Meet Me in the Sunshine

Happy Friday everyone!

Well, I don't know where you are visiting my blog from, but I'm in Texas.  What that means right now is a BOAT-LOAD of rainfall and terrible flooding.  We are fortunate in the West part of Houston to not have experienced any immediate danger to us or our home.  Others have not been so lucky.  So today I wanted to share a layout I created when the rainfall from last fall gave way to a beautiful Texas Wildflower season in the spring.  Bluebonnets are quite beautiful alone, but when they are a sea of blue against a green field, they are pretty close to heaven.

Here is my layout.

I used papers from Webster's Pages "Dream in Color" collection.  The Dream in Color paper caught my eye immediately, and I felt it was the perfect background for the photo of me with the bluebonnets.

I decided to use a sketch by the talented Jennifer Haggerty that was created for the My Scraps & More April Sketchathon - sketch #6.

To tone the background down slightly, I chose a blue cardstock and spritzed it with Heidi Swapp gold Color Shine and cut it diagonally.  I sewed the left and bottom sides of the triangle.

I layered my photo with white cardstock and other papers from the Dream in Color collection and then put my title down using the Amy Tan Rise & Shine Gold Phrase stickers.  Perfect!  You can also me my journaling just below the photo in the bottom right corner.

Here is a close-up of the photo mat with a "dream" tab I punched:

To balance out the layout, I put an embellishment area in the top right of the page, following the sketch.  I used ribbon, punched a banner and heart and used more of the gold Thickers.

Here's Jennifer's sketch:

That's all for me today.  I hope if you are in the South and getting hit by all this rain that you found a small ray of sunshine and beauty in your day.

XOXO,
Majken

{I am} Simply me...on a journey - MSAM sketch #106 reveal

Hi there everyone!  So glad you can visit today for a a layout I created for the My Scraps & More sketch blog for sketch #106 by Ana Castro.  Such a fun sketch with the photo slides that could also be film slides.  I also am absolutely in LOVE with the Simple Stories I AM collection.  Such great colors and elements!  Don't you think they'd be wise to make an "I AM 2" collection like they did for Say Cheese??  Crossing fingers!  Take a look at my layout below and then head over the MSAM sketch blog to see everyone else's creations.  Enter your layout for a chance at the May prize from MSAM!

 Such a fun collection - we storytellers and memory makers just don't get in front of the camera and pages as often as we should!  I started with the base of the brick background.  I took the orangy-pink polka dot paper and cut six photo slides using my Cameo with this cut file...three of my cuts have the "PHOTO" in the bottom.  And I cut one using the black flower paper.

After placing my photo slide cuts and photos out, I just started choosing the ephemera that worked for what I liked!  I cut a few banners, made a few stitches, placed some lacey washi tape, and adhered everything down.

That time that the layout came together so quickly because the collection is that awesome....includes this layout.  :)

Of course, I was compelled to use "I AM" for my title.  My extended title going diagonally from top right to bottom left is "I am simply me on a journey".  

My private journaling spot is hidden, tucked behind the photo with the speech bubble - I used a tag from the ephemera to write what I wanted.  I'm not normally drawn to gold, but it's just too pretty with this collection NOT to use!

I finished the layout sprinkling a few enamel dots around the page.

Have you used photo slides or film strips on a page, and if so, did you like how it turned out?  I must admit this page makes me happy.  :)

Don't forget to play along with the May sketches at MSAM sketch blog for your chance at the May prize!  If you haven't purchased anything in this collection, go grab some soon!

See you soon back again in scrap-land!

Majken

{Life So Sweet} -- My Scraps & More Sketch 105 Reveal

Hi there everybody in scrappy-land!  It's the first Friday of the month (how did it become May so quickly??) and that means another sketch from My Scraps & More!  Sketch 105 is great for one or two photos, and I decided to highlight one photo with me, my mom, and my niece all dressed up for my other niece's wedding.

I am totally crushing on Jillibean Soup's Summer Red Raspberry collection, and I had to go buy MORE.  That's how I roll.  ;)  Paper hoarders UNITE!!  These colors just make me happy!  Go grab yours today using the MSAM monthly coupon which you can find on the Home page.

I *adore* the bubble paper, so I made that my main part of the bottom border area.  I used a B-side piece of BasicGrey's J'Adore paper with the raspberry stripes to break up the bubbles, but I also softened it a bit with a vellum overlay that I punched scallops onto.  The J'Adore paper matched perfectly!  I duplicated the scallops on a final strip of the J'Adore paper, attached a strip of the mint paper with "Days like these make life so sweet", and then I sewed a couple of lines across for more definition.

I fell in love with the 3x4 journal pieces, so I chose the one with LOVE on it and punched out the L, heart, V, and E to spell LOVE on top of the mint strip.  I popped them up with 3D foam tape for dimension, and then I used a bow from my stash (Maggie Holmes) on the top right corner of the bottom border area.  I then placed various sizes and colors of enamel dots on the bubble paper for a fun look.

For the top section, I matted my photo with the stripe paper from J'Adore and then layered on top of two papers from the Jillibean Soup collection and a white doily.  I sewed along the top and bottom of the mint green bubble paper and then used 3D foam tape to pop up my photo.  I created a small embellishment cluster of hearts and an enamel dot on the right side of my photo area, and then added journaling.

For my title, I fussycut "Life so sweet" from another journaling tag and adhered to my layout.  I cut a banner from a third journaling bit with "Sweet" and sewed to my base.  I popped up another heart sticker.

Finally, I filled in here and there with some other mixed enamel dots to tie the top part to the bubbles border on the bottom.

I hope my layout has inspired you to create!  Please check out the work of the other talented designers on the MSAM sketch blog, and don't forget to post your version of the sketch for your chance at a great prize from My Scraps & More:  Echo Park I Love Sunshine papers, alpha stickers, banner stencil, and chipboard.

Have a wonderful May and don't forget to stop in again on May 15th for another sketch!

Majken