Up The Street August Project Kit

I've been wanting to do a little mini album kit for awhile, so when I saw the sweet little camping flashcards from Elle's Studio, I thought this would be the perfect time to do it.
There is a real mix of manufacturers in "Travel Journal" ... Basic Grey, Jillibean Soup, October Afternoon, Pebbles, Teresa Collins, Studio Calico, 7 Gypsies, Elle's Studio, Cosmo Cricket, Sassafras, Maya Road, Ranger and Prima. Aaaannnnddd, a few vintage bits thrown in for fun. Phew. That's a lot of stuff.

Fronts of papers ...

And backs ...

Vintage clothespin, bottlecaps and scrabble tiles ...

My plan is to make a few layouts first, and then use the leftovers to make my mini.

This is a layout that I literally did while we were camping this summer. Real simple ... just showcasing a photo of my dad and I when I was small. I used the Jillibean cardstock from the main kit as my background.

I can't share my second layout just yet. The Scrap Your CRAP! gals were asked to contribute to Scrap Street's October issue and I used the Travel Journal kit to create my layout.

But I will show a few little peeks.

The trim is leftover from the June's "Summer Daydream" (still a few left), but the teal colour in it was so perfect with the October Afternoon paper ...

The chipboard letters and pearls are from the main kit, but again, the colours were perfect for this layout. I cut the base for the title from the Teresa Collins paper and then went over the edge design with the Ranger Rock Candy Distress Stickles.

Hope everyone is staying cool! It's crazy hot here. Thank goodness for pools :)

Scrap Your CRAP! ... Challenge #56: Measure Me Up

A new month means a new challenge over at Scrap Your CRAP!
This month's challenge was to use tape ... decorative (if you have it) or whatever tape you have around the house ... masking, duct, electrical ... just whatever.
I've done layouts using masking tape in the past, but have had the Tim Holtz Nostalgic Tissue Tape in my stash for awhile and hadn't tried it out yet.
I applied strips of it to the lower section of a Maya Road envelope. It's translucent, so the base colour only lightens slightly.
I also folded about a third of it over length-wise (so that there would still be a strip of the adhesive showing) and then pleated it around a punched circle of cardstock to use as a foral center.
Not tape related ... I also punched a butterfly using a Martha Stewart punch from Creative Imaginations Real Wood. It makes for a nice, subtle accent.

I used the June main kit and add-on kit from Up The Street for this layout. The colours were perfect for this sweet beach scene :)

Scrap Your CRAP ... Challenge #54: Color Me Happy

A new month and a new challenge is up at Scrap Your CRAP. This month's challenge was to use color on you layout ... watercolors, crayons, watercolour crayons, color pencils, acrylic paint, gesso or any other mediums. Use at least 3 colors.
I chose to use gesso as my background. Splattered on and spread around with a piece of cardboard ... leaving ridges and splodges for texture. I need to get a palette knife. That's my next crafty purchase ;) I stamped using Tim Holtz's Fabulous Flourish stamp while the gesso was still wet. Starting in the upper left corner. It pulls the gesso right off. Then, without wiping off the stamp, I continued to stamp on and around the backround. The bottom right corner shows how the gesso acts as a stamping medium on the bare cardstock.
I spritzed randomly with Jenni B Blu Shimmerz Spritz and held it vertically to let some of the Spritz run down the page in drips. It really accents the stamped areas in the gesso. The flower accent above the upper envelope was stamped using the Hero Arts Large Flower cling stamp with Chestnut Roan Chalk Ink, cut out and sprayed with the Jenni B Blu Spritz. Both envelope flaps were sprayed with Creme du Chocolat Glimmer Mist and the upper envelope stamped with the Hero Arts Old Letter Writing stamp in Chestnut Roan.This layout uses the June add-on kit from Up The Street. I had so much fun playing with the gesso. I'm definately going to be using it again :)
All of the stamps I used on this layout are available in the store.

