cristinascrap

Blue Skies Ahead

2012-02-18T11:53:00.000-05:00

Jenn Barrette has a new kit in the shop today. It's called Blue Skies Ahead, and it's 20% off through the weekend.

Those birdies are so cute! I was inspired to make this card:

I was hoping to relax and have some crafty time this weekend, but I've got work to do instead. :/ I really needed some time off after a stressful week, too!

New Frames

2012-02-17T15:08:00.000-05:00

Leora Sanford has a new set of frames in the shop today. These are so versatile and fun!

The stripes come in a separate layer, so it's they can be recolored in an instant. I used them to scrap my first Valentine's page of the year. :)

Credits:

Frameworks | Banned by Leora Sanford

Wishes Wings by Leora Sanford and Kitty Designs

Pink heart from Lovely freebie by Leora Sanford (retired)

Fonts: FG Jeana, Jellyka St. Andrew's Queen

I have lots of plan for the weekend, I hope I can cut myself out plenty of crafty time! :)

Finally Friday!

2012-02-16T23:17:00.001-05:00

Sahlin Studio has a new collab with One Little Bird out today. It is gorgeous!

And for the next week, when you purchase the kit you get a pack of clusters for free!

I whipped up a quick mini album, and I had so much fun putting it together!

I used one of the pre-made clusters, and made more of my own. Here's a closer look to the individual pages:

Have a good Friday! I have a ton of things scheduled, but I hope to make it safely to the weekend! I certainly need some time off!

Project Life - Week 6

2012-02-15T17:59:00.000-05:00

It's time to share another week of my Project Life album! I did all the photo editing over the weekend, then put my spread together Monday night. I love how this week turned out!

On the left page I had papers from Crate Paper (the back of the ones I used last week), and I found that the Grandma's Dresser kit by Sahlin Studio matched them really well.

I printed out some accents and a card, and I wanted to print out some papers as well, but I ended up not having room because I had so many pictures. :) I really wish I had room to add some more touches of yellow on this page though!

I had fun sprucing up the journaling cards with digi labels from the kit!

This week more than ever, I am so frustrated at how poorly the pictures of my pages turned out. So let me show you the digi version of my photographs in this week's spread. First off, I have to share my latest purchase.. a vintage Dymo label maker!!

I eyed this in action on Tim Holtz's blog several months ago (Tim always has the coolest finds...), but tucked it to the back of my mind. But when I started PL, I started wanting one really bad. I used to have a Dymo label maker as a kid (a plain kind with just a fixed font), but my mom cannot find it anymore. Then, when I saw that the new Smash line revealed at CHA will carry a label maker (i.e., I will probably be able to pick up replacement tape at AC Moore or Michael's), I decided it was time for me to hunt down a Dymo label maker. They do make a new model of this label maker, with 3 interchangeable font wheels, and it is really cheap too ($17.51 on Amazon), but I decided to go with the vintage label maker because as far as I can tell from the photos the cursive font in the new model is different from the old one - and I am absolutely in love with that cursive font. ♥♥♥ I got it on eBay and I couldn't be happier! I've recently used it for cards too. Fun!

Here I got creative editing some pictures taken in very low light with DH's iPhone:

These bagel pictures (free bagels from Bruegger's for their 29th birthday!) were taken with my DSLR.

Again, a collection of iPhone pictures taken when we were out grocery shopping:

Finally, more DSLR shots:

DH requested a new portrait, so I was happy to oblige. While I was at it, I also asked him to pose for my P52 Cards shot - and if further proof was needed that DH is really a pain and always complains about me taking pictures, check out how he held the card in that middle picture. Upside down!! Like he couldn't care less... sigh. ;) And the funny thing is I noticed it only after taking the shot! :D

All these photo collages were put together using digi templates by Designs by Lili (yes, the same designer who created the Clementine kit of Project Life!). They are such a time-saver! They also make the decision process of which photos to include much easier, since you can fit many photos in one slot of the page protector.

Here is what I used for this week's pages:
Crate Paper Restoration kit
4x6 Photo Collages , 4x6 Photo Collages no. 2 and 3x4 Photo Collages by Designs by Lili
Grandma's Dresser by Sahlin Studio
Winter wonderland word strip from Snow Bunny by Jenn Barrette
Dymo label maker
Smash date stamp and polka dot tape K&C company
Pens: Micron 03 + Faber Castell Pitt

Ten Things

2012-02-15T10:40:00.000-05:00

It's time for Something Old, Something New at The Lilypad (50% off products!). I picked up these two products and I loved using them!

This is such a fun kit! I love these colors! And check out these fun dates:

Here's my page:

Credits:

Template from Ambrosia Album by Sara Gleason

10 Things About Her by Jenna Desai

Pinned Purple Paper Dates by Kim Jensen

Betwined Love by Amy Martin

Fonts: FG Jeana, Strangelove

The funny thing is, after finishing this page, I realized I had made a similar one in 2009:

{originally blogged here}

How funny that many of the things I journaled about are the same. ;) Clearly, I am not very imaginative.

I also forgot to show another page I made last week with the February BYOC:

Credits:

Love You To The Moon papers by The Tattered Pear

Cosy In Love Library Cards

Whimsy Love Filler Notecards by Gina Miller

Ambrosia story elements by Sara Gleason

Graffiti Spray: Valentine by CD Muckosky

Mi Amore elements by Valorie Wibbens

Fonts: The Dry Ribbon font by Heather Hess and Strangelove

This BYOC's colors make me so happy! I plan to use it in this week's Project Life spread. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T09:58:00.000-05:00

I had a morning date at Starbucks with DH this morning. ;)

I'll be at school till 9 PM so it was our only chance to do something together on Valentine's Day. Plus, I really wanted to get their special Valentine cup (thanks Wilna!). ;)

Happy Monday!

2012-02-13T08:44:00.000-05:00

Leora Sanford has teamed up with one of my favorite designers, Kitty Designs, to create this gorgeous collab in the store today!

The colors are just so pretty!! I scrapped a picture of DH that I took yesterday.

Credits:

Wishes Wings by Leora Sanford and Kitty Designs

Font: FG Jeana

Happy Monday, and have a great start of the week!

Just My Type

2012-02-12T18:33:00.000-05:00

I am way behind on blogging this week! I had a very busy schedule this week, so I had quite a few scrappy projects that got pushed to the weekend. First of all, I used the gorgeous kit by Mari Koegelenberg that features a few of my latest obsessions: typewriters and gray+pink color combination.

And make sure you stop by One Story Down to read an interview to Mari and download a free add on!

I started off by making a page about my recent loves.

And I also made two cards because I couldn't resist printing out that typewriter and using those bright happy colors. ;)

It's two cards in one, actually. ;) I couldn't do just one design, so I went for two, front and back! :) And... is that a DYMO label I spot on there..? Hehehe, you'll have to check back later in the week when I post my Project Life Week 6 to read more about that. ;) [BTW, I am way behind this week on Project Life, but I have picked out my products and I'm so excited to see how it all comes together!]

This Is Our Story

2012-02-07T10:00:00.000-05:00

I just love it when some products inspire me to scrap a story I hadn't planned to scrap. It was the case with this page. CD Muckosky's element pack has a gorgeous word art piece that says "our story"... so I was inspired to scrap the story about how DH and I met. I never thought to scrap about it before, since DH and I know what went on and it's nothing new, but it is great to have this story in my album. When I started writing about it, I almost used up all the space on the page, and I'd have more to say too! :) (sorry for the blurred text, but there are some personal details I didn't want to share)

Credits:

All from the Feb. BYOC!

All of My Love paper pack by Amy Jaz Designs

Journal Junkie: Love Story and Tia's Joy alpha by CD Muckosky

The Dry Ribbon font by Heather Hess

This is what scrapbooking is all about, for me - telling our story.

The photo of us was taken a few months after we met - I was definitely not into picture-taking back then, so I am very glad we took this photo, poor as it is! We were so young! :) I scanned it a couple years ago to make a 10 years mini album but the quality was absolutely awful. I used RadLab to edit it, and it turned out quite decent, I think.

Project Life - Week 4 and 5

2012-02-06T09:46:00.001-05:00

I was late finishing up Week 4 of my Project Life, so I'm posting it along with Week 5. These past two weeks I have used little or no digi products, and digged into my (tiny) paper stash instead. Here's Week 4:

I was not into PL this week. I just wanted to get it done and get on the computer to scrap with all the new BYOC releases at The Lilypad, so I tried to simplify the process and just used the Clementine kit. I don't quite love how the spread turned out, I'm not exactly sure why.

It isn't a photo processing error - I am that red when I finish running, and I wanted to get a picture into my album. :)

I included concert tickets and the business card of the pizza place we ate at in the last pocket, so I had to block it out. Here's what I used for Week 4:
Becky Higgins Project Life Clementine kit
Smash date stamp and polka dot tape K&C company
Heart from Today Journal Cards by Valorie Wibbens
Calendar by Erica Hernandez
Pen: Micron 03
Washi tape from InTheClear

Let's move on to Week 5! I still don't love this page 100%, but I do like it better than Week 4. :)

I used the Clementine kit and some paper supplies this week - a 6x6 paper pad and embellishments from the Restoration collection by Crate Paper. I have been holding onto this kit for over one year without using a single thing, so it was definitely time to break it out.

I wanted to try something new this week, so I decided to use Design E - the four 6x6 page protector.

Here are a few detailed shots.

I used the back of the journaling card from last week. I find it annoying that it doesn't fill up the pocket - it looks like it might slip out, so I will probably add some washi tape to the opening to keep it secured.

Finally breaking out these cute chipboard pieces! They were perfect to finish up my plain journaling cards.

I made a little chart to track our weight loss journey. And here come the 6x6 pages:

I consider this as the first paper page I ever scrapped. I had a hard time figuring out how to fit in the long alpha in the 6x6 size, but it worked out in the end.

I love this page! But it's because I love this paper so much!

This was simple to put together, but I like how it turned out.

I didn't exactly watch the SuperBowl, but I had the game on. :) Here's what I used for Week 5:
Becky Higgins Project Life Clementine kit
Smash date stamp and polka dot tape K&C company
Calendar by Erica Hernandez
Freehand alpha by Tia Bennett
Crate Paper Restoration kit
State Fair alpha by Studio Calico
Groundhog by Pamela Donnis
Number tape by Cavallini and Co.
Pen: Micron 03
Washi tape from InTheClear

February Challenges

2012-02-05T19:22:00.001-05:00

I want to share two pages I made for the February challenges at The Lilypad. Both use the gorgeous Hoppy Birthday collab that is free when you "like" The Lilypad on Facebook. The first page is for the Product Challenge (use at least 5 hearts on your page) - I scrapped DH's birthday.

Credits:

Hoppy Birthday collab by The Lilypad designers (including this template by Sara Gleason) - free download when you like TLP on Facebook!

Splattered alpha and Paintstroke Chatter elements by CD Muckosky

Valentine Doodles by Jenna Desai

Music paper heart from Hope: a Lilypad collab

Font: CK Marissa

Then I made a page for the One Word challenge (love is the word), and I just love how this turned out!!

Credits:

Simple Singles Template: Roundabout #1 by Gina Miller

Hoppy Birthday collab by The Lilypad designers - free download when you like TLP on Facebook!

Valentine Doodles by Jenna Desai

Gimme Space font by Lauren Reid and Darcy Baldwin

ETA 2/6: I got a gallery standout at MeSoScrappy today for this page! :)

Love You to the Moon

2012-02-04T16:28:00.000-05:00

I played with more of the February BYOC today.. and I am confirming that this is my favorite BYOC yet!! Everything is so gorgeous! I made a card today:

Credits:

Template from Ambrosia Album and heart and flower Ambrosia story elements by Sara Gleason

Background and map paper from Mi Amore papers by Valorie Wibbens

I love you banner from You and I elements by Rachel Young

All the rest from Love You To The Moon elements and Love You To The Moon papers by The Tattered Pear

I'm also working on my Project Life week 5 (week 4 is finished, but not photographed yet - I'll do that tomorrow). No digi this week, just paper supplies.

February BYOC!

2012-02-03T10:04:00.001-05:00

I am so excited to share the February BYOC with you!! The designers at The Lilypad are always phenomenal, but something about this month's BYOC makes me swoon. I love this color combination and these products so much!! I have squeezed in all the scrap time I had this week, but there's lots more I want to do with this BYOC - I seriously want it all!

But let me show you a few things I have done so far. First off, I used the gorgeous new products by Sahlin Studio to make a card:

Credits

Key to My Heart papers and Key to My Heart elements by Sahlin Studio

She also has some gorgeous coordinating washi tape, that I used in the following page, along with so many BYOC goodies that I cannot possibly show them all!

