Buttons on Practical Scrappers!

This is a really busy page, but Clare was pretty busy when it came to her buttons. :) Family and friends know how this obsession went, and it was quite amusing. I was so glad I got these pictures b/c it was a no-brainer that I wanted to scrap this phase.

I scattered the buttons and pretty much adhered them where they fell. The ribbon looks better in person and it's some vintage ribbon I probably spent too much money on but that I fell in love with. I used my new cartridge Cuttin Up for the title - a cart that I have really enjoyed. I said I wanted some carts for Christmas but hadn't really picked one out. My SIL did a great job finding one.

If you don't want to read the tiny journaling, let me just explain that "Perseverating" was the word my mom pulled out (she has a vocabulary addiction) to describe what Clare was doing one day as we watched her pile them into one container and then another. It would keep her busy for amazing periods of time - one evening I swear she did it for an hour. I loved it and kind of miss them. She was mad that I used a bunch of them on the layout. She hasn't played with them for a while, but I think it's because we lost most of them eventually. :)

I told her I'd buy her some more. (Or steal some from Mimi (my mom) who also has fabric and button addictions. :)

Bundle up!

This is an older layout, but who can pass up the opportunity to share pics of their baby girl?! This is actually 1 of a 2 page layout. I used 1 sheet of winter paper and cut it apart to make it last 2 layouts. The result is basic, but works, and allows the pictures to be the main focus, but the winter theme comes thru strong.

It's snowy outside (here)! Scrap some cozy pics!

Stitch It

This is my layout for Practical Scrapper's week of stitching! I usually stay far away from the sewing machine, but for this project I stretched out and headed to my mom's. She tried to teach me to sew in the early years of 4H, but it didn't trip my trigger.

But I saw a layout like this a few weeks ago, and immediately knew it was what I wanted to do for this week's challenge. I cannot for the life of me find the article from which I scraplifted it. I know it was in a Creating Keepsakes and when I find it I'll give credit to the original creator!! But it worked out great for this page that is a part of a commissioned baby book. (My first!) Not too complicated, except you have to have a sewing machine. For the star, I hand stitched. My time with the sewing machine went so well today that I'm thinking maybe I should try the sewing thing again. I LOVE making things, and being able to at least put together some curtains seems like a reasonable task. We'll see!

I haven't had much mojo lately to post on here, but this baby book is helping get me going, so hopefully I can share more soon! The holidays and deadlines are keeping me on my toes!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

Fun with Paints

Acrylic Paints. Ah, how fun they sound!! But how often they are avoided. After this challenge I now realize how great they are, especially in the right situation. I loved using paint on the back of my transparency. I will definitely do that again. I think I'd like to use it for a title background and add a rub-on to it as well. And hello - on chipboard it will come in so handy. I've had these for a while, but they will be getting way more use from here on out.

Rough it up

Color core and white core cardstock. I'm going to have to get some more of this. I really enjoyed playing with it. I have such a paper addiction... :) And Practical Scrappers really has forced me to use stuff I wasn't using. Which means it's about time to go shopping!

Simplicity

Practical Scrappers has a new feature we're calling Simplicity. I'm excited about this for a few different reasons. So far designing with Practical Scrappers, I've been challenging myself to do layouts that I probably wouldn't have made before PS. It's been great. I love the creativity and the stash I'm using!

But when I sat down to do a Simple layout, I was more excited about the process than I have been in a while. For a long time I've wanted to focus on clean&simple, and now I really have an excuse to do this. I need to have a specific goal and challenge to be simple and creative at the same time. That's what I've aimed for in the past, and now it can be like my job. :)

Btw, we are featuring something different every weekday: (M)Layouts, (T)Cards, (W)Cricut/Cuttlebug Projects, (TH)Altered Projects and Simplicity, and a (F)Guest Designer along with my little analysis of the week's challenge. Lots of beautiful pages and ideas over there from some incredibly talented women! Our new design team is up and running, bringing with them some fresh looks. Oh, and over the next 2 months we'll start running lots of Christmas projects and ideas which will be fun and festive. Can you tell I'm excited?! I LOVE this stuff!

