Time to sing - or not!

As an avid singer myself, I have always hoped my sons will follow in my footsteps, but it's getting less likely for Adrian. He really likes to sing, but is seldom on key, and he dreads the thought of anyone actually listening to him. When I give him positive feedback, he responds as if I were Simon on American Idol telling him how ghastly his performance was! Although I hope he grows out of this phase, I just had to document it for posterity's sake, hence this layout about his recent school performance, during which he mostly just stood mute while his class sang. Afterwards, his teacher came up and told me how enthusiastically he sang during rehearsals, but apparently the sight of all those people scared him speechless - literally! I'm pretty proud of this layout because I actually stitched on it, something I always admire on other people's artwork but seldom take the time to do on my own. And in case you're wondering, yes, the stitching is supposed to be crooked!





Recipe:
Charm Upper and Lowercase Alphabets, Hodge Podge Alphabet & April Word Puzzle stamp sets
Animal Cookies Creative Basics patterned paper
Moonstruck & White Daisy cardstock
Moonstruck, Tulip & Sunflower ink
Moonstruck marker
Tulip Embroidery Floss
Foam Squares
Threading Water scalloped punch by Fiskars

Love is in the air

It's my birthday today, and I know I should post something deep and meaningful, like a look back at the past and the influences that shaped me to be what I am today, but I don't have any layouts like that, so here's what you get! This layout is from Elliot's preschool Valentine's party, and making it took me back to the frantic week before Valentine's Day, when I was scrambling to handmake 50 cards for his classmates, plus another 14 for Adrian's class. What was I thinking? At any rate, they came out super cute, so I made an extra to attach to this layout. I was trying to use up some extra Connections Club rewards (clear shapes and rub-ons) from previous CTMH idea books, so I used Liquid Glass to attach Tulip cardstock to the back of three clear hearts, and then I added white rub-ons. I also used metal photo corners from the Spring Blossom Mini-Medley Accent Collection. Everything else was stamped or hand-written. Enjoy, and take a moment today to tell a loved one how special he or she is to you!





Recipe:
February Word Puzzle, Friendship Alphabet small, Tiny Typewriter Alphabet & Welcome Baby stamp sets
Crystal Blue, Tulip, Bamboo & White Daisy cardstock
Crystal BLue, Tulip & Brown Bag ink
Tulip, Chocolate, Black & Sunkiss Yellow markers
Tulip Photo Corners from the Spring Blossom Mini-Medley Accent Collection
Connections Club clear shapes & white rub-ons
Liquid Glass

Baby, it's COLD outside!

Our family drove to Palm Springs in February this year and went on the Aerial Tram. The weather was bad, to say the least, and we ended up shivering in the snow and wind. The experience wasn't much fun, but at least it enabled me to create a winter themed scrapbook layout, something I don't often get to do in sunny Southern California! I used Understudy from Imagine as my pattern, but adapted it to fit my pictures. A fun new (to me) product to point out: the Hodge Podge alphabet stamp set is a collection of fonts that you can mix and match to create eclectic looking titles. I just got mine and am having fun experimenting with the different looks you can get using just this set! If you want to read all about our snowy adventure, click on the last picture to view the journaling up close.







Recipe:
Hodge Podge & Rustic Alphabet stamp sets
Emporium patterned paper
Outdoor Denim & Desert Sand cardstock
Outdoor Denim & Crystal Blue ink
Outdoor Denim Marker
Martha Steward and EK Success snowflake punches