Credits:

Classroom Cupid Papers, Classroom Cupid Embellishments and Scripted Romance by Britt-ish Designs

Perfect Pear papers and Perfect Pear elements by Kaye Winiecki

Mi Amore elements by Valorie Wibbens

Only Love Journals by Sabrina Dupre

Lovey Dovey journal cards by Emily Merritt

Customizable Journaling Cards No. 3 by Designs by Lili

Key to My Heart elements and Washi Tape Strips no. 2 by Sahlin Studio

You and I alpha by Rachel Young

The Dry Ribbon font by Heather Hess

And here's another page I made, possibly my favorite so far with the BYOC goodies:

Credits:

Lovey Dovey templates by Emily Merritt

Mi Amore papers and Mi Amore elements by Valorie Wibbens

Classroom Cupid Papers and Classroom Cupid Embellishments by Britt-ish Designs

Graffiti Spray: Valentine by CD Muckosky

Customizable Journaling Cards No. 3 by Designs by Lili

Peely Paints and Ticket 2 Ride v2 by Lauren Reid

Betwined Love by Amy Martin

The Dry Ribbon font by Heather Hess

So... have I convinced you that this BYOC is a must have? ;)
Before I leave, I do have to share one more thing! Heather Hess has made three amazing typewriter fonts for this BYOC - and they are so cool! Here you can see them in action and swoon at Heather's cool vintage typewriter!

I have yet to post a couple of pages I did for the February challenges, but I've already put enough images for today. :) So watch for those during the weekend. I also need to print out a couple more photos to finish up Week 4 of my Project Life album (that's last week!) - but this awesome BYOC took most of my spare time this week, so I'm a bit behind. It was worth it, though, don't you think? ;)

Two New Kits Today!

2012-02-02T10:03:00.001-05:00

Mari Koegelenberg has not one, but two great new kits out today! The first is a collaboration with Danielle Engebretson:

I love the gray+yellow color combination! Here's what I scrapped:

Credits:

Bee Happy by Mari Koegelenberg and Danielle Engebretson

Font: CK Marissa

Mari also has this adorable kit in the store today:

I have an obsession with typewriters, so I cannot wait to have some time to scrap with it!

Both kits are 20% off throughout the weekend!

Love+Grace

2012-02-01T08:42:00.000-05:00

I am excited to share with you a very special initiative today. It's a collab kit in honor of a fellow digi-scrapper, Erica, and of her sweet 7-year old daughter Grace who sadly passed away this past December.

The kit is absolutely gorgeous, and I could not refrain from making more than one page with it, even though I was very pressed for time this week. It is that good!! Check out that incredible lineup of designers! Here's what I scrapped:

Credits:

Love+Grace collab

Markerific alpha by CD Muckosky

Credits:

Love+Grace collab

And I turned both of these pages into quick pages that are included in a beautiful set that is free when you buy the kit.

Project 52 Cards - First Month Done

2012-01-31T09:40:00.000-05:00

Hard to believe January has come to an end already! Here are the cards from the past couple of weeks:

You can see the Week 4 card here.

You can see the Week 5 card here.

After the excitement of a car accident I was involved in yesterday (not fun, I tell you! - but no major damage and no injuries, so at least that's good), I am hoping for a more quiet rest of the week. I do have a busy schedule, though, and a very long list of things I want to scrap with this week! The February BYOC is coming out this Friday at The Lilypad and it's absolutely delicious! In the meantime, make sure to stop by tomorrow for a huge collab.

Quick Card

2012-01-30T15:52:00.001-05:00

I made a quick card last night, inspired by my heart garland - it features lots of hearts and sewing.

Credits:

Lost Without You by Jenn Barrette

When I finished sewing the hearts to the card, it felt a bit empty, so I added some splats of paint - not sure that I love them, but it was too late to go back! ;)

And yes, that's my Project Life album used as a backdrop - I was working on it last night. Almost done with week 4, but it's not likely that I'll have pictures to share for at least a day or two.

Hearts Garland

2012-01-28T13:43:00.003-05:00

Yikes! I spent the whole morning helping out DH fixing some cabinets in the kitchen to the wall, and I was itching for some crafty time instead! I still have to begin my Project Life spread for this week... In the meantime, though, I made a heart garland with Jenn Barrette's new kit, out today:

I printed out 8 different patterned paper on Epson double-sided matte presentation paper, cut out some hearts by hand, and sew them together with my sewing machine.

It turned out so cute!! I made 6 strands of 8 hearts each. The only problem is that they tangle easily, so you need to keep the strands separate once you've made them. I hung 3 to the new cabinet in the kitchen, and I will probably put the other 3 on my bulletin board.

When I have some spare time (yeah, sure.... ;)) I plan to punch out a few shapes from double sided paper and create garlands to use to decorate gifts.

With the paper leftovers, I made some confetti.. and I feel an addiction growing! I will likely find an use for them in my Project Life album.

ETA 2.4 - This project was featured in the MSA magazine.

Free Kit Anyone?

2012-01-24T12:29:00.000-05:00

Are you a fan of Sahlin Studio? If you like her page on Facebook, you can get this awesome kit for free!!

A very sweet gift indeed!

Project Life - Week 3

2012-01-23T12:49:00.000-05:00

I'm very excited to share week 3 of my Project Life album! Once again, though, I have to apologize for the poor quality of the photos... I have no natural light available (it's a gloomy, rainy day here) so this is the best I could do. Unlike the previous weeks, this week I didn't have time to work on my album on Wednesday night, but I worked on it Friday night instead, then finished up Sunday evening. The process was very smooth.

Here is a closer look to the two pages:

Unlike the past two weeks, the design of this week was not inspired from a card; I got the color scheme from the breakfast picture and went from there. It was fun to see how the yellow recurred in subsequent pictures as well - I swear I wasn't looking for it on purpose! :)

I did however draw inspiration from a card for the little banners here. :) Having barely mastered straight stitches, freehand sewing does not come too easy to me, but I think it turned out well enough! ;) I stitched down the leftovers from the banner to embellish two cards on the right page.

I didn't use any cards from the Clementine kit this week, since my color scheme was pretty unique. But that's OK. I had some of the digital bits already printed out, and printed out more to match. I went with DH to Lowe's yesterday and stopped to pick up a few paint chips. It was just perfect to fill up one of the pockets (top right)! :) I also got all excited when I saw some bigger paint samples, because it looked like they were 4"x6", but in fact they are more like 4"x5.5"... annoying, but I'm sure I'll find a good use for them. :)

Supplies:
Today paper pack and Today Journal Cards by Valorie Wibbens
Good Life tag by Lauren Reid
Digital washi tape from This and Thats by The Tattered Pear
Becky Higgins Project Life blank journaling cards
Smash date stamp K&C company + Tim Holtz distress ink
Mr. Huey mist
Pens: Micron 03 + Faber Castell
Washi and fabric tape from InTheClear

Puppy Love

2012-01-22T22:32:00.000-05:00

What a busy weekend I've had! Nothing major, just some shopping with DH and then finishing week 3 of my Project Life (pictures to come tomorrow, I do not have the energy to take them tonight), but I am exhausted! I am not ready for Monday to be almost here. :-/ Anyway, this weekend I also played with the new releases by Jenn Barrette:

Isn't this kit adorable? ;)

And these cutouts are so cool! Here's the card I made with them:

Have a good start of the week! I'll be back soon with pictures of week 3. :)

Happy Birthday TLP!

2012-01-20T10:03:00.003-05:00

The Lilypad is turning 5, and there's a whole weekend of fun planned to celebrate this birthday!

There are many games and challenges going on in the forum, with lots of chances to win prizes! I am hosting two challenges. The first one is the Kiss the Frog challenge, which is lots of fun and my personal favorite (I won a Kiss the Frog contest a few months back, became a Guest Polly... and the rest is history! ;)):

And then I'm also hosting the Polly Match Game, which is really fun too:

There are 12 baby pictures and you have to match them to the correct Pollys. I had DH try it last night and he only got 3 out of 12... (one was me)!!! :-D But I'm sure you'll do much better than that! :)

I also made a page for another challenge in which we have to scrap about what happened on our birth date (day or year). I scrapped about the date:

Credits:

Newspaper Print Papers by Jenna Desai

Newsies papers by Jacque Larsen

News to Me Alphabet by Rachel Young

Everything else from Wicked Smart collab by The Lilypad designers

Fonts: The Serif's Sister by Heather Hess and The First Day of School by Heather Hess

ETA: Woot!! I got a GSO today for this page!!

Do check out the birthday forum for more fun games, including Make a Wish giveaways! And there are chats and speed scraps too! But that's not all! There's a FREE kit for you too!

Just like TLP on Facebook and you'll be able to download this gorgeous collab! I hope to see you around this weekend at TLP!

Today - The Collection

2012-01-19T10:21:00.001-05:00

Mari Koegelenberg has a new collection out today and I am so excited to share it with you!

It is chock full of great bits and pieces to make your P365/Project Life come together much more easily! My favorite parts are the arrows, the days of the week, and the journaling cards. But I love it all!! :) Last year I fell behind on my Prohect 365 and I have over 20 weeks that haven't been scrapped yet. So I decided to get back to it in my spare time and get as much done as possible, and here's my Week 33:

Credits:

Today collection by Mari Koegelenberg

Font: CK Noah

Here's a closer look:

This was the week we were in Alaska, and luckily I had all the photos already edited and ready to go.

It feels so good to have one more week done for my P365/2011 album!

Getting Ready to Party!

2012-01-18T22:12:00.001-05:00

Yikes, I am so late posting this! I am running a bit behind this week, getting ready for the birthday celebrations at The Lilypad! ;)

I haven't even had a chance to work on my Project Life yet, yikes! But for today I want to show two products that are 50% off - such a great deal!

Here's my page (only 2 pages left for my mom's spring visit album!!!):

Credits:

Simple Scrap Templates no. 3 by Emily Merritt

Best Friends by Jenna Desai

Project Life - Week 2

2012-01-17T15:22:00.001-05:00

It's time to share week 2 of my Project Life album! The process was very smooth for me this week as well. I worked on the spread on Wednesday night - figured out the design and printed out the first few bits. Then during the weekend I printed out the rest of the stuff. I didn't finish on Sunday though (still had a couple of photos to print out), but I had my photos picked and edited, and was just waiting to have a couple of photos for this week ready to print out (I have a weird mania of not wasting paper ;) ).

While I love how my spread turned out this week, I really hate the pictures I took of it - I didn't have any natural light available, and this is the best I could get. It is so frustrating! Here is a look at the individual pages:

Like last week, the design+color scheme for the whole spread was derived from a card I made this past week. (actually, this time around I made the card after designing the PL spread) Great way to optimize my time! This week I was able to incorporate more of the Clementine kit: both of the blue journaling cards on the left page are from the kit, as well as the blue one at the top right on the right page.

I printed out the date with the date stamp as usual, but I used a pink Tim Holtz distress ink, to match the color scheme of the page. I like how it turned out! Here is a little scene I love:

This week I even included 2 inserts (just regular 8.5"x11" protectors). I found a fun printable with a few questions about the past year and hopes for the new year (I pinned it here if you're interested), and I thought it would be a cool thing to include in the album. It's supposed to be for kids - there's also an adult version, but I figured I had better chances of having DH fill in the kid version, and I was right! I didn't even have to insist to have him fill it in! So the first protector has his questionnaire on the front and mine on the back. The second protector has an admission letter I received and on the back a character sheet.

Yikes, I cringe at how bad these pictures are. I hope to have better luck next week with natural light!

Supplies:

Vintage Poinsettia papers by Sahlin Studio and Vintage Poinsettia elements by Sahlin Studio and Precocious Papers

Smash date stamp K&C company
Becky Higgins Project Life blank journaling cards and Clementine kit cards
Bunnies and snow bubble from Snow Bunny by Jenn Barrette
Stickles
Pen: Micron 03
Washi tape from InTheClear

Project 52 Cards - Another Year Begins

2012-01-16T08:57:00.000-05:00

After completing my Project 52 Cards successfully in 2011 (I gave DH a card made by me every week of the year, and have pictures to prove it! ;) ), I am continuing in 2012 as well. Here are the first 3 weeks' worth of photos.

You can see the Week 1 card here. (I am counting Jan. 1 as one week in this case, unlike what I'm doing in my Project Life)

You can see the Week 2 card here.

You can see the Week 3 card here.

Happy Monday everyone! I haven't finished my Week 2 of my Project Life yet - still have to print a couple photos for Saturday&Sunday, but it shouldn't take long. :) So look for it tomorrow!

Project Life - Washi Tape

2012-01-15T08:18:00.001-05:00

***warning - serious washi tape enabling ahead! Proceed with caution!***

For many months, I occasionally browsed the online shops and Etsy, looking for washi tape. I often saw some pretty rolls that I wanted, but I never took the plunge to buy anything. Until this past Thursday, when my washi obsession took on a whole new level. I found this Etsy shop through a scrapper's blog, and I felt I needed to get me some tape for my Project Life album. I compiled an essential list of the tapes I couldn't pass on, and it amounted to thirteen (13!). So, since I felt incredibly guilty about spending $60 on washi tape, I went to DH and asked him what he wanted for Valentine's Day (we usually exchange gifts). He said he didn't want anything, but (just as I'd planned!) he proceeded to ask me what I wanted - and I nonchalantly handed him over my little list of thirteen tapes. Since he is pretty awesome in letting me buy what I want, he told me to proceed with the purchase, which I promptly did. Somehow, though, when I added the rolls to my cart, I had to add a fourteenth... ;) There was a pretty purple tape that I just had to have. And I mean, when you're buying 13 rolls of washi tape, what's to stop you from getting 14 instead?

