Christmas Projects

I found a wonderful idea on Pinterest not too long ago. A lady had taken picture frames, put nice scrapbook paper behind them and made dry-erase memo boards. She had a big multi-frame piece for a menu board and 8x10 frames for individual boards.

So, I copied and added some embellishments (cause we all know it's all about the embellies, right?) and had elf-pack gifts for the ladies of the family. What is an elf-pack you ask? Well, several years ago, my creative sister-in-law decided we all needed some fun little goodies at Christmas. And instead of going the stocking route, she made little packs for each person and the "elves" help fill them. This elf tries to make something fun for each of the ladies in the family. (The guys get food and weird tools and slinkies and playdough and legos.)

So, here's what the ladies are getting:

And here is what the head elf (whose name my daughter drew in the family gift-giving drawing) is getting.

I saved the box for this one to make wrapping easier.

Lessons learned, the other frames came from Dollar Tree and aren't the best. 3 D elements aren't a good choice if you have a cheap frame that doesn't have all the little tabs that hold the back in place. A frame with a little more depth to it would work better. The multi-frame came from Big Lots and was much easier to work with.

Excting Challenges

I've been wanting to do more challenges this year and I'm excited to share a few. The first is of course the Scrapwhisper challenges that you've seen me do. The next is from Triple the Scraps. I did one of the first Scripture Challenges that Patter led several years ago and it sure was a wonderful way to combine Bible Study and scrapping. I'm looking forward to this one since it adds wonderful old hymns into the mix.

Check out Scrapwhispers at: http://www.http//scrapwhispers.blogspot.com/

And look in on Patter at: http://triplethescraps.blogspot.com/2011/11/announcing-hymn-scripture-challenge-for.html

I hope some of you will join in on the fun and let us see what you create in the upcoming year.

Back to Work

This has been a hectic year so far. No time to scrap. So today I had an afternoon and a Scrapwhisper Challenge and got a couple done. The first I can't show, it's part of the main whisper at Scrapwhispers. This challenge was a great sketch.



This is my take on it. I used a flower I'd held onto for a long time waiting for just the right layout. This one was it! The pictures were of course part of the set taken by Christa Holland.

Page Maps Freehand Scraps Contest

This layout is another Page Maps Blog Contest Entry. http://pagemaps.blogspot.com/2011/07/freehand-scraps-sketch-contest.html

It used the following sketch.

Again, I'm using some of Christa Holland's incredible photos to continue Kat's album. (There's just so many awesome ones to use!) I love the glimpses of the old tin ceiling at the top of the stairs and the hexagonal tile at the bottom in these. With Kat's outfit it becomes and old meets new. So I kept to clean lines in the layout and added some distressing and antique buttons to match that feel.  The background is textured cardstock by Best Occasions. The patterned paper is by Life Stories and the strip is a scrap from K&Company's Life's Journey collection. The felt ribbon and gold ribbons were from my stash. The chipboard ribbon slide came from Bazzil and the paper I covered it with is a scrap. I inked everything with Tim Holtz's Brushed Corduroy distress ink (Kat insisted!) and added antique buttons from my stash. The quotation is, "To be able to look back upon one's past life with satisfaction is to live twice." Marcus Valerius Martial

Page Maps Punky Sprouts Entry

This layout is for the Page Maps Blog's Punky Sprouts Contest. http://pagemaps.blogspot.com/2011/07/punky-sprouts-sketch-contest.html

Once again I'm going back to working on Kat's senior album. I have to get it finished so that I can start Arch's before school starts for HIS senior year. So what if she's been in college a year already? Good things come to those who wait, right? Okay, first the layout.

These pictures are once again from the wonderful Christa Holland's senior photo shoot. I love the black and white one!

I used off-white cardstock from Paper Studios for the background and the the patterned paper is from Life Stories Celebration Tracker Family History stack. I used remnants for the ribbons. I've been hanging onto that crocheted one for a very long time, looking for just the right place for it. The others are from Basic Grey. The wooden accents are from K&Company. I colored the peacock with Galaxy markers. The quotation is from a family history stack. It says, "Life isn't a matter of milestones, but of moments." Rose Kennedy. Since this album celebrates moments of a milestone year, it seemed to fit.  Here's a detail shot of the peacock. I thought I'd ruined it, since it smeared and I tried to even it out with alcohol. Kat loves it so it's a happy accident!

