Oh, So Cold Memories {Paper Issues Pinspire Me Mood Board Challenge}

I got a chance to play with another challenge over at Paper Issues. This time, it was a mood board challenge:

Here's the page I created. I was inspired by winter theme and all the different images that got me remembering little memories from my childhood. The purple and yellow made me think of Crate Paper's Snow and Cocoa collection, which is what I used for this page.

Here are a few details. I wish I'd had some pictures of me playing in the snow when I was a kid, but I had to settle for this picture of me in a fuzzy coat, taken at Christmas time. I found a sparkly frame in my stash, by MAMBI to lay over it and add another layer. I fussy cut the snowmen from a Snow & Cocoa paper and left one in the yellow rectangle. I drew on their arms. I cut one the teal snowflake in half so I could use the other half on the other side of the layout. The word "Cold" was cut out of one of the Snow and Cocoa patterned papers. The word "memories" is a Silhouette cut file. It wasn't showing up on that kraft colored paper, so I just tore a piece of white paper to hold it, which I thought sort of looked like a snow mound.

Those snowflakes are so ginormous for my 8 x 8 pages, but I thought they looked kind of cool layered behind other elements. My husband got me a We R Memory Keepers typewriter for Christmas, and I knew I was going to have a lot of journaling, so I decided I'd use that and type a bunch of random childhood winter memories on an old Jenni Bowlin journaling spot. I made a typo, as you can see. Note to self: Buy some correction tape (do they even make that anymore?).

Those little trees, cut from a Snow & Cocoa paper are so darn cute. I needed to bring in a little more purple, and I found that purple paper behind the snowman--an old SEI paper scrap from my stash. The little phrase on that snowman said oh, so cold, so I made it part of the title by overlapping the C.

Squeaky Clean {CSI Case File No. 199}

We've got a new Case File open for investigation at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration:

Here's the page I made. That's mini-me and my little sister, from many decades ago! Clues I used...Evidence: frame, dandelion, pearls, wood, bokeh, metal, jar, clocks, circles, transparent stuff; Testimony: Magnetic Poetry, inspiration word lovely.

Here are some details. I used the online Magnetic Poetry to write my poem. Then I used my snipping tool to get the words. I cut them out and glued them to my page. The jar came from a Dear Lizzy paper. The little bunny is a puffy sticker I bought from etsy. The wooden heart is by Studio Calico. That giggle sticker is ancient--by Making Memories. The gray foam letters are Thickers.

I didn't have any paper with a bokeh pattern in the right colors, so I made my own! I did a google search for pink bokeh, and there were a bunch of choices. I printed it out on cardstock, and voila! I've had that resin daisy in my stash forever. It's by K&Co. I have a metal clock accent from Hobby Lobby. I found a dandelion stamp by Hero Arts in my stash and stamped it on a frame I cut out from a Dear Lizzy paper. I found a teeny-tiny bunny puffy sticker to add to my cluster.

There's another bunny puffy sticker I had in my stash. I have a serious problem with puffy stickers, LOL. 

Come check out the reveal for this Case File here, and you'll definitely want to play. We've got twelve awesome sponsors donating prizes this month.

Art Play {CSI Case File No. 194}

Case File No. 194 is closing tonight at midnight. I meant to get this up earlier, but I've been so busy with school. Here's the Case File:

Here is my page. Clues I used... Evidence: hexagons, stripes, animals, bows, stars, paper airplane, string, something loopy, diamond shape, numbers, puffy stickers; Testimony: Journal about a favorite game, inspiration word: play, add string to your journaling.

Here are some details. 2Crafty is sponsoring CSI this month, so I used lots of awesome 2Crafty chipboard on my page.  I know my blue is off, but I decided to take liberties with the blue because I found this perfect hexagon paper. 

The yellow stamping is a Kaiser Craft stamp--I used it for the numbers clue. The little heart on the star is another puffy sticker. My paper airplane stamp met both the paper airplane and the something loopy clue. How cute are those 2Crafty birds?

My journaling talks about how all my favorite toys were the artsy-crafty type. The journaling tags, tucked behind the blue paper read: I loved making bright, sparkly pictures with my Light Bright and rearranging the little plastic bits on my ColorForms. Drawing pictures with the knobs on my Etch-a-Sketch delighted me to no end. Getting a new box of crayons with all those lovely colors and their neat pointy tips gave me a special thrill, and I'd spend hours coloring in my coloring books. Give me anything artsy-crafty, and I was a happy little creative girl. How cool is that loopy 2Crafty arrow?

We've got 13 sponsors this month, including 2Crafty, so you'll definitely want to play. If you're reading this before midnight and you're a speedy scrapper, go for this Case File--the sketch makes it easy to plan your page. And we've got another Case File opening this evening. Here's a look at all of the awesome sponsors donating prizes this month:

Make a Wish {CSI Case File No.

We've got a sweet new Case File open for investigation at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration:

If you've never played with us at CSI because you thought the Case Files looked confusing, please come play--it's as easy as 1-2-3 (plus a sketch this week):

Here's my page. That's my little sister in the pink and me in the yellow on her second birthday in 1967.

Clues I used: Evidence - watercolor, stripes, animal, stars, triangles, banners, cupcake, hearts, wood. Testimony - Journal about a party

Here are some details. Those gold letters are by American Crafts. The stars are Studio Calico wood veneers. I used a whole bunch of older paper scraps from my stash. The cupcakes were cut out on my Silhouette Cameo.. The periwinkle doilies are diecuts by Die-Namics. I found that yellow flower, which was a corner--I took the corner off) in my yellow drawer (I recently reorganized lots of my embellishments, which you can see in this post).

