Murder on the Grill Layout 2

Hey guys and welcome back. Today we will be focusing on the second layout from my Halloween Murder Mystery Scrapbook mini-series. If you haven't read Monday's or Wednesday's post you should probably go check them out for more info on what the heck I am talking about.

Wednesday I told you that I had made two separate layout for the 2014 party, Murder on the Grill. The reason that I did this was because after I added all of the images to the first layout there simply wasn't any room for the photos of each character that I wanted to include.

On the day of the party, as my guests arrived, I snapped a quick photo because I knew that doing a scrapbook of each character would be fun. In order to save room for more images (which were all once again cut from the Cricut Nifty Fifties Cartridge) I printed each photo in wallet size. Plus, doing this gave me a duplicate photo (since you have to print two of the same photo together when you print wallets at Walmart) in case I messed up when I was cutting the photos apart. In the end I just gave the duplicates to each guest the next year when they came for the next party.

I once again busted out my trusty label maker so that I could add each guest's character's name below their photo. Also, if you look closely (in the photo of the hamburger, milkshake and soda) the patterned paper that I used for the background of the photos (and to put the label on) is this really cool vintage radio paper that fit really well with the theme. 

I covered all of the photos in  my Halloween Murder Mystery Scrapbook so that the focus would be on the layout and not on the people and food. Plus, I didn't ask for permission from the guests to share their photos on my blog. 

Murder on the Grill Layout 1

When I was in high school I was lucky enough to fall in with a group of friends that liked to get together often and play games, watch movies or go out to eat. Man those were the days. One year, around New Years, one of my friends hosted a murder mystery game and I was invited to participate. I LOVED it!! We all had such a blast that night that I wanted to replicate it by hosting my own party. I went out and bought two different boxed murder mystery sets at two local stores (that was back when they could still be purchased locally) but alas my friends and I never got around to doing another mystery game night because soon after that night they graduated (they were two years older than me) and several of them went off to college in different states.

Flash forward about twelve years to 2014. My best friend had just got married in August and moved back into town. For the first time I could gather together the right number of players to host my own murder mystery party. I went into my game closet and dusted off the boxed mystery kit from so long ago and started making plans.

To say that I went overboard that first year would be an understatement! It was the first party that I had ever hosted and I was extremely excited. There were so many ideas flooding into my head, between the multitude of Halloween themed decorations and food and the 1950's theme of the party that it was extremely hard to narrow it down. But, there will be an entire post about the food and decor for each party coming soon so I wont elaborate too much right now.

I actually made two layouts for the first year (all the rest only have one) because I had so many photos and images that I wanted to include. Today we will talk about the first page and then Friday's post will be about the second.

The first layout from 2014 came about as a way to use some of the diecut decorations that I had used during the actual party. The drive in sign was placed on the door leading from the living room to the basement, it served no purpose but was a way to add some themed decor to a blank space. Both the car (before it was cut in two) and the body shop words were adhered to the glass of the door leading out into my garage, as a fun play on the fact that cars typically live in the garage and as a way to cover the window so that my guests couldn't see the MESS that is in my garage. Lastly, the large jukebox diecut was adhered to the speaker I was using to play music (I created a custom playlist on Spotify) and the CD that came with the game. All of the images were cut from the Cricut Nifty Fifties Cartridge and I used my label maker to add the party info to the movie marquee and the year to the license plate of the car. 

I added two photo mats to the page to show the different foods that I served. 

I covered all of the photos in  my Halloween Murder Mystery Scrapbook so that the focus would be on the layout and not on the people and food. Plus, I didn't ask for permission from the guests to share their photos on my blog. 

Halloween Murder Mystery

Wow, I can't believe that October is here already!! In someways it seems like January was just yesterday. With all of the family stuff that has gone on this year, I feel like I have missed out on 2018.  Oh well, I will just have to make it my mission to enjoy the remainder of the year!

