sketch support | easter

 

It’s one-page week at Sketch Support again. Head on over there to get a free copy of this week’s sketch & check out what the rest of the creative team came up with.

 

Supplies – patterned paper: Crate Paper, Jillibean Soup; embellishments: Jillibean Soup; ink: Tsukinenko

Variation #1: I changed the size of the 4x6 photo to so I could use my square Instagram photo.

Variation #2: I enlarged the journaling block area so I could include the bottom 3/4 of 3”x4” journaling tag from Jillibean Soup.

Variation #3: I didn’t use any hearts…I used a few different punch-outs from Jillibean layered with stickers to accent my photos.

week in the life 2012 | thursday

 

No I didn’t do this last night…I slacked! Brain dead after a crazy day at work, baseball, errands, and just being a mom. So I watched “The Sopranos” with the hubs & then went to bed early. And yes, I know “The Sopranos” hasn’t been on for a few years. We just recently started watching it & we’re into season 3 now (I think).

And now here is my Thursday in photos:

I added a few word stickers to my photos (including one that says “main street” to the street shot…my drive down Main St. in Roseville every day to & from work!).

week in the life 2012 | wednesday

 

Three days in & I’m still going!

My goals for this year?

1) Be in at least one picture per day.

2) Work on it every night.

3) Be complete by the end of this week.

Looking good so far!

Today I’m just going to share my photos, not in the page protectors. I hate the big glare I have to get by using a flash (or the stupid shadows I get when I go without). I plan on sharing the entire spread/album/whatever-you-call-it when it’s all complete. And since I’m printing at home, that should be next Monday! I don’t think I’ve ever been so on top of things (it must be because I should be writing reports right now, and this is a great way to procrastinate!).

So here are my photos from today:

Wow! I didn’t plan for my photos to line up like they were in a protector! How cool is that?! I will probably be adding a few sticker labels/words. And I plan on printing my date tab on some more patterned paper. But otherwise, there is my daily layout :)

week in the life 2012 | tuesday

Now two days in…I wasn’t sure if I’d end up with enough photos today, and then pleasantly surprised to see I had too many! I’m not taking the same crazy amount I have in the past for Week in the Life—and that’s okay—but I almost feel like I could’ve done the whole album.

Almost.

So without further ado, day 2:

(Taken with my phone at 10pm. So my apologies for the crappy photo.)

Again I printed my “title” for the day using this kit from Ali Edwards on a sheet of patterned paper. I tried to get creative in PSE last night & then gave up. It’s just so easy to print black on patterned paper. (And it was time for me to get back to IEP report writing!)

I added a few sentiments in PSE, and a few label stickers (October Afternoon & Jillibean Soup). Today I also included two Instagram photos (I seriously love that app!). I opened them up in PSE, dropped them onto a sheet of grid patterned paper (cropped to 2.5” x 3.5”), added a drop shadow (thanks Design Editor for that idea!), and voila! Finally I added a bit of journaling and then I was done!

On a side note…yesterday I received a comment about how I’d actually printed my photos already…this is a rarity for me! I have a “photo” printer but I rarely print at home. However, I liked that I could complete each daily layout that day while working on December Daily a few months ago. So I decided to use up some 4”x6'” photo paper I’ve had sitting around. I find with projects like this (and DD), if I don’t do it every day, I don’t do it at all. Like my Week in the Life from last summer that is still just hundreds of photos in a file on my computer and a box of memorabilia.

week in the life 2012 | monday

Because I need another project like I need a hole in the head…

But I digress

I participated in Week in the Life for the first time 2 years ago. Check out what I did here.

Last summer I participated again. I still have to put that album together.

So when Ali Edwards shared that it was “that time” again, well, I thought I would sit out this time. Until this morning when I saw how Elise was doing her Week in the Life. And I thought, “I can totally take 9 pictures a day & add them to a baseball card holder!” And then I did it.

And so far, I’m so glad I did.

(Please excuse the poor lighting & the flash. I took this with my phone at 11pm)

sketch support | disney highlights, 2011

 

Two page week just wrapped up at Sketch Support, so it’s time to share my layout. Head on over there to get a free copy of this two-page sketch & check out what the rest of the creative team came up with.

I decided to scrap some photos from our vacation last November to Disneyland. I hadn’t done much, other than another layout of the holidays at Disney. I’m planning on making a photo book  on Shutterfly with all of our photos, so I chose to just pick a few highlights. I even had my (almost) six year old daughter help choose photos & come up with her favorites from our vacation for the journaling.

Supplies – patterned paper: American Crafts, Crate Paper, Echo Park, Jillibean Soup; buttons: Crate Paper; label & letter stickers: Jillibean Soup; ink: Tsukineko; corrugated letters: Jillibean Soup (all from my February Green Tangerines Kit Club)

Variation #1 – I used a cute mini-heart print from Jillibean Soup rather than striped paper. I didn’t have a good stripe to match all the patterned paper I was using, and I liked how this paper coordinated & had a small enough print to work.

Variation #2 – Instead of using labels & a swirl on the far right, I used little letter stickers & a couple of buttons. I was able to write the sentiment I wanted to in the same space without changing the overall design.

Variation #3 – For the title, I kept the embellishments & actual title similar to the sketch by using letter stickers & a button, along with a small label. However, I omitted the actual block behind the title.

project 12 | november 2011

 

For the last two years I’ve had fun playing along with Project 12 from Scrapbook & Cards Today. I just read that they’re changing things up a bit for 2012 & won’t be providing new sketches this year. That’s okay. One, I’m still catching up on 2011(shocker, I know!), and two, I have so many great sketches in my collection from both Sketch Support and Sketches for Scrapbooking that I’ll think I’ll be fine.

