Adore

I love this layout...I know I said that about the last one but I do, I just love it. I saw a digital layout that someone had made with circles in the background like this and new that I just had to lift the idea. (Here is the layout I lifted... http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/gallery/member/79412-gennifer/1698714-shake-things-up/?c=t) I used the beautiful Imaginisce Garden Party Collection. I love the colors in this collection and I thought it worked perfectly with this adorable picture I have of my niece Amanda and my darling daughter Elly. I punched a bunch of circles and then used the sewing machine (which I'm loving lately) and sewed them into a grid like pattern.

 I then matted my picture a couple of different times and pop dotted it up off of the page to give it some dimension.  I then used a white party streamer and ruffled that at the bottom of my photo.

 Layer the beautiful rose Maya Road ribbon on top of that. Then comes my favorite part of all. The flower....swoon! It has to be my favorite thing I have purchased this year, or possibly in a long time. It is a die that you cut with your cuttlebug and then quill. It is made by cuttlebug and you don't need the extended pieces to cut it out!!!! They have 3 different flowers: a daisy, a carnation, and a chrysanthemum. This one just so happens to be the chrysanthemum...I purchased the daisy as well!!

I might need to do a little tutorial on here for you all to see how easy and fun this is. I'm so addicted. I have made a couple of projects and cards using this flower it is so beautiful. When I first saw it I was impressed that someone had taken the time to cut a strip of paper and fringe cut it and roll it into the flower. (I was in fact going to try this method) But then the ladies at the fabulous Picture This were like "oh no, oh no, it is much easier then that". They showed me how it worked and I was sold. Would have bought all 3 if I had more money and I knew my hubby wouldn't freak out about it. He freaks out about pretty much everything scrapbook related! I will try to take some pictures and post on how this flower works. The kit comes with everything you need, including the quilling pen to roll your flowers. The leaves were also included in the kit. Loving it, so much fun!

Well I hope you enjoyed the layout. I will try to post something on the flowers soon. They are so adorable and I know that you are going to just love them.

Leah

Love, Love, Love

I have been wanting for the longest time to make those rolled paper roses and form them in the shape of a heart in a picture frame to hang on my wall. The idea has been running through my head for years, well maybe not years but a really long time. So in February when I went away for the weekend for my scrapbooking retreat I made this. It was actually a challenge that we had during our weekend away. We were all given a plain white photo mat (like the ones you put in a picture frame to go around a photo) and were to make a layout using the frame. A few people cut it apart , some kept it whole, one person journalled on hers (which was stunning I might add) some covered it in paper. Every ones turned out so different and so beautiful. But as soon as I saw the photo mat I knew what I had to do. It had to have rolled paper roses in the shape of a heart in it.

First thing I did was cut out some flourishes using the Cricut and placed them in 2 corners of the mat. I than painted white over the top of them. When the paint dried I distressed the frame and used a little "Timmy Holtz" distress ink (antique linen). I was already in love...love love love! Then came the long process of cutting out the roses and rolling them. (I used the beautiful Imaginisce Garden Party Collection) That was nothing compared to forming the heart though. I moved flowers from here to there and there and back again. It took me way to long to get my flowers to even form a heart shape. To tell the truth I almost gave up and tears were very close from flowing from my eyes. You know that feeling when you have the most amazing idea in your head and you just can't figure out how to make it work. Yup that is where I was at. But just as I was about to give up...it worked. It worked and it looked amazing.

 I added some pearls randomly inside the heart filling in any blank spaces. I still felt like it was missing something so I punched out some butterfly's using my Martha Stewart butterfly bunches and placed them on the heart and along the outside of my layout. I then went to add white lines along the outside of the layout and messed up..my pen slipped off the ruler and I totally messed up. So what do you do but make random lines all over to make it look like it was done on purpose. I hated the way it looked so then I decided to journal on the white lines and wow...it looked perfect!

 I added a favorite photo of my son and I a few years ago at a family photo shoot with a little ribbon and the page it complete. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the way it turned out. I'm pretty sure that this will go on my wall above my scrapbooking desk.

So the almost tears and tiny little tantrum was all worth it in the end. The page turned out beautiful and will be one I will remember for a long time. Not so sure how I feel about making another heart out of rolled paper roses any time soon to put in a frame for my wall though!

Leah

Oh my Goodness..

Oh my goodness where has the time gone. It has been forever since I posted anything on here and I actually have a lot to share. It seems that all of my posts start like this :( One of these days I'm going to figure this whole blog thing out and post regularly, one of these days!

OK well in February a bunch of girlfriends and I went away for the weekend to a scrapbooking retreat to "A Time to Create" in Chippewa Falls, WI.  What a wonderful weekend we had. We left Friday morning and the sun was shinning and it was a beautiful spring like day. We drove to Eau Claire, WI and had lunch and stopped at "Picture This" scrapbooking store. It was my first time there and wow did I have a wonderful time. I'm pretty sure that I could have spent hours there thus being why I was the last one to check out. They were above and beyond helpful. I bought some awesome new flower dies for my cuttlebug (which they gave me demos on) and they also gave me a quick little lesson on copic markers. Everyone was so friendly, kind, and helpful. Can't wait to go back soon. I will post about my new flowers in another post. They need a post all to themselves they are so amazing. Swoon!

