Preview of Layouts to Come

I finally got some pictures that are worthy of sharing! My Sister-in-law let me borrow her camera. I will be so glad when I get the battery for my camera in!! I dropped in today to give a preview of the layouts I have ready to post over the next week. Splish Splash is one of my favorites EVER!! 

I am finally getting somewhere with these photos from me and my brothers childhood! I will be back with more tomorrow!

Gulf Coast Kit Challenge

I am back with  a challenge for featuring my Conterfeit Kit "Gulf Coast". To see my post on the counterfeit kit click HERE.

For today's challenge "Instant Shine" I actually have two prompts for you.

Prompt #1) Use a Polaroid/Instant frame on your page/project. (either handmade or bought)

AND

Prompt #2) Use Sequins somewhere on your page. 

Sequins are one of the hottest new "trends" right now so I say "Use it before you stash it". I know how it works for me, I will buy them, admire them, love them and then store them..but as far as using them well you know how that goes! :) 

So here is my project for "Instant Shine".

The only thing that wasn't in my kit is the Laugh Sticker @ the bottom of the Polaroid frame. 

If your not big on mists or splatters than sequins can be used to get the look without the mess! 

This layout is one of the first that I have mixed Thickers on. So that's the challenge "Instant Shine". Come back here and leave me a comment if you complete this challenge and be sure to leave a link to your project as I would love to see them. 

Until next time..."Stay Crafty, My Friends" 

~Ashley Crafty~

My Counterfeit Kit and DIY Glitter Tape

I decide to take on the challenge of creating a counterfeit kit thanks to the inspiration over at Counterfeit Kit Challenge. I spent about an hour Sunday looking through the many great kits from several Kit clubs and settled on a great kit from Noel Mignon called Hayride

I love this kit but my main reason behind choosing it has to do with those mismatched October Afternoon Alphas. I have had them in my "stash" for some time now and have never been able to use them...despite trying several times.

I have named my kit Gulf Coast because of the turn it took once I started pulling papers. Please forgive the photos (I had to take them with my phone...My camera is due back from being repaired any day now!!) So without further ado: Gulf Coast. 

Gulf Coast Embellishments

I started with the letter stickers and wood veneers (pictured below) as those were the things that stood out the most to me but from there things took a turn! hehe

wood veneers

The bones of the kit are the same--Very "Sticker-Centric" and around 20 sheets of paper but the colors are my own. Since this is an older kit I gave mine a bit of an update with some more "trendy" items. (Read-Sequins and Handmade Polaroid Frames) I also threw in the hand-cut hearts in place of the canvas butterflies which come in to play for my challenge (but more on that in a minute). 

Gulf Coast Papers (and more Embellies!!) 

I pulled my colors from that OA Sticker Sheet because I saw that as the one piece that tied Noel's kit together. As for the contents of my kit...Here goes:

Papers:  Cardstock: Light Green and Orange by Colorbok, Teal by Recollections, Grey Textured Cardstock by Bazzill-Two Scoops, and Kraft by Amy Tangerine Ready Set Go. 6x6 Papers: 2 6x6 Dear Lizzy Fifth and Frolic Papers, 6 6x6 Amy Tangerine Ready Set Go Papers. 12x12 Pattern Papers: My Minds Eye-The Sweetest Thing-Lavender "The Best", My Minds Eye-The Sweetest Thing-Tangerine "Together" and "Happy", Studio Calico-Sundrifter-"Wildflowers", "Meadowland", "Dreamweaver", "In Love", "Seafoam", and "Set Sail", Pink Paislee-Cottage Farms "Basket" and Amy Tangerine-Ready, Set, Go "Get Cozy"

Embellishments: Studio Calico- Ampersand Mask, Pink Paislee-Soiree Wood Veneers, Dear Lizzy-Flag and Label Stickers, Smash-Pocket, Kaiser Craft- Yellow Report Pockets, My Minds Eye-The Sweetest Thing- Tiny Word Stickers "About Me", My Minds Eye-Collectible Label Stickers-Memorable "Note", 3 Dear Lizzy-Lucky Charm Tags, 2 Echo Park Journaling Cards, 2 MAMBI Journaling Cards, Darice-Silver Washi Tape, Studio Calico Wood Veneers "Chevrons, Triangles and Butterflies", Evalicious-Happy Stamp, Handmade Glitter Tape , Handmade Poloroid Frames and Hand Cut Paper Hearts 

Brads: 2 Crate Paper Story Teller, 8 My Minds Eye-The Sweetest Thing and 4 Dear Lizzy X-mas Rose Brads. 

Letter Stickers: Amy Tangerine-Tile Thickers-Blue/Teal, American Crafts-Remarks "French Toast", American Crafts-Thickers "Notarized", October Afternoon-Mini Market "Pink and Black", October Afternoon-Farmhouse 12x12 "Found Alphas.

As for the Glitter Tape-I have taken the "Red Line Tape" or "Terrifically Tacky Tape" and laid it out across white  paper. Peel off the backing and apply glitter. Then cut them down to size.

So simple and so much cheaper than the rolls of glitter tape with 4 yards for $3.00. So that is it for my first Counterfeit Kit. I will be back tomorrow with a challenge for you. (Hint: it has something to do with paper hearts) So until tomorrow-Stay Crafty My Friends!!

