Grandma's Kitchen ~ Echo Park Christmas

It's the middle of January and all those Christmas photos have been developed and are ready to scrapbook. I had some of my daughter and my niece decorating Grandma's gingerbread men before popping them in the oven.  It's one of our traditions.

Karen Foster (KF) has the perfect chipboard embellishment pack for these and similar photos.  Called Grandma's kitchen it comes with a frame, a title piece and a couple of circle embellishments.

I picked Echo Parks Christmas line because the paper and stickers matched the KF embellishments.  

Here are some close-ups...

 The Echo Park sticker sheet is 12 x 12 and included this 'Baked with much Love' piece that works perfectly on my layout.  I used some Prima blooms and lots of layers under my photos, including tissue paper and vellum.

I often use vellum as a matting layer on my layouts.  Here I also used it elsewhere on my layout.  It's a white vellum with hearts on it.  The hearts don't show up well on the scan but they are there and look very pretty!
I also used a circle of red bling cut in half and placed along the top of my page.

The ornament stickers came from the EP sheet.

The lace is by Harmonie.

Lots of mixing and matching on this page. 
Get creative with all the fun stuff Unforgettable Memories carries and have fun scrapbooking your Christmas photos.

Shopping at Unforgettable Memories.

I love browsing through Unforgettable Memories fondling all the fun stuff.  My kids groan when my car automatically turns into the parking lot as we drive down 100 Street. So convenient, as it's always on the way home.  I have to bribe them with Blizzards or McFlurries, to let me go in and they still complain because my "10 minutes tops" is always longer then their 10 minutes.

So last week, when I was in picking up photos ('just 5 minutes kids, promise'), I came out with a bag full of goodies.  I started playing as soon as I got home and this is the layout I ended up with.

The paper is Karen Foster from her graduation line. I scrapped on the yellow paint with a credit card. 

Seen it done, never tried it, now I have.

Will do it again.

I have my journaling on the 'favourite quote' piece from K&Co's Smash line. It pulls out with the 'ma' stuck to it. 

Some of my purchases from my shopping trip are the Studio Calico film strips.  They are called FabRips and are sticky backed fabric.  I also picked up the gorgeous matching butterflys and flowers by Prima.  Aren't they rustic looking?  Love them.  And I bought a package of the Petaloo flowers.  Love this size.  They will work on so many layouts and there are lots of them in the package.

I also bought the Prima jewels on my last shopping binge.  It was one big branch with a bird on it.  I cut the branch up and the bird I'm saving for another layout. And finally, I bought a package of the Prima white flowers.  I only used one on this layout and there are lots in a package so they'll be on future layouts.

Graduation 2012

My boys graduated this year and we got soooo many photos.  Friends, family and myself all snapping pictures at every opportunity.  For once there are a few with me in them :)

The Grand March was Wednesday night.  I uploaded the photos to Unforgettable Memories the next morning, and Mum and I were scrapbooking them that evening. 

I started with white Bazzill paper and sprayed red mist over a 12 x 12 mask.  The corner is a Glimmer Screen mask with mustard coloured ink.  I used a piece of felt with my Tim Holtz applicator to apply the ink so I had some control where it went.

The patterned paper is by Karen Foster.  I used a border punch and black paper to put the fancy edge on it.

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 The stickers are BoBunny & My little Yellow Bicycle.  The chipboard apple is Crate Paper (found in the school section at Unforgettable Memories)

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 I cut apart a grey Prima pearl swirl and placed it around my big black flower.  I tucked a couple of leaves underneath for a little colour.  I love how dressy the black and grey is. Perfect for these photos.

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 I used another Prima black flower with grey pearls arranged in the center as a topper for my journaling block.  The journaling block is from a pad by My Little Yellow Bicycle.

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The A+ Brad is Crate Paper found in the school section.  The chipboard scalloped circle is by Kaiser and the wood circle is from a Prima package; as is the wood clock in the top left corner of the layout and the wood 'Remember' pennant below the middle photo.

