Christmas 2009

Yea, as you can see, still playing catch up and for all three kids. I have been focusing on one child at a time, so here is my daughter's 2009 Christmas LO.
Again, it's inspired from pagemaps from their Jan 2010 templates. The paper is from a stack I got at JoAnn's a few years ago. They have the coordinating papers all in a row, so grab and go. The base is from my Michael's open stock. I can't remember the font on the journalling, but the title is Close to My Heart's "giggle lowercase" and stamped in a retired bold bright from Stampin' Up. I punched circles ranging from 1/2" to 2" from the left over paper to make the border and added a few dimensionals to random pieces. Not what you would expect from a Christmas LO, right? I wanted it to be a bit girly, but still seasonal and I love the quirkiness to it. Thanks for looking! April

New Moon Midnight Release

Here is the LO from my daughter going to New Moon for the opening night. We had so much fun meeting with friends and the girls sat all on their own, fully decked out in Twilight gear.

The LO is inspired from pagemaps...they are just awesome! The base paper is hand-stamped with the Twilight rubber stamp set from Barnes & Noble. (I made several different papers when I bummed them from a friend.) The B&T papers are Paper Studio from Hobby Lobby and were scraps that I kept. The red cardstock is open stock from Michael's and is punched with the EK Success border punch. The digis are from the Greeting Farm and colored in watercolor pencils. Edward is then covered in a very light coat of Zig two-way glue pen and dusted with micro-glitter. Font is Cricut's Stone Script and cut at 1.75 and 1.25 inch. Across the pictures is a scrap of white cardstock and layered with Tim Holtz acrylic film strip. I used Jet Black Staz-On and studio g mini block alphabet to stamp directly on the film to give it the look of part of the film. I also used a zig-zag stitch along the papers that are stacked. Thanks for looking! April

ATA Belt Rank scrap frame

Here is another framed LO I did for my daughter's friend. They are in tae kwon do together. I did one for her brother for his birthday and she has been asking for one since. I wanted it to be girly, but still reflect her sport, so I looked back at some of the other LOs I have done for my kids. I used the lavender and dark blue I used on Maggie's and the LO is from pageMaps. The printed papers are from Moxxie. The title is stamped in CTMH's "giggle lowercase" in Stampin' Up's Whisper White. I tied a bit of Whisper White grosgrain on the tag. The image is Karate Anya digi from the Greeting Farm.

Okay, and for some bizarre reason, Blogger insists on flipping the image...yea, sorry about that! Thanks for looking! April

Mod Podge Frame

I am working on Christmas gifts for the kids friends. Alex asked for a frame of a pic of him and his buddy, Sam. They are both in tae kwon do, so here it is.

It is just bits and pieces I had left from some pages I have done. The cardstock is Brilliant Blue and Real Red from Stampin' Up. The printed papers are Moxxie. The frame is one I got from the clearance isle at Walmart. The coins are from Oriental Trading Company and match the coin-like design on the end paper. Cute, right?

Thanks for looking! April

Stampin' Up Workshop - Part I

Okay, so my bestie, Amy, and I went off to a half day workshop back in October. While we did not get time to finish all the projects, they did give us all six that you would receive at a full day workshop! Yay, more fun for less money. I only got two of the projects fully completed...that's what I get for chatting. The first is the Old Olive Thankful Card and the second is a Cajun Craze Thankful Treat Sleeve.

The stamp set is in the fall mini and, while I wasn't thrilled with it, it is kinda growing on me the more I have seen others blogs. I have seen it used with the rock and roll technique. I have seen it used with vanilla emboss so it looks sort of like lace. I have seen it used as a sympathy card. So there is a lot more flexibility than what I first saw. I am also submitting it for the Stamp Something's Thankful challenge. Go check them out! Thanks for looking. April

Chorus

Here is an LO inspired from one of the April 2010 Pagemaps. If you haven't been to Pagemaps, check it out! She keeps each month archived on PDF so you can print them. I print each month and keep it in a binder under my scrap table.

