Winter in July

I was working on a two page winter spread this month and I wanted to share it with you. It doesn't have any Cricut cuts but is a great simple layout that looks like more than it is. It is made up of six 4x6 photos.

I added a journaling spot hidden behind one of the photos which I trimmed down to 4x4, but you could certainly leave it as a 4x6. Here is a picture of the journaling block pulled from its hiding spot.

These photos don't show the bling that I just so love on this page. I enhanced a white fabric flower with fine & chunky glitter. Then I added Stickle dots to the SU! snowflake punch out that I put over the flower. Here is a closer look:

The rest is some Prima rhinestone bling and some buttons from SU! to match the SU! paper used for the layout. I added Thickers for my title and some Pink Paislee glittlered chipboard letters.

I hope you like it. I have a few more layouts to share with you. I'll try to post another by the end of the week.

See you soon!

Sweet As Honey

Hello again.
I am back to share with you a layout I made using my Cricut.

I used Lacy Labels to cut the background border and interior of the page. I also used a weld ombination of Create A Critter and Just Because Cards for the title, the clouds and the two little bees are also from Create A Critter. For the little faces on the bees I used Peachy Keen stamps (Thanks Joanne for recommending them). There is also a little bit of stickle glitter on the wings of the bees and on the word "as" in the title. As usual there is some doodling and some chalking on this page to finish it off.

Well that's all for now. I'll be back with another single page where I plan to use an image from one of the Cricut Swap Cuts the girls over at my Meetup group So Many Photos...So Little Time... made.

See you then. =)

Traveler

A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.
                                                                                                            ~Lao Tzu

Here is a page I worked on to reduce that pile of one hit wonder photos I have. This one is about my little guy. Here he is taking on an upgrade from riding a tricycle.



The main patterned paper is from Michael's Recollections. I saw this at the store last year and picked it up just for this photo but it wasn't until now that I actually had a chance to scrap it. I am quite happy with it. I love the way the layering turned out and how all the elements, albeit from different manufacturers, worked together so nicely.

I hope to come back tomorrow with some Cricut enhanced layouts I've been working on this week. I think you're gonna love 'em.

See you soon =)

Quick & Simple

As promised, here is an easy page for a one photo 12x12 layout using some oldies but goodies.

This is based on another sketch. It was so simple that I actually got this down in less than 30 minutes! And that's including pulling patterned papers and embellishments.

I popped up some very old stickers I had in my stash and kept on going with a Thickers font for the title. I even used and old resin embellishment as part of the title. For the journaling, I wrote it on vellum paper strips using a Sharpie marker. Last but not least, I added faux stitching with my Signo white pen.

Easy Peasy! I got this photo via email from my SIL years ago. I never scrapped it because I didn't have any other photos to go with it. But she looked so cute, I couldn't bear to just stick it in a photo album.

So there you have it. An easy & quick page to make in less than half an hour. Try it and let me know how it turned out!

See you soon =)

A Picture Can Tell A Thousand Words

Have you ever had a memory of an event that you only have one picture for? I recently realized that I have quite a number of these such pictures in my photo files. They come from events that I did not attend but got photos of. They come from photos sent to me from friends or family when I didn't have a camera at the ready. And even from times where that one moment happend at the time of a much larger event that I want to highlight.

So I've made a note to try to scrap these one page/one photo memories this summer. And you would think it would be easy since they consist of one photo, right? NOT! I think they are a bit harder. There is more creative space to fill as the photo only covers a 4x6 or 5x7 space in the sea of a 12x12 page.

This is one such moment. I couldn't tell you why I missed this. But my husband what wise enough to catch this funny moment of my kids lives in a photo. They love playing together. This moment took place when my little guy still looked up to his big sis. He hadn't found his independence from her yet. Of course, my daughter took full advantage of this fact and got him to go along with her every whim.

Here she got him to and play princess dress up with her, tiara included. LOL! So cute to see my little boy dressed up as a little princess just to please his big sister. Its a time that I will cherish forever and will not let him live down. LOL. Especially since I have proof. =)

Here is the page.

