Author: cristina

Foxy Fix Coconut (July Special)

| cristina

Hello! I just received some very happy mail today so I thought I’d share some pictures of my latest purchase with you. For the past couple months, Foxy Fix has offered a couple of monthly special items: single notebook covers, of a couple of different leather types, and available in 2-3 sizes (out of the 9 they offer) at a deep discount. Also, these items ship in only 3-5 business days  (vs 20-30 for their couture items).

If you’d like to get 10% off your first order above $50, use my referral code to sign up for an account (at no additional cost to you).

The July specials are Sugar Coconut and Boss Babe Cambridge leathers, in sizes #2, #3, and #5. The specials this month are stitched and have a pen loop; they also come with secretarial adhesive pockets, a jump band (to fit two additional notebook inserts in the cover), and  a dot-grid notebook insert.

The prices are $30 for the #2 (normally $43 with pen loop and dot-grid insert; stitching is $5 additional), $33 for the #3 (normally $46 with pen loop and dot-grid insert; stitching is $5 additional), and $40 for the #5 (normally $54 with pen loop and dot-grid insert; stitching is $5 additional) – so it’s really a nice deal. As such, they have been very popular so they are currently out of stock, but they said they would restock them once more before July is over (likely this week). And then there will be new leathers and sizes for next month’s special!

I chose a #3 (A6 size) Sugar Coconut. You could add personalization to the front cover, so I chose a gold foiled embossed tree (for $6 additional), since I am currently planning to use this notebook for Christmas. 😉

This notebook came with pink elastics, but I’m planning on changing mine to red if I end up sticking to my Christmas theme. 🙂

Like most orders, they also sent me a free leather sample – I got the Moccasin Sandstone, which is in fact my very favorite leather! You can see all my previous Foxy Fix purchases (including the Moccasin Sandstone) here.

If you’d like to get 10% off your first order above $50, use my referral code to sign up for an account (at no additional cost to you).

July Mixed Media Monthly at The Lilypad

| cristina

Hello and happy (almost) Friday! Today is release day for the newest M3 (Mixed Media Monthly) collection at The Lilypad, and I loved using it to scrap some of the photos of recent trip I made with my parents! New releases are 20% off through the weekend!

Credits:
Firm Foundations #7 *M3, Artsy Bits 12 *M3 and Just My Type #2 *M3 by Lynne-Marie
Some embellishments from Media Monthly July ’17 from The Lilypad

I love how easy it is to build a page using these gorgeous backgrounds!

Credits:
A Slice of Summer Bundle {M3 July 17} by Dawn Inskip
Alpha from Mixed Media Monthly July ’17 from The Lilypad

I had fun on this page combining brushes to build my background.

This next page doesn’t use the M3, but uses another new kit released today:

 

Credits:
Press Plate No. 42 by Paislee Press for the July ’17 Template Challenge
Seaworthy Kit by Just Jaimee

I also used the M3 for my monthly recap 2-page spread for July:

Credits:
July Month in Review ’17 Template by Scrapping with Liz
Mixed Media Monthly July ’17 from The Lilypad

I am obsessed with that pretty red/pink/green floral paper! So gorgeous!

Hello!

| cristina

After the death of my previous blog (http://cristinascrap.blogspot.com) when all my hosted images went POOF, I decided to start my own website. I brainstormed a few possible names, and then settled on this one: Paint It Bright. Because I love bright colors – in the clothes I wear  and in the projects I create – and I think having a positive attitude makes things better. Welcome, and please be patient as I work on retrieving the content from my previous blog and setting up this new space.

Traveler’s Notebook 2017 – Week 24

| cristina
Here’s a look at how I put together a weekly spread in my traveler’s notebook. First, I pick some washi tape from my ever growing collection (this one is by Aimez le Style), and select ink colors that match it (I used Distress Oxide inks for this spread). Then I stamp the dates and the week number, like I did here using the 365: Old English alphabet set.
Next, I select some stamps from the HST – My Motivation and HST – Summer Home sets to decorate my spread.

Finally, I stamp more images from all the Sakuralala stamp sets (365, Hello Small Things, and Years) that coordinate with what happened that week, and write the journaling.

I love this form of documentation, and I love that I can start with a blank canvas each week!

Motivational Card

| cristina

The Hello Small Things – My Motivation stamp from Sakuralala is so versatile and inspiring! I had fun making this card. I chose three of the circular images and stamped them with matching colors of Distress Oxide ink on white cardstock.

Then I used a 1″ circle punch to cut them out.

I paired the images with three strips of patterned paper, and used a kraft cardstock as my card base. I adhered the stamped images with foam dots to make them pop.

A quick and easy card, done!

