Right Side Up: June 2012

Friday, June 29, 2012

Pretty Little Boxes

You might remember that a while back I posted my mid-season release wish list. You might also remember that at the very top were these really, really adorable mini clothespins from Pebbles' new Sunnyside collection:

Well, it turns out that I also needed these two pieces of paper from the same collection:

How could I refuse those lovely colors? I love that the top paper is named "From Me to You." It's perfect for any kind of project that calls for a greeting or a fun little banner. Not that I counted or anything (ahem...), but there are thirty-nine different little bits on there. That means that you could conceivably create thirty-nine different projects from one piece of paper. Pretty amazing, no? I also love that when you first glance at the floral paper you see flowers. Then you look a little bit closer and notice that there are a ton of butterflies tucked in there.

All three of these products came together with a little bit of Lori Whitlock Silhouette magic and some ribbon and ended up looking like this:

Now I have three little gift boxes ready to go. They are the perfect size for a couple of chocolates or a gift card (or both).

Hmmm...maybe I should make 36 more of these? Or maybe it's a good thing that there are only nine clothespins in one package! :)

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Today is Thursday

A random list for today:

Just returned home from the last day of a four-day training for work. So thankful for my department. I work with an amazing group of women who are all incredibly kind, caring, thoughtful, and ridiculously smart.

Madly creating/photographing/doing write-ups for two deadlines tomorrow. This process will repeat for deadlines on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Love how when all of the deadlines come at the same time the ideas just keep flowing!

Excited to try out my new wide-format printer! :)

Waiting for Sadie to finish Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. She's so close!

Sketch up on the October Afternoon blog today - here's my layout:

Glad Eli is healthy after having come home sick from two weeks at overnight camp.

Thrilled that our 100+ degree weather streak has broken.

Glued to local news and following closely the fire situations around Colorado. My thoughts are with the families who have suffered losses, the families who have been evacuated, and the firefighters and law enforcement personnel working hard to contain the fires and keep everyone safe.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Check It Out!

The Summer 2012 issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today is now available online! (It's a free download!) Go take a look and be sure to check out page 54. "Why?" you ask. Well, check out the graphic below! :)

My layout in the summer issue features Bella Blvd products, which is a great segue into the next part of my post:

That's right, this week Bella Blvd has teamed up with Core'dinations for a fun and inspirational week! Core'dinations cardstock is really fun to work with - it's got a different color core, so when you tear it or sand it the core color is revealed. I worked with Core'dinations' Tillie Dot Spotted cardstock, which has a fun polka dot textured pattern. When sanded, the polka dots jump out as the core is revealed.

Today, I have a layout featured on the Bella Blvd blog:

When I first saw the Core'dinations Tillie Dot Spotted cardstock I thought of cupcakes with sprinkles and this photo of my daughter. I used my Silhouette to die cut a 6" tall cupcake and wrapper, cutting the cupcake from pink Core'dinations Tillie Dot Spotted cardstock and the wrapper from the B side of the Happy Clouds paper from the Sunshine & Happiness collection. Although I used a die cutting machine, this would be very simple to re-create with scissors. I sanded the cupcake to reveal the polka dots and then adhered my wrapper to it. I decided to play up the chevron theme, adding a strip of chevron-print designer tape (adhered over white cardstock) and a chevron-print chipboard heart. I echoed the polka dot pattern in the giant cupcake by using white Core'dinations Tillie Dot Spotted cardstock as the layout base and added a scalloped polka dot chipboard border below my photo and behind the giant cupcake. Final touches include designer tape and a journaling sticker (more chevron!), a cupcake flag, and letters in coordinating colors (stolen from the word "beautiful" from the Baby Girl Chipboard Icons set).

Be sure to check out the Bella Blvd and Core'dinations blog posts from this week for more inspiration and giveaways!

Thursday, June 21, 2012

More Bella Blvd + Core'dinations!

