Love This

Good afternoon everyone! It's nearly Valentine's Day, and I have a great Noel Mignon kit full of sweet heart paper. I also happen to have some great photos to use that aren't Valentine's Day, but just full of love. These pictures of my son and my granddaughter just melt my heart!

I used a sketch from Stuck?! Sketches for this layout. It's another sketch from one of my favorite sketch designers, Laura Whitaker. I love how adaptable they are. 

Besides the pictures, one of my favorite things about this layout is that big, red circle. I used Adirondack paint to create it. I first outlined a small plate on the background paper in pencil. Then, I dipped the edges of the plate in the paint and laid it on the paper. I liked it with the smooth edges, but I wanted something more. So, I used my hairdryer on high to blow the paint out in a splatter. I love how it turned out!

The other ink splats that you see are made using Heidi Swapp Color Magic in Sweet Cherry. I dropped big drops and just quickly blew on them to make them go all over. I got a bit light headed doing that! 

I had these yummy gold Thickers in my stash for awhile. They are foam, and just simply adorable. I used the words and the hearts from the set. I also added sequins to add some shine.

This wood veneer plate has been in my stash for a very long time. I was so glad to be able to use it! I inked the edges with Quick Quotes chalk ink in Maraschino Cherry. I also used the same ink around the papers. I outlined some of the hearts on the background papers to help them to stand out some.

And finally, I typed my journaling and placed it in strips on my layout. I love adding journaling this way. Here you can also see some of that nice, red paint from the circle.

I'm also entering this LO in this month's Scrap Our Stash challenge. The challenge is to use one item in your stash for every letter in the word Washi. 

I used W - White doilies, A - Adirondack paint, S - Sequins, H - Hearts, and I - Ink

I hope you enjoyed looking at my layout as much as I liked creating it. Please leave me some blog love and let me know your thoughts. Thanks!

Family

Welcome back everyone! Today I am revealing my layout for ScrapStuffz "Inspired By" Challenges . Here is this month's inspiration photo: 

The moment I saw this photo, back in early June, I thought of my grandmother. She has always loved blue glass, and I have so many memories of watching and feeding birds with her. Where ever she lived her space was always filled with blue. She's the reason I love the color so much. But, I didn't have any good photos of her, and I procrastinated on my layout for the challenge. Then, on July 12th, my grandmother passed away. She went peacefully in her sleep, as she always wanted, and I know she's happy to be in heaven. Strangely, one of the first things I thought of was this picture and how much she would have loved it. So, I knew I had to do my layout about her. My cousin shared a picture that she had taken of my grandmother and all four of her children. I knew I'd use the photo as soon as I saw it. So, here is my layout about my Grandma Phyllis using the inspiration photo:

I made this layout a bit country chic, which is out of my comfort zone, but it is just what my grandma would have loved. She was a musician from the time she was four (violin and piano), so I was thrilled to use the music paper with birds. All of the paper comes from Authentic. It's perfect!

The little bird had been in my stash for a very long time. It was plain acrylic, so used some Gelatos to color it. I love how it turned out! I also adore the little bluebird on the paper. (The lady in the picture is my mother.)

The little cage is also acrylic. I used two different paint dabbers to color it. I used an organza ribbon to soften the layout some more. 

Once again I used some acrylic birds. I used the Gelatos to color them too, but I smoothed them out to just give a hint of color.

To complete this layout I used a sketch from Scrap Our Stash Challenge Blog . 

I hope you enjoyed my layout as much as I do. It's amazing where an inspiration photo can take you. Head over to ScrapStuffz "Inspired By" Challenges and take on this challenge yourself. Don't forget to tell us what inspired you. I can't wait to see what you create!