The banner string was cut from an Avery Elle bunting die and the triangles were cut on my Silhouette Cameo.

The little scalloped border is from an old Doodlebug Frills pack. The pink scallop border is a sticker by My Mind's Eye, and the blue scallops were punched with a Fiskars border punch. You ca see I added some lace and chunky glitter to the cupcakes. The sweet little bunny puffy sticker was a perfect playful touch for this page--I stuck a little puffy heart on his chest, for one of the clues.

You must come play with us this month. We have eleven sponsors! Come see what the rest of the team and guest designers made here.

I Could've Blamed the Cat {CSI Case File No. 179}

Case File No. 179 is a super fun one:

Here's my page. Clues I used: Evidence: stripes, pocket, string, buttons, badge, animals, stamps, labels, jars, stitching, felt, washi tape; Testimony: document a childhood story, put your story in an envelope..

The colors were a little harder than I thought, but I had fun playing with them. I used a sketch by Kristine Davidson for Paper Camellia:

Here are some details. The puffy cat stickers are by American Crafts, as are the letter stickers I used for "blamed." The stripey letters are really old, by Making Memories. That fun curly arrow is by 2Crafty. Papers I used are by Crate Paper (green background, Bo Bunny (teal dot), Amy Tangerine (tan stripe), Teresa Collins (orange quatrefoil).

The gold dot pocket is from Hobby Lobby, and I tucked my journaling in there. The #LOL and For the Record stickers are by MAMBI. You can read my journaling below.

Thank you, Tracee, for the lovely doilies! The "Oh, My" speech bubble was cut out of a Studio Calico paper.The little jar was cut out of a Dear Lizzy paper. That felt piece has been in my stash FOREVER--so happy to use these oldies. The stitches are rub-ons from a million years ago. That washi tape is by Recollections, and that cool stamp is by Denim Tampons, one of our sponsors this month.

The label stamp is also by Denim Tampons, and the flair badge is by A Flair for Buttons. The little green chipboard circles with the stars are by MAMBI.

These Shoes {CSI Case File No. 167}

We've got a brand-new Case File open for investigation at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration:

Here's my page. As usual lately, I had to snap a photo at an inopportune time, so the colors look a little off, but they match the Case File, I promise.

I used a sketch from My Creative Sketches:

Clues I used...Evidence:globe, circles, bird, transportation, trees, metal, clouds, key; Testimony: Document a childhood friendship, song title in your journaling.

Here are some details. I used lots of older papers on this page, K&Co. (blue with hexagons), SEI (dark purple), Making Memories (lighter purple), Bella Blvd. (clouds), Scenic Route (green). The purple letter stickers are by BasicGrey, and that globe was cut with my Silhouette Cameo.

I chose these brads to go with the clues on the Case File. The owl on the tree is a flair badge by American Crafts. I used a Stencil Girl stencil with texture paste on the background, and then smushed some watercolor paints onto the background.

I had planned to write the story on the tags, but then I realized I had stitched them under that white paper. Doh! So I decided to write the story on the back. The "True Story" is also a Silhouette cut file.

I haven't yet written the journaling, but basically it's about how this photo always reminds me of these shoes that I lost, and then that gets me to thinking about how I lost them, which gets me to thinking about the friend that I never got to see again because we moved...again. I was always losing friends because we kept moving when I was a kid.

I've been super-busy with the school year winding up, but I will write my journaling soon.

Come see how the design team and guest designers embraced the purple!

Lost in Shipping {CSI Case File No. 158}

We've got a new Case File open for investigation at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration:

Here's my page. Clues I used...Evidence: stripes, dots, eyelets, animals, stitching, misting, string; Testimony: Document a special childhood belonging.

Here are some details. Sorry for the crummy pictures. Winter's so tricky for taking photos. The frames came from an old paper by My Little Shoebox. They were a brighter turquoise, so I dabbed a little gesso on them. That's mini-mi, about 3rd grade. The little fish are Silhouette cut files. I was excited to find that wavy-shaped stencil by The Crafter's Workshop in my stash.

I'm always happy to use a couple of the gazillions of eyelets in my stash. So perfect for the little fish bubbles. 

I put the full story on the back of my page, and I put bits and pieces into the frame to look like it was falling off the ship. Here's the sad story:

Lost in shipping. That's what they told me happened to my precious rock collection. How I loved that rock collection! All those sparkly stones were my treasures. I even had names for many of them. My Root Beer Rock, a rich brown quartz with crystalline froth. My Golf Club Rock, a clear, polished piece of quartz shaped just like a golf club. My Forest Rock, which had what looked like a little tree trapped inside its frozen crystal form. And my Watermelon Rock, a tourmaline that went from green to white to pink, just like the slice of fruit. I had agates and fool's gold and pink quartz and galena. I had an amethyst and piece of petrified wood and a snowflake obsidian and even a geode with a cave of sparkly crystals. 

I loved looking at my rock collection. Loved feeling the cool smoothness of the polished stones in my hand. Loved the taste of the stones' names on my tongue. I was so proud of that collection and dreamed that one day I'd become a geologist--a little girl's fantasy of roaming the world in search of sparkly things.

Lost in shipping. That's what they told me. In my little girl mind, I envisioned my box of treasures falling off the ship that carried them from the United States to Bolivia, sinking down to the bottom of some murky, fathomless sea. Lost forever. 

And this was the perfect opportunity to use one of the little anchor brads.

You must come see the awesome work by the design team and guest designers. AND you must play! Lots of reasons to solve this Case File...

1. It's super-fun!
2. It's one of the Case Files to solve for our design team call.
3. You could win a fabulous prize from one of our 4 sponsors SistersArt Creation, SODAlicious, Vilda Stamps, and Flying Unicorn.