Fancy Pants -- It's The Little Things with Marion!

In November of last year, I road tripped to She Scrapbooks with dear friend and Flamingo Scraps Design Team Member, Tonya Gibbs, to take classes with the fabulous and talented Marion Smith!!!!  I'm not sure whether we laughed more or scrapped more -- our table was labeled the "bad" table!!   It was so much fun to meet Marion and to meet a number of ladies in person that we had come to know online from Marion's Live With Prima Shows!!!

I feel a little like I'm cheating, using Fancy Pants' It's The Little Things to scrap a Prima experience!  But I used Prima bling so that makes it OK, right????  And I had been dying to use It's The Little Things, one of my favorite collections of all time!!!!

Supplies used from Flamingo Scraps -- Fancy Pants It's The Little Things paper collection, Prima bling, American Crafts Thickers; other supplies -- black bling strips, Tim Holtz clip stickpin, cat's eye ink.

This collection has such fabulous colors and patterns just begging to be layered and combined!  To pick up the shapes of the flowers, I scallop cut the striped pattern and fussy cut the scallop on the center strip.  All the edges were inked in a soft greenish blue.  The main title is in Thickers and I used a Tim Holtz clip stickpin to hold the small journaling block.  I highlighted the pictures with Prima Say It In Crystals corners and some strips of miscellaneous black bling!

It was a really fun weekend and a great scrapping experience!!!!

Suzanne

Croppin' in Florida

When I first saw Webster's Seaside Retreat collection, I knew I had to save some for a layout of our weekend crop in Florida this year! 

From Flamingo Scraps: Websters Seaside Retreat patterned papers, Websters alphabet stickers, Prima Teal fairytale roses, Prima Jude Love Letter Roses; Stardust Stickles
Other Supplies: Chatterbox Artsylicious flocked paper, cream cardstock, American Crafts pen 

And how fabulous are these flowers from Prima?!

The larger flower is a Prima Love Letter Rose in the color Jude and comes pre-made with sparkly bits of glitter shards!  I added some Stardust Stickles of the smaller Teal Prima Fairytale Rose to match. 

I'm so glad I saved some of this collection to scrap this photo.  I'm kinda sad that I only have a few scraps and two pieces from that collection left... good thing there is always lots of pretty new papers to replace them with!

"Take Along" Mini Album

Tis the Season......for REUNIONS!!!  I don't know about y'all, but around here in August, family and class reunions abound!!  This treasured picture was taken this past weekend during festivities surrounding my 36th High School Reunion!!!  These ladies and I have been friends for close to 50 years, starting in first grade, continuing through elementary school, and graduating together in 1974!

AND, for all those years, teachers were frustrated as to how to separate us on seating charts to keep us from talking, giggling, and passing notes in class.  You see, the classic fair way to seat kids was alphabetically, but that simply didn't work with us -- we were Parker, Pickens, Pierce, Pigue, and Benchoff (well Gayle was a row over!).  We were so blessed to be together again (in alphabetical order!) after so many years!!!!

So much for my reminiscing!  Everyone likes to take pictures at these events, but sharing photos is a special part of catching up with friends and family you haven't seen for awhile.  Inspired by Cari F.'s fabulous mini album workshop at CHA, I made a small "take along" album for the reunion to show off my family!  It was fun, quick and easy, and thanks to Cari's fantastic ideas, a really unique way to share photos!

Album Cover

This is the album fanned out from the front

The base of the album is 3 1/2 x 3 inch acrylic sheets that I cut from a 12x12 sheet of acrylic and attached them with a binder ring tied with miscellaneous ribbon and lace.  I used scraps of Prima, Webster's Pages, and Pink Paislee patterned papers and some vintage sheet music for my pages.  The gorgeous double-sided papers made using the acrylic a cinch!   The letters and embellies are Prima -- Symphony Accesso and miscellaneous mulberry flowers, Pastiche glitter stickers, leaves, and, of course, bling including some Maya Road chandelier beads.  Completed, the album is just the right size to fit in your purse or pocket.

And this is the album fanned out from the back

This has got to be my favorite page, not just because it shows my wonderful nieces and nephews, I just LOVE Cari's idea of using flowers as the background for a page!

This is the back cover, which could easily hold another picture!  And if you don't have a reunion in the offing -- these are great share books for parents and grandparents and would make great stocking stuffers!

I think I am going to have to make another so that I can share pictures from the reunion with my family!

Thanks for looking!!

Guest Blogger Kia: Cool Challenge # 1

Hello to all you Flamingo Scraps fans!  My name is Kia and I will be your guest blogger every Monday in August.  If you haven't read the post introducing me and Scraptathlon, you can check it out here. I am very excited to bring you some fun challenges from my "Nefarious Notebook".  Shall we get started?