Simple MAF Layout

I just have time to post a simple layout I finished last night while watching the American Idol results show. How about those results? Anyone else surprised? Anyway, back to the layout! A couple of years ago, a group from my church went on a field trip to the headquarters of Mission Aviation Fellowship. In case you've never heard of them, they are a missions organization that specializes in reaching out-of-the-way places that are difficult to access by ordinary means (car, train, etc.). We were able to get a tour of headquarters just before they relocated to Idaho, and it was fascinating to hear about their work with disaster relief and reaching people with the Gospel. You can check them out at http://www.maf.org/. For the layout, I used Golden Section from Jeannette Lynton's Cherish, but I reversed the whole pattern. This is such a cool thing about Jeannette's patterns: they are so versatile that you can adapt them to just about any group of photos. I had fun stamping the designs on the circles using the Flyin' High stamp set. As I mentioned, this is a really simple layout, but here's a tip for some of you scrappers who may be a bit intimidated by all the embellishments you see out there: it's okay to use just paper on your layouts! Yes, you heard right! All your layouts don't have to be complicated. When you are looking through a scrapbook, sometimes it's nice for your eyes to have a place to rest, and the simple, unembellished layouts provide just that opportunity, besides letting your fancier layouts shine. Okay, getting down off my soap box. Hope you enjoy this simple layout!







Recipe:
Flyin' High, Rustic Alphabet, & Extreme Caps stamp sets
Cranberry, Outdoor Denim, Desert Sand & Bamboo cardstock
Cranberry, Outdoor Denim & Desert Sand ink
Outdoor Denim marker

Tickled Pink Thank You card

I finally completed this card I've been promising to post, so here it is! The card uses a 6"x6" pattern called Background Blocks from the Originals card book. I used mostly papers and stamps from this month's CTMH special, the Tickled Pink kit. The more I play with the papers and the beautiful flower stamps, the more I fall in love with them. The brochure that comes with the kit shows how to combine several of the flower stamps to create the multi-colored blooms I used on my card. My new Thank You stamp set was the perfect finishing touch. I gave the card to my Bible Study Fellowship leader today after all the ladies in my discussion group had signed it, and she loved it. It's so exciting to be able to create something beautiful that will be treasured, and only spend a fraction of what I would have to spend if I purchased a card at the store. I love my hobby!





Recipe:
Tickled Pink Scrapbooking Kit
Thank You stamp set
Crystal Blue, Blush & White Daisy cardstock
Crystal Blue, Blush, Hollyhock & Sweetleaf inks
Texture tool

Teacher Appreciation Cards

I didn't get my box with new stamps in it until yesterday afternoon and so couldn't finish my thank you card for my BSF leader (maybe I'll be able to post it by tomorrow). Instead I worked on cards for Adrian and Elliot's teachers and teacher's aides. The new CTMH catalog had this really cute paper pack called Animal Cookies which seemed perfect for teacher cards. I used the Creative Basic Animal Cookies Collection, which features only two patterned papers, but I loved both of them. The cards turned out just as I wanted them - yay! - and I only used half a sheet of each patterned paper (plus cardstock, of course) to make six cards. Hmmm, I think I sense a card making workshop in the future. And here's a big shout out to all you teachers out there. You have no idea what an impact you make on your students, so, even when the going gets tough, keep up the great work. You really are making a difference!

Originals: Lucky Three

My own design

Originals: Pretty Simple (revised)


Recipe:
Creative Basic Animal Cookies patterned papers
Desert Sand, Sunflower & White Daisy Cardstock
Tulip, Dutch Blue, Sunflower & Clover Meadow ink
Homestead, Classmate & Friendship Alphabet stamp sets
Life's a Jungle, Friendship Word Puzzle, Dream Big & Alphabet Solos "Y" stamp sets
Spring Blossom Mini-Medly Accents
White Daisy Bulk Ricrac
Watercolor pencils
Blending pen
Sponges
Foam squares

Man for All Seasons Birthday Card

This week has certainly been a card-making week, and there is no end in sight. I've made cards for Mother's Day and for my BSF leader (I'll post that one tomorrow after my Thank You stamp set arrives!), and tomorrow I am doing a 20 card workshop with my friend Lisa for a charity event. I still need to make cards for Teacher Appreciation week, and in the meantime, I put together this card for my husband's birthday. The idea came to me earlier this week as I was sorting the junk on my scrapbook table. Some die-cut snowflakes happened to find themselves next to a scrap of Hawaiian paper, and eureka! an idea was born. I went to work with my Monthly Word puzzle stamp sets, picking images that seemed to represent each of the seasons. Using the On Your Left pattern from Jeannette Lynton's Originals book, I created this card. The inside says "Happy birthday to my man for all seasons." Greg really liked it, and even thought I should make more (not for him, though!), so I guess the hard work I put into it paid off. Happy birthday, Honey. You truly are my man for all seasons.





