Quarantine

As in we should be under quarantine here at the Masket household. Welcome to spring break! Sigh...On Thursday I was proudly boasting that we had escaped the various plagues circulating at my kids' school. I should have known better. On Friday, Eli came home from school with pink cheeks, watery eyes, and a fever of 102.5. At bedtime, Sadie said she was really cold (mind you, it hit 80 degrees here yesterday). Lo and behold: 101.5. We will not discuss the epic tantrum that ensued when she figured out that 101.5 last night = no skiing today.

So, with various kids' movies playing in the background, intermittently interrupted by the sounds of nose-blowing, what's a girl to do? Blog.

Here are some things I've done since I last posted (most recent to least recent):

1. Participated in today's round of Saturday Sketches on the Bella Blvd blog:

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics + Patterned Paper: Bella Blvd + Stickers: Bella Blvd + Die Cuts: Silhouette (snowflakes, title) + Fonts: Typenoksidi (journaling) + Pacifico (title)

2. Had a card (full disclosure: this card has been posted on my blog before) featured on the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog yesterday (while you are at it, check out their new spring issue, available online here: Scrapbook & Cards Today Spring 2012 issue):

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics + Patterned Paper: Bella Blvd + Stickers: Bella Blvd + Buttons: October Afternoon + Brads: American Crafts + Stick Pin: Maya Road + Twine: Divine Twine + Die Cuts: Silhouette (ladybug, flowers)

3. Posted a tutorial on the October Afternoon blog on Tuesday (layouts below, please see October Afternoon blog for tutorial):

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics + Spray Ink: October Afternoon + Stickers: October Afternoon (cloud, label) + Die Cuts: October Afternoon (heart, star, bee), Silhouette (title) + Pen: Sakura + Fonts: Pacifico (first), Dock 11 (Daffodil)

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics + Patterned Paper: October Afternoon + Journaling Card: October Afternoon + Stickers: October Afternoon + Tin Pin: October Afternoon + Die Cuts: October Afternoon (word strip), Silhouette (title) + Pen: Sakura + Font: Pacifico

4. Created a layout for a Wednesday layout feature on the Bella Blvd blog:

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics + Patterned Paper: Bella Blvd + Stickers: Bella Blvd + Chipboard: Bella Blvd + Twine: Divine Twine + Punches: Fiskars (stars) + Die Cuts: Silhouette (letters) + Fonts: Typenoksidi (journaling, printed title words), TW Cen MT Condensed Extra Bold (right)

I plan to do a lot of scrapbooking and cardmaking over spring break, especially during these next couple of days when I anticipate being stuck at home with sick kiddos. I am excited to start digging into my brand-new Bella Blvd and have a few other new-ish goodies awaiting me as well.

Back in Time

I have a layout up on the October Afternoon blog today for Jill Sprott's "Clustered Patterned Bits" challenge:

I'm going to give you a peek into my layout creation process here, which took some unusual twists and turns. Here's my step-by-step process:

1. After Jill emailed me the challenge idea, I decided it would be quick and easy to cut shapes with my Cameo so I searched for "shapes" in the Silhouette store. I quickly scanned through what appeared and immediately fell in love with the aptly named "retro shapes." 
2. From there, I decided I wanted to create a layout about "Mad Men." I remembered someone having linked me to the "Mad Men Yourself" feature on the AMC website, so I went there and spent far too long playing with the image options (I tried on several different dresses, accessories, and noses :)). I ultimately decided on the combination seen in the layout above, saved it, and printed it, placing it roughly where I wanted it on my backgound kraft cardstock. 
3. I sized the retro shapes so that four shapes would fit in a 2" square and cut a bunch of shapes out of the Boardroom (woodgrain) paper from October Afternoon's new 9 to 5 collection. 
4. I began arranging the shapes above and below the image until I had them where I wanted them. I glued the shapes down, substituting a 9 to 5 tin pin for one of the circles where the pattern would have overlapped the image.
5. Next, I tucked bits and pieces from the 9 to 5 Miscellany and patterned papers under the top right corner of the image.
6. I added a title created with letter stickers from October Afternoon's Boarding Pass collection (red letters) and letters cut from cardstock with my Cameo (white letters).
7. I printed my journaling out on white cardstock, cut it into strips, and glued them down.

As always, I never know why I'm putting things where they are, I just know when they work. Having finished the layout, however, I can step back and see that I used the woodgrain shapes to lead the viewer's eyes into the image; created Z flow with pattern (woodgrain shapes), color (red embellishment and red title letters), and my journaling strips; and grounded my image with the tin pin and the journaling strips.

So...who else is looking forward to the fifth season of "Mad Men" starting in just three weeks?