Wizarding World for Muggles

Two years ago the family and I went to Universal Studios in Florida to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We'd been there in 2012 but they added a whole other section since that visit, so we were pumped. This time, you could take the Hogwarts Express to see Diagon Alley and see the Gringott's Bank and Joke Shop. 

They tucked it away a little and you have to go through the entrance to see it all laid out, which is a little different than the other side of the park where the rest of the Wizarding World is. The train was really cool, with the outside of the windows showing the scenery as if you're headed to Hogwarts and the silhouettes of Harry, Hermione and Ron showing outside your train seats, as if they're in the corridor. Even though my kids are young adults, they really enjoyed it.

I did this two page layout with paper from Scrapbook.com. It already has the title on it and I just cut off the top and bottom of the papers and added them to a pine green scrapbook page.

 

Those cutie stickers are from Paper House and the Harry Potter in a frame was a ring from a long-ago cupcake that I save. We snipped of the ring part and I used glue dots to adhere.

At the bottom of each page, I added brochure elements and the ticket holder and ticket from the park. That's me hanging out at the Joke Shop and the edible Dark Mark ad.

This trip was a good one and we really enjoyed the park. Any Harry Potter fan would have a blast, and that's just part of the park's appeal. They have a water park, Marvel Comics and Dr. Seuss areas, Jurassic Park rides and more. Looking forward to going on vacation some day again!

Happy Friday!

Chark

Memories Captured

I'm still scrapping and trying to get ten pages finished in two weeks, mostly because I have a bunch of photos ready to scrap and I've been making more cards than pages. Time to get it in gear and get those memories captured!

On this page, I wanted to document my now-adult daughter's middle school obsession with Perler beads. They are tiny plastic beads you arrange in a pattern on a special base and then iron the project to melt the beads. I did a lot of ironing back then :) I used some Echo Park I'd Rather Be Crafting papers and stickers.

I had squirreled away some of her projects because I knew they could be used in scrapbooking and so, ta da! here they are. Perfect for this page. One thing I love about this kid is that she is constantly trying to help others and she even turned this into a charity project. She sold these as locker magnets to her fellow middle-schoolers and donated the money to charity. So, she got to keep creating and she helped out other people at the same time.

This next layout is to document a trip to the Sea Life Aquarium in the Mall of America. It's fairly small, but they had a ton of exhibits, including an octopus, which made my daughter happy. I personally like the sea horses and jellyfish, so they made it onto this page.

I used some Doodlebug Design papers for it, since I love Doodlebug and have a good supply. I tried a thousand times to get a photo of the sharks circling Matt and this was the best one. Turns out I'm not a great photographer, or the shark was too sneaky.

I really like the blues in these photos...aquariums are great places to photograph.

Happy Friday!

Chark

 

Let's Get to Scrapping!

Although I started crafting a bunch after I went to a Stampin' Up party and got some rubber stamps, I really dove into scrapbooking more than stamping. Then, that got replaced by card making, because scrapbook pages took me sooo long to finish. It was fun to do, but I found making cards so much faster and just as fun.

But I have a million photos and wanted to scrapbook with some of them, so I challenged myself to do 10 pages in 2 weeks. It's one week tomorrow and I have half, so I guess I'm right on schedule.

For this page, I went super simple, with a busy patterned paper, matted photos and minimal journaling. I wanted to document 80s Day at my son's high school in 2015, since I'm an 80s kid and Ben raided his dad's closet to get the tie, Miami Vice jacket and sunglasses. It's the Circle of Life, my friends...lol.

For this next page, I went with a slightly more complicated for this photo. My son indulged me by letting me photograph his Braces Off Day and the goodies the orthodontist gave him, but I'm pretty sure he was just rolling his eyes at me when I wasn't looking.

I used a cork-look paper and lined paper to give it a kind of school feel, with little rubber teeth from a promotional brush-your-teeth rubber bracelet from a dentist. I didn't add any journaling at all to this one, except I wrote lookin' good in a font similar to the stickers I used for the title. I tucked in some die cut ticket things and two journaling cards and added an arrow and enamel dots to mimic pushpins on a cork board.

I do prefer the bottom page, even though it took more time with me flipping through my supplies to find just what I wanted, but it did take longer of course. The process of trying to find the right elements is what makes this fun for me.

