SSD Letters: Our Journey to the Cactus

In today's episode of Saturday Stash Dive, I show you how to make a layout using letters as a mask to create an interesting Title.  There is a sketch for this layout and I have the sketch below.

I have used this sketch so many times and I would say that it is my go to sketch.  It's very easy to adapt to either a portrait or landscape photo.  And it also gives you a lot of options as to where to put your journaling or even your title.

The picture is about how my sister and I had never seen a cactus in the wild (if you call if the wild.)  So when we were on our road trip down to the Hoover Dam we stopped off at a lake and we saw one.  We just had to get our picture taken.  I know it sounds crazy but we have never been any desert type place to see a cactus, so it was very interesting to see one close up.  There are very different than what I had pictured.

I used a lot of my older type stash up from stamps to stickers.  It was a lot of fun to dive into them to make the layout a fun and playful piece.

 

Here is the finished layout and the process video is below.  Please leave a comment if you have any questions.

 

Process Video:



SSD Letters: July 18, 2013

In today's video I share with you all of the products I've pulled for the next episode of Saturday Stash Dive.  This month's focus has been on letters and for this layout, I plan on making a title using the letters as a mask.  Please join me on Saturday July 20, 2013 to see what the final page looks like.

SSD Letters: Friends Forever

Today is Saturday, you know what that means.  Another episode of Saturday Stash Dive where this month's focus is on letters.  I must say, I love today's layout.  I love how much texture is created by making your own background using up letters. 

I used the same color combo as I did for last weeks episode.  I love the blue, yellow and black.  It's classy, yet energetic.  I love it.  I must say that I'm not a yellow lover but I could very well turn into one with this combination.

  I made fun embellishment clusters, using a stamped image and some photo frame from the Pier collection by Crate Paper.  I love those frames and have been dying to get them.  A huge thanks to Sandra who sent them to me in a RAK.  I also added some black epoxy heart from Close To My Heart and some stickers from On Trend (Crate Paper) and Woodland Park (October Afternoon).  With a finishing touch of some star wood vernier and misted butterflies (Studio Calico) I felt that the clusters were finished.

So I realize that I screwed up on the title.  It was supposed to say "Friends Forever" but I was tired when I did this layout and ended up putting the title as "Forever Forever."  I did make the changes to it after I took the pictures, but I didn't take the pictures after I made the changes.  I just thought I would put up the pictures with my error to show you how funny it was.

Here is the finished page.  I just love the paper I chose.  From the background paper from the DIY Shop (Crate Paper) to the yellow triangle paper from Color and Composition (Webster's Pages).  I even dove into my stash really deep and pulled out the blue paper I used for the photo mat.  This paper is from Close to My Heart.  I have a prep video for all the supplies I used in the video below. 

 

This is the sketch for the layout that I made.  Please feel free to use this sketch for your next layout:

 

 

Here is the process video for the layout:

SSD Letters: Prep

Today is Friday.  I know I'm late posting the video for the prep video for the next Saturday Stash Dive.  But this time it wasn't my fault.  I had 3 videos to upload yesterday, and it just seemed to take forever.  I'm not sure if it's with the updates that YouTube put in yesterday, or what.  But they all were posted early this morning.   Below is the products I pulled for the next episode of Saturday Stash Dive.  (This month's focus is Letters.)

Please tune in on Saturday July 13, 2013 to see the layout I came up with. 

Behind on Blogging

I'm going to apologize right now for the delay in blogging.  My June was such a busy month.  With School ending and getting my kids ready to go camping with their grandparents, there really wasn't much time for anything else.   Sorry everyone for that.  But I'm here to share with you some news. 

I had mentioned on my last video that I had made some sketches and I was trying to figure out how to get it onto a computer file somewhere.  After playing around with a couple of different programs, I finally settled into Photoshop and got the sketch done.  I will put the picture below if you would like to download it. 

 

 

 

And here is the layout I made based on the sketch.

 

 

 

Below is a process video for the page that I made. 

 

 





Thanks for watching.

Ohsnapgonzo Vaccation Alpha Challenge

So normally, Sandra (ohsnapgonzo) and I have a challenge.  It's usually every week, but this week Sandra is gone on holidays.  So I was sitting in my scrapbook room and realized that I look forward to our challenges.  In fact I look forward to them so much that I hit a road block when I went downstairs to scrapbook.  What was I to do?  Then it hit me....how about challenge everyone else to it.  (I hope Sandra doesn't mind.) 

