Project Life: Week 2

Two down and 50 to go!  Project Life Volume 1, that is!  I successfully completed Week 2 and really had fun doing it.  It all came together really quickly.  I kind of find each little slot is its own little layout and they are pretty simple and fast to do.  Now that I have a system....although who knows...next week the old system may not work!

I do need to learn a better way to photograph through page inserts.  The glare, the glare, the glare.  I tried to elevate one end a bit to reduce the glare which helped a bit but the photos could use improvement.  And I don't want to take my things out of the inserts for photographing...that would probably be the best way but I'm not going to bother with that, I don't think!

Anyway, here we go...week 2...the left side:

A sweet photo of my little lady, Taylor with a little <heart> you done with an Ali Edwards brush that I converted to a cut file and cut with my Silhouette.  I love those hand drawn rectangles!

 A couple of pieces of coordinating ribbon stapled to just add a little something to an otherwise flat journaling box. 

 And the right side:

 A little cut out rectangle from the Silhouette Store with some burlap and a button on top.

 And this is a transparency from the O'Snap kit I purchased last year.  I will leave this unadorned and unbacked (apparently my own made up word) and next week will try and put a cute photo behind it so you can get a glimpse of it.

This was so much fun.  I'm pumped.  50 weeks to go... *sigh.....

Happy Crafting!

Oh, the Things You Can Find!

I was looking through a little file I had the other day and came across some Christmas dies that I had cut out from some sheet a loooong time ago.  Probably had planned to use them but ended up not....they got filed away never to be seen again....until Christmas 2012!  I saw them and thought...well, these are still pretty darned cute and I think I'll use them on a layout.

I have no idea where they came from so can't help you there but they are at least 5 or more years old so probably not available.  Probably not the most trendy scrapbooking stuff on the market now but I liked them then and I still like the folksy little look now.

Here is the two page spread:

And of course I added some Glossy Accents because we cannot leave things the way they are, can we?

And here is a border done with a Martha Stewart punch that I also used a Hero Arts stamp on with some Versamark and embossing powder to give a little more dimension and glittery look.

Trust me...the glittery look is there.
And here's the right side of the layout:

The little cut out pieces were popped up on some dimensionals.  The journaling block was made with a Martha Stewart punch set, too.

And I just thought Mr. Santa was so darned cute.

 And to give you some idea of what they look like side by side:

That's it for today, my friends!

Happy Crafting!

First Cards of 2013

One of my New Year's "goals" is to do less cards just for the heck of it....and get back to some scrapbooking.  I tend to make cards because they are pretty but then I don't want to send them and I keep them for my collection.  Dumb.  But it is a fact.

But I decided to make a couple of sympathy cards last night with a cut file that is available for free at Bird's Cards.  The link for this particular file is HERE.  This site is wonderful for free files that Bird so generously shares. Anyway, this is a really pretty Calla Lily file.

Here are my versions:

One thing I did differently is this is one herkin' (thanks, Donna!) big card!  It's 8 1/2 by 5 1/2....I don't usually make cards that size but I have some invitation envelopes that size and it's time to start using them.

Pretty and elegant that file is....and it cut beautifully on my Silhouette Cameo.
I used Papertrey Ink paper and ribbon as well as a little sentiment I've had for many years.

Happy Crafting!

And Project Life Begins!

I have avoided the whole Project Life thing.  I have been envious of those who have done it but I've stayed away...didn't want to make that kind of commitment.   I don't always have the "sticktoitiveness" that one needs for a project such as this. I usually start out strong and then lose interest half way through!

My good friend, Donna Gibson, announced recently she was selected to be on the Design Team for Becky Higgins.  She will primarily be doing digital pages that she will later get printed using Becky's products.  I have loved Becky since she was a childless newlywed.  I loved her clean style of scrapping...I loved her contributions to Creating Keepsakes magazine and I was lucky to take a couple of classes from her over the years.  Anyway, Donna and some other friends and I started talking about Project Life and I got really interested.  I think I probably would have been better off doing the digital version BUT no....I have decided to get my hands dirty with paper and glue!  Not that digital is easier but at least you don't have the mess and it doesn't take you 30 minutes to find that little jar of buttons that would be perfect, you know?

