Rainbows in the Neighborhood

In June of 2013 my dad and I went out for a bike ride after it rained. It was still misting when we left, but we wanted to get out for a little bit. The entire time we rode, there was a rainbow, and at some points a double rainbow. When we got home -almost an hour later- it was still out, so I grabbed my camera.

The paper in this layout is from Echo Park's Hello Summer line. I had some leftover from a rainy vacation, and it has been so fun for a variety of spring and summer layouts. This was a progressive challenge- so the first part was to gather 5+ coordinating papers, and one picture. Then we cut the large and small circles. Then we arranged. Then embellished. This over a series of a three day crop.

 

 I decided to add a few extra embellishments with the help of stickles and some iRock gems.

Here's to spring coming. We had two warmer (35!!!) days this week. And then a whole bunch of ice. And back to single digits next week. 

A New Canvas Creation

Running a little late on my blog post this weekend. Life has been crazy busy. Work, grad school, and attemping to have a life. Throw in being sick and hurting my other foot, and there just isn't enough time in the day. 

It's been either non stop freezing weather here (AKA 43 days since winter started below 0) or non stop snow. Our "inch" last night went over my ankle this morning, and resulted in very wet pants and socks during church this morning. We are looking at another winter storm tonight. Our summer keeps getting pushed back more and more. 

On Valentine's Day, I met up with Rita from my crop group to try our hands at mixed media. I did a canvas back 6 months ago, and have been itching to try another one. I was planning springy with a bird, besides that I didn't have an exact plan. 

 To start off I covered my canvas with paper from an old book, using modge podge.

Then I covered in with gesso to lighten the color.

From here I stopped remembering to take pictures. Partially because my fingers were all dirty and I didn't want to keep touching my phone. I used Jenni Bowlin's Speckled Egg paint in the paint dabbers. I tried to paint in circular fashion.

The raised elements started with Faber Castell Modeling Paste. On the branch I used a Heidi Swapp stencil from her new line, and colored with her Chartusese spray ink. On top I used an Artist Workshop Stencil from Balzar design, along with gold Heidi Swapp spray ink.

 I hand fashioned the bird myself, with an idea from Pinterest. I used Tim Holtz ink with the sponge applicators to color-my colors were Concord Grape, Dried Marigold, and Tumbled Glass. My pen was a Pitt Pen from Faber Castell. Eventually I traced around the branch and colored with my CTMH Metallic Markers inside.

After this my phone was forgotten. In the top right I used the Rose and Peach Heidi Swapp sprays to add color. The paper along my page is Basic Grey's Sweet Thread's line. This is retired, but it is part of the "Best Of" Collection at Hobby Lobby.

 Later at home I added the quote and did some stamping. I really struggled along with right side, and have at least 5 things underneath that I hated and covered up. It was oozing gelatos, modeling paste, spray ink, and gesso at different points this weekend.

 When all was said and done I really like this canvas. I plan to do the second canvas that coordinates next month. We had some friends who wanted to join this month who could not. So we are going to continue the fun!

I just love the fun spring colors on my canvas! I decided to stop while I was happy, and not keep adding more details that might change my mind. Here's to going to work tomorrow, this teacher is ready to be back in the classroom.

Photobooth Frenzy

When my cousin's got married they had a photobooth at their wedding. They actually are the owners of the photobooth company, so it was running all night long. Sadly I had no strips to scrap since my cousins all seem to have taken them home.

We had so much fun dressing up in the props. Turns out we are quite the cute family in costume.

 I had a hard time with the background paper. The red backdrop totally interfered with my color scheme I was rocking through the rest of the pages. Like usual I used my Heidi Swapp mists and masks to make this background. I'm realizing I need to stop using the same general layout when I have one horizontal and one vertical picture.

 I was able to access some of the pictures online, and print them off in a collage for my page. I love the one of my sister putting her finger up my "nose". We are quite the pair. I used a Stella Whisper marker on the two veneers. A few girls in my crop group ordered these. They are very interesting. A super lightweight brushy applicator, but very glittery. Not dimensional like Stickles, but good amounts of glitter with no mess.

Lastly I cut the title using my Silhouette! I embossed and gelato-ed the pink paper to give it some pizazz. I used the pink, silver, and light purple as an inspiration from the bride's bouquet.

This was probably one of the more simpler wedding series I have done. I decided to let the photos tell the stories, and work with good colors.

Speed Scrapping

Sometimes I will add some of the divided page protectors in when I scrap. It took me a really long time to embrace, but I'm good with it now. I have a hard time when an event is dragging on, or I have a lot of pictures to work with, and I want to keep them all together.

I've come to realize that this is a great place to journal or put other details besides the pictures. It makes scrapping more enjoyable for me, especially on things like our annual summer vacation and Christmas pictures.

I had a hard time with the little left pocket. Finally someone gave me the idea to repeat the ribbon I had used elsewhere in the book in that area. I scrunch it up myself with glue dots, and then use the bling to conceal the dots since the ribbon is so shear.

 We had so many beautiful pictures from this day, I didn't want to leave any out. I also chose to cover up the last names because of confidentiality. Otherwise they are written in a beautiful script font. My two favorites right now are Grand Hotel and Pacifico. Stay turned for Saturday for the last page from the photo booth!

A Beautiful Spring Wedding

This past May my cousin Jon got married. Of course this shutterbug snapped lots of pictures! Weddings are always hard for me to scrap. I print way more than I need, and I like keeping all the pictures together. I am going to debut this series of pictures over three different posts, just to keep it from being too cluttered.

 I never know what paper to use for wedding photos. Very rarely do you find any patterned paper that goes well with wedding photos. So I stuck to plain pearly cardstock and made it my own.

 These gorgeous flowers are from Prima. I found them at Joanns when I went in for some classroom stuff. I need to stay away from the scrappy stuff when I'm in there.

This side strip started off as a plain white piece of paper. First I ran it through my Cuttlebug. Then I colored lightly with my gelatos in a sideways line. Lastly I used a baby wipe to smear it all out. I'm amazed how far a little bit of gelato will go.

On Wednesday I am going to show the pocket pages that I used for this album and then I will wrap it up next Saturday with the pages from the photobooth.