New Toys!!

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.

3 New Layouts

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 Got It!

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.

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!

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!

Wish List

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!

I Made it!

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.