Let's Fly

Last November we decided that part of Peter's birthday gift would be a trip to the indoor skydiving vertical wind tunnel in Portland.  The facility is named iFly, and it is an absolutely incredible experience.  We highly recommend the investment to spend some time flying!

I had so many photos to work with, twelve to be exact, so I wanted the focus of the layout to be the photos.  The photos are taken by iFly along with a video of our flights.  The videos are much more impressive, but you can't scrapbook videos! 

• I choose one photo of each person's flight to leave as a 4" x 6"image.  The others are trimmed down to 3" x 3".  All the corners are rounded with a Fiskars punch that has 3 different diameters, I used the smallest one here.  I decided that rounded corners would make the alignment a little less tricky, and I was right!
• I actually drew a design on scratch paper to determine placement of both the photos and the red and blue alternating blocks. 
• The red and blue cardstock is trimmed to 3" x 3" as well, with all the corners rounded.  The red is Bazzill Red Hearts, the blue is of unknown origin. 
• I made this layout in triplicate, and decided that computer printed journaling strips would be ideal.  I wrote the journaling in a word document and formatted it in three columns.  This worked perfectly for the sizing to fit inside the color blocks.  The journaling on blue blocks is inked in Delicata Ruby Red, and on the red blocks they are inked in VersaColor Indigo. 
• I saved the iFly emblem from the photos I had trimmed earlier and ended up with three for each layout.  
• The title is Quickutz Honey and Honeybee, they are complementary fonts, but not exactly upper and lower case. 
• The backing is white Core'dinations cardstock, but you obviously can't see much of that!  

 With the bright colors and busy photos, this layout represents our memory of the time at iFly in an extraordinary way.  Greg and I agreed that the euphoria high of flying was amazing, and there was a bit of a let down the next day.  That just means we will go again . . . and I guaranteed that by buying more time while we were still at iFly!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Another wrestling layout, Adrian Irwin Tourney

I have too many wrestling photos to even count.  When you are a wrestling mom you look for the great shots and have your camera set on multi-frame mode.  Suffice it to say I have thousands of photos.  For my older son's senior year I decided to make a layout for each major even rather that one highlight layout for the season.  So you might see a few more in this spot in the future . . . .

I am still playing along with a few challenges over at 2Peasrefugees, and this layout is a scraplift of another member's layout.  The Adrian Irwin Memorial Wrestling Tournament is held at another local high school, and their wall pads are purple.  So I choose to go with black and white and leave the red in the photos.  

• Darice Black Large Dot serves as the background cardstock.
• I printed the photos on the left as two 5" x7" and butted them together.  The group is backed with black and white cardstock.
• The photo in the right is 4" x 6" and is also backed with black and white cardstock.  I made the outside frame slightly larger.
• The journaling was completed in the computer then also backed with black and white cardstock.
• I recently found a really fun Studio G stamp and die set at Joanns, but the images were really too small to stand on their own.  Digging through my rubber stamp collection I found a few more to complement the layout.  Congrats (Grad), Seal Companon, and Game On all by Technique Tuesday were used along with #1 by Hampton Art.  All the images are stamped in VersaFine Onyx Black.  The circles are die cut with Spellbinders Standard Circles Large and the fishtail ribbons are hand trimmed.  
• Quickutz's Tangerine with Shadow is used for the title.  
• It took several tries to create the wrestling mats across the bottom.  Turns out the simplest way was the look I was trying to achieve.  (My husband, always a decent critic didn't like my first two attempts in the least, but truth be told neither did I!)  I have my Grandfather's Drafting Compass that I used to create the circle.  I taped a Sakura Gelly Roll white pen to one leg of the compass and drew 3" and .75" diameter circles on black cardstock trimmed to 4" x 4".  I also figured out is was easier to get a smooth line if I moved the paper and not the compass!  The finished product was trimmed to slightly different sizes to go along the bottom border.

Thanks for checking out yet another wrestling layout!  I will be taking a short break from scrapping wrestling events and try a few other themes for awhile!

Retro Rubber teams up with Try Stamping on Tuesday!

We have a new challenge at Retro Rubber, and a doubly fun way to play along this go around!  

We are excited to partner with Try Stamping On Tuesday! We are featuring their sketch as our challenge. As always, you must use at least one stamp older than a year. This is double the fun! You can link up your entry with both challenges. Check them out at Try Stamping On Tuesday!

