Little Yellow Bicycle Cycling Team "The Escape"

Yay! It's my turn to share the projects I created as part of the LYB Escape Cycling Team :)

I was amazed by the variety of embellishments and had a field day playing with them! Almost all my travel photos are from our vacations to Florida over the years. My first project highlights some of those photos we all have...uncooperative family outtakes. Hop on over to their blog to read the details!

Some photos from a trip to Busch Gardens in Tampa inspired the next layout.

My final project is an altered picture frame. We have so few family photos, I wanted to create a special frame for one of them. Even if it wasn't the most flattering photo of me :P

I want to thank Little Yellow Bicycle for choosing me to be a member of their Escape Cycling Team!

Don't Forget!

To check out my ride with Little Yellow Bicycle's The Escape line on their blog Saturday! You may want to check out the other amazing projects by my fellow Cycling Team members...

Latrice Murphy

Regina Mangum

Kim Arnold

Juliana Michaels



Hello Spring! *The ScrapRoom*

One half of the August Doubleshot kit from The ScrapRoom was Little Yellow Bicycle's Hello Spring line. can't get enough of those bright, cheery colors! The sticker sheet included was loaded with cute, versatile icons and I used nearly every one :)

Mixed it up by using 2 different colors of the cardstock included as the base, kinda a yin yang type of thing.

I've been on a circle kick again and this time with crazy stitching added.

 I didn't add any journaling, sometimes the photos say it all.

I want to kiss those little, serious sweet cheeks every time I look at this picture!

Look at this face, what a cutie...and that bunny is too!

It was so much more fun to stitch out of the lines :)

A little hand stitching too.

 The title is Basic Grey naked chipboard painted white and covered with glitter.

That tree is so stinkin' cute! Kudos to whomever designed it :)

and I have even more to share...

Trimmed the scallops from the diecut included in the kit and made a banner.

Finally broke out my Sizzix Bigz takeout box die and made this cute little gift box.

The opposite side.

The view from the top.

 Even the tag is from the sticker sheet, backed with paper and perfect to jot a name on.

Take some time to hop (pun intended) over to The Scraproom's blog for more inspiration!

 

Love, Laugh & Be Happy *The ScrapRoom*

Hello Spring from Little Yellow Bicycle is right up my alley! I was truly doing a happy dance when I opened the August Doubleshot kit from the ScrapRoom. Bright saturated colors, the cutest icons and happy phrases...who could resist?!

This is my favorite photo of the summer ! Love these girls bunches & bunches :)

The white paper in the center was a diecut with scalloped edges, I trimmed them off and layered the pink over it. The pink is the 'B" side of the adorable madras plaid.

It was fun stitching in a free form circle, much easier that following a straight line.

Used foam squares to add dimension to the stickers, gems and Stickles for some bling.

I can't wait to share the rest of my projects and the other line that came in the Doubleshot kit...

I'm in love :}

If you want to see more amazing inspiration and check out the kits and ScrapRoom store, pop on over to http://scrap-room.com/ and http://thescraproomblog.blogspot.com/.

Thanks for stopping by!

The Best Part of Waking Up...

Bet you thought I was going to say "Is Folgers in your cup"! Not! It's that I am so happy and stunned to announce that I've been selected to be a Little Yellow Bicycle Cycling Team member!

Opening that email at 6am was torture! Who can you call or text at that hour of the morning :) Say tuned for my creations with the new The Escape collection on the Little Yellow Bicycle blog in late July or August.

Kindergarten Carnival

Life was so much simpler back then. School was fun, there was hardly any homework, and recess was the best part of the day :)

I'd been holding onto these photos for quite some time, trying to find the perfect paper to go with his royal blue shirt. I finally decided that navy and sky blue were as close as I was going to get. Wouldn't you know... I found some boyish paper with royal blue the very next day! Anyhow, I'm really happy with how this layout turned out.

You may recognize a Sketch Support sketch, I can't live without them! When I'm short on mojo, I just pull one out.

The sketch had a wavy border of stars going across both pages, instead I used a strip of this adorable paper by Echo Park.

Used my trusty Cricut for the stars, the Stand and Salute cartridge. Love being able to cut a 10 inch star!

