CSI CF# 97 - The Best Cross Eyes

I don't know how she mastered it at such an early age, but man...my kid can cross-eye like no other.  ;-)

This week's case file over at CSI is full of gorgeous color and, being the 2nd week of the month, comes with a fabulous sketch by Emma Stafrace.  I had a lot of fun creating this layout, which compliments the "Memories" layout I posted last week.  Here is the case file:

And here is my layout.  I went for my modeling paste to spruce up the background a bit (I seem to be using modeling paste almost as frequently as gelatos lately!), and tried to layer up lots of texture to match the woodsy background of the to photo.  The papers are a mix of a little bit of everything I had in my scraps, and the little stitched heart, the feather and the awesome textured ribbon are from Citrus Twist kits of months past.

Thanks for stopping by - I appreciate the visits! xoxo  Have a fabulous weekend!

This...is what it's all about.

Hello friends!  Happy hump-day!  Hope everyone is having a fabulous week! The weather is gorgeous here and it looks like spring is actually cooperating (finally).  75 degrees today? I'll take it!

Today's layout is one I created using my April Citrus Twist  kit for my design team submission for the About A Girl challenge blog.  This is our first full, sponsored challenge over at AAG, and this month we are lucky to have 7 Dots Studio sponsoring the challenges, and they will be giving our winners some fabulous goodies!  So come play along and introduce us to the lovely little ladies in your life.  Cheers!

Lots of layers from the embellies in my April Citrus Twist kit

To compliment the cloud-paper, I beefed up the title, made with ghost letters,  by adding some cotton .

I spritzed some white tags, added some random word stamps, and then embossed with white powder  to add some clouds.  Then I stapled some silver ribbon as pulls on the tags.

More cotton on the puffy clouds.  Really love the way these came out!

Sanna Lippert video tutorial - Resist Technique Tags

I just recently happened upon the Scrapfriends blog and holy moly the first post I read through was this (today lol)...perfect timing because I have a half finished layout with blank white tags that were just waiting for something like this.  On a mission this evening.  Chardonnay, ink, masks and embossing powder.  Hot, right?  Hehehe!  Check out this video of Sanna's start-to-finish (super amazing) layout using this technique.  And check back tomorrow for my first go at incorporating this technique.  Happy Friday everyone!

Super Cape!

My daughter is lucky to be loved by everyone who meets her.  For no reason at all, one of my co-workers decided to knit her this gorgeous periwinkle blue cape.  I wasn't sure if my little monkey would wear it, but she rocked it with pride...after I told her that it was a super hero cape!  

This page was the perfect opportunity to dive into my April Citrus Twist kit.  This is the second layout I have used the instagram overlays from the kit on and I am absolutely in love with them.  They add such a cute modern touch to pages.  And lately my Little Yellow Bicycle embellies have been getting a lot of use too...I love the natural wood and canvas elements!  Here's a few close-ups of the details.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Wednesday everyone!

Patience is a Virtue

I've been waiting for the perfect opportunity to scrap this photo and CSI Case File No. 68 was the perfect opportunity!  If you haven't played along with any of the CSI challenges, definitely stop by.  They are fabulous!

For my title, I took some neutral colored spongy Thickers and inked them, using black to make the key word stand out.

Then I fussy cut some butterflies from cardstock, folded them in the middle, and adhered them with some 3-D zots.

 Added some rub-ons to frame the photo and used an awesome Instagram photo overlay that came in this month's Citrus Twist kit.  I also incorporated some embellies from the kit.  This month's kit is GORGEOUS. I will be using it frequently in coming layouts!

Happy Monday, everyone and thanks for stopping by!

AAG Mini-Challenge - Sketch!

I recently had the pleasure of being selected for the Design Team for a fabulous new challenge blog, About A Girl, dedicated to all the ladies in our lives - daughters, mothers, grandmothers, aunts, cousins, etc.  It's a great place to stop in for inspiration and to play along with the challenges and get those girl photos scrapped!    This week we are bringing you a mini-challenge, to hold you over until the big reveal of the first challenge on May 1st!  Here is the sketch:

And here is my interpretation of it.  I played around with molding paste, gesso, corrugated cardboard and newspaper.  Stop by the blog, check out what the other talented DT members did with the sketch, and show us your take on it!  Be sure to link back to your layout to be considered for a great little prize!

gesso diluted a bit to be more transparent - painted it over the newspaper.

sanded down the gesso once dried to give it a distressed look

I will use anything and everything on a layout - I used the box my Citrus Twist to make a fun little banner .  After I cut the triangles, I strung some floss through the triangles to connect them all.

