Easter Round Up

So Easter was three days ago, sue me! Or don't, really, you'd get a minivan in great need of a detailing and two sewing machines. I'm rich, y'all. 

Layout made with Bella Gypsy's Basket Case Bundle

If there was a theme to my holiday this year, it was probably Pinterest. I saw tons of cute eggs colored with Sharpies, so I bought a package of the new Bic permanent markers to try it myself (They were less than half the cost of Sharpies, and wrote really well, and they didn't smudge after being in the refrigerator or the damp grass...I might be a convert!) I also pinned a couple cute banners and tried my hand at making one from this printable. It turned out nice, but just like my baby shower banner, I made it way too large. Maybe I'l find a better place to hang it next year in the new house. 

I also bought a cheap grapevine wreath from Michael's and embellished it with a whole bunch of stashed craft items. I used the Bic markers for this project too. The little foam eggs were on bamboo skewers, and I colored them brown to blend in with the wreath before weaving them through. You can kind of see up close, but I was really unsure of what kind of adhesive to use on the Styrofoam, so for me, this was a much better option. 

Another bunny from the Pinterest printable

What do you think? I'm excited to have some decorations I can use year after year, and for less than $12 with all of the supplies I had on hand! 

Small settings change and some more scrapbooking

I was hoping not to have to do this, but I have had to stop allowing anonymous comments. Sorry! I know that there were some genuine people using that feature to ask me questions about certain projects without creating an account (especially people who found me on Pinterest). On my last post I think I got about a dozen SPAM comments, all from anonymous users. And they're sneaky, too. They almost sound like they could be real comments, but then they say "Check out my blog" at the bottom and the links go to different scam sites. Ugh! Too much work! 

In other news, I have started packing! Not enough packing, mind you, but I have started. 

I have also, somewhat stupidly, invited people over for Easter. So I need to decorate. While packing. My husband made me feel better about this by telling me that we have two small children (and one not-so-small) and I really had to decorate anyway. Hmmm...I guess so.

Kit is Bella Gypsy's Besties with added freebies (no longer available) and staple. 

The owners over at the Cover to Cover Facebook Group posted a few old Speed Scraps for us to use. I followed one to make this page for my 2011 book that I am working on. I actually was cooking last night during the Sunday Speed Scrap, so I didn't participate. Then, when I got on my computer later, I saw a note that they would be doing prizes. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little annoyed, I mean prizes on the one night in forever I don't participate?! Mostly I was sitting there staring at my husband and children saying, "Why do you have to eat?" Hahaha! 

Kit is On the Road by Kristin Aagard also used here. 

I also put together this page for my 2011 book. My poor boy was in such a state at that party, but I have to remember that I had his sister less than two weeks before his birthday. That's a lot to put on a four year old boy! My husband pointed out to me that my traffic light is upside down, so I will have to change that before I have this page printed. 

Kristin Aagard designed the kit I used for Gabe's page, and I am completely crushing on her Moving Day kit right now! I'd much rather scrap about packing than do the actual packing! Who's with me? 

More Digiscrap Pages & Some Tips

I may have mentioned once or twice (or maybe even a dozen times) that I am participating in the 2013 Cover to Cover challenge with My Memories. The goal is two pages per month for 2013, and I set an additional goal for myself to finish scrapping 2011 at the same rate. 

I'm really pleased that I have completed five pages for each of these books! Since a few of these haven't been shown on the blog, I thought I'd post them up here and to my ever-growing gallery on Pinterest. 

Kit is Ice Ice Baby by Connie Prince

First up, is a page I scrapped in early February. I had been wanting to play around with QR codes for awhile, and decided to finally bite the bullet. I found this QR code generator online that is free and lets you customize the color of your code. How perfect for scrapbook pages is that? I turned this one a deep blue/purple and it coordinates wonderfully! Definitely a site you should bookmark if you'd like to try this on your pages. 

Layout, except for microphone, made with Bella Gypsy's Besties and coordinating freebies that are no longer available. 

Next up is the result of a Speed Scrap and some small scale photos I took at a school fundraiser. I thought the colors in this kit were perfect for a group of tween girls and as a bonus they coordinated awesomely with the microphone from a Connie Prince kit I had on hand. (Connie's just getting tons of love from me today!)

And lastly, we have the page that gave me fits! I kept trying, and trying to create this page, but nothing seemed to work. I couldn't make my boarding passes large enough to read while keeping my scan of my 4 X 6 photo large enough to see and have room for the journaling that I felt was really necessary since I only had one real photo (all that was allowed) of the exhibit we attended. 

Someone in the Cover to Cover Facebook group suggested to me that I ignore the warning the program gave me about how my photo could pixelate and use it as my background. She said she had done it several times and never actually had a photo come out bad. So I got brave and tried it. I layered the photo over top of this great weathered damask paper, made it sepia toned and adjusted the opacity enough to let some of the texture from the background show through. It kind of reminds me of the look of a lot of the papers that were salvaged from the Titanic wreckage, and if it pixelated, I can't tell! Maybe the weathered background hides it? 

Since you can see a lot of the detail in the large background photo, I didn't feel bad about putting a very small original in there, which finally left me enough room for my boarding passes and the journaling I wanted. I threw together a bunch of elements in nautical colors to add a little 

punch to the page and bring out the red of the White Star Line logo. I'm so glad to have the group at my finger tips to help me along with these pages!