Photo Shoot

If you hadn't heard, my husband and I got to go on a photo adventure tour in Costa Rica last month. It was so amazing and this was pretty much the scene everywhere we went. There were 10 of us on the tour (my mom and step dad lead them) and we were taken to the most incredible places to shoot really amazing things. In this photo (photo cred goes to Pat Lassarde) we were shooting a quetzal in a nearby tree. The guy looking off in the other direction is a guide and he is looking for more birds. They really are incredible birds.

I recently ordered a pen holder for my Silhouette and thought these whimsical cameras, from the Snap To It set, would make a fun background. I arranged the files on my design page, changed the cut function to sketch, placed my Micron pen in the holder, and sent to my machine. I then got out an assortment of distress inks, smooshed them onto my splat mat, and watercolored the cameras. I cut out one camera, slight larger than the rest, inked it up, and added a penned border so it would match the background cameras. The camera paper was pretty bright, so I through a piece of deli paper on top to mute it. The saying was perfect for my title and I decided to cut it in black and used black spray for my splatters, to add that graphic feel.

This is the bird we were shooting

Head over to the shop and pick up this file for all of your photo needs, it is so versatile!

Monkey Business

One of my favorite events on my favorite day was seeing the Capuchin monkeys in Costa Rica! There were the one animal I really wanted to see. We spent the day on a boat, trolling the river delta, with its brackish waters, spying for wildlife. Boy did we ever see a lot of animals! It was an amazing day. We were traveling up a little canal, when our guide told us that the monkeys were headed for us. He could see the trees waving and bouncing as the troop moved through. These monkeys travel in groups of 20-50. We sat and watched them for a good 10-15 minutes as they played in the bamboo right at the water's edge. There was even a mom carting a baby on her back! So cute.

Evidence used: stripes, animals, clouds, and felt (the clouds are felt)

Testimony was journaling about a gathering. A gathering of monkeys

Fly Costa Rica

My husband and I had the amazing opportunity to join my mother's photo tour in Costa Rica at the beginning of December. It was a truly amazing experience and one I will treasure always. Our trip began with quite the flight schedule. We left at 5:30 in the evening, flew to Los Angeles, boarded a flight to Miami at 10 PM, landed at 5:30 the next morning, then boarded our final flight at 9:00 AM, landing in San Jose, Costa Rica about noon. It was an exhausting flight (s), but we were ready to to when when we arrived! It helped to have passes for the Admiral's Club in Miami. We got free food and a quite place to hang out for a couple of hours. Flying into Costa Rica was super fun, finding the differences to how it looks where we live and spotting things we don't normally see. Take the cows or sheep. I said cows, hubby said sheep. Either way, they were not the normal animals you would see here (they were, in fact, cows...yes!)

For my layout, I took a couple of pieces of striped paper and distressed the edges with Mahogany ink, followed by a crack stamp in chocolate brown ink. I then added some paste cracks here and there. I like how it adds texture and compliments the stamping. I then added several more related stamps. A compass, plane, the world map, postal stamps. I also added some fun travel washi tape and a few die cuts. Finally some clustered gears and clock parts finished off the layout.

Evidence used: gears, watch parts, clouds, key, hearts, stamped background, metal

Testimony is done in a timeline, the timeline of our journey.

A Tico Christmas

My husband and I recently got to join my mom's photo tour in Costa Rica! It's why I am sooooo far behind in my uploading....sorry...but I digress. We were gone the first two weeks of December and were able to enjoy Christmas in a way that is completely different. First of all, it was the start of summer, so whilst our families were dealing with cold and storms, we were in t-shirts and shorts. It is strange to see snowflakes and snowmen when it is 80 degrees out! The decor also has a different feel, more latin, less U.S. It was fun to see just how other's decorate for the holiday.

I decided to use black paper as my base, so the vibrant red would stand out. I applied some paste through a brick stencil and colored individual bricks with the more neutral colors from the palette, as well as the red. I cut out this adorable tree and cute flowers and Joy arrow using cut files from The Cut Shoppe Christmas lines. I used wood grain paper to give the tree a used pallet look. I hung the flowers as a banner and added bright red birds to the tree.

