Cricut!!

Yee Ha! We got a Cricut for Christmas! David got me a Cricut to share with Mom & Dad in pitched in some funds, too! This thing is so way cool! We also got the Doodlecharms cartridge. I tell you what this machine is so neat! David has even been amazed at what it does. Mom & Dad left to go to Denver on Christmas Day so she hasn't even been able to play with it. I've been having so much fun. I made an ice cream cone, a title for a layout, & some embellishments for our annual album. I JUST CAN'T STAY AWAY FROM IT!

Also, I did get the album done for Cindy's daughter, Sophie. I did forget to scan the pages before I gave it to her so I will have to get it back so that I can do that. I impressed even myself with some of the pages. When she saw it, she was so excited! She wants me to do a party for her because she has friends that don't scrapbook. I'm going to do it, I'm just not sure how it will work out. If you have any suggestions, I'm open to ideas! I'll post the scans soon & some other stuff, too.

Amost A Month!?

Oh, my goodness! It's been almost a month since I last posted!! That's crazy!

I've been pretty busy with scrapping for others rather than myself. I just completed the album that I did for my friend's daughter's birthdays. I've still got a few more things to do but it's mostly done! Yea!

I did a layout from one of Becky's Sketches from Creating Keepsakes. I'm actually submitting it for publication. You are supposed to use either 12x12 or 8.5x11 but I was able to adapt it for 8x8! I got 12 photos on one 2 page layout. I was pretty pleased with myself. Here's the scans from it.


I went out of my box quite a bit here by doing some doodling on the page. I am really pleased with how it turned out, though.



In the orginal sketch, the area above the bottom row of photos was left blank. Well, my mind started racing & I thought, "why can't I put more pictures there? For that matter, why can't I put several rows of pictures there?" I think it turned out GREAT! The next photo shows how I added more photos! ;o)











What do you think? Cool, huh?

Missing My Time

Ok, so I haven't been posting lately. I do have a good excuse or two or three.... ;o)

I promise to come back soon to post more challenges & such. I've been working on some sewing projects that have kept me away from the scrapping. Plus, somehow, I ran out of adhesive & just haven't had the chance to get more. That'll put the brakes on faster than anything. I even think that I am beginning to have withdrawal!!!!!

I will try to post again on Monday. It may not be a challenge but I hope to have my sewing projects done & be able to post a photo of one of them.

Album for a Friend!

It's not like I'm even remotely close to being done with my own photos or anything but, I've started on an album for a friend for her daughter. It's an 8x8 Birthday album. So far, I have 8 pages done!! I just started a week ago. It's going really well. I'm posting 4 pages now so that she can see them & to share them with you. I'm pretty pleased with how they are turning out!

You'll notice that the middle picture on the left column, the one mounted on green, is actually an accordian album that opens to display 4 more pictures.





The right side of this page is a pocket for the invitation.








I really love how this title box, journal box, & silouetted photo turned out!








I tried something with the small photo in the upper left corner. I really loved the expression on Sophie's face but the two boys in the background took a lot away of attention away from her. So, I scan the photo (it was a much further away view), cropped it, desaturated it, added blur to the edge, & a black vignette in the corners. I think it turned out great because the blue of her bow, eyes, & dress still bring out her!

Layout for Cruising Out Cancer

I really wanted to get a layout done honoring my dad, as well, but ran out of time. My entry, along with my mom's entry, were put in the mail today! We should know something by Nov 15. I'm certianly NOT holding my breath but, hey, it was worth a shot! Here's my entry. I am pretty pleased with it. It's very simple but I think it says what it needs to.

Classy Scrapper Magazine

There's a new scrapping magazine due to be released March of '07! It's called Classy Scrapper. Here's their website: http://www.classyscrappermag.com/subscribe.html. They are offering their premiere issue for FREE to anyone who will email their street address to them. Go ahead, give a shot! I did! Can't wait to get my innagural issue!

