Trooper of the Year CSI #160

Wow...I really liked the new challenge over at CSI and thought the colors were lovely. I thought about my son and how I really wanted to scrap the pictures from his award of being Florida State Trooper of the Year. Well I had all these thoughts and ideas rolling around in my head but it was harder to put them to paper within the challenge parameters. Here is the challenge and what I came up with:

The Scheme: I used all the colors required which were Pale Sage Green, Minty Green with a Touch of Blue, Dark Teal Green, Bright White, and Dark, Dark Seaweed Green.
Evidence: I used map print, textured paper, frame/something transparent, metal and a decorative border. The dark seaweed green was my cardstock from my stash which is textured. All the other papers except the map paper was from Heidi Swapp September Nights and I believe the map paper was from Crate Paper. The stars, wood veneer, flair, and the silver puffy heart on the photo by my son are all from Heidi Swapp. The enamel stars and hearts around the top photo are Teresa Collins as well as the overlay on the bottom photo. The map paper hearts were cut from a Sizzix die. The metal piece at the top of the page says courageous and it is by Tim Holtz. The chicken wire was cut from a Die-namics die. The letter stickers were from Recollections, the teal enamel dots were from The Paper Studio, and the 2013 sticker was from MME.  Here are some close ups:

Testimony (Journaling): I used the inspiration word 'purpose'. The journaling is quite long and is tucked in an envelope behind the page where you see the tag at the top. Journaling: Robert, you had a higher purpose that day. You heard it deep within you. The call came in and someone else was responding. Although you were finishing up a stop, it just kept tugging at you and you knew you had to go. I always told you that you had to follow your gut instincts because that is God telling you something. You followed them that day and because you did someone else is alive today to go home to his family. I don't want to imagine what would have happened had you not listened and fulfilled your purpose that day. You are an inspiration to others and I am so very proud of you and love you very much. -Mom
On the other side I tell the story of what happened.
Robert works the Turnpike and there is usually only a few troopers working for a span of highway. He was on a routine stop with another trooper. They were just about to finish up when a call came over the radio that there was a single car rollover. Another trooper was responding to the call. Robert kept having a nagging gut feeling he had to go to that call. So he told the other trooper since he was finished he was going to go on down to the other call since it was only a mile or two from where they were. When he arrived on scene there was an SUV rolled over with the passenger side on the ground and was on fire. The other responding trooper had not made it there yet. The flames where coming from the engine and where very high. He checked in the vehicle and there was one man inside and could not get out because he could not get the seat belt off. Robert was on top of the driver's door trying to get the seat belt of but couldn't. He got down inside the vehicle and tried to cut it off and was not able to. About that time his partner made it to the scene and Robert instructed him to get the larger knife from the back of his Tahoe and with that he was able to cut the seat belt. By then the fire was coming through into the cab and the man's pants were starting catch on fire. Robert was lifting the man up while his partner pulled him from the cab. Then Robert got out and they dragged the man to a safe distance. He said it was a scene from the movies because it was only moments after getting out of the cab that the entire vehicle was engulfed in flames. The original responding trooper still had not made it to the scene. Him and his partner received the Trooper of the Year award.

Hope you enjoyed it and Happy Scrapping!

CSI #159 - Remember Family

Happy April Fools Day! I'm not going play a joke on you today but I am going to share my latest layout. This was for another case over at Color, Stories, and Inspiration (CSI). I really like how this came out and I really like that the last two layouts I've done were of older photos. These are not he original pictures but instead I scanned them in and printed them. They are a little bit grainy so I am going to see if I can get a sharper image but if I can't they will do just fine. So in this challenge (case) the colors that must be present are Light Ecru, Black, Light Mauve, Plum, and a Grayish Teal Blue.  Here is the inspiration (The Scene) the challenge was drawn from:

The plum is a bit out of my comfort zone because I do not use a lot of it anywhere in my life much less my crafts/scrapbooking but this was a lot of fun. I played more off of the grayish teal blue and used the plum and light mauve as accents. And I think it turned out really good.

The background papers are from g.c.d studios Sophisticated Frost collection. I had never heard of this company before but I found the pad at Big Lots and the papers were gorgeous. They are double sided and are on a nice weight of cardstock. The papers I used for the matting behind the photo were from my stash and both have a very pretty texture to them. All of the flowers were Prima and the leaves were from some of my old stash and came from Jolee's.  The key, doily, acetate clock face, tag, ribbon, acetate hearts, a metal sign were from my stash and I don't know what brands they are except for the metal sign was from Making Memories Signage collection and the acetate hearts were from Heidi Swapp (used up more of my older stuff...YEAH!). The jewel swirls were Prima "Say It In Crystals" collection. The "Remember and Family" were stamps by Heidi Swapp. The jewel cluster in the bottom right-hand corner was from a set that I got from the Micheal's dollar bins. I inked the edge of the layout with Tim Holtz "Gather Twig" Distress Ink and sprayed and splattered the Tattered Angels "Moonlight" spray ink and also splattered Tattered Angels "Purple Pansy" ink. The butterflies were punched out with the Martha Steward butterfly punches out of my scrap paper. Here are some close-ups:

In the corner I folded the paper back twice in a accordion style but not creased sharply for visual interest and used a paper that was a little bit brighter blue than the main background paper and aging that was for visual interest. I think it turned out really good. I'm really happy with this layout.  Hope you enjoyed it and until next time...Happy Scrapping!

Special Bond

Here is a layout for another challenge. I used a water color paper for the background and used several colors of cardstock from my stash and some paper from the October Afternoon, Public Library collection. I used some water color on the back ground and splattered some Heidi Swapp color shine in black. In the upper left-hand corner I used some washi tape from the stash and two cut pieces along with brads from the October Afternoon Public Library. The letters are Colorbok xy&z Epoxy Chipboard and Studio112. The journaling card that is tucked behind the photo is from the MME now & then collection. Rub-on underneath the photo is from Making Memories. The die cuts "You & Me" and "Smile" were gifts from Ronni Sue Scrapper on YT. The flair, ephemera, and brads are also all from the October Afternoon Library Collection. The enamel dots are homemade, wood heart veener is by Studio Calico, and the doily is from my stash. Happy Scrapping!

Federal Coupons and Milk Caps

I have a treat for all you heritage scrappers or anyone who likes to include ephemera in your scrapping. I went to some antique stores with my son and daughter-in-law this weekend and came across some federal coupons and milk caps (among other things that I really, really wanted but couldn't afford...LOL) and I thought how cute they would be to include in some of my scrapping. I also bought another camera for my collection. There are a couple that I really want but just can't afford right now.

So I scanned coupons and milk caps and thought I would share. There is a separate image for both the front and the back of each except for the milk caps that don't have an image on the back so I did the front again. Hope you enjoy!!!!

Go Ahead Click Away - CSI 157

I am so loving doing the challenges over at Color, Stories, Inspiration because it is really forcing me to get more done. I know I'm not the only one who struggles some times. There are times where I want to get layouts done but there are so many beautiful papers and embellishments that I spend too much time trying to decide what I want to do on my layout. Doing the challenges helps me with this because they give you the inspiration to get started. Here is what I did for case #157:

This was my son when he was around one and he just had to put on my sunglasses but he didn't want any help with getting them one. For this challenge we also had a sketch to follow. You can interpret the sketch anyway you want. As always I tried to mix older stuff from my stash with newer stuff. And I really tried to make it more boyish because at that age they are into everything...lol. 

The two background papers were from Crate Paper and the "Happy" paper is an exclusive from Scraptastic. The chipboard pieces and the vellum glasses and 'love you' are also from my Scraptastic kit and I think the vellum was Crate Paper but not positive. The gears were from Michaels from their dollar bins. The die cuts were gifted to me from Ronni Sue and she is Ronni Sue Scrapper on YT.  The Ta da! stamp is from 7 Gypsies, metal dog tag was from The Happy Hammer, the buttons were from Junkitz Buttonz, the arrows were from Mambi stickers, the "Giggle" rub-on was Memory Makers Simply Stated, the black letters were Tim Holtz, the red letters were Colorbok 3-D Alphas, and the splattered ink was Heidi Swapp Color Shine. The wood veneers, bakers twine, washi tape, cork, and tickets were all from my stash and I'm not sure of the manufacturer.  Here are some close-ups:

 

Paper Bag Mini Album Swap

I did a swap over at Mini Album Scraps (MAS) and the swap was for a paper bag mini album. There were certain requirements such as it had to be made with a certain number of pages, etc. Unfortunately I did not get to take many pictures or do a video of the album I made for the swap and I thought it came out really cute and I think I am going to make another one for myself. And I will make sure I do a video of it to show everyone. Here is a video of the one I received and it is so cute. Enjoy!

CSI 156 - Confidence

I love doing challenges. It's not like sports where you compete and there is always a winner and of course a loser(s) but more like a push to get done what you have bought all those supplies for but just haven't managed to get much done with them. Over at Color, Stories, Inspiration (CSI) you are challenged to do a layout using specific colors and then a list of items and journaling ideas to choose from. I love doing the challenges not only does it push me to get more scrapbooking done but it also pushes me a little out of my comfort zone. It might be using colors together I wouldn't normally use or it could be to journal in particular way. But most of all I have fun! Here is what the case looked like:

The five colors we had to use was: Bright Coral, Yellow Green, Warm Gray, White, and Tan. My beautiful daughter had posted this picture on Facebook just a day or so before I looked at the challenge so when I was thinking of what picture would go good with the colors I thought of that picture. But I also had to have journaling that would work with the testimony items listed in the challenge and the picture. I chose the "Prompt Idea: One Little Word" which when you clicked on the link took you to a website and there was a whole list of one word ideas to journal about and when I seen "Confidence" I knew it would be perfect for the picture.

I used Prima flower sprays, the background paper and little bling on the stag are also Prima, Martha Steward butterfly punch, tag and 'always' vellum piece is from Maggie Holmes, the enamel dots are by Teresa Collins, the chipboard Thickers are Heidi Swapp as well as the Color Shine mist, the vellum and the white/silver paper the photo is mounted on is from Cosmo Cricket Simple Surfaces, the small letter stickers underneath the photo is from Basic Grey Hey Boy collection, the flair was from my stash, the date stamp was Heidi Swapp and used Ranger Archival Jet Black Ink, the coral cardstock I used for the photo mat is a scrap from the Scraptastic kit, and the bird and music note veneers are from Lawn Fawn. Oh and the lace I wrapped the flower sprays in was a piece of antique lace I had bought from a antique shop which came in a bag of different lace. I had bought the lace for the other pieces never really knowing if I would use that particular one and I did. Didn't want to use it anywhere else because I didn't want it to start looking too much like a previous layout I did of my daughter.

Hope you enjoyed it and happy scrapping!