CATCH A WAVE - April 2010 - South Padre Island, Texas

One of the drawbacks of using a dark background paper is that it can make your photos appear darker and less apt to "pop" off your page.  While my photos of my wonderful husband kiteboarding were very bright, I felt they needed a little more distinction from the dark black paper by DCWV.  I grabbed my white Sharpie Paint Pen and edged the photos with it.  I was able to achieve the distinct boundaries that I was looking for without having to add another layer of paper to my layout.  Overall, it was cheaper and had the same effect.  I am always up for saving my supplies and creating the same look in a multitude of ways.

CATCH A WAVE - April 2010 - South Padre Island, Texas

Page 1 detail

Page 2 detail

SUPPLIES USED:  chipboard, Cricut Expression, Graphically Speaking, paper ribbon, Sharpie Paint Pen, stickers, Tahiti Stack by DCWV

For more SUMMER themed layouts, please visit my online gallery at Shetzers Designs

FileKutz June Sketch Challenge with Free SVG

It is time again for the Monthly Sketch Challenge at FileKutz Design's @ VDBC.  LisaJane is offering this wonderful freebie file of a Flourish Tag Frames DOWNLOAD IT HERE  Password is: iagreetouftf and the only rule is you must use it, or part of it on your card, layout or project.

The File comes in WPC, GSD, SVG, AI, KNK, MTC.  If you'd like a SCUT2, PNG format for digital email LisaJane (She doesn't add them to the zip files as they make the zip so large)

To play along, just post your sketch project to your blog, forum or gallery, follow the FileKutz Blog, then include a link in the InLinkZ  form at the bottom of FileKutz blog post so we can all easily find each other.  The winner will be choose on June 14th, so you have just a little over two weeks to work on your idea!!   Don't have a Blog or place to publish your layout? No worries, just email LisaJane your photo and description of what you did and used and she will post it on her blog for you and link it.

The winner will win 5 free files of there choice from ANY of Filekutz Design's. You can see all of the fantastic design's HERE .  

To qualify for the prize drawing, have your layout, card or project linked on the FileKutz @ VDBC Blog, by midnight EST on Monday, June 13th .   To have a chance of winning this awesome prize, here's this months sketch for you to be inspired by in your entries... 

Sketch

 

Here is a picture of the Cut File offered for this challenge:

How about some samples to jump-start your creativity! Here's what our fabulous Design Team have made so far this week! 
 

Sharon S.

Eve S.

LisaJane

We hope you enjoy the sketch and have time to join in the fun with us!  Please remember to leave a direct link to your NEW creation's post, not just your blog and include a link back to FileKutz Sketch Challenge in your post to be eligible to win this weeks fantastic prize. Hope to see your creations!!!

OUR LIFE

Life in a 34 foot 5th wheel is not for everyone, but we have loved it over the past year.  Although as this layout shows, we were not too sure as it seemed we spent more time fixing the RV than enjoying and relaxing.  You can see my scrapping space at the dining room table.

Click on image to view full size

OUR LIFE - April 2010 - South Padre Island, Texas

JOURNALING: We spent our first month relaxing & repairing the RV.  We were sorry to leave the beach. 

SUPPLIES USED:  Crimper, Tahiti Stack by DCWV, Foam stamps, Inkadinkado Coastal stamps,

TECHNIQUE TIP:  I love all the bold papers in DCWV's Tahiti Stack but I wanted a little texture to my background but had to be careful not to overwhelm the layout.  I started out with a couple sheets of DCWV's Neutral cardstock in off white and proceeded to stamp all sorts of travel related stamps with an off white paint around the edges where they would peak out from under my bold paper strips.  The overall effect is a great texture without adding lots of detail that distracts from the photos.

For 80+ examples of using foam and rubber stamps on your scrapbook layouts, visit my Stamping Technique Gallery here.

Here are closeups of both pages:

Grapefruit (South Texas Style)

This double page layout is actually one of my favorites and not just because it features my adorable hubby...  Don't be afraid to get close to your subjects for a close up of the "action" as I did with with the grapefruit in the juicer.

Click on image to see it full size

GRAPEFRUIT - April 2010 - South Padre Island, Texas

JOURNALING: South Padre Island, Texas.  We discovered the farmer's market on Saturday mornings.  Our favorite purchase was a huge bag of grapefruit for only $5.  We would squeeze them for the most delicious juice. 

SUPPLIES USED: Plantin Schoolbook Cricut cartridge, Tags Bags Boxes & More Cricut cartridge, Travel papers by Me & My Big Ideas

TECHNIQUE TIP:  I love patterned paper (who doesn't), but I do sometimes struggle with mixing and matching the more bold and vibrant colors.  In this layout, I knew that I needed to add some color as my photos were pretty bland and what better color than orange since my subjects are grapefruits.  I used a great bold pattern from My Mind Eye and then gave it additional color with a bright orange strip of paper.  The bold colors work as the underlying patterned paper ties it all together.  A punched border gives some relief from all the straight lines of the layout to create some movement and softness.

Here are the close ups of both pages:

Page 1 of 2 - Click on image for full size

Page 2 of 2 - click on image for full size

Camp More Work Less

Camp More Work Less - Wow, this was definitely our theme as we left a very hectic month of packing all our belongings into storage, finishing up work, renting our homes and stocking an RV for a two+ year trip.



Camp More Work Less - April 3, 2010 - South Padre Island, Texas

JOURNALING: We arrived on South Padre Island on April 3. We would spend the next 4 weeks relaxing on the beach & kiteboarding.

SUPPLIES USED: Travel Stack by DCWV, K&Company paper ribbon, Cricut Stamped Cartridge, K&Company dimensional stickers

TECHNIQUE TIP:  I love using tags on my layouts for journaling (as you can see), but I wanted to start using them in different ways so I created this title using layered tags.  The tags and their bottom layers were cut on my Cricut Expression using the Stamped cartridge.  I love this cartridge and the irregular lines that it gives to the letters.  For more examples of layouts using tags in various ways, please visit my techniques for tags online gallery.

Another tip is that even though this is not a double page layout, when I open my scrapbook, this pages faces the one I posted yesterday (see post below).  I wanted some sense of congruency between the pages so I utilized the same patterned paper in both to unify the two single page layouts and complete the mood.