merry christmas

 

May you all have a happy, healthy Christmas!

sketch support | happy holidays at disneyland

 

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.

sketch support | have a holly jolly christmas

 

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 25

 

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!

christmas cards 2010, part three

 

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

 

 

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

 

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

 

{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.

sketch support: merry christmas

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!

wish

Last year we started the Christmas wish list tradition with Brandon & Olivia. Since they couldn’t write, my mom helped them cut out pictures from the toy ads that come out in November. We put them in page protectors & they brought them when they visited Santa.

This year they still can’t write, but they can cut on their own. So I collected a bunch of toy ads for them, handed them some scissors, paper, & glue sticks, and let them go to town. I think it took all afternoon!

This layout is based on a Page Maps sketch found here. I didn’t get a layout done in time for the contest, but liked the sketch anyway (and had already printed the photos).

I used some Jillibean Soup (speaking of which, have you been to their blog this week? New spring lines are up! *LOVE* them!), along with some new goodies in my January Green Tangerines Kit.

Unfortunately you can see the number on this journaling sprout because I took a photo from the top of the page (so you wouldn’t see my ugly carpet!). But normally you don’t see it. I popped the flower up & added a “dot” from my letter stickers. I don’t remember where I saw that idea; using your extra dots from your thickers stash instead of buying brads, but I love it!

I drew my journaling lines again on this layout…why haven’t I done this before? So easy!

merry christmas!

supplies used:
Basic Grey Ribbon Candy paper
Ali Edwards 2010 Alpha Tabs; Anna Aspnes StraightLine Stitch Red # 01;
Katie Pertiet Word Strip Labels # 02
Katie Pertiet Krafty Cut-Ups: Holiday
Ali Edwards Holiday Word Art

joy to the world

 

I had fun making this card using a sketch on Allison Davis’ blog. Everything is from my December Green Tangerines’ kit (2009), except the JOY stickers, which are from an earlier kit. I cut the snowflakes from a die-cut sheet from KI Memories.

All Aboard!

Last December we got to go on the Polar Express at the California Railroad Museum in Sacramento. My mom treated us (minus Abbie who was too young) to a fun evening. Brandon & Olivia were thrilled beyond words to get to take the train to the North Pole!



Now that it's summer I'm finally using my December kit from Green Tangerines! I was inspired by a layout I saw on the American Crafts blog back in December. I liked how she layered all the papers, and did the strip of photos. Perfect for this! Especially because I had about five more I could've easily used, but I didn't want a two-page layout.

I cut a 1/2" strip of the striped paper, and a 7/8" strip of the red floral/snowflake (I didn't want it to be fully 2x the height of the striped). The postage label is a sticker strip from Collage Press. All were in my kit.

I cut the snowflake for a glitter die-cut sheet of paper from K I Memories (which is why the ends of the snowflake are kind of wonky!). The center is a "period" from some red glitter Thickers I had from a previous kit. It adds just a little something to the center of each snowflake.

The red letter stickers are from Cosmo Cricket. I like how they're just a bit bigger than many of the other mini alpha stickers I have. I painted the white fabric thickers that came in my kit. It was so easy! I used some brown acrylic paint I had sitting around & did one quick coat. One of the "a" stickers is a bit darker because I tried to use a stamp pad to do it first...I don't recommend that. But I do recommend painting them! I knew it could be done on the foam letters so I though I'd give it a whirl.

Christmas...in June :)

I finally got around to scrapping my Christmas pictures last week. I used my December Green Tangerine's kit and a sketch from Allison Davis' sketch book volume 5.

I apologize for the not-so-great photo. For some reason I just can't get my white layouts to photograph nicely. They always seem to wash out (if I'm in the sun) or turn blue (in the shade, which is where I took this). I did some adjustments in Adobe Camera Raw that did warm it up a bit, but...oh well.

There are a few spots on her sketch that call for "circles" so I used some buttons from my stash. These are Making Memories buttons that I bought in just about every color I could...in 2002 :)  I tied them with some fun silver string from my kit.

