Scrappin' Chic

Where has the time gone?

2011-02-01T09:35:00.002-05:00

How sad is it that my last blog post was nearly 6 months ago. Where has the time gone? I feel like my life is so chaotic that I don't have time for any creativity and scrapping. I have a bunch of photos printed that I want to scrap but don't have the energy to get it started.

Since I do not have a designated scrapping room or area, I normally work off of my dinning room table. I pull out tons and tons of supply and then when I am done, I don't put it away. It is terrible! I always say, "why put it away if I am only going to need it tomorrow again". The sad thing is, tomorrow never comes.

Is it only me?

Hopefully I can get something out soon.

The Invites

2010-07-18T22:31:00.004-04:00

My little man's 5th Birthday party is quickly approaching. A Super Hero Extravaganza it will be, but I will be writing more about that on my other blog...

I handmade the invites as I do each year and I have to say, these bad boys came out pretty damn good!!

What do you think??

Etsy

2010-06-17T11:54:00.003-04:00

I joined Etsy earlier this year... I still don't have many items listed. It is strange... if you ask me to come up with something for you, I can do it. But to sit there and come up with a new design, I draw a blank and this is why I haven't posted any new listings!

I have been having fun with Alchemy (special requests). I actually got a huge order that way. I am doing a wedding! Me, little ole me!! I have to make up the table Menu's, favor tags and cupcake picks all in a Hot Pink and Navy Blue Lego Theme. I have to say they items are coming out good but have to make so many.

As I am working on this Etsy order, I am also working on my son's 5th Birthday party (just finished making the invites and boy oh boy, I think they came out super cute! - I hope to post pictures of them soon!), and I still putting in bids on Alchemy.

Wish me luck and I will show you some finished products soon.

My New Toy!

2010-02-27T09:38:00.003-05:00

I love getting new scrapping and crafting items. It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside! Recently I treated myself to the Sizzix BigShot.

I have to thank my friend Rosie who is a Stampin' Up! demonstrator for her guidance on this purchase. I ordered from her Stampin' Up! site and was so happy. I got 2 free gifts, which I have to say were pretty impressive... I got to choose from a huge list of freebies and none were those cheap give-a-aways that other companies just want to get rid of. If you are not familiar with Stampin' Up!, I highly suggest visiting Rosie's blog and checking out her site... you will not be disappointed!

For my free gifts I choose a border punch and a Happy Birthday (4 piece) stamp set on wooden blocks. I love them both and plan to use them very soon!

I have my eye on a bunch of Sizzix dies and I can't wait to get my hands on them!! The machine is great and so easy to use. I love my Cricut but this is just so much easier. I don't have to worry about plugging it in, or if the paper is sticking to the pad, or if it will cut all the way through, etc.

Happy Scrapping to me and you!

I'm on Etsy!

2010-01-22T11:33:00.000-05:00

So I finally did it... I joined Etsy. I posted a few items to start for sale. I have a lot of ideas but still need to make samples to post. Funny thing is all the ideas I have and all of the ones I have actually implemented in the past are already for sale on Etsy! There are a lot of talented people on there. Way more talented than me, but I thought I'd give it a chance... you never know :)

I am actually in the middle of a special custom request project/sale and I am hoping to have it done this week and will be able to ship it!

Click here to my site... check back for new items!

Thanks

Happy New Year!

2010-01-04T12:00:00.006-05:00

It is that time of year again when I go and make promises or set goals for myself that I never seem to keep. So what will make this year any different?

Here I am and it's been months since I have even touched this blog. Where does the time go and why don't I ever have time for anything anymore?

Speaking of no time, I haven't scrapped and it kills me. I want to, I have pictures set aside and tons of ideas but just no time. And putting aside the time, I don't want to always dedicate my dinning room table to it because I have a hard time cleaning up. I just always say "well I am going to do it again tomorrow, why clean up" and then months later the mess is still there.

These past few months I made a bunch of Christmas ribbon tags (unfortunately I didn't take pictures of them) to sell at craft fairs and a local holiday shop. They were really cute... embellished circles with a punch of curled ribbon on top. A nice touch to a gift bag or wrapped gift but.... they didn't sell. I guess they weren't as cute as everyone told me they were :(

While I was making these tags, I thought I should get myself on Etsy. A part of me wants to because I like to create but then the other part of me doesn't because I don't think I am all that good. Yes Negative Nelly is in the room!

Putting all of this aside, I have to sit and make my goal list for this year. Goals for scrapping, organizing and the rest of my hectic life!

I will be back sooner than later and get everything in order!

Until then.... Happy Scrapping!

New Toys!!

2009-07-31T16:40:00.005-04:00

I have been shopping here and there for supplies, common stuff. But just yesterday I went out and got myself something I have been eye'ing for quite sometime.

The Martha Stewart Circle Cutter!!

I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am to use this! I have an old Fiskars circle cutter but it does not work efficiently and I am hoping this does the trick!

I have been admiring how some people add thin circle borders to their layouts and couldn't figure out how they did it and now I know ;)

The instructions recommend using a glass mat. I didn't even know such a thing existed! But I did manage to find one at Michaels and picked that up as well.

I can't wait to get my hands on it this weekend!

Click here to watch the tutorial on YouTube.

2 Picture Layout: My Son

2009-07-31T16:22:00.005-04:00

It has been pretty difficult to find time to scrapbook lately. With the summer comes, lazy days by the pool and lot's of party planning for my son's birthday. This year he will be 4 years old.

With that said, I caught a great picture of my son after a long day in the pool. We sat on the grass and had some snacks and he lay on the grass on his tummy holding his chin up with his hand....

2 Picture Layout:

I am so happy on the way this layout turned out. I had the 12x12 grass paper in my stash for the longest time and as soon I realized I wanted to scrap these pictures I went digging for this paper - the perfect paper! All the layered papers and embellishments are all 'outdoors-ie' and work out great. The paper tree is by MyKi, a site that sponsers Scrapnwin and is handmade and so very adorable.

I hope you like it!

Finally One for Me...

2009-07-15T22:05:00.004-04:00

I always scrap my son and I mean ALWAYS. I finally did a page for me and it is not as girly as I wanted it to be. I plan on doing another one soon, very soon, with pinks and whites :)

I went with the baby blue and brown color scheme to match my dress in the picture. Even though this layout is simple I think it is elegant.

I did something for the first time on this layout. The blue scroll... it was a bare piece of chipboard and pressed the entire piece onto an embossing pad and then used blue embossing powder and my heat gun and embossed it. It came out awesome! I have embossed on paper before but this is my all time favorite material to heat emboss! It came out so regal. I added blue jewels to the ends for extra sparkle.

I hope you like it as much as I do!

3 New Layouts

2009-06-23T10:48:00.009-04:00

I have been going really slow lately with my layouts. Futzing around I guess (not sure if I spelled that right!). I would look at my supply... pick out pictures... and then decide not to do it at that moment. And that went on for a month or two. Finally I got my groove back (well kinda) and I got these 3 layouts done.

3 Picture Layout:

Carnival

These are pictures from my son's first carnival, last year in 2008. I had a hard time finding a filler embellishment for the empty spot that I had on this layout for a few weeks... it was done but was still missing something. The best thing I could come up with was buying the mini swirl pops at a local Party City. I figured it went with the pictures of my son sucking on his first big swirl pop!

1 Picture Layouts:

Chocolate Pudding Pirate!

I love this layout!! I love the picture! It was soo perfect and soo not planned! My son was eating chocolate pudding, made a mess and just as a snapped the picture he was raising his arm and the spoon was covering his eye! Totally perfect and totally priceless! I used the Storybook Cricut cartridge to cut the title and used Cats Eye inks to antique the edges. Printed my journaling and used star eyelets to set the journaling down.

Pool Side

This is an old picture from last summer. Actually the first pool day of last season. this page is pretty simple but do feel like it is missing something. The mat behind the picture is actually Crayola shapped papers I got in the dollar section of Michaels. They worked out perfectly for this layout - looks like a splash of water!

I hope you like them! More to come soon, promise :)

I Have been MIA!!!

2009-05-20T11:11:00.019-04:00

I clearly have been missing in action. Life has been busy and hectic. I have been sneaking some scrapping in here and there and still working on that friends pregnancy album - it is taking me forever and I am loosing interest :-/

I also have 2 layouts that I started but haven't finished yet. I know exactly what I want to do with them but haven't had the energy to actually do it - I guess I am in a funk. But I did a few layouts last month that I have not posted here yet and will now. Enjoy!

2 Picture Layouts:

Coloring Easter Eggs:

Here I found the cutest Easter 12x12 paper but instead of placing my pictures directly onto that (I thought it would have been 'too much')) I centered a bright yellow card stock to bring out the yellow Easter Eggs and them matted the pictures with green cardstock that matches the green grass in the 12x12 paper.

I added green chipboard corners in different sizes for a little 'extra' effect. The Happy Easter stickers is from Soft Spoken and I used eggs stickers as letters in the word coloring in my title. I think it came out fantastic. And these photos are from Easter 2008.

The Outdoors:

I found this great line at Michaels called Friendly Forest Friends. The cutest line ever! I bought a bunch of the embellishment sets as we all the paper pack. It seems more Fall oriented but I was able to use it now.

As I finshed this layout I kept looking at it because I knew and still know it is missing something but can't put my finger on what. But I am the type of person, once I say I am finished with a layout, there is no going back.

The only exciting thing about this layout, well for me anyway, is the tree. It was a stamp part of this collection and I embossed it.

My first double page layout:

I have always been aprehensive about doing a 2 page layout. The thought of it always frightens me and I am not sure why. This time I did, a guess you would call it a modified 2 page layout? The 2 pages are the same theme and event but I didn't not combine them and have them bleed together - does that make sense?

I am really happy on how these came out. They are really colorful and show how much fun we had at the Circus this year.

The paper I used is from the "All About Boys" Stack by DCWV. There are really great papers in this stack - can't wait to get to use more of them!