June Circle Journal: Tea Time

This month, I had April's journal. She focused on tea. She had each of us create a 2 page layout about tea and include some bags of our favorite teas to share with the others. This one was really fun! I used my Cricut Nursery Rhymes cartridge for the die cut and title. It's such a sweet cartridge!. I added in a journaling block from Making Memories. Then I used clocks from the Flea Market line from Making Memories, pearl brads from K & Company and Prima flowers with tiny button brads. The background paper is from Ella Blue Collection by GCD Studios. The journaling reads: Tea--comfort in a cup--coolness in a glass. I remember my mother giving me a cup of hot tea when I was a child and felt bad. There was always a pitcher of iced tea read for guests. Now, I keep several varities of tea around. I drink green tea for breakfast most mornings and have many flavors of hebal tea around. I love citrus and fruity teas. And on a hot day--a tall, cold glass of iced tea with a dash of lemon or cranberry or lime...mmmmm. 

 Oh, and the tea I tucked in? Two bags each of Tazo's Wild Orange and Passion flavored teas. Two of my absolute favorites.

PageMaps My Little Shoebox Contest

I love PageMaps as you can tell. I use the sketches from this site over and over, so I was very excited to find their blog and Facebook page. On the blog this month is a sketch contest using this sketch:

I had these great pictures Archie took of his senior ring back in April just sitting on the computer and they just seemed to fit. So I'm entering the contest.

First the layout:

 The background is from Basic Grey's Basics collection. The transparency and oval are a set from my stash as are the journaling spot and deminsional stickers. All the rest are scraps and leftovers from my stash.

The journaling reads: It's offical! With the arrival of his Senior ring, Arch only has 1 more year of high school left. He designed this ring with his birthstone (emerald), National Honor Society emblem, cross, star and date on one side and Phillipians 4:8, trombone, music, star as the other. Yeah, he likes it. April 2011.

The rectangular tag reads: Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable...think about such things. The circle tag has the reference: Phil. 4.8.

Circle Journal: FEAR

Lori's CJ is about Fears. So, I thought about several fears I have and finally decided on the fear of being lost. The journaling reads: I am afraid of being lost. Oh, I can read maps, but I panic and miss turns. I'm fine if I'm with someone else, but alone--no way. Driving alone in a city, especially, terrifies me.

This layout features papers from DCWV mostly. I also used up old scraps on the chipboard arrows. Letter stickers, a piece of map patterned paper and a journaling block with torn edges are all inked in Tim Holtz inks.

Bucket List (Circle Journal Layout)

This month's circle journal was Mona's. Her theme was Bucket List. We were to choose 3 items we wanted to do before we died and then elaborate on one of them. She also had a "use your stash" challenge added in. So on this layout I had my 3 items (1. To see some of the natural national "treasures" such as the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, The Great Lakes, etc. 2. Be on a home makeover show. 3. Stay at a bed and breakfast on vacation.) Number 3 is the one I elaborated on, since Jeff and I stayed at this cute, rustic B&B in Fredricksburg for our 20th anniversary.

For the challenge, I used papers from Me & My Big Ideas specialty pack with diecuts. The two smaller tags are by Anna Griffin. The title letters are from Marcella by K for K&Company. The tissue tape and ink are Tim Holtz.

Thanks, Mona, I had never really put these things into a list, so this was a fun interesting challenge.

Next month: Lori's Fear CJ.

Hands Then, Hands Now Circle Journal Entry

This month's circle journal was Denise's. Her theme was Then and Now. I immediatly thought of my kids, but decided that focusing on just a part of them would be more interesting, so I chose their hands. When Arch was a baby and Kat was two, I used Kat's handprints and Arch's footprints to make a painting for my mom for Mother's Day. I took a picture of that last time I was at their house, then I drove my kids nuts getting pictures of their hands doing other things. (I must confess, the flute picture is just zoomed in from one Christa took for senior pics.) I love the collage feature in Picasa! It makes combining images so easy.

This layout is a lift from one in the March/April Creating Keepsakes. I loved the laced look with the flowers at the end, so I stretched it into a two pager. The two papers seemed to combine a heritage look with a modern look to me. The title is cut with the Cricut using Songbird, Stone Script, Ashlyn's Alphabet, and Jubilee.

