From This Day Forward

Okay I finally broke down and forced myself to open my box of wedding photos and pic out one of the precious moments from that day and scrap it.... yes I put sticky glue all over the picture, front and back! I know some of you are gasping... Oh my!!! But to calm your nerves and mine... lol. I used a duplicate and I have the negatives. This is one reason I chose the photo I did. Now, the anxiety I had about beginning this project stems from the importance of this event. It was one of the happiest days of my life and I still seven years later tear up as I look through these pictures. I did not plan this but I finished this layout the morning of our seventh year anniversary. The date on the LO though is for our formal wedding in September not the Justice of the Peace one we had in March. Technically we have said our I Dos three times and I joke with my hubby that we should renew our vows in every state we live so we can collect the licenses... hehe if they would issue them to us that is. Lol. Well with out much further adieu here is the layout that begins a very large project for me and opens up my scrapbooking world to the elegant, romantic and sophisticated side instead of the playful, childlike youth side.

I created this for the monochromatic challenge for the Coordinates Collections March Madness Cyber Crop I attended this past weekend. I was shocked when I was done to realize I used only two.. yes TWO pieces of Cardstock. No patterned paper... just cardstock. I did lost of new techniques in this and I will be filling you in on those in a minute. The trick in my opinion with a monochromatic layout is to balance texture, patterns and dimension. I will go over these in a bit. Lets get started on the juicy details.

Background:
Ok this is an easy one... white cardstock... NEXT... just kidding I actually have to type techniques in the area this time. So here it goes. I took a thick cardstock scrap and cut a diamond out of this. I used it as a template to create the cream colored diamonds with Stampin Up Cream Craft ink. I did this about 1/2 of the page leaving the few diamonds in the center of the page to fade into the bottom right half. This is best seen right above the upper left corner of our wedding photo. After waiting for this to dry I took my piercing tool and my hole template and poked holes all along the edges of the diamonds. I threaded cream DMC floss through these holes and added one iridescent bead to each stitch. This took forever! Literally ... about 1 1/2 to two hours. But it looks great and it is so elegant.
Out of the cream cardstock I used the cricut to cut a 4" damask type pattern. I created this three times to back or mat the photo and to add a pattern and texture to the right side of the page. I took my white pen and added some doodling on top of this die cut patterns. I adhered them to the page.
Lastly on the main cardstock I took my Tim Holtz mask and used it along the bottom of this page. Once in place I used a cosmetic sponge (they are cheep at the dollar store) and applied versa mark ink around the mask. Once this step is complete I quickly removed the mask and sprinkled an iridescent glitter embossing powder. Heated it up with my handy dandy heating tool and wow... I love the result.
Embellishments:
Upper right: of the layout I have a journal box that reads "To have and to hold from this day forward." This is from a pre-printed wedding embellishment pack from Creative Memories... it was part of my old stash. I added some dry embossing onto this piece of paper and edged it in gold.. up.. you guessed it ... my gold Zig Painty Pen.. which by the way is dieing and drying out... I don't know what I am going to do. I think I got it from Stampin' Up, I cant find them in the stores. Sorry I just panicked there for a second...lol. Back to the subject. I embellished this box with an American Crafts chipboard shape I edged in gold also and some cricut die cuts from the Home Accent cartridge. The little heart with the DMC floss stitched around it is a punch from Martha Stewart's Valentines line. Last but not least.. a prima flower centered with a pearl, in the corner. I popped this up off the background cardstock due to the thickness of the beading. I used the foam squares to do so.
The Bottom Left: The main focus of this cluster is the large 4" damask pattern behind the embellishments. All of them by the way are the same as the upper left. This pattern is the same as the ones I used behind the photo, however it is cut out of white cardstock. I finished this one with spray adhesive and Stampin' Up's clear micro beads. I lifted this off the page with foam squares cut into little pieces due to the intricacy of this design.
Right side: The rhinestones are prima say it with crystals. After putting the photo on the page over the cream damask pattern I also added the shear ribbon along the right of the page. Placed the crystals over all that and embellished more along the right with the cream velvet ribbon, cardstock hearts and flowers. Some of the hearts are stamped with versa mark with a toile type design from Stampin' Up. I also added the frame embellishment with our wedding date in it. Again this was a cricut die cut shape cut in white cardstock and backed with the cream.

Thanks for looking and sharing in this huge step for my scrapping. I feel better knowing that I can scrap this event and I like the result.

Family Portrait

What a Terrific Tuesday! I have a some fun and wonderful news... Several things actually!

