June/July Guest Blogger - Karen Motz

Hello fellow paper crafters! My name is Karen Motz and I'm thrilled to be guest blogging for Christina. How lucky am I that she asked little 'ole me?!? Christina's invite came as a sweet surprise because I'm a card-maker, not a scrapbooker, but hey, it's all paper crafting, right? Actually I used to scrapbook a looooooong time ago (like back in my 20's) but one day in 2003 I was introduced to rubber stamping and card-making. Seriously, I think I heard angels sing after I made my very first card. I was hooked right from that moment and I've been a rubber stamper and card-maker ever since. I actually think it's an excuse for collecting and hoarding all the pretty papers,  ribbons, buttons, and embellishments, but let's keep that between us, ok? I'm very lucky and proud to be part of the design team for My Favorite Things...please don't pinch me if I'm dreaming! I love making cards because each of them is a little work of art that I can complete in an hour or two. It's satisfying because I'm never behind the 8 ball and I can actually work ahead. I've already started on my Christmas card stash. But the absolute best part about card-making is giving them away and making someone smile! It makes my heart happy to send happy mail. Which leads me to my project for today...

I created a very sweet card for a very sweet girl, Maddy. I've never met Maddy but I've read her story and she's such an inspiration. She's a brave young girl who is fighting leukemia, fighting for her life, for the second time. There'a a card drive going on over at Simon Says Stamp, to send a smile to Maddy, so I hope my card today does just that. 

I typically like to start out with a sketch, otherwise my cards would all look the same because I have no creativity in the layout department. LOL! For this card I used FMS91 because I love the simplicity of the layout, along with supplies from My Favorite Things. The image is Pure Innocence Believe in Magic. I stamped her with Memento Tuxedo Black then coloured her with copic markers. I like fussy cutting around these little girls because it makes them pop off the card (she's mounted with foam tape for dimension). I used the Sentiment Strips Die-namics to cut out the sentiment flag then stamped the sentiment with Black Licorice Ink.

Along the right edge of the card I paired Orange Fizz, Sour Apple and Razzle Berry card stocks for a pop of colour. I used the Darling Dots stamp set to create the dotted pattern using Orange Fizz ink and the Dainty Dots Border Die-namics was perfect for cutting out the Razzle Berry dot strip. I cut it out a second time from white and stitched the white centers in place. 

I love decorating the inside of cards too, and it only takes a few minutes to make it special. In this case I simply stamped another sentiment from Pure Innocence Believe in Magic then I stamped the girl again with Razzle Berry ink. 

Maybe after seeing my card you'll be inspired to create a little work of art and send it off to someone to make them smile. Trust me, it really is a lovely feeling! Thank you again Christina for inviting me to guest blog! If you're interested in learning more about my work, please visit my blog: www.paperplayhouse.blogspot.com

Happy Stamping!

Karen

**********

May/June Guest Blogger - Jana Eubank

Hello Crafty Friends! Jana Eubank here. I'm so thrilled that Christina has asked me to be a guest blogger today. I love her work! First, a little about me. I grew up in a family that owns a copy/print business and have always had an infatuation for all things paper. It began with Mrs. Grossman stickers, colorful copy paper, and mini Hello Kitty stationery kits. And now that I'm grown-up it continues with scrapbooking supplies. I adore shopping and collecting all kinds (as I'm sure you do, too! *wink*). I scrapbooked a bit while I was a teen, but really got serious about it when I married my husband a little over 16 years ago. I wanted to record our family's story from the beginning and have been doing just that ever since. Scrapbooking as a hobby became my "best friend" as a young mother when my husband starting working nights. It was a great creative outlet for me, and I loved that when I was finished each night I had a new page full of family memories that my kids could reminisce over. I began trying out for design teams and submitting my work and have been blessed to work with many amazing crafters and companies. 


For my project today, I decided to do something a little different. At first glance, these photos of my husband and I on a Cruise celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary seem like they should be happy, relaxing, and frivolous ... which they were, to a degree. But the most memorable thing about that particular vacation was all the worry we felt while we were away from our four children. I decided that I wanted to try and record the spectrum of being both happy and sad together on the same page. I accomplished this with a happy, color scheme, mixed with raincloud icons, and a title that draws you into the journaling, searching for the backstory.

 At the last minute, the couple we had arranged to stay with our children, let us know that they could only be there part of the time, and so we had to quickly make additional arrangements with family members who weren't exactly able or planning on helping us while we were gone on our trip. My kids were constantly being shuffled from place to place (something I really wanted to avoid while we were gone for the week) and they were sad and miserable. They felt like a burden to everyone and my eldest daughter had to take on a lot of responsibility (she was only 13 at the time) while waiting for family members to fill in the gaps. We were unable to change our travel plans and felt so sad to leave them like that. We worried about them the entire time and called them as often as we could. It was a hard week, but we also learned a lot.

