Simple Quilt Top

Several years ago I started this simple quilt for my son's twin-sized bed. Fast-forward to today when my son has two children of his own, and these rows of quilt squares have sat in a drawer until recently. I decided to adapt this simple quilt top to fit a double bed for my guest room.

A Splash of Pink

Instead of putting this photo in my black and white album (and embellishing it with neutral colors), I thought a splash of pink would be refreshing. I cut some of the flowers from a beautiful 12 x 12 sheet and added bling to their centers. The other flowers are painted chipboard with rub-on centers.

Butterflies

My grandson took this photo of my granddaughter and me last fall when he was only four years old. Pretty good little photographer, don't you think?

This is My Little Shoebox paper. I cut the butterflies from a second sheet of the same print. I touched up the edges of the cut-out butterflies with chalk to age them. The journaling sheet is computer-generated but embellished with tiny stamps that are colored with gel pens.

Exercise in Skin Tones

I took this photo two years ago, on a summer day that was too hot for clothes or makeup. Just skin against skin. I love both mother's and baby's tones, each a different color of brown. My granddaughter is still so baby-smooth, she looks like a toy. The lattice fence is a perfect background.

This belongs to my back and white group of photos. It doesn't call for an embellished layout. I backed it with white mulberry paper and framed it with a white ribbon, trimmed with black stitches.

Experiments in Black and White

I've been working on a scrapbook album that is solely black and white. The only paper and embellishments I'm using are neutral shades, ie., black, white, grey, beige, etc. Until recently, I was playing with photos of everybody else, BUT me. Then I decided to round up photos of myself. These three photos were originally taken in black and white, and they are not digital. They are about 10 years old.

This is a pretty straight forward L/O (above). I threaded black ribbon through this chipboard that I painted white.



These polka dots give this L/O a retro look. Both the giant flourish and the small frame are painted with white acrylic.



You can find this photo on the back of my book jacket. Here it is framed with chipboard that I painted black and topped with Distressed Stickles. These corner flourishes are rub-ons.

Layout with the Big Eyes

There was a very popular artist in the sixties who was known for the big eyes of all the subjects (mostly women) that she painted. Her name was Margaret Keane, and there is a movie forthcoming about her life. I often think about those paintings when I look at my granddaughter and her amazing, beautiful eyes.

When I saw this photo, I was compelled to find some Keane paintings, and I've included some copies in this layout.

I typed the journaling on the top of the L/O and colored its edges with chalk. I colored the tiny clear stamps of a bird and flowers with gel pens. I painted the large chipboard flower with acrylic paint and topped it with Stickles.

My New Favorite Thing: Liquid Pearls

Here is my grandson, wearing my shoes.

This is a relatively simple layout. The photo is backed with white mulberry paper, which creates a nice effect. I painted the chipboard flourish with blue acrylic paint and covered it with glitter glue. My newest find is the Liquid Pearls that I added to both the flourish and to the butterflies.

Newspaper Print and Sepia

I had to look at this photo of my grandson awhile to figure out exactly where he is and what he is doing. He is rolling backwards on the floor on top of a colorful throw rug. I love the spirit of my grandson that is revealed in so many photos. I think the muted shades of this sepia print somehow make it easier to catch his silly mood.

I made these flowers out of newspaper print by punching out the petal shapes and gluing them to white paper with Mod Podge. I covered the petals with a second coat, and after it dried, I cut the flowers out, leaving a small white border. I love how these newspaper flowers combine with other paper designs, especially vintage prints.

I painted the chipboard frame and the grungeboard key with acrylic paint and added a coat of Distressed Vintage Photo Stickles to both.

Lots of Bling

My favorite embellishments are chipboard, grungeboard, Stickles (glitter glue) and Liquid Pearls. This is a photo of my granddaughter, playing with stickers. I have embellished the whole page with Stickles and Liquid Pearls. I also love the lace and the pink ribbon.

I Love Grungeboard

My aim was to scrapbook a page very quickly. For me, this turned into a 48-hour period with lots of ruminating and a little bit of work. That is Marsha's way of doing anything "quickly."

When I started scrapbooking, I vowed that I wouldn't lose focus of the photo on the page. This L/O is busy, isn't it? But I still like it.

The green letters and the pink heart are grungeboard.



Here's a closeup of the grungeboard letters with a dotted texture. I painted them with Sea Foam Specialty Glaze by Making Memories. I want to paint everything with this paint.

I painted the heart with Rose Petal Special Glaze by Making Memories. This particular grungeboard has a diamond pattern to its texture. Here's a closeup:

I almost always paint or cover my own chipboard, but in the above LO, I used colored chipboard stickers--the tall flower and the squiggly things around the picture frame--that are by Euphoria. I work a lot in pink and green. I bought this from the scrapbook store in the Village, Jazzy Crafts.

Some Favorite Scrapbook Pages

Until lately I had been posting scrapbook pages at my other general-topic blog. I have created this blog, exclusively for paper and fabric art.

