I Messed Up

Each month I have a number of projects that I create for design team requirements. I LOVE what I do and I have so much fun working on the design teams that I do work for. Bella Blvd's products are amongst my favorite to work with. I love their bright, fun, happy designs. Recently I was asked to create a layout using their most recent products for their "what's new Wednesday" feature. I grabbed the Classic Calendars collection and got to work. I had so much fun creating! I finished my assignment, turned it in and then realized it had a mistake on it...not a huge messy mistake but it was a mistake and I had made the mistake using ink and liquid glue. In scrapbookers terms that means, it's not a mistake that you can easily fix. It's pretty much stuck there unless you can cover it up. 
So, here's the finished layout. Can you find my mistake?

 Did you find it? 
Let me give you a couple more clues:

 

 

 See it now? Yes, I put two different months on the same project, June on the left hand side of the project and May on the right hand side of the project. The accurate date is May 23rd. Originally I thought that the photo was taken in June so I put 'June' on the layout with ultra strong quick drying liquid adhesive. After I had finished the project I wanted to add the date with a date stamp so I looked on my phone to see which day I had actually taken the photo and quickly stamped it in the corner of my project. It wasn't until I saw it on the Bella Blvd blog that I realized I had messed up.

There's not much I can do about it now. I tried to cover the date stamp with washi tape, rephotograph it, and have Bella Blvd update their blog but the washi tape didn't completely cover it so I just decided to leave it like it is. Some day maybe my kids will laugh about it make comments about how crazy their mom is.

Have you made any mistakes on your projects and decided that it just wasn't worth the effort to fix it?
 

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!  

Let's Talk Tuesday: Combining Fonts to Create Eye Catching Titles

{If you're looking for the Hip Kit/Elle's Studio blog hop and giveaway, you can find it HERE)
Combining fonts to create bold, eye catching titles is one of my favorite techniques. I use it all.the.time. I have a secret recipe for perfect font combinations:

1. Use a script font (one that looks kind of like cursive handwriting) combined with a block font.
2. One font must be thicker and bolder than the other one. I usually use the script font as the thinner font and the block font as the bolder one.

Let me show you what I mean. This Turkey Dinner layout is a perfect example.

The "turkey" part of the title is created with a chipboard alphabet from Bella Blvd and the "dinner" portion of the title is cut from dark brown cardstock using my Silhouette Machine.

Here's an example of a premade die 0cut title that uses the same guidelines that I adhere to. Gotta Love This

This diecut is from Kerri Bradford Studios. Notice that the "gotta" portion of the title is in script and the "love this" portion of the title is a block font.

The last example I have for you today is the title of a mini album I created for American Crafts (there's a tutorial with this album too, you can find that HERE)

Do you have a secret (or not so secret) plan for combining fonts? I'd love to hear your method. 

Paper Crafter's Library: Scrapbooking Projects as Home Decor

Happy Monday to you! I'm so excited to show you the full reveal of the projects that I created for the Paper Crafter's Library. I've known for a few months that this feature was coming up and I spent a lot of time trying to decide what I would like to feature on their blog. I finally decided that I would like to share a set of layouts and a couple of different ways to display them.
I love creating layouts to display in my home. I created these three layouts of my kiddos to display in my living room. Displaying layouts in addition to or instead of framed photos is so much more personal. It not only tells the story of the photo but it also shows my passion for memory keeping and love for my hobby. The display doesn't have to be fancy, one way to display them just uses plain small clothes pins and a string. 

I love the idea of being able to switch layouts out as I create them. When I take these down I will replace them with newer projects.

The second option is displaying them clipped to a clipboard with the clipboard either hanging on the wall or on an easel.

 

Baseball
Supplies Used:
Patterned Paper: Crate Paper, Chipboard: Crate Paper, Letter Stickers: American Crafts, Enamel Dots: My Minds Eye, Die Cuts: Crate Paper, Flair: Studio Calico, Date Stamp: American Crafts, Adhesive: American Crafts, Shipping Tag: Office Supply, Sewing Machine: Singer, Thread: Coats & Clark, Stapler: American Crafts, Wood Veneer: Crate Paper, Cardstock: American Crafts, Pen: American Crafts, Ink: Clearsnap

 

This clipboard sits on an easel in my living room. I change out the projects that I display there often.

Third Grade
Supplies Used:
Patterned Paper: Crate Paper, Die Cuts: Crate Paper, Gems: Crate Paper, Stapler: American Crafts, Letter Stickers: American Crafts, Die Cut Machine: Silhouette, Digitial Die Cut File: Lori Whitlock, Adhesive: American Crafts, Sewing Machine: Singer, Thread: Coats & Clark, Enamel Dots: My Minds Eye, Vellum: Crate Paper, Shipping Tag: Office Supply, Flair: Panda Eight Designs, Metallic Paper: Chickaniddy Crafts, Gems: Crate Paper, Pen: American Crafts

His Little Bike

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Crate Paper, Wood Veneer: Crate Paper, Chipboard: Crate Paper, Die Cuts: Crate Paper, Stapler: American Crafts, Washi Tape: My Minds Eye, Date Stamp: American Crafts, Enamel Dots: My Minds Eye, Letter Stickers Studio Calico, Acrylic Letters: Crate Paper, Font: Lori Whitlock Perfect Type, Sewing Machine: Singer, Thread: Coats & Clark, Adhesive: American Crafts, Flair: Studio Calico

Do you display projects in your home or do your projects go directly into albums? Or if you're like me do most of your projects go into very large stacks until there's no more room to stack them and then you finally spend an entire day organizing and putting projects into albums? ;)

Sketching for Elle's Studio {Sketch Included}

Good morning and Happy First Monday of Summer! We had such a great relaxing weekend. I hope that you were able to enjoy your weekend as well. Last week on the Elle's Studio blog I played along with Sketch Thursday. I got to play along with this sketch:

This sketch is based on a layout by Patricia Roebuck using Elle's Studio's new Shine collection. I LOVE how she used the circles and the die cuts.

