Hugs & Kisses | JustNick Design Team

Hello there, and thanks for visiting today!  I'm sharing a layout from April with you where I used a few different cut files on my layout featuring my sweet pea (who's now a junior in high school!).

And you can head over to the JustNick blog to see the fun cut files I used and some fun close-ups.

I used the Scrapbook & Cards Today Daffodil Days card kit for this layout, which includes the Echo Park's Spring Fling collection as well as other goodies. 

I hope you are enjoying your spring!  Enjoy the rest of your week.

Majken

{Chill Out It's Summer} JustNick Design Team Layout

Hello crafty chocoholics!  Welcome back, and happy Thursday.  Today I'm sharing a layout with a couple of photos of us in Puerto Vallarta for my sister-in-law's destination wedding back in 2009.  I used three JustNick cut files and combined them with the bright and cheerful Echo Park Summer Party collection.

I used two different alpha cut files (Outline Alpha and Script Alpha 2) and the sun from Sunny Days.

For some close ups and how I created the title using Silhouette Studio, visit the JustNick blog!

I hope you are having a great summer, and I hope I've inspired you to create your own fun titles using alphabet cut files.

See you soon!
Majken

Summer Refreshments - Creative Scrappers sketch 309

Hello friends!

What is your favorite summer refreshment?  For me, you just can't go wrong with an iced tea.  My layout was recently on the Creative Scrappers blog showcasing my take on sketch 309, highlighting this photo of my morning refreshment on vacation this summer.    

Ahhhhh...well, now I want another iced tea!  Go take a peek at close-ups of my layout on the Creative Scrappers blog.  This Echo Park Summer Fun collection is so colorful and cheery!  

Don't forget to share your take on the sketch on the Creative Scrappers blog for your chance to win a $15 gift certificate to Clique Kits!

Have a great week!

Majken

Our New Happy Place - Creative Scrappers Sketch 298 Design Team Reveal

Hello, hello, lovely scrappers out in scrappy-land!  I hope you have come with a serving of chocolate to see what I (and the rest of the Creative Scrappers Design Team) have designed for you today.  This month we are partnering with Cuts 2 Luv, makers of some really fun badges!  I've used a few on my layout for this month.

In June, our family made the extraordinary trip to Banff, Alberta, Canada.  It was absolutely stunning - our favorite vacation we've ever had the fortune to have.  So much so that it is definitely our new happy place.  For real...we are already hoping to go back. 

So today's layout is in honor of this new happy place of ours.  The photo I chose of me and my husband was perfect to pair with various blues.  I pulled two pieces of paper from the Echo Park Summer Party collection - the ombre "swimming" paper (which is the largest circle in the center) and the pink/blue solid paper - I used the blue side of course.  Here is the full layout: 

To start, I took a piece of AC white textured cardstock and cut a circle from it using my Cameo - it was about 7 1/2" in diameter.  At this point, I played with many different papers and thoughts - it took a while to come together.  Does that ever happen to you?  I hope I'm not alone!  In any case, I settled on using a piece of ombre cardstock from Echo Park's Summer Party called "Swimming Fish" (the B side) and layered that behind the cut circle.  Next I used my Tim Holtz Distress Inks to watercolor the trimmed left edge of my white cardstock.  I layered 4 different colors to help blend the blue from the sky in the photo to the patterned paper and the navy pieces (Dark Blue paper also from Echo Park Summer Party).

To finish the circles, I cut a smaller circle from vellum with gold stars as well as a thin circle from the dark blue paper.  Then I got to stitching!  I used gold thread to stitch around the circles, along the left edge, and in the embellishment area in the bottom left (shown above).  I love that "love" badge from Cuts 2 Luv above and the blue ombre one shown below.

Here's a quick look at the stitching on the left as well as the journaling area.  I used several pieces of ephemera from the Pink Paislee Citrus Bliss.

Here's a peek at our "perfect photo" and my title.  I used alphas from BasicGrey Urban Luxe and Simple Stories then cut the "happy" using my Cameo.

Take a look at the top right embellishment area.  I used "beautiful" from Citrus Bliss and BasicGrey alpha to create "Banff".  I stitched some more and then added some acrylic stars and enamel dots.

Here is sketch 298:

That's all for me - now go create your own version to link up on the Creative Scrappers site.  We'd love to have you play along!  And please check back with the Creative Scrappers blog on Sept. 15th to see what the Cuts 2 Luv team creates!