Anyway, I am writing this post because I was greatly impressed by the excellent service of this Etsy shop, InTheClear, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is developing an obsession with washi tape. I placed my order on Thursday early afternoon; she processed the order immediately, refunded me $5 for overshipping, and put my tape in the mail right away. On Saturday, I had the package in my hands already! Each roll of tape was wrapped individually in a clear plastic bag and packaged in the most adorable little kraft box. She included a darling thank you note and a cool 2012 calendar too! She put in the bag a print out of my order with pictures of the tape I had ordered so I could easily check that everything was there. And since one of the tapes I had ordered seemed damaged (the roll is not perfectly uniform, but it's still totally usable), she added in another extra one. And as fate has it, the 'damaged' tape was the purple one I had added last minute - when I added it, I debated quite a bit between two beautiful floral purple tapes, and I was lucky to end up getting both for the price of one! OK, enough talking, it's time for some pictures! Here's what I got:

Be on the lookout to see these pretty tapes in my album soon! ;)

Tooth Fairy Box

2012-01-14T11:28:00.001-05:00

Jenn Barrette has teamed up with Valorie Wibbens to create this gorgeous kit, and it's 20% off throughout the weekend! It's available at the Sweet Shoppe and at The Lilypad.

I used it to repurpose a little box (it contained a little flashlight I won at a raffle) and turn it into a Tooth Fairy box. :)

I love how it turned out!! I am totally in love with that star paper!!

Since I don't have any kids I won't be using it as a tooth box, in fact I am already using it to hold some little bits and pieces for my Project Life. :)

ETA: I got a GSO on the MeSoScrappy blog for this project!

Project Life - Week 2 Peek

2012-01-13T11:50:00.002-05:00

As promised in my previous post, I have a peek of my Project Life week 2 page to share.

Credits:

Vintage Poinsettia papers by Sahlin Studio and Vintage Poinsettia elements by Sahlin Studio and Precocious Papers

On Wednesday nights, DH has choir practice, from 7 to 9 PM. This gives me about 2.5 hrs of undisturbed crafting time ;) and it looks like I'll be using it to work on my Project Life this year. So far, it has worked out for me really well to work on my left page of the weekly spread on Wednesday and then finish up the right page during the weekend. After last week's experience, I started working on this week's spread directly at the computer. And with these gorgeous new papers and elements by Sahlin Studio, I knew right away what to use for my page. I haven't printed out all the pieces for the left page yet, but I do have them all thought out. In fact, I used part of it as an inspiration for this card. I can't wait to share more - hopefully Sunday night I'll have my spread done!

Happy Friday!

2012-01-13T10:11:00.001-05:00

Happy Friday! I do have a lot of pretty stuff to share today from the new releases at The Lilypad! :) I worked from home this whole week, and allowed myself plenty of crafty time in the evenings, which was super nice! :)
First off, a gorgeous new kit by Sahlin Studio:

These colors are beautiful! As soon as I saw these papers, I knew they'd be perfect for my Project Life! (check back later for a sneak peek at how I used them in my Week 2! ;) ) I also used them for a card:

Credits:

Vintage Poinsettia papers by Sahlin Studio and Vintage Poinsettia elements by Sahlin Studio and Precocious Papers

Sweet and Skinny Alpha by Sahlin Studio

Font: Pea Pumpkin Peters

They are all digital shadows except for the flower, which is cut out and glued on. I also used the kit to scrap two more pages about my mom's visit last spring (only 3 pages to go to finish the album!!):

Credits:

Kick It Photos templates by Amy Martin

Vintage Poinsettia papers by Sahlin Studio and Vintage Poinsettia elements by Sahlin Studio and Precocious Papers

Alpha from Xoxo by Emily Merritt and Laura Banasiak

Font: Pea Pumpkin Peters

I used a multi-photo template by Amy Martin, also new today, to scrap this page. I had way too many photos to fit and the template really helped me maintain my sanity! :)

Credits:

Vintage Poinsettia papers by Sahlin Studio and Vintage Poinsettia elements by Sahlin Studio and Precocious Papers

4x6 Photo Collages by Designs by Lili

Tell Me the Story word art and Sweet and Skinny Alpha by Sahlin Studio

Font: Pea Pumpkin Peters

I also could not resist this fun, bright, adorable kit:

In the past few days, as Valentine stuff started popping up on Pinterest, I was thinking how I am not in the mood for anything Valentine yet. But then I saw this kit... and I knew I had to use it right then and there! :)

Credits:

Xoxo by Emily Merritt and Laura Banasiak

The Typewriter font by Heather Hess

For one week, the kit comes with a free with purchase add on of valentines (the piano one I used is an example) and they are just adorable! This one I chose was just perfect for DH, since his great love is music. I do plan to print it out and give it to him too!

PS: I made a new blog header last night. What do you think?

Reflections on the New Year

2012-01-12T10:05:00.001-05:00

Leora Sanford has a new kit out today. It's all about change and it made me want to scrap a page about starting a new year.

Leora is one of the designers that do magic. I cannot explain it in any other way. I open up her kit, start putting things on my page, effortlessly, and I end up loving my page so much. It happened again with this page. It is quite different from my usual style, but I love it!

Credits:

Metamorphosis by Leora Sanford

Fonts: Pea Pumpkin Peters, CK Ali's hand

I usually avoid new year resolutions like the plague, because I hate not following through. But this year I am feeling really good about the new year. Maybe it's because I am writing my proposal and it feels so good to see the end of this PhD in sight. Maybe it's because DH and I are waiting to hear back about some interesting prospects for him and I am so hopeful. Or maybe it's because I am 30 and it's about time I made some resolutions and stuck to them! :) So, here goes. My resolutions this year are to work well, have fun crafting productively, keep up with my Project Life, lose weight and make exercise become a part of my routine. And most of all, enjoy the journey!

PL Style

2012-01-11T11:51:00.000-05:00

I have been working hard on finishing up my mom's spring visit album. Since I had a lot of pictures to scrap, I decided to use the Project Life-type page protectors. They make it so easy to scrap many photos! Here are the two latest pages I made, using all BYOC products plus a journal card pack that is 50% off today:

Credits:

Today paper pack and Pockets no. 3 the basics by Valorie Wibbens

Good Life by Lauren Reid

You Make Me Smile journal cards by Sabrina Dupre

Word strips from Customizable Journal Cards No.2 by Designs by Lili

Fonts: Pea Pumpkin Peters, Sugar Shock font bundle by Lauren Reid and Darcy Baldwin

Credits:

Today paper pack, Today Journal Cards and Pockets no. 3 the basics by Valorie Wibbens

Word strips from Customizable Journal Cards No.2 by Designs by Lili

Only 4 pages left to go to finish this 60-page album!

Sewing 102

2012-01-10T21:42:00.000-05:00

Last week I sat down with my sewing machine and played a bit. After the first, disastrous experiment, it was all downhill. ;) I feel like I have mostly mastered my sewing machine, and I've had lots of fun sewing on my Week 1 spread. I also made these journaling cards last week:

I just punched out a few shapes and sewed them on. Easy peasy. I still have the occasional mishap (notice how the journaling card at the top doesn't have any thread... it slipped out twice when sewing it, so I gave up and just glued the strip in place. I ended up liking the punched look. :) ), but it's mostly going well now. The trick was staying calm, and trying to push down the pedal slowly and smoothly. I have only used straight stitches so far, so I certainly have more to practice. :) Fun, fun!

Project Life - Week 1

2012-01-09T10:28:00.004-05:00

*** warning: this is going to be one mighty long post, but since this was my first week of Project Life, I want to jot down a few notes about the process, lessons learned, etc. ***

But let's start with an overview picture of my Week 1:

I have completed Week 1 of Project Life, so far so good! :) It has been quite a journey though. Ever since getting my kit and completing the title page, I've been waiting to have enough pictures to start working on the first spread. So last Wednesday afternoon I sat in front of my binder, trying to figure out how to fit the bits of the kit in the protector. I quickly realized that there are no 4"x6" inserts that would work for me. So I went back to the computer and picked out a few digital supplies. I recolored at will, to match my pictures. I started out with my Happy New Year 2012 card design.

My weeks go from Monday through Sunday, and since Jan. 1st was a Sunday, I used that day's picture of DH and me in the title page, but it felt a bit weird to write "Week 1 - Jan. 2-Jan. 8", leaving out Jan. 1st. So, as with all the big issues in my life, I went to DH with this quandary; he looked it up, and found that, by an ISO convention, the first week of the year is the first full week that includes a Thursday. So all is good in my world! :) I included a little insert that came with my snow shoes (I've had them for a few months since my mom brought them last spring, but this was my first time wearing them), but other than that there are no memorabilia this week. Not surprising, since I stayed home most of the time. :) The color scheme was picked from the picture of the two bowls (which I adore and are from Anthropologie, BTW). I'm not sure I will be able to match colors in the future, but it worked this week and I went with it.

I had an identity crisis during the weekend and, while I'd started out with the firm conviction that I was going to round corners because that's the look I was going for, I realized suddenly that I like the square corners better. So I stopped rounding corners. I have a feeling I might be going back and forward on this decision, especially as I include more bits from the kit, since they have rounded corners. I will likely mix up, which is always good in my book. :)

Once again, it's all digi supplies recolored and printed out, with the exception of a journaling card sprayed with my Mr. Huey mists. Another thing I've noticed is that all of the journaling cards in the Clementine kit have journaling lines in portrait orientation, so I'll have to print out my own or use the grid journaling cards for the horizontal slots. Or just forget about writing on the lines and use them anyway. :)

Thoughts about the process

I definitely over thought things this week but it was to be expected, since it was my first week. I promise not to try to match colors so hard in the future, or I'll go crazy.
I love love love love love sitting down with my pen and my journaling cards and just write. That alone for me is worth doing a physical PL album.
Lili's 4x6 multiple photo templates (see them in action on the bottom left pocket above) are a huge time saver. I know I will be using them a lot. In fact, I have started using them as a blogging tool too (see below) and I love them!
I messed up a lot with photo printing this week. My printer has a 6"x4" photo tray that I had never used before (and it shows...). First, I printed on the wrong side of the photo paper. :) Then, I forgot to select the photo tray, so I printed with photo quality on copy paper. :-/ Finally, I put way too much photo paper in the tray, so the paper was fed incorrectly and it printed all wonky. But apart from these mishaps, I am loving the quality of the prints. I am using Canon photo paper (with an HP printer ;) ) and I love it (and no, I didn't pay it nearly as much - I got it at Staples during one of their frequent 50% off offers).
I am glad I bought the big variety pack of photo protectors. I like to change things up, and I enjoy the freedom of having the left side set and being able to choose the design I want for the right side, based on the pictures I have.
The 4x6 slots are perfect to mix photos and journaling. I love the look and I will continue to do that.

Here are a couple of my favorite details of the week (and yay, I have indeed mastered my sewing machine! ;) Look for a post later this week.):

I'll finish up sharing a little funny detail (well, it wasn't funny at all last night...). I finished up my spread last night and was feeling very proud, so I insisted that DH admire it. Well, he didn't admire it one bit, but he did - grudgingly - look at it, and readily pointed out that I had stamped 2011 on all the pages instead of 2012. Ugh!! And I was feeling so accomplished about using the date stamp! :-P Well, so I had to stamp out new 2012 dates and paste them to cover the wrong ones. Not a big deal, but I'm glad he caught it before I took pictures, or went on with the new week. :) Who knows when I'd have noticed otherwise! :)

Here are the supplies (I tried to list them in order, left to right, top to bottom).
Week 1
Left page:
New Year's Eve kit and word art by Sahlin Studio and Valorie Wibbens (recolored)
Cavallini & Co. paper Christmas tape
Paper and hearts from Note to Self by Jenn Barrette and Kristin Cronin-Barrow
Winter wonderland word strip from Snow Bunny by Jenn Barrette
Paper and journaling card from Conversation Piece no. 5 by Paislee Press
Right page:
paper from Photobooth by Paislee Press
hearts from Note to Self by Jenn Barrette and Kristin Cronin-Barrow
4x6 Photo Collages by Designs by Lili
Journaling card from Conversation Piece no. 5 by Paislee Press
Becky Higgins Project Life journaling card and Clementine kit arrow stickers
Other supplies:
Becky Higgins Project Life journaling card
Mr. Huey mists
Smash date stamp K&C company
Pen: Micron 03

Note to Self

2012-01-07T10:18:00.000-05:00

Jenn Barrette has a new kit out today, it's a collab with Kristin Cronin-Barrow and it's delicious!

The colors are so pretty!! I have printed out a few bits to go in my Project Life album, so you'll see those soon, but in the meantime I made a card too:

The patterned papers in this kit are absolutely gorgeous! Makes me want to print them all out!

