I'm Not Defeated, I'm Determined!

This week has been wild and woolly in the scrap community. Two Peas In A Bucket announced they were closing and sent scrappers across the globe into a panic. How would we survive without our beloved Message Board (yes, even the NSBR!), and all the wonderful inspiration we find there? I will admit that it put me in a little bit of a funk because 2P's has been a daily stop for me, for at least 10 years. I have now accepted the fact that they are closing. Peas are gathering in different locations on the Internet, reconnecting, so all is well in my scrappy world. Rather than putting my head in the sand to accept this scrappy apocalypse, I am digging my heels in, and finding my passion for this hobby all over again. Disclaimer: During my panic phase, I may or may not have overspent on scrappy supplies this month. Thank goodness, the panic only lasted a couple of days! :)

This week I've had some forced downtime, so I decided to attempt to use my own handwriting to create a cut file on my Silhouette. I watched this video on You Tube and gave it a shot. If you haven't give it a try, you should. I just love that it's my own handwriting, it's so personal and unique! The challenge at Cocoa Daisy this month from Nicole, was to use strips of paper on a layout. I took strips of paper and made fun stars to start my layout. I took my "love" cut file and painted it with a Jenni Bowlin paint dauber to make it pop off the page. Since the handwritten cut files are pretty delicate, I just machine-stitched it to one of the stars. I added a few stamped stars and a few more extra strips/pieces of paper and my layout was complete.

My tip of the day is, focus on why we love this hobby and the reason we started it in the first place. Scrappy sites will come and go, but my love of documenting life moments will never fade. Thanks, Two Peas, for a fun and fabulous 10+ years. I learned so much, and grew as a scrapper because of the community you created. ♥♥♥

Scraplifting Elements of Design

Scraplifting is such a fun and easy way to get your mojo running. Scraplifting (to me) doesn't mean an exact replica of a layout. I prefer to use it as a jumping point for creativity. Yesterday I scraplifted Just G (Gillian) at Studio Calico. I searched her gallery and found a few layouts that spoke to me. I noticed a few repeating elements in these layouts: photo shapes, repeating elements, 8 1/2 x 11 layouts, and gray backgrounds. Here is my scraplift of Gillian's style.

Since I mainly scrap 12x12, I used a gray background and layered an 8 1/2x11 piece on top to be the main focal point. In her gallery, I noticed lots of photo shapes and I knew I had to give this a try. (One great benefit of scraplifting is trying new things, right?!) To create the heart-shaped photo, I used PicMonkey's new shapes editing tool (it's in the frames section of editing), I LOVE how this turned out. **The first time I tried it, too much sky was showing, and I wanted the focus to be on the gorgeous, turquoise water, so I just cropped my photo first, and then added it to the frame.** I then saved the heart-shaped photo on my computer and printed one large photo. To get the little photos, I just used the contact sheet option on my printer and trimmed around the hearts. I think I just discovered a new favorite technique! One final tip: I printed my main photo on luster photo paper and the small hearts on matte. I wanted the small hearts to feel like embellishments.

If you're in a creative rut, go find someone to scraplift! You may just surprise yourself like I did with this layout! Thanks for the inspiration, Gillian! To see Gillian's gallery, click here.

Silhouette Sunday

A couple of weeks ago, I helped a friend learn the basics of cutting on the Silhouette. I will admit, I'm a little lazy when it comes to using it, but after helping her, I realized how much I love this machine and it's a shame not to use it more. The Sunday Sketch from Studio Calico's blog today, was all the inspiration I needed to fire up my machine. I started with the large star and decided to back it with a couple of circle cuts. The title is from Kerri Bradford's July Fourth collection. Since the title is so delicate, I machine-stitched it to the star. It's amazing how quickly a layout can come together with the Silhouette!

I'm going to challenge myself to use my Silhouette more often, starting with the rest of these photos from July, 2012! ;)

One of My Favorite Things - Canning Jars

I love canning jars - new, old, clear, blue, I love them all! We are fortunate enough to live in an area where the World's Longest Yard Sale happens every August. Last year, I snagged some old, blue jars for display in our dining area. I know it sounds silly, but these jars make me happy. I just love looking at them and imagine the journey they made to get to my home. When Studio Calico came out with a patterned paper with jars on it, the scrappy stars were smiling on me. This weeks Sunday Sketch was all the inspiration I needed to make a layout about my pretty jars.

Here are a few close-ups of the cherished treasures.

This year I hope to acquire a few more of these beauties. It's fun to scrap "things" we love, I hope many years from now when my children see jars like this, they will remember lots of love and laughter at our kitchen table.

May Madness

I have decided the month of May surpasses December in regards to schedule overload. Thankfully, I survived it and I'm now slowly relaxing into our summer schedule. Even though I didn't have big blocks of time to spend in my scraproom, I still managed to do a few challenges from various sites and want to share them with you today.

I realized that even when I'm pressed for time, it's not that hard to squeeze in a layout or two. Scrapping (for me), is also a stress reliever, so I must scrap for health benefits. :) Challenges are a quick and easy way to get a layout going, if you haven't tried them, you should!