I saved our tickets stubs and added them to page 1. I like adding that because all the details are there and I don't have to do too much journaling.

I had saved my popcorn box from the show and cut out with my Fiskars Circle punch, the Ringlin Bros and Barnum and Bailey Circus logo. You can see that on page 1. I put adhered it with 3d dots.

And on page 2, I also cut out the Circus name as well as the logo again.

Page 1

Page 2

1 Picture Layout:

His Gal Pal

I was told by a friend that this layout was too busy. It might be but I like it and I like how I coordinated all of it. But I am disappointed on how I placed my journaling circles on the layout. Once I got it down, I couldn't get it back up without ripping the paper.

Almost everyone one the below layout are from Fancy Pants Designs "All About a Boy". The transparancy is my favorite part. I have owned that piece for a long time but never knew how to use it and I think it looks perfect here :)

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T09:57:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy and Blessed Easter!

I have been working on the unusual...

2009-03-27T15:45:00.002-04:00

I haven't worked on any of my own layouts in a few weeks now...

A friend of mine asked that I put together a scrapbook for her of her recent pregnancy. I have stacks and stacks of pictures, memories, etc and I have had them for months. For months I have been staring at them and scared to start working.

I have done tons of my own layouts but never for someone else. I was scared. Scared that the layouts wouldn't come out good and my friend not like them.

Just last week, I forced myself to start and now I have 5 layouts done and it is coming out pretty well :)

I am not sure if I will be posting the layouts... not sure how my friend will feel about me posting her pictures... so this my be a private project but I am sure I will report back about it.

Another Weekend: Another 2 Layouts

2009-03-01T19:34:00.010-05:00

I am pretty happy to say that this weekend I was able to get 2 layouts done. 1 each day. And being home with an active 3.5 year old, it honestly took me an entire day to get each layout done because of many interuptions.

2 Picture Layouts

Valentines Day 2009:

A precious time to capture. My son with his gal pal Catie on the day after Valentines Day having their own celebration with cupcakes.

I used some great supply on this layout. I received for Christmas a very large pack of handmade Velvet papers - GORGEOUS! I used the velvet paper as the back drop to this layout. I layered on top of that the Making Memories Artisan die-cut 12x12 paper and I used 3d-glue dots so it is raised.

I used my Cricut to create the entire title. I cut the hearts using my George Basic Shapes cart and used my Zooballoo cart to cut the letters. I highlighted the letters with Stickles in a coordinating color.

I was gifted during Valentines, a gift from a fellower myspace scrapper. Quick a few Valentines Day embellies which I was able to use on this layout. K&Company BW Sweet Talk banners and die-cuts. The die-cuts are not paper, they are a plastic like material, heavy duty and very pretty. On the banners I used an epoxy sticker for the first initials of the names and for the rest of the name I used rub-on letters that are 'mixed up' and it was fun putting that together.

I added a few heart brads here and there to finish it off. I am very happy the way this came out. I have done 2 other Valentine Day layouts when my son was a few months and I can actually say they are the worst layouts ever!

Easter 2008:

Easter of 2008 was the first Easter where my son could color his own eggs. He was 2.5 years old.

*first I want to say... I have an issue with photographing my layouts. unfortunately I don't know the proper way... the coloring is not great on this one. I didn't use the flash because when I did, it hit the center of one of the pictures causing the pictures to be all white. If anyone can give me a good tip, I'd really really appreciated it. **

The background paper on there is a gorgeous grass scence with Easter Eggs - simply gorgeous but also a bit overpowering to put pictures directly on it... at least in my opinion. I choose a yellow paper with little blue swirls on it and cut it down as the center of the layout. I added green chipboard corners, big and small for contrast. I cut out the title using my Cricut Zooballoo cartridge (I have a bunch of carts but I love the font on the Zooballoo). I used Sandylion Essential 'Easter Eggs' as the letter O in 'Coloring'.

The 'Happy Easter' sticker is from Soft Spoken. I also added light green and light yellow ribbon on the side, attached using my Making Memories mini stapler.

I hope you like them!

2 New Layouts

2009-02-25T21:13:00.006-05:00

I was able to get 2 layouts done this past weekend. A nice lazy Sunday home with my son.... he played on the computer and did his own arts & crafts and I scrapped.

4 Picture Layout:

Surprisingly enough, I was able to get 4 pictures on this layout and still make it work without making it look cluttered. All the pictures were 4"x6"... I trimmed a few down, but barely.

I love the snowflake paper on the background and was able to pull out the different blues by the matts and the words. I added some photo corners to 2 of the pictures... I didn't want to over-do the photo corners.

The word SNOW is make of really thick chipboard... I am going to even say they are wood! I got them last year at Oriental Trading. I added Stickles dots to the corners and I think it looks really pretty. I cut out the words much fun using my Cricut and used the Design Studio as well to weld the words together. I used Pebbles chalk on them for some contrast and even outlined them with Stickles.

I didn't go overboard with embellishments, instead I just placed 3 brad buddies scattered.... pretty blue and white snowflakes.

The color scheme worked out really well with the supply I had on hand.

2 Picture Layout:

I had bought a Curious George paper back from Oriental Trading almost 2 years ago and never got the opportunity to use it until now.

I mean this is not the best layout I ever did... it's pretty simple.

I used 2 different papers.... one I used as a back drop to the pictures and matts. I finally learned how to use one of my Martha Stewart edge punches.... yes I couldn't figure out how to keep the punch straight and connected! I watched a video on scrapbook.com and it really helped me out, as you can see :)

I hope you enjoy these!

Awesome Ebay Sale

2009-02-21T17:24:00.000-05:00

An Ebay Store that I have frequently visited and placed a few purchses from is having a huge huge sale! Because Daisy D's is going out of business, this store has all item from 60%-70% off!

Wow!

Scrapbooking for Less
Easy Fun Kits and Pages

I went a little crazy last night and scooped up a bunch of cool items, mostly Daisy D for $1 each! Some items I even ordered two of, not sure why, but hey it was only $1!

This is what I ordered (can't wait for them to arrive!):

I already have a few other designs of these rub-on tapes. I love them. They are so easy to use and add such a nice touch.

I absolutely fell in love with the colors in these die-cuts from Daisy D's Girlfriend line. They are so bright and pretty!

Not bad of a deal, right?!

I hope you can find something there you can use!

Happy Shopping!

Using my Green Stack: 2 Picture Layout

2009-02-16T10:19:00.005-05:00

After the GREEN STACK was gifted to me a few weeks ago, I have been staring at it and flipping through all the different papers and wondering how and when I would use it and of course in awe because the papers are so detailed and beautiful.

I finally came up with something. I have 2 pictures of my son with 1 of my nieces and nephews and the pictures are very similar just taken 2 years apart. It is almost like a 'then' and 'now' layout.

I choose the paper with the bird background. I love the colors. So bright and happy. I matted the pictures in a coordinating paper from the same line. The chipboard embellishments are also from the Green Stack. I cut out the names with my Cricut and for the first time used my Cricut Design Studio (I purchased it last year but never got to install it on my desktop but now that I have a laptop, I installed it and I am lovin' it!). The "Cousins" title is a laser die-cut that I had purchased last year on Ebay. I actually purchased a bunch of different ones that I know I will use eventually.

I hope you like it as much as I do :)

Generousity

2009-02-04T13:58:00.005-05:00

I have mentioned before that I am in quite a few Myspace scrapbooking groups and I have made many good friends (my husband calls them my imaginery friends because I have never met them). Some of these friends are kinder and more generous than a long time friend. I am hoping that one day we can all meet.... we are all far from each other... but you never know :)

From time to time we talk about things we like and want. We even have a "Your Wish is my Command" thread going. You list 3 wishes/wants and someone can grant it for you and they post their wish, so on and so fourth. Well I have had quite a few wishes granted and I have granted just as many.

I kept on posting that I want a Fiskar Cirle Border Punch but eventually stopped wishing for it because I hadn't realized the cost of it, it was a bit too pricey for me to expect someone to just buy. I also posted that I really wanted the new GREEN STACK by DCWV, someone granted my wish and said they would find it for me since it was just released.

Well to show how generous and thoughtful my scrapbooking friends are:

I received from Keisha, a few pieces of The Green Stack collection! WOW!!!! She sent me the 12x12 paper stack, the 6.5x4.5 paper stack as well as a box of chipboard embellishments. I couldn't get over how generous she was! I told her she was crazy but boy was I so happy!

I received from Diane, a Fiskars Circle Border Punch! As well as other goodies. I was in shock! And she sent me all of this stuff "just because"!!!

I just can't wait to use all of these goodies!

A Valentine Giveaway!

2009-02-01T12:40:00.005-05:00

You know I am always looking for a give-away even though I have yet to win one, I thought I'd give one a try - what the heck!

The Mad Cropper has a giveaway on her blog sponsored by Scrappy Jo. There are 3 simple actions you can take in order to be entered into the drawing. There are really cool prizes too! You can win a Scrappy Jo kit, Scrappy Jo paper pack or a gift certificate. Either of those are great!

The contest runs from today, February 1st through February 14th. It is a Valentine themed contest. Check The Mad Cropper's blog for more info and to participate.

Have fun and good luck!

Christmas Card '08: 1 Picture Layout

2009-01-27T12:04:00.006-05:00

I am calling this a 1 picture layout even though they are actually 2 pictures. The 1 picture is our Christmas Card from this past Christmas and the card itself has 2 pictures.

I thought it would be nice idea to scrap our annual Christmas Card so I started with the most recent and will work my way back to the other 3 I have.

I didn't use traditional Christmas colors on this layout just because the card itself wasn't. I stayed in the same color scheme.

The 12x12 paper is something I found in my stash (not sure the brand) and has the Merry Christmas already on it and I just went over it with silver Stickles. I put the card on a blue 8x8 paper that looks like the night sky and I tore the edge with my Fiskars paper edger (geez, is that even the name for it?).