~Ashley Crafty~

The Bubble Boy of Summer

This layout is another summer one. Can you tell that I am so, so, so ready for the warn weather. Shorts, Flip-Flops and Lazy days by the Pool can not came soon enough. But enough about my Summer Envy. This Picture was taken by me in July of 2002, I came out of the room and my brother was standing there blowing bubbles...Have you ever seen something and just know that it is a moment you need to capture on film?? Still to this day it is one of my favorite Jacob Pictures (That and the one from Splish Splash which I will be photographing in the coming week...hopefully)

I am not big on the big Anchor trend...while I do think it is a versatile shape I can not for the life of me put it on a page that is not about the beach or boating, even swimming would do but I thought it worked well here. (of course this is a beach photo).

The Good Ol' Cabana Inn. That place was like a second home to us in the summer...Oh, how I miss the beach!!

The Squirrel and Cheese story will have to wait for another day I'm sorry to say. Again I did my journaling on Vellum because I am just terrified to destroy my pages with a spelling error. I think I need to work on that.

As for the Materials: The background paper is an older October Afternoon Paper, the Yellow Wood-grain is an Amy Tangerine and the Orange Paper and White Tile Letters are both from Echo Park Paper Co. This and That. The Thickers were given to me so I don't know exactly who they are from, and of course the Today and Anchor are both from the Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm Line.

That is all from me tonight but Chloe wishes you all a Great Week!!!

That is her Have a Great Week Face!!!

Summer Time...And the Living is Easy!!

Summer Time and the living is easy....or so it was in August of 1997 when the photo for this layout was taken. I loved these two photos as they epitomized summer growing up for me. We had been in the "new" house for a little over a year and me and my brother had a brand new trampoline!!

When I saw these two photos, one a 4x6 and the other a 4x10 panoramic shot, I knew they had to go on a page together. I don't normally "do" multi-photo layouts but I gave it my best!!

 

I had to cut the panoramic photo down a bit to make it fit. I was 12 my brother was 7 and these days in the backyard on the trampoline with the sprinkler aimed at us are still some of the fondest memories I have of summer. 

I used Studio Calico Sundrifter. I have never paid much attention to Studio Calico papers but both Sundrifter and Snippets really caught my eye this time. 

This was my first time playing around with the wood veneers and Mistable Thickers. I colored the Thickers and wood veneers with the same mists I used on the background. The colors are the Heidi Swapp Colorshine in Peach and Studio Calicos Mister Hueys in Splash.

I also used the Snippets Flair-Be Happy and the arrows are from the Sundrifter line. I did learn on thing in the process of this layout and that was that you really have to let the mists sit on the wood veneers in order to achieve a bright color. 

Do you have any childhood photos that really speak to the memories of a given time or season? Have you taken any photos lately that epitomize what you feel about a Season? Are you a new fan of Studio Calico or any other manufacturer that you didn't pay any attention to before? Let me know in the comments below. I'd love to hear from you. 

In Dads Shoes

I have been going through my photos and have recently found some of my husband as a child. So I scrapped them. This photo is from 1990. Jack was 3.

I am really happy with the way this came out seeing as I had no plan when I started. I just sat down among a pile of paper and went for it.

I used My Minds Eye- The Sweetest Thing for the background paper. The feather stickers are from American Crafts Soho Garden Collection. 

I love this little elephant from the Amy Tangerine Ready Set Go line and I have been itching to find him a home. I originally thought that I was going to use bright colors for this page but it just kind of came together in this Grey/Blue color scheme. 

The feather stickers added just enough color so that the photo didn't look out of place. The real feather was added in because it had been sitting on my craft mat for a week I thought it would soften the sticker a bit. 

I just love his picture. He is so ready to go. He's got he big shoes on and his hat. The I brought the Black I love you more sticker in to balance the black letters on the left side. 

So there it is "In Dads Shoes". Have you had a layout recently that went in the complete opposite direction than you thought it would? Let me know in the comments below. I'd love to hear from you. 

Meet Me In The Sunshine

In case you haven't noticed I have been going through and scrapping a lot of my childhood photos. This one here is of me and my parents (see those two in the background laying on the bench) at Walt Disney World a whooping 15 yrs. ago. It really does not seem like it was that long ago. I used mostly Amy Tangerine's Ready Set Go line for this one with a few touches of Sketchbook. 

The letters down the side are from Echo Parks Sweet Day line and the Pink Alphas are October Afternoon Mini Market Alphas.

My albums are the furthest thing from cohesive. This layout goes right in front of the Tea for Two layout from my last post-Then and Now.  The vellum hearts from that line really didn't catch my eye when I first saw them but after seeing them in real life and not through a computer screen I find them quite appealing.

I really liked this sticker. It was the only thing that I knew I wanted to put on this layout from the beginning.

So that is it. Now if I could only get the 500 other pictures from my childhood done I would be in good shape.

In Other News:

This past weekend was my Mother-In-Laws 55th birthday. We went, We ate..I took to few pictures. (I always do) 

Happy B-Day Robbin!!

I did manage to get a picture of my husband, his brother and their Pepa together right before we left.

Left to Right-My Brother in Law Micheal, My Hubby and their Pepa Jack

And the most exciting news--I finally got a place to put my scrap stuff. It's not a room and it is still in my living room but it is soo much better than shoe boxes!!! More on that to come later this week.

Have a Crafty Friday-

~Ashley Crafty~