life (or something like it)

sketch support | january

2012-02-10T01:00:00.000-08:00

It’s two page week at Sketch Support! Hop on over to check out the sketch I used for this layout, and to see what everyone else did as well.

This month I decided to use the sketch for my month in review layout:

Supplies – patterned paper: Authentique, Lime Rickey by My Mind’s Eye; brads: Bo Bunny; paper flowers: unknown (in GTKC’s January kit); letter stickers: Thickers by American Crafts; ribbon: Lush by My Mind’s Eye; spray mist: Studio Calico Mister Huey; other: embroidery floss, foam dots

Variation #1: I used ribbon for my scalloped strip (instead of paper).

Variation #2: I popped up the journaling strips so that they wouldn’t bump up over the velvet ribbon.

Variation #3: I misted my plain flowers with Mister Huey “Clay” to just tint them. Then I added some fun brads for the centers.

project life | week 4

2012-02-07T09:38:00.001-08:00

Yup, I’m a week behind! Well, at least for posting. I decided that since I’m doing a Mon-Sun week that realistically, for me, I needed to post a week late. Otherwise, too much stress on Mon night getting everything printed & put together.

So, here is week 4:

project 12 | august 2012

2012-01-29T12:41:00.000-08:00

More Project 12 from last year…

Lots of fun supplies from my January GTKC.

I stuck pretty much exactly to the sketch this month.

My kit included this journaling tag from My Mind’s Eye. I added a few snips of Lush ribbon and a butterfly (attached with my new Tiny Attacher…seriously, how did I live without that for so long? Seriously, I *love* it!).

I didn’t like how the tag blended in with the neutral background, so I misted it with Mister Huey. My local Beverly’s carries that now…uh oh!

I also spritzed the other page (and masked out some clouds & butterflies) to help ground my butterflies a little better. I think I had too much fun!

Another butterfly here. The scalloped edge came cut like that, also from MME.

And lastly my date bracket. I cut the edge off of a journaling tag and stitched it in place.

project life | week 3

2012-01-27T12:25:00.001-08:00

I finally got around to putting everything in the album and writing on my journaling cards.

This week I remembered to add the dates of the week

sketch support | fun on the 4th

2012-01-27T07:31:00.000-08:00

It’s one page week at Sketch Support. Head on over there to download a FREE copy of this great sketch & to see what the rest of the Creative Team did with it.

And here’s my take:

Supplies - patterned paper: Jillibean Soup (Watermelon Gazpacho & Blossom Soup); Banana Leaf paper: Creative Imaginations; stickers & alphabets: Jillibean Soup; pen: Slickwriter by American Crafts

Variation #1 - I swapped out the stars on the left for a bunch of labels & stickers. When I first saw this sketch, I thought, "cool, this will be perfect for my Fourth of July photo!". Then I went to the scrapbook store...So naturally I bought more than I needed, including a sheet of stickers from Jillibean Soup. I stepped WAY out of my comfort zone & had fun with lots of stickers here.

Variation #2 - I moved the title down onto the photo & to the right. I like the idea of the title on the top, but my papers were too busy, and I had a nice open spot on my photo asking for some word art.

Variation #3 - I skipped the journaling strips & used a label sticker instead. I had been contemplating this design change, and then I realized I didn't have anymore matching cardstock. Done. I like the label here :)

project 12 | june 2011

2012-01-19T17:22:00.000-08:00

More Project 12 from last year…

A few pics from June & fun papers & stickers from Jillibean Soup’s Watermelon Gazpacho line (love these colors!)

I added a fun little strip that I punched to look like torn notebook paper, and then stitched it on with some pink embroidery floss.

I clustered some journaling stickers, tags, etc. up on the upper right page.

And a few more in the lower right hand corner.

project life | week 2

2012-01-17T00:00:00.000-08:00

I’m loving this “week at a glance” format more & more everyday! Less stress at 11pm when I realize I didn’t take a picture that day. Or the day before.

I am realizing (now that I’ve shared week 1 & week 2) that I need to add the dates of the week on my title block. Will do tonight. (Or tomorrow.)

Anyhow…

Everyone around here has been eating Cuties (mandarin oranges if they don’t have those near you) like crazy. So I cut up the crate they come in & included it. I also added one of Olivia’s school papers since I didn’t have anything else for that day. Loving that idea.

And this year I’m not using the 365 photo overlays that I’ve used in the past. I did add the dates to a few pics with the help of October Afternoon label stickers. I have quite a few sheets of partially used ones in my stash, & recently picked up a few more. I know they will get used this year.

I also finally used a Teresa Collins quote stamp I got like two years ago! It fits on the journaling cards perfectly, especially when you goof & stamp it incorrectly on the A side (the B sides of the cards are a grid). Not that I would know about that personally…

project 12 | november 2011

2012-01-16T10:11:00.001-08:00

For the last two years I’ve had fun playing along with Project 12 from Scrapbook & Cards Today. I just read that they’re changing things up a bit for 2012 & won’t be providing new sketches this year. That’s okay. One, I’m still catching up on 2011(shocker, I know!), and two, I have so many great sketches in my collection from both Sketch Support and Sketches for Scrapbooking that I’ll think I’ll be fine.

So here is my layout for this last November. I didn’t use the Nov ‘11 sketch because it just didn’t work. But I love this sketch from Nov ‘10 so I re-used it.

Supplies (all from my November GTKC) – patterned paper: American Crafts, Bella Blvd., Simple Stories, My Mind’s Eye, Anthologie; layered stickers: Amy Tan for American Crafts; dots: unknown (in my kit); letter stickers: Lush by My Mind’s Eye; paper edger punch: EK Success

The first change I made (which I made when I used this sketch last Nov as well) was to increase the number of photos by adding a second row. I do this a lot.

I also lifted a technique from Davinie Fiero that I’ve used a few times: mix up the bottom layers of paper by using two different patterns. It adds a definite punch of color & some whimsy. Love that.

Another quick change I made was to use the camera & typewriter elements instead of birds & leaves. I actually had birds & leaves in my kit to use, but I love that camera & the typewriter fits the theme as well: photography & document.

The “delightful goodness” sticker is probably supposed to be a brad or button or something, but I liked the extra bit of color it added over here.

project life 2012 | week 1

2012-01-12T09:52:00.001-08:00

I wasn’t sure if I was up to doing this again, until December 25th rolled around. I was almost done with my December Daily (which yes, I still need to finish!) and realized something I’d forgotten:

I actually like taking at least one picture a day.

I like the challenges from Capture Your 365. I like documenting the everyday. I *LOVE* photography.

So what was my problem?

I promised myself I was going to spend the rest of my holiday break finishing up Project Life 2011 before ordering a new kit. And I as I was finishing it up (almost done, just two more months of journal cards!) I placed my order for the Clementine edition. Unfortunately, I waited too long so the page protectors are sold out…until February! Ugh! Oh well, I have some 4x6 protectors I can use in the interim.

So here is my week 1:

(and yes, I know I’m missing a photo! I realized as I was putting it together that I forgot to print one of my photos…whoops! Next week…)

I have decided to follow the path that Ali Edwards took last year & look at it as a “weekly” snapshot rather than 7 daily photos. And I’m going to stash more ephemera so it really is more like a traditional “scrapbook” like I kept in high school (and for some stupid stupid STUPID reason I got rid of!).

The other little change I’ve decided to make is that my week is going to be Mon-Sun. That way anything we do over the weekend is (hopefully) kept together as one activity. Of course this year Jan 1 was a Sunday, so my first week here has two Sundays…big whoop. As you can see, my Sunday photo is just the year 2012 from the front page of our paper.

sketch support | summer days at the lake

2012-01-12T00:22:00.000-08:00

It’s two page week at Sketch Support! Head on over there to get a FREE copy of this week’s sketch & to be inspired by the fabulous creative team!

And here’s my take:

Supplies - patterned paper: Echo Park, Little Yellow Bicycle, Technique Tuesday; journaling block: Technique Tuesday; chipboard & cardstock stickers: Bella Blvd.; letter stickers: American Crafts; pen: Slickwriter by American Crafts

Variation #1 - It's not a winter layout! Ha! So far we've had a mild winter in northern California, so there hasn't been any snow to visit. However, the wave in the sketch reminded me of water, and I had plenty of lake photos from last summer so I played with those.

Variation #2 - Since it's a summer layout, I left off the snowflakes & used some fun journaling spots & chipboard accents instead.

bring on 2012

2011-12-31T10:04:00.001-08:00

I’m not sure what’s going to happen to me in 2012, any more than the rest of us. I have a feeling it’s not going to be my favorite year, I know that there are some things I need to deal with that I don’t want to. But I’m not going to let that stop me from setting some resolutions for this coming year. And if I post them here, well, hopefully I’ll stick to them!

1) Finish up my December Daily! I was going good until Christmas, and then…I’ve had a great week with my kids & done other catching ups. Now it’s time to finish it already. Just 3 days to go!

2) Finish up Project Life 2011. I know I haven’t shared pics on here since about May, but I have (kind of) kept up with the photos. I just got a TON printed at Costco, so photo-wise my album is almost done. Journaling…well, I’ve completed it all thru May. Time to conquer the last seven months!

3) Purge. Heck, who doesn’t want a fresh start with a new year. Too bad I go back to work on the 3rd!

4) Begin 2012 Project Life with a new enthusiasm. I definitely lost my mojo at some point last summer. I think because my 2010 & 2011 albums are really similar. I want 2012 to focus on two things: improving my photography thru Capture your 365 (+1 for this leap year) and chronicling the everyday ala Ali Edwards. I want this 2012 Project Life to be a “true scrapbook.” You know, like a lot of us had in jr. high that really was scraps of life?

I think those are do-able?

So with that, I wish you & yours a happy new year.

Bring it on…

december daily | days 18 & 20

2011-12-27T08:43:00.001-08:00

Day 18: I lifted this idea from Autumn Nguyen’s blog. I had a few photos of decorations from around the house, but not enough to enlarge & make look nice. I also had a few little embellishments I wanted to use too.

Day 20: Pickle day! In our house, we have a pickle ornament on the tree. To keep the drama to a minimum, we look for the pickle before Christmas as part of our advent calendar activities. Whoever finds the pickle gets to open a gift, which is always a “family” gift (some sort of game).

merry christmas

2011-12-25T00:31:00.000-08:00

May you all have a happy, healthy Christmas!

december daily | days 22 & 23

2011-12-24T06:27:00.000-08:00

So I have skipped a few days, and I’m filling in as I go. But for the most part I’ve kept up! Just two more days to go!

