Summer Livin'

Hi everyone! I'm just stopping by to share my layout for the Sunny Summertime challenge. This was definitely an easy one, and it left me plenty of room for interpretation, which I love. Our first order of business this summer was to embark on an epic road trip. We drove from Tennessee to New England, which is, to be precise, a long stinkin' way. We loved our trip, though, and I captured some great pictures that were just perfect for this challenge. Here's what I came up with:

I have not gotten over my obsession with Document Life from Pretty Little Studio. This collection is too beautiful for words. There are just so many patterns and colors, and they're all so versatile. It's one of those collections that could be used for just about anything. I love that!

I hope you'll play along with this challenge! Don’t forget to join in the fun in the Paper Issues facebook group! And, of course, when you're shopping in the store, don’t forget to use my discount code for 20% off!

Pinspire Me July

Hi everyone. I'm just stopping by to share my layout for the Pinspire Me challenge. Here's the mood board:

I really loved the colors in and patterns here. The stars immediately jumped out at me, so that's what I ran with.

I don't use cut files, but I love to hand cut shapes into my layouts. I decided to cut some stars and pop the page up on some cardboard to add dimension. The colors in the board were beautiful, so I pulled out the black, red, and light to use on my foundation page and behind the stars.

I added some twine, paint splatters, and sequins because I love all those things. I used mainly scraps of leftover paper for this layout. It didn't really require much paper at all to back the stars. I accidentally put the first scrap down and realized I didn't cover the star entirely. That made me realize it was really cute with only half of the star covered, so I did most of them that way. I love happy accidents.

I hope you'll play along with this challenge! Don’t forget to join in the fun in the Paper Issues facebook group! And, of course, when you're shopping in the store, don’t forget to use my discount code for 20% off!

Scraplift Sunday!

Hi everyone! I'm here to share my layout for today's Scraplift Sunday. Today, we're lifting this adorable layout by Jennifer McMurtrey:

I really liked the strips of paper on the side and knew I definitely wanted to mimic those. I decided to go with a different color scheme because I'm currently still obsessing over Jillibean's Rainbow Roux line. I just can't move on until I use up every scrap! Here's my layout: 

I started by painting some strips of color on the side, and then added strips of that gorgeous patterned paper and doing some hand stitched lines with twine. I've been in a "cloud" kinda mood lately. They've been showing up on everything I make, so, of course, I added some of those in.

I hope you'll play along with this challenge! Don’t forget to join in the fun in the Paper Issues facebook group! And, of course, when you're shopping in the store, don’t forget to use my discount code for 20% off!

Swanky Swatches

Hi everybody, I'm here today to share my take on this month's Swanky Swatches challenge. This one was a bit daunting for me. I tend to use bright colors, so the color palette was a little scary for me. Here's the swatch:

I decided that I loved the red, but I just couldn't get on board with the grays. Instead of going with a literal interpretation of the palette, I decided to add in a complimentary color: blue. Here's what I came up with:

I did use shades of gray, but the addition of the blue made it feel more like me. I cut strips of clouds from this amazing paper by Jillibean Soup. I absolutely adore this paper. Actually, I adore the entire collection. It's one of my favorites of all time.

Although I found it to be challenging, I really love the end result. I love that the photo suggested stormy weather, but I still managed to make things look a bit happy.

I hope you'll play along with this challenge! Don’t forget to join in the fun in the Paper Issues facebook group! And, of course, when you're shopping in the store, don’t forget to use my discount code for 20% off!

Catching Up on 52 Faves

Hi everybody! I'm stopping by to share my latest attempt at keeping up with 52 Faves. I absolutely love the entire idea of this project, but I tend to get behind. I've decided to stop being frustrated with myself and just start doing what I can and catching up when I have time. It works much better that way! Here's my spread for week 18:

We are so excited that summer is finally here! I used this adorable, lemony paper from Pebbles. Is it not just the cutest?

I hope you'll play along with this challenge! Don’t forget to join in the fun in the Paper Issues facebook group! And, of course, when you're shopping in the store, don’t forget to use my discount code for 20% off!

Rainbow Border Lines! Squee!