I used the Cricut to cut out all the die cuts and fonts. You can also buy this title at Out On A Limb Scrapbooking. I only wish the castle had a shadow option to make it stand out more. I was so preoccupied with having the colors work on the page that I forgot to notice how much they would blend in with the page. But all in all, I think it came out alright.

I hope you like it. Come back tomorrow and check out another page that is quick & simple to put together and puts some of those old stickers to use.

See you tomorrow! =)

Winner, Winner...

... Chicken Dinner! Isn't that how it goes?

I am so happy to report that I was chosen, albeit randomly, from Lauren Brewer at Lauren's Creative to receive a card set she made! I got them in the mail during my MIA status and can I tell ya, they are even more amazing in person! I love Lauren's work. She is so talented. I just love all her scrappy goodness.

I wanted to share with you the set of cards I won. I don't think I could ever part with them. Check 'em out. They are so cute!

These are so adorable! I am telling you, I can not part with them. I feel like I got a gift from a celebrity. I feel like Marsha Brady, "I will never wash this cheek again." LOL.

This is just a taste of Lauren's talent. Please check her out at http://laurenscreative.blogspot.com and you too will love her as much as I do.

See ya tomorrow! =)

Teacher Gift

Today was my Kindergartener's End of Year Celebration. The event was so cute! The kids all sang songs to us and they even did one in sign language. We also got to see a cute slideshow of the their Kindergarten year in review. I was very touching.

As class parent, the class collected to give the teacher a gift card. I also gave her a scrapbook,of course!

The kids drew pictures and added a good-bye message along with their signatures for her to keep. I think it turned out to be a really cute keepsake.

I also made her a cute Crayon Wreath. I had gotten this idea off the internet 3 years ago when I made it for my daughter's Kindergarten teacher. Here is the one I made for my son's teacher this year.

I used the Cricut to make the chalkboard with her name and the pencil & scissor die cuts. It turned out really cute. She loved it!

So what crafty gift have you guys made for a teacher? I like to hear some new ideas for next year. I hope to hear from you soon.

See ya tomorrow! =)

First Crush

Here is a recent layout I was playing with when I met up with my scrap group for a swap. While we all chatted the night way, sometime around midnight I remembered that I had planned to make a page at that gathering.

So here is what I ended up with.

I love how it turned out. I based it off a sketch from Pagemaps. I also used my Cricut to cut the background shape, the clouds, and the love birds. The paper line is an oldie from Crate Paper. The hearts are from an SU! punch I had in my stash.

Let me know what you think. And don't forget to come back everyday this week for my attempt catching up on my MIA status.

See you tomorrow! =)

Gone But Not Forgotten

I've been a bad blogger. =(
I have been ignoring this site. Although I had good intentions of posting every week, life got in the way. I hope to have more time as the school year closes &  hope to pick up where I left off.

So to make up for my absence, I will post every day (gasp!) Yes, everyday this week with a picture of what I've been working on. I will have to amend my original commitment from posting 2 page spreads every week to posting a layout (whether it be 2 pages or one) every week for you guys.

I hope you all can stop by for a visit everyday this week and take a peek at what I've been up to.

See ya tomorrow. =)

Two for Two

I am back this week with two layouts as promised. I worked with my Cricut Expression on both of these layouts. I needed to put this machine to use. You know! Its easy to get caught up in buying all the cool cartridges (And boy did I get my collection started with a vengeance). But I tend to forget to pull the Cricut out when scrapbooking. So I have challenged myself to use it in at least one out of every two layouts in some way or another. So far I am really liking the results of using this plotter.

My first layout this week is on some pictures I had in my stash of my DD. No sketches used on this layout. I mean, really, its just three pictures. I decided to stick to my usual style of Classic and Clean. The twist for me was in using my Cricut.  Here is a picture of the layout:

I used a few cartridges on this layout: for the clouds I used April Showers, then for the title (which I could have made larger) and the tree I used Just Because Cards, then finally for the top scallop border I used Martha Stewart's All Occasions Cake. I love this layout. It is so cute and so totally my daughter.