An Ending and a Beginning

I have just finished 2 layouts for circle journals. The first is the last album in the Truth or Dare circle journal I was involved in last year. My friend Cheri "dared" me to do a layout with a monochromatic theme. The "truth" that she had for me was "if you could have one do-over in life what would it be?" So I decided to do one based on my lack of musical skills.

The papers are K&Company, Paper Studios and some wonderful Metallic paper my awesome friend Nancyroo sent me. I used Tim Holtz Distress Ink, paper flowers, and brads. Oh and the photo is of my daughter's hands playing a piano piece she wrote several years ago. Her left hand is a blur because she was really moving! So I changed it to sepia tone and set it as a soft focus and it works.

The second layout is my own personal layout from my new Ode to Joy circle journal. I chose to focus on my kids (of course).

I did several of the technique challenges, including using textured words. These are some wooden words I was given as gift several years ago. I ran them through my Cuttlebug and was able to texturize them. I then used Tim Holtz Distress Ink to bring out the texture. The papers are various scraps I've had a while, along with some ribbon, flowers, buttons.

Circle Journal 2011

Several friends and I have started a new circle journal. My theme is Ode to Joy. In this post I'll share my starting pages, and then my actual layout will be a different post.

I used K&Company paper for the background, Tim Holtz tissue tape, and several Cricut fonts for the title.

For my instruction page I used some more K&Company paper and lots of old buttons. The buttons kept the instructions from being clear, so I'm adding them here to make them easier to read.

Webster’s Dictionary defines “Joy” as: The emotion of great happiness. Great happiness! That is so wonderful. Joy is deeper than happiness, it is an emotion of wonder and hope and love.

Webster’s defines an “Ode” as: A lyric poem with complex stanza forms. Or in other words, a song or verse.


In this journal, I ask you to do several things.


1. Complete a two-page layout telling about a moment that gave you joy or something that continually gives you joy.


2. In your journaling or somewhere on the layout use a verse, poem, song lyric or quotation that helps express the emotion of joy. Please also tell a little about the picture or pictures you use.


3. Use one or more of the technique challenges on the next page. Each technique can be used by multiple people, so try something you might not have done before. Find joy in stretching yourself.


Most of all, enjoy yourself and the layout you create.

And the technique challenges:

Technique Challenges

1. Use a Monochromatic color scheme.


2. Use tons of bling.


3. Use a sketch from this month’s page maps. Tell us which one.


4. Use paint on your layout.


5. Distress your layout.


6. Use stamping on your layout.


7. Use a black and white photo or black and white page or both.


8. Use a photo collage or a create a collage background.


9. Use hidden journaling.


10. Make a mini-book on your page.


11. Use flourishes—lots of flourishes.


12. Use envelopes or pockets on your page.


13. Use textured words in your title like: http://scrapbooking.about.com/library/weekly/blprintingwords.htm


14. Use ribbon.


15. Use flowers.

And this is my sign-in page. The tags are cut using the Songbird cartridge from double-sided papers. I'm asking everyone to decorate one side to express the theme and the other to list their name, location and month they had the journal as well as what techniques they used on their layouts.

I'll add my own layouts later.

Mailbox: Boy Style

So when you have a 16 year old boy, you just can't give him the same kind of mailbox that you give your teenage daughter and her friends. It's not "manly" and "cool" to have flowers and fro-fro ribbons. So for Arch. I kept the patterned paper to mostly textures and somewhat monochromatic. I wrapped the ribbon on the flag instead of tying bows and added western accents. I did give in to glitter letters for a little---uh--not bling--punch, yeah, that's it!

Valentine's Day Mail Boxes

I haven't blogged (or scrapped!) in quite some time, so today it was sure fun to pull out these Target Dollar Spot mailboxes and dive into my stash. I made one for Kat and then one for her roommate and other girls on her end of the hall. I think they turned out really cute. I followed the directions in the tutorial on http://www.kerryspapercrafts.com/?p=395. I did make a couple of changes. My mailboxes were red and white and didn't look all that great with the edge of the lids showing, so I cut a 1/4 strip of paper matching the end paper and glued that on the edge, then sanded it and inked the edges. I also noticed that both ends of mine came off which made covering the back end much easier. I used Jolee's cupcakes on the flags for all of them. All the paper and supplies came from my stash, so this was a really inexpensive gift for Kat to give her friends. Now I need to make Arch's and fill all of them.