'Celebrate You' Scrapbook Layout

A few months back I made this carousel note card using the always lovely 'Fifth Avenue Floral' stamp set.  As I played around trying to figure out what I wanted to do, I ended up with two of those stamped circles.  When the card was done I set the spare stamped circle to the side, and imagined it on a scrapbook layout, with a few more circles, and another carousel note.  And it has been waiting ever since.  Well, until now that is.

It turns out that getting myself organised was the hardest part.  I already had that 'celebrate you' stamped circle, and the scalloped baja blue circle is a carousel note - all ready for me to just add some journaling.  I used my circle scissors to cut out the small kiwi kiss circle, and then all those blue and kiwi rings in varying widths.

The finishing touches were some butterflies from the 'Butterfly Prints' stampset, with a touch of bling to match Bridie's tiara.  I am really pleased with how it all came together, and Bridie is very happy to have another layout in her album.  Her favourite part?  Why, the tiara she is wearing in the photo - of course!

All the bits and pieces:

card - basic grey, kiwi kiss, baja blue, white

ink - basic grey, kiwi kiss, baja blue

stamps - Fifth Avenue Floral, Butterfly Prints, A little Birthday Cheer (the 'celebrate you')

other - baja blue carousel note, basic grey stampin' write marker, circle scissors, butterfly punch, rhinestone brads (ice, circles)

A flower for all occasions

At the Stampin' Up Convention last year, I was fortunate to have my achievements recognised.  Although I missed the opportunity to be congratulated in person by Shelli Gardner - the co-founder of SU (a small matter of me not actually being at the Convention in Canberra!) I did still get my name up on the big screen, and later, received congratulations, a pin, and the stampset 'A Flower for all Seasons'  I am a little ashamed to admit, that although I have often admired the stamps, I have only just now gotten around to using them.

As I sat using them I thought to myself that these really are the kind of stamps you could use for any occasion (and then I realised - duh - that will be why they are called a flower for all seasons).  After using most of my brain cells figuring that out, I decided I should probably keep the cards easy, so this is what I came up with:

I went with a kraft card base again - I really love the way you can pair this card up with any other colour combo, and it will look good.  I wanted to keep the embellishments to a minimum, and use up some of my card scraps that have been accumulating, so decided to go with a couple of card strips, with a scallop edge to one of them.  I ended up making a set of them, using three of the four different images, and several different sentiments (birthday, thanks, get well soon) and colour combos:

Best of all, these images, while perhaps not so great for those male recipients, are perfect for girls of all ages - so my girly birthday card pile has increased with the addition of these quick and easy cards.   That has got to be a good thing, right?!

A little birdy told me

Well, not so much a little birdy, as a couple of sneak peaks on the SU demonstrator website, and some rumours from those lucky ladies who have managed a look at the new catalogue already. There are apparently a few new birds in the 2009/2010 catalogue, in the form of stamps, chipboard and patterned papers. I for one am getting VERY impatient. Not sure if the sneak peaks and rumours are helping, or making it worse, but hey, I share them with you anyway!

AS for the birds and other stamped images in this little project (which some of you have seen already) - they come from the old faves 'carte postale' and 'rough edges alphabet' which will not be in the new catalogue - retiring at the end of the month instead.

This little accordian album was first shown to me by a clever lady named Rachael Knight. It can be used as either a card with a difference, or a fun little stand alone (and stand up!) scrapbooking project - perfect to make as a gift, or for people who want to try some scrapbooking, but are not keen to get started on an album. Once it is done it is done. No empty page protectors to taunt you!!

Half a piece of A4 card, some scraps of patterned paper and card, and some decorative bits and pieces (stamps or other embellishments) and you are good to go. This is a project that even I can get finished relatively quickly, so you all know that you can too! I have done this project as a class before, so have some instructions filed away somewhere. If you would like them let me know, and I will see if I can dig them up.

Using those scraps (and not many words!)

So as I mentioned in that last post, I do have a wee collection of scraps. You just never know when you might need that itty bitty piece of ribbon/paper/card etc! Sometimes I do use them too, and here is an example.
Step One.

Gather together a collection of patterned paper scraps, and a coordinating piece of cardstock to stick them all on to. These ones all happened to be from the same pack of papers (a now retired one - SU's 'enchante' - you can get the same patterns, just different colours, while stocks last - 'le jardin'). Being from the same pack they all coordinated nicely for me - one less thing to think about!

Step Two.
To make them look a little less like a collection of scraps arranged on some card, I sponged the edges of all the paper pieces with perfect plum, or celery ink - depending on the paper, to give them a softer look. This is a really simple but effective technique that can add the finishing touch that is often needed. Just a matter of patting a piece of sponge (I cut mine into 6) onto the inkpad, and then rubbing it across the edge of the paper. Repeat as needed. Done!

Step Three.

Covering up all that work! Well not quite. Now you arrange your photos as desired, leaving space for embellishments and peeks at the patterned paper. This is a great way to scrapbook a lot of photos on one layout. This particular layout - about the friendship my children share (most of the time!) also allowed me to scrapbook seemingly unrelated photos from different days and adventures.

Step Four.
The finishing touches. I just used some stamped flowers that I cut out, small ones in groups of three, and a couple of larger ones, and then a couple of 'wordy stamps' as a focus - one of last years sale-a-bration sets, and the very versatile 'carte postale' set that many of you have. I love it when the sentiment on the stamp sums up what I am thinking. Great for when you don't have the room, or the inclination, to add journaling to your layouts.

journaling done!