The sled and snowman are Jolee's and I thought were cute to use since the card includes my son with both of those items.

I typed up my journal on the computer, glued it down (glue dots) and smeared the silver Stickles all over it for a nice shimmer. I placed 2 brads on it as well. The poinsettia's on the upper corner are Making Memories flowers with brads. And the ones in the lower corner are stickers by Reflections (I believe that is a Michael's brand).

I hope you like it!

Making Memories are at CHA!

2009-01-26T11:29:00.003-05:00

Making Memories, one of my all time favorite brands are at the CHA (Craft & Hobby) show this week!

They are giving away the coolest set, Just Chillin'. This is a set that is on my new wish list for the year! I hope I win it!!!

You can visit their blog here.

New Scrapbooks Etc.

2009-01-25T10:32:00.007-05:00

My new Scrapbooks Etc. magazine came in the mail mid last week. I curled up on the couch with my post it notes in hand to mark my favorites and of course there are tons of pages flagged! It is a great issue filled with Valentine ideas as well as new items.

2 advertisements for new items that caught my eye and made me a bit giddy are:

DCWV (Die Cuts With a View) has incredible paper stacks and accessories and for the New Year they are introducing 15 new themes!

My favorites here are All About Boys, Green Stack, La Creme, and Kitchen. I can't wait to see what coordinating accessories and embellishments they have.

I saw this advertisement and started to laugh. I thought about some friends in my myspace groups because a lot of them use stitching on their layouts and I am sure a lot of them hand stitch them.

I love the look but there is no way I would get a needle and thread out for a layout.

But look here what Prima has put out.... paper already stitched! How awesome is that?!

Just from looking at this the papers are very pretty and I can't wait to see them up close and maybe add a few to my shopping basket :)

ScrapnWin - I won!

2009-01-23T16:00:00.000-05:00

I joined this great website called ScrapnWin. Basically you pay to upload your scrapbooking layouts and they hold contests based on all the layouts posted for each month.

The first time I uploaded just one layout and it was my favorite one I had just recently done and it was entered in the December contest. Earlier this month I received an email notifying me that I won 1st place! I was really shocked. The only contests I have ever won were hosted on myspace and were just with "from my stash" prizes.

For this contest I won $8 cash (yes I know not the 'grandest' prize, but it was based on how many entries there were and since this seems to be a fairly new site, there weren't that many), a $20 gift certificate to MyKI, 10 upload credits to their site and a certificate of accomplishment.

Let me tell you my favorites of the prizes was the certificate of accomplishment! I got it and I want to frame it! :)

I uploaded another layout this month but it seems they changed the rules, the most comments a layout gets determines the winner. I don't know if I am liking that new rule so much, only because all the people I know won't want to be bothered with doing that. Oh well... at least I got to win once :)

It is a great site and I do recommend it, so for all of you scrapping followers I have go join and have fun!

Creative Cafe CHF Giveaway!

2009-01-21T14:54:00.002-05:00

Creative Cafe is going to the CHF show! Sorry I am going to miss it! I have never been to a craft show like this and wish I get the opportunity one day :)

Check them out here and see the freebee's you can get!

Enjoy!

Shop'g: 2 Picture Layout

2009-01-19T16:53:00.006-05:00

Another layout done this weekend... feels good to get another one done.

These were pictures from almost 2 years ago.... in 2007. And yes I even take my camera food shopping! You never know when there will be a Kodak moment :)

I had purchased that adorable shopping cart embellishment a long while ago. It is from Jolee's and I knew I would be able to use it at some point and it worked perfectly in this layout. I have gotten a lot of compliments on it, but let's thank Jolee's for it! Oh and that little brown shopping bag with the loaf of bread is also a Jolee's but an older item I had in my stash.

I liked the color combination on this. I hardly ever use yellow and I was happy this worked out. I did my journaling with my Dymo Caption maker. I still haven't gotten used to the placement of the little stickers but in time I am sure I will. I used my Fiskars Side Circle Punch for the date and I used a sticker by Remarks which was clear. And a little ribbon and colored staples finished it off nicely.

I hope you like it!

I Got It!

2009-01-13T15:13:00.003-05:00

So when I put my mind to it, I do it or should I say " I Get it".

One of my goals for this New Year is to try Heat Embossing. I knew nothing about it until a gal on one of my myspace groups posted a tutorial and hey it looks fairly simple!

I went out to Michaels today and went on a well deserved shopping spree and picked up a heat tool by Marvy Uchida.

The picture here is a bit deceiving because let me tell you it is pretty big! Almost the size of an old fashioned curling iron or a girls little friend **blush** :)

There were tons of Embossing Powders to choose from, metallic, non-metallic, sparkly, etc. I have no clue right now which I choose but I know I got, red, blue, green, silver, gold and black. Now this is one thing you need to know about me, I can't just get one color, I have to have them all! I hope I like this technique because I have enough supply now to last me a good while.

I can't wait to try this out and show you what I have done.

School Layouts

2009-01-11T15:19:00.006-05:00

My son started Nursery school this past Fall and as any parent would say, it was a bitter sweet milestone.

3 Picture Layout:

I took tons of pictures of his first day of school but I only choose a few for the layout: getting ready to leave the house, he shows off his new CARS school bag, at school he waits outside of his classroom holding Papa's hand, and in class his desk with his name on it. He is on the Elephant team and shares his desk with two other classmates in the AM class.

I used this really cute 12x12 green paper that had chalk drawings in each corner but due to the amount of pictures I was using, I ended up covering 2 of the corners. The other 2 corners, I went over the chalk drawings with yellow stickles for some extra brightness. I used a scalloped piece of black paper in the center, almost like a chalkboard. I used my new Dymo Caption Maker to give some extra facts that I could not fit on the journal card. I used chipboard school embellies from K&Company and Soft Spoken. The yellow apple straight pin is something I found on Oriental Trading and I finally got to use it!

2 Picture Layout:

His first school photographer picture was a very exciting day! When I picked him up from school and asked him how his pictures went, he told me he said "CHEESE" with a huge grin on his face. I was so happy and anxious to get the pictures. About a month or so later, we received the pictures and I was surprised not to see the big Cheese grin he told me about!

I wanted to do a layout featuring his school picture as well as his class picture. It is something I am hoping to do every year. The background 12x12 paper is phrased with classroom sayings. I matted each picture on white and punched the corners out of the mat and picture to a scalloped corner. I also antiqued the edges of the mat in a silvery gray. I wanted to do something different with the journaling, so I literally ripped out a piece of paper from a mini notebook I have and I used a distressing tool to make the paper look worn. I antiqued the edges in a light blue. I took a piece of journal paper that looks like notebook paper and did the same, distressed and antiqued the edges. I stamped the apple on and used stickles to outline it. A pencil and crayon stickers were perfect for a little extra. I had an apple altered paper clip that was made by a fellow scrapper to make it look like it was holding the two notebook papers together. On the journaling I listed all the names of his teachers and classmates in the group photo. A nice memory for the future.

The other two chipboard embellies are from K&Company and Soft Spoken. The 'Nursery' title, I used a piece of white scrap that was leftover from the mats of the pictures and I used rub-on letters. And I have to say those rub-on letters are adorable and were a dollar store find!

I hope you like them!

The 1st for the New Year: 1 Picture Layout

2009-01-05T15:14:00.006-05:00

So why wait to get started? Ok, well I did wait 4 days into the new year to do my first layout! lol...

This is what I did and I am really happy with it.

I finally got to use the Making Memories Noteworthy Collection Ava RicRac Ledger Paper that I got a few months back. I was hesitant to use it because it has pink details on it and scrapping for my son never requires any pink but this time I made it work. This was the perfect picture for this paper. So I ran with it... pinks, purples and a brick red to make it a little more masculine. The journal sheet is from the Making Memories Noteworthy Collection as well.

The chipboard letters in "Work" and "Play" are from K&Company Marcella's Anastasia's line and they are purples and browns, very pretty and they have been in my stash for quite sometime now and never knew how to work them into a layout - this was the perfect time! I put those down with 3D-dots. I cut out "All", "&" and "No" using my Jasmine Cricut Cartridge and used black stickles on them for a little sparkle.

Over the photo I have a clear frame that is from Miss Elizabeth's (a dollar store find) as well as the purple circles I scattered around.

The flowers are paper and I put little purple buttons in the middle of them... I like the way it looks :)

The picture is adorable... I took my son to work with me last year in April and he sat at my desk with my cell phone to his ear and "typing" on my computer! It was just too cute and too funny!

I hope you like it and I hope this layout will set the tone for the 74 to come.

Goals for 2009

2009-01-02T10:57:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year!!

In 2008 I set out a goal to complete 75 layouts in the year and unfortunately I wasn't able to meet it. I know people who have done hundreds of layouts and I couldn't get a few done. My life is a bit hectic and the time I have to scrap I end up crashing in front of the TV.

This year, I plan to keep the same goal of 75 layouts and I am hoping I can pass that goal. I have pledged not to get involved in myspace swaps (other than box swaps because I love those), like tag swaps, etc. If I need tags, I can make my own, I have never used something someone else has made (no offense). I think if I do not join these kinds of swaps, I will have more time to do layouts for myself.

I even have a pregnancy scrapbook to make for a friend which I have not started yet. It is also on my to-do list. It will be an 8x8 album which I have never done. I am pretty nervous about this. No one has ever asked me to make them anything before and I don't think my work is that great that I should be sharing it! But I am honored and will try my best at it.

Some pictures that I have floating around that I never got to in 2008 are:

- making pizza

- 1st day of nursery school

- school picture

- Christmas 2008

- playing with Cars

- birthdays (I have yet to scrap any of my sons 3 birthdays!)

... and all of the 2009 pictures that will be taken.

And all of these are of course of my son. I would also like to try to do some more adult layouts of my friends and my husband. I even have a nice new 12x12 album waiting for such layouts!

