Wedding Inspiration with Practical Scrappers

Today is the first official day of summer and the perfect time to talk about weddings. There is nothing better than a summer wedding. David and I were married twenty summers ago so a summer wedding always captures my heart. This year was a big one and though the celebration was a little stifled since I was recovering from surgery, the looking back and sharing with each other and the boys the different memories from that long ago event was an extremely special time. I had the boys dig out our old pictures intending to make a mini for my husband that chronicled the twenty years of our marriage, but the pain killers must have been clouding my head because I quickly realized that being up and trying to create a full album in one afternoon with my head reeling and my body hurting was not an option. I did manage to make a 12x12 layout that expressed to him what my feelings were and presented it to him on our anniversary. We plan to frame it and hang it as a sign of our commitment to each other. I thought with the theme over at Practical Scrappers today (which I will share that project later in the post) I would share with you what I made.

I wanted to make this a perfect mix of both masculine and feminine. I don't get to use pink very often so I knew I had to sneak a little in there without making it too girly since I was making it for David.

Here is a close up showing the little bit of misting I did on the background as well as the Thickers that I altered with ink in order to make them fit the layout. I love the canvas texture of them. The Artisan hearts by Pink Paislee were the perfect simple embellishments to finish off the layout.

While we are busy celebrating twenty years, my niece Ashleigh and her husband Lee are celebrating their first year together. I was really excited when they asked me to help them with several of their wedding decorations. She also asked me to make a guest book for her guests to sign. They had just had some fabulous engagement photos taken and I wanted to make sure to use them in some way in the book. Their theme was Rustic Romantic and their colors teal and purple so I set off to figure out the best way to incorporate these into her guestbook. Below are the photos of the entire guest book. On each double page layout I featured one of their photos on one side and a pocket page on the other that held some journaling pages which were easily removed and laid on the guest table for guests to leave a note for the couple.  The Simple Stories Documented collection was absolutely perfect for this project and I finished off with Bazzill cardstock and various flowers and embellishments from Prima and Maya Road as well as ribbon I had in my stash.

I also made a few signs and banners for them. Here are a couple of pictures. Unfortunately we were so crazy setting up and getting everything ready I got sidetracked and forgot to take pictures of the rest! :)

Thanks for hanging in on a long post! There are a lot more wedding related projects on the Practical Scrappers blog today. Head over there and take a look and be inspired.

Hoping you have a fabulous weekend.
Lisa

Washi Fun

Washi...love or hate? Take on the trend or let it fly right by you? I have to admit that when washi first came out I didn't really jump right in, but after getting my first roll from a friend and trying it out I have to admit it's become a bit of an addiction. I love how easy it is to use and the numerous possibilities that it brings to my scrapping. This week we shared different ideas for using washi over on the Practical Scrappers blog. Although I would say that the majority of my washi use has been for layouts, I decided to take a different route for this challenge and create some coasters for my scrap room. I had some left over tiles from a different project easily picked up at your local home improvement store so I decided to put them to use and create something happy just for me.

I love how super easy they were to make. I just started layering different pieces of tape across the tiles. I finished them off with a layer of modge podge on top to seal the tape and keep the ends from pulling up. This also creates a good water barrier for spills or when your cup sweats and leaves that ring of moisture. Notice those happy colors too?? Yes, in  a houseful of boys I don't often get to have girly, happy things around so I made sure to go with the bright colors and fun flowery pattern.

Come check out the other ideas from the other creative gals. You won't be sorry. It may just inspire you to break out the washi yourself.

