Thursday, April 30, 2015

Cut and Color...

Hello again :) I've got another project life layout to share using the gorgeous Hello Darling Daily Diary kit.


Keeping to my usual weekly format, these pages document week 17 where we experienced a lot of bad weather which meant more time indoors also might explain the lack of people in my photos.  


As you are aware, we have all been using a 'cut and color' theme for our pages this week and I have used a variety of die cut words to create titles directly over some of my photos. I cut all of the words from plain white card stock and even though the fonts vary, I was able to maintain a uniform look by keeping them all the same color.


I selected cards with the similar colors in the patterns and combined these with various cut apart elements from the kit. Using a black pen to outline some of the pieces helps to make the colors appear more vibrant.




Moving onto the second half of the layout, where once again I used the white die cut words over a few of the photos.


As always I have pieced together my own custom card designs, this time using a little bit of fussy cutting and more black outlines.


Don't forget that subscriptions for the Jul - Dec term are now open!!
Thanks for stopping by xx


Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Using the Fuse Tool with the Pack Your Bags Daily Diary Kit

Have you ever seen an element that you wanted to include in your pocket pages but it was an awkward size and hard to work in? When going through my Pack Your Bags Daily Diary Kit, I had that feeling when I saw this 2x6 "Our Adventure" cut apart from the 12x12 Crate Paper sheet in the kit. Luckily, my Fuse tool from We R Memory Keepers had just come in and I was able to craft my own page protectors to suit my needs.


I modeled the majority of my page protector after the Becky Higgins Page Protector G, but changed one of the vertical 4x6s into two horizontal 3x4s and then added some 2x2 pockets and that 2x6 pocket to fit my "Our Adventure" card. 


Our theme this week is Cut and Color, meaning that we were challenged to use vibrant colors and to either fussy cut or use a die cutting machine. The vibrant colors came easy with the Pack Your Bags kit. I'm usually one who likes a lot of white space so this page was a bit out of my comfort zone, but I think it's quite fun. 


I trimmed the "Best day" off of another journal card and used it to layer underneath my photo. I didn't use any filler cards with sentiments on this page, so I wanted there to be a title of some sort and this worked perfectly. 


Another thing that I did that was outside my comfort zone was I included that 6x2 panorama photo as a vertical element. I wish that I could've included it as a horizontal image, but vertical works and the photo is documented so I'm happy. 


I used two pieces of paper from the 6x6 sheets that came in the kit to make these triangle pockets. They are the perfect bit of color and embellishment without adding too much dimension. 


These two pages are actually front and back instead of a spread and I created both sides before fusing into the page protector. I just took a 12x12 layout sleeve (one big pocket) and started at the bottom right and moved up one card at a time. My cards and photos are solidly in their page protectors and I have a unique page protector layout to house all my uniquely-sized elements. Definitely a win-win! 


Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Catching up with Hello Darling

Happy Tuesday everybody !!

For this weeks project I decided to go back to 2014 and finish up some pages.
The colors of the Hello Darling kit were just right too !

As I was looking through my pictures from last May I realized that I didn't have enough pictures to fill up 2 full weeks.

One of the things that I love about pocket pages is that there are no rules. I have the option to combine weeks if I want. Or to skip weeks. I could even do it monthly if I wanted to. There are so many options.


As you well know I love to cut up pieces to use as embellishments. I cut the documented banner out of one of the 4x4 cards. It is a fun way to personalize your cards.

This week on the blog we are featuring a lot of "Cut and Color". Which means cutting things out and vibrant colors, whether it be with a cutting machine or with your hands. Another reason why I cut this out to add to my title card.


Here is a closer look at some of the journaling cards. The blue arrow was cut from another journaling card and added to some of the patterned paper from the kit.


A closer look at some of the journaling cards and photos. I just love that Say Cheese card with the camera. I added a photo of my son after he had gotten a haircut. He loves to get his hair cut because he gets a sucker afterwards.


For this card I used the top part of the Document banner (added to my title card) and added it to the side of my journaling card. I also used my cutting skills to cut out the word happiness and add the bottom of this card.


Don't you just love that pie chart card !! I used my pen to doodle around it to make it stand out more I added some letters to spell out YOU. I took a bunch of funny photos of Maddie brushing her teeth one night. She was cracking me up the whole 2 minutes !! On the bottom of the card I added a wood arrow to point to the photo.


