Grace

This months Scrapbooking from the Inside Out kit is titled "Grace".  The colors in this kit are dreamy and sweet.  I wanted to share another of my layouts from this month.

 Delight in the Beauty that Surrounds Us

I created this page from the photo of a sunset that I took from my car on my drive home from work one day.  It took my breath away when I turned onto a street near my house that runs between two fields. The view was stunning!  It reminds me that there is so much beauty around us and in that beauty is a higher power's hand.  Whatever you believe, I truly think that there is something bigger than us that helps us to recognize the wonder in the world. 

 Gesso splattered and brushed onto the kraft cardstock.  I used scraps to create banner pieces that I staggered in length and thickness. The word strips were also cut into ribbons and added in.

I loved the different letter styles that are included in the kit and wanted to create my title with a mix of them for interest.  The combination of the patterns and colors really inspired me!  I hope you love this kit as much as I do.

SFTIO Blog Hop!!!

Welcome to the Scrapbooking From the Inside Out Grace Blog Hop!!!  If you are just beginning at my blog, make sure you go back and begin at Melissa's blog (see links below). If you got here from Bonita's blog, then you are on the right track and in the right place!

Order of the hop is as follows:

Melissa

Stacy

Bonita

Jen (you are here!)

Nicole

SFTIO Blog

I'm going to share one of my Grace layouts from this month's kit!  This is my favorite one from this month...

 Love

This layout was the first one I did with the kit and felt that this photo was perfect for the colors and embellishments in this kit! The vintage photo is of my maternal Grandmother who I called Nana. She was a beautiful bride!  I found these photos in a pile of extra photos from my grandfather's albums when he passed away.  It was like I hit treasure when I found them! I was struck with the grace of her look and dress.  They got married very soon after they met.  My grandfather was in the Army and was a ranking officer when they met through mutual friends and they made a beautiful couple.  I always idolized my Nana and her southern grace.  She was from Texas and grew up with little  money but a lot of love!  Her family was very close and they were extremely crafty and artistic.  I'd like to think I got my artistic interests due to her and my Mom.  She had great taste, even if it did travel to a more feminine appeal than I like, and she was always dressed well and generous with her love! 

 I fussy cut the flowers and used pop dots to raise them up in areas.  I also used the tulle ribbon to add feminine touches under the photo. The mistables were perfect to add a bit of color when misted with Glimmer mists.   I love all the spring-like colors and feminine feel to this kit!

 This layout doesn't have much journaling because the photo speaks to me of grace and love... isn't that what this kit is about?  I used some droplets of the spray mist to embellish the paper and sanded the embossed shapes to bring them out.  The hexagon shaped chipboard stickers were perfect to fit into the shapes.  I used them sparingly to just give a hint of design and color.

What to know what you are going to win?  Well, if you like the colors and materials I've used, you can win one of the kits!   To be eligible to win the GRACE kit, leave a comment here on my blog post. Tell me what GRACE means to you..

Each blog you visit and leave a comment on, gives you more chances to win the kit!!  Comments can be made until 6:00 P.M. PST on Saturday, March 10th.

The hop begins on FRIDAY, MARCH 9th through SATURDAY, MARCH 10th.

The next blog is: Nicole 

I Made It!!!

They like me, they REALLY like me!  LOL!  I made it... I am one of the Basically Bare DT members for 2012.  I am beyond excited and know that it's a great fit to have these awesome products to use with all my other DT products that I represent!  Just a perfect fit!  I think that is what I'm looking for.... products and companies that fit with my style and what I love to do.  If I love the product, I will LOVE making stuff with it!  Oh how I love the albums and embellies from this wonderful company! Here is the post from their blog:

Without further ado, here are the members of the 2012 Basically Bare design team:

Returning as our design team coordinator is Elizabeth (Beth) Gaddis.

Christina Colon
DeeDee Catron
Erin Bassett
Jennifer Matott (here I am!)
Rebecca Price
Sandra Wilson

 Becky Launder
Daniela Costa
Emily Lanham
Linda Brun
Moe Mahoski
Tanisha Long
Veronica Johnson

Angela Holt
Frank Garcia
Katrina Hunt
Kristin Tweedale
Miae Rowe
Sarah Bargo

Thank you for everyone that left a lovely comment here and on my Facebook page!  I will let you know who wins that awesome prize soon!  You can comment on my post from Monday 3/5 until Friday i think... Can't wait to get my hands on these products and create!!!

Basically Bare- Finalist

 I am excited and nervous to announce that I have the honor to be chosen to participate in Basically Bare's final "exam" for their DT call.  I am a finalist! They are a relatively new company and I've loved what I've seen so far!!!  I strolled through their new products and picked out three of my favorite ones.  I've already got so many ideas and inspiration for future projects...

My first favorite is the Mixed Media Album - Tilly's Tabs:

This mixed media album is amazing!  It's perfect for me and my style... the cardboard covers (swoon!!!), canvas, chipboard, acrylic pages and the envelope.  It's absolutely perfect for my mixed media love!  There are endless possibilities!!  I would love to alter this book with the focus on textural materials such as modeling paste, embossing (both dry and powdered), felt, paint/ gesso, and many other natural materials.  I want to really dig into this one and rip away layers of the cardboard, build up surfaces, create imagery that makes someone think of nature, effects of weather on materials, and the general earthiness of life. Here are a few of my color choices and images that I'm inspired by and thinking of:

Lots of feathers, peeling paint-like look, erosion, drippy, layered goodness.  The final book would have so much texture and natural images.