Cruising Out Cancer

I have decided to put my challenges on hold for about 2 weeks. I am currently working on entering a contest called Cruising Out Cancer. For more info, go to http://www.scrapbookcruise.com/cruiseoutcancercontest2006.html.

Anyway, I am almost finished with the layout in memory of my Grandpa Wasson. I will be starting on the one for my dad & his current & past battle hopefully, Friday. I will post both layouts as soon as I am finished with them & will be sure to let you know if I win. My mom is entering, as well, with a page for my dad.

Challenge #3-COMPLETE

Here's my response to my 3rd Challenge. I think it turned out pretty neat. I wasn't too sure about it at first because of the colors but I think that the colors really helped make it come "alive". Not only did I use arrows in my layout but also I did something that I haven't done before-I sanded the cardstock. It really looks neat, I think. It was easy to do & now I am going to try to do it more often.



Hope you enjoy!!

Challenge #3

According to Creating Keepsakes Magazine, the newest trend in scrapbooking is to use arrows on your pages. My challenge this week is to use at least one arrow in your next layout. It can be big or small. Or, somewhere in between. You can use more that one if you want. Here's a page that was published in the Sept 06 CK as an example.


Please share with me any of the challenges that you have taken.

Challenge #2-COMPLETE

I'm so excited with how this page turned out! I think it's one of the best that I have done. It just came together smoothly & turned out so cute. I hope that you enjoy it, as well. It was fun to do the triangle photo. I was able to use the Creative Memories cutting system so that really helped & saved myself quite abit of work.


I am also including the finished page with my first completed challenge of creative journaling.


Enjoy!!

Challenge #2

I don't know about you but, I think that most of us who are seasoned scrappers have a tendancy to forget to think outside the box. I tend to forget that there are shapes other than squares, rectangles, circles, & ovals. This week's challenge again comes from my Sept issue of Creating Keepsakes. This time the article is "4 Fun Ways 2 Break the Rules". The Rule: Photographs work best as squares or rectangles. The Challenge: Crop a photo on your next layout into a triangle!

Don't forget to let me know how yours turns out!!

Crazy Couple of Weeks

Ok, so I haven't posted as regularly has I wanted but, I have posted every week! I do have a good excuse, though, for not posting lately. Last Wednesday (9/6), I had surgery for my endometriosis & had my tubes tied. Yea! No more birth control!! ;o) Then, I had a big problem with a tooth that was a result of my surgery so I spent most of this week with a major toothache. Lastly, my dad had surgery to remove the tumor in his hip/groin area.

All that said, I was really hoping to get a new challenge posted today but that's not going to happen now because Hannah is sitting on my lap. I promise that I will get one posted Monday at the latest.

So, speaking of challenges, did anyone take my first challenge? Let me know.....

Challenge #1-COMPLETE

Ok, so I'm a little behind on getting my first challenge done! I ha surgery on Wednesday so that kind of threw a wrench in my plans. Anyway, I did get it finished last night. Because the journal blocks are 3x12, you can't see the very bottom because my scanner can't do 12x12. Oh well, you should at least get the idea.

I hope you like this one. I think it turned out pretty well. I'm anxious to do the whole page now. As soon as I do, I will post the whole page. Let me know what you think. Did you try this challenge? If so, tell me how it went....


I'll try to post a new challenge later today or first thing tomorrow.

My First Challenge

I am a subscriber to Creating Keepsakes magazine. It's such a great resource! Usually, I read my issue, tear out the pages that I like the ideas or the articles, & then pass them onto my friend, Tami. Well, sorry Tami, you won't get the September issue!! ;o) There were too many great ideas!! You'd only get the front & back cover & maybe a few ads. hee-hee

Anyway, this issue was just jam packed with ideas & things I can use as challenges. In the article "Ultra-Creative Lettering" by Lisa Ivey, Lisa encourages readers to get creative with lettering! Her first "assignment" is this: "Add Your Own Touches. With creative lettering, your writing doesn't have to be perfect! At least that's how Sherelle Christiansen feels about her fun and whimsical style. She takes a 'go with the flow, mix it up' approach, using both cursive and print and randomly mixing uppercase and lowercase letters [in her journaling]. Sherelle took her lettering up a notch by bolding and enlarging certain key words. She then used pink and green colored pencils to accentuate them."