For this weeks challenge, use up your leftover alpha.  I know you have them in your stash, well at least I do.  It's the package that has hardly any alpha left and it's almost impossible to make a title with.  Well let's use it up.  Get those half used up packages on a layout.  I would love to see what you make.  Leave a VR under my YouTube process video, or post a picture to Facebook and tag my name (Maggie Mylow) to it so I can see what you made.  You can also leave the link below.  I can't wait to see what you made.

I did make a prep video for this challenge, you can see that video here:

And now for the process video:

Can't wait to see what you guys come up with.

SSD: Impossible

Hi Everyone.  It's Saturday, so you know what that means.  It's another episode of Saturday Stash Dive.  I will be continuing the focus of using 6x6 paper pads on a layout.  I did do a prep video for this episode and I was meaning to post it on the blog but somehow I missed doing that.  Here is the prep video:

So from the pictures, you can see I definitely went a little out of my comfort zone and tried something completely out of my style.  I think it's important to try new things to see if you can incorporate these new techniques into a layout.  Although, I'm not too happy with how the page turned out, I love the elements of the page and I think I would try doing this page another way. 

I love the colors that I chose for this layout.  I just love the soft and light colors and how the pop of Gold Pow Glitter Paper just added some interest to the page.  This was my first time trying a Mood Board and I can say, I love it.  I love how it can give you a fresh set of eyes to try something new.

I must say the only thing that went terrible wrong with the page was the excessive amount of misting splatters on the left side of the photo.  I was trying to do a "Boca" type effect and ended more like a bad paint ball accident.  I do love the misting on the right side of the photo.  I wish I did that one first, then I would have just left the other side alone.

 

 

Here is the full process video:

Thanks for watching.

Ohsnapgonzo PL Challenge

Today is the reveal of the Ohsnapgonzo Project Life Card Challenge.  For this challenge, Sandra and I needed to use Project Life cards on a scrapbook page.   I know I say this everytime, but I LOVE how this page turned out.  I wanted to merge the styles of scrapbooking and Project Life together and I think I accomplished it. 

I started by pulling out some of my favorite PL cards from Studio Calico May PL kit, called Planetarium.  I used the heart card as my inspiration for my color pallet.  I pulled a lot of other smaller items from my PL container.  (I have a container that has dividers in it to store some of my smaller embelishments for my PL.)  I knew I was going to need smaller embellishments to keep it more like a PL style.

 

I have pulled washi tape for my last four layouts and I didn't end up using them...CRAZY!!!  I know.  But I did make up for it this time.  I used 4 different kinds of washi tape, so that should make up for it.  

 

 

 

I also used a whole bunch of items from a RAK that I got from Sandra.  It just seemed like they all went together so well with this page.  I also used a lot of potty people as an emblishment as well.  This just signifies my children in the photo.

 

I just loved how I used up a whole bunch of stuff from my stash.  This is page 35/50 for the 50 Projects Facebook Group.  If you are addicted to buying and not making, head on over.  The group has been amazing.  I have been more creative than ever.





 

Here is the finished page.  The process video is below.

 



SSD: Nice Day for a Drive

I have to admit, I am loving this new series.  I get so inspired by all of the layouts I see on the 50 Projects Facebook Page.  When Tiffany puts of the Motivation Monday, my brain starts spinning as to how I can incorporate that into my Saturday Stash Dive.  I love seeing everybody's layouts and cards.  It amazes me how everyone's style is so different. 

For this weeks SSD, I started by looking for inspiration.  I was looking on Printerest and message boards for inspiration but nothing really jumped out and grabbed my attention.  It wasn't until I was moving some things around my scrap room where I came upon my binder of Shimelle Lain classes.  I just thought for the fun of it I would open the book and just look at the pictures and see if anything spoke to me.  Then, there it was.  The layout just jumped off of the page and I knew I had to use this design.  It was perfect.  I loved how you could used several papers so you could get a hint of each pattern.  So now I had my plan. 

Next came inspiration.  It is so true when the say inspiration can happen anywhere and that is exactly what happened.  Sandra (ohsnapgonzo on YouTube) and I were having a Skype scrapbook crop one night and I showed her what the modeling paste, that I had made, did.  She loved how it got all puffy.  Then she said I should do a layout using clouds on the top of a page.  So I was keeping this in mind while I was picking my papers.

