Today Always **Paper House & Just Imagine**

I am heading to a wedding shower later this summer and I wanted to make a beautiful card for the exciting day.  I have no idea what the colors are for the wedding day, so I stuck with the traditional black/white/grey scheme. 

I just love the To Have and To Hold line from Paper House productions.  It is just perfect for anything to do with weddings!!  I cut the swirl sections off the black "Eat Drink and be Married" and the grey "Bridal bouquet" paper.  I also used the white section of the "Dreams come True" as a backing to the black swirl.

 

 

I then layered the "Today Tomorrow Always" sticker on top of white Family chalkboard sticker for even more dimension.  I then added in a few die cut swirls and some flowers to top it off!!

I then added a 1 inch strip of white paper behind the sticker and punch it on both sides with Kreaxions punch 905 with the C insert for a border punch from Just Imagine.  With the 1 inch strip punching on both sides at the same length down the strip you create a beautiful decal, yet even another wonderful way to use this awesome punches!!

I hope this wonderful couple will enjoy the fist steps together in their new life, I wish them all the best!!

Supplies Used
Paper - Paper House Productions
Stickers - Paper House Productions
Punch - Just Imagine
Flowers - Recollections
Die Cut - Heartfelt Creations
Ink - Prima

Enjoy!!

Hello **Off the Rails & Just Imagein & Birds of a Feather**

Here is yet another one of the beautiful pictures of my daughter that was taken when she turned one.  I just loved this little dress and bonnet, I am so bummed when she grew out of it.  We took the pictures in our backyard and I am so glad we took them there because we moved a month later.  We worked so hard to make the back yard beautiful, adding in planters, landscaping, it was just perfect for pictures.

I used the wonderful sketch and color pallet from the August off the Rails Challenge with Lawn Fawn.  So come join along and play in the fun.

 Here is also a really fun event to join in on this Saturday!!

 

I wanted to add texture to all the layers I added into the layout behind the picture.  I so punched every corner with Kreaxions punch 907 from Just Imagine.  The texture of the stamp matched the edges of the tags I used on the layout perfectly!!

Supplies used

Cardstock - Birds of a Feather April Kit -  Bazzil

Patterned Paper - Birds of a Feather April Kit - Teresa Collins, Studio Calico, & Fancy Pants

Patterned paper - Pink Paislee

Trim  - Birds of a Feather April Kit - Maya Road

Stickers -  Birds of a Feather April Kit - Teressa Collins

Placemats  - Birds of a Feather April Kit - Jillibean Soup

Punch - Just Imagine

Flowers - Prima

Embellishments - Fancy pants, Pink Pasilee, Recollections, Other

Mists - Ranger, Heidi Swapp, Tattered Angles

Ink - Ranger, Prima

Enjoy!!

Ahoy There **Birds of a Feather**

On the final leg of my senior cruise from Port Arthur to Galveston we were seniors were allowed to bring family on the ship to see what it was like to be on board our ship.  Give them a tour around the bridge, all levels of the ship, engine room, pretty much anything they wanted to see.  Here i am showing my father how I used the gyro with the azimuth ring to located the sun for a noon fix using celestial navigation.

I used the wonderful Birds of a Feather July kit jammed packed with tons of goodies for wonderful sea-time projects.   I created lots of layers here to counteract the bold prints, lot of solids colors to break up the graphics.  I kept the design simple to showcase the pictures and papers.

 

Here are the extras for this month

I did lots of fussy cutting of the title and also of the anchor and globe from the patterned papers. This allowed me to layer then on top of my pictures without covering them up.