Journaling strips, of course. I've found the trick (for me) is to pre-journal on a sheet of lined notepad. I draw a line down the edge to mark the width. Then I don't have to deal with erasing & having my original words show thru when I don't trace perfectly.

And lastly, all the different papers together. This seems to be my new "thing": using lots of patterned paper like this.

Countdown to Christmas, pt 2

I know it's over 11 months away :)

This is my first "Christmas" layout that I've done for 2009, and my first with my new December kit from Green Tangerines.

I knew how I wanted my layout to look before I even took my first picture. I didn't get a picture every day (some activities were just watching movies), but I tried. And I knew I wanted some patterened paper mixed in, so I didn't stress too much! Plus, I got more than one cute picture on some days.

Countdown to Christmas, pt 1

I've mentioned my Advent Calendar already. I'm trying to take a picture of what we're doing each day so I can scrap it later. I'm going to have to go back & take pics of some of the things I don't have a picture of.

I'd like to share what we've been up to for the first half of the month:

1: Find Elfie & tell her what you'd like for Christmas

2-Pick out a Christmas movie, snuggle under a blanket, & watch it together

(no picture yet; they watched Frosty the Snowman)

3-Read "Twas the Night before Christmas"

4-Look at the ornaments on the Christmas tree, then have some hot chocolate.

**Disclaimer: I hadn't actually decorated the tree yet at this point, so we changed what it said to "Put the ornaments on the tree". It's so nice to have children who can't read!

5-Make a yummy Christmas cake.

6-Sing some Christmas carols--loudly!

7-Let's make a gingerbread house!

8-Roast marshmallows in the fireplace. Yummy!

9-Drive around & look at Christmas lights in your pajamas--snuggle up with your favorite blanket.

10-Have some Christmas candy! Enjoy!

11-Watch "The Santa Clause" & laugh together. Have some popcorn too!

12-Make Christmas popcorn. (This was supposed to be popcorn balls. However, I ended a LOT busier than intended so we were going to put Christmas sprinkles in popcorn. But life happened & we couldn't. Hats off to my mom for doing it for us while babysitting!)

13-Read Christmas stories together. (Note to self: buy more Christmas books!)

14-Make some Christmas cookies.

gifts

Today was our last day of MOPS for the year (back in January). So it was Moppet teacher appreciation day. I was planning on making chocolate dipped pretzels for gifts. Sounded great in my head--I even bought a kit to make them--but when it came down to it, I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out & how exactly the kids would be able to help.

So on Saturday my friend Tanya mentioned making "turtles" by melting a Rolo on top of a waffle pretzel & smooshing a pecan on top. Fabulous! The kids peeled the wrappers off the Rolos for me & put them on top of the pretzels. We baked them for 4 minutes at 350 & then I added the pecan since they were still warm. I let them cool on the parchment I baked them on for a few hours & then bagged them up.Yum! Thank you Tanya!

Last night I stayed up WAY too late making the tags for the gifts. I gave them to the girls at my table too. And I'll be bringing some to work on Wednesday as well. I'm pretty proud of my tags! I did a search on Splitcoast for "ski slope dsp" (designer series paper) from Stampin' Up. The basic design was a card. Fortunately I had the stamp too!

Christmas cards :)

I love making Christmas cards! I stamped mine for a while, only taking a break when Brandon was a baby. We had some adorable pics of him taken & the photographer offered this:

 

How could we resist?

Then last year I found some great digital cards at The Shabby Shoppe & downloaded them, tons for $4.95 (and I think they were on sale when I got them). My sister & I used them to make these:

This year, Kathy decided to purchase the new Christmas card line from the Shabby Shoppe. Today we put a couple of cards together, one for her & one for my parents.

Didn't they come out great?! (Sorry, I took Kathy's card out when I realized some of my readers might be on the receiving end....I might share it later.)