If you have grad photos to scrap get in to Unforgettable Memories ASAP.  The product is going fast.



a Princess is born

I loved this Karen Foster patterned paper as soon as I saw it.  It is so pretty and girly. I didn't want to cover up too much of it so I layered everything under and around my one photo.
This photo is from 1998.  The day we bought our baby girl home.  Her two brothers were so thrilled and happy to show her off to their friend; that little cutie sitting between them.

M,y how time flies. Those two little boys are graduating this year.  And one of those handsome dudes gets to take that little cutie, sitting between them, to the prom. She is still as cute as she was way back in 1998.

My layers under the photo include a Jenni Bowlin bingo card, two pieces of packaging from Prima's flowers, a couple of sprayed and misted tags (one I've journaled on), some cheese cloth, a MLYB journal card and some corrugated cardstock. On the photo I've placed a piece of vellum with 3 butterflies punched out of it, and some word stickers.

On to some closeups...

 I tucked a pretty white, sparkly, Prima butterfly under the flowering branch.

I liked the negative look of the vellum so I used this piece instead of the punched butterflies ~ I'll save them for another layout.

My journaling is on one of the sprayed, misted tags and tucked behind the photo.

I love the Prima flower branches.  I used some of the tendrils from this branch for my previous 'Heron' layout.  It didn't make this branch look any the worse for wear. 
I added a few brown, edged with pink, Prima leaves under and around the flowers.  I liked the colours with this paper.

I was in Unforgettable Memories today and they must have just gotten a shipment of Prima because there are loads of new flowers to pick from.  Lots of these flowering branches in different colours and lots of new flower sets, some with coordinating leaves and different sizes.  I went a little crazy so I will be scrapping with lots of pretty flowers for the next little while.

a quick layout

Happy New Year to all the scrapbookers out there.  I expect you all enjoyed yourselves and have lots of photos to prove it.

I put together a quick layout yesterday and took photos as I scrapped.

I started off with a white sheet of Bazzill cardstock.  I punched 3 stars out of scrap paper and used them as masks with my Espresso and Gold mists for an easy peasy background.

One of the most time consuming things for me is deciding what papers go with my photos and also coordinate together so starting with white cardstock is a real timesaver.

I decided my matting should be a piece of shite mulberry paper.  I love the texture! I chose a couple of fairly neutral patterned papers to use as accents.  One torn strip went along the top of my page.

I used a stamp that simulates a stitched line (much quicker than pulling out the sewing machine and trying to figure out how to thread it) and black archival ink to `sew` my strip of pp to the top of my page.

I cut up some magic mesh into strips and stuck it down along the edge of my matte.  More texture!

You can see the mulberry paper is a little opaque so the ink mist shows through just a little.

Then I put my photos down...

...a couple strips of patterned paper ground them nicely.

I always like to use flowers on my layouts; even boy ones.

Prima has some less `pretty`colours for more masculine pages. The leaves are Kaiser woodcuts. The stickers I have added on are from a Bo Bunny sheet.

Now I just need a title...

...and it`s done.

How`s that for quick and easy?

Crafters Workshop

Have you tried any of the Crafters Workshop stencils yet?  I bought the leafy one along with a couple of metallic mists and made this gorgeous shimmery background.  I tore the page in half and used it to border each end of my layout.

The colour combo is another of the Color Room's challenges. This weeks palette is very pretty.  Check them out and play along.

I've used Karen Foster and Basic Grey patterned paper, green vellum, Prima blooms, Making Memories journal pages & travel tape, and one of my border punches.

Tropical holiday photos.

I scrapped my sister's first Mexican holiday album using the Making Memories vacation line.  It was quick and simple with clean lines. I think I did most of it in a weekend.
But that was almost 3 years ago and I'm really enjoying playing with my masks and spray inks now. I hope she likes this layout as much as her previous ones.

I used a Heidi Swapp hibiscus mask on my background and sprayed it with pink Glimmer mist. Then I found an old package of HS hibiscus rubons so I layered them on top of the misting. They must have been past their 'use by' date because they didn't go on very easily.  I really like the cream on top of the black on top of the pink on top of the white.

