Blog Inspiration

Inspired by the blog of Michelle Wooderson, I have created my own holiday, inspiration center. I spray painted a tray with cherry red, added some small containers from the dollar store, and filled it with things that I could use to make Christmas pages, cards, and other projects.

Every time I see my little corner, it makes me happy. Oh, it's the little things. :) So, what inspires you lately?

Sketchy Thursday DT Challenge

This month, I am trying my hand with the Sketchy Thursday design team challenge. I have been wanting to do this layout for sometime now and this sketch worked perfectly to showcase the story without distracting from it with too many elements.

The papers that I used are from the Crate Paper Restoration collection. I punched the butterflies from old dictionary paper, inked them with TH Vintage Photo, and added tiny rhinestones to create the bodies. I used faux stitching to create the butterflies flight pattern.

I typed the text on my computer and printed it directly on to my background cardstock. I left a space so that I could add my Thickers title.

I love the way that this layout came out. Not every story is a happy one, and this is one that I really wanted to remember so that I could look back on it when things are better, and be grateful for each day that I have.

Dye Inks and Diamond Dust

I played around last week with altering flowers and butterflies with dye inks and diamond dust. My daughter's best friend spent the night playing right along next to me. We dyed butterflies, paper flowers, and silk flowers. These are just a few that we did. After they were dried, I attached them to bobby pins so the girls could wear them in their hair. I think the butterfly was the overall favorite.

Finally, I took a class

I haven't taken any classes in a long time, but this one came along and I just couldn't resist. For only $20 bucks, we completed this whole project, including the frame. All embellishments and ink were included. We were given the choice of vertical or horizontal frames and we picked our own paper. We only needed adhesive.

In this class, we played with glimmer mists, diamond dust, transparencies, and stamping. We took plain butterflies, misted them, and then sugared the tops with diamond dust. We then used Glossy Accents and a Fragment charm to create the dangling piece under the tulle bow. And the top left corner is the new Tim Holtz metal photo corners. This class was a great bargain; to good to pass up. And just look how cute it came out.

Kit Club Layout

This month, I was asked to be a spotlight member for A Page In Time. I created a layout using one of the March A Page In Time kits. Each kit includes 3 page packets which is plenty enough to create 2 double-paged layouts each. The kit I used is called "Lush" by My Minds Eye. I love that the letters were included in the packet. Each page kit has a different embellishement item included.

I used the pattern paper to create roses for this sweet layout of my daughter, who had just turned 16. It is not often that I make a layout using just pattern paper, but the background paper just seemed to work with the lattice in the photos.

Happy Birthday

Just like kids, my puppies seem to grow so fast. It is hard for me to believe that he is already 3 today.

Happy Birthday, Cooper James!

Frugal Friday

This layout is featured over at Scrap Our Stash for their Frugal Friday tip. I used the paper insert from a package of Prima embellishments on the right side of my photo. It was already 4 inches in height, so I just cut it down to the length I needed. It already had a pretty scalloped edge, so that added to part of the design. You could also use this space for journaling if you wanted to.

If you create something using this idea, go over to Scrap Our Stash and submit it to Kathy. I would like to see what ideas you can come up with for recycling items.