A bit of unexpected Dr. Seuss

Now you don't normally associate Dr. Seuss with weddings but with a little Google searching it's amazing what you can find out there. I wanted to do a challenge layout for Little Scraps of Heaven Designs. Here is the sketch:

It was adorable and different then what I normally scrap. For a long time I didn't understand 1 photo layouts but now I get it. Sometimes 1 photo says it all. Next step find a paper piecing pattern from LSHD. I browsed thru my collection and found this image and went Hummmmmm....

Dr. Seuss what goes with Dr. Seuss and valentine paper? I had already decided the paper I wanted to use. So Google Dr. Seuss wedding quotes and you'll come up with this one: "You're married now! So kiss the bride, but please, do keep it dignified!" I instantly fell in love with it. Now to find a photo. I recently found a whole baggie full of my wedding photos, I knew there had to be a good one in there.

And here's my take on the sketch:

It turned out better then expected. I love a little bit of the unexpected and this layout qualifies. Who would think to pair Dr. Seuss and a wedding photo?

Here's a close up of the Seuss bear. I stood him on a bed of flowers so he was grounded. Before I put the flowers on he looked like he was floating on the page.

A good shot of the "Quote". I just printed it on white cardstock and trimmer it to fit.

Here's a shot of the title. I used the CK Marker font in bold. Some white pen work for the details and pop dots for definition.

Done and submitted to the challenge. Next time you scrap go for the unexpected and see how it turns out.

Missing You!

Last night we were issued a quick challenge on Facebook by Little Scraps of Heaven Designs- you have two hours make a 4x6 or smaller tag using a LSHD paper piecing. I was tired of sitting in front of the TV so I took the challenge. This is the tag I completed:

This is the Peek-a-Boo Bear and I'm seriously infatuated with him. He's just adorable. Well I couldn't leave him as just a tag so I turned him into an easel card.

I'm very pleased with how this card turned out. I like all the stitching and the BIG flower that anchors the right corner.

I firmly believe I may try some hand stitching in the near future. It adds so much to the finished project, it's worth the time. So far I've mostly done machine stitching but I'd like the thread to be thicker and to try different stitching options. My machine limits me.

And a couple more shots:

As always I hope this little bit of crafting has inspired your creativity!

Please?

Won't you...

And when you stand it up:

Such a simple and sweet little Valentine to send. I love easel cards. I like that fact that your loved one can display it on their desk like a little piece of ART. 

This little panda valentine is going to my daughter in California. She can put it on her desk at work for the month of February and know that her family at home in Michigan misses her and Loves her! 

The Panda paper piecing pattern is from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs. I cut it with my Cricut and SCAL2. Tricia, over as LSHD puts out a weekly newsletter with a freebie, you might want to head over there and check it out.

I hope he's inspired you to go create your own valentine today.

OZ!

I love my Niece and when she's in a play we always go. Last June she had her first lead roll. Her school was doing The Wizard of Oz and Kaiti was Dorothy. Pictures are so hard to get in the theater but I think I got a couple good ones. Here's my layout:

I used some of the Basic Gray stash, Papyrus I believe, and kraft colored card stock for the background.

The little bear Dorothy is a paper piecing pattern from Little Scraps of Heaven "Land of Oz" set. I used Dorothy and her little dog Toto.

I thought I' change it up a bit and added googlie eyes instead of the standard little black ones. It makes Toto look a little frightened.

The title was cut with SCAL and a font called Jolly Elf. It was welded and shadowed with a bit of white pen work for detail.

This was a fun layout to create. I stitched the pattern paper on two sides. The journaling was printed and then cut into strips. I placed it under the Dorothy paper piecing so she was grounded. I couldn't have her floating in the breeze. Lots of pop dotting and inking. I really believe it's these little details that make the finished layout a masterpiece.

Winter Crop!!

Well it's that time of year again. Time for our annual Winter Chili Crop! There BIG event will be held on Saturday January 29th. We will once again take over Garden City High School cafeteria from 9am to 9pm. The cost is $30 for the day. We will provide you with a lite breakfast, lunch and dinner. We'll have snacks and drinks all day long. The raffle table is going to have some really wonderful items for some lucky people to win.

