Too Cool For School Layout

I have been holding this layout back for a while. It took hours to create, and tracking down retired items to pull it together.

This is one of those layouts that is way cuter in person. I stamped each of those buildings and fussy cut them. Every 3rd one is popped up with 3d foam tape for added interest. The title is from the retired Chalk It Up workshop on the go, and the back to school sentiment is from a long-retired stamp set I've had forever. The paper is retired Laughing Lola with the Thistle glitter cardstock we sold until last year, I believe. I hope they will bring this item back.

So, the layout was totally inspired by my daughter's dress we bought from Gymboree a few years ago. It was the first time I even bought the shoes to match. Can you guess? Yup. Thistle purple glitter shoes. Eek! The dress had this skyline design on it and of course the minute I purchased the dress, I had to track down that retired Cityscape stamp set. Sometimes, you just have to.... Definitely a case of "I hope my husband doesn't sell my craft supplies for what I told him I spent". Haha.

This was the first photo shoot we ever did on our front porch on the first day of school. My daughter was going into first grade. She was so little.

Sometimes, you just gotta have fun when crafting and not be in such a hurry. It's cheaper than therapy, as they say. ;)

Happy crafting!

Casandra

Baby Boy Album

Last summer, when the new fundamental lines were introduced, Brenda Rose, a fellow consultant, shared her designs with us. I knew that I would eventually use them, and when I was approached recently to do a baby boy album for my Aunt's great-grandbaby, I knew this workshop would be perfect.

I did not use much of the whimsy patterns, but instead chose to use up a long-retired kit that was actually in my sell pile. The blue and champagne colors were perfect for baby boy, and didn't necessarily scream "Winter" and "Snow". Of the few patterns that do, they were specifically alotted to the months where winter reigns in Northern Michigan. I added Canary cardstock, and even some other retired papers, such as Twitterpated. I mixed stamping and cricut cuts for my embellishments. And my favorite of them all is Month 10 and 11. Foxes and teepees are super trendy right now. Goldrush cardstock was the perfect color for my fox.

I am so pleased with this album. It was THE fastest one I've ever put together, with project completion under 24 hours. I started this on a Friday night at 9pm when kids were in bed, and finished it up at 5pm the next day. And that was with sleep, too.

Hope I've inspired you to look at those papers in your stash in a new light. Just because it was purchased for one theme, doesn't mean it wouldn't work for something else. And don't be afraid to mix and match your collections. 

I would like to enter the fox layout into the H2H challenge for this week "What a Wonderful World". Babies do make this world a wonderful place. 

Happy crafting!

Casandra

Enchantment Shine Layout

I actually shared this layout once before, but without pictures. I couldn't resist updating you with the pictures in place.

Isn't this sweet? The pictures are from a Daddy/Daughter dance my loves attended last year. This is about the time that life got really crazy for us, but we took a small time-out for the things that matter most. 

My husband was wearing this dark green and blue plaid dress shirt and my daughter had on the perfect purple dress and sweater. I'm sad that she has already outgrown this outfit, but I think we will be passing it on to a little school friend who has mentioned several times how much she loves that dress. And she has the same name as my sweet girl.

Tomorrow, I am going to share with you a baby boy album I created in a 24-hour time period...no kidding. You'll have to stop in again to see this one.

Happy Easter!

Casandra

A Kiwi Lane Inspired Winter Layout

So, last summer, when I had more time for dreaming and less time for scrapbooking, I purchased some Kiwi Lane Designs templates. You may have heard me speak about them once before.

Kiwi Lane created and branded the "framing" style of scrapbooking. Basically, you use their plastic see-through templates to trace out and place your paper scraps on a 12x12 base. They have a series of videos and screen shots of the step-by-step process to make it easy to use. One half of a cut goes on page 1 and the other half on page 2. You can layer and move the pieces around until you get the exact look you're going for. I especially love these curvy templates for creating winter and beach layouts.

This is my first attempt. I took it a step further and combined cricut and die cuts on my version. And to give credit where credit is due, this layout was scraplifted from Pinterest. My embellishments are different, as are the papers/colors. I really enjoyed creating this one, and my daughter loves it.

I am not a consultant for Kiwi Lane, but in the interest of inspiring, I wanted to let you know about them. They are a Christian based, family-owned company in the Midwest. I think you will fall in love with their designs, too, and find ways to implement this scrapbooking style into your own creations.

Happy crafting!

Casandra

Jubilee Hay Rides Layout

I wanted to share a layout I created last Summer with you. I used the now retired paper collection called "Jubilee".

I kept this one simple. And actually, I separated them out so that the left page was the 1st layout, and the the right page was the final layout in a gift album I created for my sister-in-law to use with 4H pictures of her children. I intially was going to create an album for each girl, but decided that they probably wouldn't do anything with the books. So I decided to keep it simple and just do one album. I think the parents will treasure this album, especially now that one of my nieces is off to college.

Psst. Can you believe I initially did not like this paper? It made some cute layouts, and fortunately I have more.

Happy crafting!

