These are a few of my favorite things!

So, it's been a long long long LONG time since I have posted on my blog.  For anyone who does follow me here make sure you come join me over at my FB page Nerd Girl in the Craft World too, since I do post waaaay more often there.  Anyway I did want to do a bit of a project update since in the end that's why people would come to see my blog! 

In this post I decided that I would showcase some of my favorite recent layouts!  I have been making layouts like crazy and I have really been loving some of the ones I've shared since 2017 started!  So here you go, and thanks so much for stopping by!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrappy Adventure #93 - He's An Emoji?! - Paper Issues

My latest video is up on my YouTube channel right now!  I call this one a perfect pairing of collection and photo!

Beary Brave - JustNick Studio/Scrapbook Circle Team Up!

Hey everybody it's Cathy here, back with another layout for JustNick Studio and Scrapbook Circle!  The Scrapbook Circle kit for March was loaded with bright colours and funky designs.  I really wanted to showcase all of those fun papers and colours so I chose the dreamcatcher background 1.  There were lots of awesome spaces to back with papers!  I used a small star stamp to create a fun pattern around where my cut file would rest and then popped my file up on some foam for added dimension.  Since all the  products worked so perfectly together embellishing was a piece of cake!  A big thank you to Nicole and Scrapbook Circle for this awesome team up!

 

Let's Play Post Office!

Today we're playing post office over on the Paper Issues blog! We had fun being inspired by post office and stationary supplies as well as by Valentines Day and all things lovey dovey.  Well even though I don't do too much for Valentines Day I can't help but love all the scrapbooking products for it so when my daughter and husband decided to play around with some SnapChat filters I knew I had an awesome picture to scrap and to go super pink on!  I went all out with lots of patterns and bright pinks and blues to make a layout as fun as my picture!  Thanks so much for taking a look and don't forget to check out the blog to see what some of the other amazing DT members came up with!  When you're there if you decide you want to get some of the new beautiful goodies that are in the store right now make sure you use the code CATMARTIN20 to get %20 off!

 

 

Let's Make a Lovely Rainbow

Hey hey hey!  It's time at the Paper Issues shop for their Pinspire Friday!  This month the mood board is focused on all things sweet and lovely :)  I just love all the hearts in this mood board, it definitely makes me wanna grab some cute pictures and make a sweetie layout.  I was very inspired by the rainbow heart.  The soft colours are exactly the kind of rainbow that I like!  I found this sweet picture of my daughter when she was little in a cute wide brimmed hat and couldn't help but want to scrap this summery pic, even though it's 20 below right now!

Cute Girl + New Bed = Sweet Layout!

Lets Bust Some Stash!

Hey everyone!!! So it's round 2 of our January Stash Buster series over at Paper Issues!  This time we were challenged to dig deep into our stash and use up some of those products that maybe we had forgotten about, or had been hoarding!
So for myself, I have a tendency to buy lots of beautiful products with full intention of using them and then they just kind of sit there, mostly because something newer comes along and I always tend to gravitate towards my newer stuff.  I decided to grab lots of products from the Maggie Holmes Shine Collection, which is definitely a few collections old, but I still love the vibrant bright fun bold colours and patterns of this collection!  I even used up a little bit of the Open Book collection, which is definitely on the older side!  The glittery accents of the Shine collection fit in perfectly with a layout about my husband and I on New Years Eve 2016.  I even broke out my fringe scissors for some extra texture and visual interest!  Thanks so much for stopping by and taking a look and be sure to check out the Paper Issues blog and Facebook page to see what some of the other DT members have been up to!

Cuttin' it up in 2017

Hey hey what's up?!?!?  So first things first,  I had day surgery on Thursday, and I'm still recovering, and am in a bit of pain, but that hasn't stopped me from creating!  I have been loving that being on the Paper Issues Design Team means that I get to participate in as many of the challenges as I want, and so far I have wanted to participate in all of them!
Since I love using cut files  I knew I had to participate in this challenge.  I already new exactly what photo I wanted to scrap, and after tweaking it a bit to get the colours just right I got to work.  I wanted to keep my layout bright, and funky, with lots going on, and I decided, on a whim, to delve into mixed media.  Now mixed media is not my forte, I am no expert in it, and the few times that I have attempted to do the "packaging technique" I have failed miserably, but this time I love how it turned out!  Since I was using a big title I kept my other embellishments to a minimum and just let the pic and the title shine through!  I love the carefree silliness of this layout and as usually I used a mish mash of lines, including Crate Paper Cute Girl, Amy Tangerine Oh Happy Life, and Paige Evans Take Me Away!  Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check out the Paper Issue blog for even more awesome inspiration!

And here is my process video so you can see how I made my layout!

Love This Baby, and This Cut File!

Hello hello hello!  So I'm back into the full swing of creating for the various teams that I'm on in 2017, and I absolutely love that I still get to work with Nicole Nowosad's amazing cut files over at the JustNick shop!  For my layout this time I grabbed her sweet hot air balloon cut file called Up In The Air.  There are six different hot air balloons all with different patterns that are great for backing with patterned paper!  I decided to choose 3 that I thought had a similar style and I resized them to 3 different sizes to create a depth of field for my layout.  I backed them all with vellum first, and then with various patterned papers from my stash.  I scrapped 2 square black and white photos of my littlest one Rhys and used quite a bit of ephemera and chipboard from the older Little You collection from Crate Paper! Thanks so much for taking a peek!

My Not Always Happy Story - Paper Issues

Hey everyone, I wanted to share one of the many layouts that I am creating as part of the Paper Issues design team!  I am loving my time on the team already and can't wait to make tons more layouts!  In the meantime though here is one I created for the Working Title Challenge.  This is a great challenge for me because I love the chance to mix and match alphas or use a cut file to create a large title.  This time around I decided to go with using a few word chipboard embellishments instead of individual letter stickers.
I decided to get a little deep and create this layout, not only about going out on a date night with my husband, but what doing something like that meant for me.  I wanted to focus on how doing this made me happy, but that not every day is a happy day for me, and that's okay, but it's also important to take a moment to enjoy those days that do make me happy.  Since I had no actual pictures from our date night I went with one that I had taken as I was getting ready to leave.  I had gone out of my way to do my hair and makeup and I wanted to take a picture to remind myself that I am beautiful.  I used a black background to help everything stand out, and I fussy cut out large florals from the Paige Evans Take Me Away collection.  I absolutely love how this layout turned out!