Kyoto Garden

Four more days to study for this stupid exam...bleargh!  And here's one more scrapbook layout.  Man, I can't wait to get back in my craft room for some fun creative time.

You can see my original blog post about these pictures here.  I love that picture of the two ladies dressed up as geishas (we had the distinct impression that they were just playing dress-up and having a photo shoot rather than being real geishas); I had a 5x7 of it but silly me I forgot that when I was working on this layout.  Oh well.  We've also got an enlargement of that picture hanging up in our living room.

Thanks for stopping by today!  Now back to studying, ick.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Four Frames, Kanji
Ink:  Baked Brown Sugar, Wild Wasabi, Blue Bayou, Night of Navy marker
Paper:  Baked Brown Sugar, Very Vanilla, Porcelain Prints DSP (retired)
Accessories:  Decorative Label punch

Venice

Ok, so posting all these pics of the scrapbook layouts I did in October and November is making me itch to get back to scrappin', so I'd better pass this exam in one go so I don't have to worry about studying anymore.  Let's take a trip to Venice, shall we?

I had too many good photos for just one layout so I did two.

You can see the pics bigger and my original blah-blah about them here and here.  Meanwhile, I should be studying.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Morning Post Alphabet
Ink:  Island Indigo, Soft Suede
Paper:  Pistachio Pudding, Island Indigo, Calypso Coral, Gumball Green, Venetian Romance DSP
Accessories:  None

Nachos: Straight to My Heart

Happy Tuesday!  Ready for another Nacho Average Sketch Challenge?  Here it is:

I won't lie, this one *was* a challenge for me!  But here's what I came up with:

New product alert!  I used one of the super-cute Valentine stamp sets, Love You More, for the main image and some Retro Fresh DSP from the brand spankin' new Occasions catalog to go with it.  I took my color combo straight from the DSP:  Coastal Cabana, Tangerine Tango, and Baked Brown Sugar.  Lemme tell ya, I am LOVING the DSP in the new Occasions catalog; I got one of every set except High Tide (which I might get later anyway to go with my seashell stamps, haha!).

So that's it for me today, let's see what you've got!  Check out the other Nachos' cards on the Nacho Average Challenges blog and then give the sketch a whirl!  Ta-ta for now, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Love You More
Ink:  Coastal Cabana, Tangerine Tango, Baked Brown Sugar
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Baked Brown Sugar, Very Vanilla, Retro Fresh DSP
Accessories:  Corner rounder & 1/2" circle punch, Brights Candy Dots, Coastal Cabana ruffled trim, Circles Collection Framelits

Glastonbury Abbey

So I've got one more week from today until I take that dreaded comprehensive exam, urgh!  I haven't studied all weekend either, so it's time to hit the books.  But next week I can start posting all-new stuff again instead of dipping into my draft post pile :)  So here's a scrapbook layout (click to embiggen):

In 2011, hubs and I took a road trip to Cornwall and then up to Warwick and Stratford-upon-Avon; Glastonbury Abbey is kind of between Cornwall and Warwick and is supposedly where King Arthur and Queen Guinevere are buried (according to one very PR-savvy monk who used the tale to raise lots and lots of money to rebuild the abbey after a disastrous fire).  You can see my original blog posts (and lots more pictures of the abbey ruins) here and here.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Four Frames, Hello Lovely
Ink:  Night of Navy, Summer Starfruit, Marina Mist, Garden Green
Paper:  Night of Navy, Smoky Slate, Whisper White, Sycamore Street DSP
Accessories:  Decorative Label punch, Oval Framelits

Friday Flashback: Dream Come True

Hey, it's the first Friday Flashback of the new year!  And I've got a lovely stamp set to feature today, it's Dream Come True, which is appropriate since Valentine's Day is right around the corner.  So let's flashback!

This is from way, way back before I was a demonstrator; we did this at a stamp club held by my upline.  I still think it's cute, though it would be better if the Whisper White ink pad was inked up better.

Made this one for my hubs when I was still pretty new to stamping, I mean come on that color combo!  Not working.  The other hearts are from Happy Hearts and the "love" is stamped with the lower case Whimsical Alphabet.