I chose a paper pad that I purchased from Studio Calico for March, called Neverland.  I loved how their was some cloud paper and city skyline paper.  Now that I had the paper, I knew what photo I wanted to use.  I kept that in the back of my mind while I was pulling the rest of my embellishments.  I placed everything down on my desk and then put the picture on top.  GENIUS!!!!  It looked brilliant!

I couldn't wait to get started, so I got to it right away.  The farther into the layout I got, the more awesomer it got.  (Awesomer, is that even a word.)  I just loved how it turned out.

The process video is below:

Please make sure you leave a comment below for your suggestion for future episodes.

SSD: Sneak Peek

Alright everyone, here is your sneak peek into the next episode of Saturday Stash Dive.  This one was so much fun to make and super easy.  So grab your favorite 6x6 pad and play along with me on Saturday, June 15.  I can't wait!!!

SSD: Prep

This weeks Saturday Stash Dive was totally inspired by a friend of mine, Sandra who is Ohsnapgonzo on YouTube.  We were talking one night on Skype and I was showing here the modeling paste that I had made for my Silhouette Challenge with her.  She asked me if I could tint it, so I tried and it looked AMAZING!!!  So when I showed her, she said "Lisa, you have to do a layout using that.  You need to make clouds."  So that's where the whole inspiration for this page came up.....THANK YOU SANDRA!!!!  That just goes to prove our late night Skype talks are totally worth it.

 

Yesterday I started preparing my supplies for my next episode of "Saturday Stash Dive". I pulled one collection 6x6 pad this time. I chose the Studio Calico Neverland pad that was from March. I wanted to make sure all of the papers matched and this was the easiest because Studio Calico has done all of the work for you.

After I chose the 6x6 pad I wanted to pull in some 12x12 papers to coordinate. I knew I was going to use white cardstock as my base so I pulled that out as well. For the 12x12 patterned paper, I pulled a few from Studio Calico and one from Pebbles. I also made sure I pulled a couple of 12x12 papers that have journaling cards on them.

Now for the extras. I knew I wanted to use one of my Las Vegas pictures, so I pulled the Amy Tan Yes Please stamp set. I really love the city skyline stamp and wanted to use it. I then pulled some coordinating inks from Hero Arts in charcoal, tide pool and pale tomato. I then pulled some Washi tape in some coordinating colors. I then went to my stickers and pulled some from October Afternoon and Amy Tan.  I have a dish in from of the scrapping area that has a whole bunch of different embellishments like wood vernier, flair, and sequins.  I pulled some of these out that I thought would work well.   So to tint my clouds, I wasn't sure what color I wanted to use.  I pulled Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers, and Evergreen Bough Distress Reinkers. 

 

I hope you join me on Saturday, June 15th for the next edition of Saturday Stash Dive.

 

Ohsnapgonzo Silhouette Challenge

Ok, I must confess.  These challenges between Sandra and I, are so much fun.  We talked about it the other day and we are going to keep going with it for as long as we can.  We are discussing a lot more episodes of this in the future....I hope everyone stays tuned to YouTube so they can hear when we are going to have the next one coming up.

For this challenge, we needed to use our Silhouette to cut out files and use at least 3 of them on a layout.  I chose to cut mine out on white cardstock so that it would give me some versatility of inking them of painting them a different color to match my layout. 

I must say I really love how this layout turned out.  I used most of the items from the Studio Calico May kit, called Planetarium.  I just love all of the dimension of the modeling paste and the flecks of gold glitter. 

It even impressed me more when I took pictures of it and it sparkled.  That doesn't happen very often when you take pictures with your iPhone. 

 

Please leave a comment below and let me know what you think of the layout, or if you have any questions.



Saturday Stash Dive: Glamorous Girls

I'm so excited to bring the premier episode of "Saturday Stash Dive."  It's a week late, but I wanted to make sure I had it all perfect for everyone.  I came up with the idea for this new series while I was watching the latest Two Peas in a Bucket episode of "Scrap Your Stash."  I noticed that they were using brand new product, instead of something they may have in their stash.  This really bothered me.  After I joined the 50 Projects Facebook Group, I felt there was an even bigger need for this series that ever before.  It just felt like there were more haul videos than ever out there.  I even heard someone say that "Scrapbooking was one hobby and Scrapbook shopping was another."  This feels so true.  I really feel there is a need for these videos to aid people in using up what they have.

This month's focus is going to be on 6x6 paper pads and how to incorporate them into your layouts.  If you don't have 6x6 paper pads, don't feel like this doesn't apply.  You can simply substitute it for 12x12 patterned paper.  It might work better for smaller patterns, but you could try big bold patterns and see how it looks. 

