Very Mary

December 15 Garden

I'm missing from this Garden, but that doesn't stop me from being inspired:

• Check out this BEAUTIFUL advent calendar from Stephanie Dagan: Countdown Christmas
• Dashing Through the Snow by Cindy Leibel - love the color palette she chose!
• Dear Santa by Caroline Ikeji - sweet idea for documenting your list (or your kiddos' lists) this year! (The D700 is on my list too. Wishful thinking I know, but I can dream.)

Hope you've been checking out the 25 Days to Christmas sale. I scored a good deal on some things that I've been wanting to buy for my assignments/projects in the new year. As for right now, I am wrapping up some assignments, and then I'll be taking two weeks off from anything paper-related (except for gift-wrapping!) and just focusing on stuffing my face with Christmas cookies and cupcakes and chocolate and....you know, the usual, trying to gain 10 - 16 pounds or so. ;) 

Still working on my eBAY stuff too. You can have a little peek right here, and if you bid and win something, let me know that you're a blog reader and I'll throw in some extra goodies! :)

Getting Organized (the 2009 studio purge)

You remember my "Share Your Space" post at the Two Peas Garden Girl blog? Well, that was the impetus needed to get my scrapbook space organized. Just in time for the annual New Year's Resolution ritual.

Getting organized has meant purging things that I no longer use or simply weren't my style in the first place. But maybe those things will find a place in some other scrapbooker's studio. I'm listing a bunch of stuff on eBay, with more to show up as I get everything listed (wrong time of year perhaps, but I was hoping to get it done before the new year).

Creative Imaginations Bloom Journaler's Notebook

Creative Imaginations Smarty school theme stickers

Creative Imaginations Cutie Pie Girl chipboard stickers

Creative Imaginations Cutie Pie Boy chipboard stickers

Creative Imaginations Summer Fun chipboard stickers

Creative Imaginations Dear Santa chipboard stickers

Creative Imaginations Cutie Pie Boy Impress-ons Swatch Book

Cherish by Jeanette R. Lynton (a scrapbook idea book)

Basic Grey Eva chip stickers

American Crafts large baby stamps

American Crafts small baby stamps

American Crafts Christmas chipboard

Weekly Challenge

My layout is up today for the weekly challenge at Two Peas. The challenge is to write your journaling from Santa's perspective!

 

Supplies:

• Kraft cardstock
  
• Making Memories Mistletoe patterned paper
• Bo Bunny Poppy Double Dot patterned paper
• Fiskars scalloped sentiment border punch
• Making Memories Mistletoe 4 x 6 Journaling Book
  
• Making Memories Mistletoe Mixed Die Cuts
• Making Memories Mistletoe Deco Pins
• Hero Arts Thank You Flourishes
• Heidi Swapp acetate clocks
• Other: Button, tag

Get more details right here. And play along if you can (pleeeease?). I don't want to be the only Garden Girl ever who thinks up a challenge that nobody does! 

The Gingerbread House is for decoration...

but it was suddenly apparent that she was no longer simply admiring the licorice-lined doorway:

Just Finished...

Stayed up wayyyy too late to finish this one.

A historical fiction/coming-of-age/suspense novel that takes place in Colorado during WWII. Focusing on one of the Japanese internment camps, the story is told from the eyes of Rennie Stroud, a young farmgirl who witnesses the emotional turmoil of the war in her own backyard. 

The storyline was totally engrossing with excellent character development, and though I will always champion the book first, I wouldn't be surprised to see this made into a movie that I would happily go see! :)

'Tis the Season (a layout) and the December gallery at WCS

Back as promised with a Christmas layout and a friendly reminder to check out the December gallery at Write.Click. Scrapbook. Read this clever post from yesterday. It's sure to put you in the holiday spirit.

These pages from the December gallery totally caught my eye:

• Dear Santa by Ann Costen - when Sadie can write, I want to be sure to document her letter to Santa. So sweet!
• Sweetest Tradition by Beth Proudfoot - love Beth's clean, bold style, and that photo is perfection!
• To-Do List by Melanie Louette - I've never seen a Melanie page that I didn't like. Clean, graphic, totally cool. Just love her style.

And here's one from me (with more details here):

A few things to note:

• This layout was created with the We R Memory Keepers White Out Christmas collection, which was their Christmas line in 2008. My favorites for this year are Collage Press Joyride, Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses, and My Mind's Eye Colorful Christmas.
• The large snowflake diecut is from the Christmas Cheer cartridge by Provo Craft.

And don't forget to follow along with the Write.Click.Scrapbook blog this month. It's the first annual holiday extravaganza, and there will be fun and festive holiday ideas every single day. Today, there are THREE clever advent calendar ideas by Jody Dent-Pruks. So go. Check it out. Sing some carols while you do. :)

December 1st Garden!

