Challenge Yourself...with a sketch!

Wow...it has been a really long time since I have posted!  The last month or so has been crazy town around here and I haven't had any quality scrappy time in what feels like forever, so I am glad to finally have a layout to share!  That said, it's with a bit of sadness that I share this one, because it is my last layout as a design team member for Challenge YOUrself.  I have loved being a part of the team so much, but with my schedule lately, I have had to scale WAY back on my extracurricular commitments.

So, without any further delay, here is the awesome sketch we have for you this month at Challenge YOUrself and the layout that I created with it.  CLICK HERE to see the rest of the design team's fabulous work with this sketch.

It's a bit of a non-traditional autumn page, because I didn't use a lot of the typical colors you think of when you think of autumn.  Well, I did, but in very small doses throughout the page, with some reds and mustardy yellow.  Instead I played off of the colors in the Little Lady's face paint butterfly and I pulled a bunch of teal into the page.

Lots of layers with washi tape, doily scraps, ribbon, and some gesso and Heidi Swapp teal mist.

I pulled about a bunch of word and phrase stamps from Citrus Twist kits and used them to add some contrast to the layers in the background.

Finally, I added my photo, and printed it in various sizes to get the layers that you see in the sketch.

So there you have it!  Remember, you have the whole month to play along with us, so get your mojo ready, your scrapbook supplies out, and come share your layout with us!

xoxo,

Shawna

Case File #141 - Millipedes

Yes you read that right...millipedes.  I'm scrapping about millipedes.  I told you in my last post that I was scrapping about something a little...different this time.  Hehe.  And actually, if you know of my daughter's love for bugs, you know it was only a matter of time before a creepy crawly made its way onto one of my pages. ;-)

Here is my layout and the CSI case file that inspired it.

It's a peculiar looking case file isn't it?  Kind of perfect for a peculiar looking little creature!  I chose pen work and epoxy accents as my evidence, and then, as prompted by the testimony, I chose to document something that many people consider strange.  Or creepy, at the very least.  I also chose to make a little quiz about what I learned when I decided to read up on these little leggy wonders.  Turns out, while they might at first seem creepy, they're actually pretty cool.

The quiz is tucked into that little pocket above, which I made out of some bug paper I picked up on clearance a few years back.

The Little Lady has been a lover of bugs since she was old enough to toddle, and I knew one day that paper was going to come in handy.  So, are you ready for the quiz?  See how many you can get right!

TRUE OR FALSE?

Millipedes, like their name suggests, have 1,000 legs.	FALSE.  Most millipedes have less than 100 legs and, in fact, when millipedes hatch, they have just 6 legs, adding a set of legs each time they molt and add a body segment.  This is called anamorphic development.
Millipedes are omnivores and eat both vegetation and other small insects.	FALSE.  Millipedes are nature’s gentle decomposers and only eat leaf litter.
When threatened, millipedes can sting predators to protect themselves.	FALSE.  Millipedes are docile creatures that do not bite, do not have pincers, and cannot sting.  They do, however, have special glands (called ozopores) that give off a foul smelling and tasting compound meant to repel predators.
Millipedes court females with songs and back rubs.	TRUE!  Females initially curl up in a ball assuming an approaching millipede is a threat, so the male loosens her up by singing her songs and walking on her back with all of those legs, giving her a millipede massage!
Millipedes were the first animals to live on land.	TRUE!  Millipede fossils found in Scotland date back 428 million years and are the oldest fossils to have spiracles (for breathing air), suggesting that millipedes were the first animals to make the move from water to land.
Millipedes make good pets.	TRUE!  They are docile, easy to feed, and require little maintenance.

Kind of cool, right?  Nature never ceases to amaze. :)  Here are some closeups.

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you have a wonderful autumn weekend planned!

xoxo,

Shawna

CSI #140 - Permanent Ink

Well it's Friday and I just realized that I never shared my CSI layout for last week's reveal!  Don't worry - you still have a couple more days to crack the case, if you haven't joined us yet. :)  And be sure to come back and visit me tonight for the reveal of case file #141...I'm going to have a very unexpected scrap subject, complete with a quiz. ;-)  Now, back to Case #140.

I loved the neutral tones in this week's file, and was thrilled to have the opportunity to scrap a photo that is very near and dear to my heart.  Here is my layout, featuring my three favorite girls from my college days.  This photo was actually taken 5 years ago at my baby shower, when we were all back together to celebrate the upcoming birth of the Little Lady.  We thought it would be fun to get a snapshot of our first group adventure, that took place way back in 1996, when we were all just barely 18 and ready to take on the world.  Our first tattoos!

