SUPERSTAR

That is what I named my most recent layout with the April kit "Bluegrass Farm" from Studio Calico. This month I got the scrapbook and PL main kits plus the Tabasco addon. Out of those kits I have committed to make 5 layouts and 8 PL pages. See this thread in the SC forum! 

I started out wanting to use one of the fabric patches from the scrapbook main. It's not something I would've bought myself, so I had to figure out a way to "make it work", in the words of Tina Aszmus. I remembered this layout by April Foster made with the December 2011 kit. (Yes, I remembered it!) Making the patch one of many same size circles would keep it from standing out too much. 

I already knew what I wanted the topic to be. The story of how our daughter finally overcame her shyness and stagefright and performed with her gymnastics group at a really big gymnastics event in our city in front of several hundred people. 

The plan was to have the photo be one of the circles, but there were no photos from the occasion that looked good cropped into a circle. So instead I did this:

I added a few items from earlier kits too, to decorate the circles. I didn't add as much dimension as April did, because I like things to be flat. I can fit more layouts into my album that way, hehe.

/Magdalena

12 IN 14 April

It's time for another monthly challenge from Nina Christensen and the Stromsvigt DT. For April we are working with grids. If you visit Nina's blog she will have links to all the participating DT members, so you can see all our work for this month.

I love grid layouts because it's almost impossible to mess them up. If your grid consists of photos, that's where you need to put your energy. Picking the right photos and balancing them up.

What I think about when picking my photos:

• The photos should go together by theme and color
  (if the colors don't match try adjusting them or go b&w)
• There should be a mix of closeups and wider angles
• Anyone pictured sideways should be facing inwards
• The weight of the photos should be balanced
  (don't put all dark photos on one side, or that side will get weighed down)

Then all you really need to do is add a title and a few embellishments, and you're done! Journaling optional. Easy, huh?!

Materials: Studio Calico Copper Mountain kit, Studio Calico Wanderlust Vellum Sticker Phrases, Stromsvigt The Good Stuff stamp set by Nina Christensen

Now, go visit the other Stromsvigt DT members! Right here!

/Magdalena

IN WITH THE NEW

This PL spread is all about new things. New cousin, new helmet, new bike, new pajamas and new haircuts!

I LOVED the Office Hours kit. The colors fit my photos so well, and all the embellishments were my style. Here's a closer look at the first page:

For this page I used lots of digi brushes. Most of them are from the Bluegrass Farm PL digital stamps. The OK cork circle I put there to hide a tear cause by the washi I used when I ran the card through my printer, but I like how it turned out. I also added these gold star sequins to the currently journaling card, and stuck some tiny enamel dots on top.

And here's the second page:

Lately I've had a bit of a Fringe obsession so I wanted to document that. I printed out a photo from the internet and added my favorite Walter quote. "We're all victims of our own genepool. It looks like someone peed in yours." You gotta love him! This pin made me think of Walter too, so I printed that out and added some thickers. I don't know if you can see it in the picture, but I stapled some matching sequins to the dotted journaling card. What would I do without my tiny attacher? For the two bottom pockets I used templates from Paislee Press. These and these.

/Magdalena

PINK

So I actually made an entirely pink layout. Very unlike me! There has been a lot of "unlike me" recently. If I do it enough I guess it won't be unlike me anymore, hehe. 

Another very simple layout. At first I had intended to use the floral side of the patterned paper but it competed with the photo, so I turned it over. Luckily it had this monochromatic diamond pattern on the back. I also added some black for a bit of punch, and I even brought out my sewing machine. 

So do you have your bikes out yet?

/Magdalena

March PL

I've started on my March Project Life spreads. The kits from Studio Calico is so much fun to work with. The first page of the month contains photos of the two new baby cousins that's just been born, so I won't share that page on my blog, but here are the rest of the pages:

The pretty bird card on the second page is cut from a piece of junkmail. I used a lot of these Paislee Press templates. I recently bought a 2" circle punch, and I love using that for PL. 

/Magdalena

THE LIEBSTER AWARD part one

I recieved a happy e-mail yesterday. I have been nominated for the Liebster Award by Aimee who runs the blog Betwixt & Between. You really should visit her blog and see the beautiful pages she makes! And do read her Liebster Award posts to get to know her a bit, and also to visit the rest of the blogs she nominated. I'm in the company of some amazing ladies. Thank you so much Aimee!

