Scrapping Like Crazy!!

Today I've just been scrapbooking like crazy! I'm lucky that I'm starting to get it worked back into the swing of things... but today I did FOUR pages!! That is crazy! In a normal week I'd be lucky to get even that! I actually signed up for a bunch of challenges over on scrapbook.com like I said in a previous post. Yesterday I told you guys that I was going to use my blog to keep track of daily challenges that I complete and I DID finish one today! I guess I'll share that one first. Here it is:



The challenge was to use at least eight pairs of two on your page. My pairs are: 2 neutral cardstocks, 2 colored cardstocks, 2 red flowers, 2 pink flowers, 2 buttons, 2 brads, 2 fonts in the title and 2 photos. I didn't journal as much on this page as I did on some of the other pages I did today. I think that it depends on the page itself to determine how much if any journaling a page needs/wants. I really like the way this page turned out... I used a sketch, but sometimes I feel like when I use the same colors, a lot of my pages start looking the same.



This page was a little bit different. I was trying to do a different challenge... to use up those stickers that you have lying around! I know I have a bunch and I decided that it would be a good one to try. The purple circles just came to be - you see, when I'm working on a scrapbook page, I'm really spontaneous... I just let the page flow and go where it wants to. I had a scrap of dark purple cardstock and I thought that it would make a really good accent. But I couldn't just leave it at one circle. I added more, and the more I added, the better it looked!



A Day in the Life was actually the first layout that I did today. I was just playing around with a sketch that I found on a sketch challenge and it just sort of happened. The primary colors were chosen because I really liked the color the towels gave my picture and I thought that if I used the same colors, it would give the same kind of look to my page. If I was to only give you guys one tip to my scrapbooking style, that would be to never, ever, think about what you are going to do next. That, I think, is the reason my pages come together sooo quickly.



The last page I have to share with you guys today is titled Together Forever. It is a page about my parents wedding and how I KNOW that they are going to be 'together forever.' The journaling doesn't say that particularly, but I just feel it directly from the page. My parents have been married for 13? years and they are still as much in love as they were when they were married. The one tip I have for you from this page is, that, if you have a crop-a-dile, that you can dry - emboss dots!! Using the part that sets the eyelets, simply place it where you like and squeeze the handles! You can see the embossing below the title.

~Jordan~

More Art Journal Pages!

I've totally been on this kick lately! I just love doing these art journal pages... they are so fun and easy to do. Very meditative as well - they make you feel GOOD! I have 2 pages out of my art journal to show you... and I did these between yesterday afternoon and this morning; it goes to show you just how quick they really are! I'm going to basically give you a step by step of each page so that you can recreate it in your own way if you so choose. The first page was just me experimenting a little bit. Here it is:



I started out thinking that this was going to be a really bold page since the colors black and red are usually very striking when put together. So those were my base colors. I painted my background black, dried it with my heat gun and then painted strokes of red over top. I thought that since my background was already dry that it would be okay, but, as it turns out, I didn't let it dry ENOUGH so the colors blended slightly in some places into a maroon like color. Since that wasn't quite the way I wanted it, I painted over top of the RED again and it become more bold it some places. I then added strokes of violet over top of the red and black. Then the page just felt really dark to me and so I decided to add lime green to the top - a lot of lime green! Since lime is my second favorite color, I think I kind of overdid it a bit, but it looks okay now. For the strips along the bottom, I used a strip of corrugated cardboard to stamp lines. The circles I stamped with a piece of corrugated cardboard cut into a circle (freehand) and the dots were put on in yellow with the handle of a paintbrush.



