ScrapFit Mini Work-Out

I woke this morning a little melancholy. My "baby" is twelve today. I know that's not a milestone birthday or anything but for some reason, this one is killing me. I don't know if its because I am missing Michael (for those who don't know, they lost their dad unexpectedly several years ago) and wish that he could be here to see how the kids are growing up into the most amazing young adults, or I'm just in one of those weepy, pity party type moods, but I've been on an emotional roller coaster since Friday morning! So my creative mojo was sorta on hiatus early this morning and I decided instead of tackling a layout....I had started one for John's fish pictures but I ripped it apart when it was almost done because it just wasn't working for me....I made this tag. It's for ScrapFit Mini Workout #2 - Create a tag. I don't really use tags much in my scrapping so I decided to make one to hang on my bulletin board. Its all scraps from a DCWV stack, rick rack from my stash. Buttons are Mickey heads (Disney) because if you know me, you know that I love all things Mickey Mouse!! The brad is a Basic Grey leftover and I simply added my photo and name and the three things in my life I am most proud of....Mom, Sister, Daughter. Stay tuned...because no sooner did I get this tag done did I get my mojo back and did a BEAUTIFUL layout of Susie....Already Twelve!

Flowers, Buttons and SILICONE?

I woke early this morning (5:30am) to the smell of coffee and sounds of John getting ready to go fishing again. I was sleeping on the couch because I just can't get comfortable in bed with the pulled stomach muscles I have now given myself due to all the coughing. I've stayed inside ALL weekend long...the longest I've been outside was to photograph layouts! I played around with different variations of this layout for hours. Just couldn't get anything to go the way I wanted. After doing so many layouts on Friday and Saturday that I really liked, I was a little annoyed that this was taking so long. Finally I just made myself start gluing...had it not been for that, I may still be moving things around! Now that its done, its one of my new favorite pages. All the paper is My Minds Eye Just Dreamy 2.

This page has a lot of dimension to it with the flowers, the leaves, the thick letters (which nearly gave my Cricut machine a fit!) and the chipboard heart raised up on pop dots with a flower on top of that. It was quite relaxing to sit in the quiet house while the kids were still sleeping, just making flowers. All the flowers and leaves, the heart and the title (both the pp and the chipboard) were cut on the Cricut using the Plantin Schoolbook Cartridge.  Using the Cricut qualifies this layout for ScrapFit Challenge 21 - Exercise Machines.  Some of the flowers have button centers, qualifying this layout for the Frosted Design challenge, and others have Dew Drops for the centers but you can't really see them in the picture. The flowers qualify for the Alphabet Challenge Blog: F Is For Flowers. I added some Stickles to the border of the heart which doesn't show well either. I had to wait for the kids to get up before I started distressing with the Distrezz-It-All. Believe me when I tell you it sounds like you are cutting wood on a table saw, its THAT loud!!

I've discovered a new adhesive that is perfect for pages like this. Its called Helmar Scrap Dots and I got it at A Cherry On Top in my last order. Basically its silicone for scrappers! Put a blob where you want your flower and gently push the flower into it. Once dry, they aren't going anywhere! I used it on the leaves as well along the fold so that both edges of the leaves could be raised from the paper. If you look closely at the picture below you can see the silicone blob under one of the flowers. John just shook his head when I told him I paid $3.50 for a small tube of the silicone glue. Told me I could get an entire caulk-gun sized tube for that at Home Depot! LOL!

I think I will go blop hopping now to see what everyone else has been up to since I don't feel too much mojo today and can't bear the thought of another 7 hour layout! Plus its Sunday....there's a few new challenges posted around the web today. I can make my attack plan for next weekend!