I will be using a sketch today for a page in my December Album. I loved the evergreen trees on this page. My original plan was to follow the sketch almost exactly. After making my trees, I liked them so much I did not want to cover them up. I therefore adjusted the sketch slightly. 

Here is my final layout. I made the main page 7in wide by 8.25in tall to fit in my December Album this year. To include a longer story and more embellishing, I added two 3x4 journaling cards to the left side of the layout. 

I used two Citrus Twist exclusive cut files for my trees.  All the papers, cards, and embellishments came from the OH WHAT FUN! kit. I think the black and white color palette with a pop of red is such an elegant look. I made sure to pull a bit of red into each area of the spread.

I used a white, glitter texture paste from my stash to paint the center tree. Similar to the sketch, I wanted it to have a snow-flocked look.  I then used a red marker to color in the stars on the cut file. It was a simple step that I think adds a lot to the design. 

Here are a few more close-up looks. 

Thank you for stopping by. I'd love to see what you create with this sketch. 

Memories

Hello Creative Friends,

Here is my latest pocket page project using the GRATITUDE digital collection from Citrus Twist Kits. 

I also used the CHANGE IS BEAUTIFUL digital ephemera for the gorgeous floral and leave images.  The plaid card was my jumping-off piece for my color palette.

I love the pink added to the traditional fall colors.

I made my own sequin mix with items from my stash and focused on the pinks, yellowish/ gold, and teal blue. If you look closely, you will see I printed some of the flower ephemera at 0.5 inches and added them to my shaker pocket. It was a very fun touch to include. 

If you like reading the journaling, here is a close-up. I good friend moved recently. Although sad, I am documenting how thankful I am for her friendship now and in the future. 

Will you be documenting gratitudes in November? Remember, we can always document being thankful all year long. We don't have to do it only in November! 

Happy Fall to You!

Marci

Thankful 30 Journal 2023

 Hello Creative Friends!

Do you participate in the Thankful 30 documentation practice? I have done it in the past. I do believe documenting our gratitude is extremely important to our mental and physical health. Having said that, I am not very successful in completing a 30-day documenting practice in the month of November. The traditional month for making a Thankful 30 notebook. 

I was so excited for the AUTUMN DAYS collection from Journals For Life, that I am going to give the project another try. I'm changing the "rules for myself though. I started this album in October and plan to document a few gratitudes a month through January. That gives me four months to complete the notebook. I can do that!  I am very happy with my decision to do this as I feel we should be grateful all year long and not just in November. 

Here is my title page. 

 

Here is a closer look at the title. I used the ALEX stamp set from Journals For Life. I stamped the letters on a separate piece of paper and then fussy cut out the letters. I do this often when I want to play around with the placement of an image. 

This leaf pattern may be my favorite page in this month's notebook. I did add a few die cuts, washi tape, and stamped the year to finish off the page. 

I am ready to get started! Let me know if you are doing a Thankful 30 this year. I'd love to see your pages. 

Marci

October Daily 2022, Day 18

I am over on the Citrus Twist Blog today with this Sketch-Inspired Challenge. You can check it out here. http://citrustwistkits.blogspot.com/

I'm using the Halloween collection, Mischief & Mayhem, along with this sketch. 

When I first looked at the sketch, I loved the linear square grid. I followed the sketch fairly closely this week. I did scale it to fit in a 6x8 album. I think it worked out great. 

I knew I wanted this page to be a stand-alone page vs. inside a page protector. That meant my dimensions needed to be 7in wide by 8.25in tall. The papers in the kit are only 6 in wide. To accommodate my needs, I cut a 1-inch strip of black cobweb paper and adhered it to the orange paper with washi tape. This gave me added width and a place to punch my holes. 

To ensure the black strip coordinates with the whole spread, I used the remainder of the cobweb paper to make four mats like in the sketch. 

I had a ton of fun using the Mischief and Mayhem ephemera pack to decorate my blocks. This one with the various witches' paraphernalia is my favorite! 

In the sketch, there are two squares that have word strips hanging off the edges. I first tried the labels in the kit but they were too big. Then I noticed on the 6 x 8 mischief mayhem stamp set there was a small label stamp that said "date". I didn't need the word "date" so after stamping in a coordinating orange color, I cut off the end portion to just have a blank label. I then used several of the fun Halloween sentiments to fill in my labels. 

Lastly, I used the white alphabet puffy stickers to make my title. To mimic the side embellishing on the sketch, I added some die cuts as well as some stamped images from the stamp set. I adore how this page turned out. 

I hope you are inspired to use this sketch and make something fab-BOO-lous this Sunday!

