Link to another cool mini album

Yes, I know that I need to get busy and work on my own projects, but till I have something to show, here's a link to another cool mini album. This link was posted on Two Peas, so if you've seen this already, I apologize. I'm just in a beachy mood.

Florida Beach mini album by Tanya

I want to emphasize that this mini album and the Halloween mini that I posted a link for a few days ago were NOT done by me. Neither do I know the individuals who made them. I am just admiring their work.

Hopefully all the time I've spent lately looking at mini albums will help me to get busy and make one of my own to post.

I Decorated My Cricut

The above photo is of the back of the machine. The one below is the front.

I had some vinyl from another project, so I decided to use it to decorate my Cricut Expression. It reflects my love of nature. I used the Home Decor cartridge to do this. After I cut and placed the vinyl, I glued red rhinestones for berries to the dark green vinyl branches. The word "memories" came from the Cricut Lite Bloom cartridge, and the word "hugs" came from the Cricut Lite Lacy Labels. I used the Gypsy font for the rest. The phrase itself is entirely my own.

Link to awesome Halloween mini-album

I've been scrapping, but till I get my layouts scanned, I don't have any pictures today. However, I do have something else for you.

Thanks to frequenting the Two Peas in a Bucket General Scrapping Message Board, someone brought my attention to an absolutely incredible and creative Halloween mini-album. I'm posting the link here, because it is amazing work! No, I don't know the person who made it. Her You Tube name is Follow the Paper Trail. It has spookier, creepier papers and embellishments than I would be inclined to use, but her art in this mini-album is really awesome! The techniques she used could easily be adapted to any mini-album theme. (She also has a video on how to make a Paper Bag mini-album, which I think I will watch next.) Here is the link to her Halloween mini-album video on YouTube:

Spooky Paper Bag mini-album

I'm definitely going to have to take a look at some of her other videos, although I have to admit that watching stuff like this makes me feel totally inadequate as a scrapbooker--sort of like a little kid who thinks "That's what I want to be when I grow up!"

Zoo Layout

The LSS near me has a Wednesday layout each week. One of the employees or design team members designs a layout using specific papers & embellishments, and the store has the papers & embellishments up front for the customers to buy if they want to do the layout. When they buy the papers, the customers get a color copy of the layout. There is a new layout with different papers each week.

One week the Wednesday layout used this 3 Bugs in a Rug "Animal Stackers" collection. The layout was fairly cute, but I couldn't get it to work for the zoo photos I wanted to use with it. I used some of the same papers, and the same twill ribbon as the original design, but I used a couple of different papers from the collection and redid the layout design to suit my photos and my taste. I also created a unique title for it, working designs cut from the papers into the simple digital die-cut title. I was very happy with how the title turned out.

Scraplifted elements: background paper was the same as well as the elephant cut out, zebra twill ribbon underneath the elephant, and the placement of the elephant/twill as well as the positioning of the lower right photo on the left hand page. The rest was my own creation, and I used different papers and pieces from the collection for the photo mat and to embellish the page. I also used more photos.

I think my version turned out much cuter than the original, but it doesn't hurt that the little guy in the photos adds a lot of the cuteness. I'm not saying who he is, just that he is special to me. My own children are too big to be cute.

Virginia Beach Layout

I have been trying to use my stash before buying anything new. Consequently, I don't know who made the charms, nor can I identify the paper. It's all a bit older. The charms were purchased a very long time ago, and the paper is at least 2 to 3 years old.

One thing I've noticed about beach paper is that the color scheme varies from year to year. Depending on the beach, the color of the ocean may or may not match the current beach paper colors. I actually had a hard time finding papers at the LSS or in my stash that went well with these particular photos.

The title was a combination. I created the cursive Virginia using the Windsong font. I used a Sizzix die that had the word "Beach" on it. The Virginia state outline was from a dingbat font that had all the US states. Simple and easy. My kind of scrapping.

July Make & Take #2 Great Outdoors tag

Often the LSS only has one Make & Take during any given month. However, since July 4th was the theme of the project after GASC, which holiday comes early in the month, I designed an additional Make & Take to run the rest of the month.

The tag is an Accu-Cut die, the trees and sun are Sizzix dies from long ago. The moose was done with a McGill punch (also older), and the circle opening in the tag was cut with a Coluzzle template and knife.

The stamp in the center of the circle (the Great Outdoors words) was a Studio G stamp from a long time ago, too. Yes, it's another "blast from the past" up to this point.

The stamp that forms a circle of worms & ladybugs around the Great Outdoors stamp is from the Boys 3D Simple Circles stamp set by Art Gone Wild. This is a stamp vendor that I found at GASC, and I really loved their stamps!

The texture on the tag is one of the Tim Holtz embossing folders (wood & brick pattern set).

July Make & Take #1 Patriotic Tag

After GASC, I did up a small patriotic tag for a Make & Take at the LSS.

The stamp is a Studio G stamp that I found at AC Moore awhile back. I really love that stamp! I can't say that about most of my Studio G collection.

I have no clue who made the navy paper with white stars. It was something left over from a Make & Take that was at least 4 years ago. In fact, the red tag, navy/star paper, and the fibers were all from those leftovers, so I have no clue on who made the fibers either.

The punch that I used on the bottom of the tag was a Marvy Uchida punch from a long time ago, too. It's one of my own punches. The LSS had an almost identical punch, but theirs was slightly too wide to fit the bottom of the tag, which I thought was a bit weird. Perhaps theirs was made by another company.

I had found the pre-cut tags, rectangles of the navy/star paper, and the fibers in the cupboard at the LSS and decided to "recycle" them by using them in a totally different tag. I have to admit, it was a bit of a challenge to find a way to revise the original tag into something quite different.

Everything used for this tag is basically old, old, old stuff, except for the stamp. It's a good example of how old stuff from our stash can still be used.