Happy Birthday Card with the February Stamp of the Month Set

This card was so fun to make for a dear, sweet friend’s birthday!  She loves violets, so I knew that I wanted to use the February 2024 Close To My Heart stamp of the month, Say It with Flowers. I decided to use the retired postage frame Thin Cut and the retired Sweet Memories periwinkle pattern paper because blue is her favorite color.

After stamping flower bouquet in Jade ink onto the Periwinkle patterned paper and coloring the leaves with colored pencils, I grabbed my Blue Belle, Green Apple, and gold shimmer brushes to splatter the front of the card.

I stamped the floral image with Harbor ink on White Daisy card stock, and then used a blending brush to add color with periwinkle and a bit of harbor. After fussy cutting the flowers and adhering them, I added some detail and dimension with a white gel pen. Can you see how I use 3-D foam tape for the two larger flowers?  A pair of  Honey Butter enamel dots finished off this card. 

I stamped at the birthday sentiment in Harbor ink also. 

Thank you for letting me share this birthday card with you!

Welcome to the World Card

Here's a sweet baby card that I taught at my recent card class using the Let's Go Anywhere cardmaking stamp set and Thin Cuts paired with the Honey Bunny collection.

We used the light side of Seabrook for our heart die cut and stamped the coordinating world heart stamp in Sage ink.

This card design was copied from the card on p. 22 of the March/April CTMH Idea Book.  I love how much inspiration these catalogs provide!

Let’s Go Anywhere Aqueduct Layout

Here is my final layout of our stay in Evora.   Thanks for letting me share this part of our trip with you!  Seeing the Roman aqueduct and following it into town (as it seemed to get lower and lower) was a really neat experience.  I continue to marvel at how old structures in Europe can be and how young our country is by comparison.

Once again, I let my photos drive my design.  I was really happy to be able to add the picture of the wall with the pretty bougainvillea onto this page (even though it was across from the Cathedral).  

Let your pictures guide your design and you tell your stories!  As always, please let me know if I can assist you in any way.

{Layout 24/52}

Let’s Go Anywhere Church & Chapel Layouts

Hopefully you aren't sick of my travel layouts yet!  I've only got a few left to share of our time in quaint Evora.  We visited the Church of St. Francis. 

We actually visited the Chapel of the Bones first, but I’m adding this layout second because I like the flow better.  I really love how the neutrals work with my photos, so I kept the color pop of the passports to a minimum.  

Both of these layouts are a little plain, but I think it's important to highlight the photos, especially of sacred places and spaces.

{Layouts 22 & 23/52}

Twisted Ribbon Technique Card (Times Two)

The twisted ribbon technique creates a pretty card!  It's not hard at all to make but is a little time consuming.  You need over 12" each of two different 0.5" strips.   For both cards, I used the April stamp of the month, Little Hedgehogs, and the Honey Butter collection.

On both card bases, I used a blending brush to add Sage "grass" and Glacier "sky."  I colored both hedgehogs with varying shades of grey markers.  I think my first card is pretty in pink with two of the zip strips from the paper suite, the cute littlest hedgehog, and the pink flower.

The second card uses the Glacier butterflies and Honey Butter polka dots, the medium hedgehog, and a "daisy."

Which card do you prefer?

Let's Go Anywhere Workshop Layout 3: Évora

Don’t worry if your photos need to be different sizes than the suggested photos in a sketch or kit. I used five 4 x 4 photos instead of the recommended 3 x 3, and I think my layout is lovely.

Don’t forget my team’s motto, “ A mistake is an opportunity to embellish!” Don’t look too closely to find my stamping mistakes!  Your layouts don't have to be perfect to be worthy!

{Layout 21/52; halfway to my yearly goal!}

Fractured Card

This card design is all the rage so I couldn't resist making a fractured card at my recent, final Close To My Heart card class. 

I used the Honey Bunny collection with the April stamp of the month, Little Hedgehogs, minus any hedgehogs, to say hello.

Although it doesn't show well, after coloring the flower with pink and yellow markers, I added highlights with Flamingo and Honey Butter shimmer brush.