For the next layout, I worked on a page from Annie's Attic Scrapbooking with Cricut. When I saw this in the book, I just knew I had to make it for our recent trip to DC. I am still waiting on the pictures to come in the mail but I couldn't wait to get this page ready to go. Are you ready? Here it is:

OMG! I just love this one! I used Independence Day for the Capitol Bldg and Serenade for the cherry blossom trees as the book stated. As for the title the book used a couple of images from the Destinations cartridge but since I don't own that one, I had to improvise. Instead I used Martha Stewart's All Occasions Cake and her Elegant Cakes cartridges for the font. I welded the letters together  and then did it again with the shadow layer. The spread holds two 4x6 photos and two 4x4 photos.

I really like how this layout turned out. You really need to see it to appreciate it. The trees are popped up for added dimension as you can see here:

Isn't it a nice touch? That was not me, it was as the book instructed. I love it! There are a number of cute layouts in this book. I highly recommend it. I have quite a number of pages bookmarked for future use.

Well that's all for this week. I will see you next week with some more scrapbooking and other ramblings.

Have a great weekend!

Return to an Award!

As you have noticed I didn't post a layout for last week. =(

For Spring Break, DH and I took the kiddies to Washington DC and down to N.Carolina to visit my brother-in-law. We had a great time. We only regret not having more time for DC. We allowed four days for it and it wasn't nearly enough. We are thinking of giving it another go next year to see all we missed.

But I have some great pictures. So let the scrapbooking begin!
I will work on (2) two page spreads this week. One will be on D.C. following a layout that I saw in Annie's Attic Scrapbooking with Cricut book.

I can't wait to make it! I am really excited about this one. The other layout will be about my DD. I only have three 4x6 photos but I think I can make it fun & spread it into two pages.

Since I have been back, this is the first chance I've gotten to be on the computer. And what a surprise did I get when I learned that my blog pal Angie of Angie's Craft Blog awarded me with a Versatile Blogger Award!

Woo Hoo!
I am so honored, Angie that you thought of me. Thank you so much! Everyone should get a chance to visit her blog. She has some great challenges which I love. Go stop by and give her some love. Tell her I sent'cha!

And with that, I am leaving on a high note.

Thank you all for following. Try to come back by the end of the week to see the two layouts I will be creating for this week. And as always please comment & post a link to your blog or photo of your layouts if you are playing along.

See ya soon! 

Spread 'Em!

I finally got done with my two page spread for this week. It has been a crazy week of unscheduled meetings and appointments. My little one got sick and for the last three nights I haven't slept. Its been like having an infant in the house all over again. Boy, am I glad those days are over. But man, broken nights are hard to take after you've been out of that phase for a while.

So for this week's sketch I decided to work on sketch #9. 
Here is what it looked like.

This image only shows the sketch. When you download or buy the book @ Sketchsupport.com you will get details for all the elements on the page.
Here is my Layout:

And here are some close ups of each individual page.

I used Pebbles, Inc. Tree House paper line. Its so cute! I just love the colors. Its fun and playful. For the die cuts, I used my Cricut (gasp!) to cut the owl and the title from the Straight From the Nest cartridge. The little red bird by the journaling strips is from Pebbles Chips embellishment pack for the Tree House line. I doodled some not so straight lines around the edge of the background and where I messed up I made little zig zags to imitate stitching. I also used my Signo white gel pen (Thanks, Linda!) to "stitch" around the owl and doodle on the title.

Overall I am really pleased with working off these sketches. They are really worth it. It took me one afternoon (between laundry, kids and meals) to put this layout together. It usually takes me a whole week to put together a layout when I am left to my own devices. I hope to get 3-4 layouts done on a given week as this new way to scrap becomes more natural for me.

So how did your spread come out this week? Please post a comment and let me see it! I 'd love to see your work.

Well, that's all for now. Happy Spring Break!
See ya all next week =)

  

I've got your creme right here!

Got your attention now, huh? LOL
Well! Have any one of you tried out this?

