Saturday, January 31, 2015

Our Story

Hi Friends,

One more layout from Teresa Collins sweet Summer Stories paper collection.  Teresa's signature style is clean and simple, which I love, but I thought I'd grunge it up a bit by distressing  this one.  I started with a background cut from the Paper Lace Cricut Cartridge, turned over the center circle and popped it up to layer my photo mats.  
I did make things easy on myself by using several ready made Prima flowers and leaves thought out my three flower clusters.  The big pink and black script flowers were handmade from Tim Holtz's Tattered Floral die. I love his die and the flowers it creates! 
To finish things of I inked the edges and sewed around the layout.  I also distressed the 'Story' chipboard pieces.  As we take one last look at the whole page you can see that I added more chipboard in the lower left corner and added a little 'photo' ticket next to the photo mat.
I enjoyed working with all the different colors in the 'Story' banner, but I have to admit that I'm not too sure about distressing papers that are styled for the clean and simple look.  Like all things artsy, I'm sure it will probably grow on me though!  

Well that's it for me today.  I hope you enjoyed this share and that you'll consider joining the site to see what comes next.   Have a happy day dear friends!  Big Hugs ~ Dawna

A Day to Remember

 Morning Friends,

Just dropping by to share a layout I created using Teresa Collins very pretty Summer Stories Collection.  I used a few of my favorite techniques on this simple layout.  I say simple because so many layouts are being done with so much mixed media these days, that sometimes I think we are losing sight of the main reason we do them!  That of course would be to showcase our beautiful pictures.  While I haven't added mine yet, it is sure to be front and center on this layout. 

A Day to Remember
Here's is a close-up of the large rosette which I cut from the CTMH Artiste Cartridge then layered it with a large scalloped circle and a few chipboard sentiments to use as my title.  The bird and flower frame is from Dusty Attic.  I gessoed the chipboard frame, and used water color pencils to add a touch of color to the bird and leaves.  I didn't care for how the original flowers turned out, too coral or orange, rather than pink, so I just covered them with the organza black and white flowers.  And you can see the doilies in the this picture a little bit better too.
 
You can see that I also gessoed a doily stencil from Prima in the background which softened the look of the printed papers.   And last you can see some random zigzag sewing around the frame and edges. 
At the bottom there is another smaller rosette with a large rose chipboard to balance out the page.  I used Prima's sparkle paste on the rose chipboard to make it very sparkly!  Note to self:  A little goes a LONG way! 

As we take one last look at the whole page you can see that I've created two peek-a-boo lace and pearl openings.  
 
Overall I like the effect of the pink and white on black, to me its has a very striking effect.  I hope you enjoyed this layout. 

Until next time, thank you for dropping by.   I hope you have a wonderful  day my scrappy friends!  Hugs to All ~ Dawna

Friday, January 23, 2015

Oh My ...Its Raining Family and Cats and Dogs!

The Scharff Family 2014
Hi Friends,

The New Year is upon us and the holidays are behind us.  It was a very eventful holiday season for our family this year.  We love having family and friends visit and this year was really special for all of us! 

Our twins, Jennifer and Jessica were having a milestone birthday this New Years Eve, so we were thrilled when Jennifer (in the white sweater) and our darling granddaughter Quinn (next to her mom) decided to fly in on Christmas Day!  Time with loved ones is always precious and even more so when out of state visits are far and few between.   

We were all so busy (and I was bushed) I barely remembered to take pictures of us!  What???   Well I did get this one, so from our house to yours, wishing you all a very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2015!   May your dreams and wishes for the New Year come true! 

So lets get this scrappy party started...


I'm a bit late, but I thought I would close out my 2014  blog posts by sharing pictures of the mini albums I made for our girls this year.  Jennifer and Jessica love their fur babies so when Graphic 45 introduced their Raining Cat's and Dog's Collection, I knew had to make them a keepsake mini for their beloved pets. 

I used a simple folded envelope tutorial to make these easy pages and then developed a unique binding method to pull them all together.   I promise to learn how to video tape this year, because I know that pictures just don't capture certain projects, like mini's, the way they should.  Lets have a peek anyway.  I didn't post pics of both books but here's one I hope you enjoy:
Chunky, Pretty and Fun!
The books are 6 double sided envelop pages with 5 tag pockets.  With 3 tags per pocket, they got a little chunkier than I thought they would.   The photo mats are all double sided so there is plenty of room for journaling or any other little goodies you may want to tuck away.   
The Cats Meow
Cool Cat

Lucky Dog


Dog Day Afternoon

Love is a Four Legged Word

The Cats Meow

C is for Cat

Puppy Love

Lucky Dog

Carte Postale

The Cats Pajamas
Well friends that's it for me today.  Thank you so much for dropping by to visit.  Until next time, make something from the heart and enjoy a happy day!   Hugs ~ Dawna