This next book is one of those that grabbed my attention and immediately got me thinking of childish games and hidden faces...

 Bare Booklets - Mixed Media Album - Wonky Windows 

The windows in this book are perfect for "peek-a-boo" images, intereactive items, and mixed media.  Here are some photos of my colors, images, and materials:

I love the European windows and doors with all their colors and textures... window boxes, faces peeking out, building elements, text/ quotes about home or architecture.

Finally, I would love to play with the banner set and use it either alone or with the books above.  These little banners are charming and full of possibilities...

 I absolutely LOVE the materials used and how they might be altered!  Here are a few of my past projects in which I have used banner pieces integrated into the artwork.

I would love a chance to join the Basically Bare team!  Thanks for letting me share my thoughts and inspiration for the products they make! If you leave a comment here on this post, one lucky commenter is going to receive a BIG grand prize pack, including all the CHA Winter Basically Bare albums and embellies! The winner will be chosen from the comments on all the finalist's blog posts. Please leave a comment before March 15th!

More pages from the Dream kit

It's almost the end of the month and that means a new kit will be going live soon!  Scrapbooking from the Inside Out is all about capturing YOU and your dreams/ wishes (at least for this month's kit).  February's "Dream" kit is packed with gorgeous papers, embellies and color.  It's a rich and dreamy!  I shared 2 of my projects already... so I'm going to share my other 3 from this month and maybe give a sneak peek of next month's kit!

So without further ado..

 Sweet Daydreams

This layout is one of my favorites in color and design.  I absolutely LOVED the My Mind's Eye and the Glitz papers together! Pretty much anything with yellow is my favorite!  The little tiles on the tags are made from the chipboard waste from the Maya Road windows.  I couldn't just through them away!  I like the mosiac feel to them.  I used scraps to cover them...

 This Prima flower was so luscious that I had to use it here and made leaves from the yellow paper.

 My journaling speaks of those moments of escape from reality where you drift off into your thoughts and dreams while awake!  I love to find myself thinking of my hopes and desires (maybe during boring meetings...tee hee). 

 Imagine

This photo was taken on the beach in Sarasota, FL on vacation one year.  I love how I was caught in a breathtaking view with my hand on my throat as if blown away by the sunset.  It was an awe-inspiring moment.  I was probably wishing I could capture the beauty in some art! 

 The journaling was done in the clouds about how I make my art and what I hope I am communicating through them. I didn't think silver letters would work so I used the lavender paint dauber from Jenni Bowlin to color the glitter letters.. I love the effect!

 Another accent of painted chipboard along with an added doily for a feminine feel. I seem to have an obsession with ribbon edges!

 Relax

This layout evolved from one idea into what became.  I love when that happens. I worked and moved the papers and accents around so much until they finally clicked!!   

 Journaling (framed by chipboard window)

 I cut some of the birdies from the Glitz papers to perch on the windows.  The chipboard was stamped with black ink and a text stamp.  I also splattered some lilac paint on the kraft paper.

I love how the circles and droplets create a "bubble effect"... like my thoughts are rising.  This is one of my favorites!

This is an amazing kit!!!  I was so inspired to create and had no problem cranking out these pages.  They are among some of my favorites! The other DT members did amazing work too for this... check out the gallery!

Now, as we get closer to March, I thought I'd share a few sneak peeks of the new kit... It is full of graceful colors and papers!

Check back for the full view and the new kit!

Creative Dreams

I feel so very lucky to be with the amazing design teams that I am on!! One of those teams is Scrapbooking from the Inside Out kit club and this month's kit is just gorgeous and one of my favorites!
Loaded with lots of Glitz papers and My Mind's Eye... not to mention Prima!!! 

Here is one of my pages from this month's kit:

 I used a sampling of the papers from the kit plus some book papers that I had. The scraps were perfect for this layered look.  I was inspired by this photo from Pinterest:

 I fell in love with the different colors, layers, and texture of it all.  I knew I wanted to do something like this on a page.  I used a paper border punch on some of the papers and layered them with the tags from the kit too.

 I journaled about the creative dreams I have... wanting to be published, have a solo art exhibit, and be commissioned for my work.  I have had some of these come true and am working on the other dreams.

Being an artist is more than just playing with materials, although that is fun and part of the job, it's more about getting a message or idea out in a visual way.  Expressing my feelings, ideas, and beliefs is what my art is about... sometimes it's about the textures, colors, and shapes too.  Some of my art is a piece of me exposed for all to see and understand through visual images. It's always a risk putting yourself out there.  Part of being an artist is taking risks.  Risks can be from the design, imagery, or just putting yourself out there for everyone to critique. My dreams are to be remembered for my art and connect with others through my work.
This is one of my favorite pages to date... If you love this kit as much I do, you can get it here.
I will be back to share another of my pages this week!