Love You Layout for Kerri Bradford Studio

I'm excited to share a new layout every month combining Kerri Bradford Studio cut files with Pink Paislee products! See my intro post over on the Kerri Bradford Studio blog and here is the accompanying page:

LOVE YOU by Paige Evans

DESCRIPTION: Since February is the month of love I wanted to create a layout about the love of my life! I quickly found a cute cut file I wanted to use, Retro Art: Love. The subway art style spoke to me! Since it’s a long column of words I decided to divide my page into three columns with the cut file on the left, a long photo in the middle, and embellishments on the right. All the scrapbooking supplies I used are from my Fancy Free collection with Pink Paislee. I painted stripes on the right column using colors pulled from the line. To finish I created a trio of embellishments to draw the eye all around the page and then I journaled a bit.

JOURNALING SAYS: We're just about to celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary! My how time flies when you're having fun! Here's to eternity!

HOW TO: Die cut the Retro Art: Love image from the left side of a white cardstock page then back it with patterned paper from Fancy Free. Crop a photo to roughly the same size as the cut file and adhere it to the center. Paint stripes on the right side coordinating with colors from Fancy Free. Embellish minimally in three places to create a triangle then journal on the bottom right corner to finish.

SUPPLIES: Cut file: Retro Art: Love by Kerri Bradford Studio; Patterned paper, buttons, die cuts, transparencies, chipboard: Fancy Free by Paige Evans | Pink Paislee; Cardstock, pen, adhesive: American Crafts; Paint: Studio Calico; Sewing machine: Brother; Thread: Coats & Clark Die cut machine: Silhouette Cameo

DETAIL IMAGES:

Be back next month (which is pretty soon!) with another Kerri Bradford Studio & Pink Paislee layout!

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Vienna, Austria 2016

After touring the Melk Abbey we drove a short ways to Vienna. This is the first time we've returned to a city and stayed overnight because there are so many other places we want to go still. The reason we returned to Vienna is because when we were here in 2013 we planned to go to the Schönbrunn Palace on our last morning - we were in the parking lot ready to go in and everything. But it was raining and cold and still decorated for Christmas (which, don't get me wrong, I LOVE Christmas, but I also love seeing places in their 'everyday' state), so we decided to come back. Afterall, Rick Steves says the Schönbrunn is the #2 palace in Europe! 

Speak of the devil! We drove right by the palace as we were on the way to our hotel. See ya soon Schönbrunn.

We were hungry for dinner but we didn't want to head out into the unknown and find a restaurant so Chris went down to the front desk and asked about places that deliver. They showed him a cool website that had all the places that would bring us food so we placed an online order. 30 minutes later came a knock on our hotel room door and our food was there! So convenient! We got some delicious pepperoni and pineapple pizza, spaghetti bolognese, and then added some breadsticks so we met the minimum free delivery amount.

The next day our first stop was the Schönbrunn Palace, which already got its own post.  After that lovely morning our next stop was the Belvedere Palace. The elegant palace of Prince Eugene of Savoy is now the home to an excellent art collection.

The views over the city and gardens were beautiful.

Festive snowman in the gardens. Fox is giving him a warm hug. #olaf

The still-much-appreciated conqueror of the Ottomans, Eugene, a Frenchman, was considered too short and too ugly to be in the service of Louis XIV so he offered his services to the Habsburgs. While he was indeed short and ugly, he became the greatest military genius of his age, the savior of Austria, and the toast of Viennese society. When you conquer cities, as Eugene did, you get really rich. With his wealth he built this palace complex built to rival Schönbrunn.

Photo time!
Stroller selfie of our family in front of the Belvedere Palace. Chris had to book it to make it in the picture before the timer went off! Since Eugene had no heirs, the state got his property when he died and Emperor Josef II established the Belvedere as Austria's first great public art gallery.

Today you can tour Eugene's lavish palace, see sweeping views of the gardens and the Vienna skyline, and enjoy world-class art starring Gustav Klimt, French Impressionism, and a grab bag of 19th and 20th century artists. While Vienna's other art museums and collections show off works by masters from around Europe, the Belvedere has the city's best collection of homegrown artists.

We went back to the hotel to rest then we went back into the heart of town and enjoyed wandering the sights and end at the little wurst stand that has the best currywurst in the world for dinner. We hopped on the subway and off we went. Fox & Jane like riding on the metro. We got off right at the foot of St. Stephen's cathedral. We ducked inside to admire the gothic nave.

Back out on the street we moseyed, enjoying the ambiance, and the clear skies.

Walking down Kärntnerstrasse.