My first challenge is this: do some creative lettering in your journaling on a page this week. Next week, I will post my result. Feel free to comment to this post how yours turned out!!

Cherish/Scrapped

You must check out this book-"Cherish" (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4989468)! This is one of the most awesome books! It was orginally created exclusively for Close To My Heart, a home-based scrapping & stamping business similar to Creative Memories or Stampin' Up. CTMH sold the book for $29.95. However, the author went behind their back & sold it to Walmart & now Walmart sells it for HALF!!!! $15.88 This book is a must-have! It gives you step by step instructions for creating 2-page layouts including materials, papers, & exact measurements for what to cut your pictures & papers to!! I used it to create my "Animal House" layout from my blog entry "Stickers". I couldn't get some of my pictures to exact size so the page is somewhat altered but hey, that's why it's called an "idea" book. It's a nice hardbound book with an interior spiral binding. There are 50 (for 2-15 photos) layouts but each layout can be turned, flipped, & switched to create an infinate amount of layout designs! It's only $.97 to ship from walmart.com.

Ok, you've got to check out this link: http://www.scrappedmovie.com/promos.html. My Aunt Vicki sent it to me. I so have to get this DVD! I think even hubby's would get a kick out of this! There are two video clips on the site & a third one coming on 8/28. The DVD will be released 9/5.

Card Making Night

Saturday night, the Ladies of our Sunday School class had a card making night. A friend of mine, Cintha (who is my Close To My Heart consultant), hosted us & designed 5 cards for us to put together! We got 12 cards (4 blank, 2 feminine b-day, 2 masculine b-day, 2 boy b-day, & 2 girl b-day) for $15! A great deal!!! I'm posting the cards so you can see how neat they were!



I think I'm going to switch gears now for a while & do some card making. I'll come back to the scrapbooking in a few weeks. I'll post cards as I complete them. I really need to get into the habit of making multiples one card. I have a friend who is very good about that. I'm not. That's what I'm going to work on! I'm also going to try to use up some of my GOBS & GOBS of scraps!!!



Bye, for now!

Progress This Week

I am so proud of myself! I have gotten so many pages done this week! I have to stop & count...5!! Wow!! Ok, some of these I actually did last week but it was after I last posted! I've done several pages with old paper, stickers, & hand journaling!! I got into the computer journaling thing & can't seem to stay away! I've got to incorporate more of my handwriting into my pages! I also did one page where I did the title rather than doing it on the computer or using stickers. I did use a stencil but I also added my own handwriting. You'll see it below. It's the "Hannah Wonder" page. I'm only posting 3 pages, though.


I'm starting to get low on solid papers but am trying to stick by my guns on not buying anything! Unfortunately, I think I am going to have break down & get some solids. I didn't realize how much patterned paper I have! I'm not really much of a patterned paper user but I'm starting to change that. Well, I have an hour until nap time is over so I am going to try to get some scapping done. Until next time...

Stickers

Ok, first of all I have to tell you all about this great website! If you haven't heard of shutterfly.com, please check it out. But, before you do, email & I will "refer" you. Then, I can get free prints!! Anyway, their prices are competitive but the cool thing is you can add borders, remove red eye, & do all kinds of editing to your photos online. Then, you just select the ones that you want to order & then they ship them to you. They ship rather quickly, too. If you order on Monday, you'll most likely have them by Thursday. Anyway, I'm really excited about them!



Ok, onto the scrapping!!! Here's another layout that I did at Craftin' at the Creek (our church craft night on the 3rd Friday of the month). I am pretty proud of this layout because I again used old paper that I have had for years. I also used stickers that I have had for years. I used to use stickers alot on my layouts but have gotten away from that. I am trying to get back into it. They are such easy embellishments!

