Mon Amour

I am so excited to be with you today.  It took me a while but I finally jumped on the Sentimental band wagon!  Pam kept telling me how wonderful this cart is, and I had the hardest time finding anything to start a layout with. Have you seen the peacock feathers! They are adorable and now we can make them in any color we want!

This was a hard layout for me to finish and probably a good one to share as I have too many comments that say 'you make it look so easy'. The fact of the matter is that we all must make quick decisions when we are making a project because often times what we plan in our heads doesn't always work in reality. With this layout I have rolled with the punches... or should I say made some bad choices and had to find my way out.

I am so excited as these two little one will be coming to stay with me the first week in July and we will be on vacation the second week in July. Preparing for guests and vacation has taken such a toll on me that I can hardly think anymore. Plus I must get things scheduled before leaving. I will probably get around to packing the night before I leave!

I had a few minutes at work so I just started doodling on these layout planning sheets that I got from Organized Scrapbooks.com. They sure aren't fancy like the ones we all follow that are all typed out complete with graphics, but it gave me the opportunity to think out what I wanted to do.

At first I was going to journal but since I wasn't there when the photos were taken and they are my granddaughters I just left it without.

I chose my papers and these gorgeous Primas that I had purchased on sale the last time I was in Chicago. And I even grabbed a lock and key in hopes I could work it in the layout. I love these colors but when it got down to it, one of these papers got dropped because all though they all match perfectly they didn't work well together.

I am hoping you can see these awesome papers I pulled from DCWV's Home Stack, K and Company and My Minds Eye Penny Lane stack as they are so nice and shimmery and the colors go perfectly with each other.

This is my layout on the gypsy and the file is available for your use if you want, just see at the end of the post.

I thought this is the layout to use my marker and after 2 years I finally opened the package and following Cheryl's (Cheryl's Window) instructions from Busted on Friday. I knew I could and would use them on this project to outline Mon Amour... WRONG! Oh they work BEAUTIFULLY but I learned that my choice of the turquoise and black just didn't go well with my layout so I scratched it. I am however going to reinforce the instructions because this is a must for you to try and add a few of my own. I will use this method over and over in the future.

This is what the marker looks like when you open it. Don't laugh, I had these markers for 2 years and never opened the package!

Cheryl reminded us to place paper under the blade/marker assembly as it could mark up the paper. It did.

See the mess I made. Mind you what she didn't say, that Sheila did is be careful as it is very easy to move the blade assembly when changing to the marker. If you do, that the marker will not line up!

After I cut I told my Gypsy Woman to return to design. I deleted all the items that I did not want to be written on. (REMEMBER DO NOT SAVE THIS)

I changed to the marker not realizing that I moved the blade assembly.... Above is what I got.

Try number 2 above. This time I accidentally hit the wrong button and unloaded the paper. I figured. I put it in the same way every time, so lets give it a try. WRONG, if you look closely you can see it is off and the cut lines and marker lines do not match up.

YEAH!!!  Try 3 is perfect it lines up beautifully.

But what I didn't realize is that the heading just fades and it really looks tacky. Even though it turned out perfect, I scratched it and reached for more paper. I want to say I LOVE the effect and it really is easy once you learn how to take the blade out and place the marker in. EASY, but like anything else we need to learn.

I took the scraps and laid my heading on the paper and you know I had to use the red. Look at how nice they look together and the read has a gold speckle in it to boot.

I cut the peacock feathers and the heading mat and went to work putting my layout together.

I inked the edges of my pieces, including the heading. I did not do the feathers or the butterflies.

Again, I am hoping you can see the shimmers in this paper, they are just amazing in person.

I added the feathers and flowers.

Here is a closeup of these awesome flowers on the sparkly shimmery paper.

This time I used the 1/2 inch glue dots instead of the pop dots as it gave dimension. but just enough to create a tiny shadow.

I added the little butterflies.

See how awesome the heading looks now.

These are my beautiful granddaughters Brianna on the left and our little Carissa on the right. It was a fun and easy layout once I got past my little challenges. I sure hope you enjoyed today's project and you come back each day to see new and creative projects. Mon Amour Gypsy File.

I am always encouraged by your sweet - sweet words. Your comments inspire me to keep scrapping and sharing things with you.