Travel Collection for at Home Event

You don't have to leave home to use those travel papers.  Just Skpe.

Early in the morning a couple of weeks ago, my stepdaughter called for a favor.  She needed someone to Skype with her class and play a 20 questions type geography game.  She was planning to do this with another class somewhere else in the world but it fell through. That's what parents are for, the fall back plan.

We were happy to do it though I had to hurry up and put Skype on my current laptop.  I didn't realize when I agreed that I hadn't Skyped anyone since getting this computer nearly 2 1/2 years ago! DH was the person the kids had to 'find' by asking yes or no questions. They started with "Are you in the Northern Hemisphere?" and went from there looking at maps when they got things narrowed down.  The question of "Do the Appalachian mountains run through your state?" sent them through several states before they got to us but they did find us.

It was fun and is captured on this page using a Basic Grey travel collection generously sent to me by my friend Mary.  We don't travel as much as we used to so I was thrilled to put these papers to good use.

Here's the video:


The sketch is from my first sketchbook.  All the sketchbooks are available here.

Thanks for watching!

Lacy Tunic Sweater, Layout and Video

It's finished!  I began this in February and just finished it late last week.  What's more, it fits! Amazing.

I loved making this sweater.  I'll admit it was a little nerve wracking doing the bodice as I had to make several adjustments.  It was enjoyable to knit and such a bump to my ego that it fit!  Well, it didn't fit perfectly at first, there was too much length at the shoulders but that was an easy fix as I figured it out when pinning it all together for a test fitting.  I'm particularly amazed that I got the sleeve caps the first time through. It's been decades since I made a sweater.

The pattern was on Ravelry.com. It is this one called Wavy Lace Tunic. by Gayle Bunn There are 28 rows in the pattern and I don't think I ever completely memorized them.

The yarn is from a local shop and it is from Sunseeker.  It has a little silver metalic thread running through the variegated turquoise color.  I am now officially spoiled on good quality yarn.  When I was knitting in my teens and 20's I suppose there was better quality yarn than acrylic worsted and baby weight available somewhere but I didn't have access or money to buy any.  There was a 5 and Dime store where I bought my yarn.  I'm pleased though that I also bought my Susan Bates needles there and have kept them all these years. They are still my favorites.

The yarn is DK weight, smaller than the pattern called for so I had to make quite a few adjustments. I decided on a square neckline so I could make the garter stitch finishing as I went along.  This is probably far more than you ever wanted to know about my sweater so onto the layout.

The layout is for a Victoria Marie challenge to use a selfie or a recent photo of yourself.  My BFF took these photos this weekend.  The process video for the page is here:



Thanks for visiting today!

NSD Your Happy Childhood

Hi!  Hope you are having a fun NSD weekend!  If you are participating in the Victoria Marie scrapbook challenges, this is the Your Happy Childhood challenge.  Your entry must be posted on the Victoria Marie Facebook page on my challenge post for a chance to win the prize.  Comments here, while always appreciated, do not qualify for a prize.

Photos from my childhood are particularly precious to me as there are few of them.  There have been other times in my life when I haven't captured a photo.  If you have this challenge, check out my ebook "No Photo, No Problem."  I found this photo when cleaning out my Mother's kitchen for a remodel.  I believe it was at age 16 because the other photos with it show me with my first car - a 1980 Ford Pinto.  I decided to take this one photo and scrap 16 things I could remember from age 16 - or thereabouts.

For my layout, I've used a curved cut for the background as we were just coming off the 1970's.  I wanted some strips of paper to match my striped polo shirt.  The 6x6 paper pads are perfect for this.  I used the original of this photo.  Whenever working with an old photo, I always scan the original so I'm sure to have another copy if needed.

Here's my process video on YouTube:



I used this sketch for the page:

And here is the Silhouette cut file I created for the curved lines.  Curved Diagonal Lines  You may use it for any personal project.

While you are here, I hope you will take a moment to browse the site and see the classes I have available as well.  Hope you are enjoying the scrapbooking weekend!

Everything that can go wrong

...will.  Well, not everything.  It just seemed like making this page was a comedy of errors.  Still it turned out fine.  I think it may be my favorite new arrangement of the year.  I also like that I got to use some girly product which I don't normally have a home for.

Here's the process video.  The format is a little different size and I don't know what caused that error either.



Hope you will join me this weekend for the challenges on Victoria Marie's Facebook page.  VM Facebook  Join the group and take the challenges beginning at 4 pm CT on Friday.  My challenge is at 1 pm CT on Sunday afternoon.  It is called Your Happy Childhood and you just need a photo of yourself to scrap.

Hope to see you this weekend.

Card with Envelope on the Front

The inspiration for this card came from this card on Pinterest with a vellum envelope on the front.  This card had confetti inside the envelope.  As I experimented, I wondered about making the inside of the envelope the main part of the card.

I realized you really didn't need to open the card itself so this one is free standing with a very simple stand in the back.

Here's the process video on YouTube:



Thanks for visiting this week and if you know what color hedgehogs are supposed to be, let me know!

Sketch Challenge and Distress Inks

The Splitcoaststampers sketch challenge this week was yet another excuse to play with my Distress Oxide inks.  When I saw the sketch, I instantly thought of the Stampin' Up! Medallion stamp.  I haven't used it in ages and that is a shame because it makes such pretty and fast cards.

For this one, I inked the stamp with three of the Distress Oxide ink colors - Worn Lipstick, Fired Brick and Purple working from light to dark.  I stamped on bookpaper and then misted with water to get that oxide effect when dry.  You could also mist before stamping for a pretty, softer look.

I used Walnut Stain for the greeting, flourish and distressed edge.  Find bookpaper at my Etsy shop:  Lovely Layers Art

Thanks for visiting today!

What's so funny?

Some people like my mother have a wonderful sense of style.  Others, like my husband, well, not so much.  I couldn't help but take this photo of him walking in an unconventional combination of clothes.  I sent it to my stepdaughter who told me I should burn it.  What did I do?  Scrapbook it of course!

The layout uses a sketch from the 2016 Sketchbook that was originally meant for more photos.  The 4 I have fit nicely along the strip at the top with a larger photo on the bottom.  I'm continuing with the same Basic Grey collection I used for the last layout.

Watch the video


Hope you are having a wonderful day.  Thanks for stopping by!

Inspired Mother's Day card

I took the inspiration challenge at Splitcoaststampers today and took the opportunity to get my Mother's Day card done.  Last night my BFF mentioned using the 5th Avenue Floral set.  It was still on my mind as I looked through the gorgeous Pinterest gallery linked up to this challenge. All the challenge details are shown here.

I chose a photo of an arrangement with peach/magenta roses and little purple flowers.  I was also inspired by a photo of a ballerina's costume that included detailed lace and satin cutouts.  To create mine, I cropped down a Silhouette border and then cut several individual pieces so I could curve them into the desired shape.   They are coated with some iridescent ice embossing powder and linked with narrow white ribbon and a strand of beads.  The sparkley doesn't show up that well in the photos.

I combined several stamp sets to get the floral arrangement.  The rose is colored with watercolor crayons and the leaves are colored with colored pencils.  The purple flowers are stamped with Distress Oxide ink.

It was a joy to just experiment and play making a card.  Thanks for visiting!