Lots of Layouts!!

First of all I have to say I have the most wonderful husband ever!! This weekend is the weekend I would normally be at the scrapbook retreat with my scrappy friends but didn't go this time because originally we thought we'd have just gotten back from an Israel trip, but then we found out I was preggo and scratched that plan as well - which brings me to my wonderful husband, who spent all day today working around the house so I could have the day to just sit home and scrap!! It's been the most productive I've been at home ever!! So here's my first layout today:

Last summer we had my scrappy friend Kara and her family over for some mini front yard fireworks, sparklers, glow necklaces and later sundaes for dessert! Um I just remember it was the HOTTEST day EVER, it was hard to breathe out there the humidity was so thick, so the sundaes were my favorite part!

The inspiration for this layout came from this layout and video tutorial by corej on twopeasinabucket.com, I just loved the rainbow colors! I knew it was going to take awhile to stamp and emboss all those stamps, so after I finished the red, orange, and yellow stamps (over the course of a few evenings earlier this week), I decided I better chose my photos, paper, and placement of items so I could reduce how much stamping I had to do instead of filling the whole page and covering most of it up... that ended up being a HUGE timesaver!

The other side of this layout I actually made and posted 3 days after these pics were taken (here), yikes that it took me this long to finish these pics, but it helped me pick some of the papers and letter thickers from the same kit, Elmwood Park by Studio Calico, to match the other side!

---

This next layout was from the Lilac Festival last spring, when Chris dragged me out to go see Lou Gramm (from Foreigner) perform!

OK this cut I made on the Silhouette looks "simple" enough, except that it took me a LONG time to make because all I had was a misting mask to start with! I scanned it against a dark background paper and then spent probably 45 minutes editing it so it could be traced and made into a cut file! I was desperate though, I already wasted a piece of paper trying to mist first, and the misting just looked awful (first tried white, which didn't show up at all against such a busy paper, then tried sunset, which just looked way too orange and still didn't show up great), so that die-cut was a lot more painstaking than it looks!

Beyond that I wasn't really sure what else to do until I happened upon this layout by Catherine Davis for Studio Calico and decided to use the lengthwise format.

So I used the mask for its intended use, added that Amy Tangerine Yes Please camera rub-on and the woodgrain thickers and done!

---

Sadly, I started this layout last November prior to heading to the November scrapbook retreat, intending to get a head start on a layout and finishing it while I was there - except I forgot to bring anything else from that Abroad line by Studio Calico with me, so I had nothing that matched to finish it! So I finally got around to finishing it today!

We had gone to NYC last June, and I just had these last pics to finish that short weekend trip. I just LOVED this layout by Geralyn Sy for Studio Calico and knew I wanted to use my polaroid stamp to do something similar!

I used the Amy Tangerine embroidery kit to sew the buildings outline along the bottom of the page! The washi tape went perfectly as well as those thickers from the Front Row kit by Studio Calico, but my favorite touch was very subtle...

This may make me seem crazy but the mini envelope was really baffling me - I didn't want it to be open, but I also didn't want just a flat closed envelope... like I said, it's very subtle, but I added two small pop dots just inside the flap and poppped up just that part! I love how it came out!

Paesans

A couple more pics from Arthur Ave in the Bronx, aka the real Little Italy, from this past June! Paesans, heyyy!

So this layout came together about 50x faster than that last one... what's the secret? I don't know! I definitely had some inspiration from this week's Weekly Challenge over at Studio Calico, but I didn't realize the challenge had to use wood frames, instead I just scraplifted it!

I definitely could've added a few more embellishments (always) or done some misting or found a place to add some sewing but geesh, I just needed to get this layout done in one "sitting" while the ideas were still in my head!

HOW-TO:

• I used this month's Summer of '69 kit by Studio Calico
• The main piece of paper I used was "Backgammon" from the Paper Cottage collection by BasicGrey - Before I started this page, I fell in love with the side you see at the top of the page, the dark with the colored circles but ended up using both sides, the brighter side where the pictures went so they'd show up better
• The banner was easy enough, since it came already sewn like that, from the Clippings collection by BasicGrey
• The chipboard letters were also from BasicGrey
• Everything else except the Star on the stick from the No Limits collection Heidi Swapp came as part of the Studio Calico kit

Washi Layouts!

For the third time so far, my friend Kara came over today and we scrapped the "same" layout, both scraplifting from this layout by Karen for My Mind's Eye! We both have a growing stash of washi tape that we needed to find justification for, so we went with this washi tape layout to make!!

---

So first up is this layout, "The Three Mustache-keteers" by Kara Nettnin!! Hahaha, funny pictures!! These pics were taken for a 5K race here in Rochester, NY she and her two other friends dressed up for with those matching tank tops and rocked the policeman mustaches!!

For the main part of the title, Kara stamped the black mustaches with Staz On ink but still had to go over it some with black marker because of the unevenness of the textured paper. She used foam thickers for the title and added some sewing which made me laugh because it looks like mustache lines down the paper! Perfect!!

---

Next up is my layout "This Way to the Bronx" again from the trip to NYC in June that my husband Chris and I took!

I used some supplies (the lined stamp, the Bronx cardboard letter stickers, and tabbed die cut) from the Summer of '69 kit by Studio Calico, and sewed on the "this" swatch with the yellow arrow. Kara let me borrow her Smash labeler to make the labels for the "This Way to the" part of the title!

Another day, another layout completed!! Wow, once you scrap this way - scraplifting the same layout with a friend, you don't want to scrap any other way!!

We Party Layouts!!

My scrapper friend Kara came over a couple weeks ago, and for the 2nd time we worked on the "same" layout - implementing the same technique to create a layout we both looked at online! Here's the layout by Shannon Tidwell we tried to re-create as our own!

---

First up, is my friend's layout "We Party Rock" by Kara Nettnin! The pic she used are her two adorable boys at the lake a couple weeks ago!

We both just punched circles from card stock (instead of using chipboard) and covered with washi tape! Here, Kara used smaller circles spread out with a mix of washi tape - LOVE how it turned out!!

She used some foam thickers for the "We" part of the title, which really stood out against that yellow washi and other thickers from American Crafts to complete the title! Love the little washi flag and Amy Tangerine bit in there too!

---

Next up is my layout "Arthur Avenue Market" from our recent trip to NYC last month! We visited the "real Little Italy" in the Bronx at Arthur Avenue! It was so cool!

I decided to stick to just a few colors for the washi tape, but added some punched circles from some Studio Calico paper (last summer's Boardwalk kit) in there too for some more detail since I used larger circles.

I made my own little flag, using washi to cover a rectangle and grabbing a toothpick from the kitchen!

We just had the best time working on the same layout together! I like doing the same techniques at the same time so we can help each other out more and Kara likes how easy it was to pack her stuff to come over with a specific list of supplies. Our layouts came out so different too! Scrapping alone just isn't as fun anymore!