World Card Making Day

While not planning on it, I took part in the World Card Making Day last weekend *Saturday. I've recently bought a Cuttlebug machine...my newest toy ;) I absolutely love it for making cards because the embossing plates are simple to use and look awesome! Luckily I'm on a design team at a local store and get a good discount...otherwise I wouldn't have the collection of plates that I do! I also really like it because I can cut my Quickutz dies too. I really love their stuff too! I got the cutest scallop circle die-cut at the Scrapbook Fest at the MOA a few weeks ago. It was exclusive to Archivers and I just had to have it.


Love this one. Got the idea from a card on display at Picture This, my fav scrapbook store in town. I'm sure Dawn did it. She's super creative! I just loved the idea of the butterfly "flying" off the card and had to copy it.


The KI Memories lace cardstock works great for cards too. Sure it's a little pricey at 2-3 bucks a pop, but think of how many cards you can get out of a 12x12 sheet. Now that's value! My trick? With pretty patterns/textures, I never throw even the smallest chunk away. I store all my scraps in a 12x12 paper storage box by Iris and just dig through the box when I'm on the mission to make a card. It's so easy!

Ever shopped at Wal-Mart for supplies? They have quite a good little area if you ask me! It's great that they carry Martha Stewart supplies now too. I've tried out 4 or 5 of her punches and they work great. Easy to store too with flat bottoms. Anyway, I thought I'd try out the glue pad and designer glitter. It's a really cool idea, but I'm a little worried about all the glitter rubbing off in the envelope. Maybe someone has a trick to share?

Thought I'd share just a few of the cards I made. Enjoy! Have a fabulous night!

Sunday in narrative:

Got to sleep in (just a bit!) which felt great. Getting up every day for work at 6:15 is rough! It was day 2 for new kitty #3 - Chowder. Went down to visit her with my cup of morning joe. Read the October issue of Creating Keepsakes again while playing. Showered and got ready. A full day of babysitting for Emily and a trip to Wausau was our day's plans. Amy dropped Em off around 10:30. She gave us the strangest look when we drove away from the house in my car with her in the backseat. It was a perfect ride to Wausau - she slept the WHOLE way. Got to the 60th anniversary party for Adam's grandparents (Holtz-side) a little after noon. It was held at Maine Town Hall. The room was filled with seniors! Enjoyed a catered lunch of chicken, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, bread, and veggies. We had the hardest time getting Emily to eat anything other than fruit snacks. Since it was a celebration, we decided not to fuss. Found out she also LOVES chocolate cake - who doesn't? Emily mingled with everyone. She's one of the friendliest babies ever. Loved hanging out with Randi and kept giving her hugs and kisses. We went out to play on the equipment outside the hall. The set was too big for Emily by herself so we helped her down the slide a few times - she squealed with delight! She also loved playing with the gravel that covered the playground floor. Picked it up, sifted it through her fingers, and tossed it back to the ground. Emily and Randi also had fun running around the open area, collecting dandilions and wild daisies. After a few hours and with Emily getting cranky, we headed for Eau Claire - she slept the whole way back too. Listened to the Brewer game on an AM station - praying for it to not cut out as the game neared the end. Heard the Brewers win...and had to wait until we got to Chippewa that they clinched the wild card spot. Ate dinner at mom and dad's. Taco bar with all the fixin's! Emily wasn't hungry again and just ate fruit snacks and animal crackers. She got to mingle with Daisy, my sister's pug/jack russell terrier. Found a really fun toy in my mom's toy box - a Zack Morris phone complete with all the sounds a 1 1/2 year old with love (and annoy you with). After dinner, we headed home. I visited Chowder again after a long day being cooped up alone in the downstairs bedroom - she was glad to see me. Adam fixed Emily some dinner...pasta pickups are her favorite. She even finished off the whole container! We put her jammies on which made her very sad. I had to come in to the rescue. She apparently likes me better. We laughed and played with her toys. We watched the Sunday night football song on NBC which Adam loves. Emily starred at the tv as Faith sang and swayed to the music. Apparently she also very much loves football. We watched the replay of the Brewer game on the DVR (god bless that thing!). Everyone was tired. Amy came to pick Emily up around 9:30. I went and visited Chowder again while watching "the Closer" on DVD and went to bed around 10:20 pm. It was a long day!

Week in the Life Challenge

And so I began the challenge. Sure, I don't pictures as religiously as Ali Edwards, but I did my best. It helps that I got a new camera that's pocket-sized and fits great in the side slot of my purse - and accessible for those quick shots too! (And it's lime green...my FAVORITE!) Anyway, check out my Sunday shots. (Two posts)

Design Team October 2008

I participate on a design team at the local scrapbook store. It's great because...1) I get a discount! and 2) I get free stuff to create with and 3) I have a really good excuse to visit the store every other week. I also worked at this particular store during my five years of college so I'm familiar with the store products, layout and even the employees. Kinda handy! Anyway, I'm posting my projects for October 2008. You can also view mine and other team member's stuff at the Picture This website. Our assignment this month was to create at least one layout relating to back to school or late summer. Since there's no kiddies to scrapbook, I chose the later and made a page to show why I do (and don't) love the changing of the seasons from summer to fall.