I would also like to try embossing. I don't know much about it. I think there are 2 embossing techniques (please correct me if I am wrong), dry embossing and heat embossing. I see a lot of layouts using this technique and right now I know nothing about it but I hope at some point in this new year, I can learn about it. Any help and advise would be greatly appreciated!

And lastly in this New Year, I want and desperately need to get re-organized! My scrap supplies are in such chaos! I am running out of room and unfortunately just keep buying and buying more with no where to put it! So I am hoping to come to a happy medium with my 'stuff'!

Wish me luck!

New Years Eve

2008-12-31T17:22:00.001-05:00

So let's face it, there is no way I am going to get 33 more layouts done today to meet my goal. Yes I am hung up on this goal that I have not met!

Here are the last 2 layouts I have done for the year.....

3 Picture Layout:

I did this layout, almost rushed through it just to get it done and I have to admit I hate it. And I am not the type of person to re-do layouts. This is how it came out and this is how I will leave it.

I wish I would have done the title differently. It is hard to see but the title is in silver glitter stickers and just says "Our Tree ~ 2006". I think if I would have matted the stickers there would have been a better effect and obviously would be able to read it more clearly.

Other than this layout being terrible, the pictures sure are cute!

2 Picture Layout:

Thanksgiving 2008... I finally got a family picture! But my husband had to spoil it with his Nike sweatshirt! LOL!

I like the way this layout came out. I used more of the Me & My Big Ideas Cornucopia line (the papers, letters & some of the embellies). The only things on this layout not from that line are the turkey sticker and the felt adhesive border at the top of the page, which I love so much!

I used my oh so famous 3d-dots behind the 'Thankful' title. That is the only thing raised in this layout.

Overall it is a basic layout, no fancy techniques used here (not that I know many anyway!).

Enjoy and Happy New Year!

I Forgot!

2008-12-31T10:30:00.002-05:00

I am soo angry! QVC is having a major scrapbooking segment today featuring "Creating Keepsakes" and I forgot to DVR it. I am at work and by the time I get home I will have missed it all!

I will go to their website but it won't be the same :(

I Got It!!!

2008-12-29T21:05:00.003-05:00

I GOT IT! I GOT IT! I GOT IT!

The Dymo Caption Maker

I am so excited! I was able to find it online and not a Dymo's website. I found it for a few dollars cheaper and FREE Shipping. Yes, you read correctly, cheaper and free shipping!

I ordered it from LabelValue and I paid $18.95 for it! I also bought a 4 pack of multi-colored refill tapes for $7.95.

I can't wait to use it!

Christmas Layout: 3 Pictures

2008-12-23T11:01:00.005-05:00

aCheck. Another one off my to do list!

So there is about a week left to this year and I only got 1 more layout done! So it is officially that I will not make my goal. I tried....

This weekend I put together this layout "Cookies for Who?". These pictures were from Christmas 2006, my son was just 1 years old and when he came out of his bedroom Christmas morning, instead of being in awe of what Santa left him, he was too busy eating Santa's left over cookies! It was the cutest thing ever!

I used my Cricut to cut out the letters using the Zoobaloo cart. I antiqued the edges of the letters with green Cat's Eye ink. I placed the letters on circle cuts out that I made with my Fiskars Side Punch. And I was so happy to find in my "food" sticker stash, the big chocolate chip cookies that I used as the O's in Cookies.

The Cookies and Milk sticker set is from Jolee's and it was something I bought I believe last year to use for these pictures. Yes, I know it took me this long to get to it!

I typed my journaling and printed it from the computer and attached it to the layout using Candy Cane brads.

I like the way this came out, I hope you do too!

And in case I am not back before Christmas, which is less than 3 days away...

Merry Christmas!

No Luck...

2008-12-17T15:16:00.003-05:00

I went to Michael's today with my 40% coupon in hand... I wanted to buy the new Dymo Caption Maker that blogged about yesterday. But they don't have it. It was not sold out, just are just not carrying it yet.

I know this is silly, but that really ruined my day! I was soo excited to get it. I may just have to order it on Dymo's website.

I will let you know when I get it!

Gotta Have it!

2008-12-16T16:33:00.004-05:00

I received the latest issue of Scrapbooks Etc. and there was an advertisement that caught my eye and now I am obsessed! I have to have it!

The Dymo Caption Maker

When I was younger and in Jr. High School and High School, I had a, what I called 'label maker' back then. It was so very similar to this and I used to go around and label everything, from my father's checkbook cover to my notebooks. It wouldn't surprise me if it is still at my parents house buried somewhere.

But this I can use solely for scrapbooking - from what I see and hear, it is the latest trend!

This new set, comes with 3 interchangeable disk or wheels (not sure what they are referred to) that are a combination of lower case, upper case and punctuation and maybe script even. I am sure it comes with label tape, but I know you can buy different colors separately as re-fills.

This is the first item on my scrapbook supply shopping list. I just have to try to find it in a store and if I can't I will be sure to order it online.

I can't wait to get my hands on this and caption away :)

Halloween Layout: 3 Pictures

2008-12-10T12:31:00.004-05:00

aCheck one off my to-do list.

I sat last night and said I have to get at least one layout done tonight. I pulled out this years Halloween pictures and just did it.

It's not GREAT but it is pretty decent. I tried something different with showing what year it was. I put orange number stickers in the vellum circle tags by Making Memories. I put black and orange fiber through the tag hole and affixed the circle to the layout using mini glue dots, which thankfully you can't see through the vellum. It is a little hard to see the numbers from this picture but it does look pretty cool in person.

The Trick or Treat title at the top and the little embellishments toward the far right of the bottom photo are from Jolee's. The little ghost and candy corn stickers are from Refllections, a Michaels brand, which are very cute and fun to work with and oh very cheap :)

I hope you like it!

Need to get going....

2008-12-09T17:05:00.006-05:00

The year is coming to and end and I am no where near to my goal this year. As we speak, I need to create another 37 layouts. Even with the streak I was on a few months ago where I did about 5 layouts... I will try to get a few more in... if I am lucky maybe another 5.

I know I have the following to create:

- 1st day of school

- making pizza

- playing with Play-Doh

- Halloween

- Thanksgiving

- Christmas of 2006

I really want to get these done. I will keep my fingers crossed. With it being the holiday season, I have been busy shopping, decorating and visiting, leaving me with no scrapping time.

I have even been asked to create a scrapbook for a friend. She is pregnant and due with her first child, a little girl this January, just a few weeks away. She has given me pictures of her pregnancy, important dates and greeting cards. This is going to be a challenge for me as I want it to be Perfect.

Stay tuned, I hope to have something to show you in my next post.

I won - but it was Random...

2008-12-09T14:31:00.003-05:00

I won my last sketch challenge. Yes I am happy but I didn't win it based on the work I did... the host decided to Randomly choose the winner using an online application.

So I won :)

There were other entries which deserved to win... one was abosolutely amazing so I kind of feel guilty that I did win.

Sketch Challenge: 5 Pictures

2008-11-23T20:16:00.005-05:00

I joined another myspace Sketch Challenge hosted by Larissa. I was excited about this layout because I have always wanted to use a 5x7 picture in a layout. This layout called for 4 pictures but I ended up using 5 pictures because I didn't have a 5x7 available (they were all framed) and this is the theme I wanted to do. I was also looking through my albums the other day and noticed I only have 2 layouts done from 2006! This was an opportunity for me to use pictures from that year.

Original Sketch:

My layout:

I finally got to use the Making Memories Passport Stamp 12x12 paper. It has green rigid edges with a blue and beige pattern. I used baby blue paper as the background of my pictures. I did not matt my pictures and that is a first for me. The journal square is part of the Noteworthy line and I think it matches nicely.

There really isn't too much to this layout, it is pretty simple but it matches the sketch. I hope you like it.

Fall Layout: 2 Pictures

2008-11-22T18:16:00.008-05:00

A few months back I was at a typical trip to Michaels and came across this free booklet. I usually don't take the booklets because I feel they are out of my league but this one caught my eye.

I ended up buying the entire Me & My Big Ideas Cornucopia line, except for the felt leaves which I could not find. At home I knew I had tons of smaller felt leaves that I could possibly make work.

I finally took 2 pictures of my son near some leaves... we never got to actually play in them but for the sake of this layout I got 2 pictures :)

I altered this layout to make it my own. I followed the guidelines in the sample picture but I changed it by using 2 pictures instead of 1 and used a "FALL" title instead of "Thankful". I figured I can save the Thankful idea for a Thanksgiving layout.

I didn't use my felt leaves, instead I found very large package of these die-cut leaves by K&Company. I scattered them on the layout, some with and without 3d-dots. I used Stickles on some and also used some jewels on some.

I found the cutest little owl by Jolee's by You and was able to add it to this layout, it fit the theme perfectly.

All of the other items on this layout, besides the leaves are "Me & My Big Ideas". The background 12x12 paper is green and velvet embossed. The die-cut 12x12 is also velvet embossed and I laid that onto the green 12x12 using 3d-dots. I worked on the entire layout on the die-cut 12x12 and when I was done placed it on the green background.

I hope you like it as much as I do... I think this has taken the spot of my favorite layout!

Finally got it!

2008-11-20T16:01:00.002-05:00

I finally took a picture of my son in some leaves so I can do that perfect Fall layout I have been planning for the last few weeks!

Stay tuned....

To End the Weekend

2008-11-16T22:33:00.005-05:00

This was a very production weekend. I finished 5 layouts and that is a record for me in such a short time frame. I posted already about the first 4. Here is the last one I did this weekend:

4 Picture Layout:

Pumpkin Picking 2008. I had many pictures to choose from and I typically try to stay away from doing a 4 picture layout, I always think they look sloppy but I wanted to use these pictures and I am pretty satisfied with the way this one came out.

