Can't Wait!!!!!

I just ordered my first ever Studio Callico kit!!!!! It's called Back 40 and these things fly off the "shelf". Several of the blogs I follow happen to be members of the Studio Callico design team. I have Kelly Purkey to thank this time because I was checking her blog out here at 1AM and she had an auto post set up to reveal her layouts for the kit that just went on sale at midnight. I consider myself very fortunate to have gotten a layout. I'll consider it an early birthday present to myself. :) Once I find time to play with it you know I'll post pictures. And speaking of pictures, they won't be crappy ones. Because ... I got a new Digital SLR. We got the Canon T2i. Hallelujia!!!!!!!!

A long time in the making

I saw this iook page wreath idea here about 6 months ago at least and KNEW I wanted one in my house. Had to have one in my house! Last weekend while my husband was out of town, the time came. Me, an old book, and my glue gun had party in front of the TV. This is the result!

The picture quality is not so great but you get the idea (check out the link for the inspiration piece). The only things I did differently from the tutorial were:

(1) inked the edges of the book with Distress Ink by Ranger rather than painting them
(2) Secured a longer ribbon to the back so you can see it when it's hanging

This project was SOOOOO easy. And so cheap. My styrofoam ring was about $2 with a coupon from Michaels. The book was free as it was handed down to me. I already had the ink, the ribbon, and the glue sticks (I went through a lot of those).

And oh my gosh ... I just saw this one online as well. Also inspired by the same tutorial. Here is this gal's blog. I have to make one of these too!

Let's add another ...

OK first, if you did not check out my last post, scroll down, watch the video and give yourself a little chuckle. You deserve it! :)

I made yet another layout with the Noel Mignon Sun-Kissed kit. Looking forward to my budget allowing me to purchase another one. They are so totally worth it!

And without further ado, here it is:



These two cute little girls of mine were busy dressing up when I returned home from visiting my newest niece. There's no shortage of excitement, energy, or fashion here. I love that these pictures show how Makaela follows whatever big sis Hannah does. Love them!!!!

This made me laugh

Still having fun with this kit!

I completed with that Noel Mignon kit I mentioned in my last post.

I love these pictures. They were emailed to me while I was away for the day. Hannah was really into dressing up in my clothes and apparently got her sister and daddy to do the same thing. You'll notice I still need to go write in the date. The title might be a little difficult to see but it says "Recipe for a fun day with dad".





Because I didn't have plethora of cardstock and knew I wanted these pictures to go on a 2-page layout, I got a little creative with my paper from the kit. I took a piece of pink cardstock that I had already cut into for previous layouts and got a 12x8 1/2" piece. Then I cut that in half creating two 12x4 1/4" pieces. Then I took different patterned pieces and cut 12x8" rectangles out of them. Then I simply glued the patterned piece onto one of the 12x4 1/4" pieces of cardstock (that extra 1/4" is for your glue line. I marked 1/4" lines on the backside of the patterned paper so I would glue it up perfectly to create one 12x12 piece. I hope that makes sense as I don't have any pictures.

I wanted to include detail shots of the title and the rolled circles on the right page but this point and shoot camera just won't focus properly so I won't bother for now. Perhaps later I will make a little tutorial on how I did them. They're super easy!

I finally figured it out!

How to survive the trips to visit in the inlaws in Tehachapi, CA that is AND (most importantly) how to scrapbook in the car!!!!! It's a 2.5 hour drive for us at the minimum and once there, it's quiet and sloooowwww. Too slow for my apparent never-take-a-second-to relax self at least.

So this past Friday we piled in the car and began our trek up to visit the hubby's parents and some family that was in town from the East Coast. As I mentioned in my last post, I just had a ton of pictures printed and have been aching for time to dig into a scrapbook kit I got last month (from Noel Mignon). I have literally been trying to carve out time to work with it but have found excuse after excuse not to. So I decided this weekend was going to be THE ONE.

I packed a small bag (see below for a more detailed list of items I took with me) with my pictures, the scrapbook kit, and a few tools. I climbed into the front seat and we weren't on the road more than 5 minutes before I began to pull the stuff out. It was so awesome! I created one layout on the way there and one on the way home. And I made two up there while laying in bed before we hit the sack! That totals FOUR layouts people! That's more layouts than I have created in several months. The only other time I have been as productive was at last April's scrapbook weekend.

One of the nice surprises that I hadn't really thought about was that I was still able to participate in coversation with the husband and the girls. So often when I scrap at home and they're awake, I feel guilt over the fact that maybe I should be spending time with them. This way, I was still with them and taking advantage of the opportunity to get something done.

Some of you may be reading this and saying, "Oh heck no! I get carsick!" I too am one that can't read in the car without a wave of nausea overwhelming me. And I would be lying if I didn't say there were a couple of times where I had to pause and look straight ahead and take some deep breaths. But I think it was all very manageable. Namely because when scrapping, you have plenty of opportunities to lift your head up and take in the surroundings. It's much different than reading. I do suppose that someone who suffers from really bad motion sicknes might not be able to car scrap. But don't let that stop you from packing a bag so you can scrap when you reach your destination.

Here are my layouts (and please excuse the PATHETIC photos - my DSLR broke and I am in the process of determining which new one I want to get; in the meantime I am stuck with a point and shoot and let's just say BLECK - yes, I am an SLR snob - sorry):

Layout #1 made on the ride up.

Layout #2 made in bed.

Layout #3 made in bed.

Layout #4 made on the ride home.

List of things I packed:

1. pictures

2. scrapbook kit by Noel Mignon

3. paper trimmer

4. box of inks (I have some plastic box with dividers that perfectly stores many Colorbox Cat's Eye inks)

5. lap desk (essential for car scrapping) - got mine from Barnes & Noble

6. scizzors

7. black and brown pen

8. corner rounder

9. ruler never used this

10. glue (Scotch Tack Dry Adhesive)

11. one stamp (a journaling block stamp) never used this

12. acrylic block for stamp never used this

13. one color of stamping ink never used this

14. one pair of decorative scizzors never used this

Things I learned I should have also packed:

pop dots - because when you're working with only a kit, they'll help to give some added dimension when needed

tape runner - I survived the liquid adhesive but let's just say that in a moving car, it could have gotten bad; a tape runner will allow for more precise gluing

glue dots - this is a much better and quicker way to adhere something rather than the liquid adhesive

pencil - this can help make marks on where you want to glue something down or to draft your journaling (since you should not attempt to permanently journal while in a moving car)

extra cardstock - most kits only provide a few pieces of cardstock; for those that like to use CS as a background to their page, you'll need more; and if you're a two-page layout scrapper, then you'll need two pieces of each color

Over the past year I have learned a lot about myself as a scrapbooker. The #1 thing I have learned is when I have too many options, I don't get anything done. So this method of travel scrapping worked SO SO SO well for me. All I had were the contents of the kit. No fears of that perfect product being missed because I can't see it. A dream come true for me.

I can't wait to employ this new method on our upcoming vacation to Utah and Colorado. It's great to have that creative outlet, get some layouts accomplished, and still get to be part of everything going on.

By the way, this kit I got still has SO many pieces left to it. I think I could easily create another 6- 10 layouts with it. Highly recommend following Noel Mignon's blog and some of her designers. They do amazing things and the kits are very much worth every penny.

Gasp!

I just edited and uploaded 308 photos to Costco. I am having them all printed. No excuses for no scrapbooking projects now. I can't wait to create something!