Making Memories Of Us

This was a layout I created way back in January 2010 with the leftovers of my kit projects from Christine Middlecamp. She rocks and after completing her kits, I was feeling very inspired to continue using the techniques she had taught me. I didn't post it because I was going to submit it, but too much time has passed and I don't feel like it anymore.

Birthday countdown

As I mentioned earlier, I am in the middle of planning my daughter's 5th birthday party. I saw an idea for this Birthday countdown board here on my friend's website. Loved it and knew I had to incorporate it into our household. I wish I could say I had it done 30 days prior to her birthday, but it was more like 13. She loves it and is having a blast moving her cupcake each morning.


If you look at my inspiration piece, you'll see I changed up the foundation a bit.

- I covered the whole inside of a baking sheet with patterned paper (Cosmo Cricket - Girl Friday).

- Everything is inked with Colorbox Chestnut Roan ink! Do this before gluing anything!

- But I used Susie's advice and did it with adhesive spray rather than my scrapbooking glue. Because the sheet is longer than 12" I had to overlap the pieces. Note: lay all of the base papers out prior to gluing to make sure it will fit the way you like. Once you put the spray adhesive on the back, you pretty much have one shot to get it on.

- After the base pieces were on (the blue lines and rainbow striped), I began gluing all the other pieces with normal scrapbook glue (I use Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive).

- I cut 1.5" square pieces with my trimmer out of all the various papers. Then I glued them down right next to each other in a grid.

- Glued crystals at the corners.

- Then I opened up Word, created a table with 5 columns and 6 rows at 1.5" wide and high. In the table I typed numbers 1 thru 30 (one number per square). Make sure they're centered and a good size font. Then I printed them out on Kraft cardstock. Cut the table into strips with my trimmer. Then used this Martha Stewart punch to cut out each number.

- I used one of my Soufle pens to get the inner circle drawn around the numbers. I punched a 1" circle out of scrap paper. Then I layed the circle negative over the number and just traced around it with my pen.

- Glued the numbered circles to the center of each square.

- Then I used this punch to make the scalloped border pieces to glue over my seams of my overlapping base papers.

- I used American Crafts thickers for "BIRTHDAY". If you look closely at the "t" you'll see that I had to manufacture him. I was out of t's and so I think I took an "E" and cut off the sides and repositioned them to form a "t".

- I used Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type letters for "countdown for". I did mat these letters with some cream colored cardstock.

- Then I used my Silhouette to "print and cut" cut clouds (5_clouds_Coo679_20509) with our names on them out of white cardstock and their shadows out of more Girl Friday paper. I also used the Silhouette for the cupcake piece (3_cupcakes_C00366_20509).

- For the clouds and cupcake, rather than glue them down, I glued magnets to the backs. The kind I used are old school Basic Grey magnets. They're super thin and worked great. No clue if they are still made or not though.

Now the cupcake moves as each day passes and when it's time for someone else's birthday, we simply move that cloud up to the top. My original intent was not to have the other clouds at thebottom but it's not bothering me too much right now. If worse comes to worse, I will place them in a baggie and then stick them to the back of the cookie sheet.

Sorry I didn't take pictures of the process, but this project is super easy. I love how it adds some color to my kitchen too.

Be Cute

So yesterday I finally broke into my Studio Calico kit to create a layout. I like the kit but am not sure how I feel about the value. I will for sure order one more kit from them in the near future to make my final determination. I guess I expected more embellishments. Though I am not sure why when I carefully read the contents of the kit prior to ordering. But I love how everything does coordinate really well!