First I used basic black as a base. Then I cut 1/2 inch off the whisper white and mounted. Photos are cut to 3 inches high and the top one is 3.5 inches. The polka dot and music is double sided B&T paper from my LSS. Next I took a sheet of white cardstock and ran it through the printer for my journalling...it is Century Gothic font. I took a scrap strip of black and used the SU scalloped border punch. I know the ribbon looks off, but they're mascot is the lion, and their colors are red and black. Next I used the scalloped circle punch and 1 3/8" circle punch on some scrap and layered them. Then it was off to the sewing machine to make the cord for the banner before cutting triangles from Cricut's George and Basic shapes and title is cut from Doodletype. Last, I chose brads that matched the polka dot background to make it pop out a bit. Thanks for looking! April

School Photos

Sorry about my being MIA...my husband lost his job last month and we have been scrambling to get things together, so no mojo for me. Thankfully I have a monster stack of photos to play catch-up with, so no worries on the no printing ban...LOL.
My hubby did splurge and get me a new Cricut Create. In his defense, they were on clearance at Walmart for a crazy-low price and I am selling my original baby bug to cover half of the price. Love the new features...some of the Expression features, all in the compact baby size. Also love the extensive size capabilities. Enough of that and on to the LOs!


Here are two of the munchkin's school pics. I have been somewhat addicted to the Creative Imaginations Back to School paper and stickers. They have it for preschool and elementary, so that is why you have seen it on my last several school-related LOs. My daughter's LO uses the Bo Bunny leftovers from the purse album I made several months ago. They are whimsical and fun. Both LOs use my newest font...Don Juan. Maggie's uses the "under pressure" and puzzle features. Matt's uses the Marquis feature. Solid colors are from Stampin' Up's retired Bold Brights - Only Orange, Lovely Lilac, Pink Passion, Yo Yo Yellow, Glorious Green and Green Gable. Thanks for looking! April

Locks of Love

Earlier this year, my daughter decided it was finally time to cut her hair. She has been growing it out for two years for Locks of Love, after learning about it from some of her friends. She was so proud and had 10.5 inches cut.

The solid cardstock is retired Stampin Up Bold Brights in Only Orange and Gable Green. Printed papers are Bo Bunny. I ripped them at different angles for contrast. I think it is funky but nice to get away from the puzzle piece style I have been stuck to. Title is cut from Cricut's Opposite Attract. I used metal rimmed tags and some coordinating ribbon and brads to make the before and after tags. The sticker across the top of the page is also Bo Bunny. Thanks for looking! April

Sleuth-tacular Halloween

Yea, so I am still somewhere around two years behind on the kids scrapbooks, so here is some catch up work.

This is my daughter's page for Halloween 2008. She is Darby from the show "My Friends Tigger & Pooh" on Playhouse Disney. My youngest loved the show and I got his costume cheap, so Maggie, bless her little heart, agreed to match him. Papers are Moxxie. I cut the bats at 4.5 inches, then layered a strip from a coordinating sheet of stripes. I journalled a sheet of white cardstock at 4.5 inches wide and used Waltograph font for the title (from dafont.com). The strip at the base of the journalling is the reverse side of the bat paper and using the drippy goo punch from Martha Stewart. Moxxie made the coordinating stickers and I added a bit of leftover ribbon between the photos. There you have it. Thanks for looking! April

Altered notebook

Here is a notebook I have done for swaps for a SU workshop I am going to this weekend. (I am using the Twilight card and the mummy card I have posted last year, but updated the colors.)

All products are Stampin Up, with the exception of the notebook - it came from the dollar bin at Michael's. I am using the "things i love..." stamp set from Stampin' Up. I covered the notebook in Chocolate Chip textured cardtock. I then cut a piece of Marina Mist cardstock to fit as a mat. Then I stamped "things i love..." in Chocolate Chip craft ink and covered in clear embossing powder. Once that was heated and set, I did the same for the bottom corner sentiment. I set that aside. Next, I punched scalloped squares from left over Chocolate Chip cardstock. Then I punched 1 1/4" squares from Marina Mist. I then stamped the shoe, chocolate, and shopping bags icons on Whisper White in Chocolate Chip Craft, then clear embossed. I punched them out with 1" square, then mounted the three layers. I used dimensionals to adhere to the base. I then took Night of Navy ribbon and wrapped it around the notebook then attached the Marina Mist base to the notebook. For the pen, I took a scrap of Marina Mist and stamped hearts in Versamark. I then rubbed the paper along the table to break up the fibers and make it more pliable. Roll it and slide it inside the barrel of the pen. Tie pen to notebook with ribbon. And there you have it - a quick and simple gift. Thanks for looking! April