Well anyways this was my first weekend away and it was so much fun. I can't wait to do it again ladies. I brought way to much stuff and didn't get half as much done as everyone else. But I did leave with finished projects and we had some super fun challenges. It was a great time. Well except for the drive home. The drive there was sunny, warm and spring like. The drive home was a full on blizzard. It was horrible. If I wasn't so scared for our lives I'm sure I would have taken a picture out the window so I could show you what we could see while driving, nothing. It was white white and white and you didn't see the car in front of you until you were right up on it. The windshield wipers kept freezing and we would hang out the window and try to snap them to get them working again so we could attempt to see a little better. It was horrible but all in all it was an amazing weekend with amazing friends!

Well I'm going to share one of my layouts I did. I lifted this page from kellicrowe "juggle" from twopeaseinabucket. Loved her layout and her great circles.

Here is my layout. I loved the way it turned out. The picture is a favorite of mine of my kiddos riding a trike at my parents house. I was scared to death at first when I saw them rolling down the gravel driveway like this but quickly got over it and ran in the house to get my camera. They are so sweet and the loves of my life. This will be a picture I cherish forever.

 Here is a close up picture of the circles. I cut out 2 circles and sewed them down the middle and then folded up the top circle to give it some dimension. I love, love, love them. I think i might try to put some foam adhesive under the top circle to keep this look, hopefully it works because when it goes in and album it is just going to flatten the circles.

Here is just a close up of the journalling and the title. I love the way the layout turned out. Hope you enjoy.

I can't wait to come back and show you some other layouts and cards I have been creating lately. I have actually been fairly busy creating but haven't shared in so long. Thanks again for stopping by.

Leah

My Advent Calendar

Okay so I had seen a similar project somewhere, twopeas I believe, and just had to have a take at it. I created an advent calendar out of little envelopes, mini clothes pins, Teresa Collins Noel collection (Love this collection I have created so much with it), some stickles, some dollar store snowflake ornaments, some jillibean soup twine, and a thrift store picture frame. I'm not going to lie...I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the way it turned out. I struggled a little with creating something different on each of the 25 envelopes and yes I love some more then others but over all I think it is beautiful and I'm sure that it will be around for years to come. I didn't have it completed until after the 1st of Dec, it was the 5th to be exact when I finished it :(, so I didn't put treats in the envelopes for my kiddos like I had originally planned but I will for sure be adding treats to each day next year. I hope all of you are enjoying the holiday season!

Leah

Boo Halloween Card

Here is my latest creation. I made this adorable little Boo Halloween card for the Finally Friday Challenge over at TwoPeasInABucket. I am also going to use this card along with the 11 others that I'm in the process of making for my card club swap for this month at my local scrapbook store. I think he turned out super cute! Lots of time though yikes! Not exactly what I had in mind when I started I just kept adding more and more and more. But I love him so I guess that makes it all worth it. Here is a couple close up shots of the little banner that I made and the glitter on the BOO. I think it added just enough to make it pop!

Here is the side view. It has a lot of dimension as I layered the little ghost (which I cut from my paper doll cricut cartridge) on top of a paper accordian flower. The little banner is pop dotted up from the ghost. So probably not anything that I'm going to send in the mail but he is sure cute!

Hope you enjoyed my creation today. We are getting ready for what we hope to be a wonderful weekend. We have my nieces birthday party tomorrow and I'm sure we will find a few other things to busy up our weekend. Have a great weekend!

Just a Card I Lifted!

Okay so I totally lifted this from "olleharr" at scrapbook.com http://www.scrapbook.com/myplace/index.php?mod=galleries&u=319957&m=view&id=2582107&type=-1&page=1&f=1 She has some amazing projects if you have time to check out her gallery. Lots of inspiration there!

I just loved her design when I saw it and knew I had to lift it. I liked the way it turned out and thought that I should share as I haven't posted on here in well, lets see, forever. Just wanted to drop in and say hello! Thanks for looking!

Bo Bunny Peacock Lane layout

Hey everyone thanks for stopping by today. I hope everyone is have a great day. Just got home from work a little while ago and jumped onto blog land to see what I missed those couple of hours while I was away!!! I missed a lot...who is loving this CHA stuff?Just found out about the new cricut imagine today...wow...it is sure impressive. Not sure how I'm going to convince my husband that I really do need one....but I'm sure going to try! If you haven't seen it yet check it out here....http://everythingcricut.blogspot.com/2010/07/latest-from-provo-craftthe-cricut.html . AWESOME!!! Okay onto my layout!

Again I need some help with taking pictures of these. This is another layout that I did for my local scrapbook store dt using the bo bunny peacock lane. I'm not going to lie and tell you I love everything about this line...well because I don't. I love love love the colors though. Greens, purples and teals. Love it! Not a huge fan of the peacock though? I don't know why but the little bird does nothing for me. Oh well I still will enjoy all the wonderful colors in this line. So fun.

These are pictures of my daughter and some day hubby, i mean next door neighbor Riley, on their first day of summer school. It was also their first time riding on a bus. It was kind of an emotional day for me. I was super nervous about letting her ride the bus and on the way down to the bus stop Riley's Grandma, Nana Judi, found a 4 leaf clover. Seriously I have spent hours upon hours if not days of my life looking for 4 leaf clovers and she spots one while we are walking and just picks it. It was pretty cool and I knew that it was our lucky day! It was kind of fun for all of us.

These flowers were made from the noteworthy tags. I just folded and shaped them into flowers. i thought they turned out pretty cute and just added some punches and some other flowers and buttons.

Well thanks for stopping by today. Hope you enjoy the layout! Have a great Friday everyone!