Casandra

Nevermore Halloween Layout

Here is another odd ball layout that I never pictured on my blog. I actually created all 3 of the layouts that Karen Pederson, a fellow Close To My Heart consultant, shared with us.

That large photo was cropped down from an 8x10. I had to crop out some of the kids to make it fit, but it worked out well for me in the end. A couple of the kids (on the end) were moving when the picture snapped and they were blurry. 

My daughter picked the Dorothy costume because of the red, sparkly shoes. A girl can never have enough glitter. Especially that one!

I really liked this paper collection and the complements were wonderful to work with, as well. And due to Ms. Pedersen's inspiration, I finally cut glitter paper on my cricut. And I have to tell you something about that. Close To My Heart glitter paper does a much better job of holding together when "under the knife" than off-brand glitter cardstock. You get what you pay for. Just sayin'. 

Happy crafting!

Casandra

Calypso Summer Layout

Last summer, Calypso paper and Flamingos ruled. In fact, it was the only kit I got to work with during the summer months. 

I scraplifted this layout from the Seasonal Expressions book that was out at the time. I had already used the original title on another layout, so I added the summer title instead. But, because I thought it blended in with the yellow stripes (my favorite paper from that kit!), I added some stitching below it to draw the eye to it. I then added stitching around the sun. Confession time. I did not like that Cotton Candy color until this paper pack. And then I loved it. Wouldn't you know it? They retired it when this kit retired. I can be so fickle about my colors. ;)

Happy crafting!

Casandra

Charlotte Pages

Last year, Charlotte was prettiest girl on the block at Close To My Heart. It was my first experience with the new Workshops Your Way kit. They took over the much-beloved Workshops on the Go, which included a coordinating stamp set. At the time, while I loved the new collections, I wasn't sure I was ready to let go of my WOTG kits. But with time, or lack thereof on my part, I grew to love them.

The first page was inspired by artwork on the Close To My Heart website. Seeing those diamonds, and the stitching, I just had to recreate it.

The bottom layout was created from an Imagine sketch. When I saw that pretty PML card, I began looking for sketches that would utilize it as a title. I haven't put pictures on this one yet. It would have been perfect with my daughter's Easter pictures last year, but I have special plans for those photos. I am sure I have pictures that I haven't printed yet that will work, but in the meantime, on to the next paper collection.

P.S. I created other layouts with this kit. Somehow, I never got around to posting them all. Hope you like them. It's a wish that Close To My Heart will make this soft sorbet color the 2017 color of the year. I love that color and you see it everywhere these days.

Happy crafting!

Casandra

Dreamin' Big Hello Layout

Last month, we promoted a tea cup stamp set as our stamp of the month. I think it was a popular one.

Unfortunately, whenever we have stamps of the month, I rarely see layouts created with them. Which, for me, is a bummer because scrapbooking is still my first love. But, Close To My Heart has been doing a great job of making some brilliant designs to showcase these special promo stamps, and last month was no exception.

Please forgive them terrible photos of my creations. I stayed up until 1am putting finished layouts in protectors and forgot to take a picture of this one before I slipped it into its final resting place. 

The top layout was scraplifted from Close To My Heart, with a few minor changes such as the title.

The bottom layout was created to be a companion page to the first, since the occasions were on separate dates, but the overall theme was the same. I used a Reflections sketch for "Page 2". And of course, I couldn't resist adding more tea cups to the layout. Initially, I was going to stack them as a decoration from top to bottom along the right edge. But then, I changed my mine because I felt that journalling was especially important when telling the story.

This is way cuter in person. Lots of texture and depth. 

Thank you for stopping by.

Casandra

Dreamin' Big Layouts

It was love at first sight when I saw the Dreamin' Big paper collection. I pondered for a while what I would use the kit for, and one night as I was drifting off to sleep, a light bulb went off. It was the perfect kit for the childrens' vacation layouts to Busch Gardens and Billy Swamp Safari in 2016.

I plan on using some of the pocket plus memory protectors to include more photos. Busch Gardens was especially fun while taking pictures. The kids were hamming it up and I couldn't get my camera out fast enough. It was worth it having to lug that heavy camera bag through the park. I also kept my Iphone handy, and when I needed to capture pictures quick, it was a snap. 

My first layout was inspired by a sketch I stumbled upon on Pinterest. I added the create-a-critter animals from Design Space, and if you click on the picture to enlarge it, you will see I used some pattern papers on some of the animals. My daughter said it looked "baby-ish". She's 8, and when the pictures were taken, she was just 7. LOL Oh well.

The final 3 layouts were created pretty much on point from the WYW kit. I thought they worked well with my photos. Sorry for the graininess of some of the pictures; I had Shutterfly print them in a matte finish, and I'm not sure I am happy with the results. It's the first time I've gotten prints that were less than perfect from there, so I'm willing to give them another shot.

If you are interested in the Dreamin' Big collection, it is only available this month while supplies last. You can visit my website here to see the entire collection.

Thank you for stopping by.

Casandra

Jeepers Creepers Layouts

I was having a lot of trouble yesterday trying to upload my latest craft creations to share with you. Hopefully, Blogger has got the problem fixed. It saved about 10 uncompleted drafts. 