Recipe:
January, March, April, August & November Word Puzzle Stamp Sets
Happy Birthday, Moments in Time & True Happiness stamp sets
Barn Red, Twilight, Bamboo & Colonial White cardstock
Barn Red, Twilight, Honey, Bamboo & Topiary ink
Barn Red & Bamboo markers
Blending pen
Edge distressor

Some Bunny Loves Me

I am so blessed! I had a wonderful Mother's Day, thanks to my husband and two boys. My favorite part of the day was when Adrian came out of Sunday School and handed me a card with a coupon for a good attitude inside! I never had to use it because the boys were in such a good mood all day. Hope everyone had a great day, too. This morning, I was catching up on scrapping some old photos, and I just love these pictures of Elliot hugging the bunny. I used the Stardust paper pack as my accent paper on this layout; if you scrapbook a lot of boys, you have to get this paper pack. It is perfect for anything boy themed! The layout design is copied from a Lisa Bearnson kit I purchased several years ago and never used, but I was able to adapt the pattern and use it here. I included a couple of fun techniques that I'd like to point out. The title uses the rock and roll technique, where you stamp your image in a lighter color and then roll the edges in a darker ink to get a two-toned image; and I used my pivot point stapler to make the stapled "X"s. The head of this stapler swings around to eight positions, so I can always turn it to the correct position and reach across a long expanse of paper to make the design I want. Too cool!





Recipe (all products CTMH):
Charm Alphabet Upper and Lowercase stamp sets
Stardust paper pack
Sweet Leaf, Dutch Blue, Desert Sand, & White Daisy cardstock
Desert Sand & Holiday Red ink
Dazzling Die Cuts textured hearts
Pivot Point Stapler
Staples

Mother's Day Cards

Spoiler: Jean and Nancy, do not look at this post until after you've opened your Mother's Day cards!



After watching an inspiring episode of Heart and Soul, CTMH's on-line crafting show, I came up with these cute cards for Greg's mom and mine. This brand-new episode, called Expressions of Love for Mom, featured a technique to make a word block. Because it was so cute, I copied the word block they used as their example, and it became the centerpiece for my cards. If you want to watch the episode, click here to see how to put together this and other word blocks using clear stamps. I started out using the pattern "Clean Cut" from Jeanette Lynton's Originals Card Book, but, as usual, I ended up creating something slightly different. Another fun technique: using one of the Spot On Backgrounds stamps and Hollyhock ink, I created the large background piece. The stamp was smaller than my cardstock, so I had to stamp it multiple times, but I was able to line up the patterns exactly because I could see through my stamp. Gotta love that precision! I ended up with two similar but unique cards for two wonderful yet totally unique moms. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. May your day be blessed.

***During the month of May only, I am offering the Priceless Love Word Puzzle stamp set (used to make the word block on this card) at the discount price of $20. Please contact me if you would like to purchase this versatile set.***

Recipe:
Priceless Love Word Puzzle & Spot On Backgrounds stamp sets
Boom-Di-Ada paper pack
Boom-Di-Ada My Stickease
Buttercup & Baby Pink cardstock
Olive, Hollyhock, Sweet Leaf & Barn Red ink
Olive Marker
Foam pop-up squares
White Daisy Ricrac

Chinese New Year

My youngest son, Elliot, celebrated Chinese New Year with his pre-school class this year. Unfortunately, there was no parade with dragons or fireworks, but the kids got to eat a lot, which they seemed to enjoy. I didn't have any papers or stamps that co-ordinated with this theme, so I created some background paper using the random stamping technique. I used the January Word Puzzle to stamp Happy New Year! on the Holiday Red cardstock, then used the same stamp but added the word Chinese to create my title. Using the clear stamps made this really easy, since I could see exactly where I was stamping. No crooked words or botched stamping - yay! I also included a dragon that Elliot had colored in, but I sprayed it with Archival Mist first to be sure it was safe to use in my scrapbook.



