sketchbook

Hey all. Here's another stash project. Something rather simple, but that was on purpose.

You see, I collect inspiration from magazines and the 'net. Usually when I see a layout I like, I translate it to a sketch. Sometimes I even come up with my own sketches (not so sure they are really original lol).

Well last crop I realized that the sketches that I was drawing on scrap papers and such I had been throwing out and I decided I didn't want to throw out sketches anymore, even if I'd used them. Sometimes I scraplift myself!

It occurred to me that it would be very handy to have a book of sketch "blanks" in which to draw my sketches and keep them for as long as I like. I wanted the book to be small enough to keep in my purse, yet large enough to make the sketches easy to draw. I wanted it to be "nice" looking but not too pretty since it would be rousting around in my purse and probably get a little beat up eventually. So no dimensional decorations and no expensive supplies on it that I would regret losing.

Bonus, I got to use my Bind-it-all, which I haven't used enough. :)
The finished book is 6 1/4" x 3 3/4".

Thanks for stopping by!

WARNING - this layout is a little bloody!

Don't scroll down and look if you think it might bother you!!!  (really, it isn't all that nasty, but I know some do not care for getting squeamish from a scrapbook page, so I want to warn ya)

You see, my husband likes to take all the classes put on by the police department and fire department for citizens to get to know those departments. He's taken lots of training in self defense and volunteered for a local neighborhood patrol group for a while.

So the layout below is of pictures he took of his hand when he got shot by accident with a gun loaded with a rubber bullet. I wasn't too pleased when I first heard! But his hand wasn't too badly damaged and it healed up just fine. And it really was an accident.

So here's the cricut cut I used to embellish the page. Scroll down if you want to see the whole layout, just be warned, if you are the least bit sensitive, don't look. I found this cut on the Old West cartridge. :)

Last warning! Don't look if you get squeamish!  lol

Everything on the page is from my stash! The papers are Kaiser Craft, and they just seemed perfect for this layout. Thickers and mini alphas and a rub on (daisyD's?) as well. My hubby rolled his eyes and said, "you scrapbooked that?"  Typical man. lol

Thanks for stopping by, especially if you got this far!

porch - decorated

Hello all! Here is another "Used my stash!" layout for you! I used the halloween themed papers from October Afternoon, plus some other things from my stash.  I know the black tape looks like washi tape but it is NOT! I have not bought ANY washi tape due to my ban on buying new stash. It's old 7gypsies tape I had in my stash for a couple years! So it's not as thin as washi tape but it works the same way and looks just as good. Someone had given me a big glass pebble with a pumpkin glued to the back of it, so I used that, and I also used a chalkboard sticker from the American Crafts halloween line a few years ago as a mat for a smaller circle punched picture. And of course, I used a Charlene's Button Box button in the shape of a spider web. ;)

No cricut on this page, I just cut strips and hand snipped the banners.

My mom had sent my son (who was 4) a box of halloween decorations a few years ago, and we put them all up. My kid was so excited that he did this weird little spooky dance and of course I had to take a picture. ;)

Snapshot

Hello all!
 You know how certain iconic items become all the rage? I've seen things like those old rotary fans, coffee stain stamps and more. Lately I've seen the viewmaster disks around. What memories those bring back!

Just recently someone on the Cricut message board asked me where I get my ideas for layouts. I get inspiration from everywhere, but I have no problem scraplifting! Especially if I want to experiment in a style of crafting that I'm not used to doing... as is the case with this layout... I am never quite comfortable doing layouts like this... But I like how it turned out. Sometimes I just see one little thing somewhere that inspires, sometimes the whole layout inspires me. In the latter case, I often translate someone's layout into a "sketch" and go from there, using my own supplies to re-interpret the "sketch". Today's layout is definitely scraplifted! It was her viewmaster disk that caught my eye at first, but then I fell in love with the whole layout. To see my inspiration, click here.

However I did not have any viewmaster disk embellishments. So I had to create one! That meant a little research. It turned out that Capadia had made a tutorial for a cut file for a different machine. I was able to translate that to my gypsy and created my own viewmaster disk cut file for my cricut on my gypsy. You can download the Gypsy viewmaster disk file from Box.com by clicking here.

The gypsy file includes the disk in two sizes, the smaller one is based on measurements I found for the disks... close but not quite exact I am sure. The larger one was the size I wanted for my layout. The images are grouped separately so you can move them or resize them as you please. On the second layer is a blackout version of the disk, in case you want a black background for the photo holes, as I did in this layout.

By the way, this layout was made entirely with stash that I've had from 4 months to 4 years. :)  I dug out several things I'd made ages ago and stored away (grungepaper flowers, UTEE'd heart).

Thanks for coming to see my project today!

Cricut Info and supplies used:
Designed by: Michele Donner-Ramsey
Machines used:  Expression, Gypsy
Cartridges used:  Elegant Edges, viewmaster file: B is for Boy, George, Plantin
Other tools: Sizzix, Tim Holtz rosettes dies, EK notebook punch
Other supplies:  The Girls' Paperie letters, Printed cardstock from Graphic 45, Studio Calico, Simple Stories. Camera rubon from Kaiser, seam binding, Art Parts hand, grungepaper, buttons, Charlene's Button Box button (yellow square button). twine.

Science Museum

Hello again!

Here's another layout from my stash. These papers are from Kaiser. For a while there, the LSS I shopped at carried a lot of Kaiser lines, and I bought them all! I loved Kaiser. I still love Kaiser. I really loved the colors in this line, and they went especially well with the pictures from our visit to my mom in Oklahoma, when we all went to the Science Museum.

