Do Over layout

This one went right outside my comfort zone and box.  It has pink on it.  It has flowers on it.  It's about me.  What the !#*% is THAT all about?!  :)

So.  The first July challenge over at Better Living Through Scrapbooking is

“When I Grow Up”

Make a layout or project about what you want to do – what’s your dream job or what career goal are you working toward? If you’re already doing that job, show why you love it.

I could write a novel about all of the jobs I've considered, planned on, and/or worked towards.  Did I mention the long list of ones I've done?  I worked all of that into this because I think where I'm coming from is as important as where I'm going sometimes... or maybe not and that's just one of those hangups I need to get over... I'll get back to you.

Ingredients:
Paper: Pink, Kraft, Vellum: Stampin' Up
Stamps: Botanicals. Antique Background: Stampin' Up
Ink: Pretty in Pink: Stampin' Up, Versa Mark
Misc: Chipboard letters: Heidi Grace, Flowers: Marcella K, Embossing folder

Challenges:
Better Living Through Scrapbooking: July #1
1. Use one of the following combinations as your main color scheme: -Pink and brown, -Blue and white, -Yellow and green, -Red and black
2. Use paper lace on your project. (Buy it or try making it yourself with a paper punch or die cutter)
3. Use rhinestones (gems, bling, whatever you want to call ‘em)  They're in some of the flowers
4. Include a fabric flower on your project.

Apron Strings: Old with the Old, In with the New #13
Today's challenge is use your oldest kit with the scariest (to you) embellishment in it and combine it with a new embellishment or paper that has no "scare factor."

GAB #24: Use something you have never or rarely use.  Pink.  Flowers.  Those flowers in particular (my aunt gave them to me 3yrs ago at Christmas I believe.)  Chipboard letters.  This layout SCREAMS of things I don't usually use.  :)

Well, that's a funny thing.  The scariest was the flowers- I don't do flowers.  I just don't.  At least not on layouts since I typically just do ones for my son.  The newer, no scare one was SUPPOSED to be the chipboard letters.  However, they were dull.  I stamped on them.  It didn't show.  I inked them.  They were the wrong color.  I embossed them.  It didn't show.  I ran them through 2 more times.  The ink almost vanished.  I sanded them for contrast.  They started to fall apart.  I stopped there though they're still rather dull.  Now I think chipboard letters are scary.  *sigh*

Well, we did it

1787 miles.  Through 6 states.  6 major stops in 3 of those states.  8 days.  A few major meltdowns but nothing more than what was expected from a 3yr old.  Home at 1:18am yesterday.  All laundry is clean, most everything is put away.  Good to visit.  Good to be home.

Signing off for a few days

Well, tomorrow's the day.  The day when we start what's going to be more than 1550 miles on the road.  Some people call it a vacation.  I'll let you know what I call it when we get back.  The question is to how well Boy handles being on the road that long.  My hope is that since we'll change places every few days and every stop will bring new people/kids he likes and hasn't seen in close to a year, if not more, and there will be a few 4th bday celebrations for him along the way, it'll stay fresh for him.  Fingers crossed!!

Nikki Sivils giveaway!

Check it out- she's giving away her new CHA lines before they're released!!

Parade Page

7/8 Update: I did add another strand of twine to each twirl and I definitely like it more:

What can I say- getting my papers picked ahead of time is DEFINITELY working for me.  This page is pretty simple but that tends to be my style.  I'd like to go more decorative but when I'm working, I just can't come up with loads that I want to pile one.  However, on this one, I think I'm going to add more twine to the swirls- they're a bit too thin this way.  I realized once I had everything done and made that one of my pleated paper circles had a decorative edge, the other straight but at this point, they can just be that way.  They were a PAIN to make- the paper was only 1/2" wide and the pleats were on the 1/8th" so they were small to work with.

Ingredients:
Paper: Cardstock: Stampin Up & Michaels  DSP: October Afternoon
Misc: Twine: Whisker Graphics, Rubons: October Afternoon, Stickers: Thickers

Challenges:

• Whisker Graphics from Facebook- use any WG product
• Apron Strings: Out with Old, In with New Day #3: Use old scraps with some new products.  The only paper that's "new" is the 12x12.  All of the photo mats are from my scrap folders and some of the papers have to be at least 5-6yrs old.  Yeah.  I know.  On the other hand, the twine was from a FB prize I won from Whisker Graphics- it arrived in the mail yesterday.  That's pretty new.  :)
• Practical Scrappers: July Sketch: I got pretty loose with this but it was definitely my launch point.

Land of Make Believe pages

Check me out!  3 pages in less than 24hrs!  Whoo HOO!  :)  I think I found something to get me a bit in a groove.  I have a lot of photos bagged up in Ziplocs by event.  I usually find a sketch, find the bag that will work with it (those 2 sometimes reverse), then find papers and accents for them and THEN scrap it then and there.  This time, I picked out 2 bags (events) of photos the other evening, picked out the papers and accents and the specific photos I wanted to use (I print out a bunch that I think are good but generally don't use all of them) and then set both stacks aside.  Last night when I found a sketch for the Halloween page and went to scrap it, it went pretty darn fast and today's definitely did.  Splitting the material search and the sketch/crop/put-together into 2 separate events seemed to help.  I was kinda trying it out before I go to CKC later this summer since I want to take a few pages for the evening scrap.  However, I'll definitely be doing some more of this to see if it keeps working for me. 

So.  Onto the spread.  Sorry for the crummy shots- too stormy here to get anything good today.

 

Ingredients:
Paper: Cardstock: Stampin' Up, DSP: BoBunny
Accents: BoBunny, Gauche Alchemy (Punchinella aka Sequin waste)

Challenge:
Apron Strings: July 1: Out with Old, In with New.  Use your old summery stuff (I've had the BoBunny paper and accents hanging around for quite a while now waiting for the perfect summer use) and your newest metallic.  That 2nd part was hard because I don't use a lot of metallics.  I was going to sprinkle the suns with glitter and stumbled on something I got the other day from a Better Living Through Scrapbooking prize: Gauche Alchemy's Punchinella.  It's sequin waste and when a hole is trimmed out of a large orange piece, it makes a nifty sun.

Halloween Page

Obviously I don't scrap chronologically.  :) 

Ingredients:
Papers: Black: Michaels, Halloween print: Target, Black DSP: The Paper Loft, Orange/White: Stampin' Up
Stamp: Stampin' Up
Ink: Vintage Linen & Walnut Stain: Ranger
Misc: Accents: K&Co., Glitter: Joann's

Challenges:
Craft Your Passion: Challenge 65: Anything Goes
Desert Island Crafters: #11: Use 3 from the list of 10 "ingredients
    4: Distress Tool (Loosely- I used distress ink on the title and the journalling), 6: Crystals (I scattered olive green crystals here and there on the page) 7: Halloween Paper, 10: Pop Dots (all of the accent items are pop-dotted)
Sketchy Thursday: 6/30:  I used the 2nd page as my sketch... loosely.