An Echo Park "Sweet Girl" layout

Today I have a new layout up on Lori Whitlock's blog using her adorable Sweet Girl Collection she designed for Echo Park.  I thought for a slight change of pace I would try a layout where diecutting would take on more of a complimentary role to all the cute embellishments that come with this fun collection.

With my addiction to diecuts I must admit that sometimes I have an adversion to stickers (particularly ones with a white border), but with a little fussy cutting I was able to trim the banner border and one of the pinwheels to fit my style perfectly.  This line has so many adorable images.  Love the dimensional hot air balloon!

For my title I cut out the word "happy" from the patterned paper, inked the edges and popped the squares up with foam tape to carry out the Scrabble tile feel.  The word "girl" was diecut using Lori's My Girl Titles cutting file.

I also used her Banner Flag Set which I elongated by welding the pennant to a rectangle of the same width.   To anchor my title I used an enlarged label from her 14 Labels set paired with a couple of darling brads from the collection.

Thanks for taking a peek.  :)

A My Mind's Eye "Pretty Please" Hawaiian Layout

Every year I participate in a 3-day local crop in honor of National Scrapbook Day over the first week of May which equates to almost 40 hours of scrapbooking with some small breaks for eating and shopping.  And every year about this time I'm scrambling to put together 15 page kits with paper, photos, sketches, completed diecutting, printed journaling, etc.  (Did I ever mention I'm really a slow scrapbooker?)  Really I do anything and everything I can to make it easier to get more accomplished so I can use as little brain power as possible on the actual weekend and yap to my hearts content.  Truth be told by the time I get there I have already put so many hours in on making up kits that I am already feeling a little bit frazzled.  Well, that's where I am right about now.  LOL!  :)

Today's layout is one of the layouts I completed during last year's 3-day crop using some older My Mind's Eye papers from their Pretty Please collection.  In hindsight I wish I had used some vellum over the background paper to tone it down, but what's done is done, right?

I layered some of the flower cutouts from the collection with foam tape and paired it with the leaf diecuts from Papertrey Ink.  My title was cut on the Silhouette (sadly it's been so long that I can no longer remember the fonts I used, but I wish I did because I really like them).  ;)

Thanks for hanging with me while I ramble.  LOL!

Lori Whitlock Announces Her New Creative Team!

Did  you catch the announcement over at Lori's blog today?!  She has announced the two newest creative team members for the paper team!  I couldn't be more excited with her choices!  I love and am inspired by everything I've seen both of them create so far.  She also introduced an entirely new digital team on Friday at her blog.  You can check the post out HERE.

I am thrilled to be staying on for another term as well.  Yay!  It has been such a fun, positive experience and I am looking forward to many more months of creating with all of Lori's beautiful papers and cutting files!  :)

With the new term we will be having a new schedule so I don't have anything new to share today, but I am hoping to have some fun cards to share here soon.  I have been busy, BUSY making cards for two of the calls that were out at Paper Craft magazine and over the last several weeks have created 47 different cards!!!  I can hardly believe it myself.  I honestly was just feeling inspired by what they were looking for.  32 of them are Christmas cards so win or lose I figure I am set for sending them out to friends and family and having lots to share on my blog later this year.  ;)

...Until next time, I hope you have a great week and are enjoying some sunshine in your neck of the woods.  :)

New Technique Tuesday Digital Die Lines

Have you heard the news?!  Technique Tuesday recently introduced a new set of SVG files to match many of their popular stamp sets!!!

Even more exciting, they are 50% off (EVERY DAY) when you purchase the matching stamp set at Technique Tuesday's online store!  :)

Here's an upclose look at the layout I made using them...

They are so easy to cut out and stamp with!  For the pennants with the chevron arrows, stars and circle cutout, I discovered a fun little trick too.  It's super easy to cut them out and then stamp them with the solid image from the stamp set for a perfect image every time.  No worries about getting them perfectly lined up which is awesome in my book.  ;)

I finished off the banner with some hand stitching using the stitch marks from the stamps as a guide and some matching buttons. 

Sort of off topic, but for the other diecutting on my layout I combined a mixture of designers to mimic the cupcakes in my Bella Blvd. papers and create the title I had in mind (The word "Seventh" is from Kerri Bradford's school set and "Heaven" is from a Snowmen title by Loni Stevens aka Loni Leah Designs).

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Make sure to swing my Technique Tuesday for a look.  :)

An Echo Park "About A Boy" 2-page 8x8 Layout

It's Monday which means I have another layout today featuring products by the amazing Lori Whitlock!  Yay!  :)  Today I'm sharing another 2-page 8x8 layout that I made for my Mother-in-law's mini album.

I was so happy to discover that Echo Park's "About A Boy" papers designed by Lori were a perfect match for my photos!  I turned to Lori's LW Tall font for my title.  I love that it fit the space I had available perfectly.

I repurposed her reindeer shape for my little fawn cut from the wood grain patterned paper...

 

... And used her 12x12 Circle Background Shapes (scalloped circle) and 3-pc Valentines set (heart) for my journaling box.

To recap, I used the following cutting files designed by Lori available at her online store HERE (or directly at the links below):

LW Tall Font
Reindeer (Silhouette store only)
12x12 Background Circle 3
Valentines set

Thanks so much for stopping by for a peek and for all the sweet comments that have been left.  :)

A Teresa Collins Wedding Themed Layout

How's it going?  I thought I would finally share a layout I made for one of the Craft Warehouse Scrapbook challenges about 6 months back. 

