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

Napa Valley Maniac!

hello loves! if you follow my Twitter feed then you know that I've been babbling like a crazy person over this months kit, Napa Valley. Believe the hype- it is AMAZING. I also purchased the Monterey add-on, which is chock full of even more of the gorgeous Crate Paper Restoration & the oh-so-amazing Walker Pharmacy stamp (LOVE!)
Since the lovelieness arrived about a week & a half ago, I have made SEVEN layouts & a card. and i am not done, not at all! Like the lovely Lisa Dickinson says "this kit was a workhorse!"

"...I'm Free"

i used both Napa Valley & Monterey here, I am IN LOVE with that exclusive SC paper. The colors of both kits really matched the photos so well, this is one of my current favorite pages. I used the Jett alpha set to stamp the "Amarillo" sub-title. (The actual title comes from "Amarillo By Morning" of corse, by George :) perfectly fitting!)

"Playboy Mansion" i used 99% Monterey here, everything excet the purple scallop border sticker is from the add-on kit. I know I'm a broken record with this, but i LOooOOoVVeee that "Restoration" line. It is so gorgeous!

"Romantic Lunch" yep. Napa + Monterey. More Crate "Restoration". love love love it! (FYI- J was STRESSED OUT bc he thought everyone would think that was HIS cosmo in the picture, hahahaha!)

"Balloon Glow" this was THE hardest page to photograph in the known universe. I snapped pictures for 20 mins and I'm still not thrilled with any of them. The photos are (obvs) mostly black since they are night shots of a field of illuminated hot air balloons. This was the first page i did from the kit, the second I saw the Mix & Mend & that graphic Marjolaine PP, i had "The Vision" for this page. This Napa + Monterey again and i used a Studio Calico hot air balloon rub-on right smack in the middle!

"Ashwood Suite"

oh man i love every bit of the Making Memories Paper Reverie collection. I used both sheets from the main kit here. The lovely red floral is the backside of the polka dot, so i cut the large circle out before adhering the other "layers" on top of it. (tricky!)

"My Beautiful BFF's" yep. Napa, Monterey, Happy Leigh :) can we talk about the Walker Pharmacy stamp? bc i FREAKIN LOVE IT. i'ts perfect and i'm going to use it so many times you guys will be begging me to give it a rest ;)

"Hey You" card

just a fun card for one of my besties, using the kits :) i actually just mailed it this am so i hope she doesnt see this before she gets it, haha!

"Hot to Trot" this page is a Studio Calico mashup. Background paper is from the Joyland kit, blue cardstock + rose baubles from Napa Valley, orange PP + green Thickers from Monterey, and a random bit of SC cuteness up top. love how it turned out!

and with that, WHEW thats all for now! :) i still have plenty of goodies leftover and a TON of ideas (and new Jenni Bowlin inks & paints to play with!) so expect a "Napa Valley Part 2" post soon!

thanks for looking & reading!
XOXO
Leigh

just a little piece of me

promises of what i seem to be
only watch the time go by
all of these things
you said to me....

[-LOVE-]
if you know me, you know this song has my heart and always will

xoxo
Leigh

WCMD - American Crafts

today is World Card Making Day. i hit my scrapbook room armed with a soy pumpkin spice frappucino this morning READY to make some cards. and i made 7. whoa.

my two favorites, HANDS DOWN, are these two- both are a mix of American Crafts Botanique and American Crafts Dear Lizzy Enchanted. Two of my FAVORITE collections they have EVER done- it was a blast to mix the two!

"The Early Bird.."

"Love from the Nest"


xoxo
Leigh