I created 2 layouts based on this sketch, it was so much fun and so easy to create with.

 Who doesn't smile at a sleepy kiddo who has a case of "bed head"? I love this little lady!

 I die cut this background with my silhouette.

 And here's the second one I created with the Shine collection too.

 Do you like creating with sketches? Even if you don't you should give this one a try, it's so simple. Maybe you'll discover that you love changing things up and creating in a different way.
Make sure you stop by tomorrow for Let's Talk Tuesday!

Elle's Studio and Hip Kit Club Blog Hop

Welcome to the Elle's Studio/Hip Kit Club Blog Hop! You should have arrived here from Emily Wilbur's blog. When I got the kit from the Hip Kit Club I was so excited to see so many fun elements in there. 

 Isn't it an adorable kit!?!?

Recently I wrote a post about using ALL your letter stickers. I wanted to use this technique with this kit too. I used the Dear Lizzy letter stickers to create a large element on the left side of the page. This project is titled "Mama Becki" it tells the story of my niece and how she calls me "Mama Becki"

I added some adorable stickers and die cuts to create the title:

Here's the completed layout:

I also created a simple card. I used my crimper to add a little bit of texture. The wood veneer is from the Elle's Studio Shine collection. (One of my very favorite collections! You can see 3 more projects I created with this line HERE.)
Here's the entire list of stops on the blog hop today, just in case you get lost along the way.

·         Hip Kit Club  www.hipkitblog.wordpress.com
·         Ashley Horton www.ashleyhortondesigns.com
·         Melissa Mann  http://melissamann.typepad.com
·         Amelie Mordret  www.ameliemordret.com
·         Daniela Dobson http://danieladobson.blogspot.com
·         Kate Kennedy  http://thislifeinked.com
·         Kay Rogers  http://rogerskk.typepad.com
·         Marinette Lesne  www.scraptherapie.com
·         Valerie Bishop  http://myhere-rightnow.blogspot.com
·         Mandy Koeppen  http://mandykoeppen.blogspot.com
·         Jenny Evans  http://jennygevans.blogspot.com

·         Becki Adams  http://beckiadams.blogspot.com
·         Kali Bertazzon  http://chezkali.canalblog.com
·         Jennifer Chapin  http://jenchapin.blogspot.com
·         Ashley Fowler  http://isweatglitter.wordpress.com
·         Elle’s Studio Blog  www.shopellesstudio.com/blog

Make sure you subscribe to my blog by entering your email in the box to the right and "like" my Facebook page so that you won't miss any updates. I recently launched a new series called "Let's Talk Tuesday" I send out updates for this series through my subscriber list.
Now, it's time for a GIVEAWAY: One person will win a $10 gift certificate to use at Elle’s Studio AND a $10 gift certificate to use at Hip Kit Club! Just leave a comment to win. This givaway will close on June 27th at 11:59pm. I would also love for you to answer this question in your comment:

Have you had any A-HA! moments in scrapbooking lately?
& Have you discovered any new techniques that you love?
 (I got this question from the Scrapbook & Cards Today Facebook page.)

Have a great day! The next stop on the hop is Kali Bertazzon.

Paper Crafter's Library Feature

A few months ago I was asked to do a project for the Paper Crafter's Library. I had so much fun creating a display of projects for my home. Here's a sneak peek of what I created for them. I can't wait to show you the full project. Make sure you stop back by on Sunday for the full reveal.

Let's Talk Tuesday: What to do with all that Washi Tape

Happy Tuesday morning! Thanks for stopping by for another edition of Let's Talk Tuesday. Today we're talking about washi tape. I don't know if I should be proud or ashamed of the amount of washi tape that is currently in my stash. Let's just say that if I was to stop my collection of washi tape right now I would still never be able to use it all.
I created 2 new projects using washi tape to share with you today. I had so much fun making a small dent in my washi tape stash.
On this first project I created a background with washi tape. This is a great way to get lots of that tape use and get it on your projects.

 This layout is about grocery shopping and how it changes over the summer when there are 6 kids at my house.

 I included a copy of my grocery receipt on the back of my layout, just for fun. Maybe one day my kids will be shocked at the cost of groceries when they were little.

The second project I created I used washi tape to create a grid and to attach photo frames. This doesn't use a ton of washi tape but it does make a very easy framework to follow for a layout

If you'd still like a few more ideas on uses for washi tape you can check them out here:

Washi tape and feathers (tutorial)
Washi tape (in a cheveron pattern) and crochet hearts
Folded Washi Tape
Washi tape as a die cut background

While we're talking about Washi tape let's talk a little bit about storing your washi tapes. Here are a couple of ways I store my tapes.
I don't store them all the in the same place. Most of my storage is done by manufacturer. So my tapes are divided accordingly. Most of my tapes come from Bella Blvd the other tapes are from various manufacturers and are stored together in a basket

My Bella tapes are stored on a few different things that I picked up at the thrift store. They sit on the corner of my desk.

 The one on the right is actually a jewlery holder that I disassembled and  only use part of now. The one on the right used to be a toothbrush holder (once again, I took it apart).

 These are old wooden spools, not very practical storage but so cute!

This piece was an oil and vinegar holder. I love it because it holds a few of my most used adhesives all in one spot with a few of my favorite rolls of washi too.
What is your favorite way to use Washi tape? How do you store it?