Build-A-Bear Birthday Invites

So we are taking our youngest to BABW for his birthday, along with his preschool friends. Yea, the invites you can pull for the Build-A-Bear are okay, but I wanted something more.

The base is Bo Bunny Back to Basics cardstock. They are cut roughly 6x5 1/4 and I used the Stampin Up scalloped border punch on the bottom. I chose it because it is double sided. It is the same color but one side is polka dot and the other is kind a marbled look. I found a BABW icon, then sized it in a wordprocessing program. I printed the info in a separate document on vellum. Next I stacked the BABW icon and party info and attached them to the base with a tiny bit of adhesive to keep it in place until I got the invites punched and eyelets placed. I used 3/16" eyelets and tied with Night of Navy ribbon. Last, I punched 1 1/4" circles from white cardstock and punched 5/8" holes in that. I wrote the name of the invited child on the circle and attached to the ribbon with a safety pin. Simple but cute! Thanks for looking! April

Tae Kwon Do

I am finally caught up on the sport LOs (I hope). This is my son's photo from last summer...yea, I am that far behind. *Sigh*

Anyway, the LO is from pagemaps...god, how I love pagemaps! (I print each month's pdf and keep it in a binder so I can hunt for ideas.) So, the base is red cardstock. The B&T is the Korean flag in black and white that I found at our local scrap store. The other B&T paper is by Moxxie and is awesomely double-sided. I used some leftover blue from the last LO to make some of the embellishments. I used various sized circle punches and stamped the yin-yang on some. The photo is mounted a black mat and I used the EK Success notebook border punch. Last, I stamped the title along the side. The original LO called for a landscape photo and the title under it, so I did a little rotating. I also wanted the flag to be somewhat visable. As always, thanks for looking! April

Karate Kid - Take Two

Here's my daughter's Tae Kwon Do LO. Again, it is inspired by pagemaps. I used left overs from my son's LO and incorporated colors from her photo background. I wanted hers to be a little girly, but not in a ribbons and lace kind of way. I found these beautiful fans on Cricut's Ashlyn Alphabet...aren't they just darling? It kind of gave the eastern feel, but still let her look a little tough. Do you see that I used the flowers from the center of the fans on the photo? The LO called for some kind of embellishment there, but I was struggling to find something complementary. The lavender cardstock is open stock from Michaels. The blue is a bit heavier and just slightly textured, but I can't remember where it is from. The blue block is also from Ashlyn Alphabet and is cut about 2/3 across and used on both the top and bottom of the photo. The circle is from George and Basic shapes. I stamped the title from Inkado acrylic lower case in Jet Black Staz-On. Thanks for looking! April

Karate Kid

Yay! I'm on the roll! Here is my son's Tae kwon do page. Each summer his school does photos and we were finally able to get ones with his black belt he earned in Dec.

The LO is inspired from pagemaps. Paper is open cardstock from Michael's and B&T paper is Moxxie. The digi is Karate Ian from The Greeting Farm and is colored in watercolor pencils, then mounted on dimensionals. I printed the title and journalling using Roughhousing font and Ahroni. The coins are from Oriental Trading Co. One side is a dragon and the other matches the B&T paper. A few black picture frame hinges finish the look. Thanks for looking! April

Playing Catch-Up

So I finally got back to a couple of scrap pages. The first is my daughter's first musical instrument. The background was already pre-printed and I used sharpie markers to color it in portions. I then went back and enhanced some of the images with a Spica pen. They are hard to find, but it adds a faint bit of shimmer to the image. Title is cut from cardstock and vinyl with Cricut's Opposites Attract. I used a sanding block to rough up the mats a bit. The music notes behind the title were cut on Cuttlebug. The black mat and music notes were spritzed with Vanilla Smooch from Stampin Up.


