Baby Layout:: December 2007

Well, in this layout I faced two major problems:
1) I had only one photo of my niece (don't know how that happened!)
2) I didn't have any christmas cardstock, not even a scrap!

So, I took a white cardstock and made a christmas one! This is how:
I colored it with Ranger's Worn Lipstick distress ink varying the density of color.
Then I stamped it with stamps from an old Fiskars christmas set (can't remember the name), starting with the christmas tree, from the center of the page and moving diagonally towards the four corners of the page. Then I used the little gift stamp and stamped in parallel, along the lines of stamped trees. Finally I stamped the bottom of the page with the "Merry Christmas" stamps.

Then:

I made a mat for the photo and placed it in the center of the page.

I stamped the little images (Dovecraft "Victorian Christmas", lovely set), colored them, cut and embossed them with nestabillities, then I used light blue chalk to color the backround of each image, after that I used versamark and utee to create a shine and finally I adhered them on green paper that was cut one size larger than the image.

Next, I added the letters (american crafts white thickers), but before that I colored them in a funny way: I place them on a paper towel, folded the paper towel over them and then pressed a light pink inkpad over the paper towel. The results were really interesting and will be more so next time, I plan to use a more intense color so as to create more contrast wth the white thickers.

On the right and on the left I adhered the larger green trees, they were leftovers from last year (and they came handy, that's why I don't throw away the scraps!)

Oh, it was fun fun fun making something from scratch!

Baby Layout: October 2007

In this page two out of three photos were taken during a warm October evening, and they have a yellowish warm tint.
So I decided to mat them with a dark blue cardstock paper, I sanded it to decrease the contrast and to soften it down. The patterned paper is K&Co.
For the stamped image, first I stamped it (Crafty Secrets stamp) and colored it with my copics, then I used nestabilities to cut and emboss the outline and finally I used Pebbles chalk to color the backround.
I cut with my cuttlebug the letters, from the same sanded cardstock and then I added the faux stitch with a Sakura pen.
Then I added the journaling spot (HOTP) in the left.
For the punched out stars I used DCWV yellow glitter cardstock.
The page came out a little "heavy" at the bottom, but I didn't want to alter or add anything more.

Layouts: Flower Bouquet

I started scrapbooking because I wanted to make a special album for my - then - newborn niece, something that would capture her growth month by month. I update it every month, and at some point I will give it to her, it is something that she and her family will cherish for years.
Recently I realized that when the moment will come that I will present it to her, I will miss it, so, I decided to make a second one for myself.
And this is the first page!

The cute fairy is Inkadinkado, the bigger butterflies as well, I painted it with my markers (Tombow Dual), the hair has a greenish hue (I don' t know what happened!)
I really like the flower bouquet style, I came up with it when I was making a card for a friend. Nestabillities of course for the scalloped flower-frames. I cut the stems by hand, the leaves were cut with a cuttlebug die and used some distress ink to make the lines. For the journaling, I used a round HOTP journaling template with Pebbles chalk, I like it because the lines are soft and blend well with the paper. Once I tried pencil and after I wrote I erased them but the result was a dissaster, so I'm using chalk instead.

As for the bow, I really can't tie a beautiful one, so I made something that looks like one!

I had tons of fun making this layout, it really is exta cute!

I'm in love with...Pebbles Chalks

I just received the pictured set of Pebbles chalks, and I love it! The set has also all the accesories that you'll need and the effect is really subtle and delicate as you can see.
I also bought a few extra templates, and the fun part is that you can also use them with any kind of ink or fluid chalk etc, and the result is different depending on the kind of ink/chalk you use.
The possibilities are endless!