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Triangles, Ombre!

OK, didn't that sound like I was addressing someone? Or celebrating? Ha!

So for my (Penny Smith) take on triangles this week, I decided to try to "weave" my triangles into a "chevron"/zig zag pattern. I think it turned out OK!
 (Let me know what you think. I like things simple... and cutting squares in half, was pretty simple!)

So to start, I had NO idea how many triangles I was going to need! But that is how I roll... eyeball and play!

So I cut 2 inch squares, and cut them in half. That's it! Now time to place them! Using one strip of adhesive (you may be able to see it in the picture...) just enough to place them, but not so much I couldn't get them up if I wanted to move them about!

I first envisioned two rows. But it wasn't looking quite right... so I kept going.
(I also started with 3 of each color, then decided on 2 more each.)

I decided that the tips of the triangles, where they overlapped, should overlap "every other" for more interest... does that make sense? Now keep in mind, I am no perfectionist. If I was, well, I don't think crafting would be my gig. So everything may not be 100% lined up. I'm good with that. It's how I roll.

So I decided, following the "designer" handbook, I went with 5 rows. (3's or 5's... no even numbers! LOL! Yeah. Right.) So after I placed all my triangles in a row (envisioning ducks all of a sudden) I decided to sew them down. Adding some linear interest?

All it needed now was some pictures and some embellishment. And there ya have it!
A blanket of triangles!

Oh YEAH!!!! Remember the "Ombre"?? Well, I used three GCD papers (see below) to make a progressively dark to light background. NOW there ya go! Triangles and Ombre! Ole!

Thanks for stopping by!

(Supplies: Country Charm: Farm Field Stripe #1506, Weekend Dun #1515; Bonjour!: Au Revior #1533; Storybook: Storybook Alphas #1743, Storybook Cards #1744)

Bonjour! Blue is NOT just for boys!

ESPECIALLY when it comes to this flower and butterfly covered paper!

Hi!! Penny here! Jumping in with my "boy" colors with a bright happy girl layout!

Girls many times wear pink, purple and fuchsia (not everyone, mind you-but lots of us!) Blue and green are a wonderful contrast, allowing those aforementioned colors to pop, when blue and green are used!

For this layout, I places an "x" where I knew I wanted to place the picture on my 8 1/2 x 11 layout.
I then machine sewed the "starburst" of sorts from that "x". I used green thread. The colors are few, but powerful!

I kept this layout VERY minimal! And the picture is "artsey" let's say, because it isn't perfectly in focus.
(I was shopping with my dear friend, and made her try on this flower headband-she was adorable! Love ya instagram!)

I made my own tag (2 layers of Bonjour papers!) and used a pattern to trim it all out. I can NOT get enough of these butterflies!! Stapled them on... and VIOLA! Simply beautiful!

So get your blue (and green) on, and get all girlie!!

(Supplies: Bonjour!: Cafe Mosaic # 1537, Butterfly Flutter #1536, Bonjour #1534, Au Revior #1533)

June Scrapbook Circle!!

Just a quick post before we head on out to Florida!! DISNEY here we come!!
(And Sea World, and Universal!!) YAY!

It's a surprise for the kids!!

And Grandma and Grandpa are going too!

ANYWAY, here are my "Field Notes"! (Yeah, that's the kits name!)

I just LOVE this camera paper! Had to showcase it some! And lots of lil bits and pieces!

The banner/trim in the kit turned into  flower on MY page! Roll it! :)

And you'll have to check out the Scrapbook Circle blog to see MY simple version of adding these dimensional circles!

Thanks for stopping by!! Now GO BUY A Scrapbook Circle KIT! Ya won't regret it!!

I (Penny Smith) love getting my "art on"! Anything to make a mess, I say!  I have been playing with spray inks for some time-enjoying spraying, stenciling, stamping, and splattering my layouts. But paints- I have been itching to play with them more!

So this assignment, watercolor stenciling, I jumped on!

I decided to make my own mask. I just wrote in cursive with pencil "puppy" on card stock and traced around it. Then I erased my initial pencil marks. I'm handy that way. If your a projectionist, you can get your Silhouette or Cricut (probably need your gypsy to do a custom weld) and make one. This is the mask after I used it.

To adhere it to the layout while I painted, I just used repositional adhesive. The repositional Xyron sticker maker would be ideal!
Then just paint around ANY way you would like! Of course this works for spray ink too, but you have more control of where the color goes when using paints. If you don't have watercolors, you can water down acrylics too!

