Fun...

I've decided to take a break from Project Life and do some traditional scrapbooking that will go in my grandangel's albums.
The temperatures in the Atlanta area have been pretty low this winter but we had a day recently where it was warm enough to be outside. My daughter let the kids play outside and even picnic on the deck.
I did a two page layout but will post the second page to this tomorrow...gotta stretch out my posts a bit! :)
I used Bo Bunny Back to Basics papers and embellishments.

Such happy and fun papers.  Love them!
OK, so I was working away and accidentally laid down a photo with adhesive on it onto another photo.  When I tired to pry it up it TORE my picture!  What to do???

Of course I could have paid another $.19 but being the very frugal person I am...well, I decided to just go with it....I also was in an immediate gratification mood and wanted to be finished with this layout!  So I just placed a few cute little embellishments over the HOLE....Voila!  Instant Fix!

I can live with that!
I loved the embellishments that came with these papers....there were chipboard layered pieces and paper flower with dimension.....all was too cute in my opinion!
And this line of papers also had some perfectly sized journaling boxes.  Wonderful!

I have the companion side I'll share tomorrow...and thankfully it came through with out any "creative" embellishing!

Happy Crafting!

Project Life: Week 8 Insert Page

I had so many photos I wanted to include in my Project Life last week that I did another insert page.  I ordered the Becky Higgins Design G Photo Pocket Pages which are a unique 10x12 inches.
I only did one journaling block....the rest are pictures!  Here is the front side:

I used the same We R Memory Keepers papers as I did for the regular pages so there would be some continuity.  I also used a fabulous Simon Says Stamp exclusive die for the "you" and a stamp sentiment that went with it.  Those children are always the best part of my day...well, the two of them and my morning coffee!

And here is the reverse side:

I love the insert pages....it just adds a little bit of fun and surprise to the album.

Happy Crafting!

I Have You in My Heart

Sadly I had need of another sympathy card so made this one today with some We R Memory Keeper papers, a Memory Box tulip die cut, a spellbinder die and a little wood veneer bird by Recollections.  The sentiment is from a Hero Arts clear stamp set.

I hope it brings the recipient some comfort knowing I'm thinking of her.

On a brighter note I was in Michael's yesterday and they now have, packaged under their brand Recollections, little wooden veneer pieces that are exactly like Studio Calico but a little less expensive.

And always...Happy Crafting!

Project Life: Week 8

Woohoo...Week 8 done!
My grandkids were here visiting last week and, as a result, I took a ton of pictures...so the most difficult or time consuming part for me was figuring out which pictures to use.  I am bound by no rules, I tell myself....I do not have to do a 2 page spread for each week....I can do more if it so behooves me (how many chances do you get to say "behoove"?!).  But it did take me a while to go through my photos and then get them printed in the sizes I want.  More about that later...
Anyway, here we go with pages for (drum roll, please....) WEEK 8 starting with the left side:

I used Thickers and a Memory Box die for my "Week" card.  The papers are from My Mind's Eye On the Boardwalk and Anthologie.  Simple and fast and I loved the beachy colors!

Here is the right side:

Same papers....I did use a little Studio Calico wood word bubble which is just oh so cute and how I felt about that great German restaurant we went to!  JAWOHL!

I also used a little stamp set from KI Memories for the little glasses.  I just made a shadow with the reverse side of the stamp and then stamped the words and cut it out.  I added a bit of Glossy Accents to the lenses.  To make them look real.  Yeah, right! LOL!

Isn't my little puppy cute?  She was all happy because we had just pulled into the park....all kinds of great smells at the park! LOL!

Since I am using Design A from Becky Higgins for my main layouts I have 4 4x6 and 4 3/4 inch slots to fill on each page.  Sometimes I get the photos printed out in wallet sizes.  So, what I've done is I created a template in Photoshop Elements for a 2 photo 4x6 print.  That way I get my two photos at a one photo price....instead of printing each separately and paying for a full photo.  Get it?
My template looks like this (nothing special here):

And I also created a template for a 3 photo 4x6 print like this:

I reuse these again and again!
I even did a 5x7 3 photo template which looks like the one above except it is sized for a 5x7 print.
I just open Photoshop Elements and plop my photos in to the slots and mask out the parts I don't want.  Make sense?  No?  Basically by having the templates which I can reuse I save a good bit of time and maybe a few cents here and there!
I had so many photos from last week that I am also doing an insert page.  My page protectors will be here on Wednesday so will post that page(s) later in the week.
And my planning sheet which you can see HERE has come in very handily!  It's available for download (there is a link there) if you need it.
I'm all about shortcuts!

