*Fancy* school layout

Just wanting to share a layout using some fabulous - decorative - transparent - packing tape from this fabulous company.

I just love this stuff. It comes in some great colours and some even better designs!! If used on white cardstock, the design is soooooo striking. Wow!!! You can put the tape anywhere, but watch out -- it's really sticky (just like normal packing tape). Once it's down, no changing its position.

Here, I created a frame with the tape (of course, on an angle) and put my photo inside. I also doodled around the entire frame with my marker. Added some strips of paper, some embellies, hand-journaling and....... Voila!!!!



I added some dimension to the page by creating some flowers. I used pattern paper and some fleece from an old sweatshirt that I cut up -- yeah...I had no felt in my stash {lol}.



enjoy the warm weather today.

{from the farm},
j.

In Full Swing

Well, here on the farm, harvest is in full swing and we are all busy on the fields. We had a fabulous week last week, and the weather is looking very promising for this week as well. Although I have almost no time to blog these days (I'm a full-time combiner), I still wanted to share this layout from last summer when we put up these bins. Those of you farmers will know that this is ONE BIG BIN!


enjoy your day.

{from the farm}
j.

When the kids are at school .....

... Mom has time to play.

Just a quick & easy layout of Asha's first day of school. HAD to use my *new acrylic stamp set that my very good friend, Krista sent me from Ontario (luv ya', girl)!!!!!! Thanks for thinking of me. :)

lovin' this "school" thang {from the farm},

j.

My Little {school} Angel

Well........she's off on her own this morning.

Asha was soooooo excited this morning when she woke up -- it's her very first day of Kindergarten. Carter & Daria were pretty pumped for her as well, as they were both "discussing" who Asha would be sitting with on the bus. They came up with: Daria on the way to school; Carter on the way home. Great compromise.

Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast, 1/2 a mug of hot chocolate {to get her sugared up for the teacher, of course}, her lunch packed with orange slices, grapes, pudding & pepperoni slices, her hair combed, clothes on, new "outside" runners on, & teeth brushed ("in the morning"??). She was all set to go on the 40 minute bus ride to school.

After the kids got on the bus, I looked around and could only see Kayna, our puppy, sitting there staring at me. So, I got the camera out again and snapped some great photos of her. Is this what it's come to? I have to take photo shoots of my DOG now? {lol}.

So.......the house is pretty quiet today. I kept busy during the morning going for a walk, downloading my photos, answering emails, having a shower, running my brother-in-law out to the field & getting supper prepared in the slow-cooker. I fed 4 men at lunch time -- that comes with the harvest season -- and have already chatted with a friend from Alberta who has 3 in school and 2 still at home.

Hopefully, this afternoon we will be combining in the fields. Bright & sunny here, FINALLY!!!

Can't wait to see the kids off the bus & listen to EVERYTHING that happened on Asha's first day of school -- that is, if I don't have to crawl on the bus myself to pick up my tired, sleeping little angel.

Here's some more of my faves from this morning:


{from the farm},
j.

First Day -- FANTASTIC!!!

This morning marked the official FIRST DAY of school for everyone in our school division. The kids were up bright and early to make sure they were ready to go. They are always so cooperative when it comes to me getting their "first day of school" photos. Although the lighting was not great in the house -- it was raining outside -- I managed to grab a few shots of both Carter & Daria. With breakfast eaten, backpacks full (stuffed to the brim for Dare) and smiles on -- they were ready for the day.

Daria was rockin' for the camera this morning. She is such a natural infront of the camera and we always have fun whenever we do a photo shoot. I love so many of the photos I took of her this morning -- it was hard to pick just a few. Dare loves.....no, wait.........LOVES fashion and we have already seen the fashion show that showcases her 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th day outfits. love it!!!! Dare, of course, did the "hip school-girl" thing this morning (complete with purple plaid socks, skater-shoes & a new scarf). She is growing up way too fast for me.

Carter is more conservative when it comes to taking photos. Don't get me wrong -- he likes to goof around, but I find that he moves too fast to pick anything up with my lens that isn't fuzzy. So I have to tell him to stand still and he moves into the "too cool for you" pose. Carter opted for the "NBA-look" this morning and was all ready and packed by 7:30 am -- teeth brushed, water bottle in the backpack, shoes on, waiting for the bus (bus comes at 8). Usually I don't wake him until 7:30, but everyone was up with the birds this morning. A little excited, y' think??

And look who was the saddest of everyone in our family. Kayna (our 1 year old St. Bernard/Gr. Dane cross) was just beside herself with grief as the kids went off to school this morning. Poor, girl!!

Asha, my youngest, starts her First Day of Kindergarten on Monday. Come back then to see those {100 or so??} photos!!!!!!! lol.

smiling {from the farm},

j.

