Jungle Cruisin'

It is my day on The Bug Bytes today, and I am sharing another Disney layout. Of all my Disney layouts that I have worked on lately this one is my favorite and so I am so happy to let you all see it! One of my conundrums is how to balance my layouts with the pictures and "story" - and I think I got a nice balance here.

The details: 

The background paper is from DCWV Safari Kids and the photo mats and tabs are Recollections. For the "folders" I used the recipe cards on From My Kitchen and I don't really have specific sizes - I just unlocked the width and height  on my Gypsy and adjusted each one according to my photo sizes. I know you can't really see from the pictures but I used the CM paper distress tool to distress the edges of each and then inked the edges lightly. matted each picture with photo corners and cardstock.

For the title I used the Zoo Day font, which is one of my favorites, and I cut it at 1.30 using Green Core'dinations cardstock which I sanded a bit. The shadow is in kraft paper and I for the life of my don't know why the shadow layer didn't come out exactly perfect - I thought I was using the same size - but I was at the point where I was ready to just go with it and move on. Again hard to see but the title is pop dotted to make it stand out. 

Now that I am done with this post I realize the pictures are not really doing this layout justice so you will have to take my word for it  - much better in person. I am really looking forward to our hop this weekend - can't wait to see what the team has in store - so I will see  you then!

Last Photo Paper Layout

We are back to Disney layouts again - I didn't forget about them,  I am just currently up to my ears in birthday party preparations - but trust me - it's going to be a good one! This layout was perfect for this particular paper of Epcot because the photos are of my daughter and how she spent her time with Grandma while the rest of us were inside the ball!

The details:

I used Hannah Montana for the "Epcot" part of the title, cut at 1.10 inches with the shadow and then I added some heat set gems to bling them up. The "excitement" are Making Memories Passport chipboard letters. The journaling tag is a Maya Road sheer.

I do love the corners of the top photo mat because I used a CM punch that I won at the crop when I was working on this. And so I had to add some more bling there. I do remember spending a lot of time on this layout - the other paper choices were hard for me to decide because I didn't want to take away from the background. I am happy with the end result so I can forget all the sweat and stress that went into it!

I have one more Disney layout before it will soon be time for the birthday extravaganza! If you are missing the Halloween projects it isn't because I am not doing them - it's because they are over at the Paper Craft Weekend Challenge. I feel like I have split crafting personalities! Until next time I will just have to keep myself company!

Animal Kingdom Layout

I have another Disney photo layout for you today. This one is from Animal Kingdom and I wish the picture came out better because I felt like these pictures fit in with the background paper so much easier than the other ones -at least as part of my planning process. 

The details: 

Of course this is the layout that I can't find my notes for *SIGH* but I am pretty sure the printed paper for the title is from Safari Kids and then I inked it pretty heavily with a green chalk. The font I used for "Animal" is the Roly Poly from Plantin Schoolbook and is cut at 1.50 inches. The "kingdom" is the font on Designer's Calendar and one of my absolute favs - it is cut at two inches and I welded the letters together on the Gypsy. 

That pretty much is it other than matting the pictures and adding my journaling. Pretty easy and another page in my album done! I should be done with it in about......10 years!! That's how it feels anyway! On a side note, tomorrow is Sketch Challenge Friday at Paper Craft Weekend Challenge and I absolutely LOVE the way my projects came out!! I really am getting much more done now that I have those weekly deadlines ahead of me - amazing what a little pressure will do. So if you get a chance pop on over and maybe you will want to play with us!

Simple Disney Layout and a Shameless Promotion

Today I have a really simple Disney layout - I am still working with those tricky photo papers. This one was a picture of one of my daughter's favorite rides - Winnie the Pooh - but I didn't have any pictures of her on it! 

I still made it work - with a picture of of the ride entrance and some Fast Passes we had saved.

The details:

I matted the photo on a scrap of paper from the DCWV Flower Shop stack. Then I used a library pocket (I believe cut at 6.5 inches) from Tags, Bags, Boxes, and More to hold the fast passes. I matted the journaling on the front and I was done! It was simple and easy to put together -and it isn't often that I have a layout like this but I think it will make a nice addition to my album.

