Joy

Joy – the word that immediately comes to mind when I see this picture of my girls with their cousins at Christmas.

These munchkins have grown so much.

This is my last Christmas layout for my 2014 album.

(It felt good to pack away all my Christmas papers and embellishments when this layout was complete....it is too weird working on Christmas stuff when we are on the brink of summer)

Hope you are having a great week.  And getting some crafting done – which always seems harder when the weather is beautiful, right?

Christmas Eve

I have another Christmas layout to show you today. Like I said, I am almost finished my 2014 album and have a few festive layouts to do before I can put it all together....

We always get dressed up on Christmas Eve when we go to my parents and I simply adore these pictures of the girls in front of the Christmas tree.

I used paper from the So This is Christmas line by Carta Bella. This paper is absolutely gorgeous; I especially love the weight....it just feels like really good quality paper.

I used to shy away from using papers where there were designs printed in the corners, like this one, because I was not sure how to work with them. But after a lengthy discussion with the owner of my local scrapbook store, I was encouraged to give them a try. This is my second layout using this type of paper and you know what, I really like how it works with my clean and simple style.

There is one more Christmas layout lying on my table, just waiting to be finished up....stay tuned.

Hope you are getting some scrapping done yourself. As always, thanks so much for reading.

Talking to Santa

We had absolutely gorgeous spring weather on the weekend....which makes me feel a little strange to be showing you a Christmas layout today. The thing is, I am nearly finished my 2014 album (I'm so up-to-date, not exactly sure how that happened!) and several of my final layouts will be from Christmas. Such is life as a scrapbooker - always a little behind the current season....but that is okay.

I used this latest sketch from The Memory Nest:

And created this layout about my girls' visit with Santa. They really talked the poor guy's ear off...it was quite hilarious to listen to.

I used paper from Imaginisce and embellishments from Simple Stories and Bella Blvd on this page. I have a tin where I keep all my Christmas themed papers and embellishments and I just rummaged through that, picking out what worked with my picture and with the sketch.

Being one page closer to finishing my 2014 album makes me very happy.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out the work of the other Design Team members here.

Holiday Wishes and Cheer

It's a happy Monday, made happier by the fact that I have kicked my cold to the curb, and it is sketch challenge time over at The Memory Nest.

Here is the sketch - one that really inspired me to layer lots of patterned papers, which you know is one of my most favorite things to do. 

I decided to make cards this time around as I was on a bit of a roll and having lots of fun after making this card last week.

Patterned papers and sentiment tags are from the 2013 Christmas line by Imaginisce. I love the polka dots and the turquoise color - a little traditional, a little not. 

Have you made any Christmas Cards yet?

Be sure to pop over to The Memory Nest today to see what everyone else on the Design Team created for this challenge.....it is fantastic as always.

Holiday Cheer

Today is a day for tea and nose-blowing....yuck!

On a more cheerful note, I wanted to show you a Christmas card that I made this week.

I based my card design on this sketch from The Memory Nest (I absolutely love its simplicity and it is the same sketch that inspired this layout).

Both the patterned paper and the sentiment tag are from the 2013 Christmas line by Imaginsce. Coordinating supplies sure make card making simple and quick.

I am off now to make myself another cup of tea and get snuggled on the couch for a little crochet time.  Have a happy weekend! 

Card of the Week: Christmas Cards (4)

I have a few more Christmas cards to show you today. These ones were made with Bella Blvd.'s Christmas Countdown line (the same line I used for yesterday's layout).

This last card (below) was both a lot of fun and a challenge to make. I punched all the circles out using my Fiskars circle punches and then tried to lay them out in a random pattern on the card. Designing a random pattern that looks balanced while not too cluttered is a lot harder than you might think. I did a lot of fussing about and adjusting while making this card, but in the end I have to say that I am happy with the result.

I can not believe how quickly Christmas is approaching! How are all your preparations coming along? Have you made any Christmas cards? 

My Christmas Girls

This week's crafty challenge over at The Memory Nest is a color and theme challenge with a twist.

This is the color palette:

The theme is Christmas or Winter - very appropriate for this time of year.