I used an orange/yellow 12x12 background paper that has a leaf pattern. I matted my pictures with a brown cardstock. I had this great Pumpkin Patch set from Soft Spoken and it worked perfectly in this layout. I added brown/white ribbon to the edge and stapled them down with decorative staples.

Hope you like it!

Busy Little Bee...

2008-11-15T23:29:00.005-05:00

I was a busy little bee today.... It rained all day, my brakes were being replaced on my truck so I was home all day with no car. Thomasino behaved and I was able to get some scrapping done! I am glad that the numbers on my Goal Ticker is going down! But I still have a lot more to go.

Enjoy!

1 Picture Layout:

I finally got to use some of my new Making Memories Note Worthy Collection! The 12x12 paper and the journal card is from the collection. I had fun with this one, it was more for me and a little bit girly.

The Smile title was naked chipboard and I used my Pebbles chalks to color them and then inked the edges with my Cat's Eye inks. I used the Queen & Co felt flourish and brightened it up by adding blue and purple jeweled felt flowers, a bulk purchase from Oriental Trading.

2 Picture Layout:

Another trip to the NYC Aquarium and pictures of my son his his gal pal Catie hanging out and watching the Penguin feeding.

I used Making Memories foam letters in the title. I finally got to use a penguin laser die cut that has been sitting in my stash for quite sometime now. The die cut got 'lost' on the gray paper so I backed it with white card stock and cut it to fit. I added my favorite 3d-dots to that for a layer effect. I used my new Martha Stewart border punch and I have to say, I should have practiced first - not sure if you can notice my mistakes :)

1 Picture Layout:

A cute picture of my son from this past summer. In my friend Teba's father's garage, my son was eyeing his Harley and was soo happy to get to sit on it. He looks a little scared in this picture, I think because he didn't want to wear the helmet.

I liked what I did with this one. I used my Fiskars paper edger for a taring effect and then I realized I had all this empty black space at the bottom so decided to add the rest of the paper that was ripped off - that piece was in my garbage stash! I added a journal square to the center and used 3d-dots on that for some pop! I added a vellum quote, attached by 4 black square brads. And the motorcycle embellies are from the Sandylion Essentials line.

4 Picture Layout:

I have to be quite honest... the pieces to this layout have been in a folder for over a year now and I had no inspiration to do it. I finally just broke down and did it today... it is not fancy nor does it have the wow factor... I am just happy to get it done and over with.

Might be Impossible

2008-11-14T13:16:00.005-05:00

My goal for this year was to create 75 layouts. At the time I thought 75 was not a big deal, but now I am sitting here realizing it took me 10.5 months to create 31 layouts and about a month and half left to create another 44.

Impossible? No. But that means I can't do anything else but scrap and that is impossible considering I am out of my house 14 hours a day during the week.

I have seen others with goals in the 100s and have gotten them done - good for them. I wish I could be that accomplished. I think I got wrapped up in other projects in my myspace groups and that is why I didn't do as many layouts as I planned. I do however have tons of pictures printed and have ideas, I just need to find the quiet time to sit and put them together.

So I will try my best to get as many done as I can but I don't want to rush for the sake of meeting my goal.

I will try better for next years goal.

Wish me luck!

Sketch Challenge: 1 Picture

2008-11-12T14:50:00.001-05:00

My myspace friend Liz, hosted a 1 picture sketch challenge. She choose a layout sketch created by Deanne Burton. Deanne has such great sketches, I have been eyeing a lot of them and hope to get to them soon. You can visit Deanne's blog here A-Scrapaddict and she is also on my blog role of blogs I visit frequently.

This is the sketch:

And this is my version of it:

I was trying to go for the colors in the crayon box theme but I am not sure if I accomplished that. I wanted a bright yellow background but this was the best I could do. How do I not have plain yellow 12x12 paper? **note: add to shopping list**

There really isn't too much to say about this layout as it is quite simple.

I finally found a use for the Queen & Co. felt adhesive star ribbon! I bought a bunch of them and hadn't found the opportunity to use one until now. For the title "Coloring", I used red chipboard letters that have little white stars on them and of course I used 3d dots on them - what is a layout without a little 3d? :) I had gotten this set in red and blue when Rag Shop was going out of business over a year ago and I got a bunch of packages. This was the first time I got to use the red ones. I find it very easy to forget all the supplies I have. I have so much and I try and try to organize but never go back to the old stuff. I guess I have to re-think my organization.

And my favorite item on this layout is the Jolee's by You, crayons,and drawing. So cute! I had bought a whole bunch of them and I finally got to use it!

I hope you like it!

Another Victory!

2008-11-11T16:08:00.004-05:00

Another sketch challenge win under my belt! I was very surprised when I won this one, I honestly didn't think it that good, at least not compared to the other ladies that entered. And yes there were other entries!

In the myspace groups we typically average about 5-10 enteries per sketch challenge and I do have to say, they are quite fun!

Here is my winning layout:

Sketch Challenge: 2 Pictures

2008-11-03T12:02:00.005-05:00

I joined yet another sketch challenge on myspace. I hadn't done one in awhile and this one was fairly simple. This was my second sketch challenge hosted by Denise.

This was her original sketch:

And this is my version of it.
I went with the neutral brown theme and had these 2 pictures of my son putting cookie dough on a cookie sheet. I titled it "Made with Love" and that sticker, the brackets and the tab are from Flair Designs Keep on Cooking collection.

I used my Fiskars paper edger to get the ripped effect on the 2nd toned paper.

I antiqued the edges on the matts with my Color Box Cats Eye inks.

The 3 embellishments are by Jolee's by You (cookie tray, milk carton, cookie jar) and I used 3D-Dots on those. For the journlaing I used one of my Remarks journal sticker books. I wished I would have thought to mat the journaling square and have it raised, I think it would have looked better.

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T12:22:00.011-04:00

Happy Halloween to all! I just wanted to share some Halloween items I put together for my son's Nursery School Halloween party yesterday.

I hosted the Halloween party yesterday and I put together personalized party bags, gave out mini pumpkins and a little pumpkin decorating kit.

Each party bag contained goodies such as, bubbles, play-duh, Halloween stickers, pencils, straws, stampers, cookies and candy. I am sure everyone loved what they received.

I personalized each bag by using a graphic software I own and use very frequently. I put each child's name above a black cat. Each name was black with an orange shadow. I punched each out with my circle puncher. I backed each one with a circle punched out of orange construction paper. I stamped an image of a spider. I used my stamp markers to make the spider purple and black. And then I had wrote, love Thomas behind each one.

I wanted the kids to be able to decorate the pumpkins I handed out, so I made each child a personalized decorating kit. I used old fashioned paper candy bags and filled them with Halloween foam stickers, such as ghosts, bats, pumpkins and a title "Trick or Treat". I also include letter foam stickers so each could put their name on their pumpkin. On each baggie, I put the child name, for example in the picture, this is one is "Thomas' Pumpkin Decorating Kit". The child's name was in black and the "Pumpkin Decorating Kit" was in orange and unfortunately it is hard to see in the picture. I also included a pumpkin graphic. The teacher was very impressed with my idea!

When we got home last night, I helped my son decorate his pumpkin. He had fun doing it, I hope the other kids did too!

I had fun hosting the party. I can't wait to host the next one and come up with more creative ideas!

Great Finds!

2008-10-27T11:19:00.007-04:00

I went out to Michaels yesterday for their 4 hour Halloween Blow-Out Sale. 15% off the entire purchase, inlcuding sale items. That was a great deal considering you can hardly ever use a coupon on sale items. I was lucky enough to get the coupon in an email invitation. I printed 3 copies and went with 2 of my friends.

I went to a Michael's I usually don't go to and I didn't even know where the clearance section was but I just so happen to end up there and that is where I found my great finds! I would even say they were lucky finds.

I found a bunch of Martha Stewart scrapbooking items there. I always look and admire the Martha Stewart line but never purchase it just because they are a little more pricey than the other brands out there.

I got 2 sets of stickers on clearance for a $1.99. But the lucky finds were, border punches! I have been dying for border punches. I got 2 of them! They were originally $14.99 and were on clearance for $9.00 and I was able to use the coupon!

I got the "Cornice" and "Simple Scallop" punches. I can't wait to use them!!

Went Shopping!

2008-10-22T20:30:00.005-04:00

Well online shopping that is! After posting some of the items on my wish list, I got the itch to get some of them already! I went onto scrapbook.com, accessed my wish list there and kept dumping the items I wanted into my cart. And about $40 later this is what I got:

- (1) Making Memories - 12x12 Diecut Paper - Noteworthy Collection - Audrey - Scallop Ledger

- (1) Making Memories - 12x12 Diecut Paper - Noteworthy Collection - Ava - Ric Rac Ledger
- (2) Making Memories - Noteworthy Collection - Addie - 12x12 Diecut Circle

- (2) Making Memories - Passport Collection - 12x12 Die Cut Paper - Stamp

- (1) Making Memories - Noteworthy Collection - 12x12 Die Cut Paper - Delaney Stamp

- (2) Making Memories - Animal Crackers Collection - 12x12 Scalloped Paper - Ella Scalloped Circle

- (1) Making Memories - Noteworthy Collection - 4x6 Spiral Bound Notebook for Journaling

- (1) Fancy Pants Designs - About A Boy Collection - 12x12 Double Sided Paper - Peace

- (1) Fancy Pants Designs - About A Boy Collection - 12x12 Double Sided Paper - Rockin'

- (1) Fancy Pants Designs - About A Boy Collection - 12x12 Double Sided Paper - Wild Child

- (1) Fancy Pants Designs - Glitter Cuts Transparencies - Blue Frame

- (1) Fancy Pants Designs - About A Boy Collection - Rub Ons - About A Boy

- (1) Fancy Pants Designs - About A Boy Collection - Die Cut Titles and Tags - About A Boy

- (1) Fancy Pants Designs - Glitter Cuts Transparencies - Large Blue Swirl

- (1) Making Memories - Fa La La Collection - Christmas 12 x 12 Scallop Circle Paper - Fa La La

- (1) Making Memories - Fa La La Collection - Christmas 12 x 12 Specialty Paper - Artisan Solid

- (1) Pink Paislee - Office Lingo Collection - 12x12 Die Cut Shapes - Office Lingo

- (2) Making Memories - Paperie Rouge Collection - 12 x 12 Die Cut Paper - Artisan Small Floral

- (1) Sassafras Lass - Life is Beautiful Collection - Journal Tag 12x12 Cardstock Stickers - My Dearest

I will be stalking the mail man for my package - there is lots of scrappin' to be done when this delivery arrives!

