Hello Flash: A Layout using Gossamer Blue's On My Desk

Happy Wednesday! I have a layout to share with you today that I created for a Product Spotlight feature over on the Paper Issues blog. I used the Gossamer Blue On My Desk supplies I  had already ordered, and I had such a great time!

I am seriously in love with this collection. The papers, ephemera, labels, and puffy stickers are right up my alley. I also adore the package of 3x4 gold foil transparencies. All of these products will definitely be making a Project Life appearance as well, not to mention some more layouts I plan on making.

For today though, I focused on a single image of our new ferret. My husband has wanted a ferret since he was a child, and earlier this month he made that dream a reality. Flash is pretty darn cute and we are having a lot of fun playing with him.

Products used from Gossamer Blue On My Desk:

• Screensaver, Multitasker, and Stargazer  12 x 12 papers
• 3x4 gold foil transparencies
• Enamel Stars
• Puffy Stickers
• Days of the Week Label Stickers

Other products used:

• American Crafts white cardstock (trimmed down to 8.25x 10.75 inches
• American Crafts shadow cardstock (trimmed down to 8.5 x 11 inches
• American Crafts dot roller adhesive
• Versafine Ink in Onyx Black
• Pebbles date stamp
• Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher
• American Crafts colored staples (I used gold)
• Needle and Thread
• Printer used for journaling (American Typewriter font)

If you would like to see what my fellow Design Team members Sherry Funk, Amy Close, and Brenda Smith created using Gossamer Blue products, please check out THIS post over at the Paper Issues Blog. They all are seriously talented and really rocked Gossamer Blue this month!

Thank you so much for stopping by today, I appreciate you being here. I will be back tomorrow with a look at my plan for making a #30DaysOfThankful mini album. I sure hope to see you back here.

xoxox

Toni

*Disclaimer: If you use my code over at the Paper Issues

store, I do receive a small commission that is used to 

purchase more crafting goodness at the shop.

Introducing Sketchy Saturday over at Paper Issues

It's Saturday and the sun is shining in beautiful Rolesville, North Carolina. We just returned from a pretty great soccer game and I am now getting ready to play with pretty paper. Life doesn't get much better than this. 

I don't know about you, but I love a great sketch challenge. Guess what? That is exactly what I am sharing with you today.

We just started a new feature over at Paper Issues. The first Saturday of every month we will host "Sketchy Saturday" and we will have a sketch challenge. The winner is randomly selected from all those who link up a project to receive a $10 gift card to the Paper Issues store. *When you checkout you can also use my code and get an extra 20% off your entire order. Just use code "TONI" at checkout. What'a not to love about a free $10 and 20% off? Nothing. Nothing at all.

Here is the sketch you get to work with. It was created by my fellow Creative Team Member Jennifer Chapin.

Here is what I came up with for my take on the sketch. Believe it or not I made a 2-page layout and I really like how it turned out! I used a letter written by my daughter for the second page. To make the letter archival safe I made a copy and printed it onto some white American Crafts cardstock.

Please head over to the Paper Issues blog and check out how my other Creative Team members (Jennifer Chapin, Shannon Morgan, and Dona Howe interpreted this sketch.) You may enter the contest through Friday, October 10th. A winner will be selected for the $10 Paper Issues gift card and announced via the blog on Saturday, October 11th.

Thank you so much for stopping by today. I will be back next week with some brand new flair designs for my store, two different Project Life posts, a card share, and some layouts too. It's gonna be a  good week over at Toni From Designs. A really good week.

xoxox

Toni

A Pocket Layout using Crate Paper's Boys Rule Collection

Earlier this month we had kind of a big thing happen in our family. Our oldest turned fourteen and we went out and celebrated a few days before his party. We went to an Entertainment Park and had all kinds of fun with three, yes three, teenage boys. I think Go Carts were my personal favorite, and the boys liked Laser Tag the most!