The turquoise vellum I wet, scrunched up, then laid flat to dry. I edged it with light blue stickles and then sprinkled a little dark blue glitter on top of that. I thought it looked like a pool of cool rippling water.

The patterned papers are all Karen Foster. I also used some Mulberry paper because I love the texture. And my border punch that I think looks like a sea shell.

The alphabet chipboard is a Basic Grey set.  I love their sets.  You get a ton of letters.  I've used this set a couple times before and I still have lots of e's and a's left for more titles.  I swiped some blue and pink ink across the white so it wasn't so bright.  And then sewed the letters down to secure them. 

The colour combination is from this weeks Color Room challenge #56.

Explore ~ a two page layout

It's been almost a month since I've scrapbooked.  We've been busy renovating our upstairs bathroom and getting ready for spring; I think it's finally here :)

So this is a layout I put together yesterday. I sprayed blue chalk mist over a diecut I had of the days of the week.  And I splattered some green smooch spritz across the page just for fun. Actually my sprayer was clogged and i got annoyed with it and when I twisted off the top to unclog it I was standing over top of my paper instead of doing the smart thing and going to the sink to twist it off there. Oh, well.  The splatters landed in just the right spots so I worked with it.

I couldn't find an alpha I like for the title so I used a mixture of old stickers I had lying around.  Remember the old Chatterbox sticker letters?  The 'o' is a piece of chipboard from a 'boy' themed sheet. (I used quite a few stars from that same sheet to embellish this page). The chipboard 'p' and 'e' were pink and purple.  I tore off the top layer to get the rough chipboard underneath.

I added some left over strips of punched patterned paper (Karen Foster) and a few stars to draw attention to my journaling.  You can just see the 'Mon, Tues, Wed...' that I misted over underneath it all.

I used my 'Swiss Cheese' border punch along the edges of my crab photo. The blue mulberry paper peaks out of some of the holes and from under the border punched paper strips.  I love tearing this paper. It reminds me of the waves foaming as they hit the beach.  And I think the decorative border punch I used on the peach paper looks like seashells.



Karen Foster fishing line

I love this Karen Foster fishing line.  I always have lots of fishing photos to scrap so I picked some up as soon as it arrived in the store.  The word paper has some great titles in it.  I used one of the sayings, 'love to fish' as my title.  I tore out each letter individually and then made a banner out of it with some twine and green BoBunny (I think?) buttons on each end.  I shaped each letter to make it look like it was flapping in the breeze.

The 'fishermens ruler' is also part of the word paper. 

The remaining pieces of this patterned paper I used under my photos.

The bird on a branch is one of the woodcuts by Kaiser. I painted it brown and then used crackle medium to give it some texture.


I used one of my many, rarely used stamps on this layout.  I've been challenging myself to use a stamp on each of my next few layouts.  This is the second layout I've done with a stamped image on it somewhere.  I stamped my bullrush stamp on a piece of green vellum then layered the pieces over other elements on my layout.  I love that the vellum is a little see-thru.
 

Cropping at the Blueberry.

This is another layout I worked on last weekend at the Blueberry retreat. 

As soon as I spotted the Karen Foster wave paper I knew I was going to cut it out. The colours matched perfectly with my photos.  I love the two together.

I took a couple of water themed stamps out with me because I have so many stamps and I rarely use them.  I managed to find a place for both stamps on this layout.  The yaght I stamped on a pale yellow pp and cut out.  Then I popped it in between the pale blue mulberry paper and the waves. The shell and text stamp I used in the top right corner under some other embellishments and again under my Little Yellow Bicycle acrylic journaling piece.

I sprayed Jazz Blue and Frost glimmer mist over one of my scroll glimmer screens. I accented the curls with some little blue Kaiser jewels. The ric rac I scrunched over top of my photos feels like fuzzy terry. The fish beads I've had forever.  I strung them on some Karen Foster black twine and let them play in the waves.

