Great time at the crop

Hi all - hope you are having a wonderful Sunday.

I know many are dealing with terrible weather so y'all are in my prayers.

The crop yesterday was a lot of fun. Since Charley pretty much packed me since I wasn't feeling well & almost didn't go - I didn't have everything in page kits like I usually do so I ended up getting 5 pages started but none finished. I have a lot of Thickers but you know how I like to mix up my titles/fonts using the Cricut & figured I finish that at home. I really love to socialize at crops but I haven't gotten the knack yet for having all I need to get anything done. I think a lot of that is just my style as I change my mind so many times as I'm creating. Some of the ladies at my table finished 12 layouts! I sometimes wish my style was more simple so I could get caught up - but it's now so I try not to think like that....

That's the beauty of scrapbooking.... no right or wrong just whatevery you like. The best layouts are the ones where you stay true to your style & not try to be who you're not.

When I start a layout I'll pull out way more patterned paper than I need for photo/photos. It sounds crazy but most of the time I feel like I let the supplies/photo "talk" to me about a direction I want to go with the design.... no I'm not saying I hear voices (lol) but I really get a lot of inspiration from the papers themselves. I don't usually have a sketch that I am going by so I just start playing around with placement before I cut into anything.

The title is the next part I work on. I like to make them interesting & the easy way is to use Thickers/stickers but since that gets $$ I try to use the Cricut Expression a lot. You've seen on a lot of my layouts my "faux chipboard".

I will cut 4 layers of a letter/shape out of inexpensive kraft cardstock from Hobby Lobby pictured here. I stock up when it's on sale - you can't beat less than $2 for 25 sheets!

Then I will cut a 5th layer from good quality kraft paper or textured cardstock if I'm going to paint, ink or leave plain.

Have you tried the new cardstock from American Crafts? I bought a pack of the white - 60 sheets for $19.99 retail & I used a 30% off coupon at Archivers. I really like the quality of it - a great alternative to Bazzill

Another great look is to cut the 5th finish layer from patterned paper & ink the edges.

This method is a little time consuming but since I enjoy the whole creative process & it's so worth it to have the option of having any size, shape, style, color letter you need withouth heading to the store.

I'm working on a tutorial for next week's blog posting..... I had it almost finished & lost it last week when we thought the computer was backing up every evening but it wasn't & my son had to erase the hard drive & reinstall windows so I lost things I thought were saved on the external hard drive..... oh well another hard lesson learned.

Sorry "chasing rabbits".... back on topic of how I create a layout...

I then look around thru my embellishments stored mostly on the homemade paper towel holder clip it up that I love! It holds so much & is easy to turn the pages to find what I want - I really use my stuff now and it helps keep in mind what I have bought so I don't buy again.... we've all done that haven't we...

With all that said I'm sure you can see why it's hard for me to pack a page kit for a crop! But that is something I will have to work on if I want to join in on the fun. It'll just take more planning on my part.

Hubby is home from Alabama & I'm going to spend some time with him...

Have a blessed day,