Blast from the past! - SPIROGRAPH!

This week I found some time to experiment with a newly acquired "travel" sized Spirograph! What a fun "blast from the past!" 

As a young kid, I remember LOVING my Spirograph -- and if I'm being perfectly honest, I still LOVE it! (In fact, I still have my original Spirograph set.)

You may remember the "old" version of Spirograph required special pens in order to fit in the holes. But, after emailing the company that re-launched Spirograph (www.kahootztoys.com), I learned that one of the improvements they made was to enlarge the holes. Now, most household ballpoint and fine line markers will work with the gears.  It is no longer necessary to have special pens!

The "travel" sized Spirograph literally fits in the palm of your hand and everything fits "inside" easily. It uses a Post-It note sized piece of paper -- so, now I have another great reason to dig into my scraps where there are plenty of papers that size.


Can't wait to start adding Spirograph "art" to the backgrounds of scrapbook pages and cards! 

Would love to hear about your experiences with Spirograph. Please share your thoughts and memories by leaving a comment. 

Until next time, HAPPY PAPERCRAFTING!

Let's Get Sketchy - November Week 4 Sketch

In between getting things ready for Thanksgiving tomorrow, I've been playing with the November Week 4 sketch and mood board from the Let's Get Sketchy blog!

On November 9th, we celebrated a family birthday with Audrey turning 17!!! Our tradition to use "number" shaped candles and to take a photo before blowing them out. The focus of this layout is the moment we captured this year.

 Hope everyone finds time to enjoy the company of friends and family as they pause to give thanks tomorrow. Blessings to you! Until next time, happy scrappin'!

Scrap Our Stash - November Sketch Challenge

This month's sketch challenge from the Scrap Our Stash blog was super fun! I hope you'll give it a try sometime.

The challenge was to create a layout inspired by the sketch AND to pick items in a row, column or diagonal from the BINGO card and add each item on the page. 

The BINGO card gave me the little extra "nudge" I needed to dig extra deep into my stash! Based on the bottom row I added the following to my page.....numbers, metal, chipboard, flair and graph paper. The chipboard (letters and numbers) have probably been in my stash for well over 5 years! It felt AWESOME to finally use them on a page again!

November Bo Bunny Sketch Challenge

Here's the November sketch from the BoBunny blog!

This was a fun sketch to work with because there were so many different elements to work with -- any of which could be either photos, layers, or accents. The circles were especially fun for me because I love using my circle punches!  I hope you'll give this sketch a try, too!



The papers on this layout are all from Bo Bunny collections, of course!
- C'est La Vie (Art Nouveau)
- Prairie Chic (Garden and Stonewashed Denim)
- Lemonade Stand (Best Day Ever)

The tiny letter stickers (bottom left corner of layout) are a new acquisition for my stash! For just $2.50, you get 900 stickers! It's awesome and will be perfect for adding smaller sub-titles to pages.

Until next time, Happy Scrappin'!

v

Let's Get Sketchy - November Week 3 Sketch

Hello and Happy Tuesday!

Here's my take on the November Week 3 sketch from the Let's Get Sketchy blog.

This time, I turned the sketch upside down because the patterned paper I wanted to use had a design across the bottom that I didn't want to cover up.

For the background (behind the photos), I used some white embossing paste and then used some copper glitter embossing paste on top of that.

Can't wait to see what others do with this sketch....there are SO many possibilities with this one!

Let's Get Sketchy - November Week 2 & "Off The Page" Project

Hello!

Today there are TWO projects to share with you. First a page and then an "off the page" item I made for our college freshman's dorm room.....

For the page, I used the November Week 2 sketch from the Let's Get Sketchy blog. One great thing about working with sketches is that they can be as flexible as you need them to be.

In this case, the sketch only called for one photo, but I had 3 photos I wanted to use. It was fun to work in a couple extra pictures!

Here's how the page turned out......

Now, for the "off the page" project.....I found these "corrugated board" letters in the "dollar" bins at our local Michael's craft store. I decorated my daughter's initials and they are now hanging in her dorm room. This was a fun project and I'd love to do more letters like this someday.

Until next time, enjoy and HAPPY SCRAPPIN'!!!

SOS - November Stash Challenge #32

Had a great time at a "birthday crop" this weekend! This was an annual crop to celebrate the anniversary of a club I've been a member of off and on over the years. 

The photo booth offered a fun reason to take a break from scrapbooking. No doubt the memories we captured will be the subject of a future page layout and blog post! 

As you can probably tell, these ladies are FUN to scrapbook with and are always willing to share or swap supplies with each other. Already looking forward to next year's "birthday crop!"

During this crop, one of the page layouts I completed was for this month's Scrap Our Stash "word" challenge. The challenge was to create a layout that includes an item for each letter in the word ALBUMS. Here are the items I used for each letter:

A - Animal prints
L - Label
B - Brads and buttons\ - Upcycled cardboard box
M - Marker (doodle "frame" around page)
S - Stickers

The letter "U" was the hardest for me. I finally thought of "upcycle" and a piece of cardboard box that's been in my stash for well over a year came in handy for cutting out the page title -- "ZOO!"

Here's how the page turned out. Until next time...HAPPY SCRAPPIN'!

Let's Get Sketchy - November Week 1

Here's my take on the November Week 1 sketch from the Let's Get Sketchy blog.

This time, they also provided a "mood board" to go along with the sketch -- please visit them to check it out!

Let's Get Sketchy - October Week 4

Hello Friends!

Today, I have a layout to share with you based on the October Week 4 sketch from Let's Get Sketchy. 

If you've been saving scraps, the layers in this sketch are a great reason to dig in and put them to good use. 

I had a blast shuffling through my scraps today thanks to this sketch.

Stuck?! Sketch & Bday Card

Hello Friends! Today, I'm sharing a page and also a birthday card.

First, the card .... Several months ago, I was given a sheet of "burlap" specialty paper. I've been having fun using scraps of it here and there. I thought a small strip of "burlap" would add an interesting texture to this card. 

Let me know if you've tried "burlap" or other specialty papers...I'd love to see more ideas on using different papers!

Now for the page...The inspiration for this layout came from this sketch found on the Stuck?! Sketches blog. All the stars on this sketch looked like fun -- and I loved the opportunity to use some old "star" brads and other star embellishments that have been in my stash for years!

October SOS Sketch #31 & Envelope Album

Hello Friends!

Usually, I post one project at a time. But today there are TWO projects to share with you. Both feature papers from the Simple Stories "Pumpkin Spice" collection!

Additional materials used: 
- burlap specialty paper (American Crafts) 
- flowers (Bo Bunny)
- 1/2" head wide eyelets (We R Memory Keepers)
- sprinkles (doodlebug design inc) "bumble bee" and "bon bon glitter" assortments

First project -- A page layout using the Scrap Our Stash Sketch #31.

Second project - Envelope Album! This album is made from 6 envelopes and it was so quick and easy to make. When you're ready to have some FUN, here is a link to a video that will show you how!