Authentique Mini for The Scrapbooking Studio

I know it isn't Monday, but this is my last "Design Team Thursdays" post for awhile so I'm sharing a mini book made for The Scrapbooking Studio Design Team. There are lot of pages, so this post will be just pictures. Scroll through and enjoy. Head on down to The Scrapbooking Studio to see it in person -it's soo much cooler in person!

I used a fun multi-layer painting technique to create a strie style effect to the cover and pages. It's sooo much easier to paint these odd shaped pages than than to cover them with papers, plus it holds up much better to handling too.

I am in love with stitching things right now and the Janome Sew Easy works beautifully on paper. It stitches a little slower than bigger machines which makes it easier to stitch straight and it feeds better. Plus, it's portable size doesn't take up too much space on your crafting table.

I layered one of the matching die cuts on a button to give it a little extra dimension.

I cut up a Prima floral spray to make little mini bouquets for the pages.

Stitching the "family" tab on allows you to slip the photo underneath later, plus you don't have to adhere it to the top of the photo either. 

Well, that's it. My last project for The Scrapbooking Studio Design Team. I've really enjoyed designing for them and I hope you've found some inspiration along the way!

Authentique Blog Sketch Challenge - Layout

Every month Authentique hosts a sketch challenge on their blog. They post a sketch for a layout and card on the first Saturday and you have until the end of the month to complete your projects. I've kind of gotten into participating in challenges over the past year because it gives me a starting place and a deadline. (Apparently both are much needed motivators for me.) So I thought I'd use this month's sketch challenge as the starting point for one of my design team layouts for The Scrapbooking Studio.

Here's this month's layout sketch from Authentique:

One of the things I like about this sketch is that it could be rotated 90 degrees to the left and you'd have a whole new looking layout with the same basic format. I may have to try that next.

And here's my layout based (although perhaps loosely) on the sketch:

The square in the middle offers a great opportunity to use either a gorgeous single photo or a photo collage if you want to pack several photos neatly onto one page. 

Now that I'm looking at this, I am thinking that I need to go back and add some journaling to "tell the story" behind this layout. Journaling is one of the things I struggle with. Fortunately the ledger lines in the background paper will provide an easy way to neatly add words to the pictures.

Papers & Die cuts - Authentique; Buttons - Buttons Galore; Orange flower trim, dress form chipboard - Maya Road; Cream Rose - Prima; DIY letters - Jillibean Soup; Twine - Karen Foster; Thread - Coats & Clark; Sewing Machine - Janome; Ink - Studio G