Campy Trails!

hi loves! Last January during all the big CHA-W reveals, I was lucky enough to win the entire brand new release "Campy Trails" from my favorite scrap company, American Crafts. I was (am!) THRILLED. TO. BITS. The line itself is amazing- perfect realistic woodgrain everywhere, fun retro vibe, fab color scheme, versatile papers, I could go on & on.. I sat down with my giant box of goodies a few weeks ago and made 3 layouts & 2 cards in no time flat. I love them, and with SO many goodies- I have plans for several more! But of course i wanted to share these :)

"Comin' Round The Mountain" I loved using the de-bossed brown circle paper :) and that Thickers border is my favorite thing EVER! So CUTE!

"Garden of the Gods" it's kind of hard to see J all tucked away in the nooks & crannies of the rock formations ;) For the tree stamping across the top, i used JBS "Stick Candy" ink, then heat embossed over it with clear ZING!

"Lookin' Good"as I've said before, the best part of American Crafts paper is the perforated strip across the bottom. Cutting that bit off its my major crafty pet peeve. A double bonus is each strip is printed with its own fabulous border. And I WENT TO TOWN with them on this layout- haha! I threw another Thickers border in for good measure. Its alot and I love it all!

"The Early Bird.." card 2 words: woodgrain stamp. I used 2 "Just Write" journaling cards for the inside

"Camping We Will Go" carda simple card: four squares of PP, a phrase sticker, Vintage Photo Distress Ink around the edge, voila!

Thank you for stopping by! :) Happy Monday all! XOXO Leigh

Papertrey Ink cards

if you follow my Twitter feed, you know I am a complete Papertrey Ink junkie. stamps, dies, paper, embellies- i'm obsessed with it all. The obsession started with and continues to revolve completely around the Friendship Jar set and its 4 "companion" filler sets. i mean it,
O-B-S-E-S-S-E-D. love them.

i made a couple of quick cards over the weekend, using (of course) The Jar Stamps and just love them to bits.

LOVE THIS. its super simple and came out exactly how i wanted it. i cut a jar with my PTI Jar die & Bigshot, stamped the jar, stamped the dotted "filling" in rich, bright HOT PINK ink then heat embossed it with clear American Crafts ZING! i absolutely love it. i also cut the label with a PTI die, then used the label & a sentiment both from the Friendship Jar set.

whoa. crazy angle. i was trying to get the sunlight to reflect off the embossed ink/powder- i love that sheen!

this was SO FUN :) The sentiment & the pickle are both from the Friendship Jar Fillers set and they make me happy. i used Jenni Bowlin "Stick Candy" for the pickle- JBS inks are THE BEST plain & simple. if you're on the fence about them, DONT BE! you need them. all of them. wink! (i am a horrible enabler!) i also ran a tad of Tim Holtz Vinatge Photo distress ink around the PTI bitty dot paper- perfect little touch.

thanks for looking :) i adore my followers!
XOXO
Leigh

More Napa Valley!

hello loves! remember a couple months back when i went cuckoo-bananas with the Studio Calico "Napa Valley" kit and i knocked out SEVEN layouts & a card? well bc i just can't quit that kit (and it's add-on "Monterey"), i have two more to share! (seriously Studio Calico kits will change your life. really 9 LOs?! its an amazing feeling!)

"Pre-Show" without exaggeration, this is one of my favorite, favorite layouts i've ever done. i love the products here SO MUCH! and the photos make me smile :)

"NCO Club" i know, broken record.. but seriously. LOVE. the colors really came together here, to match the photos and the day perfectly. sigh!

thanks for popping in, i adore & appreciate you all! i have a few more projects to share and blog posts planned so keep checking back!
XOXO
Leigh

Metropolitan Madness

wow. another month, another fab Studio Calico kit, another slew of layouts produced. it is amazing how the creativity just POURS out of me once i open one of those brown boxes :)

Along with Metropolitan i got the "Park Bench" add on and so far i have six completed layouts to share, with three more that need some tweaking before i post. seriously. i LOVED this kit.

"A Good Day"
even tho i could prattle on ALL damn day how amazing all of the exclusive Studio Calico/Sassafras Lass papers are in this kit, i'll let all of the following pages speak for themselves. i used the crap out of them. and still have SO much leftover!
(this pic is my new darker-for-winter hair and i love it so much!)

