Remembering My First Grade Teacher

This layout is my entry for the CSI challenge this week. Doing this project brought back a lot of fond memories from the recesses of my mind. Thanks to Color, Stories, Inspiration, I have been able to journal many  precious memories that probably would not have been saved, otherwise.

For this layout, I used a lot of techniques:

sewing, inking, painting, stenciling, 3-D work, die cutting.

You can see here, where I used Ranger Crackle Paint. This dusty rose color is one of my last crackle paints that hasn't dried up. I really need to reconstitute many of those bottles!

Yes, the photo in this layout is my first grade picture!

Products used:

Girls' Paperie brad

Martha Stewart diecut

October Afternoon paper

Prima Color Blooms

Ranger crackle paint

Simple Stories paper and rub ons

Here is a more legible version of the journaling:

            I Remember First Grade Teacher.

 I will never forget my first grade teacher, Mrs. Thomas. She was such a sweet and caring teacher, and taught us to read and do simple math. I remember learning to read from the Dick and Jane readers and experiencing a feeling of satisfaction after completing each story.  Mrs. Thomas was a grandmotherly teacher who set a tone of kindness, consideration for others and having a joy for learning.

Our classroom was a place for learning about how to treat each other, about the world around us and the basics of reading and math. Sitting on the front row in class was a prized position in the classroom. I would raise my hand to ask or answer a question . The constant hum of the fan in the back of the room somehow helped us to concentrate on our work. It was a quiet, focussed atmosphere filled with the joy of learning. There were no computers, phones or TV's; not even for Mrs. Thomas. We learned to be good listeners, especially during story time and when Mrs. Thomas was giving a lesson. If we had a question we only had to raise a hand and Mrs. Thomas would gladly come to our desk for help.

I don't remember having any trouble makers in our class. Everyone was eager to learn and encouraged to be good citizens.  Shawna was my best friend in class and we got to play together at recess. We loved climbing on the jungle gym and swinging! We would also flip over the bar that held up the see-saw. We would giggle and wonder if anyone noticed our pretty crinoline petticoats!

What a blessing it was to start school in Mrs. Thomas' room! I suspect that the example she set so many years ago still lives on in each and every one of her students.



This is the cute piece of paper where I did my journaling. It has lines that look like a piece of paper from a first or second grade tablet. First, I spritzed it, then did my writing and last, the stitching.  Below, is the little envelope that I used to hold the journaling.

I always appreciate comments!

Happy

For this layout I used Botanical Tea Collection papers by Graphic 45 and a variety of inks and mists to create the background. They include Prima Color Bloom, Recollections Simply Pastel and Wendi Vecchi's 490 Crackle Texture Paste for the pink grid texture. The mask is by Crafter's Workshop.

What a treat it was to work with this case file at CSI! Aren't the colors absolutely stunning? They are definitely summery and gorgeous! I have fun at CSI being inspired by some amazing scrapbookers who have become my friends since I have been playing along in the challenges.

This photo has special meaning for me. The pin was given to me by my mother, who just celebrated her ninety-third birthday last week. The mint green pin was used years ago to attach a corsage given to her by a special beau, I'm sure.

At least one feature in my scrapbooking lately has been popped up. In this case, I loved the little pink wren so much that it was an obvious choice for me.

The little rose petals are by Prima and the thread is by Coats and Clark. It's been in with my sewing supplies since I was in junior high or high school! The stamp used here is by Heidi Swapp and the ink is Archival by Ranger.

Playing with inks, paint and paper make me just as happy as building a nest makes  this little wren feel satisfied....it just comes naturally!

Delight in the Little Things

I fell in love with the color scheme at CSI this week! The bright orange and pink seem to pop off of the page, don't you think?

First, I cut a strip that would become the center of the layout and border punched across the top and bottom of it. Then, I punched more strips,  glued them all together and stitched around the entire page and stitched over the little ribbon ties that would become suspension for the flowers . I used a mask and modeling paste for texture. After that, I spritzed them with Tattered Angels Glimmer mist.