Used the "Opposite" font from the Opposites Attracts cartridge and cut 2 in contrasting colors, layered them and slightly offset to create a shadow like effect. Finished with a coat of matte Modge Podge over the top

On another note... I hate it when the Internet is down!!! It was down all day here and was driving me crazy. I'll admit it's a short drive but seriously. Now both kids want to use it at the same time and they are bickering incessantly. Aaargh!

It started with my son discovering that I'd taken my daughter to the movies without him the other night. Never mind that he was having fun at a school "Lock In" during that time. Now it's "How could you?" and "You never take me anywhere!" I suspect my dear daughter left those tickets out on her dresser on purpose, especially since her Dad found them in her pocket and I instructed her to destroy the evidence (I knew what his reaction would be). Then it was a screaming fit between the two because he went into her room and saw said tickets, which she knew he would do....sigh. 

Why did I think it was going to be easier when they were older?

Happy Girl

Just can't get enough of the bright pink in this Little Yellow Bicycle "Paradise" line! It's such a perfect pop of color against the more subdued tones. I created this layout for a fabric challenge over at Creating Keepsakes. The flowers were really simple to make. Cut them out freehand and adhered to a piece of cardstock with a little tape runner in the center, then stitched on top. The leaves are cut from a piece of polka dot netting from Webster's Pages. A little stitching and bling and they were done!

Cardstock: Bazzill, patterned paper: Little Yellow Bicycle; diecuts, stickers: Little Yellow Bicycle; letter stickers: American Crafts, K & Co.; punches: E K Success; gems: Kaiser Kraft, Recollections; fabric: Jo Ann Fabrics; netting: Websters Pages; ink: Clearsnap; pen: Sakura; floss: DMC; adhesive: Therm O Web, Tombow; sewing machine: Viking; misc: thread.

Kinda getting into my corner rounder lately, and one can't have too many border punches either :)

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Grandparents Day really meant a lot to my children 

when they were in grade school. They loved having them visit!

Hopefully, after 5 days of rest the muscle will have healed enough to go to work. Feels like someone knuckled my calf and it's bruised but you can't see anything. Stretching and heat don't seem to make a difference :(

Getting a sorely needed break from the busy sports schedules. Basketball and Wrestling are done too  :}

Time to gear up for track and possibly Soccer. Mimi is undecided on whether to play soccer or run track.

Thanks for stopping by, I'm off to bed since it's 2am! Aaack! I don't usually stay up this late but the beasties were restless tonight and didn't want to settle down and go to bed. They can't seem to get the concept of keeping a schedule. Of course if you stay up until 2 in the morning you are going to be tired and crabby!

Big Hugs

When my kids were little this was one of our favorite phrases. "Give *insert name* a BIG HUG!" only say it while drawing out the syllables. Matthew's sweet expression when he gave his Daddy a hug melted my heart. The photo quality stinks...too dark, back lighting and now faded but still scrap worthy.

When I start a page, first I select the papers and finding just the right paper was difficult. Bright colors accented the poor quality and made the photos disappear on the page. Muted and monochromatic fit the bill.

Then I go through all my embellishments and pull everything I think might coordinate (this is why my scraproom looks like a tornado hit when I'm done). This page is a mix of a lot of manufacturers!

Cardstock: Bazzill; patterned paper: Echo Park, Little Yellow Bicycle, Making Memories; letter stickers: American Crafts; chipboard letters: Die Cuts with a View; stickers: Crate Paper, Echo Park, Jillibean Soup; fabric brads, journaling spots: Basic Grey; diecuts: Little Yellow Bicycle; punches: EK Success, Martha Stewart; brad: Sassafrass; pen: Sakura; marker: Marvy Uchida; floss: DMC; adhesive: 3L, Therm O Web, Tombow; misc: twine, vintage buttons.

The text paper is an oldie from Making Memories. Originally the green zig zag like border was on the outside but I cut it off and used it as a frame around the middle paper, then sanded it a little to tone down the green.

These corrugated flowers didn't start out as flowers! They were diecuts that didn't fit my page so I punched these coordinating flowers out of them.