So here is my layout for this last November. I didn’t use the Nov ‘11 sketch because it just didn’t work. But I love this sketch from Nov ‘10 so I re-used it.

Supplies (all from my November GTKC) – patterned paper: American Crafts, Bella Blvd., Simple Stories, My Mind’s Eye, Anthologie; layered stickers: Amy Tan for American Crafts; dots: unknown (in my kit); letter stickers: Lush by My Mind’s Eye; paper edger punch: EK Success

The first change I made (which I made when I used this sketch last Nov as well) was to increase the number of photos by adding a second row. I do this a lot.

I also lifted a technique from Davinie Fiero that I’ve used a few times: mix up the bottom layers of paper by using two different patterns. It adds a definite punch of color & some whimsy. Love that.

Another quick change I made was to use the camera & typewriter elements instead of birds & leaves. I actually had birds & leaves in my kit to use, but I love that camera & the typewriter fits the theme as well: photography & document.

The “delightful goodness” sticker is probably supposed to be a brad or button or something, but I liked the extra bit of color it added over here.

sketch support | autumn splendor

It’s one page week again on Sketch Support!

You can download and print this sketch by clicking on the one-page sketches link found under the "printable sketches" tab on the right sidebar on the Sketch Support website.

I really stuck to the sketch this week! I finally scrapped photos from our family photo shoot in 2009!

Supplies – patterned paper: My Mind’s Eye, Little Yellow Bicycle, Simple Stories; letter stickers: Lush by My Mind’s Eye, American Crafts; word stickers: Authentique; paper leaves: Amy Tangerine by American Crafts; ink: Tsukineko; other: embroidery floss (all from Green Tangerines Kit Club November)

1) I used this cute strip of owl paper for my journaling block.

2) Word stickers came in handy for the journaling strips…I love these!

last july at the zoo

 

I just realized I’d never taken a picture (or shared) this layout of our trip to the zoo last summer.

Supplies: patterned paper: Echo Park; journaling spot: Jillibean Soup; brads: Basic Grey; letter stickers: American Crafts

And as usual, I’m using a sketch from Allison Davis (Sketches for Scrapbooking v. 6).

I didn’t really switch up much from the original sketch this time. I did use a journaling sprout in the text area (instead of strips). And I tucked part of it behind the photo because it had a word on it that didn’t fit in with the layout.

I also used brads instead of buttons. Minor swap, I know. And it felt so good to use up some Lime Rickey brads I’d had sitting around for a couple of years!

two page sketch # 17: just another fun day at the zoo

It’s two page week again on the Sketch Support blog! This week Allison is featuring a sketch from her new book Sketches for Scrapbooks vol. 8. You can purchase a copy for yourself here, but you can snag the sketch for FREE here.

And here is my version:

supplies (all from my Green Tangerines June kit)  letter stickers: Lush by My Mind’s Eye, October Afternoon, & Echo Park;  chipboard buttons: Graphic 45; Word Stickers: Echo Park; Patterned Paper: Crate Paper; Journaling block & ribbon: unknown; Punch: EK Success; Decorative Brads: Stella Rose by My Mind’s Eye

My original plan was to stick with the sketch & do something for the Fourth of July. And then I went thru my photos & realized I hadn’t scrapped our zoo pictures from April!

The first change I made was to add more photos. The sketch calls for three 4x4 photos stacked on the right page. First of all, I had two photos that just didn’t work as squares. And second of all, I wanted to use a few more pictures. So I opened up a 6x12 block in Photoshop Elements and made a grid of eight 3x3 photos. Then I started playing around & came up with the above photo block.

*Tip: You should be able to see the white lines in between each photo. Instead of trying to line all of them up with a perfect margin & still make it fit, I simply selected each photo layer (before flattening) and went to “edit>stroke (outline) selection”. I outlined each photo with a 10px line that was centered.*

1) As you can see, I didn’t use stars! I had this cute journaling block in my GTKC kit that I was planning on mounting on something. But no matter what I put under it, I liked it by itself more. Plus the block itself kind of stands in for the large star.

2) I substituted these cute buttons for the star border. originally they were just place holder so I could see if I liked the swoosh of stars going over my photo on the right, and then I realized I really liked the buttons. And they have a few clock ones to go with the clock on the journaling block…yay!

After getting the buttons stitched on & my pages almost done, I decided they needed a little extra something. So snipped the legs off of a few brads & glued them down. I love the extra bit of color & bling.

3) Instead of a scalloped border next to striped paper, I used “torn paper” ( have no idea what to call this) punch and some ribbon from my kit. The scalloped edge didn’t fit the look I was going for, and with all the circles I thought the scallops would be too round.

And for those of you who’ve made it this far….

…it’s a giveaway of Sketch Support’s latest sketch book, volume 8.

You can leave me a sweet comment to be entered in a drawing for a free copy of "Sketches for Scrapbooking" volume 8.  I will draw a winner (late) Sunday, July 17th and post the winner. And for extra chances, head over to the rest of the Sketch Support Creative Team blogs...we're all giving a copy away this week!

snow day in nyack

We are so fortunate to live so close to the Sierras! We drove up to Nyack (on the way to Tahoe) a couple of weeks ago to let the kids have fun in the snow.

I went thru my photos (157 of them!) fairly quickly once we got home. I was eager to share them, and more eager to scrap them! I picked up this fun line from My Mind’s Eye back before Christmas & was looking forward to using the snowman on a “snow fun” themed layout.

Of course I used an Allison Davis sketch (from volume 6). I love being able to integrated so many of the patterned papers into one layout!

And I was so excited to use this snowflake in place of an “o”!