Day 22: We attended our church’s Christmas Eve service. We go to a HUGE church and there were 15 Christmas “Eve” services all week. I used the cover of the program, as well as photos shared on Bayside’s website. Then I added a sentiment in PSE, some word stickers & stickles. And I happened to have a strip of paper with “nativity” on it. Perfect.

Day 23: I copied Ali Edwards’ again, this time using the lines on the patterned paper for journaling lines. Maybe a bit messier than I intended, but that’s okay. It’s done & it tells the story I wanted to share.

december daily | days 17, 19, & 21

2011-12-23T00:05:00.000-08:00

Day 17: My husband’s sister & her family came to visit for the afternoon. I always dream of getting great shots of them playing & hanging out like I see on so many other scrapbook pages, and yet…well, these ARE the best I got! And the one of the girls could be good if I’d realized I’d focused on the tree & not them. Ugh! Someday I’ll get good pics of them :)

Day 19: Olivia’s dance recital.

Day 21: Last day of school before break (aka, Party Day!). I included a card Brandon made for me. It’s supposed to open, but I sealed it shut since I didn’t feel like adding anything in it (it’s blank inside). I could’ve added photos, & thought about it, but just wanted the page to be done, lol!

december daily | days 15 & 16

2011-12-22T00:01:00.000-08:00

Day 15: Today was Abbie’s last day of preschool (& mine too!) before Christmas break. There are three classes there in the mornings (and another three in the afternoons). All of the classes had a cute little performance.

Day 16: Pajama Day!

december daily | days 13 & 14

2011-12-21T00:46:00.000-08:00

This year for teacher/co-worker gifts I made caramel in a can…first time I did it so I hope it turned out okay! It was SO easy too. I did not make it in the crock pot because I didn’t want to have to deal with it in the morning, and frankly, I was making it at the last minute & couldn’t fit all 10 cans in the crock pot. I found directions online that said to boil for four hours in a stock pot, checking the water every 30 minutes so that’s what I did.

I love how our actual Santa photo came out this year, although I’m bummed that I didn’t get two copies so I could include one here. Oh well! At least I snuck a few pictures in before being asked to put my camera away :)

december daily | days 9 & 11

2011-12-20T12:39:00.000-08:00

I’m sure I got some interesting looks while taking pics at Costco; not just of my daughter in the cart, but also of random merchandise! Oh well, I like how my collage has some holiday merchandise in it too…so it’s not just a bunch of pictures of Abbie in a shopping cart :)

For today I fully scraplifted a layout by Ali Edwards. I was already planning on sending my kids an email from the North Pole, and of course I was going to take pictures & use them, I just didn’t know I was going to use the email too. Though cutting & pasting (& fitting) three names wasn’t as easy as I’d hoped!

december daily | days 6 & 7

2011-12-19T10:18:00.000-08:00

It was so nice to finally have some time to get caught up this last weekend.

This layout focuses on our Elf on the Shelf, and I was missing a photo. Finally got one, and finally got decent enough light to take a pic of the layout too.

I used Ali Edwards’ Advent boxes for the “believe” overlay. The brush itself is a square, so I just “lengthened” it in PSE to fit on my photo.

For day 7 I scraplifted this layout I saw on October Afternoon’s blog.

december daily | day 5

2011-12-18T22:11:00.001-08:00

See, I told you I’d been keeping up :)

I’ve actually had this layout done for almost two weeks; I just was waiting on more Christmas cards so I could include a photo of our “wall of cards” with more than just our own card up!

sketch support | happy holidays at disneyland

2011-12-16T05:44:00.000-08:00

Supplies – patterned paper: Crate Paper; letter stickers: American Crafts; chipboard accents: Crate Paper; ink: Tsukineko

First of all, *love* this layout! The trees were super fun & super easy to make, & made this layout nice & festive.

1) Instead of stars, I used snowflakes on the tree tops. They came in the chipboard pack.

2) I typed out a bunch of holiday things that we did at Disneyland for my journaling strips, rather than writing a LONG story about our vacation.

3) I added the date to a cute chipboard accent right on top of the trees.

december daily | day 4

2011-12-11T20:53:00.001-08:00

I swear, I’m keeping up…kinda!

Last year I did a pretty good job of taking photos daily & putting my pages together every night. But this year I am working almost full-time (80%), and, well…I’m taking pictures every day but I’m not always getting everything put together every night.

And that’s okay. (At least I got my Christmas cards mailed out!)

For this layout I used some of the packaging from our Trader Joe’s gingerbread house kit, a few snapshots of the kids putting the together, a snip of paper, and a few embellishments.

sketch support | have a holly jolly christmas

2011-12-07T06:48:00.001-08:00

For this card sketch & many others, head over to Sketch Support!

Supplies – patterned paper: Basic Grey Jovial; rub-on: Basic Grey Jovial; ribbon: Lush by My Mind’s Eye; brad: Lush by My Mind’s Eye; ink: Tsukineko; word stickers: Authentique; glitter glue: Stickles; punch: EK Success

1) Instead of stitching, I used lines of glitter glue.

2) I used a square bling brad turned on its side instead of a star, to add a bit of dimension.

3) To make my sentiment stand out a bit more, I used a rub-on to create a bit of a journaling block and then added word stickers.

december daily | day 3

2011-12-05T22:23:00.000-08:00

Day 3: Today we decorated the Christmas Tree. Finally (if you ask my kids!)

I’m starting with the right hand side because of this photo. Abbie knows I love taking pictures, and she loves to pose, but obviously she (is only 3) doesn’t fully understand what makes a great photo. So when she turned to me with the ornament box on her face & said, “Mommy take my picture,” well, of course I obliged. And I knew as I took it that it would be my photo for today.

I embellished the page with a chipboard ornament sticker from Echo Park. I think the paper is Echo Park too. And the letter stickers are from my stash (October Afternoon).

Trick I want to share: I added metallic string in a bow on the ornament. However, it’s that funky string that is kinda stiff so it unties on its own. So I added a drop of silver stickles (because I couldn’t find my glossy accents) to the center of the bow.

I had fun with this larger photo of Abbie decorating the tree. The lighting in the room was awful, so I played around in PSE to make it work.

After adjusting the levels, I used the actions “slight light” & “soft faded” from Pioneer Woman. Love her! Then I cropped my photo to 6”x8.5” and used a brush to add the lyrics to “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”.

I wanted to add a bit of journaling to this photo as well. I used an oval journaling tag and typed my journaling on it. I decreased the opacity to about 30%-ish so it would look like a vellum tag. I’m bummed that what I saw in PSE is NOT what printed, but oh well. Life goes on. Sigh.

I was having a hard time getting my journaling into the exact spot I wanted, so I just added the “joy” sticker to cover up the white space. Once I was done I used gold stickles to edge the entire photo page. I think this is one of my favorite pages so far :)

december daily | day 2

2011-12-04T22:19:00.001-08:00

Today I wanted to tell a story about our stockings. I found this great “then & now” journaling card in my stash (I think from my Feb GTKC). I added a few Jillibean Soup stickers and a fun little clip (that’s from my Feb 2010 GTKC!).

The transparency is from Fancy Pants. I’m so happy with how my “pre-made” foundation for day 2 ended up working with the photos.

Again I printed the photo at home. The colors were a bit darker than I anticipated, but that’s okay; I didn’t have to go to Costco this weekend to pick up photos, and I didn’t have to shell out and cash for it either.

december daily | day 1

2011-12-03T10:52:00.001-08:00

For day one I choose to spotlight our Advent traditions. I took a couple of pictures from around the house, converted them to black & white in PSE (mostly because I took them at night & the colors were horrid!), added a twill strip from Ali Edwards’ “Christmas Twill Strips”, and then printed it out here at home. Not sure that I’ll be printing everything here, but it is handy this time of year!

Here is a close up of the details on the overlay:

And below you can see my journaling (on hand drawn lines), plus a few extra details I added. Unfortunately I forgot to punch my holes before journaling, so I lost part of one letter. Oh well. I did go thru & punch all the pages now so I won’t have that problem again!

december daily | foundation, day 1

2011-12-01T22:21:00.001-08:00

Is it December already?! Holy cow! And I can honestly say I have done NO Christmas shopping. Between that & the fact that I’m working 80% this year (compared with 50% or less in years past)…yeah, it’s going to be a busy month.

But I’m still doing my December Daily! I put together my foundation pages about a month ago, but never got around to photographing them (add that to my to-do list for this weekend!). I did take a picture of my day 1 foundation last night…so excuse the not-so-great lighting :)

I’ve been collecting transparencies since last Christmas when I saw how Ali Edwards put together her album last year. And most of the rest of the supplies were from my stash of Christmas goodies. I also copied the list from the Studio Calico December Daily kit & went to Green Tangerines (my lss) to pick up as much as I could & wanted.

My pages are all 6”x8 1/2” so that I could fit the overlays from Designer Digitals. FYI, I precut all of my paper before printing…bad idea! The outlines were going off the pages, so I had to scale down a bit (sorry, I didn’t write down the proportion!) to make it fit. No biggie; fortunately I noticed while printing my first page :)

(I’ll be sharing my completed day 1 sometime tomorrow, after I can get a decent photo in the daylight.)

sketch support 2012

2011-11-30T22:34:00.001-08:00

It has been so much fun to be a part of the Sketch Support Creative Team for the past six months. Earlier today, Allison Davis (Sketch Support) announced the new team for 2012 and I am thrilled to be chosen for the team for another year! Congratulations to everyone on the new team!

Returning Members
Carolyn Wolff
Christine Chain (me!)
Christy Arthur
Janette Kincaid
Jennifer Larson
Jill Sarginson
Katrina Hunt
Lynette Jacobs
Megan Bickers
Melissa Bell
Noey Hunt
Shari Thurman
Suzanna Lee
New Members
Andrea Friebus
Ashley Horton
Cherie Nymeyer
Michele Edwards
Penny Grimsley
Sue Althouse
Virginia Nebel

two page sketch | at apple hill

2011-11-28T19:50:00.001-08:00

This is from a couple of weeks ago at Sketch Support!

Here’s my take on the sketch:

Supplies – patterned paper: Echo Park, American Crafts, Imaginesce, Authentique; letter stickers: Bella Blvd; stickers: Bella Blvd. & American Crafts; brads: Lush by My Mind’s Eye; ink: Tsukineko; other: pop dots & embroidery floss (supplies from October GTKC)

1) The first change I made was that I included an extra photo.

I always crop, edit, & resize my photos in PSE before I print them. This time I made the height of all my photos 4” & then I played around until I liked how the fit on a 8”x4” block. Originally I had them arranged differently, so I had my two group photos separated. Then I realized that if I wanted one of my kids to be in the center photo, I was going to have to cut their face in half to have their photo on two pages. That’s why I love playing in PSE first!

