Hand Cutting

Let's talk about the fact that some of us out there feel the "need" to have expensive cutting machines. When I got back into scrapping last year, I came across the Silhouette... "I must have this machine, it would allow me to create such beautiful layouts." I spent almost a year thinking I had to have this. A few months ago I purchased an Xacto knife. It sat there collecting dust until about a week ago. I was hindering my own creativity by telling myself a machine would help me be more creative. In my previous layout, I cut those words on a box with a towel underneath as I do not have a self healing mat. Sure it may sound crazy, but I wasn't going to let anything hold me back from creating what my mind wanted.

Last night in the Hip Kit Forum, Ashley Horton posted the weekend challenge. Her layout is super cute btw! We were to:
Create a layout based on ONE of these three inspiration ideas, from her What a Wonderful World layout:

Use embellishments around the edge of a large shape

Mix at least three types of letter stickers or Thickers on your layout

Create a layout using 5 or more patterned papers

Here is my take on the challenge.

When we had a rough year last year, we had to place our fur baby, Mystee, with friends and then family. It took a huge toll on her. After 6 months we got her back. It was such an incredible feeling and it made us all feel whole again. My husband helped me come up with the concept. I knew I wanted to do a silhouette of a cat, but I did not want it to be too similar to my previous layout. 

I browsed online until I found the right image and then traced it onto a piece of paper. I then cut the kitty out and laid it on my layout. I sprayed my vibrant turquoise Dylusions spray in over the kitty and fell in love with it right away. I then traced some of my Heidi Swapp alphas and cut them out. I used different patterned papers from my September Hip Kit. 

Next I hand drew some paw prints in the corner. I wanted to give them a scribble feel. 

I used some scrap pieces from my Hip Kit and folded each end so you could also see the reverse paper color. I love the cut outs from this month's kit as well!! 

I added the finishing touches and just love how everything came together. 

For those of you that feel like I did, I challenge you to expand your horizons. Take out those xacto knives and get cutting. Do not let anything hold you back from creating your masterpiece. 

<3 xx Tiffani

You are so Beautiful!

So I did not post yesterday as I have been spending my free time working on a new layout for the Hip Kit Clup DT call. Speaking of Hip Kit.... I have been wanting to join their subscription since June, after searching through a ton of kit clubs! I hope to soon subscribe to the other kits that they have, especially the color kit as I love mixed media. My intentions were to do my first official video for YouTube of me unboxing, which I did, but epic fail lol so I will keep that for my records. I have been wanting to start a YouTube channel for quite some time and after talking to Tanya Hubbard (check her out here, I love her videos as she always give me such a good laugh xx) she made me realize that even just doing it for myself, would make me eventually feel comfortable sharing with the world. So instead of doing another video I decided to jump right into the yummy goodness that I received in that box (here is the link to all that came in this month's main kit)!!

Now I have a lot of credit to give to some lovely ladies. I brought up a discussion over at FHW a few days ago about scraplifting. I wanted to know how people truly felt about people lifting their layouts. Literally everyone said it was an honor, so I now felt ok with doing some of the designs I had previously seen. A while back I had seen a layout, which for the life of my I cannot find, where someone had cut words out in a heart shape. (If you see this and it was you please let me know so I can give credit where credit is due) Someone mentioned Missy Whidden and whether it was her or not, can we just stop for one moment!!!! Ladies and Gentlemen I think I have officially found my first scrap crush... O.M.G!!! Look at her work... it screams YUMMY!!!!!

Anyway.... here is my layout using my first Hip Kit :) I often sing this song to my youngest, Symphony. She LOVES it and always runs to me and jumps in my arms wanting me to rock her while I sing.

I do not own a silhouette or Cricut so this was all done by hand. I first cut out a heart shape from a piece of paper and then lightly traced the image onto my cardstock. To get the right size letter, I placed some of my Heidi Swapp alpha's along the edge and traced them. Then when it was all done I hand cut the letters with my Xacto knife. It was a lot of work but so worth it in the end.

For this super cute bow I followed a video tutorial by Tori Bissell. My bow size is a 4x4 and her video was super easy to follow, this was after one attempt :) I love what it added to the LO. 

A lot of first's going on in this one. This was my first time doing creative lettering. My amazing husband <3 got the Faber Castell creative lettering kit for me. I was nervous as to how it would come out, but I love it. 

I wanted to finish with some stitching, but at this point my hands had enough..... So I remembered that Tanya Hubbard did some faux stitching and it was much easier on the hands. :) 

I truly enjoyed creating this layout. It is by far my absolute favorite and a perfect first page in my new album. 

xx Tiffani <3

Find Your Voice

Yesterday, while browsing design team calls, I stumbled upon RUKRISTIN. I was intrigued from the moment I saw her main page. A feminist scrapbooker.... what is that? As I browsed more I fell in love. Here is a place where I can feel 100% comfortable and confident in talking about my stories. One of the biggest issues I have had with writing my book is society. How would my friends, family and followers feel about reading the difficult topics in my life? Then I noticed she had a free 6 week course, Find Your Voice 2015, and although it had already ended, I knew what was to be next.