Recipe (all items CTMH):
January Word Puzzle, Swirl Stroke Caps, Atomic Caps, Tiny Typewriter Alphabet stamp sets
Stardust paper pack
Holiday Red, Dutch Blue, Sunny Yellow cardstock
Holiday Red, Dutch Blue ink

Tickled Pink Special

As promised, here is the information about Close to My Heart's special this month, the Tickled Pink scrapbooking kit. The kit includes an exclusive D-sized stamp set and designer B&T papers (only available this month), textured cardstock, a sheet of die-cuts in White Daisy, White Daisy Mini Medley Accents Collection, a foam texture tool, and a brochure with two new scrapbook patterns by CTMH's founder, Jeanette Lynton. You can receive this great kit free either by making a purchase of $60 worth of stamps from CTMH or by hosting a home gathering with sales of $400 or more. This set is also available for purchase for $34.95 (still well below the retail value), but hurry! All these specials are only good through May 31st. E-mail me if you are interested in receiving a catalog or want to order the special.

Aquarium of the Pacific

When Grandma and Grandpa Even came to visit in January, we all went to the Aquarium of the Pacific. The boys zoomed from exhibit to exhibit, trying to see everything at once. I think the only place they slowed down was at the playground, where they happily squirted water at each other for about half an hour. I just had to capture my memories of that super-speedy day with this layout using the Majestic Blue paper pack. I used Liquid Glass on the sea-shell, fish, and starfish. I love how it gives them a 3-D effect and really makes them pop out from the page.





Recipe (All items CTMH):
Daydream & Rustic Alphabet stamp sets
Majestic Blue paper pack
Crystal Blue, Desert Sand, & Colonial White cardstock
Crystal Blue, Desert Sand, & Bamboo ink
Cocoa & Desert Sand markers
Blending Pen
Liquid Glass

NSD Layouts

Today was a busy day, with a soccer game (Adrian's team won 5 -1) and a friend's retirement party to attend, so this is the first chance I have had to sit down at the computer. As promised, here is the first of several layouts I completed on National Scrapbook Day. I am a big fan of Jeanette Lynton's pattern books, so for this layout I used a pattern from Cherish called Silver Screen. I frequently tweak the patterns to fit my pictures, but this time I pretty much left it alone. My favorite part of the layout is the patterned paper I created using White Daisy cardstock and a stamp from the Jingle Borders stamp set. I stamped the background pattern using Indian Corn Blue ink, and then filled in parts of it with Cranberry and Honey markers.

  

 

Recipe:

Jingle Borders, Priceless Love Word Puzzle, July Word Puzzle & Friendship Word Puzzle stamp sets

Blue Ribbon patterned papers

White Daisy, Outdoor Denim, Indian Corn Blue, & Honey cardstock

Outdoor Denim, Indian Corn Blue, Cranberry & Honey ink

Outdoor Denim, Cranberry & Honey markers

National Scrapbooking Day

What a great day to start posting to my new blog. Hi everyone, and happy National Scrapbook Day. Okay, it's not a government recognized holiday, but it should be! I spent today in the company of friends, scrapping away and checking out everyone's albums and cards. I sure know a lot of creative people. It was great to finish a bunch of scrapbook layouts. I started scrapbooking 2009, and finished most of my pictures from January 2009. Only three months behind now. I'll try to post one of my completed layouts tomorrow, plus the details of Close to My Heart's great special, the Tickled Pink scrapbooking kit, only available this month. Until tomorrow, keep on scrapping!