Here is the mask in place. If you get some paint under the mask, you can just touch it with with the background color. But there are NO mistakes! Just artistic opportunity! So don't get too fussy!

The ideas here are ENDLESS! And when paired with Oh Happy Day, you can NOT go wrong!!! :) Chevron clouds. I am in love!

(Supplies: Oh Happy Day: Amber's Avenue (#1774), Chloe (#1766))

Thanks for stopping by! If you make a artsy creative mess, be sure to Facebook it or link us! We would love to see!!!

My (Penny Smith) FIRST assignment with the GCD Team!!

Being one of the "Layout Girls", (it fits. I rarely do anything but!) it was exciting to get going on my first one!

Let me tell you how exciting it was to go through the fantastic papers! Piles of loveliness!
Sweet Tooth is a fantastically bold, wonderfully bright collection!

I have a small photography business, and I did my FIRST wedding last year! It was a fantastic affair for me-because even thought it was a small town (but simply beautiful) event, I did a little overkill and took almost 2000 pictures. I don't think my camera ever stopped clickin'! So I take pride in the event and one of my favorite pictures (and theirs too, as it turns out) popped RIGHT into my head when I saw this collection! (I edited the picture so that the only color retained was the flowers.)

Who needs embellishment! I kept it relatively simple, and used the paper as embellishment! The flowers on the paper were BEGGING to be center stage!

(Shhhh!!! I "borrowed" the butterflies from the Bonjour! collection!)

A couple of things I did to make the flowers and butterflies more dimensional: First, I attached everything with the Tiny Attacher staples (Tim Holtz). So instead of them being flattered down to the layout, they lift up here and there. Second, I got out a butterfly punch, and used it as a layer under my cut out butterflies from the paper! I love dimension! And this was an easy way to do it!

(Supplies: Sweet Tooth: Sugar Cookie (#1561) stripes, Sour Cherry (#1559) floral, Bonjour!: Butterfly Flutter (#1536) ) 

So thanks for stopping by! I am thrilled to be a part of this team and to be able to create with these wonderful collections! So much inspiration available to you all each month on the blog! So stop by often!!

The Paper Cut (GCD Studios Magazine!

Don't wanna miss out on it, do ya?

Lots of love went into this publication!

Enjoy! (Click here)

{Here is my new GCD signature/badge-weird seeing myself without glasses-but I couldn't get a pic without glare, so there it is! :) }

Scrapbook Circle March-Best.Day.Ever.

OK-HOW did I forget to share my March ideas here??

SEVEN layouts again! OK, this month I DID get the add-on. But still.

Let me start with my favorite... it wasn't the first LO I did. But it is my favorite.
I went a bit crazy with the embellishment AND the ink! That Mister Huey is my FAVORITE white spray ink, but MAN it takes a long time to dry fully!
This layout-OK, so maybe it isn't going to be funny to everyone... but the stories this woman could tell about her Seagram's 7... and MAN is she known for loving her cake. When I saw this shot, I HAD to take it... and then scrap it. :) (and the cardstock is gray-it isn't because I took the picture at night. Hee.)
And this one... who says you have to use themed papers... Like I care! :)
How do you NOT smile when you see these two dorks and their Angry Birds hats! :)

Still having my ink attack... I played with stains, and spray ink... and stencils...
Love you Alicia and Jeff!!

A layout about my lil buddies first parakeet... (there is a sad story about this parakeet... it is related to the previous "naughty kitty" layout. Just sayin'.)
Here is me not caring about a theme again... Christmas parade pictures-no Christmas paper in sight. That's how I roll. :)
And this LO never really worked for me... but the cute boy in the picture works for me just fine!
Bonus layouts:
I used some Crate Paper I had... it was about time.
And here I go again with Christmas and no Christmas paper... I think it still works! :)
I go with the boys each year to candlelight Christmas Eve service before our family party... I sneak a couple pics with my iphone each year. LOVED these!
OK-looking through my layouts, I realize I didn't post THESE either!

More ink... Love ink. :)
AND.... more ink! I AM proud of the fact that I used a postcard in my Studio Calico kit for much of the embellishment for this LO!
Thanks for stopping by! At least I gave ya something to look at! :)

(:::waving to Brenda!!!:::)

Photo Friday

Yep. I am going to pretend I can keep that up!
So here goes.

Let's keep it simple!

I am in LOVE with my instagram app on my iPhone 4s (can use it on any iPhone and an iPod touch too)... I have a TON of camera apps on my phone... (9, not counting the camera app on the phone)
But instagram is my go to app...
and this little bit of information is a bonus!
Blurb.com now as the option to make a BOOK from your instagram photos!
Hello. Click HERE.