Each year, for the past five years, I have hosted a Halloween Murder Mystery Party at my house (I have briefly mentioned it before) and each year I make a scrapbook layout for the previous years photos as a way to remember foods served, costumes worn and the overall theme. So, since I have not yet blogged about each layout, I thought that this month would be a perfect time to share all of the layouts that I have made so far. 

I have been trying to make the plans for this years party for about a month now but between a couple of people who have to work, family who wont give you an answer and friends who won't call back, it has been pretty exhausting and as of right now I am not even sure that there will BE a party this year, which makes me incredibly sad and frustrated!! (But, I am trying not to rant two weeks in a row so lets move on).

Ok Ashley, enough of the melancholy, let's talk about the first page of my Halloween Murder Mystery scrapbook. I choose to go with more 'traditional' Halloween colors (at least the colors that I think of when it comes to Halloween- Black, Purple, Orange, and Green). Since a murder mystery party is kind of like a mini play I decided to go with a theater/cinema look for the title page. 

As I was designing this layout, I wanted a way that I could incorporate each players name on the page, similar to a playbill or credit screen but initially I was stumped about how to do it. After I found the movie marquee on the Cricut Art Deco Cartridge the idea for putting the names on popcorn buckets suddenly 'popped' (see what I did there ☺) into my head. I found the popcorn buckets that I wanted on the Cricut When I Was a Kid Cartridge and cut one out for each of the adults that played the game and used some small alphabet stickers that I found in my craftroom to add the names. 

Lastly, I wanted to add my 'nieces' names to the page, because they also come every year even though they are to young to play. I will admit that I was stumped on what to use and where to put whatever element I choose. Finally (after what seems like DAYS) I decided that the PERFECT nameplate was a ticket and let me tell ya, I felt like an idiot for not thinking of a ticket sooner. I cut the flourished ticket from the Cricut Wall Decor and More Cartridge and the smaller tickets came from a ticket die strip that I have. 

I am EXTREMELY proud of how this layout turned out. And, It would be easy to replicate now that the design part is done. Which is my not so suttle way of saying that if you would like to purchase a page similar to this one (there will be some minor differences in sticker and background papers) I would be happy to make more! If you are interested please email me at thesweetscrapper@gmail.com. 

Baby Block Welcome

Well it is FINALLY Friday and two of my blog goals have been completed! The Sweet Scrapper has it's own Pinterest presence (click HERE to check it out) and a new banner and logo have been finalized! I would say it has been a pretty decent week overall, even after I broke out into a rant in Monday's post. I am still feeling a lot of sadness and anger but I am TRYING my best to work through it and not let it stop me like I have in the past. I have been repeating the same phrase over and over throughout the week and it has been helping me push through; 'accept the things you can not change because you can not change other people'.

So without further complaining let's discuss the card for today. Over the last several years I have made quite a few new baby cards for my ever expanding extended family. With each new pregnancy announcement I feel the need to rush off to my scraproom and make a brand new card. Since I usually don't know the gender of the new baby I just 'have' to make a card for each.

The card that I have for you today was made using some square scraps that I had laying around. I was able to color the stamped onesie image to match the color of the patterned squares perfectly.

For the inside I used one of my favorite quotes from a Fiskars stamp set that I have, and added the same square (only smaller) from the outside of the card. I really like this one!

Alright guys, I need some advice. What should I focus on next? 

- Creating a new Sweet Scrapper Instagram?

- A Sweet Scrapper Facebook Page?

- An Etsy store where you guys can purchase the items that I have posted on my blog?

Let me know in the comments below! 

Celebrate Everyday with an Announcement

I have officially made a brand NEW BLOG LOGO AND BANNER!!! And, better yet, I did it all on my own! I have to take a second to toot my own horn *toot toot* because I am really proud of myself. I hope that you all like it as much as I do!

My New Logo

My New Banner

The card for today is yet another one that I made a few years ago. Every now and then I simply sit down with some new supplies and decide to 'play' by testing the limits and new techniques to see what I might like. This card was the result of one of  my 'play days' where I was trying out some new stamps, dies and ink colors to see what might look good together. 

Let me know what you think about the new banner and logo as well has the card for today in the comments below. I love to get new comments, and it helps me know what you like! 