Ok, so here's my favorite creation with this stamp set, and it's a CAS card.  I think it took me two or three tries to get the stripey background bit and the "dream come true" stamped where I wanted them on the Shimmery White card base, but once I got that part done right I totally loved this card.

I made a little 8x8 new mom advice book for a baby shower, and this was one of the layouts.  The smaller hearts are from You & Moi, and I had fun looking up lots of baby quotes to go in this book.

So that's it for the flashback part, here's today's new card:

Now *there* is a color combo I can get on board with:  Strawberry Slush, Pear Pizzazz, and Lavender Lace.  SU! needs some new mid-tone purples that aren't tinged gray (though Wisteria Wonder can be lovely).  I think SU! needs more purples, period, and maybe a great emerald green.  I'm excited to see what this year's new In Colors will be in a few months.

So that's it for today's Friday Flashback, hope y'all have a great weekend!  I gotta go either clean my house or study.  It's really a toss-up.

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Dream Come True
Ink:  Strawberry Slush, Pear Pizzazz, Lavender Lace
Paper:  Strawberry Slush, Shimmery White
Accessories:  Dimensionals

Shanghai Zoo

Just for funsies, I thought I'd share another scrapbook layout featuring Missy and Bennet today, this time from our 2010 trip to China.  I've had the photos printed out for probably a couple years now, but I hadn't scrapped any of them.

Until now.

YAY CHINA PICTURES!!  Oh sorry, that was loud : )  But I'm excited to have started my China scrapbooks!  You can see my original blog post for these pictures here and I wish I'd printed out the photo of the tigers snuggling after their fight, but I didn't.  But on the left page alone, I referenced the Wizard of Oz, one of the funnest songs ever, and Baylor University (all four of us are Baylor grads, though Missy and Bennet are more gung-ho fans with more school spirit than me and hubs).  Click on the photo to see it larger.  I'm so happy with how these pages turned out!  Can't wait to finish up this comprehensive exam so I can get back to creating more pages...until then, I'll be posting some older projects I hadn't gotten round to yet.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Rough Type Alphabet, Circle Circus
Ink:  Midnight Muse, Garden Green
Paper:  Marina Mist, Midnight Muse, Dusty Durango, Whisper White
Accessories:  Apothecary Accents Framelits, Pagerz lettering template

Round 1

I want to get the New Year started off with a scrapbook layout in the hopes that 2014 will be a very scrappy year : )

More Japan pics, this time from 2009 when we went to this place called Round 1 with our friends Missy and Bennet (we made them a calendar for Christmas with a bunch of pictures of our adventures together in Japan, China, and Spain, including one with them and my hubs on those little bitty bikes that was totally hilarious).  You can click on the photo above to see the layout bigger, or check out this post on Snapdragon to see the individual pictures.

For the title, I used the largest circle Framelit and the letters are my old trusty Sizzix alphabet.  I knew exactly how I wanted to do the title, so I just had to figure out how to do a giant 1--finally I printed off a numeral in 350-point font--Cooper Black, if you're interested.  I found out that of the dozens and dozens of fonts I have on my computer, Cooper Black is just about the only one with an interesting-looking numeral 1.  So I printed it, temporarily adhered it to a scrap of Brilliant Blue, and cut it out, which is the same method I used to cut out Okinawa on this page (twice, because I also did Part 2, which is definitely a symptom of my insanity because it took forever the first time and I still did it again).

Anyway, the color combo on this layout was inspired by one of my favorite tee shirts:

I have quite the collection of Eskimo Joe's shirts.  What tickles me about using this shirt as an inspiration is that in the pictures, I'm actually wearing this next shirt:

I thought the Brilliant Blue worked pretty well with the pictures.  So there's a lesson for you--clothing is totally inspirational for scrapbook pages.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps:  My Paper Pumpkin welcome kit (splotchy stamp on the green circle)
Ink:  Whisper White, Brilliant Blue
Paper:  Brilliant Blue, Real Red, Green Galore, Whisper White, Rainbow Sherbet DSP
Accessories:  Circles Framelits, old Sizzix alphabet, Curly Label punch