And now for the shameless promotion! Actually I just am really excited about the project I have posted over on Paper Craft Weekend Challenge and I wanted to share it all with you too! I made 3D pumpkins that can be used as little goody containers and I love them! Here's a pic:

And I have two other variations (a Halloween pumpkin and an acorn) posted over at this weekend's anything goes challenge. So if you have the time pop on over there and check them out! I hope you might be feeling so ambitious you decide to participate - we would love to have you!

It's Disney Time Again!

I am finally getting back to some of my Disney layouts! I planned these eons ago but just got around to them at a crop last weekend. The series of layouts I will show you over the next week or so were really a challenge to me - and I thought they were going to be so easy! When we were at Disney I picked up just about every pack of Disney paper they were selling - and in the stacks were these photograph sheets from each of the parks. So I have been dying to use them but when I sat down to do them it was hard to find a balance between placing the pictures without covering up the background! And it took me all day - but I am pleased with how they came out!

The details: 

This is paper showcasing Mickey's house at Magic Kingdom - which I hear is no longer there  - aww poor Mickey! (The economy is so bad he's homeless! but I digress.) I was in a bit of a photo corner mood but instead of using them I used these great Mickey head brads from Queen & Co that I picked up at CKC Buffalo. For the title I used Mickey font, cut at 1 inch in red and shadowed in yellow. And so you can see it closer....

I used a Mickey glove brad for the comma! I so love these brads (Have we talked about my brad "problem"?? If I don't call it addiction they can't be taken away from me!). And I also added a Mickey button (also from Queen & Co) so that I could enter myself in Kate's Challenge over at Paper Craft Weekend Challenge! Who knew a layout so simple could take so long?! I have a few more of these to share so stay tuned!

Magic Kingdom Moments

Yep still being lazy - but since it is my day to post on The BugBytes I thought I better kick my butt in gear!

This is a layout for my Disney album - these are some pictures of my daughter taking in the wildlife outside of the Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom.

The details: 

The paper I used is from DCVW Summer Dreams stack and coordinating cardstock - it just went perfectly with the colors in the pictures. I used the font on Designer's Calendar (with the shadow) cut at 1.5 inches and welded together for my title. That particular font is a hidden treasure on that cartridge   - I always forget it is there and then am so happy when I remember!

To create my "ribbon slide" I used the Tag Feature for the castle on Wrap it Up - and then I welded it to a plain tag that I rotated 180 degrees. Voila! A ribbon slide. The cut is a little more than 5 inches when it is all together. For the layer behind it, I just welded two of the plain tags together. The whole cut was another treasure I found by using my Gypsy to do a search for castles. The ribbon was a clearance find and the journaling tag is from Maya Road.

This was an easy layout to put together once all the welding was done - and I am so pleased with the way it came out. I will try once again to kick my own butt and get posting!

Crystal Palace Shaker Layout

As I was working on this next layout  I found the Mickey confetti I had saved from our table at the Crystal Palace and wanted to incorporate it into the layout. After all, I thought why should shakers be just for cards??

The details:

The paper I used was from K and Company, and I used Storybook for the title and cut with the coordinating plain papers from the same stack as the print. The title was cut in green and shadowed with blue but I just was not happy with how plain they looked - and then it hit me! The "Crystal Palace" needed crystals! And since it had been so long since I used my I-rock I apparently forgot what a huge PITA it is, I busted it out. Eleven hours later (not really but it felt like it) I was done adding the bling and (since I am a glutton for punishment) I added it to all the photo mats too.

Here you can see the bling in the photo mat corners and in the pic you can see the confetti I used for the shaker part of my layout.

To create the shaker element I used the same welding technique I used in this post. It is basically a frame made using some rectangles from George and the silhouette cut of the Mickey shape  from Mickey Font welded together. I used a blank frame behind it so you could see the background paper. The plastic is recycled from a package of plastic easter eggs.

I used a double layer of foam tape to give it more dimension than my shaker post-it holders, and you can see from this picture how it is popped up.