This week, Bella Blvd has teamed up with Core'dinations for a fun and inspirational week! Core'dinations cardstock is really fun to work with - it's got a different color core, so when you tear it or sand it the core color is revealed. I worked with Core'dinations' Tillie Dot Spotted cardstock, which has a fun polka dot textured pattern. When sanded, the polka dots jump out as the core is revealed.

Today, I have a Bella Blvd + Core'dinations layout featured on the Bella Blvd blog:

I used Core'dinations Tillie Dot Spotted cardstock on this layout in two ways: 1) as parts of embellishments created by combining die-cut and sanded bits of cardstock with Bella Blvd products, and 2) as a journaling strip with the bottom edge torn to reveal the inner core color of the cardstock. I pulled the bright colors from the photo and played around with contrast on the bottom half of the layout. On the top half of the layout, the sanded cardstock leaves are tone-on-tone embellishments that mimic both the color and pattern of the B side of the Petal Power patterned paper. Touches of blue and aqua - the crochet flowers and the letter stickers - draw attention to the tone-on-tone leaves. I used color on this layout to create flow, creating visual triangles of orange, aqua, pink, and green, using products and parts of the photo as points on my triangles.

Here are a couple of detail shots:

Be sure to check back later this week for more Bella Blvd and Core'dinations inspiration and...giveaways!

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

A Good Day

Today is one of those days where I'm soaking in a little bit of everything. It's great to have that on a Wednesday, when half of the week is still in front of me! Today I:

Attended the third day (of four) of one of the best trainings I've attended since I started in the field of education in 1996. My brain hurts, but in a good way.

Watched Sadie get sucked into Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I fear we have now lost her to Harry & Co. for the next few months.

Am hosting one of Sadie's friends for a sleepover.

Had a very happy mail day, receiving all of the following:

The hot-off-the-presses summer issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today - with one of my layouts in the Reader's Gallery (the issue goes live online on Friday - check back here for a link!)

A box full of new Studio Calico, Crate Paper, and Pebbles products, ordered last week from Two Peas in a Bucket

The newest issue of Bon Appetit

A wide-format printer

A letter from Eli, who is 3/4 of the way into his two weeks away at overnight camp (we all miss him so much!)

Read the new issue of The Bella Buzz, Bella Blvd's newsletter (click here to download the issue directly).

I have a little bit of homework to do in preparation for the final day of training tomorrow, but am hoping to be able to dig into my new goodies and at least make a card before I go to sleep tonight! Better go get started on all that...after I put the girls to bed, of course!

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Reminder: write.click.scrapbook. Talent Search!

If you haven't already applied, what are you waiting for? The deadline is June 23rd. That's right, as in this coming Saturday.

In case you missed the initial information, I am pasting it for you here (and linking you to the original source on the write.click.scrapbook. site).

* * * * * * * * * *

Announcing our first ever

If you have longed to be a part of the write. click. scrapbook. team, now is your chance! We are excited to open up a team spot to one of you! We want to fill it with someone who knows us and loves us. Someone who will help make us great and will shout from the rooftops that write. click. scrapbook. is one awesome scrapbooking site.

As a write. click. scrapbook. teammate you will be responsible to provide a minimum of one layout per month for our monthly galleries, and you will host the blog for one week, and a handful of single days. Team members also help one another by providing pertinent layouts to support the other blog authors.

We love pages that are well-designed, and tell good stories. Our teammates not only scrapbook well, but also write well, as they must share their love and knowledge of scrapbooking through a week of blogging. Good photography is an asset as well.

If you would like to be considered, please put together a sample blog post, on your topic of choice. Additionally, please create a layout or project that will fit under the topic, Summer Fun. We will accept applications through June 23rd. Please know we will also browse through your blog to get a feel for your writing style and personality. The new team member will be notified prior to July 1st. Please send your application materials to marnie@writeclickscrapbook.com.

To review we need:

a sample blog post on a topic of your choosing,
a layout that fits the theme Summer Fun,
a link to your blog,
a link to your sample blog post, and
a bit about why you want to be on our team.