For week one:  Boxes.

I was inspired by "Motivation Monday" on the 50 Projects Facebook Group.  Every Monday, Tiffany will post a new inspiration to help get your creativity going for the week.  There is no commitment or obligation to make a page from week to week, but it's too inspiring not to participate. Boxes are a perfect way to use up 6x6 paper.  I used a 1-1/4" square punch but you could use any size of punch, or die, or even your silhouette to cut out the squares.  I used a variety of 6x6 paper pads from My Mind's Eye, Studio Calico, and Dear Lizzy 5th and Frolic.  I just chose one paper that had a multicolor pattern and then picked other papers that complimented the multicolor patterned paper.  I also chose a 12x12 chocolate colored cardstock as my background to lay all of my punched out squares on. 

Here is the process video:

 



 Please feel free to leave a comment below and let me know if you have any suggestions for future episodes.

Saturday Stash Dive Postponed

I had full intentions of posting my new series on Saturday called "Saturday Stash Dive."  This is going to be a new series that will come up every Saturday using some of the supplies that you might have on hand.  I grew very frustrated with the Scrap Your Stash series from Two Peas in a Bucket.  I found that they have been using new supplies instead of showing us how to use the items up or in a different way.  I just found it very frustrating.  So I decided to make my own series.  The focus will be different every week.  It might focus on a product or tool to use it, instead of letting it collect dust.  I hope you will join me every Saturday, just not last Saturday.

Now, as to what happened.  I had part of my layout finished on Thursday and was ready to finish it on Friday.   On Friday afternoon, I started to have a little bit of pain in my upper back.  I didn't think anything of it and just thought maybe I moved the wrong way or lifted something too heavy.  On Friday evening as I started to work on the layout, the pain started to get worse and worse.  I just thought if I went to bed early it would be better in the morning. 

I woke up and the pain was radiating down my back, it even escalated up into the front of my chest and into my shoulders.  It hurt to breath.  If I moved a certain way, it was like someone was stabbing me in the back.  It was unbelievable.  I was beginning to wonder if I was having a heart attack.  I seriously debated on going to the hospital.  The pain wasn't any better all day on Saturday.  I went to bed early on Saturday, hoping that it would be better.  When I woke up it still hurt but was a bit easier to breath.  Then it wasn't until Sunday evening that I could finally feel the pain start to release and subside. 

Diagnosis:  I think I had a pinched nerve from driving on the rough muddy roads.  I had to drive out west on Thursday and spent most of the drive fighting the really deep mud and the rutted up roads.  I was constantly getting bounced around the truck. 

So with all of that hassle this weekend I didn't get my layout finished to post.  So my apologies everyone.  I was so excited to start June off with a bang and a new series.   I will try to get the layout finished this week and get it up for this Saturday. 

Thank you for your patience.  If you have any suggestions for Saturday Stash Dives, leave a comment below and I will try to make an episode for you.

Lisa

YouTube videos are fixed

I was so excited today when I opened up my blog and I can attach my YouTube videos again.  It took a long time for them to get it fixed, but I'm so glad it is. 

So for the first layout.  I was in a "feather" challenge with Sandra (ohsnapgonzo on YouTube.)  We both have a hard time incorporating these icons into our layouts, so we challenged each other to get them on a page.  It was a lot of fun. 

This layout was one of those Oprah A-Ha moments for me.  I had a bit of self discovery with this layout.  I chose the title "Feathers Appear When Angels Are Near."  As I decided that this was going to be my title, it all of a sudden dawned on me that, this was my Dad's way of saying he was close to me at all times.  I describe the realization in detail in the video.

full layout

bottom left of page

close up of cluster around photo

top left of page

 

 

This is the prep video for the challenge:

 

This is the process video

 

 

Thanks for watching

Guest Scrapper on The O'Banion's Blog

I am so excited.  I was asked last Friday if I would be a Guest Scrapper on Amanda's Blog.  I was so thrilled when she asked me.  One, because I've never been asked to do anything like this before.  Two, I have only every really scrapooked for myself and was very humbled when she asked me to do this guest spot.  It's not that I don't think I'm a good scrapbooker, I just don't think I'm in the same caliber as some other scrapbookers.  Like I said, I do it for myself.  If I'm making a page, I'm making it pretty for me.  Maybe that's why I'm so particular on some of my pages.  I have litterally picked up an item and moved it over 1/8 of an inch.  That's just rediculous. 

