Class Winner + Echo Park Sweet Girl

The winner of a spot in Jen Gallacher's Tool School Class is Pea: scrapnkristi.  Congrats Kristi! I'll contact you on how to collect your prize. I think you are really going to love it.

And I can't just post without a layout. Here's something I made a while ago with the Sweet Girl Collection by Echo Park. I love the pretty colors and vintage feel in this line. I used just one photo to highlight this time. Mostly because it one of my favorites of her and I wanted the focus to be on the story here.

 That shy little girl grin captures my niece's personality at this age. It went perfectly with the the retro palette and icons in this line. Layers of bold colors in tiny prints keep the focus on the picture. The title strip and journaling ground the layout. The white ledger paper across the middle ties together the photo, journaling and embellishment areas.  The enamel dots leading to her age add a fun little touch to the page. I like using the entire 12x12 space even though there's only a single photo - it gives me more room for the fun stuff.

Echo Park All About a Boy

All about a boy works I am partial to boy collections. Not just because I'm a boy mom, but because I love the shades of blue and orange and yellow that are typically used. This new collection by Echo Park is no exception. Add in some really fun spinners, number wheels and cogs and you have a really versatile collection.

These photos of Nico learning the logic of tic tac toe remind me so much of me at his age. I loved logic games. And I especially loved learning how to beat them. I used pencil and paper, while he uses an iPad - gotta love the technology.

The spinners and cogs in the line tied in the logic and fun of playing games. They were perfect for the theme of the photos. To create the spinner I layered chipboard, stickers, a brad and some foam pop dots for dimension.

The winner of the Echo Park Blog Hop is:

Andrea GarlandFebruary 19, 2013 at 9:05 PM

Aww Those pics are cute and go so well with the scoot Collection.

Congratulations! I will contact you very soon on how to collect your prize. Thanks so much for hopping along.

Echo Park Hop and Scoot!

Welcome to the Echo Park Paper Design Team Blog Hop! Today the Echo Park Paper Design Team is showcasing projects from our latest collections. I made this bright, colorful page with the Scoot Collection. I love the all of the classic boy icons in this collection and it's perfect for scrapbooking the everyday moments in a boy's life.

This is a quick and easy page to make, just basic patterned paper, stickers and a few enamel dots is all it takes. I love how the fun photos really stand out against the bold color palette. The pops of sticker add fun and whimsy to the page.

Be sure to follow the blog hop list below as you hop from one blog to the next. Return to the Echo Park Paper blog at any time for the next blogger on the list in case you get lost! 

Echo Park Paper Company

Laurel Seabrook

Susan Stringfellow

Linda Auclair

Wendy Sue Anderson

Tamara Tripodi

Olga Vasilieva

Lowri McNabb

Kandis Smith <---visit here="" next="" span="">

One winner will be selected from each blog to receive an Echo Park Paper collection kit of their choosing. To qualify for the kit, comments will be due by midnight EST, Sunday, February 24th to qualify for the drawing. The winner will be announced on each blog Monday, February 25th  so be sure to check back to see if you've won.

Echo Park Blog Hop - Love Story

Welcome to the Echo Park Paper Design Team Blog Hop! Today the Echo Park Paper Design Team is showcasing projects from our latest collections. I made this simple Valentine's card with the Love Story Collection. I love the bunting sticker in this collection and it as a perfect place to add more flag stickers and brads to my design. A fancy brad and some flag stickers complete this quick and easy card.

Be sure to follow the blog hop list below as you hop from one blog to the next. Return to the Echo Park Paper blog at any time for the next blogger on the list in case you get lost! 

Echo Park Paper, Linda Auclair, Tamara Tripodi, Lowri McNabb, Wendy Sue Anderson,  Susan Stringfellow, Nancy Damiano (you are here), Kandis Smith.    

One winner will be selected from each blog to receive an Echo Park Paper collection kit of their choosing. To qualify for the kit, comments will be due by midnight EST, Sunday, January 27th to qualify for the drawing. The winner will be announced on each blog Monday, January 28th  so be sure to check back to see if you've won.

Project Life Photo Freedom Style

Taking a quick breather to post here. I missed blogging for a while. Holidays, deadlines, creating for CHA and videos have kept me busy. But it's all quieting down now and we're settling into our slow winter routines. Quiet days spent indoors = lots of crafting time for Mom.

I have a stack of Christmas layouts and project life Photo Freedom Projects to share.

Let's start with this simple Echo Park one. Created with the This n That Collection. Pretty straightforward and linear, I used alternate strips of paper and stickers. The skinny title was cut with a Silhouette.

This one was created using the by Winter Tortellini and Spinach Soup line by Jillibean Soup. Say that three times fast. Ha! The layout is divided into quadrants - 2 for photos and 2 for decorating. This left me a great space for layering some of my favorite patterned papers. This would be great to do with leftovers from a 6x6 paper pad.

This is the start of my project life project using the Photo Freedom products by Echo Park. I used one each of all the page protectors they make just to get a feel for the system. I've never done project life style scrapbooking, so this was a challenge. I really liked it! I began the project with this traditional 12x12 layout.

I used  the Horizontal 4x6 Photo Sleeves to create this layout. All stickers and paper are from the Dear Santa Photo Freedom line.

This is the 6x12 Photo Sleeve. I love how easy it was to combine an enlarged photo and then slivers of 3 different ones in one pocket. And if you're wondering about that oddly placed snowflake in 'Rockefeller', it's because I added an extra 'r' in there and the mistake was burning my eyes.

This is the 4x6 Vertical Sleeve. I can see using this one again and again. For some reason, I've gotten in the habit of turning my camera to crop out background stuff I don't want in the shot. This means I probably have 10x more vertical photos than horizontal.

This is the traditional project life photo sleeve. I tried to change it up a bit by cutting one enlarged photo (6x8) into three of the sleeves. It adds impact without taking away from the picture. In the bottom pocket, I filled it with punched circles, glittered chipboard and then a sprinkle or two of more glittered. I sewed it shut to make sure everything stays in place.

And a quick close up of the glittery pocket.

I have to say that working with the Photo Freedom project may have hooked me on this quirky & easy style of scrapbooking. There are a trip or two that I want to get into scrapbooks this way. I'm in the planning stages and hope to share a video soon of my progress.

Echo Park This & That Christmas

Back into the Christmas spirit and way back in time. This is Nico and my Dad in 2006 at our local Christmas tree farm. He was so tiny and bald at the time. Hence that knit reindeer hat. I thought it was so cute at the time. Now I think it just looks 'different'. Ha!

I started the layout on the woodgrain paper in the This & That collection by Echo Park.  I love the traditional holiday colors and pretty patterns in this line. They compliment my photos + story.

The arrow and "tree tradition" were cut using a Silhouette. The rest of the embellishments are stickers and chipboard from the line. You can download a printable PDF and full instruction on the Echo Park Paper website.

SUPPLIES USED:

InLinkz.com

Echo Park Hop

Welcome to the Echo Park blog hop today! I created this card using the Happy Holidays mini-theme kit. It's a very simple card that I put together in just a few minutes. The accordion flowers were cut out of vellum with the Silhouette and are perfect for adding some opaque texture to the card.

Be sure to follow the blog hop list below as you hop from one blog to the next. Return to the Echo Park Paper blog at any time for the next blogger on the list in case you get lost or confused! ONE winner will be selected from each blog to receive an Echo Park Paper collection kit of their choosing. To qualify for the kit, comments will be due by midnight EST, Sunday, November 25, 2012 to qualify for the drawing. 

Echo Park Paper

Kandis Smith

Davinie Fiero

Susan Stringfellow

Tamara Tripodi  

Linda Auclair

Lowri McNabb

Wendy Sue Anderson

Jennifer Gallacher 

Echo Park Fall Fever

This layout is big on photo and low on journaling - not usually my style. I really didn't have much to say about this old shot other than I love it. So I played up some pretty product (Echo Park's Fall Fever) and a clever little title. I had to find a way to tie the 'owl' thing in. I couldn't just use random owls. Can't do it.