Traveler’s Notebook Title Page

| cristina

I am using the blank weekly memo traveler’s notebook for my daily documentation this year, and since each booklet holds 28 weeks, it was time for me to set up a new notebook. I decided to make a stamped title for both booklets, with the year (2017) and the months contained in each notebook (Jan-July, July-Dec.).
The Hello Small Things – Typeset stamp was perfect for this! The typewriter stamp added an interesting image to the page, and the typewriter alpha stamps fit perfectly in the bookplate at the front of the notebooks. I used Distress Oxide inks for the stamping.

I shot a video with the stamping – you can see how handy the cube acrylic block by Sakuralala is for stamping alphabets, and how I saved some time by stamping in both notebooks at once:

And now I am ready to fill in my notebook with the rest of the year!

Happy Fourth

| cristina

Happy Independence Day to all my friends in the US! I celebrated doing some stamping in my traveler’s notebook. 🙂

I had so much fun with the new 365: U.S.A. stamp by igloo*dining*! First I stamped the map of the USA, then I laid out all the landmarks around it, and stamped the line to connect the landmark icons to their locations.
 
Finally, I stamped the landmarks all around the USA map. I chose colors inspired by the US flag. This turned out to be the best way to decorate the week of Independence Day (July 4th)!
 
After this stamping was done, I started decorating my spread as I normally do, using other stamps from the 365 collections: and 365: HIKARI and 365: Trip Guru.

All the stamp was done using  Distress Oxide inks. So fun!! 🙂

Kill My Studio Calico Kit: June 2016- Film Club

| cristina

Hello and welcome back for another month of Kill My Studio Calico Kit! This is the 14th installment of this series, and in total I have made a whopping (151) layouts. Yay me!

Kill my Studio Calico kit is a monthly series I started on my blog to hold myself accountable and use up my kits. You can subscribe to the Studio Calico Scrapbook kit here.

This month I’m using the Studio Calico scrapbook main kit for June 2016, Scout ($34.99 – but I got it when it went for sale for $10).

Notes: I really, really love the kit this month! I loved every single embellishment and found them easy to use,  I also loved the papers, especially the back sides not shown in this photo, except for a couple that were a bit too busy and harder to use. The stamp is great, I love the transparent pieces, chipboard stars, and the gold script words. I loved the specialty paper with the gold foiled constellations! Since I bought the kit on sale it didn’t include the large alpha, but I am never a fan of those.

Status: killed!
I made 11 layouts (6 12″x12″, 5 8.5″x11″), for a total of $10, or $0.91/page. I supplemented the kit with some items from my stash (stamps, ink sprays, and the odd embellishment). Here’s a roundup of all the pages I made:

And here is what I have left:

Leftovers: I have some scraps of paper left, some alpha stickers and chipboard stars, and washi tape. Pretty much killed!

And here is what I made with the kit.

I made a process video for this page, and you can see it here.

I had so much fun making the background for this page! I recently bought ten colors of the Dylusions ink sprays by Ranger, and they are awesome! They blend incredibly well when you add a bit of water, and I love the vivid colors! So as soon as I got them, I made this background to try them out.

I love how this page turned out – I made it to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.  I used ten puffy stars, one for each year of marriage, and a bunch of other stars for the years we have ahead. I backed the wood veneer star embellishment with card stock that I misted pink, so it stands out more.

I used the cooler tones of the pretty watercolored labels to add some interest to this page from our trip to Hawaii. I miss this place!! I also added some stamping but it’s hard to see that in the photo.

I love how the specialty paper pops against the kraft background! And yay me for using up some of those pink alpha stickers I’d bought in a sale and never used! 🙂

I had some more fun with the Dylusions ink sprays by Ranger. Also, I used Distress Oxide ink for stamping on the wood veneer and I love how well it worked – no feathering!

Here I added some tags I die cut from leftovers of the previous page – mopping up the excess Dylusions ink sprays by Ranger. And also some embossing on the background.

More leftovers of Dylusions ink sprays by Ranger – I LOVE how this page turned out!

Bunnies are pretty much my favorite thing ever. 🙂 I’m so happy this cutie is hanging out in our backyard this year! I was out of “n”s so I turned two “u”s upside down instead for the title.

This was my favorite paper in the kit and I really wanted to hoard it, but I ended up using it on this page and I’m so glad I did because I love it! And I did some more stamping on wood using  Distress Oxide ink.

On the other hand, this was my least favorite page of the kit, so I’m very proud of myself for using some of it! I cut it into strips and I like the look.

And that’s it! Another kit killed! Thanks for stopping by, and do leave me a comment if you like this series!

You can subscribe to the Studio Calico Scrapbook kit here.

The Struggle Is Real

| cristina

Hello and happy almost Friday! The new Mixed Media Monthly collection is in the store at The Lilypad, and it inspired me to tell a story about my health struggles I don’t normally document in my scrapbook pages – that’s one of the reasons I LOVE the Mixed Media Monthly products. But the main reason is that the products are absolutely gorgeous… check out that painted background!

Credits:

Mixed Media Monthly – June ’17 from The Lilypad

Have a great rest of the week!