Summer’s End

| cristina

It feels like summer is almost over… but I’m doing my best to squeeze as much out of it as I can! The designers at The Lilypad are on fire with some awesome new releases, so even though I was traveling most of the week I managed to squeeze in a few pages before I left.

 

 

Supplies:
Off The Grid: Bundle by Rachel Jefferies

I cannot take any credit for it, since it’s my husband who waters it, but our little garden is giving us lots of satisfaction this year!

Supplies:
Off The Grid: Bundle by Rachel Jefferies

Squash blossoms are the best!

Supplies:
Project Mouse (Wilderness): Papers, Project Mouse (Wilderness): Elements, Project Mouse (Wilderness): Journal Cards and Project Mouse (Wilderness): Word Art by Sahlin Studio and Britt-ish Designs

Supplies:
August 2018 Layout Templates, Blue Skies Papers and Blue Skies Elements by Sahin Designs

All these products are 20% off through the weekend. Have a great (almost) weekend!

August BYOC and New Designers at The Lilypad!

| cristina

Hello and happy (gulp!) August! Summer is just flying by, but the good news is that as of this week we have a new patio!! 😀 So we’ll be definitely enjoying the last few weeks of summer. 🙂

Today I have a few pages to share that I made with the August BYOC collection from The Lilypad – and there are some fabulous new designers joining the store! I made a project using products from each of them.

Supplies:
Inked: Layered Template 01, Newsworthy: Mixed Media Collages, Pearfect: Mixed Media Artistry, Pearfect: Pocket Art by Rachel Jefferies

First up, Rachel Jefferies – she used to design under the name Captivated Visions. Her style is quite different now, and I couldn’t love it more!!

Supplies:
Valencia paper pack and Valencia element pack by Lynn Grieveson
let’s go badges, let’s go art doodles by Emily Merritt
Farm Fresh Alpha by Pink Reptile Designs
Good Times word art by Lynne-Marie

Next up, I used some designs by Emily Merritt on this page. She was an old-time designer at the pad that retired a few years ago – I missed her and I’m thrilled that she is back!

Supplies:
Mermaid Dreams Papers, Mermaid Dreams Elements and Mermaid Dreams Pocket Cards by Sahin Designs
Stars from Valencia element pack by Lynn Grieveson

Finally, a new to me designer: Sahin Designs.

These are just 3 of the new designers, but more will be announced soon!! I can’t wait! 🙂

2018 weekly traveler’s notebook

| cristina

Since we are well past the halfway point of the year, I thought I’d do a quick recap of how I am doing my weekly documentation this year. This year, I am using a Hobonichi weeks notebook. The format is slightly smaller than the Midori notebook I was using last year (see below), but I got used to this format in no time at all.

I am using Hobonichi Irma weeks cover -it is pricey but I fell head over heels for it! (Pen is the fountain pen Pilot Metropolitan)

 

I am using the Red weeks notebook.

Here’s the very beginning of my notebook, and you can also see the size difference compared to the Midori weekly memo I used last year.

First week:

And this is what the notebook looked like at the midpoint of the year:

I don’t use watercolors because I can’t stand the warping on the Tomoe River paper, but this paper is so thin it warps anyway. It bothers me a bit, but I can live with it. I also journal daily in my Hobonichi cousin, which has the same kind of paper.

And here’s a look at a few random weeks.

Week 4 (pencil pouch from Foxy Fix – here’s a referral link for 10% off your first order):

Week 12:

Week 16:

Week 18:

Week 22:

Week 27:

As you can tell from this random sampling of my weekly spreads, the constant elements I use week after week are washi tape and stamps. More often than not I don’t add any photos.

I love, love, love documenting in this format! What about you? Are you a TN fan? Do you do some sort of daily/weekly documentation? Let me know in the comments!

Cardmaking Saturday

| cristina

Today I was in the mood for cardmaking, and ended up making five cards. It was fun!

I needed to mail a card to a friend, so I made two of the same design:

I had fun using distress inks to watercolor my stamp images and add some splatters (OK – a lot of splatters! :)).

And then I made a few cards for Pinkfresh Studio’s July challenge (rainbow).

Pinkkfresh Studio is definitely one of my favorite companies, and their stamps are fabulous! I’m excited about their latest releases too. For these cards I used the Playful Animal Friends 1 and 2 sets, which are designed by Lizzy Mackay – one of my very favorite designers!

This is a super clean and simple card. I used Distress Oxide inks, which I used on the next card too.

And finally, in this last card I used Dylusions ink sprays by Ranger for the background. I love those sprays – they blend magically!

I also added Nuvo drops to add a bit of sparkle.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great weekend!

Feed Your Craft

| cristina

Hello! I have some fabulous news to share: I am a special guest for the Feed Your Craft Creative Team this month, and got to play with the July kit designed by In a Creative Bubble: Soak Up the Fun! I had a blast using the kit, which works great for traveler’s notebooks, scrapbooking, card making and Project Life.

I made an unboxing video for the kit. In addition to the physical products shown, you also get a digital version of the stamp set, and some printables (which I used in my projects below).