 My niece will be married soon, and this card is to celebrate the occasion.  Her wedding colors are Navy and Gray, so it is color coordinated just for her!

•  I really wanted to use Heartfelt Creation's Large Elegant Word Background (~2014) because the image is 1 Corinthians 13 and is perfect for a Wedding Card.  It is large format background stamp and drove the rest of the design decisions for the card.  The image is stamped in VersaFine Majestic Blue.  The edges are inked in Delicata Silvery Shimmer. 
• The background card has VersaFine Majestic Blue sponged around the outside edges to match. 
• The heart is a very old Coluzzle shape and is actually it is the third version that fit the card well!  The image is Hero Arts set Yes Stamp & Cuts from 2014, and is stamped in VersaFine Majestic Blue and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  The inner heart is then inked with Delicata Silvery Shimmer and heat embossed a second time with clear embossing powder.
• The background heart is inked with VersaFine Majestic Blue.
• Two Celebrate sentiments are die cut from Celebration Words Script by Tim Holtz for Sizzix Thinlits.  One is inked in Delicata Silvery Shimmer and the second is inked in VersaFine Majestic Blue.  They are slightly offset to create a shadow effect.  
• Washi tape by Recollections is mounted on white cardstock and trimmed into the embellishment fishtail pennants to finish the sketch.
• The card is adhered together with the hearts slightly raised with dimensional foam adhesive or as those in the UK might say "Sticky fixers!"  I've been reading magazines from the UK recently and this term just gives me the giggles! 

Do come and play along with both our challenges!  Retro Rubber asks that you use at least one stamp older than a year, tell us how long you have had the image, and to enter no more than 10 total challenges.  Make sure to link your challenge to Try Stamping on Tuesday as well!

School Is Finally Out

I am enjoying more time in my craft cave and have another layout to share from this last weekend.  Two years ago we had a record snowfall as documented by this layout, Snowmaggedon.  My older son missed 8 days of school and my younger son 11 days.  The district made up a few days by having student contact time on days that were normally teacher grading days, and by by adding 4 days to the end of the year.  Hence the title!

I am playing along with the sketch from Sketch-n-scrap:

I played around with a few supplies including some really old ones to achieve the look of the sketch and a challenge at 2Peasrefugees.

• All the papers (except one) are from the Basic Grey Oliver collection; Tyson, Drake, Aidan, and Joey are used on the layout.
• To create the border, I used some ancient Mrs. Grossman's Stickers by the Yard in Black.  
• The center is trimmed to 10" x 10".
• The red strip is trimmed to 3/4" x 11" and pressure embossed with a single line of dots using the embossing folder by Cuttlebug, Daisy Border.  I had tried stamping in white ink and did not like the look, I think this is just the right amount of distressed look to coordinate with the papers.
• The journaling is done on Scenic Route's Grid Outline on White with Zig Antique Burgundy.  I also ran the pen around the outside edge to give it a bit of definition.  I also used a few rub-on letters (unknown origin), for the "Yeah!".
• The little label for the date is a Quickutz die, and I added two enamel dots from Echo Park Jungle Safari collection. 
•  The title is Quickutz Frankie Classic and Mini.  I think it is kind of fun to used both sizes and used two colors for the title. 
• A few Basic Grey Oliver Elements Stickers complete the embellishments.  

Thanks for stopping by, it is fun to have more time to craft and preserve memories.

Silverton Duals

I tend to scrap within the season even if it is from a few years back.  This is another layout for my son's senior album using photos taken in December 2017.

• The background is Core'dinations Black Large Stripe.
• One sheet of Wrestling Life 2b by Scrapbook Customs is used to back both sides.  On the right side it is trimmed to 8" x 8" to back the team photo. 
• On the left side the photos are blocked together and adhered to a square of cardstock to hold them in place.  The Wrestling Life is then trimmed and added to the outside to create the illusion one backing sheet.
• Recollections red cardstock is trimmed to back the team photo and die cut with Spellbinders Classic Ric Rac and Classic Inserts Two for the border sections.
• Sandy Lion Glitter washi tape is used to finish the border edges. The main title is die cut from red cardstock with Quickutz Abigail
• The sub-title under the team photo is Creative Memories White stickers. 
• Journal strips of black cardstock and white Sakura Gelly pen finish the layout.

