bowling party

Happy Tuesday everyone!  I had every intention of blogging yesterday but time just seemed to get away from me.  Yes it was one of THOSE Mondays.  LOL!  In any case I had a new layout go up in the Garden yesterday at Two Peas In A Bucket that I wanted to share with you.   

This layout is copyright Two Peas in a Bucket

For this layout I focused on using the new Happy Days collection by Echo Park.  Anyone who knows me knows that I am a HUGE Echo Park fan.  I think I own literally every collection they've ever created.  Their patterned papers are just so much fun to work with and this collection was no exception.  I loved the bright color scheme and the retro flair of the entire collection.  I thought they were the perfect compliment to these photos of Darian at his bowling birthday party this past August. 

Since there are so many bright colors in the patterned papers from this collection I decided to use black and white photos for my two main images while I added in smaller color photos for my supporting images. I kept things really fun and playful on this layout and used lots of the die cut stickers and colorful brads as embellishments as well. The chipboard stickers I used for my title coordinate perfectly with the aqua blue on my patterned papers and I stitched them in place to add a bit of detail (and to be sure they wouldn't fall off my layout once I slipped it into my album! LOL).

And here's a peek at some of my journaling and embellishments.  You can see I used another stamp by Ali Edwards for Technique Tuesday (this one is from the Kids Are Cool stamp set).  I just LOVE using these stamps to add a pop of color and interest to my typewritten journaling.  Thanks so much for stopping by!  :)

Echo Park Guest Designer plus a GIVEAWAY!

Hi everyone!  I am so excited to share some fun projects with you today I created as the July Guest Designer for one of my very favorite manufacturers - Echo Park!  I seriously LOVE Echo Park paper.  Like big time scrappy crush love.  I do believe I own every single collection they have ever released.  I just find their papers really easy to use and very, well, ME!  LOL! 

The first layout I created uses several different collections including Little Girl, Candy Shoppe, and Metropolitan.  I snapped this photo of my sweet little niece Gia at her 1st birthday party a few weeks ago.  She became completely overwhelmed when it came time to eat her birthday cake and let everyone know just how unhappy she was.  I had to document her sweet little crying face on a layout - just look at those pouty lips!  I laid my papers out in a grid design and placed them against a bright white background - I love how these colors just POP!  A few splatters of coordinating colored mists, some embellishments and bright pink and white baker's twine, and this layout was done.   

Summertime means lots of time outdoors enjoying the sunshine.  This year we joined the local beach and were so thrilled to find out they have a water park there.  On this particular day my littlest guy Brandon spent hours upon hours running through the different water features.  He had so much fun!  Of course I had to use the Splash collection on this layout - the colors were just perfect for my photos.  I used the large wave sticker as the base for my title and popped it all up with some dimensional adhesive.  I love the movement and dimension it adds to my layout.

Finally I created a trio of cards using the Country Drive collection.  For my first card I used the picnic basket sticker as my inspiration.  I cut out the postage stamp border from one of the journaling cards and backed it with the tiny print found on the reverse side.  A little red flower to embellish my picnic basket adds a pop of color while the "a perfect day" sentiment (also cut from one of the journaling cards) finishes things off. 

For my next card I just loved the adorable raspberry postage stamp sticker in the Country Drive collection so I created a mini card to highlight it's sweetness.  The base for my card is a paper from the Splash collection.  I love that the colors coordinate across Echo Park collections - makes it really easy to mix and match!

And finally I created this mini card using the cute little birds on a wire border strip.  The two birds together and the one bird apart prompted my "miss you" sentiment.  The letter stickers are from the very first Echo Park collection in my stash - Sweet Summertime.  I love the fun font of these stickers!

So how about an Echo Park giveaway?  If you'd like to win the adorably sweet Country Drive collection that I used to create the above cards just leave a comment on this blog post and let me know what your favorite Echo Park collection is?  I will leave this contest open until Friday midnight EST and post the winner on my blog on Saturday morning.  Good luck!