And the twist is to add texture to your page through the use of "canvas, burlap, doilies, lace, ribbon or crochet".

For my layout I used a picture of the girls that we had taken for our Christmas cards this year. This is hands-down one of my favorite pictures of my girls ever. 

The paper I used is from Bella Blvd.'s Christmas Countdown line which I purchased a few weeks back after my unfortunate scrapbooking garage sale experience. The embellishment stickers are from Bella Blvd.'s Christmas line from last year; I had them in my stash and I love how they coordinate so well with the current line. 

To add a little texture to this page, I really layered up my patterned papers and tied some bakers twine around one of them. 

I am so happy with this layout. I love the picture, the papers, the layers...it is one of my favorite layouts that I have done lately. 

Now, as an avid crocheter I was inspired by the idea to add crochet to my paper crafting. In fact, this is an idea that has been rattling around my creative mind for quite some time, so faced with this challenge I decided to go for it and try to combine crochet and paper crafting.

I began by crocheting a red star (using the same pattern that I used for my Crochet Christmas Star Garland) and then I made this card.

I found that a simple, clean, uncluttered design worked best when including my crochet star.

And you know what? I love it. The combination of crochet and paper is really beautiful and it makes for a lovely card. What do you think? Do you like the look of crochet on a card? I do have to tell you that it does make the card a little heavy, which might make mailing such a card a little pricier, but for a hand delivered card, it would work fine.

This beautiful challenge really kicked my creativity into high gear and encouraged me to act on an idea that had been simmering away in my mind for some time. You just never know where a creative challenge may take you, and that is why they are so fun to play along with. 

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you back here tomorrow when I'll show you a few more Christmas cards.

Card of the Week: Christmas Cards (3)

Saturday night, after the girls were in bed, I put on my cozy pajamas and fuzzy socks and sat down at my craft table to make a few more Christmas cards.

Using just the scraps from the other cards I have made with the Simple Stories December Documented line (see here and here) I made these two cards:

This is exactly why I cannot throw scraps of paper in the garbage, no matter how small they are: I made two beautiful cards from just the leftover bits and pieces....

Now I can hardly claim the idea for these strip Christmas tree cards as my own, as this design is everywhere. And now I know why, these are so fun to make.

I knew I would drive myself bonkers if I tried to make all the strips straight, so I angled all the pieces purposely.

And that was my Saturday night – cozy and comfortable while making cards.  That’s what I call a good night in.

Card of the Week: Christmas Cards (2)

I'm back again this week with a few more Christmas cards that I made using paper and embellishments from Simple Stories.

To see the other Christmas cards that I have made with this paper line click here.

And please come back next week to see more Christmas cards....because as far as card making goes, I am focused on Christmas from now until the big day. So fun!

Card of the Week: Christmas Cards (1)

I have a few Christmas cards to show you today. I used the 6x6 paper pad from Simple Stories and the coordinating chipboard stickers to make these cards.

Making these cards has really put me in the mood for Christmas. I am really looking forward to the holidays this year - the gatherings, the food, the gifts, the decorating. Can't wait to enjoy this magical time of year with my family.

I'll have a few more cards to show you next week, and every week until Christmas. I've got a lot of pretty paper to work with which is providing me with lots of inspiration.

Thanks for stopping in and I hope all your holiday preparations are going well.

Card of the Week: Let the Christmas Card Making Begin

Well the time has come, the time to start making Christmas cards. I am really looking forward to getting at it this year.

I have two cards to show you today:

Card Base: Recollections; Patterned Paper: Echo Park; Cardstock: Bazzill; Border Punch: Fiskars; Snowflake: purchased from and cut with Silhouette; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives, Glue Dots, 3D Foam Squares

My Christmas stash was really sparse after all the Christmas layouts that I have done lately, but lucky for me I was at a Scrapbooking Garage Sale (otherwise known as "The Happiest Place on Earth") this weekend and scored some incredible deals on Christmas products.

Let the Christmas card making begin....

