10K Robot Tournament Layout

Hello and Welcome!

Aaron's robotics team competed at the University of Minnesota and made it all the way to the semi-finals. Here Jeff, Aaron and friend, Lyon, are scouting other teams for a good match up for the final matches.

 


When I saw the mood board at Kaiser Crafts, I was inspired to pull out Kaiser Craft's Off The Wall Collection and scrap out latest robotics adventure.



 All of the papers and chipboard are from Kaiser's Off The Wall paper and collectables sets. The gears were made by rubbing Inka Gold, blue and copper pastes on dark blue Kaiser cardstock then diecut with Tim Holtz's Thinlit gear dies.





This page is entered in:

• Kaiser April Blog Challenge

• Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by -beep,beep...
-june

Anniversary Page with Quick Quotes and Clear Scraps

Hello and Welcome!


Clear Scraps products are new to me, but after working with them - WOW - I love them! They make pages come together effortlessly with amazing results! Check it out:

I had forgotten how stunning alcohol inks look on acrylic, like stained glass. It has a mixed media feel without all the mess and drying time.  Check out the before and after coloring:

Although this layout looks time consuming, it really was fast and easy. Here is my process:

• Color Clear Scraps' XOXO Acrylic Layout frame with 4 colors of Ranger's alcohol inks & blending solution on a felt pad. Just dab it on. (Seriously, this just took a few minutes.)
• Print 4 photos using Cannon's Selphy CP1200 printer. Trim to fit.
• Cut a loopy border from Quick Quotes' Mulbury 103 and edge with Royal Blue PowderPuff Ink.
• Attach Clear Scraps' frame, photos and border to Windsong 103 paper. (I used vellum adhesive to attach the acrylic frame.)
• Die cut 2 large, 9 medium & 9 small flowers out of Quick Quotes' Mulberry 102 & 103. Edge with Royal Blue & Violet PowderPuff Inks. Layer, glue them together and add gem centers.
• Adhere flowers and word phrases from Quick Quotes' Mulberry Quotes & Phrases sheet in 3 clusters around the page.
• Add silver glitter letters to hearts for the title, and add journaling. Done! See, fast and easy.

One of the best things about this process is that you can customize everything to fit your photos. Look at how well the Clear Scraps' frame matches the Quick Quotes Mulberry papers and the photos!

Quick Quotes Products:
Mulberry Paper Pack and Quotes & Phrases
Windsong Paper Pack
PowderPuff Chalking Inks: Royal Blue & Violet
Cannon Selphy CP1200 Wireless Compact Photo Printer

Clear Scraps Product:  
XOXOX 12x12 Acrylic Layout

Other Products:
Ranger Alcohol Inks - Stream, Cranberry, Eggplant, Silver
Poppy Stamp's Stitched Bloom Trio
Martha Stewart border punch
Heidi Swapp silver glitter letters

This page is entered in:
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes
Simon Says Work It Wednesday for April

Thanks so much for stopping by, and happy hopping!
-june

The Great Egg Hunt Page

Hello and Welcome!

Every year we have a ball doing a family Easter egg hunt. And now that the "kids" are older they help with hiding the baskets. The boys have really gotten creative finding places, including on the roof and underground! Check it out:
 

I had fun using up some of my older themed papers and stickers. I also used Winnie & Walter's Noelle's Cutaway for the cute border and bow on the journaling panel. This page is based on a sketch from Pagemaps and inspired by GrandDiva's mood board (all the fun little elements and sunny yellow) and Winnie & Walter's color combination.



This page is entered in:

• Scrappy Friend's April Sketch Challenge

 

• Scrappy Friend's  April Inspiration Challenge  
•  

• Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes
• Winnie & Walter's April Color Combo

Thanks for stopping by,
-june

Hooray Let's Toast Card

Hello and Welcome!

I got to do a lot of playing with this card. I used several embossing techniques, new (to me) stamps and a great design sketch. Check it out:



The new stamps are by Hero Arts and include Cocktail Party and Make A Wish Birthday sets.They are so fun to mix and match. In order to make the bubbly look real, I used WOW Marshmallow & Parma Violet embossing powders. One of my favorite techniques is to color with embossing powders. WOW silver embossing powder and clear sequins were used to make the confetti. The Hero Art's sentiment was stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with WOW's Bright White powder. The papers are by Paper Studio. To finish off the card I added machine stitching across the top. This card is based on sketch #95 by Heather Hall at Sketch N Scrap.

