Life's Trivialities

Hope / Creative Scrappers / Process Video

Wow! I'm on a roll with blog posts and process videos this week! It's either feast or fame around here. I hope you're enjoying the "feast"! Fatten you up some before the famine arrives! LOL!

Today I have a layout created based on this month's March sketch (sketch #304) over at Creative Scrappers. You can see that whole blog post HERE.

For your viewing pleasure, this months sketch;

And my interpretation of this sketch;

I have to be honest; I didn't not like this sketch. Not at first. While I am boxy and linear, I could NOT handle ALL that white space. In fact, if you watch the process video, I filled that white space at first. With much more that what you see here. I call the video done. But after much thought and a consult with my scrappy BFF, I was convinced that that large amount of white space was okay. That moving the embellishments into the diagonal flow of movement was okay. In fact, was more pleasing to the eye.

I really love the finished layout! So if you are like me and looked at the sketch and said yuck, give it a go! You might be REALLY surprised with how it turns out!

Swoon! That digital cut file as another layer in the 6x6 layers just really ties it all together and adds proportional symmetry to the layout. And swoon over that bunny too! There was no way he wasn't going to find a home on this page!

Just another perspective of the finished layout. If you want to see additional detail shots, be sure to visit the Creative Scrappers blog or there are more at the end of my process video.

If you are a sketch fan and are inclined to play along, it would be lovely to see how you are inspired by the squares upon squares! There is a link up on the Creative Scrappers blog or you can post on Instagram using the hashtag #CSsketch304

Thanks for joining me today!

 

Getting It Done / Sketch Inspired

Howdy! How are things is your neck of the woods? I hope all is swell! We here in the Lee-Bishop family are winding down the swim year with Virginia Age Group Champs behind us and just summer league champs to go. Then a blissful month OFF!! It's funny because I know both kids are looking forward to it but are also wondering what they will do with their free time. I thought after three and a half days at the pool they would be done... Guess where we found ourselves Monday night for three hours?!...

Today's layout is inspired by the latest sketch over at Creative Scrappers. I'm so glad to see Kristine and her design team back at it with sketches! And to have Just Nick be sponsor, having just come off that design team. Couldn't be a better pairing!

Earlier you saw Mia's companion layout to this one, hers was title "Record Breaker" and created with a Cocoa Daisy kit. Nikolas accomplished a similar feat and I wanted to document his accomplishment as well. Interestingly, both layouts have a vertical strip of pictures that run down the left hand side of the page.

My embellishment clusters, while still a trio, are placed slightly differently that those in the sketch. I took a bit of liberty there. Because I messed about with the digital cut file, squashing it down the page, I needed something to fill the top space.

The patterned papers and embellishments are an eclectic mix of goodies from my stash. I had set out to use the Echo Park Let's Be Mermaids collection but found that I wanted more variety in the aquas and greens so reached into my scraps for the backing pieces to the cut file.

Yet another swimming layout for the books! Layouts from this weekend might be a tad more difficult given I didn't bring my big camera and we were in doors. I have a few pictures (illegal given we weren't supposed to be taking pictures or video from behind the blocks - oops) on my camera but not many. I really just wanted to be present and enjoy their moments. Rather unlike the scrapper in me! LOL!

I hope you have a nice mix of getting it done and being in the moment in your summer!

 

Celebrating / Just Nick / Simple Stories

Recently my baby entered the double digits. In reflecting back upon her single digit years, I decided it would be fun to have a picture of all those single digit year birthday's together and thus the evolution of the double page spread I'm sharing with you today. You can also find it HERE on the Just Nick blog.

The foundation of the layout is created using this month's FREE (yes, free) digital cut file from Just Nick which is backed with an aqua cardstock. I then went to town filling the squares with Simple Stories' Let's Party collection and a picture from each birthday.

Here's a better look at the left hand page, which happens to be her odd year birthdays;

I love how the colors in the negative spaces of the digital cut file pop from the page. It's refreshing to have a birthday collection that isn't loaded with primary red, white and yellow. Little girls need different colors!

Here is the right hand page;

And a close up;

Be sure to pop on over to the Just Nick shop and use the code TICTACTOEFREE at checkout to get the Tic Tac Toe Background file for free until June 30th!

 

 

Sunshine / Just Nick

Nicole challenged us to use 4 of her Just Nick cut files on a layout of project - I'm sharing that layout over on the Just Nick blog and here on my own blog for your viewing pleasure!

I used the following 4 digital cut files from Just Nick;

• Script Font
• Radiate
• File Folders
• Let It Shine Background

This was a bit of a challenge for me as I like the elements on my layouts to have purpose or meaning. There needs to be some relevance to the story, not just elements thrown on there for the sake of having more. Each of the 4 (or more) cut files needed to be on the layout for a reason. The Let It Shine Background and the "innards" of Radiate combined to make the sun - easy, no problem there. The new font, Script Font, I used a sketch pen with then cut out the outline of the file with my Silhouette for the title. Then the "today" file folder from the File Folders collection served well as a tie in. As the file is cut from a multi colored patterned paper, it served well to tie the multiple elements and colors together.