I love Crate Paper's Boys Rule line and truth be told I have been kind of hoarding it, and waiting for just the right pictures. I pulled it out earlier this week and told myself that I was not allowed to hoard it any longer. I made a 9 x 12 inch pocket page insert for our Project Life album by trimming down one of my page protectors. I plan on adding some more photos of Elliot later this month on the opposite side. He is getting ready to go to his first semi-formal dance, the Eighth Grade Dance to be specific. Only a few more weeks and he will officially be a high school student. Sigh.

This layout is full of my favorite things: Journaling cards, wood veneer, small embellishments, stickers, pretty patterned paper, and some great photos. My favorite combination.  I added in a see through pocket and hand-stitched it closed, since my sewing machine has been put to rest. It finally stopped working. :-(  I also used a piece of vellum for a sorta see-through element with the blue star vellum from the Crate Paper collection. I bought three pieces of this, because even though I only use vellum in smaller amounts, I would be so sad if I ever ran out. I am a huge star fan (if you could not tell already.)

Let's talk paper collections today. Anyone else hoarding a paper collection? Are you planning on using it soon? Or are you someone that can just use it up right away? I am getting much better at that, but still find about 10% off my stash I have a really hard time using. Anyone else loving Boys Rule or any other collections? What about stars? I mean seriously, can you ever get tired of stars???

I have linked this layout over at Paper Issues for their current "Mix Tape" challenge. You can find that HERE.

I will be back later this week with a layout to share. I hope to see you back here then. Until next time....

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni

2 Layouts using Studio Calico's Bluegrass Farms Scrapbook Kit.

Happy Monday! I hope y'all had a great weekend and Happy belated Mother's Day to all of you moms out there. I had a great weekend with my family and that even included breakfast in bed yesterday and a movie marathon.

I have two layouts to share with you today using the April Bluegrass Farms Scrapbook Kit by Studio Calico. This is going down as one of my favorite main kits ever. I love all of the bright primary colors, and I have found this kit super versatile for all kinds of topics.

Be Wild:

I think this Maya Road Ampersand paper clip, just might go down as my favorite embellishment 

of the year, it was in an older Studio Calico Project Life kit, and I finally stopped hoarding it.

A23:

I enjoyed stamping and using all kinds of gold touches on this layout. I am especially loving the 

new American Crafts colored staples, they fit perfectly in my Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher.

If you are curious, I made another layout using this Scrapbook Kit, you can find that post HERE.

Let's talk scrapbooking products today. What are some of your favorites from 2014? What about old favorites? Anything you are loving that surprised you? Are you loving some things so much and using them on just about everything? For me that would be anything gold, any kind of clip (paper clips, flag clips, etc...,) and stars. I still love stars, I think I always will. 

I will be back soon with another week of Project Life to share. I sure hope to see you back then.

Until next time,

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni

Paper Bakery Projects for March 2014

Happy Wednesday! I have three layouts to share with you today using Paper Bakery's March Daylight Savings Scrapbook and Project 365 Kits. In these kits you will find lots of goodness from Studio Calico, Dear Lizzy, Amy Tangerine, American Crafts Thickers, and exclusive wood veneer, stencils, badges, and journaling cards, and many other goodies. There are still kits available, just follow the links above if you are interested. :-)

Happy Note

I adore penguins, and I was so glad to finally have these pictures from a 

zoo trip in our family scrapbook. I think the machine stitching and 

layered embellishments really add a little something to this layout. 

He Has Her Whole Heart

I really had fun putting this layout together and looking over photos of these two from this 

past year. Our daughter is such a daddy's girl so it wasn't hard to find photos of the two 

of them together. I used a loose grid design to this layout, with a little bit of watercolor 

(the green lines and hand cut heart, and also some messy ink splatters too.)

