Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day, everyone! (Well, for those of you in the US) I am so glad that the weather has been beautiful this weekend for both traveling and backyard BBQs!

Now that it feels like summer is almost here, I wanted to give you all a sneak peek of the June Project Kit. I created a "Summer Fun" mini album using elements of the Scenic Route Grafton Line.

Here's a little peek at the front cover:



This ten page, 8" x 6" mini album is a bright and fun way to record all your favorite summer memories, whether they took place at the beach, the pool or on a fishing trip. I also made sure to include plenty of fun summer accents to embellish your precious photos, while still leaving room for the all-important journaling.

These project kits, along with other papers and goodies from the Scenic Route Grafton line, will be available for purchase at ScrapbooksPlus next month, and will come with a full-color instruction book with plenty of photos and step-by-step instructions so you can complete them quickly and easily in the comfort of your home.

I will post more details and sneak peeks soon -- including the date the project kits will become available -- so keep checking in to see some more of this fabulous line and project!

Baby Minibook

I picked up this chipboard "Baby" minibook at the store last week. It was perfect with this month's Jenni Bowlin kit. And when I saw the pink and blue felt butterflies I knew just what I wanted to do - a minibook to explain to my children how we picked their names, and our family naming "traditions."

I used the polka-dot paper on the cover. After inking the edges I embossed the front with UTEE. I used two coats for a glossy appearance - and to give it extra durability. I used pieces of Hambly transparencies inbeween the chipboard pieces. On the first page I used the word paper --upside down -- with a Jenni Bowlin die cut tag. I journaled inbetween the lines. The pink Creative Imaginations paper made a great frame for my photos. Here's the other interior pages:

PearlEx adds Shimmer! Embossing adds Shine!

This 2 page layout of my nephew's wedding just flew together with the Jenni Bowlin papers in this month's kit. All of the papers coordinate so well! The butterflies were a perfect accent for their outdoor wedding pictures. The music printed paper with the "Love" themed lyrics provided a nice asymmetrical band...especially when it was matted on the shiny blue card stock!

I tried a new technique using my Versamark pen and some PearlEx powder. Just by dipping the tip of the pen into the powder (Super Russet/Series 1) I could actually paint the details of the butterfly. It adds the most wonderful shimmer ...and it couldn't have been easier! After it dries, it is best to seal your work with a spray acrylic, as the PearlEx will come off if touched.

Elegant silver letter stickers came in the kit . To continue that theme, I decided to heat emboss the chipboard accents in silver. After that the gray card stock was just a little too plain, so I also embossed it before using it as a matte for the title and some pictures. I really like the way the texture of the cardstock still shows after the embossing process.

I added one more touch of silver on the second page with a tiny heart-shaped brad to hold the transparency frame in place.

The final touch was a journaling tag. I mounted the photo on the first page with pop dots so it would be easier to slide the tag in and out. The striped ribbon pull was attached with a brad. I cut some flowers from the print paper and used them to dress up the tag a little bit. The journaling stamp is from Autumn Leaves.

Ooops! I almost forgot to mention the Heidi Grace transparent sticker - this kit was packed with lots of accent pieces! "My True Love" was the perfect sentiment for the focal picture and it showed up so well with the white of the bride's gown as the background.

GROW Beautiful Blooms

The GROW Bingo card in this month's kit made a perfect photo matte and led me to the idea for my layout - kinda funny where you find inspiration, isn't it?


The metal arrow accent leads the eye to the rest of the title, which I stamped onto the die cut card. I used a mix of inks on the acrylic stamp to match the pre-printed border and flourishes on the card.

I absolutely loved the diecut paper from Creative Imaginations in this month's kit! I actually did a bit of trimming and piecing to have 3 of the pretty floral edges fit on my cardstock base (look carefully along the bottom edge and you may see my handiwork!).

The ribbon covers the cut edge of the paper and pumps up the floral theme. It also helped to transition to the bright turquoise polka dot paper...turquoise and tangerine...what a great color combination!

I needed to add more flowers, so I cut some blooms from the Jenni Bowlin papers in the kit. Leaving the tiniest white border really made them pop off the page. The chipboard flower was heat embossed to match the turquoise paper and then I added a button and a delicately detailed transparent Heidi Grace sticker for the center. One of the papers in the kit was nothing but words, tangerine in color, and since I tend to be a pretty literal person I quickly found the perfect words and trimmed them out.

The die cut background paper from Creative Imaginations provides a perfect place for journaling...I haven't decided on the details yet, but the lines will make it easy for me to keep my writing straight!

DT Frame for May

If you haven't had a chance to get by Scrapbooks Plus to see the work of the Design Team this month, I've taken the liberty of photographing the wall frame and posting it. Drop by Scrapbooks Plus and check it out.

