Favorite Layouts of 2011

Hello friends! I've had such a wonderful time since I became a member of the design team here but sadly, this will be my last post and inspiration on the layout blog. I'm so thankful to Noel for the opportunity to create with her beautiful kits each month and I certainly won't be a stranger around the message board. I'm a Noel Mignon kit club fan for life! :)

Towards the end of the year I always reflect back on the work I have created and decided that for my last post here I would share some of my favorite layouts I have created with Noel Mignon kits in 2011.

1) January's "Very Virginia" kit -

2) February's "Truly Scrumptious" kit -

3) March's "Delightfully Domestic" kit -

4) April's "Jump & Jive" kit -

5) May's "Mary Ellen" kit -

6) June's "The Bee's Knees" kit -

7) August's "Salt Water Taffy" kit -

8) September's "Study Hall" kit -

9) October's "Sleepy Hollow" kit -

10) November's "Dear Diary" kit -

I'm still working on my December Memories album with the "Mistletoe & Holly" kit so if you would like to see my pages, please keep an eye on my blog. Thanks so much for your friendship and mutual inspiration this past year!

All the best!
Jill

New challenge!

There is a new challenge up today!

This challenge is to make something taking your inspiration from this...

I made this card last week that unintentionally works for this challenge.

And then I made this new one.

I made both of these cards using the Salt Water Taffy kit.

Come play along with us!
If you are feeling inspired by this color board too, make something & then link it up here on the challenge blog.
:)
Happy Monday!
gretchen

Happy Labor Day!

Good morning!
And happy Monday!
Mondays like this are the best!
I plan on doing NO laboring and hopefully a lot of scrapping today!
*****
I have a card to share with you today.

I made this one with the Salt Water Taffy kit.
I did grab the Thickers out of the Very Virginia kit and the October Afternoon 5 & Dime label from the Mary Ellen kit though.

My parents are taking a big trip at the end of the month so I plan on sending them this card when they get back!

Have a great Labor Day folks!
And happy scrapping!
:)
gretchen

 I'm so glad Noel started the challenge blog back up just in time for me to create a quick layout about our summer adventures! I tried to decide if I wanted to do a collage of photos from our summer, but decided upon this great pic of my littlest's ruffled bum of her swimsuit to represent "summertime."

If you're a Phineas and Ferb fan, then you'll recognize the beginning lyrics to the theme song as the title of my layout. I love using quote or lyrics for song titles because I'm NOT good at coming up with titles on my own! 

The little kraft pocket is stuffed with a couple of Pink Paislee Soiree Mini Notes (on sale for $4.79!) and has some of our summer activities listed on them. 

Created with the Salt Water Taffy kit. 

New challenge!!

After a little summer hiatus, the challenge blog is back up & active!
And the new challenge is very appropriate:
What did you do on your summer vacation??

Scrap it!

I did some fun stuff this summer,
but I also did a lot of running!

So I scrapped about it...

(I grabbed the cardstock & brads from my stash but everything else is from the Salt Water Taffy kit!)
*****
I kept this layout pretty simple since the pictures are so busy & colorful.

And that is a sun rub-on over the "summer" in my title & a cute watermelon border underneath!

I am still on a banner kick and I thought I would spice this one up a little bit by mixing the Lily Bee flag stickers in with the Sassafras border sticker.

*****
Join us and scrap about your summer!
Link up your layouts here.

*****

And have a great week!
:)

The Best Gift

I consider it a true gift that my girls have so much creative influence from both their daddy and grandpa - both are artists. My layout today recognizes that gift using the "Salt Water Taffy" kit and a photo from Father's Day this past summer. I kept my design fairly simple and utilized several banners - one I created myself from patterned paper and then stickers by Sassafras Lass and Lily Bee Designs. 

Here is the banner I made from patterned paper and then a Sassafras Lass sticker on top. I strung twine by My Mind's Eye between two Maya Road wood buttons. 

Make sure you stop by the store to pre-order the September kit "Study Hall"! 

See you next week!

Jill

Banner Day

A dear friend of mine had a baby shower thrown for her this past weekend, and I was asked to make a little banner for the party. I love doing these for baby showers because they double as decor and as something the mama can use either at the hospital when the baby is born, or at home in the nursery.

I whipped this one up using the Salt Water Taffy kit.
I started with triangles cut from white cardstock and covered them in scraps of text paper.
Punches definitely saved the day with this banner and made it a snap to create in no time.
I tried to emboss the butterfly stamp from the kit, BUT I apparently didn't emboss all of the powder (don't laugh at me!) and it started to rub off. Instead of re-doing it (because I'm a dork), I just stamped with black ink on a piece of yellow cardstock and covered it up. I also added some Stickles on top to make it glittery.

Make sure to stop by the message board or the facebook page to see sneak peeks of the new kit "Study Hall" coming out! It's gonna be a cute one! :)

No. 2

Yeah, that is the title of this layout.

Probably not my best choice for a title.

But I didn't realize that until I started typing up a blog post about it!

So typical.

Anywhoooooo, this layout is not about poo, but instead about the 2nd cruise we went on this past June.
My husband heard recently that you get some kind of special VIP status after you have cruised with Carnival for 10 times.
Now he is on a mission to see how fast we can get to 10!

So I figure I will make a layout like this for each cruise we go on.
It'll just have the who, what, when, where of each trip
and I can always do another layout or 2 with all the other pictures & details of the cruise.
Anybody want to go on a cruise??!

I used the Salt Water Taffy kit to make this one.

{there are still a couple left}

I pulled the Thickers out of the Jump & Jive kit because they matched a bit better &

I added a bit of bling from my stash.

Also I employed the crafty hands of Virginia to do the fun doodling on this layout!

She added the perfect touch to the page!

Happy Monday yall!
:)
gretchen

Mixed Media Flower Canvas- a mini tutorial!

Hello lovely friends! I hope you've had a great week and are looking forward to a fun weekend!

I know that we've had a lot of requests (coughcoughShannoncoughcough) on the message board for mixed media tips; Britt has shared several great ones here on the blog, and I wanted to throw in a few too!

I started off with a background I'd already created and cut a simple flower, with circles cut from the Salt Water Taffy kit and some text paper.
Tip #1: to make it look less like paper just glued to a canvas, add some paint on TOP of the patterned paper. You can see that the big red outer circle is completely painted over, and I've added some streaks of red around the outside of the whole flower. I also began adding a few rub ons (from the Salt Water Taffy kit) around the edge.
Here you can see where I began adding paint to the stem and leaves. This is all just acrylic craft paint.
Tip #2: paint with your mists! I unscrewed the lid of my mists and dipped my paintbrush inside, and began painting on the stem and leaves with a green mist.
Tip #3: let your rub ons do the work! I bought some great Hambly rub ons from Noel a while back, and began adding them onto the outside of the flower. I have a small stash of rub ons now saved just for canvasses!




Tip #4: Outline with pen & marker! This step is crucial to making everything really stand out and look defined. I grabbed this marker a while back from my LSS. It's a big thick marker, and it's made for this kind of art.
It dries quickly and is permanent, so I do small sections at a time. Just outline a little and then rub with your finger to get a smudgy affect.
And here's my final piece!

(Final tip- don't forget to finish your canvas edges! I did mine with the washi tape in the Salt Water Taffy kit!)
I hope you guys start trying out mixed media! Make sure to share your results with us! :)