For this one we were given a Teresa Collins chipboard embellishment (mine was the flower button) and a half sheet of the doubled sided Teresa Collins music note paper to use. I paired them with some other Teresa Collins 6x6 papers and some coordinating My Mind's Eye and Authentique scraps I had in the same colors.

I used sketch #39 designed by Susan Stringfellow found HERE.  I loved the simple, graphic feel of the sketch and how it looked paired with wedding photos.  Even more, I love how it utilized so many small scraps of paper! 

Pretty simple, but I gotta say it was so nice finally getting some of these photos scrapbooked after sitting in my photo box since 2008!  ;) 

Thanks so much for swing by. 

A Lori Whitlock Ombre effect layout

Did many of you enjoy a nice spring break over the last week or two?  It was nice while it lasted, but for me I am always secretly (or not so secretly) happy to send my kids back to school.  ;)  For today's layout for Lori Whitlock's Blog I thought I would try the ever so popular "ombre" effect that is popping up everywhere these days!

I started my project by searching for every pink patterned paper I had in the same color family (to match my daughter's shirt) and then lined them up from lightest to darkest.  To accomplish this look I ended up using patterned paper from Eight different manufacturers which was a first for me!  :)

I then took Lori's star button, removed the button holes and used the offset feature to create a star outline which I cut from white cardstock.  To fill my star shape I weld together Lori's cute scalloped border and filed it up, cutting off sections I wouldn't need with the knife command (in an effort to save on patterned paper). 

I was able to figure out my spacing and how many rows I would need by overlapping them by just a bit, duplicating the rows and then using the command to "space vertically". After I had everything cut, I glued the rows on one by one, adhering to the previous layer.  When I was finished, I took my scissors and trimmed off the excess.

...And as I often do, I turned once again to my glossy accents, foam tape, some strategically placed buttons and machine stitching for extra texture and detail. 

For today's layout I used the following cutting files designed by Lori:
Labeled Tabs
8 Buttons (Star shape)
You Are Sentiments
Banner Labels
Flourish Set 4
Baby Icon Set (Scalloped Border)

Other supplies used:
Patterned Paper- Crate Paper Pretty Party "Confetti" & Little Bo Peep "Charlotte", Jillibean Soup Grandma's Lima Bean Soup "Dry Lima Beans" & Soup Staples II "Pink Salt", Teresa Collins Sweet Afternoon "At the Picnic", Pebbles Hip Hip Hooray "Good Times" & Sunnyside "Tickled Pink", Echo Park Style Essentials "Dk. Pink Damask" & "Lt. Pink Quatrefoil", Little Girl "Raspberry/Grape", Dots & Stripes "Berry Bliss Small Dot", My Minds Eye Miss Carolina "Dolled Up Cute" & The Sweetest Thing "Honey Happiness", Heidi Swapp Sugar Chic "Drama", October Afternoon Sidewalks "Marbles"
Cardstock- Bazzill Basics (white), Craft Supply (pink)
White Vinyl- Silhouette
Electronic Guitar Cutting File- Designed by Rivka Wilkins for Silhouette America
Buttons- Making Memories
Chalk Ink- Colorbox (Rouge)
Thread- Gutermann
Foam Tape- Scotch
Font- Elephant (used to cut the word "star")
Other- Ranger Glossy Accents

Thanks so much for swinging by for a peek!  :)

A My Mind's Eye On The Bright Side Birthday Card

I just realized I never got around to sharing a card I had published in the March/April issue of Paper Crafts Magazine! I submitted this for article asking for country themed cards.

I ran one of the cardstock cutouts from the collection through my printer (attached to 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper) which allowed me to personalize the "So Happy" sentiment for any occasion. I then punched circles for scallop along top to look like they are part of the pennants hanging below. A little sanding & inking the edges completed my card giving it a worn country feel.

Supplies Used
Patterned Paper & Cutout- My Mind’s Eye "On The Bright Side" collection
Flower- Petaloo
Brads: Making Memories
Circle Punch- EK Success
Chalk Ink- Colorbox
Font: SNF Lollihop

Thanks so swinging by.  :)

A Lori Whitlock Home Layout

As soon as I saw Lori Whitlock's House Step Card it was love at first sight.  Today for a little twist I thought I would take the shapes that come with the card set and turn it into a layout!  I love how when combined with some of her other house shapes I was able to create an entire neighborhood scene!

This layout was created for an 8.5x11 album I started last year documenting the building of our new home.  We just celebrated our one-year anniversary of moving in last week and I thought it was about time that I finish another layout in my half forgotten album. 

Building our house was 1-1/2 years in the making and I was solely responsible for designing it, picking the 101 finishes and overseeing construction as a second foreman (while my husband was content to sit back and sign the checks) so I wanted to create an album to commemorate this project that consumed such a huge chunk of my life.  As my friends and family can attest I pretty much ate, slept and dreamt about it 24-7, as much I tried for that not to be the case.  ;)

For my fence and grass borders I duplicated the shapes, lined them up and welded them together to create one long, continuous border.

For this project I used the following SVG cutting files available for purchase at Lori's shop:
House Step Card
4 Houses
Spring Borders

Are you are interested in joining Lori Whitlock's Creative Team?  Is so I have great news!!! She has a new call out.  Make sure to swing by her blog or facebok page for information on how to apply.  :)

Thanks for taking a peek.