Dinner will be a couple different kinds of chili and rolls. If you're interested in making us a crock pot of Chili let me know and we can make arrangements for a bit of a discount. To register leave me a comment, email, facebook me or call. You can find more information over on Facebook by clicking this link: here!

We hope that some of you will be able to join us.Please spread the word, the more the merrier!

While I'm at it I'd like to tell you about another Michigan Crop I heard about. It's taking place in Lansing on Saturday Feb 12th. You can find more information by clicking: Mid Michigan Swarm.

Need a place to crop? Drop me a comment and I can try to let you know of events in Michigan.

Year in Review

This is the layout I did for the Year in Review challenge or at Scrap Sisters Studio. I used up some old Basic Gray paper from a line called Lime Rickety. I love Basic Gray paper and buy lots of it and then I hoard it. Ohh man! I need to break that habit so another goal for 2011 is to use up some BG paper from my stash. I think I got a good start with this layout.

I choose a picture from each month and printed them in wallet size. Then I trimmed them down to 2.5 x 2.5.

The color scheme of this layout really appeals to me. It's bright and cheery, makes me smile! The journaling block runs down the right side and gives a brief caption for each month. I made sure I named all Brendan's friends that appear in the photos with him. Some are old friends and some are new. The title numbers are cut with the Cricut and Don Juan.

I carried the second pattern paper into my layout in 3 places. The small tag at the top, the strip in between the photos and the bit at the bottom of the journaling block. It helps to move your eye through the layout. I also added a bit of twine in each spot.

This type of layout is a joy to create. It makes you look back at the year and enjoy the memories. I might have to hang this one in the living room for a while. Off to find my frame.

I hope you've been inspired to be a bit creative today. Comments are welcome please feel free to leave a note.

Sneak Peek-

Last weekend my buddies over at Scrap Sisters Studio had an online crop. We didn't have a specific theme, we just wanted to hang out together and be creative. We did come up with 10 challenges. The first one wasn't really creative but inspiring. Clean and Purge! This you saw in the previous post. The next challenge I tackled was labeled "The Year in Review". I would post a bunch of pics tonight but alas it was too dark to take good pictures of my layout. But here's a sneak peek:

Clean and Purge

Well the first week of the New Year has come and gone. Did I make anything with paper and glue? Nope but I did clean my room. Here's a before shot or two.

OMG look at that mess! This isn't even as bad as it was. I spent some time in here recently and picked up a lot of the stuff that was on the floor.

EEEKKK! I can barely see the desk top. And I wonder why I can't get anything done.

And seriously two TV's? The one on the floor is the better one. Somethings gotta go.

OMG again with the bad desk. LOL

And 1 hour later. You can see the desk top. I even went to far as to get out the Lysol wipes and really cleaned it. Boy did it feel good. I also threw away a BIG bag of trash.  Ahhh you can even see the floor around my table.

Look the Expedite shelf is dust free and neat.

See the pretty clean desk top. Don't you just want to be creative here? I sure do. 

I have more work that needs to be done here but this was a great start. I threw away a bunch of stuff, started a give away bag and in general just put stuff away. (Please don't look to close at the left side, you can see the stack of cardstock on the floor. Oops a bit more work to do.) It feels good to start the New Year with a cleaning frenzy.

Happy New Years!!

It's this time of year that we reflect on how the previous year went and what changes we'd like to make in the new one. So for me I'm going to make a conscious effort to post 3 times a week on this here blog. With that statement comes the logical thought I must craft more to achieve this goal. I've been thinking about the whole P365 again too. Still debating on it. I'll take a pic today just incase.

So for today I'd like to share with you a photo I took just after Christmas. (I was very ill on Christmas day and didn't get to play with my new Cannon lens.)

Trying to get the dog to sit still and not attack the camera was quite the challenge. Good old Spencer, he loved Christmas.



Happy New Year Everyone!