I layered some goodies to create a cluster in the upper corner.

Added some teal acrylic paint to molding paste to make a textured background behind the photos.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Sunday!

The Skull...

One of my favorite things to document is conversations with my daughter.  It never ceases to amaze me how her little brain processes things and makes sense of her surroundings.  When we stumbled across an animal skull during a recent walk, it opened up a whirlwind of questions, theories and ultimately, a conclusion of how it died.  This was a super fun layout to put together (this was made for CSI Case File #67) and I had some laughs reviewing the video I took of that day and reliving the conversation this creepy little skull sparked.

Happy Thursday!

I cut the jaw portion of the skull and popped it out by putting some 3-D zots underneath to add dimension.   Some scrap fibers were put behind the photo to give the illusion of the skull sitting in the grassy field.

Handwritten journaling strips were included to bring the whole layout together...tedious and time consuming but well worth the effort!

Target dollar bin arrow paperclip added to draw attention to the photo and encourage the reader's eye to read the journaling in the direction intended; a mask and paint added to background to simulate dirt.

Photo Hoarder

I take a lot of pictures.  A LOT of pictures.  And while I have read that every so often you should go through your digital files, clean out the less important photos, and free up some hard drive space, I can't bring myself to do it.   Hello, I'm Shawna.  And I'm a photo hoarder.

(Hi, Shawna.)

Yes, it may look to the untrained eye like I have 10 (okay 20) copies of the same pictures but I swear...there are subtle differences in each.  And I can see them.  So yeah.  I can't click delete.  Anyone else have this issue??

Compounding my hoarding issue is the fact that I am pretty much a one-photo per layout scrapbooker.  I'm really, really trying to get more photos into a layout but I swear when I see a multi-photo sketch I get hives.  But I'm trying.  After a good dose of benadryl to get the hives under control, I tackled this one and managed to squeeze four photos into one 12x12 layout.  And...

I like it!

By the way I headed straight to the store and picked up a new pen after this...lovely thing to run out of ink mid-layout.  Ugh.

Thanks for looking!

Loved and Missed

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  I started back to work after a week long spring break and man is it tough to get back into the swing of things!  I spent much of this past weekend trying to come up with a layout for this week's CSI case file  but ultimately I threw away each attempt.  Something didn't sit right and I could not make any of my ideas work.

This case file was by far the HARDEST challenge I've been given yet by the CSI team.  It is National Humor month so the theme and embellishments were meant to conjure up a humorous page about something...likely the funny things our pets do, etc.  And believe me, with a 6 year old lab, I know funny!  However the color scheme didn't feel funny to me...it felt dramatic and I had a hard time building a funny layout around it.  Ultimately, I decided to scrap the one thing I have avoided scrapping for 4 years...the loss of a pet.  Because I had so much to say, the journaling is contained on the back of the layout, rather than the front.  Here's the layout.  I used gesso to build a textured white background and used a vintage clock mask to let a bit of color come through.  Then I used a template mask to add some script to the background, a dishcloth and another mask to add some shading and pattern, and a bit of acrylic paint here and there.  But for the most part I kept it simple, so the focus would stay on my much missed furry friend because she is really all this layout is about.

So Silly!

Cracked another case file over at CSI.  Did a bright, fun, whimsical layout that had me smiling the whole time I was putting it together.  Here it is and read on for how I put it together.

Started off with some acrylic paint on the background...added some water to make it a bit more workable and tapped my brush with my finger to get the "dots."

Then I rounded up some ribbons and paper scraps to make the base under the picture and grabbed my new Sew Easy to bring in some stitching.

I had been dying to use my new 7 Gypsies hot air balloon stamp so I took the girl from my Recollections Girl and a Poodle paper, fussy cut it, colored the girl (she was pastel) to better fit my primary color theme, cut off the umbrella and replaced it with the hot air balloon, which I colored and added some rickrack to.the balloon.  Love the way it came out!

 Used rub-ons for my title and layered them over the paper.  

Then it was time for some detail work.  Hand cut some clouds from a writing pad, inked them with sky blue, added some American Craft wood buttons and (thanks to a great suggestion by my neighbor) added my journaling to the paper ribbons on the upper left.  

Added some pop up adhesive behind the hot air balloon and the photo and whipped out my trusty gel pen to add some doodle touches.  Love this page.  Makes me happy!  Thanks for looking!