Have a lovely week and Labor/Labour Day weekend if you are in US/Canada!

xoxo,
Majken


Materials used:
Papers:  American Crafts, Echo Park Summer Party
Distress inks:  Salty Ocean, Evergreen Bough, Faded Jeans, Scattered Straw
Embellishments:  Cuts 2 Luv, Pink Paislee Citrus Bliss, Simple Stories I Am, Jen Hadfield Home Made, American Crafts
Alphas:  BasicGrey Urban Luxe, Simple Stories
Other:  Gold thread, unknown vellum; Gems - Queen & Co and CTMH

Revisiting Independence Days Past

Howdy from Texas, y'all!  I hope you had a fun Canada Day or have a fun July 4th planned!  Other than mosquitos, I'm looking forward to watching the fireworks this year (we are finally not in a drought).  The kids enjoy them so much!  In that spirit, I'm skipping my normal TBT post.  Today's layout is a fun one celebrating my two monkeys on July 4th 2009 and 2010.  I used Echo Park's Independence Day Mini Theme:

I used a pagemaps sketch from the Scrapbook & Cards Today Summer sketches:

After layering the red stars and blue stripes paper, I sewed the rectangle in white and edged the left side of the red star paper in navy thread.  I matted the two photos with white cardstock with inked edges.  I cut two squares with coordinating paper and embellished them using the mini-theme's stickers, some wax thread, some buttons, and some enamel dots.  I added some knotted ribbon in navy and red.  I cut two little white banners to stamp the years on and matched with the appropriate photo.

I added a journal spot, and put a star with a red gem in the bottom right of the page.

I hope you have a great weekend planned and take some good photos documenting your own celebrations, large and small.  

Happy birthday, America!

Majken

Everything Here is Wonderful - CMS / Scrap & Play challenges

Happy, happy Friday everyone!  So excited to be posting this week...work has been H-E-C-T-I-C and I'm ready for my 3-day weekend!  But...I'm sad for the reason we have this weekend so I plan on explaining to our 5-year-old why our American flag will be in the front yard Monday, and we'll have a moment of silence to honor our fallen brave men and women.  I'm making some cards to share with current military via Operation Hugs, too, so I'll share those when they are complete!  

Today I'm sharing a layout I created about my mom and her new horse.  Since my dad passed away, my mom decided that she'd fulfill a lifelong dream she had of owning a horse.  It took awhile to find the right one, but she's had Holly now almost a year, and since this horse makes my mom smile, she makes *me* smile.  :)  Presley and I got to meet Holly in December.

I saw this color challenge on Color Me Scrappy and immediately thought of these photos!  Since the rules say you can add a little of another color, I brought in a little of the red that matches Holly's bridle.

And then I saw this challenge at Scrap & Play and put them together.

For this layout, I pulled out an Echo Park collection called "Note to Self" since the colors really fit nicely with the challenge.

I turned the sketch sideways for my rendition, and used the brown as my base layer.  Then I took the tan grid paper and used my Cameo to cut three identical rectangles out.  I inked the edges of the rectangles, and then layered three different papers in each rectangle. You can see a close up of the blue polka dot paper below.

I matted the photos using the blue polka dot paper and with the top one I sewed to create a pocket to put a pull-out journal tab on, which I used for some private journaling.  I cut a tab out, inked the edges, and then used letters from the collection to spell "pull", which I then sewed over in gray thread.  I adhered the tab to my journal piece and tucked it behind the photo.

I created the title area on the lower left following my turned sketch.  I had a gray pocket page piece with "Everything here is wonderful" that I trimmed to use for the title.  I layered it over several of the Note to Self pieces, including a piece with a negative star that I cut for the bottom right of the layout.  And then I sewed over this section as well.

Finally I created a journal area to put my "public" journaling on.  To finish, I stapled several stars that I cut using my Cameo and Fiskars punches (inked in orange-red to help them pop).  I love the Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher...I even created some chevrons using the staples in the top right of my page!  A couple of bronze star stickers complete the layout.

I hope you enjoyed my layout today, and I hope you are inspired to create something in earth tones, too.  If you do, share with me!  

Happy, chocolate-filled Friday, y'all!

Majken

Mister Carwash

Hello everyone and welcome May - National Scrapbooking Month!  So many fun things happen in May - Mother's Day, my husband's and my anniversary, Memorial Day, our neighborhood swimming pools and water parks open...and the sunshine is usually here to stay in the Houston area.  :)

Today I'm sharing my take on the Practical Scrappers May sketch, and it's focused on my son, Paxton.  Our favorite car wash place is Mister Carwash, and it has a water gun that the kids can spray at the cars as they go by!  So fun for him.

