December PageMaps

Hello December! It seems like only yesterday it was January can someone please tell me where Christmas came from. That's just a rhetorical question. Sorry for the late start this month the holidays just seem to kind of take over.

Each month I chose my sketch for a specific reason. I chose this sketch because of it's simplicity and use of a 6x4 photo. It really called to my old school scrapbooking roots.

(Supplies Used: Bazzill Cardstock, Patterned Paper Fancy Pants, Corrugated Paper Fancy Pants, Burlap Shapes Simple Stories, Wood Hearts Studio Calico, My Favorite Things Alpha dies, Kraft Embellishments Jillibean Soup, Enamel Dots Doodlebug, Hemp Twine, Maya Road Mini Clothes Pin, Scallop Die Spellbinders, Decorative Brad Basic Grey, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher and font Kingthings)

 

I pretty much took a literal approach to my version of the sketch. I simplified a few of the accent items from the sketch when I translated my idea to paper. The abstract zig zag pieces on my layout were cut straight from the Fancy Pant patterned paper. 

Thanks for stopping by today and Happy Crafting!

PageMaps November

Happy November crafters it's the first of the month and that means it's time for another PageMaps layout. I have been in a wonderful creative groove with my PageMaps layouts for the past few months. I am thrilled that so many of these projects are now on my favorites list.

If you look at my last few layouts you can see a trend ... it's neutral cardstock bases. I often switch back and forth between patterned paper and cardstock backgrounds. It seems I might be in a style switch from patterned paper to cardstock.

Here is the sketch I chose to work with this month. I picked this sketch because it was kind of a non traditional take on the grid layout. I think the grid design is one of my all time favorites to work with. I love how each grid tells a different part of the story be it through embellishments, patterned papers or photos.

(Supplies Used: Bazzill Cardstock, Fancy Pants Patterned Paper and corrugated paper, Jillibean Soup black tiny alphas, Wood Veneer Stars from Studio Calico, Metal dies from Technique Tuesday/Paper Smooches, Misc Tag and Silver Eyelet, Clear Red Stars from Studio Calico, Jillibean Soup kraft envelope, hemp twine, vellum envelope from Studio Calico and Kingthings font)

I confess I am not sure where the large bow came from. I think it might be Fancy Pants but I couldn't find it online. So if you possibly know who made the cute burlap bow please leave me a comment below. I am a bow addict and I might like to pick up another one.

Thanks for stopping by today and happy crafting!

October PageMaps

Hello October! It's the beginning of the month and that means it's time for another PageMaps layout. Over the past few months I have had been in a creative rut. The only place where I haven't felt stuck was when I work with Becky's sketches.

I chose today's sketch for a couple of reasons. First I love how this sketch uses a traditional 4x6 photo. Second while I have always been more of a multi-photo scrapbooker as my children have gotten older the way I scrapbook has changed. I scrap fewer multi-photo events and today's layout is the perfect example of this. And third how could I resit the squares. They are such a fantastic way to use my favorite scraps from my stash.

(Supplies Used: Bazzill Cardstock, Patterned Papers AC/Simple Stories/Fancy Pants/Studio Calico/Chickaniddy, Glitter Hearts American Crafts, My Favorite Things Alpha Dies, Spellbinders Scallop Border Die, Kraft die cut Jillibean Soup, Mini Clothes Pin Maya Road, Wood Arrow Studio Calico, Die Cut Tab Pink Paislee, Kraft Washi Tape Jillibean Soup, Love Wood Embellishment American Crafts, Chipboard Embellishment Fancy Pants, Hemp Twine, Gold Stars Studio Calico and font KingThings Typewriter)

 
I admit the My Favorite Things alphas are my current go to favorites. I have an upper case set, a lower case set and a numbers set. They are the a great size for making those longer more verbose titles I seem to favor these days.

Thanks for stopping by today happy crafting!

September PageMaps

Hello September wow time seems to be flying by fast these days. Today it's time for my September PageMaps layout. This month I selected a double page layout. I know you don't see enough of these layouts so I try to do one every few months.

I kept to the sketch but I tend to favor larger photos on my layouts. I used 4 3.5x5 photos on this project rather than the 3x4.5 photos shown in the sketch.

(Supplies Used: Bazzill Cardstock, Jillibean Soup Patterned Paper/Mask/Embellishments, Wood Stars Studio Calico, Canvas Stars Simple Stories, DMC Floss, Mist Studio Calico, Cork Heart Studio Calico, Stampin Up Punch, Black Pen, Mini Clothes Pin, Silhouette Cutting System and fonts)

Thanks for stopping by today. Happy Crafting!

August PageMaps

Hello August I cannot believe you are here so soon I guess I haven't been paying enough attention to the calendar these days having too much fun enjoying the lazy days of summer. My August PageMaps sketch is so much fun. It seems like each month I say the sketch was my favorite but this month really was unique.

