Kinder Grad

I had 3 graduates last year. Shelby graduated from Pre-K, Cody from Kindergarten and Brian from 8th Grade, Junior High. I had printed up all their photos a while back and found them Monday during my little cleaning spree. I knew right away that the Elementary collection from Simple Stories would be PERFECT for my layouts.

Little Cody really seemed to come into his own in Kindergarten. He seemed like such a big boy after graduation. The layout I created for his graduation pic was loosely interpreted from this Page Maps sketch...

My original plan was to adapt the sketch into an 8.5 x 11 layout but the more I worked with the products, the more I thought 12 x 12 would be better. Here's Cody's layout...

I LOVE how Simple Stories takes the 12 x 12 sheets and creates borders and other elements within it. I started with the Bookworm page then layered a 4 x 12 border along the bottom. Next, I cut a one of the 6 x 8 photo elements. I wanted to add more dimension so I adhered the paper to a piece of chipboard then adhered it to my background paper. Next, I cut a file folder from the Teacher's Pet paper using the Lifestyle Crafts File Folder set. I trimmed my photo, matted it with some chocolate cardstock then adhered it to the front of the file folder which I attached to my chipboard mat. I added a Journaling spot tab under the top of the photo then where I put the month and year the photo was taken. Then I added another the left of the photo with foam tape so it would stand up. I found some old Scenic Route chipboard alphas in my stash and mixed the fonts to create my title. I really like how it turned out. I topped off the file folder and the journaling tab with alpha stickers from the Documented collection. The little paper clip holds the file closed. I used the Lifestyle Crafts DIY Pennant to create the pennant under the photo. To get the smaller patterned paper, I simply die cut the pennants from the cover sheet in the collection pack. Here's a peek at the file folder when it's open...

I cut out the Kindergarten 4 x 6 element and adhered it to the bottom of the file folder and filled in his information from the year. I added a red checkmark from the Lifesyle Crafts Doodles die set. I took advantage of the open space and added some personal journaling to the top half. It reads:

Cody, After attending Pre-K in Pretty Water, I was concerned you would struggle to make friends in a new school. Thankfully, I was wrong! you are so full of life. It seems you always have a smile on your face. Making friends comes natural to you, as does learning. By the time Kindergarten was done you seemed like such a big boy. You were always trying to read sigs and sound out words. We are so proud of who you are. Love you, Mom.

Cody's my last little boy. It's hard to see him grow up so fast but he is such a gem. Okay, back to my layout before I start to cry. ;) Here's a closer view of the elements on the front of the file folder...

You can really see some of the dimension created by the chipboard and foam tape in this photo. I added the A+ from the LC Doodles die set to fill in the "white space" above the file folder.

I really love how this layout turned out and the Simple Stories products are so easy to work with! Tomorrow I am headed to the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Louisville, KY. If you're in that area, stop by the Scrap-Mart booth and say hi! If not, enjoy the rest of your week and I'll see (here) you when I return!

JustRite Challenge #069: Spring Fling

Hello friends! I am back this week with a project I created for the current JustRite challenge, Spring Fling. The challenge is very simple...create anything that has a butterfly on it and uses spring colors, and of course, some JustRite stamps.

This one struck me and I had tons of ideas for what I wanted to create. The first JustRite stamp that came to my mind is the Chevron Background. I LOVE that stamp. It just makes me happy. ;) So, I knew that whatever I was going to create would use that stamp.

The first thing I did when I went to my scraproom this morning was clean up. I had some boxes on my die cutting table and some other things I needed to put back in their respective places. When I emptied the box on my table, I found the last two releases from Lifestyle Crafts and this cute little Pop-Up Box with none other than a butterfly closure. Cha-ching!

So I set to work and here's what I came up with...

After die cutting the box out, I added a mask to the top before stamping the background. The reason for this is that I wanted the top of the box to remain white and since it has four flaps that fold in the pattern would've crossed on the top and I didn't think it would look as good. Here's what it looked like after I applied the mask...

As you can see, the mask stops just barely above the fold line so that when I stamp it will cover the entire side of the box. The stamp is wide enough that I was able to stamp two sides at once. Then I simply re-inked and stamped the other two sides. Since the die used for the closure is a pop-up die, it doesn't cut out the entire shape. I wanted the butterfly to be pink, not white, so I cut a second top for the one side of the box and added the butterfly to it. Then I trimmed it so you wouldn't see any excess pink before adhering it.

Next I set to work to embellish the front. Nothing says spring to me like flowers! So, I pulled out my new Spellbinders Bitty Blossom dies and some spring colored cardstock and went to work. After cutting and rolling the flowers I decided it needed some greenery as well. The Bitty Blossoms dies come with some leaves, but I wanted a bit more so I pulled out my Foliage set and cut, embossed and stenciled my leaves. For my sentiment, I stamped the 'just because' from the Just Because mini sentiments set the cut it out with a pennant from the Lacey Pennants die set. After embossing and stenciling, I used my McGill flower shaping tools to gently "bend" the die cut to give it more detail. I dug through my stash, and to my surprise, found some plastic butterfly beads. After arranging and adhering my elements, I added a few of the butterfly beads to finish it off. Here's a closer view of the embellished box front...

This simple little box would be great filled with little candies and given to your child's teacher as a little thank you. It could easily be adapted for any theme!

Hop on over to the JustRite blog to see what the other challenge participants have created. Maybe you'll even be inspired to join in the fun!

Scrap-Mart: Easter Blessings

Hello crafty friends! Today is my day on the Scrap-Mart blog. Hop on over to see the details of this fun little treat container...

Scrap-Mart: Mix it up!

Hi friends! Today is my day on the Scrap-Mart blog...

Hop on over HERE to see my double-page layout!!!

On the road again...

Hello??? Testing, 1, 2, 3. Anyone there? I probably don't need to tell you it's been a while since I've blogged. As the title says, I've been on the road again. The Anaheim, CA Expo show kicked off our full show season. I had already worked two stamp shows but now the scrapbook shows are also in full swing. This means that I will be on the road more often. I was in Cali for 4.5 days and it was beautiful!!! I flew home for 2 days then drove to Indiana. I just happened to be there the weekend the tornadoes struck but luckily I was a little farther north in Indianapolis. I did, however, get to drive home through the snow. Most snow I've seen all winter. hahaha

Scrap-Mart has done a few things to try to better our stamp show booth and I thought it would be fun to show you a few pics, in case you haven't seen it in person.

Our booth measures 10'x20' and we can cram lots of crafty goodness into that space. ;) Here is a picture of our "stamp" side of the booth. We had these nifty pods built and they fold right up, product still inside, and roll into the back of our new van. It is fabulous!! Inside this pod we have LaLa Land Crafts, La Blanche and JustRite Stampers. Then, on top of the pod we have our Copic Sketch displays. And what you can't see is all the We R Memory Keepers on the outside of the pod. Sew Easy, Sew Stamper, Sew Ribbon, Sweetheart Inkers and even some Heart Attack sanders.

This is the other pod. It is FULL of Spellbinders. Yeah, ALL Spellbinders!!! On the end, I put up a grid display for Loralie Art Stamps.

And here's the full view! There's a small spot in between the two pods and there we have Quickutz Embossing folders and Impression Obsession Cover-a-Card background stamps.

That's it. A little tour of my travel world. Next time I am at a scrapbook show I'll remember to take some pics of it for you too.