"...Another Everything" (about my move to CO)
i used the faaaabulous Jett alpha stamp set to crank out that title, plus red Cupid Thickers from my stash

"Beverly Hills Lights"

Love this whole page. to BITS. its a crooked picture, which stinks. but it includes one of my favorite lyrics of all time "as i walk through the valley of the shadow of LA.." so it all works out ;) i'm obsessed with all the teals/torquoises of this kit!

"Estes Park Beauty" the second i saw THE woodgrain stamp in the sneaks, i lost it. had to have it. its massive- 4x6 & my new best friend. love it on this LO

"Clocktower Cabaret"
i used a bit of stsh here: Dusty Concord to ink the sheet music paper, an old Heidi Swapp clock stamp (that i heat embossed to pop just a little more) and the purple Sassafras Paper Whimsies.

"...Goodbye" this is my submission for the current Sunday Sketch at the Studio Calico blog. how AMAZING is the washi tape!? its really only about half a Metro/PB page. the pink dotted PP is American Crafts, the white PP is Basic Grey. i tossed in some yellow Niki Riki Thickers and distressed the thought bubble with some Walnut Stain distress ink.

whew! well, there's the first six! i hope to finish up the other 3 pages soon, but lets face it- I'm going to be seriously distracted with "Who's Who" for the net week or so ;)

thanks for stopping by!
XOXO
Leigh

Happy New Year

i'm excited for 2011. what i call "my new horizon". its full of hopes, dreams, goals & ambition. things that i will ACHIEVE.

New Years weekend was a four day for us, with our first snowfall of the season. we stayed home, kept everything low-key (esp after how bonkers xmas was this year) and had loads of together time. I managed to scrap the bulk of saturday & sunday, cranking out about 6 pages. it was amazing! i'm working on getting all of them uploaded & blogged- theres loads of Studio Calico goodness. hopefully tomorrow or thursday :)

i did get this one uploaded, This page is the title page for our 2011 album :)


it started with exclusice Studio calico paper + Sassafras paper whimsies from the "Napa Valley" kit (my favorite!), then came loads of Cherry Delicious from my stash, some Thickers and the raw Maya Road chipboard "Windows" circles from "Still Life", that i inked with Schoolhouse Red Mister Huey. i cannot sing the praises of "Mister Huey" enough. you need them in your life. trust me.

i sincerely wish all of you a fabulous & incredible New Years, i hope you're all as excited as me to see what the year will bring!
XOXO
Leigh

Sketch 230

sketches make me happy. Sketches with clean lines make me uber-happy! i flipped my lid when i saw this fab sketch over at Scrapbok Challenges. it is SO me. i double the love the 2 page LO version- i'm waiting on an order from Snapfish so i can put it together :)

here is my take on the basic sketch: thanks for looking :)
XOXO
Leigh

Published :)

hello all my beautiful friends & followers- Happy December! I absolutely LOVE the holiday season. The atmosphere everywhere you go, cooking & baking like a madwoman, the smells, the shopping, xmas music, family favorite xmas movies.. just every single detail. I'm a very holiday-themed, festive person. I decorate the house for EVERYTHING (New Years, Valentines, St. Paddy's, Easter, 4th of July, Summer, Halloween, Fall, and OF COURSE, Christmas) I like to give Thanksgiving its due, spending the entire month of Nov with fall baking, lots of leaves, pumpkins & scarecrows around.. I am NOT a person who jumps the Christmas gun. I don't do a lick of shopping or make a single Holiday card or layout (chief reason I also do not do traditional December Daily albums. more on that on the blog tomorrow!) until the clock strikes midnight on Black Friday. and then its ON. Instantly filled to the brim with Holiday spirit :)

This December 1st was an extra special kick-off of my Holiday month, because my first ever published article went live over at Scrapbooking.com Magazine! It was such a surprise and an honor to recieve the email from Jami- asking if she could publish my 'Holidays 2008' title page and OF COURSE I said YES!


so please be sure to go check it out, it has my mindset behind title pages on the whole and steps to scraplift it! You can also find it at the Scrapbooking.com Myspace and Facebook!

thanks everyone for being so amzing & supportive! I wish everyone a Happy Holiday Season!
XOXO
Leigh