Sketches in Thyme

Happy Wednesday everyone. I hope you all would take the time to check out the Sketches in Thyme blog. I've recently become a Sketch Designer at their site and my sketch is up on the blog this week!

Tomorrow, March 31st, is the last day to add your links for the chance to win this prize...

Have a great day!

ScrapMuch? Part 3

And now for my final installment of ScrapMuch? inspired pages for the month of March. This layout was based on their March 18th sketch.

And here is my take on it...

Let me start off by saying how much I am in love with these papers. They are so bright and make me feel so happy! A few weeks ago Michaels had this ridiculously amazing sale. Their Hot Buy paper pads which are regularly priced at $19.99, were only $5 each! I've been eyeing this pad for months, but even when I had my 50% off coupon I just couldn't justify buying more paper. I was especially nervous that even though I was attracted to the bright tropical colors, I would never have pictures to use with it. Boy was I wrong! I've already used it for three layouts and have "bookmarked" it for two more. Oh and not only have I been using it like crazy, but I've also been using the papers from the pad exclusively on the layouts. You heard correctly, my friends. I did not mix and match with other collections. I've barely even used embellishments. I've just been fussy cutting the flowers & leaves.

Anyhow, I did do a bit of mixed media work on this page. First I applied some gesso to tone down the extremely bright background.Then I used some gold Heidi Swapp texture paste on a circular 6x6 stencil from The Crafters Workshop to add some shine and texture. When the page was almost complete I splattered some white and gold Heidi Swapp Color Shine.

Thanks for looking at yet another page today. Have a great one!

ScrapMuch? Part 2

Next up is a page I created using the ScrapMuch? March 11 sketch...

And here's my take on it...

I started this page by choosing the background paper from the Heidi Swapp Hello Today collection. If you've followed me for any length of time then you know that I rarely create pages from a single collection. I love to mix & match! So my next step was to go through my scraps to see what would coordinate with the background. Lo and behold, that blue dotted paper (leftover from my last layout) was still sitting on my desk, and it looked perfect with it. Score! An entire sheet used up on two projects. I also used some paper scraps from Echo Park's Creative Agenda, Amy Tangerine's Finders Keepers, and some older Basic Grey & Dream Street Papers. I had just purchased some new washi tapes from Michaels that I was itching to use, and they also coordinated perfectly. I didn't do much mixed media on this page...just a few paint splatters at the end.

Thanks again for looking and please stay tuned a little bit longer for my final installment of ScrapMuch? inspired pages.

ScrapMuch? Part 1

Happy Tuesday! Wow...another month has completely gotten away from me. And once again I'm trying to share all the pages I've made throughout the month in the last few days of said month. Today I have three layouts I created using inspiration from ScrapMuch? The first was based on theitrMarch 4th sketch...

And here's my take on it...

For this page I used pictures from my 30th birthday when my sweet hubby surprised me with a little belated get-together at my favorite Indian restaurant.

When choosing the papers for this page, I started with the Dear Lizzy Serendipity line and then pulled some of my paper scraps to coordinate. I didn't have enough of the Serendipity collection to a create a two-page background, but I found that some pink paper from My Mind's Eye Abbey Road matched perfectly!

On the background paper, I used the packaging technique with my gelatos. And then I splattered some white and gold Heidi Swapp Color Shine. Photos never do justice to how shiny that gold ink is!

Thanks for looking and please stay tuned for two more pages I created using ScrapMuch? sketches...

Let's Get Sketchy!

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Yesterday was my birthday, so between celebrating that and Easter, ours was busy and fun! I didn't have time to scrapbook, but last week I got several layouts done and today I would like to share one I did using a sketch by Let's Get Sketchy!

Often times sketches are just a jumping point for me. Sometimes I will flip or rotate them. Sometimes I rearrange the title, journaling or embellishment placement to suit how my page has evolved from the sketch, But in this case my layout looks nearly exactly as the original sketch. See for yourself...

Santiago has been going to a summer camp the last two years and each year they have a Talent Show. This photo was taken of him and his friend, who also attends the camp, doing their comedy routine for the show.

I wanted a simple background that wouldn't overpower the triangles in the design of the sketch, so I chose white cardstock and then just did a little messy mixed media work. If you haven't tried the packaging technique to create a watercolor effect you really should. I love it! I sprayed some of my ink sprays (Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist and Shimmerz Spritz) onto a small piece of plastic packaging material, diluted it a bit with water, and then just "smooshed" it onto my cardstock. Then I added a few splatters with the same ink spray as well as some Heidi Swapp black Color Shine.

