Exploring Freeport - A Two-Page Layout along my Scrappy Time Warp

Hi everyone!

I have a new two-page layout to share with you that I created during my last crop visit to Archiver's (not sure I'll ever get over my sadness about it closing) where I dug out my honeymoon pics to focus on.  Well, here we go back in time again along my scrappy time warp to the year 2000.  The place: Freeport, Bahamas.

I chose some photos of my husband and me exploring the city of Freeport.  To pull out the blues and reds in the photos, I dug into my stash and loved the Simple Stories Urban Traveler collection to go along with them.

I chose to use the red in moderation to complement the photos, and to offset the red, I chose to use the blue papers as my background.  I chose red for my stitching and used the gray paper and some gray embellishments to help ground the photos separately from the blue backround.  To help round out the layout, I included my favorite vellum - the chevron vellum by Studio Calico from the Darling Dear collection, which you can see on the left of this close-up:

I love the look of the stitching on layouts.  The nice thing is that it doesn't have to be perfect or straight!  It can overlap, zig zag, etc.  Below I machine stitched over the vellum frame from the Basic Grey Capture photo frames pack and topped it using my Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher (one of my favorite scrappy gadgets!!).

On the right-hand page, I put a subtitle of "Look, See, Do" by fussycutting the circle letters from the patterned paper. layering them over some fussycut arrow borders, and stitching over them.

I finished the layout with a title cut using my Cameo ("Exploring") and the letters from the Simple Stories Sn@p! letter pages ("Freeport").  Finally, I did some journaling in the photo frame in the bottom right and stitched around that one as well:

I hope you enjoyed today's 2-page layout!  Thanks for visiting.  

See you soon!
Majken Pullin

Blog Hop Giveaway Winner!

Hi everyone and happy Tuesday!

As promised, here is my blog hop giveaway winner with help from random.org:

***Sue D.***

Sue's favorite thing about February: "all the birthdays including my first grandchild on Valentine's day 8 years ago."

Sue, please send me an email to majkenmarie at yahoo dot com stating you are my blog hop winner.  I'll order you the gift card as soon as I receive your email.  You have until midnight Central time on Friday, Feb. 21st to claim your prize.

Thanks to everyone who hopped along, commented, and joined my blog!  It really made my first blog hop a fun one.  

The next Practical Scrappers blog hop is scheduled for Friday, March 21st.  And check back this Friday for a new two-page layout!

{LOVE and be loved} - A Scrap Your Stash Blog Hop with Practical Scrappers -- And a Giveaway!!

Welcome, welcome to the Practical Scrappers "scrap your stash" blog hop!!  You should have arrived here from Lanette Erickson's site.  How about a $20 GIVEAWAY to keep the fun going?  Check out my project and learn more about it at the end of this post.

Grab some chocolate...today I am sharing a layout based on the theme "Love" and using my stash of Pink Paislee "Secret Crush" collection (Heartbeat and Endless Love papers) and some Glitz Designs "Love You Madly" collection.  My daughter has a February birthday, and because she is my HEART, it's very fitting to use Valentine's themed papers for a layout.

This layout was incredibly fun to pull together.  I started with the Secret Crush papers and knew I wanted to use the side with the heart banners....ADORBS!  I trimmed the bottom off to create space for a heart footer.  I framed it by first inking all edges with CTMH Hollyhock ink and then matting it with CTMH Slate cardstock, leaving more room at the bottom. 

We had two photos from Presley's birthday dinner, and they fit nicely in the gray polka dot Secret Crush frame.  I created the pink polka dot frame from the other piece of Secret Crush I had because I wanted it to stand out from the distressed brown/gray polka dot background that I took from the Love You Madly paper pack (I popped up this photo with some 3D tape).  To create the bottom layer under the photos, I took a rectangle of the pink paper and cut the shallow triangle to create a banner look.  I took the triangle piece and moved it to the right of the photos to create the arrow effect.  I inked the edges with Slate ink, and then once I had the mat down, I machine stitched over it.

I concentrated on the footer next and used the CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge to create the solid and outline hearts using the same paper pieces used above.  I spread them out so no two patterns were near each other, and then I machine-sewed through them with gray and pink thread.  Aren't our silly faces funny??

I had a leftover Maya Road Vintage Heart clip on my desk, and when I put it on top of the solid heart, I loved how the shapes matched so well!!!

Once I had the base down, I focused on the embellishments.  The banner on the paper was pretty on its own, but I added some Slate polka dot washi tape, a few other hearts, some Basic Grey candy buttons, some leftover Studio Calico sequins, a "love" sticker from Jillibean Soup's Wise Words, the "we are perfect together" sticker from Pebbles, and stamped hearts and arrows.

Going through my stamp stash, I came across the "Love and be loved" stamp from CTMH's C1385 Charmed set (retired).  I cut the "Love" apart from the rest of the phrase (I LOVE being able to do that with acrylic stamps!) and then stamped the "and be loved" in Slate ink, followed by the "love" using Hollyhock ink.  Love this title!

I finished with some lace ribbon and other embellishments as well as journaling on the page with my thoughts on my daughter turning 12. I hope you were inspired by my project!

Giveaway!

  

I'm giving away one $20 e-gift certificate to the My Scraps & More online store!

All you have to do is:

1. Become a member of my blog with Google Friend Connect or Bloglovin AND
2. Leave a comment on this blog post telling me what your favorite thing is about February

Easy, peasy!  You have until Monday, Feb. 17, 2014 at 9am CT to enter for your chance to win. International entries are welcome. I will randomly choose one lucky winner and announce it here on my blog on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014. Good luck, and thanks for visiting!

Now head over to the talented Erin Morehouse's blog for your next stop. 

Full Practical Scrappers Blog Hop List

Practical Scrappers

Krissy Clark

Christine Meyer
Kim Ryden
Patty Selah
Charity Hotrum

Lissa Mitchell
Jennifer Haggerty
Alison Day

Bobbi Smith

Michelle Johns
Kerri Yarus

Cathy Harper

Nicole Laha
Lanette Erickson

Majken Pullin  **You are HERE**

Erin Morehouse

Lisa Peeples
Claude Campeau
Wendy Coffman
Lee-Anne Thornton

Exciting News!

Hello everyone!

I have some super-exciting news!  I've been asked to join the design team for the Practical Scrappers.  I am so beyond excited. Christine is the wonderful person who keeps it all organized and working smoothly, and she's an amazing papercrafter!  Check out her blog if you haven't already and give her some love.  I was introduced to Christine and the team by my friend Krissy (who I was introduced to by my friend Heather!).  Check out both of their blogs too, because they're both FABULOUS!

I don't have a project to share with you today, but my first project with the Practical Scrappers team is participating in a blog hop that starts Feb. 14th.  The theme is "Use Your Stash" and "Love".  How awesome that I get to dig into my HUGE stash of paper (have I mentioned I'm a hoarder?) and create something around "love".  I think you'll like it!  PLUS, I'll have my first giveaway during the blog hop.  

I'll be signing up for more projects with them soon, so check back and check them out.

Until then, chocolate hugs!

Majken Pullin