Thanks for stopping by, your comments are always appreciated.

Two Teeth Lost

I like to scrap events and often prefer two page layouts.  So I decided to use the sketch from Sketch-n-Scrap  February's challenge and rotate the design 90° counter clockwise to make a complementary right side page. Consequently I moved the title placements around.

• I started with a base of Bazzill navy cardstock and layered Recollections Kraft cardstock trimmed to 11" x 11" and rounded the corners. 
• I had two sheets from the Fancy Pants Like Father Like Son collection, Stud Muffin and Little Tike that worked great with the colors in the photos.  I used both A and B sides to get all the patterns included in the design for the sketch.
• Stars are die cut with Spellbinders Stars and are backed with navy from the center of that base page.
• I wanted to play along with a challenge at 2peasrefugees and pulled out all my coordinating buttons.   (Fancy Pants Designs, SEI and misc other buttons were used.)  I don't like naked buttons, so I took the time to thread navy twine or Darice hemp cord through all the button holes.
• The title is die cut from navy cardstock using Quickutz CK Typist and Honey fonts.
• With a longer title and self explanatory photos I used Becky Higgins Date Stamp and Memento Pistachio ink and called it done.

Thanks for stopping by, I always appreciate your comments.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Sketch-n-Scrap February sketch

Hard Work Layout

I am playing along with a few challeges over at 2peasrefugees, a scrapbooking forum that has become much more active in the last few months in creating teams to play along with challenges.   A shout-out to the classy volunteers who make this happen.  Also check out the tab above for more blog based challenges if you need inspiration to get crafting.   

This page was inspired by a "lift" of a page created by another forum member.  So a sketch if you will. I am working on a senior book for my son who graduated last June.  This is a page to start the section on his wrestling season and shows the rank boards in the wrestling practice room  The title is his senior quote and not only applies to him but also to the entire team and their best ever season for the school. 

Last year I placed an order at Consumer Crafts and purchased packages of black and red patterned paper as I will eventually have three kiddos with photos from sports at the local high school, with school colors of black and red.  All the solid cardstock is from Recollections multiple packs.

• White cardstock is trimmed to 11" x 11" and adhered to red cardstock.  The two 4" x 6" photos are backed with 4 1/4" x 6 1/4" white cardstock as well.
• Hanging By a Thread by Technique Tuesday is stamped around the outside edge in Memento Luxe Tuxedo Black. 
• Red Large Dot by Darice is trimmed to 3" x 7 1/2".
• Black cardstock is trimmed to 2" x 4 1/2" and punched with The Paper Studio Fish Tail Banner Punch. 
• Red Stripe by Darice is trimmed to 7" x 10". 
• Black Out by Linda Ward for Trimcraft is trimmed to 3" x 5" and cut in two for the smaller sections. 
•  The same sheet is used to die cut the circle using Spellbinders Grand Circles.  
• Another section of black cardstock is trimmed to 3 1/2" x 8".   
• All the layers are adhered together.  
• For the title, Black Alphababies and red cardstock is die cut with Quickutz Sonja.   
• The journaling is done with Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen. 
• The MV emblem is taken from the school website and printed out on white cardstock and punched out.   

 I would like to enter the following challenge:

White Plus One:  Vivid Red

It's Your Day layout

Sometimes those page kits come in handy, and it fits a challenge at the 2PeasRefugee Forum!  This is a page kit by embellish it! from the 2011 Portland CKC Convention.  It was perfect for Peter's 11th birthday layout because there were 11 candles on the sticker sheet to complete the layout!

The kit contained products by Fancy Pants Designs Trick or Treat, and Basic Grey Life of the Party.  The sticker sheet from Basic Grey provided all the embellishments except the presents which were fussy cut from a section of paper from the collection.  Quick and done!  Now off to find photos for the other page kits from all those years of conventions. 

Washing the Dress Tone on Tone layout

I have been a member of a scrapbooking forum, 2peasrefugees, for several years.  In the past year it has become more active in posting challenges for members and creating teams for a fun competition.  Challenges always spark my creativity.  I just found these photos in an flip album, and decided it was time to scrap a layout to record the memory from 15 years ago.  The challenge was to create a layout that is tone on tone.  Since my photos were of a white dress in a white tub, it was fun to use this technique to create a girly girl layout.