2) I used these pumpkin & apple stickers from American Crafts instead of a flower up near my title. I layered a phrase sticker from Bella Blvd on top. I added the cloud behind them because I thought a little blue would help the colors pop.

3) Again I swapped out the flowers (and used more pumpkins, apples, and a scarecrow). I used a few more phrase stickers from Bella Blvd…I’m so glad I got these! The phrases were perfect for this layout! I also omitted the swirls. My paper & pictures were busy enough & I think the swirls, as pretty as they are, would’ve been too much on this layout.

december 2011 | project 12

2011-11-26T14:32:00.001-08:00

Okay, it’s from almost a year ago, but I got it done before THIS December!

I created this layout using this sketch for Project 12 at Scrapbook & Cards Today. It was my first layout as part of the Green Tangerines Design Team.

My challenge was to use lots of fun products from the Basic Grey Jovial line.

Supplies – patterned paper, journaling sheet & overlay, rub-ons: Basic Grey Jovial; letter stickers: Basic Grey Jovial & Lush by My Mind’s Eye; ink: Tsukineko; word stickers: Authentique

1) I used this fun journaling block/overlay for the title block. I put the smaller Basic Grey letters directly on the journaling block, covered it with the overlay, and then added the flocked letter stickers on top. I like how it slightly muted the black letter stickers. I also inked the chipboard edges of the letter stickers to help the stand out a bit more.

2) You can see how I inked the letters here too.

3) I added some word stickers around the page. I didn’t do any journaling this time; could’ve. Probably should’ve. But couldn’t find a good way to add it in. And sometimes, frankly, I just don’t want to write, lol!

sketch support | autumn splendor

2011-11-25T18:11:00.000-08:00

It’s one page week again on Sketch Support!

You can download and print this sketch by clicking on the one-page sketches link found under the "printable sketches" tab on the right sidebar on the Sketch Support website.

I really stuck to the sketch this week! I finally scrapped photos from our family photo shoot in 2009!

Supplies – patterned paper: My Mind’s Eye, Little Yellow Bicycle, Simple Stories; letter stickers: Lush by My Mind’s Eye, American Crafts; word stickers: Authentique; paper leaves: Amy Tangerine by American Crafts; ink: Tsukineko; other: embroidery floss (all from Green Tangerines Kit Club November)

1) I used this cute strip of owl paper for my journaling block.

2) Word stickers came in handy for the journaling strips…I love these!

happy 3rd birthday

2011-11-23T14:56:00.001-08:00

Supplies – (all from Green Tangerines Kit Club September) patterned paper: Crate Paper, Fancy Pants, We R Memory Keepers; letter stickers: American Crafts, October Afternoon; word stickers: October Afternoon; chipboard flowers: Pebbles

I had fun putting this layout together using more supplies from my September Green Tangerines Kit Club. Today was the last day to (re)apply for the Sketch Support Creative Team, which of course I realized late last night! I had two of the three projects ready to go, but not this one. Fortunately I had printed the photos a couple of weeks ago, so I just had to figure out what paper/s & embellishments I was going to use. The colors of the paper I had on hand worked for me, so even though this was definitely a “last minute” layout, I’m pretty pleased!

say cheese!

2011-11-02T23:26:00.001-07:00

I was just going thru some of my drafts on here & realized I had a post or two I hadn’t shared…

This card is based on the add-on sketch #9 on Sketch Support. You can find the sketch here.

supplies: patterned paper: Crate Paper, October Afternoon, & Bo Bunny; letter stickers: Echo Park; ribbon paper: Basic Grey; punches: Stampin’ Up!; other: ink, pop dots, ribbon from my June Green Tangerine’s kit club; card sketch # 7 from Sketch Support

As soon as I saw this sketch I thought it would be fun to put on a card. I altered the dimensions of the camera slightly; I printed out the sketch on a regular sheet of paper, and liked that size, so I used those dimensions (it’s now 3”x2”, roughly). I’m glad I made it a little bigger than the sketch because I think this size works nicely on a 4 1/4” x 5 1/2” card.

Once I made the camera, I needed to come up with a card design to put it on, so I went thru the card sketches at Sketch Support & came across this one, which I thought would work nicely. I moved the sentiment to the “open” space on the lower right because it looked off-balance below the camera.

card week | happy birthday

2011-10-31T23:13:00.001-07:00

It’s card week at Sketch Support! Head on over there to get the great sketch I used for this card, and check out everyone else’s take as well.

Supplies - patterned paper: My Mind's Eye, Basic Grey; letter stickers: American Crafts, Basic Grey; brads: unknown (in my Green Tangerine's Kit Club March kit); buttons: American Crafts; ink: Tsukineko; other: embroidery floss

I chose everything for this card to give it a bit more of a masculine feel. My dad’s birthday was last week, and I realized I had only a couple “man” cards in my stash! Usually I don’t give too many cards to guys, but it’s nice to have some on hand for when I do need them.

1) I really stuck to the sketch for sizes this time. I really like how having all of the strips 1/2” made it easy for me to play around with what order I wanted them in (I trimmed the length after I made my decision).

2) I swapped out the flowers, purely because I didn’t have any flowers that matched, but I had some buttons & brads!

december daily, day 25

2011-10-30T01:29:00.001-07:00

Confused?

Yes, I know, it’s almost November 2011. And my December Daily technically ended December 25th. OF LAST YEAR.

But I finally finished it!

Once Christmas was over, I was DONE with this album (which is why it’s important to stay on top of things!). So I kept putting it off. (Needless to say, it hasn’t been printed yet either.)

Now that I’m done, I need to decide where/how I’m going to print it. My original plan was to print each page as an 8”x8”, and then slip each page into an 8”x8” album I got last November. And then I realized that it was going to cost me about $80 to print 50 pages like that. Ouch.

So then I thought I could just print up a photo book at Costco or Shutterfly or somewhere. Except that was going to cost me about $80 (granted, then I wouldn’t need an album. But I already own an album). Then, I found a deal on Snapfish a few weeks ago: 50% off! Score! But I had to upload & order by the 19th…the same day I had two major IEP meetings at work…meaning there was no way I could do it (since I still hadn’t finished day 25).

Well now I’m done…hopefully I’ll find a great deal on printing before December rolls around!

sketch support | mommy & abbie

2011-10-27T11:17:00.000-07:00

(It’s one-page sketch week at Sketch Support again! To get the FREE sketch I based this layout on, head over to Sketch Support. While you’re there, check out all of the fabulous layouts by the Creative Team.

Supplies – patterned paper: My Mind’s Eye, Little Yellow Bicycle, Crate Paper, We R Memory Keepers, Fancy Pants; letter stickers & stickers: October Afternoon; postcard: unknown (in my Green Tangerine’s kit club-September: October Afternoon; other: pop dots & embroidery floss

1) This isn’t really a “change” I made, but I’m proud of myself so I’ll share:

I had this fun piece of gray paper with the lacy edge in my kit club box, begging to be used. However, I had already cut a big chunk out of one side that I’d used on a previous layout. Groan.

But then I noticed the big photo block covering a bunch of the background paper…hmmm…So I cut my gray paper in half & flipped the side with a piece cut out. Then I taped the 2 halves back together, so there is now a hole in the middle of my page. Make sense? That hole is now covered up & I was able to use the gray paper! Yay!

2) Since it’s not a birthday layout, I didn’t want to include birthday candles in my title block. I used a few circles & word stickers instead, popping up the “you + me” sticker (so perfect for this layout!). I also omitted the stitching, but the postcard embellishment I used had a light line defining the edge.

3) I decided to stitch my banner to my layout rather than try to string the paper. I used a ribbon scrap draped across the page to figure out where I wanted each piece of paper to go and then attached them. Then I used my Sew-Easy tool to punch holes. No pencil lines needed! Score!

project 12 | september 2011

2011-10-23T11:48:00.001-07:00

I’ve been creating “month in review” style layouts since I was making first year albums for my kids. While making their albums, I found it took the stress off of feeling like I had to create a layout for every. single. event. in our lives. If that works for you, fantastic! But I don’t have the time, and I want scrapbooking to be my happy creative outlet, not a chore :) So that’s why I was thrilled when I discovered Project 12, even though I’m usually a few months behind. But this month, I actually finished September’s layout before October was over!

Here’s the sketch:

And here’s my take:

Supplies – patterned paper: My Mind’s Eye, Crate Paper, Fancy Pants; letter stickers: October Afternoon & American Crafts Thickers; stickers: October Afternoon; chipboard flowers: Pebbles; ink: Tsukineko; circle punches: Stampin’ Up!; ribbon: unknown (from Green Tangerine’s Kit Club, September); other: staples

1) I didn’t vary from the sketch too much. I did not include the stitching across the top of the page purely because I didn’t feel like it, LOL! I added this word sticker from October AFternoon in my upper embellishment circle because I didn’t like how the flower I was using seemed to be “floating”. The sticker helped bring it all together, IMO.

2) I had fun adding extra pops of color with the embellishment circles. I didn’t use any scalloped circles because I realized (at 11pm when I just wanted to finish) that no, I do not have the pink Marvy scalloped circle punch. I always think I do, until I need it. (Note: add that to my to-buy list pronto!)

3) I used a stretchy gray lace ribbon for the scalloped edge here along the striped paper. It did add a bit more bulk that I had bargained on (since it goes under the circle embellishments), but the staples helped hold everything down.

simple stories product challenge| now we are six

2011-10-14T15:07:00.000-07:00

Simple Stories was kind enough to give all of us on the Creative Team at Sketch Support some fun products to use as part of the Sketch Support product challenge. We were asked to create a layout based on the following sketch using the supplies we were given.

I’ve been waiting to come across the right design for my “Now We are Six” idea. This sketch fit my idea perfectly!

Supplies – patterned paper & stickers: Simple Stories; cardstock: Bazzill Basics; corrugated letters: Jillibean Soup; number stickers: October Afternoon; other: pop dots

1) I eliminated the photo block of six photos on the right page, & just used a single 4'”x6”.

2) I added the strip of number stickers across the top because I wanted to bring some more color behind the title.

3) I didn’t do any extra embellishments on the rectangle on the left. The Simple Stories papers were already decorated, so I worked with what was there. I did add the “good times” sticker (on top of a label printed on the paper). I used the “happy BIRTHDAY” sticker along the bottom to tie the block to the photos (and I popped it up as well).