I love how the title turned out using a sketch pen and then digitally cutting that file! It took a bit of manipulating to get the individual letters to meld but fortunately Nicole leaves lots of "extra" on the letters. This additional swoosh, allows you to either cut or overlap the swoosh of the letters to create a symmetrical word. I can't wait to do this again and use my watercolors or Gelatos within the pen outline!

Thanks for stopping in today!

 

Field Day / Cocoa Daisy

I just love large 12 inch wide pictures on layouts. I have this obsession with large photo layouts. I think it has something to do with the emotion conveyed in a large photo. Just like in a black and white photo. Or maybe it's picture quality - you have to have a good picture to be able to blow it up that big. I don't know what it it but I love layouts with large photos. And today I'm sharing another large photo layout created using a Just Nick digital cut file and my Cocoa Daisy April kit.

While my child is the least visible of those celebrating the rain, I still love the joy that you see in the picture, that emotion conveyed. The brights primary colors in the picture are so perfectly off set by the pastels of the exclusive patterned paper from my April Cocoa Daisy kit. Even the softer hue of the umbrella from the print and cut Cocoa Daisy file is a perfect embellishment for this layout!

I little peek into my work in progress. I decided after the fact to water color the word "rainbows". It was really difficult to read the who cut file so the watercolor was a necessary "pick me up" and the black dots on "no rain no" really helped to make that element a tad more visible.

I have a thing with modeling paste... It's my new go to element on my pages. The rain mask from Prima was just perfect to convey the rain that is a bit more difficult to see in the photograph. The odd larger fussy cut rain drop here and there adding to that effect.

Thanks for stopping in today! I hope you are enjoying the lack of rain!! It's been so wet here in Virginia that the two days of sunshine have been perfect! Just perfect!

Me & The Gang / Just Nick and Fancy Pants

How was your weekend? I hope you had a good one! I had a creative one working with the June Cocoa Daisy kits. I can't wait to share these layouts with you! So until I can, I have a Just Nick and Fancy Pants layout to share with you instead! You find this up on the Just Nick blog today too!

This whole week a few of the other designers from Just Nick and I are sharing with you projects that we created using creative cut files from the Just Nick store and this collection from Fancy Pants, Attwell. It is such a fun, bright collection that is right up my alley with primary colors.

By now you know how I choose the colors in my layouts; they compliment the colors found within the photo with, typically, a bright pop of contrast color for a lift. That's just what I did here. While the collection has a lot more color to it, I stuck with the blues and blacks found in the swim suits these 13-14 year olds are wearing and then went with the pops of yellow for the contrast. Sure is some bright contrast, don't you think?

I love this background file from Just Nick called, Fancy Filigree. I love how backgrounds can enable to you to create your own personal touch. Like here where I cut a few of the "O"s in the background from the yellow patterned paper and rotated it then layered the white "X" from the background lace on top. Creates a kind of a flower or fancier filigree. There are a few of these scattered through out the layout creating a bit of movement that your eye follows.

Thanks for stopping in today. Be sure to check out the Just Nick blog all of this week for some more Fancy Pants inspiration using digital cut files!

 

Light Seeker / Cocoa Daisy / Just Nick

Today's layout share is of our feline, Belle. AKA Belle Girl. She has a million and one other nicknames but her hashtag is #bellegirl. When I come home after work, she is there to greet me, my Belle Girl, and we talk about our mornings. She snuggles and walks around the house slung across my shoulder as we prepare lunch and put the shopping away. She talks back to me.

In the mornings, at the most inopportune moments, she wants to play with the laser pointer. And she asks every morning; pacing at the foot of the fridge/freezer doors, meowing and pleading for somebody to take a break from their harried morning frenzy and play with her. When that fails, as inevitably it does, she just plops down in front of the doors.

I used bits and pieces left over from my January Cocoa Daisy kit in addition to a Just Nick cut file for this layout. I remembered this old "hole pokey thingy" that I had that people used to transfer their sewing patterns to fabric with that I obsessed about using on this layout. It creates a fun, playful movement to the page, akin to the light that Belle loves to play with. And the fun floral stamps from Cocoa Daisy that I hand colored to blend them to the page a little bit more.

Before my Cocoa Daisy kit arrived with these My Minds Eye goodies I had added them to my stash. I was very fortunate to grow that collection when my January kit arrived. Bits and pieces made for the perfect embellies to this layout. Not much was necessary with the floral flourishes as the main "look see" up top.

The "happy" rub on from My Minds Eye was perfect floating in the breeze and floral flourishes. Not wanting it to look "bumpy" by rubbing directly on the layers, I opted to rub it onto vellum and then fussy cut. It looks perfect nestled upon the waves of the Just Nick digital cut file.

Do you have a light seeker too? This cat will play with and chase light all day given the opportunity. She's about 5 so hopefully that playfulness lasts as she ages.