The January BYOC Is Here

2012-01-06T10:52:00.002-05:00

Finally! The January BYOC is in the shop! I know many of us have been anxiously awaiting this new collection, and I know you won't be disappointed! The products are all revolving around Project 365/Life/52 and they will really help you to stick to the project you choose throughout the year. This year, as I already mentioned, I will be doing a physical Project Life album. In 2011, I started and haven't completed a digital P365 (but in fact it was more of a Project Life than P365 since my intention was to scrap the photos, not just take them). I have been doing 2-page spreads for each week, but have fallen behind. When I saw these templates by Emily Merritt, though, I have felt the urge to go back and try to finish my pages:

I started scrapping the latest page, Week 52 - the last week of 2011.

Credits:

Highlight of the Week Templates by Emily Merritt

Fonts: Pea Pumpkin Peters, Traveling Typewriter

As you may notice, I am having way too much fun with my RadLab - and this from someone who openly disliked editing photos! I love the format of Emily's template - having square blocks for pictures make it easy to fit most pictures, be they horizontal or vertical. I am now debating whether I should go back and finish my missing pages using this week in a page format or stick to the week in 2 pages that I had been doing. I do like to keep my photos kind of big, plus in 2011 I had modified the P365 concept to include multiple photos per day if necessary, because keeping just one was too limiting, so it would weird to have multiple photos for the first part of the year and just one for the rest. I am still undecided... But let's move on to more BYOC goodies! If you're doing a digital version of Project Life, these page protectors are a must have!!

and these little bits are really useful too:

Then there are these cards, that are essential for both digi and hybrid:

I have already printed out a bunch to keep handy for my Project Life album. :) In the meantime, though, I've also scrapped with them! :)

Credits:

Today Journal Cards and Pockets no. 3 the basics by Valorie Wibbens

Good Life by Lauren Reid

This and Thats by The Tattered Pear

Kraft paper from Highlight of the Week Templates by Emily Merritt

Fonts: Pea Pumpkin Peters, Traveling Typewriter

All the BYOC products work perfectly fine even if you aren't doing P365/Life/52, and I especially loved these templates by Sara Gleason:

And this paper set by Amber Clegg:

Perfect to scrap a bunch of photos easily!

Credits:

Pansy templates by Sara Gleason

These Moments: the papers by Amber Clegg

This and Thats by The Tattered Pear

Wet Paint Alpha by CD Muckosky

Font: Pea Pumpkin Peters

Well, as you can see, I am still working on finishing up the album about my mom's visit last spring - only 7 more pages to go! They will be a breeze to scrap with these new products! :)

ETA: I got a GSO for my P365 page today!! ;)

December Daily 2011 - Completed!

2012-01-04T07:38:00.002-05:00

I am so excited to share my completed December Daily album! I made the cover from scratch and I love how it turned out. I started from some cardboard from some packaging that DH had put away for me. ;) I cut it to size and punched the holes with my Cinch.

Then I just painted it with white acrylic paint, and decorated.

The Santa card is from Kitschy Christmas by Jenn Barrette and Sahlin Studio available at The Lilypad and at Sweet Shoppe Designs; the tree is from Jolly Golly by Cosmo Cricket; the charm is by Tim Holtz; the reindeer is by Recollections; the snowflake is from Snow Day by Crate Paper. I printed out "countown to Christmas 2011" on copy paper (I love how it curls up! I will definitely be doing this on my Project Life too!), with font Traveling Typewriter. I cut the numbers with my Silhouette, layered 3 copies and covered them with glitter and a coat of Glossy Accents. So pretty!! I originally planned to use them on my Dec. 25 page, but ended up not needing them, so they were perfect for the cover.

When I was working on the cover, I'd originally started out with design:

Kitschy Christmas by Jenn Barrette and Sahlin Studio available at The Lilypad and at Sweet Shoppe Designs

Then I came up with the other version, and had a hard time picking the one to go with. DH preferred this one with the bells, but I was loving the one with Santa so I went with it. The bells go in the inside back cover.

I put this pretty calendar from Big Ol' Tags 3 by Lauren Reid in the inside front cover:

I'm so happy with how my album turned out, and I'm really happy to have finished it so quickly! :) I don't know if I'll be doing another DD album in 2012, but my process for 2011 was very smooth and fun so I very well might. :)

Project Life 2012

2012-01-03T15:08:00.001-05:00

This year I am doing Project Life, a concept started by Becky Higgins. It started out as a paper album, but there is a digital version too. You can use it for whatever you wish, but the common use is to document the everyday life. It consists of a binder with plastic page protectors with inserts of different size, in which you can slip a photo or a journaling card. For the past year or so, I've seen several examples of Project Life (one name for all: Ali Edwards) but I wasn't in love. Then one of my favorite digi designers, Lili of Designs by Lili, was chosen to design one of the two new kits, and I started paying closer attention to the PL world. I soon realized that making a physical album had one great advantage over a digital P365: you can include memorabilia. So I decided to jump on the PL wagon this year. I bought a bunch of goodies: the Clementine kit and binder (designed by Lili), the big variety pack of plastic page protectors, a pack of G design, a pack of 6"x12" protectors, a pack of big envelopes, and a pack of blank journaling cards. I plan to treat it pretty much as I did my digital P365 album - a day to day storytelling. When I first got my binder and the big protector pages, I was ~~a bit~~ a lot scared at the size of the thing - I am so NOT used to 12"x12"! But then I decided that instead of being afraid to fill this album, I will treat it as the opportunity to stretch my creativity and try something new. Having the small inserts instead of a big 12x12 canvas is also going to help me a lot. There is so much inspiration out there (thank you, Pinterest!), and I am excited to embark on this journey!

I have done my title page. Since I do my weeks Monday through Sunday, and this year started on a Sunday, I decided to use my Jan. 1st picture as part of the title page. Other than that, I used cards from the Clementine kit, paper tape, and some letters cut out with the Silhouette. Very simple.

Taking a picture of the spread was not an easy task - the reflections from the plastic were so annoying! I can see this as being a major nuisance throughout the year.

Oh, by the way, have you ever wondered what happens if you print on the wrong side of photo paper? This!

This is what happens when you're too lazy to check which side your photo tray wants up. ;) I was scared when I pulled the top picture out of the printer, but then I realized what had happened and had a good laugh! :)

So far I have not done any planning ahead for the project, but I am eager to start. I am waiting to gather the first few days of pictures to plan my weekly spread. Since I bought a variety of protector designs, it will take a bit more planning to figure it out, but I think it'll be fun to do. In the meantime, I have played a bit with my mists and the blank journaling cards:

I have also printed out some goodies that are coming out this Friday in the January BYOC at The Lilypad, so if you're considering Project Life/P365/P52 this year - be it digi or hybrid - keep an eye out for the new releases!

I will come back and share my progress with my album as soon as I have something! :)

December Daily 2011 - Days 24-25

2012-01-03T08:49:00.001-05:00

My 2011 December Daily album is almost finished! Here are pages 24 and 25:

Credits:

Falala papers by Rachel Young Designs

Font: American Typewriter

I love this picture of DH and me in front of the Chrismtas tree!

Credits:

Downtown Christmas papers by The Tattered Pear

Font: CK Ali's hand

I was clearly bored with the project by this point (I found it really hard to stay motivated once Christmas had passed), so instead of wasting time on journaling and selecting photos, I made a collage with all my favorites of the day. Works for me! I decided to end the album with the 25th, since this year my album has been focused on Christmas, and also because DH and I were out of town the week of the 26th.

Yesterday I finally tackled the task that was scaring me the most: the binding of my album. I bought a Cinch a few weeks ago but hadn't used it in a project yet, and I was terrified of botching my pretty December Daily album!! Of course, everything went well. :) This is what my album looks now:

All the pages are done, and I've started working on the cover. It will be wire bound. It's less than an inch thick at this point, so it's a lot more manageable than last year's album. :) I will try to work on my cover later today, so I should be able to share the finished album soon.

Happy 2012!

2012-01-02T11:47:00.000-05:00

This month's featured kit by Sahlin Studio is New Year's Eve, a collab with Valorie Wibbens. Check out Krista's blog for a discount and a chance to win a gift card! Here's a Happy New Year card I made with it and the coordinating add on:

I added Stickles on the glitter alpha, it's so sparkly! :)

2011 in review

2012-01-01T22:09:00.000-05:00

As a new year begins, it's time to review how the old year fared. I have to say, 2011 has been a very good year for me, on all aspects. Scrap-wise, here are some numbers for 2011:

81 hybrid projects completed (including 52 cards for my Project 52 cards)
2 December Daily albums completed (well, still missing the cover and binding of one, but it still counts ;-) )
137 digital layouts completed (including 51 for my mom's spring visit album - only 9 more pages to be scrapped for that!)
1 calendar (12 months+cover) for 2012 completed, and one page done for the 2013 calendar
A half-done P365: Weeks 1-11, 17 and 52 are completed; Weeks 13-16, 18, 23-32 are partially done (they have photos and journaling); the rest are undone.

Not too bad, I'd say. I am sorry for not keeping up with the P365; I am hoping to finish it up a bit, because it would be just a waste to let it lie like this, but realistically I will not have time to do it. I am embarking in a new project this year, Project Life, so it'll be interesting to see if I can keep up with printing photos for my album. I sure hope so! :)

The topic of the journaling challenge this month at The Lilypad is very inspiring - scrap 11 highlights of 2011. Here's what I came up with:

Credits:

Plant Your Story: Listed {Holly} by Sara Gleason

My Happiness and December Daily Numbers by Sahlin Studio

Messy Machine Grids by Emily Merritt

Finishing Touches 6 and Finishing Touches 2 by Karah Fredricks

Fonts: Century Gothic and Pea Pumpkin Peters

A very good year indeed! Nothing major, but many good little things.

Happy 2012!

2012-01-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

Happy new year! I'll have a '2011 in review' post up later (I'm working on a LO), so for now let me just share the latest kit by Jenn Barrette (out today, and 20% off). It is adorable!!

As you might notice from the new kit preview, there has been a site redesign at the Sweet Shoppe - go check it out. I quite like it! :)
I was out of town this week (I followed DH on a business trip) so I couldn't go hybrid with this kit, but I certainly could scrap, and scrap I did! :)

Credits:

Snow Bunny by Jenn Barrette

Font: Pea Pumpkin Peters

This kit is so much fun!

More December Daily

2011-12-30T11:58:00.000-05:00

I can finally share two missing pages of my December Daily, since the kit they're made with has been released today! Days 9 and 23.

Credits:

Baby It's Cold by Leora Sanford and Valorie Wibbens, available at Oscraps and The Lilypad

Playing card from Pocket Stuffers by Valorie Wibbens

The snowflakes are something I'd cut for last year's album and covered with Stickles.

Credits:

Baby It's Cold by Leora Sanford and Valorie Wibbens, available at Oscraps and The Lilypad

December tag from December Stories by Designs by Lili

This page is a big favorite of mine! I just love that photo and the colors. :)

I still have to finish up my days 24 and 25, plus figure out the binding (NOT looking forward to that - I'm afraid to botch up my pretty pages! ;) ) and the cover. The album is quite thick already so I'm not sure whether I will be able to bind it with the Cinch or not (I have 1 1/4" coils). I hope to have more to share in the next few days!

Baby It's Cold

2011-12-30T10:23:00.002-05:00

Leora Sanford and Valorie Wibbens have created a gorgeous new kit out today, Baby It's Cold:

It's available at Oscraps and at The Lilypad, and it's 20% off this weekend. I love the colors of this kit! AND, there is a great free with purchase offer: if you buy the kit, you will get this quickpage+template set for free

Here's what I made with it:

Credits:

Baby It's Cold by Leora Sanford and Valorie Wibbens, available at Oscraps and The Lilypad

Font: My Own Topher

I only wish I had more snow pictures this year, but alas, the one depicted was the one and only snow we have seen so far this year.

I also made a page for my 2013 calendar (trying to plan ahead for once ;) ):

Credits:

Background paper from Baby It's Cold by Leora Sanford and Valorie Wibbens

A Month to Be Merry by Lauren Grier

I was loving this picture we took on Christmas day but didn't feel like scrapping it with a normal page, so I decided to get started on the calendar. :)

Project 52 Cards - Year 1 Completed!

2011-12-27T18:30:00.002-05:00

When I began this project in January of this year, I wasn't quite sure I would bring it to completion, but it has been surprisingly easy to do it, in fact. For the whole of 2011, I have made and given a card to DH every single week. The toughest part was convincing him to pose for the pictures! :) Here are the final 2 weeks.

You can see the Week 51 card here.