Anyway, I have finished my cover page as well as my first week spread.  I will do my Project Life weekly...at least that's the goal!

So here.....without further ado are my first pages.  I can live with them....I think as I get going the flow will be a bit easier and hopefully I can work a bit faster.

This is the cover page.  Most of the papers are Oh Scrap! papers.  The photo is just a filler photo...want to get a better one of the kids and me....or my husband and me...still need to work on that.
Here is my cover: 

The "Make This Year a Great Year" was a digital stamp from Katie Pertiet that I cut out on my Cameo.  The arrow shaped journaling card was from the Silhouette store and I just adjusted the arrow a bit.  I added a sticker, some twine and a button because I just have a hard time doing flat sometimes!

 "'Heart' Life" is from a digital stamp cut on my Cameo, too, by the great Ali Edwards.

I love her hand drawn designs and they cut well on the Silhouette. Isn't it great?

The 2013 is chipboard I had that I painted and embossed with some Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel.  I let it bubble up in places to give a bit more texture.

"Here" is another cut from the Silhouette Store.

 Ok, so after all that I finally got to Page 1 and 2 documenting some of the happenings of week 1.
Here is the left side of the page and so sorry for the glare....how DO you get good photos through a page protector???

And the right side:

It's a start....know what I mean???

Happy Crafting!

Happy Birthday Card

I'm doing pretty well on my goals of 2013 to do more scrapbooking and less card making.  I love making cards but I found I was making them just to make them....and then I fall in love with them and don't want to send them so now I have a card collection!  So, I'm going to continue to make cards but try to do more scrapbooking. 

But sometimes you just gotta have a card.

I made this card for my friend's daughter who just turned 21.  Her daughter is not a frilly type of gal so decided to veer from my usually overly feminine stuff to make this card.  It was fun and I was inspired somewhere in BlogWorld or Pinterest World!

I believe she likes owls so I chose these fun coordinating papers which I put on a kraft cardstock base that I did a little line embossing on.
The star is some grunge board from Tim Holtz which I painted

The thought bubble is Hero Arts and the sentiment is Hampton Arts.  I used a glitter button from WALMART (don't you love it?) and tied a little cotton crochet thread through it.
Simply, easy....and not pinky and frilly!

I like the way it turned out!  I'm sure she loved it but liked the gift card I enclosed much more! LOL!

Happy Crafting!

Christmas, 2012

Christmas 2012 is a thing of the past but I've been having fun in 2013 scrapping those pictures.  We did have a wonderful Christmas and I very much enjoyed being with the little ones Christmas morning when they realized Santa HAD come to their house!
I did these layouts with Echo Park's Christmas papers and embellishments (by Lori Whitlock).  Such fun prints and colors.  Love the vintage feel to it.  Reminds me of Christmases when I was a little girl!

and here is how they look side by side (of course, since I'm using We R Memory Keeper albums there will be 3 rings separating the pages!....but I do love those albums!....totally over post hinge albums!) 

I am entering this in the following challenges:

A Blog Named Hero (use something new....I used the new Echo Park papers I received for Christmas)

Simon Says Stamp and Show (something new....new papers and embellishments that I got as a Christmas gift from my daughter)

Simon Says Stamp and Show: Anything Goes

 Happy Crafting!

Favorite Projects of 2012: Part B

Happy New Year!

Whoopsie...was supposed to post this yesterday but got caught up with other things.  We celebrated New Year's Eve with some dear friends and didn't get home until very late....
I'm slow moving on this first day of 2013 but I'm going to go in my craft room shortly and will celebrate the January 1st doing something I very much enjoy! I hope you find some time to do the things you enjoy on the first day of this new year.

Here are some of my favorite projects from July through December (you can click on the pictures to take you to the original posts):

July

August

September

October

November

December

Happy New Year to all and as always....HAPPY CRAFTING!