Aren't the little birdies cute mimicking the positions of my hubby & son :)

Outlined the white letters to help them stand out better.

I love the finished layout :) Feel like I succeeded in making the photos the stars of the page. Tell me what you think, I can take it :}

Baby Steps

Look how tall he was at 8 months! Keep in mind that my husband is 6'4". This is my take on a the most recent Creating Keepsakes sketch posted on their submissions page. The photos are a little faded but they went well with the Paradise collection by Little Yellow bicycle.

Cardstock: Bazzill; specialty paper: Paper Studio; patterned paper: Little Yellow Bicycle, W R Memory keepers; letter stickers: October Afternoon, Jenny Bowlin; chipboard, diecuts, stickers: Little Yellow Bicycle; buttons: W R Memory Keepers; brads: My Minds Eye; punches: E K Success, Martha Stewart; ink: Tsukinenko; pens: Sakura, Sharpie; adhesive: 3L, Therm O Web, Tombow; misc: wooden skewers, mini clothespins.

Used a skewer as the post for the banner and some of those adorable tiny clothespins.

Martha Stewart border punch. Love the bright pink!

Fussy cut the clouds from some W R Memory keepers paper and used chalk ink to make them look "cloudy".

The punched pink circles really make the letters stand out.

It feels good to scrap these old photos, they were just waiting for the right paper :)

Mimi has her last 2 basketball games of the season and I'm scheduled to work them both :( Hoping Grandpa John or Daddy will attempt to take some more photos for me. It's really hard to take good photos in the gym, so a lot of mine are blurry due to poor lighting.

Tomorrow is a big day for Matthew...he starts driver's ed! Where has the time gone? I just realized that he only has 3 1/2 years of school left and then he will be off to college. I almost had an anxiety attack just thinking about it!

Look for a new post on Tuesday, have a great week!

Beautiful Dream

You know how you see a photo for the first time and you just fall in love with it, this was one of those for me. The sky is so blue (not even Photoshopped), her face so dreamy and the pumpkin a rich burnt orange color, the whole scene is so ethereal. Tried a little color blocking and created a faux envelope. Here are the results...very linear, even for me :)

Cardstock: Bazzill; patterned paper: Little Yellow Bicycle, My Little Shoebox, Sassafrass; stickers: K & Co., Little Yellow Bicycle; diecuts: Little Yellow bicycle,Stampin' Up, Tim Holtz; brads: K & Co., Making Memories, eyelets: Making Memories; punch: E K Success; circle cutter: Coluzzle, Provo Craft; ribbon: ink: Colorbox; American Craft; pen: Sakura; adhesive: 3L, Tombow; misc: twine.

My best friend of 28 years and I "did" lunch and caught up on kids, jobs and family matters :) Then this afternoon Matthew begged to go to the antique mall. Since I enjoy a good stroll around the mall myself, off we went! He came home with the Eagles album "Hotel California" and I nabbed an awesome Victorian flower frog. Perfect for displaying cards and such. It cracks me up that he loves the music that I grew up with and acts like it is all new for me. Here is a sample of our conversation..."Mom, do you know who sings this song?", "Yes" I reply. He turns and looks at me incredulously, "Really?" and " Yes really" is my answer :)

Happy surprise this afternoon, my layout "If I Could Turn Back Time" was highlighted on the Club Creating Keepsakes Blog along with several other very lovely cards and layouts. Pop on over and check out our creations!

Paradise

I can't get that Coldplay song out of my mind, ever since I watched them perform it on the Grammys! It made an appropriate title for this page about our visit to the Michigan State Children's Garden. It is also coincidentally the name of this cute line from Little Yellow Bicycle. The teal in the paper was a perfect compliment to the little bridge in one of the photos.

I remember how excited the kids were to experience the myriad of colors, textures, and smells of the gardens. A virtual feast for the senses! Mimi was so cute, following Matthew around trying to do everything he did :)

Used another awesome Sketch Support sketch.

 

Traced and trimmed the pink paper as a foundation for the title, then popped with foam squares.

Love the paper flower kits from Little Yellow bicycle, so many combinations possible!

 Stay tuned for some more cards this weekend,  now I'm off to watch American Idol with my hubby :}