8-1/2-x-11-inch Layouts and Some Cards

Wow! Summer is just melting away—literally.  I think what I’m going to remember most about this summer is making pancakes for the kids (quite a lot actually), going to the movies on Thursday, enjoying fresh-squeezed lemonade, the kids discovering the game, Minecraft, and just how happy it felt to have our house full on Independence Day.  ALL of my kids were under one roof!  Since the oldest two have become adults, it’s very hard for us to all get together other than for Thanksgiving and Christmas. This past Independence Day was one of the brightest ones yet.  We also discovered S’mores Pizza.  We feasted on that just after the fireworks—what a treat!  What have you been up to this summer?

Seems like it’s been quite a while since I’ve done some power scrappin’.  This time I decided to focus on the 8-1/2-x-11-inch format (portrait and landscape) for motivation and it worked!  I was able to complete three layouts within a few days. 

Here goes:

My oldest daughter is quite the character when posing for pictures.  She posed for this using her own iPhone, wearing a pair of frames she found thrifting.  I just had to scrap it!  I used Glitz Design’s Pretty in Pink Paper Kit and Pretty in Pink Element Kit available at jessicasprague.com. 

Is July too early for Pumpkin Patch photos?  For some reason KI Memories’ Good Folk Paper Pack and Good Folk Brads (available at jessicasprague.com) got me in the mood to scrap this photo of my youngest son at The Davis Ranch Pumpkin Patch last October.  We go every year for pumpkins and their sweet corn.  What a great time!

This past June, my youngest daughter turned 9.  I was so excited to see her and her friends still playing with dolls during her birthday slumber party the night before she turned 9.  Sometimes she seems so grown-up but most of the time, she’s still my little girl—whew!  I used KI Memories’ Sweet Life Paper Pack and Good Folk Paper Pack, available at jessicasprague.com,  in this layout.

The other thing I’m definitely going to remember about this summer is Spellbinders Dies!  A few months ago, I started out with a couple because of how friendly they played with digital elements.  Then at the beginning of the summer, I purchased the Grand Calibur Machine and have been smitten ever since.  My collection of Spellbinder dies have grown—needless to say.  TIP:  When I get a new spellbinder die set, I trace them onto paper and then scan the trace into my computer.  When I’m ready to use a digital element or paper, I fill the digital image into the scanned trace of the die, and I only have to print that element, perfect size and everything to cut with the nested die.  I’m saving time and printer ink using this method.  For this card, I used Echo Park’s Homemade Mini Theme available at jessicasprague.com.  I just love that little jar!

Don’t you just love that sentiment!  It’s from the June 2012 Unity Kit of The Month.  I love getting these kits delivered to my door every month.  Recently I joined the Stamp of the Week with Unity and get a stamp delivered every Saturday.  These are the things that make me giddy—LOL!  I used a print from KI Memories’ Good Folk Paper Pack available at jessicasprague.com centered in this card. 

Binded ATC-Style Mini Album + Cards . . .

We had lots of seriously fun activities going on at school and in our household this past May, from field trips to an annular eclipse.  So I decided to make a mini album.  I didn’t want anything too complicated, just iPhone pictures with page titles.  No fuss.  Jodie Lee’s Art Journal Printable ATC Cards (available soon at jessicasprague.com) were just what I needed.  I printed the PDF twice for the pages and went to work creating this simple mini by cropping and adhering the pieces to chipboard and binding it with my Bind-It-All using 3/4-inch rings. This size was fun and NO STRESS.  Best of all, it fit in the hands of my children and they loved flipping through the pages.  Also, the title/page titles were pretty easy, too.  I printed the title/page titles out, placed the paper on a light box, and adhered popsicle sticks to the back.  Then I used my craft knife to cut away the excess paper and filed the sides, etc., to give it a shabby-like look.  The popsicle sticks gave the album just enough weight and dimension.

Below are some images of cards I completed recently but just haven’t posted to my blog yet.  I hope you enjoy looking at them.  The one just below this uses my favorite Jenni Bowlin papers from her Farmers Wife Collection at jessicasprague.com.  The second card uses papers from her Tangerine Dream Collection at jessicasprague.com.  TFL!

Vintage Tray Goodness

Finding treasures in thrift stores is a vital part of my creative process.  Sometimes these treasures are purchased long before their hybrid rebirth.  Mostly I wait for inspiration to come my way before altering.  That’s the case with THIS tray. Jodie Lee’s Vintage Collage Papers are P-E-R-F-E-C-T for this type of project.  They will make you look like a decoupage collage genius.  I printed three 8-1/2-x-11-inch collage papers on Epson Presentation Paper, one for the top right of the tray, one for the top left of the tray, and then I cut the last paper into strips that would fit the middle and bottom row of the tray that was not covered.  It was an excellent fit and I know I wouldn’t be able to make a collage as pretty as these on my own—what a great combination!