 We learned how much we like being together as a family. We learned how resilient our children are, and how much they care about each other, and that they can pull together when they are feeling sad. We learned that even though we enjoy being together as a couple, it wasn't worth our children being sad and uncomfortable. We decided on that trip that if we needed to get away as a couple in the future (which we all need from time to time), we would do a much shorter overnighter somewhere closer to home. :) I used the rainclouds to represent our feelings of helplessness in this situation. Even the background paper has a feeling of rain. The varying colors of green in the title letters do a great job of illustrating the range of feelings we went through on this trip. But I also used the happy color scheme, starbursts, stars, and butterflies, to represent a feeling of growth and realization. It was a learning experience as a family, and one we want to remember for the future.

Life can be hard at times. We learn and grow from life experiences. And I want to remember those lessons in my scrapbooks. I definitely think they are worth recording. Perhaps you have a similar memory that you would like to record, but you weren't sure how to accomplish it. Perhaps you have a backstory that needs telling. I hope I have inspired you today to pull out some photos and scrapbook the lessons YOU have learned in life. :) THANK YOU again, Christina, for having me! If you would like to learn more about me, or see more of my work, I hope you'll visit me on my blog at www.janaeubank.wordpress.com.

April/May Guest Blogger - Mary Ann Jenkins

Hi there, I'm Mary Ann Jenkins and I love playing with paper and glue! 
I’ve been scrapping since 1987, when I heard a commercial on the radio about learning to preserve family memories. A few patterned papers and decorative scissors later I was hooked, and never imagined scrapbooking would become a passion, or that I would have a room in my home dedicated to the hobby. When I am not in my scrapbook studio making a mess I enjoy: spending time with my family, flea markets, shopping for hours at Target, taking my camera everywhere I go and bracelets. A girl can never have too many bracelets!!

 

 Thank you Christina for letting me share a little about me and my favorite hobby!

 

I love old black & white photos, and especially love old family photos. I am slowly but surely working through a box of over 500 pictures from my husbands side of the family, dating from the early 1900's. Someday, I hope to have them all scrapbooked. For this layout I used the "Lemonade Stand" kit from the Paper Bakery along with a photo of my dad-in-law as a young boy.

 

I wouldn't say that I have a certain style, but I do like mixing and matching patterns and colors, and I like adding a little machine stitching here and there for a bit of texture.

 

I love being able to share my scrapbooking with you! You can find more on my blog http://www.maryannjenkins.com/ stop by and say hello!

 

- Mary Ann

March/April Guest Blogger - Ashli Oliver (soapHOUSEmama)

Hi there! Ashli here (aka soapHOUSEmama) from purplemailbox.com. I am so thrilled to be with you today... thanks Christina for having me!  

When Christina emailed me about guesting on her blog, she specifically requested that I show one of my Layout Love Linky Tags. What's this Layout Love Linky, you say? It's a bit of a virtual craft club. You can see more details on my blog :)

But for now... let's make a tag, shall we?
I love making resists out of white acrylic paint. But lately, I have been playing around with heat embossing more. So... here is my plan...
I have 3 tags to experiment on, a huge stamp, some embossing powder and a "smile" chipboard piece covered in wax:

Oh, I do love that shiny embossing!

Now for a bit of color. I have some green and yellow mist sprayed on my Ranger craft sheet...

That looks pretty! How about some blue distress smooshied around?

Yep! I like that. But, I want my embossed image to stand out a bit more. My beloved Pitt Pens to the rescue!

And now for some watercolor fun...

A few mist droplets and I declare this one to be my favorite, so it will be the base of our tag:

Some washi and a bit of bling....

While that dries, a quick rummage in the scrap drawer produces these scraps:

And they will make some lovely little additions to our tag! That really got me rolling to the finish line! Some more paint, a bit of stitching and some added text...

And here we have it! A fun little springy blingy tag...

Reminding you to Smile...

& Laugh More!


I make a tag once a month as part of my #LLL giveaway. There are still a couple days left to link up. I would love to have you participate! In addition to this tag, one random linker-upper will also win some of the new Alison Kreft for Webster's pages goodies!

I hope to see you all again soon! You can find me on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Two Peas, Simon Says Stamp and Show, and of course... at PurpleMailbox.com!

Thanks again for having me, Christina!

Feb/March Guest Blogger - Natalie Elphinstone

Thanks Christina for inviting me to be a guest here on your adorable blog. I'm so excited!
Today I just wanted to introduce myself, share one of my latest layouts and let you about what's inspiring me these days.