Colour Confidential

Today I want to show you some layouts that I have most recently created using Monochromatic Colours. I love this technique for 2 reasons:

First, b/c I get to search my scrapbooking supplies for supplies that I may not have used in a while. Let's be honest with ourselves, people. We tend to use the latest & greatest supplies that we have either just purchased, or the supplies that are lying in that cute little basket on the corner of our desks that are the "must-uses" for every layout or project. Come on....am I the only one with a basket like that {actually, mine is more like a bucket -- lol}.
Second, b/c there is soooooo much less brainwork involved when you know that you are primarily using {let's say -- GREEN} on your layout. Seriously......no stretching your brain to decide whether you're gonna frame your photo with pink pattern paper to match your daughter's tee, or blue pattern paper to match the baseball cap your son is wearing in the photo. Yikes......that is stress {lol}.

So........if those kinds of things stress you out, or/ you would like a great, new technique that may stretch your supplies alittle, why don't you try a Monochromatic Layout??

Here's some of mine.

This first one, as you can see, I used primarily shades of red & pink. I was able to use some pretty bold patterns in my paper & ribbon selections b/c the background paper is quite solid. The lace detail around the border adds some texture to the layout, without being too overwhelming. I wanted to keep this layout very simple so the photo {which, btw, i love} would be the focus of the layout.

This next layout is a fave of mine. It literally took me 15 minutes from start to finish (am I supposed to admit that?). The longest part of the creation process here was stitching the punched circles on. For interest, I decided to use neutral tone-on-tone pattern papers for the circles -- some ledger, some floral, some stripes & some script. I think the pattern papers add some interest to the uniform sized circles.

Here's a close up photo of the stitching. I folded the edges of the circles up slightly to add some dimension to the page.


Next, I used green cardstock & pattern paper; green rub-ons from Basic Grey, green Magic Mesh; green felt embellies from Making Memories; and some green felt Alphabet stickers from Prima. I decided to go with a journaling tag in blue to bring out Asha's eyes in the top left photo. Love it.

Okay......this final layout was a true test of my scrapbooking skills. I wanted to really get a vintage look on this layout b/c the bicycle that my sister is riding here is from a friend's childhood. I really wanted to use the new gears stamp that I had just purchased as well. So....here is my attempt at a more vintage looking page. How's I do? Of course, I couldn't create a Kraft-coloured layout without including my favourite Hambly pattern paper, some fabulous Prima flowers, divine Riff Raff Designs' clock hands, ledger paper for hand-journaling, and some sewn on brown ribbon. I think I achieved the look I was going for...........still practicing this look though. :)


Here's a close up of some of the "kraft-coloured" elements I included on this layout.


Stay tuned for some layouts that I'm in "stitches" about.

haha....funny.

laughing {from the farm},
j.

Let's Chat Layering

One of my FAVOURITE techniques to use on my layouts is LAYERING. If you have taken one of my classes; viewed my layouts; scrapped with me on weekends; or chatted scrapbooking with me -- you will know that I love to take odds & sods (pattern paper, ribbon, embellies, etc.) and throw them on a layout to get a fast & easy result. I am addicted to layered layouts that I can finish in a breeze -- although I realize (& I preach!!!!!) that we are not in a race. However......I only have so much time in my day to scrapbook, so I like to be productive. I admit: I am NOT the technique-queen (I leave that title for others in my life -- you know who you are). There are not multiple techniques on my layouts that I can dazzle you with. But.......I do love to mix my patterns (fabric, paper or otherwise) and layer groups of embellishments around a title, journaling, or on their own.


Here is a layout using basic layering of pattern paper. The background paper of the layout is a Bo Bunny pattern paper as well. This makes the layout a tad bit busier, but I wanted the pattern paper on top to fade into the background paper, and not pop, like they would on a white, clean background. This way -- photo pops, not paper. I also layered crystal swirls, rub-ons & felt flowers on the bottom corner & upper left side of the photo.



In this layout, I layered a white Ki memories die-cut paper over a very neutral background cardstock. I then used patterned sticker borders to trim the bottom of the photos; a felt border stapled on the top of one photo; sticker letters, a journaling tag & some pop-dotted embellies to boot. Seriously, just stuff that was laying on my desk.....just itching to be used.


Here, I layered a cut out Hambly Transparency over my photo and added a bunch of things to give the layout visual interest: CutYourWay vinyl, ribbon stitched on using my sewing machine, pattern paper strips, a gem butterfly & flowers. I then added a rub-on title and continued the thought with my own hand-journaling. Background paper is from Fancy Pants Designs -- Kraft Kutz. Who doesn`t love their stuff.

This final layout is one of my favourite layouts of all times. Not only because it displays a great photo of two fabulous friends that I have made in this industry, but it also incorporates layering in such an easy way that anyone can do it. I simply layering strips of ribbon & pattern paper on each side of the middle pattern paper to frame the whole layout, and stitched through the patterned borders. I used four smaller photos (all the same exact photo) on the layout and added a pop-dotted title tag over-top of the third photo. I also snuck a Prima flower under the raised tag. Why........because I was layering.

enjoy the rest of summer.

from the farm,

j.

Fave Photos of the Summer

I love it when friends from Alberta come to visit.
Miss them sooooo much!!!
Here are some of my faves from their visit with us.



enjoy your day {from the farm},
j.