Here's my layout:

And it's based on this Practical Scrapper sketch created by Christine Meyer:

Because of how I wanted my photos to appear, I flipped the sketch like in the mirror.  I love the boyish patterns and colors of the Echo Park "That's My Boy" collection.  My base is the dark blue patterned paper.  The photo base is white cardstock with different colors of paint spattered on it, and I also used some of my favorite Studio Calico Darling Dear chevron vellum.

I applied the plaid strip at the top and sewed along the top and bottom of it.  My bottom strip is the blue patterned paper covered with a strip of the patterned white and light blue paper, which I also stitched through the middle.

One of the shapes in the collection is a slightly elongated hexagon (you can see a small strip of this paper in the top left of my layout under the "Car"), so I found and used that shape in my stash as a journal tag after inking the edge in dark blue.  I grounded the layout by cutting a corner of orange and stitching to the bottom right, and then I added a few embellishments from my stash as well - a vellum star, a button, and a badge.

For my title, I used a retro-looking font and cut "mister" using my Cameo and the white and light blue patterned paper.  I inked the edges in red.  For "Carwash" I used a different font on my Cameo, and because I wanted to use the same dark blue patterned paper, I also cut a mat for it in the white and light blue paper.

A few staples and the layout was done!

I hope you were inspired by my rendition of this sketch...I certainly enjoyed capturing this memory with my son.  :)

Have a wonderful week!

Majken

Positively Cool

Hello Friday, and hello paper crafts people!

My nephew had a birthday a couple of days ago, so I made him a square card using one of my very favorite Echo Park collections "All About a Boy".  I *love* the colors in this collection. This stamped 6x6 card is going to be on the Practical Scrappers blog today highlighted stamped projects.  I used Close To My Heart stamps S1204 (sentiment) and A1150 (chevron).

This was a relatively simple card.  I stamped the chevron in several blue inks to create an ombre effect, and then sewed in orange across the middle of the chevrons and over the various patterned papers.  I outlined the blue patterned paper with stitching as well.  

I stamped the sentiment "You are positively COOL!" and popped it up with 3D foam tape. 

Now I just need to send my nephew the card!  I did text him to wish him happy birthday, but it's not the same as getting something in the mail....even if belated.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Chocolate hugs,
Majken

{Oh So Lovely} - Easter with Echo Park

Happy Friday!  We have one more week until Good Friday, so I thought I'd share an Easter layout with you.  I recently purchased some of the Echo Park Splendid Sunshine Collection from My Scraps & More.  And when I went looking through my older scrapbooks, I realized I never scrapped about Easter from 2006, and I knew these photos would go very well with the collection!  Here's my belated layout for Easter 2006 when my sweet girl was only four years old:

There are times where a layout seems to literally flow from brain to hand without much thought, and this was one of those times.  It may have been because I was in the zone scrapping with two of my best scrappy gals, Heather and Krissy.  Do you have moments like that?  I love it when that happens!

I started with a base of CTMH Outdoor Denim - I felt the colors in Splendid Sunshine would really pop from a dark background.  I knew I wanted to use the blue paper with the white flowers, but I decided I'd save that for the photo areas.  I cut some of the bird/butterfly/banner paper for the main header area and inked the edges in pink.  I fussy cut some of the little butterflies to sew over their matching base butterfly so I could raise the wings to create a whimsical look.

I cut thin strips of the green polka dot paper and the diagonal stripe paper and used them as a base for the "HAPPY" banner stickers.  I topped the banners with various matching epoxy gems.

Next I matted all my photos using the light pink chevron paper, also inked along the edges in pink.  For the main photo with my daughter and her cousin, I made the mat larger for a journal area, and to help highlight it better, I framed it with a square of the green polka dot paper and overlayed it with a thin strip of inked diagonal striped paper, which I then sewed on.

I decided to distress the mats of the blue paper with white flowers for added dimension, and for even more dimension, I created two pinwheels to include on the layout.  The "Oh so Lovely" sticker became my title:

I hadn't ever made a pinwheel from scratch before but I imagined it in my head and this is what I did:

1. Cut a square of your desired paper.  I think I did one 3" and one 2" square for my two pinwheels.
2. Imagine a smaller square in the middle of your square and cut from the outside corner of your square diagonally toward the middle.  Only cut to the outside edge of your imaginary smaller square.  Repeat with remaining three corners
3. Turn one corner up toward the center and adhere it with Glossy Accents, Liquid Glass, or another fast-drying glue.  Repeat with the remaining opposite corners, letting each dry between applications.
4. Cover the glued center area with stickers, brads, dots, or buttons.

I hope you are inspired to create your own pinwheels and create a spring-themed layout. It's my favorite time of the year!!  Now if I could just get rid of my seasonal allergies....

Until next time, my friends, have a wonderful scrappy weekend with a sprinkle of chocolate!

Majken