Product Listing:

Paper - (white cs) Bazzill (black cs) Rooney Printing Co. (red and tan cs) Worldwin (red pattern) Basic Grey (green/tan pattern) Cosmo Cricket; Accents - (flowers) Hero Arts (buttons) craft supply (swirl diecut) Cuttlebug (scroll stamp) Heidi Grace (ink) Staz-on (title) custom cut - Americana font***; Other - (corner rounder-sm) EK Success (swiss dots embossing plate) Cuttlebug (treading water border punch) Fiskars

***I bought a Wishblade machine when they were BRAND NEW...before Xyron even bought them out and paid WAAAAAY too much. Anyway, finally using it. Love it for custom titles. You can even weld letters and create outlines for your titles. It's really versatile and the new model is MUCH MORE affordable. Check it out here.

The second page I made for the DT was a spur of the moment thing - based on a totally awesome page by Elizabeth Karchner that I found while perusing her website on the advice of a friend (thanks, Michelle!).

Supply List:

Paper - (white cs) Bazzill (teal cs) Die Cuts with a View (floral) Scenic Route (black paisley) Doodlebug; Accents - (paper borders - black/pink) Bazzill (rickrack sticker) My Minds Eye (flourish stamp) Autumn Leaves (ink) Staz On (paper flowers) Prima Marketing(rhinestones) Queen & Co. (acetate hearts/butterflies) Heidi Swapp (diecut scroll) Cuttlebug (pen) Photo Signature by Zig; Other -

black foam

I thought the page turned out cute and it was super fast too! Less than one hour.

Because I had scraps from each of these pages, I also created cards. I figured that thank you cards always come in handy!

(Same supplies as "Changing Seasons" page above)

(Same supplies as "Adorable" page above)

My tip for the day: Try foam and felt in your Cuttlebug machine. It cuts great and you can make super cute shapes and puffy/textured letters in a snap. So much cheaper than buying them premade too! If you don't own a Cuttlebug, definitely consider it. You can get one 40% off at Michaels with a coupon or at a great sale price at your local store - in Eau Claire, both Picture This and Down Memory Lane offer them at a discount every day. (Around $60.00 for the machine and starter kit).

Note: I plan to do the Ali Edwards challenge this week - "A week in the life" by taking lots of everyday photos, recording my daily activities, and collecting bits of life. Check out the completed project on a future post. Have a great day.

Just a few of my favs right now...

A new addition to my album. A take on one of Ali Edward's scrapbook pages (of course). I simply love the idea of scrapbooking a moment in time - recording what's going on RIGHT NOW. Let's face it, you don't need to scrapbook only birthdays and holidays. The everyday moments should be remembered too 'cause they are the ones we forget the fastest. I'm really big on using Basic Grey products right now. They have amazing paper patterns! Also loving rub-ons. My favorite tool for applications is the Doodlebug rub-on tool - stylus ball on one end and a smooth "spoon" on the other. Works great - got it online at Joann's.

And this is one of favorites just because the kitty' is so darn cute! Kittens are really the best. My July 2007 "Creating Keepsakes" magazine really got a workout during one scrapbooking weekend since it had a Jamie Waters showcase article. I love her work also. She has a real knack for placing cute little accents (you know...the ones we ALL accumulate!) all over a page, but not letting it look too cluttered. I loved her super fast pages article and cranked this out in less than one hour. You'll also likely notice I'm a firm believer in journaling. I try to tell a story on each page (though not always successful). For handwritten journaling, I use the handy clear ruler included with Heidi Swapp's "Love Your Handwriting" idea book. Usually I just draw lines lightly in pencil and journal with a slick writer (after contemplating my journaling on a scrap sheet). Then I use a white art eraser to clean up the lines. Voila!

This final one was great for using up scraps. (As a sidenote, I keep the majority of my scrap pieces of paper. At least all that are atleast 4x6 - smaller if it's a favorite pattern that I know I'll use again. I have the cardstock ones sorted in a paper container (12x12 with dividers). All my patterned scraps are kept in a 12x12 plastic storage box and a 12x12 drawer which I pull out each time I scrap. I often look here first before pulling out a fresh sheet.)

This layout was another lift of Ali Edwards - she is a scrapbooking genius when it comes to new/fresh ideas. The layout idea is from her Studio A article - May 2007 ("My Hope for You"). I loved the idea of using a transparancy frame to highlight the title and the random use of chipboard letters - a great way to conserve alphabets too!

Today...

Today I decided to start my own blog. It was a long thought-out decision...something I've been considering for quite awhile, but just too lazy to actually do it. But here I am. Posting. Finally! I guess I just wanted somewhere to put my thoughts. I used to keep a journal (as a teen) and religiously wrote it in each day. I don't anticipate being that punctual with this, but you just never know. Mostly though, I wanted a place to post my newest scrapbook layouts. A place for my tips and tricks. A place to communicate with other scrapbookers and crafters...if they ever find my blog. So that's it. I'll start today with posting a few of my favorite layouts. Ones I just love to look at. And I promise I'll be back with more pages, cards, questions, and answers - and all the wisdom I can muster. Until then, have a fabulous day!