Elliot's Favorite Toys:

For this layout, I took a few photos of some of the toys our son still enjoys 

and then incorporated his favorite colors into this layout. I added some 

star stamps and letter stickers from my stash, and used a star punch 

as well. I like how this really reflects Elliot at this age. 

Thanks for stopping by today, I appreciate you being here. I will be back again tomorrow with some fun and inspiring scrapbook room photos to share, so please make sure to pop in and say hello.

Until next time,

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni

Layout Share: Longshoreman

Today's layout is featuring a split-complimentary color scheme.

According to Tigercolor.com a split-complementary color scheme is a variation of a complimentary color scheme. In addition to using a base color, it also uses the two colors adjacent to it is a compliment. It has a lot of tension much like a complimentary color scheme, but is much easier to achieve.

In the layout I am working with today I wanted to go with a blue/ orange color scheme of sorts. This is a color combination I always love for masculine pages, or outdoor photographs. I went with blue as my dominant color with yellow and orange as the split-compliments and I really like how it turned out. I also used a brown woodgrain and white as a neutral to balance out all of that color, as well as silver for accents.

Thanks for stopping by life, scrapbook, repeat today. The kids are on spring break this week, so I only had three posts for you. I will be back next week with regular posting. I sure hope to see you back then.

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni

Layout Share: Let's Jumprope

Happy Monday! Today I have a layout to share with you today based on using one of my favorite ways to start a layout: Color! I am obsessed with color schemes and finding inspiration for layouts in colors around me. Today I am using a triadic color scheme. I have been learning a bunch of fun new things over at Studio Calico in their Color Theory class, and I thought I would share something I learned with you.

According to tiger color.com, a triadic color scheme uses colors that are evenly spaced around the color wheel. These color schemes tend to be quite vibrant, even if you use pale or unsaturated versions of your hues. *This link will give you all kinds of great information about many different color schemes, including; primary, secondary, tertiary, triadic, complementary, analogous, square, rectangle, and split-complementary.

Example of a Triadic Color Scheme

Two things I noticed when researching this type of color scheme. 

1. I use the red, blue, yellow color scheme frequently, especially with boy pages.
2. I don't use many other combos of triadic, so I pushed myself to try one that is really out of my "wheelhouse" so to speak. Here is what I came up with.

Let's Jumprope

This was a very fun layout to make. I enjoy trying new things, and this color scheme (purple, aqua, and orange/yellow) are definitely not a typical color scheme for me, but I really like the result.

Let's talk stepping outside of our comfort zone today. What kinds of crafty projects have you worked on lately that were out of the norm for you? Anyone else branching out of their wheelhouse lately? Is there anything new that you would love to try? Let' talk crafting, any kind of crafting will do, I would love to hear all about it.

I will be back tomorrow with some more Project Life to share. I hope to see you back then.

Until then,

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni

Documenting #30DaysofThankful using Basic Grey Persimmon

Can you believe it is already Friday? Wow! Where has this week gone? I am finishing up this blog post this morning and boy is it freezing here. I realize this is all relative, depending upon where in the world you are as you read this blog post, but North Carolina is never this cold. Never. This. Cold. How cold is it? Well at 6:30 am it was 14 degrees. It's so cold that my dogs will not move off of their dog beds in the family room. They keep looking at the fireplace, back at me, at the fireplace, back at me, I think they might be trying to give me a hint or something.

Did any of you play along with the #30DaysofThankful hashtag? I did and I just love it, I love focusing on what we are thankful for. This is something I work on and pay attention to everyday, but in November, it is so great to see so many others doing this as well. This is the third year that I have documented something to be grateful for in the month of November with photographs, but this is the first time I found a good way to put it all together on a scrapbook page. I really like how it turned out, and I hope you do to.

I have a layout to share with you today. I challenged myself to come up with a different way to display all of the photos I took on my I-phone this past November. I did not want to make a mini book, but instead wanted to somehow come up with a layout that could hold all of these photos. I managed to fit 29 photos on this layout, a new personal record for me!