The second LO is my son's new school pic. I didn't use anything fancy, just used some Taken With Teal cardstock to break up the B&T paper. The embellishments are from Creative Imaginations Back to School line. I mounted the 2nd Grade sticker on cardstock and used a wide oval punch then attached with dimensionals. Simple but cute.

Thanks for looking! April

I can see...

So yea, I am so far behind on the scrapping that it's just sad. This was a Scrap It With a Song challenge from weeks ago and I am just finally getting it done. I liked the inspiration behind it, so why not finish it, right?

This is my daughter and her new glasses. What is different about this LO is that I layered two different sizes of the photo. I matted the photos, then simply stacked them. They are a 5x7 and 4x6 of the exact same pose. It lined up pretty well, but next time, I think cropping a second 5x7 would line up even better. Part of the title is done in chipboard and inked with Elegant Eggplant from Stampin' Up then heat embossed. The rest of the title is cut from Cricut's Base Camp at 1 1/4 inches. The song lyrics are printed in Almagro font. Paper is open stock from Michaels. I cut two 2 inch strips of cardstock and layered them, then used SU's scallop border punch. I used my eyelet punch to make the circles in the middle of the scallop. Last I used a swirl paperclip with a bit of ribbon tied to it to finish the look. I know the color combos are a bit odd, but I wanted to bring some of the background forward. I scrimped on the embellishments because I didn't want to do too much with how busy the background paper was.

Thanks for looking! April

Mural update

Here is the continuation of the blog hop project. I finally got the saying up, but we are still moving and fixing other things in the room. The saying is from Michael's vinyl collection and cost $14.99 (without the coupon).

Can I say what a pain in the butt the gold lettering is?! The metallic finish stuck to the transfer tape and rubbed off onto it. We had to use a straight edge to pick it off a bit at a time and it had a terrible time sticking to the wall. The black sticks just fine. We had minor problems with the tree due to the detail, but the letters did have more trouble releasing from the transfer.

Thought I would share the pics and I am still debating on Edward and Bella. I can't blow them up too much but I think they are too small and lost in the midst of the rest of the mural. Oh well...we shall see. Thanks for looking! April

Happy Birthday Greeting Farm Blog Hop!

Happy birthday to the Greeting Farm! Here is my contribution to the hop. We are currently redecorating my daughter's room into Twilight. We put this tree from SU up and added a little apple from Cricut's Doodlecharms. Next is the dry run of the Edward and Bella-inspired stamps from the Greeting Farm. Flirty Edward is from the digi, but is available in rubber. I like the digi, because I can enlarge them or stretch their heights. Bella is called Camille and is in rubber from their Wild Sprouts collection. I started with them on paper and watercolor but I am thinking I will to blow them up on a copier or overhead, then trace them to paint in. (Her room used to have Lizzie McGuire that I had painted on her wall with acrylic, but it is uber hard to sand and prime over so I am thinking about alternatives to using acrylic.) I am waiting until we have her quote "Real Love stories have no endings." but it's on backorder from Michael's...pooh! Oh well. Thanks for looking and be sure to hop back to the Greeting Farm for you next stop on the hop!

Shrinky-Dink Key chain

So my daughter needs a USB drive for school and we needed a fast way for her to find it if she misplaces it or it gets mixed with other kids drives. So, she asked me to make her a keychain using one of the Greeting Farm Wild Sprouts. We made a couple of different ones, but here is the winner...Flirty Edward. It is stamped on white shrink plastic with Jet Black Staz-On and colored with Sharpie markers. They are not my first choice, but they are durable. Thanks for looking! April