This card is entered in:

• Sketch N Scrap Card Sketch 95
• WOW April Challenge
• a2z Scrapbooking Challenge "Getting To Know You"
• 
  

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you are having a good weekend,
-june

State Fair Marching Band Page

Hello and Welcome!

As Aaron started 10th grade this year, he got to play with the Edina Marching Band at the Minnesota State Fair. We were all so excited. (Being in the parade is not new to Aaron as he has been in this parade every year for 10 years, usually on a firetruck.)  He has been practicing marching and creating formations for a month. Fun to see him perform.

Most of the papers and stickers are October Afternoon's Midway (perfect, right?!) Thicker letters, 100 Proof Press trumpet stamp and Prima's musical paper clip were also added. This page is based on a sketch by Heather at Sketch N Scrap.


This layout is entered in:

• We've Got Your Number at Simon Says Stamp Mon. Challenge
• Layout Sketch 127 at Sketch N Scrap

 

• Anything Goes at Simon Says Stamp Wed. Challenge

Thanks for stopping by,
-june

The Perfect Fit Layout

Hello and Welcome!

Aaron was fitted with his marching band uniform. Doesn't he look handsome! These uniforms are 40 years old! The kids are taught to take extra special care of them, so they are still in good shape. The ladies who fit Aaron fussed over him for 20 minute and he ate it up! It's not just the uniform that fits him so well, but the whole program, he is truly a "Bandie!"




While organizing my stash, I found this wonderful pack of customized school papers. I had bought them while Aaron was still in Kindergarten! (Good thing we didn't move.) Now that he is in High School it's time to use them. A Ki transparency, gold ribbon and 100 Proof Press trumpet stamp were also added. Photo was taken by Life Touch.

This page is entered in:
Simon Says "We've Got Your Number Monday Challenge  (the numbers are in the journaling)
Scrapbooks and Cards Today blog sketch Challenge

Thanks for stopping by,
-june

Fresh Air Layout

Hello and Welcome!

My men are very much indoor kinda guys. But they have so much fun when I can get them in the great outdoors. Here we ran around the beautiful gardens in our nearby Arboretum:

With so many wonderful pictures of the Arboretum, Scrap Our Stash's multi-photo sketch was a perfect fit. I recently purchased Altenew's Reflections Scrapbook Collection  and, as it is the prize this month for one very lucky Scrap Our Stash participant, I thought it would be fun to use it for this challenge. Most of the papers and embellishments on this page come from the Altenew kit. But, in SOS style, I did add some older elements from my stash. The additions include Thickers, homemade enamel dots, gold ribbon, a Hambly overlay frame, and lots of machine stitching. Check out a couple close-ups:

For the word challenge I used:
    F- flowers, flair, frame
    L- lined paper, layers
    O- overlay
    W- woodgrain letters, word stickers
    E- enamel dots
    R- red, ribbon

This layout is entered in:

• Altenew's Share Your Best Projects gallery

• The April Work It Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

• The "We've Got Your Number" Monday challenge at Simon Says Stamp (date on page)

• The "Showers and/or Flowers" Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

Thanks for stopping by, and hop over to Scrap Our Stash for your chance to win this awesome Altenew Reflections Scrapbook Collection. (This kit is also available for purchase at Altenew or Simon Says Stamp.)

-june

Jeff's Hang In There Card

Hello and Welcome!

Having a family of guys who love fantasy novels, this fun Dragon stamp by C.C.Designs gets used often. I must admit this Dragon is one of my favorite stamps and always makes me smile. My husband is having a hard week at work, so I made this card for him to cheer him on.

The background was created with Distress Inks using the smooshing technique, then SPLASHED with black paint and cut with a Spellbinders tag die to make a frame. (If you want to see what I created with the tag, it is posted here in my Flickr account.) The C.C. Designs Dragon (retired stamp) was colored with Prima's Tropical Watercolor Confections. To help bring a smile to my husband's face, I made this card into a shaker using clear sequins. And the wonderful sentiment is Simon Says Stamp's New Beginnings Encouragement stamp set.

This card is entered in:

•  Challenge 118 Watercolor at Marker Pop
•  

• April Power & Spark Challenge at Power Poppy (#2)
• Sketch & Color Challenge 62 at Your Next Stamp
• CIC403 "Mythical" at Cupcake Inspirations, sponsored by The Greeting Farm

               

Thanks for stopping by,
-june

It's Spring with Quick Quotes

Hello and Welcome! I have a bright and fun layout for you today! I used Quick Quotes Anchors Aweigh paper collection, and even though this collection is sea-themed, it was easy to adapt it into a spring theme using flower punches!