This next page was actually for a challenge that I started on scrapbook.com called the August Inspiration Challenge. The challenge was to watch the very first episode of TMNT (teenage mutant ninja turtles) and to make a piece of art that used something that inspired you about that episode. I chose a quote from Raphael that says "whatever they were - they're junk now!" I decide to use a gray for the background because it reminded me of metal... which is what I think of when I think of junk! Like the last page, I stroked on several different colors of paint - a lighter shade of gray and a lime green. Even then, I wasn't quite feeling it, so I added the corrugated cardboard stamp across the WHOLE page! I liked it a lot, but I still felt like it was missing something. I added the black strips along the top and bottom and a little on the sides. I then felt that I needed one more color to brighten things up, so I decided on red circles (in honor of Raphael's mask color, I used red). I actually used the bottom of my embossing powder to stamp them... I painted the bottom and stamped away! Lastly, I added the quote, highlighting the word JUNK since it was my whole inspiration for the piece. I used crayola colored pencils to write. They worked perfectly!

I hope you enjoyed looking at some more of my art journal pages, and I hope to share with you all some more scrapbook pages here really soon!

~Jordan~

Hoping...

I applied to several different design teams recently, so I'm hoping that I'll get lucky! I have applied for different ones before, but have never been accepted. Wish me luck!

Anyways, the layouts I decided to share today aren't really new, but they haven't been posted before on the blog, so I thought I would share! I'm actually going to show you guys 5 layouts and a card. The card might be posted in my etsy shop, but even at the moment I have a bracelet and a necklace there. My etsy shop is found at www.jellybeansdesign.etsy.com and be sure to keep an eye out for new products. Coming back to the subject at hand, here are the projects:


First off, I'll do the card. This card was inspired by the stamp itself. Also, I love, love, love the colors pink and green together, because I think that it makes the project feel either feminine or spring - like. I did a lot of distressing on this card, both tearing and inking, which doesn't give it a worn look, but more, a softer, more feminine look.


The first layout is this one; titled BA*H. I'll tell you the truth... I've gotten a lot of comments on how clever it was to use the asterisk instead of a T, but if the whole truth was to be told, I actually ran out of the T in this color thickers and I was desperate! But it did end up fitting the whole bath theme anyways. This layout is actually one of my faves however, because of the distressed, layering look I've got going there in the corner. I love that style, except, for some strange reason, I always have trouble figuring out how to make it work!


Next up we've got this layout: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. I made this page for an album I'm making about myself... starting at the very beginning, as a baby, and working towards the present. Now I have to tell you, I have many, many styles. It doesn't really matter what kind of style it is, I guess, as long as it's "cute." As you can see in this layout, I've made it a very bright, fun type of layout instead of a grungy, shabby chic kind of page. But I like them both. In fact, my very favorite layouts are either bright and bold or shabby chic... or my own style, which is a little bit of both!


Here's another page that I wanted to share. It's titled "Love Your Smile" and it is a sort of tone on tone type of layout. As you can see, most of the elements are pink, with several of the elements being yellow. These yellow elements form a type of visual triangle which helps to grab your eye's attention and helps to keep it. The colors were drawn straight from the photograph.


This page is titled very simply... just my brother's name: Brandon. Another of the fancy, distressed layouts that I simply adore! I tried really hard to make this a really masculine page... the browns and reds, the metal accents, the white paint... and I really feel like I pulled it off! The bright orange sweatshirt that he's wearing in the photograph doesn't help anything, but I think the reds really toned it down. Also the journaling is a poem and the title is stamped in red paint.


The last one... a page of my brother Owen's birthday party! My dad has been experimenting a lot lately with making cakes... he made one for Christmas, my birthday, Owen's birthday, my little sister Sage's birthday... he even made a Dharma cake for the grand finale of Lost this year! Well, getting back to the initial subject, he made Owen a Wii remote cake! This page includes a picture of the cake itself, Owen's expression when he saw it (he cracked up!) and a couple pictures of him blowing out the candles. It was a day that we will never forget!!

I sure hope that you enjoyed my little gallery showing of some more recent layouts and going on to another subject altogether, if you enjoy beading, I've started an article series on the basics of beading. The first article is located here: http://ezinearticles.com/?Beaded-Jewelry-101---Designing-Your-Own-Jewelry---Line-and-Shape&id=4539916 I hope you visit and have a good time!