Behind the Page: Creative Process

This week, I was asked to share a bit of my creative process over at the Webster's blog!  I made a video sharing some insights.  Making a video is fun, but work.  I actually combined two attempts to come up with the one below. 

Here is my process when creating my newest page.  Love the face I am making...LOL!

Here is my page. 

As you can see, I changed it a bit once I got my title down. All those big elements threw the top and right side off balance so I added in more squares and put a navy mat behind my photo. I also finished it with some bling for the title.

I used the Game On collection here...yummy!  I am so excited about the new releases for Websters...they will be revealed over the next couple of weeks! 

Happy Saturday all!

Happiness

There is no doubt that our kids are the center of our universe.  We get out of the house early to go to swim lessons, we go to see Brave on a rainy day.  We plan their birthdays to be grand affairs and we put an emphasis on school.

When you get those looks across the pool like, "Did you see that?" or get those great report cards, it is worth it. 

I made this layout to document my daughter's recent birthday party...it was a fairy party and I worked my you know what off to make it fabulous.

I used Pebbles to create this...I don't have much left over from my guest designer stint...It is super easy to work with so I worked with it a lot!  I love these dimensional butterflies and wanted them to float around the layout to go with the fairy theme. 

Some simple layering of the dimensional stickers creates a flower box effect!

At the end of the day, their happiness is my happiness!

Monday's Musings: My Guy

I had the pleasure of spending the day yesterday with my besties.  We talked a lot about our children and had plenty of time to interact with Tina's triplets.

Triplet boys.  All dressed in little suits and ties.  Triplet boys who loved their french fries and were all over the place.  I was in awe of her.  They were so cute it made me smile.

It made me think of my guy.  My Nathan.  The 7 year old with the heart of a grown man.  He is loyal and loving and selfless.  We have to tell him that it is okay to not rescue his sister when she is in trouble or not to feel the need to cheer me up on a bad day.  He does it because he loves.

We had a mommy/son date recently and I love to talk to him.  Nathan loves to learn and reads constantly.  He is not very good at baseball and still cries too easily, but we all have our stuff.

I took a photo of us that night using Instagram.  I think you can tell that we both loved our time together.

I used Pebbles here...I am really into monochromatic lately with that punch of color.  I think tone on tone makes you think about texture more.

I created the banners by cutting the cute little toothpick flags and tucking them under the other embellishments. 

My guy.  I adore him and can't wait to continue our talks.  I have a feeling they will only get better.

Not Quite Sure

Ever make something you are not quite sure you like?

You love the product, adore the photo, like the elements, but there is something...

Happened to me recently.

Usually, I push and pull until it works. But, I just decided to let this one be.  I also decided to just share it anyway.  Why not, its just paper?

I do adore this photo of my daughter and my niece Samantha!  It was taken on Easter and they look adorable.

I went back to a more matted background.  I used that lovely chevron.  I layered and varied, but...

Sometimes it takes time for things to grow on you, right?

Happy Saturday!

Thursday Tip: Wrap it up

Wrap it up...the school year!

Wrap it up...all the mess that is in my closets and needs to go into organized bins.

Wrap it up...using twine.

I was asked to teach a technique class over at the Nook for the June kit.  It came with those cute corrugated cardboard shapes and baker's twine from Jillibean Soup.  I decided to use both of those things together...

It was easy to wrap the house with twine...I just started at the top. First add a thin line of glue along the cardboard. Start twisting and stringing the twine around the house, leaving the end in the back. Keep adding glue and stringing until the surface is covered. Every now and then I stopped to ensure it was all straight and even!

Here is how it looks on the layout!

And, of course, I wrapped up the layout with the story.  I love going to the Elephant Trunk...a cool flea market about an hour away from my house.

Its a wrap...let the summer begin!

Monday's Musings: Sisters

I have five sisters.  Three who have been in my life for the duration and two I have recently connected with...I am a lucky girl.  Because a sister gets you.  Understands you.  Resembles you and respects you.