Designer Tip: You can adapt most themed papers into something else by using punches. You are not limited to just flowers, you can use hearts, stars, clouds, etc. You can also use diecuts or an electronic cutting machine (such as a Cricut) instead of punches, too.

The background paper is Quick Quotes' Windsong WS-103. Windsong papers are mostly light with subtle designs and make a great alternative to plain white cardstock for backgrounds. The photos were printed with my new Cannon Selphy CP1200. (I still can't believe I can go from having an idea, to photographing it, to having the prints on a page in just minutes!)

You know how much I love my PowderPuff Chalking Inks, and I couldn't resist using them all over this page. After punching out the borders, flowers & leaves, I edge them with Rose Petal, Limeade, Buttercup & Sky Blue inks and a blending tool. I then used the same colors to add splatters to the background and to stamp "spring" for a colorful title.

I was inspired by Alicia's fun  Friday flower challenge here at Quick Quotes. If you would like to join in follow the link here.


Quick Quotes Products:
 Anchors Aweigh 100, 101, 103,
 Windsong 103
 PowderPuff Chalking Inks: Rose Petal, Buttercup, Sky Blue, Limeade
 Ribbon
 Cannon Selphy CP1200

Other Products:
 Simon Says Stamp Wild Daisy diecut
 Winnie & Walter's The Big, The Bold & The Seasons stamp
 EK Success flower punches
 Martha Stewart border punch 
 Thickers


This page is entered in:

• The April Work It Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp 

• The "Showers/Flowers" Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

 
Thanks for stopping by,
-june

Yippee 4 Mom Card

Hello and Welcome!

I love this cute bear from Ellen Hutson's All Inside stamp set as you can have him hold all kinds of fun things. Today he has an arm load of roses for mom.

 

The Ellen Hutson dotted background was inked up Distress Inks and SPLASHED with water to give a watercolor look. The card design is based on a sketch #3 at Power Poppy.

I used the following products:
  Ellen Hutson: Wonky Backgrounds & All Inside stamp sets
  Waffleflower: Flower Circles & yippee dies, DT Mix & Congrats stamp sets
  Memory Box: Trellis Border die

This card is entered in:

•  Ellen Hutson's Mix-It-Up Challenge with Waffle Flower
•  Memory Box Challenge #23 Celebrating Mom
•  Power Poppy's April Power & Spark Sketch Challenge
•  Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge "Splash It On"

Thanks for stopping by,
-june

Auntie June Layout

Hello and Welcome!

This summer Aunt June and Uncle Tom came for a visit. I hadn't seen them and years and it was wonderful. I captured this candid photo of Auntie June with her dog, Trixie, relaxing in the gardens at the Bakken Museum.

This layout almost made itself between the fun sketch on the Altenew blog and their amazing Scrapbooking kit. Everything on this page is from Altenew's Reflections Scrapbook Collection, from the beautiful watercolor pattern papers and chipboard stickers to the wooden flair buttons, acetate and cute wooden birds & butterfly. The little frame for the date (yes, this kit even comes with date stamp!) was left over from a word sticker and fussy cut. Don't these Altenew products just make this photo pop?!

I was inspired by Altenew's sketch design, but used the pretty watercolor flowers instead of circles. I also used the colors from the challenge.

This layout is entered in:

• The Altenew 4th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge

• Altenew Sketch Challenge #1 

          

• Altenew's Share Your Best Projects gallery

• The "Hip Hop" Monday challenge at Simon Says Stamp - since my hip Auntie June hopped over to the Bakken Museum to walk her dog! :-) 

• The "Spring Color Inspiration" Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

• The "Hello My Name Is..." challenge at Colorful Creations - I was named after my Aunt June and now, with nieces & nephews, I too go by Aunt June. I use the "A" in Aunt and used all Altenew products

Thanks for stopping by,
-june

Cut A Rug Layout

Hello and Welcome!

Just popping in today with a fun layout about finally getting new carpeting. I have owned several homes, but I don't ever remember buying new carpet. It was so fun getting exactly what I wanted.

Loved the Stuck?! sketch and felt it worked with my photos well. This page was a really a stash buster with some of these products over ten years old. The "screws" are eyelets and brought back memories of the all night banging at crops - as every page back then HAD to have a dozen eyelets on it. Back then eyelets were set with hammers until the amazing new tool, the Crop-A-Dial, was invented. Anybody else remember this?

