Project Life, 2014: Week 35

The layout for Week 35 which covers late August was a little more difficult for me because I used a standard digital scrapbooking kit...not one that had journaling or title cards already created.  I. Had. To. Make. My. Own.  Which means...it took me a bit longer.  But still fun...except when I closed out my layout and had forgotten to save it! HORRORS!  The good news...after I uttered a few expletives...is that it was easy to recreate because I had saved out the individual cards I'd already created.

I wish I had never looked at Donna Gibson's layouts at 365 Days of Donna.  If I had never looked at her blog I would just have simply plopped pictures in the slots and added a few journaling cards.  But no...Donna makes gorgeous pages with lots of individual templates and treatments so I have jumped on that bandwagon.  But it does all look so great...and is mostly worth the time and effort!

I used Traci Reed's Little Joy kit which you can see here.  When I saw the elements included in it I thought it would be perfect for Project Life-Style scrapbooking.  And it was!

Here is the two page spread:

And here is a closer look at the left side:

I love these very candid shots of my grandkids.  They may not be portrait perfect but it does capture them living.  I especially love the one in the top left of David playing hopscotch.  Their mother does a fantastic job of getting those kiddoes outside running and jumping and playing!

Here is the right side:

Well, that is all for today! Hope you all find time for some fun and beauty in your lives today!

And Happy Crafting and Keep Creating!!!

Project Life, 2014: Week 34

I have been doing a bit of paper crafting lately but decided to do the less messy digital last night and worked on Project Life 34. 

And DARN IT!  I got messed up on weeks and had to go back and redo some of my week cards.  Thankfully I only had a few to fix!  But it taught me a few things.  1. Save out ALL layered PSD files even when ya don't think ya will need 'em again!  2. Save out ALL layered PSD files even when ya don't think ya will need 'em again! 3. Save out ALL layered PSD files even when ya don't think ya will need 'em again! 4.Save out ALL layered PSD files even when ya don't think ya will need 'em again!

LOL!!!!  It's true though....you can amend or correct a layered file but if you didn't save out the layers well, then you are going to have to start from square one.  

I did find a calendar online that gives me the weeks the way I am doing them.  Like Week one corresnponds to January 1-4.  Week 34 corresponds to August 17-23.  I know this wouldn't work for you PL-ers who do Saturday to Saturday but it works for me as I start my week on Sunday.  If you want to see the calendar it is here: http://www.calendar-365.com/2014-calendar.html

Anyway here is the left side for Week 34 and I used items from the Traci Reed August kit.

I love the blues and oranges together although I am NOT a fan of GATOR  or Auburn colors.  Go 'Noles!  ;)

Anyway, here is a closeup of the left side:

I used the Week Thirty Four stamps from Ali Edwards (this one is called Messy Line). 

Here is the right side:

I love these pages loaded with photos of the grandkids! 

In fact, I'm heading up in a while to see them!

Happy Crafting!

More Birthday Fun!

I am in need of a few more birthday cards for October.  Lots of people getting older.  Not me.  HAHA!

Here is another card made with the Paper Smooches Birthday Posse set.  I colored the turtle with a few Copic Markers and then put some glitter sheen over him and, lastly, added a googly eye.

I used some embossed paper from We R Memory Keepers.  It reminded me of the turtle shell. 
Here's a closeup of the little cute guy:

And that's it for today...I'm on the run!  Hoping to get some crafting in later!

Happy Sunday, Happy Crafting and Keep Creating!

Happy Baath-day!

Well, hello, blogland!

Hope things are well with all of you!  I had a great day today...my tennis team took 5 out of 5 points and we played the second place team.  So woohoo!  Yay, us!  I did play with a new partner today which can always be a bit "iffy" but we played great together and prevailed against some very able opponents.  OK, Atlanta has a huge tennis league...tennis is big here and probably 90% of the people you play are nice and considerate opponents.  But every now and then you run into someone who is rude and obviously thinks this "social" tennis is way more than it is.  It's not like we win prize money or anything like that.  If you make it through your regular season in first place you get a freakin' plastic tag to put on your bag that says you are a division winner.  Probably a nickel's worth goes into that plastic.  I mean, c'mon!

Anyway, today we played a woman who was just so rude to us as well as her own partner.  Terrible.  Too bad for her...SHE LOST! LOL!!!  HAHA! She thought she was "all that" but SHE LOST!