Bright Eyes

This is one of those layouts that just doesn't look as good online as it does in person. Maybe tomorrow I can get a sunshine picture of it. But I love it. I was hesitant to put in two pictures, hate to go against the odds rules, but the idea couldn't be resisted. I love these pics and my baby's bright eyes. Using my new star border punch with these pictures for the punch challenge at Practical Scrappers worked great. One more example of how the PS blog continues to give me great results!

Perfect

Christine handed out the same paper to 5 or 6 of us at Practical Scrappers and then we all did layouts with them to show how the same paper can be used in so many different ways. It was a great challenge. Just enough guidance, plenty of freedom.

This is more freedom than I usually take. I was inspired by a layout I saw in Creating Keepsakes (again; I know! it's weird for me!) and so I stepped out of my box - as Practical Scrappers has led me to do over and over - and found this layout hidden inside me. :)

I've had this picture for years and I'm glad that the layout turned out this way. It needed special treatment.

Lace Cardstock

I'm behind on posts!! Yikes!

Ok, so here's my layout from Practical Scrappers challenge (last week!:) to use lace cardstock. I love these pictures of Sophia and me when she was sooo little! We were in Canada visiting family and I was excited to take Sophie on an international trip before she was even 1! :) That summer she also visited Washington DC. This is one traveled little girl!

Anyway, it was fun to use this paper, and not really something I would have done left to my own devices. Good stuff!

Old School

This week at Practical Scrappers the challenge is to use decorative edged scissors on your layout. That's right - this week it's old-school scrappin.

I was excited about this when I sat down. It gave me an excuse to just have fun with my layout. Lately there has been a lot of structure on my layouts, and I've been wanting to do something a little more abstract. I enjoyed making some funky edges on some various paper. I didn't feel pressure to not screw up whatever valuable material I was using. I just scrapped. Found some great pictures and some refreshing paper, and scrapped.

Not only was this easy for me, but Sophia had her hand at it as well. I'll post that layout later this week, proving the ease and fun that can be had with good 'ol paper and scissors.

P.S. I used a Crafter's Workshop template for the circle around my journaling and Eyelet Outlet sent us the funny little worm! :)

Transparency?

Oh yeah, from a LONG time ago. But thanks to Practical Scrappers, I took the challenge and used it! And I'm pleased with the results..

Felt Layout

I love these pictures from a fall day a few years ago. When I found my felt for this week's Practical Scrapper's Challenge, I knew exactly which picture I wanted to use with it. Using felt on my pages is new to me. I've used some other fabrics before, but I had no idea how much texture and depth felt would add to my page. I'm a disappointed with the LO pic, b/c it looks so much better in person. Regardless, this was a fun LO and I'm so glad Christine had Felt on our list of challenges!

Scrapsketch / Practical Scrappers Challenge

This weekend at Practical Scrapperswe have partnered with Scrapsketchfor a challenge to create a layout based on a sketch from Stephanie. I'm all about being inspired by other layouts, but I rarely follow a sketch as closely as I tried here. It was fun to challenge myself in this way!

I shifted the sketch vertically so that I could use these photos from Easter of 08. I love how sweet and happy my babies look in these! Overall I'm pleased with how it turned out. Try your hand at the sketch too and enter it in the challenge at PS today - we have until 10:00 PM CST!

Mimi and the Aunts get Press

This is my layout for Practical Scrapper's challenge to use letter stickers creatively. It was definitley a challenge! :)

One day Sophie started calling my mom 'Mimi.' This caught on quickly (though my dad couldn't remember what the name was.. "Fufu?") and, anyway, Mom's sisters loved it too. My mom and her sisters enjoy getting together as regularly as they can - there are 5 of them plus some outlaws and cousins depending on who is in town. Add these facts to their love of music, and we stumbled upon 'Mimi and the Aunts.'

Children, brothers, the old and the young, lovingly refer to my mom and her sisters as Mimi and the Aunts. And since they are all 'Mimi's,' they happily respond.

This picture was taken at the annual Memorial Day gathering of McCabes about a week after Clare was born. The Aunts were more than happy to pose for a picture with the newest member of the family. :)