This page is entered in:

April 1st Challenge at Stuck?! sketches

 

Thanks for stopping by and if you still have eyelets, go put some on your next page for old time sake,
-june

Photo Frame with Quick Quotes & Canon Selphy Printer

Hello and Welcome!

I just got a Cannon Selphy CP1200 Photo Printer and I LOVE it!!! No more running out to the drug store to get my pictures made. This printer is also very compact and completely portable, which means I can print photos any time, anywhere! This is a real game changer for me. Before, I would wait weeks for a sale at the store and print 75-100 photos at a time, but now I can just make them when I want them. Plus I can take it along to crops and not lug boxes of photos! This is all so AWESOME!

 

Ok, I'm coming back down to Earth. Our 18th wedding anniversary is coming up and I wanted to make a cute framed picture of the two of us for my husband's desk. Plus I wanted to see how well the Selphy CP1200 Photo Printer worked. Here is my project:

I think the colors are true and printing is sharp. The paper seems to be a good quality, too. Yay! I wanted to create a frame that could stand alone and also fit into an envelope. To create the project, cut one 5" x 12" strip from Quick Quotes' Adventure Awaits (AD-104) and score it at 4" & 8". In the middle section, diecut the frame. Next, decorate the front with flowers diecut from Adventure Awaits AD-103, 104 & 105 and chalked with Fuchsia, Lipstick, Sunset & Jade PowderPuff Chalking inks. The inks really brought out the stitching details and brightened up the flowers. The word tags are from Chiffon CF-500. Attach the photo to the inside of the frame. Lastly, add gems to the flowers and one big pearl to lower back panel to allow the frame to stand up.

This project came together fast and easy. Hope you are inspired to give it a try and make something special for someone special.

Quick Quotes Supplies:
Adventure Awaits Paper Pack
Chiffon Phrase Page CF-500
2017 PowderPuff Chalking Inks: Jade, Lipstick
2015 PowderPuff Chalking Inks:Fuchsia, Sunset
 Cannon Selphy CP1200 White Wireless Compact Photo Printer

Other products: 
Poppy Stamps' Stitched Bloom Trio (flowers)
Verve Stamps' Sprightly Sprigs 
Lifestyle nested frames

This project is entered in:

• The "Spring Color Inspiration" Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

• Pink & Main Challenge #20

Thanks for stopping by,
-june

Jeff's Birthday Layout

Hello andd Welcome!

Check out that blazing cake! We had so much fun celebrating Jeff. And as we all love Jeff, the theater and medieval times, it was fitting to go see Camelot at the Chanhassen Dinner Theater together.

This layout is based on the fabulous sketch at My Creative Sketches. It was terrific to use up a lot of older products on this page.

This page is entered in:

• The March Sketch Challenge at My Creative Sketches

              

• Color Challenge 66 at MFT Card Challenges

               

•  The "Happy Birthday!" Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

Thanks for spending some time with us,
-june

Inching Up Page with Scrap Our Stash

Hello and Welcome!

Height is a big deal, especially for guys. Big brother Tyler has been teasing Aaron about being shorter most of his life. But, if growth charts are an indicator, Aaron is likely to turn the tables real soon.

I like the new trend of using large letters from different pattern papers for the title. So I gave it a try and am very happy with the results. To make things easier, I used Lifestyle's Diesel diecut letters.

Designer tip: To add cohesiveness and make your letters pop, outline the letters with a black pen and  mat the letters in a consist solid color. (Here I added a yellow drop shadow.)

This page was inspired by Scrap Our Stash's April tic-tac-toe challenge. I used the first column: Border Punch-Stitching-Yellow. I love these tic-tac-toe challenges as they always help me kick my pages up to a higher level. Check it out. You can find all the detail of how to play along here. 

The pattern papers are from an old MAMBI kit and Fancy Pants Good Fellow collection. Wanting to keep the focus on the photo and title, I kept the embellishments to a minimum. The stars are Simon Say Stamps' Large Holiday Shapes diecut and the rulers were stamped. I also machine stitched around the outside border. The scallop border punch is by Fiskars.

This layout is entered in:

• The "Hip Hop" Monday challenge at Simon Says Stamp - because Aaron used to have to hop up onto his tip-toes, but now stands hip-to-hip with big brother Tyler :-)

Thanks for stopping by,
-june

Epic Birthday Card

Hello and Welcome!