This layout went together very quickly once the photos were printed. I do not have a large format printer. So I printed them in two groups of images sized 6 inches by 6 inches using my small Epson printer and some help from Photoshop Elements.  Once the photos were printed, I just stuck them down on the left side my dark woodgrain background page using my trusty American Crafts dot runner adhesive. The photo collage (in it's entirety measures 6 inches wide by 12 inches tall, if you were wondering.) Next, I stuck down the Basic Grey Persimmon letter stickers. Then I added the Basic Grey Persimmon envelope, banner, and subtitle stickers. I decided I wanted some more stitching, so I hand-stitched the letter stickers down. I wanted to make sure to include a lot of journaling and to document all of the different things I am thankful for at this time in my life. I decided not to use the journaling card that came with this envelope because it was very cream in color, and the photos are so bright white that it just didn't jive, if you know what I mean. I will use it for journaling at a later date instead. My handmade journaling card is not very fancy, just a piece of scrap white card stock cut to fit and folded in half. It opens up like a book with writing on the front, inside, and back. Sorry I don't have a photo of it here on the blog. I think it got deleted somehow. My last steps were to use a date stamp at the top of the journaling card, a couple yellow enamel dots, a wood heart, and a little splash of Heidi Swapp Gold Lame Mist.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I appreciate you being here. I hope you are warm wherever you are located and that this Polar Vortex leaves and never comes back. I will be back next week with five blog posts with all kinds of goodness to share. I hope to see you back at life, scrapbook, repeat very soon. Have a safe and fabulous weekend ahead!

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni

Layouts using Crate Paper's Bundled Up Collection

I know I have been absent from Blogland lately, and boy have I missed you guys. I ended up getting really sick with a  cold/ flu right after Christmas and am finally starting to feel like my old self. I am so thankful for good doctors, strong antibiotics, and a very helpful husband and kids that helped keep the ol' home-front running while I was laying down and basically doing nothing for over two weeks straight. Now that I am feeling better, I spent the first part of this week just getting the house re-organized, cleaned, and catching up on everything that went to the wayside since Christmas. It's not all done yet, but it's getting there. I am still super tired though, and keep taking naps. It is so frustrating because I have so much stuff I want to do, but I am thankful that I am getting better, and trying to be patient with myself.  I am looking forward to a quiet crafty weekend and week ahead.

Today I have two layouts to share with you that I made using some items from my stash as well as the Crate Paper Bundled Up collection. I think this is my favorite winter collection of all time. I am so in love with it seriously! I just love the color scheme, the vintage drawings, and all of the awesome accessories. I paired this collection with lots of gold glitter embossing powder, wood veneer, and neutral colors. I hope you like what I created!

Simply Wonderful:

Snowmen:

I will be back next week with all kinds of scrappy goodness. I will be blogging Monday-Friday and sure hope to see you here. I hope you have all been happy and healthy. Let's talk.…what have you been creating lately? Are things getting back to normal around your house with the holidays over? How are you liking 2014 so far?

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni

Some Exciting News and a Layout Share "The Calm"

Happy Monday! Can you believe it is almost the New Year? We are still listening to Christmas music over here, but are starting to wean ourselves a little bit, but I still have no plans to take down Christmas decor until after the New Year. I am going to have it all down and put away before I go to bed on January 5th however. I work best with a deadline, and I don't want to get stuck looking at a dead tree on Valentine's Day. Might kind of ruin the whole romance of it and all. ;-)

I have some very exciting news to share with y'all, something I have been just dying to tell you, but have just received the go ahead to tell. Here is the news:

Yup, I am on the Paper Bakery Design Team. I am so excited to have been chosen and so very humbled to work with such talented ladies. I will be working with the Capture 365 kit, which is their version of a pocket pages/  daily scrapbooking kit. You know how much I love Project Life, so this is such a perfect fit for me! If you have never heard of Paper Bakery you can find a direct link to their blog HERE.