Hi everybody! I'm stopping by to share my layout for the Borderlines challenge. Before we talk about my layout, can we just take a minute to talk about this gorgeous Rainbow Roux collection from Jillibean Soup?  This might just be my favorite piece of patterned paper in the history of all the things:

Is it not just beautiful? I was totally swooning over this collection from the moment I laid eyes on it. Here's my layout: 

Using this many patterns and colors on one layout is a bit out of my comfort zone, but I went a bit crazy with all the gorgeous papers. I just couldn't help myself! I made a bunch of borders by fussy cutting the papers, and stacked them on top of each other to create texture. 

I hope you'll play along with this challenge! Don’t forget to join in the fun in the Paper Issues facebook group! And, of course, when you're shopping in the store, don’t forget to use my discount code for 20% off!

Background Noise

Helllllllooooo everybody! I am so excited to share my layout with you today! I created it for the Background Noise challenge, and I absolutely adore the way it turned out. I used the gorgeous Kaleidoscope collection by Vicki Boutin. People, I just can't even! This collection is so exceptionally beautiful that I just don't have words. Here's what I came up with: 

That heart paper was just screaming to be fussy cut. I cut the hearts from one entire sheet and used a couple from another sheet I had left over. I decided it would be nifty to include some white hearts, so I hand cut some of those from a sheet of white cardstock. I then just layered all my hearts on top of each other to make a background. The striped background paper is by Webster's. I really loved the way it looked next to all those colorful hearts. 

I hope you'll play along with this challenge! Don’t forget to join in the fun in the Paper Issues facebook group! And, of course, when you're shopping in the store, don’t forget to use my discount code for 20% off!

Keep it Sketchy

Hi everybody. I'm just stopping by to share my take on this month's sketch. I'm going to be totally honest and admit for the thousandth time that I struggle with sketches- big time! I always love the sketch and get all inspired, but my layout winds up looking nothing at all like the original sketch. This causes me anxiety. LOL! I always worry that the sketch creator is going to think I broke their beautiful sketch. Speaking of beautiful sketches, check out this one:

Is it not just gorgeous?!?!?!? That's precisely why I was intimidated, but I put on my big girl britchees and took a stab at it. Here goes nothing: 

As you can tell, I flipped the sketch on its side. The umbrellas made me think of rain, and I wanted to mimic the look of water/rain/watercolors on the top border. I then decided to go all out and add that GORGEOUS heart paper from Vicki Boutin. That paper! I mean, would you just look at it? It pained me to cut into it, but I think I bought enough to last me a while, so we're good.

I hope you'll play along with the sketch challenge! Don’t forget to join in the fun in the Paper Issues facebook group! And, of course, when you're shopping in the store, don’t forget to use my discount code for 20% off!

Pinspire Me

Hi everyone! I just stopped by to share my layout for the Pinspire Me challenge. Here's the inspiration photo:

I really loved all the beautiful colors in this board. I was also drawn to the lines of strawberries in different colors. But, in the end, it was the stripes that won me over. They reminded me of the cool woodgrain stripe paper in the March kit.

Speaking of the kit, have you seen it? Squee! I was so excited to get it that I just dove right in! Isn't it gorgeous?

I wanted to build my layout around the striped paper, and that's exactly what I did. Here's what I came up with:

I hope you will play along with the Pinspire Me challenge! Don’t forget to join in the fun in the Paper Issues facebook group! And, of course, when you're shopping in the store, don’t forget to use my discount code for 20% off!

Scraplifting Cassie!

Hi everyone. I get the distinct honor of scraplifting a page by the amazing Cassie today! I was so excited to get this assignment. Just take a look at Cassie's layout:

How awesome is that? When I started thinking about the direction I wanted to go with my scraplift, I definitely wanted to copy Cassie's idea of a large shape made up of little shapes. I did decide, though, to make a star instead of hearts. 

As soon as I got my star finished, it made me think of the 80's. LOL! I guess it was all the crazy colors or something. Thinking of the 80's made me grab this photo of my brother and I back in the day. Is cotton candy not just the best stuff ever? It's impossible to eat without smiling. 