Lisa

I'm Back... Time to Catch Up

Woohoo, I'm back! I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted. I've had good reason, kinda. Since I've been gone I have had the surgery to implant my spinal cord stimulator. It has been an up and down and bouncy ride. I woke up from surgery with no movement whatsoever in my left leg and had a very scary two days worrying that I wasn't going to be able to walk. Long story short, they were preparing to go back into surgery to remove the implant and take pressure off the nerves when we decided to turn the stimulator on to see if it even worked. As they did I started to get some movement. It took several days and help with a walker (never thought I'd be using a walker this young!) to get my leg strength back but it's all good now. Still very restricted in movement and activity but feeling less pain each day and getting more antsy to get active. Still not sure how this will all work in the end. I do feel some relief from the pain when I can get the stimulation to my feet but that in itself is a process as the swelling goes down and the scarring starts and the leads move around. Hopefully we will get a good program going soon and get some real data to go by. Anyway, there's the update for those that wanted it. For those who didn't, it's too late to tell you to skip ahead... lol.

Today I am catching up on some posts that have gone live on the S.W.A.T blog and Practical Scrappers since I've been gone. I hate that I missed the live dates (so sorry team!) but don't want you to miss out on the going ons of both fabulous blogs.

First up is the second drill on the S.W.A.T. blog for the month of June. It's all about summertime, the time to kick back, play in the sun, eat some ice cream and make memories. The challenge is to show us your summertime.  I decided to create a two page layout showcasing a summer night spent making smores at our Aunt Shelly and Uncle Mike's house. Obviously these are many summers ago... I am working through old photos quickly. I used the Hey Boy line from Basic Grey that I found at JoAnne's. Love it! Fabulous colors and patterns. The embellishments are super fun too.

Love how it turned out and I was able to get 9 pictures on it. 9 without making it look too crowded!

Next up is a two page layout featured on the Practical Scrappers way, way back on June 5th. I wish I had been organized enough to get my posts done before surgery but hey, here it is late and all.

This layout was part of the graduation album I made for my niece. My son was able to go to a Bronco game on one of our trips back to Denver with his cousins and uncle. Anyone who knows my son knows he is a Bronco fan all the way! It was an incredible day and he got to watch a favorite of his, Tim Tebow while he was a Bronco. (By the way, this family still loves Tim, Bronco or not!) I didn't have much orange or blue around so I actually used all scraps from my scrap drawer and made it work.

There you have it. Head over to both blogs and see what else you've missed. There are so many posts with fabulous inspiration. Don't forget that there is still time to participate in both drills for June at S.W.A.T. with a chance to win some super prizes. Also, check out the basic training for June, try your hand at stitching and have a chance to be the featured designer for July. Oh, and most exciting, check out the design team announcement at Practical Scrappers and cheer with me as I get the chance to stick around for the next term. I will be changing teams from Ten Things to the On Trend team and will be stretching myself to dive into some of the newest trends hitting our scrapping world.

Thanks for sticking with me on this long post. I'll be checking in tomorrow with a super fun washi tape project...hmmm...

Lisa

Super Proud of This Kid

I missed it! I had a Ten Things up on Tuesday and I totally spaced it out. I think that this surgery is getting to me as I try to plan and organize. We also have my nephews graduation this weekend and I have been busy getting some things ready for his party. Can't believe that kid is already graduating. I can remember him as this tiny toddler running down the hall to my classroom when I first started teaching. He was the cutest thing. Still cute today!

Congrats to you, JBird! You are an amazing young man and I am excited to see where you go from here. We love you tons!

Now for my layout from Tuesday that I forgot. Our ten things was for titles. I chose to follow the curve and use different fonts and types of letters. Mixing it up is a fun way to go with a title and definitely creates some visual interest.  Head over to Practical Scrappers and check out what some others did with their titles. There is no reason or excuse to be boring again :) 

Have a fabulous Memorial Day weekend.
Lisa

Sketch Time at S.W.A.T.

I am definitely missing in action lately! I have been so busy with end of the school year stuff, getting ready for my surgery next week and attending to all the other details that life keeps throwing our way. This weekend has been all about getting it done! I made my list yesterday and just started methodically going through each one and marking it off. I love the feeling of checking something off, the problem is I don't see the list getting any more manageable yet. Today I am hoping to get my plants and start working on my garden.