Marci

Day 13 of my 2022 October Daily

If you haven't noticed yet, I love October! I think I like making an October Daily more than a December Daily, gasp! That seems to go against the "laws" of the scappy universe. That is OK though, we all have to do whatever projects provides us with the most inspiration and joy.  For me, that is definitely Fall and October documenting. 

That doesn't always mean I finish my projects in a timely manner though. This year I will be working on my 2022 October Daily alongside my 2023 October Occasionally. In 2022 I tried doing a daily for the first time. As much as I love making the pages and using all my Fall and Halloween products, making a daily project can be challenging. 

Here is my day 13 from last year. I do love mixing product lines in my albums. It makes the project more fun for me to have the variety. 

The new Fall collection from @citrustwistkits, CHANGE IS BEAUTIFUL, is stunning. It has such a great color palette of muted greens, reds, and yellows. This page is all about my seasonal baking. I will never get enough of the fall flavors and colors. In addition to using the digital papers and cards, I used exclusive #CTK ephemera from the shop. 

My favorite element on this spread is the green pumpkins! I isolated the pumpkin images on the digital paper, enlarged them in #Photoshop, and then made my own embellishments. They added the perfect touch to my clusters.

Check out this baking rack ephemera piece. It is absolutely darling. I was so excited I had the right project to use it on. 

Once I finish this album, I promise to do a flip-through of the entire thing! 

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Marci

October 2023 Pages 1 &2

 Hello Creative Friends!

Do you participate in October Daily or October Occasionally? If you have yet to hear of these projects, they are both memory-keeping projects that document your activities and fun adventures during the month of October.  I absolutely adore Fall and Halloween so I have been doing this project since 2013! Each year I change how involved I am in the project. Some years it is only a mini album documenting Halloween night. Some years it is a 31-day mini-book with daily stories and creativity. My favorite way to do the project though is an October Occasionally album. That means I document a few stories during the month in a mini album when I have the time and interest. 

This year I will be doing just that, an Occasionally project. Committing to something daily can be challenging. I've done it before and loved it. I knew I wouldn't have time this year so I set realistic expectations for myself. 

I will be using a Citrus Twist Kits Life Crafted Clementine colored album for my project this year. There are many gorgeous fall-inspired colored albums so check them out. 

I have already done a few pages in preparation for October. That can really help make it manageable when the busy season starts. On these first two pages, I used Journal's For Life Something Spooky kit. This is a perfect kit for me. I love the mix of traditional Halloween colors with non-traditional pink. I also love that the images are not too scary or too cutesy. It is a perfect balance, in my opinion! 

I hope this post inspires you to try an October or Fall album this year. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions. 

Happy Crafting!

Marci

 

I’m so excited that Fall and Halloween are upon us! Eek! 

I still have some pages to finish in my October Daily 2022. One advantage to not finishing is I can work on it now when I am so excited for the new season to start. Here is my day 14 using the new 2023 SOMETHING SPOOKY add-on kit from @journals.for.life.

I am documenting the eyeball hot cocoa bombs I got at Costco. They were so awesome looking! Unfortunately, they did not taste as good as they looked. Oh well, I love buying or making Halloween treats for my kids.

 I used the #journalsforlife TAG STAKER DIE to fit more pictures and tags onto my page. There are so many fun pieces in this kit, I was able to play with a lot of them using this die configuration. I made a fun tag with the stamp set plus adding extra stamping to the top of the page. There is a set of clear stickers in the kit which work great on photos. 

Check out the kit in the shop. Use code Marci20 for 20% off in the shop!

Happy Haunting!

Marci

Hello Creative Friends,

I have a new project for you using a traveler's notebook. This book and supplies are from Journals for Life and the GIRL TALK, August kit. 

 

I'm documenting my adventure of going back to school. I'll be taking art classes at a local college for personal interest and enrichment. So far so good. I got an A first quarter, go me!

There were several icon pieces in the ephemera pack that reminded me of school and learning, books, the typewriter, glasses, and coffee. I used them to make a simple grid collage on the left side of my spread. 

The wood-colored clothespin embellishments pair so well with this vintage-like wood-paneled, floral page. It worked as a perfect backdrop to "hang" my picture. 

Thank you for visiting and reading. 

Marci

WELCOME!

 Hello creative friends!

Welcome to my new scrapbooking blog! I’m very excited to start this endeavor. My goal is to make this a creative space for all of us to enjoy. Scrapbook layouts and various other paper crafting art will be the primary subject of the posts on this blog. If you feel inclined I’d love for you to interact and respond as often as possible. I want to get to know you and your artistic style too. 

Let us learn and have fun together. If you would like to see any specific techniques or projects, please reach out to me. I would be more than happy to adjust the scheduled content to bring you something educational or informative. I want to make content that is interesting to you, the viewers. 

Let’s get started! 

(Pepper is excited and does not want to be left out of the fun!)