Anyway, here's what I came up with in the end: 

As usual, my layout turned out to look pretty much nothing like the one I tried to scraplift. Of course, I could never do Cassie's page justice, anyway. I loved her original design! 

I hope you enjoyed my take on this challenge! Don’t forget to join in the fun in the Paper Issues facebook group! And, of course, when you're shopping in the store, don’t forget to use my discount code for 20% off!

Mist Challenge

Hi everyone. It's Sindi here to share my layout for the "I Mist You" challenge. I will admit, I haven't used mist in quite a while. I did, however, have a bottle of mist left in my stash. I used it to create some cute clouds for my layout. Here's what I came up with:

I used this gorgeous striped paper from the Paige Evans Whimsical collection to create strips of "rain" hanging from my clouds. The clouds were simply hand cut from white cardstock and sprayed with a little mist. I also used the tear strip from the paper to create a little interest behind the glittery thickers in my title. 

I hope you enjoyed my take on this challenge! Don’t forget to join in the fun in the Paper Issues facebook group! And, of course, when you're shopping in the store, don’t forget to use my discount code for 20% off!

52 Faves- Week 7

Hi everyone! I'm stopping by to share my 52 favorites spread for this week. I should start by confessing that I haven't decided what kind of notebook I'm using. I know, I know, not smart. I've been just created pages in a size I think I might use and hoping an ingenious idea comes to me. I am considering doing a file box of some sort instead of a notebook, actually. We shall see! Here's what I came up with this week:

Nothing exciting happened this week, and I honestly was so busy I didn't get any photos. I decided to solve that problem by documenting something that was on my mind instead of something I actually did. For whatever reason, I've been missing this sweet puppy so much lately. Isn't that photo hilarious? He was so chill! "Put fuzzy socks on me? Sure, no prob." Bless his sweet heart! 

Here are a couple of close ups: 

I used this gorgeous paper pad by Webster's Pages. I absolutely love the colors and patterns in this pad!

Don’t forget to join in the fun in the Paper Issues facebook group! And, of course, when you're shopping in the store, don’t forget to use my discount code for 20% off!

You've Got the Motion

Hi, everybody! I'm just stopping by today to share my layout for the "You've Got the Motion" challenge. I was intrigued by this one, and I immediately knew just which photo I wanted to use.

Years ago, I snapped a picture of my boy running amok outside. It was blurry and weird, but I liked it for some reason. When I saw this challenge, I knew I wanted to use this photo, but how? I also wanted to create motion on my page to match the photo. I finally decided that a combination of rolling "hills" of white cardstock set against fringes created from patterned paper might just do the trick. I used this absolutely gorgeous striped paper from Paige Evans' Whimsical collection:

People, would you just look at it? Seriously, I adore that paper. Anyway, here's what I came up with:

Leaving them slightly connected, I cut each stripe apart, creating a bit of a fringe. I fluffed the fringes to create depth and folded a few of them down. I added the white cardstock and decorated with hand cut clouds and hearts, which I painted. I was happy with the way this one turned out. 

Don’t forget to join in the fun in the Paper Issues facebook group! And, of course, when you're shopping in the store, don’t forget to use my discount code for 20% off!

Let's Get Fussy!

Howdy, y'all! I'm stopping by today to share my layout for the "Let's Get Fussy" challenge. I have a love-hate relationship with fussy cutting. I suppose it just depends on my mood, but I just love it or hate it, there's no in between. For this layout, I pulled out a sheet of patterned paper that I've been thinking of fussy cutting for quite a while. I had used some of the stars in a previous layout, and set the rest of the sheet aside for just such a challenge as this.

Can we just take a minute and appreciate how cute my kid was in a crocheted beard? I am sad to report that he can grow a beard of his own now. Sniffle. Moving along....

As I said, the stars were fussy cut from an older pattered paper by Pink Paislee. The gorgeous, sparkly stars are by Crate Paper. I cannot even begin to tell you how adorable they are in person! I decided to put my stars on a diagonal because I have this strange compulsion to always do something different when I'm making a layout. I hate the idea of all my pages looking the same. 

Don’t forget to join in the fun in the Paper Issues facebook group! And, of course, when you're shopping in the store, don’t forget to use my discount code for 20% off!