Pet Peeve

Literally a pet peeve of mine is people who get animals and abuse or neglect them.  My Dad rescued 2 horses from a guy who said that he was to busy and preoccupied with his life to take care of them.  Good that he decided to give them away to someone who would be good to them.  Bad that he hadn't fed the poor things in months.  Yes.  Months.  

My Dad is nursing the beautiful and loving creatures but he says that they were so starved that they still may not survive.  My heart broke a little when Dad was telling me about them.  The pony is very skittish and will not let anyone near him but Thunder is an absolute love and can't get enough of being petted and talked to.  OK rant over.

My favorite class over at BPC this week is called "Document 2015" series from Aly Dosdall.  I totally plan to use the humongous stash kit that I put together for July with this class.  A couple of other things on the must use list this week are these new to me goodies.  All are from my stash but just recently opened and kinda lost in the middle of so much of my stuff.

A great stamp that came in a Studio Calico kit from a couple of years ago...

The coolest punch ever!  I have used this one before but not nearly as much as I should have....

And this really great brown chalk ink from ColorBox ......

Oddly, creating a layout comes much easier for me when I don't have photos in front of me.  I can scrap with photos but normally won't.  My layouts get finished and than I go through the process of selecting photos for them.  Don't ask me why this method works for me because I can't explain it:)  I do print most of my photos at home and even when there are old film processed photos for me to work with, I will take a digital photo or scan them to print out.  

The most common questions that I get about my process are: 

• Do you worry about your colors clashing?  It actually does not happen often but when it does, I just use a black and white photo.
• How do you get the titles right?  One of 3 ways.  I have a photos in mind when I create the page, I add the title after I choose the photo or I don't put a title on at all.  
• How do you handle multiple photos?  I use a collage or I use one large photo and put the rest in a divided page protector.  

Both of the layouts that i'm sharing were created like this.  I used this sketch 

 for this page.  I love, love, love the chipboard frames!  They were meant to be used as squares but I flipped them to diamonds and used one as a template to cut 3X4 journaling cards into the same shape.  

I also used a sketch for the second page but I don't know where it is from.  There were a line of circles across the top of the sketch but I decided to replace them with a banner of hanging stuff.  Pearls, big crystals, flair and banners.  I think I like it:).  The page is about my go to perfume for the last 20+ years.  

Whelp.  That just about does it to it for today.  Thanks for stopping by!!!

Jumping Off Points

This week for me is all about the jumping off points.  With a firm decision to be more productive, came a need for a game plan.  It's one thing to say it but a whole other thing to actually get it accomplished.  So far things are going pretty well and I've been getting a ton of pages done.  One of the things that has been key for me accomplishing this is having a jumping off point.  A way to have ideas ready to go for getting the number of pages that I want to complete for the day actually done.  The jumping off points that have worked best for me have been sketches, magazines, pinterest, youtube videos, challenges and classes.  

I don't think that I have ever been as productive as I have been this year!  In May and June I managed to: 

• Complete 77 layouts
• Use 154 pieces of patterned paper  
• Use 28 packages of stickers & embellishments  
• Use 95 pieces of cardstock  
• Use 4 - 6X6 pads  

Yeah, that's a lot of stuff folks!  

Layout share for the day......

This photo of my niece is one of my absolute favorite photos of all time!  I flipped when I saw it!!  She looked so happy.  I kept the design very simple and just used a few embellishments to frame the photo.  

This next page is about how I took a huge leap of faith and started teaching with no experience and very little preparation.  I made a ton of mistakes!  The people that took classes from me were the best and really kept me focus on what was important.  The projects.  I am a complete introvert so this was tough...

What is on my desk for this week?  Mostly supplies for the next few pages that have been planned.  It's so easy to be intimidated by a pile of supplies or a collection of tools.  Over the last year I've learned to put processes in that will help me to use the things that are in my space.  Both tools and scrapbook supplies (like paper, ink, embellishments) and my die-cut machine.  My things have spent way too many years waiting to be used.  Mostly because I purchased things with no real idea in mind or process in place for how or when to use them.  Kitting and jumping-off points have really changed how productive I am and allowed me to make real progress on documenting my families growth from year to year.       

My goal for July is to use up all of the items in my stash kit and to hit my goal number of pages.  If I do, it will add up to roughly 3 pages a day most days.  

July stash kit numbers:  

• Complete 80  layouts
• Use 160  pieces of patterned paper  
• Use 50 packages of stickers & embellishments  
• Use 80 pieces of cardstock  
• Use 4 - 6X6 pads  

Thanks for stopping by and happy Monday:)