Couple of Covers.....

I thought I would share a couple of mini book covers that I've been working on.  I am so going back to the real camera... I love my iphone 5 but in lower light when I stop it from flashing I don't get as sharp an image.

"All You Need is Love"

using last year's Crate Paper valentine line

I love the papers in this collection - nice small prints that are perfect everywhere 

not just for the holiday theme.

Close up of the Unity Stamped image & those fun

"Table Scatter" hearts I found at Dollar Tree

 Basic Grey

"Happy Busy Run & Play Fun Moments in My Day"

A mix of different letters make an eye catching fun cover

I added washi tape & lots of fussy cut images from the paper

Crate Paper

"Love You" 

Mix matched die cuts make an easy yet eye catching cover

A second version of 

"Love You" 

Thanks for stopping by.

Mini Books

I finished a couple of Halloween mini books using Pink Paislee's Hocus Pocus

The will be for sale soon at EMI Scrapbooking online or in store.  These are a completely put together & ready for your photos.  It's created with chipboard covers & lots of patterned paper pages using a collection pack in addition to cardstock photo mats, sticker letters/images & embellishments.  Since they are 1 of a kind it will be first come.  They will come with rings & a bit of ribbon/fabric to tie on.  I was out of rings yet again - I need to get a case of them lol.

I'm just sharing the covers.  Susan will post some of the pages when she puts them on sale.

 "You Are a Treat"

C

close up of the tag title 

The 2nd mini "Hocus Pocus Make it Fun" 

Thanks for stopping by & remember to do something creative today.

Starting off the week with yet another layout.....

I'm on a roll with creating layouts.

I'm a longtime reader of Stephanie Howell's blog.  She shares her life as an army wife & mom to 4 beautiful daughters.  I enjoy reading about the latest escapades of the "chicks" - that Sadie slays me with just a look.  It brings back memories of having little ones in the house & life at that stage.  She's honest with the good & bad in each day while remembering to be thankful in all things.  My heart aches for her when her hubby is deployed in some of the most dangerous places in the world.  She is an amazing strong woman.  Recently she posted that she was doing her first class at Big Picture Classes called Ties That Bind.  It's all about capturing the relationships we have in our lives.  It is a self paced class & you have access to it for 2 years.  If you want more information click here.

The class gave me lots of visual inspiration but more importantly it gave me inspiration to dig deeper into capturing memories & sharing with my family my feelings about them.  Not a superficial who, what, where, when style page.  You had to figure something got me excited about layouts again when this is the 3rd post in a row.  The journaling is more personal (I'm glad I hadn't journaled on the pages I started at the crop).

This page is about my Grami.  I recently received a bunch of old family photos since my Aunt moved in with us.  I adore this photo.  It is a visual of what my grandma tried to teach me all the time since I hated to have my picture taken.  She'd say it's not about how you look that will make it a good picture of you it's how you feel about yourself.... relax & be confident.  This picture shows her doing just that.  She was beautiful inside & out.  I miss her every day.  I was so close to her & feel like everything I like about myself I got from her.  I was even named after her... she's Sue.

One of the best things about living where my grandparents raised their kids was being right across the bridge from an amazing family run historical amusement park that is still going strong today.  They were able to go to Kennywood Park many times during the season.  School & church picnics, an entire Saturday, or a few hours an evening after work.  Every year each family member got their picture taken under the yearly sign.

I like the easy breezy feel of American Crafts Dear Lizzy 5th & Frolic (3 different papers front & back - I love how American Crafts does a different pattern on the back of the marketing strip so that gave me 3 more prints).  It's funky & fresh.  It mixed well with some older supplies I had on hand in my stash.

Sorry for the poor quality photo....
I've been lazy & using the iphone instead of bringing out the "big camera" dslr

Inside the pocket gave me plenty of room for journaling. 

I added a My Mind's Eye brad just because :)

The more superficial  who what where when journaling was in the pocket

at the bottom I shared a personal memory of Grami that she taught me.

 The wooden arrow from Pink Paislee reminded me of the arrow in the

Kennywood logo that you will see all over town to point the way to the park.

I made this little pocket by folding up the double sided paper & closing

the sides with Teresa Collins Tell Your Story washi tape.

Making Memories Tiny Types - even though everyone does them now these are still my favorites.

-- take note people don't do shiny stickers --

American Crafts flare is like a button that we wore on our denim jackets.

2 different size doilies from Little Yellow Bicycle & a 

festive pin with a pennant from House of 3 Pink Paislee

cute chipboard embellishments from October Afternoon Sidewalks collection.

of course everything is better with a bit of twine & some machine stitching

Thanks again Stephanie for inspiring me.

Hope you have a fabulous Monday & remember to do something creative

Best Friends Layout

I have been blessed with a long time best friend.  Lori & I met in 4th grade when she moved to my school.  We became fast friends.  It's amazing as we are both turning 50 this year that we are still best friends.  It's wonderful to have someone in my life that I can totally be myself with & never fear judgement... she just "gets me".  We talk often on the phone that the physical miles vanish & it's like we're in one of our kitchens just catching up & chatting the hours away.

We moved to Georgia in 1979 when I was 16.  It was so hard for me to have left Lori behind.  At that time the cost of a long distance call was $ 0.25 a minute!  My dad wasn't happy with the phone bill each month.  When we lived in same town we would immediately get on the phone after being together all day at school and talk for hours on the kitchen phone with the 25 foot long cord.  We'd both stretch the cords down the basement steps with the door closed for privacy - those coiled cords would be all wonky from being overstretched & drove our moms crazy.  Our phone was that 70's yellow.

