Pink Seashell Scrapbooks

July Challenge

In the spring I was asked to be a guest designer for one of our local scrapbook stores - Right At Home Scrapbooking in Attleboro, MA. It was so much fun! Shortly after that they were looking to add to their design team in the shop so I gave them some more stuff I had done and they accepted me in! Soon I should be getting my first assignment and I can't wait to see what's in the 'goody' package!

Part of the design team has already been hard at work through July. If you go to the Right at Home blog, yuo will see many creations from the design team, challenges (usually with prizes!) and tutorials. A very talented group of ladies! Not only do they have the blog, but there is also an interactive site where anyone can have a page to upload their designs or creations, chat with other paper crafters and scrapbookers, see more tutorial videos and stay on top of what is going on. I think all of it is a great way for a community of woman to stay in touch with each other when you can't get into a physical store regularly or participate in a crop.

Here is a lay-out that I did using the July sketch that Frances designed. I have been negligent about posting it ( I did finish it about 2 weeks ago!!) There is still time to go over and look at the sketch and design something!

The background paper is from Daisy D's a few years ago (I still cry thinking they are no longer around!) The other big sheet of paper is from Webster pages last spring - really I think they may be new favorite company! I used one of the big chipboard buttons from Cosmo Cricket as the circle and to the left of that is a journaling tag from Collage Press.  The strip of numbers is from My Minds Eye Christmas collection I think 2 seasons ago! I embellished with some ribbon and word stickers. And one other little note - the bracket at the top highlighting Merry Christmas was the bottom of the journaling tag. I cut it off and then used some distress stickles on it. I couldn't find a bracker that was the right size and that worked!

A Baby Shower!

My best friend, Heather, is expecting her first baby, a boy, in October! Her mother and I are throwing her shower at their house in August!

While working on decorating the baby's room, she has been trying to make it more whimsical and vintage versus mainstream boy. It fits with their house, an old Victorian, and style. I wanted to keep the invitations to her style and decided to follow the vintage theme. Over the past few years I've been collecting lots of vintage papers - this year in particular as many companies have been creating with vintage images and style.

Here are a few shots of the final product: 

The process:

I cut chipboard using the Big Top Die for Sizzix/ Cuttlebug by Stampin Up. I then went through my stash of paper and cut that out using the die again. I simply used a glue stick and my brayer to attach the papers. On the back i used matching card stock. For the final steps I printed off the invitation information, used a corner rounder and attached to the back over the card stock. For the fronts of the invitation I used the curly label punch, also from Stampin Up, for the saying "first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in a baby carriage." I embellished each invitation separately using buttons, fibers, stickles and anything else I could find!  

My Peonies!

Just a quick post with a recap of how my glorious peonies looked this year. They were spectacular - and I had them in vases in the house until last week. The peonies ended up being particularly important to me this year because it was a love that I shared with Pat Simkins. Pat has been a very prominent force in my life since I was a very small child... her style, her grace, her warmth, her welcoming of everyone was always admirable and amazing. We spent every holiday with the Simkins along with many vacations which gave me a chance to become very close to Pat. When I moved home at the age of 35 she was so supportive and they always made sure to include me in whatever was going on by the pool or at the house even if my parents were away. Pat lost her battle to brain cancer on June 12 - right after my 38th birthday. I had a chance to sit with her for a while the week before and to say good-bye. She is at peace now and watching down on all of us. And she had her peonies all around her.

As I posted previously, I pulled out half of the peonies last fall to get the daffodils out from under them and to separate them out a little. That batch didn't bloom crazy, but I did get flowers from them so that was very promising. I think this fall, I'll try to split some of the really big bunches so they don't crowd out the rest of the garden. But I just absolutely love them, so the more the merrier!

Here they are when a couple had opened the rest were just about to pop - which is one of my favorite stages!

A look as more were blooming... the light ones are first then the fuchsia. It's just fabulous b/c it keeps the bloom coming for a full month!

In full bloom (about half way through June and then they stayed that way a couple of weeks.)

Finally a display that I loved... I cut them and put them in this bucket all through the month so that when I walked through the house I could always see them!