December, all ready? The theme for this month's Garden is two-page layouts! A bit of a challenge for me, but there were sure a lot of great designs this month:

• Rocker Chicks by Kristina Werner - so cool! and I love those digi stitches. I am so downloading those. Will appease the digi side of my stitching quirk.
• Naughty or Nice? by Nichol Magouirk - she is the queen of two page layouts. I really like her tip to use different backgrounds on each side of the two-pager, but still include some of the same papers.
• La chasse aux champignons by Stephanie Dagan - as if I would peek through the garden and NOT notice Stephanie's work. Yet again. Her style is awesome. 

And also check out this eye candy:

• A Very Good Day by Stephanie Dagan - LOVE this. LOVE.

And here is my two-page layout (with more details and links to supplies here):

©Two Peas in a Bucket

Supplies:

• American Crafts patterned paper
• Basic Grey Patchwork Quilt patterned paper
• Bo Bunny Powder Double Dot patterned paper
• Baby Cute Flair Adhesive Badges
• Silhouette diecutting machine

A few things to note:

• I cut all the butterflies with my Silhouette machine using a free download available in their on-line library.
• I also cut the title with my Silhouette. The fonts are Clarendon ("18") and Cursif ("weeks").

And here's my product focus layout (with more details and links to supplies here):

 

©Two Peas in a Bucket

Supplies:

• Scenic Route Paper Co. graph patterned paper
• Cosmo Cricket Happy Go Lucky rub-ons
• Basic Grey Rob Roy patterned paper
  
• Basic Grey Fuzzy Navel patterned paper
  
• Basic Grey Orange Cream patterned paper
  
• Basic Grey Howdy Doody patterned paper
  
• Basic Grey Sarsaparilla patterned paper
• Basic Grey Lime Rickey Elements stickers
  
• Basic Grey Lime Rickey epoxy brads
  
• American Crafts Rockabye Foam Thickers

A few things to note:

• I stuck with Basic Grey's Lime Rickey line for nearly everything on this layout, and boy did it speed up the process. Highly recommended way to quick layouts. Especially if you happen to be working with bright summer photos. :)
• That yellow birdie? In my mind, he is a duck. Hence, the title.

Back tomorrow with another layout to share.

A quick holiday card...

Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving! We celebrated in style here with a big dinner for the three of us! (Less pressure to be a perfect chef if there are no guests involved.) Besides the fact that the pumpkin pie required an extra 40 minutes in the oven and totally screwed up my timetable causing me to delay dinner by an hour and subsequently burn the bottom of my homemade rolls, all went well. And was very enjoyable. Enjoyable enough that I have volunteered my culinary services to make a turkey dinner for Christmas Day. Wish me luck!

I have some photos from the big day, but like the majority of my photos, I have not edited them, and if I'm honest, I'll admit that I probably won't even look at them until after Christmas. Such is my busy life. :)

But not so busy that I can't stop and make a quick holiday card to share:

Supplies:

• Bo Bunny Chocolate Double Dot patterned paper
  
• American Crafts Boarding Pass patterned paper
  
• Hero Arts Houndstooth rubber stamp
• Hero Arts ClearDesign Frames and Messages stamp set
• Versamark watermark ink
• American Crafts white embossing powder
• American Crafts silver mini brads
• Doodlebug Designs Lily White Flocking Powder
• Provo Craft Cricut diecutting machine
• Provo Craft Accent Essentials cartridge

A few things to note:

• This is a lift of one of Kristina Werner's cards from her class A Year in Cards: November 2009, which details three great ideas for simple, easy to make holiday cards.
• With the exception of the silver brads, the entire card is made with scraps!
• The snowflake is a diecut from the Accent Essentials cartridge. I inked it up with liquid glue and covered it with white flocking powder.

And now....to work on our family Christmas card...

WEEK 3 - DIY HOLIDAY GIFTS

Hey all! Today is the beginning of my portion of the free DIY HOLIDAY GIFT class at Two Peas in a Bucket. Here's a peek at the six card set that I created:

 

Read more, see individual photos, download instructions, and see links to all the supplies that I used right here. And be sure to let me know if you have any questions! :)

Sharing my Space

Are you wildly curious about where I create my scrapbook masterpieces?? Tee-heee. :)  I knew you would be.

Well, today - Thursday, November 19th - is your lucky day:

Check out the Two Peas blog today, where I share more photos of my little basement studio.

Derrick believes my studio to be magazine worthy. And while I am not quite convinced of this exactly, I also don't think a space has to be picture perfect to be a creative space. Practical and well-organized. That's what I'm going for. :)

Enjoy your Thursday!