Layering and Embellishment Cluster Process: Tap It (My Mind's Eye Love Me)

Many of you have left me the nicest comments about the layering and embellishment clusters on my pages. You've asked how I do it, so here's a bit about my process.

Step #1: For this particular layout, I didn't have many embellishments from the collection I was working with and quite frankly, I probably couldn't have used them since they have a Valentine's Day theme. What I did instead was sift through a bin in my craft room that is filled with odds and ends. Some pieces are leftovers from collections I've used up, others are more "generic" in nature (like flowers). After sifting through the bin, this is the pile I came up with. I pretty much wanted to stick with pink, black, and white to keep the look of the layout cohesive (but as you'll see later, I ended up adding in more color). :)

Step #2: Now it's time to decide where to place the major page elements. I just keep shifting things around until the arrangement is pleasing to my eye (this will vary from person to person). I wanted to keep the patterns simple because the photo and the text on the program make it a bit busy.

Step #3: I've decided I want this to be an interactive layout (meaning whoever looks at the page would be able to remove the program and photo). I decided to create a pocket and, since this post is about how I embellish and layer, we can't leave the pocket plain, right?. :) Let's sift through the embellishments selected in step #1 and see what might work. I liked the "d" (to stand for "dance") but it wasn't the right color. I figured I would paint it later to match the rest of the page. So far I like this.

Step #4: Now it's time to start filling the white space on the right side of the page. Again, I go to the embellishments chosen in step #1.

Step #5: I'm starting to like it but the top right still feels like it needs something. Maybe these "la la" transparency words from Heidi Swapp will do the trick.  The circles are actually centers from corrugated alphas by Jillibean Soup. Maybe I'll chalk them or ink them but I'm not sure yet. I also added in a metal accent over the program. That may be of help when it comes to anchoring the program pages in place but still allow them to be removed.

Step #6: Here's the finished product. :) Yes, the page took a bit of a different direction than the original. The "skeleton" of the page stayed the same, but many elements were added too.

1. As I mentioned earlier, I brought in more color, starting with green to match the gloves Alexa is wearing.

2. Rather than leave the photo as a separate piece, I adhered it to the front program and embellished beside it. Why did I do this? Well, the second program (which was for a later show) is basically the same so I really didn't need to be able to read the top program.

3. The embellishment cluster in the bottom right had too much pink so I traded out the epoxy "dance" sticker and the "d" in lieu of adding in some blue and green to tie this section to the rest of the page. To balance this cluster, I added the title to the bottom left of the pocket.

4. I ended up using the "la la la..." transparencies but took away the corrugated circles, adding in another chipboard "d" and a photo corner instead.

So that's my process, in a nutshell (and in photos). :) Thanks for visiting today!

Linked to Tip Junkie's Tip Me Tuesday 7/31.

Minnie-ture (Little Yellow Bicycle Splash)

I have to give Tom credit for coming up with the title for this one. He actually suggested Minnie-turized but I didn't have enough room for that and I have to miniaturize the title. LOL! Why Minnie-ture you ask? Because Alexa looks like a little Minnie Mouse herself because she's wearing her adorable animal print ears. Another silly thing to note is that I used the coconut chipboard shape as an embellishment on the title because I thought it looked like mouse ears. I know, it's a bit of a stretch, but I think it's cute. Have a great weekend! See you Monday. :)

Tasty Tuesday on a Thursday: Blueberry Crisp

It's been a while since I've done a Tasty Tuesday post. Technically today's post should be called Tasty Thursday, but I don't have Tasty Thursday as a label on my blog. :)

Yesterday was a beautiful day for blueberry picking. Alexa and I picked eight cups, which seemed to take forever because it is nearing the end of the blueberry growing season here. So, what do you do with that many blueberries? Make blueberry crisp of course (and freeze the remainder to use another time).

I've been using this recipe, from Cooking Light magazine, for many, many years. It is soooo good. Let's just say the three of us finished half of it tonight. Just sayin'.

Blueberry Crisp

Filling:
6 c. blueberries
2 T. sugar
1 T. flour
1 T. lemon juice

Topping:

2/3 c. flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. oats
3/4 t. cinnamon
4 1/2 T. margarine or butter, cold, cut into small pieces

Heat oven to 375°F. You'll need an 11x7" baking dish (ungreased).

Gently combine all filling ingredients in a large bowl. Transfer to baking dish.