Sharing a May layout

I really like this line of Jenni Bowlin papers - it's quite versatile. I used the paper with words sideways, much like a stripe. I took a piece of her diecut paper and traced around it to make the shape on the right, inking the edges. I wanted to use the bingo card to frame my photos but it said "faith." No problem! I used stickers from Making Memories to cover the letters and make a new title. Add a few photos, rub-ons, and stamps and I'm done!

For this month's project, I used the Jenni Bowlin kit put together by Erin to create a minibook of our vacation to Cancun. The chipboard book came from Maya Road and I also added a few things from my stash here and there. I painted the edges of the chipboard pages white, added paper and sanded. Other pages were covered with photos, which were edited in Photoshop to include type and printed out on white card stock. I added pockets to some the pages and created a pocket out of card stock (courtesy of Debby Schuh's recent class). For other pages, I adhered photos back to back. The blues were perfect for this project and gave the book that beachy, light feel while the reds added a bit of zing here and there.  (Because you know Cancun's all about the zing. :) ) Click the images to see 'em bigger.

Romantic Heritage for May DT 2-page layout

From this month's DT kit, I created my two-page layout using products from the Jenni Bowlin Tangerine Dream line of papers that comprised most of our materials in the May DT kits. Using pleating and various other techniques borrowed from the Anna Griffin Educational Program that is given monthly at Scrapbooks-Plus, I created a layout honoring my parents marriage. Even though the colors worked well with the papers, I didn't want the photos contributing to this layout being too busy. To keep the photos in harmony with the patterned papers, I hid the color pictures in the pockets on the left page, while displaying the black and white photos on the right. Using the black card stock as background and as mats, the soft hues of the blues in this paper just pop off the page.

shabby May layout

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From the May Design Team kit put together by our first Designer of the Month Erin Saravia, I selected the MME 29th Street red blossom paper with its persimmon reverse side for a fun shabby layout. For a photo mat, I used a corner of the Creative Imaginations red diecut notebook paper that mimics the brick pattern in the photo, then layered under that a cardstock piece bordered with the new Fiskars Threading Water punch.


A narrow scalloped cardstock strip on the left side provides some vertical balance. On the strip is an American Crafts ribbon with a dovetail grain that proved my guide to hand-sew a running stitch in red down the middle for more texture and color repetition. Flowers are Making Memories, Prima and Heidi Swapp. Brads are American Crafts. The numbered tab pieces are cut from a MME diecut, while another MME diecut provides the decorative journaling block.

The cardstock-weight MME 29th St paper stands up well to the sanding, folding and tearing I used to distress it, along with some dry-brush off-white acrylic paint. Folding over the upper corner and tearing in a bit on the left side gave the glimpse of its persimmon reverse side that allowed me to hype up the color combo with some orangey flowers. Small gold metal stars also give a little shine and set off the numbered tabs.


You may notice that the photo caption reads "autumn '08" -- don't worry, I fixed that with just another swipe of paint, writing the correct year '07 over the dry paint patch. And needing some photo corners to accent both the front and back colors of the 29th Street paper, I simply punched them from under the photo mats.

This is the first in our Designer of the Month series, which will continue for the rest of the year at Scrapbooks Plus. Design Team member Erin Saravia put together the DT kit this month and has also designed a project which will be offered as a kit for sale in the store while supplies last. The kit will contain all the materials and instructions for completing the project. Both the project kits and the new Design Team works will be on display in the classroom starting May 15th.
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May's Design Team Kit

The DT kits for May were ready for pick up on Thursday. This months kit is nearly all from the Jenni Bowlin line of papers. So here is where I am so far on my single page layout featuring my in-laws. Some of the papers in my kit seem a bit too bland for my style, so I glammed things up with glitter and Stickles by Ranger Inks.

This paper lends itself well to layering without a lot of bulk. I provided some contrast between my layers with the solid card stock with a glittered edge between the patterened paper to help the page pop. Still need a title, embellishment and journaling, but I think I like the look so far.

For the two page layout, I've scraplifted a bit from an Anna Griffin design used in her Educational Program (classes that I take every month at Scrapbooks Plus!). It's still very much a work in progress involving my all time favorite technique (Bunny and Pam both know I'm only kidding here!)...pleating. I'm using the accordion pleat with a box pleat in the center - which in my current layout is completely off-center so I'm redoing it. Anyway, you can check out the work so far on my blog - Sharon's Scrapbooks.

Crackle Paint

I had picked up some of Tim Holtz's crackle paint and wanted to use it for this month's projects. I thought it would fit in with the distressed look of the My Mind's Eye paper.

So, I took one of these chipboard tags by K&Company, cut it in half, and lightly inked the edges with a sponge and some Distress Ink to bring out all the dots around the edges. Then I coated the interior of the tag with the crackle paint. What I really like about this paint is that it comes with it's own brush, attached to the lid. No cleaning brushes!!

And here's what it looks like after it dries. The thicker your paint is the more crackles you'll get. Double-click the picture to see it larger.

And here's a picture of the finished layout: