Long time no post????

Wow, it's been a while since I've been crafting!! I do have some pics of recent projects that i want to post. But, first.....

Here's a card I made for my Step-Mom's birthday. :) I love Mini Monsters!!

Sentimental Layout

My guest designer post for The Bug Bytes.

This time I did a Layout using the Sentimentals Cartridge. I have to be honest here, Sentimentals is one of my least favorite carts. I'm not sure why, I guess the images don't really strike me. A couple of the images that I do like are the hands on pages 24 and 25. I am totally picturing a wedding layout with those hands and the words - "With This Ring". I'm saving that one for a layout with my Grandparent's wedding photo. But, for this layout, I decided to do my Junior Prom photo. Wow, was that really 1989?!?! I can't really be old enough to have been at my Junior Prom in 1989!!!! My date and I look like babies!!! Well, those babies are now 37 and 38 and still happily together :) We've been married for 19 crazy years. This layout was so fun to work on. :)

So, on to the layout. I used the -

Frame, Layer and Shadow from page 30

cut at 6.12" x 8.12" for a 5x7 photo

Phrase and Shift Phrase from page 28

"Mon Amour"

Hand 1 and Layer from page 24

&

Hand 2, Shift and Layer from page 25

I started off by cutting a 1" mat around my black cardstock. I do this because I'm only using the black as a background color and would like to save the "inside" to use on the layout. (I'm cheap like that.)

Next, I cut off 1/2" from two sides of my base cardstock. This will leave me with a boarder of 1/4" around the base.

I am using a very pretty embossed ivory cardstock, but I wanted to hilite the flowers somehow. So, I used some Stampin Up! chalk to rub over the embossed flowers.

Next, I put together the frame around my photo with a 8 x 8 square of contrast paper under. I added a bit of ribbon to the top of the layout and the phrase "Mon Amour" with shadow. Don't forget dimensionals for that added depth.

Now, for my favorite part of the layout. :) I wanted to use the hands from the cartridge to mimic our hands from the photo.

I wanted to make a sort of corsage on the left hand. Of course, I didn't have any burgundy ribbon. So, I decided to make my own. I had some cream ribbon exactly the width I wanted and Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Fired Brick. Boy did I make a mess!!! I used the Cricut spatula to run the ribbon through the ink pad.

Unfortunately, the ribbon took forever to dry! I don't know if I used too much ink or what, but it was really messy! My poor Bow Easy is now stained a pretty red color :) Here is the tiny little ribbon with some Flower Soft.

For my finishing touch, as always, I make sure to handwrite something on each layout. For this one, I simply wrote the date and event.

and TA DA...... Here is a look at my finished layout.

Thanks for looking! Please let me know what you think. I love hearing comments and suggestions!