4) I punched the “happy day!” label out of sticker that was a different shape.

abbie 3

2011-10-13T15:18:00.000-07:00

Here is the sketch I started with:

And this is what I came up with:

Supplies – patterned paper: Stella and Rose by My Mind’s Eye, Little Yellow Bicycle; letter stickers: American Crafts; stickers: October Afternoon; chipboard: Pebbles; ink: Tsukineko; ribbon & word strips: from Green Tangerine Kit Club (September); other: staples

1) The most obvious change I made was that I did a single page layout, using the left-hand side of the sketch.

2) I used one large (8”x6”) photo in the photo block. I had this great picture of my daughter from her third birthday just asking to be scrapped, so I resized it in Photoshop Elements & converted it to black & white.

3) On the far left I used an oversized “label” that I made by tracing a template onto patterned paper. I embellished it with lots of word stickers from October Afternoon, and then added a chipboard flower to bring some pink to that area.

4) I added an extra layer of paper along the top by using some fun word strips that came in my Green Tangerine’s kit club box. I liked the words together (“be yourself. be amazing.”) and it added a nice bit of white to the top to balance it out.

5) Lastly I used a few staples to help hold the ribbon in place, and also on the word strips to bring in some detail.

simple stories product challenge| birthday card

2011-10-08T15:12:00.001-07:00

Simple Stories was kind enough to give all of us on the Creative Team at Sketch Support some fun products to use as part of the Sketch Support product challenge. We were asked to create a card based on the following sketch using the supplies we were given.

Here is what I came up with:

supplies - patterned paper & stickers: Simple Stories; letter stickers: American Crafts; corrugated number: Jillibean Soup; ink: Tsukineko; cardstock: Bazzill Basics

This was such a fun card to put together using this card sketch from Sketch Support.

1) I used both sides of a sheet of patterned paper to create my background layer. I just cut four 2 1/2” squares & then placed two face up & two face down, in opposite corners. Then I inked just the outside edges to give it a bit more definition.

2) I wanted a nice, simple stripe to cross over them, so I trimmed approximately 1/2” of striped paper from one of the sheets of paper. It came off of a journaling block that I wasn’t using. Again, I inked the edges.

3) Next I layered a piece of orange cardstock (inked) and a plain piece of patterned paper. This is the inside of the same journaling block that I got the striped piece from. I wanted something simple to layer my stickers on top of.

4) Now that I had a nice base, I picked out a few stickers, popped up the word party, and added “7th” with some letters & numbers from my stash. (My son has a bunch of friends turning seven soon so I know this will get used).

sketch support | hello friend

2011-10-04T10:52:00.000-07:00

supplies: patterned paper: Echo Park, Jillibean Soup; letter stickers: American Crafts, Jillibean Soup; brads: Doodlebug Designs; rhinestones: Kaiser craft; flowers: Bazzill Basics

This was another fun card sketch from Allison at Sketch Support! I had a bunch of Jillibean & Echo Park scraps in my stash, begging to be put to good use. I picked out a few colors to go together and had some fun. The rhinestones were part of a circle that I cut apart so that I could have some flourishes for the flowers.

sketch support | 1st day of school

2011-09-26T13:38:00.000-07:00

You can download and print this sketch (and others!) by going to Sketch Support and clicking on the one-page sketches link found under the "printable sketches" tab on the right sidebar.

supplies: letter stickers: American Crafts, Basic Grey; word stickers: October Afternoon; patterned paper: My Mind’s Eye, Crate Paper, Graphic 45, Cosmo Cricket, October Afternoon, Sassafras; pearls: Prima; punches: Martha Stewart, Fiskars; ink: Tsukineko

1) I followed the sketch pretty closely. I kept all of the paper dimensions the same. I did enlarge the main photo to 3-1/2”x 5” because it just worked better for my photo.

2) I omitted the stitching on the clouds & used some fun word stickers in my stash instead. I think it has the same effect and adds a little extra to this spot.

3) I also omitted the row of stitching along the patterned paper strips. I used some really busy papers, and the stitching would have been overkill.

4) And I used a bit of inking on the flags & flagpoles to help them stand out a bit more.

vote for me (shameless plug)

2011-09-23T13:44:00.001-07:00

Do you live in the greater Rocklin/Roseville area? Do you shop at Green Tangerines? If not, why not? If so…VOTE FOR ME!

This layout is up at Green Tangerines right now as part of their design team call. I’d love to be on their design team, and I’d love for you to vote for me…hey it’s my blog

All you need to do is head on over to Green Tangerines, make a purchase, and

vote for #15

Thank you

sketch support | breakaway quest of the time travelers

2011-09-12T18:30:00.001-07:00

It’s two-page sketch week at Sketch Support again! The Creative Team has come up with lots of fun variations on this fun sketch (for nine photos! Woo-hoo!). Make sure to stop by Sketch Support to get a FREE copy of the sketch (complete with dimensions & paper suggestions), and to check out what everyone else did.

Personally, I love this sketch! I got quite a few good sized photos on this layout, plus a ton of patterned paper. The bonus was that I had the die-cut transparency (from my March Green Tangerines kit) in my stash that worked perfectly with the rest of the layout.

I pretty much stuck exactly to the sketch, except I added in a few flowers that I had in my stash. I like how it added an extra pop near the journaling strips.

supplies: patterned paper: My Mind’s Eye, Cosmo Cricket, Basic Grey; transparency: Fancy Pants; letter stickers: American Crafts & Basic Grey; flower stickers: Basic Grey; scalloped punch: EK Success (All from the March Green Tangerine’s Kit, except the Cosmo Cricket journaling paper)

Here are some more close up photos of what I did:

july | project 12

2011-09-09T12:09:00.001-07:00

supplies: patterned paper: October Afternoon, Crate Paper, Pink Paislee, Bo Bunny; letter stickers: Lush by My Mind’s Eye; border & word stickers: Echo Park; star pin: unknown; all items from my June Green Tangerine’s kit club.

I really had fun as this layout came together. I started out with one idea, and then after looking at a few of Davinie Fiero’s layouts, I decided on something completely different. I love how she has used two different sheets of patterned paper behind kraft cardstock so she could get more patterned paper onto her layout without making it too busy. So hopefully that’s the effect I got as well Enjoy!

sketch support | september card

2011-09-06T11:32:00.000-07:00

Today’s card is based on this sketch at Sketch Support.

supplies: patterned paper: Bo Bunny, Echo Park, Crate Paper; ink: Tsukineko; paper ribbon: basic grey; letter stickers: October Afternoon, Lush by My Mind’s Eye

I needed a card for my uncle’s 60th birthday last week, so I grabbed my June Green Tangerine’s kit box, this month’s card sketch, & whipped one out! I always have cards around, but they seem to be geared to women or kids (since that’s usually who I’m giving them to).

I made a couple of simple changes: 1) I used the ribbon paper instead of striped paper, & 2) I didn’t add hearts or flowers or any embellishments to the three squares. I used a funky patterned paper instead, because it was for a guy. I inked up all my edges to make it pop, added my sentiment with word stickers & was done. Oh, and did I mention, this card was 5x7…a nice big one for a change! I may be making more of this size in the future; it was nice to fit my three kids’ “signatures” on the inside

sketch support | happy 5th birthday

2011-08-26T00:13:00.000-07:00

My layout is based on a one-page sketch at Sketch Support.

Get your free copy of the sketch here.

Supplies: patterned paper: Echo Park; letter stickers: Basic Grey & American Crafts; buttons: stash; label stickers: October Afternoon; other: embroidery floss & vellum

1) The first, most obvious change I made was turning this one page layout into a two-page spread. It was such an easy change up! All I really did was add two more 4x6 photos. Doing this gave me extra space for my title & journaling. All other dimensions were kept the same.

2) I swapped out the hearts in the sketch & used buttons instead. I usually just glue my buttons down, but there was so much stitching on here already that I thought it just fit. I also slid a label sticker behind each cluster of buttons to ground them a bit more.

3) To get my journaling to pop on my printed paper, I printed it on vellum & then put it on top of the patterned paper. I added an extra label sticker with the date to camouflage where the vellum ends on the paper (since I came up with idea AFTER I started stitching )

christmas cards 2010, part three

2011-08-23T11:04:00.000-07:00

My third & last layout of Christmas Card photos! And my fifth Christmas themed project in the last few weeks….I think I’m getting into Christmas mode!

christmas cards 2010, part two

2011-08-22T10:57:00.000-07:00

More inspiration from Nichol Magouirk, and more supplies used up! I did go out & buy the letter & number stickers (My Little Shoebox) because I didn’t have enough “1”s .

Something I did differently this year, that I will continue in the future, is labeling each photo. I added a number sticker on each, and then listed on the side who was in the photo/who it was from. I also used more than one photo from each family IF their card came that way (in the past I’ve just chosen one if they had a collage card).

christmas cards 2010, part one

2011-08-21T10:51:00.001-07:00

I love getting Christmas cards! I love seeing pictures of people I don’t see very often, I love reading updates on everyone’s lives. And I love saving those photos so I can look back on them as the years go by.

The quandary is, how on earth can I get ALL of those photos onto a scrapbook page?

The answer: usually not on *a* single scrapbook page, but a few.

Last year I was able to consolidate all of my card photos onto four pages. This year I took a different approach & actually created a layout for my cards…and ended up with six pages (three layouts) all together. It took a little bit more work, but I’m very pleased with the results!

I was inspired by Nichol Magouirk from Two Peas. I subscribe to her blog, so I’ve seen a few of her card layouts. Then I checked them out on Two Peas & sketched my own version. Here’s the first layout:

supplies are all Echo Park (except the date, Thickers of course!)…and yes, I almost used up my stash with all of these layouts! What was left went into one card & a goody box for my five year old

sketch support: add-on | christmas card

2011-08-18T00:10:00.000-07:00

{See what the rest of the team came up with the add-on sketch here}

Supplies: paper & stickers, Echo Park; ink: Tsukineko; scallop punch: Stampin’ Up!

After doing my Christmas two-page layout, I had a ton of scraps sitting on my desk. What better way to use them than in this month’s add-on sketch? So instead of making a party hat, I made a fun Christmas tree!

The first thing I did was cut a sheet of scrap paper to 3 1/2” x 5”. I cut my triangle base from that using the directions on the original sketch. Then, using the sketch as a guideline, I started laying leftover strips of paper across the base paper. I used more green than the other prints to keep it looking more like a tree than just a bunch of paper. Once everything was adhered, I trimmed the edges & inked them. I punched one strip with a scallop punch for the bottom of the tree.

I added a sticker to the top of the tree, on pop dots, for the star. I used two more stickers, also on pop dots, for the sentiment.