I also used Maya Road chipboard gears, a couple rubons, and some letter stickers from two different lines. The blue cardstock gear behind the title was cut on my cricut from the CTMH Artiste cartridge.

The photo on the far left is actually the top photo of an accordian booklet that is attached  to the page. I had too many pictures for the layout but didn't want to leave them out. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Long Beautiful Hair

Hi all!

I apologize for the awful picture of this layout.  I've already put the layout in the books so I couldn't retake it without fuss.

I didn't take my cricut to the crop where I did this, so I had to use all stash! I don't think I've used store-bought flowers in AGES! LOL   The papers are Bobunny, the flowers are bazzill, Kaiser and other paper flowers I had.

All of us in the pictures are wearing wigs. It's a sort of joke gift we did for a co-worker, who had cancer. We all took pictures in wigs (she had to wear a wig due to treatments) and gave her a photo gift with us acting silly in the wigs.  She loved it.

Thanks for stopping by!

smiles

Hi hi!

Here's yet another "use your stash" layout!  This is old Little Yellow Bicycle stuff, the leftovers of a Kit Club I was in when I first started scrapbooking at the local store Scrapaganza, a few years before they closed.

No cricut, I had stickers that came with this kit club, and I wanted to use up everything I could that was left, so it wouldn't go to waste, especially since it was such cute papers and stickers.

The pictures are of my son, in his first year at different ages. Yes, he has socks on his hands. The poor thing had eczema something fierce, and often had socks on his hands to prevent bloody scratches. Don't worry, he didn't have the socks on 24/7... and he's got very fine motor skills now. :)  And his eczema isn't nearly this bad anymore.

Thanks for stopping by!

Dance

Hello hello!

Here's a simple page, and a "use your stash" layout as well! :)

No cricut, I cut the strips myself and just hand snipped the banner ends.

Just pictures of me and my belly dance buddies, dancing for fun. :)

Halloween Party

Hello!
Here's another "use your stash" layout. That's all I'm doing these days! Using my stash!

No cricut in this one. I hand cut strips and snipped the banners myself. :)

The pictures are of the Halloween party that the Junior Theater put on for the kids. It was actually pretty cool, with a pinata, games, dancing, and theatrical activities (short plays, storytelling, improv acting).  Kevin had such a great time being in Junior Theater that we'll be doing it again.

Thanks for stopping by!

Moments in Time

Hey all,

Here's another "use your stash" layout. Love me some Graphic 45!!!  One of the reasons I love G45 is their prints, especially "back side" prints. I love the small repetitive patterns. Often far more versatile than the larger, themed prints on the main side.

This is the sample layout, I made 5 kits of this layout to sell to my friends.

I used the cricut to cut the title, both "moments" and "time" come from the Gypsy Font. "in" came from Cake Basics font.  The parentheses at each end are a border cut, from Elegant Edges. The large banner in the middle is Art Philosophy, with some size adjusting in my gypsy. The rose leaves are from A Child's Year.

The roses are felt and cut with my Sizzix Bigshot, and the 3-D Flowers die. Not sure why the red color is so saturated in the picture. In real life, I "grunged" up the red and tan felt flowers by inking them with distress black soot ink before rolling the flowers up. It made the felt color not quite so intense.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Halloween

Hi everyone!

Here's a Halloween layout I made with stash... the papers were added to my stash last october, I admit it, but everything else had been in my stash a long time. :)

No current cricut. The orange label shape was cut with my cricut years ago and stuck into a stash box.  There's all sorts of Halloween stickers on this. I am normally not a sticker person! But I had bought these so I decided to use them up.

The pictures are of someone's yard we drove by. It was a huge yard, about an acre, and it was FULL of decorations. There were 3 vehicles, a old police car, and old fire engine and another car. These were REAL vehicles. On the overturned car, they'd spray painted "Stay alive, don't text and drive" and coming out of the vehicles were zombies and such. It was pretty awesome how much details they'd had. Elsewhere in the yard were zombie parents pushing a double stroller with two zombie babies. There was a zombie bicyclist. My photos didn't do it justice at all. Next year, I hope they do it again so I can get better pictures.

Thanks for stopping by!

Bridal Shower

Hello all!
Here is another "used my stash" layout! :)

I dug out some KaiserCraft papers. I am a huge fan of Kaiser. I am also a huge fan of the color scheme red, white and black. lol

So I did cut the scallop circle background on my cricut, and the scallop border, branches and swirls, as well. I am sorry to say I don't remember which cartridges and I didn't save the cuts on my gypsy! I'm so naughty. :)

If you are wondering, the pictures are of a friend's bridal shower, we were doing a game of who could make the best dress with toilet paper. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Simple Joys ... my dancers

Hello all!
Here's another layout for my "use your stash!" challenge. I used a line of BoBunny papers.

These photos are from a group shot of me and my dancers at one of our performances. After the show, we "crashed" another dancer's birthday party and danced for her too. :)

I purposely did not take my cricut with me to the crop that I did this layout at, so that I would use more stuff from my stash. I ended up using one of the flower sprays from the flower spray swap that I participated in a while back. I wasn't digging any of the letter stickers I had so as I was looking through my stash I came across this "simple joys" embellishment that I had made when I first got my Cricut Imagine a couple years ago. The colors went well and though it wasn't quite the title I was looking for, back in the day that I took these pictures, my life was constantly about belly dance... so it was simply a joy for me... so I made it work for my title. ;)  And of course I used a Charlene's Button Box butterfly button.

Thanks for stopping by!