And here's the case file that inspired the layout.

For my evidence, I chose wet medium, polka dots, string and woodgrain.  My journaling is tucked in the woodgrain envelope behind the photo and reads as follows:

"We were barely 18, fresh faced, out of state (well, except Heather), and ready to take on the world. We wanted to rebel, leave our mark, and be crazy and free. First on the agenda? Tattoos. We all loaded up and headed into NY on our first bonding adventure as a Fearsome Foursome and walked out permanently inked and bonded for life. This was of course just one of many adventures to come...I think it's safe to say that we left our own permanent ink mark on our small town college in many different ways. Love these girls so much. The years and physical distance between us will never change that."

Here are some close-ups.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo,

Shawna

CSI #139 - Cruisin'

Another week down!  And down with it goes the temperature.  Fall is in the air around here, folks, and THAT makes me one happy camper! :-D

Time for CSI's latest case file, complete with a fab sketch by Em Stafrace of Page Drafts.  I LOVED the bold colors and the black and white contrast this week.  Had a lot of fun doodling with my pen on this one too.  So, without further delay, I bring you this week's case file.  And Beau. Who really, really, REALLY loves to Cruise.

This layout is yet another "little bit of everything in my stash" layout, incorporating Studio Calico, Basic Grey, Heidi Swapp, Pink Paislee, Crate Paper, Citrus Twist Kits originals, and more.  I started out with white cardstock matted over black, and layered some teal watercolor and gelato letting it pool in the two main areas of the page.

Followed the sketch pretty closely adding a cluster in the upper right hand corner and keeping with the ribboned edged look with the layers, just tweaking it a bit to have the ribbons going horizontally instead of vertically.  I added some scribbled circles underneath to tie in the scribbled heart on the paper.

I chuckle every time I look at this photo.  I mean, really.  Can you not totally picture him saying "Sweet Ride" in his handsome manly man voice? Hehehe  That button is Basic Grey Hey Boy and my absolute favorite little detail on his page.  The black ribbon detail you see in the background there is part of my evidence - something fuzzy (it's velvet), and I repeated it in the top cluster above as well.  My other evidence is stripes and two of something (the blue acetate arrows).

LOL Man I love this dog.

I did a whole lotta doodling on this layout.  I hand traced the chevrons, then doodled on them and fussy cut them out and glued them on.  I stamped the arrows on the white cardstock in front, outlined it with a sharpie, cut it out and glued that on as well.  The large black base triangle is just white carstock colored in with black sharpie.  I liked the look of it because it isn't quite solid black - in real life, you can tell it has been colored that way.

My testimony obviously journals about this furball animal of ours that we love so much.  He LIVES for car rides.

I hope you've enjoyed your visit and hopefully found a little inspiration.  Come play along with us at CSI and have a great weekend!

Challenge YOUrself - Fall Favorites

Hi everyone!  Today I'm sharing a layout for this month's Challenge YOUrself challenge.  We want you to tell us your favorite things about falls - is it the colors?  The smells?  The temps?  Sending your kids back to school?  Tell us about it!  I personally love everything about fall.  It is my favorite season, and my only regret is that on its heels comes winter...and winter lasts entirely too long around here.  Fall for me is a time to express thanks for my family, through endless activities and festivals, and plenty of time outside where the temperatures are mild and the foliage colors literally look like they're straight out of a painting.  Here is my layout.  CLICK HERE to see what the rest of the design team came up with.

I used a little bit of everything to put this layout together - pulling from my embellies from Maggie Holmes for Crate Paper, Basic Grey, and Heidi Swapp.  The papers came from my August Citrus Twist Kits and I could not wait to use this paper of wheat fields in the fall!

I pulled gold in by layering this Studio Calico  vellum paper in around the main paper, then spritzing these Heidi Swapp chipboard hearts with some gold Heidi Swapp Color Shine.

These Studio Calico word stickers serve as my journaling for his layout, and sum up my bottom line of happiness in fall.  Time with my family. :-)

The title letters are rub-ons that are from my stash.  Would you believe they're literally like 8 years old?!  Hoarding comes in handy once again. ;-)

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you will play along with us this month!

xoxo,

Shawna

CSI #138 - Geometry

Well, we've got the first week of school under our belt and everyone survived, so I'd say we're off to a good start. :)  This week's case file was perfect for school photos, and the Crate Paper Noted line that came in my Citrus Twist Kit for August was the perfect line for this theme.  Here's my layout and of course the fabulous CSI case that inspired it.  CLICK HERE to see the rest of the design team line up.