10 things i love about summer

2011-08-11T00:10:00.000-07:00

This layout is based on the latest two-page sketch on Sketch Support. I didn’t get it done on time to be on the blog, but you can pop on over to check out more ideas based on this sketch, and to get a copy of the sketch for free

supplies: patterned paper: Echo Park & Little Yellow Bicycle; journaling card: Technique Tuesday; rhinestones: Doodlebug Designs; title block: Little Yellow Bicycle; Spray Mist: Tattered Angels; other: embroidery floss, (All items from my August Green Tangerine’s kit)

1) I flipped the sketch horizontally & also vertically, just because.

2) To get the swirl that I stitched, I opened up the sketch in Photoshop Elements. I cropped & resized the actual sketch so that the dimensions were 24x12. Then I cropped the portion where the swirl was to 8.5x11 so I could print it out at 100%. Then I traced a line onto the swirls so I could figure out where to punch it. Once I punched all of my holes, I flipped the paper over & punched my swirls onto the layout. (My layout is flipped, so I needed my swirl to be flipped too, I hope that makes sense!). After punching my holes, I flipped my layout over & traced the dots (on the back of my layout) so I could see what holes went to which swirl. Then I just started stitching! I’m pretty pleased with the results!

3) For the strait stitched line I used my Sew Easy tool. I’m still getting the hang of it, but I find if I lightly draw a line where I want my stitching to be, I can make a straight line.

The journaling block is from Technique Tuesday, and is from a sheet of paper.

3) The title block came with 10 strips to write your 10 summer memories on. I was going to ask my kids, but then decided it was going to be MY favorite summer memories I wrote one on each strip, and when I placed it in the page protector I cut a slit on that page so we can remove the strips to read them anytime.

4) This was also the first time I used spray mist…love it! I sprayed the blue waves just to make it more blue, so nothing exciting, but I had fun playing as I sprayed. I can totally see now why people are addicted to their mists…I may have to find me some more things to spray now !

sketch support: merry christmas

2011-08-10T00:15:00.000-07:00

Supplies: Patterned paper & stickers: Echo Park

This layout came together so easily! All Echo Park supplies, and all of my strips came from the sheet of border strips! Yippee! The hardest part was trimming around the trees, and that’s just because my eyes don’t like seeing up close too well anymore, LOL!

1) I kept all the photos on the left hand side the same sizes in the sketch. However, I decided to make a 6x12” photo block on the right instead of four 6x4 photos. Thank goodness for photoshop, right? I just played around with the pictures that I had from Christmas until I liked it, and then resized them to make them fit. I added a 10px stroke outline border to all of the photos in the block because they were blending together too much.

2) Well, obviously this isn’t a “summer” theme, so no waves on this layout. I kept the striped border the same, and added a “ho ho ho” border strip on top. The Christmas trees are attached to the stripes, so I just trimmed around each tree to add some shape to the strip (instead of waves like in the sketch).

3) Another change is how I used the trees & Santa instead of the cool swirls in the sketch. The trees were too green on their own, so I added Santa. And the sticker sheet that I had came with this nice little journaling box. Woo-hoo!

new winner!

2011-08-08T00:35:00.000-07:00

Well, Tootie never contacted me with her info :(

That means I still have a copy of Sketches for Scrapbooking up for grabs!

So I went ahead & drew another name for this fabulous prize:

Congratulations Brenda! Email me at christinechain19 (at) gmail (dot) com so I can forward your contact information to Allison at Sketch Support.

one page sketch book giveaway winner...

2011-08-07T09:31:00.000-07:00

Tootie...

Please contact me by midnight tonight, August 7. I haven't heard from you yet, and I need your contact information to send your prize to. If I don't hear from you by tonight, I will re-draw a winner.

we have a winner

2011-07-31T16:52:00.001-07:00

One copy of this

Will go to:

Congratulations Tootie!

Please contact me with your contact information at christinechain19 (at) gmail (dot) com.

(P.S., there were 10 comments on my blog post, two by Linda. So I

deleted her second comment. Now there are 9.)

week in the life | wednesday

2011-07-27T23:18:00.001-07:00

It’s been a long day. Some of you may know that I’m a speech pathologist, and I provide early intervention services (in home). So I do a LOT of driving for my job. Today was not unlike any other, except of my 6 clients stretched out over 10 hours, I had 3 cancellations! Ugh! That means lots of dead time in the middle of the day of course, because cancellations almost never happen at the end of the day. Rant over, moving on.

Not as many photos today, and that’s okay.

wednesday

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And obviously I didn’t feel like going thru and really processing them yet either. That’s okay.

On a separate but related note, I found out a guy I dated a few times in high school died…like a year and a half ago. I had a weird dream about him the other night (even though I seriously hadn’t even thought of him in years), decided to look him up on Facebook & didn’t find much except some photos that made me think something was wrong. So I googled him & found his obituary. He was one week younger than me.

Life is short. Enjoy it. Document it.

week in the life | tuesday

2011-07-27T00:03:00.000-07:00

Today I took 204 photos. 137 were taken by the kids at my parents’ while I was at work (some of which are videos).

6:00 wake up, shower, get dressed, have coffee & bagel BY MYSELF. Good start to the day.

7:00 Brandon gets up. Girls follow. Get them fed, clothes picked out (to change at Grandma’s), car loaded with their gear and mine (for work). Out the door by 8:05.

8:15 Drop kids off, out of their driveway by 8:25.

8:35 Ugh! Google maps gave me walking directions! Now I’m running behind..quickly hop onto 80 at Eureka & head to my first client.

8:49 1st client of the day. MK. Fun hour of games & school-aged language skills. Spend most of my day behind the wheel, driving from West Roseville, to Antelope, to Sacramento, to Lincoln.

Meanwhile at Grandma & Papa’s…

lots of having fun…

being silly…

shopping at Target & the Farmers’ Market at Whole Foods…

Lego Hero building…

computer designing…

and even more silliness…

3:34 Just finished my 5th & final client of the day in Lincoln.

…but first a stop at Starbucks. Order a venti iced quad nonfat white mocha

…then send a few texts to David to figure out dinner plans (not while driving, I was still sitting in the Starbucks parking lot!)

3:54 Make a quick run into Green Tangerine’s to pick up some cardstock.

4:22 Finally at my parents’ to pick the kids up. Hang out for a bit & see what they’ve done for the day. Head home.

5:09 Finally home, eight hours later. Long day for only five clients (so only 5 hours pay). Sigh. Time to get dinner made & let the kids jump some energy out on the trampoline.

6:20 Sit down for dinner: fresh corn & polish sausages. Nothing fancy tonight.

6:40 Dinner’s done. Kids clean up, get in the car & head to Nuyo for a frozen yogurt treat.

7:15 Finish up, head home. Kids get ready for bed. Goodnight kisses & hugs. Start some laundry. Relax, watch some TV (White Collar & Weeds).

10:30 Catch up on email, put away some laundry. Contemplate bed.

week in the life | monday photos

2011-07-26T11:51:00.000-07:00

This week I’m going to share my photos every day from my Week in the Life. I’ll share what I’ve written sometime next week when I start putting it together. So far, so good, and so thankful for the pdf files that Ali so generously shared.

sketch support one page #11: just dance

2011-07-26T00:10:00.000-07:00

It’s one page week again on the Sketch Support blog! This week Allison is featuring a sketch from her new book Sketches for Scrapbooks—One Page. You can purchase a copy for yourself here, but you can snag the sketch for FREE here.

Here is the sketch:

And here is my take:

Supplies: patterned paper, letter stickers: American Crafts (Peachy Keen); buttons: my stash

1) The first, obvious variation, is that I used one 4x6 photo instead of the three smaller ones. I didn’t change the size of the three 3x6 panels behind the photos.

2) I substituted these three accordion flowers in the lower right for the stars.

I made these flowers (and the other one) using the bar code strip on the bottom edge of each of my sheets of paper. I *love* how American Crafts (& other brands too) are making this strip usable. I scored each 1/2” strip every 1/4”. After accordion folding each, I taped the ends together with the red “sticky tape” & then glued it down to a 1” punched circle. I found a great tutorial here.

3) Instead of the pretty stitched flourishes & multiple stars, I put only one more flower in the upper right corner of the photo. I tried to just keep the layout looking balanced.

4) To aid with the overall balance, I spelled out “just” in a skinnier, yellow letter sticker, and “dance” in a fat bold color letter sticker. Both came out of the same set of letter stickers & match this line of papers perfectly!

5) I added my journaling onto 3/8” strips to make it a bit more legible, and to make something stand out in the lower right.

***

And for those of you who’ve made it this far….

Remember to head over here & leave a comment (only one per person please) to win a free copy of Sketches for Scrapbooking, one page sketches, volume 1.

sketch support one page #11 & a giveaway

2011-07-25T00:08:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, it’s giveaway time…again! I’d never had a giveaway on my blog until two weeks ago, and now I’ve had two! But you don’t care You just want the prize, right?

I have one copy of Sketches for Scrapbooking, one page sketches, volume 1 to give away this week!

That’s right, a sketch book for one-page designs! Brand new, and it features this sketch:

(Pop on over to Sketch Support to get your own FREE copy with all the measurements & details.)

But first, my take:

supplies: Patterned Paper: Crate Paper; Flowers: Sassafras; Letter Stickers: Jillibean Soup & American Crafts Thickers; Stickers: Jillibean Soup

Yes, these are back to school pictures from last fall! Considering Olivia starts KINDERGARTEN next month, I thought it was high-time for me to get these photos scrapped! I’ve had the patterned paper from Crate Paper since last fall, waiting for me to be inspired :)

1) I changed the stars to flowers when I found these flower stickers sitting on my desk, and I omitted the swirl. I love the swirl, but couldn’t freehand one to my liking. Plus then I saw this phrase sticker when I was grabbing the “of” letters. It just worked for me.

2) I skipped the journaling on the upper left because I just didn’t have enough to say. But I did add a flower sticker up there to balance it out visually.

3) I used a fun little journaling spot from Jillibean Soup after starting to write directly on the paper & not liking it.

4) I added another fun word sticker from Jillibean Soup to go along with the flower here. It’s so nice to finally use some goodies from my stash!

So back to the giveaway…

Leave me a sweet comment below to be entered in a random drawing for Allison’s new one-page sketch book. For additional chances to win, check out the blogs of my fellow Creative Team members. I’ll be randomly selecting someone on Sunday July 31.

week in the life 2011 | july 25-31

2011-07-24T15:25:00.001-07:00

Holy cow how did I get to this week already? I feel like I’m just catching up on life, and BAM! time to start my marathon of picture taking & documentation again :)

I know I could postpone it (like I did last year) or simply skip it, but I had so much fun last year that I wanted to do it again.