AND if you haven't found Postal Pix (the app). Another MUST have. It choose pics form my phone and they are on my doorstep printed in 2-5 days. HELLO! Love that!

OOPS... on to my pics for "Photo Friday".
With instagram, you take the pic, and then you have the option to add different affects with their preset filters... see the shoes below. It is a tree now-but it gives you an idea the affect will have.
I have learned, different filters work best with different lighting, etc... ya get the hang of it pretty quick. I use 4 of them the most. You also have the option of the frames that accompany the filter, or not. There is a community you can be a part of too... other instagramers.

My first pic wasn't taken today... cheater.
But it brings up a good point. No more guesswork when it comes to taking a self portrait or pics with friends. Use the front camera and you can see the shot while you take it. Yep, the camera isn't as good, but you get a great shot this way. Trade-off I can live with.
This one was taken this week with the kids. I could NEVER have taken this picture myself without the forward facing camera while holding the phone!
...and this one of hubby and me on a date this week...
So far today (no seriously. I take daily pictures on my phone...)

My iPad came today...
Had it engraved.
It's one of my favorite scriptures... lots of my favs in Philippians...
I engraved my name on my Nano... but wanted to do something more fun on my iPad...
Do you know how much longer it would take me to get my 50D out, upload, edit... No, I won't ever do a photo shoot with my iPhone (I say that now). But for the everyday, LOVE!

I took this just while I was sitting here typing!
My phone is almost always with me... so it makes sense that I capture the everyday with it.

So much for a simple post!

This might make for a fun regular post! :)

GCD Studios... Yep, I'm on the design team!

Heidi is a sweetheart.
And I look forward to working with her and all the girls on the 2012 DT... ]

Of course I ALREADY work with many of them on the Scrapbook Circle DT. :)

ANYWAY... there is the new team!Be back tomorrow with my layouts from the March Scrapbook Circle kit!
(AND some extras! I guess I have needed to scrap lately!)

Scrapbook Circle February

Another product filled kit!

Just got my kit a few days ago... but I got a great start!

Did this layout: simple but colorful!
(this pic of Gavin isn't this dark onLots of great tid bits in this kit! The current My Mind's Eye products are FABULOUS!
And this layout... a favorite of mine is gray and yellow right now... my master bedroom is grey yellow and black. And I love it!
Go check out the February Scrapbook Circle kit "Remember This"! Full of tons of fabulous new product... not to mention tons of yummy honeycomb shapes!

Thanks for stopping by!

Scrapbook Circle January-SEVEN layouts!

First-thank you for your patience regarding my sleepy blog. Losing my father has put a halt to lots of everyday things... Thanks to so many that sent cards, emails, FB messages, sent meals, helped with kids... It has been fantastic to feel so much love and support!

Anyway, this kit was obviously some needed creative therapy.

I don't think you need more testimonial than SEVEN layouts from the kit. Yes. I added some alpha stickers... and a couple of embellishments-but 90% of what I used I would say was from the kit! SEVEN! I have never gotten 7 layouts from one months kit before I don't think!

LOVE the papers I get from this kit! I honestly thought I would miss getting coordinating cardstock. NOT at all! I don't use color much, and I have a lot of cardstock-so I MUCH rather get more printed! YAY!

So here is what I did:

Love placing the title in/on the picture sometimes. :)

This one-used a twisty tie to make a scroll/banner. And this heart pattern paper, I cut 4 inched down, flipped it, and the hearts lined up! Very cool!
This one... not only did I play with more banner action, but also scrapped some Build a Bear pictures... it's
Plus my Cricut expert friend Michele cut this heart for me. I told her the size (tall and width) and how far from the edge, and she programed it up on her gypsy. Crazy cool!
This one is my favorite, thought it didn't photograph as well as I would have liked... Using spray ink is very art-therapy for me! Added some star "confetti" too from my 'punch all over the page' punch.
This is me embracing this busy heart paper... and having some fun with my American Crafts Thickers...
Saw a similar variation of the banner craze, and I jumped aboard... It follows the blog entry about "trend spotting" (seen here)
Another of MY favorites... I think it is the mist again... :)
I borrowed some shiny red paper from my friend Shelley, and made MORE star "confetti"!
There ya go! All SEVEN layouts from this months kit over at Scrapbook Circle!
Go get one of these fantastic kits before they sell out! :)