My sisters and I took this photo recently and I love the natural interaction.  The easy giggles and the knowing looks.  This is us laughing and having fun.

But we have gone through much more.  We have known the worst heartbreak together with the loss of our beloved Baby James.  We literally held onto each other that week.  As we all progress through this life, there is no judgement...just support. 

I am glad we know happier times too...

I love triangles lately and just cut a bunch to lay out this pattern.  I used the Fabrications line by Teresa Collins to make this layout!

The journaling, which sums up my sisters and I.

It is funny because it has taken time to have that sisterly thing with my sisters.  There is a major age difference.  We grew into it.  I am hoping the same continues to happen with those I haven't lived with my whole life.

Becauses sisters are forever.

At Home: Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all dads...to my own dad who has loved me unconditionally throughout my life.  My father who is no longer with us and who is missed.  My husband who is a fabulous dad and is adored by our kids.

This is what fatherhood looks like in our home:

Loving, loyal, faithful, caring, funny...an importance is placed on family. 

I shared a project I created in Steve's honor over at the Webster's blog last week!  It is wall art that is graphic and simple.  I used his favorite number and his initial.  It was super easy to make!

I used the Game On collection because it has masculine colors!  To learn how to make this project, head over to the Webster's blog!

Happy Father's Day!

Life is Good

I have been thinking about it lately...life

It is good.  Steven and I have ideal hours.  We have a ton of family time together.  We have enough to live happy lives.  Our house is just the right size.  Our kids are healthy and happy.

We are surrounded by friends and family.  It is good.

I think my kids would say their life is good too.  Just look at Nathan in these pictures and it appears as though he agrees.

I used the June kit from the Nook to create this... the kit keeps going and going.  Really.  It is jammed pack and happy!  I wanted to have some fun on this layout so I created the twine sunrays.  Easy to do with some glue and some shaping.

Life is good.  In three days, it will get better.  Summer is just about here!

Thursday Trending: Fun

Fun as in more tilted elements, not having so much balance, deciding there don't have to be so many rules.  One of the biggest design rules I have used throughout the years involves grounding the elements of a page.  No floaters or random out-lyers.

Yet, look at many of the most popular and trendy pages at places like Pinterest and you will see fun and free.  Elements that are scattered and random.  The rules are a changing.

I can go with that. 

Here is a recent layout I made using Bella Blvd...love Bella.

So most things are grounded...but there is tilt and lots of fun elements.  It is a start, right?

I love long titles these days!  I adore these photos too...some of my favorites from this past Easter.

So trending for me...fun stuff!

Tuesday Tip: Make it Shine

So I will admit that I hadn't played with designer tape until I recently opened my package from Bella Blvd.  They have cool patterns on their tapes...chevrons, stripes, plaid.  I was intrigued.

I built the layout below using the It's a Girl collection.  It was cute....but something was missing.  Until I decided to add the sun rays.  Typically, it would be laborious to cut rays, but the designer tape made it super easy.

I went with the yellow chevron and just cut along the diagonals to create each ray.  Seriously, the whole sun took 4 minutes to construct.  My kind of scrapbooking...easy, effective, adorable!

Here is the layout:

I am sooo digging monochromatic color tones right now... something about hue upon hue just creates a great base!  I added the circles as my repeating element around the page.  Then the sun...

I am glad I went the next step and created the sun.

It highlights these pictures....a few of my favorite pictures of Ella...the joy....it just radiates!

Eight more days

...to summer vacation.  I can feel it, taste it...I need it!  Hard to see so many Facebook posts of those who have started summer.  But I will persevere, hang tough.  It is only a matter of days.

We are hoping this vacation is full of family time...I know the pool will play a huge role in that. A trip to Washington, DC, beach outings and my annual trek to Chicago.  It looks promising!

I created this layout to celebrate vacations.  I take so many photos of day trips or week long adventures and then get too overwhelmed to scrap them.  Bad habit that I want to change.

So here is my start.

