Climbing the Walls

A few months ago we visited an ancient castle, with some friends.  The castle is partially restored, but there are many parts of the ruins that are available for touching, feeling, and really experiencing.  There’s less of a museum feeling and more hands-on exploration.  This photo was taken of my son that day, and it’s so appropriate to his personality that he was caught on film literally climbing the walls!

The papers I used are from Fancy Pants Swagger Collection, while the stars, tag, and cork car (I love these!) are from the Curtsey Boutique. 

Thanks for taking a peek!

~Alyssa~

Scooter Saturday

**I have been having some trouble adjusting to a new monitor and making my layout photos look right when editing the colors.  I’m working on fixing some of them, but I appreciate your patience with my wonky photos.**

This layout features one of my favorite photos of my kids.  Probably ever.  We had just returned home from buying them new scooters.  When I saw this photo, my first thought was “They are city kids now!”  And they are.  Moving from a town of 3,000 to a city of 2 million is a huge adjustment. They are doing great!

I tried to make this layout work with the graffiti in the photo by using masks and mists, as well as some bold black. 

Thanks for taking a peek!

~Alyssa~

She’s Turning 8!

I have mixed feelings about birthday layouts.  I hate themed layouts, but I really want to have special pages of my kids special days.  When I saw this collaboration from Glitz and Echo Park, I was delighted that there was a birthday collection that wasn’t too “little kid” for my 8 year old.  I love how this page turned out too!

The masks are from Crafter’s Workshop, and the mists are from Tattered Angels. Thanks for taking a peek.

~Alyssa~

Ice Cream

Playing with paint and templates, and this resulted.  Love the fun and colors and the fact that I just played with this one.  Mojo returns!

Thanks for taking a peek!

~Alyssa~

My 2 Loves

I’m back to scrapping, this time from Sofia.  :)  Here’s a layout to get the blog back up and rolling.  It’s from a few months ago, but I never got it posted before we moved.

I used some Molding Paste and a template from the Crafter’s Workshop for the background. Love!

Thanks for hanging out here!

~Alyssa~

Horse Play

Time to share another Little Black Dress Layout!  I had fun with the masking on this one. 

You can see more about my layout, and the whole kit HERE.

More soon!

~Alyssa~

Peek @ Boo

Another layout for Want2Scrap to share today, and this one features the color of the month- green!  My son’s nickname is Boo, hence the cheesy but irresistible title for this layout:

Get all the details and close ups HERE.  :)

~Alyssa~

Create: Pottery Edition

Milena received a pottery wheel for Christmas, and here’s a layout I made about it using Want2Scrap goodies.

You can see the product list, and a detailed description on the Want2Scrap blog HERE.  Thanks for coming by!

~Alyssa~

2012 Top Ten List

Time for my favorite layouts of 2012!  I struggled with Mojo for much of the year, it seems, but managed to still create quite a few things I live.  Here are some of my favorites, in no particular order:

I notice a few trends here.  First, I really love single-photo layouts, but in most cases I use a fairly large photo (4x6 or greater).  Second, I used Mit/Paint/Ink on each of these.  Third, I like bright, bold colors.  Fourth, my fussy cutting habit is alive and well!  It’s interested to look at a collection of your work and see what defines it, isn’t it?

Thanks so much to all of the companies and design teams that sent my products and creatively supported me this year: Want2Scrap, Little Black Dress Kits, Pretty Little Studio, and The Curtsey Boutique.  I’m looking forward to what 2013 will bring!

~Alyssa~

Stamping with Mist

I have a new tutorial up at Pretty Little Studio today.  It is my last post as part of the Design Team.  I will miss this fantastic team and Melissa’s amazing products!

You can check out my tutorial HERE.

~Alyssa~

My Superheroes

My kids took swimming lessons for the first time this summer, and they got new goggles.  All of that led to this photo, which makes me smile every time I see it.  They kind of look like posing superheroes, don’t they? 

I had a lot of fun with this page, masking and painting and misting.  My Want2Scrap products are always perfect for digging out the art mediums, so they made an appearance too. 

Thanks for taking a peek!

~Alyssa~

Want2Scrap Supplies:

Sprightly Sprockets Nestaboard

Chubba Bubba Chipboard Letters

Say It With Bling, Navy Blue

You Hug Me…

Coming to you a little late from the Color Room Palette #114, this layout I created a week or so ago.  Monochromatics have never challenged me so much!  In the end though, it was worth the effort to sort this one out. 

 

Here’s my take. The gold is there, really… but I used a metallic and it photographed kind of dull. 

The large traced letters were inspired by a layout I found on Pinterest from Janna Werner (the girl has mega talent!)

Thanks for taking a peek!

~Alyssa~

A long, long, time ago…

Ok, not really THAT long… but I came across this layout while cleaning out my scrap space and realized I had never shared it with you.  I think that’s because it took me a while to decide that I liked it.  When I first completed it, it wasn’t at all what I had pictured, and I pretty much hated it.  Now, a few months later, I’ve forgotten my original vision for it, and decided I kind of like it.  Funny how that happens, isn’t it?
This page features photography from my talented brother Ryan, and papers and embellishments from Crate Paper.  The dots were made with gesso and a template from Crafter’s Workshop.  I just love how gesso stands out on darker papers with only one coat!



Thanks for dropping by!  Make this Monday a great one. 
~Alyssa~

So I Tried Something New.

I tried something new last night, with mixed results.  I have been following the blog of Anna Maria Wolniak for quite a while now, and last night decided to take some ideas from her gallery and attempt a layout.  I spent about an hour and a half on this (relatively short for me) and created this layout.  I liked it more last night then I do this morning.  I feel it is successful in some areas, but not so much in others. 

The credit for this photo of Baby K belongs to my brother.  Isn’t it a great shot?  Thanks Anna Maria for the inspiration.  I’ll be giving this style another try soon!

~Alyssa~

Such a Sweet Face

Hi faithful readers!  I see that I have gained a few followers while I was away- thanks for sticking with me!  The last 2 weeks have been CRAZY, filled with exciting news, holiday celebrations, and very little crafting time.  This layout took nearly the whole week to bring together, but I did it!  It feels great to be back in the saddle.  I should be back to my “regular” posting schedule now (hahaha).

This layout used the Nantucket Collection from Pink Paislee, and was inspired by the accidental mixing of this woodgrain paper from Crate Paper with the Nantucket papers on my desk.  (I store by manufacturer for paper).  It was a happy accident, though, because as soon as I saw it I knew how this layout was going to look when finished.  There is a little bit of a Crafter’s Workshop template, some Mister Hueys, and some OOOLLLLDDD BoBunny on there (can you spot it?)

Thanks for coming by my blog.  Have a wonderful weekend!

~Alyssa~

My Favorite Layouts of 2011

I did this Top 10 post last year, and I loved the opportunity to look back and see what I had created over the course of the year.  I can’t believe it’s that time again!  But it is, so today’s post will feature layouts, while tomorrows post will be top 10 other (non layout) projects.











Ok, that’s 11… but I couldn’t decide which one to take out, so there you have it.  What surprises me most about this list is how many boy layouts I did!  I guess I am officially out of my girly-layout rut!  I’ll be back tomorrow with my top picks for “other-then-layouts!” 
See you around!
~Alyssa~