Shower Caddy

My preteen couldn't figure out where all her shower products kept disappearing to...until she found out her brothers were using it for fingerpaint in the tub....yeah. So back to school things are cropping up at Walmart and I found this cute pink shower caddy for $3. I figured she can cart it back to her room and hide her favorite goodies from her "little bothers" as she calls them. I pulled out the Cricut and vinyl for a little personalization. The "M" is cut at 2 inches from Jasmine font and the flourish is from Ashlyn's Alphabet and cut at 1 inch. Anyway, to cut vinyl, you set your blade on 6, then pressure on 2. Speed of cut depends on the complexity of the design. The letter I cut on speed 5, but the flourish I cut at 3. Simple but cute. Thanks for looking! April

Robot Card

Here is a pic of a card I threw together for a kids birthday. I love this Sprockets & Rockets from Recollections. It has coordinating paper and stamps. I was in a hurry so the cardstock isn't exact, but it is Green Galore from SU. It is stamped in Jet Black Staz-On and colored with watercolor pencils. I used the Xyron stickermaker to adhere the background to the card base. I colored the planet, then used Zig two-way glue to add glitter. The planet is mounted on dimensionals. I added a couple of purple brads on the opposite corner, but they kind of fade into the background. Not my favorite card, but cute for a 20 minute quickie! Thanks for looking...April

Sugar and Spice?

Here is my daughter's Halloween LO. The LO design is inspired by pagemaps. Patterned paper is from Recollections, black cardstock is textured Bazzill, and dark red is from Michael's open stock. Ribbon is from Michael's. I ran the black border through the Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots folder. I had to work in sections and run each through three times. I also used the Drippy Goo punch on strips of red and inked the edges in Blazing Red Staz-On. I printed the journal and title on vellum cardstock and, because of the design, I had to print them separately and run the vellum through the printer twice. Font are Twilight and Chiller. The cards are from the New Moon trading card set. I also printed a couple of quotes from the Volturi...some from the movie and some from the book. Stamps are from Stamp Insanity's Otherworldly Loves and are stamped in Jet Black and Blazing Red Staz-On. The white border is punched using EK Success's notebook border punch and the little accent on top of it is from a box of Volturi body spray sold by Hot Topic. Thanks for looking! April

Olympic Birthday

Here is the LO for my daughter's Percy Jackson Birthday party. She took a group of friends to see the movie because she is a fan of the series. The girls had a great time hamming it up in front of the theater display.

The papers are bordering blue and brocade blue from SU. The black is Bazzill, and the white is standard cardstock. I used some Dew Drop chalk in Agean Blue. I dry embossed some of the pieces to kind of make it look like waves. I also sanded the chalked/embossed areas to soften them up a bit and roughed up the edges of the LO to make it look a bit older. The stickers are from Michael's and are Greek Alphabet. Thanks for looking! April

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Okay, so I am way late on this LO, but I wanted to do it anyway. Last week's Scrap It with a Song theme was Cindi Lauper's Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. So here it is...Papers are Bo Bunny and Bazzill. The cardstock is inked in Iris Blue chalk ink and then it was sanded for the faded look. I used a scalloped punch for the border. Font is Cricut's Doodletype at 2 inches and 1 inch. The girls are from the Greeting Farm's Wild Sprouts Collection I and are colored in watercolor pencils. I heard that Momento Tuxedo Black was great for the images, but found that it still smears, so I recommend sticking with Staz-On. Embellishments are buttons and the clip is from Hobby Lobby's Spare Parts with a bit of pink ribbon attached. There you have it! Thanks for looking...April

i wanna be Edward Cullen LO

Here is my son hamming it up for the camera Halloween 2009. He did a great job portraying Edward Cullen from Twilight. Isn't he just too cute?
The LO design is from Close to My Heart's Cherish book. Papers are Bazzill black and dark red. The apple B&T paper is from Hobby Lobby. The Team Edward B&T is hand stamped from the Barnes & Noble Twilight Stamp set in Dove Grey Staz-On. The red Bazzill is inked with Blazing Red Staz-On. I also used the Martha Stewart Drippy Goo punch on the photo mats. I roughed up the edges on some of the pieces. The title is printed in be safe (Edward's signature) and twilight fonts on vellum. The Cullen crest accent is also from the Twilight stamp set from Barnes & Noble. The Edward embellishment is Flirty Edward from the Greeting Farm. They have it in Digi or as part of a rubber set. No worries, they have all the Cullens in some form! Yes, I made him so he sparkles! It's hard to see but I assure you, he does sparkle. I also added some ribbon, brads and spiral clips.