  

Supplies Used

Cardstock - Bazzil - July Birds of a Feather Kit

Patterned paper - Carta Bella & Authentique - July Birds of a Feather Kit (extra)

Ink - Prima -  July Birds of a Feather Kit

Crystals - Prima -  July Birds of a Feather Kit

Stickers - Authentique -  July Birds of a Feather Kit (extra)

Burlap stickers - Little yellow Bicycle - July Birds of a Feather kit (extra)

Pen - Marvy Uchida

Adhesive - 3M

Anchored **Susan K. Weckeser & Just Imagine & Birds of a Feather**

While I was getting my undergrad degree I also was obtaining my Third Mate's License.  This meant I was going to to sea every summer on a training cruise to gain sea-time for my license.  We did everything, navigation, maintenance, cleaning, lines, laundry, classes, watch, and much much more. I loved going to to sea, but my final cruise was harder to leave as I was leaving behind my fiancee at the time.  This picture is of us just before the ship left and I was on stern line duty.  It was very bittersweet I loved the sea, but to be gone for 3 months just broke my heart.

I used the beautiful July Kit from Birds of a Feather.  It is stuffed full of wonderful sea life papers, just perfect for my days out at sea.  Here I used tons of layers of papers, of a canvas triangle, flowers, chipboard pinwheels, twine, stickers, burlap, stencils, punches, and a pull out tag.

 

 

I made the tag base from Susan K. Weckesser papers.  I cut out a white section of her "Live in Color" cardstock.  I then added in the dotted lines with her stencil in navy chalk ink (to use as my lines for the journaling) and then stamped in silver ink the super sweet triangle pennant banner from the "Create your Day" set.  I then added n strips of papers in navy and white colors and topped it off with a sticker and twine for the pull out section.

The tag reads "Departing on my senior cruise.  I was working the lines.  It was so bittersweet to leave.  I loved being at sea, but it was so hard to leave Mike." 

Here you can see additional use of Susan K. Weckesser's stencil with the chain and the "x" in navy ink on the papers.  I used Kreaxion Punch 920 from Just imagine with the C insert.  I punched every corner of all the papers in the layers (except for the very bottom layer below the burlap).

I used the same Kreaxions 920 punch all along the edges of the the layout with out any insert.  I only punched out the star shape, some complete stars, come partial.  I did this randomly around the entire perimeter of the layout on all 4 layers for tons of dimension and texture.  I also did "half way" punching of the stars to leave an imprint of the star shape but not punching it completely out, in a sense embossing it into the paper.  I then took navy chalk ink and rubbed it on top of the impression to make it pop off the page.  I used Susan K. Weckesser stamps again here, with the triangle banner from the "Create your day" set as seen above on the tag and also a larger stripped triangle from her "Celebrate the Simple Things" set going across the page behind the picture from the left side coming back out on the top right of the layout.

The wonderful news about being gone from your loved one is the is light at the end the tunnel - the heaert does grow fonder being apart.  We were back together again three months later (he even met me at one port of call during the trip) and now have 4 beautiful children together.

Supplies Used

Cardstock - Bazzil - July Birds of a Feather Kit

Patterned paper - Carta Bella & Authentique - July Birds of a Feather Kit (extra)

Chipboard - Fabscraps -  July Birds of a Feather Kit

Ink - Prima -  July Birds of a Feather Kit

Flowers - Prima -  July Birds of a Feather Kit

Burlap - May Arts -  July Birds of a Feather Kit

Stickers - Authentique -  July Birds of a Feather Kit (extra)

Punch - Just Imagine

Stamps - Susan K. Weckesser

Tag - Susan K. Weckesser

Stencil - Susan K. Weckesser

Canvas - Canvas Corps

Stain - Ranger

Twine - American Crafts

Pen - Marvy Uchida

Adhesive - 3M

Enjoy!!

Outdoors **Robin's Nest & Just Imagine & Susan K. Weckesser**

This past March we took the kids to Pedernales Falls just outside of Austin, Texas.  My husband remembered going there as a child and since moving to the Austin area we took the first chance the weather gave us to go.  It was beautiful, domes of limestone caved out by the water creating pools that gathered water and spilled out over more domes of limestone.  You could not go in the water as there was no easy way to rescue anyone if they were in trouble, plus flash floods can happen so fast.  We hiked all over the domes, but the boys favorite part was to throw rocks into the pools at the fish, and some were huge!!

