Bounce

This was my last week as a Special Investigator at CSI.  It was a ton of fun to be in on the reveals and I am so thankful they asked me to be part this month.

For my last reveal, I chose to use Ashley Horton's January sketch and these photos of Evo and the bouncy balls.  He loves bouncy balls!  But when Bryon let them all go, he just lay there, confused.  I placed my journaling on a tag with a string.  For my evidence I used: string, dashed lines, and plain white paper.

The layout

The case file

The sketch

Pamela Young Sketch Card

I love Pamela Young's new sketch so much that I made a layout AND a card!  It is such a versatile sketch that will be used over and over again, especially for cards.

The Card

Portland Timbers

Pamela Young has another fantastic sketch up on her blog!  I liked it a lot and thought it would make a fantastic double page layout for these photos of Kayla's trip to a Portland Timbers game with her friends.  They had such a great time and I am happy to be able to scrap the day for her.

The layout

Maple Tree

I really struggled with this CSI layout.  Not sure why.  I liked all the colors and prompts, but it just wasn't coming together for me.  I did manage to get something done and I really like some parts of it, but not sure why it isn't hitting a home run for me.  I guess we can't always hit a home run.

I took this photo of a maple tree at the Portland Japanese Gardens last year as part of my birthday present from my dad.  We made a whole weekend photo shoot that was a ton of fun!  This is the most photographed tree in the park and you almost walk right by it.  It's not that big and you need to get down on the ground and look under it to get good photos.

For my evidence used: plain white background, scallops, stitching

My testimony is journaling 6 interesting things about my subject, the gardens.

* Portland Japanese Gardens
* 5.5 acres
* 50 years old
* Most photographed tree in the park
* Most authentic Japanese garden outside of Japan
* 5 distinct gardens

The layout

Pretty Kitties

There are so many pretty cats at the Portland zoo!  They were all nice and cooperative, for photo shoots, too!  I had some fun, zoo papers that went really well too that I won off of a friend.  I put them to good use.

The layout

On The Savana

I have had these zoo photos for some time.  I loved going and taking photos there!  That was the only reason we went, just to photograph.  It's about time to get them scrapped too!  There were a lot, so I've broken them up into different layouts.  I just like them so much.  This group are the savanna animals and probably my favorite animals.  Love all the stripes and spots represented.  And cats, love the cats.

I used the sketch in the newest issue of Creating Keepsakes.  It's a good one!

The layout

Lil Teacup

I'm back at CSI as a Special Investigator this week and was really taken out of my comfort zone!  I have dabbled in a little mixed media, but never as the base of my scrapbook page.  I had fun doing this and think it turned out pretty good!

My evidence includes: circles, mixed media background, swirls, text pattern, string, and tickets.  My journaling is in ticket form.

I used this photo of my adorable teacup!  It reminds of of an apple and the tea bags have a little leaf that sticks out.

The layout

The case file

Tis The Season 4 Joy

The Challenge:
Use photo strips on your layout or project.

Photo strips have been around for a little while, but looking through this issue, they are EVERYWHERE!   I love using them!  I most often use them when highlighting a lot of photos, like you are looking at a proof sheet.  There are many other options too.  You can stack photos like you took them in a photo booth, die cut some film strips to use as an accent, use some of the acetate film strips, they look pretty real, or as in my case, use a stencil to place the photos in.

Yes, I am just finishing last Christmas's photos right after this year's celebration....so what of it ;)  I had printed these photos all off about a month ago, in a rather small size, but had no idea what the plan had been now because I waited so long!  I got this great film strip stencil for Christmas and decided to try it out.  I just painted right on top of my piece of patterned paper, using painter's tape to mask off what I didn't want painted, then used my fine tip marker to define the spaces and give it a cleaner look.  Then I took the photos and cut them down to size, rounded the edges, and placed them in the photo spots.  It was a great way to house a lot of photos on a single page and give the look of action, like the camera was set on burst mode.

I just added a few embellishments to the pre-printed paper and BAM, layout complete.  I look forward to using this stencil again!

The layout

Make A Wish

I just love this photo of the dandelion and I really wanted to use these cute wooden stars as the wishes.  I think the message I wanted to convey actually worked!  I love it when an idea works.

The layout

Bloom

The Challenge:
Use only scraps of paper except for your background piece of paper

Boy, howdy, I tell ya, this challenge made me kinda grumpy!  I love to use fun embellishments and stuff, but they were banned!  I chose a paper for my base that had some things going on to help it look complete and not like it was missing something.  I think it turned out ok, but I am sure glad to be back to using all of my stash!

The layout

Peace

I was just thrilled when I got an email from the owner of CSI asking me to be a Special Investigator for the month of January!  I love playing along with these cases and it is such an honor to be asked to part of the inspiration group.  These ladies are super scrappers!

For my first case, I was given a really pastel color palette.  I realized that I just don't scrap pastels!  I really didn't have any papers that would work.  I remembered that I am squirreling away papers for the wedding album I will be doing this summer and there were some papers in there that I could use....whew!  This first case was way out of my normal scrapping style and it made me nervous.  I just kept looking at it and then setting it aside.  I really didn't want to wait for the last minute, so I pulled it out one day and set down to do it.

The first thing I did was choose a photo.  The inspiration words were soft, lovely, quiet, that made me think of this river, near where my mom used to live, that was so peaceful and with lovely colors the day I visited.  Next, I needed to steal, I mean choose some paper from the wedding stash.  I liked the pattern on the background piece and added some texture paste shapes to it, then brushed on some distress inks in soft hues.  I knew I had these pretty flowers that fit perfectly too, so I pulled them out and underneath were my Dusty Attic laser cut shapes.  I pulled a bunch of those and added them too.  One of the papers had this pretty little fairy on it, so I cut her out and added her to a rosette that I made out of pleated paper.  I layered and stacked all of my elements, added some gems to the swirls of the die cuts, and glitter glue to the fairy.

The evidence I used was: flowers, pleating, and texture paste.  For my testimony I wrote a haiku, printed it out on vellum, and placed it right on my photo.  It reads,
"Blue river running softly
Soothe my weary soul
Peaceful visions comfort me"

Check out the reveal here

The layout

First Signs Of Spring

The Challenge:
Use polka dots on your layout

Polka dots are just plain fun!  The have the air of carefree and full of spirit.  They are a good addition to a Spring layout.  These are my Camilla and they are one of the first flowers to bloom, come Spring.

The layout

Merry Bliss

CSI really pulled out some great colors this week!  I love this color combo.  I've always been a fan of earthy tones and this one adds a splash of red!  One of the prompts was to scrap a gift and I immediately thought of this silly little gift I got that just tickles me every time I see it.  My brother and his S/O got me a travel coffee mug that looks just like a camera lens!  It is just brilliant, I love it.

My evidence includes: wood, twine, painted hexagons, and burlap.  My testimony tells of the gift received.

The layout

The case file