Are you participating?

I love Ali’s new digital templates, but I need another kit like I need a hole in the head, lol! So I’m keeping it simple & using my kit from last year.

I’m using lots of fun patterned paper from my May Green Tangerines kit. The best part? I think I’ll actually use up my kit! Woo-hoo! I love being a member of a kit club, but I have to admit: I’m running out of room to keep them! I don’t quite go thru everything fast enough for my storage system, and that’s okay. But it sure feels good to put a dent in the stash, don’t you agree?

I also picked up a new album already: the aqua We R Memory Keepers 8 1/2 x 11 classic leather album. I’ve been drooling over the aqua since I first saw it a few months ago. Perfect for a project like this. I still have quite a few page protectors left from last year, including baseball card holders, so I didn’t have to buy any more this time around.

My goal is to get stuff put together every night for that day. So far I’ve trimmed all of the patterned paper I plan on using and placed it in page protectors for each day. I’m hoping to share my photos each day too. We’ll see…of course I have layouts for Sketch Support to share this week too. And a few work-related items to take care of as well. But you can’t meet a goal if you don’t set it, right?

winner!

2011-07-17T23:33:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Denise Z!

Please email me at christinechain19(at)gmail(dot)com with your contact information so I can get your brand spankin' new copy of Sketches for Scrapbooking volume 8 sent out to you :)

(And forgive me for not have the random.org widget here...this is the first time I've tried to use it & of course I couldn't get it to work on my blog. I did get it to spit out #3 for me, and that's Denise.)

last july at the zoo

2011-07-16T13:45:00.001-07:00

I just realized I’d never taken a picture (or shared) this layout of our trip to the zoo last summer.

Supplies: patterned paper: Echo Park; journaling spot: Jillibean Soup; brads: Basic Grey; letter stickers: American Crafts

And as usual, I’m using a sketch from Allison Davis (Sketches for Scrapbooking v. 6).

I didn’t really switch up much from the original sketch this time. I did use a journaling sprout in the text area (instead of strips). And I tucked part of it behind the photo because it had a word on it that didn’t fit in with the layout.

I also used brads instead of buttons. Minor swap, I know. And it felt so good to use up some Lime Rickey brads I’d had sitting around for a couple of years!

when life gives you limes…

2011-07-15T07:45:00.000-07:00

make margaritas!

Can you tell I absolutely loved this sketch from Sketch Support?

Supplies Patterned Paper: Crate Paper, Pink Paislee, My Mind’s Eye, & October Afternoon; Stamps: A Muse Artstamps; Pens: Certainly Celery & Old Olive by Stampin’ Up!; Ink: Staz On; Glossy Accents & Stickles: Ranger; brads & punch: STampin’ Up! (All paper supplies from my Green Tangerine’s May Kit)

My apologies for crooked pictures…it was quite windy when I went outside & most of my shots are of cards falling down!

*Remember, you only have until Sunday to comment here for a chance to win Scrapbook Generation’s newest sketch book*

abbie two, err, three?

2011-07-14T07:25:00.001-07:00

Happy 3rd Birthday Abbie!

Around here, Abbie has affectionately become known as “Abbie too!” Since she was a baby, whenever we would ask who wanted to do something, Brandon & Olivia have always answered “me! and Abbie too!”. So the name stuck.

For the last year, we’ve joked that her name is “Abbie two”. And if asked, that’s probably the name she’ll tell you. (Not Abbie or Abigail, but “Abbietwo.” One word. Very cute!)

Now that she’s three, the big question is, is she still Abbie two, or is she now Abbie three?

And whatever you call her, she’s still the cutest little three year old in town…So Happy Birthday my dear sweet Abigail, our little Abbiechab, Abbie too, & curly Q.

we lost our first tooth…

2011-07-13T20:10:00.001-07:00

on Tuesday during Breakaway Games…

and Brandon’s Lego “coaches” were kind enough to put it in a baggy for us. Which my mom took a picture of. And then Brandon lost. Oh well…he wrote a letter to the tooth fairy & she brought him some money anyways!

(P.S.: You still have time to comment on this post for a chance to win Sketches for Scrapbooking volume 8).

two page sketch # 17: just another fun day at the zoo

2011-07-12T08:07:00.000-07:00

It’s two page week again on the Sketch Support blog! This week Allison is featuring a sketch from her new book Sketches for Scrapbooks vol. 8. You can purchase a copy for yourself here, but you can snag the sketch for FREE here.

And here is my version:

supplies (all from my Green Tangerines June kit) letter stickers: Lush by My Mind’s Eye, October Afternoon, & Echo Park; chipboard buttons: Graphic 45; Word Stickers: Echo Park; Patterned Paper: Crate Paper; Journaling block & ribbon: unknown; Punch: EK Success; Decorative Brads: Stella Rose by My Mind’s Eye

My original plan was to stick with the sketch & do something for the Fourth of July. And then I went thru my photos & realized I hadn’t scrapped our zoo pictures from April!

The first change I made was to add more photos. The sketch calls for three 4x4 photos stacked on the right page. First of all, I had two photos that just didn’t work as squares. And second of all, I wanted to use a few more pictures. So I opened up a 6x12 block in Photoshop Elements and made a grid of eight 3x3 photos. Then I started playing around & came up with the above photo block.

*Tip: You should be able to see the white lines in between each photo. Instead of trying to line all of them up with a perfect margin & still make it fit, I simply selected each photo layer (before flattening) and went to “edit>stroke (outline) selection”. I outlined each photo with a 10px line that was centered.*

1) As you can see, I didn’t use stars! I had this cute journaling block in my GTKC kit that I was planning on mounting on something. But no matter what I put under it, I liked it by itself more. Plus the block itself kind of stands in for the large star.

2) I substituted these cute buttons for the star border. originally they were just place holder so I could see if I liked the swoosh of stars going over my photo on the right, and then I realized I really liked the buttons. And they have a few clock ones to go with the clock on the journaling block…yay!

After getting the buttons stitched on & my pages almost done, I decided they needed a little extra something. So snipped the legs off of a few brads & glued them down. I love the extra bit of color & bling.

3) Instead of a scalloped border next to striped paper, I used “torn paper” ( have no idea what to call this) punch and some ribbon from my kit. The scalloped edge didn’t fit the look I was going for, and with all the circles I thought the scallops would be too round.

And for those of you who’ve made it this far….

…it’s a giveaway of Sketch Support’s latest sketch book, volume 8.

You can leave me a sweet comment to be entered in a drawing for a free copy of "Sketches for Scrapbooking" volume 8. I will draw a winner (late) Sunday, July 17th and post the winner. And for extra chances, head over to the rest of the Sketch Support Creative Team blogs...we're all giving a copy away this week!

more: card sketch #9

2011-07-05T22:33:00.001-07:00

I had a lot of fun with card sketch # 9 this month! I think I’ve said before, when I sit down to make cards, I usually make a few. That way I’ve always got a stash to grab one from when I’m running out the door to a birthday party :)

Again, this is the sketch:

And this is what I did:

Supplies for both cards came from my February Green Tangerine’s kit:

Patterned paper: Pebbles, Sassafras, My Mind’s Eye, October Afternoon, & Cosmo Cricket; letter stickers: American Crafts; Clock buttons: Jenni Bowlin; flower buttons: Lily Bee designs; sticker, October Afternoon.

(The “k” card will probably go to my sister, Kathy, but it could be for anyone with the initial “k”. I like adding something personal to my cards like that.)

sketch support: card sketch #9

2011-07-04T22:27:00.000-07:00

I’m so excited to have my first project go “live” on the Sketch Support website! I found out at the end of May that I was going to be one of the newest members of the Creative Team, and I’ve waited until now (when I had something to share) to announce it.

Supplies:

Letter stickers: American Crafts; Key hole: Tim Holtz; Flower punch: Stampin’ Up!; Black pearls: Prima; Patterned paper: Cosmo Cricket, My Mind’s Eye, October Afternoon, Graphic 45, Sassafras, Pebbles (all from my Green Tangerines Kit Club, February)

For this sketch I stuck to the overall design, but altered the dimensions & eliminated the stitching; I love mixing up lots of patterned paper & I thought adding stitching was just a bit too much this time around.

First of all, I increased the size of the upper strip of paper to 1 ½” so that my letter stickers would fit better. To balance that out, I increased the bottom strip to 1”. The red strip and stripes are the original sizes, but the number paper is a bit wider because I wanted the numbers to show correctly.

I love the stars in the original sketch, but I *love* my flower punch! I added a black pearl to the center of each flower to tie the color in better. After adding my word “love” to the top, I decided the card needed something on the bottom to balance it out, so I pulled the cool metal key hole out of my stash & glued it down.

The card is based on card sketch #9 from Sketch Support:

Click here to see what other Creative Team members came up with this week.

just another friday night

2011-06-22T08:48:00.000-07:00

I think this just might be one of my favorite layouts right now:

Supplies (all May Green Tangerines Kit Club): Letter stickers Bella Blvd; Patterned paper: My Mind’s Eye, Crate Paper, October Afternoon, Pink Paislee; Jute Flowers: Jillibean Soup; ric rac, twine, embroidery floss (2 strands for stitching)

It’s based on the double page sketch #16 from Sketch Support.

After printing my photos in black & white, I knew they needed to lay on a white background. And I wanted LOTS of color in the patchwork below. So I pulled out my kraft cardstock and my May GTKC. Then I just started laying all the papers next to each other until I figured out which ones worked best on this layout.

(yes, I noticed AFTER I took this photo that my lettering was coming up…thanks to a little glue & a page protector it’s A-OK now!)

The sketch calls for stitching. I didn’t want the fine line from my sewing machine, so I knew I’d be hand stitching. I just go the Sew Easy tool & it was so fun to use on here! It didn’t go thru all three layers of paper, but that’s okay. It did give me a partial hole that I just poked thru with my paper piercer.

I didn’t want to get my layout too flowery, since the main photo is my son and his best friend, but my kit had these cool jute flowers from Jillibean that I’ve been dying to use. I think they added the right touch without being too girly.

This banner here was one of the embellishments from my kit. The sketch had clouds over here, which didn’t really “fit” my layout. But I think the banner adds just the right amount of color without being over the top.

how to host a star wars birthday party

2011-06-19T00:31:00.000-07:00

and succeed!

My son’s 6th birthday was almost 4 months ago (!), so it’s time I share the details of his super fun Star Wars party.

