My favorite snow star

I'm on a scrappy streak lately!  Loving winter vacation where I can stay in my jammies and just play. :)  This layout is for Scrapfriends' December sketch challenge and I will readily admit, I got a little carried away and this page MIGHT be slightly gaudy LOL...I had this page of woodgrain paper with some modeling paste on it leftover from a page gone bad awhile back and for some reason I didn't throw it away.  Worked out to simulate the snow on this page.  I added some blue gelatos and let them drip to the left, and pulled out the modeling paste again for some little circle dots and to make the snowman.  (These photos were taken of my little one making a snowman earlier this winter.)  I couldn't find a good spot to put my journaling so I will likely add it to the back of the page to tell the story of her silly faces.  You see, Frosty the Snowman came to life when the top hat was put on his head and the first thing he said was "Happy Birthday!"  This is my daughter's replay of that scene, so gaudy or not I love this page. :)

Here's the awesome (and challenging!) sketch from Scrap Friends.

I love your visits and comments so thank you for having a look!  Have a wonderful Sunday!

xoxo,

Shawna

Hey all!  Happy September!  For many of us, that means back to school time for the kiddos and plenty of scrapping inspiration online.  Case and point.  This week's CSI challenge.  Gorgeous colors perfect for fall, and of course perfect for those back to school photos!  Scrapfriends has a great sketch challenge this month as well, and I used that as the framework for the layout.  Here's the sketch and the Case File:

And here is my layout featuring our big girl on her first day of school this year.  Happy September everyone!

Fun Times (and my first foray with gelatos)

I've been dying to try out gelatos forever and couldn't find them anywhere local.  Finally found a starter kit of Faber Castells and snatched it up!  Watched some youtube videos, looked over some blog posts, and went to town.  They're "so easy" to use....um no.  They're not.  LOL  I ruined about a half a dozen pieces of white cardstock before I got something even slightly usable!  I think it was a paper texture issue and that I need to use a thicker cardstock or watercolor paper.  Anyway, I finally got a nice blend of colors and used the background as my starting point for this week's CSI case file.  I doubled up on this one and used the sketch challenge at Scrap Friends as well.  I am absolutely thrilled with the final product, though, and the effect the gelatos give.  Definitely going to be practicing and using them a lot on future layouts!

Here is this week's CSI case file and the ScrapFriends sketch:

The background is a mix of gelatos and masked stars, with fussy cut silver glittery stars that I cut from ribbon I received in a CSI trim package for winning the role of Star Witness on a prior case file.

I used the white gelato and added a bit of yellow and covered the corrugated cardboard with it, layered some paper and a frame, and added my journaling to a stamped and edged envelope and card behind the photo. The dark brown and white hexagon shapes were fussy cut from paper and meant to be used on a prior project (the other side is orange) as a ferris wheel.  I didn't end up using them but I'm glad I kept them because they helped tie in the dark from from the case file in this layout.

A jeweled brad and a fussy cut stamped arrow finished off the cluster on the bottom.

AAG August 15th challenge...white space!

Time for the mid-month challenge at About A Girl!  This challenge is all about leaving white space on your layouts.  Lucky for me, I recently discovered that I could print my instagram photos in 4x4 through the Walgreens app on my phone, so I am stocked with little square photos with fun edits that are perfect for these type of layouts! Here is what I came up with.

I picked a sketch from the Scrap Friends sketch archive and reached for my trusty Heidi Swapp mists.

These Heidi Swapp mists get a whole lotta play in my scrappy rotation lately.  The colors are fun, bright, mixable, and versatile. They might just be my most frequently used product this summer.  And the coordinating products I get in my Citrus Twist kits never disappoint.  Always plenty to mix and match from past months too!  Here are a couple of close-ups.  Scroll to the bottom for a list of materials.  Thanks for stopping by - your comments mean a lot! xoxo

Materials

Papers
Alison Kreft Composition & Color - True Story (Webster Pages)
Summer Love - Popsicle (Cosmo Cricket)
Mambi Cards
Studio Calico Sundrifter 6x6 paper pad
Studio Calico journaling card

Embellies
Heidi Swapp mists (teal, chartreuse, cherry red, yellow)
Basic Grey stickers - Knee High Bowties
Studio Calico die cuts
American Craft flair button
Thickers letters
sequins

Nail polish doing double duty.

So I pulled out my latest Citrus Twist  goodies (June's Boardwalk kit) today and started working on the latest sketch challenge over at Scrap Friends.  I started with grays, blues and greens but it felt washy. (Washy, people.  Not washi.  Washi is good.  Washy not so much.).  Anyway, I needed a bold color to brighten it up.  Didn't have any good bright thickers for title work, and none of my peachy tones seemed to work...started tapping my fingernails on the table thinking "hmmmm...what can I use?"  The answer was right in front of me my friends.  Literally on my hands.  Well, on my nails. Nailpolish! Really pleased with the final product.  I'll be pulling out my bucket of nail polish more often!  LOL  Here is the sketch I was working off of. (This layout totally morphed into something not very closely resembling the sketch, but the thought was there and that counts for something right?)

And here is my layout.  I polished my thickers with some Cover Girl nailpolish in a really fun lipstick pink and then splashed a little on here and there for dimension.

And here are some close-ups.  This was too much fun.  Thanks for stopping by! :)