My Favorites

2008-10-20T12:17:00.001-04:00

I have done a few layouts this year and here are some of my favorites from earlier this year which I have not yet blogged about:

1st Snow

This picture did not come out as great as I would have liked but... it is a great layout! The background paper is blue with white and silve snowflakes. The word snow that is on an angle is chipboard and the 'O' in snow is a cleaver little snowflake. Some of the snowflakes that are on the corners of the journaling and photos were made for me by a fellow scrapper and have blue glitter in them - so perfect for this layout! At the bottom is a Jolee's winter title. There wasn't any better way I could have captured this moment for my son!

Cheers!

What a great picture. My son and my father in law, toasting to a great dinner. My father in law with his glass of 'vino' and my son with his cup of water. Priceless.

I went with a green and brown theme on this layout. It went well with the colors in the pictures. There are lots of great touches here. Riboons, swirls, pop-up words, etc. The title came out great. When I created this layout, I had just purchased by Fiskars circle side punch and I cut out the circle to matt the letters which I cut using my Cricut. I used a lot of antiqueing on this to give it the old feel.

Cool Guys

This is another great one! I had the perfect paper, which is very masculine and did a lot of layering behind the picture, all in different shades of blue.

The brackets around the 2 and the word guys are all raised using my favorite product, 3D-dots.

I added ribbon to the mat of the picture by stapling it down with blue staples. A nice little touch, if I do say so myself!

I framed the light blue mat with my Daisy D Zig Zag tape runner. I made a mistake in the lower right hand corner but I easily disguised it with a chipboard flourish - no one could be the wiser!

All of the letters in the title I cut out using my Cricut and antiqued the edges with my ColorBox Cat's Eye inks.

Play Time

This is a nice and bright layout. Primary colors normally seen and used amongst kids.

I used a piece of green string on the top and put it down with yellow mini brads and strung metal letters, "Play Time". I thought that was a unique way to display the title. I am not sure how I just thought of it, but I did!

The other embellies are a Soft Spoken set. And I made the paper clip by gluing down a foam ball sticker to it.

Christmas 2007

I did this layout in July. I was part of a Christmas in July swap on myspace where we traded all Christmas items and after doing that, I was put in the Christmas mood!

I think this might be the first time I used 4 pictures in a layout.

There are a lot of cute Christmas items on the layout: ribbon, buttons, gifts, etc.

I punched the corners out with an ornate corner adorner - a little fancy for the holidays. The red paper behind the matted picture has a border of Christmas phrases and song lyrics. Not sure how I got that paper but it was a nice addition.

And of course how could I go wrong by adding pictures of my Christmas tree and my son opening his gifts Christmas morning.

Wish List

2008-10-17T21:10:00.000-04:00

There are items out there, some new and some not so new that I want to add to my supply stash. Some, I just have to get out there and buy and others, I am just waiting for the right time, but as life has it, there are other things that fall higher on the priority list than scrapbooking supplies :)

I have the basic Provo Craft Cricut and I have about 8 cartridges right now.I would love to add these two, Storybook and All Mixed Up.

The All Mixed Up cart looks like something that would work well on my layouts since the are predominately kid oriented. This cart gives off the impression of a child's handwriting!

Glue Arts - GlueGlider Max Adhesive Runner.

This baby rocks!!

This is industrial adhesive! I just imagine the wonders I can do with this, instead of sitting holding the roll of glue dots in one hand and try to hold an embellie or picture in the other hand and trying to manage getting the dots on!

Only down fall is that it is pretty expensive. Runs about $50 and then the refills are about $20.

Fancy Pants Designs - About A Boy Collection

These 3 items all coordinate and I have been eyeing them for sometime now.

The colors are captivating. The chocolate brown background with the pop of oranges, blues, green and the hint of yellow. LOVE it!!

I have seen great layouts created using this series and I want to jump on that band wagon! Oddly enough in my almost weekly trips to Michaels and/or A.C. Moore I have not seen these in the stores. It seems I will have to eventually order them online and I have seen them and have them on my scrapbook.com wish list.

The coordinating sticker and chipboard I love. The best part is you can use them with other papers.

I love the "cool boy" look of everything and that is exactly what I need to scrap for my little guy.

The best part is all of these items are really inexpensive, all under $5! The question is "what am I waiting for?"!

Making Memories - 4x6 Spiral Notebook for Journaling.

The 5th Avenue Collection in black & white, is my favorite. Each time I see this in A.C. Moore my friend and fellow scrapper reminds me that my scrapping style does not call for such elegance. There was no put down there, it is just the mere fact that I scrap for my 3 year old. But one day, if I ever a chance to make that adult album, this will be one of my first purchases!

The Noteworthy Collection in the brighter colors is more my style but I haven't seen it in the stores. I will get my hands on it sooner or later!

I love to add journaling to my layouts and I love how these are big and stand out!

Heidi Swap - Chipboard Clocks

These little clocks are the cutest thing and I am sure I could make them work in a layout or two. I would definitely work with the brown ones.

They also come in pink and with the pink... oh are my wheels turning or what?!

I have been asked to do a scrapbook for a friend who is having a baby girl and I think the pink clocks would work wonders on a layout showing the date and time the little girl comes into the world. I will definitely have to pick these up!

Fiskars Border Punches

There are many varieties of border punches and different brands. A most common brand is Fiskars and there are many straight edged and circle borders, like flowers, designs and even holiday themed.

Each time I am in a craft store, I always pick one of these up to buy but then put it down because I am not sure which design I want and if I really want to spend $15 on it. I know I will one day.

I think I could do a lot with these and put a little pizazz into my layouts. I just wish I could find one a little more kid oriented. I will have to keep my eyes open.

A fellow scrapper that I have be-friended on scrapbook.com uses embossing on almost all of her layouts and beautiful layouts they are. I know she uses Heat Embossing but I do not know much about it. This is something I would like to learn but I think before I wish for items (I honestly don't even know what is needed) I should really do research first. Maybe "Embossing for Dummies"?? Hmmm....

Ultimately I wish for a scrap room! Right now I scrap on my dinning room table and what a sight for sore eyes! It is terrible. If I could only learn to clean up after myself, it wouldn't be so bad. But I have that mentality, ' why clean up now, if I will end up making the same mess tomorrow?'. The only way I will ever get a dedicated scrap room is if we move and buy a bigger house!

It's Arrived!

2008-10-16T17:37:00.004-04:00

The new issue of Scrapbooks Etc. came in the mail yesterday!

I can't wait to get home tonight, curl up on the coach with a good cup of coffee, this issue, and my post-it flags to mark what I want or want to try :)

Right now this magazine and Simple Scrapbooks are my 2 favorite subscriptions!

Be on the look out... new layouts might be on the way and any of them can be a lift from this issue :)

New Look

2008-10-15T15:06:00.003-04:00

I decided it was time to spruce up the page.

After admiring the layout CraftyMugs "This and That" blog, which I LOVE, I linked into Simply Fabulous Blogger templates and this is what I got for FREE!! Isn't it great!

Many thanks to Lena at Simply Fabulous for such a great template!

Birthday Card

2008-10-15T06:30:00.000-04:00

I joined a Card Challenge on Myspace. The only card I ever made, if you even want to call it that, was my sons Birthday invitations this year (which came out fabulous!) (see older posts), so this would be a challenge for me.

The challenge is due today and needless to say, I did it last minute last night. I hadn't thought about the theme of the card. I was leaning toward a Halloween card since it is the season, but when looking through my stash I found some items to go together.

The end result, a birthday card for a girl.

If you have been keeping up with my blogging, you've probably noticed that I have NEVER scrapped anything girly - everything is always boy related. And I have to say, this was fun and it came out pretty cute!

I used a pretty background paper, white, pink, green and brown striped. It was from a scrap pack I have and the size was small, so it was perfect for this project instead of cutting down a larger sheet of paper. I glued it down to heavier card stock that I folded.

I was able to find green ribbon that coordinated nicely with the background paper. I adhered that ribbon with my favorite item, Glue Dots. Found the beautiful Butterfly sticker in my stash and placed it centered on the ribbon. Beneath, I simply took a stamp and with my Brush Markers, I was able to use 2 colors that coordinated with the butterfly on the stamp. I just stamped the image on white card stock, cut it out to size and antiqued the edges with my ColorBox Cat's Eye Ink, another favorite product I use pretty often. I added the stamped image with a 3D Dot.

And that's it - I was done. It wasn't so challenging after all!

I will let you know how I did!

Award!

2008-10-14T20:55:00.003-04:00

Today I found a great blog. A fellow crafter! And what a great blog it is. And from what I gather she likes my blog too because tonight she gave me an award!

My first award!!!

Please visit her blog where she explains the award.

http://craftythisandthat.blogspot.com/

I am suppose to bestow this award to 8 blogs.... I don't think I follow 8 crafty blogs! I will have to give this some thought.

Thank you CRAFTYMUG for my award!

Stay tuned...

Ed Hardy Boy

2008-10-10T16:48:00.006-04:00

My husband is a designer snob. And the newest designer in his wardrobe is Ed Hardy by Christian Audigier. All of the Ed Hardy line is inspired by tattoo's and is is commonly called "Tattoo Wear".

There are a few t-shirts in my husbands closet but the most recent t-shirt made it home and in the wash and dryer. As soon as I took it out of the dryer my son wanted to wear it. It fit him huge but it made him laugh and happy and kept on showing my husband that he was wearing his shirt.