More cutting up journaling card to make custom ones for this photo. I cut one of the journaling cards in half and added it to another. I finished it off by adding the pink sticker in the middle.

On the next card I cut the top off of one of the existing journaling card because i loved the number pattern and wanted to use it on top of the photo.


Don't afraid to make your rules when it comes to pocket pages. You can do whatever your heart desires. That is what I love about pockets. You can add a whole bunch of photos together and make it look like it all belongs.

Another tip is to cut up those cards and papers that you have. Make something unique and new with them. Trust me, it's lots of fun !!

Happy Scrapping everyone !


Monday, April 27, 2015

Light of My Life

Good Monday morning to you all! I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend!!! Just a reminder this Saturday, May 2nd is National Scrapbooking Day!!!!! YES that's right we get a holiday all to ourselves! So grab some friends, a Noel Kit which the new one is available and you could have it by the weekend Pack Your Bags and it is GREAT kit to get your hands on for your pictures, travel or not!  I cannot wait to dig into mine!

Anyway, today is my last post for the month and I am so sad! I have enjoyed creating with the design team this month and just being part of the Noel family! I love her and her kits so much! Everyone has been so great to me and I appreciate you allowing me to participate!

This week we are "fussy" cutting.  I do not have a silhouette to make intricate cuts so I cut by hand, which is actually a great stress reliever! I cut flowers out of a paper from the Hello Darling kit, which a few are still available and this kit is gorgeous! With the addition of layers and layers!



 I added some more to the top corner to balance out the photo. 


Here is the finished layout! 

Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart to Noel, the design team and all of you! I have enjoyed it so very much! 


Sunday, April 26, 2015

Little Girls, Little Girls- a simple technique to make patterned paper toned down!

Happy Sunday afternoon!

I'm wrapping up our "techniques" week here on the blog... have you checked out all the different awesome ways our designers have shared little tips and tricks this week? So many awesome ones!

I feel a little silly sharing this one, but over the years, I've shared so many techniques on this blog, so I've started to feel like I'm repeating myself! This one is a simple one, but a favorite one of mine:



If I have patterned paper that is a little too "busy" for my layout, I will just swipe some white craft paint on top of the pattern to soften it. It helps with making the layout not quite so busy looking, and gives a little place for your eye to rest. I also love the way it looks peeking out from behind other layers! 


I hope you've enjoyed our tips and tricks! 


Friday, April 24, 2015

So you mini-album


Hey guys! Today I'm wrapping up a week filled with favorite design techniques from the Noel Mignon team. I'm going to be honest here - I'm not really a 'technique-y' kind of person. The techniques I use on my pages lean more on the simple side. And you know what? I'm ok with that!

So with that being said, I wanted to share a mini-album I made using that great heart shaped chipboard book from the Love Life Classic kit along with papers & embellishments from the Hello Darling Classic kit and, of course, a few techniques I used to create it.
 Whenever I'm working with a chipboard album I always pick out the papers I'm going to use & cover all of the pages before I begin working on them. I go a bit old school & actually use a glue stick when adhering the pages. Over the years I've found it's the best adhesive. 

Once all of the pages are adhered I like to take a sanding block (mine is from Stampin' Up!) & sand the paper edges off that are overlapping the chipboard. An emery board works, too! Just make sure that you have let the glue dry or you will shred your paper. Also, sand in a downward motion.

You can see the difference between the edge of the book before sanding (left) and after (right). It just gives a cleaner edge to your book. This is also when I'll add any additional glue if I have edges that have lifted. My mini-albums get handled a lot (and sometimes by little hands) so I want to make sure they're going to last!

Once I did that I also added some ink to the edges with that great distress ink pad in the kit!

After adhering all of the foundation pages I'll go back & start from page one adhering photos & embellishments. This is where the fun starts! I've mentioned before that I don't like a lot of bulk on my scrapbook layouts but I am quite the opposite with mini-albums!

To create the journaling I used the patterned paper in the kit that had a grid & ran it through my typewriter. 

I also used my typewriter on the sticker for the back cover. I wasn't sure if it would work but thankfully the ink didn't smear!
Once you start embellishing the pages the process moves pretty quickly! I hope you all have picked up some fun, new techniques this week. 

Be sure to share your creations on the Noel Mignon facebook group and on Instagram (using hashtag #noelmignon).

And don't forget, subscriptions are currently open for the July-December kits. By signing up you get a monthly discount so be sure to head over to www.noelmignon.com before subscriptions close!