So here is my layout:

The cardstock, chipboard frame, and patterned paper came from the kit. I inked everything with Walnut Stain by Ranger. From my stash: Bingo card (Jenni Bowlin), White Chipboard letters (old school Heidi Swapp), lined diecut card (Jenni Bowlin), green flower sticker (Heidi Grace), die cut with flower (S.E.I.), "cherish" sticker (old school Making Memories). I wanted to Glimmer Mist the green cardstock but the nozzle was clogged and was only dripping out ink. So I went with it and sort of threw it on there. Then I sprayed over it with some gold Maya Mist. The chipboard frame comes bare so I just grabbed some of my Ranger Distress Inks and patted them down on top of it. I used Aged Mohangany, Shabby Shutters, and Fired Brick. Then I sprayed that with the gold Maya Mist too. All and all, it came together very quickly and I am pleased to say that I have finally created a layout!

Ummmm ... yeah!

Holy cow! Once again, it's been a long time since I have posted here. I just noticed that my last post was #200. That seems like a lot of posts but then you realize I have been doing this since 2008 and then it doesn't seem that impressive.

Anyways I feel like I have been busy but I am not sure I have a whole lot to show for it. I did snap pictures of some projects I have completed recently and will share them over the coming days.

We were on vacation from 8/28 thru 9/11 so that explains some of my absence. We went to Utah (Zion and Moab) as well as Colorado (Breckenridge and Colorado). It was a great trip except for the ER visit with Hannah and then the subsequent stomach flu that worked it's way through the whole family taking away a grand total of 6 (yes that says six) days of quality family time. One of us was always staying with the healthy child or taking both children so the sick adult could rest. Unfortunately this always happens with us when we take a vacation. Usually it's only me, but the last two times we have done a big vacation (coincidentally both were to CO), the whole family gets sick. I tell ya, it's enough to make me swear off ever leaving our house again.
Then we returned and Hannah started school. That's an adjustment. She's still in preschool but goes every day now. Of course she's doing well and loving every minute of it.

She also started soccer. It was a bit of a fiasco getting her situated with a team. Too long of a story to even bother posting here but now she's on a great team and is very welcomed. She scored her first goal ever and of the game last weekend. And can you believe that I didn't see it?!!! No, I was tending to the other child who simply had to have a drink of water at that moment. Oh well. I am sure there will be more to come. It's a total blast being on the sidelines cheering for her. The whole game consists of twenty minutes of play. The way it's set up the girls are playing the whole time with a 5 minute break in the middle. Towards the middle of the 2nd half, you could see Hannah was gassed. It was as if she was thinking, "Yeah, if the ball comes near me then maybe I'll try to kick it, but I am not running from either side of the field anymore." Clearly we need to condition her some more. :)

Her birthday is coming up in less than 2 weeks so that means I am knee deep in planning. We're doing a Candy Land themed party. This weekend NEEDS to be go time otherwise we are screwed! You know I will post pictures of how the party turns out here. I am nervous because this is the first year we're not doing a bouncer. We're going to try games instead. That means I need to be on top of everything and attempt to keep all their attention. There could be 25 kids. Yikes!

So I thought I would end this post with a project Hannah did since most of this stuff is about her. On Tuesday she was in my scraproom and asked to play with one of my embellishment containers that holds my brads and eyelets and stuff. Fine, sure. Then she says she wants to use them. I tell her she has to have a specific project in mind. She decides she wants to do a layout. I tell her to find a picture she wants to use. And she picks a cute one of herself. Somehow I managed to find time to sit and help her do a layout. She picked everything out (paper, embellishments, etc - I even let her use the one and only favorite crystal brad of mine that I had been saving for a very special occasion; you know the kind that never seem to come around?). She trimmed the paper down. She placed everything. The only thing I told her was that nothing could hang over the edge of the page and the paper had to go down first and then the photo and then the embellishements. I did all the gluing, but I swear I put it exactly where she laid it out. Throughout the process I kept saying I thought she had too many pieces of paper but she wouldn't remove any of them. I made her tell me about the layout so I could journal for her. She wrote her name on the "CUTE" die cut piece. So here's the finished product and I have to say, it's pretty darn good. So excited to have another scrapbooker in the family.

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.