I saw the commercial and thought, what a cool idea! I need to try that. So when I went to Stop & Shop this week guess what came home with me. Yup! They had all the flavors. I tried the Original flavor last night. I followed the recipe on the back of the container for Chicken Bruschetta Pasta. And can I tell ya! OMG!

Do you see this? It was so good! So yummy. You guys have to try it! I love fresh tomato and basil and this recipe had it all. We all loved it! It was all we could do not to go back for seconds and break our diet. It is a must try. I highly recommend it.

I also picked up the Savory Garlic flavor so I'll let you know how that one turns out. Let me know if you've tried any of the Philly's Cooking Cremes and what you thought of it. I'd love to hear what you thought about it.

P.S. I am almost done working on my two page spread. I've got all the photos trimmed and ready to go. Now its off to pick some patterned papers. I hope to post it up tomorrow. Come back soon and let me know what you think. =)

And if you are playing along, I'd love to see your layout. So don't forget to leave your blog address with your post.

See ya soon! 

Mail Box Haul

I recently realized that I haven't scrapbooked my kids photos since 2008. I don't normally scrap chronologically so that isn't the issue. What is, is that I haven't done anything with recent photos. Therefore, I need to catch up! I know we are all always catching up and that will never change but, not to have anything from that last two years? That is crazy! So now I am on a mission to get as much done as possible in the next few months before they are out of school. This gives me 10 full weeks, 12 if we are being technical.

So to help me in my new quest, I decided to get a book of sketches from Allison Davis and Debbie Sanders at Scrapbook Generation.

The cool thing about their sketches is that they #1: have tons of two page layouts, which I love and #2: they have measurements! For everything! How neat is that! I think that this will surely cut down on my "production time" and help me get more done faster.  And since I was already shopping, I also got some new paper from My Mind's Eye (love them!) Stella & Rose Gertie and Fine & Dandy True Blue Collections.

I also added a couple of sheets I picked up this week at Michael's. I can't wait to start playing with these. They look so fun. I so love the colors. I hope to share the layouts with you that I make with these next week. This week as been a crazy week with appointments, field trips, and meetings. Next week I hope to get some breathing room & some scrapping time.

I've got 10-12 weeks before they are officially off for the Summer. I am going to challenge myself to make at least 1 two page layout a week. Shouldn't be too tough, right? So who is gonna join me? Lets play together and see if we can make a dent on our picture pile. Comment below and let me know if you are in!

See ya next week!

Purse and Card Project

My scrap buddies and I are getting together to work on a cute purse and card gift set we first saw on Monique Griffith Designs. It's a really cute bag made from Cricut's Tags, Bags, Boxes and More, the Home Accents and the Mother's Day 2010 cartridges. 

I spent the day testing out the measurements and this is what I came up with.

Below is a close up of the bag and the cards. It was a little fussy to get the patterned paper layers on right since I had to cut them free hand but I am pretty satisfied with how it turned out.

Since it was made with the Mother's Day cartridge, I think that makes this project destined for my Mom. I made it using DCWV's Black Currant paper pack. Some of the pages have nice foiling and the patterns are great. I hope she likes it.
 
So for those of you gals that want to make this project, I am gonna share my Gypsy file with you. Click this link to get my file and let me know how it turned out. I'd love to see your projects.

I am looking forward to hanging out with the girls on Friday night to work on this gift set. Thanks for stopping by!

Welcome to my blog!

I am starting this little blog to update my friends on what I do while the kids are away at school. I became a stay-at-home mom six years ago but it hadn't been until this past September 2010 when my youngest went into Kindergarten that I actually had time to breathe.

So here I am seven months into my new time and I am now finally getting to myself together to have some creative time. It took me a while. For the first few months, I was on a veggie mind break and between holidays and family gatherings those months flew by. After the holidays it was time to get into a new routine which took some time to tweak and make perfect for me.

Now here we are a couple of day's until April Fool's Day and I am starting a blog. I am looking forward to this new adventure. I hope to share and insprire you with my creativity as many of you have done for me. I will share my thoughts on housekeeping, home decorating, meal planning, crafting and more.

I hope you will join me on this quest and share your ideas and comments with me. Thanks for visiting.