I include a few of my favorite pages below--to play catch-up. The most current ones are on the top. This picture of my son and his son is maybe my best. This page shows my style which usually includes flowers of some sort, made from either stamps or cut out fabric.

I am also loving chipboard, and I often use UTEE to make it shine. White mulberry paper gives this page a bit of a casual look.



I love this photo of my granddaughter. We posed her on the bed wearing this outfit I bought for her from a hoity toity store in Las Vegas. She was not cooperative, and it was pure grace to get this picture.

These butterflies are cut-out stamps that are colored with gel pens. I made the "princess" letters with my Pazzles.

The kids love watching popcorn come out of the air popper. This photo also features a beautiful bowl that my good friend Cathy gave me.

I used a border punch--that looks awesome, don't you think? The flowers and butterflies are purchased die-cuts and shapes that I punched, topped with a brad. The yellow accessories are a nice change.



My grandson makes the goofiest faces. He loves to try on my glasses. I embroidered the side border using a stencil from Bazzill.



I also embroidered this border using a Bazzill template. The tulips below are stamps that I colored with pencil.

This is my granddaughter who likes to put things on her head, including underwear.

Part Two of My 8 x 8 Album

My aunt phoned me today and showered me with much love and praise over this 8 x 8 scrapbook album I put together for her. (See Part One in the blog below.) She was so happy, and I was so embarrassed as she went on and on with gratitude. "You are very creative." "You are extremely talented." "It's obvious you put much time into this."

I'm guessing my dear Aunt Helen cried when she took this out of the box. We are an emotional Greek family. My aunt was just as generous with her remarks about my grand babies. "They are beautiful." "Well, I think so," I said.

The page below is simple. I used My Little Shoebox die-cut shapes. I love the combination of colors that this product line uses.

The photo is a super closeup that shows my granddaughter's amazing, thick eyelashes.



Here are some photos from our Halloween festivities. I had a little party for the kids. We dressed up and ate goodies a few days before the holiday itself. I found some adorable stickers at our local store Jazzy Crafts.

My grandson looks like a Village People dude in the first photo and a This is Spinal Tap dude in the second.


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The layout below is simple. More of those cute holiday stickers and a girlie girl rub-on. This beautiful flower is made by K and Company.

My granddaughter feels pretty in her ballet skirt.



Nothing remarkable about my scrap methods, except for I love the scalloped paper I've used on some of these album pages.

There is one photo of my grandson and me that we took together; my grandson is only four, and he took both the other photos of me. Pretty good, huh?



Below, my granddaughter is dressed in a red boa. I absolutely love the background paper here. Unfortunately, I removed the information tabs from my various lines of paper. I cannot identify them. I will become more accurate at describing the products I use.

I love all these stamped butterflies and flowers that I colored with gel pens.



Here are some beautiful white rub-ons on the layout below. My grandson is fascinated by the Christmas train.



I'm mesmerized by the effects of UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel). I painted this little frame that surrounds my grandson, and I heated some UTEE to make the surface shine.

My grandson says good-night on Christmas Eve. We had a beautiful celebration at the end of 2008.



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My First 8 x 8 Album

I made an 8 x 8 scrapbook for my aunt who just turned 84. She lives in Utah; I haven't seen her since my father died in 2003. With little ones about (my grand babies), the family has changed, and she enjoys looking at photos.

Except for greeting cards of various sizes, I have only worked with 12 x 12 pages. In addition, this is the first album that I have put together strictly to give away; I was surprised to find difficulty in parting with it. Silly me.

Incidentally, the photos are mounted fairly straight onto the paper. When I crop a slightly crooked photo shot, the mounting may look crooked.

I decided to use page 1 as a title page or greeting card. Two of the corners have stamps embossed in gold that I touched up with red and blue gel pens. I added some turquoise mulberry paper:

The second page is nothing spectacular. I used rub-ons. However, I love the photos of my son lifting each of his children in the air--on different days. He was not posing. I grabbed my camera, as I often do, and captured normal loving stuff.

Here is my son reading to his son. (Most of this scrapbook is built with photos of the grand babies. The older members of my family are not cooperative.) Another straightforward page with a photo that I adore. I topped a punched-out flower with a sparkling brad.



Both kids love to model my glasses. My two-year-old granddaughter looks like an attorney here. :-)

I've been playing around with chipboard lately. I painted this chipboard lavender and I made it shine with Ranger Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel.



Here, my granddaughter plays hide 'n' seek under the dining room table. Maybe she prays that nobody will find her.

I love this butterfly that I stamped with pigment and embossed with fine gold powder. One of my recent specialties is coloring stamps with gel pens--and plain colored pencils. The finished product is always fun. This butterfly is amazingly beautiful in person.

I painted the flowers green in the following pair of photos. And I covered them with my favorite ultra thick embossing enamel.

My grandson has gradually made friends with Karl the cat, without scaring him away. I got one distant shot, and one closeup (with a glare on the photo that I couldn't seem to avoid).

I will upload more photos in a second blog.

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