 

Back in The Saddle / Just Nick

A few weeks ago the inevitable happened; Mia was kicked by another horse and then thrown from the horse she was riding. If you follow me on FaceBook, you might have seen a picture of her sitting on the treatment table at Kid Med. A week later, she was right back on that same horse getting back in the saddle and conquering that mountain! She wasn't really "thrown" from Dundie, just to be clear. He reared in order to kick the other horse who kicked him (and Mia) back and in the process, Mia lost the struggle and came down his back.

I used the Basic Flowers digital cut file from Just Nick as well as my favorite font file (Handcut Letters) as support to the pictures and story for my layout documenting this big moment. A big flower and a big moment together, seemed fitting. I saved the negative from this piece of paper and have a plan for it. Stay tuned for that layout, a little further down the pike.

That camera pocket card is something I had left over from my February Cocoa Daisy kit. I didn't get many of the embellishments from the Pink Paislee Memorandum collection that I used here so this was the perfect complement to the page.

The digital die cut letters from a few of the patterned papers were perfect for the title on this page only they got a little lost without the doodled black outline as you see here. A label cut from one of the patterned papers served at the perfect "shelf" for the words "in the", leaving "back" and "saddle" as the main focus of the title.

So I am told that a "real rider" isn't a real rider until s/he has been thrown from a horse 10 times... That is just horrifying to me. I don't really think a horse has that intent when somebody is on their back - to throw. I would like to think, perhaps naively, that there is always something else going on. Like in this situation where the horse was defending itself. Dundie didn't rear to thrown Mia off. Based on that scenario, I'm going to say she survived this inevitable equestrian mishap, learned a valuable lesson and we're moving a stronger, better rider.

 

 

Best Day Together / Clique Kits and Just Nick

Welcome back! I have another layout to share with you that I created using the February Clique Kits kit "Hot Mess" and a Just Nick digital cut file. This is not a cut file that was created as an exclusive for Clique Kits!

A few posts back I shared some layouts of Nikolas at the Cupid Ball. This picture of the four of us was taken that same day. It was a crazy busy day as Mia had made her first Reconciliation that morning then the four of us went to the Woman's Club for the Cotillion culminating event. I love this picture of the four of us all gussied up. Nikolas is rapidly gaining height on all of us and continues to shoot to the sky height wise.

I converted the picture to a sepia tone in order to really let us shine. While we didn't clash, we certainly didn't get dressed with complements to one another's outfits! Love this cut file from Just Nick. I removed an inner circle from the flowers as it really looked like a bulls eye to me. I pondered watercoloring the inside of the flowers but decided to leave them be.

You wouldn't know it looking at these pictures but this kit has a TON of color to it. I just choose the embellishments and papers that worked with this muted color palate. It's understated yet feminine. The sepia and black really pop amongst the digital die cut lace, don't you think?

No more pictures from that day! This is the last of it I believe. It was really tough getting good pictures of the dance itself so I won't fuss with the ones that I did get. I do have a few of Nikolas and I standing outside that I really like but I think I might have made sure this memory will be remembered already. Perhaps I would use that picture for a layout about my relationship with my oldest. Hmmm... I like that idea. Stay tuned!

Just Nick and Clique Kits Blog Hop / February 2016

Hi there friends old and new! Welcome to the February 2016 Just Nick and Clique Kits blog hop! You should have arrived here by way of Melissa's blog. If you didn't and are inclined to participate (prizes!), then I recommend you begin at the Clique Kits blog and work you way back here before sauntering on your merry way.

Today I am sharing with you a layout that I created using the February kit from Clique Kits along with the exclusive cut files created to accompany it which were created by Nicole of Just Nick.

The pieces cut from the navy blue patterned paper in the kit are all Just Nick exclusive files for Clique kits. That broken heart, the heart pennant and banner and the word "shine" that makes up part of the title of my page. They match the themes present in the kit perfectly.

To create the title I cut out the word "shine" as it came in the files. I then used the outline function in Design Studio for my Silhouette to create the background yellow layer. It's the little details like that which allow you to personalize the files and give them a touch of your own.

The cut file heart pennant works perfectly with the sticker pennants that came in the kit! You wouldn't know it wasn't part of the sticker if I hadn't told you and weren't intimately familiar with the collection.

I backed this cut file with some vellum in order to make it stand out from the background patterned paper just a tad. It was easy to get the perfect cut by removing the "innards", or broken bits, of the heart and just cutting the outline of the heart. I reduced the size a smidge so that the outer edges weren't visible.

If you haven't worked with Clique Kits before, as I hadn't, they are great kits to work with. Like most kits these days, the exclusive elements and cut files are really great if you have an electronic die cut machine.

There is a prize to be won! Clique Kits is giving away a $25 gift certificate to the Clique Kits store to one lucky winner. All you have to do to be eligible is leave comments along the way as you hop.

Clique Kits
Heather Leopard 
Melissa Vining
Suzanna Lee            <---- you are HERE
Leigh Ann Odynski
Melissa Elsner
Carolina Schulz
Jaclyn Rench
Aliza Deutsch
Diana Waite
JustNick Blog

From here you are heading onto Leigh Ann's blog and all the goodness she has to share using the February Clique Kit!