I was super inspired by all the fun rainbow ideas by the Design Team over at CAS-ual Fridays and just had to join in. Here is my project:

First I watercolored a rainbow of colors. Then, using CAS-ual Fri-dies, I cut a star from white cardstock and backed it with the watercolored panel. The sentiments are from Cas-ual Friday's Rad stamp set and are heat embossed. For finishing touches I added clear sequins, outlined the star with a thin black pen and used Simon Says Stamp's Stitched Rectangle frame.

This card is entered in:

• CFC171 "Rainbows" at CAS-ual Fridays

              

• The "Make A Rainbow" Monday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

• The "Happy Birthday!" Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

Thanks for stopping by-
-june

Yay! Card

Hello and Welcome!

I had seen Amy Tan do this technique of adding a drop of watercolor and blowing it out with a straw. So I finally got around to giving it a try. Isn't fabulous?! Give it a try. It is easy and fun.

I used a rainbow of colors to mimic the colorful background on the beautiful inspirational photo at Altenew. The center oval was cut and backed with yellow cardstock like the flowers.  I used the Celebrate stamp set by Altenew and heat embossed the sentiments. To add sparkle clear sequins were added.

This card is entered in:

• The April Inspiration Challenge at Altenew

              

• The "Make A Rainbow" Monday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

• The "Happy Birthday!" Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

Thanks for stopping by,
-june

Family Together Layout

Hello and welcome!

Recently my Aunt June and Uncle Tom came for a visit. On this damp night they braved the elements to watch Aaron do a marching band practice. The shadows are a bit funny in the photo, but I love the memory.

This page was based on a sketch at Elle's Studio and most of the products (pattern paper, acrylic leaves & tags) are from Elle's Studio's Sycamore Lane collection.

This page is entered in:

• The March Sketch Thursday Challenge at Elle's Studio

              

• The "This Is Me" Challenge at Colorful Creations - Oops,  I entered this page in this challenge, but it should just be a photo of me. So I am playing here just for fun.

Thanks for stopping by,
-june

Backyard Visitors Layout

Hello and Welcome!

Even though we live in the suburbs, we get a lot of wildlife hanging out around our home. We get a lot of deer, especially a doe with twin fawns. I have several bird feeders up, so there is a large number and variety of birds, but this was the first time I've seen a hawk.  A few years ago I had never seen a wild turkey, but today the yard was full of them - over a dozen! It just amazes me how all of these critters small and large are able to co-exsist with us. Here are a few snap shots:

I haven't done a mixed media page in a while, so it was fun to break out "the stuff." I prepped the page with gesso, added texture paste with a Memory Box stencil and misted it with blue & green Color Shine. The beautiful chipboard pieces (leaves, birds & swirls) are all by Creative Embellishments. I always feel like my pages look so professional when I use Creative Embellishments products. I sprayed the CE chipboard with the same Color Shine mists I used on the background, but, as you can see, the colors intensify on the chipboard - so pretty. The title was made with Thickers & October Afternoon letter stickers. The flowers and tiny leaves are Jolee's. The hawk photo is popped up with 3L Foam Squares.

This page is entered in:

• The April Monthly Challenge at Creative Embellishments - I took inspiration from the textured title, green color, and flowers in the challenge image

              

• Color Challenge #66 at MFT Card Challenges

              

• The "Things With Wings" Monday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

• The National Craft Month Challenge at Simon Says Stamp

Thanks for stopping by and hope you get some fun visitors too,
-june

Celebrate with Altenew!

Hello and Welcome!

I have wanted the BEAUTIFUL scrapbooking kit by Altenew for months and I finally treated myself by ordering it. It is amazing and I LOVE it. This kit even comes with a pretty storage box to keep everything together. To break it in, I created this fun card for the Altenew card challenge.

The flowers were fussy cut from Altenew's scrapbook paper (although you can get the same look using Altenew's Bamboo Rose stamp set) and colored with Zig Clean Color markers. The high quality of the Altenew paper worked well with the watercolor markers; you can see the smooth, even blended color. The blue, zig zag background paper also comes in the Altenew scrapbooking kit. The sentiment is from Altenew's Celebrate stamp set placed on a tiny punched tag.

Depth was added by embossing the background with a Darcie folder, layering up the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle diecut and adhering 3L Foam Squares to the back of the frame & some of the flowers.

To bring in some sparkle gold thread, Enamel Accents and Stickles were added. I also brought in cheesecloth for a little more texture.

This card is entered in:

• The Altenew 4th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge

• Altenew's Share Your Best Projects gallery

• The April Inspiration Challenge at Altenew

              

Thanks for stopping by, and if you want to check out this great Altenew kit it is available on their site or at Simon Says Stamp.

-june