I spent a weekend playing with the Jeepers Creepers kit back in February. To spare you checking back multiple days, I am sharing them here in one post.

Jeepers Creepers WYW #1

Jeepers Creepers WYW #2

Jeepers Creepers WYW #3

Inspired by Chris Lothian

Inspired by Chris Lothian

Inspired by Chris Lothian

Inspired by Close To My Heart Blog

Inspired by Close To My Heart Blog

Inspired by Penelope Sketch from Spring, 2016

If you know your paper collections, you may have noticed I threw in Hooligans, Paper Fundamentals Adventure pack, and even some Magical paper. I love that I was able to combine so many collections and still come out with a uniform theme. 

If you are interested in the Jeepers Creepers collection, please visit my website here:
http://scrappinbliss.closetomyheart.com/Retail/Products.aspx?CatalogID=264

I really enjoyed working with this kit. The colors are so vibrant, and the complements were adorable, ahem, spooky!

Casandra

Flash Sale Starts Now

Close To My Heart has a Flash Sale going on now. 

Select products are 30% off. Now through Saturday, April 8th. 24 hours only. These items are while supplies last.

Just to name a few great items, the piercing tool kit and the versa mat are on sale! I use these items everytime I craft.

Check it out here:

http://scrappinbliss.closetomyheart.com/ctmh/promotions/campaigns/1704-07-flash-sale.aspx

Have a great weekend! 

Casandra

Swan Lake Fall Layouts

Over the winter months, I was able to do some scrapbooking just for the fun of it. Below, you will see some layouts I created with the Swan Lake paper collection.

I did stamping on the first layout, using the "With You" stamp set that was featured with Swan Lake. It was a gift from my fairy craftmother, as I like to think of her. I love that stamps provide you with options to change up colors and even embellishments to make your own one-of-a-kind creation. I used a sketch that was featured with the Florence kit last Summer. 

The second and third layouts primarily used the Swan Lake complements. I thought less was more as far as embellishing went, and I really wanted to make my photos the star of the show. I found some old sketch patterns in my Imagine book. I took hundreds of pictures over the course of that weekend (making up for lost time), and since I have so many "perfect" photos, I think I will add some of the pocket plus memory protectors to my album to showcase more. 

What do you think? Isn't this paper cute? As a side note, I really wanted to take pictures at a different location in our county that is known for being a swan habitat, but time was not on my side, and it took a lot to warm the kids up to a photo session in the first place. Can't believe I'm saying this, but I think it was easier to take their pictures when they were younger. LOL

Hope your weekend is filled with crafty fun. And if you get a chance, tonight at 5pm EST, Close To My Heart is hosting a Flash Sale with 30% off select current products. It will run for 24 hours only, or while supplies last. You can check my website out here: 
www.scrappinbliss.closetomyheart.com 

Thank you for stopping by.

Casandra

Sugar Rush Mini Valentine

Normally, I never let any artwork leave before I photograph it. But Valentine's Day snuck up on me before I was totally prepared for it. So I missed taking pictures of two other designs I used when making the kids' classroom Valentine's. 

I wish you could have seen them. One featured cricut cut emoji's and the other had donuts. The one featured here was a leftover. I always make a few extra just in case. Good thing, because the week before Valentine's Day, my son had two new classmates join his school. 

This 3x3 mini card was inspired by the Close To My Heart blog. I had some blue glitter and enamel gems left over from the Urban workshop I did last year. I used most of them up. Love when that happens. (Means I can buy more, right?!)

Casandra

Sugar Rush Love You Layout

Today would have been my cousin Karon's birthday. She would be 44 today. I was blessed to have her in my life for 27 years. 

This layout was inspired by one that was featured on Close To My Heart's website marquee back in January. This is the first layout that I have tried the pinwheel pennant shapes on. I was so nervous. LOL They really should give us cricut cuts that do this for me....

I added stitching and some old pink buttons we used to sell. Aren't they cute? I thought they were the perfect addition to this pretty layout. This one needs a special picture. 

Casandra

Sugar Rush Life is Sweet Layout

This next scrapbook page was heavily inspired by the current Seasonal Expressions book.

I made only minor changes to it. So here is my tip of the day. If you have our old 1 1/4" circle punch, use it when "die-cutting" the ice cream circles. It was perfect. I simply fussy-cut the ice cream cone. 

Life is sweet. 

Casandra

Sugar Rush Sweet Treats Layout

Happy April Fool's Day!

I used a 2017 double-page sketch from PageMaps. I changed it up a bit to suit my needs.

I couldn't wait to use ice cream and donuts as my main embellishments. The donuts were created from the Sugar Rush Cardmaking Thin Cut dies. The title was created in Cricut Design Space. I even used a pomegranate glitter gem as a cherry on top of the ice cream cone. The popsicle is a chipboard embellishment I had left over from the Sugar Rush workshop. I thought that element tied the journal card in with the rest. And I was finally able to use that pretty sea glass heart washi. Yay!

Be sure and stop by tomorrow for a one pager I did with Sugar Rush.

Happy crafting!

Casandra