The last CHA post...

...at the Scrappy Chic blog is here. I need a nap, and then I'll get into some more details. ;)

More CHA posts...

...are over at Scrappy Chic's blog.

You can see yesterday's pre-show events here, and today's stuff (first day of the show) here.

This is a lot of fun, and I am tired! More details soon, though :)

links to some pre-CHA fun

Hey folks -

I've been blogging at Scrappy Chic's blog the last couple days, so in the interest of saving time and avoiding redundant picture-posting, you can see yesterday's post here, and today's post here.

We're having a great time and are only slightly under-rested. I'll let you know if that changes. ;)

I'll be back soon -- take care!

a quick note...

...I'm skipping town today!
Seriously, though -- we'll be loading into a minivan and heading for Chicagoland later this morning.
CHA doesn't officially begin until Tuesday, but there are some events in the days beforehand that we need to be at, hence the early departure.
Check this spot for all the fun once it starts -- and if I get really ambitious, I'll post some of the pre-show fun too!

Chicago, here we come! CHA -- watch out!

one line, two ways - part two

Hello again!

Today I have more layouts from my June kit from Scrappy Chic -- and once again, I made two rather different layouts with just one line of paper. This time around, it's KaiserCraft's Check In, which is ostensibly a travel line, though calling these "travel" pages would be a stretch, for sure!

First up, a page about one of my husband's choirs - 

How considerate of them to match my papers so well with their red and black performance outfits. ;) This color scheme pretty much wrote itself, and I used one of my favorite go-to layouts: trim the patterned paper to size, cut it into two pieces, and flip one of them. Done. The embellishments keep it looking fresh -- here I used some of the perforated elements from the line, plus a border punch, some ribbon, and black alphas that almost match the patterned paper.

I also turned to Jenni Bowlin (queen of red and black) and grabbed some gems and butterfly stickers from my J.B. stash, along with a new stamp set from Maya Rd to house a bit more patterned paper. Andrew actually liked this one so much he took it into school to show the kids in the choir -- isn't that sweet?

For my second page, I went in a different direction, color-wise:

This actually looks busier in the photo than it does in real life, I swear -- but here, I scrapped Andrew's childhood love for an antique traffic signal. Yep. The big, awesome historical museum near us recently redid their whole transportation exhibit (and in Detroit, transportation exhibits are kind of a big deal), and Andrew was worried that his traffic light wouldn't be part of the refurbish...but it was. Happy boy. So this time around, I used the road and ticket images from the line to fit the nature of the museum's exhibit rather than a real road trip.

Those tickets come from the line, and I added some more Jenni Bowlin stickers (since they were on my desk), plus some punched circles from one of my favorite Hambly transparencies (RIP :( - I'll miss them).

Well, that's enough words from me for one day, don't you think? You can see these projects and get your hands on the products I used at Scrappy Chic -- as always!

{Ok, one more thing: I'm fortunate enough to be headed off to CHA for a second time! We'll be heading out early for some pre-show events, and then I'll be right in the thick of things once again -- I can't wait! So, I'll likely be posting some quick and photo-heavy posts while I'm there...if there are any lines, projects, or people you'd like to see more or less up-close, be sure to let me know! In the meantime, you can access a great list of all the sneak peeks here -- they're starting to come in pretty heavily this week!}

Have a great Monday!

one line, two ways - part one

Well, hello there! Pardon my brief absence -- we went to Chicago for a few days (nice little mini vacation -- mini album to follow ;) ), and then came back just in time to spend the 4th with family and fireworks. Happy Independence Day (a bit late), and Happy Canada Day, too (a bit later!).

In my June kit from Scrappy Chic, it just so happened that I had papers from We R Memory Keeper's monthly line, Red White and Blue. Needless to say, they were very patriotic papers, with a bit of a military theme. Unfortunately, I was scrapping with them sans any photos that fit either theme! What's a girl to do? 

First, I selected a photo that I wanted to scrap and that fit well with the colors -- one of my parents' dog, Roxy. Then, I searched my stash for a bit of inspiration to both tie the colors of the line together AND pull away a bit from the patriotic-ness. Here's what I found:

Yup, just one sticker (this one's from American Craft's Chap line) -- but it has blues, red, AND a golden yellow -- ta da! Suddenly, instead of a patriotic color scheme, I had a primary color scheme with a twist. Here's the layout in full:

Now it's a festive layout about a cute dog that just happens to include some stars. Nice! I made sure to repeat the yellow enough to make it look intentional -- the inspiration sticker, the title (basic grey and october afternoon alphas), the label sticker up top, and in this embellishment cluster:

I added pins from Maya Road, a paper clip flag from Smash, and more stars in sticker and veneer form (the veneers are Studio Calico, and they're sprayed with yellowish Mister Hueys).  I call it a success!!

But after all, it is a patriotic line, so I made a bit of patriotic decor as well:

I used star tins from Maya Rd along with die-cut stars, circles, and scalloped circles to pull this one together (I used my beloved new Silhouette for the die-cutting, but simple shapes like these are available for any system). 

The tins (which are about 2.5" across, if you'd like a sense of scale) are painted with Ranger Distress Paint first, then the stars are added, then the tins got a layer of crackle medium (mine was Ranger also, but other brands exist). The little alphas are LilyBee (kit leftovers from the other week), and the large alphas are old Thickers.

You can really see the crackle effect here. Twine from Maya Rd. and Divine Twine tie it all together...literally. You can find both projects at Scrappy Chic, as well as on their blog today. You'll find me at the store today as well -- it's Freedom Grab day! Get your shopping on, local folks!

Enjoy your day, and see you soon.