You can see the Week 52 card here (if you dare). (Incidentally, this photo depicts how tough it is to get DH to cooperate for pictures - on this occasion, I couldn't get him to move to a better lighting position, so that's all I got. I think it is quite fitting that I got a bad photo for the botched card. ;) )

I am planning to continue this project in 2012 as well. I know DH looks forward to my weekly cards now, even though he doesn't let it on. :) My New Year's card is ready to go! ;)

Sewing 101

2011-12-27T18:17:00.000-05:00

I've already mentioned that I bought a sewing machine on Black Friday because I've always loved the look of sewing on paper projects, and wanted to be able to do the same. I bought the cheapest machine I could find ($50 at Walmart) and it is just perfect for my needs. In the process, I made a very pleasant discovery: my husband is in fact quite good at operating a sewing machine! And thanks goodness for that (more later)... Here's an example of what he did for my December Daily album:

So pretty! Well, anyway, going back to the sewing machine. I haven't quite learned how to use it yet. But I really wanted to try sewing on DH's Christmas card (and I certainly couldn't have him do it!) so I gave it a try. Oh my goodness, I think I am a complete and utter failure at sewing! Here's the proof:

Credits:
Icolology:Christmas by Plum Dumpling Designs

Yikes is right! For the first line of stitching, I forgot to put down the presser foot, so the stitching was all wobbly. But for the other two attempts, I have no excuse - I had everything in place correctly, but I still wasn't able to sew straight. I had no idea it was so hard to sew straight! I have some learning to do in the upcoming year, that's for sure! ;)

Last Adventures With Our Elf

2011-12-25T21:02:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted Elf pictures in quite a while! He's been busy coming up with new ways to be naughty, but what can I say? We love him, no matter what! :)

The morning after the day we did our holiday baking, we caught him making snow angels in the flour!

Luckily, he had a nice bath the following day. :)

This morning we woke up to find a picture of Jingle Ginger on all our iPads, iPhone and laptops!

JG has all his Christmas shopping planned out - candy, candy and more candy! ;)

Phew, this one was a pain to make, but oh so funny! I made a mock up Facebook page for Jingle Ginger, with posts from Santa, Rudolph and Frosty. Then I put it up on DH's computer. ;)

2 days to Christmas!

I didn't think I'd be able to pull this one off, but I did! ;)

Jingle Ginger turned us both into Rudolphs! :) I had tried it the day before, but DH was already awake so I couldn't do it (thus, the lame "2 days to Christmas" backup plan). But this time I succeeded! Too bad I put too few paint on DH's nose, but I still count it as a success!

I am so sad that Jingle Ginger is going back to the North Pole until next year! We'll miss him!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T07:23:00.000-05:00

Credits:

December Stories by Designs by Lili

Envelope and snowflake element from Snow Day by Crate Paper

December Daily 2011 - Days 20-22

2011-12-24T18:19:00.000-05:00

I am all caught up!! Yipeee! Days 1-23 are completed! I cannot share day 23 because it uses a kit coming out next week, but here are the rest:

Credits:

Left page:

Lift of December Daily Day 2 by Amy (amyjaz)

Music sheet by raidensgrammie21 on Flickr

Font: Carnivalee Freak

Right page:

North Pole by Mari Koegelenberg

This page is completely inspired by one of Amy's pages. I love that she writes in detail on her blog about how she is putting her album together!

Credits:

Snow Day paper by Crate Paper

December Bits by Sabrina Dupre

I broke out the paper supplies for a couple of pages. These lights were perfect for a page on Christmas lights.

Credits:

Striped paper from Snow Day by Crate Paper

Snowmen paper from A Christmas Collab by Micheline Martin and Fruitloop Sally

Word strip from Kitschy Christmas: Word Blocks by Sahlin Studio

Number 22: Maestro font

I cut the numbers out with the Silhouette, covered them in glitter, and then coated them with Glossy Accents (just another technique from Pinterest that makes me wonder why I never thought about it before...) I love the sparkle and the shine!

December Daily 2011 - Days 14-19

2011-12-24T00:05:00.002-05:00

I'm happy to have a few more December Daily pages to share! DH helped me fire up the sewing machine today (i.e., he sewed while I gave directions) - and thank goodness for that, because I have sadly discovered that I cannot sew straight for the life of me! (but more on that later - I will make a blog post about it in a bit). Anyway, luckily for me, DH's really good with the sewing machine, and I'm loving how these pages have turned out! ;)

Credits:

Left page: Brown Paper Pack by Sahlin Studio, Santa from Christmas Wonder by Kaye Winiecki, journaling tags from North Pole by Mari Koegelenberg, word strips from Kitschy Christmas: Word Blocks by Sahlin Studio

Right page: Paper from A Christmas Collab by Micheline Martin and Fruitloop Sally, December Daily Numbers by Sahlin Studio, Font: Dear Joe 4

OK, no sewing on this page. :) The inspiration for this page came from a contest DH entered for me last week on the October Afternoon blog - spouses were encouraged to enter, so I asked him if he would write something. We didn't get a prize, but I loved what he wrote for me, so it had to go in the album! I cut out the words Dear Santa with the Silhouette, and layered 3 copies to make it thicker. It looks so pretty - seriously, I am so annoyed at how blah these pages look in photographs, they are so much prettier IRL! On the left page I wrote up DH's and my wish list. Did you see all the check marks on my list?? I seriously couldn't wish for anything more this Christmas! :)

Credits:

Paper from A Christmas Collab by Micheline Martin and Fruitloop Sally

Journal Everyday by Sabrina Dupre

Well, to say the truth, I am running a bit out of ideas for the album. I am all set now, but I struggled a bit a few days to come out with a topic. Since I've been making this album focused on Christmas, I didn't have a special topic ready every day, and I already covered most of the topics I wanted to cover. But our cute reindeer and penguin deserved to make it in the album. And isn't that stitching pretty? :)

Credits:

Paper from Cheerful by Tickled Pink Studio

Word strip from December Stories by Designs by Lili

Date and stars from Pear Tree album by Sara Gleason

This was my second experiment printing on vellum. I used the fast draft mode and that was a bit faint. I will try the draft mode next time.

This is my favorite page so far! I used a piece of a paper bag from Starbucks, and DH's stellar sewing was the perfect finishing touch!

Credits:

Paper from A Month To Be Merry by Lauren Grier

Joy element from December Bits by Sabrina Dupre

December Daily Numbers by Sahlin Studio

Word strips from Kitschy Christmas Daily December Add-on by Jenn Barrette

I made and cut the HOHOHO with my Silhouette - I needed a touch of blue added on this page.

Credits:

Kitschy Christmas by Jenn Barrette and Sahlin Studio available at The Lilypad and at Sweet Shoppe Designs

Kitschy Christmas Journaling by Sahlin Studio

Christmas party word strip from Kitschy Christmas Daily December Add-on by Jenn Barrette

I sadly found out a couple of days ago that gluing vellum doesn't quite work, but as you can see sewing sure does! :)

Credits:

Twelve Days 'Til Christmas Journal Book by Emily Merritt

Word strip from Kitschy Christmas Daily December Add-on by Jenn Barrette

Number from A Month To Be Merry by Lauren Grier

That's all I have for now! A few more pages are in the works. I'd love to get this done and posted by Christmas day, but we'll see what I can manage. 2 more days... ;) I played with glitter today - it is messy and a pain to work with, but it is oh so pretty!! :)

North Pole

2011-12-22T10:41:00.001-05:00

Mari Koegelenberg has a new collection out today, just in time for Christmas! It is 20% off throughout the weekend.

I will be using it in my December Daily album too, but in the meantime I made this page:

Credits:

North Pole by Mari Koegelenberg

Font: CK Mama O

ETA (12/23): I got a GSO at MSS for this page. ;)

Christmas Season

2011-12-21T10:04:00.000-05:00

I am really enjoying this Christmas season. Too bad it's coming to an end already - it's such a magical time of the year! This year I've put quite some effort in making sure we did some Christmas activities - baking, going to see Christmas lights and gingerbread houses. In the process, I took many pictures that I really love. I have been using them in my December Daily album, but I also wanted to make a digital page to show them, so I made this:

Credits:

Weekly Review Templates by Jenna Desai

Cheerful by Tickled Pink Studio

Sugar Shock font bundle by Lauren Reid and Darcy Baldwin

Gimme Space font by Lauren Reid and Darcy Baldwin

This kit is so pretty!! I loved using it!

December Daily 2011 - Days 10-13

2011-12-20T08:30:00.000-05:00

Here are a few more December Daily pages!

Credits:

Kitschy Christmas by Jenn Barrette and Sahlin Studio available at The Lilypad and at Sweet Shoppe Designs

December Daily Numbers by Sahlin Studio

Kitschy Christmas Daily December Add-on by Jenn Barrette

I really love this photo!

Credits:

Brown Paper Pack by Sahlin Studio

December Bits by Sabrina Dupre

Very Merry embellishments by Precocious Paper and Sahlin Studio

I kind of realized too late that I used rather similar papers on two consecutive pages... Oh well! :) I took the picture before adding a couple more photos and the journaling for privacy reasons.

Credits:

Downtown Christmas papers by The Tattered Pear

Border from Pear Tree album by Sara Gleason

December Daily Numbers by Sahlin Studio

I love this photo of DH and the colors of this page!

Credits:

Background paper from A Christmas Collab by Micheline Martin and Fruitloop Sally

Writing in the Snow and December Daily Numbers by Sahlin Studio

Very Merry embellishments by Precocious Paper and Sahlin Studio

Christmas lights word strip from Kitschy Christmas Daily December Add-on by Jenn Barrette

I added the snowflakes printed on vellum, but didn't find a good way to attach the vellum to the photo. If you use glue, it will darken the vellum. So I ended up adding some word strips on top to keep it down. Not ideal, but it'll do!

And this is where I'm at at the moment! I have a couple more pages planned out, but need to do some stitching and glueing before I can share them.

December Daily 2011 - Days 1-9

2011-12-19T09:40:00.002-05:00

I know I've been quiet lately.. I've been really busy with work, Christmas concerts and parties, holiday baking, and my December Daily album. I am mostly caught up with it, even though I am missing a couple of bits here and there, but have not had time to take pictures and show it off. Since it's December 19 and I still haven't shown anything, it really is time for me to post something. :) So here are days 1-9. More to come soon (I hope!). There is no cover at the moment - I need to see how thick the album turns out to figure out the binding and the cover. :) I will add credits shortly. I printed everything on matte presentation paper, except for photos, which are on glossy photo paper, and a couple things on vellum.

I have printed a photo of our tree on vellum to go in front of my page 1. (note to self: use draft mode when printing on vellum!!)

Credits:

Twelve Days 'Til Christmas Journal Book by Emily Merritt

December Daily Numbers by Sahlin Studio

December Bits by Sabrina Dupre

Credits:

Brown Paper Pack by Sahlin Studio

Pocket Stuffers by Valorie Wibbens

Half Rounds by Amy Martin

Very Merry embellishments by Precocious Paper and Sahlin Studio

This year I am featuring several full page photos. They make putting the album together so much easier, plus I love to show off some of my favorite photos from the season! I love this 2-page spread!

Credits:

Very Merry and Bright by Jenn Barrette and Shawna Clingerman

Music paper bracket from December Bits by Sabrina Dupre

I had lots of pictures to add to this day. I always struggle with photo placement on hybrid pages, but I am pleased with what I did here. Digi is so much easier for me. (In case you're wondering, I digitally erased a few words on the page on the right for privacy).

Credits:

Left page - No Peeking papers and Pocket Stuffers by Valorie Wibbens; Very Merry embellishments by Precocious Paper and Sahlin Studio; word strip from Kitschy Christmas by Jenn Barrette and Sahlin Studio available at The Lilypad and at Sweet Shoppe Designs

Right page - Writing in the Snow, Painted: Fresh Snow, Icicles Alpha and December Daily Numbers by Sahlin Studio

Saturday DH and I finally tried the new sewing machine I got on Black Friday. It works very well, for paper too! Of course, the one time it didn't work properly was when we used it to attach the number to this page. I had to use a rhinestone to cover up a hole in the page. Oh well... ;) I am still intimidated by the machine, but I do want to learn how to use it with confidence, since I've been wanting to sew on my projects for quite some time now!

Credits:

Santa's Little Helper by Karah Fredricks, Kate Hadfield and Kaye Winiecki

"Our own little elf" word strip and number 5 from Kitschy Christmas Daily December Add-on by Jenn Barrette

As I mentioned earlier, this year my December Daily album focuses on Christmas events, and of course our dearest elf Jingle Ginger had to get his own page spread. I love how it turned out! :)

Credits:

Background paper from A Christmas Collab by Micheline Martin and Fruitloop Sally

Tree from Joyful Christmas by LDrag Designs

Tag from December Bits by Sabrina Dupre

Paper tape, spray mists

The tree element on the left was something I'd cut out for last year DD album but not used. I sprayed green and silver mists on the red paper on the left. Fun! I've had a hard time photographing these pages, since the glossy paper gets my own reflection in the way!

Credits:

Kitschy Christmas by Jenn Barrette and Sahlin Studio available at The Lilypad and at Sweet Shoppe Designs

No peeking word strip from Kitschy Christmas Daily December Add-on by Jenn Barrette

Joy word strip from Kitschy Christmas: Word Blocks by Sahlin Studio

#7: paper tape

Here is how I made gift wrap this year: kraft paper sprayed with red, green and silver. And yarn to go around. :)

Credits:

Twelve Days 'Til Christmas Journal Book by Emily Merritt

Very Merry embellishments by Precocious Paper and Sahlin Studio

Big Ol' Tags 3 by Lauren Reid

You cannot quite see the glitter on the 8 from this photo..