The very thin 'everyday' was cut with a Silhouette. I love how it can handle intricate shapes without shredding them. The banner negative was also cut with the Silhouette. The button in the title is simply there for necessity. I needed some way to stick that long banner to my photo. That button hides the adhesive. The rest of the title is stapled on.

For more instructions and tips on how to cut vellum with a Silhouette see this Echo Park Paper blog post.

SUPPLIES USED:

Echo Park Fall Fever Sticker Echo Park Fall Fever Paper Echo Park Fall Fever Paper Echo Park Fall Fever Paper Echo Park Fall Fever Paper

InLinkz.com

Echo Park Cards: Grandma's Kitchen

Every once in a while I like to take a break from layouts and make a few cards. Sometimes they're just a quick way to get myself back into the creating groove.

I made both of these cards using Echo Park's Mini Collection Grandma's Kitchen.

You can find a PDF and full instructions on the Echo Park Paper site.

Pretty little details like sewing, denim tags and twine add layers of dimension to a card. Adding some pop dots to the stickers (although it's hard to see in the photograph) makes the card really stand out!

SUPPLIES USED:

Grandma's Kitchen Die Cuts Echo Park Grandma's Kitchen Metal Hangers Grandma's Kitchen Stickers Blueberry Twine

InLinkz.com

Echo Park Everyday Eclectic

Pretty Everyday Eclectic. This was my favorite Echo Park release this summer. It's almost like they took the boardwalk scene photos at some of my favorite beach locations on the East Coast. Love the muted colors of the realistic photos in contrast with the bold patterns.

These photos of Nico on the rides seemed like a perfect fit. The gist of the page is about how I loved to watch him go on rides at this age. I want to remember a time when such simple, no big-thrill ride could make him laugh and smile so big. The photo I wish I had is one of my husband and I smiling right back at him.

I started the page with the wood patterned paper and layered strips of color, photorealistic patterned paper and card stock to create a linear and bold page.

I cut the two polaroid frames with my Silhouette and then added images that were included in the collection. They look like photos I took, but they're not. Thank you Everyday Eclectic for that part!

And finally the line I was waiting for! SN@P by Simple Stories. So beautiful that it may actually convince me to do a Project Life-type of project.

SNAP Fundamental Stickers

 Love the bold colors and icons. Especially the camera!

SNAP Patterned Paper Collection

 Crisp white + color = LOVE

3x4 SNAP Cards

 Project Life cards or nice title blocks for scrapbook layouts.

SNAP Icon Sticker Pack

 A collection of pretty stickers in a pack. There's that camera again.

SNAP Label Stickers

And for the office supply junkie in me...these are a must.

I'm really thinking about using this system to store all of the Disney Cruise photos in. Just to print all of those pictures out, journal the memories and have it ready to flip through would be awesome. Let me think this through a bit and I'll be back with a video of my process.

Echo Park Birthday Girl

Birthday layouts are sometimes a challenge. I like to include a little bit of everything - presents, cake, and gifts. On one hand this makes for super busy pages, but I don't feel like the story is "told" if I don't have all of the elements.

In this layout I used the Birthday Girl Mini Collection from Echo Park. I love the bright color scheme and simple patterns. I highlighted my favorite picture of the birthday girl and her cousins by making it the largest photo on the page and also the only one in color. I printed a collection of black and white photos in a uniform size to keep the photo collage clean and uncluttered.

After layering the patterned paper and placing the photos, I added a few special touches. First the number stickers that indicate my niece's new age add a personal touch to the page. The hand stitching with white thread underlining the word "celebrate", add a homemade touch. And the jewels on the crown, buttons and twine complete the page.

SUPPLY LIST:

Echo Park Echo Park Echo Park Echo Park Echo Park

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