OK, enough of my rantings but she was just such a good example of very poor sportsmanship!

On to birthdays.  Someone special to me is having a birthday later in the week and I made this cute little Paper Smooches card with a window for her:

 I used some My Mind's Eye papers.  The circle dies were cut from My Favorite Things Blueprint 16 as was the little mat for the sentiment.

I colored the little lamb with some Copic markers after stamping it with black Versafine ink and throwing some clear embossing powder on it and heat embossing it with my new Stampin' Up Heat tool.  Love that tool...paper warp is less than my old one, I think.  I added some googly eyes and some sheen with my Wink of Stella clear pen and slapped some foam tape on it to give it some dimension.

Here you can see the inside of the card:

And that's it for today!

Happy Crafting!!!

Darth Vader!

My grandson had his 5th birthday party yesterday at Chuck E. Cheese.  What a great time was had by all!  It was loud, chaotic and hectic...but I guess that added to the fun! LOL!!!

I love to embellish wrapped presents.  I find that kids don't really like ribbon wrapped around boxes because they can't get it off without help so I just love to use plain paper and put some sort of design on it.

I found this little Lego-looking Darth Vader online...pulled the image into my Silhouette software, traced it...sized it to fit my box and cut it out!  The block font is a favorite for cutting out... Aharoni, downloaded free from Dafont.com.

After it was cut out I lightly taped the "negative" or stencil to the box and then used it to line up my pieces for gluing.  The result?  Perfectly placed and straight pieces.  I did the same thing with his name....otherwise I KNOW they'd be all over the place.  As David ripped into his package his parents were horrified that he ripped right through it but I just laughed and said "No worries!  I can easily cut another one out! Anytime!"  I. Love. My. Silhouette.

'Nuff said....

Happy Crafting and Keep Creating!

Happy Birthday, David!

Five years ago today my life changed forever with the birth of my grandson, David.
I just adore that little guy.  We have a great bond and I know as he grows up he'll have less time for his "Omie" (that's me) but I hope he will remember some good and special times we've had together.

Today he is having his birthday party at that awful place that kids love and parents don't Chuck E. Cheese.  LOL!  Actually I don't really mind it as much now as when my own kids were small.  It seems a little cleaner and more secure and it is fun watching the kids have a great time.

I decided to make a total Silhouette card for him and I found this cute card file at the Silhouette Online Store.  It's by Snapdragon Snippets and is Design ID #63814 for the Silhouette users out there.

 It's a bifold card.
You can see what I mean a bit better here:

 and here:

 I used some Paper Trey Ink and Echo Park papers as well as some American Crafts Cardstock I had on hand.
The Silhouette did a wonderful job with the many layers of cuts.  I kept a little cup nearby to put all the pieces in as I cut them so as not to lose any little pieces like I usually do.
I added some sequin stars adhered with Glossy Accents.

 The "5" was cut out five times (it's a metal die from My Favorite Things Die-Namics) I cut it out 5 times and adhered them together to give a bit more dimension.

I was amazed at how well the sentiment cut out.  The Silhouette rarely disappoints me.  

It was a fun break from stamping for me.  Something a bit different for me, as well.

I hope you like it, too!

Happy Crafting and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVID!
  

I Love You More...

Here is a card I made with the Simon Says Stamp Card Kit for August 2014.  I loved these happy little ice cream and popsicle stamps.  Too cute!

So many cute stamps!

And here is my card:

And I do love ice cream a lot!

I also love the backgroundpaper...the chalkboard look with a touch of summer from BoBunny.
I colored with Copics and cut out my little ice cream cone.

And that's about it.  I won't bore you with how I cut circles! LOL!

Happy Crafting!

Project Life, 2014: Week 12

We now venture into the time period of Week 12 in Project Life, 2014 which for me was March
and included the first day of my favorite season of the year, SPRING!  I love SPRING!  I love when everything turns green again and all the flowers bloom.  I can even put up with the 3 inches of yellow pine pollen that covers everything!

So here is my week 12 of my Project Life...done digitally, of course.  You can tell digital from paper because digital is perfectly aligned...paper not so much!  We digital scrapbookers want it to look like paper...maybe we should put things slightly askew to make it look even more like paper! LOL!