At first the colors freaked me out a little bit.  I'm a fan of bright, and the muted tones looked hard to work with.  Luckily I had just gotten my CTKit, and it was filled with colors that fit this case perfectly. For my evidence, I used woodgrain paper, an envelope, tags, numbers and clips.  Here are some closeups.

For my testimony, I used the prompt to journal about school.  In these pictures, the Little Lady is laying the ground work for a solid foundation in math, and I talked a bit about what each activity was, and how it relates to learning.  At first glance, it looks like a simple game of stacking, but it's so much more.  The journaling reads:

One of the most famous visual representations of Montessori is the Pink Tower, which is introduced to first year primary students around age 3.  Through the simple act of building the tower, children learn visual discrimination of dimensions, while refining visual-motor coordination and getting early preparation for later math lessons.  Shapes play a big roll in early Montessori learning, and after a child has exhausted the Pink Tower work, they may move on to work with geometric solids.  This builds on the foundation of dimensional awareness, and refines the stereognostic sense.  Children learn the names of the forms, including sphere, ovid, ellipsoid, cone, cylinder, cube, triangular pyramid and square pyramid.  Children grow their language by learning the proper names of the solids, eventually matching labels to the corresponding object.  All of this shape work sets the stage for geometry, by allowing the children to explore the relationships between the plane and curved surfaces of the shapes.  Once again, Maria Montessori's approach is nothing short of genius in its simplicity.

For the title letters, I pulled out some more of those good old canvas thickers, and I covered them with some Tim Holtz distress pain in spun sugar, then going over them with a cream color to tone down the pink a bit.

And there you have it.  I hope you have lots of fun planned for your weekend.  It has been really hot here lately, and I am looking forward to the fall weather that has been promised for the weekend!

xoxo,

Shawna

Keep calm, and drink wine.

TGIF!  I really need this 3 day weekend in a bad way.  Been a crazy couple of weeks, and with school starting next week, it's bound to get even crazier.  Pile a nasty cold on top of it all, and I'm a regular hot mess.  Which makes this layout timely. ;-)  Today I'm sharing my take on CSI's latest case file.  CLICK HERE to see the full design team reveal.  Here is my layout and the case:

When I first saw the color scheme, I was a little worried because I had a hard time visualizing all of those colors together.  To make them work, I took a photo that was taken of me during a recent photo shoot and turned it black and white, sprucing it up with a bokah treatment.  Then I took the color scheme and incorporated lots of black to make everything pop a bit.

I didn't have a ton of embellies in the case colors, so I turned to my gelatos and some Tim Holtz distress paint to bring them into the background. I used a Heidi Swapp mini stencil to add some triangles, coloring them in with gelato and then taking a wet paintbrush to distribute the color a bit, then outlined some with a black gel pen.  Then I used the distress paint to make some drips.  I love the way the drips came out - the one that runs the length of the right side reminding me of a twister tornado, which is what this whirlwind that we call life feels like to me some times.

I literally had no papers in the case colors, so I took a sheet of vellum and pulled out the trusty old typewriter to make a mat to put my photo on.  I love the look of the repetitive days of the week back there.

My little phrase stamps from various Citrus Twist Kits always come in handy and I layered a few of them underneath the photo here.

Finally, I added the journaling.  I loved the testimony prompt about journaling about your attitude about something.  I don't know about you, but when things feel really overwhelming and I am in dire need of some relaxation, I love putting my feet up with a glass of wine and just vegging out for awhile.

On that note, there's a couch and a glass of wine calling my name right now.  (Okay I lied...Nyquil will be standing in for wine tonight.  I told you.  I have a cold! LOL)   Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

xoxo,

Shawna

CSI #136 - Books.

Happy Friday!  Ah, I love Fridays.  This was a ridiculously busy and crazy week and I am so happy to have nothing but hanging out on tap for the weekend.  The fair is in town so we might head out to see some animals and ride some rides, but other than that, I'm crossing my fingers for lots of R&R.

Another reason to love Friday?  Another CSI case file ready to be solved!  I cracked this week's case by scrapping one of my favorite solo past times...reading.  I love books and I'll read anything and everything, really. I most frequently read fiction...and National Geographic magazine.  I love me some National Geographic. ;-)

So here's my layout and the case file.  CLICK HERE to see the rest of the design team's reveal.

I found this quote on pinterest and thought it was spot on.  I absolutely love the way it describes books and the way the words are whispered to us right inside our heads.  Carl Sagan nailed it. :)

 

 I'm too tired for details tonight so I'm just doing a drive by share before I settle in for some mindless t.v.  Enjoy the weekend everyone!


xoxo,

Shawna