• I have several collections of ancient Provo Craft paper, Soft Watercolors is one that is at least 18 years old or older.  It is also lightweight so layering 3 papers together does not add much thickness or weight to the page.  I used Pomegranate, Buttercream, Soft Moss, Stonewashed Denim, and Heritage Plum.  I started with random widths to fill the left page moving to the right.  The Stonewash Denim is purposefully the width to frame the 5" x 7" photo.  
• The first half of the title is Thickers Black Tie, White Velvet.  The "dress" is DYI Thickers that I just had to have several years ago and then never used.  The letters are covered with seed pearl beads and a bit of iridescent glitter.  
• I went through my collection of Prima flowers and selected ones that would create the tone on tone effect.  These are topped with miscellaneous brads.  
• I also found a few die cuts, a corrugated heart and mat board heart.  Another ancient embellishment, a slide frame is also put to use.
• The slide frame has a Technique Tuesday sentiment Live, Laugh, Love stamped in Versa Color Smoke Blue. 
• The mat board heart is stamped with Memento Luxe Rhubarb and a Studio G stamp set.
• MSPCI line of dies Live, Laugh, Love is used to to die cut white cardstock to decorate the corrugated heart.
• A few more brads from my collection are added to the layout.

Tic Tac Toe Challenge for Retro Rubber

It is so much fun to play with a Tic Tac Toe challenge.  We get such a variety of submissions!  Here is the Retro Rubber challenge for the next two weeks.

I choose the row that included Blue, Birthday, and Textured Embossing.  I got a little carried away with the textured embossing!

• The base card is an A7 blank from Recollections, always a great size to work with!
• DCWV blue cardstock is pressure embossed with the Cuttlebug embossing folder Polka Dots.  The surface is sanded to bring out the texture and show a bit of the white core.
• From my scrap collections for making cards I found a group of blue papers that are probably 18 or more years old.   They are by Hot Off The Press I believe.  Spellbinders Labels Twenty-Five is used to die cut and pressure emboss the panel for the sentiment in the green-blue color.  
• The sentiment is by Ms. Sparkle & Co Paperie is named Happy Birthday Stamps.  I purchased it from a bargain bin at Joann's in March 2017.  It is stamped in Memento Luxe Wedding White and heat embossed with white embossing powder.
• A section of blue is trimmed and punched with an EK Success border punch and placed behind the multi-colored strip of paper.
• Small pennants are die cut from the blue paper with Spellbinders Nested Pennants and then pressure embossed with Quickutz Sparkles embossing die.  I still have a small collection of these dies and they are perfect for pressure embossing small patterns.  The paper is sanded as well to show the embossed pattern more clearly.
• The pennants seemed to blend into the background so I decided to die cut white cardstock with Spellbinders Nested Lacy Pennants to back the blue pennants.  I think it worked nicely!
• The pennants are adhered together over a length of white fiber, before being adhered to the card front.

I am pleased with the textures and layers of this blue birthday card!  Why don't you try your hand at the Tic Tac Toe at Retro Rubber and play along with us!  We have a few simple rules:  1) Use at least one stamp that is older than a year (tell us how old it is), give it some inky love and 2) Enter only up to ten challenges including Retro Rubber.  Thanks so much for playing along!

I am delighted to enter the following challenges:

Krafty Chicks #441 Lots of Layers

Creative Knockouts #284 Birthday Wishes

Your Next Stamp #107 Die Cuts

MVHS Wrestling

Now that my design team commitments are a bit less I've gotten back to scrapbooking a few events that have been my to do list for awhile!

This is a layout about my son's Freshman year in High School Wrestling Season.  Wrestling is an interesting sport to photograph, as there can be many odd body positions and the lighting and speed of the action can be difficult to say the least!   I picked a few of my favorite photos to highlight, mostly where he is dominating the match!

