Lookin' hoppy

The boys were behaving for a while so I decided to participate in a 'progressive challenge.'  The hostess provides a list of techniques or embellishments to add to a scraplifted design.  Your entire layout must be done in a specified amount of time.

This is the layout I lifted:

Here is what I made:

I like this challenge because it reminded me of tools and techniques that I haven't used in a while.  One part I really like is the masked outline.  First I cut out the large semi-circle.  Then I inked on the edge of the scrap paper and inside where the circle would lay.

This creates a nice clean edge and a fuzzy edge.

The semi circle covers the fuzzy edge and you are left with a nice, clean, inked edge.

I plan on using this technique more often.

Crop

In the past week my mojo has returned!  Attending crops always helps too.  Here are some layouts I finished, started or packed but assembled after the crop:

This is my older son peeking out of a box.  I kept the layout simple like the picture.

This is my younger son dyeing eggs.  It was the first year he was big enough to participate.  Looking at the title you can see my preference for playing on words.  (I think that's called a pun...)  I also loved that I got to use purple!

The only frustrating part of this layout is I had to fix/alter 2 letters.  The 'e' in dyeing and the 't.'  I know I could have used my new Cricut and everything would have been perfect, but I'm trying to use up other products I already own.

Here is my younger son getting his first haircut.  The stylist was really good and kept giving him small toys to distract him.  Kids always look older after they get their haircut.  And yes, I kept some of his hair after she cut it.

July ugly paper

Hi!  I received ugly paper again this month.  Here is what I had to work with:

I made a layout of my younger sons first time eating corn on the cob.  I think it turned out pretty good.

watching rain

I find my boys very entertaining.  One day when it was raining, they were both at the window watching.  But they had both of their hands on the window while they were watching.  So I made a layout showcasing it.

It ended up being a monochromatic layout.  There is journaling along the bottom and some doodles along the rest of the borders.  I outlined the large raindrop with the same pen.

To make the large raindrop, I used the Accent Essentials cartridge on my cricut.  It's actually a leaf that i cut the stem off of.  I think this turned out really cute.

4th of July

We had a lovely mini-vacation over the 4th of July.  I was pretty impressed by myself when I came up with this LO.

I mimicked the flag design with patterned paper then added all the pictures.  It was nice to use those papers too.  I've had a few of them for many years.