Unfortunately I cannot share page 9 quite yet because it's using a new kit that my designer decided to wait a bit on, but hopefully I can come back to add it soon!

A Well-Behaved Elf, Finally!

2011-12-17T10:22:00.000-05:00

8 Days to Christmas.. Here are the latest Elf pictures!

DH and I have recently bought a treadmill, but Jingle Ginger has no intention of using it! :)

Reading his book with our little moose.

This week our Elf has shown his crafty side! :) He did do a bit of a mess initially to cut out his initials...

But then he cut out some beautiful snowflakes! He must miss the snow from the North Pole..

Isn't he cute? Perhaps I should ask him if he wants to help me with my hybrid creations!

And now he's made a complete card! An elf after my own heart! <3 This past week he has behaved really well, it looks like we'll have a smooth sail until Christmas. Or maybe not? ;)

Digital Stamps

2011-12-17T09:26:00.000-05:00

Digital stamps are something I've started to use only recently, and they're fun! I still feel that designers do a way better job than me picking color combinations, but it is fun to play with them. :) Here's the latest set I've used (20% off throughout the weekend):

I made a card combining a few of these tags (all colored digitally using a simplified version of this tutorial).

Credits:

Colour In Christmas Tags by Kate Hadfield

Brown Paper Pack by Sahlin Studio

10 Days to Christmas!

2011-12-15T10:16:00.000-05:00

Only 10 days to Christmas! I wish I could slow down this magical time of the year... There are so many things I'd like to do before Christmas! I am 95% caught up with my December Daily album (days 1-14 are done, except for journaling on a couple of pages and a couple of bits that I want to cut out with my Silhouette), but I haven't had time to take pictures yet. I hope to get to that this Saturday. I am loving the smaller format of the album this year, but I am sad I haven't had time to experiment with new techniques. Oh well, it's still quite pretty in my eyes. ;) I am leaving lots of space to photos, which makes it easy to put the album together. In the meantime, let me share the past 3 weeks of Project 52 Cards. Only 3 more weeks to go, I am really proud of myself for sticking to this project. :)

You can see the Week 48 card here.

You can see the Week 49 card here.

You can see the Week 50 card here.

Hedgehog Card

2011-12-15T10:15:00.000-05:00

I just realized I never shared this little card I made last month, so here goes! ;)

Credits:

Tag from Everyday Storytelling Collection by Jenn Barrette and Kristin Cronin-Barrow

Wax Werx by CD Muckosky

Hedgehog from Autumn Afternoon by Kate Hadfield

More Elf Pictures

2011-12-11T10:38:00.000-05:00

As the days pass, our elf is showing more and more his mischievous side! :)

Oh my goodness, Jingle Ginger started raiding the gifts under the tree!! He picked this one that happened to be An Elf's Story... :)

He spent the day watching his movie!

Look at what our naughty elf did next!! He wrapped up the Christmas tree with toilet paper! ;)

(note: it is really challenging to wrap up such a big tree on your own! And it took me a whole roll to cover it up - way more than I expected! ;) But it looked really pretty! :) )
Today he wrote his name in our Christmas carols book!!

I'm starting to run out of ideas here! :-) Most of the ideas I have take too much time to do in the morning, so it's getting complicated... It's great to have a couple of quick backup ideas to do on days on which you are rushed - the last one above was precisely that. I'd photocopied the book last week, and just kept it ready.

Very Merry and Bright

2011-12-10T11:15:00.000-05:00

Jenn Barrette has teamed up with Shawna Clingerman to create this gorgeous Christmas kit. I love the color scheme, just LOVE it!

I used it to make this card:

I am also using this kit for a 2-page spread in my December Daily album - I am working on my album but I have a crazy weekend ahead, so I don't expect to be able to share any peeks for a few more days. But I am loving how it's turning out! :)

Noel

2011-12-10T08:36:00.000-05:00

Leora Sanford is re-releasing this Christmas kit today. It's called Noel and I know you need it! You might not know that you need it, but believe me, you do! :)

So why do you need this kit? Well, to me, Leora's designs have some kind of magic. Whenever I open up a kit of hers, even if I have no idea what to do with it, my page just comes together effortlessly and quickly. The same happened with this kit. I looked for some Christmas pictures, and this page just happened. And I love it so much!

Credits:

Noel by Leora Sanford

Font: Typewriterhand

December BYOC!

2011-12-09T09:18:00.001-05:00

It's BYOC time at The Lilypad! I had a wee bit of time to scrap this week, and I loved playing with the new releases! Here's what I grabbed:

These sketches by Kitty are much more than just templates! They come with a paper pack and are already loaded with finishing touches like brushes which make it very easy to put your pages together! I love this concept!

Isn't this penguin just adorable? :) This pack is filled with little goodies that really make your page look great.

Super versatile alpha, and the pockets are already shadowed - fantastic!

I love this set of painted, grungy alphas!

These brushes are so classy and elegant! They really finish your page nicely.

Heather's fonts are just great, and this one is no exception!

I could not resist this kit. I had to grab it last night to make another page! :)

This alpha is festive and so much fun! Works on a great variety of photos too!And here are my pages. I am still working on my mom's spring visit... :)

Credits:

Life Tale Sketches 5 by Kitty Designs

Brrr Elements by Valorie Wibbens

Winter Stickies alpha by Amy Martin

Awesome Sauce 2 alpha by Karah Fredricks

Winter Love Stamps by Designs by Lili

Fonts: The Snow Bunny by Heather Hess and Pea Pumpkin Peters

But I've started scrapping her latest visit as well. ;)

Credits:

Life Tale Sketches 5 by Kitty Designs

Downtown Christmas papers and elements by The Tattered Pear

Wassail alpha by Jacque Larsen

Font: The Snow Bunny by Heather Hess

More Elf Pictures

2011-12-07T08:07:00.000-05:00

I am having so much fun with our Elf this year! I can see making a whole album just with these pictures. He is totally adorable! ;)

He's turning out to be quite the reckless type! :)

He was really sweet this day, reminding us to write our Christmas cards...

Guess who got a sewing machine as an early Christmas present?!?!!?!!!!!!!! :-D And guess who else is loving it? ;) Wow, it looks like he really knows what he's doing! Maybe he can teach me how to use it!

Uh-oh... I spoke too soon... No more sewing for Jingle Ginger!

Well, he eventually finished his scarf, and is testing it out in the fridge! I guess it's too warm here for him, being from the North Pole and all... ;)

December Daily Deals at The Lilypad!

2011-12-05T14:53:00.001-05:00

My mom's visit is over (already), and I'm settling back into my routine. I have a few days to catch up on for my December Daily album, and I'm looking forward to it! Unfortunately I have a busy work week ahead so I'm not sure just how much crafty time I'll manage to squeeze in. Wish me luck!

I also wanted to post about a great sale at The Lilypad. For the month of December, each day a category of the store will be 25% off. Here's the schedule for the whole month!

The December BYOC is coming out this Friday, so look out for some gorgeous new products!

Elf on the Shelf

2011-12-02T10:06:00.001-05:00

This year I started a new tradition. In the past few months, I learned about the Elf on the Shelf concept, and decided it was time for us to start it. To make it short, the elf joins your family and every night he goes back to the North Pole to report back to Santa whether you've been bad or good. You aren't allowed to touch him, and each morning you have to go find where he is. After Christmas, he goes back to the North Pole until the following year. Of course this makes sense for children, but who cares if we don't have any; we are in love with our elf already and it's lots of fun to think of new things for him to do each day. :) I gave the elf to DH as a birthday present. :) We named him Jingle Ginger and he is just plain adorable!

He loves Christmas carols.

Last Saturday we put up the tree, and he seemed to like it!

He likes his name!

For the past couple of days DH had been wanting us to play this fun board game, since we always play when my mom is here and it's a lot of fun. It appears that Jingle Ginger wanted us to play too! And we did play that night, of course. :)

On Dec. 1st he reminded us it was time to start the Advent calendar! :)

This morning, he started showing his naughty side. He opened up the bag of chocolates and feasted on it! ;)

Do you have an elf? If you don't, it's not too late to start! :)

December Is Here!

2011-12-01T09:22:00.000-05:00

This means the December challenges are up at The Lilypad. I played along in the Product Challenge, which consisted of using my favorite things: bright colors, patterned background and lots of alphas. :)

Credits:

Bring on the Cake by Karah Fredricks, Kate Hadfield and Kaye Winiecki

Sushi Anyone? by Jacque Larsen

For the Love of Alphas 2011: the Doodles by Allison Pennington

Stripey Line alpha by Kaye Winiecki

Also a Very Small Alpha by Allison Pennington

Finishing Touches 6 by Karah Fredricks

Font: Pea Pumpkin Peters

I love how this page turned out!! :)

December is here, and this means it's finally time to start my December Daily album! I won't be starting to work on it until next week, after my mom leaves, but I can start planning pictures now. :) Yay!

Surviving Black Friday

2011-11-26T09:55:00.000-05:00

I was busy shopping yesterday (we went out at 6AM for our first Black Friday, and it was a success!!), but I have to show you two kits by Leora Sanford that are back in her store now! They are both really gorgeous. I love it that Leora's kits make it so easy to scrap a page! There's a Christmas kit that I truly love:

I've used this kit last year in my December Daily album and it's a classic - I love that red patterned paper! And then there's this beautiful and versatile kit:

which I've used for this page:

Credits:

The Promise of Tomorrow by Leora Sanford

Fonts: Pea Pumpkin Peters and The King and Queen

This page seriously came together in no time, and I love it!

Anyway, going back to Black Friday... It was our first time heading out early, but we were really lucky and got some great deals (we went for clothes mainly, but I also picked up some photo paper 50% off at Staples, which is great)! I also did some online shopping before heading out: I bought RadLab and a sewing machine. Yay!! I seriously got all I wanted for Christmas! :)

Document Your December

2011-11-25T06:15:00.000-05:00

There is a great new Christmas Collection out today at The Lilypad. It's called Document Your December, and it is basically a BYOC with Christmas products. How cool is that?? I have mixed and matched a bunch of these products to make the base pages for my December Daily album. I am loving how they're coming along so far!

Credits:

Twelve Days 'Til Christmas Journal Book by Emily Merritt

December Daily Numbers and Brown Paper Pack by Sahlin Studio

No Peeking papers and Pocket Stuffers by Valorie Wibbens

Half Rounds by Amy Martin

Journal Everyday and December Bits by Sabrina Dupre

A Christmas Collab by Micheline Martin and Fruitloop Sally

Big Ol' Tags 3 by Lauren Reid

Very Merry embellishments by Precocious Paper and Sahlin Studio

I also used two products by Sahlin Studio to make a quick welcome card for my mom. :)

I bought a cheap watercolor set this past weekend, and I am loving it! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T08:00:00.001-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving! I am so happy to be spending it with my mom and my husband! It's a first! :)
Here is last week's P52 Cards picture.

You can see the Week 47 card here.

Thanksgiving Weekend

2011-11-23T07:38:00.003-05:00

As we're getting ready for the Thanksgiving celebrations, Black Friday and the awesome Document Your December releases coming Friday at The Lilypad, I squeezed in another page for my mom's previous visit's album. :) But first let me give you a sneak peek of what is coming. :) I've been working on my Daily December pages for this year with these new products, so make sure you check back to see them on Friday. :)

Anyway, going back to today's 50% off specials, I used these awesome templates by Amy Martin:

Here's my page:

Credits:

Garland mini v3 by Amy Martin

Sass Mouth and Sass Mouth Alpha by The Tattered Pearl

Splatterific 9 - paint clusters by Karah Fredricks

Petalicious by Kaye Winiecki

Sugar Shock font bundle by Lauren Reid and Darcy Baldwin

Font: Pea Pumpkin Peters

Goodbye ScrapMatters!

2011-11-22T09:26:00.000-05:00

After many years, it is time for me to say goodbye to ScrapMatters. It has been my digi home for three years so allow me to reminisce a bit. :) I have been on the CT there for over two years, and the hybrid CT leader for almost two years. Yes, it has been a very long love affair. I did my very first speed scrap at ScrapMatters. I still remember the summer of 2008, when the site reopened with lots of games and prizes during the Olympic Games, and I was instantly hooked. The community at ScrapMatters has always been friendly and supportive, and I felt at home right away. I got into hybrid because of the It's In the Cards challenges there, in October 2008 - I fell in love with hybrid and the rest is history! I won a guest spot on the CT by finishing in the top posters for Queen of Scrap in 2009; during my guest spot I applied to the hybrid creative team call and got accepted, thanks to Kari's (then hybrid CT leader) and the other hybrid designers' support; a few months later Kari left to be a designer at Jessica Sprague's shop, and I was asked to be the hybrid CT leader. In my role as hybrid CT leader I met my best digi friend, Kim (kimbytx), who was asked around the same time to become digi CT leader. Kim and I have been through a lot together: CT calls, designer assignments, and much more. I have met so many good friends during my time at ScrapMatters, and have been endlessly inspired by incredibly talented scrappers - I am especially in awe of the rockin' hybrid girls! I hope to have inspired people with the monthly hybrid tutorials I wrote for the newsletter first, then for the quarterly magazine. I met many of my all-time favorite designers at ScrapMatters, some of whom have asked me to be on their CT (Jenn and Krista, I wub you!!). I value tremendously the opportunity to work with the newsletter team - such a talented bunch of ladies! It was a pleasure to collaborate with so many wonderful people and I will be forever grateful for being part of the team at ScrapMatters. It is now time for me to move on, but I will carry these special memories in my heart.

