Guest Designing for Top Dog Dies

Have you heard of Top Dog Dies? Honestly, until a couple of months ago, neither had I. After browsing their website I was so excited to start working with their products.
Top Dog Dies is a new online store that offers their own brand of wafer-thin and steel-rule dies, along with dies from brands you already know and trust, including Little B, Lawn Fawn, Taylored Expressions, Savvy Stamps and Cheery Lynn Designs. Top Dog Dies is also the leading U.S. retailer for Tattered Lace, a new line of intricate dies designed by British designer Stephanie Weightman.
I was given the Butterfly Finishers Die Set to work with. There are so many cute wafer-thin dies and a huge steel-rule die that you can use for a mini album. I used the large die to create this mini journal for my little girl to keep track of all the books she's reading this summer. (You can find a full tutorial on this project on the Top Dog Die blog.)

I also created a layout using all the butterfly shaped dies in this set. By cutting several butterflies from white cardstock and then adhering them to white cardstock I created a fun textured background.

I used lots of fun elements from American Crafts and Imaginisce on this project as well.

Don't you love the background? It makes the layout so much more interesting than if I had just used one plain piece of cardstock.

Top Dog Dies is also doing a fun giveaway for you, as a reader of my blog. The winner will receive $50 worth of exclusive dies from Top Dog Dies (your choice!) You can enter that giveaway HERE  The Deadline to enter will be Monday, June 30 at midnight Central Standard Time. Hurry, you're almost out of time!

Thanks for stopping by today!  

What Do You do when your mojo is gone?

When I'm drawing a blank on designing a scrapbook project. I often turn to the technique of repeating a shape. I usually use a basic shape such as a circle, a square, a rectangle or even a star. The other day when I sat down at my desk to create a layout using this adorable photo of my mom and my daughter I just couldn't get started.
Everything I tried looked awkward and I was getting frustrated. Before I completely quit I grabbed my circle cutter and started cutting circles out of the newest Imaginisce collection Little Princess.

After I cut out several circles I decided to see how many different ways I could get the shape of a circle onto my project, so I embossed a few of the circles with polka dot embossing folders. I also used a scalloped border punch to punch a border for the top and bottom of my project.

I even put my title into the middle of one of the circles and added a few buttons in between words.

I also sprinkled a few dots of ink to add even more circles.

Here's an example of how I did something similar but this time I used squares.

This is one way I overcome a case of scrapper's block.
Have you ever tried repeating a particular shape over and over to create a layout?
Have a happy Wednesday!

Let's Talk Tuesday: Journaling on a photo?

Have you ever journaled on your photo? Until recently, I hadn't either. After creating this layout I fell in love with this technique!

My husband took this photo of my little man. I was at a meeting while the boys were out playing in the dirt. I immediately fell in love with the photo. When I started working with this photo I really wanted to add my journaling right on the photo.

There are a few ways to do this:

• You can add the text in most photo editing programs by typing in a text box on the photo (I use Photoshop Elements.)
• You can print on the photo just as you would print on a journaling card by printing the journaling on a plain sheet of paper and then adhering the photo to the paper on top of the journaling and then run it through your printer again. 
• If you love the look of journaling on the photo you can print your journaling on a transparency and then lay the transparency over the photo.

On this layout I printed the journaling at the same time I printed the photo by adding the text in Photoshop

I used the Imaginisce Perfect Vacation line for this project. I don't have a ton of travel photos but I do have lots of little boy photos. The colors and patterns in this line are perfect for little boys too!
Have you ever written or printed your journaling directly on the photo? I'd love to see your project. Leave a link in the comments.
Thanks for stopping by today!
 

Teacher Appreciation Gift Idea

Next week is Teacher Appreciation week. (Here's your reminder if you're like me and you forget stuff like that.)  I'm room mom for my little lady's classroom. I don't get to spend enough time with her class so I wanted to show her teacher how much I appreciate her taking care of and teaching all the little ones in her class.
Here's what I came up with for a gift for her teacher:

 I kept this project super simple, all I did was cover the box the soda came in with patterned paper by tracing the box, cutting out the patterned paper and adhering it to the box with double sided sticky tape.

I die cut the "thank you" part of the title with my Silhouette and finished the title by adding thickers. I added a little bit of texture with a ribbon wrapped around the middle of the box and topping it with a button.

 I created an accordion flower and added a sticker in the center.

What have you created for your special teacher? I'd love to see it. Leave a link in the comments!
Have a great weekend! :)

Baby Boy and Baby Girl Card Sets

How good are you at gift giving? I'm not that good, especially when it comes to baby gifts. I never have a card on hand and I hate paying for a card. So, I decided I would make a bunch of baby cards some for baby boys and some for baby girls.

I created all of these cards with the My Baby collection from Imaginisce. This collection is divided into two sections one section with shades of blue and one section with shades of pink.

Let's start with the baby boy cards:

These cards are super simple. I just mixed and matched the pre made elements from the collection.

And here are the baby girl cards...

Now, next time I need a baby gift I have a card ready to go.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Make Your Kids Do the Work for You

Recently my little lady has started writing in cursive. She practices her cursive writing at every chance she gets. My pens are constantly missing and I need to go buy more notebooks. She LOVEs writing. While I was working at my desk and she was sitting next to me writing away I decided to pass the journaling card to her.

  

I love the authenticity it adds to my scrapbooking and I love that she can be involved in my creative process.

Do you involve your kiddos in your scrapbooking?
Thanks for stopping by today! I love hearing from my readers! Let me know if you have any questions or comments!

Wishing for Warmer Days

Even though it's been a very mild winter here, I'm still wishing for a little warmer weather! When I pulled out my scrapbooking supplies the other day I chose to scrapbook photos from this past summer using the new collections from Imaginisce.

 I created this one with the Welcome Spring collection.

 This project I created with the Perfect Vacation collection

I know most of the country is buried under a mountain of snow and freezing cold weather. Do you scrapbook summer photos in the middle of winter?

Thanks for stopping by today! :)

More fun to come with Imaginisce

Hey there! Have you been to the Imaginisce blog today? If you have, then you already know the little secret I've been keeping. I am part of the Imaginisce 2014 Design Team! The fabulous Cari Locken is the Design Team coordinator. Working with her will be so much fun! Imaginisce has amazing products and tools. I can't wait to dig in and get started!

Becki Adams - USA

Angi Barrs -  USA

Marcia Dehn-Nix - USA

Stephanie Dang - USA

Lanette Erickson - USA

Tracy Gruber -  USA

Guiseppa Gubler - USA

Katrina Hunt -  USA

Kelly Holbrooke -  USA

Amanda Johnson - USA
Aimee Kidd - USA
Monique Liedtke - The Netherlands

Courtney Lee - USA

Suzanna Lee - USA

Christine Meyer -  USA

Lorrie Nunemaker - USA

Michelle Philipi - USA

Jodi Wilton - Canada

Sara Zenger - USA

I see a few familiar names and some unfamiliar. I can't wait to get to know all of these ladies! 

Here's a project I recently completed using lots of goodies from American Crafts. I tried my hand a using the negative part of the paper when I created diecuts using my Silhouette. It's something I've never tried before but I will again! I love the results!

 I used a white pen for some faux stitching and some doodling.

And here's the finished layout.

You can find TONS of American Crafts goodies over at Paper Issues AND if you use the code "becki20" you'll receive 20% off your order.
Thanks for stopping by!
Have a great weekend!