Project Life: June ’15

July 5, 2015July 5, 2015 Diana SanchezLeave a comment

Hi there! So, I’m just going to go ahead and start by saying Project Life kicked my ass. I thought everything was going to come together for me easily, and some did, but I kept changing things and adding stuff here and there. I finally had to just realize this is going to be a learning process for me. I’m still trying to figure out my layout and journaling style, and on top of that, I’m trying to learn how to take better pictures and how to edit. I will say that I recently downloaded Adobe Lightroom and I just love it! I was scared I was going to be intimidated by it and not use it but when I found out you can download it for a free 30-day trial, I thought why not just try? I watched a couple of videos and played around with presets and I can’t imagine not using it ever! I also tried out printing my own photos and let’s just say my HP printer made it back into the inner circle with my Samsung Galaxy, iPod, and Sony camera. Speaking of my Galaxy, I’m also trying to perfect the cell phone selfie, so far it’s a big fat fail, or is it my face? But here I am, finally done with my June layout.

I found inspiration from A LOT of other “modern day memory keepers” but I still wanted to stay true to myself. And in true form, I was attracted to a lot of black and white. My layout ended up having a black/white/wood grain theme with green and yellow accents. I did not plan that ahead, I knew I wanted to incorporate Mama Elephant’s Lemon Grass ink in there somewhere, and that led to the accent colors.

Most of my pictures are from around the house. AJ and i went downtown so I could take pictures of random things to use as practice in Lightroom. Plus you can see one picture that was taken at work with my Samsung. So this layout is pretty much a normal “day in the life”.

I used a mixture of Studio Calico, Mama Elephant, Kellie Stamps, and Kelly Purkey for Hero Arts. I also used a Royal typewriter that was given to me by my friend Angela.

All in all, I’m happy with my layout and I’m glad I decided to take Project Life on. I hope you guys enjoyed!

My Favorites

June ’15 Top 5

July 2, 2015October 31, 2015 Diana SanchezLeave a comment

Happy July everyone! I can’t believe half the year is gone! I just wanted to say thank you if you are a follower of The Lovely Pear, I just love where this blog is right now. I feel like my little blog has done awesome these past six months and I can’t wait to see how it will do the rest of the year! Now let’s start with June’s Top 5:

1. We R Memory Keepers Banner Punch Board

We R Memory Keepers makes it on to the list for a second time in a row with this awesome punch board. I have made banners before where I had to insert one sheet of paper at a time into my die cutting machine in order to cut out each flag, so it felt like forever to cut out enough to spell out “Happy Birthday” (insert bored face emoticon). I knew I had to get this when a friend asked me to make a banner for her son’s birthday, and I couldn’t believe how fast it was to cut out each flag. I especially love how it makes three different styles, plus it is so simple to use. This is a must-have if you’re into throwing parties and love a good banner.

2. HP Social Media Snapshots

If you love Instagram as much as I do, then you HAVE to try this out! You buy this pack of HP photo paper, which is 25 sheets of 4×5 glossy paper, and you download the HP Snapshots app (only available on Apple App Store). Once you connect to your Instagram account and your HP printer, you can choose an Instagram photo and a template and you get this picture with your Instagram stats. You can have your photo caption, the date you posted it, your icon, and how many likes and comments your photo received printed. There are 11 different templates to choose from, including some that come with a black, green chevron, or pink border. The duck photo was printed with an antique looking template called “Dickens”. I think this would be perfect to use with Project Life or scrapbook layouts.

3. Mama Elephant Creative Color Pigment Ink

So, I’m cheating a little on this one. I have had one or two Mama Elephant ink pads for a while now but I really didn’t know how to work with pigment ink so I hardly used them. This month I decided to try again and now I only want to use this ink! I bought a lot of new colors this month and they are so vibrant and Mama Elephant has the best colors! I’m going through a Lemongrass phase right now but I just got Tutti Frutti in and I’m sure that will be the color for July. This is my favorite colored ink to use, period.

4. Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers

According to my Instagram feed, everybody and their momma bought the Zig Clean Color Markers, and you know me… I had to get them also. I like to use these because they are easy to blend with, which comes in handy if you’re like me and can’t master Copics. If you’re waiting on a good deal to get these, you can get them from the Marker Supply website for half off.

5. Hero Arts Kelly’s Yes Please Stamp SetI love me a good small quote and especially now that I’m getting into Project Life. Then you mix it up with a wood mounted stamp? Even better. This stamp set is perfect to add that extra sass to your PL layouts! Now if only my boss would let me use these to stamp office documents… I just processed your invoice, like a boss!

I hope you guys enjoyed, I can’t wait to show you my newest Project Life layout on my next post. Make sure to stay tuned!!!

Items mentioned:

InLinkz.com

Link to HP Social Media Snapshots: http://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/ink–toner—paper/hp-social-media-snapshots-removable-sticky-photo-paper-25-sht-4-x-5-in

Card Making

Hello Beautiful Girl

June 27, 2015June 27, 2015 Diana SanchezLeave a comment

Hi everybody! I have a couple of things to share today. First, I have decided to start a monthly Project Life album. I will be blogging my layouts and I’m really excited because I love photography and journaling. I haven’t done any journaling in years but I’m ready to get back into it, plus I get to do stamping on top of that! Taking random pictures and creating stuff on Photoshop is pretty much all I have done this past week and I am eagerly trying to put everything together. I’m starting off on a monthly basis (most people do weekly) because I know I tend to get overwhelmed and impatient easily so I figured a month gives me enough time to get my pictures and layout right. Can’t wait to share!!!