Yesterday was another drill day for S.W.A.T. This time it was a sketch challenge using a sketch created by design team member Becci.

I worked with some older photos of my boys on their first day of school in 2004...yes I am that far behind sometimes! Aren't they sweet?? Where did those cute boys go anyway? Just kidding. They are still adorable, just in a teen age, stinky boy way. :) While I didn't follow the sketch in the exact way, I took the basic elements of the sketch and tried to make it work with what I had. I still feel like the bottom right side is missing something but I am going to let it sit and grow on me or wait until I come up with that perfect idea. 

Head over to the blog and join us by linking up your take on the sketch. There is a fabulous prize pack filled with papers and embellishments you will love.

Thanks for checking in. And Heidi, if you will contact me with your shipping info I will send out the prize that you won all the way back on NSD!

Lisa

Ten Things Tuesday- Fabric

Hey everyone. We are just back from a long weekend in Nebraska and today has been a catch up day. And maybe a little bit of a pouting day as I miss my super friends already. We had the best weekend catching up and hanging out with everyone.
Today is a Ten Things Tuesday over on the  Practical Scrappers blog. Our challenge was to use fabric on our project. Fabric is something I don't use a lot of. I am most definitely not a sewer. I was kicked off my mother's sewing machine during our junior high Home Ec class and never tried again. Never! It was bad. Luckily there is no sewing involved in today's project but there is fabric and I found that it is really fun to play with.

You can see that I used this pretty brown and blue patterned fabric as the background for my card. I frayed the edges a bit to give it a fun look. Then I took a large gluber and a long strip of blue fabric and ruffled it around the edge of the gluber. I topped that with the orange fabric circle and then punched  a scallop out of some scrap paper. Finally I topped it with a button made with my Epiphany Crafts button punch. I like how it turned out. The colors are fun with that little pop of orange.

Take a look at the rest of the ideas the team has for fabric on your layouts and cards. And don't forget to scroll up to my last post for the giveaway. I had some posting problems and couldn't get them fixed from out of town so I am going to leave it open for the rest of this week. I will pick a winner this weekend.

Lisa

Celebrate NSD and a giveaway!

Happy National Scrapbooking Day! I know it's a day to celebrate all things scrapbook and get your crafty skills going, but that is not in the plans for me today. Not to worry though, I do get to see my best scrappy friend and spend the day with her which makes it the best kind of day. After moving away 11 months ago we are heading back for the weekend so David can participate in the marathon taking place this weekend. It will be a weekend of catching up, laughing and I'm sure tears on the back end.

Today is also the first Saturday challenge at S.W.A.T. This challenge is a fun challenge because we are playing Tic Tac Toe! All you have to do is connect 3 of the squares vertically, horizontally, or diagonally making sure you follow the directions in each block, add it to your layout, and link it up on the S.W.A.T. blog to win an awesome prize.

I chose to combine the three squares along the bottom. I actually used more than three manufacturers as there is a little bit of American Crafts Amy Tan line, October Afternoon, Basic Grey Chipboard Alphas, Studio Calico tiny Alphas and Jillibean Soup. I used my ink to splatter dots around the page randomly. The chipboard was the alphabet letters and numbers.

Super fun and super easy. It's a great challenge to use up your supplies too. Try digging into yours and play along. Also hop over to the blog to check out the other designers layouts and the great prize.     It is well worth playing for.

Now for the fun giveaway. I have been sorting through and cleaning out my scrap room and I have piles of stuff, good stuff, great stuff... but too much stuff :) I have put together a little surprise goodie box to send to one of my readers who is looking for a little happy mail to brighten their day. All you have to do is make sure you are a follower of my blog and answer this question. What are you doing today? If you are crafting, what are you making? I will pick a winner next week and post it on my blog so be sure to check back.

Have a super day!

Lisa