About Me:
My name is Natalie Elphinstone and I live in Melbourne, Australia - it's a city that boasts all four seasons in a day. Dressing in layers is the key! I'm a wife and a Mum to two gorgeous girls aged 6 and 3. They constantly keep me inspired and are one of the main reasons why I love this hobby. I want to document their lives, the funny things they say, the everyday moments and my thoughts for them to look back on later.
I'm also a full-time doctor, specialising in Obstetrics and Gynaecology which keeps me ridiculously busy. Often people ask me how I manage to find time for things like scrapbooking, and I say that when you love something you'll always find the time for it ;-)

About This Layout:
It's made with the Block Party kit from Studio Calico, with the addition of a few Evalicious badge buttons. I grew up on a farm and it's always a treat for my girls to visit their grandparents who still live there. The farm boasts a lovely big orchard and the girls enjoy wandering through it and picking the fresh fruit. Of course, not every piece straight from the tree looks as perfect as the ones you find in the shop and I snapped this photo of my eldest with a less-than-impressed look on her face as she inspected an apple. I find it very funny!

I always add journalling to my pages, it's something I strongly believe in. A long time ago I quit worrying about how neat it looks or whether it will destroy the design of the page. I think this is what the future generations are going to be interested in seeing - not what line of products you used!!

About What's Inspiring Me:
1. Colour Combos
I've always thought I've had a bit of a weakness when it comes to colour combos so this year I made it my scrappy resolution (does anybody else do that?!) to focus on making better colour choices.

I made up my own little colour palette to help me when I put this layout together. I was thinking about the colour of those apples - what do you reckon?!

2. Products I love
I'm very lucky to be on the Design Team for some fabulous companies. Companies whom I really believe in and whose products truly inspire me. I mean - look at it!! And this is just the stuff I've been playing with lately! So blessed :-)

JBS Stamp: Writer Evalicious Stamps: Journal Prompts Set Evalicious Love You Lots Tags FWAB Adhesive Pearls: Latte

InLinkz.com

3. Trends I'm following
I've jumped right onto the 'feather' band-wagon! This is one trend that I can't get enough of right now! Looking forwards to getting my hands onto these rub-ons from Jenni Bowlin.

Just to prove a point - here's a link to some of my own feathery creations:

JBS Fountain Pen Card Evalicious Feather Card Congratulations Feather Card Soul Dyed

InLinkz.com

Well that's about it from me! I'd love to hear from you scrappy folk out there. Tell me about what colour combos or products you're loving, and what trends are you following? Or tell me about who or what is inspiring you right now - I'm always looking for fresh ideas :-)

xx

http://onescrappydoctor.blogspot.com/

January's Guest Blogger - Tina Walker

 Hi! My name is Tina Walker and I am completely obsessed with this art, just like you. :) I would like to thank Christina for allowing me to share a peek into my creative process and for asking me to be a Guest Blogger. I am so blessed and honored to be here.

 I am a working mom, working outside the home. My children are grown, so much of my crafty inspiration comes from my two French bulldogs, Moose & Flikka. They are getting quite the reputation in the scrapbook world. :) I live in snowy (and sometimes sunny) Salt Lake City, Utah, but am a Mid West girl by heart. I created by first scrapbook over 15 years ago, but my latest obsession with scrapbooking started about 3 years ago and I haven't stopped since.

 I often get asked what my scrapbook style is. I would define it as a 'scrapbook chameleon'. I like to try new techniques and styles, so I often mix it up. Scrapbooking also allows me to share my other obsession, photography. They go hand in hand with each other. My phone, (with camera) are always with me and I take a picture almost every day. 

The layout I created for you today shares many of my favorite crafty techniques and styles.

I love to layer! I say you can never layout too much! I love to add little bits and pieces, and little snippets and scraps to my layouts. I love how little pops of color, pattern, and dimension peek out from behind your photos and embellishments. The smallest of strips and embellishments can create visual interest and texture to any project.

Can I let you in on another secret of mine? I rarely use a paper trimmer and usually just ‘wing it’ when adhering/placing my photos, papers, and embellishments to my page. I love the random, not ‘over thought’ look, and the great angles this creates.

 Are you in love with all of the fantastic shapes that are SO trendy in paper crafting today? I am too! For my layout, I cut several sized Chevron pieces {with my Cameo (love this machine)} and stitched them in place. I just love the movement it creates to the page.

And who says your layouts need a large title? Not me….I love to use ‘ready-made’ titles that are incorporated into pre-made embellishments and paper! Why re-create what is fabulous already? For my layout, I loved the little die cut title ‘I Love Us’ – so I am using this as the title of my page! Perfect and easy!

I would like to thank Christina again for this great opportunity! Next time you are afraid of trying a new technique or design, just GO WITH IT! You might fall in love!

http://adogslife-thirteen.blogspot.com/