Card of the Week: Christmas Dots

After a few weeks off, I am back today with another card of the week, this time a Christmas card. Yes, I realize that it is only September, and I for one am not keen on seeing Christmas things in the stores months ahead of the Holidays, but I have been busily working on my scrapbook pages from Christmas 2012 and had some scraps laying around that just begged to be made into a card. Can't fight that.

Nothing too fancy, just some funky Christmas dots.

Card Base: Recollections; Patterned Paper: Bella Blvd.; Cardstock: Bazzill; Circle & Border Punch: Fiskars; Sentiment Sticker: Bella Blvd.; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives

And it doesn't hurt that I have a Christmas card all ready to go....one less to make during the busy Christmas season.

More Christmas Tags

Like I said in this week's 'card of the week' post, it has been a paper crafting goal of mine to place a handmade Christmas tag on each gift I give.

To this end, I have been making loads of Christmas tags, the first of which I showed you here.

Today I would like to show you the rest of the tags that I have made.

I cut out all these tags using my Silhouette. What a super fun afternoon that was!

I made quite a few tags using patterned paper from Bella Blvd. I love the fun, quirky patterns and the use of non-traditional colors. I embellished these tags using coordinating stickers, attaching them to the tags with foam squares to add a bit of dimension.

Next, I used patterned paper from Basic Grey. I though that these tags would be better suited for a man's gift given the dark, masculine colors of the paper. I cut the snowflakes out with my Silhouette and attached them to the tags using foam squares.

These tags are also made with patterned paper from Basic Grey. I skipped embellishing them since the paper is so pretty all on its own.

Since all of the patterned paper that I used was double sided, I cut each tag out a second time using coordinating cardstock and attached it to the back of the tag. This made the tag heavier and sturdier, and provided a plain spot to write who the gift is for.

When it came to wrapping my gifts, I used Kraft paper (like brown shipping paper but lighter weight) so that my tags would stand out.

And I am happy to announce that each gift I give this season will have a handmade tag attached. (And I have lots left over giving me a head start on my Christmas crafting for next year).

Card of the Week: The Christmas Collection Week 3

One of my personal paper crafting goals for quite some time has been to make enough Christmas tags so that there is a handcrafted tag on each gift that I give.

Making tags is such a great way to use up all those small scraps of paper that I can not bring myself to throw away.

And I of course love anything handmade.

So this year I got down to business and have been making loads of tags - so many that I just might achieve my goal.

Today I would like to show you a few of the tags that I have made.

These two are made with paper and stickers from Bo Bunny.

This group of five tags was made with papers and embellishments from Basic Grey. I love the little reindeer.

And this last tag was made from scraps of Christmas paper I had lying around; I can not for the life of me remember the company the papers came from.  

Now, I do have a lot more than 8 gifts to give, so I have made many more tags.  I invite you to check back later in the week when I will show what other tag making fun I have been up to.

Until then, I hope everyone has fun getting ready for Christmas...one week to go!

Card of the Week: The Christmas Collection Week 2

Can you believe that Christmas is only two weeks away?

I don’t know about you, but it seems like every year the holidays come barreling at me faster and faster. 

I am done my shopping (and very glad that I do not have to fight the crowds anymore), so now I can just focus on planning the menu, doing a bit of baking, and relaxing a bit before the madness begins.

I have three new cards to show you this week. 

These two use the same non-traditional colored papers that were used in last week's cards:

Card Base: Recollections; Patterned Paper: KI Memories; Cardstock: Bazzill; Quote Sticker: KI Memories; Border Punch: Fiskars; Rhinestones: my craft stash; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives

Card Base: Recollections; Patterned Paper: KI Memories; Cardstock: Bazzill; Chipboard: KI Memories; Rhinestone: my craft stash; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives

While this one spreads festive cheer using more traditional colors.

Card Base: Recollections; Patterned Paper: Imaginisce; Cardstock: Bazzill; Quote Sticker: Imaginisce; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives

What do you think?

Next week I will have some tags to show you. Tags are a great way to use up even the smallest scrap piece of paper, so check back then and maybe you’ll be inspired to make your own tags just in time for gift wrapping.