April - pulling out all the stops . . . I mean scraps!

Had this random smores photo left over from a campout and the blues worked just right with he scraps that were left on my desk from the April Cocoa Daisy Kit, (I see it is sold out!) so I pulled off another page.  Finally used some of those cute yellow enamel arrows by Doodle Bug too! The wood veneer is from a past kit - it's been waiting around for the right moment too.

Wonder if there is anything left to do with the bits and pieces. . .I'm trying.  There is one more possible layout and then I am completely out!

I am not doing a great job of using the stamps this month - need to keep trying. Maybe on Project Life.

Maybe the Last Layout for the April Kit?

Well, I am down to just bits and pieces from the April kit - but I am still making progress.  Yet another photo from one of the farm trips.  This one needed it's own page - such sass in that girl.  I was struggling with that brown and white paper - was not sure how to pull it in so far and assumed I would use the navy and blue side.  Then it just seemed to work on this page - thank goodness for the branding strip that I used to make some flags.  And I have been trying to use that "you're so lovely" sticker from Dear Lizzy for ages! Found some cork by Studio Calico in my stash from an old kit and that helped to pull things together.  

Cocoa Daisy April Kit - Two Page Bonanza continued!

Well, apparently the April Cocoa Daisy kit is all about the two page layouts as I can't seem to stop.  Here are two more - yep, TWO more.  Madness.  My "to be scrapped soon" box is getting lighter and lighter.

First up - I had a slew of Instagrams from the trip that I haven't been sure what to do with, so I trimmed them down and put them in a grid format.  It was missing something, so I pulled out the ribbon from the kit (which I rarely do but I am challenging myself to use it) and added "frames" to the center pictures.  Very different that my usual style, but I think it works.  I used some scraps to fill in the empty space on a couple of photos and to help pull things together.  It is growing on me. . . .

And another - I pulled the yellow from the picture of Elsie on the train and went from there.  Keeping with the theme from the other farm layouts I have been working on, I added some flags and followed a similar two page style.  Love how the leaf embellishments worked perfectly for this page with a little washi and enamel dots to set them off. 

Reaching Back - 1980's fun

Several years ago, I completed an overhaul of our entire family's photo collection.  Thanks to those efforts, this page was quickly pulled together.  As the journaling indicates this layout started with a ticket stub.  From there I went to the 1908's box of photos and while I had such fun looking and reliving the 80's, I only had to look at one decade to find these two charming photos of my daddy and brother at the game.  I have to give kudos to my mother who had written all of the details on the back of the photos making it simple to complete this page. I pulled out some Fancy Pants paper and embellishment that I had left over from a Cocoa Daisy Kit and it came together quickly.  So happy these three bits of our family story are all together.

Now - if I could just get caught up on the Project Life spreads that are covering the dinning room table before it is time for Easter dinner!

April Cocoa Daisy Kit Progress - Two Page Bonanza!

Nearly all the pages I have made to date from the April 2014 Cocoa Daisy kit are two page layouts.  Seems crazy to think that I used to make two page layouts exclusively!  

First up - Wind in My Hair - which is a layout using a crazy selfie I took in the car on the way home the other day right when the weather started to change.  Used only items from the kit.  I curved the line of heart stamps to create the border along the bottom.  

Now for my two page bonanza - I had a stack of photos from a trip we took to our "farm" a couple of years back that I hadn't tackled yet.  When the April kit arrived full of greens and blues and yellows, it just seemed to work so I grabbed some kraft cardstock for the background and went to town. 

I struggle with using the 4 x 6 cards that are portrait since I use design A project life pages that only use landscape 4 x 6 spots.  Was glad to find a spot for this cute card.  I am pushing myself to use the stamps more in the kits so I pulled them out and added some arrows with some green Stampin Up ink in gumball green.  I used the scraps of the paper to make the sun shapes which were inspired by the design on the card.

I scrap lifted myself from the earlier East Tx fun page to keep these feeling like part of a larger whole.  They were different enough to be interesting to make and yet the same.  Finally used those sparkly blue dots from an earlier kit.  Pulled out some scarps from my scrapbox to finish it up since I was running out of scraps from the kit.

Ok - I have three sheets of cardstock (I used kraft from my stash as my base for three of these) and three sheets of patterned paper left.  We will see what else I can do!

Catching Up with Sketches

It all started with the March Sketch  on the Cocoa Daisy  blog.  I am a little behind on using it cause I just couldn't get three photos together.  Then I reminded myself that you can adapt a sketch - yes, a light bulb moment apparently.  Sometimes we create our own restrictions with kits and sketches thinking we have to stay within the guidelines and we need reminding that we can push those boundaries.  So here is the sketch:

I made this page using the January Kit which still had several pages of patterned paper left since I had only used a little of it for some Project Life spreads.  I replaced the third photo with a tag and nearly forgot to add the circle element.  I'm not usually one to go with one or two color layouts - but I like the way this turned out with the black and white photos as the centerpiece.  The journaling comes from a shirt I saw that said "all I want to do is drink wine, sleep and make stuff." 

For your reference - here is the January Cocoa Daisy kit. I used some Heidi Swapp chipboard for the arrow, hearts and the Happy in the title and a Fancy Pants sticker above the tag. The letters and dots are American Crafts thickers by Amy Tangerine. the heard brads are ancient from my stash and the circle was made tracing a vintage plate (I'm high tech you know. . . ).  

Cocoa Daisy April Sketch Challenge

I love a good sketch. This month on the Cocoa Daisy blog there was a great one for a multi-photo layout.  I pulled out my very neglected January kit (there are still some left in the shop!) and gave this one a go.  It was quick and I think it turned out well. The best part - it is Sunday and these photos are from YESTERDAY!

Also really liked what a few others did with the sketch.  Especially, "sillypea" with this one. Nicely done making it into a two pager - may have to lift this design.  

Unfinished Projects - #1

So sometimes, you gotta dig back into the pile of unfinished projects and just do one.  Here is a long over due page made with photos from a fun date night last fall and the November Cocoa Daisy Kit.  When I was working on it before I had the photos in the grid pattern before and nothing was working for me so I put it aside.  When I picked it back up - it went so quickly - crazy how that happens.