Let’s Go Anywhere: Évora Cathedral Layouts

Because I took and printed way too many photos, I narrowed them down to create three layouts of the beautiful cathedral. These all use the same paper suite, Let's Go Anywhere, and my own layout designs.  I used a retired set of thin cut arrows to help add some embellishments that coordinate throughout the layouts.   (I am planning to go back and add a few embellishments now that I found the coordinating die cuts in my stash.)

To unify these pages together, I used the light side of Shortbread card stock as my page bases.

I use more of the green city map print to highlight the cloister  garden.

For the interior photos, I decided to stencil a brick pattern with Toffee and Espresso ink to help mimic the inside of the cathedral.

The heart is from the Let’s Go Anywhere cardmaking stamp set and coordinating thin cuts.  (When I last checked, these are still available.)

{Layout 18-20/52}

Let's Go Anywhere Workshop Layout 2: Évora

After we visited the temple, we stumbled upon the gorgeous public library.

I love how the busy patterned paper complements the whimsy of the children’s section of the library.

This layout is the second featured in the now unavailable Let’s Go Anywhere scrapbooking workshop kit.  (Spoiler! Stampin' Up will start carrying some of our workshop kits in the near future!)

{Layout 17/52}

Let’s Go Anywhere Workshop Layout 1: Évora

When I saw the Let’s Go Anywhere collection, I knew I wanted at least one of almost everything because it’s perfect for my photos from my trip to Portugal a few years ago that haven’t yet been scrapbooked. (Hopefully you won’t get tired of this collection!)

Unfortunately, the scrapbooking workshop is no longer available, but I wanted to share my layouts with you anyway, because (in my opinion) they are so beautiful.  Almost everything else is still available, so be sure to check out this collection before the end of the month.

I used my alphabet Thin Cuts to add the towns name. I also added some extra photos with a 3 x 4 flip-flap that I had in my stash.  (I am super excited to announce that Stampin' Up! will be starting to carry flip-flaps at some point in the future!)

The arrows on the bottom right are pointing to my dad! That gives a lot of perspective on the size of the temple.

{Layout 16/52}

Laugh Together Layout

One of the mamy benefits of participating in Stacy Julian's Live Your Story membership group is her emphasis on storytelling as memory keeping.  Now that the girls are older, it’s so much easier to tell stories over time, like this one.

I had originally planned to use three of these pictures with my birthday from 2021, since that’s when they were taken, but I remembered a moment in time that I scrapbooked of the girls absolutely cracking up at a restaurant.  It turns out that was way back in the fall of 2015.  Fast forward to this weekend: three of the four of us saw a sight we wish we hadn’t, but that absolutely cracked us up.  And, well, crack was part of the hilarity.  (I won't say anymore out of respect for delicate sensibilities!)  I decided that I needed to combine all of these pictures together to show how much fun we have together. 

On a more technical note, I used the current Honey Bunny collection, the April stamp of the month, Little Hedgehogs, and a sketch from the Creative Design Team's 12"x12" sketchbook.

Maybe I should print this blog post and tuck it behind the layout, because I really didn’t journal that much on it. Thoughts? I always appreciate feedback! Thanks so much for being part of my Inky Scrapper community!

{Layout 15/52}

Happy Easter 2024 Layout

Once again, I can’t believe that I was able to scrapbook an event within just days of it happening!  I used the adorable Honey Bunny collection and the Honey Bunny Scrapbooking stamp set and Thin Cuts.

To save time, I stamped the bunnies on Acorn card stock that I had already cut with the Thin Cuts. That meant that I had to do just a little shading to add a little dimension and white gel pen for some bunny tails and bellies.

I fussy cut the "happy" to make the beginning of the title.  I colored the stamped images with marker accents.

A little 3"x4" flip flap let me add photos to the page that didn't get sorted into the right stack (so they were found after the layout was made).  I am thrilled that Stampin' Up! has announced that they will be carrying flip flaps later in the year (as Close To My Heart closes and Stampin' Up! acquires product and intellectual properties).

Please let me know if I can help you with any stamping or scrapbooking needs!

{Layout 14/52}