You're So Sweet

Going with a monochromatic theme from May Flaum's Camp Scrap, the card base is Papertrey Ink's Vintage Cream, the mat is PTI Classic Kraft. The Chevron is from Waltzingmouse Stamps Off Beat Background stamp set stamped with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink. The coffee cup is from Waltzingmouse's We Go Together stamped in Versafine Onyx Black (and the patterned paper is from a Grab Bag I won from a Simon Says Blog Hop a while ago). The glasses are from the Simon Says October 2014 card kit. The sentiment is also from WMS We Go Together stamped with Papertrey Ink's Dark Chocolate. Dark brown/black sequins (depending on the light) add a bit of sparkle.

This card reminds me of my now grown coffee drinking daughter who I can still see as a 5 year old with her first pair of glasses. 

Simon Says Coffee or Tea?

Scroll in a Book

It took me a while to figure out what to do with the cover of this book (which has a scroll inside). It's a Club Scrap project from the Cyprus kit. The amphora stamp is cut down from a much larger stamp (also from the Cyprus kit) stamped with Topiary Antiquities by Ranger. Ranger's Matte Glue n Seal used to glue the image to the book front (no glue shine).

The D-ring is decorated with seam binding tinted by letting it absorb puddles of Distress Ink (smoosh the inkpad on a craft mat and spritz with water. The twine is smooth hemp twine by Darice from the jewelry department. The vial and coin charm are both from Club Scrap's Castaway kit. After I tied the vial, I added a dot of Ranger's Matte Multi Medium.  I used a sticker from Tim Holtz' Chitchat sticker book to put in the vial.

All the scroll components were painted with Iced Spruce Distress Paint. The back of the scroll is stamped with Iced Spruce Distress Ink using a variety of Tim Holtz stamps. The front is stamped with Dina Wakley's Scribbled Insects stamp set (the sentiments in Black Soot, the insects in Gathered Twigs and the background stamps are various Tim Holtz stamps stamped with Scattered Straw).

Road Trip Card

Club Scrap is having a Watercolor Window Frame Technique Challenge. For this card, I used three stamps from the National Parks kit. I believe the mat is from the Castaway kit (pulled from my giant POP stash). The car and "Road Trip!" are stamped with Topiary Antiquities ink from Ranger which I recently rediscovered when I was sorting through my ink bins and then painted with a wash made from Tea Dye Distress Ink. The sentiment is stamped with Memories Sepia. The frame is drawn with a Fine Line Sharpie and then traced with Evergreen Bough Distress Ink and a water brush. Then I distressed the edges with the open edge of a scissor. The card base is Papertrey Ink Enchanted Evening with paper from Natural Resources inside.

Simon says Coffee or Tea (and I used Tea Dye Distress Ink).

WOYWW 318

Happy Wednesday! I have most of the National Parks stamps from Club Scrap glued and ready to go. I thought I was mostly caught up with my unmounted stamps and then I opened an older kit and saw three sheets left to do lol. To the left is a book with a stamped scroll in it. I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with the cover, so it sits there waiting for inspiration to strike.

Looking at my desk you might think I have an ink addiction problem... You'd be right, there are also 3 more 6x6x6 drawers full plus three bins about the same size. Dye inks, pigment inks, chalk inks, specialty inks, hybrid inks.

Head over to Julia's Stamping Ground for peeks at more crafty spaces.

Destination: Relaxation Layout

A double layout made with the Assembly Line Scrapbooking instructions from Club Scrap's Solstice kit (layouts 3 & 4) using the paper from the same kit. I love how the pages work together, but also work independently so each page can be pulled out and put in a scrapbook frame (it's good to get them out of the books once in a while).

When I was looking at the pictures of our trip, it dawned on me how many pictures of the water and clouds we had taken on this boat ride.

The anchors aweigh tag is from Basic Grey's Adrift stapled with Tim Holtz' Tiny Attacher (the staple is colored with Gold Alcohol Ink). "Wherever you are, be" is a Club Scrap stamp from the Destinations kit stamped with Papertrey Ink Blueberry Sky ink. The light house is stamped with a three part stamp from Papertrey Ink's Guiding Lights stamp and die set stamped with Versafine Pigment Ink, and Papertrey Ink Spring Rain and Classic Kraft. Since the layout didn't accommodate 3 landscape pictures, I cropped one and used the rest of the photo mat for some stamping.

The background of the 8.5 x 11 was colored with Spectrum Noir markers in a watery pattern (before I attached it to the base).

I wrote the journaling with a brown pigma brush pen. The title stamp is from Club Scrap's Destination kit. It's an unmounted stamp that I hadn't yet put glue on (and I didn't want to wait) so I put Scor-Tape on the back of the stamp and then put it on an acrylic block. It worked really well as a short term solution.

The gulls are also from the Guiding Lights set stamped in Papertrey Ink's Soft Stone.

Here Comes Trouble

I believe this layout is finally done (really this time). The first time I thought it was done was back in 2011. But as I looked at it more and more, I pulled it out of the "finished" album and back in the "needs more work" box. It is not the best photograph. It was taken back in 1997 before I'd even heard of digital cameras. It was also pretty stark aside from the blue hearts and stars embellished with a pigma micron pen and the grey grosgrain ribbons. First I added some stamping with Papertrey Ink's Clip Tips stamp set and Honey Bees stamp set.  Some Maggie Holmes Ephemera, rub-ons and a cardstock sticker and some sequins are the finishing touches.

 I read a post over at the Paperclipping Forum about writing dates on a layout, especially when there is a long time lag, so I put that information on the back of my journal card.

The photograph is pretty bad, but I love elements about it, and I don't have a lot of photographs taken at our home from this time period. I wrote on the Journal card about how I had to buy film (and make sure it wasn't expired when I loaded it into the camera), then take the pictures, safely unload the film and keep track of it until I could get it developed. So I added the Happy rub-on to emphasis there is a happy child there (at the age of three Halloween is all sorted out).  It's not a Halloween layout, it's an up to a bit of mischief layout using a Halloween photograph because, so I wrote the aspects I wanted to highlight in the layout directly on the photograph.

So it's not the most artistic layout I've ever done, but I have to say it is one of my favorites for all the reasons mentioned above.

Cover Plate Cut with Color

Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday #216: Adding Color to Cover Plates. The background is blended with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink at the top and Mermaid Lagoon at the bottom. The cover plate is colored with Zig Clean Markers or as Laura Bassen calls them "Ziggys". Since the only cover plates I have are Modern Cross and MIM kit: Country Fair, I welded a cover plate together to cut on my Cricut Explore. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Guiding Light stamp set. The card base is Limeade Ice.

Simon Says Summer.