Sunday, October 16, 2011

Two TaDa Creative Studios projects in one post

If your here for the XOXO blog hop check out the post below.

For this layout I pulled out the TaDa Creative Studios BFF Collection and didn’t know what I was going to do with it when I first sat down to scrap. After pulling out the papers and looking at them I had an idea and I ran with it.

I started with the Oooh La La Layers Petal Pals in Tank Green it was the perfect way to showcase pieces from all of the papers in the collection.

To make it easy to fit the patterned papers in the petals I traced a petal onto vellum and used that as a template. I used the majority of the Petal Pals, but I did cut it a bit so there was some empty space for my photo to rest on. Underneath the photo I cut a strip from the backside of the Pink Paisley paper, used a decorative edge punch and then folded some of it to act a little more like ribbon than paper.

When folding the paper like this it does add some bulk under the picture so I add a piece of cardboard from packaging just slightly smaller than the photo to keep the photo from shifting in any way. I then added the title and a couple Stickies from the BFF collection and done.

Items used from the BFF Collection
-Paisley Palooza (front and back)
-Pink Paisley (front and back)
-Word Play (front and back)
-Flower Friend-zy (front and back)
-Snippets & Clippets
-Oooh La La Layers Petal Pals in Tank Green
-BFF Stickies


Sketches in Thyme is having a DT Call right now. To be considered for the team you need to create a layout based on the sketch.

So I pulled out some American Crafts Amy Tangerine papers, Fabric Stickers & Thickers, Studio Calico Fabrips, mixed with some misc embellies from Sassafras, Maya Road, Authentique, Crate Paper and Kaiser Crafts crocheted flower.

Creative Scrappers
This week over at Creative Scrappers they featured sketch #177. Its a great sketch and worked well with this photo of my DD and DH which I recently had printed. We were at a Cowboy themed party and were supposed to dress up. I remembered about this great TaDa Creative Studios Collection - Goody Two Shoes. The plaid paper reminded me of the cowboy shirts and a couple of the papers which I cut to use more as an embellishment featured cowboy boots and hats, how perfect!! I distressed all the papers and added a touch of twine to the photo and title block to add the final down on the farm cowboy touch.

Close up of the fussy cut circles featuring the Cowboy boots and hat.


Sassy Lil' Sketches
While watching the baseball game, and our team LOSING badly I decided to scrap and created this card based on a Sassy Lil' Sketches card sketch #8. I'm very sad that October is the last month that Sassy Lil' Sketches will be open. I used a SRM Sticker and an older Bo Bunny Collection -Sophie which I LOVE and only have tiny scraps left of (I'm very sad).

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

XOXO Blog hop, Authentique and RAK available

XOXO BLOG HOP starts Oct 13 and ends Oct 20
If you just stumbled upon this blog hop and want to start at the beginning go to True XoXo blog

If you want a chance to be a guest design team member (with all its glorious perks) you need to
1) visit and comment on every single blog in the hop. One blog will bring you to the next, but the master list is available here, in case you get lost.
2) post back on the true xoxo blog when you're done visiting all the other blogs to let us know you're done.

That's it! One random winner will be announced in the end of October.

Completing challenges is optional. Some team members will be giving away their own prizes.

Ya know? I'll tell ya what. For every layout or project that you do based on one of the challenges or inspired by one of the projects of a team member, comment back on the XOXO blog and I'll throw ANOTHER name of yours into the hat for the gdt drawing. You could have as many as 15 entries in the drawing!

Ready? Set! GO!

I was challenged by Lindsey to use Sushi as inspiration, what a beautiful inspiration photo.


Well I don't eat Sushi so I wasn't sure how I was going to have Sushi inspire me, but when I think about Sushi I think of how they are rolled up, so I chose to roll some of my papers. They almost look like scrolls. In the inspiration photo some of the Sushi is made to look like flowers inside, so I also included some fussy cut flowers too. I used Authentique's Blissful Collection for this layout.


I challenged Michelle, she's the last blog so your almost done.

I also will be giving away a RAK, not quite sure what it will be right now, but everyone who comments on this post will be entered into the RAK. Want another entry into the RAK scraplift my layout (any way you choose) and make sure you come back here and leave me another comment with a link to your project. Want a third entry into the RAK then become a follower and leave me another comment letting me know your a follower. If your already a follower leave a second comment telling me that too.

Sassy Lil' Sketches I'm sad to report that Sassy Lil' Sketches is closing. Oct is the last month and they are doing a blow out with lots of layout and card sketches throughout the month. The deadline for participating is Oct 23. So the last sketch I got to play with over there is Sketch #5.


For each sketch we will be giving away one prize of the Sassy Lil' Sketches Ebook.

Did you know Authentique has a Sketch Challenge?
Well they do and I used the Authentique Sketch Challenge to create the Helping Dad layout. I used the Authentique Journey Collection and the products used from that collection are Jaunt (back), Itinerary, Voyage, Itinerary (back), Stroll (back), Explore, Ticket from Icons and Petite Type Circle.


I used Creative Scrappers sketch #175 for this layout. My layout turned out a bit different than the sketch but that's ok. I used Bo Bunny's Cambridge Collection. I'm happy that I finally cut into and used these papers I have had them for quite a while. These papers just called out to me to add lots of distressing. The small Prima flowers were a little more beige and were fading into the background a little too much so I added some Glimmer Glaze in Mellow Yellow and it was the perfect addition to add just a touch of color to the flowers.

Closeup shot of flowers and shield/pocket that is holding them.

Another Closeup- I loved the banner and wings it was the perfect place for me to add the tiny alphabet letters.


Apparently when creating this layout I really wanted to use some stick pins, considering I used one when creating part of the title and two more as accents on the picture. I used the Sept 29 sketch over at Sketchy Thursdays for this layout, I liked the clean design of the sketch, I also made it for the Paper Variety blog challenge which was to use a Nautical theme. The papers are from Bella Blvd's All Inclusive line the papers worked nicely for this photo from Puerto Rico, when creating a part of the title I took a Jenni Bowlin banner added some small round alphas from Authentique used some foam tape and attached it to a stick pin.

I added a closeup of the jounaling in case you were interested in reading it.


The Oct Challenge over at XOXO was posted. So this month's challenge is Instagr.am! Some of our girls prefer Hipstamatic, and that's fine, too!! Point is, the "app for that" generation is easily putting photo editing into the hands of ... well ... everyone! My Instagram layout is the ROAST layout in the post below.