Counterfeit Kit #3

My 3rd counterfeit kit is from A Million Memories, March 2010 but I can no longer find the image on their site or blog, so...here is my take on it. Basically their kit was a few pieces from Cosmo Cricut Material Girl and Garden Variety, some green alphas, a lot of ribbon and some buttons. I stayed pretty true to that since I have the Material Girl/Garden Variety double deck paper pad, except I left out the dressmakers pattern patterned paper and substituted greyish ad patterned paper instead and substituted a different blue patterned paper.

It's overcast today and late afternoon, so not great photos, but here are the layouts I made.
Layout #1...I'm not especially pleased with it, but I've been moving the pictures around for 7 years, so I'm glad to get them scrapbooked. Just a couple pics from my trip to Phoenix for my sisters community college graduation and the story of calling Rob "captain", as he was driving an "Enterprise" rent a truck that weekend. Added in a BoBunny sun journaling die cut and an MME frame.
Not really sure what I had in mind for this layout, but I think the result is cute. Not often I use lace and flowers on a layout, so go, me!
This layout started out as something completely different. The left hand side is a sketch by Becky Fleck/Pagemaps and was supposed to have a pic of Brandon from several years ago in the makeshift "office" he created in the corner of the living room to be "just like dad". As I was working on it, I couldn't escape the fact that I only see these papers as "gardenish" and I finally gave up, created the second page, slipped the yellow strip in on the left hand side to balance out the yellow and added the chipboard die cuts. Now, I have a layout ready for garden pictures this spring. :)

Still have some paper and scraps left, but after moving them around for 2 days, I conceded defeat with 4 different sets of photos and put the scraps in the "make cards" file and called it good.

365Layouts total: 39 layouts and 3 mini books.

Mini Book Monday--December Daily #1 and #2

So far I've done 2 albums: 1 for Terri (the other half of Craftyx2) and one for my sister. Everything was from my stash, and I can now report that I'm out of Christmas embellishments.

Terri's album. I went with more traditional red, green, and brown for her album. I left the cover blank for her to add her own title, and I need to track down a set of Bind-it-All clear 8x8 covers, since Hobby Lobby seems to have stopped selling them.
I like the peekaboo aspect of mini albums, so in past albums I've trimmed down pages and used border punches. This year I decided to do something different, so I kept all the foundation pages as 8x8 and added in extras, mostly 6x6ers and some like these, BoBunny cut outs mounted on cardstock to make tag pockets. For Terri's albums, I let her decide on her own page numbers.

More inserts and library pockets for journaling.

For her album, I used Basic Grey, BoBunny, American Crafts, DCWV, Recollections, Simple Stories and Imaginisce paper and misc. embellishements.
My sister's album is more cutesy, since she has a baby girl turning 1 in December. I left the title blank so she could pick her own title. The felt tree is a Christmas ornament from Target.
Foundation pages are all 8x8, with some 6x6 extras mixed in. On 6 of the pages, I used Doodlebug 4x6 journal cards as tag pockets to hold journaling or more photos.
The birthday page layout. The snowman is actually a lunch bag sized goody bag trimmed down and turned into a tall pocket for extra photos and journaling. The backside is covered in pastel-y ledger paper for more writing area.
Since they are Disney fans, I used the Cricut Mickey Font cartridge for the numbers. The tags are from a couple bucket o'tags in the Target Christmas section.

Papers used in her album are Doodlebug, Jillibean Soup, We R Memory Keepers, K & Co., Making Memories, Bella Blvd, and Recollections.

Now I just need to make my December Daily. :)

365Layouts total: 36 layouts and 3 minibooks

Utah Vacation, part 2

I know I need to add a subtitle, since these are definitely not bears, but nothing is coming to mind. Becky Higgins sketch, flipped (4x6 on bottom, smaller pics on top in original sketch). October Afternoon paper and K & Co. letter stickers.
MME (background and dots) and Echo Park (yellow floral) paper, Echo Park sticker accents, AE stamp, Karen Foster (white) and October Afternoon (yellow) letter stickers.
Becky Fleck/Pagemaps sketch, adapted. Not much journaling needed, since this is about the 5th Old Faithful layout in my albums. :) BG paper, Recollections sticker accents, and BG letter stickers.
Nice and bright! Becky Higgins sketch. I love a lot of the Sassafrass paper and embellies, but never know how to USE them, so I was quite happy with how this one turned out. MM star border, MME ticket accent, Thickers (green) and K & Co. (blue) chipboard alphas.
Allison Davis sketch. BG paper and Sticker Studio alphas. Trees cut from a piece of Paper Studio paper.
Allison Davis sketch. There are supposed to be large groups of elements clustered around the edges, but I needed the space, especially for the title. And when they complain on 2peas about the cricut not being able to cut perfect circles, they weren't kidding. DCWV paper, Fiskars border punch, and Sticker Studio alphas.
Used the new Sophisticated cricut cart (yay, Black Friday!) for the Brothers and Friends cuts, and Kate's ABCs for the ampersand. MM (patterned) and MME (blue) paper.
Nice and simple, which makes sense, since these are literally my only pictures from Zion. All paper and chipboard alphas by BG. MaMBI chipboard stickers.

365Layouts total: 36 layouts and 1 minibook

Sketch Support Design Team Entry

Everyone knows I love sketches, so after some hemming and hawing, I decided to send in an entry for the 2012 Sketch Support Design Team over at www.sketchsupport.com . Requirements were to submit 3 projects based on the four sketches they provided here:

http://www.sketchsupport.com/2011/11/sketch-support-creative-team-call.html

So, project #1, based on the 1 page sketch.

Variations from the sketch:

1. I scrapbook 8.5x11, so the entire sketch had to be "shrunk", so to speak.

2. I didn't want to lose any of my focal point picture, so instead of trimming it, I left it as a full 4"x6"

3. A smaller area to work worth meant a smaller area for my title. Rather than trying to squish an elaborate block in there, I decided to just put in a title.

4.The page is part of a vacation album that has an itinerary page, so not a lot of explanation/journaling was needed, so just a small strip with the date.

5.A banner didn't really go with the theme of the page, so I left it off.

Supplies: Paper: Basic Grey (creamy green and striped) and Colorbok (green); letter stickers: Basic Grey (brown) and Making Memories (white); starfish accent: Making Memories; Square cutting dies: Nestabilities.

Project #2, based on the two page sketch:
I'm equally comfortable doing one or two page layouts, but I will admit that I'm more likely to use a sketch for a 2 page layout. Most sketches are for 12x12 sized pages, so I always have to look at ways to adapt them for my page size. The two easiest ways are to leave some of the elements out, or to shrink them down. On this page I did both.

Variations on the sketch:

1. Smaller page size

2. On the left side, I left one of the 3x3 photos out. On the right hand side, I used 2 3x3 photos and one 2.5x2.5 photos. Since the photos didn't have to line up perfectly, this worked fine.

3. Rather than 3" wide blocks of paper, the patterned paper was cut to fit, working around the large photo on the left hand side, and the orange text paper on the right side, to accommodate the highlighted text.

4.Since this was not a special occasion, or an unusual activity for us, I skipped formal journaling and let the photos stand on their own.

5. I spanned the longer title across the top, cutting 2 Cricut images.

6. I omitted the accent within the photo area, sticking to water splashes around the title to keep the photo area from looking busier than it already did.

Supplies: paper: Jillibean Soup (orange text), Echo Park (all others); metal bookplate: Making Memories; die cut title: ProvoCraft (Cricut H20 cartridge), square cutting dies: Nestabillities.

And project #3, based on the card sketch:
I am not an on-purpose card maker; I'm more of a "make a card from what's left on my desk" type of card maker. So, my mind immediately went to ways to turn the card into borders for a 2 page sketch. But then I decided that the whole point to this was to challenge myself, so I tried a Christmas card...I hated the card so much I took it apart and went back to turning it into a layout. While flipping through some pics of Brandon to do an "i {heart} you" collage of photos, I came across the photo taken at Town Center, and then tracked down the photos of Jacob and Rick because I immediately knew what I wanted to do.

Variations on the sketch:

1.Instead of a card, I turned the sketch into a one page layout.

2. I replaced the accent squares with rectangular photos.

3. I left off the stitching, since I wasn't about to stitch on the photos.

And that was really about the only adaptions. The patterned paper behind the pictures really is striped, you just can't tell because they are wide stripes. There is a short note to my guys on the back.

Supplies: patterned paper: BoBunny (circles) and ProvoCraft (stripe); "always" sticker: Ki Memories; "love" metal sticker: Making Memories.

Utah Vacation, part 1

Still contemplating trying out for the Sketch Support Design Team (entries are due in a week), and one of the requirements is the ability to take "good" photos of your layouts...so I'm trying photographing them outside, rather than on the floor in my scrapbook room. :) I think we all know I'll never upgrade to staging photos with props, so this may be as good as it gets.

This is most of the album; there are a few more layouts that are put together but just need a photo reprinted in the correct size, or some major inspiration.

I'm not sure who the paper manufacturer is (I want to say Colorbok), but I just know I got it at Target. Since I usually have no problem remembering companies, it's annoying me. The chipboard stickers are K & Co and bought on clearance while on said vacation.
Becky Higgins sketch, slightly modified. I'm not sure why, but I tend to use a lot of them in my vacation albums. October Afternoon paper, journaling cards and chipboard stickers, Ali Edwards stamps and Jenni Bowlin ink (which I'm really liking).
Another BH sketch, slightly modified. The bear is cut from a piece of Christmas paper that I bought at Joanns a couple years ago, and then I free-handed the splashes from the same paper and mounted them with pop-dots. I thought it was cute, and fitting since the water was about 40 degrees. K & Co (blue) and really old Cockadoodle (white) letter stickers and Love, Elsie paper.
Sadly, this family picture is the entire reason I wanted the BG Wistera paper pad. Surely other people do that, right? Not real sure the eyelet trim works on the bottom, but I like it.
Allison Davis sketch. (Actually the same one I used on the Bright Lights of the Midway layout.). The only adaption is 6 wallet sized photos on the right hand side instead of 2 vertical 4x6s. The October Afternoon stamp edge paper was easy enough to trim down and piece back together, especially with the other paper strip hiding it. The bear with the upside down map image was what really convinced me that I needed the OA Campfire line (not that I need much convincing to buy anything OA). Thickers stickers and AE stamps.
This pic of Jacob hanging out while we were stuck on the Rockefeller Parkway amuses me. (The Parkway is the only road between Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and a camper trailer jacknifed on the road, completely blocking it for a couple hours). People always ask how he travels and if he enjoys it (I guess the impression is that kids with autism don't like new things or to be away from their routine), so I did this layout to talk about how much he loves travel and sometimes leads us to the attic to get the suitcases. Martha Stewart paper, L'il Davis chipboard sticker and Deja Views journal die cut, which I edged with a border punch for some variety.
Love, Elsie paper, MM overlay, MS twine, Karen Foster lacing brads, and Thickers stickers. Loosely based on a Becky Fleck/Pagemaps sketch.
Becky Higgins sketch. Basic Grey background paper, Love, Elsie embossed paper, OA bird sticker, AE stamps and letters cut with the QK Hot Chocolate letter dies.
Echo Park Walk in the Park papers, mostly "b" sides. Flag button from a Colorbok set I found at Tuesday Morning, AE stamp on a really old tag (like 10 years old?) I hang on to stuff way too long.
I swear, drop Brandon anywhere on the planet and he'll find a game room. DCWV Generation Next paper pad and Deja Views journal card.
This simple little layout...killed me. For the life of me I could not manipulate stamps (definitely need to skip stamps when I'm sleep deprived) to save my life and I was convinced that Technique Tuesday had printed the "kid" stamp backwards. Nope, it was just my brain that was backwards. Echo Park Splash paper kit papers and journal sticker, and the Splish Splash sticker is from the scrapbuck order. Brandon will be horrified once he sees I used pink on a page starring him. :)
So simple, and yet so nice. Don't know what I'm going to do when I run out of BG Motifica for real. Plain Thickers chipboard letters.
Becky Higgins sketch, BG Archaic paper, BG letter stickers and an old EK Success leather-ish sticker.
Not entirely sure Cosmo Cricket Mr. Campy was the best paper choice, but it's what I kept going back to when I was picking papers. This is actually a layout set up I use a lot (2 4x6s on the left side, either orientation, and 6 or 8 horizontal wallets on the right). I didn't realize how often I use it until I was going through an album from about two years ago and realized that I had used it 3 times within a 1" binder, but really, you couldn't tell because they all looked so different because of theme and supplies, and that's what I love about sketches--5 people can use the same sketch and each person will come up with something completely different, just by what supplies they use.
Kind of plain, but that's ok. BG paper, OA letter stickers, and Nestabillities die for the journal block (labels 8). Becky Higgins sketch.
Simple filler page. I swear, despite everything we saw, the kids were most impressed by a gas station built into the mountain side.
One of my favorites. This was the first time I used the Jenni Bowlin inks on textured paper, and noticed that they tend to fade into the paper rather than sitting on top, like with regular paper. You can really tell a difference, so I'll have to keep that in mind. Thickers letter stickers and MM paper and button.
My inability to do nice beach and pool layouts continues. :( MME overlays and EP Splash paper and stickers.

365L total: 26 (not bad for 17 days in).

Mini Book Monday

I'm trying to get in the habit of making all the little mini books that I have planned, so first up was making one using some of my leftover Counterfeit Kit #3 papers.

There were a couple of sheets of paper that had 4 6x6 squares on one side, so I let that guide my albums size. I use a 12x12 sheet of packing corrugated cardboard and cut it into fourths for my covers and two insert pages to give it some stability, then I started "decorating" the inside pages.

I've seen several "this I believe" layouts where scrapbookers recorded their basic beliefs, so I wanted to record mine, and this little album seemed like a good way to do it.

Counterfeit Kit #2

For my second Counterfeit Kit, I chose Little Red Scrapbooks March 2011 main kit, which is essentially the Echo Park For the Record kit with a few accents. I already had the FTR kit, and just added in stuff from my color drawers. At first I was struggling because I don't have a lot of flowers or little doodads, and it finally dawned on me that I was making it harder than it needed to be. Finally I added stuff in that matched in color and "feel" rather than trying to match item for item. This is what I came up with:

Pressed Petals yellow chipboard letters, CI filmstrip border, EK Success button up buttons, MM red twistel, KI Memories word border stickers, a Sonnet's metal rimmed tag, MM felt flowers, Paper Studio Spare Parts black polka dot flowers, an old Colorbok tag and a few misc. doodads.

First up: the not-bluebonnet pics. We waited too long to go this year and completely missed the bluebonnets, but we were able to find a little patch of yellow wildflowers.
It started off as an Allison Davis sketch (Feb 2010 from her website, not Sketch Support), but didn't end up looking like it at the end. The left hand side is pretty true to the sketch, two stacked vertical pics and a pic next to them, but the right hand side got changed up a little. I wanted to keep the background in the pics, so didn't trim them down into squares, which meant I had to overlap the last pic. All of that (and my smaller page size) meant the background paper placement wouldn't work, so I just went with some paper strips. I like how it turned out.
I've been wanting to tell this story for awhile, so I was glad that the pic went with the papers. Added in an old MME frame and some $ stamps from Michaels.
The border on this paper worked well for cutting down and piecing back together, but I thought the 4th side overwhelmed the small area too much, so I left it off. The only thing not from the kit is the baker's twine.
Probably my favorite from this group. There was a day back in December that Jacob just wanted to be cuddled, so Rick took some pics of it. The yellow letters were to big and bold, so I used some green Thickers from my stash, and some of the alphas from the kit. I really liked the rose stickers from the kit and wanted to use them somehow and after I had cut them out from the sheet and set them down, I realized how it looked like a momma and baby, so that's how I ended up using them on the layout. The ruler-look border strip ended up working well, I used a glittery MM ring tag to bring attention to it and use it to show Jacob's age.
Sadly, the only picture from Mother's Day this year. The black alpha stickers are the third style from the kit.
Brandon, ready to head out to one of the scout camps. The letters are big and bold, so I didn't do too much embellishing.
Still had quite a bit of paper left over, but was out of pictures that I had selected, so I started playing with paper and moving pieces around until I came up with this. At Christmas I get to see two friend that I haven't seen in a long time, so I'll probably use it for that and use some little off white shipping tags peeking out from under the mats for journaling.

These layouts also mark the begining of my Layout a Day challenge. I'm going to try and complete 365 layouts in 365 days, starting on November 1, 2011. I decided not to wait until the first of the year, since I had several projects coming up and wanted to be able to count them. :) I fully admit that it probably won't be one layout a day, but rather, as this month has proved so far, an average of one per day.

So, 365L total so far: 7