Combine flour, brown sugar, oats and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Cut in margarine/butter until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Sprinkle topping over fruit.

Bake 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Animal Attraction (Jillibean Soup Sweet & Sour)

While we were at Animal Kingdom, we popped into Rafiki's Animal Planet to see the exhibits and demos (and to cool off too, ahhhhh...). The entrance way walls are painted, from floor to ceiling, with animals of all kinds. Alexa, being the animal lover she is, wasted no time choosing her favorite (inanimate, LOL) creature and asking me to take a picture of her. That's why I called this page "Animal Attraction" and also because Animal Kingdom is a Disney attraction. Just a subtle play on words for today. :)

Sixth Grade (Simple Stories Summer Fresh)

I found a list of prompts online that were used as an exercise with kids entering their first year of middle school. Being a scrapbooker, of course I had to ask Alexa to answer them and then do a layout about it, right? LOL! The prompts were: I wonder..., I'm worried..., I'm excited..., What I'd ask a 6th grader..., and What I'd like my counselor to help me with... (just in case you'd like to do the same with your child). :)

A 'Mallow Moment (Little Yellow Bicycle Splash)

The Disney resort we stayed at had a campfire on the beach for the kids every night, complete with marshmallow toasting kits (a super long dowel and a bag of six marshmallows plus verbal instructions on fire safety and what to do if your marshmallow caught on fire). It was nice to kick off our shoes, put our feet in the soft, white sand and relax while Alexa got to toasting her marshmallows. Thankfully she was kind enough to share. :) As you can see from the photos, this kid is serious about relishing her treat (and getting messy too). LOL!

Pause (Bella Blvd. Sunshine and Happiness)

I'm finishing up the week with a Bella Blvd. Sunshine & Happiness page. With all of this fun color, how could you not be happy while scrapping, right? :)

I called this "Pause" because Alexa stopped hula hooping long enough to stand still for a photo and because I'd really like to pause time so she stops growing up so fast. I really love watching the young lady she has become and is becoming. She seems so grown up at times, but at other times I see that she still has so much to learn and discover and become. I'll stop now before I get completely weepy and can't even see what I'm typing. :)

Have a great weekend! See you next week.

Hilarious Hoop-la (Little Yellow Bicycle Escape)

Alexa got a hula hoop for her birthday last month and she's had a lot of fun showing us her moves. She thought Tom and I should give it a try too. As the responsible parent that I am, I chose to do it in the privacy of my own home. LOL! Tom, however, decided the driveway would be a better place to put some of his childhood skills to use. Alexa and I were in absolute hysterics as we watched his wild gyrations, arms flailing and the hoop falling to the ground each time. He was concentrating so hard, but no matter what he did, it was absolutely hilarious. LOL! We're so nice to be laughing at our father/husband, aren't we? :)

Purely Plutonic (Little Yellow Bicycle Escape)

When I was a kid, my memory of Disney is of the characters being out-and-about in the park. You could walk up, get a hug, and have your picture taken. Not these days. Now there are incredible throngs of kids wanting to see the characters so they have locations with scheduled times a character will be there. There are even "character spots" where you'll find multiple characters gathered for a photo op but you wait in line for upwards of 60 minutes to see them. Let's just say it was a nice surprise to walk through the back entrance of Epcot one morning to find Pluto with a small gathering of kids. He was kind enough to pose for a couple of pictures before making his way to the air-conditioned character spot in the park. All he asked as "payment" for his generosity was that Tom scratch behind his ears before leaving. LOL!

Good Times (Little Yellow Bicycle Splash)

Working with some more of Little Yellow Bicycle's Splash collection. :) Don't worry, I'll be moving on to using their Escape collection real soon. LOL!

I love this photo of Alexa. She's on some sort of thing-a-ma-jig (very creative name that I'm using because I have no idea what it's called, LOL!) at the playground that undulates as kids walk across it, making it a challenge to get across, especially when there are other kids on it at the same time. I love the look of pure happiness on her face as she spends time with her friends. It's so nice to sit back and enjoy your kids being kids and having fun in childhood. They grow up way too quickly.

