It's the Small Things

Happy National Scrapbook Day

I want to thank Memories Live On for having me there to teach my By the Beautiful Sea class. I had the BEST time. I was really nervous, but once the customers started walking in, I got over it quickly. The gals that took my class were so nice and really, really fun. The best part for me, was watching them mix things up and show me a thing or two. I love that. I really did feel right at home in the store and am so grateful for that. I am excited to be coming back in a month or so to teach another class. Unfortunately, I did not take any photos, but my friends in the class did. When they send me their pictures, I'll post them. 

For those that are interested, there are a few kits available. I included full color photo step by step directions and sketches for converting the page to vertical photos. I, also, put my email address in there. I am always available to answer any questions or for any feedback.  The kits are really full of product and there is enough left over to add to your stash or create a few layouts. 

 

It's National Scrapbook Day this weekend (technically it's Saturday) and there are events happening everywhere. If  you are wanting to get involved in some fun, here are a few things you can join:

1. A Cherry On Top is hosting a weekend long online crop. Sally and Josie of IOD will be teaching a FABULOUS shadow box class at 4pm EST on Saturday. It's absolutely darling and they are even giving a kit away. 

2. Crate Paper has some fun up their sleeves on their blog. Read the fine print, ladies! There is a giveaway on there, you do not want to miss, not to mention the inspiration they plan to share. It's going to be a great time.  

This is the latest layout I did with Crate Paper and October Afternoon. The two mix really well and I thought went perfectly with my son's t-ball photos. He isn't much of a sports fan. Turns out he's really into piano and learning music and I'm all good with that, but he did want to try out baseball and he seems to enjoy it. It's really cool now that I've seen him actually LOVE something. That's all I want for both boys. I want to put them in a bunch of things until they find "the" thing they love. Now that I know what his "love" is, it's so nice to not have to worry about doing what he's ok with. If he wants to do it, great, if not, great. He seems to enjoy t-ball mostly because he doesn't have to run around as much as in soccer. This makes me laugh, because I would have thought he might get bored standing around, but what do I know? Kids are funny!

Happy NSD. I hope you find time to create at least one little thing in the spirit of the day. Enjoy! 

Playing with Crate and Petaloo

I've been having fun creating some projects using Crate Paper and Petaloo. I'm highly obsessed with pink, orange and teal at the moment. I think these three colors together are smashing. I like that I'm not afraid to use pink and flowers with my boys. 

I love this quote by Alexander Smith; "Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others, and the delight in the recognition". When I saw the Crate Paper "delight" chipboard word, I was excited to be able to finally have a fun way to use that quote. 

I wanted to play with circles. I get in the rut of thinking background with strips or rectangles of paper and wanted to create a different type of background with circles to add a bit more interest. I love the teal and didn't want it to get lost behind a lot of other papers, either. 

I outlined my photograph using an extra fine point sharpie. Since, there is a lot happening on this layout, I didn't want the photograph to be lost. I wanted it to stand out and be supported by the quote. The outline really helps draw attention to the photograph. I outline everything usually, except for photographs, but it needed it in this case. I love this series of photos of my son. Our photographer, Pascale Wowak had this little teal chair and she took the most amazing shots of Brody on it. I still need to scrapbook the others, but I love this one because it's his regular expression. He's a thoughtful little dude with a big sense of humor. 

 

I used Crate Paper's Paper Doll and Pink Plum collections. I accented it with Petaloo's Tiffany's Treasures Jewel Centers and Dazzlers Sequins. I heart the little sequins running up the diagonal and on the bigger butterfly. I used Helmar's 450 Quick Dry adhesive to adhere the sequins. It sets quickly and it's clear, so it was a great choice. I used the Helmar tiny square ZapDots on the layered butterflies and on the orange die cut to give them some lift. 

I'm working on a mini book. It's a huge, emotional project for me. It's something I've been meaning to do for years, but for some reason couldn't muster up the courage to do it. I'm excited to share it when I'm done in the next few weeks. 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. 

Lori

Easter Best

For the last two years, I've been buying my boys matching Easter outfits. Gymboree and Crazy 8 have had great sales just before Easter and I decided that I wanted to see them dressed up together before they refuse to do it. 

They have looked so handsome both years. This year, I went simple with Pink button downs, jeans, and penny loafers. I love Pink on men and they looked great. The problem is, they won't let me get any decent photos of them together in their full outfits. Instead, they wrestle or crack jokes, make faces, anything really that is not posing for a photo for Mommy. 

So, here we are outside and I'm burning some shots to get my manual settings correct before framing the shots. At least, that is my intention. 

 

See how Brody's lip is starting to curl and his nose is starting to wrinkle? He's actually growling at me. Can you hear it? "Grrrrrrrrr". It's the whine before the freak out. Do you notice Dylan starting to laugh? 

 

Here is the full on "grrrrr...I.DON'T.WANT.TO.TAKE.PICTURES!" face and his brother laughing. Pretty much, I just gave in at this point because when he decides something, he rarely changes his mind. He is stubborn like his Daddy. The real problem here, was that he wanted to play with his new Lego Star Wars minifigures and I wanted to make him stop for pictures before our guests arrived. You can see them in his hands. So, yet another Easter without a good picture of both of them in their full outfits. 

 

I did sneak this one when he wasn't looking after I'd excused them from our session. It's blackmail (er proof) that he bites his nails. Lovely, yes? See how cute those penny loafers are? Ah well, maybe next year. 

I did get a few shots of them from the waist up, individually and used them on this layout. My journaling is all about not getting shots of them dressed up together. 

I used the awesome new Lily Bee Lovely Collection. 