Please don't forget that we are real people with real lives and are looking for real pages. Please try to be yourself. We will be impressed without you even trying. Promise.

* * * * * * * * * *

Again, what are you waiting for?! :) Send your entry in today (or tomorrow, or any day through June 23rd).

Monday, June 18, 2012

Bella Blvd + Core'dinations

That's right, this week Bella Blvd has teamed up with Core'dinations for a fun and inspirational week! Core'dinations cardstock is really fun to work with - it's got a different color core, so when you tear it or sand it the core color is revealed. I worked with Core'dinations' Tillie Dot Spotted cardstock, which has a fun polka dot textured pattern. When sanded, the polka dots jump out as the core is revealed.

For my card, featured today on the Bella Blvd blog, I created hearts by using the Sophisticates Stars & Hearts Ciao Chip as a texture stencil:

I had used the outer aqua heart frame shape on a layout and so I just had the inner heart left on the chipboard sheet. The negative space left by the frame heart shape mimicked the heart shapes on the Daddy's Girl paper, so I used it as a texture stencil with coordinating colors of Core'dinations Tillie Dot Spotted cardstock. I placed a yellow piece of the cardstock over the Ciao Chip sheet and sanded to reveal the inner and outer heart shapes. I repeated this process with pink and aqua cardstock and then cut out all three hearts. I adhered a piece of Daddy's Girl patterned paper to a sanded yellow Core'dinations Tillie Dot Spotted cardstock card base, layered the hearts I'd created with cardstock over the patterned paper, and added Designer Tape, a Flag, and baker's twine to finish the card. I love the contrast here between the crisp clean hearts on the Daddy's Girl paper and the textured heart embellishments created with the Core'dinations cardstock.

Be sure to check out the Bella Blvd and Core'dinations blogs all week for more team-up fun (and giveaways!)!

Friday, June 8, 2012

And the Winner is...

Thank you to all who played along! The winner of my write.click.scrapbook. birthday.blog.hop prize is number:

The 17th commenter is Jenny-Lynn, a.k.a. Lynnbobscrap:


Lynnbobscrap said...: I love the daily inspiration at w.c.s.! Your layout is just another fabulous example of that. :) Thanks for all of the inspiration and the chance to win.
xoxo,
jenny-lynn; June 2, 2012 7:19 AM

Jenny-Lynn, please look for an email from me to claim your prize!

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Parlez-vous franҫais?

A couple of weeks ago we went to a French-themed birthday party for a friend of Eli's who wanted a trip to France for her 10th birthday. Instead, her parents threw her a party in their backyard, invited her friends and their families, and turned their garage into a disco. I can safely say that's the best birthday party I've been to in a very long time!

The party favor bags were a big hit, with berets and stick-on mustaches, candy cigarettes, watercolor painter's palettes, and passport sticker books. Sadie could not stop playing with her party favors the next day. She wanted me to snap photos of her goofing around with them, so, of course, I obliged!

I created this layout for today's Free-for-All layout feature on the Bella Blvd blog:

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics + Patterned Paper: Bella Blvd + Chipboard: Bella Blvd + Stickers: Bella Blvd + Buttons: Bella Blvd + Twine: May Arts + Die Cutting Machine: Silhouette

It's hard to tell from the straight-on photo of the layout, but this is a multi-layered piece. I cut the Eiffel Tower from white cardstock and used that white cardstock with the negative shape as the base of my layout, layering photos and embellishments on top. The painter's palette is cut from black cardstock, with tone-on-tone patterned paper backing the holes and serving as "paint." The white base is layered on top of black cardstock with dimensional adhesive:

On a related note...Sadly, while I used to be nearly fluent in French, I have forgotten much of what I used to know! (Shhh...don't tell my high school AP French Literature teachers that!)

