For The Love Of Plaid

Hello friends! How has your week been? I've spent most of my week organizing and printing photos rather than getting my hands dirty crafting. I was able to carve away a small amount of time to create this fun layout... 

Every Sunday my family meets for lunch. On one of these afternoons, my father, brother, and nephew all showed up with plaid and blue jeans. I couldn't help but document the occasion. 

The only plaid pattern in my stash that matched the colors of my photos was the background page by We R Memory Keepers. I then added manly patterns and colors, distressing the edges of the paper pieces to give an even more masculine feel. 

The title was a combination of Studio Calico sticker letters, my handwriting, and letters cut on the Silhouette Cameo from patterned paper. Since the letters were the same pattern as the background, I added some faux stitching to help it stand out. 

The layout was completed with some real stitching and ink splatters.

Thanks for stopping by!  

SUPPLIES :: Studio Calico (Woodgrain Sticker Alphas, Dark Calico Mister Huey's), BasicGrey Clippings Paper & Stickers, We R Memory Keepers Partridge

TOOLS :: Silhouette Cameo, Brother Sewing Machine, ZIG Writer Black, CTMH Paper Distresser, Fiskars Scrapbooking Rotary Paper Trimmer, MyStik Permanent Adhesive

Father of the Year Layout

Good afternoon! Let's start today's post with a little confession: I love Jurassic Park. You may remember a post discussing my trip to see the giant T-Rex from the movie in Time Square last summer. Therefore, I was ridiculously excited for the release of the movie in 3D for its 20th anniversary. My dad, being the awesome guy that he is, took me and my roommate to see it. Poor guy had to take a nap before the movie so he'd stay awake that late! haha I couldn't help but document the entertaining evening. 

I used the Clippings Collection by BasicGrey for this layout. All of the papers matched the colors in my picture of the movie theatre perfectly. Because the page focused on my dad and his desire to support my nerdy enjoyments, I wanted the page to have a more masculine feel.

In addition to BasicGrey papers and embellishments, I added a few things from Ormolu, Chic Tags, and this adorable paper clip from K&Co.

I found this ticket sticker from Hampton Art and wanted to incorporate it into the project. Since three of us went, I cut matching letters from white cardstock with the Silhouette Cameo and layered them onto the page. I added more stars like the one printed on the ticket by adhering a few gold star sequins that were included in a recent Studio Calico Project Life Kit. 

Thanks for checking out today's project! Do you ever document your favorite movies or tv shows?

LAYOUT SUPPLIES

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey (Clippings 12x12 Paper Pad, Fact 12x12 Paper Pad)

Cardstock: A Muse Studio (Sugar)

Embellishments: BasicGrey (Clippings Element Stickers & Alphabet Stickers, Hello Die Cuts), Hampton Art (Little Things Cardstock Stickers), Studio Calico (Star Sequins), Chic Tags (Birthday Cake Banners), Ormolu (Made Pennants, Little Labels), K&Co (Retro SMASH Clips)

Tools: Silhouette Cameo, Close To My Heart (Paper Distresser)

Happy Dad's Day

Happy Father's Day to all! I have to take a moment to say I have one crazy father. He's nuts. Funny and adventurous, with a dark sense of humor and a wild, young at heart spirit. He's caring and compassionate and helpful. He's available, active, and present in my life... Always has and I trust he always will be. It's been exciting to watch him pass all those qualities down to my brother who celebrated his first Father's Day today. It was so cute to see him play with his 2 month old son today. Generations of awesomeness. 

Here's a card I created for my favorite dads... Because, let's face it, I can't not be crafty ;)

I created the card using all BoBunny papers and embellishments from their newest Trail Mix collection. The edges of the papers were all torn with a distressing tool. I love the masculine, rough look it gives. The dimensional embellishment did all the work for me! I just added some black floss to complete the tag before adhering it to the card front. And of course, I added just a few brown paint splatters with Studio Calico Mister Huey's. 

I hope you had an amazing day. 

Birthday Fun

Today I have a few spreads to share with you all relating to my father's surprise 50th birthday party. His birthday was on the same day the world was expected to end, which would have made for a convienent "over the hill" party. However, my dad's the type of guy to embrace old age. He's really looking forward to that senior citizens discount. This guy is all hobbies - fishing, hunting, building all kinds of things for me, fixing cars - Retirement will be anything but boring and bland. He's teaching me contentment and joy. With an exciting life, a loving family, and a good head on his shoulders, how could a guy not celebrate 50?! It was that attitude that caused us to decorate in bright colors - the same colors featured in BoBunny's Surprise Collection. I grabbed most of the collection in anticipation of documenting this fun event. 

I used a Project Life Design A photo sheet for the smaller details of the party and included two traditional 12x12 layouts to highlight the bigger moments. I love using a combination of protectors to create custom albums that work for me. 

Unfortunately, Green Bay was hit with a massive snow storm the day of the party. I can't believe I even made it to work, where the party was to be held. We would have closed the shop, since most of town was closing anyway, but we had to stay open for the surprise to work! The whole thing made for an interesting afternoon of preparation and execution. I'm so grateful for the friends and family that braved the weather and came out to celebrate with us. 

I used a lot of cut outs and chipboard embellishments to decorate the two pages.