The rest of the layout came together in no time as I just followed the sketch. I wanted to use that Amy Tangerine "leaf" patterned paper, so I just went through my scrap stash and pulled different pieces that coordinated. I love that the American Craft Thickers were the exact shade of orange-yellow to match the page!

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stuck?! Sketches

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! I'm here today to share some exciting news...a secret I've been keeping for about a week now. I know I haven't been blogging much lately. Life has just been especially busy. It's always a struggle to balance real life with my creative time. Somehow or another, for the last seven years I have managed to serve on various design teams. Sometimes I was unsure of how I would juggle those duties alongside running a (since closed) small business and being a stay-at-home mom to two small children. But scrapbooking is my passion and serving on those teams not only challenged me, but helped me develop friendships with ladies all over the country (and even the world) so I just made it work. At one point I was serving on four teams at once. I quickly came to the conclusion that serving on two teams was the maximum time I could devote to the attached responsibilities. And then this past July I made the decision to resign from my one-and-only design team. It was summer (so the kids were home) and we were packing, remodeling our new house and then moving in to the house. I didn't even have my scrappy supplies available to create, so resigning seemed like the logical path to take. Once I unpacked my supplies, jumped back into creating, and I was not distracted by design team duties, I was on a huge roll. I was cranking out about five layouts a week, which for me is impressive. I was even pretty good about sharing consistently here on my blog...for a few months. I soon realized that while not serving on a design team freed up more of my time to actually scrapbook, it was not holding me accountable to consistently sharing my layouts. It dawned on me recently that I went the entire month of February without a single blog post. I also really miss the camaraderie that is developed between design team members. I feel a bit disconnected from the scrappy world when I'm not constantly communicating with my online scrappy friends. Now hopefully you've managed to make it through this lengthy monologue to hear about my exciting news...I'm so thrilled to announce that I an now a member of the Stuck?! Sketches Creative Team. This is truly an honor for me. Laura Whitaker creates the most amazing sketches, and I use them frequently. Sooooo how awesome is it that I get to be a part of this team and share the pages I've created with those sketches twice a month?!

Here is the layout I submitted for my team application...

Last year we happened to be enjoying a beautiful day at the park on National Siblings Day. I did what any good scrapbooking mother would do and requested a photo of Paolina and Santiago together. Not only did they oblige, but the kids gave me some pretty good pictures.

The sketch is, of course, from Stuck?! Sketches. The product is, as usual, a mish mash of different manufacturers and lines. The background paper is from a pad I picked up from Wal-Mart (?) a year or two ago. I think it might be Colorbok? The paper scraps are Studio Calico, Crate Paper and American Crafts. The heart washi tape I found at the Dollar Tree around Valentine's Day, The title is done with two different types of American Craft Thickers. For the background, I just used a little gesso to tone down the busyness of all the phrases and then splattered a little Heidi Swapp Color Shine. I also handstitched some circles and then added some additional ones using a Sharpie. I'm pleased that all the colors worked so well together, given that they came from so many different product lines.

Thanks for looking! And make sure you check out the Stuck?! Sketches blog to meet the rest of the new Creative Team members.

Pixels and Paper

Happy Tuesday everyone. I can't believe how long it's been since I posted! I've actually been doing a lot of scrapbooking, but just have not found the time to get on here and share it. However, today I have the perfect reason to get back in the swing of things...I'm so honored to be the March Guest Designer over at Pixels and Paper Challenge Blog.

This month's challenge was to use create a monochromatic layout or other project using inspiration from the following image. It does not have to be brown like the photo, but it must be monochromatic.

The first thing I noticed about the photo was the latte art, which inspired me to create a page with lots of circles with hearts in the middle. My mind then wandered to a layout created by Missy Whidden, that I had seen some months ago. Quite honestly, I've wanted to lift her page ever since I laid eyes on it and to also try the technique she used to create her circles. And this is what I came up with...

If you would like to see her technique for creating those super cool mixed media circles, she made a tutorial that's on YouTube that you can check out here. And of course I hope that the Pixels and Paper March challenge will give you some inspiration as well. You can play along and link up your project through March 31st.