 

There are two parts to this nomination. The first part is to answer 11 questions asked by the person who nominated you. The second part is to nominate 10 new bloggers. It’s meant for bloggers with less than 200 followers on bloglovin. I need to think a bit on who to nominate, but lets get started with the questions right away!

1. What is your favorite breakfast?

It's one I've had every morning since I did the WW program last year. Plain lowfat youghurt with a sliced banana and sprinkled with powdered ginger.

2. What’s in your handbag right now?

First I want to share where I got the bag I carry. I got it from this Etsy shop. In my bag I have...

my wallet
two chapsticks
worndown nailfile that needs replacing
lipgloss
2 sets of keys, one for home and one for work
bag of gum that constantly gets raided by my daughter
a few pieces of gum that's fallen out of the bag
hairclip I thought was lost
2 packs of tissues
sunglasses
actual glasses that I always forget to put on
2 signed slips that I need to hand in to the kids' preschool
handcreme, I go nowhere without it!
anti-ageing facial creme that had forgotten about, and it's receipt
ibuprofen
an eraser I think is from work, not sure how it got into my bag or how long it's been there

3. How did you come to join the blogger world?

I started my blog in 2010 to share my scrapbooking projects. I really wish I had the energy to learn how to make a "real" blog with good design. Maybe some day!

4. What is your biggest accomplishment and why?

I guess that would be giving birth to our daughter. I was really proud of myself for that.

5. What inspires you to create?

The kit from Studio Calico that is delivered to my door once a month! I sub to the scrapbook and PL kits. The fresh products and the perfect mix of papers and embellishments inspires me to create more than anything else. I don't think I would've stuck with my scrapbooking if I hadn't become a subber in June 2011.

6. Do you have any creative rituals?

Well, me and my 4 year old daughter have a kit unpacking ritual. Every time a new kit arrives I cut open the box and she does the rest. This has been her job since she was 2. She knows what everything is and how to use it. She oohs and aahs over the products and will sometimes convince me to share some of the embellishments with her. She also likes the stamps, and knows how to attach them to a block and  stamp them off after use.

7. Best advice you ever got?

In scrapbooking it's "Always use your favorite items first!" That was something Amy Tangerine shared in her Stretch your kit class.
I think that's really good advice. I never hoard anything. If you do, the things you saved will go out of style and you will end up not using them at all.

8. What is one product can’t live without?

I think that would be my Tiny Attacher if that counts as a product. I use that thing all.the.time!

9. Is there a particular skill you worked hard to teach yourself and why?
Wow, I don't know. Learning English, perhaps?

10. Book that changed your life?

This will sound silly but The Stand by Stephen King is a book that had a huge affect on me. It really is a book everyone should read. The extended version at a 1000+ pages ofcourse. First of all I truly believe it is how the world will end. Some epidemic that will wipe out the population. It's no happy reading, but it gets you thinking. If this happens in your lifetime, who will you be? How will you act? It's also why I'm such a huge TWD fan, because it deals with the same issues.

11. If money and time was no object what would you have done today?
I would take classes to learn photography and graphic design. That's something I really would like to do in my own time. If I had the money to support myself I wouldn't have to care if anyone liked what I did either. How good would it be to work from home in your jammies everyday?

Stay tuned for my LIEBSTER AWARD part two post, and find out who I've nominated and what questions I will leave for them.

/Magdalena

ACCIDENTAL TWOPAGER

I've been trying lots of new things lately. First it was two layout with crazy floral paper, and now I've made a twopager. My third since I started scrapbooking in 2008. The first two were for challenges. This one made it self accidentally.

I finished the page on the right first. The photos took up a bit more space than I had planned, so I couldn't fit in any journaling. After I decided I had to make another page it took my a while to figure out how I wanted the second page. I wanted the two pages to feel like one layout, but I didn't want it too matchy matchy. I tried adding patterned paper to the cardstock and another golden clip, but it was too much to fit my style. So I ended up just using the tag with that bottom stripe and then bringing in a bit of yellow with the stitched button. I really like the result. I'll have to make more twopagers in the future.

/Magdalena