For my first project, I had fun with the 4″x6″ stamp (stamps always my favorite thing!).

I also used one of the journaling cards and added stamping to that. here’s a closer look:

For my second project, I also used some of the digital printables (the tag and the labels):

I added some stamping on the printables.

For my third project, I used another journaling card along with more stamping.

This stamp set is perfect for summer, but several of the stamps are great year-round. Here’s a closer look:

I was loving the stamp set so much, that I made a card to feature it.

I colored in the images with Copic markers. So fun!

 

Feed Your Craft Sneak Peeks

| cristina

Finally I can spill the beans… this month, I’m a guest Creative Team member for Feed Your Craft! Here are a couple of sneak peeks of the projects I made using the July kit:

 

The kit will be available for purchase on the 15th, and I’ll be sharing my projects then too, so hang tight!

July BYOC at The Lilypad

| cristina

I was out of town for the first half of the week, and after coming home last night, I went a tad crazy using the newest BYOC collection from The Lilypad. I had so much fun with it, and ended up making 7 layouts in one sitting! Here they are.

Supplies:
Wine not? (papers) by Little Butterfly Wings
Textual Layered Transfers 4 by Lynn Grieveson Designs
Resplendent Map Graffiti by Tangie Baxter

It was too hot to go watch fireworks on the 4th of July, but at least we had our outfits right. 🙂

Supplies:
Time Out Papers and Time Out Brushes by Li Li Wee
Expressions No. 3 by Rebecca McMeen
Black paper from Wine not? (papers) by Little Butterfly Wings

Last week I took part in a work event that I’d been working like crazy for for the past 6 months. It didn’t go as expected… but I’m trying to focus on the good things. One of them, was my outfit + makeup.

Supplies:
Sweet Solstice by Rebecca McMeen
Resplendent Map Graffiti by Tangie Baxter

I snapped this photo from the back seat of an Uber car, and I love this shot of the blurry taxi with the Empire State Building in the back. 100% New York City.

Supplies:
Sweet Solstice by Rebecca McMeen

I love every single thing Rebecca McMeen designs. I mean, look at these sketches and florals! I just had to add a couple to dress up this page, and it looks like something out of a magazine!

Supplies:
Wine not? (papers), Wine not? (word art) by Little Butterfly Wings
Sweet Solstice and Expressions No. 3 by Rebecca McMeen

It’s been a stressful time at work, but I’m so glad to have this guy by my side through it all.

Supplies:
Sculpted Circle Templates by Scrapping with Liz
Resplendent Floral Collages by Tangie Baxter
Wine not? (papers) by Little Butterfly Wings

It’s been so hot, that plunging in the pool was the only thing we could do. It was amazing!

Supplies:
Sweet Solstice, Summer Solstice Stickers by Rebecca McMeen
Resplendent Floral Collages by Tangie Baxter

And that is my 7th page. Such a great collection this month!

 

Unfortunately tonight I learned some incredibly sad news about one of my favorite designers at The Lilypad: Dawn Inskip. She will be so missed in our scrapbooking community! Such a gentle and creative soul.

Today You Can Be Whatever You Want

| cristina

Today and tomorrow are big days for me at work – been getting ready for them for the past 6 months! So please cross your fingers for me!

In the meantime, I leave you with a page I put together using a few of the products that are on sale for 50% off today at The Lilypad:

50% off on June 27!
Supplies:
Papers – add on – M3 June 2017, Masks {add on} M3 June 2017 and Extras {add on} M3 June 2017 by Little Butterfly Wings
Wood Icons – Storyteller June 2018 Add-on by Just Jaimee
Ink Pad Alpha by Pink Reptile Designs

Yes – I got a make up lesson! (all for the event this week too) I enjoyed it a lot, and while I won’t be using make up every day, I certainly will for the special occasions.

Summer TN

| cristina

Hello! I have been buried in work lately with no creative time. Send help!!

In the past month I have started a spring/summer traveler’s notebook, and here are the spreads I have made so far (you can see the first one I made here). I’m loving this format!

We planted a garden in our backyard. Things are just about starting to grow now, let’s see if we can gather before the wildlife raids it! 🙂

On this spread I used distress paint on the background, and added some stamping. Quick and easy and colorful!

 

I adhered a couple of pieces of patterned paper from the Confidant scrapbook kit. Then I added stamping, washi tape, and die cuts.

I am also taking the Summer of Sketches class at Studio Calico and these next couple of spreads in my TN were inspired by two sketches from the class.

Getting back on track with healthy eating is my summer project. So far – one week in – it’s going well! This first spread was a motivational one that I made right before starting. And this next spread is about the first day.

The paper is from the Confidant scrapbook kit, and I added some stamping and some embellishments from the defunct Gossamer Blue kits.

Another paper from the Confidant scrapbook kit, and I embellished with stamped images that were fussy cut. I love how this spread turned out!

 

I love scrapbooking in this format because it’s really quick and easy. Have you been jumping on the TN (traveler’s notebook) bandwagon? I can’t wait to continue filling this notebook up, and then moving on to another.