Grandma Mayme @ ninety-two

My husband and I drove home this afternoon after spending a weekend in Sturbridge, MA for Craig's cousin's wedding.  We were lucky that it was only an hour drive for us.  The rest of the family flew in from all over - California,  Texas, New Hampshire, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, New Jersey, and Switzerland.  We had a great time relaxing and spending time with our family.  

At the heart of the Ledvina family is Mayme - Craig's grandma.  She turned ninety-two this August and is looking as good as ever.  We are so lucky that she is able to fly across the country and attend special events with her family still.

Here is a photo of my husband, Mayme and I from the reception this weekend.

She's the shortest thing ever - so cute!

We were able to be with her on her 92nd birthday this August.  We had a cookout at Craig's parents cottage in Wisconsin.  I created this layout of a picture that I took of her that day.

The layout was created with the October 2012 Studio Calico kit, Roller Rink.  The kit included gold washi, which I didn't initially think I would use.  On this layout, I ended up using it as a border for the photo, the border for the layout, and then I punched flowers out of it and surrounded the photo with them.  I love when I end up using something I normally wouldn't because it came with a Studio Calico kit.

Stay safe for those of you that are in Hurricane Sandy's path!

October Crate Color Challenge

I've been playing along with the monthly Crate Color Challenges from the Crate Paper blog for the last several months.  I'm finding that it is a great way to use up my enormous supply of Crate products.  It is also a fun challenge - the color combinations are a lot of fun, but not always very easy.

This month's challenge can be found here.  The colors are Dove Grey, Peacock Blue, and Gingerbread Brown.

The colors made me think about last weekend when we spent the weekend in Vermont.  We drove to Brandon and the whole town was decorated with "Leaf People."  It was a very fun, festive look.  I had taken several pictures of them and printed out a few for my layout.

I used paper from four different Crate collections - Pretty Party, Paper Heart, Farmhouse and Portrait.  The only non-Crate items are the white cardstock and the letters "VT" were both AC supplies.  I used my Silhouette Cameo for the title and for the leaves.

The winner will be posted on the Crate blog tomorrow.  Wish me luck!

Have a great week everyone!

September 2012 Studio Calico - Central High

Today I'm sharing all of the layouts that I created with the September Studio Calico kit from the time the kit arrived at my door until the time the October kit arrived.  I only got the main kit this month, Central High.

The first layout I created, "the green muenster" was created for the "Pop off the Page" class Challenge #2.  "The Green Muenster" is the name of a grilled cheese sandwich from a food truck near my work.   It is made with muenster cheese, avocado, and bacon.  I don't know what they do to it, but it is the most fantastic sandwich ever!  I'm obsessed!  (Clearly, since I am scrapbooking it!)

The second layout that I created with the kit was based on a sketch for the Create Magazine for their Sketches Idea Book call.  Here is the sketch:

Here is my layout.  I haven't created a 8.5" X 11" layout in ages - it was kind of fun!  

I also created a card with this kit for the Cards Magazine call for St. Patrick's Day cards.  Not something I would normally do, but the green papers in the kits and the gold sequins gave me an idea.  I kind of hate those sequins, so I'm happy I used them up!

That's all I have for this month!  I wasn't feeling this kit as much as I normally do, and I'm ok with that. October's kit is very promising though!  I've already created a layout I love with it and have ideas for more floating around!

Have a great week everyone!

Halloween Card Inspiration

Halloween is my least favorite holiday.  I remember not even liking it as a kid.  I don't even pass out candy - I turn my porch light off and hide upstairs - I'm THAT neighbor.

That being said, I LOVE Halloween themed scrapbook supplies!  I love looking at it, but don't really ever buy any - well, because I have no Halloween pictures to scrapbook.  I do make a few Halloween cards though, just for fun.  (I don't send them out though - they just sit in my drawer!)  I thought I'd share them today if you are looking for Halloween card ideas.

Boo!