As my kids have grown the way I scrapbook has changed. I used to scrapbook events and now I scrapbook little stories from everyday life.  This is one such story.

(Supplies Used: Bazzill Cardstock, Patterned Paper Echo Park/Fancy Pants, Tag Fancy Pants, Flair Studio Calico, Stars Studio Calico, Wood Dots My Minds Eye, Button Fancy Pants, Hemp Twine, Metal Love Embellishment Maya Road, Metal Alpha Die from My Favorite Things, Scallop Die Spellbinders, Black Pen, Silhouette Cutting System and Image and font KingThings downloaded from the internet)

There is so much about this sketch that was a step out of my creative box yet I was able to totally creatively relate to it. I have been in a creative slump so I think this sketch really pushed me to create something I really love.

 Thanks for joining me today and happy crafting.

July PageMaps

Happy July crafters today I am showing off the my July PageMaps layout. This month's sketch might be one of my all time favorites. You know how I love my circles I couldn't resist them.

I kept the overall base design of my layout the same as the sketch. I eliminated 1 photo from my layout and placed the 4 circles in a vertical strip rather than a square block.

(Supplies Used: Cardstock Bazzill, Jillibean Soup Patterned Paper/Wood Veneer Butterfly/Stickers/Die Cuts/Flash Cards/Wood Sprinkles, Spellbinders Scallop border die, Hemp Twine, My Minds Eye Enamel Dots, Technique Tuesday Circle Metal Dies, Silhouette Cutting System and Image, Black Pen, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher and font Veteran Typewriter)

I couldn't resist pairing Jillibean Soup's Birthday Bisque with this photo of my daughter on her 14th birthday. The colors were a perfect match to her dress. Thanks for stopping by today and happy crafting.

June | PageMaps featuring Maya Road

Happy Tuesday crafters. June is our transition month, the kids are wrapping up the last few weeks of school, we've got a few birthdays and then it's summer vacation. Today's sketch is a double page layout perfect for scrapbooking all your summertime photos.

Here is the sketch I chose to work with. I love how it offers endless possibilities. I kept the idea of the sketch but changed around the photos just a bit. I took the liberty to add an additional photo I think you could even add more depending on what you are scrapbooking.

I love the straight lines of this sketch but thought I would add a bit of playfulness to my layout by tilting my photos. Tilting the photos also keeps my perfectionist demons at bay.

(Supplies Used: Bazzill Cardstock, Patterned Paper Basic Grey, Chipboard Accents Basic Grey, Stickers Basic Grey, Alphas Basic Grey, Maya Road kraft arrows/chip board alphas/cross stitch wood veneers/kraft enveope, Studio Calico Mist, Doodlebug Enamel Dots, DMC Embroidery Floss, Spellbinders/Becky Fleck Scallop Metal Die, Black Gel Pen, Hemp Twine and font Veteran Typewriter)

I went old school with the Maya Road chipboard alphas and covered them with cardstock. This is a technique I once used almost all the time when I first fell in love with chipboard. I use Tombow mono liquid glue to adhere the patterned paper to the chipboard then trim the excess paper. Then I smooth the edges with a nail file. This gives the letters their thin white edge.

Long before I scrapbooked I dabbled a bit with cross stitching so I immediately fell in love with the Maya Road cross stitch wood veneers.

I love the Maya Road kraft products and used 2 envelopes to recreate the vertical effect of the title journaling/title block in the sketch. 

Thanks for joining me today. Happy Scrapping!

Happy 8th Birthday PageMaps

Good morning crafters today I'd like to wish PageMaps and Becky Fleck a happy 8th birthday. I have been a huge sketch fan since I started scrapbooking 16 years ago. Sketches are flexible, customizable and a great starting point for any layout.

This is the sketch I chose to work with this month. It screams "Summer" with those Polaroid frames all lined up in a row. At first glance I stayed true to the sketch but take another look I added another photo, shifted the title to the left, added another row of frames and moved the journaling.

 

(Supplies Used: Bazzill Cardstock, Jillibean Soup Patterned Paper/Alphsa/Wood Flag/Stamps/Die Cuts/Wood Sprinkles/Wooden Nickles/Corrugated Shape/Stickers, Maya Road Mist, VersaFine Ink, Hemp Twine, Clothes Pin, Silhouette Cutting System and PageMaps digital cut files, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher and font Veteran Typewriter)

 

I admit one of the main reasons I chose this sketch this month was I love Polaroid frames but you don't like them as much as me they can easily be taken out of your design. 

PageMaps is having it's 8th birthday celebration all month long with lots of fun give-a-ways. Take note of the celebration calendar and don't miss out on all the fun (psst my day is 5/15). 

Thanks for stopping by today and happy crafting.