In case you missed my post yesterday, here is the layout I did of his party:

Invited you are, to a Star Wars birthday party

I started out by googling “star wars birthday party” and found some great ideas on these two blogs:

Hostess with the Mostess & Beauty from Ashes

There are TONS of ideas out there, but I liked these two the best.

Invitations.

I set them up in Photoshop Elements so I could print four on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper. You could also use Microsoft Word. I wanted to word them in “Yoda speak” and incorporate the Star Wars logo.

I got the wording for the back (text) side of the invitation from a sample I saw somewhere online. The “docking bay” was our address, and the “password” is our gate code.

The text font is Teen, and I don’t remember which font I used for the Star Wars logo. Here are the Star Wars fonts I found after LOTS of searching!

SF Distant Galaxy

Forced Re-entry

Star Jedi

(They all came with a word.doc “cheat sheet” so you can do lots of fun things with your letters (like connect the S to the T in “star”). One of them also came with cool dingbats that I used to create my cupcake toppers & bottle labels.)

Food.

We downloaded a few Star Wars songs on iTunes and had those playing the whole time the kids were here. It was the perfect background theme while everyone arrived. I let the kids play for a bit until enough kids were here to justify serving lunch. We had “galactic pizza” (aka, LIttle Caesars), Dark Side punch (red gatorade with a Darth Vader label) and Yoda Soda (green Gatorade with a Yoda label), and cookies.

My mom made these for us using the cookie cutter/presses from Williams-Sonoma. The white & green cookies were made using the butter cookie recipe that comes with the cookie presses. Yoda has a little “leaf green” Wilton color added. The black cookies were made with a chocolate cookie recipe and black Wilton coloring…they tasted like the cookie part of an Oreo! Yum! Recipe at the end of this post.

Treasure Hunt.

After lunch we embarked on a treasure hunt thru the house, so that the kids could become Jedis. The prize? Star Wars silly bands. I’ve done treasure hunts before, and I find it’s easiest to figure out how many steps you want, then where you want to hide stuff, and then decide on your wording. I used a Yoda translator I found online to come up with these clues.

1) Young padawans, been chosen to embark on a jedi journey, you have. Begin in the room where young minds play, you must, and the sun shines in. Yeesssssss.

2) Ah, found this you have. Continue out into the day, yessssss. For water seek the long green source. Looking for, there you find what you are. Yes, hmmm.

3) To where our birthday boy sleeps now go. Herh herh herh. Find his drawers of creation, there you will. Yeesssssss.

4) Almost reached jedi status, you have. Hmmmmmm. One more stop on your journey, there is. Watch young jedi, go to where you can. Yeesssssss.

5) Found it you have! Congratulations young padawans. Now jedi, you are. Yes, hmmm.

The first clue was “found” on the table as the kids finished eating. I love the translator added in all of Yoda’s “sounds” as he talks!

The Death Star

Now that the kids were Jedis, we were able to destroy the Death Star! Otherwise known as, hit a piñata until the candy falls out.

I got a soccer ball piñata at Party City for about $10 (half the price of a Darth Vader one!). Then I painted it dark grey with an entire bottle of grey Ceram coat paint.

Note: the kids will want to use light sabers to destroy the Death Star. However, the light sabers aren’t strong enough, so make sure you have a baseball bat on hand. Because six year olds won’t believe you when you tell them this, you will have to let them attempt to whack it with their light saber first. Then they will complain & ask for the baseball bat :)

General Grievous.

Now that these young Jedi were feeling pretty tough, they came back inside, candy bags full, and were ready to pin the light saber on General Grievous.

I found the picture of General Grievous by googling him. Then I opened up the picture in PSE, resized it to my liking, and printed it in two parts on 12x12 sheets of white paper. I think it came out to be an 11x17 that is taped in the middle.

The coolest thing about General Grievous is that he has three lightsabers…so everyone wins!

Labels.

I made the cupcake picks by creating a 5x7 photo in PSE and uploading it to Costco to print. Each square is 2 1/8”, and I used a 2” circle punch.

I adhered two circles together, so there is a front & back that match, with a toothpick in-between the two layers. If I do this again (and I know I will, because it was SO EASY, I will just have a plain circle on the back because it was a PAIN to get both perfectly lined up.

I made the fun drink labels by opening an 8.5x11 document in PSE, and dividing it equally into four sections. I typed a Darth Vader or Yoda dingbat in each section, and then printed on regular white paper. I then trimmed the paper into 2 3/4” strips and taped them onto the small Gatorade bottles. The kids were pretty impressed by the drinks!

Chocolate Sugar Cookies:

2 3/4 cups (355 grams) all purpose flour

3/4 cup (75 grams) unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon (4 grams) baking powder

1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 3/4 cups (350 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 to 4 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture and beat until you have a smooth dough.

Divide the dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about one hour or until firm enough to roll. (I chilled it overnight.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in the center of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Remove one half of the chilled dough from the refrigerator and, on a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch (1 cm). (Keep turning the dough as you roll, making sure the dough does not stick to the counter.) Cut out desired shapes using a lightly floured cookie cutter and transfer cookies to the prepared baking sheet. Place the baking sheets with the unbaked cookies in the refrigerator for 10 to 15 minutes to chill the dough which prevents the cookies from spreading and losing their shape while baking.

Note: If you are not going to frost the baked cookies, you may want to sprinkle the unbaked cookies with crystal or sparkling sugar.

Bake cookies for about 10 - 12 minutes (depending on size) or until they are firm around the edges. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. Frost with royal icing, if desired. Be sure that the frosting on the cookies dries completely before storing. (This may take several hours.) Frosted cookies will keep several days in an airtight container. Store between layers of parchment paper or wax paper. Makes about 36 – 4 inch cookies.

Star Wars Cookies (from Williams-Sonoma Kitchen)

2 ½ c all-purpose flour

½ tsp. salt

12 tbs. (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract

*Wilton leaf green food coloring paste, optional, for Yoda

Have all the ingredients at room temperature.

Over a small bowl, sift together the flour and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the butter on high speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium, slowly add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg and vanilla and beat for 1 minute, stopping the mixer once to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Stop the mixer and add half of the flour mixture. Beat on low speed until most of the flour has been absorbed, about 1 minute. Add the remaining flour and continue beating until all of the flour has been absorbed and the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl, 2 to 3 minutes.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface and divide into 2 equal balls. Shape each into a disk and wrap separately in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let stand for 5 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough 3/16 to 1/4 inch thick.

Preheat an oven to 350°. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper.

Using the cookie cutters, cut out the desired shapes. If the dough sticks to the cutter, dip the cutter into flour before cutting out more shapes. Using a small offset spatula, transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 1 inch apart.

Bake the cookies until golden brown around the edges, 10 to 15 minutes. If baking more than one sheet at a time, rotate the baking sheets from top to bottom and 180 degrees halfway through baking.

Transfer the baking sheets to wire racks and let cool for 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to the racks and let cool completely. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Makes about 8 of each cookie.

invited you are, to a star wars birthday party

2011-06-18T08:23:00.001-07:00

Brandon had a Star Wars birthday party for his 6th birthday this year. I think it was our best themed party ever! I’m not a Star Wars fanatic by any means, but I had so much fun planning the party (and even more fun scrapping about it, lol!).

Supplies: Bazzill Basics cardstock; Basic Grey & American crafts letter stickers; My Mind’s Eye and Basic Grey patterned paper; American Crafts buttons

I started out by selecting a layout from my Sketches for Scrapbooking volume 7*. (There were a few layouts I liked, so I kept going thru my photos to see which layout would work best with the photos I wanted to showcase.) Then I went back thru my photos from Brandon’s party & resized them in Photoshop Elements so they would work on this layout.

*Rumor has it that another one will be coming out soon…And I get to have a giveaway for one since I’m one of the newest members of the Sketch Support design team!

I’ve been waiting to use my March GT kit for this layout, because I think the colors are nice and boyish. But it still took me FOREVER to figure out which papers I was going to actually use on this page when I sat down to scrap!

I did know that I wanted to use the blue letters from Basic Grey for my title. The funky font has always looked Star Wars-like to me (and yes, I know it isn’t!).

The original sketch calls for stars for embellishments. Usually I just use whatever I want for accents, but since this is a STAR Wars page, I thought it would be appropriate to use actual stars! I finally broke down & picked up two star punches, both Marvy Uchida Clever Levers (the “regular” orange one & “extra jumbo” yellow one). I started playing around & came up with my own embellishments by layering the stars and a 1 3/8” circle punch. I inked up the edges, added a button, and was pretty happy with myself :)

april (project 12)

2011-06-05T13:55:00.000-07:00

Here is the sketch from Scrapbook & Cards today:

And here is my take on it:

I stayed pretty true to the sketch (again) and used my May GTKC.

Originally I had planned on using my April kit, because it has the corrugated butterflies from Jillibean Soup. But I’ve used that kit a lot recently & was excited to use my May goodies. So I used three buttons (from Crate Paper, in my May kit) in place of each butterfly. I glued them done with Tombo Mono Adhesive.

I used a border punch on the strip of orange paper here and then stitched it down to my page & journaling block. Unfortunately I thought I had enough thread in my bobbin…and I did not! Of course I started stitching under where the photo went, so I had to rip out all of the stitching, which left me with holes on my layout. Ugh. I was sure if I could get my stitches in the same spots so I then handstitched the strip.

I used some mini number stickers here in the journaling block to coordinate to each picture. I wish I’d typed up my journaling because it was really hard to write on the textured cardstock. Oh well. Live & learn :)

I pulled out my border punches again for the top of the page. This time I did one with a scalloped edge & one with the notebook edge. I stitched them too.

project life 3/6 - 3/31

2011-06-03T06:39:00.000-07:00

Those of you who regularly follow my blog know that I haven’t been too great at posting my Project Life photos this year, and that I was REALLY sick in March. So I’m playing catch-up today and sharing my photos from March.

Although I’m pretty good at taking a photo a day, I’m human & slack! That’s the beauty of this project; I can fill in the blank spots with photos taken on other days.

So you’ve been warned…this is a photo heavy post! :) Enjoy!

****

Shopping at Old Navy…Brandon asked if he could take some pictures & he got this one of me & Abbie.

Olivia made this for me. It’s a picture of me (left) and her (right). The decorations on either side of us are girls. I love it!

Playing games on the computer on a Tuesday afternoon.

Going over the Scholastic Book Order forms after school. All three kids love going thru them & circling the books they want to get.

We love the new car shopping carts at Whole Foods!

Yummy pizza at Mary’s Pizza Shack! Gram came to visit for the weekend, so we all went out to dinner on Friday night.