Happy Crafting!
 

Grandkids Enjoy Project Life, Too!

I am doing Project Life for a number of reasons:
1.  I love working with paper
2.  I love taking pictures and need to get them off my computer.
3.  I need to use up some of the supplies I have....

but the biggest reason is just documenting the little (and big) things that are going on in our lives.

OK, I am no videographer and I just captured this with my iPhone but here is a short video of my grandangels looking at my first 7 weeks of Project Life.  I love the excitement in David's voice when he spots something he knows!

Hope you enjoy!

Happy Crafting!

Things Girlfriends Say....

We girls have perfected the art of communication...especially with each other.  We know how to pump each other up..."I LOVE your hair", "That skirt is so slimming", "I love what you did in your living room", etc.  :)

I saw this stamp set from Art Impressions at Archiver's a few months back and just fell in love with it....it is soooo the things we talk about!  LOL

I used the same (yay, me) American Crafts With Love papers I've used several times in the past few posts!  I colored the little ladies with Copics but paper pieced the hat and swimsuits with papers from the same paper pad.  To get the ladies in a large circle I had to make it 4 1/4 inches so ended up with one of my most unfavorite sized cards....the 6 by 6 but I LOVE the way it turned out!  "My, Susan, I LOVE what you did with this card!" LOL!

I didn't photograph the inside of the card but it says "Friends always know just the right things to say!"
I hope you have some friends that know just the right things to say to you, too!

Happy Crafting!

Project Life: Week 7

I'm doing the happy dance!  I just finished Week 7.  I actually finished it up yesterday except I needed to get one more 4x6 printed...I'm sort of wishing I had a GOOD yet portable....maybe wireless...printer.  Oh well....for now I am having a very good relationship with CVS!

I did finish my Project Life Week 7!  Wahoo....that makes 7 down and 45 weeks to go!  OK...so at the end of this process am I going to have 4 volumes for 2013??? ...I am rethinking the whole digital vs. paper thing for 2014 if I should continue!  LOL!

But for now I'm still having fun, cutting, gluing, pasting....AND corner rounding!

Here are my pages...all done with American Crafts With Love papers and embellishments:

The "Week" box on the top left was made with my trusty Silhouette Cameo.  I created the box and welded a couple of heart shapes to it...and then I cut the banner out (I do love a banner!) and overlaid the letters so it would cut them out, too....in one fell swoop of the Cameo cut!

The bottom right filler card is also a cameo cut and was done to go on with my Valentine theme of the week.  I tired all different kinds of paper prints but finally settled on white with a little color under it.

As I mentioned the papers and embellishments are American Crafts...a line exclusive to TARGET!  I made several Valentine's Day cards with these papers and decided to use them for this week's Project Life.  I happened to be in Target the other day and the buttons and little flag on the top right were on clearance.  Loved it!
And here is the right side:

I continued to go wild with the Cameo and made the little speech bubble box on the left side of my granddaughter's picture.  I just created the box and then took an oval and welded it with the little directional thingy....and then welded again to the box.  So fast and simple.  The shape between the two pictures of Taylor is a cut file from the Silhouette Online store....I did nothing to it except cut it ou and then added a button.  Here's a closer shot of it.

I forgot to take a photo of the bottom left journaling box but it also a cut from the Silhouette Online store as was the word "love".  All so appropriate for Valentine's Week!

Hope this next week is a good one for you all and that you have a week of...

HAPPY CRAFTING!

Such a Cute Boy!

My grandson attends a mother's morning out program (we call it "school") a couple of mornings a week.  He just loves it.  The first 2 weeks were tough a year or so ago but then he got into the routine and loves going and being with his "fwiends".  :)
Of course they have "school" pictures done a time or two each year....and we loved the photos taken of him at the end of 2012 that we paid a fortune and bought the CD with the images on them so we could duplicate them at will!
I had them printed as 8x12s as that is what they seemed to be sized as and I didn't want to crop one pixel off! :)
So then you have these huge pictures to scrapbook....and that can be sort of challenging because you don't have a whole lot of extra space to deal with.  But here is what I came up with and I'm happy with the results.  I used the Echo Park This and That kit which I've used before so yay me....I used something I already had!
Here are the 3 layouts....all similar but hopefully enough different! :)

 and my favorite pose:

I know I'm biased....but is he not the cutest little boy?  And yes....he is all trucks and trains and loud things...yep, he's ALL BOY!

