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| BG: Buttons, Little Black Dress tuxedo,classy chic, & charisma |
I think buttons offer just the right accent to a layout. My youngest daughter, Bridget is the perfect mix of sweet and sassy. She adores running around the house in her vampire teeth, and loves all things pink and flowers. At daycare, the little kids are all into names, and when she said hers, the teacher misheard her middle name as "Evil". I thought this picture really fit that story. She is such a girly girl, so I wanted to include some frilly elements to contrast the chevron paper and her vampire grin. The buttons added a strong graphic element to the layout that reflected the colors in the chevron and mimics the dots in the black and white paper. 
I have to be honest and say that I have been scrapbooking since 2004, have a stash of buttons in my scrapbook supplies and have used all of maybe two brads in eight years. After having to overcome my brad aversion for this blog hop, I wonder what I was thinking. If you are a brad novice, it is super simple to use brads, and there is so much you can do. On this layout, I wanted to highlight the frilly side of my girl, so I threaded the hot pink ribbon through the buttons. I also wanted to tie in the softer pinks, and the brads were a great way to emphasize the pink in this pretty layout. I have adored pink and brown since my daughter was born,because her onsies were pink and brown. The color combination always makes me think of her.
Brads are so versatile, I used them to emphasize the faux quilting on this card, and to hold together the layers of the handmade flower embellishment on this card. Below, I used brads as a mixed media element on a card for those of you that may like to include doodling or hand-drawn elements onto cards. After playing with Basic Grey Buttons and Brads for this blog hop with ScrapbookSteals.Com, I adore brads as much as I have adored Basic Grey's buttons. I hope you enjoyed the projects I have shared with you. Remember, if you leave a comment on the participating blogs, Scrapbook Steals is picking a random winner for a great prize! To add to the celebration, I am sending out a prize slected randomly from my blog followers. My prize pack will include one pack of American Crafts This to That Square Foam Adhesives, Basic Grey Rub-Ons, and a pack of Sassafrass Paper Whimsies! To enter, follow winningatfailing.blogspot.com. 
Here are some layouts I have done. I love to scrapbook. My favorite scrapbooking item is paper, because there are so many kinds. Typically, I hand letter, although I do have a scrappy friend who is generous with her Cricut.
I started scrapping when my oldest dd, Cakes was born. My neighbor drug me to a Creative Memories party. I still have a soft spot for CM stuff, mostly tools and punches. I am lucky to have some awesome Scrapook stores near me.
Scrapbook Nook, in Kent, Wa is fabulous. It has a ton of paper, tools, embellishments, and anything you can think of. Definitely a must visit if you are in the area. They have a 1/2 wall play area which is perfect if you have kids along for the trip. They also have a large cropping space.
Paper Muse in Sumner, Wa is a cute store. They had a lot of 7 Gypsies stuff, and other items in the same sort of style. The store has a boutique feel, and not so kid- friendly, but a great spot to visit. They had a wide selection of inks and some hard to find items.
Scarlett Empress in Olympia, Wa is growing on me. At first glance, they don't have much, but their setup is such that items are organized by theme, so it definitely takes time to browse. They are incredibly helpful, and they have a ribbon section to die for.
Srcrap That! In Tacoma has changed location three times. I was unimpressed with the selection, and the staff was unfriendly at best. I haven't stopped by their newest location, so I should give it another chance.
I was not compensated in any way for visiting these stores.