Onto other news…. I have a layout to share with you today to go along with a challenge over at Paper Issues. The issue this month is Shiny and New. I interpreted this challenge by using lots of shiny gold elements, paired with traditional Christmas colors of red and green found in the Basic Grey 25th and Pine collection. I am just loving gold this season and I do not see that ending anytime soon.  I am still in love with layering and splattering mist here and there. Of course sequins are a must for this layout, especially shiny gold star sequins. I love these so much! I also used my Silhouette on this layout to cut out a background mask with repeating hearts. I sprayed that with Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Gold Lame.

The Calm

I am so thankful that you stopped by today. I will be back later this week with all kinds of scrappy (and non- scrappy things to share.) Tomorrow (Tuesday) you can expect to see a Project Life blog post discussing what I did for Project Life 2013, and where I see Project Life heading for 2014 and beyond. I am gearing up to finish my third year of Project Life and getting really excited to be starting my album for 2014 very soon.  I also have made a video (yup, you heard me right,) doing a walk through of my third album for 2013. I will let you know as soon as that is available for watching on You Tube. I will also let you know where you can find me on You Tube, in case you wanted to watch it. :-)

Let's talk the new year…anyone else working on anything Shiny or New? Are you loving on Gold and sparkly embellishments? What about drippy mist? Sequins? Any fun plans for New Year's?

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni

Layout Share: "Love This Moment"

I have a layout to share with you today based on some silly photos of my son. I mean if you happen to see a Christmas tree fully decorated in October, it deserves a photo shoot right? My son Elliot and I found this super funny and so he started posing in front of it. A piece of advice for mothers of boys, anytime a teenage boy is willing to have his photograph taken, you must stop what you are doing immediately and start taking photos. It only lasts for a minute, so you must begin quickly.

I created this layout using items from the Studio Calico Antiquary Scrapbook Kit, the Studio Calico Magical Candy Stripe Vellum and Atlantic glittered stars, and the new Crate Paper Bundled Up Collection. I really enjoyed pairing these scrappy supplies together and am super happy with the end result.

I hope y' all have a Happy, happy Tuesday. I will be back later this week with some ideas for December Daily Organization. I sure hope to see you then.

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni

Layout Share: Splash

Happy Monday and Happy Labor Day for all of my fellow American friends! Today is a day for relaxation and some family fun. My labor day will include some studio organization, some Pride and Prejudice movie watching, and some family game time. A pretty perfect day in my book!

Today I have a layout to share with you made from the Studio Calico Marks and Company Scrapbook Kit. There are still some available as of September 2nd, so if you are interested I highly recommend this awesome kit full of a really cool exclusive stitching plate designed by Amy Tangerine, exclusive stamp set, and all kinds of goodies from the new CHA releases. I have really enjoyed working with this kit.

This layout really showcases my style right now, and techniques I am still loving; some mist, journaling around the perimeter of the layout, neutral background, some stamping, layers, and clusters of embellishments. I also love to include lots of different types of texture, in this case there is shiny and smooth enamel dots, rough wood veneer, hard acetate, and shiny and bumpy puffy arrow stickers. I also think that mists and stamping adds some fun texture, by adding some base layering to you pages.

Products Used:

• Studio Calico Marks and Co Scrapbook Kit
• Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Teal and Mustard
• Studio Calico Mister Huey in Pretty Pink
• Dear Lizzy Polka Dot Party Heart Acetate Paper 
• Stamping Ink: Versafine in Onyx Black, Prima Chalk Fluid Edger in Vintage Pink

Thank you so much for stopping by today. Let's talk about finding your scrapbook style? How do you know what your style is? An even better question might be to ask, how do you define your scrapbook style? I was able to pinpoint my style by just searching through my last 50 or so layouts, and it soon became fairly obvious that there are some techniques I use again and again. My favorite layouts all follow the techniques I used in this layout, and they feel the most authentically me (I hope that makes sense.) I would love to hear your answers and thoughts on these questions.