Evidence used: bricks, wood grain, animals (birds), hang elements, die cuts.

Testimony is documenting my holiday, in a very different way.

Wonderland

One thing I can tell you about me is that I'm not a huge fan of traditional Christmas colors. I love the more bright, fresh color palette like this one. I don't really do a whole lot with scrapping Christmas photos, but this case made me think of cold and fresh, so I went to my Yellowstone photos. I just loved this little scene that greeted us when we visited a thermal pool. Between the deep snow and steam that freezes on just about everything, we had this little wonderland of a tree clump.

The layout was really very simple and fast. I used some washi, ribbon, and mini pom pom to create the stripes under my photo, added a close up of the tress in circle form, added some flourishes and a fall of snowflakes and stars that lead to the simple journaling.

Evidence used: stripes, diamonds, trees, snowflakes, ribbon, pom pom, sprinkle something.

Testimony was remembering the greatest gift I've received, a trip to Yellowstone in winter.

Spotlight

This layout didn't go the way I had intended. At all. I was going to use some really bright stained glass photos, but it so clashed with the square colors, that I went back to the drawing board and looked for some new photos. I landed on these photos of a waterfall in Yellowstone, just as the late afternoon sun hit the water and spray to turn the sight into a magical one. It didn't last long, but we got some great photos whilst there.

I used a cut file from The Cut Shoppe, backing the square with bits of patterned paper in the palette of case colors. I love the soft look of the pastels agains the charcoal. To give a bit of separation, I added some deli paper under my photos. I like how it ended up mimicking the spray of the water. I glittered some stars and used glittered letters to add to the effect.

Evidence used: stars, glitter, grid

Testimony was using poetry (prompt)

Winter falls, cold, crisp
Frozen mist flows to and fro
Bathed in the spotlight

Destination Monteverde

Hello, bringing you a layout from The Cut Shoppe for you today. I'm continuing with layouts from my recent trip to Costa Rica. We began our adventure at Monteverde which boasts some pretty amazing cloud forests and canopy trails, as well as zip lining. To start off our time there, we took a short hike to a pretty waterfall, dinner, enjoyed a stunning sunset.

The Sideways Chevron file was the perfect cut to give the sense of moving to our location and going out to explore. I cut it out on a tan cardstock paper and layered over a fun green, then placed over some cute map paper. Before adding to the map paper, I stitched through all of the chevrons to add texture. I cut out a tag from Pack Your Bags and "Destination" from Here and There to add some red, like the bloom in my photo. All that was needed then were some enamel dots, wood, and chipboard bits, along with my journal strips.

I would love to see what you create with files from the shop, head on over today and pick up something fun for your next project!

Through My Lens

For this CSI case I decided to play with the surreal inspiration word. Made me think of some of the shots my mom and I look for. The ones where the viewer scratches their head and asks, "What in the world is that?" These shots are fun because there are so many colors and patterns, thing most people walk right by without noticing.

I stared off by inking up a piece of watercolor paper with the yellow and lime colors. Next I inked up a wavy stencil with the blue and stamped it on

Cucumber?

I admit, not my colors...not at all, but I liked the idea of the vines, so they brought to mind the "cucumber" plant my husband planted this Spring.

I cut some vines and leaves out with my Silhouette and colored them with watercolors. The vines are all shimmery even, so pretty live. Setting them aside to dry, I took my awesome dot stencil and brushed some Worn Lipstick distress ink through some of the holes. Next I added some purple splatters. I didn't really need much more, so I just added my photo, greenery, a butterfly, title and journaling.

Evidence used: circles, white background, vines, animal, and wet medium

Testimony is in recipe format,
Plant on cucumber plant
Bake in Spring sun for 1 month
Taste odd shaped cucumber
Set aside due to being strange
Leave plant over summer
Realize you have a melon...