First off I am going to be a stinker and share with you all my new layout first... hehe. This is one I did this weekend over at Coordinates Collections March Madness Cyber Crop (MMCC). Which brings me to my first set of good news... I know I cant keep quiet... I said I would share later but this is exciting for me too. I won the grand prize for the crop and get two free kits from them!!! Got to love that. They are really a great bunch of ladies over there and if you have not checked their message boards yet, and want a relaxing and fun place to hang out and get inspired, you need to head on over. Background:
All these papers are from the Memory Stor. I love this bulk pack I got at COSTCO!!! Yes it is thick double sided cardstock and came in a great accordion file case. LOVE IT!
The main 12 x 12 is actually the blue denim style textured paper. I then layered the brown texture over that as a frame. I simply cut a 6 x 6 hole out of the center of the brown. Before adhering it to the blue I stitched around the edge in three colors and inked the edges with a brown ink. The only other layer of patterned paper is the stripe boarder. I created this with a boarder punch and four 1 1/4 " pieces of paper. I also trimmed these down to 11" long. I lined them up and mitered the corners. Inked the edges with the brown ink I used already and glued them together to create the frame. Before adhering it to the brown paper I laced the ribbon. Tied the ribbon in two corners. Then tacked it down to the background papers.
Embellishments:
These are simply leaves and flowers cut on coordinating cardstock with the cricut. I added a few sheer prima flowers behind the navy cardstock flowers. I took my gold marker and went to town doodling.
Title:
The word family was cut out of navy cardstock and traced with the gold Zig painty marker I love so much. The "portrait" was created with some stamps and coordinating patterned paper that was used to finish the grunge board plate.
Journaling:
I had wrote about the day and MeMaw taking the pics along the small brown strip ... it is in tone on tone ink pen so hard to see in this pic. But that is how I like my journaling... quietly there.

I have more from the crop I will add as the week goes on. Thanks to Coordinates Collections for such a fun weekend. I got my mom in CO to attend and we cyber cropped together over the internet and phone... hehe.

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!

Here is the announcement of the day!!! You might have noticed a new little logo in the upper right hand corner of my blog. Last week I was approached by Marisol Jiminez from Scrapbook News and Review. She offered me a staff position on their wonderful online magazine. I needed to chat over the decision with my hubby who was out of town at the time. She let me see how well they work under the pressure of a deadline this weekend and I must say I was really impressed. Lots of long hard tireless hours put into every issue and yet they still remain pleasant and respectful to each other. As of yesterday when all of the dust had settled from the March Issue debut, I emailed her to let her know I was ready to accept the staff position.

There it is folks... I am officially a...

Staff Member for Scrapbook News and Review!!!

You can find me on the Message Boards!!!

You can be published too... check out what projects and layouts we are looking for in our April Issue!!!