Always Thinking of You

I make a lot of Thinking of You cards....I always think they are nice to receive in the mail...sort of a random act of kindness.  Now I just need to mail some of these hoarded cards.  Yes, I am a card maker and hoarder....  It is tough letting our babies go, isn't it?  I think that's why I love scrapbooking so much.....you get to keep what you make! LOL!

Here is another card made with the oh so cool Simon Says Stamp Card Kit for January.  Here's a peek at the kit by the way....look at all the great stuff in it.  I've barely even scratched the surface!

Again I used Lily Bee papers as well as the little Tim Holtz ticket.  The kraft circle is actually a sticker that I embossed on with a stamp from the fabulous stamp set from SSS.

This card worked up very fast....I like fast sometimes!

Happy Crafting!

You're Very Special!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's a card for all my blog readers because you are all so special!

Chalkboard ANYTHING is very trendy right now so of course I needed to jump right on that bandwagon.  This is my attempt at a Chalkboard technique although with this picture you can't see too much chalkboard...or let's just say my chalkboard was very clean! LOL!
Again, I used the Simon Says Stamp January kit....3 cards made with it now...and lots of stuff left for many more cards and projects.  I love the stamp set that came with it including this beautifully scripted "You're Very Special" sentiment which embossed on black so nicely!
The papers are Lily Bee....I was just going to leave it all black and white and then decided to add just a teensy color....I secured the strip with brads and then just tucked the sentiment under it a bit.  It's a little quirky but then so am I, at times!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day.  Every day is Valentine's Day with my husband...we aren't into gift giving but he is so supportive of my paper crafting addiction and that is gift enough! :)

Happy Crafting!

Thinking of You

I decided to join the Simon Says Stamp Card Kit of the month.  I think it's a wonderful value and know I will look forward to the challenge of making some great cards with it each month....or using it for Project Life or general scrapbooking.

Here is the first card I made with the January kit (yes, I'm behind!....but that's ok...it will be fun catching up!):

 Pretty simple....great card for a guy or a gal, I think.... I also used the large banner die and stamp from Simon Says Stamp...I've been wanting to get my hands on this for a long time.  I love the dimension that is added by actually folding the banner (as opposed to some of the banner dies out there that are flat!).

The printed paper is Lily Bee and the tag is a Tim Holtz tag.

Simple.  I like simple sometimes....

What to do today...well, I think I'll walk the dog and then head to Hobby Lobby....I need a new embossing buddy!

Happy Crafting!

Project Life: Week 6

I know many of you are just NOT INTO Project Life.  I was there.  Last year I said....no way.  Even in November, 2012 I said....no way.  December, 2012 I say, yes way... LOL! It's all because my friend, Donna...who is on the Creative Team for the one and only Becky Higgins said it was a good thing.  I love what she's doing so much I decided to do it, too! And I said....I will not buy anything new....this will be a great way to use up things I have.

I have met that goal, dear husband, if you are reading this.  (sorta....)

Seriously...I did buy some page protectors which of course you cannot Project (your) Life without...and also a few little journal blocks and a stamp set or two....but I am also using LOTS of stuff I already have.  It really is a great way to use up scraps of paper and those odd buttons or embellishments.

This week's two page spread was very quick because I had so many pictures I wanted to use.  There just wasn't much room for extra stuff!  I'm ok with that....some weeks I probably will have fewer pictures and more journaling.

It is what it is....

Here are my layouts for Week 6:
(First the left side layout)

I used Today's Story by Allison Kreft (Echo Park's Photo Freedom) for my little filler cards, journaling cards and embellishments.  Sorry this photo is so poor....maybe I'll try again!

A cute little journaling card with the route I took last week.

My cute grandkids with a cute little He Said/She Said filler card.

Here is the right side (my pictures look so much prettier in real life!):

That's it for today....I can't believe I am already into Week 7!

Happy Crafting!

More Valentine Fun!

Here are two more Valentine's cards made at Archiver's last week.  I made a whole bunch of Valentine cards this year and guess what?  I actually sent most of them off! LOL!!!

Here is the first:

That cute little Cupid image is an Art Impressions image...he looks so mischievous!  Reminds me of my 3 year old grandson, David, who most of the time is an angel but has a good dose of DEVIL in him, too! LOL!
I colored him in with some Copics and then used some Flower Soft for his little diaper.  The border punch was a Martha Stewart punch and some ribbon and glittery heart stickers popped up on some foam finished it off!
Here's a little closeup:

 And here is the second card:

This is Tina....isn't she hilarious!  I love these Art Impression Stamps...they are just so funny! Lots of fun to color in with Copics!
I paper pieced her dress and put some foam tape just under the "hem" of the dress but secured it up near her bosom so she wouldn't be showing too much cleavage!  This is a family friendly site, for goodness sakes!
I also added a few gems to her dress because a girl hanging from a balloon has gotta have a little bling!