And of course, if you know me, any moment is a camera moment, so this made for a few good pictures.

And of course, a few good pictures means a good scrapbook layout!

I have been in the green kick lately with my layouts, if you haven't noticed and this layout would be perfect with green since the t-shirt was in the green family.

For the 12x12 background I used this funky paper by CherryArte and I never thought I would get to use it because of the color scheme but amazingly it was PERFECT for this layout. I took a green sheet of paper that has faint little dots in it and cut it down to the right size and set it down with my very favorite 3D-dots. I added green corner stickers to the one side of the layout just to give it symmetry.

I matted my 2 pictures in a funky black and white glittered card stock. This time around I kept my corners sharp, I didn't round them like I normally like to. I placed them on the green paper which would be my common area.

Another item in my stash that I thought I would never use is the black glittered skull. And again it goes just perfectly with this theme. The black arrow was in the same set as the skull.

My favorite addition to this layout is the Ed Hardy hang tag that came off the t-shirt. It was made so well with heavy card stock and material that was stitched onto the card, it would have been a shame to toss it. I also kept the thread along with the medallion on it for that extra jazz. My husband must have tossed the others from his other shirts because they are no where to be found and I only I would appreciate such a thing!

The title "Like father like son" is a Bohemia rub-on and I used some green scrap, rubbed it on there and put it down with 3D-dots.

I also used green scrap as the background of my journal square and I antiqued the edges with green ink. And not to throw anything off, I put that down with 3D-dots as well!

Overall, I am pretty happy the way this came out. It is simple, not too much going on, but something like this doesn't need all that commotion!

I hope you like it.

Aquarium Layout

2008-10-06T16:47:00.007-04:00

I took my son to the New York Aquarium in Coney Island for the first time last year... he was 2 years old. We have visited the aquarium a few more times since and I may or may not scrap those pictures. Only time will tell.

I have been holding onto this 1 picture... I took many but this one stood out the most. After exactly 1 year it finally dawned on me.

This is the layout I came up with. It is pretty simple but it says a lot.

I had purchased the 12x12 "Our Trip to Aquarium" paper for this trip and held onto it with the picture. The dic-cut shark is a Paper House product that I found on ebay. It was a set of 3 but I used just the one and saved the other 2 for future projects.

I used 3 different matts behind the picture and the largest one, I used 3D dots to raise it. I also raised the shark as well as my circle journal. It is hard to tell but you can see the shadows from the 3D effect and it looks pretty cool.

Thankfully I saved our ticket stubs as well as the map and I was able to incorporate them in the layout. I placed the map on the layout just so you can still open it and see the inside. I attached the tickets with a binder clip that I received in a scrapbook swap (actually a package with a few different colors and the opposite side, not shown, has words on it - I believe vacation themed).

The "New York Aquarium" epoxy sticker was from a sticker set I purchased for my son that trip. He used up all the fish stickers and put them in his sticker books and I stashed that one for me! He never missed it :)

One of my favorite parts of this is the seaweed and glittery fish. These are from Jolee's By You. When I opened the package, I thought the seaweed would be a one piece sticker but it was not. Each piece of seaweed was separate but it worked out pretty well because I used the 3D dots on those as well and each one is layered on top of one another and it looks so regal. And the fish add the color that the layout would have been missing.

I hope you like it just as much as I do.

Scrappin' Goals

2008-09-26T15:59:00.004-04:00

This weekend will be gloomy and rainy and a part of me is happy about that. That is my excuse not to leave the house and make everyone else happy. I want to stay home with my son and just play and scrap.

Yes Scrap!

I have a bunch of pictures printed that I want to do layouts with. I am even hosting a sketch challenge on myspace and I want to do the layout based on the sketch I choose.

When my son is home and awake while I scrap, it tends to work out pretty well. I scrap on the dinning room table and he likes to line up all of his cars on the table. It keeps him near me and occupied. He even likes to run a car over my layout as I work but that's ok :)

So that is it.... I want to at least do 2 layouts this weekend, if I can get more than that done - I will be ecstatic!

I'm Lovin' this!!!

2008-09-22T20:55:00.003-04:00

Again!! WOO HOO! I WON AGAIN!

My 3rd sketch challenge and I won it! I can't believe it. Again, there were so many talented entries and they all deserved to win.

Here is my winning layout:

Sketch Challenge: 1 Picture

2008-09-21T20:10:00.009-04:00

I joined another sketch challenge on myspace. These are addicting and fun.

This one was quite a challenge. This is the sketch that Liz challenged us with:

Here is my version of the layout.

I used a cool picture I have of my son trying on my husbands pricey Gucci sunglasses. I had to get a picture of it because my husband is always complaining about the fingerprints so I had to show him the guilty party!

It's a bit hard to tell but I used 3-D foam dots on the light blue card stock and on the red circle just to give it definition. I always try to do that in my layouts, I don't want them to always be flat.

I printed the Gucci logo on Vellum. The silver index tab is from Making Memories and it says "Chillin" and it just slides onto the paper - cute addition. The word "Genuine" is chipboard and from K&Company Wild Saffron line. The ribbon are self-adhesive which is a real plus because it can be tricky to get the ribbon to adhere with other products. I got the ribbon at Oriental Trading and there were about 5 different colors and patterns in the pack - all fun colors.

I definitely know this is not a winning layout, there were soo many great entries.

Hope you like it.

Hurry up Fall!

2008-09-16T16:48:00.007-04:00

Fall is my all time favorite season. The crisp air, cool enough for a sweater or light jacket but warm enough to still do outside activities, and the crisp leaves on the ground.

I need to take a picture of my son jumping and stomping in a great pile of crisp leaves so I can do the perfect layout.

I just bought the greatest fall paper pack at A.C. Moore, and got a package of die-cut leaves by K&Company as well as other Fall themed embellies and my wheels are turning. There is a great layout waiting to be made!

So Fall, please hurry up and get here!

Halloween Layouts

2008-09-13T13:02:00.003-04:00

Since Halloween is quickly approaching, I thought it would be a great time to catch up on my Halloween layouts.

My son is now 3 years old and I have never scrapped any of his Halloween pictures. I have done fall layouts just not Halloween. So these past few weeks I was able to do 3 layouts for the past 3 years.

I am hoping that this years layout won't be as late as these. Maybe I will make a goal to scrap them quickly - maybe in the month of November. Let's see if I can do it.

All of his Halloween costumes have been cute - nothing scary so far :) This year he will either be a spider or a turtle (he wants to be a monkey, so we are still tossing the idea), but I am sure which ever he is will be cute, not scary.

His 1st Halloween 2005 - ROOSTER:

Here I used a traditional Orange and Black color scheme. I used double mats behind the 2 pictures and rounded the corners of the mats as well as the pictures. I love my corner punches! I cut out the title using my Cricut and layered it.

The number 1 and the H in Halloween have a raised dimension by using some foam dots. I was once again able to use Stickles in yet another layout - I love that stuff! I created my journal in MS Word and added a clip-art image to it and then ink'd the edges for the antique look. Other embellies are store bought.

His 2nd Halloween 2006 - SHARK:

Here I used a black background with orange, green, white and purple dots. I matted the pictures in orange and rounded the corners on both the pictures and matts.

Using foam adhesive squares, I raised the 'Happy Halloween' tag, the journal square and the year.

I used a variety of embellishments from Jolee's jack-o-lantern filled with treats, to felt leaves.

His 3rd Halloween 2007 - LION:
Here I used a solid orange background paper and matted the pictures with a carmel color brown paper. I added a patterned harvest paper to the background for a something little extra. I added brads, buttons and embellies by Jolee's and Pebbles. In the center is a great fabric adhesive in a pumpkin design that I got at Oriental Trading - another fabulous spot for great deals.

This years layout to follow in November.

Again!?!

2008-09-12T11:11:00.002-04:00

I can't believe I won another sketch challenge! I can not believe it. To some, it may be no big deal but when you submit a layout with a bunch of other talented women and you win - it is such an acheivement.

This was the winning layout:

I WON!!!

2008-09-05T15:23:00.002-04:00

The first sketch challenge I ever joined and I WON!!!!

Wooo Hooo!

I have never won anything for scrapping!

I won a kit but haven't gotten it yet - I can't wait!

This was the winning layout:

Why I Scrapbook...

2008-09-05T12:29:00.006-04:00

Why I scrapbook? That can be a loaded question.

The thought of scrapbooking emerged while I was pregnant a few years back, sitting home watching home shopping network and if you know me I am an impulse shopper. I ordered a bunch of stuff and no clue what to do with it. Eventually it all ended up under my bed because I had a baby to take care of.

Fast forward almost 2 years and I made a new friend who likes scrapbooking. Also, my local Rag Shop was going out of business and again being an impulse shopper bought out almost all of their scrapbooking supplies.

I finally started and now I am totally addicted.

Scrapbooking keeps my mind occupied and keeps my juices flowing. I never thought I had a creative bone in my body until now. It's funny how things change... I couldn't draw a straight line before and now look what I can do.

My husband is in the restaurant business and comes home late at night and works weekends so once the baby goes to bed I am all alone. Instead of dwelling on being lonely I sit at my dinning room table and scrapbook. It makes me happy. The feeling of accomplishment once a layout is done is such a great feeling. And knowing that the current layout is better than the previous is a feeling of success and that is why I want to share my work with others.

Don't get me wrong, I am not the best, far from it, but I think I am pretty good considering.

I have yet to show you all of my layouts, there are plenty, hopefully in time I will be able to share them all.

So this passion has made me a shopaholic for scrapping supplies. You name it, I most likely have it. And I am the type of person, who when I find a bargain or a great new item, I buy more than one so I can share with fellow scrappers.

I am still battling the organization of all my supplies. I have space issues so it is a never ending battle. I hope to one day have my own room dedicated to scrapbooking.