My Creative Teams

2011-11-22T09:24:00.002-05:00

Here is a list of the creative teams I'm currently on, and the ones I have been on in the past (both as guest and as permanent member). The names are linked to the posts on my blog, the blinkies are linked to the stores (when applicable). Disclaimer: I get free products from these designers/stores, but I only scrap with stuff that I can use and love.

Current Teams:

The Lilypad - June 2011 - present
guest: June 2011; permanent team July 2011 - present
Mari Koegelenberg - June 2009 - present
digi team
Jenn Barrette - October 2010 - present
hybrid team
Sahlin Studio - February 2011 - present
hybrid team
Leora Sanford - October 2011 - present
digi team
Scrap'It Designs - October 2008 - present
digi team - my very first CT! ;)
Ju Kneipp - April 2011 - present
hybrid freelance

Past Teams:

ScrapMatters - June 2009 - November 2011
hybrid CT: June - December 2009; hybrid CT leader: January 2010 - November 2011
other duties: monthly hybrid tutorial(s) for the newsletter/magazine.
DeCrow Designs - November 2010 - May 2011
digi team. Molly was selling at ScrapOrchard, and retired in May 2011:-(
Polka Dot Plum - December 2008 - September 2010
digi team. Lauren and Amy were selling first at Sunshine Studio Scraps and ScrapOrchard, then they opened their own store, Polka Dot Plum.
Amy Sumrall - June 2009 - April 2010
hybrid/digi team. Amy was selling first at The DigiChick and then at The Lilypad, she retired in April 2010.

Guest Spots:

Juno Designs - August 2008
digi team

Lots of Crafting Projects!

2011-11-21T07:56:00.001-05:00

I have been busy creating this weekend, since it will be a while before I can craft again, with my mom being here. I have started my December Daily album and i am loving how it's coming along! Jenn Barrette and Krista Sahlin have teamed up to make this fabulous Christmas kit that inspired my to start on this year's December Daily project. :)

It is available at The Lilypad and at Sweet Shoppe Designs. Plus there are some fantastic add on packs:

This is what my first pages look like. I recolored a few items to match my color scheme. More peeks to come towards the end of the week! :)

I have not decided what date these pages will be for yet, that will depend on what pictures I have for each day.

Another big project I have committed to for next year is Project Life. I am in the process of buying the binder and the paper kit, and I am excited to start. I will also be printing out digi goodies to fill my album, and the new collection by Jenn Barrette and Kristin Cronin-Barrow is simply perfect for this!

The colors are really versatile, and I am crazy about those journaling pieces! :) I made this card to start with. :)

I also made a card for DH's birthday this week. I had fun making this - it uses a digital stamp and it is my first time using one!

That owl is so cute! I followed a tutorial by Trish on how to digitally color stamps (well... truth be told, I skipped a few steps, but it worked for me ;) and I will be using digital stamps again for sure! :) ).

Credits:

Hoo-ray Digital Stamp by Kaye Winiecki

Background paper from Bring on the Cake by Karah Fredricks, Kate Hadfield and Kaye Winiecki

Candyland alpha, Stand Tall alpha and Serendipity alpha by CD Muckosky

Colored with brush from Finishing Touches 6 by Karah Fredricks

Have a great week! :)

Hybrid Christmas Tree Tutorial

2011-11-20T14:47:00.000-05:00

In this tutorial I will be showing you how to make a paper tree. I love three dimensional hybrid projects, but I'm always pressed for time during the holiday season, so I selected this project because it is especially easy to make but yields an impressive result. This project was inspired by Martha Stewart.

In addition to being fairly quick, this is also a thrifty project; chances are you already have all that's needed in your home right now. You will need digital supplies (I used the kit "Once Upon a Shabby Christmas" by Haynay Designs), matte presentation paper, printer, scissors, bone folder, bamboo skewers, up-cycled foam from shipping packaging, hot glue gun or Glossy Accents, and optional decorations like glitter glue, buttons, sequins, etc.

If you look at the completed project, it might be hard to believe that it's made only of paper circles, but that's exactly all it is! I have used circles of 2", 3", 4", 5" and 6" diameters. If you want to make a smaller tree, skip the 6" circle.

Once you have printed out the circles (I used matte presentation paper for this project), cut them out. Your cuts don't have to be precise, so it will be very quick to cut the circles out. Here are the steps for making your Christmas tree:
1. Start with one paper circle.
2-4. Fold it in half using a bone folder.

5. Open up the circle.
6. Fold it in half again, at 90 degrees with the previous fold.
7. Open up the circle.
8. Make another fold in between one of the previous folds.

9. Make a fourth fold, at 90 degrees with the latest fold.
10. You have made four folds, so your circle now has 8 equal segments.
11-12. Now we're going to fold the circle inside out and make four more folds, in between the first four.

13. Once you have completed the 8 folds, the circle is divided in 16 equal segments.
14. The folds are alternating, one towards the inside and one towards the outside.
15. Cut a small hole at the center of the circle.
16. The size of the hole has to be big enough for the skewer to fit through.
Repeat steps 1-16 for all the paper circles you have.

17-18. Cut a piece of foam shipping material into a cube and poke a hole in it with the skewer.
19. Insert the biggest folded paper circle onto the skewer.
20. Apply glue (hot glue is the easiest; I don't have a hot glue gun so I used Glossy Accents - you will have to hold the paper in place until the glue dries) on the skewer in correspondence of where you want the next smaller paper circle to go.

21. Insert the folded paper circle and hold in place until the glue dries.
22. Repeat for smaller folded circles.
23. Cut the skewer after you have added the last folded circle.
24. Decorate the tree top as you wish. I used Stickles glitter glue.

The tree is ready! You can decorate it further if you wish, using more glitter or fake snow or beads.

These simple paper trees make such a festive decoration! You can use them as place holders for the Christmas table or to decorate the house for the season - the possibilities are endless, and nobody will ever believe they were so easy to make!

December Daily

2011-11-19T12:33:00.002-05:00

Now that I am done with one year of December Daily and have just started this year's album, it's time to summarize a few of the things that worked or didn't work for me. Last year, my December Daily project was very ambitious. I decided I would only use Christmas kits; I bought a 6"x6" D-ring album and decided to make a 2-page spread for each day, plus an insert with the date. So my album ended up being pretty thick. I decided I liked the look of pages with different shapes, and I used my Silhouette a lot to cut borders on pages and to cut out elements and alphas. I did not have any color scheme, and I wanted to use a different alpha for each date. A part from the first couple days of December, all the other pages were done ahead of time, but since I was traveling I couldn't keep up with printing photos. I was hoping to get at least the journaling in, but that doesn't work for me because I need to do the photo editing first to know how much space I will need to leave on the page. After adding a few pages and photos in January up to Day 13 or so, my album sat unfinished until this month, when I powered through, edited all the photos, printed them out and journaled. I am very happy with how my album turned out, but I put a lot of hours in it.

This year, I am way more unorganized. Last year I started working on my album in October. This year, I haven't even decided several major things yet:

Binding: I don't know whether I will go with a D-ring album again, use binding rings, or maybe try to use wire binding with my new Cinch (it all depends on how thick my album turns out...).
Size: I am not set on the size of the pages yet, but I have started making a few of them - all 6"x5" for now. So I will have to decide whether I want to have all pages of the same size or not.

But I am going with the flow. Here are the things I have settled on:

Color scheme: unlike last year, I have a color theme for this year's album. I will use traditional Christmas colors (red and green galore, but mainly red) with pops of aqua blue. I think this will give my album a really cool look.
Inserts: I won't have separate date inserts this year. Too much work to come up with a unique one for each day, plus they make the album thicker. I will have a different alpha date on each page and that's that.
Workflow: I will probably not have my album all done ahead of time - this way I can work based on the photos I have. I'd like to incorporate some full page photo too.

And now, it's time to finally share pictures of my 2010 December Daily album. Be ready for a picture overload. :)

I covered the album with metalized tape. :) Hard to photograph, but it looks so pretty!

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6 - this is one of my favorite pages. :)

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9

Day 10 - I love this page too. Too bad you can't see the stickles on the owl and snowman ball.

Day 11

Day 12 - this is one of my favorites too! :)

Day 13 - I know, I am missing the number 13 on this page... :)

Day 14

Day 15

Day 16

Day 17 - love this one too!

Day 18

Day 19

Day 20

Day 21

Day 22

Day 23

Day 24

Day 25

Day 26 - no number here, but I wanted to include the last couple days of our trip. :)

Day 27 - and you can also see a couple of bits and pieces I had printed out but ended up not using. :)

Forgive the blurriness of a few photos. I didn't have the energy to re-shoot them. :) Here is an almost complete list of credits (I'm sure I am missing a couple things here and there, but nothing major).
Day 1+2
Bundle Up by Kate Hadfield and SMJ Designs
Bingo number by Maya Road
Day 3+4
Crate Paper (Snow Day Collection)
Day 4
Snow Much Fun by Mari Koegelenberg
Line It Up: Templates v. 1 by Krisi's Kreations
Day 5
Christmas Cheer by Jenn Barrette
Line It Up: Templates v. 1 by Krisi's Kreations
Thickers foil sticker by American Crafts; tinsel; InkEssentials white gel pen by Ranger; baker's twine by Martha Stewart
Day 6
A Retro Christmas freebie by Michelle Coleman
Day 7
A Chance of Flurries by Jenn Barrette and Mandabean
Line It Up: Templates v. 1 by Krisi's Kreations
Day 8
A Chance of Flurries by Jenn Barrette and Mandabean
Line It Up: Templates v. 1 by Krisi's Kreations
Day 9
Snow Much Fun by Mari Koegelenberg
Line It Up: Templates v. 1 by Krisi's Kreations
Day 10
Happiest Season of All by Britt-ish Designs
Line It Up: Templates v. 1 by Krisi's Kreations
Thickers foil sticker by American Crafts; baker's twine by Martha Stewart; Stickles by Ranger; red gel pen by Reminisce
Day 11
Very Merry by DeCrow Designs and Britt-ish Designs
Foundations - Round by DeCrow Designs (retired)
Day 12
Hustle and Bustle by Britt-ish Designs
Day 13
Season of Giving by Sahlin Studio and Sugarplum Paperie
Day 14
Foundations - Square by DeCrow Designs (retired)
Holly and Ivy by DeCrow Designs and Studio Rebecca
Day 15
Counting Down to Christmas by Jenn Barrette
Day 16
Christmas Wonder by Kaye Winiecki and Cori Gammon
Bingo card from Vintage Charm by Jenn Barrette (retired)
Day 17
Christmas Wonder by Kaye Winiecki and Cori Gammon
Crate Paper (Snow Day Collection) - right Day
Gift from Counting Down to Christmas by Jenn Barrette
JOY word strip from Snipettes: Season of Giving by Sahlin Studio
Day 18
Christmas Wonder by Kaye Winiecki and Cori Gammon
Crate Paper (Snow Day Collection) - left Day
Word strips from Counting Down to Christmas by Jenn Barrette
Day 19
Noel - A Vintage Christmas kit by Mari Koegelenberg
Day 20
Cozy Christmas by Leora Sanford (retired)
Tree from Holly and Ivy by DeCrow Designs and Studio Rebecca
Gift from Counting Down to Christmas by Jenn Barrette
Crate Paper (Snow Day Collection) - right Day
Day 21
Crate Paper (Snow Day Collection) - left Day
Gift and "wrapping gift" word strip from Counting Down to Christmas by Jenn Barrette
Holiday Mixed Media by Sahlin Studio
Season of Giving by Sahlin Studio and Sugarplum Paperie
Day 22
Element on left Day from Holiday Cheer by WMsquared Designs
Christmas Doodles 2 by Leora Sanford (retired)
Cozy Christmas by Leora Sanford (retired)
Flip Flops alpha stamps by CD Muckosky
Day 23 and 24
12 Days the kit by Mari Koegelenberg
Day 25
12 Days the kit by Mari Koegelenberg
Santa and alpha from Very Merry by DeCrow Designs and Britt-ish Designs
Photo inserts: Falala papers by Rachel Young Designs
Day 26
A Touch of Winter by Erica Zane - left Day
Holly and Ivy by DeCrow Designs and Studio Rebecca - right Day

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas(!)