Here is the 2 page layout:

I used the Echo Park Springtime kit for this week.  It's not your typical project life kit but it worked for my photos this week.  We went to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens this week when all the lovely tulips and daffodils were in bloom. BEAUTIFUL!  My week card was done with an Ali Edwards week stamp as well as a Katie Pertiet vertical stamp for the dates.

Here is a closer view of the left side:

Here is the right side which includes other photos of our life.  I even got a photo of the kids with me...
Yay for that as I'm usually behind the camera or a lot of the photos I use are those my daughter takes for me!

The little 2 dollar kit worked well for me, I think.  I also used photo collage templates from some various sources like Lori Whitlock and Tracy Larsen.

And that's it for today....

Happy Crafting!!!

A Card! A Card!

A shameless copy! LOL! 

An outright steal!

A total theft!

That's what this card is.  Oh yeah...my books may be slightly different but this is a pretty close copy of one designed by Stephanie Klauck which you can see HERE if you want to see the same card on another blog.  LOL!  OK, mine is a bit different....

I was in a big hurry when I made this card (sort of) because my friend was here and despite spending three hours "crafting" I had little to show...so I wanted to get this done.  The Simon Says Stamp card kit for September has the cutest little library themed stamp set.

See?

I mean, that stamp set with all the books and shelves is just so darned cute.

So here is my version...

I kind of like that my little framed print is hanging askew.  Most pictures in my house are hanging askew.  LOL!!!

What a fun set...can't wait to use it for more cards! 

Happy Crafting and Keep Creating! :)

Project Life, 2014: Week 11

Here we are at week 11 of my Project Life/Digital Version which covers the period of March 9-15, 2014.

The two page layout side by side looks like this:

I didn't have a good landscape type card for this week so went back to creating a Week Card with some things from the Tracy Reed March kit.  The March stamp is from a stash but I can't remember right now to whom I need to give credit! LOL! 
Here is a closeup of the left:

And here is the right side:

I used Tracy Larsen, Lori Whitlock, and Lily Pad collage templates which help in the process of using multiple photos in a slot.

And that's it for today!

Happy Crafting and Keep Creating!

With Sympathy

I came across this die cut the other day that I must have cut a while back.  So long ago that I don't even remember.  I think this is from my days of Cricut-ing...before I made the switch to Silhouette-ing.  What I'm saying is that I think this may have been cut on my Cricut.  Don't know.  Not important.

I backed it with some black and then adhered it to a white cardstock base.

I added a few pearls and a heat embossed sentiment and left it as is.  I think it's suitable for a sympathy card.

And that's it for today.

Happy Crafting and Keep Creating.

Project Life, 2014: Week 10

I did actually get a card or two made the other day when my friend, Cyndi, came over for an hour or two....but mostly we just chatted.  But that was very fun, too!

Although my favorite male tennis player of all time pulled out of the the huge tennis tournament, the US Open, due to injury I am still enjoying watching some very good tennis!  It will conclude this weekend.

So, I've been sitting in front of the tv doing virtual crafting and creating...and that's where digital Project Life is so good.  I do it with my laptop...no mess...and I can watch tv.  My only issue is that my Photoshop Elements crashed twice yesterday.  Lesson learned?  Save out STUFF very, very often!  :)

Here is Week 10.  This brings me into March and about the time I returned from the beach.  Sad to leave the beach, but happy to be home to see the children!

I used Just Jamie's March Storyteller for most papers and embellishments (or what in the digital world are called elements) in addition to a brush from Ali Edwards for my week card.

Here is the left side:

I used the vertical Becky Higgins template D for the right side:

 Another thing that makes digital Project Life much easier (for me, at least) than paper scrapping is that when you use one kind of template (or in real paper life a slotted page protector) you don't have to worry about what you will do on the flip side.   For example, if the above page were real life paper then when I were to begin Week 11 (which would be on the reverse side of this) I would have to make sure I had vertical photos.  Get it?  That can be a problem.  But with digital PL you can use whatever you want...what is on one side does not impact the other.  Simple!

In addition to the stuff I named I also used a few Tracy Larsen templates for some of the 4x6 photos.  And the little photo of our cute Taylor on the bottom is just a 3x4 card with a stroked outline around the photo. No template was harmed in the development of that card! ;)

Well, that's it for today.

Happy Crafting and Keep Creating!