Lions Field Day

I've been wanting to scrap these photos from my daughter's field day, which occurred in April but I was feeling quite overwhelmed with the amount of photos I wanted to include. When I received the new Little Yellow Bicycle Makin' the Grade collection and saw the cork board paper I think my heart skipped a beat! It reminded me of the photo bulletin boards I often see in kids' rooms or offices with tons of photos tucked in them. I used that decor element as inspiration to create this 2-page layout. 

Supplies: Little Yellow Bicycle Makin' the Grade collection: MG-108 Cork Board/Brown Solid, MG-103 School Bands/Brown Stripe, MG-111 Multi Fun Dot, MG-122 Decorative Edge Cardstock, MG-135 Stickers - Favorite Pieces, MG1100 Tear-out tickets & Journaling Card Book, MG-305 Paper Crafting Kit, MG-201 Canvas Stickers - Self Adhesive, MG-277 Stick Pins, MG-230 Clear Cuts Shapes, MG-279 Chipboard Shapes, American Crafts This & That Tape Runner, American Crafts Thickers - Vinyl stickers "Sprinkles", American Crafts Amy Tangerine Thickers "Scenes", American Crafts pen .03 in black.

Journaling reads: You were soo excited about Field Day! You had hoped to be teamed with Maysie and you were! You had a blast competing in all the games and races.

By the way, her other BFF is Jane (pictured) and she had also hoped to be teamed with either her or Maysie. The journaling on the page reads as I wrote it above because I ran out of space and it just flowed better. She adores them both!

Creative How to: 
The first thing I did after I created the photoboard (read about it in the next paragraph) was to lay the die cut cardstock across both pages. I wanted it to tie the two pages together but didn't want it to dominate. I then layered the photo, journaling and embellishments over it. Then I took the canvas sticker banner, which comes in a straight line in the packaging but it has enough flex to curve it slightly. I then added star stickers, accordion ribbon and the title, using the silver glitter alphas to tie in to the thumb tacks, stars and trophy elements.

I used a sketch from Creating Keepsakes but altered it slightly. It called for the 2nd page to be designed just a bit different and for another photo. Like I said above, I wanted to design the 2nd page to resemble a photo bulletin board. I laid it all out with paper strips (cut to ~1/4") and then before I adhered them I played around with inserting the photos. Once I liked the placement, I removed the photos and adhered the strips to the paper. Note, I only adhered the strips where they cross each other, just like it would be on a real photo board. If you adhere the entire strips down, you won't be able to tuck your photos under them. :)

Once I had the board created, I tucked photos under the faux ribbon strips and "tacked" other photos using the chipboard stars as faux thumbtacks.

I am really happy with how this came together and how I was able to include 9 photos on the layout. One lat thing...I loved the little chipboard trophy but it needed a bit more to make it pop. I used the clear cuts shapes and stik pins to make it complete!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Meet the Teacher

My daughter absolutely loves school! The back 2 school excitement seems to build up for her all summer and we look for that letter they send through the mail right before school starts, which tells us her teacher assignments! It's really fun for her. What we really enjoy though is going to Meet the Teacher, which is usually the Friday before school starts. She gets to check out her classroom and meet her teachers! This layout tells that story for her from this year's festivities.

Supplies: Little Yellow Bicycle Makin' the Grade collection: MG-102 New Notebook/Blue Fun Dot, MG-101 Alpha Block/Red Stripe, MG-103 School Bands/Brown Stripe, MG-104 Lockers/Grey Text, MG-111 Multi Fun Dot/Green Stripe, MG-140 Stickers - Fresh Verse, MG-167 Cork Word & Shape Stickers - Self Adhesive, MG-195 Dimensional Title Pack, MG-201 Canvas Stickers - Self Adhesive, MG-220 Fabric Favorites - Self Adhesive, MG-230 Clear Cuts Shapes, MG-279 Chipboard Shapes, MG-304 6x6 Paper Pad.

Creative How to: I'm on a sketch creatin' kick right now so I created this sketch that you can use if you wish to recreate a similar layout (it doesn't have to be school related). 

I really love all the variations of banners and pennants in the LYB Makin' the Grade collection - from the canvas to the cork shapes, fabric favorites and so much more, I had to use them all! Knowing I wanted to use them all, I decided to lay low with my paper choices, avoiding the busier ones so I could focus on the photos and fun embellies. 

 To make the cork elements pop just a bit more, I outlined them with black pen.

To make the title, I used the Fresh Verse stickers but I had already used some of the stickers so I used the "M" and the "T" stickers and then I cut the rest of the letters out of the Alpha Block paper from the 6x6 paper pad. It worked great and gave me a fun variety of letters that still coordinate. 

Journaling reads: Rheagan is soo ready to start 3rd grade. We had a great time meeting Mrs. Williams and Mrs. Laudermilk.