This card has really great textures.  The bat is adhered with foam dots, lifting him off of the page.  The word Boo! is cut out from orange-core Coordinations paper with a bit of the black sanded off to show the orange center.  The tree is inked with black and then painted with Tim Holtz crackle paint (I still love that stuff!)

I made this card last week while staring at my January 2012 Studio Calico kit.  The orange stripe patterned paper, the black cardstock and the black washi tape were all from the kit.  I added the stars, the happy stamp and the orange dot paper from other kits.  The pumpkin and the word Halloween were cut with the Silhouette Cameo.

This card I made for a Cards Magazine style challenge.  The challenge was to use pea-green, purple, black and spiderwebs (or was it spiders?) on a card.  The card didn't get picked up for publication, but I love it!  I used POW glitter paper for the pleated circle behind the spider.

Have you made any Halloween cards this year?

Have a great week everyone!

Instagram Newbie

I finally got an IPhone a few weeks ago and the first thing I did was download Instagram.  I had a feeling that it would change the way I scrapbook, and judging by the last three layouts I created, it sure has!  All three of the layouts were created with Instagram photos.  Two of the layout have pictures of events that I normally wouldn't have pictures of because I wouldn't have a camera with me.  

This is the first Instagram photo I took.  I was in my scrap room when I downloaded Instagram and as soon as it was ready I took a photo of the first thing that caught my eye - it was a scrapbook page I had just finished.  The color palette is from the September Crate Color Challenge.

The next layout has pictures of the food truck that I often go to on Fridays and the grilled cheese from that food truck that I am in love with.  Mmmmmm!!!!  

I used the September Studio Calico kit, Central High, for this layout. 

The last layout I created was pictures from last weekend, the last weekend of the summer.  My hubby and I went to Harold Parker National Forrest for some mountain biking.  I never would have had a camera in the woods with us, so I am so happy I can now take pictures like this with my phone!  

How about you?  Has Instagram changed your scrappy world?

Have a great week everyone!

August 2012 Studio Calico - Summer of 69

It is time again for my monthly re-cap of what I created with my Studio Calico kit in the month before my new kit arrived on my front porch.  

My first layout is a layout celebrating my first scrappy paycheck!  I got my first paycheck from Creating Keepsakes a bit ago and I thought it would be fun to create a layout with it!  (Account information blurred out.)

My next three layouts are all layouts that I created for the Pop Off the Page class over at Studio Calico. The first, "Olivia" was created for weekly challenge #1 - to layer in a confined space.  It was fun to limit the area I was working in!

The next layout is the layout that I created with strips of paper as the background.  I distressed the edges of the papers a bit and stitched them down.   I thought the colors were perfect for the topic of the page!

My last layout from the kit for August was created for the September Crate Color Challenge.  (Actually most of the product on the page wasn't from the SC kit, but three of the items were, so in my mind it counts.)  The color combination for the month is:

Here is the layout I created:

I just got an Iphone two weeks ago and downloaded Instagram as fast as I could.  This is the first photo I took with Instagram.  It is a photo of my layout from above!  

How much did you get done with the August kit?

Have a good week everyone!

  

Pop off the Page Challenge #1

Studio Calico now offers a different class available for purchase each month.  The class for September was "Pop off the Page" by Jen Jockish, with a number of other contributors.  I have been a fan of Jen's for many years and just love her style, so I thought this would be a fun class to take.  The class came with PDFs of the lessons,  a kit that included fun stuff like lace, tags, sequins, and badges, wood veneer stars, and exclusive use of a Pop off the Page message board.  The kit that came with the class was so fun that I started to use it even before the class started on Sept. 1st!

There is going to be a challenge every week, and this week's challenge was to "layer in a confined space."  I decided to combine the challenge with the first lesson, the kit, and the August 2012 Studio Calico kit to see what I could come up with.

I would have to say that the layout is definitely not my usual style (if I have one), but I absolutely love it!  The photo is of my niece, Olivia, that I took just a few weeks ago during my vacation in Wisconsin to visit my family.  Such a gorgeous photo of her!

I'm looking forward to more Pop Off the Page challenges this month!

Have a great week everyone!