The chipboard is to-die-for-yummy. I love the brown book print. They are under the butterflies. The butterflies are floating above the chipboard on pop dots. I used Helmar's tiny square ZapDots to float them.

I use foam dots all the time. It's the perfect way to layer and add dimension to layouts. I love to use them on photos, as well as embellishments. They are a must have for mini books and altered projects. 

Beautiful by the Sea Class Details

I promised to share the inside of the book and here is the whole thing. 

The class will be held at Memories Live On in Cupertino.

Sunday, April 25th  from 1-4 p.m. 

$30

The kit is packed full of product. You will definitely be bringing home extra goodies for any other creations you can think up. I tried really hard to keep the price low, yet fill the kit. I think I was able to accomplish that. :)

What you will need to bring (please call the store for any items you may need):

1. Black Pen
2. White Pen (I love the ranger white pen)
3. Strong Tape Runner
4. Clear, fast-drying, strong wet glue (I highly recommend Helmar Quick Dry 450 Adhesive) This is really important for doing the ribbon work on the spine.
5. Dark blue and teal ink pads
6. Personal Trimmer
7. Scissors
8. Your favorite border punch - I used EK Success' Upper Crest punch and will bring mine.
9. Circle Cutter or Xlarge Circle punch (2.5 - 3"). I will bring mine.
10. Tweezers (If you have a hard time with little rhinestones)
11. Photos - I layer on top of and underneath my photos, so you will want to bring these to class. You will need six photos total. If you can print from home the size is 4.5" x 3" horizontal. If you purchase your photos, please bring 4" x 6" vertical photos and I'll show you how to convert the page to fit your photos. 
12. Journaling - I used stickers for my journaling, but you may want to do more, so print your journaling onto 8.5" x 11" white cardstock with a space in between each line and we can cut them into strips.

There will be kits left over and the store will be selling them in their online store after the class. The kits will include full color photos and instructions.

The book is really versatile and I'm excited about that. The Oceana collection has been a huge success and I'm so grateful I was able to get the product and create a class with it. The colors are so rich and vibrant, they make my "everyday" photos look great. I look forward to meeting some new friends and seeing some old ones on the 25th.

Beautiful by the Sea Class

Here are a two quick pictures of my class on April 25th at Memories Live On in Cupertino. I'm really excited about  teaching this class. I love these products because they are so versatile. I'll post the inside of the accordion book in the next week or so. 

This class uses the new Christine Adolph Oceana collection from Creative Imaginations, Petaloo flowers, and May Arts ribbon. 

We will be doing some ribbon work and that means you will need a quick drying, clear, very strong adhesive. I used Helmar's 450 Quick Dry adhesive for this. I love it and I recommend it. 

 

If you are interested in taking the class, give the store a call for all the details and maybe I'll get to see you there.  

Lori

A Lovely Contest

I wanted to share an awesome chance to win some Lily Bee Design products. For the next four weeks, Lily Bee Design is giving away the entire Lovely Collection each week. You have four chances to win and all you need to do is put the new blinkie on your blog and post to the contest thread. One winner will be chosen at random each week. All the details are here. Here is what you could win: 

 

It's really gorgeous in person! Good luck to all who enter! 

Crate Paper Blog Contributor

I'm so excited, grateful and humbled to be spending the next few months with these amazing gals over at the Crate Paper Blog as a blog contributor. 

 

My First Class

I'm really excited to be teaching my first class as a Creative Imaginations Educator. It's been a very long time since I've taught, so I'm a tad nervous (ok, a lot), but I'm, also, ready and thrilled. I've been wanting to teach for a long time and now that my boys are older, I feel really great about. My favorite thing to do is to share with others my passion for this hobby.

I'm working hard on my sample and will have the photos up this weekend. I LOVE my book. We will be creating a boxed accordion book with Christine Adolph's gorgeous new Oceana line.

These are the products included in the kit. The white box is the boxed accordion book that we'll be altering. There are so many photos that can be used with this book; Beach Vacation, trips to the beach, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Half Moon Bay, Site seeing on Hwy 1, Carmel, San Francisco bay/beach/aquarium, or even pumpkin picking from any lot off Hwy 1  (I promise it would be super cute!), Disney Mermaid princess dress up, etc.

There are more items not shown; May Arts Ribbon and Petaloo flowers are two of them. Here are the details:

Memories Live On

April 25th from 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

I have a few layouts to share, as well. This week's Creative Therapy is to honor a family member. 

I chose to honor my husband. He does so much for us and I know I don’t tell him how much we appreciate him often enough. So, this layout serves as a permanent reminder.

Journaling Reads: You Should Know… 1. I appreciate who you are and all you do. 2. I think you are an amazing Father to our boys. 3. You have the other half of my heart. I love you. I used the new Crate Paper Brook Collection.

 

This layout is about me being a Mom for the first time and how it changed everything; my priorities and my dreams. I used Webster's Pages and Petaloo for this one. Sigh. Petaloo is amazing. I just cannot do anything without flowers, anymore. I even tried to put some on this school page for my son, but he wasn't into it. :)

I'm just now getting around to scrapbooking his school stuff. This is his first day of Kindergarten. I read him the journaling and he said "I did not cry!". Ha! Technically he's correct. He was only starting to cry when I left and the teachers deftly distracted all the kids and got them excited about their new adventure. But, when I left, all I saw was the sad face about to cry and it did break my heart. So, I guess I'll need to expound more on that on a second page for him. I used the Creative Imaginations Art Warehouse Class Act for this layout. 

Have a wonderful weekend! If you celebrate Easter, I hope it's a wonderful one!