• Darice Black Large Dot is used for the background.
• Karen Foster Design--Take Down paper features wrestlers in different poses.  I trimmed a section that showed two vertical rows.
• Darice Red Strip is trimmed to 3/4" 12" and then die cut with Spellbinders Edgeabilities Classic Postage Stamp.  These are placed behind the Karen Foster Take Down paper and adhered to the layout.
• Darice Red Plaid is trimmed to 7" x 12" and adhered to the right side of the layout.  
• From the same sheet another section is trimmed to 5" x 7" to continue the pattern on the left side.  This is possible when the paper design is multi-directional like the plaid paper is.
• Frankie Classic and Shadow used to die cut the title.  I found some soft grey paper in my stash that was a good match for color. 
• The journaling is printed out from a word document and trimmed into strips.  The edges are sanded to bring out the white core and help the journaling stand out on the layout.

I learned a little trick accidentally while doing this layout.  I printed the photos more than a year ago, but was still able to identify where each photo was taken!  I import my photos into Photoshop Elements and edit for size and to optimize the photo quality.  When I saved each photo I labelled it with the name of the event.  Low and behold Costco printed the label of the photo on the back!  Such a deal, I will remember this for future projects as it surely made journaling this layout super easy rather than having to go back and search through my photo library and line up the dates from more than four year ago.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Little Sumptin Valentine

I was inspired by the sketch over at Feeling Sketchy to create a quick card to mail along with a Valentine's gift for our daughter.

This Valentine is on its way to the recipient, along with a Wonder Woman mug filled with chocolates.  I hope she enjoys it!

I love this little image by Unity Stamp Co, titled "I got you a little sumptin".  It is heat embossed with Memento Luxe Tuxedo Black and clear embossing powder.  Then it is water-colored with Fantastix and Memento Luxe in Love Letter, Morocco, and Dandelion.  I found these really versatile punches at Hobby Lobby last week, this one die cuts the pennant shape in three different widths.  It worked wonderfully for this challenge to create perfectly matched layers!  The backing layer is inked with Memento Luxe Love Letter.  To continue the theme of balloons I used a few die cuts from Karen Burniston's Explosion Pop-Up.  I just put them on the opposite side of the sketch so I wouldn't cover up the cute balloon image.  The balloons are inked with an Ink Dauber in varying intensities of Memento Luxe Love Letter.  Using a white Jelly Roll pen I colored in the dimension.  The background is Cuttlebug's Hugs & Kisses embossing folder that is inked with Memento Luxe the pressure embossed directly onto white cardstock.  The sentiment is an old Studio G clear stamp from 2008 titled "Love Sentiments" by Lynne Anderson Taylor.  It is stamped in Memento Luxe Love Letter and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  The same is done around the edges. 

I am delighted to also enter the following challenges:

Paper Players PP427 Love is in the Air

Cuttlebug Mania Valentines

Simon Says Stamp Add Some Red

Learning the Game for Stick It Down Double Page Team

We have a great sketch for you this month at Stick It Down, come play along with us!   

My younger son played football for the first time last fall.  He didn't get a great deal of playing time and when he did play it wasn't always easy to get good photos in late afternoon light from across a football field.  So I only had a few photos that were scrapbook worthy and this sketch was perfect for the few I did print.

Digging through my stash I found great sports related papers and embellishments.  I also made a few purchases online from Consumer Crafts to have a selection of patterned papers in appropriate school colors.  All three of my kids will go to the same Middle School and High School, so having multiples is a good plan!

·       The background is Recollections silver cardstock. It is also used for the title .

·       Darice Dark Blue Plaid is the layered cardstock trimmed to 10 1/2" x 12".

·       The football field paper is from a 20 year old 8 1/2" x 11" paper book by Hot Off the Press, a good reason to hang on to your ancient paper stash as it fit perfectly for this theme and sketch!

·       The football words paper is by Essentially Yours Sports designed by Stephanie Carpenter for A2Z. It is trimmed to 5 1/2" x 12". 

·       I had some 10 year old rub-ons by Creative Imaginations that worked amazing well.  Football by Danelle Johnson for Art House. I used them to create the semi-circle design.  I am super pleased that they worked so well and really added to the design and theme,

·       A Deluxe Cuts football die cut finished the sketch embellishments. 

·       The title is Quickutz Abigail as is the sub title. 

·       I completed the layout by journaling on strips.  The strips are edged in Memento Paris Dusk for a finished look. 

I hope that you enjoyed my more masculine interpretation of Stick It Down's sketch for February.  Come play along with us.  We also have a card sketch and single page sketch every month.