Happy Crafting!

Valentine Card ala' Archiver's Style

Time for a blog look change.  I'm tired of cold looking stuff!  But boy oh boy the northeast got hit by a humdinger!  Wow!  Hope you all up that way keep power!

Here is another card we made at Archiver's when I took the card class last week. This was done with a Lawn Fawn stamp set that is just so cute.  I love this card and of course it could work for any kind of wishes you might like to send!

Isn't that just so cute?
Here's a closeup:

Happy Crafting!

Project Life: Insert Page

We had a big event last week....with an announcement of a sort.  My daughter called me to tell me she was sending Valentine's out this year and that she wanted me to go to her Costco photo site to look at it and then tell her what I thought about it. 

I did as told.

and I saw this:

That is a picture of my grandson, David, with a 1 on his shirt....a photo of Taylor with a 2 on her shirt and a photo of my daughter's middle with a 3 on it!  Yep....she's expecting my 3rd grandchild!  I loved the way she decided to announce this.  She mailed them out and pretty much everyone "got" it right away although her own brother did not and it had to be explained to him.  Men! LOL!

Anyway, since it was such a big event and I wanted to incorporate the actual Valentine and use it as an insert page for my Project Life. 

So I used some Echo Park papers and did a very simple treatment of the Valentine.  A Martha Stewart border punch and a Hero Arts stamp and die for the arrow. 

I love that arrow.

On the reverse side I journaled how I found out about this big news:

 I designed the Wonderful News frame in my Silhouette Studio software and cut it out with my Cameo.  The frame is one from the Silhouette Online store.  I used the hearts from the punched border from the reverse side and used a little Glossy Accents to give them a little more shine.  And I journaled.  Yay, me!

 Happy Crafting!

Project Life: Week 5

I am just moving right along with my Project Life and still enjoying it and so happy with the result.  It is certainly a different type of scrapbooking but it is sort of freeing....I really don't worry about paper colors matching photos or making sure I have enough photos of an event, etc.  It really has been a lot of fun.  Five weeks down and FORTY SEVEN to go!

Here are my layouts for Week 5....first the left side:

 

Very simple this week....I used some little cards that I picked up at Michael's when they were 40% off.  They are Michael's own brand, Recollections, and I thought they were such fun with such bright and happy colors!  I added a little Washi tape here and there...and some trim....and the Week 5 frame in the bottom right was cut on my Silhouette from some shapes and text I welded together.  I love the way the chevron border worked when I welded it onto the frame.  Ahhh....the possibilities are endless!

 And here is the right side:

 I love those blurry little pictures on the lower left that show my little grandangels in constant motion!  And they are!!!  They were just running around the living room having a giggling grand old time!  I also love the photo of David in the top right with the pancake that's bigger than his head!

 I used a little notecard from Michael's for the journaling above and some Hero Arts stamps for "you & me" which were embossed with some black pigment ink and some clear embossing powder.  I added a couple of buttons although I don't recall what brand they are. 

The journaling box on the left (above) was just a few assorted papers and some KI stamps I picked up at Archiver's the other day which will lend themselves wonderfully to Project Life.  I used some Hero Arts Neon inks and some Washi tape, too. 

I did do an insert page of a big event which I'll share tomorrow!

Happy Crafting!

Valentine Card ala' Archiver's Style

I went to Archiver's with my friend, Christine, yesterday to take the Valentine card class.  Such fun we had!  We did some heat embossing (always a FAVORITE of mine!), coloring with Copics, lots of stamping, cutting, fussing, adapting, grumbling... LOL!

Seriously, we had a great time and the cards were all cute and simple to make.

Here is the first one I'll share.  It was done with Technique Tuesday stamps for the sentiment and lamp and a Hero Arts stamps for the chevron:

What I loved about this was the cute little banner.  And guess what?  It was made with an EK Success punch.  It's a little punch and oh so cute.  It comes in a package with a triangular scalloped penant, too...which was so cute (how many times can YOU use the word "cute" in a paragraph?!) ADORABLE! And priced at $9.99 (and ahem....I did have a coupon!) it was a great buy! 
Here is how it is packaged in case you want to hunt one down:

Teensy little penants/banners...so stinkin' cute!

It's Monday....lots to do!  Starting with....grumble, grumble....laundry! :)

Happy Crafting!