True Colors

It. has. been. so. long. since I completed a scrapbook page - at least since September. Oy! I got to looking at my ongoing project, and decided I really wanted to get to work on it while I still had memories in my head (they tend to fall out easily with me...). My current ongoing project is a 12x12 album of my trip to Chicago to see GLEE live in concert. Yes, I'm still beaming about it. :) I have no idea why the pictures upload sideways. It's quite the aggravation. Hope you can get the idea. :)

The bulk of the pages in the album are themed on titles of the songs they performed, most of them exact reenactments of the scenes in the show. This particular page/2 pages are based upon "True Colors", a Tina solo. This was a great choice to get me back into scrapbooking mode, because I LOVE bright, fun COLORS. This took a lot of time, but it was super fun. :)

A 2 page spread. I'm a fan of those...

Page 1. The photo is from FOX (I used a mixture of photos I took live, and shots from the show that really capture the themes well).

Font from Wall Décor & More, cut at 3.25" with Monogram feature. I cut them all in white cardstock, and then applied ink and coordinating Stickles, to create a rainbow effect.

I love this photo!! It set the perfect tone for inspiration.

It's not secret that I'm obsessed with these... :) I made them each by hand from paper studio cardstock, glossy accents, buttons, and stickles.

Page 2. Both photos taken by me. I used this page for all of my journaling.

Font from Wall Décor & More, cut at 2.5" with Monogram feature. I cut them all in white cardstock, and then applied ink and coordinating Stickles, to create a rainbow effect.

I am having so much fun documenting this night. The show itself brings me so much joy, but getting to see them live? Knowing that my boyfriend loves me so much that he made it actually happen? I have no words. No one can ever top it - and no one can ever take those memories from me. :) Thanks so much for reading with me. I hope everyone is staying WARM! Brrrr!

big hugs!!
Emily

Introducing..!

The reason I was absent from my blog, along with just about everything else in my life, for so many weeks preceding Christmas, is because I decided to make handmade gifts for everyone in my family. I absolutely loved doing it - my only regret is that I didn't have more time, even though I started very early. I love to pay attention to detail (sometimes to a fault...) and so I usually just went without sleep. For my Grandma, I made paper dolls, but for my parents, brother, and boyfriend I made mini chip-books based on each person's individual hobbies and loves. It was a ton of fun. I've decided I'll showcase 1 per week (probably..) to get through them. Truth be told, I should probably save this one for last, because it is my personal favorite. Although I have favorite pages in each book, this one tugs my heartstrings more than the others.

Anyway, this is the one I made for my boyfriend, Josh. The topic? Our baby, our dog, Diego, who we adopted over 2 years ago, and lives with Josh. They say we rescued him. Some days, I feel it's the other way around. He is the light in our life. :)

. . .

This is the cover. I can't tell you how excited I was to find this image on A Child's year -Diego runs faster than my eyes can move - it was perfect. :)

Album by colorbok; patterned paper (the paper studio); die cut and title - Provo Craft (A Child's Year); Enamel Accents (Ranger); Pawprint ribbon (Ribbon Boutique); Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher; Bone brads (Recollections); mini alphas (Making Memories).

<-- This is my favorite page in the album. Is he not the CUTEST? I hadn't planned to do a dog 'narrative' in this book - until I printed this picture. I couldn't picture it without him leading the reader through the pages.

Souffle pens by Sakura; Stickers from The Paper Studio; Embroidery floss; foam dots.

Josh & Diego at their first visit to my house. Love it. Again with this die cut - I couldn't wait to match it up with a picture of these 2.

Paint dabbers (Espresso and Cloud Blue - Ranger); Linen Closet stack (DCWV); die cuts (Provo Craft - A Child's Year); souffle pens (Sakura); Enamel Accents; mini alphas (making memories); buttons from my stash.

It was no easy task to find a way to fit 2 pictures on such a small page. This was their first long walk - to my grandma's house. :)

He lives for car rides - so naturally, he had a lot to say for this picture...

^ These 3 are all one page - with a little flap book. I left the page naked with just some edging. I spelled "guarding" incorrectly..but I'm not sure I even want to fix it (can you believe it?).

I ended up really like the way the pictures looked when cut to fit the page. Beware of those tonic scissors on photos, though - they scraped all over mine - eek. The "I heart" sticker actually said "I heart my dog", but I cut it in 1/2, and "stickled" it. Customization is key! ;)

I love this.

The back page - probably my second favorite. I did double-cursive on the title to make it pop.

So there we have album #1. Thanks so much for taking the time to check out this album - it's so special to me. I hope every one's 2011 is off to a great start - I'm so truly thankful for my new subscribers. :)

xoxo

Emily

A couple of projects

Since I'm not crafting as much right now, I'm going to backtrack a bit so I can still make some blog posts. Here are a couple of cards - one from a couple of weeks ago, and other from Sunday when I went to visit grandma in the hospital.

The first one I made for 2 reasons - 1., I really like to make encouraging cards for my boyfriend whenever I can. He is such a hard worker, that sometimes I don't know how he does it. He is a devoted worker to his job, a full-time student, a wonderful papa to our doggie, and the most amazing boyfriend I could ask for. I know how hard college can be (sometimes I am still in disbelief that I made it through!), and I like to encourage him when I can. 2., he loved this stamp when we found it at Papertrix, and I wanted to find a way to use it... ;)

^ black souffle pen

^ black soot crackle paint

^ more souffle pens

This next card was very fun, and soothing to do. I was thrilled to find these puzzle cards at Archivers because puzzles are one of my grandma's favorite hobbies. There are endless possibilities of directions to go with something like this.

^ Adirondack Paint Dabbers - Aqua, Red Pepper, Raspberry, Purple Twilight, Lettuce, Denim, Espresso, Sunset Orange

^ Recollections brad + Tim Holtz Texture Hammer; Doodlebug Crushed Velvet Flock

^ Ranger Enamel Accents; Hero Arts Prisma Glitter

^ Souffle pen

^ envelope

thanks for reading! xoxo

Emily