Last year I received a few Moleskine journals and have not used them up until now.

I felt so empowered, so I ran up to my bedroom, grabbed my cart and a bag full of embellishments and brought everything down to the living room. It was time to put class 2 of Irit Landgraf's watercolor classes (don't forget there is a 2 week free trial) to use.

I truly feel like it was meant for me to stumble upon this exciting find. For the next few weeks I will be sharing my journey through this. I would love to see your creations should you too decide to take this incredible class. 

xx <3 Tiffani

Muddy Puddles

Growing up I can't count how many times we jumped in muddy puddles. What kid doesn't LOVE that! We do not get as much rain up here as we did in Florida, so on this day we decided to let the kids have a blast and enjoy the rain.

This is actually one of my favorite layouts. I am addicted to clouds and when I got these I just could not wait to use them.

For my rainbow stripes I used my acrylic paints and then tore the edges. 

It truly was a happy day for the kids. Always give your children a chance to dance or jump in the rain <3

Autumn!

My absolute favorite time of the year (well except for Christmas) is when the leaves start to change. It has not happened yet this year, but I am closely watching! I am a huge fan of cooler weather and here in New Hampshire the weather is just perfect in the fall. Last year we took the girls apple picking for their first time at Apple Crest. They LOVED it! Here is a layout of my beautiful baby girl Harmony at the farm.

I took Irit Landgraf's water color class (here) over at Big Picture Classes. They have a free 2 week trial and I highly suggest giving it a try. I finally feel confident in playing with my water colors.

You Make Me Happy

Probably the most incredible man I know, is my Uncle Randy. His story of survival taught me so much while I was growing up. I will spare the details of what happened to him, but I will provide a link to his story here. Please be advised the article is very graphic in detail. At the age of 8, I watched him fight for his life with family constantly at his bedside. I watched him recover and have to relearn how to live life. It was like watch a baby grow up. Simple things like zipping a jacket where huge accomplishments that were well celebrated. 

We lost touch for many years, 16 to be exact, but I never once forgot him. I could not wait for the day that we moved back to New Hampshire so that he could meet his nieces. What was pretty incredible was that once we got here we lived about 7 houses down from him. I could not believe it. When I stepped out of the car and saw him come around the corner, my heart felt instantly warm. He has come so far. He squeezed me so tightly and I instantly remembered being that little girl crying at the ICU window praying for him to make it. Here he was 23 years later, still alive, alive to see my children. It was the most incredible feeling. He welcomed them with open arms as if he had known them from birth. 

I still get teary eyed when I think about all that he has gone through in life and all that he has accomplished. I would like to think that seeing him be so strong, gave me the strength I have had through life. It taught me that no matter what, you never give up, tomorrow is never promised but you must fight through all the tough things in life. I dedicate this layout to the most incredible man I know <3 

The night that I made this layout, I truly was not sure what image I was going to use. I sat at my desk and I saw this paper. It had been left out from when my cousin came to scrap with me. I knew instantly that I was going to finally scrap the image I cherished so much. I spent a lot of time on this layout cutting out my own embellishments from project life cards. 

I also did a lot of stitching. This was actually my first time doing stitching to this extent. The brick wall was very symbolic for me as it defined his strength. I thank God every day for giving my Uncle the strength he needed. 

What I have been up to

I started this blog with the intention of being very active. I wanted to combine my passion for Scrapbooking and journalism. As some of you know I am working on a memoir about my life, which has been far from easy. For some of you that have read my previous posts, you will see that they are now gone. I have decided to separate that aspect of my life from my scrapbooking. Over the course of the next few months I will be working on that blog. I will let you know when it is up and running, but for the time being my main focus is scrapping :D

I have been away for the past few months while dealing with some personal and medical issues. The entire month of July and into August I was very sick so I did very little scrapping. So for the past few weeks I have been working on layouts. My plan is to post each one over the next week. (Woohoo for daily submissions) During my time away, quite a few Design Team's started accepting applications. This is my ultimate goal as I would love to help others through inspiration.

So for my first post since being back, I want to share a layout I made using a sketch from Like For Ever. Even though I am on the other side of the world, I just adore their kits. For any UK followers head on over to her shop, I hear nothing but fantastic reviews from her kit subscribers.

When I saw the sketch I instantly fell in love as my new passion has been stitching.

Here is my take on the sketch. I have been dying to use these colors together with the wood background. 

Look at my babies! In this layout I wanted to show the love that they have for one another. In our most difficult time in life, seeing the love our girls have for one another brought so much comfort. It did not matter where we were, as long as they had one another they were happy. 

I was actually watching the Craft Channel a few days ago and had seen a bow maker that doubled as a tassel maker. I did not have this device so I just made my own. 

I am not someone that does cross stitching, however, after I glued this paper down and completed my border stitch, I had an idea. Those teenie tiny squares reminded me of the cross stitch patterns my mom used to do. So I made a heart to go with the love of my girls. I think that this is my favorite part of the entire layout :) Outside of the pictures of course. I would love to see any creations you may come up with should you challenge yourself too. Have a blessed day :D