You're the Best!

Today I am sharing another card I made with the Simon Says Stamp October Card kit. Being a big coffee lover....I just adored the coffee/tea themed set. It came with the cutest little metal die of a cup with the sweetest little heart cut out.
Vickie of Clips N Cuts was my inspiration for this card...she made her cups look like they had a tea bag in one of them but I decided I wanted to cut out the "steam" coming out of the cups instead. But I did use her idea of making the cups into little shakers filled with sequins.
So cute!

The paper is Basic Grey....I loved those little foxes.  I heat embossed the sentiment with some white embossing powder and used a sentiment from the stamp set that came with the kit: "What's Brewing".  I stamped the "steam with" some dark brown ink and the put some clear embossing powder over it to give it a little more gloss.
Here is a bit of a closeup:

 

Aren't those cups adorable?

I am off to a friend's house today for a crafty play-date.  I am thinking I will just take my laptop and work on digital crafting, though.  Less to pack, you know?  Then again it might be fun to cut, paste and get a bit inky.  Decisions...decisions!!!

But first....another cup of coffee!!!

Happy Crafting and Keep Creating!

 

Project Life, 2014: Week 17

Week 17 was a big week in our family as my son married his bride. The entire week was spent preparing for and then hosting the rehearsal dinner so I decided to use some of the dozens and dozens of photos taken during the event and use those for my week.  I mean...we seriously did little else this week!

It was most difficult to go through the photos to narrow down those to be used.  I probably could have done a couple of layouts on the rehearsal and then the dinner but forced myself to limit my photos and choose some that represented the occasion. And I tried to include photos of all the "key players". For the most part, anyway.  I can still do a photo book of the entire evening and use more photos of the day but for my Project Life album I decided to limit it to two pages.  And. It. Was. Difficult!

I also used the Donna Gibson method and this week it worked much better for me.  After I had spent some time editing my photos and deciding which to use I went ahead and placed them on my templates.  I moved a few things around...did a few collages and then went back in and added my papers and elements. I think it really did streamline the process for me....that is to add in my photos and then slide my papers behind.   I would say it only took me about 2 hours to plop the photos in...and then another 2 hours to add the other stuff so that is a step in the right direction!  LOL!!!

But, I will say that mostly I love, love, love doing it and I love the way my book is looking!

Here is the 2 page spread:

I used Traci Reed's April kit once again....the colors worked well for this springtime layout, I thought.
Here is the left side:

And here is the right:

It was such a fun evening...I think everyone had a wonderful time and the next day was even better!

And now my progress report.  I have done about 25 weeks worth of layouts.  I didn't start working on my weekly layouts until late August so I am proud how much I've gotten done.  I may finish this by the end of the year.  Or. Not.

Next year I will NOT dilly dally!  I will keep up with it better.  Yeah. Right.  LOL!

Happy Crafting and keep creating!

Project Life, 2014: Week 43

I have been looking at ways to become more time efficient (READ: DO IT FASTER) approach to Project Life. I doubt many people other than Donna Gibson and myself spend 12 hours doing a layout! Donna says it takes almost that much time to just pick her photos out! Ok, I made that up but I bet I'm not far off!

Donna is an über talented digital scrapbooker...and so GOOD at her Project Life layouts.  She was on the 2013 Becky Higgins Project Life creative team and rocked her pages week after week.  You can check all of her stuff out HERE. She has a great writing style, too...so much fun to read her blog so if you haven't headed over there before I say you need to give it a whirl!

So...she has been tutoring me in ways to do PL to speed things up.  I misunderstood, of course...and went from spending about 6 hours doing a two page layout to basically doubling that.  But that was my fault... 1. I didn't fully get what she was saying...and then the lightbulb came on.  and 2. I insisted on cramming 26 photos into this week's layout which is nearly impossible.  But I did it! LOL!

Here is the two pager:

 I used Traci Reed's October kit and I love the colors of it...perfect for Fall!

Here is a closer look at the left side:

 

I got some cute photos of little Wade this week...was so happy about that.  Such a sweet little boy.  I love that kid!

And I used the same old template selections for my photos I have in previous weeks.  And some I tweaked the way I wanted.

Here is the right side:

 

There are 17 photos there...count 'em! 

I'm worn out doing this faster approach!  LOL! I know it will be easier the next time, though, as Donna gave me some great tips.