On a side note, I hope that ya'll are enjoying this blog. I am really starting to enjoy posting to it. I hope to start posting a weekly scrapping challenge here soon that I want to meet & I hope that you will join in!!

Out of My Box!

I only did one page this week but, I came out of my box to do it! I did a layout with only one picture on it. I've always wanted to do that but have always felt that it was a waste of a page. I don't know why but I just thought, "why waste an entire scrapbook page on just one photo". I've done single photo pages before but there's always been a facing page that had more photos on it.

Then, I came across this photo. I didn't really have anything else that would pair with it & it's such a sweet photo. I knew when I took it over 2 years ago now, that I wanted it to be a "showcase" picture. When I saw them laying like that, it reminded me of a picture that my mom took of me & my dad in a similar position. It was done in black & white, as well. At some point in the (hopefully) near future, I want to find that picture of me & my dad and do a page with it as well. Maybe it can be the facing page. Or, maybe, I'll just do a whole new page for the two pictures. I'll just get this one reprinted. Yeah, I think that's what I'll do, I'll make a 2nd layout. I don't really think that this page needs journaling but I want to tell the story behind why I took the photo & I think that would make the most sense. You know, I think I might even print out this picture of the layout & use it on the page, too. Now, I'm starting to get more ideas!!!

I'm definitely going to try to do more 1 photo layouts. You know, sometimes there's just that one photo that "speaks" to you. When I make a disc to get printed, I try to make a separate file of photos that I want to print in 5x7. I would really like to try printing a photo larger than that. I know that snapfish.com will let you print photos in weird sizes. I may have to do that. Maybe I will make that my next challenge. Yes, I will. 'Course, I have to find the "perfect" photo to do that. Time to go picture hunting!! :o)

8 Year Old Paper!

Ok, here's a picture of the page that I have completed that best meets my New Year's Resolution. All the paper I used on this page I've had since 1998! I got it at D.O.T.S (now called Close To My Heart) party that I had. That bright turquoise is not a color that I would normally use. The hot pink I think is from Stampin' Up from about the same time period. Or, it could be Creative Memories. Either way, it's still around that same time. The lime green came in the same pack as the hot pink. The Rick-rack ribbon & black with white polka dot ribbon are actually new this year BUT I didn't buy it. A friend mine gave it to me. Her hubby works for Me & My Big Ideas so she gets lots of free stuff. She gave me a whole bunch of stickers, paper, & ribbon!!! Such fun!

3 Pages

Well, I've done 3 pages since Friday night. I went to Craftin' at the Creek on Friday night. The 3rd Friday of every month our church holds Craftin' at the Creek. You can bring whatever craft you are into & sit & visit with the other ladies. We work until no one can keep their eyes open! A couple months ago, we stayed 'til 1:30am! Most everyone that comes are scrappers but sometimes we have a knitter, sewer, or cross-stitcher. It's always great fun. I did a 2-page layout Friday night & a 1-pager, yesterday. After, I get done blogging, I am going to at least start on another one. I really wanted to post some pictures with this post but, that didn't happen. Oh, well. I will post as soon as I get them uploaded! So, keep watching. All the kids are napping so I will make this short so I can crop for awhile!!

So, Now What?

Ok, so I am going to try this whole "blog" thing. Not quite sure what I'm doing or why. Just thought this might be a fun way to challenge my scrapping buddies near & far and to keep in touch with some of my long-distance friends. Please let me know what you think of my blog. I will try to update at least weekly but no guarantees! I'll try to put a picture or two on, as well.

For those of you that scrap or stamp, I will also use this as a challenge board. I want to post challenges here often & then I'll post my outcome of the challenge. You can join me in the challenge or just follow along & laugh at my (sometimes sad) attempts! ;o)

I don't normally make New Year's Resolutions. However, this year I made one that involves scrapping & stamping & it is two-fold. My resolution was this: a) not to purchase anything new (unless it is specific to a project); and, b) to try to use up a good portion of my "stash" (some of which dates back to 1997-whoa, almost 10 years!).