NOV/DEC GROWING IN UNITY GALS BLOG HOP

Welcome to the November/December

Growing In Unity Gals Blog hop!

This month we are featuring

Unity's Angie Girls stamps (of which I own many), 

created by Angie Blom.

I received Angie Girl Brooke,

and created an art journal page.

 I've always loved this quote, so

since my stamp featured a girl holding a glass of wine,

it seemed the perfect blend.

For the background of my journal page, 

I used Dylusions inks, Heidi Swapp Inks, and

Faber Castell gelatos.  

For the sun rays on the left I used a 

Crafters Workshop stencil with 

Viva Decor's glitter stamp paint.

The text/chevron across the bottom is 

tissue paper by Hazel and Ruby--

LOVE this stuff--you need some of this!

What looks like gold paint is actually

Folk Art's metallic green paint.

The silver glitter letters are 

Thickers by American Crafts.

Brooke was stamped with Archival Ink

and colored with Faber Castell colored pencils.

The Y-O-U banner is from the

June, 2012 SMAK Kit,

and the word cheese and the tag are from the

August, 2013 SMAK Kit.

I drew the rectangle around the word cheese

and obviously hand wrote the words on the tag.

The word some was written using another

Crafters Workshop stencil.

The question mark is a retired Technique Tuesday stamp.

I'm fortunate enough to live in a town with a

local scrapbook store, Cat's Creations Scrapbooks,

and everything in lime green print was purchased there.

I'm also very blessed to work at that store.

Thanks for stopping by!

Art journaling is outside my comfort zone

but is something I'm trying to learn.

I've purchased many of the Angie Girl stamps

to use in my art journal endeavors.

Don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win

TWO Angie Girl stamps.

That is such an amazing prize, so

be sure you comment!

Your next stop is:

 Julia Vazquez

WOW, IT'S FINISHED !

This is the lapbook album that I've been working on for the past several weeks.  This album was inspired by an album designed by Kathy Orta, aka Paper Phenomenon.  I also used Rachel's modification of adding a chipboard cover and one inch spines.  I definitely want to give credit to these ladies for coming up with the design of the structure of this album.  I used a Tim Holtz die to create the cupid and heart on the front of the album  I used Viva Decor "Ferro" on the heart and arrow.

When you open the album, you see this page  It has space for a large photograph  The scrolls above and below the photo mat were made using the Viva Decor mother-of-pearl modelling paste and a stencil.  The two "folders" you see peeking out of the side pocket on the left are actually mini albums:

I made these using a Coluzzle template and blade set that I have had forever.  The bottom mini album has a cascade album inside to hold lots of photos.

As you "turn" the page, you come to this page, which has a place for another large photo and two more of the folder mini-albums peeking out of the pocket on the right.

These mini albums were made the same way the other two mini albums were made.

The back side of the page has another flap and some tags slid inside a pocket.  The flap has a spot for another photo on it, and the tags will hold three to six photos.

As you flip that page you see this flap with room for another vertical photo and it then another cascade album is revealed, as well as a spot for a "landscape" photo - there are two of these, one on each side of the album.

That flap also opens up to show more places for you to put photos.

This is what it opens up to on the opposite side.  

Paper from numerous manufacturers was used in this album.  One of the things I enjoy most about scrapbooking is mixing and matching paper collections.  The main collection I used was an older collection from SEI.  I supplemented it with paper from My Minds Eye, Echo Park, Bazzill, Little Yellow Bicycle, Pebbles, Heidi Grace, and BoBunny.  I used washi tape on the hinges inside the album and some cloth tape on the outside from Oriental Trading Company (it is similar to 7 Gypsies Gaffer tape).  I used punches by McGill, EK Success, Fiskars, WeR Memory Keepers, and Martha Stewart to create some of the embellishments.  There are not very many embellishments because this is a gift to a non-scrapbooker and I wanted to make it easy for them to adhere their photos.  Plus, the addition of the photos will significantly increase the thickness of this album and if there are very many embellishments it would be too fat.  

Several people asked me about teaching this as a class at Cat's.  Cat and I talked about it and the class will be on Saturday, August 24th.  I will begin working on the sample album this weekend using a current paper collection at the store.  Stay tuned for more details about the class as the sample is created so that we can share photos of it and will be able to give you a price.

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to leave a comment.  This post is linked to Cat's Creations WOW Wednesday and you will be eligible for a prize just by commenting  

WOW, IT'S FRIENDS WITH FLAIR FRIDAY!

