Sweet Dreams

Today I'm sharing another layout I created as Feb. Guest Designer for Citrus Twist. The inspiration for this layout was a sketch designed by Kasia at Citrus Twist. Love this sketch – I rotated it to the right to work with my selected photos. I adore the wooden elements and thought they would look fabulous as “dream clouds”. I sprayed them with Mister Huey’s so they would pop off the page and backed them with patterned paper. I love the fun, whimsical feel it creates. For the chevron stamp, I used various colors of Zing Embossing Powder – it’s a great way to highlight the photos and add dimension to the page.

Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend!

Combining Challenges

Yesterday I was instantly inspired by Kim's Cocoa Daisy challenge. Kim has gorgeous style and uses lots of white on her layouts. They're always fresh and bright and I couldn't wait to give it a try. I love this snapshot of my son's first goal for his middle school team. I decided to play off of the red and white of the uniforms. Cocoa Daisy's Feb. kit has a brand-new, hot-off-the-press Crafters Workshop pie chart stencil designed by Ronda Palazzari. I started with the stencil and Mister Huey's color mist. I wanted the design to pop, so I used a Zig Emboss Writer and used various colors of Zing embossing powders to add some color and dimension. I then cut pieces of the pie from vellum and machine stitched it to the pie chart. A few Kaisercraft red pearls and some wood veneer and my pie chart was complete.

I then decided to use Stephanie's Feb. sketch challenge and create a two-page layout. I'm really happy with this fun, fresh layout and it all began with a challenge. If you're stuck creatively, a challenge is a great place to start! Thanks for stopping by!

You Shine!

Today's post is all about thinking outside the box. For this layout, I was instantly drawn to the soft gray and white color palette which works perfectly with my daughter’s school photo. The gold dot vellum paper (Dear Lizzy 5th & Frolic) that came in the Citrus Twist kit is so pretty, but did not work with the photo. My daughter's dress is silver and has a gray background. Initially I thought a silver and gold layout might work, but decided against it. As I was playing around with the paper, I flipped it over and voilà - it was perfect! The backside of the gold dots is a matte silvery/gray tone that is perfect with the photo.

I slid a piece of silver cardstock behind the vellum and stitched around the edge to frame the photo.

I embossed the Thickers with Ranger Holographic Embossing Powder to give a shimmery finish. Just a few sequins scattered about from my stash and the layout was complete.

PanPastel Love!

Although scrapbooking is my passion, I love to try new things and push myself creatively. On occasion, I attempt to do a little mixed media or art. The first time I was introduced to PanPastel artists' pastels, I was not overly impressed to say the least. In fact, it was my least favorite medium. When Donna Downey announced her PanPastel workshop, I said, "No, thank you, it's not for me." That was before my dear Canadian friends, Charlotte and Christine, gently urged me to join them. They were convinced I would change my opinion about this dreaded medium. I signed up for the workshop, but still had major doubts in my mind about the product.

If you've ever been to an event at Donna's studio, you know that half of the fun is seeing the goodies waiting for your arrival. Check these beauties out - talk about being inspired to create! Our first project was a bird. We were not allowed to draw the bird, we just had to start painting! For a split second, pure panic set in, but then I sucked it up and started painting. Would you believe within a matter of minutes, I had a complete change of heart towards PanPastel? I am not kidding, I fell in love with this product! Here is my first completed PanPastel project. .

Our final project was to choose a photo or piece of art that we would like to replicate. I chose a photo of our daughter walking up the driveway because I love the backdrop of the red barn.

This is my finished piece..

.

I am still blown away by how much I learned in such a short time. This amazing weekend has opened up a whole new world of creativity to me. I'm so grateful to the Downeys and all the beautiful ladies that participated in the workshop. It was such a diverse group of wildly talented women, so willing to share and encourage one another.

Here are a few more photos from my amazing time in North Carolina. It's always a little sad when an event like this is over - I love hanging out with creative people and playing in Donna's fabulous studio. I'm so happy my friends forced me to attend the workshop. I not only had a fun time with friends, I now have a new hobby! ♥

Fun with Citrus Twist Kits

Today I'm sharing a layout I created for Citrus Twist. I wanted the yellow to pop from the photo so I chose the Pebbles Walnut Grove (Eliza Jane) paper as my background. I selected a Silhouette phrase and only cut the word "sunshine" from a Pebbles journaling card, and backed it with a bright yellow card. I love how versatile journaling cards can be, they're not just for journaling, as you can see. :)

I adore the chevron printed kraft bag and when I put my title on it, I wanted to play off the direction of the chevron. I hand-stitched little arrows over the chevron to draw the eye to the photo. It's my favorite detail of the layout.

The kit came with one rosette and I knew I wanted to add more for balance so I picked a few of the Pebbles journaling cards and made rosettes with my scoring board. I also cut little banner strips from the journaling card and used the same twine to stitch over the banner.

Check out the adorable stitched vellum tag that was included in the kit. It is the perfect finishing touch to the layout. ♥

I have several more projects that I'll share with you over the next few days. If you're looking for a fabulous kit club, be sure to check out Citrus Twist. If you're new to my blog, please leave a comment, or feel free to follow me! Thank you for visiting!

I'm February Guest Designer for Citrus Twist!

I am so thrilled and honored to be Guest Designer this month! I received the main and the embellishment kits and they are fabulous. If you've ever received a Citrus Twist kit, you know how exciting it is to get the lovely package tied with twine. ♥

Here are some sneaks of the projects I created.

Be sure to stop by Citrus Twist and check out their fabulous kits! If you leave a comment on their blog today, you will have a chance to win a prize! Click here.

I Have Some Exciting News...

But I can't tell you until Sunday! So please say you'll come back to check it out and get the scoop. Until then, I have some fabulous new eye candy from my scraproom to share with you.

There are ink pads that I use over.and.over. It seems I use at least a couple of these on every layout and I love to have them close at hand while scrapping. I found these adorable monogrammed dishes that are perfect to hold a few of my favorites.

The round dish is the perfect size for a roll of glue dots. Fabulous, little treasures like these make me happy and are not only eye candy, but are so functional! Thank you, Sophie's, for stocking such amazing treasures like these.

Check out this adorable bucket...

Be still my heart! I don't even know what I'm putting in this little beauty yet, but it adds such a fun splash of color and a sprinkle of happiness to my space!

Wishing you all a fabulous week!