Cadette Bridging (Jillibean Soup Neopolitan Bean Bisque)

In Girl Scouts, when you move up to the next level it's called "bridging". Alexa and her troop bridged from Girl Scouts to Cadettes last month. To make it even more symbolic, the troop held the event at a local park that actually has a wooden bridge for the girls to cross over, before meeting their leader, receiving their new sash, and sharing the Girl Scout promise. Alexa's not sure yet whether she'll continue with scouts in 6th grade. It all depends on her work load and after school activities but she's really enjoyed the friends she's made and all of the wonderful activities they've done.

Were you ever a scout? What is your fondest memory? I think my scouting years were fraught with tears. LOL! As a Brownie, I missed a field trip to an amusement park because I had pneumonia. I remember standing at the dining room window, watching the cars pull out of our driveway, with tears running down my face. I also went to Girl Scout camp for a couple of weeks and even though I was with friends, I was downright homesick the entire time. Every letter I wrote home contained a plea for my parents to please come get me. LOL!

Glad 2 Be A Grad (Simple Stories Summer Fresh)

Alexa's biggest worry about her 5th grade graduation was that I would cry. My biggest worry was that I would cry (and I wouldn't be able to gracefully hide the tears). LOL! Thankfully I controlled myself (well, for the most part). What almost got me though was at the end they played a slide show. A slide show on its own wouldn't usually be a problem, but it's the darn sentimental songs that go along with it. Instead of focusing on the music, I looked for my daughter in every photo (and the other kids I know). It worked! :)

At first Alexa wanted to keep her graduation ribbon, but then realized that if she allowed me to put it on a scrapbook page, she'd really have it forever. Smart girl! :) The ribbon has two layers (the second layer listing the year of graduation), so I used a photo turn to hold the open end in place so it can easily be turned to reveal the bottom layer.

It Was a Fairport Father's Day (Echo Park Note to Self)

I pulled out some Echo Park Note to Self to scrap this sweet photo of Tom and Alexa on Father's Day. We surprised Tom with a couple of things, first taking him out for breakfast, then to Lowe's to buy a new weed trimmer (because he's been moaning about his old one for so long and we can't stand it any more, LOL) and then paddle boating on the Erie Canal.

After an hour of working hard in the hot sun, we decided we needed something cold. One of the boat company employees sent us to a little cafe to have spaghetti gelato (see the smaller photo on the layout) At first I was disgusted by the thought of eating spaghetti-flavored gelato but it wasn't until we got there that we found out it was vanilla gelato (pressed to look like spaghetti), strawberry "sauce", grated white chocolate "cheese" and brownie "meatballs". Yes, please! :)

It Takes A Lot of Guts (October Afternoon 9 to 5)

No matter how hard I tried, even using different locations, I could not get a great shot of this layout. It's probably a good thing though, because if you look too closely you'll see Alexa dissecting a frog.

Alexa's teacher sent me this photo the morning of the dissection. As an animal lover, Alexa was opposed to doing it (and her teacher knew this). We talked it over many, many times and she decided to do only what she could handle, whether that be observing, doing a "virtual" dissection on the Smart Board or leaving the room. When she left for school that morning, I never expected to see a photo like this! I got all teary when I saw it. I was so proud of her for overcoming her fear. She loved it so much, she didn't want to stop when the time was up. She wanted to check out more of the organ systems. Who knew?

In Your Happy Place (Little Yellow Bicycle Splash)

I'm back today with a layout I created for Little Yellow Bicycle's Splash Cycling Team. I love this shot of Tom on the beach during our vacation last year. His idea of vacation is relaxing on a beach (well, and swimming too). As you know from yesterday, that is NOT what he got this year. LOL! I guess we owe him one.

The waves on the background paper were calling out to me so I decided to run part of my title along the waves. I really love how it looks and how it creates the feeling of movement on the page.

If you'd like to see more details on this page, check out Little Yellow Bicycle's blog today. :)

Thanks for visiting!

Card Share: The Livin' Is Easy

Hello everyone! Sorry for last week's hiatus. We were having a wonderful time experiencing the magic of Disney World. :) I hadn't been since I was about six or seven and Tom and Alexa had never been (if you can believe that!) I am all refreshed and ready to blog and create again.

Today I'm sharing a card I created for Little Yellow Bicycle's Splash Cycling Team. It's one of two projects I'll be posting. You can see my complete write up about it on LYB's blog.

Here's a close up of the top portion of the card. Aren't the jewel droplets adorable?

Here's a view that shows the dimension of the Fabric Favorites bathing suit. Soooo cute!

Tomorrow I'll share a Splash layout about my husband's happy place. :)