Scrap Your CRAP ... Challenge #53: A to Z

Happy National Scrapbooking Day! I've got a bunch of errands to run today, so I'm not certain I'll get to any scrapping. Maybe tonight.
The new challenge at Scrap Your CRAP goes up today as well.
This month's challenge was to use up old letter sticker/Thickers. I wanted to pull out, and use up, some of my oldest Thickers. This Rootbeer font was one of my favorites and I had two packages of them in white and one in black. I used ALL of what was left in the three packages as the background of my layout. White on white and black on black. I gave the whole background a spritz of Before Dawn Shimmerz Vibez and then a bit of a blast of Jenni B Blu on the white in spots.
Because it's not a thick layer of Shimmerz, there is a bit of a shadow effect where the raised letters prevented the spritz from hitting the cardstock.

I was also able to use up a brad, some velvet ric rac and little piece of ribbon I'd saved from a 2-year-old Scraphoria kit. Oops! Just realized I haven't filled in the date yet but these photos are from Paul starting Playschool this past fall.

New Jillibean Soup letter stickers. This is a great font and I can see myself collecting all of the colours.

And some of the newer October Afternoon Report Card papers. I've had these for awhile and figure I better crack into them now that the new releases are out.

Head on over to Scrap Your CRAP to participate in this month's challenge :)

Also, today is the last day to take advantage of the NSD sale at Up The Street.

I put up a few challenges yesterday at the Up The Street blog. Up for grabs is your choice of one of the new Sassafras Collection kits!

TGIF?

It's Friday. I'm never certain whether I look forward to the weekends or not.

Pro ... no rush on Saturday morning to get kids ready for school.
Con ... I have to get up and ship pigs on Sunday morning and the truck driver is usually here before 7:30 am.
Pro ... the kids are home.
Con ... the kids are home and usually arguing.

To be honest, weekends have never been a big deal to me. Before we had the boys, I worked at a resort and generally worked weekends. Now we farm, have three boys, and there are no days off at all. We don't go out all that much or have weekend getaways like people who have the Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 jobs.

I guess that Dave recognizes the weekends more than I do. He still has to go the barn every day and will be in the field if the weather is good and crops need tending. But if he's caught up, he'll do something non-farm related on a Saturday afternoon and take it easy on a Sunday afternoon.

For example, this is what he's been doing with his spare time this spring ... a cabin, on a hill, looking down toward the river at the other farm. Most of the structural materials were "scavenged" so the project hasn't cost very much at all. Someone we knew had put an addition on an older home a few years back and ended up building a new home last year so offered the addition to Dave. The wall that connected to the main house was missing, so Dave framed in old windows and plans to add a deck on that side, as it looks down on the river.
I'm calling it the Man Shack because there is no bathroom. But Dave thinks he could rent it out for scrapbook retreats. I don't think he really understands the concept. Ladies like to be able to sit on a toilet. At least I do ;)

The next challenge at Scrap Your CRAP goes up tomorrow so here's a wee peek. Any guesses as to the theme?

Just a reminder that the 30% off NSD sale is running until tomorrow at Up The Street :)

Scrap Your CRAP ... Challenge #52: Floss it up

This month's challenge at Scrap Your CRAP was to use embroidery floss on a layout.

I wanted to really make my floss "pop" so I used an ecru colour against a dark green background with very few other elements.

The title comes from the Little Rascals character. Whenever I see a photo of my dad as a little guy, I want to call him Spanky.

Aren't those chubby little cheeks and short pants adorable?

I used the February kit from Up The Street as well as some Prima crystals from an add-on.

The title and outside boarder is cut from one of the patterned papers. I love when I can get coordinating elements from a single sheet of paper.And because I was in the "floss zone", I whipped up this fun one using a paper bad as the background and the March kit from Up The Street.

I have a shipping special running at Up The Street right now ... half price until April 14th.

Go check it out!