So even though adding the bling was more time than I liked to spend on one project I was super pleased with the way this came out and I was able to incorporate our souvenir confetti right into the layout. I guess sometimes the extra effort (and swearing) is worth it!

Simple Swiss Family Layout

Today's layout is really simple but I am still pleased with how it turned out. I think because it is so simple you can pay more attention to the pictures. This was our trip up into the Swiss Family Treehouse at Magic Kingdom.

The details:

This is the first time I used the Blackletter font which came free with the Gypsy download - when I was looking at these pictures and thinking about this layout it was my first choice.

The letters are cut at two inches and I used paper from the DCWV Ultimate pack (which had samples from 10 of their lines - and  the plaid is also from there ) . I shadowed them with a beige paper because I was sort of going for that "carved in the tree" look. I believe the background paper may be from a package of paper I got at Big Lots. In an effort to use what I have (a shocker I know!) all the photos were matted with paper from an old DCWV mat stack - so old I don't know what it was because the cover is long gone but the paper complemented the rest of the papers perfectly!

i hope you aren't tired of the most magical place on earth because there is more Disney ahead!



Disney Safari Pages & A Mini Giveaway!

I promised I would get back to layouts and here we are! I have been diligently working on my Disney album, and what works best for me it to plan ahead. I spent about a week putting together sketches with pictures and paper so I was prepared to attend my last all day crop and be productive! And I was - eleven pages done and in the book! Only a million more to go....*SIGH* it just feels that way sometimes! These are some pages of the pictures I took on the Kilimanjaro Safari at Animal Kingdom.

The details:

For these pages, I used DCWV Safari Kids stack, which I just picked up recently and absolutely love! I used the Zoo Story Lite cartridge for the title :

I used vinyl to cut out the "Kilimanjaro" because at 1 inch I knew they were going to be a pain to cut and adhere if I used paper! Vinyl made it a cinch! The Safari is cut in the font with the Shadow at 2.5 inches. I know it may be hard to see on the picture  of the layout but in the corner I used a spare strip of paper decorated with some brads from Eyelet Outlet. They have the cutest brads and I am totally addicted!

On the second set of pages I used my Cricut for the film strips. That cut can be found on Mickey and Friends, and I used by Gypsy to hide contour of the inner cuts so that I could place my pictures there instead. Then I welded two of them together slightly overlapping and cut as one long strip. The side one is cut at 3 inches and fit five 2x2 pictures. The larger strips were cut at 5.5 inches and I moved the cut over to the side of the page to cut the strip on the leftt, then cut it as a whole for the right page. The letters are not Cricut (*gasp*) they are chipboard with a wood grain font on the front.

I do have some extra letters that I cut out - the word "safari" in the Zoo Story font (without shadow) at 3 inches - once in the cheetah print and once in the gold cardstock - and they will go to the first person to email me about them! Only seven more pages to write about!

Piglet meets Elegant Edges

I just adore this layout - it was definitely my favorite from the last swarm I had and this is actually the first time I used Elegant Edges - it was love at first cut!

The details:

The scalloped square is cut at 10.80 inches, while Piglet is cut at 5 inches and the title is 2.60 inches. This is another layout where I had prepared a sketch ahead of time and then went and changed my mind! As you can see once I had everything cut and matted I decided to put Piglet on the other side and skip the ribbon and move the flowers.....you see I am not very good at following my own plan!

In spite of what my notes say I did end up using only the ATD cardstock (although the matting paper may be recollections cardstock), while the flowers are Prima with a jeweled brad from OTC in the center. I won't promise this time to stick solely to layouts as I have some other things planned but I am glad to be on a scrapbooking streak!

Eeyore's Elegant Layout

So the Disney and Elegant Edges layoutscontinue with Eeyore. These are pictures from our lunch at the Crystal Palace and I still can't get over how tiny my daughter looks next to Eeyore - she's so tall now! I also love this Eeyore because he looks happy (well as happy as he can get!).

The details:

This is another layout that started life as a sketch. This time I took a picture that included my notes as I planned the layout. Actutally I am just now noticing that I had thought to add flowers to this layout but that didn't happen. See? I told you I can't stick to a sketch or even my own notes.