Reminder: my write.click.scrapbook. birthday.blog.hop. giveaway remains open through Thursday night!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Summer Reading, Summertime Dailies

Yesterday marked the start of the 2012 Summertime Dailies over at write.click.scrapbook. Today I have a Summertime Daily post about summer reading. Here's a peek at the four projects featured in the post (you'll have to head on over to write.click.scrapbook. to read all the fun stuff associated with the projects):

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics + Patterned Paper: Crate Paper + Fonts: Dock 11, Pacifico, LD This and That

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics + Patterned Paper: Crate Paper, October Afternoon + Library Card: October Afternoon + Die Cutting Machine: Silhouette + Fonts: Lobster 1.4, Arial, TW Cen MT

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics + Patterned Paper: Cosmo Cricket + Fonts: Dock 11, Pacifico, LD This and That


Cardstock: Bazzill Basics + Patterned Paper: Cosmo Cricket, Studio Calico + Die Cut: October Afternoon + Brad: Crate Paper + Die Cutting Machine: Silhouette + Font: LD This and That

If you missed it last Friday, there was a birthday blog hop at write.click.scrapbook. Check it out via my previous post here. I have a giveaway that closes on Thursday, so please check it out if you haven't done so already!

Friday, June 1, 2012

write.click.scrapbook. birthday.blog.hop.

Welcome to the write.click.scrapbook. 3rd birthday blog hop! That's right, write.click.scrapbook is three! I'm assuming you've landed here via new write.click.scrapbook. team member Valerie O'Neall's blog. If not, and you want to start at the beginning, please head over to write.click.scrapbook. (Don't worry, I won't be offended, as you'll land back here eventually! :))

What I Love About write.click.scrapbook.
What do I love best about write.click.scrapbook.? Variety! Every week there's a new blog topic (with daily posts on that topic), and in the summer and in December there's a new daily blog topic. I am constantly blown away by the creativity of the blog posts! I don't know how my teammates do it, but there is always something new and different from which to draw inspiration. Add to that a different gallery each month and special weekend posts and I'm on inspiration overload! In addition to the variety of topics presented on the website, there is huge variety in style as well. I love seeing how all of my fellow team members interpret simplicity in scrapbooking differently.

A Letter for You (Oh Wait, It's a Number!)
I suppose you're here because you want a letter, right? Well, you're in a for a bit of a surprise, as I am going to give you a number! Remember that you need to collect all the letters and numbers from the blog hop in order to be eligible to win the giveaways. What giveaways? The grand prize giveaway at write.click.scrapbook. and also my giveaway (keep reading). Note: Other write.click.scrapbook. team members also have giveaways on their blogs.

June Gallery Sneak Peek
This month, all of us at write.click.scrapbook. were paired with another team member and drew inspiration from one another's work for the "Perfect Pairs" gallery. I was inspired by Keshet Starr's gorgeous "I Remember When" layout:

Here's a sneak peek of the layout I created based on the inspiration layout above:

To see my layout in its entirety, please check out the June "Perfect Pairs" gallery.

Giveaway
Of course, there's the grand prize giveaway at write.click.scrapbook., but there's also a giveaway here. See that 5 for 1.00 tin pin in the image above? That comes from October Afternoon's 5 & Dime collection. How'd you like to win the 5 & Dime collection? (Well, most of it anyway - all of the papers and most of the embellishments.) Should I throw in a copy of the May issue of Cards and the May issue of Scrapbook Trends? Why not!

To be entered to win my giveaway, please leave a comment below telling me what YOU love best about write.click.scrapbook. (If your comment doesn't link to your profile with an email address, please be sure to leave your email address in your comment.) Remember that if you are randomly drawn, you will need to have collected all of the letters (and my number!) in order to win! The winner will be announced here on Friday, June 8th.

Where to Go Next
The final stop: write.click.scrapbook. itself! Go and check out the June gallery, peruse the entire site (including past galleries and blog posts), and leave a comment there to be entered to win the grand prize. Be sure to bookmark write.click.scrapbook. if you haven't already, as our Summertime Dailies begin next Monday, after this weekend's regular Saturday and Sunday features.

Happy hopping!

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