This is such a great back to school line! 

Make sure to participate in the two blog hops I'm part of right now. They both end on Sept. 8. Just click on my blog header to see the "Blog Hop Quick Links" post.

I announced yesterday that I am doing a 500 followers giveaway. Once I reach 500 followers, I will randomly select a couple of names from my follower list. Winners will receive a random assortment of papers, embellies, stamps, etc (some from new lines and some from older lines).  I'm only 10 away as I am typing this post so spread the word and check back often to see if you are a winner!

Thanks for stopping by today! 

Simple Stories Guest Designer

I am soo excited to be guest designing for Simple Stories this month.  I won one of their collections during one of their blog contests right before CHA Winter. Several weeks passed and I never got the any mail from them so after I knew they'd be back from CHA and starting to breath again I wrote a nice reminder email. It really never gets you anywhere but fired up when you're not nice and I knew they had bigger fish to fry than worrying about my little shipment! Through that, I kind of became cyber-friends with Jodi.  After several email exchanges I got a guest designer spot! I sent Jodi my blog link and the rest is history! I guess it does pay off to be nice and now I have a new friend somewhere out there.

They sent me some gorgeous collections to play with and let me just tell you, they think of everything. If you haven't had a chance to play with their goodies yet, I highly recommend it!  Here's a couple of things I created for them. 

I fell in LOVE with you before i met YOU layout

Baby Steps Collection
***No, I am not pregnant, just behind in scrapping some of my preggy photos***

Supplies: Simple Stories Baby Steps Collection: Signature Elements 2x12 Border & 4x12 Title Strip Elements, Designer Cardstock Totally Adorable, Designer Cardstock Sweet Dreams, Designer Cardstock So Precious, Fundamentals Carstock Stickers; Martha Stewart Punch, Bazzill Cream Cardstock, October Afternoon Mini Market alphas in Kraft & Black, Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type alphas in brown and cream, Zig Marker in Chocolate, Tattered Angels Mist in Tattered Leather, Shimmerz Spritz in Bed of Roses, Misc. thread

Birthday Gift Card Holder Card

Happy Day Collection

Pack the Track Layout

Happy Day Collection

Thanks for stopping by today.  I would love it if you would leave me a comment here of course but it would mean soo much if you would also stop over and comment on the Simple Stories blog!

Oh and I'll be showing you some more layouts made with their Generations line next Tuesday so be sure to stop by again!

Geek is Chic Back 2 School Goodness

I am so in love with this new school themed line from Imaginisce.  It's packed with great colors, grid papers, tone on tone patterns and adorable embellishments.  I've barely dug into the possibilities with this collection but I'm dying to show it off to you.  I hope to inspire you with these projects below and then keep reading to see how you might be able to get your hands on your very own sample pack of Geek is Chic.

My first project is this cute little apple basket that I made for my daughter to give to her teacher at Meet the Teacher. I packed it with lots of Hershey's Kisses because I am sure she needed a chocolate fix after her first day with all those kids. ;)

Then I realized I couldn't give her a gift without a card so I made her this card.  I used the alphas that My Little Shoebox generously gave to all of us on the Imaginisce design team. I made the brad using my i-top!!!

Then I ran into a problem.  The evening before Meet the Teacher I learned that my daughter had two teachers this year - one focusing on Language Arts and the other focusing on Math/Science. So the night before I made another apple and a 2nd card.

I just love ruler and captions paper.  Of course I HAD to fussy cut the captions.

Here's a little collage I put together so that you could see different angles of the apple.  Once I made the template (anyone want me to share it?), it was SUPER easy to put together.

Every year I have my daughter make a sign to hold up.  Check out the signs we made last minute as an after though the mornings of Kinder and 1st grade.

Awww, my little Kindergarten girl!

 Going into 1st grade (no, she wasn't bald, her hair was in a braid)

Okay, let's be honest, those signs just weren't working for us and I just couldn't stop playing with this collection so I found a chalkboard sign at Hobby lobby and transformed it into this...

 Much better, right?  The only problem is that the night before her 2nd day of 2nd grade, I decided that every year starting with this year, I am going to take a photo on the day # of the grade she is going into.  So, 2nd day of 2nd grade, 3rd day of 3rd grade, etc.  So here's the official sign and photo. I am sure you will see a layout about her 2nd day of 2nd grade in the very near future!

So, what kind of grade would you give me for these projects? Of course, I would love you to tell me here by commenting on this post but I would love it just as much if you would share your love for my projects over on the Imaginisce blog TODAY.  Plus, they are offering a chance for you to win your very own sample pack of Geek is Chic!

Photo (or Notes) Block

I'm so excited to share this chunk of wood with you all today...LOL! I wanted to make something crafty yet universal for my daughter's Christmas gift for her 1st grade teacher.  Here's what I did.  read below for a supply list and to see how I did it.