I love Teresa Collins products!  They are so well designed & the style is timeless.  When I see pages in my album that I made years ago they don't feel "dated" because it's too trendy & detracts from the photos/story.

I'm such a blue jeans gal - easy breezy for me.  I LOVE navy blue & yellow in this line and several pages have text.  It just feels fresh & has such clean lines.

My parents let me go back to Baltimore for Easter because I was so depressed after moving the summer before.  I missed Lori & my grandparents who lived in Pittsburgh PA.  They would come to see us all the time growing up since it was only a 4-1/2 hour drive.  Now the only time we would see them is when they flew down a couple times a year (thanks to the fact that they were able to fly free since their son worked for United Airlines & a perk was to fly stand by anywhere in USA for my grandparents)

I love stitching on paper.  It just adds that little "something something".

I'm all about the noteworthy style with file folders, tabs, & tags.  I used one of my favorite Unity Stamp Company Stamps on kraft paper with navy blue ink to balance the page. I can always count on Unity to bring style & a bit of funky to my projects.

That bottom "remember this" was cut from this piece of paper.

just quickly cut with scissors a border from a damask paper.  

LOVE that light blue 

I used one of Teresa's Vintage Finds 1 stamps to give the Prima clock face a place to sit.  The milky yellow brad from Now & Then line is perfectly at home.  I love how her lines can mix and match

There are always interesting elements to cut out on her papers.  I layered the globe & vintage stamp to subtly give a travel feel to the page.  More machine sewing on the layered borders that I punched.

InLinkz.com

Other Supplies:  Discontinued Martha Stewart Tiny Floral Border Punch, American Crafts cardstock letter stickers, Glue Dots, Pop Dots, American Crafts Pigment Ink Denim, The Paper Company kraft paper, Scotch ATG adhesive, Singer sewing machine
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Hope you have a fantastic day & remember to do something creative.....

Could it be a Layout on My Blog....

I bet you are thinking you're on the wrong blog.... it's been so long since I posted a layout.  I've been doing so many mini books for sale & kits and for my own photos.  I love doing minis... something about the feel of them & all the textures.  Plus I can get a lot of photos done at one time.  I've been so neglecting doing layouts.  In the past I would even duplicate the stories to some extent that I told in a mini album for the "official" 12x12 scrapbook.  I forgot how much I love the process of creating a page.

I started these several months ago at a crop.  I don't stress out about finishing things at crops because the way I create makes it totally impossible unless I pack up my entire room.  I'm one of those people who drags out a multitude of stuff to audition them and see how they will look.  While I'm creating I will think of some item that I didn't bring that would be "perfect" and just the thought of it will stop the creative process dead in it's tracks.  I've learned to just move on to another page/project or I will sit there and get frustrated.  To top it off I'm a slow scrapper.  I really enjoy EVERYTHING about the creative process, from the most mundane intricate fussy cutting to journaling the story, so trying to be what I'm not takes the pleasure out of scrapbooking.  Realizing this about myself has allowed me to really like cropping & not worry about packing for them.  I enjoy the inspiration & catching up with my friends.... just relaxing & enjoying their company.

Here's a page about my son younger Brandon.  He's such an inspiration to me & constantly reminds me to not worry about what others think and  to "go for it Mom".  He really beats to his own drum, goes after life, is easy going & can talk to anyone... that "boy" has never met a stranger.  He slays me how girls will walk by & do a 180 coming back to chat... he usually gets a phone number with no effort lol.

I loved this Simple Stories line with motorcycles, guitars, & lots of stars.  His online nickname for the longest time growing up was "allstar" the stars made it even more perfect.  I mixed in some paper from Authentique - it was a vintage school line but I love the grey & yellow colors.  The weight of paper heavier & just called to be distressed & grunged up

Brandon went to the motorcycle races with his friend James.  

I love this photo in black and white it only made it better.  

It "quiets down" the distraction from the colors and just lets the focus be on the guys.

The top left corner of page.

The banners on the die cut sheet played up the race track theme from the photo.

I distressed the edges of all the layers to add texture.  In my mind that makes it more masculine.

The "You're Amazing" embellishment is semi transparent piece from Basic Grey.

I love how Simple Stories lines come with several pieces of paper with borders, 3x5 journaling spots, & lots of different things to use as the title of the page.  Their products make great mini books too.

 

I loved these metal embellishments that I found in my friend Susan's vintage stash - she found a huge lot of old jewelry at a flea market.  I was in heaven just sifting thru the goodies.

The piece on top of the thermometer die cut is so hammered and mashed like it was run over a dozen times with a tank.  That hair comb with the chevron striping of the teeth seemed current on trend & had an masculine industrial feel.

I really like how they look on the page layered with all the other paper elements.  A trick I use all the time in the mini book kits I make is to adhere paper to a piece of blank chipboard.  It adds dimension & makes the layers pop.

 

Couldn't resist a bit of washi tape to anchor the photo 

 Now looking at the photos I feel like it needs some paint splatter..... well it's not in the album yet lol

Family Sunday

Andrew & I took Mom's gift over to her.

Simple kraft wrapping paper, twine & a heart doily from the Dollar Tree and a stamped To/From tag using Teresa Collins Christmas Cottage Stamp Set. (there is one currently on ebay here)

Even though we have seen each other in the past weeks it's been at the hospital or nursing home rehab visiting Auntie so she gave me a beautiful birthday box filled with goodies......

I have put the finishing touches on some layouts that I started a crop months ago.... am I the only one who starts projects & finishes later?  I will post some photos later this week the weather here is rainy and I have to be outside to take photos my light isn't the best in the house...

Hope you have a fabulous day & remember to do something creative.