Wednesday, September 23, 2015

NYC Mini

I finally got around to printing off pictures from the NYC trip we took in March this year.  I've been carefully collecting products to use in this book and I'm digging each page right now.  I need to take more photos of some of the pages but here is a quick preview:

 The cover is a work in progress.  This is a Studio Calico album.  Love the geotag!

 Inside cover and first page.  I found this quote on Pinterest and added it to a shot of the city.

 Hand stitched the flight path from LA to NYC.  Card is from Me and My Big ideas Project Life set I found.

 Airport/plane shenanigans!

 We took a red eye and tried to sleep.  Someone was a bit of a wiggle worm so I ended up taking selfies of him.  :)  (Another card from MAMBI).  I was awake for most of the night so I took some shots out the plane window and of the flight tracker on the tv.

 First stop after we landed was Tim Hortons.  I can't get that in CA so when I heard they were in the JFK airport, I made sure I found them.  The sign was on the long hallway from the terminal to baggage claim.  I had spent months telling Nick about all the cool food we could get in NYC so this *had* to go in the book.  Wood veneer is from Freckled Fawn and the flair is from A Flair for Buttons Etsy shop.  This is part of the NYC set.  (more of those to show up later in the book!)
 Y'all save your donut hole boxes right?  This is from the box of TimBits so its extra special.

 One of my must-haves for NYC.  The Subway/bus map.  I had all of our trips mapped out.  I knew which train to take and where to get off.  Such a handy little thing.  I added it to the book just so we could look at it down the road and see what the system looked like.


 Another print I found on Pinterest.  I loved the black and white linen texture.  Sadly, I covered most of it up with a shot of another map.  I added geotags to this to show that we took the train from Jamaica to Penn.  Another flair button from the travel collection.  if you travel a lot, Shelly has a *ton* of travel related buttons in the shop.

 This page is totally boring but I love it.  I used some packing tape I found online.  Its about 3 inches wide and has the NYC subway printed on it!  I lined it up on the back of the card stock and then layered photos over it of us on the subway.

 Since I have a ton of photos to add to this book and I don't want it to get too thick, I stuck with the 3x4 size and used the 4 up pockets.  I can document a lot that way.  PL Card is from my massive collection.  I stamped an *old* Studio Calico stamp (Go, See Do) lightly over the map of NYC.
 I had to skip ahead a little.  My photos came out horrible for the pages in between.  I need to retake them this weekend when there's more light.  Another random PL card - I think this one is from Studio Calico.  We lucked out and a freak spring snow storm hit the east the day before we got there.  It actually snowed most of the night and stopped right as we landed.  Central Park was loaded with fresh snow.  There's something magical about the city anyway, but add snow to it?  I could spend all day appreciating it.

Because this part of the book was special and I didn't want tiny photos, I printed them 4x6 and added a mini album to the mini album.  This is a set of folders from Jellybean Soup.  I cut patterned paper just smaller than the 6x8 and layered that on.  The stamp sets are all from Studio Calico.  Quotes were all found on Pinterest.



This is my most favorite page right now.  I see all these typographical pages and I've always wanted to try.  I had plans to stamp it all out and measure but then I just said go for it!  Its not perfect and the spacing could be a little better but it is what it is.

I have a few more pages done but the photos are horrible.  I want to retake them and share next week.  I also have more pages in the works so I want to add those in too.  I'm using the NYC flair from the shop throughout the book.  If you want to pick up a set, check out the store!




Monday, September 21, 2015

Eek! I joined Stampin' Up!

I don't normally do things like this but after several catalog flip throughs, I did it.

I really like their products and their ink pads are killer.  No really.  I finally found an ink pad I *want* to use.  No more streaky images.  No more bleeding.

So I did it.  I signed up under someone I met at a retreat that I kind of co-host here in the southland.  I started off slow but I'm gearing up now.  I've hit my groove and I'm ready to inspire.  Its also helped me creatively.  I don't always have time for the layouts and mini's but I can stamp a quick something when I have a few minutes.

I've started selling all of my other ink pads on Ebay because I just don't use them.  I have this habit of buying every color of an ink pad because I like the color on the lid.  I don't however, like the finished image.  So all of my Jenni Bowlin and Studio Calico pads are for sale.  So are some of my SC Stamps from old kits.  Seller name is rascal1004 on Ebay if you're interested.

I've been having a blast with the Stamping' Up! products though.  There are ideas everywhere and its fun to try new things before branching out.  I've used some of their items to make things for the retreat goers and they love them!  So much fun to hear them talk about the idea and want to know how it was done.

My personal site is:

Stampin' With Erica

I'll be posting weekly updates here on the blog as I create things, sales or specials come up etc.  They usually post Weekly Deals which are marked down items that you can get at a discounted price.  I picked up a few of the Halloween Wreath kits from last season for less than $11!



The annual holiday catalog is already out and can be viewed on my site as well.  LOTS of fun ideas posted in there.  These items are limited so you don't want to wait for those.


I'll be posting some ideas from this catalog next Monday so look for that!