New Years Eve

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!

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!!!

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

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...

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!

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

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....

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...

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

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

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!

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

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...

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

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

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!

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

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!

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!

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!

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

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.