Eeyore is cut at 4.5 inches and I decided to attach Eeyore's tail with a brad instead of just gluing it on - so it could swing back and forth if I was so inclined. The title cut is 2.50 inches.

Once again I used Elegant Edges for the photo mats. The square mat is Hearts2 on page 41 cut at 5.40 inches and the other is Hearts 2 but the Oblong feature cut at 7.00 inches. I decided the pictures need a little bit something more to stand out so I matted them on the pink paper before adding them to the larger mat.

The printed paper is K and Company, the purple from the Floral Dreams stack and the turquoise from the Life's Little Occasions stack. The other papers are Recollections cardstock. More Disney to come!

Mary Poppins meets Elegant Edges

This layout really is an ode to one of the newest cartridges released by Provo Craft - Elegant Edges. I have been pretty good lately about resisting the new releases until this cart! It is one of the best carts that PC has to offer - it is completely full and offers so many possibilities. I brought it to my swarm with me and used it on every single layout I made that day.

The details:

This layout started off as a sketch challenge on the Circle board and this is the sketch (courtesy of Page Maps). My biggest "thing" with a sketch is I find them a great starting point but I can never stick to them completely, even I am the one who drew the sketch!

And when I say, this really is about a layout dedicated to Elegant Edges, every single cut is off the cart. This was the first layout I did with it and I just played away! ( I won't tell you that I only brought a few sheets of the papers and had to make every cut count.)

 The red scalloped "border" page (with the white daisies) in the background is actually one of the borders (page 65 border + shift), sized it at .64 inches and laid it on the gypsy mat 3 times, welded it together and then to a large rectangle, and then flipped the border piece and welded it to the bottom of the rectangle. Now the Cricut doesn't cut all the way to the edge so when it was done cutting I had to do a little snipping but it worked!

The piece behind the large picture is the Eyelet cut (page 52) cut at 8.20 inches with both layers cut out. The smaller pictures are matted on the same cut from that page, but the Frame cut option with the inner frame line hidden. The journal mat (or where the journaling will go when I get around to it) is I believe from page 49 - the shift cut and the shadow layer - cut at 5.20 inches.

The flowers are from Prima, the twine is Divine Twine and the brads are from Oriental Trading (I think).
I hope I have convinced you to add this to your "need" list, if not I have more to come!

If you are stopping by from the circle board and Pam's blog comment post, welcome!

Mickey Ears - From Sketch to Layout

I have been slowly but surely planning and working on my Disney album  and so while I may not have been diligent about posting I have been working. This week's challenge at the Cricut Circle Blog is to work from a sketch and since that is the way I work anyway I thought I would share my process for this layout and how I design my layouts in general.

The details:
I usually begin by sitting down one night with my pencil and paper and a stack of pics. Then I group my pics together by theme or event and begin to sketch. I sometimes use my Becky Higgins book of sketches or ones I have cut out of magazines or sometimes I just move the pics around until I come up with an order I like. Then I begin to sketch my page layout - and what I have started to do is next to the sketch make a list of the possible papers and cricut cuts I want to include as well.

My inspiration for this particular layout was I wanted to model it after the pair of Mickey Ears my daughter picked out and designed for herself at Disney World. Here's a closeup so you can see:

And once I have done a few of those (or on a different night) I pull out my Gypsy and use the first layer as my design layer - I layout the cuts as I want to see them on my page. I might use more than one layer if I have to plan welding and shadow cuts.

When I do get around to start cutting (usually after a torturous afternoon trying to pick out papers - oh the decisions!) then I simple copy and paste the images to a different layer for cutting.

For this particular layout, the big Mickey shape is cut at 9.5 inches, the font is cut at 1 inch and shadowed, and the little Mickeys in the corners are cut at 2.90 inches and then I trimmed off the excess that hung over the edges. The printed background paper is DCWV Blossoms & Butterflies, the holographic pink is from Target, and the rest to the paper is Recollections. The gems are from Michaels too - from the kids crafts section and adhered with glue dots.

I hope this is the start of more layouts to come - and if you enjoy looking at the sketches too please let me know - I will be happy to include them.