use the twine in your kit is to use it to create a border on your page. I places a little glue outside my blue paper and then carefully placed my twine around the paper. I love this quick technique and it adds just a touch of texture to your layout as well.

Happy Creating!
-Diana

Summer Fun 2011

Happy Wednesday everyone! Today I wanted to show you a quick trick you can do to create faux paper strips! I used the BasicGrey paper found in the Bee's Knees kit and cut out small little faux banner strips. I did not have to cut the strips apart. I just cut out a small section in between each banner piece. I love this trick because it allows all your papers to stay in a nice neat row!

Here is my finished layout using my faux banner strips!

I hope you give this fun little technique a try!

Happy creating!
-Diana

One Manufacturer

Every now and then I have a stack of unloved scrapbooking items. I happened to be cleaning my scraproom and came across my stash of October Afternoon's 5 & Dime. I hardly even touched it yet! Gasp! The horror! So I challenged myself to create a layout using only this collection. The only extra items I allowed myself was one sheet of cardstock and some letters. This layout came together quickly and I was able to use bits and pieces of this awesome collection! Pick up your 5 & Dime items from the store today and see what fun items you can create!

The Not So Pretty

Do you ever take pictures of the not so pretty things in life? For example, a messy living room or a bad hair day? Well you should! They may not be the prettiest pictures in the world but they are a part of your life so why not document it.

This past Sunday I had put out the sprinkler for my girls to play in. Little did I know that creating mud cakes and feeling mud squish between their toes would be ten times more fun than running through the sprinkler! I ran in the house and took a few pictures to document it.

I used items from the Salt Water Taffy kit and a few items from previous kits.

Happy Creating!
-Diana

Random Memories

Do you remember to scrapbook the little moments in life? Sometimes I forget and mainly focus on the big things like birthdays and vacations. Then I rememeber that kids grow so fast and there are so many little things they do every day that I don't ever want to forget. Things like their favorite toy or the funny sayings they come up with. Hence the creation of today's layout about my daughter and her "lipstick."

What items in your life do you hope to never forget? Take some time today and scrapbook it so you can cherish it for many years to come!

Birthday Close-ups

The birthday parties have come and gone at my house but I am still working on getting all of my pictures scrapbooked. This year I remembered to take closeup shots of the food and presents. It's something I tend to forget every year. I am always more concerned about getting shots of the blowing out of the candles and the gift unwrapping. So I challenge you to do the same at your next birthday party. Take time to take shots of the guests, decorations, etc. And then remember to scrap them. Here is a layout I did of the little sweets I baked up for my daughter's tea party birthday theme.

Capture Today

Have you joined in on our current "I love..." challenge? If not, what are you waiting for? The challenge ends on Friday the 13th! It's a fun challenge and a great way to document the things you currently love.

To create my layout, I used pictures I took on my phone and printed them on matte photo paper at home. When I cut them from the paper, I made sure to leave a little space on the bottom to imitate a polaroid picture. This layout came together quickly and I love how it documents the things I love today.

Happy creating!
Diana

Easter Fun

Easter has come and gone. Now is the time to get your Easter pictures printed and create a layout with them. I still have a few Easter layouts of my own that I still plan to make.

For this layout I used the Mary Ellen kit. LOVE the colors in this kit! They were a perfect match for the pictures I used.

I can't wait to see your Easter layouts! Make sure you link it in the comments section so that I can leave you some love!

Happy creating!
Diana

Creating Die-Cuts

You too can create fun and easy die cuts! Do you see those little starbursts on my layout? Well I created them by first stamping on patterned paper and then cutting around the starburts. For the partial sun, I added a punched circle in the middle. For the circle starburst, I used the actual patterned paper and then added a brad for a little umph.




Easy peesy right? Well I challenge you to break out your stamps and see what fun die cuts you can create!

Happy creating!
Diana

Play Time

Have you checked out the shop lately? Oh my gosh! If you haven't you really really need to! So many new goodies in there! I decided to play with some of Emma's Shop from Crate Paper. I love how versatile this collection kit is. Here is what I came up with....



I love how fresh the colors ended up in this layout. So what are you waiting for? Pick up a few new items from the store and start playing! :)

Happy creating!
Diana

Mixing the Old with the New

I don't know about you, but I have lots of old supplies sitting unloved in my stash. Recently I vowed to start using up some of my older items. As soon as I got the Jump and Jive kit, I remembered these old Lily Bee rub-ons that I have never used up. And would you know, the colors in the rub-ons matched perfectly with this kit!