See you again on Friday! 

Bakery Window (plus a Rant)

I have a really bad habit of letting other peoples thoughts, opinions and actions adversely effect my personal feelings.  I shut down and internalize it all to the extent that it changes my mental and physical feelings. Do any of you suffer from this same affliction? I frequently ask myself 'how do I stop caring what other people say and do'? I have yet to find the solution.

I have been in a funk since Friday. Everything either makes me mad or makes me want to cry. I HATE it when I get like this. It also makes me start doubting everything I do, such as projects, blog posts, etc. It makes me shut down and become completely unmotivated.

*Rant* I am so sick of people not having my back but expecting me to always have theirs. It is not friendship to always put other people (aka men) ahead of the person who has stood by you through the difficult situations. And, when you finally pluck up the courage to ask your family (who have told you countless times that you need to start asking for help) for help with something, your family shouldn't make you feel like you are just a waste of their time and that everything you have already done is wrong, just because it is different from the way that THEY would do it.  *End of rant....hopefully*

I am trying to overcome my own self because that is all I can control. So,  last night I laid in bed with my eyes closed and prayed. I prayed until I cried that I could shut out the negativity and start caring about myself, for the first time in a long time. When I woke up this morning, a little voice inside my head (God, was that you?) was telling me that sometimes it's okay to be selfish and to put your self first, heck everyone else seems to have no problem with that. Now I just have to figure out how to do that. ☺

I know that my little rant has nothing to do with today's project but it was something that I needed to say and I am too...shy? Weak? Chicken? To say it to the people actually involved. Heck, maybe one of them will surprise me (and themselves) and read my blog because it's "never going to amount to anything or make me any money, so I should just give up". My goal is to prove them WRONG!!

Anyway, today I thought that I would share this cute bakery window scrapbook page that I made. It is another layout that was completely inspired by the pattern already printed on the background paper. I added a couple of 4 x 6 inch photo mats and then turned to my Cricut to find the awning to make it look like a window in a bakery. FYI, the awning was cut using the Cricut Family Album Cartridge. I added some foam dimension to the awning so that a photo can still be slipped under it and into the clear photo corner on the photo mats. 

Cake Card

Many of you are probably wondering why September has turned into the month that I share so many of my OLD cards that I made years ago. Well, there is a simple reason for that. At the end of August my grandpa had to come up to my house to stay for several days because everyone in the family who is acting as caregivers, either had a doctors appointment or was out of town for that week. The only solution was to bring him to our house. The only downside...I had eight MONTHS of craftroom mess to clean up and organize in just a couple of days (because my craftroom doubles as the spare bedroom).

Because I haven't had much time at home to work in my scraproom lately, what I have been able to work on was typically quick and I didn't have time to put the stuff I used away when I was finished. Hence the room was a complete DISASTER!!

I worked extremely hard for three days straight to get the room into a presentable state. While moving, shuffling, organizing and straightening the entire room  I came across a box full of old cards that I made back when my craft supplies were so small that they fit into a little corner of a desk in my bedroom. In the box, along with the photos was an old computer flash drive that contained all of the photos of the cards that I have been sharing with you (that is why the quality is so poor). It was really fun to come across this little piece of the past that I had forgotten about.

I first started making cards and other paper crafts back in 2009, after I received a Cricut for my birthday. Back then the only way to really get a feel (at least for me) of what an image was going to look like when cut at a certain size, was to actually cut it out. Today's card is one of those early cutouts. It comes from the Cricut Sweet Treats cartridge and I still like it a lot (and not just because it is the same purple, pink and teal of my craft room today, although that is a BONUS). 

Looking at the card now makes me want to play around with the cartridge again, maybe cut this cake card in a size that will fit a gift card? Maybe just use the cake (that isn't a card) and add it to the front of a gift bag? Hmmm, the ideas keep coming.

I hope that you are all enjoying this flash back to some of my early stuff and I think that I have a few more but I will try to space them out a bit more over the next couple of months so that you don't get bored.