Artisan Entry: Explore (a scrapbook page)

Good morning!  Are you here looking for another Artisan Award entry?  Well here you go, one of the three scrapbook pages that were required.  I finished this one last and was the most pleased with it I think.  I'm willing to bet many of the winning entries only had 1 large photo as the focal point as those are the most dramatic pages... but I decided at the outset to stick to "my style" and I generally tell a story on my scrapbook pages that usually can't be told in one photo.  Rather than covering the entire page with photos I chose to offset them on an angle for visual interest and some creative cropping.  I've done this before and love the outcome every time, despite the extra work involved.

This page is from a recent family outing to the Hocking Hills State Park in southern Ohio.  What a beautiful place!  We enjoyed every single minute of it and I'm so happy to have my layout all designed (need to make myself a duplicate though). 

The patterned paper and journaling tag are both from the Tickets & Tags Simply Scrappin' Kit (now retired).  I also used the Extreme Elements stamp set to further grundge up the background paper.  For my title I used chipboard letters from Onboard Alphabet Soup, dirtied them up with some Soft Suede ink and- my favorite detail- textured them with the Square Lattice embossing folder.  I was excited to experiment with this and find out that chipboard easily embosses with the Big Shot! 

Some of the details include a new Naturals button with a bit of linen thread and twill tape.  One of the hardest things about this page was leaving myself off (one of SU's rules for fairness).  My husband is just as interested in photography as I am and gets really creative sometimes so many of the best photos he took which means I am in them.  On the other hand, I like it even more that I'm NOT on it!

Well, once again, thanks for stopping by and for your comments.  They keep me going! 

~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps:  Extreme Elements

Colors:  Baja Breeze, Soft Suede

Accessories:  Tickets & Tags Simply Scrappin' Kit, Linen Thread, Twill Tape, Bitty Banners Framelits, Natural Button, Alphabet Soup Onboard Chipboard

Catch Up Mode

Good morning!  Sorry I've been away so long.  Scheduled a last minute 8 day trip to Florida with my dad and just got home on Friday.  It was great- 83 degrees every day, beautiful, sunny, perfect days.  Couldn't have been better!  But now I am playing catch up.  The downside of every getaway I suppose. 

Here are a few of the scrapbook layouts I completed awhile back and never got around to sharing.  The first one went fairly quickly, for me, with the Pina Colada Simply Scrappin' Kit.  I love those when I actually put them to good use and stop hoarding them! 

This one took forever.  I'm happy with how it turned out but not how long it sat on my table while I fretted over it.  It didn't help that the kit I used was not by SU so it didn't really match anything I had.  But, I did have fun using my daughter's Cricut to cut a bunch of flowers.  Even so, I still waited to get my new stamp set Mixed Bunch to finish the page.  This layout came from a sketch on Let's Scrap.  Not sure if I can remember where my other one came from- maybe a magazine or my stack of sketches I have printed that I have kept in my bag for years. 

Well, I've got an event for a variety of vendors this Saturday (Yikes!) and our Spring Stamp-a-Stack to prepare for on March 24th so I'd better skeedaddle.   Thanks for stopping by!

~Kristin

3...2...1...JUMP!

Just what you wanted to see, right?  Another scrapbook layout!  Well, too bad... (:P)  I'm slow as molasses and took more than a few hours to finally get rolling on this one, but once I got started it was moderately fast.  Choosing the perfect layout is always the toughest thing for me, but Let's Scrap helped make it easy again with their amazing selection of great sketches! 

I was happy to use a Simply Scrappin' Kit by SU to pull this together.  It is called Creative Lisence and is a few years old but a great one none-the-less.  I also used a few other components like the Headline Numbers stamp set, the Scribbles Swirls Sizzlit and Big Shot, and out of desperation for some bright orange letters, some ancient STICKERS!  I know!  But I still have a ton in the stash and sometimes they are just the easiest thing to grab.  The orange isn't perfectly Pumpkin Pie like the other orange in the layout but I'm OK with that. 

I hope you like my interpretation of this sketch!  It was so fun to work with.  I wasn't sure how on earth I'd manage a title page like that with all the scrolly background etc... but it all worked out with some paper piercing anda  combination of stamps and stuff.  Would you like to see another great sketch in action??  Go visit Lisa Henke HERE for her amazing layout! 

Thanks for stopping by today!  Oh wait, I almost forgot to mention, THIS LAYOUT was selected by Let's Scrap as their IOTW (Inspiration of the Week I think)- isn't that amazing?!  I can't believe it.  Might be the first honor ever for a scrapbook page by yours truly!  I've proudly displayed my new badge of honor on my sidebar.  Anyway, see ya soon!

~Kristin

True Friend

I found a few spare minutes to play today now that my kids are back in school- woo hoo!  Of course I'm a bit rusty so had to start out with not one but two different challenges to get going.  Don't complain, you're lucky I didn't do more.  LOL! 

The sketch I used is from this week's sketch challenge on Splitcoast:  SC347.  Love it!  I also decided to "Soften the edges" per Pals Paper Art's PPA108.  I rounded one corner of the card then decided that wasn't quite enough and since the other edges were all glued down I  distressed the rest of the edges instead. 

Here's the inside as well.   Hope you like it.  I'm thrilled with the results!  Even used my new Simply Scrappin' Kit from the Summer Mini Catalog called Playful Polka Dots (page 15) and the new twisted Baker's Twine in Cherry Cobbler.  Finally I added a few rhinestones for a finishing touch.  

Let me know what you think!  Thanks for stopping by.

Ooh, almost forgot... Tiffany Bauer honored me by featuring THIS card of mine as one of her weekly picks on Aug. 14th.  Sorry it's taken so long to acknowledge it Tiffany, and thank you for the honor! 

~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps:  Teeny Tiny Wishes, Punch Bunch (SAB)

Colors:  Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler

Accessories:  Playful Polka Dots Simply Scrappin' Kit, rhinestones, Cherry Cobbler baker's twine, corner rounder, Big Shot, Dotted embossing folder, Stampin' Dimensionals, distressing tool