Amanda asked me a series of questions, great questions, that I was to answer.  Let me tell you, it was very interesting putting my scrapbooking style and theory down on paper (on screen, I guess.)  I never really thought about why I did things, I just did it.  But now that I put it all down on paper, it made more sense as to why I was doing my layouts the way I have been.  I just did 2 layouts after I had sent her my answers back, and all of a sudden my "scrapbooking theory" was ringing in my head.  I was starting to put my picture on the paper and I was saying  in my head, "Ya, that's why I put that picture there."  It was very interesting.  I was like an outsider looking in for the first time. 

So, in hind sight, it was such an amazing experience to get all of my thought process down and theory for doing this the way that I do.  Thank you again Amanda for the opportunity and I hope that we can do more of these in the future together.

Here is the link to the post:

The O'Banion's Guest Scrapper 002

I heart this girl

I really love how this layout turned out.  I especially love the looks my neice is giving in these photos.  This was the first day that I had met my neice.  My sister lives over 14 hours away, so there really aren't too many visits back and forth between the 2 of us.  My mom has had the fortunate experience of seeing her alot over the past 2 years and she warned me that Hailey was extremely shy.  So with that information in my back pocket, I played a little more on the defencive side.  I wouldn't be too loud or talk to her too much.  It wasn't too long and she was sitting beside me and smiling and laughing.  I just love her so much.  Everytime I look at these pictures it warms my heart. 

I used the Studio Calico kit for May called Planetarium.  I really wanted to hoard that Elle's Studio paper and I had a really hard time forcing myself to use it.  But in my heart I knew that I would hoard it forever and it would sit in my stash and never get used.  "Use it while you love it." as Shimelle Lain would say.  So I did and I'm glad.  I really love the look of it on the background.  Thanks for looking.  I can't post the video here, so head on over to YouTube and check out the process video..

I Heart This Girl Video

50 Projects Challenge

At the end of April, I joined the 50 Projects Facebook group.  This group was set up by Tiffany Wagner O'Grady.  The premiss behind the group is to create 50 projects before you buy any more supplies.  I found this group from Nicole Jones (nicolejones911 on YouTube.)  She had always mentioned that she was always buying products but never really using them.  I could totally relate.  I was a scrapbook shopper addict and I needed help.  I feel like this group was like my Alcoholics Annonymous although it isn't annonymous on the group.  In fact the total opposite.  They are so wonderful and always commenting on the layouts posted.  There is so much positivity and support that it's a refreshing change. 

I was so excited when Two Peas in a Bucket started their series of videos called Scrap Your Stash.  I figured this would fall right in line to helping me use up some of my supplies.  But I was sadly dissapointed when I saw them using brand new products.  I was hoping I would see them using up buttons or washi or maybe even patterened paper.  Everybody has an abundace of this and it would be nice to see videos on it.  So I've decided I'm going to start my own series of "Scrap Your Stash" with my own twist.  Every Saturday will be "Saturday Stash Dive" where we will dive into some of our massive collections of stickers, buttons, brads, washi, etc.  and use them in a different way to get them used up.  I'm not sure if it will be videos or if it will just be blog posts, but watch here for more information.

I thought It would be fun for me to post the first 25 (plus one) pictures of my projects.  You will see them below.  They are in no particular order.

#1.  Faces - NSD challenge

 

#2 At the Palace - NSD challenge

3. Baby Cecily - NSD Challenge

4.  Smile Love - NSD Challenge

5.  What Will Happen Next - NSD Challenge

6.  no title - NSD challenge

7.  Love You Card - NSD challenge

8.  Hi There Card - NSD Challenge

9.  Hello Card - NSD challenge

10.  Photo Bomb - SC April kit

11 - 12. early years album grad page 1 and 2

13. Manitoba Home Sweet Home - SC May Kit

14.  May Your Ship Always Sail You Home - Anchor Challenge with Ohsnapgonzo (youtube)

15.  Smile - NSD challenge

16. Not Quite Best Friends Yet - SC April Kit

 

 

17 - 18  Project Life week 16 part 1 and 2

 

19. Cory and the Show Girls

 

 

20 - 21. Project Life Week 16 page 1 and 2

22. Birthday Wishes - NSD Challenge

 

23. Who is MaggieMylow - MercyTiara YouTube Challenge

 

 

24 - 25.  Early Years Album page 1 and 2

26. Sunflower Card

 

 I hope you will come back and see how I finished up with the last 24 projects.

Lisa