I appreciate you being here. I will be back tomorrow with a new Project Life week to share. Up later this week, I will be posting cards, organization, and some of my lists from the awesome 30 Days of Lists group. I hope to see you back here.

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni

Layout Share: "You Rock, Your A Rock Climber"

 Today, I have a layout to share with you that I made last week. I purchased my first set of gelatos and was very excited to use some bright colors behind these photos of my daughter. I am really liking the Faber-Castell Gelatos, but I still have a lot to learn. In the meantime, it has been super fun experimenting and coloring my papers.

 Products Used:





• Noel Mignon July "Hello Sunshine" Scrapbook Kit
• Faber-Castell Gelatos
• Echo Park A Perfect Summer Chipboard Accents(camera, sun, and blue star tab.)

Let's talk mixed media...Anyone else diving into water colors, gelato, paint, and other mixed media types of things? What are some of your favorites? How do you like to use them? I am really enjoying using them as a bottom layer. beneath my photos.

Until next time, Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni

Kisses for You: Layout and Card Share

After a very long day of flying, waiting around an airport, and motion sickness (yuck.) I am now happily ensconced in my parent's house for the next 26 days. I just love my family, they are truly amazing, and I am so blessed that my husband, children, and myself have them in our lives.

Isabelle, Elliot, and I are having so much fun just being together, and having some extra time with my parents. In the morning today, I managed to spend an hour getting some scrapbooking done. It was a lot of fun, and I just love starting my day with coffee in hand, and pretty paper on my table. Unfortunately, I am having a lot of problems with my parents Internet, their computer, and what not. It is so frustrating when these things do not work. I enjoy blogging and crafting and I am trying to figure out how to make this work in Washington State. I took photos with my good SLR Camera, but of course I can't upload them, or get my parent's computer to install a free trial of photoshop so I had to come up with a plan B. All of the below photos were taken with my I-phone 4s, edited in Pic-Tap-Go, and uploaded to the blog though my phone. I am hoping that I will be able to come up with a better system in the next week or so, because my mom and I have lots of scrapbooking plans that I would love to share with you along the way.

This is the sneak peak I shared via Instagram earlier today of 2 cards and one layout I created this morning.

The layout was based on a sketch I found on the Lily Bee blog and was designed by Page Maps. You can find their inventive and whimsical sketch HERE. I loved the sketch and knew right away that I had two pictures that would be just perfect to use for this layout design. I really like what I came up with

Supplies:

Papers: Destination Collection: Postcard, Luggage, Tickets, and Boarding Pass. Other papers: Linen and Patchwork.

• Embellishments: Destination Collection: Circle and tag stickers and label stickers. Pinwheel Collection: Circle and Tag Stickers, chit chat stickers, and brad, badge, button, and baker's bundle. 
• Other supplies: Fiskars medium heart punch, American Crafts precision pen, This to That adhesive, Scrapbook Adhesive 3-D Foam Squares, white thread, Marvy Uchida star punch, and Silhouette Cameo.

Next, I decided to play along with the Lily Bee blog again, but this time I would try my hand at a card sketch. You can find the sketch HERE. I love how simple and graphic this is, and could not wait to get started.

For my last project, I decided to use up my paper scraps from the two above projects. One of my favorite ways to use up scraps is to cut the paper into similar sized strips and either use them on a layout or card. This time I chose to use a card and this is what I came up with.

Let's talk crafting? What have you been creating lately? Do you like working from sketches? I find that they are really great jumping off points and I love that they can be followed either very literally or as just an inspirational idea. How great is it that paper crafters have so much free great inspiration out there. What a blessing. What are you finding inspirational these days? Any favorite go to places for sketches? I always love getting new places to turn to for inspiration. Thank you so much for being here, I hope y'all have a great day.

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni