A COUPLE OF THE PAGES...

created using the Starting Blox from last week.

Do you remember it? It had spaces for six photographs, and here is how they laid out...

I was tickled to receive some great projects, and a couple of the scrappers gave me permission to share their pages. Herr is some visual inspiration, using the Scrapy Land Starting Blox...

This page is from Gail, and she used the Starting Blox verbatim. One large kitty photo, one tall narrow kitty tail photo, and four little kitty mug shots. 

To accent her page she has used Die-Versions "Igloo" font {"purr-sonality"} and Die-Versions "Candy Corn" font {"the girls"} Then she added in a QuicKutz Bead border, and several QuicKutz "Wonky Flowers" in varying sizes. Finally she added in everyone's names using a Micro Font from Die-Versions called "A Hint of Lime". I love that Gail takes time to scrapbook her kitty pictures. What a great page - thanks for sharing it with us Gail.

Next up, Mary decided to do her first page, based on a Starting Blox...

Mary took the same route that Gail did, and used the Starting Blox just as it's designed. Which makes getting a page done quick and easy! Mary started with great patterned papers, and decorated the corners of her page with snippets of the Die-Namite "Rose Bush" die. She colored each die-cut with Copics to get varying shades of pinks and reds, and it's a great result! She journaled on a tag, and then lined up additional tags to hold her small title - cut using the Die-Versions "Lady Liberty" font. The large word of her font was made using American Crafts Thickers, and I love how they shiny finishes pops off of her page!

Great pages, for some additional Starting Blox inspiration. Thanks for letting me share your pages ladies.

Tomorrow there will be a brand new Blox to post, just in time for weekend scrapping!

I'm here for your habit...

A LITTLE MONDAY MAKE-IT...

because my Monday's are usually full of to-do lists. And this week's to-do list is loaded with cards to send and greetings to pass along. {AND because I had a new stack of Bazzill Card Shoppe just staring at me from the corner of my desk!}

Lifestyle Crafts sent me a couple of their NEW "Detailz" dies to play with, and WOW do I owe them a big thank you! These new dies incorporate great cut shapes and beautiful embossed detail, often times in one pass through your Evoltuion.

Here is the die set I wanted to use first today...

The squares on my green cutting mat are 1" squares, so you can see these are great sizes. And all of those little spaces and gaps within the die? Yep, that's where you can either emboss the die-cut for a raised detail OR ink/spray/color through the openings for some pops of color. In this case, I'm going to do both. And since I was in an embossing kind of mood today, I decided to add some additional embossed details throughout my card...

This is what I ended up with, and I can't wait to stick it in the mail. I started with a 5"x 7" card base of Bazzill Card Shoppe cardstock in "Gumball". This is a great medium blue that looks great with the patterned paper I wanted to use. Next came a layer of Card Shoppe "Whirlypop" - which isn't navy really, more of a very deep royal. Another Card Shoppe layer in "Circus Peanuts", but before I glued that down I ran it and an embossing folder through my Cuttlebug {I keep my Cuttlebug set up on a shelf for embossing, it's easier for me and I don't have to think about which plates to switch to!}. There are bunches of Embossing Folders available at Scrapy Land, check all of them out as they all work pretty much the same way. 

Now I jumped to die-cutting my NEW "Flutter" Detailz die from QuicKutz. And to make the cutting-and-embossing easier with one pass, I used a piece of thick Letterpress paper. The Evolution, the "A" cutting plate and the Detailz die was cut and deeply embossed. With the die-cut still in place, I grabbed a Blending Tool and some Distress Ink in "Dried Marigold" and just swirled over the die. This deposited a light touch of color to all of the embossed surfaces. I love the finished look!

The felt like the dragonfly needed something to ground him. So after a layer of patterned paper from "Swagger" from Fancy Pants Designs, I die-cut two Spellbinders Scalloped Circles. I went ahead and embossed the dark blue layer, for one my visual pop. The dragonfly was foam-dotted, and perched atop all six layers!

When it came time to add a sentiment, I reached for a new-to-me stamp set from Paper Smooches. But how to add it to my card without covering up all of the embossed texture? VELUM! I stamped the sentiment with the same Distress Ink from above, and heat-embossed it with Clear Powder and a heat tool. Then all I had to do was tuck it under one of the layer and secure it with tape.

I love this color combination that stemmed from the patterned paper. These NEW Detailz dies will definitely make their way into my rotation of A+ dies. Next up is the "Up & Away" set that I'm anxious to experiment with!

If you have any questions about any of the steps I've used, please leave a comment below and I'll respond with a comment-answer! I hope you were able to find some time on this Monday to make-it a great day!

I'm here for your habit...

MY STARTING BLOX PAGE...

is finally done. I don't know why I struggled so much with this page - but it might have been the tears that kept welling up in my eyes.

This is my baby. My 6' 6" baby boy and in my biased opinion he's the greatest kid in the world. Looking at these pictures from the past basketball season kept my emotions rather exposed this week. Happy emotions, loving emotions, and pride emotions. Then I reminded myself that scrapbooking IS emotional.

So I gave myself a break, and let this take a day or two longer than a page usually takes me. The photo selection was the hardest as I have approximately 1.7 kajillion photos from this 2012-13 season. But at some point you have to just pick some favorites and move on. Right?

So here is my take on the sketch for this week...

Supplies for this page were varied - some brand new and some rather vintage from my stash. But that's what makes scrapbooking fun in my book. Pulling new supplies like paper, together with treasured trinkets.

I started with a background patterned paper from the NEW "Mama-Razzi" collection from BoBunny. {this is a link to the 6x6 pad, I obviously used the 12x12 collection kit but it's out of stock right now}. The orange was the perfect color for my basketball page. The rectangle of patterned paper that the title sits on is hard to see, but it's a sheet of tiny little basketball court outlines from the "All Star" Mini Kit from Echo Park. I love-love-love this mini collection for obvious reasons. {grin}

For my titles I die-cut "dribble, dribble" using the Die-Versions "Short Stop" font, and then added "swish!" which was die-cut in the "A Lotta Lime" font. I pulled out a classic QuicKutz die to die-cut a basketball and added it into a collection of calendar circles I picked up eons ago. {I have been saving that teal January calendar circle for a school page, because it is the exact color of the school logo. Patience pays off I guess, it was ideal for this page!}

I posted on Facebook last night that I wanted something for the upper right hand corner. It was just missing...something. But I didn't know what. Amy, one of our Facebook friends, sent me a private message and suggested another circle. She notes that I had circles in the lower left corner, circles {polka dots} in the middle and a circle in the upper right would complete the trio of design elements. PERFECT suggestion Amy. I die-cut a QuicKutz Nesting Circle in solid black and tacked on a couple of strip-journaled stats. 

I am tickled with the results, very happy to have this one done. *sigh* Why do they have to grow up? The baby of the family is the hardest, right? *bigger sigh*

Remember, I'm taking your Starting Blox creations until next Tuesday, May 21st. Send me an email with your .jpg attached, and we might just share them here on the blog. A little blog-love is always fun, and the comments that come in make you smile! Trust me. People love seeing pages, so get your pictures gathered and treat yourself to a bit of scrappy time!

I'm here for your habit...

HERE COMES THE BLOX...

for this week!

Get your pictures ready, and gather your newest or favorite supplies. You're going to need them this week.

This Starting Blox contains spaces for SIX photographs. Of course, any of the spaces could also be used for patterned papers, paper ephemera {ticket stubs, program corners, receipts} or extra journaling. Lots of flexibility for your title too. One little title up top, and a couple of bigger words beneath. These could be totally separate thoughts or observations, or the big words could simply be completing the phrase from above. Lots of flexibility.

You know I always draw Starting Blox with space for journaling, but just because I depict it as "strips" doesn't mean you have to. Here you could write directly on your background paper, assuming it'd be readable. Or you could add in a tag or an element from a patterned paper collection. But I do strips, it's just easier for me and let's me edit as I go! 

I drew in a 12x12 paper beneath an 11.5x11.5 paper. But you could leave off the smaller layer if you want to. It's all up to you! 

I hope you'll give this Starting Blox a try, and if you do I hope you'll share it with us. By Tuesday, May 21st 5pm EDT, submit your photographed page to me at scrapylandsusan@gmail.com and you might see your work displayed here on the Scrapy Land Blog!

If you have any questions, let me know. Now go forth and Blox!

I'm here for your habit...

A FAST MOTHER'S DAY CARD...

because I am always half a day behind. Or two!

Case in point, I never announced the winner of my little National Scrapbook Day BLOX Challenge. Pages were uploaded to our Facebook page and I drew a name Monday afternoon and then got distracted with release day for the NEWEST Die-Versions dies. So today, I'm happy to announce:

PHYLLIS M.

as the BLOX winner for the week!

I have a die-surprise with your name on it Phyllis, so if you'll email me your address I'll get it on its way soon {scrapylandsusan@gmail.com}.

Now let's talk Mother's Day cards. I needed a card fast, because it had to get in the mail. Pretty papers and Sweet Spot from Die-Versions were already out on my work surface, so that's what I used...

I had a NEW "Cool Summer" 6x6 pad from Carta Bella, the NEW "#1 Mom" die from Die-Versions, some Nesting Circles from QuicKutz, and a couple of sheets of Card Shoppe cardstock from Bazzill. I also had a length of Bakers Twine and my Scotch Removable Tape ready to go.

Cut my lime green Card Shoppe cardstock and scored it with my Scor-Buddy. Then I placed Nesting Circles on the front of the card, knowing that the largest one is where my Sweet Spot would go...

Run this piece through the Big Shot, and then die-cut the Sweet Spot out of contrasting cardstock. I used several little scraps of paper from the "Cool Summer" collection to place behind each circle EXCEPT the largest one. That one is for the #1 Mom die-cut...

I punched a hole on the score line of the card and wrapped some twine around the front of the card. But that was AFTER I lined the inside of the card with one solid sheet of patterned paper, and re-cut the largest hole. That was all so the inside would look pretty, and not pieced together with patterned paper...

The yellow pattern inside shows through the die-cut circle, and the #1 Mom is visible from both sides. I love these Sweet Spots, really, I do! Talk about versatile!

So there you have it - a quick-and-easy Mother's Day card OR a card pattern to use with any Sweet Spot you might have!

Check out the amazing sale going on at Scrapy Land, today through Mother's Day. Dani is taking 33% off MSRP when the code "HAPPY33" is entered at checkout. Bargains galore, and deals you can't live without!

I'm here for your habit...