The Paper Girls Challenge

With tons of pictures from Hannah's ballet recital, I was finally able to use some of the ballet paper I had been hoarding this year.
I really liked Echo Park's mini kit with elegant designs and fresh colors.

I used the June sketch challenge at The Paper Girls Challenge Blog for inspiration.

And here is what I came up with.

I traced a template on the striped paper to create the scallop design and with only a scrap of this pretty blue crocheted ribbon left, I split it and hid the gap with some oversized flowers. I stapled bits of ribbon to the top edge of the photo to tie in with the bold black letters and some bling to create depth and movement.

My Scraps & More Sketch Number Four

The last sketch for June over at My Scraps & More featured lots of layers...

I used hexagons punched using my newest tool, the Fiskars hex punch, to embellish the layout design where the stars are featured.

Our Ballerina

As an avid scrapper knows, sometimes an outfit is just perfect for the paper you have!
When I saw Hannah's ballet costume for this year, I immediately said (yes, out loud) "It goes with my Bo Bunny Isabella paper!

The pretty pinks and of course, the elegant ballet feel, was just perfect!

I added metal butterflies to add to the printed ones. I glimmer misted a doily in a deep gray and added gray and black flowers and some black bling flourishes.
The layout inspiration comes from My Creative Sketches June sketch:

Playing with Scraps

I love all the beautiful paper designs and because of that, hold on to all the scraps.

I had some great end pieces from these cute papers from Cosmo Cricket. I love how using scraps created a page with lots of white space, which I added a walnut stain circle to, to frame the photo. I added wood butterflies in the same stain to bring a color variance to the layout.
The sketch inspiration comes from Scrap Much? and their Sketch-y Friday sketch:

And another layout from my scraps from this collection:

I used Scrap Our Stash's sketch using only scraps, a premade tag, and twine.

My Mind's Eye June Sketch Challenge

I loved Hannah's vintage cowgirl costume for her ballet recital and I printed some of the photos in sepia to give it a vintage touch.
My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline collection had the perfect feel with the woodgrain and pretty flowers and doilies.

I used the June sketch on their blog for inspiration for my layout.

I also used Scrapbook Challenge's Get Messy Challenge for inspiration. I misted the background with glimmer mist, then painted the wood butterflies in coordinating dye. My fingers are green like kermit but I love how they turned out.

Signs of a Scrapaholic

I love playing along with scrap challenges and a clue I might be addicted? This month's challenge over at Challenge Me Happy involved using sequins. Since I amazingly did not have any in my stash, I went and dug through my ten year old daughter's closet, which just happens to be full of shiny, sparkly, sequiny things! When I found some gloves (yes winter gloves with sequins) that looked like their life was short, I snipped and ta-da! sequins on my layout!
Also included in their challenge recipe was more than one photo, sewing, 2+ patterned papers, washi tape, and an anchor. A varied mix but it worked out nicely for this layout of a ferry trip to downtown.

I also used inspiration from My Scraps & More Sketch Challenge #32...

which worked out well for the Challenge over at It's All About the Boys, using circles. I added buttons to add to the circle effect!
And the color inspiration came from Scrap Much with a color combo that had a very nautical feel to it.

Ombre with Ink

I love to follow the challenges over at My Scraps & More and the June 21st challenge was to create an ombre effect on your layout.
Using some phone pics, yes, I actually print my phone pics which document day to day life, I did a layout of my favorite addiction...coffee. Since I don't sleep much (I think this is due to my scrapping habit) coffee and I are good friends!
It was perfect to use ombre to create the coffee stained look on my background of this layout which is titled, Sleep Is Highly Overrated.

I added bunches of buttons as part of Sketch n Scrap's birthday challenge using buttons.
I also used My Scraps & More Sketch #33 for the June Challenges.