I used the wonderful Lodge Papers from The Robin's Nest.  The colors and texture of the papers and embellishments are perfect for outdoors layouts, it really helps balance the tones of the picture.  For more information about how I used The Robin's Nest products please see the Robin's Next Blog.

 

 

I used Kreaxions Punch 920 from Just Imagine with B and C inserts to create the punches corners and edges on both the tan and khaki cardstock.  

Now I start to layers all the Robin's Nest Cardstock and Cutouts from the Lodge Collection and place the embellishments around the picture.  You can also see some of the beautiful Dew Drops!!  I used the Star Template and Kreaxions Punch 920 from Just Imagine to create the doily in dark brown cardstock.  I also added in some UmWow chipboard.  I then added in splatters of Distress Stain and the Chain Stencil from Susan K. Weckesser with Prima Ink in dark brown.  I also added in one of the wonderful banner Susan K. Weckesser Stamps in black ink around the page for more dimension.

I used journaling strips to add to the feel of the layout - layers, layers, an more layers!!  I also used Kreaxions Punch 907 from Just Imagine with the B insert to punch the corner of the Compass paper.

The kids has so much fun playing in the outdoors, looking for bugs, throwing rocks, hearing all the sounds, and just being kids.  It is those small things I love to capture!!

Supplies Used

Patterned Paper - The Robin's Nest

Stickers - The Robin's Nest

Straws - The Robin's Nest

Dew Drops - The Robin's Nest

Punches and Star Template - Just Imagine

Stamp - Susan K. Weckesser

Stencil - Susan K. Weckesser

Chipboard - UmWow

Cardstock - Core'dinations

Ink/Stain - Prima and Ranger

Trim - Other

Adhesive - 3M

 Enjoy!!

 

Fishing **Robin's Nest & Just Imagine**

Last summer we took a vacation to Austin (actually Lago Vista) which is right on Lake Travis.  There has been a drought for over 10 years and the water level is down in the lake by 40 feet.  It is really a sight to see, so many rock formations and items are being uncovered due to the low water.  This makes it really hard to find a place to fish as all the priers and docks are way above the water level, but once you find a little spot it is beautiful, so we stayed to fish.  It was Brandon's first time fishing, he was 3 years old.  We gave him a little rod with a worm and he sat very patiently waiting for his fish and he caught 3 sunfish no bigger than his hand.  The weather was beautiful for Texas in June, such a nice breeze and it was so peaceful and tranquil.  I happen to be just behind him and caught the sun setting over the rock outcropping as he sat so contently waiting for his fish to bite.

I used the wonderful Lodge Papers from Robin's Nest along with their super cute Fishing Rub-ons, Outdoors stickers, Getaway Dew Drops, White Glitter Cardstock, and Natural Twine.  Go over and check out how I made this project at the Robin's Nest Blog.

I distressed the edges of the white cardstock with an edge distress tool and also with Kreaxions Punch 907 with no inserts and also with the B an C inserts from Just Imagine to give it tattered edges and corners.  I also took Washi tape, ink, and stamps to add even more interest around the edge of the page.  The stamps have names, dates, and places about the picture without making it feel like I added journaling.  I have also created a star doily with Punch 907 with the Star Template both from Just Imagine in black cardstock.  You can also see some of the Fishing Rub-on's, Natural Twine, Getaway Dew Drops, and Outdoors Stickers from The Robin's Nest.

 

It is always a great to slow down and take time for a relaxing day of fishing especially during sunset, just don't forget your camera for those picture to capture the moment!!

Supplies Used

Cardstock - The Robin's Nest

Patterned paper - The Robin's Nest 
Stickers -  The Robin's Nest 
Dew Drops -  The Robin's Nest 
Rub-on's -  The Robin's Nest 
Twine -  The Robin's Nest 
Punch and Template - Just Imagine
Ink/Paint/Stain - Ranger & Prima
Stamp - Prima
Washi Tape - Recollections
Alpha Stickers - American Crafts
Chipboard - Memory Maze

Enjoy!!