Next, I painted the chipboard beehive shapes and glued them to the middle section of the layout. Popping up the photos and the library pocket gives the piece nice dimension.

The texture and dimension can be seen in the close up, above.

A little bit of cheese cloth helped to soften the layout for a more romantic look.

Below, you can see the library pocket that I created with the little tag on which the journaling reads:

"Oh, delight in the little things such as the bee. No one has told him that aerodynamically he should not be able to fly."

Products used:

American Crafts Elements brad

Dusty Attic die cut chipboard

Glitz Design stickers

K & Co paper

Kaiser Craft paper and die cuts

Liquitex modeling paste

Martha Stewart border punch

Petaloo flower spray

Prima ink, resin swag, mask and paper

Ranger Acrylic Paint Dabber

Tattered Angels glimmer mist

From my stash:

ribbon, white alphabet stickers and cheesecloth

Thanks for taking a peek!

Yellowstone

We recently got back from a wonderful vacation to Yellowstone National Park in the United States.  My husband and I took my 92 year-old mother, who had never seen this national treasure. It was the perfect vacation for her, as many of the amazing features of the park can be seen by car and didn't require her to do an extreme amount of walking.

This is my entry in this week's challenge at CSI. What perfect timing! The colors and journaling suggestions could not have been any more perfect for me to use Yellowstone and the great outdoors photos as the subject of this page!

If you're a scrapbooker, you might enjoy playing along at CSI. Everyone is so nice there and the challenges will make you a better SB artist than you already are.

  

For this layout, in particular, I thought that heavy embossing using Stampendous Frantage products would be perfect. What would be more perfect than to use than mica flakes? Mica is a rock and the effect is that areas with this embossing look a little like molten lava. Yellowstone is alive with thermal features, and I was happy with the use of mica fragments for this piece. Also used are a few twigs from my backyard, as it is illegal to remove anything related to nature from the park.

You can see the embossing up close  in this photo.

On our vacation, we flew in and out of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We also spent a little over two days touring and shopping in Jackson. I am always on the lookout for elements that might add interest to my scrapbooking, so when I saw these little elk horn buttons I purchased three of them.

In the photo below, you can also see a little brad in the shape of a deer, which I also found in Jackson. Since the selection of scrapbooking supplies was not the best in the world, I doubted that I would ever use it.....but here it is on my first layout after returning home.

Techniques used:

Stamping, inking, paper tearing, embossing, sewing, doodling, 3-D work, masking, painting and die cutting.

Products used:

Echo Park paper

Heidi Swapp color shine

K&Co flower and feather cluster

Liquitex modeling paste

Making Memories marker

Martha Stewart border punch

Maya Road trim

Prima inks

Stampendous embossing powder and

       mica fragments

Technique Tuesday stamp

The Crafters Workshop

From my stash:

yellow string/embossing floss

brown thread

Thanks for stopping by to look at my work!

Love My Fairy Garden Featuring Leaky Shed Studio

Hello everyone!  I have been working on a layout for The Crafty Scrapper Design Team featuring a sweet Leaky Shed chipboard frame and Bo Bunny's lovely Enchanted Garden Collection.

I have been spending a great deal of May and June in my garden, which I love doing. One feature in my garden is a Fairy Garden, which is something I have added to my "Favorite Things to Do" list. Miniatures have always been something that I like to collect and  share with friends, and Fairy Gardens fit perfectly into gardening and collecting miniatures.

A variety of techniques were used on this layout. Hand stitching took the greatest amount

    of time,   but I also embossed, stenciled, fussy cut, painted, inked and did some 3-D work.

This beautiful frame is from Leaky Shed Studios. I loved working with it and imagining where each part of the vine would twist and turn... in and out, creating the frame. The frame came to life using markers in colors that would work well with the color scheme in the papers. I started by coloring the entire frame a light green, then used a variety of darker greens to add shadows.