Wanted

Ok, ok, I have titled this post about two things but it worked so well together...lol. This is going to be a long one so take a moment and get a cup of tea or coffee and come settle in for some scrappy goodness, Eye Candy and giveaways.
First off I wan to share with you my new Scrappiest layout I did for Liz over at The Scrappiest Blog. Her sketch inspired me to create an interactive page. It has been a while since I have done one and I do love engineering them ... lol. If I can have the title of "Paper Engineer" I would put it on my ATCs. I love origami and if you all have not seen my Allspark Cube invitations for my son's last birthday party... oh my, you have not! They are 3D allspark cubes and so cool. Well I try to post them up this week. I am digressing now, sorry. Back to the subject. Here is Liz's sketch of the week and my take on it.
WANTED - Two cute kids watching the Fiesta day's Parade. These are my beautiful babies... just give me a moment to be a proud mommy... hehe. Every year we go to the Fiesta Days events here in our Loverly town of Vacaville CA. This is such a major event and we love to attend it... we kinda don't have any choice though. The parade grand stands are about two blocks from our house and people always block us in the driveway. No Worries, though we just walk on over with our drinks, snacks, sunscreen and chairs early to save our spots. This year my Debonair husband was away on deployment protecting our country. Our wonderful landlords took the kids and I under their wings and let us chill with them during the festivities. The adults had Mimosas in the morning and Margaritas in the afternoon over at their house. This day was full of fun colors and Bright Skys. After the parade we head over to the town park where we ride on the Carnaval Rides and enjoy the music and other booths. I could go on for a while about how much fun we have there every year, I will stop for your sake and this long post...lol. On to the Details!!!!
No detail shots today I want to talk about more of the look of this piece rather then the lack of detail... oh wait... you said you came here for details. Well I got plenty of very detailed work I did at the crop this weekend so stay tuned this week for more of those projects. This one is about texture and interaction.
Background: This started with a brown cardstock with a scratched up pattern to it under all the western goodness. I then took a taupe colored cardstock distressed the edges and crumpled it up a few times until it would not lay flat...hehe. I inked this up with my brown ink pad so that the high wrinkles picked up the ink. I then distressed along the top and bottom with my crop-a-dial in both sizes and another standard hole punch. I love the way that turned out.. looks like someone shot a shotgun through it. The red bandanna paper was cut to shape and inked around the edges and adhered with foam adhesive to pop it up away from the BG papers to let the photo pull out set behind it.
The "Wanted" title and poster was from a western patterned paper I had in my stash. I cut it out and inked the edges. I used Ranger's walnut distress stickles on the letters and cut around the horse's head to insert the bottom left corner of the picture.
Embellishments: The Sheriff's badge was from that western patterned paper as well I just cut it out and also used the distressed stickles on it. The flowers are prima, however I inked them with a water soluble brown ink and then placed them into a water mixture of brown ink and water. This aged and discolored them so they would coordinate better with this theme. I folded one in half behind the horse's head and cut the red bandanna flower out of one of my scraps. The other flowers are clustered and layered together in the corner with a cactus and a spur from, yup you guessed it the western patterned paper. I created out of a thin twine one of the flowers in this cluster.
The snaps I have had in my stash for quite some time they are old K & Company. I added a ribbon along the top of them so to help coordinate the ribbons used in the photo pullout.
Journaling: I typed this up on the computer. Printed it on a cream colored cardstock. Inked it directly with my versa mark ink pad and chalked it with two different browns and a rust. I Cut them out and inked the edges. I love the way this style of journaling looks.
Photos: The front photo has a cool effect I thought of late last night. I had these already printed and did not want to photo edit them. However I hated looking at the knees and legs of the people sitting behind my beautiful babies. I cut a piece of vellum the size of my photo and placed it over the top. I traced the outline of my kids lightly with a pencil and then removed the vellum from the picture. Placing it on my self healing cutting mat I used my exacto knife to cut along the line I traced. Placing this back on the photo it created a photo editing look and now my kids and my daughter's monkey are back in front at the center of attention. She is such a Animal Fanatic. I also stamped the design at the top and then cut the mat around the photo. Once the design was dry I took the Ranger walnut stickles and went over the brown cardstock. Leaving the cream ink to show through.
The Photo Pull Out: I saw this angled paper in the back of the sketch and new immediately this was going to be an interactive page. I took the other three photos I loved from the day and matted them with coordinating paper, inked the edges and punched a few corners.I used my crop-a-dial to punch and set the eyelets into the four holes in the top photo for my ribbon pulls and two holes in the bottom and top of the other photos also. Once the eyelets were set I just started adding ribbon. I used my tan stain ribbon to connect the photos together. I added a sentence of journaling on the top photo and folded it up and placed it back into the page.
I hope these how to dos help and inspire some creative thought for you. I love sharing these with you all and I cant wait to share the projects from my first cyber crop with you. I will add them once a day this week.

The GCD STUDIOS CALL part of my title... hehe - Ok, on to the last thing I wanted to chat about with you ... GCD Studios has opened their doors to us all and has decided to hold a Design Team Call. The call ended on Saturday and they are having events on their blog all week as they go though the selection process. I have to admit I was extremely excited when I saw the call the night Heidi posted it up. I put together my best work and a fun cute application and sent it in within the first few hours it was opened. I try not to set my hopes high since there are so many wonderful scrappers out there, (471) to be exact as Heidi posted this morning, that would love this opportunity just as much as I did. WOW, yes 471 it the amount of applicants that sent in for the call and since Heidi loves to shake things up and have fun, just like the papers and products they produce, she is having a give away today and tomorrow being the **dum da da dum** call day even more goodies will be handed out at the event as they call all the new design team members to congratulate them! As you have noticed throughout this post I have random words linked. Well if you go click on them it will take you to the fun and fabulous lines of the GCD Studios. So go check out their blog today and tomorrow and see how GCD is bringing the fun back into scrapbooking!

I am here but I am working on an online crop!

This weekend is pretty full for me. Friday I started an online crop that would included Fri- Sun. However I have a very special day on Saturday. My Hubby and I are celebrating our seventh wedding anniversary. Yup that is right seven rough, hard and challenging years, but we made it this far and are still in love. We have had many many wonderful times together also... hehe, my scrapbook pages are full of those moments. You will see more of those in the next week as I get some of my layouts, I have been working on with this crop, posted. "For better or for worse right"... hehe. I do still love him so much and the life we have created together. Some say that if you can make it past year seven years you can spend the rest of your life together. Well if that is true we are in the final stretch and having fun playing the game. Here are some pics of the kids and us on our little outing and dinner celebration.
We drove down to San Francisco and went to town. We headed into this old vintage coin arcade called Musee Mecanique and had a blast looking at the wonderful, antiques that were still working and interactive. There are some pics in the slide show of that and there also are some of our dinner at the Rain Forest Cafe. We had such a blast and they even sang to us... "Happy happy anniversary from all of us to you..." Oh I am sooooo glad I don't work there.... "VOOOOOOLLLLLLCCCCCCAAAAANNNNNNOOOOOO"! If you have been there you know what I am talking about. Hats off to those who do! Money has to be good...lol.

So here they are ... the future scrapbooking subjects and photos.