Thanks for looking! April

School pics

Well, I am finally working my way back into scrapping. These are pretty basic pages, but I am looking for my mojo right now. The papers are random scrap paper, but the stickers are Creative Imaginations Back to School 101 collection. My son's is the preschool line and my daughter's is the elementary line. She also has the pencil from one of my swaps. Her LO is from the Cherish book pg. 68, left side. I will post others as I get them done. Thanks for looking! April

Watercolor pencils

So here is my first attempt at coloring in an image with watercolor pencils. I have been using a blender pen from Stampin' Up in place of a brush pen. Here is my Flirty Edward digi and the Dressy Edward digi. I used three different pencils - a dark brown, a reddish brown, and a red. I started with the dark closest to the root, then used the lighter reddish color up the tips, I used the red to add a little more red tone sporadically, and used the dark to deepen the tufts to create shadows. These are only my second and third tries, but I am happy with them so far. The top Edward has the hair already blended, the bottom one is not. I wanted to show you before and after. Also, blending straight from the printer tends to smear the printer ink, so I took my digis to the local print shop and had them copied onto acid free cardstock for .30/sheet.

I tried with Copics and they bled everywhere. My friend, Amy, is having better luck with them, so hopefully, I'll pick them up in time. For now, I am happy to have something to work with. The colors are not a vibrant as with markers, but I do like the effect. Thanks for looking! April

Altered Photo Frame & Scrap it with a Song

I had tons of left over Bo Bunny Glee paper that I used on the purse album, so I decided to make my daughter's friend a matching frame. It also doesn't hurt that I can work it into a new Design Challenge from a site a learned about from my friend, Christina...Scrap It With a Song! This weeks theme is True Colors by Cindi Lauper. Okay, I didn't work in the lyrics, but I think there are plenty of colors that are "beautiful like a rainbow."

The frame was an Autumn Leaves that was on clearance at Walmart. I cut the Bo Bunny Back to Basics yellow cardstock to fit the frame, then took some scrap to make the strips on the paper. I used the dark blue chalk ink to ink the edges, then to ink the stamp. I used Mod Podge to adhear to the frame, then put a coat over top. After the frame dried, I used some left over ribbon across the bottom, then attached a prima flower. A cute extra for under $2! So cute and simple to make. Thanks for looking! April

Sorry about the pic, it keeps flipping it when I download...ugh!

Flip Album

I finally got around to finishing this...I think I went to this class before Christmas...yikes! The papers are Bo Bunny and Bazzill. The basic album really doesn't take much time, it's all the panels that take up the time. You need three different solid cardstock colors for the base of the album. Then you need another solid color, white, and two double-sided pattern papers.

I have learned that if you embellish at all, you need to account for some extra room in the album. I would have gone an extra quarter inch because of the brads and thickness of the cardstock panels. I guess it wouldn't have been so bad if the patterned paper were regular thickness. Also, the instructor had us use embroidery thread for the catch of the album...it is fine, but you have to be careful not to leave too much give or too little. I would have used elastic string. Oh well, you live and learn, and I know better for my next one.

If you are interested in the directions, email me. Thanks for looking! April

Bo Bunny Purse album & Stamp Something Challenge

Here is a cute Bo Bunny kit I picked up from my local scrapbook store. It's the first time I have tried to finish a book like this and Mod Podge...I had a few bumps in the road, but it turned out cute. It uses Bo Bunny's Glee paper line and the spring ribbons and brads. It's quirky, cute and perfect for a 10 year old! I added some skittles on the cover and used stamps in place of the rub-ons that were not in the kit. I wouldn't have picked some of the papers and embellishments to go together, but I think it turned out really cute!

Also, a shout out to Stamp Something's 2nd Birthday! The challenge is to stamp a birthday project. I stamped some embellishments on a couple of the pages in white chalk ink. Happy Birthday, Stamp Something! Go check them out now! Thanks for looking. April