Happy scrapping!

What excites me...

2008-09-04T11:01:00.002-04:00

A SALE! A good ol' SALE, that is what excites me!

A.C. Moore has Glue Dots on sale this week. 2 boxes for $5! That is incredible as 1 box typically goes for $3.99 to $5.49!

This sale holds true in New York, not sure about other areas.

I was got there this week and grabbed 6 boxes!

Big smile on my face for a great find!

Imagination at Work

2008-08-30T10:44:00.003-04:00

My 'real life friend' and fellow blogger introduced me to one of his unique online finds.

Polyvore.com.

At first I just thought, another thing to worry and obsess about and didn't give it too much thought.

I then watched him create and create and said ok now I have to give it a try.... after all, it doesn't seem too much different than scrapbooking - just have to use your imagination.

The end results are quite a few unique to me, "Sets" or you can even call them layouts, why not?

Here are the few I have done.... hope you like them!

These are the things I love....

This is my weight loss journey...

This is everything my son loves...

This is my scrapbook bulletin board!

Sketch Challenge: 2 pictures

2008-08-28T23:58:00.011-04:00

Yes... I gave in and participated in another myspace sketch challenge.

This challenge required 2 pictures.

Original sketch provided by Larissa:

My version:

I used a bright green with dark green polka dots 12x12 paper as my background. A different shade of the same paper was used for the paper edge up top as well as the mats for my pictures. I made the journal circle on my own in MS Word. I have journaling stamps but the circle one is not that big and I wanted one to pop out. I used my Cats Eye inks to give it some color. The stars I made on my Cricut using my Celebrations cartridge and jazzed them up with Stickles and placed them on the layout with some foam adhesive to give it dimension. I did the same with the chipboard title.

I hope you like it!

Sketch Challenge: 4 Pictures

2008-08-24T22:59:00.004-04:00

Since my 1st sketch challenge came our fairly well, I thought I'd give another one a try. This time my myspace scrap friend, Angela hosted this challenge.

This was the original sketch:

This was my version of it:

I had decided to use pictures from our recent trip to The Bronx Zoo. I used for the first time in this layout, Stickles glitter glue. I have seen others use it and have been very anxious to get my hand on some so I recently got about 6 different colors. As you can see I outlined the leaf stickers as well as some of the leaves that are on the patterned paper. I also outlined all the pictures on the mats.

I was excited to finally get to use the Jolee's Zebra and Giraffe stickers that I had - I think they are the cutest!

My 1st Sketch Challenge: 3 Pictures

2008-08-23T00:54:00.010-04:00

I am part a handful, well maybe 2 handfuls of scrapbooking groups on myspace and I have to say I have befriended many great women.

One of my scrap-friends, Denise, posted a sketch challenge. She sketched out a layout and challenged the group to put together a similar layout.

This is Denise's sketch:

I have known about this challenge for about 2 weeks now, and it is due month's end and I hadn't given much thought about it until tonight. I just sat at my scrapping area (my dinning room table!) and it just came to me. What is the most prized possession that my son has at this moment? All of his cars.... but his 'own' car tops his list.

This is my version of the sketch:

I think it came out fairly well. I have a lot of car themed embellishments (brads & stickers) because I know I will use them pretty often. I was even lucky enough to find a journal tag with a car on it from my K&Company Tag Pad and attached it to the layout with a red car brad.

Thanks Denise! I can't wait for the next one!

I Made it!

2008-08-22T14:25:00.001-04:00

Step 1 - get crafty a
Step 2 - start scrapbooking a
Step 3 - start making invitations!!!! aa

I am very very proud of myself for attempting home-made invitations this year for my son's 3rd Birthday Party. I wanted to do something different and wow everyone.

I started just with an idea and had no idea if and how I would implement it.

The Theme: Cowboy/Western

I started with the supplies (all purchased at Michaels):

white/blank cards with envelopes
vellum paper
3 kinds of patterned paper
Jolee's stickers
Brads
glue stick
glue dots
ColorBox Cat's Eye Ink

I sat there looking at the white cards and said to myself "how am I am going to 'un-whiten' them".

I took a piece of the bandanna print patterned paper and cut it down to size and glued it to the inside of the card (cover all the white space). So far so good...

I then took the tanned cowboy print patterned paper and did the same to the front of the card.

I printed the invitation information onto the vellum paper using MS Word and added a cowboy silhouette clip art. I cut the vellum down to size (I was able to print 2 invitations on 1 piece of 8.5" x11" vellum paper) and attached it to the inside of the card using 2 western themed brads (lucky find on eBay!) on the top 2 corners.

The inside verse was:

Howdy Partner!

I'm asking you

to saddle up

and come chow down!

Thomas' 3rd Birthday Party

Date

Time

RSVP

Here is a closer look at the brads - aren't they the coolest?

Back to the front....

I used another color of the bandanna patterned paper and cut out "You're Invited" on my Cricut using the Beyond Birthdays cartridge. I attached the cut out using Glue Dots to the center of the front.

I used decorative scissors and cut the bottom edge of the front of the card to give the illusion that the card was ripped or even burned. I used my ColorBox Cat's Eye ink and distressed all the edges in a dark brown to give it the burned/antiqued look. Looked PERFECT!!!

To add the final touch to the front, I placed Jolee's cowboy themed stickers to the front. The package can with a few different stickers, so I was able to have 4 variations of the front.

The final product:

These are the 4 variations of the front: the inside:

I am so proud of how these came out and was so happy to send them out to everyone. I received tons of compliments and the "you should start your own invitation making business" suggestion but I don't know about that :)

I then made my own return labels and stamped the front of the envelope with a horse stamp that I was lucky to find on sale at A.C. Moore.

The party came and went and it was a success.

My 1st Scrap-Lift

2008-08-21T21:20:00.005-04:00

I am not one to literally copy something that someone does. Try to get ideas, yes, but copy no. I have come to learn that 'scrap lifting' is something that is usually welcomed in the scrapbooking community.

I subscribe to the magazine Scrapbooks Etc. and they had a layout with a sketch and templates for it, basically inviting you to scrap lift.

This was the article in the magazine:

And this was my version of the layout:

I started with a 12x12 sheet of blue paper, and cut down a green sheet of 12x12 for a pop of color. I added corner embellies to the green paper for a little extra touch. I matted my pictures with a bright yellow card stock from one of my "Designer Matt Pads" by K&Company and added anchors and brads to the top corners.

I didn't use the exact colors of the original - I wanted to make it my own.

I liked the idea of the little white tags to add the journaling, so I grabbed that idea right away!

I used my Cricut to cut out the clouds and title "My Pot of Gold". I also ink'd the edges of the title and white tags.

I like the idea of adding the colored buttons to the clouds but for some reason my version doesn't have that scattered look like the original does.

I hope to do more scrap lifting soon!

Layouts in 2007

2008-08-21T10:25:00.001-04:00

I started scrappin' in the Spring of 2007 and I think I did plenty layouts in about 6 months.

All of these layouts are part of my son's "1st Year" album.

Now keep in mind, I was a beginner :) I already posted my 1sts.... these are the rest:

The layouts without matts behind the photos are ones I did earlier, not knowing matting brings out the photo :)

*These are not necessarily the order I did them*

my 1st attempt at journaling:

I tried using stencils on this one... that was the last time I ever used them!

I love this one... my friend Joey cut out the watermelon for me!

These are 2 Valentine layouts and the 2nd one is not a favorite at all... has to be one of my worse

You can see that at this point they are starting to improve a bit.

I love how this one came out.... one of my best that early on (at least I think)

This pool layout was my time ever using my Cricut!

Sorry for the photo dump.... but now I will be able to show you my 2008 layouts in more detail!

Thanks for lookin'!

What I have & love

2008-08-20T14:47:00.008-04:00

When I showed some interest in scrapbooking, I was home very pregnant and watching HSN and they had a 'scrapbooking' special on. I logged onto their website and ordered a few things, a beautiful Amanda Blu album, a paper kit and some embellies. Just a few things to start an album for my new baby. At that point, I didn't even know you could buy this stuff in stores!

I started with a small supply of goodies but now I have soo much supply that my house is too small for it! LOL.

I do not have a dedicated room for scrapping, but I sure wish I did. I am soo envious of other women who have a craft room with closets and all the shelving their hearts desire. I scrap on my dinning room table.

All my supply is hidden throughout the house but organized fairly well, as well as I could do it. I have more than I probably need but I am such an addict at this point, that going into a craft store is very dangerous because I will leave there with a few hundred dollars worth of supply that I don't need because I have quadrople of that at home already :)

Some of the scrapping items/tools that I have, love and use most often are:

- Provocraft Silent Eyelet Setter
- Provocraft Cricut (I have a quite a few cartridges)
- Fiskars Circle Cutter
- Paper trimmer
- Punches
- ColorBox Cat's Eye Ink/Chalk
- Glue Dots
- Chipboard
- Paper Edgers
- stickers
- rub-ons
- flourishes

.... the list can go on forever!

The Beginning....

2008-08-20T14:26:00.007-04:00

I want to share my very first layouts. The layouts that I created were basic - nothing excited. A few pictures, some stickers, that's it. Yes I know pretty boring.

As you will notice from these layouts and more to come that they all pertain to my son, my life. All the layouts are keepsakes for him.

I have tons more to share but don't want to bore you all at once :)

Welcome

2008-08-20T09:59:00.004-04:00

I have decided to start blogging about my addiction to scrapbooking! May not be exciting to some but can be exciting to many. :)

I started scrapping just over a year ago before my son turned 2 years old. The intention to start scrapping was before my son was born, when I was pregnant. I bought tons of supply and an album for my baby but shoved it under my bed and never got into it until last year when a friend 're-introduced' me to it.

I have done quite a few layouts which I plan to show you, my first ones are quite obvious and then you can see the imporvements from layout to layout. I am not the best - far from it, but I am pretty proud of myself.

More to follow....