For the banner across the top, I hand cut each pennant, punched holes, stitched and inked. Last, I ran baker's twine  through the holes and popped it up across the top of the scene.

The Prima flower received a little ink to make it perfect for this fanciful scene. Also, I inked and stickled the letters LOVE. The American Crafts wooden butterflies were inked, embossed and tied with colored wire from my stash, and the alpha stickers are by Glitz Design.

Hope you have a sensational summer day and enjoy the "little things". Until next time.....

Fourth of July

 Hi everyone! I have a layout to share that I did recently for The Crafty Scrapper in Waxahachie, Texas. AKA: my favorite scrapbook store, where I can buy the latest and greatest supplies and learn wonderful techniques through their classes.


Many of you took some great photos on The Fourth of July and want to scrapbook them. I have just the solution for you! The Crafty Scrapper has a fun patriotic collection by Doodlebug Design called Patriotic Parade. This collection is loaded with beautiful papers, stickers and embellishments. It is perfect for feminine, masculine, family or adult layouts.

First, I cut, punched and inked several strips of the gorgeous patterned papers from this collection and used a little Prima ink over a mask by Crafter's Workshop and let it dry. After that, I spritzed some Maya Mist in areas that would be seen and not hidden by the paper strips and photo. Then, I applied white modeling paste  by Liquitex over a Prima mask and let it dry. Next, I mixed some Maya Mist into  a bit of the modeling paste and applied it between the white zig-zags. It has the look of red and white stripes....only with a zig-zag pattern. After that, I used one of my Stamper's Annonomous stamps to emboss the background paper by Authentique.



The felt flower is by Maya Road and the tiny pearls are by Doodle Bug Designs. The ribbon is by May Arts and is also available at The Crafty Scrapper.

This little garland of stars, sticker and multi layered pinwheel stickers are by Doodle Bug Designs and are so much fun to use for adding texture and dimension to any page or card.

The border punch is by Martha Stewart and adds a nice touch to any page or card.

Just a little note here about the photo. I have had this photo of my son and daughter for about twenty-eight years, but never scrapbooked it because the background had a lot of brown tones. They didn't look very good on this, or any scrapbook page, so I scanned the photo, printed it out, then cut away the background. I was surprised at how well it turned out, and will most likely use this technique occasionally in future layouts.

Perfect Daydream

This photo is one of my favorites from a trip to the gorgeous Canadian Rockies. As I stood there, looking out onto Emerald Lake, I knew that it was going to make a beautiful photo, and it is one of the best in my collection. When I want to take a few seconds out from a busy day or need help falling asleep at night, this is one of the visuals I see from my most treasured memories. Recreating this stunning vision in a daydream helps me take my mind off of most daily problems that have come my way. The calmness it brings is needed some days more than others!



This is my creation for Case File 125 at Color, Stories, Inspiration. The challenge at CSI each week is causing me to have a paradigm shift in the way I think about color, techniques, design and journaling.  If you are interested in becoming a better scrapbooker, check out their website, join in and play along. You won't regret it!

I loved working with this color scheme. It is absolutely yummy, don't you think?



Techniques used here include: misting, painting, masking, 3-D work, stamping, inking, layering and punching.



Products used:

Deco Art acrylic paint
Heidi Swapp mask
Kaisercraft clear stamp
K & Co. patterned paper
Liquitex Modeling Paste
Maya Road
     netting
     pins
Prima
     Color Bloom mist
     resin pieces
     wooden bird
     flower
     Title: "Perfect"
Pro Art Gesso
Ranger Adirondack Acrylic Dabber
Studio Calico
     maple leaves
     wooden words day and dream
Webster's Pages resin cameo



Thanks for leaving a comment! Hope you enjoy the daydream, too.

Hugs,
Patty