Fridays Are for Friends - More Fall Love from Erika!

In the midst of the darkest days of winter - Look at these colors!!!  The orange is so vibrant and alive with the rich green fields and green photo mats.  Those hoodies and those pumpkins just scream fall happiness to me.  These photos of Erika's kids just make me wish I could turn back the clock and have another day in that golden orange glory! 

Thank you, as always, for sharing with me Erika!

Tuesdays Are All About Techniques - Punches You Say??? (Scooter Mosaic)

So, I had this paper that I thought was cute with Max's scooter pictures, but I was struggling to make it work.  For starters, the color was all wrong - way more green and his scooter is blue.  Then, when I focused on the squares, I thought "mosaic" (maybe because I always think mosaic first) but the squares were too big for a 1" square and too small for 2 1/8".  

Everyone who sees mosaics thinks "wouldn't this be easier with a 1" punch?"  No!!!  In general, we don't recommend a punch for mosaics.  But, there are times when a punch has an application.  In this case, I used a 1" punch (purchase yours through the Snap N Crop link to the right) to punch out the small tiles so that I could try to align them as symetrically as possible - since there were going to be so many!   I never use a punch for photographs - because I can always use the counting and measuring technique to perfectly align what I want out of each individual photograph.  However, in this case, since I was doing so many of them, out of a piece of paper, I opted to go with the punch for consistency. 

Likewise, I was able to use the jumbo square punch (see SnapNCrop link to the right!) for my 2 1/8" mounting squares.  I mounted the full scooter squares on 2 1/8" square punched mats and I tried to "blend" the colors. by putting the whole mosaic on navy blue paper and using mounting squares with a mix of blue and green on them.

Fridays Are for Friends - and Grandmas (Erika's Gue Layout)

This layout features Erika's children making stepping stones for their grandmother (Abuela - "Gue") for Christmas a couple years ago, when she moved into her new home.  Erika says her children don't keep secrets very well so they didn't make the stepping stones until a few hours before they gave them to grandma so that the kids didn't spill the beans on the surprise!!!  I particularly love the series of 2 1/8" squares on the bottom of the left page showing the progression of their work.

Christmas 2006

These are some Christmas photos we shot at my house.  The photo accents are pics of a pine tree at my mom's house and, of course, the cornerstones are straight from snapncrop.  (Click on the link to the right to order your own!)

Fridays are for Friends - Erika's Fireman Mosaic

How many times have you bought "the perfect embelishment" or stickers for a page only to realize that the scale was too small for the rest of your page?  I hate it when that happens!  Erika has solved that problem on this layout with these solid squares with themed embellishments inside.  Everything "fits," don't you think?  I also love the frames around the middle row of pictures.

More Photo Prompts from Tami Potter

Tami's blog features another photo prompt today.  Hershey kisses!!!!  How cute is that? 

http://blog.tamipotter.com/what_was_i_thinkin/2011/12/on-the-4th-day-of-christmas.html

If anyone else is playing along with the photo prompts and wants to share some of your photos with me, I'd love to repost them on my blog.  Let me know!

Tuesdays Are All About Techniques - Chimney Mosaic

Who knew how much you could do with 1" strips of paper?  I made this chimney by taking 1" strips of paper and feeding them through my paper crimper to give them texture.  I then took that strip and cut it into the appropriate 1" and 2 1/8" brick pieces to create this fireplace and chimney.

Tami Potter's 12 Days of Photo Prompts

Hey folks!  Be sure to check out Tami Potter's blog for 12 days of photo prompts.  Today's idea is taking photographs of your Christmas ornaments!

http://blog.tamipotter.com/what_was_i_thinkin/2011/12/on-the-first-day-of-christmas.html

My friend, Erika, had recently suggested the very same thing.  These will make some great mosaics - you should really consider it!  I'm going to try to find time to play along with these daily prompts!

Fridays Are for Friends - Ho Ho Ho Christmas is Coming!

Tracy used a lot of the same pictures I used on my Santa layout for this layout for Aidan's album.  But, I have to say, I wouldn't have chosen that pic with my big butt in it!  Thanks, sis!

Eggplant Paper for Christmas Photos? Youbetcha!

Wow!  These pictures bring back memories.  I took these pictures in 2005.  We were on our way home from pictures with Santa and we stopped off at my office for an impromtu photo shoot.  The rich wood, leather, and tapestry accents at the office really set off the playfulness of the children.  The biggest problem, believe it or not, has been scrapping these pictures.  I've had them in a box for 6 years because I just couldn't decide how to scrap them. 

Then, lo and behold, in October 2011, the amazing and talented Tami Potter introduces this eggplant grid paper.  It was just perfect with this patterned paper I had long-ago paired up with these photos.  I went over the swirls on the paper with a glitter pen to bling it up, too.