2011-11-18T07:20:00.000-05:00

We got snow last night, really late this year. :) Between that and all my crafty projects, I am all ready for the Christmas season to start. :) In fact, I put on some Christmas music last night. ;)
All the gorgeous new Christmas releases at The Lilypad are making me want to scrap last year's Christmas pictures, even though they are already in my December Daily album. I used these fantastic products:

Credits:

Christmas Is Here by Kitty Designs

Punched Alpha by Sabrina Dupre Designs

Sugar Shock font bundle by Lauren Reid and Darcy Baldwin

Make sure to stop by tomorrow, because I have started my December Daily album and I have something inspiring to share. :)

Get Your Christmas Craft On!

2011-11-16T06:33:00.001-05:00

I haven't scrapped any pictures from Christmas last year, since they are all in my December Daily album, but I wanted to make some digi pages too with my favorite pictures. And this week's 50% off specials at The Lilypad were just perfect to scrap these photos!

These papers are to die for!! Seriously gorgeous!

And here's my page:

Credits:

Falala papers and Falala elements by Rachel Young Designs

It Is Paint v2 by Amy Martin

Be Merry alpha by Designs by Lili

Gimme Space font by Lauren Reid and Darcy Baldwin

I went to the mall to have breakfast with DH yesterday morning, and Christmas was definitely in the air! Christmas music was playing, and there were lots of reindeer and Christmas trees and Christmas lights everywhere. I joked that I should head over to the mall when I'm working on my December Daily album, to get in the Christmas mood! :-)

Low on Cards!

2011-11-15T10:16:00.000-05:00

I haven't made cards in a few weeks, so on Sunday I had to make a new one to give to DH for my P52 Cards. :)

You can see the Week 46 card here.

And now I'd better get working on a card for this week! But it's tough because I seem to be doing mostly Christmas stuff lately so I need to switch gears. :)

It's DONE!

2011-11-14T09:10:00.002-05:00

My 2010 December Daily album is finally done!! I only went up to day 27, instead of doing the full month as I'd originally intended, but that's OK because it's when our trip back home ended so it made sense to the album there. I am so happy to be done with it, and it looks so pretty! Unfortunately sharing pictures of my December Daily is a daunting task (I have to take at least 60 pictures, edit them, and try to round up the credits - I kept track of the things I used but I ended up mixing and matching some of the elements on different pages...) so I'm not quite sure when I'll tackle that. Perhaps next weekend if I get some decent natural light. Now I can seriously think about what to do for this year. I'd love to do an album again, but one that requires less work. In the meantime, I have a card to share; I finally had time to play with the gorgeous collection that Krista of Sahlin Studio released for DSD weekend. I printed it out yesterday along with the last bits I needed for the December Daily album. :)

Credits:

Autumn Afternoon papers and Autumn Afternoon Paper Flowers by Sahlin Studio

Deck of Cards alpha by Valorie Wibbens
Heart from Paintstroke Chatter elements by CD Muckosky

The patterns of these papers are absolutely gorgeous, and I am so in love with that card alpha! ;)

8 days to my mom's visit, and I have about 15 pages to scrap for the album of her last visit... I'll do the best I can! :)

11-11-11

2011-11-11T09:08:00.007-05:00

Today is 11-11-11, what a fun date!! I wish I could say I am doing something memorable today, but no, I'm working as usual. But there is a fun 11-11-11 challenge going on at The Lilypad to make this day special. Come play along! You have the chance to win an $11 gift card!

I brought my point&shoot camera at work and will try to take a snapshop at 11:11 AM. If that doesn't turn out well, I will stay awake late tonight and take a shot at 11:11 PM. :)

ETA: Here's the page I made for the challenge! :)

Credits:

Grow With Love: Letters Edition {November} by Sara Gleason and Crystal Livesay

Things That Matter Most collab by The Lilypad Designers

Autumn Afternoon papers and Autumn Afternoon Paper Flowers by Sahlin Studio

Stripey Line alpha by Kaye Winiecki

Deck of Cards alpha by Valorie Wibbens

Sunshine Days alpha by Designs by Lili

Markerific alpha and Paintstroke Chatter elements by CD Muckosky

Finishing Touches 2 by Karah Fredricks

Needed More Stitching Bundle by Amy Martin

The Typewriter font by Heather Hess

Paper Trees

2011-11-11T07:56:00.000-05:00

It's time for me to share a Christmas project I did a while back. I know it's still a bit early to think of Christmas, but I like to plan ahead, especially when crafting. I love to create hybrid home decor accents and I love Christmas, so I had lots of fun putting this project together.

Credits:
Once Upon a Shabby Christmas by Haynay Designs

These Christmas paper trees are so simple to make and look so pretty! I am eager to decorate the house for Christmas now! :)

Freshly Picked

2011-11-10T07:48:00.000-05:00

Mari Koegelenberg has a new kit out today, and it's 20% off throughout the weekend!

This kit is just adorable! Check out the additional previews in the store - the animal set that is included is too cute for words! :) I made 2 pages with it so far, I couldn't resist!

Credits:

Freshly Picked by Mari Koegelenberg

Font: Pea Pumpkin Peters

Credits:

Freshly Picked by Mari Koegelenberg

Paint splats in the background: Finishing Touches 6 and Splatterific 9 by Karah Fredricks

Font: Pea Pumpkin Peters

I cannot wait for this week to be over! Two more days to go before the weekend!

End of Year Projects

2011-11-08T09:13:00.001-05:00

As the end of the year approaches, I have 1,000 ideas for projects, but so little time to make them happen! I am devoting most of my time to finishing my December Daily from last year. I'm actually enjoying editing all the photos, thanks to RadLab - I'm still using the free trial but it's expiring soon and I think I will cave in and buy it. It has really made editing more fun and easier for me, so it's worth it. I have not been in a hybrid mood at all lately, but I need to get some cards done because my stash is low and I need a card for this week for my Project 52 Cards! Here are the past couple of weeks' photos.

You can see the Week 44 card here.

You can see the Week 45 card here.

I am still undecided whether to do December Daily this year or not. I do not have the energy for doing a full hybrid album like I did last year, when I put my Silhouette to good use :), but on the plus side I think I'd have more chances of completing it sooner this year, since we won't be traveling.

I have also decided to do Project Life. It's a P365 concept, but with a physical album - I love the idea of having a place to store all the little bits and pieces. I'm a bit worried about keeping up with the photo printing, but I am really hoping to make it work for me. I might start it in December, if I skip the Dec. Daily this year, or wait till January when things calm down.

On the digital side, I am still trying to get my mom's last visit's album finished, but still have a ways to go. I have about 45 pages done and I think I need at least 10 more. I really want to finish it before she arrives, but that leaves me only 2 weeks, and adding that to the December Daily makes it unrealistic for me to get it done. But I'll try my best!

DSD Recap

2011-11-07T09:08:00.000-05:00

So, have you survived DSD? I spent quite some time over at The Lilypad, chatting and playing the fun games. The sale (30% off) is going on through Tuesday so there's still time to shop if you haven't already. :)

I have not scrapped much because I am working on editing photos for my December Daily album (last year's), but I did do one page with some of the new releases from this weekend.

Credits:

Pumpkin Butter Papers, Pumpkin Butter Spots and Pumpkin Butter Alpha by Lauren Reid

Pumpkins and word strip from A Hopping Halloween collab by The Lilypad designers

iDSD template by Micheline Martin

Fonts: Gimme Space font by Lauren Reid and Darcy Baldwin and Flowerchild

Special Saturday Releases!

2011-11-05T08:50:00.002-04:00

To make the DSD celebration extra special, after the gorgeous November BYOC releases yesterday the Lilypad designers have prepared some fantastic new releases for today as well! There is no way I could possibly scrap with all of today's new releases, but I tried to use as many as I could, because they are all irresistible! First off, I scrapped with this super sweet kit by Kaye Winiecki:

Chocolate is a must in our family :) and I happened to have some very recent pictures of chocolate covered strawberries that begged to be scrapped. ;)

Credits:

Chocoholic by Kaye Winiecki

The Future Freaks Me Out font by Heather Hess

Then I used a gorgeous travel kit by one of the many talented guest designers, Fruitloop Sally, which was perfect to scrap our car ride when my mom came to visit:

Credits:

Roadtrip by Fruitloop Sally

Font: Pea Pumpkin Peters

And more from guest designers Sabrina Dupre, Kitty Designs and Fruitloop Sally!

I love these bright colors!

Credits:

Everyday Memories by Sabrina Dupre Designs

There's no Place like Home {Alpha} by FruitLoOp Sally

Heart Sprinkles Dust and Life Tale Sketches 4 by Kitty Designs

Also a Very Small Alpha by Allison Pennington

Font: Pea Pumpkin Peters

Happy DSD!

2011-11-04T09:30:00.005-04:00

It's Digital Scrapbooking Day! It's one of my favorite times of the year, with great sales and fabulous new releases! The celebration at The Lilypad this weekend will be lots of fun. To kick off the party, the November BYOC is in the store, and there is a free with $15 purchase kit - it's a huge and beautiful collaboration called Things That Matter Most:

I used it to make a page for one of the special DSD challenges that give you a chance to win a gift card:

Credits:

Things That Matter Most collab by The Lilypad Designers - free with $15 purchase over DSD!!

The Future Freaks Me Out font by Heather Hess

This picture was by no means a great picture, but I love how it turned out after the photo processing. :)! Here are some of the BYOC goodies I played with:

This pack is huge and truly fantastic. It is more than a template pack - the templates come with some very cool elements too (like paint splatters and frames), plus there is a paper pack and an alpha. A really cool concept!

I combined all of these fabulous goodies on this page:

Credits:

Life Tale Sketches 4 by Kitty Designs

Owl'll Always Love You by Emily Merritt

Hometown elements by Lauren Reid

Taped Up Swatches vol. 1 and Recycled Paper Flowers: Graffiti by Sahlin Studio

Font: Pea Pumpkin Peters

And here are more BYOC products that I have used and love:

I love how the cutout frames made it easy to do this multi-photo page! And I am totally in love with that deep green color!

Credits:

Fall Cutouts and It Is Paint by Amy Martin

Owl'll Always Love You paper (used on the frame) by Emily Merritt

Hometown papers and Hometown elements by Lauren Reid

For the Boys Paper Pack by Amy Wolff (background)

Recycled Paper Flowers: Graffiti by Sahlin Studio

Cottage Sunrise alpha by CD Muckosky

The Dot Connector font by Heather Hess

Font: Pea Pumpkin Peters

Last night I went on a scrapping marathon and did another page with more BYOC goodies:

I hadn't realized I never scrapped DH's cake pictures from last year, I'm so glad I dug them up! :)

Credits:

Milkweed by Sara Gleason

Cozy papers, Cozy Leaves and Deck of Cards alpha by Valorie Wibbens

Hand-Drawn Alpha Circles by Designs by Lili

Awesome Sauce Alpha by Karah Fredricks

Retro Harvest {Element Collection} by FruitLoOp Sally

Love Is {Keely} Dates Pack by Karah Fredricks

Gimme Space font by Lauren Reid and Darcy Baldwin

Happy DSD, and make sure to stop by tomorrow for more exciting releases! ;)

New Kit by Leora Sanford for DSD!

2011-11-04T03:06:00.001-04:00

I am so excited to share my first page for Leora Sanford's CT! She has this gorgeous new kit out today for DSD and her store is on sale 30% off!

I spent the weekend and beginning of the week in Washington, DC for a conference, but the first thing I did when I came back home was scrap with this gorgeous kit. The colors are sooo perfect for pictures of autumn!

Credits:

Bittwersweet by Leora Sanford

Font: Jellyka St. Andrew's Queen

Have a great DSD celebration!

It's Coming...

2011-11-03T10:34:00.000-04:00

Get ready for a weekend of fun at The Lilypad!!

New Team!

2011-10-30T16:50:00.001-04:00

Leora Sanford opened up her store at Oscraps a few weeks and recently had a CT call. I applied, and... I was picked! I'm so excited to be on this team! Leora has a new kit coming next week for DSD, and she's having a giveaway on her blog! Click on the sneak peek to go to her blog and enter to win. :)

This kit is sooo gorgeous! The colors are just beautiful!

Leaves Are Falling

2011-10-28T07:44:00.000-04:00

I don't have much to share today, just one page, but I've been busy this week! I am leaving Sunday on a business trip so I've been trying to get as much scrapping as I can before that - BYOC is next week, and then there's NSD weekend, so there's so much to scrap with! Here's the kit I used out of today's beautiful new releases at The Lilypad (20% off throughout the weekend):

The colors and the doodled elements in this kit are just gorgeous, and I love how this page turned out!

Credits:

Leaves are Falling by Emily Merritt and Kate Hadfield

Topography Set No. 14 by Valorie Wibbens

Font: Typewriterhand

I am happy to say that the leaves in our front yard have mostly been blown away by the wind, and this saves us from a lot of work. Unfortunately our backyard is fenced in so we do have to pick up the leaves there, but they haven't all fallen yet. I will try to take pictures before and after our yard work so I can use the pretty rake and leaves bag elements in this kit!