Fun With Ephemera

 

In this layout about my last birthday, I wanted to include the cards Kelsey and Cole made for me. Being that the cards were so big, I struggled to come up with a design. 

I started with the paper line (the name of which escapes me now), and a large scrap piece gave me the idea to make a pocket to slide the cards into. Getting the pictures and journaling to fit on the smaller space of the front pocket proved to be another struggle for me, but I think it worked out pretty good:

 

A peek at the journaling:

Birthdays are pretty important in our home. The birthday boy or girl gets to pick the supper menu and there's always cake on their day. It's the little touches and details that have always made me feel so special and loved on my birthday. I hope Scott and the kids feel the same on their birthdays too!

Funny Guy....And His Forgetful Mom.....

Hey, long time no blog!

Where do I begin with this layout? I guess I start at the beginning and hope I don't bore everyone to tears in the process.....

So, one morning (I believe it was last summer), Cole was reading Sondra's collection of daily funnies over my shoulder. When we finished, he was disappointed there weren't more, so I handed him the funnies from the paper. Then I, being the good scrapbookin' mama that I am,  shamelessly took advantage of the perfect photo op. And he, being the good son of a scrapbookin' mama that he is,  didn't disappoint! 

  

At some point between then and now, I picked up the vintage-styled newspaper print patterned paper you see at the bottom of the layout. I did not take the time to read the text, it all looked to be advertisements and I assumed it would be all appropriate, family-friendly stuff. It was not until I had cut it out and placed it on the layout that I noticed a couple of the articles. I think the paper may have been copied from an actual old newspaper....and that nobody at the now unknown scrapbook paper manufacturer proof-read it.  I inked up the paper real good and then added  drops of Distress re-inker to the questionable parts....and then added a few more drops to balance it off.
Now, here's where the forgetful mom part comes in. I can't remember if I used a sketch for inspiration on this layout. I thought I did, but it's been long enough and the paper was enough of a distraction that I'm just not sure anymore. I can't find anything in my sketch binder that would fit and although it's similar to a sketch from one of Kathi's challenges, the colours don't work....so I don't know. If I did use a sketch, just know that it was most likely from Pagemaps.

Team Spirit

Another year, another family rivalry baseball game! Scott and Kelsey cheer for the Detroit Tigers, I help Cole cheer for the Toronto Blue Jays. This year, we got to see our teams battle it out in Toronto.

 

 I picked out the two Bo Bunny blue patterned papers specifically for this layout and upon seeing the photos and the papers together, didn't like it. The Rogers Centre is very modern, the papers very vintage. I tried to make it work anyways. The background is cardstock I inked up to match the papers, the journaling spots on the left are vintage labels from the backside of one of the papers. There's a brown patterned paper from Fancy Pants I added from my stash to help square off the photo cluster.
As for the game, the Jays won, allowing Cole and I to enjoy our first-ever victory dinner prepared by Scott and Kelsey at a later date. That layout is still in the works.

She's No Johnny Depp.....

...but Bella made the best pirate of us all!

Just a fun, simple layout I couldn't help but share. The title and skull die cut were all done with my Cricut 'Life is a Beach' cartridge.

 

A Freakin' Good Time

 We went to African Lion Safari this past summer with Scott's mom and sister. If you click on the link, you'll hear the song that Scott had altered into the title on the first layout. If you get it stuck in your head like the rest of us did that day, please accept my apologies!

The title was done with my Cricut, welded with Design Studio. That middle strip was one strip of patterned paper, with an additional diamond strip cut out and pop-dotted over top. For the journaling card, I stamped the leaf pattern with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and embossed the patterned band over top. The same leaf pattern covers the bottom half of the background paper.

 

 

There were so many pictures taken from this day and that's why I divided them into pictures of us and pictures of the animals. The animal shots needed a double page layout, seen below. The title was stamped, embossed and cut out with a co-ordinating sticker pop-dotted in the center. I made the journaling card by fussy-cutting the pattern and sticking it on the side of an inked paper strip.

 



Both of these layouts used papers from MME's Indie Chic line, all of the stamps and stickers were from a zoo-themed Bo Bunny line (though I don't have the name of it at the moment).

One, One, Two, Two.

 

That's one birthday, one scrapbook paper line, two celebrations, two layouts.

All of the paper packs I bought at the last LSS yard sale I attended turned out to be sets. The one set, It's Your Day by FancyPants, worked perfectly for both the birthday layouts I wanted to do for Kelsey.

The first layout showcases the party she had with her friends:

 

 

 

And then there's this one (which I did crop, but must not have saved)  from her actual birthday, which we spent in Toronto for the Tigers/Jays game. Before the game, we had time for supper at Wayne Gretzky's (a miracle in itself, considering I got us lost) where our server discreetly presented Kelsey with this #99 brownie puck. Kelsey was relieved there wasn't a big song and dance like at many restaurants!

Both layouts used pieces of the same 'strips of patterns' paper and a patterned background, unlike my usual cardstock base. The first layout also used two journaling cards, one matted onto another. The title on the first one was already part of the paper, while I stamped and embossed the 'celebrate' on the second.

Yard Sale Results

Today, I went back to Scrapping Turtle to pick up whatever was left of my yard sale items and spend my store credit. Of the $20 of product I dropped off, $15.50 sold with only a pack each of paper and journaling cards left over. After wandering the store, I left with these goodies:

 

I needed a new bottle of my favourite glue  and a Distress Ink re-inker in Broken China, which would have more than used up my gift certificate (especially since I got the big glue bottle), but that seemed so boring. I was eyeing up this journaling stamp set when I dropped my stuff off last week and decided to pick it up along with a few sheets of project-specific papers. All in all, it cost me an additional $21.42 for everything. Looking at the picture, it sure doesn't look like much but the majority of my purchases really are good investment pieces and it all makes me very happy!