I'll keep going on my 5 pages, but if I get too close to deadline, I might throw in another fast and simple page like the top. There's something to be said for getting those memories down, no matter what. 

Happy Friday!

Chark

Coffee Hopping Again

I love the Coffee Lover's Blog Hop! Full disclosure: I'm a Tea Drinker...but they let us hang out with them, so I join in every time. Today I have a small 8x8 layout featuring me—eek! I rarely scrap myself but I thought it'd be fun to do a little nod to the hop. So, here I am, with my new sassy hair cut. 

I used all Pretty Little Studio products and hand lettered part of the Create, Caffeinate & Make it Happen title. I thought the weathered wood was reminiscent of a boat and kites always say "spring" to me. I added a cupcake sticker because I'm a fan of them and fun flair with coffee (tea) cup.

Thanks for stopping by and join me this week in the Coffee Lover's Blog Hop!

Happy Sunday,

Chark

You're So LovelyStamps

Happy 2017!! Hope you had a good New Year's eve and day...I did. We ate appetizers for dinner and watched the ball drop and then slept in the next morning. That's always a favorite of mine :)

Today I'm on the a2z Scrapbooking blog with two cards using the Hero Arts You're So Lovely stamp set. Here's a peek at my cards, you can hop over to see them in full at the blog here.

I tried a scrapbook page with these stamps, but frankly, I didn't like it at all. I tried to be artsy but I kinda failed. Here it is but only as a "before" picture. I'm going to rework it this week and see if I can post an "after" pic after I'm happy with it. I used the flowers on the kraft paper in greens and blues, but it just feels messy and not artsy. I do, however, love the New Orleans stamp from Hero Arts, so I'll have to try to incorporate it in the next one too.

The photos are from a New Orleans trip to City Park, where the kids posed with the sculptures. Goofy kids, cool park.

If you like these stamps, you can go to the a2z Scrapbooking store and order them and use CHARK15 to get 15% off your order of $25 or more. 

Happy Monday,

Chark

Life's A Beach

I managed to do another beach scrap page, even though I didn't take a thousand pictures. I liked the ones I took and they motivated me to scrap. I like the beginning of this page, but it feels unfinished. I need a title and maybe a little design help.

I'm taking suggestions if you have any. Where would you put the title? and journaling? Do you like the center cards or not? 

In the meantime, today is...

Women's Equality Day

"Women’s Equality Day commemorates 26th August 1920 when votes to women officially became part of the US constitution." And it now represents how organizations support women's education and right to live free of violence across the globe. Now that's worth celebrating! Thanks for the info, Days of the Year. 

I highly recommend Iron Jawed Angels with Hilary Swank. It's a gorgeous piece of film that I got out from the library and opened my eyes. I will never take voting for granted again.

Happy Wednesday!
Chark

Watercolor Your World

Hiya! Welcome to the Watercolor Blog Hop hosted by Pretty Pink Posh...love their store!

My watercolor entry uses the Hero Arts White/Cream paper flowers, lots of Tombow marker (in blues, purple and pink) as watercolor, and some Gelato metallics. Fun!

 1. Color on a craft sheet with metallic gelatos. Spritz with water.

  

2. Place your (7 Dots Domestic Goddess) paper facedown on the wet surface and press the paper so it picks up the colors.

 

3. Color with Tombow markers on an acrylic block, spritz with water and lay the Hero Arts paper flowers on top so they pick up the color.

4

4. Adhere everything together after it all dries. Add some bling and your title...and voila!

I added a little gelato to the photo background (of me and my daughter), because I didn't like the wall color and it looked kinda artsy, so I also added flowers to our hair too. I love that the paper already has different images and colors. It adds a lot of depth without a lot of time and effort.

And Yep! I have blog candy! 

1. Leave a comment and 

2. follow my blog 

by Monday, June 8, 2015 at 11:55 PM, PST 

 

and you'll be entered to win your choice of Stencil from a2z Scrapbooking Supplies and some Gold Outline Stickers for your crafting adventures! Open to international blog followers as well!

Giveaway Closed Now--winner: Karen LK!!

Happy Hopping!

Chark

Bo Bunny And Me

I'm entering this in the May Challenge over at Bo Bunny here. You have til the end of the month if you want to join me! I'm using the sketch and lots of Garden Journal paper and buttons (both paper and regular buttons) from the collection. 