Cool Challenge #1 ~ Read Between the Lines - Carole King
For this challenge, I want you to read between the lines both literally and figuratively.
1. Your journaling needs to be between lines.
2. Somewhere in the content, either the title, photos or journaling, there must be something that you must "read between the lines" to understand or see. You know, saying something or showing something where the meaning is not readily apparent.

Required item:  You must use at least one flower somewhere on your layout.

To kick things off, here's a sample layout from Amanda:

A note from Amanda:  There is definitely some reading between the lines for this layout and this photo.  Did you know that Kia's most favorite color is yellow?! There was an incident with some yellow ribbon, where we learned of Kia's dislike for the color yellow at our first cropulation together.  Needless to say, this layout just cried out for a yellow color scheme to remind me!! ♥ ya Kia!! ;)
From Flamingo Scraps: Pink Paislee Queen Bee patterned papers, die cuts & blackberry weathered wood chipboard alphabet ("Kia"); Prima bling and fairytale roses; white cheep trims
Other supplies used:  black and grey fine point sharpie pens, martha stewart butterfly and heart punches, polka dot ribbon scrap

All layouts must be uploaded to the blog (using Mr. Linky below) or Facebook no later than 8:00 pm EDT on August 8, 2010 to be considered for a random drawing of a fabulous scrappy surprise!

This week's Hot Summer Sale at Flamingo Scraps is for selected Prima Flowers! 

I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Updated August 5th:  We can't get Mister Linky to work!! So please link up your layouts in the comments.  Sorry for any confusion!! :)

Looking Back: Amanda

We have been busy the last few weeks reviewing all the new products and deciding what to carry in the store. So many beautiful new Primas, fabulous new papers and we still have yet to see everything. It has not left us with much time to hit the scraproom!

So today, we will take a walk back in time by featuring a look back at my style and how it has evolved over the years. I often say that I started scrapbooking back in 2005, after we got married. But actually, I rediscovered my very first mini album recently... from 1997!  A cute altered Disney photo album about a trip I went on in high school.  I had so much fun celebrating my 17th birthday with my friends!

Nothing but stickers, markers, pics, some ephemera and those Crayola stamp pens (anyone remember or still have those?!)

I kinda skipped the scrapbooking in college and stuck with putting photos in albums.... but as soon as I was out of college, Brian and I went on our first trip together - Disneyworld!  And they were selling scrapbook kits.  They had a cool album, some plain colored paper and stickers.  Scrapbooking circa 2002! :)

2002-2003:

The Brown Derby at MGM Studios and....

Topiaries at Epcot.  The entire album looks like a set of decorative edged scissors attacked!! :)

2003-2004:

I spent the first half of the year continuing to make slow progress on the Disneyworld album and the late part of 2003 and most of 2004 working on our album of pictures for our trip to Maui.  Disneyworld?  Still incomplete... Maui?  Done, but no titles or journaling!  Anyone else have albums like that?!

2005:

Spent most of the year planning our wedding, which included 80 of these.  I made them... designed, printed, handcut the red paper from huge sheets of cardstock from Aaron Brothers, hand stamped and embossed the vines on the top, tied the ribbon on and assembled.  whew.  And it included an rsvp card and this:

Front of directions card and....

Back of directions card.  And I hand drew the map, added the text markers, printed and then...

hand colored the maps on 80 of those.  Did I mention I also had a custom stamp made for the addresses on the envelope?  Or hand made 150 thank you cards (including embossing)?!  Not much time for scrapbooking that year!! :)  At least someone got use of the maps.... the owner of the bed & breakfast we got married at liked the map so much it's still on her website!

2006:

Made for my good friend Sarah in a swap.  Yes, my prima addiction has officially begun!

2007:

I still loved lots of flowers!! This is still one of my favorite layouts today.

2008:

My favorite layout of our furbaby to date!

2009:

One of my prior Scrapthatlon layouts and my first use of Flamingo Scraps products... the lace trim and butterfly!

2010:

And finally, one of my favorites so far this year.  Read more about this layout here.

It was fun looking back over the years.  I have to say I don't think my style has drastically changed.  I see a lot of similarity between the layouts.  And I love the flowers!!

Have you taken a look back lately?

Play -- Sketch Challenge with a Twist

Another layout for my cropulation album, but this time for a different challenge on scrapbook.com!  Use this sketch:

And the Twist -- summer fun!

My Layout -- Twisted and with the Twist!

The patterned papers are from Webster's Pages Life's Portrait collection and the journaling spot from Webster's Pages Seaside Retreat collection.   White E-line flowers were layered and centered with tiny seashells from my stash!  The photos are from 2009 and 2010 Cropulations -- we shot the same photos on the beach in California and on the beach in Florida!!!!

Check out all of the Webster's Pages collections at Flamingo Scraps -- you are sure to find one to suit your next layout and don't forget the Primas!

All Lickered Up -- Old Page Maps Challenge

More fun photos from Cropulation in this LO for the Old Page Maps Challenge!!!!

For Week #4 we used this fabulous Page Map by Becky Fleck.