These are my wonderful parents and they celebrated their sixtieth anniversary on May 23rd.  They didn't want a big celebration, just for the family to go out to eat together.   So we did just that and then went back to their house for a "speed photography" session.  As you may know, my mother has been battling renal cell cancer that has metastasized to two different areas.  The radiation treatments have taken a toll on her and she was not feeling well on their anniversary.  We got some wonderful photos of each one of us girls (there are three of us) and our families with my parents.  The dinner together and photography session only took two hours....and that included putting their living room back together since we had to rearrange it for the photographs.  We were thankful that my mother was feeling better by evening, but not really very good.  She had a few more bad days, but is back to feeling pretty good now.  Love it when she has several good days in a row! 

This is the anniversary card I made for them.  I used some Sizzix dies (this one and this one)that I purchased at my local scrapbook store, Cat's Creations Scrapbooks.  Everything I used for this card was purchased there with the exception of the brads I used for the center of the flowers.   The paper is from Canvas Corp. and the flowers are from Prima.

This is the first panel and the stamp is from the August, 2011 Kit of the Month  I love the sentiments that came in that kit!  I used a Viva décor pearl pen for the swirls and some Stampendous vintage embossing powder on the sentiment.  I love how their embossing powders have different colors mixed together--this had gold mixed in with the hunter green.  The shimmery corners are from the 3D Glitter Stamp Paint by Viva Décor.  I just got some on my finger and smeared it on the corners. 

This is the end panel and features a sentiment from a Fiskars stamp set.  In case you can't read it, it says "memories are the most beautiful pictures our minds can paint and nothing can ever erase them".  I thought that was a great sentiment for a sixtieth anniversary card. 

These are the center panels and I put a photo of each of us girls on them.  On the back is a pocket for each of us to put a note for them. 

Thanks for stopping by.  I am linking this blog post up to WOW Wednesday which is hosted by Cat's Creations Scrapbooks--you can comment to win a prize.  I'm also linking this up to Unity's Friends with Flair Friday blog hop, where you can also comment to win a prize.  SO.....comment for a chance to win two different prizes!!!

DAY 4 OF GROWING IN UNITY

Thanks for visiting my blog for the fourth day of Growing in Unity.  I have been touched and greatly encouraged by all of your sweet comments.  We sometimes struggle to use our stamps on our scrapbook layouts so that is what I focused on this week.  I have a huge collection of Unity stamps and my first love is scrapbooking.  By concentrating on scrapbook layouts during my Growing in Unity week, it helps me to remember to use these wonderful stamps when scrapbooking.  The SMAK kits are especially wonderful to use when scrapbooking, but there are also lots of great stamps in the regular kits of the month and the various other sets of stamps.   So the next time you work on a layout, challenge yourself to use at least one stamp on that layout.  That is what I'm going to start doing.

This is a layout I created using the first exclusive sketch that Trisha Hill created for my lss, Cat's Creations Scrapbooks.  The left page is the one that actually uses the sketch and features photos of my sister's family.  I used the "Grid Alpha" alphabet stamps for their name on the banner and then the family tag from the February 2012 SMAK kit.   I love this Grid Alpha (on sale this week!) and love the unique look it has with the grid.  The  facing page is just some random Christmas photos:  one of our spaghetti diner and my great nephew, Nick, enjoying his spaghetti.  Then I had to snap a photo of my husband, Butch, taking an after dinner siesta.  The "love it" stamp and the journaling circle stamp are from the May 2012 SMAK kit and the "I dream" stamp is from the April 2012 SMAK kit.  I used Adirondack ink, the ribbon is by May Arts, the paper collection is more from the St. Nick collection by BoBunny, and the striped borer stick down the middle of the page is from Close To My Heart.

I always make two-page layouts, so this is the facing page for the page I shared on Monday.  Sergei, my son's dog, is such a sweet and cuddly dog, but sometimes he gets irritated and starts growling.  He shows his teeth and growls and growls.  So, I wanted to show him growling--you can see my son grinning, since we all think it is rather funny.  I only used one stamp on this page, the journaling flag from the December 2011 SMAK kit.  I used a red pearl pen by Viva décor for the red dots on the journaling flag and glossy accents on "Bad to the Bone" and "Cute and Cuddly" on the designer paper by Karen Foster. 

 

Thanks again for stopping by my blog.  Don't forget to comment for a chance to win two itty bitty's of your choice from Unity.  I will announce the winner on Monday.