I challenge you to dig through your stash and add an old item to some of your new items.

Happy Creating!
Diana

The Perfect Picture

Unfortunately, when it comes to me, the perfect picture does not exist right out of the camera. Ok. Maybe every once in a blue moon it does. So what do I do if my picture is a bit too dark or overexposed? I open Photoshop and start to edit it. I use a few actions from Totally Rad Actions along with some of my own tweaking I have figured out over time. If I am really stuck, I just head over to my trusty friend, Google, and search the world wide web. It is really not very hard to edit your pictures. There are even some free actions you can download. No need to shell out any money if you don't want to.

Here are a few before and after pictures I took from daughter's birthday party this weekend....






So don't feel bad if your picture doesn't turn out exactly how you'd like it. Just open a photo editing program and start tinkering with it. Before you know it, your picture will be just perfect!

Happy picture taking!
Diana

Use Props For Pictures

Now that Valentine's Day has come and gone, it's time to scrap some of those memories. Well this year, I completely forgot to take a picture of the valentine gifts I gave them. I know. Bad scrappy mama! It's ok though. I devised another plan to remember this Valentine's by! I bought my girls these cute lips lollipops. I figured that I could take some cute pictures of them with it. Don't you think these are hilarious?


So if you forgot to take pictures this Valentine's, don't fret. Grab what is left of their Valentine's and created a fun prop with them. For example, you could take the little Conversation Heart candies and arrange them in a cute way before taking a picture. You could even have your child hold their favortie saying and take a picture of it. Hmmmm....now there is anothere idea that I will have to do myself!

When taking pictures of your kids and their props, make sure you get a group and individual shots as well. Here are a few others I took of my girls and their "lips."




Happy picture taking!
Diana

Stitched Heart

Happy Wednesday everyone! Today I am going to show you a quick way to add a stitched heart onto your layout. First you will need to cut out a heart from a scratch piece of paper or if you have a heart template on hand, use it instead. Take a needle or paper piercer and poke holes around your heart template.



Next, choose the color floss that best coordinates with your layout and stitch away!


Viola! A nice simple addition that adds a little oomph and texture to your layout.


All items, except for the floss, are from the "Truly Scrumptious" kit. There are only two of these kits left so make sure you get yours before they are history!

Happy Creating!
Diana

Come Play Along

One thing I really love about the Noel Mignon kits is that always contain a nice mixture of manufacturers. One such manufacturer is My Mind's Eye. Did you know that My Mind's Eye has a monthly sketch challenge on their blog? Pretty neat right? Well I plan on using the Very Virginia kit to play along. I'll be back later tonight to show you my take on this sketch!



Edited: Here is my take on the challenge. What I love about sketches is how everyone interprets them differently. If you play along, make sure to post a link to your layout in the comments!



Happy Creating!
Diana

A Few Tips with Very Virginia

Happy Wednesday everyone! Today I wanted to share a couple of tips with you. First up, a cool use for your stamps. I have had this chipboard banner for awhile now and never used them. When I saw the stamps in the Very Virginia kit, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them! I used my black Staz-On ink and stamped on the chipboard banner. Afterwards I covered the chipboard with crackle paint to give it a distressed look. A quick and simple technique to spruce up your naked chipboard pieces.


I wanted to include a lot of journaling with my layout but I ran out of room after adding all my pictures and memorabilia. No worries. I decided to hide my journaling instead. I used the three journaling cards in the Very Virginia kit and stapled them together. I didn't glue all the sections of my paper down so that I had some room to slide my journaling behind it.


Here is what the completed layout looks like. I hope these little tips will help spark an idea for your next layout.



Happy creating!
Diana

Misty Title

Hi everyone! Today I wanted to show you a quick tip on how to mute the colors of bright letters. For this example, I used the Sassafras Letters from the Very Virginia kit (hurry only 10 left!!!). I placed my letters on a piece of wax paper and then lightly sprayed them with the silver Maya Road mist. After letting the mist sit for a few minutes, I then wiped off the excess mist. Once dry, you can see how the mist gave the bright Sassafras letters a slightly grungy and muted look. Do you see the middle letter “t”? This is what the unmisted letters look like. What a big difference such a little bit of color can create.





All items are from the Very Virginia kit except for the tag which is from my stash.

Happy Creating!
Diana