There was an emotional and sentimental moment that evening that I wanted to journal about and capture, but didn't want out for the everyday eye to behold. Therefore, I adhered a kraft pocket to the outside of one of the photo sleeves and included my journaling and an additional photo. 

And I can't leave out the two 12x12 layouts I created...

I felt so bad for my momma - The cake turned out to be nothing like what she ordered, but it was delicious and served its purpose! 

Combination of paper stickers and chipboard accents from BoBunny and felt and fabric embellishments from BasicGrey were used to add lots of different textures to the layout.

The cake was a 4x6 cutout from a patterned piece of paper from BoBunny. I added the sticker alphas, stitching, and doodles.

Lastly, we have the gift opening. He opened quite a few gifts that evening, but this was by far his favorite. A good friend gave him a baby pacifier. The series of pictures captured his reaction perfectly, and it screamed to be documented! 

The 'remember' die cut was created with the Silhouette Cameo, and a variety of sticker alphas were used to complete the title. 

Thanks for stopping by the blog today! 

A new challenge & a funny story...

Hello blogland! I am running far, far behind on my posts from this past weekend! Yesterday, we threw my sister-in-law a large baby shower, celebrating the upcoming birth of my nephew. It was so wonderful but so much work! Now that it's over I can breathe a little easier and get back to work on all my design team work and creating just for fun! That is why we do this, right?! Because we have a genuine NEED to create.

As a design team member for the challenge blog, SWAT, I recently created a layout for their Four Focus Fun challenge. Let's take a look at it: 

With St. Patty's Day right around the corner, we wanted to challenge you with some four focus fun. Just as a four leaf clover brings good fortune, so does this challenge. Create a single page layout using four photos, and you could be the lucky winner of a $20 gift card to 3 Scrappy Boys!

For my single page layout, I used a series of photos I had taken this summer. We were in Chicago attending Renegade Craft Fair. My roommate, my friend Anna, and I were grabbing some refreshments while my parents lounged on a park bench. I found it to be a great photo opportunity. As my mom put her hand around my dad, she elbowed him right in the face. Normally, this would be a sad occasion. But without hesitation, she placed her arm right back down and smiled for the picture, acting as if nothing happened. I'm laughing uncontrollably right now just thinking about it! 

For the page, I used BoBunny's Family Is Collection. The colors in the collection coordinated perfectly with the colors in my photos. Before printing the photos, I sized them to 3x4 inches. If don't print your photos at home, make a collage using picassa or picmonkey. I usually use photoshop to put 2- 3x4 photos to a 4x6 canvas. Planning out my layouts before printing my pictures allows me to size the photos smaller if needed. Had these photos been 4x6, there would have only been space for 2 photos instead of the 4. 

Most of the embellishments for this page were cut from 12x12 pieces of paper. I'm loving the new cut out pages and journaling cards from BoBunny. 

Don't forget to stop by SWAT to see what the fellow design team members created. You have until March 25th to link up your own project for the chance to win! 

CARD SUPPLIES
Cardstock: Paper Cut (White)

Patterned Paper: BoBunny (Family is, Ask Dad, Crazy, Fun, Love, Me & Mine, Nuts)

Embellishments: Bo Bunny (Family is Combo Sticker, Family is Crazy Cardstock Sticker)

Adhesive: MyStik (Permanent Adhesive)

Journaling Pen: ZIG Writer (Black)

Renegade Part 2: The Windy City

There's me on the left! With my besties Rach & Anna

I shared some pictures with you last week documenting my recent trip to Chicago for the Renegade Craft Fair. If you missed the post, you can read it here. There were a few more pictures from the great city I couldn't keep from you. We headed to Millennium Park to play around for awhile. 

Love these ladies... and our fun adventures.

Renegade Part 1 : The Fair

I was lucky enough to travel to Chicago for the Renegade Craft Fair. As my friend Anna stated, there was "so much facial hair and vintage." I felt right at home. I've wanted to attend Renegade in past years (this was Chicago's 10th annual fair); however, working at a small, independent business with your mom makes taking vacations together quite a challenge. 

How crazy awesome are my mom's photo taking skills?
Not even looking and got all 5 of us! haha

I gathered together (from left to right) my good looking momma, my dear friend Anna, my roomie Rachael, myself (it can be hard getting out of bed), and my pops (he's trying to be a safe driver). I have the greatest support system around. My dad despises big cities, Anna is weirded out by all that facial hair, and Rach still has no idea what the words 'indie artisian' mean. It's all ok. Because they came along for the ride... to experience what I love and adore... and I think they actually enjoyed themselves. 

If you've not heard of Renegade, visit their website now. No seriously. Go. Over 300 vendors selling 100% handmade goods - They even had a large section of vintage booths. I was delighted to run into sellers from my hometown! It was wonderful to network, attend a few workshops, shop, eat, shop, eat, and shop! Here's a few photos of the day:

My mom & dad

My mom saw this alleyway and thought it would make a good picture... good call momma!

A few shops had set up free workshops. We attended one hosted by Lillstreet Art Center and had a private lesson on metalwork and jewelry making. 

My mom created a bracelet that said "You Me" (she's so in love with my dad, crazy cute), mine showed off my initials, and Rach hammered in "Wolfe Pack" (an inside joke making reference to the movie Hangover, only to spell it completely wrong... I adore her).

Come back tomorrow to see part 2 of the Chicago trip!