And now on to the next, I’d like to share my new card!

I just recently ordered Mama Elephant’s new Charmed stamp set and i wanted to watercolor the fox. I really didn’t know what type of card I was going to try to make or if I was even going to make one, I just really wanted to practice coloring with my Peerless watercolors. So I’m pretty much going to declare it now, Peerless is my favorite coloring medium! I would’ve never thought I’d like to watercolor, and I know I still need practice, but it’s now on my permanent stash. Also, Archival Ink, where have you been all my life? Best. Black Ink. Ever. (This is where I throw my imaginary mic down. Yeah, it’s that good!)

I colored my fox and die cut it using Mama Elephant’s Sew Fancy die set, it’s so fancy, you already know. (Sorry guys, I had a lot of coffee this morning!)

I then got the bright idea to use the Freestyle Florals set because I needed a reason to use the Lemongrass ink pad. This just happens to be the best color ever!!! I’ve been stuck on black/gray since I could first see colors and then lemongrass was introduced into my life. I’m obsessed!

I decided to try to “age” the die-cut circle with my Vintage Photo distress ink by rubbing the edge with a blending tool. Definitely need to practice that technique some more.

I added the ribbon with the Blush ink pad and heat embossed it and the leaves. I then stamped the sentiment with my PTI Dark Chocolate Brown ink pad. I made the card base out of PTI’s Limeade Ice cardstock because it matched really well with the Lemongrass leaves and I really like that pop of color when you open the card.I love how this card came together at the end and I think this card would be an awesome baby shower card.

I would like to end by saying this card is dedicated to the fox my friend Angela ran over this past week. I like to believe all animals go to heaven (except for sharks)! (Ha ha, I just had to give her a hard time, she was really upset because it was a total accident.)

See you guys later!

Supplies used:

InLinkz.com

My Favorites

April ’15 Top 5

May 2, 2015October 31, 2015 Diana SanchezLeave a comment

Hi everyone! I feel so bad because I’m late with my My Faves for April but I’ve been so busy this week and I haven’t even had time to craft or play with some new supplies I’ve bought. And here are the two reasons I’ve been busy this week:

We got ducks! Long story short, the first one (Lucky, the yellow one) was my son’s, given to him by the school as a project to help take care of the egg and raise the duckling at school. He (or she, we’re not sure) was able to come home on Tuesday. AJ won the black one (yet to be named), it was between AJ and another student. We had asked for an extra one so Lucky wouldn’t be lonely, and he/she came home on Wednesday. They are just awesome, we love these ducks and have gotten so attached to them already. It has taken a little longer for our girls (dogs) to get used to them but they’re getting there.

So it was a crazy ending to April but slow for me overall. I didn’t get into my craft room as much as I wanted. One of my cards, Thanks Teacher, made it as a Featured Player though, on the Paper Smooches SPARKS Anything Goes Challenge for week 3! I was very happy about that! I also did get some very cool stuff this month that I’m very excited to use, check it out below!

1. My Sweet Petunia MISTI (Most Incredible Stamp Tool Invented)

I finally bought a MISTI, I think I was the last card-maker to get one! I have not played with it yet. I’m hoping to watch some videos on YouTube to get ideas on different techniques. It was a little difficult to get since it was always out of stock but I was able to get it through Simon Says Stamp.

2. Hero Arts Ombre Ink Pad

I was so excited to find out Hobby Lobby was carrying these ink pads! This is actually my first Hero Arts product. This is the only ombre ink pad I have so far but I definitely want to get the rest. The color you see here is Pool to Navy, looks even better in person!

3. Paper Smooches Tag Stitched Die

I really wanted a tag die and it was hard to choose one out of so many but I decided to go with Paper Smooches. I picked this one because of the size and the stitching along the edge. I used this on my Thanks Teacher card, and I want to use it for tags on gifts in the future.

4. Mama Elephant Block Party Letters Stamp Set

I love these letters… this is my favorite letter stamp set right now. This font is so fun to use on cards, Project Life layouts, and scrapbook layouts. Another perk is Mama Elephant stamps are really good quality.

5. Tsukineko Versamark Versamarker Watermark Emboss Pen

Say that 3 times fast! Ok, this is awesome… you can emboss anything you write or draw with this pen. It is very simple to use and is as good as the VersaMark Emboss Ink Pad. This is definitely a must have!

That is my Top 5 for April, I hope you guys enjoyed! I hope to get into my craft room more this month for sure. Plus I have two new cute models to create some stuff with!

Thanks for stopping by!

Items Mentioned:

InLinkz.com

Card Making

Freestyle Congrats

April 9, 2015April 9, 2015 Diana SanchezLeave a comment

Hi guys! I ordered a new alphabet stamp set from Mama Elephant, Block Party Letters, and this set is so awesome. I love this font! I wanted to make a fun and artsy card. I’ve been inspired by a lot of graphic design/art that I’ve seen on Pinterest lately. I used other new supplies for this card, this is my first time using My Favorite Things products, I used all MFT paper. Also new, is some of the ink. I’ve been buying Mama Elephant pigment ink pads little by little. I have to say, Mama Elephant ink pad colors are beautiful and I can’t wait until I get all their inks!

I like making “splatters” on my cards with my Ranger Water Brush, and I wanted to try it out with this Gold Martha Stewart ink pad. I wasn’t sure how this was going to turn out but it came out better than I expected. I just love how gold and navy look together!

I stamped a flower patterned background using Mama Elephant’s Freestyle Florals in Ocean. I wanted the ink to match the paper where the sentiment is stamped.