Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

I decided to start the new year with a New Year's layout.  And as luck would have it, there was a sketch that I found on the My Scraps & More Sketches.

Isn't that a great sketch?  Here's my interpretation of it.

I stayed pretty true to the sketch, but I moved the main part down and to the right a bit because I wanted to incorporate some mixed media in the top left corner.  Isn't that a fun one?  See a list of materials below.  

How would you interpret this sketch?

Here's to a wonderful 2014 for everyone!  

Cheers and chocolate,

Majken

Materials used:

• Bo Bunny Woodland Winter paper
• CTMH Pacifica and Whisper Ink
• CTMH Glitter paper
• D1572 - My Life stamp set
• C1561 - One-Way Borders stamp set
• Tim Holtz Weathered Wood Distressed Ink
• Heidi Swapp Bronzer Color Shine

Paxton's 5th Birthday

Hello, hello, and ho ho ho!  We're getting close to the holidays, and I am very happy about that!  I'll be posting some Christmas items soon, but before I do, I wanted to share my layout highlighting Paxton's 5th birthday.  Not sure when he grew up so much!!

Tradition in our family dictates the person with the birthday chooses the birthday restaurant.  In Paxton's case, he saw a coupon come in from Rainforest Cafe, and from that day on, he KNEW that's where we were going.

We enjoyed lunch, and we had the big volcano dessert!  I don't think we finished it...it was HUGE.  We took some photos with the animals and of Paxton wearing his froggy eye hat.  To bring out the green in the photos, I decided to use Basic Grey's Bow Ties paper collection.  The Freeze Tag plaid pattern and Four Square black banner papers worked well.  I started with two sheets of CTMH Colonial White cardstock and after deciding where my photos were going to go, I used the Hazel & Ruby stencil-mask Broadside alpha to spell out "Happy" and the "TH" by the 5 (I cut my 5 with the CTMH Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge) in the top left and bottom right of my layout, respectively.

After the black Glimmer Mist was dry, I cut black cardstock and the Freeze Tag patter at an angle for the top of the left page.  

I layed out the patterned paper strips to see were I wanted them to cross the paper, trimmed them, and adhered them, adding little bits and strips to various places.

Next I used the gold side of the Four Square paper to mat two photos.  I adhered everything down and started to embellish - the fun part, don't you agree?!  I used:

- Heidi Swapp clear-pop tags
- Freckled Fawn Black Arrow paper clips
- CTMH Black buttons, Twilight ribbon, gems, brads, and Color-ready canvas alphas
- Studio Calico Classic Calico 3 Kraft Die-cut Frames
- Miscellaneous stamps
- Maya Road chipboard banners (covered with Basic Grey paper)

After everything was complete, I looked at the layout and decided that the "5" should be added back popped up, so I spritzed it with additional contrasting Juniper reinker mixed with water and used pop dots to adhere it. It's hard to see the green mist in the photo, but it looks really cool popped up!

I hope you enjoyed my layout, and I'd love for you to share it!  Have a wonderful, chocolate-filled holiday!!

Majken

Cousins

Howdy y'all!  (See, I can say that because I'm Texan).  :)  Today I wanted to share a layout I did with my kids and their cousins.  I wish we lived closer to them, but I do cherish the time when we do see them.

Isn't this Pebbles collection fun?!  I love the hexagons that make up the flowers in the main pattern of Family Ties.

Some layouts really benefit from a spritz of ink, and this layout is one of them.  I liked the white background, but after laying everything out, I felt that the white was a bit stark.  I used Pacifica re-inker from CTMH to spritz, and the Honeycomb stamp set for my big hexagons (lifted with 3D dots).    My small title was made using Lily Bee Design white letters from Autumn Spice and Echo Park's Alpha Stickers from Photo Freedom Vol. 1.

To balance the patterned paper, I used CTMH Pacifica and Outdoor Denim cardstock.  I finished the layout off with a banner spanning both pages with some letters from the CTMH Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge, some buttons and dots, and finally some machine stitching  with green thread just to tie it all together.

Thanks for dropping by today.  I hope your week is filled with cousins, love,  and chocolate.

Majken

Pretty, new bangs

Hello everyone-

Today I'm posting a two-page layout showcasing my daughter, who just recently got bangs for the first time.  She is so proud of them!  Scrapbook Circle's "My Favorite" kit was the basis for this layout, but I used a lot pieces from my stashes (yes, plural).  I really like Fancy Pants Design's Trendsetter collection in the kit and had some of my own pieces of that collection including the Patterned Photo Frames.  I started with some CTMH Champagne cardstock, and I spritzed CTMH Sorbet reinker and black Glimmer Mist in a diagonal and let it dry.

Next, I layered various patterned paper until I felt it looked right.  I balanced the layout by using the same paper on each page in different ratios.  I admit I used some elements from the previous Scrapbook Circle kit, "Happy Place" including AC's Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm paper and the Heidi Swapp mint alpha.

I covered chipboard stars with black cardstock and distressed the edges.  I ink-distressed the edges of some of the paper pieces.



I used some old CTMH black epoxy hearts, some gems from my stash, and the Maya Road Star Pins (love them!).

To tie the two pages together, I chose CTMH's wide Black Striped Grograin ribbon.  This was a very fun layout to make.

Thanks for visiting today!