I've also added some turquoise Hambly rubons, foil shells, blue netting, black photo flips and a watch glass with some little seashells underneath (like a little shaker box).

Help with colour

One of the most time consuming parts of scrapbooking for me is deciding on what colours work together.  So when I came across this website I immediately bookmarked it.  The Colour Room puts out a different palette each Friday. 

Here is this weeks palette...

The Color Room also provides a sketch for those of you that like sketches.  I didn't use the sketch on my layout but it's an option I might try in the future.

Did you notice my two little birds?  I made those with the new stamp and punch set I mentioned in my last post.  I'll show you some more examples and how I did them in my next post.

Is it finished?

I was working on this layout last week.

When it was done I hung it up in my entryway and looked at it for a few days trying to decide if it was really finished.
Then I spotted this layout of the very talented Ingvild Bolme had done for Prima and loved the edging she had done.

My sewing machine is still sitting on my dining room table from a hemming job I did last week so I threaded it with some cream coloured thread. I used my heart border punch along the bottom edge of my layout. I found some black cardstock with white text printed on it, (it's been in my paper stash forever) and stitched my layout down. Then I roughed up the edges and swiped some brown ink across the tops.

What do you think?  Would you have left your layout plain or do you think the edging treatment really adds something?

Patterned papers are Bo Bunny and 7 Gypsies.

I bought the Making Memories metal travel pieces just for this layout. Journal spot is also Making Memories.

Hambly Screen Prints rubons ~ love the turquoise swirls in the corners.

Karen Foster jewelled brads. 

And what layout would be complete without Prima.  Blooms and ferns.

Off to work on my '9' layout. 
If you missed the post it is here.
This months prize is a random draw for NINE Gift Card prizes. Woo hoo.  Who wouldn't want to win that?

Karen Foster Christmas Card Kit

New in store are these super fun Christmas card kits from Karen Foster.

As you can see from the picture, this kit includes everything to make 18 different Christmas cards. The Kit includes: 1 metal tin container, 18 blank cards (in 3 colours), 20 cream envelopes, 24 - 4x6 textured cardstock pieces (in 3 colours), 24 - 4x6 Christmas double-sided patterned papers (in 4 designs), 1 clear sticker sheet, 6 Santa die-cuts, 9 yards Scrapper's Floss (in 3 colours), 15 silver & 15 gold mini brads, 12 Jumbo coil brands (in 3 colours) and an idea booklet.

This is a great deal and a nice way to make some Christmas cards to give away or to give the kit as a gift.

Karen Foster and Tattered Angels

I came across the Karen Foster patterned paper on my last visit to Unforgettable Memories.  It has fish swimming all in tones of green.  I tore wavy strips for the bottom of my layout and tucked the top part of a Tattered Angels bingo card(Life) between the layers.

The clouds are Jolees.  I first placed them upside down on the white background, sprayed with blue Glimmer Mist, and then flipped them back over and stuck them down.
I think my banner looks kinda like a sun :)
All the other embellishments are from my stash ~ MM photo corner & little alpha, Pink Paislee chipboard, Prima flowers, Bella Blvd letter stickers...

CHA Arrivals - Day 1

The goodies that Lynette ordered at CHA have started arriving. We will be showcasing a different section each day. Today we are covering paper.


Some people have been asking for some purple paper so we got in these too beautiful sheets. One is from BoBunny and has a glimmer/glitter look to it.


We got some of Karen Fosters new Christmas paper in. The snowmen and Santa's are really sweet but my favourite is the Christmas lights. I know some people say its too early to think of Christmas but how can you not be in the mood with this paper?


The new BoBunny Peacock line. This beautiful paper is double sided and has rich purples and teals. We also have coordinating stickers to go with it.



Baby paper. The paper on top is new from Karen Foster and has some great quotes on it. We also have some sweet Sock Monkey paper in.




School and Hunting Paper. Some of Karen Foster's new hunting and school paper. These great sheets have so many details that there is sure to be something for someone.