I used the Palm Beach collection by Webster's to make this layout.  I love that yellow chevron.  Since I am a themed gal....I started a brain flow.  Ships equal sails.  Sails equal triangles.  I must use triangles.  Because when I first laid this page out...it was boring.  When faced with a boring page, just give the mind a few minutes.  And it will come. 

I decided to tilt my titlework a bit too to go with the idea that Nathan used a bunch of wood blocks to build a ship.  He had criss crosses, diagonals and X. 

Eight more days and hopefully I will do a lot more imagination-flinging with my scrappy things!  There are vacation photos to be used.

Wednesday What: Kraft

It has been a while since I touched my Kraft.  With all the solids and small patterns that companies are making, I haven't needed it much!  But sometimes it is called for...busy patterned paper needs something to stew on.  Something to simmer next to.

So, hello Kraft.  I have missed you.  I created the page below using the Nook June kit featuring Simple Stories.  This paper line is great!  I cut the chevron in a different way because I liked the shape of it!

This page came together quickly as I simply layered the journaling cards and put the chevron on top.  I added some simple simple pieces and I was done.

I think there is enough pattern in the stripes to give the layout the oomph.  I didn't want to compete with it.

I made this layout to record my son's teeth...big choppers he has.  We recently needed to have some teeth out and are looking toward braces.  It cracks me up when kid's teeth are too big for their faces.  This photo sure does exaggerate that.  His wife will laugh one day.  In a good way of course.

Isn't the kit fun?  Look at the alphabets and the colors...and there are so many elements I didn't use here!  Be sure to grab one!

I will grab my Kraft and go...

Monday's Musings: That Safety

Nothing like the safety of your father's arms.  The fact that you know he will be there for you no matter what.  I have known unconditional love a few times in life, and one of the first sources was from my dad.  A man who worked hard to earn a little girl's trust...a girl who was already scared at a far too young age.  I opened up and got to the run-to-your-arms-and-spin-around-with-your-daddy moments.

Ella has those moments all the time with Steven.  No fear, no time, no moment when it clicked.  It was always there.  She adores him and he feels the same.  He will teach her what to search for in a man.  That is weighty.  But I am glad it is him doing that.

I am in the phase of life where I see my nieces starting to have boyfriends.  That young love phase where you just believe.  I think they have good sense.  I know they have good parents.  I guess you bring em up right and hope they hold onto it all when it counts.  I have the need to steer Ella in the right direction.

The love of her daddy is the first step.

I used the Sweet Afternoon collection by Teresa Collins for this layout...I adore this stuff!  Look at those colors and the patterns.  Lovely...

I created this cluster using die-cuts and chipboard and stamps.  The metal trinket is from the Fabrications line.

I am so thankful for these pictures.  The first example of a man treated her right.  The strongest example of a man there is....besides my dad.

Behind the Page: Stamping

I am not normally a user of stamps...I always get nervous about it.

If you stamp right on a page, you can't take it back.

What if the stamp is slightly crooked?

What if it doesn't show up enough or shows up too much?

And the brain replays and goes crazy.

But....Webster's Pages and Teresa Collins offers stamps....really cute stamps.

Webster's has teamed up with Unity Stamp again to create some fabulous designs!!   I am so in love with this one:

I thought the circles could make a great accent to add some texture.  Truth be told, I stamped this on to one of the white/cream Clean and Simple papers from the Girl Land collection...it looked pretty, but it didn't pop.  So after playing and pushing and juggling for an hour to find that "Ah, now that's it" moment, I switched to white cardstock.

I wanted the stamp to be an element on my page. 

Daughters in fairy wings wearing Twinkle Toes Sketchers=great photo.  And why not pair it with the adorable new Webster's stickers with the phrase about daughters!  That sticker plus the circle stamp lead to the rest of the layout.  Repeated circles, butterflies, fairies.  To compliment the stamp, I hand cut some circles from the Bubbly paper in the collection.

I used a second stamp on this layout too...see the corner to the top right.  That was made using one of the patterned tag stamps.  I simply cut the tag into more of a square and then cut that in half to make two photo corners...one there and one under the photo.

Maybe stamping should become more of a part of my normal?