I don't know why you can see the mod podge streaks in the photo because it wasn't visible in person.  Must have been something with the lighting and flash because the streaks are only showing where the flash hit. I'd take another photo but she gave it to her teacher yesterday. 

Supplies:

• Wooden block - you can get one at a craft store or have a lumber yard cut them for you.
• Spray paint
• 8x8 piece of paper
• mod podge
• foam paint brush
• bullnose clip
• fibers, ribbon, tulle (optional)
• embellishments
• Photo - I sed a 4x6

How I did it:
Rheagan's teacher is a "fancy" lady so I went through my stash and found this beautiful paper (Crate Paper - Restoration Collection "Slipcover") and the project came together so lovely I think. 

• I had my hubby cut a 2x10 piece of wood (white pine) down to 8.5" square.  I got a ton of blocks out of it so you just might see some more being featured in the future.
• I spray painted them different colors based on the look I was going for.  This one happens to be black.  You could also sand the edges to give it a more weathered look but I wanted this one to look more polished. 
• I then cut my paper to a 8x8 and stitched around the sides to give it a bit of flair.  I inked the edges blue and then modge podged it on along with the border at the bottom. 
• While that was drying I fussy cut some flowers out of the remaining paper and modge podged those and set them aside. 
• Once the block was dry I added a bullnose clip to the front. I decorated it with a strip of the backside of the paper, a smallblue-green flower and fibers.
• I picked some matching ribbon, found some bling, tulle and fibers and went to work decorating the rest. 
• One last thing I did was I added a little tag on the back with my daughter's name, grade, school and date so that her teacher would always know who it came from. I'm sure she'll swap the picture out at some point and she's taught hundreds of kids in her 30 years of teaching so a little hidden reminder doesn't hurt in this case.

And there you have it.  I added a picture of my daughter with a note of appreciation written on the back of the photo.  The alternative to using it as a photo block would be to use it to hold some pretty stationary.  What a great idea; I think I might make some custom stationary for the next person I make a block for.

All Ears & Crossing Fingers

Both of my DT reveals fall on the same day this week. 

Reveal #1: Sketchabilities - All Ears. After a long day at Magic Kindom at Disney World, Rheagan was worn out but she was still in great spirits as we headed out of the park. She was proudly showing off her "big ears" but you can tell through her forced smile that she was tired. She's still as cute as can be though.

My 2nd reveal is actually my last reveal for Nuts About Sketches. :( I did not try out for a 2nd term but I really enjoyed working with Shawn and her sketches.

Reveal #2 xx crossing fingers xx
This layout was to much fun. I doodled the border along the edge freestyle. I wanted the outer blue border to look like watercoloring so I watered down some re-inker and then painted it on several times to get some color variance. Then I fussy cut the butterflies in coordinating paper. The journaling is hidden behind the red photo section. The big red flower at the bottom right is actually what pulls the journaling out (see below). What is really hard to see here is ALL.THE.STICKLES. that I applied to this layout. I stickled: the edge of each butterfly, all the dots and lines and circles within the butterflies, the edges of the brackets, the edges of the layout, the big red flower, and the doodled loops on the layout and journaling tag. I am sure I forgot something that got hit by the stickle bug ;)

Wah! I'm Officially Mommy to a 1st Grader

Today is my first baby's last day of Kindergarten.  I cannot believe how fast this year has gone by.  I remember prepping her for Meet the Teacher and bawling as the bus pulled away on the first day.  In a couple of hours I will be seeing her get off that bus for the summer!  I was the Homeroom Mom for her class so I've been working hard to put together a a class gift.  I was able to raise enough money to get her teacher a $150 gift card and then I made a personal gift from Rheagan, but included other drawings from her classmates.  Rheagan's school has been celebrating "20 Years and Still Rockin'" so I based the project off the Rocker theme. 

The Card

This is a 6x6 card I made using CTMH "You Rock" Stamp Set and a little bling for the crown. The card is actually red, which you can see peeking through the middle. I distressed the edges with ink to give it a rocker feel.

The Clipboard

I used an oversized clipboard from CTMH. I applied ink to the edges in a somewhat erratic fashion because I wanted it to have a distressed look.  I used a notebook paper punch I got at Archivers since it's for a school teacher.  I then hand stamped, doodled and colored the "You Rock" portion.  I then modge podged over it all.  I love how it gave the ink an even more distressed look!  I applied the ribbon and bling to the clipboard while the modge podge was still wet to ensure it wouldn't budge. I really wanted to decorate the handle but I saw how some of her other clipboards in the classroom are and as much as I feel it needs some flair at the top I made the executive decision to keep it as-is so that the clipboard will look better in the long run.