FWF and a layout.

Good (cold) morning!

If it's Friday, it must be time for some Flair. Be sure to check out the Unity blog to see what the big deal is today. In the meantime, how about a little stamp action on a layout?

Aww, ain't we at least a little cute? This photo was taken right after the one in this layout, so of course we look happy ;). I love simple designs like this one -- easy to use over and over again, changing the feel by changing the supplies used.

Speaking of supplies, check out the Unity goodness there near the bottom!

Before I adhered the block of heart-print paper, I sketched a quick line at the bottom, moved it out of the way, and then used the line as a guide to stamp the dashed scallop repeatedly, masking the side edges and offsetting the rows (did it freehand, even. imperfections are fine with me!). The sentiment makes perfect sense, seeing as this photo is from midnight on New Year's Eve.

A glittery button-twine star, stitching around the border and around the photo, and some various tapes and stickers and such, and all is well.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the Unity goodness out there. Have a lovely day!

other supplies: Crate Paper (Paper Heart, Random) papers and border sticker, AC Thickers and tape, Hambly and Tim Holtz tapes, Best Creations glitter paper, October Afternoon button, Twinery twine, Tim Holtz tiny attacher, Stampin' Up punch and ink, and Colorbox ink.

ooh, sparkly :)

Hey there!
I'm still working on the dang December album photos (all 80 of them...each of which is inexplicably rotated 90 degrees...blergh. Any insight on doing batch editing in Picnik?).

So, in the meantime, how about something new?

{Warning: slightly mushy photo ahead!}

Oh geez, are those people smooching? And is one of them me? Why yes, that's what you see here. It was midnight on New Year's Eve, one of very few times I condone brief PDA. So I scrapped it, using my latest goodies from Scrappy Chic, namely the Yours Truly line from Echo Park. I had to grunge it up a bit with ink to make it work with the background, which I made all by my lonesome, using some vintage pattern tissue (scrunchily adhered to cardstock with spray adhesive) that I stamped a bit (using these new Hero Arts stamps) and then topped with a coating of glitter spray. (If you use this stuff, put your project in a box and go outside -- it isn't too messy, but there's definitely overspray...you know, made of glitter, so it's gonna get everywhere otherwise).

You can see the glitteriness a bit better here -- even more if you click to enlarge. I adhered some twine behind the photo mat in messy loops just for kicks.

This might be the first time I've used something other than alpha stickers for a title, but this cut-apart element from the EP line said just the perfect thing :). You can see another Hero Arts stamped heart peeking out the side there, too.

So, I've been using scrapping as an escape from an otherwise so-far busy semester, which means you'll be seeing some more pages soon. And the dang album. One of these days.

Until then, have a lovely, hopefully-not-too-cold day!

FWF times three.

Hi there!
It's Friday, so it must be Friends with Flair over at Unity -- be sure to stop by and see what great deal they have in store today.

In the meantime, I have three whole cards to share! January is a busy birthday/anniversary month in our circle of family and friends, so I always try to get the whole month's worth of cards done right at the beginning so I don't panic later ;)

Three of this month's cards use fabulous Unity stamps. Here's #1:

A CAS anniversary card for some friends, using December's Kit of the Month, Filled with Love, paper-pieced simply with some love-y Sassafras papers. The oval shadow is from Amuse.

#2:

A birthday card for a college pal using the multi-butterfly stamp from Picture Perfect (which I finally picked up during one of the big Unity sales last month), as a background. The sentiment is an oldie from SU, ribbon from PTI, and a Martha butterfly punch.

#3:

Har. This one makes me chuckle. It's for my art-loving aunt, so I know she'll appreciate its quirkiness. I used the fabulous multi-frame stamp from Picture Perfect.  How handy that there are just enough frames to spell out "birthday"! The "happy" is from PTI, and the letters are from all over the place.

I've finally started to edit the photos of the Big Fun Christmas Project (aka my first December Daily). When I have enough stamina, I'll finish them up and post 'em soon.

A quick note for local folks: Don't forget that Scrappy Chic has its Grand Re-Opening party tomorrow (Saturday 1/7) from 2-4! Plans include a Smash-style photobooth (like the first photo here), so you know it'll be a good time! :)

Until then, have a great day! It's sunny and shockingly warm here -- I should be outside!

My top 10 of 2011 -- sort of.

Hello again, all!
Now that the new year is in full swing (or as full swing as it can be on day two!), I figured it was time to take a stroll through last year's projects and pick my favorites.

My original goal was to pick 10 cards and 10 layouts...but as I was scrolling through a year's worth of blog posts, I realized I made a boo boo -- I think I might have deleted a couple of older Picasa web albums...not a big deal, except a few month's worth of blog photos were in them. Oops!

So, I'll just go with ten total projects instead, with a big date gap in the middle. Without further ado, here we go!

From February:

A layout featuring my pal's sweet dog. Read more here.

Jump to June:

Baby predictions, the old-fashioned way. See original here.

 The first card I had published. Never gets old. Read more.

In July:

Simon is about 12x this size now. Still cute. See details here. 

From my Growing in Unity week. Original is here. 

in August:

More kitten, with banners this time. Close-ups here. 

My sweet man's birthday. One-layer happiness here.  

October:

Still love this mini. All the pages are here. 

Stepped into a new style and surprised myself. Spongeworthiness here. 

November:

Got a little lost in an 8-layout post, but man, I love this one. And yes, more kitten. See them all here. 

So, what can we conclude? I definitely like to scrap animal photos, especially of Simon. (Dex got attention too...I swear!) Also, scrappy projects just barely outnumber card projects, which I'm pretty sure reflects my creative output last year. I like patterns a lot, but no one color dominates. Nor does a single style, which either makes me versatile or mildly schizophrenic. I'd prefer versatile, though ;) And I definitely shouldn't delete web albums willy-nilly! 

I can also say with some confidence that my December album (aka the Big Fun Christmas Project) will be one of my favorites as well -- but as I finished it yesterday, it's technically a 2012 project. You'll see it soon...and again in the 2012 year in review!

Hope you're having a great day!