 

I'd tell y'all the story behind these hysterical photos, but then I'd have to kill you!!!!  Suffice it to say it was even funnier in person!!!

The patterned paper is Blooming Retro by Prima (available at Flamingo Scraps), I inked all the pieces, used Bazzill cardstock as the base and began to build my page.  I used some miscellaneous black lace from my stash and zig zag stitched with aqua thread on the sewing machine.  The long vertical strip's edges were torn using a scalloped ruler and the raw edges inked in black.  Here are some of the other patterns in the collection.

The fabulous flower is Zazi Seafoam (available in this and other colors at Flamingo Scraps), a confection from Prima in chiffon and tulle with beads and sequins.  I lightly dusted the edges with black ink.

The fantastically funky 3-D Alphabet-Black and White Polka Dot is also from Prima and available at Flamingo Scraps.  It is dimensional and holographic changing from a black and white dot pattern to a black and white flower pattern -- the scan of the layout shows both patterns!

Two more weeks to go 'til this challenge is finished -- I'm already looking forward to the next one!!

One Patterned Paper... Three Projects

So I wanted to see how far I could stretch just one piece of patterned paper.  I chose this piece from Pink Paislee:

From Flamingo Scraps:  pink paislee 365 degrees collection - daydream patterned paper

First, I used it to make this two-page layout:

Other supplies:  Cosmo Cricket the Boyfriend collection, Scenic Route graph and notebook paper, American Crafts black thickers in Prancer, star punches, black sharpie pen

This one-page layout about a recent birthday celebration we attended:

From Flamingo Scraps:  Webster's Life's Portrait patterned paper (black & white polka dot); Prima Innoscense flowers, white e-line flowers, white e-line pearls and black e-line bling; pink paislee bayberry cottage die cut

Other supplies:  fiskars threading water punch, orange fine tip sharpie pen, American Crafts black thickers in prancer, Making Memories tiny alphas (date), gray cardstock, black cardstock and white Bazzill Swiss Dot Cardstock

Color photo edited in Adobe Photoshop with Coffeeshop blog's Honey Retro action.

That journaling block is actually the remainder of the pattern from one of the pink paislee bayberry cottage die cuts.  I cut it out carefully, glued it to some white paper and cut it out leaving a small border of white paper.
Finally, I made this card, which I shared with you last Friday:

From Flamingo Scraps:  pink paislee 365 degrees collection die cuts

Other supplies:  white mini ric rac

Not too shabby for one piece of paper!  And it caused me to use up lots of fun stuff from my stash.  I love mixing different lines of patterned paper on my layouts and the Pink Paislee 365 collection works well for that purpose!  Have you ever tried to see how you could stretch out one piece of paper for several projects?

Old Page Maps Challenge!

First of all, from us at Flamingo Scraps, Happy Memorial Day!!

I love the Old Page Maps challenge at Scrapbook.com!  The hostess posts four older Page Maps by Becky Fleck and the players do a layout with each one during a four week period.  I really like using Becky's fabulous Page Maps for inspiration and this challenge always inspires me and MAKES me make time to scrap!!

This is the page map for week #3. 

I turned it on its side to fit my group photo from our recent scrapbook retreat and used Kaiser Craft Pina Colada papers and embellishments (can you guess why I love this pattern so much?!):

(HINT:  It's the flamingos!!)

From Flamingo Scraps:  Kaisercraft Pina Colada collection papers and embellishments

The embroidered patches, punchouts, and brads that go with the Pina Colada papers are just too cute!  In addition, the collection has coordinating alpha stickers and color rubons.  I used Maya Road inks in orange and deep rose, and Spellbinders Nestabilities to cut the scalloped circles.  The swirlies are bits and pieces of old laser cuts from my stash.

We had such fun on our ride around Old Town St. Augustine in the Surrey With the Fringe on Top!  For more of our adventures, stayed tuned for my next Old Pagemaps blog!  Thanks for looking!

Bayberry Cottage Page Kit: Layout #1

So on Monday, I showed you the three cards I made using pink paislee's bayberry cottage.  Today I'm going to show you one of my 2-page layouts I made using the rest of my kit!  Up until now, I had trouble finding just the right paper to use for my bachelorette party....

From Flamingo Scraps: pink paislee Bayberry Cottage patterned papers (houndstooth and lime green), Prima flowers

Other supplies: bazzill magenta and grey cardstock, Sigma white pen, Basic Grey romani rubons, Cricut Simply Sweet cartridge and Doodlebug mini simply sweet white rubons

And because it can be hard to see up close, here's the left side:

And the right side:

It is a very girly layout that the pink paislee Bayberry Cottage collection is perfect for!  I'm off to a scrapbooking weekend at the beach tomorrow and I'm looking forward to scrapping with some great friends.  I'll be back on Friday to show ya what progress (if any) I have made during my scrappy retreat, including the completion of this page kit!

Hope you all have a great week!