Awesome art nouveau building. Vienna is an art nouveau wonderland.

Flower stand love.

The world-famous opera house. || The state theater.  Looking through the trees towards the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Texture.

Vienna's lovely Rathaus.  In front of the city hall was a huge ice-skating festival with rinks and ice paths everywhere! I've never seen anything like it before.

The Rathaus from afar.

We walked back into the center from the Rathaus through the Volksgarten towards the Hofburg Palace.

After sitting in the park for a while letting the kids run free, we headed back towards the opera house to get the currywurst we've been dreaming of since 2013. It was just as delicious as we remembered. We were enjoying ourselves so rather than hopping on the nearby metro we decided to take in the evening sights and walk a little more to the next metro. We strolled all the way down Kärtnerstrasse past Stephansplatz to Scwedenplatz and then took the metro back to our hotel.  On our last morning before heading home we drove to the funky Kunst Haus museum and Hundertwasser Haus apartment complex. 

These two buildings are a hit with lovers of modern art and mix the work and philosophy of local painter Friedensreich Hundertwasser. So inspiring! 

Auf Weidersehen, Wein!

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Wonderful Layout

Still having lots of fun making layouts with Fancy Free! I'm trying to "kill" my line - meaning I'm trying to use up every bit that was sent to me!

 WONDERFUL by Paige Evans

DESCRIPTION: When I saw this layout by Elodie I completely and 100% fell madly in love with it and needed to lift it STAT!

JOURNALING SAYS: I knew I was missing something!! I need to go back and add it, but it would say something along the lines of "It's no secret, we LOVE to travel! February 2015 saw us in southern Spain on a road trip with Jay & Haylie. One of our favorite stops was in Seville - so amazing from start to finish!"

HOW TO: Use a Silhouette Cameo to draw 9 stars in a 3 x 3 grid on a cream piece of cardstock. Pierce holes every 1/4" all the way around the stars then backstitch through using different colors of thread (I chose colors to match Fancy Free). Hand cut 3" letters from patterned papers to saw WONDERFUL and cut the "L" from a photo. Drop watercolors over the stars in matching colors and embellish with fun things like buttons, puffy stickers, chipboard, wood veneer shapes, die cuts, and more.

SUPPLIES: Patterned paper, chipboard, Thickers, puffy stickers, buttons, wood veneer, die cuts: Fancy Free by Paige Evans/Pink Paislee; Floss: DMC; Adhesive: American Crafts; Die cut machine: Silhouette Cameo; Watercolors: Loew Cornell

DETAIL SHOTS:

Have a "wonderful" day!

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Schönbrunn Palace, Austria

The main reason we went to Vienna: to see the Schönbrunn Palace!

Janey not fully enjoying herself. Poor girl.

Schönbrunn is the former summer residence of the Habsburgs and it's BIG with 1,441 rooms (I wonder how long it took to count them - like did someone walk from room to room to double check?). Only about 40 rooms are shown to the public. Although the palace's exterior is Baroque, the interior was finished under Maria Theresa in an opulent Rococo.

No pictures allowed inside, so here are some from the internet:

Moving from room to room you are immersed in imperial splendor. The chandeliers are made of either Bohemian crystal or hand-carved wood with gold-leaf gilding. Thick walls hid the servants as they ran around stoking the ceramic stoves from the back and attending to other behind-the-scenes matters.

Then we walked around the beautiful grounds.

Unlike the garden's of Versailles, meant to shut out the real world, Schönbrunn's park was opened to the public in 1779 while the monarchy was still in full swing. It was part of Maria Theresa's reform policy, making the garden a celebration of the evolution of civilization from autocracy into real democracy. Today it's a delightful, sprawling place to wander.

Janey in a better mood.

Jane in Vienna in November 2013 and Jane in Vienna in February 2016. Still cute :) Up behind the Neptune fountain is the Gloriette: a purely decorative monument celebrating an obscure Austrian military victory. It now houses a cafe with a view.

One thing kids seem to universally love: chasing birds. Jane is no exception.

Looking back on Schönbrunn.

Me being me, of course I dragged us all up the zig-zag path to the top of the hill by the Gloriette. 

The views were worth all the huffing and puffing uphill!

The cafe inside the Gloriette. We took a peek, snapped a picture, and continued on.

Me and my valentine.

Lovely yellow Schönbrunn Palace set against the blue skies because once again we got lucky and the morning fog lifted revealing an amazingly beautiful day even when the weather had predicted rain!

We had a wonderful morning exploring this palace.

Then we headed to another palace - the Belvedere - and meandered around Vienna. All that is coming in a later entry!

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