Monday, February 28, 2011

SEI link party

SEI has started doing a link party at the end of the month.  It is a great opportunity to share your work and to see what others are doing with SEI products.  There is a sketch challenge for the month (based on a Julie Bonner sketch this month) but you can link any project on which you used at least one SEI product.  Pretty easy huh?  I have my layout for the challenge finished but need to get a good photo of it so I am waiting for daylight.  In the meantime, I have two layouts that I completed for the Lets scrap blog hop earlier this month that used SEI products that I haven't shared yet.  These two challenges made me step out of the box a little and ended up being my favorites of the dozen I completed for the hop.  The first one had to be created without any patterned paper.  After much consideration, I decided to do something I have been thinking about for some time.  I saw a layout by Kinsey Wilson awhile back that inspired the background in this layout.  I have been putting off creating this layout because the picture and story are so dear to my heart and I wanted the layout to be something special. 


Although it is a simple layout, I worked on it for days.  The only SEI product on it is the metal filigree leaf but isn't it just perfect here?  Because the only pattern comes from the hand stitching, the single leaf makes quite a statement.  I love the way this layout turned out and I am so happy to have finally put down on paper the feelings I had about the sweet photo.  Layouts like this are the reason I scrap!

The challenge for this second layout was to use the color combo of yellow, teal, and gray.  This is not a color combination I would have come up with on my own, but the finished product has made me a convert.  I chose warm tones of each of the colors and the layout turned out so much more elegant and sophisticated than I thought it would.  I love it!  The gray paper is from SEI's Claire line and I will use it again and again now that I know how versatile it is.  The rest of the papers are from Echo Park and My Mind's Eye. 



Doesn't it just make you want to use gray paper in your next layout?  Apparently gray is the new black and I for one will be adding more gray papers to my stash after this.  By the way, this paper is even more beautiful in person because the lines are a brown foil that doesn't show up as well on camera.  I need to get a better lens for close-ups.  Maybe for my upcoming birthday? ; )

More Lets Scrap resolution layouts

I know, the Lets Scrap blog hop has been over for a couple of weeks now.  Life has been a bit busy at the Releford household.  Along with some of the crazy stuff, we were so lucky to have some of our family come for a short visit.  It has been several years since we hosted family in our home.  Minneapolis was just a tad too far away.  Now that we are in Dallas we are closer and hope to have many more family visits.  Garrett absolutely loved having his cousins to play with and having a bit of one on one time with Grandma is priceless.  Needless to say, with a full house, no scrapping was done.  I do have some of the layouts that I did for the LS blog hop that I can share.  I really enjoyed the challenges posed by the LS DT ladies.  They forced me to get out of the box and I am so pleased with the resulting layouts.

The challenge in this first LO was to use a list.  I opted to create a list of things I love about my son right now.  The hardest part of doing this LO was narrowing down the list to only ten items.  : ) 



For this second layout, we were challenged to use eyelets somewhere on the page.  I chose this funny picture of my son because it makes me smile and takes me back to that day when he was two.  Such a fun age!  he was so proud of himself, and his hair was so crazy.  He was in dire need of a cut and his auntie was having a little fun trying to fluff it up.  Seriously, how can you look at him and not crack a little grin?


This last one, came together very quickly.  The challenge was to use blue, white, and silver or gray.  I chose these papers from Echo Park's Wintertime collection because they fit the theme and they are beautiful!  My son loves the snow and being out in it so much.  He is definitely missing it this year in Texas.  Although the natives here would say that this has been a tough winter, it just wasn't enough for Garrett.

I have a few more LS layouts to share next time, but right now I need to get back to work on a layout for sei's blog challenge.  I will post it and a couple of my favorite LS layouts soon!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Let's Scrap blog hop and challenge

I have been playing along with the Let's Scrap blog hop in the last couple of weeks.  They have 15 resolutions or challenges (one from each DT member) to play along with.  The idea is that you use one of the Let's Scrap layouts with each of the resolutions.  You can find all the details here if you want to play along too.  The ladies have come up with some fun and challenging resolutions, some are color combos, others ask that you use a specific technique or product.  One of the most difficult resolutions for me is that you only use cardstock, no patterned papers.  I really had to rack my brain for that one and I am still working on the layout.  I am almost half way through the 15 resolutions and thought I would post a couple of the finished projects here today.

This first LO is for Resolution #3 which called for using 3 patterned papers and some stitching.  This was my first attempt at machine stitching on a LO and I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was and how well it turned out.  I will definitely do it again possibly with some of the more adventurous stitches on the machine.


Resolution #1 asked that we choose a LO from the gallery and scralift it.  I chose this LO and did a quick and easy LO using our 2010 Christmas card.



The weather has been so crazy here lately that I haven't been able to get great photos.  I am hoping to get some shots of the other layouts I have finished today.  If you would like to play along, head on over to Let's Scrap for all of the details.