Now, you may notice that there is a big white area at the bottom. I have to let you in on a very cool not-so-secret: You can buy your Christmas cards from Costco for $14.99 for 50 (including envelopes). If you want the Costco predesigned cards, right?

Wrong!

If you are interested, you can browse "more holiday" cards and at the bottom you will find "custom template place your own holiday design here".

Oh yeah!

I had no idea this existed until my sister told me last week (when she found it by accident). Basically, as long as you have Photoshop or some other photo editing program you can create your own 6 x 7 1/2 inch card & paste it to their document! Woo-hoo! Way cheaper than printing your own 5x7 & purchasing envelopes (which, at least for me, is the pricey part). The reason there is a white space is that we created 6x6 cards (really 5x5 that we enlarged) so that my mom & sister can cut the bottom off & still use the Costco envelopes.

 I'm so giddy about it I had to share!

And, if you get the Costco coupon book, there is a $5 off of Christmas cards coupon right now. So $10 for 50 cards! It's an additional $5.99 for another 25 (again, with envelopes). So I need to get crackin' & figure out exactly how many I need; last year I was at 72 on my "official saved list". But I don't think I'll be sharing my card on here...at least not until AFTER I've sent it out!

Altered Letters

I got into scrapbooking because I loved to tell stories about my photos and design layouts. Heck, I was the editor in chief of my high school newspaper. The artistic side is fun too, but that's definitely not how I got into the whole thing.

But lately I've been really feeling this creative itch. Maybe because now, thanks to the internet & countless blogs, I've been getting inspired by everyone else's creative endeavors.

So I got this idea when I was putting out my fall decorations, that are pretty lacking & really don't do much past Halloween (so yes, my "Halloween" decorations were up until this afternoon!). I thought, why not use up my old scrapbook paper by getting some letters at Michaels or Joanns & altering them. So not me!

I decided that I wanted to spell out NOEL & JOY. Michaels didn't have any Os when I went two weeks ago, so I got my letters at Joanns for $2.99 a piece (and yes, of course I used whatever coupons I could!). Unfortunately Joanns didn't have an N that wasn't half smooshed in. So I thought I'd use an N from Michaels...they are not the same. So I found one at another Joanns.

Two days ago I painted them red. Basic red acrylic that I had sitting around & had barely enough of!

Today I traced & cut my paper & Mod Podged it on. Well, actually, Olivia did the gluing on for me. I *love* how crafty she is! We already have so much fun...she wanted to cut the letters out for me since she knows how to do that at school now, she just needs scissors that aren't sharp. Maybe next time!

 And the best part, I used up some old Basic Grey Blitzen paper I bought probably 4 years ago! Well, I didn't use it up, but I put a pretty decent dent in it. I could totally see myself making more of these for other seasons. So easy. And I'm pretty proud of myself right now.

The Jingle Bell Dress

Many years ago my mom made my sister & I reindeer jumpsuits. They were navy blue quilted pindot with cute a cute little reindeer face on the front. Unfortunately, my mom loaned them out to a friend & never got them back.

Fortunately, she still had the pattern, which she wisely bought in multiple sizes.

Two years ago she made Olivia her own reindeer jumper. Olivia dubbed it the Jingle Bell dress & wore it every chance she got! She would cry if it wasn't in her closet. I think she wore it all the way until February when I packed it away because I was sick of it (and wanted it to be wearable the next year).

Last year Olivia was a little bit bigger, but the dress still fit, as a tunic top (which is what I was hoping for). One of my favorite outfits on her, and again she wore that dress until I put it away. Because I wanted it for Abbie, I probably put it away sooner than I could have; when she saw it in Abbie's bin of clothes in July she wanted to wear it!

Now, it's Abbie's turn. She seems equally smitten by the Jingle Bells. She saw it in her closet today & practically leapt out of my arms trying to get it.

(Yes, Olivia is pushing Abbie in a doll stroller. I have pictures of her & Brandon doing the same thing two years ago, up & down our hallways. Fun times.)