Brandon & Olivia spent the afternoon putting together a new puzzle with Gram.

Putting together new Lego Hero Factory all by himself! Brandon picked this one out with his money from his birthday.

The girls set up a book store in the entryway today, and even made money for me to buy their books.

I am so thankful to have girls that play together so well, and are so able to entertain themselves! Today they set up a movie theatre in the hallway, while I napped on the couch all day…today was day four of the flu for me.

I spent most of the morning at the doctor’s office getting two nebulizer treatments & new inhaler prescriptions. And a confirmation of the flu. The one year I didn’t get a flu shot….guess I learned my lesson!

The Leprechauns left us some gold & necklaces on the table this morning.

(Brandon was disappointed it wasn’t real gold & that the Leprechauns didn’t do more. Considering I had the flu, the kids are lucky they got this!)

We all love to eat apples around here…especially Granny Smith apples dipped in peanut butter :)

Giddy-up Abbie!

Just when we were about to get rid of Brandon’s Geotrax, Abbie decided she wanted to play with the trains. I guess we’ll hang on to them for a little bit longer since she spent most of the day playing with them.

Brandon made chipboard (left) and pressboard (right) at school while learning all about wood. It is so amazing what he learns in kindergarten!

My mom made this adorable Abby Cadaby doll quilt for Abbie, and then another one for Olivia.

Baseball practice in soccer shorts, with soccer socks pulled all the way up…think he was cold?! :)

The girls love picking out donuts on Thursdays at Whole Foods to have for breakfast on Fridays.

We had the grand opening at Cook Speech and Language today. Holly & Brien hired a photographer & she got this great shot of the girls.

Today we got to clean out the pantry after discovering TONS of rat droppings! Ewww!

Today was AJ’s 5th birthday party…When it was time to open presents, Abbie joined right in. And AJ let her help! What a great kid!

Blowing bubbles in the front yard…another lazy mommy & Abbie Monday morning :)

That damn rat is too sly for the traditional traps! David picked up this fancy one at Ace and the rat was dead that night! So long ratty!

Abbie came home from my mom’s today & announced that she had gone pee pee in the potty (which turns out wasn’t exactly true). But she did use the potty at home (with Olivia cheering her on). And I’m pleased to say that a few days later she was officially potty trained! After over six years of diapers we are all potty trained! Hallelujah!

Playing at McDonald’s while grabbing a quick lunch.

bubble blowin’

2011-06-02T01:39:00.000-07:00

I love Monday mornings! For a long time I went to MOPS on Mondays, then as my kids got older (and my life got crazier), I stopped. At first it was really tough, but then I realized it was my only time with just ONE child! Holy Cow! So Mondays became special Abbie & me time.

I took these photos of Abbie blowing bubbles one Monday in March, and just got around to scrapping them last weekend. I used a one page sketch for Sketch Support (seen here) and stayed pretty true to the design.

I did change the size of the photos from one 3x4 & one 6x4 to two 4x4s. I couldn't get any of the photos I had of this morning to work in the 3x4 size. A very quick & easy change in PSE.

I broke into my May GTKC for the 2nd time with this layout. I’m really loving all the patterned papers in it! I created the curve in PSE by using the custom shape tool & drawing a flag across an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper. I got the curve to the size I wanted & then printed it on a piece of scratch paper to make a template. So easy!

I swapped out the stars in the original sketch for circles (to represent bubbles). I used my 1 1/4”, 1” & 3/4” punches and then inked the edges in brown.

The letter stickers were in the kit too, from Bella Blvd. I like the font (even though the stickers weren’t laying down & sticking as well as I wanted them too!).

cupcake gift card holder

2011-06-01T00:12:00.000-07:00

My sister’s birthday was in early April, and I finally gave her a gift a couple of weeks ago…whoops! I never get to the mall anymore, and she wanted a Nordstrom gift card. Then I remembered that they sell them at Safeway…where I go a few times a week!

So I figured I better dress up that gift to make it worth the wait!

I used this sketch of a cupcake from the Sketch Support website, and was inspired by this gift card holder on the eighteen25 blog. The best part? I made a couple of gift card holders & used up my scraps of patterned paper I got last spring for Olivia’s birthday layout :)

It slips over the entire gift card pretty easily, almost too easily. I could've taped it somehow, but I decided not to so my sister can re-gift it if she wants to.

at five years old

2011-05-31T02:13:00.000-07:00

I recently shared an interview I did with Brandon using an interview format from Cathy Zielske. I had originally planned on using that same layout for my interview with Olivia, but then I saw this cute “at three and a half” layout from Susan Weinroth & immediately change my mind and made this:

The first thing I did to my layout was take the journaling I’d already typed up from the interview layout and put it in a paragraph form. I kept the questions in bold & answers in regular (using the font PT Sans that was from the digital template). I separated each question with the “|” (it’s the uppercase of the back slash, just above the enter key) and then added the date at the end. I printed it all on some aqua Bazzill that I had leftover from another layout & adhered it to the top of the page.

Then I added my three photos & started to play! I broke out my May GTKC for the first time & had fun picking out prints :)

After my photos were in place, I spelled out “at five years old” with the mini letter stickers, and just above that I added some patterned paper I punched out with my cloud, butterfly, and 1 3/4” circle punch. I inked the edges and adhered them, then added a staple for the butterfly body.

I added those same pattered papers in strips below the photos, and included two border stickers from Crate Paper. I’m very impressed that they were actually 12” long; it seems like so many other border stickers aren’t quite long enough. I love the film strip border sticker! I was going to use it by itself, but it looked so blah without anything behind it.

Something was still missing so I pulled out this cute little custom embellishment from my kit. I love how it’s just a fun funky design & I think it adds that perfect oomph that I needed.

let’s go brandon

2011-05-30T08:40:00.000-07:00

First of all, it’s Memorial Day. Thank you to all the men & women who have graciously served our country.

And to honor them, what is more American than baseball?

I take a ton of pictures at each of Brandon’s baseball games, thanks to the burst mode on my camera. It’s so easy to snap ten in a row & hope that one is him hitting the ball. When I looked at the photos from Brandon’s last game, I thought, “hey wouldn’t it be fun to have a story-board style layout of these photos?”

I found this sketch in one of my Allison Davis sketch books. (love them!)

Then I pulled out my March GTKC & found some papers that would work nicely, as well as some brads to embellish it. I wanted to keep it fairly simple, so the focus is on Brandon swinging the bat.

february 2011

2011-05-27T00:27:00.000-07:00

Here is the February sketch from Scrapbook & Cards Today:

And here is my interpretation:

I stuck pretty close to the original sketch, really only changing up the embellishments. I had fun mixing & matching patterned papers from the February GTKC.

I just found out this fun strip of paper is called a “bar code strip.” I call it, “that edge you usually cut off & throw away, but fancy”. Sassafras always has some funky ones, and I knew I wanted to use this strip at some point. When I realized the sketch had a strip of ribbon/paper, I knew this banner edge would be perfect!

On the lower left hand side, I clustered a few embellishments in the corner. I love the 1940’s feel to the patterned Cosmo Cricket paper & didn’t want to cover it up.

sunny days

2011-05-26T00:01:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I grabbed my camera when we went to the park, and I had fun snapping some fun pictures of the girls while we were waiting for their brother to get out of school.

I was inspired by a sketch that came with my April GTKC, and I lifted the circle idea from Brenda Johnston’s layout based on the sketch. I printed an 11 1/2” circle from Photoshop Elements onto the back of the patterned paper so I had a line to cut my circle.

I knew I wanted to incorporate yellow into the layout because of Olivia’s bright top. And then I found this fun cloud paper from My Mind’s Eye (the reverse is the yellow print on the cloud).

After adhering the photos & paper, I wanted to add some embellishments. I had two “blank” areas (the upper right and down by the title) that needed some attention. I just got myself the cute cloud punch last week, and this was the perfect time to break it in! I love how Susan Weinroth stitches her clouds onto her layouts, so I pulled out my new sewing machine too.

I used a single line of stitching on my upper clouds and three separate lines on my lower clouds. I didn’t stitch on the clouds near my journaling because I thought it would just be too much there.

project life 5/1–5/7

2011-05-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

(playing catch-up)

May Merriment: Flowers

Some days I took pictures of flowers, some days I didn’t.

It was Olivia’s birthday party today, so no flowers Just the gang of giggly girls!

Olivia had her kindergarten assessment today, so afterwards we went to Starbucks for breakfast.

(photograph a flower with a wide aperture)

a rose in our front yard; f/1.8, 1/2500, iso 400

Giving my car a very much needed wash!

(photograph a backlit flower)

I cut some roses from the front & set them in the window by the kitchen sink. I love how they look in the olive jar vase!

Kindergarten Mother’s Day tea. We all had to dress in our fanciest clothes for a special surprise day, put on by the kids.

Helmets all lined up on the bench, ready to play ball!

project life 5/15–5/22

2011-05-23T00:34:00.000-07:00

May Merriment topic: Food

Something you eat (a plate, a pot, a table):

I don’t think I have any photos of our everyday dishes: Casa Azul by Villeroy & Boch.

Something edible:

The season’s first corn. Perfect, and never enough.

With a prop:

Wasn’t sure what to shoot until I saw Brandon’s lunch box on the counter after school, waiting to be unloaded & cleaned.

Food near it’s source:

I was struggling with this one until I saw someone mention “inside your fridge”…thank goodness it wasn’t a disaster in there!

Something sweet:

A perfect topic for my birthday! I took the kids (& my mom) to Icing on the Cupcake after we picked Brandon up. This was actually Abbie’s cupcake (I had a chocolate mint one…yummy!), but it looked the most “birthday”.

Strawberries:

A household staple this time of year.

Food with metal (utensil?):

Just our Saturday morning Noah’s bagels box. No metal, but pure deliciousness.

an interview with brandon

2011-05-22T22:28:00.001-07:00

Originally I thought I was going to create an “everyday you” layout for my kids every six months. I thought it would be fun to chronicle their changes & likes & everyday-ness. Then I saw this cool interview format on Cathy Zielske’s blog & thought, I think I’m going to do that too!

This was by far one of the easiest layouts I’ve completed! I downloaded the template at Designer Digitals (where it looks like there are having a sale still…not sure how much longer though). I asked Brandon all the questions (& Olivia too, but I haven’t done her layout yet), then typed them into the psd document. I did have to head over to the Font Squirrel to download the fonts (since I didn’t have them, but they were free).

I printed the photos on photo paper and the rest on white cardstock, then I put them together & adhered them to a sheet of black cardstock. Done. And a lot of fun to look back on.