Happy Crafting! I'm taking a break!

Project Life, 2014 Week 44

What a fun week last week was with all the Halloween festivities for the little ones! We love Halloween in our family...the children have such a good time playing dress up.

I went ahead and did my Project Life layouts for last week.  LOL...I've done weeks 1-16...a few in the 20-30 area and now week 44.  It's getting done...just not in consecutive order which drives the OCD in me just a bit crazy.  But I'm still living and haven't chewed my fingernails off so I guess I'll manage!

Here is the spread.  besides the usual assortment of templates from Becky Higgins, Tracy Larsen, Lori Whitlock and the Lily Pad I used the That Old Black Magic digital kit by Design by Dani.  It was perfect!

Here is a closer look at the left side and my little Halloween munchkins!

And here is the right side:

I used Becky Higgins Template F for the layout above but tweaked it to fit my needs a bit and made two 4x6 cards. 

And that is another benefit of doing it digitally...you can adjust just about anything...resize...move...and this digital kit cost me a whopping $1.00!  And I can use it again and again! :)

And that is it for week 44!

Happy Crafting!

Happy Halloween!

You may have seen this floating around Facebook or Pinterest...

It is so me...and maybe some of you can identify!  I have all these plans of things I want to do and make....and then the next thing I know we are at the day of the event and I've done NADA!  Nothing!!!  LOL!!!  I didn't even buy a pumpkin!  Of course, I don't have children here and I will be gone this evening to celebrate with my grandchildren and eat their candy when they've gone to bed.

I have pretty much given all of my decorations to my kids so I don't even set anything out anymore.  Sad.  Not really.

Anyway, I did make a couple of treat boxes for the little tots that I filled with just a few little things.  Their mother doesn't like them to have a lot of candy.  So sad...  LOL!

Here are the little boxes...all done with the Silhouette Cameo and designs by Cali Arroyo.  Cute.

 Fast and easy....and cute!

That's it for today...hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween!

Happy Crafting!

What's Brewing?

I've been a bit behind on my card making because I have spent soooo much time working on Project Life but that's ok.  Crafting is crafting...whether it's done digitally or with paper and scissors.  Anyway, it was fun to get into my craft room and actually drag out that paper trimmer.

I made a couple of cards with the Simon Says Stamp Card Kit for October.  I know I have gone on and on about these kits but I just love them.  The price is great and they are generally packed with goodies.  And I love the challenge of being presented with a box of stuff and using my own ideas to come up with something.  These kits are different from most card kits in that they are simply a box of coordinating supplies...you will get an idea sheet...but it's not a kit that tells you to take paper A and glue it to paper B and stick embellishment C on it.  I like that...although sometimes I do like the take paper A and glue it to paper B approach.

Anyway...here is the fun kit for October which can be purchased HERE:

The stamp set is coffee or tea themed...to cute!

Here is the card I made for using a card by Shari Carroll as inspiration.  Her design...my choice of papers...
:)
The kit came with a little metal die for the cup.  I love it!  I hope Simon Says Stamp continues to include their dies in the kits!  Do you hear me, Simon Says Stamp???  ;)

I am sending this to an elderly aunt who is having a birthday soon.  She loves her coffee so I thought she'd enjoy the card and a note from me.

And that's it for today...

Happy Crafting and Keep Creating!

Project Life, 2014: Week 17 Wedding

Week 17 was a huge week for us as it included April 26 which was the day my son got married to his wonderful and beautiful fiance', D'Ann.
I decided to do an extra two page layout with some of the fabulous photos of the wedding.  This is just a snippet of the day...I plan to do a regular wedding album at some point, too.

But this two page layout will go in my Project Life book for 2014.

Here is the layout:

For the Project Life Pros out there this probably looks like a different template.  Well, it is.  It came with the Just Jaimee Storyteller kit for April.  And yes, the cards and elements are from that kit, as well.  The templates actually came with a white background but I wanted them to be consistent with the gray that is on the Becky Higgins templates so I just changed it out.  Yay for digital.

Here is a closer look at the left side:

And here is a look at the right:

Besides putting the date in and what the event was I left off other journaling.  I journaled so much last week it wore me out.  Just kidding...but I just didn't want a lot of writing to distract or detract from the photos.  

So that is that.  

I'm happy with the way it turned out...

And a happy crafting day to you all!