Here's the sketch.

Here's my page with my daughter.

I used red and black cardstock and a handmade blue textured paper as well. The word is from Heidi Swapp. 

Here's a close up of some of the buttons and paper. I used Vintage Photo Distress Ink on some edges.

Fun sketch with lots of layers...thanks, Bo Bunny, for the inspiration.

Happy Wednesday,
Chark

Whales Galore

We went whale watching last summer in Massachusetts and saw literal tons of whales. I took a million pics, mostly because my new camera didn't have a  viewfinder (I realized then) and the day was so sunny, I couldn't see the screen. So I just pointed and snapped and hoped for something good. I got some good ones, although some are far away. At any rate, I printed a lot of them, mostly because it was such a great experience that we probably won't repeat.

Here's a page I made yesterday with the coolest clear overlay (the words are printed on there) and that I've had soooo long, the store I got it out has been gone for years. It was tricky to photograph, so this is what I got so it doesn't show the reflections in the overlay.

It looks as if I boosted the color on these, but if you look at the kraft page, you'll see it's a normal color. The ocean and sky were just these colors that day in June. 

Check out my daughter's hair...it was sooo windy on the boat. And cold, even though the temperature was fine when we left. Luckily, I read that you should take a jacket, so we did. 

I added some pebbled paper at the bottom to mimic sand (I just tore it in hill form) and used some gelatos on the pre-embossed kraft cardstock. I used white, purple, green and blue. 

It wasn't a hard page, but it took me forever to choose the pics and placement.

It was a Whaley Good Time (you're welcome for the pun)!

Happy Monday,
Chark

My Flapper Auntie

One of my relatives posted this picture of my Aunt Irene from the 1920s (with her bestie, Gail) and I pulled it off and printed it for myself (the lesson is—any pic you post can be copied and printed by any of your fb "friends" or "friends of friends" or whoever is allowed to see your pics). Since it's my aunt, I feel that was okay to do, but it's kinda weird to know that any of your pics can be printed anywhere...doncha think? 

At any rate, Aunt Irene was a flapper of sorts in our small town, even though when I knew her, she was just an kind older woman who let me stay way too often at her house. They had a lovely house with lots of gorgeous woodwork and a red kitchen stool that I always commandeered when I visited. 

When I saw this picture, I had to make a scrapbook page of it. Cool car, cool clothes and saucy-looking Auntie. I used a bunch of Glitz products for this page. Unfortunately, their website is no longer up and running, although you can still buy their products here and there.

Love vintage family photos because they can give you a glimpse into the past and the people who came before you. I like the family stories that get passed around too for the same reason. Hope you have some good ones!

Happy Monday,
Chark

Welcome Back!

If you're like me and you took a break from blogging and regular life during the holidays, welcome back! It's nice to let things slide for a few days and just enjoy the family and laze about. So I did. Hope Santa was as good to you as he was to me—I still have a few gift cards to spend, so I'm looking forward to that.

I just completed this page about my son using the JCPenney portrait that I had made. It's 10x10 and I bought it specifically to scrap. I love the different pictures they put on it and the background is actually his shirt.

I used this Carta Bella gaming paper, foam Thickers, a wood @ symbol and wrote a few words and called it a day. Often my journaling can be brief, even though I'm a writer by trade. How about you? Do you journal a lot or a little? I just think a title and a the pics can say it all...sometimes. 

Happy Monday!
Chark

Judging A Book By Its Cover

Now, I know the old saying that you should never judge a book by its cover...and I feel that's pretty true as far as people and how they look. However, I almost always do judge actual books by their covers. How about you? 

I saw this cover and loooovved it.

When I looked up the book to find a synopsis, I found this cover. It wasn't as compelling to me as the first.

The second one did make me think of the creepy twins in Stephen King's The Shining, though. While it's a mystery, it's not horror and the first cover represents the antique book shop the main character lives above. Now I have to decide if I want to read it.

I'll probably at least check it out (figuratively and literally from the library) just to see if I like it.

I'm nominating the first cover I showed you as my Book Cover of The Week. If you've read it, let me know if you liked it.

Meanwhile, I'm working on the vacation pics and made this page ahead of time. I like it now, but I really ought to know better and not make a scrap page without pics first...it always gets me into trouble (see this post).

Hope you're enjoying your Friday!
Chark